Marching to Zion V

eeeeeee eway um causes of stumbling in our midstand living at peace with one anotherwe've just been discussing the topic ofmoney here to a certain extent and howwe receive the kingdom of God as a childand now we come to the last segment ofour journey together which is in Mark 10from verse 32 to the end of the chapterthere's three components here there'sthe first Passion last passionprediction there's the disciplesmisunderstanding and the teaching ofJesus then we have blind bmus and he'sthe last character we come to in ourjourney today so if you have your Bibleswith you please open them to Mark10:32 and we're going to uh pick up atverse32 but before we do so we're going tohave a prayerso yes there we are all right let's bowoureand we will have aprayer dear heavenly father we want tothank you today for these teachings ofJesus father thank you that histeachings are as applicable today asthey were 2100 yearsago and Lord we want to learn today moreof what it means to followyou father we don't want to callourselves Christians and be ignorant ofthe teachings of JesusLord we want to be followers of Jesusand put into practice his teachingsbecause that is the way to eternallife so father as we look at these lastfew teachings of Jesus here thisafternoon may your spirit guide us andbless this conversation in Jesus name Iprayamen so we now come to the last passionprediction saying ofJesus and it says in verse 32 and followme in your Bibles it says says Mark10:32 they were on the road going up toJerusalem so we've started out inGalilee halfway through chapter 8 andthey're coming down to the Jordan Valleyand you know they're in the JordanValley because now Jesus is going up toJerusalem and if you ever go to theMiddle East you'll see that the JordanValley is very very low and from thereyou have you have to climb about 20 plusmiles all the way up to Jerusalem andit's a it's a I don't know 5 or 6%incline all the way along is quite asteep incline and that's why the if youlook in the Psalms uh some of the lastPsalms are called songs of ascentbecause they sang those psalms as theywere climbing up to Jerusalem forPassover or for the Feast of Tabernaclesthat's why they call the Psalms ofascent because you're climbing up to thehills to Jerusalem so here now Jesushe's on the road he's made his way fromGalilee in the north all the way down toalmost down to Jericho where we meetblind bartmus in a few moments and nowhe's starting the Trek up to Jerusalemand it says Jesus was walking ahead ofthem that is ahead of the TW and thetwel were amazed and those who followedhim wereafraid so as Jesus is now leading theway the disciples are amazed and thosewho followed were afraid well that tellsyou is that not everybody that followsJesus in the crowd not everybody is aBeliever some people are amazed they seethe courage of Jesus and they follow himand some people are following Jesusmaybe out of social convenience venienceand they're afraid when they see amanifestation of jesus' divine Authoritysome people are Adventists out ofconviction some people are Adventistsout of socialconvenience and when you choose a spouseif you choose a spouse and you wantsomeone who's going to stick with you inthe final crisis that going to come uponplanet Earth you want someone who's anAdventist by conviction not an Adventistby socialconvenience not everybody followingJesus does so out of Faith some peoplefollow him just because they want to seea miracle others because they want to befed like the 5,000 some the the 12 wereamazed that's a common description ofwhen when Jesus manifests Divinity inthe gospels the disciples are amazed butthere are also them those who arefollowing Jesus who are afraid that isthey like Jesus to be a man but they'renot sure they want him to be divine andit's a paradox that in the first centuryone of the most common heresies is nowwe now known it as gnosticism now theword gnosis means knowledge if you're anagnostic it means you live a lifewithout knowledge an atheist is a lifewithout God Athos a means without soAthos is atheist a life without God ifyou don't know whether God exists or notyou're an agnostic that means a andagnosis that means you do not know yesor right yes or yes or no whetherwhether God actually exists or not andhere in this passage some are followingJesus and they're amazed that is thedisciples but many are following Jesusand they're afraid in the first centuryone of the major heresies said this thatJesus was divine but he didn't come inhuman form like he walked along the Seaof Galilee but he left no Footprints inthe Sand and that would be one of themystery religions of the first centurythat uh that Jesus did not come in didnot come in theflesh so in the first century peoplesaid yes Jesus may be the Divine Son ofGod but he didn't come in the flesh andthat was the major heresy that theapostles fought against at the end ofthe first century and in 21st centuryAmerica we've reversed that we say yesJesus may have come in the flesh but wedoubt whether he wasdivine so it's the same question in thefirst century Jesus came as a Divine Sonof God um no people didn't have aproblem accepting that but did he comein the flesh we don't know we don't wanthim to come in the flesh because inthose days the spiritual is good and thefleshly is bad and if he comes in theflesh it implies that something aboutthe flesh must be good and people didn'twant to accept that so that was thefirst century heresy now the situationresolved so now people say yes Jesuscame in the flesh there was a man calledJesus of Nazareth but we dispute whetherhe is divine ornot so the the questions about Jesus andwho he is they haven't changed much overthe last 2100 years did he come in theflesh yes is he Divine Son of God yes sosome of the answers to that were deniedin the first century and some weredenied in 202 23 here in the UnitedStates and so the but the message hereis Jesus is walking up to Jerusalem tohisdeath and Jesus is not being draggedAlong by the crowd he's leading thecrowd like he's walking to his sufferingand he's not afraid or ashamed of what'sabout to happen tohim and if you were a Christian in Romefacing being thrown into the lion's denor the Coliseum because of your faith inJesus this is a very comforting pictureofJesus that his contemporaries sense thepresence of the Divine around him whenhe entered the passion week ofJerusalem that what happened at Calvarywas not a mistake it was God's plan forHumanity so suffering for the name ofChrist isn't something that isinherently bad it is part and parcel ofwhat it means to follow Jesus today andif we think that because I'm a ChristianI must never suffer persecution becausemy Christian faith we need to thinkagain I just turn in your Bibles to John15 and you'll see there exactly whatJesus says about this John 15:18 thisisn't up on the screen it says there ifthe world hates you John 15 and verse18 be aware that it hated me before ithated you if you belong to the world theworld would love you as its own that isif you subscribe to the values ofAmerica today the world will love younobody knows what those values are otherthan the fact that everything isconstantlychanging because you do not belong tothe world but I have chosen you out ofthe world therefore the world hatesyou remember the word that I said to youservants not great in their masters ifthey persecuted me says Jesus they willpersecuteyou they will do all these things to youon account of my name because they donot know him who sent me chapter 16 andverse 2 they will put you out to thesynagogues which has been thrown out ofSocial Security in those days indeed anhours coming when Those Who Kill youwill think that by so doing they'reoffering worship to God the point isthis in a world that does not want JesusChrist as the Son of God the world willtry to destroy the presence of the Sonof God in their midst and the way theydo that is by persecutingChristians Satan is the prince of thisworld he hates the Christian Churchhe'll do all he can to extinguish thewitness of the Christian Churchtherefore Satan is coming f is's comingfor me we have targets painted on ourbacks but in this picture of Jesus Jesusleads the way to Jerusalem he doesn'thave to be dragged there as if hedoesn't want to go he's leading the wayhe knows what's coming to him he knowswhat's what he's going to be facing upin Jerusalem but as he walks there theTW are amazed which is an indicationthat that jesus' Divinity is shown ashe's walking to thecross that what happened at Calvary wasnot a mistake it was not the absence ofGod that was the god coming closer tohumanity than other other time in humanin Cosmichistory so when we Face