Why Jesus Came: More Than Forgiveness, Complete Transformation
This post is part of Blackbird Mission’s 2025 Summer of Sermons series, featuring Daron Earlewine’s most impactful church messages.
Bottom line up front: Jesus offers the most radical invitation in history—not to believe information about him, but to actually follow him, be with him, become like him, and do what he did. But here’s the kicker: most of us are following everyone except the one person actually worthy of our lives.
Let’s be honest—we live in a culture obsessed with following. Your Instagram feed is probably packed with 2,000+ people you don’t even know, yet somehow they’re shaping your thoughts, dreams, and daily decisions. You mindlessly scroll through their highlight reels while ignoring your spouse, kids, and the actual life happening right in front of you. Sound familiar?
In his powerful message “Come Follow Me,” Daron Earlewine cuts straight to the heart of our modern dilemma: We’re incredibly good at following people, but terrible at choosing who’s actually worthy of our lives.
Bottom line up front: Jesus didn’t come just to give us new rules or make us more moral. He came to make us completely new—spirit and body—and invite us into a kingdom that changes everything about how we live.
Have you ever felt like the Bible is just too long, too old, and too intimidating to really understand? You’re not alone. Most people treat Scripture like something that’s “TL;DR”—too long, didn’t read. We grab a devotional here, scan some cliff notes there, but never really dive into what God is actually revealing about himself.
Here’s what’s wild though: the Bible is actually a progressive revelation of who God is. It’s not just ancient history or moral guidelines—it’s God systematically showing us his heart, character, and will so we can have real relationship with him.
The game changer: Jesus brings something completely new
When Jesus shows up in the New Testament, everything changes. Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us that while God spoke through prophets in the past, “in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son… The son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
This is huge news. Jesus isn’t just another teacher with better rules. He IS God walking among us. When people received the name Emmanuel for Jesus, it literally means “God with us.” If you want to know what God is really like, you look at Jesus—because he’s the exact representation of the Father.
Four revolutionary things Jesus brings
- A New Creation: When God makes you new, he brings your spirit back to life and removes the separation between you and him.
- A New Covenant: The new covenant puts God’s spirit directly within you so he can teach you from the inside out, not outside in.
- A New Kingdom: You were bought with the precious blood of Jesus to join him in seeing his kingdom come.
- A New Communion: Daily communion with the living God who dwells within you.
The choice that changes everything
Here’s the reality: You have been fearfully and wonderfully made. You were created on purpose and for purpose. When you come into relationship with Jesus, you become God’s masterpiece, created to do good works he prepared specifically for you.
Your next step
Don’t waste this life. Step into this new creation, this new covenant, this new kingdom.
God is for you. God is near you. You were created on purpose and for purpose. And that changes everything about how you live starting right now.
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To connect or learn more about joining a Rogue Collective band, visit RogueCollectiveCoaching.com or email me directly at daron@daronearlewine.com.
Episode Summary:
God isn’t asking you to be better—He’s inviting you to be brand new. In this powerful sermon, Daron walks through the sweeping redemptive arc of Scripture, showing how Jesus fulfills the promise of a new creation, a new covenant, and a new kingdom. This is more than theology—it’s your personal invitation to transformation, purpose, and spiritual rebirth.
Key Takeaways:
⚡️ Jesus didn’t come to improve your life—He came to make you new
⚡️ You are part of a greater Kingdom with eternal significance
⚡️ Your spiritual birth is the beginning of your true identity
⚡️ The covenant is personal, but the mission is global
⚡️ You don’t just believe in Jesus—you live in Him
Notable Quotes:
⚡️ “The gospel isn’t about religion—it’s about resurrection.”
⚡️ “Jesus doesn’t upgrade your life—He rewrites your story.”
⚡️ “Your spirit will exist forever—don’t waste it on things that don’t matter.”
⚡️ “You were made new to help renew the world.”
⚡️ “The Kingdom of God isn’t someday—it’s here and now.”
