08/11/24 Mark 8 11-21 Steve Marsh

[Music] for [Music] in for [Music] for [Music] for [Music] now [Music] for [Music] good morning good test one two am I am I coming through not really a little hey there we go hey good morning good morning church it is good to seeing you here at First Baptist Church my name is Cody I'm the pastor here it is so good to see each and every single one of you and it's my privilege to be your pastor and to pray for you hey if you are here and obviously you're here but if you are if you're a new person that's here we'd love to be able to connect with you and love to take some time and pray for you in the chair around you either in the backs or right in front of you there should be a connection card you can fill those out by scanning the QR code or by just filling it out and dropping it in the offering plate that'd be huge in us being able to just connect with you it's also the easiest way to share prayer requests on Sunday mornings just because everyone's kind of like hey Pastor can you pray about this can you pray about that I want to pray about those things and I try my best but filling those out dropping those off would be huge in us being able to pray for you hey we got a couple of things that are coming up I did get a text I got to remember that I didn't write that down got a text from Thomas Thomas gson this morning he's over in Kids Quest he said hey can you make an announcement this morning I need

Volunteers in aana kids quest in Sunday school nursery and things like that because it's the start of the year and so if you are gifted and talented love kids want to invest in the Next Generation make disciples all of that stuff we can use your help so we want to make sure that you get plugged in that way Thomas is not over there he just got a haircut he's over here so don't mind me Hey we've got a bunch of different things coming up we got a w to registration night on the 28th along with color Wars that's going to going to be happening $15 for aana so that lasts for the whole year that goes to cover the cost of books and some programming stuff of course color Wars is going to be awesome I think it's five bucks for some pizza right five bucks for pizza so sign up for that also we've got a new community group that's launching next week it's Generations class and so it's going to be focused on intergenerational relationships in community so if you don't have a community group get plugged into one they're going to be meeting in rooms four 416 417 starting next week we want you to be a part of that also there's a whole bunch of other things that are in here be sure to check out the bulletin and grab those and you know post them up on your fridge or whatever you do with them I don't know but anyways why don't you to find a neighbor say welcome to First Baptist Church [Music] all right everybody we're going to go ahead and we're g to pray over our service today so if you guys would join me right now father we thank you for this time that we set solely dedicated together as a body to worship you God I pray for our hearts to be receptive to your word that we would die

Ourselves and what we think may be right or in our opinions but God you are the author Authority and so help us to submit to you I pray God for if there's any sin in our lives going on right now that you would reveal it Holy Spirit and that you would convict us and write us in our mindset so that way we can glorify you in living a holy and pleasing righteous life we thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins and paying the debt that we could not pay God we give you this time help us to worship you in spirit and in truth and we thank you for your goodness and mercy all the Days of Our Lives amen and if you would stand with us and join us in singing victory in Jesus I heard an all old Story how a sa came from Glory how he gave his life on Calvary to save a w like me I heard about his groaning of his Precious Blood atoning then I repented of my sins and won the victory oh Victory is Jesus my Savior forever he s me and bought me with his redeeming blood he love I knew him and all my love is to him he pled me to Victory beeath the cleansing blood [Music] I heard about his healing of his cing power ring how he made the lame to walk again and cause the blind to see and then I CED dear Jesus come and heal my broken spirit and somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory oh Victory Jesus my Savior forever he sought me and B me with his redeeming blood he me I knew him and all my love is to him he plunged me to Victory need the cleansing P I heard about a mansion He is built for me in glory and heard about the strs of gold beyond the crystal

Sea about the angels singing and the old redemptions story and some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of Victory oh Victory in Jesus my Savior forever he s me and B me with his redeeming blood he love me I knew him and all my love is to him he plunged me to Victory beneath the cleansing blood he plunged me to Victory the cleansing blood [Applause] oh Lord my God when I in awesome Wonder consider all the world thy hands have made I see the star I hear The Rolling Thunder thy power through out the universe ispl then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great th how great thou are then sings my soul my Savior God to the how great thou are how great th and when I think that God his son not sparing sent him to die I scarce can take it in let all the cross my bur glad gladly bued he bled and died to take away my sin and sings my soul my Savior God to [Music] Le how great th How Great Thou Art then s my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou how great thou when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me

