What will you do with Jesus? 04/14/24 Mark 3:31-35

[Music] m [Music] for [Music] l [Music] you [Music] in [Music] I [Music] in [Music] for [Music] he [Music] can't [Music] he for [Music] good [Music] morning good morning church test one two am I coming through am I on can you hear me no test it is it is on okay there we go awesome hey who's ready for baptism [Applause] guys now we do have the heater going and it's a balming 70 degrees in here and so but if we turn it up too high guess what the breaker trips and so yeah be praying about that hey it's good to see you for those that are a part of Robert's family welcome for those that are part of cat's family welcome we're so glad that you're here and we're so happy to celebrate what God has done in the lives of these people if you look in your bulletin okay one of the things that's in there is their baptism testimonies and so I get to hear these testimonies and these are very condensed versions I would encourage you to talk to some of these people I had to cut Roberts down quite a bit there

But go and talk to him talk about what Christ has been doing in their lives and I hope that it's just a blessing to you to see how God is working in the lives of people in our church so the first person that we're going to be baptizing here is Robert so Robert if you would come on down church family would you welcome him into the baptism W all [Applause] right and so I me and Robert we've known each other for several years now and really the ministry started through premarital counseling and just so thankful that the Lord has brought you into my life and that got a text from him on a Monday he's like hey do you got time this evening to talk about salvation I was like clear my schedule okay yes there is time for that and you can read about his testimony there Robert have you repented of your sins yes have you trusted in Christ alone for salvation yes are you excited man yeah are is this the first step of obedience for you in your walk of being a disciple of Christ yes Robert it's on that profession of Faith okay that I baptize you my brother in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit buried in the likeness of his death and raised to walk in newness of life [Applause] and Kathleen she is a fiance of Desmond who is recently baptized in our church and now they're planning on getting hitched and all that type of stuff so praise the Lord for that and she said you know I need to make this profession of Faith public and so cat if you would come into the baptism Waters y'all would welcome her to the baptism Waters as well yeah it's okay it's all

Right so cat you know we gotten to hear your testimony and you guys can read it as well and I really hope that you do it's awesome it's it's really awesome I love how it starts out but Christ has been doing a good work in your heart too yeah and you've repented of your sins you trust in Christ alone for your salvation and this is the first step of obedience for you as well and your walk with Christ yes okay cat it's my privilege as your brother in Christ to baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit buried in the likeness of his death and raised to walk in newness of [Applause] Life praise the Lord amen hey it's so good to see you here and God is at work and it's fun to see God doing so many cool things we do have something that's going to be happening here in a few weeks among our senior adults and so if you would turn your attention to the screen as we show this video about old bethl church nestled away in a quad secluded area just outside of Jackson Missour you'll find the historical beginnings of Missouri Baptist at Old bethl Church as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of John pek's missionary movement throughout Northern Missouri we must look back when old bethl was established as the first recorded Church West of the Mississippi old bethl was chartered in 1806 just 3 years after the completion of the Louisiana Purchase in 2002 restoration began on o bethl to restore an icon of Missouri Baptist history I was sitting in my office one day my name my own business and phone ring it was the Baptist building was calling me to tell me that a real estate developer had bought some land near the O Beth building and had found the original logs in a barn they had taken the original logs and made a corn crib inside a barn so they was they were perfectly

Preserved so we provided the money Second Baptist did to purchase the logs to save them and there was a man a cape named Melvin gaty who had done historic work for the City of Cape Gerardo he had helped them restore some historic buildings he's a southern baptist and he said yes he would help us put those logs together to reconstruct what we thought the church might have looked like when we sat inside this church we know it had to be here because the documents describe the church as having a fireplace in one end the pull pit in the other end a door that goes out facing the East look off to your left you'll see the spring all of those things the WID the width the length the 10t ceiling everything is as close to historical accuracy as we can get the nails that hold this floor down are 200 years old the windows the window panes are over 200 years old everything you see around here dates back to 200 years ago when Baptists were exalting God for the first time in this area all Missouri Baptists should take a trip to old bethl and remember the missionary efforts of our past you have to recall that this was the first non Catholic Church West of the Mississippi there's no doubt that o Bethal is historic and critical to the Missouri bap's life first of all it reminds us the importance of church planting but old bethl started nine churches in this area including First Baptist Church at Jackson but then it's also important to Missouri Baptist because of what happened to it and then they're downall PA came about because they decided to circle the wagons and concentrate only on their Church it became hard shell basically it became very anti-missionary it became totally enclosed in itself and it died they were going to take care of old bethl only and old bethl died a slow death we need to learn lessons they weren't perfect

