There's Someone Coming After You | Pastor Eoin O'Sullivan

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Spring Church podcast. We are so glad you joined us. Our mission is to reach the lost by raising up fully trained disciples that are empowered by God to impact their world. We pray that you are challenged and encouraged as you listen to this week's message.

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One thing I've desired of the Lord, that shall I seek, that I should be found the house of the Lord all the days of my life. You know, the the word of God speaks of promises that are for me and for you. And I want all of the promises that God has over my life, over my family's life, over this church's life. I don't know about you. Is there a hunger? Is there a thirst? Is there a desire? That these promises, the in Galatians it speaks of these, this won't come up on the screen. You can turn your Bibles to Deuteronomy 34. But it speaks in Galatians of the fruit of the Spirit being love and joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are these are promises that God has given to us that are fruits of the spirit that comes from this life in the spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit. That these are things that we don't need to have a version of love or a version of joy or an American dream version of it or our own idea of what love or peace are, but what God would want us to have. That's what God wants to give us. And it says, against such there is no law, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. And I want to speak this message today out of Deuteronomy chapter 34, verse 1 to 12. And I want to speak to people that have, in a sense, that you've run out of energy, you've run out of strength, you've run out of your own, you're in a sense you're frustrated because you want every promise of God, but it seems like you're just struggling to enter into that joy, struggling to enter into that peace, struggling to experience the heights and the depths of God's love. Has anybody ever been there or currently just going, experienced that in your life? You know, there's just that moment. So let's look in Deuteronomy chapter 34, verse 1 to 12. Now, God, I pray you bless your word to us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. It says, then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pishgab, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, all of Nephtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the south and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of the palm trees, as far as Zor. And the Lord showed him, This is the land which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants, and have crossed, I've caused you to see it with your eyes. But here it is, but you shall not cross over. But you shall not cross over. Let's just pause there for a moment at verse 4. So God is taking Moses at the end of his life up this mountain. And from this mountain, he's showing him the promised land. The promised land which was given as a covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants, that this would be a land for the people of Israel. And this this promise was one too that Moses was leading Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness for 40 years. And now he's brought him at the end of his life up the top of this mountain. He's shown him everything, the land flowing with milk and honey, the land of promise, the land and everything. And he is showing him this. And he's saying, I've caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there. And verse 5: Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Bet Pior, but no one knows his grave to this day. And Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes were not dim, nor his natural vigor diminished. And the children of Israel wept for Moses, their leader, in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended. Now Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. This was Joshua who would follow Moses into the tent of meeting and uh be there when the glory of God would descend upon that place. It says, So the children of Israel heeded him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt before Pharaoh, before all his uh servants, and in all his land, and by all the mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of Israel. If you just turn to your neighbor and just give him the title of this morning's message, the title is There is somebody coming after you. If you just give give them that message, this that title right there, somebody, there's somebody coming after you. There is. You know, those words echo in my mind right now because uh a few weeks ago somebody had uh gifted us an opportunity to go to an Airbnb out by the beach. I was so thankful for it. It was something we needed, we needed just a refreshment, and we had uh right outside of the Airbnb was uh access to the beach, and so we were having a great time, and in my mind we had it for from a Saturday to a Saturday. And so when Friday came along, I woke up early that morning and I was so excited about this place. I invited some friends to come and hang out and just be there for the day. I got up early in the morning and I dug out a place at the beach for us to hang out at. It's hard work getting your tent and all those little things, chairs and everything set up, and I'm sweating, but I'm good. We're at the beach for the day, and we have the cooler ready, all the supplies ready, and we go we'll go back to the Airbnb. And when we get back to the Airbnb, as we're walking in, we realize that the owner of the Airbnb is there waiting for us. Now, we had left the Airbnb. It looked like a scene from the rapture, the left behind movie. I mean, it was it was pizza boxes, it was everything, everything was there, and what that shouldn't be there. And and when we were there, we're like, you know, we're kind of wondering why the person there, like, your your time is up at the Airbnb. You're you're due to leave today. And so, and so I'm looking, I'm like, it's