INVINCIBLE CHURCH 3-31-24

Invincible Church Sermon Notes
3/31/2024
Two Plans
John 10:7-18 and Luke 19:28-48
Just like every week, God’s given me a great message today! It’s the “Best News” ever for the people who choose the right plan. For everybody else, the news couldn’t be worse! Ready for the short version of it? Alright here it is… everybody’s going to die some day!
The Bible says, “choosing” Jesus is God’s plan! It’s the perfect plan and guarantees us eternal life in heaven! Not choosing Jesus is the enemy’s plan! It’s the bad plan and includes any and everything other than Jesus. The bad plan sends people to hell.
So, we all need to be thinking about choosing a plan for where we want to go after we die! And there’s only 2! But most people are consumed and focused on their worldly circumstances and situations and what’s happening to them here and now but only from an earthly perspective!
It’s why most people spend a lot of time thinking about what they’re going to do today or in the near future but they spend very little time thinking about where they’ll spend eternity… and how to help other people understand the importance of eternal decisions.
It’s why a lot of people today think that it’s always some other category of people trying to ruin all their hopes, plans, dreams and future! But when it’s natural man plotting against them, they’re usually just trying to increase their power, land and resources.
Our supernatural enemy, Satan’s, plan is way more dangerous than mortal man’s plot because it isn’t just to gain power and control. He wants to destroy us and keep us away from God because he hates God, Jesus and all followers of Jesus!
Part of Satan’s strategy is to pit God’s creation and God’s people against each other. But both God and Satan have a plan! God’s plan is based on love, grace, mercy, relationship and life. Satan’s plan is based on hate, depravity, destruction, separation and death! Let’s look at how Jesus describes it in…
John 10:7-18 NIV - 7 Therefore Jesus said again … “Very Truly I tell you … I Am The Gate for The Sheep! ... 8 All who have Come before Me are Thieves and Robbers … But The Sheep have Not Listened to them! ... 9 I Am The Gate … Whoever Enters through Me will Be Saved! ... They will Come In and Go Out … And Find Pasture! … 10 The thief Comes Only to Steal and Kill and Destroy … I have Come that they May have Life … And have It to The Full! ... 11 I Am The Good Shepherd! … The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for The Sheep! … 12 The Hired Hand is Not The Shepherd … And Does Not Own The Sheep! ... So, when he Sees The Wolf Coming … He Abandons The Sheep … And Runs Away! ... Then The Wolf Attacks The Flock … And Scatters It! ... 13 The man Runs Away because he Is a Hired Hand … And Cares Nothing for The Sheep! ... 14 I Am The Good Shepherd … I Know My Sheep … And My Sheep Know Me … 15 Just as The Father Knows Me … And I Know The Father … And I Lay Down My Life for The Sheep! ... 16 I have Other Sheep that are Not of this Sheep Pen! ... I must Bring them Also! ... They Too will Listen to My Voice … And there Shall Be One Flock … And One Shepherd … 17 The Reason My Father Loves Me is that I Lay Down My Life … Only to Take It Up Again! ... 18 No One Takes It from Me … But I Lay It Down of My Own Accord! ... I have Authority to Lay It Down … And Authority to Take It Up Again! ... This Command I Received from My Father!
Jesus explains both plans here in a context that the people would understand! Now, let’s go back a little further…
The first time Jesus physically shows up in the Bible is in Matthew 2… born of a virgin! Some wise-men (called magi) traveled thousands of miles from the far East to worship Him. They stopped in Jerusalem to find out where the Messian will be born, which is Bethlehem.
So, they’re going to follow the start of Bethlehem but before they leave Jerusalem, the evil King Herod says, when you find Him, send word back to me so I can go worship Him too! But what Herod really wanted to do was kill the “newborn king” because he felt threatened…
… by a baby king! The magi found Jesus but they didn’t tell King Herod because they figured out what he was really trying to do! (They weren’t called “wise-men” for nothing!) This infuriated Herod so he came up with another diabolical plan. We see it in…
Matthew 2:16 NIV - 16 When Herod Realized that he Had Been outwitted by The Magi … He was Furious … And he Gave Orders to Kill All The Boys in Bethlehem and Its Vicinity who were Two Years Old and Under … In Accordance with The Time he had Learned from The Magi!
In an evil attempt to maintain power and control over Israel, King Herod plots to kill the “King of the Jews” … the Messiah! So, he has all boys two years old and younger murdered!
Matthew applies the words of Jeremiah in the Old Testament to describe the crying out, sorrow, weeping and wailing of grief in the city of Rama as these children are being murdered! So, Jesus Himself, from the second He’s born, is being persecuted by the evil enemy!
It’s the devil’s plan! It’s still his plan! He wants to get rid of Jesus and His followers! And think about it, Satan’s still deceiving people into killing babies! Aborted babies never get the opportunity to grow up and become loving, strong, dedicated followers of Jesus!
