The Script | Summer In The Psalms | Pastor James Powell

I remember back when Britt and I, it was 2014. We just had our first son, Braxton. And I don't know if you remember what it was like the first time you left kids, but the first time you leave your firstborn in that first little bit, mama is stressed out. It's like, I just don't know. Like, is it gonna be okay?

I'm like, well, the same woman that raised you is with that baby. He gonna be just fine. And, you know, mamas are concerned and they're crying and they want to FaceTime. And dads are like, we finally are back to normal. Like, sleep, hold hands.

I don't have to fight or compete with this other little baby right now. Like, it's amazing. She wants to sleep. I want to kiss. Right?

Let's make another one, baby. Okay, so we want to go on this anniversary trip in 2014. And I'm talking about. We ain't even got walking around Walmart money at this point. Like, you know, Brit would love to go to the Bahamas.

I'm like, how we gonna go to Bob Evans? That's what I'm trying to figure out. And we worked a deal with some family friends of ours, and. And they had, like, a place to stay in the Bahamas that was close enough to this hotel called the Atlantis. And the Atlantis is, like, paradise, but that's like, Target money, not Walmart money.

Right? There's a difference. And so we got close enough that we could go and sit by the pool. We're sitting by the pool one day, and we're holding hands, and I'm like, I love you. She's like, I love you.

I'm like, I love you more. Like, I love you more. I said, come on. No, I love you the most. And we're just enjoying being in paradise together.

By the time I hear and I look over my shoulder and what I see is it's like a parachute, and it's attached to a boat.

Parasailing. Let's say parasailing. And they're doing this, and I'm thinking to myself, I cannot wait to tell my wife. If there's one thing in the world that I would never do, it's go parasailing. And so I look at her and I go, babe.

And she goes, babe, we did it at the same time. You first. She's like, no, you first. No, you first. She goes, babe, there's one thing I've always wanted to do.

It's parasailing.

Me, too. Hey. Like, you know, because that puppy love you'll say anything like, yeah. So I walk a few steps in front of her as we're going to the beach, and I am approaching the guy and I'm saying it like that, hey, hey, sir. I know, well, you probably had to book this months in advance and you're booked up and you're busy all day and it's probably too expensive and there's no way we could go on the water.

But is there any chance we can go out and parasail right now or it can never happen? He goes, yeah, we can take it right now.

I was hoping so. And so I'm striking deals on the boat. I'm like, hey, man, 50 extra dollars, don't let me hit that water. Like whatever you take. Because here's the thing.

I'm not afraid of anything, but I'm concerned about two things in life. Number one, heights. Because God made me five, nine. If he wanted me up there, he'd have built me different. He didn't.

He wants me a low to the ground kind of guy, you know. Secondly, I don't like open water because what lives in open water? You could have said fish. You could have said Nemo Dory. Sea lions.

You said sharks. That's right, sharks. Because they want to eat you and kill you. And I'm like, man, I don't want to be there, right? And so we get on the boat and if a picture is worth a thousand words, just take a glance at Britt and I on this boat as we get ready for this.

And if you can't tell by my facial expression, I'm a little bit concerned about this.

Here's what I need you to do. For the remainder of the story, I need you to join me in my concern. I need you to to grip the ropes. You see me gripping the ropes? Grip them with your hands.

I'm going to wait on everybody. You got to put your coffee down for 37 seconds. It's okay, it'll still be warm. I need you to squeeze. Ma', am.

You're not squeezing enough. I can see by the knuckles. That's how I had it right there. I need you to squeeze. Don't let go till I tell you.

Dude, you let go too soon. I fall in the water, I don't make it here. I'm not preaching today. Hold on to the ropes. Okay, hold on.

You're holding on. You're holding on. Okay, so I'm holding on. They begin to let us drift up into the sky. We keep going, we keep going.

You got to keep holding on now, you can't let go. Okay. All right. So we're drifting up in the sky, man. I'm high.

And Delta pilots, I'm hoping Spirit Airlines ain't coming through. I don't know what's gonna happen. Hold on. And so about that time, I hear, and the rope is moving and the wood thing's moving. And I'm like, I'm not ready to see Jesus yet.

