Bruised Heel, Crushed Head

Moses asked God a question. He said, please show me your glory, glory being the manifestation of God's splendor and God's beauty and God's greatness. Glory is a revelation. So Moses wants to see something that God has to reveal. That's why he asked, please show me your glory. I just want to have the simplicity of a Samuel who says, Lord, first of all, the answer is yes. But for the request, because you are Lord, I'm servant and I'm going to do what you told me to do. I'm so excited about the word of God, the word that the Lord would have for us today. You know, I'm going to move this forward just a little bit. You know, every single time that you prepare a message, it's like preparing a thousand piece puzzle. Every single time, you know, every single time you're like, I'm going to come back to the table and it's going to be the same as last time. You know, but whenever you show up, whenever I show up on Monday morning or on Tuesday morning and I begin to prepare, it's like, oh no, it's a new puzzle. It's a new puzzle that I have to finish. And this week it's a thousand pieces. Do you know what I mean? And so this message, it's particularly weighty. It's particularly weighty. And I spent a lot of time in prayer around this message that I'm going to speak to you today. And so what I'm praying for is that your heart would be open to receive that which the Lord has to say to us today. Amen. That your heart will be open to receive it because one of the things we're going to do today is we're going to expose the enemy. Okay. And there's a lot of warfare. There's a lot of warfare this past week. Honestly, in preparation for this message, I was telling my wife, like, like there was a heaviness in my office as I was preparing this message this last week. It inhibited me the first day from really being able to get as much done as I would have wanted to. But then I got home and the Lord was like, consider the topic, consider the topic, consider what you're speaking on. And so from that moment, we prayed and I received breakthrough. So I'm ready to preach this word. Are you ready to receive the word? Absolutely. Well, go with me to the book of Genesis chapter number three, verses 14 and 15. Okay. Genesis three, chapter Genesis three, verse 14 and 15. Okay. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field. On your belly will you go and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head. Everybody say crush and you will bruise his heel. Everybody say bruise. He will crush your head and you will bruise his heel. The title of the message that I want to bring forth to you today is simple. Bruised heel, crushed head. Bruised heel, crushed head.

Let's pray. Father God, I thank you through Jesus that we have the power and the authority to crush the head of the enemy. Amen. Amen. I love how like, I'm like, I'm talking about a bruised heel, crushed head and we have this beautiful music in the back. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate you so much. Bruised heel, crushed head. Say it with me. Say bruised heel, crushed head. So we're in a sermon collection called summer school. And since it's summer school, I felt that it would be fitting for us to have a bit of a Bible study. Okay. For us to take a moment to look into Genesis 3 in an effort to set the table for what I believe that the Lord would have to speak to us today. Is that okay? Well, we arrive at Genesis 3 and Genesis 3 is the infamous passage in scripture that we all know as the fall of man. Okay. So Adam and Eve have been residing in the garden of Eden for a bit. They've been enjoying all of the goodness and all of the benefits of the garden and they only have one rule. Everybody say one rule. One rule. And that rule is that they are not to eat of the fruit that comes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Right? Pretty simple, I think. Right? A serpent shows up and this serpent is confirmed to be Satan in Revelation 12, 9 and 20 verse 2. So he visits Eve in the garden and he begins to have a conversation with Eve. In this conversation, the serpent begins to question God's command to Adam and Eve. Did God really tell you not to eat of any tree? Right? And Eve is unshaken by this tactic of the enemy because she knows the command of the Lord. I think it's very interesting actually that she knows the command. Why you ask? Because this command was given before she was ever created. What that tells me is that Adam was

