Skip to content The City Session Four Jan 12 · 1 hr 4 min ...more
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Cities: Hubs of Spiritual Warfare and Divine Purpose 0:01 Welcome to the men's global livestream. If you're joining us and you have a Bible, I want you to hold 2 spots. 1 in Matthew chapter 5 and the other in Luke chapter 22. If you're joining us for the first0:13 time, we're in the middle of a series called the city. And what's true about every guy who's listening to this video podcast or podcast and is watching the0:24 livestream is either you live in a city, you drive into a city, or you're in the, let's call it, a regional footprint of the city. So this this message applies to all of us because, practically,0:36 cities are hubs. They're anchors for lots of stuff, logistics, economic services, culture, diversity, power, talent,0:49 architecture, science. I mean, arts, you name it. Cities are centers. They put people together in dense and diverse ways, and1:01 it's it's a challenging place, but it's also an impactful place. It's also a spiritual hotbed because because cities, create kind of a a restlessness. And1:13 as we've been talking about, they're so important. So whether you live in the rural part or the suburban part or the urban part,1:26 all of us need to care about what happens in the cities. And I've been talking about how Everyman Ministries is committed to city transformation. We'll talk about that a little bit later. But1:38 on a spiritual level, here's let's let's dial this down even further, and just say that cities, these these powerful centers of1:49 change and transformation for cultures and countries, are centers of epic spiritual warfare. In every city that you're connected to,2:01 there's 2 kingdoms and 2 agendas going at it. And, I mean, turn on the news. Right? And you can just see it in living color. Right? There's the kingdom of2:13 God, right, with Christ, as the king, and then there's an evil agenda. And an evil orchestrator2:24 who's trying to advance his agenda that is against God, against God perp God's purposes, being realized and manifested, and against God's people. So there's this epic collision,2:37 right? And so that's that's kind of number 1 on the spiritual level that we need to know, but here's a cool observation too. The Bible declares in Genesis chapter 1 right here that2:48 man started off in a garden. But, you know, when you get more toward the end, we realize that we are headed toward the eternal3:01 city, the city of god that god's future redeemed world and universe is depicted, get this, as a city.3:13 So no matter what your feelings are, you're headed toward a city. Right? That's what the Bible says about Abraham, the man of god. He sought the city whose builder and3:24 maker is god. And this isn't the this isn't Oz. This isn't fantasy. This is yours and my reality. We are seeking and headed toward3:37 the city of God. The city is God's idea. It's not man's. And if you don't like the city, you might not like heaven a whole lot. So some of us need to kinda change our3:48 attitude toward the city. We might be more country or rural or suburban, but the life and the energy of the future for us4:00 feels like a city. The third reason we gotta think about the city is because spirit empowered men, listen, who were filled with the Holy Spirit, transformed4:12 by the Holy Spirit, overflowed, right, the Holy Spirit in a city to birth the church. Think about it.4:25 Jesus, 3 years, 12 guys, 20 centuries of movement. Where did that start out? In a city. Men4:36 gathering, men being filled, men being transformed, men overflowing and fulfilling the prophetic word that Jesus had over them, that you're gonna receive power when the4:48 Holy Spirit comes on you, and you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem, the epicenter of a movement that would extend it to the entire world through time to you and me5:00 right now. So what do we draw from from all of those? Your place matters. Your time and your place matters. Your city, your5:12 community matter. Right? And that's what we kinda laid out in part 1. So in part 4, what we're gonna explore is we're gonna continue down this path ofBurdens as Opportunities: A Personal Testimony and Jesus' Radical Call 5:24 looking at the specific ways spirit empowered men are called in scripture to come together and impact their city5:36 or community. And to get you thinking in the right direction for today's specific way, I I gotta open up a not so great chapter of my5:48 life. Now in the Luck family, it's a tradition to play the Turkey Bowl. You know, bunch of guys, gals, they you know, we show up at the field on Thanksgiving Day. You know? And6:00 this year was was no different. Great time, fun, doing what we love, playing football. But on the last play, it was kinda like a hail Mary, so I was, I was the6:11 free safety out there roaming in the back, and so I knew what was coming. So, right, the ball snapped, goes to the the quarterback. I'm just kinda backpedaling a little bit. Ball goes up. I6:23 realized that I backed too far up because I didn't want the ball to get behind me. And I plant my back