Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (February 1, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Well, it's great to

be with you this morning. Jenny and I were in...

Malala, Oregon, which is just about south of

Estacada, about 10 miles and near Colton, Oregon.

And we're in a wonderful church there that we've

been at before over the years, about three or

four times. Pastor Gary Lee and Carolyn Seifert.

And they brought us in to do some prophetic presbytery

meetings. And so we were prophesied over their

youth group and youth candidates and Saturday

over there, some church candidates and Sunday.

We brought the word of the Lord spontaneously.

They had not. And this kind of, you know, it's

our world that this riverbank thing has been

happening for two and a half years. And you just

kind of expect I'd send out a video to our MFI

churches that went out. And we got to sit down

finally because we don't talk before any prophetic

meetings so that Jenny and I don't have any advanced

information. What we hear, we hear from the Lord.

He sat down Saturday afternoon after we got done

with the main Saturday session before I preached

on Sunday. He said, so what's going on in your

guys' world? What's God doing? It's miraculous.

And I looked at him. I said, are you serious?

He goes, yeah. What's the good word, brother?

And I'm like, watch this video. And they looked

at me stunned because here they are just an hour

and a half away. They hadn't even heard. They

hadn't seen the video. That Sunday morning. without

any advancement, they got up in front of their

congregation and said, listen, Brad and Jenny

didn't ask us to do this, but we're putting some

baskets up here. They threw the video up on the

wall, the church watched it, and people just

spontaneously began to give. And that was an

incredible moment. And I just said, I said, Pastor

Gary Lee, whatever comes in, I just, I want it

to be dedicated to the river wall. And then,

and so they filled a a manila envelope. I told

Deanna I wanted to keep the envelope. I never

opened it. I said, I'm not going to open this.

I'm going to give it right to our finance minister.

I said, I don't want to know what's here. But

I said, before I know the amount, I said, I want

you to know we're going to pray for you next

Sunday. Also, a week and a half ago, another

pastor that I meet to discuss our, I'm in charge

of our, kind of our fellowship of churches. We're

not a denomination, but we're a fellowship of

pastors that that I'm in charge of a regional

from Salem to Northern California from the coast,

clear to Idaho. And I was meeting with one of

the pastors. He said, man, I read your website.

I can't believe what's going on. And he slid

a check across the table. He said, I want you

to put this toward the river wall. We've had

two, that was Joy Church, Eugene, Malala Church.

So far, we've had two churches standing with

us, which is... Two more than we had last week.

So praise God. I'm just holding this envelope.

Just a reminder here of Joy Church, Eugene, and

the Country Church, Malala. Would you pray with

me to bless them? Father, I want to thank you

for the pastors. I want to thank you for the

leadership teams, the elders, and the people

that gave spontaneously. Lord, outside of their

own church, outside of their own sphere, Lord,

you put us on their heart and we say thank you.

I'm reminded of what the apostle Paul said. He

said, I've received your offering, a sweet smelling

aroma to the Lord. Now may the God of all supply.

Lord, grant you sufficiency in all things. So

Father, bless them now. Sow back into them. And

we thank you for other Christians' generosity.

Lord, as we stand together to see the kingdom

of God move, in Jesus' name, and everybody said,

amen, amen. Isn't that a great report? Come on,

we're gonna believe that a few others are gonna

do that as well. All right. Well, I shared just

a little bit with you this week. Man, this week

has been, I don't know if I, I shared with some

of my intercessors. I don't know if it's been,

I call it, I've been in a lot of places around

the world where there is witchcraft that operates

from black magic, witch doctors, various places

that I end up preaching in villages and various

things over the years. over the years in various

countries from Africa to India to in Asia. But

this week felt like I was in foreign territory.

And so it felt sludge and thick and you'd pray

and swat it off and it just kind of tried to

swarm back. And as I was waiting on the Lord,

I shared a little bit last night as the Lord

woke me in. And I saw those two angels come into

the atmosphere that were brilliant. I've never

seen a gemstone glow like what I saw as they

were coming toward me. They were surrounded kind

of with a golden color, but a sapphire blue that

was so deep yet had light emanating from it.

