Good Morning my beloved,
We are pleased to gather today for worship in the presence of our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a great honor to have you join us. I would like to express our deepest gratitude to those of you who have shared our ministry's website with their acquaintances, friends, and family members. Your faithful commitment and dedication to spreading the Gospel message has produced remarkable outcomes, it is such a joy to see how God is using this ministry to impact the lives of others in regions that have not been reached previously. We humbly ask for your continued prayers, as we continue to proclaim the Truth even more boldly, despite the challenges we face in reaching numerous countries, in Europe, the Middle-East, North Africa and Asia, where there is a desperate need to hear the Gospel. While the journey ahead may be long and even challenging at times, but I am confident that with God's grace, we can persevere, emerging stronger and more resilient than ever before for His glory.
I don’t believe that most Christians really understand, and I'm sure there will be some people who be happy to chime in on this, now days it seems like some people feel it's their mission in life to put their two cents in on just about everything, that if they would just spend more time and put as much effort into cultivating and nurturing their relationship with Jesus Christ Himself as they do trying to make connections, building spiritual relationships with people by talking about Him, that their relationship with Christ would really flourish, I mean that thing will really thrive, and take off like a wildfire. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with talking to people about Christ, in fact, we're commanded to tell others about Christ, but I'm talking about the people in the church today, who are no longer preoccupied with our relationship with Christ because we are spending a lot of time chasing after all kinds of other superficial things, things that in the end, isn't really going to matter. There’s almost no end to the number of discussions you can find yourself in, where people are giving you their opinion on what they believe it means to be a successful born again Christian, I can’t even begin to keep up with all of them.
Don't misunderstand, God absolutely uses believers to build up and encourage others in the Body of Christ, but I'm convinced that some of this "well-meaning" guidance is orchestrated by Satan to confuse people, dangerously leading undiscerning people in the wrong direction, down the path of their own destruction, and that's the exact opposite of what Scripture teaches. There are many within the church community today, who are not willing to admit that, but I assure you without a doubt that the Holy Spirit always aligns with the teachings of Scripture, and never contradicts God's written Word, ever. If you reject that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, written Word of God, then regardless of how you identify yourself, you cannot be considered a true Christian.
Frankly, I have no tolerance for anything that undermines the Truth of God and defies everything I understand to be true about the authority of Scripture. The enemy is lurking around at almost every turn, just waiting to kill, steal and destroy, right? The pursuit of godliness should never be exploited for personal gain, to satisfy our selfish desires, driven by a love for money and the things we lust for. You show me a person who covets the things of this world, and I’ll show you a person who has been corrupted by idolatry. Scripture teaches in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." When we make Christ both Lord and Savior, we give Him complete control of our life, forsaking our own wants and desires, putting Him above everything else: money, fame, honor, success, even our friends and family. (Luke 14:26) That requires changing the way that we view our sin and the world with a willingness to commit ourselves to walking in obedience to God, Who has power and authority over all things. In John 14:15, Jesus very clearly says "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." And, He goes on to say in verses 23-24, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me."
I don't expect unbelievers, who do not know Christ to understand the Scriptures, but what I find very disturbing, is when those who have been a Christian for a long time, coming to church week after week, have no idea Who the real Jesus is or what the Word of God teaches. Or when those who have only been a Christian for a short period of time, think they've got the Christian life all figured out, when they can't even rightly interpret the Bible, will sort of emotionally beat up on others, as part of a pep talk, telling people what they "need to do," putting pressure on them, intimidating them to do the right thing, laying a guilt trip on them if they don't live up to what everyone else in the group is doing, completely bypassing the clear principals in Scripture. I believe the bottomline is people do not know what their position in Christ is, they will never know how they ought to act. And, once they understand who they are in Christ, you have to teach them how to make their practice equal with their position, not the other way around.
The truth of the matter is your position before God in Christ is perfect, righteous and holy, your practice however, is not. Knowing your position is important, but you cannot live what you do not understand, you're never going to get it right. Growth and position are not the same, Christian growth has nothing to do with your position in Christ, you can't do anything to increase your position, when you were born again into the family of God, you became a partaker of the divine nature of Christ. But, growth and maturity will begin to manifest when you start implementing a lifestyle that aligns with your new identity in Christ consistently. I've met a lot of Christians who think living the Christian life means going to church, putting money in the offering plate and memorizing the Bible, those are great, but they're all external behaviors. If a child of God is who you are, then everything you do should be a manifestation of that reality.
