He Does All Things Well
First B Jackson
2022-09-11

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

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The end right at zero zero. Yeah, it's just great. I feel like traveling on was the name of that one. We're going to sing wonderful grace of Jesus. Wonderful, matchless grace of Jesus.

Would you stand and join? If you know your part, sing your part. If not, sing whatever comes up on the wall. How about that?

Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe it? Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea.

Higher than the mountains, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me. Broader than the scope of my transgressions, sing it greater far than all my sin and shame. Oh, magnify the precious name of Jesus. Praise his name. Wonderful grace of Jesus reaching to all the lost.

By it, I have been pardoned, save to the uttermost. Chains have been torn asunder, giving me liberty for the wonderful grace of Jesus. Reaches me. Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me.

Broader than the scope of my transgressions, sing it greater far than all my sin and shame. Oh, magnify the precious name of Jesus, his name. Wonderful grace of Jesus reaching the most defiled by its transforming power, making him God's dear child, purchasing peace in heaven for all eternity, for the wonderful grace of Jesus. Rejest me. Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus.

Deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me. Broader than the scope of my transgressions, sing it greater far than all I sin in shame. Oh, magnify magnify the precious name of Jesus praise his Amen.

Wow. That that last praise his name is too high for me. I have to have to drop out and let you sing it for me. We we have a story to tell to the nation. I think I mentioned it every time we sing this song but instead of pomp and circumstance for the graduation from CIU for seminary, we sing this song.

We we would sing this song. We have a story to tell to the nations.

Amen. Would you would you sing with

who the path of sorrow hath trod that all of the world's great peoples might come to the truth of God might Christ's great kingdom so come Amen.

Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements this morning. A lot of missed programs are start back up. September is the time when that happens. Monday nights at First B is a year round thing.

Monday, we are going through Philippians two, the first part of Philippians two. Carl will be bringing the message but there'll be meal. He said a pasta dish of some sort. That's what he said. Meal.

Music is the the band that plays for the 09:00 and then Monday, we'll be here ready to go. Meal, music, and a message every Monday night. It's a great unifying message from Philippians with Paul's motivation that he gives behind that. Connect hour happens down the hall between services. Feel free to come in and have food and have a chance to connect.

I know some of the folks in this service actually served in the in betweens and it was fantastic. Good good fellowship down there. Sisters Saved by Grace. Nancy Baxter has been leading for it's been a while, year and a half, probably two years. And every Thursday evening starting last Thursday, they started in the fellowship hall at First B, studying God's word together, having a meal together, and praying together.

Sisters Saved by Grace, it's down the hall, Thursday night, 06:00. It's a good, good time. Also, on Wednesdays, this past Wednesday was the first one of these that we've had here in several years. So it's the Jackson Hole Women's Bible Study. Deb Buckingham is teaching.

And there's a various lineup of musical guests is probably the best way to put it. Actually, Lissa Hunter is asking people to join in with her and leading different bands from different churches around. And I think we're towards the end of September, our band will be playing it with her. But that's happening ten to twelve in the after, ten in the morning until twelve noon, each Wednesday right here. Sound booth volunteers are still needed.

The lady that did the sound in the first service, sound and computer stuff in the first service, by her own admission told me. She said, I have to get my husband to crank up my Kindle and get to my story at night. And she ran it pretty much flawlessly this morning. That's pretty good. Seamlessly.

That's what Blake says. Yes, seamlessly. It was wonderful. Very good. So we have good people that can train you.

Nick and Blake can train you on how to win in that if you want to be in the sound booth. Awana is back. Awana is happening, starting up on September 26, so towards the end of the month, 05:45. Mike, are you around? Is he in the vestibule?

Is he down the hall? No. Okay. Mike is asking for volunteers. It takes about 20 people, 20 volunteers to run an Awana session for right now, we usually start off 40 to 60 kids and it usually grows the whole season.

And we have been in the neighborhood of 100 or so before. But it takes about 20 volunteers. And we will set you up to win. The reason we need volunteers is not because people who have done it before don't want to do it again. Everybody who still lives here is doing it again.

It's the it's the problem is that people move away from did you all know people move away from here? People move away from here. And when they move away from here, that takes volunteers away. So we need somebody to take the spaces of those folks. But it's coming back September 26.

We'd love to get as many volunteers as we can to help out. Ah, the kitchen. The kitchen whiz bank. We use thesaurus.com to come up with a different name for this position. We're trying to find someone who will watch over the kitchen and order supplies and take care of business and kind of be the coordinator.

