The Fruit of the Spirit Week 9 • Matthew 21 & 23

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Hey, well, good morning, Willow Ridge Church.

Awesome.

If you've got your Bibles with you this morning, I hope you do.

We're going to open them up to Matthew 21, and then we'll jump over to Matthew 23 this

morning as we continue in our series on the fruit of the Spirit.

Well, it is good to be back with you guys this morning.

I missed last Sunday.

I had the privilege and opportunity to be with our high school team who left out last week

to go serve with Hope Valley Church in West Jordan, Utah, and it was a wonderful, wonderful

experience.

West Jordan is one of the cities that make up the region of the valley in Salt Lake,

the Salt Lake Valley.

I did not realize, relatively speaking, how small Salt Lake City itself is and all of the

cities around it that go in to make up the valley area where we were, but we had a wonderful,

wonderful week of ministry that was there.

I do want to share a little bit about some of the things that we did and some of the people

that we met, and so you can continue to pray for the work that's being done there.

We as a church partnered with Hope Valley Church with Dustin and Sarah Stockman.

Two years ago, they left their home church in Oklahoma as God called them to plant a church

in Salt Lake City area in the valley that's there.

Now, a lot of people think in the United States, they think reached people groups, right?

We talk about unreached people groups, and that's supposed to be places like Syria and Afghanistan,

but yet one of the most unreached places in the world is Salt Lake City.

In fact, percentage-wise, there's more believers in Iran and Afghanistan than there are in Salt

Lake City, and so that gives you some perspective of the lostness that was there.

So we as a church have been partnering with them.

This is our second trip that we've gone out there to work with Dustin and Sarah, and we

also provide for them, for their church, through the tithes and offerings that you give.

We budget for them each week.

Now, the types of people that are in Utah, when we look at different people groups that

are there and the ones that we have the opportunity to minister to, would largely fall into one

of two classifications.

Now, evangelical Christians make up less than 2% of the population.

So roughly about 96% of the rest of the population of the Salt Lake City Valley area would fall

into one of two classifications.

The first being Mormons, Latter-day Saints, right, who are an unreached people group and

who were there.

And then another group of people who would just consider themselves non-religious, meaning

they would say they do not have beliefs about God, but yet they do have a very core belief

about God, whether it is an atheistic belief or an agnostic belief.

And so as our high schoolers went out to minister, right, these were the groups that they were

largely ministering to.

And so the work that we did was to help engage them with the gospel or at a base level, engage

them with Christians and engage them with Hope Valley Church so that maybe the Lord will begin

to do a work in their heart and draw people to himself and use the ministry of Hope Valley

Church in order to do that.

So we started off the week, we walked around several neighborhoods just simply handing out

a card, inviting families and individuals to either the VBS that we were going to be doing

at Antelope Elementary that was right across from the neighborhoods, which was named appropriately

as there was always antelopes in the field right beside it, which was pretty cool for us from

South Carolina, right, to be able to see that, or to invite them to Hope Valley Church.

And so we started off the week with doing that.

And then as the week got going in the morning, we would do park ministry, which meant our group

was wired perfectly for this.

We would go out into the parks, form relationships by doing crafts or playing games.

So there was a lot of kickball, there was a lot of red light, green light, a lot of games

that we could do with the kids, and about 30,000 bracelets were made by our craft team out there

doing that.

And in that, we'd begin to have conversations.

And I want to share one of the conversations.

I didn't have a privilege to have an opportunity to talk to this family, but some of our students

did.

So what would happen is we'd get to the park and we'd scatter these teenagers all over

the park, and we would tell them, like, don't go up to the kids, go up to the parents,

right?

We want to give the parents the opportunity.

We don't want to be the creepos that go in, like, just for their kids, right?

So we go and we talk with the parents, and one of our students, I believe it was Micah

Hood, walked up to this lady who was there, and he said, hey, we're with Hope Valley.

I'm going to hand him a card.

We're at Hope Valley Church.

We're doing this park ministry this morning.

We've got some crafts and some games going on.

We would just love the opportunity if you wanted to come over and your kids want to come

over and just be a part of this.