true, we were actually supposed to leave that very day. So our friends had just came over, and so we were like, all right, we're all cleaning up this place together, and so that's what we did. We just cleaned it up, and and no matter what, we couldn't stay there, you know why? Because there was somebody coming after us, and because there was somebody coming after us, you know what? As nice as that Airbnb was, it was not our home. And can I tell you the life sometimes that you think that you've got here on earth, you think that that's the best life that you can have, but can I tell you this life is not our home? There's somebody else coming after us. The house that we live in, the clothes that we have, the things that we have, the possessions that we have, we cannot hold on to them forever. And sometimes we think that what we can do is we go into our little Airbnbs and we're like, you know what? I like this so much, I'm gonna renovate the kitchen in here and I'm gonna put a new this. No, it's not yours to keep. Somebody else is coming after you. Somebody else is coming after you. You know, you can look back over the course of your life and you can see that there is mentors, maybe good and bad, that have been there through the years, coaches, uh uh, school teachers, uh uh, sports coaches, whatever, pastors, mentors, leaders, friendships, uh um uh school colleagues, college people that you walk along the journey with. And as life goes on, you can look back, and there's almost in a sense relics of the past that are there, people who walked with you through a season, but but as life goes on, you move into different seasons of life as you go on. And right here in Deuteronomy 34, the time is coming to a close for Moses to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness into the promised land, and he's brought them right to the edge, but Joshua is coming after him. Now, Moses is my is my old testament hero. I love Moses is the person I love to study, I love to just examine his life. He was a godly man, even though he had much failure in his life. He was a man who who had an incredible counter from the burning bush where God spoke to him and told him to go before Pharaoh. And what courage, what courage to go before the most powerful person on the planet at that time, and stand up to him and to say, No, God has told me to come into your courts and to tell you that you're the let your take your hand off of God's people, let his people go. What courage! And then to believe God for the miracles, the plagues, the deliverance through the Red Sea, to have the faith to believe that even with his back and Pharaoh is coming after him, there's somebody coming after him. It's Pharaoh and his military and his army, and they're coming after him, that he stood at the Red Sea by faith. That if God said that we were getting out and he was gonna deliver us, then even the sea that's before us is not able to stop us from walking out of this place. If God said he will bring us through. Now, I don't know what's going on with the lights this morning, but God's gonna bring us through this morning, even if I feel like I'm in some sort of disco this morning. Can we just turn on the house lights or something? I don't know what's going on. I think there's like a like a tech uh challenge or whatever that's going on there. But God is able to bring his people through, he's able to lead Moses' leads through very difficult circumstances. He's able to lead Israel in the wilderness for 40 years to believe God that God would give them manna in the wilderness, water from the rock, and that he would be with them as people grumble and complain. God would even call them a stiff-necked people. But Moses is my hero. Until Moses was given. Do we need to give him a moment? It's kind of hard to let there be light, Lord. Somebody give me a thumbs up if we're good. Alright, you guys gave me the thumbs up. I don't think you guys know what you're doing. Alright. Hell the church, thumbs up, you're good. Keep on going. We got lunch plants, Pastor Owen. Come on, we gotta get out back soon, all right. Moses might hear. Unto Moses was given incredible revelations. The revelation of of the of the priesthood, of the law that was given unto him. The all of these things was given unto Moses to these revelations that God had given to him. And in my mind, if there was anybody that by merit deserved to enter into the promises of God, it was Moses. And yet here we are at the end of his life, in the moment where he has done everything that he knows how to do in his own strength and his own ability to bring people and bring them into the promise of promises of God, and he himself to step into this land flowing with milk and honey. He gets to this top of this mountain, but when he goes to this mountain, he's going there and he's able to see with his eyes, but he's not able to taste of this land, this these promises that God um had promised unto him. You know, I've come to realize as a pastor that I can only bring you to the edge. I can only I can I can describe to you God's promises, but I don't have the power to deliver you into God's promises. Can you say amen to that this morning? We're gonna get through it this morning. Can you say amen? We're gonna get to the other side this morning. No matter what's going on around us, we're gonna get to the other side. Moses is gonna get to the other side, even though it doesn't feel like it when he's on top of the mountain, when he's going there for the appointed time to die, and a judgment is gonna come, yet, even now as he looks out and he sees the promises of God and he's going to this place and he's going there, it says in verse 5 and 6 so Moses, the servant of the Lord. Who was Moses? He was the servant of the Lord. You know, sometimes we need to eat a little bit of humble pie. Who's the greatest amongst us? I believe it's the servant of God. Jesus himself did not come to be served, but to serve. We want to be known by our credentials, CEO, pastor, apostle, bishop, whatever it is. But can I tell you, you