1 00:00:06,470 --> 00:00:09,040 Any Father, we thank you again, we thank you for this wonderful 2 00:00:09,050 --> 00:00:11,820 time of worship together and what a blessing that is. 3 00:00:11,890 --> 00:00:15,460 Lord, we come before you with thankful hearts also for our 4 00:00:15,470 --> 00:00:17,760 children. We thank you for them and the 5 00:00:17,770 --> 00:00:21,340 blessing they are to each individual family that is here, 6 00:00:21,410 --> 00:00:26,120 but also to our congregation. Lord is our children hit out to 7 00:00:26,190 --> 00:00:28,440 Sunday school and head out to team class. 8 00:00:28,450 --> 00:00:32,159 Lord, we just ask that you will open their hearts and open their 9 00:00:32,170 --> 00:00:35,550 ears to Your word. We pray that you will work in 10 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,360 their hearts, that they each will come to know you as their 11 00:00:38,370 --> 00:00:42,000 own personal Lord and Saviour. And Father, we pray and thank 12 00:00:42,010 --> 00:00:44,420 you for our Sunday School teachers and those that teach 13 00:00:44,430 --> 00:00:46,780 our children. Lord, give them the words to 14 00:00:46,790 --> 00:00:49,260 say. And Lord, may those words sink 15 00:00:49,270 --> 00:00:51,020 deep into the hearts of our kids. 16 00:00:51,390 --> 00:00:53,810 Or we thank you for the offering that has been given. 17 00:00:53,890 --> 00:00:57,380 We thank you for the blessing that is as people bring and that 18 00:00:57,390 --> 00:01:01,140 as part of their worship to you. But we pray for wisdom for those 19 00:01:01,150 --> 00:01:04,480 that have the role to distribute that and to use that. 20 00:01:04,489 --> 00:01:07,300 Lord, we pray that it'll be used for your glory throughout, that 21 00:01:07,310 --> 00:01:10,960 you will be honoured and all. We thank you for Dan as he 22 00:01:10,970 --> 00:01:13,350 brings the word to us this morning. 23 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,730 We thank you for this series and the book of Luke that we're 24 00:01:16,740 --> 00:01:19,750 going through and and what we're learning from it. 25 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,410 And Laurie, just raise Dan comes up that you'll give him peace. 26 00:01:22,420 --> 00:01:25,410 You'll give them clarity of thought in mind as he brings the 27 00:01:25,420 --> 00:01:27,350 word that you've laid on his heart. 28 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:31,830 Lord, we pray for our hearts. We pray that we will be open to 29 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,150 hear your word this morning and not just to hear it, but let it 30 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,130 change our lives. Lord, we pray and there's things 31 00:01:38,140 --> 00:01:41,790 we bring to you and we thank you and thank you for this time we 32 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,690 can have. And our Lord's name, Amen. 33 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:48,990 Hey, good morning. We are continuing, as Kevin said 34 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,910 in our series in the book of Luke this morning. 35 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:53,720 It's been a month since we've been in there. 36 00:01:53,730 --> 00:01:57,220 We've changed things up a little bit this year where we we take a 37 00:01:57,230 --> 00:01:59,630 break from our series during the school holidays. 38 00:01:59,820 --> 00:02:01,590 So we haven't been in there for a little while. 39 00:02:01,780 --> 00:02:04,170 So just by way of review, very quick review. 40 00:02:04,210 --> 00:02:07,630 If you remember, Luke was a medical Doctor Who became 41 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,990 missionary and he's writing a letter to a guy named 42 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,350 Theophilus. And he says, I've interviewed as 43 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,130 many eye witnesses as I as I could to give you an orderly 44 00:02:17,140 --> 00:02:22,790 account of about Jesus, right? Who was Jesus, What did he say? 45 00:02:22,980 --> 00:02:25,030 What did he do? What happened? 46 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,370 So if you remember back, like I say, it's been a month since we 47 00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:29,890 were there, but Gavin took us through the first part of Luke 48 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:31,450 Chapter 7. And that's where we're gonna be 49 00:02:31,460 --> 00:02:34,000 today, Luke Chapter 7. If you want to turn there in 50 00:02:34,010 --> 00:02:37,640 your Bibles, we were looking at the, the healing of the 51 00:02:37,650 --> 00:02:40,830 centurion's servant. And we won't recap the whole 52 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,250 story, but if you remember, Jesus is hitting the guy's house 53 00:02:44,260 --> 00:02:48,970 and, and he sends messages out and he, he said, I'm not ready 54 00:02:48,980 --> 00:02:52,170 for you to come to my house. You know, you know, I'm sorry, 55 00:02:52,180 --> 00:02:53,380 but I know how this works, right? 56 00:02:53,390 --> 00:02:55,630 I'm, I'm a, I'm a man under orders. 57 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:57,390 And I also have a man in authority. 58 00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,920 And I said, 1 soldier, go and do this, and he goes and does it. 59 00:02:59,930 --> 00:03:01,080 And I said, oh, another one, come here. 60 00:03:01,090 --> 00:03:02,650 And he comes. He said, you can fix this 61 00:03:02,660 --> 00:03:04,530 without even coming to my house, right? 62 00:03:04,540 --> 00:03:08,150 And it says Jesus marvelled at his face, right? 63 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,280 He marvelled at his faith. And he said this. 64 00:03:11,390 --> 00:03:15,880 I say to you, I've not found such great faith, not even in 65 00:03:15,890 --> 00:03:20,120 Israel, even among the people of God, right, who grew up learning 66 00:03:20,130 --> 00:03:23,990 all these stories about who God was, how trustworthy God is, all 67 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,140 the ways that God had come through for them as a nation. 68 00:03:27,210 --> 00:03:30,760 Even people from there didn't have as much trust in God and 69 00:03:30,770 --> 00:03:35,260 trust in Jesus as this centurion had had. 70 00:03:35,350 --> 00:03:38,400 And the centurions servant was healed. 71 00:03:38,490 --> 00:03:43,210 So this guy has incredible faith and it led to the healing of his 72 00:03:43,220 --> 00:03:46,070 his servant by Jesus. And Kevin didn't outstanding job 73 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,990 of of showing us through the Scriptures that this happened, 74 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,460 not not because the guy was a good guy, but because of who 75 00:03:53,470 --> 00:03:56,210 Jesus was, right. And that's where that centurion 76 00:03:56,220 --> 00:04:01,440 had put his faith. Now we know that without faith, 77 00:04:01,510 --> 00:04:06,390 it's impossible to please him. Hebrews tells tells us there was 78 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,100 a story of the the woman that had a continuous flow of bright 79 00:04:09,110 --> 00:04:12,600 blood and she reached out to Jesus to be healed. 80 00:04:12,730 --> 00:04:16,800 He told her this. He said, your faith has made you 81 00:04:16,810 --> 00:04:20,640 well, go in peace and be healed of your affliction. 82 00:04:20,649 --> 00:04:24,480 Mark 534 right. So the Bible also makes it very 83 00:04:24,490 --> 00:04:27,880 clear that we should always be growing in our faith, right out 84 00:04:27,890 --> 00:04:33,440 of faith into faith, trusting God more and more as we grow 85 00:04:33,450 --> 00:04:37,180 closer to him. And so we see lots of, you know, 86 00:04:37,190 --> 00:04:39,260 that played out in lots of ways in the Scripture. 87 00:04:39,270 --> 00:04:41,900 But in the Old Testament, King David, you remember, he's about 88 00:04:41,910 --> 00:04:46,340 to go up against Goliath and Saul says to look, you know, 89 00:04:46,350 --> 00:04:48,920 you, you can't fight this guy. You're just a youth. 90 00:04:48,990 --> 00:04:52,840 And he's been a professional soldier since his youth. 91 00:04:52,930 --> 00:04:55,960 And David says, well, and he, he goes back and he says, you know, 92 00:04:55,970 --> 00:04:57,860 I'm a shepherd and I was in the fields. 93 00:04:57,930 --> 00:05:01,340 And one time a lion came and attacked the, the flock. 94 00:05:01,350 --> 00:05:03,640 And I, you know, God came through. 