November 2, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey

Transcribed by Beluga AI.

What great love is this that while we were yet sinners, while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us, to reconcile us to God, to bring us peace.

Lord, for your great salvation, for your great hope, for the life that you put in us by your Holy Spirit, that you’ve made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of your Son, our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you is too small a word, but it’s the word we have. We say, thank you.

How good are you? Thank you. Amen.

My father-in-law had Alzheimer’s before he passed away. He was never very expressive in his faith, but at the end of his life, he loved. you’d say something, and he just loved saying Amen. I went to visit him in the hospital, and he was nearly comatose. I just got down near his ear and I prayed.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever.

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. (Matthew 6:10-11, CSB)

And I finished, and all of a sudden I hear, Amen. Amen. Amen.

All right, so we’re gonna look at Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12. As I watch YouTube at night, I stumble upon. You know, I kind of go in there and I hunt for a little Christian content. And it’s a little dangerous. Not dangerous, but it can be a waste of time because not all that’s good.

Anyway, I found this ministry called One for Israel. And I don’t. I don’t follow them. I don’t know everything they stand for, but they had a number of Jews who were Christians giving their testimony. And that’s what I really like.

And they’re about 15 minute testimonies of these Jewish folks who have come to Christ. And as I. And I just began to listen to these testimonies, and it’s very inspiring. For me, it was very encouraging. You know, hearing people’s testimonies and, you know, most of them and hearing adult conversions is always encouraging. And so they would share these testimonies.

And there are things that, as you begin to listen to a lot of them, you’d find some common themes. One of the common themes was a dissatisfaction with life before Christ. Some of these were devout Jews, and yet they found in their devout Judaism, you know, something was missing. Many of them were secular Jews, you know, not religious Jews, just ethnic Jews, and found that, you know, just like all secular people, found that nihilism isn’t a great satisfier. And so that was one of the things.

Another thing that continued to come up is they. A lot of them felt like Christians hated Jews and, you know, just didn’t like them at all. And they met some nice Christians, and it kind of shocked them. So here’s my. Here’s a piece for you. A little.

You know, usually you wait for the end of the sermon to give the takeaways, but here’s the takeaway. Be a nice Christian, all right? We have our quota of mean ones, so be one of the nice ones, all right? Be kind to people.

And they did. They would find these people at work and, you know, they’d really like them, and they would notice. Here’s something different about that guy. You know, he must be a naturally cheerful fellow or something like that.

And then later they find out this guy was a Christian, and they’re like, oh, no, he wants to kill me. And it’s like, no, I don’t want to kill you. You know, I love you. I want you to. And I love life and I love Jesus. And that kind of would pique their interest. But one of the things that. Not in every. Nowhere near every testimony, but in so many testimonies, the passage of Scripture we’re going to study tonight had a huge impact on them.

It is the passage of the suffering servant in Isaiah 52 and 53. And when they read that, they were amazed because they’d heard enough of the Christian story about, you know, Jesus dying on a cross and all that. And then they read this passage and they said, oh, my goodness, let me read the passage to you.

Starting in Isaiah 52:13.

13 See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were appalled at you — his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard. (Isaiah 52:13-15, CSB)

1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully. 10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord ‘s pleasure will be accomplished. 11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels. (Isaiah 53:1-12, CSB)

I didn’t read this this morning, but I want to read to you one more passage from the New Testament. Philippians 2:5-12

Philippians 2:5-12.

Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Do you know how to? You know, sometimes we forget we don’t know the order of Paul’s letters. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Go eat popcorn. So, there you go. Little help for you there.

All right. Philippians 2:5.

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — in heaven and on earth and under the earth — 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, CSB)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer.

So I want to talk about the suffering Messiah and why this was such a strange concept. When Jesus came. In the Old Testament, a thousand years before Christ, you started getting words from the prophets about how there’s going to come one like King David. He will be a mighty king. He will be David’s son. He will be a descendant of David.

