Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast
Reverend Ben Coopers podcast, offers an inviting space for listeners to explore Christianity and spiritual growth with wisdom, humor, and a deep commitment to biblical truth. Through Rev. Ben's engaging conversations with guests, the podcast not only explores the timeless wisdom of the Bible but also tackles the pressing issues of life, faith, and hope in a way that is accessible, thought-provoking, and enriching. Whether you’re seeking spiritual nourishment, answers to life’s big questions, or simply a place to reflect on your faith, the Rev Ben podcast is a valuable resource on your journey.
In each episode, Rev. Ben guides listeners through profound theological reflections, personal stories, and practical insights drawn from the Bible and the broader Christian tradition.
Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast
The True Meaning Behind Christmas Celebrations (#809 - Elim)
In this thought-provoking episode, "What if we're celebrating Christmas all wrong?", we challenge the traditional understanding of the Advent season and delve into the deeper significance of Christ's incarnation. Focusing on John 1:14, we invite listeners to reconsider the superficiality often associated with modern religious practices and embrace the true message of Jesus. This episode highlights the importance of the second coming of Christ, emphasizing His return as King and Judge for the broken, not for established institutions. Through a global Christian community, spanning 71 countries, we draw inspiration from biblical figures like John and Zechariah, urging believers to embrace the transformative power of Christ’s teachings. As we explore Christology, salvation, and rebirth in today’s world, we encourage a shift from following cultural influencers to following the radical, life-changing example of Jesus. Join us as we break free from tradition and rediscover the profound message of Advent.
What if we're celebrating Christmas all wrong? Join us as we challenge the status quo and explore the deeper meaning behind the Advent season. Boldly addressing the routine spectacle of modern religious practices, we invite you to reconsider the profound significance of the Gospel of John 1:14 and the transformative message of Christ's incarnation. In a world captivated by tradition, this episode encourages breaking free from the superficial to embrace the living presence of Jesus, moving beyond the traditions that often overshadow His true mission."
"With a focus on the second coming of Christ, we unravel the anticipation of His return as king and judge for the broken and weary, not for institutions bound by hierarchy. Our conversation tackles the essence of Christology, urging a shift from following modern influencers to embracing the teachings of Jesus, which hold the power to challenge societal norms and bring true transformation. Through our global community, united in the spirit of Advent across 71 countries, we find inspiration in biblical figures like John and Zechariah, reminding us to spread the message of salvation and rebirth amidst the challenges of today’s society.
Advent season podcast, Christmas traditions vs. Christ, Meaning of Christ's incarnation, The second coming of Jesus, Christology discussions, Christian transformation podcast, Biblical figures in Advent, John 1:14 explained, Salvation through Christ, Global Christian community, Preparing for Christ’s return, Breaking religious traditions, Rediscovering Christmas meaning, Zechariah in Advent, Jesus' teachings for today, Deep Christian podcasts, and Modern Christian perspectives. These keywords will help you attract listeners interested in deep, biblically rooted conversations on Advent, the true meaning of Christmas, and the return of Christ.
https://www.pastorbencooper.co.uk/
Gospel of John. We're going to turn to the Gospel of John. Welcome to everybody in the Lord's house this morning. Welcome to everybody across the world, wherever you are, whatever your life is reflecting. We're going to the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 14. Very, very simple this morning. You know, we're just going to give you some stats while we're just getting ourselves ready. You know we are in 71 countries Singapore, singapore I'm not quite sure why Singapore is rapidly increasing so across the globe. We are in, as I look at the moment, 71 countries and we are in 996 cities, so the cities are increasing rapidly. We're just four short of a thousand cities across the globe.
Speaker 1:The Lord is good, the Lord is worthy of all praise, and we thank God for everybody in house, everybody in the physical church that's before us at this moment, right now, in the name of Jesus that's before me. Thank God for every one of you, Thank God for everyone online and wherever they are, and whatever nation, whatever city you're in at this hour. May God bless you and the blood of Jesus be covering over you. As I always say, we are living in glorious days. We are living in glorious days because we're yes, we're in advent, yes, we're advent. We understand what, what religion is doing with advent at the moment. We understand that it's all hype, it's all mayhem in in religion. It's all. Yeah, bring jesus out for a few days before christmas, but let me tell you, jesus is alive. Jesus is alive. Yeah, we're celebrating the birth of christ. We've got to tell the world that jesus is alive. When you see nativities, when you go and you watch all the stuff that goes on, and you go to the large carol services and they charge you a tenner again, just remember Jesus. Don't charge, just go and share the name of Jesus Christ. Go and share the world. Go and share Jesus to the world and, as I always say, please take a Bible off the chair today. Take a Bible and take it with you and leave a Bible somewhere in the footprint of your life. Take a Bible from this church.
Speaker 1:We need to understand that we've got to give Bibles out. Give them to your friends, give them to your families, leave them at work, leave it on the train wherever you go, leave it in school, leave it in the staff room. Go and give it to the HR. They'd love you for that. In the name of Jesus, go and give them a Bible, give the world a Bible.
Speaker 1:You know, when you look at what's happening across the world, it's really, really powerful. What's happening, you know and we are in the Word this morning and we're in the Gospel of John and we're in chapter 1, verse 14. And for those that need a title, it's God became touchable Because God is Jesus, jesus is God. You can't separate, you can't separate through the scripture, you can't dissect, you can't separate that we find the clear evidence, the fact, the biblical evidence in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, he was with God. In the beginning was the word and the word was, uh, with God, and the word was God, he was with God in the beginning. You can't separate. So God is celebrating the coming of the king at this Advent time.