95 00:05:03,650 --> 00:05:07,210 I fought off the line, he said another time after that, a beer 96 00:05:07,220 --> 00:05:09,730 came through, right? So starts off the line, then a 97 00:05:09,740 --> 00:05:14,110 beer, right, and a beer can. And I fought off the beer and 98 00:05:14,740 --> 00:05:17,490 and God was faithful. God came through. 99 00:05:17,540 --> 00:05:19,950 And so Goliath is just kind of the next step up. 100 00:05:20,020 --> 00:05:23,590 It's just the next logical step up and faith for me. 101 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,070 And God will deal with this just like he did with the the lion 102 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,490 and the bear. So that's an Old Testament one. 103 00:05:29,500 --> 00:05:33,070 In the New Testament in Philippians 3, Paul talks about 104 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:39,610 how although we we never really reach the goal of total faith 105 00:05:39,620 --> 00:05:43,610 and total trust in God, but we should still make it our goal. 106 00:05:43,750 --> 00:05:47,440 And so we should still press on towards that all the time. 107 00:05:47,610 --> 00:05:50,400 We've got this centurion, right? He was a man of great faith. 108 00:05:51,230 --> 00:05:53,160 So that brings up kind of an interesting question. 109 00:05:53,170 --> 00:05:55,700 Does it and it doesn't. And the, the, the question is, 110 00:05:56,710 --> 00:06:01,360 if I had great faith, would I get the things that I want? 111 00:06:02,390 --> 00:06:05,430 If I had great faith, what I get, the things that I want. 112 00:06:06,220 --> 00:06:09,280 Let me put that to you from a different angle, right? 113 00:06:09,290 --> 00:06:13,540 Here's a different way of putting that is the reason I 114 00:06:13,550 --> 00:06:17,720 have this health problem or this relationship problem or this 115 00:06:17,730 --> 00:06:21,180 financial problem or whatever, because I don't have enough 116 00:06:21,250 --> 00:06:25,240 faith. Yep, interesting question, isn't 117 00:06:25,250 --> 00:06:26,200 it? We're going to look at this 118 00:06:26,210 --> 00:06:29,540 right because we know that if we do have enough faith to trust 119 00:06:29,550 --> 00:06:33,040 God enough to do the to do things the way that he wants 120 00:06:33,050 --> 00:06:35,580 them done, that the way, the way that he's laid out in the 121 00:06:35,590 --> 00:06:38,480 Scripture that life is bitter, right? 122 00:06:38,490 --> 00:06:43,120 The rewards are greater. Adam and Eve seriously wish they 123 00:06:43,130 --> 00:06:45,220 had never eaten their fruit right. 124 00:06:45,230 --> 00:06:48,010 If if only that had enough faith in God to do things He told, do 125 00:06:48,020 --> 00:06:51,520 things the way He told them to do them, it would have avoided a 126 00:06:51,530 --> 00:06:54,710 lot of pain. So maybe that's key. 127 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:56,920 Maybe my level of faith is not enough. 128 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,310 Does that sound right? It gets weird though, right? 129 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,130 If you, if you take that out to the answer 3, quite a few years 130 00:07:03,140 --> 00:07:06,310 ago, this is probably 25 years ago, there was this sort of 131 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:08,470 Pentecostal faith healer and he was travelling through New 132 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,990 Zealand and having these big, big meetings and he became quite 133 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,190 famous and he was on TV a lot on the news. 134 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:17,170 And 60 Minutes did the whole thing on him. 135 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:19,250 And I remember this thing from 60 Minutes, there was a guy 136 00:07:19,260 --> 00:07:22,690 sitting in a wheelchair, right? And this faith healer guy is in 137 00:07:22,700 --> 00:07:26,020 his face and he's saying the reason you're sending this 138 00:07:26,030 --> 00:07:28,660 wheelchairs cause you don't have enough faith in, if only you had 139 00:07:28,670 --> 00:07:31,270 enough faith, you'd be able to stand up here right now, right? 140 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,920 Then the guy was just in tears, right? 141 00:07:34,130 --> 00:07:37,440 It's like, Nah, that just doesn't sit right, Does it? 142 00:07:37,450 --> 00:07:39,850 Like this. There's something kind of awful 143 00:07:39,860 --> 00:07:43,460 about that. So Chapter 7 tells us a lot 144 00:07:43,470 --> 00:07:46,040 about faith, right? And, and answer some of these 145 00:07:46,050 --> 00:07:47,220 questions. So let's carry on. 146 00:07:47,230 --> 00:07:48,520 Have a look at it. We're going to start off in 147 00:07:48,530 --> 00:07:52,700 verse #11 this morning, verse #11 so Luke Chapter 7 and verse 148 00:07:52,710 --> 00:07:56,070 #11 if you want to turn there she is. 149 00:07:56,420 --> 00:07:58,230 Now it happened the day after, right? 150 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,130 This is the day after he, he healed the centurion servant, 151 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:02,780 that he went into a city called Name. 152 00:08:02,790 --> 00:08:05,210 So this is Jesus, right? Went into a city called Name, 153 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:08,980 and many of its disciples went with him and a large crowd. 154 00:08:09,580 --> 00:08:12,330 And when he came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man 155 00:08:12,340 --> 00:08:16,130 was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a 156 00:08:16,140 --> 00:08:18,690 widow. And a large crowd from that city 157 00:08:18,700 --> 00:08:22,380 was with her, right? So you imagine the scene Jesus 158 00:08:22,390 --> 00:08:24,440 and his disciples, this big crowd and they're heading 159 00:08:24,450 --> 00:08:27,130 towards Name and they get right to the sort of the near the 160 00:08:27,140 --> 00:08:30,570 entrance to the city and there's a funeral procession on its way 161 00:08:30,580 --> 00:08:34,470 out cause cemeteries always outside the city walls, you 162 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,130 know, And so they're on their way out and Jesus, Jesus in this 163 00:08:37,140 --> 00:08:41,270 massive crowds on their way in and they've got this, this body 164 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,970 in an open casket being carried out. 165 00:08:44,059 --> 00:08:47,860 And the guy that died his, his mother is there and his mother 166 00:08:47,870 --> 00:08:49,610 was a widow. So she's already lost her 167 00:08:49,620 --> 00:08:51,470 husband. And then this guy that died was 168 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,770 her only son, right. And so that that is quite a big 169 00:08:54,780 --> 00:08:57,280 deal right back in those times because remember that there was 170 00:08:57,290 --> 00:09:00,310 no social welfare. And so without a husband and now 171 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,530 without her only son, there will be no one to take care of her as 172 00:09:03,900 --> 00:09:07,730 she gets goes into old age. So as well as the the usual 173 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:11,470 intense grief that comes with a funeral, there's kind of an 174 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:15,390 extra layer of sadness on on top of this one right Future for 175 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,250 who? This looks quite bleak. 176 00:09:17,330 --> 00:09:23,510 O this number 13 says when the Lord saw her, he had compassion 177 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:28,100 on her. Then we're Compassion is the the 178 00:09:28,110 --> 00:09:31,060 Greek word that's translated compassion there literally means 179 00:09:31,070 --> 00:09:33,660 to feel something deeply in the pit of your stomach. 180 00:09:34,330 --> 00:09:37,820 Jesus saw the scene that really got to him, you know, seeing 181 00:09:37,830 --> 00:09:41,920 what was happening here. And he said to her, do not weep. 182 00:09:42,070 --> 00:09:44,620 Then he came and he touched the open coffin and those who 183 00:09:44,630 --> 00:09:46,300 carried him stood still so right. 184 00:09:46,310 --> 00:09:48,380 So he put his hand on everybody stops. 185 00:09:48,790 --> 00:09:52,360 And he said, young man, I say to you, arise. 186 00:09:54,150 --> 00:09:58,750 So he speaks to him as if he's still alive, but he's dead. 187 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,550 It's really clear on that. And this links very clearly. 