Skip to content We Need Each Other - The Humanity of Christ, Part 1 Mar 17 · 52 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:31 Here's the title today, the humanity of Christ part 1, we need each other. Christianity is not an individual0:43 sport. You gotta have community. When we examine the the humanity of Jesus, we're gonna see this right off the bat.0:55 Now let me just do some doctrinal work here to set the stage for where we're going. Philippians chapter 2, it was in the video, but it's gonna be on the screen now. It says, have this mind in you, which is1:06 yours in Christ Jesus. Here's his mindset, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. What Paul is talking about here1:19 is a doctrine about the preexistence of God the Son before He became flesh.1:30 Most cults, most false versions of Christianity, including Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses, denounce this doctrine.1:43 That's what makes them non Christian. Orthodox, historic Christian faith believes and preaches that Jesus was God the Son1:55 in eternity past, always with the Father and the Holy Spirit, 3 in 1, a perfect harmonious trinity. Now 2000 years ago, God the Son2:08 became flesh. God Man does not become God. God became man. Now the reason why those cults are popular is because2:20 if Jesus could become God, you understand? That's why that's a very attractive message. It's a lie, it's a heresy. No. God became2:32 flesh. Here's how Paul puts it in verse 7. He emptied himself. Now what that means is that he set aside another translation says, he set aside his prerogatives as God. He did not consider equality with God something2:44 to hold on to, to grasp, to not let go. No. He let us he let that go, and he became flesh. He became a baby. He became dependent on parents. He he had to be2:56 rescued from Herod, and his father, Joseph, had to travel all over the earth to just protect him. You ever think about the fact that Jesus had, you know,3:08 burps as a baby to be burped? Had to have his diaper changed. He had to experience the awkwardness of puberty, the awkwardness of growing up, those things he3:20 walked. So here's the thing that we're focusing on for this this season is he was a human. And here's why that's good news for us. Every other religion teaches you that you've gotta climb a mountain to get to God. No.3:31 Christianity says God came down the mountain to get to you. And he knows what it means and feels like to have the human experience, and he became obedient to to death. How did he get on that death?3:43 How did he get on that cross? He got on that cross because he experienced something that humans experience. He experienced betrayal. He experienced hatred and animosity. He he experienced3:55 persecution. He experienced name calling. People called him the the son of Beelzebub, demon possessed. People criticized him. They they they labeled him as an illegitimate child because of the rumors around,4:06 you know, his mother's pregnancy out of wedlock or not out of wedlock, but out before Joseph and she consummated the marriage. This is so if you've been there, Jesus was4:18 there. On the cross, he will experience the the weight of your sins, the guilt, and the shame. That's why he will say to the father, why have you forsaken me? We'll get to4:30 there on Good Friday. But there's so much to look at. I know we love to celebrate the power of Jesus and the God reality of Jesus, but4:42 today and these next few weeks, we're looking at the humanity of Jesus because he teaches us how to be human. I don't know if you noticed, but it's awfully complicated to be human.4:55 It's tough. Humanity will mess you up. The good news is we got a pattern. We got somebody who knows how to do it, and that's what we're gonna look at. Here we are in Mark5:06 chapter 3, and we're not that far into Mark. Now, Mark, if you know anything about the gospels, there's 4 of them, 4 accounts of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John's the heavenly gospel, but the 3 first5:18 gospels are called the synoptic gospels because it means sin, same, optic, see. See, the same. So they look the same. They see Jesus the same way with different, you know, nuances to all of their5:29 stories. And Luke is the longest. It's the Luke is the is the 12 part biopic. Matthew, little shorter, we call that the YouTube video.5:43 Instagram Mark is the Instagram bio. It's the shortest 1. You ever wanna just read quick read? Mark is the cliff notes. How many remember cliff notes? You know who I'm I know who I'm talking5:55 to there. You're the people who never read the book, did you? Got yourself the cliff notes, did the book report. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You faked your way right to that a. Come on, somebody. So Mark6:07 is there's a key term in the first few chapters in Mark's gospel. The term is immediately. Immediately, the spirit descended on him as a dove. Immediately, the spirit drove him into the wilderness.6:18 Immediately, the demon came out of him. Immediate and so there's just a sense of high paced, action packed content in Mark's gospel. And we're only 3 chapters in, and already Jesus has been questioned. He's been doubted.6:30 He's been shamed. He's been attacked. He's also healed the sick, cast out demons. He's done mighty miracles. When he began, he inaugurated his ministry first by getting baptized in the Jordan by John, and then he comes6:39 out of the water. Holy Spirit descends on him. He goes out in the wilderness, gets tempted, and then he comes and he starts doing miracles, and then people start attacking or attaching themselves to Jesus. And he's6:49 pressed in. Things are picking up. Anybody there? Anybody ever been there? Just life starts rolling. You're like, I don't know if I can take this. I don't know if I have much more strength than this. Or you've just been7:00 worn out, or burnt out, or flamed out, or you felt like you were about to be there. I'm just gonna give up on this marriage. I'm just gonna give up on this job. I'm just gonna give up on these children. I'm just gonna7:10 give up on this relationship, and you just feel like I just got nothing left. Okay. Good news. Jesus was there. Look what it says in verse 7. Jesus withdrew. Underline, circle the word withdrew. The word withdrew7:22 here is a actually, it's a military term. It's in the Greek, and it means to withdraw or to retreat from battle. How many know life's a battle?7:35 You some of you are in a battle right now. Right now. And you think you need to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. Well, that's true, but you also need to know when to retreat. Jesus, I don't know if you ever realized7:47 this, but Jesus in his humanity would often retreat from battle. Now some of you gotta hear me. Retreat does7:59 not mean defeat. In fact, retreat can just mean I need to recharge so that I can come back healthier and better.8:11 Right now, if you're in our locations or watching online, in some small measure, you have already retreated from the battle of life because you're in the presence of God and each other.8:23 When we gather in the church, there's a special sense of God and his work amongst us. And when we hear the word of God, it should feel like water's rushing over our brains and over our mind. My8:34 prayer always is that when you when you you might come in depressed, but you leave with the joy of the Lord. You you might come in stressed, but you leave in peace. You might come in with all the8:46 weight of the world on your shoulders, but but by the time we're done together, you remember. And that's my job really. My job isn't always to tell you what to do. My job is to remind you of what's already been done for8:57 you. And the good news of the gospel is that he's taken the burden. He's taken the shame. He's taken the depression. He's taken the pain, and he's lifting it off of your shoulders so that you can run and not grow weary.9:10 And and so Jesus models for us. Sometimes you gotta pull back. And what we're gonna see in this text is that he doesn't just he doesn't do what9:22 so many of you do right now. You you say, I got that pullback thing down, pastor. I got that. I I don't know what you're talking about. No. No. No. He doesn't just retreat. He retreats with friends. As9:34 ministry starts, Jesus forms a life group, and I've got an agenda today. Here's my agenda. That by the time I'm done,9:45 you are feeling absolutely compelled that if you are not presently, you will be instantly after this earth involved in a life group at Waters Church. So I didn't get a good enough9:57 amen right there. Amen. Which is fine that's so fine because that means I'm talking to people. You're not there yet. You're you're what we call stubborn.10:09 The Greek word is stubbornos. Wish we get the word stubborn ox from. There's another 1 I won't use. That's you.10:21 You come to church, and you're like, alright. I'm I went to church. Alright. Now I did the church thing. No. No. No. Church is not facing 1 person. It's facing each other.10:33 Is talking about stuff, is praying for each other. This is what Jesus had to do. Look let's look at the rest of the text. It says that he withdrew because a great crowd followed him. Okay?10:45 And it says, they're from all over the place. Galilee, that's in the north, Judea in the south, Jerusalem, major city, Indomea, even some kind of like Gentile heavy areas, Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all10:55 that he was doing, they came to him. And verse 9, look at this, and he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd. Let me put this in layman's terms. This was his getaway11:07 car. He said he said, lest they crush him. This is Jesus. He's been trans he he will transfigure before the disciples.11:20 He will walk on water. When he rises from the grave, he will appear and reappear in different places. And when he says to the father, he will literally elevate up to11:31 heaven. And he says to the disciples, when he gets arrested, says, don't you know I have I could call on my father. I could have 12000 angels right now, right now, and they could save me from this whole thing.11:43 He could've