Amen. Good morning. Welcome to Crossland Community Church. I have very, very, very little faith, 'cause there's twice as many of you in this room that I thought would be here today. So thank you for. I know it's cabin fever, you did not come to hear a sermon, you just came to a place where you knew you could get out of the house. And I got a call from the people downstairs and they said, we, we only have like two or three kids. So not only did you get out of the house, you forgot to bring your. I'm only kidding. We're back downstairs. So thank you for being here. Week five of a series that has seven weeks, so two more after this one. We are in the middle section. It's called the travel journeys. Theologically, this section of the gospel of Luke, and it is the traveling that began from the beginning of Christ's ministry all the way till the triumphant entry. The middle point, if you will, the apex moment of that is what you saw last week, and that's the transfiguration. And if you ever, especially with Matthew's gospel, Mark's, but Matthew and Luke, and not John, but they have it's temptation, transfiguration, triumphant entry. And those are the three pillars of those two gospels. So if you ever go back and you're reading Matthew and Luke, now not John, John's slightly different, and not Mark, because Mark, he, his is different and it's much shorter and compact, but it is the, the temptation, the transfiguration, triumphant entry are the three, these three pillars where you can feel differentiation in the ministries of Christ. And after the transfiguration that Ross spoke of last week, there's a major transition. And that transition, I'm gonna define it with one word in a second, is very noticeable. In fact, it happens right in kind of the fourth verse, 14 of chapter 11 is where we're gonna start today. We're gonna be like 14 through 32, and it's extraordinarily noticeable. It really is. If you've just read the kind of after chapter nine last week in the transfiguration, you'll see how things really changed dramatically. And last week, what we learned is that Christ began to reveal to the disciples exactly who he is, the totality of his glory, because Peter had an accurate confession. You are the Messiah of God. But an accurate confession can save you, but it's inadequate to change you. In fact, I think Luke would say, not only is it inadequate to change you, it's probably not gonna produce the kind of certainty that he was writing to Theophilus about. That you need more in order to live with and for Christ than you need to be saved by Christ. Okay? Really, you do. You need a proper confession that saves you. But as we know in life, that's the beginning of our Christian journey, not the end of it. And so we need to understand adequacy in information is what leads ultimately to transformation. And so this week, once the, the revelation of the fullness of who Christ was on this earth, surely just the three, but you have to understand the powers of hell are always looking on. Even now, they're always looking on. Things began to change dramatically, and you'll see why. And honestly, I, all I can do, I, I can give you one word. And for the most of you in this room, and good morning everybody online. Hi, Tammy. I know Tammy is at home watching me. I know I look good. Thank you for texting me and telling me earlier today. She never lies, to be quite honest with you. Did you see what shoes I wore today? So this word, in many ways, will take you right to the moment. Minnesota. Yep. And you know me, I don't, I don't pull punches. And some of you right now, you wanna come up and throw a punch. You're like, I'm talking about that in church? Well, I just said Minnesota. Why are you getting your nose out of joint? I'll tell you why your nose is out of joint is because you already have preconceived decisions and and notions about everything. Right? It, it's touching you in a place. It's, it's right now, and rightly so. It's creating tension. There are opinions. We're listening to both the right and the left, and we've gotten away from what's right and what's wrong, and all of that is true. And it, you're, we're all like, you, there's very few people, and I haven't met one yet, and I don't look at Facebook, so I don't know what some of you were saying. Hear from other people what you're not, you individually, what people are saying, but there's very little neutrality. That level of intensity begins to produce within individual people a response. And generally speaking, that response is animosity, frustration, and anger, regardless of what side of the argument that you fall on. Because you can feel the increase of, of intensity. You, you see it. You see it. The pictures. You see the stories, and and it's just firing you up. Now, truth be told, some of you don't need the word Minnesota. You need the word marriage. And I say that, and you're like, oh, God, did he have to say that? And all of a sudden, it begins to produce something within you because there's a sense of urgency or, or there, there's frustration in the marriage, and there's two people with two different opinions, and it's like, ugh. And Christ is reaching the point, and has reached the point in his ministry that I'm gonna give you one more word, and this word has created more animosity, more anxiety. In fact, this word has led to holy wars, the slaughtering of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people. There's still bloodshed all over this world. It's not in America, but you can feel a little bit of the pushback, and that one word is Jesus. And there's no neutrality to that. You know, a person who says, I'm just indifferent. No. You're not. You're either with them or you're against them. And that's kinda like what