Transcript for:
Luke 4:18,30 -Special Mission- Guest Speaker Wayne Dekorte 2025-08-31

Luke chapter four, and we'll start in verse 18. Luke chapter four eighteen. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Father God, we just come before you and thank you for your word. Thank you for teaching us the Bible. Thank you for giving us your son Jesus to, teach us about you. Thank you for the Holy Spirit to help us understand. And thank you that we can come together and just sit at your feet and have you teach us today. God, I just ask that you would lead, you would guide and direct this service, and that you would speak through your Holy Spirit at this time, and that you administer to all of our hearts and encourage us and edify us and direct our steps this week. God, I just pray that you would give us vision and understanding, that you would give us direction. Give us some clear guidelines and some clear things that you would have us to do throughout this week, Lord. And I lift up this body to you in prayer and just ask that you minister to them and bless them. In Jesus' name, pray. You may be seated. At this point in time in Luke, Jesus is entering into his public ministry, and he's in the region of the Sea Of Galilee. If we look here at the beginning of this little section where he's talking, at verse 14, it says, and Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit, and news about him spread through all the surrounding district. And he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. Now before this, Jesus had spent some time out in the desert where he was praying and fasting, talking to the Lord, letting the Holy Spirit minister to him, but then also the devil was trying to tempt him in his flesh. And so Jesus had this time of drawing close to the Lord through suffering of the flesh, praying and fasting, and then allowing the Holy Spirit to fill him. So when it first says here in verse 14 that he returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit, you know, sometimes you're gonna have those hard impossible tasks or those challenges where you're in that desert region, and you're praying and you're fasting and you're seeking the Lord. But then as you come through that, you're gonna move forward in the power of the Holy Spirit. So as Jesus is doing that, he goes into this synagogue. So they have the Jewish traditions where they gather together on, you know, Saturdays, Shabbat, and they get in the synagogue, and they have somebody come and teach from a section of the scripture. So verse 16, and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And he opened the book and found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Now when Jesus was handed this scroll, somebody else handed it to him. So now he had the selection of wherever he wanted in this book of Isaiah to teach from or to speak from. And when he did so, this section from verse 18 to verse 19 is found in Isaiah 61. After verse 19, it continues on, and it talks about, you know, the day of the Lord as far as his vengeance coming. But he stops intentionally right there at the end of verse 19 and says, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Stop. There's no period or nothing like that. He stops it. And he does this to make a point to where he's telling these people he is here to do these things. Okay? So now he is starting this impossible task, this just thing where he's talking to people in the hometown in which he grew up in, and he's telling them who he is. And for the people that understand the scripture and the word, they know who he is. They understand what he's saying here. So at verse 20, it says, and he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. That's kinda like one of those mic jock moments where someone gets up on stage and they say something just absolutely shocking, then they drop the microphone and they go sit down and everybody's in shock and they're staring at them like, I can't believe that person just said that. Well, is one of those moments. You know, he throws it out there like, hey, look, this is who God has made me to be. The spirit of Lord's upon me. He's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim these things. Well, that's a bold statement. So as he sits down, verse 21, and he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips. And they were saying, is this not Joseph's son? Isn't this that kid I grew up with down the street? And he said to them, no doubt you will quote this proverb to me. Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. Now my interpretation of this is mocking. My interpretation of this is, hey, that's that kid we grew up with down the street. That's this guy. Go ahead. Do do a show for us. Do some miracles for us. Verse 24, and he said, truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. And yet, Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. Now, there's a person who's got impossible task in their life. If you read about the prophet Elijah, and you read about the things that he faced, you know, God called him to go stand up against Ahab and Jezebel, all those prophets of Baal, just insurmountable odds. But yet Elijah knew the power of his God, and he stepped out in faith to do this task. And here Jesus gives an example of like, yeah, there were lots of starving widows in the land at that day and in that time, But there's only one person there that God told Elijah to go to, was Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Verse 27, and there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet. None of them was cleansed, but only Naaman, the Syrian. One. Elisha came after Elijah, asked for that power of the Holy Spirit to continue that ministry, but yet in this example, there's one specific person in which God told him to go to. Verse 28, and all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things. And they got up and drove him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went his way. There are these tasks in your life. There are missions that God has for you to do in which there is one specific person, one specific task, one specific thing he wants you to do. So are you ready for it? Are you done messing around and playing games with whatever else is going on in your life? And are you ready for the mission, the one person