The mother of a former pastor of mine memorized the book of James. James was the earliest written book of the NT. – AD 44-49

Author - There are four James in the NT.

James the Less, son of Alphaeus Mat. 10:3. James the Father of Judas (Iscariot) Luke 6:6. James son of Zebedee, brother of John Mat 4:21. James the half brother of Jesus Mark 6:3 and of Jude Mat 13:55

Of these, 1 & 2 or not even considered as a candidate for authorship and 3 was martyred for his faith before the book was written.

The man that wrote this book was the very brother, 1/2 brother of our Lord. At first even Jesus’ own brothers did not believe in him as seen in John 7:5. Not until 1Cor. 15:7 do we see where James comes face to face with the risen savior. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, James was martyred for his faith in Jesus in the year AD62.

According to the Book of Acts in the New Testament, Herod killed James:

Act 12:1 and at that time Herod the king threw on his hands to oppress some of those of the church.

Act 12:2 and he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

Hippolytus also confirms this:

James, his brother, when preaching in Judea, was cut off with the sword by Herod the tetrarch, and was buried there.

Background – The letter is written to the Jewish Christians who had been scattered abroad as a result either Stephen’s stoning or from the wrath of Herod Agrippa I. In the book of James there are more than 40 allusions to the OT and more than 20 times he refers back to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.

So hear these words from the heart of a man who walked along the path and listened to Jesus, as he would talk about the people they would encounter in the next village. Or maybe even as Jesus would prepare them for things they were about to witness him do, such as stop a funeral to bring a dead son to live and give him back to his mother. Maybe he would prepare the hearts of the disciples in advance before confronting the enemy, or crowds that would want to kill him. He sat at the feet of Jesus as he taught. James heard Jesus pray to his Father.

He stood silent as God spoke on the mount of transfiguration, while Jesus was transformed before his very eyes, and he saw Moses and Elijah there Mat: 17

He spoke with Jesus in the upper room after he was raised from the dead. Received inspiration from the Holy Spirit to write these scriptures and gave his life, for the one of whom he wrote. We have in our hands today, his testimony. Evidence of what the power of God can do in the life of a person who walks with Jesus. Let his words, his heart; speak to you through the words the Holy Spirit put on him to write for you today.

James 1:18-27 (NIV)[19] My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

James was quick to listen to people, teachable, humble in spirit. He didn’t need to have the last word in every conversation. Those who spoke to James, met a man who wanted to know what you had to say and considered what you had to say more important than what he had to say in the right context. James evidently was one of those guys you could count on when you needed someone to listen. He was someone you just couldn’t make mad. Slow to anger. Not looking to fight at the drop of a hat. Approachable, kind hearted, and caring. A sweet spirited man full of compassion for those around him. Think about the heart of this man who had been groomed for service by the voice of the savior. Loved unconditionally by the heart of God. That kind of love changes a person. The kind of love that doesn’t ask for anything in return.  A love that takes you, as you are, without any terms, ready to forgive, knowing you will mess it all up anyway. Watched, taught, and spoken to, through Jesus’ eyes, touched by his hands, before and after the spikes were driven through. This man James- can you see him in his last moments? Preparing to meet his brother again.

James says-

[20] For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

James is reminding us of the fact that our life is not about what we desire it to be. James wanted to live a life that his three years with Jesus had taught him to be. So he writes to us. Don’t be angry people. That doesn’t show the life of Jesus in you that the Father desires. James recognizes that there is another level on which you and I live as Christians. A higher standard. A higher calling. A higher reward.

[21] Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

James had seen from his own life what moral filth can do to a man. He had been a witness, and a participant in the effects of wide spread sin. His words are evidence that what he had lived or seen, had left a mark. And so he writes to his fellow Christians with love. Get rid of it all, It will destroy you. Humble yourself, be a meek spirited person and allow the truth of the scripture to come in. Admit to yourself and to God that you need him to survive. Then let that truth, that peace, permeate your soul, like when you lay in the sun on a beautiful sunny day. Fall into Jesus.

[22] Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Evidently James had this crazy notion that people read the Word of God and then live otherwise. Act out your faith. Let the word, change who you are. You can’t do it on your own. But God can and he wants to change who you are, into the salt of the world

[23] Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror [24] and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. [25] But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

A guarantee – if you look to the word intently, and continue to do so, remembering what it says and there by obeying it, you will be blessed in what you do. How important to God, are the very words that come from your mouth. Jesus said, “Your mouth is an overflow of what is in your heart.” Mat 12:34

[26] If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

What you speak, what you teach, speaks directly to whom you are serving when it is said. Come on it’s just a joke or I was with the guys…. Of you do what the word says you will be blessed. Listen to these words.

