WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.220 Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast, where you can listen to audio from our most 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:10.300 recent sermons and more. 00:00:10.860 --> 00:00:15.100 Thanks for listening, and be sure to add this show to your library if you'd like to automatically 00:00:15.100 --> 00:00:16.820 receive new episodes each week. 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:28.560 Good morning. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.660 Let's try that again. 00:00:33.940 --> 00:00:35.180 Good morning. 00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:41.320 Good morning. 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:47.700 If you will, take your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter 8. 00:00:50.740 --> 00:00:54.060 We're going to continue on in Matthew chapter 8. 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:09.380 Just as a recap, a few weeks back, Pastor Bo wrapped up the Sermon on the Mount, covering 00:01:09.380 --> 00:01:11.320 chapters 5 through 7 in Matthew. 00:01:13.820 --> 00:01:21.080 And then last week, Josh led us through or began our time together in chapter 8, which 00:01:21.080 --> 00:01:24.740 we pick up this morning to finish it out. 00:01:26.980 --> 00:01:29.540 One of my favorite authors is Chuck Swindoll. 00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:34.540 It's an author I discovered when I first started ministry back in 1990. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:37.120 Yes, I'm old. 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:41.080 Yesterday, I turned 60. 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:47.440 So bear with me. 00:01:47.440 --> 00:01:51.040 But one of my favorite authors is Chuck Swindoll. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:57.580 In one of his books, he writes, or actually in his commentary that he writes, what you and 00:01:57.580 --> 00:02:02.760 I see in chapters 8 and following are snapshots. 00:02:03.580 --> 00:02:05.420 Kind of like what you and I do in life, right? 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:11.200 Wherever we go, vacation, watching a kid play ball, watching a daughter dance, whatever the 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:16.800 case might be, we got our phone with us and we're taking snapshots of those memories. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:23.700 And what Chuck Swindoll says, they're basically snapshots of who Jesus is and what Jesus can do. 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:28.640 Because there's no flow necessarily to what we're about to read and what we're about to 00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:35.140 see together, but they're simply snapshots of the ministry and the life of Jesus. 00:02:35.880 --> 00:02:39.780 Would you join me in prayer as we get ready to jump in the rest of chapter 8? 00:02:42.540 --> 00:02:47.800 Father God, we thank you so much for the time that we've had so far to worship you through 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:49.080 the songs that we sing. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:57.460 And Father, I pray now as we gather around your word for you to teach us your truth, that 00:02:57.460 --> 00:03:03.480 Lord, you would give us ears to hear, but you would also give us eyes to see what your 00:03:03.480 --> 00:03:04.140 word is saying. 00:03:06.140 --> 00:03:12.400 Father, I pray that as these words on the pages of our Bibles come off, that they will not only 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:18.620 just be words, but they will be the very voice of yours, but they will also be that which 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:23.220 you use to transform us into the people that you desire us to be. 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:27.980 Lord, we love you and we thank you and we ask this prayer in your name. 00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:29.000 Amen. 00:03:30.600 --> 00:03:32.080 Do you like being on the front row? 00:03:32.980 --> 00:03:34.180 I know some of you do. 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:38.900 Some of you have your very seat that you normally sit in and that's wonderful. 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:41.900 Kind of scares me to be on the front row. 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:47.400 But think about it, front row of the NBA finals, especially, I guess, if you're a Knicks fan. 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:50.240 Or maybe the NHL finals. 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:54.400 I never really liked hockey, but all of a sudden after the Olympics, I started watching hockey 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:55.340 just a little bit. 00:03:56.440 --> 00:04:00.960 But maybe the front row of the World Cup that's going throughout the United States. 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:02.560 Or maybe it's a Broadway play. 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:08.900 Or maybe it's that front row seat of your child's game or their performance. 00:04:09.860 --> 00:04:13.120 On the front row of Jesus' life and ministry, we have the 12. 00:04:14.160 --> 00:04:17.380 It's Jesus' chosen disciples, also known as his apostles. 00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:20.980 Front row seats to his teaching and to his miracles. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:25.940 Take a moment and imagine with me being one of those 12. 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:29.180 Have you ever really tried to do that? 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:33.680 Place yourself in the scriptures and wonder really what that was like? 00:04:35.520 --> 00:04:40.340 So take a moment with me and imagine being one of the 12 that we're going to read about 00:04:40.340 --> 00:04:42.800 here in chapter 8. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:44.120 You witness it all. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:48.540 Even the things that you and I don't have the opportunity to read about. 00:04:48.840 --> 00:04:52.480 The ones that didn't make it into the canonization of God's word. 00:04:54.760 --> 00:04:57.920 You discover the foods that Jesus really likes to eat. 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:00.180 Is he a meat eater? 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:01.340 Is he like chicken? 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:03.060 Is he like beef? 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:05.700 Is he like olives? 00:05:06.080 --> 00:05:07.080 They're all over the place. 00:05:10.520 --> 00:05:13.920 You find out if Jesus snores in his sleep. 00:05:14.020 --> 00:05:14.920 You ever thought about that? 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:17.000 What kind of sleeper was Jesus? 00:05:18.840 --> 00:05:21.300 He sleeps on his side, sleeps on his back. 00:05:24.320 --> 00:05:29.760 You start to learn his facial expressions and what usually brings those expressions out. 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:33.600 We were leaving church one Sunday. 00:05:33.780 --> 00:05:35.560 I didn't tell my son I was going to say this. 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:37.820 We're leaving church one Sunday. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:40.220 And we're heading home. 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:45.580 We live off of Bush River Road, about a 12-minute ride from here. 00:05:46.020 --> 00:05:47.540 We're going down the interstate. 00:05:48.580 --> 00:05:55.140 And all of a sudden, I see our little vehicle that he drives coming up beside me as we pass under 378. 00:05:57.880 --> 00:06:01.120 And as he gets beside me, I look over at him with this face. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.220 And he knows what that face means. 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:10.680 He kind of slowed down. 00:06:10.780 --> 00:06:11.820 But then he kept on. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:16.800 So we had a wonderful conversation when he got home about how fast he was driving. 00:06:17.940 --> 00:06:22.080 But can you imagine what Jesus' expression would be on his face? 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:26.960 All the different things that he encountered, the conversations that we're going to see here in a moment, 00:06:27.340 --> 00:06:31.420 encounter the conversations with the disciples, the religious leaders of his day. 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:37.420 Can you imagine what his posture would be, what his attitude would be in the midst of those conversations? 00:06:39.200 --> 00:06:41.320 What it must have been like to be one of the disciples. 00:06:42.520 --> 00:06:49.320 In the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we get insight into the relationship between Jesus and the 12. 00:06:50.020 --> 00:06:55.660 And what we're going to look at this morning is really only one portion of them actually being in the action. 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:59.220 The other two cases, they're on the outside looking in. 00:06:59.320 --> 00:07:03.640 They've got ears to hear what's going on and eyes to see what is taking place. 00:07:04.760 --> 00:07:09.420 Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Matthew is sharing snapshots of Jesus' miracles, 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.540 allowing you and I to soak in the person and the ministry of Jesus. 