Sermon Notes & Videos
2023-05-12 | Matthew 26-27 | Final Footsteps
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There is more to say than could be said with words. Really think about it. There are only two days remaining until He takes His last breath on this side of eternity. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” And having said this, He breathed His last. It all comes down to this and the number of significant things—history-changing things, personal life-changing things that are about to take place in the span of less than forty-eight hours.
The Sermon on the Mount of Olives was complete. It was finished late afternoon, close to sunset, the day after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Think about all that happened in those preceding two days, most of those events taking place on two visits to the temple. Technically, it’s less than two full days. He rode into Jerusalem in the morning, left the city that night, went back the next morning, and that evening He left the city again and went up onto the Mount of Olives to deliver that sermon. There He taught about the coming end to a dying religious system and about the signs of the end-of-the-age and how to be prepared. If we think about the timing of Passover, which takes place as the sun is setting, we get a clearer picture of when He completed that sermon. When He was finished teaching, He said to His disciples, “You know that Passover is just two days from now, and I will be handed over to be crucified.” This places the timing of that sermon late in the day on Monday—forty-eight hours before Passover.
The next day, Tuesday morning, He is in Bethany being anointed for His burial with expensive perfume, and that evening, the night before the Passover, is when Jewish men would traditionally make their final preparations. It’s called the preparation day and on that evening Y’shua will share His last meal, the Last Supper, as He delivers His final preparation remarks to His closest disciples. To get ready, He sends His disciples ahead into Jerusalem to secure a room in which to prepare.
After the meal that night, He is off to the Garden of Gethsemane where His life as the Passover Lamb will be traded for the lives of all mankind. Subsequently, a court case takes place in the cover of darkness, mitigated that night by hypocritical religious leaders at the helm. And we know the timing because Peter is waiting overnight in the courtyard of the High Priest for a verdict, when the morning rooster crows, but not before he had denied his Lord three times.
That morning Y’shua is passed off to the Roman courts because the Jewish leaders display the worst brand of cowardice imaginable. They want Him dead, but they need someone else to do the dirty work. By noon Y’shua is beaten, bloodied, His flesh is torn from His body, and He is there hanging on a cross innocent, but crucified in humiliation for all to see.
The question for you is this; are you willing to go there with Him? Would you walk in His final footsteps? The journey through those final moments are unmatched in intensity and significance by any other span of hours in the history of humanity. Will you go there? Will you walk like He walked?
2023-05-05 | Matthew 24-25 | Prophetic Education
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It’s all right here, all in one place. And we can be sure that Y’shua’s timing was perfect. Everything He did was exquisite. He had two days of interactions in the temple that began when He entered Jerusalem and the multitudes publicly acknowledged that He was indeed the anticipated Messiah—an inflammatory start to His visit, to say the least. And on the first day He initiated a total cleanse of God’s house. It followed with a day of interrogation, at least that’s what the religious leaders intended, those who were convinced they had the upper hand. It turned out, instead, to be a complete indictment of a religious system that had fallen far away from the God they claimed to worship.
The cleanse ended with Y’shua’s final verdict, a scathing report: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees… you are loaded down with hypocrisy, lawlessness and pretense; motivated by extortion and self-indulgence; and painted on the outside to look good. But, you are really no different than a painted tomb. Although it might look clean and pretty on the outside, inside the coffin is a pile of dead men’s decaying bones. Other descriptors that come to mind to round off My opinion of you are: blind guides, fools, serpents, and brood of vipers. You would travel long distances, over land and sea, to convert even one person to your faith, who you then make into twice the son of hell as yourselves.” This assessment allows no room for interpretation of how Y’shua views man’s religion.
Then He leaves the temple and heads out east of the city, through the Kidron valley and up onto the Mount of Olives. Once situated there with His disciples, He looks back toward the temple and reveals that the whole hypocritical religious system is coming down. It won’t happen instantly; there are prophetic patterns to fulfill—a framework to understand. And quite frankly, God’s people are very behind on their prophetic education, obviously because their teachers were more concerned with building their own kingdom than preaching about the kingdom of God.
That is all about to change. These disciples have been walking through a kingdom education from the moment they heard, “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” all the way to this significant prophetic moment on the mountain. Now, Y’shua will teach them all that must happen from this moment forward—all the way to the very end of the age! It would seem an impossible task in such a short sermon, but nothing is impossible with God. And it’s not only possible, but Y’shua does so in what can be read today in ninety-seven verses—2028 words in a popular English translation. Two thousand words to describe the rest of history!
