Leave It at the Cross: Royal Identity in Christ - 3TC Podcast - Jeff Ryan

In this episode of the Three Timbers Podcast, Pastor Jeff Ryan unpacks the powerful message of Leave It at the Cross—reminding us that true freedom comes when we surrender our burdens to Jesus. Drawing on the church in Philadelphia as a model of faithfulness, Pastor Jeff highlights the reality of spiritual royalty, urging believers to embrace their identity as sons and daughters of the King. From the distractions of everyday life to the pressures of culture, he challenges listeners to hold tightly to their “crown” of faith and obedience. The conversation concludes with a call to live boldly, remembering that the gospel is the power to transform lives and the world.

Welcome to Three Timbers Church! We are so glad you found us online and encourage you to explore all there is to learn about our church located in beautiful Bennington, Nebraska. When you come to Three Timbers, you can come as you are to experience the love of Jesus through the people of God. ​

Whether young or old, single or married, new to church, or a lifelong attendee, there's a place for you here. We invite you to join us toward a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. Our goal is to share the passion, power, and presence of Jesus with others. We believe in supporting families through service, education, and loving one another as Jesus loves us, unconditionally.

Transcript

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Welcome to the three timbers podcast. We hope this will encourage and uplift you today. Thanks to the worship team. Thanks, Jeff. I'm a little more to the right this week because we got some feedback, and apparently the lights were blaring off of my head. Serious. They kind of blocking people. So I apologize about that, but it's I love that song that we just that we just sang, you know, leave it at the cross, take it to the cross and and in a weird way, it kind of reminded me so yesterday, we kind of did some grocery shopping, and then all of our errands, we had a lot of bags, and to get them from the car to the house. You know, we have one of those little buggies because there was just way too much to carry. There'd be no way. We had boxes of little bags, and we had this, we had that, and we're able to take all of our stuff, put in this buggy, and then just wheel it in, and it was easy. And somehow I was thinking a little bit of that while we sang that song, because it reminds me we sometimes try to carry around all of our stuff, all of our sin, all of our shame, all of our bread, all of our pain. We try to carry it around and it just hit. It's too much, it's too heavy, it's overwhelming. And so that song reminds me that we are called to take it to the cross. We're called to give it to Jesus all of our fear, all of our failures, all of our shortcomings, all of that. And so we want to do that. We want to take moment, just a pause in the busyness of life, and just give that down those areas that when we think about we're like, oh, wish I would have maybe approached that handle that just a little bit different. Give that to him, and then we'll read together the joy of forgiveness. So let's go get to the You, Lord as we even try to slow down and reflect and think about ways in which maybe we've fallen short or we don't want to think about those things. Those things are hard. Sometimes we don't like what we do wrong. Sometimes we just come up, Lord, we just don't do things the way we want. And Lord, we can carry that around, but as we just said, we're supposed to leave it at the cross. And so Lord, I pray that each of us in here would do that, that we would be leaving it at the cross, that pain, that shame, that fear, that regret, that failure, whatever it is Lord that we leave it at the cross and we understand who we are, sinners saved by grace. So Father, we thank you for that grace, and Lord, we are comforted by your word, which teaches us the power of confession that we will read together. Now join me here in Proverbs. 2813, whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them combines mercy, friends, you and I will find mercy today through confession. You know whether you watch a lot of TV, whether you watch a little bit of TV, whether you watch a lot of the news, or don't pay much attention to the news, one thing that you will find there is a little bit of a theme that kind of crosses over from inner two weeks news to all these things, and that seems to be our fascination with royalty. We love royalty now that royalty can be as silly as in a Hallmark movie, when somebody doesn't realize they're dating the prince or princess of Moldova or some other made up country, and they just can't believe that they're an heir to be on the throne. Or we can look at William and Kate, or we can look at Harry and Megan, or we can look at King Charles, right? We just love information about the Royals. We love royalty and all that comes with it. Now we don't necessarily have royalty in our country, but there are those that we treat like royalty, right? Certain actors, certain athletes, certain people. And as I'm writing this this past week, the one thing that came up to my mind when it talks about royalty. Nebraska was Tom Osborne. I mean, when you talk about royalty, I think he is treated as royalty, whether you are a football fan or not. He just has that there. So we all kind of understand that concept of royalty and who would want to be loyal. Who would not want to have all the perks that come with me, royalty, the power, the fame, the treasures, the richness, who would not want to have that? And who knows, maybe you're royalty. Maybe you're going to go home today and get on ancestry.com and say, I think I could be. The next king or queen of Galdo. I just have to find that