Crying Out: Shameless Approach

The Power of Impassioned Prayer

1. DESPERATION makes you cry out. (v46-47)



2. PERSISTENCE makes you grow. (v48)



3. Being SPECIFIC brings an answer. (v49-51)



4. The answer CHANGES your life. (v52)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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Sermon Audio: (no recording)

Family Discussion Questions:

Discussion Questions for Parents to Disciple Their Children! We encourage every parent to have your kids listen and even take a few notes on the sermon today. Use this to discuss the sermon and put it into practice this week:

1. How do you think Bartimaeus knew it was Jesus passing by?
    
2. Why do you think Bartimaeus kept crying out to Jesus, even after people told him to stop? Did Bartimaeus seem to bother Jesus? Do you think that also teachers us that we never bother Jesus when we pray and pray about something?
    
3. Let's talk about prayer. Let's list some things that you want to pray about, and how exactly you would like God to answer... and let's pray about them right now!

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 10:46-52

1. In what area of prayer do you struggle the most: passionate, specific, or persistent? Why? What are some ways to change that area of weakness?
    
2. Why did Jesus ask Bart, "What do you want me to do for you?" What does this tell us about how we should pray?
    
3. What do you do when it seems God isn't answering your prayer the way you are asking? How should you respond? How do you usually respond?

Breakout Questions:

Pray for one another to grow in prayer.

Salvation: Debunking the Myths

Five Myths about Salvation that Jesus Debunked


Myth #1 - People are GOOD . (Mk 10:17-18)

Myth #2 - I am GOOD . (Mk 10:19-20)

Myth #3 - REPENTANCE is optional. (Mk 10:21-22)

Myth #4 - I can SAVE myself. (Mk 10:23-27)

Myth #5 - It's not worth WORTH what you give up. (Mk 10:28-31)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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• Audio Transcript

  00:01-00:04

  This is Harvest Bible Chapel and Bible is our middle name.

  00:05-00:08

  So we encourage you to bring your Bibles with you.

  00:08-00:13

  If you do not have a Bible, we have them in our information table and they are free.

  00:13-00:14

  Take them.

  00:15-00:16

  You need one, take one.

  00:16-00:18

  You know somebody else that needs one, take one and give it to them.

  00:19-00:22

  But we want to make sure everybody has a copy of God's Word in their hands.

  00:22-00:25

  Open up to the Gospel according to Mark.

  00:26-00:28

  And we're going to be in chapter 10.

  00:29-00:30

  Mark chapter 10.

  00:31-00:40

  We're going to be actually in verse 17, and if you were with us last week we had our Elder Installation, Big Sunday for Harvest Bible Chapel.

  00:40-00:40

  Wasn't that a great service?

  00:43-00:49

  The following passage I really felt like would be a more appropriate passage for Elder Installation.

  00:49-00:53

  You know, greatness is in the one who serves and how Jesus modeled that.

  00:54-00:59

  And we skipped a section and that's what we're going to be covering today.

  01:01-01:05

  You know, we live in a day of information, do we not?

  01:08-01:15

  How many people remember being in high school and having to use the card catalog?

  01:15-01:17

  How many people remember doing that?

  01:18-01:21

  Okay, young people are like, "What's the card catalog?" Right?

  01:24-01:38

  We live in a day where we have in our hands access to more information than we could cover in a thousand lifetimes.

  01:40-01:46

  But there's also a lot of misinformation that comes through that same technology.

  01:46-01:47

  Do you know what I'm talking about?

  01:48-01:50

  There's a lot of misinformation that comes through.

  01:52-01:54

  And I was thinking about that this week.

  01:54-01:57

  How many people have ever been to Snopes.com?

  01:57-01:59

  You ever been to Snopes.com?

  01:59-02:01

  All right, you're like, what is Snopes.com?

  02:01-02:07

  Well, all this shows up on your Facebook feed or your Twitter feed, people reporting things in the news.

  02:08-02:10

  Like, did you hear this happened?

  02:10-02:11

  And did you hear that happened?

  02:11-02:18

  And some people-- I don't want to mention names, not anybody here, of course.

  02:19-02:25

  But some people believe every single thing that they read on the internet.

  02:26-02:28

  Like, oh my gosh, that's terrible.

  02:28-02:29

  Did you see?

  02:29-02:32

  Like, on my buddy's Facebook wall, they reported this story.

  02:32-02:34

  Isn't that just terrible?

  02:34-02:41

  And I think Betty White-- I think Betty White died, like, seven times this year.

  02:43-02:46

  And that stuff keeps showing up, right?

  02:46-02:47

  And you're going to see it today.

  02:48-02:51

  And every quotable quote has been attributed to Morgan Freeman.

  02:51-02:52

  Have you noticed that?

  02:53-02:55

  It could be something to George Washington or somebody.

  02:56-03:01

  But Morgan Freeman seems to be-- there's a picture of him, and then there's really profound quotes.

  03:01-03:02

  And I see that.

  03:02-03:03

  I'm like, I think that's in the Bible.

  03:04-03:05

  I don't think that was Morgan Freeman.

  03:06-03:25

  And well, nopes.com is a website that verifies all these stories, all these news stories, all this information, Snopes takes these stories and verifies whether they're true or whether they're false.

