Jesus the Messiah Pt 1

Morning. Good morning. Would you all stand? I want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel. I want to welcome those online joining us. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity again to come and worship you in song and to study your word. We give you praise and thanks. We thank you that we can look to you, the author and finisher of our faith. We thank you

for your love, your grace, your mercy, and your sovereignty, Lord. We come just as we are this morning, warts and all. We ask that you'd move in our hearts this morning, Lord, as we end the worship in song. Just by faith, we come to you this morning. We thank you for it. Praise how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. He was lost, was blind, but now

I see. He's that taught my heart to. My fears, his remains are gone. My Savior has ransomed secure. Along to you, your unfailing love. East and earth and sky is your God. You remain the holy one. You God of earth and sky is your. This God is your. It's so easy to. Sometimes get discouraged when you see all that's going on in the world. But we thank you that your

love is faith. You are doing a work, Lord. Nothing takes you by surprise. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Lord, I know as we contemplate all that's going on around the violence and rest, in spite of it, you're working, as we said, takes you by surprise. When it's all said and done, Lord, give me Jesus. May I trust you. I trust you, Lord, through it all. You can give me Jesus. Yes, Lord, to die. Believe it today. Give me Jesus. When all else fails, give me Jesus. Yahshua, Joshua, Messiah. Would you stand?

Take joy. Take joy, my King, in your. All the time, God is good. Father, continue. I want you to bless our service now as we worship you through the study of your word. Bless our time of fellowship. We thank you so much. Oh, I just lift up each this morning. Whatever may be going on in the heart, the gut-fillingness within each one that we would look to you, Lord. Trusting you, knowing that you are working in us both to will and do of your good pleasure. You've set us aside for you, Lord. You drew us.

By your Holy Spirit. And we give you thanks. In Jesus' name, amen. Have some fellowship.

Good morning. If you would, go ahead and locate your seats. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Glad you could be here this morning. It looks like the sun is shining now. That's good. It wasn't doing that for service. So, praise God for a little sunshine. Some things to take note of in your bulletin. Over on the left-hand side, all of the things are happening. So, pay attention to that. A couple of things that I want to talk about. I failed to get in there that are some weekly things, at least for this week, is that today is the first Sunday of the month, which means that that's our time for intercessory prayer.

From 6 o'clock to 7 o'clock down at the other end of the hallway in the agape room. So, if you can come out and join us for that. Lots of things to be praying about in our world, in our country right now. And then the other thing is that women's breakfast is this coming Saturday at Bricks at 8 o'clock. And then the things that I did remember to put into the bulletin.

Just a reminder that June 9th through the 11th, that's this coming Thursday through Saturday, is the Prophecy Conference up in Emporia. If you have a chance to check that out, it should be a good time. Also, a reminder that our Baptism Picnic and Family Swim Night is coming up June the 26th. We will meet at the Picnic Pavilion at Paris Park. I'm never going to get tired of that.

At 6 o'clock and we'll eat. And then at 7, when the pool closes to the public, we'll go over there and have our time of baptism as well as family swim time afterwards. If you've not been baptized and you would like to come talk to me about that, please see me after the service and I'm happy to visit with you about that. We'll deal with VBS in just one quick second because I'm going to have Aaron come up and announce something about that.

We have some opportunities to serve that are coming up. We need some servants in the following areas. We need some people in the cleaning ministry. And in the greeting ministry, you may not realize this, but beginning of the year-ish, I think, I talked to Elaine Phillips. I said, hey, we're getting some new folks here. And the ushers have an incredible amount of stuff that they do on a Sunday morning.

And I think they could use somebody to come alongside them to be able to point new people in the right direction. Have them fill out these little cards so that I know who the new folks are that have come. And so... So she has done a great job of heading up that ministry. But now that she's kind of gotten that going, she needs some help. So if you are interested in being one of those people, call it a greeting, hospitality, welcome ministry, whatever you want to call it.

Go see Elaine Phillips. Elaine, could you stand up and kind of wave at everybody? Because they need to see your pretty face. There it is. So go see Elaine and she can get you connected with that. And then we are needing some help in Sunday school and nursery ministries. At the current time, our Sunday school and nursery ministries are blowing up in a really positive way.

But there are lots of tiny people running around the entire church. You've probably taken note of that. And the Sunday school teachers are doing a phenomenal job. I think we have a really good group of Sunday school teachers. But they just need some help. They need help with, like, crowd control, taking kids to the bathroom. Hey, no, don't put that crayon in your mouth.

Stuff like that, you know? So you don't have to, like, necessarily plan lessons or anything. Like that. It's more just coming alongside to be a help. So if you're interested in helping out in any of those ministries, you can either talk to my wife or you can go talk to Glenn and Sandra Davis. And they can get you connected with that. If you're going to help out in any of these ministries,

we do want you to have been around for just a little bit. We'd like you to have been here about six months or so, just to know that you're plugged in here and that you're committed to being here. So if that's you and you're interested in doing that, then go see one of those folks afterwards. Now, we need to have a quick announcement about VBS. So I'm going to invite my wife up, and I'll give her this microphone right here.

Good morning. Okay, I think I have four things to share. First, we're having our workday today from 2 to 5 just to prep decorations and things like that for VBS. If you want to help with that, just show up at 2 here at church, and we'll get you started. Second, next week after church, we're going to do a little neighborhood blitz and share flyers and things like that with the neighbors

to let them know about VBS. And then the last two things, we have a QR code in your bulletin now, so you can scan that to register your kids for VBS. It's super easy. Just take your camera and shine it on our QR code, and then there's like two questions to answer to be able to get your kids registered. And then lastly, if you want to help with VBS, we have a few things left to, spots left to fill.

So I think that's it.

Also, so the box is in my office. I guess if you want to head that up afterwards, are you good with that? Okay. Directories are in. Yay! So they literally landed in my office right before church started. So I think she is going to head up getting those given out to everyone. So come see my wife. Where are you going to set up? Go see my wife across from the office about where the Sunday school check-in is there.

