Connecting Our Friends with Jesus - March 2, 2025

That uh go over to Mark chapter number eight, Mark chapter number eight, and uh we're gonna be talking about connecting our friends with Jesus, connecting our friends with Jesus.

It's been said that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

And the best way to show that you care for somebody is to spend some time with them, to be more interested in them than focused on yourself.

And I got to thinking about how we lead people to Jesus and we connect people with Jesus because he is the answer.

And today in the passage, we're gonna see that a blind man, he's led to Christ by his friend.

And Jesus does a miracle in his life in a very specific way.

And some lessons that we can learn from this.

So let's take a look.

Mark chapter number eight, verse number 22.

The Bible says, and he, Jesus, cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him and besought him to touch him.

And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.

And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught.

And he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking.

After that he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up.

And he was restored and saw every man clearly.

And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor to tell it to any in the town.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for this passage of Scripture.

Would you please open it up to us, illuminate it to us, show us the concepts of friendship, show us how you open the eyes of the blind and how you lead people out of destruction and circumstances and equip us to better engage in our communities in a more godly, healthy way.

Please give us your wisdom now.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen and amen.

Hey, in the back, turn me down just a little bit.

I feel like I'm a little loud.

Sometimes I've been known to get a little bit amped and wired up.

And if I get to yelling, I don't want to blast their eardrums out.

So uh thank you.

And just stay with me, okay?

We're we're together in this, okay?

Um so connecting our friends with Jesus.

Here we see that Jesus, he's going to Bethsaida.

Now, Bethsaida is a unique place.

It's uh that word is the house of fish.

It was right there on the Sea of Galilee, next to Gennesaret, right next to Jesus' headquarters in Capernaum, um, and the place in which he did quite a bit of ministry.

And we know that several of his disciples came from there, Peter and Andrew and some others.

But Jesus gets to a place where he's somewhat, I don't know if the word's upset, but he upbraids the city.

And it's because of their unbelief.

They're not receiving what he's saying.

They don't understand the amount of light and privilege that they're getting.

And so we see that uh in in several of the other gospels, he upbraids the city.

It says, Woe unto you, Besseida.

You know, and he basically says, you know, if Sodom and Gomorrah were given privilege like you are, man, they would have repented long ago.

And so Jesus is, while he's um noticing the unbelief of that city, he's still willing to work with and pluck out some from the city that actually want some help.

How many of you have ever been there before?

Maybe you've been in a city or a place where you're like, man, I don't think anybody's getting it in this place.

And you can almost sweep with a with a with a broad brush, thinking they're all anathema, they're all a curse, there's nothing good in this location.

I want to encourage you, even though that may be true in certain localities in certain regions, Jesus still has the ability to pinpoint and pull out those who want him, those who seek him, those who are genuinely desiring for deliverance.

And in this passage, we notice that there was a friend that takes this blind man.

And as Jesus is coming, they they they beseech Jesus.

Hey, please take him, please heal him, please help him.

And we notice that in verse 23, he took the blind man by the hand.

And I love that because it's private, it's personal, it's connective.

You'll notice that Jesus is touchable and he cares.

But I also notice he took him out of the city, he took him out of the town.

Now he could have done it right there.

He could have just healed him right there on the spot.

But some miracles, God is going to change the method in how he's gonna do it for various reasons.

There's a lot of circumstances around it.

But he leads him out of the town, and then we see he spits on his eyes and he puts it upon his hands, and he asks him, Hey, do you see aught?

And the guy says, you know, I really can't discern.

I see things that look like menistries walking, and and we see that that even though you're starting to get some healing, doesn't necessarily mean you have discernment.

And Jesus, what I love about him is he doesn't stop.

When he starts something, he finishes it.

And and he will finish the work inside this man.

And he tells him, hey, look up, and he said, I see men as trees walking.

And he he he takes him his hand again and he puts it on his eyes, and he said, Now look up again.

And he restored him and he started to see things clearly.

Have you ever been there before where you're not really seeing things clearly?

You know, the older I get, I noticed I needed to wear some of these glasses.

The words uh on the page were uh I couldn't read them anymore, and my my phone had to go out further, you know, and then I went and got some glasses, and oh, I can see clearly.

You know, there's some times in our lives where whether physically we can't see clearly, emotionally, mentally, we're not seeing things the right way.

And Jesus has a way of being such a wonderful friend, listening to us, consoling us, caring for us, and honestly, giving us discernment, giving us light in the darkness, replacing confusion with the ability to have transparency and clarity of thought.

