INVINCIBLE CHURCH

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 10/29/2023 Be Ready pt 3 Luke 21:5-38 The Bible tells us that God wants His people to “Be Ready” and “Stay Ready” for His plan, which means it’s God’s will for us to know and understand the signs of the times concerning the second coming of Jesus, so we can be ready for the work He’s designed us to do! The primary reason we know it’s so important is approximately 27% of the Bible’s message from God to us contains prophecy! And out of the 27 Books of the New Testament, 23 of them mention or teach something about the second coming of Jesus. In fact, the second coming of Jesus is mentioned 321 times in the Bible, which is more than any other subject except for salvation! It’s what we see all through the course of Paul’s ministry. He talks about the salvation of lost people and the second coming of Jesus more than anything else! Likewise, we want to be successful in everything God designed us to do in our ministry on earth as a follower of Jesus! So, we’ve been looking at the … 4 Primary Ways Jesus Teaches Us to “Be Ready” in Luke 21: 5-38. 1) Discern “The Prophetic Times” We’re Living In! … (vs 5-9) Tells us followers of Jesus are supposed to be diligently: praying, working and watching for the continuing prophecy of the end times. The second way for us to be ready is… 2) Discern “The Prophetic Signs” We’re Living In! … (vs 10-19) Tells us the signs are fearful events that terrify and disgust us, which are natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, famines, floods, plagues and pestilence! The fearful events also include evil, vile, perverted actions of wicked people, which happen every day now. We can see clearly the signs of these type of abominations increasing in scope and frequency all the time. Today we’re going to pick back up in… Luke 21:20-28 NIV - 20 “When you See Jerusalem being Surrounded by Armies … You will Know that Its Desolation is Near! ... 21 Then Let Those who Are In Judea Flee to The Mountains … Let Those In The City Get Out! … And Let Those In The Country Not Enter The City! ... 22 For This is The Time of Punishment in Fulfillment of All that has Been Written! ... 23 How Dreadful It will Be In Those Days for Pregnant Women … And Nursing Mothers! … There will Be Great Distress in The Land … And Wrath against this People! ... 24 They will Fall by The Sword … And will Be Taken as Prisoners to All The Nations! … Jerusalem will Be Trampled On by The Gentiles until The Times of The Gentiles are Fulfilled! ... 25 “There will Be Signs in The Sun … Moon … And Stars! ... On The Earth … Nations will Be In “Anguish and Perplexity” at The “Roaring and Tossing” of The Sea! … 26 People will Faint from Terror … Apprehensive of What is “Coming On” The World … For The Heavenly Bodies will Be Shaken! … 27 At That Time … They will See The Son of Man Coming In a Cloud with “Power and Great Glory”! … 28 When These Things Begin to Take Place … Stand Up … And “Lift Up” your Heads … Because your Redemption is Drawing Near!” … The prophecy of Jesus is complete because it has specific design inside of God’s overall plan for the Nation of Israel, the Jewish people, the city of Jerusalem, the gentile people, and it encompasses the entire world for all time. But the primary thing to remember is… God’s alarm clock for the prophetic times is centered on the Nation of Israel and the second coming of Jesus. #1 there are “times” and #2 there are “signs”! So, Jesus expects us to keep up with what’s going on and keep our eye on the Nation of Israel. The only nation in history that’s had its sovereignty completely taken away and then completely restored again is the Nation of Israel, exactly like the Bible said it would! So, this prophecy makes it easy to discern the times we’re in now! The times and signs work hand in hand! That’s why God wants us to be aware of the prophetic signs because they’re indicators for the end of time events! So, we have the proof of prophecy that’s come to pass in history so far. Now we move on to #3, which is… 3) Discern “The Prophetic Events” that are Still to Come! … (vs 20-28) – The benefit we get from studying this is knowing with certainty what’s ahead gives us confidence and courage for the work we need to be doing now. Because… What God says is what God does… and Jesus makes it easy for us to see the big picture idea of what God wants us to know! What Jesus says in (vs 20-22) covers 2000 years of time! So, looking ahead gives us the true perspective for having a Biblical worldview! It’s one of the primary reasons God gave us the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God… and it’s not of this world, but it was sent by God to this world! Non-believers who try to refute the Bible say it’s written by man so it can’t be trusted, which isn’t true. The Bible says in… 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV – 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness … So, no matter what people want to believe, the Bible is the authority of God! A lot of folks may not believe it or like it, but the reality is, every time we speak the Bible, the Holy Spirit infuses it into the lives of the people who are listening. It causes them to start thinking about spiritual matters. That’s why people will forget what we say from human intellect, but they’ll never forget what the Holy Spirit says through us! Always stick to the truth of the Bible! We can put it to the test and it will pass every time! 2 Peter 1:21 NIV – 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by The Holy Spirit! … What it's saying here is... All the authors of the Word of God were possessed by the Holy Spirit. Most people only think about being possessed in terms of being possessed by a demon, but every follower of Jesus is possessed by the power of the Holy Spirit and can’t be demon possessed! Also, the truth of God’s Word will never go away! Matthew 5:18 NIV – 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from The Law until everything is accomplished. This is telling us that the Word of God will be completely fulfilled. Also in… John 13:19 NIV – 19 “I Am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I Am Who I Am! So, when the Bible said Jerusalem would be surrounded and destroyed by enemies, it happened! And it’s not just in the Bible, it’s in history books as fact! So, when the Bible says Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies again, it’s going to happen! Daniel spoke about the events around the ministry of Jesus 500 years before Jesus was born! And every bit of it happened exactly the way he prophesied that it would… Daniel 9:26 NIV - 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ The Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and The Sanctuary. The end will come like a flood … War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. God’s Word ever fails! Mattew gives us a more detailed prophecy… Matthew 