Hallelujah. How are you doing? I have an assistant to help me preach
today. Over on the left. If you haven't seen Roger, this is
my trustee assistant today. Over we're on the right. I know it's a
little harder to see on the science, but we're going to preach together today.
This is you know who it is, Captain America. Yep, you've
got it, Captain America. Captain America is the leader of the not the
Disciples, the Avengers. This is the leader of the Avengers. Right.
So, yeah, Father, we just asked you to make the word so
rich today so powerful. Thank you in advance for describing our hearts, moving
our hearts with what moves yours. We give you the praise for the word
and for the body that we can come together celebrate issue look to you through
him. We gave you the thanks for it in Jesus' name. Everybody said,
amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. Yeah. So Captain America is
the Captain of the Avengers. You know about that. This guy was actually
created in nineteen forty. I didn't know if you knew that, but nineteen
forty, so you know, Marvel picked up on him, and I knew
you were marveling already at what I had done. But here he is.
And I want to talk about avenging a little bit. I want to talk
about defending and avenging because Jesus is the ultimate avenger and the ultimate defender,
and you know, sometimes we don't know, maybe we don't think of him
in those terms. But I want to remind us of that a little bit
as we think about him, and just see him not only as our intercessor,
but see that his intercessory rule is one of avenging and defending. And
I hope to just clarify again this morning who our battle is with, who
are warfare is with? Hebrews seven, and this is talking about, you
know, just the amazing priesthood of Jesus. Hebrews seven is talking about Melchzedic
and the amazing priesthood of Jesus, and it says verse twenty four. I'm
going to pick it up there. But because Jesus lives forever, he has
a permanent priesthood. So this priesthood relationship means he's representing us before God.
Right, And this is part of why we pray in his name, is
because our approach to God is through him, right, That's our approach.
We come to God through him. So he's made a way for us to
come to God. If it were for him, we wouldn't have a way
to come to God. He is the way, the truth of life.
No man come to the Father but through him. Right And so it says
he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he's able to save completely those who come
to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. King James
translation, he ever liveth to intercede. Now that means that that's actually been
his role from the beginning. It's not just his role since his first advent.
This has actually been his role from the beginning. Is and we know
that because he is the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.
So this has been his role. Alonge is to be our intercensor,
to be to be the one who would represent us before the Father. And
he was prepared to do so even from the foundation of the world. So
he ever lives. And here's a little bit about what an intercessor means.
And I think we can conclude a bunch. And when I think about intercessor,
like, I'm all thumbs. I don't know what in the world.
An intercessor is we're exhorted in the intercession. And there's examples of intercession,
but I think the greatest example of intercession is actually the life of Jesus.
Right. He's the embodiment of the heart of God toward us. He's the
embodiment of the prophets. He's the embodiment of every prayer that was prayed from
the beginning of Adam's fall and just the desperation. Can you imagine the desperation
of Adam and Eve, Hello, somebody, can you imagine having lived in
the garden of Eden and now you're out and there's fiery angels at the east
entrance, and your whole life has changed. So from the very beginning of
that fall until his coming, he was the embodiment of what it was to
intercede, what it was to avenge, what it was to defend, what
it was. And so you know, some things we can conclude about that
is that he ever lives to represent us to God and therefore against the enemy.
And I want to touch on that more as we go. He ever
lives to fight for us, he ever lives to save us from our enemies,
he ever lives to deliver us. He ever lives to stand between us
and those who would devour us, he ever lives as our representative, he
ever lives as our attorney. We know the Holy Spirit is called the paraclitos
in the Greek. He is our representative, he's our attorney. But do
we realize that the Holy Spirit is just the spirit of Jesus sent to dwell
in us. While Jesus, in an actual tangible being, is at the
right hand of the Father. The Holy Spirit of Jesus has been sent to
dwell in us to renew us and open up the Holy Spirit communion with Father.
But that Holy Spirit, who we would consider our attorney, our representative,
the Holy Spirit, is actually the spirit of Jesus. So Jesus is
our attorney. Jesus is your attorney. Jesus is your defender. Now he's
defending us, and he is representing us, and he's our attorney on the
basis of what he's done, not on the basis of what you've done,
on the basis of what he's done. He's representing us before the Father,
and so he silences our accuser. Right, he's our attorney, he's our
justification. But the Bible says not only our justification, but our justifier.
