Don't Tell Anyone About Jesus? Unless ........

Pastor Stan Key takes  a close look at Mark chapter 8 where Jesus tells the disciples to not tell anyone about Him, did he really tell them to not tell anyone about Jesus.   Peter didn't get it, John and Mark didn't get it,  it's been 2000 years, do you?

Pastor Stan hits a home run with this one.  See if you get it.   When you do, be sure to pass this along to someone else ... but only if you "get it"!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I always a joke with these guys saying that, that I'm going to crash the worship team. And I think maybe Jerry could teach me how to play the spoons that, that, that may work well. Um, I, I was, I was asked to, uh, to come up and, uh, and do introductions. So I'm Jeff XD.

Speaker 2: 0:26

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Speaker 1: 0:26

I'm walking around. Uh, do I need to introduce Dan? How many people here know stanky already?

Speaker 2: 0:37

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Speaker 1: 0:37

so, Stan, if you can, uh, can come up for those of you who, uh, who don't know. Uh, Stan was the senior pastor at Loganville community church for 16 years. 18 years. All right. Um, and, uh, seven years ago was called to, uh, to head South to Kentucky. And, uh, we, uh, we had a men's retreat at Christ, the King spiritual life center, uh, on Friday evening. And yesterday we had a group of, uh, what 16 or 18 guys from BCC there. We were incredibly blessed by, uh, by stands teaching and, but our, by our time together, fellowshipping and, and, uh, and learning and sharing. And so, um, it is really my pleasure to introduce to you a Stan key and uh, I'm sure that we are all going to be blessed by a message he's going to share. So come on up here.

Speaker 2: 1:46

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Speaker 3: 1:47

I can't see you out there. These lights are bright. What a joy at first of all the worship team. Wow. I didn't expect that way and I confessed it. Some of you have gotten older. Uh, I need to apologize to those who are not part of the Loudon Ville connection. We're having something of a family reunion here and uh, it's very, very tender and especially when I see the people that were born when I was there, the people that I dedicated as babies, the people that I stood in an alter and married and realize some of them are grandparents now, it's just all sort of amazing. But Oh my goodness, it's good to be here. Thank you for the invitation. I wish I had a chance to spend an afternoon with everyone in this room. Uh, I do want to bring greetings from Katie. Uh, those of you who know us know that Katie is 80% of the team. And, uh, four years ago Katie had a stroke. It was a very bad stroke and she is in a wheelchair. Life has changed for us. Um, he gives and takes away is sort of a theme song for, for dealing with some of what we've dealt with, but I can assure you she sends her love, she sends her prayers. I know she's praying for us right now and she's grieving as I am that she's not a part of this moment. But I bring you greetings from Katie as well as Anna, Sarah and Elizabeth, three girls who grow up. I've got eight grandchildren. Uh, I'd love to talk to you about those. But, uh, the manager trait was awesome and uh, I'm just so happy to be at Bethlehem community church. Where to begin. Um, let me start with the story stories. Help me. Billy Graham would tell the story on himself of how once he got on an airplane, going to some crusade and just before the doors of the airplane closed, a drunk came onto the plane. He was very vulgar, very loud, very obnoxious, and his seat was right in front of Dr. Billy Graham. Well, through the flight, the drunk just kept embarrassing. Everybody and the flight attendants tried to everything they knew to calm him down and finally one of the flight attendants said to the drunk to try to use the ultimate means of calming him down. She said, sir, do you realize that Dr. Billy Graham is sitting in the seat behind you? I love this story. The drug stood up, turned around, extended his hand to Billy Graham and said, well, Dr. Billy Graham, I want you to know what a difference your sermons have made my life.