[27] Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) [2] Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

When you know it’s the world’s way, your first thought as a follower of Jesus, is to know it’s not your way. Let’s strive to be the person James writes of,  look intently into the word with a humble spirit and ask God to mold us into his people.

I wasn’t there, and I can’t tell you what the sky looked like that day, or how warm it was or what Jesus was wearing.  But I know these are his words, and I know he was speaking to people, just like you and me and I can only imagine how wonderful it must have been, to watch his eyes as he taught them, as he loved them.

That’s how we must receive his words today, just as if we were there listening to him speak in person.  Just as if we could see him glance our way so at times our eyes would actually meet as he taught. When he said these words, he didn’t stutter, he didn’t feel the need to explain away any sense of over simplifying his message.  He shared from his heart what he knew to be true, and what he knew would change their very lives. He wouldn’t change it today. e hasn’t changed. Our most basic needs haven’t changed – we still search for peace and happiness. His Word hasn’t changed – It’s still the one absolute truth we need to live by.

As he addressed the most vital, meaningful issues of their lives Jesus said,

• I care about you.
• I don’t want you to worry.
• Worry causes pain and stress in your life.
• I want you to have peace in your life.
• Look at the birds.
• Look at the flowers.
• Do you understand how valuable you are to your heavenly Father?
• Don’t live as the pagans do, who have no heavenly Father to care for them.
• If you will put me first in your life, let me be the Lord of your life, if you will follow my ways, you will find peace there. Because your Father in heaven knows what is best for you.

Jesus says “Do Not Worry”

Matthew 6:24-34 (NIV) [24] No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot server both God and money. [25] “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? [26] Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? [27] Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? [28] “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. [29] Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in his entire splendor was dressed like one of these. [30] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So what do we do with this?

James wrote in James 1:22-25 (NIV)[22] Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. [23] Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror [24] and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. [25] But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)[24] “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. [27] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.

[2] He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

This is the first time in the book it is recorded where Jonah prays. When he received his marching orders from God, he did not pray. In chapter one Vs 1 he wrote that the Word of the Lord came to him.  But by the end of verse three he’s already in the ship headed for Tarshish. In Vs 6 even after he was asked to pray to his God he did not pray. While he was running from God he did not pray. Before he was in the fish standing on the deck of the boat watching the waves and the wind, he did not pray. Let me ask you something, Have you ever felt like you were intentionally disobeying God? I mean you were engaged in some sin and you knew it was wrong before God. All of us have been there.

Have you found that during those times of intentional sin in your life that you prayer life blossomed?  That those were the times you really enjoyed spending time with the Father in prayer.  Of course not! Maybe your thought was, God doesn’t want to see me now, or God would be ashamed of me if he saw me now. Or God must be mad at me now why would he listen to me.

You know the beautiful thing about it is, we all are in the same boat has Jonah.

Hey if you’re here and you’ve got your guard up. Maybe you don’t want anyone to know just how bad a person you are. So you keep this guard up to present to everyone else a different picture. Wow do I have some great news for you. Romans 3:23 tells us that “We all fall short of the glory of God“. So if you’re feeling like you’re just a little lower than everyone else in here, welcome to the capital city of sin. Aren’t you tired of holding up that guard. Doesn’t the weight of that hypocrisy keep you from living free before the Lord? Open up your arms and your heart to God and say to Him:  This is who I am. This is what I am. God fix me, empty me of me, and fill me up with you. It would be very wrong to be proud of any sin in our lives. It would also be very wrong to think that God loves you any less because of that sin.

Jonah lived a different life when he was running. You don’t see where he is preaching the Words God and carrying out the work of a prophet while on the boat. Jonah doesn’t record here where he spends those precious hours listening to the voice of God as He would give him the words to share to the people of Judah. Where is that man of God?  This man, who would stand in public places and speak with the very authority of the God of the universe. He is beaten and defeated by his own desire to run from a God who loves him. Maybe it was fear maybe it was predigest.

Sometimes we do the very same thing today. We bury ourselves under a pile of guilt and we believe the lie that God would never listen to someone like that.  To someone who has turned their back on Him. Without verse 2, there’s no need to write anything else. If God doesn’t hear the prayer of someone crying out, there’s no more to say. We need to see that God did not discard Jonah. That’s what keeps us going.  It’s not that we deserve the blessing of knowing and serving God today and tomorrow, it’s the fact we’re forgiven for yesterday. Even when Jonah was running, he knew exactly who was in control of his life.

