The Rebellion- A sinner saved by the grace of an infinite God, encouraging the body in the fight against the darkness.

This week on The Rebellion, We are in the midst of our series the children of God. This is part four, Jesus the King of kings. So far we have established the infinite father, and we've looked at two of the roles of Jesus Christ as Savior and high priest. Last week we really drove home the idea of Him living eternally to intercede for us, as the second main role. This will be the final roll of Jesus that we look at in this series. I understand the Jesus Christ has more than three roles in the Christian's walk but we're just going over fundamentals. We're trying to build a foundation so that as we progress past these things there are a few basic truths that we agree on. Because if we don't then it's just going to get worse from here. That being said let's get to it! So at the beginning, I in jest said spoiler alert but in all reality that is what this role of Christ is. It gives us the ending up front. For a long-time, this was a difficult subject for me, The kingship of Christ. Maybe it's a little difficult for you. See I have a deep-rooted, in the womb issue with authority. I don't like it. I do not like being told what to do. Not one bit, not an iota of any of my cells, and quickest way to get me to not do what you want me to do is to tell me to do it. As a red-blooded American, a patriot, a veteran, I hold my freedom and my democracy close to my heart. I don't know if anyone knows this, but 200 some-odd years ago around 1776 as a people, we put our stake in the ground we don't like kings. As westerners, in general, it's a difficult idea to embrace because we are the literal antithesis of a monarchy. We don't like them. We don't think centralized power is a good thing. It has never worked out before! And yet, before all of that, I am a Christian. As a Christian, I am called to be submissive. I'm called to submit to all my authorities. Above and beyond all, I'm called to submit to the authority of Christ. Now you may be saying to yourself, man I am the best Christian ever. Last week when you were talking about struggling, I didn't even raise my hand. Maybe you are, and if that's the case I'm glad that you do not struggle. Let me ask you a question though, have you ever broken the speed limit? Of course, I've broken the speed limit, but God never said anything about speed limits. No, but He did say obey the laws of the land. Therefore, you have usurped the authority of Christ. Oh I know I know that's too harsh. Did you ever speak back to your parents? Then you have usurped the authority of your parents whom Christ said to submit to. Have you ever not done your homework? You are assigned your homework. Your teacher who is placed over you and authority over your education expected you to do your homework and you didn't do it. Usurping their Authority. Are things are starting to come into Focus? Looks like we all have a little bit of a rebellious tendency in our hearts. So is how is that coupled with this Divine Freedom that I spoke of? How is that coupled with the verse about Jesus setting people free? If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed correct? What does that have to do with being a child of God? Well, let's back up real quick and talk about Kings. The reason why is Americans we don't like kings is that we don't like someone being able to have total and complete Authority. In general, most monarchs in our day and age don't command the power and authority that monarchs held in the first century and for thousands of years prior that, and even up to the Middle Ages. The king in the sense of Biblical times, which is how we should view it because that's when it was written, had absolute power and authority over his people. He could tax them whatever you wanted. Which is where we get the United States of America. He could execute whomever he wanted. He did not negotiate. There was no representation. There was no council. A true 100% King was the sole Authority. We've seen how that works when humans take up that role because it was never intended for us. It's one of the curses of sin, we no longer retain the ability to rule justly, righteously, and perfectly. We talked about David last week and his mess ups, the greatest king Israel ever had, as far as humans went, was messed up. God adored him, his people adored him, but he was not perfect. Why then should we be happy about Christ's kingship? Why then do we care? Is this a role that pertains to us as children of God? Philippians 2:9-11 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The King always wins! Going back to the idea of human flawed, bad kings, there were dire consequences that those things created. If we look at the person of Jesus Christ and the perfection that lies within him, why wouldn't we want him to have all authority? How much grander is his goodness, than the evil that is found in man? Infinitely grander, infinitely better, and infinitely more for us. So, we need not fear his kingship, we not even understand his kingship because we can understand that he's good. We can understand that he loves us. If you back up a few verses it says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But made himself nothing (not made himself a little, not made himself not so great, but made himself nothing) taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to death. Even death on the cross. " And that's where it picks up and God exalted him. So we know that he's good. We know how much you sacrifice for us. Of course, we should embrace his authority as king. Getting back to the original text I want to look at this every knee bowing in heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth. Brothers and sisters, do you understand what this means for us as his followers? It means, the spoiler alert is true, the war is won. Yes, we still have to battle. Yes, This life is going to throw trials at you. Yes, things are going to be hard you will feel pain. But do not fret! Have no fear! Because your king lives! That's what's so climactic about the cross because not only does it save, but three days later there's an empty tomb that says he won. He lives! He rules! He reigns! The Ascension isn't great because it's some miraculous thing about a guy floating up into the air. It's Miraculous Because He Lives! He Reigns as God! The same guy who is the savior of sinners, the same guy who is the high priest of Heaven, is also the King of Kings and the Lord of lords! He has full authority, full supremacy, full sovereignty, everything is under his authority and under his control. Nothing comes into your life by accident. No suffering is without notice. In the end, you win because he already won! It's obvious that our Patriarchs, Peter, Paul, James, John, all these guys who are nobodies really, kind of like Jesus. A poor laborer from the backwoods of Galilee and yet all of history is wrapped around this guy. The way that we date things. Phrases that people use. Whole resistances for 2000 years have tried to tear down his church and it continues to grow. Normally in the worst places, suffering great persecution. Why do you think that is? Do you think it occurs because some random Jewish dude died 2000 years ago and some cult started around him? Or maybe just maybe the empty tomb was really empty. The guy really lives. The guy really was God. The guy really reigns on his throne in heaven and nothing is outside his purview, authority, or power. So, he commands you go forth without fear. Have peace that passes all understanding, and walk in the power of God dwelling inside of your fibers and being. He is carrying you from point A, of sin and death, to glory and eternal life in him and in his work because your victory is already won! My friends, I would not dare say to you that you will not suffer. Which is the exact reason why Jesus suffered so much. He didn't have to suffer! He didn't have to come down here. But if we just look at his life we can see, he didn't have to suffer. And yet he did. Why? So we could identify with you. So that he could encourage you. So that he could say, "the same way that I got up out of the Grave I give to you my spirit. I will dwell with you. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will be with you always. In fact, I've already won! Not only have I already won but I care about everything that occurs in your life. The things that you think are going to destroy you. The things that make you come to the end of you, are the things that I will work for beauty. The things that I will work for the good of those who love me." Why is it do you think that Paul could sing hymns beaten and in jail? Because he knew he won! Because the reality of the Risen Christ appearing to him on the road to Damascus was enough to change the entire trajectory of his life. It was enough to endure all kinds of suffering. It was enough to be stoned. It was enough to be beaten, put in chains, and eventually beheaded. Because he knew, spoiler alert, the King Reigns! Therefore, no matter what I suffer in this short brief vapor of life I can have joy. I can have peace. I still feel pain, but my circumstances don't dictate the goodness of my God! As dark as the night looks, there has been one man to get up out of the grave. There has been one man every skeptic has tried to disprove and failed. His name was Jesus Christ and he rose from the dead and he rains in heaven and he is my savior and he is my high priest and he is my king! So, yes I will struggle and I will fall and I will cry and I will break down and I will feel abandoned. But my feelings, my circumstances, my critics, my sins, my homelessness, my disease, my lack of money, whatever it is, there is not a thing that changes the fact that Jesus lives and reigns! Therefore as long as there is breath in my lungs, as long as this heart continues to beat, and Jesus says that he wants my service he will have it! Because he has the name above all names and his authority does not end in this life. Every knee, in every dimension, in every world, and every universe, for his infinite as his creation goes, and is so far beyond my understanding. His authority, power, and sovereignty goes further! So, Christian be encouraged you are a child of the Most High and your King says, "eventually, one day, you will win! It may not be in this life. You may be persecuted. In fact, you're probably going to suffer, but I promise you the same way that I suffered on the cross and was raised up to Glory. There is glory for you, in me. There's a crown for you, in me, for all eternity. Believe me. Submit to me and live!" So let me close with this, the reason why Jesus is worth all the praise and all the glory is that he's done all the work. Because he's the Jesus that saves you. He's the Jesus that intercedes for you. He's the Jesus that reigns for you. Don't you see, that's where your freedom comes from. That's where your freedom is found. Run towards it, run towards him. He doesn't say you can't struggle. He doesn't say you can't fail, in fact, he says go ahead fail. Fail spectacularly because I have covered that too. The faster you run towards me, the faster you will find what you have been looking for! I hope you're encouraged and as you go forward in this week you walk in the reality, no matter what comes against you, no matter how frustrated you are, no matter how dire the circumstances