They made mistakes and we need to learn from their mistakes and we need to hand it down to those that come after us it reminds us that without missions we have no reason to exist so it's the value of today we would call The Cooperative program but it's the value of what you can do when you're unified it's the value of what you can do when you're lock step Harmony and that doesn't mean everybody agree on everything but you're in Harmony on end results if you'd like to help maintain and continue improvements to O bethl for generations to come please give to the NBC and designate your funds to Old bethl I think the key word to us would be accessibility is there any way we can ever make that piece of property where people can go see it right now it's all it's restriced there's not a positive good way you can tell people go see it take your family have a good time out there and let them enjoy a little bit of History we need some more modern convenience is out here restrooms being number one we have to get a water supply out here even for our own protection because we're out of the fire district right now I could see with improvements at the site we need restrooms we need water available there and I could see more churches coming and using othl more if you're ever going through Southeast Missouri you need to go to Jackson Missouri it's worth a trip it is deeply moving when you understand what happened there and I would encourage you and your family to do [Music] that it's hard to follow up announcements with baptis from baptisms that's for sure you know I look outside and I see the Sun and I'm thankful that the Lord's mercies are new every morning and what a great way to start the service with two baptisms Eternal

Morning for those folks praise the Lord got a couple announcements here that I need to make the fundraiser total last week I guess it's all come in now has been $2,834 that's enough to pay for 11 students out right so good job coming up next week we have the children's ministry meeting and potluck please plan to attend if you are new to signing up and to volunteering please come out we need you there we need to be unified on the on the task at hand as I have been informed that there's probably going to be more kids than what I was originally expecting so we need to be unified for sure also Dogwood festivals coming up April 27th and business meeting April 28th as I do not believe there is a potluck is there a Unity potluck on April 28th as well Austin do you know okay we do not know all right well there is a meeting anyway so plan to attend if you want to now please stand up and greet your neighbor and get ready for the service [Music] it's e spe so this children is Ministry you know hot luck is that for what age okay all right all right [Music] I know we had do oh yeah it is the G all right okay sounds good [Music] for [Music] well good morning church it's so good to see you all here this morning what an awesome time of Celebration we've already had and now we're going to move into a time of worship through song and worship through hearing God's word preached and then it's my prayer that we would continue to

Worship as we go from this place spreading the good news of Jesus Christ at this time we like to just take a moment and prepare our hearts and our minds for worship so I'd invite invite you to Bow your heads and close your eyes with me if you're with your family feel free to pray with and over them or with and over your friends it doesn't have to be silent okay but I invite you now to just ask the Lord to prepare you for worship Lord there are so many things that so easily distract us from who you are and what you've done God I pray that this morning you would help us to look away from those things to lay them down at your feet and instead to focus on you Lord there's people in this room today that are hurting that are grieving that are struggling and Lord we pray that this morning you would help us as a church body to encourage one another through that we pray that you would help them to turn that morning into worship knowing that you are in control and that there is a greater thing coming for those who believe Lord there are those of us today who are struggling with anger and with strife and Lord I pray that you would help us to recognize who you are Lord that you'd help us to remember the great mercy and Grace that's been shown to us and to turn that anger back into praise to you it's in Jesus name we pray Amen in the book of First Timothy we read to the king of the ages immortal invisible the only God be honor and Glory forever and ever amen I invite you to join to stand and join us as we [Music] sing Immortal invisible God only might in exess from our Most Holy glorious the anent of days Almy Victorious Your Great Name we

[Music] pra unting and Silent not wanting or wasting you rule us in your Justice like mountaining above your Cloud are mountains of goodness and love Most Holy glorious the Ancient of Days Alm mightyy Victorious Your Great Name we praise [Music] all life you and all live the true life of all we BL and flourish but quickly grow we andage but you never [Music] great father of Glory your father your angels adore you alling their sight all prise we Willer father of prise to one we to Most Holy most [Music] glorious the Ancient of Days Alm Mighty Victorious Your Great Name we pra Most Holy most glorious the Ancient of Days almightyy Victorious your name we [Music] praise that is the God we serve this morning Most Holy most glorious Immortal invisible the only wise God what an excellent thing that we get to Proclaim that together and two of us get to Proclaim it a new as they have entered into a new understanding of who that God is that they serve this next one is Our Song of the month oh for a thousand tongues to [Music]