persecution forthe for the name of JesusChrist it's not a failure in our walkwithJesus it's a reflection of the fact thatSatan hatesus and he wants to destroy ourwitness so Jesus leads his disciples onthe road to Jerusalem and on the way hegives thema passion prediction it says he took theTW aside again and began to tell themwhat was going to happen to him sayingand you notice this time the passionprediction is really explicit he sayssee says we are going up to Jerusalemand the son of man will be handed overto the chief priests and the scribes andthey will condemn him to death we knowthat from the first and the secondpassion predictions but then he addsthese other details they will hand himover to the Gentiles they will mock himand spit upon him and flog him and killhim and after three days he will riseagain and that phrase to hand him overto the Gentiles kind of points forwardto the time when the gospel goes fromthe Jewish Apostles to the GentileWorld Jesus wasn't just handed over bythe Jewish Sanhedrin to Rome to punchespilot who um gave the death warrant forhim to be executed you we've alreadyseen that there there are humanTraditions that override theCommandments of God in this gospel thoseare to be taken away there are humanTraditions that people will kill forlike the Apostle Paul did and that's tobe rejected then there is the traditionum above all other Traditions which isthe gospel for I handed on to you thatwhich I received says Paul in FirstCorinthians 15 then in Galatians Chapter2 um the life I now live I live by faithin the Son of God who loved me and whohanded himself over for me all this thisis like a Traditions but the ultimatetradition the tradition above allTraditions is the fact that Jesus lovesme and died for me and died for you andhe handed himself over and In thispassage here he says I'm going to go tothe first of the Jewish Sanhedrin andthey're going to reject me and condemnme and then the Jews are going to handme off to theGentiles and that's exactly whathappened afterPentecost so what happened in thecrucifixion story of Jesus was replayedagain after his resurrection and afterthe the apostles were sent out with thegospelcommission there's a lot of detail inthis description here by Jesus but tofollow Jesus on the road to Zion is tofollow him to suffering suffering forthe name of Jesus is not a deviationfrom the kingdom of God but it showsthat we're participating in the kingdomof God and desire our desires thedisciples desires for worldly Authorityand power are again exposed because ifwe're going to follow Jesus on the roadto Jerusalem we must be willing toengage inself-sacrifice self-sacrifice now Iunderstand that we don't talk about thismuch we don't like the idea ofself-sacrifice and giving things awayand facing persecution ution enduringsufferings for the name of Christ butthat is what is coming Upon ThisWorld it has always been thus and italways will be thus because Satan istrying to destroy the body ofChrist when when Paul was persecutingthe Christians of Damascus Jesusappeared to him on the road to Damascusand said Saul sely said why are youpersecuting me he didn't say why are youpersecuting the church he said why areyou persecuting me Satan has no accessto Jesus physically so he does the nextbest thing he does he kills those whobeen adopted into the family of God thechildren of God that is you and Itoday and he say the same today in themission field if Satan wants to get ridof a missionary family then he hassomeone sexually abuse a missionarychild that's the number one way thatSatan uses to attackmissionaries because the parents willtake if you you can take a beating froma mob you can recover from that but toknow that your child was molested bysomeone you were working for for theirEternal salvation is hard to work forthe salvation of a man who's justmolested yourchild I it's very hard to do that andSatan knows this that the way to attackJesus the way to hurt Jesus is to hurthis children but God knows what this islike because God the father saw God theson buried in the mission field he knowswhat the pain of that separation lookslike so God is not asking us to doanything that he and his son have notalready gone through now of course as weknow with the disciples so far they keepmisunderstanding Jesus and so we havethe passage I mean these guys just don'tget it do they I mean once again I'mgrateful that you know they failed thefirst test they fail the second test nowthis is the third time Jesus explainedhe's going to go to Jerusalem and onceagain they don't get it and so James andJohn the sons of Zebedee and previouslythey are known as the sons of what inthe gospels Thunder James and Johnelsewhere in the gospels think it's inuh Luke's gospel you may correct me onthat as marching down with Jesus FromGalilee to Jerusalem in the parallel inthe synoptics they see a village ofSamaritans that won't accept Jesus theysay shall we call down fire from heavento burn these rotters up I mean theseare fireeaters they are breathing fire andbrimstone upon any who will not acceptJesus they are the sons of thunder andso they come forward to Jesus and theysaid to him teacher we want you to dowhatever we ask of youwhatever we ask ofyou that's quite a requestyes sometimes our prayer requests sounda bit likethat this is everything I need right nowLord I need you to do whatever I'm goingto ask of you and they don't say Jesusthis is what we need could you do itthey want Jesus to give a a priority oran initial a blanket check that blankcheck that whatever you ask for you'regoing to get it I mean if you ask JesusI want you to give me whatever I ask forand he saides what would you askfor I mean what would you askfor I mean peace on Earth end to allhumansuffering I don't know what would youask for Teacher they said we want you todo for us whatever we ask of you nowthey don't come in front of the otherdisciples they come alone to Jesus theother disciples don't know what'shappening so James and John they sensethat Jesus is coming to the mostimportant event in Salvation history andthey decide to steal a march on theother disciples and to kind of get aninside track and then just just beforewe get to Jerusalem we're going to naildown the top two jobs in the kingdom ofGodnow Jesus said to them what is it youwant me to do foryou and they said to him grant us to sitone at your right hand and one at yourleft in your glory now notice thisjustjust well one chapter before they wenton the Mount of transfiguration withJesus and they saw Elijah and Moses tothe right and left of Jesus and they'resaying well Jesus we know all aboutElijah made the greatest of the prophetsand we know about Moses the lawgiver butwe really think that we outrank Elijahand Moses we're not just going tooutrank Peter and thadius andBartholomew and Simon the Zealot no wewant to outrank Moses andElijah I mean this is a a barefaced justlike um it's a bold request yes it's anarrogant request that somehow they thinkthey're better than Mo than Moses andElijah it's a request to be second inAuthority for eternity only to Jesusthroughout thecosmos what a request yeah who wouldmake such a request but they apparentlythink that Jesus is going to lookfavorably on this request because theyhave the tarity to come and ask him forthis thing we want to be the second andthird in command of the entire universefor all eternity thank you very much isthat okay before we get toJerusalem and these disciples we've beenarguing about who's the greatest thanthe kingdom of God Judas who holds thecommon purse and Matthew the IRS agentand Peter wants to be prime ministerwell Jesus we're two brothers we're kindof in sync with each other we're notgoing to betray you because we'rebrothers so we're the ones that shouldreally be closest to you we want GlobalCosmic Authority for all time over allworlds fallen andunfallen is quite arequest and Jesus said to them you donot know what youasking you do not know what you'reasking I love this about Jesus manytimes Jesus attributes what should neverhappen not to a um a malign heart but toa confusedheart we saw wrote in a few minutes agooin the passage in John 16 those who willkill you will think that in so doingthey are offering worship to God whatJesus is saying is there will come atime when Those Who Kill you are actingunder a satanic deception but I'm notgoing to hold them fully responsible forwhat they've done because they're actingunderdeception and Jesus seems to give thebest possible spin on these two thesetwo brothers and their crazy request hesays you do not know what you are askingfor are you able to drink the cup that Idrink or to be baptized with a B APMthat I am baptized with they