Summer with Jesus Sunday Gathering

Hey, good morning and welcome to Church Online this morning.

So pumped you're here.

Yeah, man, it's gonna be so much fun.

It's gonna be it's a great day.

My name is Mr.

Brandon.

I'm Cody.

Yeah, it's been a great weekend.

It's been a great weekend.

Lots of moving parts.

Lots of moving parts.

But it Yeah, it happened.

It's great.

The jam happened.

The summer jam.

Man, it's been incredible.

We've spent the past couple of days just hanging out with kiddos and investing in them and sharing the gospel with them and having tons of fun.

Yep.

And so uh man, it's just been a great weekend, and we just want to thank you guys for uh all of you that served and gave and helped uh put that on.

Man, what a powerful couple weekend.

Uh and it's we're closing it out today uh on campuses.

We've got some fun stuff planned after services that are gonna be really great.

So uh man, yes, summer gem weekend, it's been a blast.

It's so good, so good.

Um we've got like a lot of other things happening, you know, like just the normal stuff, which is a lot, and it's a lot, which is great, fantastic.

Um so we do want to make you aware of the app.

Yep.

You can um we say it every week.

Yeah, but you can uh find all the information for any events, for anything that's going on in the life of our church on that app.

And you can also register for next steps download sermon notes which I should do that's coming up pretty soon.

Um just lots of things that you can do, right?

Uh we also have uh Fish for Kids that we are um we're doing a food drive for them.

Um so you can bring in, I think it's is it can food?

Cam foods, yeah.

Um just bring some canned foods.

Uh reach in the back of that pantry into the Narnia and grab something that you haven't used, and you know, it'll be put to use.

Uh so for those of you who don't know though, Fish for Kids is for I can't speak, I'm just like monthly on.

Um Fish for Kids is uh organization that the fish puts on during the summer for um the kids who, because they're not in school, are not getting the meals that they you would usually get um between the months of August and May while they're in school.

And so they provide lunch for um just uh people who really need some food during the summer for some kids, and so um it's a really cool event.

Also, you can um excuse me, you can um be a part of handing out those those food boxes um or food baskets um with your family, which is a really cool um local mission-minded uh thing that you can do with your kids, you can do with your family as being a family option.

So um all the information that you need to know for that is on the app, but you can also probably go to the Fish for Kids or the Fish website, stuff like that, um, and find out more information about how you can get involved.

Yeah, yeah, I love that.

And uh like Cody said, it's a great way just to spend the summer on mission right here in our backyard and serve those that really need it and for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

So please, please, please either donate uh to help make that happen or donate some time.

And like Cody said, let's uh you know, take bring your family and your kids and help serve those around us and our own community.

Uh such a great, great way to be on mission.

Speaking of mission, we just had our Honduras team come back uh this past week and what an incredible trip that was.

God really stirred our heart uh as a church for some for mission.

So we have another opportunity.

If you're interested, we are gonna be taking a team.

Yeah, we are gonna be taking a team to New York City Frank Sinatra.

Um in the fall.

It's like Saturday.

Sorry, so I'll stop.

Okay.

Uh guess about now.

We're going to New York.

New York, New York.

Um The Concrete Jungle, where dreams are made.

Or, you know, um the village will team.

It'll come to me and just keep on getting up together.

New York.

We're going there this fall.

And uh Empowered State of Mind.

There you go.

Yeah, there we go.

Uh yeah, so we're gonna take the team this fall.

Uh so if you're interested in that, if God's been turning your heart towards Mission, uh, you want to be a part of that team, go to the app and check that out.

Uh you can just click on the icon that says New York and I'm taking all the details there.

Uh so yeah, just want to put that on your radar.

So lots of great ways for uh us to be involved on Mission with Jesus um this year.

And so uh make sure that you are a part of that.

And speaking of being with Jesus, we're in this uh series this summer just called Summer with Jesus.

That was a pro move right now.

Connecting all the dots.

Um we're in the summer, uh the series The Summer with Jesus, uh just really journeying through the Gospel of Matthew together.

Um we've got a reading plan that we would love for you guys to be a part of.

So that's on the app.

You can go to the app, the Bible uh part and then click the plan, and it'll take you right to it.

And we have daily scripture readings that we're all journeying through together as a church to follow along.

