Jesus is Discerning

Okay, we are in this series from February through the year, Following Jesus.

And Justin has been taking us through the Gospel of Matthew.

We are in the section now of Following Jesus, kind of a mini-series in the midst of Matthew, and that is Jesus is.

And what we've been looking at is what are the unique characteristics that set Jesus apart as kind of a human teacher?

What did he say and how did he approach things?

And how did it go?

Now, where he is teaching at this point is up around the Sea of Galilee.

The map's coming up in a moment.

And that shows us that we're we're north of Jerusalem.

We're up in the area where Jesus was raised, and a lot of his ministry is in the uh Capernaum and Beth Seda area, and a bit to the north and a bit to the west.

But he's in that general area around the Sea of Galilee, uh where he did most of his teachings.

And what we uh Justin has been walking us through are, well, so far we've covered five of the six um areas we'd like you to consider.

And the first is that he's interruptible, that he's never too busy.

The Lord is never too busy for you to turn to him.

And that needs to sink in with us.

He's never too busy for you.

And in fact, if we really believe that he's our king and we're part of his kingdom, that ought to say something to us, shouldn't it?

That we should be interruptible.

Right?

I mean, I you uh somebody nods.

Somebody okay.

We should be interruptible.

Uh I had to learn that.

I had to learn that whatever game I was watching in my free time on TV wasn't important as whatever the kids or my wife wanted to say.

Interruptible.

They're far more important than whatever scores or whatever pass I might miss.

Uh, but also Jesus is uniquely resourceful.

He never seems to be overwhelmed.

Have you noticed that?

He never gets anxious.

And if we're getting anxious or we think we're getting overwhelmed, and I've heard many describe themselves, well, I'm just overwhelmed right now.

Well, then have you forgotten you're walking with Jesus?

He's already provided us the resources, or he's about to.

We don't need to be anxious in life, as I often find myself saying, we aren't defined by the circumstances of life anymore when we give our lives to Christ.

The situations that we face can no longer define us because we're defined by the King of glory.

Does that make sense?

Okay, so the third, he's he's surprising and delightfully so.

Often he's he's breaking in with delightful acquaintances, with answers to prayers, with things that are more than we could ask or imagine.

That's what it is to serve someone who loves us more than we love ourselves.

He is surprisingly wonderful.

Uh he's also not religious, the one knot we have.

Uh, and when we we define around here not religious, what we're talking about is not the man-made rules.

Many of us, including myself, were raised in churches that had a lot of rules associated.

And it was kind of a feeling you better check in the box or else, right?

Uh have to do this on Sunday, have to do this during the week, have to say our prayers, have to do, have to, have to, have to, have to, and we're exhausted.

And our relationship with the king of the universe is not through rules, it's a relationship by grace through his spirit.

Does that make sense?

So we always have to keep reminding ourselves when we shift into the old, I've got to do this.

You probably don't.

Uh when I first started preaching many decades ago, I had one of the church leaders come up to me and she said, Fred, I want to give you a tip when you're preaching.

And I said, What's that?

She said, Don't you ever say ought again.

We don't live by oughts, we live by grace.

And went, oh my goodness, I was just trying to be helpful.

You're absolutely right.

We're not in the business of adding more rules to your life.

We've got enough of them, don't we, parents?

We live by grace.

Um, and we also found, as Justin challenged us to consider last week, Jesus is always compassionate.

He always has time with us and he always is loving us.

That's who our Lord is.

He's not ready to beat us up and judge us.

He loves us.

He wants the best for us.

He's always compassionate.

Well, in order to get into the sixth and the last in this little mini-series, we now continue as we turn to Matthew chapter 16, and we have two brief stories that will illustrate the last of this portion of the mystery and the uniqueness of Jesus.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

I'm in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

I'm going to read verses 1 through 4.

One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

He replied, You know the saying, red sky at the night means fair weather tomorrow, and red sky in the morning means fair, foul, foul weather at night.

You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don't know how to interpret the signs of the times.

Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Then Jesus left them and went away.

Consider this for a moment.

They are they're getting in his face, demanding that he show them a sign.

Can you imagine his first thoughts?