Home what Joy shall fill my heart then I shall bow in Humble ation and their Proclaim my God how great thou are then sing my soul my Savior God to the how great th are how great thou are then sing my soul my Savior God to me how great thou are how great thou how great th [Music] how great [Music] th amen let's pray father God we give you thanks for this day that you've given us God thank you for each and every person here in this room God I pray that you would open up our hearts and our minds all that you have to teach us today God thank you for this offering thank you for how you provide for each and every one of our needs God not just in our families but also in this church please take this offering God and use it to bless many other families and we ask this all in your name amen hello I want to introduce myself my name is Pam drought and I've been coming here about 10 weeks and this morning I want to tell you about one of the Miracles that God performed in my life when I was 19 my husband and I had our first child his name was Jason and he was born without a soft spot in his head and they said did some test and said that when he was four months old that he'd have to have brain surgery and we took him home and took him to church and had him anointed and had him prayed for at 4 four months we went back to the doctor and they did the same test again they come back and said there's nothing wrong with this boy he does not need any surgeries or anything so God not only healed him but

He gave him an extra touch from the time he went to kindergarten his music teacher said that we needed to get him into piano lessons and into music so we started him in piano when he was in kindergarten by second grade his piano teacher came to me and said this child is teaching me I can no longer teach him then our church lost its piano player so in second grade my son began playing piano for the church and for the choir and now he has two Masters in music he has started very many Church schools choirs and bands and the one he's in right now he even started a show choir and they won first place at Hershey Pennsylvania this last year he can play any instrument that there is and sings beautifully but I am so thankful for God and his mercies and I thank him this is this year I have been saved for 50 years and I pray for all of you that if you don't know God today is the day he's such a wonderful God thank [Applause] you all right this next song most of you are going to have seen it before 10,000 reasons and I wanted to talk just real quick about about this song I woke up this morning with a with a check inside my spirit anybody ever wake up feeling something inside you and a song resonating inside your mind where you just hear this song and you hear the words and you can't even necessarily put music to it but God gives the words in the moment and so I YouTube it of course and I listen to it three or four times in the shower and my wife is worried I'm going to ruin my phone but it's all right but I fear sometimes that we as the church take worship to laxidasical

Do you understand that we are coming to the feet of the Almighty God do you understand that we are opening up our souls to the Almighty God A friend of mine has a sign on their wall that says the creator of the universe loves you so much that they made you that the creator of the universe Psalms 103 says my soul praise Yahweh and all that is within me praise His holy name my soul praises the Lord and do not forget all his benefits he forgives all of your sin my heart he heals all your diseases he redeems your life from the pit he crowns you with his faithful love and his compassion and he satisfies with goodness your youth is renewed like the evil we are coming to the feet of the Almighty God today and he wants to bring you peace he wants to bring you Joy he wants to bring you freedom from the struggles of life he wants to bring you Joy he wants to bring your life renewed he says he'll rise up you'll rise up like wings like an eagle right you your strength will be renewed that is the Almighty God that we come to the feet of this morning in worship and this is just a song with just words and we can sing those words and we can all think they sound really nice but if you allow your worship this morning to be a fragrant offering offering to the nostrils of God to rise up before him this morning then you will receive those blessings that he says in Psalms 103 bless the my soul oh my soul His holy name sing like never before oh my soul I worship your Holy Name the sun comes up it's a new day

Daing it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me let me be singing with the bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul ship His holy name sing like never before all my soul I worship your Holy Name you're rich in love and your slow to anger your name is great and your heart is kind for all your goodness I will keep on singing 10,000 Reasons hold my heart [Music] to bless the Lord of my soul oh my soul worship His holy name sing like never before oh my soul I worship your holy [Music] name and on that day when my strength is failing the end draws near when my time has come still my soul will sing your praise [Music] unending 10,000 years and live forever bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul I worship Him Holy Name sing like never before oh my soul I worship your Holy Name bless the Lord bless the Lord oh my soul my soul worship His holy name sing like never before oh my soul I worship your holy name I worship your Holy Name yes I worship your Holy [Music] Name worship your holy name [Applause]

