How did Heaven rule in the disciples' lives | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts Church. We hope this message

will light up your day. I'm going to share, well, basically something

that I'm trying to draw out. I've been looking at the lives of the

disciples, the lives of the Disciples. Of course, the team for this

year is Heaven Rules, and so I'm going to be sharing from Mark Chapter

nine, verses fourteen to fifty. Okay, it's a whole bunch of scriptures,

but I'm going to be talking about it chronologically Versus fourteen all the way

to verse fifty five zero, So one four to five zero. I've just

simply entitled the message how did heaven't rule in the Disciples lives? Actually I

wanted to name it, how in the world they haven't rule in the disciples

lives? Because when we read the account of most, if not all of

the Disciples, they were normal, ordinary men, some of them broken,

if not all of them broken. All of them came with their different baggages,

all of them had their idiosyncrasies and peculiarities, and all of them had

their karenal. I know in Barsa they say they had their strange kind of

behaviors, but yet it's amazing to see what took place. You know,

I was sharing to the death community as well, from the book of the

Book of First Peter, and I told them, you know, if you

read First Peter, First Peter, chapter one, verse one, And how

did Peter introduce himself? He says, I am Petross. You know,

just that statement itself, it's quite a remarkable statement, because you have to

understand again, this is a Jew identifying himself in a Greek name. This

is Peter who was previously known as Simon, uh Simon. If you do

a rude study of what the name stands for, it actually means read r

e ed read. It means la lang. Okay, it's like a grass

someone who doesn't have conviction. You are like neither here nor there. And

of course we know Peter when Jesus gave him the new name, Peter means

wrong. And so Simon is someone who would not even step He wouldn't even

step feet into a gentiles house. He wouldn't even dine with gentiles. He

wouldn't even want to identify himself as anything other than Jew. But yet in

for Spitter one, he says, I am Petross. That's that's a transformation.

Though. Something had to happen in a person's life for them to be

able to suddenly realize that my identity is no longer what it used to be.

It's changed and it's different. And so I want to draw some things

from the disciples life. And you know, Jesus disciples had to learn how

to live the practical and ordinary life and to cope with all the problems that

life presents to them. In fact, it's the same thing that we go

through as well, because life presents different things to each and every one of

us. And I'm afraid when you read the scripture you realize that they didn't

cope very well. That's the reality of it. And so there are a

few things that I want to highlight from this portion of Scriptures that we will

be reading shortly. I'm going to break it down, but you will be

able to identify things that they lack. And honestly, I find it.

I find it quite comforting because if the lot could manage anything with those twelve

guys, you can manage with us. Really, really, if you think

that, I know they managed to walk with Jesus, know this amazing They

had amazing time. They dined with him. No, they had ministry with

him for three years. But I can tell you. Let's study their life

and then you realize it's Jesus that made the difference. Amen, So let's

go into it. I'm going to read the first portion of scripture and highlight

what the first sort of weakness was. Okay, so this is verse fourteen

of chapter nine. It says, well, I'm reading from the NLT.

Jesus heals a demon possessed boy. When they returned to the other disciples,

they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were

arguing with them. When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with all

and they ran to greet him. What is all this arguing about, Jesus

asked One of the men in the crowd. Spoke up and said, teacher,

I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by

an evil spirit that won't let him talk, and whenever the spirit seizes him,

it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth

and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast

out the evil spirit, but they couldn't do it. Jesus said to them,

you faithless people, how long must I be with you? How long

must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me. So they

brought the boy, but when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the

child into a violent convulsion and he fell to the ground, reading and foaming

at the mouth. How long has this been happening, Jesus asked the boy's

father. He replied, since he was a little boy. The spirit often

throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have

mercy on earth and help us if you can. What do you mean if

I can? Jesus asks, anything is possible if a person believes. The

father instantly cried out, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.

When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the

evil spirit. Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and

speak. He said, I command you to come out of this child and

never enter him again. Then the spirit scream and threw the boy into another

violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur

ran through the crowd as people said, he's dead, but Jesus took him

by the hand and help him to his feet and he stood up. Afterwards,

when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him,

why couldn't we cast out that evil spirit? Jesus replied, this kind

can be cast out only by prayer. Amen. Okay, So the first

thing that you will notice is this, the disciples were not that strong.

Basically. Another word that we can use is they were like they were important.