And, you know, the Bible talks about, the throne

of the Lord and that the essence underneath him

was pure sapphire. The Bible talks about his

brilliance and the Lord knows how to bring light

and revelation into every dark circumstance.

And I want to encourage you this morning. We're

going to take the table of the Lord today. Today's

communion Sunday. But I felt so prompted because

this week was so heavy to write this message.

Normally, Thanks, babe. For a bit, if you'd just

stay right there because I'm going to need you

in a bit. Normally on Thursday, Thursday is my

study day and I get here and get here early and

spend time in prayer and wait on the Lord and

I spend time, Lord, what do you want to say this

week? What are you highlighting from your word?

What is the fresh bread from heaven for your

people? And I labored this week to hear, to connect

thoughts, a constant, I was here Thursday, I

was here Friday, trying to just put something

down. I knew that the end of the fast, God always

has, and he's shown himself faithful over the

last 20, almost 25 years, that when we have been

doing this every year, preparing ourselves at

the first of the year to be closer, to hear,

to make sure our ears are tuned and our hearts

are prepped and sensitive. How many have experienced,

just in these three weeks, that your sleep is,

is restful, but you don't need as much and you're

sensitive to the things that God puts on your

heart immediately. Have you noticed that? There's

a lot of us in this room that that is the case

because what happens is God begins to remove

layers and barriers and you become more sensitive

to the sound of his voice and to the promptings

of his heart. And that's the whole goal of a

fast. The whole goal of us, yeah, we can pray

for specific things like the river wall and breakthrough

finances and breakthrough help and we need that.

But the most important thing is that the barriers

that keep us from being spiritual people that

are in tune with our king and shepherd, that's

the part that he wants. He wants our hearts and

he wants our attention. And I'll maybe... Talk

on this a little more as the Lord's developing.

But what I, I went to bed last night. Nathan,

I was thinking about this. I went to bed. Just

thought I'd say your name while we're preaching

here. Say other people's names. But you're the

one that came to mind. I was thinking about Zacchaeus.

Or not Zacchaeus, not the wee little man. I was

thinking about Zachariah, John the Baptist's

parents. And how Zachariah, number was called.

and he was called to go burn incense before the

Lord as he was on duty as a priest. Now, to burn

incense before the Lord, when you study that

whole passage, Most commentaries will tell you

that it was a once in a lifetime thing that the

way the number fell, the lot fell on him that

he would get to go in before the presence of

the Lord and specifically minister to God at

the altar of incense. Normally when you went

on as a priest in the shift, you went on at a

two week shift, 24 hours a day for two weeks.

What was so special about Zachariah is it was

a lifetime. It's kind of like putting in for

a special big horn ram tag at Heart Mountain

or Steam Mountains in the state of Oregon. You

get a one -time lifetime shot if you happen to

get drawn. Well, Zachariah got a lifetime shot

to go burn incense before the Lord. And I was

thinking about that going, Lord, what does it

mean to be a man or... in this case now in the

New Testament, a woman of God, a man and woman

of God in Bible times. And we still are in Bible

times, but what did that mean? It meant that

on his two week shift, he was always before the

Lord. Now he was always before the Lord, even

though he wasn't on, but in that two week shift,

he ministered to God. He ministered to God continually.

Now, if you understand that, he was being in

prayer and in worship, checking the golden candlestick,

making sure the wicks were trimmed, that the

oil was full, that there was incense burning

on the altar, that the bread of the presence

was covered, and that the rest of the time, from

sunup to sundown, would have been what? To God.

Before the holy altar. Praying. Worshipping.

Not just having a. I'm going to be careful here.

An hour and 45 minute service. Thinking about

how does this benefit me. But spending 12 hours.

Ministering. To God. Personally. It means that

he would have. By the fourth century churches,

pastors who were going to be in the ministry

memorized the complete book of Psalms and could

pray by memory the whole book of Psalms as they

ministered to the Lord. It meant that they had

the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John memorized

and the whole book of Psalms. And then it says

they ministered to the Lord. They knew the word

in their heart. They actually ministered. And

yet what we've kind of ended up with, and I'm

going to be careful here, is we've ended up with

a group of pastors on a national level that aren't

actually men or women of God. They're spiritual

influencers. You go to a pastor's conference

and you ask how many people actually spend an

hour of prayer a day as pastors. Less than 15%.