188 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:05,230 There's some stuff that Paul talks about in Romans 4, but let 189 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,630 me just show you one bit of it where he says God who gives life 190 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,980 to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as 191 00:10:11,990 --> 00:10:14,520 though they did. That tells you a lot about who 192 00:10:14,530 --> 00:10:19,210 Jesus was right there. And here's what happens this 15 193 00:10:19,220 --> 00:10:23,580 And he who was dead set up and began to speak and he presented 194 00:10:23,590 --> 00:10:28,380 them to his mother. Now, if you're a sceptic, you 195 00:10:28,390 --> 00:10:31,040 say, well, you know, obviously the guy wasn't dead. 196 00:10:31,050 --> 00:10:33,600 He was just passed out, you know, and then he woke up, you 197 00:10:33,610 --> 00:10:35,300 know, when, when Jesus did this thing? 198 00:10:35,310 --> 00:10:37,160 Well, couple of things with that, right? 199 00:10:37,170 --> 00:10:40,320 First of all, people aren't stupid, right? 200 00:10:40,390 --> 00:10:43,350 I'm sure they checked to make sure that he wasn't just passed 201 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:44,820 out, right? There was that going on. 202 00:10:44,830 --> 00:10:48,080 But but secondly, look at their reaction to this. 203 00:10:48,180 --> 00:10:55,400 Since this then fear came upon all entertains fear very sort of 204 00:10:55,410 --> 00:10:58,140 emphatic there in the original language there. 205 00:10:58,190 --> 00:11:01,860 And they glorified God saying a great prophet has risen up among 206 00:11:01,870 --> 00:11:04,860 us and God has visited his people. 207 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:08,610 If you go back, remember the story of Jesus calming the storm 208 00:11:08,660 --> 00:11:10,710 and you remember that the disciples are in the boat and 209 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,710 there's this intense storm and they are terrified. 210 00:11:14,780 --> 00:11:17,910 And you know, a storm is bad when the professional fishermen 211 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,560 are, you know, think they're going to die. 212 00:11:19,570 --> 00:11:22,540 All right. And they, they wake Jesus up and 213 00:11:22,550 --> 00:11:25,250 remember that Jesus stands up and says, you know, be still and 214 00:11:25,260 --> 00:11:27,510 be quiet. And the, and the storm instantly 215 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:31,020 stops. And then it says and then they 216 00:11:31,030 --> 00:11:35,850 fear the great fear that would terrified before in the storm. 217 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,410 But now they they feared a great fear, right? 218 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:42,160 Why? Cause they realised who they're 219 00:11:42,170 --> 00:11:45,470 in the boat with, they realise. And that's what happens right 220 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:47,470 when you realise you're standing in the presence of God, then, 221 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:49,710 yeah, there, there's an owl there, right? 222 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,050 There's a, there's a fear, there's a, there's a respect. 223 00:11:52,100 --> 00:11:54,050 And, and this is what what is happening here. 224 00:11:54,060 --> 00:11:57,700 Then fear came upon them all. And then it says this and this 225 00:11:57,710 --> 00:12:01,040 report about him went throughout all Judea and all the 226 00:12:01,050 --> 00:12:04,030 surrounding region, right? So this happened up in Galilee. 227 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,040 The town of Nando's is not far from Nazareth, where Jesus was 228 00:12:07,050 --> 00:12:10,060 from went up the top. And this, the report of this all 229 00:12:10,070 --> 00:12:12,560 went throughout all duty and surrounding regions regions. 230 00:12:12,570 --> 00:12:15,770 So for us, this would be like saying, you know, something 231 00:12:15,780 --> 00:12:18,720 happened in Kerry, Kerry and everybody in Dunedin was talking 232 00:12:18,730 --> 00:12:20,640 about it. And all around our Tiago, you 233 00:12:20,650 --> 00:12:21,980 know, like this was a big deal, right? 234 00:12:21,990 --> 00:12:26,780 Everybody was struck by the the awe of of what had happened and 235 00:12:26,850 --> 00:12:29,360 what it says about who Jesus was. 236 00:12:29,890 --> 00:12:33,520 While all this was going on, there was a whole big sort of 237 00:12:33,530 --> 00:12:38,430 royal scandal going on in, in Israel, particularly in, in in 238 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,570 Galilee. Cause it was this guy here at 239 00:12:40,580 --> 00:12:42,430 Antibus. He was one of the sons of here 240 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:45,390 at the great, you know, here at Antrobus had an affair with his 241 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:49,730 sister-in-law, erroneous, erroneous had left her husband 242 00:12:50,060 --> 00:12:53,520 and run off with them to live in the palace in Galilee. 243 00:12:54,190 --> 00:12:57,020 Now, it's kind of hard for us to wrap our heads around this, but 244 00:12:57,030 --> 00:13:01,140 this would be like Megan Michael leaving Harry and running off 245 00:13:01,150 --> 00:13:03,240 with William. You actually she's married to a 246 00:13:03,250 --> 00:13:05,140 Prince, but then she would have been married to a Prince with 247 00:13:05,150 --> 00:13:08,500 real power, right? You imagine the scandal of that 248 00:13:08,650 --> 00:13:11,050 Imagine, you know, I mean, that would be you know, and would 249 00:13:11,060 --> 00:13:12,440 have that would go around, wouldn't it? 250 00:13:12,490 --> 00:13:14,120 I mean, that would be everywhere around the world. 251 00:13:14,130 --> 00:13:16,820 That would be the the the headlines and and all this kind 252 00:13:16,830 --> 00:13:20,110 of stuff. This was not against Roman law 253 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,570 and the Romans had appointed here at Antichrist to, to be in 254 00:13:23,580 --> 00:13:26,250 charge of Galilee. So so they weren't worried about 255 00:13:26,260 --> 00:13:28,350 it all. They had no problem with it, but 256 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,430 it was specifically illegal under Old Testament law. 257 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,840 You could not marry your brother's wife while your 258 00:13:33,850 --> 00:13:37,320 brother was still alive and says that several multiple times, 259 00:13:37,330 --> 00:13:39,070 right? So there is no doubt about this. 260 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:43,270 And so John the Baptist, right, the prophet of God who was 261 00:13:43,540 --> 00:13:47,990 making the way, pointing to the Messiah, announcing the Messiah, 262 00:13:48,150 --> 00:13:50,380 He kept calling them out on this. 263 00:13:50,490 --> 00:13:52,640 He would not shut up about it, right? 264 00:13:52,650 --> 00:13:54,320 You can say what they're doing is wrong. 265 00:13:54,430 --> 00:13:58,640 This is against God's law. This should not be happening, 266 00:13:58,650 --> 00:14:01,820 right? And they would not happy about 267 00:14:01,830 --> 00:14:05,780 John here at Anderson, Herodias. Herodias wanted John dead. 268 00:14:05,790 --> 00:14:08,270 We need to shut this guy up, right? 269 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:09,680 He's turning the people against us. 270 00:14:09,790 --> 00:14:13,980 But John was very popular with the people, and here at Antonius 271 00:14:14,030 --> 00:14:17,680 feared that there would be an uprising if he executed John. 272 00:14:17,970 --> 00:14:21,020 And he was also aware that John was some kind of holy man, 273 00:14:21,030 --> 00:14:23,400 right? And so he was afraid of what 274 00:14:23,410 --> 00:14:25,330 might happen to him if he killed John. 275 00:14:26,420 --> 00:14:30,860 So he puts John in prison. John's in prison here at Athens 276 00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:32,840 would bring him out every now and again and ask him sort of, 277 00:14:32,850 --> 00:14:35,230 you know, philosophical questions about life and all 278 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:36,400 this kind of stuff. Can I use them for 279 00:14:36,410 --> 00:14:38,910 entertainment? Really waiting for everybody to 280 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,150 kind of forget about John and move on to something else. 281 00:14:41,660 --> 00:14:43,680 Then he could get rid of him, maybe. 