Minnesota is. They're not, you're not a lot of neutrality here. You gotta have an opinion. Well, I don't care. Yes, you do. Don't lie to yourself. You care. You should care. You should have an opinion. Even if you're wrong, and I mean that. Be wrong. But don't be like, oh, I'm indifferent to it. You're just lying to yourself. You're not indifferent to it. In fact, the hardest thing to overcome in marriage is indifference, because you can't steer a parked car. I mean, you're not even mad enough to be mad anymore. You just can't even get there anymore. Right? And see Jesus in this. This is from Luke 11:23. Bottom line, it's time. It was go time for Christ. You're either with me or against me. That's it. Period. Make your choice. Drive your stake. It's time. You reach a moment in life and in human history and in your own personal story where no matter what the issue might be, I can tell you what the primary issue is in America. You're either with Christ or you're not. It's not right and left. It's right and wrong. It's not right and left. It's good and evil. It's heaven and hell. It's Christ or the devil. That's the issue. And in these times, it, it should create within us an awareness that, but where is my deepest allegiance? Have I truly driven my stake into my allegiance to Christ? And you see the tension would get greater and greater and greater for Christ as he's heading towards the cross. And why would that be? Because the devil tried to get Christ to not even go to the cross in the wilderness. And when he won the battle in the wilderness, the devil decided, well, then I'm going to try and stop people from getting to know you along the way. If I can't keep you from the cross, then I'm gonna do everything I can to keep people from you. And as the, the moment for the, the, the, the execution of the sinless, so just, you'll see it. We're gonna go through this whole gospel, man. It gets insane in that moment. And here's what Luke wanted his people to know, and we need to know. You see, every day that you take a breath and you wake up the next day is one day closer to his second coming, and hell knows that. And hell knows there's nothing they can do to stop Christ from coming for people and judge the living and the dead, but they're gonna do everything they can to stop people from coming to him until he comes. And that level of intensity is going to ratchet up continually. It isn't like, oh, my God, he's coming tomorrow. I don't know when he's coming. Nobody knows that. But I can tell you one thing, every day is one day closer. And that intensity doesn't have to be in Minneapolis. It can be in your money. It can be in your marriage. It's in every moment where you face that kind of pressure around you. What is the answer? The answer is to immediately connect back with the deepest allegiance you have with Christ. And what you'll see that surrounds this passage when he had to say it, and then directly after it, is what the world usually does, and you'll see it. It's amazing how contemporary this passage is. Okay? So our big idea is an increase in animosity, no matter what situation it is in your life or in the world, must produce greater urgency to declare our allegiance. Okay? And I mean this sincerely. If you haven't accepted Christ, you're like, yeah, but I go to church. I'm not like, I go, I'm not against him. I'm just indifferent. No. There's no, you're either with him or against him. There's no extra options. You're either going to heaven or you're going to hell. There's no third place. It's good versus evil. Period. There's no neutrality. It's wide and narrow. God said, Jesus said, it's heaven and hell. That's it. There's only two options. And at a certain point, you are going to have to decide. And this is right after the transfiguration, and Christ can feel the tension. So it's time for him to stop coddling the crowd. But bottom line, you're either with me or you're against me. What's your choice? And there's such power in this moment. Here we go. Luke 11:14. Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. Now, the last several demons they drove out spoke to him. Remember, there was communication. So this, we already see as a different scene. And the man, because of the possession of this demon, was also himself mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke. He finally had the ability to communicate, and the crowd was amazed. Okay? Now, even in the English, and certainly this word in the Greek, amazement isn't always a positive thing. Context dictates what you're like. I'm amazed right now how bad the Philadelphia Eagles played this year. Absolutely not in a good way. I'm even more amazed that they hired this guy to be their offensive coordinator who was the quarterback coach for Green Bay, and their quarterback was below average this year. So that's what you need, a below average quarterback coach to become your offensive coordinator. I'm amazed, not in a good way, not at all in a good way. These people, now, I was really amazed last year when we won the Super Bowl. So that's a different amazement. Hence, the I'm still loyal. Hence, the green. This crowd's not woo. Because the, the, the previous times they saw this, it was like, who on earth is this guy? I mean, he speaks with authority. When he casts out demons, my gosh, they leave. Who is this guy? No longer that. Look at this. Some of them said, by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he's driving out demons. Talk about an increase in animosity. He's no longer some extraordinary guy. He is actually now the son of Satan. They've reached the point where it's like, nope, I'm gonna drive my stake because the pressure is increasing around them because there's satanic pressure. There's all kinds of, and