How many of y'all could use some clarity of thought, some calmness of the soul, some discernment with relationships and what to do?

What I see here with Jesus is this man is legitimately blind, but he he heals him.

And then we notice that he tells the guy, after he heals him and he sees things clearly, he says, now go to your house, but but don't go into the town and don't tell anybody in the town, which is a very interesting thing because for us as Christians, we're like, oh, you know, go tell it on the mountain.

You know, we're we're all about go and tell and share the gospel.

And if we're not careful, we can think that there's no cost of compassion.

There's no cost of discipleship.

We can think that everybody's just gonna be so happy for us.

But I want to tell you, there are some people that are jealous of you.

There's some people they don't want your Christianity, they don't want your Jesus, they don't like the fact that you're getting blessed.

And it's it's not you so much as it is them.

They're stuck in unbelief, they're stuck in pride, they're stuck in a certain prejudice and a certain mindset.

And and the culture and the circumstance and the people that they're around have hardened them in an echo chamber of hardness of heart.

And so don't be surprised if you're going to share how wonderful Jesus is and what the miracles he's done in your life.

And all of a sudden you're met with, nah, I don't believe it.

I don't like it.

And they kind of just put cold water on your spiritual fire.

And it does take some wisdom and it does take some discernment to know, okay, who and how am I supposed to share what you've done in my life?

I'm a witness.

You've transformed me, and and now I do want to go and tell people what you've done.

And yet, Jesus here, he harnesses this man.

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't really like harnesses.

I'm like a I'm like a bucking bronco, you know, I'm like a stallion, you know, you know, I want to I want to get out there and roar and and go for it with no strings attached, with no bridle in the mouth, with with nothing, no, no leash, friend.

How many of y'all know what I'm talking about?

You know?

Now, some of you don't have that problem.

You're the you're the ones we got to kick in the rear end to get you going, right?

But we all have our pitfalls, right?

Some of us are hard chargers, and others of us are a little slow to the to the race.

But all of us need Jesus.

My point is, when Jesus saves us and does a miracle in our life, he harnesses us, he gives us wisdom and temperance and shows us how to operate in this world.

Now, friends, we all need Jesus.

Our friends need Jesus.

The world needs Jesus.

People are spiritually blind and they need help.

And let's face it, we can't recover ourselves.

We can't save ourselves.

Only Jesus can save us.

We end up spending all that we have in vain only to find out that, man, I should have started with you, Jesus.

Please help me.

And he is the healer, he's the restorer.

And what I love about Jesus is that he loves you personally.

He loves you privately.

He loves you in a very authentic way.

And what, while he may be working in his life in a specific way, he's working in her life in another way.

I love that about Jesus.

Now you say, Preacher, why are we having a friend day?

Why do we do a friend day?

Well, if you're taking notes, number one, Jesus can heal our friends.

How many of y'all have some friends?

You want them to get some help?

And I want my friends to get help.

I don't want to see them hurting in pain and dealing with all kinds of stress and drama.

Number two, Jesus will take them, our friends, beyond circumstance, culture, and condition.

How many of you guys took you out of the pit of despair?

He took you out of the strongholds of your generational curses.

That's what he does.

He did that for you, he did it for me.

He can do it for our friends.

That's why we do a friend day.

Number three, Jesus, he won't stop until they're fully restored.

What God begins, he'll make an end.

Just like this guy in the text, like he's walking him through a process of opening his eyes and helping him with this miracle.

Same thing with people that come to our church.

Listen, they need to be warmed by the Jesus fire.

They need the fellowship and the encouragement and the grace and the love.

Listen, the world is tearing them up and beating them down, and the devil's all over them, and the beast of El Cahon and Santee and La Mesa and Principalities and Powers is absolutely trying to destroy homes and destroy families.

We have the answer.

And his name is Jesus.

And he's the healer, he's the helper, he's the one that loves them.

That's why we have a friend day.

So we can take them by the hand and say, I know you can't lead yourself, I know you can't help yourself, I know you have drug addiction, I know you have alcohol addiction, I know you have issues with your family, I know you have financial.

Let me take you to the person who can help you.

That's why we do a friend day.

Because we can connect our friends with Jesus.

Now you say, Preacher, why did Jesus take the blind man out of the city?

Why didn't he just do it right there?

Because sometimes people think, well, if Jesus was God, he could just do it right here, right now, and I won't have to do anything.

Listen, Jesus doesn't have to do miracles the way you and I think he has to do miracles.

God is not a man that he should lie or repent.

God's ways are higher than our ways.