282 00:14:43,740 --> 00:14:45,720 But like I say, he sort of feared what might happen if he 283 00:14:45,730 --> 00:14:49,050 did that. And prisons in those days didn't 284 00:14:49,060 --> 00:14:51,930 feed prisoners, right? So you, you were reliant on 285 00:14:51,940 --> 00:14:55,150 people to bring you food. And so John's disciples, John's 286 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:56,430 follows would would be doing that. 287 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:00,060 They would bring him food. These disciples of John are 288 00:15:00,070 --> 00:15:03,130 telling John about Jesus healing the centurion servant and 289 00:15:03,140 --> 00:15:06,010 raising a guy from the dead. You know, the guy from named 290 00:15:06,100 --> 00:15:07,910 from the dead, these kind of things. 291 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,330 The John's in prison and the people in Galilee are soon going 292 00:15:12,340 --> 00:15:15,770 to forget about them, and when they heard family realises 293 00:15:16,220 --> 00:15:17,810 people have moved on to something else, they won't 294 00:15:17,820 --> 00:15:21,310 hesitate to kill him. And John knows that, and he has 295 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,970 this real, genuine need, but God seems silent. 296 00:15:26,850 --> 00:15:29,160 What do we do when God doesn't answer? 297 00:15:31,620 --> 00:15:33,650 How does, how does faith play into that? 298 00:15:33,660 --> 00:15:37,010 Like, you know, when God just seems inattentive. 299 00:15:37,220 --> 00:15:39,330 And one of the things that we all have in common, and this is 300 00:15:39,340 --> 00:15:41,820 probably true. If you've, if you've repented, 301 00:15:41,830 --> 00:15:44,200 you've connected with Jesus Christ, you're, you're and you 302 00:15:44,210 --> 00:15:47,530 have a follower of Jesus. It that'll be true for you. 303 00:15:47,540 --> 00:15:49,590 But it, but it's even probably true, even if you just kind of 304 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,740 believe that maybe there's a God out there somewhere. 305 00:15:51,780 --> 00:15:54,170 One of the things we probably have in common is that we've all 306 00:15:54,180 --> 00:15:58,530 had seasons in our life where we ask God for something and God 307 00:15:58,540 --> 00:16:01,470 just wouldn't do it. Now, I'm going to ask everyone 308 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,980 here to be honest, if there's ever been a time in your life if 309 00:16:03,990 --> 00:16:08,260 you felt like God was just not answering, He just seemed 310 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:13,580 inattentive or uncooperative or or is late, right? 311 00:16:13,750 --> 00:16:15,920 If you've ever had a season in your life that was like that, I 312 00:16:15,930 --> 00:16:18,750 want you to raise your hand. Yep. 313 00:16:18,860 --> 00:16:19,970 Yeah. Look around, right? 314 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,810 Lots of hands went up and you thought it was just you. 315 00:16:24,100 --> 00:16:26,560 You just learned something. We we could close in prayer 316 00:16:26,570 --> 00:16:29,830 right now, right? The thing with this is I think 317 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:31,500 too, is that preachers make this. 318 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:34,850 They make you think that you're the only one because they make 319 00:16:34,860 --> 00:16:38,400 it sound so easy. You go home and, and God seems 320 00:16:38,410 --> 00:16:42,280 to be not hearing your prayers and, and, and attentively 321 00:16:42,350 --> 00:16:47,610 uncooperative or, or late and you feel like it's just you and 322 00:16:47,620 --> 00:16:50,110 somebody, whether it's a, a preacher or somebody else, you 323 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,750 know, they just say, well, you just have to have more faith. 324 00:16:53,670 --> 00:16:56,540 You just need a Raymore. You just, you just need to trust 325 00:16:56,550 --> 00:16:58,190 God more. And the other thing about this 326 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,880 is that other people around us make this more difficult because 327 00:17:01,890 --> 00:17:03,800 everything just sort of works out for them. 328 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,150 You know, they have their job or a career or they have a house or 329 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,310 their kids got into whatever school they wanted to get them 330 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:12,589 into or whatever. And everything just seems to go 331 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:15,050 well for them. And sometimes these are really 332 00:17:15,060 --> 00:17:18,540 ungodly people, right? And things are just going well 333 00:17:18,550 --> 00:17:20,109 for them. And, and you sort of say to 334 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:21,950 yourself, you wouldn't say it out loud, right? 335 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,660 You think these are not people even following God. 336 00:17:25,670 --> 00:17:28,390 And here I am trying to do the right thing, and I'm trying to 337 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:33,090 go the right way and do things the way God wants and it all 338 00:17:33,100 --> 00:17:38,460 goes well for them. This doesn't go well for me and 339 00:17:38,470 --> 00:17:41,540 it's just kind of infuriating, right? 340 00:17:41,550 --> 00:17:44,920 And, and it just kind of insinuates the fact that God 341 00:17:44,930 --> 00:17:49,430 seems in attentive or uncooperative or, or light in 342 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,390 some way. And then you have Christian 343 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:54,520 friends and they make it even worse because they say things 344 00:17:54,530 --> 00:17:56,400 like this. You know, I prayed really hard 345 00:17:56,410 --> 00:17:59,250 cause I lost my house keys. And then I just had prayed and 346 00:17:59,260 --> 00:18:02,160 there they were. I found them, you know, ohh, you 347 00:18:02,170 --> 00:18:05,190 know, I was going to drop some dry cleaning off to the dry 348 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,520 cleaners and I prayed for a park. 349 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:09,390 And what do you know, somebody pulled out in front of the dry 350 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:11,270 cleaners. I just got the, the park that I 351 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,060 wanted, right? But you have this major thing 352 00:18:14,070 --> 00:18:18,360 going on, you know, and you've been praying and begging, but 353 00:18:18,370 --> 00:18:22,270 nothing changes, right? And people are praying these 354 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:24,770 small things, right? And, and God just doesn't seem 355 00:18:24,780 --> 00:18:27,530 to be answering you. But you don't want to abandon 356 00:18:27,540 --> 00:18:29,850 faith, right? Because it's difficult to live 357 00:18:29,860 --> 00:18:32,870 life without faith. It's difficult to live life 358 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,260 without hope. So the question is, what do you 359 00:18:36,270 --> 00:18:37,690 do? What do you do when God doesn't 360 00:18:37,700 --> 00:18:40,780 seem to be answering, when he seems inattentive, when he seems 361 00:18:41,250 --> 00:18:45,410 uncooperative or like, because after a while you, you start to 362 00:18:45,420 --> 00:18:49,270 think like this, right? Start to think like this. 363 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:54,660 Well, if God's silent, he must be absent, of course. 364 00:18:54,670 --> 00:18:56,920 Not answering my prayer, not doing what I need them to do, 365 00:18:56,930 --> 00:18:58,600 then then maybe there isn't a God. 366 00:18:58,610 --> 00:19:03,260 Or maybe God is not a God that's ever going to be active in my 367 00:19:03,270 --> 00:19:06,820 life. If God is silent, maybe he's 368 00:19:06,830 --> 00:19:09,200 absent, Maybe, maybe, maybe right. 369 00:19:09,210 --> 00:19:12,430 And the doubt creeps in and there goes our faith right? 370 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,530 There goes our trust, He goes our confidence, and there goes 371 00:19:15,580 --> 00:19:18,230 our hope. And this is where John is right. 