The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Luke 6:17-19opening passage introducing the crowd gathered on the level place before the Sermon on the Mount
17 He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
18 as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed.
19 All the multitude sought to touch him, for power came out of him and healed them all.
Old Testament prophecy that Messiah would open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, make the lame leap, and bring water in the wilderness
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
Jesus' first recorded sermon, the spirit of the Lord anointing him to proclaim good news to the poor and bind the brokenhearted
1 The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
God promising to raise up a faithful priest who would do according to what is in God's heart and mind
35 I will raise me up a faithful priest, that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before my anointed forever.
John the Baptist's messengers asking if Jesus is the coming one, and Jesus listing messianic healings as his answer
20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”
21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.
22 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
God's promise to Abraham to bless those who bless and curse those who curse, used to frame the command to bless enemies
1 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treates you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan.
6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.
7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
8 He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name.
9 Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.
10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he had come near to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at.
12 It will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me, but they will save you alive.
13 Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you.”
14 When Abram had come into Egypt, Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way.”
20 Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they escorted him away with his wife and all that he had.
commands to love enemies, do good, bless those who curse, pray for the abusive, turn the other cheek, give freely, lend expecting nothing back
27 “But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also.
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.
31 “As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them.
32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much.
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
36 “Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.
Peter saying do not suffer as a murderer or evildoer or meddler, but blessed if you suffer for Christ's name
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;
2 that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
3 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
4 They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming:
5 who will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.
7 But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.
8 And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
10 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.
11 If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
12 Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.
13 But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters.
16 But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
18 “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message opened the Sermon on the Mount, working through Luke 6 from the crowd gathering around Jesus down to the command to love your enemies. The preacher was honest from the start that he came in heavy that morning, and that weight stayed with the text throughout. The beatitudes and the woe statements were read together as a single, balanced teaching, not a list of warm encouragements.
What was said
Before a word of the sermon itself was read, the preacher set the scene: Jesus had spent a full night in prayer on the mountain, had then called and appointed the twelve, and came down with them to a level place where two groups were waiting. There were his wider circle of disciples and a great crowd that had traveled from as far as Tyre and Sidon. They came expecting both teaching and healing, and Jesus met both expectations. Luke the physician, the preacher noted, was careful to distinguish between physical illness and trouble from unclean spirits, and Jesus addressed both.
The healing ministry of Jesus was not left to stand on its own. The preacher walked through a string of Old Testament passages, including Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 61, to show that what this crowd was watching had been forecast for centuries. When John the Baptist later sent men from prison to ask whether Jesus was really the one, Jesus answered by pointing to exactly those signs: the blind seeing, the lame walking, the dead raised, the poor hearing good news. The miracles, the preacher said more than once, authenticate the message.
The beatitudes in Luke 6 were read carefully and without softening. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, those hated and excluded for Jesus' name. The preacher was clear that poverty itself is not the point. What Jesus is commending is not putting your stock in the things of this world. Each beatitude carries a delay, a promise that belongs to another time, and the preacher leaned into that honestly, including while sharing that his cousin had just lost a son that week. That loss gave the words "blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh" a weight that was personal, not abstract.
The woe statements were given the same weight as the beatitudes, and the preacher resisted the pull in either direction. He noted that some churches pronounce only blessing and others only condemnation, and said he wanted to hold both the way Jesus did. Woe to the rich who are already receiving their comfort in full. Woe to those who laugh at others' expense. Woe to those whom everyone speaks well of, because that was exactly how the false prophets were treated, which is the mirror image of how the true prophets suffered.
The passage then moved to what the preacher called a hard teaching, and he did not soften it. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who are abusive. If someone strikes you, do not strike back. If someone takes your cloak, offer your tunic. Give to everyone who asks, and lend expecting nothing in return. He pushed back on the idea that this amounts to being a doormat, and said the motivation is not passivity but transformation: you leave retribution with God, who will either justly condemn or mercifully forgive, and either way you may gain a brother or sister.
The closing logic of the passage, the preacher said, was what helped him most that week. The reason a disciple can do any of this is that God himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. That is where the common grace of God sits. The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. And since none of us started anywhere other than ungrateful and evil, the mercy that is being asked of us is simply the mercy that has already been shown to us. Be merciful, just as your heavenly father is merciful.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The preacher described the Beatitudes as countercultural to every earthly culture, something even scholars from very different backgrounds agreed on. Where do you feel the most friction between what Jesus says here and the way the world around you actually operates?
The sermon drew a distinction between being hated and excluded because of Jesus versus being hated and excluded because of your own attitude or actions. How do you tell the difference in your own life, and why does that distinction matter?
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you? I see would y'all rather have those open or closed? Open. That's what I've that's what I figured but it kind of creates a spot right here but we don't have anybody in that spot right now.
So, here we are. He keeps me singing. Would you stand? And we'll sing. He keeps me singing.
Also, well, I'll tell you in the announcements. We'll get to that. I'll announce then. We'll sing now. Alright.
Speaker 2There's within my heart a mellow deep. Jesus whispers sweet and low. Fear not, I am with thee. Peace be still. Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife. Discord filled my heart with pain. Jesus swept across the broken streams, stirred the slumbering courts again. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweet as my mind oath fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. Feasting on the riches of his grace, resting beneath his sheltering wing, always looking on his smiling face.