She'll have the box, and she'll get those distributed to you guys. So, all right. Those are the things that are going on. A lot going on. Fun times. For our responsive reading this morning, we will be in Psalm 5. As always, looking at the New American Standard so we sound the same. If you need a copy, should be one in your row. And as you are turning to Psalm 5,

if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word, I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen in the even verses. Psalm 5, for the choir director, for flute accompaniment, a Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God. For to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you will hear my voice.

In the morning, I will. Order my prayer to you and eagerly watch. For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by your abundant loving kindness, I will enter your house.

At your holy temple, I will bow in reverence for you. O Lord. O Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my foes. Make your way straight before me. There is nothing reliable in what they say. Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Hold them guilty, O God. By their devices, let them fall.

In the multitude of their transgressions, thrust them out. For they are rebellious against you. But let all who take me in your presence. And let all who take refuge in you be glad. Let them ever sing for joy. And may you shelter them that those who love your name may exult in you. For it is you who blesses the righteous man, O Lord. You surround him with favor as a shield.

And Lord, I do thank you that you do give ear to our words. And you listen to us. And you speak to us. And we just ask for that now. Lord, that you administer to our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit as you see fit. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16.

Before we get into the Scripture for this morning, I want to share something that the Lord laid on my heart. I shared this last year as well. And I debated where in the message to put it before or afterwards. But since we have communion afterwards, it feels like before is the right time to do it. So I got on my phone. I got on my phone the other day and clicked on my calendar and I noticed that there was

a little dot on June the 1st. And I thought, huh, I wonder what I have going on on June the 1st. And you know what my phone told me June the 1st I was supposed to be celebrating? The beginning of Pride Month. You don't know what Pride Month is. Pride Month is when the LGBTQ community celebrates the lifestyle that they live in. Now, in the past, I have found myself getting pretty frustrated with Pride Month because

I know that it is a big deal. But it's an affront to God. Like that lifestyle, as well as any other sinful lifestyle, is an abomination to the Lord. And yet we find that our culture seems to be more celebrating it than brokenhearted over it. Well, last year, the Lord really laid on my heart that instead of getting angry, because we have to understand that the entire world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

The entire world is in bondage to the enemy. That's just one area that the world is in. Bondage to the enemy. Rather than getting angry about this, I should instead declare the month of June to be Prayer Month. And so I want to challenge us as a church to spend every day, take time every day in the month of June, praying for those who are caught up in this lifestyle.

Praying for those who are in bondage to a lifestyle of sin that the world is trying to convince them is okay. Those who are in bondage. Just looking for acceptance and love. Those who are in bondage because that's the way that sin is manifesting itself in their lives. Because I am always abundantly aware of the fact that those who are caught up in the lifestyle

of homosexuality or transgenderism are also created in the image of God. And the only thing that can set them free is the same thing that can set us free from whatever sin it is that I deal with. Whatever sin it is that you deal with. And that's the grace of God. And that's the grace of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ because of his death on the cross.

So my challenge to you is every day be praying for that community. I bet you know somebody that's caught up in that lifestyle. If not, you see it around you all the time. Every day for the month of June, be praying for those in this so that we can see people set free. Because our heart should never be to prove people wrong, especially in this area. Our heart can never be one of hatred.

It should always be a heart that longs to see people set free from sin. Amen. Amen. Made right with God. So that's my challenge for us as a church for the month of June. Now, as we move into chapter 16, I really feel like chapter 16 and 17 of the book of Matthew kind of go together and they really deal with a subject of Jesus as the Messiah. It's going to start off with a question from the religious leaders and then Jesus is going

to ask his disciples a question and then we're going to see an amazing thing take place with the transfiguration in chapter 17. And so as we look at Jesus, the Messiah, we'll be looking at those two chapters. Now, this aspect of the Messiah is incredibly important to the Jewish culture, but it's also really important to us. The Jewish culture at this point in time was always looking for the Messiah, the promised one, the chosen one who would come and set the nation free.

And that's exactly who Jesus is. He is the Messiah, the one who not only set the nation of Israel free from their sin, but has set the entire world free. Free from sin so that all who would believe on him would be able to be called the sons of God because they've been set free from sin and made right in God's eyes. And so as we come to this section, we're going to see that that's who Jesus is, but it also is a little bit polarizing and controversial as far as the religious leaders are concerned.

And so as we look at this aspect of Jesus, the Messiah, there will be three things over the next three weeks that we look at. We will first of all see a test. Then we will see a test. Then we will see a test. Then we will see a question. And then we will see a revelation because the religious leaders are going to ask Jesus, they're going to test Jesus to show them some sort of a sign to prove that he is the Messiah.

The disciples will make a confession of the fact that they believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And then Jesus will prove who he is through an amazing scene that we would call the transfiguration and then his ability to show his power over the demonic world. And so today we're going to look at Jesus the Messiah part one. And we're going to look at the test that's brought to Jesus.

And so we pick up in chapter 16, verse one, and this is what it says. The Pharisees and the Sadducees came up and testing him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But he replied to them, when it is evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning there will be storm today for the sky is red and threatening. Do you know how to discern?

Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times and evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah and he left them and went away. Now, as we look at this test that's presented to Jesus, we see two different groups that approach Jesus at the same time. These two groups are known as the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now, these two groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees are what we would call warring religious groups or religious groups in opposition to each other.

We would define them like this. The Pharisees, we would call the ultra conservatives of the religious movement of the time. The Pharisees believed that scripture was literal and they were to take it literally and obey it. Literally, they believed that you were best known for how good you were by the works that you did. They believed in everything that scripture had to say.

And they were ultra conservative in the way that they handled it. They did not like the oppression of the Roman government. They did not like the oppression of any sort of a government. As a matter of fact, a free Israel was the best Israel as far as the Pharisees were concerned. They did, however, have a problem. The problem that they had is they had made up laws to go along with what God had said.