But yeah, we're just we're journeying through the Gospel of Matthew and seeing uh close, close at hand, like in person, the the life of Jesus and what he was all about.

And so make sure that you guys are staying up to date on that.

If you've missed any Sundays, make sure you go back into the archives and catch up.

But today we're jumping back into that, uh, and we're gonna be coming at you live from our Wine Grove campus.

Pastor Russ will be speaking, and so he's gonna be bringing the word, jumping back into the gospel of Matthew.

It's gonna be so good, can't wait.

Yeah, but before that, yes.

Let's have uh what about a recap?

Recap.

Just a little recap.

Give him a little sneak peek of what's been going on.

Yeah, just the summer jam.

You know, just roll a guys.

Just rolling, just roll.

Speaking of New York, yeah.

Best dick I've ever had in my entire life.

Good stuff.

Gallagher's.

I've never been.

I'd like to go.

It's fantastic.

It's a great place to go, but I always want to stay there.

Okay.

But a great place to go, sir.

Sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

As long as there's like an end date, you know what I mean?

Like you can just leave and come back.

Yeah.

That's not what it is.

You could be Christmas time.

Hey, check out this recap from Summer Jam, and then uh past you on the other side to bring the word to us.

Oh, the Rockcats.

So we're gonna we're gonna pray for him in a second.

Um, but I just want to want us to stop for a second and and out of thanksgiving, really think about how we can give back to the Lord, right?

So everything that we have, we believe that God provides.

And so when we give back to the Lord our financial resources, is it is a way of saying thanks.

It's a way of recognizing Him and really recognizing the fact that He provides for everything.

And so as we're uh as we're having this campus, this social circle campuses, we see all these children, hundreds of children running around and we invest the gospel, the truth of Jesus into their lives.

Um man, what what better investment can we make than to invest in the next generation?

And y'all know we when I pray, we pray, I pray, we're praying for revival.

I think this is a group of young people right here.

They're they're they're serving at Windshake Camp, which is taking place just down the street at Logeville Christian Academy.

And so I said I I was asking them where they were all from.

And so I heard I heard Florida, I heard Arkansas, I I heard Georgia, what what were a couple other states?

South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky.

Does that cover them?

Huh?

Missouri, missionary kids from Mexico.

I mean, spent a lot of time in Mexico.

I so um, you know, I my our let's just can we stop and pray.

I want to I want to see revival in every one of your towns, every one of your churches.

And when God works, I want to see revival start in the hearts of of five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve-year-olds.

And if God could move, what there's no telling what we could what we'd see happen.

And God, our nation desperately needs it.

Amen.

And so we we give, we give, and we thank God.

So let's pray together.

Let's pray, asking God to work through our giving.

Father, thank you for your goodness, your grace, your mercy.

Thank you for being the way, the truth, and the life.

Thank you for our salvation.

Thank you for just the life that you've given us.

Lord, I thank you for every one of these um young people that are here giving their summer, giving their time and their energy and their effort because they love Jesus.

And so I pray that just the Spirit of God will flow through them to the campers that they minister to.

I pray for revival.

I pray for um every one of these children to understand the truth that Jesus, what Jesus says, He says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

And so, Father, we give back to you because you have given to us first.

We we we're able to love because you have shown us love first.

And God, would you speak to us?

We believe that when we open up this Bible, that you open up your mouth and you speak the truth.

So change us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, hang with me this morning.

I'm a little under the weather.

So pray.

I do not want to um cough and snot all over you this morning.

I want to make it 30 minutes, maybe 25.

Um, we're we're gonna jump in.

Um I I wasn't here last Sunday.

I was coming, I was traveling back from Honduras.

I can't wait for you to hear from our Honduras team.

Uh today is all about summer jam and celebrating our kids.

Um, I might refer to Honduras a couple of times, but man, we had an incredible time ministering with Good Samaritan Baptist Mission down there.

It was a great, great opportunity uh to share the love of God.

So I can't wait for you to hear more about that.

But here's what I want you to hear this morning: that Jesus is Jesus is life, and his touch brings healing and wholeness.

Jesus is life, and his touch brings healing and wholeness.

And so we're gonna be, we're we're we're we're we're we're in this series.

There's this real creative title called Summer with Jesus.

And we're we're kind of we're spending some time in the Gospel of Matthew.

Um, and so so we're gonna be in Matthew chapter nine today.

We're gonna be in a couple other verses, but primarily two two little sections in Matthew chapter nine.

Matthew nine, starting with verse nine.

It says, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at a tax collector's booth.

Follow me.

And be my disciple, Jesus said to him.

So Matthew got up and followed him.

Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guest, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.

I'm reading out of the New Living Translation.

Disreputable sinners.

That doesn't sound good.

But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with such scum?

When Jesus heard this, he said, Healthy people don't need a doctor.

Sick people do.

And he added, Now go and learn the meaning of the scripture.

I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices, for I've come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.

I love this.

I'm not going to camp out here too long, but I didn't want to pass by the little part of Scripture where Jesus calls Matthew.

He is a tax collector.

He was a Jewish, Jewish man who has aligned himself with the Romans to collect taxes.

And not only would he collect what the Romans wanted, he would collect extra, and he became rich.

And so the Jewish people despised him, understandably so.

But Jesus sees Matthew or Levi, also referred as Levi.

Jesus sees him, and there's a relationship that is beginning to take place.

And Matthew invited Jesus to his house.

And he's hanging out with disreputable, according to the Pharisees, scum.

Now I am thankful that Jesus was willing to hang out with scum because that that means that I, I, my testimony, my testimony, I was once scum.

I was once scum.

I knew I was.

I was lost, and I knew I was lost.

Didn't grow up in church.

And so this is a great model for us.

It shows us the heart of Jesus.

It shows us the heart of Jesus.

Jesus cares about lost people.

Jesus came not for the righteous, he came for those that knew they were sinners.

That's what it says.

And so in that culture, you've got you've got the religious elite, and you've got everybody else.

And the religious elite thought they had it all together spiritually.

They didn't need anything because they had perfected the law.

They were following the law to a T.

Memorized scripture, wearing the right things, saying the right things, praying the right things, and they looked down upon Jesus because he's hanging out with those that need a Savior.

And so, fast forward just a little bit to verse 18.

As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him.

Now, Luke and Mark tell us his name, Jarius.

Matthew doesn't mention his name, but he's a leader of a synagogue, so he's a religious leader.

He is one of those religious leaders, but he has a different heart.

Not only does he have a different heart, he recognizes Jesus as being significant, significantly other than just a regular religious leader.

And so as Jesus was saying this, Jarius comes, kneels before him.

My daughter has just died.

He says, but you can bring her back to life again if you would just come and lay your hand on her.

So Jesus and his disciples get up, got up and went with him.

So Jesus is ready.

I'm ready to go.

I'm ready to go heal.

I'm ready to go see his daughter come back to life.

He said, My daughter has just died.

But just then, just then, verse 20, a woman who had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding came up behind him.

She touched the fringe of his robe, for she thought, if I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.

Jesus turned around and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be encouraged.

Your faith has made you well.

And the woman was healed at that moment when Jesus arrived at the official's home.

So he stops.

Jesus is interrupted.

We talked about this several weeks ago, about how Jesus walked at the pace of love.

We struggle in American life with just hurry sickness.

We're always so busy.

And Dallas Willard says that busyness, hurrying it, hurry, just being hurried, it is the enemy of the spiritual life.

And so Jesus walked at a pace where he could accept interruptions.

And so he's headed to go see Jarius' daughter to heal her.

This woman comes and she's got an issue, been sick.

If you'll notice, both of these scenarios, there's 12 years of sickness.

12 years of sickness.

And so Jarius is a synagogue leader.

He's a religious leader.

He is willing to step out of his comfort zone.

He is willing to be identified with this homeless, itinerant preacher, rabbi Jesus.

He's desperate enough to risk his reputation, his position, his religious authority, his very identity.

He is so desperate that he has faith that Jesus is able to make his daughter well.

He's obviously heard Jesus.

He's seen Jesus heal.

He's seen Jesus lay his hands on people.

And so he asks Jesus to lay his hands on his daughter to make her well.

The language, the word, the Greek word is sozo, sozo, which is the Greek word for salvation.

So it gives us a little insight.

It's not just not just physical salvation, it goes to eternal salvation.

That's the salvation that saves us and makes us right with our Heavenly Father.

And so there's this desperate faith that Jarius puts on display.

And this idea that this path to healing and wholeness is paved with desperate faith.

The path to healing and wholeness is paved with desperate faith.

Now let's jump back over to the woman with the issue of blood.

What's going on in her life?

What's the significance of her pushing her way through a crowd?

Leviticus 15, 25 and 26 says, if a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period, bear with me.

Or if the blood continues beyond normal period, she is ceremonially unclean.

As during her menstrual period, the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues.

Any bed she lies on, any object she sits on during that time will be unclean, just as during her normal menstrual period.

So this woman, she's sick.

She's not just sick physically, she is emotionally and physically isolated from all of life.

It has made her an outcast.

She is alone.

She is alone.

I think of senior adults in senior care homes during the pandemic.

The isolation, research has shown us the isolation was worse than the COVID sickness.

And so this woman, what does this mean when she's sick?

She can't go to the temple to worship.

She can't go and experience the presence of God, which potentially would be healing for her.

She can't worship with other fellow believers.

She has no means to provide for herself.

She is utterly desperate.

If she was married, her husband is long gone.

He could not be with an unclean woman.

She has no contact with her family.

She was an outcast.

She was alone.

She was desperate.

I mean, she shouldn't have even been in the crowd.

She shouldn't have been around people.

She shouldn't have been walking and even accidentally touching other people.

If they'd known what was going on with her, they would have just scattered.

And I just want to stop here for a second.

Now I just want to ask you a question.

Have you ever felt that way?

Aside from anything physical, if you ever just, do you struggle?

You struggle?

I think some of us have we have seasons of depression.

We have seasons, we have anxiety issues, we have, we even when we're left to ourselves, we think, man, I God can't love me.

God can't use me.

God can't.

And we just think we just the sentences keep coming.

God can't, God can't, God can't.

If God knew, if he knew my thoughts, if he knew what I was addicted to, if God, if and so we we have, listen, shame, fear, listen, they're prisons.

They shackle you from walking in the identity that Jesus gives you.

When Jesus saves you, thank God I am free.

Thank God I am free.

He makes you right with the Heavenly Father.

He clothes you in righteousness.

All of your sin in the past, all your sin in the present, all your sin in the future is now forgiven.

You can walk, you now have power to say no to the addictions, no to the sin, no to the things that want to enslave you.

And you are free.

So verse 20.

Just then a woman who had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding came up behind him.

She touched the fringe of his robe.

What is the fringe of his robe?

For she thought, if I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.

Luke 8 says, Luke says it this way, 8 44, coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe.

Immediately the bleeding stopped.

Now what does that mean?

Ray Vanderlein teaches that at this point the woman recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah.

This woman's faith has made her physically well, but it has given her so much more, her shame is removed because of her recognizing and her belief and her faith that Jesus is the Messiah.

So not only is she physically whole, she has been eternally saved.

That's the language we see in the scripture.

And so Jesus is life and his touch brings healing and wholeness.

So what is the significance of the fringe of his robe?

The fringe of his robe.

So my first trip to Israel, I got this prayer shawl.

And so a rabbi, you see, Jewish, especially observant Jewish people still to this day, the very strict Jews, you'll see them in a lot of times in their black suits, but they have the tassels hanging out of their waistband.

But very likely Jesus would have worn some type of garment, maybe not exactly like this, but something like this.

And because he was an observant Jew, he would have tassels hanging off the end of his garment.

And so the woman knows.

She knows her Bible.

She knows the text.

She's a Jewish woman.

She knows the word.

And so very likely she saw Jesus.

She had heard about him, maybe seen him teach, heard him teach, seen him heal.

And so as he would walk, his garment would flow like wings.

Malachi 4:2 says this, but for you who fear my name, the Son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings, and you will go free, leaping with joy like calves, let out the pasture.

Malachi 4:2

So in my, I believe, really believe with all my heart that this woman was familiar with this scripture.

So in the Hebrew, the word is kanop, kanop, and it can be, it can be used in three ways.

It can literally mean the appendages on a bird, or it can mean a figure of God's protection and shelter, like Psalm 91.4.

He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge.

His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.

Third, it can represent the tassels on the garments that Jewish believers were told to wear on the edge of the garment.

There's five knights representing the five books of the Torah.

Numbers 15, 37 through 41.

So the Lord said to Moses, Speak to the people of Israel, tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on each tassel of each corner, and it shall be a tassel for you to look at, remember, all the commands of the Lord, and to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after, so you shall remember and do all the commandments and be holy to your God.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God.

