WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.759 Turn in your Bibles if you have them with you at Mark 15. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:09.519 And I do want to make note was everybody receiving this when you came in? 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:10.560 Okay, awesome. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:14.000 Beautiful job by is it Jen? 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:15.359 Jen gave us the picture. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:16.079 Is she here? 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:18.559 Jen, you did this. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:19.359 This is awesome. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.920 I'm hearing good stuff about your photography. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:23.120 So thank you for that. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:24.079 It was beautiful. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:27.519 And thank you, Melody and Jay, for making this happen. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:28.480 So beautiful. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:32.799 This is something, if you're new to the road, that we do every semester. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.439 You get this, and it's a key part of how we do our discipleship groups. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.600 I won't explain that right now, but just read it. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:50.719 P, B, and J, Lol, so you have an understanding of prayer, Bible, and journal, and how we emphasize at the road a personal growing relationship with Christ. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:52.240 We're in Mark 15. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:53.119 We're coming to the end. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:58.640 Next week will be our last message in Mark, 55 messages we've done in Mark. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:04.719 And then in the summer, we're going to be talking about spiritual warfare, the invisible war. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:08.319 We'll be talking about Satan, demons, and the fourth dimension. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:17.200 We've had a number of encounters with the demonic here at the road in this first year of starting this church. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.079 We got plenty more that are going to come our way. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:30.480 Some of you have strongholds in your life that you've never been set free from because of childhood issues and struggles, and it's actually a demon. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.040 You said, Oh, well, can Christians be demonized? 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:33.599 Absolutely. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:41.439 All the letters that talk about demonic fourth-dimension spiritual warfare in the New Testament are written to believers. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:48.560 And so there is a misnomer out there, probably from Satan, this idea that Christians can't be demonized. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:52.560 And do I believe Christians can't be demon-possessed? 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:53.040 I do. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:54.640 I believe you can't be demon-possessed. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:56.400 But I do believe you can be demonized. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:04.000 And demonized in the Greek means to be demon-influenced to such a degree that there can be strongholds in your life that you've never been set free from. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.319 And we're going to go after that all summer. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:17.199 So starting in two weeks, we're going to start probably in Genesis chapter 1, and we will cover over the next three months probably most books of the Bible. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:24.879 Because spiritual warfare, this issue of the invisible war, is in every chapter of the Bible in some way, shape, or form. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.439 We're not going to cover every chapter of the Bible, I can guarantee you that. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:35.120 But we're going to talk about, first of all, the high level, strategic level of the warfare, and then we're going to bring it down to what I would call ground level. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:39.439 Ground level warfare, which is where we live and how we handle that. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.639 So this week we're talking about the cross, the killing of Jesus. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:51.439 Next week we get into the resurrection of Christ, and then we'll be moving into a series called War on Spiritual Warfare. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.360 Jesus has been condemned by the Jews. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:02.479 Jesus has now been condemned by the Romans through Pontius Pilate. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:07.039 He has now stood before Caiaphas and Annas. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.360 They were actually two high priests, by the way. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:12.960 They were related to each other, a son-in-law. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.120 And he has stood before both of them. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.680 He's been now paraded before Herod. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:32.719 He has been beaten by the professional palace soldiers, mocked in kind of a vaudeville act of poking fun and torturing him as a king of the Jews. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:37.120 Then last week we looked at the scourging of Jesus. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:44.800 Probably the most painful, torturous, hideous form of torture ever known to man was a scourging by the Romans. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:46.080 And we talked about last week. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.960 In a scourging, most men died. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:04:01.439 Most men, most criminals died just in the scourging, probably because of the nature of what Jesus was being convicted of. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:05.199 They held back at the end so that he would not die. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.639 If you recall, they gave him back his clothes. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:23.040 And so I believe that that was a backhanded way to keep him alive from exposure so that he could at least get the cross, the beam of the cross, up to the place called the skull. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:34.879 And even at that, he was so weak from probably loss of blood and exposure that Simon of Cyrene had to be recruited to come in and carry the cross for him. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.720 Now Jesus is being nailed to a Roman cross. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:56.480 We talked about last week the cryptic passage of Deuteronomy, expressed again in Galatians 3.13, that he was numbered with transgressors because he was raised up on a tree. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:05.199 So we had a fascinating discussion with our interns and some staff a couple weeks ago. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:09.199 When did Jesus take on the sins of the world? 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:11.360 Was it when he was being tortured? 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:12.000 No. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:14.319 Was it during the scourging? 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:14.879 No. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.040 Was it when his blood flowed? 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:17.600 No. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:22.399 Was it when they nailed the nails into his hands? 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:23.040 No. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.800 It was when he was lifted up. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:32.879 When he was lifted up, the scriptures say, and it's what's interesting, it's parenthetical in Galatians. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:40.000 Actually, very cryptic in Deuteronomy, because when Deuteronomy was written, when Moses wrote Deuteronomy, there was no cross. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.199 There was no crucifixion at that time. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:48.240 And yet it said, He who is raised up on a cross becomes a curse. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:50.480 Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.199 So I found that many believers don't even understand that. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:57.040 It'll be crucial on understanding of spiritual warfare, too, and we'll cover it again. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:02.560 This idea that as Jesus was crucified, he still has not died for your sins. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:08.480 But at the point where they raised him up, the curse of God, the curse of the law came upon Jesus. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:14.160 And even though he lived a sinless life, at that point our curses came upon Christ. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:25.279 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, This is not, by the way, in Mark 15, I'm reading from Luke's account, bringing us up to date. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.720 Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:52.560 And Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:53.759 So what happened? 00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:00.560 We'll talk more about this next week, but I believe that when Christ was crucified, as he's being raised up, he's going to die. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:02.560 We're going to watch his dying in just a moment. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:08.079 We're going to see him dying, and he's going to enter that day into paradise. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:21.279 And so he will enter into, again, cryptic, another cryptic passage we'll look at in the days ahead is the is the many have described it as a parable. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:22.560 I don't believe it's a parable. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:26.079 Lazarus and the rich man, also found in Luke. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:30.319 Where in Lazarus and the rich man, you remember there's a great divide that you can see. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:36.800 And those that are in Hades and those that are in paradise are in the same place called paradise. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:41.439 And so Jesus is about to enter into paradise and he's going to take this criminal with him. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:47.360 Which is another reason we don't we don't believe in salvation coming through baptism. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:49.519 Because this guy was never baptized. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:50.639 And yet he was saved. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:53.199 He went into paradise with Jesus. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:58.639 So even as Jesus is being condemned, he's saving people. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:01.439 Isn't that the savior you want to follow? 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:13.600 Even though he's been tortured and beaten to the point where he can't even carry the cross beam back, he's saving a criminal who calls out to him. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.240 In Hebrews, we have this cryptic verse. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:20.160 Hebrews 12. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:32.480 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, listen to this, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:40.399 Listen, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:51.600 So I believe as Jesus is being condemned in all of the fury, and we talked about this last week, the fury and the wrath of the cup of condemnation is upon him. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:09:00.879 He has this joy that he is bringing and he is opening up a way to salvation and intimacy with Christ. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:04.639 And there is a joy because he's despising the shame. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:11.279 And men and women, some of you carry deep, deep wounds of shame in your heart. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:15.360 And I don't have time to unpack it all tonight. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:26.799 But let me say this that as you learn and grow and get discipled, you're going to find yourself staring at the cross. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:33.679 At the cross, literally, where we get the word crux, it's the crux of your healing in shame. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:36.000 It's to look to the cross. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:42.320 And so despising the shame and the joy set before him, he's enthroned with God the Father. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:43.759 So we're in verse 33. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:45.759 Mark 15, verse 33. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:56.320 Jesus is now anticipating with joy his reunion with his father, and he's taking a repentant robber with him. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:03.440 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.159 So this is from noon till 3 p.m. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:15.360 So it is a sunny, possibly a very sunny day, and suddenly there is what we believe to be an eclipse. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:17.200 An eclipse of the sun. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:22.799 We know that in Matthew, at this same hour, an earthquake occurred. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:42.240 The Greek historian, this is interesting, the Greek historian Flagan mentions an eclipse in Jerusalem on November 24th, 29 CE, in his history of the Olympiads, and says that it was accompanied by an earthquake. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:46.240 The Greek writer Flagan reported it this way in his writings. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:10.639 So that stars appeared in the heaven, and a great earthquake that broke out in Bethynia destroyed the greatest part of Nithia. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:14.559 So that's a secular historian. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:20.240 Once again, historical data backing up the Bible. 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:34.240 And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eloy, Eloi, Lama Sabaktani, which is translated, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:55.919 So what we believe is that there was this point where Jesus, who is perfect and sinless, was lifted up on the cross in all of the fury and all of the condemnation of God, his father, came upon him and he became sin. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:58.879 He became cursed. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:06.799 He broke the law because the scriptures say, cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree, and he is feeling that. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:19.919 Some of you are experiencing that in your life right now. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.159 You've never given your heart to Christ, you've never fully surrendered to him. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:30.480 And all of that fury of the Lord is there. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.120 And don't you want to be set free? 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:37.279 Don't you want to walk out of that into the love of God? 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:44.080 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:46.000 The love of God is wooing you. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:47.279 That's why you're here. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:49.840 That's why you're here tonight. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:13:02.000 Because the love and the grace and the tenderness of Christ is coming your way because Christ doesn't want you to experience his fury, he wants you to experience his grace and his forgiveness and his love. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:07.360 We must understand that God doesn't count transgressors the way we do. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:15.360 If a man is caught embezzling money, he is called an embezzler. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:19.919 If a man kills another man, he is called a murderer. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:25.039 He's called a murderer because he murdered someone. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:31.279 But if he didn't murder anyone, if he didn't embezzle any money, then he's not considered a criminal. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:37.600 Man's law says that a man is not a thief until he steals and not a murderer until he kills. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:40.639 But God's law is entirely different. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:45.840 God's law says that a man steals because he is a thief. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:51.679 And a man kills because he's already a murderer in his heart. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:57.679 God doesn't recognize varied shades of gray or various shades of guilt. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.799 Any person who is not perfect in every way like God is a sinner. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:11.120 So James writes this: for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point is guilty of all. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:27.600 And so Jesus, the first fruits of forgiveness of our transgressions, who had never sinned, perfect in every way, broke that law on that one instance of cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.720 And so all of our sin fell upon him. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:31.440 Dr. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:47.120 Harry Emerson Fostic, a great liberal preacher 50 years ago, once said, Jesus was mistaken when he cried out on the cross, and that God the Father was never more near Christ than at the cross. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:58.559 Such a denial shows a total failure to understand both the holiness of God, the sinfulness of sin, and the authority of Scripture. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:01.759 So who put Christ to death? 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.679 Who put Christ to death? 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:14.399 God the Father put Christ the Son to death. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:22.320 The fact that the Jews and the Romans condemned Jesus to death is actually unimportant. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:27.200 God the Father put God the Son to death. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:32.480 This is what makes atonement for sin. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:39.360 Jesus took the sin we deserved upon himself that we might become the righteousness of God. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:49.360 Jesus lived a life we could not live, died a death we could not die, that we might be set free. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.200 But listen, to now live a life you cannot live without him. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:55.519 That's good news, folks. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.120 That's good news. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:10.799 When I look at some of the stuff you guys are going through, because I know a lot, as you shared stuff with me and with our shepherds, you couldn't do it without the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:14.320 So the life that he lived, we could not live. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.200 The death that he died, we could not die. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:23.039 That through his redemption we might live a life we cannot live through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:34.639 The Bible says, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:35.600 Hello? 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:36.799 That's awesome. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:38.639 He made him. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:45.360 So the Father made his son who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:48.240 You are the righteousness of God, church. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:53.840 You are walking in all the power and the righteousness of God if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.679 If you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ, you cannot live the Christian life. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:09.759 You can try and you can attempt in your own power with all the perfections of your life, and you'll fall again and again because it's impossible to live the Christian life. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:17.680 But when we surrender to Him, surrender to His mercy and love, He lives His life through us. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.759 I've been crucified with Christ, as it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:28.000 And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who was delivered up for me. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.880 Listen, delivered up for me. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:37.279 Obviously, Paul in writing in Galatians is referring to cursed is everyone who hangs up on a tree. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:47.920 Some of those who stood by, verse 35, when they heard that, said, Look, he's calling for Elijah. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:56.319 Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink, saying, Let him alone. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:59.759 Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:04.960 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and he breathed his last. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:13.680 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:22.799 God the Father killed God the Son that you and I might walk in newness of life and become the righteousness of God. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:26.319 The veil was torn from top to bottom. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:29.119 Impossible unless God did it. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:36.000 Sixty feet high, thirty feet wide, four inches thick. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:49.839 The veil of the temple was ripped from top to bottom, separating the holy place from the holy of holies, inviting us to intimacy with Christ that we could never know in our own power. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.640 The physical speaks of the spiritual. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:04.240 You don't need me as your pastor to give confession that you can have intimacy with Christ. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:08.319 You can go to Christ wherever you are with your Bible, with your word. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:10.400 You're a priest of the Most High God. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:12.640 Every one of you have the Holy Spirit. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.839 Every one of you have access to God the Father now. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:17.039 You don't have to have a priest. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:18.640 You don't have enough confessional. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.440 You don't have to be living a righteous life. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:26.000 You can come to the Lord and confess your sin and repent of your sin. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:29.440 Open the word and the Spirit of God will speak to you. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.119 He'll speak a word. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:33.680 It'll be a better word than what I'm giving you tonight. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:35.599 It'll be specifically for you. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:37.920 The word in the Greek is rhema. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.319 He can give you a rhema word. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:42.559 Isn't that exciting? 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:46.000 That in Christ, you're a new creation. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.759 All the old stuff is passed away. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:48.799 New things have come. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:57.839 You can walk in that newness of life, and you can go home tonight and fight with your wife or your husband all the way home. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:19:59.440 You can do that. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:02.799 And then you can open up the word and you can let God speak to you. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:03.839 And He still loves you. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.079 Even though you fought with your spouse. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:10.000 I don't think anybody here is perfect. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:11.759 Anybody's God all together. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.400 We break the Ten Commandments all the time in our lives, and we can go. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.559 And 1 John 1 9 says we can confess our sin. 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:22.319 He's faithful and just to forgive us all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness right then. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:28.160 Well, that means, well, I mean, so I can just go sin and do my own thing and then ask for forgiveness. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.599 No, that's the wrong heart. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:33.200 If that's your heart, then you're probably not really confessing and repenting. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:39.279 But confession and repenting means, here's what it means: it means you're agreeing with God that that's wrong. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:40.799 That's not right. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:42.960 God, I need your help. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:48.400 I was with a young couple recently, and we were talking about issues related to coming to Christ because they didn't know the Lord. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:51.119 And I said, the key word is surrender. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.279 Not righteousness. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:54.079 Surrender. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:55.599 You don't have any righteousness. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:57.039 Because that was the issue for them. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:57.599 Wow. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:05.680 I mean, if I could get this together, if I could stop drinking, if I got to smoking pot, we had several things on the little list. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:11.759 And I said, I had the same list 35 years ago. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.000 And I couldn't change me. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:16.960 But Christ can change you if you'll surrender to him. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.559 So give him a give him a start. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:19.119 Why don't you start? 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:20.640 Why don't you do that right now? 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:30.400 And so and so, men and women, this relationship with Christ is now accessible because the curtain was ripped. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:39.200 God the Father ripped the curtain because of the death of God the Son to give us access to the Holy Spirit and the love of God. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:44.880 I'm going to stop for just a second and I want us to pray about something. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:51.839 We've been here at Chapel Hills Church for about a year, a little over a year. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:59.680 And you may know some of you that have been walking through this labyrinth with us, that they've had a lot of physical. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:02.799 Problems with this building. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:06.880 And the latest being, I was talking to one of the elders here tonight. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:11.279 I think he said there were 24 leaks after that last rain. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.839 And you guys see how the tiles are out and on. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:18.160 And if you were here two weeks ago when we came in, it was just like buckets everywhere. 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.759 And then last week when we were doing worship, remember the lights flickered? 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:25.279 And they actually went all the way out at one point and then came back up. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.400 So I think we need to pray for this building. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:30.400 I mean, I really do. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:38.880 And uh, and I and I think that uh I just think that sometimes the physical is a picture prophetically of the spiritual. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:40.079 That's what we're talking about here. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:48.880 And so why don't we just right now take a moment and I want to pray for if there's any darkness over this facility? 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:53.519 I mean, I know there's darkness over this facility. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:01.359 There's darkness over all of our facilities until we get in there and we start worshiping and we start praying and we and we bind the enemy. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:13.119 So I believe there's stuff here going on that's that's of the enemy, and I believe having this number of people, and we're all agreeing in prayer, we can break the power and we can start to see God use this building again. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.920 I mean, Chapel Hill's church hasn't grown in years. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:25.519 One time I think it was up to 800 people, and it's dropped down to about 100. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:26.720 And now we're here. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:28.480 And we're growing. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.960 Let's see us all grow. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:33.200 Let's fill this place up. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.640 Let's get that lobby packed with people who want to know Jesus. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:42.559 Let's get this sanctuary packed with people who want to get healed and delivered and set free and want to know Jesus. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.480 I mean, it's a pretty expensive building to lay empty most of the time. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:47.440 Wouldn't you agree? 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:54.079 So, Father, in the name and the blood of Jesus, we're here as the road. 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:56.720 And we love Chapel Hills Church. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:58.720 We're here representing them too. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:03.519 And God, I don't know what's going on in this building, but it's it's falling apart. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:09.119 And these guys are doing the best they can to make it a beautiful place for worship. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:14.720 But God, we believe that the enemy can come and steal, kill, and destroy even places. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.960 He's doing it in our country right now. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:25.200 And God, in the name of Jesus, we command any darkness to leave this place now by the authority and the blood of Jesus Christ. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:26.799 You have no right to be here. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:28.880 This is a worshiping community. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:31.759 This is a building built for the glory of God. 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:43.759 When Bill Lighty and his staff built this facility years ago, they had a vision for thousands coming into the kingdom, and we agree with that vision and we want it resurrected. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.599 God, we want this place filled with people who want to know Jesus. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:50.480 We want to see this place filled with people that are getting healed. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:56.079 We want to see this place filled with people that want to be discipled, that want to be wholehearted disciples. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:58.799 We want it filled, Lord, and used for your glory. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:05.359 God, I pray this carpet up here will get really dirty in the next year because of the tears of the saints. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:20.240 God, I pray that we need to vacuum this place and clean this place all the time because it's muddy and it's dirty and it's messy because dirty, messy people make dirty, messy carpets, and that's who you died for. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:23.680 And so, God, we want this place to be used for the glory of God. 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:30.960 I pray you would give all of the elders wisdom on this um ceiling, how to get all the all the uh leaks uh handled. 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:33.440 God, we pray there'd not be any more leaks. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:48.240 And this place would be used and be beautiful and have um and have everything working and functioning well in the name of Jesus until we come against any darkness, any demonic spirits that have found home here. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:50.799 We command them to leave. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:26:16.079 We bind them by the authority and the blood of Jesus Christ, and we speak blessing, healing, joy, and power over this building in the name and the blood of Jesus, and over Chapel Hill's church, and over the leadership, and over Pastor Bobby Sanders and his elder board and his whole team and his worship team and the road in the name and the blood of Jesus, we pray, amen and amen. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:17.920 There you go. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:29.039 The Bible says, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made us alive together with him. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:30.240 Don't miss this, you guys. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:55.599 This is Colossians 2, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:02.480 Now I'm gonna unpack this more next week, but I believe this happened when Jesus died. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.759 When Jesus died, he went into paradise. 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:08.960 He took a thief with him into paradise. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:18.079 He went in there, he announced his salvation to Old Testament saints who had walked by faith, that had been waiting for the redemption of Christ. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:23.359 If you have any doubts about that, read Hebrews 11 as it talks about those saints there. 00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:24.559 They were resurrected. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:30.960 There was an earthquake because of the cataclysmic power, the spiritual power affecting the physical realm. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:39.839 There was an earthquake, there was an eclipse, and then remember it says that the tombs were opened and people rose from the grave. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:50.240 Now it talks about it, it didn't happen right then, but there was an earthquake at that point, but they rose from the grave after the resurrection of Christ because Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. 00:27:52.480 --> 00:28:02.640 So, so this would indicate that there are inscriptions, there are condemnations written against every one of us in this room. 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:12.640 That Satan, the accuser of the brethren, is accusing you day and night, and he has actually written testimony against you. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:25.279 And Paul is saying to the Colossians that those requirements and that condemnation upon you was nailed to the cross. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:27.440 It was nailed to the cross. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:33.359 Jesus took that and he finished that and it was buried with him. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:43.279 And you've got to learn, and if you haven't learned it, we're gonna learn it this summer, how to say to the devil this passage. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:52.799 You're gonna start to learn to say, I was dead in my sins, but he, Jesus, has made me alive together with him. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:55.519 He has forgiven me all my trespasses. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:01.119 He has wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against me, which was contrary to me. 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:15.359 He has taken it out of the way, he has nailed it to the cross, he has disarmed principalities and powers, he has made a public spectacle of them, and he has triumphed over them in my life. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:17.519 You gotta say that. 00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:21.279 I think you've got to verbalize it, you've got to say it to the enemy. 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:23.359 It does two things when you say it. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:25.279 Number one, you create life. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:28.480 Scriptures say you can create life or death for the power of the tongue. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:29.599 So you create life. 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:33.119 Second thing it does, it builds in you strength and courage. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:43.119 There's something about hearing you say a proclamation that creates a demonstration of the power of God. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:50.880 Satan is defeated of his power at the cross. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:30:01.279 And I believe the reason we and we as pastors don't preach the cross is because the enemy knows how much power is in it, and he convinces us that we've already heard it before. 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:08.960 No, we need to hear it, and we need to re-hear it, and we need to re-energize it, and we need to re-empower it, we need to relive it with our lives. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:11.200 Verse 39. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:18.000 So when the centurion, I love this, centurion, a gentile, a gentile. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:26.640 When the centurion who stood opposite him saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, truly this man was a son of God. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:29.039 Truly this man was a son of God. 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:31.440 I mean, like John Wayne would say it. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:34.720 Um first Gentile. 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:37.839 I mean, we talk about Corneas being the first Gentile. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:39.920 Actually, this is the first Gentile that got saved. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:41.759 This guy got saved. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:48.640 He he he heard this, he saw this, God did something in his heart, he believes. 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:52.400 Even before the Jews, he believes. 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:21.279 Mary, the mother of James, the less, and of Joseph and Saloon, who also followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:23.839 Where's the men? 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:27.839 They all booked it. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:30.319 Men. 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:33.920 Everybody, every man in this room, look at me. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:42.160 It takes phenomenal strength and courage to be a man of God. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:46.079 It really does. 00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:50.319 Our natural bent is to be a wimp. 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:52.799 That's our natural bent. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:32:00.720 Our natural bent is we go to work and somehow we're a warrior there, and then we come home and we totally acquiesce everything to the women. 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:04.559 And we become couch potatoes. 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:08.240 Saint the couch potato. 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:15.359 And I want to challenge you this week, because if it'll last for one week, it'll be a miracle. 00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:16.880 Try this for one week. 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:22.240 When you're going home, tell yourself I'm gonna be a warrior at home too. 00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:26.240 I am gonna be a warrior at home too. 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:36.160 And then tell yourself, I am going to sign up for the whole heart advance to prove to my wife that I'm gonna be a warrior for more than one week. 00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:46.880 Saint Agnes of Assisi was Saint Francis's assistant as he began his ministry. 00:32:48.160 --> 00:33:14.720 Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Catherine of Sienna, Lottie Moon, Maria Taylor, both mightily used of God in China, Amy Carmichael with her famous orphanage in Calcutta, India, Catherine Marshall, the wife of Peter Marshall, who died, who was chaplain to the Senate, Ruth Bell Graham, Billy Graham's wife, Vonette Bright, Dr. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:23.599 Bill Bright's wife, Mother Teresa, Shirley Dobson, who leads the National Day of Prayer, women mightily used of God. 00:33:24.400 --> 00:33:26.559 Oh for our women. 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:29.759 They hung with Jesus. 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:31.680 They stayed at the cross. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:40.079 Women, God uses you in such mighty and powerful ways. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:42.480 There's a tenacity about women. 00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:45.279 I grew up with strong women in the Holt family. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:48.000 My mom was a steel magnolia. 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:49.519 Let me just tell you. 00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:51.359 Nothing got past her. 00:33:51.759 --> 00:34:18.639 I remember one time we were out at uh our cabin in South Carolina, and we were staying there for two years while Dad went back to graduate school, and uh this guy came on the property and he was very he was just cussing every other word, and he was really obnoxious about something that grandfather, some deal that he said he got ripped off with my grandfather, who was a rancher, and my grandfather never ripped anybody off, but he could out fox almost everybody. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:22.480 So anyway, he was upset and he thought Granddaddy Joe, that was my grandfather, would be there. 00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:25.119 He wasn't, so he goes at my dad. 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:35.039 And my dad, you guys have met my dad, he's a really gentle, compassionate guy, and so dad just kind of I can tell he's steaming, but he won't say anything. 00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:36.000 Ooh. 00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:38.159 And my mom came. 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:48.079 And I remember I was fishing, I was fishing out there for bass, and I'm listening to this, and I'm just you know how when you're in that, you're I'm 12 years old, I can't look at the guy because I'm thinking, oh, it's kind of embarrassing. 00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:51.679 And I want dad to just, you know, just nail the guy. 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:54.480 And that would, my dad's never hit anybody in his life. 00:34:54.719 --> 00:34:57.360 But I I think my mom might have whacked a few people. 00:34:57.519 --> 00:34:58.239 I don't know. 00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:00.159 So she's talking about her dad. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:01.440 I mean, he's talking about her dad. 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:06.239 So so mom comes around the corner, and I think she had just driven up, she was getting stuff out. 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:08.800 Um, she was a school teacher at that time. 00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:14.960 And I mean, she had on heels and she had on, they were stockings back then and stuff, you know. 00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:20.800 And so she comes out there, and I mean, she just lays into this guy. 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:26.400 And he backs off so quick, he gets in his car, spins a wheel, and gets out of there. 00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:32.559 And I was like, yes! Way to go, Melba Holt, the battler, you know. 00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:35.119 And uh, I love women. 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:36.800 I love women who fight back. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:37.519 It's awesome. 00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:38.960 You can fight back around here. 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:39.599 We like it. 00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:43.760