called on angels, but in his humanity, he relied on other people. So write this down so I know you're getting it. In his humanity, Jesus chose11:54 community. If he needed that community, you need community. Everybody say this after me. I am not I am not.12:06 Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. So good. Confession is good for the soul. Write this down so I know you're getting it. If Jesus needed people, I need people.12:18 Now the problem with some of you is not that you don't have people, the problem is you've got the wrong people. And I am right now having to do work on12:30 you through the word because you spent all week long with a bunch of heathens. And they have worn off on you, and they have caused you to12:42 think about things you shouldn't think about, lust after things you shouldn't lust after, feel arrogant, prideful about things you shouldn't feel arrogant and prideful about, because that's the world. Now I am not12:54 telling you to quit your job, and I'm not telling you to divorce your wife if she doesn't believe, and I'm not telling you to avoid worldly people. You can't do that. That's impossible. But you gotta do what Jesus13:05 did. You gotta know who your people are. And I think that most of the diagnosis We are a diagnosis heavy culture.13:18 Everything's a diagnosis now. Social anxiety disorder. We used to just call that being shy. ADHD.13:30 We used to just call that being a kid. I'm on the spectrum. We all are. That's why it's a spectrum.13:42 That's what a spectrum entails. Everybody's on it. It's just a matter of how far off of it you are. So you you've got people already,13:54 but you have never done this as a Christian. You've never been deliberate about the people you surround yourself with. So some of you today is relationship inventory,14:06 writing down the names of the people that when you get around them, you ingest things you shouldn't, you think things you shouldn't, and you say things you shouldn't. And and then you come14:18 to church all beat up like I am such a failure, and it's because you've never done this, you've never chosen the right people. This is what Jesus has to I need a car ready. I gotta get out of here,14:30 guys. I need you to have the boat ready because these people are gonna crush me. What's crushing you? What's pressing on you? Relation14:42 relationship, marriage, finances, your kids, your parents' expectation. Maybe you're in college, maybe you're getting your educate student loans are just pressing down on14:54 you're feeling crushed. Hey. If you feel crushed, Jesus has been there. And he needed an outlet. He needed a group of people. The first thing he15:05 does when his ministry starts getting running is he forms a life group. So we got 3 options for you at Waters Church. We've got life groups where you meet in the small group at homes, and you actually15:17 get to know people. You know, young people, if you're under the age of 25, there was a time in ancient history15:29 when we didn't have these things. And we used to have to do something we called talk to each other.15:41 If you if you had to get to somebody's house that you had never been there before now brace yourselves, kids. We used to do this, and15:53 we survived. We didn't know where we're going. We would have to identify a random stranger on the street, pull up to said ranger stray random16:05 stranger, roll down our window Roll down. And talk to them. And16:17 they did not abduct us. You know what I'm saying? And we would say, can you tell me how to get to? That's what we would do this, and we16:29 survived. It was like the jungle back then. I no. I don't wanna, like, you know, I don't wanna romanticize it. It was horrible. But16:41 the talking to each other, that was good. All the science says this means anxiety, depression, loneliness, isolation, mental illness. All of16:53 it. So Jesus has the answer. Alright. 3 things, and then we're done. Number 1, he established a new nation. He established a new nation.17:05 It's an election year. Everybody's gonna, like, you know, tribe up for the next 9 months or whatever months we got left. 8 months. And some of you, you have your hopes way too much17:17 on November. You need to put your hopes in heaven. Amen. Our whoever the good news is that whoever gets chosen to be our president next next 4 years, God's in17:29 charge. God's in charge. Now you can have your preference, and I have mine. But let's be honest, it's slim pickings. Like, other17:41 people from other nations must be like, what the heck are you people doing over there? That's the best you got? And and the good news for Christians is yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That17:53 we're we're gonna pick between 2 seriously flawed sinners. That's what we're gonna pick. Neither 1 of them is Messiah. No matter how much 1 of them might think they are, it doesn't they're not our savior. They're not our18:03 lord. They're not our king, Jesus. Jesus is in charge, and he established a new nation. Do you think about your nation? How much of an identity it gives you and a sense of who you are? You're part of a new18:15 nation. Mark chapter 3 13, he went up to the mountain and he called to those, to himself, those whom he desired. I want these people. Don't forget that for the next point that we get to. He actually wanted these guys.18:26 And then he appointed 12. Somebody say 12. 