Undeterred | Sunday, November 1, 2026

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Anthony, Christian, and team. Good morning, Cross Connection. You all look well-rested. It's good to see you. You can have a seat.

How many of you were thankful for an extra hour of sleep last night? Except the rain kind of disrupted all the trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. Normally, we have a constant flow of people, but we had about 20% of them last night. It was different—very different. It is so good to see you this morning. I’m glad to be with you on this nice, fallish day. Just don't blink; this is it. This is all you're going to get, and soon it will be like Santa Anas again. It'll be 100° on Thanksgiving or something. But there is a lot to be thankful for, right? Praise God we don't live where you have to shovel snow.

How many of you grew up in a place where you shoveled snow? Oh, don't you love this place so much better? I lived for a year in Germany, and I had to shovel snow maybe three or four times before I had to drive in the morning. I realized, no thank you. I’m so glad to live here.

Well, there is a lot going on in the world, as is always the case, and it seems to be in such a big way. Because we live in the time in which we live, we are always being notified about everything that is going on. It's like a constant stream of buzzing notifications on our devices that keeps us aware of all the happenings. We’re being pinged about news events around the world all day, every day, to the point that it can feel like noise—a constant drone. The bother of it can sometimes be tiring and a bit frustrating.

I don't know about you, but a lot of times I find myself just swiping away the notifications as they come. Especially in the last few weeks, I've been swiping left and clicking delete on this constant flow of political text messages. Is anybody else tired of political text messages? I find myself thinking, how on earth did they get my phone number? Junk snail mail and email were bad enough, but now it's like 47 text messages by 10 in the morning, and every single one is a dire warning about how this motion or this politician is going to destroy your life.

And so, you have to pay attention to it. I am tempted to swipe left and delete notifications as they come through. Sadly, in all the notifications we receive, it feels as though politics in 2026 has become almost like noise. The hard part about that is the acknowledgment and recognition that these things are important; they are not trivial. However, when you are constantly being notified about them, it just feels less important than maybe it is. I know it's important, and I think we should use our right as citizens to fulfill our civic duty this next Tuesday.

The weird thing is that the polls are open for days and weeks before the actual election, but maybe you haven't voted yet. Tuesday is fast approaching, and it is a civic duty that most would agree is very, very important. One of the things that needs to be said, especially if you consider yourself a Christian today—and I assume that most of you do, with maybe the great majority of you here this morning—some of you are still looking into these things; you may not have fully accepted or acknowledged the lordship of Christ in your life.

For those of you who have, it is really helpful for us to remind ourselves, especially at this time of year, that as Christians, our ultimate citizenship and allegiance is to the King and His kingdom. As Paul says, and I will even touch on it this morning, we are citizens of heaven. It is such an important thing for us to remind ourselves of. I am grateful for my citizenship.

As we all did growing up, every single morning in public school, we started by pledging allegiance. I will never forget when I was living in Germany and having a conversation with a German friend of mine. You may not know this, but post-Second World War in Germany, it is like anathema; it is the worst possible thing to be nationalistic. There is an allergic reaction to nationalism in Germany today. My friend was saying he just couldn't understand how we would do this every morning—pledge allegiance. It just doesn't make any sense to him. Yet, we all did that. Many of you at the end of that find yourselves saying "Amen" so frequently. But we need to be...

As Christians, if that's what you are today, you are a citizen of another kingdom. Yes, you are a citizen of this country if you are, and you have a civic duty and right to vote. However, your ultimate allegiance should be to the King and His kingdom. Therefore, as we've talked about many times here at the church, we are ambassadors of another kingdom and of another King.

There has been a lot of discussion, especially in the last five years or so, about the issue of Christian nationalism. I want to make it very clear that I have real reservations about what is being put forward by a number of people who call themselves pastors or ministers within the Christian church in America. I am very concerned about many of the things they are promoting in the form of Christian nationalism. Some of the things they are saying are just crazy.

Understand that even making the statement that we have citizenship in another kingdom and allegiance to another King would shock and startle the New York Times. They might say, "How dare you say something like that?" But for a Christian, we need to be reminded that we are ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, when you go into the polling booth or fill out your absentee ballot, it is important for you to use as your guide the wisdom of God, the priorities of His kingdom, and the leading of the Holy Spirit when you vote. You should vote in accordance with the values of the King and His kingdom.

