We have the privilege this Sunday of hearing from one of our favorite men of the house Nick Cruz is bringing the word Nick take away. Thank you pastor Josh you guys can find your seat come on. How about that testimony? Hallelujah, not Jenna gonna ask do you have a job or you a full-time vocational missionary?
Your nurse she's a nurse hallelujah. Come on. You are awesome. Jesus make me more like Jenna, right?
That's what we all need we all need Jenna's in our life amen, so this is a big night This next week many of you know my wife Sophie and I and our family are packing up the u-hall and we're moving to Virginia Yeah, that's tough. That's just the ice. You know, it's just right off the bat. You know it's break ice, you know It's harder for us than it's hard for you.
I guarantee it. This is this is not easy We're so excited we're moving out to Virginia Because we're leaning into the work that we're part of with run which is an organization that operates church planning ventures amongst the unreached that's very exciting on the other hands We're leaving the ones that we love and we know there's not finality with that But things change love gets free to find and I have to start we got so much We're gonna cover tonight So I'm gonna make this quick But I think this is important to hear a little bit about our story and how much each and every one of you mean to our family How much pastors Josh and Katie meets us we we graduated Sophie and I from Bethville about eight years ago We move to let's go not Bethel ready. All right, Bethville University. Sometimes people are like there we go.
Come on. Hallelujah. Let's go All right, that was that was unexpected. I love that.
I love that usually people are like ready. That's awesome. Do you meet Bill? I'm like no I Did I did it so we graduated from Bethville moved to South Korea We taught English we're heaps of debt up to our eyeball So we're in hammering out student loans and it was a great experience for us because we felt like got it Called us to work amongst the nations work amongst unreached people groups and this was a stepping stone for us So we get out there and I just recently got safe and I was fiery but I was a mess I mean I was like strange fire, you know, it's like fire not supposed to offer the Lord But like you kind of allow it once and why that was me, you know, it's like all right We'll let him in and Sophie now we're getting ironed out and Korea was a perfect place for us because all they do is pray You go to church and you just pray and like it be wintertime and I'm thinking like oh, we're going to South Korea That's gonna be a lot farther south than Minnesota.
It's a peninsula It's probably like Florida, you know, it's me warm and we don't money by coats and jackets So so we're just showing up to church on Friday night like come to our prayer me So they pick us up and we go with all these greens and they drop us off the church and the lights would be off Because they're saving energy and then the heat would be off because they're saving energy and then we gather in a circle And they say okay, let's pray and then we spread out in the church building and we go out into closets And we find any nook and cranny where we could just be alone and there'd be no other instruction So it'd be like we're praying and we didn't know it was gonna finish So we'd be there for like three hours and we would get done with the event we go home and we're like wow That was challenging but so good and over time we were transformed We went from one degree of glory to the next and we left Korea and we said man We're gonna miss this family because our pastors man We learned how to submit they'd say you're gonna come on Sunday and you're gonna leave the children's department I said no we had a children's department and say yeah, you're leading it you're the director's now They'll be like four kids, you know, it's our role, but we'd be at church for nine hours You know, it's like what are we gonna go? You know, it's like you're here. You're eating together. We're family This is how we do things so when we left Korea we said man, where are we gonna find this and our prayer was got send us to fiery Lay down obedient lovers of Jesus with no compromising life We need to be around the ones that are consecrated set apart.
Holy we want that so we go back home We get plugged in with the local church great local church by the way and we said we're not gonna church out We're not gonna church out so we're just gonna plug in because we know if we plug in we lean in we get involved Then we're gonna see things start to develop something you need to hear that So we plug in we lean in we get involved and six different people said you got to go to every day at the time It was growth and we said ah, but we're here. We're rooted. They said you gotta go to every day So finally we decided to go I walked through those back doors with Sophie literally the second we got through the door I said this it this was supposed to be a turn to self-shaking is it I was about seven years ago I cannot tell you what this house has done for our family what it's done for generations What you guys know this is this is this is our story and I think that's so significant why we're sitting around the throne We're singing it's it's like a a projection of what heaven looks like it's all of us unified around the lamb the spotless Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world and we overcome by the word of our Testimony and we all have a testimony in this house of how God has continued to sanctify us in this place This is a boiler room. It's hot.
