Mark 9:30-37

[Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay guys here we go now let's do a little review let's whip your bibles open we're going to go to john remember last week when i gave the message on civic authority as well as biblical authority and looking at those two different things ecclesial is the word i used as far as what god had given to the church i opened with this passage in john in john chapter 15 verse 9 let you get there john 15 verse 9 and this is what we looked at because we talked about the church and then most people don't know even what the church is and so here's how i started just as the father has what's that word loved me i have also loved you and abide in my if you keep my commandments you abide in my just as i have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love that's right these things i've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be what full full made for this is my commandment that you love what that's it i love to love one another just as i have yeah so it's not a clever name it doesn't come from bob marley it comes from the bible one love one love ministries it's the very manifestation of those who are in christ you see when we come and belong to christ we begin to be transformed like christ and that's the thing that's so crazy and so we need to recognize that what this scripture says right here is this i'm going to say a line and it's going to be kind of kind of slammed down for starting right out the gate but what we talked about and learned last week as well as we're going to see today is that love or the lack thereof think about that defines you right now the kind of love that you can be maybe somebody who was watching last week and didn't agree with what we were saying did you respond in a way of love or did you uh you know if you say you're like yeah you're cheering but did you not recognize maybe in love that there might be others who would struggle with that decision because of where they're at my point is is that christ says he is love and he was in the father's love and he asked us to be in his love and you see that's what's so important is that we're going to see today in our passage really what that looks like but what my main point was last week is that the church the church is described by our state as essential necessary important and needed however they did not understand what the church is that they were calling essential so i went through and explained that that in order the church to do what makes us essential it requires human contact amen seeing each other malama one another encouraging one another and it was so fun because i saw somebody today at home depot who i haven't seen during this whole thing and he's like hey pastor after how's it and i was like boom boom and it's like hey you know we're like chakra and all this kind of stuff was that great and then he was just all happy and i said you know bro haven't seen you guys around he's like yeah you know but notice how did you feel just seeing me in person versus all this time he's like oh had to hit me right here at home depot huh you know just like boom yeah something happens when we're together that's how god has called us to be and that's what it's going to be so listen i want to make this very clear this is very important that you all hear this so that means if we're going to do what it calls us to do as the church the church is the assembly in fact one brother put it this way he sent me a note after the sermon last week and he says amen brother the church is the assembly and the assembly is filled with us jesus we fix our eyes on you and so what i want you to understand is that means in here when we are doing church we're going to follow what god describes as his church amen but as soon as i walk out those doors folks i want to be a christ-centered god of a law-abiding god abiding citizen and i will put my mask on and go to the other places amen we want to recognize that right now i'm going to follow there this is completely description because of what god has called us to do and even them recognizing it as essential so therefore this is where i will end off the review of last week to the government officials we said respectfully as with the apostles whether it's right to give heed to you rather than to god you can be the judge but we must obey god rather than men amen all right so now two weeks ago where we left off in mark grab your notes flip now back with them in chapter 9 of mark and so now back in that passage where we were just finishing off remember there was a father and this father had a son who was demon possessed cruelly demon-possessed trying to kill him throwing them in the ground convulsions and everything else and so what we talked about was is that you and i as christians we must fight the temptation to stay on the mountaintop where we experienced a euphoric presence with god there's no it's not a it's just a coincidence the fact that the transfiguration is just before the story and the fact that peter says wow this is great let's build shrines up here and how often we have this encounter with christ and then we enshrine it so this is where it is it's back in 73 when god did something in my life great but what's happened since and we want to stay in there and you see this whole purpose was for god to say i have come not just to be holy not just to be in my glory but i have come for the hurting and the suffering and so he shows them that's why we don't build temples up here that's why we don't spend a gazillion dollars on on a building this is a warehouse and i'm gonna make it nice and comfortable but i am not gonna go all glam in the eight thousand dollar this and ten thousand dollars no the money needs to be for people and that's what it's for you don't build shrines and so that's the point that he was saying and then he comes down and then we know the father he rushes up to jesus and remember the line he says i brought you my son but did he no why did the father not see the miracle because he took his son to what the wrong person remember he took him to the disciples and we always talked about this parallel oh by association so we seem to think as long as your association i made the joke that everyone would ask cindy seminary questions just because she lives with me doesn't mean that she's got the doctorate degree and so we need to recognize that that we need to bring our problems we need to cast our cares not to the church not to the pastor but we need to bring him where to the lord he's the one that says cast your cares unto me i will care for you and so we need to understand that very clearly and then the father finally just says dad father jesus if you can do anything take pity on us and help us in verse 23 and jesus said if you can and like i said i think there just