Pastor Stan Mons + Communion
Sermon Transcription:
I'm excited, Church, to once again go with you into another part of the "Seeing the Word" series that we've been on and from which we've been receiving from the Lord. Today’s word is titled "Blueprint for the Robbery." For some of you, this will be a warning; for others, it may be a wake-up call. Some may even receive confirmation in this word that the Spirit of God has been leading your life. He's been doing in your life what God promised would happen when you trust your entire life to Christ and begin to follow Him. In every case, for every person online and every person here, this is a word from God to you. As we have been receiving word after word from the Lord to awaken our understanding and hunger for the Bible, for the Scriptures—both the Old Testament and the New—we see that God opens our eyes, gives us the Holy Spirit, so that understanding can come, and we can begin to see Jesus on every page and in every story.
The Lord saw it fit to issue a warning this week, and I want you to understand if you have the feeling at all that there's a measure of maybe what you call anger in this word, that's absolutely correct. The Old Guard, if you will, used to call it holy indignation. It is a measure of the anger of God. It's not anger with you in the heart of God; it is a frustrating anger that God wants to do something about this thing that bothers Him over your life.
It's not you; He loves you. He has a plan for your life, but there are things in our lives that can bring God to a place where He becomes angry and wants to see things change because He loves you. It is like a father that sees his child in a cycle that ends up hurting themselves or hurting the people around them, and they can't get out because they don't accept help. And there is a frustration and an anger that may be expressed, but it's not because of displeasure or disfavor upon the child. It is because of the favor; it is because of the love that may be present. So if at any time you feel that a bit, it is not anger with you—it's over your situation. I went through that this week as the Lord stirred this word into my heart over my life, but also showing me what He is speaking over your life.
I want to start with you by setting a little bit of an understanding of what we mean—what the Bible means—when it speaks of the Word of God. John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Now from the next couple of verses, we know that the Bible is speaking about Jesus Christ. He is the Word, and in the beginning was the Christ, was the Word, and the Word—the Christ—was with God, and the Word was God. Christ was God. But the Bible very specifically, not only here, calls Jesus by another name, calls Him by the name of the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Then a few chapters later, John 8:31-32: Jesus has come into the world. The Word of God—God—has entered into the world, and this is what He's doing. Verse 31: "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'" Incredible promise from Heaven, delivered by Heaven unto this earth, sent to people that seek to somehow follow Jesus, honor God, try to get to know Him. This is what Jesus tells them: "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you will know the truth." In other words, you won't have unclarity; you'll understand exactly what is happening in your life; you'll understand exactly what the cross has done. And this is what the fruit will be: the truth will make you free.
The manifestation, if you will, of the truth that is inside of you will be freedom—freedom from your sins, freedom from your bondage, freedom from fear, freedom from everything that hell has ever thrown at you. That is what the Word came to tell us when He came to this Earth.
Again, a couple of chapters later, John 15:3, again this is Jesus speaking. John 15:4: "Abide in Me." Remember, this is the Word speaking, who was with God and is God. "Abide in Me," the Word says. Christ says, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me."
Again, this is love language, what He's using. He says, "Abide in Me, and I in you." It's His desire speaking: let My word—let Me—let the Word of God that came from Heaven, let it reside inside of you. I want to be inside of you. I want to have a deep relationship with you, and if you have this relationship with Me, you will always bear fruit. A few verses down, in verse 7: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." Here we have so many believers that say, "My, my—you know, prayer in my life doesn't really work." Well, are you in the Word, and is the Word in you?
Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God, said, "If you abide in Me, if you dwell in My word, and My words remain in you—they abide in you—you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you." Here we have mothers praying for years that their children will be touched by God or experience an awakening, and it never happens. We have people praying for our government, and sometimes it feels like nothing ever happens. We have people praying for the job and on the job, "God, would You give me an opportunity to witness on the job, to speak to this person," and it seems that nothing ever really comes to pass—to the point where prayer becomes an afterthought because it's not an exciting thing; it doesn't really work in your life. This is what Jesus says: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it will be done for you." We have to understand as we go into this word—the blueprint for the robbery—that God has given you His Word. God has given you His Son. God has given you all that you need, and God, on top of that, has given you the blueprint for the robbery that Satan seeks to bring about.