Speaker 2: 5:16

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Speaker 3: 5:16

some of you have heard me preach a lot. I hope my sermons have made a difference in your life. Let's look at Mark chapter eight let's just go there. I don't know what sermon that I've preached that sort of most defines who I've become, that this might be it. This is just sort of where I live. I can't get out of Mark chapter eight it's good stuff and I want to read you a miracle that I use to avoid because I didn't know what to do with this miracle, but we're going to talk about it this morning. I'm in Mark chapter eight verse 22 if you've got your Bibles or now I've gotten to the point where I used to say, please turn in your Bibles now. I say, please turn on your Bibles. Mark chapter eight verse 22 and they came to Beth Saida and some people brought to Jesus, a blind man and they begged him to touch him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he said, he asked him, do you see anything? The blind man looked up and said, I see. I see people, they look like trees walking. Jesus then laid his hands on his eyes again and he opened his eyes and his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly and he sent him home saying, don't even enter the village.

Speaker 4: 7:29

Let's pray together.[inaudible]

Speaker 3: 7:31

spirit of God who performed this miracle and who gave Mark the ability to write it down so we could talk about it. We invite you the very same spirit to help us understand what you want to say to us through this amazing miracle in Jesus' name and for the sake of his kingdom.

Speaker 4: 7:54

Hey man,

Speaker 3: 7:58

undoubtedly this is the strangest miracle Jesus ever performed in my book. Everything about this miracle is strange. For one thing, he brought the man outside the village to heal him. Why did he do that for another thing, after he healed him, he said, don't go back in the village. That's sorta strange. And then there's the spit part. I'm told that in parts of Africa, spittle is considered to have medicinal value. I don't know what to do with that, but that part is strange. But overwhelmingly the strangest part are the two touches. And that's why I used to avoid this miracle cause I didn't know what that meant. Jesus touches a man who's been blind from birth and says, do you? And the man says, yes. A miracle of grace has opened my eyes. What do you see? Well, people look like trees walking around and Jesus basically says, can I touch you again? Okay. He touches him a second time and he sees everything clearly. What's going on here? Is it possible that the first touch Jesus gave to the blind man was somehow defective? Jesus says, let me perform an act of healing. Oops, I didn't do it quite right. Can I cover up my mistake? I know that's not right. Is it possible the man's faith was defective? And in the first instance, he didn't have enough faith for complete healing. But in the second instance he did. I'm intrigued by the fact that this man's faith is not even mentioned. I don't know if he had any faith at all. He's almost a passive participant in this miracle. So I began a few years ago to ask Jesus, what in the Sam Hill does this miracle mean? And can you bring me to a point where I understand it? And if I can be honest and say, this has now become my favorite miracle in the whole gospel. I'm not pretending to be smart enough to figure it out. But I think I understand something of what is going on. Mark's gospel is not a random collection of stories about Jesus that are just sort of randomly put there. He arranges his stories in a certain order to teach us a lesson. Those of you who were at Loudon Ville will, I think, remember I used to say from the pulpit that a text without a context is a, Hey, good for you. You learned your homework. A text without a context is a pretext. What is the context of our text? Ooh, that's a good question. Let's look at the preceding paragraph. It's going to give us some clues. Let's start reading in verse 14 so just before the healing of the two touches of the blind man, we read this. I'm beginning at chapter eight verse 14 Oh, we got words on the screen. Wow, you guys are sharp back there. Thank you. Now they had forgotten to bring bread. Now this is actually very funny because Jesus has just fed 4,000 people. Two chapters earlier, he had fed 5,000 people. There were mountains of bread that they left behind in this miracle healing. The 12 men get in the boat and they only have one loaf of bread between them. They had forgotten to bring bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat, and Jesus cautioned them saying, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. Jesus aware of this said to them, why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you? Not yet. What does it say? My Bible says, do you not yet perceive? Don't you see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Verse 18 having what? Eyes don't you see? Having ears. Don't you hear? Don't you remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000 back in chapter six how many basket full of broken pieces did you take up? And I think Pete and Jimmy nudged Judas and said, Hey, you're the treasurer. How many baskets were left? Well, let's see, there were 12 and with a seven loaves for the 4,000 in chapter eight how many baskets or broken pieces did you take up? They did the math seven and then Jesus says, don't you get it? I love this, and Pete and Jimmy and Johnny said, get what we're trying to see, but you can't see what you can't see. You don't know what you don't know. That's so good. We ought to just have a moment to absorb it. Jesus says, don't you see I fed people. You're hungry. You've got one loaf. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Don't you get it? No, Lord, I'm trying. It's sorta like when you have one of those marital conferences, when your wife looks at you and says the same thing she's been saying for 30 years and she says, don't you get it? And I say, get what I'm trying to see. I'm trying as hard as I know how, but you can't see what you can't see. You don't know what you don't know. Is it possible that Jesus is trying to teach disciples like us that though we've been following him though we're in the same boat with him. There are things we can't say that we can't see. Ooh, good place to be humble enough to say, master, is there something I'm missing? What a wonderful place to be. Welcome to church. Welcome to the people of God. That's the preceding context. Don't you see? Then comes our story. Blind man to Jesus. Jesus touches him. Do you see I say, what do you see? People look like trees. Can I touch you again? Sure. Master. He touches him and he sees clearly. Are you listening? Is it possible that Mark is using this story of a blind man, not just to tell us an interesting story, but to teach us a basic lesson of Christian discipleship that sometimes disciples don't know what they don't know and they need another touch. I love the way you're listening right now. The gospel is an amazing book. Now that's the preceding context. Let's look at the following context because it gets even more interesting. Next story. We're at chapter eight and verse 27 Jesus went with his disciples to the villages of Cesarea, Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, what do, who do? People say that I am. Another way to ask that question would be, Jesus is asking, when people look at me, what do they see? Do they have eyes to realize? The second person of the blessing Trinity is here in the flash and the disciples say, Lord, they are so blind. Those pagans out there, they don't know who you are. They can't even see the glory of God. Some think you're John the Baptist. Others say you're Elijah or one of the prophets and it says, if Jesus is conducting an eye examination, he says, all right, the key question to the gospel. What about you Pete? Jimmy, Johnny, Andy, Bart. Who do you say that I am? When you look at me, what do you see and you got to love. Pete Peters my hero. He raises his hand. Pick me, pick me. I know you're the Christ. You are the in Matthew's gospel, the son of the living God. Peter answered him. You are the Messiah. You're the one we've been waiting for for 2000 years and in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says to Peter, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. You didn't figure this out because you've been to seminary or because you have a high IQ or because you're smarter than the other dumb disciples around you.

