Luke 4: 1-13 3/6/2022 (As built, Amite #487)
A. Barking dog… an incessant… yipping… snarling… tied up none the less…barking dog…
B. The year is nineteen thirty… it’s the height of the depression… and George is… you know what he is… he’s a talent… i’m telling you… he can run… he can throw… he can hit… he can do it all… but he’s also got that personality that can just fill a room… it’s just he’s kind of gregarious… man he never met a stranger… I mean it seems like everywhere George went… people just clambered to be around him… and as result of it in the height of the depression go figure… it’s a million to one shot… that this movie producer sees him… and says look… I would like you to come to Hollywood… and he says… well man I don’t know… he said twenty- five thousand dollars… height of the depression… George says man… twenty- five thousand… he said yeah we’re going to do a little movie… it’s going to take about a week to film… he goes… now look you know all the stories about Hollywood right… the ten year overnight success… right… man you waited… you’re a taxi cab stand… you’re a waitress… you’re a waiter… you ran errands… etc. right… and all of a sudden… so he’s worried about it but for twenty- five thousand I mean come on… so he goes… and let me tell you… when I tell you that movie took off like a shot… man… he can’t believe it… he got a check… twenty- five thousand… he goes all the way back to his hometown of Baltimore… and he begins to show his mom… and his dad… he goes and shows his neighbors… you know he’s just showing everybody the check… he can’t believe it… he got paid for a weeks work… twenty-five thousand dollars… meanwhile what he didn’t realize… as fast as the rocket went up… it came down twice as fast… man when I tell you they couldn’t file bankruptcy fast enough… the producers… the editors… the people that filmed the commercials… the marketers… distributers… he’s still walking around with the check… man… tell me y’all don’t know the world right… as a result he goes into a bank… they say man this is an NSF check… he keeps the check… thinking man this only happens on my watch… he says you know what… all I know how to do… is play ball… so man he ends up… you know what the heck man i’m out this way I might as well go look to Boston… Boston gives him a free agent contract that says look… you come play for us… play for a couple of years… you know and he’s alright… but then all of a sudden Hollywood comes calling again… and man they offer him… twenty-five thousand dollars… man that dog is in his ear and it’s barking… and he’s you know I need the money I mean the only job I got is with Boston… then Boston tells him… oh no you don’t have a job here… you’re going to now play for the yankees… oh… for the two baseball players in this whole congregation God bless you… yes it’s Babe Ruth… he turns it down and he becomes you know the sultan of swat you know whatever they called him at the day right… my brothers in Christ you know why… because he refused to listen to the barking dog… because Boston said you’re done… Hollywood he turned them down for yet another twenty-five thousand…
C. My brothers and sister in Christ that… kinda sorta has something to do with the gospel okay… my brothers in Christ he’s in the desert forty days and forty nights… and the devil only leaves him… for a little while… my brothers in Christ now stop you need to know where he’s at… you are a first century Jew… you know what’s coming up… he’s been out at the River Jordan…he just got baptized… John the baptist was there… the heavens open up… the dove descends … we hear God the Father say this is my Son with whom I am well pleased… and now all of a sudden he’s led out into the desert for forty days… now my brothers in Christ you need to understand something… the devil goes after Christ… exactly… as he went after Adam and Eve… man and woman in the garden… this is what you need to understand… he goes after him lust of the eyes… you saw the tree you wanted it… lust of the flesh… the fruit it will taste good to man and woman… and if you eat of this tree you will be wise like God… that’s the devils pitch… fast forward to the desert… man… if you throw yourself down they will save you… lust of the eyes you covet it… it will taste good… lust of the flesh… turn that stone to bread… and I will give you all of this… my brothers and sisters in Chris the evil one is going after him exactly how he went after Adam and Eve… and exactly how he’ll go after you and I…
D. My brothers in Christ go back in scripture… in the garden of Eden… their names are man and woman… Adam means ground… she doesn’t get the name Eve… he doesn’t get the name… or resume the name Adam until after they’re kicked out of the garden… that’s why your name is important… because we’re accountable for our actions… so much for once saved always saved… then why bother giving us names… just leave us in the garden… because there is no need for names because there was no sin prior to that point… I digress… my brothers in Christ in the garden what does the good Lord tell them… he says I need you to till the ground and guard it… that’s our language… to keep it… guard it… because somebody’s coming… all be it Lucifer is coming… remember this my brothers in Christ…he comes as Leviathan the demon… i.e. the dragon… think about what i’m telling you… he comes as a dragon and literally intimidates Adam and Eve into making a decision… Adam is right there… he’s not down the street… he didn’t go out fishing… he’s not in the deer stand… he’s not in a duck blind… then boy is right there and he gets mute… that’s the problem… because God spoke directly to him… and it was his job to make sure the family knows where to go… that’s on his head this lies… my brothers and sisters in Christ what does the good Lord tell the demon… on your belly you shall crawl… what difference does it make to a snake… if you’re on the ground anyway…unless you are the dragon… he actually clips his wings… and forces him to go from above creation… to below it… that’s why he says on your belly you shall crawl… and listen closely… did you listen to what he tells him… it is your head… that will strike at her heel… and her heel will strike at your head… the fight on this earth is not between the creed or the world by thought… God… and the evil one… the fight is between two created beings if you will… full of evil… and full of grace…my brothers and sisters in Christ the reason you see an apple in its mouth… lest that statue… is because apple means malus in their language means evil… the Jews believe it to be a fig tree… hence why they wore fig leaves… my brothers and sisters in Chris i’m telling you this