It's not a difficult, everyday, all the time kind of job, but it's one of those jobs that's in the background that happens. And if it doesn't happen, it's obvious. Does that make sense? But it's not a whole lot of people calling on you all the time. It's just kind of stay ahead of things.

If that's you, please let us know that you're it, okay? We'd love for you to help us out. Dinner and a movie. On the Friday nights, not the first Friday. First Friday is already covered up with the first Friday fellowship where they do crafting.

But the rest of the Fridays in the month at 6PM, Nancy T. Terraziano is, doing the screenings of The Chosen in the fellowship hall. So if you want to be a part of that, come on down. That's good. Oh, Nancy T.

Is right back there in the back. Would you wave? That's Nancy. And if you are new to first B, actually it doesn't really matter. If you're new or old to first b, if you have something you'd like to communicate to us, this is a way to do it.

We've put the little cards and the seat backs in front of you. And if you want to scribble out a note that is a prayer request or, wanting to connect with a pastor or you just want to write something, you can write it on that little card. Put it in the offering plate and we will see it. Somebody wrote the sweetest, sweetest thing last week and it was from anonymous and it just blessed me. So, thank you.

That was cool. But they're there again and old bills. Old Bills. Yesterday was the kind of the fun run. It seems like that's the culminating event, but the giving season is still open for the next few days.

So up through September 16, if you want to give to any of the, there are lots of them, 300 and something were at the old Bills deal yesterday. They had all these tents set up and some of those things are incredibly specific. Did you all go? Have you wandered around this? No?

Oh, there are lots of them that are very, very specific. Ours is for our benevolence fund. So if somebody comes in and says, I had no idea what it would take. I came here for a job that I thought I had. When they saw me, they said the position has been filled.

And we don't have room for a hotel. Our car is breaking down. Those kind of stories, we can say, Yes, we can help with that because of the Benevolence Fund. It's very nice to be able to say that. There are other things that you can give to, but that one is the one that we use it for here.

Anything else? I got one. I got that one too. Thank you very much. Jack and Bev, would you all come forward, please?

So somebody that has been around for a long time here. And a lot of times we give a blessing as people go, and we missed y'all. And so we are we have been praying a blessing on you since then, but we just love you and we wanted to give you a shot at being upfront and I have asked Phil if he would to pray for y'all. Good to see y'all. What is this?

She says. Talk about we were talking

about people moving away. Mhmm. And Bev and Jack moved away. They've been here not quite three decades. Oh, okay.

So something like that. So they're back just for a brief brief visit back here, so we want to recognize them today. Would you pray with me? Most gracious heavenly father, you are the one true living God. Father, we praise your name.

All good comes from you. And while we worship you this morning, we want to recognize and honor these servants of yours. Bev and Jack have been faithful steadfast faithful servants of yours, Lord, and to your kingdom and to this church. We are so grateful, so thankful. We love them.

And, father, now we want to continue to ask for your blessings over them. Hold them. Give them health. Give them protection. We pray for safety.

We pray for peace. We pray for comfort in their lives in the years ahead. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Well, it's wonderful to be here to see all these faces. It's just great to be back. We love you all. We miss you.

My wife is a talker. We live in Birmingham, Alabama now, which was a big, big change. And we have a nice group that we meet with right there in the in the place that we live, and we enjoy them. But we sure do miss miss you guys, and we try not to think about you too much so we won't get lonesome and sorry that we made that deal. But but it's it's nice to be back and thank you for your concern.

Would you all stand with us? Thank you. Thank you. We love you all. Holy, holy.

Not to be confused with holy, holy, holy. We're gonna sing about the holiness of God. We're gonna sing it a couple of times and then the third time through, we're gonna do a key change. Be watching for it. Okay?

Holy, holy, holy, God almighty, Holy, and we lift our hearts before you as a token of our Holy holy holy holy, gracious father, gracious father, We're so blessed to be your children, gracious father. And we lift our heads before you as a token of our love. Gracious father, gracious father, precious Jesus, precious Jesus, We're so glad that you've redeemed us, precious Jesus. And we lift our hands before you as a token of precious Jesus. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit,

you We're gonna sing He is Lord. Hymn number 34. Similar, we're going to sing a couple of times through and then we'll do a key change and finish up.

Is lord. Is lord. He lord. He is risen from the dead and he is lord. Is Lord.

