Podcasts about well jesus

JESUS AND PETER A Different View of Christ and His Catholic Church by Barry Leonardini https://www.amazon.com/JESUS-Different-Christ-Catholic-Church/dp/1587905671 Can religious topics be entertaining ? Well Jesus said he was half man and half god. It's certainly an entertaining place to start. How much of Jesus as depicted in the Bible was accurate? How much was the apostle's Peter's creation ? How much were crafty editors who wrote about Jesus four hundred years after his passing with a purpose of establishing their own multilayered religious enterprise? My feelings on Jesus's success is tied to his credibility. He had to be approachable. Jesus is somewhat naive and vulnerable. His followers were drawn to that warmth of honesty. But Jesus is also fishing for followers. So there is a calculating methodology. He doesn't want to be "caught acting" as Spencer Tracy warned. Indeed, he had a high wire act that ended badly. Whether he was or wasn't the son of god, he did live. That fact has been keeping people entertained for thousand of years. "All roads lead to Rome" was how Christ's modest preaching of charity got legs to the world stage. Jesus never made it to Rome. But Jesus's once humble apostle, Peter, did make it to Rome. He became a quasi producer/promoter of Christ's message but with a political component. Peter went on to be Pope. He was the first and only Jew to be Pope of The Holy Roman Empire. He was followed in that position by powerful political members of Rome's ruling class families and subsequent Roman emperors. It started with the emperor Nero. The savvy Nero used Peter to manage the expectations of newly arriving religious followers of Jesus and other immigrants from the vast empire. Nero also had an eye on managing Rome's own restive poor who were a growing threat to his power. The message of Jesus had been expanded from personal charity to a state funded "Bread and Circus" political event akin to welfare. Once Nero became Peter's partner, Peter became redundant. Peter was then crucified. What is it about Jerusalem and the surrounding locale that produced both Jesus and Muhammad ? Maybe it was a coincidence. Or was it because Jesus and Muhammad replaced pagan gods? Pagan gods did not promote Jesus' charity which morphed with the Catholic Church into a welfare state. That's a compelling reason for common folks to follow the prophets and stop making out of pocket offerings to pagan god statues.

Do you ever feel hesitant to share your faith, afraid of how people might react? This video will help you overcome fear, stand boldly for the gospel, and fulfil the Great Commission. Get my FREE Bible Colour Code

Introduction: The Heart of the Disciple: Congratulations to the Hated! (Matthew 5:10-12) Who Are “Those Who Are Persecuted”? 1 Peter 4:3-4 – For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you... Luke 9:23 – And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 2 Timothy 3:12 – Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted… Why Are We Congratulating Those Who Are Persecuted? Acts 5:40-41 – And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. How Do I Respond to Being Persecuted? Three Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution: Persecution Proves I Belong to Jesus! 1 Peter 1:6-7 – In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I Have a Reward in Heaven! 2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. I'm in Good Company! John 15:20 – Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Audio Transcript Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Matthew chapter 5.Matthew chapter 5, as we are coming at the end of an eight-week-long congratulationsparty as we look at the Beatitudes.This is the introduction to the greatest sermon ever preached.And every Beatitude begins with the word "blessed."And the word "blessed" means congratulations.If I asked you, "What is a Christian?"We could probably go around the room and get dozens and dozens and dozens of differentresponses to that.What is a Christian?What does a Christian do?What does a Christian look like?How does a Christian act?As we go through the Beatitudes, understand from the mouth of our Lord, this is whata Christian is.So it really doesn't matter what I think a Christian is or what you think a followerof Jesus is.This is what Jesus said a follower of Him looks like.This is what Christians are meant to be.And as we've said through this whole series, there's a spiritually logical flow in theBeatitudes.Jesus wasn't just pulling out these random sayings.There's a flow here.It's like a staircase.It's like steps on a ladder.Let's look at them again.Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.Blessed are the pure in hearts, for they shall see God.Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdomof heaven."Look at this flow here.What I want you to see here, the first three Beatitudes address our need.We're poor in spirit, and we should mourn over that.And we need to stop thinking of ourselves first and live a life of complete unselfishness.That's meekness.That's the need that we have.And then the need is satisfied as we hunger and thirst for righteousness.And then the next three Beatitudes show the result.We become merciful.We become pure in heart.We become peacemakers.Today, this last one, this is the outcome.If you are sincerely following Jesus Christ, if Christ is alive in you and He is changingyou, I've got to tell you, this is kind of a shocking statement that Jesus says, "Youknow you made it."When people hate you.Wow.Before we dive into this, let's just pause for a moment.I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God'sWord, and at the same time I will pray for you to receive what it is the Lord wants totell us in His Word today.All right?Let's just take a moment.Please pray for me.Father in heaven, as we come to Your Word, this is a hard one.But we're not cherry picking.Just trying to cover the parts of Your Word that might be easier on our ears, Father.We want to hear everything that You had to say.This is a hard one.I pray, Father, for all of us, You would open our hearts for a time of self-examinationand also a time of maybe a change of perspective.To Your glory and honor, Father, let Your Word take root in our hearts.To make us the people that You've called us to be, to make us the people that Jesus described,as followers would be.I pray these things in Jesus' name.All of God's people said, Amen.All right, we're in week 8 of the party.Anybody else have like party fatigue?You're like, "All right, you know what?In any other party I would have gone home long before this."But look, we've got one more week of party, all right?So are you ready?Today, we want to wish a hearty congratulations to the hated.You ready?Let's do it!I get to tell you, it feels strange.You're hated.Congratulations!I'm so happy for you.You're hated?Wow, that's awesome!Like, man, you're going to have to explain that one.Well, let's look at what our Lord says."Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake, for theirs is the kingdomof heaven."So the first question we have to ask is, "Who are we congratulating here?Who are the persecuted?"Well the Greek word persecuted means pursue.The word we would use in our day is harass.This verb tense talks about somebody who continually allows themselves to be put in this position,the persecuted.You're like, "Well, persecuted like how?"Well, Jesus tells us.Look at verse 11."Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evilagainst you falsely on my accounts."So you see this persecution, there's two sides of the coin here.There's reviling.That's face to face.That's, I'm assaulting you with words in your face, or we would just call that insultingyou.Right?But then He says, "Uter evil falsely."That's not in your face.That's behind your back.That's slandering you.That's, I want to ruin your reputation.I want people to think lesser of you.So I'm going to say things about you behind your back.And what I don't know, I'm just going to make up because I want people to think of you ina negative light.But you have to notice here, Jesus says persecuted.Look, you've got to get this because if you miss this, there's somebody going to be walkingout of here strutting like a rooster because you missed it.Jesus says it's for righteousness sake.Verse 11, He says it's on account of Him.And that's so important when we talk about persecution.It's not persecution because you're obnoxious.Okay?It's not persecution because you're a jerk to everyone.And you wear your religion like some kind of an honor badge that you think it's yourjob to slap everybody in place.People treat you negatively because you're a jerk.That's called consequences.That's called you're reaping what you're sowing there.So He's not talking about that.He's also not talking about putting on a show.Right?It's not trying to be as over the top, self-righteous as you can be so that you get people's attentionso that they say something about you so you can be like, "Oh, I'm so persecuted."He's not talking about that either.Look at Daniel.Daniel quietly softed the Lord and He was persecuted.Right?Jesus isn't talking about getting a rise out of people on social media by trolling them.You know exactly what to post, exactly what to comment, and you know it's going to geta rise out of people and people are going to say things and you're going to be like,"Oh, I'm so persecuted."No, you're not.You're being a jerk.Okay?That's not what Jesus is talking about at all.He clarifies that twice here.It's being hated, being persecuted because of Jesus.It's because of His righteousness.It's because you strive to be like Jesus.Or in the context of this sermon, you're just striving to live out these Beatitudes thatHe laid out.You're just striving to be that kind of person.And you're hated.Isn't it sort of ironic?What did Pastor Taylor preach about last week?The previous Beatitude.What was that one?Okay, two of you were here.There were more of you here than that.What was the previous Beatitude?Peacemakers.Isn't that interesting?Blessed are the peacemakers and then...Blessed are the persecuted.What's going on there?Well, it is very simply this.Christians strive for peace with all men, but all men don't return the favor.And you're like, "Wait, hang on a second, man.Why all the hatred, man?Why the hatred?Why can't we just live and let live, man?You know what I'm saying?Why do they hate?Well, Peter tells us that.Peter answers that very question.Why do people hate you for trying to follow Jesus?Look at 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 3 through 4.He says, "For the time that has passed to feces for doing what the Gentiles want to do."And in this context, Gentiles is sort of a figure of speech for unbelievers.He says, "Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, andlawless idolatry."Do you see that Peter says, "Listen, Christians, we're done living life like it's one longbeer commercial."All right?He says, "With respect to this, they are surprised..."The unbelievers are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debaucheryand they malign you.Do you see that?He's saying that people are going to slander you, malign you, because you're different.You live as a citizen of heaven.You don't live a sinful lifestyle and lost people view that somehow as you condemningtheir sin.Lost people feel like when you try to follow Jesus.And even if you don't say a word, they feel like you're calling them out."Oh, oh, oh, you think you're better than me?""Oh, you don't do that stuff, oh, oh, Mr. Holier than thou, huh?Whatever happens to thou shall not judge, huh?"And you're like, "Well, I'm not judging.I just don't live that way because of my faith in Jesus Christ.They're going to hate you for that."And maybe you're like, "Well, you know what, though, Pastor Jeff, I wouldn't say anythingto anyone because I believe.I believe in keep your religion to yourself."And I would say, "I ain't good either."According to Jesus.In Luke 9.23, Jesus said, "For whoever is ashamed of me, oh, oh, look at the end of my words.Of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory, in the glory of theFather and of the holy angels."Do you see that?End of my words.It's not just ashamed of Jesus.It's also being ashamed of what He said.It's being ashamed of what He taught.So what do we do?We try to avoid persecution by making the gospel tolerable.And we say things like, "Well, there's not just one way to heaven.You know, we're all kind of on our path.And as long as you're sincere, I think God sees that.And there's not just one way to heaven.I don't really think there's a hell.You know, I know there's some Christians that believe that.But I don't really think that's - I don't really think a loving God would send somebody tohell.And you know what, man?Love is love, right?And we're ashamed of what Jesus said when we talk like that.When you're with your family, your unsafe family members specifically, when you're with yourunsafe friends, when you're at the workplace, the sort of just kind of hides your faith.We're ashamed of Jesus' words.It's a problem.Try this.Try saying things like, "I believe that marriage is for a man and a woman because that's whatGod said."Say things like, "I believe that the unborn are people who deserve to live."Try that one.Try, "I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven because He's the only one who diedfor my sin and rose from the dead to promise eternal life."He's the only one who did that.So I believe He's the only way to heaven.Say that.People will hate you.And you're going to be persecuted for righteousness' sake.And you're like, "You know what, Pastor Jeff, the world is rough, man.The world's rough.It's rough out there.It's not just the world.Some of the worst persecution of Christians happens in the church.Think about this.Jesus' ministry.Who gave Jesus the most problems?Was it the unsaved pagans?It was the hardcore religious people, wasn't it?And what about the book of Acts?The book of Acts, the first four chapters, it's attacks from the outside, still from religiouspeople, but it was attacks outside the church.And the church was standing strong.And then what happened in Acts chapter 5 and chapter 6?All the problems came from within the church.And things really got hard then.And church, I've got to tell you, the worst insults that I've ever received, the worstslander about me that's ever been spoken, the worst accusations that I've ever experiencedhave come from church people.It shouldn't be that way.That's how it is.And maybe there are some people sitting here.And if we're being honest, some of the ways that you're talking about people and the leadershipof the church, you're being divisive.And maybe you're not the persecuted.Maybe you're the persecutors.You're like, well, why would church people do that?Same reason.You take a stand on what the Bible says.You stand for righteousness.Blushly, worldly-minded people in the church are going to attack you.By the way, look at verse 11 again.Jesus says, "Blessed are you when others revile you."Notice He didn't say "if."Like this is going to apply to some of my followers.No, He didn't say that.Listen, if you're a true follower of Jesus, it's when it's going to happen to you.You are going to be persecuted in some way, shape, or form to some degree for your faith.This is for all true disciples.And if you're not getting any kind of backlash because of your faith in Jesus Christ, that'sactually a bigger problem than if you're facing persecution.This is for all true followers.Paul says this in 2 Timothy 3.12, in case it's unclear."Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."So you think you're going to stand for Jesus and Satan's kids aren't going to hate you?Let's not be so naive.That's who the persecuted are.You're like, "Wow, so why are we congratulating them?"Well, let's look at the text.First time, why would we congratulate people that are hated, persecuted for righteousness'sake?Well, look what Jesus says, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."The kingdom of heaven.We talked about this, didn't we?It's the place where Jesus is ruling.Like, where is the kingdom of heaven?Right now, it's in the heart of every believer.Hers is the kingdom of heaven.The first and last Beatitudes are bookended by this statement.That was the very first thing Jesus said."Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."What Jesus is saying is the first thing, and the last thing you need to know is when youreceive Him, you get His kingdom.Oh, and by the way, with all these Beatitudes, all of these results, all of these thingswe've been congratulating people for, you realize every single promise, every congratulationof every Beatitude are all facets of a diamond called salvation.These are all just figures of speech describing salvation.Receiving the kingdom of heaven, that's salvation.Being comforted by God, that's from salvation.Inheriting the earth, salvation.Being satisfied, only in salvation.Receiving mercy, that's salvation.Being able to see God, that's salvation.Being called a Son of God, that's adoption, which is, tell me, salvation, right?Receiving the kingdom of God is salvation.So why are we congratulating those hated because of Jesus?Because it proves that Christ is in you.Wait, wait, you mean people who would hate Jesus if He were here, hate you instead becauseyou remind them of Jesus?That.That is a high honor.That is a really high honor.And somebody right now is like, "Oh, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I don't think we shouldthink that way."And I would say, why not?The early disciples did.Acts chapter 5 says, "When the counsel had called in the apostles, they beat them andcharged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go."Now I would think the next statement would be, and the apostles left cursing them undertheir breath, the apostles left crying, "Why God, why did this happen to me?"That's what I would think the next line would be.But you see what the next line is?It says, "Then they left a presence of the counsel rejoicing that they were counted worthyto suffer dishonor for the name."See that the early apostles, they weren't waiting for Harvest Bible Chapel to have ourlittle congratulations party before they started celebrating.They were congratulating themselves.What an honor to so act like Jesus that sinners treat you like Jesus.That's an honor.And that is why we're congratulating those who are persecuted.So there's one more question that we have to answer today.The third question on your outline.How do I respond to being persecuted?How do I respond to being persecuted?You know, this beatitude is obviously very different than the rest.The other beatitudes are about what happens in me.But this beatitude is about what happens to me.But you know another difference is this is the only beatitude that Jesus elaborates onright here.And you're like, "Wait a minute.Is this the part of the sermon where you tell me how to be persecuted?"No.I don't need to tell you how to be persecuted.You follow Jesus Christ, you will be.That's the point.You strive to live this kind of a life.You will be.The question that we need to answer is how do I respond to that?That's the question.And the answer is not retaliate."I'll get you for this."It's not that.It's not resenting people like, "I hate you for this."It's not that.And it's not even becoming depressed or sorrowful.Like, "I hate this."It's not that either.Look at verse 12.Because Jesus actually tells us how to react.Look at this."Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven.For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."Jesus says, "Here's how you react.People hate you because you follow Him?"Jesus says, "Rejoice."And you're like, "Really?Yeah.Jesus actually doubles down on that, doesn't He?He says, "Rejoice and be glad."Why should I rejoice and be glad when people are against me because of Jesus?Why would I do that?How in the world is that an occasion for happiness?Well Jesus tells us that too.We don't have to guess.But He tells us right here.So the three reasons to rejoice in persecution, jot these down.I'm going to go through these quickly.These are the three reasons Jesus gives right here.Number one, persecution proves, "I belong to Jesus."We already touched on this briefly already.But like the rest of the Beatitudes, there's a congratulations on what results.He says, "Yours is the kingdom of heaven," meaning you belong to Jesus.Do you want to know if your faith is real?Or would you just rather stumble through life wondering, "Do I really believe?"I mean, do I really believe in Jesus Christ?Is my faith a real thing or is it just kind of in my head or have I deceived myself?Is my faith real?Well, your faith needs tested and there's only one way that happens.See what Peter says again.First Peter 1, he says, "In this year rejoice."Oh, there's rejoice again.For what Peter?"Now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, persecutionbeing a big one, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, thatperishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory andhonor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."Well, here's the point.Anyone can say that they believe in Jesus Christ at a prayer meeting.Or go to a small group and say, "I just want you to know I believe in Jesus Christ.Do you think there's going to be any pushback there?"No, there's not.It's easy to say it there.But do you still believe when it's not so popular?Do you still believe when you're insulted for it?When you're rejected for it?When you're falsely accused because of it?Do you still believe when your faith costs you something?You see, when following Jesus is painful, but you refuse to walk away because His promisesare so glorious and His ways are so right?When Jesus Himself is so worthy, you don't really prove to Jesus what your faith is madeout of.As much as you've proven to yourself what your faith is made out of, because I've gota feeling Jesus already knows.That's reason to rejoice.Resurrection proves I belong to Jesus.Number two, I rejoice.I have a reward in heaven.Look at verse 12 again."Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven."Be like, "Well, what's your reward?What's your reward?"Well, there's all kinds of rewards in heaven.Actually, you could kind of look at heaven as one big reward, right?And I mean, you've got this, "There's no sickness, and there's no war, there's no unhappiness."Oh, how about the best thing in heaven?Jesus Himself.All of that's true.And at the same time, the Bible says that each individual gets special individual rewards.And how much of these you get is based on how you live now, including facing persecutionbecause of Jesus.Saint Corinthians 5:10, Paul says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat ofChrist so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whethergood or evil, there's different levels of rewards based on your faithfulness now, basedon your faithfulness in the face of persecution."Like, "All right, well, what are those rewards then?"I don't know.But here's something I do know.Jesus says they're great.And if Jesus says something is great, that's what I was thinking.If Jesus says it's great, then it must be pretty great.If God Himself refers to something as being great, then it must be spectacular.So church, can we just believe Jesus and wait 15 minutes and find out what it is?I'm going to tell you all the stupid insults and slander are going to look pretty pettyin light of whatever Jesus has for you.And that's a reason to rejoice.I have a reward in heaven.Number three, third reason to rejoice.And the face of persecution is, "I'm in good company.I'm in good company."Look again, verse 12.Jesus says, "Your reward is great in heaven."But then he taxed on this statement too.He says, "For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."Are you being persecuted for your faith to some degree in some way?And if you follow Christ, you should be.Well Jesus reminds us here, "You're in good company."I mean, man, think of the people in the Old Testament.Abel, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel.You're in some pretty good company.Oh, how about Jesus himself?You know, Jesus spoke of this in John 15 when he said, "Remember the word that I said toyou, a servant is not greater than his master.If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."Okay, hang on.How is this a motivation to rejoice?How?Okay, so you're saying I should be motivated by the fact that other people were persecutedtoo?Like, how is that a motivation?You know, we love the name drop, don't we?Oh, you say you don't.You say you don't.You run into somebody famous at the airport and keep your mouth shut.You won't.I ran into Jerome Bettis at the airport one time, literally ran into him.Like physically, ran into him.I knocked him back about five yards.Okay, I made that part up.I did make that part up.We love the name drop.I felt good telling that story.Why do we do that?Why do we name drop?Because there's something in us that we're kind of proud of our associations.You know what I mean?There's something in us that we like that.Four years ago, Aaron and I were at a church conference in Orlando.And we were having breakfast.It was this big dining room.Aaron and I were having breakfast.And this stranger comes and sits at our table.He just sits there literally right beside me.And dude was so weird.Now listen, I am not criticizing.I'm weird.My wife married weird.All right?I'm not criticizing.The dude was just strange.He just sat down with us.He had these giant like plastic rimmed glasses like really big.And he had this enormous mustache.He looked like a cartoon character.And if you know me, I was like so fascinated by him.I think people were so fascinating.But when like this cartoon character sits down, he was so strange.And he was going on and on and on about some exercise bike that he bought.I'm like, they're still making exercise bikes?Like people are still doing that?You can buy a bike with two wheels and take it on the road.Like he was so strange.But he sat there and talked to Aaron and I the whole breakfast about his exercise bike.And then he gets up and leaves.And Aaron and I are like, who was that?Well then we go into the auditorium for the conference.And Aaron and I take our seats.And there's a time of worship.And then somebody gets up and announces.They're like, we'd like to introduce our main speaker for the event.Paul Tripp.He came out on the stage and Aaron and I are like, that's him.That's the guy we had breakfast with.I walked around the rest of the conference like, I don't want to brag or anything.But I had breakfast with Paul Tripp.You know, it was just kind of a thing we do once.Yeah.Oh, it was great.We were talking mustaches and exercise bikes.Are you being persecuted because of your faith?Do you realize that's the occasion for the ultimate name draw?You're like, I get to be hated because of Jesus.Do you realize what that means?I'm in company with the Lord of the universe.They can't get him so they come after me.Isn't that awesome?I'm with Jesus.Way cooler than Paul Tripp, by the way.When you feel like your faith has made you an outcast, hey, hey, that's just for now.Someday you're going to be walking around heaven with the prophets who came before uswho were persecuted for their faith and you're going to look around these people in heavenand say, you know what?It was rough at times being insulted, being slandered, but now I see that I'm in good company.That is a reason to rejoice.So as our worship team makes their way back up to the platform here, I have to ask you,has being a Christian resulted in people reviling you?Has being a Christian resulted in people insulting you and lying about you?Do people hate you just because you follow Jesus?Well then, on behalf of the elders, the ministry team, and all of the nursery workers at HarvestBible Chapel, we would like to wish you a truly heartfelt congratulations.Yours, yours is the kingdom of heaven. Small Group DiscussionRead Matthew 5:10-12What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What are different ways persecution is carried out? Have you ever personally been persecuted because of your faith, on some level? If not, why not?Read 1 Peter 4:3-4. What exactly motivates nonbelievers to slander Christians who refuse to live a sinful lifestyle?Why do you think Christians aren't persecuted in America the way Christians are persecuted in other countries?In your opinion, which of Jesus' reasons for rejoicing in persecution is the most compelling / motivating? Proof of salvation, reward in heaven, or being in good company? BreakoutPray for one another.