00:07:14.400 --> 00:07:18.760 It's what God uses to build your faith and my faith foundation. 00:07:19.500 --> 00:07:22.980 And the knowledge and the understanding that he gives you and I through his word, 00:07:23.200 --> 00:07:25.920 so that you and I can understand who Jesus is, 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:29.120 and that we can know what Jesus can do. 00:07:30.020 --> 00:07:34.600 This knowledge and understanding grows and strengthens our faith in God 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:37.820 when we read what God's word says to you and I. 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:41.020 Join with me as we jump back. 00:07:41.080 --> 00:07:43.280 Jump back to Matthew 4, verse 23. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:47.620 We get some context to what you and I are about to read. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.960 Matthew 4, starting at verse 23. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:53.680 And he, Jesus, went throughout all Galilee. 00:07:54.460 --> 00:07:58.460 So if you could envision the Sea of Galilee, okay? 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:06.600 It's, I think I read, it's like 18 miles long and, I don't know, nine miles wide, something like that. 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:10.700 But in all that region around there are all these towns. 00:08:11.760 --> 00:08:17.520 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom 00:08:17.520 --> 00:08:21.800 and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 00:08:23.700 --> 00:08:27.460 So Matthew is setting this up before we ever get to the Sermon on the Mount. 00:08:27.520 --> 00:08:30.160 He's given us the location where all this is taking place. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:32.360 Verse 24. 00:08:33.400 --> 00:08:41.000 So his, Jesus, his fame, his fame spread throughout all Syria. 00:08:41.900 --> 00:08:44.020 That's important for us here in a moment. 00:08:44.760 --> 00:08:46.100 This idea of fame. 00:08:47.800 --> 00:08:52.040 And they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, 00:08:52.180 --> 00:08:53.660 those oppressed by demons. 00:08:54.220 --> 00:08:55.940 Again, we get to see that in a second. 00:08:56.340 --> 00:08:58.400 Those having seizures and paralytics. 00:08:58.620 --> 00:08:59.660 And he healed them. 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:03.460 And great crowds. 00:09:04.400 --> 00:09:05.440 Great crowds. 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:09.540 We're also going to see in a little bit, Matthew really loves this word. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:11.120 But it's important. 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:14.720 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:19.640 Decapolis basically was the definition of ten cities around Galilee. 00:09:19.800 --> 00:09:23.080 And from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:30.340 So all this area, Jesus would be traveling, going by foot, going by boat to get to these places. 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:36.820 You and I gain a full brain in these encounters and what we're about to read. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:39.620 So back, jump back to Matthew chapter 8 with me. 00:09:41.040 --> 00:09:42.440 Starting at verse 18. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:49.380 In Matthew 8, 18 through 22, you and I are going to see a relationship with Jesus will be costly. 00:09:51.160 --> 00:09:54.420 A relationship with Jesus will be costly. 00:09:55.540 --> 00:09:59.920 That's something not only that we see in scripture, but it's what you and I need to understand 00:09:59.920 --> 00:10:05.180 if we're going to be a follower of Christ, if we're going to be a Christian. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.280 In verse 18, I'm going to read it through and then we'll break it apart. 00:10:11.520 --> 00:10:15.720 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:18.240 And a scribe came up and said to him, 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:21.300 Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. 00:10:21.460 --> 00:10:22.520 And Jesus said to him, 00:10:22.680 --> 00:10:25.960 Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, 00:10:26.060 --> 00:10:28.960 but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:31.780 Another disciple said to him, 00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:34.700 Lord, let me first go and bury my father. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:36.480 And Jesus said to him, 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:40.260 Follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. 00:10:41.260 --> 00:10:42.720 When you first read that, you're going, 00:10:42.880 --> 00:10:43.860 Wow, Jesus. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:46.260 That's kind of harsh. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:49.480 These guys just want to follow you. 00:10:49.760 --> 00:10:51.120 They want to be under your teaching. 00:10:53.520 --> 00:10:55.860 But remember who these guys are talking to. 00:10:56.780 --> 00:10:58.180 They're talking to Jesus. 00:10:59.760 --> 00:11:03.520 I don't believe they really understand who they're talking to quite yet. 00:11:04.780 --> 00:11:07.580 They don't know whose presence they're standing in. 00:11:07.660 --> 00:11:11.240 They don't know who they're having a conversation with. 00:11:12.520 --> 00:11:14.220 He knows what they're thinking. 00:11:14.520 --> 00:11:17.100 He knows the motivations behind their statements. 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:20.620 Back up to verse 18. 00:11:22.060 --> 00:11:24.340 And when Jesus saw a crowd around him, 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:25.720 that was all of a sudden normal. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.200 Remember what we just read, Matthew 4. 00:11:28.800 --> 00:11:32.820 Remember as Jesus gathered on the mountainside to teach what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:34.580 There are probably thousands. 00:11:35.260 --> 00:11:37.120 And when you read other places in the scripture, 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:40.620 remember the feeding of the 5,000 with the little boy's lunch. 00:11:41.140 --> 00:11:43.100 5,000 men, it says in there. 00:11:43.180 --> 00:11:47.480 But you can explode that number because there had to be wives. 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:48.440 There had to be children. 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:49.820 So more than 5,000. 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:51.420 Another place that we see in the gospels, 00:11:51.520 --> 00:11:55.100 there was 4,000 people in which crowded around Jesus. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:57.140 So when you and I see the idea of crowd, 00:11:57.540 --> 00:11:59.040 it's probably not 40 people. 00:11:59.800 --> 00:12:02.400 It is probably a large group of people. 00:12:03.520 --> 00:12:04.960 And when Jesus saw a crowd around him, 00:12:05.020 --> 00:12:07.620 he gave orders to go over to the other side. 00:12:07.680 --> 00:12:09.300 He's given orders to his disciples. 00:12:10.160 --> 00:12:13.840 Guys, we're leaving here and we're going to the other side. 00:12:13.900 --> 00:12:16.080 And anytime you see the word, the phrase, 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:22.540 scholars say over to the other side means that Jesus is about to travel to the other side of the seat of Galilee. 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:29.980 Matthew states it again in chapter 8, verse 1. 00:12:30.060 --> 00:12:30.480 He says, 00:12:31.040 --> 00:12:34.500 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.060 So people are all around him. 00:12:38.060 --> 00:12:38.940 All around him. 00:12:40.420 --> 00:12:43.760 Why would Jesus want to go from Capernaum to Gezreel? 00:12:44.160 --> 00:12:45.380 Why would he want to do that? 00:12:45.760 --> 00:12:47.960 He's got this great crowd of people around him. 00:12:48.020 --> 00:12:48.640 Why would he say, 00:12:49.060 --> 00:12:50.440 Guys, it's time to check out of here. 00:12:50.540 --> 00:12:52.140 It's time to go to the other side. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:59.420 And again, this is a stretch of about six miles long from where they're traveling to across the Sea of Galilee. 00:12:59.780 --> 00:13:00.180 Why? 00:13:01.920 --> 00:13:06.520 I think because you and I see, begin to see Jesus' human side. 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:11.460 Being both human and being both divine. 00:13:12.540 --> 00:13:17.020 He's becoming depleted in his natural body. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:19.940 His body needs rest. 00:13:21.680 --> 00:13:24.640 You see, Jesus developed the idea of the personal retreat. 00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:28.920 In other places in the gospel, we see where Jesus pushes away from the crowd. 00:13:29.060 --> 00:13:33.780 He pushes away from the disciples to get alone with just him and God, his Father. 00:13:36.040 --> 00:13:37.960 So you and I might need to take a note of that. 00:13:39.880 --> 00:13:42.340 When our body is depleted, what usually happens? 00:13:42.520 --> 00:13:44.200 For some of us, we get sick. 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:45.680 Something happens, right? 00:13:46.420 --> 00:13:47.780 There's just not the energy. 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:49.740 There's not what we need there. 