  03:26-03:28

  For example, here's one that really shocked me.

  03:29-03:35

  A couple of weeks ago, I read that-- did you read about the teen got 25 years in jail for swatting?

  03:35-03:37

  How many people saw that story?

  03:38-03:39

  A couple of you did.

  03:39-03:39

  Did you see that?

  03:39-03:42

  A teen got 25 years in jail for swatting.

  03:42-03:43

  You know what swatting is?

  03:43-03:46

  It's these teens playing these online games.

  03:46-03:47

  No, not with a fly swatter, Deb.

  03:48-03:49

  You're probably still using a card catalog.

  03:52-03:52

  I'm teasing.

  03:52-03:54

  I'd never even heard this term.

  03:54-03:55

  This was brand new to me.

  03:55-03:56

  I'm totally teasing.

  03:56-04:04

  But somehow these kids with these online games-- and this is way beyond me.

  04:04-04:05

  Ben Murphy can explain it.

  04:05-04:11

  But somehow they can use this technology to track these people that they're playing against.

  04:11-04:19

  And they can put in these calls to the authorities get a SWAT team sent to their house, like with bomb threats and things like that.

  04:20-04:26

  And it's like this big internet like prank. Like ha ha ha, you know made the SWAT team show up at somebody's house.

  04:27-04:48

  And I read this article a couple of weeks ago where this teen did this and he was arrested and got 25 years in jail. And I thought, wow, that's a bad thing. But gosh, 25 years, that's such a chunk of somebody's life. And then I looked it up on Snopes.com and Snopes said, that story's not true.

  04:49-04:55

  And they cite everything and say, here's, you know, we tried to verify this and it's not true.

  04:57-04:58

  How about this one?

  04:58-05:01

  Did you read where Obamacare is enforcing microchipping?

  05:02-05:02

  Did you read that?

  05:03-05:06

  Under Obamacare, everybody has to get a microchip.

  05:08-05:11

  And I looked that up on Snopes.com.

  05:11-05:12

  True or false?

  05:13-05:15

  That is false. Okay?

  05:16-05:18

  According to Snopes, that is false.

  05:20-05:21

  Here's another one.

  05:21-05:31

  How many people read about in Oklahoma City, they discovered that a McDonald's restaurant in Oklahoma City was using human meat?

  05:33-05:36

  And these little stories look so real because they have a picture.

  05:37-05:39

  But this McDonald's was using human meat.

  05:41-05:42

  Anybody else hear about that?

  05:43-05:44

  True or false?

  05:46-05:47

  That was actually false.

  05:48-05:51

  The most important thing on the earth is also the most misunderstood.

  05:53-06:09

  And just like Snopes sets out to debunk things that aren't true, this passage that we're going to look at today, we're going to see Jesus debunking myths about salvation.

  06:11-06:12

  Salvation more than anything else.

  06:12-06:18

  Salvation, eternal life, entering the Kingdom of God, how to get to Heaven.

  06:19-06:23

  That is the single most misunderstood thing in the world.

  06:25-06:36

  And I love this passage so much because in this one passage, Jesus debunks all of the myths that surround salvation.

  06:37-06:38

  Look at verse 17.

  06:39-07:15

  It says, "And as he was setting out on his journey," this is towards Jerusalem, "Jesus knew, 'I'm going to die.'" And that's what Mark is talking about here. Jesus knows what's ahead for him in Jerusalem. "And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and It's always good to try to put yourself in the Bible story because sometimes we kind of read through things quickly and we don't really catch the impact.

  07:15-07:18

  But this is actually kind of funny.

  07:19-07:31

  Actually in Matthew 19, his account of this story, it says, "Behold, a man came up to him." And that "behold" is just like, "Whoa!" And you've got to kind of understand what's going on here.

  07:32-07:36

  Do you know how undignified this would have been?

  07:38-07:41

  In this culture, men just didn't run.

  07:41-07:43

  That's something that children do.

  07:43-07:45

  So kind of get the scene here.

  07:45-07:55

  There's like Jesus with his disciples and the Bible says, all of a sudden this guy, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Like seriously?

  07:56-07:57

  Seriously?

  07:57-07:59

  It says he ran up to Jesus.

  08:00-08:13

  I can just imagine the disciples kind of seeing this guy coming over the hill What's this guy doing? He runs up to Jesus. Hey, I'm gonna need a couple minutes to catch my breath.

  08:14-08:40

  So this guy runs up to and knelt before him and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And I'm like, "Man!" Here's a story coming up about a young, wealthy, we'll find out, moral man Coming to Jesus, asking the world's greatest question.

  08:41-08:46

  Like, how many people would think this is primo evangelism opportunity, right?

  08:47-08:49

  Like how many people would love if this happened to you?

  08:50-08:58

  Like you're just like going about your business, you're like standing in Walmart, and some guy's like running down the butter aisle, like what do I have to do to get to heaven?

  08:58-09:01

  And you're like, this is perfect, let me tell you.

  09:03-09:09

  So you read this, you're like, "Yeah!" And he didn't just go to some nobody like me.

  09:09-09:11

  This guy went to Jesus.