Episode Resources:
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Links to the Daron Earlewine Podcast
YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Libsyn
TRANSCRIPT
Hey, welcome back to the Daron Earlewine Podcast. Daron Earlewine, your host. And hey, one thing I love to do in the summer is shake things up a little bit, right? You got four seasons and everyone’s a little different. And I like to change things up in the summer. And that’s what we’re going to do here on the Daron Earlewine Podcast. So here’s what we got for you. You know, we do a lot of purpose development stuff, whether it’s at schools, the purpose paradigm, with what we’re doing now and kind of communicating the future of Rogue Collective as we’re doing purpose and personal development in the marketplace. And one of other things that I’ve been doing, well, shoot, now for like, I don’t know, since I was 16, is going to churches or being a part of faith communities and sharing sermons out of the Bible. And so what we’ve done this summer is gotten maybe some of the greatest hits over the past year or so of me speaking at local churches and we’re going to put them together. We’re going to share them with you here on the podcast. And here’s what I hope. I hope they inspire you. I hope they help you understand how much God loves you. Okay. I hope they help awaken within you the fact that God is near you, right? That God is for you. And as we say every week on the podcast, that God has created you on purpose and for purpose. Lots of different topics that will be coming this summer, but hopefully just great content that’s going to inspire you. And we always love to hear from you. A very easy way for you to do that, just email me, Daron, D-A-R-O-N at DaronEarlewine.com. Love to hear what you’re learning, love to hear questions you have. Maybe there’s a topic you’d love to hear us jump into on the podcast. Please reach out, Daron at DaronEarlewine.com and enjoy the 2025 Summer of Sermons. Created on purpose and for purpose.
My name is Daron, really want to get to be one of the teaching pastors here and stoked to be with you this morning. I told first service this would be like, it would have been the perfect Sunday to come up with something some kind of cool opening illustration that has to do something with the Super Bowl or whatever. But I didn’t. So sorry. Because I got too much content. So we don’t have time for dumb stories that somehow I’m like talking about a game and then it’s like, oh, but we have to show like eagles. I don’t know, like whatever it would be. I don’t have time for that today because we’re trying to get through like the entire Bible in like eight weeks, which is impossible to do. Okay. And but we’re, giving it a good college try here. And this sermon series is called T-L-D-R, right? Too long, didn’t read, which is, if we’re honest, we’ve tried to be over the past like four or five weeks, that’s kind of our M.O. with the Bible. It’s kind of like, whoa, little too long, little too old, didn’t really read it, right? Cut a couple cliff notes here and there, did a couple devos, if you will, but not really sure what’s going on with the Bible. It’s kind of scary to me because it feels intimidating and too long.
Most people, that’s kind of their relationship with the Bible. Unfortunate, because we believe it’s actually the living and active word of God that can guide and direct our life. So if we treat it like something that’s too long, too old, too scary, it’s probably not going to be a real transformational in our life, fair? So over the past few weeks, we’ve walked from the beginning words of the Bible. And today we’re actually getting all the way over to the New Testament, where some of you guys are like, finally, right? All that old stuff.
But what I hope is that as we’ve gone through the past couple of weeks is that you can be honest by saying like, have actually learned something new about the Bible that I didn’t know before. So let’s try a little crowd participation by this one. I actually do want you to participate. If over the past, like since we’ve been in this series, raise your hand if you have learned something new about the Bible that’s actually been helpful to your life.
Good, okay, we’re not failing. This is wonderful, all right? During this time, we’re also going through reading the Bible, reading the New Testament as a community together this year. Okay, I did it first service just to be honest with you, checking in. Last time we checked in, I was nine days behind schedule of reading the New Testament. let’s see, let me, okay, let’s check. It’s the same as it was last service. I’m still now seven days behind, okay? But I picked up two days this week because they tried to cheat me out a little bit. I got on there and it was like, there wasn’t even challenging. They’re like, oh, read half a chapter. I’m like, come on, bro. Like half a chapter, that’s all I’m gonna read today. So I was like, no, watch this, two days at once, bam, read the whole chapter. Did that twice, so I caught up on two days. It’s pretty simple, okay? We want you to join us in this. There’s probably a QR code somewhere in this church you could scan.
