Realizations From The Life Of Jesus

People that are always looking for the new tend to miss the obvious.

Let me say that again.

People that are always looking for the new when it comes to God are gonna get a new revelation and a new fresh anointing and a new this and a new they miss the obvious.

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Lord, when we say what the uh ancient words, phrases like whatever befall, we're saying whatever happens, we're gonna conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.

And so whatever happens, whether someone's cell phone goes off in the middle of church, that's okay.

We're all human.

We forget to turn it off sometime.

Give everybody else that little that little nudge that says check your phone right now.

Uh God, whatever befall.

Uh no, we're not, we're not, we're not inviting things on ourselves.

We're just saying, God, that you're unchanging, you're not gonna change.

Regardless of what happens, you're never gonna be changed by that.

And so we can be consistent people who are rooted in the truth and set free by it, and because of it, increase our understanding of the truth today, and because of that, our experience of freedom.

We ask for this in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a see if you got a Bible.

I invite you to take it and open it up to John chapter 18.

John 18 · chapter mention

John chapter 18.

John 18 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, I'm on page 904 in your pew Bible.

You can just follow that along.

And if you don't have a Bible uh at home, you can take that with you as our gift today.

Merry Christmas, okay?

I want to talk to you from John.

If you're visiting, we're preaching through the Gospel of John.

We start in chapter 1, verse 1.

We're up to chapter 18.

Uh Jesus has just finished what's called the high priestly prayer, where he spends a lot of time praying for the last time with his disciples, okay?

He's fixing to get arrested.

That's what we read about.

Now, when I when I say the sermon title today is Realizations from the Life of Jesus, he's getting to the end of his life and he's not done teaching.

He's not done.

We don't handle people very well in our culture that get as they get close to death.

We kind of put them away somewhere and say, hey, there you go.

Uh but but Jesus is still teaching, he's still modeling, he's still kind of winking at us, saying, Hey, don't miss this.

And I'm gonna read a lot, I'm gonna read a lot of this chapter, and then I'm gonna point to four things that we see in the life of Jesus.

John chapter 18, verse 1.

John 18:1

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, and there was a garden which he uh which he and his disciples entered.

Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.

So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

And then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, Whom do you seek?

And they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus said to them, I am he.

And Judas, who uh who betrayed him, was standing with them.

When Jesus said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground.

So he asked them again, Whom do you seek?

And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus answered, I told you that I am he.

So if you seek me, let these men go.

This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, of those whom you gave me, I lost not one.

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.

Their servant's name was Malchus.

So Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword into its sheath.

Shall I not drink the cup that the father has given me?

So the band of soldiers and their captain, the officers and the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.

First they led him to Annas, for he was the father in law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year.

It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.

Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.

But Peter stood outside at the door.

So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in.

The servant girl at the door said to Peter, You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?

He said, I am not.

Now the servants and the officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold.

They were standing and warming themselves.

And Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

Jesus answered him, I've spoken openly to the world.

I've always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together.

I've said nothing in secret.

Why do you ask me?

Ask those who have heard me what I said to them.

They know what I said.

When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Is that how you answer the high priest?

And Jesus answered him, If what I said is wrong, bear witness about what is wrong, about the wrong that I said.

Why do you strike me?

Aniston sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.

And so they said to him, You also are not one of his disciples, are you?

He denied it and said, I am not.

One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, Did I not see you in the garden with him?

Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

Then they led him from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.

It was early morning.

They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so they would not be defiled, but they could eat the Passover.

So Pilate went outside to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man?

They answered him, If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.

Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.

The Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.

This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show what kind of death he was going to die.

Now, there's four things I want to point to in the Bible this morning as far as realizations from the life of Jesus.

And the first one is simply this the proper use of power.

The proper use of power.

It's verses 1 through 11.

But I want to draw your attention to verse 4.

The Bible says this of Jesus.

It's kind of a context for this phrase, a proper use of power.

Verse 4 says this of Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, knowing all that would happen to him.

So, in other words, Jesus Christ knows fully well what's going to happen.

And not only does he trust God, see, here's one of the many differences between us and Jesus.

He is being asked to trust God on the basis of what he knows.

We're being asked to trust God on the basis of what we do not know.

Like as you sit here in this room, how many of you know what's going to happen to you this week?

Raise your hand.

None of you.

And yet the Bible says that Jesus knows full well everything that is going to happen and he trusts God anyway.

And if you knew, here's another question for you, since you're thinking people, if you knew what was going to happen and you had this infinite power, would you not try to use this power to get yourself out of a difficult situation?

Of course you would.

All of us would.

I mean, I remember when my wife and I first got married, we were like dead broke in grad school.

She opened the door to her little mini truck that she brought to the marriage as like a shoebox with a heater, is about it.

