back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 9.17.2023
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We're going to go ahead and begin our worship service. 00:10:01.080 |
[MUSIC - "ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING"] 00:10:51.080 |
and thou silver moon with softer gleam, oh, praise Him. 00:11:18.080 |
Let all things their Creator bless and worship Him 00:11:44.080 |
and praise the Spirit, three in one, oh, praise Him. 00:12:17.080 |
come and rejoice in His great love, oh, praise Him. 00:12:36.080 |
He's lost all your burdens now on Him, oh, praise Him. 00:13:22.080 |
Heaven and earth will join to sing, oh, praise Him. 00:13:41.080 |
all creatures of our God and King, oh, praise Him. 00:14:01.080 |
All right, good morning, and welcome to Bering Community 00:14:12.480 |
We have, again, quite a few announcements to get through. 00:14:23.440 |
And you're welcome to park across the street over at Alliant. 00:14:29.600 |
so that we would have less of the children crossing 00:14:45.880 |
So for the Halloween period, we have people come in and open up 00:15:02.000 |
And that's taking place on October 31 from 5:30 to 8:30. 00:15:07.480 |
And all the candy and stuff will be provided for you. 00:15:15.480 |
we have a fellowship luncheon that's taking place 00:15:22.520 |
again, if you are 50 and over, that fellowship is for you. 00:15:36.880 |
So if you are working or volunteering with the children, 00:15:40.800 |
our church requires that you get some training, safety 00:15:44.640 |
And so if you haven't had one or you need to get a refresher, 00:15:52.920 |
So please sign up for that if you need to do that. 00:15:55.000 |
Our next membership class is happening on October 1 00:16:12.480 |
There's a Church Cleaning and Maintenance Day. 00:16:15.320 |
So there's a lot of stuff that needs attention in the church. 00:16:17.840 |
Even though we have cleaning on a weekly basis, 00:16:20.120 |
there's a lot of things that kind of pile up. 00:16:21.760 |
And there's some things like maintenance things 00:16:24.480 |
So we're having an all-church Cleaning and Maintenance Day 00:16:27.720 |
Saturday, October 7, October 7, from 9 to 12 o'clock. 00:16:35.000 |
Because there's so much traffic in the church now, 00:16:37.080 |
there's a lot of things that we need to cover. 00:16:48.000 |
And then lastly, Thanksgiving regional dinner. 00:16:53.360 |
Our church-- we're going to take sign-ups for that as we get 00:16:56.520 |
And we're going to divvy up our church members 00:17:04.520 |
So if you're willing to open up your home, just to open up, 00:17:06.440 |
you don't need to do anything other than open up your home. 00:17:08.800 |
And if you're willing to do that, please sign up. 00:17:11.160 |
And we need more homes that we can kind of adjust 00:17:21.720 |
Then today is the last day to sign up for the BBA. 00:17:28.040 |
want to play full court, the ladies basketball. 00:17:30.320 |
So that takes place on Sundays, starting from October 1. 00:17:47.720 |
And then, again, if you have a physical offering, 00:17:51.760 |
But otherwise, we'll give you a minute to give your offerings. 00:17:55.240 |
Father, we thank you so much for calling us here to worship, 00:18:04.080 |
to bring us together, Lord God, to corporately-- 00:18:12.280 |
I pray that in our singing, our giving, our fellowship, 00:18:16.280 |
all of it, Lord God, will be a pleasing aroma to you. 00:19:22.500 |
Church family, why don't we all stand together 00:19:27.180 |
And maybe some of you saw I introduced this new song 00:19:35.260 |
What we wanted to do is go through the lyrics with you. 00:19:40.180 |
we want to be mindful of what we bring before God. 00:20:05.780 |
And the chorus goes, "All glory and honor, all power 00:20:21.300 |
that we come with the acknowledgment of He is worthy. 00:30:33.140 |
All right, so somebody told me that we have many more in line, 00:30:40.140 |
but they are just--we just had another baby this week, 00:30:52.140 |
Before they get started introducing their children, 00:30:59.140 |
Even when he is old, he will not depart from it." 00:31:03.140 |
There's a difference between proverb and promise. 00:31:06.140 |
Oftentimes, they'll read the proverb and say, 00:31:09.140 |
"Hey, we've done this, and it didn't turn out the way it says." 00:31:12.140 |
Proverbs is basically general truth and advice of life. 00:31:16.140 |
And so these are the things that God has ordained, 00:31:19.140 |
that parents are to raise up their children in a godly way, 00:31:22.140 |
and everything that they learn is going to benefit them 00:31:27.140 |
But not necessarily is a promise that if you do A, B, 00:31:32.140 |
The promise is when God says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, 00:31:35.140 |
and all these things shall be added unto you," that's a promise. 00:31:38.140 |
What we read here is a proverb, proverb meaning that this is 00:31:41.140 |
a general truth in life that God has ordained 00:31:44.140 |
that the discipleship happens at home, right? 00:31:49.140 |
They learn at church, they learn it with friends, 00:31:51.140 |
but first and foremost, God has ordained that the raising up 00:31:54.140 |
of the children happens with the mothers and with the fathers, 00:31:57.140 |
and that everything that they input into their children 00:32:00.140 |
that they do in word and deed, even though you may not see 00:32:04.140 |
a fruit right away, that long-term, everything that they learn 00:32:07.140 |
at home is going to somehow affect them in the future. 00:32:10.140 |
And so we're going to open it up, and we're going to have 00:32:24.140 |
He's almost 2 years old, and he's been dedicated already, 00:32:36.140 |
which we find in the Psalms, and it means something like "pause" 00:32:48.140 |
hoping that she would become a woman who will pause, stop, 00:33:05.140 |
We have two other kids, Adelyn and Lucas, 11 and 9, 00:33:20.140 |
but God had other plans, and that's really awesome. 00:33:28.140 |
So we named him Micah because it sort of sounds like both of our names, 00:33:34.140 |
but with Carmen's name sounding like how you would say it with a 00:33:51.140 |
So we just pray that he will know the Lord at an early age, 00:33:58.140 |
and we pray and ask the church to pray for us that we do not treat Micah 00:34:09.140 |
as our idol, but that first and foremost that God is our center, 00:34:14.140 |
and that we continue to worship and love the Lord, 00:34:35.140 |
This is our daughter, Chua, Jacqueline Chua Shin. 00:34:39.140 |
And then our son is Joshua Chua Shin, and his name -- 00:34:45.140 |
let me think about this real quick -- means as God wills. 00:34:49.140 |
And the actual Korean, Hanja, that his name means is actually firm 00:34:57.140 |
So I think our prayer request is simply for us as parents just to raise 00:35:03.140 |
Joshua was one of the few names that I could think of that didn't bother me 00:35:13.140 |
And then also just for our children that they may know God early, 00:35:18.140 |
and that they may just be a pillar of faith for the next generation. 00:35:33.140 |
Aiden means little fire, and Elijah means Yahweh is my God. 00:35:37.140 |
So we pray that he'll be passionate for God as he grows up. 00:35:51.140 |
And this is our second child, William Jungwoo Poon. 00:35:55.140 |
He's almost seven months old now, and we like the fact that he was born on a 00:36:04.140 |
This compensates for his older brother who should have been born on 12/12/2020, 00:36:18.140 |
So far, William seems to have a pretty friendly personality, 00:36:26.140 |
So it just so happens that his middle name means "righteous friend." 00:36:30.140 |
And for our prayer requests, we pray that he would continue to be friendly 00:36:35.140 |
and show God's love to those around him, and then secondly, 00:36:40.140 |
that he would love and follow Christ in an increasingly secular culture 00:36:57.140 |
And this is our three-month-old son, Ezekiel, Russell Tang. 00:37:01.140 |
We chose the name Ezekiel because we admire the character, 00:37:05.140 |
the prophet in the Bible, Ezekiel, and how he boldly proclaimed the gospel. 00:37:11.140 |
And so our desire for him is to know the Lord and also to boldly proclaim 00:37:20.140 |
Please also pray for us as first-time parents to have wisdom, 00:37:24.140 |
but also to keep Christ at the center of our family. 00:37:35.140 |
This is my wife, Sarah, and this is our three-month-old Corbin Everidge-Shea. 00:37:39.140 |
Corbin's name comes from the Hebrew word korban, 00:37:42.140 |
which means "gift" or "offering devoted to God." 00:37:45.140 |
And essentially, those offerings are meant to bring one's relationship 00:37:50.140 |
And this is a reminder that his life is not ultimately our own for our own 00:37:57.140 |
And our role here is just to shepherd and disciple him to the best of our 00:38:03.140 |
And even now, he is reminding us that our sacrifices are of sleep, 00:38:09.140 |
are drawing us closer to God every day, as all the other parents can attest. 00:38:32.140 |
We stole the name from Fuji and Rachel's baby. 00:38:43.140 |
and it was through that conviction that I also wanted to name our son Ezekiel. 00:38:47.140 |
So Ezekiel means God strengthens, and his middle name is Caius, 00:38:52.140 |
And so if you guys could just pray for us as also first-time parents that we 00:38:56.140 |
would disciple our child and that he would know the Lord. 00:39:05.140 |
But I also ask that as we pray for the parents and for their children, 00:39:10.140 |
again, as I think all of us are in agreement that what's happening in our 00:39:14.140 |
world is becoming -- obviously it's always been secular, 00:39:17.140 |
but morals and the things that they're teaching are so, like, 00:39:22.140 |
abhorrent to the things of God and all the more. 00:39:26.140 |
I mean, it's always been important that the church community, 00:39:28.140 |
that we are able to raise children in a godly setting where we're like-minded 00:39:35.140 |
that the children are able to have a community that they're being raised up 00:39:38.140 |
where even though that they don't fit in in the world, 00:39:41.140 |
but at least in the church they really feel like this is a place where they 00:39:44.140 |
can grow up together with similar mindset with parents. 00:39:48.140 |
And so all the more that as each one of the parents are praying that they will 00:39:54.140 |
that they will be a witness and come to faith early on to be a witness for 00:40:00.140 |
Again, not just for them, but our whole church. 00:40:03.140 |
You know, the older I get, the more just naturally you start thinking about the 00:40:08.140 |
Like what is the church going to be like when the older people are gone, 00:40:12.140 |
when I'm not here, when our kids or grandkids are going to be the ones who are 00:40:16.140 |
going to inherit, hopefully, God willing, the church. 00:40:21.140 |
What will our grandkids, what will the church be like for these children when 00:40:25.140 |
they are older and what kind of witness are they going to have? 00:40:28.140 |
And all the more why it's important for us not to just think about us, 00:40:33.140 |
but what we're doing and how it's going to affect them in the next generation. 00:40:36.140 |
So as we pray for them, I pray that you would join me in prayer for them and 00:40:44.140 |
Father, we thank you so much for the blessing and the joy that you've given 00:40:49.140 |
each one of these homes, Lord God, of a new life that ultimately comes from you. 00:40:54.140 |
And as they wrestle and struggle, Lord God, of being parents and raising up 00:41:03.140 |
I pray, Father, that your Holy Spirit and your word would truly be effective 00:41:08.140 |
in their homes from a young age, Lord, that each one of the parents would be 00:41:13.140 |
able to lead their children and that they would hear the gospel from home, 00:41:19.140 |
Lord God, through the mother and through the father, Lord, before anywhere else. 00:41:23.140 |
And we truly ask, Lord God, as you warned us, as wickedness grows stronger, 00:41:30.140 |
Lord God, that the love of most will grow cold. 00:41:33.140 |
And we pray, Father God, as we see the wickedness, 00:41:36.140 |
we see the decline of morality around us, that especially now, Father God, 00:41:41.140 |
for us and for the next generation, that you would be enough, 00:41:45.140 |
that we would be able to say that me and my household, 00:41:50.140 |
that we will serve the Lord and that that decision would carry forth, Lord God, 00:41:57.140 |
So we lift them up asking for your grace and your blessing and the strength that 00:42:01.140 |
they need, Lord God, to raise godly children for the sake of your kingdom. 00:42:07.140 |
All right, let's let them go with a round of applause for all of them, okay? 00:42:18.140 |
All right, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 6, verse 17 through 19. 00:42:30.140 |
"Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, 00:42:34.140 |
and there was a large crowd of his disciples and a great throng of people 00:42:37.140 |
from all of Judea and Samaria and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 00:42:42.140 |
who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, 00:42:45.140 |
and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 00:42:49.140 |
And all the people who were trying to touch him for power was coming from him 00:42:58.140 |
I pray for your Holy Spirit to illuminate and teach us your heart and your mind 00:43:06.140 |
You know, those of you who are semi-new to our church, 00:43:09.140 |
when you were coming to church you probably examined to see if this is a church 00:43:15.140 |
And typically when people are looking for a church, you know, 00:43:20.140 |
And maybe some of you may be slightly different, but one is what do they teach? 00:43:40.140 |
So you look at the pictures to see, like, is this a place I'm going to feel 00:43:45.140 |
And typically, I mean, you have a children's program and missions program 00:43:49.140 |
and various things, but I would say a majority of the people, 00:43:52.140 |
those three things are probably what causes people to make a decision that, 00:43:56.140 |
I think I'm going to feel comfortable here, or this is where I want to belong. 00:44:00.140 |
This is a community that I want to be a part of. 00:44:03.140 |
Now, all that is important because it will kind of dictate to you whether 00:44:07.140 |
you're going to fit or whether you're going to learn, whether you're going to grow. 00:44:11.140 |
Now, again, I say all of that as an introduction because in verse 17 to 19, 00:44:16.140 |