had to be um a smirk a smirk and this guy who has been stressed beat down and he's so desperate and has come here and he goes like if you can't do anything jesus is like if i can i mean i could just see the dad like because this this tells me about his second if i can he says all things are possible to him who believes and immediately the boy's father cried out verse 24 i do believe and what'd he say but help me unbelief i do believe hallelujah but help my unbelief and i said oh what a transparent what an honest point in the scriptures what an honest man a transparent individual and as i said the truer you get with god the truer you can see results the more real you are the more real you're going to watch god do things really in your life and so he's coming out and he's just laying it all out and then we ended at verse 29 when the disciples themselves were saying well how come we couldn't cast out this demon and jesus said to them this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer and matthew even records one more part that you know prayer and fasting now my point to you is this look at me for a second you know when i was uh a police officer when even as a chaplain still had to go through because when you're wearing a blue uniform they can't tell them distance that my shield says chaplin so somebody wants to shoot so you put on that armor so you have that full flak jacket underneath your shirt and by the way if cops are ever grumpy you got to understand they got this t-shirt underneath then this thing that's digging in again then they got that outer shirt and it's still 90 degrees with humidity and so we'd have to have all the stuff why because i didn't know when someone might shoot at me sidearm why i didn't know when i might need to stop someone else be ready for a circumstance my point is it says this kind well how do you know you're going to encounter somebody of this kind or not this week that's why it's kind of a good thing to maybe just get in the habit of maybe hey on tuesdays i just spent some time fasting i'm going to fast and pray for my this or wednesday works for me or this just something that we do and as i said the reason why i love fasting is it's actually the whole point of it doesn't make you super spiritual what it does is it helps you learn how to say no to self and you build that muscle see brother here kind of a guy i'm sure that didn't just happen naturally we build muscles by using them right so maybe if we just do that then we start saying no so then the next time oh i want to go get ice cream or i want to go do this or i want to go tell that person oh you realize wow fasting taught me that i can't say no to self and my wants and my whims and i can trust in the lord and so that's where we left up now today we're picking up at verse 30. what we're going to look at today is a subject that every single one of us in here has a handle on already we're going to talk about humility okay well at least i have handle on humility maybe you don't but i'm ext moses and i can say you know the most humble man on the earth not this is something we all need to see so we have this incredible story now verse 30 and from there they went out and began to go through galilee and he was unwilling for anyone to know about it interesting as we pick up right here that's why i always have to do review what was he what why was he leaving right away he didn't want anyone else to know about it what is it the demon who was just cast out and he didn't want anyone else to know about it again over and over please don't tell anyone he'll heal this person don't go anything just go home go to these things why again jot this down for the 900th time he does so in order to keep the focus and now i have a platform to explain it to us he says let's leave here because i don't want everyone to be talking about this demon boy who has now been cured why it's to keep the focus notice the key word next is the word for verse 31 starts with four he didn't want anyone to know about it four he was teaching his disciples and telling them the son of man is to be delivered so many versions will say betrayed into the hands of men and they will kill him and when he has been killed he will rise three days later now no taker this is the third time now in the gospel of mark that jesus has told us this so he has told his disciples this is number three that i'm going to be betrayed killed and then i'm going to rise three days later so he says this to him but the point is what was jesus doing why was he saying let's go i don't want others to know about it i told you keep the focus why because it's so easy to get distracted and let me tell you what we get distracted by the god of miracles you see you might be one of them you definitely know somebody who has god of miracles see their whole focus is is god do your stuff do your miracles do do these things jesus was saying listen i don't want to be here so that i'm seen as the man of miracles the god of miracles and so people will come up to me because of what they think i need to do for them are you hearing me god has said let's get out of here because listen we will say this is what i want you to do for us rather than what we need excuse me what you know that we need and that is to save us when we come to god we come to god as we are we don't tell him he tells us so important what we need him to do is to save us and listen when this is not clear when we're not clear that coming to god is because of his love for us just who he is not what he can do for us when we can come in this natural term then it is actually true worship but when it is not what happens is as we saw in malachi we soon begin to come to get rather than to bring think about it how many times maybe one of us here oh i i didn't go to that church anymore because i didn't get much out of it interesting when we look at the scriptures wherein jeremiah himself says praise the lord of host for the lord is good his mercy is in due forever and out of those who will bring sacrifice and praise into the house of the lord see the purpose today was coming to bring or to get now hear me clearly there's times when we're all beaten up and we're all beaten down and that's okay to drag yourself and come into church i'm not saying that you've got to be all chipper and high mr smiley face all the time we talked about that before that's not what i'm saying but on the majority do we come to god in order to get or do we come here to celebrate what he's already done he's forgiven us if you are a christian he died on a cross for your sin he has given you a future beyond november 3rd he's given you a future and a hope and a glory and a promise and a peace that passes understanding meaning when nothing else makes sense you got peace see one is churchiani the other one is christ the entity one can say hallelujah and go outside and just go blah with their mouth on somebody else big difference here you see hebrews 13 5. through him then let us continually offer up sacrifice of praise to god that is the fruit of the lips and that give thanks to his name i love the fact that he even calls it a sacrifice of praise meaning it was something that i intentionally have brought in to lay before god i want to bring this thanks i want to bring this praise god i am so thankful that today you have done and like i've said what's been ministering to me the most as i've just had this huge spike in the pain in this last season as i say thank you god for the pain because i know i'm not paralyzed and it does something it changes something those of you in here that have fibromyalgia you know what it's like and when it just spikes through the roof it's ridiculous and you see he says we want to offer a sacrifice of praise to god that is the fruit of the lips that give thanks notice to his name verse 16 and do not neglect doing good and sharing for with such sacrifices god is pleased and so we need to begin to start taking some inventory here jesus says i don't want to just stay here with the show i don't want you just to come on worship night and sing and fellowship and get fired up for god and then come to the women's mystery or the men's ministry and and do these different things and just have your entire circle around the christian lamp and all you want to do is continue to stay in this light and bright no no no no there's a world that's hunger a world that is thirsting a world that's in the dark amen and so he's saying listen i'm going to tell you what i'm going to do now notice but they did not understand this statement and then circle that next word it's so sad and they didn't understand and they were too afraid to ask him this is such a sad sad verse to me because i see it all the time to this very day i'll talk to somebody in months after something i feel like oh yeah yeah i i never understand but i never like asked cause i thought and we're like ass cause you know oh i know you're so busy um hello i'm gonna be busy no matter what so might as well be with you right you know oh i never like asked cause you know shame out like oh i thought you know everybody else got it or this and we we have this sense that i i never like ask why do you realize how stoked jesus was when nicodemus came at night and said hey can you explain a few things to me he didn't turn him down at all he didn't mock him he said all right and he starts answering his questions and he brings it before him so whatever it is when a message when somebody says something you don't know you just take it to the lord and there's no shame there's no need to have some kind of degree you just said lord can you explain this to me i need help understanding this circumstance or this situation now it says this starting at verse 33 and they came to capernaum so he brings them out he tells them this incredible event that's happening third time they still don't get it and they came to capernaum and when he was in the house he began to question them what were you discussing on the way now as we're going to see in a moment jesus asked this question not because he didn't know the answer parents you know exactly what i'm talking about here don't you so where were you tonight and you mapped their phone the whole evening and they didn't know that you put that little thing on see to me didn't have to have that you know when i was a kid they didn't have any of the technology today but somehow my mom knew everything [Music] and she would say oh so where were you today what did you do today what over here tonight and boom she already knows the answer so when she's throwing out this question in the same way as jesus did then what he was doing was even though he knew the answer he was testing there number one humility number two their honesty and number three their readiness to grow hey if i said where have you been this week and some of those weren't good places hey what was on your eyes this week some of those weren't good things to be watching do you have that brother that sister that you give him permission to ask those kinds of questions to because it's gonna first of all reflect today where you are in your humility and you know this is the funniest thing about humility it's people's lack thereof of humility that sees the no humility in others that's it like oh who does he think that person oh he thinks he's all talented hello why does it bother you that they're acting authentic because you're feeling like they're either i said a lot with just that huh okay folks are we ready to grow and if we're ready to grow then like the father we're going to say lord i do believe but help my unbelief lord i want to be righteous but help my unrighteousness i want to come and so he says so what were you guys talking about verse 34 we learned but they kept silent for on the way they had discussed with one another which one of them what's it say which one was the greatest now why do you think this is the subject that came up right now because it's the same question you and all you're talking on i always thought about oh what's show up with peter james and john how come they get special treatment you've thought that while you've read the bible haven't you no act you're in church like well how come they always get pulled in same thing you got to meet these other guys well why do these guys get where are they more special than us well hey i'm just as well i've done this well i'm the treasurer of the group and they're all sitting there talking about what they bring to the table and which one of them is the greatest now can i tell you right now that this sin is far more contagious than covet 19 and i'll tell you right now that this sin definitely kills every person who has it the wage of sin is death so this sin of lack thereof of humility which then gives us the right to criticize the child fearfully and wonderfully made by god which includes your spouse think about it and by the way this disease is not just for the unchurched no no no no it's not just for even for the the weak and new believer no this disease of feeling the greatest sizing up one another goes everywhere all throughout everything and it would blow your mind how often when i was young in ministry and going to pastors conferences the third or fourth asked question was so how big is your church so tell me about your ministry what's what's the size of your ministry so like the person is validated and i could see these guys that served at smaller churches just feel like they had to do the excuse like when i hear mom say oh oh i'm just a stay-at-home mom oh i get upset at that lady you are not just you're looking at the product of a stay-home