GOD’S SWAT TEAM
LK. 4:18
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: WHO GOD SENT
1. A woman ran to the pharmacy to get her sick daughter some medication. When she got back to her car, she found she’d locked her keys in the car.
2. She looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger and tried to use it to get into the car, but couldn’t. Finally she bowed her head and asked God to send her some help.
3. Within five minutes an old beat-up car pulled up, with a dirty, rough-looking man wearing a strange ball cap on his head. He got out of his car and asked her if he could help.
4. She said, “Yes, my daughter is very sick and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please can you use this hanger to unlock my car?” He said “Sure.” He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened.
5. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, “Thank you so much! You are a very nice man.” The man replied, “Lady, I’m not a nice man; I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour.”
6. The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, “Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!”
B. THE DESIRE TO SWAT
1. SWAT means to “hit or crush,” as of an insect, with a sharp blow from a flat object. Insects are very pesky. Think mosquito or fly. Though tiny, they get our attention.
2. The annoyance they cause often elicits an overpowering response -- to smack them with excessive force.
3. There’s some odd kind of pleasure that comes from successfully swatting a mosquito or fly. Maybe it's the challenge of getting them, because both have ingenious methods for eluding enemies.
4. Maybe it's the relief of stopping their relentless attacks on us. Either way, it feels good to swap one!
5. Maybe it's that good feeling that inspired the idea of turning the word "swat" into an acronym for a police team that stops especially dangerous criminals.
C. THESIS
1. So we’re going to look tonight at what SWAT teams are, the nature of spiritual SWAT teams, and the 3 steps to join Jesus’ SWAT team.
2. The title of tonight’s message is “God’s Swat Team.”
I. WHAT ARE SWAT TEAMS
A. SWAT TEAMS DEFINED
1. SWAT teams ("Special Weapons And Tactics") are very interesting, due to the clandestine/secretive kind of work they do.
2. They are law enforcement units which use military-style light weapons and specialized tactics in high-risk operations that fall outside of the capabilities of regular, uniformed police.
B. DUTIES, FIREARMS, EQUIPMENT
1. Their duties include: confronting heavily armed criminals; performing hostage rescue and counter-terrorism operations; high risk arrests; and entering armored or barricaded buildings.
2. Such units are often equipped with specialized firearms including submachine guns, assault rifles, breaching shotguns, sniper rifles, riot control agents, and stun grenades.
3. They have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, ballistic shields, entry tools, armored vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers, inside enclosed structures. (Wikipedia)
C. IS THERE A SPIRITUAL PARALLEL? YES!
1. In the spiritual realm, there are also criminals, terrorists, and hostage-takers. There are forces seeking to dampen revival and to spread evil.
2. People are bound with sickness or broken hearts. They’re enslaved with fear, anxiety, depression, or discouragement. They’re blinded by pain, bitterness, unforgiveness, and hate.
3. HUMOR "Signs of the Times"
a. A girl brought her boyfriend home to meet her father. He was covered with tattoos and had numerous piercings.
b. After he left, the father said, "I don't know about that guy; he doesn't look very good!"
c. His daughter replied, "Oh dad! He's God a really good heart. He's even doing 900 hours of community service!"
3. Thank God He has Teams that combat the moral breakdown, the decline of the church, and to right the wrongs done to people.
4. Can you think of any O.T. personalities who give the appearance of being one of God’s SWAT team members?
5. EXAMPLES: Moses. Joshua. Gideon. Samson. Deborah. Jephthah. Samuel. David. Esther. Elijah. Elisha. Paul. Peter bf Sanhedrin. Philip at Samaria.
II. THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL SWAT TEAMS
A. THE MACRO LEVEL SWATS: PROPHETS
1. These specialists have appeared at critical moments in history to reprove, rebuke, and exhort in the name of God and bring in righteousness.
2. 10,000 ordinary pastors might labor quietly on while the spiritual life of the church was normal. But let the people of God fall into declension and immediately these specialists appeared.
3. Elijah was single-minded, severe, fearless, as these were the qualities the circumstances demanded. He shocked some, frightened others and alienated not a few, but he knew who had called him and what he was sent to do.
4. If we will do God's work in God's way, we shall have God's blessing and the devil's curses. When God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the devil will open the doors of hell to blast us.
5. God’s smile means the devil's frown! Mere preachers may help anybody and hurt nobody; but God's prophets will stir everybody and madden somebody.
6. The preacher may go with the crowd; but the prophet will go against it. Preachers make pulpits famous; prophets make prisons famous. The preacher will be heralded; but the prophet will be hounded.
7. Today, God needs invincible men and women who will be his specialists for this nation. Will you be one?
B. MICRO LEVEL SWATS: BELIEVERS
1. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” Luke 4:18.
2. Believers have been empowered to be SWAT Teams individually. We can heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead. We can bring light and liberty to those walking in darkness.
3. We have been sent out in the Lord's stead to do His work. That's why the beginning of the Book of Acts says, "I wrote about all that Jesus BEGAN to do and to teach until... he...[gave] instructions through the Holy Spirit to the sent ones he had chosen." (1:1-2).