that he wants you to speak to? The one person that he wants you to pray for? The wayward child that is rebellious in their spirit, the broken relationship with a parent or a grandparent, the spouse, the uncle, the aunt, the friend, the childhood friend, that one person that means so much to you, that burdens your heart and your soul? Are you prepared for the mission that God's called you for to that person? Jesus goes to a synagogue in his hometown, and he preaches the word. He he says he was called to do this. Right? To preach this gospel. And now he has to deal with the mockings of those that don't value what he's saying. Are you prepared for the mockings? Are you prepared for the people that are gonna laugh or poke fun? Or the people that are going to give you that deceit and that guile to your face and be friendly and kind to you, but then later they just bail on you? Are you prepared for the disappointment and the discouragement? Think of your savior. Think of the message and the image and the the picture that he has given you of what he has gone through. Just for one. And he gives you these examples of Elijah and Elisha. These stories of these impossible tasks. You could go through the bible all day and not hit all of them. When Elijah went up on the mountain to do, you know, God's work, to call down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifices soaked in water. And when Baal didn't show up, and and Elijah was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and slaughtered those false prophets. And then he ends up in this great depression, thinking he's the only one left in the land. God's like, nope. There's still more. You're not the only one. What about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were persecuted for their faith? And they said, no way. We are not bowing down to that giant statue of metal that has no power over us. We know our God and we know his power, and we will not bend the knee. And their peers and those that came over from Israel with them cowered in fear and fell before the giant metal statue because they didn't want to get thrown in the furnace. But the few that knew the power of their God would stand and not kneel despite the circumstances. And later in Daniel when it talks about Daniel himself being thrown in the lion's den. Are you guys ready for the mission that God has you for? What is burning within your spirit right now? That one person to preach the gospel to, that one person to love on, that one person to pray for. Who is it? It's burning within you. Write it down. God's got a specific mission for you. The impossible tasks that God has presented people with, the parting of the Red Sea when the Israelites are like ready to get slaughtered by the Egyptians. Why did we come out of Egypt just to get stomped in the mud and killed? And God showed up. The impossible tasks of the feeding of the multitudes when his disciples are just like, what do we do? You want us to feed these people? How are we gonna do this? Something that you can't quite perceive. Are you prepared and ready for that? Just remember as we move forward the message that the battle is already won. Keep that as a motto on your heart. No matter what the task is that he gives you, he's already won the battle. When you have a child and you give them a chore or a task and you're like, hey, I want you to, take that pile of rocks over there and I want you to go put it over there, and their just mind is blown. Like, dad, that's impossible. I can't do that. That's so much. When you know if they're just slow and take their time and they're persistent, they could do it. You set them up for success. They're like, hey, you know, there's a wheelbarrow here or a wagon if you wanna use that. You're a good father. You take knowledge of them. But like, I know you can do this. And they'll get inside their own minds, and they'll look at this giant pile of rocks, and they'll just give up. So I can't do this. It's too big. I can't take it on. The challenge is too great. And they've quit before it's even started. John sixteen thirty three says, these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I've overcome the world. How many times has he already said, I've won the battles, I've already done them, I've overcome the world. Keep that in your mind as you're moving forward. So here's the challenge, and we need to know if you're prepared for the challenge or not. K? You guys have done awesome battle over the years here as a body of Christ. You've, you know, waged war against the enemy, and you've operated in a traditional sense of what I would call your grunts or your your infantry marines that are out there with all their heavy gear on and their helmets and whatever else, loading down with, like, ten, twelve magazines and storming through, making tons of noise with their armored vehicles and just destroying everything in their path. You guys have done a really good job at that. But what I would like to propose to you is, something a little bit different. K? I would like to propose that you guys take on the unique challenge of conducting a surveillance and reconnaissance mission. So for the old school guys that are familiar with long range reconnaissance patrols in Vietnam and people that did things where you're not necessarily moving through very loud and destructive and destroying things. You're gonna change out your gear a little bit here. K? I'm gonna ask you to drop a lot of your weight. Take those side armor plates out and drop your front and back armor plates, put on your lightweight, rig that carries very little gear on your chest, your chest rig. Get your pack, and you're gonna load it out with stuff so you can go out for about a week on foot. K? And you're gonna move light, you're gonna move fast, so you get maybe one buddy. Alright? You're not moving in with a giant platoon. So I wanna propose to you to conduct a very specific role here. You're gonna select one specific mission that God has put on your heart. There's that one person to pray for. There's that one person that's burning within you. And this isn't like your normal traditional ones. This is very specific. You can do your blanket prayers. You can do your blanket approaches to the Lord, but but surveillance and reconnaissance mission is you're going after