That is why I shout and sing. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest may my know. Tills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. Though sometimes he leads through waters deep, trials fall across my way. Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep, see his footprints all the way.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
Speaker 1Is that it? How about soon he's coming back to welcome me far beyond the starry sky? I shall wing my flight to worlds on none and I shall be with him on high. That's good. Amen.
Alright. It is well with my soul. We missed the last verse. It is well with my soul. Right?
It's it's okay. It is... Let's sing it.
Speaker 2My soul. It is well with my soul. It is well. With my soul is well soul
Speaker 1Amen. Horatio Spafford. Announcement. Y'all can have a seat. Have a few.
One of which is the Monday night service. We do a Monday night service every Monday night that is meal, music, and a message on Monday night, 06:00. It's good. It's really good. The meal, we take turns kinda covering, volunteers cover that, and it's it's really good meal.
And then the music is the 09:00 band singing through pertinent songs that kinda go with the text. Usually, there are songs go with the service here and the songs that go with the service there and it's amazing how scripture just kinda goes together, right? So, we do that and then for the message, Carl brings a message but we're doing these gospel conversation styles. Some of y'all during COVID got used to hearing Blake and Carl and and me over that time where we just get together online and talk about a passage from the gospel. So, Carl read through it and as he reads through it, he'll do a little expository preaching but then he gives an opportunity for questions or feedback or new insights and that's all fun.
It's really, really good. So, gospel conversation style, Monday nights at first b on that end of the building. Awana happens on this end of the building and everywhere else in the building. Awana spreads out pretty pretty thin all over this place. Awana because kids matter to God.
It's our kids program. And I actually got several encouraging reports during the 09:00 from people who bring their kids to that. I just want to say thank you for volunteering and for serving those kids. Pouring scripture into their hearts as we love them and letting that just take root in their little lives. It's good.
We have an offering box that is at the back. We will also take up, you know, offering with the traditional way with plates. We have online ways to give. But there are... There's a way now to put not just offers, but prayer requests.
If you want to, you can scribble it down. Now, you can always email us. Jane, actually, Jane Kranenburg, kinda has the charge of the what gets onto the prayer list, basically, and and it it comes out digitally. But if you wanna leave a request, you can leave it in that box and say, hey, I'd like for the staff to know about this or the pastor. Would one of you call?
I need to give you more details or you just say, please pray for me and we will be. That's good. So that's back there. It doesn't have to be money going into that plate. It doesn't have to be money going into that box.
So... Yes, ma'am?
Speaker 2They can
Speaker 1do it anonymously if
Speaker 2you want.
Speaker 1You can do it anonymously if you want to. You can do it specifically if you want to. You can can let us know how you want for that to be. I have one right now. So Tanya's mother's best friend's family.
Okay? Her whole family. Every member of her family is going through something right now, and it's very difficult. In Columbus, Georgia, long time friends, the Goolsby family. I could just share that with y'all.
The father of the family is dealing with one set of health issues, mother with another, daughter with another, son-in-law. It's just it's just everybody is going through it right now. And Linda called me and said, would you put this on prayer list of the Goolsby's? Jane, if you would, send that out. Thank you.
G o o l s b y. Goolsby. Goolsby. Okay. G o o l s b y, Bobby and Sharon.
I think Operation Christmas Child. So you all know what this is. There are a lot of shoe boxes that are empty back there in the back. You don't have to take that big one. That's an actual costume.
Okay? You don't have to take that one. It has holes in it for arms and a head. But the little shoe boxes back... Or regular size shoe boxes back there are to fill with goodies.
And you can fill that not with candy, please. Not with liquids, please. There is a little piece of paper in the box that says kind of what you should fill it with, but there are some other things that you shouldn't fill it with. But these boxes will be packed this week on Wednesday night. If you want to come to the packing party around 06:00 on Wednesday night, please feel free to do that.
Bring with you toys and gifts and hygiene items and things like that, but it can't be liquid, can't be toothpaste, can't be candy. But bring together things like that and we'll be packing the boxes and getting them ready to go. The cost per box to be sent out is $9. These are getting all over the whole wide world. And so if you want to bring those in, we're accepting them in the office.
Right, Diane? That's the place to bring them. If you get them here before that, and that evening, it'll just be a party of people gathering and packing them together. Anything else? The snowmobile trip.
There is a men's retreat, which is a snowmobile trip on January twenty eighth through the thirtieth up at Old Faithful Christian Ranch. And there are guys who snowmobile. There are others that bring snowshoes, and there are others that bring cross country skis. It's any kinda fun you want to have up there, but the $100 per person is a cost that pays for food and and the room at Old Faithful Christian Ranch. Richard Largie is the contact, and that is usually a very, very fun...
It's always a fun trip. I said usually like I didn't have fun one year. It's always been fun. Every time I've been there, it's been fun. There is the possibility when you're on a snowmobile that it ain't going to be fun, but it's fun.
We're having a hymn singing next week, so plan on it. Next week, I invited even the 09:00 service. Alright? I invited everybody that wants to come together. 01:30 next week, we're gonna give you a chance to go after the service, grab something to eat, and then come back.
At 01:30, we're gonna do a hymn sing. Special requests, If y'all wanna sing something, let me know and we'll try to do it. But mainly, it's gonna be congregational singing. We might pick apart some songs and sing some different, you know, soprano, altar, tenor, bass kind of stuff. Just fun stuff.