372 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,270 John is in prison and John had preached this message that 373 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,890 essentially said knock it off. I'm gonna give you summed up 374 00:19:25,900 --> 00:19:27,370 John's missus. Knock it off, right? 375 00:19:27,510 --> 00:19:29,550 He was saying, look, God is about to do something 376 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:34,200 extraordinary, so stop doing all this sinful stuff, right? 377 00:19:34,210 --> 00:19:37,320 Turn from it. Turn to God asking for 378 00:19:37,330 --> 00:19:39,950 forgiveness. He was sent to announce Jesus 379 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:41,540 and he did that. He announced him. 380 00:19:41,550 --> 00:19:44,280 He said here's the Lamb of God. It takes away the sin of the 381 00:19:44,290 --> 00:19:46,880 world. He sent his disciples to follow 382 00:19:46,890 --> 00:19:51,100 Jesus. He baptised Jesus 1st 18 Luke 383 00:19:51,110 --> 00:19:53,230 Chapter 7. Then the disciples of John 384 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,740 reported to him concerning all these things, all the things 385 00:19:56,750 --> 00:20:00,460 that Jesus was doing. Now, if anytime was a great time 386 00:20:00,470 --> 00:20:03,520 for a miracle, this is it. And yet, here's John, running 387 00:20:03,530 --> 00:20:07,670 away in prison. And John had friends, they come 388 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:09,770 and visit him in prison and they bring him information. 389 00:20:09,780 --> 00:20:12,630 And John, here's that Jesus is out there doing all of these 390 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,350 miracles, right? And healing people and healing 391 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:19,270 Romans and and and doing stuff for tax collectors and strangers 392 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:23,340 and all of that. And here's John, rotting in a 393 00:20:23,350 --> 00:20:27,370 dungeon and his cousin isn't helping him. 394 00:20:28,340 --> 00:20:31,550 He's help helping all these enemies and strangers and people 395 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:36,950 from all walks of life, but he's not helping John and John's not 396 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,630 feeling the love. And John starts having some 397 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:44,280 doubts about Jesus. And so John says to his friends, 398 00:20:44,290 --> 00:20:47,620 OK, I need you to get a message to Jesus for me. 399 00:20:47,690 --> 00:20:50,320 And I imagine this was kind of even a little bit embarrassing 400 00:20:50,330 --> 00:20:51,740 for John to ask his friends this. 401 00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:55,000 But look what it says #19 and John calling two of his 402 00:20:55,010 --> 00:20:59,140 disciples to him, Send them to Jesus, saying, are you the 403 00:20:59,150 --> 00:21:01,210 coming one, or do we look for another? 404 00:21:03,180 --> 00:21:06,330 Are you the Messiah, You the one that was promised in the Old 405 00:21:06,340 --> 00:21:08,520 Testament, come and save his people. 406 00:21:08,530 --> 00:21:10,970 Or do we look for someone else Then? 407 00:21:10,980 --> 00:21:14,070 I bet John's disciples here did a double take when he asked them 408 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,940 that. Let me thinking, man, you're the 409 00:21:17,950 --> 00:21:20,280 one that told us he, he was the Messiah. 410 00:21:21,130 --> 00:21:24,120 You know, we're probably going to have to interrupt something. 411 00:21:24,130 --> 00:21:27,150 He really be in the middle of some massive miracle or 412 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:31,250 something, or, or he'll be saying some amazing profound 413 00:21:31,260 --> 00:21:32,460 thing. Everybody's taking notes. 414 00:21:32,470 --> 00:21:34,330 We're gonna have to interrupt them and go. 415 00:21:34,470 --> 00:21:36,000 Are you, are you actually the Messiah? 416 00:21:36,230 --> 00:21:41,490 You know, Are you sure, John? You know, you'd imagine their 417 00:21:41,500 --> 00:21:43,800 thoughts, right? And John would be thinking, 418 00:21:43,870 --> 00:21:49,950 well, I just, I need something. I just need something right And 419 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,960 this is where we live. This is where we live. 420 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:57,540 Our circumstances get impacted and we feel that God is somehow 421 00:21:57,550 --> 00:22:01,070 different because our circumstances are different and 422 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:05,680 we know that it doesn't make any sense, but it's real to us. 423 00:22:07,610 --> 00:22:09,340 And we get like John the Baptist here, right? 424 00:22:09,350 --> 00:22:10,820 I, I need some kind of shout out. 425 00:22:10,830 --> 00:22:14,580 I need some kind of indication. I need to know that the stuff 426 00:22:14,590 --> 00:22:18,100 that I've based my life on is actually right because it 427 00:22:18,110 --> 00:22:20,680 doesn't seem to be working for me right now. 428 00:22:22,350 --> 00:22:24,910 If you step back and think about it, right, there's something 429 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:32,150 very self centred about losing faith in God based on your 430 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,640 circumstances, right? Because you know, we hear about 431 00:22:34,650 --> 00:22:36,990 an earthquake or as Zunami or something like that, where 432 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,860 hundreds of thousands of people are killed and the futures of 433 00:22:39,990 --> 00:22:43,460 thousands of people are wrecked. And we think, ohh, no, right. 434 00:22:43,470 --> 00:22:46,380 And we and we pray for those people and we, we, we send money 435 00:22:46,390 --> 00:22:48,380 to help those people and all of that. 436 00:22:48,550 --> 00:22:50,260 But it doesn't shatter our faith in God. 437 00:22:51,850 --> 00:22:55,340 See, when When you go through a hard time, I pray. 438 00:22:56,540 --> 00:23:01,060 When I go through a hard time, I doubt let me sum them about that 439 00:23:01,070 --> 00:23:03,680 up in one sentence, right? I lose faith when God is in 440 00:23:03,690 --> 00:23:06,200 attentive to my happiness, not yours. 441 00:23:06,830 --> 00:23:08,620 In other words, when you when you go through a difficult time, 442 00:23:08,630 --> 00:23:11,120 I'm sorry for you and I'll pray for you, but I'm not going to 443 00:23:11,130 --> 00:23:14,970 lose my faith over that. When it happens to me, that's a 444 00:23:14,980 --> 00:23:17,810 different story. When we're in a lot of pain, 445 00:23:17,820 --> 00:23:22,930 when we have, you know, a major crisis in our life, our our 446 00:23:22,940 --> 00:23:25,570 world tends to shrink to the size of us. 447 00:23:26,820 --> 00:23:29,230 It's difficult to think about the problems of others or other 448 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,790 things that are going on when when we have so many issues 449 00:23:31,980 --> 00:23:34,750 ourselves. John's in a dungeon waiting to 450 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,130 die. It's really hard for him to see 451 00:23:38,140 --> 00:23:40,390 anything bigger than the size of his prison cell. 452 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,130 And This is why Jesus response is so important and so relevant 453 00:23:44,140 --> 00:23:46,410 to us. Let me tell you what he doesn't 454 00:23:46,420 --> 00:23:49,690 say. He doesn't say of course I'm the 455 00:23:49,700 --> 00:23:51,870 one. Go back and tell him that he 456 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:55,650 doesn't say I'm not one and I'm breaking him out. 457 00:23:56,460 --> 00:23:58,740 All right? He doesn't say that. 458 00:23:58,970 --> 00:24:00,930 Here's what he says. Get ready for this, right? 459 00:24:00,940 --> 00:24:02,340 Because this is for you and this is for me. 460 00:24:02,350 --> 00:24:06,710 When when God seems inattentive, John's disciples go to Jesus. 461 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,410 They pass on John's question. And actually during that very 462 00:24:09,420 --> 00:24:12,460 hour when they're doing that, like we say, writers, they're 463 00:24:12,470 --> 00:24:14,730 asking the question. He is healing all kinds of 464 00:24:14,740 --> 00:24:17,200 people. These miracles drop down to 465 00:24:17,210 --> 00:24:20,220 verse 22. Jesus answered and he said to 466 00:24:20,230 --> 00:24:23,070 them, go and tell John the things that you've seen and 467 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:27,040 heard, because John's in a prison cell, right? 