Israel would always look back at David as the golden age of the empire. Right? It was the golden age. It was when we were the big kids on the block. David, and then afterwards, Solomon, other kings would come and pay tribute. During David’s reign, Israel’s boundaries never contracted. They always expanded. He was all. He was a mighty warrior, he was a mighty worshiper. And he really brought Israel into prominence in that region of the world.

You know, you have the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Egyptians and all these mighty empires. But for a short season, the shining light was this little piece, this little strip of land, Israel. And everybody was afraid of David. And David was a mighty king. And the promise was that there’s going to come one like David. And so the idea of a Messiah began to grow.

And this is in the Old Testament. There are pictures of this, the idea of the Messiah as a conquering king. And Israel is going to be the big dog on the block again. You have grown up in America. You don’t know what it’s like not to be the big dog on the block in terms of nations. My whole life, America has been the most powerful nation on earth. It still is, people. Oh, China. No, it’s not China. It’s America. It’s the United States of America. Maybe one day in our lifetime, it won’t.

But for my whole lifetime, and it’s been a while. It’s been a minute, actually. It’s been a minute and six seconds. My whole lifetime, America has been that nation. Israel had not been that nation for a long, long time. By the time Jesus showed up, they had been oppressed by the Babylonians, by the Persians, by the Medes, before that by the Assyrians, then brutally oppressed by the Greeks and brutally oppressed by the Romans.

And when the Romans were killing the Jews, the Jews would always say, oh, the Messiah is going to come. You guys are going to pay for this. Messiah is going to come, and you guys are going to pay. And so they’re looking for. And this is the reason, this is the central reason, I think, that most Jews did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. He didn’t come as a conquering king. He came as a suffering servant.

Now, those passages, as we just read, are also in the Old Testament. But man, in retrospect, we can harmonize those. But for first-century Jews, that’s tough. Well, which is he? The victor or the defeated one? The one who doesn’t vindicate himself. And even in this one, you get God’s vindication of him, but he suffers.

That’s why the cross is such an enigma for the Romans. Well, no, you know, the cross is scum of the earth for the Jews. The Messiah wouldn’t go to the cross. That’s when Jesus, you know, who are you? Peter says you’re the Christ, the son of the living God. you’re right, Peter. God told you to say that. you’re on to revelation. You know what you’re talking about.

Now I’m going to go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. This will show you how quickly we can fall from grace. Right, Peter? you’re right. The Lord has been speaking to you. My father’s been speaking to you. Oh, you can’t do that, Jesus, haven’t you read the Scriptures? You can’t go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. Get behind me, devil boy. Like, wow, you’re hearing from God. you’re the devil. That’s tough. Poor Peter.

All right, so why did Peter say that? Because he’s a good first century Jew. James and John, same thing, right? They’re heading toward Jerusalem. Hey, mom told us to ask. Yeah, mom told us to ask. Mom’s got a little ambition for her boys. Hey, Jesus, mom wants to know, can we sit on your right and your left? Huh? When you come into Jerusalem.

The irony, right? James and John were not on Jesus’ right and left when he came into his kingdom, but two thieves. And Jesus says, can you be baptized with the baptism that I’m going to be baptized with? Oh, sure, sure. Can you drink the cup that I’m going to drink? Yeah. What’s the cup? Where’s the cup? We’ll drink from it. There’s Mountain Dew. What do we got? They didn’t get it. They didn’t get it. They’re arguing on the way to Jerusalem. Who’s greatest?

And Jesus came. I came to lay down my life. Paul, then. And you can just see the disciples after the resurrection going back to their scrolls and reading this passage in Isaiah and going, oh, there he is. The Bible says Paul would go from town to town and he would argue from the Scriptures, proving that Jesus was the Christ.

So Paul would open up Romans. No, hadn’t written Romans. He said, you know, if you just look in the Book of Acts. No, you know, John says, you know, John 3:16 says, no, there was no John 3:16. There was no. No. Paul was arguing from the Scriptures, his Scriptures, these Scriptures.