Introduction: Congratulations to the Peacemakers! (Matthew 5:9) Who are the Peacemakers? Those who Love unity and actively seek to Promote and Defend it in all circumstances. Why are We Congratulating the Peacemakers? For they shall be called Sons of God. Galatians 2:11-14 - But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. How Can I Become a Peacemaker? By Resting in the peace that Christ purchased for me. Ephesians 2:13-14 - But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. Colossians 1:20-22 - 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 in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. By valuing the good of others above my Feelings and Preferences . By having a healthy view of Conflict . I shouldn't Desire tt. I shouldn't Avoid tt. Romans 12:18 - If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Audio Transcript Maybe you have a hard time being happy for anyone else besides yourself.Maybe you're envious of the person you're supposed to be congratulating.You know, at times we all struggle with truly congratulating other people.But do you know whose congratulations are always 100% genuine, heartfelt, and passionate?Jesus Christ.Over the past two months, we have been digging into the beatitudes.These are Jesus' blessed statements from the Sermon on the Mount, where he congratulatesthose who we would never think to congratulate on our own.We've already seen him congratulate the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, thosewho hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, and the pure in heart.Jesus doesn't congratulate these people to make them feel good about themselves.He truly congratulates these individuals because he means it.He gives his most sincere congratulations to his followers who choose to go against thegrain and be different than the rest of this world because he knows that they will experienceeternal rewards that defy expectation and imagination.So this morning, we will zero in on Jesus' next round of heartfelt congratulations tothe peacemakers.So let's join our Lord and Savior in congratulating the peacemakers, okay?Great job, everybody.I'm very proud of you.In all seriousness, this is such a chaotic world, isn't it?Hatred, slander, betrayal, shattered relationships, broken families, murder, and war all aroundus and in our faces 24/7.Do you ever get tired of it?I know that I do.There is so much trouble in so little peace.There are so many trouble makers and so few peacemakers.I hope and pray the Lord will use His word this morning to recruit more peacemakers inthis room and watching online for the work of His kingdom.So let's go to the Lord in prayer.Please pray for me to faithfully communicate God's word and I will pray that you faithfullyreceive and submit to it.Father, we thank you for this most important appointment of the week.We come together as your people to worship you together and come under the preachingof your word.But maybe take this seriously.Maybe take what your word has to say to heart and live it out, not just today, not justthe rest of this week, but the rest of our lives.We thank you in advance for what you will do.We ask all this in Jesus' name.Amen.So as Pastor Jeff and Pastor Rich have said over the course of this series, the Beatitudesare not random and isolated statements to be read and understood on their own.The Beatitudes are like steps on a staircase and rungs on a ladder that work together tolead us towards a specific destination.This means that we cannot become peacemakers until we walk the previous steps and climbthe rungs that Jesus has already laid out before us since the beginning of February.With that in mind, let's read the entire Beatitudes and really keep track of what Jesus is tellingus here.Matthew chapter five verses one through 10."Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciplescame to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.Blessed are those who are persecutor for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdomof heaven."So let's follow the logical flow of what Jesus is preaching here.You cannot be a peacemaker if you do not recognize your spiritual bankruptcy beforea holy God.You cannot be a peacemaker if you do not mourn over your sin and seek after repentance.You cannot be a peacemaker if you are not meek and do not put aside your self-interestfor the ultimate interest of God's glory.You cannot be a peacemaker if you have no appetite for the things of God.You cannot be a peacemaker if you demand mercy for yourself but you refuse to show mercyto other people in your life.And finally, you cannot be a peacemaker if your heart is set on perversion rather thanpurity.At this point, you may be thinking, "Okay, Taylor, I get it.I need to exhibit all the rest of the Beatitudes to be a peacemaker."But what is a peacemaker?Who are the peacemakers?Well you must have read my mind or pay attention to the whole entire series and how it reallyrolled out before you.But that is the first question on our outline this morning.Who are the peacemakers?In the original Greek, the term "peacemakers" only used once in the entire New Testamentand it's found right here in the Beatitudes.Is a compound word of peace and to make or to do?Let's unpack each individual word so we can better understand the whole term.In Scripture, peace is such a beautiful concept that goes so far beyond our limited Americandefinition.To most people in this country, here is what peace looks like.Gas prices are down and there's no major wars right now.We can breathe easy for a minute.Or yay, no one's fighting in my family today.We have peace.The biblical definition of peace is so much greater than that.That is a worldly view of peace that is based on circumstances and what happens to you.It can easily be changed and stolen away.Biblical peace is way more than the absence of conflict in your life.Biblical peace is the presence of God in your life.The missing puzzle piece in your soul has been found and filled.You experience a sense of fullness and completeness that no one else can take away from you.It is an eternal reality that works its way outward into your life and other people aroundyou.And there is no true peace apart from the one true God.There is no true peace apart from submission to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.And the word make and peacemaker brings an important reality into focus.Peace isn't just something for you to experience on your own.It is meant to be shared with others.For this to happen, you must be active and not passive.Peace is what you need to be taken to bring this God-given peace to others.So here is the definition of peacemakers that I want you to write down and meditate uponfor the rest of this week.Who are the peacemakers?Those who love unity and actively seek to promote and defend it in all circumstances.When you put the words peace and make together, you don't get a picture of someone just sittingback in their lazy boy recliner saying, "Man, I love peace.I love them.People get along.That's my jam.Can't really do much about it."That's a peacemaker, not a peacemaker.Peacefakers talk of big games.But do nothing to back up their empty words.While peacemakers do something about their desire for harmony with the people who Godhas placed in their lives.Peacefakers pretend like nothing is wrong.But they seed with anger on the inside.While peacemakers refuse to sweep issue after issue onto the rug, they just rip the rugup to deal with all those issues.Peacefakers put the ball other people's courts when it comes to resolving disagreements.While peacemakers grab the ball and run with it.Peacefakers do nothing to contribute to the solution.While peacemakers find God's answer, the problem.Now, some people take a sinful step beyond peacemakers.Some people take a sinful step beyond peacemaking and become peacetakers.Where they realize that or not, peacetakers prefer dysfunction.And they actively seek the dismantle unity everywhere they go.Peacefakers, actually peacetakers stir the pot on purpose.They toss grenades in the people's laps.And then they act like they did nothing wrong.They act like they're totally innocent in the situation.While peacemakers seek to diffuse tough situations with the Word of God in a calm attitude.Peace takers look at conflict as a contest to win.While peacemakers look at conflict as an opportunity for relationships to be restored.Peace takers badmouth those they have conflicts with to make themselves look like the goodguys in the situation.While peacemakers refuse to speak poorly of anyone out of respect for people's publicreputations.I want to challenge you this morning to figure out which label best describes you.Are you a peacemaker who puts on a performance?Are you a peacetaker who makes matters worse?Or are you a peacemaker who brings people together?It's so easy to spot peace faking and peace taking tendencies in others.But it's so difficult to see it within yourself.You can ask your loved ones for their perspective in counsel.Talk to your spouse, your kids, a close friend, a pastor, an elder at harvest after service.Others can point out the blind spots that you cannot see on your own.But I beg you, please do not assume that you're doing just fine in this area of life.Evaluate yourself and allow others to evaluate you as well.So we figured out who the peacemakers are and who they are not.Now we need to answer the second question of the morning.Why are we congratulating the peacemakers?Why are they worthy of these big balloons that Pastor Jeff pointed out earlier?Why are they worthy of this big party?Well Jesus clearly tells us why in Matthew chapter 5 verse 9.He says, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God."So why are we congratulating the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God?I don't want to bore you with my seminary homework, but in the original Greek, "shallbe called" is a verb in the continual future, passive tense.And some of you who didn't do very well in English like, "What in the world does thatmean?"Let me make it really simple for you.Jesus is describing something that will be repeatedly declared about peacemakers in eternity.On this earth, peacemakers are often misunderstood.In this life, Christians are hit with the wildest of lies and accusations.Has that ever happened to you personally?A family member cuts ties and walks away even though you did nothing wrong.Someone at work causes others to think poorly of you because of a slight that has no basisin reality.A friend turns his or her back on you for seemingly no reason.In our culture, biblical peacemakers are called a lot of rude and untrue things.But if you are a genuine peacemaker, take heart in this astounding truth.One day, all of heaven will openly and eagerly acknowledge what is already true of you rightnow.You are a child of God.More specifically, you are a son of God.Ladies, you may be scratching your heads and thinking, "I'm a son, but I'm a woman.I don't want to be called a son of God."Trust me, you really do.2,000 years ago, sons were the ones who received the inheritance.They were heirs of so many blessings and privileges.In God's family, His daughters are treated like sons and heirs of His infinite riches.Both men and women enjoy the reward of sonship.We aren't equal footing with one another.Whether you're a man or a woman, you do not earn your sonship by being a peacemaker.You simply demonstrate your sonship by being a peacemaker.Let me encourage you.Those who label you with hateful names right now are showing themselves to be children ofthe enemy.Children of Satan who follow in His footsteps of slander and accusation.While you prove yourself to belong to your heavenly Father when you follow in His peacefulfootsteps and refuse to sink to the level of this world.Sometimes my kids don't act the way that I would like them to in public.They can really embarrass me at the store by yelling, "No!" or questioning me.To be honest, in those moments, I wish I could take a massive step away from them and justsay, "Whose child is this?There's a lost kid here.Excuse me, I need help.Can any other parents relate to me?"Okay, you know exactly what I'm talking about.Thank you, Jillian.One person was honest enough.Several years ago, my son, Sam, had a Christmas concert at school, and he was the only kidin the entire school who cried the whole time and didn't sing any of the songs.Kate and I just wanted to slide down in our seats and just fall through a trap door inthe floor.Unfortunately, there was no trap door underneath of us.But the next year, Sam had a complete turnaround.He did awesome.He sang every song.He did all the motions, and he even gave the crowd a big thumbs up after he was done.I'll never forget how I felt in that moment with tears in my eyes.I wanted to yell out, "That's my son.That's my boy."God feels the same exact way about you if you're a peacemaker who actively seeks to promoteand defend peace everywhere that you go.He wants everyone to know that you are one of his precious children.An eternity, the courts of heaven will ring out with God saying, "That's my child.He belongs to me.She is mine."Angels and other believers will wholeheartedly accept and agree with that truth.No one will ever misunderstand you ever again.You will be fully known by God and other believers forever.Does that sound worthy of congratulations?At this point, you may be thinking, "Okay, I get it.I know who the peacemakers are.I get what the reward is.I'm sold.How can I become a peacemaker?"Paul provides the answer to that question in Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14,where he provides a personal example of peacemaking from his own life.Please turn there with me.Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14.Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14, "But when Cephas," that's the apostle Peter,"came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.For certain men came from James.For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles.But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him.So even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I saidto Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like aJew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"This passage may seem random to you.It may seem off-topic, maybe thinking the word peace isn't even mentioned in theseverses.It seems like Paul is picking a fight and causing trouble.But that's not true at all.I chose this passage because it demonstrates three important lessons about becoming a peacemaker.So how can I become a peacemaker?Number one, you're outlined by resting in the peace that Christ purchased for me.By resting in the peace that Christ purchased for me.You throughout biblical history, there was a tension between Jews and Gentiles.Jews held to restrict diet and schedule of worship while Gentiles did not.Gentiles did things that seemed very unacceptable to the Jews.And the Jews did things that seemed very strange to the Gentiles.These two groups didn't hang out and spend time together.They stayed as segregated as humanly possible.Their relationship was one of hostility, not peace.But that all changes with Jesus Christ.Christ came to bridge the massive gap between a holy God and sinful humanity in the processhe did the same for Jews in Gentiles.Listen to what Paul has to say about this in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 13 through 14.But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the bloodof Christ.For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His fleshthe dividing wall of hostility.There are many differences.Cannot compare to their greatest similarity, salvation in Jesus Christ.Before the cross, there was a wall that divided Jews and Gentiles from one another, but ithas been torn down by the death and resurrection of Christ.Both Jewish and Gentile believers belong to the same God, have been adopted into the samefamily and have experienced the same peace.But this doesn't mean that Jewish and Gentile believers always sing kumbaya around the campfire and enjoy perfect peace during the days of the early church.Peace must be actively promoted and defended or both parties are going to fall back intobad habits.And that's what happens in this passage.The apostle Peter becomes a part of the problem.He used to eat with the Gentiles and now he decides not to.Unity is broken.Peace is disturbed.Paul and Barnabas and the rest of the people they led astray are acting like peace takersand not peacemakers.They are trying to rebuild the wall that Christ has already demolished.They are making the gospel look very bad.And Paul is very concerned that they are making Christ look bad.And they are ruining the reputation of the church.So Paul knows he can't stand by and do nothing.Paul can recognize this issue because his spiritual antenna is always up to catch anythingthat threatens the unity of the church.Paul can seek after the right solution because he cares about the gospel more than anythingelse.Paul can be a peacemaker because he has personally rested in the peace that Christ purchasedfor him on the cross.As I said earlier, only Christians can enjoy the peace that God offers.You cannot share the peace of Christ if you have not personally experienced the peaceof Christ for yourself.So I have to ask the most important question of the entire message.If you're just totally tuned out, please tune back in.Are you at peace with God?Are you at peace with God?And I know that question may seem so dumb to some of you.And you may say, "Well, of course I'm at peace with God.I'm sitting here, aren't I?I'm a good person.I do the right thing.If I weren't on good terms with God, I wouldn't be sitting here."All of those answers are wrong and unbiblical.Your peace with God has nothing to do with you and your list of accomplishments.Your peace with God has everything to do with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished.Apart from faith in Jesus Christ, you hate God.No matter how much you say that you love Him, you are an enemy of God.You were at war with Him, not at peace with Him.But the great news this morning is that doesn't have to be true of you any longer.Colossians chapter 1 verses 20 through 22 tells us this, "That Christ came to reconcileto himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of Hiscross.And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, He is now reconciledin His body of flesh by His death in order to present you holy and blameless and abovereproach before Him."Christ purchased never-ending peace on the cross with His precious blood.But that peace can only be given to you if you ask for it and you accept it.You can be at peace with God right now if you turn from your sin and turn towards JesusChrist for forgiveness and eternal life.If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raisedfrom the dead, you will be saved.You will transform from an enemy of God into one of His beloved friends.So the first step to become a peacemaker, you must first bow the knee to the Prince of Peacewho freely offers what the world can never give.How can I become a peacemaker?Second step, by valuing the good of others above my feelings and preferences.By valuing the good of others above my feelings and preferences.Since Paul is so concerned with the integrity of the gospel and the unity of the church,he deeply cares about the ultimate good of his Christian brothers and sisters, Jewishand Gentile alike.But before we can talk about what Paul says and does, let's talk about what he doesn'tsay and do.First of all, he doesn't take Peter's side and ignore the Gentiles.But also notice from this text that Paul doesn't sidebar the Gentiles and say, "Man, I can'tbelieve what Peter and Barnabas are doing to you guys.They are such jerks.You should be so angry with them and ignore them right back."That wouldn't be good for the Jews or the Gentiles.That would be childish behavior that belongs in the school playground and not in the church.Kids are obsessed with their feelings and preferences.I don't want milk in the blue sippy cup.I want it in the orange sippy cup.Kids not naturally care about the good of others.Susie's so weird.I'm not going to sit with her at lunch.Billy was mean to me, so I'm never going to talk to him ever again.I'm not going to say sorry and you can't make me.You may smile at those examples, but you may not be much better.So many professing Christians are little kids wearing adult clothes.They look like grown-ups.They certainly do not act like grown-ups.I have to ask you this morning, is that you?Are you a little kid in the church wearing adult clothes?Do you keep a mental file with personal offenses?Do you give the silent treatment to those who offend you or offend a loved one?Do you ignore people who frustrate you?Do you completely write people off?Face those ungodly attitudes and behaviors with godly disciplines.If someone offends you in a small way, you don't have to dwell on it and hold on to it.You can let it go.Proverbs 1911 says, "It is your glory to overlook and offense."That should become the new life first for many of us in this room.If someone maybe in the aisle next to you constantly annoys you and frustrates you instead of writingthem off, write them notes of encouragement.And I promise you, your attitude towards this person will begin to change.If someone sins against you and refuses to apologize, pray for that person every singleday.I can tell you from personal experience, it is so hard to hold on to anger and bitternesstowards someone that you constantly lift up before the throne of grace.Harvest, it's time to put childish ways behind us.It's time to grow up and become peacemakers.It's time to put yourself last so others can come first.It's time to care more about the good of others than your petty preferences and flaky feelings.It's time to stop caring about what you want and to start caring about what other peopleneed.How do I become a peacemaker finally by having a healthy view of conflict?By having a healthy view of conflict?So we've covered what Paul does not say and do.Now let's talk about what he does say and do to promote and defend peace at Antioch.Galatians 2.11 says that Paul opposes Peter to his face.And according to verse 14, Paul did this in front of everyone.Peter sinned publicly so he must be rebuked publicly.In verse 14 also lays out exactly what Paul says.If you though a Jew live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentilesto live like Jews?In other words, you are acting so too faced right now.You used to eat with the Gentiles, but now you act like they're inferior and they haveto keep the Old Testament laws to be at the table with you.Cut it out right now.Paul isn't rude, but he is firm.Paul proves that peacemaking sometimes involves direct and uncomfortable conversations.A bone must be reset before it can be repaired.A wound has to be cleansed and disinfected before it can be healed.For a plant to thrive, the parts that are dying need to be cut off and primed.Biblical peace cannot be enjoyed in Antioch apart from this conflict between Peter andPaul.We often think that conflict gets in the way of peace, but sometimes it is the way towardspeace.Paul has a healthy view of conflict which makes him a productive peacemaker.Every single one of you in this room, and myself included, we need to imitate his exampleand view conflict the way that he did.So what is a healthy view of conflict?Well really quickly, letter A in your outline, I shouldn't desire it.I shouldn't desire it.Paul isn't a fake tough guy looking to get into fist fights and arguments.He isn't making big deal out of nothing.He isn't just blow up at people who rub him the wrong way.Paul doesn't desire conflict and neither should you.But maybe you do desire conflict.Maybe you like drama when it pops up and you add fuel to the fire with gossiping and complaining.But please, don't be hungry for the next controversy, debate, and dispute.Instead, work hard to be the calmest and most collected person in every single room.Endeavor to be the person that other people invite into conflict because you are knownfor your helpfulness, your humility, and your wisdom.For this to happen, you must be quick to listen.Slow to speak and slow to anger.Or what is a healthy view of conflict?Letter B, I shouldn't fear it.I shouldn't desire it, but I shouldn't fear it.Paul isn't afraid of conflict.He isn't pacing on Antioch wondering what's going to happen if he opposes Peter.Oh no, what's going to happen?Were people going to think about me?No, he is confident.He's confident not in himself, but in the word of God and the spirit of God who liveswithin him.If you want to become a peacemaker, you have to get over your obsession with being likedand appreciated by everyone.When you are convinced that God approves of you, the disapproval of mere human beingsloses its hold.And sometimes you need to hurt someone's feelings to tell them the truth.You can't make a peace on without breaking a few eggs.You can't rise above a painful situation without stepping on a few toes.You will fear conflict if you care more about the opinion of man than the commands of God.This may be hard for you to believe because I'm a pastor and I talk in front of peopleall the time, but I was painfully shy growing up.And I used to dread ordering food at a restaurant.And so I made my family do it for me.And my family who's not here right now, but they'll be happy to tell you more about thatlater on.So I used to tell them, "Okay, I'll give them my order."They would tell the waiter or they'd go to the cashier and tell them what I wanted.But there was just one particular Sunday after church growing up, my family was done.They were done with my avoidance tactics and they forced me to go up and order my own chocolatefrosty at Wendy's.I got to tell you, I was terrified.I'll never forget that moment, just shuffling up to the counter with my crumpled up $1 bill,getting to the cashier, putting my head down, putting my hand up and saying, "Smell frosty."Guess what?Everything worked out just fine.The cashier was nice and I was able to enjoy the blessing of eating a chocolate frostythey ordered myself.I'm so glad that my family forced the issue and I stopped avoiding this important task.Maybe you need to force the issue.Maybe you need to stop avoiding the important task of dealing with a specific conflict inyour life.If you need to confront someone or have a painfully honest conversation, do not procrastinate.Do not push it off any longer, rip off the bandit and do it today, not tomorrow, not nextweek and not some magical may have time when things slow down because guess what?Things are never ever going to slow down.You may be wondering, "Didn't Pastor Jeff already tell me this two weeks ago during his sermonon mercy?Jeff, didn't you say this already?"Yeah, he did say that.But did you listen?Did you follow through?Or did you decide not to listen and not to follow through?Now is your chance.Stop avoiding conflict because by doing so, you are delaying the blessing of true peace.And I know what some of you are thinking right now.Taylor, that's all well and good, but you don't know my spouse.He or she is so stubborn.You don't know my family.They are never going to change.Or you don't know that situation in my friend group that history is so long, it's so messy.My attempts to make peace will fall on deaf ears and not accomplish anything.Well, it seems like you have a very low view of what God is capable of.It seems like you've already decided that God cannot and will not change that personin situation.Is that mindset honoring to God?It's insulting to him.It's destructive to those you care about.It's harmful for your own soul.You have to take your eyes off of the results that you do or do not expect and choose tofocus on your God-given responsibilities.What is your God-given responsibilities?Well, Paul tells us in Romans 12, 18, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceablywith all."You are responsible for the action of your peacemaking, not the response to your peacemaking.You cannot control other people's actions and reactions, but guess what?You can control your actions and your reactions.Do your small part of peacemaking and trust God with His big part that He will take careof the results.As the worship team comes forward, I have some final questions for you.Are you sick and tired of giving into the temptation to be a peacemaker or a peacetaker?Are you ready to make some big changes?Have you truly rested in the peace that Christ purchased on the cross?Are you willing to place your feelings and preferences aside so you can focus on thegood of others in the unity of this church?Are you willing to deal with conflict in the biblical and healthy way?If your answer to those questions is yes, then I want to offer you my heartfelt congratulations.Congratulations to the peacemakers.Congratulations to the peacemakers for you shall be called sons of God.Let's pray.Father, we come to you and we admit our faults.We admit our sins.Lord, there's not one person in this room who shouldn't be feeling the conviction ofyour word.All of us can be peacepakers or peacetakers in different ways and around different people.Lord, I pray that by your spirit we would stop.Lord, we would put off anger.We would put off bitterness.We would put off giving people the silent treatment.And we would put on unity and harmony and love.Lord, we thank you that you didn't turn your backs on us.We want nothing to do with you.But you pursued after us through your Son and you gave us your perfect peace.Lord, help us to pursue after others to share that peace that you have given to us.We ask all this in Jesus' name.Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead Matthew 5:9 & Galatians 2:11-14What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What is biblical peace and how do we share it with others?How do you see yourself being a peace-faker or a peace-taker right now? How is the Lord calling you to address these issues and move forward?Which do you struggle with more: desiring conflict or avoiding conflict? Why are both harmful? BreakoutPray for one another.

Have you felt like you were in the wilderness fighting temptations? Well Jesus teaches us how to resist and defend ourselves.

We are created to produce Godly fruit with our lives. And to do that, we must abide in Jesus; be connected, and remain connected. And we abide as we trust Jesus, and obey His commands. Well Jesus immediately gives us a command to obey - love one another. We are to love one another as He has loved us. 

Today we began reading the letter the Hebrews.  Many of its verses are full of meaning!  It is important to grasp the flow of reasoning – and not to take one phrase or sentence out of its context.  The writer was most probably Paul; but since it is written primarily for the Jews – and he had fallen out of favour with many of them because he worked among the Gentiles and was converting so many, but had not (as they thought he should) taught them to keep the Jewish laws and practices, Paul was unpopular. This may explain why this epistle (more suitable to call it a book) was circulated without the author being named. He starts by telling them “God spoke to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things” [1 v.2]  and “after making purification for sins (i.e. dying for our sins) he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs” [v.3,4]  It was Centuries later that theologians in the by then ‘Roman' church came up with the concept referred to as ‘the mystery of the Trinity' – and the man-made creeds which then resulted confuse human understanding. The creeds seem to have influenced translators a little  in their rendering of Greek prepositions, en, dia, etc, But read the total context and we will grasp the obvious flow of Paul's reasoning. Verse 8 is interesting, it is the only verse in the Bible in which Jesus is called ‘God.' (apart from when the astonished and doubting  Thomas said, “My Lord and My God”)  Verse 8 and 9  quote Psalm 45 verses 6 & 7 which prophesy about Jesus that “Your throne O God is forever and ever … you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God. has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”  Jesus represented God, he said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” [John 14 v.9], but he wasn't the Father. In the same way in Old Testament times  angels represented God on special occasions. Do true believers represent Christ?  Well Jesus told Paul on the road to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” [Acts 9 v.4]. Jesus has “ransomed people for God … and you have made them a kingdom … and they shall reign on earth.” [Rev. 5 v.9,10] and will surely represent Christ in a special way at that time.  The 2nd chapter in Hebrews presents us with a heart-searching challenge and question, “… we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it … how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” [v,1,3]     .