Let me take you to the parable of the sower in Matthew Chapter 13. I'm going to read to you verse one through nine, the parable of the sower that Jesus shares: "On the same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea." Just imagine that for just a moment: Jesus leaves the house, and He goes to sit by the sea. And great multitudes begin to show up. Great multitudes were gathered together to Him so that He got into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. In my office, there's a great, great painting of this happening. When the Lord gave us a word about a year ago that this year was going to be the year of the Word, that is the picture the Lord gave us—of Him sitting down on that boat after He has been crowded off of the beach, if you will, and the multitude is gathered, waiting. And Jesus just sits there.
Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." A beautiful, intriguing story, this Jesus is sharing while He sits on that boat. And then all of a sudden, if you look in the original text, you will see this—that this is an incline, this is an exclamation-point kind of sentence, that last sentence. He cries out, almost unexpectedly; He says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
All of a sudden, at the end of the parable, there's a cry from the heart of God. The Word of God cries out: "He who can hear, let him hear!" In other words, who can hear this? Who is—who's getting Me, is what He's saying. Who can receive this into their heart? Who can hear Me when I speak? In all the earth, in Portland and Safe House this morning, who can hear Me when I speak the Word of God into the lives of the people I'm seeking to save? "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear!" Ask yourself: is there room today in my heart? Is there room today in your heart to receive what Jesus is saying, what His Word is saying? Is there room in your heart, or does it feel your heart is kind of crowded? The Word usually falls somewhere on top of all the other stuff. It gets lost in the cracks, slides off, or you don’t really know where it is a couple of days later. Is there room in your heart to receive what Jesus is saying?
What does this parable mean? If you remember, I've told you many times, but I need you to understand this for the rest of your life: the word "parable" in the Greek means "parabolas." What that word actually means is "to throw alongside." Always reminds me of what you do with a bowling ball. If you throw that thing straight—strike! I feel good when I throw a strike, people; I feel real good. Even when I throw a spare, I'm like, "The strike is coming!" But when a parable is thrown properly alongside of a truth, all of a sudden—strike! All of a sudden, a spiritual truth that was kind of hard to understand, all of a sudden, you get it. It’s simple now; you understand it. That's what a parable is supposed to do. It is a truth thrown alongside a spiritual truth that is maybe hard to explain, but because of this story, it becomes simple, and we get it.
Let me take you to verse 18 and 19 of the same chapter, Matthew 13, when Jesus starts to explain this parable to His followers: "Therefore hear the parable of the sower," the parable that Jesus cried out over. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Who gets Me? Who hears Me? Who has room in their heart? "Hear the parable of the sower." Verse 19: "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches it away, that which was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside." That reminds me of a story later on in the book of Matthew. Let me read to you just one verse before we come back there: Matthew 24:43, Jesus speaking again: "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into." This same Jesus—He's using a saying. It was a saying in that time, and He's reminding, He's making a point. But the saying is true, true in this occasion as well. It is a word of wisdom.
From that time, that was being used—it's all, again, a small parable trying to get His point across. In other words, if the man of the house would know what’s coming, you think he would just go to bed and let it happen? No, that's what He is saying. And here we are, looking at a situation that is unfolding where Jesus is beginning to give you and I, every follower, anyone, He says, that hears the Word—anyone that hears the Word—He begins to give them the blueprint of the robbery that is planned to take place. And this word, later on, that Jesus gives in Matthew, says if the man of the house would have known when and how this robbery was taking place, he would have prevented it. Jesus is seeking to give unto you the very blueprint of the robbery that hell has been planning over your life. Jesus taught you exactly when and how you are going to be robbed.
