1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,436 Things. 2 00:00:03,436 --> 00:00:04,037 On the platform. 3 00:00:04,037 --> 00:00:06,673 Her name is Jen, I don't think. 4 00:00:06,673 --> 00:00:07,707 Is she in here still? 5 00:00:07,707 --> 00:00:08,575 There's Jen back there. 6 00:00:08,575 --> 00:00:09,342 Will you tell Jen? 7 00:00:09,342 --> 00:00:10,710 Great job. 8 00:00:10,710 --> 00:00:13,179 Love that. Love you. 9 00:00:13,179 --> 00:00:17,450 Jen is going to serve alongside in our worship 10 00:00:17,450 --> 00:00:21,821 ministry here on staff as well as women's ministry. 11 00:00:22,389 --> 00:00:25,759 And so she'll start mid-July and then beginning of August. 12 00:00:25,792 --> 00:00:27,127 Kind of a staggered start. 13 00:00:27,127 --> 00:00:29,629 But Jen is great having our platform this morning. 14 00:00:29,629 --> 00:00:32,632 I was so excited for your role and your leadership 15 00:00:32,632 --> 00:00:36,102 here with worship stuff and women's ministry stuff. 16 00:00:36,136 --> 00:00:39,139 It's just going to be a really, really significant time. 17 00:00:39,139 --> 00:00:40,740 So thank you. 18 00:00:40,740 --> 00:00:41,708 It was great to have you with you. 19 00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:43,643 I'm glad you're going to be here next service now. 20 00:00:43,643 --> 00:00:45,979 I'm super excited, but I'm not that excited 21 00:00:45,979 --> 00:00:48,114 because we're still like a month and a half away. 22 00:00:48,114 --> 00:00:51,751 So so be excited about about this. 23 00:00:51,751 --> 00:00:55,121 But you're like, I'm going to introduce some people to you 24 00:00:55,422 --> 00:00:58,425 and then you're not going to see them for a little while, but that's okay. 25 00:00:58,425 --> 00:01:00,693 They're coming. You understand? You understand. 26 00:01:00,693 --> 00:01:03,296 So you might not see Jen next week, but we're going to enjoy your today. 27 00:01:03,296 --> 00:01:06,299 But then she's coming. You got it okay. 28 00:01:06,299 --> 00:01:09,436 So make sure that you meet her, introduce yourself 29 00:01:09,836 --> 00:01:12,138 and make sure that she feels like a part of the family. 30 00:01:13,306 --> 00:01:15,075 A couple other hires they were here in 31 00:01:15,075 --> 00:01:18,078 the first service are not going to be over the next two services, 32 00:01:18,078 --> 00:01:22,015 so I'll introduce them later to you officially as a church. 33 00:01:22,015 --> 00:01:25,151 But just know that God is moving. 34 00:01:25,151 --> 00:01:28,154 He's providing, he is orchestrating, 35 00:01:28,521 --> 00:01:32,025 and we're so thankful for what God has done, 36 00:01:32,025 --> 00:01:36,362 for what he's doing and how he's positioning us in the future. 37 00:01:36,629 --> 00:01:37,931 Really, really exciting stuff. 38 00:01:37,931 --> 00:01:41,401 You're going to start seeing some new faces and hearing some new names. 39 00:01:41,434 --> 00:01:45,705 As you do, make sure that you're welcoming them into the family. 40 00:01:45,705 --> 00:01:48,975 As I pray you're being welcomed into the family as well. 41 00:01:50,110 --> 00:01:54,881 This morning we're going to wrap up chapter 15 and open up 42 00:01:54,881 --> 00:01:58,551 just the first four verses of chapter 16 of the book of Matthew. 43 00:01:59,052 --> 00:02:02,021 So it's taken us a long time to get through this book. 44 00:02:02,021 --> 00:02:05,191 There's 28 chapters long, and at the rate 45 00:02:05,191 --> 00:02:09,062 we're going will be in chapter 20, probably the beginning of the new year. 46 00:02:09,062 --> 00:02:14,033 So we're taking our time to go through it because there's a lot to go through. 47 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,170 And so if you have a Bible and brought one with you, 48 00:02:17,303 --> 00:02:19,472 turn to Matthew chapter 15. 49 00:02:19,472 --> 00:02:24,777 And I just want to read for you the end of 15, beginning of 16. 50 00:02:26,112 --> 00:02:29,482 So, so just follow along and listen. 51 00:02:29,482 --> 00:02:33,586 This is what the Bible says in Matthew 15, starting in verse 29, 52 00:02:35,021 --> 00:02:38,892 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. 53 00:02:38,892 --> 00:02:41,961 And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 54 00:02:42,061 --> 00:02:45,064 A great crowd came to him, bringing with them 55 00:02:45,064 --> 00:02:48,268 the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others. 56 00:02:48,268 --> 00:02:52,539 And they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd 57 00:02:52,539 --> 00:02:56,709 wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, 58 00:02:56,709 --> 00:03:00,813 the lame walking, and the blind seen, and the glorify the God of Israel. 59 00:03:01,214 --> 00:03:05,318 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on the crowd 60 00:03:05,351 --> 00:03:09,622 because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat, 61 00:03:09,622 --> 00:03:13,760 and I'm unwilling to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way. 62 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,130 And the disciples said to him, where are we to get enough 63 00:03:17,130 --> 00:03:20,733 bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd? 64 00:03:21,034 --> 00:03:24,137 And Jesus said to them, how many loaves do you have? 65 00:03:24,137 --> 00:03:28,908 And they said, seven and a few small fish, and directing the crowd 66 00:03:28,942 --> 00:03:33,379 to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, 67 00:03:33,379 --> 00:03:37,784 and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples. 68 00:03:37,784 --> 00:03:40,386 And the disciples gave them to the crowds. 69 00:03:40,386 --> 00:03:42,355 And they all ate and were satisfied. 70 00:03:42,355 --> 00:03:46,960 And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 71 00:03:47,293 --> 00:03:52,398 Those who were those who ate were 4000 men besides women and children. 72 00:03:52,398 --> 00:03:55,435 And after sending away the crowds, 73 00:03:55,435 --> 00:03:58,471 he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. 74 00:03:58,638 --> 00:04:00,573 Now for chapter 16. 75 00:04:00,573 --> 00:04:05,345 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test him and to test him. 76 00:04:05,345 --> 00:04:08,348 They asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 77 00:04:08,514 --> 00:04:11,751 He answered them, when it's evening, you say, 78 00:04:11,751 --> 00:04:15,788 it'll be fair weather for the skies red, and in the morning it'll be stormy. 79 00:04:15,788 --> 00:04:18,157 Today, for the sky is red and threatening. 80 00:04:18,157 --> 00:04:21,995 You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky. 81 00:04:21,995 --> 00:04:25,331 But you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 82 00:04:25,331 --> 00:04:29,335 You, in evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. 83 00:04:29,335 --> 00:04:32,672 But no sign will be given to it except sign of Jonah. 84 00:04:32,872 --> 00:04:36,843 So he left them and departed two groups of people. 85 00:04:37,343 --> 00:04:41,147 And I put these two the end of 15 and beginning 16 together, 86 00:04:41,147 --> 00:04:46,185 because I want to highlight these two groups of people that approach Jesus. 87 00:04:46,386 --> 00:04:52,358 One group comes needy and one group comes entitled. 88 00:04:53,793 --> 00:04:57,063 One group comes to Jesus with broken bodies. 89 00:04:57,430 --> 00:05:00,433 The other group comes to Jesus with hard hearts. 90 00:05:01,734 --> 00:05:05,705 One group comes to Jesus and receives compassion, 91 00:05:05,872 --> 00:05:09,042 and one group comes to Jesus and receives 92 00:05:09,042 --> 00:05:12,011 correction. 93 00:05:12,812 --> 00:05:16,349 As we look at this passage together, 94 00:05:17,150 --> 00:05:20,420 one big idea and I want this to sink in. 95 00:05:20,453 --> 00:05:26,025 Here's the big idea Jesus has endless compassion on those who come to him. 96 00:05:26,025 --> 00:05:31,297 Needy, but no compulsion to satisfy those who feel that they're deserving. 97 00:05:32,498 --> 00:05:36,602 Those who come to Jesus with empty hands, brokenness, and need. 98 00:05:36,636 --> 00:05:39,639 Jesus has unending compassion. 99 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:44,177 But if anybody comes to Jesus 100 00:05:44,977 --> 00:05:49,716 with this sense of entitlement, as if they deserve something from God 101 00:05:50,650 --> 00:05:53,386 is under no compulsion to do anything 102 00:05:53,386 --> 00:05:56,389 for them. 103 00:05:56,556 --> 00:05:59,559 Though Jesus will gladly care for the needy, 104 00:05:59,559 --> 00:06:03,830 he refuses to perform for the entitled. 105 00:06:04,230 --> 00:06:09,535 And so it's really important that we understand how we come before God. 106 00:06:09,836 --> 00:06:13,906 It's really important how we that we understand the right way 107 00:06:13,906 --> 00:06:19,178 to come to church, but also to approach God in prayer. 108 00:06:20,780 --> 00:06:22,181 It's really important. 109 00:06:22,181 --> 00:06:25,184 And we'll see that in these two. 110 00:06:25,385 --> 00:06:28,388 In verses 29 through 31, 111 00:06:28,654 --> 00:06:31,824 just went on from there beside the Sea of Galilee. 112 00:06:32,658 --> 00:06:34,894 He went to the mountain, sat down a great. 113 00:06:34,894 --> 00:06:37,430 The great crowds came to him, bringing with them. 114 00:06:37,430 --> 00:06:41,801 Look at what the Bible says, the lame, the blind, the crippled, the many others. 115 00:06:41,801 --> 00:06:45,505 And they put them at his feet, and he healed them. 116 00:06:46,773 --> 00:06:48,341 And the crowd was wonder. 117 00:06:48,341 --> 00:06:52,478 They were in amazement that they saw the mute speak in the crippled healthy, 118 00:06:52,478 --> 00:06:56,282 the lame walking, and the blind seen, and they glorified the God of Israel. 119 00:06:59,185 --> 00:07:01,120 This crowd, 120 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,090 we know, was from a place called the Decapolis. 121 00:07:04,090 --> 00:07:06,559 Everybody say Decapolis. 122 00:07:06,559 --> 00:07:07,693 What that means? 123 00:07:07,693 --> 00:07:12,598 Two Greek words deca and polis, ten cities. 124 00:07:12,598 --> 00:07:16,869 So this was a gentile and non-Jewish area of ten cities. 125 00:07:16,869 --> 00:07:19,772 So that's where Jesus is. 126 00:07:19,772 --> 00:07:23,476 And one of the ways we know that this is one of the where 127 00:07:23,509 --> 00:07:27,547 Jesus is, is because when they saw what Jesus did, what's the Bible say? 128 00:07:27,580 --> 00:07:30,483 They glorified? What's Bible say? 129 00:07:30,483 --> 00:07:32,385 The God of Israel wasn't there. God. 130 00:07:34,187 --> 00:07:36,122 And so so 131 00:07:36,122 --> 00:07:40,460 they're realizing, look, we're not part of the group here. 132 00:07:40,626 --> 00:07:43,963 But this was amazing what Jesus did. 133 00:07:44,597 --> 00:07:47,633 These people have no religious resume. 134 00:07:48,468 --> 00:07:50,636 They have no religious pedigree. 135 00:07:50,636 --> 00:07:52,538 They have no religious standing. 136 00:07:52,538 --> 00:07:56,142 They have no claim to God, no claim to his Messiah. 137 00:07:56,476 --> 00:07:59,579 They're not part of God's covenant, promised people. 138 00:07:59,579 --> 00:08:01,380 They're outside of all those. 139 00:08:01,380 --> 00:08:07,620 Yet Jesus receives them and has compassion on them because he's compassionate. 140 00:08:08,154 --> 00:08:12,091 Please understand this unworthiness 141 00:08:12,091 --> 00:08:15,094 is not a disqualification for grace. 142 00:08:15,094 --> 00:08:18,097 It's a prerequisite of it. 143 00:08:18,431 --> 00:08:20,533 Those who have nothing to offer God, 144 00:08:20,533 --> 00:08:23,536 those who have no standing before God. 145 00:08:24,637 --> 00:08:29,108 That that doesn't disqualify one from God's compassionate mercy and grace. 146 00:08:29,108 --> 00:08:32,111 That's the prerequisite to receive it. 147 00:08:37,350 --> 00:08:38,150 These people 148 00:08:38,150 --> 00:08:41,721 bring nothing of value to Jesus. 149 00:08:44,624 --> 00:08:47,293 It's just a parade of human helplessness. 150 00:08:48,594 --> 00:08:51,597 I want you to listen to this 151 00:08:52,932 --> 00:08:54,433 great crowds. 152 00:08:54,433 --> 00:08:58,137 This is verse 30 came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, 153 00:08:58,137 --> 00:08:59,839 the crippled, the mute, and many others, 154 00:08:59,839 --> 00:09:03,075 and put them at his feet, and he healed them. 155 00:09:03,075 --> 00:09:06,078 What did they ask Jesus? 156 00:09:09,148 --> 00:09:11,384 Did you see that when you first read it? 157 00:09:11,384 --> 00:09:14,387 They made no request. 158 00:09:14,620 --> 00:09:16,422 They didn't pray, they didn't beg. 159 00:09:16,422 --> 00:09:18,190 They didn't plead their case. 160 00:09:18,190 --> 00:09:21,193 All they did. 161 00:09:26,399 --> 00:09:29,402 I don't even know what to say. 162 00:09:29,468 --> 00:09:33,306 I just have so much profound need. 163 00:09:33,339 --> 00:09:36,842 I can't even verbalize what it is I. 164 00:09:42,014 --> 00:09:45,017 And sometimes. 165 00:09:45,751 --> 00:09:47,987 Haven't you been there? 166 00:09:47,987 --> 00:09:49,655 God, I don't even know what to say. 167 00:09:49,655 --> 00:09:51,490 I don't know what's right. I don't know what's wrong. 168 00:09:51,490 --> 00:09:54,493 I don't know what I want you all. 169 00:09:55,995 --> 00:09:57,296 I can't even 170 00:09:57,296 --> 00:10:01,233 I can't even verbalize all I can do. 171 00:10:01,334 --> 00:10:05,938 Understand when these people brought all of this brokenness. 172 00:10:05,938 --> 00:10:12,011 And just here, the implication is, if I just get this to 173 00:10:12,078 --> 00:10:17,650 Jesus, he'll do something that I can't even verbalize what I need him to do. 174 00:10:21,354 --> 00:10:24,357 It's beautiful. 175 00:10:24,957 --> 00:10:26,359 Because what it does, it 176 00:10:26,359 --> 00:10:29,629 relies on the compassion of Christ, 177 00:10:31,497 --> 00:10:35,468 not the value of the bringer. 178 00:10:37,536 --> 00:10:40,539 They have nothing to offer. 179 00:10:43,576 --> 00:10:46,579 Nothing but their brokenness. 180 00:10:48,914 --> 00:10:51,784 And some of 181 00:10:51,784 --> 00:10:56,656 some today are so spiritually exhausted 182 00:10:58,591 --> 00:11:00,993 because you've been trying so hard 183 00:11:00,993 --> 00:11:03,996 to impress Jesus. 184 00:11:05,231 --> 00:11:08,668 Thinking that if I can just do stuff right, 185 00:11:10,302 --> 00:11:13,105 God will see my effort 186 00:11:13,105 --> 00:11:16,108 and extend his hand. 187 00:11:18,744 --> 00:11:21,147 When all that Jesus requires you to say, 188 00:11:21,147 --> 00:11:24,216 I got nothing to offer but my brokenness. So. 189 00:11:28,988 --> 00:11:31,490 So many people try so hard 190 00:11:31,490 --> 00:11:34,493 to defend themselves. 191 00:11:37,396 --> 00:11:40,399 To deny the fact of their own brokenness 192 00:11:40,399 --> 00:11:44,470 and error and wrong and sin because it's 193 00:11:44,470 --> 00:11:48,741 if I admit it, then maybe it's real and maybe I'm not really worthy. 194 00:11:48,741 --> 00:11:51,744 That's the point. 195 00:11:57,983 --> 00:12:00,920 Please hear me. 196 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,457 Stop hiding your limp that he already sees. 197 00:12:13,899 --> 00:12:16,902 In verse 32. 198 00:12:18,037 --> 00:12:18,637 Jesus 199 00:12:18,637 --> 00:12:21,741 called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on this crowd 200 00:12:21,774 --> 00:12:23,676 because they've been with me for three days. 201 00:12:23,676 --> 00:12:28,214 They have nothing to eat, and I am unwilling to send them away 202 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,250 hungry lest they faint on the way. 203 00:12:32,952 --> 00:12:33,519 Listen, 204 00:12:33,519 --> 00:12:37,690 Jesus sees the need that they can't even verbalize, 205 00:12:37,690 --> 00:12:41,460 and he sees the need that they don't even know is coming. 206 00:12:42,895 --> 00:12:45,898 They're going to get hungry. 207 00:12:46,298 --> 00:12:47,433 Like right now. 208 00:12:47,433 --> 00:12:49,869 They don't even realize what they're going to be walking into. 209 00:12:49,869 --> 00:12:52,838 But I see it, and I have so much compassion on them. 210 00:12:52,838 --> 00:12:56,842 I don't want to just meet their immediate thing that they can't even verbalize. 211 00:12:56,842 --> 00:13:00,112 I'm going to set them up for my provision in the future. 212 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:04,817 That's how much compassion I have on these people who don't even know 213 00:13:04,817 --> 00:13:09,822 what to say, who are outside of the scope of the promise of my father. 214 00:13:12,758 --> 00:13:13,826 And what put 215 00:13:13,826 --> 00:13:18,731 them in that position was simply admitting and acknowledging their own brokenness 216 00:13:18,731 --> 00:13:22,101 and needing inability to fix themselves. 217 00:13:28,340 --> 00:13:30,276 People came for healing. 218 00:13:30,276 --> 00:13:33,279 Jesus saw their hunger. 219 00:13:33,546 --> 00:13:36,549 It's beautiful. 220 00:13:37,082 --> 00:13:40,319 Because we don't have to perform for him, 221 00:13:41,554 --> 00:13:44,557 and we don't have to convince him. 222 00:13:45,291 --> 00:13:48,394 See, one of the things I love about my God is that 223 00:13:48,394 --> 00:13:51,831 Jesus does not need to be manipulated into mercy. 224 00:13:54,900 --> 00:13:56,101 God, I've been so. 225 00:13:56,101 --> 00:13:56,735 I've tried. 226 00:13:56,735 --> 00:13:57,636 So I've given. 227 00:13:57,636 --> 00:14:00,639 So quit manipulating him. 228 00:14:03,108 --> 00:14:06,078 Just come before and say, God, even 229 00:14:06,078 --> 00:14:10,482 I can't list for you the things I've done because I'm not. 230 00:14:11,317 --> 00:14:12,451 I can list for you 231 00:14:12,451 --> 00:14:16,822 my failure and how broken I am and how needy I am and how desperate I am. 232 00:14:16,822 --> 00:14:18,691 And I realize that doesn't 233 00:14:18,691 --> 00:14:21,694 put me in a super good standing, but I'm not relying on my standing. 234 00:14:21,694 --> 00:14:25,097 I'm relying on your compassion. That's it. 235 00:14:26,298 --> 00:14:27,800 And it's so beautiful. 236 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,803 That is so simplistic, 237 00:14:31,370 --> 00:14:34,373 but it's so humbling. 238 00:14:35,107 --> 00:14:38,110 And that's our problem. 239 00:14:42,014 --> 00:14:45,017 Verse 33. 240 00:14:45,718 --> 00:14:49,588 And the disciples said to him, where will we get enough bread 241 00:14:49,588 --> 00:14:52,591 in such a place to feed such a great crowd? 242 00:14:53,459 --> 00:14:55,461 Okay. 243 00:14:55,461 --> 00:14:59,298 Do you remember what we read about in chapter 14 of chapter earlier? 244 00:14:59,865 --> 00:15:02,868 What was what was one of the things you read about just a chapter earlier, 245 00:15:02,868 --> 00:15:05,971 you Bible students, what did Jesus do? 246 00:15:08,474 --> 00:15:09,541 That relates to this story? 247 00:15:09,541 --> 00:15:11,343 What did he do? 248 00:15:11,343 --> 00:15:14,280 Yeah, he fed 5000. 249 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:18,918 They just were in the exact same scenario. 250 00:15:20,586 --> 00:15:23,589 Except now they had less of a need. 251 00:15:24,123 --> 00:15:26,292 Jesus already did a bigger need. 252 00:15:26,292 --> 00:15:29,461 5000 men, besides 23,000 total, 253 00:15:29,461 --> 00:15:33,499 and gave an abundance of 12 baskets left over. 254 00:15:33,499 --> 00:15:38,170 And now they're in this scenario, not 5000, now only 4000. 255 00:15:38,470 --> 00:15:42,241 And they even have more supply now they got seven. 256 00:15:42,441 --> 00:15:43,642 Before it was it was 5 to 2. 257 00:15:43,642 --> 00:15:45,277 Now it's seven and some. 258 00:15:45,277 --> 00:15:48,280 And apparently at least this time they didn't 259 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,517 have to steal it from some little boy like they probably brought. 260 00:15:51,550 --> 00:15:54,253 They learned a little bit and brought some of their own anyway. 261 00:15:54,253 --> 00:15:59,091 Like they got the the need is less and the supply and now they still. 262 00:15:59,391 --> 00:16:00,659 How are they going to do. 263 00:16:01,694 --> 00:16:02,561 Sometimes you look 264 00:16:02,561 --> 00:16:05,531 at these people and think what it is 265 00:16:05,898 --> 00:16:07,933 anybody. Yeah. 266 00:16:07,933 --> 00:16:10,936 Now if we looked in the mirror lately. 267 00:16:11,971 --> 00:16:14,974 Like why is it that we're like, oh God, I know what you did back then, 268 00:16:14,974 --> 00:16:17,977 but now there's a whole new ballgame now, I don't know. 269 00:16:18,510 --> 00:16:21,380 Let me suggest you there's something more going on here 270 00:16:21,380 --> 00:16:24,950 than just they forgot what God did. 271 00:16:26,352 --> 00:16:29,355 Let me suggest you why they asked this question. Now, 272 00:16:30,589 --> 00:16:33,592 it's not that they forgot what God did. 273 00:16:34,159 --> 00:16:37,162 It's because they remember who God did it for. 274 00:16:37,496 --> 00:16:41,066 See, when Jesus fed the 5000 and those were Jews, 275 00:16:42,634 --> 00:16:45,437 there's 4000 in the Decapolis. 276 00:16:45,437 --> 00:16:48,440 They're non-Jews. 277 00:16:50,075 --> 00:16:54,013 So the disciples, their problem is not with the supply of God. 278 00:16:54,013 --> 00:16:57,683 Their problem is with the scope of God's grace 279 00:16:58,617 --> 00:17:01,620 and his mercy. 280 00:17:03,922 --> 00:17:06,892 See the disciples. 281 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,296 They knew that Jesus could feed our people. 282 00:17:12,798 --> 00:17:13,499 But what? 283 00:17:13,499 --> 00:17:16,502 Jesus really feed those people? 284 00:17:18,170 --> 00:17:21,173 That's their problem. 285 00:17:21,173 --> 00:17:24,176 Like God, we're kind of entitled 286 00:17:24,443 --> 00:17:27,279 because we're 287 00:17:27,279 --> 00:17:29,481 you fill in the blank. 288 00:17:29,481 --> 00:17:32,451 But those. 289 00:17:42,461 --> 00:17:45,064 Grace always feels generous until God gives it to 290 00:17:45,064 --> 00:17:48,067 someone you would have excluded. 291 00:17:59,778 --> 00:18:01,914 See, the disciples had seen the power of Jesus, 292 00:18:01,914 --> 00:18:04,917 but now they're going to learn the grace of Jesus. 293 00:18:06,018 --> 00:18:09,021 And so lesson for every one of us. 294 00:18:13,225 --> 00:18:16,228 Here's the danger of religious people. 295 00:18:16,395 --> 00:18:19,631 We believe in grace theologically, but we often ration it 296 00:18:19,665 --> 00:18:22,668 relationally. 297 00:18:24,703 --> 00:18:27,673 We love the fact that God is a gracious and merciful God. 298 00:18:27,673 --> 00:18:30,676 We love that. 299 00:18:31,577 --> 00:18:33,345 And we expect that from him. 300 00:18:33,345 --> 00:18:36,915 But as far as me and you, the moment you cross me, 301 00:18:38,851 --> 00:18:41,854 the moment I'm offended by what you. 302 00:18:43,622 --> 00:18:43,989 Like. 303 00:18:43,989 --> 00:18:47,759 We believe in it in theologically, long as it's coming from God to me. 304 00:18:47,759 --> 00:18:49,261 But when it's relationally. 305 00:18:49,261 --> 00:18:52,264 And now you've done that to me. 306 00:18:59,338 --> 00:19:02,341 See, one of the things I have to realize 307 00:19:02,441 --> 00:19:05,177 is that it's only needy people 308 00:19:05,177 --> 00:19:08,180 who get grace. 309 00:19:10,582 --> 00:19:14,186 And once we've received grace, 310 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:18,790 once I've understood that Jesus 311 00:19:18,957 --> 00:19:23,462 paid the penalty and the price for my sin that I couldn't pay 312 00:19:23,996 --> 00:19:27,466 by giving his life on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin, 313 00:19:27,466 --> 00:19:30,736 and then raising from the dead to ensure eternal life. 314 00:19:30,736 --> 00:19:34,072 And that act alone deserves all of my allegiance. 315 00:19:34,072 --> 00:19:37,142 And once I've given my life and my allegiance 316 00:19:37,142 --> 00:19:41,146 to Christ, I receive this incredible grace. 317 00:19:41,146 --> 00:19:45,317 It's by God's grace that even did that for me in the first place. 318 00:19:46,718 --> 00:19:49,721 And the moment I received that. 319 00:19:52,090 --> 00:19:55,460 It is so disingenuous for me to keep that 320 00:19:55,460 --> 00:19:58,463 and not give the same grace that I've received. 321 00:20:00,832 --> 00:20:03,835 Even to those people. 322 00:20:07,773 --> 00:20:09,308 Now, the interesting thing about grace 323 00:20:09,308 --> 00:20:12,311 is you only get it if you admit you need it. 324 00:20:14,713 --> 00:20:18,083 If I always think that I'm in the right, 325 00:20:18,350 --> 00:20:21,353 if I always think that it's someone else's problem. 326 00:20:21,353 --> 00:20:24,356 If I always think. 327 00:20:25,857 --> 00:20:28,860 That they're the ones who need to. 328 00:20:30,596 --> 00:20:32,431 I'm never in a position 329 00:20:32,431 --> 00:20:35,434 to receive God's grace. 330 00:20:35,934 --> 00:20:37,636 Or if I think that I'm in right 331 00:20:37,636 --> 00:20:40,639 standing with God because of how I've lived. 332 00:20:41,073 --> 00:20:44,276 I've been righteous, I've been holy, I've been obedient. 333 00:20:44,610 --> 00:20:47,613 Of course I'm right with God. 334 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,015 That attitude 335 00:20:50,015 --> 00:20:53,719 has removed that person from the grace of God. 336 00:20:54,586 --> 00:20:58,290 Have you ever heard the idea that someone has fallen from grace? 337 00:20:59,358 --> 00:21:01,293 Yeah, usually that 338 00:21:01,293 --> 00:21:05,130 is used predominantly when someone messes up real bad, 339 00:21:05,264 --> 00:21:09,434 someone who's not supposed to mess up and they mess up real bad. 340 00:21:09,468 --> 00:21:10,702 They've fallen from grace. 341 00:21:10,702 --> 00:21:15,641 That is such a diabolical, demonic understanding of grace. 342 00:21:16,475 --> 00:21:20,746 Because what that does is it keeps someone from the grace of God. 343 00:21:21,213 --> 00:21:24,783 The only time that phrase fallen from grace is used 344 00:21:24,783 --> 00:21:27,419 in all of the Bible one time. 345 00:21:27,419 --> 00:21:28,553 Galatians five. 346 00:21:28,553 --> 00:21:34,026 For you who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ. 347 00:21:34,059 --> 00:21:36,194 You have what? 348 00:21:36,194 --> 00:21:38,263 Fallen away from grace. 349 00:21:38,263 --> 00:21:42,100 You're trying to be right with God by how you're living. 350 00:21:42,100 --> 00:21:44,870 You think your behavior makes you right with God. 351 00:21:44,870 --> 00:21:49,374 You think you have the right to come to God based on your righteous behavior. 352 00:21:49,441 --> 00:21:51,877 You've just fallen from grace. 353 00:21:53,912 --> 00:21:56,948 When you're a sinner and you admit your sin, 354 00:21:56,982 --> 00:21:59,985 you fall into grace. 355 00:22:00,719 --> 00:22:04,956 The religious people fall out of grace. 356 00:22:05,290 --> 00:22:08,293 Do you understand? 357 00:22:12,331 --> 00:22:15,667 But it's only the people who admit their broken 358 00:22:15,667 --> 00:22:18,870 and worthless have nothing to offer God 359 00:22:19,638 --> 00:22:23,542 that are in a position to receive the grace of God. 360 00:22:24,743 --> 00:22:26,745 It's beautiful. 361 00:22:26,745 --> 00:22:29,748 It's threatening. 362 00:22:30,182 --> 00:22:33,185 But it's beautiful. 363 00:22:34,052 --> 00:22:38,190 Verses 3437. 364 00:22:40,258 --> 00:22:42,961 And Jesus said to them, how many loaves do you have? 365 00:22:42,961 --> 00:22:46,331 He said, seven and a few small fish, and directing the crowd 366 00:22:46,331 --> 00:22:49,334 to sit down on the ground, he took 367 00:22:49,634 --> 00:22:52,037 the seven loaves and the fish, and having given 368 00:22:52,037 --> 00:22:55,374 thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples. 369 00:22:55,374 --> 00:22:57,876 And the disciples gave them to the crowds. 370 00:22:57,876 --> 00:23:00,612 And they all ate and were satisfied. 371 00:23:00,612 --> 00:23:05,417 And they took up seven baskets full of broken pieces left over. 372 00:23:05,984 --> 00:23:11,022 Those who were those who ate were 4000 men besides women and children. 373 00:23:11,022 --> 00:23:14,760 And after sending them away, sending the crowds away, 374 00:23:15,060 --> 00:23:18,663 he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. 375 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:23,902 Just says, look. 376 00:23:23,902 --> 00:23:25,036 Need is huge. 377 00:23:25,036 --> 00:23:26,238 Take care of it. 378 00:23:26,238 --> 00:23:28,373 And their response is we? 379 00:23:28,373 --> 00:23:29,274 Yeah, we'd love to. 380 00:23:29,274 --> 00:23:30,976 We don't have enough. 381 00:23:30,976 --> 00:23:32,277 Have you ever been in that position? 382 00:23:32,277 --> 00:23:33,111 Like God, I would love to. 383 00:23:33,111 --> 00:23:35,347 I just don't know. 384 00:23:35,347 --> 00:23:36,381 God, I would love to say. 385 00:23:36,381 --> 00:23:37,249 I would love to respond. 386 00:23:37,249 --> 00:23:37,983 I would love to do. 387 00:23:37,983 --> 00:23:38,617 I would love to give. 388 00:23:38,617 --> 00:23:41,353 I just don't have anybody. 389 00:23:41,353 --> 00:23:41,720 Yeah. 390 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,723 This has been people's response from day one. 391 00:23:45,957 --> 00:23:47,692 Seven loaves, a few fish. 392 00:23:47,692 --> 00:23:49,661 Like it's not enough. 393 00:23:49,661 --> 00:23:52,664 I know what you've asked, God, but it's not enough. 394 00:23:52,697 --> 00:23:56,435 Listen, not enough is the raw material Jesus requires. 395 00:23:57,736 --> 00:24:00,739 That's all he's looking for. 396 00:24:00,872 --> 00:24:05,310 If you've ever felt like God, I hear what you're saying. 397 00:24:05,310 --> 00:24:06,745 I hear what you're asking. 398 00:24:06,745 --> 00:24:09,748 I don't have enough. You fill in the blank. 399 00:24:09,781 --> 00:24:13,919 God says that's exactly the raw material that I require. 400 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,022 Any. Any of you Bible scholars. 401 00:24:17,022 --> 00:24:18,423 Let me ask you this question. 402 00:24:18,423 --> 00:24:22,594 You look in the Bible and show me where God asked 403 00:24:22,594 --> 00:24:25,997 someone who already had an abundance to give him a little bit of leftovers, 404 00:24:25,997 --> 00:24:29,000 or they had too much of. 405 00:24:34,072 --> 00:24:35,907 Doesn't happen. 406 00:24:35,907 --> 00:24:40,111 He always goes to those who don't have enough 407 00:24:41,146 --> 00:24:43,281 and says, listen, I want you to. 408 00:24:43,281 --> 00:24:44,149 I know you don't have enough. 409 00:24:44,149 --> 00:24:46,251 That's why I chose you. 410 00:24:46,251 --> 00:24:49,254 You don't get more excuses. 411 00:24:52,991 --> 00:24:56,361 See, a little bit in my hands is a little bit. 412 00:24:57,028 --> 00:24:59,831 A little bit in Jesus's hands. 413 00:24:59,831 --> 00:25:02,100 Feeds thousands. 414 00:25:02,100 --> 00:25:05,170 And so we don't get a say to Jesus. 415 00:25:05,270 --> 00:25:07,339 I would love to. 416 00:25:07,339 --> 00:25:10,141 I just don't have enough. 417 00:25:10,141 --> 00:25:14,312 Never say, Lord, I wish I had. 418 00:25:14,546 --> 00:25:16,214 Dot dot dot. 419 00:25:16,214 --> 00:25:19,784 Always say, Lord, here's what I have. 420 00:25:21,152 --> 00:25:22,187 Because Jesus not 421 00:25:22,187 --> 00:25:25,190 only uses what we have, Jesus multiplies it. 422 00:25:26,424 --> 00:25:29,427 You want more of the little you have. 423 00:25:30,362 --> 00:25:33,331 Say, here we go, Lord. 424 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:39,070 Many people I mean not here because we're we do everything right, 425 00:25:39,070 --> 00:25:42,107 but other people who are trying to follow 426 00:25:42,107 --> 00:25:45,110 Jesus and other churches 427 00:25:45,577 --> 00:25:47,979 wait to obey and wait to do 428 00:25:47,979 --> 00:25:51,850 and wait to serve and wait to give until they have enough, 429 00:25:52,551 --> 00:25:55,153 and till they have enough time, until they have enough money, 430 00:25:55,153 --> 00:25:57,622 until they have enough strength, until they have enough confidence, 431 00:25:57,622 --> 00:26:00,892 until they have enough energy, until they have the time when their schedule. 432 00:26:05,730 --> 00:26:07,632 Jesus always starts 433 00:26:07,632 --> 00:26:10,635 with what looks inadequate. 434 00:26:10,835 --> 00:26:13,905 Everything that God has asked of you 435 00:26:13,905 --> 00:26:18,677 and of me that we've looked at and said, God, I wish I could. 436 00:26:18,677 --> 00:26:20,679 I just don't have enough. 437 00:26:20,679 --> 00:26:24,482 Jesus says, that's why I'm starting with you. 438 00:26:28,386 --> 00:26:29,588 Hudson Taylor says this I 439 00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:32,691 love this quote God's work does God done God's way? 440 00:26:32,757 --> 00:26:35,760 Never last. God's supply. 441 00:26:36,194 --> 00:26:38,697 The reason why you and I don't have enough, 442 00:26:38,697 --> 00:26:41,833 or God has asked us to do, is if we did, we'd give him leftovers. 443 00:26:41,833 --> 00:26:44,836 And we think that he's lucky to have us on a team. 444 00:26:47,772 --> 00:26:50,508 We have another way that this is said, 445 00:26:50,508 --> 00:26:52,978 kind of more modern way is where God guides. 446 00:26:52,978 --> 00:26:54,746 God provides. 447 00:26:54,746 --> 00:26:57,015 That's why we in this church have. 448 00:26:57,015 --> 00:27:00,051 We've always said yes on the front end of everything. 449 00:27:00,919 --> 00:27:02,053 Yeah, sure. Yeah. 450 00:27:02,053 --> 00:27:04,623 God will provide if we're confident God's doing it. 451 00:27:04,623 --> 00:27:05,991 It doesn't matter what it looked like. 452 00:27:05,991 --> 00:27:08,093 The situation looks like. Let's just say yes. 453 00:27:08,093 --> 00:27:10,061 Let's say yes and see what happens. 454 00:27:10,061 --> 00:27:13,732 Let's actually step on the water and see if we, you know, if he float or not. 455 00:27:13,999 --> 00:27:16,067 Let's just say yes. 456 00:27:16,067 --> 00:27:16,534 Well. God. 457 00:27:16,534 --> 00:27:19,137 Wait, wait. You want us to start a church planning movement in Cuba? 458 00:27:19,137 --> 00:27:21,039 It's illegal there, but. Okay. 459 00:27:22,173 --> 00:27:24,042 You wants to do this in Guatemala? 460 00:27:24,042 --> 00:27:26,011 Yeah. All right. 461 00:27:26,011 --> 00:27:28,179 What? Ukraine during a war. 462 00:27:28,179 --> 00:27:30,548 All right. Yeah, we'll say yes. 463 00:27:30,548 --> 00:27:31,116 Okay. Wait, wait. 464 00:27:31,116 --> 00:27:33,418 You're going to do something now in Israel. 465 00:27:33,418 --> 00:27:35,220 Well, all that mess is going on. 466 00:27:35,220 --> 00:27:37,455 Yeah, we'll say yes. Absolutely. We'll go there. 467 00:27:37,455 --> 00:27:39,391 Oh, wait a minute. Venezuela. 468 00:27:39,391 --> 00:27:40,759 After what we did to Maduro. 469 00:27:40,759 --> 00:27:43,695 You want to go? Yeah, sure. Yeah. We'll go. 470 00:27:43,695 --> 00:27:46,698 We've never, ever 471 00:27:47,298 --> 00:27:47,532 said. 472 00:27:47,532 --> 00:27:49,668 But God wants you provide. 473 00:27:49,668 --> 00:27:50,902 That's not art. 474 00:27:50,902 --> 00:27:54,105 We don't do that because it's not in the Bible. 475 00:28:00,879 --> 00:28:03,882 So let me just ask, what's that thing you've been withholding 476 00:28:04,015 --> 00:28:07,018 because you feel like you don't have enough of? 477 00:28:09,721 --> 00:28:12,691 That not enough excuse is pretty weak. 478 00:28:16,161 --> 00:28:16,895 See, Jesus 479 00:28:16,895 --> 00:28:19,931 didn't ask his disciples to create the bread. 480 00:28:20,098 --> 00:28:23,835 He just asked him to distribute what he would multiply. 481 00:28:24,069 --> 00:28:26,037 Friends, that's called ministry. 482 00:28:29,574 --> 00:28:30,542 We're not the source. 483 00:28:30,542 --> 00:28:33,545 We're the servants. 484 00:28:36,181 --> 00:28:37,082 We're not the miracle. 485 00:28:37,082 --> 00:28:38,349 You realize that. 486 00:28:38,349 --> 00:28:41,352 We just carry it. 487 00:28:42,454 --> 00:28:45,457 And so that's this one group that comes to Jesus. 488 00:28:45,457 --> 00:28:47,692 But here's this whole other group. 489 00:28:47,692 --> 00:28:48,993 Chapter 16, verse one. 490 00:28:48,993 --> 00:28:51,162 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to test him, 491 00:28:51,162 --> 00:28:53,498 and they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 492 00:28:53,498 --> 00:28:56,134 Answered them, 493 00:28:56,134 --> 00:28:58,136 when it's evening, you say it's going to be fair weather, 494 00:28:58,136 --> 00:28:59,437 not because the sky is red. 495 00:28:59,437 --> 00:29:02,841 Was morning is going to be stormy because the skies read threatening. 496 00:29:02,874 --> 00:29:06,478 Did you know that's like a navy saying red sky at night. 497 00:29:06,511 --> 00:29:07,278 Sailor's delight. 498 00:29:07,278 --> 00:29:09,547 Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. 499 00:29:09,547 --> 00:29:11,082 Yeah, I mean, so like, this is like. 500 00:29:11,082 --> 00:29:12,217 Oh, yeah, well, that makes sense. 501 00:29:12,217 --> 00:29:15,754 You know, and it says, well, you know how to interpret the signs that way, 502 00:29:16,187 --> 00:29:18,757 but you can't interpret the signs of the times. 503 00:29:18,757 --> 00:29:22,894 And evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign and none will be given to it. 504 00:29:22,961 --> 00:29:24,996 Set up the sign of Jonah. 505 00:29:24,996 --> 00:29:29,267 He left these Pharisees and said a very different group. 506 00:29:30,101 --> 00:29:33,238 Pharisees and Sadducees, let me let me help you understand who 507 00:29:33,271 --> 00:29:34,072 these two groups are. 508 00:29:34,072 --> 00:29:36,341 We don't read a lot about the Sadducees in the Bible. 509 00:29:36,341 --> 00:29:40,879 They they, they they really want that much of a concern to Jesus. 510 00:29:41,613 --> 00:29:43,014 The Pharisees we hear a lot more about. 511 00:29:43,014 --> 00:29:45,416 But let me just let me just tell you what they were like back then. 512 00:29:45,416 --> 00:29:47,418 You can extrapolate the 513 00:29:48,553 --> 00:29:49,387 implication and 514 00:29:49,387 --> 00:29:53,057 application to today, the Sadducees, both these groups 515 00:29:53,324 --> 00:29:56,461 and both a political and a religious group, 516 00:29:56,628 --> 00:30:00,498 one more political, one more religious, but had ties to both worlds. 517 00:30:00,999 --> 00:30:04,803 The Sadducees were the wealthy, the elite. 518 00:30:05,336 --> 00:30:08,339 I could say the near Nantucket. 519 00:30:10,074 --> 00:30:11,342 They were more concerned 520 00:30:11,342 --> 00:30:14,345 with their political power than their morality. 521 00:30:15,380 --> 00:30:20,218 They weren't overly religious if it interfered with their power 522 00:30:20,218 --> 00:30:23,822 and their money and their political control. 523 00:30:25,824 --> 00:30:28,827 They were religious but not evangelistic, 524 00:30:29,828 --> 00:30:32,831 and they rejected 525 00:30:32,864 --> 00:30:35,700 a literal heaven, a literal hell. 526 00:30:35,700 --> 00:30:38,670 They, quote unquote trusted the science, 527 00:30:38,670 --> 00:30:41,673 so they didn't believe in miracles. 528 00:30:46,945 --> 00:30:49,914 And then there were the Pharisees. 529 00:30:49,914 --> 00:30:52,784 They were the Scripture thumpers. 530 00:30:52,784 --> 00:30:55,787 They were the blue collar people. 531 00:30:55,987 --> 00:30:57,722 They were deists, meaning 532 00:30:57,722 --> 00:31:00,692 they were God fearing. 533 00:31:01,059 --> 00:31:02,093 And their religion 534 00:31:02,093 --> 00:31:05,263 was and their nation was built on godly principles. 535 00:31:05,263 --> 00:31:08,066 But they had a very wrong conception of the Messiah, 536 00:31:09,467 --> 00:31:10,068 and they 537 00:31:10,068 --> 00:31:13,071 wanted to make their nation great again, 538 00:31:13,905 --> 00:31:16,140 and they wanted to rid their land of all the foreigners 539 00:31:16,140 --> 00:31:19,143 that were in it. 540 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:22,547 Again, 541 00:31:22,547 --> 00:31:25,550 I don't know how that applies to today at all. 542 00:31:28,620 --> 00:31:32,824 But when I look at Jesus's time and our time, 543 00:31:32,824 --> 00:31:35,827 the thing that runs through my head is Ecclesiastes one nine. 544 00:31:36,661 --> 00:31:39,664 What has been will be again, there's nothing new under the sun. 545 00:31:40,398 --> 00:31:43,401 Can you imagine 546 00:31:43,401 --> 00:31:45,236 what any of Jesus disciples, 547 00:31:45,236 --> 00:31:48,373 if they were to have come to him and said, Jesus, listen, here's the deal. 548 00:31:48,439 --> 00:31:52,977 Yeah, I want to follow you, but I also want you to honor my party. 549 00:31:54,412 --> 00:31:56,314 The matter of fact, what I would like to do 550 00:31:56,314 --> 00:32:00,518 is take your kingdom and attach it to my party. 551 00:32:01,819 --> 00:32:03,588 Can you imagine what Jesus would have said? 552 00:32:05,623 --> 00:32:06,891 He would have said, depart from me. 553 00:32:06,891 --> 00:32:09,894 I've never known you because you don't understand my kingdom. 554 00:32:14,866 --> 00:32:17,869 Everybody hear me a loud and clear. 555 00:32:18,002 --> 00:32:20,972 We don't attach Jesus to our political party, 556 00:32:21,372 --> 00:32:24,375 and we don't ask Jesus to bless our kingdom. 557 00:32:26,678 --> 00:32:29,681 We submit to his kingdom. 558 00:32:35,219 --> 00:32:36,654 So these two come. 559 00:32:36,654 --> 00:32:40,692 And here's how you know you're verging on this Pharisee 560 00:32:41,092 --> 00:32:43,695 attitude. 561 00:32:43,695 --> 00:32:46,698 The Sadducees attitude, 562 00:32:48,066 --> 00:32:50,234 when they looked at themselves and people, 563 00:32:50,234 --> 00:32:54,072 there was self elevation and others evaluation. 564 00:32:58,109 --> 00:32:58,977 They were masters 565 00:32:58,977 --> 00:33:01,980 at evaluating everybody else and elevating themselves. 566 00:33:02,180 --> 00:33:05,183 Anybody? 567 00:33:08,586 --> 00:33:11,823 So the crowds come with suffering. 568 00:33:13,224 --> 00:33:16,227 The Pharisees and Sadducees come with suspicion. 569 00:33:17,695 --> 00:33:21,132 The crowds come simply, asking for mercy. 570 00:33:22,233 --> 00:33:25,236 These leaders come demanding proof. 571 00:33:25,670 --> 00:33:28,673 They're so arrogant. 572 00:33:30,274 --> 00:33:32,944 And Jesus gives grace to the needy. 573 00:33:32,944 --> 00:33:35,179 He doesn't do tricks for the entitled. 574 00:33:41,152 --> 00:33:42,320 They had already seen. 575 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:43,254 If you said you want to sign. 576 00:33:43,254 --> 00:33:47,191 And the reason I don't know if you notice it says they demanded a sign from heaven. 577 00:33:47,425 --> 00:33:49,427 Not just a sign of sign from heaven. Here's why. 578 00:33:49,427 --> 00:33:53,231 Because they believed that a sign from earth and earthly sign, 579 00:33:53,231 --> 00:33:54,699 like anybody could conjure that. 580 00:33:54,699 --> 00:33:58,136 But a sign from heaven, like Elijah on the on Mount Carmel, 581 00:33:58,202 --> 00:34:01,572 the province of Vail calling a fire from heaven like that was from God. 582 00:34:01,572 --> 00:34:05,143 And so what they're saying, what we've seen of you, that could be a trick. 583 00:34:05,143 --> 00:34:07,145 We want to see something. You want to prove yourself? 584 00:34:07,145 --> 00:34:10,148 Oh, we want to see something from the hand of God himself. 585 00:34:11,949 --> 00:34:14,952 And Jesus says, I'm not going to show you a darn thing. 586 00:34:14,952 --> 00:34:16,220 You've seen enough. 587 00:34:17,822 --> 00:34:19,390 You've seen enough healing. 588 00:34:19,390 --> 00:34:20,591 You've seen enough. 589 00:34:20,591 --> 00:34:23,094 You've seen enough authority. 590 00:34:23,094 --> 00:34:26,230 You've seen enough authority to for exorcism. 591 00:34:26,230 --> 00:34:28,633 You've seen enough fulfilled prophecy. 592 00:34:28,633 --> 00:34:30,001 You've seen enough. 593 00:34:30,001 --> 00:34:31,903 You've seen enough authority over nature. 594 00:34:31,903 --> 00:34:33,704 You've seen enough authority over disease. 595 00:34:33,704 --> 00:34:35,740 You've seen enough authority over demons. 596 00:34:35,740 --> 00:34:38,042 You've seen enough authority to forgive sin. 597 00:34:38,042 --> 00:34:40,144 You've seen enough authority for miracle. 598 00:34:40,144 --> 00:34:43,147 You've seen enough. 599 00:34:45,149 --> 00:34:46,584 Our problem, like theirs, 600 00:34:46,584 --> 00:34:49,587 is not a lack of evidence. 601 00:34:49,620 --> 00:34:51,789 Our problem is a hardness of heart. 602 00:34:51,789 --> 00:34:54,058 God, if you'll just do this. 603 00:34:54,058 --> 00:34:55,626 God, if you'll give me this. 604 00:34:55,626 --> 00:34:57,462 God if you'll move in now. 605 00:34:57,462 --> 00:35:00,465 God if you'll. 606 00:35:02,467 --> 00:35:03,835 Listen. 607 00:35:03,835 --> 00:35:05,236 Love does not manipulate. 608 00:35:05,236 --> 00:35:08,239 And faith does not put Jesus on trial. 609 00:35:12,376 --> 00:35:15,313 There's a great difference between bringing to Jesus your questions 610 00:35:15,313 --> 00:35:19,350 and your wounds and demanding Jesus meet your conditions. 611 00:35:19,383 --> 00:35:20,651 The vast difference. 612 00:35:23,855 --> 00:35:24,755 Jesus has 613 00:35:24,755 --> 00:35:27,758 compassion, but he will not be controlled. 614 00:35:28,292 --> 00:35:32,497 And he is merciful, but he will never be manipulated. 615 00:35:36,734 --> 00:35:39,770 Just as you want to sign, I'll give you the sign. 616 00:35:39,770 --> 00:35:42,240 But it's not the sign you want. 617 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:43,574 I'm going to give you the sign of Jonah. 618 00:35:43,574 --> 00:35:47,545 Now, Jesus had already talked about this back in Matthew 12, verse 40. 619 00:35:47,578 --> 00:35:51,282 I think the verse is it says the only sign you're going to give signage. 620 00:35:51,282 --> 00:35:53,117 Jonah. He says it again here. 621 00:35:53,117 --> 00:35:56,120 What's the sign of Jonah? 622 00:35:56,454 --> 00:35:58,823 It's a sign of the resurrection. 623 00:35:58,823 --> 00:36:01,926 As Jonah was in the bill of the fish for three days and three nights, 624 00:36:01,959 --> 00:36:06,998 so will the Son of Man be in the belly of the earth, dead, resurrected. 625 00:36:07,598 --> 00:36:10,401 The only sign you get to see they wanted spectacle. 626 00:36:10,401 --> 00:36:11,702 Jesus gave them the cross. 627 00:36:14,038 --> 00:36:15,640 They wanted to show in fireworks. 628 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,376 Jesus gave them an empty tomb. 629 00:36:18,376 --> 00:36:19,577 So that's the only. 630 00:36:19,577 --> 00:36:20,678 That's the only sign of your gift. 631 00:36:20,678 --> 00:36:21,746 He says the same thing to me. 632 00:36:21,746 --> 00:36:24,749 And you. 633 00:36:24,782 --> 00:36:27,785 See, it's the cross. 634 00:36:27,852 --> 00:36:30,021 The cross is God's answer to human need. 635 00:36:30,021 --> 00:36:33,024 And the empty tomb is God's answer to human doubt. 636 00:36:38,196 --> 00:36:43,000 Please, my dear friends, never interpret 637 00:36:43,034 --> 00:36:46,504 God's love through the lens 638 00:36:46,504 --> 00:36:49,507 other than the cross. 639 00:36:50,708 --> 00:36:52,276 Never interpret 640 00:36:52,276 --> 00:36:55,880 God's love through any lens other than the cross. 641 00:36:55,913 --> 00:36:58,883 This is where we go wrong. So often. 642 00:36:58,883 --> 00:37:03,020 We interpret God's love through my pain, through my circumstance, 643 00:37:03,020 --> 00:37:06,791 through the paralyzed, been through through the injustice I've suffered. 644 00:37:08,993 --> 00:37:10,294 And we think, God, 645 00:37:10,294 --> 00:37:13,631 if you loved, if you were powerful, if you could. Why? 646 00:37:14,232 --> 00:37:18,002 And we interpret our pain and our difficulty 647 00:37:18,002 --> 00:37:22,440 and our tragedy through something other than the cross. 648 00:37:24,976 --> 00:37:25,876 The cross 649 00:37:25,876 --> 00:37:30,214 is God's answer to every need we have, and the empty 650 00:37:30,281 --> 00:37:33,251 tomb is the answer to every human doubt. 651 00:37:37,321 --> 00:37:38,556 To interpret 652 00:37:38,556 --> 00:37:41,792 our experience through something other than the cross. 653 00:37:41,826 --> 00:37:45,463 To interpret God's love through our experience 654 00:37:45,463 --> 00:37:48,466 rather than the cross, is to deny the cross 655 00:37:50,334 --> 00:37:52,970 and is to less in God's love. 656 00:37:52,970 --> 00:37:56,073 And if that continues to long, please hear me. 657 00:37:56,107 --> 00:37:59,110 You will walk away from Christ. 658 00:38:01,512 --> 00:38:04,882 If you allow yourself for too long to interpret 659 00:38:04,915 --> 00:38:07,918 God's love through your experience and your pain 660 00:38:07,918 --> 00:38:12,123 and your tragedy and your broken dreams and your broken life, 661 00:38:12,156 --> 00:38:15,426 you will eventually walk away from him. 662 00:38:17,028 --> 00:38:19,330 The cross. 663 00:38:19,330 --> 00:38:22,333 That's how I interpret his love. 664 00:38:27,138 --> 00:38:30,141 The cross is God's. 665 00:38:30,174 --> 00:38:34,779 It's God's declaration that I am more sinful than I want to admit, 666 00:38:35,613 --> 00:38:39,116 and I'm also more loved than I ever dare to hope. 667 00:38:41,852 --> 00:38:44,855 The cross says I am so sinful and so broken. 668 00:38:44,855 --> 00:38:48,359 I cannot be right 669 00:38:48,359 --> 00:38:51,829 with God any other way but through the death of Christ. 670 00:38:52,430 --> 00:38:55,633 But that same cross that condemns me 671 00:38:55,633 --> 00:38:58,703 for how bad and sinful I am also then says, 672 00:38:58,736 --> 00:39:01,739 but you are also more love than you ever dared hope. 673 00:39:04,108 --> 00:39:07,111 And when you accept that. 674 00:39:08,679 --> 00:39:11,682 I come to this loving God and say. 675 00:39:17,021 --> 00:39:19,056 I'm relying on your compassion 676 00:39:19,056 --> 00:39:22,059 and your mercy and grace, 677 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,563 what a beautiful way to live 678 00:39:25,963 --> 00:39:29,433 and to experience the God of the universe 679 00:39:31,268 --> 00:39:32,269 in my life. 680 00:39:32,269 --> 00:39:35,272 Well, beautiful. 681 00:39:36,140 --> 00:39:37,475 And if the cross 682 00:39:37,475 --> 00:39:40,544 and the resurrection aren't enough to make you surrender, 683 00:39:41,979 --> 00:39:43,881 no lesser sign will be enough 684 00:39:43,881 --> 00:39:46,851 to satisfy you. 685 00:39:49,153 --> 00:39:52,156 And I thank God 686 00:39:52,256 --> 00:39:54,625 that he's picked me up when I fallen. 687 00:39:55,693 --> 00:39:56,660 And he's 688 00:39:56,660 --> 00:39:59,663 turned me around when I've walked away. 689 00:39:59,697 --> 00:40:01,599 Not because I deserved it. 690 00:40:01,599 --> 00:40:04,635 Because I came to God in my brokenness and said. 691 00:40:08,572 --> 00:40:11,575 I'm relying on your compassion. 692 00:40:13,110 --> 00:40:15,279 He is so good 693 00:40:15,279 --> 00:40:18,282 and his love is so powerful and his cross proves it. 694 00:40:20,251 --> 00:40:22,019 Do not come to him demanding. 695 00:40:22,019 --> 00:40:24,755 Come to him broken and needy, 696 00:40:24,755 --> 00:40:28,459 and he will have compassion. 697 00:40:30,795 --> 00:40:33,798 Why don't you pray with me? 698 00:40:35,699 --> 00:40:38,536 Father, you are a good God. 699 00:40:38,536 --> 00:40:41,672 You've loved us with an everlasting love. 700 00:40:42,773 --> 00:40:44,842 Thank you that there's nothing we could do 701 00:40:44,842 --> 00:40:48,179 or not do that would make you change your love. 702 00:40:48,279 --> 00:40:50,614 To love us less or love us more. Forgive us. 703 00:40:50,614 --> 00:40:55,753 Forgive me for how I've tried to add your kingdom to my life. 704 00:40:56,454 --> 00:40:59,457 Rather than surrounding my life to your kingdom. 705 00:40:59,857 --> 00:41:01,659 Forgive me for my arrogance. 706 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:05,796 Forgive me for my pride. 707 00:41:05,796 --> 00:41:08,999 Forgive me for thinking I had something to offer you. 708 00:41:10,067 --> 00:41:12,036 The only thing I have to offer you 709 00:41:12,036 --> 00:41:15,272 is my brokenness and my sin and my life. 710 00:41:16,507 --> 00:41:20,144 And so I come to you right now with just open arms 711 00:41:20,144 --> 00:41:23,147 and unexpressed desire. 712 00:41:24,582 --> 00:41:26,083 Have mercy and compassion. 713 00:41:26,083 --> 00:41:29,053 Oh, God. 714 00:41:30,321 --> 00:41:32,356 Friends, I would invite you in this moment. 715 00:41:32,356 --> 00:41:33,591 I don't want you to. 716 00:41:33,591 --> 00:41:36,594 I don't want you to walk out of here 717 00:41:37,027 --> 00:41:39,930 thinking something different about who God is 718 00:41:39,930 --> 00:41:42,933 and his love for you. 719 00:41:44,101 --> 00:41:46,036 He's worthy to give your life to. 720 00:41:46,036 --> 00:41:49,039 And I want to invite you this moment 721 00:41:49,173 --> 00:41:51,876 to say, God, I admit that I'm a sinner 722 00:41:51,876 --> 00:41:55,112 and I have lived life on my own terms, 723 00:41:55,112 --> 00:41:59,450 and I've done this religion thing on my own terms, and it's wrong. 724 00:42:01,151 --> 00:42:01,719 Jesus, 725 00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:05,756 I believe that you died on the cross for my sin that you were buried 726 00:42:05,789 --> 00:42:09,760 in, that you were raised to life to save me. 727 00:42:10,761 --> 00:42:13,731 So save me. 728 00:42:13,864 --> 00:42:16,934 I commit to turn from my sin, 729 00:42:18,269 --> 00:42:20,871 and I dedicate my life 730 00:42:20,871 --> 00:42:24,108 and my allegiance to you and your kingdom 731 00:42:24,108 --> 00:42:27,111 alone, above all others, 732 00:42:27,912 --> 00:42:31,181 and empower me to love you with my whole heart and soul 733 00:42:31,181 --> 00:42:37,054 and mind and strength, without delay and without hesitation, 734 00:42:37,054 --> 00:42:40,057 I am yours. 735 00:42:41,425 --> 00:42:43,360 Fill me with your spirit 736 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:46,330 and the power of your spirit 737 00:42:46,997 --> 00:42:50,634 to desire and to live a holy life. 738 00:42:53,037 --> 00:42:56,040 I am yours. 739 00:42:56,507 --> 00:42:57,441 In your name I pray. 740 00:42:57,441 --> 00:42:59,877 Amen. 741 00:42:59,877 --> 00:43:01,145 Friends, listen, I love you. 742 00:43:01,145 --> 00:43:02,012 I'm proud of you. 743 00:43:02,012 --> 00:43:04,348 Good job. We're getting through, Matthew. 744 00:43:04,348 --> 00:43:05,816 There's a lot there. 745 00:43:05,816 --> 00:43:07,451 Yeah, yeah. 746 00:43:07,451 --> 00:43:10,387 So this week, read chapter 15. Read chapter 16. 747 00:43:10,387 --> 00:43:12,623 We're going to we're going to finish out chapter 16 next week. 748 00:43:12,623 --> 00:43:13,557 You understand. 749 00:43:14,558 --> 00:43:16,994 In the meantime 750 00:43:16,994 --> 00:43:19,029 we thank God 751 00:43:19,029 --> 00:43:21,332 because he's picked us up when we fall in because we fall. 752 00:43:21,332 --> 00:43:23,300 And he's turned us around when we get stupid. 753 00:43:23,300 --> 00:43:24,535 Yeah, yeah. 754 00:43:24,535 --> 00:43:26,770 And he's worth giving our thanks to. 755 00:43:26,770 --> 00:43:27,738 So here's the deal. 756 00:43:27,738 --> 00:43:33,010 Stand up, use your open mouths, and let's sing this with a little bit of gusto. 757 00:43:33,077 --> 00:43:34,812 You got it. All right.