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this morning it’s my great privilege to bring to you uh Dan serid and his family actually is here his wife Dina his children which I’m going to try the best my best to get their names right uh Y iton and uh yav that right they get that a good okay good um that was what I was most nervous about there um but Dan sered is of course as we know the Israel director for Jews for Jesus he’s been uh the director of juice for Jesus in Israel for almost a actually more than a decade now and we’ve been supporting him for a lot of that time as a church um he has an MD from Western University in 2013 and he’s of course is he you’re still working on your doctorate or is that still still work in progress um many of us know what that’s like and um of course uh he’s also a pastor of a church there that I just learned this morning so he has a lot going on in Israel um Israel of course is a very difficult land uh to bring the gospel to and we’re grateful that there’s God has sent servants like Dan serid to do that and of course overriding all of his credentials that you just heard the most important thing about Dan is that he’s a faithful follower of Jesus Christ a fellow bonder servant and a great friend of Calvary so let’s welcome Dan as he comes up and brings us the word of God this morning well well Shalom everybody shom wow the Sunday school did better than that we’re going to try that again okay Shalom everybody it is a privilege and an honor for us to be here and for Dina and my son y have our other two children are not here with us they are um in Camp so um but it’s always so good to be back to be back here at Calvary and like um like Greg mentioned we are your extension in Israel so um it’s uh it’s it’s great to come back and um to see familiar faces and to see some new faces and um you know pastor Joe has now become a friend and he’s always um encouraging to us in our ministry so um it’s um it’s really a privilege and an honor to be back here so um like Greg mentioned we are and I serve as the Israel director of Jews for Jesus in Israel and um you know Israel is a place like Greg mentioned that’s unreached with the gospel and Jews for Jesus our mission and our mission statement is that we exist to relentlessly pursue God’s plan for the Salvation of Israel so and what does that mean well it means that we want to share the gospel with our Jewish people in the land of Israel now Israel is the most Jewish country in the world and there are 6.4 million Jewish people that live in Israel 6.4 million Jews and here in the states there are only about 6 million Jews so out of the 6.4 million that live in Israel and there are only about 6,000 Jewish people who believe in Jesus that’s how unreached the Jewish population in Israel is with the gospel and that’s why today our largest Jews for Jesus branch is is in Israel and um we are there reaching our people with the gospel message and I want to show you a short a video clip um which we’re going to play right now for you about our ministry in Israel Shalom my name is Dan sered and I’m the Israel director of Jews for Jesus Jews for Jesus is a Ministry that relentlessly pursues God’s plan for salvation for Israel founded in 1973 in San Francisco California as a part of the Jesus movement where many hippies came to Faith In Jesus and many of those hippies were Jewish people so they came around our founder another Jewish believer in Jesus Mo Rosen and they started this movement of Jews for Jesus wanting to communicate the gospel to our Jewish people Israel is a complex Place Israel is a melting Pond and so many different people from different places so our Jews for Jesus Israel Ministry reflects that diversity we have a staff that are devoted to Children Youth and Young Adult Ministry we have staff that are devoted to the Russian speaking population in Israel to the the the general Hebrew speaking seculars to social media evangelism but at the end of it for us it’s all about making disciples fulfilling the Great Commission making disciples for our lord Jesus we engage Jewish people with the gospel message we equip them to follow Yeshua and we Inspire Christians to do the same so that’s what our ministry and is all about we’re all about Carolina came to our church in Israel and then we greeted her of course as she entered and very very quickly we found out that Carolina um was she was Israeli born and raised in Israel but she um she wasn’t a believer in Jesus so um Dena befriended her and um started meeting with karolina on a weekly basis studying the scriptures together and um about 3 months into their study kolina prayed with Dina to receive the Lord and then of course Dina continued ministering and discipling Carolina and began attending her church on a regular basis and what a joy it was for Dina and I to baptize kolina in the Mediterranean Sea and today kolina is a disciple of Jesus and follower of him and doing really well in our faith and really growing in the Lord so we praise God for kolina and I shared this um story with you to tell you that that’s really what we’re all about we’re all about making disciples fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior Jesus and it’s my it’s our privilege to be here because we’re Partners