It's a pressure cooker, right? And when we came here because of the leadership of Josh and Katie we found a home we found a family So it's very difficult to leave I just was thinking about a couple stories that were memorable There's so much that's happened here. There's so much that happened at events But behind the scenes is where you really see the gold right it's through the veil that you see the glory Okay, so I'm with pastor Josh, and I think this is good. I promise you so It's something for me Sophie was pregnant with our first we got a third coming by the way hallelujah And I had no idea what I was doing and we were quite busy and Sophie was sick as can be and I'm like I'm sick I don't know how to take care.
You know this is really about me How am I supposed to do this? You know I was blowing it if you want to learn what not to do when your wife gets pregnant? Talk to me please talk to me. I'll give you some advice Come on.
That's the best kind of advice advice that comes to failure, right? So so I go to Josh. I'm like hey like this is challenging like I don't know what to do I kind of feel like I suck at this and he's like bro You got a man up and I'm like yep He's like you are being selfish and you need to love your wife and you know lay down for her And this is this is your privilege for you to become more like Jesus and to serve her and you get the next nine months To behold the glory the Lord to your suffering and I said okay, okay So you might not know this about Pastor Josh because he's very pastoral in these settings. He's got a dagger He's got a sword.
It will come out. I promise you all right another time still on Pastor Josh It was early on actually before so he was afraid and we were working like three jobs It was nuts, you know, we're paying off those student loans. We're crazy. We're like we're gonna get to the nations and at the time We were I think stretched in capacity.
We're trying to figure out how can we work all this out and I was talking to Josh And I'm kind of like you know, this is challenging and he's like, okay, okay I'll pray for you and he's like, okay Hmm You you have more capacity and I'm kind of like More capacity and you can give and you can lean in and I was like you can lean in Your mom can lean in I'm not lean in it. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I love him I respect him.
I honor him. That was huge each of those moments I've had with this man has been a catalyst for our walk with Jesus and you need people in your life that are a step ahead That can lead you in the way you should go. I can't even get started on pastor Katie There's too many stories, but I'll just say this if how many you've been in a deacon meeting with pastor Katie This is one of God's generals So you give her there she's administrative or leadership the two of them together are powerhouse the Lord's anointed It has been such a gift to learn from them. You get around pastor Katie you realize Oh, I have more to give I can roll up my my sleeves.
I actually can lean in a bit more I can think about this critically I can get his perspective So we have been so transformed by pastors Josh and Katie and you got to ask yourself Where does this come from right? Comes from the closet communion if you've been in their house You go to this little prayer room and you'll see across the wall I see a journals and in those journals are paper Oil it's like it's been bound up in the book in the pages history with God and They went from the closet to the living room and then from the living room to this room and now they're going to another room But what's beautiful was never about the room it was always about him and that's why this place is special That's why it's different. It's set apart. It's holy so we're thankful because we're leaving that and we know there will be Beautiful spaces and places and people wherever we go, but there won't be this so it's challenging But like I said we have a lot to look forward to and we have to follow Jesus no matter what We have to lean with such a lean that we fall down unless he picks us up So we've been in Cedar Riverside for the past four years We've been ministering amongst tamales what I'll say is this to summarize our time the word of the Lord came to us and see Our and many of us got spread out shot out at balo to different ministries.
There's teams in the horn There's teams working in the cities. There's ministries that were launched It's been a season of learning for us a season of pruning a season of abiding and also a season of preparation and alignment And then we met run and now we're a part of something I couldn't even imagine I mean Habakkuk 2014 is happening in this hour the knowledge of the glory of the Lord is filling the earth as the waters cover the sea What's the matter was saying? It's real Jesus is coming soon There is a centering in on Jerusalem and I don't have the time where the liberty do to security tonight to tell you all the wild Ridiculous outrageous things that God is doing but we're going to be a Barnabas servant and to help serve the unreached and really When we transition out every day that was our aim. This is the tagline empowering every day believers We said well, let's deal We just want to empower the unreached we just want to transplant what God is doing here and we want to take that there So as we're transitioning I know there's gonna be a time of prayer.
It's our ask for each and every one of you Would you cover us? Would you commission us would you continue to pray for us? We need you we can't do this alone and we're asking that you'd set us apart like ax 13 It's all in Barnabas We're sending you out for the work that God has commissioned for you And I promise you we're gonna come back in a year's time and we're gonna come in the spirit of ax 1427 We're gonna declare to you all of the things that the Lord has done and we're gonna partake in that celebration together amen Can we do that? Okay, let's go.