I'll read to you verse 19 again: "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart. This is he who receives seed by the wayside." That word "understand"—when the verse says they don't understand it, they receive the word but don't understand it—that word "understand" in the Greek means "to put together" or "to comprehend." "Snatches"—that word "snatches"—the enemy comes and he snatches it away; it means to take it by force. That's what the Greek word means—he takes it by force. In other words, there's nothing you can do about it. He has a strength to do that which is greater than your strength to retain that word if understanding is not present.
That is what Jesus is saying. This is how you're going to get robbed. This is how he's going to do it; this is when he's going to do it. He's giving you the blueprint. He tells you—Jesus tells you—you’re going to hear the word come forth in your life. It’s going to be sown into your heart, but if you do not actively participate in discipleship and learning, and if you do not actively bring teachers into your life that I have made available to you, if you do not request and pursue help, you’re not going to be able to put it all together; you’re not going to be able to comprehend it all. Then it’s going to be really easy for Satan to pick you as a prey. That's exactly how and when you're going to be robbed. "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into." Church, Jesus gives you the how and He gives you the when.
Here’s the how: this is how Satan robs this person. He robs you by keeping you from situations and from events that help you grow in biblical understanding. That’s the how. He seeks to keep you from taking time with your Bible every morning and here and there sometime throughout the day. He seeks to keep you from that situation. He'll give you great excuses; he'll give you important things to do in this world; he’ll give you all kinds of motives that say, “Well, I want to be in the Word right now. I just have to get ahead of this,” or, “I’ve got to get away from this thing or away from that thing.”
He seeks to do it this way—he keeps you from situations that help you grow in biblical understanding, and he seeks to keep you from events that help you grow in biblical understanding. What does that mean? God made us a body. You get saved; you receive the Holy Spirit. God never intended for it to be just you and Him on this side of eternity. He made a body. He put believers around you; He poured His Spirit into their life as well so that you can receive out of their life what God is pouring into their life, and you receive out of her life what God is pouring into her life. You put it all together—all of a sudden, you’re comprehending stuff. All of a sudden, you’re able to put A, B, and C together, and now the Word makes sense. You can do something with it. The body begins to work.
This is how Satan seeks to rob—by keeping you from the situations and the events that help you grow in biblical understanding. Here’s the when: he does it when you are the recipient of biblical preaching. It doesn’t matter what church you go to, whatever church it is; if you are the recipient of biblical preaching—in other words, cover-to-cover, Christ-centered, redemption through the cross and the cross alone kind of preaching—if you are the recipient every single week of that kind of preaching, that’s exactly when you will be the target of this robbery.
This is the how: he'll try to keep you from entering into situations and events that add to the sowing of that Word understanding. That’s how and when he seeks to do it.
Here’s a question I want to propose to you: What ultimately keeps a person from pursuing help? Because this is the person that receives—they allow the Word to be sown into their life—but they do not prioritize pursuing help in acquiring understanding. That is, there’s a cost to be paid in order for you to pursue and acquire understanding after the Word has been sown.
What ultimately keeps a person from pursuing help? What keeps a person from daily pursuing the help of the Word, getting into it, figuring out, "God, how do you want to help me through my day today?" What keeps a person from pursuing help in the discipleship school services, where you receive the help to learn to follow Jesus in every area of life? Everybody who has been a part of it can attest to this. There were so many areas in your life, your heart, because the Word was sown in it, and you received it. Your heart wanted to follow Jesus in so many ways, but you didn't know how—the understanding was not yet there, but you’re receiving it.
What keeps a person from pursuing help in learning how to follow Jesus with my mind, my heart, my strength—all of my life? What keeps a person from pursuing help in the men’s and women’s meetings that help you become the man and woman this generation needs, that your children need? What keeps a person from pursuing that help? What keeps a person from pursuing help in the prayer meeting, where you learn not only how to pray but learn to pray together, to pray for others' needs, and to grow in your prayer life?
What keeps a person from pursuing continuous help from their pastor, from their deacon, in order to ensure that they are personally growing in their personal walk with Jesus? What keeps a person from pursuing help from the Holy Spirit and all of the things God placed in their heart that are part of their eternal call, their Kingdom call, even though they are still in this world?
