Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the importance of accountability and testing in the Christian life, warning against the desire for freedom that leads to rebellion. He explains that true freedom comes from submission to God's authority, and that overcoming rebellion is essential for receiving the promise of reigning with Christ. The sermon highlights the need for believers to evaluate what is truly important in their lives and to focus on their relationship with God, as demonstrated by Jesus' example of dependence and relinquishment in the face of trials. Ultimately, Beach encourages the congregation to allow God to work in their hearts to cultivate the character necessary for the pathway to the throne.

Hallelujah to God. Praise the Lord. Okay. I'd like to have, if I may, your attention for just a short time. I want you to consider something with me for a moment. First of all, how many have ever heard the commercial on the radio? This is a test for the next 60 seconds. This is a test of the broadcasting emergency broadcasting system. And then you hear this buzzing sound. Okay, well, believe it or not, you and I are being tested right now. Did you know that you're being tested and I'm being tested? And it's important that we understand what we're being tested about. What the, how the scores are going to be rendered in our life. Now, you'll notice with Children, there's something very interesting that begins to happen. And this is a snare that we need to be careful of as Christians. I've noticed in my own Children and I myself remember when I was a child that one of the things that I couldn't wait to be was an adult. The reason why is because I perceived adulthood as being free from rules or free from accountability. I could do what I want as an adult, what I thought when I was a child. I'm not going to have anybody telling me what to do or how to do it. I can run my own life just the way I like. And also I can remember when I was in school, I used to always say I can't wait till I finally get out of school because I can't stand being tested. Didn't like tests, didn't like my teachers telling me what to do and just didn't enjoy it. I just liked the idea of when I was an adult, I would be free. This desire, listen carefully, to be free permeates our society today. But when our desire to be free is rooted in an unwillingness to realize that we are accountable and that ultimately our lives do not belong to ourselves, but they belong to a God in heaven who created us for a purpose. When our desire to be free and our desire to quote unquote grow up like we had when we were children is stemming out of wanting that kind of life where we don't feel the restraint of being accountable anymore, then we're in great danger. Great danger. We're in danger because we begin to believe a lie that can ultimately bring us into spiritual ruin. So I want you to just dismiss from your mind and your thoughts the notion of ever finding a life that will free you from being tested, number one, number two, that will free you from being accountable. You'll never find it. I'd like to ask you if you would to turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three, and I'd like to read in verse number 21 and 22 pathway to the throne. Listen closely the pathway to the throne. Revelation chapter three verse number 21 to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and then set down with my father in his throne. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches in this particular portion of Scripture. Jesus makes a promise to the overcomer. And the promise to the overcomer is a most profound promise. If you'll notice Jesus is promising to the overcomer that he will grant the overcomer suit to sit down with him on his throne and then the latter part of verse 21 says that Jesus himself was given this privilege because he overcame the throne is a place of authority. It's a place of power. It's a place of Dominion. We know that in the days of the Bible, there were kings. And the king represented the final authority regarding anything that had to do with the kingdom. A king had the power and authority that governed the kingdom. What he said went. When evil kings reign over people, then oftentimes that turns into tragedy and catastrophe. When righteous kings reigned, that was a blessing for the people. So, beloved, the idea here, and it's very important for us to grasp this. The idea here is Jesus is promising to the overcomer a place of authority and power. Revelation chapter 2, verse 26, he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. Again, Jesus makes a promise to the overcomer that he will give him power over the nations, authority over the nations. So, in this particular portion of Scripture, the overcomer is given power to rule over the nations. In Revelation chapter 3, the overcomer is given a place upon a throne, which indicates authority and dominion and rulership. So, my question to you this morning is this. Please pay attention, because this is a prophetic word that should speak right into our hearts today, because the promise of a throne, the promise of authority and power that Christ is making to the overcomer is in direct relation to our life now and the way that we live it and the manner in which we are responding to