Even though that might make the New York Times fearful to hear someone say that, it is very important. You may say, "Well, I don't know what that means." If you don't know, then that means you need to get into the Scriptures and learn the principles they contain. I commend you for being here, where we learn these things together. However, it is essential to have your understanding brought into alignment with what God teaches on a consistent and regular basis as part of your life. Remember, you are an ambassador of the King of Kings and of His coming kingdom.

One of the most important and memorable speeches of the last several hundred years was the very short words that Abraham Lincoln gave at Gettysburg in 1863. He finished with this: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, and that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not...

"Perish from the earth." What great words. A government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish. In a sense, when you vote, you are declaring that with your vote. It perishes if you don't voice your vote. Maybe not if you miss it one time, or maybe not immediately, but if you give up on it, it will erode. There are people in our culture today who are doing what the culture refers to as "black pilling," where they feel it doesn't make any difference. I had a conversation with someone about this recently. He said, "I live in California. It doesn't make any difference." I'm sure you have felt that way at times. That kind of nihilistic despair leads to the belief that it doesn't matter. What's the point?

If we go in that direction, then, yes, over time it erodes. It doesn't happen immediately, but it does happen. The story has been told that as they ratified the Constitution in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin came out from the Constitutional Convention and was asked by a well-known wealthy woman of the time, "Dr. Franklin, what have you given us, a monarchy or a republic?" He replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." Those are important things to think about. It can erode; it can dissolve. We need to have the conviction that it is the values of the King of Kings and the Scriptures that ultimately promote freedom. That's where it comes from.

All the freedom that everyone in our country so values and esteems may have different understandings of what that means—liberty, value, and freedom—but those values come from the teachings of the Scriptures. They did not arise out of nowhere. If you read the founding words of the founders of this country, their source material was primarily things like Deuteronomy, books that are rarely read anymore. You are more likely to read Montesquieu than you are Deuteronomy. But where did he get what he believed? Where did these ideas come from? They did not arise out of nothing.

We have been bombarded by the text messages of the political action committees, and we are tempted to swipe left and delete. Still trying to get over this cough. But did you know that 2,000 years ago, Jesus received a dire public warning of impending political disaster from a political action committee of His day?

Some of you are wondering how we are going to pivot into Luke. But that's exactly what we find in the Gospel of Luke this morning. The very first verse that we will look at in just a moment says this: "On that very day, some Pharisees, a group of a political action committee in Jesus's day, came to him saying, 'Get out and depart from here, for Herod, the ruler, wants to kill you.'" That is a political text message.

How did Jesus respond to that? To be quite honest with you, as we will see in the text, in a sense, he kind of swipes left and deletes. It's a fascinating thing. For many weeks, we have been in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus has set himself to go to Jerusalem. It started in Luke chapter 9, where it says in verse 51, "He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." This is kind of a callback. This verse from Luke is a callback to a verse from Isaiah.

The prophet Isaiah talked about the servant of the Lord, which is a messianic title looking forward 700 years from Isaiah. In Isaiah 50:7, he says, "I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be ashamed." The servant of the Lord is pictured prophetically by Isaiah as setting his face like flint. It is a hard, steadfast determination: "I’m going in this direction, and nothing is going to deter me from this path." That is what Jesus does in Luke 9.

The prophet Ezekiel, in Ezekiel chapter 3, pictures the exact same imagery of the servant of the Lord steadfastly setting his face in a certain direction. That is what Jesus does here. He is determined to go to Jerusalem, and he knows exactly what awaits him there. In that same passage, Luke chapter 9, he has the conversation with the two representatives of the law and the prophets, Moses and Elijah, on the Mount of Transfiguration. They spoke with him of his decease that would soon be accomplished at Jerusalem.

So, Jesus knows where he is going. He knows what he is doing, and he is still on that path, as we saw in the text last week. One of the key texts I noted last week was Luke 13:22, which says he was journeying towards Jerusalem. Now, as he is on the path journeying towards Jerusalem, a message comes to him from, of all people, the Pharisees. You know just about any time you read...

In the New Testament, you find yourself kind of like the Pharisees. You remember "The Lion King," like Mufasa? It's similar to the Pharisees. A group of Pharisees comes to Jesus, seemingly offering aid, and you might think, "Well, this is weird." It's important to understand that their motives may not have been the best. They come to Him and say something that is true: Herod, who was the ruler and leader of Galilee—where Jesus did most of His work and ministry—sought to kill Him. Herod was out to kill Jesus.

