Teaching Matters (Matthew 16:1-12)

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Teaching Matters

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Uh hello good morning my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here we're excited to get to see you this morning we are coming back to gathering and figuring out how to gather well as God's people in the midst of a pandemic some of what we have here is some chairs spread apart if you need to move a chair because you brought more people with you that's fine we do still have room in the balcony if you want to or need to spread out more as people come in we it's fluid.

So we're able to try to work around being able to gather well together while also social distancing as best as we can we gather as a Church on sundays we sing we praise the lord we study the Bible together we have a sunday school class that meets to study the Bible together we gather throughout the week in community groups and homes and we do all the things that we do because we believe that Jesus is better than everything else he's better than what our tvs are selling us he's better than what our politicians are telling us he's better than all the things that the world has to offer and in him the things the world.

Have to offer get redeemed become good become enjoyable as we enjoy them as people who worship and love the lord and so our hope as a Church is to be a Gospel-centered community on mission people who are in life with one another holding up as foundational for us that Jesus saved sinners is the primary hope that we have that that connects us better than any other connection we might have in the world and that we are sent as missionaries into our city into our jobs into our neighborhoods many of the great Christian leaders of this generation and of the next generation do not currently believe in.

Jesus many of the great pastors and Church planters many of the great uh people who are going to lead community groups who are going to be good missionaries sent overseas do not currently trust and follow and believe in Jesus but his by his spirit and by him empowering his Church they will come to hear the Gospel believe the Gospel and be sent out as good missionaries and we are participating in that as we follow him as missionaries so that more and more people might place their faith in him be changed and be sent out.

If you have not joined a community group we want you to we want you to be in life with people who are following Jesus we used to hand out little connect cards but from what we understand we might would be sharing more than just a connect card with you so we're not handing anybody anything at this point but you can use the qr code with your phone to be able to fill out the form online or afterwards you can swing by and talk with phoebe garcia who'll be right down the hall and would love to talk with you about how to serve how to get connected with a group how to join our Church family.

As we come together this morning i will pray and then we'll read psalm 150 as we start worship this morning father we thank you for your grace and your goodness towards us i pray that you would bless this morning that we might grow in our love for you and one another we pray this in Jesus name amen psalm 150 says praise the lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in his mighty heavens praise him for his mighty deeds praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him with trumpet sound praise him with loot and harp praise him with tambourine and dance praise him with strings and pipe praise him with sounding symbols praise him.

With loud clashing symbols let everything that has breath praise the lord praise the lord you guys stand let's sing together this morning to God be the glory let's lift up our voices to God be the glory great things praise the lord praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord let the people to the rejoice through Jesus oh perfect redemption the purchase of blood to every believer the who truly believes that moment from Jesus praise the.

Lord praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord let the people through Jesus our rejoicing through when Jesus received praise the lord praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord like the people rejoice through Jesus a reading from romans chapter 6 verses 1 through 6 please read the underlying portions with me what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means how can we who died to sin still live in it do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ.

Jesus were baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing.

So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin let's continue to worship God together this morning is wash you your name is the fear that helps us is your name your name is your name is victory is your name me the two where soldiers watched borrowed for three days is God we praise you that that is what is true for us that by your spirit we are made alive you are our resurrected king and because of the good news of the Gospel we follow after you into resurrection life that has begun.

Now and lord as your Church we want to hear from you this morning we want to follow in obedience so would you speak to us by that same spirit in Jesus name amen you guys can be seated so good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here we're going to be in Matthew 15 and 16 today we got four stories that we're going to get through so we encourage you to open a Bible the uh text will also be on the screen you know what i'm going to miss this year i missed all this pandemic craziness football i just there's no guarantee we don't know exactly what's going to happen.

But i get the feeling that it's not going to go how we all want it to go for those of us that like football college football is in question nfl is going to be interesting uh football is my favorite sport i do my best not to have tons of football analogies because i realized that some people don't like football as much and that's okay every year about this time is exciting as football gears up i played football growing up and in august as it approached was a very exciting time.

Because football was coming back was also a very well preparing for that was a lot because august meant conditioning it meant lots of running it meant two days and three a days it meant doing drills over and over and over again we do the same drills we do form tackling drills which would teach you how the basics of tackling we would do pursuit drills which were pursuit angle drills on defense if you want to catch somebody running across the field you can't run at a straight line you have to run at an angle you need some geometry to cut them off and i played corner which meant those are 60 yard sprints all the way.

Across the field but you would do this over and over and over again because you would want to repeat these drills because what you uh in what you start repeating and doing you get better at that's how it works it's been really frustrating to watch the gamecocks the last decade because it's very apparent that they don't repeat the same drills because they don't know how to tackle and they don't know how to do pursuit angles they don't know how to do the basics which makes watching clemson play very frustrating.

Because they obviously know how to do the basics because they're very good at tackling and they're very good at doing the things that they practice all the time so if you practice these things you get better better at them it inevitably shows up on the field and that is true for pretty much any discipline uh take piano lindsay who plays piano for us as a doctor in piano and you can ask her there might be some talent involved but what makes you better at piano is you practice and you repeat and you practice and you do scales you do all the things it takes to get better at something right that's a common thing.

If you want to break a habit if you want to build a hab if you want to grow in something you continue to repeat it's almost as if that was built into humanity that God made this in a way that we would grow in something if we did the same thing over and over again if we were exposed the same thing over and over again and that becomes very true when you look at the life and ministry of Jesus because a lot of these stories are going to start to repeat themselves he's going to have some of the same teachings that show up over and over again he's going to perform some of the same.

Miracles that show up over and over again and we're going to walk through four stories they're going to feel very familiar they'll be miracles and teachings that he's already done and as we walk through these four stories we're going to see that the disciples are being exposed to this teaching being exposed to these miracles over and over again the first three stories are going to highlight three different truths that we see about God and the fourth story is a warning so we have three truths one warning as we walk through this.

Today and if we take a step back and look at this what we will see is that what you inevitably repeat you will become and the disciples needed to see Jesus truth and his ministry over and over and over again so that they could rehearse this truth and repeat this truth deep into their souls and i would argue it is the same for us that we are made to rehearse and repeat the truth of the Gospel deep into our soul so we're going to.

See it as we go out to these four stories let me pray and then we'll jump into the text father i thank you that you've given us these stories from the Gospel that they show us more of who you are got to pray that we would not simply gloss over these because they seem familiar but we would see the value and what it means to repeat and rehearse truth so i pray you would speak to us this morning in Jesus name amen all right.

So first story verse 29 chapter 15. here we go Jesus went on from there and walked beside the sea of galilee and he went up on the mountain and sat down there and great crowds came to him bringing with them the lame the blind the crippled the mute and many others and they put them at his feet and he healed them so that the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking the crippled healthy the lame walking in the blind seeing and they glorified the.

God of Israel the disciples have seen this play out over and over again and you can almost get used to it but the picture is miraculous there's a mute person who hasn't been able to speak possibly his entire life and he comes to Jesus and he can speak and there's a deaf person who's just been healed as well and he can hear and he can hear the mute person finally speaking these are miraculous events that are happening over and over and over again.

Let me just point out how this has happened and how much this has happened in Matthew you have Matthew chapter 4 verses 23-25 as a healing set of healing stories Matthew 8 1-17 Matthew 8 23-24 9 1 through 8 9 18-34 12 9 through 14 14 34-36 and these are just the stories that are recorded because there's many acts and many other teachings that we don't have they are seeing this happen over and over again that healing is a central part of his ministry that's the.

First truth that i want us to see today is that God heals God heals the disciples need to see this over and over and over again that God has a heart for the broken that he brings healing it is the reason uh that we have that a tradition has continued that flows into james 5 14 that is praying for physical healing james 5 14 says is anyone among you sick let them call for the elders of the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil and the name of the.

Lord and that's a tradition that we continue even today as pastors there's nothing magical about the oil it's olive oil or vegetable oil whatever oil you use there's nothing magical about the oil it is marking someone and saying that you are praying for them because we believe God can physically heal he works through the common grace of doctors but he also supernaturally heals a way that doctors cannot explain so he brings physical healing but also this points to a bigger spiritual reality that he also brings spiritual healing you.

See the physical healings the miracles that Jesus did were front and center in the life of Jesus but they were pointing forward to a couple of things to a eternal reality that spiritual healing is necessary to be a part of the kingdom of God and to the final new heavens and new earth where there will be no more pain no more sickness no more hurt and while it's front and center that the physical healings the miracles that Jesus did in the gospels the bulk of the rest of the new testament focuses on souls on spiritual healing on redemption on sanctification going to be more like Christ and that is why we in our Church care.

Deeply about people meeting Jesus and growing in him and finding spiritual healing in him one of the things that i oversee as a pastor is care and counseling we have three main avenues for for care and counseling the first avenue starts in groups that's why we say a lot pretty much every sunday we want you to be a part of a group it's not just a place where you can live out the gospels not just a place where you can eat a meal and and and talk about the sermon it's also a place that you can grow in being healed that you can grow and having people bear burdens with you that they can preach.

The Gospel to you that if you have brokenness if you have sin struggles if you have trauma if you have hurt groups are a safe place for you to come and work some of that out so we say get be walk in the light with your groups be open and honest and sometimes what you're walking through is a lot it actually needs some more conversation that needs to happen outside of group and we tell our group leaders that to recommend them talking to us.

Because the second layer of care that we have that brings spiritual healing is pastoral counseling so one of the things that we do and i don't ever see this so i have a few more counseling cases than some of our other pastors is i i typically say that soul work is slow work that healing takes time the reality is is that uh while we one of the things we focus on is is the heart the sin beneath the sin the struggle beneath the struggle the brokenness beneath the brokenness we try to get to the heart of the issue.

But the reality is is that it's it's complex because the heart has layers of stuff on top of it right you have your family upbringing which shapes a lot of people how you were raised things that happened you're a kid you have other experiences you have trauma on top of that that makes it hard to get to the heart there are physical realities at play right if you're an anxious person and you love coffee those don't mix they just don't it increases anxiety there's.

For people that struggle with depression not getting enough vitamin d there's some physical medical layers there's all type of layers on top of the heart that make it difficult to get to the heart and that is why it takes time and we as americans are in this culture this time we want everything to happen like this and soul work is slow work it takes time and what we also offer if someone needs some extra level of care we'll do uh we will refer out to licensed professional counselors.

So one of the things i've done the last year is i have met with and interviewed and vetted almost 10 different counselors across the city from different counseling centers because not every counselor is created equally there are some counselors in the city that you could go to uh that are not helpful they don't even have close to a biblical worldview they certainly also wouldn't give you good advice on how to live and shape your life so i've met with 10 different counselors i've interviewed them i've gotten to know their stories i got to know their beliefs about the Gospel i've got to know their philosophy of counseling and care that lines up more with how.

We view it as a Church and the thing we offer is if you want to meet with a counselor we have someone that can meet with you we can connect that if it comes to a place where you also need some some help paying for that we have that in our budget as a Church to pay for because we care about this we care that God brings healing and redemption that people can grow to be more like Christ but it takes work soul work is slow work and it takes repeatedly rehearsing the Gospel to ourselves repeatedly working through our brokenness and the hurt and the pain.

But the good news is our lord is a wonderful counselor he does bring healing we believe in this and it's an important truth that comes from the gospels that we see on the surface of this story right here so that's the first truth let's go to the second story verse 32. then Jesus called his disciples to him and said i have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat and i'm willing to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way and the disciples said to him where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed.

So great a crowd and Jesus said to them how many loaves do you have they said seven and a few small fish and directing the crown to sit down on the ground he took seven loaves and the fish and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds and they all ate and were satisfied and they took up the seven baskets full of broken pieces left over those who were those who ate were four thousand men plus women and children and after sending away the crowds he got into the boat and went to the region of magathon all right.

So this story should sound familiar right two chapters ago about a month ago chet walker's through this the feeding of the five thousand this is very similar story very similar layout and while there's uh deeper things that came out of the story that chet brought out there's some really cool parallels between this and the lord's supper there's one surface level truth that comes out of this that's very tangible and clear and that is that God provides that's the second truth that we.

See of this that God provides he provides tangible food for the people who are hungry and this is in line with his regular teaching on provisions he teaches them how to pray in the lord's prayer he says give us this day our daily bread he's teaching them that God provides for creation God provides for his people and that's easy for to forget it certainly seems so for the disciples because the disciples said they said where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed.

So great a crowd and it's like really i hope you're saying that sarcastically because two chapters ago he did just that but it reads fairly literally like they really were wondering what what are you going to do Jesus or how are we going to feed these people it's easy for to forget that God provides and that's something that we need to rehearse deep into our soul and never forget because the reality is is that we have a season upon us we are technically in an economic recession and there are fears of this firing possibly into a depression.

And when that happens i know that this is a the collective feeling is what are we going to do how are we going to pay our bills how are we going to pay our mortgage how are we going to provide food in the table how are you going to make it through this and it is easy in moments like that to forget that God provides i've seen that in my own life there were seasons where we didn't have a whole lot i.

Remember when we first got married i was paying my way through seminary and uh and we made a collective like thirty thousand dollars we were we were doing the best we could and then we'd have a medical bill that show up that's a thousand dollars not freak out and and how are we going to make it through this how are we going to get the other side of this how are we going to pay for this and time and time again.

God proves that he provides but if we go to the Scriptures it shows over and over again the focus shouldn't be on how are we going to get this how are we going to get that the focus should be on enjoying God and who he is primarily first that's what we see in the sermon on the mount he gives the illustration Jesus gives the illustration of of not worrying because he feeds the birds of the air the birds wake up every every day and they have food and the in the fields are clothed with lilies that the field have.

If the fields have clothes and the rest of creation like the birds are fed how much more do i care for you you who are made in the image of God that's why i say seek first the kingdom of God our focus should be there God will provide he provides daily bread you may not get all of the wants may not get the truck you won't you may not get some of the things that other people have he provides for our needs which is something to rehearse regularly.

For you one of the things i'm trying to do when saying a blessing before meals is not just make it like this ritual that you just do sometimes you just do it because you have to maybe you think your food is going to be poisoned if you don't but it's just it's a cultural thing a little bit that we we inherit it comes all the way back to where Jesus is giving thanks to the lord when he's breaking bread here and what i've tried to do in that moment is realize even in america we have an abundance of food we can you can eat a meal that's sourced from like seven different countries.

But it is a blessing that every meal that most people in america have access to food and every time i eat i'm trying to remember thank you God for food thank you God for duke's pad thai and the amazing red curry bowl that is the best dish here in colombia thank you lord for mcdonald's french fries which are good don't judge me all right there are to sit down and thank the lord for food another way you can practice this is maybe.

If you are the kind of person that gets anxious about bills when you go to the mailbox and you see the envelope and you're worried how much is this going to be so when you go to the mailbox and have a practice of when you get there remember got a sovereign he provides he is going to take care of us he will provide for my knees to rehearse that deep into your soul maybe every time you approach your budget before you start to crunch numbers and hustle and do all the things get out the the budget calculate whatever you do to pause.

Remember God provides he will take care of our needs i can trust in him i don't have to be anxious we need this truth repeated and rehearsed into our souls over and over again the disciples need to see over and over again that Jesus provides which brings us to our third truth in the third story starting off in verse 1 of chapter 16. and the pharisees and the sadducees came and to test them they asked him to show them a sign from heaven he answered them.

When it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning it will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening you know how to interpret the appearance of the sky but you cannot interpret the signs of the times an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of jonah so he left them and departed now if you've been walking with us through the Gospel of Matthew this story should also sound familiar this is not the.

First time the religious leadership has come to Jesus demanding a sign and when we walked through this a couple of months ago we went deeper into seeing what that was the arrogance and the posture of the pharisees and the sadducees we walked deeper into that but if you back out a little bit to see a surface level truth here he responds an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of jonah which is pretty much exactly what he said in chapter 12 that this truth has not changed you may can interpret the weather is what he says to the pharisees and sadducees which is.

Mildly impressive because people in colombia can't interpret the weather i mean that's they got something going for them you may interpret the weather but you can't see the signs that are happening right in front of you i'm only going to give you the sign of jonah and as we walk through chapter 12 in the story the sign of jonah is pointing forward to the cross and the resurrection this is jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish so also.

Jesus will spend three days in a tomb and will burst forth which highlights the third truth that we see here the heart of the Gospel remains the same the death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of the Gospel it's the pinnacle of the Gospel story and it never changes it remains the same and it's the sign that we ultimately need and yet we can forget this we try to preach this we try to preach Gospel fluency to remember to apply his death and resurrection.

Remember the truth of the Gospel remember the implications of what we believe we try to rehearse this over and over again but the reality is is that sometimes when sin and suffering comes when loss comes when hurt comes when you get betrayed when you get whatever you face in those moments questions can rise up does God really love me does God really care about me does it really care about my situation we start to get challenged and when that happens we can run to other narratives right we can run to what i call shame uh what an author calls shame scripts or in a counseling book that you can have this shame script that you.

Run through over and over again instead of going back to the Gospel you can run to i'm messed up nobody loves me nobody cares about me i deserve this this can happen with self-condemnation you can forget the Gospel and start to condemn yourself over and over and over again this can happen when you start to believe lies about other Christians lies about yourself lies about who God is and we stop rehearsing the heart of the Gospel we stop remembering his death and resurrection and what it means hear this very clearly the evidence that.

God cares for you the evidence that God loves you ultimately the only sign that you need is the cross and resurrection it's the idea that the God of the universe created us and though we rebelled against him he says i want to redeem them so he steps into our timeline and goes all the way to the cross sin uh becoming sin on the cross for us so that we can have new life in Christ when he walks out of the tomb that is the only evidence that we need is his life poured out.

For us and that is why Jesus is pointing forward here he's pointing forward i mean he this is a story he's pointing forward to that a few more times he's going to pretty much explicitly say this is coming i'm going to be betrayed and handed off this is coming and this will be the centerpiece of our faith it'll be the anthem in which the Church hits over and over and over again it's the reason why when we're not a pandemic one of the things that we like to do every week or at least very regularly is to take part in the lord's supper it's it's a regular reminder that his body was broken.

For us that his blood was shed for us that the Gospel is the most in the heart of the Gospel is the message that guides us that shapes us that molds us into his image and we don't go past the Gospel you'll ever move past it we drive deeper into it so that we can grow into this so that when things come to make astray we are rooted in Christ which is where we're going to see this warning that comes next all right.

So three truths now we're in the warning verse five when the disciples reached the other side they have forgotten to bring any bread Jesus said to them watch and beware of the leaven of the pharisees in sadducees and they began discussing it amongst themselves saying we brought no bread which pause this story is a little bit humorous because he's trying to teach him something bigger and they're looking around like i don't know should we do am i bringing bread bartholomew did you bring bread no that's why no one's gonna.

Remember you like it's just he's like Jesus like no i'm not this is not about the bread there's a bigger point that's happening here verse 8 it says but Jesus aware of this said oh you have little faith why are you discussing amongst yourselves the fact that you have no bread do you not yet perceive do you not remember the five loves for the five thousand the baskets that you gathered or the seven loaves for the four thousand how many baskets were gathered how is it you fail to understand that i did not speak about the bread he's like y'all it's not about the bread the bread's a metaphor he says beware of the leaven.

Of the pharisees and sadducees oh light bulb then they understood that he did not tell him to be aware of the leaven of the bread but of the teaching of the pharisees and sadducees so it's a humorous exchange of the disciples being a little bit thick-headed not being able to follow but it's also very serious it brings up the warning that we need to see beware of false teachers that is a very important thing beware of false teachers in false teaching.

Jesus is pouring into them right he's teaching them all kinds of truths some of the stuff we talked about today God provides he heals he's helping them see the heart of the Gospel he is pouring into them so that they will be able to guide the Church and also defend the Church against false teaching because it is going to come false teaching is like he says it's like leaven meaning it starts small 11 is small you drop it in some flour and it starts to work its way through the flower and it transforms it into something that is completely different and that is what false teaching does it's like leaven it's ideas sometimes start very.

Small but then they get implanted into your soul and they start to change and they start to corrupt you the premise of inception the movie was that you can get into somebody's dreams and in their dream world you can start to incept and plant ideas in their head that would change them that's the whole premise of it that's exactly what false teaching does may seem innocent it may not seem like that big of a deal then you start to uh it starts to transform you start to follow it you start to follow to his logical end which is away from the.

Lord there's this story uh from in the 19th century from uh one of the his name is crawford toy he is he was one of the more popular professors at my alma mater at southern seminary and uh he was kind of a celebrity at that point he actually was engaged to lottie moon which if you know anything about southern baptist history is a big deal she's like a legend she's a missionary to china there's a whole offering that we do that is named after her he's engaged to her he's an up and coming teacher very bright.

And then he goes off to germany to study theology which germany in the 19th century was a very dangerous place to learn ideas it's where marxism came from the 19th centuries where the the beginnings of nazism came from the 19th century it's also where german higher criticism theology came from and it was a theology that actually destroyed the european Church which the reason is today and destroyed half the denominations that we have in our country today it was the understanding that the Bible is not truthful and he studied this and it started small and it came back to america.

And then it began to grow like leaven it began to completely take over until finally it was very clear he was not believing in the Gospel anymore and he was fired from southern seminary and there's this story one of his professors one of his mentors one of his friends took him to the train station and he put his hand his arm out and he said toy i would gladly cut off this arm if you just be where you were five years ago and stay there five years ago before the leaven was planted.

If you just get back to right there i've watched people over and over and over again people and i was in Bible studies with people that watched lead other people to Christ begin to delve into some of this false teaching they found a book they found a couple of authors they found a couple of preachers and they began to listen and then it slowly began to correct them there's something about humanity that we just can't focus on the Gospel that we get led astray by radical concepts and radical teachings.

Then we take the bait we swallow the hook and then we're completely changed the reality is you can go to any bookstore in the within the religion section and find tons of very horrible ideas you can go to Christian bookstores the ones that are actually still left and you can walk through it and some of the best selling authors some of the biggest most selling best-selling books are filled with false teachings that will absolutely lead you astray Jesus is pouring into them that they would stay rooted in the heart of the Gospel they stay rooted in the truth of the Gospel.

So we need to ask ourselves coming out of this and we need to examine ourselves and ask what are some of the false teachings that we're buying into one of the biggest ones in america is the prosperity Gospel the idea that God will give me money material things if i believe in him he's going to grow me my wealth and that mess is everywhere how much of that infuses the american dream has crept into our souls maybe it's the therapeutic false Gospel the idea that that.

God is for my happiness and how i define my happiness a lot of times you'll be working with somebody and you'll say that's what the Bible says and then they'll say no that that can't be that that won't make me happy it's like no no you're misunderstanding this it's a false Gospel it's the moralistic Gospel the idea that you can do enough good to earn God's favor there's all kinds of horrible bits of leaven that you can start to believe that are.

So deep in your soul and unless you address them unless you bring them into the light unless you see to seek to put them to death they will take over they will corrupt they will change you he gives us three truths and a warning because ultimately we need to be rooted in truth so that we would persevere so that we'd run the race victoriously to the finish and we would not fall away but that is going to take effort and work that's going to take knowing more of.

God that's going to take some focus so where is our focus malcolm gladwell has this whole 10 000 hours theory if you want to become an expert at something you have to have 10 000 hours built into it where are your 10 000 hours spent is it spent on politics it's election season and you can spend hours and hours and hours and hours consuming yourself with politics maybe you have a phd in self-condemnation that most of your thoughts consistently are condemning yourself over and over and over again maybe you've become an expert on how bad 2020 can get you've played out all the scenarios and your and anxiety builds and it builds and it builds.

And all you can think about is what possibly could go wrong the rest of this year where is our focus what are we rehearsing what are we repeating in our minds that is what we need to see as we close out today we need to understand that what you inevitably repeat you will become which is why we emphasize so much that reading the Bible is so good for your soul that's why we emphasize so much that we need to grow in prayer i also need to read the Bible collectively and not just individually i'm.

So absolutely a big proponent of quiet times and having time with the lord and journaling and all the all of it but it cannot just be i read the Bible in a bubble and i don't take the collective wisdom of other saints of other Christians and their wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit collectively there's a reason why jehovah's witness and mormonism other religions have started it's because someone got a hold of a Bible solo and ran with it when you read the Bible collectively together reciting truth deep into our soul speaking the Gospel to one another growing in this.

Because what we repeat will ultimately become man's going to come up and as they come up i just want to take a moment for us to reflect these surface level truths that are so clear and beautiful that come out of these stories do you believe that God can heal maybe you're in a place where uh there's there's buried brokenness so deep inside and you don't want to expose it you don't want to go there you've given up hope that can actually you can actually find healing there i'm here to very clearly tell you we have a wonderful counselor we have the Holy Spirit you absolutely can find healing my encouragement.

For you is this week is to take a step forward to bring it out in the group maybe to contact one of us as pastors God heals he provides i don't know what your situation is this year if you're in a place where you're like i don't know how i'm going to make it i want you to clearly hear this he will provide for your needs and ultimately may we remember that the heart of the Gospel never changes that we so desperately need to come back to his death in his resurrection and rehearse the Gospel over and over and over again.

So that we can become more like Christ so that we can stand in the face of any false teaching any form of suffering and any trials that come let me pray father i thank you for these stories it would be so easy to read and said we've already read this we've already studied this but to actually sit in them and see you working see you teaching see you growing us and i pray that you would help us believe these truths recite these truths and recite them not to one another as.

Well God i pray that you would help us stay rooted in you that you would defend us against the evil one and his lies against the evil one and false teachers that you help us stay rooted in Christ gotta pray there's anyone here that has not actually fully believed in you i pray that you would appeal to their hearts right now and they would yes in Jesus name amen believing that to be true let's stand and sing together in Christ alone in Christ alone my hope is through the fiercest.

When fears you guys storm is there is foreign is Jesus is amen you guys can be seated uh as you're having a seat we're gonna transition the stage just a little bit chet's going to come up and he's going to spend some time talking with chris and danielle rocky chris and daniel rocky have been members of our Church for about two years now and they've been leading a community group in the west columbia area and uh God has been stirring in them something new and something exciting.

And so we've mentioned this uh over the last couple of weeks but chris chris and danielle and their family are going to be moving to honduras and they're going to talk a little bit about their timeline in a second but they're the first couple that we're officially sending out from our Church as international missionaries and so yeah we're gonna let them talk real quick and loudly uh i have a few quick announcements that i will forget if we do anything else.

First so we just have them up here to smile and nod like these are really good announcements um oh giving i was supposed to say it earlier but we don't pass a plate anymore because of communicable diseases um but you can drop things into the two gift boxes on the sides here or you can give online i i've been very proud of our Church family we have done well consistently continuing giving paying our bills during this whole thing also with that.

If you are struggling personally and do need some financial assistance because some people have lost jobs or had been laid off and that sort of thing do come talk to us because we do have the ability as a Church family to continue to help support and pay bills but just want to make that reminder also we've done a pretty good job so far of construction not impeding how we meet and gather on sundays so i hope you've enjoyed that because that is going to end um this next week.

When we come on sunday you should begin to see some of the things that are changing in this building back over here kind of if you come in this way if you come in that way everything's done you're good but if you come in this way things are going to begin to change and then two weeks from now that whole area will be blocked off because we will be doing asbestos abatement and so it'll all be blocked off we'll have to come around through the alley coming this way.

And so just a few things we'll be changing but there's progress so we're excited about it so i want to give those quick announcements now it's chris and daniel rocky chris came to us a while back saying he felt called to Church planting or missionary work he wanted to come in and see if he could receive some training some equipping we said sure come on we have a pastor in training process that we just brought him in on to begin walking with him to do some equipping.

For being a pastor and they were continually praying through where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do and they landed on honduras so why honduras what led you out of them um so yeah like like chet said um chris had been praying for a couple years um knowing God was calling him to full-time ministry not sure what that looked like he's even been going to school online to get his degree in biblical teaching and theology.

So um i went to ecuador a couple years ago he and i went to colombia last summer none of that felt right um and so the admin at northside Christian academy where i was working had decided this past school year um they were going to be doing mission teams and going to allow the kids to go and so i'm trying to figure out where to go um my assistant head of schools her best friend had done numerous trips to honduras.

So she contacted her tell me about this trip she's like oh this seems really good for us got in contact with brad and christy the missionaries down there they're like yeah we'd love for you guys to bring a group of your kids that'd be great so that kind of started that ball rolling um still didn't see it coming that that's where God was calling us brad and christy came in november to meet us and to meet the kids and answer questions and afterwards we get to spend some one-on-one time and brad invited chris in february to go to a um to come with them on a construction team some people kind of thought brad.

Christy live in honduras run yes they are the missionaries that we are going to partner with um when we get down there so we aren't going to start things from scratch we are going to join a missionary um family that's already there missionary couple um and so um brad invited chris on this construction team and some people were like wait so chris is going in february and then you're going back again in march that's kind of weird um obviously God knew what was happening.

God knew we would never take that trip in march because of everything happening for kovid so God knew that that was the trip that chris needed to take but he went in february and when we picked him up at the airport he looked me right in the eye and said that's it yeah so just seeing everything in person i was able to serve in all of the different aspects the ministry uses to build relationships so just seeing the desperate need for hope down there um honduras is one of the one of the poorest sorry one of the poorest countries in central america.

So the average per capita income is about 5 000 per family um so just imagine having to support your your family on that that little amount of money um so just seeing how desperate the people are for for hope and knowing where where they can find it um it just is really really touching for me and it just it just wanted me to to partner with that full-time and be someone that can show them that hope okay so the led to go to honduras planning to go to honduras in the very near future august.

If coronavirus will let you yes yes what will you be doing when you get there we will have two main roles our first role will be really a family role um one of the things that this that brad and christie have been doing is they've been um hosting mission teams and so churches youth groups Christian schools whatever anybody who wants to come and spend six days um they're hosting them and so they come and we're going to be in charge of that that's what our family is going to take on we are going to begin to lead those teams.

So we'll if Mill City decides that they want to send a team to honduras um y'all we'll meet you guys at the airport and we will bring you you will come stay at the mission house with us we'll all be living the same house together eating our meals together um doing Bible studies together and we will walk you through them we will go around and we'll walk you through the different avenues of ministry that we do and show you what we're all about.

And then really pour into you just missions whether it's globally or just right in your neighborhood i'm really pressing forth that we are all missionaries we're all called um to to give something and so um that is what we are going to do as a family and then chris has a thing yeah so i'll also be working in the communities to start a pastoral training program so i will meet with men one-on-one just to kind of train them in how to lead a group how to lead a gathering.

So basically taking the the Mill City framework for community groups and sort of modifying that a little bit to where these gatherings can function basically as a Church within these communities because you're going to be in kind of a urban area but there's a lot of little we will yeah we'll be in the city of el progreso but there's a lot of rural very poor communities that we'll be working in so they don't really have access to to churches so they really need Gospel centered gatherings right where they are.

So either helping start new ones or encouraging ones that are there correct okay um so my next question is about how we as a Church family can help support y'all we've done one small thing already until y'all leave in august we're gonna have the sanctuary as hot as it is in honduras to try to help you all be mentally and emotionally prepared thank you um that's just a little thing uh but my question is how can we if we're sitting here right.

Now saying hey how do we support how do we join with you how does our Church family help send you uh what can we do um the first the first way you can help is really just through prayer we need a lot of of prayer support um i could take an hour and share with you all the different ways you can pray for us but i won't um i'll just give you the the two big ones right now um one would be prayering as we praying as we prepare um that everything gets sold that needs to be sold um that it sells like it's supposed to sell and that we're able to to do that.

Um and pray for the borders to open um this kovit has really thrown a wrench in our lives it's kind of hard as you sit here and everybody's like okay so when you're going i don't know i don't know oh so exciting when do you leave i don't know so it would be we've heard that the borders may open um by august 15th um so we are preparing to be ready to leave by then um if they are not open we are prepared.