Speaker 1:Religion is amazing in how it displays that. But just because it displays it doesn't mean to say that it believes it. Thank God for the display of it. Thank God that religion goes and pushes all the bells and the whistles and the world sees that great showmanship that religion is because religion is showmanship, but Jesus Christ is the saviour. So, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, as we're in Advent, as we're ramping up and everything that is we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, as we're in Advent, as we're ramping up and everything that is coming down the line of life, we've got to tell the world about Jesus Christ. You've got to give a Bible out. You've got to tell the world about Jesus. Jesus is the Savior of the world. And we're very familiar with John 3.3. You must be born again. It doesn't speak about religion. It doesn't speak about the seasons of the religious calendar. It talks about you've got to be born again and you are born again and you are blessed and highly favoured and that word drops into the text this morning favoured.
Speaker 1:You've only got to look through certain areas of the gospel of Luke and the gospel of John and Matthew and Mark and the four gospels. You've only got to find that where the angel of the Lord appeared, that the human being got troubled, even Zechariah, when he was given the message and he was at the altar and he was. In the gospel of Luke, chapter one, read about that great priest. It said fear gripped him. See, when true revival comes, you're not going to be laying on your back with your legs in the air, barking like a dog. You're not going to be running around the church waving flags, everyone in the Bible.
Speaker 1:When the presence of God fell, it froze them, it shook them and it made fear come on their body, because there is something so powerful about the holiness of God. The holiness will stop your heart beating. The holiness will stop your thought pattern. The holiness will destroy all fear and all worry. God is so holy. We cannot cope as a human being with the power and the holiness. We can't cope with the enormity of this God.
Speaker 1:You've only got to look at John on the island. When he was captured, when he was in prison, when they took him to the island in the book of Revelation, when he wrote that great biblical text, the book of Revelation, the Bible says that he heard and when he turned around he fell as if he was dead. The great priest in the book of Luke, chapter one, when he was just at the temple in the incense and he was doing what he was doing and it was his time, he heard and the angel came down and it it gripped him and it froze him and the angel said don't be afraid, everywhere you see an angel coming to visit a human being, they say don't be afraid, because they know the presence of the spiritual reaching the natural realm is extremely frightening. Imagine what that was like. Imagine if you was on the island of Patmos and you was tired, you was exhausted and you knew that there was a calling on your life and Christ had called you. And then suddenly all the events of the cross have happened and everything and Christ was taken back and the birth of the church the birth of the church in Acts, chapter 1, chapter 2, and everything that went on in chapter 2, imagine what it was like for John when he was tired and he was exhausted. It's not as the church portrays how you'll be. If you see Jesus Christ. You would not run up to him and throw your legs and jump on him and hug him. You would fall to the floors if he was dead, because the holiness and the glory and the power and the anointing and no human being can capture his presence. He's so powerful, but he lives within. He lives within. There is something so unusual to try and grapple with understanding that he lives within. I know he's within, but if I see him externally it would really frighten me, but he lives within. So, john on the island. John on the island, after all the events that he had seen, everything he had seen in the book of Revelation was flat out and it was exhausted anyway. And he turned around and he see someone like the son of man. Imagine what it was like. And the Bible says he fell as if he was dead.
Speaker 1:The gospel of Luke, chapter one. That great priest, the father of John the Baptist, the great high priest, was captured by fear when the angel of the Lord came down to him. Mary turned to the book of Luke. A moment. I just want to read this scripture and then we're gonna. We're gonna jump straight into the gospel of Luke, john, chapter 1, verse 14. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who became from the father, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 1:If you turn to the gospel of of Luke, if you get to the beginning of Luke, let's pick it up in the gospel of Luke. And if we go to Luke, chapter, chapter one, and you will find what I was speaking about from Luke, chapter one, the, the priest that was in in the temple dealing with everything. And then it says there that he was in the temple dealing with everything. And then it says there that he was gripped with fear. I'll pick it up in verse 12. So he was doing everything that he had to do in the world of religion. And it says there Zechariah saw him and he was startled and he was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him don't be afraid, zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife, elizabeth, will bear you a son and you will give him the name John. So when God sends a message, when God sends a messenger, when God sends someone, it will grab you by fear. You will not be running around the auditorium. You will not be running around the auditorium. You will not be running around that place waving a flag and shouting out Jesus is alive. If Jesus comes and visits any human being, you will find through the scripture and the scripture is the safe place that every human being that had a visitation from an angel and had a word from God, they either ran or they was gripped and they was held by fear. Now we have just read a simple little text there about the father of the high priest, the father of John the baptizer, not John the Baptist. Baptist is a movement. We've got to understand that John was the baptizer. So that is really, really critical. But he was gripped with fear, he was startled, and then we look at another human being.
Speaker 1:If you, if you're with me, turn to the staying in the gospel of Luke, chapter 1. Luke, chapter 1, verse 26 in the sixth month, god sent an angel, gabriel, to Nazareth, to a town of Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel said to her Greetings, you are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words. She wondered what kind of message this might be. But the angel said to her Don't be afraid.
Speaker 1:See, we've got to understand that there is power in the word, and the word will take you to places that will make you feel very fearful. The word will make you feel very strange. The word will separate you from everything else. The word will separate you from life itself. The word when you get a message, and what is the message that we all carry? Get a message, and what is the message that we all carry? There is one message that is rich between every one of us. We belong to Jesus, we're born again. So that is the same message, that message is in us and that message, that message cannot be stripped out. That message cannot be taken away. If you could reverse, and if you could reverse that and lose your salvation, there will be no cross of calvary. You're always saved. That is critical, that is biblical.