And all of a sudden, Britt goes, oh, baby, kiss me. It's so romantic. I said, I'm not gonna kiss you. I don't want to die. So I just need you to know if we hit this water, you got one thing.

You better outswim me because sharks are hungry and it may be fast, but it'll eat whoever gets first. I'm going.

We ended up getting back to the boat and I was able to let go of the rope. How would I have held the rope if I had known I was going to arrive safely back at the boat? Would you look at your hands for the last two minutes? You gripped nothing and it cost you something. My question to you and I today is this is what's the middle?

You're enduring that. You're trying to white knuckle it through life instead of trust God with an expected ending. If I knew there was an expected end, I'd have trusted and managed the middle. Different. How many of us, we are going through something.

You look back on stuff that should have took you out. It should have been the worst moment of your life. And you look back and you're like, man, thank God. Or maybe you like country songs. Thank God for unanswered.

I knew there was some country folks in here. Okay, so. But you look back now, you have a different vision of the middle because of the ending. See, people love, especially this time of year. Jeremiah 29:11.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Yeah, keep going. Quote the end. An expected end. I need to have hope that the ending will make sense of my messy middle.

We're in the series called the Summer of Psalms. Summer of Psalms. And I stumbled upon the most famous psalm to the New Testament church. It is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, quoted over 20 times. It's quoted by Jesus, by Paul.

It shows up in the early church in Acts. It makes reference to in Hebrews. Psalm 110 is powerful for you and I. It's a psalm of David. David, shepherd, psalmist, warrior and king.

This royal king writes a royal psalm, but this one is different. David does not reference himself, but he is speaking of a conversation that's taking place. Psalm 110, verse 1 says this. The Lord says to my Lord. Now, if that doesn't cause you to pause for a second, let us pause for the cause to understand that David is overhearing a divine heavenly conversation.

You ever heard a conversation before and you're like, wait a minute, I got an appetite for coffee, but I can listen to some tea. You know what I mean? Like, you're like, wait a minute. I want to know what's being said. David writes this psalm, and he's inclined our ear.

He's giving us an appetite to go wait. The Lord says to my Lord. Now, if you break down the original language on this, you can get really nerdy with this. But scholars and theologians, they help us understand that what's taking place is David is overhearing a conversation between God the Father, his son. The Lord says to my Lord, David is saying it this way.

God says to my king, the king. Wait, David, if he was like the king that was his predecessor, which would have been Saul, to hear of another king, you would been intimidated, insecure, and been competitive with. But David overhears there's a new king coming, and instead of rejecting it, he's expecting it. I think the first point this weekend in a message I've titled the script is this Point number one is the king is enthroned. The king is enthroned.

God the Father says to the Son, sit at my right hand. This is beautiful. Before Jesus ever gets to us in the New Testament, puts his feet at earth and sits with humans, looks ordinary to those who are around him, but does the extraordinary. Before any of that takes place, there's a conversation in heaven, and the conversation is this. God the Father says to the Son, you have all authority.

Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool at your feet. This is a reference, a battle cry. This is army language. To understand that this king would be so strong that his enemies would cower before Him. Verse 2.

The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion. This is beautiful. Let me give you the royal language. What's happening here theologically is God the Father is saying to the Son, your rule will expand from where it starts. This is key, because the king of that day is not just known for the company he kept or the land he kept or what he stewarded, but what he could expand the kingdom to.

Why? Because the expansion of the kingdom would rule and reign and invite other citizens in it would mean the prospering of that kingdom. So God says to the Son, God the Father says to the son, I will make you the king of a kingdom that will forever be expanding. Rule in the midst of your enemies or rule in the midst of. Of resistance.

Your troops will be willing on the day of battle, arrayed in holy splendor. Your young men will come to you like the dew from the morning's womb. I love the poetry and the conversation that David is overhearing. But what David is overhearing is critical and key. Not just for David, not just for the early church, but for you and I.

