Kingdoms in Collision — Michael Flowers

Kingdoms in Collision and the Ministry of Jesus

We're going to call this today kingdoms in collision, we're jumping right into the first chapter of Mark and we're examining the ministry of Jesus, the kingdom of God and just the power ministry that followed Jesus everywhere he went in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Moses' Prophecy of the Coming Prophet

Moses is prophesying in Deuteronomy 18 and he says, beginning with verse 15, this is in your bullet. And if you want to look at it, the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, a prophet like me from among your own people.

You shall heed such a prophet. Think about that. Who's saying this? This is Moses. And if you think about just the towering figure that Moses is, he's he's really the most important figure in the in the Old Testament, arguably, at least.

He led the people of God out of Egypt. He instituted the first Passover. He gave the people the law, the tabernacle and the means of right worship of the one true God. This is what Moses brought to the people of God.

He even appeared while speaking with Jesus. He appeared with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. And that ends actually, that story will end this season of epiphany. We'll look at the Mount of Transfiguration in a couple of weeks.

Down through the ages, Moses became the source of authority for all the rabbinical teachers. And so down through history, you know, as as rabbis would rise up, they would say, I speak this by the authority of rabbis so and so who went back.

It's almost like a reverse succession. And every every rabbi would have to have some sort of succession until they got back to Moses. And that's how they would claim their authority. And so in the name of this rabbi or that rabbi or by the authority of this rabbi, I speak this to you.

And so in Deuteronomy 18, this towering figure, Moses, points to someone else, though he's pointing to a coming one. And why is this so? It struck me this morning reading this again, that the very reason that we get Christ in the incarnation, one of the reasons is pointed out because the people could not listen to the raw voice of God from the mountain.

They could not encounter the raw presence of God. And he said, because you said we can't hear this, we can't listen to this. I'm going to raise up a prophet like me and you will listen to him, OK? Who is Moses talking about?

He prophesies about another one coming, a prophet like himself and that big word, listen to him, you will listen to him. That's the epiphany theme, isn't it? At the baptism of Jesus, the heavens open and the father speaks and he says, listen to him on the Mount of Transfiguration.

It happens again. The father speaks and he says, listen to him. Moses is saying that one is coming who will speak the very words of God, listen to him. Let's turn to Mark one, beginning with verse twenty one.

Jesus' Authority Over Sacred Space and the Demonic

And let's consider the gospel passage today. It starts, they went to Capernaum and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. OK, Mark is listing something very specific here. He's saying there's some sacred time here and it's called the Sabbath.

That's sacred time. And he's entering a sacred space called the synagogue. So there's sacred time and sacred space where Jesus enters and he begins to teach. And the immediate reaction to his teaching is they were astonished, they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, not referring to authorities.

Here's the embodiment of authority in our midst. They couldn't fully understand what's going on, but they just knew, wow, when Jesus speaks, we listen and it perplexes us as one having authority, not as the scribes.

Jesus is not quoting anyone. You know, he would say in other passages like the Sermon on the Mount, you have heard it said, but I say to you, he's carrying an embodied sense of authority in his own person.

Now, what is authority? What does that really mean? The word is exousia, and exousia is one of the words used in the Nicene Creed speaking of the being of God. And ex is out of. Authority is one who speaks out of the being, out of the being of God in this case.

So Jesus is speaking out of the being of the divine being within himself, the Logos. And it has this amazing earth shattering kingdom colliding effect when Jesus comes into a room. The demonic, the dark forces began to tremble, the people are astonished and in the midst of trying to trip Jesus up or reveal who he is too quickly.

They began to cry out, they began to manifest, this is a different kind of epiphany of darkness. This is a manifestation, an epiphany of darkness. We we encounter both in this present evil age. We encounter epiphanies of darkness, manifestations ruling through structures, ruling through cultural systems, right down to the very psychology and the oppression that we all can enter into and feel and and war against.

Those epiphanies of darkness are showing up in this holy time, the Sabbath and in this holy place, this sacred space, as it were, the synagogue. What's happening? Just then there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.

It's kind of a weird place for an unclean spirit to be hanging out, right? The unclean spirit cries out and says, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one of God.

OK, now it seems like through the whole ministry of Jesus, the only entities that actually understood his purpose and his person, it was the demonic world. Right. Everyone else is missing it. In fact, it takes a revelation from God for Peter to get that and then it leaves immediately.

And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. Right. When when Peter all of a sudden you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

And then he begins to talk about going to the cross. And then Peter says, no, no, no, no. And now he's speaking directly in opposition against the plan and the purpose of God. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan.

You don't know what spirit now you're speaking of as Peter was being influenced, as it were, by another spirit because of the blindness that came back over him. The epiphany had left Peter and he was speaking out of his own sense of insecurity and flesh and national narrative.

What happens? But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be silent. Come out of him and the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying with a loud voice came out of him. And the result is that they're amazed they don't know what to think of this.