And so all of a sudden, the suffering Messiah rises up. Now, is he a conquering king? You bet. Such great pictures in the Bible, right? He comes into Jerusalem on a donkey, humble, prophesied. Zechariah prophesies it. He comes into Jerusalem on a donkey. In the book of Revelation, he comes back, what, on a white horse? All right, I don’t know if that’s literal or figurative. I don’t know if there’s going to be like a big flying white horse in the sky. But the white horse is a symbol of what? The conquering king.

He’s both. And now we can see it. He comes the first time as the suffering servant. But he rises from the dead, the conquering king. And of the increase of his kingdom, the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.

And so let’s look at what Isaiah says, and let’s look at the relevance for that today. As now, our job is to open our hearts, our mouths, our minds, that his kingdom may come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This Messiah will be exalted. His life will become famous. He never traveled more than 30 miles from his hometown, never wrote a book, never led an army, was never rich, died a criminal’s death. And yet, thousands of years later, the most famous name on the planet. He is exalted in his life, in his death. His crucifixion was meant for the worst of the worst. It was where you would, you know, you would.

My wife. These. These aren’t. Maybe aren’t the worst people, but they’re pretty bad. My wife just hates scammers who exploit the old, you know, and steal their money. And, you know, she would. Stevin, she would love all the dogs to bite them, you know, and just. And, you know, war criminals and people who torture people and just. The cruelest.

And Rome reserved crucifixion for their worst enemies. It was a death of suffering, torture and humiliation. And yet now people wear the cross as a piece of jewelry to represent their allegiance, often to Christ. It would be like 200 years from now, people wearing around their neck an emblem of an electric chair, right? Or a needle for a lethal injection. And it’s saying, this is now the universal sign of hope. This is now the universal sign of mercy. His ongoing ministry is exalted. It says, kings, the most powerful people in the world will shut their mouths. How about that?

Powerful politicians shutting their mouths, having nothing to say because of him. It didn’t look the part. He was so marred and beaten. He was beaten and marred beyond human appearance in his death. And yet he is highly exalted. He was born a king, and yet he was born in great humility. He was born into poverty. He wasn’t a rich man. He was born into real poverty. I don’t mean the kind of poverty that’s like, ah, I can’t afford both Netflix and Prime. No, not that kind of poverty.

I mean, the kind of poverty is like, what are we going to eat? What are we going to eat? If we can’t pay taxes that are way more money than we have, the Romans are going to come and take our home. There’s no snap. There are no food stamps in the Roman Empire. If your relatives don’t help you, you’ll starve. That’s it.

Most people, by the way, throughout the history of the world, until about the late 19th, 20th century, beginning of 20th century, most people throughout the history of the world have always lived with food insecurity. Obesity, full pantries, and full refrigerators are a historical first for our generation. I remember one time I was on my little low carb binge. You know, I’m gonna eat meat, get thin eating meat. So I went to Costco. Man, you get a lot of meat at Costco. It all looks good. So I bought a lot of meat at Costco.

Problem is, I got one refrigerator and a small freezer, and I got home with all the meat, and it’s like, oh, my gosh, the meat won’t fit in the freezer. I’m gonna have to take everything out of the freezer, throw away the old stuff, totally rearrange it to fit my meat. And I was like, so grumbly. Oh, life. Horrible. And then, you know, I had one of those little epiphanies. It’s like, yeah, Kev, yeah, you can’t fit enough. you’re gonna have to eat steak for a week to make room in your freezer, you poor boy.

It’s like, oh, yeah, God, thank you. I have it so. I have it so good. I have it so good. That has not been. That has not been the experience of the vast majority of people who’ve lived on the Earth. It’s still not the experience of the vast majority of people who live on the Earth now. They’re not worried about how they can fit all their meat in their freezers.

Jesus had no such freezer for vast amounts of meat. He was born into poverty. He wasn’t Saul. He wasn’t strong, dark, and handsome. All right? He wasn’t rich and powerful. Yet there was nothing in his appearance that everybody said, oh, look at him. Look at him. Right? You know, at one time, I told my wife, you know, the church. The church was packed, you know, and we’re in California. The church was packed. And the youth were all up there praising God and just. It was so wonderful.