What keeps a person from pursuing help to grow in understanding? Pride. Pride says this: "I can do without that help. I’ll take the sowing of the Word. I love the Word being sown into my life; I love it when the Holy Spirit stirs my heart. I love the Word coming forth; I receive it. I’ll show up for it, but I don’t need to know how to put it all together in every area of my life. I don’t need to comprehend it all. I don’t need that much help. I don’t need to pursue that much help. I don’t need to change my life around just so I can get that extra bit of help." Jesus says, "My Word is being sown into your life, but when the devil tricks you in your pride, you’re going to get robbed." Jesus gives you a blueprint for this robbery so you know exactly what’s coming.
Let me read to you the second type of robbery that Jesus gives you. Verse 20 and 21: "But he who receives the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he stumbles."
This is the person, this is the believer. They have a love for Jesus; they've had an experience with Jesus, and it was a positive experience. They love the Word that was being sown into their life.
This is the person for whom God is not worth that much. God’s Kingdom is not worth much to them. Then, when you begin to follow Jesus, this Jesus, and you begin to follow this Word, but when it begins to cost you too much—because Jesus is not worth that much and His Kingdom is not worth that much—when it begins to cost you too much, you will turn away from it all and lose it all. In other words, this is the person who received the Word and was happy that God sent good news, grateful that God sent good news, worshiped because God sent good news. But they never counted the cost, and following Jesus, following this Word, following the Word that came from heaven, laying down your life for this Word became too costly. And this is how the Word gets robbed. You receive the sowing of the Word, but you do not count the cost. God is not worth much to you; His Kingdom is not worth much to you. And so when the math doesn’t make sense anymore, your heart simply taps out. Your heart quits, and then the Word withers. It gets robbed; it gets snatched out of your life.
Here’s the third blueprint for robbery that Jesus gives you. Matthew 13:22: "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the Word, and the cares of this world"—or another translation says "the cares for other things"—"and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful." Again, a man who hears the Word. Every single situation, every single blueprint for robbery, is toward the true believer, church. This is the person that received, if you want to call it, a healthy, biblical gospel from heaven, and they received it into their heart. At the very least, for a time, they were a part and they looked the part in Christ’s church. Again, right here, a man—he hears the Word; the Word is sown in the heart.
And how, in this man, is the Word going to be robbed out of his life? How, in this woman, is something going to happen that causes her to slowly stop reading her Bible, less and less and less? This is what Jesus says—here’s the blueprint: the cares for things in this world and the belief that it is better for me to have more money. If you have the belief that more money would be good for your life, Jesus says you’re going to be robbed. This is how and when the enemy does it. Jesus gives you and I the blueprint for the robbery that is planned against you. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
Here’s what Jesus is really telling His disciples: pursue help to grow in your understanding of the Word. You’re going to receive sowing; the sowing is done by somebody else; it just falls into your life. But He says you better go and get understanding with it, or else it’s going to be snatched right out of your life, just as quickly as it was sown freely into your life. You will have no power; the enemy will come, and he will take it by force. This is when, on Monday evening, you say, “I don’t even know what the sermon was about.” It was never mixed with understanding in you; you never put two and two together in your life. You didn’t fight the good fight of the faith until you comprehended the Word that was sown without you making any effort.
Pursue help to grow in understanding of the Word—that’s the first one. Second one, count the cost and lay down your life. And the third one, cast your cares on Jesus and don’t love money. And you will not be robbed out of the Bible, and the Bible will never be robbed out of your heart. That’s what He’s saying; that’s what He promises. Let me take you to Colossians 3:16: "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another."
"In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord," he says, "Let the word dwell in you richly." Let it overflow. In other words, collect more than you need—be rich in how much of the Word is dwelling inside of you. Be rich in how many verses that God used to speak to your heart, and you decided these things that God has spoken into your heart—they’re worthy of memorizing. "I'm going to become rich in the Word of God. I'm going to let the Word of Christ dwell in me richly." Why does the Word hammer this time and time again? Why is it not enough to just show up and receive the sowing of the Word week after week? Why is the devil so hellbent on getting you out of the Word, and the Word out of you?