Let's pray. We're gonna dive into the word Holy Spirit. We honor you. We love you We thank you that you are the glory in our midst We ask that spirit of wisdom in revelation you would enlighten our heart so that we could see you even right now We let go and we grab hold of you Whatever that is you came in with just let go Just take a moment let go and ready yourself and him say I'm here for you.
I'm ready to receive Psalm 81 I'm opening my mouth would you fill me with your words in Jesus name amen amen? We're gonna have a good time tonight. We're gonna cruise through a lot of scriptures. So buckle up get your sword out We're gonna need that so the past 30 days.
I just got off what's called the Bible shred We've talked about that before pastor Josh's brought it up. It's where you read the Bible in 30 days It's remarkable raise your hand if you've done that before okay raise them real high come on. Okay, very good. Let's go Amazing experience right Mel?
Come on. I got you got you up by there, but it's it's it's unbelievable How the Bible seems to sing together when you read the whole testament and you get God's perspective for his storyline And I'm coming off of like 30 days of fire and I'm jumping right back in it's another shred now Because we are called to consume his word and when you feast on it you realize ah this is true bread This is true bread. I want to be washed with the water of the word Why would I waste my time my energy my affections on lesser lovers when I have him right amen? So I'm ready to do it around me.
I'm like are you kidding me? I'm even Leviticus, and I'm like whoa because I've read it now several times This is making sense right most most Bible stress. It's like they end in Leviticus. That's where they go to die It's like all right next time But why this book is amazing.
I just got to hear from you your favorite book of the Bible shout it out John Hebrews Romans Colossians very good. How about the Old Testament? Where's Ezekiel let's go come on Sarah? That's what's that?
Oh? Very good. Please yes these wow we're about to get somber come on I mean this might just be vanity really I'm just eating all right So I remember about five years ago or so we were on a staff retreat So be not just hopped on board we're cruising on some lake and we're playing games I don't think we've ever talked about this but We're playing some weird games for sure and I think Katie was like let's do Bible trivia and I was like yeah Let's do you know I got this and and they start asking questions like this in which book do they bab in a by who die for offering Unauthorized fire before the Lord and I'm like that's not the Bible And and the rest of staff is like better correct, you know and they were adding a lot of questions like what's this anyway? You know and I'm like first Maccabees like like you know I was I was lost like me and you know what it did though We talked about this earlier it provoked me we need people in our life that make you a little uncomfortable And I love them but I've had people that have come into my life where I'm like whoa Yours Ellis like I thought I was Ellis and you're like Ezekiel's Ellis John the Baptist Ellis like I'm a little uncomfortable kind of And those step-ahead's in your life.
They're used to prod at you and provoke you so that you say oh I was uncomfortable. I was thinking we're just cruising out to max my officer Right this is right where we need to be and guys like no we're climbing we're climbing so after that I realized man. I read the Bible a lot, but I'm cherry-picking passages I'm parceling out portions of scripture and you ever feel that way right somebody brings up a passage you're like Oh, so Here's some questions to ask Jesus in mark one preach the gospel Well, he hadn't died he had it resurrected or ascended so how did he preach the gospel? Well, the gospel is good news, which means there's maybe good news in the old povident Huh, and then there's the rich man in Lazarus right rich man dies Lazarus dies Rich man at his or Lazarus had his good things rich man had his good things in life And he goes down to Hades and Lazarus goes to Abraham's side and the rich man's calling out like go and visit my family Like send Lazarus to go and visit my family and Abraham's like dude if they don't listen to the law and the prophets They're not gonna listen to a dead man that's raised So there's power in the Old Testament in all of the scriptures.
That's why Jesus said I didn't come to abolish the law But to fulfill it right so it's it's the predecessor Jesus the predecessor. We need to see what came before we need the whole scope So can we go together tonight? We got to go together come on. We've been doing that all night Can we go to I need like an amen?
All right, turn your turn your neighbor say we're going together All right now turn to me and say this next year We are going to Devour the word of God All right, let's say it all at the same time this next year. We are going to devour the word of God. Amen. Amen I'll work on my cadence.
