- Those committed to UNBELIEF can't commit to JESUS . (Mk 8:11-15)
- Those committed to JESUS sometimes ACT like those committed to UNBELIEF . (Mk 8:16-21)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:03
Well, here's the short version of the sermon today.
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There are some people who because of their sinful refusing to believe in Jesus Christ, when they encounter the Word of God, this is what happens.
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But even some people who are committed to Jesus Christ - for those of us in the church who have been walking with the Lord, do you know what happens to us sometimes?
00:29-00:30
same thing.
00:32-00:36
That was the short version. You can go now if that's all you want.
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If you want the longer version, you're like, "That was the sermon. What do you do all week?" Here's the longer version. Look at Mark chapter 8. It says, "In those days," what days?
00:55-00:58
Well, We're talking about this tour that he was on, right?
00:58-01:02
Remember, Jesus took His disciples and He went into Gentile territory.
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He went to Tyre and Sidon and back down around to the Decapolis.
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It was a private tour.
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He was ministering just to the twelve.
01:11-01:13
So Mark was saying it happened during that time.
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In those days, when again, a great crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, He called His disciples to Him And it said to them, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.
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And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way.
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And some of them have come from far away." An interesting note in verse 2, it says that Jesus said, I have compassion.
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That's the only place in the New Testament where we actually see Jesus saying that.
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You're like, well, that sounds very familiar.
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Usually when that's stated, it's in the third person.
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It says Jesus had compassion.
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So it's sort of like outside observer.
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It's like, oh, look at Jesus.
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He has compassion obviously.
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Look at what He's doing.
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He's showing compassion.
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But here, this wasn't observational.
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This wasn't speculation.
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This was from Jesus' own mouth.
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He says, "I have compassion." That word for compassion actually comes from the gut, or literally, the bowels.
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Meaning, he felt compassion.
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Jesus didn't just look at the people and think, well, I'm probably obligated to be on the hook to do something for them.
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What this means is I feel compassion.
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I can't help it.
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I feel it in my gut.
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"We have to help these people.
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You have a God who feels." And Jesus said we can't just send them away.
02:59-03:04
Some of them came from a far journey, and some of them might just collapse on the way home.
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And His disciples answered Him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" Any ideas?
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Any ideas at all?
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Anyone got anything?
03:27-03:31
How about what happened in chapter 6 again?
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Do you think the disciples forgot about that?
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I don't think that the disciples forgot.
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You know what I think was happening here honestly?
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I think they were kind of like, "Jesus, what are we going to do about this?" Jesus, what are you going to do about this? I think that's what was going on here. They could not have forgotten, right? They couldn't have forgotten, right? They couldn't have.
03:58-04:16
So what are you going to do about this? Like, well, why were they asking? Well, there's a couple of things going on here. One, it says "desolate place." Some people think, well, maybe because it was more of a deserted area, more of an isolated area, maybe for for some reason the disciples thought that that might hinder Jesus.
04:16-04:18
I don't really subscribe to that theory.
04:18-04:30
Some people think that because this was a Gentile territory, the disciples were sort of like, "Are you going to do for the Gentiles what you did for the Jews?" Like is that still like the feeding the thousands thing?
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Is that for the Gentiles too?
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Or is that just a Jewish thing?
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Whatever the case, you just see the disciples kind of walk up to Jesus like, "What are we going to do?" And by "we," I mean you going to do about this.
04:48-05:06
"And He asked them, 'How many loaves do you have?' They said, 'Seven.' And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people.
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And they set them before the crowd, and they had a few small fish.
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And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.
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Verse 8, "And they ate and were satisfied." Exactly what 642 says.
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And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
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Now you remember in the previous How many baskets were taken up?