He is Lord. He is risen from the dead, and he is Lord. Every knee shall bow every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Amen.

Y'all can have a seat. Want to invite the ushers to come forward. That actually every knee shall bow and every tongue confess is going to be part of Carl's message tomorrow night. It's from Philippians two. Would you pray with me?

God, I thank you for your presence here with us right now. Lord, I pray that your divine presence would be very active in showing us your way, showing us Jesus, showing us how he would act in a situation and empowering us by the very same spirit that empowered him to act accordingly in that same way. God, would you show us your will and your way this morning? Would you show us how to proceed? In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask your blessing on this offering that you would do with it as you will, that we would recognize it and be a part of what it is that you're doing here on earth.

In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask for your will for our lives. Amen. I've got a little this song to me every time I hear it. She played it for a prelude this morning but every time I hear this song, it's culturally different from the church I grew up in to what we call the old church on the other side of town and that kind of goes along with the theme of the sermon today. So, I'm going to sing this a little bit more like the old church than the new church, okay?

Probably. I can't help but sing it that way. So, that's way it's going to go.

Amen.

That that may sound like a subtle difference. I don't know but the way that I grew up singing is exactly the way we do all the time here. That's that's the way that uncle Tommy led music. That's the way I learned and that's the way I kind of do it whether I want to or not but that it that sounds like the old church to me. So, cultural differences exist and they abound and they're all around us all the time.

Today, what we're going to talk about is Jesus broadening the scope of ministry for his disciples. Then and now, but if you would you agree with me that cultural differences exist? Yes. And so if you are if you grew up in a place like I did, you it's West Central Georgia. Nobody from West Central Georgia would claim to be from Middle Georgia or South Georgia or North Georgia.

Although they have all their benefits and we love them, people are very specific about where they're from. And I think that's probably the way where most of you grew up. You're like, I'm very specifically from this place. Now, where we live in Jackson is a mix of cultures. If I were to ask the people in this room where you grew up, we'd get some very different, very different things.

And if you hear my accent and this fellow's accent right here, we grew up 90 miles apart, basically. I can hear the difference between us and you all might not be able to Right? And you all can hear a difference. So there are cultural differences that exist. And if we were to do a little geography review here this morning, right now, here we sit.

Actually, when I did this, I was in my office. It is amazing how specific Google Earth can be, right? It knows the difference in that wing of the church and this wing of the church. This is where we are between Cash and Glenwood on Kelly gathered in Jesus' name and looking to him. But if we back away from this little spot and we look at the greater community around us, we see Jackson.

This is East Jackson, right? It's a little different than south of town. But there we are, all of Jackson including Raptor J and headed towards Melody there. And we get a little further up than that, we see we're a part of the Intermountain West of what? The United States Of America.

We see the Great Lakes there and the Pacific Ocean. But if we take a moment and we scan out and we just let that globe turn and we cross the Atlantic, that big blue, and we get over there, is there a culture difference between here and there? Oh, there's a cultural difference between here and Cheyenne. Like really? Big difference.

Actually, people from Cheyenne pretty much dismiss you if you're from Jackson, right? When Renzi left town, Renzi left town to move to Sheridan. When he left town, he got stopped by a policeman speeding. And the policeman said, Jackson, He said, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. He said, have a nice day.

There are cultural difference around. North Africa is very different from The Middle East, but it's a part of it, kind of. If we keep on letting the globe spin and then we zero in, a lot of what we cover here on Sunday mornings happens in a relatively small area. That area right there is the full scope of Jesus' life was spent in there. And actually of his ministry, most of it was spent in a seven mile span.

Not all of it. We're going to cover some of it that wasn't. Most of his time was in Galilee, not all of it. But this covers Galilee and Samaria and Judea and even the flight into Egypt and back. You can see that.

The little tip down here, the Red Sea, this part of it is in Israel right there. And then on the other side of that, it's Egypt. So you see the Nile Delta over there too, the Suez Canal. This is a modern picture. But Jesus' life was spent on that slide right there.

And we are used to seeing a little cartoon map that looks like that because it's and it's a shame that TVs go this way and that map goes this way. I can't make it any bigger for you. I'll blow it up a little bit. All of the scope of what we're covering today will fit into that. If it's the broadest reach of Decapolis as far as you can go, it's right there, all on the same map.