[3] You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all Your waves and breakers swept over me. [4] I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ [5] The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. [6] To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But You brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. 

Let me introduce to you a couple of fellow forgiven sinners, saved by grace.  Who are my brother and sister in Christ, children of God.  I’ve asked them to stand before you today and share their testimony so that you may be encouraged by what God has done in their life.

Testimonies from Rachel & Gene

[7] “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 

Words from the heart of a man just like you and me, who prayed to God from the belly of a fish. Do you suppose Jonah paused to get into a prayerful posture.  Or that he meditated on every word carefully as he spoke them to God. Or do you think his prayer was in a storm of seaweed and water.  Life is like that.  Sometimes we pray because life is frantic, and we’re scared, and there’s no pattern or order to our words.  We just cry out, and the ears of heaven hear our cries. Maybe those are our most sincere prayers, because that prayer is not polished by our attempt to make it palatable to God. Maybe that prayer is the one God receives as most genuine from our heart. Listen to what Jonah writes now:

[8] “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. [9] But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.”  [10] And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.  

Sometimes all we need to know is just what God is showing us today, and to rest in the peace of knowing he will bring you through it.  Even if you’ve turned your back on Him, even if your running, even if your life is chaos. He will bring you through, and he will always be there to guide you. We have people here today who have a chaotic week ahead.  There’s going to be some seaweed and some waves, but their God hears their prayers and ours.

Jonah 1:11-17

11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

Moments earlier they were crying out to their god for help. Now exhausted and frightened they are asking a one time traveler whom they don’t even know, what they should do in order to spare their lives! People are still looking for the true hope to believe. You know people who are searching for answers from the wrong god, your family members who you’ve put off talking to, about Jesus.

Guess what? Their looking for help from the world. One thing that haunts me is when I hear a mom or dad say, I’ll let my kids find their own way.  I’m not gonna try and force them into believing in Jesus. Mom, Dad, please let me say this with all respect and humility. God put you in charge of that child’s life. No other human being and this planet will ever have the influence you have on their direction. You can’t save them but you can show them the way. Just because you don’t want to bring up the name of Jesus in a conversation because it makes you feel uncomfortable to talk about it with your kids, does not change the biblical truth that without faith in Jesus as their savior, they will spend eternity separated from the love of God.

God says those kids you are raising are to obey you in the Lord. Its pleasing God when your kids obey you in everything.

Ephesians 6:1-3

  1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Colossians 3:20

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,

We need a wake up call! Do you believe in heaven or not? Paul said “unless someone tells them how will they know?”

Paul writes in Romans 10:13-14

13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

Back to our lesson, Jonah tells them

12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

This shows both integrity and faith in Jonah’s life. Integrity says I caused this, there is no one else to blame. I will do what is right even thought it will cost me my life. Faith says I serve a God who is in control. Throw me over board and you will live. Why would a man give his life for a boat full of smelly sailors? Because Jonah was no ordinary man, he was God’s man.

Even when a man or woman running from God knows full well what they’re doing is wrong, there remains a conscience knowledge of God’s presence in the live of a believer. That’s why we can run.  That’s why we can turn away from God at times in our lives. Because we know he’ll still be there when we come home. When my little grandson Cami acts up or throws a fit.  He knows full well he will still get the love and assurance from his mommy and daddy he had before. We act the same way because we know the same thing about our Father in heaven.

Jonah had ran as far as he could go from God. No man wants to be thrown in the ocean to drown. Jonah knew the Lord was there and that He would calm the sea once he was gone.

13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.

What a beautiful picture of God brining these men to him so gently. Can you see them releasing their grip on the boat and realizing what Jonah’s God had just done for them? And how perhaps one by one they bowed. One and them another until the entire crew of the ship were thanking this God of Jonah’s.

They feared the Lord

They understood for the first time in their lives there was a true God to whom they should bow. They had finally found the real deal. A God who would protect them, who is in control. A God who changes the hearts of men such as Jonah, even so much so that he would voluntarily die for them.

They sacrificed to the Lord! A true sign of faith, the first thing they wanted to do was give back to him. To worship and love this God they had found. They made vows to the Lord. From their heart and soul they spoke promises to God. There was no sermon, no choir, or instruments playing.  Just people realizing for the first time in their lives that He is God! That’s all that was necessary, a few men in a boat, drifting gently on the calm sea, looking up to the clouds.

