Amazed But Not Affected - 10/18/26 - Meadows Baptist Church - Pastor Charlie Branch

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Meadows Baptist Church of Walnut Cove,

North Carolina.

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Now, let's join Pastor Charlie [music]

Branch

with a word from God.

>> Hey, man. Take God's word this morning.

Turn with me to Mark's Gospel chapter 6.

Mark's Gospel chapter number 6.

Thank you for being in the house of the

Lord. And I'm glad to be saved. Amen.

Mark's Gospel chapter 6. You find your

place. If you would, stand

in honor and reverence to the reading of

God's word.

Mark's Gospel chapter 6.

Try to give to you what the Lord has

laid on our heart this morning.

Bible says in verse number 1,

"And he went out from thence." Speaking

of Jesus.

"And came into his own country."

"And his disciples follow him."

"When the Sabbath day was come, he began

to teach in the synagogue."

"Many hearing him were astonished."

"Saying, 'From whence hath this man

these things? And what wisdom is this

which is given unto him?

That even such mighty works that are

wrought are wrought by his hands? Is not

this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the

brother of James and Joses, and of Juda

and Simon? And are not his sisters here

with us?'"

"And they were offended at him."

"But Jesus said unto them,

'A prophet is not without honor,

but in his own country,

and among his own kin,

and in his own house.'"

"And he could there do no mighty work,

save that he laid his hands upon a few

sick folk,

and healed them."

"And he marveled because of their

And he went round about the villages

teaching.

Father,

I come before you this morning and I ask

humbly for your help.

God, I realize, Father, that we

desperately need you.

God, we can do nothing without you.

And Lord, I don't want this to be just

another social gathering.

Lord, I don't want us to sit in here and

fall asleep, God, at the preaching of

your word, but Lord, I pray

God, today that you'd give us an

attentive ear.

Lord, I pray, God, that you'd fill your

servant, Lord, this morning with thy

spirit. Give me unction and liberty, I

pray.

God, I realize, Father, the need of this

hour, Father, is greater than our mind

could ever understand. And Lord, I pray,

please, God, that you would help us.

God, that you would rend the heavens,

Lord, that you would come down and meet

with us this morning. God, that you

would get glory that is deserved to your

name. God, I pray, Father, for this

text, Lord, you've given me to preach

this morning. God, that you would help

me to expound it properly. I pray, God,

you'd help me to apply it, Father,

principally in our lives, God, that we

might benefit from it this morning. And

God, I pray, Father, this morning that

each heart would receive help from the

word of God. Clothe us in our calling

and hide us behind the cross. Help us to

receive with meekness the engrafted word

this morning. Lord, we sure love you.

Thank you, God, for what you've done.

Thank you for what you're going to do,

but Lord, we thank you most of all for

who you are. And Lord, we ask you,

Father, in Jesus' name, please to help

us now. We give you all the praise,

honor, and glory. We ask it in Jesus'

name again. Amen.

You can be seated. Thank you

for standing this morning.

Mark's Gospel chapter number six begins

a unique portion of our Lord's ministry.

It is this chapter, as well as the

emphasis of Matthew chapter number 10,

that he is going to send out his 12

disciples. We notice that later on in

this chapter in verse number seven that

he called unto him the 12. But it's

interesting to me what seemingly in this

text spurns his emphasis on sending out

these men in verse number seven of this

chapter is his rejection in verses one

through six of this chapter. And I want

to share with you this morning out of

this text a thought the Lord laid on my

heart. You notice in verse number two,

there's a there's a phrase that's

mentioned in verse two. It says, "When

the Sabbath day was come, he began to

teach in the synagogue and many hearing

him were astonished." And then you

notice in verse number five, the Bible

says, "And he could do he could there do

no mighty work."

And I read that and I thought in my

mind, I was like, "Man, what a paradox."

What a what a troubling fact that these

people were amazed by Jesus,

but they were not affected by him.

And I want to preach on that thought for

just a little while this morning on

amazed, but not affected.

Amazed, but not affected. You see, this

is where I believe much of the church in

this day and time is. We've lost our

wonder.

We've lost our desire. And I want to say

this, the truth is that those of us who

are amazed, those of us who still glory

in all that Jesus has done, all that he

is, and the power that he has exhibited

in our life, and we we've seen HIS

PRESENCE, WE'VE WATCHED HIM MOVE, and

we've enjoyed his goodness in our life.

Though we are amazed by him, so many

times we are completely unaffected

by him.

Let me ask you a real sobering question.

When's the last time you heard a sermon

and thought, "Man, I've really got to

change something in my life?"

You see, I the the truth is in my life,

every time that I open this book, it

reminds me that I've got a long ways to

go.

