And if you have a Bible, we're going to be in the 10th chapter of the gospel of Luke.
From here on out, Luke is going to be sharing some stuff that we don't see in the other
gospels, as he already has. But up to this point, Jesus is trying to set his disciples straight
and teaching them to the ways of the Lord. And we have. We,
we saw last time when James and John, aka the Sons of Thunder, wanted to, you know, be like Elijah
and call fire down and fry people.
I don't know if that's your heart or not, but I know sometimes during an election season,
you struggle with that.
Those are things that you must put behind you.
And as Jesus said, we didn't come to kill, okay?
We didn't come to kill.
we came to save and to love to be childlike.
He tells them, follow me, don't be distracted.
And some of these would make a vow to follow,
but then they were distracted.
The one wanted to bury his father.
Jesus said, let the dead bury their dead.
Then he ended chapter 9 with whatever you do, don't look back.
Don't look back there.
Now, I go back there sometimes and remember, remembering the things that God has rescued me from,
mainly myself, and myself is always present.
So that's a struggle, but there's things that I used to struggle with that I don't struggle
with now, and I'm so thankful for that.
And I don't want to go back there because it's destructive.
It's a lie.
So above all, don't put anything in front of Jesus.
He requires that of us.
And how often we do, right?
That's part of this spiritual battle that we're in in life,
is to keep the first things first,
because there's so many things jockey in for that first position in your life and in mind.
And so he starts,
chapter 10 here we're just going to read the first 12 verses if you'll read along with me
I'm reading from the new king James version I think let me see here let me make sure this is
yes my my version is a new king James version so in verse one of chapter 10 of the book of
Luke it says after these things after what things the things that I just mentioned
Jesus trying to line out his disciples. After these things, the Lord appointed 70 others also,
and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to go.
And then he said to them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray
the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
carry neither money bag nor knapsack nor sandals nor greet no one along the road but whatever house you enter
first say peace to this house and if a son of peace is there your peace will rest on it if not it will
return to you and remain in the same house eating and drinking such things as they give for the labor
is worthy of his wages do not go from house to house whatever city you enter and they
you eat such things as are set before you and heal the sick there and say to them the kingdom of god
has come near you but whatever city you enter and they do not receive you go out into its streets and say
the very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you nevertheless know this that the
kingdom of god has come near you but i say to you that it will be more tolerable in the day of sodom
than for that city. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you for your word. Lord, it's holy. It's true.
And Lord, I pray that it would sink deep into our hearts as your word tells us that it is like a sword that cuts. It cuts coming and it cuts going.
And so may it cut deep into our hearts, Lord, that would change our conscience, that would change the way we think, Lord, Jesus, that your word is that discerner of the thoughts and the intents of our heart, Lord.
so may they be right before you now as we look at your word in Jesus' name. Amen.
And so here it says, and all of a sudden it's not just the 12 anymore, but it's 70.
Right? He says, and these things the Lord appointed, after these things, he appointed 70 others also,
and they went out two by two. Now, why two by two? Well, the proverb says that two is better than one, right?
Two is better than one.
For if one falls down, there'll be someone there to help them up.
Right?
I usually share that in a marriage, that a husband and wife, two or better than one.
And the Bible talks about keeping each other warm.
My little bride keeps me warm at night.
And I've needed her the last couple nights because it's been a little chilly.
That's really cool.
But two is better than one.
Because the Bible talks about if one, if one can put a hundred to flight, two can put 10,000 to flight.
Wow.
That's some serious multiplication there.
And so it is.
Where in Jesus, where two or more are gathered together in my name there, I am in the midst.
And there's this idea of community and that you're helping one another.
When my wife and I, I was still competing in rodeo, but I just had this passion to share the gospel as I competed.
And my wife was all in.
And it was just me and her a lot of times.
There were a lot of times when we had kids in tow also.
But we would go and we would do ministry at the rodeo.
So I would share the gospel.
That was before, we never even sang.
I never, I just had a passion to do it.
So I would ask the rodeo secretary when I went in her.
