Luke 22:31-53 No More Snooze

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Good message coming from the Gospel of Luke this morning. But first, let's reread. Let's reread that Ephesians passage. You don't have to turn to it, it won't be on your screen. I'll just quickly read. This is the Apostle Paul as he's wrapping up his encouragements and exhortations to the church at Ephesus, those Ephesian Christians early in the running of this thing called our Christian faith. He says, Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light. And as a final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you'll be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. You know, we don't talk about the devil a lot these days, you know? And I think that's okay. I don't think we need to come in every week and get beat over the head with the reality of the devil, with the reality of an enemy. But friends, today the dice fell in such a way that I got the passage a couple months ago. I gave you hell. Remember that one? Yep. And today I got the devil. I got more than the devil because I got the saints of God. That's what I've got today. But it's a reminder, it's a reminder that we have an enemy and that he is at play, yes, in the scene. He's manipulating, he's moving parts and pieces. He's he's leveraging circumstances in our life, he's leveraging our own choices, but we've got an enemy in the unseen. And we need to wake up to this reality today. Says, put on all these pieces of God's armor so that you'll be able to stand firm against the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies. And I you every time I read this passage and I felt like I got to share it just for this reason. But in seventh grade, I had a flesh and blood enemy named Chan. I had a flesh and blood enemy named Chan. And all throughout seventh grade, we got in many fights. Many, many M-I-N-I, not many. It was many as well. Many, many fights. Many, many fights. Right? I remember one time I was drinking water and he shoved my face into the cooler. I remember that. I remember one time, and this is what put the cherry on top, the brother Chan rolled up behind me. I'm walking down the hall, and he punches me in the back of the head. That was the day the real fight happened. That was the day the real fight happened. I look back on it. I got in a lot of fights, especially in middle school, a little bit into high, but not much. Not much, not nearly as many, but definitely in middle school, and some even in elementary school. And there was nothing that makes you feel so alive. But looking back on it, it's the dumbest thing you can do. To have a physical altercation with another human being, even if you win. It's the dumbest thing you can do. I look back, I see all these people's lives who've been taken just so simply, so easily. I know the frailty of humanity now, of life. And I think, man, we were so close as little middle schoolers of taking each other's lives. One wrong move, one extra punch, one extra head to the toilet, right? We could have seriously hurt each other or taken somebody's life. But these are not flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits, even in the heavenlies, even in the heavenly places, even in the sky, right? Even in the sky. No more snooze. That's the title of today's message. I believe the declaration of today's message is awake, O sleeper. Arise and take up arms, ye children of God. You sticking with me? Arise, right? Awake and arise and take up arms. That's the shorter version. You want to preach it to yourself tomorrow? It's awake, arise, and take up arms. You know what I've been praying for the last two weeks since we had the baptism of Holy Spirit in this house a few weeks ago on Pentecost? You know what I've been praying? God, turn me on. God, wake me up. I don't want to just coast through this life anymore. I don't want to just be a B minus. I want to I want to move myself forward in your spirit and in your power. I want to walk through this life as a driving force for the kingdom. And you know what? That's not just because I'm called to preach or something. That is the calling of all the sons and all the daughters of the one true king. That is your calling today, to be awake and to be alive and to be arisen in the Lord, to take up arms. No more snooze. I think we've been hitting that snooze button. This morning I hit the snooze button. I said last night, I'm not gonna hit the snooze button. I got to be to church early. And I hit the snooze button. What I did, I'll tell you what I did. I got up out of the bed because I've learned, right? The snooze button's always gonna get hit if it's right beside me, if it's convenient to reach. So I got up out of the bed where my alarm was across the room, walked to it, picked up my phone, disconnected it from power, hit the button on the side. Because in my sort of conscious, sort of subconscious mind at this moment, I know that if I hit the button on the side, it's gonna come back on in a few minutes. Right? But here's what I did: I stuck it in my pocket. I laid down on the side where the phone was in my pocket, and my snooze went off numerous more times. Finally, I heard it. Do you know what I did? I reached in my pocket and