Do you feel trapped in any area of your life? Do you know that you can be set free by God's power? Both Christians and non-Christians need to understand that the God of the Bible is a God of miracles. He can do supernaturally what is not possibly naturally. Nothing is impossible for God.    Miracles come in many forms. There may be miracles of financial provision or miracles of children being born, without medical help, despite previous infertility. There may be miracles of reconciliation between enemies of many years. And of course, there can be miracles of healing.    Such miracles happened many times in the ministry of Jesus and are recorded in the gospels. The blind regained their sight. The lame were able to walk. The lepers were made clean. But for all the miracles recorded in the gospel, this list is not complete. For John 21:25 said that ‘Jesus did many other things as well' ….in fact way too many to be recorded.     But Jesus not only healed people's bodies, but he also delivered them from evil power (Acts 10:38). Deliverance from demons is one of the key features of the ministry of Jesus and later the early church. And it is a subject many either don't want to face up to or, on the other hand, may get wrongly focussed on. So, we need to get a true Bible view of demons and deliverance. For the Bible shows us that the world is not just a logical, rational world. Our world is a battle ground between the kingdoms of light and the kingdom of darkness, between good and evil, between God and the Devil (Ephesians 6:12).  Demonic activity is real in the world which is why there is so much trouble in the world. Sometimes it is obvious when you see evils such as genocide or people who are devil worshippers. Other times the Bible says that the Devil hides himself as ‘an angel of light.'    Well Jesus came to destroy all the works of the Devil which he did through the cross and in delivering people in His ministry. He cast demons out of a man in a synagogue. He delivered Mary called Magdalene, ‘out of whom went seven devils” (Luke 8:2). He set free a wild man living in a graveyard who had many demons. And you too can see miracles of deliverance.   We read a story in Mark 9:14-29 (KJV) that shows us the miraculous power of Jesus against evil spirits that were attacking the life of a boy.   1. People are in great need (Mark 9:17-24) 2. Jesus is the miracle worker (Mark 9:25-27) 3. The disciples of Jesus needed to learn to move to a new level of supernatural ministry (Mark 9:28-29; Luke 9:1-2; Mark 6:13; Joel 2:12-13)  Apply    1. People are in great need (Mark 9:17-24). Here we see a desperate father who knew that there was something very wrong with his son. His son would suddenly be thrown to the ground and start foaming at the mouth. He would grind his teeth and go rigid. These distressing experiences had been going on since childhood. Sometimes things got so bad his life was at risk when it seemed like he was being thrown into a fire or water. He could die if he continued like this. The father reached his conclusion that the reason for all this was that his son had an evil spirit that was controlling his son and causing great worry for him. He knew that he needed a miracle to deliver his son. Today many people need deliverance: they may be oppressed by the devil, by fears, or invisible limitations, or they in more extreme cases being possessed by the devil. Either way they need to be freed from the power of the enemy. How many of you are in a desperate situation? Maybe you have been involved with the occult. Maybe you have experienced evil power, maybe you feel there are evil spirits that rise up in you to pull you down. Maybe you feel that you or your family is living under a curse. Are you in anyway are not free in your life because of drugs, or alcohol or pornography or depression? Well, this story tells us that there is hope for you.   2. Jesus is the miracle worker (Mark 9:25-27). Jesus had so much authority that even the demons submitted to Him as soon as they heard Him. Although this demon had ruined the life of this boy for so long, in one encounter with Jesus he was completely freed. At first there was a spiritual struggle and there was shouting and shaking in the boy's body. Then it looked as if he was dead. But then Jesus took hold of him and lifted him up. He was now full of life and free from the tormenting demon. Sometimes deliverances can seem scary but when Jesus is on the scene you don't have to worry because that person is being delivered out of bondage into freedom. And this is why Jesus the son of God came to this earth: to save us, to free us from all the power of evil. Today in the name of Jesus you too can be set free from every evil spirit that has troubled you. And when we have Jesus in us as His disciples, we also can work miracles.   3. The disciples of Jesus needed to learn to move to a new level of supernatural ministry (Mark 9:28-29). Now the disciples already had experience of delivering people from demons (Luke 9:1-2), and they had been able to cast out demons (Mark 6:13). But here they were at a stage in their development where they needed to have a greater authority. So, Jesus told them how they could be more effective when faced with bigger challenges. First, by prayer. There is no substitute for prayer. Deliverance is not a formula. Jesus was not just talking about just praying now and again but living a life of prayer that He Himself lived. It's when you are constantly so close to God that His authority is always on you. We must learn to live a life of prayer, a life of intimacy with our Heavenly Father and a life of knowing Him more and experiencing His power. Intense demonic opposition is only overcome when you know what it is to struggle and overcome in prayer with your intercession and fellowship with God. For us to see greater conquest in spiritual warfare prayer must be at the very heart of our lives and families and in this church. As Oswald Smith, a great evangelist said simply ‘when we work, we work. When we pray, God works.' But prayer can and should be accompanied by fasting. Some manuscripts add ‘this kind goes out by prayer and fasting'. Fasting brings us to new levels of spiritual focus and authority. We may be weak physically, but the Holy Spirit gives us new spiritual strength. Throughout the Bible and church history we see that miracles and moves of God can be traced back to people who prayed and fasted. So, let's see fasting not as a duty or a struggle but as a blessing and a delight (Joel 2:12-13). Today can be a new day of freedom when you experience the Lord's deliverance. Today you can see breakthrough in every area of your life when you have an encounter with God. You can go direct to the Lord. But if you need prayer, please ask for it. And if you are a Christian leader who needs to minister in the authority of the spirit, know that you have authority when you are under authority. Give yourselves to prayer and fasting and you and all of us will move to new levels of miracles of deliverance.  

Do you feel trapped in any area of your life? Do you know that you can be set free by God's power? Both Christians and non-Christians need to understand that the God of the Bible is a God of miracles. He can do supernaturally what is not possibly naturally. Nothing is impossible for God.    Miracles come in many forms. There may be miracles of financial provision or miracles of children being born, without medical help, despite previous infertility. There may be miracles of reconciliation between enemies of many years. And of course, there can be miracles of healing.    Such miracles happened many times in the ministry of Jesus and are recorded in the gospels. The blind regained their sight. The lame were able to walk. The lepers were made clean. But for all the miracles recorded in the gospel, this list is not complete. For John 21:25 said that ‘Jesus did many other things as well' ….in fact way too many to be recorded.     But Jesus not only healed people's bodies, but he also delivered them from evil power (Acts 10:38). Deliverance from demons is one of the key features of the ministry of Jesus and later the early church. And it is a subject many either don't want to face up to or, on the other hand, may get wrongly focussed on. So, we need to get a true Bible view of demons and deliverance. For the Bible shows us that the world is not just a logical, rational world. Our world is a battle ground between the kingdoms of light and the kingdom of darkness, between good and evil, between God and the Devil (Ephesians 6:12).  Demonic activity is real in the world which is why there is so much trouble in the world. Sometimes it is obvious when you see evils such as genocide or people who are devil worshippers. Other times the Bible says that the Devil hides himself as ‘an angel of light.'    Well Jesus came to destroy all the works of the Devil which he did through the cross and in delivering people in His ministry. He cast demons out of a man in a synagogue. He delivered Mary called Magdalene, ‘out of whom went seven devils” (Luke 8:2). He set free a wild man living in a graveyard who had many demons. And you too can see miracles of deliverance.   We read a story in Mark 9:14-29 (KJV) that shows us the miraculous power of Jesus against evil spirits that were attacking the life of a boy.   1. People are in great need (Mark 9:17-24) 2. Jesus is the miracle worker (Mark 9:25-27) 3. The disciples of Jesus needed to learn to move to a new level of supernatural ministry (Mark 9:28-29; Luke 9:1-2; Mark 6:13; Joel 2:12-13)  Apply    1. People are in great need (Mark 9:17-24). Here we see a desperate father who knew that there was something very wrong with his son. His son would suddenly be thrown to the ground and start foaming at the mouth. He would grind his teeth and go rigid. These distressing experiences had been going on since childhood. Sometimes things got so bad his life was at risk when it seemed like he was being thrown into a fire or water. He could die if he continued like this. The father reached his conclusion that the reason for all this was that his son had an evil spirit that was controlling his son and causing great worry for him. He knew that he needed a miracle to deliver his son. Today many people need deliverance: they may be oppressed by the devil, by fears, or invisible limitations, or they in more extreme cases being possessed by the devil. Either way they need to be freed from the power of the enemy. How many of you are in a desperate situation? Maybe you have been involved with the occult. Maybe you have experienced evil power, maybe you feel there are evil spirits that rise up in you to pull you down. Maybe you feel that you or your family is living under a curse. Are you in anyway are not free in your life because of drugs, or alcohol or pornography or depression? Well, this story tells us that there is hope for you.   2. Jesus is the miracle worker (Mark 9:25-27). Jesus had so much authority that even the demons submitted to Him as soon as they heard Him. Although this demon had ruined the life of this boy for so long, in one encounter with Jesus he was completely freed. At first there was a spiritual struggle and there was shouting and shaking in the boy's body. Then it looked as if he was dead. But then Jesus took hold of him and lifted him up. He was now full of life and free from the tormenting demon. Sometimes deliverances can seem scary but when Jesus is on the scene you don't have to worry because that person is being delivered out of bondage into freedom. And this is why Jesus the son of God came to this earth: to save us, to free us from all the power of evil. Today in the name of Jesus you too can be set free from every evil spirit that has troubled you. And when we have Jesus in us as His disciples, we also can work miracles.   3. The disciples of Jesus needed to learn to move to a new level of supernatural ministry (Mark 9:28-29). Now the disciples already had experience of delivering people from demons (Luke 9:1-2), and they had been able to cast out demons (Mark 6:13). But here they were at a stage in their development where they needed to have a greater authority. So, Jesus told them how they could be more effective when faced with bigger challenges. First, by prayer. There is no substitute for prayer. Deliverance is not a formula. Jesus was not just talking about just praying now and again but living a life of prayer that He Himself lived. It's when you are constantly so close to God that His authority is always on you. We must learn to live a life of prayer, a life of intimacy with our Heavenly Father and a life of knowing Him more and experiencing His power. Intense demonic opposition is only overcome when you know what it is to struggle and overcome in prayer with your intercession and fellowship with God. For us to see greater conquest in spiritual warfare prayer must be at the very heart of our lives and families and in this church. As Oswald Smith, a great evangelist said simply ‘when we work, we work. When we pray, God works.' But prayer can and should be accompanied by fasting. Some manuscripts add ‘this kind goes out by prayer and fasting'. Fasting brings us to new levels of spiritual focus and authority. We may be weak physically, but the Holy Spirit gives us new spiritual strength. Throughout the Bible and church history we see that miracles and moves of God can be traced back to people who prayed and fasted. So, let's see fasting not as a duty or a struggle but as a blessing and a delight (Joel 2:12-13). Today can be a new day of freedom when you experience the Lord's deliverance. Today you can see breakthrough in every area of your life when you have an encounter with God. You can go direct to the Lord. But if you need prayer, please ask for it. And if you are a Christian leader who needs to minister in the authority of the spirit, know that you have authority when you are under authority. Give yourselves to prayer and fasting and you and all of us will move to new levels of miracles of deliverance.  

Just because Trump didn't actually put pen to paper to create Project 2025 doesn't mean it won't benefit him politically to see it's implementation

Who would ever choose to be poor...lacking, impoverished, needy...in any way? Well Jesus says that's the way we must enter His Kingdom and be able to see God. Share to encourage/challenge others.

Well Jesus is back and now he continues to raise a ruckus and cause trouble in Jerusalem, and the powers that be are being threatened by that not only because he has a great deal of popular support he seems to almost be fearless and right in their face. They try to catch him and harass him and ask him who does he think he is and where does he get his authority and credibility and his power. And he gives it right back to them, keeping them off balance, and demonstrating that he's probably even smarter than they are, So right now he begins to demonstrate the truth that will be confirmed later in the week, indeed this is Jesus and he is The One!

How many of us struggle every day to remember the names of those we interact with? Isn't it impressive when someone remembers your name from years and years ago? Well Jesus knows your name, your full name, and so much more about you. He loves you that much. Take a moment to meditate on that beautiful fact.

Jesus called ordinary men who were imperfect with different backgrounds to become world leaders and world changers. They became the foundation of the Christian church and have marked history accordingly. This should encourage each one of us that, when called by God, we can do and be more than we ever hoped or imagined in our lives.  Today we come to Thomas, perhaps one of the most well-known disciples, but for the wrong reasons, and commonly known as “Doubting Thomas”. If you didn't know anything more about Thomas, you would associate him with doubt and pessimism. Thomas was a man who was very real, who had his struggles in life, in his faith and in his spiritual walk. Yet he became a great disciple and a very strong believer. AB Bruce in ‘The Training of the Twelve' describes him as a ‘…man of gloomy temperament, prone to look upon the dark side of things, living in the pensive moonlight rather than in the cheerful sunlight.' John MacArthur in ‘Twelve Ordinary Men' writes ‘He is usually nicknamed “Doubting Thomas” but that may not be the most fitting label for him…. It is probably fair... to say that Thomas was a somewhat negative person…. He was like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh…. Pessimism, rather than doubt, seems to have been his besetting sin…. He always seemed to anticipate the worst of everything.' The Gospel of John gives three accounts featuring Thomas that we can learn from. 1. Jesus wants you to live with optimism, not die with pessimism (John 10:40-42; John 11:8-16; John 8:12; Isaiah 42:3; Proverbs 22:17-18 NKJV; Philippians 4:8)   2. Jesus wants to show you the way forward when you can't see one (John 14; John 14:1-5; John 11:16; John 14:6; John 14:16-18; John 16:7)   3. Jesus wants you to stop doubting and declare your faith in Him (John 20:25-28; Hebrews 4:15; John 20:28; Romans 10:9-10; John 20:29)  Apply  1. Jesus wants you to live with optimism, not die with pessimism. We first read about Thomas during a prosperous period of Jesus' ministry (John 10:40-42). The gospel was bearing fruit unhindered. Then came news that Jesus' friend Lazarus was seriously ill, and Jesus decided to go back to Judea, where the religious leaders had recently tried to stone and seize Jesus. When He announced this decision to His disciples, none of them were keen (John 11:8-16, John 8:12). So, when Jesus announced his decision to return to Judea, the disciples were naturally worried. To reassure them he was effectively saying: ‘yes, we're heading back into dangerous territory, but if you walk with me you've got nothing to be afraid of. Lazarus, is dead but you're going to be amazed by what I do there.' Unfortunately, it sounds like only words Thomas had heard were ‘dead' and ‘go'. How did he miss all Jesus' words of encouragement? He was paying too much attention to his own heavy thoughts instead of giving full attention to Jesus' words. Pessimism didn't just subdue Thomas' mood, it robbed him of belief in the words of his rabbi. Maybe you are struggling with doubts. Well Jesus dealt gently with him (Isaiah 42:3). If you need to overcome pessimism, you need to come close to Jesus. Don't try to figure things out by yourself: open your heart to Him. And if you want to live with optimism, there are two simple, practical things you need to do with your thought life. You must listen more to the words of Jesus that you listen to your thoughts of doubt (Proverbs 22:17-18 NKJV) and meditate on the good rather than the bad (Philippians 4:8). 2. Jesus wants to show you the way forward when you can't see one. The next time we read about Thomas is during Jesus' last supper with His disciples (John 14). Jesus had just revealed that one of the twelve was about to betray Him, that He was going away somewhere that they couldn't follow, and that Peter was going to disown Him. The shock in the room must have been written on all their faces (John 14:1-5). The heaviness in Thomas' heart was clear through his words in verse 5: Jesus was about to leave them, and he felt lost. He was a man in despair, not asking Jesus for guidance, just lamenting the impossibility of the task. These words reveal Thomas' negativity again, but they also show the depth of his devotion to Jesus. Thomas would have rather died with Jesus than live without Him (John 11:16). Thomas didn't know how to carry on without the personal guidance of Jesus in his life every day. When you can't see the way forward, you need to stick with Jesus every day (John 14:6). He is the Way; you need to keep walking and talking with Him. He is the Truth; you need to keep reading His Words. He is the Life; you need His presence and power inside you. For Thomas this probably wasn't making much sense. How could he rely on Jesus if He wasn't going to be there any more? Well, if like Thomas you can't see the way forward, come to Jesus and let him send you the Holy Spirit to be your guiding presence every day (John 14:16-18; John 16:7). 3. Jesus wants you to stop doubting and declare your faith in Him. After Jesus' death and resurrection, we find Thomas at his very lowest. He was so deep in grief and despair that he had started to withdraw from the other disciples. He'd missed out on Jesus' first appearance to the rest of them. Now he just couldn't take in what they were all trying to tell him (John 20:25-28). John MacArthur (Twelve Ordinary Men) writes that Thomas' unbelief “…was provoked by grief, brokenheartedness, uncertainty, and the pain of loneliness. No one could feel the way Thomas felt unless he loved Jesus the way Thomas loved Him.” So Jesus was tender with him. He understands our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). So He understands our doubt. He sympathises with our uncertainty. He is patient with our pessimism.” We see the amazing mercy of Jesus in this and the response it drew from Thomas (John 20:28). This was the moment of turnaround in Thomas' life, when he opened his mouth and declared his faith. Thomas looked upon the One who had announced that He had the authority to lay down His life and take it up again, and now He'd done it. They'd all seen that Jesus was not just a powerful prophet or miracle-worker but much more. Stood before Thomas was the true and living God over whom death held no power. As Thomas beheld Him, all doubt and despair evaporated. Now his heart leaped, his faith soared, and his lips exploded with praise (Romans 10:9-10). Blessed are those who haven't seen and yet believed (John 20:29). Today you can be blessed. Whatever your doubts, whatever setbacks you've had, however pessimistic things may look in life. No matter what darkness you walk through, believe in Jesus. Believe and declare that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Believe in His words. Believe His love. Believe He hears you when you call to Him. Believe in Him. So then this day, if that's what you say, declare it. And if you've never yet come to that, now is your moment: leave your doubts and fears aside, come to the Lord who is tender, kind, and understands us. We're all different but get out of doubt. Doubt will kill you; it will kill your spirit. But when you believe in the Lord and you put your trust in Him, you will be saved. Today is the day to leave your doubts aside and put your full trust in the Lord who will never let you down. 

Jesus called ordinary men who were imperfect with different backgrounds to become world leaders and world changers. They became the foundation of the Christian church and have marked history accordingly. This should encourage each one of us that, when called by God, we can do and be more than we ever hoped or imagined in our lives.  Today we come to Thomas, perhaps one of the most well-known disciples, but for the wrong reasons, and commonly known as “Doubting Thomas”. If you didn't know anything more about Thomas, you would associate him with doubt and pessimism. Thomas was a man who was very real, who had his struggles in life, in his faith and in his spiritual walk. Yet he became a great disciple and a very strong believer. AB Bruce in ‘The Training of the Twelve' describes him as a ‘…man of gloomy temperament, prone to look upon the dark side of things, living in the pensive moonlight rather than in the cheerful sunlight.' John MacArthur in ‘Twelve Ordinary Men' writes ‘He is usually nicknamed “Doubting Thomas” but that may not be the most fitting label for him…. It is probably fair... to say that Thomas was a somewhat negative person…. He was like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh…. Pessimism, rather than doubt, seems to have been his besetting sin…. He always seemed to anticipate the worst of everything.' The Gospel of John gives three accounts featuring Thomas that we can learn from. 1. Jesus wants you to live with optimism, not die with pessimism (John 10:40-42; John 11:8-16; John 8:12; Isaiah 42:3; Proverbs 22:17-18 NKJV; Philippians 4:8)   2. Jesus wants to show you the way forward when you can't see one (John 14; John 14:1-5; John 11:16; John 14:6; John 14:16-18; John 16:7)   3. Jesus wants you to stop doubting and declare your faith in Him (John 20:25-28; Hebrews 4:15; John 20:28; Romans 10:9-10; John 20:29)  Apply  1. Jesus wants you to live with optimism, not die with pessimism. We first read about Thomas during a prosperous period of Jesus' ministry (John 10:40-42). The gospel was bearing fruit unhindered. Then came news that Jesus' friend Lazarus was seriously ill, and Jesus decided to go back to Judea, where the religious leaders had recently tried to stone and seize Jesus. When He announced this decision to His disciples, none of them were keen (John 11:8-16, John 8:12). So, when Jesus announced his decision to return to Judea, the disciples were naturally worried. To reassure them he was effectively saying: ‘yes, we're heading back into dangerous territory, but if you walk with me you've got nothing to be afraid of. Lazarus, is dead but you're going to be amazed by what I do there.' Unfortunately, it sounds like only words Thomas had heard were ‘dead' and ‘go'. How did he miss all Jesus' words of encouragement? He was paying too much attention to his own heavy thoughts instead of giving full attention to Jesus' words. Pessimism didn't just subdue Thomas' mood, it robbed him of belief in the words of his rabbi. Maybe you are struggling with doubts. Well Jesus dealt gently with him (Isaiah 42:3). If you need to overcome pessimism, you need to come close to Jesus. Don't try to figure things out by yourself: open your heart to Him. And if you want to live with optimism, there are two simple, practical things you need to do with your thought life. You must listen more to the words of Jesus that you listen to your thoughts of doubt (Proverbs 22:17-18 NKJV) and meditate on the good rather than the bad (Philippians 4:8). 2. Jesus wants to show you the way forward when you can't see one. The next time we read about Thomas is during Jesus' last supper with His disciples (John 14). Jesus had just revealed that one of the twelve was about to betray Him, that He was going away somewhere that they couldn't follow, and that Peter was going to disown Him. The shock in the room must have been written on all their faces (John 14:1-5). The heaviness in Thomas' heart was clear through his words in verse 5: Jesus was about to leave them, and he felt lost. He was a man in despair, not asking Jesus for guidance, just lamenting the impossibility of the task. These words reveal Thomas' negativity again, but they also show the depth of his devotion to Jesus. Thomas would have rather died with Jesus than live without Him (John 11:16). Thomas didn't know how to carry on without the personal guidance of Jesus in his life every day. When you can't see the way forward, you need to stick with Jesus every day (John 14:6). He is the Way; you need to keep walking and talking with Him. He is the Truth; you need to keep reading His Words. He is the Life; you need His presence and power inside you. For Thomas this probably wasn't making much sense. How could he rely on Jesus if He wasn't going to be there any more? Well, if like Thomas you can't see the way forward, come to Jesus and let him send you the Holy Spirit to be your guiding presence every day (John 14:16-18; John 16:7). 3. Jesus wants you to stop doubting and declare your faith in Him. After Jesus' death and resurrection, we find Thomas at his very lowest. He was so deep in grief and despair that he had started to withdraw from the other disciples. He'd missed out on Jesus' first appearance to the rest of them. Now he just couldn't take in what they were all trying to tell him (John 20:25-28). John MacArthur (Twelve Ordinary Men) writes that Thomas' unbelief “…was provoked by grief, brokenheartedness, uncertainty, and the pain of loneliness. No one could feel the way Thomas felt unless he loved Jesus the way Thomas loved Him.” So Jesus was tender with him. He understands our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). So He understands our doubt. He sympathises with our uncertainty. He is patient with our pessimism.” We see the amazing mercy of Jesus in this and the response it drew from Thomas (John 20:28). This was the moment of turnaround in Thomas' life, when he opened his mouth and declared his faith. Thomas looked upon the One who had announced that He had the authority to lay down His life and take it up again, and now He'd done it. They'd all seen that Jesus was not just a powerful prophet or miracle-worker but much more. Stood before Thomas was the true and living God over whom death held no power. As Thomas beheld Him, all doubt and despair evaporated. Now his heart leaped, his faith soared, and his lips exploded with praise (Romans 10:9-10). Blessed are those who haven't seen and yet believed (John 20:29). Today you can be blessed. Whatever your doubts, whatever setbacks you've had, however pessimistic things may look in life. No matter what darkness you walk through, believe in Jesus. Believe and declare that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Believe in His words. Believe His love. Believe He hears you when you call to Him. Believe in Him. So then this day, if that's what you say, declare it. And if you've never yet come to that, now is your moment: leave your doubts and fears aside, come to the Lord who is tender, kind, and understands us. We're all different but get out of doubt. Doubt will kill you; it will kill your spirit. But when you believe in the Lord and you put your trust in Him, you will be saved. Today is the day to leave your doubts aside and put your full trust in the Lord who will never let you down. 