468 00:24:27,050 --> 00:24:30,690 He he, he can't, he can't see past the walls. 469 00:24:30,990 --> 00:24:33,100 So you go back and you tell him what you can see and what you 470 00:24:33,110 --> 00:24:36,620 can hear, Right, John? John's pain has shrunk his world 471 00:24:36,630 --> 00:24:39,990 to the size of his prison cell, so of course he's delving. 472 00:24:40,060 --> 00:24:42,270 You go and tell him what you see and what you hear. 473 00:24:42,340 --> 00:24:45,230 Here's what he tells, tells him to tell John about she's 474 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:46,990 answered, to see him. Go and tell John the things that 475 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,310 you've seen and heard. That the blind see, the lame 476 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,670 walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf here, the dead are 477 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,590 raised, and the poor have the gospel. 478 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:02,030 The good news for each to them. This is probably not immediately 479 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,110 obvious to us, but what Jesus is doing here is he's paraphrasing 480 00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:08,550 several Old Testament passages from the book of Isaiah that 481 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,870 talk about what the Messiah would do when he comes, Right? 482 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,570 So so he's making that clear. So you can imagine the same 483 00:25:15,580 --> 00:25:19,070 maybe that maybe that they're turning to leave whatever in in 484 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,310 Jesus, you know, make sure you tell him that don't don't forget 485 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:22,930 this right? But there's 23. 486 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:28,620 See this implicit is he who is not offended because of me 487 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,670 offended there means to stumble like to trip over something 488 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:41,080 right to to stumble to fall down fall away fallout measure that 489 00:25:41,090 --> 00:25:42,200 right. So don't thinking. 490 00:25:42,210 --> 00:25:45,080 Wait, so you're saying you might actually cause or allow things 491 00:25:45,090 --> 00:25:48,810 to happen to us? They have the potential to trip 492 00:25:48,820 --> 00:25:51,510 us up. It could actually cause us to 493 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:56,160 stumble away from you. And Jesus is thinking, yeah, So 494 00:25:56,170 --> 00:25:57,850 what? You tell John Blessed as anyone 495 00:25:57,860 --> 00:26:03,380 who doesn't stumble away from me because of anything I've done or 496 00:26:03,390 --> 00:26:09,250 haven't done, it would be hard, wouldn't it, for those, those 497 00:26:09,260 --> 00:26:11,650 disciples, John, They'd be thinking, OK, but you know, he's 498 00:26:11,660 --> 00:26:14,330 in prison, right? And he's losing his fight and it 499 00:26:14,340 --> 00:26:17,720 doesn't look good for him. He's deteriorating. 500 00:26:17,730 --> 00:26:22,660 You know all about that and Jesus does. 501 00:26:22,670 --> 00:26:25,860 He would be thinking, yeah, I realise that's happened because 502 00:26:25,870 --> 00:26:33,270 I have left him there. What would you think if you were 503 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,360 Johnson was trying to put yourself in the shoes. 504 00:26:35,470 --> 00:26:37,810 Okay, so maybe you don't like him. 505 00:26:37,850 --> 00:26:39,690 You know, something happened when you guys were kids because 506 00:26:39,700 --> 00:26:42,320 you are cousins, right. So and and this is payback. 507 00:26:42,330 --> 00:26:44,840 Like you know, is it that you don't like John the Baptist. 508 00:26:44,850 --> 00:26:47,150 Listen to what Jesus says about him and just drop down to verse 509 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,580 28 for a SEC. He said, for I say to you, among 510 00:26:50,590 --> 00:26:53,640 those born of woman, there is not a greater profit than John 511 00:26:53,650 --> 00:26:56,520 the Baptist. And in Matthews accountancy, 512 00:26:56,530 --> 00:26:58,790 Jesus says there's nobody greater than John the Baptist, 513 00:26:59,130 --> 00:27:00,440 right? John was the greatest guy, 514 00:27:00,450 --> 00:27:03,920 whoever lived. So you just gonna leave them in 515 00:27:03,930 --> 00:27:08,250 prison? Yeah. 516 00:27:08,290 --> 00:27:12,740 So tell him to hang in there and don't lose faith just because 517 00:27:12,750 --> 00:27:14,530 I've chosen not to bail you out of prison. 518 00:27:17,020 --> 00:27:19,480 That's tough, isn't it? Right? 519 00:27:19,530 --> 00:27:21,150 But here's the big thing here, right? 520 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,370 John the Baptist was going to be in prison no matter how much 521 00:27:26,380 --> 00:27:31,950 faith he had. John the Baptist was gonna be in 522 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:33,980 prison no matter how obedient he was. 523 00:27:37,020 --> 00:27:39,530 And John the Baptist was going to be in prison because being in 524 00:27:39,540 --> 00:27:43,830 prison was part of what Jesus was doing. 525 00:27:44,340 --> 00:27:46,770 And Jesus knew that. It was going to be really hard 526 00:27:46,780 --> 00:27:50,980 for John to maintain faith in Jesus, his cousin, because Jesus 527 00:27:50,990 --> 00:27:54,710 and his cousin had the power to bail him out and he chose, for 528 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:59,460 whatever reason, not to. Let me tell you why. 529 00:27:59,470 --> 00:28:03,870 This is great news for you and great news for me because it 530 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,750 means that your personal circumstances don't necessarily 531 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,680 coincide with how God feels about you, right? 532 00:28:11,690 --> 00:28:14,160 You can't even lose sight of that because like John the 533 00:28:14,170 --> 00:28:17,210 Baptist, when you're in the wilderness, right, you're in in 534 00:28:17,220 --> 00:28:21,810 a dry season when it seems like, you know, God hasn't been doing 535 00:28:21,820 --> 00:28:26,020 anything much for us lately and things seem to be getting worse. 536 00:28:26,030 --> 00:28:29,040 And and we can easily draw the conclusion that these 537 00:28:29,050 --> 00:28:31,630 circumstances reflect the way God feels about me. 538 00:28:32,620 --> 00:28:33,550 Does this. No, they don't. 539 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:36,750 No, they don't. Your personal circumstances 540 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,670 don't necessarily coincide with how God feels about you, right? 541 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:41,990 You don't want to draw that conclusion. 542 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,270 Proof of how God feels about you is what happened on the cross. 543 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,930 Your personal circumstances don't coincide with how God 544 00:28:51,940 --> 00:28:54,200 feels about you. John the Baptist, the cousin and 545 00:28:54,210 --> 00:28:57,290 the forerunner to Jesus who's talked about in the Old 546 00:28:57,300 --> 00:28:59,330 Testament, right? He's a prophet who was 547 00:28:59,340 --> 00:29:02,790 prophesised, right? It says this guy's going to come 548 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,970 and, and, and he's going to point people to Jesus, right? 549 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,750 This guy is stuck in prison and Jesus has lived there. 550 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,100 And Jesus is from John Bliss. It is a person who doesn't 551 00:29:12,110 --> 00:29:14,620 stumble away from me because of Maine. 