Incarnation | Part 1b

Believe it or not, this man with a dropsy is a physical picture of the spiritual side of the Pharisee. They were spiritually swollen. Watch what's happening here, this is so powerful. They wanted to watch him. Now look at verse 2, and behold there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. I'm going to explain what dropsy is here in a minute. I didn't say this at 8, or 9, or 45, but I'm going to say it now. I don't have any evidence, but I just believe it could happen. I believe, you say how do you believe that? I don't know, just stay with me, let it unfold, you ain't got to believe my opinion. Well let me say it in a way I can say it correct and not get no ugly letter. It could be that the Pharisees put that man there on purpose. This man that needs healing, they might have set him right outside the door. This is the chief Pharisee's house, what's a man doing right outside that's got the dropsy? When we know they invited him to watch him. Now if they really did set him up, that might explain what he does. Look at verse 3, Jesus answering spake unto them, lawyers. Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers. Jesus answering. Answering what? I didn't see them say nothing. Or did they say something by putting the man with the dropsy right out front? Come on over and break bread with us Jesus, chief Pharisee. Come on over and break bread with us Jesus. And he gets there and who's out front? A man with the dropsy. And Jesus answers them, but they didn't ask the question. And what does he answer? He spake unto the lawyers and the Pharisees saying, read it with me church.

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? It looks like a setup. I get to your house, this man's out front with the dropsy. Well, is it lawful? Because it looks like you got him here for me to heal him. Is it lawful for me to heal him? Jesus was always going to heal him. He's letting them know I'm on you. I'm clowning you. Is it lawful for me to heal him? I know you put him here for me to heal him. I'm going to heal him. But is it lawful? Would it be right if I healed him? No, we already know that they would bring this up again and again and again, how it's not lawful to do any kind of work on the Sabbath day. But Jesus said, is it lawful? Is it lawful for me to heal you? He said, I know what you're going to say. I know what you're going to do. So he said, let me ask you a question. Which of you shall have a donkey? King James, others are different. Or an ox fall into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day. If you had a donkey stuck in a pit, you wouldn't leave it there and wait till Sunday morning. You'd pull him out on the Sabbath day. So I know what you're up to. The dropsy is when your body is retaining fluids and you swell, beginning at your feet all the way up. Now don't nobody look at their feet right now.

Oh Lord. Shoot. I barely got it. Nobody got no drops. You healed today. But it's when your body retains fluids and you begin to swell all over. The body is not releasing fluids because of something on the inside, like kidney failure or some type of major organ failure. And it's causing the body to begin to swell and you see the swelling on the outside. But what you're seeing on the outside is the result of something that's not at work on the inside. And so you're out there wanting more water, but you're retaining water. You can't do anything with the water. It's in your system because there's a breakdown on the inside causing you to swell on the outside Believe it or not. This man with the dropsy is a physical picture of the spiritual side of the pharisee. They were spiritually swollen They're filled with what pride So the outside they got to wear the nicest clothes and the largest Palackeries and the biggest hats, you know, they got to make it know when they walk the street with all the jewels on the chest You know, oh we are the priests. We are the we are the Pharisees. They make loud their prayers They want people going before them ringing bells and clearing the way let everybody know who we are We are we are the Pharisees. We are the priest of God. We are the Levites They glory in who they were that but Jesus when he saw he said on the outside you look at this way But on the inside you're corrupt. There's something on the inside of you. That is creating what I'm seeing on the outside I wonder how many of us look a certain way on the outside, but it's really just a result of what's broken on the inside It's a cover-up So when Jesus gets to the chief Pharisees house, there's a man on the outside that looks like the Pharisees on the inside I'm Convinced brother Casey and when he said is it lawful for me to heal on the Sabbath day? He wasn't necessarily talking about that man

Because his physical healing of that man with the dropsy was a picture of the spiritual healing he wanted to bring to the Pharisees I Pride is a cover-up There's something wrong when I got to tell you you should have got the 22s So what you doing my wheels There's something wrong when you say why didn't you step up and get the Denali Oh Maybe come out here sit on my There's something wrong when we got to tell somebody we already knew that there's something wrong when we already knew it before anybody else Already, there's something wrong when pride just speaks all the time that what's wrong on the inside What are you insecure about that? You've got to bring so much outward security to cover it up What's going on the inside that you put on this front? What what is it it's got you so swollen on the outside what infection do you have on the inside? That's making you swell up on the outside. Are you here what I'm saying to you? Jesus is God on the inside if anybody could have walked swollen it could have been Jesus But yet he humbles himself knowing that knowing knowing who he is He's Asked questions, which one can he not answer? He's judged he's the judge But yet unswollen Because he's pure I Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Oh Man let's finish this So verse 4 let's don't overlook this they held their peace. They couldn't say nothing to the setup And he took him and healed him and let him go Notice let him go Oh, I was holding him there I believed in Pharisees Let him go What was holding him there the chief Pharisee come over here. We need you for a prop