1 John 4:4-6 says "The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." The term "child of God" implies that your conduct must begin to match your new identity, you can't just keep living in the same old sin as you once did and claim to belong to Christ. Far too many go about their daily lives as if God presence is confined to the church , and has no relevance in our lives outside of church. The tragic reality is when they leave church on Sunday, God also gets left behind. If God plays no significant role in our lives, if Christ is not the Lord of our lives, and if the Holy Spirit is not transforming our lives, that's not a Christian, that's a hypocrite. I submit to you that we should never become so foolish as to think we can live our lives apart from God, and still claim Christ, just the thought of that ought to make every true child of God cringe.
Someone recently said that I'm starting to sound like a broken record, consistently harping on the subject of sin, well, if that's true, then it's because God wants me stuck me there until we all strive to reach our potential as His children in our daily lives, not just on Sunday. I’m willing to allow God to stop me in my tracks to guide you in the Word of God, because that's how God works in my own heart. The challenge for me as someone who’s walked with Him for years comes in the application, I trust that He will continue to refine me in the places I need to be refined, for your benefit, even if I’ve already learned some of these things. So, I'm not trying to justify what I’m doing, I'm simply explaining it so that hopefully you'll understand why it's being done. There are plenty of people in the church who can do good deeds, and not be the person that He calls us all to be. You have to know who you before you can learn to "walk in a worthy manner," according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh, and the heart of understanding how you live the Christian life, begins with knowing who you are in Christ, it's is the absence of self, that means total humility. Peter says it this way, "be like-minded, sympathetic, brotherly, tender-hearted, and humble in spirit." Oh sure, you can pretend to be spiritual, walking into church, with head down, carrying your Bible and your little notebook, ready to take notes so that you might learn but where's the humility? And, where there is humility, there will inevitably be meekness, and where there's meekness, there will inevitably be longsuffering, and where those occur, there will inevitably be forbearing one another in love, you see, it's a progressive, everything is moving toward the goal of a Spirit-controlled life. All of our difficulties, every wrong thought, every wrong word, every wrong action is a result of our humanness, related to our fallen flesh. Only the Holy Spirit can restrain us from carrying out the desires of the flesh. A heart and mind filled with Christ, has no room for Satan, because Christ and Satan cannot simultaneously occupy the same space, they are mutually exclusive.
1 Peter 4:1-2 says, "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose—because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin—so as to no longer live the rest of the time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." In other words, in order to live for the will of God, we must resist all those areas where Satan temps us, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. If you're going to obey Christ, you have to deny yourself and all that characterizes a natural man, and say yes to God. It really saddens me, that a large number of Christians today are so so self-absorbed, so full of themselves, that they never really get to experience the wonder of Jesus Christ, and that grieves my heart deeply. And, I believe it's because they are spiritually malnourished, they're being slowly spiritually starved to death due to inadequate preaching and teaching of the Word of God, caused by pastors who are adapting the gospel message in order to compromise with the corrupting influence of the world, because nearly every word spoken is now subject to be questioned by critics. You can't be a coward and condemn evil, on the other hand, someone who is too courageous is going to get himself killed, we're called to preach the Gospel without hesitation but for the right reasons. There's so much more that the Lord has put on my heart, that's really weighing heavily on me, since we have been endeavoring to discuss some of the elements of the church and what it means to be a Christian, I believe that before we move forward and get into our text for today, we ought to talk a little bit about it from the viewpoint of the local church, the congregation and fellowship. The church is not a business, therefore, it's success should not be measured by the size of its congregation or its influence or popularity with the world, it should be measured by the effectiveness of its Godly leadership, that's a non-negotiable, ungodly people just get in the way of leading the church in a way that builds up the Body of Christ and focusing on nurturing the principles that are effective for God, like spiritual growth, the need for holiness and how to make disciples. I confess that I find it shocking the way many, if not most churches choose their spiritual leaders, and sadly, the least of which of those reasons is because he is a man of God. I've heard things like he has a lot of degrees, so he must be wise, he's a good fit because he's a people person, he's very likeable, I even heard he was available so it must be God's will.