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:53.460 And our body starts to just quit on us. 00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:58.160 And so we get sick or we decide that we're going to rest. 00:14:00.460 --> 00:14:03.700 And I see this is what takes, this is why Jesus wants to get away. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.400 Can you imagine for a moment? 00:14:06.520 --> 00:14:07.400 Remember, we're there. 00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:09.060 We're with the disciples. 00:14:09.740 --> 00:14:13.600 Can you imagine coming off of a mountain, teaching thousands of people? 00:14:15.660 --> 00:14:19.880 And not only that, you begin to have these one-off conversations with others. 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:23.260 We'll see it here in a second with a scribe and a disciple. 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:31.360 Can you imagine what that would do to your mental, physical, and emotional being? 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:33.780 It's got to be zapping. 00:14:35.660 --> 00:14:40.660 And we'll get to see that in a second when the disciples and Jesus are in a boat together. 00:14:42.520 --> 00:14:46.600 I heard my son, Brennan, use this phrase before here recently, 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:52.220 sharing about all of what had taken place last semester about his time over in Italy 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:54.240 as he was working on his degree. 00:14:55.060 --> 00:14:57.000 He said, my social battery is low. 00:14:57.920 --> 00:14:59.780 My social battery is low. 00:15:00.700 --> 00:15:05.040 He's basically saying, man, I have been around a lot of people for a long time 00:15:05.040 --> 00:15:07.820 and my battery needs to be recharged. 00:15:09.100 --> 00:15:11.440 You probably get that feeling yourself, right? 00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:14.400 When you just feel like you're zapped. 00:15:15.760 --> 00:15:18.500 I think that's what Jesus is experiencing here. 00:15:20.220 --> 00:15:24.580 Just when Jesus is about to find that rechar, just when Jesus is about to step in the boat 00:15:24.580 --> 00:15:27.420 to get away from the crowd and get to the other side, 00:15:27.940 --> 00:15:31.040 two guys want to have a conversation with him. 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:33.440 You probably recognize moments like that. 00:15:34.380 --> 00:15:38.360 Maybe you want to go take a nap and somebody in your household needs to have a conversation with you. 00:15:39.300 --> 00:15:39.640 Right? 00:15:40.680 --> 00:15:42.520 Maybe you had plans for the weekend. 00:15:42.660 --> 00:15:44.840 Yeah, I'm going to relax and I'm going to rest. 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:51.480 And you get some phone calls or you get some texts and go, hmm, I think I better change my plans now. 00:15:52.620 --> 00:16:01.020 Verse 19, and a scribe came up and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:10.040 See, I think the scribe and this disciple just didn't really know what they were asking. 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:19.280 They really didn't have a clue of what they thought they wanted to do in a relationship with Jesus. 00:16:19.280 --> 00:16:22.080 You see, a scribe was, in that day, was a biblical scholar. 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:30.540 They knew the Bible, the old portions of the Old Testament that they would have at the time. 00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:31.820 They knew it very well. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:33.720 They knew how to teach it. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:35.480 They would understand it. 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:41.900 But what scholars say is that a scribe would attach themselves to a rabbi, a teacher, 00:16:42.340 --> 00:16:45.120 to basically learn from them, but not only learn from them, 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:50.580 and when they discovered another teacher that might have been more prominent or what we read earlier about Jesus, 00:16:50.680 --> 00:16:55.680 that he became famous, that fame began to circle around him, 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:01.420 this scribe, scholars believe, wanted to attach himself to Jesus for that very purpose. 00:17:02.060 --> 00:17:04.940 For that when they saw Jesus, they would see him. 00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:09.700 That's not a truthful motivation to follow God, is it? 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.080 So Jesus knows that, and Jesus says to him, 00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:19.880 foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests. 00:17:19.940 --> 00:17:20.960 What kind of answer is that? 00:17:22.660 --> 00:17:27.200 It's the answer that only Jesus could give because he knows the motivation in the heart of the scribe. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:34.720 And Jesus says to him, but the son of man, the first time that Jesus ever uses this phrase, 00:17:34.780 --> 00:17:40.360 and this phrase is used 81 times in the scripture by Jesus with the exception of two times. 00:17:42.020 --> 00:17:44.680 But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. 00:17:46.080 --> 00:17:54.060 Jesus is helping these two, or the scribe, understand that he is God in the flesh of Jesus. 00:17:54.820 --> 00:17:57.920 That he is both divine and that he is both human. 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:02.760 He didn't understand who he was talking to. 00:18:06.780 --> 00:18:09.940 The idea that nowhere to lay his head was very true. 00:18:11.300 --> 00:18:17.560 Jesus had a home, but once he began his ministry, he never returned back to that home. 00:18:18.860 --> 00:18:22.520 To rest his head, to lay down, take a nap. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.360 No, everywhere he went, that was not the case. 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:26.920 He didn't have a place to go. 00:18:27.340 --> 00:18:30.200 So Jesus is trying to help this scribe understand, 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:35.340 listen, if you're going to follow me, you're about to give up the comforts of a bed. 00:18:36.040 --> 00:18:40.600 If you're going to follow me, you're about to give up those rooms that you have 00:18:40.600 --> 00:18:44.600 where all these scrolls are for you to learn biblical truths. 00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:49.660 He says, you're going to give all that up if you truly want to follow me. 00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:54.180 And then verse 21, another of the disciples, this is not one of the 12. 00:18:55.400 --> 00:19:04.600 When you and I read the word disciples throughout the gospel, sometimes I know early on, as I was becoming a Christian and early on and trying to understand God's word, 00:19:04.660 --> 00:19:07.180 when I saw a disciple, I thought it meant the 12. 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:08.480 Everywhere I saw that. 00:19:09.020 --> 00:19:09.760 But it doesn't. 00:19:11.360 --> 00:19:13.920 A disciple is somebody who learns under a teacher. 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:20.500 And so you have multiple disciples that would, even in the midst of that crowd that would be around Jesus teaching, 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:26.800 they were disciples hearing what Jesus was saying, but yet they have not committed to follow him. 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:33.440 You remember another place in the gospels we see where there's disciples, a group of 60 or 72 disciples, 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:37.080 that all of a sudden decide that they don't want to follow Jesus anymore. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:44.360 You see, a disciple was a term that was used to describe somebody who wanted to learn under a teacher. 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:53.140 This disciple that this is referencing is not one of the 12 that you and I read about and that you and I see in this passage as well. 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:58.940 And he says to him, says to Jesus, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:01.080 A noble task, right? 00:20:02.360 --> 00:20:08.040 In that custom, in the Jewish life, you would, that is what your responsibility would be. 00:20:08.300 --> 00:20:17.680 To make sure all the burial things that need to take place, preparing your family member and seeing it through, 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:20.240 it was your responsibility to do that. 00:20:21.840 --> 00:20:25.600 Yet some scholars say this, what would probably take place here, happen here, 00:20:25.660 --> 00:20:30.180 is that this young man or this person's father had not quite died yet. 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:34.140 And so he doesn't know what he's asking. 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.320 And Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. 00:20:40.040 --> 00:20:45.880 So I think this disciple here got caught up in the hoopla of being around Jesus. 00:20:47.780 --> 00:20:56.460 And Matthew is just showing to you and I the importance of authentic desires to follow after Jesus. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:00.420 It can't be for some ulterior motive. 00:21:01.540 --> 00:21:04.420 It can't be for what you want to get out of Jesus. 