He is the embodiment of other's father's heart toward us. If you want to
think about the father's heart toward you, the father's heart toward mankind, we
have to realize that Jesus is the embodiment of Father's heart toward us. So
when religion or religiosity or whatever you know we've all heard or thought or think
of or whatever you know, whatever we would think of with regard to Father's
heart, we have to see the full embodiment of his heart is hidden in
Jesus. So he is an expression that could not find its fulfillment until he
came and bore my sins and allowed me to come back and to come near.
That's another interesting thing, is no matter what you think about God and
a picture of God or God the Father in the Old Testament, you have
to realize that God's heart could not find an ultimate expression of intercession toward us
to rescue us until Jesus had come and bore everything that I deserved in his
own body. And so Jesus is the full expression of the fulfillment of Father's
heart toward me. And it's kind of summed up in Corinthians five eighteen.
It says God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation, and that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. He
was reconciling the world. He wasn't reconciling Christians to himself in Christ. He
was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. He was reconciling every person to
himself in Christ and not counting people's sins against them. Now, this is
interesting. This is the heart of God. The heart of God is that
he's not counting people's sins against them, that He's actually dealt with all sin
in Christ. And these are crazy things and cool things for us to wrap
our heart around, our mind around, because it's powerful to shift us out
of a legalistic aspect toward others into a grace based aspect toward others. Not
that we omit truth, but Jesus was the embodiment of grace and truth.
So John Wan says, Moses gave us the law, but Jesus has given
us grace and truth. And this is super important for us. And we
see some other things about his intercession over in Isaiah in these passages that talk
about him before he came, So several hundred years before he came, the
prophet Isaiah was talking about what it would be like when he came, and
what he would be like when he came, and Isaiah fifty nine is one
of those it says truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil
becomes a prey. That sounds like a bad time to live in. But
the Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that
there was no one. He was appalled that there was no one to intervene.
So his own arm achieves salvation for him. He put on righteousness as
at breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head. He put on
the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. Now this
is an interesting thing when we think about an avenger, and here we are
with Captain America, an avenger and he's set out against evil. And I
think it's very interesting that it Marvel or Disney or whatever it is, many
times they're actually reaching in the themes that we understand because there's a thread of
Biblical reference in all of our hearts, and what all of us yearn for
is some hero that will deliver us from some bad villain. It's a biblical
thread, even woven into culture and society, and Jesus is that avenger.
And I think it's very important that we keep the theme very clear that it's
rescuing people from evil, not judging people because they're evil. This is a
huge biblical theme, and we can get confused if we let religion weigh on
us too heavy, and we can begin judging one another and judging people and
judging the young saved, which is not the full expression of what an intercessor
is, A defender, is an avenger is more shouting would be even more
exciting at this moment Isaiah sixty one. The fear of the Sovereign Lord is
upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
Now, this is again another Messianic passage. We know it's a Messianic
passage. How do we know that because when Jesus was baptized Luke chapter three,
Luke chapter four. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on
him, and then he immediately went into the wilderness fastest forty days. At
the end of that time, he hungers, he faces the enemy, he
undergoes major temptations from the enemy. Then Luke chapter four fourteen, Jesus returned
to Galilee from overcoming Satan, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside,
and he was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He
went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath
day went into the synagogue, and one his custom he stood up to read,
and the scroll of the proper Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled
it. He found the place that I'm about to read out of chapter sixty
one. The spear of the Lord is upon me, because He's anointed me
to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for
prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppress free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll,
gave it back to the attendant, and then he said, and he
began to say, And it isn't recorded all that he said. It just
says that he began to say, this scripture is fulfilled today in your hearing
that's the first day of his ministry. That's the beginning of his ministry.
He returns from the wilderness in the power of this Holy Spirit, and he
begins his ministry, and he quotes this because it's all about what Isaiah foresaw.
It's all about avenging the children of Adam of their enemies. It's about
avenging the children of Adam of their enemies. I mean, this is the
amazing thing about Jesus is that he's come. Now. Remember I don't know
if you remember, but you know, months ago we talked about how the
nations in the Table of Nations in Genesis ten eleven two Bible Table of Nations,
we talked about how that God divided up the nations into seventy nations,
sixty nine were given over to unclean Elohim. And these unclean Elohim spiritual princes
of the spirit realm. They were given lordship or dominion over the nations because
the nations had chosen to rebel against God, and so God turns them over
to what we hear Daniel talk about in chapter ten. Daniel says he's praying
in Daniel chapter ten, remember this, Remember that Israel was under Babylon and
then also under Persia, and this is the time of judgment for Israel,
and so he's praying. And at that time, though Daniel is a Jewish
young man and a leader in what was Babylon also now Persia, he's still
devoted to God, he still knows Jehovah, he's still one of Abraham's kids.