Hmm. Oh you gotta take what your enemy was up to and turn it for his glory You Better hear what I'm saying to you They brought Jesus Inspecting me. They don't know they're the ones being inspected. Let's keep reading Oh my goodness Look at this in verse number six and they could not answer him again to these things two questions can't answer it none of them He put forth the parable to those which were bitten when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms Saying unto them look at this statement when he marked how they when he marked how they they brought Jesus in the house So they could mark him, but he's already marking them. They brought Jesus Jesus in the house so they could expect him, but he's already seeing what's wrong with them You can expect Jesus all you want, but you better know he sees you before you even begin to look at him Nothing is hidden from him When he marked how they chose out the chief room saying unto them look at verse 8 when thou art bidden when thou art bidden of Any man to a wedding Sit not down in the highest room When you're invited to a covenant ceremony He calls it a wedding When you're invited to a covenant ceremony, I'm trying to take you somewhere stay with me Church don't choose the higher room Choose the lower room so when Jesus came into this earth to fulfill a covenant when Jesus came into this earth sent by his father to Fulfill a covenant which room did he choose after all he is the king of kings He is the Lord of Lords. Did he choose a room and in the highest palace the most glorious? Castle or did he choose a room in a stall in a stable with animals born in a manger? He chose the lowest room God Almighty chose the lowest room the first people that came and visited him were shepherds lowly shepherds He's born in a manger God Almighty chose the small it wasn't even room It was a room only fit for animals, but that's the one he chose that is humility Where would you welcome God if he were gonna come to the earth what room what castle would you build?

What city would he be born in? What kind of birth announcement would you make? How would you receive the God of all gods the king of all kings and the Lord of all Lords? He comes to a manger, but yet he's God. He was God enough He could have been born anywhere. He wanted to but he chose to his our incarnation to come to a manger Jesus Said if you get invited to a covenant ceremony if you get invited to a wedding you get invited don't choose the higher room Now ask yourself where that got him Because I've read in my Bible he seated at the right hand of God I've read in my Bible that he's got the highest seat There is in heaven and in earth the seats so high that every knee will bow Every tongue will confess all one day will acknowledge that he is Lord He's gone from a manger to the right hand of God Why because God exalts the humble you better look at Jesus and know that humility is not a way down It's the way up the way up in the kingdom of God is to go down That's how you go up in the kingdom of God. Don't let the enemy discourage you by humble beginnings Don't let him discourage you about what might be humiliating in your life right now If you can walk away humble you walk away in a place that God can exalt you he can do anything in your life You won't take the credit for you ain't even begin to see what he can do in your life The wilderness journey as we'll talk about in the next volume of the series the wilderness journey was to give them a conviction of humility Not because of where they had been but because of where they were going I Mean keep reading we got to wrap this up He said when you're when you're when you're invited verse 8 To a wedding Sit not down in the highest room Lest a more honorable man than thou be Bidden of him And He that bathed thee and him come and say to thee Excuse me, sir. Excuse me

Give this man's place Do you know how humiliating that be if you said in a seat and The one that did the invite and say excuse me, sir You're another man's seat And you walked in thinking this is my seat and the man didn't value say you got to get up This seat was actually for somebody else So don't choose the highest seat because choosing the highest seat makes the inviter come and move you But rather choose the lower seat so that he had that invited you you could personally move you up. I feel like about, hey, what's he saying? If you take a seat out of pride, I'm not glorified in it. And I might have to move you out of it. But if you choose the lower seat and I move you, everybody gonna know who it was. Everybody gonna know where you came from and how you got there, that the hand of God took you from the bottom and took you to the top. I didn't just get here, I was walked here. Brother Jefferson, will you go take a seat in the back somewhere? I don't know if I got permission to use anybody else. I know you don't mind. I wanna illustrate this. I want people to see what I'm saying to you. Let me slow it down, I'm gonna close in a minute. God's got a way of walking the humble into exaltation. Not just that they landed there, but that they were walked there, that the hand of God put them there, why?

Because the Lord wants everybody to know what happens when you walk in humility. You won't just get the better seat, he'll walk you to it, you'll be escorted to it. The hand of God will get you there. That's the power of humility. That God would do things in your life that you can't explain except favor. I walked in a restaurant on Friday with my son and Luke here from the ministry. And as I walked in the restaurant, on the TV was this ad of this thing going on locally. And it's the thing I'd wanna get behind is about God and country and freedom. And I'm like, man, that's good. And as I passed by it, I sat down, it was on another TV, the same thing. I said, man, we should've got involved in that. Word of God. We're seated, and I said, man, let me catch up. I know I had some people leaving this week, we're gonna be going on vacation. I said, let me catch up with some emails. Boom, I mean, boom, email just popped up from the television company doing it. Saying, hey, would Pastor James like to be our title sponsor for this? I had just seen it on the TV. I sat down, I ain't even dip my chip in some sauce and look at the invite.