[Music] you my strength when I am weak you are the treasure that I See You Are My All In All seeking you as a precious Jew Lord to give up I be a fool You Are My All In Jesus love of God Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name taking my sin my cross my shame Rising again I bless your name You Are My All In All when I fall down you pick me up when I am dry you fill my cup You Were My All In All Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name [Music] wory PR Lord to give up be a fo you my [Music] only Lord we thank you again for this moment with you are such an intimate all- knowing God creator of our very being so we give this time to you Lord help our eyes to see our ears to hear and our hearts to receive your word today we pray for pastor Cody as he delivers your word God that it would Pierce our hearts like a sword that your spirit would convict us and change our

Hearts to reflect Christ more we love you and we thank you for loving us this in Jesus' name amen pray for pastor Cody anyway pray for all of us Elders we need it okay we're looking at Mark in the same progression here on in chapter eight and we're gonna go through the whole passage but I want to focus on the fact that Jesus is a teacher and his disciples who have now been with him more than two and a half years are still being taught and sometimes you read in the Scripture and you wonder are these guys ever going to understand but they do they get it Jesus teaching came in many different situations he taught crowds he taught the 12 disciples sometimes he took aside three disciples and taught them more specifically and the reactions to his teaching varied a lot because when people were willing to hear him he got one reaction when they weren't will willing to hear him he got a whole different reaction we're going to see both of those this morning In this passage but when people were interested in what he had to say and willing to listen to what he had to say the kind of response he got looked like this he said confidently it looked like hey yeah good thank you we saw this earlier in the Book of Mark in the first chapter when he was teaching it says they were astonished at his teaching because he taught him as one with authority not like the scribes now the scribes you can't knock them they were teaching the Old Testament that's what they had to teach from and they were doing the best they knew to do but here we have the author of the Old Testament the author of the word of God teaching and when people were listening

To what he had to say they were blown away it was like wow if they weren't listening and didn't really care what he had to say we're going to see what that looks like as we get into the passage here but as we go through the passage think of Jesus as the teacher and think of what he's doing in his teaching because we're going to look at that in relation to the crowd and relation to the disciples but then we're going to kind of shift the picture 2000 years up to date and look at how he's teaching us we're also going to look at the disciples as Learners how were they doing what were they doing then we're going to shift that picture to us how are we learning what are we learning and then what are we doing with what we learn so I'd like for you to stand now we're going to go through this whole passage yes we are U and stand in honor of God's word this is Mark 8: 11- 21 and it starts out with people who weren't interested in hearing what Jesus had to say the Pharisees came and began to argue with him seeking from him a sign from Heaven to test him he sighed deeply in his spirit and said why does this generation seek a sign truly I say to you no sign will be given to this generation and he left them got into the boat again went to the other side now they had forgotten to bring bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat he cautioned them saying watch out Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees es and the Lev of Herod they began discussing with one another the fact they had no bread and Jesus aware of this said to them why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread do you not yet perceive or understand are your hearts hardened having eyes do you not see and having ears do you not hear and do you not remember when I broke the loaves for the 5,000 how many baskets of broken pieces

Did you take up they said to him 12 and the seven for the 4,000 how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up and they said to him seven and he said to them do you not yet understand father we thank you for your word we pray that we will understand that we'll sense the Heart of Jesus as he is in our midst as he is seeking to develop and build relationships with each one of us so we pray that as we consider his word here that your spirit would just Enlighten our hearts so that we can respond to Jesus and say Yes Lord we are beginning to understand thanks for that father in Christ's name amen yeah have a seat that is what amen means by the way mean sit down you probably always wondered right okay just kind of going through that passage you have Jesus and the 12 they're across the Sea of Galilee they've been east of the Sea of Galilee where he fed 4,000 people with seven Loaves and a few fish we heard about that last week so they go west back into Jerusalem country the country of the Jews and who meets them there when they get out of the boat Pharisees and what do they do did they say master we're here teach us no they argue with it they say show us something miraculous prove yourself otherwise who are you so they wanted to see this miraculous sign and in the passage in Mark it doesn't give us the full response so if you turn over to the parallel passage in Matthew you see that Jesus told them the only sign you're going to get is the sign of Jonah and the interesting part there is that he said okay let's get out of here so the disciples got in the boat with Jesus and headed up across the sea so he left the Pharisees there kind of scratching their head and saiding what's with Jonah

