(Starting at 3:30)

We’re going to be in John chapter 8. We’ve been tracking with John. John the evangelist, as he’s called. John the apostle. John the best friend of Jesus, as best we can say. John was a guy that we don’t know exactly how old, but he’s probably late teens, early 20’s, somewhere in there, when he came across this guy Jesus. When he and his brother were fishing, Jesus said, “Come, hang out with me.” And they said, “Okay.” And they did.

They started following him and became like students of his, apprentices of his, disciples of his and through that next three years, John went from being someone who was following this guy who had some interesting teaching and words, and was willing to invite John and his brother into this kind of rabbinic tradition—and John thought that was great—to believing that he was the One who made the world. That’s interesting, right? He watched Jesus eat. He watched Jesus sleep. Not in a creepy way, probably. He saw Jesus have to go to the bathroom. I mean, it was just so real, right? They were hanging out.

But through this time three years and then continuing on for the next sixty years of his life he became convinced that that guy, that young, Jewish man that was walking around poor, oppressed, all of that, was actually Messiah, was God who came into this world to save the world from all their sins. And as Jay said, basically to restore everything forevermore. It is fascinating.

And John is writing this gospel so that we, who were not there, would also begin the same journey. Right? That we would begin to trust Jesus. That we would begin to follow Jesus. That we would apprentice our lives to this one named Jesus. That we would be able to recognize that he is not just some historical figure. But he really is God, forevermore alive. Savior of the world. And that John would kind of help show us the journey.

With John it was trust over time. That’s the phrase we’ve been using. That we would believe means to trust more and more over time. As you continue to test Jesus in some ways. As you continue to lean on Jesus and find he is worthy, find he is stable, he is solid. He does what he says he would do. He is faithful to his promises. That you will begin to trust more and more over time and find the riches that are there.

So that’s what the book of John is about. And as we see, John has shared that Jesus, basically from the beginning, he was turning the water into wine, he was feeding five thousand men, he was healing people, he was doing all these things, and people just started to think “This guy is awesome.”

Now, in first century Israel, it was not a great time to be a Jew. It was a tough time. They were under Roman oppression. They were poor. They had this kind of aristocrat class of Pharisees and Sadducees that seemed to do well, but they were oppressive as well, making everybody feel guilty all the time. It was a really tough time. Taxes were unbelievable. It was a really tough time.

So here comes this voice, this figure, this Jewish man that was able to say things that their hearts would burn within them as he spoke. He seemed to speak not as the Pharisees, but as one who had authority. What he said seemed to make sense. It seemed to cut straight to the quick. It wasn’t just propaganda or rhetoric. It was so precise, so powerful and true. And then he would follow it up with healing somebody. So it felt so powerful and real. But then it would actually produce something beautiful and powerful and real.

We’re all professionals at powerful rhetoric these days, right? We get it left side, right side. We get it front side, back side. We get it all over the place. America—that might be one of the best things we do. Powerful rhetoric. Right? You’ve got all that stuff made in China. Well, all of that powerful rhetoric—made here in America.

But what we are all longing for, what the cry of the American heart is, we don’t want rhetoric anymore. We want justice. We want truth. We want righteousness. We want peace. We want unity. These are the things we long for. And the words just, we don’t trust them as much anymore. There are too many words going too many different ways. So we have this cynical heart rising up within us.

And that was the people in that day. Except for Jesus was this weird exception. He was holy. He was righteous. He was acting and living in such a pure way that it seemed very different. But then there was power and authority and substance. So all these people started following him.

And then that moment—the end of John chapter 6 is kind of a culminating moment. Where John he Baptist just had his head cut off by a jewish official that had been given power by the Romans. He cut his head off. And the people lost it. They wanted to do something so they marched out to where Jesus was, out in the wilderness, grieving the loss of his cousin, and grieving the depravity of humanity.

And they came out to him, five thousand strong, five thousand men, and they tried to make him king by force. Which, again, I don’t quite know how that goes down. Like, “Be a king, man. Be a king.” I don’t know. It just sounds weird. But, basically, they were coming, and it was kind of a mob format. And they were saying, “We need a king. We need to go deal with Herod and you’re going to be our king.” And it says Jesus withdrew from them.