24:14-21 NIV – 14 And this Gospel of The Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a Testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see standing in The Holy Place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel … Let the reader understand … 16 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on The Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. God wants us to be looking ahead because He wants us to know what’s coming! Not just for our curiosity and planning, but because He’s got stuff for us to accomplish for His Kingdom! So, back to (vs 24), in one sentence, with just 15 words, Jesus reveals a truth that nobody can deny… Jerusalem is the epicenter of the past… and the future. Past to present… How we got here… God’s plan to reveal Himself to the World… Abram, Sarah, Hagar, Ismael, Miracle, Isaac… the spirit of Hagar became evil… Sarah had Abraham put her out of the house… Jerusalem was promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and descendants! Prophecy… Solomon builds temple… King Nebuchadnezzar destroys 1st temple in Jerusalem 565 BC… Israelites reconquer… King Herod builds 2nd temple… Romans destroy in 70 AD… pagan spirit of Hagar rises again… Muhammed falsely prophecies… Nation of Islam… Muslims. They believe the Temple Mount was promised to Ismael. The reality is, Jerusalem belongs to God, but God doesn’t stay where He’s not wanted! It’s been thousands of years since there was a permanent representation of God on the Temple Mount! God is not begotten and He has no son! Jews sufferer because they rejected God and His Son, Jesus… again and again! Holocaust, persecution from radical Islam, most recently the attacks from Palestinians in Gaza… back to the main passage in (vs 24) again… this is amazing… (vs 24) They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Full stop. 2000 year+ pause… Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Basically, there are two types of people… Jews and Gentiles. There are two types of Jews and Gentiles… Jews who believe in Jesus and Jews who don’t. Gentiles who believe in Jesus and those who don’t! Two dynamics surrounding each! The temple and the church! God’s dealing with each group in His sovereign/holy way! He wants all who will come to salvation through Jesus, but there’s still specifics that are unique to each covenant that He will fulfill because He made the promise and He won’t break it! Even more amazing… go way back before (vs 24) to the Old Testament where it’s prophesied in… Hosea 5:15; 6:1 NIV – 15 Then I will return to My Lair until they have borne their guilt and seek My Face … in their misery they will earnestly seek Me.” [Prophesying 2000+ YR PAUSE] … 6 1“Come, let us return to The Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. So, God’s going to deal with the Jews and the Gentiles on earth as He has specified and sees fit, in His perfect timing! There will be a rapture of the church, which is all who choose to submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior, receiving the gift of salvation! God is a loving, patient, merciful, gracious God. He’s given the Jewish people many, many chances… John 1:10-11 NIV – 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made Through Him, the world did not recognize Him. 11 He came to that which was His Own, but His own did not receive Him. God won’t be done with His people until His plan is fully complete! There are so many times when He gives grace and mercy that people become arrogant and disobedient. It’s what Paul was talking about in… Romans 11:25 NIV – 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited … Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. We can do our part by looking ahead to prophecy in the Bible because looking ahead helps us understand and discern more about God’s heart, mind and plan. We need to spend more time reading the Bible than we do reading books about the Bible. It tells us what’s going to happen and what to be ready for… Romans 8:20-23 NIV – 20 For The Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by The Will of The One Who subjected it, in hope 21 that The Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the Freedom and Glory of The children of God. 22 We know that The Whole Creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have The First-Fruits of The Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son-ship, the redemption of our bodies! … SO … à The Bible’s not only a manual for how to live our life now. It’s also a warning beacon that allows us to be ready for the future! Again, we can have 100% confidence in God’s Word. Look at… 2 Peter 3:3-5 NIV – 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s Word The Heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. The better we know and understand the prophecy in God’s plan, the more assurance, confidence and courage we have to get His work done! Let’s do our part and get ready! If you’re listening online and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior. He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in heaven, but the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus! So, don’t wait. Receive Him now! Let’s pray!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 10/15/2023 Be Ready pt 1 Luke 21:5-38 One of the foundational themes in the life – teaching – instructions – ministry and prophecies of Jesus is for His follower to be ready! The primary reason He warns us to be ready is that only God knows the exact date and time that Jesus is coming back! Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at all the reasons Jesus tells us to be ready… and why we should want to be working hard to be ready! It all centers on us loving Jesus enough to be a faithful/obedient follower to Him as our Lord, Savior and King! Luke 21:5-38 NIV - 5 Some of His Disciples were Remarking about how The Temple was Adorned with Beautiful Stones … And with Gifts Dedicated to God! … But Jesus said … 6 “As for What you See Here … The Time will Come when Not One Stone will be Left on Another … Every One of them will be Thrown Down!” 7 “Teacher” they Asked … “When will these Things Happen? … And What will be The Sign that They are about to Take Place?” … 8 He Replied … “Watch Out that you are Not Deceived! … For Many will Come In My Name … Claiming … “I Am He” … And … “The Time is Near!” … Do Not Follow them! ... 9 When you Hear of Wars and Uprisings … Do Not be Frightened! ... These Things Must Happen First … But The End will Not Come Right Away!” … 10 Then He said to them … “Nation will Rise against Nation … And Kingdom against Kingdom! ... 11 There will be Great Earthquakes … “Famines and Pestilences” in Various Places … And Fearful Events … And Great Signs from Heaven! … 12 “But Before All This … They will Seize you … And Persecute you! ... They will Hand you Over to Synagogues … And Put you in Prison … And you will be Brought Before “Kings and Governors” … And All On Account of My Name! ... 