because the same way he goes after Adam and Eve… when the good Lord gets to the garden of Gethsemane what does he tell them… be on guard… evil is coming through Lucifer… he’s telling you and I two thousand years later… be on guard… man go back to Job… my brothers in Christ the devil runs this world… you know they asked Padre Pio… how many demons are in the world today… you know what his response was… two demons… quote… two demons for every person that ever walked the earth… my brothers in Christ Padre Pio may be a lot of things but Liar is not one… he said there’d be enough demons to block the sun… look at the world we live in… so when Jobs story comes up which can’t be make believe because he has a name and the name is proper… and he says what do you think about my boy Job… Lucifer says you let me touch your boy i’ll turn him… nope… can’t touch him do whatever you wish… in one afternoon… all his cattle… all his camels… all his horses… all his animals are gone… seven sons and three daughters… by noon… the only words out of that mans mouth is naked I came into the world and naked will I return…he goes back… he being Lucifer… you let me touch him i’ll turn your boy… touch him… man he does everything to Job… his only words… naked I came into the world naked will I return…the same way that he goes after Adam and Eve… the same way that he will go after Job… the same way he went after Paul… and Peter… and the apostles… it’s the exact same way that he’s going to go after you and I…
E. Here you and I sit two thousand years later…do you actually believe that you walk freely though this world… that the devil is on the left and the good Lord to the right… and we amicably walk down the road well we’ve got a few bumps and bruises and the world is what it is and they just watch you… hoping against hope that the evil one would see you and I walking… well… man we almost got that guy man if we just pushed a little harder… my brothers in Christ don’t you see… when the Good Lord asked Lucifer… where did you come from… do you know what he said… roaming the earth and patrolling it… when Peter says it a thousand years later… he’s like a roaring lion looking for souls to devour… my brothers in Christ I told you the story about the exorcist because I want you to understand the game here…the devil is like a barking dog… unless you’re Padre Pio… St. Faustina… or the Little flower… where the devil can put hands on you… and if he does put hands on you… and at night things seem to rumble and shake and he’s curing you and you can smell him and hear him and he is violent in front of you… please reach out… because an exorcism is in need… my brothers in Christ when I speak to the exorcist… they say man people walk around this world and you know what’s a shame… two out of every three catholic theologians… believe evil is just a presence… just kind of bad things happening as if there was no influence or push from the other side… one out of three doesn’t even believe it exists… three out of three believe that he does not have a presence… if he doesn’t come… then why is there evil… my brothers in Christ there would be no reason for him to come… why get beaten… scourged… carry a cross… be nailed to it… a hundred thorns to the head… over six hundred lashes… wounds to his body… and your telling me that the devil is make believe… I asked the exorcist I said tell me… is the devil under every rock… he said oh please Mark… not every rock… every other one… he says you don’t think who runs this world… listen to your thoughts… there are three thoughts that can be put into your head… he can out in one… you and I can put in one… and so can he… you’ve never been in the middle of mass… and all of the sudden a thought enters your head and you say man I wasn’t even on that page… you ever bene driving down the road and the thought enters… been at work doing this or doing that…a thought comes from nowhere… this is why pornography is so damning to us… because you see a vision… and that vision gets logged in your imagination… and then the evil one uses that against you… that’s why he wants you to live in the past… because he can pull it all back up… look when I talk to these people and I ask the exorcist… I said tell me is he a sniper or does he just throw as much as he can… hoping something sticks… he said oh no Mark… he’s a sniper… he said that man will sit… and watch he will wait… and wait… and wait… until he gets that one shot… and it’s the kill shot… it’s the one that you didn’t expect that email… that text message… that ugly message… that cut off in traffic… that somebody had crossed your path… all of a sudden the venom is out the door and man you have launched a tirade against them… my brothers in Christ he said he waits for it… he said he knows you better then you know you… he’s pure intellect… remember my brothers in Christ he was created on day one with all the angels… he was called the angel of light… he was the most perfect angel… he’s got to make a decision… one time and one time only immediately… angels do not have the ability to do what you and I do which is change our mind incessantly… on day one they got to make the decision right away… will you follow me or rule in hell… one third of the angels fall… one third of the star in the sky… and they fall hierarchically… there a hierarchy in heaven there’s a hierarchy in hell… my brothers in Christ you know what breaks Lucifers back… it’s not that he knows there’s God the Father.. or that he finds out he’s number two then that there’s a son… then he thinks he’s three and okay there’s the holy spirit so at least i’m four… no you’re not even four… you see because there is mankind… in particular her… which will reign even farther above than him… and that’s what sends him spiraling… don’t you understand… he hates you… the mere mention of your name causes him to spit… you want to hear the devil laugh… argue with your spouse … your children… get all sideways with them start cursing getting violent… get abusive… man he will laugh hysterically… he’s got you… which one of the seven deadly sins is your button… pride… anger… gluttony… lust… adverse… sloth… envy… there’s only so many ways he can go after you… went after Adam and Eve… the good Lord… and now you and I… nothing has changed… my brothers in Christ i’m begging you… pick your head up… remain silent when you get that email… sometimes the best answer… is no answer… sometimes the louder somebody gets… the quieter you need to become…
F. My brothers and sisters in Christ I leave you with the words of Winston Churchill… great answer… you will never make you destination…if you stop to throw rocks at every barking dog…
G. Amen…