What will it take for you to see, to experience, before you truly give your life, your heart, your everything to God? Sometimes it takes someone willing to be thrown over board? Anyone willing to sit with you and share the name of Jesus? Church you’ve gotta get wet. You gotta be willing to jump the ship thats named I can’t, and get into the water so others can see your God is real to you. I refuse to play church! I’m jumping, I’m asking God to open my eyes that I might see a hurting world.

Where are you standing?

16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

Jonah’s Prayer

17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

1 John 1:1-10

The first in a series of three epistles written by John. We’re not told who the original intended recipients of the first letter were. The author is the disciple and apostle John.

John was one of the three in Jesus’ closest circle (Peter, James & John). He was allowed to go with Jesus to the mount of transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-3. He is self proclaimed as the one Jesus loved in John 13:23. John was the first disciple to reach the empty tomb on Easter morning John 20:4. John was the one Jesus spoke to as he hung on the cross John 19:27. Jesus called John and his brother James, the sons of thunder. John is the one that penned the words in John 21:25 that read: 25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. 

John was well advanced in years when he wrote his books. Most would put the date around AD 90-95. More than likely he was in Ephesus when he wrote the letters to the churches in Asia Minor, over which John exercised Apostolic leadership.

Remember as he wrote his letters John was the last living eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus. According to historians, in those days his testimony, as you might imagine, carried tremendous weight and authority, and was sought after by any group or person wanting to hear first hand.  In addition to 1st, 2nd & 3rd John, the disciple also wrote the book of John and Revelation.

So when you read John’s writings think of an elderly man well beyond 100 in years sitting down and writing as the Lord puts these words in his heart.  And think of the treasure of memories John could recall as he wrote with such passion.

Why did John write this letter? There was a false teaching growing up from within the ranks of the church. Gnosticism taught that matter was evil and spirit was good. Jesus was a spirit only and did not die as a man thus nullifying his sacrificial atonement for the sins of man. Additionally, any sin committed had no effect on the person because the sin would have come out of the physical world and not from the spiritual.  How convenient.

So this was causing the church to split.  Some had already left the church and was following this new theology. It threatened the church to the core by attacking the teachings of the gospel. I want to say church, there is only one word of God, one gospel. And you will never hear anything but that from me.

One Father, Son & Holy Spirit. One creator of all that is and ever will be. One infallible word of God from beginning to end. One savior, Jesus, offering one way to heaven by faith in him as the Son of God.

Let’s read:

1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We
proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.

Speaking against the false teaching of the Gnostics, John affirms the deity of Jesus. He
is both God creator and God man who came to earth as a child and savior to all men and John says we have heard him, seen him and touched him. To say, He is matter which can be touched as well as spiritual, the Son of God. We want you, to have fellowship with us. John had fellowship with the Father in heaven as an Apostle. He wants us, just as he wanted his original  audience, to have fellowship with them. If you’ve trusted Jesus as your savior you have that fellowship. You are saved! You should be smiling really big about that! Your on the team, the Jesus team. You have the same access to God as John himself. The very blood of Jesus has paid the price for your sins and you are as good as in heaven! Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:4 We write this to make our joy complete.

John’s goal here is for the complete joy of the christian to be brought to life in the church.  In him and through all the church.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before men that they might see your good deeds and praise the Father in heaven.

Show the world that Jesus lives in you! When the early church read these same words from John to them, what do you think it did to them? When the same man who walked with Jesus, and likely stood before them at one point giving his testimony in person, now writes this letter to them so that they can pass it in to the next generation and the next and so on? We should in no way feel distanced from those people who read it then. Jesus might as well be standing here in this room right now because his is alive and well living in you

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

God is a pure and perfect light, a pure and perfect love, and now because of his presence in you, you are the reflection of that perfect light to the world.  The light of the world. We have fellowship with perfect pure holiness, that perfection is the presence of God who lives in you

1 John 3:24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is
how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

If we walk in the light we show the light of God’s countenance in our life. How does that light show? It shows when you live sacrificially, it shows when you love sacrificially, it shows when your conversation is sprinkled with grace and not slander or cursing. It shows when you serve with a humble spirit. It shows when you have a burden for the lost. When you love the person that hates you, when you give to someone and never ask for it back, God’s countenance beams from your life when you die to self.

Jesus  said “unless a seed falls to the ground and gives up all that it is and dies, it will never become the plant that it was designed to be”. 

The seed has to give up all that it is about, and trust the creator to rebuild it (tree).