For that as well and so we've made arrangements and we've got things to do so God knows when the borders need to be opened he will open them when he is ready and not a second before and we believe that so um we will go and but just prayers that that will happen God will give us patience that we will not try to make things work in our time um we have a facebook page um the rockies are moving to honduras i made chris changed the name it was just the rockets are going i'm like no we're not going we're moving like we're not coming back.

So but that's our facebook page so so a lot of you have already liked it i've seen you guys following um our journey so thank you so much for that but if you haven't jump on there like our facebook page we'll be continuing to list prayer requests and prayer needs that we have and so that's just a really great way to keep up with what we're doing um and i will let chris talk about other stuff yeah so we've we've got a really amazing opportunity set before us in joining this ministry they've got a strong foundation and um just the the ability that we'll have to.

If you'll pull out that picture brandon family is like this i mean seeing people come from darkness to light seeing people in a hopeless situation where this is this is where they live this is where they raise their kids we can we can bring them hope um but we can't do that without the body of Christ without people coming behind us willing to support the vision willing to support what we're doing so right now we're about 30 of uh what we need.

For for monthly support um so if you would uh we need people to to give to sacrifice um whatever you can to uh to make a big difference in in these people's lives and um we're also doing part of how you can do that is we're having a yard sale this this saturday um out here in the Church parking lot um so if you guys can come and tell your friends buy some stuff if you want to help just let us know share it on your facebook page yeah share it on your facebook page um yeah whatever whatever you guys can do everybody can do something we have faith that God's going to provide.

But he does that through his people he does it through people who are obedient who are willing to to sacrifice who are who are willing to um live as if this world is not our home so one of the things we've said consistently is that we're all sent to be to be missionaries where we are and that ultimately as community groups and as believers here we're supposed to be doing what they're doing we're just doing it here they're going to honduras they're selling their house they're taking their children with them they're picking up they're moving to honduras.

Because they feel like the lord has sent them there and the hope would be that we would take our faith and our mission with the same amount of dead earnest seriousness that they are and that we would participate actively as missionaries where we are sent and where we are placed and that we would help participate in what God is doing with the with the rockies as well through prayer and financial support most of the people in this room will spend almost all of the money they make some of us all of the money you make next year will be spent some of that will terminate next year you'll enjoy the things you had that'll be.

It it will not roll into eternity some of the money some of the time some of the things that we spend our money on and our energy into will roll into eternity and this is an opportunity for us to participate in something where we are helping send our money on ahead so you can handle your finances well by by helping support them financially monthly our Church is going to at 300 a month so we give as a Church and we help participate we're going to 300 a month help support.

But we would love for individuals to also help support and you're spending your money well once you do that now the beautiful thing about that is if the rockies spend the money you send them poorly it's not on you that's on them you'll be held accountable for your money they'll be held accountable for theirs we don't think they're going to we know that we're joining in and sending them off to do good things and we are excited to be able to participate with missionaries our hope is that at some point all of our Church family gets to come up participate in helping baptize somebody or being baptized that you might would come up and we'd.

Pray over you and send you out as a group leader that you might come up and we would pray over you and send you out and never see you again this side of eternity because you went and lived on the other side of the world that's our prayer is that many people in our Church family many of you are sitting right here that at some point will get to do the same thing with you we're not praying over them today because we're not sending them out.

Today that we're going to see them on saturday when we come by their stuff that they've got to get rid of because they can't take it all with them to honduras and so thank you all so much and we appreciate y'all we will be praying for you all we will have you all up and send y'all out before you actually do leave just depending on how coronavirus cooperates as to how long we'll have you but thank you we're excited for y'all and appreciate you.

Okay we are finishing up today by praying over a couple just not the rockies we are going to send out the amadeo so if you don't mind just standing right here i'm going to stand over top of you and talk about you this is john and jesley amadeo they joined our Church family not too too long ago they have been members here they became leaders in training here and they are leaving so if you hadn't gotten the chance to meet this delightful couple you have failed miserably.

Because they're gone they're going to be leaving today we are praying for and sending them out so john was here studying at uh doing research at the university of south carolina he did an excellent job researching things and now he gets to go do research at duke university he's doing biomedical research program that is a six year program and he intends to finish it in five years he's going to do more research per year than they expect him to do but he's going to be a six-year research program they have been blessed in this process to receive some funding through duke they do believe they're going to be able to buy a house they've asked.

Specifically that we pray that them owning a home goes well and they don't burn things down was one of the things he sent me in his text jessie will continue to get her bachelor's degree through liberty online and she will uh she's gotten her hair stylist license renewed in north carolina and will be doing hair stylist work there some of the biggest prayers are that they would find a good Church home and that they would be good missionaries in the two fields that they are in which need good missionaries there's not a lot of Christians doing biomedical research and we are excited that we know of one and we're hoping that he goes as a.

Good missionary there someone who loves Jesus and loves people and does good research on behalf of God and his good world working and we're also very thankful for his wife who is cutting hair because that's a good thing to do it's helpful it keeps the world rolling and there's a lot of people who need to know Jesus who both cut hair and get their hair cut so we're thankful to get to send out two other missionaries who are going to go to uh the research triangle of north carolina and we pray that they would be blessed in that.

If you know them and are already around them if they're okay with this can people come up and be close to you okay so he does biomedical research and he thinks it's fine so uh if you know them and are already around them you can come up here and lay hands on them if not just pray for them where you are we're praying that we would send them out well and that they would be blessed in their going just as they have blessed us in their joining with us and we're thankful.

For them we're gonna pray uh for a second i'll let everybody just kind of pray where you are and then i'll pray loudly and we'll be dismissed you God we thank you for john and jessica we pray that you would bless them pray that you would bless and strengthen their marriage we pray that you would help them to find a Church home to love and to serve and to practice and rehearse their faith with believers in north carolina we pray that you would help them to be active missionaries where you have sent them that they might grow in their love.

For you and for each other and for your Church and for the lost we thank you for this time that we've gotten to know them we pray that you would bless them as you send them out and we thank you that we have hope beyond this life that we'll get to spend an eternity with all those that you've brought into our lives and all those that you've sent out that love and follow you we thank you in Jesus name amen.

Faith of the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21-31)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

The Canaanite Woman

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Chad. I'm one of the pastors here at Mil City Church of Casey and excited to see y'all this morning. We gather on Sundays because we believe that Jesus is better than everything else. We gather together to remember that to celebrate that, to remind one another of that, to to sing and to praise Jesus, to put him first at the first part of our week so that we might remember as we go throughout the rest of the week that he is primary and that he is good.

We also, as we seek to apply that reality that he is better than everything else, we want to be a Gospel- centered community on mission. The primary way that we carry that out is through our community groups where we would be people who are changed radically by the reality of the Gospel that Jesus Christ saves sinners and that we would apply that truth to all of life in our relationships with one another. that we would exist as people who have been made into a new eternal family and that we would try as best we can as broken sinners to practice that here to practice what it looks like for us to have uh reconciliation to God and to each other through the cross to have the ability to walk forward in life together here and that we would be good missionaries to our city because there are so many without hope without forgiveness. We live in a culture right now where forgiveness is uh not working its way throughout the world. It's not running rampant in the streets.

And so we operate as people who believe that we can be the worst of sinners and we can be redeemed by Christ and that there is hope in him and forgiveness in him and life in him. And so we're sent to be missionaries where we are. This morning in a few ways is a little different. and in all the ways that matter. Isn't that different at all?

Um, thanks. If you'll notice, we handed out sheets of paper with words on them. The the internet went out this morning and our computer went out this morning. One of the the uh things that's been levied at the the new way of operating as a Church is that you could get together and if you didn't have electricity, you wouldn't know how to operate. But if the Holy Spirit didn't show up, you wouldn't even notice.

and we don't want to operate that way. So, we don't have the internet this morning. We're not going to be able to live stream. I can fall off the stage right now. No one will ever get to see it or remember.

Uh, and we did uh something that we just came up with. No one's ever thought of this. We printed up the words and put them on a sheet of paper, put them in your chair with you. Uh, so that we can sing together, that we can celebrate Jesus together, that we can worship together. So, we won't have some of the things we usually have, but we'll have all the things we need.

Um, each other, the Holy Spirit at work amongst his people and hearts set free by the Gospel and changed by the work of Jesus that we might worship him in spirit and in truth. So, let's pray as we begin this morning together. God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for the redemption that we have in Christ and Christ alone. And we pray that as we come together as your people set free from sin that we would even as we come together in the midst of difficulty, even as we groan together with our world longing for you to redeem and to reveal yourself fully.

We come together to worship and to magnify your name. And we pray that you would help us to see our sin and repent. That we might stand fully in the grace of Jesus. That we might trust that you care for us in the midst of our suffering. And that we are not outside of your hand.

That you watch over us and love us. And so we pray that we would no matter where we come in this morning in the midst of joy, in the midst of suffering, in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of doubt, that we would grow in faith and love for you and one another. in Jesus name. Amen. If you would just go ahead and grab your sheets and stand up with us.

We're going to sing together. There is a fountain. Let's sing together. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's face and sinners punched beneath that flood. Lose all their guilty stains.

Lose all their guilty stains. lose all their guilty states and sinners plunge beneath that flood. lose all their guilty state. The dying thief rejoice to see thin in his day. And there have I vowed that has he wash all my sins away.

Wash all my sins away. And there have I go vile as he wash all my sins away. Oh, thank you God. Sing together. Ever since by faith I saw the stream my flowing wound.

Redeeming love redeeing love has been my thing and shall be till I die. This shall be till I shall be till my redeeing love pass and shall be till I die. Bless you Lord. Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, I worship his holy name. Sing like never before.

Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. The sun comes up. It's a new day. Don't me. It's time to sing your song again.

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be seen in the evening. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. You sing like never before. Oh my soul, how much it is for me.

You're rich in love and you're slow to anger. Your name is great and your heart is kind for all your goodness I will keep on singing. 10,000 reasons for my heart to find. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, oh my soul.

Oh my soul, I worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name. And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing your praise unending.

10,000 years forever Lord. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh my soul, I worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

I worship your holy name. Oh God, I worship your If you would have a seat for just a second. We're going to have a Scripture reading. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled his in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. That's the reason that we get to celebrate this morning. So we have a good and holy and transcendent God who stepped down who came and lived a perfect life on our behalf. Died on the cross for our sin and rose from the grave so that we could have new life in him.

new eternal resurrection life that has started now and will continue into eternity. Let's stand and sing this song together. Alone in my sorrow and dead in my sin. Lost without hope, no place to begin. Your love made a way to let mercy come in.

When death was arrested, my life began. Ash was redeemed. Only beauty remains. My orphan heart was given. My mourning grew quiet.

My feet rose to dance. When death was arrested, my life be. Sing together. Oh, your grace so free, washes over me. You have made me new.

Now life begins with you. is your endless love pouring down on us. You have made us new. Now life begins with you. Release from my chains.

I'm a prisoner no more. My shame was a ransom. faithfully born. He cancelled my death and he called me his friend. When death was arrested, my life began.

Sing it out. Oh, your grace so free washes over me. You have made me new. Now life begins with you. Oh, it's your love.

It's your endless love pouring down on us. You have made us new. Now life begins with you. Oh, our savior displayed on a criminal's cross. Darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost.

But then Jesus arose with our freedom in him. That's when death was arrested and my life began. That's when death was arrested and my life began. Oh, your grace. Oh, your grace so free washes over me.

You have made me new. Now life begins with you. It's your endless love pouring down on us. You have made us new. Life begins with you.

Sing we're free. Oh, we're free. Free forever. We're free. Come join the song of all the redeemed.

Yes, we're free. Free forever. Amen. When death was arrested, my life began. Oh, we're free.

Free forever. We're free. Come join the song of all the redeemed. Yes, we're free. Free forever.

When death was arrested in my life. That's when tether was arrested and my life began. God, what good news that is worth celebrating and lifting our voices and lifting all that we are to praise you, God, starting now and and and continuing for eternity in good times and in bad times when we're hurting and when we're doubting and when we're walking with you and in seasons of joy and celebration. This truth, this is the truth that we can hold on to. This is an everlasting hope that keeps us grounded and keeps our eyes up.

And we thank you for that, God. And we ask that you would pull our eyes to you as we open your word, God. That we would see your character. We would see who you are clearly. And that we might respond, that your spirit might lead us to respond in repentance where that's needed.

Your spirit might help us grow in faith. Your spirit might lead us into seasons of obedience. God, we praise you. We love you. It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. You guys can have a seat. Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here.

We're going to be in Matthew 15 verses 21- 28. So, uh, we will not have text on the screen. So, if you have a Bible, I'd encourage you to pull out and follow along with us. If you have been with us long enough, you know we have two main preaching pastors, right?

So, that Chad and I share about half and half the preaching load. And uh and we're different. We got different preaching styles. We got different backgrounds and upbringings, which regularly shows up in our sermons. We have different interests.

We have different personalities. We like different things. I'd argue though what makes us different makes us a good team. Uh there if you took vin diagrams of us there's a little bit of overlap. All right.

So we both love watching the gamecocks break our hearts. We both love uh standup comedy. Uh but there's a whole lot of just in those vin diagrams. It's very very different. It shows up a lot in our appreciation of the arts.

Uh so a few years ago I found out that that Chad likes musicals. And since I'm married to my wife who uh who loves musicals over the time of our marriage I've grown to really love and appreciate them. years back. I said, "Man, I want to show you a musical that's going to change your world." Uh, and I only had the audio version because it wasn't out on video yet, but I let him listen to Hamilton. And about a song and a half in, he was like, "Yeah, I don't is are they going to rap the whole time?" I was like, "Yeah, it's a hip-hop Broadway." He's like, "Oh, okay." Wasn't his cup of tea at the time.

And then he said, "Why don't you watch Fiddler on the Roof?" So, I watched Fiddler on the Roof and about 30 minutes in, it just didn't land. I was like, "Sorry, bro." I will say he finally because it's now on Disney Plus, he finally got to watch it and we won him over. He actually likes Hamilton. But there's a lot of differences in in movies that we like. I mean, it's it's every time I get excited about a movie, and he'll regularly make fun of this in his sermons.

I'll get excited about a movie and I'll say, "Man, I want you to watch this movie." He'll go, "Oh, is it sad? Is it uncomfortable? Is it one of your indie films? Does a does a child lose his parents and then ends up being a child soldier and then eventually he gets a ticket to America and then falls uh prey to the opioid crisis. Is that how your movie goes?

I'll say no. He never made it to America. It's just but it's like not everything can be oh look how Thor and Kylo Ren team up to to defeat Voldemort at Mordor. It's just like everything's not adventure land yet. I like adventure movies.

I like adventure tales but sometimes things are real. All right. Sometimes things are are uncomfortable. Sometimes I I love stories that explore reality and how it is messy and how it's uncomfortable. I appreciate uh stories that bring that out.

And this story from the life of Jesus today has all of that. That is why when we were charting out the Gospel of Matthew and and we were looking at who would preach what, I wrote my name beside this one. Um because this story is very uncomfortable. one of the most uncomfortable stories in the New Testament. Uh, and we're going to walk through this story today.

Uh, it has some subtle hints that that touch on different themes that run through the Bible in just eight verses. Uh, Matthew is going to take an uncomfortable story from the life of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus. And he's going to show us really a picture of the salvation plan of God. All right.

So, there's a lot going on here. So, we're going to have to dive a little bit deeper this morning. uh we're going to have to really zoom in on some spots. We're spend a lot of time in one verse and then see three different things from it and then move to the next verse. I mean it is you got to dive deep to understand this.

But when we do this, the deeper we get, we can pan out a little bit and see the bigger picture of what Jesus is doing in this story and why is is a really good story for us and seeing the plan of God play out. So let me pray and then we'll jump into this story. Father, we thank you that you've given us stories like this, that you in your plan set this up in a way that would help show what you were doing in a powerful way. God, I pray that you would help us receive this this morning. I pray that you would help us not uh get defensive, but would listen and let the text go to work on our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We pray this all in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right. So verse 21, chapter 15. And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Ty and Sadome.

All right. So here's the setting. Jesus withdraws. All right.

That's an intentional use of that word. He could have said he went. He could have said he he he was going to. No, he withdrew, which implies he is leaving Galilee for a reason. He might be escaping uh the work of ministry for a bit.

He might be uh just looking to rest for a change of scenery to maybe be a little bit more anonymous because he's a celebrity in Galilee which is a Jewish district. Tyron Sedon is a gentile district. So he's not going to be as big as well known. There's not going to be the same crowds there are in Galilee. So it's important to know the context here.

They are Jewish. They show up in Tyra and Sedon. are going to stand out because there are cultural tensions between Jews and Gentiles. Jews look down upon Gentiles. They thought they were unclean.

Gentiles knew this. There's a lot of separation. So when he enters uh into Ty and Sedon with his disciples, he's going to stand out. But still, even though he's not quite the celebrity that he is amongst Jews, he does not remain anonymous. Somebody recognizes him.

And that's where it picks up in verse 22. It says, "And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." So, this woman recognizes him. And it's important to to sit in this and picture the text. It doesn't say that she uh asked him, doesn't say that she even called out to him.

It says that she cried out to him. She cried out. This is shrieking. This is loud. This is uncomfortable.

I want you to imagine if you go to to a restaurant uh in downtown Columbia, you leave the restaurant, all of a sudden someone cries out and screams and gets in front of you. It's it's an uncomfortable scene. And she is crying out to Jesus and she says, "Lord," which doesn't always mean she believes he's Lord like we call him Lord. Sometimes that's just a term of respect. But then she adds on to that.

She says,"Lord, son of David. And especially coming from a from a gentile woman, that that says a lot because son of David is a is a messianic title. It's it's it's it's Messiah language. She says, "You're the son of David. You have power that this the the the hype that has extended beyond uh the the Jews into our land.

You are the son of David." She's trying to get him to pay attention. Lord, son of David. And then she says, "My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." So she wants, like many people have come to Jesus, to be healed, for her daughter to be healed. So how does Jesus respond?

Verse 23. But he did not answer her a word. Didn't answer her a word. Now that is where the story starts to get uncomfortable because I want you to picture this. She's crying out.

Desperation. Tears can be flowing from her face. Maybe it's snot is coming from her nose. She's crying out to Jesus and he keeps walking. He doesn't answer her a word.

He ignores her. Now, this this is a story that doesn't show up in my kids story book Jesus Bible. It's just not a very popular story. I had I wanted to show you. I was going to say that they're uh they don't make coloring sheets for stories like this.

And I was going to put one on the screen because I finally found one. And it's it's when you see the picture of just Jesus looking away and she's just holding on to him. It's it's like what is happening here? What is Jesus doing in this story?

This doesn't seem like the Jesus that we read about in other stories. So it continues and it says his disciples came and begged him saying send her away for she is crying out after us. So crying out after us. This implies this is continually happening. She's continuing to cry out over and over and over again.

And Jesus is ignoring her. And I want you to see something. The disciples didn't say, "Jesus, won't you heal her? Can we, she's crying out, can you go ahead and heal her?" No, they said, "Won't you send her away?" And that shows the understanding here that she is a gentile woman. She is not Jewish.

Don't you don't need to heal her. Just send her away. Why is this happening? Why is this unfolding like this?

Why is Jesus doing this? It continues verse 24. He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And now this starts to get even more uncomfortable because what he just acknowledged is to her, you are not Jewish. I was sent to the Jews. And that's uncomfortable.

But in this story, in this time, that is exactly true because at this point in the salvation plan of God, Jesus is ministering to the Jews. That's why he's mostly in Galilee and Jerusalem. He's ministering primarily to the Jews because in the order of salvation, it is to the Jews first, then the Gentiles. I mean, Paul makes that abundantly clear in Romans 1:16. He says, "For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also the Greek.

To the Jew first, then the Gentile." That is the order of salvation in the Scriptures. And that can rub people the wrong way. People look at something and say, "That is that really fair? Is it fair that God chooses one ethnic group first?" Some people will push this even further and say, "Oh, this is this is your God of the Bible being racist." Now, I would argue that's quite a lazy reading of the Bible, but we don't just dismiss arguments like this.

As Christians, we're called to be apologetic and defending uh why the Bible says what it says and how it says it. So, let let's sit in that. Why does God choose the Jews? First, we're going to sit in this and look at this in three different ways. Uh firstly, the simplest answer is that God can save in any way that he chooses to save because he's God.

He is the God of the universe and and we are a rebellious creation. The fact that he redeems anyone is an act of grace. God chooses to save in the way that he chooses because he is God is the argument Romans nine. We are pots. What have we to say to the potter?

But what if we say to God in telling and dictating how he should save? This is how God has chosen it and God is sovereign and we are not. That is the first thing to understand in this. The second, why does God choose the Jews first?

Through rejection comes global redemption. All right? Through the rejection, God is going to bring about global redemption. So let me walk us through this.

uh God chooses to bring redemption through people. All right? This is it's not just top down force. He is he is using people. He's using creation.

He's using humanity to bring about his redemption. So in order to do that to get creation involved, he has to choose to use somebody. And Abraham is the guy. He chooses Abraham. And Abraham has an ethnos.

develops the that ethnicity, the the Jews out of the out of Abraham. So he chooses a people to bring about redemption. And I'd argue there's nothing intrinsically more valuable, more awesome about Abraham. Abraham's value is that God chooses to use him. In the same way, there's nothing intrinsically invaluable about the Jewish people.

Their value comes from their covenant Lord. Their value comes from God who claimed them. So God chooses to use a people and then he gives them a place, the promised land in the Old Testament. And that land and those people, they are uh meant to reflect the glory of God to the surrounding nations. That is their calling.

And as we see in the Old Testament, they fail miserably. They fall and they worship other gods. And in spite of their failures, still God chooses to bring redemption through this people. He chooses to send Jesus through this line. And ultimately it is prophesied that he is going to send Jesus through this line through the Jewish people and ultimately they are going to reject him.

His own people will will reject their own God. This shows up all over the place in the Old Testament. shows up in Psalm 118:22 says the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Jesus is rejected and through his rejection he becomes the cornerstone for a faith much bigger than the Jewish people. It brings a global redemption plan into play.

That's the second reason why I would argue that God chooses the Jews first. Let me give you a third one. The third one is I would argue historically timely. Now, this is gonna it's a little more conjecture.

This is not chapter and verse. I can't just walk you through this while the Bible teaches this. I just want you to look at this historically. Take a step back and watch the plan play out. God chooses a people in the cradle of civilization.

All right? So, the Mesopotamia right there, Israel, it's in the cradle of civilization. He chooses a people and a place. All right?

The land of Israel is very strategic in that side of the world. It is a land bridge that connects three continents. All right? You have Africa that's connected to Asia and Europe through this land bridge. And people traveled all through this land over and over again.

That's the reason why so many nations fought over this piece of land. Now, fast forward, God chooses to send Jesus at the right time. It just so happens the right time is when the Roman Empire conquers most of that side of the world. And they uni they're unified by a common government. They're unified by a common language.

You see they took Greek as the language that everyone spoke. So everyone spoke a common language at this time for the first time in history. And then also there are trade routes that are developed. There are road systems the Roman road systems that are developed. At the right time, Jesus comes and the Gospel spreads in the midst of all of that through the rejection of the Jewish people in this place.

It spreads in a common language all across that side of the world. We see that very practically in the book of Acts when they stone Steven and the Church spreads from there. The Church spreads all the way across Europe and Asia. It is very historically timely that God chose this people for this moment at this time. So there's just some some apologetics for why God chooses the Jews first.

We need to understand that as we walk through the rest of this story because it's going to get a little more uncomfortable. Starting in verse 25 says, "But she came and knelt before him saying,"Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." And now this gets even more uncomfortable because picture it. She is kneeling before him, crying out to him that she she's before him in tears, saying, "Help me, Lord." And he says, "It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." And if you haven't read the story before, you might be thinking, "Is this really a story from the Gospels? Is this really a story of the Jesus that we just sang about?

This seems cold. What is happening? What is Jesus doing here?" Now, to understand this, you got to spend some more time and dive deeper here. The first thing you got to understand is history. Uh this woman is a cienician woman.

All right. We know this from the Gospel of Mark. Gospel of Mark has this story and he accurately calls her the term for the day. She is serenician. Siro meaning Syrian uh background.

Phoenician meaning Phoenician background that the Lebanese people look at as Phoenician. I have to say that very accurately because there's a woman in the back of the room that I've messed that up. She will come at me. Be very careful in how I said this. She is serro Phoenician.

But Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman. Why? Why does Matthew call her a Canaanite woman from the start? Canaanite is a term that hasn't been used in a thousand years. And yet he calls her a Canaanite woman.

Because what he is doing is he's bringing to mind the Jewish ear that hears this. As soon as he calls her a Canaanite woman, it's going to picture all of this. The Canaanite people from a thousand years ago were a brutal, ruthless people who waged war against the people of God. I mean, they were brutal. They did things like child sacrifice.

They uh sacrificed children to their false God, Mollik. They would literally take their children, put them on an altar, roll them down the altar, and burn them alive. They were a very pagan evil people and they waged war against the people of God for a long time. And the ones who did survive, the ones who did remain, their practices rubbed off on the people of God. So much so that one of the kings of Israel sacrifices his child.

So there's a lot of history built into calling her a Canaanite. It would be very similar to, though not one to one, it'd be similar to if I had a German exchange student over and I brought her here and I introduced her and say, "Here, here's my uh here's our Nazi exchange student that we have for the fall." It would cause everyone to take a step back and say, "Why are you bringing up the worst part of our history?" It'd be similar to you, but not one to one. If I had someone who was Mexican, I brought them aside and said, "This is my Aztec friend." You would be wondering, "Why are you bringing up that they have been called Aztecs for 500,000 years? What are you doing there?" That is exactly what Matthew is doing here in calling our Canaanite. He is bringing in thousand years of history and also some historical baggage to help explain this story and this context.

So you need to understand that out the gate. That's why he calls her a Canonite woman. The second thing you need to understand here is the term dog. Why does Jesus call her a dog?

So this term uh there's a few different Greek words for dog that he could have used. He uses one that means little dog. Now this is house dog. This would be a dog that would be around your house, around your kids, around your table. Now he could have used a different word, the Greek word for wild dog.

Now that is a term that Jews threw at Gentiles. It was an insult because the wild dogs were almost like coyotes. They were they were wild dogs. They traveled in packs. They they they were they were scavengers.

They were considered very unclean. And Jews would use that term to call Gentiles uh dogs because they could call them unclean. It was an insult. So Jesus doesn't use the term wild dog. And I've and I I've read some some theologians and some commentators who look at this with very good hearts who are much much wiser and smarter than me and they look and they say, "See that Jesus uses little dog.

This is a term of endearment." If he wanted to use an insult, he would have used wild dog. But because he uses the term for little dog, this is a term of endearment. And the more I've looked at this and I've read on this and I've studied this and listened to other arguments from the context, I don't think Jesus is being insulting because he doesn't use wild he does not use the term wild dog. But I do not think that he's using it as a term of endearment. Because when you look at her response in a moment, she didn't take it as a compliment.

So what is Jesus doing here? Is he hurling something that has has racial tension built into it? No. I would argue that Jesus is doing two things here. He is first showing salvation order and second he is testing her faith.

So let's tackle that first part. Salvation order. Here's the here's the picture. It's a little dog. This is a domestic dog.

This is a dog that you have in your house. Many of us have dogs. All right? And the order of who eats in the house is children first, then the dogs. That's the order.

All right. I know some of you are like, "No, my dog has a seat at the table. He or she here or she might." All right, but in most households, that's not the case. That's not the norm. That's not what's expected.

I don't make I don't see I don't come home and spend a hour making a meal and then I bring it to my kids with their excited faces and go. Dogs eat first, you get second. That's not That's not the picture here. The picture here is that children eat first, then the dogs. So that that's the picture as uncomfortable as it may feel with modern ears.

That is what's being explained here. There's nothing intrinsically more valuable about about the Jews as we've argued before. But the what you need to understand is is there is an order. The Jews have a seat at the table first then the Gentiles as we see the rest of this story play out because we know how it ends because most of us are not Jewish and we're in this room worshiping Jesus. So he's showing salvation order.

But the second thing he's doing here is he is testing her faith. You have to understand what is happening here. Jesus knows our hearts. He in the story in these stories we've walked through in the Gospel of Matthew so far, he knows hearts. He knows the heart of the Pharisees and their evil thoughts.

He knows the heart of his disciples and what they're thinking. He knows hearts. and he travels to this region and a woman comes up to him and says, "Lord, son of David." Now, a lot of people have come to Jesus saying things, wanting his power, Jesus has healed thousands of people at this point. But when he goes to the cross and when he rises, there aren't thousands of people that are there to follow him. There's a lot of people that come to Jesus that want his power, that want to experience his power, that want miracles, they want healings, but they don't actually end up following Jesus.

And Jesus knows this woman's heart. And she says, "Son of David," and I would argue he is bringing something out of her. He wants to hear something further. He is testing her. So, how does she respond in this testing?

Verse 27, it says, "She said, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table." Then Jesus answered her, "Oh, woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Y'all, she could have responded in a lot of different ways. She could have just walked away in tears. She could have argued with them.

She could have responded a lot of ways. But look at how she responds. Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master's tables. She believes the hype.

The hype that this is the Messiah, the son of David. She might not be a descendant of Abraham. She might not be a descendant of of of David. She may not be a part of the covenant people, but she knows who this is. And if she can just get a crumb, if she can just get a shred of his of his power, then her daughter will be healed.

She absolutely believes who Jesus is. And she will do whatever it takes to gain his attention, to gain his favor. Just a moment of his power. And as soon as this comes out on full display before his disciples, he says, "Oh woman," and don't hear that with modern ears. It's not an insult.

And their time, oh woman, is a term of endearment. Oh woman, great is your faith. Now, this is where it starts to come together. At this point in the Gospel of Matthew, only twice, only twice has Jesus pedestal the faith of someone who came to be healed. Only twice.

The first time was a gentile. The first time was a centurion, a centurion soldier who comes to Jesus and and he shows great humility. He says, "No, no, no. You don't need you don't need to come all this way. You don't need to come all this way.

Just just say the word and it'll be done." And he says, "I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel. I haven't seen faith like this." And then we get to the second story right here. And he says, "Great is your faith." You see, the story is starting to tip its hand. And Jesus is starting to show where this is going. And Matthew is helping us clue into this because this is a story within a story.

There was a there's a movie a few years back uh an might Shyamalan movie uh Split. And when you get to the end of the movie, there's just one scene at the end of the movie. And when you see it, if you've seen his other movies, you realize this is not just a standalone movie. This is a film within a film. It goes back to a film he made 15 years ago.

This is a story within the story that Matthew is trying to help us see. You have to remember where we were last week. Jesus is is uh with the Pharisees combating over clean and unclean laws. And in that story, as we saw last week, he's tipping his hand that the the the ceremonial cleans cleaning laws about what is clean and unclean food that is going out the door. That argument happens.

Jesus leaves there, goes to Tyra and Sedon, and then a woman who is considered to be an unclean outsider comes and her faith is pedestalled like this. Not a coincidence. No, God knows exactly what he was doing this. And Matthew goes out of his way to show her rebellious past. And then Jesus comes in and says, "Oh woman, great is your faith." Because Jesus has gone out of his way to show this is exactly who I am coming for right now is of the Jews.

But when this story ends, he is going to the cross where his blood is going to be spilled for all peoples. He's going to resurrect. And when he resurrects, he tells his disciples, "Go to a mount on Galilee." And when they go to that mount, as we're going to see at the end of Matthew, he says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, all ethnos, all people, including women just like this. God is coming for everybody. If you are an outsider, if you have a Canaanite past, an Ammonite past, an Ishelite past, any past outside of the Jewish people, you're welcome to the table." That is how this story ends.