They were saying, what is this? What is this all about? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits, plural now, not just singular, and they obey him. At once, his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

What is the man saying with the unclean spirit? He's saying that this is the holy one of God. None of the authorities got that, but the demonic is sort of blowing his cover, as it were, because Jesus did not want to proclaim that at this moment.

He needed three years to to build his discipleship band and get everyone ready to turn over his ministry to the ministry of the church. And so Jesus silences that as he's building the church, that primitive church by his first disciples.

The Great Commission and the Authority of Jesus

Now, how does this kind of ministry continue? And that's what we're talking about at the end of the ministry of Jesus, the earthly ministry of Jesus straight away after the resurrection. There's many encounters, but let's think about the Great Commission, Matthew 28.

Jesus says this again, he brings up the issue of authority and he says all authority, all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me. There's no other religious figure that can claim this, you see, especially having risen from the dead, go and make disciples of all nations.

And then he's adding the sacramental component right here, baptizing them, baptizing them in the triune name of God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit and teaching them. Teaching and deliverance and salvation, all of this go together because we're coming against the father of lies.

And so teaching has to happen in the power and revelation of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I've taught you. And he said, don't worry, it's not just teaching, but I'm going to accompany you.

Deliverance from Darkness and the Advance of the Kingdom

I'm going to be with you always until the end of the age. Isn't that good? We're not alone. So what's going on? What's going on with the church in this present evil age? Colossians describes it in the collision of kingdoms, Colossians 1, 13 through 14.

Speaking of Jesus, for he has rescued us, the church from the domain, the dominion, the kingdom of darkness. And he's brought us he has brought us into the kingdom of his son. He loves, it says, his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In a sense, that's that's how we're delivered out of the domain of darkness, because the sin, the alienation issue has been dealt with on the cross of Jesus Christ and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Again, no one else could have done this and no one else can do this. It's only Jesus that can do this for us. Jesus said in another passage, he says, the kingdom, the kingdom of God suffers violence and forceful ones lay hold of it.

There's collisions going on, there's casualties happening, but forceful ones have to press in and lay hold of it against the enemy, the father of lies, the deceiver, the ruler of this world. And just tons of other titles that Jesus spoke of Satan having this ministry continues throughout the book of Acts.

Extraordinary Miracles in Acts 19

And we read that today in Acts 19. Look at the collisions that are happening in Acts 19. It says that God was doing extraordinary miracles, extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons, pieces of cloth that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases.

Left them in the evil spirits came out of them. What that is extraordinary, but, you know, it's very sacramental that this particular kind of materiality could be infused with the grace of God and actually cause demons to flee and healing to happen.

Brothers and sisters, your priest believes this stuff. I really believe this can happen. I mean, it's extraordinary, right? We don't see it happening all the time, but we need a grid so that this is in our realm of possibility and we pray for extraordinary grace.

We need extraordinary grace. You know, this is the 10th most violent city in America just came out, Kansas City. Now, what's that a result of? Ultimately, forceful ones lay hold of it. The kingdom is advancing and forceful ones lay hold of it.

That's why we're here in the urban core, learning how to do battle in word and sacrament and contending for the fullness of Holy Church, verse 13. And then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits.

But get this. It's just another formula. There's no relationship with Jesus. Right. There's no encounter with Jesus. There's no there's no authority coming up out of their being. And so what happens if I cast out demons by the finger of God?

Jesus said, speaking of the Holy Spirit, know that the kingdom of God has come upon you. OK, so it is the Holy Spirit that does the work of deliverance. It is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit that gives the authority.

It even gave the authority to Jesus because this was post-baptism when he went into the wilderness and he contended with the enemy for 40 days and nights. This is angels and wild beasts attended to him.

And Mark, it's just a really, really fun passage to think about. After his baptism and infilling with the Holy Spirit, he encountered the demonic world everywhere. Paul went establishing the church. They encountered the demonic world.

And think about this. Did that demon in the synagogue say anything that was wrong? You're saying the truth, right? Just like psychics today and other forms of supernatural knowledge doesn't matter. It can actually be true.

But coming from the wrong source, it's not coming from the source of all truth, the way and the truth and the life. And again, the father of lies will speak truth in a deceptive fashion coming from the wrong source.

And so we start seeking this kind of truth. That's how the Gnostics got off in the early first and second centuries, seeking truth from other sources. But who are you? This evil spirit said to these guys, I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you?

Who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them and mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. You see, deliverance can happen by a formula.

Deliverance can't happen by unless you have the discerning of spirits to even know how to address what's going on. It's a gift of the Holy Spirit. We need to pray for the discernment of spirits. We all need discernment.

We all need to to recognize when something that is appearing as an angel of light in our midst, it's from the enemy. We need to be able to recognize that. And so that is even from God himself saying, I will give you the gift of discerning of spirits.