foot, and I literally heard my tendon6:35 snap. Okay. It was like somebody hit me in the back of the leg. It was gross. Okay. It was kinda gross. Gross sound, gross look. I went down, and I was in physical6:47 pain. Make no mistake. A lot of physical pain. But it was not to be compared to the emotional pain that I was gonna feel when I walked 2 blocks or hobbled 2 blocks back to6:59 my house. Here's why. We were moving in 6 days. So the number 1 horse, the number 1 mule, box carrier, furniture mover,7:11 disassembler, all of that, right, is now on injured reserve during this time. And there's no stopping the move. We gotta be out of our house.7:23 Right? So we're moving, and I'm useless. So this is not a good situ I mean, coming home because my wife said before I left, I don't know if I want you to play because you might7:35 get injured, babe.7:38 Oh my gosh.7:40 This was can you imagine? This was awful. So here we are, like, I'm trying over the next few days to just help a little. I can't do anything. I I literally cannot walk7:51 hardly. And so on move day, you know, here's my my mother-in-law and my wife packing boxes and all it's gonna take us forever. Right?8:04 So I'm standing at the mouth of my garage. All of a sudden, I kinda hear, like, far away. I hear someone's shifting gears on a big8:16 truck. And then it gets closer and it and then down the block, I see this massive flatbed truck. It's my buddy Darren8:28 in this massive flatbed truck, and there's, like, 15 guys riding in the back. And they just show up, and I'm looking at my8:40 wife's face, and she is just transfixed at the sight of the air cavalry, you8:52 know, coming out, unloading. Right? Going to work for her and bailing me out. Right? But let's just go9:04 back to what was going on. I have never felt, like, so helpless and now so happy and unburdened. Can we say that together? Unburdened9:17 in the same moment. My load was my load literally and emotionally, was gonna get carried. I mean, how do you think I felt? Right? They did in9:29 5 hours what would have taken me and a and and my family, like, 3 days. Right? So I just think, like, Patton's third army rolling off9:41 and onto the beach in France could not have looked more glorious than that flatbed of spirit empowered men rolling up9:53 to my driveway. Now here's what I want us to to glean out of that story. The burden that I was carrying was the context10:05 for the appreciation of the glory of God. I mean, these guys showed up. And, man, did they ever turn heads, both in my family10:17 and on my block. Let's just say they went the second mile. You see, burdens around us, and everybody's burdened around10:29 you. You're gonna learn that. Our opportunities and the context for god to be glorified in a city and in a community. Just let the10:40 paint dry on that. Let that sink in. Burdens around us are opportunities and the context for god to be glorified in our10:52 city and community and for people to feel unburdened. So in part 4, here's where we're gonna go. This is what we do each time. We're gonna see god's heart and what god models when it comes to the11:04 burdens around us that people carry. Then we're gonna look at what burdens do to human beings, and then we're gonna look at the model of spirit empowered guys in a city11:16 and how we can imitate that in our own cities through the power and person of the Holy Spirit. So get your downloaded notes, and, let's11:28 let's start there. And just as a as a context for that first verse from Matthew 5, let me just say, and I think all readers of the Bible will know this. If you're new to the Bible, this will11:40 be a help to you. When Jesus was explaining things to his guys about how they would really stand out, really turn heads, really make an impact,11:52 he would engage in what could best be called rhetorical overstatement. Right? And he would do this. He would over he would pick a way to overstate something,12:05 to wake up his guys, get them to look really closely at their own lives, their values, and their lifestyle. And we see that in this first passage in mass Matthew12:16 5 at the top of your downloaded notes. Let's take a look at that. Here he goes. You have heard that it was said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I tell you,12:29 do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your12:40 coat as well. If anyone forces you to go 1 mile, go with them 2 miles. Give to the 1 who asks you and do not turn away from the 1 who12:52 wants to borrow from you. Now here is why, this is you know, I'm I'm sure he's got their attention because he just, like, poked all these13:04 issues. You know? I mean, it's what he's saying is radical. And if you take Jesus literally, they're gonna spend their whole lives being abused and beaten up by people, codependent, and be naked and13:16 broke. Right? It's hyperbole. Okay? You can look that up, but it's exaggeration. Jesus does the same thing in Mark 9 when he says, you know, if your eye offends, you pluck it out. If your hand offends, you cut it13:28 off. You know? His point there was to take sin seriously in Mark 9. So what issue here talking about eye for eyes, people slapping you13:40 on the cheek, you know, someone wants to sue you, take your shirt, give them your coat, forces you to go 1 mile, go go 2 miles with them. What is you here in Matthew 5? Does he want his men to take seriously? And this13:52 is a great foundation for where we're we're heading. Okay? The issue Jesus wants them to face is an old 1. It's the reality of human14:03 selfishness, human self protection in, like, a colloquialism. It's like getting yours. Right? He's taking on human selfishness and getting yours in14:15 this in this passage. And now that he's got their attention, what is it that he wants his guys to understand? What is it that he wants you as an individual to understand14:27 and and men in cities and communities to understand. Alright? 