Outsiders get a seat at the table. It is uncomfortable to walk through, but when you dive deeper and you look at it, you see the salvation plan of God and what he is doing. So, as we close out the story, I just want us to see three very clear things before we close out. First, God comes for outsiders. God is the God of outsiders.

He rescues and redeems those who are far off. It does not matter what your past is. Doesn't matter what your history is. Doesn't matter where you come from. Doesn't matter what you have done.

God comes for outsiders. He goes to the cross so that you can have a seat at the table. She wasn't just getting crumbs. She was getting us here at the table. And that offering is for everyone who feels like they're on the outside.

Maybe you've been on the outside of Church for years. Maybe you'd feel uncomfortable around Church people around all of this. I don't know your story, but if you feel like an outsider very clearly from this story, hear the call. You have a place at the table. And how do you get a place at the table?

Faith. That's the second thing we need to see from this. You need faith. And this woman's faith is remarkable. I mean, she believes the hype.

Her faith is persistent. And we say Jesus is better than everything else. We say that all the time. We believe that. That hype is real.

We experience who Christ is. He is so good, so glorious, so holy. He's worth your faith. He's worth your life. And she gets this.

Her faith is on full display. And for those of us who follow Jesus, note this. Her faith is persistent. She didn't stop. What if our prayers looked like her?

Please, persistent. Jesus, Lord, it be your will over I over and over again. Her faith is deep, persistent. May we mirror a faith like that. Lastly, we need humility.

We need a humility like this woman. Sometimes people approach Jesus in all the wrong ways. We we sometimes have a transactional understanding of of Jesus of God. God, if you'll do this, I I'll do this. God, will you please just do this?

It's it's like we're bartering as if we could do that as if we're on his level. As opposed to a on yourrface humility that says, "Lord, just give me a crumb. Just give me a shred of your power. That'll be enough." My fear is is that for most of our culture, because we are a very prideful culture, that if Jesus came and there was interactions like this, that most people in our culture would say, "How dare you, don't speak to me like this. You need to operate in this way.

You need to reveal yourself in this way." God should go about doing things in this manner instead of this deep on your face humility. I don't deserve it, but if you give me a crumb, that's enough. That's the humility that God calls of his people. That's why in James 4, it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And we have a brilliant, beautiful example of humility in this woman.

May we see that, emulate that, incorporate that into a rhythm of worship and our approach to the Lord. The band's going to come up. We're going to close out and I want us to just sit and reflect for a moment. This story is not just a story that points a thousand years backwards and a thousand plus forward. It is a humbling picture of faith that we should aspire to attain to.

It is a uh a a a example of a woman that we should strive to mirror in her humility. And it is a reminder that no matter how much of an outsider that you think you are, you have a seat at the table through faith in Christ. And man, I wish we could take the Lord's supper this morning. Man, I wish that we could, but we're what we're going to do right now is just sit for a moment. If you are not a Christian, if you've not ever followed Jesus, if you never had faith like this, hear the calling.

Outsiders get a seat at the table. Doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter where you've come from. It doesn't matter the things that you've done. You have a seat at the table.

This is the God who redeems outsiders. May we have faith to respond as Christians. May we have faith to repent where we've not believed. May we have faith to repent where we've displayed pride and not humility. Let's sit in this for a moment and then respond in worship.

Father, we thank you for a story like this that shows exactly who you come for. You came for us, the outsiders, and through your blood, through the cross, through the empty tomb, we get a seat at the table. God, I pray if there's anyone here that doesn't have that seat right now, they respond in faith and they believe. And those of us that struggle with doubt, for those of us that struggle with pride, may you break us of it. May you build in us faith and humility like this woman.

May we continue to believe. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand?

Let's sing and respond together. Are you hurting and broken within? Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin, Jesus is calling. Have you come to the end of yourself?

Do you thirst for a dream from the well? Jesus is calling. Oh, come to the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Oh, leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Come today, there's no reason to waste. Jesus is calling. Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy. From the ashes a new life is born.

Jesus is calling. Oh come. Oh come to the altar. The father's arms are open wide. forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Oh, what a savior. Is it your sing hallelujah? Christ is ris. Oh, lift your voice. Bow down before him.

Lord of all, sing hallelujah. Christ is ris. Oh, what a savior. Is it wonderful?

Sing hallelujah. Christ is ris. Bow down before him for he is Lord of all. Sing hallelujah. Christ is ris.

Oh, come to the altar. The father's arms are open wide. forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Bear your cross as you wait for the crown. Tell the world of the treasure you found.

Oh, Jesus is calling. Amen. You may be seated. All right, I got a few quick announcements for us um as we close out today.

If you are a Christian, um but have not yet joined a community group, we have something we'd like for you to do. Join a community group. Uh usually we have a QR code here that you can scan with your phone because there's a pandemic and people also uh I know we're trying to get you to join a group so you can be around people, but also sometimes being around people stresses people out. So, we let you scan a thing, fill out something online, and then show up and be around people.

But today, we're going to need you to talk to a human. And so, I'll be right down the hall down here by our connect wall and would love to talk to you about community groups. Um, we are meant to exist as a body in relationship with one another. We're not meant to go do this alone as believers. We're not gifted to do this alone as believers, but we're meant to uh edify the body, walk with the body, grow with the body, and be in Church family.

As difficult and frustrating as that can be, uh that actually helps us grow because we get to forgive and we get to repent and we get to try to walk together through difficult and painful seasons. And so, we'd love for you to join a community group. If you are not a believer, not a Christian, you're just hanging out, you're trying to figure out this whole Jesus thing, maybe you're just trying to find some people uh to be around, we have a suggestion for you. It's a little bit different than what we ask of Christians. We'd like for you to join a community group.

Uh the reason being is we walk out our faith in normal life. And the best place to do that is in a community group for you to investigate what it looks like for people who love Jesus to try to follow him together. Uh and hopefully you will find a group of people who are uh just as messed up as you are, but redeemed by grace so that there's some freedom and some forgiveness and some joy that maybe you hadn't found yet. And so we'd love for you to walk in a community group to see what that looks like.

And the least you'll meet some people who are told they're supposed to be nice to you and eat some free meals as soon as we start that back up because of pandemic stuff. That's a little different right now. But hopefully at some point we'll get to where we're eating together again in our groups and walking through life together. Um I'm going to read from 1 Thessalonians 3:es uh 11 through13 and then we'll be dismissed. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you. So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. You have a good week.

Gospel-less Religion (Matthew 15:1-20)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Gospel-less Religion

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Well good morning it's good to see you guys this morning and for those of you who are joining with us online we're glad that you are with us as well my name is Matt Freeman I'm one of the pastor's here with Mill City Church of KC happy fourth of July weekend I hope you got to indulge and maybe some of your favorite fourth of July things maybe that's eating hotdogs and watching the Nathan's hot dog eating competition is anybody's favorite maybe it's blowing things up in the sky with some fireworks maybe it's just some socially distant activities with family and friends.

But I hope you have had a good fourth of July weekend and that this gets to be a part of that it's interesting because not for a long time have we lived in such an overly politicized environment where celebrating love of country or patriotism can can be a thing where people want to argue against or something like that but we as a Church we are thankful for our country we are thankful for the fact that we get to celebrate we are thankful.

For the freedoms that we have we have freedom of religion where we can practice our faith how God leads us to we have freedom of speech where we can stand and openly declare what we believe to be true and so we're grateful for our country and just like all things there are things that we want to work on and want to grow but we're thankful for our country we're also thankful for men and women who have given their lives to make that possible that those men and women.

For hundreds of years have knowingly or unknowingly followed in the example of Jesus of sacrifice of self for others and some of those men and women are even in this room can we just give them a hand for those that have served for our country and so we're grateful because that sacrifice is a picture of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us Jesus gave His life so that we could have freedom that we could be his and belong to him and that's the reason that we've gathered here this morning.

So we're grateful and thankful for our country but we actually get to come here together today and worship and focus on Jesus and so we're grateful that you are with us or have joined with us online just a couple of housekeeping things it's exciting to see some kids in the room with us today worshiping together as a family we did want you to know that our kid City classrooms are available they are outfitted with the livestream they've got chairs down there that are socially distance and a few toys they're just hard surface that can be wiped down.

So if at any point your kids get a little antsy or want to move around or want to do anything feel free to take them down there and watch the livestream that is available to you and then for our new mothers in the room if you haven't noticed up the small stairwell we have a new nursing room for mothers so that you can go at any point during our service and utilize that for our Church family we're not passing an offering plate or even putting our computer up right.

Now for giving but if you would like to give the way you can do that is if you see in the front to the front walls up here there's small rectangle wooden boxes where you can give cash or cheque and if you're wanting to give with a debit card or a credit card or do that online you'll have to do that from home and if you're watching from home you can just go to Mill City KC comm and click on the give icon and as a Church we want to walk out our faiths together.

So if you're new here just checking things out we we practice our faith together daily weekly in our community groups and we want you to be a part of those so we've got a QR code look how fancy that thing is you can just take out your phone and pull that up and it'll take you to our website where you can fill out just a little bit of information and find out more information about our community groups so again we're grateful that you're here with us this morning I've asked dr.

Ken to come and just lead us in a prayer of Thanksgiving think thankfulness for our country and for what we get to celebrate and then to focus our hearts on Jesus this morning so doctor can you come good morning it sure is good to be back here with you and worship this morning it's been seem like it's been a long time but it's a good it's great just to be here and to be a part of this and as we do that I would like to.

First of all lead us in a prayer so if you would bear with me please for prayer Heavenly Father we praise you for being the eternal God the creator of all the giver of life the author of Liberty father we thank you that through Jesus we can approach her throne of grace today one want to thank you for the ways in which you have blessed our nation we thank you that you let our founding fathers to establish our nation on Christian principles we thank you that you've preserved us from eternal external and internal threats you've given us great freedoms freedom of speech freedom of religion the right to peaceably assemble freedom of the press.

Many others you've graded us Abunda prosperity father we thank you today for those who have defended these freedoms down through the years we thank you for those who are continuing to do so today we thank you all so far there for those who have worked to expand our freedoms to all of our citizens and for those who are still doing so father we confess we're not worthy of all the ways you have blessed us as a nation we have turned from you in our pride we have become self-dependent we are selfless selfish we are self-centered we're greedy lustful committing minion justices we pray.

For your forgiveness and for your cleansing we pray that you would be merciful to us as a nation save us from violence injustice and disunity save us from ourselves helped us to accept each other as fellow Americans grant our leaders in every level of government your wisdom and your guidance and lead them to depend upon you give us a spirit of true community father we pray that you would help us as your people help us to be salt and light and our communities and we pray Heavenly.

Father that you would help us to humble ourselves to turn from our own sins and to pray earnestly for our nation that it might experience a turning back to you and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen I called worship this morning is from Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through 16 since then we have a great high priest who is pass through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession where do we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.

But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need would you guys stand we're gonna see together before the throne of God above have a strong this man can see behold him there perfect spot is righteous live the rate of change the kid worried themself my soul is purchased by gizmo my life is here my sample shows - they're gone our reading this morning comes from Psalm 40 please read the underlined portions with me I waited patiently.

For the Lord he inclined to me and heard my cry he drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock making my steps secure he put a new song in my mouth a song of praise to our God many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust who does not turn to the proud to those who go astray after a lie you have multiplied.

Lord my God your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us none can compare with you I will proclaim and tell of them yet they are more than can be told in sacrifice and offering you have not delighted but you have given me an open ear burnt offering and sin offering you have not required I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation as.

For you O Lord you will not restrain your mercy for me your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me for evils have encompassed me beyond number my iniquities have overtaken me and I cannot see they are more than the hairs of my head my heart feels me but may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you may those who love your salvation say continually great is the Lord let's continue to praise God this morning together for God's holy war ciao three persons I.

See perfect all I work shall praise thy name for Oh No God we have nothing to claim before you accept the work of Jesus and said this morning we thank you for the cross we thank you for the empty tomb it's by those that we can come into your presence and live lives of worship before you ask people who have been made clean who have not earned anything but have been given grace so this morning God we pray that you would remind us of that good news that it would sink deeply into our hearts that we might walk in that grace in.

Jesus name Amen you guys can be seated for those of you that didn't hear anything online you could have fill in the rest it was great all right so got some internet memes I want to show you this is the first one so the whole gist of this is ours today years old when I realized that candy corn if you stack it up it looks like corn on the cob so I don't know if you knew that maybe you just learned a thing.

But if you put candy corn together it looks like Aang show another picture because this one's not blurry there you go so you learn to think it's not just the semi ok snack that you get Halloween it actually has a function of purpose let me show you another one this other one is I was today years old when I realized that the Amazon logo the check mark goes from A to Z and the point of that is is that they sell everything from A to Z or you know their company culture which is will shut down every small business from A to Z all right give it two more I was.

Today years old when I realized that there's an iPhone hack that if you put your finger on and you hold it on the spacebar that you can easily navigate and drag the cursor to fix text messages which is something that's very helpful via fat thumbs like me and a little screen it's very helpful and I know that some of your Android users you're like y'all we've had this for years awesome y'all win your phones are better what you want to do here also go back check this this week in teaching team he realized this and he started playing on his phone he was really excited about it or he was just simulating what happens.

When people watch this from home all right last one I was today years old when I realized that you can clean the glass in between the oven and the outside it used to be that my understanding was is that if grease kind of fell in there there was no way to actually fix it it just stayed there but at least on this oven are in theory some other ones you can take a brush and you can clean the inside of it.

So that's that's the gist of these things there are things that you are familiar with right yeah but you don't actually fully understand you don't other full-function and that's funny in trivial things but that also seems to be true in all of life that there are there are people that you can be around your entire life and never fully understand them or maybe you felt that way that there are people that you know people that are in your life that regularly.

See you that live life with you but don't fully understand you that you can sit under sermons and teaching for years and never fully understand them to no fault of the person who's preaching it just doesn't quite sink in and that's what we're going to see a little bit today the disciples have been around Jesus for seemingly at years at this point and it's ministry and there's still an aspect of the kingdom of heaven that isn't sinking in it hasn't penetrated their hearts.

So we're gonna walk through this today and as we walk through it I don't want us to there's there's a habit sometimes we read the Gospels to look at the disciples and be like man I can't believe you did this I can't believe you didn't understand this but what I want us to do is to have a little bit posture of humility and to look at this reflectively and maybe realize that there's aspects about the kingdom of heaven there's aspects about the Gospel that we don't quite understand and fully believe either.

So let me pray and they will walk through this together father thank you so much that you've given us your word and you've give us these stories and you've given us Christ who reveals our hearts got a pray today that you would help us understand your Gospel in a new way I pray that you would help us listen so Lord speak to us we ask this in Jesus name Amen all right so starting on verse 1 then the Pharisees and scribes came to.

Jesus from Jerusalem and said why do your disciples break the tradition of the but they do not wash their hands when they eat all right so I want to picture this for you the Pharisees were in Jerusalem and at some point they huddled up together you see they're trying to take Jesus down we've seen that so far in the Gospel of Matthew and they thought what is a way that we can take him down somebody pops up and says I think they don't wash their hands and someone said alright Zedekiah you nailed it pack your bags boys we're going to Galilee.

Now Galilee is a few days walk okay so they for hand-washing for something that they wanted to call Jesus out on they decide they're going to go on a few days walk journey to call him out this is similar to sometimes my my daughter my oldest she just turned five and she's amazing and one of the things that she does it's so helpful in her house as she helps take care of her younger siblings specifically our little one who I'm convinced that.

If I one of my greatest accomplishments in life will be keeping him alive until he's 18 and she helps with that she helps monitor him and sometimes she'll come running down the stairs yelling and it you have to take that seriously because there's no telling what he's done it could be very serious she comes down and she's all worked out and What's Wrong sweetheart and she goes well Bridgers he's not he's not he's not playing the game but I want him to play in the way that I want to play it I'm the mom he's supposed to be the dad and he's not playing and I'm like wait you came running and screaming all the.

Way downstairs to tell me that your brother is not playing the game the way that you want to play the game that's not how we respond here that's quite the overreaction that's a little what's happening here they heard about hand-washing and they said no we're going to go to Galilee we're going to confront Jesus on this for the sake of being fair is hand-washing the idea that you need to wash your hands and or not to make the food defiled and unclean that you're going to eat is that buried somewhere in the Old Testament law is it like five chapters deep in numbers and maybe they just missed it.

Because the Book of Numbers is difficult no it is nowhere in the Old Testament law you see this tradition comes from an O tradition of the law known as the Holika all right so the Pharisees and the religious leaders have a few different oral traditions few different basically running common series of the Old Testament and their traditions that they want to help explain the law but as we've seen early on in the Gospel of Matthew they completely misunderstand the heart of.

God and the purpose of the law they did this with the Sabbath they got all excited like Jesus and His disciples are breaking the Sabbath let's call him out and they thought you know what that didn't work let's try hand-washing and you could imagine how the rest of this story goes it doesn't go well for the Pharisees and the scribes so pick up in verse three says he answered them and why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition.

For God commanded or honor your father and your mother and over a vow father or mother must surely die but you say if anyone tells his father or his mother what would you have gained from me is given to God he need not honor his father so for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God you hypocrites now that seems like quite an interesting response to them accusing the disciples of not washing their hands it almost seems like a bit of a dodge right I say you're not washing your hands.

Jesus comes back says oh yeah well you're not honoring your momma's now what and it seems like it's a little bit of a way he decides that this that's not what happened all right he just did classic Jesus Jedi mind-trick he's going deeper into this and he's about to explain something and call out the Pharisees and the scribes all no 1 clip so what is he doing here he references one of the 10 commandments honor your mother and your father and he says you are breaking this.

Because of your tradition so what tradition are they using to break one of the Ten Commandments well it's you have to catch this it's it's subtle but in verse 5 he says what you would have gained from me is given to God now Mark's Gospel his version of this one word that helps us understand even clearer more clearly what he just said Mark's Gospel adds a word Corbin so if your name is Corbin you got a family room whose name is Corbin you're about to learn a thing Corbin and the Hebrew means devoted to.

God so what is happening here is he is talking about a Corbin offering this would be any extra offering that you could get to the temple any extra offering that you could give that's devoted to God so what was happening is that it was it's permissible the expectation is you're supposed to honor your mother and father there's a reason it's one the top 10 commandments it's very serious especially and their religion and in their culture but what you could do if you wanted to take part of your inheritance or part of your money as your parents are aging.

And if you didn't want to use all of that or a good bulk of that take care of your parents you need to be taken care of you could devote some of that to the temple you could bypass that it was a way of saying I'm extra holy I'm extra giving I'm gonna give what was supposed to be used to take care of my parents but I'm gonna give that to the temple now here's where this gets really messed up the Pharisees and the scribes and the religious leadership you can.

Look at at a Jewish writing at the time and tell this they had a tradition of taking the Corbin offering and using it to give the temple this is we need to understand who benefits the benefits from the offerings that are given to the temple the religious leadership so if you wanted nicer living quarters if you wanted nicer things you could in essence take what you should be used to take care of your parents your parents who brought you into this world your parents who raised you your parents you sent you off to Jewish seminary.

So that you can be in the priesthood instead of taking care of their parents they're saying oh look at this we're giving extra money extra inheritance here's our Corbin offering for everyone to see and they're benefitting themselves and their own comfort wicked that is evil even in our culture if if my parents needed taken care of when they got older and I said you know I I'm not gonna take care of my parents I'm going to give more to no City Church and behind-the-scene.

So I'm looking holy and giving more to the Church I'm actually restructuring the budget and getting nicer vehicles and nicer things we would say that's corrupt in our culture it's an extra level in theirs that you would honor you do a dishonor your parents like this is wicked there's a reason why in the Old Testament law that you could be put to death for dishonouring your parents you did not do this in this culture and Jesus exposes all of that right here in this moment right here in front of all the crowds to watch.

And then he keeps going he references Isaiah to make this point even more clear verse 8 well did Isaiah prophesied of you when he said this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me in vain do they worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men he says Isaiah called it you'll honor God with your lips you you honor God with your teachings but here's the deal your heart is far from me in vain do you teach the law in vain do you teach the commandments you.

See your foundation is crumbling and all you're presenting is these holy actions that hide it about a month ago I was showing a house which if you don't know I'm a Bob occasional pastor I also do real estate you know showing a house and there's a lot of times that she'll show to a house and the pictures that you see online they're not reflective of the true house which is fine that's the point of being a real estate agent you want to get them in the house you take the best pictures you hire professional photographer you make sure it looks very good.

But every now and then every now and then the pictures really really really don't capture what's happening so we showed up this house they bought it for ninety they they were flipping it for 150 and I walked in and I was furious I was like this house is a disaster literally the only thing they have done is they have painted the walls you can look around and the rest of the house was completely falling apart it was completely fake and that's the Pharisees its outward actions showing how good we are.

But inside they are rotten to their core all of their teaching is hypocrisy and Jesus calls us out and I love it because he keeps going verse 10 and he called the people to him remember these are the Pharisees the religious leaders that everyone in the nation looked up to right and they're they're seeing all this happen and they said come in I'm gonna teach you a thing about what just happened he called the people to him and said to them hear and understand it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person.

But what comes out of the mouth this defiles a person so he's continued to teach off of this idea that you have to clean your hands in order to eat food that might not be clean or unclean so here's a few different layers of what he's doing here one of the things that he's doing here is he's tipping his hand what he is and March Gospel version of this makes this even more clear that what is coming is a day where the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament are no longer followed all right.

So that's good news for all of us this weekend that enjoyed ribs are some form of pork right we don't keep kosher anymore so this is tipping the hand a little bit that the ceremonial law is keeping kosher all of this is going to be is going to be fulfilled in Christ and the book of Acts is will become even more clear so it's pointing forward a little bit but also he is revealing a bit a major critique of the religion the Gospel is religion of the Pharisees and scribes it is about the heart and they missed this it's about the heart it's about what comes out of your heart it's not what you do.

And your actions outwardly it's about your heart and connected to those actions it's all about the heart they added commands and traditions and traditions on to the law to show outward holiness they're obsessed with it and they've missed it they've completely missed the point their hearts are unclean they are far from God their foundation is crumbling and they've missed it so Jesus continues or the passage continues in verse 12 since then the disciples came and said to him do you know that the Pharisees were offended.

When they heard this saying he answered them never plant that my Heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up let them alone that your blind guides and if the blind lead the blind both will fall into a pit but Peter said to him explain to us this parable explain this parable to us and he said are you still without understanding so they see all this happen they come to Jesus and they say Jesus did you have Pharisees were offended by what you said geez like word are you serious they were offended he's like no you you you're missing it he says.

If God didn't didn't plant them this is similar language to the parable of the weeds if God didn't plant them they're gonna be uprooted this is judgment language they are the blind leading the blind which if you know that English phrase comes from the Bible the blind leading the blind then and then Peter comes in says so Jesus can you explain that parable to us and Jesus responds here the Peter is so telling he says are you still without understanding you got to.

Remember the disciples have been with Jesus for seemingly years at this point they've heard all the teachings they've gotten to sit under his feet in private moments where Jesus is unpacking the kingdom of God they've gotten to hear the sermon amount and other big sermons where Jesus is preaching about the kingdom of heaven and it's not sinking in it's not penetrating their hearts to when they see what just happened the Pharisees and the scribes travel days to come call Jesus on washing hands their gut response is don't you know you offended them which this is conjecture.

Okay this is don't don't take as a solid interpretation but mine I have a suspicion that because the disciples expected that when Jesus came into Jerusalem he was going to establish a political revolution ever throw the Roman government there there was this expectation that the Messiah was going to come and restart everything politically I have this suspicion that maybe just maybe the disciples were a little bit concerned with your offending the people in power that we're gonna need but there is this concern initially that says you've offended them.

And then when they asked what they found will explain the parable and he says are you still without understanding but he's gracious and he continues and explains what he was coming from verse 17 so do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and has expelled but whatever comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false witness slander these are what defile a person.

But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone so he makes a pretty explicit point it's not about what you put into your body don't you realize that will be expelled it's about what flows from your heart your heart is what matter out of your heart flows he says evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false witness slander those are what will defile you so the Pharisees didn't get it's about the heart and what's unique about this list is you can almost apply all of these to the Pharisees that they are.

So concerned with outward holiness that they will travel days to call out Jesus when in reality the reason they're traveling is because their hearts are consumed with evil thoughts they are actively seeking to destroy the Lord this becomes abundantly clear at his trial where they seek to have him murdered where they lie and slander against him as they present him to Pontius Pilate it is clear from their actions that they would other steal inheritance that should be used to take care of their parents in order to build their own comfort what flows out of the heart matters it's all about the heart Jesus's message over and over again in the Kingdom of Heaven it's about.

The heart your heart reveals whether you believe this or not whether you understand the message of his kingdom or whether you don't that's how the story plays out and as we read this it's very easy to distance ourselves and say I can't believe the disciples haven't figured this out instead of actually doing this with a humble posture that says what about us should we examine our own hearts in light of this so I just have a few questions to have you tease this out a little bit are we more focused on the actions or the heart behind them I'm more focused on the actions that we do are the heart behind them we.

See how this plays out Bible reading prayer showing up to community group showing up or tuning in on Sunday mornings right these are these are good things but they can be used I mean they can be used as a justification look at all the things I'm doing Lord I'm reading my Bible I'm praying I show up every Sunday I show up the community group every week I'm involved I'm doing good things there can be this justification that if I check off the boxes.

If I do these things then I'll be right with God then I'll earn his favor that is the Gospel as' religion of the Pharisees that's legalism that's not the Gospel it's about the heart our heart should be I'm so thankful for my Savior I'm so in love with him I want to read the word I want to find intimacy in prayer I want to be around the Christians on Sunday in a community group to draw near to him those are two different hearts and you have to examine your own heart determine where you are on this and they ask you a.

Second question are we quicker to look at the faults of others than our own or we push that a different direction how do we look at the faults of others we try this plays out maybe there's someone your group and they come and they confess some sin for like the 10th time this year I just want to confess guys that I looked at pornography this week ladies I just want to confess I've just I've been so anxious about coronavirus been so anxious about my kids I've been.

So anxious about all these different things I'm just struggling with anxiety when you hear that in that moment when you receive that from one of your brothers and sisters who confess this what is your heart do you get frustrated impatient eyebrow are you serious again you fell to this again you're saying this in your own heart we have to talk about this again girl you come and you talk about this all the time are we serious there's this moralistic superiority that that creeps up in us this seems just like what the Pharisees and the scribes do the instead of a posture that.

Jesus teaches when you receive sin like that look at the plank that is in your eye examine your own heart then turn and look at your brother and sister who is struggling maybe in those moments when someone confesses sin that you're quick to jump in and correct here are the things you've got to do as opposed to looking at your own heart examining your own heart and then saying all right how can I present the Gospel to you good news before good advice is the language that we use in community groups this also can show up and maybe you're just silent which spoiler.

If someone bares their soul in a community group setting or just maybe over coffee and you're just silent it's not good it's just bare my soul and everyone looked at me like I was crazy I'm gonna do this again yes maybe you're solid maybe something cuz you don't know what to say maybe you're silent because you actually really are distracted and you don't care there's a difference between the Gospel is religion of the Pharisees that deals in a very twisted form of morality and the heart of the Gospel and they came in the feminine.

Let me give you one more question to help work this out when you see this checklist checklist of sins that Jesus just walked through he says verse 19 for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false witness slander when you hear that what do you feel you feel shame you feel defeated do you feel downcast or are you able to remember that in Christ the wool was sent as one and this victory is finished but you don't have to actually earn his favor by your perfect struggle with sin we read another list another list of sins that shows that this shows up in.

First Corinthians Paul is addressing the Church he says or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor fees nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and you hear that and maybe you immediately run to shame and you immediately run to I don't know how there's overwhelming sense of guilt and then he says and such were some of you.

But you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God and what he just stated was is an eternal reality that if you've placed your faith in Jesus if your hope is bound up in him there's this mysteriously eternal reality outside of time that there's this future justification where the perfect spotless righteous record of Christ stands for you and God doesn't look at you and see the worst of you.

See your sin he sees the perfection of Christ and running to shame and guilt as opposed to the hope of Christ those are two different realities one is the Gospel this religion of the Pharisees and scribes of one is the Gospel of Christ so we got some work to do in examining this because Jesus looks at Peter and he says are you still without understanding do you still not get it they've around them for years and you may have been around churches.

For years he's around our Church for years this may sound familiar but are you actually believing this are you applying the Gospel to your heart where are you failing to believe the Gospel has it fully sunk in to your heart or maybe your heart is showing that there's some hidden actions that are revealed behind all of this maybe we're not applying this at all or for some of you maybe you've ever never actually listened to this you've never actually understood this and you've never actually fully believed this.

Because there's a deal you can spend your entire life around this message you can spend your entire life around the Church and never actually believe this I was reading this book once and they referenced this story of a pastor who had was sitting in on a children's lesson someone was explaining the Gospel to children and his Church and in that moment something clicked he realized in that moment that this message that he had talked about for years had never actually penetrated his heart and in that moment in listening to this teacher teach kids about the Gospel called him to faith he placed his faith in.

Jesus and you might be thinking how is that possible how is it possible for someone to be around the Church's entire life how is it possible for him to go to seminary how is it possible for him to preach the Gospel weekend week out and that never actually sink in and penetrate his heart is because proximity that Jesus does not equal following Jesus I say that again proximity to Christ does not mean following Christ this pandemic has shook us at the regular rhythms of worship the regular rhythms of gather together in community groups and I want to ask what is this pandemic revealed about your heart what is this pandemic revealed about following.

Jesus is it checking boxes is it legalism is that this moralistic comparison to others is it this consistent pattern of being clothed and shame as opposed to being clothes and the righteousness of Christ has this pandemic for some of you giving you the cover that you need to walk in sin and not actually walk in the light with other brothers and sisters this pandemic is revealing what is in our hearts and I want to ask you a question I want you sit in this question.

For a few seconds of silence what has this pandemic what does this season revealed where is your heart I'm gonna ask the band to come up but I want you to sit in that question and I want you to ask the Lord where is my heart does it belong to you have I applied the Gospel is it taking root now once you hear some good news she just looks at Peter he says are you still without understanding and guess what he was he did not the reason I can say that it's.

Because you can fast forward to thee to the night where he has betrayed the night he's not trial in Jesus that nice Peter denied Jesus three times said oh I don't know him I don't know I didn't but here's the good news of the Gospel when Jesus goes to the cross and his blood is poured out for our sins and when he rises on the third day and he conquers the grip of death instead it is an abandoned Peter it doesn't say you missed it you're out.

Now he shows up he confronts all the disciples who abandoned all the disciples who denied him it catches their hearts for 40 days he sits with them and he teaches them the mysteries and the beauty of the Gospel and he claims that a heart and he seals them with the Holy Spirit and he sends them out and the world is never the same and that's the hope of the Gospel for us we need to have the courage to actually reflectively examine our own hearts and this and ask the tough questions do we believe in a Gospel is religion we believe in the Gospel that brings hope this saves centers that redeems us and makes us.

New maybe we sit in that question right now as we close out Mershon that we sit in that question and our groups this week and my hope is that we would respond in faith God I pray right now in a season where there's so much happening where there's so many things to concern is that right now we wouldn't forget the most important thing we can reflect on the most important message is the hope of the Gospel that is an eternal reality and eternal hope got to pray right.

Now for those of us that are struggling for those of us that are not believing the Gospel may you confront us in our hearts and we repent in ways we have not believed gotta pray there's anyone here and if they're honest to themselves they've never actually believed this message never actually plays faith in you right now you would confront them and you would win them over and you would claim them and they would have a new heart that only comes about your powers.