Talk to somebody out back if you don’t know what’s going on with it, right and you can join it It’s super easy. It’s in the Bible app Did you know your phone actually has a Bible app if you didn’t it does it’ll actually read you the Bible. It’s pretty awesome Okay, so we’re trying to understand the word of God. And as over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been walking through this, it starts with this idea of in the beginning, God created. And we use this mirror illustration to help us to understand where this all started. Those are the first words of the entire Bible. In the beginning, God created. So this world, this universe that we’re in, that we’re flying around this whole amazing cosmos, like it didn’t get here by accident. It’s here by intelligent personal design, created by the genius and the mastery and the power of God. And we have a chance to know that God. The other thing that’s cool about it is the word of God taught us right at the beginning of that we were created in the image of God. Meaning there’s something about who we are relationally and creatively and just spiritually that we actually bear the fingerprints of this God as humans, okay?
Then the next one we talked about the fact the tough part was what happened was all of the things that were a perfect reflection of God and us became broken. We moved this idea, we talked about this idea of going from creation to choice to chaos. Adam and Eve chose to distrust God and go, no, I want to be actually like you. I want to be on my own and I’m gonna do this on my own and only trust myself. And what happened is the world as we know it was broken. And now it’s very difficult to see our true reflection in God because of the brokenness of this world. It’s not just us, it’s in everything. Then the next one we talked about that the heart of God was always to redeem and to restore his loved creation, us. So he starts by actually calling a human being into relationship personally and starting a covenant with them. We spoke a couple of weeks ago about this, that this was a massive revolution of divine revelation. Because in the ancient times, they saw the gods as against them, vindictive, hateful, and very distant. So you sacrificed animals and stuff and maybe your children to appease the gods so they would not kill you or in your stuff and now what happens that’s how they view the gods and then a god shows up and says hey I’m actually the living god okay and I know your name Abram I know who you are I’m not far from you I’m near you and I’m actually here to bless you.
And I’m going to call you Abram into what we talked about that week was the divine vocation of all humanity in my opinion is that you get connected to God and he blesses you to become a blessing to others. And not only did God invite Abram into this personal relationship where he was near him and he was for him, he actually gave him a purpose and invited him into a covenant relationship. We talked about that. This covenant relationship with the covenant actually means becoming one. That this God wanted to become one with us. Why? Because when it all started back in creation, we were one with him. So he invites Abram into this covenant, into this calling. Then you go through and Ken had to do about two thirds of the Old Testament last week. And I thought he did a bang up job with it, all right? And if you’ve missed any of these sermons, we actually post them online where you can actually go back and watch them. So if you care about learning this stuff and it’s helping and you’ve missed some weeks, just go watch them, right? What you just have to do is substitute that for like 30 minutes or so of watching like Night Agent or whatever you’re binging on right now, which that’s a good show, telling you, right? We’re gonna have time for that story, all right? We’re preaching right now. Anyway, what am I talking about? Oh yeah, thank you.