  09:12-09:15

  The perfect person to ask about eternal life.

  09:15-09:16

  He went to Jesus.

  09:17-09:23

  And like, man, Jesus is going to reel this guy in, right?

  09:27-09:30

  On your outline, if you're taking notes, I want you to jot these down.

  09:31-09:33

  Five myths about salvation that Jesus debunked.

  09:33-09:35

  You're going to see it all right in the text, okay?

  09:35-09:36

  Harvest Bible Chapel.

  09:37-09:46

  I don't sit in my office and say, "I wonder what I think the people want to hear this week." We're going through the text and we let God's Word speak for itself.

  09:46-09:46

  Amen?

  09:47-09:49

  That should be your sermon evaluation.

  09:49-09:53

  You should go home and say, "Is that what the text says?" Okay?

  09:54-09:55

  That's what we're doing.

  09:55-09:56

  We're just walking through the text.

  09:56-09:57

  You're going to see these things.

  09:58-10:03

  Just myth number one, people are good.

  10:06-10:08

  Look at verses 17 and 18 again with me.

  10:08-10:10

  It says, "The man ran up..." This is so important.

  10:10-10:11

  Please don't miss this.

  10:11-10:12

  This is so important.

  10:13-10:14

  He said, "Good teacher!

  10:15-10:21

  What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good?

  10:24-10:29

  No one is good except God alone.

  10:31-10:35

  You know, for a long time, that statement from Jesus bothered me.

  10:35-10:37

  I mean, let's be honest. We can be honest here, right?

  10:38-10:39

  Doesn't that seem a little weird?

  10:39-10:41

  Isn't Jesus God?

  10:43-10:45

  Right? Isn't Jesus God?

  10:45-10:45

  Yeah.

  10:46-10:51

  So, shouldn't Jesus have acknowledged that this guy was on to something?

  10:52-10:53

  Dude, you nailed it.

  10:54-10:55

  I'm God.

  10:55-10:59

  And recognizing me as being good, you hit the nail on the head.

  10:59-11:01

  But Jesus didn't say that.

  11:02-11:06

  So why did Jesus make this statement?

  11:06-11:07

  This is so important.

  11:07-11:08

  Do not miss this.

  11:08-11:09

  This is so important.

  11:11-11:13

  First of all, Jesus knew that this man didn't know him.

  11:14-11:29

  This man didn't know that Jesus was the anointed Christ, this God in the flesh. But here's the other issue. We're going to see this comes up here in just a couple of verses.

  11:31-11:40

  But this man was throwing a word around that gets thrown around even today, a lot.

  11:41-11:52

  That's the word "good." Understand this church, Jesus was challenging this man's definition of good.

  11:53-11:55

  That's why Jesus made this statement.

  11:57-12:01

  He was challenging this man's definition of good.

  12:03-12:07

  Because this man was throwing the word around like we throw that word around all the time, don't we?

  12:07-12:08

  Oh, he's a good guy.

  12:09-12:10

  You know him? He's a good guy.

  12:11-12:13

  Oh, that kid, he's a good boy.

  12:13-12:15

  He's a good dog.

  12:15-12:16

  You're a good dog.

  12:16-12:18

  We throw that word around all the time.

  12:18-12:19

  Good. He's good. It's good.

  12:19-12:20

  It's good.

  12:20-12:20

  It's good.

  12:22-12:29

  Notice Jesus said - parenthetically, I'm going to challenge your definition here - God alone is good.

  12:30-12:34

  Meaning this, do you understand what it means to be good?

  12:35-12:37

  God alone is good.

  12:39-12:42

  Meaning God alone is inherently good.

  12:43-12:49

  We're going to see here, this man had a concept of good that was very subjective.

  12:50-12:53

  It was very much about a comparison.

  12:56-12:59

  And this guy just thought Jesus was a good guy.

  13:02-13:03

  Jesus was saying, "Do you understand?

  13:05-13:11

  Only God is good." And that puts an absolute definition on good, not a subjective definition on good.

  13:11-13:12

  Does that make sense?

  13:14-13:20

  He was challenging what this man thought about the word "good" because that's exactly where this man ends up in this passage.

  13:23-13:24

  That was the guy's first mistake.

  13:25-13:28

  He's assuming that people are good.

  13:30-13:34

  Jesus was saying, "Ok, only God is good." Does that change how you think of the word "good"?

  13:35-13:38

  You understand it's an absolute truth, not a subjective truth.

  13:38-13:46

  And you know, church, we look at humanitarian efforts, we look at charity events, and we look at our neighbors, and we redefine good.

  13:47-13:51

  But the truth is, even the best person you know is not a good person inherently.

  13:52-13:53

  Please hear me.

  13:54-14:25

  want anybody to leave here saying, "Pastor Jeff hates everybody." Actually, at the volunteer banquet, Bob Mastorino said, "Is there anybody that you don't like?" I can't think of anybody. Okay, but understand that that's a myth to say that people are good. That's what pop psychology would say, and they're, you know, starting to go the other way on that. People are good. Deep down down inside, people are good, and that is just not true.

  14:28-14:30

  People are not inherently good.

  14:31-14:33

  And that's exactly where Jesus met this man.