this is where they're gonna drive their stake. Now, if you're asking me, what I'm seeing is he's gotta be the son of the devil if the devil's listening to him. And immediately, I hope you in this room, as you'll see right in my son, you'll be, they say, well, that's the stupidest thing I ever heard. But that's illogical. Right? Right. And that's what happens when your allegiances are either misguided, misconnected, or you're not returning to them in moments of stress. You, like the world, become very illogical. You start drawing conclusions that the average person, even looking at the chaos of your marriage, will be like, you're gonna divorce because of money? Like, like, well, well, take a second job. Get rid of the credit card. Sit down and make a budget. You're in the midst of it, and you can't remember the allegiance of, I do. Right? Right? You're like, oh, no. I, but I, no. And all of us are sitting there and be like, like, God, where did you get that illogical worldview? That right. And this is what Jesus and Luke is trying to teach us is that the world thinks very differently than God. Others, and this is the second half of the text today, asked him, look, don't miss this. Asked him for a sign from heaven. And honestly, you remember, and what was it? Jeff Foxworthy? Okay. Here's your sign. I want a sign from heaven. What did you just see? Right. And that's why early in the ministry of Jesus, when he would do something so powerful and profound, you know what he would say to people, especially people he cast demons out? Don't tell anybody. Go home and celebrate. Be quiet. And of course, never would. Why? Because Jesus knew of the ineffectiveness of miracles to convince you that he's the Christ, that there's something else that's more profound than what you've seen. Because what you've seen is generally never going to be enough to convince you of who he is. Okay? Especially in life when the pressure is on. So Jesus challenges the illogical conclusion by saying this, any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan's divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? Is there any logic in what you're saying? None. I mean, this isn't even like this big mountain top mosaic, ten commandment moment. He's just challenging their logic. Like, what you're saying really doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It would be like, you know, a person who has a, a, you know, like, I, I don't choose me. Such a physical ailment with my esophagus in '18 and '19, right? And now I'm so much better, and someone come up to me and say, well, it wasn't your doctor. It was witchcraft. It wasn't medicine. Medicine didn't do that for you. Witches did it for you. Excuse me? Yeah. No. I don't believe in medicine. So you see the result, and you're gonna ascribe it to witches rather than doctors, nurses, and medicine. Can you imagine a cancer patient has to go through all the chemo, then radiation, all of the sicknesses, and then they get to their five-year point. They get the clean bill of health. They're like, woo. And somebody's like, yeah, but medicine didn't do that. Don't trust your doctor. Doctors don't know what they're doing. They're a bunch of idiots. And I, we'd all look at that person and say, no. We're all pretty sure who the idiot is. We're listening to them because that doesn't make any sense. How can you ascribe a good result to a bad source? Bingo. It's illogical, and you realize that you are surrounded with people like that in the world. I, I know what we'll do in Minneapolis. We will burn our own city to show the world how mad we are at ICE. Okay. Like, does that really even remotely sound like it makes sense to you? I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm just saying, is your response logical? No. Because guess what? Eventually, it's gonna end. Eventually, ICE is gonna leave. And guess what you get to live in? A burned-out city. So congratulations. It's illogical. And that's what happens not even on the grand scale. You know, it's like we, we, we just, we lose all sight of thinking biblically, even logically. And what causes that? Because you have, either you have not driven your stake deep into the heart of the salvation and your allegiance is straight with Christ or not. Now, we're all capable of moments, and you'll see in a second. But when we have an unquestioned allegiance, when he's our cornerstone, it doesn't mean we don't lose our minds. The good news is, is we generally don't lose our way. And if we are, we've got to come back to our incredible allegiance. And Jesus said, now, if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? Because there were exorcists in Jewish culture. So then they're gonna be your judge. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then you have to understand something. The kingdom of God has come upon you. It's that crisis moment. You're gonna have to decide. You have to make a decision. And making no decision means your decision is no. Because there's, there's no third option. It's like, no. I'm indifferent. No. You're not. You're against him. Because the people who are claiming that he has to be the son of the devil because he's using the power of the devil to cast out demons, that makes no sense. They actually get the same eternal reward that people who are indifferent. You all end up in hell. Complete indifference to who Christ is. They're like, I don't have bad opinions about you. That's fine. Y'all do you. I'll do me. Okay. Is that logical? No. That's completely illogical when you begin to understand that hell's a reality. That didn't make any sense. Now, if you're saved in Christ, you're like, oh, that makes sense. Right? Something has happened. Right? And what we as the followers of