Quite honestly, my first concern is whether or not I'm producing real born-again Christians, who are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, with whom God is pleased, my concern is not whether or not I'm popular or even well-liked, although that certainly is a bonus. It's really not difficult to simply attract people in to the church, to contribute to the size of the church, if that's your goal, I'm not the least bit interested in that, size is irrelevant to God and therefore, to me. In Matthew 16, Christ said that He would build His Church, and I firmly believe Him, so the goal should be preaching and teaching the Word to make those who He brings into the church into disciples who have the ability to be reproductive. Christ is the Head, we are the body, a living organism made up of people who are connected to Him, who should love the people around us, we share a common life through our faith in Christ and by the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm afraid we often forget the responsibility of mutual shared life or just how precious it is. Part of that responsibility is to call our brothers and sisters through faith in Christ to repentance and not abandon them to destruction. We are called a family, a supernatural family with God, it’s hard to imagine a family without any structure, just a bunch of individuals with whom you find very little commonality, gathering in the same place, where there's a lot of stuff going on but everybody is kind of indifferent to everybody else. That's not a church in the traditional sense. We can no longer afford to be indifferent or dismissive, burying our heads in the sand, completely unaffected by what others have to say or what they're going through. We're called to be a close-knit family, the divine family of God, to love one another and serve one another and together, we serve the will of our Lord Jesus Christ. My desire is to see the church and God's people be all God wants them to be, in fact, I have committed my heart and all my soul to that end.
Recently, I've noticed a trend occurring in Christianity, that is becoming more and more common in many churches, one that really burdens my heart, and I must say, that attempting to minister to people on both ends of the spectrum is one of the most frustrating and exhausting experiences I ever had, the sense of belonging to a family has waned, the church has become less like a family, and more like a spectator event, people arrive, exchange a pleasantries, take their seats, passively observe what happens, and then swiftly departing toward the door. And that is simply because they have a great deal of knowledge about Christ but shallow relationship with Christ and that’s inconceivable to me. There was a time, not so very long ago, when having a personal relationship with Christ meant coming to His church and that meant engaging in meaningful fellowship with His people, but that's all changed, the emphasis is no longer on being a part of the family of God, the dynamic has radically changed, shifting toward church membership, funding programs and member giving, much to the detriment of many souls.
Satan will always endeavor to destroy the church, by causing little fractions and divisions within the congregation, undermining the unity that Christ prayed for in what has become known as the "High Priestly Prayer" in John 17. Since the inception of our faith, Christians have always had disagreements on various issues, so in one sense, this is nothing new, but this feels vastly different. I believe that since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it appears that an increasing number of Christians are dedicating more of their time to social media platforms in an effort to stay connected, which is ironically has made us less social, more angry and more divided, leading to a significant decrease in overall social interactions and contributing to a rise in feelings of frustration and anger towards those we love as well those we’ve never met. According to one study I read, over sixty percent of contemporary Christians spend twice as much time reading posts on social media and network platforms as they are reading and studying their Bibles. I do realize for those of you who have been raised in the modern era of the internet and social media, it may be a difficult to envision any other way. One of the things that concerns me very greatly is not so much the anti-socialism that is occurring in the world, but the church is really not the appropriate place for that kind of disconnection and it's becoming more important to me as I continue to study God's Word.
Then, there are these people who identify themselves as Christians, who want to try and pass judgment on others based on some degree of legalism, using their adherence to human standards and expectations as a way to evaluate of their spiritual standing with Christ. "You must commit yourself to doing this or that with a certain amount of time or you’re not going to cut it," it's a kind of spiritual intimidation. What they're essentially saying is Christ isn't enough. Don’t let anybody make a spiritual judgment on you based upon what you do or don’t do, pressuring you to conform to a bunch of man-made external behaviors. The issue with this type of spiritual assessment is that it opens the door for anyone to meet the criteria just by checking items off a list, even those who do not truly embody the values of genuine Christianity. When you start doing that, you end up with a bunch hypocrites. That which is manufactured or manipulated by man, cannot transform hearts, renew minds, or cleanse souls.
I believe that you can always tell where a person is spiritually by their preoccupation with what they truly cherish, what they really love. In Matthew 6:21, Christ phrased it this way, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." John said the same thing in 1 John 2:15, when he said "Do not love the world nor the things in the world." And in Philippians 4:8, Paul said it like this, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, consider these things."