And they were only known for their outward religion and not as much for the religion of their heart. They were legalists. On the other side of the aisle, you had the Sadducees. The Sadducees were what we would term as the religious liberals of the day. They did not take God's law literally. They did not believe in angels or spirits. They did not believe in the resurrection.

They did not believe in the supernatural powers like healing and miracles, things along those lines. They didn't go in with all that. They had no issue with the Roman government as long as they could hold on to their wealth and their power. They were willing to go along to get along with the government. As long as it meant that they could hold on to what they had.

They, if you will, believed in political expediency for their own wealth and for their own power. These two warring groups came together. One other thing about them. I think I said this. They didn't believe in any kind of a resurrection. So they weren't a group with a great deal of hope. These two warring groups are coming together because of their hatred for Jesus.

Now, maybe I haven't presented this well enough for you to understand how big of a deal it is that the scribes and the Pharisees came together to do this. So let me give you an example. So let me give you a little bit of an illustration. If Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decided that they could find middle ground on one thing and they could work together on it, that's sort of what this would be like, right?

It would be the squad and Donald Trump working together. This is how much these guys hated each other. Now it kind of makes a little bit of sense, right? They completely disliked everything that they had to say to each other and didn't agree on anything. But they had found one common enemy. And the one common enemy that they had found. Was Jesus. Because even though they believed very differently on things, they both knew that Jesus was bad for them.

It's kind of interesting, isn't it? That sometimes the one thing that people can come together on is something that they hate more than anything. And oftentimes the thing that people find that they hate more than anything is Jesus. I think that we're going to continue to see some of these things kind of happen in our world today. That warring people who maybe can't get along about anything else.

Are willing to come together to the fact that they don't like Jesus and they don't like church. They don't like what true believers in Jesus Christ stand for. Well, this is what happens here. And so these guys come to Jesus and they ask him a question. It says they came testing Jesus. And so they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. That word sign could be defined as an attesting miracle.

Something that would prove that Jesus was there. As the Messiah, Jesus had made a lot of very bold claims by this point in time. Jesus had said things about himself and done things. And there was, he had gained a really large following. And so they looked at him and they said, we want to test you. And so you show us some kind of an attesting miracle that will approve all of the claims that you had made.

Now, I want you to think about what Jesus has done up to this point in time. Because you would think if anybody had proven who he was, anyone had proven his worth by the things that he'd done, it would have been Jesus, right? Some of the early things, of course, that we've seen that Jesus has done is that he has healed and cleansed the leper. We've seen him restore sight to the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, the ability to speak to the mute.

He has even raised the dead. Now, you would think if anybody had proven their worth, if anybody had proven his claims, it would be Jesus. But these religious leaders came to him and said, No, you need to show us an attesting miracle to prove who you are. And so as they tell Jesus this, Jesus, of course, answers, I think, in a somewhat annoyed and frustrated sort of way by saying, You say, When it's evening, it will be fair weather because the sky is red.

And in the morning, there will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening. Do you know how to determine the appearance of the sky? Now, Having spent almost my entire life in Kansas, I can appreciate what he just said. Now, I think the specific thing that he said is very coastal. I've never looked up and thought, ooh, red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.

Red sky at night, sailors delight. I got it right that time. Somebody corrected me after the first service because I screwed it up and made up my own words. And so they said, this is what it actually says. I think that's more of a coastal thing, right? But again, I've spent almost my entire life in Kansas. I know how to discern it. I know how to discern the signs of the skies, right?

It was Tuesday. Tuesday, we all knew something funky was about to go down, right? Like, they had said, hey, there's probably thunderstorms coming later. But we all know that that's a lie, right? We don't ever believe weather reports because we're from Kansas. We know that weather reports are about as fair weather as, well, weather reports, right? And so we didn't really believe it.

But as the day went on, the humidity kept rising and you could see the storms building. That, coupled with what you saw on the radar, you were like, there is a storm brewing. We were supposed to have a softball game that night, my daughter's very first softball game of the year, and we're all very excited. But as I am feeling how it feels outside, I'm watching the clouds build and I'm looking at the radar.

I'm like, I don't even know why we're trying to have a softball game right now. This is ridiculous. This thing is not going to happen. There's going to be a storm tonight. Sure enough, they finally canceled the game. Well, my oldest daughter had something that she had to do out in Dexter, but I thought, she's going away from the storm. There's a feature. She's going to be in a shelter out there.

She'll be fine. And she was. But there was no tornado in the forecast just yet. And quite frankly, to me, the sky didn't look tornado-y. Hail? Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did. Hail? Yes. Anyway, rain, definitely, right? All of those things looked very clear and I could see that it was coming. My wife said, hey, we need a couple of things for dinner.

Do you have time to go to the store? Look at the sky. Yep, I have time to go to the store. So I go to the store. And I go to the Dillon's. And if you've ever been to Dillon's, between 3 and 5 p.m. on any day of the week, that is two hours you're not getting back, right? And so it wasn't quite that long, but it was pretty bad. So I go to the Dillon's and I get all of my things in my cart.

I had salad and Dr. Pepper because I'm kind of fit and I'm kind of fat. Anyway, so I get all my things in my cart and I go up to it. I wait in line up until the thing. And all of a sudden, right before it's my turn to be in the line, my phone starts going, ah, ah, ah. As well as. Every phone in the entire store. It was in stereo. Legit. Everybody pulled their phone out at the same time.

Like, what is that? What's going on? Is there an Amber Alert? Right? None of us knew what was happening because there wasn't supposed to be a tornado. This guy didn't look tornado-y because I hadn't been out there for 15 minutes. So I get ready to put my stuff up on the counter and a girl looks at me and she's like, I can't check that out for you right now.

