HEAR
by Kevin Allen
March 24, 2024 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Genesis 2:16-17, Genesis 3:1-4, Genesis 3:14-19, John 1:1, John 1:14, 1 Corinthians 15:45, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Romans 5:19, Philippians 2:8, Romans 5:8, Genesis 3:15, Colossians 2:6-15, Hebrews 10:4, 1 Peter 1:18-20, Ephesians 5:26-27, Revelation 19:7-9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 15:50-55

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--hear
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Happy Palm Sunday to everyone. If you don't know what Palm Sunday is, it is the Sunday before Easter. And the palm part refers to Jesus, and His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. You can go through and read the account in the Gospels, and see that prophecies were being fulfilled, as He come riding in on that donkey. That the crowd had begin to gather, and begin to sing, "Hosana to the highest," and began to take their coats off, and cut down palm branches, and lay before, as He walked in. We're entering into what is known as the Holy Week. And lots of events transpired, some 2,000 years ago, that led into Resurrection Sunday. And sometimes we can get to the empty tomb, and forget all the things that led up to the tomb there. And I don't want to glaze over the significance of prophecy being fulfilled. So today is Palm Sunday, and we celebrate that. I'm also going to be going into the second part of my Easter series — will conclude next week. But today we're going to talk about hearing. Talk about hearing.

Last week, we talked about our eyes — how the eyes were open. If you were with us, we talked about the couple that was walking the road to Emmas, and how Jesus came alongside them, and they didn't recognize who He was. They were talking about the events that had unfolded, and how Jesus had died. And their hope — that was the word last week — was hope. They were hoping that He was the One. Well, He was the One. And He had opened their eyes to see that prophecies had been fulfilled — that He did have to indeed die, and suffer, for us. Well, today I want to talk about hearing.

Often times lies come our way. And why is it easier to believe the lie, than to accept the truth? Have you ever thought about that? Even when the lie can be somewhat audacious, often times we can find ourselves wanting it to be true, even though it's the lie that is there.

was — a few years back, I was in Washington, DC., with my family, and we visited the Ford's Theater, where it was famous for the act that took place on April the 14th, 1865, at the end of the Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilss Booth, as he was watching the play there, "Our American Cousin," and Ford's Theater. I've stood in that theater. I've looked at the seat that the President set in. I've seen it, my hand — myself. Here's the deal: in 1865, television had not been invented, so we don't have the ability to go back and watch video footage of the assassination. And there are little to no pictures at all of what took place there. No photographs. The President's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was an eyewitness. Major Henry Roth bone was near the President, and actually confronted John Wilk's Booth, and ended up getting stabbed over the occurrence. John W wils Booth jumped from that balcony — and I've witnessed where that was, and that's quite a jump. Many of you probably have seen it yourself. It's no wonder he broke his leg when he landed. And he went to his awaiting horse was outside. The President died the next day.

Now, here's the deal — I bring this up for this reason: is I presented you with a lot of facts, but I have no video footage of it. I presented you with facts, and told you that they were eyewitnesses to the account, but I have no photograph that I can show you. I can take you to the place where the event transpired, but just me taking you there does not guarantee that it did. And why — why is it that you believe what I just told you about the assassination of President Lincoln, you believe to be true? Why do you believe it was true? You may be saying, "Well, Pastor Kevin — it was a historical account. He was a famous person in history. It was well documented, all that took place." And I would say, "Yes, that's the reason why I believe it, too."

But there's another story of Someone who was very famous, and well-known, during their time period. And I can take you to the place of His birth. I can take you to the place of His death. I can show you historical documents that validate the life that He lived. But I have no video footage that I can show you. And I have no pictures that I can demonstrate, for your belief. Yet so many people have a hard time believing the life in the story of Jesus Christ — even though, of all His historical figures that have ever been written about, there is more written about Him than any other, 10 times over. We have more documentation of what He did, and the life He lived. And we have more stuff that carries throughout history, than we do of so many other famous figures. In fact, some people that are so quoted and well-documented have very little evidence to support their life ever existed. Yet people will believe that, and dismiss the life of Jesus.