  14:34-14:44

  Jesus is saying, there is only one being in the universe that can be described as inherently good, and that is God Himself.

  14:44-14:45

  Do you understand that definition?

  14:48-14:50

  That's how you're using that word.

  14:52-14:57

  The truth is, you can add the word "not" on your outline.

  14:58-15:02

  If you do, scratch out the word "myth." The truth is this, according to the Bible, people are not good.

  15:04-15:04

  Hear me.

  15:04-15:08

  People can do good things on occasion.

  15:10-15:14

  People can do good things, but people are not good.

  15:16-15:22

  One of the greatest people I've ever met, one of the nicest guys, he would give you the shirt off his back, was a devout atheist.

  15:23-15:27

  I'm not saying that no good can come from even somebody that doesn't know the Lord.

  15:28-15:35

  What I'm saying is people, 100% of people, not good.

  15:36-15:37

  We are not good.

  15:39-15:51

  Just in case anybody wants to challenge that, I'd like to share with you, turn over a couple I know we rarely do a lot of cross-referencing, but sometimes I share this message and people challenge me.

  15:51-16:02

  "You know what, Pastor Jeff, I don't think you met my Grammy, because my Grammy was good." "I'm sure your Grammy was lovely." This is what the Bible says.

  16:03-16:15

  In Romans 3, picking up in verse 10, the Apostle Paul basically stuffs a bunch of Scripture in a shotgun and blasts us with it.

  16:16-16:18

  To say here's the human condition.

  16:18-16:19

  None is righteous.

  16:20-16:21

  No, not one.

  16:21-16:22

  No one understands.

  16:22-16:23

  No one seeks for God.

  16:24-16:25

  All have turned aside together.

  16:26-16:27

  They become worthless.

  16:27-16:29

  No one does good. Not even one.

  16:29-16:30

  Their throat is an open grave.

  16:31-16:32

  They use their tongues to deceive.

  16:32-16:35

  The venom of asps is under their lips, their mouth.

  16:35-16:37

  It's full of curses and bitterness.

  16:37-16:38

  Their feet are swift to shed blood.

  16:39-16:41

  And their paths are ruin and misery.

  16:41-16:45

  And the way of peace they have not known no fear of God before their eyes.

  16:47-16:49

  So according to God's word, how many people are good?

  16:51-16:51

  A ton.

  16:53-16:56

  You see, that's the first myth that Jesus encountered with this man.

  16:58-16:59

  Understand what good is?

  17:02-17:02

  Only God is good.

  17:04-17:10

  This idea that people have inherent goodness, you better check yourself on there and that leads us right into number two.

  17:12-17:13

  Myth number one is people are good.

  17:13-17:15

  Myth number two is I am good.

  17:18-17:19

  Like well what's the difference?

  17:21-17:24

  Well some people might agree, you know what Pastor Jeff you're right.

  17:26-17:28

  There are a lot of rotten people in this world.

  17:28-17:30

  There are a lot of rotten people in this world.

  17:32-17:33

  But I'm a good guy.

  17:35-17:49

  Matthew verses 19 and 20, Jesus continues, "No one is good except God alone." And Jesus says, "How interesting, the guy says, 'How do I get eternal life?'" Look what Jesus said.

  17:49-17:50

  You know the commandments.

  17:53-18:02

  Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.

  18:05-18:08

  Jesus took the last six of the Ten Commandments here actually.

  18:10-18:15

  And interestingly, Jesus left out "Do not covet." I think that was intentional.

  18:16-18:26

  He added, "Do not defraud." If you want to inherit eternal life, here's what you have to do.

  18:27-18:29

  You have to keep God's Word perfectly.

  18:31-18:32

  You know what the commandments are, right?

  18:35-18:36

  That's how you do it.

  18:38-18:38

  Notice the emphasis.

  18:40-18:41

  That's how you do it.

  18:43-18:46

  You're like, "Pastor Jeff, how can I get to heaven?

  18:48-18:55

  What do I have to do to get to heaven?" My answer is, you have to be perfect.

  18:56-19:00

  You have to keep every commandment of God and never slip up one time.

  19:01-19:03

  That's how you get yourself to heaven.

  19:04-19:06

  You look at the original statement the man made.

  19:08-19:09

  What must I do?

  19:10-19:11

  What must I do?

  19:12-19:13

  There's your answer.

  19:14-19:15

  What must you do?

  19:16-19:18

  Well, if you're trying to get to heaven on your own, you have to be perfect.

  19:18-19:19

  That's all.

  19:20-19:21

  Look at the man's response.

  19:23-19:29

  He said to him, "Teacher, all these I've kept from my youth." Let's stop there.

  19:30-19:31

  is I am good.

  19:32-19:33

  I am good.

  19:35-19:40

  And it is the purpose of the Old Testament law to show you that you are not good.

  19:41-19:46

  Jesus ran down, like I said, these are the last six of the Ten Commandments.

  19:46-19:48

  How do you do on that test, by the way?

  19:49-19:51

  Have you broken any of those?

  19:52-19:57

  If you want to get yourself to heaven, you have to be perfect.

  19:57-20:01

  So let me ask you, last six commandments, Have you always honored your father and mother perfectly?