mom there's no just that goes in front of that it's a calling and if god has allowed you that calling then you live in it and in the same vein here these brothers well how big is your church so you know what was really fun for me because these guys are like oh i'm like a hundred we're a small church we just have like 150 people and you're like i don't know you know where those are you know we're over three thousand and we've got this ministry here and it's like we're all supposed to go oh you're all important you know you get more scoop rights but you know what i did i had so much fun because this was on the mainland right and when i was in moloka'i because there was only 6 000 people there at the time they would say to me so how big is your church 10 of the whole island comes church what yeah can you say it about where you live your whole i got ten percent of the whole city that comes to kyrie chapel molokai bro what you know you just say because where it was in context my point is this is what we needed to see listen to the subtlety of satan listen to the subtlety of the flesh here jesus was teaching and discipling humility and obedience okay now again just look up there at verse 32 this what jesus is doing he is teaching i mean 31 he is teaching about this that he would be delivered betrayed into the hands of men that they would kill him and then after he'd been killed he would rise in three days if he's telling them this that means family that he knew the plan and had already submitted to it you understand that so he is teaching humility not hey you know what you guys got to do he's teaching by example learn it know it and live it and so he's saying listen the father has a plan and i'm living this plan and i'm walking in this plan i have submitted to god's word will and way as will you and as should you and so he's teaching them about humility think about what it says in philippians 2 8 and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself it wasn't stripped away he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross so while jesus is speaking this while he's doing this they were craving exaltation am i the only one in this room that is so blessed that god calls such losers like this you know say thank you lord you're like okay i'm gonna die on the cross and like oh you think you're out at and we're sitting in the room trying to validate ourself and look up or down or whatever it is upon another person think about the flesh and so because of this what happened because what's happening right here then verse 35 check this out with me verse 35 and sitting down what have i taught you that means when a rabbi sits it's time to teach okay he sits down and he called the twelve and said to them if anyone wants to be first he shall be last of all and what servant of all but a big box around that whole thing those aren't three words that's one word servant of all now here's the part that again i love nowhere in the story does it say they told jesus so of course he already knew it's also important to note that jesus did not scold reprimand them call them a bunch of dirty dogs what do you think you are how long do i have to put up with knuckleheads like this that he doesn't reprimand him at all he knew what they were talking about about who's the greatest he knows they completely missed the point that he was discipling on humility and so then he just says and so you know if you want to be the greatest you can just see each of them going you got to be the least huh yeah you want to be number one then you're number 10 out of 10. huh okay and then he goes on to see if you want to be first your last and not only you last but that means you are the last of the last because you are the servant of all now understand the context that he's saying this this is still a culture where there is servitude there are servants within the home these are how people would work this would be their job is that they would go and be a servant at this family's home and these type of being that's what they would do that's how the culture functions so everybody knew about the servant servant the servant who served the servants i guess all of you people that watch uh downton abbey know what i'm talking about even the servants had a higher cost of who did well it's because there was no servant servant that night that they had the upper room no one was washing feet because there was no servant servant there this is the servant that jesus is talking about huh you guys want to be great this is what you need to do how often we think god is this cosmic cop ready to bust us no he already knows he's not sitting here with a radar holy red or god waiting for us to no he already knows and so he's laying before us every opportunity to teach and disciple but are we humble enough are we honest enough and are we ready to grow see the sinful desire to be greater than others family can i just tell you it's not a passive attitude it's a very active drive and it comes out in so many different ways in us whether it's in sports whether it's in our grades whether it's in money whether it's in position all of these things where we try to stack ourselves i'll never forget i had this teacher who loved to pass out the grades or the test papers back according to the grade and would start off with the highest a plush here spencer a plus here connie hey right here to you dexter and all and then go all the way down to the name and he she would start passing them all out and i got mine let's just say it could have been alphabetical since the last name is tifton and i'll never forget one time when i got it and there's a big little f on it and i got it last and everyone look around and see who gotta last and i got it i looked at it turned around i got a fabulous that's why you're not passing young man if she could see me now all right now the point is the subtlety of who we think we are creeps up in every way and it's dangerous amen how many times have we felt that we have i got the degree i got this and we're in a collision course with something that god has set there to be stronger sediment and true it's almost collision course with truth and you hit it hard he says if anyone wants to be first he she they need to be the last and the servant of all a great book if you've never read it called the upside down kingdom i got in the very the first year of seminary by donald trump he quotes in this great book about how god's world is not everything the world tells us to be the best and you want to climb and step over jesus you want to be first be the last and in this book he quotes an old puritan poem that i have kept in the inside of my bible that it it's so crumbled now hard to read but it's called the valley of vision follow with me it says lord high and holy meek and lowly thou has brought