the dealings of God in our life now. So, it is vitally important for us to understand that even though, as children, we wanted to be free from accountability, we wanted to be free from tests, we wanted to be free from that lifestyle that necessitated our actions being scrutinized, we imagined as adults we could do what we wanted, we were unaccountable to anybody, and we could just have a good old merry time. But the Bible tells us that as Christians, we will never, ever, ever know such an idea, such a lifestyle. If we seek that kind of a lifestyle, it will be to our spiritual ruin. We are called as Christians to understand that we are now in a test. We are being tested. The reason why we're being tested is because God, as you can see, has great plans for the overcomer. Just like parents have great plans for their children, or a coach might have a great plan for a particular student who really, in his eyes, has potential. But those plans will never be realized unless that student sits down and listens to the instruction and rules of the coach. I can remember hearing Coach McCartney, the founder of Promise Keepers, talk about the way in which he built his team up to where they were great football players and obtained many honors. He said the key to making a team great is that you continuously emphasize the fundamentals to the point where it becomes wearisome to the players. He said that any team that masters and breathes and understands the fundamentals to the point where it's part of their very thinking process will do good. You have to go back to the fundamentals and he would tell his team, if you want to be great as a football player, if you want to be a great team, you want to win honors, you want to win the playoffs. You have got to listen to what I tell you as your coach. You have got to be willing to let me scrutinize you. You've got to be willing to let me tell you, change this in your life, readjust this in your life, do this. You've got to be willing to hear me say, you're doing it all wrong. Now, if you're not prepared to cooperate with me as your coach, then there's the door. Get out now because you'll only be a hindrance to the team, especially if another team player sees your attitude and feels it's their right as well as you thinking it's your right to rebel against my authority. I'm the coach. What I say goes. Now, if you listen to me and you cooperate with me and you implicitly trust me as your coach, I promise you that we will win the playoffs. We'll win the playoffs. And as a team, we'll rejoice and we'll shout and we'll be so happy. But you, but it won't happen if you don't listen to me. Beloved, the Lord Jesus is speaking to us today by his spirit and in his word. And he's saying to us, you have got to listen to me. You have got to let me be your coach. You have got to take on the attitude where you are allowing me to speak into your life. If you want to be an overcomer. If you want to be a winner, if you want to enter into the full intention of what Christ has called you to be now in this life and hallelujah in the age to come, you have got to settle it in your heart that you are going to come under the authority, the scrutiny and the loving hand of Jesus Christ and let him speak into your life. When Jesus says, this is not right in your life, you need to say, yes, Lord. When Jesus says, you need to jump, you need to say, how high? When Jesus says, this is not right. You need to say, Lord, what should I do? The pathway to the throne, the road that we must walk on. If we hope someday to be granted the privilege of sitting upon his throne with him and ruling and reigning with him is the pathway of submission, humble dependence upon his authority. Beloved, listen closely. We must be alarmed. That we do not succumb to the spirit of rebellion and the spirit of self independence that is so infiltrating society today. We have got to be careful that we don't allow a wrong spirit to get a hold of us. Now, I'm telling you, you can get a wrong spirit very easily. Don't think that you can flirt with the world and still stay unspotted before a holy God. You can. You cannot flirt with the world and remain a chaste virgin under the Lord. If you open up your mind to garbage, it's going to affect the way you think. If you open up your heart to garbage, it's going to affect the way you think. If you open up yourself to garbage, it's going to affect the way you think. And one of the effects that will come to you and I as Christians, if we allow ourselves to engage in the things of this life that are not profitable or according to the word of God, and you can be sure of this, you could take it to the bank, you will develop a rebellious attitude. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. God says he hates rebellion. Rebellion is the sin that rose up in the heart of Lucifer and that made him say, I will be like the Most High God. I will ascend above the clouds. I will sit in the place of God. It was the spirit of rebellion that grabbed a hold of Lucifer. And that was the basis of his spiritual ruin. It was rebellion against God that grieved the heart of God year after year, decade after decade, when he dealt with his people Israel from the very beginning. That's why God destroyed the earth by a flood. It says in Genesis that the whole world was full of rebellion and I'll tell you the nature of that rebellion and it was this. Every man did that which his own evil heart dictated to him to do. There was no restraint. There was no standard of righteousness. There was no standard. And the only standard is God. It's God is the standard. What God is like is our standard. Listen, you were not created to be alone to yourself. You were not created to assess the situation and based on your own understanding and your own judgment and your own synopsis, make a decision. You were created in order to fulfill the intention of God, which was to have a people who would demonstrate his moral perfections and his royal dignity through living a life in union with himself. The spirit of rebellion is seducing Christianity today and is robbing an entire generation from the promise of reigning with Christ in this earth right now and in the age to come. Israel forfeited the land of Canaan because of an evil heart of unbelief. And the root of an evil heart of unbelief is rebellion against God. May I encourage you. May I beseech you and exhort you in the love of Jesus Christ to let God search your heart today. Are there seeds of rebellion there in your heart that come out from time to time? Rebellion, rebellious attitudes, rebellious words, rebellious thoughts, rebellious plans, rebellion against God, rebellion against the authority that you are currently in. Beloved, wherever you're at, God has put you there. And it's a test. It's a test. You're being tested now. You are being tested right now. And is the test producing in you a tendency to be rebellious? Are you justifying your rebellion? Oh yeah, we can justify our rebellion. At the conclusion of this message, we are going to see from the Word of God the kind of inner life that Jesus had that qualified Him to be sitting on the throne right now. And you know, the only time that this inner life came out so visibly was when Jesus was going through the most difficult time of His life. And likewise, God allows us to be tested, and it's during the most difficult tests of our life, during the most darkest, trying times of our life, that we are being given by God an opportunity to demonstrate what's on the inside. I don't want to overemphasize this point, but I feel compelled by God. Guard your heart, your mind, and your life against rebellion. Guard it. Don't let it live in your life. Don't have rebellious attitudes. Some of the family that rebellion breeds, listen closely, beloved, some of the family members and kin that will be near unto your life if rebellion is given a place, is sarcasm. Having a critical spirit, being judgmental, being suspicious of people, always trying to judge the motive of another person's heart, sitting in the place of God, criticizing people, getting together and saying unprofitable things. All of these things spring out of the root of rebellion. When we have a rebellious heart, we succumb to all of that. What happened when Israel had a rebellious heart? Not only did they rebel against God, but they started criticizing who? Moses, the leader. Aaron, the leader. Miriam, the leader. They started criticizing them. They started gossiping. I'm sure they went to bed at night and in their tents. Do you think they were talking about the goodness of God? Or do you think they were criticizing Moses? I think they went to bed criticizing Moses. It's because they had a rebellious heart. When you have a rebellious heart, you always want to blame somebody else for the pain that you're going through. It's always somebody else's fault. It's always somebody else's fault. Rebellion keeps you from falling before God and saying, God, thank you for what I'm going through because I know that when I am tried, I will come forth as gold. Hallelujah to God. Rebellion doesn't let us do that. Rebellion gets a hold of us and says, it's because of this or that that I'm going through what I'm going through and it hurts and I don't like it and therefore I'm going to maliciously attack whatever I think is the reason why I'm going through it. All of these things come out when a rebellious heart is present. The pathway to the throne is a path where God must deal with the rebellion in our heart. I can assure you most solemnly in the presence of God this morning that there will be no person granted the privilege of reigning with Christ in the age to come who walked in a perpetual state of rebellion before God. It'll never happen. Don't miss your opportunity today. Hear the spirit of God speaking to you. God is giving us a chance today. With this chance is the power of God for deliverance. But don't blow this off. Let God deal with rebellion in your life. Let God speak into your life by other people. If they say you need to deal with this or you need to change in this area, do it. Fall down in your face and say, Help me. Help me. I don't want to be like this. Don't take on the attitude of leave me alone. Don't take on the attitude of you don't bother me. Don't take on that arrogant attitude, beloved. You may miss the opportunity that God's given. Let Him deal with you. Turn your Bible to Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. Not only, number one, the pathway to the throne. Not only does that include God having to deal with and to strip us from all