There's a lot more that God has put on my heart but if we were to get into all of that today, we'd miss out on the message here in Luke 4.
Would you pray with me?
Heavenly Father,
Today's Message: What is this message?
Open
you Bibles with me, if you would and turn them to Luke chapter 4. Luke 4:31-37. This is a very fascinating section of Scripture, where Luke has been focusing on the Person of Christ as the Messiah, Who was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to confront Satan, engaging in a conflict by withstanding the relentless attacks, the personal assaults, overcoming the three temptations he put in front of Him, affirming His role as the Savior, the Chosen Redeemer, rescuing sinners who are under the control of Satan, the evil one, trapped in spiritual bondage in the kingdom of darkness. Luke will now demonstrate to us His ultimate supremacy, by showing us that He possesses power over all things, that He has authority over everyone, including demons, revealing that His authority surpasses human authority. For anyone that has been confused about Who Jesus is, uncertain about His true identity, believing He was merely a prophet, a good teacher, just a moral man with limited influence, I invite you to come and encounter the real Jesus, erasing any doubts that He is the divine Son of God, God incarnate.
I trust that you will follow along with me as I read, to get our minds set on God's Word as we open up our hearts and listen for what the Spirit of God has to say to each of us today.
"And He came down to Capernaum,a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority. And in the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, "Let us alone! What do we have to do with You, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!" But Jesus rebuked it, saying, "Be quiet and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they were talking with one another saying, "What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out." And the report about Him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district."
Let's look at verse 31, "And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath." Notice that Luke tells us that He went down to Capernaum, there's a specific purpose for highlighting that the nearly twenty miles descent from Nazareth to Capernaum went down, because Nazareth is about 1,300 feet above sea level and Capernaum, a hub of trade and traffic, is located on the northwest edge of the Sea of Galilee, 686 feet below sea level. Luke also identifies Capernaum as a city of Galilee for the benefit of his many readers may not be familiar with the geography of the land of Israel. So He entered the synagogue, which was not an uncommon place for Him to visit on a Sabbath, as it was His custom. How do we know that? Because in his parallel account, Mark chapter 1:21, Mark tells us that He immediately entered the synagogue and began to teach. And Luke confirms here that He was teaching them on the Sabbath, although he doesn't mention the synagogue here, it is evident that He was ins one based on verse 33 and, from Mark's account.
Verse 32, "And they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority." Again, Jesus was chosen to read and exposit the Scripture, probably from the scroll of Isaiah, as He was in His hometown of Nazareth, although we don't have the record of His preaching here, we can assume it was exactly the same message because He came to preach the Gospel of salvation to sinners, held captive by evil present ruler, Satan Himself. Luke informs us that they were amazed at His teaching, using the Greek verb "ekplḗssō," meaning they were at a loss, utterly dumbfounded, stricken with panic, for His message was with authority. Whenever Jesus shows up to preach, everyone stops to listen, He speaks divine Words with such force, absolute power and authority, and they are always in awe of His profound grasp of the Truth, His understanding surpasses anyone they've ever encountered before, He didn't need to quote anybody because He is God.
Verse 33, "And in the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon," let's pause there for a moment, that's all we know about this man in the synagogue, he was possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, meaning that he was literally under the total control of this demon that was living inside of him, which is completely different than being influenced by a demon, influence can be resisted, total control cannot. Then, Luke goes on to say "and he cried out with a loud voice." The Greek indicates that this demon literally screams with a loud voice, right in the middle of His message of salvation and deliverance, His preaching was obviously hitting this demon with such force that he couldn't restrain himself. Have you ever attended a church service and as soon as the preacher started to preach the sermon, his words were so powerful, so convicting, that it felt like everyone knew that he was talking directly to you? I believe that's exactly the way the unclean demon possessing this poor man felt as Jesus began preaching the message of Good News, that He came to deliver sinners from sin, rescuing them from the kingdom of darkness, death, and Hell, bringing them into the kingdom of God, this would have been dreadful news for the demon who knows they're all going to get thrown into the lake of fire.