I said, well, yep, that's confirmation. I wrote back, confirmation, proceed. You can't even explain it. If I got chief up here right now, chief has to have to tell you stuff that's going on that we can't even explain. Chief, am I right? I mean, you go around all this city, you see W.O.G. and my little place, you think, how do they do that? I can't even explain it. You go to a Mudbugs game, you see the Word of God banner? They reached out to chief last week, said, how would you like to have a banner under the scoreboard bigger? Thank you. The little thing that does the ice, it keeps the ice all smooth. I go to a hot game, I mesmerize Bob, like, man, I need that thing. I ain't got no ice. Won't be long, you'll see Word of God Ministries on that thing, cleaning up the ice. The name of Jesus. Can't even explain it. Can't even explain it. Just coming right to us. Can't even explain it. Sports train getting ready to do some stuff in this city, throwing $11 million grant they got.

Word of God gonna be all in. He gonna say, I can't explain it. God's got a way. Where you at, Brother Jefferson? God's got a way when you walk in humility, he'll find you wherever you are. And everybody will know, no, sir. No, sir, I don't want you back here no more. You have walked in humility. You have honored me. It's time. It's time for me to move you on up front. He'll take it slow, too. He'll walk you slowly up that path. He want everybody to see what humility can do. God will exalt the humble. He'll move you to a seat you ain't even worthy of. He'll move you to a seat you know you didn't get there but by the hand of God. Hey! They will look at you and ask you about it and you'll say, this is the Lord's doing and marvelous in my eyes. Brother Jefferson, don't let me move you. Don't let me move you. God put you there. Yes, sir. Because man will come around talking about, I know you. I knew you. We went to high school together.

You know I know you. I know your mama and them. You ain't nobody. God, you don't belong here. You don't belong here. We went to school together. You don't belong here. When God plants you somewhere, man cannot curse. What the Lord has blessed, I say a man cannot curse what the Lord has blessed. All the while he'll take the exalted and move them to the back. And you'll be singing like the Jefferson, I'm moving on up. Let me wrap this up before I run out of breath over here. Got to do more cardio. He said, don't exalt yourself, verse nine. Otherwise the one that did all the inviting, say, excuse me, excuse me, I'm about to ask you to move this seat for somebody else. This seat was already taken. That's good, ain't it? Verse 10, but when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, friend. That's a capital F on a friend. It's a noun, it's referring to a person and a covenant. Because friend is a covenant word. In other words, covenant friend, one I'm in a covenant with, one I'm in a relationship with. Go up higher. Did you see that? Go up higher than thou shalt have worship or honor in the presence of them that sit and meet with thee. What does that mean? They'll have to honor you. Why are they honoring you? Because of you? No, they're honoring you because they saw who put you there. God, church, let me say this to you. Brother Casey, what I'm saying right now is prophetic. I sense it by the Holy Spirit. What I'm saying right now, chief, is prophetic. Prophetic means it's

coming. I sense it by the Holy Spirit. I know it in me right now. This is prophetic. That there will come a time when the Lord will say, friend, go up higher. And when he takes you up higher, men will have worship. That literally means honor and reverence in the presence of them that sit and meet with thee. In other words, God wants to get people's attention in and around your life when he takes you higher. Taking you higher is no longer just about you. It's about him being glorified in you. When you do it yourself, men won't praise it because they know you connive and you did all this and you manipulated and you cheated and you did all this stuff and now you got there. I know how you got there. There's no respect. But when the Lord takes you to a place, people stand in awe because they know only God could have put you there. And that's what the Lord wants in my life. He wants to do something in my life that when other people see it, they say, only God. Only God. Final verse. For whosoever exalted himself, this is where we're closing. For whosoever exalted himself, he went after the seat of David. Church, I'm closed. I want you to hear my heart. God will put you in seats that you know he gave you, but it won't stop people from seeing you in that seat thinking they can get that seat some other way. But may our lives always communicate, I am who I am by the grace of God. I didn't get here because of my degrees. I didn't get here because of who I knew on earth. I didn't get here because I'm dynamic and strategic in my planning. No, I got here by the grace of God to let you know it's him, that he might be glorified. Whosoever exalted himself, verse 11, shall be a base. You're going, when you try to lift yourself up, when you exalt yourself, he said, you're a base. You're going down. But read the rest, Shreveport Bossier.

And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Let this mind be in you. When he said in Philippians 2, let this mind be in you, he didn't stop at humiliation. He took us a step further to exaltation all the way to adoration, which means I'll honor the one that put you here. The only reason I can reach God through my prayers and receive from him is because deity wrapped himself in humanity, in the person of Jesus Christ. The world needs what we possess. The only hope for a dark world is the light of Jesus Christ. Let your light so shine.