Let's turn to Hebrews 4 12. Let's turn to Hebrews 4 12 Raise your hand if you're there All right, it's short. That's enough of us for the word of God is living and active say living and active Sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and Intentions of the heart for the word of God is living and active You don't have to turn to your conclusion Bibles of vision 6 17 reads this and take the helmet of salvation You can grab that and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God praying it all times in the spirit and with all prayer and supplications Let's take the hamburger with the sword of the spirit. Is it the sword which is the word of God?
What did it say it's the sword of the spirit which is the word of God this book? I got one over there is living and active and It is active through communion with the spirit So as best as not father God and holy Bible father God and holy spirit. Excuse me father Son holy spirit you get the point so so the Bible is God's sword when we commune with the spirit It's all about relationship, but it is a weapon. It's the spirits weapon amen amen So when you start to consume God's word weird stuff happens.
How many you know this when you start to devour the word of God It's living and active you be tempted to say this is a magic book weird stuff happens dreams visions encounters Divine appointments the lost getting saved you're talking with people and they're bringing up the scripture you just read this book is living and Active so when we talk about the Bible some of us treat back is we're like man I I don't want to like have the Bible crammed down my throat, right? And we kind of have these misconceptions and we're just gonna talk about this one so let's let's clear the air can we clear the air? All right, so the ruler of the air he's been talking a little noise pollution low accusation, right? So he brings up these lofty opinions and arguments as to why we shouldn't read the word we're gonna tear down those strongholds We're gonna make them obey Christ.
Amen. So lofty opinion number one and these are very common right these come up for me reading the Bible Sounds kind of boring you're been there. Oh, man. I've got to watch the game reading the Bible sounds kind of boring So I can't convince you that it's not can't dispel that lie But you can expel that through Communing with Holy Spirit through the word this next year so commit to the word for a year We're starting out hot commit to the word for a year watch what it does with your life Don't make a decision without committing yourself to understanding him through his word You will be transformed.
I guarantee it lofty opinion number two. I'm just not much of a reader now for some of you That's like legitimate and that's okay because faith comes through hearing and hearing through the word of Christ All right, so there's plenty of apps you can listen to the word you can fit it in your schedule amen Laughter opinion number three. I don't understand the Bible. I don't understand the Bible.
Oh, yeah, I'm learning amen I'm right there with you. Okay, but it's not about understanding the Bible. It's about understanding him It's the knowledge of God So you're always going to be learning but we're learning about a person when we commune with our spirit through the word of God Hello number four I don't want to be religious like some of us grew up in homes where you went to Bible trivia and they grant the scriptures down your throat and it just feels like I don't want to get religious about it and Understand that I'm sorry that you've been through that But why don't we try something? Commit yourself to the word of God and trust that the Lord who searches hearts Will reveal the intentions and motives of your inner man So as you commit yourself to obedience what you will find is that the Holy Spirit can take your striving?
He's like oh, I see that's going on. Hey, we'll work through that and I'm not saying that you just grit through it I'm saying that you trust that he's gonna reveal to you through the light of his word what is off kilter number five I'm so busy. I hear this every message. This is our cultural plight But I think we could again get a little creative instead of saying hey clear your schedule King Josiah found the book of the law Then he tore his clothes and then he instituted reforms So he didn't tear his clothes then find the Bible that just be weird So he found the book of the law then he tore his clothes Find the book of the law in your life and then tear your clothes and then make reforms What am I saying when you start reading the word?
Let's say for an hour two hours a day? You're like whoa I don't have time for certain things anymore, but there's a love that's been built up through communion with God So I don't really want that anymore. I'm willing to let go of that I'm willing to simplify because I've tasted what is true. So I'm just gonna be real honest your ministry is laborious I'm not talking about ministry like this.
I'm talking everyday believers on mission ministry is laborious without being filled with the word God have any of you ever been at a prayer meeting and you're like I got nothing and You kind of like You know and people continue to pray and it's like well, they've all prayed twice now, and I have a pray And it's because you're dry. You haven't been in the word. It's not to shame you, but you're like man. I'm just your humblings That's okay.
