As You Are Going
First B Jackson
2022-07-17

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Amen. Can y'all hear me? Is this thing on? Yeah, it's on. How are you this morning?

Looking around. Maybe we'll sing a few more folks in here. Would you stand up with us and we're going to sing. We have a story to tell to the nations. We have a story at my seminary, the the graduating class when we walked in.

We didn't walk in the pump and circumstance. We walked into this song. So, it kind of takes me back to May 12 of whatever year that was. Can you cancel the queue right there, Marcus?

We've a story to tell to the nations that shall turn their hearts to the right. A story of truth and mercy. A story of peace and light. A story of peace and light.

Love lifted me. Let's sing that one next. I'm gonna put the bass up. Hold on just a second, Judy. I don't wanna trip over it.

It'd be kinda hard not to notice it, but Alright. I I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements.

One of em I don't think is in the slides. Andres and Emily. Is today your anniversary? Hey, happy anniversary. I heard that from somebody.

It would have been a real going out on a limb if you had said no. Happy anniversary. I love marriage. I think it's God's greatest gift to society. One of his greatest gifts.

Not the greatest, but one of the greatest. It's a good good way to transmit the gospel. Right? Monday nights at first b. What's happening, Carl?

Yep. And I think it'll

be fried chicken

then. Fried chicken. Meal music and a message. The message is from Colossians three. The music is going to be the band playing as many of us as show up to play.

Just the two of us maybe. We might play an Everly Brothers song. Who knows? Probably not. But hey, that's what I feel like when there are just two of you.

Monday nights at first B happens 06:00. Meal, music, and a message every Monday night. Fried chicken tomorrow night. We've got an FCA. That's the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is having a power camp for kids.

That is happening the nineteenth and twentieth. So, that's like Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. It'll be at the Classical Academy Gym, I think and if you need to know more information about that, you can contact the church office or go directly to Drea Largie, Andrea Largie and she'll let you know more about it. We have a prayer group that meets on Wednesdays at seven: 3zero am in the first office down the hall on the left, the church office. That's a great group of people who are just getting together to pray for missionaries and whatever else comes up within the group.

So if you wanna be there and you want to know that other people are praying with you and for you and your concerns. You're casting all your cares on God. There are people who would be praying with you for that. 07:30AM, Wednesday mornings. Sunday school is on a break right now during July just for the kids.

Children's church is on a break. The middle school and high school gals and the middle school and high school guys are still meeting but that's throughout the rest of July. There's one that's not up here. Actually, while I'm on this slide. July 31, that's two weeks from today, right?

We are doing church at the fair. The fair board called and asked if we would do church under the big top. So, that Sunday, there's no announcement up here for it. Next week, I'll try to cover it thoroughly. Under the big top, 10AM.

I think it's 10AM. That's what they said. 10AM. It's just going be one service though. So it'll be right after the Lions Club breakfast.

And honestly, every year it's slightly different. Sometimes the Lions Club still serving breakfast. So we will see how it goes. I'll try to be in contact, but it should be 10:00. So right in between service times, not nine, not eleven, ten, and we will be doing church under the big top at the fair.

There's also between No. After that, there is a church camping trip. For this is for everybody. Everybody who wants to be a part of this can attend and be there. We have a lot of spaces up at the group camp site at Coulter Bay.

Contact Brain McCooey. Yes, it does say brain. I see several of you reading it. Brain McCooey is the brain behind this operation and he has reserved a big spot up at the group camp. Fifth, sixth, and seventh.

That's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And we'll probably, several people will bring guitars and we'll be up there in the evenings playing around a campfire and having food together. So there'll be lots of people spending the night. If you have an RV, let Brian Brain know and he will find you a spot. Also, immediately preceding that, the day before, the men's rafting trip on August 3, that's a Wednesday.

If that's a Wednesday, never mind. The dates are right. Whatever I say might not be right. But Wednesday, it's four in the afternoon. The men are gonna take various rafts down the snake and then have barbecue afterwards on the other end.

Four to six they said plan on for that Wednesday. And then I guess that's a Yeah, it is. It's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday after that. We had a young lady here this morning named Bethany Donnelly. She works with International Justice Mission and she was here between the services and hanging out.

She probably will be back and she'll present to the whole church. We just had a whole 10 pounds of sugar to put in a five pound bag this morning. We couldn't get to everybody so she met with people during the connect hour. Also, so tomorrow and Tuesday, we're going to have the parking lot resealed. So it'll be blocked off.