replied weareablewow then Jesus said to them the cup thatI drink you will drink and with thebaptism with which I am baptized youwill be baptized but sit at my righthand or at my left is not mine to Grantbut it is for those for whom it has beenprepared maybe some members here atSandpoint whoknows don't start dreaming about itthoughokay I'm sure the union president untilthe conference president will havesomething to say aboutthat that's ajoke it's not a nasty joke it's agenuinejoke so they want to be they want to sitnext to Jesus to be at his right andbeet his left and Jesus says are youable to drink the cup that I'm going todrink now later in the Garden ofGethsemane Jesus refers to this cup it'salways good to interpret scripture fromscripture in Mark 14 in the midst of hisagonies in Gethsemane verse 36 Jesussays Abba Father for you all things arepossible remember he just already saidto these disciples for God all thingsare possible for God nothing is possiblewhen it comes toSalvation remember that we we spokeabout that in our worship service todaythen Jesus says remove this what fromme remove this cup from me yet not whatI want but what you want differentversions expressed that a different wayso to drink the cup means you becomesubject to God's Wrath and to God'sjudgment the cup that Jesus was to drinkwas to be made guilty accounted guiltyof every sin ever committed in the humanrace now do you know how you feel if youare falsely accused of one crime how doyoufeel just onecrime if somebody says oh I heard sisterand so is saying this at church todayand you know it's not true you fight todefend your reputation do you not justonething imagine Jesus the cup that he isgoing to bear and and and if you havethat one thing in everybody's kind ofgossiping s did so and so really saythat or did so and so really do that ordid so and so really take that we feel aburden to clear ourname and some people fight their entirelife to be Vindicated when the justicesystem puts them behind bars and theywere innocent all alongisn't that true one crime will consumethe rest of your life to get out fromunder that the unjust um judgment forthat one crime but the cup that Jesus isgoing to Bear is to Bear the guilt ofevery sin evercommitted now if one unjust allegationis enough to bury one man and to destroyhim for life just think of the weightsof the guilt that was about to settle onJesus inGethsemane all human guilt it's amazinghe made it to Calvarywe think of the guilt that was placedupon him your guilt and my guilt it wasall placed uponHim Mark records Jesus referring to thiscup here in the in the agonies ofGethsemane which means to drink the cupis to drink the will of God or moreparticularly to drink God's Wrath at sinand evil and wickedness now I don't knowyou may say it's not right to feel angeras a Christian I may mentioned yesterdaya colleague of mine his granddaughter is2 and a half just been diagnosed withterminal Tage terminal stage 4cancer and I feel angry atSatan yeah I feel angry I feel angrythat he brought such suffering oninnocentchildren and I want himdestroyed Justice demands thedestruction of Satan so he can nevermore inflict suffering and pain on thehuman race Justice demands that and ifyou don't feel s anger at the innocentsuffering around you then something iswrong we need to sensitize ourselvesonce again to what is right and what iswrong what is just what is unjust andjust because we live in a world ofInjustice doesn't mean we kind of likezone out and changechannels if anybody is to stand up whenthere is Injustice it is followers ofJesus and we are to ask God forsensitive consciences so that whenInjustice is perpetrated we are willingto stand up and be countered and saythis cannot happen in our society notbecause it not even if it doesn't affectme personally but precisely because ifone person gets hurt then we're alldiminished in ourHumanity so Jesus is to drink the willofGod now there's almost nothing in thisgospel about the baptism Jesus talkingabout you going to you can to bebaptized with a baptism that I'mbaptized with but if you turn your IESto Romans 6 Paul picks up this idea ofbaptism and in Romans 6113-14 the Apostle Paul who was apersecutor of the church who wasvisiting the persecution and killings ofthe early church um who was present atthe the execution or the mdom of Steventhe first person to be stoned to deathum after the Ascension of Jesus Pauldescribes um baptism in Romans chapter 6in certain detail from verses 1-4 we'renot not going to read all these verseshere together but in verse four it saysthis therefore we have been buried withhim that is Jesus by baptism into deathso that just as Christ was raised fromthe dead by the glory of the father sowe too might walk in Unice of life isn'tthat beautiful that when you arebaptized you are dying to your old wayof living it's not just a publicDeclaration of your faith in Jesus we'vekind of made it like we have the FAQversion in our idst churches often thesedays we've forgotten what really happensat baptism when you are baptized you aredying to your old way of life and you'reRising so that you can be filled withthe Holy Spirit you might walk innewness of life that you might become anew creation the old has passed away andthe new hascome verse six we know that our old selfwas crucified so we're choosing to stepaway from our old way of life with himso that the body of sin might bedestroyed and we might no longer beenslaved to sin and there are way toomany people today who play with sin onlyto find that sin enslavesthem I play with porn and then itcaptures me I play with drugs then theycontrolme you know those are just two obviousexamples we play with sins and then wefind that we're enslaved by those sinsbut it says here for who have forwhoever has died that is through thewaters of baptism is freed from sin it'swonderfulnews and so when Jesus died onCalvary he was showing us that we candie to an old way of life a way that isdominated by sin in order that we mightrise to a newness ofLife the Christian walk is not like whenyou after you baptized the ideal for Godis that we become new people and thereis no hint of our past now I know inreality sometimes it doesn't always workout that way but when somebody comes upfrom the Waters of baptism we are to bepraying over them for the gift of theholy spirit so that God will fill theirhearts and take away the works of theFlesh and give them the Harvest ofrighteousness in their lives love joypeace gentleness generosity self-controland patience and longsuffering youcannot buy those things in Amazon youcannot buy it in Walmart but that's whateverybody wants in their life it's thespiritual dimension of life is mostimportant to people not thematerial you know you can you have aFerrari or aFord but um if you don't have peace inyour heart it's not worth verymuch and people spend their whole liveslooking for love to love and to be lovedto see and to be seen to hear and to beheard to be vulnerable and not to berejected that's the spiritual side oflife and that's what Jesus knows is mostimportant to us because we Are SpiritualBeings as well as material beings andthis is what what he's talking about Inthis passage the the baptism that we gothrough is in order that we might die tosin and rise to newness oflifenow if we look in this passage here wecompare everything else that we've readin this gospel so far what Jesus issaying here is his death is vicariousthat means it's on behalf of you and meit's expiatory that means it's it itpays the penalty for sin once and forall it's a once and for all sacrificefor sin and we may not think about thatmuch these days but like just a coupleof weeks ago I was with somebody who hada spirit and the spirit demanded that asacrifice be made to set that personfree a bloodsacrifice and the answer to that is thison Calvary Jesus Paid the bloodsacrifice for all people to be set freefrom slavery to Satan when you talkabout the gospel to animists it makes alot of sense the the the spilt blood ofJesus and bought every member of thehuman race Back From Slavery to Satan ifyou will claim that for yourselftodayso we'll continue withthis when the 10 heard about this theybegan to be angry with James and John soJesus called them and said to them youknow that the Gentiles among theGentiles Those whom they recognize astheir rulers Lord it over them and theirgreat ones are tyrants over them so nowin verse 41 here says when the 10 heardthat James and John had kind of askedJesus for the top two jobs in theKingdom of Heaven they were angry withJames and John and that verb to be angryis the same as earlier in the chapterwhen in verse 14 when Jesus saw this hewas indignant