I am the Lord your God.

And so these castles were a reminder.

God is all about reminders.

When they cross the Jordan River, hey, hey, stack up stones as a reminder of my greatness and goodness.

The Lord's Supper.

What is the Lord's Supper for?

We drink the fruit of the vine and we break bread to remember, to remember what Jesus has done, his broken body and his spit blood.

God is all about remembering, remembering.

But here's what the Pharisees do.

Here's what they did in Matthew 23, 5, 6, and 7.

Everything, this is Jesus.

This whole chapter, he is just kind of like he is laid into them.

Everything to do is for show.

On their arms, they wear extra wide prayer boxes with scripture verses inside.

And they wear robes with extra long tassels.

And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues.

They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces and to be called rabbi.

And so this lady is desperate.

She's desperate.

I'm so desperate for revival.

She's desperate enough that she's willing to walk through a crowd, throwing elbows, get out of my way.

That man has the ability to bring healing to my body.

I won't be alone anymore.

I won't be isolated anymore.

I can go to worship with my brothers and sisters.

Once again, maybe my family can be restored.

Maybe I can be with my children.

You see it.

Some of us need salvation.

Some of us need to be set free from something that we're in bondage to.

And we need to get to Jesus.

You don't have to touch the tassel.

You don't have to touch the tassel.

The emphasis there is that this woman's fake.

She knew the word.

We need to be confident in the word.

And the word says, John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

So Jesus is the way.

That's what we're teaching our kids with some jam.

And so Charles Spurgeon says this.

And then I'm going to pitch it back to Brandon in social circle.

Faith is both God's gift and man's act.

Faith is both God's gift and man's act.

The Lord is the author of our faith, but we ourselves believe.

And so in desperate times, we've got to have the right object of faith, which is the person of Jesus Christ.

And then we need to be willing to take a step of obedience.

Jesus said when he came, Mark 1.14, he said, the kingdom of God is now, the kingdom is at hand.

Repent and believe.

Repentance is to simply do a U-turn.

I cannot figure this thing out in my own strength.

I cannot pull myself up by my bootstraps.

I cannot follow the law good enough.

I'm a sinner in need of salvation.

I repent.

And now I turn to Jesus.

I turn to his life.

I turn to his sacrifice on the cross.

I turn to his bodily resurrection.

And I put my faith in what he's done for me.

Amen.

And so if you've never put your faith in Jesus, you're here.

There's no magical prayer.

Jesus said to repent and believe.

Just say yes to Jesus.

I mean, we say it's as it's simple.

It's not cheap.

We don't believe in cheap grace.

But it is simple.

ABC, admit you're a sinner.

Believe that Christ died and rose for you.

And confess him as your Lord and Savior.

And it's it's as simple as that.

And so with I I turn it to Brandon over down in social circle, and I just want you to bow your heads with me here at Walnut Grove.

To reveal the kingdom coming and to make sure deepish You did not spot deep and in your sock You saw to the other side Don't make this force our selfish Sheesh for sure that you pass all of head until it's brown till that stones moved for good for the land that conquered death And the dead goes from their tombs And the air you just stood in all For the souls of all who come to the Father our store And the church of Christ was born and the spirit in the claim Now this girl shout at me today for the love Jesus Christ went to restore it's a lot of people who are not gonna be able to get you guys so much for worshiping with us this morning it's been a part of the weekend with us.

We're so grateful because we know you can be doing lots of other things and the fact that you are here with us and uh it's been a part of your weekend worshiping with us, we we really appreciate it, and we're so grateful.

Uh we hope that this morning you were challenged and encouraged around God's Word uh as we're journeying through the Gospel of Matthew, uh following along with Jesus.

And uh just I hope that God spoke to you.

And if you did, we want to let you know that we want to partner with you.

We believe that God is always calling us to a next step.

Uh, no matter where we're at in our faith journey, that there is this uh this calling that Jesus has called us to follow him even deeper.

Uh and so if you have a next step this morning, whatever it is, if it's deciding to follow Jesus for the first time, or maybe you just have questions about what it means to follow Jesus, uh, or you've been following Jesus for a while and you need to take a step like baptism or join a group or something like that, we would love to just partner with you to give you some resources for your journey and point you in the right direction.

So if you would take a start to follow to nine seven zero zero zero, start to follow zero.