I say, hey, we're going to be there a little early on Saturday before the performance.
Do you guys mind if we do a little Bible study in the grandstands?
And I don't know if I could have done that without her.
She was a driving factor.
I don't know if I could be up here without her.
She's my support.
And my biggest cheerleader and my biggest critic.
sometimes when that is in place.
So, but 70, notice, this is, this is, goes far beyond.
You remember the disciples were kind of upset in the last chapter about,
about the guy casting out the demons in Jesus' name, and Jesus said,
don't, he who is for, he who does that, they're not against us, they're for us.
He's for us.
Don't, leave him alone.
And, um, and we talked about that.
And maybe that's why Jesus is doing this.
He's sending out, listen, he's not just for the Jews,
though Bible says he came to the Jew first.
He's for the whole world.
He's the savior of the whole world.
And the more voices, right, that are proclaiming the gospel.
Are you doing that when you have an opportunity?
Do you know what the gospel is?
The gospel is so elementary.
Years ago at the school, we would, the first and,
second graders would adopt a rest home. And we would go to these rest homes. And these first and
second graders, I would watch them lead people in their late 80s and 90s and even centurions
over a hundred years old. They would lead them to Jesus, six and seven and eight year olds.
I mean, I would watch and I'd go, you're my hero. I wouldn't be like you. They would lead people
who are right at death's door to Jesus, sharing the gospel.
Do you believe in Jesus?
They would say, do you know, he died on a cross and he rose again the third day?
If you believe him, you have everlasting life.
Do you want everlasting life?
Well, yeah, I believe I do.
And these kids would pray with these old people.
I'm thinking, wow.
Now, if they can do it, I can do it.
If I can do it, you can do it.
How often do you do that?
You get friends and family members that go to the hospital,
and they're laying there in bed, and they're very vulnerable,
and they're a captive audience.
That's where you need to start sharing the gospel.
That's what I did.
Lord, I know how to, I need to share the gospel.
Well, I first started by packing my Bible to work with me.
I was an equipment operator, so I was around dirt crew all the time.
I don't know if you've been around dirt crew,
but dirt crews are pretty colorful.
And I got dubbed real quick, the Jesus freak.
Though I tried not to say too much about it, unless I was asked,
but then pretty soon people would, they would have a family crisis,
and they would come to the Jesus freak and ask me to do a funeral
or counsel with a teenager.
I'm just like, what?
And that's when I told the Lord.
I said, okay, Lord, I'll never say no.
you just have to make yourself available.
Put your hand to the plow,
look for opportunities to share the gospel, and do it.
And that's what these guys.
Obviously, they'd been following Jesus.
Jesus goes, all right, I'm going to go into these towns.
But before I do, I'm going to send you guys out.
And you guys go tell them.
Right, you go tell them the good news.
You go tell them the kingdom of heaven has come near to you and heal their sick.
Get their attention.
and then the Lord, I'll come in and lower the bone on them.
And so he sent them out 70.
So two groups, some believe it's 72.
There's a couple, there's a little controversy there, whether it was at 70 or 72,
either 35 groups of two or 36 groups of two.
And they went out.
Some believe this is from Genesis chapter 10, the table of nations, really Jesus kind of
to the fact that the gospel is for the whole world?
Because he'd already sent out the 12, right?
And now he's sending out 70.
And we see 70 nations there in Genesis chapter 10.
Also, when Moses goes into the promised land,
and they're kind of setting up a ministry team,
you know, Jethro suggests that he has some help.
So 70 guys come in and they begin to help.
Who eventually became the sad hedron,
the religious people of the day.
There was 70 of the Sanhedron.
We don't know for sure, but I'm sure they covered a whole lot more ground than the 12 did.
A whole lot more ground.
And so then in verse 2, as he sends them out, in verse 2 he says, and he said,
he says, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.
Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest.
Who does the harvesting? God does. God moves on people's hearts to go share the gospel.
Who calls? God does. Not the church. We live in a culture here where the church calls young people
to go out and share the so-called gospel. The church is not supposed to call you. God's supposed to call you.