Try not to park. If you're coming to Monday night, park somewhere on the street and we will get that handled. I hate to say before the snow flies. Whoo. That'd be awful.

I said it anyway. Would y'all stand up? We're going to look into the holiness of God. When I look into your holiness, And welcome and we're glad you're here this morning.

You. I worship

you. Let's sing that again. Thank you, Judy, for picking out these songs. But now I belong to Jesus, is that what we're singing? Y'all can have a seat.

I am going to invite the ushers come forward and it's the operatory time right now and would you just pray with me? God, we thank you for a beautiful Sunday. We thank you for a beautiful day. Or we woke up with breath in our lungs and I pray lord that we would be conscious that what is to come out is praise to you, gratitude. Lord, it's your will in Christ Jesus for each of us to live in thankfulness, lord.

I thank you for all that you've given. We, Lord, wanna be faithful to give back a portion of that, Lord, so that others may come to know who you are. Lord, that faith could be placed in you. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that we would be accurate reflectors of your love and your truth. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask your blessing on this offering.

Would you multiply it and do your kingdom's work? Lord, I pray in light of this song that we're about to go through that there is room at the cross. There is. Lord, I pray that people would realize that. That this is not something that is dead or old, but living and active.

Your word, Lord, there is room at the cross. May we be living that out in Jesus' name. Amen.

For one. Yes. There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have found him a friend Yes. There's room at the cross for you.

The hand of my savior is strong, and the love of my savior is long. Through sunshine or rain, through the soul and gain, for one. Yes, there's room at the cross for you.

Amen. Thank you, Judy. Thank you. She was planning on doing a more ornate version of that but it's hard not to sing it, honestly. So, thank you for doing that.

I'm going to invite Erin Anderson up to the front. Erin just has been back a couple of weeks from a mission trip. It's still pretty fresh. So I'm thankful for you and glad that you're sharing.

Hello. Oh, I'm on. Okay. I brought tissues this time because last service I didn't have tissues. Okay.

So, yeah, most of you, I don't think I know. My name is Erin Anderson. I typically go to the first service, and, I help with the youth and young adults here at the church. But, yeah, I was given an opportunity to go to Belize with a church in Wisconsin, and this is kind of a testimony of that and just what God did through it. And before I start, I'm gonna cry or pray, not cry, but I probably will cry.

Okay. Lord God, I just thank you so much for this opportunity to to share what you've done in my life and even in the midst of a crazy spiritual battle, God, you were still there. And Lord, I just ask that you use my testimony to speak into people's lives and just to, encourage people and show people that you are real and that you love them and they are valuable. In Jesus' name, amen. So to say this trip was nothing that I anticipated being, that's probably an understatement.

I knew it would be hard and different than anything I've experienced, but I definitely wasn't prepared for what God had in store. In trips past, I worked for several hours and visited multiple schools in one day, and I've also stayed with one school for six to eight hours and would oftentimes do ministry in the evenings. On this trip, we worked for a few hours in the morning and had a lot of free time in the afternoon where we usually went swimming or went to get ice cream to cool down. We also had challenges of rain limiting our work and schools not being opened due to COVID. While that part was disappointing and discouraging, I think God had me on the trip for a completely different reason that I did not anticipate at all.

The church I was with is very charismatic, and on the Sunday night we were there, we had an evening chapel with just our team, and they had what they called an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which is an off branch of, like, the Toronto blessing, if you guys know what that is. The pastors would pray for people on our team, and they would fall over and have these experiences. I got prayed over and didn't experience a thing. After the meeting, I discovered that at least four of the kids didn't have an experience either and were confused, hurt, and ultimately questioning God Christianity. I don't think this one event brought them to that point, but I absolutely believe it was one of the last draws.

Imagine struggling with severe depression and anxiety and thoughts of suicide or insert any other struggles you may have, and you're told that this is the night God is going to heal you, touch you, and deliver you. You go up to get prayed for, and nothing happens. Not only that, but the majority of the people had some sort of experience, and you were one of the few who didn't. How disappointing and confusing is that? These kids felt like God hates them for their choices and they didn't do enough, to deserve his present.

That's not how God works. When Jesus was on this earth, his ministry was to the hurt and the broken and the demon possessed and the prostitutes and the lowest of the low, and these kids felt like they were worse than that, which broke my heart. As a result of this event, personally, I did a ton of searching and Bible research on my own and nowhere in the Bible do I see specific examples of people being slain in the spirit or the falling over and dramatic experiences. And the only big event in the Bible that I'm aware of with a group of people all having a major experience with the Holy Spirit is at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and was poured out on the disciples after Jesus was gone. Fast forward until Thursday night when we were supposed to do the same service with the local youth group.