and said tothem so Jesus is angry when peopleimpede the Walk of people into hiskingdom he is angry with disciples whoput up unnecessary barriers to Salvationfor other people that's what gets himupset I came to die for these folks whyare you making it hard for them to besaved but the disciples are they angryabout this oh no J the the 10 disciplesare angry because J they think James andJohn have kind of stolen a quick uhthey've leap frogged ahead of them inDivine um order of things I think are wegoing to be subject to James and Johnfor the rest of Eternity why didn't weask Jesus just a few verses earlierwhat's wrong with us why do these guysthink that they're better than everybodyelsethe search for Power is nothing new isit so Jesus called them and said youknow that among the Gentiles Those whomthey recognize as their rulers Lord itover them and their great ones arewhat tyrants over them youknow think of the Great Men of humanhistory who are the most famous men inhuman history I'm talking spe about menI'm not talking about women who are themost who are the most famous famous menin humanhistoryNero Alexander the GreatStalinCharlamagneNapoleon what they all have incommon they killed lots ofpeople see doovi explored this in hisbook Crime and Punishment if you neverread it well maybe you shouldn't becauseit's way too long to be read I guess butit's about 600 pages of philosophicalreasoning but his basic question is thatthis if I kill if this this guy calledRodan Romanov roskov or something hesees an old money lender squeezing thelast few pennies out of a single mom whohas a starving child and he thinks if Ikill that money lender then the themother can go and get food for thestarving child and I save the child'slife but he says Society will say I'm amurderer but on the other hand he saysif I kill a million people I become oneof the Great Men of humanhistory isn't that a paradox if I killone man I'm a murderer if I kill milonmillion like Stalin or Napoleon orAlexander the Great I'm one of the greatfigures of human history and peopleproduce movies about me they write booksabout me and all the rest of it isn't ita paradox of the human condition thatthe more wicked the person the more weare attracted tothem so the r the the rulers of theworld they they they like to emphasizetheir power over theirsubjects the ruler rers of the Gentileslorded over them they exercise Authorityso greatness is defined in Earthlykingdoms by your physical power and theability to coersothers that's how greatness is measuredin Earthly kingdoms the greater willyour ability to coers others or toimpose your will upon them whether theylike it or not the greater you are afigure in humanhistory but look at what Jesus says inverse 43 it's a simple phrase he saysbut it is not thus among youthis is a really important phrasebecause Jesus does not say it will notbe this way among you he says it is notthis way among you and who's he talkingto he's talking to those who are in hiskingdom so Jesus is saying this if youact like the world in terms of powerplays and power games and and controland extortion and coercion within thekingdom of God that means you are bydefault outside of the kingdom of Godyou're claiming to serve he says it isnot this way in my kingdom if you playthese power games in My Kingdom thenthat shows you're really not in MyKingdom at all you may have a positionin My Kingdom like Judas a conferenceTreasurer but you're really not in mykingdom as far as God isconcerned so some of you just come backfrom a conferencesession okay at conference sessionsthere's always games getting playednominating committee time there'ssometimes games that getplayed sometimes people claim aboutleaders who are coercive in theirattitude who will impose their will uponyou against yourconscience what Jesus is saying here isthat it is not this way among my amongthose who in My Kingdom that is in mykingdom no one Lords it over anybodyelse no one coerces anybody else no onethinks they have the authority todominate anybody else in My Kingdom atthe foot of the cross there is anessential equality for all human beingswe're all Sinners Saved By The Grace ofJesus Christ nobody has prior claim onJesus no people group has prior claim onJesus no gender has prior claim on Jesuswe are all sinners in need need of asavior so it is not thus among you so ifyou're going to be in my kingdom saysJesus there can be no powerplays no jumping ahead of somebody elseno pushing somebody down so you can getahead no lobbying or politicking ormaneuvering or creating factions so thatI can get that dream job I wantsomewhere in thechurch if you're in my kingdom saysJesus there's something else you must dobut if you start playing power gameslike the Gentiles do and the Romans andthe Greeks and all and the Pagan rulersof his time and believe me they werejust as competent politicians as we havetoday if you start playing games likethose he says it is not this way in mykingdom so the very Act of playingpolitics takes you outside the kingdomyou're trying to you're claiming thatyou're a partof so if you're playingpolitics it's time torepent say Lord do I want the positionor do I want the eternallife and believe me you can have aposition for two or three years but whenyou finish nobody will rememberyou I go to General Conference sessionsI see all these division presidentslined up I've been around long enough toknow that in that most people don't knowdon't care who they are and after 5years when their term was up nobodywould will care about who they are whatthey did so why would you U uh uh seekfor such position when in the process ofseeking such position you're takingyourself out of the kingdom of God it'snot worthit if somebody says I want this job ajob of leadership that to me is a goodindicator they shouldn't have thejob if somebody is invited to the to ajob leadership and they didn't want thejob that's a good indicator theyprobably do a good job in thatjob David is a good example his fatherput forward his seven sons to theprophet Samuel to be one of these willbe the next king ofIsrael and Samuel says isn't theresomebody else we can don't you haveanother son out there oh yeah we havethis little teenage boy called David ohhe's off watching the Sheep he's doingthe the job of the servants you reallydon't want to see him do you yeah bringhim along I want to have a look at Iwant to have a chat with him and he isthe one that gets anointed as the newking ofIsrael so if you're pushing yourselfforward if you're promoting yourself ifyou're saying I need this leadershipposition I have the wisdom that isnecessary then you are putting yourselfoutside the the kingdom that you claimto be wanting to serve so don't engagein power games in the kingdom ofGod We Trust if a group of if a group ofpeople gather and they pray and they saybrother so and so we see that you havecertain gifts would you take this rolein the church say well praise the LordI'll do thatbut I'm not going to go out pushing myname forward in order for my to get acertainjob because in the in the process ofpushing my name forward I'm pushing downsomebodyelse and politics is a dirtybusiness so I know that this is theideal I know that we live in a verypolitical world where everything ispoliticized I know we live in a world ofpolarization but Jesus says if you'regoing to be in my kingdomyou leave the politics at the door andthe politicking at thedoor you leave them at the door becauseif you bring them in by definitionyou're no longer in My Kingdom he thengoes on to say whoever wishes to begreat among you must be yourservant and whoever wishes to be firstamong you must be slave of all so youhave these two sentences the second oneis an intensification of the first thefirst says if you want to become greatin My Kingdom then you must be theservant of everybody elsethen he says but if you want to be firstin my kingdom which is what James andJohn want to be then you must become aslave ofall greatness in God's kingdom is notmeasured by your power to coerce othersit's measured by your willingness toserve in an unthanked capacity in ahidden capacity in a capacity that Godknows and God sees and God is Notunmindful of your labors on behalf ofthe Saints and he will give you a rewardHebrews 6:10greatness in God's kingdom is measuredby my willingness to serve I waschatting with a nurse the other day andsaid you know I'd like to come up withinvention I said there's a lot of heavypeople today and I see this at churchmany of them can't bend down to choptheir toenails I'd like to come up withinvention so that people can chop theirtoenails while sitting in bed like likea remotething I think that would be very