When you go to work on this method in Jesus name Amen would you all stand with us and sing the song of response I say Oh whoa No alright I'll walk up here and the mic works it's amazing y'all we do check these things before him alright so a couple announces before we get out of here today as we said before if if you want to give we have giving and the slots right here we also have giving online so you can you can give online Mill City kc.com also you can check out some more information about groups online.

So if you would like to know more about our community groups our community groups are smaller groups of our Church family that live life together that have conversations about the Gospel like we just talked about they're going to walk that together as a Church family have community groups that meet and different parts the city and different days of the week and if you're new here I would encourage you to check one out and you can go on our website you can scan that QR code.

If it works for your phone if not you go to our Mill City KC comm to our community herbs page you can fill out some info we can follow up with you but we'd love to connect to you with a group this is how we walk out the Gospel together as a Church family alright so I want to close with a benediction which is a word from second Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 16 through 17 now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself in.

God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and established them in every good work in word amen you guys have a great day.

Jesus Walks on Water (Matthew 14:22-36)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Jesus Walks on Water

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastor's of Mill City Church of KC we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else and because of this truth that we live by we get to be a Gospel centered community on mission and in this pass really all this year it has increasingly become difficult to be a Gospel centered community right like the there's lots of just culturally there's lots of disconnectedness it's it's growing all over the places we tried to social distance as we've got.

So many things on our plate fears of just kovat fears of the economy fears of social unrest there's so many things that fill our attention and so many things that we are concerned about and we're increasingly becoming disconnected and the Church is not a mean to that that as a Church we've increasingly become more disconnected right like it's it's been hard as we adjusted to going online and watching services online and focusing and being present there it's been hard we've taught a group leaders as groups are trying to continue to navigate this and be together that that attendance has been spotty at best in some in certain groups it's just been it's difficult there's this.

Disconnectedness that we are facing culturally but in the midst of all of that that's gonna continue as this year goes on in the midst of all of that I'm still hopeful and the reason that I'm hopeful is because the most important thing about us still is Christ the hope of Christ that's why we are a Gospel centered community so the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the spirit that has work in us so we can grow in this in the midst of all the adapting we need to do we can grow we can still grow in being present here on a Sunday morning.

So if you're here this morning seeing worship if you're at home right now watching take some time don't multitask don't listen to this in the background like be present see sit on the authority of God's Word let's grow and doing this together as we leave here we go into our community groups must be present well--that's meeting virtually or that's meeting outside whatever that looks like let's let's continue to grow and being a Gospel centered community on mission so if you're new here that's a little bit of who we are those that's what some of what we value as a Church and one of the easiest ways to experience this is to get into a group.

And you can do that by by going online there's there's a QR code that'll be on the screen that you can scan that'll take you to our website also you can go to Mill City KC com go to our groups and there's more information there you can fill out a request form and you can and someone will contact you and tell you more about our groups and where there might be a good place for you to jump in but we love.

For you to experience that and what we care about in groups if you are not new and you call this Church home we want you to continue to give we have giving slots that you can give at any point during the gathering today you can also give online so I want to pause and pray the God prepare our hearts for worship and then I want you to stand we read from Psalm 36 so let me pray I've got to thank you that you came.

For us to rescue us to claim a people that in the midst of whatever we are facing the midst of fears anxieties the midst of just the regular difficult rhythms of life that we can fix our eyes upon you that we can gaze upon you that we can worship you together as a Church wherever we are God I pray that you would help us prepare to worship and you would call us into worshipping you and that we would respond me s in.

Jesus name Amen you got stand when it calls into worship from psalm 66 shout for joy to God all the earth sing the glory of his name give to him glorious praise say to God how awesome are your deeds so great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you all the earth worships you and sings praises to you they sing praises to your name let's see we're gonna seam together how great thou are slipped our voices hold on my.

God when I in awesome wonder consider I see the song I by then sings my soul breakdown then sings my soul my Savior God ah shop my soul my Savior God - how a reading from Ephesians two and as we read this we remember our need to confess on our need for a savior and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is.

Now at work and sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him in cedis seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ.

Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing 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 that we should walk in them let's continue worshiping there's nothing with nothing on Messer you know you want No No what a beautiful name it is nothing what a beautiful name death could not hold you.

God we've gathered in this place today only by the name of Jesus by the blood of Jesus about a sacrifice of Jesus can we come into this place and come into your presence freely as people who willingly confess our sin before you in our need for you God we thank you we thank you for the good news of the Gospel we thank you for Jesus and we thank you for the gift that worship is God but all of our lives our worship before you we live lives of worship before you.

And so we know we need you to teach us we need your spirit to fill us and to lead us that we might follow you in obedience then we might repent where we need to that our faith might grow where it needs to and God we're asking for that as well this morning God would you speak and change us in Jesus name Amen you guys gonna have a seat good morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastor's here I'm glad to be with y'all this morning I have a few quick pieces of information that I want to share with you all that's not a description of the sermon it won't be quick.

It's got tons of stuff in it but before we get to the sermon a few quick pieces of information one of the things that people have said to us throughout the whole time you know we we plan to the Church we've merged together now with First Baptist Church of KC and throughout our whole history people have come up to us over and over again and said y'all communicate everything so clearly we've never been caught off guard we've never been surprised by anything we just always knew everything that was going on and in the spirit of that and actually the only thing that messed us up a little bit was this pandemic and there may be.

A few things you just need to be caught up on that we need to celebrate together and be excited about one is we launched a new community group this past week yeah so we've trained some leaders that's a big deal for us because we want to have group leaders that trained group leaders that send out group leaders and so we launched a new group you have 11 groups now and that's a big deal and so we're excited want to let y'all know that let's you be celebrating that we also are gearing up to helps into the Rockies to be missionaries the.

First foreign missionaries that we're sending out of our Church family and in the future we're gonna have them up here and help try to raise some support for them and Chris plays the drums and I even suggested that we would have him play the drums every week and put a hat here and as soon as we had raised enough money we'd send him out and you wouldn't have to hear the drums anymore if you didn't like them so it would be a way to help raise some support of course people like the jumps and they might be taking some of the money out.

So it might get might get convoluted but we're gearing up to send them excited about that we also are about to begin construction so we have planned to do some construction in this area to kind of make a welcome area over here so that it can be a little more open when you enter and to get ready for kids city because we had upwards of 40 children on Sundays and needed to make some more space for them we did just discover that in that section of the building there is some asbestos.

So it was built in the 70s and they put his bestest and everything because it was a miracle powder stuff and they just put it all over the place and it's in some of the joint compound and stuff so our construction just got a little more expensive and I know some of y'all consistently come over to me and say I have all this money laying around the house and I don't know what to do with it we would welcome you to help put it towards the construction we're about to be getting into.

But just want to let you know we are about to start some of that and it may change how we move around on Sundays but it is an exciting time for us now for those of you who keep up with how long I preach none of that counted we're starting now grab your Bibles got a Matthew chapter 14 we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew together and we just left off where Jesus it's the stories known as Jesus feeds 5,000 or the feeding of the 5,000.

But we learned last week there's 5,000 men was probably 15,000 people we're picking up right at the end of that Disney bought Marvel and then started making the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I have really appreciated the movies they put out and have two sons we watched them together and because of those I have been beaten senseless at my house because my children now have Thor hammers and shields that look like Captain America they sling at my head and that sort of thing.

But one of the original Thor movies I appreciate it because it reminds me of some of the Gospel story there's some as I watch movies a lot of times I see parallels to the Gospel and in sometimes I see contradiction so the Gospel and I think man Jesus is so much better than that sometimes I see things that remind me of the Gospel and so in the first Thor movie Thor who is a from the Norse he's a Norse God from Norse mythology.

But he got picked up by Marvel and just became a comic book hero in the movie he is sent to earth and he's actually banished for being a jerk so he sent to earth and then he has to regain his godness but there are some places throughout the story where he's interacting with people and he's telling them he's Thor and they can't decide whether or not he actually is he does some things that our hero s can he does some other things that are just nor guys stuff and it's an interesting movie.

But it reminds me of Jesus comes to earth he actually is God he wasn't banished he came with a good purpose to accomplish God's will but there are times where he does things that are godlike and there are other times where he does things that just seem like a normal person so we've been following this story with the disciples he just fed 5,000 men 15,000 people but it seemed like the disciples were surprised that happened it wasn't like this was how he always did things I think a lot of times they bought food ate what they had had to do with it.

So there are times where he seems like a normal teacher and there are other times where he seems like a prophet where he seems like there's more to it but in this story with Thor there comes this moment at the end of the movie he's been telling people he's Thor all of a sudden a flying hammer shoots into his hand he is struck by lightning and the Lightning dresses him like Thor it changes his clothes he comes out of the lightning would like braided hair and a cape and some chainmail which i think is one of the most underused powers of Thor.

Because that would be really nice you could sleep till almost the time you had to leave the house you just roll over pick up your hammer get struck by lightning be ready to go it'd be very very very convenient but in that moment when that happens it clicks for everybody around him he is who he said he was we're just gonna read this moment in the Gospel where there's a turning point here in Matthew where Jesus does a couple of things in a row and all of a sudden his disciples go oh not just a prophet not not just a teacher you are the son of.

God as we get to read that story today and it is a very interesting story as we see all the things that lead up to the disciples realizing who Jesus really is and so as we read that story we're gonna walk through it and then we're gonna just talk about as as we're disciples of Jesus what are for appropriate responses to the fact that Jesus is God that we see in this story so that's that's our goal today let's pray God we thank you.

For your word we thank you for how in your word your son is revealed to us his divinity is revealed to us and that in him we might have hope and life let me pray that we would grow in our faith today as we study this passage Jesus name Amen we're in Matthew chapter 14 we're gonna start in verse 22 immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd.

So he just fed this large crowd as soon as everybody's eating eating their fill it's been a wonderful time but it's in the evening it's already getting kind of late he tells the disciples get in the boat and go to the other side of the lake other side of the sea so this is Sea of Galilee it's about eight miles wide so he tells them y'all go to the other side which we don't know he kind of compels them to do this.

But he doesn't go with them so we know if they had questions they said like why are we leaving but you're not but he just says get in the boat go and then he goes and dismisses the crowds after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain by himself to pray this is actually what he had been trying to do when the crowd showed up and interrupted him last time so he had been trying to get away spend some time alone the crowds show up and interrupt him.

But he loves them has compassion on them heals their sick feeds them and then now he sends them away and he goes off by himself to pray and if Jesus the Son of God needs to get off by himself and pray we need to get off by ourselves and pray if you were questioning whether that was something you needed to do I'm glad you came here this morning the answer is yes and when I say by yourself I mean no other humans and no cell phone and I know some of you just walk no cell phone yes put it to him and go off by yourself and pray.

So Jesus does that when the evening came that means when it was late he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and then it says in the fourth watch of the night the fourth watch of the night is 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. so somewhere between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. so these guys ate a full mil ate all the food they could possibly eat.

And then he told them get in the boat go to the other side and the wind was against them so they have rowed a boat for hours and I don't know if you've ever eaten a full meal where you were stuffed but you don't immediately think you know what would go really nice it's a manual labor I'd love to really row a boat now for hours but that's what they just did I don't think this has been the best night for them they got to eat a full meal that was nice and he says get in the boat we're going to the other side.

Okay but as soon as they start going to other side the wind is against them now we've recently had storms in Colombia I actually take my boys out sometimes right before a storm starts and I'll hold them outside and we just stand and look at it and watch the wind whip the trees around and really enjoy doing that but if you're on a lake there's nothing to stop the wind it just comes and so the wind is pushing against them and they're getting battered by waves.

If the wind was behind them they could travel across this lake probably in an hour hour and a half if there was no wind and they had to row it might take them about two two and a half hours but with the wind against them in obedience to Jesus they've been laboring and it's between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. some of them maybe have slept maybe they took turns maybe there's one guy who still is in a good mood at this time all of you ever hung out with a bunch of people too way late in the morning or had to work really long there's usually one that's still liked and that's the guy that most.

Of the other guys don't really like it's like you got to stop like can't you just be grumpy with the rest of us like please please quit but most of them probably not having the best night and says this when evening came he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way away from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea do not certify this in your head.

So that you act like that's normal and we're just fine with it Jesus just walked on the sea and not even like a calm nice sea a windy wavy terrible sea he just walks he absolutely displays his authority over creation it is absolute his kingship I worked swimming pools growing up and there were times when I have to go to somebody's house and I come to their backyard and I'd be at a fence and there'd be five or six dogs just acting crazy and I'm standing there thinking no no no I'm not going in this backyard like y'all spook and just stay the way it is you know.

But then there are times where all sudden the door opens the owner comes out and all these dogs pretend like to their owner that they're not vicious psychos they suddenly calm down there wagging their tail they run over to the owner and the moment that that happens you know your brain just registers this is the owner there is a chaotic sea Jesus walks down he gets to the edge of it and he just walks on to it and all of a sudden.

If we had been watching we would have had the same realization oh he's the owner the sea does what he wants he's absolutely in charge now I don't know how walking on water works I don't know if it's smoothed out for him I don't know if it was like some of the water was hitting his feet but then it was like there was something solid underneath it it certainly reads like it was very simple for him it's not like the waves were coming he was having to run up on my friend no I don't think that was happening I think he looked peaceful and in control I'll even think he had to do a whole.

Lot of like you know we watched movies and stuff and we get to see some of this stuff that you know people have now a CGI help us picture but they always make it seem like the person's really struggling I think Jesus just walking so he's walking on the sea absolutely in charge and it says but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear yeah 3 to 6 a.m.

Stormy I doesn't seem like it's raining but it's windy they're out on a boat it's dark it seems like at this point by the time they saw him he was close he was there it was like you know they're rowing hey someone else is a ghost and it just says they yelled out my grandmother my grandmother whenever she would get intense situations like there was a time where my mom was driving and they were on ice and they slid my grandmother would start yelling and one of the things she would yell in any of these situations was we're coming home that was like her go-to thing to shout and I just I pictured just.

For my own sake that one of the disciples said the ghost is coming for us I'm assuming there were some Galilean ghost stories oh my goodness is one night Dimitri he come to get us they're terrified and they absolutely would be and here's the thing I don't think Jesus was bobbing up and down with the waves I think when they saw the figure of a person he's moving smoothly so they're rocking up and down in a boat and they see this figure moving in the waves and they just lose it and absolutely they would their adrenaline is pumping I mean that's it's go-time your brains trying to process what you're seeing that there's a mirror.

That hangs on the back of my closet door and bedroom and sometimes if my wife leaves that door open when I turn at night to go into my own bedroom I'm suddenly staring at some shadowy figure of a full-grown man and I'm like so it's just me okay don't have to fight anybody but I do that maybe once a month just terrify myself absolutely I mean adrenaline pumping heart racing and the brains trying to process you know when you see something scary your brain tries the process to tell you what it is and the brain keeps just going best thing I got is that maybe.

If you jump out of the boat he'll kill these other guys I don't know I don't know terrified they cry out and fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid now that's comforting and certainly it's less scary that it's not a ghost but this adds a whole new layer of things right Jesus just walked to them I don't think their heart rate slows down that much I think they're just going Oh what on earth is going on that he can just come over here walking on water eleven of them are just trying to process.

But I'd like to introduce Peter to y'all Peter answered him lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water everybody else is just like and Peter yells me to I used to think this was like Peter's test to see if it was really the Lord like this is the ultimate ghost test prove you're not a ghost say come here and if that's what it was I like to think John later was like house ghost could say come here that goes could have just drowned you like I don't think that proved anything.

But I actually think it reads more like it since it is you O Jesus since it's you walking on water let me walk on water - y'all have known people like this right they see something Oh meet - how'd you do that you learned how to do a back flip I don't know how to do a back flip show me how to do that let me try Peter's a me-too person I grew up being a Nam good person my older brother's a me-too person hey you want to shot a coffin.

For this tree - that tree no I'm good hey I found a hole you want to crawl down it and see what's in it no I'm good you can tell me what's in it when you come out if you come out I think I'd be still in the boat but Peter jumped up and said call me out let me come out on the water with you you know how you get to hear stories about people maybe you've had some stories passed down to you and you kind of feel like you know some of your relatives or some of your parents friends or your grandparents friends even though you never met them.

Because you get these a glimpse of them in a story I think this story does that for us for both Peter and for Jesus I think this shows us something about God that I find extremely interesting Peter says if it is you command me to coming to you on the water he said come why I always feel like what God wants from us is utility that he wants us to be productive but he has things he wants us to do that.

When he calls us into something it's it's for some bigger purpose some kind of thing that needs to accomplish but I don't understand what this accomplishes other than Peter displays faith and gets to go closer to Jesus and Jesus says come that he wouldn't let him if it wasn't a good request you know there was a time that James and John asked Jesus if they could send fire down from heaven to kill a town Jesus said no to that request like the town wouldn't let him in and James and John were like hey you know how you do like prophet stuff yeah you know Elijah burned up a whole town yeah I know that can.

We do that to that to actually Lodge didn't burn up a town he burned up an army but Jesus says no no we're not new Peter says can I walked on water and Jesus says come because Peter wants to participate in what his Jesus is doing and he won't he has faith in this moment to do it so Jesus says come so Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus to people in human history have walked on water one of them was.

God incarnate the other one was a guy who trusted Jesus to let him do it and aggressively asked can I sue Peter gets to walk on water he walks on water and he came to Jesus but when he saw the wind he was afraid and began to sink and cried out lord save me so Peter gets out of the boat boats bounce and winds blowing he steps out and his foot sticks and he's watching Jesus and he's walking to him I think he probably looked like he was having a harder time Peter.

Jesus standing there doing fine Peters like walking to him and then all of a sudden he starts noticing the wind he starts noticing the wave he starts being a little more realistic about the situation he's in he starts thinking thoughts like you know if I quit being able to walk on the water I'm gonna die I was in a boat and that situation was kind of bad this is awesome but could suddenly be terrible and he starts looking at the wind he starts up into the waves he starts getting scared and he begins to sink I find I find that interesting I like that phrase begins to sink like I said earlier I worked on.

Swimming pools for all growing up and my family owned the pool company and I was that's a nice house we had just put in an inground and it's real pretty was awkwardly shaped kind of little design I was vacuuming it for him staying on one little edge and I went to step this way I don't know if y'all remember I said it was awkwardly shaped there wasn't any concrete here and what happened next I would not describe to you as I began to sink I sank fully clothed every I mean boots and blue jeans.

Because that's how I dress in the summer and fell directly into the swimming pool came out had to go knock on the door and be like hey y'all ready for me to teach you how to work this thing and they're like why are you soaking wet and I was like why don't you mind your own Peter begins to sink so it's almost as his his faith begins to fall his fear begins to rise and in that moment he doesn't just disappear into the deep it starts to flood it starts to rise up around him it starts to overwhelm him and it and it's just a beautiful picture of what following.

Jesus is like don't you have times where you go from your highest high like everything's good well I'm really loving Jesus right now I want to follow him I want to obey and then all of a sudden it's like everything is terrible and all I can see is the wind and the waves and I'm about to drown and everything is about to overwhelming it just starts rising up around you some of some people this takes a week to shift some people it's a day some of you were just riding in your car one day and all of a sudden it just feels like I'm starting to sink he was afraid and beginning to sink he.

Cried out lord save me and Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him o you of little faith why did you doubt oh you have a little faith why did you doubt so he had faith he was walking on water he begins to lose his faith he begins to rise up in fear and he sinks and Jesus says oh you little faith why did you doubt and we don't know it's hard to all wait to read in tone.

But it feels like seems to me that the tone the way Jesus says this would be similar to the tone I would have if I was helping my son learn how to ride a bike and he's moving and he's going and all of a sudden he gets scared even though he had it he had it and then he convinced himself to be scared so he slows down and you know if you slow down on a bike it gets worse and all of a sudden he starts and I had to catch him and I said why why'd you stop you had it I think that's kind of the tone Oh little faith you had it you.

And I were about to walk on water together we were gonna leave them row and we were like I don't know what he's gonna do but it's like you you had it why did you down because as he was moving in faith he could do anything he was conquering as Jesus conquers he was rising above all the mess the way Jesus does as he trusted Jesus and then sphere creeps any false and when they got into the boat the wind ceased.

So he gets in the boat call and those in the boat worshiped him saying truly you are the son of God now there's a handful of things that happen in this passage that may have been lost on us they were not lost on Jesus as Jewish disciples so I want to point them out to you they shifted from you're a good teacher your Lord as in your over us but not Lord is in Adonai from Scripture but then they shifted you know you're the son of.

God and they worship Him and let me explain something to you Jewish men know you worship God and God alone and for them to fall down and say you were the son of God and worship him they said no this is this is God and God alone so a couple of things that happened here and like I said earlier it's like when in the end of that movie where all of a sudden the hammer shows up the lightning strikes you dressed like you're Thor it's like check check check I think you actually are Thor that's what they just did check check check oh my goodness this is.

God this is the son of God first of all one of the things that happens here that when we translated in the English it doesn't have the same punches in verse 27 when they cry out in fear it says immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid but he actually says take heart and in the Greek he says ego eimi which means take heart I am do not be afraid and there are places in the Scriptures specifically in the Gospels where.

When Jesus says I am he is intentionally drawing everyone's attention back to God's Revelation of himself in the book of Exodus at the burning bush Moses says who shall I say sent me and the burning bush God speaking through the burning bush says say I am since you I am that I am this is the divine name for God that if you look in your Scriptures will see in the Old Testament capital L Ord that's our english translation of yahweh or jehovah which is i am.

And when Jesus says this he says it with some punch throughout his ministry he says it in the Gospel of John at one point and everybody recognizes what he's doing to the point that they pick up rocks to stone him because he just claimed to be God at the end of the Gospel of John he says it to a group of soldiers that came out to him and they fall down it's this proclamation of I am this claim to divinity so he says do not be afraid I am or take courage I am do not be afraid.

So he says that as he's walking on water now he's done miracles that point back to Moses he's done miracles that point back to Elijah or Elijah there's like oh he looks like a prophet oh he looks like a teacher like Moses walking on water makes them go oh he looks like God because the only person who walks on water he treads over water who rules over water in the Old Testament Scriptures he's God that's job nine eight who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea it's a rhetorical question the answer.

God Psalm 77 says the same thing that he treads over the water his footprints are unseen that he leads the people of Israel but not just that when he gets in the boat after walking on water the storm ceases and the only person in the Old Testament who can make a storm sees who can control the ocean is God that's psalm 107:20 9 he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed Jobe 26/11 the pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke and by his power he stilled the sea fed 15,000 people walks on water stills the storm had the power to let Peter walk on water said.

I am check check check check this is God and they fall on their face and worship Him now there's four times in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus is worshipped the Wiseman worshipped him when they come to him as a baby so he's coming as the coming king they worship Him this moment here where they see him as the Incarnate God God in human flesh and then twice in chapter 28 after he has risen from the grave and there's this moment right.

When he dies when they think wait a second is he not God and then he comes back to life and they go oh yeah okay it confirms everything for him so they worship Him here now let me explain something to you we have a huge problem if Jesus is not God we now have a big problem because he lets them worship Him which you are not allowed to do for the record you can accept praise people can say yeah you play the piano really.

Well whoo whoo good job learn how to use a hula hoop whatever I did diversify the skill level for y'all so that you could get clap for for something but you can't have people say oh you are God and worship you humans are not allowed to do that humans are only allowed to worship God that's bad if you worship something other than God but if you accept worship in place of God as if you are God that's extremely bad that's far worse.

So if Jesus is just a human if he's just a prophet he's supposed to say no no no no no no that's what happens in in Acts chapter 10 Peter sent to Cornelius Cornelius falls down to worship Him and Peter says no no no no no get up get up get up get up get up I'm just a man so some people will say well he's more than a man he's not just a man he's more than a man we have Jehovah's Witnesses would say something along those lines the the Mormons would say something along those lines and he's more than a man that he's a prophet that he's a step above it that he.

Somehow got a little bit of something he's not deities not God but even in the book of Revelation John falls down to worship an angel more than a man and the angel says no no no no get up get out get up get up I'm here I'm a messenger of Jesus let's worship God and God alone so Jesus accepts worship so if you want to put him in the category of a good man or a good teacher or a good prophet you have to stop you can reject him or you can worship Him you only have two options and the disciples say let's worship Him and they are correct.

Jesus is God who has come in the flesh to redeem his people I want to quickly show you for appropriate responses to Jesus from this passage the first one is obedience the disciples were told go to the other side of the lake and they had to row all night long and it's like a row and it's like mind it'd be easier if we just floated with the wind over to there yes it would certainly be easier it would also be disobedient.

So let's not do that and one of them was like but how is Jesus gonna catch us and then later when he saw him walking on the water he was like it's a good thing y'all talked me out of that because he totally could have caught us you guys I had it all that that's not true but anyway obey and some of you that's the zone you're in right now he sets you on a course and it's difficult and it's exhausting and maybe every day you feel like that's what you're doing I'm just I'm just battling it would be.

So much easier to just go that way ah be so much easier if I just went that way but if he's God keep at it keep at it he knows what he's doing he knows what he's talking about he is good he is divine and when he wants us calm the storm he can keep moving in obedience second appropriate response to Jesus is to see what he is doing and ask excitedly if you can be involved I think a lot of times we decide to do something and we asked.

Jesus to join us but we need to get better at seeing what Jesus is doing and asked me if we can be involved and some of us need to also start praying prayers about Jesus command me to do something terrifying eleven men stayed in the boat one of them got out and that's because he asked if he could and I think everybody here needs to put it on their prayer list to start asking Jesus can I be a part of something that you're doing that will absolutely terrify me I think we'd be a better Church.

If that began or what are you doing that would make me have to rely solely on you can I be a part of something that absolutely demands my time and my money and it's terrifying so that I can only look at you or I will fail we need to begin to pray prayers like that another appropriate response from this passage that we need to see is that we all ought to yell out lord save me Peter was sinking into the abyss he was going to be he was going to be swamped he was gonna be drowned it was gonna go over his head and the reality is Peter would have died were it not.

For Jesus and the reality for us is that is exactly the same position we are in you will die you will be crushed you will be drowned if it art is not for Christ if we don't yell out lord save me we will be overwhelmed and for some of you you will be overwhelmed by the weight of your sin and your shame and your guilt and we need exactly what Jesus came for which was to die so that we might have life he is.

God and he did die on a cross and he did rise again and the appropriate response to him is to cry out lord save me and he immediately does the Scriptures tells us that no one who calls on the name of the Lord will be put to shame that he will save all of those who cry out to him and that is an appropriate response to Jesus as king is to call out to him to save me and if for those of us who have been been walking in faith.

But are suddenly feeling like we were beginning to sink the response is not to white-knuckle it the response is to run to Jesus saying I need you to save me I need you to encourage me I need you to redeem me I need the Gospel in my life to apply to my heart in my soul I need you to call me back into it I need you to snatch me up and he does the fourth appropriate response to Jesus as God is to worship Him as.

God to worship him and him alone this is why we sing to Jesus this is why we praise Jesus this is why we pray to Jesus this is why we speak of Jesus and proclaim Jesus because we believe that he is God who came to redeem who does redeem and save and we trust Jesus this is why we're excited about the Peters in the world but we also expect them to sink all Christian heroes get wet you guys two guys walked on water one of them got in the boat bone-dry the other one got on the boat like oh and that's.

Okay we're gonna have people that we look up to that fall into sin we're gonna have people that that are quote-unquote heroes with ourselves we're gonna have moments that are high in moments that are low and all of us get to run to Jesus and ask to be redeemed and he does so we worship Jesus he is our hero and everybody else is a sinner who gets the worst of Jesus - Peter got to walk on water and all it did was highlight how good.

Jesus was it didn't highlight Peter when they got back in the boat they didn't go you are the son of God and I guess you're like his cousin they didn't do that he got back in the boat they said you are the son of God and Peter fell on his face too because he knew that the only way he was able to move that way the only way he was able to be a part of that was something that brought glory to.

Jesus and so in the midst of all this as we beg to get to be a part of things let's worship Jesus and Jesus alone and when the people next to us fall into sin let's grab them and say cry out to Jesus because he is our only hope don't sink and don't think you're the one who does this let's trust that Jesus redeems and Jesus saves and Jesus heals and Jesus works and let's worship and Jesus as the band's gonna come back up and we are going to worship.

Jesus and some of you need to ask Jesus to save you you're sinking and some of you need to pray right now Lord I've been staying in the boat I've been trying to keep myself safe command me to do something that makes me trust in you and some of you right now you just need to keep rowing you're exhausted just keep rowing just keep moving in the direction he sent you in just trusting let's pray now we thank you for your grace we thank you that you tread over the chaos and that in you we can be saved we can walk we can conquer you can still the storm or.

Jesus may you receive all of our praise in Jesus name Amen you guys Stanley sing together I can buy me two greatest friend like you yes No my Huygens Oh goodnight my soul to find the coldest Oh when tied you sound to your face my rock gracious Crossley on shore you suffer you know may Almighty returned my lord amen you may be seated all right so just a couple of things before we get out of here today the last two two and a half three months and some of that range we've been doing a lot of stuff to this building and by we I mean Isaac Hill who is in the back and the booth.

Of the Hat on when we decided to hire someone for part-time kids in part-time facilities in a full-time position right before kovat hit and kid City went into a new mode it was like oh okay that was a step of faith now what and and to see how much work he's done most of the work that's been done here he's either directly overseen or he's done and we're just thankful to have you Isaac and what you do here secondly if you are new here or.

If you've been coming for a little bit if you're listening online for the first time we want to connect you to a group so if you're here please stop by the connect tab on your way out Phoebe Garcia who is singing up here will be by there to answer the questions you have about groups to tell you which one might be good one to go check out we'd love for you to jump in if you're online you can scan the QR code that will be on the screen you can also go to our community groups tab at our website on a close to the word from Ephesians three verses 20 through 21.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen you guys have a great week.

Jesus Feeds Thousands (Matthew 14:13-21; 15:32-39)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Jesus Feeds Thousands

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Good morning it's so good to see you guys this morning in this building it's been a while but we're excited and hopefully this time of worship will be blessing to us and so would you stand as we begin to sing there are tears Oh it's good to see you this morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastor's here we are excited to be able to gather again as a Church family we know that some people aren't able to make it and don't feel comfortable yet and that is fun and we have the live stream set up.

But we are glad that we are able to gather even in the ability that we have right now having to be spread out some things have changed we're not passing a plate we're not having bulletins we won't be taking communion we're not having anything that people touch we're trying not to touch each other we did discuss it and we did say it was okay to have chairs in here but that's about it we're not gonna have anything else that we can touch and as we gather.

Today I want to remind us that we are people who believe that Jesus is better than everything else and if he's better in all the situation's of life that he is good that he works for our good even when things are difficult and every Sunday that we gather we both gather as a people who are celebrating and who are mourning our Church family is large enough that that we have people who come in and it's been a really good week and it's been a really blessed season and we have people who come in and it's been a really hard season and a really sad one and and that's more poignant this morning as we gather.

Again because we're celebrating that we can get back together that things are moving back towards normal there are some good things to be excited about and there are some real things to mourn right now this has been a difficult season for our nation there are a lot of people who have gotten sick there have been people who have died from this pandemic there's a lot of tumult and difficulty and so as we join together for the first time this morning we are going to do both we're going to mourn and we're going to celebrate.

And so as we start this morning I will pray and then we'll read a psalm of lament and sing a song that is more in that vein and then Isaac will eat read a song of celebration and will sing a song that's more in that vein said that we rejoice with those who rejoice and we mourn with those who mourn and we gather together in a way that understands the situation the unique time that we're in right now so let's pray.

