God's Helper Part 4

Let me try and and wrap this up because all doors lead to Jesus are flawed and broken. Cracked and unstable. All doors that point to Jesus are foreign and marginalized. They lack in privilege and are prevented. All doors that lead to Jesus carry shameful stories and are difficult to reconcile. All doors that point to Jesus have some, at some point hurt others, crushed spirits, but Jesus to choose us to keep all these doors pointing to him because Jesus knows that no matter which broken door you find to get to him, Jesus is the perfect door that leads you straight to the loving father. [00:43:54] (44 seconds)  #BrokenDoorsToJesus

As much as we don't want to talk about it, the throne of Jesus and the backdrop of Jesus is built upon this story. He takes the wife of the Hittite, a woman defined by tragedy. She didn't choose to be a part of this story, but nonetheless, this shameful chapter is here. She becomes the mother of of Solomon, and and she proves that the stability of the Messiah's line doesn't depend on David's perfection. But this God builds this story because the God of all of this earth has the capacity to redeem an entire field full of debris. [00:30:30] (47 seconds)  #ThroneOnWreckage

You know, we often treat communion like it's a reward for the people who have passed the religious metrics. We think of it as a pure act for clean people. Sometimes we can think of communion. Well, if I if I can just be right with god, then, I'll be able to partake. Actually, I want to propose to you today that if if if Matthew was institution in the communion service today, Matthew would propose that actually all those who are classified as messy people and have a messy past, you're qualified to participate in this service here today. [00:39:10] (45 seconds)  #CommunionForTheMessy

So today, as we're about to go into this communion service, I invite you. I invite you to come not because you are right with God. Come because you want God to make you right. And you are accepting his sacrifice because you understand that this God has made a way for you. That's what this sacrifice is about. That's what the cross about. This God has made a way for you. Today, we're claiming an inheritance that has been signed in the blood of the perfect door that makes everyone a citizen of the kingdom. Let's pray together. [00:45:50] (49 seconds)  #ComeToBeMadeRight

As a result of that, oh, if you get to the door that Jesus mans, and he opens it for you, he leads you straight to the father. Today, I don't want you to partake in this communion celebration because you are good enough. I invite you to partake in this communion service because you identify as a broken door like me. We haven't got this together. We're trying our best to figure this out. We make promises to God, and we always let him down. And maybe maybe your story has a shameful past, which you're not too proud of. Maybe it's your fault. Maybe it's not your fault. Maybe it's something that has been done to you. I have I have news for you. There is room at the table for you to partake today. [00:44:58] (52 seconds)  #RoomAtTheTable

Here's the awkwardness about this. In a world obsessed with pure Hebrew concrete, Mary was a massive crack in the pavement. We've been looking at the idea of the helper, god's helper. Mary was the ultimate Izo or helper. She is the helper who didn't offer a perfect reputation. Here's her superpower. This is Mary's superpower, and it sounds very simple, but actually, you look, dig deep, it is incredibly complex. Mary's superpower is her availability and willingness. I say that because I don't think I'm fully available and willing to God sometimes. [00:36:43] (46 seconds)  #YesIsEnough

To the ancient reader, let's just be frank. This is scandal. This is nothing but scandal. It is forbidden. This is this is not the rigid concrete of what the expectation of the law would say that that the that the Messiah, the child that is born, this this these aren't the correct things that should be inherited by the next king of Israel. But God doesn't pave over the wreckage of David and Bathsheba. Here's what this chapter does. It builds a throne right on it. Right on awkward uncle David. As much as we don't want to talk about it, [00:29:48] (45 seconds)  #ScandalAtTheThrone

But the good news, folks, is that his failure, his supposed failure, was root for our freedom. If our religion tries to be the door, we're partaking in a lie. But if we recognize listen to me now. If we recognize that our church is one of the doors, over many of the doors, over eons and eons and eons and eons, the message becomes powerful. Why? Because because all the doors that lead to Jesus are represented in this genealogy. Your door is represented too. Let me tell you why this is so wonderful. I realized that the enemy on the wall is speaking to me as I have not understood what short message means. [00:43:00] (54 seconds)  #YourDoorIsIncluded