What does a settled person do? How does a settled person respond when such a threat comes? That is one of the questions we will see answered in the text today, which I think is really helpful. What does a settled person do? How do they respond when a threat against them arises? We are bombarded every single day with news of threats that come against us. How ought we to respond? Jesus is always our supreme and great example in this regard.

It is rare for us to face threats because we are privileged to live in an abnormal society. I say "abnormal" because if you study human history, you will recognize that what we have enjoyed in our lifetime is not typical. The freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of the press are all enumerated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. These are rights that so many people in our country love and appreciate, especially the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. That is what you will always hear discussed in our culture.

However, the first of the five rights enumerated in the First Amendment is freedom of religion. We enjoy an amazing privilege, and it is indeed abnormal in human history. We are being bombarded with threats to this freedom. Very infrequently, because we live in a culture where we have freedom of religion and rights granted to us by our government, is the threat to our lives actually political. More often than not, the threats that come to my life or to yours stem from the chaos of a broken world. We all live under threat—not from politics, probably, but from the chaos of a broken world.

Threats surround us in various forms. Some of you this morning are under the threat of a diagnosis of a terminal disease. Others may be facing the unexpected dangers of an accident, the violence of a wicked person, or other perilous situations. These are the realities that constantly confront us. Currently, the news media highlights the dangers of artificial intelligence. We also live under the threat of climate disasters, which have been a significant concern for a long time.

You may sit here today and think, "Praise God, I'm not under threat from any of those." However, there is one threat that all of us face: the persistent passing of time and the wearing away of age. We all live under that threat every day. So, how does a settled person respond? What does a settled person do when threats persist and confront us directly?

Consider what you would do if a credible threat of violence came from a politician, much like the threats Jesus faced. The Pharisees approached Jesus and said, "Herod desires to kill you." How would you respond? Would you remain settled, as Christ did in this passage, or would you be shaken? Christ serves as our example. How did He remain settled in the face of such threats?

Three key aspects come to mind regarding how He maintained His composure. First, He knew who He was. Second, He understood why He had come. Third, He was aware of where He was going. These three elements—identity, purpose, and destiny—are crucial.

We live in a culture that is confused about all three aspects. In 2026, confusion about identity is rampant, as seen constantly in the media. People struggle with their identity, purpose, and destiny. A significant reason for this confusion is that our culture has spent the last 150 years promoting the idea that we are merely products of random chance and mutation over billions of years. If that is true, then who are you? Why are you here? Where do you go after this life?

There is little clarity on these questions unless you turn to the Scriptures. Suddenly, you find coherent answers to the questions of who you are, why you are here, and where you are going. I would suggest that you become more settled in the midst of the storm when you can answer these three questions: Who am I? Why am I here?

And where am I going? Over the last several months, I've been interviewed quite a few times for a whole bunch of different podcasts about AI. Almost always, one of the first questions I now receive is, "Should we be afraid of AI?" As a pastor, my immediate thought is Paul's words to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1: "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." So, the answer to the question is no. I'm not afraid of these things.

Part of the reason I'm not afraid is because I have an understanding of what God is doing in the world. My understanding does not suggest that we will be destroyed by machines that take over and destroy us all. I am settled in these things because I know where I'm going. My hope is not ultimately here in this place. Because of that, I can fulfill, and you can fulfill as well, the command given in the Scriptures: "Do not be anxious for anything." Why? Because God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So, point number one, if you're taking notes this morning: the settled servant isn't fearless by temperament; they are anchored. This is so key. It's not that the person who's settled in the midst of the storm—maybe you've seen that person before, where everything else is chaos and they seem to be at peace—is fearless because they have a strong, courageous constitution or a personality that's tempered in these things. No, they are anchored.

This is not just a slogan. But where does this kind of settled fearlessness come from? How can one lay hold of it? It's interesting to consider who wrote that verse in 2 Timothy: "God has not given us a spirit of fear." It was the Apostle Paul. This was his last letter, written while he was in prison to a young pastor named Timothy. Paul knew what he was facing; he writes about it in 2 Timothy chapter 4: "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand." He was facing execution. Eventually, not long after this, he would be beheaded. Yet, he didn't give in to fear.

It wasn't just because Paul had a confident personality. This was a man who was anchored to something. What is it that he was anchored to? The book of Hebrews gives us an answer. What is the anchor that holds us in the storm? Hebrews 6:19 states, "This hope we have is an anchor for our soul, both sure and steadfast."