Speaker 1:You know, we've got, we understand that there's always been a wrestle with the armenians and everything like that that goes along. There's always been a wrestle, uh, with what goes on with certain theologians. You can lose it, you can't lose it. The Bible is extremely clear, extremely clear. It is a gift and when God drops that gift of Jesus Christ into you, you are born again and it doesn't matter. But when favor comes on your life and you've got a message from the word, let me tell you it will change your life. You might wrestle with God for many years. You might wrestle with God. You might throw the toys out the pram, you might scream, you might holler, you might do some crazy things trying to prove that Jesus isn't real. But the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Speaker 1:We have so many eyewitnesses, accounts of the life of Christ. We have historians outside of the Word of God, outside, that are known as atheists, back in Jesus' day, saying this man walked the earth. They called him the magic man. He's doing magic, look, but he walked this earth. So this, at this moment, as we celebrate the birth for Jesus Christ, we are not celebrating again and again and again. We keep regurgitating, as religion, as a church, the same old message.
Speaker 1:What we got to say is Jesus Christ is alive. Yes, it is advent in the world of religion, but you know what it's more? Advent itself. Jesus Christ is coming again. He's not coming as the baby that we pull him out of the church cupboard and blow the cobwebs off, that little baby that we put in the manger every year. He's coming as the king. He's coming as the judge. He's coming to judge the world. He's coming for eschatology, the rapture of the church, not the rapture of religion, but he's coming to judge the world. He's coming for eschatology, the rapture of the church, not the rapture of religion, but he's coming back. The Bible says there'll be two in the field and one will be taken. Imagine I've been using this analogy a lot lately If he comes back on a church day if he comes back, on a day when the UK is bouncing in the church. The celebrity church is rolling and all the diocese are out the bells, the whistles, the smoke machines, the dark rooms. Church is buzzing across the UK. We're all singing and shouting secular Christianity, we're all lifting up whoever we are lifting up in church and in religion.
Speaker 1:Imagine Jesus comes back when the church is in operation. How many will be left in pulpits? A vast number congregations will go, but there'll be preachers. There'll be teachers, there'll be a theologians. There'll be, there'll be people that lead worship. There'll be church leaders. There'll be bishops, there'll be archdeacons. There'll be all that lead worship. There'll be church leaders. There'll be bishops. There'll be archdeacons. There'll be all the names under the suns apostolic, this, apostolic that evangelist this. All that, all them names could be left behind. The bishops they'll be preaching and the churches will be emptied.
Speaker 1:Jesus is coming and he's coming back for the individual. He's not coming back for religion. He's not coming back for the one that wants titles over his name. He's coming back for those that are broken and weary and tired, those that are exhausted. He's coming back for those that are in a storm. If you're in a storm today. More storms the greater life is, the more troubles. The greater life is, the more troubles, the greater it is, because the more we need Jesus, the more our brain tells us this is crazy, this can't be happening to me.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, jesus, we got to flick it and turn it around and you got to remember, just like Mary, what kind of message is this? Because that great priest, that was the father of that, that great man, that great man, john and I'm not lifting him up as a human being, but what John done, that, the father of him he was gripped and he was startled and he was fearful. Mary was just doing what she was doing, probably on social network at that time, probably going for a TikTok account, and then suddenly, the angel appeared prepared and came down and revealed himself and he spoke to her and she went. What is going on? See? That's what happens when Jesus calls you. You say what is going on.
Speaker 1:It's not like the celebrity church and the churches will be rammed today. They'll be packed out. They'll be packed out with showmanship. They'll be packed out with lights, black auditoriums with smoke machines, lifting pastor up. It comes, the bishop, it comes pastor. Hallelujah, look at him. He's so wonderful. He's floating in in the name of Jesus Christ. Why do we lift up human beings rather than Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1:Now is the time to realize that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, and this Christmas needs to be extremely different. We got to break out of Advent, we got to break out of the bondage of religion. We got to break out of the manger and realize he's hit the destinational points according to the word of God. The four destinational points three have finished and gone. One will remain forever.
Speaker 1:What is the one destinational point? According to the word of God, that Jesus will never leave the throne. He's seated at the right hand of the father, interceding for all the saints. Yes, he's coming back, but he's going back to the throne interceding for all the saints. Yes, he's coming back, but he's going back to the throne. The other three destinational points he has left them and he will never revisit them.
Speaker 1:And what was the first one? The manger. He will never visit the manger, ever again. Religion visits it time and time and time again. Yes, it's good to recognize it, but I don't leave Jesus in the manger.
Speaker 1:I've got to realize that he was in the manger. He left the manger, he disappeared off the fabric of the world for 33 years. We see a glimmer, but the preachers and the teachers, they're everywhere. They're in more positions than Jesus has ever been in. But Jesus disappeared for 30 years or so roughly you do your calculations. He lived 33 years or so Three years, let's say, in public ministry.
Speaker 1:He turned the world upside down. In three years. He brought mayhem in a great way. He turned everything upside down inside out. He didn't have a social media account, he didn't have a podcast account, he didn't have a church building.
Speaker 1:He's the only king that never had an earthly throne, but kings can't stand him. He's the only one that could teach and has teached the word of God without error. He's the only one that healed the sick, that never gave out a pill from the pharmaceutical companies. He's the only one that stood in front of Nicodemus and gave the greatest biblical message the world has ever heard you must be born again. It was delivered in four minutes.