The average prayer time of pastors in the United

States is less than 20 minutes a week. That's

a spiritual influencer. That's not a man or woman

of God. The reality was, what did it mean to

look? And to minister to the Lord. What did it

mean to love Jesus so much that you understood

the privilege that when you came to worship and

minister, you actually enjoyed ministering to

him and you recognized there was an expectation

to actually encounter him and to make sure that

he received what he had paid for with his life.

And so when we come to the table this morning,

That's kind of the premise in which we're going

to jump off into a little bit. Are you all right?

Sorry, it's been a little bit since I've got

to preach. And so I'm just kind of unhooking

the horse here and here we go. All right. And

the reality is that we have to come to a place

where we begin to say, Jesus, you modeled something

for us that this table represents that. Every

time I take it, there should be something move

in me so deeply. I fall more madly in love with

you for what you've done. Now, I left you off

a few months ago. And I know you remember. In

John 13. In John 13, Jesus was actually getting

ready to what? Take communion. Out of all the

gospels, John 13 is the only one that deals with

Jesus leaving the table. And washing the feet

of the disciples. And if we'll look at that verse.

It's John 13 verse 3 through 5. Says this. Jesus

John 13:3–5

knowing that the father had given all things

in his hands. And that he had come from God.

And was going back to God. Rose from supper.

laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel,

tied it around his waist, poured water into a

basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and

to wipe them with a towel that was wrapped around

him. Jesus modeled for his disciples. Probably

the most key distinction in all things that Jesus

did here is that he wasn't just modeling. serving

as a good leadership principle. Okay? He didn't

do, forgive me here, I'm not trying to mock leadership

seminars, but Jesus didn't have the 21 ways of

washing feet. Or 10 ways to maximize your foot

washing service. He did what? He moved, First

thing that we're going to look at, he moved to

what? Remove the outer garments. And the reason

he removed the outer garments is to what? Remove

the context and the pretext that every one of

those disciples had. Now, if you are a student

and have been a Christian any length of time,

you have heard messages either from the... certain

faith camp or non -faith camp on the garments

of Jesus. He dressed poor. No, he dressed rich.

And there are arguments on both sides. Was he

dressed rich or was he dressed poor? Well, the

fact of the matter is he had an undergarment.

So if that's what the poor wear, he wore that.

And the Bible says at his crucifixion he had

a seamless garment that they recognized was of

worth, so they refused to divide that outer garment.

So the fact is that was a more wealthier person

at that time garment to have a seamless one -piece

garment. The issue is Jesus took it off to put

a servant's towel on. To remove the disciples

any form of pretext, any form of idea that they

would have to try to say, well, he did it for

this reason, he did it for that. No, I'm taking

it all off so that all that I'm wearing is I'm

girded in my, just my loincloth and the servant's

towel. I'm stripped down for work. And this work

is to serve you out of love. And Jesus' statement

to them, as you read John 13, what you've seen

me do, now do likewise to one another. Now, what

did Jesus, what did he strip down to? He stripped

down to the cloak of humility. That's really

what he put on. He took off the outer garment.

Some people say it was a purple outer garment.

Whatever it was, he took it off and what did

he put on? He put on the cloak of humility. And

that cloak of humility wasn't just humility to

humble himself, it was humility to release divine

love. So we don't just put on humility for the

sake of putting on humility because then that

becomes false humility. We put on humility, what?

So that we can actually love the people that

God loves. And we can do it so nothing else gets

in the way that all they see is someone that

is walking or living in a garment that is not

covered with self, self accomplishments, all

sorts of barriers. All that it sees is. Love

that is willing to serve without anything in

return. That's what Jesus modeled. And that's

the key distinction for the house of God and

for among the people and for among his leaders

that the taking off of a garment's meant there's

no hiding behind titles. There's no positions,

hiding behind positions or money or image or

things. It was about what? Clothing ourselves

in humility. You see, when Peter writes in 1

1 Peter 5:5

Peter 5, verse 5, Peter's writing to now fellow

elders in... in a few other churches in Upper

Galatia. And Peter is beginning to write to all

these churches that he'd gone to. You can't get

past Peter's writing of actually going back to

the context where he saw this happen. Peter wrote

in 1 Peter 5, 5, he said, clothe yourselves,

all of you, with humility toward one another.