You know that was years and years ago but that was what Jesus left them with and they weren't going to understand that for quite some time okay so they went North to the North End Of The Sea of Galilee to a place called Betha and got out of the boat but on the trip that's what we're going to be looking at this morning the disciples realized uhoh we didn't bring any bread Long Boat Ride we want to eat something so they're kind of concerned about that and Jesus knows what they're thinking but he didn't say don't worry about bread I'll take care of it he said beware beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod now leevan we call it yeast it's what makees bread rise okay so the Pharisees are worried about bread they heard Jesus talking about leav and they're thinking H maybe we shouldn't buy that brand at the grocery store we should buy a different brand of leev not get the Pharisee brand or the Herod brand they're still thinking about food so they missed what Jesus was saying so they were probably kind of scratching their heads too because they're Focus was on bread what are we going to eat so Jesus knows what's going through their heads so he takes this opportunity it's a teaching time and he says okay let's have a little memory check here you guys don't seem to get it but what happened when we had 5,000 people plus their wives and their kids that didn't have enough food and we just had a few Loaves and a few fish what happened and they said well somehow you fed them and how much was left over well yeah 12 baskets full of food way more than they started with and so he goes on and what just happened on the other side

Of the lake well there were 4,000 hungry people there and we had a few more loaves and a few little fish and somehow they all got full and they were satisfied because of a miraculous feeding from the Lord and how many baskets were left over oh yeah that's right seven baskets and I kind of think by this time the disciples were thinking man we should have brought some of that with us then we'd have some bread but you see where their minds are they're thinking about their food and so Jesus after this little memory quiz when he's reminding them of what he had done ask them again and he said don't you get it so the disciples they're they're hearing this but they aren't getting it they did get part of it this is from the parallel passage in Matthew where it talks about the same boat trip and it says there at the end then they understood that it didn't tell them to Beware of the leaven of bread but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees okay so they're they're seeing a distinction here as Levan is worked into bread it goes all through through the bread those of you who bake bread and you need it and you get your yeast mixed up with it if doesn't you know mix completely in the dough then the bread has hard spots in it because part of it doesn't rise so it gets thoroughly mixed in and that's why Jesus is using leaven as kind of a an example of how the teaching works because when we are taught and we learn what we learn kind of works its way through our lives and then we start saying H Maybe This what I just learned could apply over here and maybe it might even apply

Here so that's how it kind of works through us and so Jesus has told his disciples to Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and Beware of the teaching of the Sadducees because it's going to work through your life and have bad results so the 12 the disciples they understand that now good we're making progress so you see the passage here though includes more than just a boat ride because Jesus reminded them of something that happened several months ago when he fed 5,000 people miracul ully and then what had just happened maybe a couple of weeks ago he'd fed 4,000 people miraculously and here's the disciples worrying because they don't have enough bread you think possibly it might have occurred to them hey he can make bread out of nothing maybe he could feed us all of us with one loaf maybe but it didn't seem to sink in so Jesus is saying to them don't you understand yet and they began to understand they began to understand that he's not talking about physical bread but he is talking teaching and so they're kind of moving along they're they're understanding something they're just not getting the main point yet we're going to get to the main point later but like the Pharisees h they didn't get it we want to make sure we can get it the summary though of what Jesus is teaching here covers two miraculous feedings and then a discussion of how does this work when they're going across the Sea of Galilee in a boat so let's take a look at a verse in Mark this is after the feeding of the 5,000 that occurred in our record in Mark chapter 6 whoops getting ahead of