Speaker 4: 18:30

That's good.

Speaker 3: 18:33

You figured this out because my father in his grace opened your eyes. You've been touched in a way that you see what those who haven't been touched by grace can't see.

Speaker 4: 18:51

Isn't that good?

Speaker 3: 18:53

Now the plot thickens. I mean the story gets so dense. I have to say Holy spirit helped me. This was another verse that really bothered me. Verse 30 Peter has just made what we called the great confession, the greatest thing that has ever been said by human lips. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the son of God, and Jesus says, don't tell a soul. What do you do with that? He strictly charged him. Them tell no one. If I had been writing the gospel, I would have said, Lord, isn't this where you want me to put the great commission? Peter knows who you are. Isn't this where you should tell Peter now, Pete, go tell everybody. That makes sense to me. Aren't you glad I'm not the author of the gospel. According to Mark, he strictly told him, tell no one this. I like to call the great pro habituation, not the great coal mission. A few years ago I was asked to preach at a missions conference in South Carolina for mission Sunday, so on mission Sunday, I stand up in the pulpit and I say, I want to share with you this morning the great prohibition, and I read this verse, tell no one who Jesus is, and the pastor looked at me and said, I don't think that's why we invited you here. I said, well, listen, the Bible, what's going? Good question. Why would Jesus tell people who know who he is to not tell? Good question. Let me tell you the answer because if you know who he is but you don't understand why he came, and then if you go tell people who he is, you won't be telling people accurately about who he is. I love your silence right now. I'm going to, it's so good. I'm going to say that again. If you know who Jesus is but don't understand why he came parentheses to die on a cross and then you go into the world and preach Jesus. You ain't preaching Jesus. You're preaching something else. So Pete, don't tell anybody that you know me. That's what my father used to tell me when I used to go out on the weekends in high school. In my pre-Christian days stand. Don't tell anybody what your last name is, Pete, because if you go preaching Jesus and you don't get the curls, you're preaching something toxic. I choose my words, and this is when the eighth chapter of Mark just began to open up because Pete sees, but he doesn't see his eyes had been touched by grace, but there's a huge chunk of the gospel that he doesn't even know what he doesn't know and he can't see what he can't see. Look at verse 31 and he began important word to teach them that the son of man what must suffer. This is the point when Jesus knows that his disciples know who he is and see his glory, where Jesus begins to introduce the cross. Now that you know who I am, I'm going to tell you why I've come. Now that you know my identity, I'm going to tell you my mission. Now that you've passed your Christology exam, let me tell you the whole purpose of the gospel of grace. And it's all about a cross. He began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the church, by the elders, and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again, and he said this plainly, I wish I could have been there to listen to this conversation. Now that you know who I am, I want you to know not that this might end badly or it's possible that this isn't gonna work out well. I must go to Jerusalem. I must be rejected. I must die. Now that you know who I am. This is why I came. I came not to be served, but to serve. I came not to save my life. I came to give my life. I came not to sit on a throne. I came to hang from a cross. I came not to destroy my enemies. I came to love my enemies. I didn't come to live. I came to die and I think Peter said, would you run that by me one more time? I'm trying to understand this, but I don't understand what you're saying. And look at verse 32 the second part, and Peter, excuse me, verse 32 second part, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Now it takes a little audacity to rebuke God. It takes a little audacity to tell the second person of the Trinity his theology is not correct, but if you're the apostle Peter the apostle of the foot shaped mouth, you won't let this little tiny problem get in the way. He begins to rebuke Jesus, and I think I know what he told him. Master the Messiah doesn't do crosses. When the Messiah comes, he's going to sit on the throne. When the Messiah comes, he's going to destroy our enemies. Rome in particular, when the Messiah comes, he's going to make us all healthy, wealthy, and happy. Can I get an amen? Don't say amen there. By the way. Sometimes pastor Stan says things that set you up for a trap, so be careful. That's the gospel. We've been waiting 2000 years for this, for a Messiah to come and make all of our problems go away. He'll all of our sicknesses and make us healthy, wealthy and happy. Let us drive late model SUV[inaudible] so we can go to the mall and buy more stuff. Praise God. You can pack a church preaching like that.

Speaker 2: 27:12

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Speaker 3: 27:13

thank you. You can pack a church preaching that kind of partial gospel is a nice way to say it. I think the right word is that kind of heresy because when you know who Jesus is, but you don't get the cross stuff, you don't know who Jesus is. Even though you think you know who Jesus is and you can't see what you can't see. If you're blind and somebody changes the 40 watt bulb to a hundred watt bulb, it doesn't matter if you're deaf and somebody starts shouting, it doesn't make a difference because you're deaf. Somebody's gotta listen to me. Open your eyes. Only grace can do that. Are you getting? Are you tracking with me? So Peter rebukes Jesus the apostle of the foot shaped mouth and says, Jesus, messiahs don't do crosses in God. In Matthew's gospel, when you compare these stories, Peter literally says to Jesus, no Lord, you know what an oxymoron is? An oxymoron is when you put two words together that are mutually contradictory like jumbo shrimp or to say somebody is, she's pretty ugly.