  20:01-20:01

  Have you done that?

  20:03-20:10

  If you've ever failed to honor your parents perfectly, you are guilty and you are a sinner and you deserve hell.

  20:12-20:12

  According to the Bible.

  20:13-20:15

  Because you've rebelled against God.

  20:16-20:18

  Have you ever committed murder?

  20:20-20:24

  Jesus said if you hate someone, that's the same as murdering them in your heart.

  20:26-20:31

  Have you ever hated someone to the point that, "I just wish that person didn't exist." That's murder.

  20:33-20:35

  By God's definition, you're a murderer.

  20:36-20:38

  Think you're going to heaven? Murderer.

  20:40-20:42

  Seventh commandment, do not commit adultery.

  20:42-20:44

  Jesus said if you lust after someone, you commit adultery in your heart.

  20:44-20:45

  Have you ever done that?

  20:46-20:48

  Have you ever lusted after someone?

  20:49-20:53

  Then you are an adulterer, according to God's definition.

  20:54-20:57

  You're guilty and you've rebelled against the Holy God and you deserve hell.

  20:59-21:00

  You ever stolen anything?

  21:02-21:03

  I have.

  21:05-21:07

  Taken something that doesn't belong to you?

  21:08-21:09

  You are a thief.

  21:09-21:10

  You deserve hell.

  21:11-21:12

  You ever lied?

  21:13-21:19

  I imagine every one of us in here at some point has known the truth and chosen to say something different.

  21:20-21:22

  In God's definition, you're a liar.

  21:23-21:24

  You deserve hell.

  21:26-21:26

  Did you see the problem?

  21:28-21:32

  If you're trusting in your goodness to get you to heaven, is there anybody here that qualifies?

  21:34-21:40

  Is there anybody here that says, "You know, Pastor Jeff, I'm disqualified because of my goodness, right?" We don't have it.

  21:40-21:41

  We don't have it.

  21:43-21:45

  That's where Jesus was challenging the man.

  21:45-21:46

  You think you're good?

  21:47-21:49

  You see, the problem is this man thought that he was.

  21:51-22:01

  Jesus lays out the commandments, and this man said, "I've done all that." And you're like, "This story seems a little far-fetched.

  22:01-22:08

  Like seriously, is there anybody that really believes they kept all the commandments?" Listen, yes.

  22:10-22:11

  I kid you not.

  22:13-22:20

  Years ago, at my old church, one of our church members called me.

  22:20-22:22

  She says, "My grandma is in the hospital.

  22:23-22:28

  She does not know Christ." And the doctor said, "She has maybe two days at the most.

  22:30-22:31

  She does not know Christ.

  22:31-22:36

  Can you share the gospel with her?" I went up to the hospital to share the gospel with this woman.

  22:38-22:44

  You understand, you know, the reason Jesus came to this earth is because we are all sinners.

  22:46-22:46

  Save us.

  22:47-22:52

  And she said, "I'm not a sinner." She was offended.

  22:53-22:59

  She said, "I'm not a sinner." And I said, "Well, ma'am, you know what the truth is?" I said, "I'm not picking on you.

  22:59-23:01

  The truth is we're all sinners.

  23:01-23:02

  By nature, I'm a sinner.

  23:03-23:14

  Bible says by nature we've all done things that God isn't happy with." And I gave her part of the Ten Commandments like Jesus did to this man.

  23:15-23:19

  I said, you know, like for example, have you always honored your parents?

  23:19-23:20

  Always.

  23:20-23:20

  She said, yeah.

  23:22-23:26

  I said, you've never done anything that your parents disapproved of or had to discipline you for?

  23:26-23:27

  She goes, no.

  23:29-23:33

  I was like, well, you know, have you ever hated someone?

  23:34-23:36

  I've never hated anyone.

  23:37-23:38

  I'm like sweating at this point.

  23:39-23:39

  So I'm like, okay.

  23:41-23:42

  Everybody has told a lie at some point, right?

  23:42-23:43

  I'm like, have you ever told a lie?

  23:44-23:44

  Guess what she said?

  23:44-23:45

  Anybody want to guess?

  23:46-23:47

  I've never lied!

  23:48-24:06

  And she sat there in that hospital bed, arms folded, with the look of, "How much longer until you're out of here because you are annoying me." In her mind, she was like this guy.

  24:07-24:07

  I've never sinned.

  24:08-24:09

  I've never sinned.

  24:09-24:13

  Who do you think you are coming in here and telling me that I'm a sinner?

  24:14-24:23

  She says, "I've done everything perfect in my life." So when I read this account, I'm like, "Yeah, I met somebody like this." Folks, there's a name for that.

  24:24-24:25

  It's called delusional.

  24:28-24:29

  It's called delusional.

  24:31-24:33

  You mean that this woman died that night, by the way.

  24:36-24:40

  I hope that when I left, she thought about things and repented and prayed and cried out for mercy.

  24:41-24:41

  I don't know.

  24:43-24:48

  This is the biggest delusion that sends people to hell.

  24:49-24:51

  Right here, I'm good enough.

  24:52-24:53

  I'm good enough.

  24:53-24:55

  You're sharing the gospel with people, you need Jesus.