may seem, God is for you! Jesus lives and reigns and one day every knee will bow, on this Earth, not just in heaven, but also in hell. Every knee, there will not be one, that does not bow. And all will confess his Supremacy. Be encouraged have no fear, have peace. It may be painful but he knows your pain. And he's promised to wipe every tear from your eyes when your faith is your sight.In the meantime, he is with you in it right now. He is not afraid of your suffering. He is not afraid of your pain. He rules it. He will use it for your good. It may not feel like it, it may not look like it, but I promise you he will. Should be blessed you're a child of the king. A prince and a princess, you hold greater value than you could ever imagine. Tell yourself that every day. The only King to have ever beat Death claims you! Feel free to email me with your thoughts at : caleb@therebellionshow.com Want to Join The Rebellion? Go to therebellionshow.com and fill out the form about halfway down the homepage. God, Christian, Love, Grace, Faith, Forgiveness, Jesus, Story, Bible, Hope, Peace, Gospel

This week on The Rebellion, As we are on this journey of what it means to be a child of God we are looking at the different persons of the Godhead and how they impact our identity as children of God. We began with a quick overview of the Infinite Father and last week we started looking at the second person of the trinity Jesus and how He is a savior of sinners. This week I want to spend a little time examining His role as High Priest of Heaven. But before I do… I have a confession to make, I struggle… When I say struggle I don't mean I have a hard time or there are some things that bother me, but I mean I become sick from grief, I shed countless tears over, I pray and fast for help, and it seems like there is never any break through. There is never a moment of blessed clarity where I am able to completely be free from this corrupted flesh. I feel crushed by the weight of my need of God's mercy and grace. I long for the relief of Christ's easy yoke and light burden, and yet… I struggle! Now, maybe I am just the weakest of all Christians, but I it seems to me, we all have those buttons. When pushed, they remind us so quickly of how weak we are. Those things that it seems like no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we pray we never seem to break free from it. In fact there has never been a human being outside of Jesus Christ who ever lived a perfectly holy and righteous life either before or after becoming a believer. Abraham after receiving his promise from God not only laid with Hagar, but also gave Sarah to Abimelech saying she was his sister, David took Bathsheba and when she conceived tried to cover it up. When he couldn't hide the affair he decided it would be best to have her husband killed. Maybe we can find one in the New Testament? Peter, Cephas the rock, surely he will be the one. Well first you have the denial of Christ at the cross, but I know some will say it is different we have the Holy Spirit now. Ok, then how about when he has to be rebuked by Paul in Antioch for embracing legalism instead of his Gentile brothers. Then surely Paul is the answer since he was able to rebuke Peter, right? Nope Paul says he doesn't do what he wants to, but does what he hates. He also wrote to Corinth that He would boast in his weakness because God wouldn't remove a thorn in his side. So there is not one account of a perfectly lived life and the guys who are held up as heroes of the faith all speak to a permanent and deep need for the grace and mercy of God. Then I am left with the question why do I hear so many people preach a message of works, a message of you need to get your act together or God is going to throw you away. How many times have you heard you need to get "right" with God? I heard a pastor this week say, that he was sick of all the positivity and unless you have negativity you will never have power. He then made an illustration of the relationship between God and the believer as one similar to that of a car battery. It needed both positive and negative to start the vehicle. Thousands clapped and cheered with enthusiasm. I guess it is not the "good news" but the "good and bad news" I also heard another very prominent member of the clergy from a different denomination say when we sin it separates us from the love of God! I wanted to scream! I wanted to shout read Romans! Where does that leave us? What is a struggling Christian to do? Is God's grace and mercy temporary or eternal? Thankfully this was already addressed 2000 years ago! The writer of Hebrews in Chapter 7 Verse 25 says this, "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." NASB To save forever… not for a while… not until they mess up the 347th time… not unless they get drunk… not unless they do xy or z but FOREVER! Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them. CSB Jesus always saves because he always lives! First, let me review the purpose of the High Priest in Judaism. The office existed so God wouldn't have to destroy his people basically. The system was established in order for the people's sins to be dealt with by shifting the guilt of their sins to an animal through faith. Then the priest would sacrifice the animal and God's just and holy wrath would be temporarily satisfied. Once a year the high priest would venture into the inner chamber where God dwelt called the holy of holy's and present an offering for the day of atonement. He would have to present a sacrifice for his own sins and then one for the people's sins. God's holiness was no joke though because even after both sacrifices the high priest had to tie a rope around himself in case he was killed. The