in Ministry and like I said we are your extension we’re Calvary Community Church extension in Israel and um this morning there are three ways of how I want you as an individual and to to partner to continue partnering with our ministry now first and foremost the most important way of how you could partner with us is through your prayers did you get one of these cards when you walked in today if you didn’t get one can you raise your hand and I’m going to ask brother Roy to please um pass them on if you didn’t get one just raise your hand did everybody get one now we got a few here if you got it take it out right now okay I want to see you holding it in your hand come on here we go and then if you don’t mind just folding it along the preferred edge here and then just tearing it removing it okay you’ll have two portions of the cards in your hand come on want to see all doing this very good very good now the small portion of this card is not for you to it’s not for you it’s for you to keep it’s not for you to give away this is our prayer card this is a prayer reminder for you it says you pray for Dan and Dena sered and so would you please put it in your Bible or on your refrigerator whichever one you open more often okay this is a prayer reminder we need need your prayers okay would you please and keep us in your prayers now the biggest portion of this card is not for you to keep this is for you to fill out your name and address and if you would do that I would love for you to sign up for a Jews for Jesus free monthly newsletter I want you to get our newsletter so that you would know how to specifically pray for our ministry also if you put out your email address I would love to send you our Israel prayer updates I send those once a month from Israel telling you what’s going on in Israel what is God doing and how you could be praying for our missions in Israel now today I also want to offer each and every one of you a gift a gift from Jews for Jesus to you if you fill out your name and address I would love to send you a book that tells you all about the gospel in the feasts of Israel okay so sign up for a newsletter get our email prayer updates but also receive that free book okay so as you leave the sanctuary dropped this card in um in the Box in the back and that back says our picture on it it says for the ministry of Dan and Dina Sarah just drop the card in there and then become a prayer partner of our ministry you know and get that free book get our newsletter become a prayer partner of our ministry we need your prayers now second you can partner with our ministry this morning by um by giving to our ministry and but let me just say that um you know Jews for Jesus we’re not a church we an arm of the church therefore any gift that you give to our ministry must be above and beyond your normal Tides those belong to your home congregation your home Church wherever that may be so any gift that you give to our ministry and has to be above those Tides okay now if you do choose to give in the offering you can make checks payable to Jews for Jesus you can give with cash you can also give you a credit card on this card and please indicate the amount of your gift on this card so that we could properly receit you and thank you for your gift but please even if you don’t give in the offering that’s okay just still fill out this card become a prayer partner of our ministry okay get that free book we really need your prayers now like Greg mentioned I have um a resource table in the back of the church we’ve got free stuff there and not so free stuff okay please take as much of the free stuff as you want and let me ask that each of you take one of these blue pamphlets which says over 6 million is Israelis and fewer than half of 1% believe in Jesus this tells you more about our ministry in Israel please pick one of these up now on the NATO free side of our resource table we have different books and we also have some CDs and like this one this is um Jewish gospel music do you guys know Jewish music you know kind of like Fiddler on the Roof well this is Jewish music that Praises Jesus and in case you didn’t know this is the type of music we’re all going to be praising Jesus with in heaven okay it’s going to be Jewish music up there all right so I want you to be ready prepared so you can check these out please please don’t forget to fill out this card and um become a prayer partner of our ministry okay we we we realize that prayer is the secret weapon of evangelism and we need God’s people to partner with us in prayer so please fill out your name address your email address become a prayer partner of our ministry now today um is um as we look into the Bible I want us to talk about and the preeminence of God so if you got your Bibles um would you please open to um Exodus chapter 3 um Exodus chapter 3 um open your Bibles turn on your Bibles whatever it is we do these days and I have the scriptures on the screen as well but let me give you a little bit of background in Exodus chapter 3 Moses is 80 years old um and one day he was out in the desert you know he was a shepherd and he was um tending um his father-in-law’s sheep out in the backs side of the desert and he passes this bush one day and then this bush you remember right it’s on fire