Speaker 2: 28:54

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Speaker 3: 28:54

oxymorons are fun. I've got more of them. I'll share with you privately, but listen to what Peter said. No Lord Peter, you if he's your Lord, you can't say no to him by definition unless you're Peter the apostle of the foot shaped mouth. He does it all the time. In fact, this is so good sidebar. I'm not worried about the time here. You guys ended 11 o'clock is that right? It's a long time til lunch, so we're just going to enjoy this. There are four times where Peter, I love Peter said, no Lord, it makes a great four part sermon or forced sermon series four times. He said, no Lord. One was when Jesus said, I'm going to die. On a cross inter Peter. No Lord. Messiahs don't do crosses the other task. Second time it's when he's sitting at the last supper and Jesus says, one of you will be trained me and Pete basically says, is it Matthew? He worked for the IRS. I've never quite trusted him. Is it Thomas? He's always been something of a skeptic and Peter in the context says, no Lord, I'm rock. Remember you named me rock. You can count on me. They might betray you, but not Pete. No Lord. That was the second one. Third time he said, no, Lord is when after separate Jesus started washing feet. Love this picture. Just working down the line. He gets to Pete. You'll never guess what Pete said. You said, no Lord messiahs don't do feet. You're the King. Kings don't wash feet and Jesus I think just looked at him and said, Pete, you don't see, and I think Pete said, CIF watt. See what I'm trying. I'm doing this stuff. Lord, who are you? You're the Messiah. You're doing it all wrong. You ever said that to God? FESA come on. I know you have. I've said it to, Oh, okay. We had some of you types at Loudon Ville community church the fourth time Pete said, no Lord is my favorite. It's in the book of acts chapter 10 this is after Pentecost. Peter is up on the roof in Joppa taking a nap and he's hungry and he dreams of a sheep let down from heaven full of bacon, barbecue and pork sandwiches. I'm not making this up. You go read it. I'm not smart enough to make it up. All of this pork meat is let down from heaven and a voice from heaven says, Pete, arise and eat and you'll never guess what Pete said. He'll said, no Lord, I'm kosher. I'm Jewish. I obey your law. I don't eat pork. And the voice from heaven says, Pete, what I've cleaned, don't you call unclean? And at that very moment downstairs, there was a knock at the door. Cornelius, an unclean Gentile had sent servants to Pete's house and they said, is there somebody here who knows God? And the servant in that house said, well, I guess that would be Pete. He's a little strange. He's up on the roof. Pete comes downstairs and they say, our master Cornelius, an uncircumcised Gentile who so unclean, you won't even go into his house but has sent us here because for some reason he believes you know the way to God, and Pete said, I'll go, goes, God just told me something that I didn't know and that's why you and I are sitting here believing in Jesus Christ. Four times Pete said, no Lord. Now the story keeps going. We're back in Mark chapter eight that was the sermon I wasn't going to preach. I love to preach the sermon. I wasn't going to preach. Now the plot takes a turn that I could have never seen coming. Verse 33 verse 33 and turning and seeing his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter. There's a lot of rebuking going on in this chapter. I wish if I was a movie producer and this would be such a fun scene to try to capture, Peter rebukes Jesus. Jesus rebukes Peter and said, get behind me.