faithful and obedient to pass on the command. I just want to stop right here and I want to speak to all the fathers and the husbands in the room. You've got to be faithful to pass on the words that the Lord gives you to your wife and to your kids. Amen? The words that God speaks to you are not just for you. They're for your family. Amen? So Satan realizes that he's not going to get Eve with his first tactic of questioning the Word of God. So what he does is he begins to question the character and nature and motives of God. Hey Eve, you're not actually going to die if you eat it. In fact, your eyes are going to be opened if you eat it and you're going to be like God. So we know that Eve eats from the tree and Adam follows suit and their eyes are opened not to anything but their nakedness. Soon after God arrives on the scene in the garden and I'm assuming that it's his normal practice to come into the garden and to commune with these children but this time he finds them hiding behind a bush. Hiding behind a bush because they're ashamed of their nakedness and they feel the conviction of the guilt of disobedience. Are we all together? So in response to all of this, when God finds out, he knows what happened. When God, when the revelation of what happened comes to the forefront, he begins to pronounce judgment over all three guilty parties beginning with the deceiver himself. And that's what we're going to focus on today. In verse 15 he says to the serpent, which we know is Satan, he said, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall crush your head. Everybody say crush. And you shall bruise his heel. Right? So this short passage right here is filled with an extraordinary amount of theological potency. This short sequence really sets in motion the rest of scripture. And so there's three theological themes that I want to pluck out of this passage real quick for you. The first is this, human sin and divine judgment. Human sin and divine judgment. This verse is part of God's response to human disobedience and it acknowledges the fact that sin was introduced, introduces a conflict and suffering in into creation. That the mutual striking of the head and the heel symbolizes the ongoing struggle that we're even living in right now. The second theme that I want to bring to light is the conflict between good and evil. Now traditional Christian interpretation that we subscribe to in this church is sees this verse as the revealing of the spiritual battle between God's kingdom and the kingdom of darkness. Okay? Is this making sense? And the third thing that we want to pluck out of here is the promise of redemption. Aren't you grateful for redemption?

Many Christian theologians interpret Genesis 3 verse 15 as the first messianic promise. This passion is often called the proto evangelium. The proto evangelium, which is the first proclamation of the gospel. This verse that we've just read has been interpreted throughout church history as the earliest announcement of Christ's victory over evil. A famous theologian, Charles Spurgeon, called this text the first gospel sermon. And he marveled at the fact that God spoke it so soon after the fall of Jesus. Man, isn't it? Aren't you grateful for God's mercy and grace? Aren't you grateful that he rescues us quickly? Come on, he rescues us from the pit of despair. Come on. I wanna break down two of the prophetic promises that God speaks from this scripture, the bruised heel and the crushed head. So bruised heel, he says that the seed of the woman would have his heel bruised by the serpent. The interpretation for us is that Satan would bruise Jesus' heel. Satan would bruise Jesus' heel. Now the bruising of the heel is a representation of the sufferings that Christ would endure from Bethlehem to Calvary. Are y'all good with this? I know that we're in Bible study mode right now. Are y'all good with this? I'm gonna preach to you, I promise. Come on, come on. A bruised heel is the real but limited wound that is inflicted by the enemy. It represents the pain, the suffering,

betrayal, accusation, warfare, and opposition. But this is what I love. A bruised heel is not a fatal wound. And a bruised heel is not a final word. So what did this look like for Jesus? What did this bruised heel look like for Jesus? It looked like accusation. It looked like being beaten beyond recognition. It looked like being scorned and mocked for you and me. And it ultimately ended with him being crucified on a cross. Satan and hell thought that they had thwarted the plans of God, but little did they know that this was just a bruised heel. Amen. Crushed head. The prophetic promise of a crushed head. The seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. The interpretation for us is that Jesus would crush the head of the enemy in a final and fatal blow. So what did this look like? It looked like three days in a tomb. Taking back the keys of death, hell, and the grave. It looked like him shedding his blood, covering all of our sin. Come on, it looked like him becoming salvation for all humanity and offering life to all who would receive it and who would believe in it. And it gave us the authority as believers to carry on the work of crushing the head of the enemy.