In 2 Corinthians 5:19, here’s what Paul says about the Word: "That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself by it, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the Word of reconciliation." You see, when the Word of God dwells richly in you, when it is in your heart and you are in the Word, when you abide in the Word and the Word abides in you, there’s a clarity that comes—a divine clarity. It’s not just a clarity of knowledge; it’s a clarity of revelation. You can see your standing with God. You can see that you are reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. You don’t have to feel it in worship in order to rejoice. You don’t have to feel good or live a perfect life to be convinced that you’re right with God. There’s a clarity and understanding from heaven that begins to settle on the heart and the mind of the man or woman who is dwelling in the Word richly. That word of reconciliation abides inside of you, abides on your mind, abides on your heart.
Your standing with God is so clear, and the devil wants to rob that from you, church, so that your standing with God receives a little question mark behind it. This causes you to say, "Well, am I really perfectly right with God, or does something still need to happen?" In other words, "I don’t believe it was finished; I begin to feel again that something is wrong, something still needs to happen." John 15:4 says, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me." He says, "Abide in me." The Word cries out to you and says, "Abide in me, and I in you." That signifies the manifest presence of God.
Now, we all know and we've all heard these Scriptures: "I’ll never leave you nor forsake you." And we’ve quoted them in context and out of context. But to live a life where God Himself in the flesh has come by the Holy Spirit to live inside of you, in a fleshly vessel that is unworthy, that never earned anything, doesn’t deserve anything—God Himself, the Spirit, coming to live inside of you, to live with the manifest presence of God. You’ll never, ever again say, "Oh, I entered into the presence; I could tell there was a presence of God at church today." You’ll never say it again because the presence never lifts off your life when you abide in Christ and Christ abides in you. When you live a life where, at times, you experience the presence of God, you are experiencing the presence of God someone else brought with them. When you dwell in the presence of the Holy One of Israel, that presence is never separated from you. He desires, He says, "Abide in me, and I in you." He desires for you to walk and live life in that manifest presence.
Life is 180° different when you live, when you fail, when you succeed, when you make decisions in the presence of the King. Life is completely different. The enemy wants to rob that out of your life. Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." See, when the Word of God is in you, and you are in the Word of God, you can see—the eyes of your heart can see—"Oh, God is definitely still working on the sanctification process, but somehow, I'm already perfected." When you get out of the Word and the Word gets out of you, you still see that there’s a lot that needs to be changed, but you don’t feel or experience that truth anymore—that what God has done through the cross has already perfected you. While you’re figuring out how to live, while you’re figuring out how to serve the Lord and people, while you’re growing and learning, somehow, you can’t explain it. God just showed it to you: you’re already perfected. The Bible also says it, but now your heart can see it.
When it’s robbed out of your life, everything becomes a question, church. God wants to bring clarity to your standing with Him, to your right standing with the Father, the manifest presence of God upon your life, and the work of God in your life while you are aware that you are already perfect. God wants to bring these things into your life through His Word. Satan wants to rob you of these things. More than anything, I want you to see this in the Word. Ephesians 6:17 says, "And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, church. If you have come to a place where you are out of the Word of God and the Word of God is slipping away from you, then the Holy Spirit has no weapon in your life. Do you understand? You may be wonderfully saved, and the Spirit may live inside of you, yet you can rob the Holy Spirit of His weapon.
Satan is waging war against you. He seeks to trick you, deceive you, and fool you to the point where you are the one taking away the weapon that belongs to the Holy Spirit—the very weapon given so He can make you more than a conqueror in Christ. This weapon was given so the Spirit could fight for you in every battle you've ever lost. You are being tricked to take away the weapon that was given to the Spirit, so you wouldn’t have to fight the battle. You sing the song, yet you lose the battle. That’s because you've taken the sword out of the hands of the Spirit. This is how the enemy seeks to rob, pursue, destroy, and tear you down, trying to make you a disgrace in this world so no one trusts in your Jesus. Turn back to the Word. Make room for Jesus Christ, the Word of God, in your life.