  24:56-25:02

  Like, make me sound like I'm a card carrying member of ISIS or something.

  25:02-25:05

  Like, why are you talking, I'm not a bad person.

  25:06-25:16

  You know what, I love my spouse and I love my kids and I volunteer with the PTA I do all these things, why are you telling me that I'm a bad person?

  25:17-25:18

  I'm a good person.

  25:20-25:21

  I'm not hurting anyone.

  25:21-25:24

  I'm not doing anything to take advantage of everyone.

  25:24-25:25

  I'm a good person.

  25:25-25:28

  That is the delusion that sends more people to hell than anything.

  25:29-25:30

  I'm a good person.

  25:33-25:33

  I'm a good person.

  25:35-25:39

  The truth is there is only one type of person that goes to hell, and that's the person who thinks they don't need Jesus.

  25:41-25:46

  who thinks they don't need Jesus is the person who says, "I'm good enough." That's a myth. I am good.

  25:47-25:49

  You can add the word "not" to make it biblically accurate.

  25:49-25:50

  I am not good.

  25:52-25:56

  Myth #3 Repentance is optional.

  25:58-25:59

  Repentance is optional.

  26:00-26:02

  Look at verses 21 and 22.

  26:04-26:11

  "And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing.

  26:12-26:17

  Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

  26:19-26:35

  And come, follow Me." Verse 22 says, "Disheartened by this saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions." Again, this looks like a prime evangelism opportunity that we would all dream of.

  26:36-26:46

  Jesus didn't say, "Oh, you want eternal life? Here, fill in this prayer card, or raise your hand, or repeat this after me." Jesus knew that there was something in the way.

  26:48-26:49

  Jesus said to the man, "You need to repent.

  26:50-26:56

  You need to repent." There is no forgiveness without repentance.

  26:59-27:05

  Cover to cover in your Bible, every preacher, every prophet, Jesus Himself, every single one of them preached repentance.

  27:07-27:11

  Meaning, you have to turn from your sin.

  27:12-27:17

  The problem is people want saved in their sin, not saved from their sin.

  27:20-27:20

  How do you know?

  27:21-27:29

  It's the person that says, "Well, if I become a Christian, does that mean I have to give up?" That's called conviction from the Holy Spirit.

  27:29-27:29

  Say no.

  27:30-27:32

  You're going to have to give some things up.

  27:33-27:36

  Is there anything in your life that is displeasing to God?

  27:36-27:40

  Is there anything in your life that you know God would not want to be a part of your life?

  27:40-27:41

  You need to give that up.

  27:42-27:44

  Jesus knew this man's issue was his wealth.

  27:46-27:49

  Jesus knew that, you know what, you love your money.

  27:51-27:52

  And that's in the way.

  27:54-27:56

  But Jesus said, "Here's what you need to do.

  27:57-27:58

  Get that out of the way.

  28:00-28:03

  Liquefy your assets and just donate it to charity.

  28:05-28:09

  And follow me." Repent.

  28:09-28:11

  Repentance literally means to change your mind.

  28:11-28:13

  A lot of times we associate repentance with action.

  28:14-28:18

  But listen, action, I can train my dog to do actions.

  28:18-28:20

  Repentance has to start in here.

  28:20-28:21

  Change your mind.

  28:22-28:23

  This is wrong. This is sin.

  28:24-28:25

  This is not honoring to Christ.

  28:25-28:27

  I need to do something different.

  28:27-28:28

  It starts in here.

  28:30-28:31

  And it gets in here.

  28:33-28:34

  And it works its way out here.

  28:34-28:35

  This is wrong.

  28:36-28:38

  I need to do the right thing.

  28:38-28:39

  That's repentance.

  28:40-28:42

  Jesus was challenging this man to repent.

  28:43-28:45

  Like look, something's in the way, man.

  28:47-28:48

  And you've got to get rid of it.

  28:49-28:50

  Some would say, well, that sounds so harsh.

  28:51-28:53

  Sell all that you have? That sounds so harsh.

  28:54-28:55

  I have this underlined in my Bible.

  28:56-28:57

  You should underline this in yours.

  28:57-28:57

  Verse 21.

  28:58-28:59

  Did you catch that?

  28:59-29:03

  It says, "And Jesus looking at him..." What's the next two words?

  29:05-29:06

  What are the next two words?

  29:08-29:09

  I hear one of you saying it.

  29:09-29:10

  What are the next two words?

  29:11-29:12

  "Loved him." Did you see that?

  29:14-29:15

  Gosh, that sounds so harsh.

  29:15-29:16

  Give up everything you have.

  29:17-29:17

  Now listen.

  29:19-29:22

  Unloving is letting people to hold on to a sin that is destroying them.

  29:23-29:28

  Unloving is letting people hold on to something that hinders them coming to Christ.

  29:30-29:33

  The truth is if you're unwilling to repent, you're unwilling to come to Jesus.

  29:36-29:38

  What's in the way for you?

  29:39-29:42

  There's somebody sitting here today that says, "You know what?

  29:43-29:47

  I've thought about being a follower of Christ, I'm not sure I want to give up.

  29:50-29:52

  Maybe for you it is stuff.