but it’s not burning up so Moses goes over to check it out and you remember the story right God speaks to him out from the bush well here we go beginning with verse 6 okay Exodus 3: 6 and he said God said I am the god of your father the god of Abraham the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob and Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God then the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their task Masters I know their sufferings and I’ve have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and Broad land a land flowing with milk and honey in the place of the Canaanites the Hittites the amorites the parasites the hivites the jebusites and Now Behold The Cry of the people of Israel has come to me and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt okay so let’s stop right here so far so good right and God is giving um Moses a call he’s calling Moses and then and Moses said to God verse 13 then Moses said to God if I come to the people of Israel and say to them the god of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me what is his name what shall I say to them now let’s stop right here and because I got to explain you need to understand that in that culture a name was more than just a reference to a person a name was supposed to indicate the character of that person that’s why for example they named Jacob sulter because you know what he did to his brother right you you understand so this was a very appropriate name well here when Moses asked God what is your name Moses is not asking God what is the nice term that that they refer to you by but but Moses is actually asking God God what is your character who are you really are what are you really like and we have verse 14 God said to Moses I am who I am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you now hearing saying that I am and what what is God actually saying about himself well we got to go to the Hebrew and here we go and we you you got to look at the at the original language that this was written in in in the Biblical Hebrew well the verb here I am that is translated I am means literally I mean the Hebrew it’s E8 it literally means to have existence so what is God saying to Moses he’s saying to Moses he says Hey Moses I am the being in this universe who is existence in and of himself I am the being in this universe who exists and has life in me in and of myself in here in Exodus chapter 3 God presents himself as the one and only self-existent independent being in the entire universe now the rest of the Bible Echoes this truth Psalm 90 Moses says verse two before the mountains were brought forth orever you had formed the earth and the world from Everlasting to Everlasting you are God in Isaiah 44:6 thus says the Lord the king of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts I’m the first and I’m the last besides me there is no God you know the famous verse in Revelation 1:8 I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty which is why in 1 Timothy chapter 6 Paul says that he King of Kings the Lord of lords who alone possesses immortality you know I remember and when I was a young Dad I know a long time ago but um you know I remember one day and my um our second born aan Ethan and he came to me one day he was a little boy and um I know he doesn’t even remember this but but he came to me and he said he said hey am AB dad you know he goes and where where did the trees come from and I said wow that’s a great question but I’ve got a great answer you know trees come from God and then he said well and where do mountains come from I said wow great I’ve got an answer to that as well you know mountains come from God and and he said well where do stars come from and I said well I got an answer to that you know God made them God made the Stars God made the trees God made the mountains God created them all so you know we continued went on with this line of questions and all of a sudden he says to me he says well aba and where does God come from well suddenly I’m out of answers there is no answer to that question so I said to him I said well God doesn’t come from anywhere God is and he has always has been and he always will be nowan my son found that really hard to grasp but not nearly as hard as I find that to grasp as an adult because saying that makes me realize and it makes you realize that here with God we’re dealing with a being that is preeminent above any other being in the cosmos so this is God this is the I am the one and only independent unbounded preeminent being in the universe God is accountable to no one but himself God is responsible to no one but himself God is limited by no one but himself God is restrain trained by no one but himself and God is answerable to no one but himself he is the I am of the universe he is the eternally self-existing one Beyond whom we cannot think and Beyond whom there is really nothing to think about anyway he is God preeminent in this universe amen amen now that’s as far as we want to um as we want to go in our theological treatment of this because now we got to ask ourselves um a very important question and here’s the question the question is so lot who cares I mean this is great right God is preeminent this is nice but really what difference does any