But the fact of the matter is in all of

our lives this morning, if we've gotten

to a place where we can say, "Wow, that

was great preaching," but without

saying, "Man, I really need some help."

You say, "Preacher,

how is that?" Well, the truth is

preaching's really not as good as we

think it is if it doesn't cause us to

change.

And I'd much rather people walk out of

this church silent

and not say anything good about my

preaching,

but it do something in your life

and make a difference

than you ever tell me I did a good job

preaching.

And you say, "Preacher, what are you

saying all that for?" Well, I'm reminded

in this text that this is Jesus.

You say, "What do you mean?" Well, that

comforts me a little bit.

Cuz I know that if he could preach

and he could teach

and people said, "Man, that's amazing."

But they were completely unaffected by

it, that sort of changes my perspective.

You say, "What do you mean?" Well, let's

notice a few things by way of

introduction this morning. I believe the

Lord's orchestrated this service just

for this reason. I hope that this

message is sobering this morning and I

hope that God will establish in our

hearts the truth of his word that it is

not meant just to challenge us, but it

is meant to change us continually. We

ought to ever be moving forward. We

ought to ever be moving closer. We ought

to ever be drawing nearer to Jesus and

as we draw near we should be more like

he is. I notice in our text just a few

things by way of introduction. I see

Jesus is home in verse number one. You

say, "What do you mean?" Well, notice

what the Bible says, "And he went out

from thence and came into his own

country. And his disciples follow him."

Now, we know Jesus, we think about his

nativity, he was born there in Bethlehem

and just shortly thereafter he was born

just a few days they would journey there

from Bethlehem, the place of his birth,

to Nazareth and that is where they have

come to in this text. They are in

Nazareth where Jesus was reared by his

earthly father Joseph and his mother

Mary in the text and Jesus has come

home. Now, this is not the first time

that Jesus has come home. The first time

that he came home, Jesus was met with a

very disagreeable group of people. And

matter of fact, they wanted to kill him

when he went there last time. But Jesus

decides decides in this text that he's

going to go back because we know that he

come to seek and to save that which was

lost. Somebody say amen. And so where

there were lost people, Jesus was going

to be found. And I notice in this text,

the Bible says that he has come home.

And we notice not only Jesus home in the

text, but we notice the Jews hearing in

verse number two. The Bible says, "And

when the Sabbath day was come, he began

to teach in the synagogue. And many

hearing him were astonished." So Jesus

has come home. And in the culture in

this time period, these synagogues were

present in almost every city. No doubt

Nazareth it had a synagogue and all the

locals would be there for the hearing of

the word of God. And as his custom was,

he's come back and he begins to teach.

And no men would doubt the the the the

divine nature of his teaching. Rabbi

Nicodemus said it this way in John in

chapter number three. He said, "Rabbi,

we know that thou art a teacher sent

from God." They knew clearly who Jesus

was and all that he could do and had

done. And what I see in this text is

that they are hearing his word. And I

want to say this, there's nobody that

ever heard the word of Jesus and wasn't

amazed.

Amen. When Jesus preached, amen, and he

gave his message, amen, this text he's

proclaiming the message of the kingdom.

There's been such a difference that he's

preaching here in this chapter. He's

expressing to them things that they have

never seen before. You say, "How is

that?" Well, notice in the hearing.

Notice the descent that they mention in

verse two. "And many hearing him were

astonished saying, From whence hath this

man these things?" They're saying, "Man,

where is this coming from?"

You ever heard something preached like

that? Sometimes that's good, but

sometimes it's bad. Amen. I don't know

where that preacher got that. Amen. But

they sometimes, man, you hear something

and you say, "Man, man, I've never heard

that before."

You know what is fresh? Isn't it? Thing

about Jesus, he puts the emphasis on the

scriptures that none of the rabbis had

ever seen before.

It was descent from somewhere other than

they had been. Amen. But I noticed this,

not only the descent of his word, from

whence hath this man these things? Where

did it come from? But I noticed the

difference. Notice what he says. And

what wisdom is this which is given unto

him? He's telling them things about the

scriptures that they don't even know how

to reconcile.

They don't even know how to comprehend

it. You say, "How is that, preacher?"