Speaker 4: 34:49

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Speaker 3: 34:50

Jesus never called pilot Satan. He never called Herod Satan. He never called Caiaphas Satan. He never called Judas Satan, but he called the rock who had just made the greatest confession in human history. He said, you're a Satan to me. If you try to deter me from the cross, you're from the pit. The gospel just blows my socks off. I don't have the ability to absorb what a revolutionary message this is. Get behind me. Satan. Don't tell anyone you know me. It's what my dad was saying. Don't tell them your last name, Pete, because if you go preaching Jesus and you don't get the cross, you're spreading something toxic, so just keep your mouth shut. Uh, look at verse 34 if I can find it and calling the crowd to him with his disciples. Jesus said to them, now, buckle your seat belt. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up. There's not one cross in the gospel. There are two crosses in the gospel. The most important cross is to cross on which the Messiah dies. But Jesus says, Pete, Andy, Johnny, Jimmy, if you're going to follow me, you're going to discover that the cross is not just something in history where the Messiah died. So you can go to heaven when you die. There is a cross in your life and one of the ways to know who the true followers of Christ are is their lives are cruciform. They have a cross shaped identity. They're the people who lay down their lives for others. They're the people who constantly feel the pain of God for a broken world. Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there's a cross for everyone. One and there's a cross for me. We don't sing that in church anymore and I think we should. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel sake will find it. Peter, don't you see? See what, see what the cross the two crosses. The one on which Jesus dies, the one on which I die. That's what the gospel is all about. And he's saying this to people, Peter, Andrew, James and John who've left everything and been following him for perhaps two years at this point. Don't you get it? Get what master. And Jesus basically say, I'll tell you what you need to get. You need to understand that in my kingdom, the way up is down. The way to win is to lose. The way to be strong is to be weak. The way to be rich is to give everything away. The way to be wise is to become a fool. The way to be joyful is to learn how to weep. The way to be first is to be last. The way to find yourself is to lose yourself. And the way to live is to die. And I think Pete said, would you run that by me one more time? I'm not sure I get it. No, Pete, you don't get it. Not until grace opened your eyes to see the glory of the cross and not just Jesus cross, but yours, Lord. I can't see what I can't see. Hold that thought. Take Metallica. Yes, like saying cecum to a dog. Be careful. I used to work on this passage and stop there and then I began to realize that Mark chapter nine and chapter 10 go with chapter eight I'm not very bright. They go together and that what we have in Mark chapter nine and 10 is a series of stories that show what Christian discipleship looks like. When you know who Jesus is, you really do, but you don't quite get the cross part, his cross or yours. That's just sort of, I don't quite know what to do with that, but I know who Jesus is. Let me just walk you through this very quickly. Mark chapter nine and 10 because in my humble opinion, this is a picture of the American evangelical church who's so drunk at the well of the prosperity gospel and believes that the reason Jesus died and sent his spirit is so we can be healthy, wealthy and happy and we can have our best life now. Really? Is that really what the gospel says? What about the cross? Well Mark nine and 10 give us a picture of what Christian discipleship looks like when you know who Jesus is, but you don't get the two crosses. Let me walk you through it. Firstly, first of all, in chapter nine verses two and following, you have the story of the transfiguration. They take Peter, James and John on the mountain. Jesus does. He's transfigured, and you know what Pete says? Let me read it to you. It's, it's the Bible is a very funny book. Now it's Jewish humor. You've got to understand it with Jewish humor. After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John. Let me skip down to verse five. Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus. Verse five and Peter said to Jesus, rabbi, it's good to be here. Let's make three tents. One for you, one for Moses, and one Eli went for Elijah. Verse six for he did not know what to say. It's like when Peter didn't know what to say. He just said the first thing that popped into his mind. He's the apostle of the foot shaped mouth. Lord, we love it on the mountain. Let's just build three tents and stay here forever. When you don't see the Chrome,