Right? The church isn't God. The church is a servant of God.
right? The bride of Christ that we're connected, we're his body. And so he's the one that needs to
call us and to direct us. And so he says, pray that the Lord of the harvest, we need more workers.
We need to pray. Right? The building should be getting fired up here in the next month
and a half or so, and we're going to need some help. Just volunteer stuff, sweat, equity.
is what we're going to do.
I'm just praying that the Lord has people step up.
And some of you have already volunteered,
and we've been this holding pattern,
and I'm frustrated, but good things come to those who wait.
So here I am in the waiting process.
But I'm just praying when the need is there
and the work needs to be done that the Lord would supply
those laborers. And so he says, pray here. Pray you guys. You know, the fields are white unto harvest.
Pray that the Lord sends people. I watched one of those corny little movies here the other day.
And it was about this ex-football player that was all lamed up. And he lived in the corn country.
But he went out on a limb and he planted a bunch of soy beans. And he went and borrowed his neighbor's
combine to start combining. And he had had a tree fall under his.
field during the, during the year. But the beans had covered up. He went and started cutting it up
and got called out on a, I don't know if it was a volunteer firefighter thing or what, but he forgot to get
all of the logs out and he hit with his, with his neighbor's combine, he hit one of those logs
and tore the header up. And it was two weeks out and the rain was coming and soybeans rot really
easy in the pod. And he was, he was devastated. He said, I'm going to lose this whole crop. I'm
going to go bankrupt. The bank wants some money. They're going to call, they're already calling for my
loan. And all of a sudden, word got around. And the townspeople, hundreds and hundreds of people,
they went out and picked the beans by hand. Right? The Lord sent laborers. And that's like the
world right now, you guys. It is ripe. People need to hear some good news.
that you can come to a God who loves you and you can surrender your life to him.
And because of the incredible sacrifice that Jesus made for us,
we have this hope that is, it just makes you giddy.
Can't you hear the kids in the back?
They're having a blast.
And it does.
But the labors.
And I want people that the Lord moves on.
I don't want people to just show up, well, I guess we've got to do this.
Yeah.
Check off the box.
No.
If you can't do it cheerfully, man, stay home.
Stay on your phone.
You know, go walk the mall.
I don't know.
Get a jamba juice or something.
You know, if you can't do it, God loves someone who gives hilariously, right?
And don't you just love working around people that are just, they're just excited?
They've got a smile on their face.
and a spring in their step, and that is just really easy to be around.
And those are the people that I want to, you know, step out and be used.
Because I'm telling you, there is no greater joy than doing what these 70 are getting to do here.
There's no greater joy than sharing the good news with somebody and having them respond to Jesus.
Now, they don't only respond in a positive way, and you've got to let that go.
and keep on truck and keep your hand to the plow.
So he says, pray.
Instead of praying for an easier job,
they were to pray for more labors to join them.
And we today need to pray that same prayer.
And note that there are labors, not spectators.
We've got a lot of spectators in the church today, right?
Who pray for more labors.
Too many Christians are praying for,
somebody else to do a job, they're unwilling to do themselves. And it's not rocket science.
Listen, we're all qualified. Everyone in this room is qualified for God uses the foolish things of the
world. And here we are. Right? Here we are. I mean, the biggest bonehead in the room is up here behind the
pulpit. Go figure. I don't know. But God will. We just have to be willing. And you will be amazed at the
doors that the Lord will open. Versus three and four here, it says, go your way. Behold, I send you out
as lambs among wolves carrying either money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road.
He's saying, be focused, right? Get out there. But no.
know this, lambs among wolves. Well, that's intimidating. I might die. It's part of the calling.
Sorry. Come and die, right? If you're going to come after me, Jesus said, pick up your cross.
Die daily. Die to yourself. But if anybody has a feeling of what the wolves of the world like,
it's Jeff
that stood up here a little bit ago
right
the letters that
people have been writing the things that people have been saying about
about Jeff Alldridge
really
and you know it when you read it
that's a lie
right and some of them are even attaching their name to it
he's just like well that was stupid
It is amazing to me that people who are deceived,
they would tell a lie when the truth would do their more good.
