WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.120 We're in a series right now titled He is Good, looking at Mark's Gospel. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.880 And we're about midway through Mark III. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:12.160 And titled It He is Good because Mark says that. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:13.439 That's how he titles his gospel. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:15.039 It's not the gospel of Mark. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:17.920 It is here's the beginning of the good news about Jesus. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.559 And so we've just been working through each section, kind of going piece by piece. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:25.039 And this one deals with Jesus and the crowds. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:26.559 And this is what Mark writes. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:31.199 It's uh Mark 3 verses 7 through 19. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:46.000 It says Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed him from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idemia and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:54.960 When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him, and he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crushed him, crushed him. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:00.560 For he had healed many, and so that all that were that had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:05.840 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:09.439 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:14.239 Jesus went up on a mountainside and he called to him those he wanted. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:22.159 And they came to him and he appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach, to have authority, to drive out demons. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.079 These are the twelve he appointed. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:28.239 Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:36.879 To them he gave the name Boena Harris, which is not easy to say, which means sons of thunder. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:46.480 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alpheus, Daddyus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:48.159 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.280 Rainey's in my first year of dating was long distance. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.840 And she was, I was here in Memphis and she was at Wheaton College. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.359 And long distance relationships are terrible and have really bad odds stacked against them. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:04.799 And so I came up with a plan. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.760 I thought it was a really good plan to make her fall in love with me and marry me. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:08.639 Here's my plan. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:10.159 It's pretty simple. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:16.960 I decided, literally, I was gonna write her a letter every single day, like something in the mail every single day. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:22.240 Seemed like a small thing, but I knew that was probably my best bet to like win her heart and get her to love me. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.800 One, her dad had done that to her mom and written her a letter when they were long distance. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:33.280 So he had done that, and she like really loves them, which makes a lot of sense. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:39.199 And so I was like, I'm gonna play on some nostalgia vibes here and just do the same thing because they're married. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:42.159 She might think maybe we're married or maybe gonna get married. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:44.319 And so I knew that was going for me. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:46.400 No one wrote letters, I knew what else was going for me. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:47.759 No one wrote letters anymore. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.199 And so all of them, all of her friends had to go to their P.O. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:58.800 boxes and get their stuff, but they normally got like stuff from the school, and she would be walking away with like an actual piece of mail, a love letter. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:03.199 And so that would you know make her feel more special and important, and it did. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.000 Everybody else is getting bills and she's getting love letters. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:10.800 And um, and then I just felt like I'm pretty good with words, you know. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:16.400 Uh so like a ketoing my spiritual gift into something selfish for myself. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.039 Like I'm I'm I'm an encourager by nature, and so I'm just gonna use that every single thing. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:25.680 And it sounds, again, it sounds silly and it sounds small, but like, yo, we're married, we've been married for a minute, too. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:29.120 So uh it worked, uh, and it was very, very, very, very good. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:45.520 But anyways, I say that really odd thing uh just to say that it was a small thing that wanted to accomplish something large, and I think here Jesus is announcing to the world what he wants to, or what you're seeing is what he wants to do in the world. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:51.520 He wants to bless the nations because Israel was supposed to bless the nations as a nation. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:04:04.719 Uh, they were supposed to be a blessing to the nations, and so now you have Jesus, who is this true Israelite from the nation of Israel, who is blessing the nations, and he also wants to crush the head of the serpent, which is this prophecy that was given back in Genesis 3. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:06.639 And so that's what he wants to do in the world. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:10.639 He wants to bless the world and he wants to crush evil, he wants to crush the snake. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:17.439 And so when Jesus is in verses 7 through 12, go to the next slide here. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:21.199 In verses 7 through 12, what you see is him actively doing that. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:32.480 The nations are coming to him, and so you have the Jewish nations, and then you have Tyre and Sidon, which is Gentiles, and Gentiles just represents every other nation that exists, um, is a Gentile nation. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:33.600 They're not a Jewish nation. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:37.360 And so you have all of the nations coming to him and they're receiving blessing from him. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.040 He's healing them and he's blessing them. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:46.399 And then you have this space at the end where the demons are falling down and in really humble service before him. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:53.759 They're not seeking to serve him, but they can't do anything but acknowledge you are the son of God, you are the son of God, something that other people haven't acknowledged yet. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:56.240 And so what you're seeing is like this is actually happening. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:59.600 He's blessing the nations and he's crushing the head of the snake. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.920 He's he's taking that on, he's doing that thing. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:28.720 And so, because he wants to do that for a long time and he wants to do that in a holistic way, he decides to take on a way of doing that, which is not just him doing it by himself, but then he moves into this space where he's like, now I'm gonna call people to myself in order to have them be with me so that I can move my blessing out to the nations, not just here, and it's just me, but it's all of them going that way, and evil's gonna be crushed. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:38.319 And so he decides to call some people to himself, 12 people, in order to extend this blessing and extend this evil crushing out into the world. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:45.680 And he chooses 12, uh, not because it's specific to them, but he chooses 12 because he's like re-going back into Israel. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:51.040 There were 12 uh sons of the patriarch Israel, they're 12 sons of Jacob. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:56.959 And so he chooses 12, not to say that like only these 12 can be with me and cast out demons and stuff like that. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:02.240 He chooses 12 to say, like, the nation of Israel is no longer the thing that I'm building. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.519 I'm seeking to build a new people that will be called disciples. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:06.959 They will be my followers. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:11.199 I'm seeking to develop a new nation of Israel, and that would be the church. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:29.360 And so that's what he's showing to the world, where I'm no longer trying to bless and crush the snake through the national Israel, but I'm actually trying to select people who will become disciples of mine that will then become the church, which is what we are, and they will move forward in blessing the world and crushing the snake. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:35.920 And so I say all of that just to say that like Jesus wants to do this huge thing. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:41.920 And the way that he does it is by selecting just a handful of people that are then gonna make more disciples. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:58.480 But he focuses on one specific piece that I think you could kind of just bypass and miss because what he wants them to do, he doesn't just want to select twelve, but he says it uh I believe it's in uh verse 16, he says, he appointed the twelve. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:02.319 And this is the first thing, he's like, so that they might be with me. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:05.600 I just want them to first, I don't want to send them out yet. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.920 I don't want them to preach, heal, drive out demons. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.920 I just want them to be with me. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:20.720 And so this huge thing that he wants to do begins in the hinge point of everything that he actually wants to do in the world, this huge, huge space of blessing the world and crushing the snake. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:29.120 He's like, what I want to do is I want to select people that will primarily just spend time with me and from that space, everything else will generate from that. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:32.160 It will be with me, and then I will send them out to do this thing. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:49.199 And so what I want to look at today is really why Jesus makes this the first priority, not just of these disciples, but all of us, if you are a follower of Jesus, if you are, and and realistically, verse 16, he appointed the 12 that they might be with him. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:08:02.240 Uh, this particular space is really where we get a lot of the vision that we have for this church to be lifelong followers of Jesus, not just converts of Jesus, but followers of Jesus, uh, experiencing the fame and deeds of God in their time. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:07.199 And you actually see this, they're with him, and then they begin seeing the famous deeds of God repeated in their time. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:11.680 They're healing people, they're preaching, and people are coming to faith, they're driving out evil in the world. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:12.800 And so that's where we get that. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:21.519 And so, what I want to look at just for today is three reasons why Jesus' first priority of every disciple, anyone who's following him, is to be with him first. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:26.959 I think if you just if you jump past that, I think you'll miss out on a lot of what he actually wants for us. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.720 And so, the first, why does he want you to be with him? 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:32.240 Why does he want the disciples to be with him? 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:34.080 Why does he want us to be with him first? 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:40.320 The first is that communion with Jesus leads to transformation in your life. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:44.720 Communion with Jesus, being with him leads to transformation in your life. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:51.039 Psychology calls it the social proximity effect, that you're just, you just become like the people that you're around. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:58.240 Jim Rohn says that you're the you're the average of the five people, like your who you are, the makeup of your life. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:01.360 You're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.600 And so those people shape you the most. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:05.679 And communion with Jesus is no different. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:10.960 It leads to transformation in who you are and what you're like and what you talk like and your mannerisms and all those different things. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:18.159 Teddy, Randy and I were talking about this the other day, that my son, um, he sits like I sit sometimes when we're doing things. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:21.840 He'll he holds his fork similar to the way that I hold mine. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:29.759 He says a lot of the things that we say, some of it maybe you shouldn't say, but he speaks the way that we speak and says, I was that's funny. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:32.159 Uh she was, I thought she was laughing at some point. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:37.440 But he says some of the things that, like, what was the one that you said earlier? 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.200 Uh he says some of the stuff that Larry says. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:41.200 He says that now we're cooking with grease. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.480 Like he says that, and it's like, whoa, you've been with you've been with Larry. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:46.480 Um, because he he just he picks those things up. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:49.039 And what's interesting is like he's just doing that stuff, right? 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:52.159 He's just been shaped into that type of thing. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:58.480 We've never, I've never mandated make sure you hold your fork like this, or like sit like this on the couch and cross your leg like this. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:00.240 Like, I've never mandated any of that stuff. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:04.639 We've never mandated that he says some of the things that we, that the nonsense that we say. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:06.559 But he just picks it up. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.879 He was transformed by just being around the people that are primarily in his life. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:12.960 And this is what Jesus wants with his disciples. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:22.080 He wants them to ultimately become like him, to take on his qualities so that when they move out into the world, like he's doing, people are recognizing there's Jesus. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:27.360 He wants the disciples to move out into the world and for them to recognize, oh, that's one of Jesus' followers. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.159 That's one of I can see Jesus in that person. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:36.080 This is what Jesus says after his resurrection in Acts 1.8. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:41.360 It's that he says to the disciples, he's like, hey, you're gonna receive power when my spirit comes upon you. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:42.480 You'll receive power. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:46.879 And then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and all the rest of it. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:48.480 And he goes on this thing, this thing. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:53.279 But witnesses, we normally see that, and if you've heard this verse, it's like we should go and witness. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.440 We should, we should verb witness. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.399 But this is a noun, this is not a verb, this is a this is a noun. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:06.000 And so the idea is you won't, I we do have to speak, but what Jesus is saying, your life will witness about me. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:10.879 People will see you, and it will be a witness to the world about me. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:13.919 And so he's referencing it, it's very similar to my wedding ring. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:18.399 My wedding ring doesn't make me married, my wedding ring witnesses to my marriage. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:20.320 It is a witness unto my marriage. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.799 And Jesus is saying the exact same thing about the people in his life. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:24.080 You will receive my spirit. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.279 If you're my follower, you will become like me so much. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:35.600 Just in walking throughout the world, acting in the world, people will see you, but see me, because your life will become a witness of mine. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:37.840 And this is what he wants for us. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:41.919 And you again, I think you see this in the 12 disciples. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:45.840 There's really not a ton of in them right now, they're very ordinary people. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.240 In the 12 right now, there's not a ton that witnesses about what Jesus is actually like. 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:51.840 They're kind of racist. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.519 Um, and so just on the forefront, that's not what Jesus is like. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:58.799 And so their life currently doesn't witness about what he's like. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:05.360 They don't pray a ton, they don't understand the things of God, they don't suffer or want to suffer, or they don't want Jesus to suffer. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.080 Um, they're terrified in the face of danger. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:15.840 Uh, and so all of these different things that they currently are, Jesus is like, I need you to be with me so that you're transformed into my likeness. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:19.840 Because right now you you look nothing like me, and I need you to become like me. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:29.919 And then again, after they receive the Spirit, as they've been with Jesus, all of a sudden you get to the book of Acts and you watch the exact same disciples, the exact same people, and they're praying all the time. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:36.559 They're healing people just like Jesus healed people, they're compassionate the way that they're going to the Gentile nations and doing these things. 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:37.679 They've become like him. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:45.039 They they rejoice in suffering for his name, whereas before they're fleeing in fear, and so they're they're courageous instead of fearful. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.279 And so you you actually just see this taking shape. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:48.480 He picked them. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:54.559 It was like, spend time with me, be formed into my image so that when I send you out, people will notice, and that's what happens. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:57.279 They will notice that you have been with me, and that's what it says in Acts. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:05.200 It says that they saw their courage and their boldness and their message and all the rest of it, and it says they could tell that they had been with Jesus because they've been formed into his image. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.000 And for us, he wants us as well. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.320 One of the first things, the first priority he has for us is not go and share your faith. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:14.399 The first thing is make sure you're with me. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.559 Because I want to form you into my image. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:28.720 I need you to look like if you run out and just start testifying about what I'm like without actually being like me, the message will maybe get out, but the way that it's going to be heard and received is not gonna be the primary way that people need to hear it and receive it. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:39.120 And so he wants you to sound like him, he wants you to talk like him, he wants you to look like him, be generous like him, be faith-filled like him, he wants you to be gracious like him, to forgive like him. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:45.120 He wants all of these different things for you, but he wants his life to take shape in your life. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:14:09.120 I said this the other day, uh, and I don't post a ton on social media, but if you you may have already seen it, but I was a youth pastor for 15 years, and primarily my experience with youth for the ones that rejected Jesus, many of them, the majority of them, if they were rejecting Jesus, they weren't rejecting the Jesus of the Bible. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.519 They actually knew very little of the Jesus of the Bible. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:20.720 The majority of students that I in 15 years saw that rejected Jesus, they rejected not the Jesus of the Bible, but the Jesus they saw in their parents. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:26.879 And so whatever faith existed in their parents, they weren't rejecting the Jesus of the Bible. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:28.879 They actually, a lot of them were like, He's like that. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:30.240 I really like that Jesus. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:32.080 And it's like, well, that's not the Jesus I know. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:36.080 It's like the Jesus that you don't like is the one that's showing up in the people that you're around. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:42.240 And the issue is, I think there's so much of that, to where people are rejecting Jesus, and then they tell me, like, I don't believe in any of that. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:45.120 And I'm like, could you tell me why you don't believe in any of that? 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:53.600 And then normally what they say is something I don't believe in either, but their experience has been they've been around people who call themselves Christians, who look nothing like Jesus and nothing like Christ. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:58.240 And so they wind up in this space where it's like you're rejecting something, you're just not rejecting who he actually is. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:04.080 And so he wants to form us into his image so that what we present to the world is like, this is literally what he's like. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.000 And if you reject this, then that's fine. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:10.000 But like in this text, there's crowds of people following him. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:22.639 We need more people shaped into his image so that crowds of people aren't sitting there going, like, I hate all of that, but crowds of people are drawn to this man who is so gracious and so compassionate and so uh forgiving and all of those things, so loving. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:34.399 I did a funeral, um, or I spoke at a funeral uh last weekend, and uh this man named Eddie, and he was just a gift to my family at the last church that I was at. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:53.360 And uh one of the things that about him that I really liked was like, if I ever talked to people who didn't know Jesus or people who had been hurt by the church, Eddie was a person that I was like, if I'm gonna show you a Christian to go and meet, I want you to come and meet Eddie. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:16:00.559 Because to me, Eddie represented a Christianity and a faith that I'm like, this is a compelling way of living out the faith. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.120 This is a compelling way of actually being a Christian. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:22.480 And I was like, this, I and so to me, as I'm speaking at his funeral, one of the best things I could say about anybody, I was like, I would have shown all of my lost friends, all of my gay friends, all of the people that I know that want nothing to do with Jesus, I would have brought them to Eddie and been like, meet Eddie, because this is a person that I think you will actually experience what Jesus was literally like. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.799 He may, he will not agree with every single thing that you guys say, do, and think and feel. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:36.799 However, he is the perfect example to me as someone who's like, he's in, he was like in his 80s, and to me, I'm like, he did not grow old and cynical, he grew old and faithful, and he became this person. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:43.120 I'm like, everybody needs to figure out what this is like, and then go, like, oh, I need to become like Jesus, like that. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:46.480 Because to me, he was like this perfect person, an example to show people to. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:48.960 And so for us, I think this is what Jesus wants. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:56.720 First and foremost, disciples, I don't want you just being the sons of thunder running around smacking people in the face and wanting to throw rocks at folks. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:57.759 I don't want you to do that. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.360 I want you to become like me. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:03.759 So that the message of the son of thunder, John, turns into the message of the one that he loves. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:08.880 John, John shifts from being the son of thunder to the one that's like on the disciple that Jesus is love, Jesus loves. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:14.000 And his whole, his whole letter, and if you read 1 John, it's like, love one another, love one another, love one another. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:21.519 Jesus had transformed one of his disciples into a from a son of thunder into someone that's like, love one another, love one another, love one another. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:23.519 And so for us, he wants to do the exact same thing. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:24.559 So that's the first. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:28.240 We need to spend time with him in order to be shaped into his image. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:39.440 The second, second reason he calls us and his disciples to be with him first is that communion with Jesus leads to transformation in your understanding of what's possible. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:40.880 It's a very long sentence. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:47.279 Communion with Jesus leads to transforming your understanding of what's possible. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:50.960 And so the the way I could, I was trying to think of how to explain this. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:55.920 In the 1950s, it was believed for decades that no one could run a sub-four mile. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:57.200 Like it's just impossible. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:58.240 No one can run that fast. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:03.279 They had doctors and scholars and all these people like, oh, it's physically impossible, the body can't do it, whatever. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:06.319 And so for decades, the record was like 4.01. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:07.279 And that was the record. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:09.759 Like you can run a mile, but you'll never break sub-four. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:11.680 You'll never go uh into the threes. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:24.079 And then this man, I can't remember his name, Roger Bannister, um, in 1954, he ran it in like three minutes, 59 seconds, and 0.7 or whatever, and he he broke the record and he did it sub-4. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:28.880 And what's interesting is as soon as he broke it, it's like, oh wow, this impossible thing became possible. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:38.799 And then the next time, the record had been held at 4.01 for decades, and then the next time that his record uh was broken was like five weeks later. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:48.720 And it's like no one had been able to run a lower than four minute mile in decades, but now it happened once, and everybody, the world realized, oh, this is possible. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:54.799 And the understanding shifted from the doctors and what everybody was saying to this is not impossible, this is actually very, very possible. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:03.680 And what happened was is like all of a sudden a guy broke it five weeks later, and then beyond that, in the next two years, dozens of people started running sub-four minute miles. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:08.400 And the point of the story was like we're only held back by what we believe is possible versus what is impossible. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:11.119 And I think you can take that, and the metaphor eventually breaks down. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:22.880 But I do think there's some truth to this that when your understanding shifts from what we think is possible, what's told to us is possible, when it shifts into actually these things are also available. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:24.960 I think it opens something up to us. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:34.960 And I think there's something here for Jesus and his disciples, what he wants for them is to spend time with them, to watch his power work in their lives. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:38.720 I think there's a reason why the disciples have not tried to heal anybody yet. 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.640 They haven't even thought about trying to heal anybody yet, they haven't thought about trying to drive out demons yet. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:44.160 They don't even know it's available. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.240 They have no idea that that's even possible. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:54.400 And so Jesus is like, I want you to spend time with me so that you see me actually transforming your life and you see my power breaking into your life. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:20:01.519 You see me heal people, you see me do this stuff, so that when you move into the world, you're going, well, that person's sick or that person has this. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:02.799 I don't know if I can do anything. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:05.839 You would go, like, oh no, I do know that I can do something. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:08.400 I absolutely can do something because I've watched this happen. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.000 I've watched this power break out. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:14.559 And so he wants them to spend time with him so that they actually know what's possible. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.599 He wants them to experience his power in their life. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:19.039 And the same is true for us. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:25.680 One of the things that Jesus wants to do in our lives as we are with him is he actually wants to transform our story. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:38.400 He wants to transform our lives, he wants to heal our bodies, he wants us to experience things that are going on in our world, to watch him overcome those things so that we have a message to the world to go, hey, he can actually do that for you as well. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:43.200 And so for me, I've experienced Jesus answering my prayers. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.440 I pray and he responds. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.680 I ask for wisdom and he gives it. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.079 Um, sometimes it takes longer than others. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:51.759 Um, but I have experienced that. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.559 So I don't have a difficult time telling other people to pray. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:21:03.440 I love telling other people to pray, and I love getting people to pray because I genuinely believe I have experience, I've been with him and I've experienced what he will do. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.359 I know he will answer prayer if you pray and don't give up. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:08.720 I know that he will do that. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:15.839 And so I have no issue being so confident and so loud about that and trying to base our whole church around like just get in the prayer room, please. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:20.480 Because I know like he will answer your prayer because he does that for me weekly. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:21.519 There are things that he does. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:24.079 We do this, um, I told Jim this the other day. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:30.079 Um when his uh his daughter was uh talk to Jim, he'll tell you the story. 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:35.039 But I was we we have donuts for dinner uh whenever a prayer is answered. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:44.000 And I I want this space where like we have so many donuts for dinner that we have to shift it to like carrot sticks because we're getting fat, because there's so many prayers being answered uh in our lives. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:48.720 But like I just I know that he does that, and so I want you guys to press into that. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:59.680 But it's one of those things, it's like if I if I just preach from the scriptures where it says be devoted to prayer, but I didn't have any experience, it'd be very difficult for me to pass on something I actually haven't experienced. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:09.759 It's very hard to get anybody to want to do something that you're like, I think it'll work, and you're speaking as a theoretical physicist into the world, and you're like, I don't know, could. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:17.039 And it's like, no, there's supposed to be this thing where you experience from him what's actually available, and then you present that to the world. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:24.319 I know, because I've experienced it, Jesus has healed my marriage at different times with Rainey. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:26.319 I know that he can do that. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:34.240 And so when I talk to couples who are walking through difficult times, you know, talking to couples who feel no love for their spouse and just like, I just think this is dead and I'm never going to feel it again. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:37.279 I know for a fact he actually can heal your marriage. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:39.039 He can heal your relationship. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.079 He has done it for me, and I know he can do it again. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.839 He cares more about a covenant marriage than I do. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:47.200 He cares about covenants. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.759 And so he cares about my marriage more than I care about my marriage. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:52.799 And so I know he can heal yours because he's healed mine. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:56.000 It's just the question is not does he want to do it, can he do it? 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:57.599 The question is, do you actually want that? 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:02.559 But I have no issue telling couples that because I'm going, I've actually watched it happen in my own life. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:05.359 I've experienced Jesus doing miracles around me. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:08.240 I've experienced him giving Teddy the ability to speak. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:12.240 I've experienced his protection from people who are trying to hurt us when we were in Chicago. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:14.640 I watched him work horrible things in my life. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:16.640 I've watched him work those things to good. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:20.799 I've experienced him forgiving my sin over and over and over again. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:29.279 I've experienced him breaking and like healing me through confessing my sin one to another and then having people pray for me. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:34.160 I've watched him tear down things that I thought I'd struggle with forever just by doing what the scriptures. 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:38.720 So there's a space in my life where I'm going, having been with him, I've seen him do it. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:41.359 And so now I can present that story out to the world. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:47.519 People still might not like it or believe it, but I'm not speaking as a theoretical as theory, I'm actually speaking from reality. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.519 This has happened and it's available to you as well. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.720 That's what he wants for the disciples, and that's what he wants for all of you. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:24:03.039 There's work that you want to see happen in your own life that he actually does want to do, so that your story into the world isn't like, I don't know, the scriptures say he can, but I don't, I've never really seen it. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:06.240 That's one, we should be honest about that and say that. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:12.559 But there's more what he wants to do is like, spend time with me, watch me do something in your life, and then take that into the world. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:17.599 Because the testimony from experience is far stronger than a testimony of theory. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:23.519 And you see that in the gospels, like the the demoniac, Jesus says, Hey, don't follow me, don't come with me. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:28.319 I want you to go back into town and tell them, tell the world, tell your town what I've done for you. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:31.119 And he runs back into this town and he's like, Look at, look at me. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:35.599 I was chained and I had demons everywhere in my life, and I was cutting myself and doing all this stuff. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:41.839 And then the whole town ultimately rushes out to Jesus to kick him out at that point because they they freak out. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:45.920 But then when Jesus goes back there, the whole town rushes out to receive him and like, please don't leave. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.599 Please heal everybody we got. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:52.799 And it was like this story of this man just going, here's what I've experienced, and I'm telling you, it's available to you as well. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:54.799 You see this with the woman at the well. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:58.720 Um, this she runs back into the Samaritan village, he's told me everything I ever knew. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:24:59.839 Could he be the Messiah? 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.319 The whole town rushes out, and her testimony of what she's experienced is powerful. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:17.599 And I think for us, what he wants to do is for each of us is he wants to move into our lives and for us to spend time with him so that he shapes, informs us, and then we see things that we never thought were possible. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:22.480 We see those happen and then we take that message out into the world and go, this can happen for you as well. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:27.759 And so for you, he wants you to experience being transformed into a new person. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:35.279 He wants you to experience your fear being replaced with faith, for long suffering to replace impatience, for your anger to be replaced with love. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.599 He wants your bitterness to be replaced with forgiveness. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:39.680 Things that you thought you could never forgive. 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:45.599 He actually wants to help you forgive that person so that then the message to the world is hey, I know that you struggle with bitterness. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:49.039 I did for a long time too, but I'm telling you, he can break that in your life. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:51.440 He can take that, that's just gonna kill you. 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:53.599 And it's not shame, you should do it because he says so. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:54.079 It's not that. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:56.319 It's like he can do that in you. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.279 He can actually do something in your heart and in your life. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:06.000 He wants us to be able to tell others, here is what he's done in my addiction, and here's what he can do for you in your addiction. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:14.240 He actually wants that stuff for us, not just shouting Bible verses at people going like, just trust him, which I think is we should do that at times, not shout them, maybe. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:16.160 But we should announce those things. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:27.839 But I think many times what he wants to do is for us to experience that stuff from him and then walk that out into the world and go, like, I'm not just saying that he might, I'm saying that he can, and I think that he will. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.640 I know that he won't heal everybody, and so I can't say that. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.160 I have seen him heal people, but I don't know that he's gonna heal everybody. 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:41.519 But I've watched him walk with people who have lost people, like my sister, who I thought, like she'll never believe in God. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:45.599 There's no way her husband passed away, her son passed away, there's just no way that she's ever gonna come to faith. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:48.000 There's just no way she's walked through too much suffering. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:57.200 And I've watched him walk with her and speak to her and be kind to her, and then she comes to me and she's like, I believe that God exists and that he's for me, and he's gonna work things for my good. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:58.559 And I'm like, I don't even know. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:02.960 I don't know that I would have been able to get there with all the different things that you walk through. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:04.160 But I've seen him do it. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:12.079 And so I know that if you have people in your life that are like, I just don't know how they're ever gonna believe, I'm like, yeah, I know that it's difficult, but I've just watched it happen. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:18.079 Well, they've experienced too much loss, they've experienced too much abuse, and I those things are hard and difficult and painful. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:24.079 I've just, I just can't stop speaking from experience, though, but but I've watched him transform somebody's heart. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:35.759 And so for us and for you, he wants you to be with him so that you see those things happen in your life, and so that it's not just something you're announcing to the world, but it's like, he is good because I've experienced him being good. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.880 He is powerful because I've experienced him being powerful. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:47.680 He has, you have a prodigal son, I had a prodigal daughter, but he he rescued my daughter back in and brought her back into the church, and now she likes singing in the worship team. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:48.880 Like, that's what he can do. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:58.880 He wants to give us stories with him that lead us out into the world that where it's like, I'm not just telling you something that could possibly be true, I'm telling you something that is actually available to you in Jesus. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:02.000 And so he calls the disciples, please be with me first. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:07.839 You have nothing to speak, you have nothing to proclaim until you've actually been with the Savior, until you've actually been with me. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:16.240 So be with me, experience me, and then move out into the world doing the things that you know are possible and announcing truth that you know is actually truth and not just theory. 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:17.920 That's what he wants for us. 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:19.200 That's the second. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:23.920 And then the third, communion with Jesus equips you with power. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.359 I don't think we talk enough about power in Christianity. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:31.920 Um, I think it I don't know, maybe it's weird for people. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:37.839 Maybe it turns a little too Pentecostal for folks, and they're like, people are gonna be like convulsing in the aisles or something. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:38.480 I don't know. 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:48.480 Um but I do think that we should talk about the the way the scriptures actually talk about the way that we're empowered by the Holy Spirit, empowered by Jesus Himself to actually have things happen for us. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:55.759 But Jesus chooses 12 random people, very ordinary people, and there's a reason for that. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:59.839 He doesn't choose spiritual, like A players, the A team. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:06.160 He doesn't choose people that are just these awesome scripture knowledge people or exorcists or healers of the day. 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:11.519 He doesn't choose any of these, he chooses some fishermen who are mediocre at best at fishing. 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:19.279 And he chooses a tax collector and a zealot, a part of the radicalized thing, and like just a bunch, and then like six of them we know nothing about, basically. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.599 And so he chooses some random people. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:27.680 But the reason I think he chooses them is in that particular way, is because he wanted them to understand and for us to understand. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:32.480 He's gonna choose ordinary people who have incredible power, but it's not generating from them. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:37.519 The power that they have exists because they're receiving it first from him. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:43.839 And so be with me, he says, these 12 people, be with me, and then I will give you the power to heal. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:45.599 I will give you the authority to heal. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:50.880 All of those things come from being with me, not just something that you can go out and find on your own. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:56.400 And so communion with him ultimately leads to the space where they're equipped with power. 00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:07.039 And for them, they won't have it unless they have been with him, because they can't just march out on their own doing powerful spiritual things because powerful spiritual things only generate from him. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:21.359 You actually see in in the book of Acts, you see some people watching the disciples are watching Paul, one of the uh apostles, doing really cool, powerful stuff. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:28.799 Like a handkerchief is like touching people and they're getting healed, which is where you get the uh televangelists, like, you can buy my handkerchief, it just touched my sweat. 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:30.160 It's like that's gross, man. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.079 Um, but that's where you get that. 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:34.319 Um Paul's actually worked, though. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:35.119 Anyways, okay. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:37.359 Uh, but go to go to the next slide here. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:38.720 This is what it says. 00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:40.480 It says this is this is Acts. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:49.200 Uh, God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured, and the evil spirits left them. 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:50.799 And then you get to these other people. 00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:55.359 Some Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:02.079 They would say, In the name of Jesus, oh, excuse me, in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:05.440 Seven sons of Skeva and a Jewish chief priest were doing this. 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:11.759 One day the evil spirit answered them, Hey, Jesus, Jesus I know, Paul I know about, but who are you? 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:17.519 And then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:24.240 If you ever want to know if you lost a fight, if you run out of the house, if one if you fought somebody and you left naked, you lost. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:26.240 You lost that fight. 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:36.160 To me, this is a space where Jesus, where what's happening is like Jesus' power is being seen by somebody. 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:38.079 And they're like, that's really cool. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:39.039 I want to do that. 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:43.279 And so they just start rolling around with Jesus' name, throwing it at people and seeing what happens. 00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:46.160 And the issue is like you haven't been with him. 00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:49.039 You haven't been with Jesus, you're not empowered by his spirit. 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:51.519 Greater is the spirit who is in me than the spirit who is in the world. 00:31:51.599 --> 00:32:06.640 But if the spirit ain't in you, the spirit's gonna jump on you and it's gonna whoop you naked to the point where, like, it and so they they have this space where it's like, I've seen power at work, but I haven't actually gone to the place where the power exists. 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:11.839 And so you can invoke the name all you want, but the power doesn't exist in you because there is no power in you. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.400 The power generates from him and it's given from him. 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:20.480 The authority and all of those things come from him, and that's the gift to us, and that's what Jesus is trying to get at. 00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:45.759 Be with me, because if you don't sit with me, if you aren't empowered by me, you will live in this space where you're trying to do work in the world, you're trying to do things in the world to be, you know, to extend my kingdom, or you're trying to do things in your own world, or it's just not going to work because you don't have the power in your human body and abilities to actually do what needs to be done in your life and in the lives of others around you. 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:47.599 Dallas Willard says it like this. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:50.319 He says, There can be no doubt, I use this quote a lot because I love it. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:58.480 But he says, There's there's no doubt on the biblical picture of human life that we were meant to be inhabited by God and live with a power beyond ourselves. 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:00.640 That's what he's referencing, Acts 1.8. 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:05.119 You will be inhabited, you will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:06.319 And that's what he's referencing. 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:09.279 He says, human problems cannot be solved by human means. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:16.240 Human life can never flourish unless it pulses with what the apostle Paul calls the incomparably great power for us who believe. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:28.319 But, and notice the caveat, he says, but only constant students of Jesus will be given adequate power to fulfill their calling to be God's person for their time and their place in the world. 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:30.240 Only constant students of Jesus. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:33.599