4 really simple themes coming out of that that hyperbole there in Matthew 5. And here's the first14:39 1. As followers, we reign in our rights. What does that mean? Okay? All it means is kinda how it sounds. You might have the right to do something, but14:51 it doesn't mean that you should because you might have a different inner conviction where and freedom, even though you have the right to do something, maybe that's15:02 not the best thing, to do to shine the light of Christ, right, And to be salt in your city and your community. Secondly,15:14 as a theme, as followers, we lead the perceived injustices that we experience with god. It's kind of along these themes that we reign in our rights,15:26 right? If anyone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek. Also, if someone wants to sue you, take your shirt, hand over your coat as well, right? There are certain things that we could react15:38 and retaliate with, but even though we can, we need to consider as followers of God that maybe God wants to take care of that vengeance and maybe maybe15:50 our character isn't and emotions aren't in the spot where we would do that right. That's why we put it into the character and conduct of a holy, perfect,16:02 just God. Alright? So as followers, when things happen to us that were out of our control, that that harmed us, right, justice for that16:14 sometimes needs to go into the hands of God. Right? That we can we don't have to react and retaliate right away because there there's God. Alright?16:26 So that's the second theme. Third theme, as followers, we sense and seek opportunities. Listen to this. To be unusually selfish. And, man, I'm telling you,16:38 he hit a nerve with all his guys when he said, if anyone forces you to go mile 1 mile, go with him too. I mean, he could not have punched the bruise,16:49 and and gotten them to notice what he was talking about them by saying that. Because in his time, a Roman soldier could say, hey, Jew. Yeah.17:01 Come come take all my gear and carry it for me for the next mile. It was law in Palestine and in in in Jerusalem and Judea and in that region, wherever17:13 the Romans were. It was the law that they could conscript any citizen and they could make you carry their stuff for 1 month. And Jesus is going, yeah. If they make you do that,17:26 you know, when you get to the 1 mile marker, just go, no. I got it. It's like so unusually unsheltered. Shocking.17:38 It's shocking. Like, that would have to like, if you did that to a Roman soldier at the 1 mile mark, he might have thought you were on something because17:50 Jews resented that. But again, as followers, we're doing things a little differently. Right? And then the fourth theme is as18:02 followers, we we prompt curiosity. Right? We prompt curiosity, by our actions. You know, there's the second mile thing, and then just like, hey. Give to the 1 who asked you.18:14 Don't turn away from the 1 who wants to borrow from you. I mean, it's like, okay. That all of these behaviors are counterintuitive, would require18:25 tremendous faith, tremendous restraint, tremendous, humility. Exactly.18:39 Because they're followers of Jesus now. They've been transferred out of the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of his wonderful son. Right? And followers18:50 don't do the expected thing. Followers do the kingdom thing. Are you are you smelling what I'm stepping in here, guys? Followers don't do the expected thing.19:02 Followers do the kingdom thing, and the kingdom thing sometimes is we self limit and we reign in our rights. Sometimes we don't react and retaliate. And we actually19:14 seek and sense opportunities to be unusually generous and unselfish. And, man, as followers, we prompt people to be curious now. It's like,19:26 what in the world is going on with him? What's going on with this group of guys that belong in this this little community? What is different about them? Now, let's19:38 let's make a headline here based on the word of God. Right? Here it is. God says, the actions of my people let others knowShow more In this video 0:00 Cities: Hubs of Spiritual Warfare and Divine Purpose5:19 Burdens as Opportunities: A Personal Testimony and Jesus' Radical Call19:39 The Servant King: Lifting Burdens Through Holy Spirit Power48:08 Deploying Men to Transform Cities: Acts of Service and Prayer
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