greatinventionpersonally and she said well Ken shesaid she was a nurse at V Village Churchshe says well we have people that comeby all these old people and they sit andthey wash the feet and they chop thenails forthem and I said really we have those shesaides we don't need yourinvention I thought praise the Lordthere are people willing to go and washpeople's old smelly diabeticfeet change the wound packs and cut thenails praise the lord we have P peoplelike that in society praise theLord if you want to be great in God'skingdom serve other people inlove do not seek your advancementbecause God will give you your Eternalreward greatness is defined by yourwillingness to serve if you want to befirst in God's kingdom then you mustbecome the slave of all that's quite asaying isn't it every value of thisworld is turned upside down by thissaying ofJesus and if everybody is seeking toserve everybody else what kind ofsociety would wehave if we were not seeking to exploitor to Lord it over other people we'renot seeking to make profit out of otherpeople or to take advantage of theirweak positions in society if mymotivation if all of our motivations insociety in America today was to see onlythe best for our neighbor what atransformed Society we would have now wecan't change all ofsociety but Jesus says in this verse 44he says and whoever wishes to be firstamong you that means that opportunity isopen to everyone heretoday if you want God to consider yougreat in his kingdom ask God to givesomeone that you can serve this week ina sacrificialway in a way that doesn't expectanything in return doesn't any itdoesn't it's not going to go on Facebookit's not going to you're not going toget any public cudos for it no you servesomebody in a hidden way you're servingone of God's suffering children and Godwill give you a reward when Jesus comesagainand when you serve somebody do you knowhow much joy you bring to them when Ibroke my leg in 2017 there was a acouple at Village Church and uh um I wason my back for about three months beforethey pulled the the metal work in 3weeks and um my leg was in a lot of painand there was an elderly couple from thechurch who came by every day with twobig buckets one they filled with boilinghot water and one filled with icy coldwaterand and I would sit on my bed and I liftup my leg and put it in the hot waterand in the cold water and in the hotwater and in the cold water and itworked Wonders on my leg it took theswelling all the waydown and I'm so grateful for thatAnonymous couple who came by for half anhour just to minister to my brokenleg and I have this sense of gratitudeto them in my heart for they took thetime for my leg I didn't pay them theywouldn't take payment but that kind ofsacrificial love your brother or yoursister in need that's what helps us getthrough life'sdifficulties when you know that there'sa church of 200 people and you fall intodifficulty they're all asking themselveshow can we help this man or woman standup again that's an amazing social safetymechanism net that this world cannotprovide when we're all looking out forthe good of oneanother so then comes that most famoussaying of Jesus in thisgospel for the son of man came not to beserved but to serve and to give his lifea ransom for many so the word for isreally like because here so why do we dothis why do we look to serve others whydo we look to become a slave of all hesays because the son of man that isJesus he did not come to be served likeall Earthly rulers but he came to serveand he came to give his life a ransomfor many this is the this is why weserve others not because it's good forour soul r I think it's because we'refollowing Jesus and if Jesus came toserve then we exist to serve and ifJesus came to give his life a ransom formany then we exist that our calling inlife is to self-sacrifice for theblessing of those aroundus now again this is kind of contrary tothe values of our world today isn't itit's completely contrary and we need toask ourselves is our expression of faithin our local congregation is it moreakin to Republicans and Democrats todayand Washington DC and all the games thatgo on there or is our congregationreflecting this teaching ofJesus in verse45 is very clear if you look at thesyntax of this and the underlining textthe death of Jesus has multiple facetsit is unique there's nothing else likeit it was aransom it was vicarious that means itwas on behalf of other people on behalfof you and me it was expat that means itwas to spune the guilt of our sins itwas voluntary we just read that the sonof man is going to be handed over and bekilled but this verse 1045 says the sonof man came to give his life he came toDie the whole reason he came to thisEarth was not to preach The Sermon onthe Mount but he came to give his lifeit was voluntary it was not passive itwas not just done to him he activelychose to do this for you and for me andit is for all peoples both Jews andGentiles male and female slave andfree this is maybe say the key verse ofthisgospel and that word Lutron Ransom youcould write a dissertation about thatword there are many possible meanings tothis one meaning is that this is a wordthat is used when you're buying slavesback forFreedom we're slaves to sin and Jesuscame to give his life in order that wemight be freed from slavery to sin so wemight become slaves to righteousness andthe wages of sin is death but for thosewho are slaves of righteousness the waythe gift of God is eternal life throughChrist Jesus our lord so we all havethat choice to make this word Lutronmeans Ransom From Slavery being boughtback from captivity being released fromthe hidden bonds that cause pain andMisfortune in life the death of Jesuscan be interpreted as an act that wonGod's favor by compensating for all ofoursins now the text doesn't say to whomthe rans Ransom was paid and nowhere inthe Bible does it say whether a ransomwas actually paid it doesn't say whetherSatan was paid a ransom but if you lookin the Temptation stories of Jesus inMatthew 1 and Matthew 4 and Mark 1 umJesus was a temp Satan was attempting inhis Temptations to divert Jesus from hisdeath on Calvary he wasn't seeking forJesus to die onCalvary he says if you just Bow Down andWorship me you can have all thesekingdoms without going toCalvary so Satan was wasn't lookingnecessarily for the start of jesus'Ministry for Jesus to die he wastempting him he says you can haveauthority on Earth but you just you canhave it without Calvary which meansyou'll be all right but you give me allof humanity in theprocess but Jesus says no I will go toCalvary in order that I will still havethat eternal glory but I'll bring allwho believe in me along withme that's why he has to die Earthlyrulers andslave but the Son of Godemancipates serve in rather thandomination are the way of Jesus andtherefore that is the way for us todayas we follow him on the road to the NewJerusalem while umpoliticking and uh pushing agendas andpushing people down and seeking todominate others and to coerce theirconscience and to Lord it over others ifwe engage in any of these behaviors weplace ourselves outside the kingdom ofGod it's a starkwarning so how what happens in yourchurch do you have power plays in yourchurch have you had power plays in yourchurch that's a a more innocent questionto ask not what's happening right nowbut in the past are you aware of powerplays I'm sure youare did People Come Away with hurtfeelings yes did People Come Away withwounds on their hearts yes did PeopleCome Away with an inability to trust oneanother in the future ohabsolutely power plays really don't doanything good for the kingdom of God orfor the people withinit and so we're invited by Jesus herethat he says if you want to be great inMy Kingdom follow my example and giveyour life forothers when Jesus died he died knowingthat most people would spit on thatsacrifice he died knowing that mostpeople would reject hissacrifice he died knowing that people in21st century America would mock hissacrifice but he died for themnonetheless because everybody who'smocking or spitting or denying hissacrifice what they all have in commonis they all face a grave and the onlyway beyond that grave is through faithin the one who died onCalvary and that's why he came you mayor may not have a child but if you havea child you know this if your childmucks up today you don't want to consignthem to you know um outter outterdarkness and weeping wailing and nashingof teeth if you have a child you alwayshope that tomorrow is going to be abetter day is isn't that right youalways are looking for Redemption foryour child and we are God's children andGod is not willing that any shouldperish but that all should