WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.600 Thank you for joining us today. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:11.679 If you live in proximity to uh Columbus, would love to invite you to come be here in person, meet a lot of these folks, and uh just a great place to be, a great time to be alive. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.439 Uh I was gone for 12 days. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:15.679 My wife and I went to South Africa. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:16.960 Uh it was amazing. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:18.320 Everything other than the flight. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:21.679 Anybody ever done like a 16-hour okay through the night? 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:22.320 It was like a 10. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:24.879 I slept for 10 hours like this, okay? 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:27.519 Uh, but it was absolutely incredible. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:34.640 Uh we worked at a conference uh with church planters, people starting new churches all over the southern part of Africa. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:41.359 So not just the country of South Africa, but the countries all in the southern hemisphere of Africa. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:01:06.719 It was so life-giving to see these people who are full of faith, full of life, full of courage, ready to take a risk, ready to step out, uh, and uh to be able to take sort of the the culmination of all of the lessons we've learned here, the blood, sweat, and tears, and even the encouraging testimonies of what God has done through one church to be able to go and represent you, uh, to be able to speak life into people who we really uh felt a lot in common with. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:14.159 And then on the back end of the trip, to say thank you, they they sent us on some excursions, so we got to go to uh we got to do a safari. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:25.599 Uh so we were they actually had us getting out of the vehicle, so we were like 200 yards from some rhinos, which is closer than I want to be, to be honest with you. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:32.000 Uh my wife was loving it though, so I was uh enjoying it vicariously through her, and uh, but it was very cool. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:37.680 And then we went to Cape Town, okay, which is like the most beautiful city I've ever been to. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:41.599 It was like God took the best part of every city and put it in one place. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:42.799 It was just amazing. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:46.719 Uh, but there's no place like home, and I'm thrilled to be back with you guys. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:55.519 Uh, and I want to say a sincere thank you for allowing Shaylin and I to do that, to giving us the space to be able to go be a blessing other places. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:57.519 And um, we don't take that for granted. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:03.519 It was really one of the most precious moments of my life to be able to experience that with her, and uh, so I want to say thank you. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.400 Um I'm gonna jump into the message uh sort of right away here. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:11.280 We're gonna we're gonna take away here in Mark 6. 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:12.560 So if you have your Bible, go there. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:19.759 If you've been around the last five weeks, we've been uh in a series called Interruptions where we basically spent a lot of time in Mark V. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:24.800 Um, by the way, if you missed last week, uh Shane Huey did an amazing job. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:28.080 You're gonna want to go to one dot church slash messages. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:29.439 Amazing stuff. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:36.080 Um, so we've been we've been in Mark V, and and I I just decided to kind of keep going into the next chapter. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:44.400 Okay, so if you remember where we ended off in Mark 5 at the end, Jesus has raised Jairus' daughter from the dead, okay? 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:46.240 Uh, which is a pretty cool thing. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:50.159 And and so at the end, that that's that's where we left off in Mark 5. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:59.759 Now we switch over to Mark 6, verse 1, it says, Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.520 So in Mark 1, Jesus leaves Nazareth where he grew up. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:10.159 He spent 30 years as a carpenter, and he sets off for his three-year ministry. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:14.719 But he leaves in chapter 1, he comes back in chapter 6 after he's raised a girl from the dead. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:19.680 The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:21.360 They were floored, they were blown away. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:26.080 They asked, Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles? 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:28.000 Then they scoffed. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:35.680 He's just a carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, and his sisters live right over there. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:36.879 They live here among us. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:38.800 We know them probably too well. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:42.400 They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:50.159 And Jesus told them, A prophet is honored everywhere, except in his own hometown, among his relatives and his own family. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:56.159 And because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:01.039 And he was amazed at their unbelief, blown away, floored, wounded, frankly. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:11.280 Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people, and he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:15.919 He told them to take nothing on their journey except a walking stick, no food, no traveler's bag, no money. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:18.959 He allowed them to wear sandals, but not to take a change of clothes. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.720 Wherever you go, he said, stay in the same house until you leave the town. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:32.240 But in if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust from your feet as you leave to show that you've abandoned the people to their fate. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:36.959 The title of the message this weekend is When Rejection Hits Close to Home. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:46.800 I think we can all make a concession for that. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.319 Okay, that might ruin your minute, but it shouldn't even ruin your hour. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:51.920 You go, they don't know me. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:54.560 Uh if they did know me, they would know that's not me. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:59.439 Uh, some people will put you into a profile or they will make assumptions about you. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:01.600 And so you just gotta be ready for that. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:02.800 You gotta be prepared for that. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:03.759 It is what it is. 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:06.959 And not everyone should be able to wound you deeply, okay? 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:09.759 Some things it's like a BB, it hits your skin and falls off. 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:11.040 It shouldn't puncture you. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:13.839 And that's what happens at sort of things at a distance. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.680 But uh what happens when you go home and it's your hometown? 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:25.680 These are your family, your friends, your brothers, your sisters, your cousins, the people you grew up with, the people you hung out with, and the people that should know you. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:28.800 It it's a you can soothe yourself with they don't know me. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:30.399 Well, what about when they do? 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:41.279 They do know you, and the people that should be supporting you, the people that should be celebrating you, the people that should be spurring you on to greater things and seeing more for your life than you do. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:42.879 Have you ever had someone? 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:47.360 Have you ever been fortunate enough to have someone who saw more in you than you saw in yourself? 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:48.800 That's pretty awesome. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:56.319 And yet, what about the people that should see more in you who actually see less in you, who cut you down and cut you down at critical moments? 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.759 Jesus has just raised a girl from the dead. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:06.800 If they can't be happy in the hometown and proud about that, what do you got to do in Nazareth to get a parade? 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:08.079 I mean, what do you got to do? 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:09.759 What do you gotta win? 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:10.319 Okay? 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:14.959 He raised a girl from the dead, and you guys can't even be happy about that. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:21.040 You're not proud of Jesus and what he did, and and so they they they start to take shots at him. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:29.600 I I wanna I want us to talk through this because uh friendly fire hurts pretty bad, and sometimes it can cause us to stay stuck or to not be able to get past it. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:30.639 I want to do two things today. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:35.040 One, I want to make sense of it, because it does make a little bit of sense, all right. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.279 Although it hurts, uh, it does make a bit of sense, so I want to make sense of it. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:44.000 The second thing I want to do is I want to learn from Jesus how to get past it. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:45.600 Okay. 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:49.920 First six chapters, okay, we're in Mark six. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:58.319 First six chapters, Jesus has left home and he has gone into an environment that's caused him to develop rapidly. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:00.800 Develop very rapidly. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:05.839 Don't deify Jesus to the point that you forget about his humanity. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:09.360 Yes, he was fully God, but he was also fully man. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:19.600 So as a human being, he had flesh that had to be contended with, had to be overcome, had to be brought into submission, he had to learn discipline, he had to learn things in his humanity. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:25.519 So what happens in the first six chapters of Mark is Jesus goes into the pressure cooker. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:27.519 Okay, this is a pressure cooker. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:28.800 Anybody have one of these? 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:36.240 Pressure cookers take steam and pressurize it and accelerate the cooking process. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:39.439 So things that used to take a day take now hours. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:45.519 Things that used to take hours take minutes in the pressure cooker because of the intensity. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:50.720 Growth environments feel like pressure cookers. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:08:01.600 This is why most of your greatest, most powerful growth, it happens and you don't really really acknowledge it and recognize it until you're through it. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:06.560 Because when you're in it, it doesn't feel like growth, it feels like death. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:07.279 Okay? 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:09.439 It feels like torture. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:10.720 You know what it feels like? 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:11.759 Pressure. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.600 Pressure, stress. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:16.879 Uh, I got a deadline I can't meet. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:17.439 Okay? 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.000 They want this done yesterday. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:23.600 Uh I've got more responsibility than than I'm capable of. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.079 I need to clone myself, but I can't. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:28.720 Uh I'm in outside of my comfort zone. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.560 I'm I'm in something I don't have a resume for. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:31.920 I don't have an experience for. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:33.200 I don't have any experience to draw. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:34.320 I don't have enough team. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:35.919 I don't have enough money. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:42.080 Okay, but I have a responsibility, and it's high stakes and it's costly, and it's pressure. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:49.440 It's like the steam is like, and so so you know nobody who's in the pressure cooker is like, boy, I just really feel like I'm thriving right now. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:51.039 I really feel like I'm growing right now. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:56.720 No, you feel tired, you feel energized, you feel like you got the weight of the world on you. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:03.919 And yet, those are the environments that pull things out of you that cause you to cook faster than normal, okay? 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:08.399 You you end up a nice grill cooked piece of chicken, all right? 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.600 And faster than you normally would have. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:14.879 Jesus has been gone for six chapters. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:19.679 It really hadn't been that long, and yet when he comes back to Nazareth, he's unrecognizable. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:21.679 Like, who is this guy? 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:23.840 It says they were amazed. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:27.120 They said, Where did he where did this guy get all this wisdom? 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:31.519 In the pressure cooker. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:33.039 Let me define it for you. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:40.080 So um, first six chapters of Mark, real quick, okay, you have uh Mark, you have Mark chapter one. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:48.080 Mark chapter one uh is when Jesus goes in the wilderness and he over learns to overcome temptation. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:49.120 Remember this? 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:51.840 He goes in 40 days, doesn't eat. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:56.399 So he fasts for 40 days, and the enemy tempts him for 40 days. 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:10.720 Okay, so in for 40 days he has to deal with his flesh, the fact that he's hungry and he's not able to eat, he's in a wild place, there are wild animals, it's uncomfortable, and for 40 days he's in the pressure cooker, he's learning how to overcome his flesh. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:14.720 Okay, you remember the first temptation the enemy brings to him, Satan brings to him? 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:18.080 He he says, Hey, take these uh rocks and make them bread. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:29.519 And Jesus learns, he learns in the pressure cooker how to stand up to temptation, and he says, No, man will not live by bread alone, but he goes, I'm gonna stand on the word, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:35.759 Okay, you don't learn that in a classroom, you learn it in the wilderness, you learn it in the pressure cooker when you haven't eaten for 40 days. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.320 I've heard people say, you know, can you imagine going 40 days with no food and then being able to turn down bread? 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:44.240 Yeah. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:47.840 When you've turned down 120 meals, what's 121? 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.200 I just said no 120 times. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:57.360 It's a lot easier to say no to the 121st meal when you've said no 120 times than the second one. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:58.960 Be honest with you. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.039 Okay, try skipping lunch today. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:01.919 See how easy it is. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:03.039 You're like, I want to eat. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:04.480 I just ate, I want to eat again. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:13.120 Jesus learned how to bring his body into submission, how to make his body work for him, how to stand up to his own temptations and flesh. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:14.559 It happened in the pressure cooker. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:17.360 You come out 40 days in the wilderness, you're a different dude. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:18.639 That was Mark 1. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:24.960 Mark chapter 2, Mark chapter 2, uh, Jesus deals with tough questions. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:26.240 Okay? 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:28.399 He starts having to defend himself. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:35.919 He starts having to explain uh theological principles, and he starts having to take complex things and wrestle with them. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:39.919 By the way, if all you do is stay with easy questions, you get easy answers. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.039 But you start dealing with tough questions, now you get tough answers. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:44.000 Hard answers. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:48.960 Some people avoid tough questions because it's messy, it's hard, it's difficult. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:52.000 And it's not, if it was an easy answer, you'd already have it. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:53.840 You gotta go in and you gotta wrestle. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:58.240 And so Jesus goes through tough questions all through Mark 2. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:05.200 Mark II, by the way, is also where uh remember the story where they lower the man through the roof of the house, and Jesus, uh, you want to talk about tough questions? 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:07.919 Jesus heals the man because of the faith of the other people. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:11.039 Okay, that'll mess with your theology, but somehow he does it. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.600 Hey, you guys have so much faith, I'm gonna heal him. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:17.440 And then he he does, and he forgives the man's sins, and now he's got an answer for that. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:18.639 Tough questions. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:20.720 Uh Mark chapter 3. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:27.840 Mark chapter 3, Jesus deals with critics. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:31.120 Uh, in fact, I'm gonna go ahead and go there. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.600 Uh Mark chapter 3, go ahead and pull up verse 1. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:37.200 It says, Jesus went to the synagogue and he noticed a man with a deformed hand. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.399 And since it was the Sabbath, his enemies watched him closely. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:47.039 So notice now, because Jesus uh is developing and he's coming up fast, it is now a threat to people. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:51.279 So now he has enemies who are who would benefit from his demise. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:54.960 And so they're trying to plan his downfall, and so they're watching closely. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:59.519 If he healed the man's hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:03.600 And Jesus said to the man with a deformed hand, Hey, come here, stand in front of all my critics. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:04.879 Come stand in front of everyone. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:12.159 Then he turned to his critics and and he asked, Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.399 Is it a day to save a life or destroy it? 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:15.600 And they wouldn't answer him. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:21.360 And he looked around at them angrily, as he and he was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.039 He's thinking, How sad is this? 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:32.879 These guys care more about the law than this really sincere guy with this deformed hand, and they don't want him to get a miracle uh because it's the Sabbath, or they do, so they can entrap me. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:34.320 And it just made him sad. 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:35.600 But then it says, Look at this. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.440 Uh then he said to the man, Hold out your hand. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.159 So the man held out his hand and it was restored. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:43.919 So he heals him anyway, but he learns how to contend with critics. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:53.919 Mark chapter four is the famous story where Jesus calms the wind and the waves, and he learns to deal with storms. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:59.360 So he's learned to deal with temptations, he's learned to deal with tough questions, he's learned to deal with critics now. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:00.879 He's on the he's on the storm. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:05.039 And by the way, a a major storm. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:15.360 We know it's a major storm because the the disciples who are fishermen who spend all of their life on boats in storms, okay, they do storms every day. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:16.960 It's a Tuesday, it's a storm. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:18.799 Wednesday, it's a storm, no big deal. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.639 And they think they're gonna die. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:27.039 Okay, if you're on a fishing boat with fishermen and they think the storm's bad, you need to be afraid. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:38.960 And so Jesus is in this massive, huge storm, and yet he learns how to draw on his faith in the middle of that, and he comes through a near-death experience in the storm. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.360 Mark 5, you don't need me to re-preach it to you. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:42.720 We were there for five weeks. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:45.600 Mark 5 is all about interruptions. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:47.279 Interruptions. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:56.799 Okay, so he's dealt with he's dealt with temptations, tough questions, critics, storms, interruptions, and now we get to Mark 6. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:04.240 And in Mark 6, Jesus learns to deal with rejection from the hometown. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:05.919 He's been in the pressure cooker. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:18.399 He's been in the pressure cooker, he's been in the wilderness, he's been in the storm, he's been looking the critics in the face, he's been staring in the tough questions, answering, he's been doing all this, he's come out a different dude, accelerated his growth. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:25.840 So here you have a guy who's been in the pressure cooker, uh, who has accelerated his development, and he goes home to Nazareth. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:39.120 So people who are frozen in their mindset. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:42.480 They haven't left Nazareth. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:49.200 Jesus, and I'm not trying to hate on Nazareth, but okay, let that represent a mindset. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:16:06.639 Okay, Jesus has been on this in the storm, he's been in the synagogue, he's been in the wilderness, he's been fighting his flesh, he's been backing down the enemy, he's been standing on the word, and these folks are still telling the same jokes. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:17.120 Standing on the same corner, rapping the same bars, going to the same bars. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:18.720 Okay? 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:29.279 They have not evolved, they have not been in the pressure cooker, they have frozen, so they're thinking the same thoughts, reading the same books, singing the same song, they're not going anywhere. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:35.519 And so Jesus comes home, and these we came from the same place, but we are not the same. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.120 He made a choice. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:44.480 Now, understand, when you look at Jesus here, and by the way, I know some of you are freaking out about Salmanila. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.399 Come on. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:54.320 This is dumb. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.000 I can do this with it too. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:06.000 Notice, notice here, notice here, Jesus, there were some of his life situations he proactively put himself in. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:07.839 He put himself in the wilderness. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.319 Oh, you know, the spirit led him, but he made a choice. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:12.240 But he didn't pick the storm. 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:14.079 The storm came upon. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:16.960 He didn't ask for the critic, the critic just showed up. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:28.480 And yet Jesus has put himself in a growth environment that has caused him to accelerate, and now that development has offended the frozen folks. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:32.400 The people who don't want to change, the people who don't want to grow. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:33.680 And so here he is. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:35.599 So now it now he's got to deal with this. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:38.559 Okay, and so let's let's look at the scripture real quick. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:41.440 Let's go back to Mark 6 in verse 2. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:45.359 He goes into the Sabbath, he begins teaching in the synagogue, and they heard him, they were amazed. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:46.160 They were amazed. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:48.000 And they asked, Where did he get all this wisdom? 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:49.440 He got it in the pressure cooker. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:50.480 Where did he get the power? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.920 He got it in the pressure cooker. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:52.640 And then look at this. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.200 Next, it says, Then they scoffed. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:02.079 So they they couldn't help themselves but to be impressed by his development. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:03.440 Wow. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.400 How'd this guy get all this wisdom? 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.039 He got it in the wilderness. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.279 How did he get all this power? 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:18.720 And then their reaction, their impulsive reaction to being amazed was to then scoff. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:37.039 Let's take a moment for a second, because we we love to, I love to, and maybe if you're like me, you love to identify with Jesus in the story and the heroes, okay, and to go, yeah, get the shake the haters off, and and everybody else is a hate, you know. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:19:00.160 But let me just let me just ask you a moment to tilt the prism in every direction and to just ask yourself, do you ever find yourself in a position where you see somebody who's coming up, you see somebody who's in the pressure cooker, you see somebody taking life situations, both proactively and reactively, and growing from them, and they're becoming a better person, they're becoming a bigger person, and in their bigness, it makes you feel small. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:08.799 So instead of going from being amazed to affirming them or to fanning the flame and encouraging them, you go from amazed to scoffing. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:12.000 What kind of person do you want to be? 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:19.039 If there's any of that in you, let the Lord just sort of suss it out today and make a decision that I'm going to be an encourager. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:21.519 I'm going to be somebody that speaks life into people. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.160 When I'm amazed, I'm going to tell them that's amazing. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:25.440 Tell me your story. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:28.559 You know, they ask the question, where did all this wisdom come from? 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.119 They're asking each other, then they go to scoffing. 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:34.480 What they should have done is gone to Jesus and go, where'd all that wisdom come from? 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:35.359 Tell me about it. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:36.799 I'd like to get some too. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:42.400 But instead, the Bible says next that they begin to try to chop him down. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:45.279 So they scoffed, and then look what it says. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:47.279 He's just a carpenter. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:54.319 This is the disadvantage of knowing someone for 30 years, is one thing. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:20:02.799 Because over six chapters, Jesus had transitioned from just being a guy who was a carpenter to now being a rabbi. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:05.839 He was someone who was grown in wisdom. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:11.119 His mission had shifted, and yet they could not see him beyond the carpenter. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:12.480 And then it gets personal. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:15.599 The next thing they say, oh, oh yeah, he's a carpenter. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.279 He's the son of Mary. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:22.400 Which, if you read that really quickly, it doesn't seem like any big deal, but that was a dig. 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.799 In that day, you would identify a man as the son of his father. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:37.200 So by saying he's the son of Mary, essentially they were bringing up the fact that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, that you know, he Joseph wasn't his father. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:43.599 All of the rumors that probably surrounded the birth and the origin of Jesus, they're going, hey, don't forget. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:47.519 Okay, so so this bastard child uh is now a prophet. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:48.640 He's wise now. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:50.240 Oh, this is the powerful guy. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:52.319 He's a he's a bastard carpenter. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:53.279 That's what they were saying. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:58.319 And they were belittling him by by you know identifying him as the son of his mother. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:00.880 Bringing up the rumors from the past. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.079 Then they start talking about his siblings, okay? 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.759 We know about their family. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:07.519 And and they and they try to do it. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:08.799 And then look what it says next. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:10.079 Then look what it says next. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:14.160 It says, um, they were deeply offended and refused to believe. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.160 Deep, deeply offended for about what? 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:17.279 That he was wise? 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:19.680 Deeply offended? 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:21.440 That he fought through the wilderness? 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:22.960 What are you deeply offended? 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:34.079 And what Jesus is learning here, and really what he knew, but what he's learning and he's teaching us, and he's teaching the disciples, and he's teaching anybody that'll learn, is you know what? 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:38.319 Some folks want to be offended, and if you want to be offended, you'll get offended. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:43.680 You'll you'll find, I mean, if someone's wisdom offends you, okay, so their power to do miracles offends you. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:55.119 I mean, they're they're going to find something because some people, once they see someone who's come through the pressure and they've been developed, they don't, they they they feel insecure about their frozenness. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:59.680 I'm frozen, and so they gotta try to soothe themselves by chopping you down. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:01.359 Let's make sense of it. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:02.559 Let's make sense of it. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:04.079 Two things real quick. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:11.759 One, sometimes I think people from the hometown, and we'll let that represent whatever your family, the people that knew you, you grew up with, whatever. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:18.079 If you've ever come home and you've been developing, and you come home to folks that haven't been developing, it's awkward. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:19.680 Yes, sir. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:20.720 Yes, sir. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:22.079 They're doing the same stuff. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:27.200 I mean, you walk away, you get in the car, you look at your spouse, and you're like, same old Joe. 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:30.000 Dude hasn't changed a bit. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:31.759 He's frozen in time. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:34.240 And you're not trying to like put yourself above them. 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:37.519 This isn't about your uh, you know, your intrinsic value. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:39.680 This isn't like God loves you more. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:42.799 This is about like, dude, I don't think we have anything in common anymore. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:46.960 I mean, we used to rollerblade together, but you know, I don't know what to talk to them about. 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:48.799 I'm thinking about different stuff. 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:50.400 I'm doing different stuff. 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:52.000 I mean, we're not the same person. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:54.000 I've been I've been in the wilderness, man. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:23:02.160 I've been out on the open sea, I've been going through tough, I've been walking through, and we are not, we don't have anything in common anymore. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:02.720 Okay? 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:15.119 And I think sometimes when you are becoming a bigger person, you're becoming a freer person, you're becoming a different person, you're developing, it makes frozen people feel small. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:21.519 And because of that, their their recipe to relieve themselves is to try to chop you down. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:24.319 Oh, oh, you're oh, you're a rabbi now, okay. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:25.680 30 years of a carpenter. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:26.400 I know, okay. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:31.839 You're a carpenter, oh, you're Mary's son, to try to chop you down to size. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:34.960 Not everybody gets excited when you grow. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:38.480 Not everybody gets excited when you're free. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:56.000 If you've been in bondage as a people pleaser and you find freedom in Christ, and you realize you're already approved of, and now you you don't like live and die with the approval and the affirmation of people, that doesn't make some people happy because they love you as a people pleaser. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:58.160 Who doesn't love a good people pleaser? 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:00.240 You love them just run you ragged. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.160 Okay, so now you're liberated. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:03.200 No, no, no, no, no. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:04.960 You're a carpenter, don't ever forget it. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:07.359 Hey, you're Mary's son, don't ever forget it. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:12.960 They want to keep you down because uh they benefited from your insecurity. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:17.759 So now you're secure and now you're free, and they don't want you free. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:22.880 But he who the son is set free, come on, James, help me out. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:24.400 It's free indeed. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:27.920 And so you have to learn to be okay with this. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:33.920 In fact, in some ways, it's actually letting you know they're letting you know something good's going on. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:40.000 If if frozen people aren't trying to cut you down, maybe you're not growing enough. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:45.440 So some people, it's sinister, it's villainous, it's terrible. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:58.960 But then others, I think, sometimes, sometimes don't I think they mean well, but because they've never left Nazareth, they've never left they they think like Nazareth, okay? 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:02.480 They they're they're around people that think like Nazareth, they're frozen. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:06.079 And because of that, they don't get you. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:06.640 Okay? 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:11.599 The jealous person's trying to get you, these people don't get you. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:12.240 Okay? 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:13.119 They don't. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:19.359 They don't get you. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:23.200 But they want you, they just don't understand. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:32.000 And I think sometimes even well-meaning people, people who may love you, care about you, sometimes will try to limit you because they see you through the lens of their own limitations. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:36.400 They weren't able to do it, so they don't think you should be able to do it. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:39.759 They were bad with money, so they put a scarcity mentality on you. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.599 They weren't good with relationships, so they try to keep you from getting too committed. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:53.200 They try to book because they went through pain and they went through suffering, so now they are putting that on, they are superimposing their own disappointments onto you. 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:57.200 And some of them mean well, but you got to be able to see past it. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:10.079 Uh, when we flew home to Columbus uh from South Africa, uh, my wife and I have a very uh special relationship with Carousel 4 at the Columbus airport because that's where I proposed. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:11.119 Yeah. 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:13.440 I I flew in from Dallas, Texas. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:14.640 I was a college boy. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:16.880 I had spent all of my money, okay? 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:18.559 I worked a job to try to make money. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:20.160 I made as much money as I could. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:22.000 I found out what kind of ring she wanted. 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:28.960 I called her mom and her friends, and I didn't even at that point know what a baguette was, but I figured it out and I got this ring made and all this. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:33.839 And so I'm on the air uh airplane, and I know, man, when I get to carousel four, boy. 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:39.920 I've been practicing, man. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:43.680 And so I'm on the flight. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:44.960 I'm so excited, man. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:46.160 My heart's pounding. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:51.279 I'm sitting next to a stranger, I don't even know this dude, but I gotta talk to somebody, man. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:52.640 I'm feeling so good. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:56.799 So I'm like, hey man, what are you going to Columbus for? 00:26:58.400 --> 00:26:59.920 He got out about half a sentence. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:06.880 I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm going to Columbus because um I'm gonna be proposing, you know, and and he's like, oh, okay. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:12.559 And I take out the ring, I was like, look at that, you know, and and I just start waxing poetic about Shaylin. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:17.519 You know, I'm like man, she's the most amazing, and this is about her character, and oh, she's just this and that. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:21.039 And I've never felt this way about anybody, I've never been more sure of anything in my life. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:29.119 In fact, if she'd marry me, you know, at the carousel, I'd do it because one day she's gonna wake up and know, you know, this is not equally yoked. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:34.480 And I want the ink dry, okay, whenever she figures that out. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:42.960 And so I'm saying all this, and I'm just going on and on and on and on, and this dude's just looking at me, and and and I get done, and he goes, Don't do it. 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:48.000 I promise. 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.160 I was like, pardon me? 00:27:52.319 --> 00:28:06.240 He and he goes on to tell me this really long, sad story about this girl that broke his heart, and oh, I thought she had character too, and I thought you could trust her too, and yeah, man, I'm everything you're saying, I thought it, and da-da-da-da-da. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:14.160 And he had developed a whole philosophy now on females and blah blah blah, and he's trying to, and I honestly think the dude was not a hater. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:17.279 I think he was actually trying to help me, okay? 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:25.599 But I had to see through it, and you know, I was like, my man, I'm sorry about your past, but you're not gonna paint my future with the dark shades of your past. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:33.759 I'm really sad it didn't work out for you, but I'm when I get to carousel four, you're not changing my mind, okay? 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:42.960 You're you're looking through the lens of your disappointments, and there's something to be learned from that, but I'm not going to superimpose that upon my future. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:46.000 Okay, so so you gotta be able to make sense of it. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:55.119