Speaker 5: 42:19

yes,

Speaker 3: 42:21

you go from one spiritual mountaintop looking for the next spiritual high and you forget about the demon possessed children in the Valley, which is the next story. They go down to the Valley and the father comes up to Jesus and says, Jesus, my son is possessed by an unclean spirit. I brought him to your disciples who have been doing miracles for the first eight chapters of Mark, but suddenly they're impotent. They can't cast out the demons because when you don't see the cross, when you don't see the two crosses, we're powerless against the forces of evil. Look at the next story, chapter nine verse 33 I don't know which one of these. I love the best. Jesus says to the disciples when they're walking along, what were you walking, talking about on the road? And the Bible says, but they kept quiet because they had been arguing about who's the greatest and you're laughing at the right place. You know what they're playing. I think it's the favorite game we play in evangelical churches, spiritual one-upmanship. It's ugly. How long is your quiet time? You mean you're not having, but five minutes a day in your quiet time? Do you know that? I'm up to 30 minutes a day now. Spiritual one-upmanship. Are you on the evangelism team? You're not on the evangelism team, sister. I'm going to pray for your soul. Are you tithing? Oh, you're not tithing. You know I'm giving 12% now. Spiritual one-upmanship. It's an ugly thing. I, Oh, when I pause like this, I'm determining what to leave out, but which of us is the greatest because when you don't see the cross, then we began to measure, measure our churches, measure our pastures by who's the biggest? Who's got the biggest budget? Who's the most impressive? Look at chapter nine verse 38 John said, master, you're going to be so proud of me cause I signed somebody driving out demons in your name, but I made him stop because he's not a member of Bethlehem community church. He's not in our club and he's expecting the master to commend him. I don't know if Jesus ever rolled his eyes. I'm pretty sure he did. And I think this was one of the occasions where he said, John, John, John, you don't see, and I think John said, see if what I thought I was doing your work. He's not in the right group. He doesn't dot his I's and cross his T's like you supposed to. So I made him stop. I rebuked him. You don't see John, you're blind. Just keep your mouth shut and keep following. We're going to get to a place where grace is able to ope. You're open your eyes, but we're not there yet. Chapter 10 verse 13 Oh, I love this one. They're bringing children to Jesus so that he could bless them. And the usher said, get those kids out of here. This is an adult service. And they cry and make noise and we don't want them. In the masters teaching class, there's only about three occasions where it says, Jesus got angry is the good study. This is one he became indignant. And that means when he said the words I'm about to say, the veins on his neck were standing out, his cheeks were flushed, and there was an edge on his voice. Usually when we quote the verse, let the children come to me, let the children come to me, and we have filtered light coming through a stained glass window and the organism tremolo is just so sweet. That's not how he said it. If that was enough of a dramatist when he said, let the children come to me, you forbid, children, you are forbidding the only ones who are qualified to be a member of the kingdom of God. You don't see, and I think the disciples said, we're doing this stuff, Lord, what are we not seeing? I just loved the gospel because it's our it's story. So Jesus says, if you marginalize the weak, the old, the handicap, the poor, the sick, the refugees, the minorities, you're keeping out of my family, the ones who belong in my family. Because when you don't see the cross, that's what happens. Mark chapter 10 verse 35 and 45 Jimmy and Johnny AKA James and John come to Jesus and says, master, we want you to do for us whatever we ask, I'm all of a certain, Jesus rolled his eyes on that one. He knows these Rascals very well. He says, okay, Jimmy, Johnny, why do you want Jimmy? He says, well, you see Johnny here when you set up your kingdom, he wants to be the vice president. I'd like to be the secretary of state, and I love Jesus. His answer, he did not say, no, no, no, no. You shouldn't want to be great in my kingdom. You know what he said? You don't have a clue what you're asking.

Speaker 2: 48:45