00:21:04.600 --> 00:21:07.900 It has to be what Jesus wants to do in and through your life. 00:21:08.100 --> 00:21:10.460 And that is to transform it. 00:21:15.580 --> 00:21:19.880 Jesus knew these two were not ready to give up their lifestyles to follow him. 00:21:20.600 --> 00:21:22.460 It is costly to follow Jesus. 00:21:23.360 --> 00:21:26.200 For many, it has cost them their lives the ultimate cost. 00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:32.360 The Apostle Paul said, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. 00:21:33.120 --> 00:21:35.180 There is a cost involved. 00:21:35.180 --> 00:21:43.880 For many, it costs them relationships, families, friends, someone they're dating, business opportunities. 00:21:45.580 --> 00:21:52.740 There's countless stories out there of folks who grew up in a different religious type of family. 00:21:53.220 --> 00:21:56.540 Who come to know the Lord as their personal Lord and Savior. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:00.060 Whose family basically turns their backs on them. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:05.340 And even to some extent will have a funeral to note that they are dead to the family. 00:22:06.020 --> 00:22:11.580 Because they have chosen to follow Christ instead of following the ways of their family's religion. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:14.300 That's a significant cost. 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:21.280 Maybe for you and I, the cost for us is that it costs us a relationship. 00:22:22.060 --> 00:22:24.500 Maybe we have a wonderful friendship with somebody. 00:22:24.780 --> 00:22:29.580 But because we've chosen to follow Christ and do the things that God would have us to do. 00:22:29.580 --> 00:22:32.360 We have to say no to that relationship. 00:22:33.500 --> 00:22:37.720 We have to say, I can't spend time with you like we used to. 00:22:38.380 --> 00:22:38.740 Why? 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:47.340 Because maybe those times spent with that individual takes you places and takes your mind in locations that God doesn't want you to be. 00:22:47.420 --> 00:22:49.600 But because of that relationship, it goes there. 00:22:50.500 --> 00:22:54.200 So if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have to say no. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:58.940 There is a cost to follow Jesus. 00:23:00.540 --> 00:23:02.680 What has it cost you to follow Jesus? 00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:08.380 What will it cost you as you continue to follow Jesus? 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:16.340 This sounds bad, the thought of giving up relationships and or what you want to do in life. 00:23:17.620 --> 00:23:24.800 But Jesus said in John 10, 10, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 00:23:25.260 --> 00:23:29.840 I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 00:23:31.600 --> 00:23:39.180 So if it costs you a relationship, if it costs you a job, if it costs you any other thing in life. 00:23:41.320 --> 00:23:52.380 Does it really matter when you're following Jesus Christ and he says to you and I in his word that he gives us abundant life? 00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:59.080 Abundant life, full life, meaningful life. 00:24:00.040 --> 00:24:08.400 So what might seem bad for the moment will not compare to what God has ready for you and will give you down the road. 00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:13.620 Jesus says to you and I, I've got the better life for you. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.680 I've got the full life for you. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:24.120 Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, if you ever want a book to read, it's small. 00:24:25.180 --> 00:24:30.480 But he writes there, when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. 00:24:32.140 --> 00:24:35.980 When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. 00:24:37.560 --> 00:24:42.060 And what Dietrich is saying about that is that you have to die to yourself. 00:24:43.940 --> 00:24:48.040 We're born into this world and it's all about me, me, me, me, me, right? 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.740 As a baby, give me food, give me my toy. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.260 That's my toy, not your toy. 00:24:53.340 --> 00:24:54.000 I want it back. 00:24:54.120 --> 00:24:55.100 You don't get to have it. 00:24:56.360 --> 00:24:58.800 It's all centered around us, right? 00:25:00.060 --> 00:25:05.140 But when you and I come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, it's not about us anymore. 00:25:05.340 --> 00:25:07.820 It's about what God desires for our life. 00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:11.900 Die to your way of life. 00:25:12.080 --> 00:25:13.360 Die to your way of thinking. 00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:15.880 Die to your own desires. 00:25:17.020 --> 00:25:25.540 In Matthew 16, verse 24, Jesus is painting another picture for his disciples of what it means to be his followers. 00:25:26.800 --> 00:25:36.980 He says in that, then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.560 Jesus puts in there, deny yourself. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:42.500 Take up your cross. 00:25:42.600 --> 00:25:46.300 The cross is the identity of suffering and follow me. 00:25:46.780 --> 00:25:48.080 Follow what I am. 00:25:48.260 --> 00:25:49.820 Follow what I do. 00:25:51.180 --> 00:25:57.180 The two-fold benefit of being a follower of Christ is, one, walking with Jesus through this life on earth. 00:25:58.020 --> 00:25:58.920 No better way. 00:25:59.300 --> 00:26:02.540 Two, being in God's presence for all eternity. 00:26:03.860 --> 00:26:08.480 Finally, Jesus makes his way to the boat to get to the other side. 00:26:09.320 --> 00:26:11.320 Matthew 8, 23 through 27. 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:17.880 And right here, you and I see a relationship with Jesus will give a godly perspective on fear. 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:22.940 A relationship with Jesus will give a godly perspective on fear. 00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:32.840 I'm not going to ask you to show your hand, but I guarantee you, each one of us in here at some point or at multiple points, we've had fear in our life. 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:35.160 It has occupied our mind. 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:36.580 It has occupied our heart. 00:26:36.840 --> 00:26:38.580 It has stirred our emotions. 00:26:39.040 --> 00:26:41.660 It may have even led us to being sick at our stomach. 00:26:42.520 --> 00:26:46.560 Fear has an incredible way of messing with us. 00:26:47.500 --> 00:26:51.440 A relationship with Jesus will give a godly perspective on fear. 00:26:52.800 --> 00:26:54.420 Verse 23 and following. 00:26:55.620 --> 00:26:58.400 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 00:26:58.840 --> 00:27:01.440 And behold, there arose a great storm. 00:27:01.540 --> 00:27:04.640 Remember that word I said earlier that Matthew likes to use? 00:27:05.280 --> 00:27:09.280 On the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. 00:27:10.020 --> 00:27:16.780 And they went and woke him, saying, person being asleep is Jesus, saying, save us, Lord, we are perishing. 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:20.880 And he said to them, why are you afraid, oh, you of little faith? 00:27:21.520 --> 00:27:27.240 Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm, once again, great calm. 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:35.160 And the men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:38.120 Look back with me at verse 23. 00:27:39.120 --> 00:27:43.160 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 00:27:44.020 --> 00:27:46.100 Now Jesus is with the 12. 00:27:46.340 --> 00:27:49.060 It's just him and the 12 disciples. 00:27:49.320 --> 00:27:52.000 They're together, nobody else. 00:27:52.760 --> 00:27:56.260 The conversation he had with the two earlier, they're not there. 00:27:57.320 --> 00:28:00.600 Scholars will tell you they don't even know what happened to that conversation. 00:28:00.740 --> 00:28:03.880 They don't know what happened with the scribe and the other disciple. 00:28:04.840 --> 00:28:07.860 But now it's Jesus and the 12 in a boat. 00:28:09.300 --> 00:28:15.980 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves. 00:28:16.820 --> 00:28:18.300 Just think about that for a moment. 00:28:19.800 --> 00:28:22.560 I've never been out in open waters. 00:28:22.760 --> 00:28:24.500 I've been on Lake Murray, that's about it. 00:28:24.600 --> 00:28:30.060 I've never, I know some of you have been off the coast of South Carolina, you've gone like a mile out. 00:28:30.140 --> 00:28:35.640 And that doesn't sound a lot, but when you talk to somebody who's been a mile offshore, that's a lot. 00:28:35.900 --> 00:28:40.220 I guess when you don't see land, that's a pretty scary place, right? 00:28:41.560 --> 00:28:46.940 And so these disciples are in the middle or somewhere along the way, they're out in the Sea of Galilee. 00:28:47.560 --> 00:28:56.480 And what, again, scholars say to you and I when we read about this is that the way the landscape is shaped around the Sea of Galilee 00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:02.660 and the atmosphere that's around there, storms will just pop up at any moment at any time. 00:29:03.760 --> 00:29:06.960 It's kind of like sometimes you might feel the way here in Columbia, right? 00:29:07.060 --> 00:29:07.880 Beautiful day. 00:29:08.380 --> 00:29:11.700 And next thing you know, a storm just pops up on you, right? 