Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: I sincerely believe this morning that no one is here by mistake.
I believe that Jesus brought you here for a purpose this morning. And I just sense such an expectation that when we gather in his name, things change.
I don't know about you, but I'm coming hungry this morning for a touch from God.
I want to remind us that not one of us is here against our free will. This morning we get to come together.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Why?
[00:00:35] Speaker A: To encounter the God that made us.
That's why I'm here and I pray that's why we would all come this morning is to experience Jesus.
Can we take a moment and pray? Jesus, we love you.
[00:00:53] Speaker C: You are the reason we gather this morning.
You are the reason we are here. Lord, would you come?
[00:01:02] Speaker A: Would you meet us? Would you reveal yourself to us?
We thank you for your presence in this room, Lord.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: Holy Spirit, would you open up the.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Scriptures this morning that we could comprehend.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: Jesus in Jesus name, Amen.
I want to start off preaching out of Matthew 11.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: I'm going to be preaching about Jesus this morning.
Not that I really need a reason to, but it's Christmas.
[00:01:29] Speaker C: If I needed an excuse, there's a reason for it.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: But I preach about Jesus no matter what time of the year it is. That's why Paul said, I long to know Christ and him crucified.
And my prayer this morning, I promise you, isn't to come with persuasive words. Because Paul also said, if I come with persuasive words, you'll put your trust in man.
But the goal is a demonstration of the Spirit and of his power so.
[00:01:53] Speaker C: We can put our trust in God.
And as we gather together for Christmas.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: I want to talk about the life of Jesus. Like Pastor Roman, so beautifully articulated.
[00:02:03] Speaker C: And I think one of the primary verses, because it's pretty rare in Jesus, it's pretty rare in the life of.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Jesus where he actually self describes his nature to us.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: And in Matthew 11, I can't get away from this passage of where there's these religious people coming to Jesus and they tired, they burnt out. And I can't help but think of how many believers are tired and burned out of walking this journey that sometimes feels like a burden to us.
And they come to Jesus. And Jesus makes the statement in Matthew 11, verse 28, Come to me all you who are labor and here who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
That's an invitation for anyone today that comes in feeling like there's a weight on their shoulders, that they're tired and unrestful, that they are restless he says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon.
[00:02:59] Speaker D: You and learn from me.
But then he makes this prerequisite to them.
Just so you know, if you are going to come and learn from me.
[00:03:07] Speaker C: You better know that I am gentle and lowly.
[00:03:13] Speaker D: See, I don't think we quite understand how upside down this statement is.
Hey, you're tired. Hey, you're restless. Yes. You're standing in front of the God of the service. I will give you rest. I'm not going to take your burden from you. I'm going to show you how to give me the burden that you're carrying.
And if you want me to carry your burden, you have to go low enough to reach my level.
[00:03:35] Speaker C: And then we'll carry it together.
[00:03:39] Speaker D: But it's a bizarre statement because we think in the 21st century, in our modern day context, the more rights that we have, the more rest that will produce.
In our modern context, to produce rest, we cut people off, we produce a fence in our heart, we produce distance. And we go, I'm going to get rest because I'm going to take the high road. I deserve A, B and C. Can I tell you the high road leads to restlessness.
The kingdom that we are part of is more upside down than we realize. The way to find rest in our kingdom is by taking the low road.
I love this prerequisite because, like, I will teach you my way. But you better know that leaders in my kingdom are gentle.
You know that one of the primary signs of holiness is gentleness.
You don't hear a lot of sermons on that.
You hear a lot of sermons about how you'll get louder, more passionate, you can get more passion, but never more gentle.
And we haven't done a great job in charismatic circles because we often think formation happens in a moment. Have you ever noticed that sometimes becoming a little bit more gentle takes years?
But we don't like to talk about that.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Come to me, learn from me. I'm gentle and lowly.
[00:05:12] Speaker D: This is the Jesus that we serve.
He models humility to us.
Even talking about Christmas, the idea that God would take on flesh, that God would take on the limitations of humanity.
Philippians 2 says he became of no reputation by choice.
Can I tell you, if you want to go into the depths of God, there will come a time where he.
[00:05:44] Speaker C: Will go after reputation in your life.
[00:05:49] Speaker D: The day will come when where the question will be asked, do you serve man or God?
No one bypasses that question.
Jesus chooses a Position of humility.
My question, often to myself, is, why am I so concerned with building something.
[00:06:10] Speaker C: That he gave up willingly?
[00:06:16] Speaker D: Why am I so concerned with reputation and what people think about me when. When the king that I serve gave it up willingly?