Speaker 1:The shortest sermon we've ever heard comes from the Gospel of John, chapter three, verse three. He didn't have cameras, he didn't have lights, he didn't have the world running around putting him on social network. There was two human beings the man, christ Jesus, according to the word, and Nicodemus in that room. And Nicodemus went at night, so they was just in candlelight, they was just by light form, very, very low light. There was no bells, there was no whistles, it was at night and Nicodemus stared Jesus in the eyes, the greatest preacher the world has ever seen. Nicodemus was the only one that got that message first. What a privilege Nicodemus had at that point.
Speaker 1:But that message has turned the world upside down. That world has caused trouble in where that message sorry has caused trouble where, in more places, in religion, the message that Jesus Christ delivered you must be born again. It has brought, and it brought, mayhem to religion, because religion can't understand it. Religion wants to lift up everything else but it can't lift up Jesus. Because when you become born again, when you become under the hand of God, when you realize that there is favor on your life, surrender comes in. And every one of us wrestles with surrender. Every one of us wrestles every day, every moment. God, I've got to give you that Lord. I don't want to give you that Lord. I like that Lord. You want me to give that up in the world. But, lord, I like that Lord in the world. My flesh loves that. Lord Jesus, lord, you want me to give that up, god. I want you to give it up, beth, but Lord, I can't give it up, lord, it's me, lord, but that's what we call the potter's will. The potter's will, when that God gets a hold of you and he puts you on that will, that lump of clay, and he molds you and he shapes you. He will punch the clay, he will knead it, he will push it, he will drive his hand into it, he will pull and push, he will shape that clay.
Speaker 1:Have you ever felt that your life has been shaped outside of your control? And the first one and religion and the celebrity world of church, they blame the devil. Things are happening to me that are out of my control. 90% of that is going to be God shaping you for what is to come. But we're rebuking the devil and the devil ain't even on the fabric of the page and God has got you in his hands and he's shaping and he's molding. And it doesn't feel good, it doesn't feel right, because you're changing what I was.
Speaker 1:Change is painful, change can be gritty and change starts within the heart, and you know that. You know that. You know that there is something different, something is going on and that shape and that change, and that happened to the high priest John's father. There was change coming, but something happened to that man that you would never expect you ain't going to speak for a few years, that you would never expect you ain't going to speak for a few years. See, when God comes into your life, he will change things outside of the human mind. When he came into Mary's life, her life would never be the same.
Speaker 1:Because when God comes in, something happens and we try to live in the skin that we've been birthed in and we try to live in this way of the world and we try to adapt. We try to be like the animal that changes its colors, the chameleon, and try and adapt to the environment. You can't adapt to the world. The Bible says you're cut away from the world. Don't allow the culture to shape you. Don't allow the policies at work and the culture in the workplace to shape you. If we allow family to shape us, if we allow pastors to shape us, don't let me shape you. Don't let Elim shape you. Don't let Celebrity Church shape you. Don't let ministry shape you. Let God shape you. Don't let Elim shape you. Don't let Celebrity Church shape you. Don't let ministry shape you. Let God shape you. Don't let your culture shape you. Don't let your colour shape you. Don't let anything in the world shape you other than the master's hands. The master must shape. The master must do his work, and that is painful. Don't let money stop you, don't let the lack of stop you. The Bible says all things are possible to those who believe.
Speaker 1:When you put yourself in a position of believing, it's interesting. When trouble comes to your door, do you find that everyone is around you that you walk with? When you've got a few cigars in your pocket and everything looks good, and you're throwing money around like a man with five arms in your pocket and everything looks good and you're throwing money around like a man with five arms. When it hits the fan, you do a 360 and it goes quiet. But there's someone that don't leave you. His name is Jesus. There's someone that won't leave you in the pigsty of life. There's someone that won't leave you when your friends are great on the social networks. You're getting likes, you're getting this, you're getting that, and, and everything is looking good and then suddenly something happens. Suddenly something happens and favor drops on your life, when favor drops on your life and your life suddenly becomes different. The outside environment don't like who you are, because the outside environment suddenly can't control you anymore, but it tries to control you. But when favor drops on you, you have no choice but to be a Jesus follower. You can wrestle it all your life. You can run across the other side of the world, you can do whatever you want to do. You can try and disprove him, but no one can disprove a book that has been written by 40 different authors. No one can disprove a book that has taken 1,496 years to write.
Speaker 1:Now I've got to be careful what I say about the next thing this book is the only book in the world where you'll get healed. This is the only book in the world where you'll get salvation. This is the only book in the world that will get you close and into the throne room of God. The Quran will not get you there. The Quran will not get you there. The Quran will not get you there. The Quran will not get you your healing. The book of Mormons will not get you saved. If you belong to Jehovah Witnesses, get yourself out. That book will not get you saved. There's only one book in the world and it is the Bible. Sorry, youtube, I can't help it. It is the Bible. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. It is the only book in the world that will give you hope. It is. There's no other book in the world where you will get healing. You can't get healing from the Quran. You can't get salvation from the Quran. You can't get it from any other Eastern mythological religion. You can't get it from anywhere else. It is the only book in the world.
Speaker 1:If it wasn't the greatest book, we'd know about it, but all the other books cannot match this book. You take that certain book that I mentioned a moment ago suddenly comes out 623 years after the cross. It has no power. Harry Potter has more power than certain books that have been written. Should I tell you why? Because it's witchcraft. Harry Potter has more power over a certain book that begins with a C and a certain book that other religions use. Harry Potter has more strength because it is a dangerous book, a dangerous film. A dangerous book, a dangerous film. Even Disney itself Witchcraft Wizards tucked in the background Got to be careful.