Right?
The truth would do them more good.
And so he says, oh, by the way, that you will be lambs among wolves.
So you've got to learn to hide and you've got to learn to run fast.
Warren Weirsby says, any man who takes Jesus Christ seriously becomes a target for the devil.
Right?
Anyone, man or woman.
The old Southern Baptist preacher Vance Havner used to say,
most church members do not give Satan enough trouble to arouse his opposition.
Right?
Guilty is charged.
But there's an urgency here.
The Lord's saying, no, you just go.
Go.
You don't take, right?
You go.
You just don't take supplies, don't take any money.
Just go.
That way they have to totally trust the Lord.
They have to activate their faith.
Really?
We're just going to go?
We're just going to step?
Yeah, you're going to step.
You know what Jesus, or God, the Father, Yahweh,
told the children of Israel,
everywhere you put your foot, everywhere you step, it's your ground, everywhere you step,
everywhere you step, it's your ground. Why? Because God is with you. Right? As he told
Joshua, he's with you wherever you go. And it's yours. I'm giving it to you. I'm giving you the
victory. We as believers, we're fighting from a place of victory. We don't have to go be victorious,
because Christ has already been victorious. So we just go do what he calls us to do. We'll
be victorious.
And so,
you got some mail.
So you have to have this laser focus when the Lord calls you.
These guys were,
obviously they were supposed to be like lambs.
So they were ambassadors of peace bringing healing to
the sick, deliverance to the possessed, and the good news of salvation to lost sinners.
Like Joshua's army of old, the first proclaimed peace to the cities.
If a city rejected the offer of peace, then it chose judgment.
It is a serious thing to reject the ambassadors that God sends your way.
And in Deuteronomy it says, you know, well, here, I'm going to back up a little bit.
I'm going to do verses six and seven first here, or excuse me, verses five and six.
But whatever house you enter first say, peace to this house.
And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it.
If not, it will return to you.
If they receive it, if they were going to receive you as an ambassador of Christ Jesus.
Do you receive that?
When people come talk to you, don't you love it when people, those of you were
who are saved, when people come up and try to witness to you, I just love it.
Kind of just let them ramble.
We want to hear about Jesus?
Oh, I'd love to hear about Jesus.
Could you tell me?
It's receiving, right?
Some people don't want to hear it.
Ah, get out of here.
You know, they'll take your track and throw it on the ground to stomp on it.
That's what I think of your tract.
Do they not know what they're doing?
Right?
This is good news.
This is good news coming to you as a human being.
You ought to listen.
That's what Jesus said anyway.
He who has ears to hear.
Let him hear.
And so when somebody comes to you, you should listen.
It's amazing.
Isn't it amazing how people's lives intersect?
When you just, it's amazing how the people you come across.
You know, and it's like,
in this context is peace or no peace.
You either receive it and receive peace or there's a rejection.
There's no peace.
What do you want?
You want peace in your life?
Embrace these things that the Lord is teaching us here.
Proclaim peace over that house.
Obviously, lambs are peaceful.
And if not, then sick the shepherd on.
I'm sick of Lord.
Right?
When we were going to Costa Rica last year, we were in an airport and a couple guys were
reading their Bibles and this little Hispanic couple across the way we're kind of looking
at us and smiling.
We got to visit with him, and he was a pastor in Texas.
This guy was.
And so we just had sweet fellowship.
And then Connie and I, as we were walking out of the airport, once we got to Costa
We met a guy from the States. He's in his 80s. He's been going to Costa Rica for 30 years doing
missionary work with the orphanages and stuff there, and him and his wife. And they gave us their
card, and we just had sweet fellowship. But then there was this other guy's name was Alex.
And Stan and Sandy Essling were ministering to Alex, and Alex was convinced that he was a son of Satan.