Enters into the presence behind the veil. What does that mean? It means that I'm anchored beyond the veil. What's that? It's in eternity. The anchoring that holds us in the storms of this world is the anchoring that's found in eternity with the Lord in His presence behind the veil.

Sometimes we're tempted to say, "Well, I'm just not a brave person." And you don't have to be. You just have to be anchored, connected by trust in the One who is sure and steadfast. The settled servant isn't fearless by temperament; they are anchored. I think that's what we're going to see in the text this morning.

So, if you would take out your Bible and open to the Gospel of Luke, it's the last third of your Bible. Stand with me. You'll see the other Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and then Luke. We are in the last verses of Luke chapter 13 today, beginning at verse 31. Pardon me as I cough.

Luke 13:31 states, "On that very same day, some of the Pharisees came, saying to Him, 'Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you.' And He said to them, 'Go tell that fox. Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate. And assuredly, I say to you, you shall see Me no more until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

God, I pray that you would teach us by Your Word and by the presence and power of Your Holy Spirit this morning from this text. Open our ears, our hearts, and our minds to receive from You Your implanted Word, and that You would change, even if it's just a little bit today. Change our focus, our perspective. Reweight the large language model that is our brain.

Lord, transform us by the renewing of our minds so that we would be able to show forth in this world what is Your good and perfect will. For we ask this today in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

A group of politically motivated individuals came to Jesus and said, "You need to get out of here. Herod wants to kill you." They were not lying to Him. Herod was the ruler of the region of Galilee, where most of Jesus's ministry was taking place. He had already demonstrated that he would kill to maintain his image; he beheaded John the Baptist. John the Baptist had spoken out against the immorality of that politician, that fox. As a result, John the Baptist was beheaded and killed by Herod because he spoke up for morality and against immorality. Herod had shown that he would kill to protect his image.

It is strange that a group of Pharisees would come to Jesus, although there is a way to understand their actions. Their motivations were not great. Jesus's ministry in Galilee was mostly outside of their jurisdiction. Their greatest power was in Judea and Jerusalem. To say "get out of Galilee" was to say "go back to Jerusalem," where they would have more power over Him. Their hearts were not good in this matter. However, they came to Jesus and told Him something that was true: Herod wants to kill you.

How would you respond if the person who held the power and jurisdiction of that area wanted to kill you? What would be your response? Run and hide? Even some of the greatest figures in all of Christendom have done that. I think of Martin Luther, who was under threat from the ruler of his time. For a period, he did hide, but he hid so that he could finish the translation of the German Bible. There was a reason for it.

But what does Jesus do in this circumstance? He continues on the road. Why? Because He has set Himself to go to Jerusalem, and nothing is going to deter Him from His mission and purpose.

Spectacular! Go tell that fox; I have a word for him. You might wonder what it means that He calls Herod a fox. One great commentator on this, William Barclay, notes that the fox in ancient Israel symbolized several things. First, it was regarded as a sly animal. Second, it was seen as a destructive animal. But third, and I think this is even more important, it symbolized worthlessness and insignificance. So when Jesus says, "Go tell that fox," He is putting into perspective who this man actually is.

This is such an important thing to remember when you're in the midst of a storm: we lose perspective so quickly and easily. They come and say, "Herod wants to kill you," and everyone should be alarmed, thinking, "Oh, Herod wants to kill us. We should run and hide." But Jesus responds, "Go tell that fox. I've got work to do. I'm not bothered by that." He puts it in perspective. He knew exactly who this powerful person was.

We are so easily tempted to be afraid of positions of power and the people who hold that power. We need to rightly put it in perspective. Jesus did this with Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, in the Gospel of John as well. He said, "You have no power except that which is given to you from above. You think that you're powerful, but you have no power. Neither do you take my life from me; I lay my life down." Jesus had a proper perspective of power, and He put Herod in perspective.

The prophet Isaiah does this as well when talking about the king of Babylon in Isaiah chapter 14. The king of Babylon, especially during the later part of Isaiah's life, was the man who held the whole world in his hands. Isaiah pictures us seeing him at the end, during judgment, and saying, "This is the one that made us afraid. This is the one who shook the nations." He is nothing.

You've all seen the Chihuahua that thinks it's a Great Dane, barking at you. I'll never forget years ago—I know I don't look like it at the moment, but years ago, I was into distance running. I would run every single day past this house that had a chain-link fence, one of those four-foot tall fences that you could easily hop over. There was this little Chihuahua who would come running from up at the house, yipping at me the whole way.