And her response was not a response that we're typically used to.

She said no, which we were used to know.

There was a lot of people who weren't comfortable with that.

We want to be respectful of that.

And so she said no.

And she said, I'm so against any form of religion because I believe that all religions are destructive

at their core.

So for me to allow my kids to come over there and be a part of that would be something that

I feel like would be detrimental to them, and I disagree with what you're doing.

So he said, well, thank you.

And went back.

We're there for a couple hours.

More and more and more coming up and coming up and coming up.

And finally, toward the end of it, what we noticed as I looked over and saw were her two

kids sitting down making a bracelet, and she was over engaged in a conversation with the

pastor of the church.

Now, whether they woke up this morning and decided to go to church or not, we don't know.

But we had a moment where over the course of an hour, a lady looked, observed, and saw what

was happening and taking place, and her heart was at least softened to the point to where she decided

to let her kids go and have the opportunity to engage with Christians and to see what it was

about.

So that was one of the cool stories.

And then we had our VBS.

Now, in the South, right, we're used to VBSs with hundreds of people in full-blown productions.

Well, that's not the case in Utah.

In fact, most of the people that we talked to, we would say VBS.

And people around here know VBS, and they know the abbreviations, they know what.

In fact, a lot of people, like, they plan their summer calendar, right?

Like, this week, this church gets my kids, this church gets my kids, this church gets

my kids, so they can work their way through the VBS circuit around the greater Lexington

area, right?

But that's not the case there.

And so we'd have to explain what VBS was.

And so our VBS was small.

We started out with 12 kids on the first night, and then we fluctuated somewhere between

six and eight different kids throughout the course of the week.

Now, a couple of the dynamics of that.

One of the kids who came was the, were two of the kids, were the pastors of Hope Valley

Church.

Their daughters came.

And I want to kind of get you guys in just a mindset of the world in which they live in

is not the world in which we live in.

Their oldest daughter was a little girl named Ellie.

And Ellie was going into the sixth grade, I believe.

And I want you to know, they've been living there for two years.

Coming from Oklahoma, that's a lot like South Carolina, where whether you're saved or

not, there's a lot of people that just go to church.

It's a very church culture.

And they go from a church, evangelical church culture into Salt Lake City area that is not

an evangelical church area.

And for two years, every time her church does something, every time her family does something,

Ellie invites her friends to come and be a part of it.

We talked about a lot of this with our students while we were there.

Because for two years, no one has shown up.

I said, imagine that, kids, to our students.

Imagine for two years, the kids who invite you to their birthday parties, the kids who invite

you over to their homes, the kids that invite you into their activities, right?

You're going to theirs.

You're building relationships for them.

And this time for comfort for you.

And nothing.

Nothing.

And then on the first night, Ellie got so excited and her parents got so excited because her best

friend at school, who's a Mormon family, right, came walking through the doors.

And then the mom, who had been standoffish for years, stayed the entire time and sat down

with the pastor's wife, with Ellie's mom, and talked the entire time about just life and

having the opportunity to do that.

And so it's just a wonderful blessing to be able to see the men to build and form those

relationships and have that.

Then we got nervous because they didn't come back for night two and night three.

We're like, uh, they didn't dig it, right?

And then night four, they came back and had that opportunity.

But I want to introduce you to, uh, we got some pictures of, of two of the other people

that were there and I don't know what order we're going to have them in.

And so, all right, so, uh, this right here to, to the, to my left right there eating her

bag of Cheetos is Delilah.

All right.

And, and go ahead and jump to the next picture.

Right.

And this fella in the middle, this is Daniel.

All right.

So we got Delilah and, and Daniel, uh, one of the cute things, they're friends.

Um, and, and on the first night where they were both there together, we, we did a lot

like we did here where we moved to our stations.

And Delilah looked at Daniel and said, we have to go to a different area now.

Would you like to hold my hand?

Um, and he said, yeah.

And they, they moved to theirs.

But, uh, here's the cool thing.

So Delilah and Daniel got invited, uh, because they were one of the homes or Delilah's home

was one of the homes where we dropped off one of the invitations.