I'm building something which he surrendered.
Why would I build something that he didn't want, even his life from Nazareth?
You know what people said about Nazareth? Nothing good comes out of there.
Why? That's the first message of our humble king.
That refutation won't define him. Location won't define him.
That nothing is below him.
If I write this picture, if I write the story, God comes at a palace with trumpets and singers and musicians.
But God's way of royalty is different to ours.
See, our king carries a cross.
Strength looks different in our kingdom from Nazareth. But he would go, and Mary and Joseph would go to Bethlehem. I'm going to quote a lot of scripture, but Mary and Joseph would go to Bethlehem and give birth there. Why? Bethlehem is where kings came from.
Bethlehem was known as a place of royalty, but he's going there to fulfill the prophecies that he will come from the root of David, from Bethlehem.
But even in Bethlehem, when our humble king arrives on the scene in Luke.
[00:07:52] Speaker C: We can read Luke, lest some of you say I'm not reading enough scripture to you.
[00:08:00] Speaker D: Luke, chapter 2, verse 7.
She brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling glass and laid him in a manger because there was no room, and in the inn.
So even though he would go to a place of royalty, in his humility, he would still knock on the doors of his creation, seeing who was willing to host him.
God only comes into houses of people.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: That open the door.
[00:08:31] Speaker D: I'm talking to non believers this morning. If you need to be saved, you open the door. But I'm also talking to believers. He walks to and fro the earth, looking for friends of God who will host him in their house.
Revelation 3:20. Stands at the door of the lukewarm church, knocking, waiting for the day he.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Can dine with them and them with him.
[00:08:54] Speaker D: God broods over the earth, looking for friends that will make time for him.
Looking for the ones that are humble enough to be dependent.
You know what pride looks like in my life?
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Not needing God.
[00:09:17] Speaker D: Pride to me, I fall into this trap of believing that I'm. One of the questions that I find myself asking a lot is, if God.
[00:09:27] Speaker C: Is everything, why is he not enough?
If God is everything, why is he not enough?
[00:09:43] Speaker D: Why do I find myself going to.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: So many other Sources to so many other places.
[00:09:50] Speaker D: Knowing that he looks to and fro the earth, waiting for a place that would find him worthy.
Waiting for houses that would host him, that are not too entertained with other guests, but they make time for him.
See, why? Why would he go to Bethlehem? Because that to fulfill the promise of the prophecy that he would come in Bethlehem. Even when he gets there, he knocks and waits. See, in our kingdom, our king is.
[00:10:17] Speaker C: Humble enough to wait for an invitation.
And he will not convince us.
[00:10:26] Speaker D: Finding no space, he goes to a manger, to a barn. Even in Bethlehem, where royalty is, he's.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: Still not born in the palace, but in obscurity in a manger, in a trough.
[00:10:39] Speaker D: Why? Because the trough where they would put food is a prophecy that one day.
[00:10:44] Speaker C: He would become a meal.
He would become a meal for those who are humble enough to eat.
[00:10:58] Speaker D: He'd be wrapped in swaddling cloths.
Why? To declare his dependency, his complete surrender.
That he would put his hands, he would put himself into the hands of.
[00:11:15] Speaker C: Humanity, prophesying that once again he would do that at the cross.
[00:11:23] Speaker D: The swaddling cloth. This is not the first time he'll be wrapped in cloth. The next time he'll be wrapped in cloth is in his grave.
The early church and the iconography of the early church, they would actually depict baby Jesus wrapped not in a swaddling.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: Cloth, but a grave cloth.
[00:11:43] Speaker D: Because his birth is a prophecy of his death. Born in a wooden trough, prophesying one day he will die on a wooden.
[00:11:50] Speaker C: Cross.
[00:11:53] Speaker D: Given into the hands of man.
[00:11:56] Speaker C: He would give himself over to man again.
[00:12:00] Speaker D: Don't mistake it today he was killed by man, but he willingly gave himself up.
Why Bethlehem? You know what the word Bethlehem means?
[00:12:13] Speaker C: House of bread.
Because he would become a meal for anyone humble enough to eat house of bread.
Because he is the bread of life.
Come to me all and I will give you rest.
He said, I am the bread of life.
[00:12:38] Speaker D: He would go to Bethlehem to show that he will become the bread of.
[00:12:42] Speaker C: Life that sustains humanity.
[00:12:46] Speaker D: Then he would go back to Nazareth, obscurity, where nothing good comes out of.
And he would grow in wisdom and stature and favor.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: The life of Jesus is convicting to me.