Sing oh for a thousand T to my great Redeemer praise the glories of my God and King the triumphs of his [Music] gra my gracious master and my God assist me to Proclaim to spread through all the Earth the honors of thy name Jesus the name that CHS fears that our sorrow music the S is life and he breaks the power of he sets the priser his blood can make the his [Music] for his your Lo T keep behold youri come and L for Glory to God glory to God and praise Ever by Saints below and Saints above the church Earth [Music] you can be seated as our ushers come forward to take up the offering good morning church good to see you all again for those of you that don't know me my name is Nathan I'm one of your deacons it being the new guy here they asked me to come up and to share share something about tithing that's been kind of a topic on everybody's Hearts here lately and to be quite honest I didn't really know what to say to begin with I mean you can just throw Scripture out there but there's I think more of a heart to it I was thinking about one of my books that I've been studying about the life of Jesus and about discipleship and one of the quotes that the author shares in the book is that the single biggest grief we can bring to the Heart of Jesus is by estimating not only what he wants to do in us but also through us and while that was in the context of discipleship that also

Applies to our giving and what our church is doing and church I can assure you that God is on the move here God is working and changing hearts and he's using this church to reach our members and reach our community one of the Ministries that's near and dear to my heart is weak care weak care ministers not only to children in the community but also to my family and a lot of families here Weare provides Christ centered daycare to improv families in the community and Weare has been Faithfully doing that for years to the point now where Weare is setting examples to the state about how to run a Christ Center daycare so anyways let me pray for the offering dear God thank you for this beautiful day that you've given us thank you for everybody here God thank you for how you're moving in this church God I pray that you'll use this offering to the furtherance of your kingdom God and to bring glory to yourself we ask this all in your name amen you're GNA stay up here right sure at this time we also have child dedication and so praise the Lord for that amen and so if you're one of those families that are here to dedicate your child I think the hours borns the gust of sins the tailor oh yeah you shouldn't have asked him to help with the offering sorry about that Brendan but he's always willing to help so praise the Lord but if you want to go ahead and come on up and Matt and Brooke if y'all want to make your way up as well as you guys know we do we do we take child dedication very seriously here because it's not just a covenant that these parents are making a public promise to raise these children in the Lord but as a congregation okay I also ask you to participate in this to hold these

Families accountable and to encourage them as they as they desire to know the Lord and raise their children to know Christ this is an opportunity for you to say I will help them amen and so cuz we're we're not alone in this that's why we have a church family amen that's why we are together for many of us like myself I'm from Virginia my wife's from Texas you guys are from Wisconsin y'all moved here from Colorado you know we got families from all over the place that are here and we are united together by something really wonderful that is the Holy Spirit WR salvation I want to take a moment and I want to read to you guys Psalm 127 and it says this unless the Lord builds the house those who build it labor in vain unless the Lord watches over the city The Watchman stays awake in vain it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved sleep and those who were tired said amen especially these young parents behold children are a Heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them he shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate amen parents I'm going to ask you some questions and you can affirm them publicly here and congregation I'm going to be asking you guys questions as well and you all will have the opportunity to affirm them as well parents do you hear this day publicly recognize your child as the gift from God and give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing for them church do you agree that a that children are a blessing from the Lord and thank God Almighty for the blessing of children in our church parents do you hear this day

Publicly dedicate your child to the Lord who created them church do you celebrate with me the public dedication of children to the Lord it's awesome I love you guys parents do you hear this day publicly pledge as parents that you will bring up your child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord church do you hereby agree to help the Guston the tayor the ours borns with this responsibility parents do you hear this day publicly promise to give your child every possible benefit of a loving home a well-rounded education and a Gospel centered marriage and family church do you promise to join these families in their passionate pursuit of raising a Godly family parents do you hear this day publicly ask God's blessing upon the child's life to guide their steps guard their hearts and direct the minds of your children throughout all of his or her years okay church do you this day and every day forward commit to being a blessing to these Brothers and Sisters in Christ and their children seeking God's glory and the good of your neighbor amen at this time these fathers get the opportunity to pray a blessing over their children would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me as we pray for these children father God thank you for Naomi thank you for what a blessing she is to our family God we know that your timing is perfect in all things thank you for the joy that she brings to everybody around her God please help her to grow in Grace and grow in Beauty God thank you for just everything that she means to us God we ask this in your name I'd like to say just a few extra things if you have your Bibles with you and I hope that you do sorry I couldn't resist that one but Proverbs

22:6 says you should start a child off the way that they should go and when they become older they will not turn from it and it my father used to recite a Jesuit Maxim that was give me the boy to the age of seven and I'll show you the man and it just makes me think of Youth as like an ember that we must be ever Vigilant to nurture should it grow into a large flame but should we neglect that ember it will surely go out and can't have that's why my wife and I are Overjoyed to dedicate our daughter Charlotte to the Lord Jesus Christ today dear heavenly father if you would please keep your hands steadfast on us all as we walk the narrow and straight path to your kingdom not for our reward but for your glory in Jesus Christ's name we pray amen father God thank you for the blessing that our son Nathan is to us thank you for the opportunity to be his parents we pray that you would help Brooke and I to be Godly Parents and guide us as we seek to raise him up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord in Jesus name we pray amen and church I'm just going to take a moment and pray for these parents as well and my wife has some gifts for you guys from the church but make sure that thank you for being for doing that let's pray for these parents as well Lord thank you so much for Nathan for Katherine for Brendan for Rachel for Matt and Brooke God I just pray that you would have your hand all over them protect their marriage protect their health protect their finances protect their character Lord I pray that you would just go before them as they seek to raise these children to know you to love you to serve you God I just pray that you would just Empower them with every step of the way and Lord for many of us that have children