Then, there’s a lot of people who claim to be atheist! They don’t believe in God or Satan. They think the spiritual realm is just a void. So, if a person believes there’s no God or no Satan, they’re basically saying there’s no source of good or evil… it’s to each his own.
Then, it’s just like the animals! But the moral code has to come from somewhere. If somebody says, ok, “I believe there’s a God”… then that means there’s good and the absence of good is evil… which means there’s potential for the evil realm to have a plan for our life too!
Evil infiltration is real. More people than ever are committing suicide, especially kids! Why would a teenager be thinking about committing suicide! They’re supposed to be playing sports, riding bikes, collecting coins, going to birthday parties or any other carefree activity kids do!
So where do suicidal thoughts come from? It doesn’t just happen! The reality is it comes from the infiltration of an evil world! And a lot of professing Christians aren’t comfortable talking about evil! But, Satan, Beelzebub, the devil, or whatever people want to call him… He’s real!
We have to resist him! On the other hand, some people are too comfortable talking about evil. They either take it way too lightly or they’re on board with it. Either way, it’s extremely dangerous. Evil isn’t some kind of game. Satan is the destroyer. And…
… He’s got a catastrophic plan to try and ruin people’s lives! God’s plan loves, creates, builds and restores. Satan’s plan hates, destroys, tears down and separates! Satan is jealous of God’s creation, power and sovereignty over all things and he hates Him!
Satan started his evil plan in the garden… and he’s still at it! We also see evidence of it from the second Jesus starts His public ministry at the age of 30! The religious leaders of the Jews (called Pharisees) hated Jesus too, so they plotted to destroy Him!
Matthew 12:14 NIV - 14 But The Pharisees went out … And Plotted How they Might Kill Jesus!
So, a big hindrance for followers of Jesus can be radical extremists who’re opposed to anything right, holy, just and pure… namely Jesus! But they aren’t the only ones! Sometimes even professing Christians can be the meanest, most negative, rudest people around!
There are people in our culture and world who call themselves Christians and walk around wagging their fingers judging and condemning people, which dishonors God. We’re supposed to hold each other accountable and love fellow believers enough to wisely help them see the err of their ways but sometimes…
… the greatest hindrance for lose people getting to Jesus are legalistic people in the church who claim to be the body of Christ. So, if you’re watching, listening or are here today as we go through the rest of the message, I’m going to ask you to kind of set aside thinking about the rude, mean, negative people in your life who call themselves Christians…
… and just concentrate on what God’s telling you through His message. If you genuinely pursue the truth about God, He’ll be faithful to put a follower of Jesus in your proximity who genuinely loves Him and who genuinely cares about you… and they’ll help you find your way into a salvation relationship with Jesus!
But we truly have to be on guard because the devil is a snake! He didn’t just want Jesus dead. He wanted to destroy Him… and he wants to destroy everybody and everything God loves. He’ll try to use people who claim to be Christians to keep lost people away from pursuing Jesus. A parallel passage on this is in…
Luke 6:11 NIV - 11 But The Pharisees and The Teachers of The Law were Furious … And Began to Discuss with one Another what they Might Do to Jesus!
The reason they were so upset with Jesus this time was He’d healed a man’s withered hand on the “wrong day”! It was the Sabbath day and they got so caught up in what day it was they didn’t care about the man being healed! They were locked in on their legal system! Jesus wasn’t following their rules. They had their own agenda, just like the devil!
And the devil’s just a created being! He’s a fallen angel. That’s all he is! And the Bible says in the Book of Revelation that when the trumpet sounds to signal “the end” the final battle is fought and it’s all about to be over. Satan will be thrown into the pit of hell!
So, Satan is not all powerful. He’s a supernatural power but his power is limited! And he despises Jesus so much that even though he’s heard God’s plan and he was in heaven before the universe was created, He still doesn’t care!
It seems like the devil would have been more about stopping Jesus from being crucified. If he understood that when Jesus dies on the cross… is buried… and is raised from the dead… then everybody has a chance to be saved, which is a big hindrance to Satan’s evil plan.
But he’s so eaten up with hatred for Jesus, that he stirs the people up and gets them to plot against Jesus, so they want to kill Him! The Romans can’t even figure out why but it’s basically because Satan’s crazy evil and he tries to do the same thing to us!
And his infiltration is everywhere! I’ve seen it first hand and dealt with a lot of people who were drug dealers, meth addicts, alcoholics, thieves, thugs and most of them say they were just born into a bad situation. They grew up in those kind of environments, so it’s just what they do!
Now hear me on this. It doesn’t matter where we’re born. All that matters is whether we’re reborn! People say, “Well you don’t understand”… my dad, mom, and everybody in my house were alcoholics, smoked week, and did meth… or whatever else they can come up with!