Since that’s the case, I think any serious student of God would make understanding those words a priority of critical importance. Minimally, put it on your bucket list—but don’t place it down near the bottom, lest you be the servant who hears, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
2023-04-28 | Matthew 23 | The Hypocratitudes
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“If you do not believe Moses’ writings, how will you believe My words?” If the Lord says that to you, be certain you are missing something important from Moses’ words. The disconnect comes easy when you spend enough time doing your own thing, while convincing yourself you are doing the Lord’s thing. Even worse is if you teach others to do the same. The end of that game is a disaster. You will fall so far down the rabbit hole that you can’t climb out. Before that happens, before you are convicted of always saying, but never doing, or doing, but doing the things of men and calling them the things of God, stop! Take pause while it’s not too late.
The whole of this attitude towards God is hypocrisy—bending His words to say what you want them to say, so you can do what you want to do, while claiming moral superiority over those who don’t follow your ways. Another form of sanctimony is to say one thing and practice another, while judging others for practicing one thing and saying another. Do this often enough and you will become as helpless as a greased egg trying to climb up a waterslide. There are a few guarantees in store for such practitioners. Everything covered will be revealed; everything hidden will be known. And, you will not escape the judgment of God! The entire outcome hinges on your attitude. If you have a “beatitude,” it will afford the blessings bestowed upon those whose hearts are fixed on the kingdom of heaven—those who know what the kingdom of heaven is like and endeavor to live as such. If you have a “hypocratitude,” it will afford the woes bestowed upon those who live in hypocrisy and sanctimony—those who say and do not do, while judging others who do the same.
You choose: blessings—bliss, ecstasy, exaltation, supreme happiness, and heavenly joy. Or, woes—sorrow, distress, wretchedness, sadness, heartache, despondency, desolation, despair, trouble, difficulty, tribulation, burden, misfortune, disaster, and tragedy. Know this, when the Lord speaks to you, if it sounds anything like this: “Woe to you…,” instead of “Blessed are you…,” rethink your approach immediately. Realign your attitude towards the words of Moses and the words of Y’shua. How, you might ask? First believe Moses’ words, if ever you hope to believe the words of Christ! And newsflash—Christ’s words were written about you!
2023-04-21 | Matthew 22 | (Mic Drop)
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A lot has happened to bring us to this point. I suppose that even the world itself could not contain enough books to account for the life of Y’shua, His significant contribution to mankind and His impact on human history. But there was a moment when He finally quieted His detractors once and for all—the ones who would dare question Him openly. He made a public spectacle of them, silencing all those who craved to use His words as an indictment against Him with the multitudes watching.
Of course, we know what is coming, and although, never again would they attempt to entrap Him in public with questions so easily smacked aside, exposing the true motives of His interrogators, they will soon descend into treachery and blatant deception, debased minds propagating abject lies leading to spiritual and moral bankruptcy. After this, they will need someone on the inside to betray Him because no one on the outside is a match for His brilliance, grace, and meekness. Oh, they will keep coming at Him just to procure the indictment and conviction of an innocent Man, without regard for legal decorum or truth. They simply won’t be able to ever again question Him publicly—lest they also be exposed publicly.
We might say there were three defining moments in Y’shua’s ministry before His execution and resurrection. His baptism in the Jordan: The kingdom of heaven is at hand; Behold! The Lamb of God; this is My beloved Son! Then His triumphal entry into Jerusalem: Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! And His choice in the garden to remain a bondservant: not My will but Your will be done, the choice that allowed Him to keep His bride for all eternity. That’s us!
But, in order to ensure His private betrayal, He had to publicly dismantle His detractors, every last one of them questioned and found wanting. No, these religious leaders will not feel convicted, nor will they reverse course and repent. They are willing to pave the way to their own destruction with deception and by the shedding of innocent blood, scarlet droplets that will ultimately punctate their hard hearts and seal their fates. What about you? Do your words indict Him or betray Him? Oh, it’s not Him I am concerned for, it’s you—because if you insist, His words will leave you speechless.