Then, at that moment we have chapter seven, chapter eight, chapter nine. We keep going. And it’s Jesus at this point of total popularity, where they want him to rule over them. They want him to lead them to where we get to ten chapters later, and the same crowd, the same group is gathered together and they’re shouting, “We will not have this man rule over us! We will not have this man rule over us!” And Pontius Pilate is saying, “I find no fault in him.” And they say, “Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!” It very well was a lot of the same people.

So John is just showing us this interesting perspective of Jesus, how he’s so beautiful, so right, so true, and yet so rejected by the human heart—the ones he made, the ones he came to save, the ones that he shined his light on.

My question to us today is, where are we at in this? What is the authority of our lives? What are we trusting in these days? What rules over the thoughts in our heads and the actions of our lives?

And this chapter right here, I really do think is Jesus’ answer to anyone who might say, “Why should I give you authority over my life? Why should I let you be in control over my life? Why should I give my life to you?”

I think that’s what the Pharisees are saying to Jesus in this moment in chapter 8. So he gives them an answer. So we’re going to go through seven answers as to why Jesus should be the authority over our lives, why Jesus should be your boss, why you should follow him, why you should commit everything to him, even if it costs you your own life. This is the answer.

John 8. But before we get there, we actually have to read John chapter 7 verse 52, because it sets it up.

[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

That’s kind of the way 7:52 ends and begins chapter 8. Now, just a little bit of history for us. The Bible was written—Old Testament was written in Hebrew, New Testament was written in Greek with a little bit of Aramic mixed in there. The chapters and verses weren’t in there when they were written. John didn’t write, “Okay, I’m going to put these chapters in there.” John just wrote this as a letter, something that could be circulated throughout the churches—something that could be shared with people. It was basically like if you were to sit down and write why you believe in Jesus. And then you had people in mind that you want to send this to. That’s the way John was written.

And John was written well after the other gospels were written. The other gospels had already been written and circulated. So John is towards the end of his life. He’s living probably in Ephesus. He’s out in a Greco-Roman world, a little bit out of the Jewish context. And he just decided he can’t not do this. He knows the other gospels have been written: Matthew, Mark and Luke and some others. But he’s like, “I want to write my point of view. I want to write my letter to the people I have in mind.” So this really is his evangelistic letter that he is passing out to the world, his take.

It’s interesting here because it says that the early manuscripts and many other witnesses do not have the story. So it’s a short story many of us are familiar with, where a woman caught in the act of adultery is brought to Jesus and it’s kind of a trap that’s been set for him by the Jewish leaders.

So I just want to make note that the Bible here is trying its best, the NIV writers are trying their best to just give you where all this is coming about. So it’s actually in italics, if you noticed. Basically what they’re saying is, "This has shown up in some of the manuscripts that we have, the ancient manuscripts that we’ve been trying to discover and find. But it doesn’t show up in all of the early ancient manuscripts like everything else.”

So they’re giving you this footnote. They’re kind of saying, “Hey, this one, we’re putting it in here because we do think this actually does pass the test that we give it to make it into this. We do see it show up enough to think, eh, we better not leave it out because I think it is true and valid. However, it’s different from all the other stuff. So we just want to put a footnote so that everybody’s clear, everybody knows what’s happening so you can decide what you want to do with it.”

What if the media was like this? What if the media today was only telling us stories that were so verified by so many manuscripts, by so much testing…and anytime there was anything shady or shaky or not 100% verifiable, would we have any news? I mean, how short —would it be all commercials? I don’t know.

What I’m trying to say is the Bible has so much integrity, you don’t even understand. I can’t get into it like I want to, but you should look it up. If you have any question whether the Bible is a reliable authority in your life, do some work, please. Please. Especially you younger generation that has been told for so long that the Bible is oppressive or antiquated. Please! Do some work.

I mean, just to tell you all the other acceptable works of antiquity. They basically have anywhere between one hundred kind of artifacts or manuscripts. Maybe five thousand if you want to find like Homer’s Iliad or something like that. The Bible has over 25,000. It’s not even a contest. If you believe that Caesar was a real person, you’re going on so much more faith than it would take to believe the Bible and the stories they’re saying. The historicity of the Bible is unbelievable. It’s not even a question at all. The only parts of the Bible that they’re still like, “Well, we don’t really know this…” It’s because they don’t know yet. So many times they’ve been like, “Ha! The Bible’s wrong here. The Bible’s wrong here.” And then a hundred years later they’ll find something and, “grumble grumble. Well, it’s was right…” So anyway, please do some work.