Let me read to you the last verse of Jesus's explanation of that parable: "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." If you are a man or a woman who lives a life of wholehearted repentance and truly believes in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, all you really need to do is prioritize your relationship with Jesus Christ. Prioritize your relationship with the Word. Love Jesus; love the Word. "I am the Word," He says. "Abide in Me, and I in you." This is the man or woman who says, "God, I set my heart to know Your Word and to do it. I want to know Your Word; I don’t just want it sown into my life. I want to understand it, and I want to do it. I don’t care what moves around in my life; I have a priority. I want to know the Word that was sent from heaven. I want to know the Word that has the power to set me free. I want to know the truth that makes me free."
The man or woman who says, "God, I want to know Your Word and do it" will have the presence of God in their life. The abiding presence of God will be with you, and His hand will be tangible in your life. You’ll never worry; you’ll never fear. That’s why the Word says fear will not touch the people of God in the last days, and anxiety will not touch the people of God in the last days—because of His presence, His power, His abiding presence in His people. Nothing is greater; He is the name above all names. He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings. All things in this world belong to Him. "What can man do to me?" is the cry in the hearts of the people of God in the last days. Church, people who are in the process of being robbed, people who are ignoring this blueprint that Jesus Christ gave us about the robbery that's about to take place—that’s what puts us in a position where we say, "Well, if the man of the house had known, surely he would have prevented it."
Jesus shows us that the person who rejects these blueprints, who rejects what Jesus has given us, is still, for a time, at risk of entering the waters where they risk shipwrecking their faith, as Paul so often talks about. During that season, if you are in the process of being robbed, here’s how you can know. These are the fruits of that season. This person begins to seek the abiding presence of God in worship, services, and experiences. In those moments, there is a touch, an experience with God. The heart is awakened just for a moment, then it dies. It’s because you stopped loving Jesus. You stopped loving Christ, the Word who came from heaven. You don’t have a love relationship with the Word anymore; it’s more of a work relationship. When you sin, you run; when you feel bad, you run to Him, but there’s no love relationship with the Word anymore. There's no, "I want to abide in Your Word; I want Your Word to abide in me because I love Your presence. I love to know You. I love to understand who You are and who You've made me by the power of the cross."
In your pride, your unwillingness to lay down your life, and your love for money, Satan is robbing God’s Word out of your life. If he can get the Word of God out of you, hear me on this: if Satan can get the Word of God out of you, then doubt and fear will fill your heart. When the Word is robbed out of your heart, you lose confidence. You lose understanding; you lose the sight of the heart's eyes, and condemnation comes back. Condemnation comes back into your life. That understanding that "God has forever perfected those who are in the process of being sanctified" slips away. Yes, there’s a process, but you could once see with the eyes of your heart, "I’ve been perfected by the cross."
When the Word is robbed from you, that assurance fades. Condemnation starts making sense, and something feels wrong. But most of all, if Satan can get you out of the Word and the Word out of you, the Holy Spirit in your life becomes no threat to him. Do you understand? The cry of Jesus at the end of this parable was, "If anyone hears, let him hear. If anyone is able to hear, understand what this means. Let him hear." You can reach a point where the Holy Spirit inside you is no longer a threat to Satan. That’s the extent of the robbery because the devil will begin to use you to take the sword of the Spirit out of His hand—a vessel without protection in the middle of a war.
God has paid for every one of your sins by the blood of His own Son, and this Word—the Gospel—has made you a target for robbery. Because you received the sowing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you are a target. God has given you the blueprint for this robbery so that you may not fall prey to it. Pursue help to grow in understanding the Word. Count the cost and lay down your life. Cast your cares on Jesus, and do not love money. Set your heart: "God, I want to know Your Word and do it. I turn to You, Jesus." "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." If you would stand with me, at the beginning of this Word, I was compelled to tell you: for some, this will be a warning; for some, a confirmation; for some, a wake-up call. God doesn’t care which it is for you today. This Word is for everyone who has ever sat under biblical preaching. This is Jesus’s cry over your life: "Don’t get robbed. Here’s how and when it will happen."