Revealed: The Miracles of Jesus Pt. 4: Feeding Thousands By Louie Marsh, 9-3-2023   1) I need to SEIZE opportunities God gives me.   Matthew sets the stage for one of Jesus most amazing miracles this way:   “30The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”   So Jesus, like the good leader he was, wanted to take his handpicked men aside for a while to, as we would say today, “debrief them” on their mission trip experiences.   But as Mark shows us, things didn't quite work out that way.     For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:30–34, ESV)   How on earth did all those people keep up with Jesus in a boat? Well Jesus and his disciples are on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is approximately 33 miles in circumference, about 13 miles long, and eight miles wide.   The Apostle Luke in chapter 9:10 of his Gospel mentions the locality as being near to Bethsaida, i. e., Bethsaida Julias. That's near the northern shore of the lake, not far from the entrance of the upper Jordan, which is so shallow at that point that it can easily be crossed by wading. So as you can see keeping up with the boat wouldn't have been that much of a challenge.   ·       Never be afraid to be COMPASSIONATE.   When Jesus sees them waiting for him on the shore, he, “has compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” So Jesus did what he always did, he quickly improvised and used the situation they were in as a teachable moment. Far from this being a problem, Jesus saw it as an opportunity to teach a captive audience! I mean, where else were they going to go right?   “12Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:12–13, ESV)   “18Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 30:18, ESV)   2) God uses problems to EXPOSE how spiritually mature I really am.   We aren't told what he preached or how long he talked. But from what Mark says I'm guessing he spoke for several hours at least. Now I know that sounds like an unbearably long time to listen to someone speak to us. But in those days, with no media of any kind, attention spans were much, much longer than they are today. So it would not have been unusual for a teacher to speak for that long.   ·       My FIRST thought should always be God.   “35And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”” (Mark 6:35–36, ESV)   With no shelter or food where they were, these people needed time to get to a place where they could find both. But, here again, Jesus does the unexpected.   Jesus takes this as an opportunity to test just how much they had learned and grown on their mission trip.   “37“You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”” (Mark 6:37, ESV)    The Apostles are stymied by Jesus command. How could they feed such a huge crowd? Even if they found the money it was going to be a long walk to the supermarket!   3) God STEPS IN when humans fail.   So, again as usual, Jesus stepped in and spoke with authority.   “38And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.” (Mark 6:38–40, ESV)   Jesus takes stock of their meager resources and then has the disciples organize the people. There's no way you can know what to do or how to do it if you aren't aware of what's actually happening and what you have on hand to deal with it.   4) Jesus seeks God's blessings & then ACTS.   Then once the people are seated in an organized fashion Jesus does what no one else thought of doing. He turns directly to his Heavenly Father to solve this seemingly insurmountable problem.   “41And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42And they all ate and were satisfied.” (Mark 6:41–42, ESV)   He looked up to heaven and then spoke a blessing over the loaves and fish. Jesus responds by seeking God's blessing on what they are about to do. And with that the disciples began handing out the food, and they kept on handing it out and kept on handing it out and somehow they never ran out of it!   What they thought about this isn't recorded. What the people sitting there were thinking isn't spelled out for us either. But clearly when they began to catch on to what was happening, they had to have been absolutely amazed and more than a little awed to see God in action right before their eyes.     5) Don't WASTE any of God's blessings.   “17And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.” (Luke 9:17, ESV)   This miracle becomes even more amazing when you read what Mark says as he closes his account of it.   So, if there were 5000 men there then there must have been at least an equal amount of women, and probably a lot of children as well. So how many were fed? Only those there knows the answer, but you'd have to imagine that at least 15,000 people partook of the food, maybe more.   Now this miracle, like all of Jesus miracles, has seen many attempts to explain it away. The most well known of these failed attempts is the idea that when Jesus had the boy show his fish and bread, most of the people in the crowd were shamed and produced the food that they had been hiding. Then everyone shared together in a meal.   “6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:6–7, ESV)

Bible reading: John 4:1-42 (NIVUK) Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman 4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptising more disciples than John – 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptised, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?' 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?' (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 10 Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.' 11 ‘Sir,' the woman said, ‘you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?' 13 Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' 15 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.' 16 He told her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back.' 17 ‘I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.' 19 ‘Sir,' the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.' 21 ‘Woman,' Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.' 25 The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah' (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.' 26 Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you – I am he.' The disciples rejoin Jesus 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?' or ‘Why are you talking with her?' 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I've ever done. Could this be the Messiah?' 30 They came out of the town and made their way towards him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.' 32 But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.' 33 Then his disciples said to each other, ‘Could someone have brought him food?' 34 ‘My food,' said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don't you have a saying, “It's still four months until harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps

This sermon on Mark 11:15-18 will close out our sermon series on ‘Cherry Picked Verses.' Some christians have read this story as a justification for combativeness and argumentativeness. Perhaps Jesus is inviting us into a different reading - one that focuses on allowing Jesus to clear stuff out of us before we correct the world.

March 12, 2023 (Fr. Chad)- Scrutiny #1: The Samaritan Woman at the Well: Jesus' Initiative by Mary Queen of Peace - WA

The Living Water (Jesus) comes from the Well (Jesus). It's all Jesus. Him in us, coming out of us! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thomas-carter4/support

The powers of darkness came to Jesus and said “Well Jesus, it's you or her.” And Jesus said “It will be me.”

In this message Chris Tortorici speaks on God's commandment "Thou Shall Not Kill" and what that means to us today. “The religious mind says that we are nothing without Jesus. Well Jesus did not die for nothing” - Chris Tortorici Today we read from: Exodus 20:13Exodus 2:14Matt 25:21-22

In the last several years Covid, death, financial hardships, educational and political changes have left many people brokenhearted. Peoples hopes, plans and dreams have been changed forever. These pressures have affected marriages, our children's future, our government and life in general in negative ways. I hope this 9-minute Podcast will show a Spiritual way to heal a broken heart. Many people are broken hearted with no time to recover, before the next disaster comes along. You may think there is no such thing as a broken heart? Well Jesus said he had come to heal the broken hearted. If this is not an issue for you, I am sure you know someone that has suffered great loss in the last couple of years. Please share this Podcast with them.  One Word from God can change your life forever.

Key Message: Surprised by Joy was the title of one of the most famous books of writer C.S Lewis in which he describes his conversion from atheism to Christianity. And it's a phrase that sums up what can happen to you this Christmas. You may or may not have reason to be joyful right now, especially as we look out at a world where there is so much pain and sadness. But the message of Christmas is that you can know great joy, even if times are tough. Whether you are single or married, whether you feel alone or have family and friends, that you also can know a great joy inside you when you experience the presence of Jesus. Luke 2:8-14 focusses on the joy that came to a group of very ordinary people who were doing a very basic job. They were not rich or powerful, but they experienced something which many rich and powerful people never experience namely real joy, actually overwhelming, overflowing joy. Joy that was unexpected (Luke 2:8-9; Judges 6:12; Acts 9:3-4)Joy that gets rid of all darkness (Luke 2:9-10; John 1:5; John 8:12; Isaiah 9:2; John 3:19; 1 Peter 2:9)Joy that is for everyone at all times (Luke 2:10-14; John 3:16)Joy that brings us new hope (Luke 2:11)Apply 1. Joy that was unexpected. In Luke 2:8-9, the Bible says ‘suddenly'! After living the same way day in and day out, suddenly, on one of their regular night shifts, the shepherds were surrounded by great light. Out of nowhere, their lives totally changed. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and they experienced the reality of the supernatural world. Everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly. So often, both in the Bible and throughout history, people have had a sudden experience of God which they never imagined could happen (e.g. Gideon in Judges 6:12, Mary, Saul in Acts 9:3-4). Time and again people who were never interested in church or God suddenly become Christians. Maybe they had a sudden supernatural sense of God's presence. Maybe they survived a car crash or had a crisis in their family. Maybe they attended a wedding, a funeral or a baptism….suddenly it was like somebody switched a light on.Do you believe this could happen to you? Maybe you've been walking around for so long in doom and gloom and think your situation is never going to change. But suddenly you can receive the light of God. Suddenly you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. This moment can be the start of a whole new life of knowing the light and love of God. 2. Joy that gets rid of all darkness. The glory of God was everywhere (Luke 2:9). A great light had appeared to them in the darkness and led them to the Light of the World. This light was like nothing they'd ever experienced, and they were frightened! But we have not need to be; because when the light of God appears it is very good news (Luke 2:10). No matter how deep the darkness may be in the world, it can be overcome by the light of Jesus (John 1:5; John 8:12; Isaiah 9:2). Our world is not only economically and politically gloomy but there is also widespread moral and spiritual darkness. So many people are bound by habits, addictions and powers beyond their control. So many people are depressed. Life and circumstances seem dark because what they have experienced has been dark (John 3:19). But the good news is that dark and evil deeds and thoughts can be overcome by the light of Christ. Jesus can break the power of darkness in human hearts and minds. He can bring light and hope when we walk through dark and difficult times. As Christians we are to be people who live in the light of Jesus and shine his light (1 Peter 2:9).Are you part of a people of light or are you walking in darkness? Maybe for you today you are desperate for an answer from God for something which has been challenging you. Today, if you haven't already ask God to reveal himself to you so that you no longer have to walk in darkness as the shepherds did, but can encounter the light of Jesus. 3. Joy that is for everyone at all times. It says in Luke 2:10-14 that the great joy is for ‘all the people' - not some people or particular groups of people but ALL the people. The Christian message is for everyone. It is for the poor shepherds and the rich and educated wise men. It is for women and men. It is for single and married. It is for young and old. It is for black and brown and white and olive skinned. It is for people of every class, colour, culture, country and continent. The love of God never discriminates. It has no boundaries. It is for ‘all the people'. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” His love is for every one of us and that includes you. Do you continually live with the joy of knowing the love of Jesus no matter your circumstances? 4.Joy that brings us new hope. No matter how much trouble you are in or how far you are from God you can be saved (Luke 2:11). The people of Bethlehem had a hard life. They saw little hope for the future. They looked for the promised Messiah who would deliver them from the tyranny of Rome. But the Savior who came would deliver them from the greatest problem they faced and which everyone faces today. And that is the problem of the sinful condition of our own hearts. We need saving. Well Jesus came to this world to: save us from all the sins that separated you and me from God. He shed His blood to bring cleansing and forgiveness; He came to free us from every fear; He came to deliver us from every evil power that holds us captive; and Jesus came to rescue you and me from everything that can ruin our lives. At the Cross he lay down His life, the pure for the impure, the innocent to for the guilty so we can have new life on earth and in heaven.Are you living with the joy and hope that only Jesus can bring? This verse tells us that not only is Jesus the savior of the world but that he has been born to you. Today you can meet Him. Today the Christmas story can come alive to you. Today you can be surprised by joy.

Key Message: Surprised by Joy was the title of one of the most famous books of writer C.S Lewis in which he describes his conversion from atheism to Christianity. And it's a phrase that sums up what can happen to you this Christmas. You may or may not have reason to be joyful right now, especially as we look out at a world where there is so much pain and sadness. But the message of Christmas is that you can know great joy, even if times are tough. Whether you are single or married, whether you feel alone or have family and friends, that you also can know a great joy inside you when you experience the presence of Jesus. Luke 2:8-14 focusses on the joy that came to a group of very ordinary people who were doing a very basic job. They were not rich or powerful, but they experienced something which many rich and powerful people never experience namely real joy, actually overwhelming, overflowing joy. Joy that was unexpected (Luke 2:8-9; Judges 6:12; Acts 9:3-4)Joy that gets rid of all darkness (Luke 2:9-10; John 1:5; John 8:12; Isaiah 9:2; John 3:19; 1 Peter 2:9)Joy that is for everyone at all times (Luke 2:10-14; John 3:16)Joy that brings us new hope (Luke 2:11)Apply 1. Joy that was unexpected. In Luke 2:8-9, the Bible says ‘suddenly'! After living the same way day in and day out, suddenly, on one of their regular night shifts, the shepherds were surrounded by great light. Out of nowhere, their lives totally changed. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and they experienced the reality of the supernatural world. Everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly. So often, both in the Bible and throughout history, people have had a sudden experience of God which they never imagined could happen (e.g. Gideon in Judges 6:12, Mary, Saul in Acts 9:3-4). Time and again people who were never interested in church or God suddenly become Christians. Maybe they had a sudden supernatural sense of God's presence. Maybe they survived a car crash or had a crisis in their family. Maybe they attended a wedding, a funeral or a baptism….suddenly it was like somebody switched a light on.Do you believe this could happen to you? Maybe you've been walking around for so long in doom and gloom and think your situation is never going to change. But suddenly you can receive the light of God. Suddenly you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. This moment can be the start of a whole new life of knowing the light and love of God. 2. Joy that gets rid of all darkness. The glory of God was everywhere (Luke 2:9). A great light had appeared to them in the darkness and led them to the Light of the World. This light was like nothing they'd ever experienced, and they were frightened! But we have not need to be; because when the light of God appears it is very good news (Luke 2:10). No matter how deep the darkness may be in the world, it can be overcome by the light of Jesus (John 1:5; John 8:12; Isaiah 9:2). Our world is not only economically and politically gloomy but there is also widespread moral and spiritual darkness. So many people are bound by habits, addictions and powers beyond their control. So many people are depressed. Life and circumstances seem dark because what they have experienced has been dark (John 3:19). But the good news is that dark and evil deeds and thoughts can be overcome by the light of Christ. Jesus can break the power of darkness in human hearts and minds. He can bring light and hope when we walk through dark and difficult times. As Christians we are to be people who live in the light of Jesus and shine his light (1 Peter 2:9).Are you part of a people of light or are you walking in darkness? Maybe for you today you are desperate for an answer from God for something which has been challenging you. Today, if you haven't already ask God to reveal himself to you so that you no longer have to walk in darkness as the shepherds did, but can encounter the light of Jesus. 3. Joy that is for everyone at all times. It says in Luke 2:10-14 that the great joy is for ‘all the people' - not some people or particular groups of people but ALL the people. The Christian message is for everyone. It is for the poor shepherds and the rich and educated wise men. It is for women and men. It is for single and married. It is for young and old. It is for black and brown and white and olive skinned. It is for people of every class, colour, culture, country and continent. The love of God never discriminates. It has no boundaries. It is for ‘all the people'. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” His love is for every one of us and that includes you. Do you continually live with the joy of knowing the love of Jesus no matter your circumstances? 4.Joy that brings us new hope. No matter how much trouble you are in or how far you are from God you can be saved (Luke 2:11). The people of Bethlehem had a hard life. They saw little hope for the future. They looked for the promised Messiah who would deliver them from the tyranny of Rome. But the Savior who came would deliver them from the greatest problem they faced and which everyone faces today. And that is the problem of the sinful condition of our own hearts. We need saving. Well Jesus came to this world to: save us from all the sins that separated you and me from God. He shed His blood to bring cleansing and forgiveness; He came to free us from every fear; He came to deliver us from every evil power that holds us captive; and Jesus came to rescue you and me from everything that can ruin our lives. At the Cross he lay down His life, the pure for the impure, the innocent to for the guilty so we can have new life on earth and in heaven.Are you living with the joy and hope that only Jesus can bring? This verse tells us that not only is Jesus the savior of the world but that he has been born to you. Today you can meet Him. Today the Christmas story can come alive to you. Today you can be surprised by joy.

Hudson Ebenezer continues our occasional sermon series "Jesus Meets..." with a talk titled "The Woman At The Well". This audio was recorded at our venue in Great Denham.

Debbie Tooth continues our occasional sermon series "Jesus Meets..." with a talk titled "A Woman At The Well". This audio was recorded at our venue in Putnoe.

Have you ever had a garden before? If you have, you know how much work it takes to keep it alive and growing. Well Jesus tells us a story, or a parable, about a garden that lives in our hearts. I am serious, miniBFFs! There is a story in the bible about Jesus being the vine and we are the branches. Do you know who the gardener is? God! That's right! This episode dives more into the topic of tending to the garden that lives inside of us and why it is important to take care of it. Scripture: John 15:1-8 We'd love to have you draw a picture of a flower or something you have grown in your garden or want to grow! We can't wait to see what you create. You can send your pictures to PO Box 121826 Nashville TN 37212 OR you can post it to instagram and tag @minibffbookclub! Annie F. Downs is a NYTimes bestselling author, podcaster, and loud laugher! #anniesminibffpodcast #minibffbookclub #minibffpodcast

Luke 12:52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in were hindered.”   Have you ever thought that there must be a key to unlock unbelievers? That there must be a key to reach the lost?   Well Jesus has the keys! Rev 1:18 “I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys. Thus ends the shortest sermon ever…or is it???

We're in John 4 and Jesus has a conversation with a woman who is living on the outskirts of society. She's hated by many, judged by practically all, and she's about to come face to face with the opportunity of a lifetime. 

Recap Title: How To Be Blessed When You're At The End Of Your Rope Key Text: Matthew 5:3 As we start our new series called ‘How To Live A Blessed Life', we come to the first teaching that Jesus gave here in these beatitudes: Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Poverty, as we can see from the state of the world today, is very far from being a blessing. Most people in the world live in poverty. Global poverty is one of the very worst problems that the world faces today. To reduce poverty and to care for the poor is therefore one of the most urgent global goals and it should be one of the great concerns of every Christian. For Jesus came preaching good news to the poor and the early churches were united that they should always ‘remember the poor.' If poverty is not a blessing what was Jesus talking about when he said that to be poor in spirit is to be blessed? Well Jesus wasn't talking about material poverty but inner poverty, poverty of spirit. Understand what it means to be poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3; Revelation 3:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9) Take action when you are poor in spirit (Luke 18; John 3:30) Discover the benefits of being poor in spirit (Matthew 12:28; Romans 8:37) Apply Understand what it means to be poor in spirit Poverty in spirit is the opposite of being proud in spirit. Partly it is to be humble, not being prideful, and not living our lives based on self-assurance, self-reliance and self-confidence. A humble person knows they are spiritually poor, despite their circumstances, and that nothing within their own power or abilities can make them spiritually rich. This can be a big issue in our society, for pride comes in many forms….pride in wealth, pride in position and power, in our connections, our abilities and achievements whether social, cultural, intellectual or material. In a society where we can easily take for granted the many material riches we enjoy, we can actually find ourselves in spiritual poverty. Often those with the most find it hardest to be humble and reliant on God, whilst materially poor people are some of the spiritually richest. But being poor in spirit is much more than just being humble before God regardless of our material circumstances. It's very helpful to read this verse in The Message version, which has been translated directly from the original Greek into modern English. This is what it says in plain language… “You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” Being at the end of your rope means that you have run out of options, that you are in over your head, that your problems are bigger than your resources, that you have nowhere else to turn. Being at the end of your rope or poor in spirit means that you have humanly run out of options. But coming to the end of your rope is the best place to be! In fact, Jesus says you are blessed when you are in this position. Why? Because that's when self-sufficiency goes and there can be less of you and ‘more of God and His rule.' Being poor in spirit is choosing to say ‘Lord, I can't fix all my problems, but I know that You can.' Being poor in spirit is being peaceful in the storms of life because - in the words of The Message version - coming to ‘the end of your rope' means that you're fully dependent on God in every way for every area of your life at all times. Strange as it sounds when you stop trying to fix everything, then God can step in and do what you can not. As the Lord told the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Although this was not what Paul was praying for he responded: ‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. So what's the reality of your life like now? Do you need a miracle? Are you at the end of your resources? Are you struggling in your life even though you are trying to keep up the best image? Are you like the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:17? We read: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Take action when you are poor in spirit When you are at the end of your rope, you need to do something about it. Specifically you need to; Repent of your independence from God Humble yourself before God Cry out to God God can and will help and bless you in remarkable ways when you really acknowledge your total need of Him. Just as in the parable Jesus told in Luke 18, we must be like the humble tax collector rather than the religious Pharisee. The Pharisee was blind to his own self-reliance and pride, thanking God for what a good religious person he was. “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Jesus said “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” This tax collector was poor in spirit and wasn't going to self-justify or excuse why he was good enough, but rather looked to God for help and mercy. We need to have the attitude of John the Baptist who said of Jesus in John 3:30 ‘He must become greater, I must become less. 'Asking for God's help and choosing to depend on the Lord rather than striving to be in control and rely on your own actions is the starting place for your blessing. Being poor in spirit means you're willing to change your schedule around, even at short notice, to seek more of the presence of God, rather than prioritizing other things over your personal prayer times, your life group meeting and church meetings each week. It's necessary to get out of the poverty of spirit trap. And when you do you will come into the blessings that Jesus speaks of here. Have you repented of your independence from God? Have you taken action from that place of being poor in spirit. Discover the benefits of being poor in spirit Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. When you're really at the end of your rope, then the Kingdom of Heaven opens up to you. The Kingdom of God is where Jesus Christ is reigning and ruling as King, where Jesus is Lord. When He was on the earth, Jesus said in Matthew 12:28 ‘the Kingdom of God has come upon you'. This means that when you are emptied of yourself, instead of being ruled by your circumstances and your emotional response to them, you bring God's rule over them. Instead of feeling overcome, you overcome. It means you're not panic-stricken, full of tension and arguments, robbed of joy and peace by your circumstances, but rather you see the promises, provision, protection and power of God at work in your life as you take the decision to let Him be in control. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:37 ‘in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.' Living a blessed life is not one free from trials, but rather one full of the Kingdom of God in the midst of the challenges of life. And as you recognise just how poor in spirit you are and our immense need of God, and as we put our hope and trust in Him to deliver us, then you will you see the power of the Kingdom of God at work in your own life. In short, in your darkest moments, you will be blessed. Let's pray.

Recap Title: How To Be Blessed When You're At The End Of Your Rope Key Text: Matthew 5:3 As we start our new series called ‘How To Live A Blessed Life', we come to the first teaching that Jesus gave here in these beatitudes: Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Poverty, as we can see from the state of the world today, is very far from being a blessing. Most people in the world live in poverty. Global poverty is one of the very worst problems that the world faces today. To reduce poverty and to care for the poor is therefore one of the most urgent global goals and it should be one of the great concerns of every Christian. For Jesus came preaching good news to the poor and the early churches were united that they should always ‘remember the poor.' If poverty is not a blessing what was Jesus talking about when he said that to be poor in spirit is to be blessed? Well Jesus wasn't talking about material poverty but inner poverty, poverty of spirit. Understand what it means to be poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3; Revelation 3:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9) Take action when you are poor in spirit (Luke 18; John 3:30) Discover the benefits of being poor in spirit (Matthew 12:28; Romans 8:37) Apply Understand what it means to be poor in spirit Poverty in spirit is the opposite of being proud in spirit. Partly it is to be humble, not being prideful, and not living our lives based on self-assurance, self-reliance and self-confidence. A humble person knows they are spiritually poor, despite their circumstances, and that nothing within their own power or abilities can make them spiritually rich. This can be a big issue in our society, for pride comes in many forms….pride in wealth, pride in position and power, in our connections, our abilities and achievements whether social, cultural, intellectual or material. In a society where we can easily take for granted the many material riches we enjoy, we can actually find ourselves in spiritual poverty. Often those with the most find it hardest to be humble and reliant on God, whilst materially poor people are some of the spiritually richest. But being poor in spirit is much more than just being humble before God regardless of our material circumstances. It's very helpful to read this verse in The Message version, which has been translated directly from the original Greek into modern English. This is what it says in plain language… “You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” Being at the end of your rope means that you have run out of options, that you are in over your head, that your problems are bigger than your resources, that you have nowhere else to turn. Being at the end of your rope or poor in spirit means that you have humanly run out of options. But coming to the end of your rope is the best place to be! In fact, Jesus says you are blessed when you are in this position. Why? Because that's when self-sufficiency goes and there can be less of you and ‘more of God and His rule.' Being poor in spirit is choosing to say ‘Lord, I can't fix all my problems, but I know that You can.' Being poor in spirit is being peaceful in the storms of life because - in the words of The Message version - coming to ‘the end of your rope' means that you're fully dependent on God in every way for every area of your life at all times. Strange as it sounds when you stop trying to fix everything, then God can step in and do what you can not. As the Lord told the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Although this was not what Paul was praying for he responded: ‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. So what's the reality of your life like now? Do you need a miracle? Are you at the end of your resources? Are you struggling in your life even though you are trying to keep up the best image? Are you like the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:17? We read: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Take action when you are poor in spirit When you are at the end of your rope, you need to do something about it. Specifically you need to; Repent of your independence from God Humble yourself before God Cry out to God God can and will help and bless you in remarkable ways when you really acknowledge your total need of Him. Just as in the parable Jesus told in Luke 18, we must be like the humble tax collector rather than the religious Pharisee. The Pharisee was blind to his own self-reliance and pride, thanking God for what a good religious person he was. “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Jesus said “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” This tax collector was poor in spirit and wasn't going to self-justify or excuse why he was good enough, but rather looked to God for help and mercy. We need to have the attitude of John the Baptist who said of Jesus in John 3:30 ‘He must become greater, I must become less. 'Asking for God's help and choosing to depend on the Lord rather than striving to be in control and rely on your own actions is the starting place for your blessing. Being poor in spirit means you're willing to change your schedule around, even at short notice, to seek more of the presence of God, rather than prioritizing other things over your personal prayer times, your life group meeting and church meetings each week. It's necessary to get out of the poverty of spirit trap. And when you do you will come into the blessings that Jesus speaks of here. Have you repented of your independence from God? Have you taken action from that place of being poor in spirit. Discover the benefits of being poor in spirit Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. When you're really at the end of your rope, then the Kingdom of Heaven opens up to you. The Kingdom of God is where Jesus Christ is reigning and ruling as King, where Jesus is Lord. When He was on the earth, Jesus said in Matthew 12:28 ‘the Kingdom of God has come upon you'. This means that when you are emptied of yourself, instead of being ruled by your circumstances and your emotional response to them, you bring God's rule over them. Instead of feeling overcome, you overcome. It means you're not panic-stricken, full of tension and arguments, robbed of joy and peace by your circumstances, but rather you see the promises, provision, protection and power of God at work in your life as you take the decision to let Him be in control. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:37 ‘in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.' Living a blessed life is not one free from trials, but rather one full of the Kingdom of God in the midst of the challenges of life. And as you recognise just how poor in spirit you are and our immense need of God, and as we put our hope and trust in Him to deliver us, then you will you see the power of the Kingdom of God at work in your own life. In short, in your darkest moments, you will be blessed. Let's pray.