Speaker 1:That word that begins with P, that you know that I mention a lot. You know what I'm saying. You know the child abuse area, pedophilia. Let's get out and get on with it. We've got to be careful. These films, these children's films, are laced with witchcraft, abusive activity to children. The Pied Piper oh, when you look at that, the God of the Forest.
Speaker 1:All the other books in the world cannot match the book of Jesus Christ. And the Bible says in the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 14, and the word became flesh and made his dwelling. God became touchable, god presented himself to the world. God doesn't need religion, god doesn't need Advent, god doesn't need the church, because when you study Jesus, christ, christology, if you want to be a great man or a great woman, don't look at Andrew Tate, don't look at all those on social networks, don't follow all those motivational speakers. If you want to be a great man or a great woman, you study Christ Christology. That will put you in a position, not because of you, but because of who is living in you.
Speaker 1:When you follow Jesus Christ, and you follow him with every fiber of your being, you become dangerous to governments, you become dangerous to education, you become dangerous not in a way of harming, but in what you believe in, because you come with the truth. And when you tell the world the truth, when you tell the children the truth at school, when you tell education the truth, when you tell the church the truth, when you preach the truth, everything is going to erupt in your life. Because look at Mary, her life was great up until the angel gave her a message. So if he gave her a message and she was carrying the message and greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world you are carrying what. You're carrying a message. So if you're carrying a message, you're carrying favor. If you're carrying favor, get ready for trouble. We might as well prepare ourselves for trouble. It's no good preparing yourself for a revival If the church generations back had prepared us for trouble. It's no good preparing yourself for a revival. If the church generations back had prepared us for trouble, we'd be able to accept and cope with what is before us. But because the church has prepared us for revival and the fluffy pink stuff, what goes on around in church and religion, because it's prepared us for the woke stuff, we've lost our identity. Because it's prepared us for the woke stuff, we've lost our identity. We've lost our identity and now God is telling you get back in the world because I am the truth, I am the coming king. So the four destinational points, one will never change, three will never be revisited. Religion will go back to it again and again and again, the three points we are very aware of. We have the crib, which is the first destinational point, the first marker. Christ came into the earth, he came to the world, the first destinational mark that the world recognizes the birth of Jesus. They didn't even like the birth of Jesus Christ. We understand that the king was crazy. He didn't like that. The shepherds and the magi and everyone outwitted him and they went back different ways and then he went crazy and went wild and he got really, really angry and we know what he'd done the firstborn and he tried to strip him out. But God took himself, his son, and he told Joseph. What did he say to Joseph? Joseph, get your wife, get your little baby and get back and go back to Egypt. As I've said before, egypt is extremely relevant because God gave instruction in Egypt to the Israelites. What did he give them? Instruction for Exodus, chapter 12, the Passover. So when God said out of Egypt. I will call my son. He wasn't only just referring to him as a baby, he was referring to him as the Passover lamb, because the Passover lamb was given physical instruction through Moses and Aaron to the Israelites in Egypt, under slavery, under oppression. He gave them clear instruction about the blood will be a sign and Jesus represents salvation, and Jesus was drawn out according to the word. So not only do we have the Passover meal, not only do we have the feast of unleavened bread, not only do we have the Passover. When God said the blood will be a sign, what did he do? He took himself, he took Jesus back into oppression. God hides us in trouble, god tucks us away until he is ready to reveal, but ministry does the opposite. Church and celebrity status does the opposite. We have more preachers, baby preachers, dressed in adult suits, that have never experienced Egypt life. God only uses those that have been to hell and high water. He will not use someone straight from Oxford. Chuck them in a pulpit, preach the gospel. It doesn't happen. Religion and celebrity status does that. So when you look at the church, as in a chunk of it, you will find there's great educators in the pulpit, but they don't know what it's like to go to food bank. They don't know what it's like to have a hole under their shoe. They don't know what it's like to ask God, god, there's no electric in the house today. They don't know what it's like because wages are higher, cars are higher, status is higher. They don't know what it's like to have sleepless nights, worrying Lord what's happening to my life, my relationship. They don't know what it's like to be trodden down and beaten. They come out of great educational areas and they normally get in position. Most of the time they get in that position because daddy was the pastor. They normally get in that position because uncle was the pastor or this was ours. When you look at a real calling, someone that has been called is like a David. Let's use that analogy. David was birthed. His calling was birthed in the field. Celebrity preachers and large church leaders don't know what it's like to fight a bear and a lion. What is a bear and a lion? A bear and a lion is one of the strongest animals that the earth sees to this day, and if you ever get caught in a bear and a lion in life, you've got a fight on your hand. If you've got fights and you've had fights, and there are fights on your hand. Let me tell you this you're caught If you're standing behind pulpits and I know you're there at this moment in time and I know you'll watch me later. Thank you for watching me later on. In the name of Jesus Christ, if you are standing in a pulpit and you are preaching a message and you haven't had a fight for every day, for every second of your life, get out the pulpit. God shapes men and women in the field. Because David didn't get, he didn't get the throne. He had to go back to the field so you can be anointed. You look at the story of David, his brothers. They was cutting it, they were rolling it, they had absolutely everything. And the prophet went it's none of them, it's all show. That's what we got today Handsome preachers, beautiful looking people in worship, it's all cameras, it's all makeup, it's all smoke and mirrors. And the prophet went they ain't no good, they're like a chocolate teapot. They're no good whatsoever. They ain't going to do what God wants to do. Jess went oh yeah, I've got a little toe rag. He's out in the field though, but bring him. See, when you've lived in the field in the darkness and in fear. When you've been hidden in