WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:30.420 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:31.260 the latest message. 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:32.460 Thanks for listening. 00:00:46.380 --> 00:00:47.380 Well, good morning. 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:50.380 Glad that all of you are here with us. 00:00:50.380 --> 00:00:54.960 If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Luke chapter 8 as we continue on. 00:00:55.140 --> 00:01:00.180 And so this morning, I want to share with you guys, in 1977, there was a guy named Jerry 00:01:00.180 --> 00:01:02.600 Reed who came out with a song called Eastbound and Down. 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:08.440 There was a line in it that I think will embrace my preaching style this morning, which is, I've 00:01:08.440 --> 00:01:11.300 got a long way to go and a short time to get there, all right? 00:01:11.320 --> 00:01:15.760 So this morning, that's what we're going to do in Luke chapter 8 as we look at all of it. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:20.160 But next week, starting next week, I'm excited because we're going to spend about three weeks 00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:22.600 just kind of moving through Luke 9. 00:01:22.740 --> 00:01:26.880 So we've really been pedal to the metal, like pressing down and moving forward. 00:01:27.060 --> 00:01:28.320 We'll do that this week. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:35.040 But next week, we will pause for a moment as we look at Luke 9 over the course of the next 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:36.240 three weeks. 00:01:36.340 --> 00:01:37.460 So let's jump right in. 00:01:37.740 --> 00:01:39.820 Luke 8, starting in verse 4. 00:01:41.100 --> 00:01:47.940 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in 00:01:47.940 --> 00:01:51.580 a parable, a sower went out to sow his seed. 00:01:51.660 --> 00:01:55.620 And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot. 00:01:56.160 --> 00:01:58.220 And the birds of the air devoured it. 00:01:58.800 --> 00:02:00.200 And some fell on the rock. 00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:04.180 And as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. 00:02:05.260 --> 00:02:06.880 And some fell among the thorns. 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:10.100 And the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 00:02:10.620 --> 00:02:14.860 And some fell into good soil and grew a yielded hundredfold. 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:17.620 As he said these things, he called out, 00:02:18.020 --> 00:02:22.220 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:30.340 So Jesus, as he's journeying along in Luke chapter 8, stops and teaches a parable. 00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:35.800 And this parable is going to kind of be the foundation of our message, both in what he 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:40.320 taught and then, I'm going to be honest with you, kind of this weird phrase that he gives 00:02:40.320 --> 00:02:42.780 at the end of this parable. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:47.940 And if you've been with us, if you've studied scripture before, you know that Jesus oftentimes 00:02:47.940 --> 00:02:49.680 taught in parables. 00:02:49.820 --> 00:02:56.720 And what a parable would be is a story that Jesus would tell that would teach truths about 00:02:56.720 --> 00:02:57.740 the kingdom of God. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:59.680 It would teach truths about the gospel. 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:01.760 It would teach truths about Christ. 00:03:02.420 --> 00:03:09.360 Sometimes it would be a parable that is hard to understand, that would have set in a future 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.200 time or set in a different place. 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:16.220 But oftentimes, as we see with this parable, it was an everyday encounter. 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:22.020 And so people have written about this one, that more than likely, as Jesus was traveling along 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:27.100 in the season of time in which he was traveling, that they would have passed by a field. 00:03:27.220 --> 00:03:33.140 And more than likely, there would have been a farmer out in the field casting seed out as 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:36.660 he prepared for the upcoming harvest season. 00:03:37.320 --> 00:03:39.420 And so Jesus tells this parable. 00:03:39.820 --> 00:03:45.580 Now, what's interesting about this that is different from some, but similar to some, is Jesus tells 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:48.200 the parable, and then they continue on their way. 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:56.020 And later on in Jesus' interaction with his disciples, Jesus explains this parable to them. 00:03:56.420 --> 00:04:01.440 So if you're just part of the crowd, you just hear these words of Jesus because you don't 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:06.840 get the application until much later on, and then that was only for a few of them. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:13.900 So later on in Luke 8, Jesus explains what's going on specifically in this parable as he 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:19.440 described an event that would have been common, that everyone would have known about. 00:04:20.080 --> 00:04:25.720 It'd kind of be like me standing up here to all of you and describing what a hot August day 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:28.220 in Columbia, South Carolina feels like, right? 00:04:28.280 --> 00:04:29.260 Like, you know that. 00:04:29.340 --> 00:04:30.440 What's the point? 00:04:31.320 --> 00:04:36.020 And so as Jesus explains this parable, there's some things that I want us to begin to notice 00:04:36.020 --> 00:04:37.140 about it. 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:41.820 The first thing I want us to notice is, I want you to notice this, there's only one sower 00:04:41.820 --> 00:04:43.120 in the parable. 00:04:44.020 --> 00:04:46.000 Jesus doesn't talk about multiple sowers. 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:51.460 Well, I want us to see that when Jesus says that a sower went out into the field to sow 00:04:51.460 --> 00:04:56.100 seed, and that Jesus is the sower in the parable. 00:04:56.420 --> 00:04:59.740 He is the one doing the work, not multiple. 00:05:00.340 --> 00:05:06.700 I think something else that's very important is Jesus as the sower is he is casting one type 00:05:06.700 --> 00:05:07.260 of seed. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:13.140 So it's not a farmer is going out and in this section there's wheat, and then he moves to 00:05:13.140 --> 00:05:16.320 this section and there's peas, in this section there's corn. 00:05:17.020 --> 00:05:23.020 Jesus describes a farmer that would go out and cast out one seed, and later on in the 00:05:23.020 --> 00:05:28.600 explanations, and this is why this is important, Jesus says the seed is the word of God. 00:05:29.140 --> 00:05:33.440 And so everything that he's going to speak of, of the truth, of the life's transformation 00:05:33.440 --> 00:05:37.700 that's going to come from, it's going to come from one seed and one seed only, the truth 00:05:37.700 --> 00:05:38.380 of God's word. 00:05:38.740 --> 00:05:42.600 It's not going to come from religion, it's not going to come from works, it's going to 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:44.860 come from the very word of God. 