13 And so you will Bear Testimony to Me! ... 14 But Make Up your Mind Not to Worry Beforehand How you will Defend yourselves! ... 15 For I will Give you “Words and Wisdom” that None of your Adversaries will Be Able to “Resist or Contradict”! … 16 You will Be Betrayed … Even by Parents … “Brothers and Sisters” … “Relatives and Friends” … And they will Put Some of you to Death! … 17 Everyone will Hate you Because of Me! … 18 But Not a Hair of your Head Will Perish! 19 Stand Firm …And you will Win Life! ... 20 “When you See Jerusalem being Surrounded by Armies … You will Know that Its Desolation is Near! ... 21 Then Let Those who Are In Judea Flee to The Mountains … Let Those In The City Get Out! … And Let Those In The Country Not Enter The City! ... 22 For This is The Time of Punishment in Fulfillment of All that has Been Written! ... 23 How Dreadful It will Be In Those Days for Pregnant Women … And Nursing Mothers! … There will Be Great Distress in The Land … And Wrath against this People! ... 24 They will Fall by The Sword … And will Be Taken as Prisoners to All The Nations! … Jerusalem will Be Trampled On by The Gentiles until The Times of The Gentiles are Fulfilled! ... 25 “There will Be Signs in The Sun … Moon … And Stars! ... On The Earth … Nations will Be In “Anguish and Perplexity” at The “Roaring and Tossing” of The Sea! … 26 People will Faint from Terror … Apprehensive of What is “Coming On” The World … For The Heavenly Bodies will Be Shaken! … 27 At That Time … They will See The Son of Man Coming In a Cloud with “Power and Great Glory”! … 28 When These Things Begin to Take Place … Stand Up … And “Lift Up” your Heads … Because your Redemption is Drawing Near!” … 29 He Told Them this Parable … “Look at The Fig Tree and All The Trees! ... 30 When they Sprout Leaves … You Can See for yourselves … And Know that Summer is Near! ... 31 Even So … When you See These Things Happening … You Know that The Kingdom of God is Near! ... 32 “Truly I Tell you … This Generation will Certainly Not Pass Away until All These Things have Happened! ... 33 Heaven and Earth will Pass Away … But My Words will Never Pass Away! ... 34 “Be Careful … Or your Hearts will Be Weighed Down with Carousing … Drunkenness … And The Anxieties of Life … And that Day will Close On you Suddenly like a Trap! ... 35 For It will Come On All Those who Live On The Face of The Whole Earth! ... 36 Be Always On The Watch [Be Ready] … And Pray that you May Be Able to Escape All that Is about To Happen … And That you May Be Able to Stand Before The Son of Man!” … 37 Each Day Jesus was Teaching at The Temple … And each Evening He Went Out to Spend The Night On The Hill Called The Mount of Olives … 38 And All The people Came Early in The Morning to Hear Him at The Temple! All of this sounds like the ole’ good news/bad news thing where somebody asks, “What do you want first… the good news or the bad news? Most people want the bad news first, hoping that the good news will take the sting out of the bad news! It’s the same teaching method that Jesus used and He wants us to know the good news that never changes which is, God is always good, even in the worst of times, but for about 6 months, Jesus had been telling the disciples to be ready… … because He was going to be betrayed – arrested – falsely accused – beaten – humiliated – tortured – and crucified! He wanted them to start getting spiritually prepared, so they’d be ready to take on whatever needed to be done to advance the Kingdom! But the disciples thought that once Jesus was resurrected, He’d immediately establish His millennial Kingdom on earth, and they’d all get back to properly serving, worshipping and praising God the way true followers of Jesus are called to! They kind of skimmed over all the bad news that had been prophesied and was 100% going to happen… and only focused on the good news that was 100% going to happen too, but not until God’s perfect plan and timing called for it to happen! The disciples formulated in their minds their preference of what they wanted to happen! What they thought would immediately happen was Jesus would supernaturally overthrow Rome, establish His Kingdom, the millennium would start and everything would be good! But God had His perfect timing for everything! A lot of people are going through difficult times with all of the hardships, health problems, corruption, depravity, wickedness and evil going on in the world right now… and some of it is beyond horrific! That’s why we have to remember that God’s with us in the midst of all of it… and we have to trust Him when He says that He is working all things for the good of those who love Him! He’s faithful to His Word and promises, so if we love Him, we’ll be patient and trust Him! John 14:1-3 NIV - “Do Not Let your Hearts Be Troubled! ... You Believe In God … Believe Also In Me! ... 2 My Father’s House has many Rooms … If That were Not So … Would I have Told you That I Am Going There to Prepare a Place for you? … 3 And if I Go and Prepare a Place for you … I will Come Back … And Take you to Be with Me … That you Also May Be Where I Am! Jesus gives us the bad news first… because of sin, the earth is fallen and depraved! So, the truth is, there are going to be hard times in this world! Then, He gives us the good news that once we believe in Him and submit to Him as Lord and Savior, we belong to Him! Because we belong to Him, we get to live with Him in heaven forever, where there is never ever – never ever – any bad news ever again! And the Bible teaches us that God wants His church to know that Jesus could come back at any moment… so be ready! Today we’re going to focus on (vs 5-9) our primary passage. In that, we read in Luke 21 where Jesus preached His final public sermon from the Mount of Olives and the foundation of the message was “Be Ready” for His second coming! It’s called “The Olivet Discourse”. It’s covered in 3 of the 4 Gospels… and they don’t contradict each other… they compliment one another! It gives us a more complete perspective of what Jesus was actually teaching. It’s like the encyclopedias that had the transparent overlays. When all the pages are turned, the picture is complete! “The Olivet Discourse” is the same way… In it are … 4 Ways Jesus Gives Us to Be Ready… 1) Discern “The Prophetic Times” we’re Living In – Every follower of Jesus is supposed to be diligently praying, working and watching for the signs of the times, so we can discern exactly what God would have us do in response to what we see going on around us! God never changes and history never changes, but the world and the people in it are changing all the time! The takeaway from (vs 5-6) is if we’re going to be ready for prophetic times, we need to know and understand Biblical history. Satan is trying to distract us from focusing on spiritual matters! He wants us to put more of our attention on things of the world