Right. So he didn't receive what we were trying to share with him. And it's funny because one of our
layovers, we ended up in another airport. I think we saw him in, we saw him in Salt Lake,
and then we ran into him again in Miami. Same guy. And shared with him again. He had a
couple opportunities to come to Jesus. And he didn't take it. I'm wondering where he's
out today. So in Deuteronomy,
it was a serious thing in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 20, it says,
when you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it.
Now, what army does that?
God's army, God's people.
God's people do that.
He says, proclaim an offer of peace to that place that you're going to go in and take,
and it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace and open to you,
then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you and serve you.
That you don't have to die.
Do you want peace?
Then just accept.
Accept the fact of defeat or surrender.
You want your sinful life defeated?
Surrender to Jesus.
That's what it takes.
But you don't have to.
Just like these people didn't have to.
they could make that decision.
And so in verse 7, he says,
remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give you
for the labor is worthy of his wages and do not go from house to house.
In other words, kind of set up a command post where you're accepted,
the people are excited to serve along with you, right?
And then you go out and you go out into these cities where I'm going to go
and you tell them, you heal their sick and you cast out the demons,
and you preach the gospel, tell them the kingdom of God is near.
And that's what Jesus did, right?
He went, he was raised there in Nazareth,
and so he just went a few miles away to Copernum.
That's where he operated from was Copernum.
And so he says, for them to do the same thing.
And then in verse 8, it says in whatever city you enter
and they receive you eat such things as they set before you.
I remember having to do this in Africa.
I had no idea what was setting before me.
And I said, oh, Lord, whatever this feels like in my mouth, please let me swallow it.
It was some wild stuff there in Africa.
But I just ate it, you know, and thanking the Lord for it.
And, you know, obviously you don't want to offend the people that you're trying to minister to.
And so it says, and heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near you.
but whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say the very
dust of your city, which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the
kingdom of God has come near you, but I say to you that it will be more tolerable in the day of Sodom than for
that city. Wow. You never really hear about that. Judgment for refusing to receive the gospel.
but that's true.
But how many gospel preachers don't say that, right?
This is a horrible thing to reject the good news of the Lord Jesus.
It's tough.
He says the dust is going to be a witness against you.
Could you imagine it?
Judgment Day that the stones rising up and condemning people who didn't receive Jesus?
And so he says, it will be more tolerable in the day of, do you remember what happened to Sodom
anymore?
They became crispy craters.
I mean, really crispy.
Some excavations found it so hot that got so hot there that the ground became like glass.
It got so hot there at Sodom.
why is that well let's let's keep going here right if they receive then heal and preach if they don't
then dust your feet off it is not good to reject the work of jesus right because the bible says
that's that's what we put our faith in what what the work of god is
is what Jesus did. It's his work, right? John 629. I quote it all the time. I love the verse.
Right? This is the work of God that you believe in the one that the Father has sent. That's the
work of God. But people don't want to believe in Jesus. Right? They want to sign. They want to come to
God on their own terms. God's not into that. No, you don't come to me on your terms. You
come to me, the Lord says, on my terms. Who's God here? It's kind of like parents that tell me,
well, I can't get him to what? He's two years old. You can buy a pair of handcuffs if you have to.
You're the parent for crying out loud. Either light him up, right? Give him some consequences that are
painful and teach him. Oh, Lord.
there is a lot of foolishness that would go by the wayside if the Board of Education was applied to the seat of learning, right?
For sure, for sure.
But just believe the work that he did.
Who rose from the dead?
Whoever did that?
Nobody's ever done that except Jesus.
He rose from the dead.
man's greatest fear he conquered.
How can people thumb their nose at him?
He tells him in John 10, right?
Just believe the work.
Believe the work that I did.
Just believe that.
And you'd be in a good spot.
If I do not, this is John chapter 10, verse 37 through 39.
If I do not do the work of my father, do not believe me.
but if I do
though you do not believe me
believe the work that you may know
and believe that the father is in me
and I in him
therefore they sought again to seize him
but he escaped out of their hand
that
community is Sodom
they're going to experience what Sodom
in fact it was going to be more tolerable
right than
what was going to happen
in Sodom and he goes on
doesn't stop there. He doubles down in verse 13, but woe to you, Corazin, who, woe to you
Bessera, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tire and Ziden,
they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more
tolerable for Tire and Siden at the judgment than for you. And you, Copernum, who are exalted
to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. He who has, he who
hears you, here's me. He who rejects you rejects me. And he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.