forms of rebellion in our life. But secondly, the pathway to the throne involves the Lord confronting us. Listen. The Lord confronting us over what is really the most important thing in our life. What is the most important thing in your life today? Now let me give you an example in the Bible of what we do with the most important thing. Don't make the decision based on what you say or what you think is the most important. When I was in high school my last year I went to a Christian school. I went to Fountain of Life Christian Center and we had paces which I despised because it was accelerated Christian education. But see, God knew that He had to do a big work in my life when I first got saved because I came out of three years of high school where I did nothing. I coasted. I cheated. I stole report cards and made fake report cards so my parents wouldn't see all the F's. I did not do any work. I was bound. Nancy Lehman used to do all my algebra and I'd get hundreds and then on the test I'd get a ten. And Mr. Grundyke would say Phil, I'm confused. And I'd say so am I. I'd say what's wrong sir? And he'd take out all my tests. He says hundred, hundred, ninety-eight, ninety-eight. Exam, a ten. What's wrong? How can you be getting such good grades on your test? I lied. I don't know what I said. Nancy Lehman used to do my homework. And if you want the truth, in return I gave her free marijuana because I had access to it with my boss. So when I got saved, I was in big trouble because I had a whole behavior pattern that I had to unlearn. But I had a Savior who believed in the grace that He deposited in my life. But it wasn't an easy thing. I remember going to my senior year and I was a bully in high school. God placed everything in my life that dealt with all of the areas that He knew He had to immediately start dealing with. And two of them was number one, my inability, my unwillingness to apply myself to anything but momentary pleasure. And number two, I was a bully. If I didn't like somebody, I told them. And if they gave me a lip, I did something. So what does God do my senior year of high school? I'm sent down in a little cubicle office with walls surrounding me and I'm told by my monitor start reading and start walking and I have to do it all myself. And secondly, there was a young man Bob Silverthorne, who was about six foot tall, someone who if I was not saved I would have went with him anytime. But I was a Christian now. So what does he do? He hates me. He despises me. This guy despised me. So what would he do? He and a couple other of the guys would grab a hold of me, turn me upside down and put me in the garbage can. In the garbage can! Upside down! And then leave me there and I'd have to tip the garbage can over to get out. Now what was happening? God was dealing with an area in my life that he knew had to be dealt with if the loveliness of Jesus was going to somehow be seen through this earthen vessel. I couldn't be that tough guy anymore, that lifted weights and that used intimidation. I couldn't be that person anymore. That's not the way Jesus is. And now that I was a Christian, I'm his representative. I couldn't be like that. So what does God do? He puts people in my life who humiliated me. But what did I do? I went home and I prayed for Bob Silverthorne and by the end of the year, guess who my best friend was? Bob Silverthorne! Guess who I was praying with? Bob Silverthorne! Hallelujah! So if I would have resented it and I would have got angry and I would have said, who do you think you are? I would have lost the opportunity. Now I'm not saying God would have set me aside, but I probably would have had another garbage can the next year. You know when we don't learn our lessons we have to go right back into it. You know that don't you? Have you ever wondered why something won't go away? It's probably because there's something that you're not learning. So I suggest that along this pathway of being prepared to reign with Christ, you maintain a teachable heart. Maintain a teachable attitude. Pray, Lord, help me to be teachable. Help me not to be rebellious. So that dealt with the tough guy and then the pace dealt with an area of my life that was so out of control and that was reading. I hadn't read a book, hadn't read one book before I got saved. God knew that I needed these areas of work in my life. Mark chapter 13 Listen, well maybe it's Matthew 13. Yes, it's Matthew, thank you. Okay, Matthew chapter 13 44 through 46. Now remember the first point we dealt with is rebellion. The second point we're dealing with, listen closely. Focusing in on what is most important to us. These are essential areas of dealings that must occur in our life if we are to hope to obtain in this life the true authority and power that believers ought to possess. Spiritual authority and power, but in the age to come if we hope to reign with Christ. Now listen closely. Verse 44, Matthew chapter 13 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field. The witch, when a man hath found, he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and sells all that he hath and buys that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. The principal characteristic of both of these parables is two-fold. Number one, each of these parables reveals the true treasure