Christ have to do, and that's what Luke was trying to teach people who never saw a miracle. They never saw Christ alive. They didn't see him dead, and they didn't see him in his resurrected state. That you don't have to see those things to believe in that person. And your allegiance to Christ is what's going to get you through the crises of life. Not that you're not gonna feel the pressure, but you don't have to use illogical choices in response to what you're going through. Stick with Christ. Okay? And so the kingdom of God is upon you. When a strong, he says this, when a strong man fully armed guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger comes, sure, the devil was controlling the house until now. And he had his armor and he was in control, but he's not anymore. Okay? Because someone stronger than him has come. Okay? And overpowers and attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and then begins to divide up that plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Just like Joshua, you gotta choose this day who you will follow. And the most urgent issue in your life from the day you are conceived until the day you take your last breath is not Minnesota. It's what do you have to say about who he actually is. Are you with him? Are you against him? And here's what I want you to know. If you're not with him, and the pressure in your life is like, every time I come to church, things fall apart. Exactly. Right? Because the devil is trying to increase the pressure. As Christ got closer to the cross, so all the stress increased dramatically. As you get closer and closer to Christ, congratulations. And as we all get closer and closer to the second coming of Christ, congratulations. It's not getting better, it's getting worse. And many of you in this room, me included, you know this. You started trying to do things in your family, and all of a sudden you're like, we're going to church. We're living for the Lord. And excuse me, but all hell's broken loose. Exactly. So what do I do? Think logically. What is that evidence of? Now you know who the strong man is. You know his kingdom is here. It's by the very finger of God that he drove out Satan. Luke wrote, comes from Deuteronomy. That was after the plague of the gnats. Moses said that was by the very finger of God. Now, it doesn't take much logic to understand that you can pick up a whole lot more with two arms than you can one finger. And all it got needed to defeat the devil was a finger. Like a gnat. Flicked him. Gone. So the ultimate reality has to be not what's going on in the world. That's all the snow. You hear that? Isn't that beautiful? What is happening inside your heart? So an increase of animosity must produce greater urgency to overcome worldly logic. Just think for a moment about the things that you're buying into, the things that you think make sense. Because that crowd believed. And what's funny about that crowd, they didn't deny that he cast out the demon. They just questioned where his authority came from. And that is the major challenge today. Who is this Christ and why do I have to listen to him? Jesus said, when an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through air and play. This is not a parable. It goes through places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, I'm just gonna go back to the house I left. And when it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. In other words, this is an image almost like Christ on the cross. He completely decimated the powers of hell. Now, he hasn't removed them, but he sent them wandering. And the death of Christ for humanity, you must understand this, did nothing more than the resurrection combined with that. Did then get us back to zero. Okay? Got us back to zero. He cleaned the whole house. Pretty much went in and cleansed the whole thing because of all the sin of man. Cast out all the demons, put the devil in his place with a single finger, and humanity on that Sunday, we got back to zero. Now, what Christ is going to say is, me removing that, me paying for that is only part of the deal. Because when it goes back, it takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition is worse than it was at first. Why? Because Christ dying on a cross for the sins, cleaning the whole house is only part of the deal. You now gotta make a decision. Who's gonna be the tenant? You don't go to hell because your sins aren't forgiven. They're all forgiven. He cleaned the house. It's your unwillingness to move from zero. You gotta take one positive step. That's it. If not, guess what happens? You begin to go backwards. And take it from a dude who's been sober almost 38 years. Okay? I've watched hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. I'm blessed. Believe me. I know if I drink today, it will be a catastrophe. But they, they have a very short memory. That's the ism of alcoholism. ISM, an incredibly short memory. They forget the misery. Next thing you know, they're back drinking and drugging, and I can guarantee you this, it never gets better. It only gets worse. And all of God's addicts said, well, amen. It's a freaking disaster. That's what he's saying. If you think it was bad before he died and resurrected from the dead, if you think it was bad up till today, and now that you've heard the gospel, you need to understand he's cleaned the entire house. Cleanliness is not the issue. Confession is. And if you don't get around to inviting him into your life, then I can guarantee you this, the powers of darkness would like to move in. Are you with them? Are you against them? And you gotta make that decision and you gotta drive that stake because it's only going to get worse until you do. It's crazy, isn't it? As Jesus was saying