I hit snooze. Can you believe it? No more snooze. I think this is a declaration over our spirit. This is a declaration to wake us up to our calling. Not so much a don't hit snooze. But I promise you this: if you stop hitting snooze in real life, you'll accomplish much more. If you stop hitting snooze in real life, you'll get closer to the Lord because you'll have the time you say you don't have to pray. You'll have this time you say you don't have to crack open the word of God. You'll have the time you say you don't have to worship a little bit on a Monday morning rather than wait until you get back in the room a week later. Amen? Yeah? All right, no more snooze. Awake, O sleeper. Arise and take up arms. You children of God. This passage of Paul flows very nicely into our passage from Luke today. And we're gonna go over to Luke. Let me set the stage for you. Oh, yeah, I forgot I got the ribbon in there. Perfect. So if you were here last week, Pastor Joey uh opened up the passage of the Last Supper. How many of you agree that that was an incredible message? Everybody's welcome at the table of the Lord. Incredible message. Incredible message. We could go into that again, but we don't need to. He did such a comprehensive job last week, right? And the Holy Spirit did such a comprehensive job bringing his teaching to life, bringing the scripture to life. But this is the way I was thinking about it. I was having a conversation with Rob early in the week, and I was like, you know, we've been trucking through the Gospel of Luke for a year and a half now, right? And for whatever reason, some of you will get this and some of you won't, and I'm gonna say it anyway. Going through the Gospel of Luke is kind of like the background music to Mario, right? The first level of Mario. And I'm gonna get this way wrong, but it's something like da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Boop, right? Something like that. When he jumps, he hits the little thing, and the little thing, the little mushroom pops out, makes him double up. And every now and then, a mushroom comes at Jesus. Every now and then. Is that you, buddy? Not that kind of I need that in a second. I need that in a second. Mushroom music, right? Seriously. Some of you know. I don't know.

unknown 8:07

That's not really what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

You got the happy music of Mario, level one, right? You got the happy music. And every now and then a mushroom comes. If you've made it to the daylight levels later in the game, right? You got a bullet that shoots at you every now and then. All you gotta do is jump on the bullet. Did you know that? All you gotta do is jump on the bullet, the bullet goes away, right? That's like Jesus in Luke this whole time, right? Mushroom comes, a Pharisee. A bullet comes, a Sadducee. They try to put him away, he just jumps on the bullet, keeps trucking, keeps ministering. Demon shows up, it's okay. I'll just crush your head. It's all gravy. We'll just keep rolling, right? It's good music. Happy, positive, uplifting, you can win kind of music. Good stuff. But how many of you know that when you get to level two and you drop down the tunnel into the blue and black world, the music changes? Yeah? Yeah? That's what happened last week. We got to the part in Mario where we went down the tunnel and now we're in the darkness. Now we're in the underworld. Now the music is more nefarious.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Do do do do do.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

That's still way off. I know it is. I thought about hooking up my Nintendo, the OG, and playing Mario just so I could get those tones right, but I said, forget it. It's okay. Half of you don't even know what I'm talking about. But here's the here's the truth, right? You get down there, and you, if you had your eyes closed, you hear the sound of Mario dropping down the tunnel, whatever that is. He gets down, the music starts playing. You don't have to have your eyes open, and you know things are more nefarious. You know things just got serious, right? That's what began. That music began playing last week as Pastor Joey broke open the Last Supper. They're setting at the table, and all these promises that Jesus has made about what's to come is now coming. It's now here, right? And then here in just another chapter or two, Pastor Joey's gonna break those open starting next week. Like you get to the end of that chapter, uh, to the end of that level, and you're at the drawbridge with the fire under it and Bowser, right? And the music gets even more nefarious. That's coming. What we're in right now is that moment when you drop through the tunnel and the music gets nefarious, everything gets darker, everything gets more serious, the promises are beginning to come true. That's the setting, right? So Jesus is at the table. He's like, one of you are gonna betray me. And then Judas is like, is it me, God? Is it me, Lord? And Jesus is like, You said it, right? The scripture says that at that moment Satan had entered into Judas. Pastor Joey covered this last week. This is the table we're still setting at as we open up this passage. And listen, for sake of time, we got to dive in. So let's dive in. We're sitting at this table. Judas has already left. The nefarious music is playing in the backdrop, and Jesus says to Peter, and why he does this, lots of theories, but at the end of the day, he goes back to calling him his original name, Simon Simon. Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. Pause. The word sift, the word sift, best described in English, is not simply sift, right? To sift something, think of think of, you know, Thanksgiving when you're baking a cake. You're sifting out the the chunks out of the flour, you're sifting the sugar, right? You're sifting the powder. What this is saying is Satan's desire is to crush you. Satan's desire is to, I love this word, pulverize you. Right? That that's his desire. All right. He says, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift. So he's looking at Simon and he's talking about everybody at the table. Simon Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers. That's a message of hope for anybody in the house today who was once sitting at the table of the Lord and you have, for whatever reason, walked away. That there is hope and there is the opportunity for restoration. All you have to do is turn. That's the word repent. When you have repented and turn to me again, when you have repented, the act of turning and turn to me again, you're looking at me. You're not just alive because you said some prayer and got dunked in some dirty water a long time ago, but you're awake to me. You're a m you're awake to my word, you're awake to my will. Right? Then you can strengthen your brothers. This speaks to purpose. Some of you in the house today have simply turned. Maybe something caught your stare. Maybe you fell asleep and you woke up looking in the wrong direction. This morning, the good news for you and for me is that all we have to do is turn. All we have to do is turn. 40 years, all you have to do is turn. Four days, all you have to do is turn. Four minutes, all you have to do is turn. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

All we have to do is turn.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Same conversation. I was sitting across the table from Rob, and we were just talking practical life this this past Monday, I think it was. And I said, but what even qualifies to like be on Satan's radar? Right? There's people in countries, we've talked about it many times in this house, where to have a faith and declare it is a death sentence. Yet here in America, we have our leisure, laxadaisical Christianity that makes us feel good on Sunday and we forget about by Monday, and a little hardship comes our way, and we think the devil's up against us. A flat tire happens and we think the devil's up against us. A bill comes for the thing we said we'd pay for, and we think the devil's up against us. What really qualifies, and I think if we boil it down to this, friends and family, it's just simply you're on the devil's radar if you're awake to God. Right? There's a lot of Christians in the pews, in the chairs, in the floors, around the tables throughout this valley and beyond, who are showing up and checking the box and feeling good about it, yet they are asleep to God. So today is a wake-up call. No more snooze. Let me let me let me press in just one more time before we keep going in this passage. If you are the youngest person in this room, we got any fifth graders in here? Okay, got any any fourth graders? Got a got a much younger back there. I said, got a baby in the room. Got a baby in the room. Scott, you're the baby in the room. Just kidding, it's your son, Bobby. So good to have you guys. What a blessing to see the babe. But here's the thing the youngest one in the room to the oldest one in the room, God has a purpose for you, and God wants to see you awake to him. And if you're awake to him, you're on Satan's radar. So it's actually easier if you just stay on snooze. But you'll never reach your potential, you'll never step into your purpose, God given, unless you say over your life and accept the declaration today, no more snooze. No more snooze. Awake, O sleeper. Arise and take up arms, you children of God. Back to the passage here. Peter said, like he often does, God, I hear what you're saying, Lord. I hear what you're saying, but that's not gonna happen. Right? We've seen this several times in the Gospel of Luke. He does it here. Peter said, Lord, I'm ready to go to prison with you and even die with you. So, in other words, no way, no way. I'm not gonna be sifted, I'm not gonna turn away, I'm not gonna have to turn back because I'm never gonna turn away. Right? And then Jesus said, Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you'll deny three times that you even know me. You guys are familiar with this story. In fact, Pastor Joey talked about this. Unpack this on Easter, and I'm sure he'll be touching on it again because it's the second half next week. So Jesus asked them another question. So now he's been talking to Peter, talking about the group. Now he turns to the whole group and he references another iteration, another story that we've already walked through in the Gospel of Luke. Do you guys remember on two different occasions, actually, Jesus said, I'm sending