And so we didn't get to speak with them.

We just, we just, we just went and set it on there.

And night number one, Delilah and her mom shows up and her mom drops them, drops Delilah

off.

Uh, they are a non, uh, churched family.

And then night number two, Delilah shows up and she had brought her friend Daniel with

her.

And so they were there all week.

A family that has no concept of, of Christianity, that has no concept of, of, of, of who Christ

is, uh, they, they are a lost family.

And so by the end of the week, I was overheard a conversation that Dustin and Sarah were having

about talking about how cool that it was and what had happened over the course of the week

of us doing ministry and partnering with them there is both of them had been reached out

to by their families, wanting to know more about their church for an opportunity for them

to come and worship with them where they can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so just thought about the, just the different dynamics of, of what the Lord is doing and

want to just really to affirm within our students and affirm within, within you guys of being

a church that, that thinks enough about the gospel that sins where all we're doing is,

is, is planting seeds in God's water and in God's harvesting and God's using places like

Hope Valley church and Willow Ridge church who are on the other sides of the country to join

together so that people have an opportunity to see, hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Right?

Just a wonderful, wonderful privilege and a wonderful, wonderful opportunity.

It was really interesting.

I was talking with, with my kids about it yesterday, just kind of working through some more about what

this all means.

And Grayson said something that I think was, was really interesting.

Uh, he and I were talking and his experiences and mission trips before.

And he said, dad, you know, he said, this mission trip was, was just really cool because it was

different.

And I said, how is it different?

He says, you know, sometimes we go and we do these mission trips and when we're done,

we can see the work that's finished.

You know, if we go to build something, we go to, to, to finish, to complete.

And at the end of that week, right, you, you see what was built, you see what was done.

He said, but this one, we, we don't get to see right now the end work.

We don't get to see the end result.

And so I just want to encourage you.

It just really struck me because I feel like a lot of you right now, where you may be seated

at as you've got an unreached, uh, you've got a lost person at work in your neighborhood

or maybe in your home and you're not seeing the fruit that you want to see.

And it was just the reminder for me that's like, no one came up to us at any point in time

during the week that we were there or at VBS and said, I want Jesus Christ to be my savior.

No one, but they heard the gospel.

They formed relationships with believers and we just were faithful and we're just going

to trust that God's doing the work that he's doing, right?

Amen.

So thank you guys for your faithfulness for this.

Uh, it's continuing on.

Uh, we've got 47, uh, mostly middle schoolers.

So pray for the adults, right?

That I'm going to be leaving and go up to Black Mountain Children's Home today where they

will continue in, in helping them with the work that they're doing as they help to reach,

uh, these kids that are in this foster care system up there.

And so we're just, uh, praying for them as well as they go.

But I don't want to jump into the message and I'm going to talk real fast this morning.

Um, but I don't want to jump into the message this morning without thanking Ty Lockridge,

uh, for stepping up last week and for being faithful to God's word and continuing on.

Um, been so busy, brother.

I haven't had time to listen to it yet, but I will tell you this, a group of our ladies

while we were in Utah, they got on the back porch of our house that morning.

And while I was trying to wake up with my cup of coffee, they were engaged and loved every

single minute of it.

So Ty, thank you for being faithful.

We thank you for the Lord sending you, uh, to us to be able to step in in times like that.

So thank you so much.

Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer.

And then we're going to jump in to our message this morning.

Lord, we thank you so much for this opportunity to gather here today.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

Lord, we thank you for your spirit.

Lord, I pray that as we study this morning, Lord, our hearts will be drawn to you or that

we will be convicted of the sin that's in our life.

Lord, for those who do not know you, that maybe today will be the day of relationship with you.

Maybe today will be the day of their salvation.

Lord, we pray for the families of Delilah and Daniel.

Lord, we pray that this morning as they decide what they are going to do with their day, Lord,

that they find themselves, Lord, at Hope Valley Church.

Lord, we know that they will hear the gospel.

Lord, we pray that they will respond.

Lord, we pray for all the church planners and missionaries and pastors who are all over

the Salt Lake City Valley.