Well, they didn't have the Holy Ghost

inspiring their preaching. Amen. They

didn't have a rabbi filled with the

spirit of God to give them the word of

God. But when Jesus gave them the truth,

man, there was something different about

it. And boy, don't you thank God for the

night that you got saved when that

gospel for the first time, amen. It

wasn't just the same old story. If you

was like me, you'd heard it all your

life. But that night there was something

different about it. Amen. Hey friend,

WHERE DID THAT WISDOM come from? Man,

I'm telling you when God pointed his

finger into my heart and revealed to me

I was lost, man, I knew there was

something different about it because it

had COME TO WHERE I WAS AT. AMEN. And

you know what? That's what happens when

conviction settles in. That message,

amen, that seemed mediocre and general

to you before, that gospel message that

YOU'D HEARD TIME AND TIME AGAIN, that

night God pointed you out. Amen. Zeroed

in on you. And Jesus did that very same

thing to them that day. The message was

different to them. But I want to say

this, it was different because it was

divine. Amen. Look what he says. And

what wisdom is this which is given unto

him, that even such mighty works are

wrought by his hands.

No doubt these people had heard all that

Jesus had done.

They had heard how that he had healed

the sick. They'd heard how he made the

blind see. They'd heard that his family

had heard the fame of him.

But the truth is we find even though

he's home and

they're hearing what he has to say,

we're finding that he's hindered.

Say, "What do you mean?" Well, notice

verse five again.

And he could there do no mighty work.

Now, you see I'm interested in that

thought because the truth is they were

hearing Jesus.

And just like you this morning, we come

in week in and week out and we hear the

word of God.

But how many of us have been changed?

How many of us have seen a miracle?

How many of us have seen growth in our

lives

that's different or out of the ordinary?

You know what I'm sick of?

I'm sick of seeing normal Christianity.

Cuz you know what normal Christianity

is? It's not normal Christianity.

You say, "Preacher, what in the world do

you mean by that?" Well, I'm talking

about American Christianity.

Lazy, apathetic, complacent, not

interested in doing anything. I'm

talking about what we have deemed as

normal. We hear the word

and we're amazed by it.

But we walk out the church exact same

way we came in. You say, "Preacher, how

is that?" Well, I want to give you three

things this morning and I'll be done. In

this text, you say, "What What do you

mean they were amazed but not affected?"

Well, when you look up that word

astonished in this text, you look it up

in your Webster's dictionary, it means

literally the first definition of it is

to fear.

And when I read that, I thought to

myself, "Man, I don't think of amazement

as being afraid." But you know what? In

this text, the imagery here is is that

when they heard what Jesus said, it was

so different from what they had heard

before that it scared them.

I think the number one reason our church

is in this day and time, we're amazed at

the preaching, we're amazed at the

singing, we're amazed AT WHAT'S GOING ON

in the house of God, but it never gets

outside the doors. Number one, I believe

it's because of fear.

You say, "What do you mean?" Well, we

hear what it can do and we see through

THE EYE OF FAITH WHAT IT CAN DO, but

we're afraid to actually put feet

to those facts.

You say, "What do you mean?" Well, I'm

saying we believe it or we say we do,

but the truth is we are not employing

the truths that we say we believe. You

say, "What is that?" Well, we say we

believe that Jesus died for the whole

world.

What are we doing to reach the world?

You say, "What do you mean?" Well, we're

afraid of what it might cost us.

You see, these people knew Jesus. And

I'll give you this this morning, this

message going to move quickly. You see,

they were afraid of his sayings. Notice

that. When they in many hearing him were

astonished. But I want to remind you,

they've not seen Jesus do anything.

Notice it in the text. It says, "He

could do there no mighty work."

So, they didn't see him do anything.

They were just afraid by what he said. I

think majority of the church in this day

and time is afraid when real biblical

preaching is set forth.

They're afraid of the cost.

They're afraid of what the cross might

look like.

Your cross is not your sickness.

I I love you this morning. Your cross is

not your bad relationship.

You see, your cross is something

that Jesus places on you. And what did

we talk about last week?

Every good gift, every perfect gift.

Romans 8:28, we know that all things

Romans 8:28

work together for good. If it's good in

our life, if it's from him, it must be

righteous.

And we know that he gives us his cross.

Jesus said Matthew 16:24, "If any man

Matthew 16:24

will come after me, let him deny

himself, take up his cross." Who is that

cross designated from? It's designated

from Christ for you.

So, Jesus, your cross is this, it is

your service to him.

And so, we are afraid

what it might cost us. We're afraid of

the cross that we would have to bear.

We're afraid of the comfort that we

would lose.

Say, "What do you mean?" Well,

Christianity is going to cost us

a lot of our American niceness

that we've become so accustomed to.

The the blessings, you know, we're

driving the $120,000 car with the tag

that says blessed on the front of it.

So, you get one to say it. I'm saying

when we get invested, the truth is it's

going to cost us some things.

Say, preacher, is that not hitting you?

It's hitting me all over. Truth is it

hits all of us, doesn't it?

I I would say that people are amazed but

not affected because we're afraid.

We have fear about what's being said. We

know the truth. Amen. He said the truth

shall make you free. We know the truth.

Why does the truth not make us free?