12. Circle 12. Some people will say this. Pastors, I've heard them say this. He only had to change he he only chose 12 because he wanted to show the world that he can18:38 change the world with 12 guys. That's not why he chose 12. When he chose 12, he was making a political statement. And make no mistake, peep Jesus was entirely political. You don't get crucified if you don't make18:49 political statements because crucifixion was a political attack, a political punishment. The what he was saying when he picked 12, you gotta go to the Old Testament to realize the significance19:04 collection of tribes. It was 1 nation with 12 tribes. The 12 tribes were named after the sons of a guy named Jacob. Jacob's name gets changed to Israel in19:15 Genesis. Jacob has 2 wives and 4 concubines, and through those women he has 12 sons. Now, guys, that is not19:27 an instruction manual. Because you just read the stories, and you see how jacked up the family is because of Jacob's wiles. You19:39 know? And so it's a warning label. This is what happens when you when you mess around sexually. But God redeems all things, and he redeem and he set so he uses the 12 sons of Israel to be the 12 heads of19:51 12 tribes. 12 is God's number for government, the Bible's number for government. When Jesus chooses 12, he is making a political statement, and he's also20:03 making a statement of judgment that that old covenant ordering of God's people is now over. And there is a new20:15 covenant in his blood. There is a new people in his name. There is a new law in his in his mouth. There there is a new mountain, and there is a new hope in his20:26 resurrection, and now we are the new nation that he has formed on this earth that has replaced the old order of God's20:37 chosen spiritual people. We are the new people of God. Now God still has a plan and purpose for Israel. Absolutely. It's a clear as day. Israel is back in the land. Israel is20:49 still fighting his battles, protecting his borders. Yes. There is an end times purpose for the biological family of God, but we are the spiritual family of God. When God brought Abraham into the land, he21:01 said, Abraham, look at the dust of the earth. He says, so shall your descendants be. And that is the natural born earthly people of Israel. But then there's a couple chapters later, he says, now look up to the sky and21:11 see the stars. And there are far more stars than there are sands on the seashore. And God says, now that's how great your nation's gonna be. That's the spiritual people of Israel. The Israelites were the sand on the21:20 seashore. The people of God through the Holy Spirit are the stars who shine like lights in the heavens. All children of Israel. So when Jesus chooses 12, here's21:32 what he's saying. 2 things. New nation, but the old nation is under judgment. This nation, the Israelites in Jesus' day, will reject him. He was sent to save them. They reject him. They hand him over21:44 to Gentiles. They put him on a cross. They come under judgment. 40 years later, the Roman general Titus marches into Jerusalem, destroys the temple, destroys the city, exiles all the21:56 Jews. They were judged for rejecting messiah. Let me tell you something about your nation, not your heavenly nation that we're talking about now. Let me talk about our nation.22:09 Just as Israel was under judgment at the time of Christ, so too our nation is under judgment. See, some of you gotta get this. When will when will America be22:20 judged? It is being judged. When when when you when you see the cultural rot to the point where people are irrational and acting like animals,22:34 When we're taking our cues from the animal kingdom, things are pretty bad. Romans chapter 1 talks about that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness against the unrighteous of22:46 men who suppress the truth because of their unrighteousness. It says, we know there's a God. It says, we know. We can see it. There's clear as day evidence that there is a God. Even atheists are struggling with the fact22:55 that for generations, they said that the universe was fixed and static, have now discovered that the universe actually had an origin and is expanding still to this day. So if it had an origin, it means it was started.23:04 The question is, who started it? So so you ignore that. You ignore the evidence. You suppress it. An atheist knows there's a god. They just like to suppress it. That's all they're doing. They just don't like23:16 to think about it. And and so what happens is you reject God, you reject all of the testimony of natural order that he exists, that he loves you, that he wants you in his fam you reject it, and God says, okay. If you23:27 don't want me, I'm gonna give you what you want. What's America getting? Exactly what