She opened the door in a Kroger parking lot in Fort Worth, and a gust of wind hit the door and blew it out, and it pinged a red Mercedes right next to it on the door.

And I just thought she's telling me about it when she got home in tears, and I just think, and you just backed up and went and parked somewhere else.

Amen.

No, no.

Not my wife.

She went in Kroger, wrote down the license plate, had them page the owner of the red Mercedes.

And some lady came out and said, Yeah, my husband's very materialistic.

He's gonna want that fixed.

I know you don't know this, but this is free.

The paint job on a Mercedes is certified.

You can only get that done in a Mercedes-Benz dealership.

You can't take that to Mako.

And I said, How big was the deal?

Was the scratch?

And she goes, Oh, about half the size of your pinky fingernail.

And I'm like, put some like clear shoe polish on it and get on with your life.

And I said to her, she said, Well, that was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

We had$423 in our checking account.

That was just that little ding.

This is not, this is not back in 1993, was$387.63.

We had breakfast a couple weeks later before I was flying out of town to go speak of something.

And she said, Well, did you find out how much the car cost to get that car fixed, that door fixed?

I said, Yeah,$387.63.

And she was cutting up her breakfast and she said, Wow, what a cheap price to pay for integrity.

Took the words right out of my mouth, honey.

Couldn't believe it.

Because this is my confession.

If I had the power to save myself, if I knew what was coming, I don't know that I wouldn't have used that power to get myself out of that situation, okay?

My wife, she could have just driven off.

Now I'm not idolizing my wife.

She's not a perfect woman, okay?

Her husband's pretty awesome, but she's struggling.

But when she said that, she said, Yeah, what a cheap price to pay for integrity.

I was like, one of these things is not like.

Maybe you should get on the plane and go preach to people, okay?

But when I say the proper use of power, here's what I'm saying: Jesus has this powerful authority, and yet he doesn't use it to save himself.

He uses it to save you and I by dying on the cross.

Now, here's a couple things you got to understand about power.

Two things I want you to see, because let me just, before I get to that, let me say this.

Every one of you, it's easy to go, oh, Jesus has power.

Every one of us in this room has power.

Are you aware of that?

I mean, if you're like in the sixth grade and you're popular in the sixth grade, you have power.

Some of you have power because of money, because of political stuff, because of your social connections.

Everybody in this room has some measure of power.

That's not the issue.

The issue is how do you use the power that God has given you?

Because the way you use that power determines how much power God will trust you with in the future.

Two things about power.

Number one, the proper use of power is stewardship.

The proper use of power is stewardship.

How do I steward the power that I've been given?

Do I use it for myself or do I use it for the blessing and benefit of other people?

Secondly, power is often demonstrated in what you don't do.

Power is often demonstrated in what you don't do.

You say, what do you mean?

The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

They're all written by four different men who are followers of Jesus, and they all write from a different perspective.

Matthew writes from this perspective when he records the arrest of Jesus that we read about in John 18.

Here, talk about power not in what you don't do.

Hear this from Matthew 26, starting in verse 52.

Then Jesus said to him, This is right after Peter cuts the guy's ear off with his sword, because Peter, he has power and he's just going to use it on everybody.

He's going to fight everybody.

So they come to arrest Jesus.

He pulls the sword out, cuts the guy's ear off.

Jesus picks it up, blows the grass and leaves off.

Three-second rule, puts it back on.

And he says to Peter, this He says, Hey, he says, put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

But how then should the scripture be fulfilled that it must be so?

Hear that part, here those last two sentences again.

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father?

And he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels.

Now, a legion of angels, best we can tell in the Bible, is anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000.

So Jesus says, I could call down 12 legions of angels.

That means anywhere, a number between 24,000 and 72,000 angels.

Now keep in mind that in the Bible, anytime a messenger or an angel of God appeared, the human beings fell to the ground and acted like dead people.

And Jesus says, I could call down 24,000 to 72,000 and a nanosecond.

But if I did that, if I used my power to save myself, if I didn't steward my power, then he says, but how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?

The scripture must be fulfilled.

So I'm not going to use my power to save myself.

I'm going to use my power to save everybody else by drinking from this cup that the Father's given me.

So one of the things we see, first and foremost, right for the life of Jesus, is we simply see, hey, this is the proper use of power.

Now, by the way, if you cannot be trusted with a cell phone, you don't need to be asking God for power.

If you cannot be trusted with a personal computer, that you won't use it to go to certain places and see things you shouldn't see, you don't need to be worried about power.

If you can't be trusted with money, you can't be, you, you, you don't have to worry about power.

Just just this weekend, Antonio Brown, who signed a three-year,$50 million contract with the Oakland Raiders.