How often has the gospel been rejected simply because of who is sharing it? I don't like him.
So I'm not going to listen to him. I just don't like him. The Lord convicted me of this when I was a young
Christian. When I was a young Christian, I listened to J. Vernon McGee, teach through the Bible.
Jay Vernon McGee, dearly beloved.
Who remembers Jay Vernon McGee?
I was in California, and I mean, the guy's voice just drove me crazy.
And I was so irritated by it.
And it was like the Lord whispered to my heart one day and said,
Scotty, would you just listen to what he's saying?
Forget about how he sounds.
Listen to what he's saying.
The brilliant Bible teacher, Jay Vernon McGee,
you women would love him because he's the one that said about women wearing makeup.
The barn needs painting, paint it.
That's my kind of man.
But he says,
woe to these cities.
They came in with this message.
They came in with this message of the kingdom
And they must have got shunned, right?
Corazine, we don't really know about that city,
but we do know about Besser.
Besser is where the feeding of the 5,000 happened.
And then he heals the blind man with spit in his eye and Mark there at Bessera.
And so he did some pretty powerful things.
But notice what he says to Copernum.
He says in verse 15.
and you, Copernum, who are exalted to heaven,
will be brought down to Hades.
Why is that?
Listen, Jesus Christ came and walked this earth, folks.
Right?
And he interacted with the people there in Israel,
right around the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
The God of the universe visited his creation.
Right?
And to not respond to that would heap an unbelievable amount of judgment on your head or mine to not receive that?
The reason Copernum seems to have a graded degree, he says, I will drag you down to hell.
Because that's where Jesus did his ministry there at Copernum.
That's where he operated out of.
And there he healed the centuriant servant.
he cast out a demon there in the synagogue.
He healed Peter's mother-in-law.
He also healed a paralytic who was lowered through a roof there at Copernum,
raised the daughter of J. Irish from the dead.
Jesus taught in the synagogues and delivered the bread of life discourse there in Copernum.
And they wouldn't listen.
He is totally just in frying every one of them.
I mean frying them into the depths and the hottest part of hell.
because that's who he is.
He just wants us to come to him.
He doesn't make us.
He says, you decide.
Obviously, the consequences are pretty weighty, I would say.
But that's what he says to him.
And so this tells me that.
that there are degrees of sin.
There are degrees of judgment.
Is there a greater sin than not accepting Jesus Christ?
He who has the son has life.
He who does not have the son is condemned.
Right?
He who has a son has life.
He who does not have the son is condemned.
It's just that simple.
Why would we not seek him?
And some will say, well, sin is sin.
There seems to be degrees of sin, but there also seems to be degrees here of judgment.
And there are degrees of judgment, like there are degrees of sin.
Now, I can lust after a woman.
That's sinful.
And some, especially men, they surmise that, well, if I've lusted after, I've already done it in my heart, so I might as well just go do it.
Really?
how would your wife be with that?
Not too good, right?
Now that's one thing to have a thought, right?
And the Bible says we're actually able to take thoughts captives, right?
Though lusting is sin, it's not as grave as going and going through with the act of adultery.
And I don't know about you, but I just soon forego
at all and walk with Jesus, right?
Rejecting the message is not good, right?
It appears that judgment compounds, right?
Think about all the times over the years that you've heard the gospel.
And you can probably look back to that time that you responded to the gospel.
But I remember hearing the gospel several times and not responding.
And oh, how I look back at that and shaken my boots now.
to think that how many more times would I have had to hear the gospel where my heart would have been so hard that I wouldn't respond it?
I'm so thankful that I responded.
Right.
Verse 16 says, and he who hears you, hears me.
We're his ambassadors, you and I.
Now, I've had drunks try to talk to me about Jesus.
