Michael Koulianos emphasizes that Jesus is our ultimate teacher who reveals the Scriptures to point us to Himself, glorifying God the Father. He warns against the dangers of religious language that disconnects from the heart and stresses the importance of worshiping in spirit and truth. Koulianos illustrates how the Old Testament foreshadows Jesus, highlighting Abraham's faith and the prophetic significance of the lamb. He encourages believers to pursue a passionate relationship with Jesus, rejecting mediocrity and distractions, and to recognize the power of the Scriptures in understanding Christ's mission. Ultimately, he calls for a heart that seeks Jesus earnestly, as true worship flows from a genuine connection with Him.

Jesus is my teacher. He's still the great teacher, you know that. Jesus is my teacher, comma, who opens his word to point me to himself for the glory of God the Father. Let me say that again. Jesus is my teacher who opens his word to point me to himself for the glory of God the Father. Now we're gonna repeat it. Is everybody done writing yet? Anybody, okay. Everyone done writing? Okay, I don't wanna leave anyone out because our words are powerful. Let's say this out loud. Jesus is my teacher. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. How hard is this? All right. Let me finish it. That sounded like tongues when it was all jumbled together. All right. Jesus is my teacher. Who opens his word to point me to himself for the glory of God the Father. Now I'm gonna leave you with one that I didn't give you before. All, say all. All. By the Spirit. By the Spirit. There you go. So that's what happens every time you read the scriptures properly. With the right heartbeat. Say this. Jesus is still the only book opener. You can open the pages. Listen carefully. But only he can open the word. You can attempt to exegete or unveil or unlock the text. But only he can unlock the meaning. Religion, when religion comes in, we say things we don't mean. And it's spiritual language. Like maybe if you grew up around a strong faith circle and you got shot in the leg by a grenade launcher and somebody asked how you're doing, you were taught to say I'm blessed and highly favored and you're dying. Right? Right? Or you walk in and, or you're sitting in a meeting and the preacher says something average and you say that's so good. And it wasn't so good. Right? Or if you're super old Pentecost, you say alleluia and the last thing you're thinking about is praise ye the Lord. What takes place there? The mouth disconnects from the beating of the spiritual heart. That's called religion. And Isaiah speaks of this, that their words seem to draw near but their hearts are far from him. Now, the only way to not have that is to have his abiding presence. It's only in his presence, listen carefully, that we mean what we say. And if we don't mean what we say, it is not true. It doesn't mean it's not true topically. It's not flowing from a heart of truth. It's not true to us. So Jesus says in John chapter four that a people would come speaking to the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman. Imagine the well himself sitting on a well. Just to mess you up. I'm the well and I'm sitting on a well. I'm Jacob's well. Not this well. I'm the wellspring. I'm the root of Jesse. I'm the root of David. I'm the beginning and the end. I'm the river and the origin of it and I'm the destination. I'm the origin of the river. I'm the river itself. I provide the banks of the river through my spoken word and I'm the destination of the river. The river comes straight back to me. That's the well sitting on the well. And he makes this statement that one day people would arise who worship in spirit and in truth. The only way to worship truthfully is to worship spiritually. And the only way to worship spiritually is to worship truthfully. We must burn for what flows from our mouth. If not, it is empty. And it's not accepted. It's not accepted. Now, did anybody learn anything during this worship set? What did you learn? You need to prefer death above religion. Bill used to always say, he will only trust you with the measure that you're willing to die for to protect. Many of you, especially you Jesus School students, and many of you, maybe you're visiting, any visiting missionaries or church planters here? Anyone who's in the ministry? Okay, well, welcome. Honored to have you. Guys, can we welcome them? Honored to have you. Listen, you, you must in the depths of your soul refuse mediocrity in the gathering. You must refuse it. You have to realize that without his presence, we die inside. You have to realize, listen carefully, that a lackadaisical heart is contagious. And the Levitical ministry cuts that thing off. There is a fierceness in the heart of David. There's a fierceness in the heart of that shepherd boy. There's a fierceness that when his God is mocked, specifically the God that he loves, he's like, I got a stone for you that's been perfectly sharpened by the stream of the Spirit, and I'm putting it between your eyes. And then I'm gonna cut your head off and mock you. That's not being mean. That's being zealous for the Lord's house. Zeal, zeal for your house has consumed me, the scripture says of Jesus. We need to be zealous when we walk in. We need to be zealous when we come through these doors, realizing, listen very carefully, that if we meet certain conditions, the opportunity presents itself to us that we get to meet with the God of the ages. You don't have to refuse it. It doesn't mean you