Myself please please there we go the disciples here this was their reaction they didn't understand about the loaves the miraculous feeding of 5,000 people and their women and children from Five Loaves they didn't understand about that and their hearts were hardened okay when you think of people who have hard Hearts you think of people who just kind of don't understand or do you think somebody that's really upset mad with the world I'm not going to listen to you I don't care what you have to say that's a hard-hearted person in Scripture we're talking about somebody who really doesn't understand and we're going to take a look at hard Hearts as well later on when we look at the main point that Jesus wanted his disciples to really understand and really get so Jesus challenged his disciples in our passage today in verses 17 and 18 He challenged him to think it through saying you know what happened here I fed these people miraculously and you're not getting it you don't understand they're not getting the main point they're beginning to understand bits and pieces but they're really not making much progress here so let's look at Jesus teaching technique okay In this passage we see that Jesus taught them by word you know he's talking to them he was talking to crowds he was talking to the 12 disciples so that's a teaching technique he's speaking to them okay he used Parables he used sermons we talk about The Sermon on the Mount Jesus preached that sermon in Matthew chapters 5 through 7 got to laugh sometimes preachers today need at least I mean at least a half hour to get their

Message across right Cody some preachers need a whole lot more time than that in fact in the New Testament we hear about Paul preaching so late that this young man listening to him that was sitting up on the balcony fell asleep fell off long winded preachers how long does it take for you to read those three chapters in Matthew 56 and 7 I'll give you a hint if you just read them out loud at a normal speaking rate takes about 15 minutes did Jesus cover a lot of material there did he get his point across okay we have regressed a little bit in the 2,000 years since then it takes us longer to get a point across but so he taught by sermon he taught by words he used Parables and then he also taught by example he just lived his life which was completely consistent with his message so his example of how he lived perfectly matched what he was teaching so he also challenged their thinking he wouldn't just present something and leave it there he would also say what do you guys think about that do you understand what's being said that's what he did with the disciples here in the boat says don't don't you get it so like think about it remember what happened here with feeding the 5,000 remember what happened with de feeding the 4,000 don't you get it yet so he's teaching them but one of the things he's exhibiting in his teaching is patience you know if I was teaching somebody and said don't you get it I'm probably not expressing patience here I'm saying get on with the program but Jesus has been doing this with his 12 disciples for over two years now and he knows where they're at they're coming from the fishing boat or the tax

Collection booth and all of a sudden he's teaching them and showing them what a walk with the Lord looks like because day by day they are walking with Jesus and they're learning and he knows they're not getting it you'd figure after two years this guys are kind of thickheaded but no they're no different than us they were taking their time to get what Jesus was teaching and Jesus the master teacher was patient he hung in there with them he still walked with them and waited until they finally got it which they did finally get it come on there we go two of the disciples later after Jesus had been killed buried raised again returned to Heaven were speaking boldly about the Lord and the Pharisees called in Peter and John two of those 12 disciples and said what's with you guys we told you to stop teaching about this Jesus person why are you doing this and this last line here well the whole thing I'll just read it when they the Pharisees saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived they were uneducated common men they were astonished and they recognized they had been with Jesus Jesus had rubbed off on these 12 disciples took a long time but the process was complete and now these disciples were being used as Jesus ambassadors to the world spreading his message spreading his love spreading his salvation so they did get it they just haven't got it yet in our passage today we see them going across the lake worried about food worried about what are we going to eat we didn't bring enough so let's take a look at the disciples as Learners okay we've seen how Jesus was teaching but how were the disciples what was going on with them in