05:43-06:57
Well, right you said 12 Okay, bonus points for Deb today 12 baskets now, there's something you don't see in English. It's actually happening here in the Greek The 12 baskets from chapter 6 were like lunchboxes You know the word for basket in the Greek was like a little basket But this is actually a different word in the Greek This is a word that is more like clothes basket Okay, so these weren't seven lunchboxes these were if you can kind of picture like seven clothes baskets full of broken pieces First nine says and there were about 4,000 people Matthew tells us that there were also women and children Okay, so four thousand men besides women and children It says, "And he sent them away, and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Damanutha." And that miracle is going to set the stage for these next two scenes.
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I want you to write this down, first of all, in your outline.
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Those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.
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What are we talking about today?
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We're talking about this.
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Jack, Jesse, you guys can bring this back.
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I'm counting on your generation.
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Bring it back.
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Alright, no more of this.
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We're going back to this.
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Can I count on you guys?
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Alright, thank you.
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Those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.
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So if you have the scene - so Jesus does another multitude feeding.
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Verse 11 says, "The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him." So Jesus, as soon as He's off the boat, there they are waiting for Him.
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"Jesus, we missed You." Not hardly.
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It says right in your Bible - what's it say?
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They wanted to argue.
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Do you kind of see it?
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Do you have that picture in your mind?
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Jesus steps off the boat and there are the Pharisees right there.
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Like what?
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What, Jesus?
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Oh, you're still walking around still sticking with the Messiah thing, huh?
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Still thinking that you're the Messiah.
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Still saying that you're speaking for God, huh?
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And they're ready to argue.
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It says that they were seeking from Him a sign from heaven.
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Interestingly, the Jews believed that only God could do a sign from heaven, and demons could only do signs that were on the earth.
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They were like, "show us something from heaven, Jesus." What were they asking for?
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I'm sure it was something along the lines of shooting stars, fireworks.
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Show us the sign from heaven.
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But it says it was to test Him.
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But those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.
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These people did not want to believe.
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They didn't want to believe.
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Now, it says here that they're asking for a sign, so let me ask you, have these people seen signs already?
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I went back through the Gospel of Mark.
09:25-09:32
Just looking at Mark, these are just some of the signs that they would have seen so far.
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Or, I also wrote down some of the signs that were seen by so many people that surely they would have heard of it.
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Are you with me?
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I wrote down every miracle in Mark so far.
09:48-10:20
And some of them, I'm like, well, that one's kind of private, so I'm going to give them the benefit on that one. Maybe they didn't hear that one. So these are the ones that were very public in front of huge crowds, or some of the religious elite like the Pharisees would have actually been there to see it. Chapter 1 verse 11, "God spoke audibly from heaven concerning His Son." Chapter 1 verse 26, remember Jesus drove the demon out of the man in the synagogue.
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So some of these people would have been there for that one.
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Chapter 1 verse 34, Jesus was casting out demons and healing everyone.
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Huge crowds.
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Chapter 1 verse 42, Jesus healed a leper who went and told everyone.
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Chapter 2 verse 12, Jesus healed the paralytic.
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Some of the Pharisees were there.
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Chapter 3 verse 5, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand.
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Some of the Pharisees were there.
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Chapter 3, verses 10-11, more huge crowds casting out demons, healing everyone.
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Chapter 5, verse 42, Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead.
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He was one of the rulers of the synagogue.
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So do you think the Pharisees would have heard about that?
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I don't think that's a stretch.
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Chapter 6, verse 42, Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus women children, did these Pharisees see and /or hear of signs from Jesus?
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Those are just some.
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And what was their response?
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What was their response?
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So, Jesus.
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How about a sign?
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What do you got?
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Well, look at v. 12.
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He says, "And he sighed deeply in his spirit." We saw that when Jesus touched the deaf man, he sighed.
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That was a sigh of compassion.
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This is a sigh of grief.
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Jesus wasn't rolling His eyes like, "Oh, they don't get it." This was grief.
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Jesus was mourning.
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All these things that He has done, all this compassion and love from God Himself that He has shown, and these people just get in His face wanting to argue and show something else.
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Do a trick for us.
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Jesus was grieved.
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And you understand this.
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Have you ever tried to minister to someone who is going the wrong way in life?