Right — I want to talk about, today, is you got to be very, very careful. The Bible starts out with a very bold statement. It says: "In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth." I love how it starts, because it doesn't try to explain where God came from. It's just that He was, and this is what He did. "In the beginning, God." That's where it all starts. Man has tried countless numbers of time, throughout all of humanity, to try to discredit God existence. Yet He's still there. Come on. In fact, the harder they try to disprove there is a God, the further they continue to validate that He exists — that there is a divine Creator, and that He has a purpose, and a plan, and an order, into everything that He does.

Today, I'm going to use quite a bit of Scripture, unapologetically, because I believe that we should study the Word of God. I believe that we should use more than just a verse. I believe in the Bible in its entirety. I believe you have to take it as a whole. I'm not one who will ever tell you you should abandon, or orphan, Scripture. I'll be the one that will tell you: it's controversial. I will tell you this: the Word of God is offensive. It makes no apologies for it. "In the beginning, God." It's God's way. It's God's decision. It's God's plan. It's God's purpose. You and I — our opinions really matter for not, in the span of eternity. We're never going to be asked what we thought. It's going to come down to: did you obey? I know — I started right off by ripping the Band-Aid, didn't I?

"In the beginning, God created." It was God that did this, and everything was about Him. He created the idealistic paradise in Eden. It was beautifully orchestrated, in a week of creation that concluded with a time of rest. Rest was His idea. And I'm thankful for that one. I like having a time of Sabbath. But then He quickly grabs our attention with this statement, in the second chapter of the Bible, verse number 16: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest therefore, thou shalt surely die.'"

We're not too far in to the history of mankind, and all of a sudden, the word "death" has been introduced to us. It didn't start that way. "In the beginning, God." And God created. And God produced. And God spoke things into existence. And everything was about life, and about creation, and about His plan, and about His purpose. And then His highest created thing: mankind. But soon after He has formed it, the command is given to the one He had just created, in His own image. And then you and I, we stand in disbelief, as we read the account of the enemy creeping into the story, in Genesis CH 3, verse number one: "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yay, hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" And the woman said — unto the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.' And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die.'"

I want to talk about, for just a few minutes today, about hearing. One pitiful lie. Come on — if I gave this a subtitle, it would be: "One Pitiful Lie."

Now, what's even harder for us to get our minds around is that now, all of a sudden, because of the disobedience of man — and I'm not going to unpack that story too much. I talked about it last week, in my sermon, and I would encourage you to go back, because these all tie and build together. But there was a question that was called out: "Has God said?" And we pick up there, in chapter three, in the very first verse that is there. It lets us know something that has not changed: the serpent was the most subtle there is.

See, you and I, we're smart people. Want you look at your neighbor, say, "You're smart." Yeah. Now, if it's appropriate, look at your other neighbor, say, "You're not bad-looking, either." Smart, good-look people. This is what I like about smart, good-look people: we think we're thinkers. Now, you and I, we have the ability that, when we see something really big coming at us, we usually — almost without fail — always avoid the big thing. We can avoid it. There something coming right at you, really big, and we'll step out of the way. "I'm not going to get run over by that." Yeah. We see something big like adultery, coming right down at us, full-blown — we'll step out of the way of that. Yeah. Drug abuse, coming right down the lane — we'll jump out of the way of that one. "Well, I'm not going to get caught up in that." But when we get put on the spot, sometimes in the most subtle of ways, we compromise — when we think it's not really a big deal. It's not a big thing. Cuz I'll jump out of the way of a big thing. But if it's a small thing — well, that's — we justify in our mind: it's not a big deal. But we know that the Word of God has already declared that our enemy is subtle. The most subtle of all the beasts that were there. He's subtle. He's sly. He's sneaky. You've heard me say this before: the devil is really good at being the devil. Come on. In fact, he's the best one I know of. He's the best in his field. There is none better than him. He is subtle. He is sleeky. He is sneaky. He is sly. Right?