But we’re talking about authority today. The Bible is such a good authority. It has withstood the test of time. This is not new stuff that our society is facing. The Bible has handled this generation after generation after generation after generation. And it’s proven itself to be true. And those who doubt it or those who live without it do so to their own demise. No doubt about it.

Let’s continue on:

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
Now, again, this is a horrific situation. This is religious leaders doing exactly what religious leaders have done often and are continuing to do. They’re abusing power. They’re trying to get what they want through without really caring about people. And it happens all the time. And it’s sad and it’s horrible. And that’s what’s happening to this woman. I’m sure they set the trap for her so they could make sure and find her. And now they’re bringing her to Jesus. And this is a woman who has a mom and a dad, probably some siblings. And this is a horrible situation.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

It’s a short story. A real quick instance of something that happened in Jesus’ life. A trap that was set for him. And the trap basically goes between these two things. The Jewish law says, yes, a woman caught in adultery should be stoned. And there are also laws for the man and where’s the man? There’s a mess here. But it is true that that was a law. God is deadly serious about sin, no doubt about it.

But then, on the other hand, the Romans had a law that they alone were able to issue capital punishment. So if the Jews would have done this, they would have been in violation of the Roman law. So Jesus was caught in that trap, not to mention the trap between, “I thought Jesus would love people and now he’s issuing orders to kill a woman,” versus, “I thought Jesus was about the truth and now he’s not following…” So you can see all of the traps that they’re setting for Jesus here.

And yet, Jesus, knowing everything, he stoops down and just starts writing. We don’t know what he was writing but I think he was probably writing the ten commandments. Just be like, here’s the ten commandments, and then “Who is without sin? You cast the first stone.” I don’t know what he was writing down. But then it’s weird because it says they left, oldest to youngest. That part I don’t know. Because he stooped back and down and was writing. Maybe he was kind of writing their names down next to one of them. “Just in case you weren’t getting it.” Maybe he was writing a date down or whatever. I don’t know. But it was enough for these guys to be like, “All right. I’m out.” Oldest to youngest.

Then Jesus looks at this woman and says, “Where are your accusers?” And she says, “They’re all gone.”

And yet Jesus couldn’t stop there because there was one who was worthy, who was without sin, who could cast the first stone, and that was him. And he said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and sin no more.”

And that’s the first one. Why should you make Jesus the ultimate authority in your life? Because he knows what you’ve done. He has the right to punish you forevermore. And yet he does not condemn you. This is a fascinating thing.

Romans 8:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

Guess what? If you are not in Christ, there is condemnation for you. If you want nothing to do with Jesus, God will grant that to you forever. It’s called utter darkness. It’s called hell. To be without the love and light and peace of Christ, that’s the scary thing. There is condemnation. God does have wrath against sin. If you are still in your sin, there is wrath for you. But whoever comes to Christ, whoever is in Christ, hidden in Christ, the wrath of God is staid because Jesus took it all. There is no condemnation because you’ve been robed in his righteousness. He doesn’t condemn you.

Now, here’s the deal. He will convict you. Christians live with convictions. “I want to go…oh, better not do that.” “Oh, that’s pretty cool—oh, probably shouldn’t look at that.” You know? We’re walking around with these convictions. But these convictions are guiding us more into the light, further into the grace of God. And so we live with these convictions, but these convictions are not condemnation. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

If you feel that guilt and that shame in your life from the sin that you have done, if you don’t feel guilt and shame that’s a whole ‘other problem, but for those who understand that you are a sinner, you have hurt people, you have done wrong, and you feel that guilt and shame, come to Jesus. Because he does not condemn you. He will actually do away with that guilt and shame and you can live in freedom. You can live as a beloved. It’s so amazing. Anybody here ever gotten free of their condemnation, guilt and shame? Come on now!

Okay. So that’s number one. Let’s keep going.

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

If you’re asking the question, “Why should I have Jesus rule over my life—be the authority of my life?” Because he won’t condemn you—which is fascinating—even though you do wrong. It’s amazing.

The second reason Jesus should have ultimate authority over your life is because he stands with the Father. He says that, “I know where I’ve come from and where I’m going.” He’s come from the Father, he’s going to the Father. He’s standing at the Father’s right side.

This is so interesting because all of this kind of back and forth picking sides that’s going on in our nation right now, in lots of different ways, where you’re at with COVID, where you’re at with racial relations, where you’re at with politics, where you’re at with church, open or closed, there are just so many ways that we can divide ourselves right now and pick a side.

