SPEAKER_00: As we are coming into the last week of Jesus, I can't say this enough.
SPEAKER_00: If you've watched the Olympics, it's probably a pretty good example.
SPEAKER_00: Or if any of you are Olympians, or any of you were at a high level at a sport, you know the intentionality and the focus that's required before you go into a meet or before you go into a game or before you go into some kind of a match that you're a part of.
SPEAKER_00: This is what's happening with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We see an intentionality about Jesus starting about chapter 10 that is so prolific that Mark wrote about it.
SPEAKER_00: Mark sees something in the lightning flash of the eyes of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's something different about his walk, there's something different about his focus.
SPEAKER_00: Look in your Bibles at Mark chapter 10, verse 32, and this is our really our first glimpse into the, I'm gonna call it the fierce focus of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The fierce focus of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them, and they were amazed.
SPEAKER_00: And as they followed, they were afraid.
SPEAKER_00: There's no explanation, church, except that they saw something different about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus, we studied last week, comes in Palm Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: The people come forth, he comes through Bethany, he comes to the Mount of Olives, which is slightly higher than Jerusalem, and then he moves down.
SPEAKER_00: I've been at this place twice, leading tours, and he comes down into the Kidron Valley, and as he follows that road, the people begin to celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: They begin to take palm branches and lay them down in garments and lay them down before him.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus rides in on a on a colt that had never been ridden before.
SPEAKER_00: A sign of royalty, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: And as they came down, he then goes up into possibly the eastern gate.
SPEAKER_00: We're not exactly sure, but maybe the eastern gate of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: First thing he does, if you recall, is he goes into the temple, the temple grounds where, in that vicinity of where the Dome of the Rock is today, and he enters right there, and it says that he just gazed, looked around, and he left.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna give an insight into that in my blog on Tuesday morning when that goes out.
SPEAKER_00: It's called Fiercely Focused, and I want you to look at what I write as to what I think he did.
SPEAKER_00: And I think he comes into the temple the next day with a concealed weapon.
SPEAKER_00: He comes in the next day, and I don't even know if he had a concealed weapon permit.
SPEAKER_00: But he comes in, and here's what he does: chapter 11, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 11, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: So they came to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: This is Monday now.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is furious.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is angry.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is fiercely focused, and he is not a Sunday school Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He is not a tanned California surfer boy with a beard.
SPEAKER_00: He is a lion of Judah here.
SPEAKER_00: And he comes in and he rips through the place.
SPEAKER_00: I almost see him leaping, kind of leaping upon tables.
SPEAKER_00: He must have, guys, he must have been moving fast.
SPEAKER_00: They had security at the temple.
SPEAKER_00: They had Roman security and Jewish security, and they did not arrest him.
SPEAKER_00: So he is moving fast.
SPEAKER_00: He is focused.
SPEAKER_00: He is fiercely intent.
SPEAKER_00: He's a man on a mission.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, gotta understand this.
SPEAKER_00: This is my preface to everything.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not nice in his final week.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not nice.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that sometimes you're not supposed to be nice?
SPEAKER_00: You guys know that?
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sick of nice people.
SPEAKER_00: I am.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I get tired of people being nice over things that are wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I get tired of people being nice and bending over backwards for evil.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't do this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes in fiercely angry about what has happened in this temple.
SPEAKER_00: And he cries out, as we talked about last week, and he says, This is a house of prayer for all the nations.
SPEAKER_00: That's the purpose of my house and men and women, that is the purpose of the local church today.
SPEAKER_00: It would be a house of prayer for the nations.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to that.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus gets very upset when the church doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for the fourth time, in this case, it's going to be a parable, Jesus speaks of his death, his coming death.
SPEAKER_00: He is focused, fiercely focused toward the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: So Mark chapter 12 is where we are tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Then he began to speak to them in parables.
SPEAKER_00: A man planted a vineyard and he set a hedge around.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look at this vineyard as I read this.