me to the valley of vision where i live in the depths but i see in the heights hemmed in by mountains of sin i behold thy glory let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up that to be low is to be high that the broken heart is the healed heart that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit that the repenting soul is the victorious soul to have nothing is to possess all to bear the cross is to wear the crown that to give is to receive that the valley is the place of vision lord in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine let me find thy light in my darkness thy life in my death thy joy in my sorrow thy grace in my sin thy riches in my poverty and thy glory in my valley see that's not a prayer that we tend to emulate and want to see but the puritans themselves knew they understood this rise was in this flesh that is so subtle but the only reveal that we have is that we have been aware of self today that's the key that's the giveaway right then and there okay boom here it is well i'm looking at this oh look at this person and who they are and what they're doing you see this this awareness that we have and jesus says really were you the servant servant today of all you see this is the thing that i have noticed christians love and they have no problem with talking about being a servant until they're treated like one yeah i'm expecting that same reaction at all three services this weekend oh yeah i'm going to volunteer or you know somebody in sunday school mysteries someone says hey i need you to go over here to this department here because we have too many kids in this class i need you to go over there who you think you see we love to be a servant drop this down as long as it's on our terms you know i've had staff members leave not necessarily even paid staff but like volunteer staff when i was doing youth ministry and stuff they left you know what they told me you never called me just to say how's it every time you called me it was you know you want to talk about the program that night or this or that and i'm like just looking at them going i asked you to come on board because i needed help loving teenagers not because i needed someone to go to lunch with but here's just treated me like a servant i'm sorry that that's what we did i thought we came here i've been crucified with christ and so i meet people all the time well why aren't you doing this ministry anymore well i wasn't appreciated nobody really gave me i did all this and no one said thank you whatever all these different things were we recognized servitude oh we all of a sudden have an issue when someone starts treating me like a servant when it says here servant of all oh family right now if we if we the church had not failed our mission on this being a servant of all this whole right now this whole racial gender political tension divide would not exist as it does if the church had done its job folks sadly the church has sometimes been the worst place for creating division whether it be denominations oh we don't go with them and we don't know oh those are those people do you know they believe them they just sprinkle over there oh we don't serve those kinds of people you have gender issues you have these different types of things whatever it is we who are supposed to be everything blind servant of servants looking at everyone else as someone greater that i might serve we have missed this and you see when we think oh we don't serve that kind this issue or whatever it is that is an attitude that is the opposite of the t-shirt that is a me is greater than you like to see someone have a shirt that honest me see as soon as you're like oh that's the pastor he's wearing shorts this is going to be a joke tonight whatever it may be see me is greater than you when all of a sudden i feel offended by you telling me to do something rather than asking me well what just got so fluttered that would be your flesh come on can i get an amen [Music] see in his book sheldon many years ago charles sheldon wrote this book called in his steps there's not a person in here who doesn't know wwjd what would jesus do it didn't pop up in the 80s it didn't start on a wristband you ready this book was written by charles sheldon in 1896. in 1896 he writes this story about a man who comes into a church who had been all week in town and he was a backpacker and he was searching for truth and he was exhausted and he smelled and he had been traveling and looking for insight looking for truth and you know what where i learned about it was this check this out they made it into a comic for kids and my parents would give me these fire comics and i read this and i want you to see the main page that blew me away i still have these comics he comes into the church and they're singing these songs about oh you know i will love and we will bless and he comes walking in he says i've been wondering what do christians mean by following jesus i've been in this town for three days and i haven't felt any love or concern like who is this guy i've seen things that wouldn't exist if all the people who sang hymns went out and lived them and then he said what would jesus do and he says it two or three times in the book what would jesus do if he was and right there he ends up having a heart attack and dying right in the very front struggling for truth struggling for a church that believed what they sang they wouldn't judge him but see him as a seeker needing aloha the love of god and you see it's a very powerful question and so in this book it talks about five different people and all these five from very different one was a business owner one was in eris she had all this money and all these what would jesus do with this money what would jesus do in my position in this business dealing and what would jesus do and you want to know something for church this is so fun super fun for me because you know how things are going multifaceted and you don't even really recognize all the stuff here i have been writing this sermon here i've been focusing on this and here today i went into one place that we used it right out here and i was looking for something to walk in there's a tape measure and it's just sitting on thing oh cool tape measure ask the guy is this your day measure you're like no oh right on so i'm walking around using it and i'm like well it's a pretty nice one i can hold it out it didn't just break in five feet i'm like this is a nice tape measure but i'm like it's not yours yeah but i found it yeah but it's not yours and you know what they do have tape measures here that people might have i looked at it doesn't have anything written on it hey no judge and it's just like yeah it's not mine i just put it back felt good then i went to home depot remember just rocking through i had all this stuff