And I love what other football players have said.

They said, hey, listen, money does not make character, money reveals character.

And some people, you cannot give money because they go crazy.

And now Antonio Brown got cut by the uh, he requested to be released by the Oakland Raiders, and he was, and then miraculously the New England Patriots were right there to pick him up and sign him.

Like that wasn't planned already.

Collusion.

Why do I say that?

Because Antonio Brown's in for a rude awakening.

Because there's John Grudom, the coach of the Oakland Raiders, and then there's Bill Belichick.

And Bill Belichick has power.

Bill Belichick is gonna introduce Mr.

Antonio Brown to the patriot way.

Yeah, it's a different thing.

See, here's the thing everybody in the world has a measure of power.

And here's the last thing about power: you're always gonna be around people that have a little bit more than you.

Yeah.

Let me demonstrate.

I pulled up to a red light.

I'm sitting minding my own business, like everybody else does, you know, checking my phone.

No, I'm just sitting there.

And a guy pulls up next to me in a brand new, just I can smell the new truck smell through my window.

A brand new, like midnight blue, shiny Ford pickup, jacked up, mag wheels, big tires on it.

And I just sat there staring the whole time, just like, that is a pretty truck, oh man.

I'm just looking at it, and the guy sees me looking at his truck, and he's like.

And this is how I misappropriated my power.

I thought to myself, you know, God, what a self-righteous jerk.

Look at him, thinking like, yeah, check my truck out.

If that was my truck, I wouldn't be that way.

I would give a homeless person a ride home.

Think about it.

And all of a sudden, somebody honked behind me, and I realized I was lost in the time warp continuum.

He was in the turn lane, they didn't have a green light, my light was green, and I was in the light.

Because for about 45 seconds, I let that have power over me.

And sometimes it's not people, sometimes it's things that have power over us.

Jesus demonstrates though the proper use of power.

Secondly, we see in the life of Jesus that God comes to us in ways that are familiar.

It's verses 12 to 18.

Ways that are familiar, what do you mean?

People that are always looking for the new tend to miss the obvious.

Let me say that again.

People that are always looking for the new when it comes to God.

I've got to get a new revelation and a new fresh anointing and a new this and a new, they miss the obvious.

Like, this must be on the internet somewhere because in the past month, I've had three conversations with three different people about the flood.

And people, they've all said the same thing.

Well, scientifically, I don't think the flood in the Genesis account can be proven.

And you also know that there were other religious cults and religious uh and people that had in their in their religious tradition this narrative about the flood.

And I said to one guy, Yeah, you're probably talking about a book called the Enuma Elish.

And he went, How did you know that?

And I said, I went to grad school in this.

I don't have just an internet connection and insomnia, and I stay up late at night trying to disprove the Bible, but go ahead.

And he says, Yeah, so don't you think that just discounts everything the Bible says?

I said, No, for me, it just confirms one of the patterns we see in the Bible, and that is this that God comes to us in familiar ways.

And he said, What does that mean?

I said, Are you confessing that there's something you don't know?

And he goes, Well, what's the point of that?

I said, Because you act like you know everything.

Like I've got the Bible all figured out, and it's discounted because what you want to do is discount the Bible, then you can be God.

The problem with killing God is that you got to put somebody in his place, and guess who you're gonna put in his place?

He goes, and what's wrong with that?

I said, I don't want to live in a world where you're God.

And I just met you 35 minutes ago.

And he's like, Oh, okay, anyway, what do you mean?

God comes to us in ways that are familiar.

I said, Yes, I believe in the Babylonian Eucharitic text.

I believe in that they very well could have had this legend about this flood.

And God says, Hey, all these different people talking about this flood, it's never happened.

God comes to us in familiar ways and says, You guys have heard about a flood.

Let me show you what a flood looks like.

And he's like, You think it rained that much?

I said, the water didn't come down from the sky.

The Bible says that the earth cracked open and water came up out of the earth.

Now, we hadn't had rain in a while.

Have you noticed that?

Some of y'all like, could the earth crack open and some water come up on us right now?

And so the guy said, So you mean to believe?

I said, I mean to believe exactly what the Bible says.

Yeah, I believe that God did that.

Why?

Why did you do that?

Because he comes to us in familiar ways.

Why do I say that?

Because right here in verses 12 to 18, they begin to send Jesus from Annas to Caiaphas to Pilate.

They begin this five-day process.

Now, what's familiar about that?

Listen to me.

What's familiar about that is for thousands of years, starting way back in Exodus chapter 14, the Old Testament, for thousands of years, the people of God have been celebrating the Passover feast.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

Matter of fact, that's what they said over here in verses 28 and 29.