First Corinthians 12. We need this. There's 17, and this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all in the name of Jesus was exalted. Get this, and many of those who were now believers came, OK, this is very important, confessing and divulging their practices.

OK, very important here is another sacrament of the church confession, repentance and confession. They were confessing and divulging their practices. They have come to Christ, but I've got all of this crazy occultic background that I've made money on, that I've experienced reality through.

And what's happening here? A number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to 50 ,000 pieces of silver when this happened.

And they burned the source of evil, the misinformation that is leading them away from the one and the true God. Then it says the word of the Lord continue to increase and prevail mightily. I know bookstores are becoming sort of an artifact of the past.

But if you go into, say, a Barnes and Noble or something like that, one of the largest sections in the bookstore is the occult and magic arts section. Right. That shows that we have this incredible hunger for something beyond, beyond the material world, beyond my limited mind, beyond.

We're looking for encounters just because it's spiritual doesn't mean that it's right, doesn't mean that it's God. These are kingdoms in collision. And so we have to be careful. We need to be discerning as we're coming out of these things.

We need to lay these things down. We need, as it were, to burn those influences and get them away from our lives because some of us can come out of these situations. It's not uncommon. And so the occult, astrology and in syncretism would be another word that we would want to be mindful of because, you know, in the New Age world today and designer spirituality today in postmodern spirituality, we just sort of it's a spiritual salad and, you know, we can make it different every day.

I'll put a little of this and a little of that. And I'll dabble with this and dabble with that. And the Holy Spirit is grieved over this because we don't need to be syncretistic. That was the whole problem with the nation of Israel and their polytheistic drive.

God was constantly calling them back from idolatry. All the prophets were calling them back from the astral poles and idolatry and all worship. And it all had to do with weird sexual sin stuff as well.

You see, it's where it leads you. Syncretism, that is the combining of religious traditions, Christianity is the final word on all religious traditions. Right. In the beginning was the logos and the logos was with God and the word was God and the logos is the one who enlightens the heart of every person.

The Holy Spirit, Discernment, and Spiritual Authority

We've spoken about this, that logos enlightens the heart of every person across the universe. And the logos became a human being so that we could actually know what the father is like. If you've seen me, you've seen the father.

So we need to remember as we're contemplating these passages of collision, that greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Your authority lies in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, out of your innermost being, that out of your innermost being, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.

And that's what I want to direct you to today, out of your being, let him flow and then all darkness will flee. You'll be able to deal with darkness. You'll have the guidance and the discernment that you need if you're in the spirit.

We must be in the spirit. Jesus was in the spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon him for ministry, didn't do a miracle before his baptism. There's no miracles recorded that Jesus did until after his baptism.

And he was anointed by the Holy Spirit. And the father spoke, this is my beloved son. And so he chose to empty himself and do ministry the way he calls all of us to do ministry by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, to know God by revelation, to know him through an encounter with the risen Christ, because they didn't know him until he had risen from the dead.

And we come to know Christ the same way in his resurrection. That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Second Corinthians 10. And we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

This is the way forward that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We're not fighting people. We're not fighting flesh and blood. Paul tells us in Ephesians six, it's not about that. It's about the unseen forces of wickedness in high places.

The Church's Commission to Displace Darkness

And so there's a new authority that Jesus gives us because it's been delegated to us. All authority, he says, has been given unto me, the authority that you need to preach the gospel, the authority that you need to help plant churches, the authority that you need to displace darkness and cast out darkness.

It's all in his authority. And he says, I'm giving it to you. It's yours. Go make disciples. Having encountered the resurrected Jesus. Hearing that voice say, and this is listening to him, right, you know, that prophetic word that Moses is saying, I'm going to raise up one like me, listen to him.

It's the same one that the father says, listen to him. And it's ministries all about listening to him, isn't it? It really is. You need to be listening to him and receiving his word above and beyond what I'm saying.

That sacramental preaching is when you're hearing the voice of God and you're encountering God and God's putting his finger on certain things. The finger of God comes and he puts his finger on certain things.

Hallelujah. All authority is being given unto me. Go, therefore, and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have taught you.

Prayer for the City's Transformation

And behold, I am with you always, even until the end of the age, in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. So, Lord, we ask that you will quicken us today and fill us today afresh with the Holy Spirit.

If by the finger of God you deal with darkness, Lord, we ask by the finger of God you would deal with this statistic in our city today. That we would no longer be the 10th most violent city in the nation.

We ask that you would turn that around by the finger of God, by empowering your church, Lord, to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world and displace the darkness. Greater is he who is in us than he that is in the world.

Come and fill us, O Lord, to that end. Fill us with your light, Lord, if we have any occultic involvement this morning, we renounce it in Jesus name. If there's anything in our homes that we need to go and displace and get it out of our homes, I'm asking you in the name of Jesus to do that today so that you may be free and on the path of truth.

Thank you, Lord. Come, Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.