It's cuz we're not applying it.

They were afraid They were They were

fearing what he said. Notice this second

of all, not only they feared what he

said,

I think their second problem I think our

second problem this morning we could say

is not fear, you know, and we're amazed

but not affected because we're afraid,

but we're also amazed but not affected

because of familiarity.

Say, what do you mean?

Well, notice the text, verse number

three.

What did they say about Jesus? Is not

this the carpenter,

the son of Mary,

the brother of James and Joses and of

Juda and Simon? You see, Jesus has come

home.

He's come to where he spent 30 years of

his life.

This is where Joseph and Mary raised

him. This is where Joseph, obviously

according to the text, trained him to be

a carpenter. This is where Jesus himself

got a reputation of being a carpenter.

Notice that, is not this the carpenter.

Doesn't say the son of the carpenter.

Said, is not this the carpenter?

Jesus has a reputation of being a

working man. I want to say that's a good

reputation. Amen. But he was a lot more

than that.

Is not this the carpenter? You say, what

does that illustrate? Well, notice this.

What they're saying about Jesus is You

see, the Jews were all about schooling.

Now,

I want to say this for for preaching

this morning. I'm I'm all for schooling.

Need a lot more of it myself. Amen. But

I want to say this, we can never learn

too much of the word of God. Let me ask

you something. Did Jesus need any

teaching?

You see, the Jews, this local town, this

local synagogue, the imagery here, you

know, I one writer he was animating it

very well and he was talking about the

local butcher and the local bricklayer

and all the different things were there

at the synagogue, you know, and they had

heard the the priests that were trained

at the school of the rabbis.

Jesus didn't have any formal training.

He was there preaching. They're like,

man, we've never heard nothing like

this.

We've never heard any of those priests

down there with the degrees at the end

of their name

as long as, you know, a mile.

We've never heard them say anything like

that. Matter of fact, they all say the

same thing.

But Jesus comes in here, man, he's

saying stuff we've never heard. We just

don't know if we can trust that.

You say, what do you mean? I'm saying

they were familiar with this person, so

it hindered them

from seeing his power

in his preaching. They're saying, what

what does this boy know?

He don't have any schooling.

Notice that. Notice how they labeled

him. Is not this the carpenter? Yeah,

he's teaching the word of God to them,

but they didn't see him as an instructor

in the word of God. They saw him as just

somebody that they were around every

day.

And you know what that illustrates to us

the familiarity we cannot allow our

familiarity to the truth cuz we live in

the Bible Belt.

We know it inside and out, backwards and

forwards. I was thinking this morning I

was teaching on the rapture. I'm

thinking, man, everybody knows this

stuff what I'm talking about. I don't

need to talk about that. But the truth

is this morning our familiarity should

not hinder us from hearing the word of

God.

Hindered them.

You say, what do you mean? Well, there's

no schooling involved. They say, well,

Jesus didn't He He didn't go to the

school the divine school of Jerusalem

and get his doctorate's degree of

theology, amen.

I'm going to say this, it didn't only

say that there was no schooling, I also

said he's just nothing special.

What do you mean? You say, well, notice

it again in verse three. Is not this the

carpenter?

Carpenter, that's just a

normal old guy.

He's just like us.

You say, well, do you mean about that no

schooling?" Well, let's look back at

that again. I I don't want you to miss

this, okay? You say, "I don't I don't

see that in the carpenter." Well, notice

in verse two.

He said, "Many hearing him were

astonished, saying, 'From whence hath

this man these things?'" If he didn't go

to the school, where did he get taught

at that?

Where did he get this from?

He's just the carpenter. He's nothing

special.

We've watched him grow up. He's no

different than any of us. Notice this.

Not only there's no schooling and

there's nothing special, but think about

this, the near supposition of the text,

verse three, "Is not this the

carpenter?" What's the next phrase?

The son of Mary.

What did the Jews say about Jesus? That

he was born of what?

Fornication.

They all thought that Jesus, you know,

Oh, yeah.

That Mary down there,

she says her and Joseph hadn't ever done

anything, but Jesus just somehow

magically appeared.

And the whole neighborhood thought, you

know, well,

he's just like us. They're just sinners

just like us. You know what? They didn't

believe that.

Let me tell you something. You say, "How

does that fit with us?" Well, that's the

way the world looks at us.

>> That's right.

>> Especially when we live the way they do

out there.

>> Amen.

Amen.

>> They just say, "Well, if that's what

Christians are like, man, I'm

Let me bring you over into our arena,

though.

God really don't expect that of me.

He understands.

Man, church people say that week in and

week out. I think God set this service

up just like this for a reason. We We

say things like, "Well, the Lord's

merciful. There His mercies are new

every morning." And we'll praise Him and

thank Him for His mercies, but

when's the last time you thanked Him for

His correction?