Help us to be a blessing to them to encourage them for those that have grown children Lord help them to be wise sounding boards and relational mentors that are willing to speak into these these adults lives Lord and thank you Lord for so many that function as almost grandparents that we can lean on and I just pray for your peace and your blessing on these families Lord be with them be in their homes be all over them God may they just be fully saturated with the Holy Spirit always carrying that phas arrant of Christ and how they conduct themselves as parents and his spouses Lord we love you bless them and watch over them in Jesus precious name amen as we turn back to what a great day that we get to worship together through all these different Avenues and glorify God together but as we turn back to worship through song I wanted to read to you out of Romans chapter 6 we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been unified with him in a death like his we shall certainly be un united with him in a resurrection like his we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin what an awesome truth that is what an awesome symbol that is of burial and Resurrection through baptism and so now I invite you to join me once again as we sing of the Incarnation of the perfect life of Christ and of his death burial and Resurrection so I invite you to stand and join me as we sing [Music] come behold the W in theing of the

King he the of Heaven praises we are longing in our dark now the light of life has to [Music] Christ my [Music] to come behold theous my he the perfect son of in his Liv in [Music] his see the true and [Music] better the H man Christ The Great and fulfillment of [Music] the come behold theous myy Christ the Lord the tree in thead of ruing sers hangs the lamb in Victory see the price of our Redemption see the father's bringing Sons to glory and [Music] love come behold theous myy slain by death the God of life but no gra every Str praise the Lord he is alive a tast [Music] of in our home Christ in power resurrect as we will be what a of deliv how unwavering our Christ in resurrected as we will be when Hees what a poor taste of Deliverance how our

Home Christ in power resurrected as we will be when he [Music] comes pray with me Lord we thank you and we praise you for the sign and seal of Resurrection Lord that we have hope in a bodily Resurrection just as was seen in Christ who came to be the payment for our sins so that we might you might look at us and see his righteousness Lord I pray that you would help us to continue to worship this morning that you'd help us to pay careful attention and know that there is something from your word for us today that you've called us here for a reason Lord I pray this in Jesus name amen well if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Mark chapter 3 we're in this 3-we series what will you do with Jesus Christ I want to tell you a little bit about this French philosopher now 99% of the time when a pastor starts the sermon about French philosophy should just tune out but please don't do that here okay I promise there's a purpose behind it but this guy right here his name is gam binan which is William in French and he is a was a French atheist okay he was he's got a PhD in philosophy he's an academic philosopher and he was on scholarship at his university for volleyball and while he was on vacation he met a very pretty girl that he wanted to get with okay and she shared the Gospel with him and absolutely refused any kind of physical relationship with him at that time and she said no we got to wait until marriage and he felt like that was IR irrational irrational and unreasonable in regards to his worldview so he said out said well in order to be able to be with this girl I have to proves her prove her faith to be

Wrong God uses really anything to draw people to himself and so he did he sat down he sat down and he said you know what if I'm going to do this I'm going to I'm going to do this right I'm going to start reading the Gospels and he was struck with Christ's Authority and how he just navigated conversations now even as an atheist believes that Jesus was at least a historical figure there's no one that denies that but still he got to read what Jesus was saying and he got to see what Jesus did and then he started to realize that these these followers they changed and their whole lives were reoriented around Jesus Christ as actually more than just some man But as God himself incarnate shortly after he began his research his right shoulder his spiking shoulder inexplicably just starts going out he would be able to play for about 10 minutes and then all of a sudden it would get weaker and weaker and weaker and so the doctor started looking at it his U the personal trainers were looking at there was no real reason other than well your shoulder just must be tired you need to take about a month off and just rest so he had these Sundays open and so he messages this girl and says where should I go to church I was raised Roman Catholic and I don't want to go back that direction So she recommends an Evangelical Church in Paris he walks in and he said it was like I was in a zoo okay except in a zoo all the animals are behind bars and so he just felt like there was no escape and he's there in the service and I want to just read to you his testimony because this is what he said he said I don't remember a word that the preacher said on that day he finished his sermon and I thought I've heard enough I saw what I needed to see now let me get out of here I jumped on my feet and quickly walked down the aisle toward the large