these things, this so verifies the the teaching there. A woman in the crowd cried out, blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. There can be no question that is true. It's almost like Peter's confession, accurate, but inadequate. Certainly, she's blessed. I mean, hard to deny that the mother of Christ was a blessed woman. But at the end of the day, that is not while she was blessed. The reason she was blessed, Jesus says between the lines, now blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it. What did Mary do? She heard the word of the Lord through the angel Gabriel as a teenage virgin that you have been chosen by God. You're gonna conceive in the absence of any male participation. The spirit of the Lord is going to overcome you, and within you, you will conceive the son of the living God. In between those parentheses, you're gonna have to spend the next nine months of your life walking around people whispering, wondering if you're a tramp or a hooker or a whore because you're walking around pregnant pretending like you and Joe didn't do it. We all know you did it. And she said, whatever your will is, may it be done with me. Now, that's why she's blessed because she had incredible faith. And what made her move in God's direction? The birth of Jesus? Nope. The death of Jesus? Nope. The resurrection of Jesus? Nope. A word from heaven. And guess what Luke is telling every reader, especially his first audience in 80 AD and telling us in 2026. All you need is a word. You see the word from heaven. There's 66 books full of them. Mary was blessed. Jesus, like, yeah. Absolutely. She heard it and obeyed it. Here and do, baby. You're hearing it. You've heard it. And here's the thing. If you are in Christ, and I pray God that you are, when life is pressure filled and squeezing in on you, go back to your allegiance to Christ. Be like, I know who lives in me. I know who defeated the powers of hell. And I may not be thinking right, but I know who my Lord is. I know where my allegiances lie. I know where this thing's going. I know how this thing's gonna end. I'm not gonna let that which is going on around me impact me so profoundly that I do illogical things. Right. Right. So an increase of animosity has got to produce greater urgency, greater urgency, greater urgency to invite him in. You gotta be willing to invite him into your life. You must. And please don't, don't relegate indifference to, like, something far less severe than comparing him or even correlating him to the devil. Sure. On the surface, you're a nicer person. We, you know, you're probably easier to get along with, and most of your friends will go have a cold beer with you. You know? But if you're the guy who's having a cold beer and like, you know, Jesus is the devil, your friend, that's the last cold beer you're having with that group of people. But if you're like, no, man, I don't go to church. I'm good with that, man. It's, it's all good, man. I'm glad you do. That's good for you, man. Let's just talk about, let's talk about football. Okay? And so it's, it's amazing. You, you, indifference is dangerous. So as the crowds increased around Jesus as he was given this really comforting sermon, like I am today, this is a wicked generation, Jesus said. Now, I requested to be on CNN and Fox Monday morning, and I want to just explain what's going on in Minnesota. A bunch of wicked people, both sides. You wanna know what the problem is? It's a wicked generation. The problem isn't whether you're for or against immigration, it's whether you're for or against Jesus Christ. And maybe they're all for Jesus, but let me tell you what, they're not, they're not going back to their allegiance. And how do you know that? Because, illogically, they're doing stupid things. And people in Bowling Green, Kentucky, God bless us. We could look from here and be like, I wonder if Canada's interested in taking over Minnesota. Like, you can have it. Just take it. You know? And, and we're all, and it's all because we're smarter and Kentucky's better, although it is. Not that. It's the illogical interpretation of world events. It's just completely removed the role of the authority of Jesus Christ, and he has no role in it. And listen, your problem is you're a wicked generation. You're asking for a sign, but none is going to be given to you except the sign of Jonah. Now, we know what that primarily is. Right? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so the son of man was in the belly, was in the belly of the earth. So Jonah is a sign of profound self-actuated resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But there's more to that sign, and he wasn't really pointing to that here as he was in the other gospels where this statement is used. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the son of man be the next generation. Jonah was an angry, irresponsible, racist prophet who hated the Ninevites because they weren't Jews. And when God came to him and said, hey, Bob, listen, if what you're gonna do, you're gonna go up to Nineveh and you're gonna warn them. And, and you know what Jonah said? I ain't going. I hate them. Because I know what'll happen if I go and talk to them. You'll save them. That's what you'll do. And I don't want you saving them. I want them to die apart from you and go to hell. So you know what? I'm gonna go the complete opposite direction. And we know what happened. God's like, I don't think you understand. That wasn't a request. And if you think going to the bottom of a ship is as low as you're gonna go, wait till you see where I can take you. I'll take you to the bottom of the ocean. But you're going to do what I created you to do whether you want to or not. It's unbelievable. And what happens