00:29:12.320 --> 00:29:15.800 I mean, we kind of get a taste of that, but nothing like this. 00:29:16.580 --> 00:29:17.900 A great storm on the sea. 00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:20.920 And then all of a sudden here you've got a few fishermen, right? 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:22.000 You've got a few fishermen. 00:29:22.540 --> 00:29:25.940 Jesus found them mending their nets when he first came to them. 00:29:26.300 --> 00:29:28.520 And now you've got fishermen in the boat. 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:31.660 And all of a sudden the water's coming over the sides. 00:29:31.740 --> 00:29:33.400 The water's coming into the boat. 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:36.500 And it had to be something amazing, right? 00:29:37.020 --> 00:29:41.100 Because fishermen would experience that being out on the Sea of Galilee. 00:29:41.180 --> 00:29:43.520 They would recognize a storm coming. 00:29:43.520 --> 00:29:45.700 They would recognize, hey, it's going to get a little rough, fellas. 00:29:46.320 --> 00:29:48.920 Just, you know, bear with us for a second. 00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:51.400 But that's not the case here. 00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:54.080 The water was coming over. 00:29:54.360 --> 00:30:00.060 My favorite part of verse 24, my favorite part of verse 24, it says, 00:30:00.540 --> 00:30:01.900 but Jesus was asleep. 00:30:04.140 --> 00:30:08.700 Out somewhere in the Sea of Galilee, a massive storm is happening. 00:30:09.040 --> 00:30:12.740 Could have been lightning, might have, Matthew doesn't say. 00:30:13.320 --> 00:30:17.980 But it's a great storm, and Jesus is just snoozing along. 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:20.560 He is relaxed. 00:30:21.660 --> 00:30:23.740 He has no worry in the world. 00:30:24.840 --> 00:30:25.960 You remember what I said earlier? 00:30:26.060 --> 00:30:26.920 He has been preaching. 00:30:27.060 --> 00:30:27.720 He's been teaching. 00:30:27.840 --> 00:30:28.580 He's been healing. 00:30:29.740 --> 00:30:32.200 This is a picture of Jesus being exhausted. 00:30:34.100 --> 00:30:36.060 He's sleeping in the middle of a storm. 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:38.440 I love it. 00:30:40.660 --> 00:30:46.140 Jesus is not fazed one bit by fear of an amazing storm. 00:30:51.980 --> 00:30:57.360 Verse 25, and they went and woke him, saying, 00:30:58.120 --> 00:31:01.020 save us, Lord, we are perishing. 00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:04.380 Again, these guys have been on the water before. 00:31:05.660 --> 00:31:09.220 Man, they are, in my opinion, they are in freaked out mode. 00:31:10.280 --> 00:31:12.680 They think the time is over for them. 00:31:14.100 --> 00:31:16.940 And they go, and they say, save us. 00:31:17.620 --> 00:31:20.420 Now, the interesting thing here is they say, save us, Lord. 00:31:22.500 --> 00:31:24.100 Not save us, teacher. 00:31:24.320 --> 00:31:25.320 Not save us, Jesus. 00:31:26.280 --> 00:31:31.300 They use the word Lord, signifying who Jesus is. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:33.540 So, that is significant. 00:31:33.540 --> 00:31:40.760 But at the same time, they're being overwhelmed by the fear that they're about to go down with the boat. 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:49.520 By all accounts, as you think about it, these disciples are still babes in their faith. 00:31:50.660 --> 00:31:53.300 They're still discovering who Jesus is. 00:31:54.180 --> 00:31:59.860 They're still discovering who they are and what this relationship looks like. 00:32:01.300 --> 00:32:03.760 They are babes in their follow ship. 00:32:05.380 --> 00:32:09.200 They don't know all there is to know about the man sleeping in the boat with them. 00:32:10.500 --> 00:32:15.200 They didn't receive some kind of special follow Jesus dust. 00:32:15.260 --> 00:32:18.980 It kind of, all at one moment, they understood who he was. 00:32:19.700 --> 00:32:23.780 One of my favorite verses of Scripture is Psalms 34, 8. 00:32:23.840 --> 00:32:27.600 When David writes about his relationship with God, he says, 00:32:28.280 --> 00:32:31.760 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:32:32.360 --> 00:32:35.240 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:32:36.860 --> 00:32:40.800 Disciples haven't tasted enough of time being with Jesus to know that. 00:32:42.080 --> 00:32:45.740 So, they're being overwhelmed by their natural thoughts. 00:32:46.380 --> 00:32:49.040 They're being overwhelmed by their natural fears. 00:32:51.260 --> 00:32:53.060 We read this in Psalm 34. 00:32:53.340 --> 00:32:56.220 You and I are invited to learn and experience the ways of God. 00:32:57.180 --> 00:32:59.360 The truth of God and the life of God. 00:33:01.040 --> 00:33:04.440 That's what's happening with the disciples in this very moment. 00:33:05.780 --> 00:33:07.500 In verse 26 says, 00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:09.800 And he said to them, 00:33:10.620 --> 00:33:13.200 Why are you afraid, O you of little faith? 00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:17.260 Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, 00:33:17.460 --> 00:33:19.280 and there was a great calm. 00:33:20.140 --> 00:33:21.460 Why are you afraid? 00:33:23.600 --> 00:33:24.260 Jesus is like, 00:33:24.340 --> 00:33:25.140 Come on, guys. 00:33:26.220 --> 00:33:27.580 Please, get this. 00:33:28.740 --> 00:33:30.920 Understand who I am. 00:33:31.940 --> 00:33:34.360 You have already seen me do miracles. 00:33:34.560 --> 00:33:37.080 Don't you understand who I am? 00:33:38.120 --> 00:33:39.800 Why are you afraid? 00:33:40.620 --> 00:33:45.760 Jesus is taking time to do a teachable moment for them. 00:33:47.300 --> 00:33:50.220 It's like, guys, look at the surroundings. 00:33:50.560 --> 00:33:52.260 I'm in the boat with you. 00:33:53.140 --> 00:33:54.440 I'm not on the shore. 00:33:54.540 --> 00:33:55.520 You haven't left me. 00:33:55.760 --> 00:33:57.180 In the middle of the storm, 00:33:57.560 --> 00:33:59.780 I am with you. 00:34:04.080 --> 00:34:05.280 Then he says to them, 00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:07.340 Oh, you of little faith. 00:34:07.660 --> 00:34:08.980 I'm like, man. 00:34:10.300 --> 00:34:12.420 Again, Jesus, you're kind of being rough, aren't you? 00:34:14.420 --> 00:34:17.860 Say to them, you guys just, you guys got a little bit of faith. 00:34:20.420 --> 00:34:22.180 But Jesus is not being rough. 00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:29.520 I think Jesus is trying to help them realize who they are and who he is. 00:34:31.960 --> 00:34:37.340 There's times throughout your life and my life, we have to be reminded of who Jesus is. 00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:44.680 Hopefully, it's not in those moments where fear, but sometimes it is. 00:34:47.620 --> 00:34:55.480 You see, maybe they had forgotten what they observed, what Josh taught on last week about the centurion's faith who had great faith. 00:34:56.480 --> 00:35:00.340 Who knew that all Jesus had to do was speak and his servant would be healed. 00:35:01.060 --> 00:35:02.780 Those guys forgot that. 00:35:03.520 --> 00:35:10.100 Now, I'm going to give those guys a little bit of slack because David Allen forgets a lot of what God's words teaches me. 00:35:10.720 --> 00:35:12.280 And therefore, I have to be reminded. 00:35:12.280 --> 00:35:16.660 Therefore, I have to continually read God's word to be reminded. 00:35:20.020 --> 00:35:28.540 We'll see in the rest of our study of Matthew, when you read the rest of the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John, and even in Acts, 00:35:29.620 --> 00:35:35.460 that you see that these disciples, their faith grows firm, their faith grows deep, and their faith grows stronger. 00:35:35.700 --> 00:35:36.000 Why? 00:35:36.740 --> 00:35:39.400 Because they continue to spend time with Jesus. 00:35:40.460 --> 00:35:42.580 They continue to walk with Jesus. 00:35:42.780 --> 00:35:45.040 They continue to hear Jesus' teaching. 00:35:45.040 --> 00:35:49.760 They continue to see Jesus do the things that only he can do. 00:35:50.020 --> 00:35:52.600 But check this out. 00:35:52.660 --> 00:35:55.200 As I was studying this, it just kind of caught me off guard. 00:35:55.400 --> 00:35:58.000 And it just, it was amazing to me. 00:35:58.100 --> 00:35:59.060 Maybe it's not to you. 00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:02.120 But Jesus is still lying down. 00:36:03.600 --> 00:36:05.220 He's lying down in the boat. 00:36:05.620 --> 00:36:06.680 They come and wake him up. 00:36:06.720 --> 00:36:10.960 He doesn't even jump to his feet and go immediately into save mode. 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:14.700 He says what he says, but he's still lying down. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:17.740 He's not rattled by the storm. 00:36:19.020 --> 00:36:20.980 He's not rattled by their fear. 00:36:23.140 --> 00:36:29.700 When I read these words in the Scriptures, it comes across to me as Jesus' voice is calm and unhurried. 00:36:30.780 --> 00:36:32.380 Jesus knows who he is. 00:36:33.720 --> 00:36:35.140 Jesus knows what he can do. 00:36:36.700 --> 00:36:40.920 And it's not coincidence, the fact that he is God with us. 00:36:42.660 --> 00:36:47.420 Remember around Christmas time, we talk about the Messiah and the word meaning God with us. 00:36:47.460 --> 00:36:50.500 And that was actually God with them. 00:36:51.420 --> 00:37:01.580 And it says to us in those verses, then, that's where I get the idea that he's still in that sleep posture, whatever that might be. 00:37:01.660 --> 00:37:07.040 He says, then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea. 