So him singing next week, November 21, 01:30 right here in this room. Sounds good. Connect hour happens between services. This morning, they had a great hot breakfast actually that Sandretto's prepared, but we kinda take turns with that, and, that's always good at 10:00. Many of y'all go to the 09:00 Sunday school service down there.
So you're right there first in line. And I think that that's it. Do I have an announcement I've forgotten about? Oh, I do. So we have been broadcasting these services for like seven years now on Facebook, First B Jackson on Facebook.
We decided to swap platforms, and we're going to YouTube instead of Facebook. It's a little bit easier. It's a little bit more accessible. It's even easier on our end to upload them. So YouTube will be our new manner of getting them out.
It will still be available on our website, but it just makes it easier to connect those two. Facebook can be difficult, as we all know, right? Anything else? Diane, look like you had some. Okay.
Cool. So if you search for first b Jackson, and you'll see the logo, with this cross on it. That's our logo, on the first b Jackson page on YouTube, if you'll search for that, and you'll find it. And then if you want to, they said that if 50 people subscribe immediately, that it makes it even easier to find. If that makes sense.
I'm not trying to entice you, but it would probably help. I should have announced that this morning. But if 50 people subscribe, then it makes it even easier for everybody able to find it. So, I think that's it though. Would you stand up and I'll move back to the musical mic and pray for God to open our eyes this morning.
Is Emily coming forward to sing with me?
Speaker 2Amen. See
Speaker 1Lord, we do want to see you this morning. I think of last week's scripture that Carl hit on Monday night and that we touched on in here last Sunday that when the Greeks came and they said to Philip, sir, we would see Jesus. We wanna see Jesus that you mark that as the place. This is the hour for you to be glorified. Lord God, may that hour be real for us today that we want to see you lord and where we seek after you, you will be found.
Amen. Another. Yep. The greatest thing in all my life. The tripartite greatest thing in all my life.
Speaker 2The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you. I want to know you more. Is serving you. I want to serve you more.
I want to serve you more. Greatest thing
Speaker 1Amen. Lord, to know you is to love you and to love you is to serve you. I pray lord that we would be right there with you and that we would carry the message forward in our our works and our words. Lord, thank you that you transform us. By your spirit, you make somebody who did not care care.
Amen. We have a time for the worship through giving. Now, I already mentioned the offering box at the back but we are going to ask that the elder, I mean, the the ushers would come forward and we'll pass the plates but would you pray with me over that? God, I'm overwhelmed lord by the generosity of of your generosity but lord, the way that your church plan A, your obedient disciples, lord. Their generosity has helped so many people in this valley and around the world.
I pray lord that we would be faithful stewards of all that is given as as this local small C church but lord, I'm thankful for the for the way that you empower us and you you enrich us to be generous, to live life with an open hand. God almighty, may we be faithful just as you're faithful. May we be merciful just as you are merciful. In in Jesus name, lord, we ask that you would take back some of what you've given so that others would know Christ. And you would set captives free.
In Jesus name, amen. Thank you, Judy. I... When I came into the first service this morning, I I... It felt somber to me.
But I... And I and I asked the first service flatly. I just said, it feels somber in here, but I I admitted it could just be me. I'm actually... I came in kinda hurting this morning a bit.
I'll share a bit of that in in the middle of the service, I imagine. But do you ever just feel heavy or it's just somber? It feels like I know that there's an abundant life here, but we've experienced this life to the point where we just feel empty and feel like, wow, it's heavy and mournful. And I feel kind of broke. You know what mean?
Not just broken, but kind of broke, destitute. And I felt that sense that this morning. Also, it was kind of empty. And if it was kind of empty, sometimes I just feel like, oh, is this it? Is it over?
I mean, I do. I'm being straight up honest with you. I just feel like, is this it? Oh, I I am entering into today the Sermon on the Mount. I think best sermon ever preached.
Jesus... The Jesus seminar is... Do you remember this? It's years ago. A lot of scholars from all different walks of life.
They were trying to decide who the historical Jesus was. The historical Jesus. And this is people from all different stripes, like I said. And so they take beads. A white bead means, yes, Jesus definitely said it.
That's all Bible. Right? But these are people from all different stripes and walks of life and different persuasions within what people would call Christianity. And they have white beads to say, yes, Jesus definitely said this. I believe that this is a historical Jesus.
And then black beads that said, no, I don't think he really said that. And then red beads. There's almost nobody who puts a black bead on the Sermon on the Mount. Okay? It is so revolutionary and so counterworldly, counter culturally...
Countercultural that everybody agrees it's a high standard and that Jesus actually said it. So you don't get that kind of unity very often. This is the best sermon that's ever been preached. So, my job is just to proclaim it, pronounce it, but not take anything off of it and not add anything to it and so I take that. That's that's one reason for being somber this morning.
The other is it'll come up in a little bit. Luke six seventeen, if you're here last week, you heard the passage leading up to this is Jesus himself went up onto the mountain to pray and he prayed all night long. And then after he prayed all night long, in the morning, he called unto himself the ones that he had chosen. Mark says, and he appointed them. He chose them to be the 12, like official representatives.
And it gives their names and their names, the list of names. I went through each one of them last week from all of the three synoptic gospels and acts where they're mentioned. And then this is the next verse. This says, and then Jesus came down with them. So there are 13 folks walking down this hill.