Now, I don't know how many people that those drunks led to Jesus, but I'm sure probably.
be some. But he who hears you,
hears me. So what's your message? Is it filled with Jesus? Are you going to throw some of
your opinions in there? Keep it simple, right? He who hears you, hears me. He who rejects
you rejects me. So don't get all watered up when you try to show Jesus with somebody and they
go, get out of my face, you freak. God bless you. See you later.
maybe
but just
they're not rejecting you
Jesus says they're rejecting me
right and when they hear you
if they hear you they hear me
he who rejects me
Jesus says rejects him who sent me
totally
just rejecting God
Then he says, then the 70 returned with joy, saying,
Lord, even the demons are subject in your name.
And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpencing scorpions
and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you,
but rather rejoice because your names have been written in heaven.
That's the rejoicing.
And so he is redirecting the 70 because they're so excited about how much power they had.
Maybe because that one demon they couldn't cast out,
but these guys seems to be very successful.
And all the sudden, and Jesus kind of checks him, knows what he says there in 18,
and he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Oh, be careful.
He's saying, I think this is a fair warning that the Lord is giving the people there.
Right.
Be careful.
I saw Satan fall.
What caused Satan to fall?
Pride.
Right?
Pride.
Look at there, man.
The demons are subject to me.
My demon pounder.
You know?
Jesus says, be careful, I saw him fall from heaven.
F. B. Meyer says, be sure to rely not on numbers or organization, but on the name of Jesus.
Use not as a charm, but as a representing, but as representing his living and ascended might.
Right? You always keep Jesus between you and the stuff. All of it.
And so he's saying, don't rejoice in this.
But he says, I do give you authority.
I gave you authority over the demons.
I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
And nothing shall by any means hurt you.
A lot of people take that verse and run with it.
You know, Phil was just sharing with me here.
He says, you know, you was talking about all the people that need to jump around,
have all kinds of excitement and stuff.
And that's okay, right?
Well, he said, I had some military buddies that wanted to go to a church where they did snake handling.
And so there in the South, they have these poisonous snakes, right?
They have cotton mouths and copperheads.
And so they come out and sure them, these old boys, they, you know, they weren't real privy how things went.
So they sat right up in the front row.
And so they started handling these snakes, and pretty soon they started chucking them into the crowd.
He says, you've never seen any able to get out of church so fast in your life.
as those guys.
I don't know why you would do that, but.
You know, I mean, they just wanted to display, hey, we got power over these things.
We do have power over the enemy, but that's not what we rejoice in, right?
Jesus said, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you,
but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
you know this Thanksgiving season I a friend of mine called me the other day and
and we've both been I've been walking with the Lord for four or five years longer than him but
we've we've known each other kind of you know just brothers in Christ kind of we're
plowing in different fields but we're all headed in the same direction and he was his I'm just
so thankful that we got like-minded people that I got friends you know that that that and I
He said, dude, can you imagine why God's been so good to us?
Why has he kept us?
Right?
Why didn't kill us and put us in the hottest part of hell?
Because we were some of these people that rejected.
But God knew, right?
He just kept sending those hounds of heaven until you throw your hands in the air and surrender.
Maybe you need to do that today.
Do you know that your name's written in heaven?
because the Bible talks quite a bit about it.
And so Satan's not going to take any days off.
But in Daniel, it talks about that book.
God's like a spectacular record keeper.
He is spectacular in keeping records.
He knows every word.
that you've ever spoken.
That's scary.
Right?
That's really scary.
And it says, in Daniel chapter 10, it talks about the books.
And it says, in Daniel chapter 7, verse 10, a fiery stream issued and came from before him.
Him is capitalized.
This is God.
A thousand thousand's ministered to him.
10,000 times 10,000.
stood before him. The court was seated and the books were opened. The books were opened.
It talks about the books being opened. All these records that God has kept on your life and
mine. It's all written down. Oh no, really? Can't we just burn it?
But it correlates with Roman, or excuse me, Revelation chapter 20, verse 12 at the Great White
Throne one, it says, and I saw the dead small and great standing before God and books were opened.