For God opposes the proud. but gives grace to

the humble. Now notice he didn't say, clothe

yourselves, well, most of you. No, he said, clothe

yourselves, all of you, with humility toward

one another. You see, true godly humility actually

removes barriers on your way to actually encountering

other people. So we see the incredible love that

Jesus, and the humility that he demonstrated,

not just demonstrated, but still gives at his

own table with his own disciples. But I don't

want to diminish from that, but what happens

when you're actually asked to have humility with

others when they're not part of your close association,

when they're not part of your inner group? When

they're actually don't like you at all. There's

a big difference. Now the process, Jesus in John

13 removes his garment. to show no titles, no

position, no money, no power, no kingship. It's

about loving and setting the stage to remove

barriers to love people in sincerity of truth

of humility. But that was the first time he removed

the garments. On his way, now notice, that was

at the Last Supper. Just a few more days would

take place and Jesus would be crucified. The

Bible has three direct references of times that

Jesus' garments were removed. Four inferred.

The first one was at the Lord's Supper. The second

one we're going to look at. The first time the

garments were... purposely removed for the disciples.

But the next time, Jesus had garments removed

and forced on him. Jesus humbly and peacefully

yielded to the acts of garments being forced

on him and to garments being forcibly taken off

of him. Second reference. to outer garments that

Jesus has. And this is important this morning

as we, this will kind of be my message right

here. And so I'm asking you just to kind of lean

in, understanding the table. When we think about

taking on and off a garment, that is spiritual

language of saying, Jesus took off the garment

of flesh. And he put on. The garment of the resurrection.

He put on a new body. But you need to understand

something. Multiple times, man, Jesus modeled

for the disciples what it looks like to put off

your flesh, to put off your suppositions, and

to pick up the towel of the servant. This next

time, after, Communion, after they crossed the

brook Kindron, after he has the kiss of Judas

in front of the soldiers and he's taken into

custody, he's now taken through the night into

Caiaphas' and Ananias' house. He's held at a

mock trial. He's slapped. He's blasphemed. He's

now taken early to Pilate. And Pilate finds no

fault in him finding out that he's a Galilean.

The next time we see Jesus standing is right

at Herod. Luke 23, 8, 11 says this. And when

Herod saw Jesus, Herod was very glad. For he

had longed to see Jesus because he had heard

about Jesus. He had been hoping to see some sign

done by him. Now listen to verse nine through

11 very carefully. It's very black and white,

but it's so deep. You have to get the meaning

here. So Herod questioned him at some length.

I want you just to put a pause in that in your

mind. At some length. He didn't just question

him two or three questions. When you see the

context, it was at some length. But Jesus made

no answer. The chief priests, plural, and the

scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And

Herod and his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt

and mocked him. So here we have a three -staged

How many have ever watched, I know I'm not gonna

get a lot of responses here, but how many have

ever watched C -SPAN? Where you watched C -SPAN

and you watched a committee hearing and some

political committee bringing somebody in and

a bunch of senators or representatives trying

to grill and question the witness. And have you

noticed that it didn't even matter what the witness

said. It was just questions about the same thing

over and over. Even when they said, I don't have

an answer for you on that. That's not why I'm

here. That's Joe Diddley's department, not mine.

But the vehement questions that keep going on

and on and then time yielded and then they kept

just piling it on. I need you to get. your thinking

here. This was the setting of Jesus Christ. He's

standing before Herod. Who was Herod? One of

the most vicious. Evil, bloodthirsty kings and

lines of Herod that Israel had ever known. The

dad of this Herod is the one that killed all

the two and three year olds because of Jesus'

birth. Now he's standing in the line of succession

of Herod for the same type of blood lineage that

destroys any type of usurping of his throne.