it kind of outlines for us, it introduces for us Jesus' ministry. 00:44:22.140 |
Typically, when we're studying the Bible, we have to find out the context. 00:44:28.140 |
So if I said something, and if you don't know who I'm talking to and why, 00:44:32.140 |
what is the problem, what is the circumstance, and what's my goal, 00:44:36.140 |
you're going to take what I say out of context, and that happens in the news 00:44:40.140 |
It happens with politicians, and you want to twist the words that somebody said 00:44:44.140 |
to make it fit your narrative, and you can do that. 00:44:46.140 |
But if you want to accurately understand what is being said and why certain things 00:44:51.140 |
are being done, you have to know the context. 00:44:54.140 |
And so the context is, first and foremost, who is he speaking to? 00:44:59.140 |
Who are the audience that he is doing this in front of? 00:45:03.140 |
So when Jesus says what he says and the things that he talks about 00:45:06.140 |
and the miracles that he performs, who is he trying to address? 00:45:10.140 |
So helping us to understand who is there, who's coming to him, 00:45:14.140 |
who are the people that he's looking at, what are they thinking, 00:45:17.140 |
what are the issues that they have, will help us to understand the rest of what 00:45:21.140 |
he is trying to do and what he's trying to say. 00:45:27.140 |
And then the second, what is attracting them? 00:45:36.140 |
So those are the two main things that we want to look at this text. 00:45:39.140 |
And the first thing is he identifies three separate groups of people. 00:45:44.140 |
One are the apostles, which he went, and we've been talking about the apostles 00:45:49.140 |
the last maybe about two to three months, and who they were 00:45:53.140 |
and how each one of them had their different personalities. 00:45:56.140 |
But the apostles are not people that can just come and say, 00:46:02.140 |
"Hey, I'm going to be an apostle," because they were handpicked by Christ. 00:46:06.140 |
I know in some circles they use the term "apostle" just generically 00:46:12.140 |
And so I've seen people use that in a charismatic background, 00:46:15.140 |
or I've seen people say it like, "Oh, I'm overseeing many churches, 00:46:20.140 |
But that term "apostle," though generically it means the people who are sent, 00:46:25.140 |
but most of Scripture when they use the term "apostle" is referring to 00:46:28.140 |
these handpicked disciples of Christ that no longer exist today. 00:46:34.140 |
There are specific miracles that happen, and they were given to us 00:46:40.140 |
So in Ephesians 4, verse 11, it says, "And he gave some as apostles, 00:46:44.140 |
some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors, 00:46:50.140 |
And so the apostles were given first to lay the foundation for the church. 00:46:59.140 |
So when Jesus comes down, he has already chosen the twelve. 00:47:03.140 |
So when he says, "second to a group of people, a large crowd of disciples," 00:47:10.140 |
He's referring to a larger group of people outside of the twelve 00:47:17.140 |
And so they had some loyalty to him, but they were not the twelve. 00:47:26.140 |
They've already kind of thought, "Oh, that must be the Messiah." 00:47:29.140 |
They probably were people who were waiting for the Messiah, 00:47:32.140 |
who may have grown up in a synagogue, and when Christ came, 00:47:35.140 |
and when they saw his powers, that they at least professed 00:47:45.140 |
They're not just part of the main crowd, but they are called disciples. 00:47:53.140 |
because we typically think if they are disciples, they're saved. 00:47:58.140 |
But the Bible clearly tells us that not all disciples were genuinely saved. 00:48:04.140 |
We know that because the term "disciple" is used 00:48:08.140 |
and oftentimes tells us that they no longer followed Christ. 00:48:13.140 |
In John chapter 6, 60, these were people who saw the miracles, 00:48:18.140 |
they ate the miraculous bread and fish, and they were looking for Christ. 00:48:22.140 |
They were attached to Christ enough that wherever Jesus went, 00:48:26.140 |
these are the people who wouldn't leave Jesus alone. 00:48:29.140 |
So after the eating, they wanted to forcefully make him king. 00:48:33.140 |
They follow him to the other side of the sea. 00:48:36.140 |
When they find Jesus, Jesus looks right through their superficial faith 00:48:40.140 |
and says, "You're following me not because you know who I am. 00:48:43.140 |
You're following me because you ate bread and you want more." 00:48:47.140 |
And so it's in that context, he says, "The only reason why I even gave you bread 00:48:55.140 |
You want the gift that I can give, but you don't really want me." 00:48:59.140 |
And so in that exchange, he says some things that are difficult for them to swallow. 00:49:05.140 |
And then in John 6, 66, or John chapter 6, verse 60, he says, 00:49:12.140 |
"many of his disciples, when they heard this," 00:49:17.140 |
And then verse 66 is, "As a result of this, many of his," who? 00:49:21.140 |
"disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore." 00:49:26.140 |
So not everybody who are disciples were genuine believers. 00:49:32.140 |
Not everybody who claimed to believe persevered in their faith. 00:49:38.140 |
The term "disciple" was a generic term that oftentimes the Bible uses 00:49:44.140 |
But within that group, yes, there are genuine believers. 00:49:47.140 |
But also within that group, there are people who had superficial faith, 00:49:52.140 |
who are only coming to him because they saw the miracles, 00:49:55.140 |
only coming to him because they thought, "We're going to benefit. 00:49:58.140 |
If we establish him as our king, we're going to benefit." 00:50:01.140 |
And so when trials came and difficulties came, 00:50:04.140 |
many of them who only wanted the bread, only wanted the miracles, 00:50:13.140 |
If you've been a Christian for any period of time, 00:50:19.140 |
The Bible describes--Jesus describes four different kinds of seeds 00:50:22.140 |
where he gives the seed, some fall on the ground, 00:50:26.140 |
they don't understand it, so the enemy comes and snatches it away. 00:50:29.140 |
Those people are very easy to identify because they'll openly say, 00:50:37.140 |
They may have heard the gospel and they have willfully 00:50:45.140 |
where immediately they say, "Oh, that's great. I want Jesus. 00:50:49.140 |
I want to go to heaven. What do I have to do?" 00:50:52.140 |
"Well, raise your hand, come to the front, we'll pray for you, 00:51:00.140 |
but because there is no foundation, they start out great, 00:51:04.140 |
eventually they fizzle out and it doesn't bear fruit. 00:51:11.140 |
That second group of people in India will not last, 00:51:17.140 |
in Afghanistan will not last, because they're tested. 00:51:22.140 |
It's not worth the sacrifice that they need to make. 00:51:25.140 |
But in a post-Christian culture where you and I live, 00:51:28.140 |
that second group of people, even though they've already rejected the faith, 00:51:46.140 |
And so the focus of the second group, even though in places where 00:51:52.140 |
the circumstance is going to force you to make a decision to leave, 00:52:01.140 |
Your parents are Christian. Your brother's Christian. 00:52:05.140 |
So even though in every way you are no longer following Christ, 00:52:09.140 |