Lord, may they be encouraged and blessed.

And Lord, may they continue to remain faithful in some of the most difficult areas to do that.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So as we've been doing, we're going to start off with looking at Galatians 5, 22 through 23,

where Paul gives us the fruit of the Spirit.

He writes and he says,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

So what we've been looking at for a couple months now is each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit.

And recognizing that Paul says that we are believers, that we are to have this.

This is to be a part of our life as the Spirit of the Lord has filled us in which we live our lives.

And so this morning what we're going to look at is gentleness.

Now, when we think of gentleness, I want us to understand one of the commentaries that I wrote said this.

It says,

This gentleness is probably the most difficult word of all the fruit of the Spirit to clearly define.

Because we come with gentleness, we come with these preconceived notions about what this means.

And in a lot of cases in our world, just like it was during the time of Christ and during the time of Paul,

gentleness can be seen as a weakness.

Maybe there's times to be gentle, but there's times to not be gentle.

But we're seeing from here that this would be the fruit of who we are.

And that we are to always be gentle.

And that's going to be difficult sometimes.

So what I want us to understand is that when we think of gentleness,

and we're going to look at this where Christ says this,

that gentleness is meekness, not weakness.

It's to embrace the concept of being meek,

and it does not mean that we are weak at all.

A definition of the word that is used in Greek for the word gentle means

not being overly impressed by a sense of one's self-importance.

So what we gain from this as we look at what it understands to be gentle,

to embrace the quality of gentleness in our life,

we see directly there's a sense of humility.

Knowing who we are in light of the gospel.

There's nothing about you or me in and of ourselves that is impressive.

If anything is, it's us understanding that it's Christ.

And it's him in us with this.

And so when we think about gentleness,

I want us to kind of think about it in twofold.

In our relationship with the Lord, in our relationship with others.

And so gentleness for us as we work through this,

we're going to think of humility, thankfulness, and obedience toward God.

That when we look at gentleness in the life of a believer,

what that means is there's an attitude,

there's a posturing of humility, of thankfulness, and obedience toward God.

That is who we are in understanding in our relationship with him.

That I'm humble before him, I am thankful to him, and I'm obedient to him.

And that's how we live our lives.

But then also with the gentleness when it comes to others is this polite and restrained behavior toward others,

which brings a freedom from malice and freedom from a vengeful spirit.

And what we're going to look at this morning in Matthew 21 and in Matthew 23

is how Jesus fully lives out this gentleness in who he is.

Even in areas where we see on the surface, we're like,

I don't know that Jesus was very gentle there.

But he was.

He was.

Jesus sets this early on in his ministry in Matthew 5, 5,

as he does a sermon on the mountain.

He says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

And so what Jesus says is,

you are blessed if you are gentle or if you are meek,

and it comes with a promise.

Inheritance into the messianic kingdom.

So there's this promise that very early on,

as Jesus looks out to a crowd that is suffering,

that feels oppressed,

that feels they have no power,

and he says, blessed are the meek.

Blessed are the gentle.

All that you see around will be destroyed.

All that you see around will fall.

It will fail.

But blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth.

So look at Matthew 21.

Matthew 21 through Matthew 20,

really all of it,

but this morning we're going to see

that the gentleness of Jesus,

the gentleness of Jesus,

the Jesus who draws the kids to him.

That's one of the stories that we looked at

in one of our times this past week,

was the disciples are saying,

no, no, no, keep the kids away,

keep the kids away,

keep the kids away.

And Jesus is like, no, no, no,

let them come to me,

unless you come to me like a child, right?

Faith like a child.

There's this picture of gentleness.

And this is what we see.

I'm going to read verses one through 11.

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem

and came to Bethpage,

to the Mount of Olives,

then Jesus sent two disciples,

saying to them,

go into the village in front of you,

and immediately you will find a donkey

tied in a colt with her.

Untie them and bring them to me.

If anyone says anything to you,

you shall say,

the Lord needs them,

and he will send them at once.

And this took place to fulfill

what was spoken by the prophet,

saying,

say to the daughter of Zion,

behold, your king is coming to you,

humble,

and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt,

the foal of a beast of burden.