one specific target. K? You're gonna conduct observations from concealed positions. You're gonna look through that spotting scope at a distance to observe the enemy's operations. You're gonna take notes. You're gonna relay that to higher command. And if you're given the opportunity, maybe you could call in a call for fire mission. Like, yeah, you know what? This is what the enemy is doing. This is where they're at. This is how they're affecting my high value target. I'd like you to, you know, bring in an air air asset. Call in for some intercessory prayer. Ask the Lord to say, you know what? I see there's a stronghold around this person individually in which the enemy is coming after them. Lord, this is how I see the enemy attacking this person. I would like you to intercede specifically in a certain way. Now this type of mission is long and enduring, and you have to be able to pick up that rucksack that's about 70 pounds. And I want you to put it on your back, and you're gonna walk maybe 20 kilometers or more. Now physically, you look at your bodies and you're thinking, man, I'm broke. My knees are shot. My back is shot. In the physical, you're overwhelmed at this. But I want you to put yourself in the mindset of the spiritual. In the spiritual, when you're you're that prayer warrior and you're digging into the word, you have a lot more endurance than you know because you've been through a lot. And the Lord has prepared you for this task, so don't doubt it. So there's one critical piece of gear that you need. And without this piece of gear, you can't move forward. You could do your mission planning. You can brief the CEO on the plan. You were like, okay, Lord. This is where we're going. This is what we're doing. This is what you put in my heart. But unless you have this critical piece of gear, you can't take a single step forward. In Ephesians six, it says that you can't move forward unless your feet are shot with the preparation of the gospel. How many people do you know that take a step on a 20 kilometer movement barefoot? Now those of you that have spent a lot of time in work boots or steel toe boots, know, if my boots are uncomfortable, I'm miserable at the end of the day. When you go into a basic boot camp training, they give you these really cheap, really junky boots. And by the end of the first week, you've got so many blisters on your feet that you're miserable. But guess what? You made it through a week. Right? Now, if you're gonna go out and I'm gonna say, hey, I want you to go out and I want you to go walk five kilometers and carry this heavy pack on. You may think, you know, I think I need a different pair of boots. These really junky ones that I was given are you know, they got the job done, but they're gonna make me miserable in the end. If you're gonna move forward in this mission, I want you to be very selective about your feet being shod with the preparation of the gospel. Do you under understand the full counsel of the gospel? Right? I want you to get those bougie, wide toe, tennis shoe combat boots that you're not authorized to wear on base. That you can only slip on right before you get into that Humvee to go get dropped off in the middle of nowhere because you know there isn't gonna be some sergeant major there yelling at you saying those boots aren't authorized. I want you to have a pair of tennis shoes on that you can go all day and all weekend that are super comfortable because I don't want you to get blisters. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. Now if you want, you could be like my buddy who retired out of the coast guard and had to have toe surgery because he wore these narrow toe boots his whole career. They literally had to chop his pinky toe off and reattach it because the boots ruined his feet. The guy made it through a twenty year career, but ruined his feet doing so. So the preparation of the gospel is what you need to learn, you need to know, and you have to be capable of doing that 20 kilometer run with. So when you sit down with that person to talk to them, and the Holy Spirit is on your heart, and the conversation comes up, you know, oh, dude, this is this is the book of Genesis right here. This is the book of Revelation right here. This is where the Lord has us. So if you wanna summarize up the summary of the gospel, where are you guys gonna go? Open up to first Corinthians chapter 15. So many scholars and teachers have said that first Corinthians chapter 15 is like it. This is it. This is the full council of the gospel. This summarizes it up. This goes front to back, forward, and all over the place. And I'm not surprised at all because when you go through, the Bible and you learn about who wrote this, Paul, Paul was like the man. Right? He he knew the Bible, back to front. He was a scholar among scholars. He studied the word. He knew all the Old Testament and the prophets. He understood the big picture. Right? And he always disqualified himself because he's like, man, I went out slaughtering these Christians. And Jesus met me on the road and called me out of my sin and said, Saul, stop persecuting me and my body. So when he writes this, he's writing from the perspective of somebody who grew up in the Jewish culture studying it and knowing it. So let's dig into this a little bit, and let's make sure that we're fully prepared for the mission that God has for you to operate in. First Corinthians chapter 15. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel. Does any real quick gospel if anybody's not familiar with the term. Simply put, it's good news. You can do all the etymology and word research. What is this good message? I've got a great message for you. I've come from a distant land. I'm coming to you. Hey. I have something that's good. Instead of a bad message like everybody's dead. I got a good message like, hey, we won the battle. Does that make sense? Gospel, really good information. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved. If you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believe in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. After that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, And last of all, as to one ultimately born excuse me, untimely born, he appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of the Lord, I am what I am. And his grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believe. So there's some critical elements here that Paul's talking about when he's addressing this topic. Okay? It's not just that Christ died for our sins. It's Christ died and he was buried, and he raised from the dead, and there were all these eyewitness testimonies. So the challenge that you may have coming up could be somebody who doesn't believe that Jesus was real. Well, there's more evidence for Jesus being real than Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. Right? So there's all the the straw man arguments of was he really real. Well, there's way more evidence for him being real. So that's not even an argument. Well, what about was he the son of God? Right? So you have all the counterfeit religions out there that try to say, well, he wasn't the son of God, or maybe he was the son of God, but he wasn't God himself. So the deity of Jesus Christ could be another one. Right? So qualifying all of these things in one, we know that Jesus was the only one to fulfill this picture. He's the only one that can pay the price for our sins. Right? We're all dirtbags. We all have lied, stolen, cheat, and done horrible things that we need forgiveness for. So all of us need a savior. So how do we summarize this in the gospel? Well, you have to develop the pattern. Why death? Why blood? Why does that have to happen? Why why did Jesus have to die? Why why God? Why all of these things? So it goes all the way back to Genesis. If you're familiar with, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, you look at Genesis one twenty six. You have a holy, almighty God who always was and always is. And in Genesis one twenty six, says, then God said, let us, that's plural, more than one, make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So Genesis one twenty six is talking about the triune God multiple, three in one. God, the father, Jesus, the son, and the holy spirit all being there at creation. K? You flip over to Genesis chapter three verse 15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. After God created Adam and Eve in the beginning, he created this garden, this perfect place for us to live. He made this place to where we have free will as a choice as human beings, where you can choose good or you could choose evil. And the simple choice came down to obedience. Will you obey the simple command of just don't touch that tree? And we had to have that in order to have a choice. Right? Couldn't just be like, okay, everything's perfect and there's nothing evil and there's no option. Otherwise, where's the obedience? Where's the love? K? And then you had the subtlety of the serpent. The subtle deception of the crafty one that snuck in and spun those words of deception to deceive, to try to hurt God with what he had made. So from the beginning, you have obedience and you have disobedience. And because Adam and Eve chose disobedience, there has to be consequences for that. As a good father, because I love my children, I want them to learn there's consequences for your actions. Terrible father is not gonna care. Yeah. Do whatever you want. Indifference. Indifference is not love. The opposite of love is not hate. Because I love my children, I hate evil. Because I love my children, I hate lying because it leads to death. The opposite of this love is complete indifference. And not caring about their success or failure or life or others don't care. You can't do whatever you want. That is not love. But because he loves them, he says there's consequences for this sin. There has to be obedience. So they're kicked out of the garden. Look out over at Genesis chapter three verse 21. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and Eve, his wife, and clothed them. So this is the first instance of death. Blood is the payment for your sin. The animals had to die. Blood had to be shed to cover their sin. K? So the pattern is starting to be portrayed throughout the bible. If you if you move forward a little bit here, if you look at John one one through three, it talks about Let's see. See if I can get there quick. I don't have my my quick draw tabs on me. Sorry. John chapter one verses one through three says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into beginning into being through him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. This is New Testament. This is the gospel of John. This is people that walked with Jesus and that was around Jesus. This is the establishment of the deity of Jesus Christ confirming Jesus was with there in the beginning with God when everything was made, and he was there, and the word was there with him. Okay? So the punishment that the enemy gets, the deceiver gets is bruised on the head. Right? And in turn, Jesus is portrayed here as bruised on the heel. Right? So if you look forward to Isaiah 53, it talks about Jesus being bruised. Isaiah fifty three five. This Isaiah 53 is an image of Jesus in his crucifixion as the suffering servant, the lamb that was slain. Isaiah fifty three five, but he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed or bruised for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging, we were healed. So this is another image of that same Christ in Genesis. That image of the gospel being portrayed in Genesis three fifteen. There's a big fancy word for it that I learned called proto evangelum, which is gospel. This is the first announcement of the good news in Genesis three fifteen. That even though there was sin, there's gonna be this enmity between the woman and between her seed and the devil, but there is hope when Jesus crushes the head of the serpent. So moving forward, you can find different examples of this gospel throughout the Old Testament. If you look at Genesis seven one, you have the description of Noah's ark. You have sin all throughout the world. Wickedness had taken over, and God saw Noah and his sons and their wives as righteous. And so the ark is an image of Christ saving, them out of the world. Right? The vessel in which we have our salvation, And they were brought out of that. If you look forward to Genesis chapter 22, you have a little bit more detailed description of what we call the payment for our sins. So you have this image of sacrifice, the sacrificial