and less of our time and attention on the things of God! He wants us to get lax in our Bible reading and devotion time! God gave us the Bible to feed us spiritually, which keeps us alive and growing in Him! When we go too long without reading the Bible, our spiritual life starts to atrophy! Our faith and our ability to serve God gets really weak! Then, we’re not training or being fed! It’s dangerous because we’re literally starving ourselves spiritually! It’s why Jesus warns us to always be increasing our reading, learning, meditating on and training in God’s Word! We need to be as spiritually strong as we can be to fight the evil and wickedness that keeps getting worse everywhere in the world, every day! It’s the Bible in our heart that allows us to discern how to avoid or attack the evil things going on in the world around us… and also discern how we love, pray and are thankful… how we go, make and teach… how we ask, seek and knock! If we don’t keep getting spiritually stronger, we won’t be a very effective ambassador, warrior, servant or saint for Jesus! We’ll be apathetic to the times we’re living in and we need to know and understand the fact that time is running out! That’s also why it’s super important for us to know and understand Biblical truth and principles! Time and light aren’t scientific constants like we’re taught in school! As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches that time and light are running out for this fallen world! Time and light are physical properties of this physical universe, so time and light are kind of supernaturally condensing or slowing down and will eventually run out! I’m convinced it’s the primary reason why it seems like we have less time to get things done! It’s because God’s in control of everything including time, light and life, but God doesn’t always exercise His control over all things, so we need to keep a Biblical perspective on life instead of solely relying on a scientific perspective! Putting all this together, the world is faced with a lot of bad news! The economy is bad… evil is running rampant… more people are consumed with depravity and perversion... death and destruction are everywhere… So, it’s only the true follower of Jesus who can be thankful to God for putting us here for such a time as this! The rest of the world and false religions are consumed and worried about their prideful preferences, selfish pleasures, status in society and financial well-being. While true believers who are true followers of Jesus are only interested in pursuing Jesus Christ and Him crucified, working hard to show Him we love Him by doing what He’s told us to do, even when we’re faced with all the horrific circumstances going on today! Early on in their walk with Jesus, the disciples still had some of this same prideful perspective on the things of God. They thought the most important things about God were the physical things that would be built or seen like ceremonies, rituals and the temple! Mark 13:1 NIV - As Jesus was Leaving The Temple … One of His Disciples said to Him … “Look Teacher! … What Massive Stones! … What Magnificent Buildings!” They wouldn’t understand why Jesus wasn’t enamored with the temple! Solomon built it and it was built to God’s specifications more so to see if the Israelites would follow His specific instruction to just have an opulent temple! Now, it was a sight to behold! It had a lot of polished white marble and was trimmed in gold! The Romans even declared it to be one of the “7 Wonders” of the Roman empire, even though they didn’t build it! It was so bright that when the sun would rise, the reflection off the temple made it seem like the sun was rising in the East and West! But Jesus knew that after His birth, life, ministry, death, burial and resurrection, God isn’t interested in the buildings we build to worship Him. God is interested in us working to make our body and life the temple of our love, praise, worship and obedience to Him! There’s a church that’s a short driving distance from here that built a new building about 7-8 years ago and it includes a 7-million-dollar fountain! Now, if they discerned that God would have them build a 7-million-dollar foundation, then go for it… but I don’t know! Jesus prophesied “The Fall” of the temple is Jerusalem to them because He wanted them to refocus their temporary hope from the earthly things that they could see, but which could also be destroyed, to the guaranteed hope of the unseen spiritual things of God that are eternal! Jesus is telling them the future so He can teach them that we can read prophecy like a book! The question is, will anybody read it? It’s important that we continually read God’s Word because Bible prophecy is God announcing history in advance! The reason prophetic history is so important is twofold. We study it to learn from the past so we strengthen our faith and trust in Jesus and God announces prophetic history to us, so we’ll be diligent in praying that we’ll do whatever it takes to be ready! God gives us His Word to prepare us, not to terrify us! And we can trust God’s Word 100%. So, when Jesus tells us how to be ready, He knows we have the tools to do it! There’s a whole lot of terrible things going on in the world now, but it shouldn’t catch us off guard! So, we don’t need to panic, we need to praise God because He trusted us enough to put us here now for just such a time as this! Pastor Jack Hibbs said it like this… It’s only through the eyes of God that man can begin to see life clearly. It’s even more true when it comes to looking into the future through Biblical prophecy! God tells us in the Old Testament in… Isaiah 46:9-10 NIV - 9 Remember The Former Things … Those of Long Ago … I Am God … And There is No Other … I Am God … And There is None Like Me! ... 10 I Make Known The End from The Beginning … From Ancient Times What is Still to Come! ... I say … ‘My Purpose will Stand … and I Will Do All That I Please! God knows we’ll be better equipped to face the future if we’ve taken the time to learn from the past and been properly trained to master it! Then, we’ll be better able to properly discern our actions for the present! Isaiah 48:3-5 NIV - 3 I Foretold The Former Things Long Ago … My Mouth Announced Them … And I Made them Known … Then Suddenly I Acted … And they Came to Pass! ... 4 For I Knew how Stubborn you were … Your Neck Muscles were Iron … Your Forehead was Bronze! ... 5 Therefore I Told you these Things Long Ago … Before they Happened I Announced them to you So That you Could Not Say … “my Images Brought them about … my Wooden Image … And Metal god Ordained them!” All past, present and future prophecy from God has always been and always will be 100% accurate and in full alignment with the Bible! That truth alone ought to be more than enough reassurance for us to fully trust in Jesus for all the actions He calls us to take! God expects us to love Him enough to know the prophetic times we’re in, which means it’s time for us to know Biblical history because true faith in Jesus is founded on and backed by fact… and we need to work hard to be ready for His return! We’ll pick up here next week and I’m going to start tying current events into the prophecies of God. If you’re listening online and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior! He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in Heaven, but the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus, so don’t wait. Receive Him now! Let’s pray.