The disciples went and did

just as Jesus had directed them.

They brought the donkey and the colt

and put them on their cloaks,

and he sat on them.

And most of the crowd

spread their cloaks on the road,

and others cut branches from trees

and spread them on the road,

and the crowds that went

before him and that followed him

were shouting,

Hosanna to the son of David.

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

And when he entered Jerusalem,

the whole city was stirred up,

saying,

who is this?

And the crowd said,

this is the prophet Jesus

from Nazareth of Galilee.

And so as we look at

these first 11 verses,

what we see right here

is we get this picture

of the gentle Messiah.

We get this picture of Jesus.

And Matthew 21 begins

what we know

as Jesus' triumphal entry, right?

It's his journey to the cross

is speeding up in this moment.

And in Matthew 21,

Jesus takes a pretty strong shift

in his ministry model

of what we see.

Up until this moment, right,

Jesus isn't necessarily

overly drawing attention to himself.

Most of his ministry

is taking place

out in the countryside.

Like Jesus did not have

a very urban ministry

in the cities.

Jesus was mostly

out in the suburbs,

out in the country,

out on the outsides

of the cities.

And oftentimes,

you can even see this, right?

When Jesus does something,

Jesus heals,

Jesus does these things.

Oftentimes,

not always,

but a lot of times,

Jesus is like,

hey, don't tell anyone

about this, right?

Like, keep this quiet.

But what we see here

in this moment

is Jesus has been avoiding,

but now Jesus is entering

into this city

that at this time

would have had

about two million people

of both residents

and visitors

for the Passover

to come in,

about two million people.

And Jesus is proclaiming,

this is who I am.

I've come here

not to fulfill

some earthly expectations

of a king,

but I've come here

as your gentle Messiah

to fulfill the prophecy

of Zechariah as king.

And as he comes in,

and we see this,

even for those

as close to Jesus

as the disciples,

there was all

of these expectations

about who he would be

for them

in an earthly rule.

But Jesus says,

no, no,

this is going to be

differently.

As Jesus comes into,

as he's being led into,

Jesus isn't being led in

by an army

who will invade

and take over,

but he's led

by a few disciples,

scraggly castoffs

from everyone else

that escort him in.

He came in

not on a parade

of chariots

and royal horses,

but yet on the back

of a donkey

as he journeys in.

Jesus came

not greeted

by dignitaries

and politicians,

but by the common people

of the town.

Jesus came

not for their approval,

but they were shouting,

Hosanna,

Hosanna,

Hosanna,

but yet just a few days later

would shout,

crucify,

crucify,

crucify.

Jesus came

for his throne

not by taking life,

but yet by offering

his lives

for those

who were guilty.

Jesus came

in gentleness,

in humility,

in thankfulness,

in obedience

to the Father.

Jesus came

in humility

of the thoughts

and the actions

and what he would do

for others.

This is the gentle Messiah

that we see.

Now as we read through

and we're going to look

at some of these,

in fact just one verse later

in verse 12 here

in just a moment

we'll start this

and you're going to say

but Bo,

that doesn't look like

Jesus being very gentle.

And you're right

if we define gentleness

the way that we see it.

But even in the acts

of what Jesus

is going to do

we see humility,

thankfulness,

and obedience

toward the Father

and polite

and restrained

in thinking of others

in his behavior.

We get verse 12 and 13

in Matthew 21.

Jesus entered the temple

and drove out

all who sold

and bought

in the temple.

And he overturned

the tables

of the money changers

and the seats

of those

who sold pigeons.

He said to them

it is written

my house

shall be called

a house of prayer

but you make it

a den of robbers.

And what we see here

is the obedient servant.

The obedient servant.

Now

there's been a lot

of speculation

about what Jesus

looks like.

Right?

From the color

of his skin

to the color

of his hair.

And I'll be honest

with you

I don't know.

I don't know

in those physical

contexts

what Jesus

exactly looked like.

But I believe

Jesus in his

physical presence

was a large enough

man that when he

walked in the room

you took notice.

Why do I believe that?

Because of this.