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:08.960 And there was a great calm. 00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:12.700 Jesus says what he has to say to him. 00:37:12.700 --> 00:37:19.340 And then he stands up and he looks at the storm around him and he rebukes it with his words. 00:37:20.580 --> 00:37:23.820 And Matthew says, there was a great calm. 00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:28.560 Just a few verses up, he says, a great storm. 00:37:28.760 --> 00:37:31.840 And then in a few verses down, he says, a great calm. 00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:41.540 It's one of those, what I picture is like, if you're out on Lake Murray and it's a beautiful day and there's not much wind, the water looks like glass. 00:37:42.820 --> 00:37:46.180 That's what I picture of a great, a calmed, great storm. 00:37:46.840 --> 00:37:48.320 The water is like glass. 00:37:49.560 --> 00:37:53.940 In a moment, Jesus' words simply calm a storm. 00:37:54.740 --> 00:37:56.060 Think about that for a moment. 00:37:57.520 --> 00:38:02.760 Think about being in that boat with the disciples and that storm comes up onto them. 00:38:03.020 --> 00:38:04.120 It's a massive storm. 00:38:04.260 --> 00:38:06.360 All they can think about is perishing and dying. 00:38:06.820 --> 00:38:08.500 They're afraid down to their bones. 00:38:08.920 --> 00:38:14.860 And Jesus stands up and in his words alone, he says and rebukes the storm and it's calm. 00:38:15.520 --> 00:38:16.480 Just like that. 00:38:20.200 --> 00:38:23.900 I believe God can do that in your life and in my life. 00:38:24.920 --> 00:38:30.000 Whatever the storm of life may be, whatever the fear that you may have in your life, 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:39.120 if we just acknowledge who God is, we acknowledge his, acknowledge his power, his authority in our life and in this world, 00:38:39.500 --> 00:38:43.660 God can do whatever he needs to do in whatever situation you and I face. 00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:53.620 My oldest, our oldest son, Bryce, he was finishing up the sixth grade, I think. 00:38:53.740 --> 00:38:56.120 My wife will correct me later, which is fine. 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:57.760 My memory is not well. 00:38:57.840 --> 00:38:59.500 Remember, I said earlier I was 60, right? 00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:00.080 Memory. 00:39:02.440 --> 00:39:07.020 60-year-old, I had gone to my doctor's for my annual doctor's appointment, you know, 00:39:07.060 --> 00:39:09.380 check out if I was going to make it another day or two. 00:39:10.120 --> 00:39:15.100 And they did that little oxygen test, you know, you had the thing on your finger and it reads your oxygen level. 00:39:15.860 --> 00:39:16.780 And mine was low. 00:39:17.080 --> 00:39:18.960 I'm going to try to make this story real short, too. 00:39:19.540 --> 00:39:21.180 Mine was low. 00:39:21.980 --> 00:39:24.800 He says, you've got to go to the hospital. 00:39:25.500 --> 00:39:26.780 You might have some blood clots. 00:39:28.560 --> 00:39:29.180 Blood clots. 00:39:29.320 --> 00:39:32.060 I know what a blood clot is, but it didn't sink in. 00:39:32.180 --> 00:39:33.100 I go to the hospital. 00:39:34.140 --> 00:39:34.720 I do. 00:39:34.820 --> 00:39:39.440 I ended up having a DVT in my left leg and I have multiple blood clots in my lungs. 00:39:40.220 --> 00:39:45.760 And I end up staying in the hospital for a whole week being treated for all that. 00:39:47.640 --> 00:39:50.540 Not once did I really was afraid. 00:39:50.760 --> 00:39:52.840 And nurses are coming in going, you feel okay? 00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:53.220 You're right. 00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:55.560 Doctors are saying, have you been doing this? 00:39:55.620 --> 00:39:56.140 You've been doing that? 00:39:56.180 --> 00:39:58.700 I'm like, I'm sitting there as they're saying all this. 00:39:58.760 --> 00:40:00.820 I'm just sitting here thinking, what in the world? 00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:03.700 Again, it's not registering blood clots. 00:40:03.780 --> 00:40:05.580 Yes, I know they can break off, kill you, blah, blah, blah. 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:09.160 Sorry. 00:40:09.960 --> 00:40:12.160 To the medical people in here, I see Tamara. 00:40:16.040 --> 00:40:18.440 But again, that's how I was approaching it. 00:40:18.440 --> 00:40:22.040 My wife would tell you that's not how she was approaching it, right? 00:40:23.900 --> 00:40:27.560 It's one of those things, the elders are showing up, praying with me. 00:40:29.660 --> 00:40:35.100 And she's thankful for that because she's out in the lobby just like, Lord, what's going on? 00:40:38.040 --> 00:40:41.340 All I can say is in that moment, in those moments, I was just praying. 00:40:41.420 --> 00:40:44.440 Because again, yes, serious, I realize that. 00:40:46.220 --> 00:40:59.240 But anytime you and I run into situations in life where the fear begins to take over us, whatever that situation might be, a lot of times our first instinct is try to figure it out. 00:41:00.240 --> 00:41:05.120 Or we do a deep dive into oh no's and worry. 00:41:07.620 --> 00:41:16.160 But what if we, the situations that overwhelm us with fear or whatever the situation is, what if we just start praying? 00:41:18.540 --> 00:41:21.360 God, you are the author and perfecter of my faith. 00:41:22.560 --> 00:41:26.260 God, there is nothing in this world can separate me from your love. 00:41:27.480 --> 00:41:29.420 And so, Lord, I come to you. 00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:33.300 Because as Paul says, to live is Christ, to die is gain. 00:41:33.640 --> 00:41:34.640 Do I want to die today? 00:41:34.820 --> 00:41:35.180 Nope. 00:41:35.820 --> 00:41:37.360 Did I want to die back then? 00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:37.820 Nope. 00:41:38.720 --> 00:41:40.160 I want to see my boys grow up. 00:41:40.200 --> 00:41:42.300 I want to see my sons get married. 00:41:42.300 --> 00:41:48.080 I want to be a grandfather one day, if that happens to be in the plans. 00:41:49.380 --> 00:41:51.960 But if my day comes, it comes. 00:41:53.000 --> 00:42:00.220 And I want to rest in the fact of who God is and know his power and know his authority. 00:42:01.500 --> 00:42:04.020 From a great storm to a great calm. 00:42:05.420 --> 00:42:13.000 Verse 27, and the men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this that even winds and sea obey him? 00:42:13.120 --> 00:42:14.180 They finally get it. 00:42:14.740 --> 00:42:15.420 They marvel. 00:42:15.520 --> 00:42:17.000 They see what Jesus does. 00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:20.000 They are overwhelmed by what Jesus does. 00:42:20.180 --> 00:42:26.140 And the very little word there where it says, the winds and the sea obey him. 00:42:27.540 --> 00:42:30.820 God's power and his authority in nature. 00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:34.720 God's power and authority in human life. 00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:38.460 And now we're about to see another portion of that. 00:42:41.840 --> 00:42:51.180 First, in 2 Timothy 1, chapter 1, verse 7, Paul gives some encouraging words to his young pastor friend, Timothy. 00:42:51.480 --> 00:42:51.860 He says, 00:42:52.460 --> 00:43:07.640 For God gives you and I a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. 00:43:07.640 --> 00:43:12.920 Listen to what Isaiah says in chapter 43, starting at verse 1. 00:43:12.920 --> 00:43:16.220 But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. 00:43:16.220 --> 00:43:21.560 O Israel, the one who formed you says, do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. 00:43:21.960 --> 00:43:24.380 I have called you by name and you are mine. 00:43:24.720 --> 00:43:27.260 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. 00:43:27.600 --> 00:43:30.560 When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. 00:43:30.700 --> 00:43:34.100 When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. 00:43:34.580 --> 00:43:42.320 The flames will not consume you, for I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. 00:43:44.960 --> 00:43:48.500 My wife, we've been married for over 30-something years. 00:43:48.500 --> 00:43:55.400 And she's always had this practice of writing scripture on note cards or sticky notes. 00:43:55.620 --> 00:44:00.860 And she'll put them on the mirror in the bathroom where she's got this little block of wood. 00:44:00.940 --> 00:44:04.840 It's got a wire on it, and she sticks a card, a verse that she writes. 00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:06.660 She will stick it in there. 00:44:06.720 --> 00:44:12.980 And this past week, when I was in the restroom, I saw that she had put on there Psalm 16, verse 8, 00:44:13.060 --> 00:44:14.660 where David writes these words. 00:44:16.460 --> 00:44:18.980 I have set the Lord always before me. 00:44:20.880 --> 00:44:24.820 Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 00:44:26.820 --> 00:44:33.400 When I am overwhelmed with fear, when I am in situations where I want to be fearful, 00:44:33.880 --> 00:44:41.060 I need to remember that the Lord is set before me always, that he's at my right hand. 00:44:41.780 --> 00:44:44.520 And I will not be shaken because of who he is. 00:44:47.520 --> 00:44:49.980 Disciples thought calming the storm was something to behold. 00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:53.240 Wait till they see what Jesus does next. 00:44:54.280 --> 00:44:57.160 They're about to get, of all things, listen to this now, 00:44:57.240 --> 00:45:01.080 they're about to get a theology lesson from two demons. 