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And they're insisting that they're going to do the wrong thing no matter what you tell them.
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Maybe you have an adult child or a good friend, or maybe another family member that's an adult that's just like, look, I know it's wrong, but I'm doing it anyways.
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Anybody been in that situation?
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You know what this kind of sigh is about.
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You've done it.
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You are so missing it.
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You can't even see the destruction that you're putting on yourself.
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That's the kind of sigh that Jesus was doing here.
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And He says, "Why does this generation seek a sign?
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I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." And I know as a very young Christian, I remember reading this passage and I was just thinking, "Jesus, why didn't you just do something?
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Did he have the power?" Yeah.
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I remember as a young Christian, like, "Jesus, why didn't you just...
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You could have showed them all that day.
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You could have shut them up." They're like, "You want to see a sign?" Boom!
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But why didn't He?
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Then I realize, because it wouldn't have mattered.
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Understand, it wouldn't have mattered what Jesus did.
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They would not have believed because they were committed to unbelief.
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And those who commit to unbelief commit to Jesus.
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You're like, "How do you know that it wouldn't have mattered?" Well, there was one of the miracles specifically from Mark that I left out.
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It's Mark 3, verse 22.
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It says that the scribes acknowledged that Jesus was driving out demons.
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Do you remember that?
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Do you remember that sermon?
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When they were like, "You're driving out demons," they acknowledged that.
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Do you remember that sermon?
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So they acknowledged that things were happening, but if you remember that sermon, what else did they say about it?
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You do it by the power of Satan.
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They knew that Jesus was driving out demons, and instead of saying, "This is the Lord, this is God defeating evil," what did they do?
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You know He's doing that by the power of Satan, right?
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You know He's just a demon.
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Driving out other demons.
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You know that, right?
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Even when they saw the sign, they refused to believe.
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And if that wasn't bad enough, what happened after Jesus rose from the dead?
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When Jesus rose from the dead, did you have these people say, "He is Lord!
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He conquered the grave!" What did they do?
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Matthew 28, verse 13.
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Do you know what they did?
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They said, "We can't let word get out about this. Let's make up a story." Remember that?
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They knew he rose from the dead, but they said, "Let's make up a story." What story?
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How about the disciples stole his body while the guards were sleeping?
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You realize what an idiotic story that is?
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Do you know what's happening while you're sleeping?
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Do you know?
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You know what's happening while you sleep?
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Nobody knows what's happening while you're sleeping.
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Do you mean to tell me these guards, who by the way would have been executed for letting something like this happen, these guards just fell asleep?
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And the next morning when they were woken up, what happened to the body?
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Oh yeah, let me give you a detailed account.
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I was sleeping. I witnessed the whole thing.
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What you have to see there is The refusal to believe even in the face of the resurrection.
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Those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.
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So how did Jesus respond?
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We'll look at verse 13.
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It says, "He left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side." Sad.
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Jesus gets out of the boat.
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They're right there in His face.
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"Show us the sign." Why is this greed?
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Why does this generation want a sign?
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No sign is going to be given.
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And immediately, immediately gets back onto the boat and takes off again.
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Leaving just as abruptly as he arrived.
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But listen church, Jesus wants you to believe.
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There is a difference between honest seeking and sinful testing.
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Don't leave here thinking, oh, does this mean that we can't ever ask God to reveal Himself or to show Himself mightily to me?
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Listen, there is a huge difference between the heart that says, God, I want to know You.
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God, I want to believe.
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God, please make Yourself real to me.
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verses, God, You need to prove Yourself to me.
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If You're so powerful - if You're so powerful, God, why don't You do this?
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God, if You're so powerful - there is a huge difference between those attitudes.
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Because honest seekers, according to the Bible, are promised to find answers.
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The Lord says, "You will seek Me and you will find Me if you search with your whole hearts." Honest seekers are promised to find answers.