lamb that has to be that payment for our sins, the blood that has to be paid. So Abraham takes his only son Isaac out of obedience to God. So if you look at Genesis chapter 22 verse one, now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship and return to you. Abraham took the wood from the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father and said, my father. And he said, here I am, my son. And he said, behold the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. So the two of them walked on together, and then they came to the place of which God had told them. And Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him. For now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. So researchers and scholars have speculated that the actual location in which Abraham did this was the same location in which Jesus went to be crucified. The geographical hill that it was on. It's pretty miraculous, isn't it? This image of one son, your only son being laid down, being crucified, being sacrificed for payment, for obedience. This image was given to us as this pattern of like, don't worry, there's going to be a way out. Right? Like, I gotta trust God somehow. This is my only son. This is the only seed that I have. God, you said, sand of the seashore and stars of the heavens will be my children and my grandchildren. Alright. I gotta trust you. In the same way too, Jesus trusted his father when he went to the cross for us. And knowing, God, you've got a plan. That doesn't mean that it wasn't hard. It doesn't mean that he didn't sit in the garden of Gethsemane and weep with great tears of blood for the cup of wrath that he had to drink. The pain that he knew that he was gonna go through for us. Doesn't mean it wasn't hard tying up his only son, laying him on the altar, getting that knife like, okay, Lord, this is what we gotta do, but I gotta trust you. These patterns are here for us to see, to understand the big picture. Through Genesis 28, you've got the lineage of Christ through Jacob. Jacob was a son that came from Abraham's son. The lineage of the 12 tribes of Israel. And you go forward. Genesis 50. The story of Joseph and his betrayal by his own brothers represents Jesus being with his brothers in the nation of Israel and being betrayed by them, sold into slavery, left for dead. And look at how God used Joseph in so many different ways to save a nation. Even though it was through starvation, it was the image of, look, savior, nation, people dying, it's an image of Christ. Throughout the Bible, there's the patterns of the gospel. John one twenty nine, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In Exodus chapter 12, we learn about the sacrificial lamb. When the Israelites were getting ready to leave Egypt, and God put the plagues upon the Egyptians because the hardness of pharaoh's heart. And this plague of death was gonna come upon the people. And the first born was gonna die unless they obeyed God. Unless they took that lamb, that unblemished perfect lamb into their home, into the place where they lived. Cleaned it, washed it, fed it, kept it. They loved on that lamb for how long? Was it three days? Lived in their home? And then they killed it, and they put its blood upon the doorposts? So for three days, they knew that this lamb was gonna be dead. Just like Christ was in the tomb for three days, dead. You move forward to Jonah and and being in the belly of the whale and and Jesus even said this in his ministry. Just as as I was or just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so the son of man shall be in the ground. All these patterns are throughout to show us the importance of this good message that we have. We have to accept the fact that we are sinners, and we are in need of a savior. Now, is that person that's on your heart, that special mission that you've got coming, are they prideful and saying, well, I'm a good person. Why do I need a savior? I've done good all my life. Right? I don't steal stuff. I don't kill people. That's where the law comes in. Let's go back over to first Corinthians and see if we can burn through this chapter. Look at first Corinthians chapter 12 or I'm sorry, chapter 15 verse 12. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. If there's people out there saying there's no such thing as the resurrection, and they're like, oh, yeah, that didn't happen. Well, then that means that the Jesus Christ who we are serving didn't even get raised from the dead. Verse 14. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. Your faith also is in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. So all these arguments about resurrection are not. So many people are arguing there was no resurrection or will not be, then what are we doing? We must be like insane people serving a Christ that that didn't raise from the dead. Verse 20. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. This whole book is about two men, Adam and Jesus. We are sons of Adam. Right? Just like in Chronicles of Narnia. You got the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve. That's kind of a really very detailed statement. The guy that wrote that stuff was very understanding of the gospel and the word of God. CS Lewis. Yeah. Sons of Adam, we're all sons of sin. We need a savior. We need somebody bigger and greater than us that can come in and defeat death and defeat defeat sin and defeat all the wickedness in the world. Verse 23, but each in his own order, Christ the first fruits after that whose I'm sorry. After that those who are in Christ at his coming. Then comes the end. When he hands over the kingdom to the God and father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. So it's not just about salvation. It's not just about I paid the price for your sins. It's about a bigger picture than that. Abolished all rule and all authority and power. You understand that God has given certain authority to the devil and to his demons on this earth? They're they they have limitations. There's only certain things they can do, but they still have authority. Right? Jesus's role is not just the forgiveness of sins, but it is to crush death. Right? To crush it. Anybody ever heard that Crowder song, Crushing Snakes? It's a really cool worship song that he did. It's all about Psalm 91, and it's