I turned to my wife and I said, man, when we left the Methodist church, did you ever in your wildest dreams think it would be like this? And she turned back and said, honey, in my wildest dreams, you’re Denzel.

All right, so he wasn’t Denzel. He wasn’t Denzel. There was nothing about him. He was poor. He looked normal. He was humble, and he identified with suffering humanity. He hung out with fishermen. Stinky, smelly fishermen. And he just. He hung out with the poor and he touched lepers and he spoke to prostitutes.

And he completely identified with the least, the last, and the lost. And yet his life has great impact. In his humility and in his suffering, there’s a great transference that takes place. By his stripes, by his infirmity, we’re healed. By his anguish, we’re brought peace. Our sins are laid upon him.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 5:21. God made him who knew no sin to become sin that we might become the righteousness of God. In each of us, there’s an instinct, and it’s a dangerous instinct. It’s the reason people play the lottery. It’s the reason people are addicted to gambling. It’s the reason people become suckers for con men and scams. And it’s the too good to be true. What? That news is too good. That stock will make me millions of dollars. Too good to be true.

And wisdom will teach you. You know, if you have wisdom, it will teach you. If it’s too good to be true, it’s not right. Deer don’t know this. That’s why they can put out corn. And the deer go, whoa, my lucky day. Look at all this corn. You know, right before the bullet goes through their head. It’s too good to be true. It’s not.

Well, why do we have that little twist in us? Because I think God put it there. Not so we be susceptible to scams and cons. Because there’s one instance in history where it’s true. There’s one. My dad used to say this. He wasn’t rich, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t poor, but he wasn’t rich. He played the lottery.

I don’t know why my dad played the lottery. He’d always say to me, Kev, when I get that winning lottery ticket, I’m going to build you that church. And I always say to him, Dad, I’d rather have the $20 a month you spend on lottery tickets. I’d be a lot closer to building that church with that than I am with you winning the lottery. I’m going to win the lottery, Kev. I’ll build you that church. He never built that church.

But God made him who knew no sin to become sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. He carried away our iniquities in his broken body. By his stripes, we are healed. In his suffering, in the suffering Messiah’s humiliation and suffering, there is some transference that takes place that for us is too good to be true. How much does this cost? Where can I buy this great gift? It costs you nothing. It’s free. Really? Yeah. How do I get it? It costs you everything. What? Follow me. Lay down your old life, repent, and give me your life. And you lose all your sin, all your brokenness, all your shame, all your sorrow, all your sickness, and you gain the righteousness of God. It’s incredible. That’s what he did. And he resigned himself to it.

I love what Luke says. Luke says, “He set his face like flint to Jerusalem.” I’m going to Jerusalem. And he kept telling his disciples, and they did you ever wonder why the disciples never get it? You know, Jesus always spoke in parables, and they’re always like, what does that mean? What does that mean? And then it’s kind of, kind of, I guess, the trap of always speaking in parables. Then when you speak straight, everybody’s going, what does that mean?

And, you know, he spoke in parables. But then he said, all right, here’s what’s happening. I’m going to go to, and he just says it plainly time and time again. I’m going to go to Jerusalem. I’m going to be handed over to the Romans, and they’re going to kill me. And on the third day, I’m going to rise. What do you think he means by that? What’s he saying? What’s he saying? What’s the mystery of that parable? No, no, no parable. I’m gonna go to Jerusalem.

So he goes to Jerusalem, he’s handed over to the Romans, and they go, we didn’t see it coming, and they ran away. What’s this? That’s how deep you got to understand. That’s how deep this worldview is, that the Messiah can’t do this. And yet, and. And the. And his accusers are baffled by him. Don’t you realize we’re going to kill you? Why aren’t you defending yourself if you’re the Messiah? Prophets get off the hook. Come down off that cross.

Pontius Pilate. Don’t you realize these people want to kill you and I have the authority to do this? You have no authority but what was given you. What? Why aren’t you defending yourself? Because I’m going to drink this cup. I’m going to drink this. I came to drink this cup, and I’m going to the cross with great courage.