2023-04-14 | Matthew 21 | Going on the Offensive
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We often emphasize the “gentle as a dove” side of Jesus: His gripping compassion, undeserving forgiveness, admirable meekness, authentic humility, unmerited mercy, never-ending grace, and His uncanny ability to understand everything about us and to touch our hearts exactly the way we need at the precise moment we need it. But there’s another side to Jesus, the “wise as a serpent” side. It’s the in-your-face side that says it like it is—not that He had completely avoided confrontation before; He had His moments. He rebuked a few cities, addressed controversies over the Sabbath, referred to religious leaders as hypocrites, and called their doctrine hypocrisy, and even rebuked them when their manmade traditions caused violations against God’s laws. But now we are just four days from His crucifixion, and gentle Jesus has begun the final phase of His earthly ministry. Suddenly He does not seem so measured in how He deals with the religious elite. In fact, He seems to have gone on the offensive.
Can you recall what happened after King David committed that atrocity with Bathsheba and then schemed to cover it up? He would do anything to hide his mistake, even murder. He could have taken any available woman he desired. Instead, he impregnated a married woman and had her poor husband killed to hide his sin. Immediately the Lord sends Nathan, David’s prophet, to tell him a story. It’s a parable but David thinks it’s real. It’s the type of story you tell someone to show him something about himself. Nathan describes a poor man who owned one little lamb, a lamb his entire family treated like one of the children. He also depicts a rich man who refused to feed a hungry traveler from his many flocks and herds, so he confiscated the poor man’s only lamb. David was infuriated that anyone could do such a thing—a man like that should be put to death. Yes, a man who owns many and takes from a man who has just one deserves death, after he restores the poor man four-fold. David is being more than a bit obtuse here, don’t you think? Nathan then fills in the blank; “David, you are that man!
Y’shua uses the same approach towards religious hypocrites, for whom He has grown increasingly intolerant. He tells a story of two sons, one who says he won’t obey but does, and one who says he will obey but does not. Then He shares an elaborate parable about a business owner and the operators who run his vineyard. The end of the story has the operators rejecting and killing THE SON of the owner, somehow believing they can usurp his inheritance and get away with it. They can’t and they don’t. After the story the Pharisees, listening nearby, looked at one another and said, “I think He is talking about us!” Do you think? Earth to religious hypocrites—He is! Their reaction: No worries, we’re not offended; it taught us a valuable lesson. NOT! Their true sentiment: Let’s get this guy and take Him out, so we don’t have to give Him what is rightfully His: our obedience, loyalty, thanksgiving, and praise! Hey, wait a second; that’s exactly what the parable exposed! Brilliant, simply brilliant. Gentle as a dove AND wise as a serpent!
2023-04-05 | Passover Haggadah – The Telling | Who are Legitimate Sons?
Passover Haggadah | Sermon Video Part 1 | Sermon Video Part 2
Welcome to the Passover with Kingdom Embassy Ministries
When your children ask, what will you tell them? What happens when an entire generation separates from its roots, forgets their heritage, and has no recollection from where they came?
Yahweh built reminders into the culture of His people to deter that from happening, but unfortunately, it has. God’s people disconnected from the original roots of their faith, surrendered to common culture, and adopted the traditions of the world around them. In other words, they detached themselves from their true roots and attached themselves to the fake roots of this world. Do not love the world or the things of the world, John the disciple warned. Are you guilty of committing the same crimes Y’shua accused the religious hypocrites of, in His day, “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down?” I fear, if asked, like those religious hypocrites, too many Christians could offer no defense!
“How so?” you might be thinking. Look around, especially during the holiday seasons, and you will see the majority of Christians flocking to celebrate manmade holidays, steeped in pagan traditions. But when their children ask, “What do you mean by this service?” Or, “What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?” Or, “What do these stones mean to you?” They will have no biblical answer because they have been carried away in “making the word of God of no effect through their tradition which they have now handed down to their children.”
It’s sad that if Y’shua was walking the earth today, He’d be asking the same question of religious leaders that He did two thousand years ago. “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” John warned us about loving the things of the world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life…” May we, as the Body of Christ, run from such things. And the next time your children ask, this is what you will answer; “It’s the Passover; we were slaves and now we are free; let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation. It is a memorial forever.”
Or, you can say, “Go find your painted eggs and chocolate Easter bunnies. Fill your baskets; this is now how we remember the death, burial and resurrection of our blessed Savior.” It’s sad we have fallen so far. I don’t know about you, “But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh!”