I'm like, oh, man. Sirens are going off. I'm like, oh, I have spent so much time and so much time. She's like, you either have to go to the basement. Are you? I have to go home. You can't stay here. I can't check you out. And I was like, oh. So I wheel my car to the side and I jump in the car and I drive home. And when I get home, a bunch of people are down in my basement.

I'm like, sweet. But I knew nothing terrible was going to happen. It just felt that way, right? Me and one of my buddies went out and we're looking at the sky and seeing what's going on because we're from Kansas. It's what we do, right? We know the signs of the sky. And so everything clears out. It had rained a bunch and all of a sudden it got really cool outside and we're like,

oh, everything's going to be good. But about 20 or 30 minutes later, I walked outside again to check and see what was happening. Something had changed. It had gotten a lot warmer. It had gotten a lot more humid again. And everything felt perfectly calm. And all of you that have lived in Kansas for more than five minutes all went, and we know exactly what that means.

And then I look up at the sky, discerning the signs of the sky, and I see clouds going two different directions. And I'm like, well, that's not good. And I wonder if they're about to... My phone starts going off again. The sirens are going. And I walk into my house and we say, so I wonder if all of our friends are going to... Yep, here they come walking in the door again.

Like, all right, let's head to the basement again. But you could tell just by looking at the sky. Thank God we really did dodge a bullet. I have read some weather reports and they have said it was like... They have no idea how we ended up missing that because everything was so perfect for there to be a tornado. And so we can determine the signs of the skies.

And these guys were the exact same way. They're like, you can tell that a storm is coming, but you can't seem to pick up on spiritual realities. He says, you can determine the signs of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. This is an unfortunate truth for these religious leaders is they could look at the sky and tell you, exactly what it was going to take place.

Just like those of us that have spent any time in Kansas can usually look at the sky and tell you when some funky weather is about to go down. But are we just like them and we can't fully discern the signs of the times? You see, Old Testament scripture had told them everything that they would need to know that Jesus would have shown up exactly when he showed up. Because Old Testament scripture pointed to the exact time when he would show up.

I'm reminded of the fact that the wise men knew to show up because of a star. Have you ever wondered what it was that prompted the wise men to go, hey, there's a star, let's go to Jerusalem? Well, there's this obscure little prophecy that we're just about to go over on Wednesday nights with the story of Balaam. And Balaam gives this prophecy about a king that will come and his star will be in the sky.

And they would have probably known because of Daniel, because Daniel was in the east, because of the time when he was in captivity, that that star referred to a king that had to do with the nation of Israel. You see, God made sure to give them all of the signs of the times. And as a matter of fact, when the wise men show up looking at the star that had been prophesied in the Old Testament scripture, do you remember what Herod said? Hey, all you religious people, all you nerds, tell me, is there supposed to be a king born around here somewhere?

And they were like, yep, Bethlehem. You, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, you are least among the towns, but you will be glorified. Because the king was going to be born there. And all the religious leaders, religious leaders, religious leaders, they're like, yep, there's going to be a king born. He's going to be born in Bethlehem. Well, these guys say they saw a star

that's leading them to a king. It's almost like the sign was right in front of them that the king had come and they needed to pay attention to it. Well, if that wasn't enough, John the Baptist showed up before Jesus. The very last verse of the Old Testament says that there will be a prophet that will come before the great and terrible day of the Lord and he will come in the spirit and the power of Elijah preparing the hearts of the people for the coming of the king.

When John the Baptist, the very first thing that's mentioned in the New Testament comes, that's exactly what he does. And when they ask him, who are you? Are you the Messiah? Are you the prophet? He says, I am a voice in the wilderness saying, prepare the way for the Lord. All of the signs were there. Then you couple that with the fact that God himself spoke and told them that Jesus was the Messiah.

Do you remember that time? We talked about it in the book of Matthew when Jesus was baptized. Jesus comes to John the Baptist, which if you're gonna get baptized, he's the guy to go to, right? Jesus goes to John the Baptist and he says, and John baptizes him when he brings him out of the water, the spirit descends upon him like a dove and there's a voice from heaven.

You ever heard somebody say, listen, if I could hear a voice from heaven, then I would know that God is real. No, you wouldn't because all of those people heard a voice from heaven and they still didn't believe in Jesus. He said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And they were like, he's probably talking about someone else. Right? They wouldn't believe.

All of the signs were there. Then you add to that the fact that there are certain things according to Old Testament scripture that the Messiah was supposed to do. The recovery of sight to the blind, the healing of the lame, the cleansing of the lepers, all those kinds of things. Jesus fulfilled them all. Remember, that's what he told John the Baptist when John the Baptist wasn't sure

if he was the right guy. Go tell him what I've been doing. I've been doing the work of the Messiah. And if all of those things weren't enough, do you know that Daniel, prophesied to the day when the Messiah would show up? They should have been paying attention. They should have been watching the signs of the times. And all of those signs of the times should have caused all of them

as religious leaders to do two things. Number one, look for Jesus themselves. Number two, prepare everybody else they knew for the coming of Jesus. We now live in a time where the second coming is on its way. And we are seeing the signs of the times. The doctrine of eminence has said that since the day that Jesus ascended into heaven, he could return at any point in time.

And we have been aware of that since the time that Jesus went back to the Father. And we have been waiting. And every generation has said, the signs of the times keep building. And you know what's been amazing? With every generation, the signs of the times continue to build and continue to build and continue to build. And now not only do we see all of the signs coming,

coming together with the things that Jesus is going to say in the book of Matthew, but we also have seen the nation of Israel come back together, which there was a point in time when everybody said, that can't happen. Therefore, the church must have replaced Israel because we can't imagine how Israel would ever come back together. And now all of these signs have taken place and we are well aware of something. Jesus is coming soon.

And all of those signs, signs of the times should cause us to do something. They should not cause us to go hunker down. They should not cause us to see if we can figure out who the Antichrist is. They haven't caused us to see if we can nail down the exact date of the rapture and all that kind of stuff. That's not what any of those signs of the time should cause us to do.