So they can’t help us understand this, that most of the rest of the Old Testament, all this stuff that you’re reading about these prophets and these priests and these kings, it was not ideal, but it was necessary. God is establishing this faith and this trust and this guidance with these people. And so he has prophets that actually speak for him. And he’s got priests that actually bring these sacrifices. And he’s got kings that rule over the people and help govern with God. And it’s not ideal. It’s not exactly what he wanted, but it is necessary to set up what he’s doing, which is now where we’re gonna step into. This week is this new revelation of who God is. Because if you remember, we have said multiple weeks that the Bible is basically a progressive revelation of the heart, the character and will and person of God. You’re watching this progressive revealing of who God is. And then we get to the new Testament and within the New Testament, here’s what we’re walk through today. We’re gonna talk about the new creation, the new covenant, the new kingdom and the new communion. If you wanna take notes and that’s what you want, these are gonna be your four points. Let’s jump in. So what happens is now God has put in place all of this process, okay? And that’s all the Old Testament and there’s so much good stuff for us to understand about God in that, okay? But now he’s taking things to a completely new level. And here is what the Bible says about Jesus as he appears in the New Testament. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3 says, in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways. This is what Ken talked about last week, okay? This was how God did it. was not ideal, but it was necessary. And that’s how he spoke to people. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he has made the universe. Listen to this. The son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. This is big. News. What’s happening is God saying, I’m in this process of progressively revealing who I am so we can have connection and relationship and communion and move back to the way I wanted it to begin with. And when Jesus shows up, the Son of God, God is coming himself to this earth. God began to walk amongst us and they gave him the name Jesus, also the name Emmanuel, which literally means God with us. And when Jesus shows up, it says he is actually, he is the radiance of God’s glory in the exact representation of his being. So when Jesus is showing up in the New Testament, it’s not just, hey, here’s some new rules. You had the Old Testament rules. Now I’m bringing you a bunch of new rules and here’s the rules you do, or here’s the stuff you got to do, or here’s all the, here’s how you become super moral now in what we’re doing. No, no, no, What he was saying is, I’m actually going to show you what it’s like to begin the process of returning to the original creation, which is you now have the opportunity to be with God. And if you want to know what God is like, you just look at Jesus because he is the exact representation of the Father.
And as we dig through the New Testament over the next couple of weeks, what I want to challenge you to do is to begin reading the Old Testament through what we might call a Jesus lens. There’s a great podcast series I listened to about 15 years ago by guy named Wayne Jacobson. love a lot of his writing and speaking. He has a podcast series called The Jesus Lens. If you’re looking for something to dig into, I’d encourage you to check it out and then message me what you’re learning, okay? But basically what he challenges you to do is to learn to look through the Old Testament, through the lens of Jesus. And where if you’re picking up stuff in the Old Testament where it just doesn’t seem to be congruent with what Jesus has said or would do, you’re probably misunderstanding it. I’m guessing we’ve all had a moment where we read something in the Old Testament and we’re like, man, Old Testament God was kind of mad. Right? And then at some point between like, you know, Psalms and Malachi and Matthew, all of a sudden Jesus was like, hey bro, let’s chill out. Right? Not the case. They’re the same. So if you’re reading a really angry, vengeful God in the Old Testament, you’re not reading it through a Jesus lens.
Because when Jesus shows up, he’s bringing a new revelation of who God is. And he is the exact representation of the Father. And what he’s bringing is a new creation. He’s bringing the birth of something beautifully original, okay? the birth of something beautifully original. Jesus is teaching early on in his ministry and a man named Nicodemus who was a teacher, he was a man of the Pharisee sect, right, so was a teacher of the law. He’s a very prominent leader in the Jews who would know and have memorized the majority of the Old Testament. And he watches Jesus’ teaching and life and ministry and he’s like, God is up to something with this guy and I’m real curious. So I need to go seek him out at night. Because I don’t want people to know that I’m curious about this and go ask Jesus some questions. That’s the scene. It’s in John chapter three. Nicodemus comes to Jesus. says, Rabbi, which means teacher, says, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God pointing, God revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it. Jesus says, you’re absolutely right. Take it from me. Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to, to God’s kingdom.
How can anyone said Nicodemus be born who’s already been born and grown up? You can’t reenter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this born from above talk pause? Here’s one of the things I love about this story. Nicodemus Pharisee has a ton of scriptural knowledge in his brain. Jesus is bringing him something new, but beautifully original. And he’s confused. And he then gets into this conversation with Jesus to figure out, don’t quite get it. I love that these real interactions are in the Bible, because guess what has happened to me and probably you a ton of time? God is trying to teach you something new and you’re going, I still don’t get it.