It's Jesus and his 12. And they walked down from the mountain where Jesus had been praying and they find alongside that mountain a level spot. It's the sermon on the mountain. I think of Snow King. We can walk up to the top of Snow King and you could see from the top of the mountain and it's a good place, I think, to pray.
Find a quiet spot up there somewhere and then, you can walk down and you hit places along the way that are level and it'd be a good place to, I don't know, gather crowds sitting up the hillside and then you turn around and look up and they can hear you and it it was like that and then Jesus came down with them and he stood on a level place. He and the 12. We're that. We're to We're We're level place, and there was also with them a large crowd of his disciples. These were other people who were devoted to Jesus, who had put their faith in him as Messiah.
General. It's the same term, disciples, disciples, but we capitalize the d when it is the 12 and we keep it lowercase when it is the a more general term. We can be small d disciples, but none of us are eligible for being the capital d disciples. Jesus came down with him, stood in a low place. There was a large crowd of his disciples and beyond just his disciples, there was a great multitude.
The great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. If you're looking for Judea on a map, it's the southern part of Israel, Judea. And if I were going to, in the first century time, throw a big circle around it, Jerusalem is the epicenter. Jerusalem is the big, place. It is the place for the Mount Of Olives.
It's the place for the temple. That's the place. But Judea is all around that. Jaffa down to Gaza and Hebron up to Ephraim. That's all Judea, the land of the Jews around Jerusalem.
But if you look at Tyre and Sidon, they're all the way up here. That's in modern day Lebanon. That's where Tyre... You can go there today. It's still the city of Tyre, and it will have ancient ruins from around this time period.
Sidon also in Lebanon. It is saying people came from all around. But specifically, I think Tyre is mentioned because Psalm eighty seven four mentions that... And when that day comes, he will be speaking to people from all of the extent of all the kingdoms, and it mentions kingdoms around them. But Tyre is mentioned by name, so I think that's why Luke includes it.
Not positive, but that's where they were from. When you're here, what's the first question you ask people from out of town? Where are you from? It happens all the time. Well, Luke heard that there were people from Tyre and Sidon.
That's a long way away from Jerusalem. That's a long way away from where this sermon was preached. There were folks from all over including his disciples and the 12, and they had all come to hear him. That's good. They wanted to hear what he had to say.
That's the message part of it. Now, a 100 times over, I have said, the miracles authenticate the message. But this says, first and foremost, they had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. So both were the expectations of this crowd. They didn't expect for him just to teach.
They thought he would teach and that he would do some miracles. They wanted to see it, to hear him, and to be healed. Plenty of good reason to see Jesus, to go out of your way to see him. And those who were troubled by unclean spirits were being cured. It's interesting here that Luke, the physician, would mention that they came to hear him and they came to be healed, and then again, there were those who were troubled by unclean spirits.
He recognizes that there's a spiritual realm, not just the physical. When he says, they were also being cured. These people were cured of their physical ailments and their spiritual ailments and maladies and that exists by the way. That exists. It really does.
There were people. The Bible mentions them throughout the New Testament, she'll see that and he had an unclean spirit which should often thrown him into the fire or knocked him down and caused him trouble. I spoke with someone this week that I actually believe... Really believe is troubled by an unclean spirit and has been thrown down by that spirit. And this passage is saying that they came to hear him and they came to be healed of their physical stuff, but they also...
Those who were plagued by unclean spirits were being cured. Jesus, wherever he went, it seemed like spiritual activity heated up. Right? I I think that wherever Jesus is, the spiritual activity is gonna heat up. If you're if you're seeking after God and you're seeking to put into practice his plan for your life and his will for your life, there's gonna be a spiritual attack and opposition that just kind of pre...
That follows that. Right? It comes along. Next verse 19 says, and all the people were trying to touch him because power was coming from him and healing them all. We've seen a lot of modern day things where there's a cab...
A a a car in the midst of a crowd, and everybody's trying to lean in and just touch the side of the car. This was beyond all of that. This great crowd was trying to get closer to him and closer to him and all the people were coming, trying to touch him because power was coming from him and he was healing them all. Again, miracles authenticating the message. What he had to say was important, really, really important.
I think greatest sermon ever preached. There are books and books and books that have been written about this. Thinking back though, I I wanna look back to the Old Testament. I'm gonna pick one verse from Isaiah 35 right here. But there were a lot of Old Testament prophecies that said that Messiah would do this kind of stuff, that he would be healing people, that the lame would leap, and that the blind would see and all that.
And I'm gonna show you one of them. Isaiah thirty five five says this, and then, in that day, then, when the messiah comes, then, will the eyes of the blind be opened? Did Jesus open any blind man's eyes? Multiple. Yes.
And the ears of the deaf unstopped. Did he do that? Yes. And then, will the lame leap like a deer? Did they do that?
Yep. And the mute tongue shall shout for joy. Yep. Water will gush forth. Jesus said, I am the water of life.
If you knew the one that was speaking to you right now, you would ask me for water because I've got the water of life. And anybody who drinks from this world will never be thirsty again. Waters will gush forth in the wilderness. Where did Jesus go? To the wilderness to fill up.
He often would would treat retreat into the wilderness to pray and streams in the desert. Now, virtually, all of this land that I showed you on the map, all of that is desert. Virtually, all of it. The ministry of Jesus was in a dry, thirsty land. This was from Jesus' first and his recorded first sermon that we have.