What the signs of the time should cause us to do is exactly what it should have caused them to do, to have our hearts ready to see Jesus and to get as many other people ready to see Jesus as we possibly can. That's why Jesus, every time he talked about the second coming said, now watch, pray, and be ready. Because we've got to be ready for the signs of the times are here and it could take place at any point in time. And if our hearts aren't ready, well, what an unfortunate thing.

It should cause all of us to make sure that we are ready and focused on Jesus and are preparing all of the people around us for the fact that Jesus is coming at any point in time. Jesus said, you can discern the signs of the, but you can't discern the signs of the times. And then he looks at him and says, verse four, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Why does he call them that?

Why does he say an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign? Because you see, their hearts were not really set on knowledge. Their hearts were not set on knowing God. Their hearts were set on the miracles. Their hearts were set on the signs. It, and I think that that's the danger that we run into with the charismatic movement of today. Do I believe in the gifts of the spirit

and miracles and signs today? Absolutely. I believe that God still gives us the gift of speaking in tongues. I don't have it myself, but I know that some people do. I believe in gifts of miracles because after all, if anybody is healed, I don't care how it happens. It's a miracle of God. I believe in the gifts of prophecy. I have had people speak prophetic words into my life.

It wasn't weird. It was just simply them speaking and saying, I feel like the Lord's telling me to tell you this. And you know what? It was true and it was right. I believe in all of those things, but all of those things have a purpose. And that purpose is not to be a sideshow. And that purpose is not to bring glory to the one doing the sign. And it's not just for the glory of saying,

can you believe what we saw today? All of those things have the purpose to bring people into a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign because they're never going to believe it. And all they want is the excitement. And so Jesus said, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. There's only one sign that I'm going to give to you.

And that's the sign of Jonah. Jesus has said this exact same thing before, literally almost word for word, previously when they asked him for a sign. And isn't it kind of interesting that this is now the second time that they've asked him for a sign in spite of everything that he's done? You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of the fact that signs alone save no one.

How many of us, and I've been guilty of it too, have thought, man, if they could just see some kind of a miracle, I bet they'd get saved. If they could just see something miraculous take place, I bet they'd get saved. These people had Jesus performing miracles in front of their eyes and they were still rejecting the truth. He says, there's only one sign that I'll give you and that's the sign of the prophet Jonah.

And we remember what happened with the prophet Jonah. He was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. And then he was brought forth from the belly of the fish. Essentially, Jesus says, the only sign you'll have is the death and resurrection of myself. The only way that I can truly prove to you that I am the Messiah is the day that I am raised from the dead.

And isn't that sort of what Paul goes on to say in the book of Romans when he says that he was proved to be the son of God with power when God raised him from the dead? All of the proof of who Jesus is is in the fact that he is alive. He is alive today. And so after all of that, it says, and he left them and went away. Now that's a bold statement because that's exactly what Jesus did.

After first service, somebody said, all he could think is Jesus dropped the mic. And I was like, that's right. That's exactly what happened. He's like, I'm out, right? J out. So that's rapper. Anyway, so he just leaves at that point in time because Jesus is done messing with the religious leaders. And really, there won't be a great deal more that he does with them

until he comes back into Jerusalem as he rides back in on the donkey. And so now after Jesus has this meeting with the religious leader, he now begins to warn his disciples because they have sought a sign to prove that he is the Messiah. And so he feels like it's time for him to warn the disciples. Notice what it says in verse five. And the disciples came to the other side of the sea,

but they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They began to discuss this among themselves, saying he said that because we did not bring any bread. But Jesus, aware of this, said, you men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand

or remember the five loaves of the 5,000? And how many baskets full you picked up? Or the seven loaves of the 4,000? And how many large baskets full you picked up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? And they understood that he did not say to beware of the leaven of bread,

but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now again, Jesus is drawing near to the end of his sermon. To the end of his time of his ministry on earth. He's getting closer to the cross and he knows that the most important thing he can do is prepare his disciples for taking over the ministry after he leaves, after he's no longer with them in bodily presence.

And so as he's had this encounter with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, he decides it's time to give a little bit of a warning. You can kind of picture how things would have gone. Jesus is probably playing it over and over again in his head and thinking, man, it's really important that I let the disciples know to pay attention, to be watchful, to be aware of the leaven of the bread. These things so that they too are not led astray by the false teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And so as they're in the boat going across, as they come to the other side of the sea, we're given one little commentary on what happened with the disciples. It says, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Now oftentimes when good Jewish people went into regions that were not very Jewish in nature, they would bring their own bread so that they would not contaminate themselves. With the uncleanness of the Gentiles.

Being good Jewish men, they forgot. And so no doubt as they got into the boat to go across the sea, they're like, oh no, we forgot the bread. We had one job. We were supposed to bring something to eat. What are we going to do? So with that in the back of their minds, they make it to the other side of the sea. And Jesus, as he's been playing this incident over and over again in his minds,

looks at his disciples and he says what he says here. Watch out and beware. Of the leaven, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. Now, these disciples had the same problem that you and I had. They weren't thinking about spiritual things. They were thinking about material things. You can imagine it's maybe close to lunchtime or dinnertime and they're like, leaven, bread.

We forgot bread. Dude, I told you you should have grabbed it. I laid it out on the table for you to get. I know, I wasn't paying attention. Jesus was talking. I was trying to do the right thing. I was listening. I forgot to grab the bread. Oh my gosh, what are we going to do? And you can just imagine Jesus looks at them and he goes, what are you guys talking about?