strive, but you never throw in the towel. And lovers look for him. I'll get to the text. You're like, gosh, here he goes again. Lovers look for him. Like the Shulamite goes about the streets looking for him. And when a watchman wounds you by telling you to calm down, refuse it. I'd rather have a church that's too passionate than a church that's dead and calls it balance. I'll work with your passion. But been there, done that, that's an icy heart. The Lord didn't really coach that one along. He just rebukes it. Because he will not jump out of a box like a little Cracker Jack monkey and clap for you and perform for you. We bring him an offering. He doesn't bring us one. He is the offering. And because he's offering and priest, we bring him something that only he is worthy of. Does this make sense? Can't give up. You're looking, you're not striving. You're looking, you're looking, you're looking, you're looking, you're looking. You're joining, you're resisting that work of the flesh. You're resisting your tired body. You resist your tired mind. You don't resist it by rebuking. You resist it by looking. You look, you look, you look, you look. Remember, you'll never slay dragons if you're too busy swatting flies. When distraction comes our way as a team, we get through it and get going again. Get going. We look at Jesus, we look at Jesus. And then all of a sudden, at one point, as you learn his ways, he comes and catches you up. I don't mean the rapture. I mean a heart that's been lifted. He promised to do that for those who wait upon the Lord. I want our church to be, listen, this is my favorite place to preach in the world. This is many amazing people's favorite place to preach in the world. This is one of, I think, one of the greatest places in the world to lead worship. There are many wonderful houses, but I want this to be the house where you can be below average as a worship leader, but the crowd will literally set your face on fire. You are priests. Revelation five says you have become a kingdom of priests. Kingdom movement depends on priestly ministry, not on declaration and volume. Kingdom of priests. That means when my heart goes up, his kingdom moves forward. You missed that one. I know. I know. It is good, because it's right here. Someone thinks it's good. I don't know who said that, but I love them. When the heart goes up, he moves forward. It's a mockery to the devil. When the heart goes up, his glory comes down. When songs go up, Jesus begins to conquer. Well, wasn't David's harp more powerful than his sword? Did he build the tabernacle with his sword or his song? Yeah, he used his sword, but he didn't build God a house with it. In fact, he was such a bloody man that God did not allow him to build the temple. Don't, don't, listen. Do not get caught up in people's drama. You may just get evicted from the house he's trying to build with you. If people want to live with drama, let them. But don't you dare sit with them. Blessed is he who does not sit in the seat of the scornful or the mocker. It means have no fellowship. You resist it. Don't you get caught up in some swirl that takes you two months to get out of, and then you realize that the train of the kingdom that suffereth violence, this Jesus who walks on water to his destination and demands to be constrained, you will discover he has passed you by. I'm speaking to you by the spirit today. Refuse drama. Refuse mockery. Refuse division. Refuse idle talk. Refuse it all, and look at Jesus. I said, and look at Jesus. Let me get to the text. Baby, I don't know where your dad is, but. Does he want to come out here and just, or he wants to do it the old school way and come out from the curtain? Oh, okay, okay. All right, now, who's our teacher? Jesus. What does he open? Say his word. His word. Why? To point to himself. What does that do? It brings glory to the Father. How does all of it happen? By the spirit. There you go, you got it now. Now, John 8, 56. Again, we're looking at Jesus in the Old Testament. But it'd be very convenient of me, and all of us here, because we love Jesus here, it'd be very convenient to say, hey, the Old Testament is all about Jesus. But we don't get to just invent these statements. You know, they can become trendy and sound right, but we have to allow Jesus to establish the belief. Jesus, we need his words to tell us what the Old Testament scripture is about. And over the last three weeks, what we have discovered is that he said that. Luke 24, Acts chapter one. Did he not? John chapter five. Throughout the text, Jesus is saying, the book is about me, and Revelation tells us he's the book opener. He must crack, obviously he's the only one found worthy to open the seal, to break the seal and open the scroll, I should say. It's his nature. We know that Jesus, according to Hebrews in the book of Psalms, was aware what was written of him, was aware of what was written of him in the scroll. Behold, it is written of me. A body thou hast prepared for me. I come to do your will, O Lord. Sacrifice and offering you have not desired. So Jesus must establish this belief, not me. Are you with me? Now, being that he has, I want to take it a step further in verse 56. Ryan, can you grab a mic just to save my voice? It does feel strong, thank you, Jesus. I've been working, making all these weird sounds in the shower. All this stuff, okay. My brother, I was visiting him in Texas and I was going like. And he heard me in a room alone doing it. He goes, he didn't know I had to do that stuff. He goes, he thought I was praying. He goes, bro, are you all right? John 8, 56. Your father. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Here, Jesus is challenging the religious Jews. They're saying we're sons of Abraham. He basically replies by saying, you're a son of the devil. That's a wonderful reply. And then goes on to say, Abraham saw my day. Doesn't say he thought of the day. It says here that Abraham saw the Lord's day. Here's a question. Do you remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man from Luke's gospel? You remember that? Do you remember when Lazarus, I'm sorry, the rich man says to father Abraham, please send someone back from the dead to warn my family. You remember that? And how does he reply? He says, he has the scriptures basically. Moses, he has the text. In other words, he has the gospel. And if he doesn't believe the word, he won't believe in the resurrection. That just goes to show you how powerful the holy scriptures are. So if you don't believe what's written, you won't believe in a dead raising. But what is he referring to? He's referring to the revelation of Jesus found in the Old Testament. And here Jesus is saying in John eight, Abraham saw my day. Now, now Hebrews teaches us. Is this okay this morning? Okay, I think I'm getting filled up. I don't know if you've ever done that before, preached yourself to happiness, but it's happening right now and I'm enjoying it. Now, Hebrews tells us that by faith, the great champions of old entered into the promise. Now when the scripture says by faith, they subdued kingdoms, that's a big deal. Anyone ever try that? By faith, they subdued a kingdom. For those Old Testament saints who prior to the Lord's death, burial and resurrection were in a place called paradise, and I don't have time to get into that. Remember Jesus said on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise, not heaven. How did they receive such a promise if Jesus had not come to the earth via the incarnation? They saw him in the scriptures. They knew he was the one of promise. See, we have it all wrong. We don't think that Moses knew about the one to come. When he talked about the one to come, Jesus said, Moses spoke of me. Paul goes on to say that Jesus was the drink in the rock. They traveled with the ancient church of Israel. Who do you think danced in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Who did they behold in the blood on the two doorposts and the lentil in Exodus 12? Who did Isaiah really see when he has this amazing vision? And the question is, when would Abraham have seen the day of Jesus? Now, there's a little, I wouldn't call it a discrepancy, just different opinions that may be put together. They all may be one answer. But one I wanna get at is this one. And we'll get into the text next week. But Abraham takes, listen to the language. For some of you, this might sound elementary. But the gospel should never be boring. I said the gospel should never be boring. Listen, look at the poetry. Abraham receives a miracle son. Help me there, Joel. Abraham receives, you may wanna get your dad. I feel the Lord. Abraham receives a miracle son. The Lord comes and says to Abraham, Sarah will be with child. I want us to step into holy living without feeling the striving and the flesh. But I don't wanna throw out holy living. This is why I say that. Sarah laughs within herself. She goes, would somebody of my age have such a pleasure? I'm done. And the Lord looks at Abraham and says, why'd your wife laugh? But the scripture says, she laughed within herself. Oh, that will get you. You know, we'll be judged for every idle word. And he hears what we say on the inside. Are you hearing that? He hears our internal conversations. And Abraham says, she didn't laugh. And the Lord goes, she laughed. He's like, yeah, I gave her to you, but I don't need to go through you, Abraham, to deal with your wife. She laughed. You know, the Lord hears the intentions of the inner life. The thoughts of the inner life. The stuff you think about when you're sitting there and jealousy comes up, or competition, or the desire for glory and self-promotion. The Lord goes, I hear that, I hear that. I love you, but I still hear it. I wanna get it out because I love you. So Sarah receives this miracle promise. And so weary was Abraham's heart that he thinks the Lord's gonna move through Ishmael and provide the promise through Ishmael. And the Lord is very clear. The seed will come through Isaac. And when we talk about, listen, we gotta get this, because I believe in supporting Israel. Don't get me wrong. We're all gonna go. I love it. I'm in with you. Jesus is King of Israel. He is returning to Israel. Not to Maitland. He is literally gonna return to Israel and establish his holy kingdom. Say amen. And the ground will really break in two. He was crucified there, raised there, ascended there. I love the nation of Israel. Don't get me wrong. Don't misunderstand me. Did I make that, you're pretty secure in that. Okay, but when the Lord says to Abraham, in your seed, every nation of the earth will be blessed. He is speaking of the seed with a capital S. The Messiah who is to come. It is all about Jesus, not a government. Let's be real clear here. We serve a King who reigns above it all. Somebody should write a song called You Reign Above It All. Now, it's about Jesus. And so, so weary is Abraham that he starts thinking, maybe he's coming with Ishmael. The Lord makes it clear. And then, all of a sudden, he receives this miracle child and the Lord says, put him on the altar. A