The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me. Oh, by the way, it was from Isaiah 61 which was written about a thousand years before Jesus' birth. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me. What? To proclaim good news to the poor.
Oh, we're about to get into the beatitudes, the very first one. Blessed are you who are poor. He had sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. Oh, another verse from Isaiah says that a bruised reed he would not break and a smoldering wick he would not extinguish. He was sent to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, for those who are oppressed, and release from darkness for the prisoners.
If I were to go on Deuteronomy, Moses says this when he... Before they enter into the promised land, and he can't. Before they enter in, he says, be looking for this guy. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites and you must listen to him. The tahib.
The tahib. That's what they mentioned. That's who he mentioned to that Samaritan woman. I know that we're supposed to be looking for a prophet. I'm he.
I'll raise up for myself a faithful priest. This is from first Samuel, who will do according to what is in my heart and my mind, God says. I will firmly establish his priestly house and they will minister before my anointed one always. The anointed one is the Messiah. He is establishing the house.
Christ says, I'm gonna build my church, and they're gonna do what I direct them to do. The days are coming, declares the Lord. This is from Jeremiah thirty one thirty one. When I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. And each time that we do communion, I always talk about Christ taking the cup and saying, this is the new covenant in my blood.
It's what you've been expecting for so long since the days of Jeremiah. Back to the Isaiah 35. And then, will the eyes of the blind be open, ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame leap like a deer, the mute tongue shout for joy, water gushing forth in the wilderness, streams in the desert. If you look at those and go, well, that seems like... Yeah.
I I guess that's there, but it seems like we... They should have known even better than that. Right? Well, back to this for just a second. There had been in between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there was a four hundred year span, which we call...
Theologians call the intertestamental silence, the silence of God between those testaments. He had said what he said. He was forecasting Messiah all throughout the Old Testament. He was presenting a merciful message which was supposed to be distributed by his people. They tended to hoard the blessing and repel everyone else.
That's just true. They analyzed the text of the scripture, and they had come up with the Targums, they came with the Midrash and they came up with a lot of other things and and that when Messiah comes, when Messiah comes, when Messiah comes, and Jesus was fulfilling even those extra biblical things. And we see that in John. John, I'd say, kinda fits with the last of the Old Testament prophets. His message was repent.
Repent. And then, this is actually the next chapter in Luke. It's one chapter away from where we're sitting right now, but this is when John the Baptist sent these guys. When the men came to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, Jesus, to ask, are you the coming one, the Messiah? Or are we to look for another?
You know, everybody gets discouraged from time to time. John the Baptist. Can you imagine that fiery preacher? He's kind of like, behold the lamb of God who takes upon the sins of the world. And then after two and a half, three years, he goes, was it wrong?
He started to doubt. So he sent some guys to investigate because he was in prison at the time. And at that very time, he cured many people of their diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. At that very time, he was doing all the things that Messiah does. And he gave sight to many who were blind and he answered and he said to those guys, those people who were asking for John, go and report to John what you have seen and heard.
People who were blind received sight. People who limped, walked. People with leprosy or cleansed. People who were deaf hear dead people are raised up and people who are poor have the gospel. Good news.
Preached to them. And blessed is anyone who does not take offense at me. Ain't that good? He reassured John's faith. And he said, I'm him.
I'm the one. I'm the Messiah. 19, and all people were trying to touch him because power was coming from him and healing them all. Miracles authenticate the message. And then it says, and he raised his eyes towards his disciples.
Carl and I often preach to one another back and forth, like sitting in our offices sometimes. I'll say, hey. How about this? And he'll say, how about this? It ties in with John in this way.
And we have a great little gospel conversation. I started reading this to him the other day, and I said, and Jesus raised his eyebrows at his disciples. It's not his eyebrows. It's his eyes. But I think sometimes he would raise his eyebrows at us and go, really?
That's how you took that? This says, and you you know, they come down with the 12. He stops, and he raised his eyes towards his disciples. That's important. And there's a parallelism he sets up right here, and it's very balanced.
I I might call it a chiasm where it's like presents positive side and presents the negative side. They rest on this fulcrum and it's just a perfect balance. They mirror each other, if you will. There's a parallelism there. He raised his eyes towards his disciples.
He's looking towards those who had left all to follow him and he began saying this, blessed are you. Blessed are you, looking at his disciples. Blessed are you. If you're a disciple of God, blessed are you. Blessed are you who are poor.
Blessed are you poor. It's not blessed are you because you are poor. Okay? Does that make sense to you? There are a lot of liberation theologians that have taught for a long time that it is it is Jesus has a special treatment for the poor and the poor only.
He's saying that, blessed are you that you don't put your stock in the things of this world. Blessed are you who are poor. For yours is the kingdom of God. I thought in between services today, I think Mary and Martha were both believers. No doubt about it.
But when Martha came out and was working so hard, working so hard and said, ah, tell her she needs to help me. And Jesus says, she's found the better thing, Martha. She's just taking it in. Right? Blessed are you who are poor, who are just devoted, have left aside everything else, for yours is the kingdom of God.
There there are four of these. And then there is a corresponding set of woe statements. He raised his eyes toward his disciples and began saying, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. We know that hunger is a thing.