And so he's praying. Remember that. I don't know if you remember,
but he's praying because he had the same revelation that Niemiah had when Niamayah
was interceding. So Niemiyah interceded before God on behalf of the children of Israel.
Also because there had been a proclamation by God through Jeremiah that there would
be a seventy year period where Israel would be under judgment for their sin and
their rebellion toward God, and that at the end of that seventy years they
would be restored. So we find the Amaya starting chapter one, he's interceding.
When we turned to Daniel, we see Daniel interceding. And if you
remember, right, because we're coming into that season ourselves, right, I
know, we've been feasting, but we're about ready to go into fasting.
And so our twenty one day Daniel fast is coming up shortly, and so
he's praying, he's interceding, and it says that like the skies were like
brass, and there was no answer. But at the end of the twenty
one day period, it says that he has an angelic visitation and the angel
that appears to him says that the Prince of Persia was standing against your answer
coming through. Remember that. Let me you remember that Daniel chapter ten,
the Prince of Persia was actually resisting the answer of your prayer having a breakthrough.
And so Michael, by the way, is the elohem, the prince
that was given lordship from an angelic perspective over the children of Israel. And
so it says that Michael is the one that came to Daniel and they needed
assistance. It says there was a war in the spirit realm, and then
they broke through the resistance that the Prince of Persia had put up against their
answer, and now they had come with the answer to Daniel's prayer, Daniel's
prayer of intercession on behalf of the children of Israel. So there's this there's
warfare going on in the spirit realm all the time. There's things going on
in the spirit rum all the time. And you've got these sixty nine Elohim,
unclean angelic beings that have had dominion over the nations since the division of
the Nations, and now those unclean ones have been conquered by Jesus. But
Paul says, we still have a wrestling match going on. There's still a
wrestling match going on, and the wrestling match, the victory of the wrestling
match over the nations is very much determined the winner, the victory the plunder
of the nations, that bringing in of the nations into the Gospel. It's
very much determined by those who rise up in intercession, as Nearby did,
as Daniel did, and as Jesus modeled force as the ultimate intercessor. So
when we think about Jesus as this intercessor, we think about him, we
have to see that it's not just somebody who stands between us and God,
but he is a defender. He is an avenger that on behalf of the
sons of Adam still to this day, because he ever lives to make intercession
on our behalf. That means that up until this day and still that he
is releasing over the body of Christ, the believers, those who are one
with Him in the spirit, the spirit of intercession, the ministry of intercession,
the spirit of a defender, the spirit of an avenger. That we
are the ultimate expression of how this whole victory is going to play out.
And I'm just saying this because sometimes we need a refreshing on this, because
this whole mindset has a tendency to leak because what our flesh knows and what
our flesh understands, what carnality understands, we understand it works, we understand
legalism, we understand self righteousness. So we have a tendency to see people
through that lens as well. So that's part of what has to be conquered,
is seeing people through the wrong lens. Isaiahk you one, let me
just finish it real quick. You know, if what Father has is bad
news, right, because I mean if he's if he's if he's if he's
about crushing people and beating people up, if this whole thing is like like
he's mad with people, Like if Father is really mad with people, if
Jesus is the one assigned to the earth because he's because Father is mad at
people. Then even this passage about him which he quoted is being fulfilled through
him, wouldn't make sense? Like, why would he be bringing good news
to the poor. The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the
poor. Wouldn't you want to bring like a rebuke to the poor, right,
wouldn't that make more sense? He has sent me to bind up the
broken hearted, But didn't they get Aren't they broken hearted because they had something
to do with it? Aren't they just stupid? And he's sent me to
release from darkness prisoners? But why are they hanging out in darkness? Don't
you know that they're the problem? And they're white? Are in darkness because
they're so dark? And to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. But
he goes on to define the year of the Lord's favor it's favor for humans
and its vengeance on Satan. We have to understand the context. It's favor
for humans. He is the livings. You believe he is the living fiftieth
year, he is the living embodiment. And that's what intercession is all about.