if the belly of the, the fish is like, he's making me sick. Why don't you make me swallow this? And he just, just finally pukes him up, which is gracious because there is more than one way out of a whale when you really think about it. And so this ain't bad. It ain't a bad deal. So he pukes him up on dry ground. And Jonah's like, alright. I'll go. And he still wasn't happy about going. And guess what happened when he got there? Exactly what he thought. I warned them. Oh, God. They repented. I knew you'd do this. I like, I knew. This is why, and seriously, it's in there. That's why I told you I won't go. It would be like God saying, Greg, you're, you're, you're gonna go be the chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys. Can I go to Cleveland? Like, I'd, can I go to Cleveland? It's like, no. Cleveland don't need you. Dallas does. You know, I'm an Eagle fan. Like, and you're like, wait, wait, do you see what I, you're gonna do? What? You're gonna preach the gospel to Jerry Jones? No. I'm not. And he's gonna get saved. Sorry, Jerry. I don't know if you know Jesus or not. I'm just using you as an example. And Jerry gets saved. And then guess what happens? The blessings of God fall upon that franchise and they win the Super Bowl. And I'd have to look at God and be like, I told you. Look. Now you know why I said no. I knew what you would do. I'm not doing it. It's the same situation. What, what is the sign? All you need is a word. From an angry, unwilling, disobedient, arrogant, pompous, racist prophet, Nineveh repented. What's your excuse? That's the key. That's the key. Because if you need more than a resurrection, there's nothing more we can bring. And you didn't need to see it to believe it, because nobody who read Luke had seen it, and they believed it, and so can we. And it's that kind of allegiance. And then the second sign, he says, the queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she went from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom. You gotta think about this. This is a woman who's going to a womanizer. And you know what Solomon thought the minute she hit the city gates? There's my 601st wife. Right? Because she was bringing jewels, precious metals. She didn't just come to hear a word. She came bringing gifts. And here's the thing, she only heard a word that there's a word. So she went from the ends of the earth to hear a word that she hadn't heard. She just heard that there was a word. So what's your excuse? He's talking to the crowd that's so angry with him. Why are you so angry? Because they're feeling the pressure of the moment. And you and I, I pray God you're saved in this room, in Morgantown, Glasgow, online. Like, like, that's the only reason I do what I do is because I know the alternative to Jesus Christ is eternally devastating. I know that to the core of who I am. But I want you to know, you don't need an experience. What you need is acceptance of a word that has already been spoken, and there's an abundance of examples out there. And you've got, how do we get you to consider that is that you're either with him or you're against him. That's it. There's no other option. There's like, you're gonna go to heaven or you're gonna go to hell. Like, where do the indifferent people go? Right. That's the most important thing. Christ was trying to get them to understand that you're urgent and anxious, and your animosities are driven by all kinds of significantly important things, mind you, but not the ultimate thing. And as we get closer and closer to the second coming, I can guarantee you the intensity is going to increase. As you and your spouse get closer and closer to a God-honoring marriage, I guarantee you the intensity is gonna increase. But all you gotta do is drive your stake into the ground saying, you know what? My allegiance is with Christ, not with my circumstances. And you call upon Christ to come down there and to kick the devil straight out of your marriage, and he's going to go because someone stronger has already come. You declare Christ over your home, over your marriage, over your money, over all that mayhem, and I guarantee you one thing, the devil will flee. You resist the devil, the Bible says, and he will flee. He is a coward. He doesn't want to fight. He's hoping that your indifference will cause you to lay down. And lay down and just give up on whatever it is that's got you by the throat at any given moment. Someone greater now than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh are gonna stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. Jonah. An angry, disobedient, self-serving, racist, but they heard the word and they repented. And now something greater than Jonah is here. So an increase in animosity has got to produce greater urgency to decide what you believe based on what you heard. What have you heard? You have heard more than enough today, I guarantee you. You are officially back at zero. You've been told that Christ came to live a perfect life and die a painful death and rise triumphantly from the dead under his own power, strength, and authority, so you're at zero. The next decision you make determines the destination of your eternity. You're a zero. What are you gonna do? And all you need to hear is a word. And it's funny because, you know, like, in the scheme of things, I'm a little bit better than Jonah and just a little bit better than Solomon. I've had one wife for 33 years. I don't have 300 concubines and 600, you know what I mean? Now, I'm a complete idiot at times. I, I can own that. But you've heard it. You've heard it. You've heard it. And this is true every moment when life just begins to squeeze. I know in whom I believe, and I shall not be put to shame. I know in whom I