Their learning process okay one of the things we recognize real quick U they learn slowly remember this is two plus years into their time of Walking With Jesus seeing him heal people miraculously seeing him feed people miraculously seeing him do things that they'd never seen before and hearing him teach things they've never heard before for instance in The Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught this crowd saying you've heard that it was said by men of old don't commit murder but I say to you if you're angry and your heart you've done just the same he went on like that and he taught in a way that people had never heard before and with that first verse in Mark where it said that they were astonished at his teaching because he taught them as one having Authority not like the scribes so the disciples were exposed to all of that for three plus years and they were learning but it was taking a while so they learned slowly they had lots of stumbles along the way they had missteps they were they were just kind of fumbling along but they were learning okay they had a lot of head knowledge they'd heard Jesus speak they'd heard him explain things that they probably never understood before so they were getting knowledge but that knowledge hadn't kind of worked itself through them like the yeast Works itself through bread it was happen but it hadn't yet happened and they needed help they needed help to put everything together all of these amazing things that they had seen and even been a part of and had done it just wasn't forming a full picture for them yet so I don't know if any of you can think

Back to your school days and you're sitting in this classroom and a teacher is trying to explain something and it's going whoosh right over your head and you're thinking I don't I don't get what he's talking about that could kind of describe where the disciples were at this point a little more than halfway through Jesus ministry on Earth so Jesus is helping them he's helping them think through things okay and as learned Learners they needed time you know we were we've seen that they're learning slowly but they are learning but it's taken time so they needed that much time in that amount of time things finally started coalescing a little bit to where they recognized oh look at who he is so they did learn now we want to look at not just the disciples as Learners what about us how are we as Learners if I was take a to take a poll here of you that are believers and ask you how long have you been a believer in Christ we' get a lot of a big wide range some less than a year some less than a century but maybe not much less and yet we're all in that process of learning and what we're trying to learn isn't just a bunch of head knowledge we're trying to learn how to walk with Jesus how to let him live in us work in us and live out through us so how are we doing as Learners how do we compare with those 12 slow dudes that just had a lot of trouble okay we need repetition that's the first three laws of teaching by the way first law is repetition Second Law is repetition and the third law is

Repetition Jesus did that he repeated his lessons over and over and over in The Parables that he was teaching a lot of times he'd you know teach the parable and then later his disciples would come what do you mean here what do you mean by that and he'd explain it to him and okay good we got it then a couple days later a couple weeks later he'd tell another Parable and his disciples would come to him later and say what did you mean by that and he'd explain it okay good we've got it now and a little later you'd see the re repetition happening we see it here in this passage he fed 5,000 miraculously look what happened he fed 4,000 miraculously he did it again so the disciples got a repeated lesson there Jesus did that a lot the disciples need it we need it we need repeated lessons we need repeated teaching we've got God's word but we need to get back in it more than once we don't read a passage and okay I've got it we might think that but it didn't prove we need to read it again and again and again and again keep your nose in the book that is probably lesson number one for us keep ourselves in front of God that he might teach us and he teaches us through his word okay other things we need as Learners we need help we don't see everything first we don't get everything the first time we hear it second and third time we hear it sometimes we don't get it then it's just outside our normal range of thinking and so we need some help to put it all together God has given us help he's given us his word he's given us the church one another we have formal teaching times but maybe even more effectively we have one another we can bounce things off of see here I get to do all the talking you guys are stuck you just have to listen

It would be great as far as a teacher learner experience if it could be two ways you know I could say something you could say hey oh wait I didn't get that say that again or somebody else would say okay I heard what you said and here's what I think you meant did you really mean that interaction between Learners it doesn't happen in church just because of numbers when Jesus was teaching crowds he taught them so they learned they heard but there wasn't a lot of interaction so we try to put things together to allow interaction I really encourage each of you to be active in a community group because that's a time when you can look at a passage and bring questions and say gee what did he mean by this and then you hear somebody else say well here's what I think and you think nah I don't think so what does somebody else think and you get lots of opinions and you get lots of looks at what's in the passage pardon me from that we learn the interaction between Learners very helpful so if you're not in a community group get plugged in or at least check one out you know next Sunday morning go look for one sit in there and if they don't hiss and boo when you show up maybe that's a good thing you can stay plug in nobody's going to hiss and boo I hope okay so we need help and through the church the meeting together of Believers we get help and it's not just on Sunday morning we have a Bible study and prayer time on Wednesdays we have different Bible studies and get together groups that happen during the week plug in we've got a new one starting up on Mondays the guy in the orange shirt back there be one of the teachers for it and his wife plug in get yourself in the word and