It’s one thing to suffer when you got no choice. It’s like, well, they caught me. It’s another thing. And even then, you know, what if they caught me and they were making me suffer? I don’t know that I’d be silent. Why are you doing this? Leave me alone. I didn’t do it. Ouch. You know, he drinks it in.

One of the biggest curses of that day and age is to die childless, no inheritance, nobody to take your name. There’s no, you know, there’s no son. He died childless, and then he died with sinners. Now, Joseph of Arimathea with a rich man even prophesies that. Right? Isaiah even prophesied that he was with a rich man. He went to the tomb, and yet he was buried. Still, he was buried with sinners. It seems like all is lost.

Philippians. Although he existed in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God as something to be grabbed, but instead he emptied himself. Instead he didn’t exploit his position as the Son of God, and he assumed the form of a servant. He took the likeness of a man, and he came as a man. And he humbled himself and was obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

The king of Heaven, the Prince of heaven, becomes a human being and dies the worst, most humiliating death without saying a thing. It is what C.S. Lewis calls the Celestial Dive, from the heights of heaven to the depths of the dregs of the human experience.

He never vindicates himself, but O, does the Father vindicate him. He is vindicated. He is raised from the dead. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name above every name. He is raised from the dead. Where do we see Jesus’ vindication? That first Easter morning, all of hell conspired to drag him down into that death. The Roman Empire brought him to that death. The people he had loved and nurtured and called and gave the Scriptures to and came to preach to yelled out, crucify him. Crucify him. Everything conspired and brought him down to that place of the pit.

And from that place of the pit, all of a sudden, there was a light, an incredible bright light, an explosion of energy. And this life gets up, and the tomb is. And the stone is rolled away, and he comes out of the tomb. And he is alive. And all the enemies of God and all the enemies of humanity have now been defeated. And God has won through this suffering a great victory.

Death, sin, Satan, utterly defeated as he rises from the dead. God raises him from the dead. And instead of childless, now he has many offspring. By today’s count, on the world today, 2 billion and billions before we ever were born on this earth.

And you know what? As we’re talking here tonight, the conversion rate around the world is outstripping the birth rate. Every day there’s a greater number of Christians, a greater. A higher percentage of Christians on the world, in the world, than there was the day before, every day.

And he is honored by God, like Philippians says, the Name of Jesus in heaven, on earth and below the earth. Every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus was a great moral teacher and very influential in history. No. That Jesus is my personal Savior. No. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess he is Lord, King of the universe, risen and exalted. No one else. He is Lord.

You can imagine the disciples after experiencing Jesus risen from the dead and going back to their scrolls and reading Isaiah 52 and 53 and saying, There he is, There he is. Hidden, plain sight. We found Waldo. There he is. There he is. And so, 2,000 years later, what is our takeaway? We proclaim the suffering Messiah. We proclaim the suffering Messiah.

Listen, there’s no religion in the world like this. I’m sorry? There’s no religion in the world like this. There’s no story like this. There are other compelling stories out there. There are other wise men out there. I mean, it wasn’t like all these religious leaders out there of other religions were stupid and they didn’t have anything smart to say. You know, they gave some good advice and some good counsel, but there’s nobody like this.

Allah doesn’t come and die for humanity. He’ll kill you, but he’s not going to die for you. Buddha would say, huh? Jesus was a great example of resigning to the cosmic oneness or something, huh? But this bloody God hanging on a cruel cross because of his great love.

By the way, every other religion in the world says this as best as we can concern, as best as we can discern. Follow this book. Follow these teachings. Follow this Eightfold path. Follow these 12 steps. Jesus is utterly unique. Yeah, there’s a book, there’s teaching, but Jesus says, hey, follow me. Well, how? I mean, I can see how that worked for the disciples. There he was. How’s that work for us? He’s alive. Follow me. I will guide your life. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. All right, Lord Jesus, I’m trusting you with all my heart. Lean not on your own understanding, but I’m a pretty smart guy, God. Yeah, I’m smarter than you, Kev. All right, I’ll give you that one. I’ll give you that one. In all your ways, acknowledge me. I don’t get to take any other credit? No. All right, all right. I like it when I get the credit. But, you know.