Here's the thing: he's not all-powerful. He's not all-knowing. He can't be everywhere at all times. He is not like God. You cannot put him on an equal playing field with God, because he himself is a created thing, also. But what he's really good at is observation. He takes really good notes. If you were taking a college course with the devil, you would want to have his notes. He is a good note-taker. They're probably full of lies, but he's a good noaker. He watches us. He sees what we do. He sees the things that have the potential to cause us to compromise. He sees the times when we sit and ponder, whether this is good or bad, whether I should or shouldn't. And he takes notes. And he says, "There is an area of vulnerability that I see there." And that's why, often times, he'll comes in those quiet little moments, when nobody's around, and we think nobody's looking, and nobody's paying attention. And when we have an opportunity, all by oursel, to do the right thing, but yet we don't know — I don't know. And then we compromise. Subtle slly.

So he com into the garden. He sneaks his way in. He's not yet slithering yet — that's to come. He sneaks his way in. And he comes in, and he asks a question: "Has God said?" And then he quotes back words that he had to hear, at some point, himself — because he is good at taking notes. The only problem was, he just took a few of the words, and rearranged the order. "Did God said you can't eat of any of the fruit?" But that wasn't the command that was given to mankind. The command was: "A day you eat of the tree of knowledge, you shall surely die." Now, somewhere along the way — and there's been a lot of things speculated, and I've heard a lot of sermons preached, but we have no evidence in the Word of God to substantiate this response — that somewhere along the way, she got the idea — did Adam tell her, "Hey, I don't know that I can trust you, so I'm going to say, 'Look, we can't eat it. In fact, don't even touch it. God said don't touch it.'" That's not what God said. We don't have that recorded. God said, "Don't eat it." Now, could you touched it, got away? I don't know. All I know is, the Word of God said: if you eat it, you die. But somewhere, Eve got in her mind that if you even touch it, you get to die.

Now, the lie comes in when Satan says — or the enemy, the serpent — he says, "You're not going to die." There's a lie. "You're not going to die." What he's trying to do is try to get his claws into your mind, to cause you to doubt. "If I can get you to doubt that God can be trusted, I got you. I got you." If I can ever get you to doubt — if I can ever say something that's so close to the truth, but yet it causes you to step back and think, "Is that what God meant?" You guys okay? We're going to go somewhere.

It's hard for us to get our minds around this, now. Now, God — all of a sudden, because of man's disobedience — and most of us know how the story goes, that Eve ended up looking at the fruit, and saying to herself, "This looks like it's a good thing. And it's good to gain knowledge from." And she takes of it. Now, her husband's standing off to the side. We don't know how it is. I have my own version in my head. I'm sure you have the version that you have in your head, as well. I see him standing off the side. And the moment she touches it, she thinks it's okay, because she hasn't died. He's watching for her to eat, because he's thinking, "I got a few more ribs." She — stay with me. Don't get lost. Okay? She doesn't die when she eats it. So then, all of a sudden, we know that he's a willing participant. He eats, too. Could it be that he thought, "Well, you didn't die. Maybe God didn't mean it." So he eats, as well. And then the Word of God says, "And then the eyes of them were opened." And I talked about that last week. And then they realized what really took place, because what they thought was going to happen — because the enemy had painted the picture, that "you will be like a god. You won't have to go to God. You won't have to ask God's opinion about the matter. You yourself will be a god." Because there's inside of all of us this independent streak. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Anybody raising a three-year-old right now? I don't know why people say "terrible twos." It's the terrible threes. At least it was in the Allen household. What about those three-year-olds is so frustrating? What is it about them, that we are like — it's because we see a little glimpse of our life there, too, don't we? That little "me can do it." That little "me can do it." Now, we look at them and say, "'Me' can't do anything. You're this tall. You're this big." I wonder how many times God's looking at you and I, when "me can do it," and He's saying, "You can't do that."