Exit door at the back of the church very carefully avoiding making eye contact with anybody so that I wouldn't have to introduce myself to any of these people I reached the back door I opened it and I literally had one foot out the door when suddenly I stopped in my tracks and I had the strong chilling blast in my chest it went up from my stomach all the way to my throat and I stopped there Frozen on the spot with these Goosebumps and I heard myself saying this is ridiculous I have to figure this out so I put my foot back in closed the door in front of me and I turned around went straight to the Head pastor and said do you so you believe in God yes he responded with his file and he said so how does that work out so this led to many discussions for this young man with this pastor who met with him several times for several hours discussing many different things discussing the Gospel discussing God's word and yet one answer that constantly evaded him was why did Christ have to die why did Christ have to die and once again William writes at that point I had come to more seriously think that all this could be true and if that was the case the ground below me was shifting and God would need to catch me my attempts at praying had turned into God if you're there I'm now going to need you to make it plain for me which I think that many of us have prayed that prayer before and I started to hope that he would just open up the sky and send down light and say welcome son what he did instead was much less theatrical but much more brutal he reactivated my conscience and that was not a pleasant experience I was struck with an intense guilt physically crippled with pain and disgusted at the thought of the things that I had done and the lies that I had told it goes into much more detail

There I still remember lying there in pain in my apartment near Paris when all of a sudden the quarter dropped and made sense that is why Jesus had to die me he who knew no sin became sin on my behalf so that in him I might become the righteousness of God and he took upon himself the penalty that I deserved so that in God's justice my sins would be forgiven freely by Grace as a gift rather than my righteous Deeds or religious rituals he died so that I might liveen amen and so I would recommend you guys read this book okay or go online read his blog it's chock full of fantastic information but that's his story but we have to deal with that question ourselves what will you do with Jesus Christ and we've been in this series and we've seen the disciples being called by the Lord Jesus Christ we saw people from Christ Community wanting to take him home because they thought that Jesus was out of his mind we saw the Pharisees they were less than kind and they said that he's the prince of demons yeah but what about Jesus's family we don't know much about Jesus's developmental years in fact we only have one story from when Jesus was 12 years old in Luke chap 2 cuz Jesus he went missing after his parents went to Passover and they traveled to they were on their way to Nazareth when they said well we haven't seen Jesus in a few days and the reason is he's 12 years old he's old enough to you know handle himself but also they were traveling by Caravan among so have you have you seen Jesus no oh well we need to go back to Jerusalem he might be there and so here's the story in Luke 2: 49-51 and he said to them why were you looking for me did you not know that I must be in my father's house and they did not understand the saying that he spoke to

Them and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart why didn't they understand I mean didn't she have a Heavenly visitor like in Luke Chapter 1:35 this is what the angel said to her the angel answered her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you therefore the child will to be born will be called holy the Son of God so why the confusion why the misunderstanding I'll tell you why a spoiler alert Because unless there is Heart Change information alone does not save imagine growing up with Jesus as a big brother what would that have been like clearly he would have been perfect which may have irritated the tar out of you but as think about him as your big brother that doesn't mean that you would always get along with him how many times have you had a confrontation with someone only to realize that you were the one in the wrong we don't like that but we do know a bit about the brothers of Jesus Christ we know why they didn't believe more importantly we are we're going to talk about today what makes us members of God's family and so let's talk about that together if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark chapter 3 verses 31-35 God's word it says this and his mother and his brothers came and standing outside they sent to him and called him and a crowd was sitting around him and they said to them to him your mother and your brothers are outside sinking seeking you and he answered them who are my mother and my brothers and looking about at those who sat around him he said here are my mother and brothers for whoever does the will of God he is my brother and sister and mother let's pray

Lord I just pray that as we talk about the family of God that those who are not a part of your family that today they would become a part of it I pray that those who don't have that Eternal hope would have hope today and Lord I just pray that you would deal with our hearts according to this passage help us to live on Mission always seeking to proclaim the Gospel especially especially among those who need to hear it the most God help us to conduct ourselves with love as Christ does help us to conduct ourselves in truth as Christ does help us to conduct ourselves with Grace as Christ does and Lord where we fall short of that we pray for your grace to make up for it in our lives please God help us in Jesus name amen well there 's a lot of misconceptions about Mary the mother of Christ in our world of course Mary she's mother of Jesus and at the very beginning if you come from a Roman Catholic background you're familiar with the H Hail Mary they take this part of Elizabeth's proclamation in Luke 1 verse 42 blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb as Christians we can look to Mary as an example of Faith steadfastness in the midst of an extremely hard time she was an unwed woman that was carrying a baby in first century Israel that's a tough spot to be in isn't it especially since you know it's a Son of God and you know this became public knowledge she went into hiding for a little bit and spent several months with Elizabeth until she started to show and then she couldn't hide it anymore and then that was a scandal but Joseph still married her but it was it was public information it was very rare during that time and even Jesus's critics brought