They said, Hey, we're not going to go into this guy's house because we're Jews, we're devout Jews, he's a Gentile.

We would be defiled and we couldn't celebrate Passover.

And so when I say that God comes to us in familiar ways, for thousands of years they've been celebrating the Passover, which meant you select your lamb, you take it into your home, and you have to keep it for five days, and you have to inspect it to make sure that it's without spot or blemish.

Because you cannot offer up a sa uh a crippled or defective animal.

It had to be a healthy, spotless animal.

So you select this lamb, you keep it for five days, and then you sacrifice this lamb to cover your sins.

In the very beginning of John's gospel, John the Baptist looks up and sees Jesus coming, and he says, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

This begins the five-day process as they're shuttling Jesus from Annas to Caiaphas to Pilate to all these people.

It takes five days for them.

And then in the next chapter, chapter 19, about verse 6, Pilate says, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.

And when Pilate says that, what he's saying, he washes his hands even.

He says, I don't want to, I don't want this man's guilt on me.

What he's saying is, you guys now have a perfect lamb that you can sacrifice.

Why?

Because God comes to us in familiar ways.

Don't always look for the new and the next.

Ask yourself, how does God come to you?

Because he comes to us in familiar ways.

Third thing the Bible tells us that we can take away from the life of Jesus is that God knows everything.

Let me say that again, and then you could you can express your wonder at the depth of that statement that God knows everything.

Now it's easy in our culture to roll your eyes and kind of go, uh duh.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

God knows everything.

You you you went to school for that?

Yeah.

It's verses 15 to 27.

Now, why do I say God knows everything based on verses 15 to 27?

Because earlier in John's gospel, remember Peter, the guy that cut the guy's ear off with a sword?

That Peter, who's always, you know, set in the front row and just, yes, teacher, I know the answer.

Full of zeal and gusto.

He tells Jesus a couple chapters earlier, hey, these other disciples, they may freak out and quit you, Jesus, but not me.

I'll even die for you, dude.

I'm down to the bitter end.

Jesus is like, come on, man.

Peter's like, Oh, I'm serious, I'm serious, clear eye, full heart, can't lose.

Jesus is like, let me regulate you here, my man, okay?

Before the rooster crows, you're gonna deny that you know me three times.

And what unfolds in verses 15 to 27 is three different times.

Peter gets asked, Hey, weren't you one of his servants?

Didn't I see you?

No, no, but you look kind of, I thought I saw you.

Remember, I got a cousin.

See, here's the danger of cutting somebody's ear off, they're related to people.

You don't ever forget that.

Can you imagine being somewhere in a nice restaurant and somebody cuts a guy's ear off the table next to you, and you're like, hey kids, look.

This is what happens if you don't do your algebra homework.

I mean, you don't forget that.

And so one of the guys, the Bible says one of the guys who was related to him is like, uh, I think you might have cut my third cousin Malicus' ear off.

I think you look like the duke.

No! He finally gets asked a third time.

He denies it again, and then the rooster crows.

You ever had a moment where you could have outed yourself as a Christian and you didn't?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've been there.

It's kind of like I'm talked out, Jesus.

Somebody else can have this one.

And I walk away just a little, mmm.

When I say God knows everything, I don't want that to be foreboding.

I don't want that to be like great resigned fatalism.

Well, if God knows everything, why do anything?

What I hope that statement does, that simple statement does, is it nourishes your capacity, my capacity to trust God.

That we say, because God knows everything, there's nothing I cannot trust him with.

You can begin prayers by saying, God, you know the outcome of this.

I don't, but here's what I'm asking you for as your son, as your daughter.

God loves it when we pray to him like that.

Here's why this is important three little phrases.

Number one, because we tend to relate to God on the basis of our knowledge of him.

We tend to relate to God on the basis of our knowledge of him.

So to say that God knows everything, it means that we have this infinite capacity.

We can ever be increasing in our understanding.

In our knowledge of Him.

We say God knows everything.

Have you ever wondered why something that's designed to bring you so much comfort seem to offend people?

Well, if God knows everything, why is the world screwed up?

Why is Donald Trump president?

I got told that the other day.

Well, if your God's running the world, how'd Donald Trump get in the White House?

I got nothing, dude.

If that's your biggest question, I got nothing, okay?

But here's the thing: you tend to relate to God on the basis of your knowledge of Him.

First statement.

Second statement, there's always room.

Because of that, there's always room for growth because God is infinite.

God is infinite.

The Bible asks great questions, like in Romans 11, it says, Who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?

Who has ever given to God that God should repay him?

For from him and through him and to him are all things to him be their glory forever.

Amen.

Yeah.

See, we we don't know the mind of the Lord.

He's infinite and we're finite.

And yet you could understand that.

Thirdly, my life can change.

See, this is an important statement because you relate to God on the basis of our knowledge of Him.

Secondly, there's always room for growth because God is infinite.

And because of that, your life can change.

Like my 21-year-old was home for about 10 days between her job for the summer and going back to her senior year in college.

She's getting ready to leave, and I said, Hey, now remember, this is 21's not forever.

And she goes, Oh, I love my life.

I said, Well, give it a few more years.

You won't love it so much.

And she said, Well, that's kind of depressing.

I said, Yeah, that's okay.

I mean, I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong.

I think you're a good kid, but 21 is not forever.

Amen?

Remember who you were when you were 21?

Remember what you wore, what you drove, what you lived in?

Yeah.

Now, if you're 21, you're like, oh, you're making fun of us.

Oh, get off the cross.

Somebody's already made better use of the wood, okay?

Stop being such a victim.

I'm just saying this.

I said to my own flesh and blood, hey, 21 is not bad, but you get to be 25 and you're gonna look back and go, huh?

Then you're gonna be 30 and you're gonna be like, I want to kind of choke that little 21-year-old.

And then when you're 40, you just kind of shake your head and go, Oh, God, thanks for mercy.

Yes.

You know why you know that?

You know why you're laughing at that?

Because you ain't 21 anymore.

Glory to his name.

Yes, yes.

Now say, by the way, when I say your life can change, here's why most people's life never change.

It changes because they try to leverage it against things that are always changing.

They try to leverage their life against the culture.

Culture's always changing.

They try to leverage change against their friends or the latest diet, where it's Keto or South Beach or Atkins or it was whatever they're coming out with next month.

They're always trying to leverage change against things that are always changing.

You need to leverage your life against something that is never going to change.

And that is the nature of God and the word of God.

And let me just tell you, there's some great opportunities for change that start this week here at our church.

We call them, there's Tuesday morning Bible studies, our women's ministry does, and there's midweek classes.

And I just want to take a moment just to kind of remind you of one of the offerings for women starting this Tuesday from 9:30 to 11.

Now, before I go into the individual classes, somebody asked me last week, they said, So do you guys, the pastors, teach those classes?

I thought it was a trick question.

I was like, why would we do that?

Well, I mean, I mean, I mean, who teaches those classes, those women's Bible studies?

I said, gifted, talented, brilliant women.

Oh, so you let women teach in your church?

And I said, Oh, help me, Jesus.

Oh, help me.

I said, Yes, yes, yes.

Now we don't have women elders or women and women preaching on Sunday, but we think, look at the this is an official statement on behalf of our church.

We do not think women are second-class citizens who exist to make babies and potato salad.

Are we done?

And you could come at me with all your favorite complimentary arguments.

I don't care.

It's not going to change a thing.

We just think women are brilliant, gifted, competent people who ought to be unleashed to do ministry.

And so we do that.

And so on Tuesday mornings, uh, Caitlin Witton is teaching a class called Living a Life of Genuine Faith.

It's a Jen Wilkins study.

That's one of the options for change that's that's available this semester.

Here's another class that's available identity, who you are, because of whose you are, taught by Christy Golson.

Christy Golson loves to study.

So if you sign for this class, you're gonna have homework.

So put your big girl pants on.

Don't come in like, oh, I couldn't get my homework done.

Yeah, you could have, but you didn't prioritize your life to get it done.

You spent too much time on Facebook.

You're welcome.

Here's another class, Abraham, Friend of God, taught by Johanna Morrissey.

Uh, she's an older lady in our church, godly, godly, wise woman.

Just what does it mean to be a friend of God?

And then lastly, uh Katie Grubbs, who's an adjunct professor at HBU, uh and a mother of like, I think, four children.

Uh, that's wisdom in itself, right there.

She's uh teaching a class called Journey Through Church History.

Now you may be thinking, uh, what's that got to do with me and my marriage?

Uh you don't need to be a better wife.

You need to be a wiser, more mature Christian.

And your marriage will be affected by that.

So if you don't understand the historicity of your faith, this is a great class for you.

So those are all on Tuesday morning.

Then Wednesday night, starting this Wednesday, we have what's called the midweek meal right here.

These chairs will be taken out, and we have round tables, and we're having Chick-fil-A catered in from 5:45 to 6:30.

And then about 6:30, we'll start saying, hey, time to head to your class in the next few minutes.

But here the here are the options that are being taught.

Uh how people change.

This is led by Blake Hartcastle.

He is our experiencial formation pastor.

It's just basically how people change.

Great study.

Here's another one.

Nine results of the gospel uh that most Christians aren't experiencing.

This is led by Travis Dunham.

He's our connections pastor, uh, brilliant man, great teacher.

It's just that, hey, here's nine things that are true uh because of the gospel that a lot of people don't experience in their life.

Here's another one: stewardship, time, money, health, and skills.

This is led by Wade Burgess.

Uh, Wade is our executive pastor.

It's a great opportunity to have this holistic view of what stewardship is.

It is not just money, it is every facet of your life.

And the fourth offering is neighboring.

It's a class led by Marcia McClendon, our women's pastor.

Uh, it's just on being a neighbor, using your home as a resource for God.

Now, this is very convicting because my wife said to me, Oh, and by the way, I'm teaching neighbor this semester on the S great.

And then she said, Ann, we're having people over more than we've had in the past.

Oh, God.

Because here's what I think.

I don't none of you think this way.

I think I work hard all day.

I'm gonna go home, raise the drawbridge.

Sorry, no one's home.

My wife said to me, Sometimes you have more patience for Jehovah's Witnesses than you do our friends.

I said, but they're just funner.

I mean, our friends agree with me, these people are lost.

No.

And so she told me, by the way, informed me uh yesterday or two days ago, we're having friends over Sunday night.

I'm like, oh, after I preach three times, have an elder meeting, we got people in my house, I gotta put on clothes.

Yeah, don't be such a baby.

Hmm.

Anne, is it that wasn't enough?

She said, We're having quiche.

Egg pie.

I can't wait.

And then she said, and a salad, like that makes it even better.

And I was like, wonderful.

She goes, Anne, I'm preparing two different kinds of quiche.

Two different kinds of egg pie.

That's just what I wanted for supper.

Not bitter.

And she said, because I want to open our home up because I want people to experience our home.

I want them in our home, eating our food.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Come on.

Why don't all you come for lunch today?

Just surround the house so I can say to my wife, look what your big mouth has done.

No.

But neighboring is a class my wife is teaching on Wednesday night.

And here's why I say all that.

If you're new today, I'm joking.

I love my wife.

I love people in our home.

People walk in, they're kind of go, you're just a regular person.

Oh, you shut your mouth.

No.

We, these are all, Tuesday morning, Wednesday night, these are all opportunities for you to do this last thing.

To embrace the reality your life can change.

You have to leverage it against things that are unchanging.

Okay?

This is what we mean.

This is what we talk about.

Here's the last thing.

And by the way, most people never change.

I said because they leverage it against things that are that are always changing.

Here's another reason people rarely change is because they try to find in hatred what they can only find in understanding.

The vehicle of transformation, ladies, is not hating yourself more and increasing your determination.

The vehicle for understanding is getting yourself in an environment where you're taught the truth of the gospel and applying that to your life.

That's when change happens.

Here's the last thing we see in the life of Jesus this morning is that religion blinds us to the big picture.

Religion blinds us to the big picture.

It's verses 28 to 32.

Listen to verse 28.

You still with me?

Listen to verse 28.

Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.

It was early morning.

They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.

Oh, Sakaweh, are you kidding me?

Now, what do I mean when I say that?

Religion blinds them to the big picture.

That's one of those verses in the Bible that you just kind of read and keep going.

But they themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.

They don't even see what is right before them.

Two expressions of their blindness.

Number one, they have trumped up charges against an innocent man who happens to be the son of God, but they don't believe that.

They just are like, this guy is causing us trouble.

People are leaving religion and going over to a relationship with a real God.

We've got to shut this thing down.

So they make up some charges against him.

They go wake up the district attorney in the middle of the night and they say, hey, sign a death warrant so we can kill this Jew.

And he's like, What?

You guys get out of here.

Go kill him yourself.

They didn't have the authority legally.

So that's why they seek out all these different people.

Now they wouldn't, they get to this guy to the headquarters.

That's what I want my house to be called.

The headquarters.

They get to this guy's headquarters and they won't go in.

They're such religious weasels.

They're like, we're not going to go in because if they went into his house, they would be contaminated because they're Jews and this guy's a Gentile, and so they couldn't observe the Passover.

That's the second expression of their blind hypocrisy, that they don't see the big picture.

Is that number one, they're going to murder an innocent man, but yet they don't want to go in the home of somebody who's a different religion.

And secondly, the reason they don't want to do that is so they can observe Passover.

And yet, the perfect spotless Lamb of God who is going to be sacrificed for their sins and yours and mine is right beside them, and they don't even see it.

It's just right over their heads.

And Jesus tried to get them ready for this, but they're blinded by their religious rage, and all they want to do is defend their territory.

Matthew's gospel, Jesus is talking to these very people, these Pharisees, and he says this in Matthew 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for your tithe of mint and deal and cumin, and yet you've neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness.

These you ought to have done without neglecting the others, you blind gods, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.

Hello! You're straining a gnat.

We're not going to that guy's house.

We can't do the religious ritual.

And yet, the spotless Lamb of God who's gonna do away with all the pointless religious rituals and introduce us to this whole new reality, it's right here, and they can't see it.

Why?

Because religion blinds you to the big picture.

You blind God straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they're full of greed and self-indulgence, you blind Pharisee.

First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you're like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

See, you don't want to pick a tweeter a Twitter beef with Jesus.

He is not afraid to tell people the truth right to their face.

Not because he hates these people, he wants them to stop being so phony.

On the outside, they're like a whitewashed tomb.

They clean the outside of the dish, but inside they're full of all kinds of greed and sinfulness.

Now, what I want you to see this morning is that religion has so shrunk their lives down to the point, the only thing that mattered to them is protecting their sense of control and managing what people thought about them.

And so it didn't matter to them that they were really what they were really like, as long as people thought things were true about them.

And if you're not careful, look at me.

We're almost done.

If you're not careful, religion will turn you into one of those people as well.

You won't care about you're really like, you won't have really meaningful conversations in your marriage, you won't confront your wife over her sin, or your husband over his sin, or your kids over their sin.

You'll just smile and kind of go, yeah, yeah, that's right.

My wife has two glasses of red wine and a sleeping pill every night and she can't go to bed.

Here we go.

We're good, we're good.

Nothing dysregulated about this.

Smile, kids.

And your kids are seething cauldrons of contempt.

When they get 18, they're just gonna take off and leave.

But just keep cleaning the outside of the dish.

I said to my own wife, who I love this week, she said something, and I said, I don't believe what you just said.

I think that's a lie.

Because I don't want to have a marriage where we just hey just clean the outside of the dish.

And my wife said, You know what?

I I just I I didn't, I wasn't thinking about because she she was coming down here to decorate for mom's on mission or something.

And I said, You want me to come up here?

And she goes, No, you're tired.

You need to go home and rest.

And I said, I don't believe that.

You don't care about me getting rest.

You don't want me to come with you.

Say that.

And she was like, and by the way, I'm not yelling, I just said that that's a lie.

My spirit was grieved when you spoke those words.

And not five minutes later, she said, You know what?

I think what's going on is I didn't I didn't have a clear mental image of what I wanted to do as far as setting up and decorating, and I didn't want you down there, blah, blah, blah, giving me your ideas.

I said, Say that.

But instead, what you do is you try to sound so noble by saying, Oh, you're tired.

You don't care about how tired I am.

You never care about how tired I am.

And guess what?

Look at me.

She said to me, Thank you for saying that.

Here's a question you ought to ask yourself: Can your marriage survive if you stop cleaning the outside of the cup and the dish and you start dealing with what's really going on inside?

Now you may be thinking, man, I'm glad I'm not married to you.

I want to love my wife enough to say, hmm, when you say things that my spirit goes, third strike, your chance to steal, I'm gonna say something.

And she's like, Oh, thank you for saying something.

Now, why do I make a big deal out of these Pharisees?

They're this impression management and control, because if you're not careful, you'll be the same way.

Religion has the capacity to turn you and I into the same kind of people.

And so you gotta ask yourself this question this morning.

How big is the picture that I'm looking at?

Do you see the big picture?

Are you just focused on just uh just managing people's impression of you?

Let's pray together.

Just take a moment.

If you're a guest, we'd like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about.

Some questions come up on the screen.

Don't try to write them down.

Just take your phone out and take a picture.

You can think about them.

Just ask yourself what's the one thing I really want to think about tonight before I go to bed?

What's the one thing I want to have a conversation with my spouse about?

Let's just think about these things.

God, we're thankful today that you come to us in ways that are familiar and yet they're not overwhelming.

You don't pile on us and just overwhelm us to the place that we feel no hope.

You convict of us, convict us of things so to draw our attention to them.

Not that so we'll just have this resigned posture of, well, that's just me.

I just that's just who I am.

No, God, the real issue is who are you?

And who can I be and become because of who you are?

I'm gonna pray for my friends, these people that I love, that they put themselves in environments where change can take place.

Thanks for this church and these people.

Thanks most of all, God, for your son Jesus and your authoritative word, the Bible, that sets us free with its truth.

We're grateful, so we say thank you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for being a part of our service today.

Look at me.

You're always welcome here, okay?

You're always welcome.

We'll never try to get you jammed up, we'll tell you, we'll never ask you to do things you're not comfortable doing.

We will teach you the Bible and say this is what the Bible says.

And if it offends you or makes you mad, come tell us.

We'll talk about it.

This is this is a dialogue, this is a dance, this is not a debate, okay?

Uh and so we'd love for you to just keep coming and keep asking the questions.

Ask us questions, ask God questions, okay?

He's very comfortable in who he is, all right?

Uh so if you're a guest, hopefully you've had an opportunity to pull one of those guest cards in the seat back pocket in your row and get that thing filled out on your way out here in just a minute.

If you drop one of these wooden boxes by the doors, that would be great.

For the rest of us, if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you take care of that as well.

Uh, let me make you aware of a few things going on in the life of our church by way of our video announcements.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Our midweek studies and our midweek meal begin this week.

Child care registration closes today.

If you want to hear more about each of our studies, follow us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The 2019 Men's Weekend is October 18th and 19th here at the church.

We will hear the word preached from Matt Carter, pastor for preaching and vision at the Austin Stone Community Church.

Mark your calendars as registration will open up.

The table is a gathering in the sanctuary where our women will feast on the Bible, sing songs to God, and pray for each other.

Marcy McClendon will teach for the Philippians and Lindsay Fraley will lead worship.

The first gathering is September 22nd, and child care registration is available online.

We have a growing number of missions opportunities.

Here is one that is happening right here in our city.

No killing, no bombing, not arrest.

So that we came here to best conditions for me, my husband, and for my kids.

Very bad situation here.

No safety, everything bad.

No electricity, no bad conditions, very bad conditions.

No one helped another.

Everyone helped another one.

So Houston welcomes refugees meets both the initial tangible needs that refugees have when they first arrive here in Houston by providing them welcome goods that are brand new household goods they can use to furnish their apartments.

But we also meet the need for friendship.

We provide volunteers who will walk alongside the refugee families for their first six months in Houston as teachers and mentors and connecting them with resources here in the city.

They help me and my kids and my husband.

They support support all the family in everything.

I love them very much.

They are very good people.

Very good, very good.

So they are my family.

Not friends.

They are my family and also my husband the same.

My name is Nancy Hodges and I'm a member here at Grand Parkway.

I've been involved with Houston Welcomes Refugees since August of 2016.

I think the something that's really tugged at me and how God has worked on me is now I haven't ever moved to another country and I've never had to learn a different language.

But I do have an an inkling, not like these families, but I have an inkling of what it's like to start over again and start from nothing.

Nothing that we go through in our stories, no matter how desperate the times, none of that is wasted.

And so because of that, I have just a great heart for these families that are trying to start over and they're trying to stay together and to um to have a better life.

If this has stirred up something you've got is tugging on your heart as you listen to the stories and you watch the HWR video, or if you're just mildly curious, I encourage you to come to the training that will be here at Grand Parkway on September 15th at 1 o'clock.

There will be a lot of information there.

There's a multitude of ways for you to be involved.

And I think that it's a great way for you to be the hands and feet of Christ to these families as they come into this country.

If you would like someone to pray with you or you have a question about anything you have seen or heard today, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage after our service.

The ladies saw the video.

Great, what a great day for them to skip church.

Anyway, I was gonna have them come be available down front.

Uh Brad and Nancy Hodges, they work with Houston Welcome Refugees.

Uh by the way, you provided mattresses for two little boys and for their mom and dad.

Uh Brad called me about a month ago and said, Hey, I got a family that needs uh mattress.

They have mattresses to sleep on.

And we'll we we I'll go get them.

I'll have them here at the church.

He sent me a picture yesterday of a guy getting groceries.

You provided also a Walmart gift card that Brad has.

He takes them to the store, and I said, only one condition: don't get off-brand.

Get Oreos, real Oreos.

Don't get them cheap ones, okay?

High V fair, whatever.

They sell H E B.

No.

Get the good stuff and get double stuff.

He sent me a picture on top of the cart, double stuff Oreos.

Now we're talking.

Because here's why.

Because it doesn't bless people when you give them stuff you would need.

You're welcome.

Some of you have never been poor.

You're like, why is he mad at us?

I'm not mad at you.

If we're gonna bless people, let's bless people.

Make sense?

All right.

Stand to your feet, let me bless you so you can go watch football.

You sinners.

Hold your hands out.

And by the way, before I bless you, uh, if you're good, we'll get the air conditioner fully fixed before next Sunday.

If y'all will just if y'all will give more, we can get it fixed.

No.

The thermostat went out.

It's not regulating correctly, but we've got another one.

We'll replace it.

In the meantime, don't be so so don't be so American.

Hold your hands out.

We love the country we live in, but we worship you.

You're good, and everything we have comes from you.

The couch, the queso, and the sweatpants we're about to put on, enjoy football.

It all comes from you.

So we're gonna enjoy it in Jesus' name.

Now get out of here and enjoy your lives in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.