And I love that in that moment we see that Jesus begins to open up Nicodemus’ eyes to the new and he’ll do the same for us. Jesus says, you’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation, I love the way the message paraphrase says this, the original creation, the wind hovering over the water creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life. It’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that a body you can look at and touch, but the person who takes shape within it’s formed by something you can’t see and touch the spirit and becomes a living spirit. Jesus, here’s what has to happen. Here’s what I came to do. I came to reestablish a new creation, which is a return to the origin. And what happened in the beginning? God created humans, right? It says he formed us out of the dust of the ground, made us in his image and breathed within us in the Hebrew, his ruach or his breath, his spirit and brought us to life. So human beings originally, the original creation was God forms you, God brings you to life with the spirit. And that’s how you entered this universe.
What Jesus is saying is now I have come to bring and make all things new and reset them back to the original. So the opportunity that Jesus is bringing you and me is this, not that you could become religious, not that you can become amazingly moral. He’s giving you the opportunity to actually become a whole human being, spirit and body. Because when we go back to this choice in chaos, what happened is there was a severing of our spirit’s connection to God. I believe you are more of a spiritual being than you are a physical one. You see, friend, as Amanda talked about yesterday, being at a funeral, I have to leave from here and drive to Anderson to go to a funeral myself. Two people that we know, guess what? Their body is no longer existing on this earth. But my friend, they’re still alive. Their soul is still alive. Your spirit will exist for eternity. What Jesus is bringing is a new opportunity to go back to what was originally created where you can be in union and communion with your creator.
As we take shape from within, what happens is it’s beautiful and it’s all over the New Testament. You’re going to find in scriptures like this in 2 Corinthians 5 17, if anyone is in Christ, in covenant relationship with them, which we’ll talk about here in a moment, the new creation has come, the old has gone, the new is here. He wants to make us new and transform us from the inside out.
I didn’t say this last service, but I can remember as a college student and even probably into my 20s and shoot, maybe last week, having moments where you read these scriptures and you’re like, all things are made new. And then you watch your life for the week and you go, seems like there’s some old stuff still hanging around. Ever had that moment? Man, I’ve been praying to break free from this thing and be a really different person for 30 years now, and all things are not new. I keep rehearsing the same stuff that keeps making my parenting or my marriage or my friendships or my professional life a challenge. So I think God must be lying. You see, that’s how the devil begins to trick us.
Understanding this, when it says that God makes all things new, it doesn’t say that God makes all things new, meaning they’re always completely perfect in the exact way they’re going to be forever and you become a superhero. What he’s saying is, what I’m going to make new is, I’m going to bring your spirit back to life and reset you in the way that it was supposed to function, where you can have union with the spirit of God. And I’m going to remove any of the separation between you and me. And now I’m going to walk with you in a covenant relationship for the rest of eternity. And little by little, I’m going to transform you by the renewing of your mind as you put on this new self, being renewed day in and day out to look more like Christ. And some of us get on that path a little bit quicker than others.
But do not doubt if you are currently struggling with a stronghold in your life and do not doubt right now if you are still struggling to break through a habit or an addiction or something that is holding you down and you know you have started a relationship with Jesus, you have been saved, right? You have been baptized, you have received communion, you have walked in relationship and you’re still in the battle. Do not let the devil tell you that it didn’t work on you. It did work on you. and you’ve been made new and you’re in the process of slowly being transformed. Don’t listen to the lies of the devil that because you’re not perfected now, you’re not a new creation. Right? As bonus, first service didn’t get that. Praise God, that’s Holy Spirit.