4. Jesus said, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." John 14:12.
5 Jesus did what a SWAT Team would do, and He expects us to do as He did! Let’s look at 3 steps to join Jesus’ SWAT team:
III. 3 STEPS TO JOIN GOD’S SWAT TEAM
Three steps are necessary in your personal deliverance for you to walk in the victorious life promised through Jesus Christ.
A. UNDERSTAND YOUR AUTHORITY AS A BELIEVER
1. Before you can join a SWAT team, you must become a believer. Once you are a believer, you have certain rights and privileges as a child of God you can use to swat the enemy.
2. In Christ, we are “far above all principality, and power, and might, dominion and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in that which is to come” Eph. 1:21. We have been raised up together with
Jesus and made us sit together in heavenly places in Him.
3. The devil doesn’t want you to know your position. Satan is under our feet if we’re born-again believers. Luke 10:19 says that Jesus gave us power over all demonic activity and nothing can hurt us.
4. Since you’ve been given authority in Christ, we don’t need to fight the devil, rather we need to exercise our authority as believers.
5. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith” James 4:7 adds, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
6. The word “resist” means to stand your ground. Satan has no power over you! Just stand your ground knowing that you have authority as a believer over the power of the enemy!
B. YOU MUST HAVE CONFIDENCE IN GOD
1. As believers, we need to not QUIT ON GOD in the face of trials, tests, temptations, persecution, distress, famine, peril, or hard times. Be steadfast and unmovable.
2. 1 Cor. 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.“
3. We don’t have confidence in OUR power; We have no power of our own. But we must learn to trust, rely, submit and be led by the Spirit of God.
4. The confidence we have is confidence in the character of God and in His Word. The enemy tries to steal your confidence because he doesn’t want you to complete your mission.
5. The devil wants you think it’s impossible, illogical, and ridiculous. He will send others -- even other Christians, or family -- to discourage you.
6. Phip. 4:13 states that “we can do all things through Christ.” God wants involvement in everything in your life. You must have confidence in God!
C. KNOW THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE
1. PRAISE AS A WEAPON. a. When King Jehoshaphat sent out his army, other kings probably asked, "What kind of special forces led your army?" Imagine Jehoshaphat answering, "Singers! Our secret weapon is not a nuclear bomb or lasers, but ‘praisers.’”
b. To some, it must have looked like foolishness. But God wants you to rise to a higher level of trusting Him. Praise is the spark-plug of faith; it moves you up to a level of victory over circumstances.
c. Verse 22 -- "As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against... [their enemies].” Their faith provoked God to action.
d. The same thing happened when Paul and Silas were beaten and were in the Philippian jail. As they sang hymns -- an earthquake shook open the doors and loosed their fetters.
e. The high praises of God not only loose you, but began undercutting your enemies. God is a liberator -- from bondage, sickness, lack, ignorance, weakness, doubts, and fear.
2. PRAYER AS A WEAPON
a. When Moses stood on top of the hill with his hands raised to God in prayer – as long as he kept interceding – Israel was winning the battle. We see that prayer is a weapon.
b. We need to pray for the Church to be made right with God, to be revived. We also need to pray for the Lost to desire salvation & come to the truth.
c. “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none” Ezek. 22:30. God wants to move, but only our intercessions RELEASE HIM to do so.
3. THE WORD AS A WEAPON
a. When the Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness Mt. 4:1-11, 3X the devil tempted Him and 3X Jesus quoted a Scripture back to him. The Word, as a sword, parries the onslaughts of the enemy.
b. We must read the Word, study it, memorize it, live by it, and quote it to the adversary when we get a thought contrary to the teachings of the Word.
c. GOOD SCRIPTURES:
"No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper" Isa. 54:17.
"I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold I give to you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" Luke 10:18-19.
"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against him" Isa. 59:19.
"’Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts" Zech. 4:6.
"Be not afraid... for the battle is not yours, but God's" 2 Chr. 20:15.
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" Rom. 8:37.
"Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ" 2 Cor. 2:14.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you" James 4:7
"Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" 1 John 4:4.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. I like those truck commercials where they show the towing ability of the truck. They always show it pulling something, like a boat, up a hill.
2. Do you know that the thing being pulled is doing nothing but going along for the ride? The boat doesn't struggle to get up the hill!
3. The power for towing is located under the hood of the truck. The power is built into the vehicle. All the boat has to do is be hooked onto the truck.
4. The power for your Christian life is not in you. The power for your Christian life is "Christ under the hood," it’s Christ in you, the hope of glory! (Tony Evans, p. 49)
5. The power for carrying out our deliverance ministry is found in Christ. He is the source of our power. As we speak in His Name, His power comes to bear to set people free!
B. THE CALL
1. Let take the first step of making sure we’re a child of
God.
2. 2ndly, let’s put our confidence in God. Lastly, let’s commit to doing the same works that Jesus came to do.
3. Yes, you have all the tools you need, just remember – you’re part of God’s Swat Team! ZAP the devil!
[This message was adapted from Vera Hughes’ msg of the same name with seasoning from Leonard Ravenhill]