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 12/10/2023 The Power of Faith Jude 1:17-25 This year God’s been sending us messages about His truth and power! Last week we talked about the power of the Bible… It’s the Word of God. It’s the only perfect thing on earth! It’s the Book God wrote by using the power of the Holy Spirit through human men to write His perfect book! It’s unlike any other religious writing because it’s fully the truth of God! It’s God’s prophecy and revelation to His creation! It’s a living, breathing document that announces, prefigures and reveals actual future events that He’s specifically designed for the earth. It proves that God knows the future and oversees everything that we’re dealing with, so God’s in control… and it’s only God who knows exactly what He’s doing… praise Jesus! Now, as far as prophecies go, there are about 2500 prophecies in the Bible! About 2000 of them have been exactly fulfilled! Roughly 500 of them remain to be fulfilled. Most of the first prophecies were about the first coming of Jesus… that He would be born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem… that He'd live without sinning… that He’d die on a cross… … that He’d be buried in a “rich man’s tomb” … that He’d rise up from the dead. That He’d perform miracles… that He’d ascend into heaven… that He’d be the savior of the world… and the Bible accurately told us all of this thousands of years in advance! The rest of the prophecies are about the second coming and millennial reign of Jesus! It describes what that world’s going to be like before Jesus returns to judge and set the world right! So, we’re waiting for the rest of the roughly 500 remaining prophecies to be fulfilled! Jesus has a little brother named Jude! He worships his brother Jesus and he understands the power of faith! He sees that the faith of the church has become “lukewarm” and he’s very frustrated by it! So, he writes a letter to them and a big part of his letter is reminding them about the power of faith in Jesus. Jude 1:17-25 NIV - 17 But, dear friends, remember what The Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have The Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your Most Holy Faith and praying in The Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for The Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear … hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. 24 To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His Glorious Presence without fault and with great joy … 25 to The Only God our Savior be Glory, Majesty, Power and Authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen! … GOD knows The END of HUMAN HISTORY! ... à As a follower of Jesus, this ought to give us incredible courage, confidence and peace… because we know everything is going to “Go” to Jesus! Our faith in Him has His power! He loves us and He’s going to deal with everything and everybody as He sees fit! The good news is we’re in God’s hands, so we know our future is in the best hands! And Jude is telling us about the last days! He says there will be some specific things happening. He says remember the prophecies and warnings of the Apostles who were chosen by Jesus to carry on His ministry after He died and ascended to heaven until He returns for His followers! What he’s talking about here is the “end of time” and the “last days” of the church age. He reminds us what will be happening before the return of Jesus! So, this is Jude talking about his brother Jesus and he’s telling us that in the last days there’s… 5 Signs for The Need of The Power of Faith in Jesus 1) There Will be Scoffers! (vs 17-19) … 17 But, dear friends, remember what The Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow Mere Natural Instincts and do not have The Spirit. Sound familiar? We need to know if we’re really a follower of Jesus, our faith will be mocked! We’ll be opposed by the world! The mainstream media will never be for us. The agendas and platforms will always be against us and computer algorithms will never favor true Christianity! The world will mock us, scoff at us, lie about us and oppose us! But it shouldn’t discourage us because it prepares us to deal with reality! We need to know that every day when we wake up, we’re going to be hated by the corrupt world, social media, mainstream news media, entertainment, the government and wicked people in general! Jesus told us that the world hated Him and if we love Him, the world is going to hate us too! We just need to accept and endure it, just like He did. And we CAN through the power of faith in Him! 2) People Will Have Ungodly Passions! When we get close to the last days, we won’t only have to deal with scoffing, but we’ll also have to deal with an increase in the temptation to sin! It will be a lot easier to do the wrong thing and try to falsely justify it as the right thing! We won’t have to put a lot of effort into sinning, which means if we’re striving for holiness, we’re going to have a fight on our hands! Everything in the world and our culture is making sin more readily available! Technology has absolutely helped to fulfill this prophecy! If a person wants to lie, they can do it bigger and quicker than ever before! If a person wants to slander, gossip, steal, lust, attack somebody or do whatever evil comes to mind, they can do it instantly, globally and permanently. It’s easy for followers of Jesus to see that the moral condition of the world is crashing faster than ever, but it’s still kind of shocking! Now we’re seeing the things that a few people used to do in the dark seem to be the things that a lot of people do in the light. The shame is gone for the most part, while sin and evil are rampant! 