King Jesus – Mother’s Day (Mark 8:14-16)

Both leavens are dangerous, but they look different. The leaven of the Pharisees makes you hard, makes you proud, makes you judgmental. The leaven of Herod makes you soft, compromising, and distracted. But both will quietly corrupt our hearts and our homes if we let them. So how do we avoid it without just reacting? Again, how do we navigate without getting entrenched in one ditch or the other? This is the heartbeat heartbeat behind this deconstruction movement. [00:23:09] (39 seconds)  #BewareBothLeavens

Like, Hannah didn't just lend Samuel back to God. She literally begged him back to God. Like, God, take him. Take him. Because in at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Again, the imagery is that of Hannah holding her baby up to God and begging him to receive his entire life back into his good service, not because she owed God, but because she realized this is the best place for her child. Hers wasn't merely a posture of surrender, but a prayerful begging him back to god. Man, that hit me so hard. Do we trust our children with the lord enough to beg them back to god? [00:38:58] (46 seconds)  #BegThemBackToGod

Watch out. Not because he's trying to get you. It's not like a gotcha moment. It's because he's watching over you. He's watching out for you because he loves you, and he knows that the spirit is not just prevalent then, it's prevalent now. And it spreads like leaven. And so if you start thinking God owes you because of how good you've been or how much you've suffered, you ever had that thought? Watch out. Watch out. If you find yourself quicker to blame and criticize others than to pray and seek God's heart for that other person, watch out. [00:16:33] (45 seconds)  #PrayNotBlame

The children, like every other blessing, were never meant to replace God. They were given to be stewarded for God. And so the same is true of financial provision. The same is true of spouses and marriage or any other good gift. From your bank account to your house to your career, all of these things are given to us to steward for God. So when the gift quietly takes the place of the giver, even the best blessings can become idols. And, again, an idol is anything that you want more than you want God. [00:11:49] (32 seconds)  #GiftsAreNotGod

And he conquered death in the grave, and he paved the way to eternal life. And I say this all the time because it's so necessary. It's not just an eternal life that starts one day when we die. It starts the moment you place your faith and your hope in what Christ has done for you through the cross and resurrection because it's in that moment that he fills you with his holy spirit and he meets you where you are and you are no less saved, loved, affirmed, and valued in that moment than you will be ten billion years from now face to face with Christ because you've been given the access to the king. [00:25:42] (41 seconds)  #ResurrectionLifeNow

And that comes through joy and worship. Because I'm not talking about, like, just a transaction that you engage in with the universe so you can get more stuff. Like, I'm not just talking about when I say prayer, I'm not just talking about some recital you give before you eat. Praise God for that. Like, I'm not saying stop doing that. I'm also not saying judge people if you think that's what's happening. Right? I'm talking about real prayer there. I'm talking about I love this definition. A friend of mine recently said that this is this is his definition of prayer, and I think it's dead on. He said, it's the conversation of your heart with the lover of your soul. [00:29:20] (37 seconds)  #PrayerIsConversation

Herod Antipas represented political maneuvering, moral compromise, sensuality, love of worldly power, the desire for man's approval, and a complete dismissal of God. Understand that both the Pharisees and Herod were totally self centered. So he he's Herod here is is this compromised puppet king who sits on Israel's throne, but his strings are actually pulled by Rome. Like, had John the Baptist beheaded simply because he wanted to please a crowd. He wanted all the benefits of the kingdom without submitting to the true king. This is the leaven of Herod. [00:18:36] (42 seconds)  #BewareHerodLeaven

Like, if you're quicker to shame people into behaving than to point them to the glory and majesty of the king of the universe, you should probably watch out. You go on and on. If you're easily offended, if your life is marked more by by complaining than worship and gratitude, watch out. Because none of us are beyond the influence of this leaven. Every one of us need to watch out for this. You're never gonna be like, oh, I've arrived. I'm good. That doesn't bother like, this is for us all. [00:17:18] (42 seconds)  #GraceNotShame