And then we'll read together God we thank you for your grace we thank you that it is sufficient for our need that you have been at work in this situation we thank you for all the people who have been brought back together this morning we thank you for all the people who are able to join via technology that we would not have had even just a few years ago for us to be able to do what we're doing today so that we can gather as your people we pray that you would minister to us through your spirit and that those who mourn we would join them in the morning.

For all the things we have to rejoice in we would rejoice well this morning but that we would be genuine followers of you worshiping you in truth and in spirit in Jesus name Amen if you will stand with me I'm going to read from Psalm 80 and if you will read the underlined portion with me give ear o Shepherd of Israel you who lead Joseph like a flock you who are enthroned upon the cherubim shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your might and come to save us restore us O.

God let your face shine that we may be saved Oh Lord God of hosts how long will you be angry with your people's prayers you have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure you make us an object of contention for our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves restore us O God of hosts let your face shine that we may be saved turn again Oh God of hosts turn I looked down from heaven.

See have regard for this vine the stock that your right hand planted and for the son whom you made strong for yourself they have burned it with fire they have cut it down may they perish at the rebuke of your face but let your hand to be on the man of your right hand the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself then we shall not turn back from you give us life and we will call upon your name restore us O.

Lord God of hosts let your face shine that we may be saved let's continue singing cry he was Christ we for my life he bled and died Christ alone me first just it won't be fast is a reading from Psalm 30 I will extol thee O Lord for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me O Lord my God I cried to you for help and you have healed me O Lord you have brought up my soul from.

See all you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit sing praises to the Lord o you his Saints and give thanks to his holy name for his anger is but for a moment and his failures for a lifetime weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning but seeing this song in celebration we rutila's Christ saw me by his green stand once found by finishing not slave the righteousness of who see a new face the key crazy.

While we will we keep dying making us reconcile to eternal day even in our painting flesh Oh open let's he's drowning baby Jesus Saves hotseat now it's all too easy the glorious founder the one who gives great joy Jesus Christ God we thank you for this moment that we get to come together and gather as your people to give you praise and to recognize that you are truly better than everything else in this world and we pray that as check comes up to preach that you give us ears to hear and hearts to.

Listen to what your word would say in Jesus name Amen you may be seated good morning y'all don't even know how excited I am to preach to real people I didn't know how much I needed to be able to see faces but when you're talking to a camera first of all a lot of times I'm up here and I can see on your faces y'all don't know what the heck I'm talking about and it helps I can then sometimes I can tell it's like I we got it we can move on.

When you're talking to a cameras like best of luck I don't know and I am excited I'm glad that we get to study the Scriptures together this morning I think I've done a decent job when talking to a camera of keeping it short but I'm excited so there's no telling grab your Bibles go to Matthew chapter 14 we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew and we're picking up today right where we left off last week John the Baptist had been arrested he had been proclaiming that King or.

Well he's not King Tetrarch Herod had been sinning he was arrested because of that and that the Tetrarch had him beheaded and this news was brought to Jesus by the disciples of John and that's where we're picking up and so we're gonna pray then we're gonna jump right into this text and see this story of a miracle that Jesus performs and we're gonna study it together and we're gonna see something that I think Matthew intentionally wants us to see and hopefully grow in our love.

For Jesus this morning as we do that let's pray God we thank you for your word we thank you that you recorded these moments for us that we might be built up by them we might be encouraged in them and we pray that our faith would grow this morning and that we would walk out of here with a greater love for Christ and the glory of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus name Amen so we're gonna pick up in verse 13 it says.

Now when Jesus heard this and that this is that John the Baptist had been beheaded in prison so he got this newse he had been in Nazareth if you'll remember he was in Nazareth and he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief so he had been ministering to his hometown and because he was from their hometown they didn't listen to him they were like boy I know your mama so I don't have to pay attention that's kind of what they did.

So they didn't have belief and so he's in Nazareth and it says when he heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself so he's with his disciples we find out they they withdraw he hears sad news and he just tries to get away and that's his hope is to to retreat catch his breath this is a turning point in ministry for him because John the Baptist had gone before him to prepare away and John the Baptist goes before him in death.

Jesus knows the same thing is coming for him that that it's moving forward in the story of he's going to be progressing towards his execution and so he's sad hip this was a friend of his and a a relative of his and so he wants to retreat and so they do they get in a boat and they leave but still verse 13 when the crowds heard it they followed him on foot from the towns and when he went ashore he saw a great crowd.

So he's trying to get away from the crowds he's trying to retreat and so sia galilee is is not massive but it's pretty big and there are little towns dotted all around it and then there are areas where there's nobody and it's got rolling hills around it and so they pick a little spot he and the disciples are just gonna go get away from everyone there like it's gonna be a nice little mountain retreat and instead of it being a nice little mountain retreat it's Gatlinburg like they show up and there's a massive crowd there they didn't know what's coming these people sneak around.

And when they show up they there's a giant crowd and you could almost picture it's like they're landing the boat like ah relaxation it's like when you're a parent and you're like we finally get to go on vacation but you have to take your children with you it's like that ha oh no this is the same this is the exact same just in a different place where they're more bored for some reason that's it they show up and it's the same this whole crowd has shown up.

And so for the disciples I bet they were like hey let's spin this boat around but that's not how Jesus responds and so Jesus sees the crowd and it says he had compassion on them and healed their sick and in that beautiful when Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God the Father when he's the image of the invisible God he's trying to retreat he's trying to rest he's trying to mourn he's trying to pray and people interrupt that and his response is not frustration his response is not to be angry to reject that his response is compassion that he loves them we find out later in.

Verse 21 that there were it says that there were about five thousand men besides women and children so common way for them to count was to just count the men and then they said so there was five thousand men and not counting women and children I was common for them that's not common for us but if you want to mess with somebody try that next time someone asked you how many people were at a place how many people came to your party I heard it was a lot seven men not counting women and children won't go over super.

Well but it'll be fun for you alright but there's five thousand men which means there's about 15,000 or 20,000 people when you add in women and children so this is a picture of 15,000 people so it may have been a little less a little more but they're trying to retreat and they show up 15,000 people and Jesus's response is compassion it's love and says he healed their sick and that's why they ran to him he was a teacher but he was a healer they here he's coming and there's some people who this is their last shot there's somebody who went and said come on mama I know you don't feel good I know you've been.

Coughing I know you can't but we'll take our time but he's coming and we don't know where he's gonna land but we're gonna find him and we'll take a shot at this there's somebody who's carrying his little son who's fever has continued to rise and whose becoming more and more lethargic and not responding and he's just going as fast as he can so he can get to Jesus and Jesus sees him and he loves him and that's how he responds he heals the sick we don't know exactly what time they started.

But we're told in the next verse it says now when it was evening so from the time they arrived till it's getting dark it's most likely I would think it's most likely that they left in the morning because it was easy for them to get away and then people found out they had left so I would guess they left pretty early in the morning they'd show up over there they wouldn't had to go too far people have run around to them and they stay and do this till evening.

Now the people came to see Jesus Jesus teaches and heals and we don't know how much his disciples participated in the healing we don't know if they just did crowd control if they were just like all right everybody you line up he's gonna see everybody if they're like hey he's gonna work his way through no need to push he's gonna get to you we don't know if they actually walked through healing because they he had given them the authority to do this and send them out before.

So we don't know exactly but we know that all of them have been when they expected to get to rest not resting when they expected to get to retreat they expected to get to catch their breath the opposite happened I don't know about you that doesn't go well for me well if I know I'm about to go into something difficult and get my mind right but if I'm expecting to get to rest and and all of a sudden that's just taken away from me I have to get my mind right on the fly maybe you're excellent at that I'm not that good at it.

So there are times where I'm suddenly caught off guard but his disciples just roll with it Jesus who's perfect rolls with it perfectly I don't know how well his disciples handle it but it says this when it's getting late now was evening the disciples came to him and said this is a desolate place and the day is now over send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves that does not read harshly but it doesn't read really respectfully either a lot of times they call him.

Lord it sounds a little bit like it's the end of a long day they come to him and say hey days over we're in the middle of nowhere we need to send them away you need to send them on and otherwise they're not gonna get any food and I don't know where you're from but I know this moment and the day cuz I'm from Edgefield I know the moment in the day when you go well if you go and you better go on.

Because everything's gonna be closed that's what they're saying we're in the middle of nowhere so they better go if they're gonna go otherwise everybody's hungry tonight that's what they're saying to him and they say it in a little bit of a we're hungry too fashion that's how I read it you may read a little bit differently doesn't say but it just sounds a little bit like it's been a long day they need to go on if they're gonna eat they're gonna eat part of the reason I say that is this.

But Jesus said this is verse 16 they need not go away you give them something to eat you ever feel like Jesus tells you something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense that's the way the disciples felt often I think he would say something not joking dead serious that seemed very unrealistic that's what it says they said to him we have only five loaves here and two fish now this interaction they come to Jesus and they say you need to send them away.

So that we can have they need to go so then get somebody he says you feed them I think there's a moment where they go look at the crowd look back at each other and I think one of them pretty quickly answered we have five loaves and two fish not in a faith way here Jesus multiply this but in the way you and I would respond like if I said I was doing some work and my son Ellis was there so it was more difficult and you said why doesn't he help you I would say he's two years old that's my answer do you.

See how he made things more difficult he's - I just give you information that now helps you understand what you said doesn't make any sense I also think this came from one of the disciples who had already counted as the loaves and fish and was doing some quick math on how much that would split up between 13 people that's what it seems like y'all feed them we only have 5 loaves and 2 fish and if I'm doing this right I get 1/3 of a loaf depending on how hungry Philip is cuz sometimes it's not that hungry I've been trying to talk some of the disciples into fasting I think they need it like I think.

That's that was kind of the answer was we have 5 loaves to fish like your plan doesn't make any sense I don't mean to be rude Jesus your plan doesn't did no that's kind of the answer he gets that's kind of the answer we give Jesus often when he says something and were just like I know I did the math for you won't work so he says brings them here to me then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.

Now if you're the disciples again it doesn't say all this I'm just trying to think through this story I think some of the disciples got excited I think some of them thought oh he's about to do something some of the people who have faith you know like you've been around these people things are getting worse and worse and worse and you're with some people in the realistic people are like hey things have gotten worse and worse and worse and then there's a person in there with yous got the gift of faith and they're like.

Jesus is about to do something and the realistic persons like I hope so now would be a good time he hasn't seemed to be doing something yet but there are some people I think some of the disciples were like oh he's about to do something I think the disciple who'd already counted the stuff thought all right if we take 5 loaves and we give it to 15,000 people let's not count the women and children just feed them in like I think he was trying to figure out he's coming down this like I'm not gonna get to eat like I think that's probably just this doesn't seem like I don't know what's about to happen.

But so he says he orders them to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and two fish and this is normal travel food for them would have been some baked loaves he'd have gotten relatively recently the two fish would probably be salted or pickled travel food for us this is this is the type of food you take to a picnic kind of food staple two hotdogs per minute cheese sandwiches depending on your level of fancy and what you like or don't like.

But that's kind of what what they have he looked up to heaven and said a blessing then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds and they all ate and were satisfied and they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over and those who ate were about five thousand men besides women and children so he takes five loaves two fish he feeds fifteen thousand people now that's a lot of food.

If you have ever planned an event and tried to figure out how much food should be there that's a difficult part of the event planning this is the part of the event planning where my wife and I argue because my assumptions on how much people eat are based off of me and her assumptions on how much people eat are based off of her the last event we had she looked at me and said people will not be drinking continuously the whole time they're here everybody doesn't need six drinks and I was like.

If they want them they can have them and if they don't drink them I'll drink them later plus I want to drink the whole time I'm there sodas and stuff guys please posts they focused it was a birthday party for my child okay I'm not drinking the whole time I was there okay I just realized how it sound when I said it I want to drink the whole time felt like I needed to clarify that feeding 15,000 people even if their whole boat had been full of food I don't think it was enough food.

For everybody to eat and be satisfied and have 12,000 baskets look at twelve thousand twelve baskets left over I got excited and I think it was enough if they would had it that way but Jesus makes this happen and you know at some point the disciples were like okay and then pretty quickly they were like this is already more food than we had and I don't know how it happened the Bible doesn't tell us how it happened it tells us that it happened it doesn't tell us how it happened.

So I don't know if when Jesus broke it it immediately became to Morelos I don't know if when the disciples are breaking it it kept going or if they had to keep going back to Jesus we don't know we know that he miraculously fed 15,000 people and I love this miracle so encouraging for a couple of reasons one its glorious and transcendental I mean it is above and beyond he is displaying his holiness and his divinity because he's creating food this points back to Moses who gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness.

But he actually didn't give it to him God did he just kind of was the intermediary this points back to Elijah who feeds a hundred men with a couple of barley loaves but Jesus out does both of those he decides of his own volition to do this because He is God and he over produces for fifteen thousand people it's amazing you know at some point the disciples are kidding this is not going what on earth is happening and how long has he been able to do this.

Because feels like we should have done this before for us I wouldn't had to count the five loaves and two fish and do the math but Jesus decides in this moment that he's gonna take care of her badi a love how big this miracle is and how absolutely simple it is how small it is there were people there that day who probably gotten cured from blindness there were people there that day who maybe had neurological damage or had epilepsy or had some brain wave stuff that he fixed.

For them there were people there that day who had never walked and he straightened out their legs and gave them muscle and I mean went from having legs that have never been used to perfectly healthy God-given legs and then he feeds everybody a meal they're gonna eat it they're gonna burn up the calories I said it's so simple so daily it's so routine they would have most haven't been been fine if they hadn't eaten could have still made it home would have been a little hungry most of these people probably used to going to bed a little hungry.

But he feeds all of them and he satisfies all of them with food this is a beautiful picture of how God works for us how he blesses us how he provides for us that he does miraculous things and sometimes we're told that like are you in the worst spot ever you can run to him he can heal he can redeem he can fix what is terribly broken and guess what he can also provide for you in the mundane and the simple the daily this is actually a little picture of why Christians believe in tithing why we believe in giving financially to the.

Lord and his work and being generous to other people because he can make the math not work all thirteen disciples also got to eat their fill even though the math didn't make any sense and so there are times where we're coming it's like I'm doing the math on how my budgets gonna work but I'm gonna give to the Lord because I'm gonna trust him to be able to provide in ways that I can't see coming in a way that gives him glory that provides.

For us but you see Matthew is not just showing us that this simple kindness that Jesus does for all these people he wants us to see something else and before we move to that I wanna point something out so that I love about this story do you know how nice it is to have all the food you need the right amount of food to be able to eat as much as you want we're Americans we get to do that quite often you know.

When you're really hungry to have all the foods you want some of you your whole life you don't eat much every meal you sat down you had all the food you wanted some of you that's not the case you've had to do the quick math on probably shouldn't eat as much as I want I can swing by a place on the way home they have all the food they want for people who don't usually get all the food they want and they've all just been healed there's a family sitting down there getting the biggest meal they've gotten in a long time.

While their child has never walked his running laps around them there's somebody sitting there with their mama that they thought they were gonna have to say goodbye to a little too soon and she's challeng for the first time without having coughing fits without saying it hurts without them having to force her to eat she's just eaten there's somebody sitting there and when someone reached out to hand him a loaf saw the hand come for the first time ever was able to reach right up and get their own food not have somebody tap them not have them help them they've been given new eyes and they're sitting there just staring happily eating maybe not even paying.

That much attention to the food they're getting that they have this this is blessed this is the most beautiful picnic you've ever been to that Jesus has worked this miraculously and then he feeds all of them but Matthew wants us to see something a little bit beyond that you see the way Matthew writes this story and the way he writes the Last Supper he intentionally has them overlap he writes this story and then when he writes the story of the Last Supper in Matthew chapter 26 he has them overlap and he does that on purpose.

And so I just want to show you all that and for a little bit we're just gonna have some slides going so that you can see what I'm talking about but in the Greek he intentionally writes it out so that it's bleh that he retells this story so this is the top part is gonna be Matthew chapter 14 and the bottom part is going to be Matthew chapter 26 so now when it was evening the disciples came to him we're gonna jump to 19.

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass when it was evening he reclined at the table though that phrasing is the same so when it was evening when it was evening and ordered them to sit down and he reclined it's translated a little bit differently in English but in the Greek same phrasing he changes the verb tense for it being a bunch of people and one person but it's the same thing keep going go to the next section.

So it says and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven said a blessing then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples so Jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples so taking and took loaves and bread same word he looked up to heaven he said a blessing same broke it's the same thing gave it to the disciples it's the same thing so he writes this out.

So that these these are overlapping he is connecting how this story plays out using the same and you can tell these stories differently but he's intentionally wording it this way on purpose he does it a few more times so if you go to the next one he says that gave it to the disciples again that's on the bottom of verse 26 says they all ate and we're satisfied take eat this is my body he took a cup when he had given thanks he gave it to them and saying drink all of you Matthew.

When he writes out and you can show one that shows both where he just plays it out in the same order in the same way because Matthew wants us to see that what Jesus did in the feeding of the 5,000 is a picture of what he ultimately came to do when he when he when we read in Matthew chapter 26 that he it was evening and he reclined and he took bread and he said a blessing and he broke it and he gave it to the disciples we're supposed to hear what he's already told us.

When he did this with the 5,000 that Jesus on a more personal level as telling this is what I came to do and in that moment he's saying this is my body broken for you this is my blood for the forgiveness of sins take it all of you and he's telling them this is what I'm going to accomplish and when Matthew ties these stories together we get to look back at the story where he feeds the 5,000 and we get to.

See the Gospel in it Jesus says take a seat and he provides that he is the one who accomplishes the disciples said it's time to put these people to work send them off tell them to go get what they need Jesus says no let him have a seat and Jesus provides for them all that they need that he satisfies you see one of the things that happens in this story is that it's not about how he did it but that he did it and that's one of the things we.

See in the Gospel as the New Testament writers are writing they tell a some of how it works but mostly they tell us that it works that his blood is sufficient for the forgiveness of sins that those who trust in him will be saved that it's not about all the intricacies of how it plays out although God did make it very intricate and the Bible does tell us about that but primarily what you are to know is that it works if you come to.

Jesus all who call on him will be saved none will be putting shame you trust in his name that he provides fully and he satisfies everyone I mentioned this earlier but my wife and I have different we like the same type of food I just need more of it and there are times where we're at a wedding or some kind of a party or something and and we get in line to get food I think my wife peeks to see what type of food it is I peek to.

See how much food is there I can usually eat whatever I just want a lot of it I'm working on that but that's how it works for me throughout life and there are times where I'll hit I'll tap her I don't hit her tapper and I say baby they don't have enough food and so I do something that I think is both gracious and selfish so it's a wash that's how that works I'll just say let's eat later I won't I want to be able to eat and the food.

So I'll just say well they don't have enough I don't need to go through that one and make myself either eat too much of their food or make myself sad by eating just a little bit of something that tastes good and so I'll just say let's stop and I know I know that if I was on the edge of this 15,000 person crowd I'd hit an answer were the closest to town first of all we'll get there and be first in line also nope they do not have enough food.

If they had enough food we have already seen it - they'd have been carrying out trunks of it when we watched them get off the boat I can see the boat that didn't load it down with food they're not feeding everybody they started handing out food everybody sit down started handing out food I've been like mm-hmm and there are some of us who are coming to God with that same general attitude it's not enough don't have enough to cover my amount of sin can't handle what I'm bringing to the table some people come with the exact opposite I'm too small this is too simple why would he care.

For me but he feeds them a simple need but he provides all that they need and he satisfies everyone there no matter the size of the appetite I got two boys one of them I can put a pig he has food allergies we just feed him beings that's pretty much all it is you can put beans in front of him and he will shovel them into his face the other day I said hot dogs down on the table they were still cooling off he climbed up the table went Moo and grabbed the hot dogs and poured them towards himself my older son he'll say things like didn't we eat yesterday dude you gotta eat it.

Multiple times today some of you feel like I don't have that much sin you need a Savior you need him to work for you regardless of what you're bringing to the table and some of you think there's no way he can handle what I'm bringing and he can there were 12 basket full left when they've gathered manna in the wilderness they had exactly what they needed every time when Jesus provided it was more than enough overcompensated over-covered His grace is lavished upon us that.

When you come to him and your brokenness and your need some of you say I already came to him I already believe and then I've run off into sin he has grace sufficient do you know how beautiful and glorious that is that he knows your every need he knows your every moment he knows the simple needs you have and the extravagant needs you have the little sins you commit consistently and the ones that you committed that brings shame to your soul every time you.

Remember them and he's covered it fully satisfied but he sat there with five fifteen thousand people and he took loaves and he said my body broken for you my body broken for you he tried to retreat to get away because you knew that his death was coming and then he sat and had a communion meal with fifteen thousand people to image what he where he was headed so that he might save and redeem a people and that we might be brought together to have a glorious meal with him where we're all healed and were all satisfied and he sits at the head of the table with the people that he's redeemed his grace is sufficient.

I don't know what you're going through right now I don't know the fears you have I don't know the simple needs but I know that His grace is sufficient that his provision is good enough and some of us ought to remember eyes this story so that we can remind ourselves with a really simple picture how he has compassion how he provides and how His grace is sufficient to satisfy the deepest longings of our soul and to satisfy the depths of the debt of sin that we have you need to memorize that you need to meditate on this you need to remind yourself that you need to tell yourself this story and say that.

If right now he saw me he would have compassion and he would break his body for me that I might be redeemed he would shed his blood that I might be welcome so that I might joyously sit and be healed and partake in the glorious salvation that he offers and if you have not yet come to Christ with your sin you need to he will not put to shame anyone who trusts in his name His grace is sufficient I grew up singing a song that would say there's room at the cross.

For you though millions have come there's still room for one yes there's room at the cross for you and that's a reality for you and all your sin and all your baggage is Grace satisfies and it is sufficient let's pray now we thank you that there's room that it wouldn't matter if there was 15,000 or 20,000 or 25,000 you would have made enough to cover them and that your blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins and it works that if we come to you and trust in you and partake in you you redeem you redeemed to the uttermost that you lavish grace on us we pray that we would celebrate that truth this morning.

And that some people in this room would believe it for the very first time in Jesus name Amen just easy my my soul me everything Jesus to God - no turning no turn No Oh No No No to follow Jesus no turning back to follow Jesus no turning back maybe see if this is your first Sunday here with us that was intermission this is our second sermon I'm just getting to have a few quick announcements before we get out of here.

Today during all this we had to go to virtual community groups community groups are our primary way that we walk through life being Church family that we get around one another in life to know one another walk with one another and to be good missionaries together in our city if you are just checking out what it means to be a follower of Jesus we would love for you to join a community group to get around other people who are following Jesus.

See what it looks like in normal life so usually we would hand out a card but we're afraid that we would give you something if we did that more than the card so if you grab your phone you can pull up the camera this QR code will take you right to where you need to go so that you can fill out information to join a group if you're online you can go to Mill City Casey comm and go to our group's page to help join a group.

And if you have no clue what that is and that startles you I'll be outside to talk with you about groups on your way out if you're interested in joining a group we do want to say happy Father's Day we are proud of the followers we have in our Church family fatherhood is extremely important and it is waning in the u.s. and so we appreciate encourage fatherhood masculinity and leading and raising children and so we are proud of you thankful for you we hate that we missed Mother's Day we were not able to gather.

Then but at least we get to celebrate the people who made Mother's Day possible fathers sorry I couldn't resist we're sorry we missed Mother's Day and we're glad that we get together this morning but we do want to say happy Father's Day we have a few things to celebrate before we pray and one item that we need to share that we need to mourn together so first during the time from when we met last till now our Church family has had three babies born in the middle of a pandemic three healthy babies.

And so we're yeah excited miss Wilma Howard's son Jaime Howard who is in a long-term care facility they said that he had gotten coronavirus they had to move him to a more intense care facility and he has gotten better and they have moved him back and so that is wonderful news and so we're excited about that and praising the Lord on that and this past week the husband one of our Church family members basil Mac mr. miss Ginny Mac's husband passed away during surgery and it was a surprise he was he was going in.

For a fairly routine operation and and did not make it out and so be praying for the Mac family they will have services this coming Tuesday and so if you are interested in being able to go by and visit either at the visitation or being at the funeral we have that information for you but if you're not able to do that or didn't really know them well enough be praying for the Mac family because this is this is a hard a hard hit.

And so with that we will close in prayer God we thank you that you are near to the brokenhearted and we thank you that as a Church we get to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice and we pray that we would do that well as your people who long for the day that you return and we celebrate with you the feasts in your kingdom of all those who have been healed and redeemed and until that day comes may we be faithful missionaries.

For your name Amen.

Of Prophets and Power (Matthew 14:1-21)

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Of Prophets and Power

Chet Phillips

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Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastor's of Mill City Church we were excited about the prospects of being in this room it's be able to worship together after months of being apart but as maybe you saw on Facebook or on email or through word of mouth because a few people that are important to pulling off Sunday mornings either tested positive or didn't I get there negative Cova test results back we decided to push it back and to continue to live stream which is a little bit disappointing.

But we're not crushed and the reason that we're not crushed is because our hope is not bound up in being in the same room on a Sunday morning our hope is bound up in Christ we believe as a Church that Jesus is better than everything else which means that our hope and our joy and our longing is bound up in him and because of that we get to be a Gospel centered community on mission which for this morning means in our homes that we get to either sing songs we get to have the Scripture read over us we get to sit under the authority of God's Word and as we leave.

Today we get to continue to be a Gospel centered community on mission and our community groups our community groups our smaller groups our smaller parts of our Church family meeting together and we are finally meeting together in different homes throughout the city and we're practicing as best we can social distancing and safe meeting efforts but if you want to know more about our groups and be able to join in with some of them we invite you to look on our web site and our community groups tab and you can get plugged into a group through that also.

If you are part of our Church family we invite you to continue to give with a giving tab on our website that's the easiest place to give also you can drop checks or money in this building throughout the week so I want to pause and pray for our Church family's been affected by this virus so I'm gonna pray that God will pair of hearts for worship and I'll read from Psalm 95 so let me pray father you are our our great physician got a pray that you would heal the people in our Church that have been affected by this virus I pray that you continue to protect our Church from this.

God I pray that as we are in our homes this morning as we are singing songs as we are sitting under your word that you would speak to us so God prepare our hearts for worship in Jesus name Amen our own Ernie from Psalm 95 verses 1 through 6 to call us into worship oh come let us sing to the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with Thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise the.

Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hand are the depths of the earth and the heights the mountains are his also the sea is his for he made it and his hands formed dry land oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord wherever you are listing together this No my heart to say never ceasing call for songs of yes my save me Jesus Jamie nice when rather was in light of the world party Oh hasn't lost its hello Steven Kim me from his here gah we thank you.

For the ability to come into your presence this morning and to worship you we're thankful that even though we're meeting all across the city today we can still be in your presence Lord we ask that you would speak to us this morning as people who want to follow after you who want to chase after you faithfully to be obedient we pray that you would speak to us this morning that you would fill Chet with your spirit Lord that as we sit under the authority of your word you might change us we ask these things in.

Jesus name Amen well good morning my name is Chet Phillips I'm one of the pastors with Mill City Church of KC if you will grab your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 14 we're making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and today the story we're going to look at is a little bit distinct in the Gospel of Matthew in that it doesn't zoom in on Christ we've been following Jesus what he teaches what he does and this story is gonna be primarily about John the Baptist.

But as we read through this story it functions as a case study in what Jesus has been teaching it functions as a case study in portraying the Kingdom of Heaven in that we see that Jesus has been teaching that blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake that blessed are those who mourn that the kingdom is like a treasure that was hidden in a field and when a man discovered it he went and enjoy sold all that he had that he might purchase that field this idea that the kingdom is valuable in that it's worth everything that you would give up.

For it and that those who know and love and follow the King in his kingdom will have difficulty and so as we read the story of John the Baptist I think we're gonna see those things put on display and my hope for us this morning is that we would gain both courage and correction from this story if you will join me in praying God we thank you for your word we thank you for faithful Saints who have gone before us we pray that we might live out our faith daily and that we might make it to the end of our days trusting you and pursuing your kingdom above all else we ask that you would.

Speak to us through your word this morning in Jesus name Amen chapter fourteen verse one says at that time Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus now this is not is actually the third Herod we've run to run into in the Gospel of Matthew this is not here the great who was king when Jesus was born this is not his this the tetrarch's brother Herod Archelaus who was over half of the kingdom when Jesus returns and they moved to Galilee this is herod the tetrarch it's Herod Antipas you know he rules over a quarter of this area.

So there's two tetrarch's Herod Antipas and Herod Philip the second and then one brother has half of a kingdom so a little bit of favoritism there a little bit of power just play it out a little bit differently but we got one brother with half a kingdom two brothers with a quarter of a kingdom and that's the one we're messing with right now is Herod the Tetrarch it says when he heard about the fame of Jesus he said to his servants this is John the Baptist who has been raised from the dead that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.

Okay so this kind of just jumps us into the middle of Herod he just jumps in and what he says about Jesus so he hears about Jesus he hears that he's doing miraculous works and his assumption is oh this is John the Baptist raised from the dead now if you've been following along in Matthew that's a little surprising because we haven't been told that John the Baptist is dead yet that's actually the story we're about to read but Matthew tells us at the beginning he's dead.

And then tells us how that happens the last time we saw John the Baptist was in chapter 11 and he was in prison and if you'll remember that - that we read that John the Baptist was in prison and you didn't even question it we didn't tell us why he was in prison but I guess because he's a Baptist it just seemed plausible and we moved right along but that he's in prison we find out why in this story and we find out how he died.

And so before we get into that let's look at this Herod the Tetrarch oversaw the death of John the Baptist and when he hears about Jesus his assumption is one based in fear that oh no John the Baptist must have risen in power and he must have come back that I've made a mistake because we're gonna see later that he thinks he's a prophet he's gonna say oh no I've made a mistake he's come back and he's more powerful than he was earlier that's not true that's not who.

Jesus is but that is the way Herod responds in a bit of guilt and a bit of fear but let's keep going it says verse 3 for Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias his brother Philips wife and when you first read that you think but I guess that's nice he's doing something for his brother Philips wife maybe he's you know a big fan of his brother and then it keeps going it says.

Because John had been saying to him that's Herod it is not lawful for you to have her so now the story takes a twist into a darker area Herod has taken the wife from his brother Philip now this is Herod Philip one who is not a Tetrarch not haired Philip two who is a Tetrarch Herod Philip one was the person who was going to he was the oldest in the line but he just kind of backs out because Herod the Great had this this you know personality flaw where he kept killing all of his children that could potentially become king.

And when he made it down to Herod Philip won Herod Philip once said you know what I don't want to be king I don't want any power and he went and lived as a private citizen and he married his niece so Herodias is named after her grandfather who is Herod and she married her uncle Herod Philip won but then her other uncle Herod Antipas the Tetrarch takes her and there it's it's a little unclear as to whether or not this was just a power move or.

If they actually loved each other if they had met at some family functions you know as you do when you go to like a family reunion and you scope out who's Muriel here and you think well there's my niece / yeah there's my niece / sister-in-law maybe I'll start dating her and that's what happened and so he takes her and then John the Baptist comes and says you ought not to do this and I love what the Bible does here because this does this in a couple of different places the Bible does not refer to her as Herod the Tetrarch s-- wife although she was.

Because he had married her he refers to her as his brother Philips wife because the Bible doesn't care what kind of sinful mess you play out it's gonna stick to what's real and this should be still Herod Phillips Herod Philips wife and not his brother Herod the Tetrarch so John comes and says what you've done is unlawful and he comes to a man in power and speaks directly to him and says you ought not to have done this and he is assuming that there is a law that is greater and above Herod Antipas that he's speaking to a Tetrarch who is perfectly within his rights to arrest John eventually perfectly within his rights to have.