Why did the early church hold on to this passage so much? We have to remember when the early church was established, Jesus had lived the perfect life, died the death we deserve, was raised to new life, but then he ascended to heaven. And some are wondering, is he ever coming back? I know what he did, but what is he doing now? David gives us this divine perspective that what Jesus did do, he will do again.

That the king is still seated on the throne, that the king is still reigning in power. He did reign. He is reigning. He will forever reign. So the question is this.

Who's in charge? Ooh. You ever had that question somewhere? You ever been in a place where, you know, the buffalo wings don't get to the table in time? What you say?

You say, where's the. Yeah, okay. You know, I want to speak to the boss. I want to speak to whoever's in charge. We're not actually asking who's in charge.

We want to ask the question of who's responsible. Who's responsible for this? One of the questions that I get most often asked is, James, if God's really real and God's really that good, then why is all this pain and suffering happening in the world? It's always an interesting question to me because it's the removal of God's authority that creates this new responsibility. We must remember that it was in Genesis that we decided that we were in charge, that we would do what we wanted.

And when we do what we wanted and we go the way that we want, then we end up in destruction. There is a way that seems right to the man, but in the end thereof is only destruction. But when I live under the king's reign and in the king's rule, he's not just the one with responsibility, he has authority. So the question is, who's in charge now? David should have been perplexed by this and rejected him like, no, no, I'm the king.

Him. David says, I'm expecting the king will come. Can you imagine what David would have thought when he overheard this? Because David's hearing, there will be a kingdom that never ends, but David knows he'll die. And now it's, well, what will my sons do?

David's not concerned with who he is because he understands whose he is. If I'm a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and the king reigns, the king is in charge. Everybody thinks they're in charge. If I ask you right now, who's in charge of your finances? Me.

I am. Who's in charge of your kids? Now, I love when people say God is, but if I give them 48 hours out of your presence, is God in charge or are you? Your worry will tell me whether or not you truly worship him. Because a false gospel is this is that I can protect my kids better than God can.

I can run my finances better than God can. You know, when I know somebody doesn't really know God as king, and they only know him as Savior, when they don't know him as king, they begin to argue over things like the tithe or a tent or a portion or percentage, the way they do only in one other area of life. The only other area of life you negotiate. A percentage is a tip that tells me they'd rather tip God than tithe to him.

Would y' all just pray for the people of Vegas right now? Just pray God. Would you help them be cheerful givers? I'm talking to a room full of generous people, right? You know why?

Because generosity is a byproduct of. I know everything I got was because of the king. The resources of the kingdom are mine because I've served the king. The minute I try to operate outside the king's rules and the king reigns, I become responsible. My question to you, Church, is, have you made him responsible for something you've not made him the authority of?

Everyone wants a king until they have one. The early Hebrews, they wanted a king. They had been given prophets and judges, and they said, give us a king. Everyone else has a king. Give us a king.

And so God relents and he gives them a human king. And you can read all throughout first and second Kings, and there was one king, he did righteous in the eyes of the Lord. Another did not. And one did right and one did wrong. And it was all set up an understanding that one day there would be a king who only did right, who only ruled right.

And he wouldn't just be a conquering king, he'd Be a suffering king. And it would be through his suffering that he would help us understand the context of his character. Psalm 100, verse 4 begins to give us a greater understanding of the complex nature of this Christ King. The Lord has sworn he will not change his mind. Now, if I was old school and I had an organ on stage, I would preach this for the next 37 minutes.

That God will not change his mind. I wish I just had a few old saints, a few people who just walked with Jesus long enough that people tried to lie on you, lie about you, lie about the God that loved you. I need you to know, God don't play about me. You may say something about what I did, but I gotta let you know, he knows who I am. I know that the I am knows who I am.

And the I am will take care of every God. Don't change his mind about me because of what I did yesterday, because of what I'll do today. He knows and protects and is with me through the ages. Oh, okay. So God, don't change his mind.

Would you look at your neighbor? I need you to get hood with it one time though, okay, sir? It's gonna be tough for you. I need you to get hood with it. Right?

Just picture in your mind. You ready? Like, do this for me one time, okay? It's gonna be a struggle. It'll be all right.