SPEAKER_00: Look how elaborate this vineyard is.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just a vineyard like a maybe a middle class to lower middle class vineyard guy would do.
SPEAKER_00: This is a very elaborate, it's almost like a ranch that he builds.
SPEAKER_00: He planted a vineyard, he set a hedge around it, so that's for protection.
SPEAKER_00: He dug a place for the wine vet, and he built a tower.
SPEAKER_00: And he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country.
SPEAKER_00: Now who owns the vineyard?
SPEAKER_00: There's an owner, right?
SPEAKER_00: The guy who built this owns it.
SPEAKER_00: He's leasing it to the vine dressers.
SPEAKER_00: He's leasing it to a farmer.
SPEAKER_00: He's leasing it to what we call here at the road a servant.
SPEAKER_00: A servant.
SPEAKER_00: He's leased it to.
SPEAKER_00: Very elaborate vineyard.
SPEAKER_00: Now at vintage time, he sent a servant to the vine dressers.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, they don't own it.
SPEAKER_00: They just serve in it.
SPEAKER_00: That he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine dressers.
SPEAKER_00: Now note it's vintage time.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason that Jesus sends a servant to those that are leasing the vineyard is because he wants a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: He wants fruit.
SPEAKER_00: He planted the vineyard to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God does.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is all about is fruit bearing.
SPEAKER_00: So he came to receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine dressers.
SPEAKER_00: And they took him and they beat him.
SPEAKER_00: And they sent him away empty-handed.
SPEAKER_00: Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.
SPEAKER_00: And again he sent another, and him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing some.
SPEAKER_00: Now this is very similar to a parable that Isaiah gives in Isaiah chapter 5, 1 through 7, dealing with the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Remember last week Jesus spoke of a fig tree, and he came to a fig tree.
SPEAKER_00: And the fig tree, remember, it had leaves but no fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And what I explained last week is that in a fig tree, the fruit comes first and the leaves come second.
SPEAKER_00: So this was a non-fruit-bearing fig tree.
SPEAKER_00: And the fig tree represents Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And again, he's speaking of the vineyard, which represents Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And he's speaking of these servants that have come and warned Israel again and again and again of impending judgment if they don't repent.
SPEAKER_00: And he's speaking of the prophets of the Old Testament who came again.
SPEAKER_00: Have you noticed that it's always popular to talk sort of in a nostalgic way about saints or leaders or politicians when they lived back then?
SPEAKER_00: And it's difficult to see it when they live right now.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Jesus is saying is that I've sent you warning after warning, and they're going to understand exactly what he's talking about, because when they hear him describing metaphorically the vineyard, the Pharisees and the scribes know, he's talking about, he's talking about Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And they're saying, well, yesterday, on Tuesday, he was talking about the fig tree.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is intent.
SPEAKER_00: And church, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus warns you.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord warns us.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we get warnings all the time from the Lord when we're kind of messing around, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you all mess around.
SPEAKER_00: You're a liar if you say you don't.
SPEAKER_00: You mess around.
SPEAKER_00: We got any perfect saints around.
SPEAKER_00: We just want to shake your hand, give you a high five, and say, wait till tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is, isn't it true?
SPEAKER_00: That God warns us.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes warning dreams.
SPEAKER_00: He warns us.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to say this: don't mistake the patience of God as impotence.
SPEAKER_00: Don't mistake the patience of God as impotence.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Israel has done that now for a thousand years.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus has come and he's calling them out.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, still having one son, his beloved, so he's self-describing, his beloved son, he also sent him to them last, saying, They'll respect my son, surely.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the this is the son of the father of the owner of the vineyard, Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But those vine dressers said among themselves, This is the heir.
SPEAKER_00: Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.
SPEAKER_00: So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, for the fourth time, is describing both his identity and his coming fate.
SPEAKER_00: The self-designation of Jesus is I am a beloved son.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women, you are beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of you here are beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus loves you.
SPEAKER_00: You see, you can't give away what you haven't received.