You religious leaders want a sign?

I've been healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind.

I've fed thousands with a little bit of fish and bread.

Thousands have been fed with leftovers.

Everything the Hebrew prophets said about the Messiah, I'm doing, and you want a sign?

You all look at the weather, you know the sky, you know what that's where we get the term red sky in the morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night, sailors take delight.

That's from this this right here.

That's our English way of putting it.

Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.

Red sky at night, sailors delight.

He said, You know that.

You read that sign, don't you see what's in your midst?

And then he speaks this incredible one-liner.

The only sign you'll be giving is the sign of Jonah.

And you can imagine they're standing there going, What?

Jonah, that reluctant prophet who wouldn't go to Nineveh and took off in a boat to Spain and was thrown into the water, and a big fish or whale grabbed him and kept him for three days in the water and spit him out, and he eventually went to be the reluctant prophet.

That's the sign?

And you can imagine in disgust, they all turned away and walked away from Jesus.

And we, who know the life of the Lord and how it unfolds over the next year, now, yeah, it was the sign of Jonah.

Three days he'd be taken away from the earth.

And then he'd come back with a new story about salvation.

Do you get it?

He's challenged them with something that's very discerning, very wise, absolute truth.

But their choice, gonna walk away.

And since this is the word of God, we have to keep asking ourselves, are we paying attention to signs?

Are we paying attention to even this one?

Do we understand how significant it is that Jesus died and three days later came back for us?

Whoa.

But there's another story here in Matthew 16 that he wants us to consider.

So now I'm gonna continue reading in verse 5.

Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread.

Watch out, Jesus warned them, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread.

Jesus knew what they were saying, and he said to them, You have so little faith.

Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread?

Don't you understand even yet?

Don't you remember the five thousand I fed with five loaves and the baskets of leftovers you picked up?

Or the four thousand I fed with seven loaves and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up?

Why can't you understand that I'm not talking about bread?

So again I said, Beware, I say, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Then at last they understood.

He wasn't speaking about the yeast in the bread, uh, but about the deceptive teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

So here he is now, not with the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders who were questioning him.

He's with his own disciples.

He says, Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

And they began arguing, I guess we didn't bring enough bread.

And he's looking at him and said, Are you serious?

How long have you been with me?

And at this point, it's probably about two years.

You've been with me for two years?

You still don't get it?

Bread.

Hey, when I fed the 5,000, how many baskets were collected?

Oh, 12.

Do you get it?

Twelve?

And they go, well, there's 12 of us.

Maybe that was their thoughts.

He said, what else is twelve?

Twelve tribes.

You can provide enough bread for all of the people of God.

And he's going, yeah.

And the 4,000 up in the area of the Gentiles?

Seven baskets.

Seven.

Oh, seven baskets.

Seven, the number of completion and perfection.

You provide for even them.

You provide for the whole world, seven, symbolizing all the nations of the world.

Oh, you're not talking about bread.

So he says again.

I say again to you, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

And they go, Oh, you're talking about the stuff we receive from them, their teachings.

We have to beware of that, because that might not be truth.

Oh, that's what you're teaching us.

Do you see how discerning he is?

He gives a one little one-liner.

And they either have to stick with Jesus or say, I don't know what you're talking about, and this is crazy.

Now, as Megan taught last week to the children, and yeah, the children are have been lately a week ahead of us.

Remember, we took a week, a couple weeks ago to pray for our nation.

The children kept going.

So they're for now at least a week ahead of us in the in these series.

When you think about yeast for a moment, leaven, beware of the leaven, beware of the yeast.

It's that which you can't readily see.

You see the effect, right?

It's like us when we're watching a show, we probably shouldn't, because it doesn't really feed our spirit.

Some horror show or some violent show or some we're looking at something on social media that we know we shouldn't.

Gotta beware of that.

Be careful of that.

Beware of that.

Beware of what, yes, beware of what our leaders say about other people.

We don't want to take that in, do we?

It's dangerous.

Be cautious.

And just like he's cautioning them in a one-liner, beware of the yeast.

Since this is the word of God, it's a caution to us as well.

It's a very discerning word from our king in our present age.