you're still at church, part of the community. 00:52:11.140 |
And this is where we have a lot of problem, right? 00:52:15.140 |
Because there's a large group of people in the church who have willfully 00:52:24.140 |
but willfully rejected Christ and are Sunday school teachers. 00:52:28.140 |
And sad to say, could be willfully rejecting Christ and be in leadership. 00:52:35.140 |
If you've been in church long enough, you've probably seen some of them. 00:52:38.140 |
The third group of people are people, it says, where it falls on thorny soils. 00:52:46.140 |
And these are the people who may rise up and people say, 00:52:51.140 |
But he says, "Because of the difficulties in life and temptations of riches, 00:52:58.140 |
And so on the surface, they have all the product that a Christian would look-- 00:53:08.140 |
When you actually go there to get some fruit, there's no fruit in it 00:53:16.140 |
And that group of people is even harder to tell 00:53:19.140 |
because they go to church, they're committed to church. 00:53:27.140 |
But at the core of who they are, they never bear any fruit. 00:53:31.140 |
And if you ask them, "Have you ever shared the gospel with anybody?" 00:53:36.140 |
Even though we sing songs about Christ and his love and joy 00:53:44.140 |
And I'm not saying that every genuine Christian has to have experience 00:53:53.140 |
There's no drive for them to, "I have to bear fruit. I need to bear fruit." 00:53:58.140 |
And then he describes the fourth group, "It falls on the soil, 00:54:00.140 |
and then it grows and bears 30, 60, 100 fold." 00:54:04.140 |
So in this crowd who say that they're disciples of Christ, 00:54:13.140 |
Now, let me give you a very simple definition of a follower of Christ. 00:54:18.140 |
And if you want to disagree with me, keep it to yourself. 00:54:24.140 |
But if you disagree with me, I think you will all agree with me. 00:54:28.140 |
If you want to say you're a follower of Christ, what do you need to do? 00:54:41.140 |
You can't say you're a follower of Christ while you're not following Christ. 00:54:46.140 |
You can't say, "I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, but Jesus is over there." 00:54:50.140 |
It's like, "Yeah, he's over there. I'm here." 00:54:54.140 |
It's like, "Wow, he's going over there, but I'm not interested in that. 00:55:00.140 |
So a simple definition of a follower of Christ is one who follows Christ. 00:55:14.140 |
In any other culture, it was just, "Of course. Why would you even have it defined? 00:55:20.140 |
But only in a post-Christian culture, where you have people who were raised in the church, 00:55:25.140 |
made decisions, raised hands, and got involved in church, and did all this stuff and activity, 00:55:31.140 |
But if you say, "I don't know if you're a follower of Christ, how dare you question me, 00:55:39.140 |
But a simple definition of a follower of Christ is someone who follows Christ. 00:55:43.140 |
So this large crowd of his disciples, are they genuine followers of Christ? 00:55:48.140 |
Yeah, they followed him as long as he was feeding them. 00:55:50.140 |
They followed him as long as he was healing them. 00:55:53.140 |
But as he started heading toward the cross, they stopped following him. 00:56:01.140 |
And as a result of that, they were no longer followers of Christ. 00:56:06.140 |
The third group of people, it says, "Great throng of people." 00:56:09.140 |
And there's a reason why Luke separates the large crowd of disciples versus the great throng of people. 00:56:16.140 |
He didn't just say, "Here's a bunch of people together." 00:56:18.140 |
He said, "Here's one group of people who are called disciples, and many of them aren't going to persevere, 00:56:25.140 |
and then here's a great throng of just crowds that are coming." 00:56:28.140 |
It's interesting because when he describes a crowd, he says they came from Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon. 00:56:35.140 |
Now, when we just read that in English and not knowing the context of that, you may just say, 00:56:41.140 |
Well, Judea was like a county. It was a region where Jerusalem belonged. 00:56:46.140 |
So it's like saying these people came from Orange County, Irvine. 00:56:50.140 |
Orange County is the region, and in that region is specifically targeting Irvine. 00:56:55.140 |
If I said, "A bunch of people came from L.A. from Beverly Hills." 00:57:00.140 |
I don't know if that's still, you know, when we were younger, Beverly Hills was like where all the rich people lived. 00:57:07.140 |
But if I said, "They came from L.A., Beverly Hills," you know exactly what I'm talking about, right? 00:57:12.140 |
I'm saying that they came from that region, but a bunch of rich people are there. 00:57:16.140 |
If I said, you know, "L.A. County," and I said some other city that's not known for that, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:57:22.140 |
So when they say Judea, Jerusalem, it means that that was the epicenter of Judaism. 00:57:30.140 |
And then when they say Jerusalem, Jerusalem was where the temple was, 00:57:33.140 |
where the good Jews went and made pilgrimages there to make sacrifices, you know, for annually. 00:57:39.140 |
So what he's saying is people from all the region where the Jews were committed, 00:57:45.140 |
the Pharisees and the leaders of Israel who were committed Jews were also coming. 00:57:53.140 |
This is Galilee. Jerusalem's down here. Tyre and Sidon's way up here. 00:57:57.140 |
And the reason why he mentions Tyre and Sidon is because that area is known to be filled with Gentiles. 00:58:03.140 |
So when he says that this large crowd of people were coming, that people who were committed Jews 00:58:09.140 |
and people who were Gentiles were all coming together because they saw what was happening and they wanted to be. 00:58:17.140 |
So he's describing a very broad group of people that were coming to him. 00:58:21.140 |
But he distinguishes between this large crowd and the people who call themselves disciples. 00:58:27.140 |
Because in this crowd, there are many who are what we would modern day call looky-loos, right? 00:58:33.140 |
So looky-loos, I don't know if you guys still, you guys know what looky-loos is? 00:58:39.140 |
Is this outdated? All the Jubilee people know what I'm talking about, right? 00:58:43.140 |
Looky-loos in the real estate context are talking about people who have no interest in really buying a house. 00:58:49.140 |
They got exactly $15.40 in their bank account, so they don't have a down payment for the house. 00:58:55.140 |
But they love looking at houses. So when the real estate agents have an open house, 00:58:59.140 |
you have a bunch of looky-loos who don't have, you know, maybe their credit score is 450, 00:59:05.140 |
and there's no way that they're going to get a loan. But they just enjoy going to houses, 00:59:09.140 |
eating the free snacks, you know, and talking to people. They're just outgoing people. 00:59:13.140 |
They just like to live. If one day, maybe I can afford this. 00:59:17.140 |
And so it's understood that if you do an open house, you know, 90% of them are looky-loos. 00:59:21.140 |
They're not serious buyers. So one of the first things that they do is they want to see, 00:59:25.140 |
did you come with an approved loan, right? Are you a looky-loos or are you somebody serious? 00:59:31.140 |