about crushing snakes. And it has this, imagery of Jesus defeating death. Right? There's this really cool video that somebody did out there where it's like a video version of the song or whatever. It's really cool of crushing death and conquering death and hell and defeating it. Defeating the rule of Satan. Defeating the rule of the Antichrist. Defeating all of that evil. Right? Verse 25, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For he has put all things in subjugation under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjugation, it is evident that he is expected. Sorry. He is accepted who will who put all things in subjugation to him. When all things are subjugated to him, then the son himself also will be subjugated to the one who subjugated all things to him, so that God may be all in all. God is the top. Jesus submits himself to God's authority. So as all things are put in submission to God, Jesus is in submission to God. Verse 29. Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? So this verse is kind of like a weird one where people at that time were had some sort of weird practice where they were baptizing people for the dead. Kinda sounds like Catholicism or like some weird like, well, your ancestors are dead, so if we do some weird ceremony or something, we can baptize them. It either way, he's saying this doesn't work. Right? So don't do it. It's not really fully understood what it was they were doing at that time, but you can see a lot of that here today. Verse 30. Why are we also in danger every hour? I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If from human motives, I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. That sounds like a little sarcastic to me. Right? Like, hey, why am I doing what I'm doing? Why am I laying my life down for you? Why am I braving wild beasts and doing all these dangerous things if I'm not even going to be raised from the dead? What's the point? If we're not going to die and go into eternity, why are we doing this? Let's just eat and drink and be merry because tomorrow we're dead. We're done with. But when you've got that eternal perspective and you've got that big picture, now when you're talking with that person where they're like, why do I need God? If we're all just gonna die anyways, what's the point? There's so much more to it than that. There's eternity. There's the eternal kingdom. Not to mention the power of God in this world. You have access to the power of the Holy Spirit right now. You have access to do these special missions right now. Your prayer right now can intercede for somebody all the way across the world. I got on to a buddy of mine was telling me about this dude. Some of you guys may have heard about him. Is it Henry Groover? Anybody ever heard of Henry Groover? Call him the prayer walker. Would, like, literally walk across all these countries in the world and nations in the world on his feet. He was from Portland. He's dead now. But really amazing testimonies of walking through gang ridden places and just praying the blood of Jesus Christ over the earth that he's walking. Because he's walking in an understanding of he's moving in the authority of Jesus Christ. And every place he has put his feet, he has authority over that land. Just blew my I was like, wow. That's a that's a very bold faith and belief of what the authority is that God's given you. And the testimonies of what this guy's done in his life of, like, just rebuking death literally in the blood of Jesus Christ. Perspective of the power that you have access to through the Holy Spirit. And what greater deception the enemy has on you and on those that you're praying for than to get you distracted. Like, I don't pay attention to what you can do, what your potential is. Right? You guys could put on you guys could offload your heavy combat load. You guys could put your recon gear on. You guys can go 20 kilometers into the jungle and take out a high value target. You have that capability. You could get on the hook with God and just be like, hey, Lord. Like, I see the enemy totally breaking that person down. Would you put a hedge of protection over them and guard them from the enemy's attacks? You have the capability to intercede supernaturally. But how has the enemy worked against you to deceive you or distract you or get your eyes off of that capability? Right? Pay attention to it and know. Because if we don't, if we have no purpose, no resurrection, no life, what are we doing here? Oh, let's just eat and drink and be merry because we're dead tomorrow. Right? But if you have the eternal perspective on the full counsel of the gospel, we understand these tents are temporary. These bodies are temporary. What can we do with the time that we have? What can you do? Wait. We talked about this last week and the week before. Let's play a little game. Let's play a little what if scenario. Right? What if October 1, I get the brain aneurysm and I'm dead? K? What can I do with that time that God's given me between now and then? Make a list. Write it down. Okay, Lord. Dude, like, I really want this person to know the love of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna spend this week praying specifically for this person. I'm gonna intercede. Here's the tactic that I'm gonna use, Lord. I'm gonna call in some, angels to go and to battle the demons that are surrounding that person, that are that are keeping them distracted and keeping them focused on themselves and on the world instead of eternal perspectives. Lord, I would like you to soften their heart to the Holy Spirit. I would like you to prep the landing zone so that when I have a conversation with this person, your Holy Spirit will speak through me the words that you put in their heart last week. Strategy in your prayer sessions. The guys gotta move into those elite long range reconnaissance patrol groups right now because you got some fun stuff you could do next week. Right? Pick a buddy. Pick a battle buddy and just be like, hey, you and me, we're we're praying for this person specifically. We're going in to do this, and we're gonna move hard and fast, and we're gonna do this. We're not going to let up, and we're not going to give up, and we're not going to quit. And it's going to be painful, and it's going to suck. Right? You