All right. This is fun, isn’t it? At least it is for me, I love it. You get to talk about Jesus and stuff. And I was so good. Thanks for being here. And if you’re new to this whole deal, we’re so glad that you’re here. Most days I can barely stay a Christian when I look at Christianity, which I’m just going to be honest. you don’t want to have me be all that honest about how I feel about the American church. It’s not great. OK, feel amazing about Jesus. Continue to feel amazing about Jesus. So I’m supposed to be the pastor guy, even though I hate the term, okay? Because I’m not a pastor, I’m an evangelist apostle. That’s for another sermon. But I know how difficult it is for me to want to come to church sometimes. Because I just, I American Christianity, it just, it’s tough. It’s tough. And I’ve spent 25 years trying to reform it. And then there was a couple years in there, I just kind of quit. And I was like, no one wants a change, forget it. And then God was like, hey. Maybe I didn’t give up on you. I was like, fine, Jesus. But if you’re just trying this whole deal out, I want you to know that we get it. And if it’s weird to come to church and you’re just trying to figure out a place to fit and it’s like, man, I don’t know, I want you to know this is going to be as safe as a place as we can make it for you. And we actually as a church want to be like a hospital for sinners and people wrestling with God and tough questions that we want to be some staunchy like museum of dissents that are playing church and just making God want to throw up in his mouth. It’s actually biblical.
So if you’re new and this is new for you, welcome. We’re glad that you’re here as we try our best to figure out how to become a part of this new creation, this new covenant, this new kingdom. The next thing Jesus brings is he brings a new covenant. And we talked about this idea of covenant back a couple of weeks ago. If you missed it, go back and check it out. But remember, God started with this guy named Abram. And this was a big deal because back in these days, the way they saw the gods, they hated you. They were far from you. They wanted nothing from you, but just for you to appease them with your sacrifices and everything to keep them happy. So they didn’t bring their vengeful wrath upon you. And all of a sudden this new God shows up and he says, Hey, here’s the deal. I’m the one true living God and I’m not far away from you. I’m near you. I know your name and guess what? I actually want to bring good into your life, not based on what you’ve done, but based on who I am so here’s what I’m gonna do Abram I’m gonna be your shield and your protector and I’m gonna begin blessing you in this covenant relationship so you can become a blessing and this was a revolution of understanding of God and In this moment they entered into this covenant relation. We talked about this is how they cut a deal in the ancient world
They would take an animal, they would slice it in half, put half over here, half over here, and they’d walk in this, this, this kind of path of, of, life and death, if you will, with the blood of the animal, they would walk through the tunnel. They would say what they were actually promising to do. And they would say, if I don’t fulfill my end of the covenant, may my life become like one of the, like, like this animal. So their word was their bond and they put their life on it. And that’s how they cut a deal or went into a covenant. And God created a covenant with this guy named Abram saying, here’s the deal, I’m going to protect and provide for you and your descendants on my life. That progressed through to where now Jesus shows up and he now makes the covenant new and superior. So what we’re seeing in the New Testament is the unfolding and understanding of this was the old covenant in the Old Testament. Now we have the new covenant that is superior to the old. And this is what it looks like as we run through this. Part of it is talked about all the way back in Jeremiah 31, right? Hundreds and hundreds of years before it happens, God’s already hinting towards how much better this new covenant is going to be that we got you get to live in. He says this, there will be a day where I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, know the Lord because they will all know me. What God is doing in this new covenant is saying, here’s the way it’s going to work now. Okay? Instead of us cutting an animal in half and having to sacrifice, I’m going to send my son and he will be the perfect sacrifice and he will give his life as a ransom right, to actually remove all of the space between us and it will be His blood that is shed and He will be the one that walks that path to pay the penalty of sin and to commit to all of humanity that I will protect and provide for you through this life and to the life to come. And I’m inviting you into this covenant relationship.
And the difference is going to be everything that we’ve done before has basically been in that covenant. Some certain people got to actually be connected to God, like priests, prophets, right? Some of these guys, would get the Holy Spirit would show up, but most people had to have go betweens other things like I need you to tell me this because and all God’s rules and laws are outside of myself. What God is saying, here’s what I’m doing. I want to go back to the original, the original creation where you’re made in my image. And now here’s what’s going to happen for everyone that steps into this covenant is they’re going to actually have God’s spirit within them so that God can teach them from the inside out, not the outside in. This is a revolution in understanding of God that God is actually for you, he’s not against you, he’s near you, he’s not far away, he’s created you on purpose and for purpose, and he actually wants to have a covenant relationship with you, meaning he wants to become one with you and live within you. And that is a really, really good thing.