of this make to my life what difference does this make to me tomorrow morning when when when I go to work you know what what difference does this make to my life well let’s talk about that okay let’s go back for a moment to the burning bush let’s go back and remind ourselves what did God say to Moses well God said to Moses you want to know who I really am well I am the one in the universe who exists who is existence in and of myself I am the one and only being in the universe who has life in and of myself now this is what the Bible says throughout the Bible confirms and and repeats this truth over and over again watch John 1 verse4 in him in God was life and the life was the light of men John 5: 26 for as the father has life in himself so we has granted the son also to have life in himself in 1 Timothy chapter 6 remembers what Paul said that God alone has immortality in just a verse or two before that Paul says that God Alone give life gives life to all things God is the one that gives life this explains Genesis 2 for us where the Bible says that the Lord God breathed into men’s nostrils the breath of life and that’s when men became a living Soul now as human beings and we are alive but the life that we live that we’re living is not inheritably our life the life that we’re are living was breathed into us it is a gift our life is a gift from the one who has life in himself it’s a gift from Almighty Mighty God this is not our life that we’re living out it’s a life that he gave us as a gift now as human beings we need to understand that therefore we’re dependent on God for every moment of our existence every breath that we take is at the pleasure of God every ounce of life that we live is at the pleasure of God the point that I want you to get is that there is an utter dependence in all of this that you and I must grasp if we’re going to to relate properly to the god of the universe and conversely it is our failure to grasp this dependency that lies at the heart of all sin in this universe all sin in the world and and all sin in our life you know I think of Lucifer do you remember the angel before he became Satan the Bible says Isaiah chapter 14 that at some point Lucifer as an angel and look verse and 13 and 14 and as an angel this what said right you said in your heart talking about Lucifer I will Ascend to Heaven above the stars of God I will set my Throne on high I will sit on the Mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north I will Ascend above the height of the cloud I will make myself like the most high in other words here we find Lucifer saying I will act independently of God I’m going to run my own destiny he says and he says I am going to be the one I’m going to be the one who runs my life and what did God say to him in this chapter God said to him Hey listen no you’ve sinned this is the first sin in the universe Adam didn’t commit the first sin in the universe Lucifer did but of course Adam walked in his footstep do you remember what happened in the garden what what what Adam did you say well of course I remember right he ate that Apple well first of all we don’t really know um that it was an apple second of all that wasn’t really the problem you know Adam could have eaten a peach or a pear the fruit was not the problem the problem was that Adam made up his mind that he was going to live independently from God he was going to be the captain of his own faith and and he brought a curse on the entire human race because of that Lucifer and Adam made the same mistake and they decided to act as independent beings instead of acting like the dependent beings that they were they rejected God God’s preeminence over their lives in favor of their own preeminence over their life you know sin may have many different outworkings but there is one Essence to sin Isaiah 53:6 oh we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to here it is to his own way there in a nutsh is the essence of all human sin the essence of sin is when any created being decides to take over and sit on the throne of their own life and to declare I’m going my way I’m doing it my way there you got there you got it that is sin now may I say to you that if you’re here today and you have not trusted Jesus as your own personal savior let me say that this is very important for you to understand and to think about the first step that any person ever takes towards God comes when that person realizes that they are a usurper that they are sitting on a stolen Throne you see God made every one of us and God breathes into every one of us Breath of Life every second of every day and God consider ERS the Throne of our life to belong to him because of that not us it is his throne we are dependent beings and when we finally realize that when when we become willing to abdicate that throne and be willing to give it back to God where it belongs and use the blood of Christ to be able to come to God and do that that’s when people begin to be ready to do business with God if you here and you have never trusted Christ I want you to listen to me this is why all of the religious activities and and presence that you’re trying to give to God are not going to work God doesn’t want your presence he wants his throne back the one that you usurped the one in your