John executed but John says no there's a law that is above you and that regardless of what human institutions we have right now there's a law that you ought to adhere to you see the Scriptures are clear that God hates injustice and oppression and the wrong use of rule and power and that consistently throughout human history power has been used not to care and tend and provide for those underneath it but it has been used to be abused and to oppress.

Now that's clear but currently in the situation we're in culturally as soon as you say that which is clear and true there are a lot of other things that also need to be said which is the Bible is not anti Authority its anti unjust Authority oppressive Authority but there ought to be good authority and even as believers in the midst of unjust Authority we are meant to speak truth to it but to submit to it and it gives us a very complicated position that we have to walk out.

But it's a poor understanding of the Bible and a poor understanding of sinful human nature as taught by the Scriptures to say either all power is good and incorruptible or all power is bad and not to be rid of and we have to stand in the middle which makes our position more difficult to hold and we can potentially make everyone mad at us but that's fine as long as we're holding on to truth and that's the situation John Zym he is arrested thrown into jail.

Because he told Herod something that was true he called here to repentance and if you remember John he he had a message of repentance that we are sinners in need of repentance in need of grace and he speaks it to a king it was indiscriminate if you met John he didn't matter what what race you were what color you were how poor you were he was going to tell you you needed to repent he sounds like a nice guy and he's going to tell it to everybody even Kings.

So he's arrested first five and though he that's Herod wanted to put him that's John and though Herod wanted to put John to death he feared the people because they held him to be a prophet so Herod had hit Herodias as wishes his his niece sister-in-law wife arrests John and he wants to kill John because that would be easier but he's afraid that people would there be a bit of an uproar there'd be a bit of an uprising so he just doesn't and he just keeps him in jail.

Verse 6 but when Herod's birthday came the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask I was talking to an old Baptist pastor one time and I asked him why Baptists were so vehement used to be so vehement against dancing and his response was the last time someone danced in the Bible a Baptist lost his head I and I still don't know if he was joking or not.

But what happens here is that Herodias is daughter so this is Herod's niece grandniece and step-daughter she comes to his birthday party where if we're to assume and just kind of picture this we would you'd be in a pretty lavish Hall one of the most one of the nicest places in this area there'd be a fairly large gathering there would be a feast there would be drinking good food good drink celebration and it goes from just a good birthday party into debauchery and sin and it's fair to assume that at this point he is a bit intoxicated.

If not heavily intoxicated and his wife's his brother's wife if we're gonna stick with the way the Bible talks about it daughter comes in and dances for this group and it is most likely that this was a sensual dance she's brought in to entertain the men who are celebrating this birthday and Herod enjoys it so much is so pleased by this as he stares at someone drastically younger than him soaks it in lusts he's so pleased by this that it says he promised with an oath.

Verse 7 to give her whatever she might ask she dances he's in a very merry mood most likely intoxicated and he says whatever you want you can have it prompted by her mother she said give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter now we don't know what prompted by her mother means we don't know if she was given the chance to go think about it if she went to go talk to her mom and come back we don't know.

If her mom really quickly called her over we don't know if this was actually the intended effect that her mom had had her go dance for us she'd already told her go do this there's a really good chance he'll offer you something as soon as he does what we want is the head of John the Baptist on a platter not just we want John the Baptist killed we want to celebrate with his dismembered body this is wicked as he watches her dance and lust after her he chooses to offer her whatever she wants and what she wants.

Because her mother wants it is the head of John the Baptist and the King was sorry but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given so at his birthday party he calls for an execution says he was sorry but the best way we can read that in this text is the reason he was sorry was that he had hoped to not have to kill John the Baptist because he thinks that might affect his position of power that.

If enough people if there's enough of an uproar this will cause some turmoil and he didn't really want that he just wanted him to be in prison he wished he could kill him but he didn't think he could get away with it and now because of his guest because of his promise he has to and his birthday party turns into an execution he sent and had John beheaded in the prison and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl and she brought it to her mother.

So that the eyes that once saw the Spirit descend like a dove unto Christ the ears that once heard the voice of the father from heaven the tongue that once proclaimed repentance and hope and forgiveness are now put on display for the enjoyment of Herodias this is wicked that they would have had his head where they were so that they could drink and laugh and celebrate so that in this story verse 12 it says and his disciples came and took the body the headless body of John the Baptist and buried it and they went and told.

Jesus in this story if we're looking from an earthly perspective Herod gets to celebrate Herod gets to have fine food and drink and party and entertainment and John the Baptist spends his remaining days in a Cell and at some point heard the feet of people walking down to where he was kept in the prison heard the key turn in the lock some men walked into the room one with an unsheathed sword and as a party favor he lost his life in this story we have John the Baptist on the one hand and Herod on the other and they give us a beautiful picture case study of what.

Jesus is calling us to in his kingdom you see John the Baptist is faithful he makes his choices to be faithful he does what the Spirit has called him to that he's empowered by God to go and proclaim truth to whomever will listen that he calls everyone to repentance and not just generally but specifically and it works out very poorly for him that the end result of this is the loss of his freedom the loss of comfort and joy and pleasure and ultimately the loss of his life and Herod pursues whatever he desires and as best we can tell he gets it I think some people think was this really a sensual dance.

Well the reality is he's staring at what history tells us her name is Salome the daughter of Herodias she actually marries her uncle Herod Philip - and so she like her mother if she gives birth to any children would give birth to sons and daughters that are also her first cousin and we listened to that and I'm not going into all this family history stuff to make our Church members from Kentucky feel homesick we listened to that I'm trying to point this out.

So that we might see that the the way they ran their family and their life was so that's actually not all that uncommon that they would intermarry in royal families but the reason they did it was to not share power with any other bloodline it's not uncommon at all throughout history to intermarry between royal families they didn't usually do sisters mother to parent son daughter stuff but they did a lot of cousins nieces and nephews that kind of thing because they wanted to keep power in their family and not only is there power that is being kept.

But you can see that across the board even against their own brothers and sisters they're grabbing whatever they desire so that they might have it so this family and Herod are based off of the pursuit of their own passions the fulfillment of their desires that they would keep what power they have that they would maintain their position this is why they take spouses this is why the inter marry this is why they murder one another this family is wicked but the reality is they line up pretty.

Well with what culture currently tells us we ought to do that you are the sum of your desires that if you have a desire that it's meant to be fulfilled that if you have a desire if you have a passion that's who you really are no we draw the line our culture is not promoting incest their culture is not promoting murder and harming others but we're not far back because the reality is you're told well if that's what you want that's who you are.

Look inside and find your deepest desire and that's who you really are and and how dare anyone tell you you can't do what you want and if anybody tells you that they're the enemy I thoroughly enjoyed the movie wreck-it Ralph and then the second one came out and I watched it and that's the whole premise of the movie is that if someone pursues some desire of theirs and it's ultimately harmful and you try to stop them you're a monster that's the premise of the.

Second wreckit-ralph movie you become a monster and you destroy everything if you try to stop someone from pursuing what they want and that is the Gospel occurring according to our culture that you are designed to pursue your desires and if you fulfill them you are the sum of your fulfilled desires and you think oh my goodness that's out there in the culture but the reality is that's in the Church how many times have we heard how many times have we said why no just.

God wants me to be happy I just know that he wants me to be happy I know he wouldn't tell me not to do something that makes me happy John you fool don't you know don't you know you're supposed to be happy don't you know that as soon as you met some pushback don't you know that as soon as they imprisoned you you should change everything don't you know that Jesus never meant for you to have to subvert your desires to be faithful.

If the reality is that God just wants us happy here and the way that's defined is by what is comfortable and what is nice here John is a failure he didn't get it doesn't John know God wants him to to die of old age wealthy and comfortable then he know that's God's intended desire the reality is we would do well to go out as faithfully and as beautifully as John the Baptist does you see John the Baptist testifies that he believes that there is something better than what he can.

See and touch and he believes that there is a God who tells us to subvert our desires for a greater purpose there's a pastor his name's Wang Yi he was arrested in 2019 in China he was a pastor of underground churches in China home churches in China and he wrote a document and he gave it he to leaders in his Church and he said if I'm ever arrested and kept for more than 48 hours I want you to release this he and several others in his Church were arrested all of them have since been released except.

For pastor Wang Yi and he has been sentenced to nine years for some sort of a governmental subversion charge and it's possible we'll see him eight years from now and it is quite possible we won't see him this side of eternity but this is a quote from that letter that he wrote he says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel Commission you see John the Baptist because he believed what he believed and because he was sent forward and faithfulness he's arrested and it's a bit of disobedience to man-made rules.

But obedience to God so pastor Wang Yi says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel Commission Christ's Great Commission requires of us great disobedience the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world all acts of the Church are attempts to prove to the world the real existence of another world the Bible teaches us that in all matters relating in the Gospel to the Gospel into the human conscience we must obey.

God and not men and for this reason spiritual disobedience and the bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious king the reality is every choice we make we get the opportunity to look like John or to look like Herod you see Herod did whatever he possibly could to defend his position to silence the voice of God in his life and John walked forward in faith believing that there was something beyond here there was a resurrection there was a life beyond the one he had and Herod lives as.

If everything that he can see and everything that he can touch he better enjoy it now he better get what he can get now and every choice we make we get to choose along those same lines am I gonna be faithful at the expense of my comfort at the expense of nice things here I'm not gonna be faithful with my money I'm gonna be faithful with my time these are small decisions and big decisions am I gonna listen to the voice of.

God and walk forward and what he's calling me to even if people don't like it don't want to hear it even if that work it makes me seem weird or am I gonna do what hair does and try to defend my position against the call to repentance so that I might enjoy what is here so that I might be driven by my passions the end of the story is that the disciples of John go and tell Jesus that John has been beheaded.

Jesus just tries to go off by himself he can't at first and then eventually he gets to and he goes in prays and it seems at first that Jesus doesn't really do anything you feel a little bit like Lazarus the sisters in the Gospel of John who say to Jesus if you'd been here this wouldn't have happened he knew he was in prison but he doesn't really seem to do anything he knows he's in prison and later he finds out that he's dead all he does is go off by himself he seems sad about it.

But just like Jesus you could have done something and the way that Matthew has written this is to show us that Jesus didn't do nothing he ultimately did everything seemed Ashley writes this out in a way that he highlights how John the Baptist goes before Jesus and how Jesus joins John the Baptist in suffering see John the Baptist is handed over to a ruler so is Jesus Jesus was handed over to Pontius Pilate he actually does at some point go in front of Herod Antipas John the Baptist was seized and bound.

Jesus was seized and bound Matthew writes out using the exact same greek words they feared to kill John the Baptist because the crowd held him to be a prophet feared to kill Jesus because the crowd held him to be a prophet John uses the same phrasing they take John and ultimately when he is sentenced to death the one who does the sentence sentencing seems to regret it a little bit than the same with the Jesus and the way Matthew wrote this up he intentionally frames it.

So that you might see that John came before Jesus and ministry and he goes before Jesus and death and that Jesus joins John in death and when he does Herod's greatest fear about John comes true it comes true about John because it first becomes true about Jesus Jesus Christ is killed but he rises in power and because Jesus rises in power so does John the way this started we're here it said oh no John's risen from the dead John has risen from the dead.

Because Jesus rose John gets to rise that what was sown perishable is raised imperishable and then what is sown in dishonor is raised in glory and what is sown in weakness is raised in power that's the reality of this situation is that John looks like on earth he failed but in the kingdom of heaven he is ushered into glory eternally because he believes that Jesus is who he said he is Jesus is the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world and that.

Jesus Christ is king a glorious king of a more glorious Kingdom and so he lives in a way that testifies to it my question to us is do we look like John the way you speak the way you act the way you spend your money the way you spend your time do you testify to another world that is beyond this one or do we look like Herod and I will tell you as Americans even American Christians it's very easy to look like here it to make our decisions based off of what is enjoyable and what is.

Now and what do I desire and have others cosign it the greatest tragedy in this story is not that John the Baptist loses his head that is a victory and a triumph that will never be taken from him the greatest tragedy in this story is that Herod succeeds in silencing the voice of God Herod succeeds in resisting the call to repentance John offered him Grace and Herod rejects it and my hope for us my prayer for us is that we would live as.

If we believed there was a better Kingdom coming and that we would reject our passions and desires where they are out of line with God's kingdom so that we might have something better that we would gladly sell everything we have that we might buy the field that we might have the Kingdom that he's laid out for us let's pray God we thank you for your grace I thank you for your love that you would send Jesus to join us and suffering that we might join him in victory and we pray that you would help us to.

See our sin and to hear the voice of God in our lives that we would yield to the work of the Spirit that we might repent and that we might be faithful we pray that you would bless our Church with saints who live out their days as John did following your will regardless of the cost and ending faithful the Savior yes watching Jesus phenol thought you had better change the Jesus ha before the master Jesus paid it all all to him I owe 2,000 stayin here be lighter Oh.

Jesus paid it all to him all right so the only announcement that I have is that we are gonna continue to walk in wisdom and evaluate evaluate week by week whether we'll be in here together next week so just be looking out for updates to see if we'll be here next week and then we'll announce those and God willing we'll be here in the same room and be live streaming as always let me close this with a benediction from Romans 15.

Verse 13 may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope amen you guys have a great day you.

The Kingdom and the Image of God (Matthew 13:53-58)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Kingdom and the Image of God

Spencer Cary

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You we are taking our first steps towards re gathering as a Church family this week we are back in the building we are live next week we get to regather together as a Church family we'll be able to open the doors we'll have a place clean we've done some work to be able to spread out we understand that as we regather and kind of come back together after this pandemic that there are still those who feel uncomfortable still those who maybe have gotten sick and still those who are in a vulnerable demographic.

And so we understand that we won't all be able to gather but some of us will be able to gather in this room next week and we've gone ahead and done the work it takes so that we can livestream our gatherings for our Church family who cannot gather with us in the location can still join with us together at the same time as we study the Scriptures and worship the Lord together and so this week we are live next week we get together and be live and we're excited that things are moving back towards some sense of normal our Church family is two churches that came together at the beginning of this year and rolled.

Into 2020 very excited about what was going to happen and we're unable at all to guess what was actually going to happen and we've had an interesting year but God it is gracious and good to us and in the midst of a lot of changes we are learning how to love one another and grow together as people who believe that Jesus is better than everything else so we are a Gospel centered community on a mission we gather in community groups out the week to be those who point one another back to Christ love one another's family and are sent as missionaries to our city.

So it's been a weird season for us and we are re getting in the middle of a pandemic it's not as bad as it seemed like it could have been but people are still sick numbers are still growing and in the midst of all that we have a lot of civil unrest and so we gather today as the people of God to pray to worship our one true king and - as we study the Scriptures understand that the primary issue in the world is not the sin out there.

But the sin in here that it's not those people out there causing problems but that God has done work on our hearts so that we might see our sin that we might repent and that change and grace and love and unity might come from the Church and work its way into the world and that's our hope that we would be people who repent we would be people who were quick to listen and slow to speak and listen to the Word of.

God and submit to his leadership that we might be good missionaries and to put on display what the Gospel does among people so join me this morning and praying as we begin our gathering God we thank you that you are sovereign and in the midst of a season of so much uncertainty so much despair so much pain and fear and anguish and frustration and anger you are sovereign and you are good and so may we be a people of the cross who understand that in the midst of chaos you are working.

For our good to bring about joy and hope and freedom that in the midst of suffering you bring about good results and that you never lose control may we be a people of the cross who run to you to have our sins forgiven atoned for by the blood of Jesus and who walk in freedom and life and joy may we be a people of the cross who are not swayed by this political party or that political party or this news outlet or that news outlet.

But first and foremost listen to you and kneel to you to hear your word and your truth so that we might walk forward in grace and love and humility and empathy and action so Lord we gather this morning as a people of the cross in need of grace in need of healing in need of love in need of certainty and finding all of those in Jesus in Jesus name we pray Oh shelters Los Angeles merci Oh with praises before again Hey it's great great will rise to price our team do price argue yeah - tae-suhk your man to Christ the resurrected King is resurrecting me in your name I come to prepare your dress were.

Soldiers your name your name is hi - hi start your name to prize Jesus we praise you as our resurrected King Lord we praise you for the fact that you have resurrected those of us who are in Christ that you have paid the penalty for our sin and given us new life in you which gives us reason to celebrate Lord and as your people we need to follow we need to obey we need to repent an exhibit faith in our lives and we pray that as we sit under the authority of your word this morning you might transform us you might help us follow you better in.

Jesus name Amen good morning my name is Spencer I'm more the pastor's of Mill City Church of KC last weekend peaceful protests all across the country and our own city morphed into riots because of what happened in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago now we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew in the final passage of Matthew 13 today while we would normally sit in the main part of that passage and preach the main part of the ply the main aspects of it.

Because of everything that is transpired over the last few weeks I don't think that would be appropriate what we're going to do this morning is we're going to pick up on a key theme that runs throughout the kingdom of heaven that the Gospel of Matthew has been talking about and it is a theme that is connected to this passage which is going to be difficult to do it's going to be difficult to do because of the history and the emotions that are packed into that are built into this discussion in our Church we have both police officers and minorities we have both conservative-leaning thinkers and liberal-leaning thought we have a wide variety of opinions in.

Our Church and I know this because I'm friends with most of you on Facebook and I can see this but the reality is is we don't avoid difficult conversations because they are loaded we don't avoid what is difficult if it is good and true and worth pursuing so today we're going to look at a situation where Jesus brought the message of the kingdom to his hometown and it was rejected for silly reasons and my hope this morning my prayer this morning is that we would.

Look at any central aspect of the kingdom of heaven and we would not do the same and I'm gonna be honest I'm mostly going to be addressing the majority of our congregation that is why so before we jump into this let me say some things that I want you to hear very clearly I love you I love our Church family this has been one of the more difficult sermons I've ever had so you prepare some of you are going to want to turn off your livestream please don't please stay with us and please continue this conversation past even.

Today some of you are going to want to conflate my words with some of the more unhelpful voices and our culture please don't some of you are going to want me to spend time talking about the the evils of rioting and violence and I've seen them I've seen that the coverage on a Facebook i've seen the memes like the meme of Jesus flipping over tables in the temple area and the justification for that is we can do violence that causes that hurts small businesses that actually caused the death of people i'm not gonna go there it is both as idiotic as it is unbiblical.

But that's not the point of today the goal of today is to look an essential aspect of the kingdom of God and that is the image of God so the Holy Spirit needs to go to work on our hearts because we cannot be okay with sin and our own hearts we cannot turn a blind eye to the marginalized we cannot just sit in the the presuppositions that the the thoughts that we bring to the table that may be shaped by political ideologies without actually having the Bible check it.

So my hope is is the love of Christ this morning would lead us to an empathy that helps us better understand our black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ so in order to do that we're going to need Lord to go to work so let me pray and then we'll jump in Father we pray right now that you would open up our hearts that we would listen that we would not be combative in our own hearts and God I pray you would bless this time and what comes out of it in.

Jesus name Amen all right so I'm going to start in Matthew 13 chapter 53 and then we're going to move from there starting in verse 53 and when Jesus had finished these parables he went from there and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is this not the carpenter's son it's not his mother called Mary are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas are and are not all his sisters with us one of this.

When did this man get all these things and they took offense at him but you just said that him a prophet is not without honor except in his own town and his own household and he did not do mighty works there because of their unbelief so Jesus has been teaching kingdom parables he's been teaching all kinds of teachings and when you take a step back from the whole of his teaching ministry what he's doing is he's traveling from town to town from region to region teaching these same parables these same teachings and what's different about this situation is that he's come to his hometown the audience is different.

Now Matthew gives us the Cliff Notes version of what's happening here Luke gives us a more expanded version he gives us more details like when he was rejected here they didn't just reject this message they thought they sought to throw them off of a cliff and kill him say the the audience is different they watched him grow up which is why they respond like where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is this not the carpenter's son is this not Joseph's boy you know that the one who had the carpenter business years ago yet that Joseph.

When they recognized that he's got mighty works they recognize that he's got wisdom but wait this is Mary's son so they reject his message because of that Jesus preaches with the same the same boldness with the same truthfulness as he does anywhere and his this message the text says is offensive they are offended which comes from the Greek word scandal ISA which is where we get the English word scandalous this message is offensive it is shocking and is scandalous and they sought to kill him.

For it so Jesus responds to this rejection says but Jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household and he did not do mighty works there because of their unbelief so that's the climactic finish to this story that they reject him like the prophets of old are ejected in their hometowns that he's not going to because of this perform these mighty works these miracles these healings that he's been doing anywhere and that's that the main part of this passage that's the main idea.

But I want to focus on on a different aspect that is connected to this that the idea of Jesus message of the kingdom that it is by nature offensive especially when it hits close to home the message of the kingdom the Gospel is by nature offensive it offends our presuppositions it offends our pre-loaded ideas our comfortable world views it is scandalous by Nature and here's the deal if we reject this message because it offends our understanding because it touches in places that we don't want to we are in danger Church family of missing out on the mighty works of.

Jesus and I don't want that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of the image of God and they rejected him and I want us to do that I want us to look at the image of God today and I want us to look at the image of God in three different ways I want to spend time looking at the image of God created I want to look at secondly the image of God fallen and thirdly I want to look at the image of.

God redeemed and my hope is is that as we walk through this love and empathy for black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ would win the day so we're gonna look at first his image created like many of you I watched the video of George Floyd I watched both clips I watched as they put as one officer put his knee on the back of George Floyd's neck as he begged him to stop for about nine minutes he slowly suffocated to death begging.

For relief and for two minutes and 43 seconds he was unconscious he was practically gone the excessive nature of this is indisputable police officers all across the country have looked at us and said that this is this is this is worthy of prosecution our own chief of sled here in Carolina said if you are if you think this is an acceptable means of restraining a suspect turn in your badge it is absolutely horrific i watch my kids play sometimes and they'll put pillows over each other's faces which happens in our household or not that happens in yours.

But they they play like this and then all of a sudden this panic sets in for me that says no no please stop please get off your brother and there were bystanders who were filming this they were saying please get off of him get off he is you can't breathe one a bystander was an off-duty firefighter she said you need to check his pulse it is horrific video and when you paired this next to the release of the video from the Ahmad Aubry killing from a few weeks ago and you compound this with a long history of oppression violence and justice you had a powder keg that explodes with black people all across the country.

Begging for their voices to be heard now I'm not naive I understand that when I start saying this that there's a pretty quick response because we've seen this debate play out at kitchen tables we've seen this debate play out on TV and in social media what usually follows this is what about burning down businesses what about burning down businesses owned by minorities what about the all the history of riots that have happened where were these parts of the city don't bounce back.

Because of violence or what about the majority of police officer have them have a very difficult job and they were disgusted by what they saw what about investing in better police training about about mental health for police officers or what about black-on-black client crime in Chicago that happens every weekend or what about the media's agenda in all of this what about the people who make a living off of this debate all of those are questions worth discussing but not as an ad hominem what about beside the point deflection which is what we do and what we do this you come home and and maybe your spouse comes home and they they'll say.

Well you didn't mow the grass you didn't take care of the lawn like I asked you to and we're very quick to say well glass a couple of days ago you didn't take care of the downstairs it was a mess we do this we deflect because we don't want to do is look at the fault within ourselves we will point out the fault in someone else will point out the fault and someone else's community but we won't look at what's going on with him.

So I'm not going to go there today I'm not going to discuss that I want to address the image of God as a relates to this subject matter because for black people this situation highlights a long history where the image of God has been diminished in them so let's look at where all of this began in the garden Genesis 1:26 says then God said let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens over the livestock and over all the earth and every every creeping thing that creeps on the earth this is.

When the image of God is created we walk through this and a series of Genesis a few years ago that there is so much packed into what that you are made in the image of God specifically for our purposes today it means that you are made in the image of God and therefore you have dignity and value and worth that it's a fight for the dignity of man and the Church has here this rightfully fought the evils of abortion on this area we have rightfully taken a stand against this.

But while we've been doing that we have black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ who said that's great but what about us - what about our dignity our value our worth as people made in the image of God so how do we lose this how did all of this go so wrong more specifically in our own country how did this a country founded by Protestants seeking religious freedom how did this become so central to our identity in the beginning how did systematic injustice against black people become our country's original sin it is.

Because very early on we lost the doctrine of the image of God you see early on as America this land was being settled in order to justify the evils of slavery we Christians began to make distinctions within the image of God there was something unique about whiteness that made us a more superior reflection of the image of God and the heathen as Africans who are being brought over there was something lesser about the image of God and then therefore there was these categories of distinctions between two sets of person hoods.

Now there's a spoken word artist named propaganda who captures this he is specifically talking about the Puritans the Puritans were English Protestants that have a rich history of theology theology that shapes much of what we preach today and the American Church but what happened is when they came to America around the around the time that slavery began in this country is that they checked their theology at the door when it came to this subject matter so I'm gonna look at me says in his song he says they looked at my onyx and bronze skin forefathers and their face their polytheistic.

God hating face their shackled diseased imprisoned face and taught a Gospel that said God had multiple images in mind when he created us in it therefore destined salvation contains a contentment and the stage for which they were given which is to be owned by your forefathers superior image bearing face says your precious Puritans that's a lot right there but what he just said was is that very early on there was a Christian understanding that there are distinctions between whiteness and blackness and the levels of reflecting the image of.

God and the justification for slavery came out of well that is their destined place of contentment they should be and this stage and be okay this came out of thought from heroes in theology like Jonathan Edwards that shapes so much of the theology that we have in America but the reality is is that Jonathan Edwards the reason he had so much time to write such beautiful sermons and beautiful books is but he wasn't working his own fields you see this is what he is getting at in this what started as an economic justification.

Because sugar tasted very good and British tea and who else was going to harvest the crops and the sugarcane and the Caribbean quickly leptin to a satanic justification and hijacking of the Bible and that has continued all the way to the formation of our country that black people didn't have full personhood and even continues into the formation of our own denomination that right down the road in Augusta and the mid 1800s the first Southern Baptists came together and they formed the Southern Baptist Convention.

Because they said they wanted unity in missions but what was really happening is the northern Baptist we're asking them to fight against the oppression of slavery and they said no we want unity so we'll start our own denomination and this continues this is why black people have been have been asking and saying and declaring I am a man they want the full recognition of their personhood and that doesn't disappear overnight they've been fighting for this for centuries now I know what some of you might be thinking why are we still talking about slavery that was a hundred and fifty years ago why are we still talking about this.

Well in the grand scheme of time that's not a lot of time you can look at the Old Testament things what happened hundreds of years before the people of God and and and they have this strong historical attachment would happen in the centuries previous mypos in perspective for us my great-great-grandfather fought for the Confederacy and surrendered under Robert Ely at Appomattox Courthouse they gave him for war reparations a donkey that he wrote all the way back to pillion my grandfather was a businessman in this part of town he was a respected businessman he's been gone.

For twenty years but but many people are but a few people in our Church remember him all right my grandfather's grandfather someone he had he had memory of my grandfather's grandfather fought for the Confederacy that is not a lot of time and the legacy of slavery bleeds into Jim Crow segregation and all the evils of that and then after the civil rights movement the practice of redlining continues into the late 70s formally informally continued a little bit longer than that redlining is is.

When real estate agents and lenders would look at black people and say we'll give you a loan we'll show you houses but it has to be in this part of the city which further separated and continued to separate black people and white people it's the reason why many of us grew up in predominantly white schools and predominantly white communities can you see the thread it flows all the way back to the theological justification that there is distinctiveness within the image of.

God and separateness because of that and all our black and brown brothers and sisters want is the same value dignity and worth it is their gift from their Creator it is an essential aspect of the kingdom of God because Jesus came to claim for himself every tribe every tongue every people group so how did this become so corrupted even before anyone settled this country from Europe it goes all the way back to the fall when his image fell back in the garden.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God it brings sin into this world and because of that hate spreads took one generation to see hate turn into murder and hate continue to spread in one of the ways that it continues to spread is through prejudice it spreads like a poison it's one of the early problems in the New Testament Church you see in multiple places in the New Testament the Bible is addressing in addressing the prejudice within the early Church because you had Jews and Gentiles that were brought together you had Africans and enrolments who were brought together you.

See the Church was an early cultural melting pot in history and because of that you've got multiple New Testament letters that address this we walk through this in the book of Ephesians a few years ago in the book of Ephesians Paul is addressing the divisions that have happened because of ethnic differences between Jews and Gentiles and in chapter 2 he says verse 14 for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility this dividing wall that's come.

So naturalist just as Paul says that we inherit the sins of our forefathers there's this there's a separation that we will just naturally do because the inherited prejudice that we get from our forefathers because of culture further and granion in us but the cross came to tear down the wall verse fifteen by abolishing the law of Commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create and himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and might reconcile us both to.

God in one body not to one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility Jesus addresses this as well he's asked let's at one point in his ministry he's asked well what does it mean to love your neighbor he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan and what often gets lost in the parable of the Good Samaritan is that Samaritans and Jews or different ethnic groups and they despise one another and he makes as he's telling this parable to Jews a Samaritan the hero of the story.

Because loving your neighbor means loving someone else in spite of cultural differences in spite of color differences it's a it's it's been something in the early - it was something in the early Church that needed to be addressed and it's something that still needs to be addressed today so I could cite statistics that show some of the injustice is for black and brown brothers and sisters in the American Church but the reality is is what I've seen is that you could pretty much find any statistic to justify your position I mean they're out there you'll find something that says no this is why is the way it is.

So instead of just jumping into that debate that has become so muddy what I wanted to do is I wanted you to hear from three different men of color and your Church I sat down this week I talked to three different members of three different members of our Church family and I got their perspectives on this and they gifted their perspectives their perspectives to us so I want you to listen to these stories from their from their history from their past and I want you to take a moment.

Listen and not become combative or not try to argue a fight with their experiences so at first I talked to Ricky Jackson Ricky Jackson is in my group he's African American at 15 years old he was four doors down from his house four doors down in the street and a police officer pulled up immediately seized him and then threw him on the hood of his car because he looked like a suspect who was currently at that moment robbing the concession stand and the ballfield across from his neighborhood.

Now I asked him after that I said how many times do you think you've been pulled over by police officers and he just laughed he said I thought you can I cannot count that been pulled over countless times and he said it's driving while being black and I know that might seem crazy to some but it's a reality and it flows out of this reality of it because of the separation there are two parts of town and if you are african-american and a predominantly white part of town there's been an understanding what are you doing in this part of town you must be up to no good that's something that Tim Scott are one of.

Our state senators who happens to be regardless of your politics one of the most respected politicians in Washington he stood on the Senate floor a few years ago and helped explain this that his entire life he has been pulled over even as a senator he gets pulled over consistently in DC it's a reality that black people have to face now outside of the realm is related to police I just asked him will he just hear some more of what it's like to be black in America he said some of the things that have been said to him before is you were very articulate.

For a black person or you don't sound black he got into the University of North Carolina or as he said Carolina which I corrected him on because South Carolina is also a school but he got into the University of North Carolina and his immediate thought was are the media thought of of the people who have found out that he was at that school was oh you must have gotten in for an athletic scholarship as if he couldn't have gotten in on an academic scholarship which he did he got in on a full-ride he's had to learn to overcompensate.

Because he seems threatening because of his the color of his skin he's had to learn to be super nice to be super friendly to put other people at ease he says consistently on the street as he walks by white women they clutch their purses in fear he said he had to learn to be as twice as good as everyone out so that his success would not be will not be lumped in with oh you just must have gotten here because you were black in a couple of weeks I'm gonna go camping.

For a vacation and he said you don't have to think about where you can't but the reality is for our family we do because there's some places we don't feel comfortable I talked to Craig Kerr he's also in our community group he's also African American he grew up in an all-black neighborhood and he moved to a white middle upper class suburb neighborhood and he consistently got pulled over by the police he said sometimes twice a week now one time he said that he was the passenger and the car where his buddy was driving who is white.