Give me a little of this. Oh, okay. You're gritty. I like this. Okay, look at your neighbor one time.

Say God. Come on, look at your other. Yeah, I didn't even say it wasn't yet. God, come on, God, don't change his mind bout me. Who?

Now say it all together and say, God, don't change his mind bout me.

Now, the reason I had you say that is the person next to you wasn't questioning it. You were. The problem is you question what God thinks about you. You think that your last sin, your last shortcoming, your last failure somehow dictates God doesn't look at you through the lens of your works. He looks at you through the lens of what his son's works were.

He hung on a cross. He took sin and shame on him so that I could be called the righteousness of God. My works are as filthy rags, but I've been claimed by the righteous one. Okay, let me keep going. You are a priest forever.

Wait a minute. There's King now. There's priests in the order of Melchizedek. Now. If you're a Bible nerd, you're like, he's gonna Talk about Melchizedek.

I love this. And if you're newer to church, you're like, I don't know what that means, but keep it moving, brother. We need to be out on time. Let me help you with this. Melchizedek simply means this when translated, king of righteousness.

But he's known as a priest. Now, this is a dilemma that predates this order, in which David understands, in this day, in this time, there was a tribe of Judah. From Judah came kings. From Levi came priests from two places. You could not have one car in two lanes.

This is oil and water with titles. You could not have a king, priest, or a priest king. But there was one who predated this in Genesis 14. His name is Melchizedek. He was the king of righteousness, but walked in as a priest.

This was to give a blueprint or an archetype of what Jesus would actually fulfill. Jesus would actually come and be both king and priest. But how can that happen, James? I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you why.

Here's why. Because a king couldn't be a priest, because it would be unlawful for a priest to shed blood. But there was a king who would come and say, I'll be the king who sheds the blood of only one king, of the only innocent king. I'll shed the blood for you. So the priest would be the high priest who became the lamb of God.

That would take away the sins of the world. So how does he become king and priest? Because he rules through righteousness and holiness. All by himself. He didn't need another sacrifice.

He became the sacrifice. He didn't just be a conquering king, he became the sacrificing king. Do you see that? Only one could embody these two titles, king and priest. You go, James.

Okay, I'm tracking with you. But how do I approach priest? How do I endure a holy God? He's king. I know he's royal.

I bow before him. But priests, how do I intercept his holiness or his righteousness? The beauty is this, is that the priest makes himself approachable by the sacrifice and his suffering. That's why scripture says, how do we enter and approach the throne room of God Boldly? Who?

That means. Some of y', all, you gotta change your game up. When you come to church, some of y' all are like, oh, I'm gonna come in. And I know what I Thursday. And it's like, oh, God, I'm so ashamed.

I just feel so bad about what I did. I think sometimes the Holy Spirit wants to Smack you around. I'm holy and hood, bro. All right? I didn't want to be like, wake up.

You're telling me the work that Jesus did on the cross wasn't enough for you? You better square your shoulders back. You better lift your head high. You're still a son of the Most High, a daughter of the most high. You may have done what they said you did, but you're not who they say you are.

Oh, I got a priest that says that he's made things right so that even when I go wrong, I can still come to him. Why I approach the throne room boldly. How boldly I pray, how boldly I worship. How boldly I hope you did something on Thursday that you praised in such a way on Sunday. Somebody with just a little bit of hypocrisy in them looks down the road and sees you.

How are they praising like that? I saw they cut that man off on Thursday and they told him number one with the wrong finger. Yeah, but did you know I done repented for that. And I've been reconciled to the goodness of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God. And what I did will not dictate my praise or my prayer or my worship.

I'm not walking weak. I'm walking boldly. How? How boldly? Into the throne room of God.

He's not just the enthroned king. He's a priests established. How long will he reign? Forever? How long?

Oh, he never ends. Do you understand? David overhears a conversation happening in heaven, an eternal conversation, and he hears this and goes, there's a king that'll reign forever. I know kings come and go, but there's a king forever. There's a priest established.

I know there's been many priests and prophets, but there's one coming who will never end. That means I can always go to him. I don't have to wonder if he changes his mind because he's consistent about me. Oh, I think these two points help us understand not just the context of Christ's character, but the posture of his power. When I understand he's not catching up to me to judge me.