>> Amen.

>> You see,

it's not the schooling, it's not Jesus

was more than school.

Matter of fact, He's the one that wrote

it down.

>> That's right.

>> What they were learning anyway, and

they'd messed it up themselves.

Not only that, he was beyond special.

And he was completely sinless in spite

of their suppositions.

You see, not only the near supposition,

but these known siblings that are

mentioned in verse three.

He says, "Is not this the carpenter, the

son of Mary, the brother of James and

Joses and Judah and Simon? And are not

his sisters here with us?"

They're all at the synagogue and Jesus'

sisters are there. Said history Jesus

had at least four brothers,

half-brothers, and two sisters. They're

saying, "Man, his sisters are right

there. Where did he come from?

They They grew up right here, right

around our feet."

You say, "Preacher, I still don't get

where you're going with this." Well, I'm

talking about familiarity.

We We We treat the Bible like it's a

storybook

from when we were kids.

You see, that's the way they viewed

Jesus.

They viewed him as just another little

feller they'd watch grow up under their

feet, just, you know, another

businessman now.

Let me say that book right there is

live.

>> Right.

>> And the way that you view that book

tells me the way that you view life.

Just because you know it I've And I Why

Why do I hear this excuse all the time?

"Man, preacher, I've read my Bible

through

time and time again."

You ask them about something, "Well, I

ain't never heard that."

Something don't connect somewhere.

Our seeming familiarity.

You say, "What do you mean seeming

familiarity?" Well, they thought they

knew Jesus.

But clearly they didn't know him at all,

did they?

The truth is we think we got it figured

out.

These people thought they had Jesus

figured out.

But you know what? They didn't know a

thing about him.

You know what'll be the best day in your

life? When you realize you don't know

nothing about him.

What you think you know, go back and

read it over again. You know what you'll

find out? There's a lot more to it than

you thought you knew before.

Jesus, see, our familiarity, it seems as

though we know him. It seems AS THOUGH

WE OBEY HIM, BUT THE TRUTH IS WE DON'T

REALLY KNOW him as well as we say we do.

Cuz if we did, we'd live a lot

different.

THEY THOUGHT THEY KNEW JESUS, but it was

manifested in their life that they

really didn't know him.

They were amazed, but they were not

affected. The truth is, if they knew

Jesus was God in the flesh, friend,

they'd have been kissing his feet.

They'd have been bowing before him. The

fact that, man, Jesus, you come to your

hometown to talk to us when you ought to

be preaching to the world. And you took

the time to come back here and speak to

us. BUT THE TRUTH IS, THEY DIDN'T EVEN

CARE.

Matter of fact, they just wished he'd

shut up.

Familiarity breeds contempt. Remember

that.

They feared his sayings. They were

familiar, it seemed.

They were amazed, but not affected.

Because of their fear, because of their

familiarity. And then,

I'll give you this, and kind of already

alluded to this, but I think it was his

family situation

that made them amazed, but not affected.

You say, preacher, you've done dealt

with that. Well, let me roll that over

into this day and time.

The church

is amazed by what the Lord does, but not

affected just cuz we've been burnt by

each other

so many times.

We don't trust anybody.

We don't have confidence in anybody. I'm

preaching real good right now.

You listening to me?

We love, but we love at a distance.

Then people looked at Jesus and said,

man, we know that crowd.

We know Joseph. We know we we we know

what Jesus has done. We He's a good

businessman.

And the truth is, we look at each other

just like we're expendable.

And the truth is, this culture's taught

us to be that way.

Instead of allowing ourselves to get

hurt, you know what we do? We put our

guards up.

And this is what breaks my heart about

this,

because I've done it.

You say, what do you mean? Why, as a

pastor, people have come through this

church, and I look at them, I say, man,

they ain't going to make it long.

And you know what? Before long, they

don't.

They're out.

And I'm not broken-hearted over

You say, "What are you trying to say?"

I'm saying I'm amazed

by the the fact that they would come,

but when they leave, I'm not affected by

it.

Jesus got them in here. What am I doing

to help them stay?

Let me ask you something about your

life.

What is your family sheet I'm not

talking about your family. I'm talking

about the church part.

How does people

feel about you?

Let me ask you this, how do you feel

about people? You got bitterness in your

heart towards somebody else? The reason

we're amazed, but not affected, is

because we'll hear a sermon, "Man, that

helped me, preacher." But as soon as we

we don't even get through the door and

we remember that one across the room

that we've got a grudge against.

We remember that one across the room

that

Well, they preacher, they don't like me.

They don't they don't talk to me.

Preacher, they're not kind.