Now

think about this.

Go to the mall

today

and go start

turning over tables.

Go try to chase

everybody out.

There's some big

people in here.

I don't know

if that one

we could do that.

But Jesus did.

Jesus

in his

physical presence

was dominating

enough

that he came

in

and people

fled

when he

showed

what he was

going to do.

but being the

obedient servant.

He's the area

of the temple

that Jesus

entered

was the area

of the temple

where people

would purchase

what they needed

in order

to offer

their sacrifice

to God

which was required

that they bring

their sacrifice.

But the manner

in which it

happened

was not.

What had

happened was

the place

that should have

been for worship

and prayer

was turned

into a place

of business

and a lot

of people

believe

a place

of deep

corruption

and a place

where some

of those

who weren't

from this

part

who weren't

from Jerusalem

were being

taken advantage

of

even they

were required

to be

in Jerusalem

for Passover.

Matthew's account

says that

Jesus claims

this is a house

of prayer

but Mark

says that

this was a

house of prayer

for all

nations

which leads

us to believe

that there were

people also

being excluded.

And as

Jesus came

in to

establish

here's the

point

the temple

had become

more about

Jewish

nationalism

and business

than it had

about worship

and prayer

here.

And Jesus

says this

is unacceptable

unacceptable.

And what

our culture

would say

is him

not being

gentle

I would

argue

as Jesus

is being

very gentle

as he

tosses over

the tables

and as he

runs them

out of the

temple courtyard

that's there

because he

did it

in humility

and thankfulness

and obedience

to the

Lord.

And he

did it

in polite

stick with me

restrained

behavior

toward others.

He could

have condemned

them

and instead

just like he

took mine

and just like

he took yours

he took their

sins

and he

took him

to the

cross.

In that

moment.

So what we

see here

is the

obedient

servant

of Christ.

Now jump

over to

chapter 23.

During the

rest of

21 and

22

Jesus does

some

wonderful

teaching

and then

in 23

we're going

to see

another

moment

of conflict.

Let's

look at

the first

three

verses.

It says

then Jesus

said to

the crowds

and to

his

disciples

the

scribes

and the

Pharisees

sit on

Moses'

seat

so do

and observe

whatever they

tell you

but not

the works

they do

for they

preach

but they

do not

practice.

Now

this

few words

of Jesus

and he

continues

on

with

describing

what this

looks like

in their

life

but what

Jesus is

doing here

in this

moment

we

understand

as the

gentle

messiah

he is

also

the

confronter

of sin.

Jesus

is addressing

the religious

elite

those who

think

they've

got it

all

figured

out

and what

he's

bringing

before

them

is the

acknowledgement

of the

depth

of their

depravity

and the

sin

in which

they

live.

You see

being

gentle

does not

mean

that you

don't deal

with sin

your sin

and the

sin of

others

the exact

opposite

being

gentle

means

you deal

with it

and look

at what

Jesus

does

here

scripture

tells us

that Jesus

gives the

seven woes

to the

scribes

and the

Pharisees

now the

woe here

means that

Jesus

is pronouncing

judgment

this is a

heavy word

this is a

word that

would be

used in

a judicial

court to

pronounce a

guilty judgment

on them

and Jesus

looks at

them and

seven different

times he

says woe

to them

you are

guilty

a group of

individuals who

feel like they

are not guilty

of anything at

all

a group of

people who

feel like in

and of

themselves

they are

achieving and

have achieved

perfection that

God requires

from them

Jesus brings

some harsh

words to

them in

verse 13

he calls

them hypocrites

and goes on

to tell them

that through

their teachings

and through

their actions

and what

they do

not only do

they condemn

themselves but

they condemn

others to

hell as well

in verse 15

he refers to

them as

hypocrites

and children

of hell

in verse 16

Jesus says

that they are

fools

in verse 23

he says

not only

are they

in rebellion

of this

but they

neglect

justice

in verse 25

he refers

to them

as greedy

in verse 27

he says

that they

are whitewashed

tombs

spiritually dead

in verse 29

he refers to

them as

murderers

murderers

Jesus

does not

hold

back

Jesus

is the

confronter

of the

sin

so how

is this

gentle

how is

this

continued

evidence

of the

gentleness

of Christ

because of

their air

that still

fills their

lungs

and their

moment

and opportunity

to understand

Jesus

as the

Messiah

and repent

and in

verse 37

we look

back

at the

end of

chapter 23

he looks

over

all of

Jerusalem

and the

scripture tells

us that he

laments

over

Jerusalem

and Jesus

grieves

verse 37

through 39

oh

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

the city

that kills

the prophets

and stones

those who

are sent

to it

how often

would I

have gathered

your children

together

as a

hen

gathers

her brood

under her

wings

and you

are not

willing

see your

house

is left

to you

desolate

for I

tell you

you will

not see

me again

until you

say

blessed

is he

who

comes

in the

name

of the

Lord

and so

Jesus

in the

journey

that he

knows

will lead

him to

the cross

looks

over

the city

and he

grieves

one

one

of the

things

that we

had the

opportunity

to do

while we

were on

our trip

was go

up to

some tops

of some

mountains

and I

want to be

honest with you

it was one

of the most

beautiful in both

of the settings

one of the most

beautiful pictures

that I'd ever had

the privilege and the

opportunity to see

in person with my own

eyes

one of the places

we went

I believe the name

of it was

was Ensign

Mount

it was the

the top of the

mountain that it is

believed that when

the Mormon

pioneers

came to Salt

Lake area

right

because it was not

anything at that

point it was all

wilderness and desert

that they came over

this mount

they were able to

look out

and see down

into this valley

and it was

decided that this

is where

Mormonism's home

would be

and that this is

where they would

settle and they

did

and as we

hike to the

top of this

point

the first thing

that came through

my mind is

boy I'm out of

shape right

still feeling it

right through here

right

but then the

second thing

when you look

past the beauty

was the depth

of the lostness

and the men

and the women

and the children

who were there

without

the hope

of Christ

and so Jesus

goes over

and he laments

over Jerusalem

he laments

because

the opportunity

for salvation

that have passed

those who have

rejected

the people

that have

rejected

God's

messengers

the people

who have

rejected him

and the

consequence

for that

you see

Jesus

in all

of this

what we're

continuing

to see

is the

beautiful

picture

of his

gentleness

this week

what I learned

about myself

as we walked

around

and as we

looked

is sometimes

even in my

heart

there's a

propensity

for me to

get a little

happy

when someone

gets what they

deserve

when someone

gets what they

deserve

well

that's you

you got it

they had

rejected him

they had

mocked him

they would

beat him

they would

crucify him

and Jesus

his response

was to

grieve

not for

himself

but for them

so what does

it mean

as we wrap

up

what does

it mean

to be

gentle

like Jesus

because it's

not just

enough for us

to point

to a

gentle

savior

Paul

calls us

Jesus

calls us

to be

gentle

to be

meek

so in light

of these

two chapters

what does

that look

like

for us

I got

away from

the house

this week

for a few

hours

to get

some quiet

and I'll

be honest

a cup

of Starbucks

coffee

alright

as we studied

through this

and reading

over it

God laid

these three

things

and we'll

close with

these on

my heart

we'll close

with these

he laid

these on

my heart

number one

it means

taking up

your cross

taking up

your cross

and Jesus

journey to

the cross

did not

begin on

the road

to Jerusalem

it began

in a manger

in Bethlehem

from his

birth