SPEAKER_00: You can't give away what you haven't received.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus experienced the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that he was beloved, at least from the point of his baptism forward, where he said, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: He knew his belovedness.
SPEAKER_00: And only one who knows they're beloved can give away belovedness.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's why it's so important, you fathers, that you know that you're loved.
SPEAKER_00: Because it will be difficult for you to give away your love to your sons and your daughters if you don't know that you're loved.
SPEAKER_00: And mothers, it's going to be difficult for you to give away love if you don't know that you're loved.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus designates himself as the beloved son.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do?
SPEAKER_00: He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others.
SPEAKER_00: Have you not read the scripture?
SPEAKER_00: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
SPEAKER_00: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying that Israel, Pharisees, scribes, lawyers, Sadducees, if you don't repent, I'm going to give the kingdom of God to others.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I'm a builder.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is a builder, church.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that exciting?
SPEAKER_00: He builds.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, later, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is looking at Israel and He said, I've come to you, I've cried out to you, I've given you opportunity to receive me.
SPEAKER_00: You have not received me.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I know what my fate is about to be.
SPEAKER_00: There's another house I'm going to build.
SPEAKER_00: There's another group of people that I'm going to gather together and build the house, and I will be the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be the cornerstone of that house.
SPEAKER_00: And that cornerstone that you rejected is going to be a new house.
SPEAKER_00: And we know from Romans and we know from the book of Acts, especially from chapter 10 onward, in the book of Acts, that what happened is God went to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: And so he began to have to turn away from the Jews, and he began to follow after those that were following him who were Gentiles and non-Jews.
SPEAKER_00: And so he's prophesying that it is going to be.
SPEAKER_00: I like this part, because sometimes I don't feel like this is true.
SPEAKER_00: It's marvelous in our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: You know God loves his church.
SPEAKER_00: He loves his church.
SPEAKER_00: And it's that zeal, it's that intentionality of Jesus and the fierce focus of his life is that he's building something that's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And men and women, you are the church.
SPEAKER_00: You are the church.
SPEAKER_00: You are a house of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: You are beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You are beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: You have built your lives on the cornerstone of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So in one sense, there's the corporate church, there's the church Catholic, small c, not talking about the Roman Catholic Church, but there's the church universal, that's what Catholic means.
SPEAKER_00: In another sense, you're the church.
SPEAKER_00: Each one of you are the church.
SPEAKER_00: You are the church, and where two or more of us are gathered, there's the church.
SPEAKER_00: When you come together in a C group, when you come together in a D group, the church is there.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is there.
SPEAKER_00: And he says it's marvelous in his eyes.
SPEAKER_00: I think if we could grasp how marvelous we are in his eyes, we would love ourselves at a deeper level.
SPEAKER_00: And then we'd love our neighbors at a more beautiful level because we know that we're beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You're beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Church, you're beloved, you're beautiful, you're marvelous.
SPEAKER_00: I love you, but that doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: Christ loves you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what matters.
SPEAKER_00: You're part of a family, the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's the place of a new acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: And they saw to lay hands on him.
SPEAKER_00: I like this.
SPEAKER_00: But they feared the multitude.
SPEAKER_00: He's really popular.
SPEAKER_00: Still the first half of the weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is very popular.
SPEAKER_00: For they knew he had spoken the parable against them.
SPEAKER_00: So they get it.
SPEAKER_00: So they left him and they went away.
SPEAKER_00: Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch him in his words.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: You ought to circle or underline or highlight Pharisees and the Herodians.
SPEAKER_00: What a motley crew.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees hate the Herodians.
SPEAKER_00: The Herodians hate the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: The Herodians cooperate with Rome.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees hate Rome.
SPEAKER_00: But isn't it true?
SPEAKER_00: Has this been true in your life?
SPEAKER_00: When you have a common enemy, you have some interesting bedfellows.
SPEAKER_00: And so these two guys, these Herodians, this group, and then the Pharisees, this group, are now banding together because there's a fierce focus on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: G.K.