Satan's head would be crushed by Jesus in victory over death, hell, and the grave. Is it okay if I declare some truth in this house real quick? I'm gonna declare some truth for you. For every bruised heel, there is a crushed head. And even as Jesus suffered a bruised heel, we will suffer bruised heels in this life. But because Jesus crushed the head of the enemy, through him we have the authority and the mandate to crush the head of the enemy. Today I came to tell somebody that you aren't just called to be some casual charismatic Christian. You are, you have a heavenly assignment to be a head crusher. I'm a priestess until you believe it, I promise you that this morning. Come on, do me a favor and look at your neighbor and say this, say, hey neighbor, you're sitting next to a head crusher. I don't see everybody doing it because I know you don't believe yet, but come on, say it before you believe it. Say, hey neighbor, you're sitting next to a head crusher. I don't know what you've been, listen, I don't know what you've been taught to believe all of your life. I don't know what soft Christianity that you've been taught, but I'm here to tell you right now in this house, in this place, that you have been called and mandated to be a head crusher.

Hey dad, listen, hey dad, you have not just been called to be a provider for your family, you've been called to be a head crusher in your family. Amen. I believe the Lord has sent me here to do two things today. Number one, I wanna reframe your suffering. I wanna reframe your suffering. And then the second thing that I wanna do is I wanna equip you with ammunition to crush the enemy's head. Let's reframe our suffering. Suffering, suffering, foundationally, we understand that suffering has come into the world as a result of what we just read about in Genesis three. Sin. Sin introduced suffering and conflict into the earth. We gotta realize in Genesis three, I just read verse 14 and 15, but if you read verse 16. In 17, you realize that all three were judged. The serpent, Adam and Eve were judged. In verse 16, God pronounces that as a result of her sin, Eve would suffer from the pain of childbirth. In verse 17, he tells Adam, hey, as a result of your sin, you're gonna toil in the land. Sweat will come from your brow. Suffering is an important conversation for us to have. And the reason why it's important for me, I believe,

for our house to talk about is because I've been meeting with a lot of people recently. And many of these people have been in seasons that could rightfully be categorized as seasons of suffering. Now, let me put some definition around this so that we all are on the same page. I believe that suffering is pain and difficulty that is endured for a long time. Pain and difficulty that is endured for a long time. So as I've been meeting with countless church members who've been telling me their story, who've been talking to me about the things that they're walking through in this life, and I've been asking the Lord, Lord, why are your people suffering like this? What is going on, God? It sent me on a journey of seeking the Lord for his heart and seeking him just to understand this topic of suffering. It's important for the people of God to have a proper and appropriate theology of suffering. We must have an appropriate theology of suffering, why? Because suffering is one of the things that we have been promised to experience in this life. First Peter 4, verse 12 and 13, it says, "'Dear friends, hey, don't be surprised "'when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, "'as if something unusual were happening to you. "'Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, "'so that you may also rejoice

"'when the great joy of his glory is revealed.'" Oh my gosh. And then in John 16, verse 33, Jesus himself tells his disciples, what does he say? "'In this world, you will have trouble.'" But then what does he say? He says, "'Take heart.'" Somebody look at your neighbor and say, hey, neighbor, "'Take heart, "'because I have overcome the world.'" Now this is where the reframing happens, are y'all ready? But take heart, take heart because Jesus has overcome the world. Take heart because through Jesus, suffering's end is no longer defeat. He bore our sin, he bore our shame, and he bore our suffering and take heart because in the light of eternity, the suffering is only for a moment, it's only for a moment. Second Corinthians four, verse 17, it tells us for our life, momentary affliction is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of what? Glory. Your suffering is unto glory. Just hang on just a little bit longer. Hang on just a little bit longer, I promise you, you're gonna make it through and as you make it through, you're gonna crush the head of the enemy. I'm telling you right now in this house,

listen, I don't know what you've been through in your life, I don't know what you've been through in your marriage, I don't know what you're going through in your mind right now, but listen, you're gonna crush the head of the enemy. This suffering is only for a moment. The enemy sends pain to destroy, but God repurposes pain to produce glory. So now, so now listen to this, suffering becomes an instrument in the hand of God that he can use to produce and reveal his glory in the earth. Suffering, when surrendered to God, becomes a seed. It becomes a seed, it becomes a seed. It becomes a seed. John 12 verse 24 tells us, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. The question that I was asking in my study this week was what fruit could suffering possibly produce? And we find the answer in Romans 5 verse 3 and 4 it says not only that but we what? Rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces what? And endurance produces what? And character produces what? Come on endurance character and hope the fruit of suffering Endurance is the ability to last long. Endurance is the ability to go long. Character is the foundation upon which our faith stands and Hope is the anchor for our soul that keeps us going until we see him face to face God wasn't the author the author of your suffering, but I'm telling you this I promise you