That little scale at the bottom that shows it's 20 miles, that's not a big place at all. If you go from this place right here down to Smoot, Wyoming, it's like traveling from Capernaum down to Jerusalem. Okay? Elevation is different, but it's like that. If you go top to bottom from the topmost place in Phoenicia, Sidon we'll mention today, and down to that, it's only a 100 miles down to the Dead Sea to Jerusalem, right there to Jericho, actually, and then up the hill to Jerusalem.

But it's only about a 100 miles wide and 80 miles covers that picture, what we're used to seeing. So this is what we're gonna look at today, A little cartoon map we're used to. And one more thing. This this thing I have, and I know Rich has studied these things. This is Earl's view, the bird's eye view of the life of Christ.

And if you pay attention to where things happen and when they happen, it makes a difference, right? It's a very dramatic difference sometimes. We see on this chart, I'm not going to go through it all. Praise God. I'm not going to go through it all.

But if you look at that and then kinda zero in, this is what we've covered together in our study of Matthew, Mark, and Luke looking at the synoptic gospels all at the same time. We already covered the birth and the flight into Egypt and he was born in Judea. Right? Bethlehem, Jerusalem up to Galilee. We know why.

Why? Because of Herod. He fled Herod the great son and they moved back up to Nazareth and they were there in Galilee. And then they'd go back for feast into Jerusalem, and we saw that. We saw him going between Galilee and Judea, but we also saw him with his disciples pass through Samaria.

We must go through Samaria. Now that's not the normal way that they would have gone, but they did. And so if we're looking at Jesus' ministry, what we've been covering lately are these little three circuits of ministry right here, all in Galilee. And then today, we're gonna get up into Phoenicia. It's the only time he goes up into Phoenicia by record that we know of.

So this is that whole area that we're going to cover today. But here, we'll get into it. The Decapolis. If you look up what is the Decapolis, it's 10 cities. I mean, that's what it means.

But the list of the 10 cities, Pliny's list, Pliny the elders list, is these 10 cities in black up here. And there's only one of them that's on the Western Side Of the Jordan River, Sythopolis. But that is considered to be the Decapolis. When we look at that, it's a very Roman area. It is extremely different culturally than the area that Jesus has been ministering in in Galilee.

If you remember, Jesus sent out actually, let me back up just a second. Jesus sent out his disciples, and when he sent them out, he told them, go and minister, but don't go any into any town of the Gentiles. Well, Galilee is Galilee of the Gentiles. How can he say that? They know the difference.

I know the difference in my neighborhood. What's culturally the same, what's culturally different. And they were not ready yet to be crossing cultures the way Jesus was. So he said, you go into those cities. Don't go into any city of the Gentiles.

That's not not forever. It's just for that tour. Right? So he sends them out two by two. They go out and they minister and they cast out demons and they carry the message of Jesus and things are going well.

Fame is coming and then they come back together. Now, we were to move on forward here, excuse me for the flipping, but here's Mark. This is where we're starting today. Mark and Matthew, we'll go back and forth. The story is told.

Mark primarily is to a Roman audience, and Matthew is primarily to a Jewish audience. Both are good for all, but there's a slightly different take. Now Jesus got up and he went from there to the region of Tyre. Now, last week, if you were here last week, it was a hard message for everybody. Jesus was kinda blasting the Pharisees, and he gave us a long list to examine our lives.

It's not what we take into our body that's that defile us. It's what is already in there and flows out of our mouth. That's what defiles us. And so he gave us this long list and afterwards, said, summary of that message is Jesus, man, nobody's safe. Like everybody that's listening to his word is going to find themselves wanting, right?

In need of a savior, in need of God's love and his discipline. Everyone and so, anyway, Jesus got up from there and he went from there to the region of Tyre. Now, that's all the way up here. That's different. We have seen Jesus ministering in mostly Galilee and down through Samaria and to Jerusalem and even one trip over into Decapolis.

But it says Jesus went away from there. This is Matthew. He withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. So that's Tyre and that's Sidon up near the top. You see how that's different and away from where he usually goes.

Now lately, we're still doing our geography review. We've seen Jesus all over Galilee and sending out his disciples all over Galilee. We know that they went down to Judea, and they probably went down more times than are listed in the scriptures, but we know of the times that are listed. He went down to Judea and came back through Samaria once that we know of, covered Gentile I mean, covered the area of Galilee, and even set off from there and went to the Decapolis, to Gadara, the Gerasa, to an area where a man charged out from among the tombs filled with demons. And he met them with legion in him.