That up in the middle of a debate in John chapter 8 they said they said to him we were not born of sexual immorality man can you imagine someone bringing up your like birth like throwing that out there for everyone you know like that's just that's just tough that's wrong right and they weren't even debating anything like that it was it was just that they knew about it and they were using any way that they could to try to prove Jesus wrong now Mary obviously she knew that something was very different about her son just the circumstances surrounding his conception and his birth the flight to Egypt coming back moving to Nazareth but that doesn't mean that she fully comprehended everything about who Jesus was in fact John Chapter 2 Jesus is approaching by Mary to perform the very first miracle in John Chapter 2 we read Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples when the wine ran out the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine and Jesus said to her woman that's a title of Honor okay what does this have to do with me my hour has not yet come his mother said to the servants do whatever he tells you now was Mary expecting in a miracle at this point no why he hadn't performed any Miracles yet why would she expect that to be done here's what I think I think that Jacob or excuse me Joseph was he had passed already he's the oldest son and there's a problem and so she goes to the one who is the primary caretaker the one that she would go to if there is a problem handle this very dire situation but in spite of all the wonderful things that she had seen and heard at his birth there wasn't a lot else to go on except that Jesus was an exceptional kid unique very good responsible obedient loving but was that information enough to save was the pays of child birth

Enough to make Mary Justified no in the kingdom of God our knowledge in our good works are not enough to get us into heaven even Mary herself will profess her own son to be her Lord and Savior because giving birth to the Savior does not save faith alone in Jesus Christ saves and so what about Jesus's brothers well Christ's family they were well known in Nazareth when Christ visited the city the people they couldn't believe that Jesus was a prophet and Jesus wasn't even able to do any good works there listen to what it says in Matthew Chapter 13 is not this the carpenter son is not his mother called Mary and not are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas Judas was a very common name okay and are not all his sisters with us where then did this man get all these things and Nazareth rejected Jesus Christ in spite of knowing him in spite of watching him grow up why the answer comes from Scripture John chapter 1 he was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him he came to his own and his own people did not receive him but to all who did receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood that is naturally nor of the will of the flesh that is ourselves nor of the will of man that's others choices but of the will of God that is how rebirth takes place it's not through information although information is needed it is the spirit of God that regenerates the hearts of men it is a supernatural work of God this unbelief it extended into the community and into the home in John chapter 7 verse one it says this it says this I promise everything's working except for that is it crashed back there no okay yeah keep it highlight it for

Me buddy all right after this Jesus went about in Galilee he would not go about in Juda because the Jews were seeking to kill him okay at this point in time Jesus has already been threatened within an inch of his life now the Jews Fe of Boose was at hand so his brothers said to him leave here and go to Judea that your disciples may also see the works that you're doing for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly if you do these things show yourself to the world for not even his brothers believed in him notice that they didn't deny his works you know if you're you're doing these things do them openly do them for everyone to see what they didn't know is that Christ did not come into the world to reveal himself to the world he came to this world to reconcile Sinners to God and that the people would not receive him that's why he would say things like it is not yet time it is not yet time it is not for this purpose that I came and how sad is that not even his own Brothers believed in him and so as we go back over to Mark chapter 3 we know that Mary's knowledge about her son was not complete even though she was told that he was the son of God by Angels she didn't believe in him like that the brothers didn't believe in him period and so now Christ family they come and they stand outside of Christ's home and they're calling to him this means that they're asking to speak with him why well because Jesus was bringing shame upon the family what Christ was doing was reflecting poorly upon the community of Nazareth and upon the house of Joseph what Christ was doing had been heard of some 40 miles away from where capernium is and his brothers felt that was so serious that you know what we're not going to just take the 11-hour walk to perum we're going to bring along our

Mom in order to get Christ's attention and he was teaching some radical things and saying things that the religious leaders were in direct opposition to can like they were going to accuse him of blasphemy they were accusing him of being possessed by the devil and if the family didn't take action then his whole family would risk being excommunicated from the synagogue and alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and so the family they traveled to capernium but they couldn't get in because the house was so full and instead of waiting patiently they interrupted Christ's teaching and they sent in a messenger your mother and your brother are outside seeking you other passages say they're Desiring to see you and Christ's response is very interesting and for most of us if our mom walked 11 hours to come and see us we would drop everything that we were doing to go outside and to see what was wrong but Christ doesn't why it's a good question I'm glad you asked it's because there was nothing that the brothers said that were going to be fruitful and he knew it what was so important for them to interrupt the creator of the universe's teaching what was so urgent that they should interrupt God incarnate healing and this is a great example of what people used to call Vanity Jesus he came with all authority in heaven and on Earth but his family they say well we have authority because we are Jesus's family vanity it's synonymous with pride with narcissism with conceit typically when we think of a vanity we think of a place where where women apply makeup right now you know why it's called vanity but what's so pressing I'm if it was something that was full of Truth why not just say