We see this take place. And all of a sudden, now God places a horrible curse on all participants involved. Verse 14 of chapter 3: "And the Lord God said unto — the serpent: 'Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above the cattle, above the beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put imity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' Unto the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow shalt bring forth children. And thou shalt desire to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' And Adam He said, 'Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake. And sorrow shall they eat of it all the days of life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth for the day, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. And the sweat of thy face shal thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground — for out of it was taken — for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'"

The chapter ends with a potential of even more violence, because all of a sudden, God now has to separate them — from the tree of knowledge, because they already have that; they've already made connection with that. What they get separated from is from the tree that they was connected to, which is the Tree of Life. Why? Because "thou shalt surely die." God is not a liar. God is not a liar. He always keeps His word.

They didn't understand. They were thinking that there was going to be an instantaneous death, in that moment. You and I would have been no different than them, had we heard the words from God. We would have thought, "Well, if you eat it, you're going to die." And then somehow Eve got the understanding that if I touch it, I'm going to die. And these instances, both, in the eating, neither one of them died. They're thinking, "Hey, it's okay. We're good." But no — they got separated, because of their disobedience, from the Tree of Life. Yes. We have no record that they were going to die before this. In fact, when you read through the curse that I just read, you see it's only then that God explains to them: "Now, because of what you did — because you have been formed from the dust — you will go back to the dust. You have caused now separation. You will die."

The enemy has not changed his tactics. Not since the beginning of time. And I don't have time for that lesson today, because I have another direction On cus. But you go back and study: every time, he deals with three things. And it gets talked about in the New Testament. Paul talks about it — no, John talks about it. It's the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It always comes back to those things.

Now, take note here: it was mankind that disobeyed God, and took the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But this disobedience caused them to be separation. And God put angels — cherubs — around, to guard that Tree of Life that was there. However, it's so unbelievably awesome, for us to get our minds around the reversal that takes place. It seems as though the enemy is lie has derailed the plan that God had put in place. But because — we see defeat is turned into a glorious victory, by the reverse of roles, by God Himself. That's the beautiful story of Easter. It is unthinkable, to us, to think that the great God, Creator of all, would come to earth, robed in flesh. But that's exactly what the Bible tells us. It tells us that, in John chapter 1: "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God." And everything was created by Him. Without Him, there was not anything created that they made that was not by Him. It was Him. It was the Word. The Word, then, in verse 14 of chapter 1, becomes flesh, and dwells among. Why? Because He had to come, and set back right what was wrong. The enemy tried his best to th what was going on — the plan of God. But God had a plan in place, all along. The enemy thought he was doing something, to try to take and destroy God's chiefest creation. But God always has a plan. God always has a plan. God is never going to be outsmarted by His creation. I'm going to say that again, cuz that deserves more than one amen, and one handwave: God is never going to be outsmarted by His creation. His creation is also the enemy, the devil. He's not going to be outsmarted by him. Don't put the enemy on an equal playing field with God. Don't ever do that. God is never going to be caught by surprise. He's never going to say, "Oh my, I didn't see that coming." Not our God. Not my God. That's not my God. My God's never been defeated. He never woke up one time and thought, "I didn't see that coming." That's not my God. My God always has a plan. Thank God He's got a plan.

Even more unthinkable is the fact that He come to pay the price. And He does — to take the place of you and I. Yes. He takes on His own death penalty, in a way that only God can. He comes to take the role of the victim, and emerges as the Victor. Yes. He takes on the role of a victim, and He becomes the Victor. He takes the place — you and I, the victim — "I'll take that place. And I'll show you how victory can come out of that. You think it's lost. You think it's over. The enemy thinks he's won. No, that's not the case. I will come out victorious, on the other side."

I know this may be a bit difficult to comprehend. But God told Adam, in Genesis 2, "Thou shalt surely die." In essence, He was signing His own death warrant. Why, you might ask? Because He was the last Adam, Himself. Nathan so eloquently started out our service, talking about the first and the last Adam. It's talked about — Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 15:45. The Scripture tells us: "The first man, Adam, became a living person. But the last Adam — that is, Christ — is a life-giving Spirit." What comes first is a natural body, and then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second Man, came from heaven. He knew that the first Adam would sin, and that He, the last Adam, would pay the penalty of death, to redeem His creation. Because verse 22, that same chapter, says: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." That's why we have hope. That's why we celebrate. That's why this week's so important for us to understand: that He didn't leave us to oursel. He didn't leave us to our mess. He didn't leave us to our trouble. Regardless of what you've got yourself into — it doesn't matter what label's been placed on you. It doesn't matter what chains around your neck right now. It doesn't matter how broken the relationship — I'm here to tell you: you have hope, because Jesus Christ is alive. He's alive. He's alive. He came and took our place. He paid the penalty, and became the victim, and the Victor on the other side. That's our God. That's my God. That's my God.

