A snake in the pulpit is not our enemy—he is a wounded soul that needs rescue and recovery. This is the foundation of this message. We do not judge the snake; we SPOT him. We do not condemn the wolves; we call them out to be set free. Our mission is not destruction—it is DELIVERANCE. It’s not an accusation—it’s INTERCESSION. Because our true enemy is not flesh and blood—it is deception. And Jesus, our Rabbi, Teacher, and Leader, has given us the mission: to seek and to save what is lost, especially the snake bitten broken warrior behind the pulpit.

So what is S.P.O.T.? It stands for:

S = Seek God

P = Pray and Praise God

O = Obey God,

T = Trust God

This is how we SPOT the snake in the pulpit, and this is how we become the Church Jesus died and was RESURRECTED for.

Let’s be clear—there are snakes in the pulpit--you know them. These are spirit-dead wounded people, men who once may have walked with God but are now cut off from the voice of the Spirit. They may look polished. Their words may be rehearsed. Their platforms may be large. But the Spirit of God is not speaking through them.

S = Seek God

To seek God is to abandon all dependence on man’s wisdom. It is to fall on your face and cry out for mercy. Cry out, asking the eyes of our hearts to be opened to SEE JESUS. We will not SPOT the snake if we do not SEEK to KNOW the Savior. Seeking God is not a task—it is a way of life. It begins with absolute surrender, continues in stillness, and ends in revelation. We seek God not to fix others—but to be changed ourselves. You cannot rescue a snake unless you’ve first been rescued from one.

One snake in the pulpit can poison a hundred souls. One elder turned wolf can lead an entire generation astray. And yet—one humble, Spirit-filled follower of Jesus can save them all. Seek, Pray, Obey, and Trust God for the results. Because to truly seek God is to become like Him. And God is love. Can you SPOT your snake pastor back into the flock? Do Bears poop in the woods? It takes ABSOLUTE SURRENDER to love your enemies. Be the example for the snake to follow.

Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

P = Pray and Praise God

Prayer is not a backup plan—it is the plan. Praise is not a reaction—it is a weapon. When you pray, heaven moves. When you praise, chains break. If you want to SPOT the snake, learn to pray like Elijah and praise like Peter and Paul. Sing in the prison. Worship in the wilderness. Intercede in the fire.

We don’t expose the snake to shame him. We expose the snake so he can be healed. And that healing starts when someone gets on their knees and prays. When someone lifts their hands and praises. When someone loves enough to weep. It is time to be broken, broken for the snakes and their families, and the wolves, too.

Do not underestimate the power of your intercession. One person crying out in secret can rescue a whole multisite church from deception--setting them free from the grip of the snake. Revival doesn’t start with a crowd. It starts with a cry.

Ephesians 3:14-20 "For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us."

O = Obey God

Obedience is not optional–it's an absolute. Obedience is the evidence of love. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will obey Me.” Obedience is the mark of the mature. Obedience is how you SPOT a real shepherd from a snake. Watch their life. Watch their fruit. Do they obey the Word? Do they deny themselves? Do they love their enemies? Do they preach Christ crucified—or a brand of themselves?

Obedience will cost you everything—but it will gain you the Kingdom. And if you want to call a snake to obedience, you must walk in it yourself. This is how we become credible messengers of rebuke and correction–God’s Grace working through love. This means we obey God when no one is watching.

Snakes hate obedience because it exposes their rebellion. Wolves despise submission because it confronts their pride. But a true son of God will lay down ALL his rights, pick up his cross, and follow the Shepherd into battle with the love and Grace of God.

Romans 8:37-39 "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

T = Trust God

Trust is the fruit of intimacy. You will never SPOT the snake if you do not trust the Savior. And you will never love the snake if you do not trust the plan of God. You may be the only voice of truth in a corrupted church. You may be the lone sheep crying out. But you are not alone–far from it.

Trust that God is working. Trust that the snake can be saved. Trust that the wolves can become sheep. Trust that the cross is still enough. Because it is. SURRENDER ALL. Be crucified and live the life of CHRIST.

Do you know what happens when a snake is saved? He becomes a snake crusher. When God redeems a false teacher, that man becomes a weapon in the hand of righteousness. Do not give up on the snakes. God hasn’t. We are all snakes just shedding our skin, becoming CHRIST, transformed by Grace into His image. We did nothing, we deserve nothing. We received all that we have by Grace. Same with saving the snake–Grace working through love.