He's catching up to me to let me know it's already taken care of. Oh, how would you. How would you operate the next time that you're speeding through Hillsborough? And I don't believe that you do, but I have. But you're speeding through Hillsboro and maybe you're going.

Going 65, I don't know. And you're going through Hillsboro and you're going around the roundabout. You catch two wheels, you do your thing, right? But you make it through Hillsboro. And, you know, if I could just get to the other side and I can pass these people before we get to the winery, I'll be able to get to Martin's Burger on time.

I've not done it, but maybe you have. But you do this, and all of a sudden you look in your rear view mirror and what do you see? Red and blue lights. Man, you get sweaty. You already know I'm about to get a ticket.

It about to be double. I was 45. We in trouble, right? I'm about to get bracelets for this one. You're nervous, you pull over.

You don't know what to do, right? Because you're like, I know he's coming to judge me, but what if the red and blue lights of heaven catch up to you? Police officer walks over your window taps and says, hey, I just want you to know it's just a warning. It's just a reminder for your safety. Slow that thing down.

Hey, I know that thing you did. You broke the law. You broke the law, but slow down. I need you to know now the penalty is already taken care of. No, Officer, I want to.

How many of you have ever argued with officers? I want to pay the ticket real quick. Raise your hand. Not a one. But we want to argue with God.

No, God, I want to feel bad about this. If I just feel bad enough, I won't go back. No, feeling bad beckons you back to the sin. Shame is the chain that attaches you to sin. So the lie of the enemy is if you hate yourself bad enough, if you just say, I'm going an addict.

I'm an alcoholic. No, you are not. You were. You are now the redeemed of the Lord. Walk in victory.

I wish a couple of people would get free. You've been waiting all week. You've been holding your head low. Take off the heavy garment of shame and put on a garment of praise. No, you're not that good.

No, you don't have it that together. But he does.

No, we'd rather do this with our sin and our shame. If I can just control it enough, I won't slide back into it. I won't give into addiction. I won't. No.

If I can do this long enough and I can receive his love and his mercy, I can become addicted to a new thing. I can be addicted to his presence. I can be addicted to his passion. I can be addicted to his power. I'm not looking for peace and a needle anymore.

I'm not looking for calm and appeal anymore. I'm looking from the only source. Who has been the great? I am. Who is the Rose of Sharon?

Who is Shalom, Jehovah? Shalom means he's my peace. If it's his identity, he can't be separated from it. It means as long as I got him, I got all the peace I need. My goodness, that's for somebody.

Okay, let me keep going. Point three, I'm going to get us on our way. Point three is this. The warrior has one. The warrior has one.

Everybody say, has one. That's past tense. I'm from Alabama, but I can do some grammatical math. Okay, here we go. It's already been done, has already won.

Now, this for some of us will be one of the harder passages. Let me tell you why it'll be harder for you is because we have this addiction in our culture today where we want to define things through our own lens. If you've ever had the question, well, how could God do that and be loving? It's because you don't understand love yet. How could God do that and it be just?

The day I contradict God by my own definition is the day my definition has to realign with his identity. If God did it, it is loving whether you realize it or not. If God did it, it is just whether you believe it or not, period. I'm not gonna argue with people about, well, if God is loving, I start with that definition. God is love.

So if God did it, it's loving. Well, no, but if God did this. No, you don't understand. God is love. God is loving.

Therefore, if God did it, it's love. But I don't agree with that. Well, you're wrong.

It's that easy. But this next passage, the reason it's difficult for us is because now what you're gonna see is this king and this priest also came to conquer it. Came to settle the score on some stuff.

Now, if you read this and you think the red and blue lights are chasing you down to judge you or you're here to be conquered, you missed it. What you have to see this through is the lens of compassion for every person who's been a survivor of abuse, like me, that waited on justice and felt like for a season of life, it came a little too late. There was hope that justice would still reign, that one day it'd be made right. Oh, listen, there's some of you in this room. You've been walking around with secret pain your entire life.