3) There Will be Division Among The People! People’s faith will be hot or cold. There will be those who are for Jesus and those who are opposed to Jesus! And division literally means two visions! It means we don’t see a few things different, we see everything different! Christians and non-Christians don’t agree on most things. We come from God, not evolution! We’re under God’s authority… we’re not independent of authority. We’re sinners… we’re not “good people”. We can’t fix our spiritual problem because we ARE the problem! We’re not the hope of the world... and the world is not blessed to have us! We disagree on gender, bathrooms and which pronouns to use! Rejecting Jesus causes division. The point of it is, we have to make a decision who we’re going to follow… Jesus or the world! There’s conflict between God and the world, so if a person choosing to follow the world, they’re going to have conflict with God! If a person chooses to follow Jesus, they’re going to have conflict with the world. In other words, we have to choose the right kind of conflict to be in! 4) People Will Love The Corrupted World! These are worldly people who are ok with a corrupted world! There was a recent study that’s amazing! A political party was polled and the majority of the people polled in that political party felt like America was currently a nation of high moral values! People in the other political party know the truth! The alarming part of all this is there are so many people who are observing and living in what’s going on in our nation now and they still say, “This is going great!... This is going in the right direction!” These are lost and worldly people! If a person can look at the world today and honestly say they think things are good, then they are worldly! That’s how we can delineate followers of Jesus from lost people! It means we’re an outlier, outcast, minority and weridos to the world! But the good news is we’re the remnant of people that Jesus talks about in the Bible who have powerful faith! So, we need to keep working in the process of following Jesus being humble and patient while we embrace and endure it! Sadly, a lot of people in the world seem to like the way things are going right now! We see it in the way they’re raising their children… the way they conduct their sexuality, approach politics and government, the strategy they have for economics and the way they pursue spirituality! It all really fits for them, so it feels like home to them, which means it’s not home to us! The closer we get to the end, the less this feels like home and the more we want to be in our real home, which is with Jesus in heaven. The last sign Jude gives in this passage is… 5) Most People Do Not Have The Holy Spirit! That’s a massive statement at the end of (vs 19)! There are those who are true followers of Jesus and have the Holy Spirit (the true Christians)! And there are those who don’t follow Jesus and they’re called non-Christians! They don’t have the power of the Holy Spirit through the power of faith in Jesus! So, if we live by the power of the Holy Spirit through the power of faith in Jesus Christ, then we’ll manifest the character of Jesus Christ in our life! Which Galatians says is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control! If a person doesn’t have the Holy Spirit, they can’t live by the power of the Holy Spirit, so they’re not a follower of Jesus and they won’t experience the power of faith! This is why non-Christians don’t understand followers of Jesus at all! Once a person truly receives the Holy Spirit, they love Jesus and they want to learn the Bible! They want to sing praise to Jesus and raise their hands to God… they want to pray… they want to serve the Lord and speak His truth! When a person has the Holy Spirit, they start to think different! Their hear changes and they feel different! They get a new identity in Jesus! They start to see themselves different! They have different desires! This is the secret of following Jesus! That’s the way following Jesus ought to be for us! We should want to read the Bible every day. We should like reading it. I just don’t read the Bible so I can preach. I preach because I like reading the Bible. For me, I like Jesus… I like prayer… I like singing praise to God… I like the Bible! I like to live in God’s will. I like to talk to people about Jesus. And it’s not because I feel like I have to. It’s because I want to. And Jesus put the spirit in my soul, which is the way that I “get to”! That’s why I like following Jesus in the Christian life. Back to the passage… Jesus didn’t approve of weak faith then and he doesn’t approve of weak faith now! It’s false faith and it’s called cultural Christianity! There’s no supernatural power in cultural Christianity! The sad thing is it’s become kind of prevalent in the United States of American for a few hundred years. The majority of people said that they were Christians but they didn’t live like Christians. It was sort of the thing to do to go to some sort of church or pretend to have some sort of faith. A lot of people grow up in homes like this. Their parents have them baptized when they’re a baby, but they never take them back to church and they didn’t read the Bible and they didn’t pray in the house. They were just hoping that having a little ceremony would fix them. Some of them only worship God to make grandma happy! They have their wedding in the church! They have funerals in the church. (Just in case!) They usually have no intention of coming back and it was just a one-time event for God! This cultural Christianity has dominated our nation… and a lot of church goers that are lukewarm… those of us who love Jesus are fired up for God and are described as hot! People who couldn’t care less about God are called ice cold! The lukewarm are the ones that are the most confusing because they say they love God but the don’t live for God! It’s actually what’s happening right now in our nation and the western church. A lot of different surveys back it up! Over the past few years, the latest data from the general social survey done by the University of Chicago shows signs that would lead to Jesus spitting “lukewarm” people and churches out of his mouth! Less than 50% of Americans now have no doubt that God exists… less than 50%! This isn’t even talking about Jesus! This is just the general notion of God. In addition, 34% never go to church. On top of that, 15% of children have no religious upbringing of any kind. What it means is nobody’s ever prayed for them, with them or over them… never! That’s sad! No one has read them a Bible verse. No one has ever brought them to a church! Zero church experience! Not even the Easter and Christmas time of year where people give their obligatory visit to God’s house… nothing! Then lastly, survey’s show that mainline protests, which is were most of the lukewarm Christians have gathered on Sundays over the last few hundred years, is now down from 33% of the population attending church in the 1970’s to 10% today! These are the churches that are in decline. They are weak because they are woke! There’s no power in their faith because there’s no presence of the power of the Holy Spirit! God’s not going to show up at a church where the power of Jesus… the power of the Holy Spirit… the power of the Bible… and His Biblical principles aren’t preached and taught! That’s why we’re seeing Jesus literally spitting entire churches and denominations out of his mouth! Jesus is saying He’s tired of churches being lukewarm instead of hot! So, in a lot of places, we’re seeing fewer people