Demon possessed. And it says that Jesus cast out those demons. They went into a herd of pigs. Culturally, that's very, very different, right? There's a herd of pigs.

Unclean animals. Well, it's in Gentile Decapolis. It's in a very Roman area. It's not unusual to eat bacon over there. But as they left from there, that man asked if he could go with them.

He wants to go. Jesus has made me whole. I want to go with you and he says, nope, you stay here. That's a little sad But he had a plan for that man. You stay here and you tell everybody what God has done for you.

And so he did. We don't hear anything else about him for the rest of scripture. But when he gets back is today, Jesus gets back there. So, here we go and when he had entered the house, this is Mark. He wanted no one to know about it.

Can you see this Jesus? When he went up to Bethsaida after hearing of John the Baptist's death, he goes up to Bethsaida. He's trying to get away for some rest. But the crowds followed him. And when he saw the crowds, they were like sheep without a shepherd.

And he had compassion on them, and he taught them, and he healed them, and eventually he fed them. Now, is Jewish audience. It's a Jewish audience. We know because in John six, he says, and seeking to make him their king, he sensed that they were seeking to make him their king, he withdrew from them. He walked.

He had fed 5,000 people, and then seeing that kind of power, they were gonna take him. He's the prophet, the one Moses told us about. Let's take him, make him king. Jesus withdrew. And then when he withdrew, he went back over to Gennesaret and he healed and he did the same thing that he had been doing.

When he had entered a house, this is all the way up in the region of Tyre, is Phoenicia, modern day Syria or maybe Lebanon. And when he had entered a house, he wanted no one to know about it and yet he could not escape notice. But after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at his feet, and now the woman was a Gentile, Mark says, of Syrophoenician descent. And she repeatedly asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Syrophoenician descent, she's in the area of either Syrophoenicia, Phoenicia, or Syria, depending on how you look at it.

That makes sense that that's her descent. That's where she's from. She repeatedly asked him to cast the demon out of her. I like Matthew's version of this story better right here, and a Canaanite woman. Canaanite, really?

That's Old Testament. Canaan is not even a land anymore. Canaan's not even a people anymore. A Canaanite woman. There's a little tinge of prejudice right there.

Canaanite infidel. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out saying, have mercy on me, son of David. So she recognizes lordship and she recognizes lineage and she was calling out for mercy. My daughter is severely demon possessed. But he did not answer her with even a word.

And his disciples came up. Mark says it was repeatedly. His disciples came up and urged him saying, send her away, Jesus, because she keeps on shouting at us. She's persistent, and she's repeatedly, and she's Canaanite, and she's Gentile, and she's Syrophoenician, and I don't want have anything to do with her. Get rid of her.

Send her away. Because she keeps shouting at us but he answered and said,

I was only sent to the lost sheep of

the house of Israel. Now, in Matthew, that's what he says. Listen listen to this in Mark. He was saying to her, let the children be satisfied first for it's not good to take the children's bread and to throw it to dogs. Does this sound like Jesus to y'all?

Okay. Let's back up. I'm going to read this with the sarcasm font. Okay? Jesus and the disciples are saying, send her away.

We don't want have anything to do with her. And Jesus says,

well, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's why I've been sent. Right? I fed 5,000 Jews up there. I've been doing all this stuff in the Jewish town.

I sent you out just to the Jews. Only here for the sheep of the house of Israel. Right?

And then the lady says, let the children be satisfied first. Oh, and and he was saying to the lady, let the children be satisfied first. It's not good to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs. Dogs is actually an insult to the Gentiles. Doesn't sound like Jesus to me.

Was like, well, I'm gonna feed them first, you know. It's not good to take away from the children and throw it to

just the

old Naredwells, the dogs. But she answers and says to him, yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs. And he said to her, Because of this answer, because of this answer, go. The demon has gone out of your daughter. And after going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

Matthew says it this way, But she came and she began to bow down before him. Okay. Lord, help me. Yet he answered and said, It's not good

to take the children's bread and

just throw it to the dogs. And she said, Yes, Lord, but please help. For even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And Jesus said, woman, your faith is great. I can see him breaking out and smile after that.

Now the the the lesson, I believe, I think, I could be wrong. But I think the lesson is for the disciples. They have not adjusted to the worldwide, every tribe, tongue, and nation scope of the gospel. They're still stuck in their paradigm of this is for us. Even the disciples.