He was obedient. Romans 5:19 says: "For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Thank God for His obedience.

So how can we say that Jesus Christ, as His last Adam — how do we say He's obedient? Well, Paul, talking to the church of Philippi, said this, in Philippians 2:8: "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient un the death, even the death of the cross." He was obedient. Obedient all the way to Calvary's heel. Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot underestimate the importance of obedience in your life. You can't underestimate it. So much gets misre represented in our day and age, inside of Christianity. It gets misrepresented. You can't have it your way. You can't — furthermore, it's not about — you. It's always about Him. It's always about Him. "In the beginning, God." It's been His story, always and forever. It's been His story. He crafted out, and scripted, a part for you and I to play in it. But ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake: the part we play has always been about our obedience. To understand the life of Jesus Christ — furthermore, to understand the life of any of the ones that are in this Bible, here — I don't know how you read it, and you walk away that a life with God is trouble-free, and there are no problems. When everyone that's in here is full of despair, is full of trouble, it's full of discouragement, it's full of bad decisions, and doing the wrong thing. There's not a perfect one in there, outside of Him. All the rest of them are flawed and broken individuals. But the beauty — the beauty of what He did, as He came down in the mess of the world that you and I live in, He came down in the mess of the sin that's all around us, and said, "Look, I'll come live among you. I'll come, so that can understand even better what it is you go through on a daily basis. And I'll show you that you can live a life with Me that is overcoming. That you do not have to be crippled by these things. You do not have to be bound by these things. You do not have to be pushed in a corner by labels, and what people say about you. That I can show you that, with My same resurrection power — I'll put it inside of you — and you can live an overcoming life. But it only comes, ladies and gentlemen, through obedience."

I don't know what the other churches around here is selling. But I promise you, it has always been about obedience. To sum this down, in the simplest of terms, in the simplest of ways I know to try to present this to you today, is: go back to the garden. Go back to the garden, and ask yourself: what was going on when He was praying? What was He doing in those moments, the we hours of the morning? See, here we are — we're in this Holy Week. We're processing all that He did. But I'm going to ask you, with me, to go with me to the garden. Go with me to the garden. He's there. He's got His trusted disciples with Him. He says, "Go with Me, and pray." Furthermore, He even took the three that were closest to Him, and says, "Come a little further with Me. t with Me for a while, and pray."

What's going on is: the weight — the full weight of what He's trying to do, the full weight of why He came — is settling down upon Him, in that moment. And He's processing it. And He's thinking to Himself, "I don't want to do this. I don't want to be beat. I don't want to be hit. I don't want to be spat on. I don't want that cat-and N-tails on My back. I don't want it. I don't want to go to the whipping post. I don't want that crown of thorns thrust on My head. I don't want to face the shame, and embarrassment, and the open mockery. I don't want to be nailed to a cross. I don't want to die." Listen to me: humanity was crying out, in that moment: "God, I don't want this." But what did He say? "It's not about what I want. Nevertheless, Thy will be done." Obedience. It was always about obedience, Bishop. It always will be, about obedience.

I want you to have a great life. I want you to have all your hopes and dreams. I do. That's me, as a man made of flesh. I want that for you, in your life. I don't know God's purpose and plan for you, as I said this past Wednesday night. Maybe that's not your road. Your road may lead you through a prison cell, through beatings, through being chained and bound. That's not the will of God: "He came to set me free." Say that to Paul and Silas. Talk to them. But I showed you: there's always more at play than what you see in the moment. Ladies and gentlemen, there's always more at play than you see in the moment. And too many times, I feel like we short-change ourself, because we get so caught in my inconvenient moment, that I'm praying that God lets me have relief from the inconvenience, before I ask God, "Are You wanting me to be obedient?" Are you going to tell me that it was a convenient moment, in that garden? Was that convenient? "Well, Pastor Kevin, that was His purpose and His plan." Yes. What is your purpose and plan? Because your purpose and plan, I promise you, is going to lead you to a moment where you have to say, "Nevertheless. Nevertheless."