Truth is, man that hath three ends must

show himself friendly. You know what

that puts the responsibility on you?

If you think somebody's got a problem

with you, you go to them and ask them.

Instead of walking around soaking in it.

This truth is right here, the reason

they were hindered by Jesus is because

of what they thought of his family. More

than likely, that person probably ain't

got no problem with you.

You say, "How does that roll over into

this text?" Well, let me show you

something right here and we'll be done,

all right? Jesus gives them a precept in

verse number four. Jesus said unto them,

"A prophet is not without honor, but in

his own country and among his own kin

and in his own house." You know what

happens?

People who have gotten saved and gotten

right with God and the Lord has done a

work in your life, but there are people

who cannot and will not forget your past

for nothing.

And what happens is is they allow that

to deter you from being

what you could be.

You say, "What do you mean?" I'm saying

it was their perception of Jesus

that kept Jesus from doing anything good

in their life.

Let me ask you something.

Is your perception of somebody else

keeping that person being a blessing to

you?

You say, "Preacher, but I thought this

is Jesus." No, I'm talking about the

church.

Jesus can't bless you if you got if you

locked up with somebody else.

Jesus, you see, they didn't they had a

problem not with Jesus, but with

everything around him.

You know what that represents to us?

People don't have a problem with what I

preach, they have a problem with

everything around what I preach.

How you act, how I act, what I say, what

you say, how we look out there.

Why I'd believe what you say if you live

it.

>> Amen.

>> I'd believe what you'd say if you would

actually express it to the world.

>> Amen.

>> But we don't do that.

Jesus wanted to, but he couldn't because

they wouldn't accept it.

Notice what happens in verse number

three.

They asked, "Is not this the carpenter,

the son of Mary, the brother of James

and Joseph, and of Judah and Simon? Are

not his sisters here with us?" And

what's this phrase? And they were what?

Offended at him.

You say, "What does that mean?" Well, it

doesn't mean that they were, you know,

like, "Jesus, you offended me." No,

that's not what that means. It means

that they stumbled at him.

Because they were too busy looking

around.

You know how to fix all your problems

with somebody else?

You look up.

Quit looking at them.

Quit looking at the problems encircling.

I don't know why this has been a

redundant thing, but it just seems to

keep coming up. Quit looking at what

encircle, what encompasses, and start

looking at what the main purpose is. I

mentioned that this morning about

covenant theology in Sunday school, and

that is a damnable heresy.

To say that the purpose of human life is

the is mankind's salvation.

God didn't have to save us.

He saved us so we could give him glory.

The purpose of our life and and your

life and mine is to give him glory and

that's it.

But that is where this stuff comes from.

Because men get it in their mind, women

get it in their mind that we're worth

more than we really are.

And the truth is we're not worth the

lead it would take to kill us.

What comes down to your life and mine is

this, if Jesus is going to work in our

life, we're going to have to get beyond

amazement.

He's amazing. What he does is amazing,

but if you want real fellowship, if you

want REAL MINISTRY AT MADISON BAPTIST

CHURCH, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GET

BEYOND AMAZEMENT.

And get to a place where we're actually

affected.

You say, "What does that mean?" Well, we

love him number one and we're

brokenhearted for sinners.

Notice what happens in this text. You

say, "Preacher, what does that look

like?" Well, their their fear kept them

the say their fear of his sayings, their

familiarity, it seemed their family

situation

kept them from being affected by his

preaching.

But this is what describes and I I I saw

this this morning when I was close

finishing studying this and I thought,

"Man, that is so true."

Look what happens in the text and this

is why churches are satisfied.

And I hope that you will not fall out

with me on this, but give me your ear.

You listening? Somebody say amen. You

listening?

Notice what happens.

Verse five, he could there do no mighty

work.

But you know what? Jesus is still able

to work. Isn't he?

He always gets something done. Look what

happens in verse five.

He could there do no mighty work save

that he laid his hands upon a few sick

folk and healed them.

Well, thank God for the healing power of

Jesus.

But you know what the symbolism of a

dead church is?

That all he does is heal the sick.

They didn't want his word.

All he did was go around to a few

people, a few select people, and help

them.

You know why this church don't have

revival, why people are not getting

saved by multitudes? It's because

there's only a select handful of people

that really wants God to do something.

Say, look look at it in the text. Said,

all he could do is just a few heal, lay

hands on a few sick folk. You know what?

That's personal. I believe there's

people in this church have revival.

Personal.

I feel like I'm getting to live in some

of it. I'm seeing the best days of my

life with my wife, and I praise God for

it. But, you know what grieves me to my

core?

Is to see people that are amazed by the

truth, but they have refused to allow

him to work.

I don't want to just see sick people get

well in our church.