If you let him he'll turn it around and he will use it for his glory Come on is anybody in the room looking at suffering different now Is anybody in the room able to see what they're going through and see it in the light of Christ? Rather than in the light of defeat Now I want to equip you with ammunition to crush the head of the enemy Yeah, I want Legacy National to be known as the church of head crushers Come on Scripture tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds Yo, you got to have weapons to fight this war You got to be equipped properly to be able to fight the cosmic battle that we are fighting But before I go deep into this allow me to take a moment and convince you that the enemy's ultimate end is under your feet This will be a good time right now to sing that old revival song from Brownsville That's what is it called? Well, I went to the enemy's camp and I took back what he stole from me I took back what he stole from me. I took back what he stole from me I went to the enemy's camp and I took back what he stole from me He's under my feet he's under my feet he's under my feet he's under my feet Satan he's under my feet Listen, this is the truth this that song is the truth that the enemy's ultimate end is under your feet Colossians 2 15 tells us that Jesus. I love this wording He disarmed the powers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them Triumphing over them by the cross and then in Luke 10 19 Jesus speaking to his this Jesus speaking to his disciples says after the tour 72 disciples returned rejoicing that demons submit to them Jesus says he has given them all authority to do what to tread on Serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and Then in Romans 16 verse 20 this is the final chapter of the book where the Apostle Paul is writing to the Roman Christians and In the middle of all his salutations and his his sweet nothings to them He stops and he says listen the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet Echoing Genesis 3

The enemy's ultimate end is under your feet, but you've got to realize that we are in warfare right now Ephesians 6 tells us That we are not wrestling against the flesh and blood, but we are wrestling against principalities and things of this dark age This is what I got a real This is what I got to tell you just because the war is not always visible to you does not mean it's not happening The enemy's tactic against the Western Church is to hide It's to work underground you go to Africa Asia South America. Yo, you see it all on the street on The street you see darkness on the street you see spiritual warfare happening But in the Western in our Western culture his tactic of choice is to hide It's to cause chaos in your life without you understanding why And then as a result of that chaos he he sends you down a self-help rabbit hole To do what he tried to do to do what he did to Eve make her feel like she's God Recognition is a prerequisite to victory We got to be aware of the enemy's schemes and the enemy's tactics. Come on cannot be ignorant of the conflict that is happening second corinthians 2 verse 11 says so says that so that we would not be outwitted by satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes we have to have an awareness we have to live in an awareness now i'm not asking you to be weird and think that everything is just the enemy coming and attacking you sometimes it's decisions that we've made sometimes whatever it is but i am asking you that you got to ask the question hey is what i'm going through right now an attack against me the question that we must ask is are you aware of the conflict and are you aware of the enemy's tactics against your life there's three main tactics that the enemy has against the believer number one accusation number two deception and number three intimidation this morning i want to give you i want to give you some ammunition to combat the enemy and to ultimately crush his head are y'all ready for this

the first ammunition that i want to equip you with is the ammunition of your testimony your testimony your testimony is a weapon that you can wield to crush the head of the enemy who is jesus to you what has jesus done for you what has jesus rescued you from your testimony is a reminder to the enemy that because of jesus we always have the victory revelation 12 11 tells us that we have conquered the enemy by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our what testimony now i want to be very clear in this moment and let you know that your testimony is not merely your personal story your testimony is your witness to who jesus is what jesus has done and how his victory has become visible in your life the enemy's objective against the believer is to silence the believer to silence the believer from testifying about what jesus has done in their lives but listen church whenever we lift our voice even in the midst of our suffering even in the midst of a culture that's hostile against our faith when when we lift our voice and we declare jesus we remind the enemy that the that his ultimate ending is under our feet come on we need people who will be unashamed to lift their voice and declare what jesus has done for them in our nation right now in every sphere of culture come on you crush the head of the enemy when you lift your voice in the workplace and you testify about what jesus has done in your life you crush the head of the enemy when you're with your unsaved loved ones and you testify about how jesus and about jesus and what he has done to rescue your life from the pit of despair your testimony is ammunition against the enemy say it with me say my testimony is ammunition against the enemy this is the second ammunition i want to give you the word