know who's the greatest in the kingdom of God? The greatest in the kingdom of God is the servant of God. A servant of God is a steward of God. We're not called to be permanent, we're called to be faithful stewards and servants of God. We're not called to build our own kingdom. We're called to say, God, let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We are reminded that we're only a small piece of the tapestry of what God is doing in the earth right now. One small piece in the tapestry. I'm only one voice, but thank God that God's not just raised up one voice, He's raised up a thousand voices here at the Spring Church, and He's raised up thousands of voices across this nation to stand in highways and byways and believe God and trust God that God can bring it to pass. If there was anybody that I would have thought that would deserve to enter into his promises by merit, it would have been Moses. But Moses, the servant of the Lord, even could not enter, and he died there in Moab according to the word of the Lord. Now, this would seem so unfair if we did not know the end of the story. This would seem so unfair that Moses would walk 40 years and not be able to enter into the promises of himself. Can I tell you this world is unfair? Can I tell you that there is much sorrow in this world? Can I and I thank God that the Bible, the word of God, according to the word of the Lord, God doesn't shy away from the fact that in this world that we will have trouble, that as sure as sparks fly upwards, man is born to trouble, and that we've experienced this close to our own uh uh homes and close to our own uh church here in recent times, that there is deep sorrow and there is deep trials that happen to us as we go through these times, and it would feel like it's almost unfair, except we know the end of the story. We know that God has the final words, and we can oftentimes get to that place in our life, God, did you just bring me here to die? Did you just give me this job for me to go all these years for me to lose this job? Did you bring me into this relationship that I would go all these years through this relationship where it just seems that God, you're gonna bury me here in this relationship? Did you bring me all these years and I've poured into my children, then I've poured into my grandchildren, and I've given so much to the church, and I've done everything that I know what to do in of my own ability to bring this to pass, but it feels like you've just brought me here to die. I've got nothing left. You know, can I tell you God will bring you to that place? God, it says God buried him there on the mountain. It doesn't say that somebody came and no, God, it's it's a remarkable piece of it says God buried him in a valley in the land of uh of uh uh Moab opposite Bet Pur. Bet Pur was the place where Israel had fallen, so right there next to their greatest failures, there he there he is, he's buried. But what stands out to me is it says that God buried him there. In fact, it's the only person in the Bible that I know of that God personally buried an individual. He buried Moses. Now, Moses is a shadow and a type in the Bible, it's a picture of the law. Unto Moses was given the law. Now, watch what happens here. God brings Moses up the mountain and he can see with his eyes, he can see the promises. Maybe you're here today and you can see the promises, you can see freedom, you can see marriages around you that God has healed, you can see people that have experienced the promises of God, you can see miracles all around you, you can see joy, you can see peace, you can see love, you can see hope, you can see revival, you can see forgiveness in others. But how do you yourself enter in there? Now, religion will tell you that it can bring you in there. The law will will sometimes people will come under and think, if I just live my best life, then maybe I can enter into joy, maybe I can enter into peace, maybe I can have love for myself. But listen closely to me, church, this morning. Religion has excellent eyesight, but it has no power to deliver you into his promises. Religion can tell you what's wrong with your life and what you need to do better, but it has no ability to bring you into the promises. Religion can describe to you the promises of God, but it cannot deliver the promises of God into your life. No, see, when Moses died, it was a picture of the law, but there was one coming after him that could bring the people of God into the promises, and his name was Joshua, and Joshua is a picture of Jesus. See, it would seem like the best person in all of the Old Testament, Moses, that he would have had a right to go in. But can I tell you, church today, the best of people are still people? You gotta catch this this morning. The best of people are still people. Sometimes we're looking for a hero, we're looking for somebody, and I've been around some great heroes of the faith. I've been around some great people, I've been around some great pastors, I've been around some great preaching, but the best of people are just people. There's nobody that can deliver you into the promises of God except for Jesus Himself and the power of the Holy Spirit. Only He can bring you in. Religion can bring you to the end. I can bring you to the place this morning that you respond and you come to the altar. But if you come to an altar to a message, if you come to an altar to a pastor, if you come to an altar to a preacher, but you don't come to an altar to the to receiving the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit and the and the work of Christ, and you have come so far, but you are you've so come so close, but you're yet so far away. There's only one who can deliver. Who's the one who can deliver? It's Jesus, he's the one that can bring you in. When it seems like it's unfair that God brought you to a dead end, brought you to the death of a relationship, brought you to the end of your strength. Just remember, when you think of what's unfair, remember that Jesus also went up on a mountain for me and for you. He