believe, and I shall not be put to shame. I know in whom I believe, and I shall not be put to shame. And I shall not be be. And put here's the hope of it. Jesus looked at this crowd and said, no one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it's gonna be hidden or under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. So if we could, if we could do an eye exam and look right into the cornea of your soul, the light of Christ is gonna be extraordinarily obvious. He's not hiding it. You don't have to wonder. You don't have to question. Because what ultimately it all comes down to is not an eye problem, but an I problem. It's not a Minnesota issue. It's not an ICE issue. It's not. It's not a Trump issue. It's an I issue. Because when the day comes, the only thing that Christ is going to do is look into your soul and see if the light of life, the light of man, as he's referred to in the first chapter of John, is on inside of you. There's no wondering, am I? Am I not? Am I? Am I not saved? No. You, you either are or you're not. And the light of life, when Christ lights that light, it's that light is not hidden. It's not under a bowl left you to leave you to wonder. Nor is it when that house is clean and you invite him in, you know it. And the great news with that is, that's not gonna stop the devil from coming and knocking on your door. The good news is you don't have to answer it anymore. Somebody else will. And Christ said, I'm stronger than him. I've already taken over his house. I've even taken his armor. He's, he's a weakened combatant. And can you imagine the Holy Spirit answering the door of your soul when the powers of hell that you can't see, smell, touch, or sense are knocking on the doors in the heavenlies just like they did with Job. And the spirit of the living God who is in you answers the door of your soul and says, I don't think so. I live here. I live here. No. Because the devil hates the light. He can only live in the darkness. And when the light is on, Jesus is home. You know that old statement where the lights are on, but nobody's home. Not with Christ. If the light is on, he is home. And you just gotta ask yourself honestly, if we, if the Lord was to look deep within your eyes and see into your soul. Would he see the light? And when the light's there, why, who do you think sometimes hides it and puts it under a bowl? We, we do. Like, give me a lampshade. And Jesus, like, no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No lampshades. And we put a lampshade on it, and then we're wondering why there's not so much light in my life. But dude, dude, is that a logical thing to do? You don't put it under a bowl. Take the lampshade off of there. Let it shine. And you see the beauty of this powerful meal is that this is where we once again drive the stake of allegiance into the depth of our soul. Because this, this is, this is the apex of waiting. Because we know he lived perfectly, died painfully, rose triumphantly. But we also know he's coming again to judge the living, and then his kingdom will know no end. And so the pressure of the cross is for those who have not yet accepted Christ, because as was with Christ, so we'll be with you. The devil couldn't beat Christ in the wilderness, so he's gonna try and stop him from getting to the cross, and he couldn't do that. So he's gonna stop you from getting to Christ. Don't let that happen. But while we wait, praise God Almighty, we're one day closer to him coming. I'm one day closer. I'm one day closer. And here's the thing. Your marriage might be one day closer of being everything you hoped it would be. And, and you're like, then why is the devil kicking my teeth in? If you stick with us through the gospel of Luke, you'll see how intense it can get. But here's the good news about the gospel of Luke. It ends with resurrection, not defeat. Sure. Every life has its own crucifying moments. But when I have the light of life, I know, I know that death will not win. The resurrection's coming. My hope will be restored. My faith will be renewed. This meal does that. My convictional belief that, yes, he died and rose again, but praise God Almighty. What keeps me going is knowing he's coming again. He's gonna judge the living and the dead, because there's only two types of people. They're not good and bad. They're alive or dead. Not saved, unsaved, and indifferent. You're either alive or you're dead. And the only way to become alive is through faith in Jesus Christ. Because your problem isn't that you're bad, it's that you're dead. And the solution isn't behavior, it's belief. It's belief. And through that belief, you'll experience new life. Right? Because the house is already clean. Jesus already took care of all that. What you need is a new resident, and it's the Holy Spirit. It's through belief that he takes occupancy. He descends from heaven into your life like he did at creation, and everything began to become everything God wanted it to be. He did it at the temple. He did it at the tabernacle. He did it when Christ's birth was conceived. He did it when Christ was baptized. He did it on the day of Pentecost. You see the pattern. New life is always conceived by the presence of a descending spirit, and he will move in and not move out. People don't fall away because they send themselves out of salvation. It's not possible. It's because they never invited the Holy Spirit to take up residence in their life. And then you look at their life, you're like, my God, what happened? Jesus told you what happened. I cleaned the house and I gave you a chance to invite me and the spirit in, and you chose not to. So things are seven times worse in your life now than they've ever been. Right. But if you still have a pulse, you still