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Speaker 3: 48:46

because in my kingdom, the way up is down. The way to be strong is to be weak. The way to reign is to be a servant. The way to live is to die, and I think Jimmy and Johnny scratched their head and said, I don't think so. They don't see, and the last story comes in Mark chapter 10 verse 46 let me just tell you the story. They come to Jericho and there's a guy named Bartimaeus. I love Bart and Bart has one problem. What is it he can't see? He's got one. When Jesus comes to him and says, why do you want me to do for you? Bart says, Lord, I have one item on my prayer request list. I love this. Can you make a blind man? See? And Jesus said, I am so glad you asked. That's the point. Grace can do what human wisdom can't do. That's a great place for somebody to say amen. And Jesus touches Bart's eyes. And Bart sees, let me repeat what I've said. The disciples are in a boat. They have no bread. Jesus says, do you have eyes? Don't you see they bring a blind man to Jesus. He touches him. Do you see? I say, what do you see? Trees are walking. Can I touch you again? Jesus says, who do people say that I am? The disciples say they don't get it. Lord. They're so blind out there. They don't. They don't see it all. Well, what about you? Do you see? Pick me. Pick me. You're the Messiah. Okay, Pete, good. Don't tell a soul and Jesus begins to talk about the cross and not one cross, but two crosses. One for Jesus, one for Peter. You're going to die too. Pete, if you follow me, then we have these stories that show us what Christian discipleship looks like when you don't see the two crosses and yet you know who Jesus is. End of sermon with this question. Did Peter ever have a second touch? I am so glad you asked. On the day of Pentecost when the Holy spirit came on, Peter and Peter stands up to preach. You know what he said in acts chapter three verse 18 listen to what Pete said. This is how God fulfilled what he four told through all the prophets saying that the Christ Messiah would suffer. It's like right that God come from just a few weeks ago, he said, messiahs don't suffer. Now he's saying it's on every page of the Bible. I see it. I see it. I see it in Genesis. I see it in Exodus. I see it in Leviticus. I see it in Isaiah. I see it in Jeremiah. The Messiah came to give his life and he came to call us to give our lives. That's the whole point of the gospel, isn't it? Beautiful. And I say to Peter, what happened to you? And I think people would've said, he opened my eyes. He touched me again on the day of Pentecost when he filled me with the spirit. So I see the beauty and the glory. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain, I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. It's all about the cross, his and mine. Isn't it wonderful? And when he writes his first epistle, first Peter, you know what? First Peter is about suffering and the glory of being to follow in his steps live the way he did. Why? Because suffering is good. No, because suffering is the way to the redemption of the world. The redemption of your children, the redemption of your grandchildren, the redemption of your neighbors. The redemption of the capital region will happen only when the people of God learn a God. Pay love, self giving love and doing it not out of duty, but with a smile on their face and a song in their heart. I get to lay down my life like Jesus did. I see it. I see it. It's beautiful. I said to the group yesterday at the men's retreat, my theology is better than my practice. I know I'm right on this cross stuff. I know the cross is the center of the gospel, not just his but ours. And I know when we don't see the cross, we have churches like we have churches today. I want my life to be in conformity and to open a part of my personal story is what I shared earlier when I realize my wife is in a wheelchair, didn't see that coming. That has changed everything and I often say, Lord, this hurts. I don't understand this. I don't think it's supposed to be this way. And God just sort of smiles and says, welcome to the fellowship of my sufferings. What are you some kind of a masochist? No, Stan, I love the world and this is how the world is touched. When the people of God learn to lay down their lives for others so that the glory of God can be seen through those who have been crucified for others. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but what I want to ask you as we close is the obvious question. Do you need a second touch?