So you have looky-loos are people who are just kind of, "Something's happening over there," right? 00:59:36.140 |
You're just sticking your neck out because you're just curious. You have no intention to buy, 00:59:40.140 |
but if something's happening, I don't want to miss out. You know, I heard they give you free food, 00:59:44.140 |
free health care. You know what I mean? That something's happening, right? 00:59:49.140 |
Now, you know what I noticed is when our church was small, we didn't have a lot of looky-loos, right? 00:59:55.140 |
Because we're just small. People, they stand out like a sore thumb. 01:00:01.140 |
When you come to a small church and you have, you know, if you have 30 people, 01:00:05.140 |
29 people are going to be asking you, "How are you? What do you do?" You know? 01:00:08.140 |
And so, but as the church gets bigger, more and more people are saying, "What's happening? 01:00:12.140 |
Something's happening over there." I, actually as our church grew, we started getting people 01:00:18.140 |
who are very like bold and we would ask them like, "Oh, what brought you here?" 01:00:22.140 |
And they said, "I'm looking for a wife." They straight up said, "I heard you guys are a lot of young, 01:00:26.140 |
single people. I'm looking for a wife. I'm looking for a husband," right? 01:00:30.140 |
And my initial response is, "Oh, this guy's really honest." 01:00:36.140 |
And then the second response is, "Watch out for that guy," right? 01:00:42.140 |
But more and more, when you have a large crowd, it feels like something is happening. 01:00:46.140 |
It attracts a bunch of people for various reasons. Now, in this group, there might be people 01:00:50.140 |
who hear the gospel and then they end up coming, you know, and becoming disciples 01:00:54.140 |
and then followers of Christ, right? But also in this group are a lot of people 01:00:58.140 |
who are coming for relationships. They're coming to sense of belonging. 01:01:03.140 |
They're coming because out of habit. They're coming out of superstition. 01:01:07.140 |
That you grew up in the church and that if you don't go to church, God's not going to bless your marriage. 01:01:11.140 |
God's not going to bless your, you know, your children. And so, for superstitious reasons. 01:01:16.140 |
Or maybe there's some benefit of coming here because you're able to participate in sports 01:01:21.140 |
and participate in this and that. And this group has a mixture of all of them. 01:01:27.140 |
Jesus says of that group, He would not give Himself to them because He knew what was in them. 01:01:35.140 |
Even though He attracted multitudes, He never did anything to keep the multitudes. 01:01:43.140 |
He made sure that the multitudes, when they came, that they heard the truth. 01:01:48.140 |
And when He said, "Not everybody who calls Me, 'Lord, Lord, child,' into the kingdom of heaven," 01:01:51.140 |
He was talking to these groups. He wanted to make sure because His desire was not to attract the crowd. 01:01:56.140 |
His desire wasn't simply to get the largest crowd possible to go to Jerusalem. 01:02:01.140 |
He was seeking for true believers, true followers of Christ. 01:02:06.140 |
Now, true followers of Christ come through the crowds. 01:02:09.140 |
True followers of Christ eventually make a profession. 01:02:12.140 |
And then true followers of Christ eventually will persevere in their faith. 01:02:17.140 |
Jesus' ministry was gaining a larger and larger and larger crowd. 01:02:23.140 |
And you'll see as we chronicle Jesus' ministry, as the crowds become larger and larger, 01:02:34.140 |
Because He knows that many of them are coming to Him for the wrong reason. 01:02:39.140 |
And He knows that when it is time for Him to go to the cross, 01:02:44.140 |
that many of them who followed Him and wanted to forcefully make Him king 01:02:48.140 |
are going to be the same ones who reject Him. 01:02:54.140 |
They came that maybe if they follow Jesus, that He's going to bless us. 01:03:00.140 |
And it is to them that He says, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. 01:03:06.140 |
Nobody comes through the Father except through Me." 01:03:09.140 |
The reason why He's saying that is because they're coming to Him. 01:03:13.140 |
That they're hoping that through Him that they will be fed. 01:03:17.140 |
That through Him that their family's going to be okay. 01:03:22.140 |
The only reason why I am even doing any of these things is so that you would understand that I am. 01:03:33.140 |
Because we would naturally think that all these people are coming from all over. 01:03:37.140 |
Even the leaders of Israel were coming because they heard that He's opening the blind man's eyes. 01:03:46.140 |
He had all the signs of what a Messiah is going to have. 01:03:52.140 |
So you would think that the reason why they were coming is because He was performing miracles. 01:03:58.140 |
But the way that this text tells us is, "Who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases." 01:04:08.140 |
Luke chapter 5, verse 15, "But the news about Him was spreading even further. 01:04:11.140 |
And large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sickness." 01:04:17.140 |
I remember years ago when we used to go out to St. Anna to pass out food. 01:04:22.140 |
Before we started doing it ourselves, I would go there and find out what other ministries are doing. 01:04:27.140 |
So that I could learn from them and copy that. 01:04:30.140 |
And maybe we could go and find another day we could go start feeding. 01:04:34.140 |
So as I was going there and kind of trying to help out on the side. 01:04:37.140 |
Figuring out, "Okay, this is what you do. This is where you get the cheapest food. 01:04:40.140 |
This is the kind of food we should bring, not to bring." 01:04:42.140 |
But I started to notice that the people who were coming there to get fed, 01:04:48.140 |
they had this cliche or this phrase that they would say underneath their breath as they were going to get fed. 01:04:53.140 |
And what they would say is, "We're going to go get beans and rice in Jesus Christ." 01:04:59.140 |
If you go to St. Anna and say that, they'll all kind of chuckle because they know. 01:05:03.140 |
Because they say that under their breath all the time. 01:05:05.140 |
The reason why it's beans and rice is because the food isn't that great. 01:05:10.140 |
Because you've got to feed a large group of people with a small amount of money. 01:05:12.140 |
So the food is just going to be like, you know, things just to keep them full. 01:05:19.140 |
In other words, if we want beans and rice, we have to sit there. 01:05:22.140 |
And we have to endure through 30 minutes of preaching about Jesus Christ. 01:05:26.140 |
So they would roll their eyes. "Where are you going?" 01:05:28.140 |
I was like, "I'm going to have beans and rice in Jesus Christ." 01:05:32.140 |
It's Tuesday, so it's beans and rice in Jesus Christ. 01:05:34.140 |
Meaning, we're going to have to sit there and endure through this. 01:05:37.140 |
So that's why when we started, we said, "We're not going to do that. 01:05:40.140 |
We're just going to feed them, and then whoever wants to stick around and talk to us while they eat, 01:05:44.140 |
we'll just kind of share the gospel, or just listen to them, pray for them that way." 01:05:48.140 |