[00:13:04] Speaker D: There is no self promotion in him.
I was just reading this morning in John chapter six where he's doing so many miracles and they're like, hey, we want to make you king.
Many of us would be like, favor, open doors, God made me king all my dreams. He's like, no, because he's not going to enforce his rulership on anyone.
He'll go to the cross. Because our King carries a cross.
He's not waiting for his moment.
The humility of Jesus.
My cry in 2026, hopefully, like every year, I want to be more like Jesus.
In my daily rhythms, in how I love people, in humility.
I think about the life of Jesus, how slow it is.
He feeds the 20,000 and then sends away the crowd.
I often wonder, would I be able.
[00:14:13] Speaker C: To send away the crowd?
[00:14:15] Speaker D: Or have I made the crowd success?
I wonder if that's why revivals haven't lasted, because the end goal was a crowd.
I think there's a place in God where you send away the crowd, knowing that God will show up tomorrow, knowing that the same God that's in this room will be in my room later.
He sends away the crowd. I don't think he's disappointed. He's being drawn by the Father. To be alone.
It's humble to spend time with God.
It shows dependency.
He's in solitude, alone with God. I've been pressing into this idea of just spending time with God alone, like Jesus modeled to us.
And I wonder why so often a generation is so afraid of solitude.
But when we don't go to solitude, we never get the invitation into humility.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: Let me explain.
[00:15:23] Speaker D: Solitude always asks you two questions.
When you get alone with God, whether it's in the morning or weekend or a weekend away. It asks you two questions. When the phone gets away and the people are away and it's just you and God, and your prayer list is gone. Have you noticed that your whole prayer list is gone in five minutes? The book you wanted to read, you're done with. And 17 minutes has passed and now it's just you and God. That solitude will always ask you two questions. At first, he asks you, what are you running from?
Can we be real this morning?
The solitude asks you, what are you running from?
Because to be alone with you and God, you have to have a pure conscience.
So stuff comes up and there's an invitation to enjoy that. But that road requires loneliness.
So you get alone with God and something comes up. And the beauty there is that question of what are you running from? Is an invitation. Because you should be running to the cross.
But oftentimes we run to other things. So the second question solitude asks you is, what are you running to?
We need to be people that run to the cross.
See that question? What are you running from? That is the invitation into humility.
God, I need you.
I was talking to a friend yesterday. How do you obtain humility Humility is a strange one because if I obtain it through my works, I'm like, look, I obtained humility and then that's not humility. So I'm like, how do I obtain humility?
Right, because it's through my works and it was me and I gassed myself up. Then it's like, that's not humility. So now I'm trying to be humble again.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: It's like, but how?
[00:17:16] Speaker D: How do we obtain humility? By staring at Christ crucified.
By beholding Christ crucified. We are. We begin to obtain humility. And then what happens when you see Christ crucified?
You begin to walk his death out in your life.
You begin to learn from Christ how he died, what the journey looked like. And then you begin to walk that out in your own life. Is it possible? Here's a question for us this morning. Is it possible to obtain holiness without humility?
It's a good question.
Is it possible to obtain holiness without humility?
Andrew Murray said this.
The one tell tale sign of counterfeit.
[00:18:14] Speaker C: Holiness is the lack of humility.
[00:18:22] Speaker D: See, the test in a room like this of true holiness would be those that go to him in private.
[00:18:29] Speaker C: It's humble to feast on him.
[00:18:32] Speaker D: The test of true holiness would be those who are willing to serve their brothers and sisters.
Why? Because it takes a surrendering to walk.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: Into the holiness that he's called us to.
[00:18:48] Speaker D: This is true holiness that we stare at him long enough to begin to see what the cross truly means.
And then we begin to walk his death out in our bodies. And through this experience, when hardship comes, it weakens us beautifully.
When you begin to walk his death out in your body in the midst of hardship, that means when persecution comes, when hardships come, when trials come, you have a roadmap.
What did Jesus do when he was persecuted?
[00:19:28] Speaker C: He kept quiet.
That will kill some stuff on you.
We have a roadmap.
[00:19:43] Speaker D: What did he do when people mistreated him?
I want to remind us that he is our Savior, but he's also our patent son.
He is our example.
And the goal of preaching this is as we give up all these rights that he never possessed, there's rest.
This is the way to the restful life.
We're giving up rights. I often think to myself, have I given Dylan rights that Jesus didn't possess?
We can get practical for a moment.
Somebody hurts you or hurts me, I'm gonna withhold love.
[00:20:35] Speaker C: Why?
[00:20:36] Speaker D: If I just love them, they would never learn their lesson.