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shalldirect your paths. (Proverbs 3:5, NKJV)

I’ve told people. I’ve told people I like it. I like it when people come to me and say, that was a great sermon, pastor. And I’ve received that a thousand times in my life. And it’s a couple people said it this morning. And you know what? If you want to say it, I will not stop you. No less, say it louder. But here’s what I found. It’s not a satisfying drink. Three hours later, that drink ain’t keeping me on my feet. With all my heart, I believe this. And I want to live these words. I want to hear these words. And to the best of my ability, I’m living for these words. Well done, good and faithful servant. I think if I hear those words, I’m healed for all eternity. I think that’s the drink right that’s the drink. And so we proclaim this. We proclaim this. We have a testimony. We can tell people what Jesus has done for us.

We can actually talk about Jesus. We don’t have to be quiet, you know, so many Christians. Well, I don’t want to be pushy, but I’ll just try to show them with my life. Good. Good on you. Show them with your life. Because if you don’t show them with your life, your talk is going to be cheap. But if all you do is show them with your life and you don’t talk, they’re going to walk away and just think, that was a strangely good person.

You see, every one of those Jews in those testimonies met nice Christians who told them about Jesus. And then they read Isaiah 53 and said, even in our Scriptures. Then they read the New Testament and said, this is a Jewish book. Yeah, it’s written by Jews. But somebody told them about Jesus. Somebody told you about Jesus, right? Somebody told you about. Aren’t you grateful for that person? I’m so grateful for my Young Life leaders. I’m so grateful for the people who told me about Jesus.

I don’t even know the name of the Presbyterian preacher who preached the gospel at the Young Life Camp I went to and gave my life to Jesus. But when I meet that guy, I’m gonna say, thank you for telling me about Jesus. Here’s an easy way to do it. This is Christian Witnessing 101. People will always tell you their problems. Once you get into a relationship with people, they’ll tell you their problems. Right? Right. My husband’s so mean. My wife, my kids, my money, my boss, my this, my that, my health.

Sometimes the problems are severe, sometimes the problems are whining. But they’ll always, they’ll tell you their problems. All you got to do is say, I really believe in Jesus and I believe in prayer. And God has answered my prayers. You know, doctor said I had cancer long time ago. Long time ago. You got a story, you got a story. You know, you all got a story. I believe he answers prayer. Can I pray for you? I can almost guarantee you they’ll say, yes, I can. Now they don’t. Here’s the trick.

They don’t think you’re going to do it right then. They think you’re going to go home in front of some shrine with candles and, you know, say some kind of incantation for them. But no, I’ll pray for you. Will you? Yes. Then you do this and they’ll look at you. Like, what is this, some ritual? No, give me your hands. And you take their hands and you say, Lord, I know you love my friend so and so. And I really don’t have the answer to their problem, but you have answers. And I pray you would touch their life with an answer to this concern and show them that you are real. Put God on the spot and see what he does. Amen.

I can almost guarantee you this, too. When you open their eyes, their eyes will be wet and they’ll say, thank you. And then when God answers the prayer, you’re on. Hey, this is what happened. Yeah. Yeah. You want to know more? Well, I’m kind of. My interest is piqued. Well, great. Come to church with me. Meet my pastor. They’ll talk about Jesus for a long time. He’s funny. He’s kind of chunky, you know?

Listen, a lot of people, they think times are going to get hard. And, you know, I got a lot of food in my pantry and a lot of food in my fridge. I don’t store up food. My garage isn’t full. I got a Jill, and I got a small. We got a small supply of earthquake. You know, we live in the Pacific Northwest. We got an earthquake supply. We got some water and some protein bars that are probably 12 years old. Now in our little corner, we got a small supply. All right. But I’m not one of those people who think, oh, you know, we’re all gonna be, you know, this Armageddon’s coming. We’re all gonna be starving.