1 John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

Evidently there were people in the church who made claims concerning their spiritual walk, which were not evidenced by their life. When you are walking with God, you won’t have to tell anyone. His quiet, gentle, yet powerful presence speaks louder than your flesh ever will, because when it’s him speaking, him living, him loving through you, there’s no need for an announcement. What is it do you think Peter and John gave the crippled man at the gate called “Beautiful”, when Peter said “silver and gold I do not have”. He didn’t say “but let me fix your legs”. Peter shared the name of Jesus that would fix his life. The man received new legs but what he did shows more of a new heart.

Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar.

Acts3:1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

You can’t manufacture life changing joy- Are you walking in the light of God?

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Lord I want your word to have a place in my life, I want your word and your presence to be the source for my life.

Scripture- Exodus 1-4

The biblical truths of God, we all want to know. Because if we know these things and we have them locked in, we’re cruising with our feet on the pegs.

Does God know & love me? Does God see me? Does God hear me? Does God have a plan for my life which He can guide by His hand?

A beautiful picture of God’s individual love and care for His people. This morning we will read biblical facts showing God’s personal involvement in the life of the believer. His people. The church. Read these scriptures and allow the truth about God to pierce your heart. To change the way you see him. Let Him in. For God’s sake, let Him in.

Do not limit God to only what you think He can be. There’s something in this bible story for all of us. Have you ever needed to trust God? Have you ever wondered why God didn’t just make everything ok so you wouldn’t have to go through a hard time? Have you ever killed someone and doubted if God would forgive you? Have you cried out to God hoping he would somehow answer you? Have you struggled to rest in the peace of knowing God has you in his hand? Do you sometimes feel like your faith is weak and your holding on by a thread?

Welcome to life! Today you will read in the word of God, the answers to these questions! No one can make you believe in God.  But if you read and listen with your heart God’s word will speak to you. It doesn’t matter how you feel. What matters is what you believe to be the truth.

Have you determined in your heart that the bible is the inspired, God breathed scripture, by which we are to live our lives?

If so welcome to peace. You live for a King that loves you enough to share everything he has with you. He calls you his child. His love for you is unconditional. This Creator God of all that is and all that ever will be, wants you to call Him daddy, Abba.

You may say I don’t want to believe there is an ultimate truth I must adhere to. A God I must answer to. I just want to live my life. He loves you too, and He desires more than you can know, to call you His own.

Exodus 1-4 is the beginning of one of the most dramatic stories in the bible of God’s personal care for His people.

Exodus 1

The Israelites Oppressed

¹ These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. ⁵ The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^[a]in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, ⁷but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

²²Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Exodus 2

The Birth of Moses

¹ Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, ² and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. ³ But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket^[b] for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. ⁶She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,^[c]saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. ¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

¹⁸When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. ²² Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,^[d]saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

²³ During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Exodus 3

Moses and the Burning Bush

¹ Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father,^[e]the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[f]will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.^[g]This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD,^[h]the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.

¹⁶ “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸ “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. ²⁰So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

²¹ “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. ²²Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Exodus 4

Signs for Moses

¹Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”

²Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵“This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

⁶ Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous^[i]—it had become as white as snow.

⁷“Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

⁸ Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. ⁹But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

¹⁰Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹¹ The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

¹³But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

¹⁴ Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

¹⁹ Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” ²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

²¹ The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, ²³and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses^[j] and was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.^[k] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

²⁷ The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

²⁹ Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰ and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, ³¹ and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

9/18/2011

For me personally this is the most powerful message God has ever spoken to my heart. I can’t explain that. I don’t know how far we will get today, let’s just trust God to lead us.

You know? God’s plan for his church is that we would come together and worship him. Study his word, and that one would preach the word.

Are you ready?

Author is Luke – Recipient – Theophilus. Never again mentioned in scripture. Luke – birth of Jesus to the ascension. Acts- ascension through the growth of the early church and the acts of the apostles. Jesus has just ascended to heaven and the church left behind, walks back to town. Back to the upper room.

 Acts 1:12-26 [12] Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. Farthest tent was 2000′ from the center tabernacle. Based on the Jewish encampments while in the wilderness. The longest any faithful Jew could walk to get to the tabernacle on the sabbath.

[13] When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. [14] They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. [15] In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty).

 I have a thought for you today. Maybe one you’ve not had before. In those days: The ten days between the Ascension and Pentecost. Forty days after the resurrection Jesus ascended back to heaven to be at the right hand of the Father. Ten days later he sent the HS on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost means fiftieth. During this time, this ten days between the ascension and the day of Pentecost, the church prayed together, and they fellowshipped together. So they came together in one place and they talked about what they had experienced. All that they had seen and they prayed together as a group to the God whom they’d just spoken with. Jesus was gone. But they have the memory of watching his feet leave the ground as he said to them ” I will be with you always”. His last words in Matthew 28. To them, a moment sketched in their minds forever. To us, God’s word on a page in our bibles.