life that belongs to him and it is the and it is only when we become ready to give the Throne of our life back to God that we are ready to come to Christ and do business with God I love what aw toer said he said the Lord will not save those whom he cannot command he will not divide his offices meaning Lord and Savior you can’t believe in half a Christ he goes on to say we must accept Christ for what he is he is the savior who is risen but he’s also the Lord who is king of kings and Lord of lords if you’re here today and you’re tired you’re tired of running your own life listen sooner or L later you got to get tired of running your own life because none of us can do a very good job running our life I’m here to tell you that someone else is offering to run your life and he will do a perfect complete job doing it he will make your life to be something that is worth waking up in the morning for I hope that you will think about advocating The Throne of your life it will be the best decision that you will ever make getting off the Throne of your life and giving it to the Lord Jesus you know one time while I was traveling in the US I saw this bumper sticker said God is my co-pilot well I actually think that the bumper sticker should say I am out of the cockpit all together because that is really what God is looking for he doesn’t want you in the left seat or in the right seat or in the back seat he wants you out of the cockpit all together and he will take it from there let me go on and say that if you’re here today and you’ve already trusted Christ this is still very applicable to us because the lordship of Christ is not only an issue for non Believers the lordship of Jesus as a follower of Christ is the very lynchpin of our Christian Life Romans 121 says I appeal to you therefore Brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship now as a Living Sacrifice God is not asking you and me to kill ourselves literally because we need to be living SA Rices right but he’s asking us to be as dead and as the sacrifice was when they slid its throat on the altar in the temple As Dead As that when it comes to running our own lives and instead to let God do it this is how the Lord Jesus lived when when he walked here on Earth he lived under the lordship of God when he was here on Earth John 4:34 Jesus said to them my food is to do the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work John 8:28 so Jesus said to them when you have lifted up the son of man then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak just as the father taught me John 6:38 Jesus said for I come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and Jesus said at the Garden of Gethsemane not my will but yours be done so so here the Lord Jesus when he was living right here on Earth he was a man living under the authority of God and the authority of his written word he didn’t run his own life even as the second person of the godhead he didn’t you know this is exactly how he tells us that we must live aw toer said a man is willing to share himself and sometimes even sacrifice himself for a desired end but never to Dethrone himself wow very interesting Matthew 28: 19 says right this is the Great Commission it says go therefore and make church members of all Nations nope that’s not what it says go therefore and make professing Christians of all Nations nope that’s not what it says go therefore and make churchgoers of all Nations no go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations and you know what sets a disciple apart from a churchgoer or from a church member or from a professing Christian I will tell you what it is a disciple is a person who has dethroned himself a disciple is a person who has dethroned herself a disciple is a person who has restored the Throne of their life to its rightful owner a disciple is a person for whom submission to God is not just a buzzword a disciple is a person for whom obedience to God is not just a buzz phrase but these two words and these two phrases submission to God and obedience to God these form the very essence the very core of how a disciple lives a disciple understands that they don’t live the way that they want to live they they don’t live the way that they feel like living they don’t live like their friends tell them to live they live the way God tells them to live in the written word of God the Authority for their lives is not what they want or what they feel like or what their friends tell them to do it is what God tells them in the word of God period and of discussion that’s a disciple now do we always get it right no do we sometimes fall short yes but you know what we never lower the bar if you’re a disciple you come to God and you confess that you wrong but you don’t change the standard the bar is the written word of God is the Authority for life this is how you live you know if you’re going to reach this area for Jesus if you’re going to reach this this city this County this region for Jesus if you’re going to if you’re going to reach New Jersey for Christ if we’re going to go out and reach the world for Jesus I’m here to tell you something this is not going to happen with a bunch of church churchgoers nope it’s not going to happen with a bunch of professing Christians no it’s not going