I'm running by, and he would bark. I know in his little Chihuahua brain, it was like that big. I know he was thinking, "When I ran by, that's right. You run away." He's like, "Really? I could kick you. I wouldn't like at least 50 yards. I don't kick animals. I'm nice most of the time. You could have no power against me unless it had been given to you from above."

Jesus says He puts these things in the right perspective. We get so frightened by persons and positions of power. But what are they before God? We need to be reminded of that. What does God do when the nations rage? Psalm 2 says He laughs. It's as if God is in heaven going, "This is funny." It's like if an ant stood up in power against you. You're like, "Okay, He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision and confusion."

When I think of the king of Babylon, I'm reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Book of Daniel. We studied it here at the church a few summers ago. All the people of Babylon during the time of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told that they had to bow down and worship the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar that he had set up. They said, "We're not going to do that." The law stated, "The person that does not bow down to the image when the music plays is going to be cast into the fiery furnace."

They brought Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before the king. The king said, "I'm going to give you a chance. We're going to play some music, and you worship. If you do, then everything's fine. You can go back home."

What's their response? Their response is one of the most powerful responses in all of literature. It's in Daniel chapter 3. They said, "If that is the case, king, if you want to kill us, know this: Our God whom we serve, He is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. He can deliver us, and He will deliver us from you, O king. But if not, this is where the real power is. The real power is not in our God can deliver us from you and the fire. The real power is, but even if He doesn't, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."

What can you do?

With people like that, they say God can deliver us, but even if He does, I'm still not doing what you're telling me to do. So, what did Nebuchadnezzar do? He stoked the fires of the furnace seven times greater than it normally would be and threw them into the fiery furnace. What did he see? He saw not three, but four walking in the midst of the fiery furnace. The fourth was like the Son of God, Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ there in the fire. They did not know if they would live or die, but they knew whose they were, and they knew that they would not bow to the king's image. They refused and accepted the consequences. They said, "Even if He doesn't deliver us, we will not do what you have told us to do." That is fearlessness.

Where did that fearlessness come from? Was it that they were just really strong Jewish boys from Jerusalem? No. Their trust was in our God who can deliver us, but even if He doesn't.

So, settled thing number one: If you're going to be settled in the midst of the storm, you need to know who you are—your identity. The identity in Christ. What kind of identity is that? For our citizenship is in heaven. I am greatly appreciative of the country that I call home. I am grateful for the passport that I hold. I've traveled all around the world, and I can tell you, having gone to many places, I am grateful to fly back into customs at JFK. It is the worst place on the planet, just by the way, second only to customs at LAX. But I am grateful.

However, my ultimate citizenship, hope, and allegiance are not in Washington, D.C., or in my passport. They are in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end. Should the Lord tarry 500 years from now, it is not a given that this nation will remain. Nations come and go; read history. But the kingdom of our Lord will have no end. Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the tense: It's not our citizenship will be in heaven. No, at this very moment, if you're a Christian today, your citizenship is of another kingdom. You're not there yet. So, what does that mean?

You're on assignment. You're an ambassador of the King and His kingdom. If you vote on Tuesday, which if you haven't, you should, vote with that mindset: I am a citizen of another kingdom. Whatever you face—anything that might strike fear, any threat, whether it is a political threat, a threat from the chaos of the broken world, a threat of disease, or the threat of old age—remember this.

When I know whose I am, a fox's threat loses its grip. I'm no longer constricted by that fear because I belong to the King of Kings. Jesus says, "Go tell that fox, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." Herod's message was clear: you need to leave or I'm going to kill you. Jesus answered, "Listen, I have work to do. I'm going nowhere. I have work to do, and I'm going to perfect that, complete that work. I'm going to say it is finished."

Nevertheless, I love that word. Nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following. That "nevertheless" signifies determined, undeterred perseverance. I will continue to do the work today, tomorrow, and the next day. I'm going to continue this work until I have completed it. I must complete it.

Then, Jesus throws in this interesting line: "It cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem." When He says this, He is in the jurisdiction of Herod, which is Galilee, and He knows His demise will be in Jerusalem. So what does He know about spending time in Galilee? He is completely safe. Nothing is going to happen to Him there. Even if Herod decides to track Him down, he can't do anything. His hands are tied. He has no power except that which comes from above.