The greatest lie that was ever told — and the problem we often times struggle in our hearing — is that "you're not going to die." I promise you: apart from Him, you die, every time. There's even more than that. There's more at play here.

I got to take you back to the Scriptures. Let me put this to you another way: the Judge of all the earth, after sentencing a man to death, stepped down from the bench of justice, and took the man's place. What an amazing love that is. But how's that play to you and I? He died for us. Romans 5:89 talks about: Christ died for us.

But the Tree of Life that's in Genesis — 3:15, I want you to listen to this. I'm going to read these words again to you. This is Him talking to the serpent — talking to the enemy. He says: "I will put enity — " verse 15 of chapter 3 — "I put enity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." God also knew that He had to let Satan bruise His heel Calvary, in order to take care of Satan's head. Satan would be defeated, but it would take the action that was beyond what man could do.

The world we live in is constantly lying to us. Yes. The enemy is always wanting you to feel like, and for you to believe, and come to the understanding, that you're defeated. And you're overwhelmed. You're never going to be good enough. You're never going to be good enough. And I got a truth for you: he's telling the truth, one time in his life. You're not good enough. Say that. But it was never about you being good enough, or me being good enough. It was about [His —] He worthy. And He was perfect. He was perfect. He was the One who was worthy to take our place. That's why He did what He did. He was able to become the victim, that ultimately became the Victor.

Our adversary wants us to believe that the cross was just a hoax, and the empty tomb is just religious superstition. We have a choice, every day of our life: we can listen to the enemy, or we can listen to what God's Word says. You got a choice. Will you be obedient, or will you live to your own ways? "You're just preaching a legalistic message." I'm not preaching legalistic. Not preaching legalism. I'm not. You read through the Word yourself. Don't take my word for it. I encourage you to not take my word for it. You take His Word for it. Yes. You go in here, and you dive into this Word yourself. And you tell me how you walk away with any other conclusion, other than you're supposed to live a life of obedience. Not a life of you building your kingdom. Not a life of you building your purpose. Not a life about your wants and your desires. No, no, no. That's not in this Scripture. That is not — you can take one or two verses, and you can orphan it, and you can make this Bible say almost anything you want it to say. But that doesn't mean it's what God intended. But you take it as a whole. You digest it. You consume it. You settle down inside of it. And you ask God to reveal to you what He wants. And I promise you, every time, you walk away with this one word: obedience. Obedience. It's always — about being obedient. When you listen to the Word of God, you read things like this, in Colossians 2:6: "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principalities and powers. In whom also are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him, through the faith and the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven all trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinance that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. having spoiled principalities and powers, Having made a show of them open trying over over them in it."

All the accusations. All the failures. All the disobedience. All the addictions. All the labels. All the struggles. He took it, and He nailed it to His cross. He nailed it to His cross. You're not meant to carry those things. You're not meant to be labeled by those things. You're not meant to be bound by those things.

When you come to realize is that Satan, though he could cut off God's plan — thought he could do it from the very beginning, by tempting Adam and Eve, and causing them to fail, by lying to them — what he didn't realize is that God was ready, with another work work around, through what He had already established and set in place. Because He was going to be the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the earth. What Satan didn't realize is that God was never going to be caught off guard. God knew. And He knew that He was going to require death, and a sacrifice unlike any other thing, in order to validate what He was doing.

The writer Hebrews lets us know that He had a better sacrifice for sin, in Hebrews chap 10, verse number four: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." However, the Apostle Peter gives us this insight, in 1 Peter 1:8 for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, of silver and gold, from your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in God, and raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God." Not in you — in Him. Not in your abilities — in His finished work at Calvary. You and I are not good enough. I don't have the ability. I can't save myself. I can't save you. I can't save anything. But He can. He can. He can. And He did. He did. He finished it at Calvary. He took our place. He paid the penalty, for your sins and for mine.