out. Let me save you the time. You are royalty. I am loyalty. All of us are loyalty. Maybe you never thought about that. Maybe you don't believe that, but the Bible tells us that you and I are royalty because we believe in the King of kings. We are part of the royal family. We have been crowned. We have been coronated because Jesus has been crowned, and Jesus has been coordinated. And when we believe in Jesus, friends, that you and I are part of the royal family, that is the good news. Here is the bad news. There are horses at work that are trying to take your prayer. There are things in this world that don't want you to believe that you are royalty or that you should somehow give away your prayer. We're going to take a look at a passage today in the book of Revelation, and it's revelation, not revelation. This is a lot of people sometimes like to say the book of Revelation. It's a book that not many people like to read, or have read, because there's a lot of imagery, and it can be very confusing. But we're going to look at Revelation in chapter three, if you want to open up your Bibles to that the author of the book of Revelation is John, who wrote the Gospel of John, who wrote first, second and third, John. He wrote this while kind of in prison on the island of Patmos. And there he received a revelation from God. That's why the book is named the revelation. It is a revelation from God about God in the beginning of the book of Revelation, John is addressing but Jesus is speaking the seven churches. Now the seven churches, seven is a number of completion in the Bible. So this is really not just for the seven small seed churches, but these are for the big seed church as well. So all churches can take this and so these are the seven churches that are being addressed here early in the book of Revelation. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, vitera, Sardi's, Philadelphia, Laodicea, I'm going to give you one guess which church we are going to look at this morning. I'm just going to throw it out there. That's right. Spirit, yeah, yeah, that's it. We're going to look at the church in Philadelphia. Before we do that, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, which is a lamp into our feet. Lord it is what brings us comfort, is the bomb to enables us, Father, I pray that You would speak to us this morning. I pray Lord, that you can speak through me and despite the sinful heart that I have. I pray Lord, that we would grow deeper in understanding of who you are and who you've called and empowered us to be. We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen, so we'll be in Revelation chapter three, starting at verse seven, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. Right? These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David, when he opens, knowing him, shut, and when he shuts, no one can I know your deeds. See I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have no strength, you have no word and have not denied My name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan claim to be Jews, though they are not but a liar. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you, that you have kept my commands to ignore patiently. I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of Europe. I am coming soon, but on to what you have so that no one will take your ground and one who is victorious, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave. I will write on in the name of thy God and the name of the city of thy God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from God. But I will also write on them my new name, whoever any news let them hear, and what the Spirit sends to the churches. When you go through and look at all the separate churches that are being addressed, you'll see that very last verse there, Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So it's important that we understand that though John has been this, this is Jesus writing, encouraging the church to hear to what the Spirit says. Now, a couple of things you need to know about the church in Philadelphia is that it was a small church. It would be considered insignificant amongst all the other churches, definitely among the synagogues of the day. It was not a big church, it was not a mega church, but it was a faith. Evil church. It was a church that struggled. It was a church that was persecuted because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah. And what we see here in the book of Revelation is Jesus is writing to these churches, or talking to John in these churches, is is God is kind of pulling back the curve with him, and he's allowing people to see what the kingdom is and what the kingdom will become. And so it's important that we understand that, and to put it simply, Revelation, if you have to give an overarching somebody wakes you up at three in the morning and says, What's the book of Revelation about? It is about God triumphing over evil. That is the simplest form that I can put to you. And what the book of Revelation is, is that God wins, God defeats evil. Now again, the city of or the church of Philadelphia, was also surrounded by volcanic ash, because there were volcanoes and there were earthquakes, and so the ground actually was very fertile from grapes, and it became a place of great commerce, where lots of people would come in and out of because of where it was located. But the people live in constant fear because of earthquakes. Constant fear, if you've ever been in an earthquake, and you can understand that fear, and so people actually kind of left the city and kind of went out of the country, and they lived in tents because they didn't want buildings or anything to fall upon them. And when all of this were happening, they were being pressured to renounce their faith, to give up on