I don't know about you, but there's times I throw a little temper tantrum.

You ever throw a temper tantrum?

Now, I might I may not be the little kid, like two, three years old, like our children when they were little when they didn't get what they want, they throw themselves on the floor and go, hey, I want it.

But inside my heart, I start manipulating and getting upset and blaming and shaming, and I just want to punch people, and then I want to run away from people, and I want to do different things.

It's just like a temper tantrum.

Come on, you guys know what I'm talking about.

It's flesh.

When we don't get what we want and we can't control people, and God is just like, are you done yet?

And I'm so glad he's such a sweet, wonderful friend.

And what he'll do is he'll take you back, take you to another place to give you a fresh lens, a fresh perspective.

And what a beautiful thing that is.

And and I have various reasons I think that Jesus took this man out of the city.

Number one, it was to get away from unbelief.

Let's face it, how many of y'all don't raise your hand on this?

Um, how many of y'all live in a home?

It's just unbelief.

You're surrounded with friends or family or coworkers.

They just don't believe.

Everything is gloom and doom, and the world's falling apart, and and and it could just be somewhat depressing.

It's like, man, every time I'm here, it's like just this dark cloud around you, and it's like, man, this is this is terrible.

And Jesus knew this about Bethsaida.

And so he takes this guy and he says, just follow me, I got you.

And he takes him out, and I think it was because of the location of unbelief.

Uh, number two, to bring about a change in environment.

You know, for those of you who drive from LA and from Oceanside and from far just to come here on Sundays, I want to commend you.

I want to thank you.

Because you're you're getting some help here.

You're getting you're getting fresh bread and getting some fresh meat and getting some encouragement.

You're getting out of a certain spot so that God can work in your life.

I think for us who live close to the church, sometimes we can be like, well, it's so convenient and familiar that on some Sundays or Wednesdays we can take it or leave it because it's it we're just so close in proximity.

But when you're paying a price and you're sacrificing, that's how you really know to the person who's been forgiven much, that same person's gonna love a lot.

And it's demonstrated by their commitment.

And so, why did Jesus take this blind man out of the city?

I believe number three, it was to make it a personal moment.

You know, sometimes you can deal with a with business right there.

Like people are right there and they're all around, and you can just, okay, let's just let's just do it right here, right now.

And I'm a do-it-now kind of guy.

Like if I can handle a job and get it done and pray for somebody or lead somebody to Christ or solve a problem or pay a bill or fix something, I'm like, boom, boom, boom, let's get it done.

Do it now, do it now, do it now.

Everybody say, do it now, do it now, do it now.

Yeah, that's me.

That's how I operate.

But Jesus doesn't always operate that way.

And so when my master all of a sudden he's not doing it now, but my spirit is do it now, I have a clash.

I have a clash with Jesus.

And sometimes Jesus has to turn to me and say, Get thee behind me, Satan.

Thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of Jason.

Come on, how many y'all know what I'm talking about?

Because my appetite is for me, but God's appetite is for heavenly things.

And so when the do-it-now philosophy that operates on the inside of the sanctuary of God inside my heart is in a competition with the king of glory, I have found I end up throwing a temper tantrum, and then he finally wins.

And I'm learning, I haven't learned, I'm learning to yield sooner.

You win, Jesus.

It's not do it now.

It's have thine own way, Lord, done, please.

Thy will be done, God, on earth as it is in heaven.

You're the greatest friend I have.

So, Lord, however you want to do the miracle, however you want to lead me, God, I'm like the blind man.

Just I just want to put my hands on the hem of your garment.

Just guide me.

I don't, I don't, I'm afraid I'm gonna fall.

I'm afraid I'm gonna hit something.

I'm afraid I don't know.

And I feel the Lord saying, I got you, son.

I got you, I'm gonna lead you.

I'm I'm taking you to a new spot.

Lord, I don't know how to go through the valley of the shadow of death.

Lord, I'm afraid of the enemies.

God, I know you're taking me to prepare a table before me in the presence of the enemies, but God, I don't know how to get from A to B.

And He's like, I got you, son.

You don't gotta be afraid.

I'll be your eyes, I'll be your hope, I'll be your encouragement, encouragement, I'll be your Savior.

Just trust me.

And I have to yield the do-it-now philosophy to the Lord Jesus and letting him guide me however he wants.

And so if you're at a spot right now in your life where he's not doing it right now, it doesn't mean he's not doing it.

It just means he's guiding another way, right?

He's keeping you harnessed.

You know, a lot of times they say the fastest way to solve a problem or to go from A to B is a straight line.

But sometimes God doesn't go in a straight line.

With the children of Israel, when he took them out of Egypt, listen, he he harnessed them and he took them another way.

Why?

Because if they saw the Philistines, they would repent at the sight of war.

They weren't ready for it.

So he harnessed them another way.

I believe God, Jesus took this blind man out because he was changing the environment, but he wanted to have a personal moment.

Hey, are you guys going through a personal moment right now with God?

I mean, is he taking you to a new little spot in your heart, your life?

Or have you just gone on autopilot and forgot it?

He wants to have this time with you.

And if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes.

Why did he take the man out of the city?

I believe it was number four, to show he is the answer.

He is the solution.

See, sometimes we think, oh, I need this fix, I need this fix, I need this fixed, and I gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go.

And the Lord's like, I'm the answer, I'm the reward, I'm your buckler, I'm your shield, I'm the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Listen, it's me, it's always been me.

And when you have me, you have everything.

Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

And when you have Jesus and you lose everything in your life, you lose your health, your finances, you lose everything, listen, you still have everything.

He is the pearl of great price, he is the thing that you trade everything in and come after him.

There is no backup plan, there is no plan B.

And any plan B that becomes an idol of your life, he will decimate just as Samuel did Agag in days of old.

Why?

Because he does not want any of those lesser lords taking over power over your life.

He is the answer, he is the solution.

He was showing this blind man who he was.

You say, why did he take the blind man out of the city?

To heal him.

I believe it was number five, to reveal he has no comparisons and there is no competition for him.

Sometimes we think, oh, this is going to compete with Jesus.

Nothing competes with Jesus.

Listen, Buddha doesn't compete with Jesus, Muhammad doesn't compete with Jesus, sports don't compete with Jesus, money doesn't compete with Jesus.

Listen, Jesus is the Almighty God.

And when you got him, you got everything.

And I love it because when you get Jesus, you win.

How many of y'all have already won?

Come on, how many of y'all have already won?

I've already won! You've already won.

You're already seated together in heavenly places.

Sometimes the devil comes upon us and says, Oh, you're gonna fail, you're no good, you can't do it.

Listen, you gotta just be like, get off of me.

Everybody say, get off of me.

Mix it with some emotion in there, too.

Jesus is already, if you're saved by the grace of God, you're all you've you've already won.

It's already finished.

You're just walking through the sanctification process until you get to glorification.

And what a blessing that is.

Why did Jesus tell the blind man?

Why did he tell him, when you when you um when you leave here and you go home, don't go back to the town.

Don't don't share it with everybody.

I believe it was number one, those who don't respond to his favors end up forfeiting them.

You say, What do you mean?

Well, Bethsea didn't respond well to Christ's ministry.

Good question.

How many of y'all have some friends you've reached out to, reached out to, reached out to, some businesses, some situations?

You kept reaching out, and it's just like meh.

That was the response or no response.

Let me tell you something.

If you have a friend that reaches out to you and cares about you and loves you and is constantly doing that, and you're constantly like, meh, don't be surprised if they start meh and back to you.

You say, What do you mean?

Let me show you, show it to you from the Bible.

Go over to uh Proverbs.

This isn't even in my notes.

Proverbs chapter one.

Sometimes we think, oh, well, you know what?

I can always have this relationship, I can always have this friendship.

And we can take the ministry of Christ in our life, the Holy Spirit, great friends, great pastors, great uh influencers that love God, we can take them for granted.

Well, in Proverbs chapter number one, it says in verse 23, turn you at my reproof.

Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

You say, how does he do that?

Through the preaching of the Word of God.

Hey, listen, if you're like this for church on Sundays, or like for example this week, meh, I don't really need it.

Careful.

Careful.

Like when God creates opportunities of blessing where He's speaking and you're just like, meh, be careful, because you never know.

He goes on to say, here, because I called in verse 24 and ye refused.

I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, but ye have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof.

Meaning, if God tells you, hey, no sex outside of marriage, hey, uh uh homosexuality is an abomination.

If God says, hey, I don't want you cussing and talking like that anymore, and you're just like, man, I don't really have to listen to God.

Be careful.

That's right.

Because you're fighting against God, and I promise you this, you will lose.

It's not me against you and you against me, or you and I against the church or others.

No, no.

It's always been about you and get you and God.

And don't always try to get God on your side, better for you to get on God's side.

Right?

There's a distinct difference there.

So he says, but ye have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof.

I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when fear cometh.

When your fear cometh as desolation, your destruction cometh as a whirlwind.

When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.

They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.

But that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

You know what I found?

There's a lot of people they don't fear the Lord, they don't respect the Lord.

So what they'll do is they'll they'll live ungodly lives.

And listen, even in this church, you say, Well, I'm a friend here today.

Good, I'm glad you're here.

Let me tell you something.

Jesus is the answer for you.

But even inside the church, you're gonna find spots in the feast of charity.

You're gonna find people that they're messed up, they're not doing right.

They, and by the way, this is a hospital for sinners, it is.

And you need to recognize, listen, everybody here is trying to get some help, but not everybody here is actually wanting to receive the help.

Sometimes they just want to be around the blessing and not in the blessing.

Does that make sense?

And so here Jesus is saying, hey, they didn't want to choose the fear of the Lord.

They didn't respect God.

It says in verse 30, they would none of my counsel, and they despised all my reproof.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices.

For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

You say, why was Jesus upbraiding the city?

Why did he pull the blind man out of there and tell him not to go back and share the miracle?

I believe because they had so much light and they rejected it.

They thought that they saw, and as a result of their pride, they became blind.

And now Jesus is like, listen, I'll help people, but I'm not, I'm not gonna broadcast like I used to to this, these people.

Hey, question.

Do you have any friends?

They're just like, meh.

Do you have any situations where you love them and you've reached out to them over and over and over again, but they're just like, meh.

And then you get yourself worked up in in it in such a way because you feel like you feel like you're trying everything you can and they're not receiving it.

You say, well, what do I do?

Well, the hardest part when that happens is not to develop a hard heart.

Right?

Because you can still love them and forgive them without trusting them and having reconciliation with them.

Does that make sense?

And this this takes a lot of discernment and emotional clarity in our relationships.

See, the last thing you should want to do is be wasting all of your time in investments in relationships where people don't want what you have.

And the challenge with us is we're human, we can't see the hearts, but God can see the hearts.

And I see here Bethsah didn't respond well to Christ's ministry.

And so, number one, those who don't respond to his favors end up forfeiting them.

If you're giving somebody favor over and over again and they're just sinning against you and they don't care about it, what you do is you reel it in.

You reel it in and say, okay, I need to, I need to hold back in this situation.

Number two, why didn't he, why did he tell the guy not to go and share everything in that town?

Well, those who won't be counseled can't be helped.

Listen, I can't help you if you're not listening.

Right?

And it would be absolutely a waste of time, energy, and wisdom for me to take pearls of grace and try to give them to you when you're you're close to it.

Now, I don't know about you guys, but I have frustrated my own self trying to get people some help when they didn't want it.

You will take it.

Open up.

What is wrong with you?

I will beat you till you take it.

And then I realized, listen, I shouldn't want this more for you than you want it for you.

And then I backed up and said, you know what?

If anybody's gonna be ignorant, let them be ignorant.

I'm gonna go ahead and shake the dust off my feet.

I'm not gonna cast pearls before swine.

And if somebody wants to stay, here's what I found, even with my own sister and my own family.

If somebody wants to stay in drugs and they don't want the solution, if they can't be counseled, then they won't be helped.

So then why would I work against God when they're working against God?

You have to wait until they're broken and they're ready to receive it.

And the hard part there is you don't know how long that's gonna take, and you don't want to give up on that person, and specifically, you don't want to give up on the fact that God can still redeem that person.

Which means it's not wise for your heart to get hard and angry at people because they're not receiving it.

That just then their sin becomes your sin, a hard heart becomes your hard heart.

So what you do is you back up and you say, you know, I'm just gonna pray and bless that person at the same time.

I'm gonna let the Holy Spirit lead me to a city or a place or people that will receive it.

And what that does is it frees your heart in such a way so that you can feel like you're being effective.

And your life is not bound up and locked down by the tyrants of those who have hard hearts.

You're able to keep moving with the flow of the Holy Spirit of God.

You say, Why else did he tell the guy not to go back to the town?

Well, number three, they were hardened in unbelief.

No matter how much you preach and teach and force something, if somebody's in unbelief, that's a heart issue.

That's a heart problem.

And Jesus is the great physician that circumcises the foreskin of the heart.

And until that operation takes place, you're just going to be probably making the situation worse sometimes.

How many guys have ever done that before?

Like you've tried so hard.

And it seems like the harder you try to emotionally and physically and financially engage somebody, the worse it gets.

And then you start feeling bad because, oh, did I do something wrong?

And this is when you have to back up and you say, you know what?

It's not about me.

This has everything to do with what God's doing or what God's not doing in that person's heart.

And so when you have situations like that, Jesus is like, no, no, don't go tell them the town.

I think it was because of their unbelief.

Number four, I wrote this down.

Jesus didn't cast pearls before swine.

How many of y'all have some friends that used to be your friends, but they're not your friends anymore?

Listen, I love everybody.

I forgive everybody.

But not everybody am I supposed to share all of my pearls of wisdom with.

Because they won't respect it.

They won't receive it.

And so I've got to be able to have enough security on the inside of me to say, okay, this is not me.

This really has to do with their hard heart.

So I'm going to reel it in and not try to force something that God is not welcomed into.

And by the way, if God's presence isn't in a church and isn't in a relationship and is not leading you up into a business endeavor, you should not want it.

The prayer should be, Lord, wherever you are, whatever you want, that's what I want.

Which means this.

You have to back up and say, Lord, if I'm wanting something more than you want it, or I'm pressing or forcing something too quick, forgive me.

Help my heart, God.

If your presence doesn't take me there, you just show me where your presence wants me.

Now here's the thing you don't get to control that.

You don't get to determine that.

There's a lot of principles in the Bible, and you don't necessarily know which principle the Holy Spirit wants to use in this moment.

Which means you have to stay yielded and surrendered to God Almighty on a day-by-day basis, which means this if you shut down, if you kind of like just stop, the cloud can move on.

Or how about this?

If you're just go, go, go, go, go, and you go too fast, the cloud, cloud in the Old Testament, remember the pillar of fire by night, pillar of cloud by day, indication of the Holy Spirit's presence and where he wants you.

If you have a go, go, go mentality, do it now, do it now mentality in relationships, business, church, and you're just doing, doing, doing without being sensitive to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit could have moved on and you could have stayed in one spot.

Or you could have stayed in one spot and the Holy Spirit could have moved on.

Are you all getting this?

I wasn't here last week, so I'm giving you a little more.

But I heard it was fantastic.

How many of you guys, you're you know that there's some situations where you're just casting some pearls, some valuable things, to somebody who doesn't want it?

You can still love them, still care about them, still pray for them.

Don't be all angry and upset because they didn't come to friend day.

Are you listening?

Well, you should have been here.

You're my friend.

Hey, listen.

Relax.

You did your job, right?

But let's focus on who is here.

Right?

Let's be thankful for who is here.

Right?

Uh let me write this last point down.

You say, why didn't why did Jesus tell this guy not to go back into the town, but to go to his house?

Well, remember this.

Jesus guides new believers in wisdom, growth, and exposure.

You think about this.

Uh, there's some new babies.

Um Brother French, what's uh what's the baby's name again?

Yeah, Judah.

Judah.

Notice how he's close to daddy's arms back there, right?

Close to mama.

When somebody gets a fresh miracle, they get saved, they have something good happening in their life, they're still kind of raw with that thing, still growing in it.

And what Jesus will do when he's doing something in your life is he wants to protect you and not expose you to all the haters and scorners and skeptics right away because you're not ready for it.

Right?

And so that's why we have to stay sensitive when the Holy Spirit says, listen, I know I said go preach the gospel to everywhere, but you still need to be harnessed because there's some situations and there's some people that I don't want you to engage yet.

I need you to listen to me.

And as you do that, what he's doing is he's giving you his wisdom, he's giving you some growth, and he's protecting you so that listen to this you're not exercising yourself in matters that are beyond your level of growth and character.

See, if you put yourself in situations where your character is not ready for it because you're talented and because you have charisma, the lack of your moral integrity will become your downfall.

And so what Jesus does is he sees, just like a good mom and a good daddy, be like, come on over here, son now, do this, or hey, watch out for that, friend.

Or hey, let's go over here and do this.

He does the same thing with the church.

He's still doing miracles, he's still blessing.

So I don't need, I don't know who needed this relational wisdom.

I just saw that in the Bible.

You ever just see things in the Bible like, why did he tell him not to go do that?

Right?

Just in in summary, he still did the miracle, but he did the miracle in a different way.

So in your life, maybe you're thinking he has to do it the same way he did it 40 years ago or 20 years ago or with this person over here.

Just get rid of all that.

Okay?

Look up here real quick and just be like, Jesus, go ahead and lead me however you want.

Some of y'all, that would be a good place to start.

Just lead me however you want.

And when he does the miracle, thank him, praise him, and still let him guide you.

All right, that's the message.

Let's