And when the police officer pulled him over the conversation was going very normal until he realized that Craig was in the passenger seat and as soon as he saw Craig he quickly put his hand on his gun now Craig was gracious he said listen they've got really difficult jobs I can't imagine some of the things they have to face so he said is what I've learned is that I need to remain calm de-escalate the situation whenever it arises he's made it his mission in all of life to not be combative to be the opposite of what other people believe he said his parents taught him at a young age to not be disrespectful which is.

Something that I'm going to teach my son I want my son to to be respectful but not for one moment not for a moment have I thought if he isn't disrespectful it may result in harassment or he might even be killed it has never crossed my mind and he said the last thing one of the things he said was he being in an interracial marriage Ricci also was in is in an interracial marriage he said being in this area they still get lots of looks.

Because he is black and his wife is white a third person I talked to is Carlos Rosales Carlos is from Honduras and asked him permission to share some the stories we've talked about in the past he is the only Hispanic worker on a crew for dot4 department transportation and because he's the only Hispanic on that crew he's had in the past both the white men and the black men look at him like when there's a job that has to be done that's hard you do it you're the one that's going to do the work.

Because he's Latino so he's the one that has to do the work and he worked as hard as he can and he is his reference in the past there have been moments he feels like he's been passed over even though he's the hardest worker on his crew he's been passed over for promotions because he is Latino these are just a few of the stories just a few of them and these are stories that are in line with so many stories that are black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ have been telling.

For years there are stories that have been fixtures in our country for hundreds of years now I would argue absolutely we have come a long way since 1619 we've come a long way in the last 400 years but we've got a long way to go I'd argue that while also prejudice is ingrained into our culture into our country all the reasons is the visable is because we are one of the largest cultural melting pots in the history of civilization so it's more visible.

But you can go in any part of the world and see this currently the Chinese have placed entire people groups like the Turks and internment camps or as they call them re-education camps Middle Eastern cities like Dubai were built off the backs of practically forced labor from migrant workers like Nepal they would come in promised good work and good money they could send back their families and immediately their passports were seized they were put into into living camps that were horrible they were paid much less and many died from heat exhaustion many died from suicide.

Because of the conditions in which they built that city the same thing is happening in Qatar right now cutters where the next World Cup is going to be and they've had loads of migrant workers that were brought over who have died from heat exhaustion died from terrible working conditions now also this happens in Europe and in America our academia likes to hold up Europe as the shining example because it is the most educated of all the continents but here's the deal the reality is is that in the last 20 years as Europe has seen an influx of immigrants from Syria from Africa the place that was once very monolithic and white has grown very weary.

Of having different people of color and there are far-right groups that have risen up all over Europe is the reason why African soccer players still get bananas thrown at them and soccer matches this happens all over the world yes systematic prejudice is complicated and it is loaded with historical and cultural baggage but here's the deal at its core it is not an education issue at its core it is a sin issue and because it is a sin issue we can deal with this as Christians and repentance which brings this the last part of this the.

Third aspect of the king of the image of God is his image redeemed see back in Ephesians 2 Paul highlights the problem the dividing wall of hostility but he also highlight it's the solution the solution is the cross the solution is that a savior looked at this world that was ripping itself apart in hate and he steps into our timeline and he lives out a perfect life one that does not touch prejudice and then he takes that work to the cross where his blood is poured out.

So that ultimately hatred in our hearts could be routed out he came as the solution to this problem now education might help you understand prejudice better it might help you understand systemic injustice better but here's the deal at its core all education is going to do is is give you more knowledge it's gonna make give you more knowledge of the situation but what you will do if you're just educated as you will bury it deep you will hide it you will realize that it's it's one of the worst things to be labeled as a racist and you'll just keep all those hidden inner thoughts to yourself it is the reason why black people have looked.

At white progressives for the last ten years with a lot of hesitancy and then every time they have an action that comes out that shows the prejudice within everyone's real shot it's because education doesn't fix this process for this problem only the cross and the blood of Christ that came to claim every single people group every tribe every tongue every color every nation that the final picture is is that in the New Jerusalem there will be all peoples celebrating together who our King is that's the final picture and the solution is the cross.

So how do we respond we respond in repentance one of the things that Ricky and Craig that we talked about is they said when you'd be able to talk about this around the table there are community groups need to be able to talk about this as if it's another sin worthy of repentance we need to be able to talk about it without the fear of judgment to have honest conversations so that healing can begin when I became a Christian when I was 17 before I became a Christian there was some explicit prejudice in my life.

And then I became a Christian I came very a repented hard on this and I came became very combative against racism and Prejudice with issues and then my freshman year of college one of my best friends his name's Chris Chris is black there was a conversation we were having and the assumption I made and what I said I don't remember the conversation was but the assumption that I made in the conversation is that he wasn't able to fall along with what I was talking about and he just called me out on in that moment he said oh you don't think I can understand this.

Because I'm black and I did what pretty much any white person does in that situation so no I'm not I'm not I'm not racist it's not at all no I missed it no I and then in the the weeks that followed I began to reflect on where that came from where that thought came from and I had to come back to him and confess later wait a second I actually do this thing this came from a prejudicial understanding that you were not able to understand this.

Because you were black and less educated here's what happened the next four years of college Chris and I began to walk through this together he gave me the space and the grace to be able to work out some of the things that were buried deep in my heart because the reality is is that no one's immune averse no one's immune to prejudice it is a it's a sin we inherit from our forefathers it's it's deepen in our sinful nature culture deepens it even further one of the things that Hollywood likes to think itself as the most enlightened as african-americans laugh that's why award shows are more painful every year.

For them there's these ideologies that have come out for decades that further enforce these these stereotypes that we have in our hearts and for four years I was able to walk with Chris and be able to to work out some of this and he was able to work out some of his stuff and and times now just I really am frustrated and I think I hate white people and I'm like I mean I know but we gotta work through this together we were called to to law that we worked through all of this.

Because he gave me the space and the grace to treat this like any others that is worthy of repentance and that is the same space we need as a Church we need to give each other the space to realize all of us are dealing with the issues of prejudice until we actually begin to work this out together to have the toughed honest conversations to stare at the parts of our sinful nature that we hide very deep and that our Dorn until we deal with this we'll never move.

For is the Church and I certainly don't think our country has a shot at moving forward until we deal with this so with me fully recognizing the irony as a white pastor trying to talk on this subject I want to close us with a quote from one of my favorite bands the Avett Brothers which if that joke was lost on you the Avett Brothers is a very white band but they wrote a song last year called we Americans I just want to close this with reading a couple lines from this song the song deals with the the reality that America is a beautiful American experiment also grappling with the scars of our painful past.

This is what they say and accountability is hard to impose on ghosts of ancestors haunting the halls of our conscience but the path of grace and good will is still here for those of us who may be considered among the living I am the son of God and man and I may never understand the good and evil but I dearly love this land because of this and in spite of We the People we are more than the sum of our parts all these broken bones and broken hearts.

God will you keep us wherever we go can you forgive us for where we've been I love this this picture of maybe we can deal with the ghosts of ancestors past haunting the halls of our conscience maybe we can't see the path of grace and good will is here maybe we can see that we're not the sum of all of our of our broken parts maybe God can't help us get through this the reality is is that for our country the last two weeks I'm just not sure.

If we're gonna get there I don't know but here's the deal the Church can the Church can Christians we can our Church we can deal with the ghosts of our pasts the painful parts of our sinful nature we can be the ones that go back to our community groups that have the difficult conversations about what's going on beneath the surface the Church can listen to our black and brown brothers and sisters and we can have empathy redemption is possible and it is beautiful it is the reason that a great-great grandson of a Confederate soldier who fought to keep Ricky and Craig's great-great-great grandparents in Chains can be in the same community group walking through the.

Gospel talking about these things showing grace and love and kindness and mercy so that may be as we work through this together as the Church we can be salt and light to a city that is hurting that's the hope and my hope is is in this Church we'd be different so this week put down your swords this week don't revert to talking points don't revert to arguments of the past this week let's strive to be empathetic and loving and listen so that maybe we can bear the Gospel in a way that looks beautiful in the midst of this present darkness.

Let me pray father I pray right now that you would go to work on our hearts the reality is is there so much brokenness in our country there's so much brokenness within ourselves but it is not beyond redemption the Gospel is beautiful and it is good and it breaks down dividing wall of hostility God I pray right now that you'd bring healing within us I pray that for anyone listening right now that you would go to work on their heart they would begin to deal with the parts of their sinful nature that are stained by prejudice including myself.

God I pray that you would bless the conversations of our community groups this week as we wrestle with a very difficult conversation that is heated in this country right now God I also pray if it be your will to begin to heal the wounds of our country to restore us and to help the Church lead the way in Jesus name Amen we are going to regather as a Church we've done some work in the building we've removed the pews we've spread out some chairs we are going to have as best we can a gathering.

While living out some social distancing there are gonna be some changes made we're gonna have a video that comes out this week that helps lay out some of those changes for how we're going to try to be able to gather but do it in a safe manner as safe as possible and so we are looking forward to that look forward to seeing you next Sunday we understand that some of you won't be able to join us in person would love for you to continue to join us do it via the livestream let's join together in praying right.

Now God we ask for your grace we ask for what we consistently need is your Holy Spirit to work in us that we might see our own sin that we might root it out know where it hides know where we lie to ourselves know where we walk in ways that are unhelpful and unproductive and counter to the Gospel help us to remember that that is who we are outside of the saving grace and the work of your spirit and may we be people who repent and walk in freedom and joy and life we pray.

For all those right now that are hurting and all those right now that are sick all those right now that are fearful that have had job situations messed up we'd pray that you would continue to heal and bless we pray that you would bring us together safely next week in Jesus name you.

Kingdom Parables (Matthew 13:31-21, 44-52)

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Kingdom Parables

Chet Phillips

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Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

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The Parable of The Weeds

Spencer Cary

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Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23)

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The Parable of The Sower

Spencer Cary

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Community in Chaos

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Community in Chaos

Spencer Cary

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Six Reasons to Love Your Bible

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Six Reasons to Love Your Bible

Chet Phillips

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Dont Waste Your Pandemic

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Don't Waste Your Pandemic

Chet Phillips

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Isolation and Idolatry

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Isolation & Idolatry

Chet Phillips

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Easter

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Easter

Chet Phillips

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The Hidden Hope of Suffering

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In Tenderness

In tenderness he sought me
Weary and sick with sin
And on His shoulders brought me
Back to His fold again
While angels in His presence sang
Until the courts of heaven rang.

Oh, the love that sought me!
Oh, the blood that bought me!
Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold of God
Grace that brought me to the fold of God.

He died for me while I was sinning, needy and poor and blind
He whispered to assure me: "I've found thee; thou art Mine"
I never heard a sweeter voice, it made my aching heart rejoice.

Upon His grace I'll daily ponder, and sing anew His praise
With all adoring wonder, His blessings I retrace
It seems as if eternal days, are far too short to sing His praise.

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O Praise the Name

I cast my mind to Calvary
Where Jesus bled and died for me.
I see His wounds, His hands, His feet.
My Savior on that cursed tree

His body bound and drenched in tears
They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb.
The entrance sealed by heavy stone
Messiah still and all alone

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

Then on the third at break of dawn,
The Son of heaven rose again.
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the King

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

He shall return in robes of white,
The blazing Son shall pierce the night.
And I will rise among the saints,
My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God
O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

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The Hidden Hope of Suffering

Spencer Cary

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A Very Present Help

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Whom Shall I Fear

You hear me when I call
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light

Whom shall I fear?

You crush the enemy
Underneath my feet
You are my sword and shield
Though troubles linger still

Whom shall I fear?

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

My strength is in your name
For you alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?

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Living Hope

How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation, I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night
Then through the darkness, Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Who could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior, I'm Yours forever
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, Yours is the victory, whoa!

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Jesus Christ, my living hope
Oh God, You are my living hope

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A Very Present Help

Dr Ken Harmon

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Eternal Family in Temporary Suffering

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Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be

Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
And all I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, 
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, 
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

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Eternal Family in Temporary Suffering

Spencer Cary

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Searching for a Sign - Matthew 12:38-45

Searching for a Sign - Matthew 12:38-45

Spencer Cary

Transcript

If you have a Blue Bible New, it'll be on page 477. There won't be a lot of text on the screen, so we encourage you to follow along with us there. In the late 90s, I got to witness a cinematic classic. And I'm not talking about Titanic. I'm not talking about The Matrix. I'm talking about the rom-com, Fool's Rush In.

So, show of hands. Who has seen Fool's Rush In? Alright, like 10 or 15. Alright, so for everyone else, let me fill in the plot. So Matthew Perry from Friends is the lead role.

He plays the same sarcastic character he does in everything he's ever been in. He meets a girl. That's how romantic comedies work. Played by Selma Hayek. And she lives her life guided by fate. So she looks for signs from fate.

And that's how she lives her life. Now, you can pretty much fill in the plot from there. Fate brings them together. Tears them apart. But in the big climactic finish, the signs lead them back together and they live happily ever after.

So, that was in the late 90s. Early 2000s, Hollywood said that worked. Let's do it again. And they made the movie Serendipity. Which, y'all, is the same plot. Fate brings them together.

They follow the signs. It tears them apart. And then ultimately, it brings them back together. Now, this idea of searching for signs is starting to catch on. Then the show of How I Met Your Mother comes in the mid-late 2000s.

And then the idea of not fate guiding you, but the universe guiding you starts to become mainstream. I mean, throughout that show, it's this consistent theme of the universe is telling me. The universe is giving me signs. And now, that is a mainstream idea. You will hear people say, I think the universe is trying to tell me something. I think the universe is giving me a sign.

And we, as Christians, look at this and we go, that's not right. Right? Like, we don't look to the universe for signs. That's giving the universe this vague idea of universe fate, this God-like force. But what I have seen is I've seen Christians kind of adopt similar language when it comes to God.

I've seen Christians say, I'm looking for a sign from God. That I'm waiting for a sign from God to show me what I should do next. This is something that is, because we live in an experiential culture and we are trying to gather experiences like this. This is something that's consistently I'm seeing over and over again. And my question is, is that okay? Is it okay for us to be searching for signs for God to lead us in pursuits?

Like, is it okay to ask for God for signs if this is the one I should marry? If this is the job I should take? If this is the favorite child that I should spend most of my time with? All the basic pursuits. But then it becomes even bigger when you think about the more profound questions in life.

Is it okay to ask for God for signs with some of the bigger questions? Does God exist? Does He love me? Does He care for me? God, show me a sign that you love me, that you care for me, that you're here. Is that okay?

Is that posture okay to ask of God that He would reveal Himself to show His power, His presence, His love that He exists? That is a question that we're going to face today. It's a question that this story that we're going to read interacts with. In this story today, we're in another chapter of Jesus v. the Pharisees. You've been here the last few weeks. There's been one showdown after the other.

The Pharisees come and confront Jesus. And then He puts them in their place. We get another chapter of that. But it's going to interact with this bigger question. Is it okay for us as Christians to search for signs? So, let me pray.

And then we will jump into the passage and hear what God has to say. Father, I thank You that we get to gather this morning. God, I pray that You would help us be present. That You would give us ears to hear. That You would speak clearly to us and we would respond. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Alright guys, verse 38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. Alright, so if you were here last week, this is what happened. Jesus casts out demons. And the Pharisees accuse Him of getting His power from Beelzebub.

Of getting His power from the demonic. They accuse Jesus of essentially worshipping demons and getting His power from them. And then the follow-up request that comes from this is, Okay, fine. Then show us a sign. We wish to see a sign from you. Which is just a crazy back-to-back follow-up request.

Now, it's not that signs are inherently bad. Otherwise, Jesus has been doing them over and over again. Since the Sermon on the Mount, we've seen Him heal paralyzed. We've seen Him heal the sick. We've seen Him control the weather. He's continuously performing miracles, displaying His power.

But this request is different. It is uniquely different. The Pharisees have shown, even in this last exchange that happened last week, they don't believe Jesus. They don't believe He is who He says He is. They don't believe what He is doing. And this is a request from unbelief, but also it's one of arrogance.

They are arrogantly looking at Jesus and saying, Dance. Perform a sign. Do what we want to see. And they have completely miscalculated the situation. You don't, creation does not get to look at the God of the universe and say, Do this. That position of arrogance is not okay.

And Jesus makes that abundantly clear in verse 39. But He answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. So no, Jesus is not going to bend Himself to these arrogant men in this moment. To the Pharisees, to the scribes, to the religious leadership, to everyone who has come out over this period of time, who have seen Him perform miracles, who have heard His teaching, and have not repented, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He calls them an evil and adulterous generation. This is the language that is used throughout the Old Testament to describe the nation of Israel when it goes after foreign gods.

It's a strong way of saying faithlessness. This generation is faithless, and yet you demand a sign from this position of arrogance. This is similar to if you share the gospel with somebody who is not a believer, and at the end of it they say, No, I won't. If God is loving, and He's imminent, and He's all these things that you say He is, then He should just show up and prove Himself. Why is He hiding? It's this position of arrogance that is uniquely different.

It is not that Jesus is against doubt. It's not that He's against doubt at all. And we see that in the Gospels. We see that when Thomas, one of his disciples, who unfortunately gets the nickname Doubting Thomas, that's really not fair. He has one moment of doubt in the church for the next 2,000 years that gives them that label. But he has this moment after Jesus resurrects.

They say that He's risen. He doesn't believe. And he's like, I need to see His wounds. I need to see His wrists. And Jesus comes. He doesn't respond by saying, You should have believed.

He responds by, Put your hands here. We see this again in another situation where a father has a son who's afflicted by demons, and He comes. And Jesus uses some of this similar language of evil and adulterous generation. And He comes to them and He says, I believe. But Lord, help my unbelief.

Which is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. And Jesus doesn't respond with, He responds compassionately and lovingly. And He heals His son. And so Jesus is not against doubts. That isn't what's happening here. What's happening here is different.

It is unbelief. It is arrogance. And He is not going to respond with anything but what He just said, the sign of Jonah. You will get the sign of Jonah. Now, in order for us to understand the sign of Jonah, we need to understand the story of Jonah and a little bit of the context of Jonah. So just give me a moment.

Let me walk through the story of Jonah again. So he's an Old Testament prophet. God calls Jonah. He says, I want you to go to the city of Nineveh. And I want you to call out to the city of Nineveh. He wants to call them to repentance.

And Jonah says, No. And he runs the opposite direction. Gets on a ship. Goes as far away as he can from Nineveh. Jonah, a storm comes. And it's about to capsize the boat.

Jonah realizes this is from God. This is his fault. He tells them, Throw him overboard. The men on the ship. And they reluctantly throw him overboard. The sea is calm.

And a great fish comes up and swallows him whole. You may have heard the whale. That's fine. We don't know what kind of fish it was. But if the whale is good for picturing your mind, that's fine.

But a great fish comes up, swallows him, and he lives. For three days and three nights, he lives inside the belly of this great fish. And in that period of time, he reflects. He repents. He prays. And God doesn't destroy him for being a disobedient prophet.

He gives him grace. And Jonah is spit out onto dry land. He walks into the city of Nineveh. He preaches this message of repentance. Repent or you are going to be destroyed. And then he walks outside of the city and he sits down and he waits.

And they repent. In sackcloth and ashes, deep repentance, they repent. And Jonah is upset. He is angry. And unless you know the context of what's happening there, that seems a little bit confusing. Nineveh was one of the biggest cities in the kingdom and the empire of Assyria.

And in this period of time, the Assyrians have come in and completely destroyed the fabric of the nation of Israel. And they come in and ten tribes are completely forgotten. If they're not killed and destroyed, they're deported and scattered all across their empire. There is no one who looks for their lineage in Reuben or Dan or Asher or Manasseh. You can't because of what the Assyrians did. And not only that, they were the first major kingdom, the first major empire that was absolutely known for their brutality.

They did things like skin people alive. They were terrorists. Live dismemberments, live castrations. They would put men on, they put people on stakes and watch them die slowly to put fear in people's eyes. They did some of this stuff to the people of God. And Jonah's sitting outside the city and he wants justice.

He wants absolute fire from heaven, burn him up. Now, Jonah isn't justified in what he did. He gives you a little bit of background into why he did it. He didn't understand God's grace. But you need all of that.

You need all that context for the story to understand what Jesus is actually going to say next. In verse 40, he says, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus uses Jonah's experience to point forward. Just as Jonah was cast into the sea, presumed dead by the men who put him there in this great fish, so also Jesus is going to be killed, presumed to stay dead, and put into the heart of the earth, put in a tomb. And just as Jonah, three days later, bursts forth miraculously from this great fish, Jesus is going to burst forth miraculously from the empty tomb.

He is pointing forward and saying, this is the sign. His death, his resurrection. That's the sign that you need. He's prophetic, and he also knows that still is not going to be enough. He's prophetic and HEezing that the man's not going to be. He is about to persevere a lot of the missed places before he passed away.

He agreed to find UNIVE Thank you.

Demons & Blasphemy

Demons & Blasphemy

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles and let's head to Matthew chapter 12. We are working our way through the gospel of Matthew, studying through it verse by verse. We as Christians celebrate Jesus.

We celebrate who he is, what he's done. We celebrate the person of Jesus and we celebrate the work of Jesus. So we will magnify him. We'll sing to him and call him the king of kings, the Lord of lords. We'll lift him up. We'll call him the prince of peace.

We'll elevate not only who he is, but what he's done. We'll talk about him as a teacher, as a king, as a prophet. But there's one thing that is highlighted over and over again in the scriptures. That's celebrated globally and historically that we don't talk about a lot or celebrate a lot. And that is Jesus in his role, his position as an exorcist. You don't usually see that on banners in churches.

In this room, there used to be a banner before we put the TVs up so that we could have screens in here. There was a banner here that said King of Kings and a banner there that said Lord of Lords. That's normal. We see that kind of thing. I grew up in a church. We had banners.

People carried them in. But it wasn't like King of Kings, Lord of Lords, powerful exorcist. Like that isn't... I mean, if we had come in here and seen King of Kings, exorcist, we'd have been like, well, all right then. We have some questions. Because in the U.S., in the Western world, we are taught.

It is ingrained in us that everything has a scientific, testable, physical explanation. That is what you were taught. Scientific, testable, physical explanation. Everything. Anything beyond that, well, now we're getting a little kooky. And we're okay because we have a little bit of a Christian background in history in the U.S. with, okay, okay, you can believe in a God that's up above everything, that created everything.

You can even believe that Jesus came. But we're okay with those because they have physical, scientific explanation. Like, God created the whole world. Okay, now we can test this. We can see it. We can touch it.

Jesus came. We could see. We could touch Him. Okay, we're a little bit okay with that. But when it gets into the invisible, spiritual, things are going on that affect the physical realm, but that we can't see or test, we suddenly have some problems.

So I think today's text is going to be a lot of fun for us today. We actually get to look at Jesus in this role as an exorcist, and we get to see how His culture, the Pharisees specifically, respond to Him. And we're actually going to get to look at a few passages that are fairly difficult, and we're going to get to do them all together, and hopefully in context will help us understand them moving forward. So let's pray, and let's start studying the text together. God, we ask for Your Spirit to be active and at work in the Christians in this room this morning, that You would enliven in us, that You would illuminate Your Word, that we would understand it, that You would help us to see our sin and our need for repentance.

And we pray that You would be active and at work on the hearts of those who do not believe this morning, that they might see Your beauty and Your glory, and they might run to You away from their sin and into a beautiful forgiveness. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Romans, not Romans, good gosh, Matthew, chapter 12, verse 22. We saw last week that the interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees, the intensity is ramping up, and we saw last week that they have now just decided we have to destroy Him. Not we just don't like Him, not He's causing some problems, not we're not quite sure where His theology is.

They've settled on, okay, it's time to take this guy down. And so we'll see, as He continues to interact with them, that the intensity level has increased. Verse 22. Then a demon-oppressed man, who was blind and mute, was brought to Him, and He healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. Alright, so if we're not careful, we will do a lot of things approaching this text as Americans that will make us misunderstand this text greatly. We will approach it and say, okay, this is, we'll go, yeah, okay, he wasn't really demon-oppressed, that's just how they understood it.

That, you know, back then, they didn't have doctors and science, so everything was a demon. And we'll just put that lens over it and be incredibly wrong. Because they understood that there were spiritual powers and demonic activity, they also understood there were physical ailments. And even as we read the Gospel of Matthew, we'll see that there are times where Jesus heals somebody and it's just a physical issue. And there are other times where He heals somebody and it is a demonic issue. demonic issue. They did not understand the world to only be spiritual.

They understood there were physical aspects. Also, we would be taking this text very incorrectly because it says He was demon-oppressed. And we would somehow have elevated ourselves above the text and now we get to decide what it really means rather than placing the text above us and understanding the Bible to be true. So it says He's demon-oppressed. Now sometimes we'll use the word demon-possessed and even our text will translate it that sometimes.

He's possessed. But whenever we think of possessed we have in mind what we've seen in Hollywood which is this person is now just a puppet for all of this stuff. But it's a Greek word that just means demonized. This person was demonized or with a demon. And so we can translate it a few different ways to try to get the point across in English but I think demon-oppressed is one of the best ways to translate it. Meaning there was some demonic activity that was oppressing this man.

And it was oppressing him not that it just made him crazy or not that it made him mean or he foamed at the mouth or he started speaking Latin which is apparently what they do if you watch movies. He was blind and mute. He had physical ailments caused by demonic activity. that makes us more uncomfortable. Okay, so he's got physical ailments that are caused by demonic activity and also we would want this person to be if you're willing to say okay, okay, okay. I get that there's a God I get that there's a spiritual realm I believe that. I believe that angels that's usually people's first step I believe in angels like I'm okay with there are good spiritual beings and a lot of people go and I'm going to stop there.

Someone can show up and be an angel and do something wonderful. That's fine. It's like okay there are also evil spiritual beings who show up and do the opposite of wonderful things. But then we want to say okay, but they only mess with big stuff. They're only trying to mess with politics. And many of you go and I think I know which party they're messing with the most.

There's one party who's immune and this other one but maybe they mess with politics maybe they mess with powers we're really okay with it they mess with other countries they don't mess with America because they're afraid of freedom and AR-15s. We have some silly thought processes that you didn't realize you had but we have we have this it can happen elsewhere it can happen on this big level but it wouldn't mess with me it wouldn't be minute things but let me tell you this guy is very unimportant. At this point he's blind and mute he's been relegated to the fringes of society. We would want to think he'd have to be in power he'd have to be no.

So Jesus interacting with this man I love this I love how direct Matthew is because in our mind this would be so aggressive and epic and like a showdown. Then a demon oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him and he healed him so that he spoke and saw. Jesus has absolute authority. It's not like Jesus had to square up and he didn't have to stretch beforehand. His absolute authority he's healed. Not a big impressive amazing thing.

And mute was brought to him and he healed him so that he spoke and saw. Jesus has absolute authority. It's not like Jesus had to square up and he didn't have to stretch beforehand. His absolute authority he's healed. Not a big impressive amazing thing. It's beautiful what Jesus does it's glorious what Jesus does but it's highlighting his power

And how simple it seems for him. It says all the people were amazed I had to clarify I said it's not amazing it was amazing my bad guys but it wasn't something that was difficult for Jesus. All the people were amazed and said can this be the son of David meaning is this the Messiah can this be and the answer is yes it can be it is it is the Messiah

You are right they've guessed correctly they see his power and they go okay and you see what's happened is Jesus is displaying himself in such a powerful way that we now only have a few options if somebody comes in who's blind and mute and Jesus just heals them and it was obvious demon oppression you now have only a few options is he the Messiah

Is a good one he has to be greatly powerful and good but you see the Pharisees are about to come in and they're going to give another option which is he is greatly powerful but he's evil that's the other option they're going to say we got two options now we've seen what he's done we've got two options either he's really powerful and really good or he's really powerful

And really evil so they say is this the son of David now I want to before we move into what the Pharisees have said I want to highlight a few things for us that I think are helpful for us that we need to know I don't know this is the point of the passage but I think we need to grow in our theology here and so I want to help us a little bit demons are real they're not omnipresent

Satan's not omnipresent meaning he can't be everywhere at once he's not all powerful he's a created being he is seen as the figurehead the leader of chief over demonic forces so there are times where the Bible will just refer to as Satan and they just mean his work his legion his team he does actively affect humans and the goal is to steal kill kill

I can't say those back to back I'm sorry I'm southern steal kill and destroy that's what he does he's a liar he harms and he actively works to harm and if you are a believer primary goal with you would be to make you ineffective or to rob you of all the things that are given to you in Christ

Joy hope freedom delight love church family would want to rob you of that would want to lie to you and if you're not a believer would want to keep you from all of those as well and ultimately keep you from salvation and lead you into death he tempts he's called a tempter

He also is an accuser so he tempts us do this this will be great this will be wonderful and then he accuses you're terrible if you did that you obviously can't be a believer he does both and he is active but I want you to see a few things I think one of the things he does I think specifically as we look at this passage he does do cause physical harm and so I'm not trying to just

Spiritualize this but I also want you to see I think he does some of this same stuff where he wants us to be blind and mute the enemy wants you to be blind to his activity wants you to not think of Jesus as an exorcist which is actually very beautiful and freeing and hope filled wants you to be blind to the enemy's activity and wants you to if you notice it

Keep your mouth shut so maybe you're having aggressive nightmares maybe you have obsessive thoughts maybe you have you feel at times just absolutely crushingly overwhelmed and under attack and if for a moment you think maybe this is demonic one of the things the enemy does is he says shh you better not say anything they'll think

You're crazy they won't welcome you anymore you don't want to be that person so one of the things we do as a church family is we have a thing we call freedom in Christ which is just a practical prayer process to try to help people who are dealing with oppression from a real enemy find freedom in a real

King and so if you are dealing with something that you would think is oppressive we'd love to get with you and pray that's it we pray and we pray the way Jesus taught us in the model prayer he says pray forgive me my sins as we forgive those who sin against us so notice your

Own sin lead us not to temptation so notice how the world tempts you and delivers from the evil one notice that their enemy is real and most of us only pray a few of those things some of you notice your sin so well and the enemy co-ops that he's just like yes you are the worst

And you're like yes I am the worst you better repent I better repent but he doesn't actually want you to repent he wants you to feel guilty he wants you to feel condemnation he wants you to get the first part which is that you are a wicked sinner and he's right but that's

Only half truth you get freedom in Christ there are other people who notice the world but you don't notice your own sin it's just these friends I got they're all sinners I'm great they're the worst and I'm really just trying to help them out

By doing terrible things with them like you notice temptation you don't notice your own sin and there are some people who only notice the enemy most of us I would argue don't notice him at all but there are some people who only notice the enemy everything's

The devil he got the devil's at work and that he's the reason I got a flat tire it's like okay could also be the construction that's happening down from your house was it a nail was there a nail in your tire because it

Might just be the nail but a lot of us don't even have that as a framework in our mind that we might ought to ask we might ought to pray for deliverance from a great king who dispatches his enemy so I want us to understand that and I want if you have some of that going on

I want for you to get help even though the enemy will tell you not to and I will tell you that we have done this quite often in our church family and it ought not be normal but it is common for people in our church family to have something where the enemy is at work we pray through it and they find some freedom and we want that for all of us because we get freedom in Christ

And he is good and he is powerful so if that is you we would love to talk we would love to pray with you if you have more questions on this we would love to tell you more about it but we have to keep moving so Jesus is the king so the bible mentions demonic forces often but it always keeps the focus firmly squarely on Christ because he is