that we're going through and there was just this green spray paint can and i just think as he was going through and all this stuff was packed and i'm like i don't think that one made it to the counter and he's got everything registered and digging and here's your total and i go can you just check and see if that green one goes yeah no it's not beep put it on and you see what would jesus do if he found a tape measure what would jesus do if he thought maybe they didn't ring that one up oh score oh it's just a can of paint or what would jesus do see that's humility it's to ask what jesus would do then seek to do it and i'm telling you that because that was a process i had to deal with today i had to mentally cognitively go you know what this isn't what i want i don't want something that i don't that is not right for me that's taken from somebody else and so if we struggle that i mentioned that i see these things if we have all these issues of the flesh that rises up and judges and looks down then what is the antidote we've got a whole world word about this covid and i said this is more dangerous than what is the anecdote for this sin of pride verse 36 and taking a child he set him before him and taking him in his arms he said to them stop right there first of all i want you to notice that the child was not afraid to come to jesus how about the people at work with you are they afraid to come neighbors your own kids so he grabs this child and why does he do it think about the contrast of now jesus picking up this little kid while he's in the presence of all of these great men at least according to their conversation and which one was the greatest so now he grabs this little kid why is that so powerful well do you remember jewish culture who was the lowest of the lowest of the lowest kids and the youngest kid remember the story of david and samuel and he says whoever receives one child like this if you receive one child like this notice in my name receives me and whoever receives me does not receive me but receives him who sent me now when you read that you go this guy is either saying something very profound or he needs therapy okay you receive me but you normally see me which is it obviously he's saying something very profound what are the clues let's look at it whoever receives this one child okay so we just realized child a child remember is not a symbol of innocence any parent in this room can testify okay so i like children they're so innocent then you spend no time with them okay what is a child it's the symbol of dependence and position dependence child needs someone to care for them and position they were the lowest of the low so he says are you going to receive someone in this matter number two in my name as i've taught you in my name such a powerful phrase in this part of the world at this time it means in the authority of it means in the command of it means in the manner of now think of this what i just said if anyone will receive a child this lowest of the lowest in society that can do you no benefit that can make you not any better in business or move anything on it can't do anything to fluff your stuff nothing if you're going to grab this child in my name meaning in the authority of think about it i love this in the manner of meaning you would do it in my name when they would come and the authority of caesar opened up in the name of caesar it was by his command it was by his authority but him saying he was in the manner of how a theo how caesar would do it and he says are you going to come in this way he says if you love a child like me on this then notice you receive me now he's talking about this child and that jesus says receive me well that's consistent isn't it what does he say in matthew 25 through 32 lord when did we ever see you naked hurt and thirsty and all these things and it says you did this unto me and jesus says whenever you did this to the least of my brethren you did it unto me what about saul he's persecuting christians jesus stops him on and knocks him off his high orders hey so so why are you persecuting me so let that sink in those folks whom we're judging and talking about because their ideology is different how could they be so blind to think something so stupid all these things that the flesh of pride p-r-i-d-e i is the center of sin s-i-n and all of a sudden we see this going on and then he says whoever receives me what does he mean when he says but you don't receive me but him who sent me jot it down he's saying you receive me it's not this physical body that you see standing in front of you no no it's the one who said let there be light you receive this child in my authority by my command and the manner that i do so the one who is love the god who is love that's whom you receive when you humble yourself and serve like me in me under me then you become first john 4 8 the one who does not love does not know god for god is love and the notice is almost like there's parentheses by this the love of god was manifested in us so how did we get this love that we would know god that god has sent his only begotten son that's the me if you receive me his only begotten son into the world so that we might live what does it say through him verse 16 and we have come to know and have believed the love which god has for us god is help me out love and the one who abides in love abides in god and god abides in him them however you want to see it see listen to me this is going to get tough but what jesus just said to this group who was just all taunted on figuring out who's who and maybe a little offended that peter and james got to get the little special treatment and what's going on and how come these guys always get favored how can my mom always like my older brother or my sister how come this person gets that and all this nonsense jesus just said by your compassion and humility that is what reveals christ in you sing all the hymns you want stake all the claims follow all the scriptures finish every finish every sentence and waxerism that i say from the stage lord and in charge great he says by your compassion and humility that's how it reveals if christ is in you the christ in you that's what he was saying for god is love and his love was manifested in us how god sent us on jesus so that we can live through him so now if we believe that god is love then we understand then we abide in his love you see when you love someone folks you begin to love the things they love i'll never forget one day my wife said to me you know you're always making that joke about doilies when you preach on the subject of church and you know also now the americans are you got all these doilies in the house she's like have you counted how many surfboards are in this house right now there's more surfboards than doilies i said no there's not