haveeverlasting life which is why Jesus cameinto this world that no matter how muchwe've mucked up in our lives he wants togive us the chance today or tomorrow toreceive eternallife so we then come tobartmus this blindman this is the only guy whose name weknow in the synoptic gospels MatthewMark luk it's the only person we knowthe the personal name of it means son ofTimothy andum remember we started on Friday nightin Mark 8 with a blind man and Jesustouched his eyes three twice rememberthatstory and the message there was that wecan give people time and space to growin their walk with God we don't condemnpeople if they don't see the way Jesusthe way we see him today because we'vebeen walking with Jesus longer than theyhave or vice versa and now at the end ofthe path to Jerusalem we once again meeta blind man and his name is bartmus andthey come to Jericho and as he as asJesus and his disciples and a largecrowd were leaving Jericho bartus son oftus that's B bmus literally means son oftus a blind beggar was sitting by theroadside now what can you deduce fromthis well first of all according to thedisciples in John 9 nine when they saw ablind nine what blind man what did theysay to Jesus Jesus who sin that this manis blind this man or his his parentsremember that so in the Jewish way ofthinking the fact that B that bartmuswas blind was evidence that he was asinner that he was under God'sjudgment and there was nothing we coulddo for him because God has judged himand if God decides to forgive BL blindbmus he'll restore his sight to him buthis punishment his blindness is apunishment from God and In this passageeverybody is walking from Jericho up the20 Mile Hill to Jerusalem But Blindbartas he's not going to Jerusalembecause there is nothing for him thatthe the Temple of Jerusalem has nothingto offer him remember he's under God'scondemnation as a blind man so he'ssitting at the side of the roadlistening to the crowds walk by to tothe Passover Festival in Jerusalemknowing that there is no place for himin the temple worship ofJehovah he is a man sitting condemned atthe side of the road by his blindness heis condemned by God as a sinnereverybody else is walking from Jerichoup to Jerusalem But Blind bartmus knowsthat that the Temple of Jerusalem andthe high priests and the Sanhedrin andthe Pharisees and the Sadducees and thescribes and the Levites they havenothing to offer him they all look athim and say you're a man condemned byGod there's no need for you to come tothe temple if God heals you of yourblindness please come and worship withus but until then you sit out there atthe side of the road and youbeg and he's sittingthere and it says in verse 47 when heheard that it was Jesus ofNazareth he began to shout out and sayJesus Son of David have mercy onme now that's interesting verse becausehe did not hear that it was Jesus Son ofDavid he heard that it was Jesus ofNazareth so the crowds told him that JesJesus of Nazareth is passing by whichtells you that the crowds they knewabout the humanity of Jesus but theydidn't recognize hisdivinity but when bartus hears that it'sJesus of Nazareth something inside himtells him this isn't just an ordinaryman that's walking by he responds not bysaying Jesus of Nazareth have mercy uponme he says Jesus Son of David have mercyupon me even though he's even thoughhe's outside the official religion ofJudaism he has more faith in the Messiahthan those who are participating in thetemple worship ofJerusalem this is paradox that this mansees more clearly than those who havetheireyesight we find this in Mission workall the time you you you may have aMuslim May connect with you or a Hinduor a Buddhist they've had a dream ofJesus and they want to follow Jesus andthey understand a lot about Jesusthere's a lot they don't understand butwhen they've had a dream of Jesus andJesus has spoken to them they know he isthe savior of mankind and I want tofollow him and they choose to followJesus despite their imperfectunderstanding and they've had um farless un opportunity to understand whoJesus is than your average Americanliving in Sandpoint today who's gotchurches on every corner T Christianradio Christian TV Christian internetBibles in every hotel room we have theBible and the gospel all around oursociety and it's often Outsiders who arethe most open to the gospel not thosewho are on the insideand you may find there are people inyour church who are on the fringes onthe margins of your congregation who aremore open to the truth about Jesus thanthe pillars of the church and I'll tellyou this as a pastor church growthnormally does not take place through thepillars of the church church growthtakes place through the messy fringes ofthechurch that's where people are coming toJesus the pillars of the church are sobusy running the church they don't havetime to do anythingelse Church growth more often than notcomes of the messy edges of the churchthe person that turns up once a week oronce a month they kind of sent there'ssomething about Jesus I can't put myfinger on it that's where Church growthcomes it's not from the born again umdied in the world Adventist who's beenthere for 40 years but it hasn't led a bdone a Bible study for anybody in 50years those are the pillars of thechurch so blind bartus he cries outJesus Son of David have mercy on me hethe the prophecies of 2 Samuel chapter 7um tell tell him that the son of Davidis the Messiah and when when bartuscries out son of David have mercy uponme he's crying out for for God'smercy I'm a blind man I'm sitting underGod's judgment I'm not taking part inthe temple worship of Jerusalem nobody'scarrying me up to Jerusalem because I'ma blind man condemned by God but this ismy one shot at God salvation from Godand I'm not going to miss this chanceand so he cries out he says does not sayJesus Son of D Jesus of Nazareth he saysJesus Son of David have mercy onme we've been talking about this beforesay you cannot enter the kingdom of Godunless you enter as achild blind bartmus is the ideal examplehe comes to Jesus on the basis of needhe says Jesus I've got nothing tocommend myself I'm just asking for MercyI don't deserve it that's why it's MercyI haven't learn it that's why it's Mercyeverybody thinks I'm condemned by Godbut I still want his Blessing I'm notgoing to go to Jerusalem to celebratethe Passover nobody's invited me totheir house for the Passover meal I'mnot going to hear the singing in thetemple I'm not going to see all thefinery of the priests I'm just askingforMercy verse 48 many sternly ordered himto bequiet it's astonishing isn't it so thepeople who are following Jesus toJerusalem and say bind blind bartaswould you please be quiet Jesus is busyhe's going up to Jerusalem this is themost important event in human historybut blind bmas cried out even moreloudly son of David have mercy uponme sometimes those in the church put upbarriers to those coming into thechurch we've been discussing that forthe last 24hours you don't fit blind blind Bame toto what it looks like to us we haveeyesight you don't it looks to us likeyou're under God's condemnationwhy would Jesus want anything to do withyou you need to repent of your sinsbartus then maybe Jesus will forgive youor maybe God will forgive you but blindbartmus he cries out even more loudlyson of David have mercy upon me the nextverse is absolutely beautiful it saysJesus StoodStill now Jesus is going to the mostimportant event in Cosmic history he'sleading the group of the crowd up toJerusalem he is going to his death andhis resurrection do you think Jesus hasgot a few things on his mind oh yeah heknows what's going to happen in Gardenof Gethsemane he knows what's going tohappen in the trial before Herod andpilate and pilate a second time he knowshe's going to be scourged within an inchof his life he know he's going tocollapse out blood loss and exhaustionon the way to Calvary he knows they'regoing to thrust a spear into his sidehe's going to be put in a tomb he knowshis followers are going to deny him andPeter is going to deny him Thrice beforethe before the crows twice heknows all of this is going to happen youthink that Jesus is saying to hisdisciples hey look guys I really need tofocus on this could you take care ofblind bartushere but hedoesn't this is one of the mostbeautiful pictures of Jesus it simplysaid Jesus stoodstill at the Cry of a man who is outsidethe temple worship cult a man who wasostensibly under the condemnation of Goda man whom the disciples in the crowdare saying would you please be quietover there Jesus is too busy for you butJesus is never too busy for the Cry of asinner and he stoodstill you know he could have walked onand said Peter