That's okay. We sometimes that's where we're at but ministry through the word is entirely different so Some of us pray prophesy give interpretations worship give a revelation And we do it, but it lacks power in authority because it's not written by the scriptures It's not coming out of the scriptures, so it's not being prayed according to the will of God So when we ask from him will receive it when we ask according to his will but how do we know his will if we don't know him through his book? Right and then some of us don't want to pray prophesy give a revelation or interpretation because we're not full of his work All right, you get hungry who's getting hungry come on raise your hand now first nickers All right, so let's turn to Ezekiel one Ezekiel one We're gonna look at three four runners tonight that we can follow three four runners tonight And we're gonna work through the concept or constructs of priests. All right, so priests while you're turning to Ezekiel They face God through the word of God and represent his people so imagine like this They face God they minister to the heart of the Lord through the word of God and they represent his people Whereas maybe like a prophet faces people Administers to people through the word of God but represents God.
That's why they consider mouthpieces, right? We see this in the scripture so our identity is priests doesn't matter what your role or your gifting is our eternal identity is that we're a Kingdom of priests, okay So we minister to the heart of the Lord through the word of God and we represent God we represent man on his behalf, okay, so Little overview here, so you read Ezekiel you're like I'm confused and then you start off the first chapter You're like I'm even more confused. Where is he what's happened? So Moses start here.
We're gonna roll through this Moses is given the promise I'm gonna make you a kingdom of priests so God spoke to Abraham Well first it was really Adam be fruitful and multiply take the earth so do it take the minion over it and then that falls on Abraham And then Abraham he's gonna have he's gonna be a father of nations Right is offspring gonna be as numerous as the stars in the sky and then Isaac to Jacob and then Jacob's gonna be a company of peoples Right and then it falls to Moses and Moses is gonna be a kingdom of priests Okay, so God's kind of filling in the pen sketch of an outline of what he wants with his people He's gonna make them a priest that minister to his heart and they're gonna go into this land of Canaan And they're gonna establish themselves there Why so that they can enjoy this kind of insular worship and activity? No so that the other nations can see there's a Distinguishment between us and them who is that in their midst that loves them in such a way that pours out mercy and affection This is what it means to be a kingdom of priests. It means to steward the heart of the Lord, right? So this is happening, but things go south Moses is gonna send the people into the land they disobey He says you're gonna inherit all you have to do is obey the word of the Lord all you have to do is obey his commandments If you don't this land of Canaan, it's gonna vomit you out.
It's gonna spit you out so the people ultimately disobey so they don't inherit the land and You kind of go through these judges and these kings and long story short they get exiled Alright, so they're in their land for a short season They get exiled the kingdom of Israel goes to Assyria the kingdom of Judah goes to Babylon And that's where we find ourselves at Ezekiel one So we're looking at Ezekiel the priest who has been in exile for four years at twenty six He was taken to Babylon and now he's thirty Let's look at verse one Ezekiel one verse one in the 30th year in the fourth month on the fifth day of the month As I was among the exiles by the Khabar canal the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God on the fifth day of the month It was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoican The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest the son of busybody in the land of the Khadians by the Khabar canal And the hands of the Lord was upon him there So what happens Ezekiel's 30 and the word of the Lord comes to him and the hand of the Lord is upon him So what's interesting about this is that 30 is when you would be commissioned to go into the temple as a priest to institute ceremonial rituals This is a big year for Ezekiel. This is a big year for him and what's he doing? He's an exile a mix of pagan people with a language that he can't understand with a people that's adulterous that he's supposed to minister to and now he can't because he's not in the temple He's in slavery So what happens the word of the Lord comes he starts to have these profound visions There's six visions in total and Ezekiel This is one of them and they're prolonged first thing as he sees these cherubim fill the sky And there's four cherubim and they have the face of an oxen eagle and a man and a lion Okay, and they're carrying what seems to be the likeness of some sort of chariot and everywhere they go He says they're like darting like lightning across the sky I mean this is trippy and then underneath this this chariot are these wheels and there's these big large wheels with like an infinite number of Eyes and they continue to look upward kind of like Isaiah 6 with the seraphim They can't take in the holiness and the glory of the Lord and then on top of this chariot is some sort of like throne It's the likeness of something and the likeness of a bow and the likeness of a man and all of a sudden boom He's out. He's down and then the spirit picks up on one's on his feet and God speaks to him And he says son of man stand up.
I'll speak to you That's maybe like a new parenting tactic, right? Son of man speak up. I'm gonna speak though. That's not gonna work different time So he's picked up and then God gives him a prophetic commissioning and he commissions him as a prophet and then after this He has a series of encounters where he is flying in the sky and he ends up in this other part of the town And it's at this space that God actually says I'm gonna pick you back up in the spirit lifts him And this is all he says I went in the bitterness and the heat of my spirit and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days, okay?