you on mission. You're gonna lay hands on the sick and see them healed, right? You're going to release the chains from those who are bound, right? We sung about that this morning. You're gonna release the chains from those who are bound. Some people are going to welcome you into their home, and I want you to bless it. And for those who do not welcome you in the home, I want you to kick your the dust off of your feet on the on your way out. Right? You remember that? What did he say to take with him? Nothing. Don't take money, don't take a traveler's bag, don't take a sword, don't take a cloak, right? Don't take anything extra, just take the clothes on your back and rely on the goodness and provision of God to see you through this mission, right? So this is what he says to all the people. All the people at the table. When I sent you out to preach the good news, and you did not have money or a traveler's bag or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything? You thought you were gonna need more than I told you to go with. Did you need anything? And they said no. We didn't need anything, we had enough. Everybody say, That's enough. You guys are playing along today. I love you. Verse 36. But now, I'm about to send you on another mission, but now he said, this time, take your what does it say there? Take your money and your traveler's bag. And check this out. If you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. That's that take-up arms part. If you don't have a sword, so Jesus is saying, last time I sent you with nothing and you had enough, this time you're gonna take the money, you're gonna grab a traveler's bag, maybe you even take an extra pair of sandals, but most importantly, you need a sword. In fact, it's so important that you have swords among you that it's more important you have swords than a cloak. So sell the cloak so you can get some swords. Sell the cloak so you can get some swords. For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled. He was counted among the rebels. Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true. Look, Lord, they replied, We have two swords among us. And Jesus said, That's enough. You guys are weak on that one. That's enough. Everybody say, That's enough. So Jesus says, You gotta have swords. So much so that it's that you can sell your cloak to get some swords. They're like, hey, we got two already. And he says, That's enough. Verse 39. Then, accompanied by the twelve disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room, right? Because that's where the Last Supper happened, and went as usual. I'll say that again. He went as usual to the Mount of Olives. That's his spot. Right? That's his spot. There, listen to this, he told them, pray that ye not give in to temptation. I went King James on you there for a second. Pray that you, I was doing it from memory. Pray that you will not give in to temptation. It happens every now and then, y'all. That stuff's up in that heart. Verse 41. He walked away. Jesus walked away. So he's he's he walks to this spot. Everybody thinks Jesus rolled up into the Garden of Gethsemane just that one time, right? Oh, dang. Bad place to go. No, this was his spot. This was his spot, right? This is his place. Right? He says to the disciples, stop here, and while you're here, I'm gonna go a little further. I'm gonna go over there and pray. I want you to stay here, and I want you to pray so that you will not give in to temptation. So he walked away about a stone's throw. I don't know, how far can you throw a stone? I'd like to think from here, a heavy enough stone, I could probably hit the Hope City flag. I'm probably giving myself too much credit. But not very far. Just a stone stroke. Just a stone stroke. Like, sort of like in the in in our neck of the woods, it's over yonder. Right? I don't know how far over yonder is, but it's just over yonder. In this case, it's a stone strow. I don't know how far stone strow is, but it's just a stone strow. Not very far away. And he began praying. He knelt down and prayed. There's a posture to prayer there. He knelt down and prayed. Funny story. My grandpa would always uh ensure that I prayed at night. And if I were laying in the bed and wanted to pray there, he would not allow it. I had to get up out of the bed, go to the chair in front of the bed, and kneel down. Lest I fall asleep when I pray. Have you ever tried praying when you're laying? It's the best sleep you'll ever get. But check this out. He says, Father, if you're willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. We've pressed into that many times, so much right there in just that one verse. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. Other translations do not say that. Other gospel accounts of this moment do not say that. I like to think this is the Catholic version because they like angels, but it's in the scripture, so therefore it is God breathed. Verse 44, he prayed more fervently. After the angel strengthened him, he prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. We've covered that as well in this house. Probably we're saying this translation and the way it reads indicates that maybe it wasn't blood, but just drops of sweat so thick and so big that it was as if they were drops of blood. But the other tra the other books, the other test, the other gospel accounts indicate that it was great drops of blood. And Pastor Joey has shared my image on the screen before from when I was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and a botanist was among our tour, and they said that there is a type of clover that has red dots on it that can only be found in that area, in that valley. Very interesting. At last, after all this prayer, this fervent prayer, he stood up again and he returned to the disciples only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. Why are you sleeping? He asked. Awake, oh sleeper, right? No more snooze. Why are you sleeping? He asked them. Get up and pray. Arise and take up arms. Get up and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. A few notes on prayer. A few quick notes on prayer. I want you to notice that sometimes you have to do what I was made to do as a kid. You have to get up to pray. If you can't sit to pray, and you can't lay to pray, and maybe you can't even kneel to pray, stand up and pray. Get connected to the Lord God. Here's a few things I noticed. Jesus had prayer as a commonplace in his life. As a commonplace. Let me say it a different way. Jesus, for for Jesus, prayer was a staple place. Does that make sense? Like it was a thing he did, and he didn't just do it every now and then. Prayer wasn't his last resort, it was his first response. Jesus was God, but in this period of his life, he was also man, and he sets an incredible example for those of us who are human that we need prayer to be commonplace in our life. I want to ask you a question. I don't want hands, I don't want a verbal answer. I just want to ask you, was the last time you found yourself in prayer last week? Was the last time you found yourself in prayer, surface level but valuable, blessing over food? When was the last time you found yourself opening up your heart and opening up your mind to the Lord? When was the last time you could say that that was commonplace in your life? I'm talking to the sons in the room. I'm talking to the daughters of the one true king in the room. You say you're alive, but are you awake? When was the last time prayer was commonplace in your life? Second thing. Jesus had a common place to pray. Prayer was commonplace in his life, but he also had a common place to pray. It says he went as usual, right? To the Mount of Olives. Mount of Olives is where the Garden of Gethsemane is. Okay? He had a common place to pray. You know what I have found in my life? If I have made a common place to pray, prayer becomes commonplace. Now, for me, it's not geographical, but it's a particular setting. For me, it's scripture open on the table before me, a piping hot cup of coffee, steam rolling off. Nobody's coffee when I'm meeting with the Lord. That comes after. It's a treat. Piping hot cup of coffee and a heavy dose of humility because I have to I have to be in that position to approach the Lord of hosts. I don't always walk through life with that dose of humility, but in those moments, I know I've got to be on my face and I know I got to be real because I can't hide nothing from him. And in that place, in that common place, it can happen on the front porch. It can it has happened on the front porch many times. That place can be and has been on the green suede couch with the coffee table in front of me in my family room. It could be at the coffee shop that I love to go to. It could be anywhere geographically, but I have a common place. And as I have a commonplace, prayer becomes commonplace in my life. The final thing I noticed about prayer is that prayer prepares you to overcome temptation. Jesus started that last little chunk that we read. He started with this stay here and pray so that you're not overcome by temptation. If you don't pray, you're likely to become to be overcome by temptation. If you do pray, you're likely to overcome temptation. You tracking with me? Jesus gave the formula. He said, Stay here, pray so that you don't overcome temptation. So that you do overcome temptation. Then at the very end, he gets up, he goes back, he says, Wake up, what are you doing? I left you here to pray. And he says it again. Pray so that you do so that temptation does not overcome you, so that you'll not give in to it. Get up and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. Verse 47. But even as Jesus said this, it's too late. You missed your opportunity to pray before this great battle ensues. Even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. This like common place to pray was so common in Jesus' life, Judas knew where he was going. Yeah? So this group is led by Judas, one of the twelve, and Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss, but Jesus said, it's like he put his hand up. I think in all the movies, Judas lands the kiss. But in this example here, this record, it seems as if you know, Jesus gives him the stiff arm. Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? When the other disciple saw what was about to happen, right? They're still groggy, they're still waking up. They exclaim, Lord, should we fight? And that's me, right? I love a good physical altercation. It's dumb, but boy, you never feel so alive. Right? Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords. Remember that? You told us to sell cloaks. You told us we needed swords. We said we have two. You said that's enough. We brought the swords. We got both of them. And one of them struck at the high priest slave. We know this to be Peter from another account, Simon Simon, right? The same guy. One of them struck at the high priest slave, slashing off his right ear. But Jesus said, No more of this. And I love that phrase because it reminds me of my kid, right? Of my parenting. Every now and then I have to say at say to Atlas pretty boldly, no more. No more. Another way to say that? That's enough. Everybody say that's enough. Atlas comes home from school. You know, those wretched kids at public school have influenced him. He's good, he's solid, he's a good boy, but he's been influenced. It's all their fault. And he's got a bad attitude. He's got a chip on his shoulder. He's sassing over here to Julia. He's sassing to me. It ain't working out so well, and my bubbles are starting to bubble. I'm ready to fight. And I got to remember, it's my kid. You can't go that route. If you served, you would have had a little parenting lesson this morning. Just letting you know. I'm not even going to tell you what it was. I'm just going to leave it there. If you were here on serve team this morning, you would have had a parenting lesson. Good stuff. That's enough. I have to tell Atlas that's enough. And he knows when I get to the point where I've had it, that's it. You better stop.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

That's enough. We start to turn the page.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

No more of this. And he touched the man's ear and healed him. There's so much more we got to touch, so let's go. Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests and the captains of the temple guard and the elders who had come for him. Am I some dangerous revolutionary? He asked. That you come with swords and clubs to arrest me. Why didn't you arrest me in the temple in the light of day? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns. This morning we sung darkness. What is it? Darkness, your power is over. Is that what it is? What is it? Darkness, your hour is over. I had it rhymed. Darkness, your hour is over. We know that with Jesus coming, being born of a virgin, living perfect, dying sinless, doing it for all who would believe, rising again three days later, ultimately, darkness, your hour is over is a declaration that we can sing with excitement. But the reality is, in our day and time, in our present age, we are in the hour of darkness. We are in Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like we. We have an enemy and we're coasting through life as Christians and we're snoozing. No more snooze. There are, as we wrap this thing up, four points of irony that I want to touch on. You're like, man, you've already given us three points on prayer. Now four points of irony. How long are we going today? Not much longer, I promise. But we got to hit these things before we roll. And some of them are just quick and touch points because I want you to see, I'm always as a preacher of the gospel, of the word, right? I got the Holy Spirit, but I also got the Holy Scripture, right? I want my like my job, at least part of it, is to help you see how a live scripture can come when you just spend a few minutes in it. And so as I just spent time in this passage preparing the meal to put on the table today, I just kept noticing, man, that's ironic. Man, that's ironic. That's ironic. And so there's a bunch of them, but I just want to share four. Is that okay with you? All right, so I'm gonna lean heavy on my notes for these four things. The first point of irony, I'll just put a little tag on called Dangerous Revolutionary. Dangerous Revolutionary. And this one I noticed, um, and it's kind of an Easter egg for the weeks to come in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus said, Why have you come to arrest me at night? Why didn't you grab me in the temple in the light of day? I was literally there every day. What am I? Some dangerous revolutionary. We all know Jesus was not a dangerous revolutionary. He was dangerous to the ritualistic religious system that was gatekeeping the kingdom of God. But he was not a dangerous revolutionary, the kind of messiah that everybody was hoping for. We've talked about that so many times in this house. Everybody wanted a Messiah who was going to overthrow Rome and restore Israel to its rightful, glorious place in the world. And that's not what Jesus came to do. He came to overthrow death, hell, and the grave. But when Jesus says, Am I some dangerous revolutionary? you know what's interesting is the very next day he's gonna stand before Pontius Pilate, and Pontius Pilate is gonna give a decision to the people. Barabbas, a dangerous revolutionary, or this innocent man who I wash my hands clean of his blood. And the same people in the courtyard that day, who five days earlier shouted, Hosanna, praise be to God in the highest, please save, as Jesus rode in on a donkey, decried as loud as they could, give us