of this man's heart. And secondly, each of these parables reveal the response, the action of the man in light of the treasure. And that is what? Sells all that he hath to buy the field and sold all that he had and bought the pearl. So in both parables the man knows that which is most important to him and then he has a corresponding action. He sells everything that he has to get the thing that's most important to him. My question to you this morning is this. What are you selling your life for? Because everybody is selling their life for something. Everybody has something that they're after that is most important to them. The tragedy about this is that some people feel that the most important thing to them is a lot of money and in doing so they are selling their family. They're selling their children. They're selling their marriage because they're after success and in order to get success in the way that they want to get it, they have to sell everything. So just because you are sold out on something and you are selling everything to get it doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing. So my words to you this morning through the Holy Spirit is this. Re-evaluate your life today and find out what is most important to you but more importantly find out what you're selling your life for. Because you might think that something is the most important thing to you but when you assess your life you might discover that you're selling out for something differently. You know what, that's self-deception. You are really not sold out for what you thought. The pathway to the throne will first of all lead us into a place where God will put his finger on every area of rebellion in our life. Secondly, he will put his finger on the thing that means most to us and be assured of this beloved, that the ministry of the Son of God today through the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God is to secure a people in this world, in this age right now, who will be free from rebellion and who will not be following after anything less than a full and complete revelation of him. I want to invite you if you would please to turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3 and I want to show you an example Philippians chapter 3 of a man who was apprehended by God who was indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus Christ and who possessed a passion that was born of God. Now I want you to know beloved that we need to pray as a body we need to pray as individuals, we need to pray with our families that God will give us a heart like Paul had. That God will give you a heart like Paul had. Philippians chapter 3 check this out. Paul's passion verse number 7 But what things were gained to me those I counted lost for Christ. Yea doubtless I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Jesus. Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as be perfect or mature be thus minded. Beloved here is a picture of the heart of a man that teaches us what it is to be single undivided consumed with a desire for the Lord Jesus and a life that will be changed and transformed into the image of Christ. This desire in the apostle Paul took preeminence over his entire life and he considered nothing to be more important than that thing. That he might know Christ that he might reveal Christ that he might be made like Jesus Christ and beloved the pathway to the throne is not necessarily a pathway where everybody has to become a preacher. What kind of vocation you're called into no matter what kind of a calling you have no matter what you're doing in this world you are not of this world this world does not have a hold in you and that no matter what you're doing ultimately your intention your desire is to know Jesus Christ above and beyond anything else. You are obsessed you are compelled to want to know Jesus you want him to change you you want him to make you like himself. So no matter what you're doing the thing that you're after more than anything is to be made like Jesus and to possess the qualities that he possesses. The love, the patience the long suffering, the gentleness, the goodness, the faith, the kindness the selflessness may I ask you a question this morning what is the most important thing in your life? What are you obsessed with? Some people can't shake themselves from the past Paul said I forget those things which lie behind some of us need to forget what's happened in the past because you're held to the past you are bound to the past listen you have no future because you can't get out of the past and some people have no future because they are afraid of the future they're living in the future they're anticipating and they're all filled with anxiety about the future. Beloved you need to forget about the past you need not worry about the future but today now is the day of salvation behold now is the accepted time you need to worry about now today and making Jesus the Lord of your whole life today commit the past to God commit the future to God and say Lord set me free from the past set me free from the fear of the future and let me live today unto you with all of my heart mind strength and soul before God be free from the past be free from what has happened to you my God we need the power to be free from our memories from our hurts from our scars you've been wounded you have been scarred you have been hurt you've been disappointed you have been betrayed oh beloved that's the past it's over with give it to God and go on with him if you don't go on with him you'll live in the past the rest of your life and your life will be miserable you say easier said than done preacher God never asks us to do something that he himself is not totally committed to empower us to do the question is is that what you want or do you like living in the past do you like fellowshipping with bitterness and loneliness and anger do you have a sense of identity you know a phenomenon that is current among people who have been abused and your psychiatrist and social workers will all agree that people who have had a terrible past abusive whether it's mental or physical they seemingly derive a sense of identity with it and they can't let go of it and they actually when they're free from it they end up going back into it again and the reason why is because they don't have any identity outside of it they associate that stuff with who they are and they feel undressed they feel uncomfortable they feel incomplete unless they're in an abusive situation and you know I don't honestly I can understand why because a great need of the human heart is that we have to find a sense of identity we have to find a sense of who we are we have to find a sense of security in something we need to relate ourselves to something and people who've grown up in nothing but abusive homes and abusive circumstances seemingly are attracted to those things because it meets a need as perverted and sick as it might sound it meets a need in other words they're in an identity crisis until they find that thing in their life again and many times people will not get free from the past because they have such an intimate identity with this stuff and the answer is that they need to see that that is not who they really are that that is not where they derive their sense of identity but they as Christians can come to know Jesus as their identity they can associate themselves with him they can derive a sense of self worth from who God is and who Christ is in them so you can be free from your past if you are willing to turn from it and to look to Jesus as your new life look to Jesus as your new lover look to Jesus as your new hope find in Jesus what you don't have hallelujah to God I'd like if you would turn now lastly to let's go to Mark I have so much but I have to condense it I have to condense it this morning because we're running out of time hallelujah to God number one listen closely rebellion don't allow any form of rebellion in your life deal with it any word any attitude of rebellion humble yourself confess it and pray that God deliver you from it rebellion will be your spiritual ruin if you don't deal with it you don't let God deal with it number two the treasure of your heart for where your treasure is there your heart will be also ask God to show you what means what's the most important thing to you but don't just don't just think that what you say is the most important thing determine what the most important thing is by what you're selling your life for you might say with your mouth one thing but your actions might contradict it your actions are what counts now remember why I mentioned the fact that I went to a Christian school I never did tell you it has to do with that your actions we had paces and in the paces every chapter they had a little proverb or a little saying and many times they struck me to be really good but the one saying I'll never forget I read it and I said boy that's good and that's and this is what the saying is an ounce of action is better than a ton of talk an ounce of action is better than a ton of talk there's a lot of talk there's tons of talk going on today but the actions are really revealing where our hearts at Jesus said if you love me obey me obedience has to do with what action so you can say all you want I love Jesus but unless the heart and the actions are obeying him then we have to be careful now thirdly we're going to look in Matthew chapter 14 listen carefully we're going to look at the inner character that qualified Jesus to sit on the throne the inner character that qualified Jesus to sit on the throne and I want you to see this as a pattern because Jesus is the pattern son he's the son that pleased the father and he's also the son that the Holy Spirit is seeking to conform us into the image of the son of God God wants to make us on the inside just like Jesus all of those great beautiful qualities well we're going to look at three qualities of Jesus right now in our closing to show you once God deals with rebellion in your life once God deals with what is most important to you then the Holy Spirit is going to begin to work these qualities in your life and I just want to cast this before the Lord and let the Holy Spirit take it and work it in your life begin with me as I read verse number 33 of Mark chapter 14 and he that is Jesus taketh him with Peter James and John and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy and he sayeth unto them my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death tarry ye here and watch and he went forth and a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him