it wants. Broken homes, broken families, broken hearts, broken minds. That's exactly what we're getting. Because the 1 who can fix us,23:38 we've run away from. Good news, Christian. We're not part of this nation. We're part of the new nation that forever will live in eternity with him in heaven. So he establishes a new nation. By the way, he says in Matthew23:50 chapter 19 verse 28, he says, you who have followed me to the 12. He said, you will sit on 12 thrones, and you will judge the 12 tribes of Israel. You're the new nation's gonna judge the old nation. Think about that.24:01 This is what this is the honor that the apostles were given. You say, what about Judas? Judas was replaced by a guy named Matthias in Acts chapter 1. So he has 12 apostles. Matthias is 1 of those 12. And then Revelation24:12 chapter 21 verse 14 talks about the heavenly city coming down, And here's the the the the description. It says, and the city had 12 foundations, and on them were written the names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. They're24:23 all Jews, but they were all they are the foundation of the new heavenly city. You you see how important this number 12 is. It's a political cosmic statement that the24:35 orders and the kingdoms of this world are irrelevant. The kingdom of heaven is the everlasting kingdom. Why why John says in first24:47 John chapter 2 verse 17, the world and its desires are passing away, but the 1 who does the will of God abides forever. First Peter chapter 2 verse 9, you who belong to Christ are a chosen race, a24:58 royal priesthood, a holy what? Circle that word. Holy nation. That's what we are. We are a holy nation. Yes. I am an American, but I'm a Christian first.25:11 Okay? You you have to identify yourself with that kingdom, or or this kingdom will suck you up. And you won't even realize you're sucked up into all the craziness of our culture.25:23 Jesus is in charge. He says, you've been called out of his own darkness into his marvelous light, that you might proclaim his excellencies. Jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 19, if you were of the world, the world25:34 would love you as its own. But you are not. I've called you out of the world. Therefore, the world what? The world hates you. This is some of your reality. You feel estranged from your world. You feel25:46 estranged from your culture. You feel estranged from the public school system. You feel estranged from your business. The tactics, the ideas, the ideologies are coming down the pike. And you say, why is this going on?25:56 What is going on? Where has God and all this? God is taking you out. Establishing you as a new nation, a holy people that belong to him, and you got a mission. You got a mission. Your job is to be a26:07 rescue operation for the people who are trapped in darkness that you like, just like you were. Invite them to church. Bring them with you. Grab them by the hand, wake them up, tell them I'll buy you lunch26:19 afterwards, because this is a rescue operation. There's only 2 places people can go after they die. And it's serious. And we gotta get we gotta take it serious. So we got Easter coming up, so bring them out, so that we26:31 can get them saved and brought into the glorious kingdom of God's eternal light. So he appointed 12 verse 14. And I love this phrase, because we skip right over it, but it says, he named them26:43 apostles so that they what's the next line? Might be with him. Underline that phrase. Why does Jesus save you? That you might be with him. Because in being with26:55 him, he empowers. Their being with him preceded him sending them out from him. So just like Jesus had to withdraw27:07 to be with the father, so you have to withdraw to be with Jesus. The reason why you're losing that physical battle, spiritual battle, mental battle, emotional battle, relational battle is because you have not spent27:16 enough time retreating with your savior Jesus, that you might be with him. That he might strengthen you and empower you and and embolden you so that you can come back stronger for the battle the next day. I told27:28 you Jesus withdrew, and I skipped right over this in my notes, but I wanna go back to it because most many times Jesus withdrew. Matthew 4 verse 12, when he heard John had been arrested, John the Baptist, his27:36 predecessor, he withdrew into Galilee. Matthew 12 15, he withdrew from there, and people followed him. Matthew 14 13, when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate desolate place by himself.27:46 Matthew 15 21, and Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. John 6 15 says, when he learned that they were gonna make him king by force, he withdrew again to be by himself with the27:57 father. Jesus withdrew. He realigned with who he was in the father. Then point number 2, he28:08 chose specific friends. You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. You can't choose who you work with sometimes, but you can choose your28:20 friends. Have you been have you done this yet? Have you done some relational inventory so that you can yeah. You