God. They were being pressured to give up on that prayer. And now, what was their crowning? They asked their crown was being obedient to the Word of God and not denying Jesus. Those are two really important things, your crown, my crown, our crown is this that we are obedient to God's word, as it says in here, and we do not deny Christ. But there are forces that are at work in our lives that are all around us that are trying to take our crown. There are people who are trying to take the crowd. There are things trying to convince you and I that there is something greater than the crown of Christ, greater than the crown of being obedient to God's word, greater than the crown of not denying Jesus. So what are some of those things? Sometimes it can be our jobs. Sometimes we can be convinced that our jobs are are more important than being obedient to God's word. Our jobs have to be the number one thing in our life. But what we're saying is, I'm going to take my crown off and I'm going to put my hard hat on for my job that also leads into money. Our world will tell you that money is the most important thing, and the more money you have, well, the happier and the safer you will be. Friends, I can tell you, that's not the case. I have the privilege in a former life to sit with those who have millions, and yes, even those who have billions. And I can tell you, money did not make you happier, and it will not make you and I happy. It's nice to have, but it's not more important than our prayer. Sometimes our to do this. We love a sense of accomplishment. We love that feeling of I got this done and this done and this done and this done, and that becomes our prayer. Sometimes, just being busy, sometimes just can't sit still. And that becomes our crown. As long as I'm doing, as long as I'm active, as long as I'm moving, as long as I don't have time to sit and reflect and think, then I'm going to be fine. And that can take our crown. One of the biggest challenges that we have in our modern world today are youth sports and activities. So many parents, so many families are in this position where they feel they have to take off their crown for sports. So often personal comfort and convenience becomes our crown, but that's just not comfortable. That's just not convenient for me, and so we give up our crown. Sometimes we live for other people's opinions, whatever other people think that becomes our ground. That becomes the most important thing in our world, what people think of us, a person online at work, what they say about us that becomes our ground. Sometimes our ground becomes fear, failure, frustration, and that's the thing that we wear with us everywhere we go, and that's the thing that defines us. We have allowed so many things to convince us to give away our crown. We've allowed so many things that make us believe they're better or more important than the crown of being obedient to God. In the name of Jesus Christ, we have abdicated our crown. And so as Jesus is addressing the church in Philadelphia here, he reminds them that he holds the key of David. And they may think that other things are more important than the crown, but you know what the key of David? Get easier. It is the key to heaven and it is the key to hell. Jesus is the gatekeeper. He is the one that has the key that allows you and I to go into heaven, and he is one that has the key that will open the door to hell for those who don't obey the commands of God and who deny the name of Jesus. And you have to understand that the church in Philadelphia where they put their faith in Christ, they were physically shut out of going into the synagogue. They weren't allowed to come into the building, because the people the synagogue said, You're wrong. Your belief is wrong. The way you live is wrong, and so we don't want you to come into the synagogue. They were being denied something because they were obedient to God's word, and they would not deny Christ as their Savior and Lord. If you are going to be obedient to God's word, and you will not deny Christ, it will cost you, make no mistake about it, but that's why we have a crown. And Jesus says, Here we will be here in the church of Philadelphia. He says, Those that basically kicked you out, I will one day have that bow down before you and profess how much I loved you. When someone bows down for you, that is a sign of loyalty we are part of the royal family. We are a part of the kingdom. Again, you have to understand how this little church, this feeling they were defeated. They had no power. The only thing they had was to hold on to the Word of God in the name of Jesus Christ. That's all they have. But guess what? Here's the secrets off. That's all they need. That's all you need. That's all we need. Is the word of God and our obedience to it. And never, ever denying the name of Christ. And denying the name of Christ did not actually say, I deny the name of Christ. It is denying the name of Christ in your life, not allowing Jesus to be the head of your household, not allowing Jesus to be the head of your time, your treasure, your talent. We deny Jesus when we put something as more important than him. And what we do is we take our crown off, and we do that. And reason that Jesus was commending the church in Philadelphia wasn't because they were a big church. Remember, they were small. It's because lives were being transformed, transformed because people saw them being obedient to God's commands and never denying Jesus. And when we do those things, God opens doors. He opens doors personally. He opens doors congregationally. And think about this, that metaphor of open doors. Listen to what Paul says here to the church in Corinth, but I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for an effective work has been opened for me, and there are many who oppose