Beware of the yeast of your leaders.

It may not all be truth.

Does that make sense?

Do you recognize where we are?

Do you recognize how much this discerning power of Jesus brings wisdom?

It brings truth.

It is always still compassionate.

He's never calling us names.

He's never pointing a finger.

Oh, yes, Lord, rain on us through your spirit.

He's never pointing the finger.

He's just stating a very discerning fact to our lives and saying, you need to pay attention to this now.

And the choice in the first story we have, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they just walk away.

They say he's crazy.

The disciples stay with them and figure it out and realize it's going to change their lives and the way they live for the Lord.

So what I thought might be fun is I'm going to give you one-liners that Jesus gives to people in the Gospels.

Very discerning statements to people.

I invite you to consider if you know what the situation is and how it might apply to us.

Okay?

You can take out a piece of, oh no, you don't use paper anymore.

That's right.

Take out your phones if you want and make a list.

I'm actually going to give you ten one-liners, discerning statements of Jesus.

You ready?

I guess you're not.

Okay.

I'll go to something else.

No, uh I really want us to consider how discerning Jesus is, and he is all the time.

The wisdom that's contained in one-liners.

For example, he says to someone, You must be born again.

Anyone remember what when he used that?

When did he use that?

Nicodemus, that's right.

This is a religious leader that actually sought out Jesus at night, apparently early on in his ministry.

And Nicodemus went to Jesus and said, No one can do the things you do unless he sent from God.

Jesus immediately gives him a discerning one-liner.

He says, You must be born again.

And Nicodemus goes, I've got to go back into my mother's womb and be born again.

You can imagine Jesus looking at this religious leader going, Are you serious?

And Jesus goes on and says, Spirit is born of spirit, and flesh is the flesh.

And eventually, as Nicodemus continued to wrestle with that, he did leave Jesus that night, but he continued to wrestle with that.

And what's wonderful is Nicodemus became a follower of Jesus.

We know that because later on in the story, he's with Joseph of Arimathea, getting the body of Jesus and preparing it for burial in the tomb.

He wrestled with that.

You must be born again.

You've got to go through a new birth.

Now, you know, let's think about it for a moment.

He's telling a religious leader you've got to be born again.

Yeah, it's like that in the spirit.

I suspect if we were able to talk to a baby in the womb, the baby would say, I don't want to go anywhere.

I'm very comfortable, I'm very safe, it's very warm.

This is life.

And we go, no, no, no, you've got to be born.

So you can really experience the human experience.

It's no wonder the children cry when they're born.

And that same dramatic change of the way we process life has to come to us.

And if it was true for Nicodemus, and it's the words of Jesus and it's in the word of God, we must have to believe that means us too.

We've just got to be born in the Spirit.

We've got to get that discerning spirit.

So we're not just depending on our emotions anymore.

We're not just trying to figure it out.

There's something else now.

The guarantee of our inheritance, the promise of the Holy Spirit within assisting us to see truth and understand truth.

Does that make sense?

You see, it's just a one-liner.

But we've got to decide.

Do we walk away and say, oh, we don't need that?

Or I was taught by in my church years ago, we don't need that anymore.

Or do we say, wait a minute, Jesus said that?

That must be truth.

And I've got to see, is that something that I need in my life or need to be available more?

Do I need to ask the Lord for that?

That I can understand and see things through the Spirit.

I remember asking a young couple years ago, how do they make decisions in life?

And the young man said, Oh, I just follow whatever my heart tells me to do.

And I looked at him and I said, Well, that's pretty dangerous.

He said, What do you mean?

I said, Following your heart?

You follow your emotions?

He said, Well, yeah, all the time.

And I said, Oh, please, let me suggest there's another way to live.

And he said, Why?

And I said, our feelings are part of our fallen nature.

Eventually they're going to be wrong.

You need something else.

Or we men who were taught we have to figure it out, figure out the equation, figure out to make it work, figure out to fix it.

And many times that works.

But in the true issues of the spirit, it isn't enough.

We need the spirit, like Nicodemus did.

But then another time comes, he comes along and says to someone, please give me a drink.

Hugely discerning.

Anyone remember when he said that?

That's exactly right.

The Samaritan woman at the well.

Consider this.

This is a woman who's come to the well in the middle of the day because she would be ridiculed and mocked by all the other women.

Her lifestyle was not that which was to be emulated.

She was a Samaritan, considered a half-breed by the Jews.

They looked at her in disgust, as Justin taught us recently.

Their nickname for them was Dog.

And this of all things is a is a woman who clearly is not living the life that is pleasing to anybody in the community except the few men that she's been with.

And Jesus turns to her and says, Would you give me a drink of, would you please give me a drink?

Blows her away.

That discerning little statement begins to change her life.

She looks at him and stays right with him and says, wait a minute, how how can you uh Jew ask of me a Samaritan to drink?

You're a man, I'm a woman.

You're asking to drink from my cup.

You must know the kind of woman I am because I'm here in the middle of the day.

How is this happening?

Who are you?

And there's a talk about Samaritans and how they worship and Jews worshiping in Jerusalem.

And she responds, in the midst of staying with him on this very discerning statement, she stays with him and says, Well, I know when Messiah comes, he'll explain all things to us.

And I'm giving you a real big hint because the third statement that I want to raise with you is Jesus says to her, Next.

Depending on what translation you have, he either says, I am the Messiah, or I who speak to you am He.

And even with this extraordinary discerning statement, and she is the first that Jesus ever admits who he is to.

Early on in his ministry, he tells the Samaritan woman, I am the Messiah.

What does she do?

She runs back to her town and tells everybody that she's found him.

They can see her life has already changed because she's not afraid of what their opinion is anymore.

They come running out, and we're told the community comes to Jesus because of her witness, because she didn't run away from those two very discerning statements of Jesus.

She allowed the Spirit to work in her and said, There's something about this that sounds like truth.

And her life and her entire community was changed.

That's the power of Jesus' words.

Now, please understand, I'm not saying his one-liners are more significant than the parables.

Obviously, the parables are amazing.

Nor am I saying that they're more important than the Sermon on the Mount or his teaching in the upper room in the Gospel of John.

Those are all powerful.

But today we're looking at just single one-liners that are amazingly filled with truth.

Very discerning.

Here's another one.

My child, your sins are forgiven.

Anyone remember?

Or in some translations, my son, your sins are forgiven.

Hmm?

Paralyzed.

Yeah, paralyzed.

That's right.

There was a man who was paralyzed.

His friends had him in a mat.

They tried to get him to Jesus for healing, and they couldn't get through the crowd.

So this is the story we get in a couple of the gospels.

They take him up on the roof of the house, rip apart the roof, and lower their friend down to Jesus so Jesus will heal him.

And Jesus in the middle of a teaching.

And again, Jesus is interruptible.

He's filled with compassion.

And he does something surprising.

Because rather than complaining about all the straw now falling on his face and interrupting his message, he turns to the man on the mat and says, My son, your sins are forgiven.

Well, that isn't what the friends brought him for at all.

Do you hear that?

That isn't what they came to Jesus for.

They came for healing.

But Jesus discerns, he knows what the man needs.

He needs the ultimate healing.

He needs to be forgiven.

Just like many of us in this room, we need to hear that first.

There is nothing you can do, and no matter what shame you carry, that is more significant than the forgiveness of Jesus.

Nothing.

It's time to let it go.

And some of you know who I'm talking to.

Let it go.

My child, your sins are forgiven.

Now, of course, the man can't run away.

The friends apparently are still holding him somehow.

And then everybody in the crowd is upset and furious with this one-liner.

Who does he think he is?

God?

And we all looking back at us go, yes.

So the next one-liner.

Stand up, pick up your mat and go home.

And he gave us a forerunner of this statement.

He said, To prove to you the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins, which is easier to say?

Your sins are forgiven, or to what to stand up and walk?

He turns to the man and says, Stand up, pick up your mat and go home.

And he stands up, rolls up his mat, and walks out in front of all the mouths that are a gap.

And yes, some are furious, and others are going, Who is this that even forgives sins?

Church, Jesus knows what we're going through, and he knows what we need.

If our answers to prayers haven't come immediately, it's only because he's wise enough to know there's a few other pieces of our life and other people that have to get connected first.

You can trust the Lord.

Here's another one.

Don't be afraid, from now on you'll be fishing for people.

When did he say that?

Yeah, Simon Peter, the fisherman.

They fished all night.

They hadn't caught anything.

This is the start of the disciples' ministry with him.

They fished all night, classic time to fish in the heat of the Sea of Galilee.

They didn't get anything.

They're cleaning up their nets.

Jesus tells them to push out and, you know, that whole thing.

Nets are filled with fish.

Peter realizes what's happened.

He falls to his knees before Jesus and says, Depart from me, I'm a sinner.

And Jesus doesn't say, Yeah, let's go through all of those sins, Simon.

He doesn't do that.

He says, Hey, don't be afraid.

Come on.

From now on, you'll be fishing for men.

Do you get it?

We so often want to cling to our past.

And Jesus says, Come on, I've got a big future for you.

I've got a purpose you can't begin to imagine.

But I need you to take seriously.

Don't be afraid.

I've got a bigger plan for you than you can even see.

Come follow me.

Whoa.

How's that for a discerning statement?

And when Jesus, when Peter got up from his knees and walked with Jesus, the world will never be the same.

That on every culture, 2,000 years later, people know who Simon Peter is and the message he had about our Savior.

You understand, God's always got a much bigger plan for your life than we do.

Always.

I could, I can I can see you today.

I could call out some of you, and you you know that's true, don't you?

You know that's true, don't you?

He's got a bigger plan for you than you can imagine.

Okay, here's another one.

He said, I'm the vine, you are the branches.

When did he say that?

Yes, when?

Yeah, that's right.

In the Gospel of John, upper Rome, last night of his life.

Just this is the inner circle.

This is the guys who've been with him for three years now.

He says, guys, you need to start understanding even more this relationship we have.

I'm the vine, you're just the branches.

Oh.

He goes on and says, Abide in me, I in you.

But this is this is kind of the one that often people have to cling to.

It's actually where we got the name for our ministry in India.

We call it his branches.

We're just the branches.

And and this is one, folks, I want to encourage all of you.

This is one to wrestle with.

If you want an impact in life and want to live a life that is pleasing to God, recognize this one.

He's the vine, we're just the branches.

It's never about us.

Make sense?

Okay.

Here's another one.

It is finished.

How's that for a discerning one-liner?

When did he say that?

On the cross.

He's dying for us.

And as he already admitted, he's not gonna invoke 10,000 angels to come and set him free.

He's paying the price for you and me.

And we can't add anything to make right our relationship with God.

It's all been paid for by Jesus.

You are free.

You are forgiven.

You are alive because the work of saving your life is done.

It is finished.

Now, sure, the rest of our lives, we might have to wrestle with that.

What does that mean?

How do I live my life?

How does it change?

Yes, that's a growing process, of course.

But to risk believing that you're loved that much, and it comes from a one-liner, the last words of Jesus in his earthly life, it is finished.

Discerning Lord, discerning teacher.

Here's another one.

Don't be afraid.

Go tell my brothers.

Actually, the first goes on, go tell my brothers I go before them to Galilee.

When did he tell someone, don't be afraid?

Yeah, that's right.

Mary at the tomb on Resurrection Sunday.

You can imagine all the questions she has, all the things he could say to her.

What does he say again?

Don't be afraid.

Stop being afraid of everything in life.

It does you no good.

That's our flesh that responds in that way.

In the spirit, our spirit life, we have something else.

If we begin getting anxious, we're told, pray, give it to the Lord, receive his peace.

He says, Yeah, I've got something for you.

Go tell my brothers.

Isn't it wonderful he told the first people he told about his resurrection was a woman.

Go tell my brothers I go before them.

A little sidebar here.

This is the first time he refers to us as brothers or brothers and sisters, if you prefer.

Never does he refer to his disciples as brothers until he separates that which divides us from the Father, our sin.

Once he removes the stumbling block, we're back to God's family again.

In a way we haven't been since the days of Adam and Eve.

We are the family of God because Jesus has paid the price and removed the stumbling block.