Speaker 2: 55:48

[inaudible]

Speaker 3: 55:48

if I can be prophetic. I know you do cause I know the American church very well. Thank you very much. I am the American church. You are too. And the pews of our churches are filled with good evangelical people who are convinced about the identity of Jesus, but they don't quite get the crossbar, his cross or ours. And let me just tell you, you won't learn about the cross by reading books or going to seminars or by going to seminary. You'll learn about the cross only when the spirit of holiness opens your eyes and gives you a second touch. We're in humility. You say, I see it's all about the cross. Let me close with one story. Stories help. A man had a dream one night. It was a dream of hell. He dreamed of a banquet hall and then the banquet hall was this banquet table just Laden with delicious food and sitting around the table were just thousands of people looking at that food. And then the man in his dream realized that everybody at the table had stiff elbows. They couldn't bend their elbows so they they couldn't eat and he woke up in a sweat saying, that's hell. Oh my goodness, that's hell. Next night he had another dream, a dream of heaven. To his surprise, he saw the same thing. I banquet hall food. Thousands of people around the table and two is utter shock. They all had stiff elbows, but in heaven they were feeding one another. Can I feed you? Can I feed you? Can I feed you? Can you feed me? And the joy and the laughter coming out of the banquet hall of heaven made him wake up with,

Speaker 1: 58:03

hi, I'm Jeff[inaudible], one of the pastors here at Bethlehem community church. Welcome to our Sunday podcast. Coming to you from the town of Bethlehem in upstate New York, in the USA. Bethlehem community church is an independent, nondenominational, Bible-based evangelical church that includes people with backgrounds from many denominations. We believe that is only through the love of the father, the sacrifice of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ on the cross and the power of the Holy spirit that we can come into a personal relationship with God. We are people truly seeking a deeper intimacy with God and with one another. If you'd like to know more about our church, please visit our website@wwwbccdelmar.org there. You'll be able to find our statement of faith as well as more about the ministry of Bethlehem community church. You'll also be able to submit prayer requests as we are called to pray with and for you. We also would love to hear your story and how you found our podcast and where you're listening from. So please visit our website and send us an email. Again, it's BCC delmar.org that's BCC, D E L M a r.org. Thank you for joining us as we continue our pursuit of knowing God and making him known.