And then he reminds them, providing bread is not a problem. I have no problem providing bread. And then he reminds them of the two incidences that they should have been paying attention to. He goes, remember the time with the 5,000? And you were like, oh, if I had loaves and two fish. And I was like, no problem. So I handed it out to everybody and 5,000 people ate

plus all the women and children. And you had baskets left over. Then remember that one time with the 4,000? Yesterday? And you were like, oh, we've got seven loaves. And I was like, no problem. And I'm like handing it out to everybody and everybody's eating and they're getting full. And there's like seven baskets left over. Bread is not the problem. I have no problem providing bread for people.

And may I say, just as an aside, I think one of the best things that we can do with the culture that we're living in now, with the fear that is in people's minds right now is know that Jesus has no problem no problems providing bread. There's so much fear right now over the fact that we're not going to have things. Over the fact that what if there's not enough stuff in the grocery store? What if there's not enough food to be able to eat?

Or what if I can't afford to buy the food that there is there to eat? Now, I don't ever want to discount wise planning. We should be wise planners. We're told in the Proverbs, look to the ant you sluggard. He stores up and he prepares food. He prepares for things. But we should not live in fear. We should not live in fear that we'll never be able to buy a gallon of gasoline again.

Maybe you won't. That's okay. I was walking when I got here, right? I mean, it's not a big deal. You should not live in fear that there will be no more milk. God provides all that kind of stuff. God takes care of all of those physical needs. What did the psalmist David say? He said, I was young and now I'm old. I have never seen God. I have descendants begging for bread.

What are we told in the book of Philippians? Paul said, and I know that my God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So the next time that you turn the news on and they say there may not be enough of fill in the blank here, just think it's not a problem for God because my God can supply all of my needs according to his riches. However, one of the things that I think we're going to begin to learn is the difference between need and want.

Because for those of us in the Western culture church, we have a really hard time separating between the two. We may not always have what we want, but we will always have what we need. Because for God, providing bread is not a problem. Jesus looks at them and he says, you men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? The disciples make the same mistake here

that a lot of us make. Jesus is talking about spiritual things and they're thinking about physical things. They're thinking about the material things. We live, man, I have to quote it again. I can't help it. It's just the right thing to do. Madonna said it best. We live in a material world and I am a material girl. Right? That's how most of us live our lives.

We're used to material things around us all the time and that's the way our minds work. That's the way our minds think. This is tangible. The spiritual is not. So it's a lot easier for me to be focused on the tangible material things than the spiritual things. And so Jesus is using a material example to teach a spiritual lesson and all they can think is, great, we don't have the material things

sitting right here in front of us. And Jesus says, that's not the problem. So the first issue that they have is their minds are not set up. They're not set on spiritual things. But the second issue that they have is that they are not maturing. They should have known what he was talking about. Last week I made a point. I don't want to negate the point that I made last week

with what I'm about to say right now because the point that I made last week is that our memories are short, but his grace is not. His patience is not. And I absolutely believe that because at this point in time, if his patience was short, he'd have kicked them all out the boat and made them swim to shore, right? Or whatever they had, he would have said, I need new disciples because you guys don't get this yet.

No, he didn't reject them. He was still patient with them, but he did expect maturity of them. And I think that that is an important point that needs to be made as well is there should come a point in time in our walks with Jesus Christ where we don't just keep making the same mistakes. About 10 years ago that I was reading in a section kind of like this and in my journal, I started to write the exact same thing that I always write.

Lord, thank you that you're continuing. Continually patient with me when I make the exact same mistakes just like the disciples. And you know what? I really felt like the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart. But isn't there going to come a time when you mature? Shouldn't there come a time when you grow up and you grow past? God is so gracious with us. He is so patient with us.

But he also desires maturity from us. He desires us to eventually get beyond the milk and begin to eat. I told the story in the first service about my oldest daughter because with her it was so fun watching every little milestone that she hit because I hadn't spent a lot of time around tiny kids when I was growing up. And so it was fun to watch my own tiny person begin to grow.

And one of my favorite things was when she started walking. She started off. She was a crawler. She was a mover. But it took her a little while to get started walking. She actually officially started walking. She started walking on her first birthday. But I remember all of the stages that led up to that, right? So when you're teaching, you all know this, teaching kids to walk,

and then they fall over, right? They take a couple of steps, their balance gets off, and they fall over. Or they reach down and they get back down and they crawl because that's what they're used to doing. But on her first birthday, I remember, I'm walking with her and she's holding my fingers and we're doing one of these things and she takes a couple of steps and she falls down and I'm like, that's okay, come on, let's try it again.

And then I stand her back up and she takes a couple of steps and she starts to fall down. But as she starts to fall down, she looked, she stood back up. And then she kept walking. And at that point in time, God gave me the greatest illustration. He said, that's what I want from you. I don't want you just to keep falling down. You see, you need to understand

you don't have to keep falling down. You don't have to keep tripping over the same things. You don't have to keep not growing in maturity. It's time for you to stand up and go, I don't have to fall. I can walk in maturity. I can walk in obedience. I can walk in victory because I don't have to keep falling down. You see, it's one thing when a little one-year-old kid

keeps falling down like that and you keep standing them back up. But quite frankly, at the age of 13, if my oldest daughter, Violet, was still falling down like that, I would take her to the doctor because there was something wrong with her and we would have to get it checked out because there are milestones you should be hitting and if you're not hitting the milestones, something is wrong. But you know what? We've told Christians in the world in which we live today, you don't have to grow up.

You don't have to mature. It's okay. God's grace is there to cover all of those things. And it is. It's beautiful. But He still desires us to eventually stop falling down and start walking in obedience. Start walking in victory because He's given us everything that we need. Sometimes we just need to grow up. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let's grow up. Let's move on to maturity.

Let's move on to the deeper things of God. Let's stop being content with not understanding because all we can think about is the material things. Let's start getting our minds set on spiritual things. Getting our minds set on heavenly realities. So Jesus says, don't you understand what I'm talking about? How is it that you don't understand that I speak concerning bread?

But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I love this point when they finally understand because when they understand, they begin to take on the lesson. And so I want to go back and talk just a little bit about what Jesus says here in verse six because they begin to understand.