Another extreme excuse is… my family did illegal and immoral things to become successful business people, so I’m trapped in a family of criminals or whatever other bad circumstance people are in. They feel like it’s impossible to escape their bad situations.
But the reality is our feelings will lie to us! It’s an emotional weakness that a lot of people have and Satan uses it to keep them anxious, confused, depressed and scared! But when people choose to be in a salvation relationship with Jesus, they’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
And they want to start following the instructions and commands of Jesus because they know He loves them and only wants the best for them … and they’re never alone because now their identity is in Jesus and He never leaves us or forsakes us.
So, they become calm, cool and collected in their emotions and they because assertive, bold, confident and productive in their actions! They’re not emotionally and spiritually trapped by bad circumstances anymore or bad people, even if they’re still physically in the same environment!
The devil tells emotionally wrecked people that they have “no hope”! Satan deceives people into thinking that their physical surroundings and situations control their heart, mind, soul and spirit… but that’s not true. It’s a lie from the pit of Hell! When we submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior, we’re a child of God. The Bible tells us in…
1 John 4:4 NIV - 4 You … Dear Children … Are from God … And have Overcome them … Because The One Who Is In you [JESUS / The HOLY SPIRIT] is Greater than The one who is in The World [SATAN / DEMONS]!
There are countless testimonies of people out there who’ve been saved from the devil’s attempts to destroy their life with his emotional traps, snares and schemes… all through the power of the blood of Jesus… that He shed on the cross, which is God’s plan to cover and forgive our sins: past, present and future when we choose to receive Jesus as our Savior.
Then there’s the people who miss the truth of God’s plan because they spend their entire life chasing the almighty dollar… working hard… trying to build a financial empire. And at the end of their life, they just leave a pile of stuff for their kids that has no eternal value.
It’s sad because they could have been pursuing Jesus, discipling their kids and leading others to Jesus, impacting the eternal trajectory of lost people! They missed the opportunities God would have given them in His plan to advance His kingdom, which builds treasures in heaven!
Matthew 16:26 NIV - 26 What Good will It Be for Someone to Gain The Whole World … Yet Forfeit their Soul? … Or what Can anyone Give in Exchange for their Soul.
Let’s look at another example of two plans in…
Luke 19:28-48 NIV - 28 After Jesus had said this … He went on Ahead … Going up to Jerusalem! ... 29 As He Approached Bethphage and Bethany at The Hill Called The Mount of Olives … He Sent Two of His Disciples … Saying to them … 30 “Go to The Village Ahead of you … And as you Enter It … You will Find a Colt Tied there … Which No One has ever Ridden! ... Untie It … And Bring It Here! … 31 If anyone Asks you … “Why are you Untying It?” … Say … ‘The Lord Needs It!” … 32 Those who were Sent Ahead went and Found It Just as He had Told them! ... 33 As they were Untying The Colt … Its Owners Asked them … “Why are you Untying The Colt?” 34 They Replied … “The Lord Needs It!” … 35 They Brought It to Jesus … Threw their Cloaks on The Colt … And Put Jesus on It! ... 36 As He went Along … People Spread their Cloaks on The Road! ... 37 When He Came Near The Place where The Road goes Down The Mount of Olives … The Whole Crowd of Disciples began Joyfully to Praise God in Loud Voices for All The Miracles they had Seen … 38 “Blessed is The King Who Comes in The Name of The Lord!” … “Peace in Heaven … And Glory in The Highest!” … 39 Some of The Pharisees in The Crowd said to Jesus … “Teacher … Rebuke your Disciples!” … 40 “I Tell you” … He Replied … “If they Keep Quiet … The Stones will Cry Out!” … [True Followers of Jesus can’t Keep Quite] 41 As He Approached Jerusalem and Saw The City … He Wept Over It … 42 And Said … “If you … Even you … Had only Known on this Day what would Bring you Peace … But Now … It is Hidden from your Eyes! ... 43 The Days will Come upon you when your Enemies will Build an Embankment against you … And Encircle you … And Hem you In On every Side! ... 44 They will Dash you to The Ground … You and The Children within your Walls! ... They will Not Leave One Stone on Another … Because you Did Not Recognize The Time of God’s Coming to you!” … 45 When Jesus Entered The Temple Courts … He began to Drive Out those who were Selling! ... 46 “It Is Written” … He Said to them … “My House will Be a House of Prayer … But you Have Made It a Den of Robbers!” … 47 Every Day He was Teaching at The Temple! ... But The Chief Priests … The Teachers of The Law … And The Leaders among The People were Trying to Kill Him! ... 48 Yet they Could Not Find Any Way to Do It … Because All The People Hung on His Words!