could you deal with thatbut he didn't he didn't say James andJohn you just ask me for greatness inthe kingdom of God go and prove yourmetal and deal with this guy for meplease no he doesn't say that Jesusstopped at the Cry of desperation from asinner and he said call him hereJesus stands still when every sinnercries out tohim and he stands still for your criestoday if he stood still for blindbmus he's listening for and looking forand hoping for somebody here to say sonof David have mercy upon me my life ismessed up I made some pretty crazydecisions I'm living with the painfulconsequences of my decisions I may notcall it sin because I may not even be aChristian yet today but I know that I'vemessed my life up and I need God'sblessing you know if the mayor ofSandpoint Drives By and I don't know whoit is but if the mayor of Sandpointdrives by and you want the potholes inyour road fixed and you raise your handand say oh Mr Mayor or Madame mayor doyou mind if I have a word with you aboutthe potholes in my road do you think themayor's going to stop for you on theside of the road no if the governor ofIdaho is driving through town and youwant to discuss some aspect of Idahopolicy with him do you think he's goingto stop for you you raise your hand andyou say excuse me Mr or Madame mayorGovernor I'd like to have a word withyou no if President Biden were to drivethrough town and and you to raise yourhand and say Mr President I want todiscuss something with you he'd say wellwho's the president no he wouldn't saythat no he's not going to stop foryou sorry that was n call forjoke the point is the point is thisnobody's going to stop for you in oursociety unless you pay them they're notgoing to stop for you you want to see apsychologist do you have anyinsurance you want to see a psychiatristwhere's your health insurancecard you want to see a doctor do youhave healthinsurance you want to get your car fixedwell that's going to cost you this muchsign off on the bill before you beforeyou take a look at your car herenobody's going to stop unless you paythem something in advanceadvance and this man offers nothingexceptFaith call him here saysJesus and they called the blind mansaying to him take heart or beencouraged get up he's callingyou so throwing off his cloak he sprangup and he came to Jesus and Jesus saidto him what do you want me to do for younow as you paying close attention whenJames and John came to Jesus in verse 35Jesus asked them exactly the samequestion in the Greek he said what doyou want me to do foryou and James and John these disciplesclose to Jesus says well we want to benumber two and three in the universe forall of eternity that's ourrequest and this man who is hasn't beenwalking with Jesus for three and a halfyears who's probably heard almostnothing of the teachings of Jesus who'snever participated in any of themiracles of Jesus this man who who wastheoretically far from God and far fromJesus and standing under thecondemnation by virtue of the fact thathe'sblind Jesus asks him the same questionwhat do you want me to do for you andyou might say that Jesus asked the samequestion of you and Itoday what are you wanting fromme do you wantposition do you wantpower or do you want something much morefundamental in that he sprang up andcomes to Jesus and te blind BL him mansays myteacher let me seeagain so what was B what was blind bmusaskingfor he wants to seeagain but in the process of seeing againthat means as far as he's concerned he'sno longer sitting under God'scondemnation he wants physical healingand he wants to be reconciled with Godhe wants to know that if God before himwho who can be against him he wants toknow that there is therefore nocondemnation for those who are in ChristJesus the Greek word for judgment isCrisis we get the word crisis from thatyou come into that moment of crisis inyour life when you are condemned in thecourts you are then a crima you areunder judgment we get the word criminalfrom that you understand these wordscome from Greek to English so we all gothrough a crisis in our lives that weall go through a judgment but there istherefore no condemnation for those whoare in Christ Jesus if I I will come tothat final judgment but if I've acceptedthe Lord Jesus as My Savior by faith Imay come to that final judgment but I'llnever be declared a criminal there is nocondemnation for those who are in ChristJesus and to live with the assurancethat you are not under Eternalcondemnation is a liberatingthing so I love this story of aboutusJesus said to himgo your faith has made you wellimmediately he regained his sight andfollowed him on the way and so thisreally is the perfect picture of aperfect disciple in the gospel of Markwhen Jesus says your faith has made youwell you can also translate that as yourfaith has savedyou and bartmus immediately he doesn'tleave Jesus Jesus says go your faith hasmade you well bartus immediately followsJesus up to Jerusalem and of the passionweek by inference bartmus was thereduring the crucifixion and theresurrection we don't hear of him everagain but as Jesus has been walking withthese 12 Troublesome disciples who argueabout position and power and whothrowing up barriers to other people toend the god to end God's kingdom andjust want to Lord it over one anotherand dominate one another as he finallygets to Jerusalem he meets one personwho actually demonstrates in his lifeall that Jesus is talking aboutwhen the Roman generals had theirtriumphs in Rome they would ride in achariot through Rome and the crowdswould cheer them and they'd been giventhese Divine titles but they would havea slave who would ride in the Chariotwith them and the job of the slave theslave only had one job to do so ifJulius Caesar or Augustus Caesar rodethrough the city of the streets of Romeafter a foreign campaign they had theirTriumph with their parade through Romeand behind the emperor's Chariot will beall the prisoners who are about to beexecutedin Rome before the crowds in the in thein the um in the Chariots of the Romangeneral or the Caesar there was a slaveand he had one job he had to keepwhispering to the emperor in his earswhen everybody is shouting his praiseand saying what a wonderful Emperor heis and giving him Divine honors hesimply had to say remember Caesar thatyou aremortal remember Caesar that you aremortal but in this this storyhere Jesus hears the Cry of Faith fromone of the lowest insociety and he stops and pays attentionto thatvoice and he'll stop and pay attentiontoyou this picture of blind bartus is apicture of what God is inviting us toaccepttoday that we may have messed up in ourlife we may exhibit in our lives and ourbodies the the the results of sinbut at the Cry of Faith from someone whodoes not say to God God I I you owe thisto me when Bine bartus simply says sonof David have mercy upon me Jesus StoodStill and gave bartmus his physicalsight and the promise ofSalvation and he wants to do the samefor you and forme he wants you to know that the Cry offaithtoday you can take heart you can get upyou can come to him and you can give toexplain to him the deepest need you havein your life and he has the authorityand the power to do that for youtoday go in faith says Jesus to bmusyour faith go he says your faith hasmade you well it's a beautiful picturethis is the climax of the road toJerusalem and finally we have somebodywho exemplifies what it means to followJesushonesty lack of self-righthe comes to Jesus on the basis of needand he receives from Jesus on the basisof God's mercy and he receives theAssurance ofSalvation that's the idealdisciple and I want to challenge youthat that be your experience on a dailybasis you come to Jesus on the basis ofyour need as a sinner on a daily basisyou ask God to show you Mercy on a dailybasis you receive by faith theForgiveness that God offers to all whoask of it and when it says he followedJesus on the way it means you turn yourlife around and you start walking in theways that Jesus has laid out for usyou're bringing your life into harmonywith the teachings ofJesus so what do we say today as we lookat these these these numbers of chapterswe've looked at well so far we've seenthat discipleship and following of Jesusrequires humility and not Pride itrequires the rejection of self thatmeans all Earthly ambition and desirefor Prestige and power and position andthe willingness to accept suffering forthe sake of JesusChrist the first audience heard thisthey were Christians being thrown intothe lion's den they needed to hear thisand before Jesus comes the second timethere's going to be more persecution forthose who bear the name of Christ weneed to be willing to bear thatcost so in the last