First of all, He says to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. That word leaven is always synonymous with sin in Scripture. Why is leaven synonymous with sin? Well, it goes all the way back to the children of Israel when they were leaving the nation of Egypt in the time of the Passover. Remember, they were about to do one of the most holy things

that they'd ever done, make the Passover sacrifice so that the angel of death would pass over their home when they saw the blood on the doorway. And so God said, you need to purge your entire house of leaven. It had both a very practical meaning for them because they wouldn't have time for their bread to rise. They just had to leave quickly. But it also had

a very spiritual meaning that if they were to walk on in newness of faith, that they had to purge the sin from their lives, that that sin had to be purged out of their lives. And now as you go throughout Scripture, biblical consistency always speaks to us of the fact that leaven represents sin. That's why I believe it's in the book of Hebrews that He says we must purge out the old leaven so that we can be a brand new lump. Leaven permeates everything that it's in.

And you know, sin is the exact same way. You can see it in the life of an individual because sin, once it enters into the life of the individual, once you fall into an area of sin, it begins to permeate every aspect of your life. You may think that it doesn't. You probably think I'm getting away with this and nobody notices it. Listen, eventually someone's going to notice

because sin, big or small, will eventually permeate every aspect of your life. Not only does it permeate every aspect of your life, sin permeates every aspect of your family. Because when one person in your family is living in sin, it affects everybody else in your family. Not only does it affect your life, not only does it affect your family, but it affects your church.

When there is sin taking place in the church, it has a tendency to permeate the entire church and everyone notices it and it affects everyone, which is why in the New Testament, Paul is so clear that when sin shows up in a church, it has to get dealt with. But not only does it affect your life, your family, and your church, it affects a nation. And what we are seeing right now is the final stages of sin. Sin permeating a nation.

Sin is so a part of our culture and holiness is no longer who we are. A set-apart nation is no longer who we are because sin has permeated the nation. Well, Jesus tells them, you need to be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Well, what was the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Well, it was two-fold. It was evil conduct. There was bad teaching

from the Sadducees because they didn't teach the purity of God's word anymore. They didn't teach the reality of God's word anymore, the spiritual realities of God's word. They no longer held it in the place where it should have been and so their teaching was bad and therefore their conduct was bad, which is why they were willing to line themselves up with the Roman government. The Pharisees' teaching was bad because the Pharisees had turned all of the laws of God into a legalistic movement that nobody could keep up with any longer.

And it had everything to do with the outside and no change of heart. Their conduct was evil because they were content to be righteous on the outside while it took no effect on the inside of their heart. Quite frankly, we could really kind of sum it all up with the fact that Luke tells us in chapter 12, verse 1 of his gospel that they were to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which is hypocrisy. Not being able to be who you really are.

Putting on a front of righteousness when inside, nothing has changed in your heart. And as he points these things out, he gives them the warning and the warning that he gives them is to watch out and beware. We could say it like this, to take heed and to guard against. The idea that's given to us there is we cannot be passive about the way that we handle this kind of leaven.

We can't be passive about the way that we handle sin. We can't be passive about the way that we handle evil conduct. We can't be passive about the way that we handle bad teaching. We must be on guard and take heed against it. Now, I think for us that means three things in our lives. Number one, we are to watch out to take heed, to be on guard against the teaching

that we listen to. Everything that you take in those ear gates of someone teaching you what scripture has to say, you'd better hold it up to the rest of scripture. Listen, including me. Sometimes I'm gonna say things that are wrong. Like I told first service, I quoted Madonna today, okay? Hold up everything that I say against scripture to make sure that it's correct.

Because while it is never my heart to mislead you in scripture, it's never my heart to mislead you. I am a human being who is fallible. And so the next time that you go and you Google something and it pulls up a YouTube video and you watch it, you better know what that guy believes. You better know where he's coming from. Because listen, it's not just the fringy people

that are teaching bad stuff anymore. It's mainline denominations that are teaching bad stuff now. It's mainline denominations that are teaching a social justice gospel instead of a real gospel. It's mainline denominations that are teaching a prosperity gospel as opposed to a real gospel. It's mainline denominations that are doing this. It's organizations that you've heard of.

It's Bible teachers that you know. Listen, it's a false gospel if it's not the gospel given to us here in Scripture. And we've got to pay attention to these things because otherwise we'll miss them. And once we've paid attention, we have to be on guard against it. We must be on guard against the teaching that we listen to. Number two, we must be on guard against the examples

that we follow. I want to say something that I think is really, really important. There's only one example that you should follow wholeheartedly ever, and that's the example of Jesus Christ. The only person whose example you should follow in every way that you can is the person of Jesus Christ. Because, listen close, every human will let you down. Every single human being

will fail you because we are all made of the same stuff, dust. And we'll all let you down. I've got to tell you, the day that I read the news reports about Ravi Zacharias was one of the saddest days of my life because it broke my heart because he was a man that I respected immensely. I respected his testimony. I respected his teaching. I respected his character.

You go, when a man like that who I respect so much can't be trusted, it tells us that none of us can be trusted. I will let you down someday because I'm a human being and I'm going to fail. Pastors will let you down. I read a news article the other day on Fox News about a pastor that had to stand up in front of his congregation and say that he'd been living in an adulterous relationship for a very long time and he needed to step down.