Don’t let everything He purchased for you be stolen until you are brought to a place where you will take the sword of the Spirit out of His hand and cast it aside. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." If you can hear something of the Spirit of God today, if you can hear something from the heart of God for your life today, I invite you to come forward to this altar, to symbolically and in your heart say to God, "God, I hear You, and I’m coming back to the Word. I want to know the Word and do it." Lord, you are calling people. Lord God, you are exposing ways that we have given Satan room to rob us of the very things Jesus paid for with His blood and His life. Jesus paid for every gift we could receive from heaven, for every word of good news, even for your Holy Spirit to live inside us and wage war by Your Word on our behalf, that we may be victorious in all things.
Lord God, you are calling people back to their first love, back to where it all started—when you brought us into your Word, when your Word came into our hearts and everything began to change. By the power of your Word, the Spirit was able to change us. Time and again, your Spirit opened our eyes. By the power of your Word, the Spirit began to make sense of our choices in light of eternity, in light of the cross, in light of our standing with God. The Spirit was able to use the Word to help us understand what to do next. Lord, for a time, you caused us to stand because we had given the Spirit access to the Word of God through our eyes, daily pouring your Word into our souls. We gave the Spirit much to work with, giving the Spirit His weapon to win the battles we commit to Him in prayer, to gain the victories we could never win alone, to cut away what we cannot lay down. Lord God, would you open our hearts and our eyes to Satan’s schemes? Lord, as you expose this blueprint of the robbery planned against those who have heard your Word, you’ve given this word from heaven for everyone here. I pray that those acknowledging you and turning to you today may see the power of the Holy Spirit restored in their lives, that they may see the Spirit pick up a weapon again and, once more, do for them what they cannot do alone.
Lord Jesus, we turn back to your Word.
You were the Word in the beginning, and the Word became flesh. Lord God, would you bring us back wholeheartedly into a love relationship with the Word, that we may abide in your Word, and that your Word may abide in us? May the Spirit act mightily in every single one of our lives with the sword of Heaven, given from Heaven, to win every victory we never could. Lord God, would you have your way in us? Lord, we turn to your Word. God, I want to know your Word and do it. Lord, we seek, one more time, to prioritize knowing Jesus and doing what he tells us. Lord, you know every heart—every heart that is with us online. Lord God, you know every heart, and I pray for every person online, Lord God, that they may receive the sword back into their life.
Lord, you can restore in the reading of one verse. You can restore the sword in the hand of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I pray that you lead every person online, that you place a verse, a chapter, a word from Heaven on their heart, that they may experience today the restoration—the sword being restored into the Holy Spirit—that they may experience your presence again, manifest on their life today. Lord God, that they may see clearly with the eyes of their heart their standing with God clearly again today.
Lord, though so many things still need to be changed in our lives, may they see that you have forever perfected us. Lord God, would you restore unto us what has been stolen? And would you win that battle by the sword of the Spirit? Would you win it, Lord God, back unto us by a Word? Would you speak your Word into our hearts, open our eyes, and reveal the schemes now that we know the blueprint? Thank you, Lord God, for giving us the ability to cheat in this war. Thank you that you have revealed all the secrets of the enemy’s war plan against our souls. Thank you, Lord, that you’ve revealed all of the schemes that seek to bring us to the end of ourselves, to the end of our faith, our calling, our joy, our hope, and our peace. Thank you, Lord, for giving us the blueprint for the robbery. Lord, may we be like that man who, had he known, would have stopped the robbery. Lord, I pray, as we give the sword back to the Spirit, as we come back to your Word, Lord God, give us the grace to always see and stop that robbery. May we be strengthened, Lord, that we may stand in joy, that we may stand in your power, and that your glory may be seen upon our lives, born from a love relationship with Jesus Christ, the Word who came from Heaven. Lord, teach us your Word, I pray, in your name. Amen, amen.
-Pastor Stan Mons