Barabbas, crucify him. The scripture comes alive when you spend a few moments in it because it's living and breathing, and the Holy Spirit brings it to life before your very eyes. Jesus knows, and he is exercising his God omniscience, his know everything godship. I'm about to be traded for a dangerous revolutionary. The second point of irony, put a tag on this one, the swords. The swords. They say, We've got two, and that's enough. Pause, pause. A note on that's enough. The first time that comes up in the scripture, I had you say it out loud. The first time that comes up in the scripture, Jesus said, Remember the time I sent you with nothing? You thought you needed a lot, and I sent you with nothing. For some of you today, what you need to hear, what what this medicine for your soul today is that you might not have anything. But if you have Jesus, you have everything. If you have Jesus, that's enough. But if you're like most of us, you've got some things, but you think you need more. Second time he sends them out, he says, You need swords. Sounds to me like everybody better sell their cloak and everybody better have a sword on their side, but they only have two, and Jesus says, That's enough. So you might have some things, but not all the things you want or all the things you need. You might not have seminary training, you might not have a boldness until you open your mouth to share the gospel. You might not have confidence to lay your hands on the sick in your neighborhood and in your workplace, but when you extend your hand with the confidence of God, in the mighty power of God, not in the mighty power of yourself, and you've got Jesus, that's enough. There are a few people in the house today. I just know it because Holy Spirit put this on my heart. I don't think he would have. There's so many things I could have touched on. Peter whops out the sword, he whops off an ear. And Jesus says, That's enough. No more of this. That's enough. For some of you in the house today, you have turned. You have turned. You're no longer staring intently into the eyes of your Savior, you're no longer away, awake to him. And the Lord is declaring over your life, that's enough. Some of you are engaged in things you know to be detrimental to your walk with the Lord and the anointing of the Holy Spirit of your life. It's called sin. And I believe the declaration of the Lord from the heaven today is that's enough. And maybe there's a couple, maybe there's a couple who are simply asleep. You're not doing anything wrong inerrantly, clearly, but you're not doing anything right. And I believe that God declares over your life today, that's enough. The swords also represent that we are called to fight a different battle. I got one of those guns that are about to go illegal here in a minute. I thought about bringing it up here, but I didn't want to cause any unnecessary trauma in the room. We're living in 2026. Everybody's got trauma. Five layers of it. That gun might have caused some. Those are not the kind of arms we're called to take up. We're called to take up different kinds of arms. Jesus says, stand up, get up, and pray. So that you will not be overcome by temptation. So swords. The third point of irony. Deep cuts. Deep cuts. I want to read this. I thought about it. Peter cuts the ear. It's not just a scratch, right? It's not a paper cut. Those hurt real bad. But I bet losing your ear hurts worse. We know from another account of the gospel, this guy's name was Malchus. Malchus loses his ear. He's in great pain. His face is probably shooting blood, running down his face. It's getting nasty real quick. Jesus doesn't say no more of this, that's enough, and then walk away with him. He could have done that. He could have said, That's enough. Point proven. But instead, he picks up the ear and he restores it to the man's face. This is the point of irony and the point of personal application. How can I write it in the first person? How can I be healed if I'm not first afflicted? How can I overcome if there's not first an obstacle? How can my ear be put back on my head if it's not first cut off? Everybody in America wants their cake and they want to eat it too. But I think the Lord is calling us to come awake. So that we're not on snooze, no more snooze. So that we realize that there is an enemy if we come awake. But greater. Is he that is in me than he that is in this world. The fourth and final point of irony, this one's a little thicker. Satan has dominion on earth. We see that. The power of darkness reigns. The power of darkness reigns. We see it in Ephesians when Paul writes that final word to that church. We see it in Jesus here. He says, You come to get me in the darkness. It was symbolic for the fact that it was an age of darkness and they were functioning by the power, under the influence, and for the cause of Satan, even though in the light of day they represented the kingdom. But the thing that caught me first about this whole thing is that it says, Simon, Simon, Satan has. You got it? A little bolder. Satan has Satan has asked. Two times in Scripture, we see a man of God coming under direct attack from Satan. Job and the disciples. And in both cases, Satan had to ask. Say it. No more snooze. It's