three years manypeople people gave into the mandatesbecause they were afraid of materialloss that's what it came downto and regardless of what decision youmade in the last three years God is amerciful god and if there were someIdols in your life some Financial godsin your life that you were willing totrade um to you wanted those rather thanto live according to your consciencethen maybe it's time to get rid of thosegods in your life before the finalcrisis comes and to have allow the worldto have as little off a hold over you asis humanlypossible that is why giving things awayreturning a faithful tithe helping thepoor you are saying to money and toMammon I control you you do not controlme it's the antidote tomaterialism discipleship according tothese three chapters requires us to beobedient to the teachings of JesusChrist who doesn't abandon us in thetorment of life but he follows us Us inthe way toJerusalem I'll look through my notes Iwrote this about 6 weeks ago I really Icouldn't remember last night what am Italking about today so if I'm readingthis please forgiveme disciples makemistakes disciples misunderstand Jesuswe misunderstand eachother therefore we are to be open toDivinecorrection as a stubborn and unrepentantmisunderstanding can exclude us fromGod's kingdom and cause pain to otherdisciples discipleship involves aninherent sense of inadequacy before Goda recognition I have nothing to offerfor my salvation my salvation is a giftof God's gracealone the discipleship that Jesus talksabout here challenges the Power Systemsof our worldtoday the Romans understoodthis every government in history that'sbeen oppressive has understood that thisBible book is to bebanned this book is to be banned it's tobe buried it's to be banished whybecause it sets people free from thepower games that have cursed Humanityfrom from timeimmemorial every dictator in humanhistory has sought to get rid of thisbook because it frees the soul and ittells us that there is a better way tolive and it is the way of loving serviceand sacrifice to ourneighbor that is the way that we are tolive and if we are not concerned aboutthe power games of societ Society thenwe really don't mind who's in controlbecause at the end of the day God is incontrol as we said last night in themandates we may have been afraid oflosing our employer but at the end ofthe day God is ourprovider and therefore if I lose myemployer today and I've run that gaunletin the last twoyears if I may if I lose my employer youyou lose your employer at the end of theday the consequences belong to God andhe's going to take care of usfor ustoday we live in a world of scientificeconomic and technologicalprogress discipleship involves followingJesus as a child with no claims orpresumptions of self-importance toreceive the salvation by divine gracealone we receive the righteousness ofJesus Christ by faith there can be nopride in human attainment or so economicself self-sufficiency or economicindependence only a sense of inadequacyin our need ofSalvation disciples are not to excludeone another from working in the name ofJesus if there's another church in towndoing something good for the name ofJesus Christ pray for them and celebratethem because in so doing Jesus is Jesusis glorified in ourcommunity Jesus defines and determineswho his disciples are not any Earthlygrouping discipleship in these teachingsof Jesus is expressed inmarriage denying self in this contextmeans submitting your marriage to thelordship of Jesus Christ and seeking hiswill for the couple rather than yourFallendesires and in an era of increasingpersonal wealth discipleship isexpressed in a faithful stewardship ofyour possessions through consciouslyutilizing them not forself-aggrandisement or gratification butfor Kingdom purposes to be a blessing tothe poor and for lifting up those whoare hurting and suffering in our societythis is what it means to follow Jesus in2023 so where do youstand having heard all these teachingsof Jesus in the last twodays has the Holy Spirit moved upon yourheart has the Holy Spirit broughtconviction to you of something thatneeds to change something that cangrow can you say tonight as comparedwith last night I'm not the man I wantto be but by God's grace neither we themen and women who were here last Fridaynight that's the whole purpose of havingtalks like this and studying through theword ofGod at the end of the day people willknow that you are Disciples of Jesus notbecause of how much knowledge you haveor how much wealth you have or how muchhealth you have but by the love thesacrificial love we have one foranother that's the ultimate sign that weare Disciples ofJesus so I'd like to challenge you inthis this coming week ask God to giveyou opportunities to show Selfless Loveto suffering Humanity in your communityin your family in yourchurch let people know that there is asavior that your life and your heart donot beat according to Modern AmericanStandards and principles of wealth andself Independence andself-aggrandisement but that your lifeis governed by the principles of thekingdom of God and if Jesus came toserve and not to be served then we existto serve and not to be served aswell so I've spoken a lot it's now 10past 5 my brain's kind of running out ofenergy it kind of runs into like the theMi it kind of disappears Into The Mistsand words don't come out at all andwords are running up thoughts are goingthere and thoughts going there and youhave to kind of Corral them and bringthem back together so I apologize ifthat may be happening but I've come overhere tostandpoint um not for money not becauseof there's an invitation butmany years ago God called me intopastoral Ministry and my role as apastor is to encourage people one stepat a time to align their lives with theteachings of Jesus Christ not with myteachings with the teachings of JesusChrist if that has happened in the last24 hours for you then praise theLord continue to do this continue tostudy his teachings as a church inprivate with your spouse and as anindividual if you want intimacy withyour wife spiritual intimacy at thedeepest possible level read a passage ofscripture together and pray for eachother over thatpassage too many people read their byhave those devotions separate but it'sin praying together and reading thescriptures together and submitting tothe lordship of Jesus in our livesthrough those scriptures that is theprocess by which we are bound togetherby bonds of Christian love in ourmarriages and in ourchurches so we could talk a long timeabout this but the time is up and someof you want to get home and I didn'tneed to get down to Spokan tonight so umwe're going to draw this to a close butinconclusion Jesus stops at the Cry ofeverysinner and he'll stop tonight for you ifyou cry out to him infaith and you can tell him everythingthat's going on in your life and he'snot going to mock you or reject you orpass judgment upon you he's happy you'vecome to him because in the process ofcoming to him and being honest with himthat is the first step to healing inyourlife Jesus Son of David have mercy uponme said blindbartmus and he was healed and he wassaved it's my prayer that that will beour experience as individuals within ourmarriages within our families and as achurch Community here in s Point may Godbless you may God lead you may hisSpirit lead you as you follow Jesus allthe way to the New Jerusalem let's bowour heads and we'll close close withprayer HeavenlyFather we've spent uh almost 24 hoursnow looking at some teachings ofJesus father those teachings theychallenge us and our Western mindset andour Westernvalues but Lord our Western mindset andour Western values have given ushomeless people and addicted people andbrokenpeople Lord for all the glitz andglamour of our Western Society there isso much pain out thereandloneliness there's a philosophy ofDespair on ourstreets so tonightfather we're covenanting with you thatwe want to live by the principles ofGod'skingdom we're asking you that you plantthat the seeds that have been plantedover these last 24 hours you will waterthem with the gift of your spirit andbring a harvest of beauty andrighteousness into each of our lives andto each of our congregations that is atestament to the power of God totransform and tosave father wash away the pain and guiltof ourpast show us the way in which we are toLive From This Day Forward give us thegift of confession and ofrepentance lead us with your spirit inthe ways of lifeEverlasting and as Moses said to thepeople ofIsrael choose life and live so that youand your descendants maylive tonight father we choose you foryou are the only way to eternal life inthe name of Jesus I prayamen for