So, my brothers and sisters, this is another big one.

A one-liner from Jesus that's meant for all of us.

We don't have to be afraid of anything we face in life.

Whether we're facing Atlanta traffic or flying around the world to Uganda to do a medical mission work.

Don't be afraid.

I go before them.

Finally, one that is rather significant.

He says, Peace be with you.

There's a very specific time I'm thinking about with this one.

Anyone want to guess in the flow of Jesus' life?

It was so significant, he repeated himself because they didn't get it the first time.

Yeah, Jesus comes to the disciples.

I'm gonna have to just throw you my wallet, I think, because that you're you got all the answers, that's right.

Um Jesus has risen from the dead.

The disciples are locked behind doors for fear of the Jews.

Jesus appears in bodily form in their midst and says, Peace be with you.

They aren't able to receive peace at all.

They are in a panic and ready to run out of the room, as we all would be.

This is clearly a ghost.

We've got to get out of here.

Let's run, but he's standing between us and the door.

So he says again, peace be with you.

Isn't this one for us?

Peace be with you.

Stop being so troubled and anxious about finances, politics, job, family dynamics.

Should I keep going?

Peace be with you.

The discerning king of the universe speaks that to us in the spirit.

And yes, we speak that in the spirit to others.

No, I've got an extra credit one for you.

Some of you did real well on this, some of them study the Bible a little more, maybe.

But uh, I've got another one for you.

Uh don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to.

Anybody get that one?

Justin.

No, not Justin, Fred.

I was just starting seminary.

This was decades ago.

I was feeling really good about myself.

I had made the decision to serve Jesus.

I resigned my commission from the Navy.

I was there in front of some of the best professors that I understood there were on the planet.

I'm being taught all the things that I needed to know about serving the Lord.

And that thought that comes out of nowhere, that still small voice, and you go, I wonder where that came from.

I wonder what that means.

The thought came to mind, Romans 12.3, and I went, I wonder what Romans 12.3 is.

So I reached down, even as the professor is still teaching all the wisdom that he had to teach.

I reached down underneath my seat, grab my Bible, and open up to Romans 12.3, and it says, Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.

And I went, Oh Lord, I'm so sorry.

May I never do this again?

And obviously it's meant a lot because that was over 40 years ago.

You see, one-liners that come from the Lord are so discerning that they will change your life if you don't run away.

I could give you 20, 30 more that Jesus gives us.

Do you remember, even we had it a few months ago, uh, when after Peter is denied Jesus three times and he's crucified, then he is risen from the dead.

Peter goes off with his uh the friends to fish.

Jesus is already preparing fish for them.

Do you remember after the resurrection?

And Jesus says, Hey Pete, let's take a walk.

What does Jesus say?

Does he remind him of all of his sins?

No, he just says, Peter, do you love me?

That's all he asks.

Do you love me?

Jesus will do that with you.

If you're listening in the Spirit.

Whatever you need to hear, if you give him a chance and are quiet enough to hear, the Spirit will speak to you.

And if you don't run away, you're gonna find how loved you are, how precious you are to the King of the universe, how glorious is his love and purposes for you.

It's truly amazing.

Truly amazing.

And there's no one, because his character doesn't change, there's no one in his kingdom that's more important than anybody else.

We're all the same.

The message comes out to all of us.

None of us are worthy.

But he said we're welcome through his love.

There's a lot of one-liners that I like to use, ones that have helped me a lot, like Life Needs a Small Rearview Mirror.

I like using that one.

Which side of the cross are you on?

Good Friday or Resurrection?

I've used that one up here before.

See, one-liners can give us the strength.

My dad always used to say when he was with us, this too shall pass.

Whenever we kids would go to dad and complain about how horrible life was and how much we were struggling, he'd just say, This too shall pass.

And we get upset and walk away and wonder why he didn't listen to us and be more compassionate.

But then we'd realize that's what we wanted to retain.

Not the trouble, but the confidence to keep going, to not give up, to trust that God knew what he was doing.

So let's look again at the six.

What we've learned that Justin has been teaching us over the last six weeks.

Jesus is interruptible.

He's never too busy to minister.

And that's probably something we need to pay attention to if we're living in his kingdom.

We probably ought to increasingly try to be interruptible.

Jesus is also resourceful.

He's never overwhelmed with our troubles.

He's always got an answer.

And we probably need to be a bit more resourceful as well.

That is, get help when you're facing a problem.

Don't presume you can figure it out on your own.

Maybe the small things you can.

But see, that's part of the American bubble that we're in, that we're supposed to figure it out on our own.

And the kingdom of God is not about alone people at all.

It's about we always are working together.

Always working with others.

All we do need to do is ask.

And find the people that might have the answer we need.

And we need to be that for others.

That Jesus is surprising, and hopefully we will be surprising as well.

Because we've been blessed to be a blessing.

You understand that, right?

Back to the Abrahamic promise.

We've been blessed because we've been forgiven and given the Holy Spirit so we can be discerning as well.

We've been blessed so we can be a blessing to others.

That's how it works.

We don't have to create anything, we don't have to give people stuff we don't have.

He gives what we have, and we then bless others.

Resourceful.

Surprising.

And not religious.

We need to stop telling everybody that their relationship with the Lord is based on what they do today.

Well, maybe.

Yeah, come to church, listen online, have some prayer.

But trust it's about the relationship with our Lord Jesus.

Yes, we can be compassionate.

Yes, we can always be in love.

But recognize it always has to be with truth.

In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul writes, speaking the truth in love, were to grow into every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Truth and love always have to be together.

You see, if we try to speak truth, but there's no love, it comes across like a hammer.

It's exactly what we hear all the time with politicians.

They try to speak truth as they perceive it, but it's without love, and it comes across like a hammer.

It's like they're always trying to beat up somebody.

But love without truth is just six sentimentality, isn't it?

But when, like Jesus, those go together.

Truth and love?

So how do we address people that are very different from us?

We first pray for them and love them.

And then just maybe we can ask a question or share a one-liner or share some truth that might help.

Might help.

But pray first.

Not judge first, not condemn first, not tell them they're stupid.

No, we don't use it.

That's not part of our vocabulary anymore, is it?

Truth and love.

Truth and love.

It's lots of process, isn't it?

So what I encourage you to do is just pick up one of the one-liners that you've heard today and ask the Lord, Lord, is this for me?

Is this one aspect of walking with you that I need to pay attention to?

Is it that I stop being afraid?

That I live in peace?

That I accept your forgiveness?

Jesus is always speaking to us in the spirit.

I had a team, I listened to a team of prophets out of Scotland years ago, and they were teaching us, pastors here in Cherokee, that most people just want to hear a word from the Lord.

And what we forget is He's always speaking to us.

It's like the internet, though.

We've got to pick what app we want to use.

We've got to turn the others off.

We've got to take the time to be listening and seeing what he's saying to us.

And like with Peter and Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well, and Mary and all the disciples, and many of us in this room.

The willingness to listen to the discerning voice of Jesus changes our lives.

And we will be engaged in things we couldn't begin to ask or imagine.

Make sense?

God bless you all.

And yeah, let's let's let's journey with Him together.

And now let's break the bread together.

We always celebrate communion together, the Lord's Supper.

If you don't have it, please go get it.

And uh they're in the baskets in the back.

Maybe this is most profound because he speaks so simply.

Jesus says, This is my body, this is my blood.

Well we have to do is wrestle with that.

Does that what does that actually mean?

What does it mean to you?

What does it mean in the spirit to each of us?

And if you're not sure, take the class.

Let's pray.

Father, you are so loving, you were so discerning as you reveal through your Son.

It's amazing to even consider.

But we pray you would awaken the Spirit within us that we would understand this simple gift of your body for us.

Bless it, that it would be life in Jesus' name.

And now the Jews, blessed and holy one.

We know that you paid the price for us by shedding your blood.

And you spoke before that faithful moment and said, This is my blood.

May it be so, Lord, that we would know we are forgiven and made due.

Bless this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So, Father, we thank you for this holy time.

We pray that you would write in our hearts and minds that which your spirit would have us learn.

In Jesus' holy name.

Amen.