SPEAKER_00: Chesterton once wrote of Jesus: the life of Jesus went as swift and straight as a thunderbolt, almost in the manner of a military march.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly in the manner of the quest of a hero moving to his achievement or his doom.
SPEAKER_00: They sense it, they feel it.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees and the Herodians hate each other, but they're beginning to hate Jesus more.
SPEAKER_00: You ever been in any of that before?
SPEAKER_00: Where you kind of hate that guy or you don't like him that much, but you dislike the other guy more, and so you actually gang up with the guy you don't like.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really bad in the aftermath.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of fun in the beginning, oh, I can get along with this, but I always thought they were da-da-da.
SPEAKER_00: And as soon as it all gets, then you're fighting with them.
SPEAKER_00: And so you kind of triangulate.
SPEAKER_00: So the Pharisees and the Rhodians come together.
SPEAKER_00: When they had come, they said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, let me stop there.
SPEAKER_00: When I was studying this this week, there is so much here I wish I could unpack just about human relationships.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot here.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just going to touch on a few of them, but imagine, fiercely focused Jesus, knows where he's going.
SPEAKER_00: Not very likable right now.
SPEAKER_00: Not trying to be in a Dale Carnegie course of how to win friends and influence people.
SPEAKER_00: When they had come, they said to him, though, teacher, we know that you are true.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they said it this way.
SPEAKER_00: Teacher, we know that you're true.
SPEAKER_00: And care about no one.
SPEAKER_00: For you do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God and truth.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we call flattery.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we call two-faced.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we call posing and pretending.
SPEAKER_00: In the religious community, we are Oscar winners at it.
SPEAKER_00: In most of our churches, we we I mean, there should be a statue.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll have a few statuettes at some point, the little Oscar, little trophies here.
SPEAKER_00: And every time I see a poser or pretender, I just want to give them a trophy.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're gonna get flattered, and as a speaker and as a communicator, as a pastor, I get flattery a lot of times, and you can, it's just, it just, it makes me nauseated.
SPEAKER_00: Because I know it's not sincere.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's the best sermon I've ever heard.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, well, what's gonna come at the end of the paragraph, you know?
SPEAKER_00: So they're flattering Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is has is not moved whatsoever, and you shouldn't be either.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, don't believe the words or the statements of your worst critics.
SPEAKER_00: But also don't believe the words of those that praise and sing your praises all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: There's somewhere in the middle is you.
SPEAKER_00: You're not as bad as most people think you are, and you're not as good as some people think you are, so you're somewhere in the middle, so don't take yourself too seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Because they don't either, especially flatterers.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't care less about you.
SPEAKER_00: They're just playing a game to get something, and so Jesus, like, no response, and it's all set up to trap him.
SPEAKER_00: So here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
SPEAKER_00: Shall we pay or shall we not pay?
SPEAKER_00: Or question.
SPEAKER_00: Not an and question, not an and or question, but an or question.
SPEAKER_00: Trying to trap Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If he says, oh, you should pay taxes to Caesar, then he will lose all of the following of the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: If he says he should not pay taxes to Caesar, the Herodians will turn him in for treason and sedition.
SPEAKER_00: So he didn't answer the question.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to answer everybody's question.
SPEAKER_00: I wish over the last few months I hadn't answered a few questions.
SPEAKER_00: Don't answer questions sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: You don't if you if you sense a trap, then it's probably a trap.
SPEAKER_00: Don't answer it.
SPEAKER_00: It is okay not to answer with what you're being asked if it's a trap.
SPEAKER_00: Especially if the lead pairs.
SPEAKER_00: Paragraph is flattery.
SPEAKER_00: But he, knowing their hypocrisy, knowing their posing, said to them, Why do you test me?
SPEAKER_00: Bring me a denera, that I may see it.
SPEAKER_00: So they brought it.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Whose image and inscription is this?
SPEAKER_00: They said to him, Caesar's.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered and said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's, and they marveled at him.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus doesn't answer the or, he answers the both.