to happen because a bunch of church members decided to to do this only a bunch of disciples can God use to reach a country and a people for Christ you look at the early church they weren’t church members churchgoers a bunch of professing Christians they were the disciples and that’s what we must be being a disciple is an All or Nothing deal one of my heroes of of of the Faith Hudson Taylor the great missionary to China said this he said Jesus is either Lord of all or he’s not Lord at all I love that I love that I don’t know how you can say it any simpler than that and in my life and in your life Jesus is either Lord of all or guess what he’s not Lord at all so let me just ask you as we get ready to close I I need to ask you this you know when it comes to your sex life when when it comes to the movies that you watch the things that you read the websites that you visit how you love your wife how you love your husband how you treat your children or how you honor your parents who is on the throne of your life you or Jesus Jesus when it comes to how you serve your boss or how you speak of your fellow man or how you forgive those who hurt you or how you handle money or how you keep your word or how you seek to live with Integrity in every part of your life who is preeminent in your life is it you or is it Jesus can’t be both it can’t be both he’s either Lord of all or he’s not Lord at all can’t be both you can’t have half a Christ he’s Lord or he’s not so who is who is he in your life I can’t answer that question for you but I can tell you that the answer to this question is the deciding factor if you’re a disciple or not really it’s the decide deciding factor I believe in many cases even if you’re a true follower of Christ or not you know this idea that that some of us have that you can believe in Jesus as your savior but then reject him as Lord and and go and live your life any way you want to live that’s not a Biblical concept he is the Lord he’s the Lord Jesus Christ Paul says believe in the Lord Jesus Christ it’s true we do grow in our surrender to his lordship over the years but we never ever start out by saying I am wonderfully happy he’s my savior and now I’m going to make up my mind and I’m and I’m going to go and live my life anywh I want no that’s not how it works God doesn’t take people on that basis if that’s the basis on which you came I think that there is a serious there there’s serious reasons for you to examine whether you really belong to Christ because he does not take people on that basis I want to take some time this morning to give us an opportunity to answer this question who is really on the throne of your life if you have assured some of the Throne of your life as a follower of Christ if you’re kind of living under your own authority in this area or or in that area I have a challenge for you we need to make him Lord of everything the whole thing I can’t do that for you I can only do that for me so I’m challenging you you want to be a disciple well that’s how a disciple live and these are the people’s lives that God blesses and that God honors I want him to honor your life I want him to bless your life and I’m telling you how to do it I hope that you will listen not to me but I hope that you will listen to him so let’s pray together with our heads bowed and our eyes closed I want to give you a moment if you need to do business with God right now this is it this is your moment there are things that popped on your radar screen when when I began talking about who really is preeminent in your life things you know that that that Jesus and that that you haven’t made Jesus Lord over your life I want to challenge you to do that as we sit here to get off the throne that you don’t belong on if you stay on it it will hurt yourself and everyone around you get off and put Jesus on the throne where who it rightly belongs to so it’s going to be quiet for a few moments if you need to talk to God you do it right now but Lord Jesus God Almighty you are omnipotent you are Eternal you are holy and righteous and faithful and merciful and loving and gracious and preeminent Lord there is no choice on who needs to rule our life it’s it’s really a no-brainer Lord we’re so human and sin is such an emic part of our flesh that sometimes Lord even without even trying we push you off the throne and we take over forgive us father forgive us and give us the heart and the lifestyle of a disciple who puts on puts you on the throne and and keeps you there Lord we do fall short of what you ask us every day but help us never change the understanding of where the authority of our life is help us never dilute that may you be Lord may you be preeminent over every part of our life and if there are things that we need to go change in order to restore you to the throne then Lord Jesus give us courage to change it by your grace Lord help us to get to know you well enough that that we understand your ways help us to get to know you well enough so that we feel you help us to get to know you well enough to the degree that we won’t lay hands on the ark that we won’t touch the throne it’s yours Lord change our lives because we were here today we were here studying your word we love you and we pray these things in Jesus name and God’s people said