Romans 5:17-21 "For if by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then, as through one offense the result was condemnation to all mankind, so also through one act of righteousness the result was justification of life to all mankind. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The Redemptive Mission

We are not called to be snake-haters. We are called to be lovers of our enemies. That means we are snake-spotters and soul-rescuers–surrendered agents of HIS LOVE. The wayward pastor is not your enemy. He is your mission of Grace and Love. The corrupt elder is not your problem. He is your new assignment. SPOT them every day in Jesus' name!

We love the snakes by telling the truth. We rescue the wolves by refusing to tolerate mixture. We go after the one. Because Jesus did. And we do it with eyes wide open led by the Holy Spirit—not deceived, but discerning. Not passive, but prayerful. Not bitter, but burning with love.

What does it mean to live out this redemptive mission?

It means a mother of four gets on her knees between soccer practices and homeschool lessons, interceding for the broken pastor who once blessed her babies. It means a father, tired from drywall and concrete, lays hands on the pulpit in the empty sanctuary before sunrise, begging God to bring revival. It means retired couples with time on their hands start using it to gather the broken and build up those wounded by religion. These are not spectators—they are soul-rescuers.

It means prophets who’ve been shut down and cast out by the wolves return—not with vengeance, but with vision. They come back clothed in humility and fire, no longer angry, but anointed. They still carry the scars from the snakebites, but now those scars carry healing for others. Their tongues no longer accuse—they ignite.

To rescue a snake is to love like Jesus. To restore a wolf is to believe for the impossible. This is a Lazarus mission. And we are the Lazarus generation.

It takes discernment without arrogance. Courage without cruelty. Conviction without compromise. The redeemed know how to SPOT—and SAVE.

So go. Go as one who sees the man behind the mask. Go as one who has stood at the edge of hell and returned with Heaven’s fire. Go as one who knows that the Shepherd is not done with His sheep—not even the ones pretending to be something else.

The redemptive mission means we act like Jesus. We walk into synagogues full of vipers and still extend our hands. We confront the Pharisees, yes—but we also eat with them. We speak the truth that pierces, and we love with the heart that heals. We call out the snake to cast out the spirit. We call out the wolf to rescue the man.

The redemptive mission is not easy. But it is everything. And it starts with you.

Ephesians 2:1-10 "And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

The Only Way Forward

This isn’t just about information—it’s about transformation. It’s one thing to know how to SPOT the snake. It’s another to love him or her and walk it out, day after day, with holy fear, deep love, and fierce loyalty to the Chief Shepherd.

John 1:14, 16-17 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH. FOR OF HIS FULLNESS WE HAVE ALL RECEIVED, GRACE UPON GRACE. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."

So what does walking it out look like?

It looks like confronting deception without losing compassion. It looks like fasting in secret for the freedom of a pastor who betrayed you. It looks like JOY, refusing to let bitterness take root. It means being bold enough to say, “This isn’t right,” while humble enough to pray, “Lord, have mercy on us all.”

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.”

It looks like fathers are teaching their sons to discern truth from hype. Mothers are training daughters to measure every sermon against the Word. Retired couples no longer content with potlucks and passive Sundays but are ignited by the Spirit to disciple and intercede. Prophets who’ve been cast out are returning not to tear down but to build up, to offer hope, and to lift up and heal the broken.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

The only way forward is the way of the cross. Deny yourself. Pick up your cross. Follow Jesus. There is no shortcut. No bypass. No comfy path through celebrity culture and sanitized sermons. We must go low to go high. We must die to live.

We must become people who SPOT and RESTORE. People who do not tolerate falsehood but who also refuse to abandon their assignment. We must be a remnant who weep over the condition of the Church and still believe for her resurrection BECAUSE JESUS IS FAITHFUL.

We must be the people who love our enemies, including the snakes–loving snakes into deliverance and the wolves into transformation–to CHRIST. We must be the people who pray until pulpits burn with righteousness and churches become places of healing, deliverance, and resurrection.

We are to see every man through the eyes of the Spirit. Not through the flesh.

When Jesus looked at Peter, He saw both the voice of God and the deception of the devil. And He loved Peter through it all.

We are to do the same.

Stop judging by what you see. Ask God for spiritual eyes. That snake behind the pulpit may be a Peter in the making. That wolf Elder may become a mighty shepherd. God is not done.

Let’s trust Him. Let’s seek Him. Let’s pray like it matters. Let’s obey like He’s worthy. Let’s SPOT every snake and love every man. And may the Spirit of God raise up a Lazarus generation that calls the dead to life.

We’re almost home.

Let’s make sure no one is left behind.

The only way forward—is Jesus.

So seek Him. Pray and praise Him. Obey Him. Trust Him.

SPOT the snake. Rescue His soul. Build the Church.

Amen.