Verse 34, "Let us alone! What do we have to do with You, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!" The demon panicked, knowing Jesus is the Messiah and the implications, he was unable to restrain himself, and began screaming, "Let us alone!" It's the Greek word "ea," meaning "Ah! Ha!," it's an expression of wonder mixed with fear. The demon is well aware that Jesus is after this mans soul, he feels the force of the Word of God, he knows that the attack on him. Then he says, "What do we have to do with You, Jesus the Nazarene?" This is a two-fold statement, by declaring that Jesus is from Nazareth, he's recognizing Jesus' humanity, as well as a term of derision, it's the name by which Jesus was commonly known. Remember, in John 1:46, when Nathaniel says "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" By declaring the name of someone was considered a way to secure mastery over someone. Then he says "Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!" Demons know that God is holy and Jesus is "the Holy One of God," and they live in constant fear of Christ's return. James tell us in chapter 2 verse 19, that the demons believe and shudder in fear. By the way, demons aren't the least bit disturbed by preaching that lacks the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, and an authentic relationship with God, notice this demon was living in a man sitting inside a synagogue attending a religious service, rather a sad commentary on the spiritual climate in that synagogue, a demonized man is sitting in their midst and no one even notices until Jesus up and shows starts speaking and he's terrified. The use of the pronoun "us" indicates this demon is speaking on behalf of all the other demons who are in the kingdom of darkness. If you want to assault the kingdom of darkness, just preach the Gospel with power and authority, it terrifies them.
Yet, every Sunday, there are literally millions of people all over the world gather themselves in local churches, free from the fear of eternal damnation, oblivious to the fact they’re going to face the consequence for engaging in habitual acts of sin, because of diluted preaching to a culture focused on inclusivity, tolerance and acceptance. Let me just say, if you've never dealt with your sin, you're never going to be delivered.
Verse 35, "But Jesus rebuked it, saying, "Be quiet and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm." Let that be a lesson to you folks, to stay awake during church service. Make no mistake, Jesus doesn’t need the testimony of a demon to declare Who He is, so by His own authority He restrained him from speaking and immediately commanded him to "Be quiet and come out of him!," and he left without any further discussion, there was argument, no negotiation, no religious invocation or incantations, just an authoritative command, "Be quiet and come out of him!" And, in obedient compliance to Jesus' sovereign authority, the demon wanted to stay and hold that poor mans soul captive, so he expresses a final statement of protest, he threw him down in the midst of the people, and came out of him without doing him any harm. I believe this should speak volumes to the many rebellious people who reject the concept of Christ's supremacy and Lordship in their lives, even those within the church who mistakenly hold the belief, "no one has a right to tell me what to do, dictating my behavior," even Jesus Christ. Jesus just preached the Gospel and the demon reacted in panic, trembling at the Truth. Again, it's a sad commentary on the state the church is in today as a result of man-centered preaching. If you are in disbelief, just start preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ with absolute power and authority, without removing anything that might be offensive, trust me, you'll get a reaction from those under the power of Satan. There's nothing more piercing, more penetrating than Truth of God.
Verse 36, "And amazement came upon them all, and they were talking with one another saying, "What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out." If they were amazed before, now they are really amazed, they had never seen anything like this before, it was almost a terrified panic by the power of the Son of God. Unfortunately, religious people are generally confused by false religion, unable to differentiate between the supreme "authority" of Christ and the "authoritarianism" of men, they might understand His title, but I'm afraid they don't understand His power and authority, if they did, they'd be terrified to sin! It is a very dangerous position to be in when one imagines he has no need to obey God. Don’t ever make the mistake the authority of Jesus Christ with the authority of man, they are not on the same level! There is no more dangerous place to be than where the Word of God is authoritatively preached and the righteous people of God are fervently praying.
Charles Spurgeon once said, "If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."
That brings us to verse 37, "And the report about Him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district." After hearing Jesus' message the news about Him was spreading everywhere, because those who were in that synagogue that day, couldn’t stop talking about it, they began telling their friends and neighbors and those people told others, who then told others about Him, surprisingly, without the aid of social media, email or text messaging. Can you imagine the impact we Christians would have on the world today if we would all faithfully commit ourselves to spreading the Good News about Jesus, telling others about the great things He has done in and through our lives? I pray that after hearing this message every one of you will proclaim His name and begin living out your faith before a watching world, starting today.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2024 All Rights Reserved