SPEAKER_00: He answers the and.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that there are things in the secular state that we have a responsibility to.
SPEAKER_00: There are things in the spiritual, in our spiritual relationship with God that we have a responsibility to.
SPEAKER_00: We have responsibility in both.
SPEAKER_00: So for you here that are patriots that believe you shouldn't pay taxes, Jesus doesn't support you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I'm carrying, so don't try anything, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But no.
SPEAKER_00: I remember years ago, I got invited to this guy's office.
SPEAKER_00: He had gotten involved with a church I was a part of, took me to his office, and it then he said, I've got to talk to you about something.
SPEAKER_00: I just thought something marriage or some issue, some moral or ethical issue.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, I read these magazines.
SPEAKER_00: So he started giving me all these magazines, and I've never seen them before.
SPEAKER_00: But they had tons of guns and tons of guys in the woods and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and he said, I am a patriot, and I believe strongly that we should never pay taxes because it's not in the Constitution.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wow.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I I just it blew me away.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't prepared for this guy and the discussion.
SPEAKER_00: So I just, and that was the passage that God gave me.
SPEAKER_00: We do have a responsibility, men and women, to the state.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that we have a responsibility to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: And that taxes do help the poor.
SPEAKER_00: Taxes do help us.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's why we have lights, and that's why we have paved roads, and that's why we have police, and that's why we have fire.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we have sheep dogs, the people who protect us and take care of our safety.
SPEAKER_00: We even have that at the road.
SPEAKER_00: We have a very well-developed safety team here watching over this place even as we meet, because we observe that we live in a world that is becoming increasingly evil.
SPEAKER_00: And so, church, we have a responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: We have Amy Lathan here in our church.
SPEAKER_00: She's running for mayor.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we're called to be salt and light.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to be involved in these areas as you feel led, as you're led into areas.
SPEAKER_00: Amy is in that battle called politics.
SPEAKER_00: And she has to deal with all kinds of stuff that I've never had to deal with and you've never had to deal with.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are called to be businessmen and businesswomen.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are called into the arena of the school system.
SPEAKER_00: Be all there and render unto Washington what is Washington's.
SPEAKER_00: Render unto God what is God's.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there could be a day coming.
SPEAKER_00: And I think by the fall, we're gonna possibly go into the book of Joel and then in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a day coming where you may be called upon by the government of our land to deny Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we draw the line.
SPEAKER_00: We do not deny Christ, and we do not love our life even unto death.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are called by Christ, and we see it in the book of Acts with the church.
SPEAKER_00: Though he said that just a few years before he had said, render under Caesar what is Caesar's, just a few years later, eleven of the twelve disciples give their lives as martyrs by the Roman authorities as they're crucified and beheaded for their faith and impaled for their faith.
SPEAKER_00: So we don't compromise our faith, but we render unto Washington what is Washington, as we render unto God what is God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Then some Sadducees who say there is no resurrection, that's why they're sad, you see.
SPEAKER_00: Came to him and they asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a br man's brother, this is hilarious, if a man's brother dies and leaves his wife behind and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
SPEAKER_00: Now there were seven brothers.
SPEAKER_00: The first took a wife and dying he left no offspring, and the second took her and he died, nor did he leave any offspring, and the third likewise, so the seven had her and left no offspring.
SPEAKER_00: Last of all, the woman died also, therefore in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be?
SPEAKER_00: For all seven had her as a wife.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women, this lady's got a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Um, either she needs to be investigated by the FDA or the FBI.
SPEAKER_00: I think if I was somewhere around the fifth brother, I'd have a cupbearer.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I would be tasting all the wine.
SPEAKER_00: Can you taste this wine?
SPEAKER_00: Um, can you taste those peppers over there?
SPEAKER_00: No lentils tonight, honey.
SPEAKER_00: Did you see how she cooked those lentils?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this lady's got some issues.