this is

his journey

he would

go

and from

our birth

our new

life

in Christ

our rebirth

that we are

given by him

comes with

very clean

expectations

from the

Lord

daily

daily

take up

our cross

and follow

him

and that

means is

what we see

of Jesus

in obedience

to the

father

is the

level

of obedience

for us

that I lay

down my

rights

I lay

down my

privileges

I lay

down my

preferences

I lay

down my

disagreements

I lay

down my

actions

I lay

down your

actions

I lay

all these

down

and I

take up

my cross

not to

follow my

agenda

my goals

my will

but to

follow his

and it's

what we see

in the life

of Christ

of everything

that the

father had

laid out

for him

the son

took on

and walked

with

and then

Jesus

in our

salvation

he gives

us his

spirit

the holy

spirit

in trinity

the godhead

that lives

in us

that we

would follow

after him

that we

would take

up our

cross

that we

would be

willing to

suffer

that we

would be

willing to

lay aside

that in the

moment of

gentleness

is found in

servanthood to

the king

and we would

take up

after him

so gentleness

begins by

taking up your

cross

and then the

second

taking up your

cross before you

turn over a

table

some of us

man we

love to

turn over

tables

table

table

table

table

but I

want to

ask you

this

sometimes

man there's

some tables

we need to

turn over

in fact the

sin that most

of us probably

suffer from

is not being

willing to

turn over a

table

that's probably

most of us

that we'll

become blind

to it

we'll ignore

it we won't

we won't do

what God's

called us

too

but if

your will

if kind of

who you are

is that

I want to

just ask you

this question

Jesus turned

over the

tables as

he was

headed to

get on

the cross

and are

you as

you take

up your

cross

every single

day

are you

doing that

in the

posture

where you're

turning over

the table

I'm not

saying don't

call out

sin

I'm not

saying don't

address it

in fact I'm

saying I

am

I am

do it

for the

glory of

the Lord

but in

that

are we

doing it

in our

servanthood to

the Lord

or are we

doing it as

we're serving

ourself

and then the

last thing

grieve over

sin

grieve over

sin

grieve over

your sin

and grieve

over the sin

of others

sin

sin

breaks

the heart

of God

our sin

that Jesus

came to

die for

would we

be willing

to grieve

over it as

well

before anger

filtrates

grieve

before your

wrath wants

to take over

grieve

because we

lived

we live

in a lost

and broken

world

let's let

God be the

judge

and let's

let us

just grieve

would you

pray with me

Lord we

come to you

this morning

Lord again we

thank you for the

wonderful privilege

that you give

us

to send

missionaries

and to go

but when we

come back

from the

trip

Lord we're

called

to be

missionaries

here as

well

and so

Lord this

morning what we

have gathered

in this place

is a group

of men

women and

children who

were called

to go to

carry the

message of

Jesus where

they live

where they

work where

they play

and Lord may

we take

that

Jesus we

thank you

for embodying

the gentle

servant

the gentle

Messiah

Lord because

we are here

with an

opportunity to

worship you

because of

your obedience

to the

father

who sent

you

so Lord we

thank you for

being that

gentle Messiah

who came

on the

back

of a

donkey

who came

before a

crowd that

would one

day shout

Hosanna

and one

day shout

crucify

you kept

your eyes

on the

father

we thank

you for

being the

obedient

servant

Lord I

know that

in my

life on

the day

of my

salvation

until today

Lord you're

turning over

tables in

my heart

and in

my life

confronting

me over

the sin

that's in

my life

Lord I

pray that

we would

continue to

repent of

our actions

that are not

of you

that do not

glorify you

and Lord we

would be

willing to be

those same

obedient servants

in our own

homes in our

lives as you've

called us as

you've placed us

as you've led

us Lord

confronting sin

and bringing in

hope bringing

in joy and

bringing in

love and

kindness and

compassion

and Lord may

we be

gentle like

you

daily taking

up our

cross

daily

spreading

hope

daily

forming

relationships

with men

and women

and children

who don't

know you

daily sharing

the gospel

Lord we

thank you for

the wonderful

privilege

of what it

means to do

that

Lord as we

are here

this morning

I pray if

there's anyone

here who

doesn't

know you

that today

would be the

day of their

salvation

I pray that

today would be

the day where

they admit that

they are a

sinner and

they would

acknowledge within

themselves Lord

that you died on

the cross for

their sin

Lord I pray that

they would place

their belief their

hope their trust in

you and in you

alone that you

are the one true

God that you are

their savior that

they would not

place their faith

hope and trust in

themselves or in

others but in

you that they

would confess with

their mouth that

Jesus is Lord and

that today would be

the day of their

salvation

and we'll celebrate

you for it

and it's in Jesus

name we pray

thanks again for

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