What intercession is all about is about confronting those that would devour and harm
our friends. Our relatives and our enemies, to proclaim the year Lord's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
to provide for those who grieve in Zion, and bestow upon them a crown
of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a
garment of praise instead of despair. Oh, and didn't you know they're actually
royalty and they're going to be called oaks of righteousness. The planting of the
Lord for the display of his splendor, isn't that crazy? I love it
that the Lord, that this spirit of intercession, that in the ministry of
the Lord, the Lord doesn't wait for people to manifest hunger. The Lord
doesn't wait for people to come to him. That an intercessor or a defender
or an avenger is observant. The Lord was observant, and so he's not
waiting. And this is Isaiah sixty five, which is kind of crazy Isaiah
sixty five. And I kind of thought of it during worship, so I
looked it up. And so if you see me messing with my phone most
of the time up here, I'm not on Facebook. I'm actually like having
a download of something from the Holy Spirit. So Isaiah sixty five, I
revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. I was found by
those who did not seek me, to a nation that did not call on
my name. I said, here am I. This is kind of crazy.
There goes my water. This is kind of crazy. But don't worry
about it. But the heart of Father. See, we have a tendency
to think. If they move toward me, I'll move toward them. If
they appear hungry, I'll make myself available if they seem to if they seem
to want prayer, then I'll pray for them. But if they don't seem
to be open, I don't want to infringe on their personal space. Jesus
infringed. God is an infringer. The spirit of defending and a is a
spirit from God that infringes that. It gets into your personal space, it
gets into your grill. And this is what he's modeling for us. Everything
that he's doing, he's modeling for us. It's like, you know,
he goes into the synagogue. Look chapter four. After he this is the
first day of his ministry. He goes into the synagogue. He goes to
Nazareth on the Sabbath Day verse sixteen, and the prophet the scrolls handed to
him. But then he goes down to Capernaum verse thirty one, into a
town in Galilee, and he teaches a little bit there. And then in
the synagogue there's a man with an impure spirit. He cries out at the
top of his voice, going away, to what do we have to do
with you, Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us? I
know who you are, the Holy One of God? He says, be
quiet and come out of him, And immediately the guy's delivered. And then
it just goes on, you know, the ministry just goes on. Jesus
leaves the synagogue. He goes to the home of Simon and his mother in
law who's suffering from a high fever. They asked Jesus to help her.
He've been over and rebuke the fever. They've never seen a fever rebuked.
At sunset, people were brought to Jesus and had all kinds of various sicknesses
and diseases, and he lays his hands on them and he heals them.
This is we're still in Looke four. We haven't even gotten I mean,
like this is just the beginning of stuff that he's doing, and what he's
doing all the way through. He's showing us what an intercessor does. He's
showing us what an advenger does. He's showing us what a defender does.
Now, I know, around here we talk about deliverance and we talk about
how you're deputized. But most of the time when we talk about deliverance and
we talk about how you're deputized, it's most of the time it's like in
a private session, Roman says, you know, uh, Pastor Dwine,
could you pray with me? I got something really bugging me or something kind
of been you know, just kind of harming me or my family, or
you know, somebody comes to me, mister Craig, or you know,
somebody comes mad Or Roger one's prayer and you sat down with them, and
at that moment you clothe yourself with intercessor, defender, avenger. And it's
not at that moment, you know what, It's not about confronting them,
is it. No, it's not about confronting them. Oh, well,
I'm glad you have a we're going to have this session together. So you've
got some vulnerabilities, eh, so you've been having some rough times. I
learned you something. No. I sat down across from the table from them,
deputized in the authority of Jesus, as an avenger, as a defender,
as an intercessor. I'm going to get between them and Father, and
I'm going to get between them and the enemy. Now, Father, this
is your son down here, and I know. I know that they deserve
mercy not judgment, because of what Jesus done on their behalf. Well,
you can't say that about non Christians. Oh yeah, you're messed up.
Yes you can, Yes you can, And yes Jesus did. And everywhere
he went. Nobody had to get qualified to get healed. Everywhere Jesus went,
nobody had to get qualified to get healed. Everywhere he went. Nobody
had to get qualified to get healed. Nobody had to get qualified religiously to
get healed or ministered to or loved or forgiven. Nobody had to get qualified.
Nobody had to measure up. Nobody had to come through a few hoops.