Because I heard them saying, "Beans and rice in Jesus Christ." 01:05:51.140 |
You would expect that people were coming, that maybe that's what they were thinking. 01:05:56.140 |
Like, "Oh, you've got to endure through his teaching in order to get healed." 01:05:59.140 |
Instead, the Bible tells us that part of the main reason why they came 01:06:07.140 |
What he was saying was just as interesting as what he was doing. 01:06:11.140 |
So the question this morning is, "What was he saying that was attracting this crowd?" 01:06:16.140 |
That people would come, Gentiles even, would come from all over to come hear him and to be healed. 01:06:24.140 |
What was the primary thing that he was saying? 01:06:31.140 |
When he first showed up on the scene, what was the first thing that Jesus said to the crowd? 01:06:43.140 |
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 01:06:46.140 |
The primary message that he was teaching was about the kingdom of God. 01:06:51.140 |
76 separate times he mentions that term in his message, "the kingdom of God." 01:06:57.140 |
Everything that he said was about the kingdom of God. 01:07:01.140 |
Now, I'm going to go through a bunch of passages just so that you have a better grasp 01:07:09.140 |
Because I think if you miss this point, you're going to miss the whole point of what salvation is. 01:07:18.140 |
You're going to miss the whole point of Christianity if you miss this. 01:07:21.140 |
Because you kind of take what he says, and it's like, "Oh, I'm going to go to heaven." 01:07:28.140 |
What is heaven like? What is it about heaven? How do you get into heaven? 01:07:31.140 |
You're going to create your own imagination of heaven. 01:07:34.140 |
And I remember when I was young, I would hear stories about heaven is where all your wildest dreams come true. 01:07:40.140 |
And hell is a place where all your fears come true. 01:07:45.140 |
And so if your wildest dream is to be an NBA player, that's going to happen in heaven. 01:07:54.140 |
If you're skinny, you're going to be muscular. 01:07:59.140 |
Whatever that you couldn't do here, heaven is a place where that's going to be fulfilled. 01:08:04.140 |
If you don't properly understand what Jesus was saying, you're going to make an imagination 01:08:12.140 |
Predominantly, everything that he says was about the kingdom of heaven. 01:08:17.140 |
He started out because the Jews were going to crucify him because they didn't understand this message. 01:08:25.140 |
They were following him and they're going to reject him and stop following him 01:08:29.140 |
because their understanding of the kingdom of God was created to accommodate their own idols in their heart. 01:08:37.140 |
So the Jesus that they wanted, the Messiah that they wanted, the kingdom of God that they wanted 01:08:42.140 |
was a fulfillment of idols that they kept in their heart. 01:08:45.140 |
It's just that Jesus was the better way to get it. 01:08:51.140 |
And when Jesus began to teach, they were starting to get confused. 01:08:55.140 |
He says in John 18, 36, Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world." 01:09:00.140 |
And he's saying that to them because that's exactly what they were lusting after. 01:09:09.140 |
They wanted to be the ones who are able to dictate to other people how they should live. 01:09:13.140 |
And so Jesus starts off by saying, "That's not my kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world. 01:09:17.140 |
If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. 01:09:23.140 |
But as it is, my kingdom is not of this world." 01:09:27.140 |
In other words, if I have come to fulfill what you think needs to happen, I wouldn't have raised fishermen. 01:09:37.140 |
I would have raised soldiers to pick up arms, sharpen the swords, and teach them how to fight. 01:09:42.140 |
And he's saying, "My kingdom is not of this world." 01:09:45.140 |
In Luke chapter 4, 42, "But he said to them, 'I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.'" 01:09:54.140 |
In other words, his whole ministry was to teach them about the kingdom of God and then to bring the kingdom of God, 01:10:03.140 |
Luke chapter 16, 16, "The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. 01:10:08.140 |
Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it." 01:10:15.140 |
You notice here how he equates the gospel with the kingdom of God? 01:10:22.140 |
The gospel and the kingdom of God is used interchangeably. 01:10:25.140 |
Mark chapter 1, 14-15, "Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, 01:10:30.140 |
preaching the gospel of God and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. 01:10:39.140 |
Again, the gospel and the kingdom of God is used interchangeably. 01:10:47.140 |
Because in our individualistic society, in this post-Christian culture, 01:10:52.140 |
the gospel has been presented where if you believe in Jesus and raise your hand, 01:11:00.140 |
And so now you can live your life until Jesus comes and all your wildest dreams will be fulfilled. 01:11:07.140 |
Again, that's a caricature of that, but there's a version of that that people have embraced. 01:11:13.140 |
That the gospel is that you individually will no longer experience pain. 01:11:22.140 |
When you die, you got a secure ticket into heaven. 01:11:27.140 |
The way that the gospel is presented to us by Jesus is your entrance into the kingdom. 01:11:34.140 |
Entrance into the kingdom. Who enters the kingdom? What is the kingdom of God like? 01:11:41.140 |
What does the citizenship of the kingdom look like? 01:11:44.140 |
Who is able to come in? Who is not able to come in? 01:11:47.140 |
Everything that he teaches about the gospel, the good news is that the kingdom has been opened to you. 01:11:53.140 |
And the entrance into this kingdom is by faith. 01:11:57.140 |
In Mark chapter, or John chapter 3, 3, it says, "Jesus answered and said to him, 01:12:02.140 |
'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" 01:12:09.140 |
See, the benefit of being born again is the kingdom of God. 01:12:14.140 |
The benefit of why you need to be born again is the kingdom of God. 01:12:18.140 |
So if you have no interest in being part of the kingdom of God, there's no need to be born again. 01:12:23.140 |
The reason why you need to be born again is so that you can enter into the kingdom of God. 01:12:27.140 |
Now, obviously, this is being spoken to Nicodemus, who spent all his life trying to study the law and obey the law. 01:12:34.140 |
And he was one of the top 1% of the law keepers. 01:12:37.140 |
And Jesus is saying, "You've been climbing the wrong ladder. 01:12:41.140 |
At the end of that ladder, there is no kingdom. 01:12:45.140 |
The kingdom of God that I brought, it can only be entered by faith, by repentance." 01:12:53.140 |
Acts chapter 1, 3, it says, "Appearing to them over a period of 40 days after the resurrection 01:13:00.140 |
and speaking of things concerning," what? "the kingdom of God." 01:13:04.140 |
Even after the resurrection, his message never changed. 01:13:07.140 |
In fact, before he ascends, his disciples ask him, "Is it now that you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" 01:13:17.140 |
There's a reason why the disciples couldn't let go of the kingdom, because that's all he talked about. 01:13:22.140 |
Everything he said, your behavior, entrance into it, what it's like, all of it was about the kingdom of God. 01:13:34.140 |