Early on in this, I felt the Lord was bringing to mind that story where Joshua was just about to fight the battle of Jericho. He was off by himself one night, and all of a sudden he sees this shiny figure, this angel-type person dressed as a warrior approaching him. He stands up and he says, “Are you for us? Or are you for our enemies? Are you on our side or are you on their side? And the warrior answers and says, “No. Neither. I’m the commander of the army of the Lord of Hosts and the place you are standing is holy.” It’s like, “Don’t even try and put me on a side.”

Here’s the deal. Humanity is on the wrong side. They’ve got a lot of different sides over there, but they’re all wrong. Anything of human origin is ultimately going to leave you empty. But the goal of your life should be to get on over to the Lord’s side. But the goal of your life should be to get on over to the Lord’s side.

It’s not a matter of “Are you on our side or are you on their side? God, pick a side. God, join a side.” He said, “No, I’m not going to join a side.”

We’ve already seen Jesus is like, “I’m not going to submit myself to human opinion. I’m not going to submit myself to the polls” (so to speak).

So why should we have Jesus be the ultimate authority in our life? Because he’s on God’s side. He stands with the Father. He’s on the right side. If we stand with him, we’re going to find ourselves, no matter what circumstance we are in, to be on the right side. The right side. That’s where Jesus said we should stay. And he is right now sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Let’s continue on:

21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

So the next thing: Jesus should have ultimate authority over your life because he is not of this world. It’s similar to being on God’s side. It kind of meshes here a little bit. Jesus is not of human origin. Jesus is not here today and gone tomorrow. All the faith and trust we put in human leaders and human figures, they will let us down. Even if they never let us down, they die. It’s a let down.

But Jesus is different. He’s the only one that said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” There have been many people who have said, “I know the way. I know the truth. I know the life.” And you can go visit their graves. But there’s one who claimed to be the way, the truth and the life and you just can’t find his body. It’s just not there. Because he is risen from the dead. The true enemies of humanity are not each other. It’s sin and death. And Jesus conquered them forevermore.

And that brings us to the next point. Jesus should have ultimate authority over your life because he rose from the dead and is coming back again.

Jesus is just continuing to set the stage for this moment. He says, “If I be lifted up…” But I always thought that was on the cross. If he is lifted up then everyone would know. I think he’s referring to the cross, but maybe even more so, “When I’m lifted up out of the grave then you will know that I am who I say I am.”

27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

And then he goes on and says:

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.

So now Jesus is kind of bringing it home a little bit. He’s talking about his authority from being with the Father, authority that, “Once I’m lifted up you’re going to see what authority I have when I’m raised from the dead.” And he then he starts saying, “And you guys are trying to kill me.”

They don’t deny it now. Remember last chapter they were like, “Why is he saying this? Are you crazy?” This time they’re not denying it. And he says it twice.

And here’s the next thing. Jesus should have ultimate authority over your life because he knows the evil in humanity’s heart. He’s not deceived. He’s not fooled. And it’s hard these days to not be deceived or fooled. It’s really hard these days because the rhetoric is so powerful. Yet, if you make Jesus the Lord of your life, he’s not swayed by popular opinion. He’s not confused.

A good way that I’ve heard people talk about is that we’re in this parade. The parade is coming by and here we are standing on the sidewalk and we’re watching the parade. We can see what’s happening in front of us. If we’re really wise, we can see what’s coming. And then we can also maybe kind of figure out what’s been that can help us a little bit. So we have a little perspective. The Zeitgeist of history can help us understand where we are today, but we can’t really understand our own time. Maybe some of us can see what’s coming a little bit.

But God’s perspective is like he’s up in this blimp above the whole thing. He’s not limited to just seeing a section of time. He can see it all, start to finish. He knows where it turns. He knows where it straightens out. He knows every part of history. He sees it all perfectly. And he can see into the human heart. He can see the selfish ambition. He can see all of the power plays. He can see all the manipulation. He can see all of that. He’s not fooled by that.

It’s not just out there. It’s in ourselves. Sometimes we can’t even see our own. I remember that was a big deal for me in my marriage early on. I was very persuasive. Again, I grew up and my brothers and parents called me the tyrant. I was the youngest and I guess it was the only way I could get things done. I was very persuasive. My dad said I should have been a lawyer. I was good at arguing. Now I’m a preacher. I just say what I say and nobody can argue with me. No—just kidding.