Authoritative so the people saw him heal and then they say could this be the Messiah verse 24 but when the pharisees heard it these are the religious leaders of the time they said it is only by Beelzebul the prince of demons that this man casts out demons Beelzebul means it is a little phrase they use it means master

Of the house and it was their colloquial term for Satan it is a little bit like in Harry Potter where they won't say Voldemort's name they called him the dark Lord or whatever it is like that and for those of you who haven't seen Harry Potter it is fine just go with it it is Beelzebul and it means master of the house oh I said seen I know

Their books don't talk to me about that later just they were books and movies it is fine anyway Beelzebul master of the house so they are saying they are saying is he is this the one is this the one who is promised look at this authority look at this power and the

Pharisees religious leaders of the day see the crowds start moving in this direction to follow Jesus to worship Jesus to hold him up as the king of everything as the messiah and they say no no no no no no no no no no

It is not that he has great power because he is good he has great power because he is extremely evil evil the reason he can authoritatively because they can't deny the fact that he just authoritatively healed somebody they can't

Deny the fact that he just dispatched the enemy at a word we don't even know if it was at a word he might it doesn't say but he just dispatched the enemy with ease they said no no no it is not

That he is good he is evil so extremely evil and I would tell you those are really your options today you can see Jesus in what he does and you can hold him up as king and as gloriously powerful

You can submit to him or you can reject him as evil you can say he is leading everybody astray he is the reason that everything is wrong with our world if we could just get rid of religion

It is hard to have Jesus come to us the way he does and try to hold him in the middle and say well he is a nice guy he doesn't really leave us that option verse 25 knowing their

Thoughts he said to them every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and no city or house divided against itself will stand and if satan

Cast out satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand so he knows their reasoning he knows the point they're trying

To make and knowing their thoughts it means he just know what they said or just what they're thinking but he sees the core

Of the issue he sees their hearts it's on display before him now I can't read thoughts but I've had moments where with my

Four year old son I felt clairvoyant I could see right through him I have a four year old he's about to be five

I have a five year old and two year old and there are times where they're playing and all of a sudden my two

Year old is crying aggressively for a while it was only because my four year old had done something but my two year old has learned

Cry the older bigger people will show up and you might get what you want so now since they're both sinners I have to

Go in and figure things out so I walk in and I'll say to Archer the one who can talk I'll say why is

He crying 50% of the time he says oh he fell and smacked his head on that or I had this toy but he

Wanted it but I was playing with it first that's 50% of the time the other half of the time I walk in I

Say why is he crying and he goes well and I have my answer I don't know the technique that he used to inflict

Harm on his brother but we've already jumped to it and he will he's he's going to tell me the truth y'all he's not

At the stage where he's lying to me a bunch but he's really he starts he'll start like three minutes ago well okay so

We were in this room he's giving himself a lot of leeway and I'll go what did you do to hurt him and he looks

At me like oh no he's cut through my stuff and that's what Jesus is doing here Jesus just jumps right to it cuts

Right through it and for adults that's probably pretty startling and so we've got these options either Jesus is powerfully good extremely good gloriously

Good or he is extremely evil because someone who's neutral doesn't just get to tell the enemy what to do now I don't want to

Give away the ending I'm but I'm gonna I lean that he's really good you guys and that's what Jesus is going to argue as

Well so he says every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste no city or house divided against itself will stand and if Satan

Casts out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand so his first argument is basically what y'all said doesn't

Make any sense your argument is silly that's his first argument Satan is fighting himself smart good good plan that's what he says that

Doesn't make any sense so that's his first argument is pretty simple if Satan were attacking himself he wouldn't be able to stand there's

No kingdom that divides against itself that will stand why would he do that then his second argument verse 27 if I cast out

Demons by Beelzebul by whom do your sons that means your followers cast them out therefore they will be your Judges so the Pharisees

Also had a practice of helping people find freedom through the power of God this was a practice Jesus hadn't come yet God was still

Working through the Jewish people so there was a practice for Pharisees to help people find freedom against demonic oppression so Jesus is just

Saying some of y'all do this is your argument with them that it's because they're the most evil among you we have the regular

Pharisees and the ones that help people find freedom are the evil Pharisees is that your argument is that how they do it is

That how I'm supposed to understand how y'all thought this worked the whole time he says they'll be your Judges like that that's not

What you would say about them so why would you say that about me 28 but if it is by the spirit of God

That I cast out demons then the kingdom of God has come upon you so he's saying if what you've said doesn't make any

Sense let me tell you the other option I'm walking in the spirit of God and the power and the authority of God and

The kingdom of God is here and where the kingdom spreads his authority spreads and freedom spreads that's your other option or how can

Someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man then indeed he may plunder his house

So he says if it doesn't make any sense for Satan to be attacking himself you now have to understand that I'm walking in

The power of the spirit and this is by the spirit of God and the kingdom I'm already binding him I'm way more powerful

Than he is you can't break into some strong man's house and just be walking out with his goods if he's just hanging out

There first thing you gotta do knock him out bind him up then you can plunder his house so Jesus is saying I'm plundering

The enemy the things that he claimed the people that he claimed I'm bringing freedom and I'm doing it because I have power and

I've already tied him up I love the books the chronicles of Narnia in the first one the line the witch and the wardrobe there's an

Evil witch who's made this whole area of Narnia winter forever she rides around in a sleigh she thinks she's great there's a part where Aslan who's

Modeled after Christ begins to show up and so she's riding and all of a sudden the snow starts melting and flowers start blooming and her sleigh

Gets stuck it's one of my favorite parts in the books and they keep talking about Aslan's on the move that's what Jesus is saying the

Kingdom is here I'm on the move and where I move freedom comes spring is blooming and the enemy power is broken and it's

Because I'm more powerful than he is whoever this is verse 30 whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather

With me scatters he's saying I split the world in half those who are with me and those who aren't there aren't any other

Options I'm either incredibly good or you're going to have to just join the other team and be against me that's what he's saying

That if y'all are warring against me then he says therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people blasphemy is

A direct sin against God now all sin is against God but blasphemy is words hurled at God is a defiant spirit toward God

That's how they understood it Jesus is actually going to be crucified they accuse him of blasphemy because he says he's the son of

Man high and lifted up you're going to see me coming in the clouds of heaven he goes back to this ancient of days

Picture from Daniel says that's me high priest rips his robes and says y'all heard it what other testimony we need blasphemy and so

Jesus is bringing this picture and he says every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people but the blasphemy against the spirit will not

Be forgiven and whoever speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven but whoever speaks against the holy spirit will not be

Forgiven either in this age or the age to come so he's saying there's no forgiveness that you'll find in this life and there's

No forgiveness that you'll find in the eternity to come there is no forgiveness for blasphemy against the spirit John Piper who's a pastor

In Minnesota I think somewhere where it's cold up there to the left a little bit he said that when God says forever he means forever and that

If what he's saying here is that if all the mountains of the earth were slowly disintegrating one millimeter every thousand years there would be

No forgiveness for this sin when the earth was as smooth as a billiard ball faithful finans what jeez This means forever. This is a weighty statement. And I think we ought to figure out what is blasphemy of the Spirit? What is He talking about? And maybe if you've grown up in the church, you've heard some teaching on this.

You've heard this referred to. Maybe some of you in this room have wondered, have I done this? You've had some fear over what is blasphemy of the Spirit. I know our church family, some of you, this is the first time you've ever heard it. It's still worth, let's figure it out. So as I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word, so this is words spoken against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Before we define this, I want to answer a few things that it's not. It is not the concept of grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit. So this is something that's mentioned later in the Bible, don't grieve the Holy Spirit or quenching the Spirit, which is this idea that the Holy Spirit leads you to do something and you do not do it.

There was a time where He told you to go speak to somebody, where He told you to call something out, where He told you to repent, where He told you to... And you didn't do it. You fought against Him. And the Bible tells us not to do that because we ought to follow the leadership of the Spirit, but that is not what this passage has in mind. It's not what it's talking about. Secondly, and as I was studying this, I learned, this has been taught that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is if someone commits suicide. I don't know how common that is. I had heard before that people thought that suicide was unforgivable. I don't know how many people had tied it to this, but I want to say a few things. For those whose lives have been touched by suicide, it is tragic and horrible, and I'm sorry. But the Bible, not here or elsewhere, says that suicide is unforgivable.

It is a sin. It is something that we ought not to do. But it is a sin that receives forgiveness and grace in Christ. There are some things that people want to nuance and talk out that if someone was a believer, they would have a hard time doing that. And if you want to have a philosophical debate about it at some point or discussion, we can. But I want you to know the Bible does not teach that. And it definitely does not teach it here. The context would not make any sense for this to suddenly be referring to suicide. But if you have questions about that or concerns about that, we'd love to talk with you. And if suicide is something that you are considering, do not do that. Come talk to us. Thirdly, it is not simply being opposed to Christ prior to being a believer. It doesn't mean that you said really mean things about him or that you actively tried to stop the church or attacked the church.

If that were the case, Paul, who wrote Romans, which I wanted us to read earlier, randomly, would not have gotten to be an apostle. He persecuted the church. He hated the church. He thought he was doing what was right. He killed Christians. And he was redeemed, gloriously redeemed. It can't be that if you are a believer, someone who already knows Jesus, and then there's a time where you deny him or you pretend like you don't know him or you run from him. Because if that were the case, Peter would not get to be an apostle and a leader in the church. But that's exactly what he did. He knew Christ. He was the leader among the twelve

And he denied Christ and then repented and received forgiveness. So it can't be simply that. And so looking at the context and trying to understand what's going on here, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a settled position. Heart position. Because he knows their thoughts and he's about to address this more clearly that he can see to their hearts. But it's a settled heart position that the Holy Spirit of God is evil. So they're looking in this situation and they're seeing the works of Christ and they're seeing the works of the Spirit and they're saying this is Satan's work. And we don't know at this point if the Pharisees have actually committed

Blasphemy against the Spirit. We know he's warning them. And they've been saying he's Beelzebul for some time and he's addressing this and saying let me tell you something. There is forgiveness but not if we keep heading down this road. We don't know yet if they've fully done it but he is saying there will be no forgiveness not in this age or the age to come for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit for a settled position that God is evil that his work is evil for seeing what he's doing and calling it Satanic. So let's see. He keeps going. Verse 33.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad for the tree is known by its fruit. That's how you know. He just says it's so simple. You know a tree's good if its fruit's good. His point is y'all are saying I'm doing good things but I'm evil. I just did wonderful fruit. I just brought forth someone into freedom and then you said see that beautiful fruit? Evil tree. It doesn't make any sense. The fruit will be good and the tree's good

Or the fruit will be bad and the tree's bad. He keeps going. You brood of vipers. I also think in that past phrase he's calling them into a little bit of repentance. He's calling them to be good trees as he points out their brokenness and this thinking here. He says but you brood of vipers children of snakes. I know there's some cultural difference between us and them but this is received about the same way it would be received if you said it to someone.

Not nice. I think he's telling the truth. He's Jesus. He's calling it as it is but he's not a kind thing to say is he? How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil and I tell you on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified

And by your words you will be condemned. I think that the concept of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit gets pulled out of context until people don't use the context to try to understand it and I think that phrase gets pulled out of context. I tell you on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak. How many people just thought of middle school and got cold chills? Understanding that this means if I just oh my goodness I'm going to stand before him

In everything I've ever said. I was with my dad we were at my grandparents' house when they used to live in West Virginia and they had a house at the top of a hill and they had a paved driveway that was a very steep slope and it was very icy quite often because we would go visit him at Christmas we were unloading the vehicle this was a difficult process to unload the vehicle and get the bags up the hill and you wanted to be there early so that you could be one of the top cars because of big families so sometimes you were at the very bottom. We were there

We were unloading the vehicle my dad's feet shoot out from under him he lands on his back pow and just splayed out and slides down the hill. For his sons who watched it was great for him he didn't seem to enjoy it that much but he got up he's like oh he said that for a second and then he went I didn't cuss he's so proud of himself and you guys he did it that's all he had to do he passed the test

He didn't say a careless word he's fine in the day of judgment that's not how that works that's not what this passage is saying it does not mean have you said something bad or have you said something ill-timed or has something slipped out or have you had a season where it's not what it's saying what he's saying is you are confessing what you believe your mouth is telling on your heart and your mouth will stand in judgment against you he knows their thoughts he sees to their heart

And he says what's coming out of you is because your heart is evil and so some of us say I'm a good person and we're lying to ourselves I'm a believer but we're lying to ourselves your mouth is telling on your heart all the time when you get the chance to build somebody up when you get the chance to tear somebody down which do you take when you're rehearsing things to yourself about who God is and who other people are and what this city's like are you confessing are your words

Telling you and the world and God in judgment that you believe and that your confession is that Christ is good and that he redeems sinners are you confessing the truth because it's just pouring out of what's going on in your heart so you've got to realize the heart is the core it's not your words that are accomplishing this your words are putting it on display and he's saying the reason why you are settled in this the reason why this is pouring out of you is because your heart is evil

That's why you're making this argument that's why you're bent this direction that's what the Pharisees are doing they've already settled in their hearts their approach to Jesus so it doesn't matter what he does they're going to find a way to fight against it I remember when I first got married and I was I talked with Anna's brother and asked him to read the Bible with me he's not a believer but he was willing to read it he was interested

He was reading it with me we were reading through the Gospel of John and he said to me at one point he goes I don't understand the Pharisees at all because they keep seeing Jesus do amazing things and instead of acknowledging that was amazing they just further decide we've got to kill him like specifically it came out in John 11 where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and they're like oh now we have to kill Lazarus too

We better kill Jesus first or he'll undo it again and he was like what is going on here but the thing is they had already settled in their heart their position towards him and so they were going to fight against it the whole time this is the way I feel when I've ever seen that program Ancient Aliens on the History Channel which I love that that's on the History Channel because what on earth is the History Channel doing all they do they have it settled in their mind God doesn't exist

Supernatural doesn't exist and so they go around the world and they find pictures and stories and they'll read passages of the Bible and they'll go now this person who is supposedly a prophet of God met with God on the mountain this Moses but what if it wasn't God what if it was and it's always a big reveal aliens that's their that's their whole position they're willing to make that big jump to aliens

Aliens started human life aliens did this they're willing to make that jump and I'm always like what if it's what the guy who saw it said it was what if we took the eyewitness account instead of what you've made up but they have a settled position and then they're working from that spot the Pharisees have that their heart is settled and they're working from that position not all the Pharisees thankfully some repent

But in general that's what they're doing the ones he's interacting with are doing that and he's saying your words are pouring out there's no way for you to speak good things there's no way for you to see this well because you are evil so blasphemy against the spirit is the settled position that Christ that the spirit the work of God is evil that it's harmful and Jesus says that will not be forgiven now I want to I want us to not miss some things

First I want us to see the distinct and precious position of the work of the spirit Jesus even says blasphemy against the son of man will be forgiven so this position that he's fulfilling at this time he says that will be forgiven but blasphemy against the spirit won't to see the work of God and to fight against it and to think he's evil won't be forgiven I want you to see the preciousness of the spirit and the beauty of the work of the spirit

I want us to cherish that I want us to learn that if you are willing to repent desiring to repent if you have stuff where you feel like maybe I fought against the spirit repent if he's calling you to repent repent if your desire is for him if your heart is for him don't think maybe I've already committed this you have to repent but I also want us to be careful how we speak

Of the spirit's work because we can easily drift into tribalism and when we see other movements and other things going on in the Christian world we can be quick to judge rather than slow to discern and walk in the spirit as we give judgment I'm not saying accept everything the bible doesn't say that it says test the spirits but have the holy spirit lead that process

And don't just think because that's the first I've heard of it it must be evil be slow in that process secondly be guarded in the way you speak the holy spirit is precious let's not make jokes I don't know if y'all know this I love making jokes I also like jokes that are just on the

Hair of this was not the best time for this joke just on the hair I've never been beyond that just right there the holy spirit is precious Christ is precious let's be careful in thinking oh okay well he's there's grace there's freedom we can talk about him how we want

No he's he's glorious and to be upheld so I'm a fan of jokes but not about the Lord the only one I've ever heard about Jesus that I think is repeatable and I think it's kind of funny my dad

Told me he said at the last supper you know what Jesus said to his disciples y'all eat on this side of the table if you want to be in the picture that's the only one I'll tell because I think we're making fun

Of Leonardo da Vinci not Jesus so be careful the holy spirit is precious his work is beautiful be slow to discern slow to speak lastly don't miss this because I think we read this and we think oh my goodness there's an

Unforgivable sin and we don't see what Jesus just said look at this verse 31 therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven he says

But and he clarifies about this position against the Holy Spirit but don't miss that every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven do you see how beautiful that is that's what Jesus has come to accomplish at the cost of his own life to spill

His own blood so that we might have redemption and he gets great glory as he forgives wicked wicked sinners your theft your lies your adultery your hatred your racism your pedophilia the times you've shaken your fist at God you've raged against Christ

Will be forgiven in the atoning blood of our glorious Savior do not miss that do not feel judgment from this passage and only see that see the judgment and find forgiveness run to the one who forgives

Sin and welcomes sinners the Bible is covered in this whoever believes in the son has eternal life whoever does not obey the son shall not see life but the

Wrath of God remains on him so there is a wrath that remains but there's forgiveness in the son John 3 36 John 5 24

Truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment

But has passed from death to life that we can go to Christ and be forgiven and he forgives all sins one of my favorite

Movies is oh brother where art thou it came out in the year 2000 it's like 20 years ago I talk about it like

It came out two years ago but there's these guys who escape from jail they're running through the woods and they see people getting

Baptized and one of them Delmer runs down to get baptized he goes out he talks to the pastor he comes back he goes

To his friends and he says come on in boys the water's fine and he splashes and they said what are you doing he

Says I've just been saved and forgiven all my sins have been forgiven even that piggly wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo one of

The other guys goes you said you were innocent of those charges and he goes well I lied and that's forgiven too and that's

Us in Christ that's forgiven too what is it that haunts you what is it that you feel like clings to you run to

Christ that's forgiven too in this age and the age to come all sin all blasphemy come on in the water's fine there's freedom

And redemption in Christ that his blood would be shed for sinners wicked evil despicable sinners the thing that makes shame creep up your

Neck the thing that you don't want to tell anybody he forgives he redeems and he receives much glory from it what is your confession

It says if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord you will be saved the Philippian jailer comes to

Paul and he says how can we be saved Paul says believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household he doesn't say

I need to ask a question about blasphemy first he says no believe you'll find forgiveness you'll find salvation trust so for those of you who have

Placed your faith in Jesus I want you to feel the freedom and the forgiveness in Christ this morning that every sin and every

Blasphemy is forgiven and for those of you who have not placed your faith in Christ I want you to do so I want you to come to come to come to Jesus

That he is evil and that he is at work for bad but see him in his glory and see him in his goodness

And see him in his power and place your faith in him let's pray God we pray that you would work today we pray that you would help us to

See our sin so that we might run to the Savior I pray that you would help us to feel the forgiveness that is in your name the hope that is in Christ and

Christ alone I pray that for those who have been oppressed by the enemy lied to tricked accused tempted I pray that they would find freedom in your name that they would seek you who set

Captives free who have bound the strong man who have conquered the enemy who have brought him to open shame and have triumphed over him and who have nailed our sin to the cross may we find hope and freedom

And joy and delight in Christ this morning amen amen

And I think we ought to figure out what is blasphemy of the Spirit? What is He talking about? And maybe if you've grown up in the church, you've heard some teaching on this. You've heard this referred to. Maybe some of you in this room have wondered, have I done this? You've had some fear over what is blasphemy of the Spirit.

I know our church family, some of you, this is the first time you've ever heard it. It's still worth, let's figure it out. So as I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word, so this is words spoken against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Before we define this, I want to answer a few things that it's not. It is not the concept of grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit.

So this is something that's mentioned later in the Bible, don't grieve the Holy Spirit or quenching the Spirit, which is this idea that the Holy Spirit leads you to do something and you do not do it. There was a time where He told you to go speak to somebody, where He told you to call something out, where He told you to repent, where He told you to... And you didn't do it. You fought against Him. And the Bible tells us not to do that because we ought to follow the leadership of the Spirit, but that is not what this passage has in mind. It's not what it's talking about.

Secondly, and as I was studying this, I learned, this has been taught that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is if someone commits suicide. I don't know how common that is. I had heard before that people thought that suicide was unforgivable. I don't know how many people had tied it to this, but I want to say a few things. For those whose lives have been touched by suicide, it is tragic and horrible, and I'm sorry. But the Bible, not here or elsewhere, says that suicide is unforgivable.

It is a sin. It is something that we ought not to do. But it is a sin that receives forgiveness and grace in Christ. There are some things that people want to nuance and talk out that if someone was a believer, they would have a hard time doing that. And if you want to have a philosophical debate about it at some point or discussion, we can. But I want you to know the Bible does not teach that.

And it definitely does not teach it here. The context would not make any sense for this to suddenly be referring to suicide. But if you have questions about that or concerns about that, we'd love to talk with you. And if suicide is something that you are considering, do not do that. Come talk to us. Thirdly, it is not simply being opposed to Christ prior to being a believer.

It doesn't mean that you said really mean things about him or that you actively tried to stop the church or attacked the church. If that were the case, Paul, who wrote Romans, which I wanted us to read earlier, randomly, would not have gotten to be an apostle. He persecuted the church. He hated the church. He thought he was doing what was right. He killed Christians.

And he was redeemed, gloriously redeemed. It can't be that if you are a believer, someone who already knows Jesus, and then there's a time where you deny him or you pretend like you don't know him or you run from him. Because if that were the case, Peter would not get to be an apostle and a leader in the church. But that's exactly what he did. He knew Christ. He was the leader among the twelve and he denied Christ and then repented and received forgiveness.

So it can't be simply that. And so looking at the context and trying to understand what's going on here, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a settled position. Heart position. Because he knows their thoughts and he's about to address this more clearly that he can see to their hearts. But it's a settled heart position that the Holy Spirit of God is evil.

So they're looking in this situation and they're seeing the works of Christ and they're seeing the works of the Spirit and they're saying this is Satan's work. And we don't know at this point if the Pharisees have actually committed blasphemy against the Spirit. We know he's warning them. And they've been saying he's Beelzebul for some time and he's addressing this and saying let me tell you something. There is forgiveness but not if we keep heading down this road. We don't know yet if they've fully done it but he is saying there will be no forgiveness not in this age or the age to come for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit for a settled position that God is evil that his work is evil for seeing what he's doing and calling it Satanic.

So let's see. He keeps going. Verse 33. Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad for the tree is known by its fruit. That's how you know. He just says it's so simple.

You know a tree's good if its fruit's good. His point is y'all are saying I'm doing good things but I'm evil. I just did wonderful fruit. I just brought forth someone into freedom and then you said see that beautiful fruit? Evil tree. It doesn't make any sense.

The fruit will be good and the tree's good or the fruit will be bad and the tree's bad. He keeps going. You brood of vipers. I also think in that past phrase he's calling them into a little bit of repentance. He's calling them to be good trees as he points out their brokenness and this thinking here. He says but you brood of vipers children of snakes.

I know there's some cultural difference between us and them but this is received about the same way it would be received if you said it to someone. Not nice. I think he's telling the truth. He's Jesus. He's calling it as it is but he's not a kind thing to say is he? How can you speak good when you are evil?

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil and I tell you on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. I think that the concept of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit gets pulled out of context until people don't use the context to try to understand it and I think that phrase gets pulled out of context. I tell you on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak.

How many people just thought of middle school and got cold chills? Understanding that this means if I just oh my goodness I'm going to stand before him in everything I've ever said. I was with my dad we were at my grandparents' house when they used to live in West Virginia and they had a house at the top of a hill and they had a paved driveway that was a very steep slope and it was very icy quite often because we would go visit him at Christmas we were unloading the vehicle this was a difficult process to unload the vehicle and get the bags up the hill and you wanted to be there early so that you could be one of the top cars because of big families so sometimes you were at the very bottom. We were there we were unloading the vehicle my dad's feet shoot out from under him he lands on his back pow and just splayed out and slides down the hill.

We were unloading the vehicle my dad's feet shoot out from under him he lands on his back pow and just splayed out and slides down the hill. For his sons who watched it was great for him he didn't seem to enjoy it that much but he got up he's like oh he said that for a second and then he went I didn't cuss he's so proud of himself and you guys he did it that's all he had to do he passed the test

He didn't say a careless word he's fine in the day of judgment that's not how that works that's not what this passage is saying it does not mean have you said something bad or have you said something ill-timed or has something slipped out or have you had a season where it's not what it's saying what he's saying is you are confessing what you believe your mouth is telling on your heart and your mouth will stand in judgment against you he knows their thoughts he sees to their heart

And he says what's coming out of you is because your heart is evil and so some of us say I'm a good person and we're lying to ourselves I'm a believer but we're lying to ourselves your mouth is telling on your heart all the time when you get the chance to build somebody up when you get the chance to tear somebody down which do you take when you're rehearsing things to yourself about who God is and who other people are and what this city's like are you confessing are your words

Telling you and the world and God in judgment that you believe and that your confession is that Christ is good and that he redeems sinners are you confessing the truth because it's just pouring out of what's going on in your heart so you've got to realize the heart is the core it's not your words that are accomplishing this your words are putting it on display and he's saying the reason why you are settled in this the reason why this is pouring out of you is because your heart is evil

That's why you're making this argument that's why you're bent this direction that's what the Pharisees are doing they've already settled in their hearts their approach to Jesus so it doesn't matter what he does they're going to find a way to fight against it I remember when I first got married and I was I talked with Anna's brother and asked him to read the Bible with me he's not a believer but he was willing to read it he was interested

He was reading it with me we were reading through the Gospel of John and he said to me at one point he goes I don't understand the Pharisees at all because they keep seeing Jesus do amazing things and instead of acknowledging that was amazing they just further decide we've got to kill him like specifically it came out in John 11 where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and they're like oh now we have to kill Lazarus too

We better kill Jesus first or he'll undo it again and he was like what is going on here but the thing is they had already settled in their heart their position towards him and so they were going to fight against it the whole time this is the way I feel when I've ever seen that program Ancient Aliens on the History Channel which I love that that's on the History Channel because what on earth is the History Channel doing all they do they have it settled in their mind God doesn't exist

Supernatural doesn't exist and so they go around the world and they find pictures and stories and they'll read passages of the Bible and they'll go now this person who is supposedly a prophet of God met with God on the mountain this Moses but what if it wasn't God what if it was and it's always a big reveal aliens that's their that's their whole position they're willing to make that big jump to aliens

Aliens started human life aliens did this they're willing to make that jump and I'm always like what if it's what the guy who saw it said it was what if we took the eyewitness account instead of what you've made up but they have a settled position and then they're working from that spot the Pharisees have that their heart is settled and they're working from that position not all the Pharisees thankfully some repent

But in general that's what they're doing the ones he's interacting with are doing that and he's saying your words are pouring out there's no way for you to speak good things there's no way for you to see this well because you are evil so blasphemy against the spirit is the settled position that Christ that the spirit the work of God is evil that it's harmful and Jesus says that will not be forgiven now I want to I want us to not miss some things

First I want us to see the distinct and precious position of the work of the spirit Jesus even says blasphemy against the son of man will be forgiven so this position that he's fulfilling at this time he says that will be forgiven but blasphemy against the spirit won't to see the work of God and to fight against it and to think he's evil won't be forgiven I want you to see the preciousness of the spirit and the beauty of the work of the spirit

I want us to cherish that I want us to learn that if you are willing to repent desiring to repent if you have stuff where you feel like maybe I fought against the spirit repent if he's calling you to repent repent if your desire is for him if your heart is for him don't think maybe I've already committed this you have to repent but I also want us to be careful how we speak

Of the spirit's work because we can easily drift into tribalism and when we see other movements and other things going on in the Christian world we can be quick to judge rather than slow to discern and walk in the spirit as we give judgment I'm not saying accept everything the bible doesn't say that it says test the spirits but have the holy spirit lead that process

And don't just think because that's the first I've heard of it it must be evil be slow in that process secondly be guarded in the way you speak the holy spirit is precious let's not make jokes I don't know if y'all know this I love making jokes I also like jokes that are just on the

Hair of this was not the best time for this joke just on the hair I've never been beyond that just right there the holy spirit is precious Christ is precious let's be careful in thinking oh okay well he's there's grace there's freedom we can talk about him how we want

No he's he's glorious and to be upheld so I'm a fan of jokes but not about the Lord the only one I've ever heard about Jesus that I think is repeatable and I think it's kind of funny my dad

Told me he said at the last supper you know what Jesus said to his disciples y'all eat on this side of the table if you want to be in the picture that's the only one I'll tell because I think we're making fun

Of Leonardo da Vinci not Jesus so be careful the holy spirit is precious his work is beautiful be slow to discern slow to speak lastly don't miss this because I think we read this and we think oh my goodness there's an

Unforgivable sin and we don't see what Jesus just said look at this verse 31 therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven he says

But and he clarifies about this position against the Holy Spirit but don't miss that every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven do you see how beautiful that is that's what Jesus has come to accomplish at the cost of his own life to spill

His own blood so that we might have redemption and he gets great glory as he forgives wicked wicked sinners your theft your lies your adultery your hatred your racism your pedophilia the times you've shaken your fist at God you've raged against Christ

Will be forgiven in the atoning blood of our glorious Savior do not miss that do not feel judgment from this passage and only see that see the judgment and find forgiveness run to the one who forgives

Sin and welcomes sinners the Bible is covered in this whoever believes in the son has eternal life whoever does not obey the son shall not see life but the

Wrath of God remains on him so there is a wrath that remains but there's forgiveness in the son John 3 36 John 5 24

Truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment

But has passed from death to life that we can go to Christ and be forgiven and he forgives all sins one of my favorite

Movies is oh brother where art thou it came out in the year 2000 it's like 20 years ago I talk about it like

It came out two years ago but there's these guys who escape from jail they're running through the woods and they see people getting

Baptized and one of them Delmer runs down to get baptized he goes out he talks to the pastor he comes back he goes

To his friends and he says come on in boys the water's fine and he splashes and they said what are you doing he

Says I've just been saved and forgiven all my sins have been forgiven even that piggly wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo one of

The other guys goes you said you were innocent of those charges and he goes well I lied and that's forgiven too and that's

Us in Christ that's forgiven too what is it that haunts you what is it that you feel like clings to you run to

Christ that's forgiven too in this age and the age to come all sin all blasphemy come on in the water's fine there's freedom

And redemption in Christ that his blood would be shed for sinners wicked evil despicable sinners the thing that makes shame creep up your

Neck the thing that you don't want to tell anybody he forgives he redeems and he receives much glory from it what is your confession

It says if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord you will be saved the Philippian jailer comes to

Paul and he says how can we be saved Paul says believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household he doesn't say

I need to ask a question about blasphemy first he says no believe you'll find forgiveness you'll find salvation trust so for those of you who have

Placed your faith in Jesus I want you to feel the freedom and the forgiveness in Christ this morning that every sin and every

Blasphemy is forgiven and for those of you who have not placed your faith in Christ I want you to do so I want you to come to come to come to Jesus

That he is evil and that he is at work for bad but see him in his glory and see him in his goodness

And see him in his power and place your faith in him let's pray God we pray that you would work today we pray that you would help us to

See our sin so that we might run to the Savior I pray that you would help us to feel the forgiveness that is in your name the hope that is in Christ and

Christ alone I pray that for those who have been oppressed by the enemy lied to tricked accused tempted I pray that they would find freedom in your name that they would seek you who set

Captives free who have bound the strong man who have conquered the enemy who have brought him to open shame and have triumphed over him and who have nailed our sin to the cross may we find hope and freedom

And joy and delight in Christ this morning amen amen