and she was right yes she did count but the point was is that she's embraced who her husband is and these things are beauty to me and so now i need to tell you this that if it is christ in you he's saying when i say this is in humility and compassion that means the christ in you folks is going to be at war with the flesh in you they're not going to hang out together they don't do lunch some of us have tried to make some peace treaties or and it ain't gonna happen the christ in you folks it will rage it will you'll be at war i have here with the rage in you some of you right now you got still so much anger and it just takes so much just a little bit and just ba and you just pop off again and you're just like this ah and the reason why somebody oh i don't do this christian thing the reason why is because light and dark can't coexist and god is now revealing he said so hey what are you even thinking about today oh i'm not going to answer it because i want to give my neighbor cracks and it's so if you want to be the first you need to be the last you need the humble see god he knows the answer he's asking to see if you're humble if you're honest and if you're ready to grow and you're not going to have that peace when you start having these things inside god is going to start wanting to flush out the flesh amen folks it's going to be an issue and those of you who know my story is probably why i am the most passionate on this because growing up as the human pinata of papakolea i became an extremely violent person violent that's how i lived if i fought with you it ended with you with no teeth with no hair i would use these martial arts degrees and bring all this bottled anger rage of being beat up and it was just a rage in the machine and when i understood that when i forgive someone i release a prisoner on that prisoner was me and i gave that over to christ and i asked for him to forgive me and then he said you want me to forgive you yes then you are forgiven and he says are you going to forgive them i'll pray about it and i first prayed for the desire because i still wanted them to burn then once i had the desire i said i'd like to god but i can't so then i prayed for the strength i can't do it but you say i can do all things through you so if you want me to do it and then something happened because then the third thing i started recognizing he was asking me to do was to them to pray blessing on them why would they be so angry why would they they must get cracks by their dad they must have this going on at home they must have they don't have jesus they don't know what i know and so all of a sudden humility and compassion begin to take the place and i say this not to point fingers at anybody else but i literally have been so transformed that i can't even kill a bug unless i have to if there was a reason i mean before i'd just be walking outside if i saw a cockroach but when i was taking a walk down there with my dogs and there was a cockroach and i'm like not bugging me you're not by my house you're by the neighbor's house i'll let you live you understand what i'm saying he took it away now check this out with me he says the one that does not love is because you don't know god oh i may forgive them but i'm not going to forget i'm not going to love them you don't know god because the love of god was manifested meaning it became in the manner of in the authority of in the command of god and then it says you know and have believed have you been set free because you know and you believe what that the one who abides in love abides in god and god abides in them see as i said two weeks ago if you understand what i'm saying then when temptation knocks when anger knocks when pride knocks at the door you get to say jesus would you get that because you begin to understand something in us you see folks the key to this whole passage today holy smokes is that the clock i am in so much trouble the key to this whole passage today is the word receive if you've been to any of my weddings you know i make a big point of that because when you've done the wedding anyone in here that i did your wedding at this service right on brother okay if you remember when we got to the vows part i had you say i might receive you remember that back and forth and i said right then and i stop and i say see most of you when you heard your parents get married said i john take you susie take well take has a connotation within it of something that you are entitled to it's actually a conquest it's something that you have a right to i take it i earn this i deserve this and so we look at marriage and we have this attitude of entitlement and conquest you're not treating me right you're not serving me in the way that i need to be served and vice versa and all these things and this whole sense of right but when you use the word receive as the bible use the word receive is the image of a gift it's something that's not obligatory they didn't have to do it and thus it brings humility someone says here's a gift wow thank you i didn't even get you anything but the key is you still must receive and you see that's why when it comes to the marriage i have the ring when i get to the ring i say very simply hey you're gonna get presents but on those presents is going to be a bow the bow isn't the gift the bow announces a gift and that's what your wedding ring is it says on this day you received a gift that you don't deserve but god gave it to you anyways treat it and cherish all of this gift that god has given to you but you see first corinthians 2 12 now we have received not by the spirit of the world but by the spirit who is from god that we might know things freely given to us by god see often we don't have because we haven't received excuse me we have not asked as it says in james luke 11 2 says this or luke 11 10 for everyone who ask receives and he who seeks finds and he who knocks it shall be opened in verse 13 he talks about what they're asking for if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to those who ask he says it's all about receiving have you asked and if you have asked have you received this holy spirit i want you to know jesus receives jesus receives check out this verse luke 15 2 and both the pharisees and the scribes began to grumble saying this man receives what anyone want to say amen to that hallelujah and it says he receives sinners and eats with them that means every one of us here is welcome to his table no matter what and then hebrews 12 for those whom the lord loves he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives i mean you're welcome to come to the table but when you become a child of god god's gonna say okay now let's take care of some stuff here let's not clean up your act and come to jesus it's come to jesus and then watch what's going to happen