the word hebrews 4 verse 12 tells us that the word of god is what living and active sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of the soul and the spirit of joints and of morrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart ephesians 6 like we said earlier it talks to us about the fact that we're not wrestling against flesh and blood but then it goes on to let us know how we are to gird ourselves ephesians 6 tells us that we are to take up the sword of the spirit which is the what the word of god the word of god is a primary offensive weapon in spiritual warfare jesus was tempted in the tempted by the enemy in the wilderness he didn't throw hands with the enemy what did he do? he spoke the word the question that i have for this for us this morning is if the word was a primary weapon for jesus against the enemy why wouldn't the word be our primary weapon we must return to a devotion to the word of god the psalmist knew something that we have to catch and he wrote about it in psalm 119 verse 11 he said your word have i what i've hidden it in my heart i've hidden your word in my heart that i might not sin against you have you ever been in a situation that was so demoralizing and you were so that was so demoralizing and so pressing and depressing that you were left without words you ever been in a moment in your life where It's like the breath was taken out of you because of what you were going through in your life. Listen, I'm telling you right now, the word of God is the script that allows us to crush the enemy's head. In moments where we have no words, all we have to do is open his word and begin to recite his word and begin to let the enemy know, hey, you may have bruised my heel, but guess what?

I'm getting ready to crush your head. The word. The final ammunition that I wanna give you this morning is your worship, your worship. In 2 Chronicles 20, this is a fascinating portion of scripture. I encourage you to go read it in its fullness, but in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, the King Jehoshaphat is facing the threat of a vast army that has intended to destroy the Israelites. They are facing impossible odds. And immediately what King Jehoshaphat does is he brings together an assembly of people and they begin to seek the Lord. And then the Lord responds to them in the midst of their seeking through the prophet Jehaziel. And it says in verse 15, do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours, but God's. So then the next day, Jehoshaphat gets up. They're getting ready to go into battle. And he gets up and he assembles the people who he consults and he asks them, so how should we approach this battle? And the people respond, send the worshipers. Send the worshipers. In verse 21 and 22, it says, after consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out ahead of the army saying,

give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever. As they began to sing in praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah and they were defeated. I cannot overstate the power of worship. And I also cannot overstate the power of being a part of a worshiping church. Can you give me something minor? I need something minor. I'm feeling militant this morning. Give me something minor. Give me something minor. Hit that six and that two for me if you don't mind. I cannot overstate the power of worship. And I cannot overstate the power of being a part of a worshiping church. Listen real close to me, especially if you're a first time guest. When we come into this space right here and when we lift our voice, we are joining in an exaltation of the King, yes, but we are also engaging in spiritual warfare together. Amen. Because worship is warfare. Worship ain't this cute session where the Lord touches me and I feel some emotion. No, worship is warfare. The beautiful thing about worship is this, you don't have to wait until you get

into this space right here. Whenever you're in the midst of a heated battle throughout your week and you've suffered a bruised heel, all you have to do is lift up your hands and just begin to sing a song of praise and adoration and exaltation. Come on, can we just try right now and just lift our hands all across this room and just begin out of your own mouth to lift up a song of praise. It don't even matter what you sound like. If you don't know what to say, all you gotta say is thank you, Jesus. Lord, I love you. Lord, I love you. I worship you. I give you all the glory. I give you all the honor. I give you all the praise. I give you all the adoration, all the exaltation. It's yours, Lord. You are worthy of the praise. You are worthy of the praise. All glory and all honor to your name. Come on, listen, listen, listen. When you do this right here, when you do this right here, the atmosphere around you begins to shift. The atmosphere begins to shift, come on. Whenever you lift your voices in the midst of a battle, whenever your heel has been bruised by the enemy,