Nobody had to Nobody had to do things before he was prophesying over Nathaniel
or over Levi or over the Centurion. Nobody had to do anything to measure
up mark five. You know the story in mark five. Mark five comes
right after mark four. This is where they're going across the water in the
boat and the big storm rows and a big storm rose. Maybe the storm
arose because they knew who was on the other side. So when they got
to the other side, after he rebuked the wind and the waves, maybe
he knew what was on the other side. And so when they got to
the other side, here's the madman from the gatherings, And here's this guy
naked, and he's up on the beach a little bit. And if you
came up in your little bayliner boat with your evn rude motor and you saw
a naked guy running around, you might be like, we're at the wrong
beach. Honey, turned around, put the boat in reverse. Please don't
put down the anchor. We're not going in. But no, Jesus.
From a distance, he starts commanding the spirit to leave him alone. He's
not speaking to the man. We don't even know that the man could hear
him. The spirits in the man heard him, but at a distance he's
commanding get out of him, leave him alone. This is the spirit of
the Avenger. This is what we're called to church. This is what we're
anointed for Church. We are the embodiment of the Avenger. This is March.
This guy didn't ask for it. The guy didn't ask for it.
In fact is if you would have listened to the voice that came out of
the man, it would have been exactly the opposite of being asked. It
would have been the opposite. He yelled, what have we to do with
you? Right like they are resisting Mark five one through ten. They're resisting.
If Jesus would have paid attention to the voice that he heard, he
would have said, oh wrong, beach, guys, back it up.
This guy wants nothing to do with us. But he knew that it was
not the spirit of the man speaking. He knew his spirit was speaking through
the man, and so he continues in his advancement of attacking the spirit that
was speaking through the man. We have to realize Ephesian six ten through eighteen
that our intercession over people is so effective that we're not fighting with flesh and
blood. We're not fighting with flesh and blood. We're not fighting with flesh
and blood. We're not fighting with flesh and blood. We're not fighting with
flesh and blood. We are at war with principalities and powers He's unclean egelo
Him that have been loosed, and we're loosed to assert their will through the
people of their nations, holding them in captivity. But now they have been
put under the feet of Jesus, and what's left for us to do is
to confront them in our authority and be an intercessor, like a defender and
an avenger. Because if we begin to do that in the spirit, then
our activity, our behavior, what we walk out in the natural will reflect
the open doors that have been created in the spirit realm, because as Paul
instructs us to do, we've entered in the intercession. Intercession first in the
spirit over people, over tribes, over kindreds, over tongues, over nations.
And then we've lived as an intercessor, dispensing love, dispensing healing,
dispensing kindness to those who aren't worthy. But we're not so worthy ourselves,
are we? Let's sad this morning John twenty verse twenty. After he said
this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were overjoyed
when they saw the Lord. This is when he breathed on them, and
they received the Holy Spirit. And again Jesus said, peace be with you,
as the Father has sent me. I am sending you as the Father
has sent me. I am sending you. This is the This is the
prepare the way of the Lord. Cry of John the Baptist to a people
despoiled, It says, a people despoiled, the people that were under the
influence of darkness. And he came announcing the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
And he came opening the door for the Lord. And I'm telling you
today that our intercession opens the door. Our intercession pairs the way of the
Lord in the hearts of the people around us. And it might be the
greatest expression of love, for no greater love has a person. Then they
would lay down their life for a friend. If you spend yourself in prayer
for somebody, a friend or an enemy, that is an expression of love,
and your attraction to them in prayer will draw the love out of you.
So in person, the most powerful weapon that we have, the love
of God, will pierce through the vulnerability of their heart and open them up
to be prepared for the Lord, and his visit will be welcomed and not
refused, because we prepared the way of the Lord in their own heart through
the spirit of intercession in prayer and the lifestyle of a defender and an avenger
against their enemies. And God cares about every person that much the sons of
Adam, the sons of Adam. Jesus has come that the enemies of the
sons of Adam would be put under their feet, and that they would be
redeemed restored to God. Father, we just welcome you right now. Com
on, would you put up your hands with me all across this auditorium,
and just welcome the revelation of love through intercession, Holy Spirit. We welcome
the revelation of love through intercession. Not just the intercession of standing between one
who is suffering or lost, or poor, or broken or held captive and
you, Father, but standing as an avenger, standing as Isaiah saw Jesus,
as a defender and an avenger, standing on their behalf against the enemy,
standing on their behalf against darkness and against the spirits that hold them captive.
Only Spirit quicken our understanding and quicken the ministry of love through us,
that while they are yet unworthy, we join with him who died for them,
that the Love of God would be awakened within them. We thank you
for today receive it in this Christmas season. We receive it now in Jesus'
name. And everybody said, God, bless your church. Let's worship as
we go.