And in the midst of this he also was told to eat a scroll and there's like this disembodied hand that comes towards him and hands Amascro and he said he so he eats the scroll and it's sweet to the taste. I mean isn't this crazy, right? You with me this is what this like somebody hand you a letter. It's like here making his letter It's so strange, right?
So he eats this scroll and what's happening is he's getting aligned all throughout this he's getting this heavenly perspective in this vision And as he's picked up and goes back to the exiles He starts to sit there for seven days and it said like I read he went in the bitterness and the heat of his spirit Now you may ask like what is that was that mean to go on the bitterness and the heat of your spirit? Well, he was provoked he was upset because he knew something was off and as he sat there for seven days That's the same number of days that you would sit to be consecrated a priest and afterwards. He goes on to have more visions He's commissioned as a sign post there's six different sign or seven different signposts acts that he does amongst the people and then in chapters eight through ten He's floating above the temple in Jerusalem and there's abominable practices that are happening in Jerusalem There's all sorts of worship that's being done to idols and everything starts to make sense for Ezekiel because he realizes oh My whole wish in my dream to be in Jerusalem offering these sacrifices That was misaligned God's actually commissioning me as a priest first and foremost He wants to preserve his priesthood through my prophetic ministry and he started to see from God's perspective And just like in the beginning when he's looking at these chair of them darting back and forth They say this each one of them went straight forward without turning as they went This is the chair of them carrying the throne and each went straight forward wherever the spirit would go They went without turning as they went verse 17 and when they went they went in any of the four directions without turning as they went Verse 20 wherever the spirit wanted to go they went in the wheels rose along with them Been mentioned as earlier repentance turning returning this chair of them didn't need to turn wherever the spirit went They were hot on his trail. So Ezekiel seeing a perspective Wow I need to become what I'm beholding wherever the Lord is going I need to go when the word of God comes to you it brings alignment Everyone say alignment.
All right. Let's turn to Luke 3 Luke 3 So in the intertest the mental period between Ezekiel There's ants Luke 3 a whole lot's gone on but Israel came back home to Samaria and Judah came back home to Jerusalem But all is not well. There's still a press we know that the people are waiting a Savior We'll leave it at that there's many more details, but we pick up at Luke 3 There's been 400 years of silence from Malachi to the book of Matthew There's been 400 years of silence from Malachi to John the baptizer and And all of a sudden we have this angel of the Lord that comes to Zechariah a priest, right? And the angel says you're gonna have a son because Elizabeth was bearing We know the story he'll be great before the Lord But he must not drink wine or strong drink why because he'll be a Nazareth Nazarets were like a parallel priesthood in a sense They were set apart to minister the Lord and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God And then it says in verse 80 the child grew who John when he was born and he became strong in spirit And he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance in Israel So John was in the wilderness and to win until his public appearance.
He's an Azerite. He's eating locusts He's eating honey. He's clothes with camel serving dudes wild man But why he's feasting on the word of God as an Azerite He's spending his morning his noon and his night in front of God worshiping him through his word singing out to him meditating on his scriptures Studying and then what happens in Luke 3 you guys can look with me verse 2 during the high priesthood of Anis and Kaiaphas The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness and he went into all the region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance We skip down. He's the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord So it's when when does the word of God come to John during the priesthood of Anis and Kaiaphas the word of God should be coming to Anis and Kaiaphas in The temple but it's coming to a wild man in the wilderness Why because John was a priest before he was a prophet he was ministering to the heart of God That's why Jesus says later that John oh he was more than a prophet.
What does that mean? He's more than He says no He was the one that was quoted in Malachi So only verse that Jesus attaches to John the baptizer and the one in Malachi is a messenger But he's a priestly messenger and Malachi and this is at the end of the Old Testament the Jews and the priests were offering up lame sacrifices to the Lord Blind sacrifices mute sacrifices and Leviticus God says that's a detestable Abominable thing do not do that they said but there's gonna be a priest that comes who'll be a forerunner and he'll give way to a High priest that will come and will pave away so John was a priest before he was a prophet and Jesus recognized This is his greatness of no one born of woman is there a greater one than John But the one who's born in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he so what happened the word of God came to John He got activated. That's why he's called a hinge of history He gave way for the Messiah for a kingdom of priests to be re and stated so the word of God came it activated Everyone say activated all right. Let's turn to Matthew 4 So you guys know the story Jesus goes into the wilderness after what after being baptized by John and Jesus is called the Messiah the Messiah means Annointed one you guys know who's the first one in the scriptures to be anointed Aaron Aaron was the first one to be anointed by Moses as a priest so John baptizes Jesus.