Learn we need that because if we don't get that kind of help our learning kind of stops right there we don't continue to grow in the Lord okay the Lord knows what we need just like he knew what the disciples needed and he gave them what they needed he's doing the same for us he knows what we need as a body of Believers First Baptist Church of camon also as individuals he can look at I won't start pointing names out but he can look at each one of you and say okay she needs fill in the blank the Lord fills in the blank because he knows and he is working to teach us where we need to be taught okay let's get back to hard-hearted here I want to show you a verse that one I know several of you have memorized it several of you are very familiar with it but let's take a look at it for a minute here and think in terms of a description of people that are hard-hearted okay do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect okay be transformed by the renewal of your mind if you were to try to explain that verse to a 10-year-old kid that didn't grow up in church you'd have to word it differently so that's what we're going to look at this morning how does this communicate to us and basically what we're being told is that the way we naturally think as humans is not godly we don't naturally think in terms of here's God what's he doing now in this situation we're very self-focused we're in a situation we think gee how's this going to affect me

Or what can I get out of this but it's me rather than what's God doing in this situation and how might he use me to bring honor to him in this situation and that requires a transformation in the way we think and that's what in this case Paul was writing this as part of the letter to the Roman Believers to let them know that thinking change was necessary you think the disciples needed that here they're in the boat with the Almighty God the creator of the universe that individually loved each one of them and what's on their mind lunchtime what am I going to eat bread so Jesus tells them Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and they're thinking he said Le he must still be talking about bread because that's what's in their heads and that's how they are perceiving what's going on the next thing Jesus tells them is are you still hard-hearted and that's what he meant by hard-hearted their minds were not focused on God they were focused on themselves I hate to tell you this but we have the same problem our natural human way of thinking is very self-focused that's how we are we've got a couple of babies here in the auditorium how much do they think of anything other than I'm hungry I'm wet I'm tired I'm I'm I'm and that's natural that's how they're supposed to act when they're infants but they're also supposed to grow out of that and we are in the same issue we naturally think of ourselves and that's that's where our brains go naturally the change that the Lord is working in us and through us is to start rather than thinking okay my first thought is me what if my first thought is

God and what's he at work doing here because he says he is at work in this world H I wonder what he's doing and I wonder if he wants to use me as part of that even though the situation that I'm in looks pretty runchy I wish I wasn't here but I am here and God is here what's he using this situation for in my life and what does he want to use me for him in this situation that's a huge thought process shift each one of us needs to make that because that's what Jesus is wanting to teach us that's what he was wanting to teach the Pharisees that's what he was wanting to teach his disciples the Pharisees basically would not listen his disciples were listening and slowly they were getting it okay we as Learners slowly we getting it but we want to kind of expedite that process and get it a little more quickly so the way we do that is get involved with God we get involved with other believers and we kind of practice the presence of God in our lives and then as we do that it starts to become more natural and we start to think in terms of oh here I am in this situation what's got up to what's he want me to be up to for his sake and as that change starts we become a lot more effective for the Lord and our relationship with him grows a lot closer because we see him working in us we see him working through US wow so that's this hard-hearted thing we want to get away from being hard-hearted but that's what it looks like the disciples eventually got it and if you read through the book of Acts a little over halfway through it in chapter 17 U some of the disciples disciples those that they had taught got accused of

Turning the whole world upside down because God was using them so it's out there for us we have a world that has already looks like it Turns Upside Down but it needs to be flipped and God would like to do that but he'd like to use us to do that's the challenge that he gives us is that he is working but he works through us he works through the church as a whole he works through each one of us individually as Believers and in so doing he changes the world it's kind of mind-blowing if you think of it but he uses us to do that there we go this is what he's working on within us individually and corporately says Those whom he fornew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers starts with us he wants to conform us to the image of Christ his son so that there might be lots of us it spreads we might be the firstborn among many brothers in the Lord so that's what he's working on right now in me in you in us he's conforming us to the image of Christ Christ and as that happens we become closer and closer and closer to him now you think okay I hear the words how does it work in the letter that Paul wrote to the Philippian Church he's explaining it somewhat he says therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work within you both to Will and to work for his good pleasure okay God is at work this was written to individuals in Philippi who had become Believers so the church as a whole was

Getting this exhortation individuals we're getting it and the message there is that God is at work within us and it's real interesting to me both to Will and to work when he's working within me to will something he's developing a want to he's getting me to want to do something be something for him okay sometimes that want to would be talk to the Lost members of my family that don't know the Lord I don't want to do that because I've done that in the past and they don't want to hear about it but do they need it they need it U are there others in their lives I pray that there will be but when I'm around them I'm maybe the other that knows the Lord that can communicate that to them I need to want to in order to do that it's a lot easier to talk about football but the Lord I guess I won't say he's not interested in football he probably roots for the Chiefs but that's not the most important thing the most important thing is where people stand with our God with their God they want to stand before him in Praise rather than stand before him in Jud so he is working and he is working within us and as a in the same letter to the Philippians Paul writes this verse and again another one that we clamp on to and say yeah I'm GNA memorize that I'm sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus so not only is he working he's successfully he's going to bring it to completion we will be like him on the way it'd be nice if we could be more like him day by day by day by day as he works in us to change the way we think so that we want to serve him we want to be his representative his Ambassador and he'll give us the power to do

That so I'd like to ask the music team to come back up here now and while they're coming up here I'm going to give you our little closing Splurge of head hand and heart if you get nothing else out of this morning understand that God wants us to know him not just know about him but know him individually that's what he wants of us pardon me heart knowing that knowing that God wants us to know him believe that he's using your lives and your circumstances to conform you to his image just like he said you know he says he's going to do something does he ever let us down never if he says he's going to do it he does it so believe it and act on and hand allow him the freedom to work in you and to work through you in your individual particular circumstances and ask him to help you recognize him and recognize how much he loves you even though you're in this nasty situation where you'd really rather not be but you're there you can't wiggle out of it so ask God to use that situation to help you grow closer to him and to use you in the lives of others around you okay one last thing here H when Paul wrote or excuse me when Peter wrote his letters to Believers he wrote two of them at the very end of his second letter this is his Commendation to us says grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and forever amen but you're already sitting stand [Music] so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take him and his word just to rest upon his Pro just to know the say the Lord Jesus Jesus how I trust him how I him more and

All Jesus preious Jesus Oh for Grace to trust him more oh how sweet to trust in Jesus just to trust his cleansing BL just in simple fith to PL me need the healing cleansing BL Jesus Jesus how I trust him how I him more and Jesus preious Jesus Oh for Grace to trust him more I'm so glad I learn to trust preious Jesus Savior friend and I know that thou art with me will be with me to the Jesus Jesus how I trust him how I Pro him all and all Jesus preious Jesus Oh for Grace to trust him praise the Lord amen hey if y'all could have seat real quick if I could have Matt and Brooke y'all come on up is your there she is so this is a family that's been in our church for a little while now and they've been fellowshipping with us they just recently went through the new members class and they've given good evidence of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and they said they want this church to be their their home church and so and that is by letter correct that would be by letter from another sister church and so if y'all would receive them into our

Fellowship would you say amen all right awesome any opposed okay all right awesome praise the Lord be sure to hug their next as they come up here I'm going to pray for us and then we can go and eat lunch and have your bread and all that good stuff so let's pray father thank you so much for Matt and for Brooke and for their joining in community here Lord and I just pray that you would just bless them abundantly I know that you already have and I thank you for that thank you for what you're doing in our church we're just so thankful for it we surrender ourselves to you Lord thank you for that word from Brother Steve and I just pray that leaven of the Pharisees would not be found in our hearts Lord or in a church or in our faith community Lord but that we would just conform ourselves more and more by the power of your spirit into the image of Jesus Christ help us Lord we love you and we give ourselves to you today help us to go forth as your ambassadors in all that we think and say and do in Jesus name [Music] amen for