read those stories about those LARP dudes and Max Savvy's and Carlos Halfcox that are out there crawling in the jungle with crackers and ants biting them and suffering for weeks on end. Like, it's a painful experience to do anything crazy like that. But look at the outcome. Look at the fear you put in the heart of the enemy. When all of a sudden they got some general that's down, and they have no idea how it happened. Look at the fear you put in the heart of the enemy when all of a sudden a whole enemy battalion is just bombed out of nowhere. And they're like, how do they know our location? How do they know where we're at? Well, I had some forward operating commander up there on the hill with some binos looking down calling in that grid coordinate. Right? You have all these awesome capabilities. But without without understanding the full gospel, without putting your boots on, you can't do nothing. You are non deployable without boots on. Right? Can't do nothing. Verse 33. Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. Wow. That is so simple. It just hits you right in the face. Bad company corrupts good morals. Verse 34, become sober minded as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. Could you imagine trying to like pray for somebody and and like, okay, Lord, I really wanna, you know, get at this person with the gospel, but then you're sinning and doing all the same stuff that they're doing and they're looking at you and they're just like, you're what? You hypocrite. You're telling me not to do this stuff, but you're doing this stuff? Now granted there's grace for us all not being that sanctified. I am not that sanctified. There are times in which I make mistakes and and I got to repent to those mistakes. Like, okay, Lord, help refine me and make me better because I'm not good at this stuff. Right? Not all of us are that sanctified. In fact, I'd say none of us are. Right? We are all growing and refining. But if you're in this category of the first Corinthians, they had a lot of sin in their church and a lot of stuff they were doing that was shameful. Right? And that's why Paul's writing to them about this. I speak this to your shame, like knock it off. Get in the game. Get your head in the game. Get in the fight and stay in the fight and stop doing this nonsense because you're not gonna be able to advance on the battlefield if you're doing this stuff. Verse 35. But someone will say, how are the dead raised and with what kind of body do they come? You fool. That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be but a bare grain perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as he wished, and to each of the seeds, a body of its own. This is the analogy of you gotta plant the corn in the ground. The little corn of grain that you would snack on dies and then grows into the stock, and it grows ears of corn, hundreds of pieces of food. Verse 39. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men and another flesh of beasts and another flesh of birds and another of fish. I agree. They all are different. Right? Fish is, you know, a different type of meat versus poultry and poultry versus bovine and things like that. Everything's different. Verse 40. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars. For star differs from star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in a perishable body. It is raised in an imperishable body. It is sown in dishonor, and it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, and it is raised in power. It is sown in a natural body, and it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living soul, and the last Adam became a life giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy. And as in the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we also will bear the image of the heavenly. So there's many different dimensions in which we live. Right now, you guys are in, like, the basic dimension. Many people call this the simulation. They call this the video game. Right? You're in your disposable body. K? You get your next life when you respawn, but that one's in an eternal body. Does that make sense? One of my favorite guys to listen to, I love listening to Chuck Missler. He's real super brainy and much smarter than I am. I'm over there gnawing on crayons, and he's talking about physics. Right? But he tells you, like, when you study the Bible, the Bible proves physics and proves science. Okay? And he's like, look. In Genesis, when it describes these 10 different things that God created, well, these are the 10 different dimensions of physics. He's like, yeah, back when Einstein did his stuff and and all these different guys were doing things, they discovered they could do more when they had more dimensions in physics. K? So in the dimensions of the world, people don't understand demons flying around. They're in an invisible dimension that we don't see. Right? And he compares it to like if you have a flat piece of paper and that flat piece of paper is here, let's draw a little picture of he calls them was it mister flat and missus flat. And he's like, alright. Flat world, two dimensions. Now take your finger and poke it through their world. What does it look like? Looks like a flat round circle opening and closing. So now imagine you're out in the middle of the desert someplace. You see some demonic entity up here in sky. What's it going to look like? A UFO or something weird? Right? There's dimensions we don't understand. So too on this earth, you have your fleshly body, just like the beasts of the field do. But also, there's your spiritual body, which is what you get next. Sweet Isaiah, reading the Bible to him and talking to Isaiah about stuff, sometimes he'll just be like, dad, I want my spiritual body. Like like, come on. Let's get our spiritual body already. I'm like, Isaiah, that's so sweet of you. Like like he gets the perspective of this one's gonna break. This one's not gonna last. Let's get the one that's good forever. Let's move on to that one. Verse 50. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? In the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. The suffering and the persecution that you will experience in this life is temporary. As you move forward and you wanna act out serving the Lord and doing whatever he's called you to do, you gotta get your boots on first before you can conduct this mission. And when you start this mission, be prepared for the adversity. The naysayers and the the problem people and those that wanna give you it's gonna happen. And it's gonna hurt, and it's not gonna be fun. When you're just a regular grunt in an infantry platoon, and you're just like, I wanna go do what those special guys are doing over there. That looks like fun. Right? You leave all your buddies and you go do that stuff. They make fun of you and they laugh at you and they're like, oh, you're special now. You know, you're doing all this other stuff or whatever. But you're gonna do something unique and you're gonna do something different that none of them are gonna do. And it's gonna suffer, and it's gonna hurt, and it's gonna be painful. But do it now while you have the time. Be serious now while you have the time. How many people say, I'm gonna start exercising tomorrow? Yes. We have our infirmities in this physical body that make us weak, and I understand that. But you get this body for a little bit of time. And if we're gonna be irresponsible with it and not take care of it, how does it reflect on our spiritual walk? Because the two are one. Are we gonna exercise the discipline? Say, you know what, Lord? Tomorrow, I'm gonna wake up 04:30 in the morning, and and and I'm gonna get in the word, and I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to spend that time with you, Lord. What is it gonna take to do it? What are you willing to endure to do the thing? How special is that person? This week, you've got it. Special mission, one high value target, one person to go after. How important is that person? How important is their salvation? When you see the fires of hell burning and you see that person burning in it, does it break your heart? Would you do anything and everything that it takes for that person? What are you willing to sacrifice? Maybe I'll give up a meal and fast. Maybe two meals and fast. Okay. That wasn't that bad, Lord. You sustained me through the Holy Spirit. How do you get to that next level plane of accessing the Lord? Will you dedicate some time to just worship the Lord and sit at his feet and seek his face? Will you get a brother and just like, dude, let's pray for this person. Where two or more gathered, there I am with you. You can move fast with two dudes through the middle of the jungle. Three is good too. Three is good. Any more than that, you're kind of slowing yourself down is kind of cumbersome. What is it going to take? What are we going to do? You guys are privileged to have somebody that pushes you, that leads you in this congregation, Takes you out of your comfort zone. Takes you out of your comfort zone. Right? Keeps you awake to what's going on in the world. Keeps you aware. Sometimes there's a shock and awe of the conscience, which is good. That makes you realize, hey, wait. Hang on a second. Let's not get comfortable. One of my favorite things is when people highlight how comfort distracts us and destroys us. I love listening to this dude. He says that he doesn't know if there's a God or not, but I think he really does know. And he's all about discipline. You guys know that Jocko guy? It's all about wake up at 04:30 in the morning and start working out. No excuses. I don't care what you did the day before. Yeah. Life is hard. Good. Like, that's his whole mantra in life. His whole thing is discipline. But he dis he displays it and he delivers it in such a way where you're like, this is what Christians need, discipline in their lives. This is awesome. Can we do that in our spiritual walk? It's really hard to wake up at 04:30 in the morning and read your bible. Makes me want to go back to sleep sitting there and reading and praying and stuff. Maybe like take a cold shower or like drink some coffee first or something. I don't know. You gotta figure that out. But when is the time in which you guys level up and and take take your step off in the direction? When's the time where you put your comfy, long range reconnaissance boots on that you could wear for a week straight? Yeah. You're gonna change your socks. Otherwise, you can't walk. But when are you gonna put them boots on and take off? Is it tomorrow? And are we going to do this with confidence in knowing that you're going to take down strongholds? You're going to break chains? When? Is it now? Is it right now? Make the choice in your heart and in your spirit. Write it down on a piece of paper. Make the commitment to your love and say, this is it. This is the moment right now, Lord. We go into that tent of meeting that Joshua went into after Moses and you refused to leave until the Lord does the work that you're seeking. Don't leave. Don't leave. Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for your love for us. Thank you so much for giving us this picture, this redundancy of this picture of your sacrificial love. Thank you so much for knowing that we are weak and we are humans. Thank you so much for giving us grace. Thank you for giving us today and tomorrow. And God, I just come before you and seek your face, seek your glory and your radiancy. I seek it, Lord, so that your burning glory would disintegrate all the sinfulness around us and just shine through us, Lord. We seek your face and your Holy Spirit to work in our hearts today. Lord, I just lift up this group of people to you in prayer. And I just pray Lord that you work on their hearts. Bring them to that point to where they go out and they buy that set of combat boots they can wear for a week and they take a step out in faith. Give them a vision of that one person in their lives that you want them to pray for specifically this week to work on. Fortify them, encourage them, strengthen them as your word promises. You've promised, Lord, to be of a a pillar of bronze and walls of iron to break the bow, to be the strong tower. You have said these things. Remind us, Lord, the battle's already won. The task is easy. All we have to do is just do it. Take a step in faith, and you already won the battle. You already have solidified the outcome, Lord. Remind us of these things we forget so much, and fill us with that courage and that faith, Lord. We love you so much, we pray these things in Jesus' name.