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:51.520 I think it's important for us to see that this is happening in one location. 00:05:52.280 --> 00:05:57.800 This isn't happening in different fields, in different countries, in different lands. 00:05:58.380 --> 00:06:03.800 Jesus doesn't describe a field in the Middle East and then jump to a field in North Africa 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:08.900 and then jump to a field in East Asia and jump to a field in Central Europe. 00:06:08.900 --> 00:06:14.480 Everywhere that Jesus talks is in this one, which is important also because it's implied 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.860 that the sower owns the field. 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:23.900 And so we begin to see the universality of the truth of what Jesus is proclaiming, of the 00:06:23.900 --> 00:06:26.940 hope of the gospel as the seed won't fall. 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:33.960 But even though all of these factors are consistent, even though it is one sower, even though it is 00:06:33.960 --> 00:06:39.860 one type of seed, even though it is in the field, we will see from this that there are four different 00:06:39.860 --> 00:06:42.320 outcomes that Jesus describes. 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:48.420 And later on, he gives the spiritual implications to those who follow him so that they'll know 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:49.880 exactly what he's talking about. 00:06:50.140 --> 00:06:55.720 For those who are just traveling along with him, he describes the seed that falls on the path 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:58.100 that's hard and that's been beaten down. 00:06:58.260 --> 00:07:03.680 And Jesus says that the birds of the air, they come and they eat that seed. 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:06.960 Now, I know this is true from firsthand experience. 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:11.760 For the last three years, we've been trying to grow grass in our backyard. 00:07:12.140 --> 00:07:15.360 And I'm too cheap to buy sod, right? 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.320 Anybody else been that person? 00:07:17.420 --> 00:07:18.320 I'm that guy, right? 00:07:18.320 --> 00:07:27.240 So every springtime I go and I cast out seed and every springtime I go and I set my sprinklers 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:28.960 and I do all the things. 00:07:29.080 --> 00:07:33.520 I go and put out fertilizer and everything that needs to happen and take place. 00:07:33.640 --> 00:07:40.280 But the one thing that my HOA will not let me regulate is getting rid of the birds that 00:07:40.280 --> 00:07:41.840 fly into the yard, right? 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:46.060 I'll have the police called on me if we try to get rid of them, right? 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:48.140 So Jesus said, this is what happens. 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:52.400 But in his explanation, and this is important too for something we're talking about later. 00:07:52.940 --> 00:07:55.700 He said, the birds, they're the devil. 00:07:56.540 --> 00:08:00.140 And I want us to understand in two things that we're going to look at this morning are the 00:08:00.140 --> 00:08:08.060 spiritual warfare that takes place when the gospel is shared and when life transformation happens. 00:08:08.700 --> 00:08:14.160 Like Satan is at work and is battling to rob people of the hope of the gospel. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:21.180 But Satan is also trying to come through and for those who hear to rob this from him. 00:08:21.940 --> 00:08:23.780 And so Jesus says, this is the first group of people. 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:29.520 The seed falls, it's taken away, it's on the hard path and then there's no fruit. 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:35.640 But he says there's also, there's a second seed and it falls on the rocky ground. 00:08:35.780 --> 00:08:40.680 Now, at first, when you hear that, you think of like it falling literally on a bunch of different 00:08:40.680 --> 00:08:44.140 rocks that are out there, but that's not really what's happening. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:49.500 What Jesus is talking about there in this area region where Jesus would be is there's areas 00:08:49.500 --> 00:08:52.680 that would have a very thin layer of topsoil on top. 00:08:52.920 --> 00:08:57.520 And so, okay, this would be good for farming, but underneath were rocks. 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:03.460 And so what would happen is the seed would fall down, it would immediately hit this topsoil, 00:09:03.560 --> 00:09:09.160 it would get all of the water that it would need and it would begin to grow and it would 00:09:09.160 --> 00:09:11.160 begin to produce and look pretty. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.240 But immediately the heat would come. 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:20.320 And since the ground would not be there to hold the moisture, the sun would come up. 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:24.880 It would beat down on it and it would wither and it would die and it would go away. 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:30.840 And Jesus describes this as people who hear the word of God and they respond to it. 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:36.880 And then the trials, the suffering, the issues of life happen, right? 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:39.860 Like here's the thing about the gospel of Christ. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:44.180 The gospel of Jesus Christ does not take away pain and suffering. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.620 The gospel of Jesus Christ does not take away difficulty. 00:09:47.920 --> 00:09:53.680 But Jesus says, for those who receive it in a thin layer, this is what happens. 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:56.480 And so it withers and it dies. 00:09:57.520 --> 00:10:02.000 He says, but the third seed, the third seed is going to fall and it's going to fall on the 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.040 ground that grows things. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:09.920 In fact, there are things that are already growing there and it falls amongst the ground where weeds 00:10:09.920 --> 00:10:11.420 and thorns are found. 00:10:11.420 --> 00:10:19.000 And so as the plant grows, as the crop grows, so too does the weeds and the thorns. 00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:26.060 And eventually, not at first, but eventually over time, what happens? 00:10:26.680 --> 00:10:29.520 It begins to choke out the plant. 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:31.900 And the plant doesn't survive. 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:34.600 And the plant doesn't produce fruit. 00:10:34.980 --> 00:10:42.320 Well, later on in Jesus' explanation, he explains what these weeds and thorns are. 00:10:42.400 --> 00:10:45.880 And I think this is really important for us as we begin to understand. 00:10:46.640 --> 00:10:52.520 Jesus describes these as life's worries, life's riches, and life's pleasures. 00:10:52.880 --> 00:10:56.600 Both the bad things and the good things of the world. 00:10:56.600 --> 00:11:04.040 That oftentimes people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, but what consumes them are the things 00:11:04.040 --> 00:11:04.760 of this world. 00:11:05.400 --> 00:11:10.460 The bad things of this world, the good things of this world, the things that they push after. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:14.160 And so because of that, they don't bear fruit. 00:11:14.820 --> 00:11:15.760 They don't last. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.480 It doesn't withstand over the test of time. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:21.420 But Jesus says that there's a fourth seed. 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:24.840 And the fourth seed falls into the good soil. 00:11:25.540 --> 00:11:30.660 And over time, it is watered, and it is taken care of, and it becomes healthy. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.460 And Jesus says it produces fruit. 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:37.220 And because of that, we see life. 00:11:37.420 --> 00:11:42.620 I heard this a couple weeks ago, and it's just really stuck with me, and even thought about 00:11:42.620 --> 00:11:47.360 this as Aaron and I, as we like to garden and grow fruits and vegetables at our house. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.200 And the person that was talking about this, he said this. 00:11:50.280 --> 00:11:54.000 He said, you know, fruit is not intended for the crop. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:58.620 But fruit is intended for the person who picks it. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:00.400 And I got to thinking about this. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.660 In our yard, we got a lot of different things. 00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:05.120 All year long, we've got something growing, right? 00:12:05.280 --> 00:12:09.960 And one of the things that we like to grow, that we like to experience and eat is apples. 00:12:10.140 --> 00:12:15.580 And so we got these apple trees in a back corner of our yard, and we take care of them, and we fertilize 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:20.700 them, and we, about the fall season, what we begin to see are apples begin to come through. 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:23.660 And we get them, and we can them, and we eat them, and we love them. 00:12:23.760 --> 00:12:24.580 But here's the thing. 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:28.560 The apple tree is not better because it has apples. 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:33.580 But we take part in the fruit. 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:37.540 And I get to think about this in your life and mine. 00:12:38.040 --> 00:12:43.040 When we bear the fruit of the gospel, it's not for our benefit. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:50.080 It's for the benefit of those who will get to partake in and experience that. 00:12:50.540 --> 00:12:57.520 It's for those who, by encountering with us, they get to understand what the hope of Jesus Christ is. 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:01.600 And so this is what missional living begins to look like. 00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:07.040 But Jesus gives a warning at the end of this explanation. 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:10.060 In fact, look down at Luke 8, 15. 00:13:10.800 --> 00:13:11.860 Jesus says this, 00:13:12.100 --> 00:13:25.640 For that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. 00:13:26.260 --> 00:13:32.280 So here's why I went through all of that explanation of that parable, as the foundation of what we're going to look at. 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:39.860 Twice now, in the first 15 verses, Jesus says there's an important thing that we need to talk about, and it's hearing. 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:41.920 It's hearing. 00:13:42.800 --> 00:13:46.300 And for you and I this morning, it is hearing Jesus. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.980 He very first, at the end of the parable, says, 00:13:50.140 --> 00:13:54.040 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:58.240 Now he comes back, and the explanation of it, and he says, 00:13:58.560 --> 00:14:00.100 They are those who do what? 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:01.520 Who hear the word. 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:03.600 But Jesus builds on that. 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:13.000 It's about hearing the word, hold it fast, and in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. 00:14:13.060 --> 00:14:21.960 So we see, and we begin to understand, that hearing Jesus should respond to something in our lives. 00:14:22.640 --> 00:14:31.560 Right after this, Jesus tells another story about a lamp under a jar, and in verse 18, he warns them again about hearing. 00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:34.060 He says this, 00:14:34.060 --> 00:14:45.660 For to the one who has more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. 00:14:45.900 --> 00:14:49.400 It is careful in how you hear. 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:57.900 Church, as we come in, and as we gather this morning, whether you're sitting in your living room, or you're sitting in the auditorium, 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:04.580 as you go from here from day to day, and you enter into your quiet time with the Lord, 00:15:05.180 --> 00:15:12.660 as you go to your Bible studies, whether they're face-to-face, or over Zoom, or at restaurants, or wherever you're meeting right now, 00:15:12.760 --> 00:15:19.960 as you seek to dive into God's word, I want us to take for a moment and say that there's this great importance 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:26.380 that Jesus has filled the first half with Luke 8 with, and as Luke is recording all of this, 00:15:26.540 --> 00:15:32.200 and giving it to his friend Theophilus, so that he'll understand who Christ is, and the life with him, 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.820 and he says this, he says, hearing Jesus matters. 00:15:37.140 --> 00:15:40.400 And over this week, I began to think about that. 00:15:41.380 --> 00:15:43.300 Like, God, how am I listening to you? 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.440 How am I hearing you? 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:52.660 When I approach my study every single week, as I open up your word, as I read commentaries, 00:15:52.880 --> 00:15:54.220 God, how am I hearing you? 00:15:55.180 --> 00:16:01.820 God, as I dive into study for school, and as I open textbooks, and as I listen to professors, 00:16:01.820 --> 00:16:03.260 Lord, Lord, what am I doing? 00:16:03.380 --> 00:16:04.960 What does that hearing look like? 00:16:06.180 --> 00:16:12.380 When I get online and listen to other pastors as they help shepherd me in my journey and walk to the Lord, 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.680 how am I hearing? 00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:18.900 You see, oftentimes we talk about what are we hearing, 00:16:19.660 --> 00:16:23.100 but I want us this morning to look at how we are hearing. 00:16:23.780 --> 00:16:30.800 And I find that in my life this week, I've noticed four sinful ways that I try to hear, 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:33.300 even when I'm diving into Scripture. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:35.720 And maybe you do as well. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:42.440 The first sinful way that I hear is we can hear with a goal to affirm. 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:43.980 And here's what I mean by this. 00:16:44.900 --> 00:16:51.400 I only want to hear the things and draw from the things that affect me positively. 00:16:51.980 --> 00:16:52.160 Right? 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:54.900 Like, give me the good stuff without the bad, Jesus. 00:16:55.760 --> 00:17:01.620 Give me the good stuff without the bad and the text that I read and the sermon that I listen to. 00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:05.780 And so I run this filter of God's truth through my life, 00:17:05.860 --> 00:17:11.360 and I only want the things that are going to speak positively into my life. 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:17.160 Another way that we sinfully hear is we can hear to disagree. 00:17:17.780 --> 00:17:19.660 We're looking for a fight. 00:17:19.820 --> 00:17:22.120 We're looking for a theological argument. 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:23.620 We're looking for something. 00:17:23.620 --> 00:17:28.440 And I'm working on my second master's degree. 00:17:28.600 --> 00:17:31.180 In a couple of weeks, I'm turning in a packet of information 00:17:31.180 --> 00:17:34.620 so that hopefully I can be accepted into a doctoral program. 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:35.100 Okay? 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:38.520 Education, it matters, and it has helped me greatly. 00:17:38.740 --> 00:17:42.220 So what I'm not about to say is not saying that education doesn't matter. 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:47.880 But I think oftentimes that we can approach God's Word with an intellectual heart only 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:52.360 and completely miss the transformation of what God's going to do. 00:17:52.620 --> 00:17:56.640 And that's what I mean by hearing to disagree, to argue a point, 00:17:56.800 --> 00:18:00.300 to gain some theological knowledge that's going to fill our head 00:18:00.300 --> 00:18:03.620 but never transfer into our heart and transform us. 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:06.680 We can hear to enable. 00:18:08.320 --> 00:18:09.500 Here's what I mean about this. 00:18:10.140 --> 00:18:15.700 I want to read to help me feel better about the bad things about me. 00:18:16.120 --> 00:18:17.740 It's a little bit different than affirming. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.240 Affirming just says, tell me how good I am. 00:18:21.520 --> 00:18:27.260 Let me hear to enable just means when I acknowledge the bad things that I have of what God wants 00:18:27.260 --> 00:18:30.420 to do, can you make them sound not so bad to me anymore? 00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:36.500 I was meeting with a group of college students a couple weeks ago, and we talked a lot about this, 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:37.680 and they didn't understand it. 00:18:37.860 --> 00:18:41.780 And I said, here's what can happen in Bible study and discipleship sometimes. 00:18:41.980 --> 00:18:44.140 And I find myself, like, balancing this. 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:48.540 Like, someone in the room needs to confess something, right, which is biblical. 00:18:48.780 --> 00:18:53.200 Not that we can forgive you, but there's help that happens, is what James tells us, 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:55.740 when we confess our sins to one another, okay? 00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:57.360 So we begin to confess. 00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:04.920 And so let's say all week that you've been burdened on your heart, this sinful tendency 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:09.980 that's in your life, and God says, you need accountability, you need people to confess this to. 00:19:11.020 --> 00:19:16.840 And so you come into group after prayer, after working through this, and you say, oh, I'm going to pick lust. 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:19.460 And you say, you know what? 00:19:20.060 --> 00:19:21.840 I've really been struggling with lust. 00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:28.460 It hasn't been just this past week, but it's been for years in my life, and it's affected so many relationships. 00:19:28.800 --> 00:19:31.500 It's reflected in my relationship with my spouse. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:34.800 And I need to come here to confess this. 00:19:35.760 --> 00:19:40.880 And somebody in the group with good intentions says, oh, it's okay. 00:19:40.940 --> 00:19:41.800 You're not that bad. 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:44.240 We all struggle with that. 00:19:44.740 --> 00:19:52.020 And in their kindness for that, what we can begin to pick up on is, well, maybe I did overreact a little bit. 00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:55.100 Maybe I'm not as bad as I was. 00:19:55.840 --> 00:19:59.680 And we can have a tendency to hear to enable. 00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:09.280 The fourth thing that I think is sinful in our ways, and when it's solely focused in on this, is we can hear to fix. 00:20:10.280 --> 00:20:13.420 We can view ourselves like a math problem. 00:20:14.180 --> 00:20:30.000 Help me figure out this next step so that I can just move to the next step, so that I can just move to the next step, so I can continue to alter myself and fix myself, instead of allowing the transforming work of the gospel. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:43.160 And so what I want us to look at this morning of where we're journeying to in this very long introduction that I apologize for, right, is that Jesus is calling us to a different type of hearing. 00:20:44.180 --> 00:20:49.120 Jesus is calling us to a hearing that responds. 00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:51.400 To a hearing that responds. 00:20:51.600 --> 00:20:54.460 Look down in verse 19 of Luke 8. 00:20:55.660 --> 00:20:55.920 It says, 00:20:56.140 --> 00:21:02.200 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 00:21:02.800 --> 00:21:03.560 In verse 20. 00:21:04.360 --> 00:21:05.180 And he was told, 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:12.100 Your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you. 00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:13.580 Verse 21. 00:21:13.580 --> 00:21:33.540 And we begin to see this narrative of what is happening in the life of the ministry of Jesus as he's conveying this is what following after me looks like. 00:21:33.780 --> 00:21:36.440 This is what seeking after me looks like. 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:40.860 And kind of jump ahead to where we're going to be in chapter 9 when he says, 00:21:41.060 --> 00:21:43.000 This is what it's going to mean to take up your cross. 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:46.520 This is what life after me is going to look like. 00:21:47.260 --> 00:21:49.100 So you hear this. 00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:52.000 You hear the word of God. 00:21:52.500 --> 00:22:00.040 And then what is transforming in you is a heart, is an attitude, is a posturing of obedience that's there. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:10.420 And so what I want us to look at this morning is hearing that responds, but also hearing that responds consistently. 00:22:11.120 --> 00:22:13.700 Because here's what I think you and I are good at, right? 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:22.280 Like in the moment when the tragedy, in the moment when the crisis, in the moment where we feel the heat, 00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:26.340 we've walked through this and now I want to obey Jesus. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:28.900 Now this is the time. 00:22:29.600 --> 00:22:32.040 Like now is when prayer is going to get real. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:34.920 Now is when I'm going to dive into your word. 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:37.100 Now is when I'm going to share. 00:22:37.820 --> 00:22:42.280 Now is when this is going to really take place in my life. 00:22:42.380 --> 00:22:43.860 Now that the heat's come up. 00:22:44.120 --> 00:22:46.440 Now that the crisis is there. 00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:51.600 But what I want us to do is to understand that our walk with the Lord, 00:22:51.600 --> 00:23:00.240 what we do in the routine will show the true fruit and will become who we are in the crisis. 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:10.700 What we do in the routine of the everyday life of which God has given us this opportunity to hear and to respond to him 00:23:10.700 --> 00:23:13.980 is going to matter when the crisis hits. 00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:16.420 It's going to be the faith that bears fruit. 00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:20.640 It's going to be the faith that withstands when Satan comes and attacks. 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:25.080 It's going to be the faith that withstands when the rocky soil is there. 00:23:25.080 --> 00:23:30.560 It's going to be the faith that responds when the weeds and the thorns come up to consume us. 00:23:30.760 --> 00:23:33.020 That this is what the faith will look like. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:40.360 Before I got into ministry, it was my hope and my dream to be a college football coach. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:43.720 And so I started out coaching at the high school football level. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.860 And I coached offensive line at a high school in our state. 00:23:48.540 --> 00:23:51.280 And I would get out there and I would work with our players. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:55.000 And I would tell our offensive line, look guys, you're different. 00:23:55.860 --> 00:23:57.860 A receiver has to worry about them. 00:23:58.300 --> 00:24:00.340 They go out there, they run their route. 00:24:01.220 --> 00:24:03.400 A quarterback has to worry about them. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:08.140 They have to look at their reads and what they're supposed to do and their footwork. 00:24:08.620 --> 00:24:15.380 The running back has to worry about them with where they have to go in order to get the ball or to make the block. 00:24:15.600 --> 00:24:19.500 But you guys, you've got to work together as a team. 00:24:20.080 --> 00:24:21.760 We've got to build unity. 00:24:21.760 --> 00:24:25.920 In fact, what we called our offensive line was the dancing bears. 00:24:26.040 --> 00:24:31.260 Because I told them, like, blocking for football, it's like this dance as we all move together, right? 00:24:31.420 --> 00:24:36.020 And some of you who are married to individuals like me who don't have rhythm, you know this. 00:24:36.100 --> 00:24:41.620 When you begin to dance with somebody like us and we're offbeat, which is what we are multiple times, right? 00:24:41.760 --> 00:24:45.420 It gets awkward and uncomfortable and it falls apart quickly, right? 00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:47.980 And so I told them, like, this is where we have to be. 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:49.200 This is what we have to do. 00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:52.160 And so I would always tell them, I don't care about Friday. 00:24:53.280 --> 00:24:54.700 Friday doesn't concern me. 00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:57.260 Game time doesn't concern me. 00:24:57.760 --> 00:25:01.560 What concerns me is Monday through Thursday. 00:25:02.280 --> 00:25:14.020 And what I'm going to see over the course of Monday through Thursday will determine the confidence that I have in you guys as you go forward with the game plan we laid out before you. 00:25:14.020 --> 00:25:28.020 And almost every time, barring something like an injury or something that we could not see coming, I could tell you on Thursday night after practice how my offensive line was going to do, win or lose. 00:25:29.260 --> 00:25:31.120 And I was always right. 00:25:32.120 --> 00:25:41.880 Because the routine of their week, the work that they put in, what they developed in the moment in their obedience, step here, not there. 00:25:42.840 --> 00:25:44.400 Put your hand here, not there. 00:25:45.340 --> 00:25:46.660 Look here, not there. 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:51.460 What they did Monday through Thursday, when Friday came, it was just who they were. 00:25:52.120 --> 00:25:58.140 When the light's cut on, when the opponent is before them, it's who they were. 00:25:59.180 --> 00:26:00.820 So the crisis didn't matter. 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:03.720 It was in the day-to-day. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:12.480 And so Jesus says, those who hear the word of God and do it. 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.680 In Luke 8, we're going to see some storms. 00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:19.080 And I'm going to tell you guys, I'm going to paraphrase a lot of this. 00:26:19.740 --> 00:26:37.360 But we're going to see what it looks like in responding in the storms of life, in those moments where the lights are cut on, in the moment where the heat gets turned up, in the moment where difficulty begins to reign, in the moment where opposition is facing us. 00:26:37.780 --> 00:26:41.600 We're going to see some storms that Jesus walks through with individuals. 00:26:41.820 --> 00:26:46.100 And we'll find, while you've never maybe been there, we've been in something like it. 00:26:46.340 --> 00:26:50.520 The first storm that I want us to look at is the storm of perception. 00:26:52.260 --> 00:26:55.020 And here's what I mean by storms of perception is this. 00:26:56.540 --> 00:27:08.840 Regardless of what other people can see, regardless of what other people are going through, you're so stuck in the middle of the storm, all you see is chaos with no way out. 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:14.020 So Jesus, in Luke 8, he gets into a boat with his disciples. 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:17.880 And Jesus says, let's head to the other side of the lake. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.700 So they sail over there, right? 00:27:19.760 --> 00:27:23.580 This is important as we remember the context of what's taking place. 00:27:23.800 --> 00:27:27.860 This isn't a lake like Lake Murray where you can paddle to the other side quickly. 00:27:28.020 --> 00:27:31.240 As they get in, they're not seeing the other side of the lake. 00:27:31.560 --> 00:27:36.540 Also, let's just make sure, this is a sailing and a rowing culture, right? 00:27:36.620 --> 00:27:39.780 Like, unfortunately, the motor hadn't kicked in yet for them, okay? 00:27:39.900 --> 00:27:41.080 So they're heading over. 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:42.280 It's a long journey. 00:27:42.280 --> 00:27:47.160 Now, Jesus falls asleep during this time. 00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:55.040 And while Jesus is asleep, a huge storm comes and water begins to fill the boat. 00:27:55.180 --> 00:27:59.380 Now, this is where I feel like Jesus and I are a lot alike. 00:27:59.520 --> 00:28:02.440 I can sleep through anything, you know? 00:28:02.560 --> 00:28:10.920 I don't know how you are, if any of you are this way, but I can't tell you how many times, like, we'll wake up in the morning and I'll look at my wife and say, how was your night of sleep? 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:11.820 And she'll go, really? 00:28:12.760 --> 00:28:14.040 I didn't sleep at all. 00:28:14.860 --> 00:28:15.540 Well, why not? 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:17.940 Did you not hear the car alarm go off? 00:28:18.040 --> 00:28:18.340 Nope. 00:28:18.800 --> 00:28:20.260 Did you not hear the dogs barking? 00:28:20.760 --> 00:28:21.100 Nope. 00:28:21.180 --> 00:28:24.600 Did you not hear that man in our house who snored all night long? 00:28:24.860 --> 00:28:25.100 Nope. 00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:26.880 I didn't hear any of those things, right? 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:28.740 I slept right through it all. 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:30.640 And so this is where we find Jesus. 00:28:30.740 --> 00:28:31.520 He's asleep. 00:28:32.360 --> 00:28:33.820 And they come and they wake him up. 00:28:34.980 --> 00:28:36.560 And they wake him up with panic. 00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:45.620 They wake him up in screaming because in the chaos that surrounds them, they are about to die, right? 00:28:46.340 --> 00:28:49.980 The people on the shore aren't having this conversation. 00:28:51.180 --> 00:29:00.300 The people who got an earlier start and who are on the other side of the lake, they've already been through the storm and there's clear waters where they are. 00:29:01.100 --> 00:29:06.400 But for the perception of the people who are right there, they are about to die. 00:29:06.520 --> 00:29:08.620 They've convinced themselves in their mind. 00:29:08.860 --> 00:29:11.640 And maybe they are and maybe they aren't. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:14.560 But they come to Jesus and he steps in. 00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:21.580 And with his very words, he calmed the storm. 00:29:22.580 --> 00:29:23.400 And he asked him this. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:24.480 He says, where is your faith? 00:29:25.460 --> 00:29:27.000 Jesus placed him on the boat. 00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:29.920 Jesus said, let's go to the other side. 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:31.940 Where is your faith? 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:39.120 They had Jesus, but they couldn't see beyond their perception of their reality. 00:29:39.900 --> 00:29:41.440 And so that's the storms of the perception. 00:29:41.940 --> 00:29:43.440 Maybe that's where you find yourself. 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:49.640 Other storm that we are going to see is the storm of spiritual attacks. 00:29:51.380 --> 00:29:53.000 Here's what I want to say. 00:29:54.520 --> 00:30:11.040 Don't let our logic and wanting to explain things away in easy manners convince us that there's not spiritual battles that are happening all the time around you and to you. 00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:11.920 All right? 00:30:12.780 --> 00:30:13.120 All right. 00:30:13.940 --> 00:30:15.460 God has won. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:18.260 The victory has been decided. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:21.020 We know and we live in that. 00:30:21.940 --> 00:30:28.440 But for whatever reason, in the sovereignty of God, of what God is continuing to work and move of the lives of his church, 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:33.540 as God is calling, God is saving, and God is redeeming people to himself, 00:30:33.540 --> 00:30:37.980 there is spiritual warfare that is happening and taking place. 00:30:38.340 --> 00:30:41.920 Men and women of faith are being attacked in their boldness to share. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:48.720 And Satan is living in the moment for those who have the opportunity here before it can take root to take that away from them. 00:30:48.800 --> 00:30:48.940 Okay? 00:30:49.660 --> 00:30:55.080 So let's not forget that there's real spiritual attacks that are happening and taking place. 00:30:55.260 --> 00:30:58.040 And maybe you right now feel that that's where you are. 00:30:58.980 --> 00:31:04.420 In the relationships that you have, in the work that you're trying to do, in all of these things, 00:31:04.500 --> 00:31:06.560 you feel the spiritual attack. 00:31:07.140 --> 00:31:10.120 What's what we see in the life of a man who's going to greet Jesus? 00:31:10.740 --> 00:31:15.400 In Luke 8, when the storm is calmed and they get to the other side to land, 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:22.340 Jesus is greeted by a man who, Scripture tells us, walked around naked, 00:31:22.740 --> 00:31:30.060 lived amongst the tombs, and was possessed by a legion, so multiple demons. 00:31:31.120 --> 00:31:32.840 And he's known for this. 00:31:33.300 --> 00:31:38.860 He's the crazy naked man who lives in the cemetery, who is possessed by demons, 00:31:38.860 --> 00:31:41.180 and he's the one that greets Jesus. 00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:44.260 And he knows who he is. 00:31:45.300 --> 00:31:46.720 Or at least the demons in him do. 00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:50.680 And as Jesus and him encounter, 00:31:51.420 --> 00:31:54.680 he declares that he knows who Jesus is, 00:31:54.780 --> 00:31:57.780 and he begs Jesus not to torment him. 00:31:58.660 --> 00:31:59.660 We'll paraphrase in a lot. 00:31:59.660 --> 00:32:00.080 We'll say this. 00:32:00.320 --> 00:32:03.880 Jesus sets this man free. 00:32:04.980 --> 00:32:08.560 Jesus calls the demons from him, 00:32:09.300 --> 00:32:10.840 sets this man free, 00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:13.200 gets victory in the moment of this. 00:32:14.300 --> 00:32:16.800 And word gets back to the town. 00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:20.780 You can imagine people know who this guy is. 00:32:21.940 --> 00:32:24.460 Word gets back to him that this is what has happened, 00:32:24.780 --> 00:32:26.240 that this is what has taken place. 00:32:26.580 --> 00:32:31.280 And so they come out to see for themselves what is going on. 00:32:31.500 --> 00:32:36.220 And Scripture tells us that they find him clothed in his right mind 00:32:36.220 --> 00:32:37.840 and sitting at the feet of Jesus. 00:32:39.380 --> 00:32:44.360 And so we see the victory in the storm of the spiritual world. 00:32:44.980 --> 00:32:48.840 But we also are going to see the storm of suffering. 00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:51.460 There are a lot of things. 00:32:51.540 --> 00:32:51.920 What is this? 00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:53.020 It's tax season, right? 00:32:53.060 --> 00:32:56.200 There's only two things that we can be sure of, death and taxes. 00:32:56.360 --> 00:32:57.400 Well, I want to say this. 00:32:57.480 --> 00:32:58.980 We can be sure of suffering. 00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:02.380 It's a guarantee of this life. 00:33:03.700 --> 00:33:06.820 How we define something is neither here nor there, 00:33:06.820 --> 00:33:11.340 but we can be guaranteed that whether you're found in Christ or you're not, 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:14.060 you're going to experience suffering in this world. 00:33:15.300 --> 00:33:19.480 And in Luke chapter 8, we see two instances of suffering. 00:33:20.420 --> 00:33:25.260 The first suffering is from a dad named Jairus and his daughter. 00:33:25.760 --> 00:33:27.640 And he comes to Jesus. 00:33:28.940 --> 00:33:30.740 He's a religious leader. 00:33:31.700 --> 00:33:33.260 And he comes to Jesus and he says, 00:33:33.560 --> 00:33:36.580 Hey, Jesus, my daughter is fixing to die. 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:39.160 She's on death's bed. 00:33:39.260 --> 00:33:42.800 Will you come to my house and heal her? 00:33:43.520 --> 00:33:47.220 And so he and Jesus begin this journey to his house. 00:33:47.660 --> 00:33:54.520 And on their way there, I think there's lots of application we could look at in this, in our own lives, 00:33:54.620 --> 00:33:57.200 or maybe even the conversations we have with people. 00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:00.540 There's someone who comes to him and says, 00:34:00.940 --> 00:34:01.720 It's too late. 00:34:03.160 --> 00:34:03.880 She's dead. 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:05.640 Think about this. 00:34:06.460 --> 00:34:12.120 Have we ever found ourselves in moments in our life where we could look at and say, 00:34:12.220 --> 00:34:14.040 Spiritually speaking, Jesus is too late for you. 00:34:14.820 --> 00:34:15.880 But that's what they say. 00:34:16.600 --> 00:34:19.400 Jesus, it is too late. 00:34:19.740 --> 00:34:21.680 She has died, but Jesus goes anyway. 00:34:22.680 --> 00:34:30.580 And when he gets there, he takes her by the hand and brings hope into a lost situation of suffering 00:34:30.580 --> 00:34:34.860 as the girl rises and finds new life. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:40.220 The other instance of suffering happens on the way to this man's house 00:34:40.220 --> 00:34:43.460 where there's a woman who's been suffering from a physical conditioning, 00:34:43.740 --> 00:34:47.980 a condition of bleeding, and it's been happening for 12 years. 00:34:48.860 --> 00:34:57.220 And because of this condition, she's a social, she's a religious outcast in her community. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:03.420 She has spent her money in the last 12 years trying to figure out what's going on. 00:35:03.500 --> 00:35:08.700 And in her world, she is the leper who was found there who cannot interact with anyone. 00:35:08.700 --> 00:35:11.100 But she hears that Jesus is coming. 00:35:11.680 --> 00:35:13.380 She hears that Jesus is there. 00:35:13.720 --> 00:35:18.500 And so she works her way through the crowd, keeping herself hidden. 00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:23.100 She won't even cry out to him that Jesus to come and touch me and heal me. 00:35:23.220 --> 00:35:25.040 Or even Jesus, speak the word. 00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:32.160 And as she can get close enough to him, she reaches out and she touches the hem of his robe. 00:35:33.460 --> 00:35:35.240 And immediately she's healed. 00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:37.760 And immediately she's healed. 00:35:38.660 --> 00:35:42.200 And Jesus asked, who touched me? 00:35:42.900 --> 00:35:46.620 Because Jesus feels the power rush out of him. 00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:50.220 And she comes before him and she kneels. 00:35:51.260 --> 00:35:58.660 And so what we see here in the lives of these individuals is people who have an encounter with Jesus. 00:35:58.660 --> 00:36:02.260 But my question for them is my question for you. 00:36:02.580 --> 00:36:03.820 What are they going to do with it? 00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:07.480 What's the obedience going to look like in their life? 00:36:08.460 --> 00:36:12.820 If you're here and you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you've had an encounter with him. 00:36:12.980 --> 00:36:13.800 What are you going to do with it? 00:36:14.700 --> 00:36:22.420 If you're here for the very first time, you hear the gospel of what Jesus has done for you through his death and through his life and the resurrection. 00:36:22.760 --> 00:36:24.440 The question is, what are you going to do with it? 00:36:25.620 --> 00:36:28.400 For you, does it fall on the path that will go away? 00:36:29.340 --> 00:36:34.740 Will it fall in the thin topsoil and as soon as suffering comes, it's going to burn away? 00:36:35.200 --> 00:36:40.800 Will it fall amongst the weeds and the thorns and the distractions of life and never mature? 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:43.700 Because here's what I believe for most of us as Christians. 00:36:44.080 --> 00:36:51.360 The reason why we stay immature in our faith is because we're living amongst the weeds and the thorns. 00:36:51.600 --> 00:36:59.720 We can't get past the worries and the pleasures to achieve and to see and to be blessed with the fruit of the gospel. 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:02.420 Or will it grow? 00:37:03.860 --> 00:37:05.220 Will it thrive? 00:37:06.160 --> 00:37:15.260 And will people be blessed because of the fruit that God produces in you? 00:37:16.380 --> 00:37:19.460 How we respond matters. 00:37:20.580 --> 00:37:27.480 When you hear God, when you see God, what you do with that matters. 00:37:28.540 --> 00:37:37.360 Those that were in the boat during the storm, of all the fear that raged amongst them, look at verse 25. 00:37:38.820 --> 00:37:41.020 He said to them, where is your faith? 00:37:42.460 --> 00:37:54.000 And they were afraid and they marveled, saying to one another, who then is this that he commands even the winds and waters and they obey him? 00:37:54.340 --> 00:38:00.600 One of the beautiful things of our response to God, I believe, is the response of wonder. 00:38:02.160 --> 00:38:04.200 This is a group who had been around Jesus. 00:38:05.060 --> 00:38:06.620 They had heard his teaching. 00:38:07.220 --> 00:38:08.760 They had seen his miracles. 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:17.620 But when through his words he calmed the storm, they asked the question, who then is this? 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:20.160 The response of wonder. 00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:23.880 As much as they knew Jesus, they wanted to know him more. 00:38:24.620 --> 00:38:27.280 So here's the question that I have for us today. 00:38:28.280 --> 00:38:32.680 Are you content in the depth of your relationship with Jesus? 00:38:33.740 --> 00:38:39.840 Or is every new day a new opportunity to know him more? 00:38:40.620 --> 00:38:45.140 To find out more beautiful truths about him? 00:38:45.780 --> 00:38:48.460 And to experience the fullness of who he is. 00:38:49.320 --> 00:38:52.340 Could you respond to Christ in wonder? 00:38:53.340 --> 00:38:56.040 For the man who was possessed by the demons. 00:38:56.880 --> 00:39:03.920 I can't imagine there being a man filled with more stories that were both true and untrue told about him. 00:39:04.520 --> 00:39:10.200 I bet he would have filled the social media of the world of guess what Legion did today. 00:39:10.460 --> 00:39:18.640 He'd have been the story that kids stay up late at night talking at campfires about the guy named Legion who roams through the tombs. 00:39:18.640 --> 00:39:22.240 Who's naked and who could imagine the things that he would do. 00:39:23.340 --> 00:39:25.520 But look at how he responds to Jesus. 00:39:25.740 --> 00:39:26.940 Verse 39. 00:39:28.200 --> 00:39:33.420 Jesus says, return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. 00:39:33.700 --> 00:39:40.220 And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. 00:39:41.480 --> 00:39:42.780 It's the response of sharing. 00:39:44.300 --> 00:39:47.160 I see some of you got your pen and your pencil out and your paper. 00:39:47.980 --> 00:39:49.240 Maybe some of you don't. 00:39:49.480 --> 00:39:52.960 Whether you're a writer or you're a thinker and you're just kind of processing this. 00:39:53.180 --> 00:39:54.360 I want to ask you a question. 