the darkness, god pulled you out to anoint you for a moment. Hold it, see when God pulled him out of the field for a moment. Hold it see. When God pulled him out the field, he smelt, he was rugged, he wasn't fit for purpose in the eyes of his father. There are many people in families and your family look at you and think you're not fit for purpose. Your brothers, your sisters, your church leaders will look at some people and go you're not fit for purpose. They've just dragged him out of a shift fighting bear and lion. There was no shower. There was no lynx aftershave that comes out at christmas. There was no and there was nothing about him that his father thought he was fit for purpose. Are you in a a relationship? Are you in a life? Are you in a family? Are you in a church? When they look at you and think you're not really fit for purpose, that's a good start. When the world looks at you and thinks, actually you're not fit. But they pulled him out. The field was covered in it, he'd probably been rolling in it. When you look at a real shepherd, not a hired hand, david has never been referenced referenced as a hired hand, because a hired hand is someone that gets paid pastors and leaders. We have many hired hands that look like a shepherd. They dress like a pastor, they look like a pastor. They they dress like a pastor, they look like a pastor, they wear the collar, they do everything. They're just hired in. So David gets pulled out of the rough. He walks up stinking. What's going on? He had no understanding what was going to happen to him, because he'd just been struggling to look after sheep. He'd been struggling with his life. His brothers ridiculed him. They pull him in the tent. The prophet stands up. It's him. The father looked at him and thought what are you doing? He stinks, he's just a shepherd. God calls the lowly. The scripture says God calls the ones that are not and turns it as though they are. God uses the underdogs. If you feel like an underdog across the world this morning, you better get ready for a journey that you never anticipated, because God is pulling you out of the field. There's a message that's landed on you and in you, and there are many in church that are too scared and too worried to go to pastors and leaders and say God has told me this because you can't really talk to many pastors because they're too busy playing golf. You can't talk to too many pastors because they're too busy counting their bank account. You can't get to celebrity pastors because, oh, you can't talk to the holy ones. But when Jesus died on the cross, what did he do? The temple curtain was torn in two, it was ripped in two and access became accessible to someone. So when you look at Jesus quickly, we got to move quickly. We have the first destinational point. We had the crib. He's not going to the crib ever again. And then the next place was the cross. He's never going to the cross again. One sacrifice once and for all. The word became flesh. God became touchable. The crib will never be touched again by Jesus. The cross will never be visited again by Jesus the grave. Isn't it interesting? Who took him? Who picked Jesus up? You must be born again. Joseph came and another certain man that had a conversation with Jesus Christ. He carries the living word, he carries the king of kings. It would have been messy. Imagine. You can't imagine what the crucifixion was like because it was so brutal. But imagine how they took him off the cross, kicked him, pulled him, spat him, spying Nicodemus Joseph. They would have been covered in blood, covered head to toe. It would have been a horrific sight to see flesh missing everything. You can't imagine what that sight was like. They carried the word to the last earthly destinational point the grave. The grave can't even hold him. The cross was only for a short while, the crib was for a while, but the throne is forever. So you serve a king that has a heavenly throne and he's out there right now interceding for each and every one of us, even when we don't feel worthy, because the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. So when you look at David, david got his anointing when he wasn't expecting and his father went get back to the field. You're anointed, you're blessed and you're saved, but you're in the field of life. The field of life is critical to realize. That's the training ground the loss, the pain, the fear, the doubt, the worry, the uncertainty, the workplace, the education, the loneliness, the fear. Imagine what David experienced after he was anointed. The same emotions, but he was anointed. The same emotions, but he was anointed. Jesus Christ was taken into Egypt. He was hidden in Egypt. Out of my son, I will call, out of Egypt I will call Out of my son. I will call what Salvation? He's the savior of the world. So when you look at the Passover, when you look at that, the blood will be a sign. When they took Jesus Christ down from the cross of Calvary, there was blood everywhere. You can't imagine what it was like. Scripture is alive, blood, washed, sanctified. Jesus Christ, known as God. How can we call Jesus God? John, chapter 1, gives us the understanding. But Jesus says I and the Father are one. I am God, god is me. The word cannot be separated from God. And the Bible says what are we going to call him? Emmanuel, god with us. If you have a Bible, turn to the book of Colossians, chapter 1. Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15. Christ is the image of the invisible God. This is the title of this morning's message. God became touchable. Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15. Colossians is a great book. Chapter 1, verse, verse 15 Christ is the image of the invisible God. If you look at those five verses verse 15 to 20 it will give you salvation. It will give you the spiritual I'll use this phrase. It will give you the invisible, become invisible. It will give you salvation. It will give you If you are ever in trouble and looking for a quick-fired way to get through. Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15 to 20,. Christ is the image of the invisible God. He holds all things together, all things consist because of him, everything is within his power, everything is in his hands, everything is in him. Christ is God. God came down and revealed himself in the image of Jesus Christ. Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15. What a powerful text. And uh, if I'm going to quickly turn there and as you look at that scripture right in front of your very eyes, colossians, chapter one, he is the image of the invisible god, the firstborn over all creation. For by thing, by him, sorry, all things were created. You've got creation. You got genesis straight out of the bag, things in heaven and things on earth. Look what it says, things as we have here, things that are upstairs, when you see what is visible, invisible, whether thrones or powers, rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. That is the mystery of life. It's been created for him and by him. He is before all things and all things hold together and he is the head of what. Come on. It's not the Pope, I'm sorry. It's not Mary, I'm sorry. It's not me, I'm sorry, it's not helium, I'm sorry, it's not religion, I'm sorry, it's Jesus Christ. He's the head of the church. He's the great I am. He's the saviour of the world. He is your redeemer. He is the sovereign God. He is the great I am. He is worthy of all praise. He is the great I am. He is worthy of all praise. He is the first, he is the last. All things consist because of. The word became flesh and he decided to create what he wanted to create. It is for him and by him. And it says there and he is the head of the body of the church, this is the beginning of the firstborn among the dead. And uh, so that in everything he might have supremacy. God was pleased, so pleased in him to give him the fullness to dwell in him. And this verse 20. I tell you what we could spend hours when you look at verse 20. It says and through him, to reconcile to himself oh, my goodness, gracious me to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth, things in heaven, by marking peace through his blood at where, on the cross. There's no other I'll use the word religion for the moment there's no other world religion that has a book that you have in your hands. There's no other book in the world, no other book can come near it, nothing. The next book out of this book on the shelves is Harry Potter, because that is filled with witchcraft, that is filled with sorcery. When you look at that story, when you read it and understand it, the Harry Potter cards, everything that goes with it, witchcraft has been delivered to the kids through a film, through a book, through cards, through this, through that, through t-shirts. Look at the slogans, look at what they say Powerful. But there's no book like the book. It is the greatest book in the world. It was written for him, by him and because he just wanted to do it. But he chose. He chose to create you, he chose to bring you into the world. It's not because of your mom and your dad and the biological process. That is all in the hands of God. You are here because he wants you on the earth. You are here because he has a plan for you and religion and church has knocked out something church has done to men especially. It has tried to knock out masculinity. It has brought wokeness. It has tried to destroy the understanding what a mum is, what a woman is in the word of God. Religion has tried to destroy it. The world wokeness has tried to destroy it. We are different. We are completely different. I don't look good in a skirt. A man don't look good in a skirt. A man don't look good in a skirt. Come on, sorry, youtube, it's critical, it's absolutely critical that you, as a woman, are blessed and highly favoured. You, as a man, you're blessed and highly favoured, and God created the two. If he wanted anything else, he would have done anything else. He created man and he created woman and he created light and he created time and he created the heavens and the earth and he created the cross of Calvary. And he is the one that planted that tree that took him to the cross. Think about that as we come to a close the tree that Jesus gave his life on. He knew, because he created that tree, wherever that little seedling dropped in the understanding of pollen, wherever that tree was planted, god knew where that would be planted and he knew that he would have to, through his son, go to that cross, the tree of Calvary. So when you look at a Christmas tree, the pagan tree, look through the pagan tree and see the only tree, the greatest tree, that is marked with blood, the tree where the robes were fallen at the bottom of the floor, the tree that was scarred with skin and marked goodness knows what it looked like blood all on the floor, water on the floor. His lifeless body. It was lifeless, lifeless body. It was lifeless. Jesus was dead because he said it is finished. And then he dropped that line across the gospels. And what did he say to John? I was dead. So that clarifies that Jesus died. But there are many teachings out there that said he didn't really die. As we know what death is. Jesus Christ died. Jesus Christ gave it up. But what we need to understand is is that death has no power. Oh death, where is your sting? So there is a lot to grab, and church is extremely important in this day and age. If you go to a church that separates men and women, that is not scriptural. If you go to a church that is full of a certain demographic, it's not scriptural. A church is healthy, flowing, with everything going on inside, and a church is healthy when you've got women that are praying in the church. What do you mean? If you was to turn to the new testament and look in the book of acts, chapter 2, christ gave a clear message. He said wait for a gift that I'm about to give you. But there is something that the church don't like preaching about and certain cultural churches and certain color churches and certain this church and that church and every church don't like mentioning. But it says that the women were already in prayer and it says that the men join the women. So they sat together, they roll together, they move together, they pray together. So if you go to any church that separates, it's not a church of Jesus Christ. You can sit next to a man. You can sit next to a woman. You can sit next to a child. You can sit. That separates, it's not a church of Jesus Christ. You can sit next to a man. You can sit next to a woman. You can sit next to a child. You can sit next to whoever you want. To sit next to Women, you can come down the front of the church. If the women are being pushed to the back of the church, it's the devil's work. If you are being pushed to the left or the right, if you're being asked to jump through hoops and you can't do this, and the man takes the place at the front. It's probably not a cult, because the Bible says the women were already in prayer and Jesus said get ready, get ready for a gift, get ready and wait and wait, and wait. And the men wasn't even in the prayer meeting. They was outside counting their money. They was outside scratching around. They was outside of the beginning of the birth of the church, but Jesus had the women already in him. Prayer A powerful church is where you've got women praying, where you've got women praying in church. That's a powerful place to be when women are praying. That is powerful Because normally the men are outside having a fag, because normally the men are outside having a fag washing the car, doing something completely different. So on the birth of the church of Jesus Christ, the women were already in position. No-transcript, get out, leave that church. Find a church where you can come down the front and sit right at the front. Come down a church where you can talk and be open and be free. Go to a church where you can talk and you can pray, sit at the front, lift your hands, worship the King of Kings, not have to look after the kids. It's not a babysitting service. So if women, if you are in a church that keeps you to the back, keeps you to the left, keeps you to the right, that keeps you in the foyer, get out. So we have had a church, a church model across this nation that has tried to draw out the masculine man. You can't be a man in many denominations. You've got to be a woke wobbler. You can't be a man. You can't be a caveman. Oh, go in there with a beard, you're in trouble. Go in dressed with a Viking's haircut. Oh, my goodness, you're right in trouble. A man can't be a man