But I was very persuasive. I got married and, again, I was altruistic in my persuasion, as far as I was concerned. But I remember one time Brittany looking at me and saying, “I need you to stop talking.” I said, “What?” She said, “Because I know something’s wrong but if you keep talking I know you’ll convince me you’re right.” It broke my heart. It crushed me because she was right.

I was not just saying the truth to her. I was always trying to spin it a little bit. Even though I wasn’t trying to hurt her, I was trying to get her to see it and feel it the way I saw it and felt it, instead of letting her decide how she sees and feels it and then we work from there. This was a major moment. She couldn’t name it, but she could sense it. And I had a lot of repenting to do in a lot of areas of my life.

And this is the beauty of Jesus. He sees straight through it. You can’t sway him. You can’t convince him of something that isn’t right and true, because he knows. He’s an awesome authority. So different from anyone else that we could authority to. ”

48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

This is a big moment. Still people say that Jesus never claimed to be God. Yes, he did. Yes. And he did so so often and so clearly that they kept trying to kill him, and ultimately did.

So why should Jesus be the authority of our life? Because he is the I AM. If you read the scriptures of what that means. Basically it means that he’s the Alpha and Omega. He is what you need. He is what the world needs. Again, he’s not the Jesus we want all the time. He’s always the Jesus we need.

Right now, what the world needs is Jesus. Right now, what you need is Jesus. And amazingly enough, he has made an offer to you that you can join him. You can follow him. You can be a part of his family. And the authority that he brings is not an oppressive authority. It’s an authority that sets you free.

I watching a little bit of Braveheart last night. It was on TV. Basically, Robert the Bruce, who was king of Scotland, he was talking about William Wallace, who was basically the hero of Scotland. He was saying, “I don’t want men to follow me because I punish them if they don’t. I want them to follow me like they follow William Wallace. His life, his words, his actions inspire people to follow him.”

And that’s the difference. The Pharisees would punish the people or speak judgment from God to them if they didn’t do what they wanted them to do. Jesus spoke in a different way and lived in a different way. He inspired people to follow him. Because he was the truth and he had the truth and he spoke the truth and he acted in truth. Even to the extent of dying and arising from the dead.

Again, if you want to study the historicity of that act of resurrection, there’s more proof about the resurrection than almost any other event in human history, because it’s been a focal point, for sure. But Jesus is a trustworthy authority. He’ll lead you to life.

One last little analogy before we close. We had a guy speaking there on Tuesday, and he was talking about how he used to own a car wash in New York. In that car wash he would have the little signs and instructions when people would drive up. He was talking how, in his life, that’s what it has meant to trust Jesus, to give him authority. He has to put the car in neutral, put his life in neutral—like come to the Lord and say, “Okay, Lord, I’m here and I’m letting go.” A

Then he needed to take his hands off the wheel. Just take your hands off the wheel. And he needed to take his foot off the brake. It’s like, “God I’m going to give you control. I’m going neutral. God, I’m taking my hands off the wheel. Whatever you say, we’ll do. All right God, what are we doing? We’re going there? Okay.”

I love a quote by Pope Francis. “Ask God what he wants you to do and then be brave.” I think he could say, “Ask God what he wants you to do and then take your foot off the brake.”

Right now, as Christians, it’s very important for us…this is my three things:

Consecration. If we really want to have the authority in this moment to be able to speak in a way and live in a way that other people will find Jesus, we need to consecrate ourselves. We need to come out of some things. We need to unsubscribe some things. Consecration is a very important thing right now.

We need to intercede. Intercession is so important. Make sure your prayers are not just about you right now, please. Don’t just pray about your stocks and bonds. Don’t just pray about your needs. This is a time for the church to pray for others. I’m not saying God doesn’t care about your needs. Pray about those too. Just make sure your prayers include others. It’s time for intercession.

And it’s time for evangelism. We’re going to talk some more about that in the coming weeks. There’s nothing that makes Jesu happier than when you tell someone about him. Nothing makes him happier. Nothing.

And Jesus, we do ask that you would consecrate us. That you would pull us close to you. Show us where we’re entangled in the world. Show us the sin and weight that entangles us and help us to pull away from that, Lord. I pray you show us and teach us how to intercede in this time, that we would get to see mighty things happen because of our prayer life. And Lord, I pray that you would give us opportunities this week to tell people about who you are and what you can do. I pray all this in your name. Amen.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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