We know that there is still a problem with people having enough to eat here in The US and definitely all over the world. In Matthew, it says, blessed are those of you who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And so we might extrapolate from that, but he's saying that you might actually go without some of your daily bread for following me. You might actually delay gratification for me, especially when he's right on the side of the mountain. He's looking up to his disciples and speaking out and says, blessed are you who are hungry now for you will be satisfied.
Third one, blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh. Blessed are those who mourn. And I... This week, I received word on Thursday morning early that one of my dear cousins, I grew up with him. I have used him from time to time in sermon illustrations here.
Reggie and Ted were my cousins and Ray and Toby were, you know, the two boys in my family. And we played army together, and we played all the things that you play as boys together. And Reggie and Ted and Ray and Toby were close, really, really close friends. And then when we all grew up, Reggie's a little older than me, he got married a little bit. Right around the same time I got married to Tanya, he married Elise.
And so Tanya and Elise have been outlaws, I mean, in laws in the family the whole time. And Reggie and I have been really close our whole lives. And Reggie lost his oldest son this week. Reggie and Elise lost Seth. And it was just a punch in the gut for everybody that knew him.
He's a dedicated believer and a follower of Jesus, and I don't have any doubt in my mind whatsoever about his eternal state. He is blissful and blessed. But boy, do we mourn. You know? Mama and daddy, Reggie and Elise, and Tanya, as soon as she heard, she just bawled and bawled.
And blessed are those who weep now, for you will be laughing. Pray for us as a family. Pray for us if you would. The Chapmans is their last name, Reggie and Elise Chapman. Seth is the son that was lost, and Matthew is his little brother who's always looked up to his older brother.
The merchant marine, he was coming in for thanksgiving, and when he came in, the message that was delivered to him was his older son had died. Personalization of scripture, I think, is good. This is this is not necessarily exactly what Jesus is talking about, but it's pretty close. Blessed are you who are mourning now over what you see. Jesus looking down from the hill over Jerusalem before he was crucified.
He looks in. He says, oh, that you would have just recognized it. Right? There's a mourning there, and he cried and wept bitterly because they would not choose him. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
There's a delay in the gratification. Blessed are you, this is a quite a list. Blessed are you, he's looking at his disciples, when the people hate you, and when they exclude you, and when they insult you, and when they scorn your name as evil. If I were to stop right there, it says, on account of the son of man. If I were to stop right there and it says, blessed are you, it really wouldn't say blessed are you if people hate you and exclude you and insult you and scorn you for being a jerk.
Okay? If they just hate you and exclude you and insult you because of what you've done to repel them away from you because of your attitude, that that wouldn't be the same thing. He's saying, blessed are you when that happens in my name. That... Does that make sense to you?
Blessed are you. Peter carries the same thing forward. He says, there is the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. The fellowship of the sufferings of Christ is when you're unjustly treated for his name's sake. Peter says just above that in first Peter four, he says, don't let any of you suffer because you're a murderer or an evildoer or a meddler.
That's on you. If you do those things, yeah, you get the treatment you deserve. But if you get that treatment because of me, then blessed are you. And rejoice on that day When they're when they're what? When they're hating and excluding and insulting and scorning you, he says, rejoice on that day and jump for joy.
For behold, your reward is great in heaven. There's a delayed gratification there. For their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way. How many faithful prophets were there in the Old Testament that just got no traction? They went before the king and he says, don't bring me that message or they went before the king's, you know, right hand man and he goes, oh, you can't deliver that message.
But it's the message that God had given for this king, Amos. A lot of them. Jeremiah, forty years of faithful pronouncement of God's plan. And they wrapped it around a rock and threw it in the river. And they wrapped him in bonds and threw him in the pit.
The fathers, their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way. And now, we get the balance, the woe statements that balance out those blessed statements. Now, it doesn't say this right here, but it says, and looking to his disciples, he said, blessed are you. And did he change where he put his eyes and said, but woe to you? I don't know.
Just amusing. Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are trusting in your riches. Woe to you who are rich for you are receiving your comfort in full. Now, the temptation here is to add or take away from this.
I'm just gonna let it sit just like Jesus said it. He said it. And I've looked up every Greek word in that sentence. I promise you. It means what it means.
Woe to you who are rich for you are receiving your comfort in full. And woe to you who are well fed now. I think most of us in this room are pretty well fed. Are we trusting in our own ability to produce, or are we trusting in Christ? Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will be hungry.
There is a great reversal that's coming. I like this. This is this is balance right here. Proverbs 37 through nine says this, two things have I asked of you, the wise man said, and do not refuse me before I die. This is the request.
Keep deception and lies far from me. I want to have an honest assessment of what's going on. I want to be truthful. Keep deception and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with the food that is my portion, not too little, not too much, so that I will not be so full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? I don't even need him. And so that I will not become impoverished and steal and profane the name of my God. He wants to have enough but not too much, not too little and not too much, and just say, God, give me this and allow me the grace to be gracious to others. Next is woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep.
Now, I... When I think of Jesus, I don't think of Jesus as straight face and somber a 100 of the time. I can see some things that I know were meant to be funny. I can see some hyperbole that he uses that I think that he probably told jokes and hung out with the guys and had a smile on his face much of the time. Not another commercial for The Chosen, but that's the Jesus that I tend to see.