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Sinful testers are abandoned in their unbelief. Jesus is not going to tolerate irreverent mocking. That's what was happening here. Several years ago, there were all these letters to the editor in the paper about creation science and evolution and all those things, and then one person wrote this letter saying, "No scientists are creationists." I'm like, "Okay, I can't on this island anymore.
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I actually got a list.
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Do you know how many major branches of science were founded by creationist Christians?
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It's a list, people.
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It's not like one or two.
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It's a list.
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The major branches of science that were founded by Christians.
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So I got that list out and I typed it out with a few comments of my own, and I sent that letter in, and it was in the paper.
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this call from this lady she goes I need to talk to you and I said why and she said I think you're dangerous well my dog doesn't think so but she goes I have some questions for you I'm like okay absolutely was she I said love to answer your question she came this lady was like devout atheist devout we're talking like seven days a week the gospel with her. And she's like, "How did Noah get those dinosaurs on the ark?" And I said, "Well, a couple things going on there. Actually, the ark's a lot bigger than people realize. You know, you see the little cartoons where the ark's like a canoe and the giraffe's sticking his head out the porthole and the elephants are like crowded on the deck. Have you seen that cartoon?
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I hate that cartoon. That is so biblically inaccurate.
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Noah, build a canoe.
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And people see that cartoon, and they're like, "well, you can't put a T-Rex on that." The ark was enormous.
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Well, dinosaurs are like the size of my house.
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Not when they're born.
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Were you born full size?
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What about you, Nate?
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Were you born full size?
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I hope not.
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Nobody's born full size, not even the dinosaurs. I believe that Noah took babies on the ark with him.
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I shared that with her and you know what her response was? She goes, "Oh come on!" She goes, "That is just ridiculous!" And I'm like, "What's ridiculous about that?" She's shaking her head and I said, "You know what? I think we're done here." Why? I could have gotten every book that Answers in Genesis published and sat there and read them to her. Would it have made a difference? Would it have made a difference? Absolutely not. Why? Because she was committed to unbelief.
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I've had people the other way too to say, "You know Pastor Jeff, I'm really trying to learn the Bible, but there are some things that don't make sense. Like, how did Noah get the dinosaurs on the ark? And I share that stuff with them, and they're just like, "Oh, that makes sense." They're not committed to unbelief. But sadly, many people are.
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Look Matthew verse 14.
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It says, "Now they had forgotten to bring bread." Okay, so they're on the boat, on the way. It says, "Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they only had one loaf with them on the boats." I'm going to get to this verse here in a second. You'll see why that's here. It says, "And he, Jesus, cautioned them, saying, 'Watch out!
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Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.'" So Jesus, where was his mind?
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His mind was still on the shore, right? Jesus was thinking about that exchange that took place. He's like, "Teachable moment, disciples. Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. Watch out for the leaven of Herod." Like, what does that mean? What do you mean leaven? Well, when the Bible talks about leaven, it's talking about permeation. You know, when you put a little bit of leaven in the lump. That leaven spreads and permeates the whole lump of dough.
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And Jesus here is saying you need to watch that unbelief doesn't enter your heart because it will permeate everything in your life. Can you get more specific? Absolutely. Jesus said watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. What was their leaven? Their leaven, I just wrote down these two things, kind of summing up what their leaven is. It was legalism and hypocrisy.
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Legalism and hypocrisy. Jesus said, "Watch out for that leaven." You know, when you get into the mindset of, "You've got to keep the rules. Keeping the rules makes God happy.
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I've got to put on a show. I can't let anybody think that I'm struggling.
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Or that I need help. I've got to put on church face 24/7.
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I've got to pretend.
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That's leaven that permeates everything that the Pharisees did.
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Everything in our life was characterized by legalism and hypocrisy.
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What about Herod? What does that mean? The leaven of Herod is I'm going to write down these two words.
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Secular and sensual.
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Secular and sensual.
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That's just 11 of me first all the time.
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Me first. My wants.
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My desires. Me. Me.
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What's best for me?
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Using a couple of other old phrases since I opened that vault.
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It wasn't too many generations ago where the phrase was sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
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Lift it up is something to be applauded.