Why were they happy? Where’s the confusion? Where’s the doubt? Where are the displaced masses? Their leader had just left them alone. What would keep them going now?

What are the tangibles? When you boil it all down, they have the same things to hold on to that you and I have today. Jesus was gone. The tangible had left. It’s by faith that we believe. It’s by faith that we hold so desperately to the words of the ones who were there. The very words inspired by God and written by the hands of those who watched it all happen.Let’s look at one of them and see why he wasn’t destroyed by Jesus’ leaving.

John 21:24-25 [24] This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. [25] Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

John says, “I saw him. I stood at the foot of the cross. I ran to the empty tomb and looked inside at the empty clothes he was wearing when we buried him. I saw Jesus lifted up to heaven. I tell you that I testify to what I saw. I write it down now so you might believe and have faith in the Jesus I loved. If I wrote down everything I saw the whole world wouldn’t have room for the books I could write.”.

 Church we have to live like this is our hope. We have to be the light of the world. We have to die to ourselves and become all that he wants us to be. So that they will know he lives.

 [16] and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus— [17] he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” [18] (With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. [19] Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) [20] “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, “ ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “ ‘May another take his place of leadership.’ [21] Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, [22] beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

 Two requirements for he replacement: He must have been with them while Jesus went in and out among them amd he was to have participated in the ministry with them.

He must be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. He had to have seen the resurrection.

 [23] So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. [24] Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen [25] to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” [26] Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

 Casting lots was a way to determine God’s will in the OT. Last time it’s mentioned in the bible. The coming of the HS made it unnecessary. We no longer need to cast lots. There was no personal relationship with God, no communication on a one on one basis. They could pray to God but there was no link to him in the heart of the disciples. At pentecost the spirit would be poured out all men. For the first time God would live in the hearts of men. The veil was torn. They were now the vessels as are we. Jesus said to them “you will receive power when the HS comes upon you”. Men could then experience the presence of God in their very spirit and soul.

Message: Mark 1:21- 45

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

Background: Capernaum was a fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, population of about 1,500. It was home to a garrison of Roman soldiers. A synagogue was to be established wherever there were as many as ten Jewish men. Luke 4:16-21 is the best biblical passage on what happened in a synagogue. The Sabbath started Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

These men, these people, had been taught the Torah their entire lives. Jewish boys memorized the Torah by age 5, memorized or knew well the entire Old Testament by age 10. At age 14, if ready, they wound select or be accepted by a Rabbi whom they would follow and learn from. Jesus taught a new covenant to fulfill/supersede the OT. Jesus claimed to be God and or the Son of God, The forgiveness of sin, Grace, the priesthood of the believer.

23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

Ask yourself – Does Jesus still amaze you? If what God is doing, and if who God is, and if the fact that he wants to have a personal relationship with you, does not amaze you. Then you’re not looking outward for anything that’s real. Your life is all about you and the enemy (the devil) has covered your eyes and your heart. If you’re a born again believer, and you’ve lost your sense of awe for your Savior, maybe you need to ask yourself what happened. Because God didn’t change, and if your faith has ceased to be the thing your life is built around. If the truth of what God has done for you no longer arrest your thoughts in the middle of the day and at midnight, if the thought of, the very spirit of God living in you doesn’t stop you in your tracks and take you to your knees, if Jesus alone, and nothing more, fails to inspire you and give you hope for today. Then you’re not watching him, you’re not seeing with your eyes and your heart, what he has done. Go watch a sunrise! Try to explain away to all the Christians in this room the love that they feel in their hearts for their savior! I pray for you that your eyes would be opened to a whole new world and you would see that there is another way to live. His name is Jesus!

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

 32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Go ask this group of people if they are still amazed! Not one single element of this story has changed. We can still tell, the crowds still need him. He still heals and he’s never to tired to sit with you. In fact the following morning, while the church is asleep, he goes out to get filled back up again. The very same power source which is available to you and I every moment of our lives, and we skim off the top. I love my wife, she inspires me to pray and she doesn’t even know it. I don’t tell you how many times in the last few months she has prayed for you just before going to sleep or when she wakes at night.

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Please notice that his disappearance didn’t shock the disciples. They were used to him being gone early in the morning to spend valuable time with the Father. This would have been something Jesus did out of habit. Don’t you know Jesus did that many, many mornings, just to spend time with his Father? What do you think went through Jesus’ mind as he walked to the places where he would pray?