specific way. I want you to bind him to the altar and he's gotta carry his own wood up a hill. He's gotta go up a mountain. You know, like Golgotha. And carry his own tree up a mountain. And be bound, be bound to the altar. And when Abraham's servants say, when they question him, Abraham answers this way. The lad and I shall return. In other words, the God I know is resurrection and life. But I cannot know the power, oh, I feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I cannot know the power of the resurrection without the fellowship of his sufferings. There is no way into resurrection unless I pass through the door of death. My son will not come to life unless I obey him. And my son won't fight, he's gentle, Isaac. Isaac. And when he's bound, what does the son say prior to his binding? Lord, we have the wood, or Father, we have the wood. We have the fire. Where's the sacrifice? And what does Abraham say? Isaac, the Lord will provide a lamb. A lamb. Now, he gives his son, binds him, goes to kill him. The Lord speaks, Abraham, do not kill the lad. And all of the sudden, Abraham looks up and finds a ram. Close to a lamb, but not a lamb, just to make it real clear. Just to make it real clear. Fulfills the type and shadow, but listen very carefully. Joseph may be used to reveal Jesus, but he's not Jesus. That's right. Moses may speak of Jesus, his life may be an allegory, a type and shadow, but he's not Jesus. Adam, yeah, is the first Adam, and there's so much to see there, and we're gonna go through it, but make no bones about it. Jesus created Adam, not vice versa. You follow me? A ram, a ram, yeah. But not quite a lamb. Caught in a thicket, caught in a thorn bush, caught in the thorns, just like Jesus. And that declaration, the Lord will provide a lamb, pulsates through the ages, from one generation to the next, into Isaac, into Jacob, into the sons of Jacob. Yes or no? Yes. In the life of Joseph, as he descends into the pit and comes out of it, into the life of Moses in Exodus chapter 12. What did they anoint the homes with? Say the blood of the lamb. On and on and on, on into the ministry of Isaiah even, that he was led as a sheep or a lamb to slaughter. He was not speaking. All of the sudden, what does John the Baptist say on the shores of the Jordan? Behold, hold on, behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the whole world. He was saying, that's the one, that's the one that Abraham said the Lord would provide, Jesus himself. We're gonna take 15 minutes extra this morning, okay? Is that good? Listen carefully. I'm actually gonna have Pastor Benny serve communion, but we cannot take communion unless our hearts are right. Peter is so convinced of himself. I want you to sit there with your eyes closed and just hear me. I just want you to hear me. Peter's so convinced with his own strength and with no one moving. He's so convinced of his own strength. He tells the Lord, I'll never leave you. I'm willing to die for you. Jesus says, oh, you will. And you'll know it when the rooster crows. Peter betrays Jesus in front of a fire. Remember, it was cold that night when Jesus was arrested. I want you to see this with the eyes of your heart now as I'm talking. And that fire is providing warmth and the soldiers and the Jews and some Roman soldiers, the contingent are warming themselves in Caiaphas' court. And finally, a girl says, are you with the Galilean? And he denies the Lord right there. You back up three years and Peter's fishing, mending his nets, and this glorious one comes by. And he says, follow me and I'll make you a fisher of men. And they leave their nets and their boats and they just follow Jesus, which is real discipleship. You just follow Jesus. You can't discover that in a classroom. It's a real life. And Peter walks with the love of his life, the one that changed everything, the one whose words filled Peter with life. He said, where shall we go? Where can we go, Lord? You have the words of life. And that night when Jesus was arrested, Peter discovered his own weakness, that there is no real commitment outside the presence of the Spirit. And he denies the one who he said filled him with life. Jesus dies, he's buried, raised again. And he sends a message after his resurrection. Tell Peter, I love Jesus. Tell Peter, I'm going to Galilee. Maybe you sit in these seats this morning, and you say, I've left the Lord. I've been living in my own strength. I'm not walking with Jesus. I do talk in a certain way, but my heart's not on fire. It's like I can almost hear the Lord saying your name this morning. Tell him, tell her, I'm coming to meet with him. So Peter says what are some of the saddest words in the whole Bible, I'm going fishing. He goes fishing. The Lord appears on the shore. He tells them to cast their net on the other side of the boat. Very familiar speech for Peter. That's what happened in the beginning. And all of the sudden, they realize it's the Lord. They jump out of the boat and run to Jesus. Listen carefully now, listen carefully. Only to discover a scene that spoke prophetically. Here was a fire again. And he had denied Jesus near the fire. And so now Jesus builds this fire to remind him of that night in Caiaphas' court. And what does he offer him? Fish. And what was Peter doing when Jesus called him? Fishing. This was the Lord's way of saying, Peter, do you remember your beginning? Do you remember where you failed me? I'd like to restore you right here. The same scene. With you surrounded by what you were surrounded with before I called you.