and he said Abba Father all things are possible unto thee take away this cup from me nevertheless not what I will but what thou wilt now beloved I just want you to know that this is the darkest hour in the life of Jesus Christ this is the greatest trial he's ever endured and what comes out of our life and what comes out of our mouths during the time of testing reveals what we're really made of and I want you to see that in the hour of Jesus' darkest test out shined the brightest illumination of the true nature of his character and that is what God wants to do in us so work in our life and so deal with us as sons and so change us and transform us so that when we come to the darkest hour to the severest test to the most difficult trial that we'll ever have to face we too as Jesus will allow that to be an opportunity to manifest the beauties of the Christ life on the inside this listen closely this what we're about to look at for a few moments is the pathway to the throne this stuff that we're about to read has to get inside of us and be a part of us if we someday will sit with Jesus on his throne the first quality that we see now I want you to understand this I don't have time to go into it but you're looking here at a man the Lord Jesus he was God but he was man and in this instant he was suffering as a man you're looking at a man who God said all power and authority was given to oh please listen please listen please you're looking at a man who had authority over all flesh who had power over all the devil whose word can curse a fig tree whose word could heal the sick whose word could raise the dead whose word could create a coin in the mouth of a fish and use it to pay his taxes I wish I could do that huh you're looking at a man who was a king whose father said everything is yours son all my omnipotence is at your hands now what would you do if you had all that power at your hand and suddenly you were confronted with something that's making you really suffer and you're really in pain what would you do would you use your executive authority and would you speak a word and have it disappear you bet you would and so would I but I want you to see what Jesus did by the way what are you doing now with the power and authority you have in your life we do the same thing we use our power we use our influence we use all the things that God has given us so many times to avoid the things that we don't like instead of well we'll show you what Jesus did the first thing Jesus did he demonstrated absolute dependence upon the Father Abba Father all things are possible unto thee now listen Jesus had all authority but when he went into the deepest test of his life he did not think about what he could do to get out he didn't think about the power he had and how he could use it to free himself from this pain the first thing that he did is he said Abba Father what's the first thing many times that we do when we're in a terrible painful situation what can I do to get out of this but Jesus said Abba Father the only way authority can be entrusted to us the only way power can be entrusted to us is if we have wrought in us the same kind of inner character that Jesus had so that we never listen closely we never consult with ourself we consult with Father what would you do if you had all power and you were driving in your car and some person cut you off and smashed your car and then looked at you and cursed at you and took off I speak to those four tires blow up I speak to that engine start smoking I speak to that guy give him a pain in his head you sit there and watch and you get satisfaction is that what you'd do what would you do if people took you and started beating you and plucking your beard out remember now you've got all authority you've got all power you can raise the dead you can heal the lepers you can multiply bread like Norman said he's taught the kids that Jesus multiplied he walked on the water you're not talking about some wimp Kevin you're talking about a dude who's got it but what does he do when he's in pain and people are abusing him nothing there's character there's character Abba Father all things are possible to you the heart of a son is one of focus upon the Father not upon what the Father has given him listen closely the heart of a son is not focused on the inheritance what I've got the power I've got the heart of a son is focused upon oh Father all things are possible to you absolute dependence number two absolute relinquishment absolute relinquishment in other words I'm not going to take my power and my authority and do a song and a dance and manipulate this situation to get out of it I'm not going to do it I'm not going to take what God has given me and use it for my end but I'm going to go Father all things are possible with you now listen to what Jesus said take this cup from me I'm going to be honest with God Jesus was honest he said take this cup from me Jesus didn't say I'm going to take this cup from me did he didn't Jesus say I have the power to what lay my life down and I have the power to take it up did Jesus have the power right now to stop this thing he certainly did but did he nope why because he was committed to one thing he didn't get off on who he was he didn't get off on the power he had the minute God gives us anything