38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

 40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

 41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Jesus played by a new set of rules, not to condemn the OT law, but to bring grace in a room full of puffed out chests wondering who let this guy in and who’s gonna get him away. He was filled with compassion. Where’s the judgment? Where’s the self-righteousness? You are never out of Jesus’ reach!

43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

The local priest had to authenticate that the healing was in accordance with the OT teaching and the sacrifice commanded by Moses was a triple offering of two male lambs without blemish and one ewe lamb without blemish (Lev. 14).

45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.

In spite of Jesus’ command to keep it quiet because it wasn’t yet time, the man who had been covered in sores, deemed unclean, and an abomination to the city. He was cast out by society to a camp some distance outside of town. Only those close enough to this man, who were willing to smell the stench of rotting flesh and be considered unclean by touching him, and even by doing so they would have to go through a cleansing process to be ceremonially clean again, would even be within shouting distance. Because he had to shout to any approaching people the words “unclean”. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Jesus hasn’t changed! Humanity hasn’t discovered a cure. The human heart still yearns for healing. The crowds still need him! By word of mouth the whole country side knew Jesus was there and they came from everywhere.

Church, have we lost our sense of awe? Are we burdened for the lost and the sick? Is it possible that we have so sterilized the gospel that we’ve let the world become a problem the church can deal with? We need to be excited again about what Jesus does in the lives of people! We need to bring it back down to a child like faith. Is For Real! Why can’t we just believe it? The faith of a child!

A moment of truth for Peter

Message: Matthew 16:13-25

As an intro to the main focus which is verses (21-25) let’s understand 13-17: 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“Son of Man” – a name Jesus often used for himself. A reminder of his linage, from the line of David. Matthew Henry says: “but Christ, having now emptied himself, though he was the Son of God, will be known by the style and title of the Son of man.” Ezekiel was often so called to keep him humble; Christ called himself so, to show that he was humble.

Why would Jesus ask this question, and why would the disciples reply as they did?

• Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected 14:1-2
• Elijah was expected to come before the Messiah11:14 & 17:10-12
• According to 2Maccabees 15:13-16 (not scripture) there were certain Jews who thought Jesus was the resurrected Jeremiah.

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

• Maybe Jesus is asking, have the eyes of your heart understood now Peter?
• To this point Jesus had not taught them the fullness of his deity.
• It’s obvious here that Jesus had not yet been recognized as the Messiah come from God.

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

•  An OT name for Jehovah “Living God” as opposed to a dead God.

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

• God the Father had opened the eyes of Peter’s heart and had shown him things which to this point had only been seen as through a veil as Paul would say.
• Until now it had been shown primarily through the prophecies of the OT and through the miracles Jesus had done.

18- “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

•  This is a statement of authority not a statement of deity for Peter.
• Peter means rock, and Jesus would build HIS church on that rock. Peter was the foundation only in terms of his earthly leadership of the apostles.  By no means is Jesus saying Peter is the foundation which the church is built upon.
• Not Peter’s church, Jesus’ church.  I will build MY church Jesus says.
• The NT makes it very clear that Christ is the foundation and the head of the church.
• Acts 4:11 & 12 he is the capstone and in no one else is salvation found
• 1Cor. 3:11 Jesus is the only foundation of the church
• And against this foundation the gates of Hades (a place for the dead on-believer at the time of death) will not prevail

19- I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Here Jesus is giving Peter (as he has all believers) the authority to teach the binding truth of God to the people on earth. The right to proclaim the word of God in the name of God, in the name of Jesus, which is to do so by the authority of God and or Jesus.  Not the right to make the determinations of what is bound and loosed in heaven or on earth but to proclaim the truths of scripture as the body of Christ in accordance with the word of God. It is not scriptural to teach that Peter or the apostles were given the authority to speak scripture or to speak God’s Devine instruction into existence.  Peter nor the other apostles were ever given Devine powers, it was and always will be, the power of God working through whomever he pleases to work through.  It’s God’s power, it’s God’s place alone, to be worshiped.

21- “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

• So now Jesus begins to teach them the truth about his suffering.
• Now that the disciples have confessed their faith in Jesus as Messiah he begins to prepare them for his death.

22- Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

I appreciate Peter’s passion here, he is only acting out what his human heart is telling him to do. In the previous verses he has confessed to Jesus that he gets it.  Jesus you are the Son of the Living God. Now after hearing these heart breaking, horrible words from Jesus whom he had grown to love so deeply. Peter is reacting out of fear. Peter can say whatever he wants. Peter can hope for whatever he wants. But the truth is, our reaction does not change the reality of what God says will happen.