He says it's necessary to fulfill all righteousness. He goes into Jordan. What happens? He's anointed with power from on high.
There's an indicator Jesus is a high priest He's gonna come and raise up a kingdom of priests that meditate on the word of God dwell in the word of God Aligned with the word of God and are activated through the word of God So in Matthew 4 he goes out into the wilderness and he's tempted by the devil right? He's tempted by the devil We know the story Satan comes with scriptures. He responds with scriptures all of those scriptures are coming from Deuteronomy You're a wine to the book of Deuteronomy. What do you find?
Moses is giving a charge to the Israelites He's not gonna inherit the promised land why because he disobeyed and his generation is it gonna inherit the promised land? Why because they disobeyed but the new generation led by Joshua and Caleb they're gonna inherit the promised land if they obey What's Deuteronomy? It means second law and they're going into the land to set up a kingdom of priests here. We find Jesus in the wilderness He's on the edge of establishing a promised land and he's going through the wilderness like the Israelites never could and He's establishing a second law.
He's establishing a new covenant and he's raising up a new generation of priests that meditate on the word of God And commune with the Holy Spirit through so that's what we see in the book of Matthew We're seeing just a little window and how Jesus was a priest and how he stood on the word So there's much more that we could cover tonight. We don't have the time I hope that we just kind of wet your appetite for huh if I'm a priest which you are Then I'm meant to consume the word and as I consume the word I'll be aligned for some of you you're waiting for something to happen or some sort of shift and really what God saying is let My word align your perspective let it bring things into clarity for some of us. We're in a place where say man I don't know how I'm gonna see the breakthrough and my finances or my business or through my family And I'm pressing in for a lost family member get in the word let the word activate you and activate those around you And for others you say man, I just want to see the kingdom advance your kingdom come We got to be people of the word if Jesus stood in the word He was a forerunner priest before us when to follow in his footsteps So we got about four minutes to respond here and What we're gonna do is we're gonna just dialogue with the Holy Spirit about a plan What does this look like in order for us to have purpose? We need to have a plan anything in our lives that matters We plan it out right we map it out sometimes the Bible we forget that I think we can be intentional can we all be intentional tonight amen amen so Jeremiah 23 29 says is not my word like fire declares the Lord and like a hammer that breaks the rock to pieces Quick story.
I was recently at a sporting event I'm listening to music for like 30 minutes while they're playing in and out of events And I hear so many songs that are about being on fire and I'm like, okay. Yes, it's strange You're sitting there and you're like oh my goodness. How many songs can you be played with this now? So many are about being on fire or about setting something on fire or being a people on fire And then you look in you see in the scriptures.
Oh, it's cuz we're all meant to burn But we're all meant to be branded by the word of God. It's the word of God that causes us to burn ignites us through the Holy Spirit So We're gonna take about five minutes to ask Lord. What does this look like? How can I respond?
How can I create a plan and I want to invite some of you tonight into a shred? And you might say I'm not gonna do a Bible shred I'm not gonna read the Bible next 30 days I don't have time for that just ask the Holy Spirit and engage with him just engage with the Holy Spirit I have a couple hacks one is called dwell dwell is an app on your phone that you can listen to the Bible at times to speed in a multitude of translation so you can read and listen at the same time you can do this in an hour to two hours every day You just might get up a little earlier. I promise you in 30 days. You'll be utterly transformed It will begin a process in your life that you might not see the immediate results, but it will bear fruit I promise you that so we're gonna take a couple minutes engage with the Holy Spirit asking questions about what this could look like And then the second step is this message somebody right now before leaving tonight message somebody in this room a friend somebody That's in your community and say hey, here's my plan.
Here's what I'm gonna do Here's what I'm leaning into in the word and go together amen amen Holy Spirit Thank you for leading us as we dive into your word We ask that you would continue to be a forerunner before us that opens the scripture So we stand on what you've done and we lean into what you're going to do in Jesus name amen