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But when you look at that, that's just appealing to the sensual nature.
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Sex and drugs and rock and roll.
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It was the idea that what makes me feel good?
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That is chief.
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What makes me feel good?
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Speaking of, Pastor Jeff, you have so many antiquated phrases.
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Do you remember this one?
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If it feels good - oh, you remember that one.
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good, do it.
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You're like, "Well, what's that?" That's the leaven of Herod. This mindset of unbelief can start in one area and it ends up spreading. For example, take the leaven of the Pharisees. Now, what I was originally going to do was get this big lump of unleavened dough and get a little piece of leaven. And I was going to do this whole big like Paula Deen baking demonstration up here. Well, maybe not Paula Deen. Too controversial. Rachel Ray. She's not in trouble, is she? Okay, so I didn't do that.
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But I thought, is there something else that pictures this idea of permeation?
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And then I didn't have to think too hard because I thought of one of my most "favorite things in the world," and that's Mio.
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Any Mio fans here?
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A couple of you, three of you?
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I'm grieving in my spirit, Bob.
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Instead of leaven, this is gonna be a much more visual.
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See, here's how it is.
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Let this represent hypocrisy.
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You see, the thing is, if you let just a little bit of hypocrisy in, let's say in your home life, you're just going to let a little bit of hypocrisy in, what happens?
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It spreads and it ends up permeating every area of your life.
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You're a hypocrite at home, so it's easy to be a hypocrite at work.
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It's easy to be a hypocrite at church.
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It's easy to go to small group and be a hypocrite because you let just a little bit in and it has a way of permeating everything.
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Jesus said to his disciples, that's why you have to guard your hearts against the leaven of the Pharisees.
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Meaning, don't act like them at all.
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Because you'll start acting totally like them.
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And then you have the leaven of Herod.
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Same thing, right?
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You give into a little sensuality here, a little sensuality there, and you're like, you know what, maybe it's ok for me to look at these things on the computer, and maybe watch these movies I'm just going to let a little bit in.
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Next thing you know, that little bit that you let in ends up permeating everything.
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You start thinking sensually, and you start talking sensually, and in appropriate relationships, it starts permeating everything.
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And you think, well, it's just this little one little category of my life.
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You can't compartmentalize your life, that's the point.
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Well, I'm like holy most of the time, but I just have this one little secret side sin that nobody knows about and it doesn't really affect anything.
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Jesus said it affects everything because that will spread to every area of your life.
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Should that be a concern?
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Absolutely.
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Jesus said watch out.
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Watch out for the leaven.
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The Pharisees and of Herod.
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Jesus said, "Don't be like them, so consumed in their unbelief and their hypocrisy and their sensuality that obviously they miss seeing God at work." So those committed to unbelief cannot commit to Jesus.
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Secondly, write this down, those committed to Jesus sometimes act like those committed to unbelief.
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you're not off the hook here. Because you know we can say, "You know you're right Pastor Jeff, you know those unbelievers, those hypocrites, those legalists, those sensual people, you know what Pastor Jeff, this is them, this is them 24/7, they miss it, they miss it, they miss it." Well, hold that thought because look at how the people responded to Jesus. Jesus says, "Watch out." Okay, very serious warning here, Watch out. Beware.
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On a scale of 1 to 10, how serious do you think that is?
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If Jesus said it, I'd go straight to 10 with that.
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Look at v. 16.
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"And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread." How did they respond to Jesus' warning?
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Oh, Jesus, how do we recognize it?
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How can we avoid it?
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How can we address it if we see it in one another?
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How do we how do we do this?
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And they start talking about bread All you see Jesus was talking and all they heard was leaven and they were just like Bread Bread All Jesus is talking about bread.
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Oh man "I don't have any bread." Oh, that happens in church.
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Don't think for a second it doesn't.
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For example, I'm preaching on 2 Kings 9.
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Jezebel was eaten by dogs.
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And there are people that are kind of tuned in, kind of not, that are just like, "Man, am I hungry.