The the way that they represent him as being someone who's winsome and joyful. Even though there is plenty to be upset and somber about. But this says, woe to you who are laughing now. I I take that the laugh there is when you're laughing and deriding someone. When you're making fun of people all the time, and boy, is that not just constant in our society?
Woe to you who are laughing now, for there is a day coming when you will mourn and you will weep. That great reversal is a big, big deal. Woe to you when all the people speak well of you. How many of you all are people pleasers? Don't raise your hand just because I said so.
Sorry. You recognize it about yourself. Woe to you when all the people speak well of you. It it's easy to try to capitulate, try to change your mind just to kind of fit in, you know, not to be... Not to stand out, but when...
Woe to you when all the people speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way. The false prophets. Oh, so Jeremiah, for every every time Jeremiah goes with a good message for... With a with a real message from God, there's another prophet that'll say something completely opposite, and the king wants to believe that so bad. Their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way.
Now, that's a negative reiteration of what we just saw that rejoice on that day, disciple of mine, jump for joy, your reward is great in heaven for their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way. So the negative reiteration is that, Woe to you when all the people speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way. So the parallelism is there, and it sets up the next portion. Say to the righteous. This is Isaiah three.
I like this too. This is good balance too. For the the person who would speak, the prophet of God, the person who would speak the words of God, says, say to the righteous that it will go well for them. And I wanna say that you can, by placing your faith in Christ, be made righteous. The The imputation of Christ's righteousness is available to the humble who ask for it.
Isaiah's words are, and say to the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their actions. Trust in Jesus and you will... It will go well for you. Woe though to the wicked, for it will go badly for him, for what he deserves will be done to him. So there's blessing and cursing.
I think that in our modern day, especially as far as national media goes, but also whenever you hear of a branch of the church, one or the other, it is often a church that insist on only proclaiming blessed with no woe whatsoever. Right? That tends to be prosperity gospel type stuff, or it tends to be less. Well, I'll I'll go with prosperity gospel for now. Or you get to another church that pronounces nothing but woe all the time.
The only only people who meet what God's expectation is this really narrow band right here, just us. And everybody else is wrong,
Speaker 2and woe be unto you.
Speaker 1I I want to be able to say, blessed are you poor, and woe to you rich, and have them properly framed the way Jesus did. He didn't say it was impossible for the rich man. He said it was hard because he knows the temptation to trust in what you have rather than what God will provide. He knows the temptation to trust our own intellect rather than his eternal word and truth. He knows the temptation there.
Woe to you when all the people speak well over you for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way. But I say... Jesus sets this one up. But I say this, you know, but I say to those who are listening, to you who hear, it's it's a message now. I mentioned that he turned his eyes to disciples and said, blessed are you.
I don't know whether he turned his eyes to anybody else and said, but woe to you. Blessing and woe. And then he says, I'm saying it to whoever's listening. And this is a hard teaching. Love your enemies.
Love your enemies. Who are your enemies? Oh, we love them. Love your enemies. We should have a diminishing pool of enemies.
Because if you love them, you remove them from that pool of enemies. Right? So... And I think politically, we are constantly challenged to frame ourselves in one group and other... There's another group that we're not a part of, and we're against them and they're against us.
And no matter what they say, we're gonna say the opposite. And Jesus says, love them. Love your enemies. Love them. It's unqualified.
Right? Grace can happen. It's unmerited favor. So you can share God's grace with anybody because they don't have to earn it from you. Love your enemies.
I say to you who hear, I'm saying it to those who are listening, love your enemies. If you're thinking of someone right now, love them. He goes beyond just loving them in your own heart, in between your ears and your head. He says, And do good to those who hate you. I say to you who hear, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.
I say to you who hear, who are listening. Jesus, same guy who said, if a Roman soldier requires of you to go with him one mile, which was law, they could ask you to do that. Go with me a mile. Carry my pack. And he said, go with him too.
But don't I have to do that. He's the evil force of Rome. He's your enemy. Love him. Carry his bag.
Wow. That's countercultural. And only by the spirit of God can we do that. Only by the spirit of God can we do that. Bless those who curse you.
Wait a minute now. God said all the way back in in Genesis 12, he said, Abraham, do this. Anybody that you bless, I'll bless. Anybody that you curse, I curse. He's saying, don't curse anybody.
He's saying, bless the ones who curse you. Bless those who curse you. I say to you who are listening, bless those who curse you. Pray for those who are abusive to you. And this, I can hear it right now.
They say, he's just saying be a doormat. He's saying very intentionally for the right reasons and the right motivation that you pray for the ones who are abusive. What would you want to happen to them? You'd want them to change. You want for Christ to transform them.
So you leave the retribution up to God. Leave space for him to do what only he can do. We pray for that all the time. Bless those who curse you. He will either justly condemn them for their abusive actions or he will mercifully forgive them and you'll have a new brother or sister in Christ.
I say to you who hear, bless those who curse you, pray for those who are abusive to you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. That one's hard. In the real world, you get hit on the cheek, it's real hard not to hit back. You know?
And we want to see revenge as human beings. Revenge is wired within us. Every story that you see, there's some element of revenge. Yeah. I'm going skip that story.
Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. I say to you who hear, there are times when someone will hurt you really and or they will offend you really, And it really is offensive. It really is a sin against you, but you don't send back Adam. Okay? Don't hit them back and don't offend back.