time to wake up. Let me clarify. I'm gonna read this because I I thought about it a lot. This is it, y'all. Just so you know, you can close your Bibles. You know, Pastor Joey does this amazing thing where he slams down his laptop and it's like, ah, it's that, it's go time. Right? I'm getting charged up. I can't shut mine that hard because it'll break, it's already got a crack. I did it once. Actually, my kid did that. I said, that's enough. To clarify, to clarify, I'm gonna read this now. To clarify. This message is an assault on cute Christianity. This message, I'm gonna say this a bunch. This message is an assault on Sunday morning only, country club style Christianity. It's an assault on the I go to church, I give to the church, and I even serve at the church only kind of Christianity. This message is an assault on the I function in the gifts of the Spirit, but never crack the seal of the Word of God kind of Christianity. It's an assault on the I am marked by the power of the Holy Spirit, but I don't produce any of the fruit of the Holy Spirit kind of Christianity. On the other side of that pendulum, I always like to, in my head, see my Baptist brothers and sisters saying, yeah, yeah. On the other side of the pendulum, it's an assault on the I am in the Word of God regularly, but go through it with no Holy Spirit power. I go through life with no Holy Spirit power andor no Holy Spirit fruit kind of Christianity. Just two more. This one's a little bit longer, so stick with me. I might read it twice. This message is an assault on men who won't rise up, and women who refuse to be led, and children who get to run the roost and run the show at their home. And on prioritizing American citizenship and national allegiance over kingdom calling, thinking that your vote counts for much more than a generation when we're called to be the ones who face down the temporary in light of the eternal. This message, awake, O sleeper, arise and take up arms. No more snooze. This message is in a song. I'm gonna read it again, on men who won't rise up, women who refuse to be led, children who get to run the roost at home, prioritizing American citizenship over national and national allegiance over kingdom calling, thinking that your vote counts much more than a generation when we're called to be the ones who face down the temporary in light of the eternal. This message is an assault on the age of darkness, is coming. Better get ready, kind of Christianity. The darkness is already here, and it's ruling and it's reigning in this present age, and your enemy seeks to destroy you, to pulverize and crush you, and he will settle on a version of you that's simply on snooze. No more snooze, brothers, sisters, we're asleep. We must awake, we must arise, we must take up arms. We got to face down the temporary because we're called to the eternal. And I can preach my guts out. Like anybody who stands on this stage does every single Sunday. But at the end of the day, it's a decision you have to make. It's a decision you have to make that I'm not gonna hit snooze no more. There's more on the line, and you have a purpose to fulfill. Pastor Joey says, if I've got breath, I've got purpose. I like to say, if I'm not dead, God's not done. And I'm as guilty as any of you. I coach so much, I snooze so much, not just on a Sunday morning when I don't want to get up early because I stayed up too late last night. But in the spiritual sense, our enemy is in the unseen, he might manipulate the things we can see, he might leverage them, but our enemy is in the unseen. And he wants to pulverize you if you come to life. But he'll settle for a version of you that's on snooze. Would you stand with me as we pray? We'll close this thing down. Father, I thank you so much for your holy living word. I thank you so much that when we get into it, it just comes to life, it lifts up off the page and it pierces our hearts. Today there are some brothers and some sisters in the house who are alive in you. They didn't just simply say some old prayer, some old stale prayer. They didn't simply get dunked in some dirty water. They meant every bit of it, and they are alive in you. You are alive in them, but they are asleep as I often find myself. And so today, would you wake us up by the power of your spirit and the piercing of your word, the piercing of our heart by it? Would you see the men rise up? Would you see the ladies who have a man who has risen up in godly submission, not as a slave or a secondary, but being led in love and kindness and strength? Would you empower the parents in this house today to take charge over their house? That the kids won't rule the roost, but that they'll lead them lovingly and strongly to the throne of grace, into a relationship with you. Would you help us in our minds to stop getting so wrapped up in the vote that we forget about the eternal all the things today, but at the end of it, your call to us today is no more snooze. And so we receive from your loving kindness, not from a place of taking a club or a sword and beating my brothers and sisters over the head, but like a coach who loves them and is cheering them on, trying to rile them up for the second half. We got ground to take. We got ground to take. Amen.