00:45:04.440 --> 00:45:06.960 Who knew Jesus does? 00:45:08.140 --> 00:45:10.460 In Matthew 8, 28 through 34, 00:45:11.200 --> 00:45:15.340 you and I will discover a relationship with Jesus will reveal a deep understanding 00:45:15.340 --> 00:45:17.420 of who Jesus is and what he can do. 00:45:18.100 --> 00:45:24.400 A relationship with Jesus will reveal a deep understanding of who Jesus is and what he can do. 00:45:25.200 --> 00:45:29.760 The disciples are about to get a life lesson on who Jesus is 00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:33.280 as they see Jesus' encounter with these two demons. 00:45:33.800 --> 00:45:34.640 Verse 28, 00:45:36.060 --> 00:45:39.540 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, 00:45:40.020 --> 00:45:43.560 two demon-possessed men met him coming out of the tombs, 00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:46.780 so fierce that no one could pass that way. 00:45:49.060 --> 00:45:51.440 I think it's over in the Gospel of Mark. 00:45:51.980 --> 00:45:54.440 Mark, and actually Luke as well, 00:45:54.820 --> 00:45:56.840 described this demon in a different way. 00:45:57.480 --> 00:46:00.040 He acknowledged himself as legion, 00:46:00.220 --> 00:46:02.180 which means many demons, 00:46:02.640 --> 00:46:05.720 thousands of demons that this person would have. 00:46:06.720 --> 00:46:12.460 Scholars say that in the event that a demon would be possessing a person, 00:46:12.580 --> 00:46:13.260 an individual, 00:46:13.780 --> 00:46:16.680 that this individual would be no longer recognized, 00:46:17.280 --> 00:46:19.480 that they would not be functioning as themselves 00:46:19.480 --> 00:46:23.000 because of the possession that they would have. 00:46:24.640 --> 00:46:27.340 So demons-possessed men met him. 00:46:27.500 --> 00:46:31.260 So Jesus' disciples coming out of the boat in that country, 00:46:31.260 --> 00:46:35.400 and he is met by them coming out of the tombs 00:46:35.400 --> 00:46:37.740 so fierce that no one could pass that way. 00:46:38.920 --> 00:46:40.320 Nobody would want to go that way. 00:46:40.980 --> 00:46:42.160 Don't blame them, right? 00:46:43.060 --> 00:46:46.440 See somebody out of their mind coming yelling, coming screaming. 00:46:47.280 --> 00:46:50.580 I think, again, over in one part of either Mark or Luke 00:46:50.580 --> 00:46:52.300 that talks about breaking chains, 00:46:53.120 --> 00:46:54.920 these are guys you just don't want to be around, 00:46:54.980 --> 00:46:55.880 you don't want to mess with. 00:46:57.380 --> 00:47:00.460 And again, Jesus doesn't seem to be fazed. 00:47:01.420 --> 00:47:04.020 He's not fearful of these individuals. 00:47:05.080 --> 00:47:06.380 He's not saying to the disciples, 00:47:06.520 --> 00:47:09.560 hey, listen, I've just learned that these dudes are over here 00:47:09.560 --> 00:47:10.540 coming out of these tombs, 00:47:10.600 --> 00:47:11.520 they're pretty scary fellas. 00:47:11.960 --> 00:47:13.600 We're going to find another way around. 00:47:14.460 --> 00:47:15.460 Jesus doesn't do that. 00:47:18.380 --> 00:47:19.380 Verse 29, 00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:44.740 Now, I'm not going to dive into the supernatural realm 00:47:44.740 --> 00:47:46.400 and darkness and light 00:47:46.400 --> 00:47:48.180 because that's a long dive. 00:47:49.820 --> 00:47:51.320 But they would know 00:47:51.320 --> 00:47:53.720 from how that all arranged and organized 00:47:53.720 --> 00:47:55.880 that who Jesus was. 00:47:56.620 --> 00:47:58.300 What even makes it more interesting 00:47:58.300 --> 00:47:59.640 is the next statement that he said, 00:47:59.800 --> 00:48:02.840 have you come here to torment us before the time? 00:48:03.760 --> 00:48:04.820 They know, 00:48:05.600 --> 00:48:07.540 even though that God has given Satan 00:48:07.540 --> 00:48:10.760 and his demons dominion over this world, 00:48:11.200 --> 00:48:14.220 they know that at the end they lose. 00:48:15.680 --> 00:48:17.580 They know there's a time coming 00:48:17.580 --> 00:48:20.560 when whatever control they can have on earth 00:48:20.560 --> 00:48:21.840 will no longer be 00:48:21.840 --> 00:48:25.100 because God in the beginning has set that up. 00:48:25.600 --> 00:48:26.480 And in that moment, 00:48:26.620 --> 00:48:28.680 their statement reveals 00:48:28.680 --> 00:48:31.780 not only to you and I, 00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:32.700 but to the disciples, 00:48:33.200 --> 00:48:34.980 they know who Jesus is. 00:48:35.080 --> 00:48:37.300 They know who is standing right before them. 00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:41.500 God's son who has power and authority 00:48:41.500 --> 00:48:43.720 over the supernatural world. 00:48:45.020 --> 00:48:47.040 God who has power and authority 00:48:47.040 --> 00:48:48.300 over darkness. 00:48:49.240 --> 00:48:50.840 Have you come here to torment us 00:48:50.840 --> 00:48:51.680 before the time? 00:48:52.780 --> 00:48:54.020 Now, a herd of many pigs 00:48:54.020 --> 00:48:55.860 was feeding at some distance from them 00:48:55.860 --> 00:48:57.660 and the demons begged. 00:48:57.880 --> 00:48:58.600 They begged, 00:48:58.800 --> 00:48:59.200 please, 00:48:59.760 --> 00:49:00.780 not now. 00:49:01.120 --> 00:49:02.320 This can't be our time. 00:49:05.020 --> 00:49:06.000 And he said to them, 00:49:06.080 --> 00:49:06.740 verse 32, 00:49:07.700 --> 00:49:09.340 and the demons begged him saying, 00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:10.420 if you cast us out, 00:49:10.900 --> 00:49:12.620 send us away into the herds of pigs. 00:49:12.960 --> 00:49:14.000 And he said to them, 00:49:14.320 --> 00:49:14.580 go. 00:49:15.320 --> 00:49:15.940 One word. 00:49:17.240 --> 00:49:19.640 One word is all Jesus uses. 00:49:20.860 --> 00:49:22.400 If you go back and read 00:49:22.400 --> 00:49:25.440 other parts of Matthew, 00:49:26.120 --> 00:49:27.020 chapter four, 00:49:27.500 --> 00:49:30.620 then the beginning part of chapter eight, 00:49:31.500 --> 00:49:34.360 all Jesus says is a word or a phrase 00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:37.900 to accomplish what he needs to accomplish. 00:49:39.340 --> 00:49:40.560 Think about in Genesis 00:49:40.560 --> 00:49:43.300 when God is creating over 10 times, 00:49:43.500 --> 00:49:44.680 it says to you and I, 00:49:45.060 --> 00:49:45.740 God said. 00:49:46.440 --> 00:49:49.140 God said and the world became in existence. 00:49:49.620 --> 00:49:51.780 Just the very word of Jesus 00:49:51.780 --> 00:49:54.120 would accomplish what needs to be accomplished. 00:49:55.620 --> 00:49:56.640 And he said to them, 00:49:56.740 --> 00:49:56.920 go. 00:49:57.040 --> 00:49:57.840 So they came out 00:49:57.840 --> 00:49:58.880 and went into the pigs 00:49:58.880 --> 00:49:59.860 and behold, 00:49:59.960 --> 00:50:00.800 the whole herd 00:50:00.800 --> 00:50:02.480 rushed down the steep bank 00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:03.160 into the sea 00:50:03.160 --> 00:50:04.280 and drowned in the waters. 00:50:05.380 --> 00:50:06.660 The herdsmen fled 00:50:06.660 --> 00:50:07.860 and going into the city, 00:50:08.020 --> 00:50:09.260 they told everything, 00:50:09.420 --> 00:50:10.480 especially what had happened 00:50:10.480 --> 00:50:11.820 to the demon-possessed men. 00:50:12.360 --> 00:50:13.060 And behold, 00:50:13.380 --> 00:50:15.020 all the city came out 00:50:15.020 --> 00:50:16.060 to meet Jesus. 00:50:17.180 --> 00:50:18.940 And this is shocking to me. 00:50:19.960 --> 00:50:21.180 But at the same time, 00:50:21.240 --> 00:50:22.160 you can kind of get it. 00:50:23.240 --> 00:50:23.720 And behold, 00:50:23.820 --> 00:50:24.740 all the city came out 00:50:24.740 --> 00:50:25.420 to meet Jesus. 00:50:25.600 --> 00:50:26.780 And when they saw him, 00:50:27.480 --> 00:50:28.920 they begged Jesus 00:50:28.920 --> 00:50:30.960 to leave their region. 00:50:33.560 --> 00:50:35.740 The herdsmen just lost their herd. 00:50:36.160 --> 00:50:37.500 Maybe that's the reason why. 00:50:38.300 --> 00:50:39.900 They don't know who Jesus is, 00:50:39.940 --> 00:50:40.760 so maybe they fear 00:50:40.760 --> 00:50:42.740 Jesus just cast out 00:50:42.740 --> 00:50:43.520 a bunch of demons. 00:50:44.340 --> 00:50:45.660 Maybe he's on the other side. 00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:47.000 They don't know, right? 00:50:47.740 --> 00:50:48.720 We can't assume 00:50:48.720 --> 00:50:50.080 they know who this is. 00:50:52.560 --> 00:50:53.520 They begged him 00:50:53.520 --> 00:50:54.680 to leave the region. 00:50:54.740 --> 00:50:58.300 And I love what Mark says 00:50:58.300 --> 00:50:59.200 in his passage. 00:51:01.900 --> 00:51:03.280 In Mark chapter 5, 00:51:03.340 --> 00:51:04.060 it says this, 00:51:04.140 --> 00:51:05.140 the herdsmen fled 00:51:05.140 --> 00:51:06.500 and told it to the city 00:51:06.500 --> 00:51:07.700 and in the country. 00:51:08.540 --> 00:51:10.080 And people came to see 00:51:10.080 --> 00:51:11.720 what it was that had happened. 00:51:12.480 --> 00:51:13.680 And they came to Jesus 00:51:13.680 --> 00:51:15.620 and saw the demon-possessed man, 00:51:15.800 --> 00:51:17.020 the one who had had 00:51:17.020 --> 00:51:18.760 the legion sitting there. 00:51:19.500 --> 00:51:20.500 And listen to this. 00:51:22.600 --> 00:51:24.720 clothed and in his right mind. 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:27.660 Over in Mark or Luke, 00:51:27.700 --> 00:51:28.320 it talks about 00:51:28.320 --> 00:51:29.540 these demon-possessed men 00:51:29.540 --> 00:51:29.980 were naked. 