So now what we have, ladies and gentlemen — and we're going to go back to Genesis 3, and we will see that God has now barricaded the Tree of Life with a flaming sword. When He put it in place, He knew one day He would have to go back, and fight His way back through again, to reconnect us to what was lost. To put us back to where we needed to be. When He died on that cross, he's buried in that tomb — He wasn't just lying around, taking a nap. I'm going to say this: my God wasn't dead. Because I don't believe in dead deity. My God was at work. The first thing He did is: He marched down to the enemy's territory, and said, "Give me the keys. It don't belong to you anymore." And then, on His way out the door, He looked at him, and said, "My kids are going to come knocking one day. And when they do, you're going to open the gate, and let them in. I'm in the Book. I'm in the Book. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us they not." No — that's what He told him. And then He made His way back, all the way to the Tree of Life.

There was a lot going on, on those three days that He was in that tomb. He was restoring back. He was putting back in place what had happened. He was writing the wrongs. When He said, "It is finished," before He drew His last breath, there was some powerful things that was taking place.

The great GT. Haywood, one of our elders in our movement, is quoted as saying — and I'll quote directly: "His bloody brow and mutilated back, as well as the piercing wounds in His hands, feet, and side, bear testimony of the trauma wrought by the flaming sword, and the excruciating pain He suffered, to reopen the way to the Tree of Life, for the redeemed." For the redeemed. He fought His way back, so that you and I could be reconnected, for what was lost in the garden. What the enemy thought he was doing, to thwart, to throw off, to prevent His perfect plan, was only setting in motion the very redemption process that God had in mind, all along. He knew that there's going to come a moment in time, when "I'm going to have to take their place. And I'll willingly do it. And then I'll fight My way back through, where they've been disconnected, so that you and I a possibility of eternity with Him." What a God we serve. What a Savior we have. The God Almighty chose to become the victim, in the act of redemption, so that He could rise as a Triumph Victor, to redeem us. That's our God. That's our God.

So appears, in trying to get back, Satan ended up in God's 10 who is preparing to present Himself a bride. As I get ready to bring this to a close today — Ephesians 5, Paul writing to the church, says this, in verse 26: "That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. That He might present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but it should be holy and without blemish." And I love that He doesn't le as as a bride simp l in waiting. But Revelations chap 19 says: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife ha made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be ar raay and fine linen, clean and white. And fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And He saith unto me, right: Blessed are they which are called into the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And He saith unto me, 'These are the true saints of God.'"

As I bring my message to a close today: the pitiful eye that often gets heard — that we hear with our own ears — is that "you will never die." What he didn't understand — what the enemy failed to comprehend, because he is limited in his knowledge — is that death was always a part of what God was doing. It was always there. It wasn't that God wanted to keep man kind from having knowledge and understanding of what was good and evil. What Adam and Eve failed to realize is, they had a direct connection with Him, on a daily basis. And that any question they had, God would have freely answered, at any given time. He created them. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a much bigger thing than I have time to get in today. For those of you who love prophecy, have to understand that it had always been God's plan, for you and I to have dominion, and rule and reign. Yes. But the authority, of which we can rule and reign, are always there, simply through our obedience to Him. The King — the authority I have is only given to me, when — I'm obedient. I can only operate and what the what the King allows me to operate in.

In the garden, they didn't understand: they had dominion. It's beautiful. Taylor — it was beautiful. They had the perfect place, where there was no shame. There was no guilt. There was no condemnation. They had direct access to the King. "Adam, whatever you name the animals is what they will be." Think about that. We skipped through that, and we read through Genesis, and think — he said, "You know what? I think I want to call that a hippopotamus." And God's like, "Interesting. Hippopotamus it is." "I want to call that an arvar." Using a lot of consonant now, but okay. That's what you want. Rule and reign. And in the middle of their ruling and raining, the enemy somehow snuck in the back door. And he s l in, the subtlest of lies: "You shall not surely die." Oh yes, you will. Oh yes, you will. Let me show you.