This is telling us there’s a cost in standing for the truth. It might even cost us our life! But God’s plan is the only eternal plan worth dying for! Jesus proved it to use in His death on the cross! So, when followers of Jesus choose to confront sin head on, it makes the enemy in hell angry! Then Satan gets busy manipulating people into his evil plan!
And the enemy’s going to attack. The attack could be very aggressive, subtle or subversive. A lot of times the enemy bases their attack on how strong we stand in our faith in Jesus and sometimes it’s based on how much we’re willing to take on for what we believe.
But God’s plan doesn’t call for every follower of Jesus to die a martyrs death! Most of the time He’s just asking us to be willing to die to the worldly things we spend most of our time pursuing! He’s asking us to take a stand for Him at work, school, the gym, social media, etc.
Anytime we take a stand for Jesus, there’s going to be risks! We could lose our career, friends, followers on social media or maybe even family members! It’s the cost of doing spiritual battle for Jesus and if we’re not willing to do it, then all we are is a spiritual prisoner of war!
Now, it doesn’t mean if somebody’s a true, born again, believer they lose their salvation. They’re just neutralized in the battle. They’re not a productive ambassador, warrior, servant or saint for Jesus! They’re kind of life in a self-imposed solitary confinement!
Because the devil’s got them right where he wants them and he didn’t even have to do anything. Now, he knows he doesn’t have the power to take them out of God’s hand, but he can make them miserable or ineffective in the spiritual battle!
So, they’re not advancing the kingdom of heaven and doing any hard to hell! I don’t know who said it first, but we should all want to be the type of follower of Jesus that when we wake up in the morning, the enemy said, “Ugh Oh… he’s up!”
We need to remember, there’s a day coming when we’ll die or Jesus comes back! And we’ll all give an account for the deeds done in the flesh, whether good or evil… and for the opportunities we’ve missed because we didn’t want to jeopardize our worldly preferences!
For those that’re passive, and don’t take a bold stand for Jesus… it’s not that they’ve made a deal with the devil! It’s that they’ve failed to follow the instructions and commands of the one who was willing to die to pay the price for our sins… the only one who could save us from ourselves… and eternal separation from God… His name is Jesus!
The mighty warrior who chose to follow the plan and command of God the Father, to bring glory to His name, by sacrificing His life in full obedience when He didn’t have to. If we fail to honor God by fighting for what’s right, holy and true, we also disappoint Jesus.
When we choose to stay in the demilitarized zone, instead of being in the battle, we have no way to show Jesus we love Him because He said, “if you love me, you’ll follow my commands”! We have to fight the good fight, keep the faith and finish strong!
Sin doesn’t keep us out of heaven... unforgiven sin keeps us out of heaven because it separates us from God! The only way our sin can be forgiven is for each one of us to decide to enter into a salvation relationship with Jesus by submitting to Him as Lord and Savior! It’s the only way!
So, two plans! God’s plan is based on love, grace, mercy, relationship and life. Satan’s plan is based on hate, depravity, destruction, separation and death! We’re either in one or the other! It’s our choice!
We can choose Jesus and be in God’s plan, no matter what our current life circumstances and situation happen to be. But anything other than choosing Jesus puts a person in the enemy’s plan! That’s the truth… the whole truth and nothing but the truth… period!
Which plan have you chosen? If you haven’t decided to follow Jesus, you’re in the enemy’s plan just by default! But you can choose to follow Jesus today, right now, stop waiting! We’re not guaranteed tomorrow! We’re not even guaranteed the next 10 minutes!
But what we are guaranteed is eternity in heaven with God when we choose to submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior! You don’t get to choose after you die. It’s too late them. Don’t let the enemy fool you! Why would we not choose Jesus and God’s plan! There’s not a good answer to that question.
God loves us and gives us a choice to love Him. Choose to follow Jesus and become a part of God’s Kingdon plan now! This is how simple it is… pray to God… admit and confess that you’re a sinner! Say, “Father, I want to choose Jesus and your plan. I want to be on your side.”
I truly believe that Jesus died on the cross… was buried… and raised from the dead to pay the price for sins! I understand He’s offering me abundant/eternal life in heaven. I accept Him to live in me… change me… work through me… whatever it costs me.
And I thank Him for allowing me to be reborn as a child of God … and to be indwelled with the power of the Holy Spirit! It’s that simple! False Christianity, prophets, religious, priests and preachers will say... you have to count enough beads, chant enough prayers, do enough good work, give enough tithes and offerings…
Some even say things like you have to beat yourself with leather straps to suffer paid like Jesus did. But that’s an insult to Him. He’s already done that in obedience to God on our behalf! He never sinned, but He became all sin so we could have the opportunity to choose salvation and be made righteous in the eyes of God. It’s God’s plan, so it’s the right plan! Make sure you choose Jesus now!