of significance we get off on it we like it look at who I am look at what I've got look at the money I've got look at the authority I've got look at the business I've got look at the clothes I've got look at the cars I've got you see God gives us a little authority and a little power and that's not even spiritual that's just worldly stuff but God uses worldly stuff to teach us lessons we get a little bit and what do we do we lift our heads up and we start glorying in it can you imagine what would happen if God gave us real power we'd be nuking people Lord call fire down from heaven and destroy them now what the disciples said when Jesus was persecuted and wasn't allowed to go through one of the villages they said get him Lord you got the power what about Elijah you're greater than Elijah are we hearing this this morning oh help me Lord time is always against me oh Lord have mercy total relinquishment the pathway to the throne is not only deliverance from rebellion not only deliverance from seeking after things that are important but it's dependence upon God and relinquishment take this cup from me nevertheless absolute focus dependence relinquishment and focus not my will but thy will be done it is these three qualities that demonstrate the kind of character that Jesus had that qualified him to sit on the throne and it is these three qualities that God must work in us if we are to qualify to sit on the throne in the age to come complete dependence upon our God complete relinquishment from all self attempts to do something without the counsel of God and complete and absolute focus upon one thing it's not what I want now Jesus didn't deny how he felt did he he didn't put on some super spiritual act oh praise God I'm the son of God and I'll drink the cup my father has for me and I'm just gonna do it praise God no he said father father I'm exceedingly sorrowful unto death help me take this cup from me the difference is that he didn't say I will take this cup from me he said father everything's possible with you you can do it take it from me nevertheless Lord not what I want but what you want there's the heart of a son in a nutshell it's not what I want it's what God wants and God has got to work that in us and let me tell you where you see that whether it's happening it's in your families it's in real life it's how you deal with people are you taking everything right now going on in your life the things that aren't working out maybe and you're saying well nevertheless father it's not what I want whatever you want do you have a rest with that let the Holy Spirit work these qualities in your life today and if he does you'll hear that voice of God one day say to you enter into the joy of the Lord come sit with me upon my throne because when you were tested on earth you cried out to me and you let me make you into a son and you let me give you a heart of a son and now here's your reward I hope this means more to you the pathway to the throne than anything else in your life today I'm going to ask you can do it okay I'm going to ask Colette to come and just to play a worship song it's only 1240 we have a few minutes before we can get the children let's play a worship song and I'm going to commit in prayer this word from the Lord into our hearts I trust God spoke into your life did he he spoke into my life he challenged me through this as he brought it to me this week and he said share it with the body this is what God is doing in our lives don't be discouraged pass the test by God's grace now father I take the words that were uttered this morning and ask the Holy Spirit take them produce 100 fold fruit raise up a body Lord whose inner life reflects more and more the substance of this message this morning I pray because I know that will bring glory to you and that will bring praise to your name and it will raise up a testimony that will be pleasing to you in the name of Jesus Lord thank you for disarming the powers of darkness may the power of God now work and bring massive deliverance in our hearts in Jesus name I pray as we sing this song anybody wants special prayer raise your hand pray together with people pray join together with people and pray and let's believe God for a massive move of the spirit in Jesus name we worship the Lord you are the treasure that I seek thank you father God let the word find good ground this morning I pray in Jesus name praise the Lord thank you Lord Jesus may the Lord work deeply in us and deliver us and keep moving us toward him how is your back feeling there is an improvement but it still hurts let's keep believing God and praying praise the Lord father we thank you for the improvement in mom's back and I pray God in the name of Jesus that even now Lord you would stretch forth your hand and improve it even more Lord that we'll keep asking until it's completely better we thank you Lord that by your stripes we are healed that you love us and you delight to make us well we pray in Jesus name hallelujah to God alright well praise the Lord hallelujah let's just sing this song you can go if you have to but we're going to sing it God we want you yes Lord hallelujah the blessing and glory and honor hallelujah come on everyone who sits upon the throne hallelujah hallelujah wisdom and facts honor be to our God be to our God