  29:53-29:55

  Maybe you need to get rid of your stuff.

  29:56-29:56

  Like this guy.

  29:57-29:59

  Maybe for somebody else, maybe it's a relationship that you shouldn't be in.

  30:02-30:03

  You know what, this isn't honoring to God.

  30:03-30:04

  God doesn't want me doing this.

  30:05-30:07

  I'm stopping this relationship right now.

  30:10-30:12

  Somebody else, maybe it's the God of football.

  30:15-30:17

  Sports or whatever.

  30:18-30:23

  Something - and see there's nothing inherently wrong with some of these things, right?

  30:24-30:28

  But there was nothing inherently wrong with this man's money either.

  30:29-30:31

  The problem was his attitude towards the money.

  30:31-30:32

  That was the problem.

  30:34-30:42

  And if you have something in your life that maybe it's not wrong but you've elevated it to idol status, that's the thing that needs torn down.

  30:43-30:44

  If you're going to follow Jesus.

  30:45-30:50

  Jesus doesn't say, get a wagon and stick your idol in it and then follow me.

  30:52-30:52

  Get rid of it.

  30:54-30:57

  If there's something in your life that is hindering that, get rid of it.

  30:59-31:01

  But the truth is, repentance is not optional.

  31:04-31:07

  Like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, I hear what you're saying, but repentance is hard." It is hard.

  31:08-31:10

  That's why the Bible says God has to grant it.

  31:10-31:16

  That's why you need to pray, "God, I want to repent, but I can't do it on my own.

  31:16-31:20

  I can't do it in my own strength." That too is a work from God.

  31:20-31:21

  He will work that out in you.

  31:21-31:28

  But you have to want a heart that wants nothing more than to pursue Jesus Christ.

  31:31-31:33

  Repentance is optional? That's a myth.

  31:33-31:34

  That's a myth.

  31:36-31:37

  What are you holding on to?

  31:39-31:46

  What are you holding on to that is worth forfeiting heaven and all the promises and blessings God wants to give you in Christ?

  31:48-31:50

  What are you holding on to that is worth giving up heaven for?

  31:52-31:54

  Horrifying to think that there are people in hell right now.

  31:56-31:57

  You know that?

  31:57-32:17

  There are people in hell right now now, that we'll have the rest of eternity to consider. I esteem that there is something on the earth more important than Jesus Christ. Repentance isn't optional. These are myths.

  32:17-32:17

  People are good.

  32:19-32:26

  Well, maybe not people are good, but I'm good. Myth number two. Myth number three is repentance is optional. We have so watered down the gospel in our culture.

  32:28-32:28

  Just believe.

  32:30-32:30

  Just pray this.

  32:31-32:38

  We never challenge people to repent, which is a necessary part of coming to Christ.

  32:41-32:43

  Myth number four is I can save myself.

  32:45-32:47

  Look at verses 23-27.

  32:48-32:50

  Interestingly, side note, verse 22.

  32:51-32:59

  Remember this guy initially ran up to Jesus because he wanted something so bad, And Jesus held it out to him.

  33:00-33:02

  And then it says that he went away sorrowful.

  33:04-33:06

  He was unwilling to take what Jesus had.

  33:08-33:08

  Bad story.

  33:10-33:12

  But here's the fourth myth I can say myself.

  33:12-33:25

  It says, verse 23, "And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, 'How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.' The disciples were amazed.

  33:27-33:31

  This is kind of a cultural thing because let's be honest, we're all wealthy.

  33:33-33:34

  We're all wealthy people.

  33:37-33:39

  Jesus' culture, there would have been people that had nothing.

  33:41-33:46

  Typically those people would look at the people who did have some, and say those people have everything.

  33:47-33:47

  Those people have everything.

  33:49-33:53

  Even some of the rabbis that taught, There were ways that your wealth saved you.

  33:55-33:57

  And Jesus lies in the face of all of that.

  33:59-34:02

  "The wealthy have everything." Jesus made this statement.

  34:02-34:04

  It's difficult for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

  34:05-34:07

  Notice it says the disciples were amazed.

  34:08-34:08

  What?

  34:09-34:09

  What?

  34:10-34:12

  It's hard for rich people to go to heaven?

  34:12-34:13

  Are you serious?

  34:16-34:21

  Jesus knew that he was striking a chord with them.

  34:22-34:31

  But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God." Notice he doesn't talk about wealth here, he's just talking about in general.

  34:34-34:47

  Then back to the wealth issue, verse 25 says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." They were exceedingly astonished.

  34:50-34:51

  Let's pause here.

  34:52-34:55

  Jesus said, "You know how hard it is for a rich person to go to heaven?

  34:55-35:02

  It's like a camel going through the eye of a needle." Now, there are like 80,000 different interpretations of that verse.

  35:02-35:04

  I'm going to tell you the right one today.

  35:05-35:05

  Ready?

  35:07-35:17

  Jesus was talking about a camel, actual camel and he was talking about an actual needle.

  35:22-35:25

  I've heard so many really weird things about this passage.

  35:26-35:30

  Like, you know, there was this gate in Jerusalem called the needle gate.

  35:33-35:38

  And in order for camels to go through the needle gate, they had to get on their knees and go through it.