in your act and your desires become changed you see jesus was teaching humility obedience to the father wow the disciples they were craving exaltation which one of us is greater look at this verse first corinthians 4 7 for who regards you as superior and what do you have that you did not receive but if you did receive it then why do you boast as if you had not now think of everything that you have here right now the clothing the eyes the limbs the blood the heart what do you have that you have not received then why do we feel that we have this sense of me i love to say because i see it every day every self-made person worships their creator let that sink what do we have and jesus said if anyone wants to be first then they are going to be the last of all let me read this quote by john corson and then i'll draw this to a close it says the first principle of greatness jesus shares with his disciples is to treat all people equally and to illustrate this jesus took a child in his arms if you want to get ahead in life in the world's eyes you don't take time to hang out with children they can't do anything for your career all they do is take from you and depend on you i believe this refers to anyone who's little anyone who's less beer chronologically or economically socially or mentally the truly great person embraces them all in the name of jesus folks you want to speak today about the ultimate others mindedness of our theme this year colossians 3 23 whatever you do do your work heartily means full of stoke all in as for the lord rather than for men knowing that from the lord you will what receive the reward of the inheritance it is the lord christ whom you serve wow lord you serving people i will confess can get very difficult serving jesus is a lot more fun even when there being a bugger love as he loved you amen christ excuse me god's way is not about success it's not about success it's not he didn't say well done good and successful servant he says well done good and faithful so ask yourself today have you received his forgiveness and grace you watching with us online have you received his forgiveness and grace all of us here just get this because his justice says you will get what you deserve if he promises us heaven heaven is what we will get his mercy says we won't get what we deserve any man any amen on that oh yeah but then his grace says i'll get more than we deserve think about it he died on that cross and rose again on the third day so he could give that to you and me that's better than candy on this hallow eve amen if you're here today and you want to say you know what jesus it's time for me to receive not know not agree with but receive and i first need to humble myself and say i too am a sinner who needs jesus christ you think about that as well and you know that in your own heart that you've never asked for his forgiveness and his lordship in your life and all it takes is an honest heart to say you know what it's time today i want to receive that free gift of salvation from you if you're here today as i pray you say kahu pray for me because i want that would you raise your hand right now just let me know in all humility just let that hand go up yeah it's time don't let shame pride any of that nonsense that i'm talking about hold you back from today letting yourself become born again a child of jesus christ anybody in the house right now and what you think about that you online you got that whole area where you can click right now as well prayer team people are ready man this has been fun we've been watching people each week get saved online do it time to let go and that god god on monday anybody here before i get on my knees and pray he says yeah today it's just time to let go father thank you so much for your great and amazing grace and as your disciples we're still talking about taunton completely missing what you were talking about love and sacrifice and obedience to the father you didn't scold them you didn't bash them you just continued to disciple them but father how much have we missed that you have already told us because our pride wouldn't allow us to hear it because we were thinking of something else how often should we have been listening instead of talking because we wanted the god of miracles we wanted the god that does for us not coming to the table of the god that did the god who so loved the world that he gave his only son to die in our place on the cross to take our sin that we might be free forgiven lord we confess here today that we do have a pride problem it's what god first got with eve in the garden oh he just says that because he wants to hold you back lord forgive us where we feel in any of these arenas let us say your grace is more than enough your love is all i want and it's all you've already offered to me is love so lord help those today receive your love receive your grace lord some here are still beating up the flesh but don't feel worthy well none of us are worthy but all of us have been called and so lord i pray that today we would hear and receive your mercy your love and your forgiveness if you need to just ask for it say jesus forgive me of my sin be my savior and lord i come today just as i am take a moment and thank your lord aloha i'm cindy tipton and i'm in charge of the aloha team here at one love from highs and hellos to the look and feel aka aesthetic engineer of our campuses i want to say thank you for tuning in today we hope that you are inspired and strengthened with today's celebration if you're new to one love we encourage you to visit us online at onelove.org and fill out a connect card so that we can keep you up to date with all the things happening here while you're there you can also learn more about one love submit prayer requests and see more of our studies through the bible there are many ways to stay united during this time of separation so we encourage you to take the first step if you're watching today's celebration via youtube and you want to stay informed about new content on our channel hit the subscribe button below most importantly if you made a decision to follow christ today we'd love to hear from you you can email us at office onelove.org or call us at 808-955-9335 and let us pray with you our ministry leaders are ready to serve you one last thing if you want to learn more of the good news of jesus christ check out goodnewshawaii.com there you will find five short videos about living a life in christ and a free discipleship booklet designed to encourage your new faith mahalo for tuning in to one love today we hope that you are blessed by our time together aloha

Channel: One Love Ministries

Views: 451

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Id: 1poJHIWANM8

Length: 64min 33sec (3873 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 03 2020