552 00:29:16,070 --> 00:29:17,790 Wow, right. That's one of those truths that 553 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,560 you hate. That's that's not easy. 554 00:29:20,570 --> 00:29:22,970 But when you're in the middle of the desert, it's one of those 555 00:29:22,980 --> 00:29:28,130 things that you just cling to. So what do you do when God seems 556 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,170 distant? He seems unattentive and 557 00:29:31,180 --> 00:29:33,610 attentive when he seems uncooperative, when? 558 00:29:33,620 --> 00:29:38,140 When God seems to be late, I think if we asked Jesus, he'd 559 00:29:38,150 --> 00:29:39,800 give us the same advice he gave John. 560 00:29:41,830 --> 00:29:47,740 Look back and remember and look outside your circumstances and 561 00:29:47,750 --> 00:29:52,320 reflect you. Look back at those times when 562 00:29:52,390 --> 00:29:55,270 when God did come through for you. 563 00:29:56,210 --> 00:29:58,660 Look outside your prison cell and reflect on the activity of 564 00:29:58,670 --> 00:30:00,880 God. Right, because what's happening 565 00:30:00,890 --> 00:30:04,540 now doesn't doesn't discount the reality of past answered prayer 566 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:07,850 that was real, that was true. And you looked back and you 567 00:30:07,860 --> 00:30:10,330 realised that God was real then and God's real now. 568 00:30:10,430 --> 00:30:14,330 He's just not expressing His reality the way that you want 569 00:30:14,340 --> 00:30:18,400 them to right now. And then you look outside at the 570 00:30:18,410 --> 00:30:22,530 activity of God, outside your little world. 571 00:30:23,510 --> 00:30:27,200 It doesn't mean well for John. Eventually Herodias and her 572 00:30:27,210 --> 00:30:32,730 daughter Salome Hatcher plot and and get here at Antibes to to 573 00:30:32,740 --> 00:30:35,540 have John beheaded and John has killed. 574 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,110 It's not too long after that there's some very insecure 575 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,230 religious leaders pay to have Jesus betrayed and arrested and 576 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:47,470 tried and mocked and crucified, and God does nothing to stop it. 577 00:30:50,460 --> 00:30:54,670 But God didn't move a single millimetre off the set over his 578 00:30:54,680 --> 00:31:00,050 throne when that was happening, because even though it would 579 00:31:00,060 --> 00:31:03,630 seem like he was uninvolved and not paying attention far away, 580 00:31:03,700 --> 00:31:08,040 late, God was right where God wanted to be. 581 00:31:08,650 --> 00:31:12,440 And the events unfolded the way that God wanted them to unfold. 582 00:31:12,550 --> 00:31:16,160 And no, it wasn't the script in John's case that John the 583 00:31:16,170 --> 00:31:19,250 Baptist would have written for himself and even at the end of 584 00:31:19,260 --> 00:31:21,420 Jesus life, right? He actually asked the Father if 585 00:31:21,430 --> 00:31:25,470 there was any other way, right? Any other way other than being 586 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,150 crucified and tortured to death for the sins of mankind. 587 00:31:29,250 --> 00:31:31,920 And the Heavenly Father said, no, this is my plan. 588 00:31:33,470 --> 00:31:35,620 And 2000 years later, we're still talking about it. 589 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,910 In 2000 years later, we are still celebrating it. 2000 years 590 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:41,940 later, we are all here today because of it. 591 00:31:45,130 --> 00:31:47,780 In 2000, years later, people's lives are still being 592 00:31:47,790 --> 00:31:52,700 transformed by it, by what seemed at the time to be the 593 00:31:52,710 --> 00:31:56,910 inactivity of God, the inactivity of the God that these 594 00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:02,640 two men worshipped. When God is silent, that doesn't 595 00:32:02,650 --> 00:32:07,570 mean he's absent. When God seems inattentive, it 596 00:32:07,580 --> 00:32:11,410 doesn't mean that he is, and when God seems to be light, it 597 00:32:11,420 --> 00:32:15,420 doesn't mean that he's light. When we're in the middle of it, 598 00:32:15,430 --> 00:32:17,360 we need to look back and remember, and when we need to 599 00:32:17,370 --> 00:32:20,230 look outside our circumstances and reflect. 600 00:32:21,810 --> 00:32:22,910 But here's the best part of this. 601 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,580 I think, you know, there's a message to us and that message 602 00:32:25,590 --> 00:32:28,300 that Jesus gave to John's followers to take back to John. 603 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,530 You know, blessed as anyone who doesn't stumble on account of 604 00:32:34,540 --> 00:32:40,350 me, your current circumstances are not a reflection of how God 605 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:44,610 feels about you. If he allowed the greatest man, 606 00:32:44,620 --> 00:32:47,030 whoever lived, to stay in prison and later be executed, then you 607 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,190 don't have to doubt God's love for you, his concern for you, 608 00:32:50,420 --> 00:32:54,130 His will for you, His plan for you, His ability to take what 609 00:32:54,140 --> 00:32:58,490 seems like wasted time and blended into something far 610 00:32:58,500 --> 00:33:00,150 greater than you've ever imagined. 611 00:33:00,730 --> 00:33:03,430 So I've seen a man of great faith in the centurion whose 612 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,050 servant was healed. We've seen Jesus raise somebody 613 00:33:07,060 --> 00:33:10,270 from the dead, right? A dead man, right? 614 00:33:10,380 --> 00:33:12,030 Showing it's not about the person, right? 615 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,170 It's about Jesus. Jesus. 616 00:33:14,220 --> 00:33:17,050 And we've seen a man of great faith begin to doubt because 617 00:33:17,110 --> 00:33:21,690 despite his great faith, his circumstances went great, which 618 00:33:21,700 --> 00:33:25,410 shows that our circumstances and this serial reflection of how 619 00:33:25,420 --> 00:33:28,220 God feels about us or our level of faith. 620 00:33:29,650 --> 00:33:33,020 One more thing about faith verse 29 and when all the people heard 621 00:33:33,030 --> 00:33:36,620 him, even the tax collectors justified God, right? 622 00:33:36,630 --> 00:33:41,190 They agreed that God's plan was right, having been baptised with 623 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,020 the baptism of John right. So those those people who 624 00:33:44,030 --> 00:33:47,940 repented and preparation for the Messiah, right and were baptised 625 00:33:47,950 --> 00:33:51,200 in and out as an outward sign of that did so because they had 626 00:33:51,210 --> 00:33:55,200 enough faith to trust Gods to trust John's message that the 627 00:33:55,210 --> 00:33:57,840 Messiah was coming, that salvation was coming. 628 00:33:58,310 --> 00:34:01,980 We got a baptism service in a few weeks 17th of May and our 629 00:34:01,990 --> 00:34:06,620 was sign of people who saying I I've turned to God and God has 630 00:34:06,630 --> 00:34:09,290 forgiven me. They only use my life to serve 631 00:34:09,300 --> 00:34:13,409 Him. These people had enough faith to 632 00:34:13,420 --> 00:34:17,190 step out and trust their message that John was bringing, and so 633 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:19,790 then they found it very easy to trust what Jesus had said. 634 00:34:21,020 --> 00:34:22,449 A little bit of faith was all it took. 635 00:34:22,639 --> 00:34:24,030 There's 30. But the Pharisees and the 636 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,530 lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been 637 00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:31,800 baptised by Him. People who spit their their 638 00:34:31,810 --> 00:34:36,210 lives studying the Old Testament law didn't even have enough 639 00:34:36,219 --> 00:34:40,920 faith to believe the message of salvation through faith in 640 00:34:40,929 --> 00:34:44,230 Jesus, whether it was taught by John or by Jesus. 641 00:34:47,810 --> 00:34:50,219 And the Lord said to what then shall I like in the men of this 642 00:34:50,230 --> 00:34:52,110 generation? And what do they like? 643 00:34:52,310 --> 00:34:56,120 They like children in the marketplace, calling to one 644 00:34:56,130 --> 00:34:58,240 another, saying we played the flute for you and you didn't 645 00:34:58,250 --> 00:35:01,100 dance. We mourned to you and you didn't 646 00:35:01,110 --> 00:35:05,700 weep for John the Baptist came near the eating bread or 647 00:35:05,710 --> 00:35:07,890 drinking wine. And you say he has a demon. 648 00:35:08,670 --> 00:35:10,400 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking. 649 00:35:10,410 --> 00:35:13,480 And you say, look, a glutton and the wine Bubba, a friend of tax 650 00:35:13,490 --> 00:35:17,390 collectors and sinners. Weddings and funerals are the 651 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,590 two biggest sort of social events in Jewish culture. 