There’s a new covenant. The way it says it in Hebrews chapter six is like this. I’ll throw out the old plan I set up with their ancestors when I led them by the hand out of Egypt. They didn’t keep their part of the bargain, so I looked away and let it go. The new plan I’m making with Israel isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled in stone. This time I’m writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I’ll be their God, they’ll be my people. They won’t go to school to learn about me or buy a book called God and Five Easy Lessons. They’ll all get to know me firsthand, the little, the big, the small, and the great. They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean by coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people. God put the old plan on the shelf and that is where it stays, gathering dust. It’s a new covenant to step into. When you step into that covenant, you get to be a part of the new kingdom.
One of the beautiful things about following Jesus is that we’ve come to know from the scriptures that he is the King of King and Lord of Lords, and he actually has a kingdom that we have the opportunity to step into. This is a kingdom that’s all about empowerment, that’s all about love, that’s all about servanthood, that’s all about love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness and self-control. And if you remember in the Old Testament, where Ken was talking last week, when they wanted a king, was like, no, I want to be your king, and I don’t think you want an earthly king because they’re going to take advantage of it. manipulate you, they’re going to put power over you. Well, what happens now is now that Jesus becomes the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and the King of this kingdom of God that he invites us into a covenant relationship to enjoy, we step into the understanding of a very empowering type kingdom. This is what it looks like for us. This is a Covenant and kingdom triangle setup understanding this for me transform my life and my understanding of Jesus Am I calling about 15 years ago? I think it might help you We’re in a covenant relationship with God it starts with the father He invites us into relationship if you’ve been in a discipleship huddle here at Mercy Road Northeast You know we go through this okay What happens is that you enter into a relationship the grace of Jesus the forgiveness of Jesus He makes you new and your new identity is what it’s forged first You become who? He says you are, not what you’ve done, not what you want to be, not what others say you are. You become what God says you are because of who Jesus is and who you become in him. You’re a child of God. You are made new. You’re the righteousness of God. All these things are true about how God sees you. And out of that new identity, the old is gone, the new has come. And out of that identity, you step out in obedience to that actually becomes the fruit of your life as you surrender and as you walk in relationship you start becoming what you already are in obedience. Out of that what happens is it draws you into greater love and adoration to your father because of that relationship you have with him. We don’t have time to talk about it but we run this backwards and it ruins our life. That’s for another sermon.
Okay. But what we have to remember within this kingdom is our father is the king of the universe. And there’s actually a kingdom that you’re being invited as a human being to represent. This is a big deal. And this is not church speak. This is a real thing that we need to allow our theology to form how we actually live. Okay. So there is a kingdom of God that is above and beyond all powers and authorities and kingdoms and countries and continents right now available to us. And when we step into this relationship, here’s the beautiful thing, the King of the universe not only does he give us a new identity as he calls his sons and daughters, he entrusts us with his authority to represent him.
So you see throughout the New Testament when Jesus was bringing this in, he would send his disciples out, right? Making them new. And he would say, here’s the deal. I’m going to give you authority to teach for me. I’m going to give you authority to heal the sick, to raise the dead. I am giving you my authority based on who you are. And as you go out in obedience and represent me, you’ll see the power of God, the King of the universe at work through your life. And when that happens, you’re drawn into greater adoration and praise of The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, your heavenly father. We usually run this one backward too. That’s for another sermon.
But I want you to see that this is the kingdom you’re invited into. You want to know why you feel like your life should make a difference. You want to know why when you binge watch night agent all night long and don’t do anything and you haven’t done anything for weeks and you don’t see your life making a difference, why you feel like your life isn’t making a difference. A, because it’s probably not because you’re wasting it, just binging it and wasting what God has given you. But two, it’s because your spirit that was created in the image of God that stepped in this new creation, that stepped in this new covenant, that’s in this new kingdom, screaming out to you, you’re supposed to actually change the world.