went up to Calvary for me and for you. And when Jesus went up on the cross and he's hanging there bleeding and dying, he cries out and he says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In other words, as the weight of sin was on his shoulders, the sense and the feeling was that there was almost a separation between him and the Father because of the weight of sin that was on his life. You think what's unfair? Jesus wasn't absent in our suffering. He knows what it was to suffer, he knows what it was to go through the fiery trial, he knows what it was. But when I look in Moses' life, even Moses, when he goes up the mountain and he's brought to this place of death where it seems like he can't go into the promised land, it says that God buried him there. There's something intimate about this. It means the last in encounter that Moses had before he died, is he was in the presence of the Lord. He was the last hands that were with him were the hands of God. Listen, as we've gone through our fiery trial and our difficult times, and Pastor Paul and Maria, they know that we've gone through a fiery trial in this place, and they've gone through a fiery trial. Can I tell you it has not been with the absence of God's hands everywhere? We may not understand, we may not fully comprehend, we may not fully understand why we have to go through what we go through, but this I know that he is the God who never leaves us, or he is the God who never forsakes us, and even in the middle of our complete and we just don't understand that God's hands are in the middle of it. Now I thank God that I know the end of the story. And Paul would write in the book of Romans, he would say, Therefore, in chapter 6, verse 4, therefore, we are buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also. Should walk in newness of life. In other words, he said he's saying, When we came to the end of ourselves and we died, when we were born again, when we our life was hidden in Christ, not only did our life die with Christ the day that we became born again, but also because Christ died and he rose again, so too do we rise again as well. That death is not the end. Hallelujah. Can you say amen to that this morning? But that there is resurrection life. Now, how do I go in when I feel like I'm baptized into his death? Paul would go on in Romans 7 24. He would say, But oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Who will get me out of this place? And he goes on in verse 25 to say, But I thank God that through Jesus Christ our Lord that He will bring me through to the other side. Who's gonna deliver you? Jesus is gonna deliver you, He's gonna bring you through. In Jude chapter 1, verse 9, there's an obscure passage of scripture that talks about Michael the archangel, that when Moses died, that he disputed with Satan himself over the body of Moses. In other words, what what I believe has been recorded in Jude, Jude is that Satan was coming after the body. He wanted to take the death of Moses and use it as an example of defeat, but God was like, You're not gonna get the body of Moses, you're not gonna get, you're not gonna get the triumph over death, you're not getting it. No, my I'm gonna have my hands on it, I'm gonna keep it because I'm gonna use this for my glory. I'm gonna use this as a testimony, not that not that of defeat, but a testimony of victory is gonna come play come forth from this place. Can I tell you Satan is still after the body of Christ today? Can I tell you, you want to know who's coming after you today? Satan's coming after you, he's the accuser of the brethren, he comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. But I thank God that there's somebody else that's coming after me, and he's greater than Satan. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the land of the living. It may seem like Satan with his accusations, and he's he's a good accuser, he knows the right words to say, he knows how to attack your mind, he knows what buttons to press, he knows what issues to push, he knows how to come through and try to get to get his way and and uh in inside, but I thank God. I thank God that there is one greater than him. I thank God that even though he seems like he wants to come and and dig up the dirt on the past and dig up on the dirt on what's old, and he wants to use it as an example of a uh some sort of win for the enemy, and the enemy wants to come and say, Who do you think you are to get come into church this morning? You're unqualified. I know what you did back in Pharaoh's courts when you killed that that that Egyptian. I know what you did when you struck the rock in anger. You didn't enter into the promises of God because you were unworthy to enter into the promises of God. Oh, how the enemy likes to remind us of our failures and our unworthiness and that we don't deserve to come in. But I thank God that nobody could find that grave, not even the enemy himself had access to that grave, he couldn't find that body. You know why? Because the Bible tells me that as far as the east is from the west, he remembers my sin no more. He's causing to go into the sea of forgetfulness. Hallelujah! Hallelujah. And even if there's demons in hell out there that want to put on their scuba diving gear and go to the depths of the ocean and see if they can find all my junk and all your junk and bring them to the surface and tell me that I'm not worthy and you're disqualified. Let me tell they can search the ocean wide, but they will not find it. Why? Because on Calvary, on the mountain that Jesus went up to, when he said it was finished, it was completely finished. Not by my merit, but by the mercy of Almighty God. By the mercy of Almighty God. Oh, it might seem like it takes a while before we taste the victory. It may seem like it takes a while. Yes, these corruptible bodies are still walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Yes, we're still dealing with the ups and the downs of this life, but there is a day coming, church. See, there was a day that came about in Matthew chapter 