It's important because if we don't understand that the purpose of salvation and atonement is to restore the kingdom, 01:13:41.140 |
the Bible says that when Christ atones for our sins, he removes us from the kingdom of what? 01:13:49.140 |
Kingdom of Satan. Into what? The kingdom of his beloved son. 01:13:55.140 |
We have been slaves to sin. Now we have been slaves to righteousness. 01:14:00.140 |
So, if our understanding of salvation is a changing of our citizenship, there is a new requirement for that citizenship. 01:14:10.140 |
Just like if you want to be naturalized in the United States, there's rules that you have to follow. 01:14:14.140 |
If you want to get a United States passport, you have to be at a certain time, you have to pass a certain test. 01:14:23.140 |
But when you come into the kingdom of God, there is a ruler in this kingdom. There's a king in this kingdom. 01:14:32.140 |
And so, those who were under the subject of Satan, now is under the subject of a new king. 01:14:42.140 |
So, you have so many people who are confused. 01:14:51.140 |
I profess, oh yeah, he died, and he was resurrected, and I believe that, I profess that, 01:14:59.140 |
but there's no evidence of lordship in your life. 01:15:03.140 |
You cannot have Christ as your savior if Christ is not your king. 01:15:09.140 |
Because that's what Jesus taught, the whole teaching of Jesus was the change of kingdom. 01:15:18.140 |
We have a new set of rules, and that's why, starting from next week, we're going to get into the Beatitudes that he teaches. 01:15:24.140 |
These are what the characteristics of the people, of the new citizen of the kingdom of God looks like. 01:15:30.140 |
That's what he's saying. When you are born again, when you repent of the old life, 01:15:35.140 |
and you become a citizen of the kingdom of God, this is what it looks like. 01:15:39.140 |
It goes against the principles of the old kingdom, and this is what the principles of the new kingdom looks like. 01:15:45.140 |
That's why, if you miss his teaching on the kingdom of God, and you begin to contextualize it to benefit you, 01:15:54.140 |
and all of a sudden, the gospel doesn't sound the same. 01:15:57.140 |
The Jesus that you know doesn't sound the same, and the Christianity that you know doesn't sound the same. 01:16:03.140 |
You begin to church, you begin to build a church to attract a crowd, 01:16:08.140 |
but not building a church to bring people into the kingdom. 01:16:12.140 |
Even his miracles, even his miracles were performed to teach them about the kingdom. 01:16:20.140 |
In Luke chapter 10, 8 through 10, it says, "Whatever city you enter and they receive you, 01:16:25.140 |
eat what is set before you, and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near you.'" 01:16:32.140 |
Why are they healing them? Right? Why did Jesus feed them? 01:16:37.140 |
Why did he raise Lazarus from the dead? Why did he open their eyes to the people who are blind? 01:16:43.140 |
It's so that he can teach them the power of the kingdom. 01:16:47.140 |
He demonstrated his power over sicknesses. He demonstrated his power over demons. 01:16:53.140 |
He demonstrated power over creation, and he demonstrated his power over death. 01:16:59.140 |
So that, so that what we desire is not longer life. 01:17:10.140 |
What we desire is not, "I have sick legs and I want to have healed legs." 01:17:15.140 |
He did all of that to teach them, "I am the way and the truth and the life. 01:17:20.140 |
No one comes to the Father but through me. He is the true gift." 01:17:24.140 |
You know, when your children, you know, when your young children, I hope that's not how you are now, 01:17:31.140 |
but when your young children and you ask them, "Who do you love, mommy or daddy?" 01:17:34.140 |
And they'll say, "Mommy." Right? Or "Daddy." Right? 01:17:42.140 |
They'll tell you, "Mommy makes me breakfast. You know, I had a birthday and she bought me the Xbox." 01:17:50.140 |
You know, when you get older, it's like, "Oh, you know, daddy paid for this." 01:17:53.140 |
They'll tell you specifically what they gave you. And that's why. Right? 01:17:57.140 |
Imagine if they're 25 years old and you say, "You like mommy or daddy?" 01:18:01.140 |
And they say, "I like daddy." "Why?" "Because he bought me the car. Mommy didn't buy it. Daddy bought it." 01:18:07.140 |
Or, "He got this for me. He got that for me." It's like, "Really?" Right? 01:18:11.140 |
At some point you're like, "Hey, it's time to grow up." Right? 01:18:14.140 |
Whatever gift that you got, you got because you have a daddy. 01:18:17.140 |
Whatever gift that you have or didn't get is because you have a loving mom. 01:18:21.140 |
But imagine if their love never outgrew that and their love was always, 01:18:32.140 |
"I love Jesus because he answered my prayers and my family, you know, everything went and it was okay." 01:18:38.140 |
"He helped me with this. He helped me with that." 01:18:39.140 |
"I love Jesus because my business went well." 01:18:43.140 |
Even the healing, all of it was so that they can see who Jesus is. 01:18:50.140 |
In John 20, 13, 31 it says, "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of disciples, 01:18:56.140 |
which are not written in the book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ." 01:19:02.140 |
"All the signs were given so that you may believe that he is the Christ, the Savior, the Son of God, 01:19:08.140 |
and that believing you may have life in his name." 01:19:11.140 |
Also in John 2, 23, 25, "Now when he was in Jerusalem the Passover during the feast, 01:19:16.140 |
many believed his name, observing his signs, which he was doing." 01:19:20.140 |
All of it, all of it was to bring them to the real gift in Christ. 01:19:27.140 |
So if you come to church because of church, you come to church because of friends, 01:19:30.140 |
you come to church because of the benefits of the church, eventually you will also leave. 01:19:35.140 |
I came to this church because people are so friendly. 01:19:38.140 |
Then eventually you're going to meet some unfriendly people at church. 01:19:42.140 |
You don't know what they're going through. They're cranky, they're having marriage problems, 01:19:46.140 |
their children are giving them a headache, and all of a sudden they're not that friendly. 01:19:50.140 |
But the whole reason why you came to church is because of friendly people, 01:19:54.140 |
and when they're not friendly, you will walk away. 01:19:57.140 |
Maybe you started a business and you prayed and your business is doing well, 01:20:02.140 |
and then, "Oh, Jesus answered my prayer, and then I come to church because God's been so good to me." 01:20:07.140 |
But as soon as your business fails or doesn't do well, and the economy begins to turn, 01:20:13.140 |
And if you came to Jesus because he blessed you in your business, 01:20:16.140 |
you're going to leave when the business isn't blessed. 01:20:21.140 |
If you come to Christ because of the gift, you will leave Christ because of the gift. 01:20:27.140 |
The whole purpose of all of this was so that they may see who Jesus is. 01:20:33.140 |
That Jesus is the gift. That he is the light. That he is the bread. 01:20:38.140 |
He is the light. He is the shepherd. He is divine. 01:20:42.140 |