[00:20:41] Speaker C: Less laughs on that one because we've all done that.
[00:20:45] Speaker D: Right? If I just. If I just love them, they'll do it to me again.
And then you start to look at the cross.
That Jesus is willingly giving himself to the ones that will crucify him.
So my version of the gospel, what I've lived out, what we live out at times is like Jesus gets off the cross. He's like, hey, you were mocking me.
Until you apologize for mocking me, I'm not dying.
Because if I just die, you'll never learn your lesson.
And Peter, you. You also did all of this until you apologize. And the other disciples, you all left, and then this guy, and then. And then Pilate, and they're like, hey, when you all collectively are good, come and speak to me. I'll be with Mary. And then I will come and die for you.
We laugh, but that's what we do.
And somehow we've justified it, forgetting that love is something that we become.
I get it. That sounds impossible.
[00:22:09] Speaker C: Like, I have to love the person that hurt me.
[00:22:12] Speaker D: It's that or a restless life.
How many options do we really have?
It's like forgiveness or bitterness.
See, we don't frame it like that because we've come up with other options.
[00:22:34] Speaker C: Forgiveness, distance.
[00:22:36] Speaker D: It's like, no, no. Bitterness, offense, death, restlessness.
I'm just here to remind us we don't really have as many options as we think we do.
Now, this road, I'm not saying it's easy.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: It's low.
[00:22:55] Speaker D: It's the low road. But I don't really have other choices.
The deeper I go in God, I'm like, I don't have as many options as I once thought I had.
So how do we do it? I'm like, well, I can't do it by myself. I just have to behold him long enough.
That's all I've got to do is behold the crucified Lord, behold our lowly king, until that becomes who I want to become.
And then by his grace and by his mercy, I start walking it out.
And suddenly people don't control me anymore.
We are called to become love.
You see, I think why Jesus could love so well is because he didn't require anything from people.
His reputation was done. So regardless of how you treated him, he could love you.
So what we allow it to do is that hardship comes into our life. We allow it to beautifully weaken us as we become more and more Christ. Like, when I look at the saints that I get to be around in my life, that I look up to, the one thing that all of them.
[00:24:17] Speaker C: Have is is humility.
And that always produces holiness, dependence on God.
[00:24:27] Speaker D: I pray that 2026 would be a year that you wouldn't be afraid of your dependence on God.
I think God's calling us into being over our head.
I think God's calling us in to having that uneasy feeling where you go.
[00:24:44] Speaker C: I'm going to pay the price to walk this out with God. I'm not going to choose bitterness. I'm not going to choose offense. I'm not going to choose distancing myself.
[00:24:53] Speaker D: I'm going to choose to allow this situation to form Christ in me.
[00:25:01] Speaker C: Who'S lowly and humble.
Peter, you can come up on the keys.
This is what Jesus is calling us into.
[00:25:17] Speaker D: I think there's two parts of humility.
Firstly, Jesus takes a position of humility.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: Humbles himself, his location, his life.
[00:25:32] Speaker D: But then you see a different humility.
[00:25:34] Speaker C: In Philippians chapter two, which if you have your Bible, we can turn there.
I find myself preaching this passage more than any other passage in the Bible right now because it so beautifully speaks to the life that we are called to live.
Let's start in verse three.
Let nothing be. And I pray this becomes our prayer this, this morning that as we can we actually just take a moment and meditate on the cross right now before.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: We read this.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: On what Jesus did for each one of us.
That he would go willingly to the cross for you and for me.
And then he empowers us to live this life. This is what Philippians 2, verse 3 says. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition, but in lowliness of mind. Esteem each other better than himself.
Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others.
Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider robbery being equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man, and being found in the appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
And I believe that's the roadmap for each one of us is the one that Jesus said that he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross.
And as we humble ourselves, the Holy Spirit will lead us to the same place, to our cross in the kingdom we live in.
Our King carried a cross, and we too are called to carry a cross.
I want to read one more passage to us and I believe this Passage gives us a game plan going forward.
It's out of numbers, chapter 21.
In the story. This is a prophecy, a type of Christ, of what would happen one day.
The Israelites are complaining about the worthless bread that God's given them.
And we'll pick up in verse six.
So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And many of the people of Israel died.
Therefore, the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he may take away the serpents from us. So the Lord prayed for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses, take a fiery serpent, set it on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live.
So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole.
And so it was. If a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Those who were humble enough to look at the serpent were set free from the poison of the serpent.
If we summarize a story that these.
[00:29:31] Speaker D: Serpents abiding people, and he goes, the answer is, hang a serpent on a tree, and anyone that looks at the serpent will be free.
That's why Jesus had to become a man. He had to take on flesh.
Put as a seed in Mary, which prophesies of one day the kingdom of God will come. Like a seed, he himself quotes it. He puts on flesh. He lives a perfect life. He has to die as a man, taking on sin. Why? Because he is the one lifted up on the tree.
Why did he become sin? Because on the cross, sin is defeated. Now anyone that beholds the crucified Christ.
[00:30:14] Speaker C: Is free from the sin that they've been entrapped in.
[00:30:21] Speaker D: But I wonder sometimes because we go into so many other things, we forget to behold the one who can own, the only one who can set us free.
[00:30:28] Speaker C: Free.
[00:30:35] Speaker D: I think we've.
I think we've bought into the lie that we have more options than we think.
There's only one way to freedom.
[00:30:45] Speaker C: Beholding Christ.
[00:30:52] Speaker D: He's the only way to be free from our sin.
[00:30:57] Speaker C: I have a question for us this morning. What have we been running from?
I believe God wants to give us grace.
And he has an answer. The cross is the answer.
DL Moody said, if I can get someone to keep quiet for five minutes.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: I can get them sa.
[00:31:23] Speaker C: How real is that?
Might I remind you that Jesus came to give you true rest?
I just see a picture of people letting things go this morning, Giving up rights. We never had Giving up rights that we gave ourselves, not being afraid of needing God, putting ourselves in a position of dependency again.
Can we stand right now?
I just sense a few things in the room. I sense that is there's a woman here that you have unforgiveness towards your mom and how she treated you. And it's. It's caused the spirit of infirmity to attack your body.
There's been sickness in your body that no one can diagnose why.
And I just sense the Lord setting you free today as you release your mother, as you. As you release her right now, rest will come upon you again.
I just sense grace for people in the room. There's people that made decisions they regret and it keeps them up at night.
I just sense God saying you one moment away from experiencing rest.
Take the lowly road.
If you're in the room this morning and you don't know the Lord, he came with. One goal in mind is to set you free from your sin, to set you free from yourself, to set you free from your past.
We all here with one purpose to meet with Him. He came to die.
He came to set you free. He came to give you rest. He came to break the chains of.
[00:34:12] Speaker D: Bondage and sin in your life. No one is too far gone for God.
No one is too lost.
[00:34:20] Speaker C: If you here this morning and you.
[00:34:21] Speaker D: Know that your life is not right with God. I don't. It doesn't matter how much you attend church if you know that if today was your last day on earth and your life would not be right with him.
Today is your day to meet him, to be set free to receive the.
[00:34:37] Speaker C: Sacrifice that he paid for.
[00:34:41] Speaker D: This is why he came.
If that's you in the room, I.
[00:34:45] Speaker C: Just want you to boldly raise your hand right now.
[00:34:47] Speaker D: You need a fresh start if you.
[00:34:48] Speaker C: Want to be set free from your sin.
Raise your hand right now. If you're in the room.
[00:34:51] Speaker D: I see that hand.
[00:34:52] Speaker C: Anyone else in the room that goes, I need a fresh start. Raise your hand nice and high this morning.
Is there anybody else? There's two more hands. Thank you, Lord.
Anybody else? I see those hands.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Can we pray for them for a moment? Can I have the ministry team come forward? Lord, we love you. We thank you for those hands that just went up.
Thank you, Holy Spirit. Would you touch them? Would you heal them?
Would you make them new? Lord, if you were around them, I know someone's around them. If you're around those two there, someone could pray with them. Lord, we thank you for what you're doing. We thank you for a new creation. Would you wash them with your blood?
[00:35:35] Speaker D: Lord.
[00:35:40] Speaker C: We're going to go into a time of worship right now, but I want to encourage you in prayer. This morning. I really felt like this morning is a morning of miracles in this house.
If you need a miracle in your body, our team is ready to believe with you.
He came to die to set us free, but he also came to pay for healing. By his stripes, we are healed. And I believe this morning as we.
[00:36:01] Speaker D: Go back into worship, if you have any need in your life at all, if you need a miracle in your body, anything at all, he paid for.
[00:36:08] Speaker C: It and he wills to heal you this morning.
[00:36:11] Speaker D: I encourage you to come and receive.
[00:36:13] Speaker C: Prayer this morning as we go back into worship.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: Thank you for joining King Movement Online. I pray and hope that that sermon impacted you deeply. I would love if you shared this with a few friends and family. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe. See you next week.