you begin to lift up your voice. Come on, come on. It reminds the enemy. It reminds the enemy that his ultimate end is under your feet. Come on, come on, let's just begin to worship. Let's just begin to worship. All the blessings roll. Come on, come on. Yeah. Yeah, don't wait, don't wait. Lift your hands and worship. Don't wait, don't wait. Yeah. Yeah. Hey. Come on, come on, come on, come on, lift your hands, lift your hands, lift your hands Be exalted, oh Be exalted, be exalted Come on, let's go Be exalted, oh Be exalted Yeah Be exalted Be exalted Listen, listen, you can stand to your feet On August 11th, 2018 I married my bride, Sonya Two days later, she began experiencing debilitating panic attacks We went on our honeymoon

And the whole week, two to three times a day She would shake uncontrollably I had no context of anxiety I had no context of panic attacks No context of anything All I knew to do was pray All I knew to do was worship All I knew to do was lift up my voice So for the whole week that we were in Cabo San Lucas Overlooking the Sea of Cortez, it was beautiful but we were going through a really hard season We came back to Tulsa, Oklahoma We had our bags packed to move to Nashville, Tennessee We moved to Nashville, Tennessee and I thought surely it's over But it only intensified It only intensified Our whole first year of marriage, almost every single night My wife would shake in her bed And I would hold my wife and I would pray in the spirit until it stopped I would pray until it went away We quickly realized that we're not wrestling against flesh and blood We're wrestling against an enemy that has it out for us We fought for a year Every single night in a new city All alone By God's grace we found legacy 5 weeks later We joined a group and they helped walk with us through it But every night My wife would shake And I would hold her until she stopped And then I would get out of my bed

And I would go into the living room And I would begin to fight the enemy And I would begin to pray in the spirit And let him know, listen, you may have bruised my heel But I'm going to crush your head I promise you This is not going to end in our defeat I'm going to tell you right now You may be bruising our heel in this season You may be trying to take away my first year of marriage But I promise you I'm going to crush your head Amen A few years later God called us together into ministry And for the last 5 years we've been crushing the head of the enemy For the last 5 years we've been seeing couples Delivered from the spirit of anxiety Countless people who have been delivered Because we fought against the enemy About 2 months ago I was at Legacy South Because one of the things that the Lord did in that time Is he equipped us with an anointing To be able to see breakthrough in this area Because that's what will happen Whenever you fight the enemy and crush his head God gives you an anointing That allows you to be able to be To be productive for his kingdom in that area I was at Legacy South And this young girl came up to me

And she said hey About 4 months ago It was in 2025 I was sitting in the service and you were leading worship And you stopped worship And you told everybody to put their hands on their head And you prayed against the spirit of anxiety And you prayed against the spirit of depression And you prayed against anybody who was experiencing torment from the enemy She said from that day forward I stopped having panic attacks The enemy may have bruised our heel for a year And he may still be coming But this is the reality He's going to get a crushed head I want to minister to some people in this room As we're getting ready to close service I want to minister to anybody in this room Who has a bruised heel right now If you were honest you would be like The pain that I'm experiencing in my life The difficulty that I'm walking through I know it's the enemy I know it's him coming against me If you've had a tax on your family, a tax in your life, a tax on your finances If that's you, we're gonna go back into worship, and I want you to come forward. Our altar ministry team is gonna pray for you. I also want to minister to anybody in this room who's been in the season of suffering Who you've been a prolonged season of pain and of difficulty And you're like I need somebody to agree with me because I'm losing hope and it feels like I'm defeated Or you've given up. We want to pray for you today. Our worship team is gonna go back into worship I want you to join them because what is worship?

It's warfare It's warfare. We're engaging in spiritual warfare together So they're gonna sing and if you're one of these people who needs prayer today, I want you to come forward. Come on, let's begin We will worship We will worship Through it all we will We will worship We will worship We will worship This is how we win This is how we win We will worship We will worship We will worship This is how I fight my fight We will worship We will worship We will worship We will worship We will worship