SPEAKER_00: What they're doing is they're quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 25, which the Sadducees believed in the first five books of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: So they believed in Genesis, Exodus Leviticus, and number of Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: They believed in the first five books of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: They believed in the morality of the first five books.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't believe in the rest of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have the prophets, they didn't, they didn't believe in the poetical books and the historical books, but they believed in the Pentateuch.
SPEAKER_00: That's all they believed in.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the irony.
SPEAKER_00: They don't even believe in the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: They don't even believe in the resurrection, and then that's what they're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's ludicrous.
SPEAKER_00: And they're mock, what they're doing is they're mocking the resurrection to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I love his answer.
SPEAKER_00: All you young people in the room, how many are in this room that are between between 15 and 18?
SPEAKER_00: Between 15 and 18 years old, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: You guys should go back and read Mark chapter 12 again and just write down how you deal with mocking questions, with ludicrous illustrations.
SPEAKER_00: Watch how Jesus answers his critics.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered and said to them, Are you not therefore mistaken?
SPEAKER_00: Because you do not know the scriptures nor the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know the scriptures nor the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: I would say this.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women, you don't know the scriptures until you know the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know the power of God until you know the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, when we get into God's word and you're reading God's word, he is speaking to you, the creator of the universe, with revelation that you could never have in your own personal abilities and talents.
SPEAKER_00: Power of God in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is saying that the resurrection doesn't have anything to do with this physical world and these physical qualities.
SPEAKER_00: You've got the software.
SPEAKER_00: When you die, it's all about the software.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about the hardware.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad?
SPEAKER_00: All of you that are over 45, aren't you glad that it's not the hardware that matters anymore?
SPEAKER_00: You're going to get new hardware.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: But what God cares about is your software.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You get an update.
SPEAKER_00: You get an update on the software.
SPEAKER_00: When you got saved, you that are getting baptized tonight, you that have maybe even recently come to know the Lord, when you got saved, you got new software.
SPEAKER_00: You got a new heart, the scriptures say.
SPEAKER_00: Your heart of stone became a heart of flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that?
SPEAKER_00: You remember how the day before you read God's word and it was meaningless.
SPEAKER_00: You gave your heart to Christ, you confessed with your mouth, you believed in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: The next time you read the word, it's like, whoa! Nobody's ever seen this before.
SPEAKER_00: And God begins to speak to you in a mighty and powerful way because you have a new heart.
SPEAKER_00: You have the mind of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I actually believe that it affects you physically too.
SPEAKER_00: You look better.
SPEAKER_00: You ever seen those women that just hang out at the bars?
SPEAKER_00: They're not like a coors commercial.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, they're just not airbrushed that way.
SPEAKER_00: I've been to the bars.
SPEAKER_00: And women, same with the guys.
SPEAKER_00: The circles under the eyes, the pot belly, and the stinky breath.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you want to marry.
SPEAKER_00: This is beauty right here.
SPEAKER_00: When a woman comes to know Christ, she becomes, she starts to glow.
SPEAKER_00: She she her countenance changed.
SPEAKER_00: There's a beauty to her that was never there before.
SPEAKER_00: You men, when you come to know Christ and have had the privilege of being around hundreds, maybe even thousands, that have I knew him here and I see him there, and they're transformed from the inside out because of the beauty, the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.
SPEAKER_00: You are greatly mistaken.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's talking the Sadducees, man.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about those that are of the moral law, those who have great power in Jerusalem at that time.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You're mistaken.
SPEAKER_00: You don't even know anything about the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know anything about the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: You think this is all about death and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: This is about the living.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying really right in their faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is about the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And the key word here is I am.
SPEAKER_00: That's the key here.
SPEAKER_00: I am, not I was.
SPEAKER_00: I am.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the I am.
SPEAKER_00: God the Father is the I am.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the I am.
SPEAKER_00: He's here right now with all his presence, with all his power.
SPEAKER_00: He is available to us to heal.
SPEAKER_00: He is available to us to set the captives free.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be available.
SPEAKER_00: When we go into that, do that baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Some of these young people are not going to be the same at all after tonight.