gotta make some adjustments because honey, you can't take28:32 marital advice from your sister who's been divorced 3 times. Gentlemen, you you can't you can't get over porn addiction28:44 by walking with guys who ogle other women in your presence. They will affect you. You you gotta get away. You gotta retreat.28:55 You can't always avoid, but you can retreat. Get with people who will encourage you to walk after Jesus. Because everyone struggles with29:07 the same stuff. There is no temptation that has seized you except that which is common to man. Somebody say, it's common. What I'm struggling with, somebody else is struggling with. What you're struggling with, I'm sure29:18 I've struggled with. There is nothing different. There is nothing new under the sun. We're all going through the same battles in some different form or or or manifestation of it. But there's a good hope in Jesus Christ29:28 that you can take relational inventory and filter through a a personal lens the people that you are going to allow to speak in your life, the people who are you're gonna allow to invest in your life and be around your29:39 life strategically so that you can strengthen your life for the race that God has marked out for you, that you might run and not grow weary, that you might walk and not faint. This is for your29:51 good. So let's take a look at the friends that Jesus chose because they are a who's who of you've gotta be kidding me.30:05 Verse 16, he appointed the 12, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boazhenes. Let's stop there. The sons of thunder. Let's stop there for30:16 a second. What do you see right off the top of the right off the top with this list? Jesus was a fan of nicknames. He called Simon Peter30:28 Rock, and he called James and John the sons of thunder. You know, I only bring this up to say this, it was a close group. They were bros.30:40 They hung out together. They laughed with each other. They I'm sure the nicknames were poking nicknames. Do you got do you got somebody in your life that gives you a nickname to poke30:51 you at your foibles? Because this is the kind of relationship that Jesus had with these guys. Some of you've got too much religion in you to realize just how down to earth Jesus was.31:04 He he didn't float around as if he wasn't walking on the ground. He hung with these guys. He went to31:16 parties with this with these guys. He went to the wedding of Cana, not to perform miracles. He argued with his mother about doing it. He went because he enjoyed a good party, and he hung up. They were friends.31:27 They were friends. Do you have Christian brothers and sisters who are friends? This is what he's taught. And it and he needed this outlet because life is31:39 brutal. I need some besties who who I can hang with and feel at home with and not have to put on airs that I can really tell them how I'm going through life, and31:51 they can be honest with me, and I can be honest with them, and we can jab each other and kinda, you know, you know, critique each other and be honest with each other. Yeah. You know that pastors last32:03 about 3 years on average in a church? Did you know that? I've been doing this 26 years with the same church. What a blessing. And by God's grace, another 2632:15 years to come. Yay. Thank you for your vote of confidence, and hopefully, you are with me. But this church, you know how I32:27 yeah. I know you know how I've made it? Because early on in ministry, I was all alone, but I've made it because god has brought in some bros. Guys who can be honest with me. I can be32:38 honest with them. I have told them my problems, my sins, my struggles. They have welcomed me, prayed for me, lifted me up. When I was out of faith, they filled me up with it. When I was low32:50 esteem, they gave me some some esteem. They they they loved me, and we got nicknames for each other. I'm not gonna tell you what the nicknames are because some of you would start to question my spirituality if I did,33:03 but that's that's the friendship culture that I think keeps you alive. Some I mean, you're just all alone. It's depressing.33:15 And so Jesus chooses Simon, who we we named Peter. Let's talk about Peter. You know who Peter was? Peter was the consummate open mouth insert foot guy. We call these people people without33:27 a filter. That's who Peter was. Because Peter was always talking when he shouldn't have talked. Even on the mount of transfiguration, the father is glorifying Jesus, and Peter's like, woah. It is good for33:39 us to be here, Lord. Wow. We're gonna make some tents. We're gonna stay out here. The bible says while he was still speaking, the father from heaven said, this is my beloved son, listen to him. While Peter was speaking,33:50 that's the way of God saying, Peter, shut up, I need to say something about Jesus. He always was saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, sometimes you got it right. Matthew chapter 16, he says, you are the Christ, the34:01 son of the living God. Jesus is like, yeah, you nailed it Peter. Blessed are you because flesh and blood is not revealed as you, but my father is in heaven. You are Peter and I say on this rock, I will build my church34:10 and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Peter must be like, alright. I like that vote of confidence from Jesus Christ, amen. And then 2 seconds later Jesus is like, now I'm gonna go to the cross, I'm gonna34:20 suffer and die under the hands of pagan sinners. And Peter's like, no, you won't. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. How do you like going from totally confident God to filled with Satan in 3 seconds?34:32 That's Peter. Have you been there? Have you been you come out of church you come out of water church and you're like, oh, hallelujah, the holy spirit was so good, the word was so good, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus,34:43 and then 3 minutes in, somebody cuts you off on the road, you're like, I hate this life. Just out out the window. That's Peter. Good news for you.34:55 Peter was wanted. Back up in 3 in in chapter 3 14, these are the men he wanted. So some of you, right now, you're wrestling with, I don't think God wants me. Look at Peter.35:07 When Peter was when Jesus was arrested, he cut off the servant of high priest's ear. He also denied Jesus. 3 hours after promising Jesus, I'll never deny you. I wonder if I'm talking to35:19 anybody who's ever promised God something and you failed. Look at Peter. There's hope for you. That's that's the good news of the gospel. God wants you, but he doesn't35:31 want you to be alone. Then he's got James and John, the sons of Zebedee. He called them sons of thunder. Let me put this in layman's terms, hotheads. Is there anybody here? You're hothead. Don't don't raise your hand.35:45 Don't wanna implicate yourself in case in case something goes horribly wrong in the near future. But hotheads were in the inner crow in the inner crew with Jesus, the 3, Peter, James, John. And and these guys, James and35:57 John, you know how they got that nickname? Because there was a time when there was a Samaritan village that didn't wanna welcome Jesus. They said, no. We don't want Jesus to show up. And so John and James come back to36:05 Jesus. They say, the Samaritans don't want you to show up. Shall we call down fire from heaven and consume them? They wanted to nuke them. They wanted to nuke people.36:17 These are the inner 3. There was another time when somebody was casting out demons in Jesus' name and they weren't part of the 12, so they run to Jesus. We saw some money, he wasn't in our group and he was casting out36:27 demons so we told him to stop it. Jesus is like, oy vey. This is Peter's inner group. This is the the people he chose, filled with36:38 foibles and faults and failures. There was a time when James and John brought their mother to Jesus. This is so embarrassing. It was written in holy scripture. They said, okay, mom, we need you to36:50 go to Jesus and ask for privileged places in the kingdom that has come. And mom did it. Couple of mama's boys. What kinda what kinda pansy gets mom in on the act of getting you special favors in37:02 heaven from Jesus? And these are Jesus' inner 3. Feeling a little bit better about yourself? Now, let's take a look at 2 other names on the list.37:13 Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector. He was a Jew. Now you say, what does that mean? Okay. To become37:25 a tax collector, you had to buy a tax franchise from the Roman government, the occupying government that was ruining the Jews' lives, running their lives. They hated the37:37 Jews hated the Romans. But if you wanted to make money in league with the Romans, you bought a tax franchise, and then you had to tax your fellow Jews and give their money to Rome so that Rome could further37:49 occupy your nation. And in order to make a lot of money, and Matthew was rich, you only had to just charge extra. You he literally built his own38:01 brothers to pad the pockets of the hated Romans. Raise your hand if you enjoy paying taxes. Matthew worked for Rome.38:13 Matthew worked for Rome. Skip down all the way to the end of the list that's on the screen. Simon the Look at it. Simon the zealot. Who the what does that mean? Oh, he was zealous for38:25 Jesus. Nope. That's not what it means. In Jesus' day, in in Israel's day in the first century, they were a lot like American Christians in our century. They were divided politically38:37 from the left to the right. Mhmm. All the way over to the left, there was a group of Jews called the Herodians. They loved Herod and the secular government, and they wanted to work with the secular government38:49 to inaugurate God's kingdom. Then to their right, but still far off to the left, were the Sadducees. The Sadducees, a nemesis of Jesus, believed there was no afterlife, there were no39:01 angels, there were no demons. That's why they were sad, Juicy. That's a stupid preacher joke. Still works. To the right of center were theShow more
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Guest Message - Pastor Geyser Pastor Tim Hatch
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