And another book was open, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.
Every thought, every deed, every word recorded.
Jesus tells us that, right?
He says, on the day of judgment, people are going to give an account for every idle word they've ever spoken.
I can't tell you the vile stuff that has come out of this mouth of mine.
I mean vile.
And so, but notice the books and then the other book.
It's called the Book of Life.
Makes me breathe easy, right?
It's mentioned eight times in the New Testament.
right?
Someone's name can be blotted out of that book.
In other places, there's called a book of remembrance.
There's called a book of the living.
I don't know what all this means,
but God seems to be categorizing it.
In Psalm chapter 69, verse 28,
It says, let them, listen, let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous.
That your name could be blotted out of the book of the living.
It's almost like God has this book and every conception is probably recorded in that book.
That's how detailed God is.
Every conception is recorded in that book.
That'd be a big.
book. That'd be a great big book. But so it's like God's so gracious, but we can do things to get
our names blotted out of that book. Revelation 3.5 says, he who overcomes shall be clothed
in white garments and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, overcome what?
But as you read through the churches there in Revelation chapter 3, right?
You overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil.
You overcome those things.
Your name's written in the book of life.
If those things overcome you, then your name's blotted out.
So there's two blottings that can happen, right?
Your name can either be blotted out of the book of life or by the blood of Jesus.
All your sins can be blotted out.
You choose.
We choose, right?
We choose that.
So our name can be blotted out or our sin can be blotted out.
Goes back to the old thing I used to heard in the Calvert Chapel circles was,
if you're born once, you die twice.
If you're born twice, you die once.
And you may even get to escape that, right, if the rapture of the church happens.
Get it?
If you're born once, you die twice.
The Bible calls it the second death.
Right?
That those who refuse the gospel, right?
Those who are like Sodom and Tyre and Seidon, when they refuse the gospel, they're condemned.
But then when they receive the gospel, they have life.
And those who are condemned experience a second death.
It's like a spiritual death.
They have a physical death and a spiritual death.
But you don't cease to exist, right?
You can read more about this in Luke chapter 16 on your own.
It's pretty good.
So if you're born once, you die twice.
If you're born twice, if you're born again, you only die once.
And maybe not even that.
Because the Lord's coming.
Right?
And he's going to sound a trumpet.
Are you listening?
Be ready.
have your lamp trimmed, be ready because it's coming.
And it's coming very soon, I believe.
If you're not watching the events going on around the world right now,
I would suggest that you get plugged in and tuned in, checking it out.
Because what does it do?
It inspires me, right?
It inspires me to stay close to Jesus.
If I get lazy and don't want to read my Bible, I just kind of see what's happening in the world.
I think, oh, Lord, I need you now more today than I did yesterday.
it's a good thing.
And Jesus tells us to do that.
What?
Watch and pray.
For you don't know what hour the son of man is coming.
Right?
You just have to know you're on his team,
that your citizenship is in heaven,
as it tells us there in the book of Philippians
that we're citizens of heaven.
Just waiting, waiting for our train to come by.
Chee, chew, let's pray, shall we?
Father, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your love, Lord. Thank you that you called us to be your ambassadors. I have no idea why that is, Lord, that you call flawed, sinful, broken people to be your ambassadors. And then you equip us with all the equipment that we need to bring glory to you. And so, Lord, we just know that you're the mother load of the bread of life. May we find ourselves feeding.
on that bread, Lord, until you come. Lord, would you minister to the people who are here today,
Lord, knowing that it's just a simple act of receiving you. It's just a simple invitation of you
to come in, just like these disciples as they went through those towns and whatever house received
them. They brought peace. And that's our lives, Lord. We need your peace in these troublesome times.
as Paul told us in the last days, perilous ties will come.
But in the midst of all, Lord, we can have your joy and your peace.
So bless your people, I pray.
In Jesus' mighty name.
Amen.
Hey, God bless you.
Have a great week in Jesus.
The prayer team is going to be up here afterwards.
If you need someone to pray with you, please feel free to come up.
And have a great week.
Here comes December.