SPEAKER_00: All of them have accepted the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: All of them have confessed and know Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That does not save them.
SPEAKER_00: That baptism, going under the water and coming out of the word, does not save them.
SPEAKER_00: But it is a sacrament of the church.
SPEAKER_00: And a sacrament, by its literal meaning, means that there is a grace release from God into those that rightly are administered under that sacrament.
SPEAKER_00: There's two sacraments: there's communion and there's baptism.
SPEAKER_00: And we as believers are called to be baptized.
SPEAKER_00: And the early church, starting with Jesus, and in the early church, they were always saved and then baptized because Jesus is the I am, not the I was.
SPEAKER_00: He is the I am.
SPEAKER_00: He is, that's what being a whole-hearted disciple is all about.
SPEAKER_00: So when we say that our vision is to build wholehearted disciples of Jesus, wholeheartedness is life.
SPEAKER_00: It's life.
SPEAKER_00: And that wholeheartedness, Jesus is getting upset here.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it's like you are greatly mistaken.
SPEAKER_00: I think he's fiery here.
SPEAKER_00: And we at the road are a word and spirit church.
SPEAKER_00: We're word-rooted, we're spirit-empowered, and we're a disciple-making church.
SPEAKER_00: We believe in the inerrancy, infallibility of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to build disciples that can change the world.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together, perceived that he had answered them well, asked him, and I believe this guy's sincere, you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Which is the first commandment of all?
SPEAKER_00: So it's a genuine question.
SPEAKER_00: He's asking, is it the moral?
SPEAKER_00: The moral law, the ethical law, the ceremonial law?
SPEAKER_00: He seems to be sincere.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: Very interesting.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Shema.
SPEAKER_00: Religious Jews recite the Shema passage every day.
SPEAKER_00: They say, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting in the grammar here.
SPEAKER_00: Elohim one, your God, your Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: Your God, Lord, Ekkod is a compound plural.
SPEAKER_00: So hidden within this passage is the idea of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a Muslim a few years ago, and I'd met him at a baseball game, and we were talking about stuff, and he's a pretty devout Muslim.
SPEAKER_00: And he began to say, you know, we Muslims, we believe that there's going to be a false Messiah that's going to come in the latter days.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be a false Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's going to be this other guy that comes along, and there's going to, and he's going to be kind of like a prophet that's going to be alongside the false Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not the real Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then we believe Jesus is coming back after this destruction of the false Jesus, the false Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: These are the kids, some of the kids that are getting baptized that are coming in right now.
SPEAKER_00: And so, and in listen, I'm talking to this guy and going, dude, I mean, that's pretty much what we believe.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, We're what's the sticking point?
SPEAKER_00: I knew what the sticking point was, but I just wanted to hear what he had to say.
SPEAKER_00: He said, It's this idea that you guys have of three gods.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we really we really believe, even in the Shema, that the Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: And you believe in a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And that became a very animated conversation.
SPEAKER_00: So this is key.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, that even in an Old Testament passage, which he's quoting from in Deuteronomy, is hidden within there Echod, a compound plural.
SPEAKER_00: And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, and with all of your strength.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Now we can in the in the grammar we can say, out of all of your heart, out of all of your strength, out of all of your soul, out of all of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Whole-hearted.
SPEAKER_00: Church, whole-minded.
SPEAKER_00: He wants it all.
SPEAKER_00: So we so we speak of Jesus here being fiercely focused.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women, he calls us to be fiercely focused, fiercely intentional about your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have grown up in a church that is half-hearted.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so destructive.
SPEAKER_00: It's so destructive because if we if we just go to church, maybe if we just do our little baptism thing in some churches, you know, we go through the ordinances and stuff like that in a religious, ritual way, then we're okay.
SPEAKER_00: He says, love me.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Love me with your whole heart, with your whole mind, with all of your strength.
SPEAKER_00: That's a wholehearted disciple.
SPEAKER_00: That's impossible, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: That's impossible.