Okay, they were important, not very strong at times, if not

most times. So this is of course an account of a young person in

the grip of evil, and nobody can help this young person. And this

is something that is real. It can happen to anyone. We see his

anguish parents there and they couldn't do anything to help him. And then of

course we see also the followers of Christ. They tried to help this young

person, but it seems like they just messed it up even more. And

then there was also the scribes. And we always have people like this,

know, the critical ones, those who are constantly arguing, discussing their failures,

taking advantage of their embarrassment, toot on basically Pasilae. Okay, and

we are reminded of the mess that we find in the world today. Actually,

everything that we just read is basically what we see in the world today.

People in the grip of evil, parents anxious about their youngsters, Christians

desperately trying to help and often getting discouraged because they seem to make the situation

worse. And then there are always the critics out there, realities in life.

And here Jesus puts his finger right on the spot of what is wrong,

in words which reflect something his own father had said about Israel centuries ago.

And actually what he did was he referred to them as an unbelieving generation.

He said, is no, how long shall I put up with you?

And he almost sounds like Jesus was like picchic. No, he was.

He was exasperated, he was frustrated, he was like ah. And

then he puts his finger on it. He says, the real trouble with

them is that they are faithless. They do not believe in God's power to

do something. They're all trying to put the problem right themselves. And then

he tells them to bring the boy to him. And of course at this

point I would like to focus your attention on two kinds of people. Okay,

two kinds of people, or two kinds of persons. One is someone

who doubted too much, and the other one is someone who is too confident.

Okay, so let's let's let's look at these two kinds of people,

these two kinds of persons. So, first of all, someone who doubted

too much, someone who doubts a lot. And of course, you see,

this is the boy's father who did not believe enough. He came to

Jesus and he says something that he should never have said to him if he

had known Jesus better. But sometimes when you don't really know Jesus, you

say things that you don't really mean. So what did he say to Jesus.

He actually came to Jesus and say, if you can do anything,

take pity on us and help us. And of course Jesus look up to

him and like, hmm, if you can. So he was actually like

trying to clarify his disillusionment. And you know, it's not just a very

disillusioned remark. It almost also sounds like a remark in despair. You think

about it, if you can, and you know, we have always come

across people who despad in Christ ever helping them because they had asked Christians for

help and not have had the help that they wanted. So the man is

actually saying something like this, Now, your followers couldn't help me, I

wonder if you can. If your followers who have your authority can't help,

I doubt even if you can. And so may I appeal to you if

you are in this position, if you have been disillusion with Christians, if

you have sought help from the Church and not found it. I beg each

and everyone of us, say myself included, to not assume that Christ cannot

help just because of this, because it will be quite a tragedy if we

judge Jesus based on what his believers do. And I'll be the first to

confess, you know, I'll be the first to confess that as a follower

of Christ, I'm not always the best advertisement for him. That's the reality

of it. We're not. And that is why we say, don't put

your faith in men. Don't put your faith even on what I have to

say. No, everything that I say today can be just a bunch of

words. I urge you go back read the scriptures for yourself. That's something

that's very important. Don't put your faith on men, put it on Christ.

If you put it on earth, or you put it on men,

or you put it on one another, chances away will this upon you,

and you will be like this father. But when you come to Jesus,

you do not say if you say something else. You do not say if

you can you say something else. Do you remember the leper, the leper

who came to Jesus. What did the leaper say? The leper say,

if you will, you can make me clean. That is the right thing

to say, if you will. You see, this man did not say

if you will, He said if you can. And of course Jesus can.

Jesus says to that man, not everything is possible for him who believes.

And later in the subsequent chapters of the of the Gospel of Mark,

you will actually read Jesus speaking to a tree. And then he was dead

the next morning. And then Peter was so excited. No he came,

No, rabbi, Rabbi, the victory that you curse has readered. That's

in Mark chapter eleven, just a couple of chapters after this, and Jesus

told him to have faith in God. And then he added by saying this,

if anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea.

And there's no doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will

happen, it will be done for him. You see, you do not

need to have a very big faith, but you need faith in a very

big God. That's the difference. And Jesus let that father know that if

he had faith, there would be no limit to what was possible. Faith

as small as a mustard seed. And then now comes one of the most

honest prayers that has ever been prayed. I think in scripture, I do

believe, Help me overcome my unbelief. You know, one of the greatest

virtues in prayer is actually just sheer honesty. Sheer honesty. Prayer begins when

you are really honest with God. And this father had doubts. He knew

that he did not believe enough. He had a bit of faith and asked

the Lord for help to overcome this unbelief. He wanted Jesus to start with

him as he was, And the glory of it is that Jesus can start

with a man whatever he is provided he is honest and provided he tells Jesus

the truth about himself. And what do we read next? Jesus healed the

boy. And then when they got into the house, of course, the

disciples came and asked him, no, why they could not do anything?

They now learned the lesson of their importance. Basically, they learned and they

realize that there's the reason why I'm not so strong her. And it is

a lesson that most of us who are Christian, sometimes we learn it the

hard way, but it's an important lesson. So why could they not do

it? After all? Think about it? Just a few weeks before that

means a previous chapters to chapter nine, Jesus actually send them out, No,

you read the account, I think he sends them out two by two,

and they were out casting casting out demons. They had gone out and

they succeeded in doing it. And now here they are with just one boy.

And I don't know how old this boy is. I don't think he's

a young boy as well, because it says that since he was a young

boy he's been going through this. But it's just one one young person and

they could not do a thing. So what had gone wrong. And the

answer is they were now two unfidden. They thought they could do it themselves,

and Jesus was teaching them that what had gone wrong was that they were

not plucked in anymore, because he said this, no. Remember, he

says this, This kind can only come out by prayer. And here is

the lesson. People sometimes tell me, I remember when I had a real

sense of God's presence, nor I experienced his power. I had a real

sense of his joy, I had his peace. I had all these wonderful

things. But where are they now? And the answer is, we are

not plucked in. We must understand that we can never have anything ourselves.

We can only have power in Jesus. We cannot have power ourselves. We

can have peace in him, we cannot have it in ourselves. We can

have joy in Him, but not just by ourselves. And the sad part

of it is that when we get through to Jesus, we experience all these

things, and then we think we can have them ourselves. So we go

out as in just any other time, and we think that we can have

them, and then before we know, we're actually no longer plucked in.

Only when we are plucked in me imagine any power plug, okay, a

socket. Only if it's plucked into that socket on the wall and switched on,

will you actually have the electricity, the power flowing. And so personally,

even for myself, whenever I find myself thinking out loud, where is

what I once had? You know we've all been for cams. Cams can

be an amazing experience, wah, experience the goodness experience God. No,

No, where is what I once had? And my first question to myself

will always be this, what happened to my prayer life or what is happening

to my prayer life? Because prayer means being plucked in and switched on.

And if we do not keep up our prayer life, we cannot expect to

have what we once said. We cannot expect to have the power that we

once had. We can only have it in God. We cannot expect a

holy spirit empowered life if we are not plucked in. And you see,

I believe that the greatest need of every church is more prayer on the part

of partners who are plucked in. Just because we once did things in the

past, we should not expect God to do it again. If we have

lost that contact you see the strongest man in the Bible. Who was he

one of the strongest characters, strong muscle, goes around pushing Samson was his

name? No, this guy with big physic, strong muscles, time and

time again. No, he just beat people up for fun. He could

tear walls down. This guy is like a moving thing. Then came one

day when he just fell flat on his face. Why he thought he had

the power, and in fact, the Lord had the power. And then

he got unplugged. And then scripture says that the Lord departed from him.

So of course the disciples could not do it. Did they not realize that

Jesus drew his power by constant prayer with the Father? Did they think that

having done a thing once, you can just go on doing it without prayer.

And that's why Jesus says, this can only be done true prayer.

It's something that we must learn. It's something that I have to learn daily.

I know, I know there are days sometimes pray God, I don't

have the words to pray because we can run out of things sometimes or I

don't know what to pray. And that's why we asked the Holy Spirit to

feel it so that we can also receive the gift of languages to pray consistently.

I'm someone I believe. I believe even in liturgical prayers. You know

know what that is, basically prayers that are sort of like written out on

I'm okay with that, honestly, because there are some days that my mind

goes blank, and so honestly I actually write down my prayers. I can

pray the same thing every day because all these things have not yet come to

pass. As well, I least down people who are not well that I

need to pray for. Honestly, if I go to everything that I list

down, it will take a while. So I've come to this place where

I realize, Okay, I cannot know because the last time I used to

be like, well, I don't know what else to say. It's like

so repetitive, you guess, saying the same thing over and over again.

But whatever it takes to help us remain plucked in and prayer does that.

That's why there is power in a praying church. That's why we continue to

have prayers with. A church cannot exist without prayer. Basically, a church

without prayer is a church without power. It's a church without God's presence,

and the disciples realized they were important. They were not that strong because there

was something not right with their prayer life, and this was highlighted by Jesus.

Amen, this is the first one. Let's continue, I got formal.

Okay. The second trouble with the disciples was this, they were ignorant.

Okay, let me read the scripture and you'll see. But's the tear

I'm just reading. As we go on. Living that region they traveled through

Galilee, Jesus didn't want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted

to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them,

the son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his

enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from

the day. They didn't understand what he was saying, however, and they

were afraid to ask him what he meant. Okay, So you will never

make a good follower of Christ unless you learn. Knowledge is important to the

followers of Christ, and there is so much that we need to learn.

You see what was happening once they were now passing through Galilee and they were

starting their journey down south. Basically, hating to Jerusalem because that's where Jesus

would eventually end and that was his destiny. So Jesus was hating for the

cross, and basically his time was shot and he wanted now to intensify his

mission, not make it more extensive. You see, Jesus knew that I

need to be intensive in my mission right now. He did not want the

crowds, so he was traveling quietly. He was trying, almost trying to

conceal his identity because he knew he just had a few weeks to teach his

disciples. And we are told that he kept on teaching the disciples to things.

He was going to die and he was going to rise again, and

they needed to learn that Christianity is primarily about the crucifixion and the resurrection.

There are people who think Jesus was a great man, a great teacher,

a great leader, and that if we all tried to lift out the Sermon

on the Mound to do exactly what he has told us to do, this

would be a wonderful world. But that is not what Christianity is about.

You see, these twelve disciples were not getting the message. They thought it

was a matter of going around helping people, healing people, doing so and

so. Yes, it included those things. But at the heart of it

is Christianity, is the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. And still to

this day we see people who think that Christianity is a matter of trying to

do good. It is not. It is a matter of learning that Jesus

died and Jesus rose again, and the meaning of those two events. So

Jesus knew that there was a traitor in the Chemno, because he actually said

this, The son of men is going to be delivered into the hands of

men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.

Really, he's beginning to hint. And I wonder Judas, which of course

really had the intention there, what he felt when Jesus said that. No,

he's saying that men are going to kill him, God is going to

raise him. How did Judas feel about this whole thing. Men are going

to put him out of this world, but God is going to put him

back into this world. I think if I'm Judas, I'll be like,

okay, But this is what our faith, This is the heart of our

faith. If we are ever going to follow Christ, we must understand the

death and resurrection that we can actually explain to someone else why Jesus died and

why he rose again. But the disciples did not get it, because we

read subsequently in chapter ten Jesus was telling them again, in chapter eleven,

Jesus was telling them again, and then in chapter twelve Jesus was telling them

again. They didn't get it. And still to this day we preach Christ

crucified and reason, and people still think we are trying to tell people to

live right. It's not about what you do. Christianity is to come and

say Christ died for my sin and rose again to be my lord. That's

the foundation of our faith and this is what we need to grasp. If

he died for your sin, you are now free. If he rose again

and is your lord, then you follow him. But we know Jesus continued

to teach and do all that he could for his disciples, and finally,

finally, when he did die for them, and he did, you know,

there was an empty tomb. So he did get resurrected three days later,

and we know eventually he ascended. And of course we wonder, we

wonder if the disciples got it. I think they got it because in X

chapter two you see an account of Peter preaching. Uh this first time,

for the first time, this Jewish fishermen decides to speak in a crowd of

a lot of non Jewish people. So something has happened. This is Petross

preaching, and what he preached, he preached, Christ crucified, and Christ

resurrected. Re read the account in X chapter two, and we know that

on that day out from the crowd, three thousand people were saved. Amen,

and so hallelujah. They got it eventually. But you see, they

were They were ignorant like many of us, the disciples like, uh,

you know, until until it really dawned upon them that men, everything that

this guy is saying is real. The third thing that was wrong about these

twelve men is this they were too self important or basically self centered. Let's

read verse theudy three. After they arrived at Kapperannam and settled in the house,

Jesus asked his disciples, what were you discussing out on the road,

But they didn't answer because they had been arguing about which of them was the

greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him and said

whoever wants to be first, must take last place and be servant of everyone

else. Then he put a little child among them, Taking the child in

his arms, he said to them, anyone who welcomes a little child like

this on my behalf welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only

me, but also my father, who sent me. You see her.

As they were walking south to Jerusalem, Jesus, of course overhears them bickering.

They're just having this squabble, and then he confronted them like, hey,

guys, what were are arguing about? And then no, they were

arguing about who would be the greatest. No, they had actually been talking

about cast systems, the greats of status, and they were still thinking of

the Kingdom of God in terms of power politics. That's what they are thinking

in their hates. And I probably have no doubt know Peter, John and

James probably be like, hey, we all went through the transfiguration. Okay,

you guys are cold chievelers. We are top of the power. I

don't know what probably went through, but that's probably what they were discussing.

Who was to be the most important? You see, Christ cannot do anything

with people until they stop discussing their own importance, because pride is one of

the most difficult things to deal with. I say to myself as well.

What did Jesus say, Well, he gave them a verbal rebuke, and

he gave them a visual rebuke. Okay, the verbal rebuke was very simple.

He wanted to take their social values and turn them upside down. Basically,

he told them, if anyone wants to be first, he must be

the very last and seven of all they were to go to the bottom.

If they wanted to be the greatest, they should choose to be the humblest

most menihal position and become slaves to others. This was something they did not

get hold of. It's something that we have not gotten hold of as well,

and we still talk about who is important in the wrong way, you

know, if you jump a hit slightly. And when you come into the

count of the Last Supper or the Lord's Supper, and they were in the

upper room, and remember it's most likely a private meeting them is just Jesus

and his disciples. So basically there was no servant there to wash their feet.

And as all the disciples came in, they walked in and then they

probably saw the bowl because it's normal for every Jewish household to have the basin,

because that is the common tradition. They always get their feet washed us

before and drinks, so I can imagine. No, they saw the bowl,

they saw the cloth, they saw the towel there, and then they

look at one another and then they're like, heck, no, I'm not

going to be washing your feet. And then what happened next. Jesus got

up, took off his coat, picked up the bowl of water, and

told them that he was going to wash their feet. I'm sure he must

be pretty shattering for them, But Jesus teaches us that we have got to

think upside down to the world basically in order to turn the world right side

up. If you want to be great in the kingdom, then serve choose

the bottom position. And then he went on. He went on to give

them a visual review. What did he do. He took a little child,

and he said to them, whoever welcomes one of these little children in

my name, welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome sorry,

And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me. But the one who sent me,

sorry, half blind. Okay, if we think we are important,

not only must we reverse our idea this way, we must also minister to

the unimportant people. You see, Jesus was teaching them that if you give

your time to a little unimportant child who technically cannot give you back anything in

return, if you do it in his name, you will receive Jesus as

the father and the father. And that's why until today, I will always

take my hands off to all our ex kids, teachers, to all our

leaders who will lead the youths, the young people who spend time among all

these younger people, the younger generation, you know, because they are giving

themselves to a group of people who are not really ranked high in society,

well not yet at least. And the disciples would challenge, no, why

are they discussing about their own importance? Because Jesus was essentially saying that everyone

is important. Amen. And so that was the third part of it.

The third weakness was that they were just so self centered they were thinking of

themselves. Let's move on to the final one, which is basically two lump

in together, and it's this No. There, they were usually very intolerant

with others, but very indulgent with themselves. Okay, maybe another way to

put it is they were very intolerant with others, but they tolerated themselves more.

Okay, let's read the scripture first. The day I'm just reading True

John said to Jesus, teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast

out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn't in our group.

Don't stop him, Jesus said, no one who performs a miracle in

my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is

not against us is for us. If anyone gives you even a cup of

water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that

person will surely be rewarded. But if you cause one of these little ones

who trust in me to fall into scene, it would be better for you

to be thrown into the sea with a large milestone hung around your neck.

If your hand causes you to sink, cut it off. It's better to

enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of

hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sink, cut it

off. It's better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be

thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sink,

gouge it out. It's better to enter the Kingdom of God with only

one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where the

maggots never die and the fire never goes out, for everyone will be tested

with fire. Salt is good for seasoning, but if it loses its flavor,

how do you make it salty again. You must have the qualities of

salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other. Amen. So John,

this was you know. Of course we know John is the son of

Thunder, that's his namer. He came to Jesus no, and he says,

no, we saw this man driving out demons in your name, and

we told him to stop because he was not one of us. This was

rather like saying they stop it because this man was not one of us.