It but this is just plain old selfishness and I'm tempted to think that's more the brothers than Mary going back to John chapter 7 his brothers they said leave here and go to Judea that your disciples may see the works you are doing for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly if you do these things show yourself to the world for not even his brothers believed in him this passage simply proves that they knew that his Works were Supernatural just like the Pharisees they knew that his Works were not some gimmick they were not the works of a charlatan they weren't Illusions or deceptions they were legitimate actual miracles and yet even those do not provide saving faith in spite of the Miracles in spite of The Parables and the teaching and the followers his own brothers did not believe and this proves that faith is the gift of God is and is not caused by evidences in Jesus he asks who are my mother and my brothers this isn't to be understood literally it's why Christ's last request from the cross was to was for John to take care of his mother no he has a purpose behind this question he doesn't say go away you're not my family that would be dishonoring his mom and it would be bearing false witness his question it Sparks an important point that we should take note of and that spiritual kinship is more vital Than Physical kinship being a part of the family of God is more important than where you can came from or what your family heritage is his point here is that being a part of the family of God is not the result of giving birth or being related to Jesus Christ himself but by trusting in Him by faith and this is reaffirmed in Romans Chapter 2 look at this for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly nor a circumcision that is the Covenant of God okay outward and

Physical but a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is IM of the Heart by the spirit not by the letter his praise is not from man but from God it's not about natural birth it's not about your works it's about what your relationship is with Jesus Christ do you know him do you know him as your Lord and Savior in verses 354 and 35 of Mark chapter 3 it concludes Christ's teaching on this topic and he's looking around around at those who sat around him and he said here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the will of God he is my brother and sister and mother what Christ is doing here is he is explaining that the family of God being a part of the family of God the proof of being in the family of God is those that do the will of God and are obedient let me qualify that in a little bit okay Christ he emphasizes this again in Luke 11: 27-28 and he said these thing and as he said these things he's teaching a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that what you nursed but he said blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it Christ when talking to the leaders of Israel in John 8:39 he they answered him Abraham is Our Father and Jesus said to them if you were Abraham's children you would be doing the works Abraham did what did Abraham do he believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness so what do I mean by obedience do you have to obey certain laws and customs and practices do you have to wear a suit in order to be saved Glory no that's what Jesus has been teaching against for the last several chapters Jesus emphatically he says this in John 6:40 for this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in Him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day amen that is the will of the father

That's how God's always operated God didn't change from the Old Testament to the New Testament because God never changes didn't God lead the children of Abraham out of Egypt and Into the Wilderness because and promised them the promised land and then because of their hard heart he destroyed them in the wilderness because they refused to walk by faith and then once he created an obedient generation they took the promised land it wasn't about them being naturally Born Into The Covenant it wasn't about them even experiencing God's Miracles or seeing God himself in the smoke and lightning and thunder on the mountain it was about who did they trust in where was their faith it is not about natural birth but about supernatural Faith it's not about observing rituals or even be being baptized we got to celebrate that with Robert and C earlier and they're safe not because of good works not because of family relations not because they mentally agree with God not even because they were baptized they saved because they repented and believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit of God he moves among people as he wills it blows like the wind it's there and we see it and then gone there's no telling where it comes from or where it goes God works where he wills and it's up to Christians to share the Gospel to pray for the lost to continue ministering to call people everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ it's that simple so easy a caveman can do it at a church I served at was a great Christian Illusionist his name is David Knight he's got a wonderful wife her name is Kylie and what they do that's their ministry as they travel

Around and they share they do Christian Illusionist stuff it' be awesome to have them here that would be a lot of fun to do actually but U he said these he said you know when you're doing Illusions like and you're in the audience it looks very comp complicated you know it's like her head's over here her legs are over there you know and it's just you know it's a inspiring everyone's like wow how does that work but then when you're behind the scenes it's so simple and it's like oh duh that's how they do it well I didn't I figure that out before faith is a lot like that once you have it explained to you there's there's nothing to it except that takes the work of God salvation is like that it seems incomprehensible how the sacrifice of one man can lead to Eternal salvation for all of those that will repent and believe in him then you have it explained and the eyes of Faith open up and you're like oh my God I see it I see it praise God I see it you see that's that's the big point to walk by faith in the Son of God makes us more family to Christ than even his own mother and brothers thankfully that's not the end of the story I'm so thankful that we have all of Scripture because if you read in the book of Acts chapter one we see actually all of Christ's Brothers and sisters and his mom gathered together with the disciples in the upper room praying the brothers are James joses Jude and Simon James he's the one that wrote the book of James and what did he write he's he calls Jesus his brother our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory he refers to himself as a ser servant of God and of the Lord Jesus