Jesus is going to die in Jerusalem like so many of the prophets before Him, and no one takes His life from Him. Jesus said in John 10:18, "But I lay it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it back up again." These threats against the servant of the Lord are not new. I think of the story of Nehemiah.

Another book we studied a few summers ago was Nehemiah. He had the commission of the king of Persia to go and rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem. However, there was a group of people set against him—politicians who did not like what he was doing. They tried to stop the work of building the wall that Nehemiah was overseeing. They kept trying to discourage him, saying, "Well, come down and meet with us." Nehemiah responded, "I'm doing a good work. I am not leaving the work."

When they could not deter him, they resorted to threats. They said, "Fine. Let's kill him." They set up a plan to kill him, but Nehemiah was not shaken by their determined plan. He sent messengers to them, saying, "I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave to go down to you? I don't have time for you. I am committed to the work. I am not stopping it."

The warning that came to him is spiritual. The Pharisees came to Jesus and said, "Herod wants to kill you." They were not lying, and the implication of what they were telling Him was, "You need to get out of here. You have to run." This was the same word that came to Nehemiah, to Christ, and to the Apostle Paul when he was on his way to Jerusalem in the book of Acts. In every city he stopped in, believers would say to him, "Chains await you in Jerusalem." That was a true prediction, a true prophecy. However, their interpretation of the facts was wrong. They advised him not to go to Jerusalem, but he said, "No, God has told me to go to Jerusalem. Yes, chains await me, and I will continue to go in that direction. I am not discouraged by what awaits me because this is what God has sent me to do. I know who I am. I know what I'm here to do."

Even though it was well-meaning, well-intentioned, God-loving individuals who were telling him, "You should not do this," he insisted, "No, I am going to continue to do it because God told me to do this." I discovered something in my early 20s—not to pick on my mom, who is sitting right there. Much of her counsel to me during that time was misguided. She is a God-loving, God-fearing individual, but her advice often stemmed from her love and concern for me. She worried about what might happen if I went in one direction or another.

It’s not that her counsel was bad because she was ill-natured; it was because she loved me and wanted to protect me from anything that might hurt me. This was exactly the counsel of those people who came to Paul. He said, "No, God has called me to do this." The settled individual is settled because they know who they are and why they are here.

They are here. They understand their purpose. There must be a reason for their presence. Jesus said, "I must do this work today, tomorrow, and so forth."

Point number three, if you're taking notes: when I know my assignment, I can't be talked off the wall. Nehemiah knew his assignment. Jesus knew his task. He would not be talked down.

In verse 34 of Luke 13, Jesus pivots and speaks directly to Jerusalem. "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing." This reflects the heart, the love, and the passion of Jesus for His people, for Jerusalem. This is God's heart for His people. "I wanted to gather you to Myself, but you did not want it." The same word applies: "I was willing to gather you to Myself, but you were not willing. You were not wanting."

This is an interesting concept, and I highlight this frequently as we go through the scriptures because I think it's so important. In the Protestant church, we have had this division nearly since the time the Protestant Reformation began. It is the division within the church between those who are pulled in the direction of God's sovereign direction and election, and those who are pulled in the direction of man's responsibility and agency. These two are often presented as counterforces within the church that cause division.

The problem is that both of them are linked together in an inseparable way throughout the scriptures. I point this out frequently. Philippians 2:12 and 13, my favorite passage in the Bible, states, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you to will and do His good pleasure." So, who is working? God or you? Yes.

We see both of these in the scripture. We are on this tightrope with the bar in our hands, always being tempted to lean or fall in the direction of God's sovereignty or towards man's agency and responsibility.

What is true? What is right? Both are true; they are both in the scriptures. Here we have it: God says, "I wanted to gather you to myself, and you were not willing." The awesomeness of the power of the sovereign God is evident here. Power is not in the sovereign God saying, "You're not willing, but I will make you because I am sovereign in power." Power is in Him saying, "I have enough power to allow you to say, 'I will not,' and I still maintain my power."

How often I wanted to gather you to myself, but you were not willing. Jesus is pressed on here in His work by what? What do we see in those words? There is passion in those words, isn't there? Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you are so lost. You kill the ones that I send to you with my impassioned plea to call you to righteousness. You kill them. So often, I just want to gather you to myself as a hen gathers her brood.

What is driving Him? What is the passion behind this? It is the love of Christ. Point number four: His courage is love that won't flee. He is not deterred from His path towards a self-loving path. He is pressed on by His love for those He was seeking to redeem. Beyond that, He sees what awaits Jerusalem.