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Did he say Jezebel was eating hot dogs?" and your wife is like, "No, Randy." He said, "Jezebel was eaten by dogs." And Randy's like, "I wonder what that tasted like.
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"I'm hungry.
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"Dogs, yeah, oh yeah." Or maybe we're reviewing the 10 commandments, and I'm like, "You know what?
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"The seventh commandment is do not commit adultery." and you're like, "Did he just say donut?" "Did he just say donut?" I like those cafeteria services, 'cause we have donuts.
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Why is Pastor Jeff preaching about donuts?
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I didn't think donuts were in the Bible.
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Except maybe like on the list of unclean foods in Leviticus, but like, I really didn't think.
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I know like they were dunking people like in the river when they were baptizing, but I can't remember like them dunking anything else.
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like, "Why is he talking about donuts?" Oh, that happens.
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You know, we're preaching on Noah, and we're like, you know, Noah had sons, right?
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Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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And you're like, "Ham..." You know what?
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Let's get a ham sandwich for lunch.
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Ham. Mmm. Mmm.
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I like that - what's that?
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Black Forest ham.
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That's the kind of ham that I want.
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That's what was happening with the disciples here.
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It was like, what?
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Who's talking about bread?
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Look at v. 17 and 18.
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"Jesus, aware of this, said to them, 'Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?
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Do you not yet perceive or understand?
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Are your hearts hardened?
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Having eyes?
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Do you not see?
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ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? Jesus is saying, "Are you just like the Pharisees? Are you completely oblivious? Are you guys not getting it? I mean we just dealt with this on the shore, right? And now we're in the boat and you guys are all doing this. Like don't you get it?" The irony is, Jesus is teaching the disciples, "Don't be like the Pharisees," and they weren't listening because they were acting just like them.
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The Pharisees saw signs and chose not to believe.
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Disciples, you saw signs.
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Why do you not believe?
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The Pharisees failed to connect the actions and the teachings of Jesus to who He is.
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Completely missing it.
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Now, disciples, you're figuratively in the same boat Pharisees.
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Jesus goes on.
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Jesus said, "When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And he said to him, "Twelve." "And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?" Don't you remember?
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Jesus was like, "Okay, let's review.
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Quick review.
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You're worried about bread.
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I fed thousands of people on two different occasions with just a little bit, so much so that we had enough leftovers for us, and you don't think one loaf is enough for the twelve of you." I don't have that story in my Bible, you know, Jesus feeds the twelve with one loaf.
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My Bible has like the five thousand and the four thousand.
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I'm willing to venture a guess that if Jesus was able to feed thousands and thousands of people with one lunch, He'd be able to feed exactly one dozen people with one loaf.
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But here's the point.
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The stress of now forgets God's care in the past.
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And church, I mean, obviously there's some funny things happening in this passage, but getting real serious, every single person in this room is guilty of this.
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Myself included.
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We are guilty of this.
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We get stressed out about something now, We've completely forgotten how God has loved us in the past.
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That's what the disciples did.
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They're all sweating about bread, and Jesus was like, "You guys were there!" Churches just have to look at God's track record.
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What is God batting these days?
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You'd think He's always bad at it.
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A thousand, right?
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You're like, yeah, but you know what?
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These guys were like there with Jesus.
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We have more reason to believe than the disciples did.
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Did you know that?
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You take the account of the disciples right here.
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You actually have more reason to believe than they did.
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Because what happened after this event?
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The resurrection of Jesus Christ, Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus showing His faithfulness and building His church.
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We've got 2,000 years of Jesus' faithfulness that these guys didn't have.
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You have more reason to believe, not less.
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Why is it that as soon as the smallest little trial comes into our lives - and let's face it, this was a pretty small one for the disciples, right?
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Pretty small.
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But as soon as the smallest little trial comes into our life, we're like, where's the panic button?
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God, You're forsaking me!
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God, You've forgotten about me!
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Whoa!
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
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That's what was happening here.