Jesus, and only Jesus — With the sinless Lamb. He was the sinless One who could be the perfect sacrifice, for you and I, to bring us back to the Tree of Life, to give us a promise of eternal life in Him. But we must also die. We have to die out to our old life, our old way, our old sin, our self sinness, our flesh.

Paul said this to church at Corinth, in 2 Corinthians 5: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." What's he say about the old things? "They pass away. And behold, all things become new." Cu the church at Galatia, he writes this, chapter 2: "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live." Crucifixion — what is that? That is death. "I'm crucified Christ — never, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Amen.

Ladies and gentlemen — and I'm ending — you must die, in order to live. You must die, in order to really live. And that flies in the face of the world we live in. The world we live in says: if you're going to live, then be true to yourself. If you're going to live, you do what you feel is right. Be true. Follow your heart. Follow your feelings. I don't think there's any person in here who's a rationally thinking person, who would not admit: there have been too many times our heart has misled us. I don't think there's a rational thinking person in this room today they will not say that your feelings have misled you. But yet the world says, that's what you got to tune into. "If you feel like you're something that maybe biologically you're not, then be that thing. Be true. You can be a piece of wood. You can be a kite. Be a fish." Your feelings will fail you. Always. They will. They'll mislead you. They'll mislead you. You got to find a place in your life where you become obedient to something that doesn't change. God says, "I'm the same yesterday, [today], and forever." If you believe that this is His Word — His Word says that is forever settled. This is something that has stood the test of time — this Bible, this Word. It doesn't need me to defendant. I don't have to be an apologist. I don't have to apologize for that. It's on its own. Should the Lord choose to te, it'll be here long after I'm gone. Long after you're gone. It has survived just fine, all by itself. There's something about it. You got to figure out why I have to tie my life to this.

The storms of life are going to come, as you stand with me. Things are going to happen. This is what I know. I'm going to read you very sobering passages. This is my last Scripture I read to you today, and I'm going to open this altar for those who want to come.

There's going to be a great wedding day. The bride of Christ is the church. That's why you got to be very careful about how you talk about the church, CU you're talking about the bride. Paul wrote this again, talking to the church. I always think it's important to understand the audience. He's writing a letter to the church at Corinth. He says this, in chapter 15:50: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither do corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and the moral shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the same what is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?"

To me, that sums up this Holy Week. If you don't take anything else away from me today, please take this: the whole reason we have an empty tomb is because there was a decision made in a garden. When the Man, Jesus, wrestled with Himself, until He could walk away. Took three times, that we have documented, that He kept going back there, until He finally could walk out, and say, "It's not about Me, but it's about You." It was about obedience, and staying committed to the purpose that was for His life.

You all have a purpose. Every one of you have a purpose. When God made you, when He created you, when He put you together, He created you with a purpose in mind. Your mom and dad may have not have planned you. You may be an accident. You may be a happy accident, or you may have been a sad accident. But you were not an accident to God. You have always had purpose. One of the greatest things you could do is not believe the lie that the enemy has out there: "You shall not surely die." Yes, you will. Yes, you will. But if you want the abundant life, then die to self, and take what He has for you. It's the best life you can live.

Will you pray with me right now? Jesus, I love You so much. I'm thankful, Lord, for the relationship that I have with You. For the presence that I feel in this room right now. For what I know that You're doing in lives that are in this room. God, obedience is not always an easy thing. In fact, often times we struggle the most, even when we know what we should be doing. We seem to struggle with doing it. I pray, God, in this most special moment today, that You would lead us. You would lead us to a garden moment, where we would evaluate what we're doing with our life. And we would bring oursel into alignment: "It's not my will, but Your will be done." God, if we need to make some changes in our life, I pray You give us the courage to start that process today. God, lead us to a place where we can truly say: You are Lord of all of my life. All of my life.

Church, this altar's open. If you'd like to pray, I would encourage you to find a place where you could have a garden encounter, a garden moment, where you could say to Him, "Lord, not my will be done today, but Your will be done, in my life." It's prayer time.