He's saying, if they hit you, that's on them. If you hit them back, it's on you. Whoever takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic from him... Boy, revolutionary. Stealing from you, and you offer them more than they've already taken.
I say to you who here, whoever takes away your cloak, don't withhold from him your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. What an unqualified statement that is. Just... That's out there.
Give to everyone who asks of you. And whoever takes away what is yours, don't demand it back. Boy, property rights, that's a very different way of thinking about things, isn't it? Give to everyone who asks of you. Whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.
I say to you who hear, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. That's the golden rule. This is the way Luke expresses it, New American Standard. Treat people the same way that you want them to treat you. And then really quickly through this because I think it's just he's saying, this is the way of the world.
For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that, don't they? Yes, they do. You love the ones who love you. Duh, everybody does that.
And if you do good to those who do good for you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. That's true in every culture everywhere. If somebody does good to you, you do good back to them. What credit is that to you?
There isn't any. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount or more. But Jesus says in the second time he said it, just in the first part of this passage, and it is a summary by the way. I don't know how long this sermon was the first time he delivered it, but our attention spans have gotten really short.
I broke up Luke's into two sermons, and Matthew's are probably gonna be several because it's three chapters in Matthew. But if you just read it, you could read all of Luke and all of Matthew's sermon on the mountain about seven minutes. I imagine he spoke for longer than that. He said this twice though in just these few verses, love your enemies. Love your enemies.
Enemies. Do you know who your enemies are? If you do, concentrate on praying for them and developing a love for them, an empathy, and a compassion for them. If they're outside of the family of the body of Christ, then there's a reason. Your motivation is completely different than their motivation.
Your transformation is completely absent from their lives, and you can love them and the way that you treat them can make a difference. Love your enemies and do good. Don't just stop at loving them between your ears or in your your heart. If you love them, do good. Do good.
Walk out the steps that God has prepared for you in advance. And it says, lend. Oh, now in the Old Testament, it says, if you lend to someone who is in need, you will have to do it again. That's what... That's a proverb.
It doesn't say don't do it. Jesus says, give to everyone who asks of you. And this says, love your enemies, do good, and lend. Do it, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great.
I said there was a delay. We can live an abundant life now. We can have plenty of joy now, mercy, patience, peace, and we can see the transforming power of Christ in our life, but we still will recognize that this world is broken and there'll be plenty of mourning, and there'll plenty of going without. But great will be your reward, and you will be children or sons of the Most They say sons, but it's like in Spanish where there's a group, a mixed group of men and women, you usually use the masculine term. So you will be sons and daughters of the Most High, children of God.
And this last sentence is the... The last part of this sentence is what I think helped me more this week than anything else. Our motivation is clearly spelled out. How is it that we can do all this? Why is it that we should do all this?
And this says, for he himself, the most high, God almighty, he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. The grace of God, the unmerited favor of God is flowing forth all the time. The common grace of God. Usually, the first thing on the common grace of God is the rain is caused to fall or God makes the rain fall on the just and unjust. Rain is a good thing.
It's what crops grow from. It's how we get the water to to be able to live, and he says, God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike for he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. Honestly, if you look at it theologically, there aren't any other people. We all start off as ungrateful, and we all start off as evil, and we can persist in that. I I feel like even after we have a real relationship with Christ, we can kind of ignore him for a while and we slip back into a place where we're not grateful and a place where we're downright evil.
He himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. So you, blessed are you, blessed are you when you don't put your trust in your own resources, but you put all of your faith in him and allow him to provide what you need. Last one is be merciful just as your father is merciful. And actually, when I read that in this day and time and having counseled as many people as I have, I I want to interject that that's definitely your heavenly father right there. It's a capital f just to make it completely explicit because I know that some of us, some of y'all, have not had a great experience with your earthly father.
But be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful. God almighty, would you allow us to let this sermon sink really, really deep into our hearts? May it make us more attuned to what you would have for us. May we reject the concept of enemy. And if we recognize we do have an enemy, and we do, we've got the adversary, we've got all of his minions that are working against what you're trying to do, Lord, if we recognize that we have an enemy?
Would you give us the wherewithal to be able to love them and do good, to lend expecting nothing back? Lord, would you be able... Would you just allow us to be able to trust you? We have to turn to you. There's no other way that this possible.
It's absolutely countercultural in every single earthly culture. In Jesus' name, I pray that you'd build up your church by people who will take you seriously, actually putting into practice this. Amen. I think that's the last slide. Would you all stand up?
There's a where he leads me, I will follow as the closing hymn today. And the altar is always open The end right here, the hymn of invitation and response. If you've heard this today and say, I gotta do something about it. I mean, by all means, go out into the world and do something about it. But if you just want a place to come and sit or kneel and pray, you're welcome to do that.
If you wanna speak to me, all these people know this song, I'll turn my microphone off and I'll talk to you right now. So, this sermon on the mount is really where it gets really, really real to us. I'm gonna call back to the prophet Amos. If you don't... If you haven't read Amos lately, it's really good.
It's really, really, really good and this is but I wanna say it. Seek after that which is good. Seek good and not evil so that you may live. And then the Lord our God and he will... The Lord God almighty will be with you just as you say he is.
Do you hear that just as you say he is? That's a that's a convicting verse on its own. But I want for you and for me both to take this seriously and go, am I just saying this or am I really practicing what Jesus is preaching? Amen.
