Sermon Notes & Videos
2023-05-26 | Acts 1-2 | To Be Continued
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Have you ever heard the forward-looking phrase, “You can’t get there from here.”? I’m sure you have. But let’s say we turn it around into a backward-looking version; “You did get here from there!” And that will make much more sense as soon as we define ‘here’ and ‘there’ and ‘where,’ especially when you recognize how critical it is to get to the correct ‘here!’ In other words, if ‘where’ we are right now is the incorrect ‘here,’ it must be because we didn’t know ‘where’ the proper ‘there’ was. And when we travel into the past and look back ‘there,’ you must consider this all-important truth: our ‘there’ was their ‘here.’
‘Here’ is ‘where’ they were in the first century, shortly after Y’shua ascended into the clouds. But, how did they get ‘there,’ if ‘there’ is ‘where’ they were supposed to be at that prophetic moment in history? And maybe even more critical than that, if that is even possible, is this. ‘Here’ we are two thousand years later in our ‘here.’ How did we get ‘here’ and are we ‘where’ we are supposed to be? And that brings to mind another phrase I’m sure you’ve heard; “You don’t know ‘where’ you’re going, if you don’t know ‘where’ you’ve been.” In other words, you can’t get proper directions if you don’t know where you are! Framed as a question it sounds like this; “How can you know ‘where’ to go if you don’t know ‘where’ you are or even ‘where’ you’ve been?”
Here is some data to plug into the mishmash of ‘here’ and ‘there’ and ‘where.’ In the first century the ‘here’ was “It was Pentecost and they were all in one place in one accord.” The ‘there’ was, “Three times per year you must make your way to Jerusalem for the feast,” and this was one of those times. The ‘where’ was, “Standing near the Temple waiting for a promise to be fulfilled.” Today oftentimes, the ‘here’ is, “Everyone follows the dictates of his own heart.” The ‘there’ is, “You do err not knowing the Scriptures.” And the ‘where’ is that, “You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”
What must happen now, in order to change the ‘here’ we are right now, in order to arrive ‘where’ we are destined to go, which is “there is one body and one Spirit”? That is the question we must answer today as this ongoing story continues…
2023-05-19 | Matthew 28 | The Great Conspiracy
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It’s the Great Commission. It’s your main focus when you open the last chapter of this epic Gospel, but there’s so much more. “Go therefore…” ends our journey that began at His birth. In between, we witnessed His baptism in the Jordan and heard the delighted voice of His Father from heaven. We watched His release into the wilderness to be tempered by fire, and had a front row seat at the launch of His ministry—the kingdom of heaven was indeed at hand. It wasn’t long before His ragtag collection of students were assembled, His would-be disciples, some of whom we come to know quite intimately on their travels. And Matthew’s Gospel is stippled throughout by prophetic moments, each seemingly marked by a grand sermon, mysterious parable, deep lesson, supernatural encounter, or stiff admonishment. Along the way, we realize we are all kingdom scribes getting a kingdom education, but some don’t like it! It’s undeniable, yet somehow people in certain positions do deny it. Extraordinary miracles occur, so outrageous that they can only be explained one way. Y’shua is the Son of God, the Christ!
We learn that He has a plan; He is going to pass His ministry onto others! But why? Is He going somewhere? He tells them over and over again that He is; but they don’t like it, so they avoid it, even deny it. But, it’s inevitable! He makes many enemies as He moves about, but really there is one most relevant; a power-hungry class of religious hypocrites. They still exist today and they’re not who you think. You can spot them because they build their own kingdoms. Then and now there is one satanic antichrist spirit at work. It hates what He is doing and that His reputation is growing. You’d think religious leaders would be thrilled; He’s the Messiah. But they’re not! He’s steeling the spotlight; attracting their donors; exposing the induration of their dark hearts; calling them hypocrites; and the majority of these religious elite are not ready to relinquish power, to surrender their man-made religious system.
As time goes on, He further clarifies who He is and what He will be, and what we will be in Him. And the clearer it becomes, the more resistant are those who have the most to lose—power, fame, fortune and control. And Y’shua meets their escalating denial and aggression with a move of His own—He becomes more brazen, more pointed, more intolerant. Gentle Jesus gives way to a full exposé on hypocrisy. Then, He seals the deal with His final two lessons. One is about the end-of-the-age, who to be and how to prepare—from the Mount of Olives. The other is about the age-to-come, what it will be like and how to get there—at His last meal.
Finally, the powers that be have had enough and they conspire to murder Him, to do whatever it takes to eliminate Him. Nothing is off limits; lies, false witnesses, unproven accusations, even the willingness to partner with a pagan Roman system to get what they want; it’s all on the table. Then they kill Him. They capture Him, and indict Him, and convict Him, and torture Him, and they murder Him. But it does not end there! The truth cannot be denied. Or can it? Even after He resurrects from the grave, even after the stone is rolled away and He is not there—He is risen; they conspire to tell yet another lie. “He has not risen; He’s been stolen.”
I take a deep breath and try to imagine the level of hatred; the level of self-righteous, self-serving narcissism; the vile incessant vitriol; the acid tongues and acid hearts that would not only deny the final obvious fact—He has risen; He is the Christ, but that they would instead master-mind the greatest coverup in human history. Humans can deny the obvious; that itself is obvious! Just tell more lies, spread more deceit, offer more bribes—hatch one more conspiracy. To this very day some people still believe it was all just a conspiracy. That is why we must go make disciples; preach that He has risen, and preach that we must become different because of it. We are meant to become just like Him!
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.