Kingdom People4. Conflict in the Kingdom Dan Bidwell, Senior Pastor Matthew 18:15-20 18 September 2022 This week I found myself wondering: what is the hardest gymnastic move in the world? So I did some research and it led me to the greatest gymnast of all time, the most decorated gymnast in history. Simone Biles. And when we look at a list of the most difficult gymnastic moves in the world, not surprisingly Biles holds the record for the most difficult skills performed on three out of the four apparatus (beam, the floor and the vault; but not the uneven bars). So what is the hardest gymnastic move in the world? Its called the Yurchenko Double Pike Vault, and only one woman has ever tried it in competition. You guessed it Simone Biles. Its described as a round-off onto the springboard with a back handspring onto the table, followed by a double somersault off the vault in the pike position. (Id show you but...) Its such a difficult move that only 5 men have ever tried it in competition. And its so dangerous that judges have lowered the scoring for it so that nobody else will try it. There you go, the hardest gymnastic move in the world the Yurchenko Double Pike Vault Why am I talking about gymnastics? When I started preparing the Bible passage this week, I thought to myself, it might be easier to go and learn the Yurchenko Double Pike Vault than to preach on this passage... Because its a passage about conflict, and interpersonal relationships. And I know some of us will find this content particularly challenging. But for what its worth, I think the passage today is actually quite simple in what it says, but putting it into practice, thats the hard part. So why dont we start by praying that God would speak his wisdom into our lives and our community as we open the Bible now? Our heavenly Father, as we broach the topic of conflict in relationships, please give us an extra measure of your Holy Spirit to hear and understand and process your wisdom. Teach us about your grace and your forgiveness, and help us to be a church that follows 1 after Jesus. We pray particularly now for those who will find this topic difficult. May your grace abound as we hear you speak. In Jesus name. Amen Well we are in the middle of our fall teaching series from Matthew 17-21. Were calling it Kingdom People, because its all about the way that Jesus wants us to live out his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And today our Bible passage is all about conflict, and how we deal with it. Conflict Resolution Models Now before we open the Bible, I just want to recognize that each of us has different ways of dealing with conflict. Default ways of dealing with conflict, that often go back to the family we were raised in. Probably even right now as I raise the idea of conflict, you are already reverting to your default mode of responding to conflict. So just for yourself, see if you recognize your own default response in one of the following: The first is conflict avoidance. Conflict-avoidant-prone families will normally be presented with a conflict and then act as if nothing is happening. They are masters at sticking their heads in the sand and avoid getting to the root of the issue. They might act as if the problems don't exist, but that doesn't mean that anger, sadness, and resentment aren't brewing underneath the surface. Without any resolution, family members sometimes choose to remove themselves from the family altogether, because it feels easier to do that than to handle the conflict head-on.1 At the opposite end of the spectrum is the aggressive approach to conflict resolution. Families who take conflict on in an aggressive manner tend to attack each other either verbally or physically as a primary means of handling disagreements. There is almost no regulation of negativity, which means that conflict can only ever escalate, with devastating consequences. So those are the extremes from conflict avoidance to destructive aggression. But in between are a range of other strategies that have to do with collaboration, compromise and accommodation.2 For more information on this, relationship psychologist Dr John Gottman describes 5 different patterns of conflict resolution in couples (link in transcript). According to Gottman, the family I grew up in could be described as volatile (not necessarily a negative expression).3 1 https://family.lovetoknow.com/about-family-values/family-conflict-examples-plus-stress-free-ways-deal 2 https://kilmanndiagnostics.com/overview-thomas-kilmann-conflict-mode-instrument-tki/3 https://www.gottman.com/blog/the-5-couple-types/ 2 The opposite of conflict avoiders, my family was intensely emotional. Conflict was often a time for debating, exercising intellect and trying to win the argument from a legal point of view (I am the child of a lawyer). It could get loud, but there was usually lots of laughter and shared amusement. And although we argued intensely, there was rarely contempt. We could share negative feelings, but they werent seen as personal attack. Rather it was how we heard what the other person was thinking and feeling. To the conflict avoider, my family looked terrifying! But that was our default mode of conflict resolution. Of course you can do it in a much quieter way than my family did, and I was lucky to watch my best friends parents navigate conflict in exactly that way quietly, gently, humbly seeking compromise and accommodation. What Im trying to show is that we all have default ways of responding to conflict, probably ways that we learned early in childhood, and ways which have been reinforced positively or negatively as you have brought them into your adult life, into marriages, into work situations, and into parenting and grand-parenting. So I think its worth doing some reflection on your background, if you havent before. Ive found this book to be particularly helpful Growing Yourself Up by Jenny Brown PhD. How to bring your best to all of lifes relationships. This book explains the principles of Bowen Family Systems Theory, which is all about understanding your family of origin and the way that it shapes you. But its also about moving beyond those patterns, especially if they were unhelpful. (Also some more resources linked in the footnotes to the sermon today which you might find interesting you can pick up a paper copy of the transcript if there are any left, or youll be able to download it at yountvillechurch.org/sermons) So that is a very long introduction to our Bible passage, which is all about Jesus model for dealing with conflict. Biblical Conflict Resolution So what does Jesus say about conflict resolution? Come to Matthew 18:15 with me: 15 If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. (Matthew 18:15) When Jesus says brother or sister here, he means a fellow disciple, another Christian person. So really this is a model for dealing with conflict in the church family. I would love to tell you that we are all perfect in the church, and that there is never any sin, but you are all too clever to believe that. Augustine, the church father, said that the church is a 3 hospital for sinners. And thats really true. As a church family, we will have conflicts and disagreements just like a regular family, as sinful people doing life together. Hopefully not too often, but when it happens, Jesus has great advice for us. He starts: If your brother or sister sins... Now depending on what version of the Bible youre reading, it might say if a brother or sister sins against you... Apparently some of the early manuscripts said sins against you, but not all of them. And so the translators have gone with the more difficult reading (like Simone Biles). What kind of sin were they talking about? We often think of sins as the bad things that people do. For example the Ten Commandments tell us that we must not murder, or steal, or commit adultery. They say we shouldnt lie, or be envious of others and their possessions. They tell us to honor our parents. Now most of us probably havent murdered anyone, but remember that Jesus said if we get angry with someone we would face Gods judgment for it. Same with adultery Jesus said looking lustfully is the same as committing adultery in your heart. (This is all back in the sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7). So sins are sometimes the wicked things we do, or think about doing. But sin is ultimately about the way we treat God. The first half of the Ten Commandments reminds us to honor God alone with our worship, not to replace him with idols that cannot save, not to denigrate him with our speech, or ignore him in our moments of Sabbath. You see if we belong to Gods kingdom, we must live within the laws of the kingdom. Our lives must honor the King, and no other in his place. And so sin is anything we put in our lives that makes us unfit for the king or the kingdom. Whether its attitudes, or behaviors, God wants us to be fiercely loyal to him alone. And thats where verse 15 makes more sense. Its not just about someone sinning against you, it might be someone caught in sin who is putting their salvation at risk. Jesus wants us to lovingly point out their sin so that they might be won back over to his kingdom... 15 If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. (Matthew 18:15) We dont live in a culture that likes pointing out the personal flaws of others, let alone sins. In our individualism, we go by the maxim of you do you. That idea, whats right for you is right for you, and whats right for me is right for me, and who am I to comment... Well Jesus says in the church, we should comment, if we see someone caught in sin. 4 Heres where it gets awkward. I dont think Jesus is telling us to go on a witch hunt, and certainly this is not about pointing out peoples faults publicly (although he will say more about that in a couple of verses.) No, this is about seeing somebody caught in destructive behavior, and trying to get them to see the danger they are in. Go alone, says Jesus, just by yourself, in private, and point out the fault that you have noticed. And the hope is that they will listen to you, and youll win them over. That they will see the mistake, and acknowledge it, and repent. Our Bible passage is not about rushing to notice the sins of others. Its about how to broach a persons sin in a careful and sensitive way. Now the verse assumes the person is guilty of sin. But I have heard of this going wrong, with people accused of sins that they had not committed. For that reason, the private, quiet, personal approach means you can talk without publicly shaming the other person. The hope is gentle restoration. Of course when Jesus wrote this, there were no phones or email or text messages. And today they are often the way that we communicate. But I think Jesus would suggest, if possible, going to see the person face to face. I dont know how many times Ive agonized over the wording of a text or an email, only for it to be taken the wrong way. And lots of us have lost the art of telephone calls. Probably because we arent tied to the wall anymore, and we take calls in the middle of other business, and so were always distracted. So where possible, try to speak face to face. That might be scary, or confronting, and it probably will be for the person on the receiving end as well. But prayerfully, your gentle, gracious approach will win them over. But what if it doesnt? In v16 Jesus says: 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Matthew 18:16) It was an Old Testament principle that a person couldnt be judged guilty of an offense unless there were two or three corroborating witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). It was actually a protective measure, instituted by God to limit unfounded accusations against the innocent. In this case, the same principle applies. Hopefully the witnesses would stand up for the accused if they deem the person innocent, rather than allow false accusations to be made. But the thrust of Jesus argument is that the person is guilty of sin, and so hopefully the presence of the witnesses will encourage them to listen. Again, the hope is that the person 5 acknowledges their sin and comes to repentance. The context is still personal, and private, and seeking reconciliation. But what if even that fails to convince the person? (v17) Jesus says: 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I take it that this is an absolute last resort, and reserved for very serious sin. This is not a light decision, and I think Ive only ever seen it done once in my 30 years in the church. But Jesus does seem to say that there are times when sin may need to be exposed before the whole church for the sake of honesty and transparency, even though it might hurt at the time. Because Jesus kingdom stands for something. It is meant to be set apart, and holy, and different from the world which so often tolerates corruption. The church is to hold itself to a higher standard to Jesus standard. And when sin is allowed to fester and is not dealt with, then the reputation of the church, and the reputation of the gospel, and the reputation of God himself is in danger. Thats why sometimes sins need to be brought to light. Over the last 20 years or so, many churches in both your country and mine have had to shine a light on child sexual abuse in the church. Something which was often covered up by those in leadership, allowing further abuse to occur. Thank God for the bravery of those men and women who came forward and exposed the sin of their abusers. And God willing it leads to making churches a safer place for our precious kids to learn about Jesus. BTW thats something we take very seriously here at Yountville Community Church. We are a member of an organization called Ministry Safe. Ministry Safe conduct mandatory online training for all our childrens team and volunteers; they run background checks on anybody who works with kids; and their guidelines have helped us to develop our own Ministry Safe policy that governs all our kids programs. That all means that we can be sure we have done everything in our power to make Yountville Kids a safe environment for our kids, and a place where you can bring your kids with confidence. (policies at yountvillechurch.org/kids) A Difficult Decision Before we finish there is one more idea in our passage today that I want to touch on. This is kind of the worst case scenario what happens if a person still remains unrepentant about their sin, despite every effort we have made (personal approach, with witnesses, bringing it before the whole church)? 6 At the end of v17, Jesus says: and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:17) In Bible speak, a pagan is someone who doesnt believe in God. Some of the old translations called them heathens. Jesus says, if somebody who claims to be a Christian acts in a blatantly unchristian way, and they are unwilling to own their behavior, then we ought to treat them as if they are no longer part of the church family. We were watching a movie recently about a US Marine who faked a marriage to get extra benefits as a married man. He knew it was wrong, but he did it anyway. At the end of the movie, he gets found out and he is dishonorably discharged from the Marines for conduct unbecoming. There are standards of behavior expected of Marines, and this man crossed the line. And Jesus says its the same in the church. If a person crosses the line into behavior unbecoming of somebody in his kingdom, they are in danger of being thrown out of his kingdom. BTW this is a difficult thing to think about, isnt it? Id much prefer to talk about the hope of reconciliation, but in this case, the person themself makes it impossible. And so rather than continue to pursue reconciliation, Jesus says its better to make a clean break and treat them as an unbeliever. Again, this is not about a snap decision. Any discipline like this calls for prayer and patience and understanding and time for repentance. But if all other avenues have been exhausted, then Jesus says he will stand by the decision that two or three people make. Two or three reliable who are trustworthy witnesses. (v19) 19 Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:19) Jesus promises to stand with us, when we stand up for his kingdom. As if he were right there beside us. We can be confident, even in the midst of a difficult decision like separating from an unrepentant sinner. PAUSE Now I dont know about you, but this could leave us feeling like we stand on shaky ground. Like our place in the kingdom is uncertain, or that we are in danger of being dishonorably discharged from Jesus and his promises. 7 (And we should heed Jesus warning. Unrepentant sin has real consequences.) But the gospel is not for perfect people. Jesus kingdom is not for perfect people. The church is not for perfect people. We dont gain entry because of our perfect track record. Actually the opposite. Jesus invites us into his kingdom and into his church which is a hospital for sinners. He invites us to own our mistakes, and he heals us from them. Its in the church where we find forgiveness, from God and from those who we sin against. Its in the church where we find reconciliation, a foretaste of Gods heavenly kingdom where all the wounds of our conflicts will be healed. And its in the church where we see Gods kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven. Its the perfect place to practice being Kingdom People. Will you pray with me? 8

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.comHoly Father, you are worthy of all worship. You've created everything. You've given us life. You've created a way for us to be given new life through your son, Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you for fulfilling all of the commandments on our behalf and presenting yourself as a sacrifice on the cross. We thank you that you bore the wrath of God, that we deserve for our law breaking, our rebellion, our selfishness, our sin. And Lord, we thank you that you didn't stay dead. The third day you were resurrected. You laid down your life only to take it up. And you promised us that when we repent of sin and trust in you, all of our sins of forgiven, past, present, and future. And you give us the gift of the Holy Spirit.Holy Spirit, I pray, bless our time, the holy scriptures today, show us what your plan for the church is. What the church at the very beginning did. And Jesus, remind us how much you love your church. Lord, you did everything for your church. The church is your bride and you love your bride. You love your bride so much that you gave yourself for her. And I pray now, Lord, I pray by the washing of water with the words, cleanse each one of us, sanctify us, refocus us on what's most important, especially in the life of the church, which is worshiping the great triune glorious God.Gathering as Christians to have true community and fellowship around the truth of the gospel, and to serve you, and as we do those things, we are not to forget that we do all those things as we're fulfilling the great commission. So you gave us a job to go and make disciples of all nations. Lord, if there's anyone here who's not yet a Christian today, I pray, cut them to the heart with the gospel. Draw them to yourself. Give them the gift of repentance and the gift of mercy. Bless our time in the scriptures. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.We paused our Roman sermon series for two weeks, last week and today, to revisit the DNA of the church. What are the values? And then how do those values work themselves out in the life of the church? We talked about love Jesus simple. By love, what do we mean? We mean a great commitment to the great commandment, and the great commission, and the great compassion. That's what makes for a great church. We talked about that last week.The great commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. And if you're really doing that, if you really love God, if you really love neighbor, and you find out that your neighbor is a Christian, you want to spend time with them, have fellowship. If you find out that your neighbor's not a Christian, then you want to evangelize, You want to share the gospel. And that's what brings us to the great commission for you to fulfill the great commandment.We want to fulfill the great commission, which is go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. So we talked about all that last week. That Jesus is at the center of all of that. And today we're going to talk about the rhythms of this church. What do we focus on? Which is worship, community, and service. Which then leaves margin in life to do the great commission. When you start a church... So we started Mosaic coming up on 11 years ago. When you start a church, you want to learn as much as you can from the early church.Well why? Because they were the very first witnesses of Jesus Christ, of the power of the Spirit, working through the apostles in the very beginning. Second, the Holy Spirit laid a foundation for what the church is and what the church should be doing. What should the church be focused on? How should the church be using its resources? And third, it refocuses us on what we need to be focused on. Cause clearly the early church was highly effective. Sociologists tell us that by the time Constantine comes to power, in the fourth century, he looks around to consolidate power. He realizes he has to become a Christian, or at least say he's a Christian. Why? Because over 50% of the population were believers. How do they do that in a few hundred years? Well they did that by focusing on what God told them to focus on, which is worship, community and service.We see that the early church devoted themselves to these three things, and that was the extent of their church life. What did they do with the rest of their time? Well they loved people, they served people, and they shared the gospel. They proclaimed the gospel with everyone that they had an opportunity to. That's the margin that they had. And this is really important in a place like Boston, because this place is busy. You get busy. And the longer you're here, and if you have a family, you're just busy, busy, busy, busy. And that's why we don't want to fill up your time with a lot of church activities. Worship service, get that on your calendar, community group, get on your calendars, join a service team, and the rest of your allotted time, the rest of your time that you have, that's the margin. We devote that to spending time with those who are far from the Lord, in order to share the gospel.So let's look today at Acts 2:37-47. This is the account of the early church. "Now when they heard this they were all cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise Is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3000 souls.And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved."This is the reading of God's Holy inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. To a little context before we get into our points, the context first of all is that the book of Acts is the primary source historical account of the early church and it's also sacred scripture. So this is all historically accurate. And this word has been inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach us about how the early church structured their life.So the context of the text in particular, is that Peter, who was a disciple of Jesus Christ, he was a fisherman by training, had a small fishing business, never preached, but he spent three years with Jesus Christ. And Jesus, after he ascends to Heaven, he says... Before he ascends to heaven, he says, "Don't do anything." After his resurrection, before his ascension, he says, "Don't do anything until the Holy Spirit comes." So the church is waiting, church is waiting, church waiting. Holy Spirit, comes descends upon Peter, Peter gets up and preaches his very first sermon. And at his very first sermon, 3000 souls got saved. How many people over there? I don't know, thousands. He preaches a sermon. Now there's at least 3,120 Christians, at least, maybe 3,500 because 500 people witness the resurrection of Christ. And says that they were cut to the heart with the message that he preached.Well what did he preach? He preached the gospel. And what he told these people who grew up in the Jewish community, they grew up with the Hebrew scriptures, that they grew up going to the temple. What he told them was the Messiah has come, His name was Jesus Christ, to fulfill all of the scriptures he has come, he's done a perfect work, and you killed him, you Israel, you killed him. That was his message. And they said, "What do we do? What do we do?" And Peter just says, "Repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ." He gives him the gospel. They get saved. We got a brand new church. Now the question is, how are we, church, going to disciple 3000 baby Christians.There's 3000, imagine if 3000 people showed up to Mosaic today. 3000 people are like, "We got saved, we're saved. What do we do?" And we're going to say, "Thankfully there's 1400 seats here." So we can do two services. We would fit everybody. What else would we as a church do different? We would do nothing different. We would do exactly what they did in the beginning. They focused on worship, community, and service. So that, those are our points. Devote yourself to worship, devote yourself to community, and devote yourself to service. And this is all within the context of the life of the church.First of all, devote yourself to worship, Verse 46 of Chapter 2. "And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God." Glad and generous hearts. They finally realized what Jesus Christ had done for them. They finally realized the great plan of salvation.Verse 23, at the beginning of Peter's sermon, "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." You're saying this, Jesus Christ, you killed him. This is all God's plan. The gospel's God's plan A from the very beginning. It's according to the definite plan, according to the foreknowledge. And it's all according to God's plan for you to hear the gospel and to receive grace. And they're cut to the heart with this message. Their hearts are changed. Now they devote themselves to God. They don't do it to receive love. So a lot of people don't understand Christianity because they look at Christianity with a very religious mindset. A religious mindset is a works based salvation mindset that you can do something to earn favor with, God or you can earn acceptance with God, or you can earn a relationship. You can't earn anything with God. No, we're accepted by God because of Jesus Christ.So we devote ourselves to God because we have already received love, because we've received forgiveness and acceptance. So they've been transformed, they received the grace. Now what do they do? Verse 42, "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching." What does it mean to devote yourself to something? It means to hold fast and endured, to stand perpetually ready to persevere in. And you do have to devote yourselves to things that do not come naturally. Naturally speaking, in the flesh, we're a little lazy. You got to devote yourself to things that are good for you, but kind of hard. No one accidentally works out five days a week. No one does that accidentally. You devote yourself to that. No one accidentally eats healthfully. You got to devote. Broccoli, nobody accidentally eats broccoli. No, you got to devote yourself to health. So there are things that are good for us that are hard to do because of the flesh.He says they devoted themselves to this because they realized that this is important. They prioritize this because they realize there's nothing more important than this. So they're cut to the heart and they devote themselves to the apostles' teaching. Openness to being fed by the Word of God is a key evidence that one is truly regenerated. The Word of God is at the center of their worshiping of God. Why? Because you don't... How can you worship a God that you don't know? We need the Word that reveals who God is, reveals the person of God, reveals the character of God, reveals the purposes and the plans of God. And we as believers, we are to long for the word, 1 Peter 2:2, "like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation." We're to long for this.You don't have to teach an infant to long for milk or to long for food. And this is a sign that person is regenerated where they do want to spend time with believers. You do want to jump into the Word. You want more of scripture. They were cut to the heart and you can only be cut by something that's harder than you. They received a really hard truth, a transcendent truth, a truth that broke their heart. They realized, "Oh my, we've been living a lie this whole time." Jesus told them to continue in the scriptures, to grow in the scriptures because the scriptures not only reveal who God is, but they also have a sanctifying power over our souls. They don't just nourish us, they also cleanse us. So in Ephesians 5, where Jesus Christ is talking to husbands, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."And then the scripture says, and then Jesus, what is the, having cleansed the church by the water with the Word. There's a cleansing process that happens when we read the Word. When we sit under the Word, when we let the Word of God speak to us. And there is a cutting. There should be a cutting. The Word of God is a sword. It's a living and active sword. It cuts, it cuts sharper than, it's sharper than any two edge sword. It cuts down between separation of soul and spirit. We need the Word of God. This is exactly what they devoted themselves to, and it transformed them. Acts 2:42, "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers." So there's the apostles' teaching, there's the prayers. And then Colossians tells us that when we are to gather, we are to sing as well with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.And we do all of this to cultivate a sense of God's presence, an awareness of God's presence. That's the greatest thing we can give you. This is what we try to instill in you on Sunday mornings, just a longing and a hunger for the presence of God. Because when you get a presence of God, you realize that's exactly what you needed. That's all you need. In the sermon, The Christian Pilgrim by Jonathan Edwards, one of the most powerful sermons ever written.He says, "God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean." This is what our souls long for.As a deer pants for water so my soul, God my soul longs for you. This is why they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the prayers, the public worship gathering, because they realized there's not many of us. We live in a spiritually arid climate. A spiritual desert, so to speak. At that time there were only a few thousand Christians in all of the world. And they realize we need to stay together and be rooted in God's word.If you're new to Boston, welcome. We're so glad you're here. I hope you're enjoying yourself. The fall is really amazing. But one word about the spiritual climate here. If you come from a place where there's more Christians, and just a history of more churches, and more of the Kingdom of God, if you come from a place like down south, like Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, I don't want to pick on any states. I love them all. I'd live in any one of those states if I could. But God sent me here to be a missionary. So I live here on purpose.One of the things you realize here is it's a desert. It's a desert. And if you do not commit to ground yourself in the Word of God, in Christian community, in worship of God growing in worship of God, six weeks will go by and you will not realize how you became a pagan. You just won't. You'll have no, like, "What? I live just like everybody else. I think about the same things. I'm driven by the same thing." Why? Because you got pulled out of a cultivated garden of Christian community and the Word of God and saturated. And you're brought up here where people hate you for being a Christian. People up here hate Christianity in general. They hate the fact that it even exists.So what do you do in a place like this? Well, you grow stronger. That's what you do, by shooting your roots deeper into the Word of God. Psalm 1:1-6, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. And all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sins in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."The only way the tree thrives in a desert, in arid culture is if there's a constant supply of water. And meditating on God's Word, that's what satiates the heart with living water of God. And the opposite in, Verse 4, the chaff, it has no substance. There's no roots. They built their lives on sand. God is the life source, and meditating on God and his Word, this is what feeds us. And as we do that, it reminds us what we're created for. God, the glorious God of the universe, created us. God, what was the purpose? He created us to glorify him, to worship him. He designed us to worship him. And when we worship him we realize, "Oh, this is what I was created for. This satisfies the heart." And if you do not worship God, if you don't grow in worshiping God, you will worship something. You can't not worship.What does the word worship mean? You find something worthy of who you are, worthy of your soul, worthy of your attention, worthy of your resources. And this is what Satan, he wants to pull you away from worshiping God to worshiping creation. If you don't worship the creator, you will worship creation. Either you'll worship people, maybe yourself or other people. You'll worship bodies. You'll worship money, sex. You worship career. You can't not worship.This was the greatest temptation in the beginning, when Jesus fasted 40 days and then Satan comes to hims, to tempt him. What did Satan tempt him with? Matthew 4:10, "And Jesus said to him, "Be gone Satan, for it's written, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve."" The gall on Satan coming to God, Jesus Christ, and saying, "Worship me. You exist for me." That was the temptation. And Jesus says, be gone from me, Satan. Well this is what Satan wants for us. He doesn't want you worshiping God. He wants you worshiping anything other than God. He wants you worshiping him. He wants you worshiping yourself. He wants you worshiping A. And Jesus says, "No, this is temptation." So they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.And Verse 43 says, "And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles." Awe came upon every soul. I like the emphasis on soul here. 3000 souls were added to the church. The emphasis on the immaterial part of you, the eternal part of you. There's a part of you that will exist forever. That's your soul. These souls were saved. These souls were saved from the domain of darkness, transferred in to domain of light. And awe came upon every soul. There's a reverence, there's a fear. Why? Because they realized that they are worshiping a Holy God.And I love the connection between their happiness, glad and generous hearts, and awe they feel in the presence of a Holy God. Because the path to true happiness. And I'm not talking about happiness like when you have a donut and then you're happy. I'm talking about true, it's like a fusion of happiness, and peace, and joy, satisfaction. What that is, that gladness, that's you're connected with God. You're in the presence of God. You're abiding in Jesus Christ. Their souls are connected to God. And this is what holiness is. And this is why we want holiness for you. Holiness is the pathway to the presence of God. The holier you are, the more of the presence of God you experience. The more of the presence of God that you experience, the more gladness, satisfaction, whatever you want to call it.And there is a mixture of awe, where it's like I fear this Holy God. I fear him. What does it mean that God the Father, would put his son to death, bore his wrath into the soul of his son on the cross. Why would he do that? Oh, because he's holy. And the only way to reconcile us to a Holy God is this is the way. And he was willing to do it because that's how loving he is. He's holy. He's loving. There has to be awe in the soul for that. And this is why we want holiness for you. This is why we don't want you to sin. Sin dehumanizes. Sin violates your nature. Sin lessens who God has created you to be. And it leads to depression. Living a life of habitual sin leads you away from God. And when you're away from God, that's when you lose access to the source of satisfaction.So worship God, for in terms of rhythms, we challenge you to attend every single worship service. Every Sunday attend a worship service here at Mosaic and make that a commitment. Devote yourself to it. Next time you see a three day weekend and you're like, "I could go travel but I devoted myself to the apostles' teachings." And then we'll see you here. There is a devotion. I am committed to, I'm devoting to worship.Second, devote yourself to community. You see this in Acts 2:42, "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship". Again, it's not something that happens naturally. You got to make a commitment. It does take discipline. In Verse 46, "day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts." They had to work at this, it took energy to make this a rhythm of their lives.And through the gospel, God has made us into a community of faith as well. We're brothers and sisters in the Lord. We're spiritual family and God is Father. So we are to know each other and be in community. How do we practice community at Mosaic? We do it through community groups. We have over 20 community groups all around the city, and beyond the city. And we meet in homes. The discussion is all sermon based. So if this is your very first Sunday and you show up to community group this week, you'll know exactly what everyone's talking about. I'm giving you all the cheat codes right here. And then you show up and you're like, "Yeah, I am very well versed in the worship, community, and service. Let's talk." And then you get to know people, you get to know their needs. You pray for one another. You're known and you know others.And then we take community even deeper at Mosaic with membership. We take membership seriously because scripture teaches us to know who's part of the church and who's not part of the church. In Hebrews, it says that the elders of the church will give an account to God for the souls that God has entrusted to them. So if I'm going to give an account to God for someone's soul, I need to know are they a member of the church or not? And membership, it's a mutual commitment. When the church commits to take responsibility for the person, a person commits to take responsibility for the church. And membership isn't a status symbol or social club. It's a covenant where we covenant together to further the mission, the vision, and the life of the church as we hold each other accountable. And the first step to becoming a member is taking a membership class.True fellowship, it takes work. Acts 2:44-45 says, "All who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." So fellowship impacted their finances, their bank account, so to speak. I always got to pause here because this is not communism. A lot of communist point to this text, like "Jesus said we should be communist." No he did not. He did not say that. No one's forced to sell anything here. They are motivated by the grace in the heart, generosity of the heart, when they see brothers and sisters, their spiritual family just increased. They thought they had the just immediate family to take care of. And then they realized, oh my, there's thousands of brothers and sisters. So all of a sudden there's liquidity issues. So they're selling stuff because they realized that people had needs.And this is one of the beauties of being in community. You meet people who have needs. And you're like, "Oh, I thought I was having a hard time. Well this person is really struggling so I'm going to take the focus off self," help this person, and the blessings are mutual. If you look at historians who study the early church and what they focused on, this is what they focused on. They focused on caring for one another. If you look at St. Aristides, who delivers the apology around the year 125, when Hadrian visited Athens, he writes the following."But the Christians, O King, while they went about and made search, have found the truth... And when they see a stranger, they take him in their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they did not call him brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their numbers is imprisoned or afflicted on an account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it's possible to redeem him, they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply the needy their lack of food."Incredible, incredible. A hundred years from when the church started and already you get these accounts of transformation. 3000 people, 3000 people gathered. And how do you disciple them? How do you teach them? Well, you teach them from the holy scriptures. 1 John 3:4, "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death." This is an expectation that when you become a Christian, that you want to spend time with believers, intentional time with believers. To gather together and to not forget. In the Hebrews 10:24-25, "let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."Not neglecting to meet together. Quick reminder, if you are a member of the church, one of the things that you covenanted to, committed to is regular attendance of community groups. That's just a casual reminder. And if you have not been attending, this is a wonderful time to restart your commitment. We have at the welcome table, a iPad, you can get all the groups, you can sign up. I already, I started getting emails already of people signing up. So praise God. We'd love to join you, have you join us for that.Verse 42, Chapter 2 in Acts, "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers." And then verse 46, again, you see, "breaking of bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts," It's unclear if this term refers to just eating together or if it's a celebration of the Lord's supper, but Christians should do both together. So today is communion Sunday we take communion together as a church every first Sunday of the month. And then in community groups, sometimes we should eat. I don't know, not every group has food all the time, but there is something powerful in connecting about eating together. It's part of Christian hospitality. It's part of how Jesus did his ministry. One commentator, talking about Jesus is in the gospel of Luke, he says Jesus is either going to, coming from, or at a meal. Jesus would eat with people. He would eat with sinners. He would eat with righteous people. He would just eat with people because it is a way of connecting, and is a way of showing hospitality.And we shouldn't forget, as Christians, to show hospitality to one another and show hospitality to others. 1 Peter 4:9, "show hospitality to one another without grumbling." Peter, I wonder why you said that, the grumbling part. Why? Because hospitality's hard. You got to prepare your home. You got to clean up after. You got to entertain while people are here, et cetera, et cetera. And then if, many of us don't live as nicely as we'd hope to live and we'd wish our spaces were a little bigger. But whenever we get into this question of square footage, and Boston apartments, et cetera, I always want to point out the fact that, hey, if we went to these homes in Jerusalem, in the first century, they were one room. The house was one room. There was no running water, no electricity, no nothing. So if you have a bathroom, if you have lights, it doesn't even matter if your place is like 200 square feet, practice hospitality without grumbling. So if you're not in a community group, devote yourself to community.And then finally devote yourself to service. To put up these worship service takes a lot of work. This church is run by volunteers. So we encourage you, along with devoting yourself to worship services and community groups, to join a service team. Why? Because this is the pattern of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus said I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. And then he says, "Look, I call you to serve." He says, "I don't call you servants, I call you friends, but my friends do what I say." Because if you want to be a friend of God, you got to do what God says. That's how the relationship works. And what does it mean to love God? It means to serve him.John 15:12-13, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends." So we do call you to serve partially because if you're a Christian, you're part of the body of Christ and every part of the body has to play its role. We're looking for volunteers for basically all the aspects of church operations, Mini Mosaic, greeting, hospitality, welcome table. All of the jobs are, I sent a newsletter and then also you can find out more at the welcome table.And as they focused on serving, as they focused on worshiping and community, something happened. They began to grow. And Verse 47 says, "They were praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." They didn't focus on having people get saved. They focused on worshiping God, enjoying community and fellowship with one another, serving one another. And as they did these things, the Lord adds people onto them.Why? How did this happen? Did they do evangelism? Yeah, of course they did evangelism. They had the great commission and you see them going out during the rest of the week. They're going out, and they're preaching the gospel, sharing the gospel. That's how people got see, but that's not what they focused on. And our evangelism, as a church, it gets more powerful when we focus on what God tells us to focus on. Jesus is the one that saves people. God is the one that draws people to salvation. Acts 2:39, "For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."God is the one that calls people to himself and he does it when we proclaim the gospel. The reason why we focus on these three things, worship, community and service, is because that's what the early church focused on. It worked. And then practically speaking, it does leave margin in your life to actually think about unbelievers, and about how we can welcome unbelievers into our life and share the gospel with them. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he or waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." My favorite thing is seeing all of this actually happen. And a lot of it, if you come to one service, you don't see all the inner workings. I had a gal approach me after this first service, and said, "I don't know what's happening. I feel like God's calling me to himself." And this is a person that grew up around here.This is Boston Boston. And she's like, "What is happening?" I was like, "I think you might be elect." This is my new way of sharing the gospel by the way. I'm trying it out. When I share the God, I asked people, "Do you think you're part of the elect?" "What does that mean?" "Well that means you repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ." "Oh, I'm not sure about that." "Well we should talk about that." So God's doing it. This is incredible. I was at a wedding yesterday where we see this happening. Where a gentleman meets a gal, and the gal at Mosaic gets saved, grows, and now there's a family. We see this over and over and over. There's nothing that brings more joy to my heart than all of this. So we focus on what God told us to focus on, and then we watch God do the work and get all the glory.If you come from another part of the country where churches are wealthier, and they have more infrastructure, and they can hire more people, they can do a lot more stuff than just worship, community, and service. It's easy to come to a place like Boston and be like, "Okay, where's all the stuff? Where's the group for people who are exactly like me, in the exact life stage? Where's the group for 25 year olds, 25 and a half year old? I want all of my needs..." And we're like, "Why? There's like three Christians in Boston. What are you talking about?" No, we're lucky to have a church. We have people show, be like, "Okay, where's your college ministry?" I'm like, "Here it is. This is our church." And if I were to go somewhere else, to a big megachurch, I would do the same thing as we do here because that's what they did in the very beginning and that clearly worked.A lot of churches, they're built like a cruise ship. And by cruise ship I mean like the place you go where it's, for vacation cruise ship, and Mosaic isn't built like a cruise ship, it's built like a battleship. And the church is many things. It's a family, it's a bride, but it's also an army. And once you live in Boston for a while, you realize spiritual warfare is real. And I need not people who want to be entertained around me. I want people who are willing to go to war with me. And if we were attempting to lead a cruise ship, we would navigate toward safe waters. We would worry about keeping people busy and entertained, not productive. We would put all our efforts into making sure those on the ship were comfortable and all their preferences were considered. If you were choosing a cruise ship, you would choose it based on the ports it was visiting, the quality of the room, the activities that were offered after dinner, et cetera, et cetera.I've never been on a cruise ship. I think I should go, one of these days, just for illustration purposes. Just to tell you, you know what, we're not like that all inclusive buffet. That's not us. No, we're a battleship. Our ship has a purpose, has meaning, there's a mission. Everybody has a job. We want all hands on deck. And whatever the job is, it seems meaningless at the time, but all together it has incredible meaning. If you are choosing a battleship, you got to choose a battleship based not on your preferences, but based on the flag that it flies. And at this church, there's only one flag that we fly and that's the flag of Jesus Christ. Well like, why? Well Jesus, what, then why is it a battleship? Well, when you fly the flag of Jesus Christ as the only flag in Boston, yeah, you're going to realize there is spiritual war. When you say that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven, the only way to God, the only way to have your sins forgiven. That there's no other way. Well all of a sudden that's controversial.Or that Jesus is Lord over everything, over sexuality, over gender, over family, over marriage. He is Lord over money. He's Lord over your, He's Lord over everything. Then you realize, yeah, I should probably be on a battleship in Boston instead of a cruise ship. So we're welcoming you into that battle. We're welcoming you into the church and we'd love to have you join us.In conclusion, in the beginning, God created everything, and we rebelled, and we broke the heart of the creator. And we were left famished in our sin, famished at the soul level because we cut ourselves off from the source of life. Then Jesus Christ comes and he is life. In him was the life. And He says He is life because He is the bread of life. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, becomes the bread of life.He's born in Bethlehem, the house of bread, and he comes and he tells the disciples, and he tells everyone who was listening, "If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part of me." What is he talking about? Well, Jesus is the bread of life and his blood is what saves us. So he's saying in the same way that when you take communion, you take the bread that's broken, that's to remind you the body of Christ is broken for us. You take the cup, which is to symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ. You eat, and you drink, and what you're doing is you're internalizing, it's becoming part of you. The bread and the cup, the body and the blood's becoming part of you. And this is to remind us that this is how we get saved. When you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you realize that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have eternal life.When you realize that He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. When you realize that it just takes faith to clinging onto Christ. It takes humility, a repent of sin, and you internalize what Christ did. Well, that's what saves you. When we recognize that his precious blood, poured out on the cross, has atoned for our sins, then we are eating his flesh and drinking his blood. This is exactly what happens when you take the bread, when you take the cup, and you realize Jesus is part of me. He's in me and I am in him. If you're not yet a Christian, you're not sure you're a Christian, I appeal to your soul right now, not your mind. I'm appealing to your soul. Let your soul cry out to God.You soul knows what to do. Just let your soul cry out. Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a great sinner. Cry out, receive the grace, receive the mercy, and welcome to the family. This time we turn to holy... Oh, and if you pray to receive Christ today, if you become a Christian today, recommit your life, Pastor Andy will be up here right after the service. He'd love to pray with you.For whom is holy communion? It's for anyone who needs grace. For anyone who's received grace. It's for Christians. So if you are not sure if you're a Christian, we ask that you refrain. Or if you are a Christian living in unrepentant sin, known and stubbornly unrepentant, we ask that you refrain. This isn't going to help you. This is only going to cause harm. Instead take the time to repent and if you do truly repent, you're welcome to partake.1 Corinthians 11:23-32, and as I read the text, if you haven't received a wafer and a cup and you'd like to partake, raise your hand as I read the text. One of the ushers will give you one."For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the world."Would you please pray with me over holy communion.Holy Spirit in the same way that you poured out your power on the early church, we cry out for the same. Lord, we know we're not worthy of your presence, we're not worthy to experience your power. We're not worthy to be used by you. Only Jesus is. And Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice on the cross. Right now, Lord, we're doing this in remembrance of you. Your body was broken as you hung on that tree. On that cross, your blood was poured out for us. Jesus, you gave everything because you loved us to the end. And then on the cross, Lord, in your last gasp you said, "It is finished. The work is accomplished." We thank you for that. Holy Spirit, apply the gospel afresh anew in our hearts right now. We repent of all our sin of rebellion, of breaking commandments, pretending commandments don't exist, of worshiping anything other than you, worshiping creature rather than creator. We repent of all that Lord and we receive your grace and mercy and we thank you for it. And continue to us this powerfully. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.There's two layers to take off. Take the first one off, take the wafer. And the second one off and cup is open.On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread, and after breaking he said, "This is my body broken for you, take, eat, and do this in remembrance of me." He then proceeded to take the cup and he said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant, my blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink, and do this in remembrance of me."Lord, we're reminded of your invitation, Isaiah 55, where you tell us, "Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food, incline your ear, and come to me here that your soul may live."Lord, we thank you for speaking these words to us. We thank you for creating us with eternal souls. We thank you for saving our eternal souls. We thank you for satisfying our souls, nourishing our souls. And we pray that you continue to sanctify our souls by the washing of water with the word. Not for our glory, Lord, but only for yours. And we do ask that you use us, Lord. Use us individually and use us as a church. Keep us faithful and make us fruitful and do it all for your glory and our joy. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.

The Samaritan Woman at the Well/Jesus is waiting

Have you ever been at a point where you are thinking about giving up? Well Jesus wants you to call out to him for strength! This message is for you!

Have you ever been at a point where you are thinking about giving up? Well Jesus wants you to call out to him for strength! This message is for you!

Have you ever been at a point where you are thinking about giving up? Well Jesus wants you to call out to him for strength! This message is for you!

Have you ever been at a point where you are thinking about giving up? Well Jesus wants you to call out to him for strength! This message is for you!