SPEAKER_00: That's impossible in your own strength.
SPEAKER_00: That's impossible alone.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women, God gives us a church and he gives us community and he gives us friends because we can't do this by ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But he shows us this love that he has because here's the deal.
SPEAKER_00: Can you command somebody to love you?
SPEAKER_00: Love me, woman.
SPEAKER_00: Can you command somebody to respect you?
SPEAKER_00: Respect me.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got problems with respect or you've got problems with love, there's deeper issues there that need to be addressed.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can't command anyone to love you, and you can't command anyone to respect you.
SPEAKER_00: We are born responders.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 John we read, in this is love that he loved, that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
SPEAKER_00: No one has seen God at any time.
SPEAKER_00: If we love one another, God abides in us and his love has been perfected in us.
SPEAKER_00: We're responding to his love.
SPEAKER_00: And he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: And he loved you first.
SPEAKER_00: We're responding to his love.
SPEAKER_00: So love him.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe the question to ask sometimes is God, would you love me today?
SPEAKER_00: Would you love me?
SPEAKER_00: Love me today.
SPEAKER_00: Feel his love.
SPEAKER_00: Respond to his love.
SPEAKER_00: And the second like it is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other commandment greater than these.
SPEAKER_00: Many times I've had several many times I've had people come up to me, or we're in a counseling session, and they said, I hate myself.
SPEAKER_00: And I always ask the question, why do you hate yourself?
SPEAKER_00: And it's usually something like, I'm I'm stupid, or I'm ugly, or I'm fat, or I'm skinny, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And then my answer is always the same, you guys.
SPEAKER_00: You must love yourself.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you hated yourself, you'd be glad that you're ugly.
SPEAKER_00: And you'd be glad that you're stupid.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You'd be glad that you're fat because you hate yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You don't hate yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You love yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Every photograph that comes out, everybody looks for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I hate that.
SPEAKER_00: Like everybody in the flipping picture looks great.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: You get the picture, you look at it.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one we're gonna do for the album, this one we're gonna put on Facebook, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Ah, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: And it's never like, because I don't think you, dad, look very good in this.
SPEAKER_00: We love ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Let's face it.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying, love your neighbors you love yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Begin to care about your neighbor as you care about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Well, tonight we're gonna do baptisms and we're gonna go into worship.
SPEAKER_00: But I have asked all the people that are getting baptized to come up front.
SPEAKER_00: So, all of you that are getting baptized, would you?
SPEAKER_00: Guys, come up front right here, and they are going to respond to a confessional.
SPEAKER_00: This is our baptismal.
SPEAKER_00: You guys, you're right up here.
SPEAKER_00: You can be right up here in the front.
SPEAKER_00: Baptismal.
SPEAKER_00: No, you you guys can face me.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to face the congregation.
SPEAKER_00: Just face me.
SPEAKER_00: Good.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So, you guys, we've already been through our class, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so this is our first group.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this cool?
SPEAKER_00: Our first group at the road.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what we read when we were in there?
SPEAKER_00: This comes from one of the great creeds of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Do you renounce Satan and all his works and all his ways?
SPEAKER_00: If so, say I do.
SPEAKER_00: Do you turn away from this world and all its works and ways and give your life completely to Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: If so, say, I do.
SPEAKER_00: Do you choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ from this day forward?
SPEAKER_00: If so, say, I do.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?
SPEAKER_00: If so, say, I do.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried?
SPEAKER_00: If so, say, I do.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting?
SPEAKER_00: If so, say I do.
SPEAKER_00: Do you promise to be a wholehearted disciple, to abide in Christ, and as a member of the church, to be diligent in the regular use of Holy Communion, the reading and study of God's Word, sharing your faith with others in prayer?
SPEAKER_00: If so, say I do.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I just bless you guys right now.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, in the name of your Spirit, in the name of Jesus, in the name of the Father, I just bless these young people and this young man and this young woman with the power and the blessing and the presence of the Holy Spirit as we take baptism together.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.