But I do have a strategy. I just, I got enough junk in my garage right now, so I just stored above my belt right here. Yeah, you skinny people. You think I’m skinny? I’m healthy. I’m gonna live longer than you? In most cases, yes, but not in that one case. In one case where starvation is imminent. Have prepped. I am a prepper. I’m a prepper. Just saying. Just saying.

All right. We model the suffering Messiah. You know what? you’re exalted. He was exalted. you’re exalted. We have such a small view of salvation. Oh, when I die, I get to go to the good place. No, you get to be like him. That’s what it says, says servant. Yeah, you’re a servant. Friend. Yeah, you’re a friend. That’s been one of my prayers recently.

You know, I’m 66 years old. I’m starting to finally pray. Lord, I’d like to be your friend. I want to be a friend of God. Husband, wife, spouse. We’re the bride. Corporately, we’re the bride. That’s a hard one for me to get my head around, but, you know, there we are. Child? But then these. We don’t know what we’ll be like, but we’ll be like him.

Then this one knocks my feet out from under me every time. Coheirs with Christ. Coheirs with Christ. C.S. Lewis says if we were to see one another in our exalted state, we would be tempted to worship. We’d be tempted to worship. And so we are exalted. And because we’re exalted, we now can live humbly. Right? Nothing frees you from the praise of people than having your identity securely in Christ. Why do we crave the praise of people? We’re trying to bolster. Am I? Do I have value? Am I worth it? Am I? Does my life matter?

Howard Hendricks was an author years ago. He was a generation ahead of me. Christian scholar and author from Dallas seminary wrote several books. And because, you know, you write a few books and people buy them, you go on a speaking tour. And so you’re going on a speaking tour, and he’s speaking in these churches. And, you know, if you write books and you go on speaking tours, there are gonna be some fans out there. There are gonna be some fans.

And so a fanboy came up after one of the services and just, you know, oh, I love your books. your books have helped me so much. And, you know, and. And Hendrik’s just humble. You know, he’s just like, well, thank you. You know, glory to God. That’s good. Thank you. And. And just. And the sermon today, it was amazing. You know, he’s kind of. He’s feeling a little bit. Well, thanks, thanks. His wife’s listening. He said, I hope she’s hearing this. You know, she’s listening. And he’s like.

And finally, the guy just, could you sign your books? Because. Yeah, I’ll sign my books. He signs the books, and the guy finally leaves with this statement, you, you. You are just a great man of God. Thank you. So, you know, they say by the pastor and do all the things, they’re leaving the church, they drive. They get on the highway. He’s driving down the highway. His wife’s sitting next to him.

How many great men of God do you know? And she said, one less than you think. One less than you think. See, we think God gave us our wives to exalt us, but actually it’s like, yeah, let me put a pin in that balloon.

All right. We can live humbly because we know who we are. There’s two ways not to care about others’ opinions. One is you can be so arrogant and full of yourself. It’s like, oh, those little people don’t matter. But another way you cannot care about other people’s opinions is simply, I live to please the king. I live to please the king. You’re not my judge. You don’t speak the final word into my life. What you think, I mean, it matters because you matter. I’m not arrogant. It matters because you matter. But it doesn’t build me up or tear me down.

One time somebody said, you know, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of history. I said I could give two pieces of licorice about being on the wrong or right side of history. That changes every 30 years. I just want to be on the right side of God. Except persecution. Again, not everyone has to be happy with you. And don’t vindicate yourself. That’s. This is one of the hardest things for me to do. I love to win the argument. Oh, I love to win the argument. Happiest day of my life.

And men, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Here I am in the men’s hall of fame for this. In one 24-hour period, I got three “Honey, you were right’s” from my wife. I know of no man on the planet. I have not yet met him. I’ve heard guys say, I’ve waited 10 years for three. I say, I know, I know. One 24-hour period. I got three. Honey, you are right. I told her I would rather have one of those than a hundred I love yous. I mean, I’m just saying I love. You’re right. You know what? I can let that go. Jesus let it go.