holiness of God is so fierce it is where the verse our God is a consuming fire comes from and should not be trifled with. Ironically it is this same holiness that saves us and reminds us not to boast of our works but His… When Jesus pleads the merit of His sacrifice on your behalf, the Father rejoices in the perfect work of the Son! Jesus has so much affection for us that He eternally committed to being the mediator between God and man! The Father has so much affection for us that He sacrificed His only Son, because He knew it would be only permanent and just solution. As unjust as it would be to allow sin to go unpunished it is as equally as unjust to condemn a man for a debt that is already paid. The Holy Spirit has so much affection for you He has committed to never leave you or forsake on this long and bumpy road home we call the Christian life. So yes it is all good news! This is why prostitutes and sinners followed Him around. God provided the ultimate perfect sacrifice in His own Son the person of Jesus Christ. God then raised Him from the dead and has established Him as the permanent redemption of His elect. He always saves because he always lives! Now I know this all sounds good and happy but why should you care? I'm so glad you asked. When we understand that Jesus himself stands forever in the vast gap that is between man and God a divine freedom is developed. A freedom that bears the fruits of spirit out of love not duty. A freedom that deals with disobedience by running to the Father rather than running away because we failed again. This is truth we must realize in order to embrace the light burden and easy yoke of Christ. Critics of grace will say that God's people need to be holy and grace is just their excuse for sin. I say the only hope people have of being holy is by pure endless grace. God's grace shifts the focus from how I have failed God and to how He saved me. My high priest lives forever interceding on my behalf so I can run with abandon towards God and His glory. You can never live up to the title child of God but you can be thankful for it. Gratitude deepens love. Love is the greatest of all spiritual gifts and covers a multitude of sins. What kind of impact could we have if we stopped focusing on our failures and others failures really took grasp of this truth. How quickly would people drop their stones. How much joy would burst forth in communities across the world. How much deeper would our relationship with God become if we really believed He is 100% for us. How much more merciful would we become if we understood how much mercy we are shown. The secret to this whole life and all that entails is always found in Jesus. Want to be more loving focus on the vast love God has shown you. Want to become kinder, evaluate the heights of kindness found in Christ. How much more time would be spent glorifying God instead of having to make excuses for all the ways we fall short. The High Priest Lives! Feel free to email me with your thoughts at : caleb@therebellionshow.com Want to Join The Rebellion? Go to therebellionshow.com and fill out the form about halfway down the homepage. God, Christian, Love, Grace, Faith, Forgiveness, Jesus, Story, Bible, Hope, Peace, Gospel

This week on The Rebellion, We start to begin the journey of discovering the different roles Jesus plays in the Christians life. The first one I take a look at is His role as Savior of sinners and what that means in our day to day lives. In Matthew 9:9-13 we see the call of the apostle Matthew and Jesus's proclamation of coming for the “sick” and the “sinner”. Why? Why come for those who are rejected by society? What does this truth of the value Christ places on the outcast mean for us? Won't you come to the one who won't fail you? I hope you are encouraged and find yourself casting everything you are into Jesus. Be blessed, my friends! Feel free to email me with your thoughts at: caleb@therebellionshow.com Want to Join The Rebellion? Go to therebellionshow.com and fill out the form about halfway down the homepage.

This week on The Rebellion, we are starting a series on what does it mean to be the children of God. It is quite a strange and amazing concept I must admit. How do I understand a being beyond my understanding? How do you define something that is literally indefinable? For me, I look to Jesus because, in my opinion, He is the only one who can. Like all good things though, we have to start at the beginning to understand the grander scheme, and the beginning is the Father. Do you think the Father really loves you? A better question might be, do you think He loves you intensely? Do you think He sings over you? Do you think He is proud of you? I try to tackle this idea by giving you three things that I always try to remind myself of every day when it comes to The Almighty and our relationship. Enjoy be encouraged and know God loves you!

This week on The Rebellion, Format is a little different this week. I want to share with you a two about two sisters and a King. Both sisters lived almost exactly the same lives and one ended up a Prostitute and the other a Princess. What to know what happened, take a listen and find out. Hope you guys are blessed and encouraged.

This week on The Rebellion, It is my first whirl at the new subject matter of God and His church. If I sound nervous I was. If I made a mistake show me some grace. I hope you are encouraged by the subject matter which is agape. It is what Christ called the defining characteristic of His disciples. The theme of agape type love is so central to the Bible that if removed it would lose it's worth. Be blessed and remember love one another, let's become known for crazy intense love. Love that suffers. Love you all.