"See, your house," verse 35 says, "is left desolate." He is predicting the coming judgment of Jerusalem that would occur about four decades in the future after His crucifixion, in the year 70 AD. The Roman armies under Titus would come and destroy Jerusalem in the summer of 70 AD. He predicts their destruction, their desolation, and their dispersion from their homeland. They shall flee Jerusalem.

Then comes this pronouncement: "You shall not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Of the Lord. Now, this has a dual fulfillment. There is a fulfillment of this in Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we celebrate on Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday, that's exactly what the pilgrims going to Jerusalem sang. They sang from Psalm 118, one of the Psalms of Ascent. When the Jewish pilgrims would go to Jerusalem, they would sing the Psalms, especially this one: "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." They sang that on that day as Jesus went to Jerusalem. But just four or five days later, they said, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

Jesus says, "Then there's going to be a desolation. There's going to be a destruction. Forty years later, it would happen." He also says, "And I will be gone from you. You will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" That's the future fulfillment of this. This is the day when some descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will look on him whom they have pierced. Zechariah predicts this in his second coming when he returns, and they will say, "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

Jesus was settled because he knew who he was. He knew what he was doing. Thirdly, and I'll wrap it up, he knew where he was going. He was going to Jerusalem, but he was going through Jerusalem. Yes, the endpoint would be the cross on Calvary, but that's not the end of the story because three days later, he rose again and ascended into heaven. One day, he will descend from there once again and return. He knew where he was going.

The Apostle Paul also knew where he was going when he was facing the day of his execution. He said some powerful words in light of that in Philippians chapter 1: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Who says that? To die is gain. Do you know any person outside of Christ, outside of the church, who could actually say, "To die is gain"? I don't think so. We do everything we possibly can to maintain our lives. This is one of the big reasons why, in 2020, so many people in our culture were so devastatingly fearful. Some of you were amazed and astonished at the fear that you saw in your neighbors, friends, or co-workers in the face of a pandemic.

But listen, if your only hope is this world and a pandemic comes that might take your life prematurely, you are tossed to and fro. You have no idea what to do. But for the Christian who says, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain," what's the worst possible thing that a pandemic or a politician who hates me could do? Take my life. That just gets me to be in the presence of the Lord faster.

How do you deal with a person who says, "For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain"? They have more power than Nero. If to die is gain, then the worst any threat can do is send me home.

When I know where I'm going, even death can't scare me off the road. We have these great examples; we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Nehemiah, Paul. But our greatest example is Christ. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily ensnare us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the devastating annihilation of the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He was determined, and no threat could deter Him from His path. Not Herod's threat, not Jerusalem's refusal, not the cross. Why? He could swipe left and delete. Why? He knew who He was. He knew what He was doing. He knew where He was going. And He wants you and me to live with the same determination. Thus, He says, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

What is that word "rest"? It's the word from which we get the idea and concept of peace as well. And here's the awesome thing: I can think of very few things that are more evangelistic than peace in the midst of the storm. When your coworker, when your neighbor...

When your friend or family member, who does not know God or His peace, watches you walk with certainty, steadfastness, and rest through whatever storm you might go through, they say, "I want that." They may not know where you got that peace, but they desire it.

When we get spun up and freaked out by doom scrolling through social media about this bill, this politician, or whatever else is happening, and we act like the rest of the world that is panicking about those things, we are living as practical atheists. We say with our lips, "I know and I trust the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords," but with our lives, we demonstrate uncertainty. Oh God, help us. Help us to walk with trust in You, the sure and steadfast One. Amen.

Let's stand and close in prayer. God, we consider You, who endured such hostility against Yourself so that we do not become weary and discouraged in our souls. It is so easy to become weary and discouraged, especially as we look at the things happening in Washington, Sacramento, or downtown San Diego, with the Board of Supervisors and all these different issues. Lord, we can become so anxious and fearful about the news of what is happening around the world.

But Lord, You sit enthroned in heaven, and You have a timetable and a plan, and You will make good on it. Of the increase of Your government and peace, there shall be no end. You will establish Your kingdom from this time forth and forevermore. I pray that today and this week, You would remind me and my brothers and sisters here that we serve the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Maker of heaven and earth, all things seen and unseen, and there is nothing that moves You. God, help us to know and rejoice in that truth. We pray and ask it in Jesus' name. And all those in agreement said, "Amen."