anymore because it's. We can't have men in this organisation. Men have got strange thoughts. They're too brutal. We want a woke man. We want a man that will just blend in and just lay down and we can beat him around with a stick. Men, come on, rise up, be the man that God has called you to be in work, in life. Rise up and be a man. Women, be the woman that God has called you to be. Rise up, children, be who God has called you to be. We need to break out of this weak, this wokeness, this gayness, this everythingness. We've got to break out. We've got to stand on the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we've got to press the word of God like never before, because the word became flesh and made his dwelling. He's not in the crib, he's not at the cross, he's not in the grave, he's seated at the throne interceding for all the saints. Rise up. Today is the day where we've got to rise up. Today is the day where you take a Bible and you hold a Bible and you walk home or you drive home from church with a Bible in your hands. We can't keep looking to the device, the electronic means for scripture, because we got all the distractions. Because we got all the distractions, grab yourself a paperback version, read the word of God in paperback form. Read the word, get the word in your spirit Because he is already in, but get the word in your life. Realize your identity, realize that you are a woman called, realize that you are a man called. And if you want to be a great woman and a great man, you study Christ, christ, you follow Jesus. Suddenly, you become radical, you become untouchable. You become untouchable, you become like Teflon it slides off, it slips away. Because you believe in miracles, you believe in the word. You're telling the world about the truth. And guess what? When someone starts to tell the truth, the feathers get dusted off in heaven. But the woke man, they're not going to move. For a woke man, they're not going to move. For a woman that is too frightened to speak out, the angels are not going to move. There's more angels in heaven now, probably with dust on their wings, because the church hasn't speak and doesn't know how to speak the truth. But if you are a Bible believing believer and suddenly start speaking the word of God, look what happened to the shepherds, look what happened to the wise men when the angel came down Suddenly, they was filled. The air was filled up with a multitude singing to God, the heavens were filled with angelic activity, not a devil in sight. Let me tell you, the demons flee at truth. Lucifer loves a lie, he loves religion and he loves certain area of church because it's all lies. But he don't like a church, he don't like a believer when you start getting on the truth. But just because he don't like you, he can't get near you, because this is what happens. Psalm 91 see what it says, verse 11 for he will command his angels concerning you. And that was proven to the wise men and the shepherds because when they got the truth and they followed the star. When you follow the star in the east, when you follow the one that created the star, angels have to get put to flight. Come on, let's get heaven ruffled. Let's get them, angels, out of bed. They've been furloughed for too long. We. Let's get the angels down. Let's get the. Let's call it in. Let's call God into the arena of your life. Let's call God down into every area of our life. Realize that you are not a churchgoer, that you are a Bible-believing, spirit-filled, blessed and highly favoured brother and sister in Christ Jesus. Let's take it a bread and a wine. Father, we come to you right now and we believe that the bread represents the body of Christ. We believe that this cup represents redemption. The blood of Jesus and the word became flesh and he made his dwelling among us. It's the spirit of the living God. It's a spirit of the living God. We need you to move in our lives today. We need a wake up call. We need, father God, to hear the bell of heaven ringing. Thank you for this bread that symbolises the body of Christ. Bless this bread in Jesus name, amen. Jesus took the cup after supper and he said this cup is a new covenant. Do it in remembrance of me, not religion, not in Advent, not Easter. Do it every time you gather, when you're at home on your own, when you're at certain areas. Brother and sister, every church today across this earth should be taking bread and wine. If it's not taking bread and wine, it's not the church of Jesus. Christ, lord, we take this cup because Jesus told us every time to come together in my name, break bread and take it a cup. Bless this cup, this cup, father, because we understand it symbolizes the blood of Jesus. Amen. The breaking of the bread in closing, the breaking in bread and the taking of the cup is not a religious activity. I spoke about, about it briefly Exodus, chapter 12. We have the birth of what we call communion, breaking the bread scripturally, the Passover. That's what it's about. When I see the blood, I'll pass over. So we have that start, that birth point, that beginning. So we have that start, that birth point, that beginning. Jesus was taken back into Egypt and he came out as what? The living sacrifice. He came out of Egypt as the lamb that was unblemished. God told them take a lamb. So there was the physical. All those hundreds of years before Jesus came. It was happening. They took the lamb, but then God went. I'm gonna take him in to the exact place where it all started. As the lamb he came out, he disappeared off the radar for 30 odd years. We see him bouncing around a little bit, but then, suddenly, when we have the one whose the temple that froze in fear, we have John. John. As soon as he sees who, jesus what is the first thing that he says? The Lamb of God. What was he speaking about? The world around him thought he's a crackpot. You're off your head, mate. Goodness knows what you're doing. Why are you calling that human being a lamb? He was calling him the lamb of god because what he was referencing exodus, chapter 12, and he was bringing up to the fulfillment of, when christ went back into egypt and god said out of e, I'll draw my son. My son is the living sacrifice. So John had revelational knowledge. You can't work this stuff out. It is so powerful. God bless every one of you right now, in the name of Jesus, father, we thank you for everybody in the Lord's house. We thank you for everybody online. We thank you for the word of God. We thank you for scripture, but right now, lord, wherever we are scattered. Lord, I pray that there'll be such a stirring in our spirit. Lord, I pray that there'll be such a stirring Lord. We can't sleep for Jesus. There'll be such a stirring Lord, we'll be going crazy. I've got to get the word of God out. 've got to take a bible. I've got to. The greatest gift you can ever give someone this Christmas is a bible, because what is a bible? A bible is the word. What are we celebrating? The birth of the word? Give people a bible, take the bibles. Father, we thank you for this morning, lord. As we go back, lord, into our lives, into different areas, different drumbeats, today, I thank you, lord, that we're born again. Thank you, lord, that we're covered in the blood. Bless us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen, god bless.