And I want you to be well. If you're

sick, praise God, I want you to get

better. Get what I'm saying. That is not

the primary purpose of the church.

I know this is blunt, but man, I'm

trying to tell you.

Our prayer request time should not

primarily be people who are sick or

hurting or something like that.

I know that's

I'm not trying to be tasteless. I'm

trying to tell you the truth. When's the

last time we wept over a lost soul?

We're amazed, but not affected. MAN,

THANK GOD FOR HEALING ME OF CANCER. WHAT

ABOUT THE SINNERS THAT'S IN YOUR FAMILY

LOST AND DYING WITHOUT GOD? THEY'RE IN

WORSE SHAPE THAN YOUR CANCER WOULD EVER

HAD YOU. IF YOU DIED WITH IT, YOU GO TO

HEAVEN ANYWAY.

Notice it in the text.

He could there do no mighty work.

Say that he laid his hands upon a few

sick folk and healed them. You know

what? Jesus walked away from this town

doing what in verse six? He marveled

because of their unbelief.

He's working in this church. He's

working in this place. There are things

happening.

But, what he wanted to happen

wasn't happening.

Do you realize that Jesus wants more for

this place

than just us coming in and

giving our prayer request,

getting on an altar and praying a

generic prayer,

asking God to heal them and and we've

seen him do it. I and I praise his name

for it. I'm not trying to belittle that,

but that's not the purpose.

How long's it been since we seen

somebody get saved?

Let me ask you, how long's it been since

you had a burden for somebody to get

saved?

What kept them from seeing

His word was that they were really

afraid of what's being said. And I've

seen it on your faces.

I've seen it, man. I preached stuff from

this book about trying to win people to

God and trying to live clean and holy

and I see the fear in your eyes.

I'm not trying to be ugly, but it's a

fearful thing. I get that. Say,

"Preacher, that's something we've never

done." Well, I I heard one man say it

this way. Let me tell you, if you're

going to see things you haven't saw,

you're going to have to do things you

haven't done.

They were afraid. Man, where did he get

those words at? I'm

They were afraid of what he said, but

they were just familiar.

They allowed what they thought they were

familiar with to keep them with who they

needed to be now from more familiar to.

Jesus took time to be with them,

but they did not allow Jesus to affect

them.

Would you all agree that we've Jesus has

took time to meet with us?

We have seen him move in this place

in mighty ways,

but I really believe the reason people

are getting not getting saved here is

because we're amazed.

And we'll lift our hands and praise his

name,

but we're really not affected.

Say, "What do you mean?" Well, it's the

family situation.

We've got so much trouble.

And I want to tell you this, I know more

about than any of y'all do.

I'm the pastor.

Sure we've had trouble.

You know what? I've been guilty.

I admit this to you first. I've been

guilty. I've

of allowing it to keep me from being

affected.

I thought, man,

I've been through all this, man. I

deserve to just sit back a little bit.

Don't look down at me.

You felt that way.

We go through all this junk and we

think, man, I just really I don't want

to do this again.

Cuz the family situation.

You know what? Them people that get out

of sorts with us, most of them probably

saved, too.

Some of them aren't.

But most of them probably are.

And you know what happens if we if we

allow that to get us out of fellowship?

You know what we've done?

We'll come in here and we'll be amazed.

But nothing's different.

You know what? I need to change.

You need to change.

We need revival.

I don't want him to just do a few

things.

I don't want him to just do, you know, I

don't want my I don't want when my

babies get older,

I don't want to wait

five or six years, seven years and and

they get saved.

I don't want to wait until they get

saved before any other young people get

saved.

I don't want to say, well, they're

saved, we're all right.

I don't want to say that.

I want to see other young ones get

saved.

And so when they're ready, all these

other young ones around them can show

them.

I don't want it to just be my four and

no more.

I don't want it to be us and nobody

else.

The only way that's going to happen is

if we get past amazement

and start actually applying

what the truth is

and putting it to work.

You say, what happened? Well,

he healed a few sick

But don't we believe

that what really matters about us is not

what people say?

It's not what we say about ourselves,

but what Jesus says about us?

Don't we believe that? Can I get a

witness? Don't we believe that more than

anything else what matters in our life

is not what anybody else says, but what

Jesus has to say?

And though he did some works there in

this town,

it says he marveled because of their

unbelief.

He could not understand.

Jesus understands everything.

But he looked at a crowd who would not

receive him

and said, "I just I can't understand."

Why?

How much more?

We have the Bible.

We have the Holy Ghost in our hearts.

They didn't have any of that.

Jesus looked at them. Wonder what I

wonder how he looks at us.

Child, I've given you my love and my

mercy and my forgiveness over and over

and over again.