Now the other people, he's Messiah. When they figure that out, we wanna make him king. But even the disciples are not seeing the scope of his ministry. Oh, woman, your faith is great. Remember the woman that that reached out and touched the hem of his garment?

He stops everything while he's headed to Jairus' house to heal his child? And he says, who touched me? Mainly, he was saying, it is your faith that has made you whole so that it's not misunderstood. Your faith made you whole. Oh, woman, your faith is great and it shall be done for you as you desire.

And her daughter was healed at once. That's no different from what he has done for other people in the past. But she is different culturally than some of the people that have been listed. Mark. Okay.

After that, he left the region of Tyre and he came through Sidon to the Sea Of Galilee. It's kind of weird that they go from Tyre, which is in the South, to go north through Sidon and then come back towards Galilee. Not Sea Of Galilee, but that's alright. You can go any kind of way you want to. He left the region of Tyre, came through Sidon to the Sea Of Galilee within the region of Decapolis.

And they brought to him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking. And they begged him to lay his hand on him. And Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself and he put his fingers in his ears. And after spitting, he touched his tongue with the saliva. And looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, he said to him, Ephesians, which is be opened.

And his ears were opened. But the word of the Lord, Right? And the impediment of his tongue was removed and he began speaking plainly and he gave them orders. Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.

It's interesting that when he sent the demons out of the Gadarene demoniac and left, he told him, tell everybody. Tell them all what God has done for you. And then while he was there, he was just saying, don't tell anybody, but they did anyway. And they were utterly astonished saying, he has done all things well. They don't have the whole history of the Old Testament like the Jews had, but they examined the evidence and they said, this guy has done all things well.

He makes even those who are deaf hear and even those who are unable to talk speak. Wow. Matthew departed. There Jesus went along the Sea Of Galilee and after going up on the mountain, he was sitting there and large crowds came to him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, and were unable speak, and many others. And they laid them down at his feet and he healed them.

So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking. Those with impaired limbs restored. Those who were limping, walking around, and those who were blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel. Amen. They glorified the God of Israel.

This was not, at the time, their God. They were not it's not their God. They had a whole series of Roman gods probably added to their pantheon. But when they saw what Jesus did, they glorified the God of Israel. They didn't have all the history, but they knew what he had done.

And they glorified the God of Israel. Praise God. In those days, when there was again a large crowd, that just seems to go with Jesus. Right? There's always a large crowd seeming to gather.

Even if he's trying to get away, which is what it seems like he was trying to do. He went up to Tyre and Sidon to get away, couldn't hide, But he also had things to do there. He was teaching his disciples that lesson. When they come back down to the Sea Of Galilee, they don't stop on their side. They go all the way around to the other side into the Decapolis and that large crowd up on that mountain had nothing to eat.

This sounds like an echo of something we've heard before. Jesus summoned his disciples and said to them, I feel compassion for the people because they've remained with me for three days already and they have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they'll faint on the way. Some of them may come from a great distance. So does this sound like Jesus having compassion?

Yes. That's what Jesus does. Can you remember that just one chapter ago in both Matthew and Mark that we were having the same same thing go on, but it was in a Jewish area? And I think his disciples probably still had that separated. His disciples replied to him, Where are we going to be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place?

They'd said that before too. It was even on a hillside, same kind of way. There are so many similarities in these stories that some people have been tempted to put them into to one thing. They're not. They're different.

They're different. They're in different places at different times. They have different stuff going on too, but I think what he's showing is the similarities between the cultural differences. Jesus is treating them the same. Where are we gonna find any food in this godforsaken place to satisfy these people?

And he was asking, how many loaves do you have? And they said, seven. That's a little more than they had. The last time this happened. And Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I feel compassion for the people.

This is Matthew's version. Because they've remained with me now for three days. They have nothing to eat, and I don't want to send them away hungry for they might faint on the way. And the disciples say to him, Where are we going get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd? And Jesus says to him, how many loaves do you have?

Everything about this seems similar. He start they come to him complaining about not being able, and he had already shown them that they would be able. He would give them what they needed distribute it among the people. They said to him, How many loaves do you have? They said, Seven and a few small fish.

Mark. And he directed the people to recline on the ground. Same word, Same thing he had said to the 5,000. And taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks and he broke them. Same thing he said before.

And started giving them to his disciples to serve. Same as before. They served them to the people. The same as before. They also had a few small fish, and after he blessed them, he told the disciples to serve these as well.

And they ate and they were satisfied, same as before. And they picked up seven large baskets full. Well, were 12 baskets before. It's a different word for baskets. These are bigger baskets.

Isn't that interesting? What was left over of the broken pieces? About 4,000 men were there, and then Jesus dismissed them. That's Mark Matthew. He directed people, sit on the ground.

Same thing he had said before. And took the seven loaves and fish, and after giving thanks, he broke them and started giving them to the disciples. The disciples gave them to the crowds. They all ate and they were all satisfied, and they picked up what was left over, the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children.

Jesus had a blessing for them. Their cultural background was very different, and it was very different for the disciples, I'm sure. But Jesus was showing them that God has a blessing for all of the nations, for all of the families. Matthew ends this way, this story, and sending away the crowds, which he did before. Jesus got into the boat and he came into the region of Magadan, is on the Western Shore of Galilee, and that makes sense.

That's back to their home turf, sorta. Mark says, and immediately he got into the boat and his disciples and came into the region of Dalmanutha. Dalmanutha is the region where Magadan is, and they end sort of the same way, but listen to this. And the pharisees came out. They're always around, aren't they?

Well, they weren't mentioned at all in the Decapolis. They weren't mentioned at all. And you know what? Unusually, the message was actually not mentioned in Decapolis. It it doesn't emphasize it anyway.

Miracles always authenticate the message, but the message, I think, I believe, the message this time was for the disciples that there's no favoritism with God. Yes. For the Jew first, but it's also for the Gentile. Does that make sense to you? Immediately, he got into the boat.

He comes over to Dalmanutha, and the Pharisees came out and they began to argue with him because that's what they do. They had already decided that they had a special place that was a favored position and that God was with them and not everybody else. Pharisees came out, began to argue with him demanding from him a sign from heaven to test him. How many signs does this man have to do? How many times?

Sighing deeply in his spirit. I see Jesus in this, to me at least, I can see him going, oh, ho, ho. You know, with the, I'm only here for the lost people of Israel. And then smiling and saying, yes, that's a good word, lady. You got what you need.

And then here he goes. Can you see that? Sighing deeply. In his spirit, he says, Why is it that this generation demands a sign? Truly I say to you that no sign will be given.

You've already made up your mind. So there they are, back across home territory, Magadan, Dalmanutha, Capernaum and Migdal, Magdalup probably. And it's a real place on a real map. It still exists. Culturally, it's different from one side to the other.

Culturally, it's different. There are a lot of little imaginary lines that we've put on this map that separate people. But God has a blessing for all peoples, and Christ knows that. And he is willing for us to know that. Thank God that he does not show us all of our sin at once.

Thank God that he does not show us all of our prejudice at once. But thank God that he is persistent with us and showing us how he really does mean it when he says every tribe, tongue, and nation. He really does mean even those who are the furthest away, the vilest sinner who truly believes, right? That moment from Jesus, pardon receives. He really does mean it.

Would you all stand with me? Guess we're going to sing a hymn of invitation, and this one is actually a hymn of invitation. It's one of the strongest evangelistically speaking. It's one of the strongest hymns of invitation I've heard lately. It's so good.

It's have you any room for Jesus? And I think that when we hear this, it'll be mostly we think about salvation and walking an aisle. But I want you to think about this. It doesn't stop at salvation. There's a sanctification that Jesus provides.

If you have room in your heart for the savior, you have room in your heart for the sanctifier. You have room in your heart for the one who really does love all the peoples of this world. In Jesus' name, I pray, Lord, we'd be involved in the mission of God and allow room for you to show us how you want us to grow and where you want us to move. Amen.

For pleasure, room for business. But for Christ the crucified, not a place that he can enter in the heart for which he died. Room for Jesus, king of glory. Hasten now his word obey. Jesus.

Soon will pass God's day of grace. Soon your heart left cold and silent, and your savior's bleeding

The benediction today is from Romans two ten and eleven. It says, but glory, honor, and peace are for everyone who does good. You know what those Gentiles saw of Jesus? It said, he does all things well. May that be what people see in us?

But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good or who does well for God does not show favoritism. God, would you help us not to show favoritism? Would you allow us, lord, to, yes, take care of the brothers and sisters in Christ by all means. But, Lord, would you allow us to look outward into this world and to just be a blessing? Would you show us how, and would you give us the truth, Lord, to back it up and share?

Amen. Amen.