Christ so what happened how did his brothers go from not believing in him to being followers of Jesus Christ and worshiping their their half brother as Lord and Savior as God In the Flesh Paul he writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus he appeared to James and in 1 Corinthians 9 Paul he says that the other brothers were ministers who traveled along with their wives sharing the Gospel with churches and it's not only James that lived his life for the Lord but it was also his brother Jude the book of Jude is written by him in Jude he identifies himself as the brother of James and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ Jude would also refer to Jesus as our only master and Lord and how different it is to see conversion in this way on one hand they knew Jesus inside and out and yet a veil remained over their eyes where they couldn't see the truth about their brother and they knew him so well they saw the goodness they saw his sinlessness they understood his uniqueness and yet none of that saves it's only when Jesus Christ is made master and Lord that salvation takes place and so I ask you again what will you do with Jesus Christ head harand head I want you to know that your family is not an indicator indicator of your relationship with God had a conversation with my with Abigail this morning okay so I didn't even get to write this down okay I'm literally in my suit about to leave she goes dad I want to be baptized you know and that's a hard thing to navigate with a four-year-old right you know and yet she's always grown up knowing the Lord you know she prays for her friends she prays for them be praying for Abigail and for me for wisdom for that because that's just tough right but for her we want to make sure that she understands this it's not just because you're a pastor's

Kid it's not simply because you're raised at First Baptist Church you have to have a personal relationship with Christ heart I want you to believe that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord that's what I want you to believe from this passage that's what I want you to pull out of this when you become a part of the family of God and Christ he becomes a brother you're adopted with God as our father and the bond of the Holy Spirit is what keeps us in the hand I want you to receive Christ today today is the day of salvation don't think oh man I got a week you don't you're not guaranteed a week don't delay ask the Lord to move in your heart today you please stand with me as we respond in worship father we ask that you would help us to know you to love you to serve you to honor you God we just want to see you work in our lives Lord if there's anyone here that maybe they need to get things right with you or maybe they just they're convicted and they know that they need a that saving relationship with Christ I pray that today would be that day and I also ask that you would help us as a church Lord to unite ourselves around this truth of the glory and the goodness and the Majesty of the Gospel help us God to serve you all the days of our lives in Jesus name amen [Music] my worth is not in what I own not in the strength of Flesh and B but in the wounds of Love At The [Music] Cross my worth is not in SK or win or lose in Pride or shame but in the blood of Christ that flow at the cross I rejoice in my redeem greatest

Treasure Welling of my soul I will trust in him no other my soul is satisfied in him [Music] alone as summer fls we fade and die F Youth and Beauty Hur the life eternal call to us at the [Music] cross I will not host in we or might or human wisdom [Music] but I will in knowing Christ at the cross I rejoice in my redeem greatest treasure Welling of my soul I will trust in him no other my soul is satisfied in alone wonders here that I confess my and my unworthiness my value fixed my Ransom at the cross [Music] I rejoice in my redeem greatest Welling of my soul I will trust in him my soul is satisfied in him [Music] alone well church if y'all would have a seat real quick I want to introduce to you a sister in the Lord that would like to join our church if you would come up Danielle this is Danielle MCC and she's been here for two three years three years and she said you know what I'm tired of Satan getting in the way of some of my plans to join this church I'm going to you know get in that new members class and I'm going to be there and I'm going to commit to it and praise the Lord she has the Satan thre some curveballs didn't he yeah and but God's been working she gives good testimony of knowing Christ and she said that she would like to join by statement is that correct by statement and so if y'all would

Receive her as a member of First Baptist Church would you say amen anyone opposed okay well praise the Lord for that be sure to come up hug her neck say welcome to the family Church love you so much just be praying for what God's been doing here and if you would allow me to let me play Pray a blessing over you as we go from here father thank you so much for each person that's here thank you for baptisms thank you for child dedications thank you for allowing us the opportunity to worship you thank you for the joy of giving thank you for prayer thank you for family thank you for our sister coming to join the church we just ask that your blessing would be on us and help us to go with full cups from here to go and share the Gospel with people that need to hear it Lord we love you in Jesus name amen go in Peace church welcome better