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I don't have any bread.
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But we're like that.
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We get so focused on the here and now.
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It's all over.
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It's all over.
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I've had one bad day.
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I had one bad incident.
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I got one person at work that said something mean to me.
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And I'm not making light of those things, but understand when you look at the grand scheme faithfulness in your life.
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Isn't it true that these are relatively small things that we let completely dump our apple cart?
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True or false?
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I'm guilty of that.
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But look at God's track record.
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I think back to when our church wanted to get a computer.
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We were trying to figure out budgeting and those kinds of things.
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The Lord provided two.
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And I think back to, do you remember way back in February?
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Are any of you guys old enough to remember February?
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Do you remember way back in February, this pastor in Moldova's house was crumbling, and we're like, "We want to raise $4,000 to help get this pastor's house repaired." And I remember during February thinking, "That's ambitious for a church our size." On top of the rest of the giving.
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And do you remember what happened?
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The watch came in.
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North of 5,900.
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Do you know what's going to happen?
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Sometime down the road, next week, next month, I don't know when, but we're going to be faced with another financial issue, and we're going to have the temptation to say, "I don't know how we're going to do it." God has so proven Himself faithful every step of the way.
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We're going to fall right back into unbelief.
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We're going to be tempted.
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Like, no, no, no, not because of this sermon I'm not.
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But we're going to be tempted.
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Like is God going to provide for us or not?
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Every single person in this room, look, by virtue of our relationship, I know that every one of you have a story.
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And I know the struggles that a lot of you are going through.
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And I know that every one of you could stand up here and give testimony of God's faithfulness to you.
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And I know many of you are going through trials right now.
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I'd just like to encourage you, You know what?
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God brought you this far, didn't He?
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Did God bring you this far?
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Look at you. You're here.
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You're good looking.
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You have food. You have shelter.
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God has brought you this far.
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Why do you think He's not going to take you the rest of the way?
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Or are you still looking for a sign?
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Are you still not trusting God for everything?
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Are you still not taking God at His Word?
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Are you still thinking He was great, but He isn't today?
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And while we wouldn't ever say such a thing, Maybe deep down, a lot of people feel like, you know, God was so loving and God was so awesome when I first believed, but now I'm not so sure.
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And when you get in that mindset, you know what you're doing?
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You're in the boat with the disciples, worried about the bread.
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And the Lord's right there with you.
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Church, it's time.
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It's time to stop getting sidetracked.
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And please, I say this as compassionately as I can, because it comes straight from this text.
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But for some of us, it's time to stop pushing the panic button over every trial.
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I'm not diminishing the pain, the anxiety that comes with trials.
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I don't want to diminish that at all.
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What I want to do is lift high Jesus Christ.
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Because when He's seen in His proper perspective, you're not going to push the panic button.
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You're not going to have the little bit of leaven of unbelief saturate your heart.
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I don't want to minimize your trials.
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I want to maximize the Lord.
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Because whatever you're going through, He is greater.
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Whatever needs you have, He has the power to meet it.
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We need to rest in this glorious truth.
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God loves you.
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God has been faithful to you.
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And God still has the power to get you through whatever comes before you today.
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So are you willing?
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Are we willing to believe?
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Like the disciples, are we willing to take our eyes off of God's faithfulness?
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Take our eyes off of God sitting in the boat with us?
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And put all of our energy and effort and thought and attention on this relatively small problem He has before us.
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That's why Jesus said, "Do you not understand?" It's my prayer that today is going to be for many of us the last day that this happens.
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I get it now.
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I get it now.
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Let's pray.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 8:1-21
Jesus gave a warning in Mark 8:15: "Watch out; beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod". Restate this warning in your own words. What, exactly and specifically, are we to "watch out" for?
Why didn't Jesus just show the Pharisees a sign? Why was Jesus grieved that they wanted one? Compare this account to Matthew's version in Matthew 16:1-4.
Breakout Questions:
Are there any areas of hypocrisy or sensuality in your life? Pray against that leaven!