And it was pretty bad. But then the young lady that he had been in the adulterous relationship felt like she needed to step up on stage and confront him because he hadn't told the whole truth. She said, he's absolutely right but it started when I was 16. Friends, be careful the examples that you follow. You should pattern your life after one person, one person only

and that's the person of Jesus Christ because everybody else will let you down. And may I say, it's another really good reason to be sure that you're praying for me. Be sure that you're praying for pastors everywhere. Be sure that you're praying for each other because we are all made of dust and we are all very, we are all very fallible. Take heed of the examples

that you follow. And then number three, beware, take heed and be on guard against the life that you're living. The life that you're living has a tendency to get leaven mixed into it. The leaven of sin is all around us. The leaven of false teaching is all around us. The leaven of evil conduct is all around us and sometimes it begins to permeate who we are. Therefore, we must

constantly be on guard against the life that we are living to know that that life is continually being purged of the old leaven. That's why scripture is so replete with so many instances of God telling us that we must continue to clean out all of the things in our lives because it comes in slowly and it comes in in small ways and eventually permeates us and then all of a sudden we start going, I'm a little puffier than I used to be. I think I've gotten leavened and I got to get that out of there, right? I got to purge myself of it.

It's part of what we'll need to do before we partake in our meal this morning of communion is purge out that old leaven. But we must beware of these things because Jesus, our Messiah, loves us more than we can ever imagine. Loves us so much that he died for us and desires from us a heart that is completely for him. Amen. It's Communion Sunday and hopefully they are rallying

all of the kids right now. I finished up a touch earlier than they thought I was going to. So hopefully they're going to be with us pretty quick. I'm waiting for that thumbs up through the window that says, yeah, they're here. I haven't seen it yet. You want to check real quick? Well, as we're here this morning, we're reminded of what communion is and I'll take a few more minutes

to talk about it when the kiddos get in here, which hopefully they're coming very soon. But communion, we had the most beautiful time of communion yesterday after the conference that we had. And one of the things that kept coming up throughout the book of 1 John with the conference that we had was one word that I always really appreciate and it's the word koinonia. It's the Greek word for fellowship or communion.

And the idea is that it's the thing that we have in common. Now as the world continues to, according to biblical language, wax worse and worse, one of the greatest things that we can do is hold on to the common bond that we have with each other. That we are reminded of the fact that when we show up here on a Sunday morning, we don't just show up to meet in a building as a social club. We show up to meet together as a family.

And what will take place between all of us this morning is koinonia. It's communion. As we look around at each other, we realize that we're a little bit of a weird tribe, right? We don't all look the same. We don't all act the same. We don't all think the same. Some of our skin looks a little bit different than other people's and that's okay. Because the thing

that bonds us together is not any of that. The thing that bonds us together is the bond of the cross of Jesus Christ. That's what holds us all together. And that's the thing that will bring freedom, ready? And unity to all of us. So okay, bring them on in. Here they come. Here comes the parade. Come on in, kiddos. Lots of excitement. Make sure that you're kind of looking to make sure

that your kiddo knows where you are. Over here, Amy. I used to be able to identify who everyone belonged to and I can't anymore. Up here at the front. We have one young man looking for a parent. There you go. Okay. All right, kids. Have a seat. All right, so what we're about to do is we're about to take part in communion. Now, the purpose of communion, we're told in the book

of 1 Corinthians, is that every time we come together, we do this because it is a declaration of the death of Jesus Christ. It tells everybody that the one hope that we have and the one thing that bonds us all together is the death of Jesus Christ. And so we partake in the cup and we partake in the bread because those speak of the body of Christ that was broken for us and his blood that was shed for us. And so we're told in Scripture, to make sure that we do so in a worthy manner.

The way that we do so in a worthy manner is twofold. Number one, you need to make sure that you're a part of the family of God because this is a family meal. And so if you're here this morning and you're not a part of the family of God, this'll just be the saddest snack you've ever had in your entire life. It won't mean anything to you. For it to mean something to you,

for it to have a true spiritual effect in your life, you have to be a part of the family of God. And if you're not, then it's as simple as this. It's as simple as confessing your sin and accepting Him as your Savior. And then the most miraculous thing will take place in your life. The Holy Spirit of God will come in and He will make us home inside of you. And He will make you

absolutely brand new because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. That is the simple message of salvation. But if you're here this morning and you are already a part of the family of God, then the way that we partake in a worthy manner... Oop, got a few more coming on in. Hold that thought. Come on in, kiddos. Over there. There you go. You belong too. Right here in the middle.

There you go. Found them. Perfect. Okay. So the way that... For those of us that belong to Jesus, the way that we partake in a worthy manner is that we make sure that our heart is clean before the Lord to purge out that old leaven. And so I'm gonna invite the worship team to come on up and they're gonna share one last song with us. And so as they share this last song with us,

I just want you to ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart. Search your heart and see if there's anything in you that needs to be confessed to the Lord. And as He does so, just begin to lay out those things to the Lord that are not as they should be. To lay out to the Lord all of those things that He brings conviction in your heart to. Back there on the...

by the window. All of those things that He brings to your heart so that your heart can be clean before the Lord. Then I'm gonna invite the ushers to come on down and start handing out the elements. And as you receive those elements, if you would stand and then we'll all partake together. Deserve the grace and the promise of your word. I stand and wonder at the sacrifice

you've made. Mercy beyond measure in the sky. Shall we pray? Father, we come before you and I thank you for your body that was broken for us. Lord, for bearing in your own body on the tree all of our sin. Lord, for taking the stripes and taking the name of the Lord of the angels. All of the things that rightly belong to us. Father, I thank you for your blood

that was shed for the remission of sins. Your blood that was shed that is not only enough to cover our sin but Lord, to make us brand new in you. And Lord, I thank you that your blood has never failed us yet. That it continually cleanses us from all sin. Father, I pray that as we take this time now to partake that you would make real to us in an even new way

the great love and sacrifice that you've made for us. We just thank you, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake. Would you bow with me one more time? Father, thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for speaking to us through this morning. And I just ask that only the things of you would remain. Lord, that the work that you have begun in our heart this morning

would carry on not only throughout the rest of the day but throughout the rest of this week. That it would be a week where we spend time getting to know you. To pouring into who we are in you. Lord, allowing you to pour into us. We thank you and we praise you, Father, for who you are. In Jesus' name. Amen. Have a great week. Be blessed.