But yet you you can't even find it in

your heart to forgive somebody else.

You can't even find it in your heart to

go to a center that Yeah, they spurned

you one time. Well, I'm kicking the dust

off my shoes and going on. That's what

Jesus said. And all that ain't what he

said.

He told his disciples that when he was

talking about the gospel of the kingdom.

You know how many times you go to

somebody that's lost? You go until they

get saved.

Because that's what Jesus did.

He went all the way to the cross.

>> [snorts]

>> And the truth about our life is

and I I

I was not intending this message to go

this way, but this what the Lord wants.

I want more than to be just amazed.

I want to be affected.

I want to be brokenhearted for sinners,

for families that fall apart. I want it

to break my heart not say, "I I you so."

I told you so.

Why Why does it not break our hearts?

God help us. Every head is bowed and

every eye is closed.

These altars are open. You can come this

morning.

Amazed, but not affected.

God help us.

I'll be the first to admit there's been

many days

where I felt "Lord, I just can't do

anymore.

I just can't handle somebody else

saying things. I I can't handle these

feelings, these emotions. Lord, I can't

handle it. I don't want to handle it.

I'm done with it."

And I've realized that

he'll still allow me to experience his

presence, and he'll still amaze me.

But that ain't getting the job done.

We need to be affected.

I want to ask you this morning. You say

"Preacher, I

Preacher, I admit

Preacher, I've struggled. I've been

hurt. Been hurt in church.

Preaching

I've watched God do some amazing things,

but preacher, I haven't been affected.

Hadn't changed me. I hadn't thought

after a sermon, man, I really need to

live differently.

Preacher, would you pray for me?

God help me.

Just be honest between you and God.

God sees that.

Anyone that helps, nobody's looking

around but me.

God sees those hands.

Truth is, about all our lives this

morning, we need more help than we could

ever admit.

Maybe you used to serve God. Maybe you

used to be faithful. Maybe you used to

be consistent.

And you could be counted on, but maybe

you've got to a place where

you're just not affected anymore.

I tell you he'll help you.

You see all of his brethren

there was a period in Jesus' life when

they rejected him, but

by the time it was said and done, his

half-brother James

wrote my favorite book in the Bible

telling us how that faith without works

is dead.

And he saw Jesus come to his hometown

and weep over those sinners that was

lost and give the gospel to them.

He saw that.

Rejected it, but after he ascended, boy,

James had a different story to tell.

Father,

Lord, would you help us today?

The heart I

I didn't expect it, Father, to turn to

the church as much as it did. Lord, I

and I appreciate that. I needed it.

>> [snorts]

>> But God, I also realize there's a world,

Father, that has an infatuation with

that name, Jesus, but Lord, they really

know nothing about it.

Lord, country singers and pop icons,

Lord, are

using it to make their millions cuz it's

somehow popular again in this country.

And God help us, Lord, it's because we

as the church have misrepresented your

name.

Lord, those worldly people think that

it's a name of prosperity and pleasure.

But God, you tell us that

there'll never be a crown until there's

a cross.

Lord, that there'll never be

rejoicing God until there's suffering.

And Lord, they want all of the

benefits of believing on without any of

the cost.

God, would you help us to represent you

well?

Lord, I'm thankful that you do save

sinners.

And God, they'll they'll you know,

they'll get in their circles and they'll

stand in their concerts and when the

name of Jesus is said, they'll shout and

try to be churchy.

But God, the truth is it ain't took them

off the bottle.

It ain't got them out of their

sexual immorality or off their drugs,

Lord.

That name ain't done anything for them.

They're familiar with it, Lord, but

they're really afraid of it.

God, would you help us to represent you

well?

And Lord, I pray for somebody here lost

this morning, God, that they would see

and know, Father, that we are serious.

It matters about this church.

Lord, that we want to be real

Christians.

God, I don't feel like, Father, that we

are ever what we should be.

God, I want to be closer to you today

than I was yesterday.

God, I don't want to come to church and

just come in to get out.

Lord, I want to come in to get in

and get help. Lord, I thank you for this

time. Thank you for the truth of the

word of God today

for helping us. So, we love you. We ask

it all in Jesus' name. God's children

say it.

Amen.

>> Thank you for joining our service today.

[music]

We'd love it if you join us in person

the next time you are able at Meadows

Baptist Church.

Our physical address is 2988

Stuart [music] Road in Walnut Cove,

North Carolina.

Our service times are Sunday school at

10:00 a.m., Sunday morning worship

[music] at 11:00 a.m., Sunday evening

worship at 6:00 p.m., and Wednesday

evening Bible study at 7:00 p.m.

For more information, visit us [music]

at meadowsbc.com.

Thanks again for tuning in.

>> [music]