17, thousands of years later, when Peter and John would be invited by Jesus to go up a mountain, and up on that mountain, Jesus would go up on that mountain, and it'd be called the mountain of transfiguration. You know why? Because right before them, Jesus would be transfigured before them, and two people would show up to have a conversation with Jesus Elijah and Moses. And you know where that took place? That took place inside of the promised land. In other words, yes, Moses didn't get in there in his marriage, but Jesus brought him into the promised land, Jesus took him in there, and when Jesus was in the promise, then Moses is in the promise. And can I tell you if Jesus is the is the author and the finisher, if he's the one of the promises, then we get the promises as well. I get the love, I get the joy, I get the do I feel it all the time? No, I don't feel it all the time, but I'm not standing on one of my feelings, and I'm not standing on my eyesight. I'm standing by the word of God that tells me that everything that Christ has for me, I receive the love, I receive the joy, the crucified this flesh. I'm not walking according to the flesh, I'm walking according to the spirit that gives me life, the spirit that's causing me to walk in his power to move forward in all that he has for life. And Paul understood this. He said, Who's gonna deliver me from this body of death? Can you imagine Moses on that mountain? Who's gonna deliver me from this body of death? And God is dead as end, and that's why Paul was able to say in verse 18 of Romans chapter 8, as the worship team comes back, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. God will get the final word. Moses had something greater than that. He had intimacy with God. It says there was not a prophet like him that had arisen like Moses, full of God face to face. Moses had such a hunger for God. He actually asked, God, I want to see your glory. And God hid him in the in the in the face of a rock, and then just a shadow go by, and yet the face of Moses was changed, it was so radiant that the people had to ask him to put a veil over his face because of the glory that shone from just a glimpse of the glory of God. And Paul is saying, Yeah, we're going through some sufferings right now. Yes, we're going through some difficulties and trials, but can I tell you they're not worthy to be compared? Somebody needs to stop comparing it because they're not worthy to come be compared to what's coming ahead. There's a glory that's coming, which shall be revealed in us. Verse 28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purposes. Verse 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, then who can be against us? Listen, I don't know who your hero is today, but get your eyes off of a human hero and get your eyes upon Jesus today. If God be for us, then who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son. For God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son, he, God, the Father, who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for each one of us. How shall he not with him also give us all things? Oh, I'm believing in a God of abundance this morning. I believe there's enough in the Holy Spirit for everybody in this room. I remember there was an old TV show, uh, talk show that we used to watch growing up in Ireland, and there would be these different people that would come on and they would have these different gifts, and at the end of it they would say, and there's one for everybody in the audience. Can I tell you there's enough of the Holy Spirit for everybody in the audience and everybody that's online today? There's enough in the blood of Jesus to wash away all the sins of everybody in the audience today. There's enough to go around. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? Maybe you've been listening to the accusations of the enemy. Maybe you've been saying to yourself, I'm not qualified. Maybe you've been saying I'm not worthy, but who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. And furthermore, here's the good news for me and for you is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of the God who also makes intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or pearl or sword, as it is written, for your sake, we're killed all day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Let's stand to our feet right across this place to read these last few verses as we go into worship. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us in all these things. For I am persuaded. Are you persuaded, church? Today, are you persuaded that neither debt nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor death nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? When you've come to the end of your strength, God isn't hasn't come to the end of his strength, he still has enough. It's already been said today, his arm is not too short that it can't save. There's somebody coming after you, and he's greater than the lies and the accusations of the enemy. If God be for you, who can be against you? Come on, let's give God praise across this place today. If God be for you, who can be against you? Hallelujah! Nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Come on, let's worship the Lord across this place. Let's sing one chorus of worship. Let's magnify him today for the great victory that he has given us. Even over dead, hell, and the grave, he has given us a victory. And I don't know about you, but I believe that's worthy of a shout in this house. I believe that's worthy of giving praise to God Almighty in this place today. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Let's worship the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Thanks for listening to the Springs Church podcast. We pray that you were encouraged, uplifted, and challenged by the message today. If you need prayer or want to learn more about the church, we would love to connect with you. Visit the New Year page on tcjacks.com. We pray you have a great week walking in all that God has for you.