And Jesus is standing in front of The King Herod

of the Jews that was put in power by Rome. Next

to him on his right and his left are the chief

priests. The chief priests, the father -in -law

of the chief priests, and all of the elders of

the chief priests line that are scholarly. Next

on the other side is all the scribes. Means what?

All of the lawyers. And they are screaming at

him. In close proximity. It wasn't like everybody

had their own nice personal space and a chair.

And Jesus, can we get you a water? Would you

like some bread and hummus? Okay. It was not

the case. Have you looked at what is on the TV

in the last couple of weeks? And you've been

fasting and hopefully you haven't. But if you

have, how people are getting into people's face

without any form of decorum, moving past protest

and into a form of viciousness. I'm just trying

to make it real in here. What are you going to

do, California preacher boy? Are you feeling

me here? In that atmosphere, in that atmosphere,

that is the kind of scenario when you're reading

that black and white that is taking place at

Jesus in front of Herod. Herod's like, who are

you? If you're Jesus, show us. And that's when

the barking starts. He's an imposter. He's a

blasphemer. He claims himself. I mean, you could

just hear it. And Jesus, the Bible says, does

what? He stands and says not a word. Not a word.

Not an action of aggression. Not a word. Because

I'm telling you right now. If somebody is this

close touching my nose, there's probably going

to be a little. Just saying. Just saying. Just

back up off me about a foot. Not Jesus. Jesus.

Standing before one of the most bloodthirsty

evil kings, Jesus did not answer a word to impress

and he did not answer a word to impede his heavenly

father's will so that he might finish perfectly

what was waiting for you and I. If you take all

of the environments that are today, You take

everything that's happening via protest. You

take everything that's happening via the incitement

and the division that's taking place. Now you

put it into a mix and you put it right on the

governmental palace floor where Herod and religion

and lawyers are all standing around to catch

you at every level. You're talking about a hotbed

and Jesus doesn't, act mean, doesn't bend the

knee or swayed at any level. The Bible says Isaiah

53, this is part of why we take this meal. He

was oppressed and he was afflicted. Isaiah 53,

seven. And yet he opened not his mouth. That

was fulfilled at Herod's palace. Like a lamb

led to the slaughter. like a sheep before its

shearers. And that's what was happening. They

were trying to shear him to the quick. He opened

not his mouth. Notice the Bible says, and Herod

questioned him at length. Herod had, if you go

and you study the scriptures, especially about

John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the one

that confronted this Herod because he had his

what? His brother's wife. And John said to Herod,

it is not lawful for you to have her. And the

Bible records that even though Herod liked him,

his wife Herodias, who he left his brother, who

she left his brother Philip for and now was joined

to him. did not like it and held a grudge. And

Herod did not hold his tongue. And when there

was an opportunity for Herodias to get back at

John because of his oaths and his vows, he had

to eat his words and kill Jesus' cousin, John.

This is only maybe two, two and a half years.

From that point of John, because John and Jesus

had a ministry together for the first part and

then Herod killed John and Jesus went to fulfill

his ministry. Now two and a half years, two and

three quarters years later, Jesus is standing

before the very one that killed his cousin that

was always looking to show and to get some type

of preferential treatment. And now the big dog

is standing in front of Herod and Herod expects

homage. Accusations from the religious leaders

when Jesus did not meet any of their expectations.

It wasn't, well, I guess he's not gonna speak

to us. Court's adjourned. It never ends that

way in the kingdom of darkness. Can I say this

to you and I'm not here to scare you. But I need

you to understand something. We're moving as

a church, not just Life Bible Church. I hope

that we're counted worthy of this. But the church

in general in the world, if you've paid paying

any attention in the last year, you've watched

the persecution of the church all over the world

went what? Went up another notch. What's happening?

what's happening is you're beginning to see the

growing disdain of the spirit of antichrist hating

the real Christ. And so as Jesus is standing

before Herod, it was a prophetic picture. that

the world and the governments of this world,

because he would later go to Pilate, that would

be another arm of military power and judgment.