You and maybe two other people know about what you went through, and you just wonder, will they ever get this? We wrestle not against flesh and blood. I pray God finds the person who abused me and rescues their soul. Why? Because if God's grace is good enough for me, I pray that God's grace finds them and rescues them.

But at the same time, the spirit, the spirit that tried to attack my purpose. Oh, that evil thing that tried to take me out as a child, that tried to shape my identity and mess with my mental faculties, all of that spirit. I'm thankful there's a warrior that has come and is coming again that will crush the serpent under his head. If you've ever needed job, if you've ever needed healing. Oh, as I battled through cancer, thought the end of life was near.

You ever had a diagnosis that the doctor can't figure out? I got a great physician. He also is a warrior, and he came to crush cancer under his feet. You got to read it with a lens that I'm reigning with this warrior. This is what it says in Psalm 110, verse 5.

Listen at this. I told you Jesus ain't soft, savage. The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations.

Judge. Oh, I need you to have this picture. True justice is only made known when injustice is eradicated, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the earth. He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high. This last part, verse seven, it's this picture of a victorious king kneeling by a brook, taking water to his mouth and taking a few more steps and conquering again.

And conquering again. This is victory and refreshing. That means there's never been and never will be a battle that my king, my priests and my warriors cannot win. Oh, the reason that gets exciting for you is that means there's nothing you've been through, nothing you're going through, nothing you're headed to that he has not already written the script on. Oh, I didn't get the opportunity to become a fan as a kid, but there was something.

I know some of y' all are big fans about this, and I'm just now learning about it because of a NETFLIX documentary. I'm a documentary junkie. If you got some documentaries that you like, send me a link. I love them. Right.

Pastor Derek loves to read books. I like to watch movies. That's the difference in our educational ideologies, right? He's a doctor. I am not.

All right, but. But there's this thing I've been. I've been looking at. When I was growing up, it was called the wwf. And then you had the wcw, then they did the nwo, and I knew that was bad, right?

But then. Now it's called the wwe, right? And they got this one wrestler, and he does this. What's his name? You can't see me.

It's John Cena, Right? And then, you know, it comes. Okay, I'm just catching up in the documentary, but. But there was a. One major wrestling match.

One major wrestling match. And they were getting everything together for John Cena's final tour. Now, here's what blew me away about wwe. When I was growing up, everybody said that the wrestling was. Yeah, they're wrong.

They're wrong. I thought it was fake, too. It's not fake. It's just scripted. Because I'm watching people, they get bumps and bruises.

They're getting their head bloodied up. And all these people are like, oh, man, I got hurt. And I'm like, how did you get hurt if you're gonna win? Because sometimes I gotta manage the middle different when I expect a different end. And so John Cena, he's getting ready for this final move.

It's gonna shock the crowd. Only a handful of people knew about the expected end. They kept it a thief speaker from everybody, production, everyone watching, every fan. It was gonna shock the world. There was a script in place.

And I just wonder if. Everybody's been looking at your life and they've been looking at the bumps and bruises that you've been going through, and they've been questioning whether or not you were gonna be victorious. Can I just remind you about Jesus? Oh, Jesus. He lived the life we couldn't.

But he died a death we deserved. And something interesting happened when Jesus went to the tomb. It was kind of like they thought that the devil had Jesus pinned. But then he went, 1, 2, and he popped out of it. And then he flipped Satan and he goes, 1, 2, 3.

And he came out King of Kings and Lord of Lords, because he won.

But the greater news for you is this. If he won, I win, too. There ain't nothing I've been through or I'm going through that he's not with me and for me. So can I give you the script? Can I give you the script?

Thv. You better write this down. Let me give you the script. I want you to know the script isn't just a book. It's a person.

I need you to know the script. T He's timeless. He created it. Not bound by it, but dwells in it. H He's holy.

He is always holy, worthy. There's none beside him. There's none that can be with him. He is e Everywhere. He's everywhere.

With me, wherever I am, there he is also. S He sovereign. He reigns over all things. He's the King of kings and the Lord. He is C He's covenantal.

That means his promises are yes and amen. He's not a man that he could lie or he's righteous. I'm thankful that he moves with justice at his hands. I He's immutable. That means he never changes his mind about me or about you.

P He's present. A very present help in the time of need. And T, he's triumphant. He is a victorious warrior. For you and for me.

Look at your neighbor real quick. Say, trust the script. Oh, trust the script. It's already written. Written.

I want to encourage you that when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, every time Satan would offer him a subtle ending in his middle, he just looked at Satan and said, for it is written this week. When life tries to kick your knees out from under you, when it tries to make you buckle to the floor, when finances don't look like they should and relationships get messy like they should, you ought to just look at the enemy and go, world, I'm trusting the script. I'm trusting the script. I know that he's timeless. I know he's holy.

I know he's everywhere. I know that he's sovereign. I know that he's covenantal. I know that he's righteous. I know with me, he's immutable.

He does not change. I know he's present, which means he's with me right now. And T, he's triumphant. You and I have the ability to trust the script. My prayer for you today is this.

That for some of you, for the first time, or first time, a long time, you're about to say yes to the King of King and Lord of Lords. I'm not asking you today. If you're wanting to save you, no, friend, you gotta understand, he already went to do that. He went to the cross, took on your sin and shame, raised a new life to prove nothing can stop God's love for you. My question is, not just did he save you?

Have you made him king? I'm gonna give some of you the opportunity to do it the first time or first time in a long Time. The second thing is gonna be this. I'm gonna give some of you an opportunity. You've been a Jesus person.

But if you're really honest, there's some areas of your life you compartmentalize. You got different castles hanging in the kingdom, and you're the king of some of your own castles. And where you're the authority of, you have the responsibility with. But I believe today you're gonna turn over rulership back to the king. You say, you're the king of my marriage, you're the king of my kids, you're the king of my finances, you're the king of my serving, you're the king of my coming and my going.

Because there's a blessing when I serve under the king. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed, front to back, left to right. In here, in the theater, all the way in Las Vegas, for the first time, or first time a long time, you're ready to make that first decision. You're saying yes to his Lordship. You're about to become born again.

You'll believe in your heart, you'll confess with your mouth. You will never be the same. This is the best decision you'll ever make for the rest of your life. You are becoming a citizen of heaven and a son and daughter of the King of Kings. If that's you on the first time, or first time a long time, on the count of three, I want you to raise your hand.

1. You mean business with God. 2. Today is your day. 3.

Right where you are. Would you raise your hand? I see you. Yeah, I see you. I see you great in that heaven sees you.

Come on. Hands are going up. Don't you miss your moment? You can put your hands down before I pray the second group of people. You're a Jesus person.

Oh, but that king part, it challenged you. And the Holy Spirit stirred something up in your heart. And now you recognize. Today I make him king over a new area. I am not the king of my castle, but I serve the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

I have one who has all the resources I need. If that's on the count of three, would you raise your hand? One, two, three. Right where you're at. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come on. Surrender. Surrender beckons the authority and the provision of God. Now, I'm going to ask you if you would, all over this building, would you stand with me? And I'm going to ask you to lift your hands high.

We lift our hands high today, not just out of honor or reverence, but we lift them out of surrender, saying, God, we can't, but you can. We release to you all that we have and we welcome all that you are. God, I thank you for my friends who for the first time or first time a long time, said yes to a relationship with you. I pray they would never be the same. Would you renovate their heart?

Change their lives? Would they be different, starting now? And would you lead and guide them into all truth? Plant them in your house so they may flourish in your courts? I thank you for my friends who they've been walking with with you.

But today they surrender to you. They choose to make you king over every area of their life. And as they do, we will declare you as holy. Holy, holy. Together we cry as a community of believers, as a church.

We lift up a sound that says, God, we honor you, we love you and we trust you. We pray all this in the name above every name, the name of our hope and our liberated king in Jesus name. Amen and Amen. Would you lift your voice voices Would you lift a shout?

Come on, let's sing this.

Righteous one to shed his blood the praise roof to us the Father's love Jesus Christ he lifted up holy Lamb of God anointed word was in death and death to come.