Slideshow for this message is available Introduction John 20-21 Well we are in John chapter 20 where we come to the purpose statement of the book of John which we have referenced several dozen times in our preaching. The whole book of John was written for this reason. Now in order to accomplish this purpose, John tells us that he has been incredibly selective in his writing. To give you an indicator of just how selective he has been, if you notice the time markers in the book of John, there are only 21 or maybe 22 days of the life of Jesus which have been recorded. That's not a biography. The gospels are not biographies. He's chosen specific miracles, specific events so that in reading those events, they might persuade you to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Now here's what's interesting. The last event chosen, the climatic one, the one he chooses to really drive home the point that Jesus is the Christ, is this story about Thomas who struggles with doubt. Jesus looks at Thomas and says, “Do not disbelieve but believe.” Now I want to really press into this concept of doubt vs belief because not only does the book of John culminate with the call to believe, but the entire Christian faith culminates in it. The way you become a Christian is by believing! You are to believe the claim that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. If you believe that, then you believe all the claims that go along with that and in believing that you are saved. Maybe you are walking in here today with doubt. You are not so sure. Maybe you feel like Thomas. You need more evidence. You won't believe unless certain conditions are met. Maybe you need to see a miracle. Maybe you don't understand the way science and the Bible go together. Maybe you don't understand how God and evil go together. You have some barrier in your mind that creates doubt. That's okay. Let's talk about that for a moment. What is doubt? Doubt can be defined as a mental or emotional state in which the mind remains suspended between two contradictory propositions. In Thomas case and maybe in in your case there are two claims which logically can't both be true. The Bible's claim: Jesus rose from the dead. The World's claim: Jesus is still in the grave. Which is it? The Christian claim is that Jesus rose from the dead. But experience tells you that dead people stay dead. Maybe for you that creates doubt. Doubt is not bad. To question the reality that someone rose from the dead is an intelligent doubt. We aren't supposed to believe everything we hear. You've got to give me good reasons why I am supposed to believe something that seems very unbelievable. If I'm going to move from doubt to belief, or even from the position of belief to greater belief, you have to give me the freedom to continue asking questions until I find some reliable grounds to satisfy my reason. Without healthy doubt there can be no healthy faith. So given this understanding of belief, we might think that what Thomas is lacking is good reasons. We might think that what he is lacking is evidence? But if we look carefully at the text, that is not the problem. Jesus kindly - but most definitely - rebukes Thomas in this passage. If it was reasonable for Thomas to ask for evidence, then it would be unreasonable for Jesus to rebuke. But Jesus rebuked. You should have believed without the evidence. And what that tells us is that what was preventing Thomas from believing the reports of the disciples was not lack of evidence. He claimed what he needed was evidence. But that's not what he needed. And that's actually the case for millions and millions of people today. Millions of people think that what they need in order to become a follower of Jesus is more evidence. But just like Thomas, that's not what they need. Let's find out what Thomas needed, and maybe in so doing, we will find out what you need to become a follower of Jesus Christ or what you need to strengthen a weak faith in Jesus Christ. Now the other disciples had seen the risen Lord and they were just ecstatic. They were out of their minds with excitement. But their testimony was unconvincing in his ears. Thomas says to them, “Okay, so apparently you were all in a locked room and you all saw something that ‘resembled' Jesus. Yeah, okay, all your testimonies agree. I'm sure you all saw something, but it wasn't Jesus. That sounds more like a ghost story than like a Jesus sighting.” And so Thomas obstinately demands evidence. What I need is more evidence. I won't believe until…. and then he lays down his conditions. Now what caused Thomas to doubt and demand this evidence? Some have conjectured that it was something in his disposition. Thomas shows up in two other places in the gospels and in both places he seems to suffers from an Eore complex, a glass half empty complex. He seems to bear the burden of a pessimist.Maybe he doubts because of disposition. But maybe he doubts because of experience. In some translations, Thomas has the nickname dydimous. That's just an untranslated Greek word. You can hear in it our English word diddo from. The ESV translation just translate the word dydimous which means twin. Thomas had a twin brother and I'm guessing an identical twin so perhaps Thomas had a unique perspective on mistaken identity. His entire life, he'd been mistaken for his brother. No I'm not Mark. Mark has the mole. I don't have the mole. I'm Thomas. He's been on the receiving end of mistaken identity his whole life. He knows just how possible this is. So Thomas, pulling from his pessimism, pulling from his experience with mistaken identity says, “I'm sure this guy reminded you of Jesus but there's no way it could be Jesus. I saw him die. I saw his stiffening, bloated body come off that tree. There's no way I'll believe it.” But seeing the insistence in the other disciples he says, “Okay, actually, there's one way. There's one identification marker that nobody could fake and that's the wounds. Unless I place my finger in the holes, I won't believe.” Thomas is the skeptic. Thomas is the doubter. We call him doubting Thomas. Now I always feel so bad for the guy. He gets this label slapped on him for the rest of history. You know if Thomas had a NT you know what verse I think would be highlighted, underlined and bolded in his Bible? Mark 16. Mark 16 is the parallel account of Jesus' first appearance to the disciples when Thomas was at away. Mark 16 Thomas is like, why did I get the label? Every single one of us doubted and because I happen to not be in the room, because I volunteered to go to Costco and buy groceries, I get the label, “Doubting Thomas.” Well, Thomas, it's a good point. We ought to have doubting Peter, doubting John, doubting Simon, doubting Andrew. They all did the same exact thing. They are all equally guilty. Now let's just push on this character assessment. What's wrong with a guy that wants a little proof? It's not like its exactly common for crucified people who have been embalmed in 70 pounds of spices and wrapped in linen clothes placed into sealed, guarded tombs to just get up and walk away. That's not exactly usual. Not only is it unusual, but that's kind of an important detail to nail down. It pretty much has a major impact on how these disciples are going to live out the rest of his life. What's wrong with a guy that wants a little proof? Now you can create a ton of clarity to these concepts if you add some adjectives. So instead of just talking about belief and doubt, let's talk in terms of healthy belief, unhealthy belief, healthy doubt and unhealthy doubt. And in order to see this clearly, let's look at this little diagram. So we will start in the upper left. A healthy belief is a belief that you hold for good reason. So for example, “I believe summer is coming.” You have scientific backing for that claim. You have experience to back the claim. You have history to back the claim. You are believing the right thing. An unhealthy belief is a belief that you hold for no good reason. This is the person who believes everything. They are gullible. So for example, “I believe in Santa Claus.” If you are an adult and you still believe that, you might have reasons, but I hate to break it to you, but you have no good ones. A healthy doubt is a doubt that is felt for good reasons. So it's good of you to doubt the reality of Santa Claus. You disbelieve the right things. An unhealthy doubt would be to question the reality of summer. You have no good reason to doubt that summer is coming. This is the person who disbelieves everything. Now where does Thomas fit? And for that matter, where do all the disciples fit? They are living in unhealthy doubt. Why? Because even though the claim is gigantic, “Jesus rose from the dead!” The reasons to believe that claim are also gigantic. Let me give you three. First, they had quality eye-witnessess. Let me give you an example of what I mean by this. If you've read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe there's the scene where Lucy who is characteristically sweet has just returned from Narnia with Edmund who is known for being devious. When they rejoin the others Edmund claims that their journey was just a story Lucy made up. Susan and Peter don't really understand why Lucy is telling stories about this mysterious place called Narnia, and they realize the issue is beyond them to fix. They turn to the Professor for some advice. Susan's and Peter's can't understand why Lucy has been telling lies about Narnia. The Professor asks how it is they know that Lucy's story isn't true. So he makes them think. Lucy could be a liar. The Professor asks if Lucy or Edmund is generally the more truthful one. Both Peter and Susan agree the answer would typically be Lucy. Something could be wrong with Lucy (like madness). The Professor, however, quickly dismisses this as “one has only to look at her and talk to her to see that she is not mad.” Lucy is telling the truth- Susan and Peter are resistant to the idea that Lucy might be telling the truth because, in their minds, people don't just find other countries lying in wardrobes. But the Professor points out that the details of Lucy's story don't seem to be the sort she could just make up and there is a great deal even he doesn't know about the house. Thus, “for the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.” That's exactly what's happening here. Mary Magdalene, Salome and Mary the mother of James had all seen Jesus. And presumably they were not in the habit of lying, they were not mad, and much like the mysterious house, ‘there was a great deal they didn't yet know about Jesus.' So yes, the claim is gigantic, “Jesus rose from the dead!” but the reasons to believe that claim are also gigantic. 1. They had quality eye-witnessess. 2. They had seen extensive proof that Jesus was God. Because they had lived with the Lord, I want you to picture in your mind's eye what they had seen. Miracles of Jesus. 1.Water into wine at the wedding in Cana 2.Healing of the official's son at Capernaum in Galilee 3.Jesus drives out an evil spirit from a man in Capernaum 4.Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law sick with fever 5.Jesus heals many sick and oppressed at evening 6.First miraculous catch of fish on Sea of Galilee 7.Jesus cleanses a man with leprosy 8.Jesus heals a centurion's paralyzed servant in Capernaum 9.Jesus heals a paralytic who was let down from the roof 10. Jesus heals a man's withered hand on the Sabbath 11. Jesus raises a widow's son from the dead in Nain 12. Jesus calms a storm on the sea 13. Jesus casts demons into a herd of pigs 14. Jesus heals a woman in the crowd with an issue of blood 15. Jesus raises Jairus' daughter back to life 16. Jesus heals two blind men 17. Jesus heals a man who was unable to speak 18. Jesus heals an invalid at Bethesda 19. Jesus feeds 5,000 plus women and children 20. Jesus walks on water 21. Jesus heals many sick in Gennesaret as they touch his garment 22. Jesus heals a gentile woman's demon-possessed daughter 23. Jesus heals a deaf and dumb man 24. Jesus feeds 4,000 plus women and children 25. Jesus heals a blind man at Bethsaida 26. Jesus heals a man born blind by spitting in his eyes 27. Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit 28. Miraculous temple tax in a fish's mouth 29. Jesus heals a blind, mute demoniac 30. Jesus heals a woman who had been crippled for 18 years 31. Jesus heals a man with dropsy on the sabbath 32. Jesus cleanses ten lepers on the way to Jerusalem 33. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in Bethany 34. Jesus restores sight to Bartimaeus in Jericho 35. Jesus withers the fig tree on the road from Bethany 36. Jesus heals a servant's severed ear while he is being arrested So yes, the claim is gigantic, “Jesus rose from the dead!” but the reasons to believe that claim are also gigantic. 1. They had quality eye-witnessess. 2. They had seen extensive proof that Jesus was God. 3. They had clear predictions that this very event would transpire. On several different occasions that he would die and be raised again. In Jn 2 he told his opponents, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. In Mt 12 he said, just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. You might say, well those are kind of cryptic references. Well, do you think this is cryptic? Luke 18:31-33, And taking the twelve, he said to them, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise. Or how about a couple chapters later. Luke 24:7, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. That is not mysterious. I'm just saying. In fact, it was such common knowledge that even his enemies knew the plain interpretation of his words. After Jesus had died and was laid in the tomb we read, Matthew 27 So let me ask you, “Did Thomas have good reason to doubt?” No. So if he didn't have good reason to doubt, then why did he doubt? Maybe you are here today with good reason to doubt. You haven't done the research. You have good questions. Continue seeking. But maybe you are here today and you are like Thomas and you don't realize that the reasons you are holding onto are not good reasons. You say you have good reasons to doubt, you say that you are needing certain specific pieces of evidence, but maybe it's not an intellectual obstacle. Let me introduce one more concept into our chart. Thomas used to be in this box. Maybe that describes you. You grew up in church. You used to go to AWANA. You used to read your Bible and believe everything it said. You used to be sold out for the Lord. But then something happened. In Thomas' case, it was shattered expectations and misunderstanding of God's plan. He thought Jesus was going to bless him and instead he left him. Maybe that's how you feel? And Thomas couldn't deal with it. So tragedy caused him to doubt. Tragedy shook him off his feet. When you move from belief to unbelief or from unbelief to belief, you cross over this line and we are going to call this line of doubt, the line of implications. Think about it. For Thomas, he had to wrestle with the claim that Jesus was God. And the longer he lived, the more he believed that claim. With every miracle, his faith grew. But then Jesus died. And his world fell apart. Any time you cross over that line. Whether from belief to unbelief or from unbelief to belief, you don't do it without some pretty serious implications. Crossing that line shatters a person. Because everything you've built your life upon falls crumbles like sand. It's extremely unsettling. It's extremely crushing. And in order to successfully cross the line, you have to have the emotional courage to deal with it. And many people don't have the courage. They would rather continue living a lie then admit that their entire life has been spent building upon a foundation of sand in which their head is buried. You see for Thomas, believing that Jesus had risen from the dead, in the end, was an emotional problem. Thomas already crossed that line once. He was shattered. Emotionally he was destroyed and he was picking up the pieces. Everything he built his life upon was in ruins. He probably felt hurt, betrayed, wounded and what was once glowing love for Jesus was replaced with deep suspicion. He had deconstructed. He wasn't about to go back there again. Maybe that describes you. Something hurt you. You felt let down by a church leader, or God allowed something to happen in your life that you felt should never have happened. And that thing, whatever it was, shattered you. And now your like Thomas. Your faith has been deconstructed and you feel fragmented and fractured. You feel duped. You felt like a kid who discovered Santa wasn't real. And your whole world got turned upside down. And when you crossed over that line of implications you were wrecked. And now you've been living on the other side of that line for a while now. And you are looking back over that line to where you used to be and you hear good arguments for the resurrection, you know that the argument of evolution doesn't work, but you can't emotionally bear the weight of crossing that line again. It's too dangerous. You've got to protect your soul. You've got to make sure that soul injury doesn't get repeated. Listen friend, Thomas can relate. God has sympathy for how you feel. In Jude 1:20 we have instruction given to us on how to treat people who doubt. Jude Have mercy. It's understandable why you feel this way. It's a state that should evoke sympathy. We see this kind of mercy in Jesus as he approached Thomas. Jesus comes under the same circumstances (closed doors) and with the same greeting of peace as before (20:19, 26). This is definitely a mild, gentle, loving correction. He doesn't say Thomas' condition is acceptable. He doesn't say, “Well, Thomas, I know you're doubting, but that's understandable, because I haven't shown you the evidence.” He says, “Stop doubting” which means Thomas should have believed. He was not listening to the women who had seen him and he was not listening to the disciples. But most of all, he was not listening to Jesus himself who had demonstrated his power and predicted this moment. Thomas wouldn't believe. He says, “I won't believe until I actually see him.” Well Jesus shows up, and he offers him the evidence, but you know what, the text is very careful to point out, he never takes up Jesus' offer. He never actually gets up and puts his hands and fingers in the holes. You want to know why? Because that was never the issue. Evidence was never the issue. The issue was he was too afraid. The issue was it was too good to be true and he didn't want to get his hopes up only to be dashed to pieces. Maybe he felt abandoned by Jesus and there was fear of another abandonment. And while that is sympathy inducing, it's also a barrier to his joy. Here was an offer of absolute happiness and there was a defiance of that happiness. Can I ask, maybe that's what's preventing you from coming to Jesus? Well, notice what fixes the problem for Thomas. It's simply seeing him. It's simply being with him. It's simply beholding him. Thomas saw something great and it brought him back to Jesus. You need the same thing Thomas needed. You don't need to see Jesus in the flesh. What you need is to see Jesus in the text, in his Words. You just need to read the book of John again. You need to read about who he claimed to be. Look at how he responded. And you know what will happen. If you drop those fears of abandonment, and you say, what if that tragedy that pushed me away from God was actually the way God would help me see him for not who I wanted him to be but who he actually is? Spend time in the Bible, friend. See Jesus and will discover, like millions who have gone before you, that in so doing, you will fall on your face and declare, “May Lord and my God.” If you read the 8 miracles of Jesus in almost every instance, those who see the miracles in real life don't believe. What kind of a miracle is that? Why would John choose these miracles? They didn't have the right effect on those who watched them. Why would they have a greater effect on those who read them? Remember the religious leaders in John 11. They watched Lazarus be raised from the dead. I mean that's a legit miracle. But here was the response. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation... so from that day on they made plans to put him to death. And after this they did. They killed the Son of God. Did miracles and signs and wonders cause them to believe? No. Why didn't they believe? Fear! The Pharisees were scared of giving up their precious - their place and their position. And that fear blinded them. They couldn't see him. And maybe that's what's preventing you coming to Jesus. It's scary crossing that line of implication. It takes tremendous courage. It takes all kinds of bravery and fearlessness. But what if it's true? Would you really want to fend of eternal joy your entire life for fear of being disappointed? John is pointing us to something. We all need evidence. We don't need less than that but we need more than that. Evidence alone will never save a person. God uses evidence but what you really need is Jesus himself. You need to behold him. You need to consider his claims. You need to interact with his person. It's the person of Jesus that actually changes. It's the person. In the end it's not the evidence. And you need to drop that fear that binds you. But all who see, all who drop their fear, all who open their eyes and gaze, ALL, and I do mean ALL, are saved. ALL are saved who open their eyes and see Jesus. He is irresistible! All fall on their face and say, “My Lord and My God!”

It sounds pretty arrogant doesn't it? How can all the other religions be wrong? How do we know this is true? Well Jesus asked the same question. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/frank-burns/support

Happy Valentine's Day from The Gospel JubileeIt's our annual Valentine's Day special edition this week on The Gospel Jubilee. All the songs played will be about God's love for us, our love for God, and our love for one another.Listen to the Gospel Jubilee on your Echo device by saying, Alexa, play the Gospel Jubilee on Apple podcast.Or go to: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/48680517/download.mp3The Gospel Jubilee with Chip and Denny is proud to announce that their program can now be heard on Ocean Waves Radio ... every Wednesday at 12 noon Eastern time.Go to: www.OceanWavesRadio.comYou can also catch The Gospel Jubilee Thursday afternoons at 4:00 PM and Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM EST on Southern Branch Bluegrass RadioGo to www.sbbradio.orgYou can also catch The Gospel Jubilee Saturday evenings at 7:00 and Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 CST on Radio For Life.Go to: www.RadioForLife.orgDon't miss a single minute of the next edition of the Gospel Jubilee.Playlist: Artists | Song Title | Album01. Jeff & Sheri Easter - You are loved - "You Are Loved"02. Canton Junction - Dig a little deeper in God's love - "Show Me Your Way"03. Soul'd Out Quartet - There is a love - "Great Life"04. Legacy Five - Love pure love - "Pure Love"05. The Old Paths - Love them to Jesus - "Hits"06. The Hayes Family - His marvelous love - "Celebrate His Love"07. Gordan Mote - Love love love - "Love Love Love"08. Reba Rambo & Donnie McGuire - If that isn't love "Rambo Classics"-09. Mark Bishop - Housework is hard work - "You're Happy When You're Laughing"10. Mark Bishop - You can't say He didn't love us "Beautiful Day"-11. The Gaither Vocal Band - Lovin' God, lovin' each other - "Lovin' God, Lovin' Each Other"12. The Bowling Family - The people that God gives you "Love The People"-13. Tribute Quartet - That's why I love Him so - "For This Time"14. The Collingsworth Family - Oh the thought that Jesus loves me - "The Answer"15. Jeff & Sheri Easter - Jesus loves you - "Small Town"16. The Hoppers - Until you've known the love of God - "Life Is Good"17. Mercy's Well - Jesus love has made a change - "Songbook (Where Hymns & Harmony Live"18. The Jordan Family Band - A little more love - "A Little More Love"19. The Taylors - Love still flows - "Faithful Again"20. Zane & donna King - Lovestruck - "Beautiful Ever After"21. The Down East Boys - Love will roll the clouds away - "Sing It Again volume 1"22. The Talleys - How deep the Father's love for us - "Love Won"Send your request to:request@gatewayfortheblind.com

Have you been betrayed? Well Jesus was too! But God uses it for a bigger purpose and it brings Him glory! Feast upon the things of Jesus. ************************************* Awakening Women Leaders I invite you to engage with us further by joining us for an in-person or virtual event. Check our our calendar on our website. www.TrumpetsofTirzah.com Engage daily with us! Instagram https://www.instagram.com/trumpetsoftirzah/ Facebook https://m.facebook.com/trumpetsoftirzah TikTok https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeumjCwj/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/trumpetsoftirzah Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4DCT4KBVsmzfnqyobR4ZwF And on iTunes! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/trumpetsoftirzah/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/trumpetsoftirzah/support

When most people think about Jesus, they think of Him as being loving, compassionate and full or grace. Well Jesus also got angry. But when He did, He got angry in a way that honored God. Join us as Pastor Bryan dissects the differences between righteous and unrighteous anger, and teaches us all how to be angry like Jesus.

Many People and other Religions have a hard time Believing in that Jesus Rose again and this show is unique got many Tracks in HipHop form explaining this story!! I make it fun and you are going enjoy the ride!!!Have You ever wondered how could someone rise from the dead? Well Jesus did and this show is full of Hip Hop tracks to tell the story!!!!PlayList1. Sean Slaughter-The Light2. Big J-Call Him3. DA Truth-The Portait4. Pettidee-Jesus Christ5. Lecrae-Rebel6. IDOL KING-Invation of Jesus7. Knine-For You8. Kj52-Will you ever know?9. Raven-Birds eye view10. King Cyz-Calvary11. SFC-This Is What He Went Through12. King Cyz-Who Is Christ13. Mynista-We Enter In14. Mystery-Rose15. Lecrea-Joyful Noise16. Willie Will-ResurrectionspreakerspotifyPodcast addictitunesiheart radiowww.glifeoutreach.orghiphop4yosoul@gmail.comTrue Swagg Radioiheart radio appwww.Spreaker.comspreaker appsoundcloudPodcast addict app!! for Androidsupport the show paypal.com/HipHop4yoSoul@gmail.com

Many People and other Religions have a hard time Believing in that Jesus Rose again and this show is unique got many Tracks in HipHop form explaining this story!! I make it fun and you are going enjoy the ride!!!Have You ever wondered how could someone rise from the dead? Well Jesus did and this show is full of Hip Hop tracks to tell the story!!!!PlayList1. Sean Slaughter-The Light2. Big J-Call Him3. DA Truth-The Portait4. Pettidee-Jesus Christ5. Lecrae-Rebel6. IDOL KING-Invation of Jesus7. Knine-For You8. Kj52-Will you ever know?9. Raven-Birds eye view10. King Cyz-Calvary11. SFC-This Is What He Went Through12. King Cyz-Who Is Christ13. Mynista-We Enter In14. Mystery-Rose15. Lecrea-Joyful Noise16. Willie Will-ResurrectionspreakerspotifyPodcast addictitunesiheart radiowww.glifeoutreach.orghiphop4yosoul@gmail.comTrue Swagg Radioiheart radio appwww.Spreaker.comspreaker appsoundcloudPodcast addict app!! for Androidsupport the show paypal.com/HipHop4yoSoul@gmail.com

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+8%3A23-27&version=ESV (Matthew 8:23-27) Dear friends: I live in the upper Midwest of the United States and every once in a while during the summer months the sirens will go off outside warning us that there is a severe storm headed our way, and we ought to take cover. It might be a tornado or a serious thunderstorm; it can all be a bit unnerving. Some of you might live in areas where there are other kinds of natural storms, such as hurricanes, and those can be very frightening as well. These storms of nature are just a part of living on planet Earth. We know that storms happen. But there are other kinds of storms we will experience in life as well that sometimes catch us by surprise. There are relational storms, as marriages struggle or we find ourselves in the midst of a divorce. It could be a lack of friendships in your life or feeling cut off from people and all alone. That's stormy weather. Or there are health storms: a cancer that's eating up your body or chronic illness that won't go away. Or financial storms: a loss of employment, unexpected losses in your investments, or healthcare costs. There's the storm of loss, and the storm of transition. And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ you've learned that following Jesus doesn't exempt you from facing those storms in life. How do you handle the storms? I mean let's face it, it's so easy for us to get scared, and panic, and doubt. Such is the case with the disciples in today's story. This episode we read follows a conversation the Jesus had with some admirers who said they were interested in following Him. He and the disciples were just about ready to get into a boat to go over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and these admirers, along with the disciples, had witnessed Jesus doing miraculous healings earlier on, and they wanted in. Well Jesus warns them not to expect easy, smooth sailing if they follow him. It's a high commitment thing. Then Matthew says “when Jesus got into the boat His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm.” No easy sailing with Jesus. The Sea of Galilee was known for its sudden storms. It would come up out of nowhere, and they could get nasty. And this one must of been a doozy, because even the seasoned fisherman in the boat were among the panicked as the boat was being swamped by water. And as a whole, Jewish folks didn't really like the sea – they were afraid of it, they were landlubbers. They saw the sea as a dark, evil, power of fear. So this storm had to have made the disciples' stress level skyrocket all the more. Now amazingly, Jesus is sound asleep in the back of the boat as they're trying to keep it afloat. But when things look out of control, they wake Him up. “SAVE US, LORD, WE'RE PERISHING!” There appears to be some faith here on their part, right? But Jesus responds in an interesting way. In the midst of the storm, before He even addresses a storm, He uses it as a teachable moment. He speaks to them. “Why are you afraid, oh you of little faith?” In the midst of the waves filling the boat, the wind whistling around them, Jesus seems to be scolding them for being afraid. He calls them people of little faith. And notice: He gets after them not for “un-faith”. He doesn't say “you're all out of faith.” He gets after them for their little, wavering faith in the face of a frightening storm. They seem to have forgotten His power and authority that they had witnessed earlier in the chapter. Their faces show sheer panic as they wake Him up, not confident belief they still haven't figured out who He really is. And they don't know the plans that God had for Him: to go to a cross, to pay for the sins of the world, and rise again. They didn't realize He was the Son of God. They don't have the advantage that we have of reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They don't have the big picture. Even though, I have to admit that even in knowing the...