And until our faith grows and matures and understands that it is Christ that he is drawing. 01:20:52.140 |
Not only were they being healed, it says the people who had demons were being cured. 01:20:56.140 |
Now you may say, "You know what? We've never experienced that in our life, 01:21:00.140 |
especially in a conservative church, and we're not charismatic." 01:21:04.140 |
Every single person who came to Christ was being delivered from demons. 01:21:09.140 |
You may not have been demon-possessed, but the Bible says, 01:21:13.140 |
"Everyone who has not been atoned and purchased by the blood of Christ." 01:21:21.140 |
The kingdom of darkness? The God of this age is Satan. 01:21:25.140 |
Every single person who came to Christ has been delivered from the influence of Satan. 01:21:33.140 |
All of this, every single one of us has experienced this if you are a true believer. 01:21:41.140 |
That we may come to see the value of Christ himself. 01:21:46.140 |
The one who brings the kingdom. The one who created the kingdom. 01:21:52.140 |
The one who sustains the kingdom. The one who rules over this kingdom. Christ. 01:21:58.140 |
That's why, and let me finish with this, in Luke chapter 10, 17-20 it says, 01:22:03.140 |
"The seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.' 01:22:09.140 |
And they came and rejoiced." Can you imagine? These are tax collectors, these are fishermen. 01:22:14.140 |
The greatest miracle that they've ever seen was being performed by Jesus. 01:22:20.140 |
Now Jesus empowers them and they're doing it. 01:22:23.140 |
"And he said to them, 'I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 01:22:26.140 |
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, 01:22:34.140 |
Can you imagine the excitement and the joy that they must have had experiencing that they're healing? 01:22:42.140 |
Not only are they seeing Jesus healed, they're healing. They're casting out demons. 01:22:46.140 |
"But he warns them in verse 20, 'Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this.'" 01:22:55.140 |
They come and it's like, "Oh man, it's fantastic. We saw demons." 01:23:02.140 |
You tell somebody who's sad, "Hey, be happy." 01:23:06.140 |
Or you tell somebody who's happy, "Stop being so happy." 01:23:10.140 |
Why is he saying this? Verse 20, "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, 01:23:13.140 |
that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." 01:23:20.140 |
You see, you're rejoicing that comes from casting out demons and seeing miracles and powers. 01:23:26.140 |
You're not going to experience it all the time. 01:23:28.140 |
That's all temporary. Eating bread is temporary. Healing, temporary. 01:23:33.140 |
Even if you're raised from the dead, it's temporary because you're going to die again. 01:23:38.140 |
If you anchor your joy in your life to the things that are temporary, 01:23:46.140 |
If you came to Jesus because of community, community is going to drive you away. 01:23:51.140 |
If you came to Jesus because of a friend, your friends are going to drive you away. 01:23:54.140 |
If you came to Jesus for a meaning and purpose, 01:23:58.140 |
eventually when that gets confused, you will be driven away. 01:24:01.140 |
That's why the Word of God says, "All things will fade away like grass." 01:24:08.140 |
Only the Word of God, only Christ will remain. 01:24:12.140 |
So the whole purpose of this ministry is to draw people to himself. 01:24:18.140 |
So the only true test of a Christian that really matters, 01:24:23.140 |
only true test to see if there's true maturity and progress, 01:24:29.140 |
is do you love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? 01:24:34.140 |
No, I see progress because I know more Bible. I see progress because I'm doing more things. 01:24:38.140 |
I see more progress because I'm being disciplined. 01:24:40.140 |
All of that can be done without the love of Christ. 01:24:46.140 |
But the goal of everything that we do in church, everything that Christ has done, 01:24:50.140 |
everything he has preached, so that more and more when we see the love of Christ, 01:24:56.140 |
the glory of Christ, the depth of Christ, that we would be like that farmer who sells everything 01:25:11.140 |
With the busyness, especially church is getting big and your life is getting busy, 01:25:16.140 |
you have multiple kids, you're already, you know, one comedian said this, 01:25:22.140 |
You know, imagine you're drowning and then they throw you another baby, you know. 01:25:27.140 |
Some of you are in that situation where you're already busy and busy and then you just had another kid 01:25:31.140 |
and you're just trying to make things and you're busy as it is and then you come to church, 01:25:35.140 |
there's more things being added and we have to be careful that in the midst of all that. 01:25:39.140 |
Being busy is not bad, but if your busyness causes you to forget what our true treasure is, 01:25:48.140 |
Christ and Christ alone must be our goal, must be our passion, must be our refuge. 01:25:56.140 |
And I pray that that may be the case. Let's pray. 01:25:59.140 |
Father, store in us a hungering and thirsting for righteousness that can only be satisfied in you. 01:26:15.140 |
Lord, we are so easily entangled with the worries and concerns of civilian affairs. 01:26:22.140 |
Help us, Lord God, to fix our eyes upon Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith. 01:26:30.140 |
Help us, Lord God, to continue to learn what it means to be citizen of the kingdom, 01:26:35.140 |
to honor and to be subjects, Lord God, that glorifies our King. 01:26:40.140 |
I pray that you would guide us and lead us and build a church, Lord God, as you desire, 01:26:45.140 |
filled with people who will worship you in spirit and in truth. 01:26:49.140 |
We love you, Lord. Help us, Lord God, to love you more. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 01:27:00.140 |
[MUSIC - "HOW GREAT THE CHASM THAT LAY BETWEEN US"] 01:27:12.140 |
How great the chasm that lay between us, how high the mountain I could not climb. 01:27:26.140 |
In desperation I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. 01:27:39.140 |
Then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. 01:27:52.140 |
The work is finished, the end is written, Jesus Christ, my living hope. 01:28:15.140 |
What heart could fathom such boundless grace? 01:28:22.140 |
The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. 01:28:35.140 |
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven, the King of kings calls me his own. 01:28:49.140 |
Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever, Jesus Christ, my living hope. 01:29:20.140 |
There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope. 01:29:32.140 |
Then came the morning that sealed the promise. 01:29:46.140 |
Out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. 01:29:59.140 |
Then came the morning that sealed the promise. 01:30:12.140 |
Out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. 01:30:53.140 |
There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope. 01:31:20.140 |
There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope. 01:31:47.140 |
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. 01:31:54.140 |
To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. 01:33:17.140 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives.