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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hey, everyone, and welcome to Eagle Community Church of Christ podcast. My name is John Gunter. This week we're in chapter 23 of the story. We talk about the beginning of Jesus ministry. Talk about a couple of times where he heals someone and really what we can learn from that and even the religious leaders that are trying to trap him at every turn.
John Gunter:And so, I hope this is helpful for you in some way. And, again, we wanna invite you. Come see us anytime. Have a great week. Here next week, it is definitely not because of that song.
John Gunter:It's about his comments earlier. He's going to explain right now. That is wonderful to me. That is wonderful. Again, we, so glad to be here this morning.
John Gunter:Marty looking forward to next week. Talking about the high seventies. But we are not gonna know what to do with that, are we? Y'all gonna have y'all gonna be in jackets. We are not gonna know what to do.
John Gunter:That's like 40 degrees less than normal. Right? So looking forward to it. I read an article yesterday that we were about to I guess we probably did obliterate the hottest September ever in this area. And, I'm not holding that up.
John Gunter:I'm not holding that trophy. I'm excited about it. But I do love the changing of the seasons, the cooling off, watching our Lord work in this way. My favorite time of the year how many of you favorite time of the year is fall? Like, give me fall all year, yeah?
John Gunter:Some of you are weird, Mickey included, you know. Mickey would be okay if it's 140 every day, I think. But what a blessing it is to to get a little relief from the heat. We're in the story. We're in chapter 23.
John Gunter:And the title of this, chapter is that basically the beginning of Jesus' ministry. And because we have covered the beginning of Jesus' ministry very recently, I had to kind of be creative on which selection I chose. So this chapter begins with Jesus being baptized by John. Remember, John is the voice in the wilderness. John is that crazy guy, if you're here for class, he's the he's the street preacher out in the wilderness, wearing camel's hair and eating locusts and honey, yet people were coming to him and being baptized by him, and John saw his mission as preparing the way for the Messiah, preparing the way for Jesus, and he was very comfortable in his role.
John Gunter:John did not have this complex where he needed to be the greatest. He actually says, as Jesus comes, I need to kinda fade into the background. I need to become less, he needs to become more. And every time John was asked, are you the Messiah? Absolutely not.
John Gunter:I am just here to prepare the way for him. And John was so comfortable in his role, he was uncomfortable baptizing Jesus. Isn't that interesting? Jesus comes, he says, I can't baptize you. You need to be baptizing me.
John Gunter:And John, again, knew who knew the importance of what Jesus was about to do, though he might not have known exactly how that was going to be. When Jesus was baptized, we have this scene where the Holy Spirit, like a dove I don't know that, like, there was a dove, but descended like a dove onto Jesus and there's this voice that says, this is my son. I'm proud of him. And Jesus takes this moment to begin his ministry. And notice that Jesus' ministry does not begin in, you know, chest puffing, hey, I've graduated seminary, all of this stuff.
John Gunter:Jesus' first thing in his ministry is to be led out into the desert and to be tempted. The first thing that's when, Blake and Kayla are here. You heard me say the other day that, like, the first thing, they were just baptized, and I always want to give people a warning, because we're all excited, and that rightfully so, we're excited about seeing people put on Christ in baptism and begin that walk with him, but I always wanna give him that warning because those of you who have lived it know it's that time when I decide I'm gonna give my life to Jesus and Satan says, hold up just a second. Let me see if I can do something about this, I I almost think about it like going on a diet. The moment you sit here and say, now is the time, I'm tired of being overweight, I'm going on a diet, how hungry do you get right then?
John Gunter:Right? You hadn't thought about food until that moment, but as soon as you decided, this is the time, man, I could eat. I'm starving. Something's gonna happen, right? And that's the way it is with ministry.
John Gunter:It's that we get into ministry, we say, I'm giving my life to you, Lord, and it's not all roses and everybody thanking you and what a great time, though they may, you know, thank you and say, what a good job you're doing. The Ministry is filled with potholes. The Ministry is filled with dark days. And even when you think things are going right, you don't really know because you don't get the feedback. I don't know if the words of God have touched your life today, unless you tell me.
John Gunter:I don't know if anything's getting in, if my life has changed, if it's getting worse, if we can help. Because often we're private people, and we keep thinking to ourselves. You ever been sick and, you might know it? Like, you're part of the church, you love praying for people, you're you want to pray for people, but when you get sick, like, I don't wanna worry them. I they don't lie.
John Gunter:God's got better things. You know, it's not important.
John Gunter:We are a body, are we not? We
John Gunter:are a group of people that god has put together with different gifts different personalities ways to to help each other, to encourage one another. That is our call as Christians to be there for one another. Our scripture reading this morning from Luke 5 and starting in verse 17. 1 day, Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.
John Gunter:Now I think that's an important sentence right there because I think we think about Jesus as always having the power. But for some reason, Luke wanna say, at this moment, the power of god was there to be able to heal the sick. Jesus didn't go everywhere just healing. You're healed. You're healed.
John Gunter:You're healed. Everybody gets a car type of thing. Right? There are moments that Jesus heals, and this is one of them. The power of God is on him to heal the sick.
John Gunter:Some men carrying, came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they cannot find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat, threw the tiles into the middle of the crowd right in front of Jesus. Let's stop there just for a second. How much effort
John Gunter:was this? And are you the
John Gunter:home if you're the homeowner, does insurance cover this? Listen, I had the Lord Messiah at the house and people wanted to be there, but look at the effort of this guy's friends, That this man needs to be healed and I will do whatever it takes to get him before Jesus.
John Gunter:Let's hold on there for just a second.
John Gunter:When Jesus saw their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven. The faith that it took to show up and to have this effort that whatever we can do, we're gonna do it. Jesus looks at this and says, because of this, friend, your sins are forgiven. And how many of you have friends like that? How many surround yourself with people who are gonna lift you up and do whatever it takes to make sure you're right with God.
John Gunter:Because a lot of our issues in the world can be solved with this right here. Because we're down. The weeks come, the weeks go, and we're going, man, I'm moving away from God. You go, what are you doing about that? Are you spending time in the Word of God?
John Gunter:Well, not really. Have you surrounded yourself with people who will hold you account? Well, not
John Gunter:really. But look at
John Gunter:this, that because this man has friends that will do whatever, your sins are forgiven. Now what we could do is just give up when the house is full. Well, we try. And to be quite honest, if I'm carrying you, Heath, and we show up and the house is full, I'm probably tired at that point. Well, maybe next time.
John Gunter:Maybe Jesus on his tour around Jerusalem and everywhere. Maybe we can catch him at another house. But they insist and they make it happen and Jesus says, because of this, your sins are forgiven. Now the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, what a great
John Gunter:guy. We love this guy.'
John Gunter:No. They say, 'Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? World. Are forgiven. But what you did in doing that is blasphemed the holy name of god because you're not god.
John Gunter:Only god can forgive sins. Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, why are you thinking these things in your heart?
John Gunter:Well, that had to get them. What do you mean? Which is here to say,
John Gunter:your sins are forgiven or to say, get up and walk. Which of those you think is easier? Well, I can say, your sins are forgiven and
John Gunter:can you see that? Can you see it?
John Gunter:No. Can't can't see it at all, but get up and walk. Okay? But But I want you to know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he said to the paralyzed man, I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home.' Immediately, he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on, and went home praising God.
John Gunter:Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, we have seen remarkable things today. Jesus says, which one's easier? Well, I can't see if your sins have actually been forgiven, but I know this paralyzed guy that they did all this work to get him in front of you, lowered him even through the ceiling, that'd be a tough thing to say, Get up and walk, and he walked out. And Jesus said, Okay, well, I'll do that too.
John Gunter:That's exactly what happens. This man goes home forgiven of his sins, able to walk again. Is it because he had surrounded himself with friends who loved him and cared for him and stood beside him in his weakest moments? It's easy to be friends with someone when everything's going right for him. Right?
John Gunter:You wanna be a part of that. Someone wins the lottery today, you won't be real close to them, don't you? Actually, you win the lottery, you know, when it got up to about 2,000,000,000 I started reading. I love I love reading about all this stuff. I was like, what do you do if you win that much money?
John Gunter:And the first thing they they suggest that you do is to change your phone number. Delete social media. That'd be that'd be a tough thing. Y'all some of y'all would turn down the $2,000,000,000 because of social media. If I had
John Gunter:to do it, I can't
John Gunter:do it. Delete your social media, basically become a ghost because then everyone wants to be your friend. Because when everything's going right in your life, everyone's okay being your friend.
John Gunter:But what about when you hit a rough spot?
John Gunter:What about when you're the guy that needs all the help? What if a friend needs all the help? What kind of friend are you being to them?
John Gunter:This guy had friends
John Gunter:who were there no matter what.
John Gunter:And that's what we just surround ourselves with.
John Gunter:There's another instance in Jesus' ministry, in Luke 6, just this next chapter starting in verse 6. On another Sabbath first of all, let's start here. Part of the issue here is the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the of the time, they wanted to catch Jesus doing something. You saw that in this last episode. And so one of the things they did is they really hung out on the Sabbath, which is very interesting to me.
John Gunter:Like, you're not supposed to be working, doing anything, but they had all these plans, these spy operations, all these things to execute on the Sabbath day. I want to watch Jesus. I think I told you, I probably told you a couple of times, but I forget. But when I was in Israel, one of the things you do, everything shuts down on on the Sabbath day, but they can walk everywhere. You can't turn off a light switch, but you can walk everywhere.
John Gunter:I I actually they have Sabbath elevators where they stop at every floor so you don't have to push the button. So I got missed the elevator and he was talking to some of his friends and I looked and said, can I help? And you could tell he's like, ah, missed it, you know, missed the Sabbath elevator, and basically what he needed was for me to push the button, which after I did that I thought why is he okay with me pushing the button? But
John Gunter:but he wouldn't do it.
John Gunter:But it was a big deal. The time of the it's a big deal. You don't work. You don't prepare food that's already done. You do all of that beforehand.
John Gunter:And and so what they wanna do is catch Jesus. He can't be the messiah. He's over here claiming he's even god. He can't be all that if he can't even keep the Sabbath. You see the, the the mindset they had.
John Gunter:K? So on another Sabbath, Jesus already got them once where he was picking the grain. They said, you can't do that. He said, have you read your Bible? Have you read your Bible where David, when he was hungry, even even did this?
John Gunter:Even ate of the showbread in the temple hungry because he these rules are not for you to starve to death. These rules are for you to put God first. That's it. And so if you're hungry, you need to eat, eat. So he had already done this, and it says on another Sabbath, Jesus is gonna get him again.
John Gunter:Right? He went to the synagogue and he and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. What
John Gunter:Oh, he heals that guy. I'll be so mad.
John Gunter:Not to put into consideration the the life change that this man would have if he was healed. Oh, he's healed. We'll get Jesus. Jesus said with everything. He said to the man with a shriveled hand, get up and stand in front of everyone.
John Gunter:So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it. Do you see what they're trying to do? They're trying to catch Jesus. Right?
John Gunter:They'd really like to destroy his life. He says, which one is good to do? To do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy it? Make this guy's life a lot worse, a lot better in the way he lives.
John Gunter:He looked down at the wall and then said to the man, notice they didn't have any response. They couldn't say a word. But he looked and said to the man, stretch out your hand. He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teaching of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to
John Gunter:Jesus. What turn of events?
John Gunter:That they were able to witness to a a miraculous healing. To a man who couldn't use his arm in some way be able to fully use it again, and their response was not joy and being ecstatic for the guy, it is, we've got to do something about this guy who is healing on the Sabbath. I think sometimes that's true for the
John Gunter:way we live life. That we're
John Gunter:okay with people until they start doing a little better than us. Or something starts happening, then we, I'm not okay with
John Gunter:that anymore. And again, we're
John Gunter:okay with our our friends if things are going well, but if it gets a little off, I'm not okay with that anymore. And that's the way ministry is too. And what we can do is we can surround ourselves with people we really like and like to hang out with, and we never go out of our way to help others who maybe we don't we
John Gunter:don't hang out with much.
John Gunter:But Jesus in His ministry showed us an example of being there even for the lowest of
John Gunter:the low, people in the lowest position. And that's
John Gunter:an example for each and every one of us. And so the question is today, what does it look like in your life? What does it look like as a friend? What does it look like as a church member? What does it look like as you live life?
John Gunter:Are you surrounding yourself with people who help you move closer to Jesus, or are you out here with a negative attitude just trying to catch others? It's the same attitude of I won't go to church because there's a bunch
John Gunter:of hypocrites there. All the people trying
John Gunter:to get closer to God there. Paul, in his writings, says I am the the chief center. Don't hold me up on a
John Gunter:pedestal even though I'm an apostle.
John Gunter:I met Jesus on the road. And I think I would hold that up had I met Jesus. Right? I met Jesus
John Gunter:if you met Jesus. But even Paul said, I am the chief sender.
John Gunter:And that's how we all come today, right?
John Gunter:That we have fallen in some way that we do. But because
John Gunter:of Jesus, because of the sacrifice that He has given to each and every one of us, we have the opportunity to live life as a saved person, a person saved by the grace of God. We all, again, for ourselves, for everyone in here, and for everyone who's not here. They all come to know Jesus and what he has done for each and every one. And I think that's the case for us, our church. I pray that we are a
John Gunter:church that
John Gunter:embodies the friends of this man who was carried in on a mat. I'm not asking you guys to carry me this morning, but a great example, though. Nobody would ever forgotten it. Church of Christ this morning on Sunday, well, they had the preacher up on a thing. But let's let's be an example.
John Gunter:And I tell you, you want people to get excited about Jesus, you you be there like that. You live that kind
John Gunter:of life and show that example, and they'll be excited about it.
John Gunter:So if we can pray with you this morning, we'd love to do that. But this morning, you wanna begin your walk. If you wanna begin a ministry following Jesus, let's do that right now. Again, talk with him. Jordan's got an invitation song.
John Gunter:We'd ask you to come right now. We stand as we sing.