attending church, online viewership is down… true church ministry is down… giving is down… A lot of pastors and professing Christians are bothered by it! But in some ways, we can be grateful for it because now we can better identify the “hot or cold” people … and we’re not as easily confused by the lukewarm “Christians”! And praise Jesus… What we’re seeing here at God’s Invincible church is we are spiritually hot! The Holy Spirit is working here in mighty ways… both physically and spiritually! We’re still going out around the world online, despite the algorithms that are in place trying to stop Biblical messages from God! The hearts of people who’re truly following Jesus are getting hotter for Jesus, so their light is shining brighter as the world is getting darker. It’s becoming really clear who identifies with Jesus and who doesn’t! The Bible tells us that this is what will happen as we enter into the end times of the last days! The closer we get to the second coming of Jesus and the end of human history, there will be separation and division! The lukewarm will be spit out. The cold will be indifferent. And the hot will grow brighter! The Bible uses different wording for this period: last time, last days, end times… and it reminds us that our hope is in Jesus Christ, and His second coming is the only hope for the people on planet earth. The theme of Jude is about the last days of the end times! It’s the last days… the last time… or the end times! He came the first time to die… He comes the second time to judge! He came the first time to forgive… He comes the last time to condemn or bless, depending on whether you’re for Him or against Him! When the spirit is in you, things can get better in you… even as things get worse around you! It’s what the Bible teaches! Here’s how Jude says it in (vs 20-21) … 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most Holy Faith and praying in The Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for The Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. He’s saying, even when things are getting worse around us, the power of faith can get stronger in us! And it starts with our identity in Jesus. It’s why we’re having cultural head on collision over identity. Who we are determines what we do! That’s why Satan wants to confuse a person about their identity in any regards to anything other than a relationship with Jesus. Our primary identity is not our sexuality… it’s our spirituality. It’s not our body… it’s our soul! And what He says is our identity is as a dear friend to Jesus… and fellow believer with Jude! That’s our identity. We work because we have it… not because we’re trying to gain it. It’s grace based… not performance based! It’s at the starting line… not the finish line. We may be having a bad day in the world, but in Jesus, we’re always having a good day! Even though we’re not very lovable, He’s still going to love us! We start with that… and that’s why we can experience the power faith in Jesus!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 12/3/2023 The Power of The Bible John 1:1-5 The focus of the messages that God’s been sending His Invincible Church this year have centered on the topic of truth… God’s truth... which is the only truth! Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about the power of God that undergirds His truth, which makes His truth invincible! A big part of God’s truth is man’s natural power pales in comparison to Satan’s supernatural power. So, we don’t stand a chance if we’re not connected to God and His supernatural power because Satan’s supernatural power doesn’t hold a candle to God’s supernatural power! God’s supernatural power is all encompassing! He’s the only (and will always be the only) omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent being there is! Which means He’s the only all powerful, all knowing, all present at all times sovereign Holy God of the universe! Within God’s supernatural powers is the power of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of the Bible! Two Sundays ago, we talked about the power of Jesus! Last week, Brandon preached a message on the power of the Holy Spirit (And God’s been building that message in Brandon for a long time!) Today we’re going to cover the “Power of the Bible! The Bible is one of the primary miraculous works God has given us because it’s literally the breath and revelation of God recorded in book form! It’s the most powerful book that will ever exist! It’s the most powerful piece of literature ever written! It was spoken and authored by God through the power of the Holy Spirit. God moved human writers to write exactly what He wanted said and known to His creation! God sums up exactly what He wants us to know about the supernatural power connection between Him, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Bible in… John 1:1-5 NIV - 1 In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was With God, and The Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In Him was Life, and that Life was The Light of all mankind. 5 The Light Shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome ~IT~! We don’t have time to get into all the deeper meanings of the Greek words that explain the fact that God’s telling us here that He is the Word and the Word is Jesus. Likewise, the supernatural power of the Word is the Holy Spirit… and there’s no greater power than these! But I will mention here that the Bible goes on to say in… John 1:14 NIV - 14 The Word became Flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His Glory, The Glory of The One and Only Son, Who came from The Father, full of Grace and Truth! ... [That’s Jesus] Now, the foundationally clear principle of Bible translation we should look for is it has to be based on an accurate translation of the original test from Greek, Hebrew and some Aramaic! So, the job of a translator is to find out exactly what the author said… … and then write exactly what the author said in the language he’s translating what the author said into! The word “author” means originator! It tells us that language translation has everything to do with what the author said. Translation has nothing to do with how the reader may read it! When translators fail to follow this principle, it creates confusion because they haven’t discerned and translated the original text accurately! That’s why divinely inspired translators have based the words and wording of the Bible on exactly what God says from the original languages of Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic! Divinely inspired translators don’t base their wording on what the reader may think! God describes the Bible as “alive and powerful”… sharper than any two-edged sword! So, it’s a weapon that can defend us from evil, but it also has the capacity to piece into our soul and reveal our nature, character, sinfulness and where we stand with God! The Bible’s a powerful/living tool that God uses to expose our heart and the truth about us to ourselves! The Bible also has the power to put us back together again when we’ve been torn apart by circumstances, situations and other people of the world… or the devil! So, in order to accomplish these living things, there’s no way the Bible can be the word of man! The Bible has to be the word of the living God! The one and only God Almighty! And that’s exactly what it is! God has elevated the Bible to the level of who He is… … And to the character and integrity of His Holy Name! It’s impossible to separate the glory of the Word from God Himself because the Bible is entirely Him and it’s entirely His own word! The Bible is God’s revealed truth. God speaks in it and through it! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV - 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness … 17 so that The Servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work! The Bible is the Word of God! So, if we want to experience and encounter God through the power of the Holy Spirit and from the truth of the power of the Bible, we’ve got to understand and believe the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God! The we have to make Jesus the primary focus of our life! The way we do it is through the power of the Bible as God’s Word… and through the power of the Holy Spirit as our supernatural advocate, counselor and helper. It’s all about knowing God better through His Word. So, let’s look at… 6 Requirements for Understanding The Power of The Bible 1) You have to be a Follower of Jesus! 1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV - 14 The person without The Spirit does not accept The Things that come from The Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand Them because they are discerned only through The Spirit.” A person has to be saved! We have to be submitted to Jesus as Lord and Savior and King! The natural man doesn’t understand the things of God. It’s foolishness to them because they’re spiritually dead and they can’t spiritually discern the things of God! The Bible is confounding and confusing to lost people no matter how great their mind is, but it’s as clear as it can be to any follower of Jesus who’ll consistently and diligently study it and pray for discernment. So, it starts at that point. Next… 2) You have to have a Strong Desire to know God Better! 1 Peter 2:2 NIV - 2 Like newborn babies, crave Pure Spiritual Milk, so that by it you may grow up in your Salvation, We have to develop an internal drive and passion for it! We’ll never get to a high level of experiencing and encountering God… and the power of the Bible unless we have the self-discipline to study it! So, we need to pray that God would give us that kind of strong desire. God’s true wisdom is only available to followers of Jesus and it only comes to those who seek it in His strength. Next… 3) You have to be Diligent in Reading The Bible! Acts 17:11-12 NLT - 11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched The Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching The Truth. 12 As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. If we want to know God better, we have to be in His Word. It takes diligence on our part! People ask me sometimes, “What one book gives the best explanations of the Bible?” It’s a typical question of a person who doesn’t know the power of the Bible. There’s not a book that can do that! There are commentaries, concordances, study guides and other writings that can help, but nothing compares to the Bible! God wants us to know what He’s saying. So, He’ll tell us if we’ll put in the effort to pursue Jesus, be diligent in His Word and pray for discernment. 4) You have to Work Hard to Avoid Sin! James 1:21 NLT - 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.” If we want to know God better, we have to strive for holiness! If we’re going to really pursue Jesus and deal with the power of the Bible at a high level, so we can experience and encounter God in His fullness, then we have to be willing to give up the sin in our life… and anything and everything that hinders us from running the race that God has designed for us to run. Next… 5) You have to Apply God’s Word to Your Life! James 1:22 NLT - 22 But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what It says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. A person can’t say that they’re a follower of Jesus unless they really believe what the Bible says… and then applies it to their life! We should be diligently learning it, applying it and putting it into practice! It’s not some theoretical thing. It’s a matter of life… and death! Probably the most important thing is… 6) You have to Pray Constantly! Ephesians 1:17-20 NIV - 17 I keep asking that The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Glorious Father, may give you The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, so that you may know Him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know The Hope to which He has called you, The Riches of His Glorious Inheritance in His Holy people, 19 and His incomparably Great Power for us who believe. That Power is The same as The Mighty Strength 20 He exerted when He raised Christ from The Dead and Seated Him at His Right Hand in The Heavenly Realms … Paul says he prays! The most intense time of prayer ought to be the times we’re studying scripture! We need to be asking God for clarity, understanding and wisdom, so we can discern His truth, apply it to our lives and use the power of the Bible to advance His kingdom! The Bible can be trusted because it’s the Words of God from His breath and revelation! It takes faith because it’s impossible to please God without faith! Faith includes belief in God, submission to Jesus and trusting in the Holy Spirit. It’s also impossible to have faith without prayer! We wouldn’t be here if God hadn’t physically created us and specifically made us! Also, we’re only protected and sustained here by God’s mercy and grace through His supernatural power. Otherwise, Satan would wipe us out because he’s jealous of God’s creation! As a follower of Jesus, we should be way more concerned with what God thinks about us rather than being obsessed with what the world thinks about us! >GOD is our CREATOR … and all that goes with it. *JESUS is our SAVIOR … and all that goes with it. >The HOLY SPIRIT is our SUSTAINER … and all that goes with it. Why wouldn’t we want to try to do what please God first, instead of what pleases us? When we become saved Jesus is our king, different from worldly king, He sacrificed His life for us! If you’re listening online… and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now… and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior! He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in heaven… But the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus! So, don’t wait! Receive him now! Let us pray…