Your life’s not a rerun. Your life isn’t your hobbies. Your life was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ to join him to actually see his kingdom come. The kingdom is so much better than the garbage of the world we see now. All the stuff you see on the news that breaks your heart, guess what? That’s the kingdom of darkness. And what we get to do is join with the king of the universe. He makes us new, he forgives us, he brings us in, he gives us gifts and abilities and all the stuff and the power and he says, okay, let’s actually go see faith and hope and love, joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness. Let’s see it begin to change the world now. That’s what we get to do as Christians. That’s what the New Testament is about. It’s the beginning of that happening. And then it going on for a couple, you know, hundred years there. And then it extends to us and someday, and we’ll talk about this in a couple of weeks. It will come to its complete fulfillment when Jesus returns again.
We got a kingdom to represent.
All right, let’s ban you guys and come up. I know I’m wasting time. I’m not wasting time. I didn’t say any of that in the first service. I was too tired. Brandon, let’s post this service online. This is better, more authentic.
You know… Kind go to this funeral after I’m done. Guy used to run sound for us at my first church plant. Sweet guy. Old school, like 80s rocker, you know? And we ran our sound so loud, it was so dumb. These huge speakers, people would leave our church because it was too loud. And I was like a 25 year old church planter and I was like, if it’s too loud, bro, you’re too old. No, it just sounded like crap. It was too loud, right? Batman! He’s done. Like he was born and he died last week. He’s dead. It’s over on earth for him. There’s no more difference to make. Right. And that day he died, his spirit stepped into the presence of the living God. And he had to give an account for himself.
And the beautiful thing about my friend Roger is he stepped in there and because of what Jesus did, right? His name was in the lamb’s book of life and he’s been in this covenant relationship. And when God saw him, said, ah, good and faithful servant. I see you through the sacrifice of my son. You are forgiven and enter into this rest and to this party.
Like what we’re talking about, trying to understand this, like, I don’t care if you ever come back to this church ever again. We’re not trying to build a big church, right? It’s not about this. It’s about this kingdom. It’s about this thing that we’re invited into. And the fact that you have been given this life, you woke up this morning, you’re alive. How many more days do you have? You have no idea.
But you have been fearfully and wonderfully made. You have been created on purpose and for purpose. When you come into a relationship with Jesus, you become the craftsmanship, the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which is prepared in advance for you. Your life actually has so much meaning and purpose to it because you join with the creator of the universe to see his kingdom come and his will be done. And guess what? The majority of what you see in your life and in this world is trying to distract and distract your opportunity to do that. And if you stay distracted and you stay Just mediocre. you will waste your life. And someday, just like my friend Roger, you’ll die and you’ll stand in front of Jesus. And I tell you what, I’m really, really glad for the blood of Jesus. Because I got a lot of forgiving that needed to happen in my life and I continue to rack up a pretty good debt.
But I do my best to not waste this gift that I was given.
So two questions today, we’re gonna take community together. We’re gonna take you and we’re gonna do it differently. You guys are come get the elements and we’re gonna sit down together. We’re gonna take it together as a community.
But don’t waste this life. Step into this new creation. Step into this new covenant if you don’t know it. Step into this kingdom. This calling he has for you. And if you’ve never responded to a relationship with Jesus and what I told you today was brand new, you’re like, bro, I didn’t know this was available. I’m in. Then tell Jesus you want in, right? As for his, you have his forgiveness, receive his forgiveness and maybe come take communion for the first time as an act of saying, I want to begin following Jesus. Okay.
Or if you’re at a different place and you’ve been following Jesus, but something else stood out to you today. Enjoy this time of communion, this time of union, this time of communication with God’s Spirit. We’ll take the elements, take them back to your seat, and we’ll take them together. Lord, I pray as we have this time of communion that you would communicate with each one of us. We thank you for your spirit. We thank you for your blood. We thank you for the opportunity we have to be here together. And so we give you this time. Cheers.