You notice he actually said the word us. No. They didn't say we

stop him because they were not following you a lort. They said, this

learn not part of our gang, and they were probably thinking that we are

the only true disciples. So they told the man to stop it because he

was not joining the right group, basically, and John was proud of this,

and he thought Jesus would be pleased by Instead, Jesus said, do

not stop him. No one who does a miracle in my name can,

in the next moment say anything bad about me. For whoever is not against

us is for us. So do not stop him just because he does not

follow you, just because he is not in your band of disciples. This

man was doing something for Jesus, and no one need to stop that.

No. Casting out demons is a very difficult thing to do, you know.

But Jesus goes on to actually say this, I tell you the truth.

Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong

to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. That's you know, even a

cup of water you can belong to Jesus. Basically, this is how I

look at it. You know, if I think that what I'm doing is

so great because I get the mic and you guys got to listen to me,

I've got it all wrong because there is no difference between me being up

here than KANGWAEI, who is sitting behind doing the sound. Then Samuel who

was down in b one or B two ushering people up. Then the ex

kids, teachers who are laboring in love to take care of the children.

That's the reality of it. They are all serving the one true and Living

God. That's what's most important. And we must never stop that. We

must never stop that because in God's eyes, that's why we always tell and

encourage. When you serve, you serve God. You don't serve men,

because when you serve God, automatically you serve one another. If you realize

that I'm giving my all to the Lord, you will be also giving your

all to one another. And it matters not whether you're up here, whether

you're down there, whether you do it week after week, whether you are

acknowledged or not. You come to realize that I serve God, and it's

my joy and my privilege to do that. So whether a man is doing

a difficult thing or an easier thing, if he's doing it in the name

of Christ and in the power of Christ, we must never stop that.

Because Jesus was telling his disciples that they had to have a big enough heart

to recognize Jesus's work wherever it is happening. And as leaders, I pray

we will continue to encourage all of your because all of you'all have a role

to play. All of youall can serve God one way or another. In

fact, I don't want to just recognize, I want to rejoice in the

fact that every one of us here are serving God. Amen. And now

the final thing that was wrong with the twelve men, and the real problem

is that they were They were usually intolerant with others. We see others are

not doing anything, they're not doing okay, But the flip side is they

are usually very tolerant with themselves. They indulged in themselves, and this often

happens. No, you can be terribly strict with other people, but you

can be really slack with yourself. And Jesus's teaching is that it is you

yourself that you should be strict with. It is yourself that you should be

you know, be more intolerant to it. Actually, And so Jesus now

says something in the negative and then something in a positive. Okay, I'm

drawing to end. Okay, bury me. It is clear that it is

not meant to be taken literally. Okay, if you take any of whatever

that we just read literally, basically, we all be sitting down here with

no arms, no feet, and no eyes, because he actually says,

no, if your hand causes you to see Khalidorf, and then if your

food causes you to say in Cahalidorf, if your eyes causes you to think

Cahaladorf. But what he really means is this, if there is anything that

you are doing, if there is anything that you are watching, if there

is anywhere that you are going that is actually hindering you from being a good

Christian, cut it right out. Basically stop it. It's as simple as

that. What Jesus is teaching here is he's teaching ish disciple individually. I

believe he says, if this is offending you, cut it right out.

And the point is, is this something that I'm doing, or something that

I'm watching, or somewhere that I'm going to that stops me from doing God's

work? If so, cut it right out, because any of these things

could actually lead a person to destruction. And Jesus is teaching this, Beware

the things a man look at, the things a man do, the thing

the places that a man goes to can ultimately ruin him to the point where

he becomes of no use for anything or anyone. And that's why it is.

It's better to cut these things out and live a narrow and boring life

in other people's eyes than ruin yourself and bring yourself to a place of destruction.

And Jesus was just being really honest here, because even you know,

we love John three sixteen, don't we if God so For God so loved

the world that he gave his one and only son, whoever who believes in

him, he says, she'll not perish, but have it in the life

that what perish is a strong one. It's basically, if you perish me,

you become you be rendered worthless, rendered useless, be destroyed, be

ruined. And Jesus is saying, rather than having any of you perish,

rather than having any of you being rendered useless, rather than having any of

your being ruined, is better to just cut out whatever that is he you

from serving me. And then he goes on to use a further illustration.

Jesus told the disciples that they needed this discipline of cutting these things out for

this reason. He says, if you do not do this, you could

not be salt of the earth. Of course, something was like, what's

so random when I talk about salt. Again, I'm not reading different parts

of the scripture. So this is like in the flow. Ah, he's

just saying that basically, you know, you won't have the right flavor and

you will not have all this distinctive quality. Okay, you must understand.

Person. Back in those times, the main usage for salt in this context

is always used as a fertilizer. They use salt to fertilize the gardens because

salt had a lot of this compound called portash, Okay, not just to

fertilize gardens. They also use salt to this, in fact, the land.

Sometimes the land can be used to throw ways, human ways, excrement,

et cetera. They chose salt to this. In fact, places they

called dung hill dung hill, which is basically poop land. Okay. So

they use salt to promote good growth in the garden. And they use salt

to this in fact, and to inhibit to stop bad things from growing.

And Jesus said, salt is good. But if it loses its saltiness,

how can you make it salty again? How could it be used for the

field, for the dung hill? And of course the question is how does

salt lose its flavor because salt as a as a compound it's own I think

it's called sodium chloride. It never loses its quality, and it is always

salt. Salt is always salt. But the answer is simple. Not what

some people used to do is they used to mix salt with other things.

They used to mix it up with sand. Then it becomes more heavy casally

for a better price. But when you take that makes substance and taste it,

you'll realize that it's not as salty, or it loses its saltiness.

And Jesus was actually teaching his disciples that unless you are prepared to cut out

anything you do, anything you watch, and anywhere you go that causes you

to stumble, the salt will lose its saltiness. Basically, you will lose

your saltiness and you will neither cause good things to appear, nor will you

hold back back things that means you don't serve your purpose anymore. And this

is what a Christian disciple is to do, because as Christians, we are

called whether into the marketplaces, into our schools, and what we supposed to

do. We are there to promote God, to promote good and to this

in fact evil to stop evil from growing. So a Christian's very presence in

his marketplace should stop gossip. His very present should help people feel more kindly

towards one another. That's what being salt of the earth means. And if

there is anything a Christian should not tolerate, it is this, that he

must cut out everything in his life that stops him from being sought of the

earth. I know it's strong, but Jesus had to get this true his

disciples, and I believe he got it true to them because this same group

of twelve men, well technically it is eleven, and after they added one,

and then they added another one in Paul, thirteen men ordinary nobodies were

called and they became somebody. Because if it's not for what they did after

all this, we will not be here today. So the disciples know,

if you read their lives, they were important. They weren't strong because they

lack faith. They were ignorant because they lacked knowledge. They were too self

centered, too self important because they lack humility. They were intolerant because they

lacked love. They were too indulgent because they lacked holiness. Yet the whole

future of the church dependent on men like that, and Jesus only had a

few weeks to mold them into shape before he actually had to leave them.

If he could do something with men like that, he can do something for

you and me. Some people have the idea that you have to be extremely

religious or extremely good to be a Christian. But those disciples were people just

like us. If Jesus could change them, Jesus could do it for any

one of us. If we are a bit too self centered, if we

are helpless to help other people, if we are a bit intolerant with each

other, if we are a bit indulgent with ourselves and do things we ought

not to do. You know, believe that Jesus can still change you,

provided we allow him, provided we follow him all the way and acknowledge that

Heaven rules in our lives. How in the world did Heaven rule in the

lives of the disciples? They allowed Jesus in, not just allowed him to

walk by their side, but no, they allowed him in. And Jesus

knew, he knew that there will come a day when I will go and

sorry, he was teaching them. He was teaching them Christ crucified, Christ

resurrect. I won't be here with you forever. But that does not mean

that I will never be here with you, because he says, when I

go, then will come someone more powerful who will be able to live in

us, the Holy Spirit. And so how do we acknowledge the heaven rules

in our lives when we receive the Holy Spirit into our lives and say,

Lord, I need you just like those disciples. I am every bit similar

to them, me included. And I pray the Lord you will use your

Holy Spirit to change us, to transformers, to transform our minds so that

we will know your perfect will for us. We hope you've been blessed by

this message. For more information on our church, please visit as church org.

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is going to be a good week. I hate for you. God bless