00:51:30.080 --> 00:51:31.140 They had no clothes on. 00:51:31.220 --> 00:51:32.340 Again, they're out of their mind. 00:51:33.500 --> 00:51:34.800 And Mark identifies 00:51:34.800 --> 00:51:36.380 that they were clothed 00:51:36.380 --> 00:51:38.100 and in their right mind. 00:51:40.160 --> 00:51:41.620 Jesus had the power 00:51:41.620 --> 00:51:42.440 and the authority 00:51:42.440 --> 00:51:45.520 to transform them back 00:51:45.520 --> 00:51:47.420 into who he created them to be. 00:51:48.620 --> 00:51:50.360 They had their right minds. 00:51:52.500 --> 00:51:53.420 The disciples just got 00:51:53.420 --> 00:51:54.340 a theology lesson 00:51:54.340 --> 00:51:55.320 from Jesus' encounter 00:51:55.320 --> 00:51:56.060 with two demons. 00:51:57.120 --> 00:51:58.100 With their ears, 00:51:58.200 --> 00:51:59.440 they hear a new name 00:51:59.440 --> 00:51:59.900 of Jesus, 00:52:00.060 --> 00:52:00.600 Son of God. 00:52:00.700 --> 00:52:01.460 With their ears, 00:52:01.560 --> 00:52:02.460 they hear the power 00:52:02.460 --> 00:52:03.700 of his words 00:52:03.700 --> 00:52:04.560 and see the power 00:52:04.560 --> 00:52:06.080 of his words 00:52:06.080 --> 00:52:07.000 backed by action. 00:52:07.900 --> 00:52:09.100 A relationship with Jesus 00:52:09.100 --> 00:52:10.220 like that 00:52:10.220 --> 00:52:10.980 of the disciples 00:52:10.980 --> 00:52:12.820 produces growth 00:52:12.820 --> 00:52:13.720 and maturity 00:52:13.720 --> 00:52:15.080 in your walk 00:52:15.080 --> 00:52:15.920 and in my walk 00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:16.460 with Jesus. 00:52:18.060 --> 00:52:18.580 I'm going to ask 00:52:18.580 --> 00:52:19.280 the praise team 00:52:19.280 --> 00:52:19.720 of Phil 00:52:19.720 --> 00:52:21.220 and our prayer encouragers 00:52:21.220 --> 00:52:22.180 that they'll come on up. 00:52:24.380 --> 00:52:25.380 You and I have had 00:52:25.380 --> 00:52:25.980 the opportunity 00:52:25.980 --> 00:52:26.800 to have our own 00:52:26.800 --> 00:52:27.840 front row seats 00:52:27.840 --> 00:52:29.720 to Jesus 00:52:29.720 --> 00:52:30.580 and what he did 00:52:30.580 --> 00:52:31.360 in the rest of 00:52:31.360 --> 00:52:33.380 the Gospel of Matthew 00:52:33.380 --> 00:52:34.100 chapter 8. 00:52:35.520 --> 00:52:36.500 Here are some other 00:52:36.500 --> 00:52:37.840 front row seat lessons 00:52:37.840 --> 00:52:38.920 the disciples got 00:52:38.920 --> 00:52:40.300 as they witnessed Jesus 00:52:40.300 --> 00:52:41.140 in this encounter. 00:52:44.020 --> 00:52:45.440 It will cost you and I 00:52:45.440 --> 00:52:46.300 to follow Jesus, 00:52:46.660 --> 00:52:47.560 but it's worth it. 00:52:49.080 --> 00:52:50.080 Jesus is looking 00:52:50.080 --> 00:52:51.280 for authentic followers, 00:52:51.820 --> 00:52:52.860 not groupies, 00:52:53.080 --> 00:52:53.820 not fans. 00:52:55.380 --> 00:52:56.360 As you confront 00:52:56.360 --> 00:52:57.760 the hardships of life, 00:52:57.880 --> 00:52:59.080 don't forget you have 00:52:59.080 --> 00:53:00.000 or can have 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:01.180 a relationship with Jesus. 00:53:01.720 --> 00:53:02.620 He has the power 00:53:02.620 --> 00:53:03.520 to bring calm 00:53:03.520 --> 00:53:05.220 to any and every situation 00:53:05.220 --> 00:53:06.580 that you face. 00:53:08.400 --> 00:53:09.520 Don't let fear 00:53:09.520 --> 00:53:10.540 get the best of you. 00:53:12.020 --> 00:53:12.900 Don't allow it 00:53:12.900 --> 00:53:13.740 to grip your life. 00:53:13.920 --> 00:53:14.460 Give that fear 00:53:14.460 --> 00:53:15.400 to Jesus first. 00:53:17.080 --> 00:53:18.240 Jesus doesn't fear 00:53:18.240 --> 00:53:18.840 the storms. 00:53:18.980 --> 00:53:19.480 He doesn't fear 00:53:19.480 --> 00:53:20.740 the demons of this world. 00:53:21.400 --> 00:53:22.920 They obey his voice. 00:53:23.220 --> 00:53:24.140 That is the Jesus 00:53:24.140 --> 00:53:24.860 you have 00:53:24.860 --> 00:53:25.580 or can have 00:53:25.580 --> 00:53:26.620 a relationship with. 00:53:28.240 --> 00:53:29.220 Everything in the 00:53:29.220 --> 00:53:30.300 supernatural world 00:53:30.300 --> 00:53:31.580 knows who Jesus is 00:53:31.580 --> 00:53:32.800 and yields to his power 00:53:32.800 --> 00:53:33.440 and authority. 00:53:34.420 --> 00:53:35.240 And one day 00:53:35.240 --> 00:53:36.720 in this natural world, 00:53:37.420 --> 00:53:40.180 when God comes back, 00:53:41.180 --> 00:53:42.120 everyone will come 00:53:42.120 --> 00:53:42.740 to realize 00:53:42.740 --> 00:53:43.660 and to know 00:53:43.660 --> 00:53:44.540 his authority 00:53:44.540 --> 00:53:46.180 and his power. 00:53:48.480 --> 00:53:49.640 what will you do 00:53:49.640 --> 00:53:50.500 with your encounter 00:53:50.500 --> 00:53:51.560 with Jesus? 00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:56.060 In Colossians 1, 00:53:56.200 --> 00:53:57.580 verses 9-14, 00:53:58.580 --> 00:54:00.980 Paul prays this prayer 00:54:00.980 --> 00:54:01.620 for the people 00:54:01.620 --> 00:54:02.160 in the church 00:54:02.160 --> 00:54:02.920 of Colossians. 00:54:05.480 --> 00:54:06.220 Starting off 00:54:06.220 --> 00:54:06.880 in verse 9, 00:54:06.960 --> 00:54:07.420 he says, 00:54:07.480 --> 00:54:07.840 And so, 00:54:07.940 --> 00:54:08.400 from the day 00:54:08.400 --> 00:54:09.040 we heard, 00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:10.300 we have not ceased 00:54:10.300 --> 00:54:11.280 to pray for you, 00:54:12.280 --> 00:54:13.380 asking that you 00:54:13.380 --> 00:54:14.740 may be filled 00:54:14.740 --> 00:54:15.400 with the knowledge 00:54:15.400 --> 00:54:16.140 of his will 00:54:16.140 --> 00:54:17.580 and all spiritual wisdom 00:54:17.580 --> 00:54:18.520 and understanding. 00:54:19.640 --> 00:54:20.880 So as to walk 00:54:20.880 --> 00:54:21.360 in a manner 00:54:21.360 --> 00:54:22.340 worthy of the Lord, 00:54:22.460 --> 00:54:23.620 fully pleasing to him, 00:54:24.340 --> 00:54:25.020 bearing fruit 00:54:25.020 --> 00:54:26.220 with every good work 00:54:26.220 --> 00:54:26.920 and increasing 00:54:26.920 --> 00:54:27.640 in the knowledge 00:54:27.640 --> 00:54:28.140 of God, 00:54:28.980 --> 00:54:29.780 being strengthened 00:54:29.780 --> 00:54:30.680 with all power 00:54:30.680 --> 00:54:31.460 according to his 00:54:31.460 --> 00:54:32.300 glorious might, 00:54:33.020 --> 00:54:34.040 for all endurance 00:54:34.040 --> 00:54:34.660 and patience 00:54:34.660 --> 00:54:35.300 with joy, 00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:36.700 giving thanks 00:54:36.700 --> 00:54:37.340 to the Father 00:54:37.340 --> 00:54:38.520 who has qualified you 00:54:38.520 --> 00:54:39.080 to share 00:54:39.080 --> 00:54:39.820 in the inheritance 00:54:39.820 --> 00:54:41.100 of the saints 00:54:41.100 --> 00:54:41.560 in life. 00:54:42.180 --> 00:54:43.300 He has delivered us 00:54:43.300 --> 00:54:44.080 from the dominion 00:54:44.080 --> 00:54:44.660 of darkness 00:54:44.660 --> 00:54:46.600 and transferred us 00:54:46.600 --> 00:54:47.220 to the kingdom 00:54:47.220 --> 00:54:48.620 of his beloved Son 00:54:48.620 --> 00:54:50.480 in whom we have 00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:51.040 redemption, 00:54:51.780 --> 00:54:52.320 the forgiveness 00:54:52.320 --> 00:54:53.540 of sins. 00:54:54.200 --> 00:54:55.420 Would you pray with me? 00:54:59.900 --> 00:55:00.900 Father God, 00:55:01.040 --> 00:55:01.560 we thank you 00:55:01.560 --> 00:55:02.300 for your word. 00:55:03.020 --> 00:55:04.620 And it is so rich 00:55:04.620 --> 00:55:06.600 with the truths. 00:55:08.080 --> 00:55:09.100 It is so rich 00:55:09.100 --> 00:55:09.860 with your life 00:55:09.860 --> 00:55:10.700 and what we are able 00:55:10.700 --> 00:55:11.780 to read and see. 00:55:15.380 --> 00:55:16.580 God, help us not 00:55:16.580 --> 00:55:17.500 to just hear it 00:55:17.500 --> 00:55:18.440 and forget about it. 00:55:19.260 --> 00:55:19.920 Help us not 00:55:19.920 --> 00:55:20.660 to see it 00:55:20.660 --> 00:55:23.740 and only wonder. 00:55:24.840 --> 00:55:25.720 But help us 00:55:25.720 --> 00:55:26.760 to know your truth. 00:55:27.880 --> 00:55:28.900 Help us to gain 00:55:28.900 --> 00:55:29.800 understanding, 00:55:30.520 --> 00:55:30.820 wisdom, 00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:31.580 and knowledge 00:55:31.580 --> 00:55:33.540 that continues 00:55:33.540 --> 00:55:34.320 to increase 00:55:34.320 --> 00:55:35.000 our faith, 00:55:35.100 --> 00:55:35.600 our trust, 00:55:35.660 --> 00:55:36.240 and our belief 00:55:36.240 --> 00:55:36.640 in you. 00:55:38.540 --> 00:55:38.940 Father, 00:55:39.020 --> 00:55:39.680 we are grateful 00:55:39.680 --> 00:55:40.640 for who you are, 00:55:40.720 --> 00:55:41.300 your power, 00:55:41.460 --> 00:55:42.160 your authority. 00:55:46.060 --> 00:55:47.320 Help us to rest 00:55:47.320 --> 00:55:49.160 in knowing that 00:55:49.160 --> 00:55:51.280 and help us 00:55:51.280 --> 00:55:51.300 and help us 00:55:51.300 --> 00:55:51.860 to cling 00:55:51.860 --> 00:55:53.740 to our relationship 00:55:53.740 --> 00:55:54.520 and our truth 00:55:54.520 --> 00:55:54.980 of you. 00:55:56.040 --> 00:55:56.780 Lord, we ask this 00:55:56.780 --> 00:55:57.540 prayer in your name. 00:55:58.360 --> 00:55:58.680 Amen. 00:56:00.840 --> 00:56:02.680 That's it for this week's message. 00:56:03.200 --> 00:56:04.040 Be sure to check back 00:56:04.040 --> 00:56:04.640 next week 00:56:04.640 --> 00:56:05.480 for a new episode. 00:56:06.080 --> 00:56:06.820 And in the meantime, 00:56:07.080 --> 00:56:08.300 you can visit us online 00:56:08.300 --> 00:56:10.260 at willowridgechurch.org 00:56:10.260 --> 00:56:11.300 or by searching 00:56:11.300 --> 00:56:12.380 for Willow Ridge Church 00:56:12.380 --> 00:56:13.220 on Facebook, 00:56:13.460 --> 00:56:13.900 Instagram, 00:56:14.240 --> 00:56:14.680 and YouTube. 00:56:15.120 --> 00:56:16.080 Thanks again for listening.