00:39:54.460 --> 00:39:56.140 Then I want you to think about this. 00:39:57.240 --> 00:40:00.440 And you're just going to be honest with yourself in the Holy Spirit. 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:09.560 Who was the last person you shared the hope of Christ with? 00:40:15.900 --> 00:40:30.800 For many, for many, we can sit there and think, and we can think, and we can think, and that line is going to remain blank. 00:40:33.180 --> 00:40:42.260 Jesus doesn't say, hey, go home and break down Isaiah for everybody. 00:40:43.260 --> 00:40:43.420 Right? 00:40:44.460 --> 00:40:52.820 Jesus doesn't go, hey, man, like, head back to your hometown and explain the depth of everything in Scripture to him. 00:40:54.000 --> 00:41:01.340 Jesus says, go home and tell everyone how much God has done for you. 00:41:02.080 --> 00:41:03.580 I don't care who you are. 00:41:03.640 --> 00:41:05.500 If you are in Christ, you can tell people that. 00:41:06.560 --> 00:41:09.020 There is no training that takes that. 00:41:09.280 --> 00:41:13.140 It's the story of a new life that tells him. 00:41:14.520 --> 00:41:22.280 A few weeks ago, I was talking to a college student at a Christian university, and I asked the same question. 00:41:24.140 --> 00:41:25.500 He gave me his answer. 00:41:26.380 --> 00:41:27.500 He said, no one. 00:41:28.740 --> 00:41:29.960 He's going into ministry. 00:41:31.720 --> 00:41:38.340 And I said, you can't tell me the last person who was lost that you shared the hope of Jesus with. 00:41:39.240 --> 00:41:40.900 And he said, no, but it's not my fault. 00:41:42.720 --> 00:41:43.300 I said, why not? 00:41:44.780 --> 00:41:46.220 He said, well, I don't know any lost people. 00:41:48.080 --> 00:41:50.140 Okay, here's the solution. 00:41:50.900 --> 00:41:51.900 Go find some. 00:41:53.100 --> 00:41:54.180 Go find some. 00:41:54.920 --> 00:42:11.580 Go get out of this spiritual world that we've created for ourselves where it is okay for Christians and lost people to intimately know each other in the depth of a relationship where we can have conversations about Jesus. 00:42:13.320 --> 00:42:14.220 Go share. 00:42:15.640 --> 00:42:18.360 What about the woman who was healed from the bleeding? 00:42:19.540 --> 00:42:21.120 Verse 47 and 48, 00:42:21.120 --> 00:42:32.520 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. 00:42:32.780 --> 00:42:36.160 And he said, daughter, your faith has made you well. 00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:37.480 Go in peace. 00:42:37.620 --> 00:42:39.100 It's the response of humility. 00:42:40.780 --> 00:42:41.800 I love this. 00:42:43.240 --> 00:42:43.860 She's busted. 00:42:43.860 --> 00:42:44.500 She's busted. 00:42:45.660 --> 00:42:46.920 She's caught. 00:42:47.680 --> 00:42:49.100 What does she do? 00:42:49.500 --> 00:42:53.480 She falls down at his feet. 00:42:54.340 --> 00:42:55.700 Now I want to ask you this. 00:42:56.800 --> 00:43:02.120 When it comes to the healing that you and I desire for God, this is my confession moment. 00:43:02.360 --> 00:43:03.960 This is my repentance this week. 00:43:04.520 --> 00:43:17.180 When I oftentimes come before the Lord, my posturing in who I am as a believer is not by falling down, but is looking up in a sense of pride and arrogance that, God, this is what I deserve. 00:43:18.800 --> 00:43:29.120 But what we see in her is the response of humility, of head bowed before him. 00:43:29.980 --> 00:43:31.060 Let me ask you this. 00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.640 As we respond to Christ, does it drive you to his feet? 00:43:39.020 --> 00:43:46.740 And then the last one, and we're going to wrap up with this, to the girl who was given life, Luke 8, 56. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:49.160 I love this. 00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:52.400 I mean, all right, parents, put yourselves here. 00:43:54.180 --> 00:43:55.540 Dads, put yourself here. 00:43:57.100 --> 00:43:57.960 It's your baby girl. 00:44:01.400 --> 00:44:03.120 And her parents were amazed. 00:44:06.200 --> 00:44:08.240 And her parents were amazed. 00:44:08.980 --> 00:44:13.260 But he charged them to tell no one what had happened. 00:44:14.540 --> 00:44:23.360 And in that moment, in the intimacy of just a couple of people with Jesus, a girl goes from life to death. 00:44:24.320 --> 00:44:27.940 And it's the amazement that they find in God. 00:44:28.880 --> 00:44:41.880 And I have to imagine that in that small room in the middle of nowhere, that amazement was coming from a heart of worship. 00:44:42.680 --> 00:44:46.580 That couldn't be performed by a team. 00:44:47.220 --> 00:44:57.780 That couldn't be created in an environment that was only found when people responded to dead people coming alive. 00:44:58.880 --> 00:45:05.240 And the reality for all of us, I've never been on a boat and thought I was going to die. 00:45:07.280 --> 00:45:12.380 I've never been demon-possessed and been set free. 00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:19.780 I've never suffered from a sickness and been isolated for 12 years as a result of it. 00:45:21.980 --> 00:45:26.200 I've never been physically dead and brought back to life. 00:45:27.740 --> 00:45:30.020 But I have been in the middle of the chaos. 00:45:30.920 --> 00:45:33.120 I have been in the middle of the battle. 00:45:34.980 --> 00:45:40.340 I have seen healing and restoration of a relationship take place. 00:45:41.060 --> 00:45:44.080 I have seen new identity formed. 00:45:45.540 --> 00:45:51.160 And I've been spiritually dead and brought back to life. 00:45:52.520 --> 00:45:58.680 And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, so have you. 00:46:00.040 --> 00:46:01.580 But what are we going to do with it? 00:46:02.740 --> 00:46:03.720 Would you pray with me? 00:46:09.560 --> 00:46:13.160 God, I thank you so much for this opportunity that we have to be here. 00:46:14.860 --> 00:46:19.980 Lord, I thank you for your grace and your kindness and your compassion. 00:46:21.680 --> 00:46:28.780 Lord, I thank you and I repent of my spiritual arrogance, Lord, of sometimes of how I approach you. 00:46:30.520 --> 00:46:32.340 Lord, give me the ability. 00:46:32.600 --> 00:46:36.480 Lord, give me the posturing of humility to continually fall down at your feet. 00:46:38.180 --> 00:46:43.600 Lord, I pray for those of us who are here in this room or who are watching online. 00:46:45.440 --> 00:46:48.320 Lord, I pray for us as we look at this. 00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:51.900 Lord, I pray that we would have ears to hear. 00:46:53.380 --> 00:46:57.900 Lord, I pray that we would, in hearing the word of God, hold it fast in our hearts. 00:46:59.360 --> 00:47:07.840 Lord, I pray that we would assess how we hear and that our hearing of the word of God would call us into action. 00:47:08.180 --> 00:47:10.660 Lord, I pray for those of us who are in response to you. 00:47:14.780 --> 00:47:21.980 Jesus, whether it's someone here who needs to respond to you for the very first time, repenting of their sins. 00:47:24.080 --> 00:47:46.880 Lord, I pray for those of us who are in response to you, Lord, I pray that you would work and move in the lives of the individuals that are here. 00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:52.780 Lord, and draw us closer to you. 00:47:54.380 --> 00:47:55.960 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:47:56.740 --> 00:47:57.060 Amen. 00:47:57.060 --> 00:48:14.520 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:48:14.840 --> 00:48:17.140 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:48:17.340 --> 00:48:26.200 If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:48:26.200 --> 00:48:29.760 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:48:41.340 --> 00:48:42.340 Thank you.