I was praying and praying and praying for God to truly reveal himself at the event. I wasn't planning on going and was forced to go anyways. I was pretty upset to say the least, but God had me go for a very specific reason. During the service, I was sitting outside praying and reading the Bible. Those same kids who were hurt Sunday night came out and were all talking about how they didn't feel like that was real and the struggles it was causing them, but I was able to sit and talk to them and pray with them for quite a while afterwards.

Fast forward to Friday and flying home. Coming back from the trip, our flight was delayed three hours, causing us all to miss our flights. I got separated from the group because they were trying to make their flight back to Wisconsin, and I wasn't flying back with them. The airline couldn't book hotels for me, and so they just told me to, like, book a room and to, ask for a refund later. And so I just googled, like, airports near Dallas Fort Worth with shuttles to the like, from to and from.

And, being a single female and being young, it's very nerve wracking for me to leave the airport and just to, like, go do things just because I don't know what's gonna happen. And when I got in the van, the guy was playing Christian music, and that just brought me so much peace and comfort. And so when we arrived at the hotel, I got out and I said, are you a Christian? And he said, well, I'm kind of a Christian, which I don't exactly know what that means. But I said, well, God bless you, and I walked inside the hotel.

And when I was sitting standing in the lobby waiting, to check-in for my hotel room, he walked back in with a piece of paper and two names written on it. And he said, will you be please be praying for these two people? They're my sisters. And he didn't give me any details or anything, and I didn't end up getting his name. But I know that God worked through all of the chaos and canceled flights and everything just so I could minister to that driver that night.

While I do have stories about the kids who stole my heart, in times I was able to talk to some of the locals and about building a house, I wanted to share with you guys a different side of missions, one that I hadn't experienced before. Mission trips aren't always smiling kids and happy endings, but nitty gritty, extremely hard, and they can bring a lot of spiritual growth. I think the reasons God wanted me on this trip were to grow my relationship relationship with with him, him, to solidify my beliefs and understandings of what the Bible says, and to be there for those kids who were somewhat outcasts and are struggling with their faith. Let me tell you, that was probably the hardest spiritual battle of my life, but God was right there with me. I couldn't have done it without the prayer and encouragement, especially from my family as well as from pastor Ray and everyone else who was praying.

At one point, I knew God was with me, but I was the only one there who didn't believe like everyone else and who was standing up for truth and for what I did believe. And so I felt alone in the battle, but I knew that people back home were praying. So I just, like, imagined myself in this battle, and I looked behind me. And there's just thousands of people all standing there ready to fight and praying, and I was so encouraged by that. Please join me in continuing to pray.

Whoops. Sorry. Hold on. For the individuals, who are hurt and broken by a church that they will find truth in who God truly is, that they will seek to live for him and share the gospel with those around them, not to throw it all away because they didn't feel God's presence at a planned event. I pray that God will meet them in their everyday lives and wrap them with his love.

Please join me in also praying for the shuttle driver from Dallas, Texas and for his sisters, whatever they may be facing. My my desire is for everyone I come in contact with to know they are loved and valuable in a world where love and value are mostly a thing of the past. People are so hurt and broken, and it breaks my heart. I wish I could fix everyone, Jesus wouldn't have had to die on the cross if people could fix people. Thank you all for your financial and prayer support for the trips and opportunities that God has given me.

We did we were able to bless a family with a new home and several kids at a school accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Praise God. To finish up, I'd like to encourage each and every one of you to not focus on the stress and inconveniences of each and every day, but instead to see how God is using a delayed trip or canceled plans as an opportunity to share the gospel and God's love to those around you. I'm not gonna lie, I definitely I'm definitely not a fan of having to make six plus phone calls to cancel flights and rebook new ones and deal with the runaround of no one no one knowing how to help me. It was stressful and super frustrating, but if I didn't miss that flight, then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to be a light to the shuttle driver in Dallas, Texas.

God wants to use you and sometimes he allows our plans to change so we have the time in our busy day, week, month, or even our life to take our mind off of ourselves and see the hurt and broken people around us. First Corinthians fourteen thirty three says in regards to prophecy and speaking in tongues, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace as in all the churches of all the saints.

Amen. Thank you, Aaron. Thank you, Aaron. Would you all pray with me? God, for that anonymous shuttle driver that serves every day people in all kinds of situations rushing about.