How many times have you been in denial.  No this isn’t happening to me? Maybe you’ve thought, or said, there’s noway this can be God’s will! There is peace in the middle of this storm, and there is peace in the middle of your storm too.

Look and listen to what Jesus says to Peter.

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Peter, you’re thinking like the devil wants you to think.  And when you are thinking in that way you are a stumbling block to me.  So for now Peter, (the one who in verse 16 had confessed Jesus as the Son of the Living God) you are not on my side. ”You don’t have in mind, the things of God.” “You’re heart is not where it needs to be, Peter”. ”Peter, you are thinking about the things of man.” I need you thinking about the things of God.

When God gives you or I a moment to speak into someone’s life about spiritual matters, eternal matters, or to do a work in Jesus name, that’s not a time we shoot from the hip. Look at the brutal honesty of the moment.  What must it have taken for Jesus to say these words to the one he had said I give you the keys to the kingdom.

“Peter, at this moment, you are doing the work of Satan.”.

Please hear me when I say this, we have to operate on a different level than the world. To be a Christian is a position of humility yes.  But a position of power as well. When you share the name of Jesus and his gospel, church you stand on Holy ground. That’s what makes you different. That’s what makes you care. That’s what makes you love people. That’s why people come to you. They’re supposed to according to 1 Peter 3:15. Because you have THE HOPE. You’re the light of the world. This is not a game. There are souls at stake.

Maybe you would say “no I’m good, I’ve got this Christian life thing down, when its time I’m ready to serve from a heart that’s in God’s hands.” The Christian who seeks to make a difference in this world has to press in. That child of “The Living God” is driven by a presence.  A power that comes from God. A burden for the lost placed there by the Holy Spirit. This happens when we walk with God.

Peace with God, the power of God working through you comes when your life has been surrendered to God.

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[e] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

We must see here in these verses, Jesus saying to Peter.

Peter this is not a time for you to draw from who you are.  This is a time for you to trust in who I am.

This scripture speaks to the Christian, about how they make decisions. About who the Christian should allow the right to have influence upon their life. Is it your conviction that the believer in Christ Jesus has been given the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that by his presence we have access to godly wisdom? That the Christian alone, can offer counsel on a spiritual level. And that the lost or non-Christian cannot offer advice or counsel from God’s heart? Because without the Holy Spirit there is no connection.  No discernment through the gift if the Holy Spirit.

In the book of Matthew while speaking to large crowds that had gathered around him, Jesus was asked by his disciples “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”.

Matthew 13:11-17 ¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹²Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Do you trust the word of God? The first thing we must agree on here is that their are two kinds of people in this world. Those who know and love God and seek to obey him because of their faith based on the word of God.  Because of their conviction that the bible is God breathed. 2 Timothy 3:16 ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, That it is the infallible word of God, and that he is the creator of all that is and will ever be. Then there are those who do not know God (the lost), and there by have no godly convictions, and are void of the means (the Holy Spirit) by which you and I:

• Speak to God. John 6:44 ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
• Hear from God. Jesus said ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. Matthew 13:43
• Draw wisdom from God: James 1:5 ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. And ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26

The key is the Holy Spirits wisdom verses the wisdom of the world. So again the question to you and I is, do we believe the Christian possesses the direct line with God (the Holy Spirit) through which we have access to the wisdom of God? Let’s clear the water shall we.  Because all the questions about those “grey areas” you’re thinking about right can be answered in one verse.

1 Corinthians 3:18  ¹⁸Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.

Paraphrased: Let him get over himself so that he can understand all wisdom comes from God. Christians are not to follow the advice of the worldly person. The answer to your “life questions” questions that steer your life, heart, mind and soul, should come from someone who bases their reply on what God would have them say. Does  that mean that a lost person cannot give you the right answer to a life question? It means they cannot give you a godly answer. Do  you understand that a person void of the Holy Spirit can only draw from his wisdom from his own mind or what he or she has learned from the world?  If you have questions about your stock options, do you want the advice of the best stock options mind in the world? That person can tell you how to make the most money.  Regardless of who or what actions your money might be supporting. Or do you seek stock option advice from someone who balances that knowledge of stock savvy, with a true love for God, and how he or  she believes God would have a Christian handle their funds? When you need parenting advice. Do you seek wisdom from the world (like perhaps a government agency) or do you find a Christian based source like Focus On The Family? When you need direction, when you are searching for an answer to life it is always going to be God’s direction, and God’s prompting and God’s person you should go to.

We are not to walk in their way of life. 2 Corinthians 6:16-17 ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ¹⁷Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

We are to avoid adaptation to their world view. Romans 12:2 ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.