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and her neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry. Please visit mosaicboston.com.Good morning church. Welcome to Mosaic Boston, Brookline. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Tyler. I'm the teen director here and I am really excited to be worshiping with you this morning. And I say that partly because I was real nervous coming up to this. I always get nervous before I preach, but as amazing as our worship team is, even they could not have planned how perfectly those songs line up with what we are talking about today. Each and every verse in those songs, I was like, "Oh, I'm talking about that. Oh, I'm talking about that." And so it is clearly moving of the Holy Spirit and I'm encouraged by that and I hope you're encouraged by that too. But before we begin, will you pray with me over the preaching of God's word?Heavenly father, Lord, we come to you and we thank you and we praise you that you are king, that you are the ruler over all the universe, but you are also the ruler of our lives. We pray that if we have not yet, we will give you. We will help you reclaim your rightful throne as the king and ruler over our lives and that we will proclaim the truth of who you are to those who don't yet know. And this time come and speak to us through your word and reveal your majesty, your greatness and awe of you through your kingship. We pray all this through your wonderful son, Christ Jesus. Amen.I'm very excited and happy to be concluding our advent series through the different roles of Jesus Christ. Pastor Shane started the first week going through Jesus' role as Messiah, what it means for Jesus to be fully God, fully man, and to come and to deliver his people. Pastor Andy talked to the next week about Jesus as prophet, Jesus coming proclaiming truth, proclaiming the word of God and giving meaning to our lives. And last week, Pastor Yann talked about Jesus as priest, Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, the sacrifice of bringing us, reconciling us with God. And today we're talking about Jesus as king. And I think for me personally, thinking about a king can kind of be fantasized because we don't really live in a culture with kings right now. We can't really think of very many kings in power today. And most of our thoughts about kings come from storybooks or from fantasies.But one of the things that I think is consistent with our understanding of a king is that they are powerful, that they rule. And when people come to them, they are in awe of the majesty that is around them. And part of my goal today is to have an awesome sermon. And when I say that, I don't mean that I do a good job. I don't mean that you leave here thinking, "Oh Tyler, he was great, or I remember that sermon so well." No, what I mean is I'm going to the dictionary definition of awesome, which is profoundly reverent or inspiring awe. What I want this time to be is a time where we grow in reverence for Jesus Christ in his role as king and to be inspired to be in all of his greatness and his majesty. And the reason for this is because this idea of awe I believe is inherent to Christmas, is inherent to the holidays because this is something we are all waiting for.For me as a kid, I would wake up super early Christmas morning so early that my parents had a rule. I wasn't allowed to leave the bedroom until at the earliest 6:00 AM. But they hoped to it was more like eight or 9:00 AM because they knew that I was up at three or four every Christmas morning and I was ready to go. And so instead I had to take the action figures and the stuffed animals off my shelves and I had to play games with myself and it seemed like an hour would pass. And I'd check the clock five minutes, could play another game, make up another scenario, continue going another five minutes. And it seemed forever. But the reason was because I was so excited for Christmas and in the newsletter I explained about a particular present that my parents gave me that inspired me to awe.But the reason why I was so excited about Christmas was because of this feeling of all that came with the day, not because of presents themselves, but the feeling of awe. And it's not always presents. For some of us, it's that holiday meal, holiday ham. For my dad, it was a holiday steak and potato latkes and it was a beautiful meal. But then the biggest thing that I could think of when I think about what inspired me to be in awe at Christmas was a Christmas light show. I don't know how many of you have ever been to a Christmas light show, but I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone decorated their house for Christmas lights everywhere. And when my parents said, "We're going to drive to a different neighborhood, to a different house to see a light show." This was intense."I've seen light shows. All these houses here have lights. What is so great about this show that we're going to be driving to?" And as we drive and we get there, I'm a little kid, I'm looking up and this house is covered every inch plastered with lights. Not only is the house covered, the lawn is covered, they have a front lawn and a back yard, and they actually let you walk into the backyard. And there's different paths in the back yard that you wind in and out of seeing different Christmas light displays in different shows of Christmas. But that's not even the best part. The best part is that the lights, they change colors, they flash and they're synchronized perfectly to Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Carol of the Bells. Oh wow. And as a kid, and as I'm standing there being in awe of the bright lights, the flashing colors, the precision in the synchrosy, the powerful chords that are being played, the brisk air around me so that my fingertips are starting to lose feeling.I can't feel my toes. And the only warmth is coming from that sweet cup of warm, hot chocolate with many marshmallows. That's important that I'm holding awe, amazement and this comes not because it was Christmas or because it was lights, but specifically because of the greatness of the thing I was experiencing. I was overwhelmed by the greatness of it. And so when we're talking about awe and we're talking about awe involving Christmas, the point is that we are to be overwhelmed by the greatness of Jesus' role as king specifically as it relates to Christmas. So today we're going to be spending our time talking about three different points. The first point is a question, are you the king? The second point is awe of the king and the third point is align to the king and we're starting with the question, are you the king?Because the people of Israel had been waiting centuries for the promise of a king. This is what Pastor Shane addressed in the first week going through Isaiah nine specifically in the text verses six and seven that promised a king that would be born, whose government would be forever and that government would bring peace. And then we told that we will know that this is the king. When a Virgin conceives and bears a son and is called Emmanuel. This is what Pastor Yann talked about last week explaining how Jesus is Emmanuel. Jesus is God with us. If you haven't listened to the sermons, I'd encourage you to listen to them. They are great. They're encouraging and they're uplifting and they're important to what we're talking about today as well. And so when Israel sees, when Mary specifically gives birth to a son and sees, wow, I'm told that he is the one fulfilling this prophecy of being Emmanuel, he's fulfilling the prophecies in Isaiah.We see in the last few weeks how he has fulfilled the role of Messiah, prophet and priest. He should also be fulfilling the role of king. So as Mary gives birth and watches her son grow, as Joseph watches Jesus grow, as the people of Israel are listening, he gains disciples, they're watching him grow. The thought in their mind is, when are you going to take this mantle of king? And this isn't an idea that I'm placing in their minds. To be clear this is an idea that was inherent to the people at that time because when the wise men came to visit Jesus as an infant, they go to Herod and they say, "We are looking for a king. We are going to worship the king." And Herod is so frightened by this idea that there is a king that he seeks to put Jesus to death because he understands what it means if there is a king in Israel.And so as we see Jesus grow, the Pharisees and the religious leaders at the time are threatened by Jesus. They say he is teaching with authority, he is teaching with more authority that we have. And so they seek to put Jesus to death. And in the Roman Empire occupied nations such as Israel were allowed to convict people of crimes, but they were not allowed to convict people to death. That was part of the Roman Empire's job. And so they delivered Jesus over to Pilate saying that we want him to be put to death. And this is where our main text is today. In John chapter 18 we see that Pilate is going to meet with Jesus and in chapter 18 and verse 33 he says, "So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews?" And this is the question we're starting with because this is the important question."Jesus, you say that you're king. These people are condemning you saying you are king, but are you? Because honestly Jesus, you don't look like any other king I've ever seen. Jesus, where's your army? Jesus, where's your crown? Where's your robe? Where's your sword? Who is fighting for you? Jesus, are you a king? Are you specifically the king Isaiah prophesied about?" And Jesus responds saying, "Do you say this of your own accord or did others say it about me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?" Again, it's clarifying that the charges that are being brought against him is that he is a king. He's claiming to be a king that could potentially overthrow the Roman Empire. So they want him to be charged with that and Pilate's saying, "I'm not convicting you. Your own people are convicting you. What have you done that these people say that you're a king? What have you done?"And Jesus' response is bookended by two statements and this is a rhetorical device he used to make sure that you remember. This is the important thing. If you take anything away, remember this? And Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I may not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from this world." And Pilate said to him, "So you are a king." And Jesus answered. "You say that I am the king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"You see Jesus' response starts and ends with my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is not from this world. And if you're looking at Jesus in this situation, you're saying like, "Well Jesus, couldn't this just be like a little cop out? I don't see your army. I don't see your men fighting. I don't see your crown. Your kingdom's from a different world. What does that mean? What is the proof that you actually are a king?" And the proof is what comes in the middle. It's only one sentence because he doesn't need much proof to prove he is king. But he says, "My servants would have been fighting that I may not be delivered over to the Jews." He's saying, "This is common sense. If I was a king of this world, if I was the king you expected me to be, I would have trained my servants to be fighting to protect me. I would have trained them to defend me so that I wouldn't be so easily captured and overthrown and brought to you."And we actually see Jesus actively do the exact opposite of this. In the same chapter in chapter 18 in verse 11 as Jesus is being arrested, his servant, Peter pulls his sword from his sheath trying to defend Jesus, attempts to kill the servant of the high priest who's arresting Jesus. And because Jesus didn't train them to be a soldier, he missed and he cut off his ear and Jesus then heals the man's ear and he commands Peter saying, "Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the father has given me?" You see, Jesus' kingdom is a completely different type of kingdom than any other person had ever expected. And he proves this by saying, I am not training soldiers to fight in the way you expect. What kind of king actively tells his soldiers to put down their weapons and not just for any reason he says, "So that I can drink the cup of my father."This is specifically God's cup of wrath of judgment that Jesus bears when he dies on the cross. So not only put down your weapons, you need to put down your weapon so that I can die. Jesus, I think you misunderstand what a king is. A king is supposed to take a throne and sit in power first, live a long life, rule well and then maybe they can die of old age or in battle. You're not supposed to die first. Jesus' kingdom is completely different than anything else, but he says that he does have a kingdom. He confirms he is a king. So Pilate's response, "So you are a king." Jesus answers kind of puzzling. He says, "So you say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." And then Pilate asks the question, "What is truth?" And we often make this question some high philosophical claim as to there's no such thing as truth.What is truth? That could be part of it, but the primary thing is this is actually a legitimate question, a logical question to have. Jesus says, "I am bearing witness to the truth." Pilate's saying, "What is this thing you are bearing witness to? What is truth?" And thankfully Jesus gives us a very dictionary definition like a tale, a story, definition of truth. He says earlier in this book in chapter 14 when he's teaching, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also from now on, you do know him and you have seen him." Jesus' primary role as king was first and foremost to bear witness to testify to the truth of who he is, that he is the only way, the only way to the father, the only way to enter into the kingdom of God and that also he is one with the father.He says, "If you have seen me, you have seen the father. If you have known me, you have known the father." And this is really, really important as we are thinking about an understanding, this idea of what it means for Jesus to be a king because he is saying, "I am equal to my father who all of Israel will rightfully say is sitting on throne in heaven. I am the rightful king of the Jews. The answer to the question, Jesus, are you the king of the Jews is a resounding yes because I am divine, I am God and my father and I are one."And this is well and good for us to sit here or stand here and say, Jesus is king of the Jews. Yes, that's awesome. But to the people of Israel, to God's chosen people, this statement means something so much greater than we can really fathom and so I'm going to try my best to help us understand this because in order to understand this, we need to go back to 1 Samuel chapter eight to see the very first time a king is put into place in Israel and why this happened.In verse four it says, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to them, behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the things displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt, even to this day forsaking me and serving other gods. So they are also doing to you. Now, then obey their voice. Only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king shall reign over them."They have rejected me from being king over them. You see God never designed or desired for there to be a king over Israel in the way that we have seen throughout history. Why? Because God himself is the only rightful king of Israel, the only rightful king of the Jews. And so when we're here saying that Jesus is the rightful king of the Jews, this is calling back to this. This is a position that only God is able to possess. And this is why in the prophecy in Isaiah that we have mentioned already today and that Pastor Shane preached about in chapter nine verse six says, "For us a child is born to us a son is given." This is Jesus. The child is born, a son is given. "The government shall be upon his shoulders. He is a king and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."See, in order for Jesus to be able to fulfill the rightful role of king, he has to be God. He has to be able to be called mighty God. He has to be able to be called everlasting father. This is why it's so important that Jesus was testifying to the fact that he and the father are one, and so when we're talking today about Jesus's role as king, we're not just talking about him as a king. We're talking about him as this king. The king rightfully reclaiming his throne as the Lord and king and ruler over his people. See, Israel rejected God. They said, "We'd rather rule over ourselves. We want to do this on our own. We want someone like us to rule over us." And God didn't force them to be obedient to him. He allowed them to choose to be the own rulers of their lives.But when Jesus Christ comes and when he's fulfilling the role of king, he is rightfully reclaiming his throne as king of our lives. When we understand the role of king in this way, and Jesus says this king, the only accurate response is awe. And it might be easy for me to stand up here and say that the fact that Jesus is the rightful king over our life should inspire awe. But honestly, history of kings has slightly jaded us to this idea because just because someone is the rightful king doesn't mean that they are a king deserving of awe, doesn't mean that they're a king that we should worship. So much so to the point that as I was preparing, I was trying to think of good kings throughout history and I was like, okay, we're obviously not talking about Jesus and let's say not David, let's not use the biblical examples. Even the most biblical examples are evil kings.Who's a good king in history? My first thoughts were Azlan and Aragon, both of which are fictional characters, one of which is a lion and not even a person. And this is because throughout history and history classes and school, as we study kings, the kings we know the most are the kings that have wielded their power for destruction, that have wielded their power for evil. And it's hard for us to imagine just the fact that a king is the rightful king, that that also means they are a good king. So the question then is, Jesus, what kind of king are you? Sure you're the rightful king, but what type of power do you hold and how do you wield that power? Because good kings needed to have power. A good king if you had no power, you couldn't protect your people.You couldn't protect your country, your kingdom, so you couldn't be a good king if you had no power. But also if you wielded that power for evil, you cannot be a good king. So Jesus, what type of king are you? And in Revelation chapter 19 we see this image of how Jesus rules from heaven. "Whoa, Tyler, Revelation in an advent series, what are we doing?" This is important because it displays to what power Jesus really is.And so in Revelation 19 starting in verse 11 it says, "Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, the one sitting on it called Faithful and True." Truth, Jesus came to bear witness to who he is the truth. "And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and his head are many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and his name by which he is called is the word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepresses of the fury of the wrath of God, the almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and Lord of Lords."The questions I asked earlier, Jesus, where's your crown? Here it is. Jesus, where's your army? Here it is. Jesus, where's your followers? Where's your sword? Here it is striking down the nations. And when it says that the sword is coming out striking down the nations, what that means specifically is it's striking down the kingdoms that are opposed to him and that is specifically the kingdoms of darkness, the kingdom of sin, of death, and of Satan.Jesus completely destroys them and this is an imagery meant to be intimidating. It is meant to be. It's meant to strike fear in anyone who dares oppose this king, but it's also meant to rally and galvanize the troops that are on his side fighting for him to have confidence. This is the king we serve. He is powerful. He is great. And I was trying to think of some examples to sort of make it more relatable today because honestly not many of us have followed a king into battle or even a commanding officer into battle and that's just not something we experienced as much in our culture. And if you have served in that way, we are thankful for you and for your service. And so the closest thing that we honestly have in our culture is sports. And I say that because sports are designed for this purpose.The creation of sports started because they needed men to do things besides fight each other. And the greatest, I think sport that relates to this is any of this fighting sports because you are actually fighting. And I chose specifically boxing because there's a character in boxing history that I think we can relate to and understand, and that is specifically Cassius Clay or Muhammad Ali. And I actually changed this example this morning because as I was thinking about it, one, I need to be clear that no one can come close to a comparison of the greatness of Jesus. This is an example that it's not even scratching the surface. It might be barely rubbing against it, but not making a dent in the comparison to Jesus. But this is a person that he was equivalent to boxing to what Tom Brady is to football, except even more so. And I say that, and I'm not a Patriots fan. I just know most people here are.But, however great you think Tom Brady is, even more so was the greatness of Muhammad Ali. And if you're on Mohammed Ali's corner, if you're in his corner, you're supporting him. Oh, you have confidence. You know the power that he has. You go into it knowing and expecting to win. And if you're standing in the opposing corner going up against him, there's fear struck in your heart because you know his greatness as well. You don't deny his greatness, but you don't want to have to face it. And the reason why I chose this because in the basement of my parents' house, there's a picture of Muhammad Ali specifically when he knocked down Sonny Liston. I don't know if you've seen this picture. You probably have, even if you don't recognize it, but there's this man muscular laying flat on the ground and over top of him is towering another man, Muhammad Ali standing firm, flexing his legs, showing his muscles, but he's also flexing his arm in a bicep, standing down over him, staring him down and screaming, just a blood curling power, intimidating.And this is sort of the idea, this is a glimpse into the imagery we're seeing here in revelation that's supposed to galvanize us and encourage us because when Jesus is showing his power, he's not just standing in a boxing ring fighting a person until they get knocked out and then saying, we're all good. No, he's up in heaven in the throne room of God and he's not just standing there. He's riding a horse into battle bolder. How many men do we know today that can even ride a horse? And when I say ride a horse, I'm not saying sit on it and walk around as a trainer leads them around. I'm talking about riding full sprint, full gallop into war and Jesus isn't just standing over staring at them. He is riding forward with fire in his eyes and he isn't wearing that thin little satin robe that boxers put over their head as they walk into the ring dancing as they go in. No.Jesus is wearing a royal robe, the robe of a king. And as he's riding the horse, his leg comes out and it shows his thigh and it's even more muscular than Muhammad Ali's. It makes his leg look like an infants and on his robe and on his thigh are his name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And the greatest thing about this, I like to imagine that it's probably written in Hebrew or Aramaic or some foreign language because other languages are just inherently more cooler in tattoos than English, but unlike our friends that get tattoos in different languages and don't actually understand what it means, Jesus knows what it means and he owns it and he is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. The words Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords, we often get desensitized to because it's so common during the holidays, it's something we say a lot, but this idea of King of Kings is sort of two fold.It means that he is king over everything. Everything is in subjection to him but it also means he is the greatest king that could ever exist. He is the greatest. We would say he is the GOAT and when we are following Jesus, we can have this image of his greatness and of his power in our mind, understanding that this is the king we are following. This is the king we are serving, but the difference is Jesus isn't just powerful in imagery, he isn't just powerful in the way he goes to battle conquering. He is powerful in character. In the book of Hebrews in chapter one verses two through four it's described, Jesus is saying he, Jesus is the heir of all things. Everything in creation belongs to him. Why? Because through him he also created everything. Jesus doesn't just own everything. He created everything.And it says that he is the radiance of the glory of God. Muhammad Ali in that picture standing over, he's sweating a little bit, so there's a little bit of a glimmer that's nothing. Jesus is a radiant. He is a shining sun brighter than any sun or star that has ever been in the sky. He is radiant. He is the exact imprint of the nature of God. He is divine. He is God, and then this is the one that always gets me, that always gets me. He upholds the universe by the word of his power.Jesus not only creates, he sustains. The very fact that the chairs that we are sitting in have atoms that are holding them together that exist is because of the power of Jesus. The very fact that we exist here today, that we have skin, we have organs, we have blood, we have air in our lungs is because Jesus chooses to use his power to sustain us, to sustain his creation. And then it says he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high claiming his rightful toner and he's ruling over all creation. So we get the power, we see the power, we see the majesty, we see the might. How does this king wield his power? How does this king wield it? He wields it by bringing about Christmas and this is why Christmas is so awe, inspiring and why Christmas is so great because this all powerful king ruler of everything. Nothing can get in his way. Nothing can stop him from accomplishing his goals and bringing in his kingdom.What does he do? He leaves it all behind. He says, "I'm willing to put that down and come to earth, be born as a baby, an innocent, vulnerable, helpless baby lying in a manger. This is not what we expect of an awe, powerful king. But the reason he did this is because of his character of loving you and loving me. He came to earth as a human. So that way he could live a perfect life. Proclaim the truth of who he is. Bear witness to his identity, die on the cross. Taking that wrath of God, taking the wrath that we deserve, the punishment for our sins and saying, that's on me. I'm taking it. And then defeating the kingdom of sin when he died on the cross and defeating the kingdom of death, when he rose from the dead so that we can now enter into the kingdom of God.So the question is, are you a citizen of the kingdom? You see, Jesus has done this to bring you into his kingdom. He wants you to be a citizen. Join him. This is the great king that we serve. But if you're here today and you haven't confessed that, I have wrongfully taken the throne of my life and put myself on it or put someone else on it and I need Jesus to reclaim that rightful place on his throne over my life. I need him to save me from my sins, from anytime I've rebelled against God. Anytime I was disobedient, anytime I put myself on the throne, Jesus rightfully deserves, I would urge you to confess and ask him to take the throne of your life today. And I urge you not because I want you to do it out of me urging you or out of compulsion or out of fear. I'm doing this because I want you to understand what we were talking about, about how great this king is. He is powerful, but he sacrifices all because he loves you. Join his kingdom, become a citizen.And part of the role of king that Pastor Yann mentioned in the sermon last week and has to do with what we're talking about today is that a king brings order and Jesus first raw order by realigning the priorities in order of our life that he is king. He is first and foremost in our lives. We are not. But then he also brings order by giving decrees, right? When I was studying what makes good kings, the first thing that came up consistently in all the different sources I found was they make strong enforceable laws. Well, Jesus said he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill the law and he has given us his decrees. We have 66 books with his decrees, but the greatest thing about this, the greatest thing about how good Jesus is as king, he doesn't just give us decrees and then say, "Do it or else." He says, "I lived it, I lived it."And this is what we mean when we say align to the king because the king lived it out. And so we can try and strive to align our lives the way we are living after the model of what Jesus did for us. He didn't just force us, he showed us. And we can now align ourselves, prioritize God is on the throne for our lives. And now I can align myself to the way he lived. And as we were talking about this, I was thinking about what is one of the most important roles of a citizen of a kingdom? And one of the things that makes the kingdom of God unique to many different nations and kingdoms we've seen in the world is that every citizen of God's kingdom is also a soldier. And when I say this, I want to be clear. We're not talking about fighting, we're not talking about violence.We're not talking about fighting with swords. Remembering that Jesus in John 18 stopped his servants from fighting with swords. That's not what we're talking about. But we are soldiers. And in order to understand this, I want to draw some comparison to the US soldiers because we have some notion of what they are. We have an understanding. And this is a little bit more relatable to us. And as we do this, I want to also be clear we have gratitude and we have utmost respect for the men and women who sacrificed their time and their lives to serve and protect this country. And as we're drawing comparisons and noting some differences, this is not a commentary or a reaction to the US soldiers. This is just to help us understand what it means to be a soldier better. And so if you go to the US Army's website, they say that there are three different types of soldiers, active duty, army reserves and army national guard.And here's a little quote from their website to find what these are. "Active duty soldiers are part of the army 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Army Reserve soldiers are part time and are able to work a civilian career, go to school and live where they want. Army National Guard is an essential element to the US military protecting communities across the US while serving part-time. These three roles are vital to our army in this country today. However, God's kingdom only has one type of soldier. God's kingdom only has active duty soldiers. It's a 24 hour a day, seven day a week job. It's not just the job though. It's a commitment. It's something that we have committed to. We have enlisted ourselves into when we have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and so this job, it's not a reserve job.It's not a job that we can say, "Hey, Jesus, I'm enrolled. I enlist, but I'm going to continue doing everything the way I've been doing it before." It's not a job we get to say, "I'm going to continue to live my life and do everything the way I wanted to. I'm going to continue to party the way I wanted to. I'm going to continue to date the way I wanted to. I'm going to continue to live life exactly as I wanted to, and then when something dire happens, when you really need me or I really need you, then I'll be enlisted." All right? Because we like to do this right. We'll say, "I'll get serious about my faith or my commitment to Jesus when I get married because then it's not just me, it's someone else or I'll be serious about my faith and committed to my faith of Jesus when I have kids because we all know that kids are just evil on their own and so they need to be raised with some sort of God or some sort of help."Or we say, "When I have my career in order, my finances in order and I'm out of debt, then I'll be serious, but right now I need to focus on my job." Or the one that is the most stereotypical. But I have actually heard many times when discussing this idea with my family and with my friends is that, "Oh, when I'm on my death bed, when I'm about to die, then I'll be committed to Jesus then." Don't we? Jesus calls us to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week Active Duty soldiers. It's not a reserve job and it's also not a part-time job. It's not a part time job in the sense that we are scheduled certain times where we are to work and serve and scheduled certain times where we're not.It's Christmas season right now. So this is the time we're all scheduled. Yeah, I understand. I'm scheduled to serve Jesus now. I'm scheduled to go to church to read scripture, to sing songs about Jesus. We sing the good Christmas songs, the type that Mosaic has on their EP, not the type that are about Santa and things like that. No. That's not what we're talking about. You see, you can't do that and then say, "Oh, it's February, it's cold. I'm tired. I've forgotten about new year's resolutions already. This is my schedule to break. And then Lent will come and then Easter and that will be my schedule to break back on. And then summer will come and I just want to go to the beach and have a good time. So that'll be my scheduled break again."And it's cycles year after year, after year. No, it's not a reserve job. It's not a part time job. It's a commitment each and every day. And part of what it takes is to be committed every day. It's hard to think about the long-term of the year and be committed for the whole year. That can be hard. But what is easier is to wake up each day saying, "I'm committed today. Today's the 24 hours I'm serving." And you wake up the next day. "Today is the 24 hours I'm serving as a soldier."So what do we actually do as soldiers? Also from the US Army, they say that each soldier has three different roles and these three different roles I think are really helpful in us understanding what it means to be a soldier in the kingdom of God. The first point that every soldier in the US Army has to do is protect themselves. So my challenge to you guys today is are you protecting yourself spiritually? Are you spending time in God's word, understanding his decrees so that you can be rooted in the truth of who he is, but not just rooted in truth. Using that truth to galvanize yourself, to stir up that love and that awe for the king that is on the throne and reminding ourselves why Jesus is on the throne, why he deserves to be the rightful king.Are we Sabbathing? Are we taking rest from work and saying, I am taking a day. I am committing my day to prove to you, Lord, that you are more important than my job. You are more important than my career and I can figure out the work. I can trust you that the work will get done if I'm committed to you first. Ephesians six is a whole sermon on itself, but it talks about putting on the armor of God. And so when you leave here, I'd encourage you to read it and to think about what that means to put on the armor of God, but it's rooted in truth and putting on the helmet of salvation, leading with the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, covering ourselves with his grace and with his mercy. And as we talk about protecting ourselves spiritually, it's also has to do with protecting ourselves mentally and emotionally.A lot of times we'll have thoughts that we are just, "Whoa, where'd that come from? I wasn't thinking about that thing, or that's not me. I don't think about those things. Where did that thought come from?" And this happens to me all the time honestly. And part of my job as a soldier of protecting myself is to speak truth to those things. Not let those evil thoughts fester. Not let those things continue and to dwell on them. But to tell myself, no, I am not being obedient to these thoughts. I'm being obedient to Christ first. Then also protect yourself emotionally because we often have emotions. We feel hurt, we feel pain when things happen and it's real. It's honest. It's okay to feel that way. But there are times when we have these very real emotions and that's not the best thing to be feeling at the moment.Sometimes we have to speak truth to our emotions that yes, I feel this way. It is true that I feel this way, but I don't have to feel this way. I can trust Jesus to protect me from this. And are we praying regularly? Because the whole point of the second point of the awe of God is to show how great of a king he is. And so if we are praying to this great king, we are trusting him to protect us as well. And so we need to be praying consistently. If he is powerful enough to ride a horse and a sword to come out of his mouth and defeat all of his enemies, he is powerful enough to protect you. He's powerful enough to help you. The second role of a soldier in the army is to protect each other, protect others.As Christians the reason why I come up every time and I say good morning church is because we're all in this together. We need each other. We are one body in Christ and part of the role of soldier is to protect each other. Are we actively seeking out our brothers and sisters in Christ and figuring out how we can pray for them? And when a prayer request is brought up in your community group, do you pray for it then and say, check, done or do we say, no, this is real, this is important. Let me spend time throughout the week praying for them and then check up and follow through with them again and say, "Hey, how did this thing go? What happened? How are you doing? How are you feeling?" And this is something that is convicting me because I like checks.I like to be able to say done. I did the thing and so it's easy for me to say, "Oh, I prayed. I said I was going to pray. I prayed, done." No. We are called to constantly be encouraging each other, pray for each other regularly. And when a friend comes to us and says honestly I'm still struggling with this thing or I'm still hurt by what happened or I don't know what to do in this situation. We should still be praying and encouraging them. Do we speak truth to each other in these times? Do we just say the things we think that they want to hear or do we say the things that they should hear? This is obviously done in grace and in truth and with patience, but are we willing to say the things that need to be said?Are we willing to instruct and give guidance, but also are we willing to encourage, are we willing to build up and to have patients and bear with each other as we struggle and are we willing to let others do that to us? That's the hardest part. It's easy to say that I can do this for someone else, but why I don't need help. We do. We need help. Are you willing to let other brothers and sisters in Christ protect you? And if you see a brother or sister in Christ in need and you have the means to meet that need, do you actually do it or do you put it off to someone else or the church in general? If I'm in a situation where I see a brother or sister in need and God has put in my heart that I have the means to meet it, it is my duty. It is my responsibility to meet that need.Doesn't matter what I feel, what my pride is. God's kingdom is more important than my own. And lastly, the way that a soldier is meant to serve, they say in the US Army a soldier is to protect the United States, we would say is to protect the kingdom of God. And this one's the easy one, I think. And I think this one is the most fun because again, this, remember the imagery of the great king who is going and protecting his kingdom. He does an excellent job. We really don't need to do that much when it comes to protecting the kingdom of God. Really all we need to do is expand it. Is to bring it to places where it is not yet been or to people who do not know it or not part of it. And to be clear, again, this is not by force.This is not by coercion. By strong language saying, "You must believe me." As I said, when I urge you to let Jesus sit on the throne of your lives, that's not going to convince anyone. It's only the Holy Spirit that changes lives, and so we are called to expand God's kingdom, God's way. How did Jesus expand his kingdom? He bore witness to the truth. He testified to who he is. That's our job as Christians. That's our role in protecting the kingdom of God is to declare to others the truth of who Jesus is and to declare to them why we know it's true.If you are a Christian, if you have already put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, your testimony is a powerful tool to proclaim the gospel to other people. It's one thing for people to hear these stories about Jesus and to read scripture. It's another thing for someone that they know, for someone that they love and someone that they trust to proclaim to them why? Why they believe. And with all of these things, and as all of these things build as we strive to be good soldiers, as we strive to be obedient to the decrees of the king, what we can always go back to is the awe, the greatness be overwhelmed by the greatness of Jesus Christ as king coming and saving us. The act by which he deemed and showed that he loved us.Will you pray with me? Heavenly father, Lord, we ask in this time that if we have put ourselves on the throne of our lives and kicked you off of it, we ask that we repent. We ask that we say we're sorry, and that we invite you to reclaim your rightful place in the throne of our lives. Lord, we ask you that as we strive to be soldiers in your kingdom, as we strive to live for you, that you are galvanizing us. You are reminding us of your greatness, that we can be inspired by who you are, the type of king you are, the loving, all powerful king. I pray all this through your wonderful son, Christ Jesus. Amen.

https://amyelaine.com | Today's Real Victory Radio is so very important to me. I'd love it if you'd listen in to my interview with Amber Villani Newberry of Beautiful & Beloved because I know you'll be moved by her story. You might share this with someone who needs to hear it too. My absolute FAVORITE QUOTE from our interview: "I ran real hard down a broken road."

Have you ever felt abandoned? All alone in your struggles? Well Jesus made you a promise in Jn14:18. Tune in to hear what it is…