652 00:35:19,660 --> 00:35:21,970 So kids will often play games related to them. 653 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:23,910 When I was a kid, you know, we used to play soldiers, play 654 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,810 armies and and those games are only ever lasted about 30 655 00:35:26,820 --> 00:35:28,220 minutes because what would happened? 656 00:35:28,230 --> 00:35:29,230 You get to a certain point. Yeah. 657 00:35:29,240 --> 00:35:32,500 This is when you're like, you know, 789 and you've got bang, 658 00:35:32,510 --> 00:35:34,980 bang, bang. And somebody would say, I shot 659 00:35:34,990 --> 00:35:37,250 you and you didn't fall down, right. 660 00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:39,210 You didn't do way. And then the whole game would 661 00:35:39,220 --> 00:35:41,040 just sort of disintegrate. I'm not playing anymore because 662 00:35:41,050 --> 00:35:43,270 you didn't die when I shot. You know, you didn't do what 663 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,390 you're supposed to do, right. So you've got these kids right 664 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,590 in the marketplaces. Jesus is talking about this. 665 00:35:48,660 --> 00:35:51,700 And you said you like kids saying I played happy, winning 666 00:35:51,710 --> 00:35:56,620 music and you learn dance right? Or I played funeral music and 667 00:35:56,630 --> 00:35:59,620 you didn't Act, said. What's he talking about? 668 00:35:59,670 --> 00:36:03,350 John the Baptist lived a very, very disciplined life. 669 00:36:04,450 --> 00:36:06,350 He wasn't interested in climbing the corporate ladder. 670 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,540 He lived out in the desert and made his own clothes out of 671 00:36:08,550 --> 00:36:12,540 Campbell skins and you know, animal skins and whatever he, he 672 00:36:12,550 --> 00:36:15,520 did all this, he did this super disciplined life so that he 673 00:36:15,530 --> 00:36:18,880 could focus intently on the role that God had given him. 674 00:36:20,110 --> 00:36:22,410 And the religious leaders said the guy's a nut job. 675 00:36:23,580 --> 00:36:26,150 Look at him, he's crazy, obviously, you know, demon 676 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:27,610 possessed or something, you know. 677 00:36:28,100 --> 00:36:30,290 And so they rejected the message that he bought. 678 00:36:31,740 --> 00:36:36,610 Jesus came and he hung out with regular people and they said, 679 00:36:36,620 --> 00:36:38,810 well, some of the people he associates with it, you know, 680 00:36:38,860 --> 00:36:41,930 Bogan's and lowlife, you know, he's obviously a gluttonous 681 00:36:41,940 --> 00:36:44,190 drunk. Look at who's, you know, friends 682 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:46,400 are. So they rejected the message 683 00:36:46,410 --> 00:36:48,750 that he bought, which was the same message that John bought. 684 00:36:49,940 --> 00:36:53,500 It wasn't really about who was bringing the message, like there 685 00:36:53,510 --> 00:36:56,370 was some kind of problem with John or, or they had some kind 686 00:36:56,380 --> 00:36:58,020 of problem with Jesus or anything. 687 00:36:58,030 --> 00:36:59,390 Like they said that's what it was about. 688 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:03,110 But it wasn't really the issue was they didn't have enough 689 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,890 faith to believe the message of God. 690 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:08,290 Jesus finishes with this statement, he says. 691 00:37:08,300 --> 00:37:13,450 But wisdom is justified by all her children, right? 692 00:37:13,460 --> 00:37:16,120 In other words, wisdom is proved correct by looking at what it 693 00:37:16,130 --> 00:37:20,650 produces. John leads thousands to 694 00:37:20,660 --> 00:37:26,240 repentance, to realise this and to turn from it to God and ask 695 00:37:26,250 --> 00:37:29,810 for forgiveness. Jesus taught, worked, loved, 696 00:37:29,820 --> 00:37:32,850 died, and rose from the dead like no one before him. 697 00:37:33,580 --> 00:37:37,750 So we know we should be growing in faith and that that great 698 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,630 faith has great benefits and rewards. 699 00:37:40,380 --> 00:37:43,070 But we also know that our circumstances are not 700 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,150 necessarily reflection of our level of faith. 701 00:37:46,420 --> 00:37:48,490 That wasn't the case for John, one of the greatest men, whoever 702 00:37:48,500 --> 00:37:51,780 lived. So what's the level of faith 703 00:37:51,790 --> 00:37:53,920 that we need to make a difference in our lives? 704 00:37:55,530 --> 00:37:58,240 One time was Jesus was teaching disciples that they needed to 705 00:37:58,250 --> 00:38:00,970 repeatedly forgive someone. If that person was genuinely 706 00:38:01,020 --> 00:38:04,140 repentant and his disciple said, yeah, you're going to need to 707 00:38:04,150 --> 00:38:08,590 increase our faith to do that. In other words, you know, we're 708 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,360 not sure that we have a high enough level of faith in you to 709 00:38:12,370 --> 00:38:15,120 be able to do that. Once we do, you know, then we'll 710 00:38:15,130 --> 00:38:19,240 be able to put this into play. And Jesus response was this So 711 00:38:19,250 --> 00:38:22,500 the Lord, if you have faith as a mustard seed, it's a tiny little 712 00:38:22,510 --> 00:38:26,120 seed, right? You can say this to Molby tree, 713 00:38:26,130 --> 00:38:28,400 be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea. 714 00:38:28,410 --> 00:38:30,200 It would obey you just as easily. 715 00:38:30,210 --> 00:38:32,440 They're like grass seed. You know this tiny little things 716 00:38:33,420 --> 00:38:36,550 Jesus says you just need a tiny amount of faith, just the 717 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:40,490 smallest amount of trust in me, and it will make all the 718 00:38:40,500 --> 00:38:43,640 difference in the world. Why? 719 00:38:43,650 --> 00:38:45,310 Because it's not about you, right? 720 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:47,470 It's about who you're trusting in. 721 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,300 Salvation is by grace through faith. 722 00:38:52,070 --> 00:38:54,480 Probably talk about that this morning, right? 723 00:38:54,930 --> 00:38:57,490 Turn from your sin, ask for forgiveness. 724 00:38:57,670 --> 00:39:00,300 Trust in Him to save you from the ultimate consequences of 725 00:39:00,310 --> 00:39:02,620 those sends first. John 19 right? 726 00:39:03,270 --> 00:39:06,420 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us 727 00:39:06,430 --> 00:39:09,260 our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 728 00:39:09,410 --> 00:39:11,940 Just a little bit of faith, right? 729 00:39:11,950 --> 00:39:14,570 Maybe you've done that. So maybe the question for you is 730 00:39:14,580 --> 00:39:17,440 this. In what area of your life is God 731 00:39:17,450 --> 00:39:19,860 asking you to change and do things his way? 732 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:25,220 Well, maybe it's this. What has God asking you to step 733 00:39:25,230 --> 00:39:30,300 up and do you waiting until you have enough faith? 734 00:39:31,460 --> 00:39:33,630 Because it's not about your level of faith. 735 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,620 It's about how faithful He is. It's about who He is. 736 00:39:37,020 --> 00:39:40,670 Trust Him just a little bit and that will make all the 737 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:43,510 difference. Let's pray, Father, we do stand 738 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,860 before you in awe. We stand in reverence, knowing 739 00:39:47,870 --> 00:39:50,200 who you are. And it's amazing to read these 740 00:39:50,210 --> 00:39:57,280 stories that of what happened that Luke assembled, collated 741 00:39:57,290 --> 00:40:01,660 for us, knowing who you are. Well, thank you that it's not 742 00:40:01,670 --> 00:40:04,580 about us, it's about you. It's about our faith in you. 743 00:40:04,590 --> 00:40:08,040 And Lord, we do put their trust in you this morning. 744 00:40:08,470 --> 00:40:11,770 Thank you for everything you do. We pray these things in Jesus 745 00:40:11,780 --> 00:40:12,680 name, Amen.