I pray, Lord, that you'd reveal who you are to him directly. I consider it directly even when you use an agent, lord, because your spirit is what fills us in our daily lives, in our incidental appointments, our divine appointments, lord. I pray that you would we don't know even what his sisters had going on. We don't know, Lord, the story. But you do.

You know the story absolutely and completely. And we ask that you would intervene in this situation, Lord, in a way that whatever miracle is necessary would authenticate the message that is essential, that absolutely essential for knowing you. That his answer would not be kind of a Christian, but it would be absolutely a 100%. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask a blessing on that driver, on his sisters, and on Aaron and her family, and every member of that team. In Jesus' name, Lord.

It is a big tent. Christianity is a big tent. But Lord, we pray that we would be concentrating on you and your word, and that you would show us, Lord, who you are individually. We would be accurate and articulate reflectors of your love and your truth. In Jesus name, amen.

Amen. So here we are. I I was looking at this as sort of a transitional sermon today. There are just a three quick passages. They're related and I'll try to relate them to you.

But it's Matthew nine and then later on, we'll turn to Matthew 13 and Mark six between those two. It's transitional in that he's been in ministry already in Galilee but now things are starting to heat up and it is from this point forward, it's heading to the cross kinda with an approaching intensity. So I had a professor who was fond of saying that the gospels are all passion narratives with long introductions. The introductions are drawing shorter at this time. And you'll start to see an increased period of conflict with Pharisees in particular, but with other groups too.

So we're going to start Matthew nine. We'll go through, Mark six and then get back to Matthew 13. And then we'll go into a time of communion. As Jesus went on from there, this is something that I want to point out because of what Aaron just had to say. As Jesus went on from there, the as you are going situation that she was in down there is in the moment she's prepared as a believer.

She has her Bible. She has faith in Christ and she trusts the Holy Spirit to direct her toward the ministry that he would. That's an as you are going type of faith. I want to point out quickly at the beginning and it probably will come up several other times that the imperative we usually broadcast as, Go ye therefore into all the world, baptizing and teaching, teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you. That's the great commission, right?

It's a commission. It's an imperative. Well, it's it's a participle which means as you are going. As you are going, be doing this. So I think sometimes we say go ye therefore.

It's just for missionaries, just for pastors, just for people who are specifically sent out. But Jesus is sending all of us out every day, all the time saying, as you are going, be doing these things. Does that make sense? Alright. As he was going, on from there, two men who were blind followed him crying out, have mercy on us, son of David.

Now, this might just hearing blind man calling out son of David, you might think, oh, blind Bartimaeus in a different gospel. Well, I think this is a different story. It's two guys. I think there are enough differences in the details that I'm not harmonizing and putting them together. Two guys, two blind guys and they are crying out, have mercy on us, son of David, which is a messianic term.

They are recognizing the messiahship of Jesus and stating it out loud, blind as they are. Have mercy on us, son of David. And after he had entered into the house, the men who were blind came up to him. They're pursuing him. Now, last week, we had seen Jesus as he was going.

He comes back from across the sea in Gadara, Gessara. He comes back to Capernaum and on the seashore meets up with people. Jairus comes to him in faith, asking him if he'll come back and heal his daughter. On the way, we see a lady who reaches out in faith who has had an issue of blood for twelve years and I want to clarify something. I had a slide last week that confused at least one person, maybe more than that.

It said, about the woman reaching out to touch the hem of his garment, they said, I said, is this biblical? And then I had a big no. Well, it is now because she's in the Bible. Yes, it is now. But Jesus very specifically and I think that I very specifically but I'm going back.

I'm double up, doubling up right here. She reached out in faith. She believed that she could kind of sneak in and not even be noticed and touch the hem of his garment and be healed. But it says specifically that Jesus turned and said to her, it is your faith which has saved you. It's not superstition.

It's not something else. It is your faith that has made you whole. Amen. That's good. It is biblical now.

Yes. But in the Old Testament, we don't see anything about items or inanimate objects being imbued with power. That's what I meant by the superstition. She reached out in faith and I think that Jesus turns and speaks to her and makes it explicit. Your faith is what made you whole, not because of the clothes.

Don't go cutting these things up and spreading them out. Right? Okay. These guys, two blind guys. And have mercy on us, son of David.

Messianic title. No doubt about it. He is to be a son of David and he is to be able to heal the blind and the deaf and the mute and the lame. And they have heard that this was so and they believed it. After he entered the house, the men who were blind came up to Jesus and Jesus says to them, do you believe that I am able to do this?

Now this is an important question. It immediately takes me to another guy but I'm gonna wait for us to hit that one in scripture. He asked him exactly the same thing. Do you believe? And the guy says, do believe but help me with my belief.

It's a really honest prayer. Do you believe that I am able to do this? This is about faith. Do you have faith that I am able, I can do this? Not just that I have the authority but I actually have the way of making it happen.

Do you believe that I'm able to do this? And I think that was important to them. Must have been because Jesus asked them. But I think it's important today too. Do you believe that I am able to do this?

We all grow up with, I think, some errant views of who God is and what he's able to do. And I think that faith overcomes those obstacles that can. Do you have faith that I am able to do this? It's an important question for them, but it's also an important question for you. If you are praying to a God that you don't really believe in, there's a problem there.

Do you believe that I'm able to do this? Now, when we go on, it says, they say to him, yes, lord. They say to him, yes, lord, which every time I see this phrase, I think, you can either say, yes, lord or you can say, no, but you can't say no, lord. Because the Lord is the one who says what we are to be doing. And if he says, as you are going, be ministering, you can say either, yes, lord, I will do that or you can say, no.

But you can't say no, Lord. I defy that order. They say to him, yes Lord, we do believe that you are able to do this. And then he touched their eyes. Oh, just stop right there for a moment.

Now, we've seen him make spittle and clay together and make a little, you know, balm, medicine, just mud, put it on somebody's eyes. We've seen that but this time, he just touches their eyes directly. At another time, he just says it out loud. Sometimes, he says it from a distance. I feel like Jesus went out of his way to do things differently each time because we are people of formula.

We want to say how to. There's a seven step plan for this or a three step plan for that or a five step plan. Jesus is doing it differently each time. Individually, he deals with people. Then he touched their eyes and saying, it shall be done for you according to your faith.

So now, his question, do you believe that I'm able to do this? He just said that it's going to be done to you as you have the faith. It shall be done for you according to your faith. And their eyes were opened. So they were right.

Yes, Lord. I do believe you. They're at your Abel and their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them. I hear a groan from sternly.

I I did the same thing. Jesus sternly warned them. I feel like that's Jesus making miles sternly warning someone? I think. Jesus sternly warned them saying, see that no one knows about this.

Okay. We've seen him do this before. We've seen him tell people he healed the little girl just last week, right? He healed the little girl. This is right from one leaving Jairus' house going and he sternly warned them.

See, these are two blind guys. Isn't that funny? He sternly warned them with a dad joke. Horao is the Greek word. It means to see, to perceive, to get this and they did see, perceive, and get this.

They did understand it. But he sternly warned them, see that no one knows about this. Now how are you going to keep that secret? If you've been blind your whole life and everybody that knows you knows you, you're blind. And then you go out from there.

It says they went out and they spread the news about him throughout the land. How would they not? Anybody that knew them knew they were blind. What would they say? Were you

faking all those years? It's been

a setup all along. No. They can't help but express it. I I just I like that Jesus said, see that no one knows about this. It's the two blind guys who were formerly blind.

I once was blind but now I see and that's their testimony. And as they were going out, as they were going out, there's another as they're going. As they're going or as you are going, be teaching them to obey all that I command you. Jesus says in the great commission, As they were going out, Jesus and his disciples, behold, a demon possessed man was unable to speak, mute, and was brought to him. So this is not even the man bringing himself.

It's somebody else bringing him. As they were going out, behold a demon possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to him and after the demon was cast out because that's what Messiah does. Messiah has just shown that he can and he did heal the blind. This is between Capernaum and where we believe he went next is Natharus. We'll see that in just a minute.

But somewhere along that line, he is as he is going, he's casting out a demon. Another messianic deal. After the demon was cast out, the man who was previously unable to speak, talked. Can I stop right there for a second? He gave a man who had no voice a voice.

He gave someone who had no voice a voice. And the crowds were amazed. And they were saying so the man now has a voice and he can say what has happened to him. He's we've all been called to be witnesses, right? You will be my witnesses, Jesus says.

This guy did not have a voice and now he does and that amazed the crowds because they knew him and they knew what he was like. He wasn't able to speak. We served at a school for the deaf for seven years in Mexico. And if one of those kids suddenly were able to just speak clearly. I mean, taught sign language and they learned sign language and they could communicate.

But for one of them just all of a sudden have a voice, that's what I would do too. I would be amazed beside myself. The crowds were amazed and they were saying, nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel. This points to Messiah too. So they had the whole law to tell them where they lacked and to be forecasting all the way back from Deuteronomy at least in Genesis twelve fifteen also.

But we had this concept of a Messiah that is coming and when he comes, he will heal the blind and the deaf and the mute and the lame and he will do these things and those miracles will authenticate his message and they are seeing that nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel but it's here now. It's here now. Now, what does that do for the religious folk? The crowds are saying, wow. He looks like the Messiah but the religious power structure, the Pharisees were saying, he cast out demons by the ruler of the demons.

That's what they always say. Have we seen this line of pharisaic thinking before? Well, yes, we have. The Beelzebub controversy was a while back. We actually covered it in March, March 13 of this year.

If you want to go back and listen to how Jesus responds to the accusations because he lets them sit this time. He doesn't he doesn't clap back at all on this one this time. But in Matthew twelve twenty two through 45, Mark three twenty thirty, and Luke 11, we see Jesus responding to those accusations and it is similar. It's the Beelzebub controversy again. I want to mention something that we got on March 13 that's blasphemy.

Blasphemy is abusive or scurrilous language. So think about what Jesus had just done. He just healed two blind guys and cast demons out a demon out of a mute man and gave a man a voice. So they can see and he can speak. And then the pharisees answer, some sort of a trick.

He just does it by the demons. That is abusive or scurrilous language. That's the definition of blasphemy. Actually, scurrilous. We don't use it very much anymore.

So let's define that too. Making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging the reputation. That is exactly what the pharisees were doing. It looks like a good thing but it's not. It's a scurrilous attack on his integrity.

That was in the dictionary as the as the example of usage and I'm just going to change that to a capital h. This was a scurrilous attack on Jesus' integrity. It's abusive or scurrilous language that literally is slow or sluggish to call something good that really is good. Jesus really is that good. He really is that awesome.

But they were saying he's doing it by the power of the devil. So that is a failure to recognize something that is good and slow to identify what is truly bad, something that really is evil. Blasphemy switches right for wrong, wrong for right, calls God what God disapproves right, and it exchanges the truth of God for a lie. So that's the Beelzebub controversy. We've seen it before.

We actually will see it again. But at this point right here, Jesus does not respond further. We're going to go to Mark. So, starting in Mark, Jesus went out from there right away. He went out from there and he comes into his hometown.

His hometown was Nazareth. That's what, you know, he's born in Bethlehem and in his ministry, he was mostly in Capernaum and Capernaum was a favorable place there. We see even the synagogue ruler Jairus knowing who he was and coming to him for help and being helped. So, Capernaum was a place where Jesus did lots and lots of miracles. Nazareth,

on the

other hand, in Luke, we see Jesus going to Nazareth and it was his first sermon we have recorded and he stood up or he read the Isaiah scroll 61 about healing the blind and the deaf and the lame and setting the captives free and proclaiming the favorable time of the Lord. Now, he stopped shy of including the vengeance of our God, the day of the vengeance of our God and it made the crowd that was gathered so mad in their Sabbath service. It made them so mad that they wanted to throw him off of the ridge. That was his the last experience we know about Jesus in Nazareth was they wanted to kill him. But he circles back around and he's gonna go through Nazareth.

We see in a few minutes that he's going through all the cities and villages. He's covering the area pretty good. But he goes back to a place where the last time he was there, they tried to kill him. Jesus went out from there and he comes into his hometown and his disciples follow him and when the Sabbath came, he went to church. Same place where they wanted to throw him off the ridge last time and he began to teach in the synagogue.

Now, for us, that might seem unusual because growing up in The US, typically, the pulpit is a very sacred space for just one guy gets to preach from there on Sunday, right? If you go just about anywhere else in the world and you claim Christ, as a visitor, you would be given the chance to present something from God's word. That sounds like, oh, I wouldn't want to be there. How long would that service go to an American? But everywhere that I've been for the last twenty two years, I've been given an opportunity in Mexico, Nepal, just South Africa, just about every service that I've attended.

It's like, oh brother, you stand out a little bit. Would you have something for us? You know? That's scary at first, but as you are going, be ready as a part of this. As they were going, when the Sabbath came, he did what you do.

He began to teach in the synagogue. And the many listeners, Full House that day, were astonished beside themselves, astonished and amazed. Similar words right here. Saying, where did this man learn these things? I know this guy.

I watched him play high school basketball. No, probably not. I do know him though. He where did he learn this stuff? He's from here.

Where did this man learn these things? And what is this wisdom that has been given to him? Come on. He's just from Nazareth for crying out loud. And such miracles as these performed by his hands.

I mean, we hear about this stuff but really? Is this not the carpenter? The son of Mary. Now, just to say, the son of Mary nowadays, we have we have lots of Christmas songs about this and for us it's like, oh, beautiful. May it be to me just as you have said Mary.

That's a great thing but to them, to call him not Joseph's son but to say, the son of Mary. You know the story. You know what happened. We never did get the full story on that one. Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?

Come on. Illegitimate son of Mary? And brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon. And are his sisters not still right here with us? We know this family.

We know where he came from. What kind of uppity guy is this? Where did he get all this stuff? And I say that in that tone because the next sentence says, they took offense at him. They took offense at him.

Isn't that terrible? They've been exposed to the same truth. Jesus, the way, the truth, the life. Been exposed to the same truth as those two blind guys who recognize his messiahship and were healed. Same one as the mute, demon possessed man who was set free and could say so.

And these folks see what's going on and take offense at them. And isn't that just a terrible thing? But it is the way that it is. Either you'll accept it and be mercifully forgiven, set free, or you'll see the same exact set of circumstances and reject it and you'll be justly condemned. Isn't that terrible?

Jesus said to them, a prophet's never dishonored except in his hometown, just the way it is, and among his own relatives, and even in his own household. That actually is a saying in Greek without the word prophet, and in Hebrew with the word prophet. It's a saying in English. We say familiarity breeds contempt. He's just a hometown boy.

Nothing. He couldn't be. No way he could be the Messiah. That's ridiculous. I know this guy.

No. And he could not do any miracle there. Oh, that's so sad. Well, the expositor's Bible commentary says this. It says, verse five opens with one of the boldest statements in the gospels since it mentions something that Jesus could not do.

Well, when you start the sentence, that's what it says. He could not do any miracle there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. So he could do it. He just recognized the mood in the room. He recognized that they had taken offense at it and were not believing.

Actually, it goes on to say, and he was amazed at their unbelief. Amazed at their unbelief. So what is it that amazes Jesus? We've seen the crowds amazed. We've seen people around those blind guys that were healed amazed.

We saw them healed and amazed. And now we're seeing Jesus amazed. What amazes Jesus is unbelief. Oh, a lack of faith. No faith, literally.

Unbelief. He was surprised at their lack of faith. And is there anything else in the New Testament? So in Mark, the only thing that's mentioned in the whole gospel of Mark that amazed Jesus is their unbelief in his hometown. In Matthew, we have a Roman centurion that is amazing to Jesus and he was amazed by that man's faith.

There's one other episode and it's also faith. I'll give you the example from eight ten. It says, now when Jesus heard this, he says, you don't even have to come to the house. You just say it. I know how authority works.

You just say the word and he'll be healed. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He said to those who are fallen, truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. So Israel, part of their issue and I think part of the church's issue today is we feel like we're God's chosen people and it's just for us. But he is seeking to bless every peoples.

Right? He's seeking to bless every tribe, tongue, and nation. And there are people among every tribe, tongue, and nation who have the faith and they need to know where to place it. As you're going, be telling them. As you're going, be ministering to them.

Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. Mark six six ends this way. And he was going around in the villages teaching. Now Matthew expands this. This is just that's half a sentence in Mark.

And he was going around the villages and teaching. Matthew says the same thing and goes on to expand a little bit more. It's just this one slide filled in and we'll go to a time of communion. Jesus was going throughout all of their cities and villages, even his hometown where he just was, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Now he had given parables of the kingdom.

A few weeks back we studied it together. But think about the time frame. This is just a few days apart. Parables of the kingdom, cross the sea, set the Gadarene demoniac free, send him on his mission trip, come back Jairus, woman of great faith, reaching out to Jesus. And then today, what we've covered today, Jesus is going through all the cities and all the villages, teaching their synagogues, he's proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.

He's already given parables. He's given them the good news of the king that it is for every tribe, tongue, and nation. And he's healing every disease and every kind of sickness and seeing the crowds. He felt compassion for them. Jesus was deeply moved with compassion.

He had sympathy for what they were going through because they were distressed and downcast. And maybe I should just ask, are any of you distressed and downcast? If so, quit watching the news and look towards Jesus. Okay? It is it is hard.

This life is hard and there are things that are distressing and upsetting and it's easy to get down. Seeing the crowds, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and they were downcast and they were like sheep without a shepherd. Ain't that the truth? Just wandering, seeking greener pastures, looking for where they might be fed. Seeing the crowds, he felt compassion for them because they were stressed and they were downcast and they were like sheep without a shepherd.

And then he says to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful. All of those agricultural analogies that he'd used in the parables of the kingdom just a couple of days before, three or four days before probably at this point. He says, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore, he says to his disciples, then and now. Therefore, he says, plead with the Lord.

Go to him in prayer. Beseech him as the King James version there. Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. And I might just say right here that if you are earnestly praying for God to send workers into the field, what you are de facto saying is I'm willing to go. I'm willing to be going as I am going, Lord.

Show me the opportunities to have. Lord, I long to do your will. I spend more time by myself than I do out in the world. But Lord, show me where you would have me serve and give me the strength to do it. Let me recognize the opportunity.

I want to do your will, oh Lord. Plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. We pray for missionaries every Wednesday morning and many of us pray for him every day but would you pray that you'd be seeing the opportunities to be as you are going ministering to him. In Jesus name, I thank you lord for your word. I thank you that it's good and it's profitable for teaching and for for proof and lord for even rebuke at times.

If we're not living in accordance with this but we're living more in accordance with how the pharisees with folded arms and an inflated self reliance and self righteousness, Lord. I pray that we would be soft in our compassion for the people around us that are living with like sheep without a shepherd, who are distressed and discouraged. Lord, may we carry the hope that you did. May we be there, Lord. The resources are in the harvest to get the job done of this message that we have to tell to the nations to spread it to the very ends of the earth.

In Jesus name, we ask your blessing. On your word proclaimed here this morning and lord, on this communion, I'm going to invite the ushers to come forward. Amen. Now, we're going to go into a time of communion right now and I know you don't like the little plastic cups. Let me just say so.

I know it. I don't like em either. Alright? We ordered half a million of em. As soon as we finish em, we will be done with em.

Okay? They have a little aggravating cellophane top over the wafer and they have a little aggravating tinfoil thing over the juice. But it is what we have for right now and anything that we use as representative would be fine. It is a representative symbol. Jesus said so.

I'll give you time, okay? Take the little cellophane, start working it out but would you, as I pray, lord, would you, would you just bless every heart that's going to receive this today, lord? Whether they have been a believer in you for sixty five years or seventy years. They've always feel like they've known you since childhood, lord. I pray that they would take communion and it would be new and fresh and deeper than ever before.

Lord, if there's someone in here who came because somebody else made them come and when they got here, lord, they felt, I don't believe any of this stuff but you're working in their hearts, lord and they just realized that actually I do believe this stuff. Lord, this is an open table. I pray that you would share Lord with us a very real experience of your grace, Lord, through this little representative sample. In Jesus name, I ask you to bless both the bread and the cup as we distribute them here this morning. Amen.

Thank you, Judy. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed and gathered with his disciples there in that upper room, he said to them, after he had given thanks and blessed the bread, he said to them, This is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the life that you lived out, submitted to the power of spirit and the will of the father. You walked it out in a body fully human, fully divine, with a perfect record, Lord, and that you alone were able to sacrifice your innocent blood.

Amen. Just as he had taken the bread, he also took the cup. Now for them, would have been a common cup after supper full of wine and passed it around the table and we don't do that anymore. And I know that your tradition makes a big difference on how you see this, but it is an open table. This little plastic cup of grape juice his representative, he lifted up that common cup and said that this is a new covenant in my blood.

They could not have possibly understood and known all that was going to come to pass in the next few days. But they accurately carried it forward and we get to hear the message too that this is the new covenant, not the old covenant where it's all on you, but the new covenant where Jesus is willingly dying on your behalf for you. I stand in. In Jesus' blood, he sealed the new covenant. He said, this is the new covenant in my blood.

Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Paul says that as often as we do that, we are proclaiming the Lord's death and an end to sin. An end to the punishment of sin. As often as we do that.

Are we going to sing where he leads me? How appropriate? Would you stand? We're going to sing a song that's as we are going. Where he leads me, I will follow.

Amen. And as a benediction this morning, I just thinking about the compassion he had on the crowds who live like sheep without a shepherd, I I think that John ten twenty seven would be inappropriate. Jesus says that my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. Would you listen to the voice of the savior today and say, yes, lord.

Where you lead me, I'll follow. Keep on feeding me what you want to feed me and keep on giving to me what you want from me to share with others. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.