It is entirely okay to pray for God to vindicate you. It usually is a big mistake to try to vindicate ourselves. You can vindicate the truth, but you know, we kind of get our ego and personality wrapped into that. You’ve had those arguments in your head with somebody who was so wrong and you’re going to put them in their place. You know, this is what I’m going to tell them next time I see them. Right? And aren’t you brilliant in those arguments?

I am brilliant. I’ll tell you what happened. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then blah blah blah and blah blah. And they’re just left going, uh, uh… There’s a great, there’s a great comic scene about this. I don’t know if you’ve seen it. My favorite comic, Nate Bargetzi. And he says it’s so hilarious because he just plays on this. He says, he says, you know, when I was growing up, my mom did my dad’s laundry, and I do my own laundry. And quite frankly, I think that has been underappreciated. I’ve been underappreciated.

One day I was just thinking, you know, one of these days, I’m gonna be in a fight with my wife, and I’m gonna be losing that fight. I’m gonna bring that up. I’m gonna bring that up. And he’s just having this. And, you know, you can just hear this. And man, argument over. She’s like, I forgot. I don’t know how good I got it. you’re a great man and all that. So I didn’t do it right away.

He said, I wait about five, six months. I’m in this fight with my wife, and I’m losing, and it has nothing to do with the argument at all. And all of a sudden, I just bring out. I do my own laundry. Like, they don’t make them like this anymore. And then he kind of gets this look on his face. I had no idea that would start a new fight that I didn’t see coming.

Every once in a while, Jill, I’ll be talking about something, and I’ll. I do my own laundry, which I do, and I think it’s underappreciated. All right, but you don’t have to do that. Good on you if you do your own laundry. But you don’t have to use it to gain leverage with your wife. It won’t work anyway. It’ll just… It’ll go south quick.

All right, don’t vindicate yourself. But, yeah, I do. I pray the Psalms all the time. Vindicate me, God. Vindicate me. Vindicate me. Yeah, let God vindicate you. Let God vindicate you. Just put it into his hands. And by the way, always remember what St. Paul said. When you get in a controversy with somebody, they’re not your enemy. We do not struggle against flesh and blood. Have you ever wondered how people come up with their opinions? And you think, man, you are so stupid. How did you know? Whatever political twist you have, and you’re on social media and people are just saying stuff and go, man, you guys are so wrong. And I. 99% of the time, I resist the temptation.

Every once in a while, it’s like, all right, it’s on, baby, it’s on. Here we go. And I’ve never convinced somebody to change their position. I’ve won every time on purely the points and the rationale and the logic of the argument. I’m undefeated, I just want you to know. But they’ve never acknowledged that.

I never got any. I never got from them. What I got from my wife. I never got at the end. You know, Kevin, I think you’re right. I’ve never gotten it. And now it’s just like, don’t press the keyboard and hit send. Don’t do it. Because they’re not the enemy anyway. They’re not the enemy. Let God vindicate the truth. Let God vindicate you. Trust God. Model Jesus.

It’s amazing how many times we can win by being humble. It’s amazing how God makes us go high when we go low. I don’t mean low like dirty low. I mean low like we just humble ourselves and God wins.

This meal. What a humble meal. You know, the highest feast for a Christian. And we would think, you know today we had our potluck, and it was “holiday food.” Bring holiday food. It was so hilarious. 70% desserts. Great. It was the greatest potluck we ever had. It was awesome. Like, a little chicken, a little ham, and then just like, yeah, it’s great. So I think I’m gonna do holiday food every other month now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s like, all right. It’s cream puff and donut sundae. So. What a humble meal. What a humble meal. And yet the best meal. One day, right? Suffering servant, reigning king. One day we’ll have the wedding feast with the Lamb.

I think it’ll be splendid. But this is splendid. This is the meal of the New Covenant. So come and take and eat.

The post 2025.11.02 TFHC – The Suffering Messiah and The Message of Revival | Isaiah 52:13-53:12 appeared first on The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA.