Do Pharisees Exist in the Modern Church? Part 6

Brother Jim Manbeck: What have you built your foundation on?

Brother Jim Manbeck: We wrap up this series talking about the woes of the Pharisees.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Of self-righteousness, hypocrisy, what we can learn

Brother Jim Manbeck: from these Pharisees.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Again, men who knew the law knew

Brother Jim Manbeck: it perfect, but they didn't live

Brother Jim Manbeck: it.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They did not live it.

Brother Jim Manbeck: So I wonder, where was their true foundation built on, on

Brother Jim Manbeck: words or on Jesus?

Brother Jim Manbeck: On a quiet farm there once lived a mother hen with her small

Brother Jim Manbeck: brood of chicks.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They were tiny, soft and constantly chirping, always

Brother Jim Manbeck: staying close to her as she scratched the ground for food.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The farmer noticed something

Brother Jim Manbeck: about this hen She was unusually

Brother Jim Manbeck: attentive.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Every time the wind picked up or a shadow passed overhead, she

Brother Jim Manbeck: would cluck loudly and instantly her chicks would run to her.

Brother Jim Manbeck: She would spread her wings wide and they would disappear beneath

Brother Jim Manbeck: her feathers, safe and hidden.

Brother Jim Manbeck: One afternoon, dark clouds rolled in.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The wind grew strong and thunder rumbled in the distance.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The farmer hurried to secure the barn.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But before he could gather all the animals, a sudden fire broke

Brother Jim Manbeck: out near the field, sparked by lightning and the flames.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They spread quickly.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Later, after the fire was put out, the farmer walked through

Brother Jim Manbeck: the scorched ground, surveying the damage done to his farm.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And in the middle of the back field, the blackened field.

Brother Jim Manbeck: He found the body of the mother hen.

Brother Jim Manbeck: She was lifeless, her.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Further her feathers burned and still Mood.

Brother Jim Manbeck: With sadness, the farmer gently nudged her with his boot.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Suddenly.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Movement.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Movement, my friends.

Brother Jim Manbeck: From beneath her charred wings.

Brother Jim Manbeck: One by one, her chicks emerged.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Alive, protected and safe.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The mother had seen the danger coming.

Brother Jim Manbeck: She had gathered her babies

Brother Jim Manbeck: under her wings and stayed

Brother Jim Manbeck: there, shielding them from the

Brother Jim Manbeck: fire, absorbing the heat, the

Brother Jim Manbeck: flames.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And the cost herself.

Brother Jim Manbeck: She died so they could live.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And there is a connection here, my friends.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This is the picture Jesus gives us when he says.

Brother Jim Manbeck: How often I have longed to gather your children together as

Brother Jim Manbeck: a hen gathers her chicks made under her wings.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It's just not about comfort.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It's about sacrifice.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus does not just offer protection.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus became our protection.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Like that mother hen, Jesus stood in the path of judgement,

Brother Jim Manbeck: taking upon himself.

Brother Jim Manbeck: So we, you and I, sitting here today, could be saved.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And there's a simple takeaway from this.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You see, the question is not whether there is shelter.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The question is, will you?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Will I come under his wings?

Brother Jim Manbeck: The heart that longs for us.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I've got the scripture up here today.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Matthew twenty three thirty seven.

Brother Jim Manbeck: If you have your Bible Bibles,

Brother Jim Manbeck: please turn with me as we finish

Brother Jim Manbeck: this up.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Matthew twenty three.

Brother Jim Manbeck: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one

Brother Jim Manbeck: who kills the prophets and

Brother Jim Manbeck: stones, those who are sent to

Brother Jim Manbeck: her.

Brother Jim Manbeck: How often I wanted to gather your chicken, your children

Brother Jim Manbeck: together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But you were not willing.

Brother Jim Manbeck: My friends.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Rockford church.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Do you see?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Do you hear a cry from Jesus?

Brother Jim Manbeck: This passage is just.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It's just not a statement.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It's a passionate expression of grief, of sorrow.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And here's the ironic thing.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus is nearing the end of his earthly ministry.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus has taught.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus has healed.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus has warned and Jesus has loved the people of his time.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And now Jesus pauses to weep

Brother Jim Manbeck: over Jerusalem and notice the

Brother Jim Manbeck: repetition.

Brother Jim Manbeck: J am Jerusalem.

Brother Jim Manbeck: There is no anger.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It is heartbreak.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You ever been heartbroken before?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Church.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You ever have your heart broke?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Doesn't feel good, does it?

Brother Jim Manbeck: There's no joy that comes from a broken heart.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Is there?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Heartbreak can break you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Heartbreak can destroy you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And I would guess.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I would guess many of us sitting

Brother Jim Manbeck: here today have had our hearts

Brother Jim Manbeck: broken.

Brother Jim Manbeck: True.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And I gotta be honest with you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I don't want to go back to that.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Do you?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And sometimes it leaves a scar, does it not?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Yes it does.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus sees a city full of religion but empty of response.

Brother Jim Manbeck: A people who have heard the truth, seen miracles.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Think about the miracles these people have witnessed and yet

Brother Jim Manbeck: they do what they resisted him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Here again is some truth for you this morning.

Brother Jim Manbeck: God's heart is not cold towards those who reject him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It is deeply grieved.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Have you ever grieved before?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Again, it does not feel good, does it?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And let's be honest, grief can

Brother Jim Manbeck: suck the life out of you, can

Brother Jim Manbeck: it?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Grief can take the will to live out of you to where you're

Brother Jim Manbeck: searching for something just to get by on.

Brother Jim Manbeck: To get you through the day.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The heart feels lost.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The heart feels pain.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And think of that mother chicken

Brother Jim Manbeck: from our story just a few

Brother Jim Manbeck: moments ago.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Does that not create in your

Brother Jim Manbeck: mind an image of a loving

Brother Jim Manbeck: protector?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Think about that.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I couldn't help but think of Todd and Kate with their all

Brother Jim Manbeck: their chickens down there and anybody's ever had chickens.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The mother hen you go to rural

Brother Jim Manbeck: King TSC right now, I'm sure

Brother Jim Manbeck: they're flooded with baby

Brother Jim Manbeck: chicks.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They're cute, aren't they?

Brother Jim Manbeck: They're cute.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They're adorable.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And I look upon all the mothers out here today.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Would you not be that mother hen as well?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And father's too, to go out and

Brother Jim Manbeck: sacrifice yourself to protect

Brother Jim Manbeck: your peeps, your children, your

Brother Jim Manbeck: grandchildren.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus gives us one of the most

Brother Jim Manbeck: tender images in Scripture as a

Brother Jim Manbeck: hen gathers her chicks under her

Brother Jim Manbeck: wings.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Now please give me your

Brother Jim Manbeck: attention just for a few moments

Brother Jim Manbeck: here.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This is a picture of protection in danger, warmth in cold and

Brother Jim Manbeck: safety in vulnerability.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You ever been vulnerable before?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Who don't like it?

Brother Jim Manbeck: But it happens.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This thing right here that keeps us going.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The heart vulnerable.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Is it not an ancient world?

Brother Jim Manbeck: A hen would literally spread her

Brother Jim Manbeck: wings over her chicks to shield

Brother Jim Manbeck: them.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Just like now, even from fire or predators.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And this is how Jesus sees you and I, my friends.

Brother Jim Manbeck: How he sees the world not as problems to fix, but as children

Brother Jim Manbeck: to gather, just like in life.

Brother Jim Manbeck: We've all faced some sort of tragedy.

Brother Jim Manbeck: True.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Even Jesus observes, look straight at tragedy.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The tragedy of resistance.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The most sobering words in this passage are.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And you were not willing.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The issue is not God's unwillingness.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It is human resistance.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Our resistance.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Your resistance.

Brother Jim Manbeck: My resistance.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And all of this sinful world, both past, present and future.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But how many of us of you sitting here today are still

Brother Jim Manbeck: resistant to God?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And that covers the whole category here.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You can be a follower of Jesus

Brother Jim Manbeck: and still be resistant at times,

Brother Jim Manbeck: can't you?

Brother Jim Manbeck: That independence in us.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The flesh comes into play, does it not?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Resistance.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I'm going to ask something very sobering here.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Even though if we don't mean it, how many of us have taught

Brother Jim Manbeck: resistance to God through our words and actions to the little

Brother Jim Manbeck: ones of this world today?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Oh, think about that one.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It's a little bit of a bold statement, is it not?

Brother Jim Manbeck: What are you showing your kids, your grandkids, the little ones

Brother Jim Manbeck: that hang around you because you're a cool dude.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They like you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They come over to visit and we wonder why our world today.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Our children today are so messed up and lost.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Would it be not.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Remember that mere I brought out the beginning of this series?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Could that be us right there?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Maybe we're not as perfect as we think.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But have hope, my friends.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus ain't done yet.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Transforming you, is he a work in progress.

Brother Jim Manbeck: but we need to identify that in our own lives, do we not?

Brother Jim Manbeck: So we can have God fix us, to help us.

Brother Jim Manbeck: So we can emulate Jesus Christ, His Son.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Proverbs twenty two six train up a child in the way he should go,

Brother Jim Manbeck: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And I gotta tell you, I see a

Brother Jim Manbeck: ton of blessings in here with

Brother Jim Manbeck: these children being taught the

Brother Jim Manbeck: right way.

Brother Jim Manbeck: When you got little Richie, like I said earlier, stood up last

Brother Jim Manbeck: week, little Richie goes, ask somebody for prayer.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You got Zay standing up.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You got the children up here in the front row.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Yeah, I walked with Jesus brother Jim this week.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You see the kids?

Brother Jim Manbeck: They're hungry for Jesus.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Are they not?

Brother Jim Manbeck: What are we doing about that?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Do you and I really understand what God is saying, commanding

Brother Jim Manbeck: us to do for our children?

Brother Jim Manbeck: The future.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The future of this church, or how many of us just bitty bop

Brother Jim Manbeck: down the old trail of life with a complete blindfold on, leading

Brother Jim Manbeck: our children straight to hell?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Oh, that's a little harsh, isn't it, Jim?

Brother Jim Manbeck: But no, it's the truth.

Brother Jim Manbeck: At the end of the day, how many families are being led?

Brother Jim Manbeck: How many little ones are being

Brother Jim Manbeck: led to hell because of mom and

Brother Jim Manbeck: daddy?

Brother Jim Manbeck: You look at our churches today.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Where are the family units?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Where is dad?

Brother Jim Manbeck: There you go.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Let's start right there with dad.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Where is dad?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Where's Mama?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And God bless you for being here.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But isn't that at the end of the day, the true, real truth?

Brother Jim Manbeck: There's a heaven.

Brother Jim Manbeck: There's a hell.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Each one of us have a choice.

Brother Jim Manbeck: We. We know that.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But should we not be giving our

Brother Jim Manbeck: children everything we can do,

Brother Jim Manbeck: possibly do to give them all the

Brother Jim Manbeck: information that.

Brother Jim Manbeck: So they can make the right choice?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Come on.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This morning, church, we say we

Brother Jim Manbeck: love our children and

Brother Jim Manbeck: grandchildren.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I have no doubt you do, I do.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But are we truly acting like that mother hen when it comes to

Brother Jim Manbeck: guiding, leading, teaching and protecting our children?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jeremiah fifty, verse six.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Out of the English Standard

Brother Jim Manbeck: Version, my people have been

Brother Jim Manbeck: lost sheep.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the

Brother Jim Manbeck: mountains from mountain to hill.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They have gone.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They have forgotten their fold.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Who's in charge of your flock at home?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Allow me to ask that.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Are you not the shepherd in your own household?

Brother Jim Manbeck: If you're not, then who's claiming responsibility?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jerusalem's history was marked

Brother Jim Manbeck: by rejecting prophets, ignoring

Brother Jim Manbeck: warnings and clinging to

Brother Jim Manbeck: control.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And now even the Son of God

Brother Jim Manbeck: stands before them and they

Brother Jim Manbeck: still refuse.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Now, I want you to think about this for a minute.

Brother Jim Manbeck: What if Jesus just appeared right here today?

Brother Jim Manbeck: One that would be woo!

Brother Jim Manbeck: But would there be anybody in this congregation that still

Brother Jim Manbeck: refused to believe?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Still refuse to accept?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Or would you be down on your

Brother Jim Manbeck: knees weeping with a love so

Brother Jim Manbeck: great, so grand that never felt

Brother Jim Manbeck: it before.

Brother Jim Manbeck: These people had Jesus right there and they refused him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They rejected him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And we know what the rest of the story is.

Brother Jim Manbeck: They put him on a cross.

Brother Jim Manbeck: How many lost souls throughout mankind's history has refused

Brother Jim Manbeck: and rejected Jesus?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Now, I've heard this a long time ago, and I love it.

Brother Jim Manbeck: God's a gentleman.

Brother Jim Manbeck: God is a gentleman through his love.

Brother Jim Manbeck: He invites.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But he does not force it, does he?

Brother Jim Manbeck: He invites, but he does not force.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And here's some more truth this morning.

Brother Jim Manbeck: God's grace.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Yes, it can be resisted, can it not?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And my friends, just like in life, there are consequences.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Consequences of rejection.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus continues in verse thirty eight.

Brother Jim Manbeck: See, your house is left to you desolate.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This is both spiritual and prophetic.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Within a generation, Jerusalem would face destruction fulfilled

Brother Jim Manbeck: in seventy A.D. but more than that, it speaks of a deeper

Brother Jim Manbeck: emptiness life without the presence of God.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Now let me ask you something today.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Where would you be if you didn't have Jesus?

Brother Jim Manbeck: If you didn't have God in your life?

Brother Jim Manbeck: How many would probably be dead right now?

Brother Jim Manbeck: How many probably end up in jail.

Brother Jim Manbeck: How many be just basically in the gutter or, you know, maybe

Brother Jim Manbeck: you might be thriving.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You think you're thriving?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Oh, brother Jim, I got a new Mercedes out back.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Just got a boat.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Look at the house.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Look at this.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Look at that little Timmy.

Brother Jim Manbeck: He's got a draft prospect.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Maybe cost is three mortgages, but, hey, he's going to go.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But what about God?

Brother Jim Manbeck: What about God, my friends?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And I'm a stumbling, bumbling knucklehead.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Like I said Wednesday night.

Brother Jim Manbeck: A fool so many times.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But even I am smart enough to know the difference of having

Brother Jim Manbeck: God and not having God.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Thank you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Dave, do you know the difference between having God as your Jesus

Brother Jim Manbeck: Christ as your Savior?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Or are you just a stumbling, bumbling fool?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Bitty bopping down the trail thinking, thinking.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And that's where we get in trouble.

Brother Jim Manbeck: That's what my wife tells me.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You think that we got it all right.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Empty religion, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, hollow

Brother Jim Manbeck: rituals, lost purpose.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Does that describe your house?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Right here?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Does that describe my house?

Brother Jim Manbeck: The church, our church and the list can go on and on.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But let me come back to that.

Brother Jim Manbeck: What about our house?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Right here?

Brother Jim Manbeck: This place of worship.

Brother Jim Manbeck: What about rocks for church?

Brother Jim Manbeck: What about you?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Your mind, your body, your temple, your soul.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Does it have God in it?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Is God your master?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Romans eight nine.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit.

Brother Jim Manbeck: If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Oh, if the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Oh, here we go.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Anyone who does not have the

Brother Jim Manbeck: Spirit of Christ does not belong

Brother Jim Manbeck: to him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And I hate to tell you, your app ain't going to get you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You can download as many apps as you want.

Brother Jim Manbeck: True, you can be as good as good can be.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It ain't going to matter.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This past month, we've talked about all the woes that these

Brother Jim Manbeck: Pharisees, these religious leaders, these religious men who

Brother Jim Manbeck: were all the fancy clothes, who walked around like a big old

Brother Jim Manbeck: rooster strutting his stuff.

Brother Jim Manbeck: True.

Brother Jim Manbeck: We've learned.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I hope you've learned about that.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Full of hypocrisy, full of self pride.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And again, as I said, they knew the law.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But they sure didn't love it, did they?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And think about the damage that they did back then.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Think about the damage we do now when we're so full of ourselves.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Judgement had on criticizing everybody else, but we don't

Brother Jim Manbeck: have the gall to look in the mirror to take an honest, hard

Brother Jim Manbeck: look at ourselves.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Think of the damage you're doing.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And it starts right here with me.

Brother Jim Manbeck: My friends.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus was harsh in his words, and as we've discussed many

Brother Jim Manbeck: times, he was giving a warning for all, and that includes

Brother Jim Manbeck: warning for you and I. A warning for you and I this morning.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Let me ask you something.

Brother Jim Manbeck: If you're at the beach, love the beach.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And if the lifeguards up there

Brother Jim Manbeck: are blowing the whistle because

Brother Jim Manbeck: the sharks are going through,

Brother Jim Manbeck: are you going to run out and

Brother Jim Manbeck: join them?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Anybody here brave enough to do that?

Brother Jim Manbeck: No. You're not going to run out

Brother Jim Manbeck: there giving you a warning, are

Brother Jim Manbeck: they not?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Danger?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus is doing the same thing.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But how many run out into the waves?

Brother Jim Manbeck: You might as well put bacon

Brother Jim Manbeck: grease on yourself and see what

Brother Jim Manbeck: happens.

Brother Jim Manbeck: A warning for you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: A warning for myself this morning.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Rejection.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Rejecting God does not lead to freedom.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It leads to emptiness.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And eventually it leads to hell.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And here's the great and awesome thing about our Jesus.

Brother Jim Manbeck: He offers hope through it all.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Through it all there is hope, my friends.

Brother Jim Manbeck: In Matthew twenty three thirty nine for I say to you, you shall

Brother Jim Manbeck: see me no more, till you say, blessed is he who comes in the

Brother Jim Manbeck: name of the Lord.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This very.

Brother Jim Manbeck: This verse points forward, not

Brother Jim Manbeck: back or stuck here in the

Brother Jim Manbeck: middle.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Hope points to repentance, to recognition, to restoration.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus Christ leaves the door open for all of us.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Here's the thing.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Who are willing.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Even after rejection, rejection, rejection, Jesus invites return.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I myself, you know how many times I've returned?

Brother Jim Manbeck: To Jesus.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And I am so thankful he hasn't shut the door on me.

Brother Jim Manbeck: My friends, my brothers and

Brother Jim Manbeck: sisters, it is never, never,

Brother Jim Manbeck: never too late to turn back to

Brother Jim Manbeck: God.

Brother Jim Manbeck: As you and I finish up this

Brother Jim Manbeck: series in Matthew twenty three,

Brother Jim Manbeck: but verse thirty seven, this

Brother Jim Manbeck: passage, it's not just about

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jerusalem.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It's about you and I. Our

Brother Jim Manbeck: question for you this morning

Brother Jim Manbeck: how often, how often has God

Brother Jim Manbeck: called you in your very own

Brother Jim Manbeck: life?

Brother Jim Manbeck: And you?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Me, we have delayed.

Brother Jim Manbeck: We have ignored or Are created this make believe world in our

Brother Jim Manbeck: minds that we.

Brother Jim Manbeck: That we have it all going on in our life, our spiritual journey.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And there's the big.

Brother Jim Manbeck: But in reality, we are so far

Brother Jim Manbeck: from the truth, so far from the

Brother Jim Manbeck: truth.

Brother Jim Manbeck: How often?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Let me ask you this as we finish

Brother Jim Manbeck: up, how often has Jesus offered

Brother Jim Manbeck: shelter and we chose

Brother Jim Manbeck: independence?

Brother Jim Manbeck: How often have we known truth yet resisted surrender?

Brother Jim Manbeck: Go back to that mother hen.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Imagine a storm approaching.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The mother hen spreads her

Brother Jim Manbeck: wings, calling her chicks to

Brother Jim Manbeck: come.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Some run underneath.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Others hesitate.

Brother Jim Manbeck: wandering, unaware of the danger.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The storm, my friends, is not the tragedy.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The tragedy is refusing the shelter that has been provided,

Brother Jim Manbeck: that has been offered.

Brother Jim Manbeck: My friends, do not be a fool or a Pharisee in this life.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Ask Jesus to take the pain, the

Brother Jim Manbeck: anger, the bitterness, the

Brother Jim Manbeck: hypocrisy, the moments of

Brother Jim Manbeck: self-righteousness.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Turn them.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Give them over to him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Give them to him now.

Brother Jim Manbeck: We all have a brain, right?

Brother Jim Manbeck: I hope God gave us the ability to think for ourselves.

Brother Jim Manbeck: True.

Brother Jim Manbeck: God also gives us the ability to choose.

Brother Jim Manbeck: So why not be like those little chicks and run, one for the

Brother Jim Manbeck: protection, for the safety.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Instead of wandering around out in the storm, wandering around

Brother Jim Manbeck: out in the danger.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The danger of sin.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The danger of eternal hell.

Brother Jim Manbeck: It's there, it's there.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And if you do nothing else, I pray you go home this week and

Brother Jim Manbeck: you tell your children about it.

Brother Jim Manbeck: You tell your grandchildren, I

Brother Jim Manbeck: don't care if they're thirty

Brother Jim Manbeck: years old.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Tell them these big old wings of Jesus are there to protect you,

Brother Jim Manbeck: not harm you.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Ask Jesus again to take that pain, that bitterness.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Turn them over to him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Give them to him.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus is still calling today.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Come to me not with

Brother Jim Manbeck: condemnation, but with

Brother Jim Manbeck: compassion.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Not with force, but with open arms.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Finally, in Matthew eleven twenty eight to thirty, come to

Brother Jim Manbeck: me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and

Brother Jim Manbeck: lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Brother Jim Manbeck: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Brother Jim Manbeck: So let the knocking fade into the past.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I choose the weight of standing on my own.

Brother Jim Manbeck: If love was there.

Brother Jim Manbeck: I let it pass me by.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And call this empty.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Freedom Still my own.

Brother Jim Manbeck: A person who chooses not to run to the father for protection.

Brother Jim Manbeck: A person who refuses God's love.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Who refuses God's own son.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus sacrifice.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Jesus Christ, the sacrifice.

Brother Jim Manbeck: So, my friends, will you be the one who chooses to be the one

Brother Jim Manbeck: who stands alone.

Brother Jim Manbeck: To let love his love pass you by?

Brother Jim Manbeck: As that song we played earlier.

Brother Jim Manbeck: The truth I pray you don't belong to the lies that you are

Brother Jim Manbeck: holding to the truth.

Brother Jim Manbeck: And that truth is Jesus and Jesus alone.

Brother Jim Manbeck: Amen.