me. Paul says there's a door that's been open, and yes, there's going to be a struggle, and yes, there's going to be persecution, and yes, there's going to be setback, but there's a door that God has opened for the gospel to go forward. He says this The Church at Colossians and pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in Jesus, Paul was in chains. But what did he pray for? He prayed for the open door for the message. And here's the thing that that I hope, struck you as it struck me, Paul wasn't praying for open doors for the church. He wasn't praying for open doors for him. He was praying for open doors for the gospel. Because it is the gospel that changes people. It is the gospel that gets a hold of somebody's heart. We love to pray. Lord, just open the door for me for this job. Lord open this door for my kids. Lord open the door for the church. And there's nothing wrong with that. But when's the last time we prayed for God to open the door for the gospel? Because that's the only thing that will change the world. It's the gospel. It's not a particular church, the particular preacher, it's the gospel. That's what will change people. Jesus was saying to the church, I know your hearts, and I know your mercy and I know your struggle, and I know you're nothing, but I know you're faithful, and I'm going to open your doors so that the gospel can go forth through you. The Lord knows your heart too. He knows your struggle, He knows your anger, he knows your pain, He knows your regret. He knows you, but never. Get More royalty. Don't take off your crown. Don't let anybody take your crown because you struggle. Don't let any tell you that you're not good enough to be royalty because you are a child of the kingdom. Royalty is determined by obedience to God. Loyalty is determined by never allowing anything that would make you deny Christ as Lord and Savior in your life. Jesus encouraged them. He commanded them, don't let anybody take your crown. And there are benefits to that. As he lays out here, he says that during that hour of trial, that hour of testing, you will be spared because you're a part of the royal family. That hour of trial, that hour of testing, is when Jesus comes back and he's going to come back. And if you go on and you read the book of Revelation. And yes, there are a lot of images there. It can be very scary in that moment if you don't know the truth, if you don't know that you're worthy that moment. And I don't know if you've ever thought about that moment, but I think about that moment where I'm going to be looking up and all of a sudden, here comes the Lord, and to know that I'm going to be filled with joy and not terror, because our savior has come. But if we don't know the Lord, if we're not understanding that what makes us part of the royal family is obedience and this never denying Jesus, that's going to be a really scary moment. Jesus will protect his royal family at the day of judgment, this trial, this test. I don't know if you ever had these types of tests in school. I did, but they're either pass, fail. Always hated those tests because I was like, when things were rated on the curve like a really big curve for me and and that's that moment, right? That's that that moment, if you pass the test, if you say, I know the commands of God, I've been obedient to the commands of God, and I've never denied Jesus in my life. Guess what? You passed flying out. But if you don't know the commands, and you don't obey the commands, and you deny Jesus here and there, and you fail. And that's what Jesus is praising the church in Philadelphia for that we that we don't let anything take our crown, rob us of our royalty. Listen to what he says here again, to the church in coloss. But now he has reconciled, talking about Jesus by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish, free from accusation. If you continue in your faith, established and firm and do not move from the hope held out in the Gospel, hold on to your crown. There are so many forces at work that want you to take off your crown, to give away your crown, to treat out your crown. But when you stand firm in the hope of Jesus Christ, nothing will take your crown. The church in Philadelphia, though small and not much of having power, they were active in preaching and teaching the gospel. They knew the commands of God. They lived the commands of God, and God opened doors in and out for them, for people to come in to hear the gospel, and for people to go out and learn the gospel, because it was a place of royalty. And when a group of believers, and that's what the church is, when a group of believers understand that they are royalty, God will provide all that is needed for the kingdom mission that he gives his people. This church was small. This church was persecuted. This church didn't have any resources, but God used them in a powerful way to transform the lives. And I can only imagine how the church must have felt like but we're so small. And then, and then I thought, but doesn't God do big things through small things. Listen to what he says here. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. How about the birth story of Jesus in magnified, but you Bethlehem after that, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old from ancient times. God uses small things for big purposes. And you may think that you're too small for God to use. God leaves you. When you understand that you are child of the kingdom, that you are royalty, and there are responsibilities that go with being a royal, just as we see all the time on TV when they tell us about the Royals, like there are certain expectations and responsibilities if you are a royal today in this world, and there are expectations and responsibilities if you are a royal in the kingdom of God that is being obedient, never denying Christ. This small church overcame the temptations and the challenges and the struggles, and they did not give their crown away. They would not advocate their royal lineage to Christ, they didn't care what it cost them. That's what we're called to do, to not give up our crown, to not allow anything to take our crown. And maybe you've got circumstances, or maybe you've got people in your world that are trying to take the ground. Maybe you've got financial troubles that wants to take your crown. Maybe you've got adult struggles don't want to take your crown. Maybe you've got broken relationships that you want to take your crown. Maybe you've got a past checking of mistakes is trying to take your crown. That's why Jesus says, Hold on, do not let anything take your crown. See, the Jews thought they were God's chosen people, and they just had the crown. Because, while they were the Jewish people, they abdicated their crown because they did not obey the commands of God and they denied Jesus. Can you imagine giving away your crown? That seems ridiculous. Who would not want to be loyal to But too often, we give away our crown, we forfeit our prayer. And we cannot do that. I want to lay out to you in this text, what Jesus says we get with you. Do not forfeit our ground. In verse 10, it says this, save from the hour of trial when that crown is found upon your head for obedience and not denying Christ, whenever that moment comes, whether we see Jesus that or whether we get called to go see Jesus, we can stand with confidence because we're saved for that outward trial. Verse 12, we are made at four, and that language is intentional, because remember, that people lived in that earthquake region, so things were falling down, and Jesus was saying, no more instability. Only stability will be a pillar in the Church of God. Verse 12 says, have the name of God and the name of the city written on us that when the new heavens and the new earth come down out of heaven, you and I will have the name of this city written on us, that we belong to God, and the new name of God, we will be easily identified because we will stand out, because we are royalty everywhere. The church in Philadelphia was known to be a church that helped its community. After the earthquakes would come, the small church would find ways to help the city recover. Well, Caesar really appreciated that. To show his appreciation, he decided to give them a new day, new Caesarea or new Caesar Jesus makes it very clear that he will give them a name, and having a royal name will be a name that lets them know that they are Kingdom kids. It's important that we see what this text tells us, number one, the rewards of the gospel will go forth when we are faithful, we experience the rewards that Jesus talks about. Number two, judgment will come for those who deny the gospel and don't obey the commands of God. That's not me. That's scripture. The third, maintaining the gospel isn't fire insurance. So many people look at Faith and insurances fire insurance just in case, just in case that Bible stuff is real, they'd have some sort of tangible relationship to it. It is real, and we need to make sure that we hear what Jesus is saying to the church of Philadelphia, hold on to your crown. Friends. We all have struggles of things that want to take our crown. Sometimes they're obvious and sometimes they're not obvious, but sometimes it starts really slow, and it's not this dramatic moment, but we all need to reflect and say, Never I were in the crown that God gave me through obedience to His commands. Do I know his commands, my obedience to them, and how in my life, is there any place in my life where I'm denying Christ? Don't let anything or anyone. To steal the crown. And as I thought about this, and I thought about the the crown of glory that we're all going to receive one day when we go to heaven, the crown of righteousness, why are they getting crowns right now, and so what I want to ask you to do is put these together. And I did it so I know it's so uneasy, and let's put our crowns on. I mean, I know it's symbolic, and I know it may seem silly, but how can you say that I am royalty if you don't have a prayer. And maybe you put this together, and maybe you write inside it, in Revelation three. Maybe you hang it somewhere in your house to remind you that you are royalty. Maybe you write the words obedience and I will never deny Christ on the inside, never forget who you are. You are a child of God. You are a kingdom kid. You are loyalty. And as we wear our crowns to see if we can get them on, I struggle with my big head, but we'll wear our crowns, and then maybe at the end of service, we'll take a picture of our crowds, like the church in Philadelphia, that we can say we are holding on to our crowns. We are not allowing anything or anyone to take our crowns as the church people will celebrate that. I think we went to Burger King. I'm not sure which it would be. Oh, baby. Church we'll be back. Let me pray as our mercy team comes back up. Father God, we thank You, Lord, you chose us. We did not choose you. Lord, You have made us royalty. Lord we don't decide we're loyal. Lord that we are royalty because of you, Father, I just pray. Lord that we would just move on to our grounds, Lord that we would not allow anything or anyone to take your crown, Lord, I pray that we would hold on Lord through our obedience to you from always. I pray Lord, that we would be faithful. I deny you in any area of our life, not denying you in our marriage, not denying you with our kids, Lord with our time, our talent, our treasure, Father, would you be glorified? Thank you for joining us. For more information about three timbers, church ministries and services. Visit three timbers.org. We would love for you to join us in person. You.