But when he was standing at Herod, he was standing

in front of the political arena that was partnered

with religious perspectives. Jesus was standing,

and when the religious and political union did

not get Jesus to agree with what they wanted

to be manufactured or Jesus to respond on demand,

they're never content just walking away and saying,

well, I guess that didn't work. So what do we

see? We see the next time Jesus gets his garments

touched. Right here. The Bible says, I'm gonna

read it. Verse 12. I'll start at 11. And Herod

and his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt

and mocked him. We're gonna go to a whole different

level of mocking with Pilate and his soldiers.

But Herod and his soldiers, meaning this was

the elite guard that guarded the king. officiated

by Rome. And then it says in verse 12, then arraying

Jesus in splendid clothing, Herod sent Jesus

back to Pilate. Why is this so important? Well,

the Bible doesn't tell us that they stripped

Jesus of his clothes in this context. It will

tell us at the third encounter that Pilate does.

So the context does not say that they removed

Jesus's clothes in this. What they did do that

from the text is they put garments on Jesus,

meaning they covered up who tried to cover up

who his identity was. Meaning in their mocking

and in their unsatisfied answers and in his refusal

to say neither nay or yay and not give offense.

toward the father, nor toward them to give in

to anything, to sin in any capacity. They wouldn't

stop at just receiving no. They went into the

palace. And the inference of the text is, when

you go into the palace, that was Herod's residence.

The only thing that would have come out of Herod's

residence was one of Herod, King Herod's garments.

And they placed on Jesus in a form of mocking

and in a form of brutal sarcasm and sport. They

took most likely a used kingly garment, although

that garment would have been worth more than

one person's wage for a year. They laid on Jesus

a kingly garment to say, this man. is no threat

to a Roman king. This man is not good enough

to wear the office of a garment that's new. He's

only, only an imposter, and therefore we put

on him our used kingly garment. Oh, important

person. And Herod, the government, sends, or

the, political realm sends now to pilot the military

and judicial realm a man covered in the world's

garments representing power and authority and

opulence and splendor in a mocking attitude saying

he's a sham. He is no king and he's no threat.

I send him back to you. You looked at him, found

no fault. I looked at him, sent him to fault.

This man is a nothing. Why did Jesus allow that?

Because Jenny's playing the piano now. Jesus

allowed it. Because he meant to say it very clear

to all of his disciples and to those of the world.

I'm willing to bear the reproach and the shame

of what the world thinks I should do. I don't

have to answer their perspectives. Though they

try to twist who they think I am, though they

try to make me fulfill what they want me to do,

I don't take my orders from the world, from the

kings. From the political systems of the day,

I only say what the Father tells me to say. And

I only do what the Father tells me to do. I wear

the garments of the world. I'll take their shame.

I'll take their mocking. I'll take their cruelty.

I'll take the increased persecution that comes.

Why? Because I see you. I will fulfill what the

Father asked me to do to actually bring you salvation

and to finish the reason I came to live. I came

to die. When we come to this table, the fact

is if you'd stand with me and if I could have

the ushers come forward. As you come around this

table, of course the... There's a gluten -free

bread in the middle if you need it. I'd like

you to take a piece of bread or two. I'd like

you to take a cup. And we'll come back to our

seats and we'll take communion together as a

family. But as you come around this table on

both sides, I want you to think of how much Jesus

willingly took off his garments to show us what

it means to live humbly. And to live in love

and in peace with one another. He also showed

us what it means to endure hostility. To endure

persecution. Mocking. Deriding. Being the butt

of jokes. He shows us. And that. The love that

is in him. To be able to do that even today.

As the world puts on him to try to twist his

words, twist his ways, twist his love, he's still

doing so out of love so that you and I can have

the reality of fellowship of his life. Let's

pray for the meal. Father, in Jesus' name, Lord,

the bread and the cup is before us. Lord, the

bread representing your life. The word of God

made flesh. The cup representing your life that

was poured out for sin, for us, for a new covenant.

A covenant that you will forever be faithful

to. And Lord, today as we grab elements and we

come around your table, let every heart, Lord,

grow more fond of you. Let the love of our Savior

and the richness of who you are deepen inside

of us. We love you, Jesus. Bless this table.

Let's take it together as family. Please come.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this

week's message. We are so grateful for those

who tune in each week and have given generously

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