have an opportunity. In fact, everybody just grab that pulse. Feel it. Just feel it. If it's thumping, you got opportunity. I mean, if it stops thumping, it's heaven or hell. That's it. If you're serving communion today, please come to your stations. And the severity that is expressed by Paul about the significance of this meal is such that it is only for believers. Those who have confessed Christ as Lord and know that the spirit of God lives in them. And Paul said, listen, if you haven't recognized his body, do not come. Because if you do, you take judgment on yourself. And to us who are believers, you know, we would say this honestly to you, that's the most illogical thing you could ever do in your life, is to be so stubborn that you're gonna, no. I, I got this. I'll do what I wanna do. Really bad idea. That is so illogical. It's unwise to tempt a living God. But I don't think that's obstinance in you. I think that's the devil trying to hold on to you. And he's making you mad while God's making you aware, and you gotta decide right now what's going on in you. It's because you're so close to the cross right now, he's trying to do everything he can to keep you from it. He's creating so much hubbub and anxiety and tension around your heart and soul right now. You came in here and life was great. 45 minutes later, you're like, I'm gonna, I'm literally gonna strangle that guy when I get my hands on him. You're welcome. Because it ain't me. It's the spirit of a living God. I'm a talking head. I can't move anybody to do anything or believe anything. Only the spirit of God can do that. So if something's going on in you, you can thank him. Best thing you can do is surrender to him right now. Just surrender. Be saved. We would love to serve you. If you're not saved, we can't. We can't. It's not that we don't want to. We can't because we're not gonna participate in serving you judgment. We're not doing that. I promise you, we're not doing that. The Bible says on the night of his betrayal, he took the bread. He blessed the bread and then he broke the bread and said, take this, all of you, and eat from it. For this is my body which is being given up for you. When he was done eating again, he took the cup. Again, he gave thanks and said, take this, all of you, and drink from it. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of a new and everlasting covenant being shed for you and for all men so that sins might be forgiven. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim my death until I come. At Crossland, we practice a method that's called intention. It's when you rip from the common loaf and you dip into the, the glass, and you participate in communion. If you have a gluten allergy, we have gluten-free fully sealed containers on both sides of the stage, and they'll be in the bowls when you get up there into the low seating. Okay? They'll be right there for you. This section, we'll go front to back. You'll come out to your left hand side, come to the front, go all the way back, come in on the other side. Y'all do the same thing. Come out, loop around. Let y'all go to the, go to your right. Okay? Come out into the aisle, be served by whoever's available can serve you, and up there will come to you. Okay? Let's drive that anchor as deep as we've ever driven it. Deep into the heart of who Christ is. Let's celebrate communion. Father, I think it's very fair to say, there is nothing that, that won't fail but you. Like, everything else is gonna fail except you. That's just the basic reality of a broken world. But when we drive our stake deep within the nature of who you are, we know failure is never final in our lives. We're Sunday people. And we know what sent Christ to that cross was sin. We get that. Sometimes my sin takes me back to the cross, but I always know Sunday's coming because my failure is never final because of my faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. And you are absolutely incapable of failing. So I know you won't fail me. We love you. We thank you. In Jesus' name, we pray to you, and all of God's people said, Amen. Let's give God a hand clap of praise in his house today. Yes. Hey, God bless you so much. Please, again, be careful in the parking lot. It's still a little bit slippery. Be very careful. May God richly bless you. See you again next week. Thanks for being here.

Subject: Either With Me or Against Me: Choose Christ

Dear Crossland Community Church,

I hope this finds you reflecting on our message that when animosity rises and pressure squeezes in, the question becomes clear: you’re either with Christ or you’re against Him.

This week we worked through Luke 11 and saw Jesus stop coddling the crowd — a man freed from a demon spoke, and the crowd split: some called Him Beelzebub, others were amazed. Jesus exposes the illogic of their charge (“a kingdom divided against itself will be ruined”) and reminds us the kingdom of God has come by the finger of God; the house is clean, but someone must move in. He points us to the sign of Jonah and the Queen of the South — all the world needs is a word — and warns that indifference is not neutrality: if you don’t choose, you have chosen against Him.

If life is squeezing you right now, don’t respond with the world’s illogical reactions; drive your stake deep into Christ and call on the Holy Spirit to take up residence. If you’ve never invited Jesus in, feel that pulse — you still have opportunity; come talk to us, surrender, and let us walk with you. And for those who already believe, guard the light in your eye: don’t hide it under a bowl, don’t take communion casually, and be ready to resist the devil when he comes knocking — someone stronger has already come.

Blessings,
Crossland Community Church Team