  35:39-35:40

  That's what Jesus was talking about.

  35:40-35:41

  I'm like, "What?

  35:42-35:45

  How many people have seen a camel shimmying around on its knees?

  35:45-35:50

  Have you ever seen that?" I did a lot of studying on this.

  35:51-35:52

  You know what Jesus was saying?

  35:53-35:58

  He's saying it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

  36:00-36:01

  Exactly what He said, okay?

  36:01-36:02

  Take it at face value.

  36:02-36:03

  That's what He's saying.

  36:04-36:08

  It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person enter heaven.

  36:09-36:21

  And verse 26 says, "And they were exceedingly astonished and said to Him, 'Who can be saved?'" They were floored by Jesus' words.

  36:22-36:23

  Who can be saved then?

  36:24-36:31

  You're telling me this guy who runs up to you and asks you the right questions walks away from you.

  36:31-36:36

  Who in the world can be saved if getting into heaven is this hard?

  36:39-36:39

  Here it is.

  36:40-36:48

  Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God.

  36:48-36:51

  For all things are possible with God.

  36:53-36:54

  I can save myself.

  36:55-36:57

  The truth is you cannot save yourself.

  36:58-37:05

  Not your good works, not trying to keep the commandments, not your church attendance, not dedicating your life to helping little old ladies cross the street.

  37:06-37:07

  That will not save you.

  37:08-37:12

  Because Jesus made it very clear that salvation is a work of God.

  37:13-37:14

  With man it is impossible.

  37:15-37:16

  See, that's the whole premise of this.

  37:16-37:32

  The man says, initially, he said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus was like, "Yeah, it's impossible for you to do it." "Well, then who can be saved?" Jesus said, "With God all things are possible." Salvation has to be a work of God.

  37:34-37:38

  Turning a dead sinner into an alive child of God, you can't do that.

  37:38-37:42

  You can't do that for yourself, and you can't do that for someone else.

  37:42-37:43

  Only God can do that.

  37:44-37:46

  Only God can give somebody eternal life.

  37:49-37:51

  All things are possible with God.

  37:52-37:56

  And finally, final myth, it's not worth what you give up.

  37:58-37:59

  It's not worth what you give up.

  38:01-38:01

  The last myth.

  38:04-38:08

  By the way, if you're going to correct number four, obviously add the word "not." I cannot save myself.

  38:09-38:11

  Myth number five, it's not worth what you give up.

  38:13-38:17

  Peter, we can always trust Peter to speak up and say something borderline inappropriate, right?

  38:19-38:38

  Peter began to say to him, I'm kidding, kind of, Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you." The disciples are watching this whole exchange take place and Peter's like, "Um, we did it.

  38:40-39:24

  We left everything to follow you." Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold, now and this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life." So Peter says, "Well, this guy is unwilling, and Jesus, we jumped out in faith." And listen, you don't come to Jesus with an attitude of "gimme gimme." Somebody could look at this passage and say, "Well, here's why I'm going to follow Jesus, because it says right here, if I follow Jesus, He'll give me a hundred houses.

  39:25-39:27

  Isn't that what the Bible says?

  39:29-39:36

  I'd like the hundred house plan, please." What Jesus is saying is you're going to be more than taken care of.

  39:36-39:45

  But then we have people on the other end of the spectrum that say, Oh yes, there is great reward for following Jesus when we get to heaven.

  39:46-39:48

  I want you to look again at what Jesus said.

  39:49-39:51

  So there's no mistaking, we're debunking myths today, right?

  39:52-39:54

  No mistaking, look at verse 30.

  39:54-40:05

  "Who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time." Is there reward for following Jesus while you're still on the earth?

  40:06-40:06

  Yes or no?

  40:08-40:10

  Yes. Now in this time.

  40:12-40:23

  And then he says, "And in the age to come, eternal life." Is there blessing in heaven for following Jesus Christ?

  40:24-40:24

  Yes.

  40:26-40:42

  But notice, church, as Peter's like, "Well, we left everything to follow You." Jesus said, "You're going to be rewarded now." How is that fulfilled?

  40:43-40:45

  I'll show you how that's fulfilled right now.

  40:46-41:00

  If I drove home today to discover that my house burned to the ground, by show of hands, is there anybody in this church that would put my family and I up in your home for a while until we could get back on our feet?

  41:00-41:01

  Raise your hand if you'd do that.

  41:02-41:03

  All right, now look around.

  41:05-41:06

  See how many houses I have?

  41:07-41:08

  See how many houses I have?

  41:11-41:17

  Yeah, and there's people, right Jay, there's people that aren't even here that would think about letting me stay with them too.

  41:17-41:19

  They'd be like your family maybe, but not you.

  41:21-41:21

  But do you see that?

  41:23-41:25

  Or if I said to somebody, you know what?

  41:26-41:28

  Our car broke down and we don't have a car.

  41:28-41:30

  Is there somebody here that would loan me a car?

  41:30-41:33

  Is there anybody here that would loan me a car for a while, anybody?

  41:33-41:34

  Hey, look at how many cars I have.

  41:37-41:37

  Get the point?

  41:38-41:40

  Jesus was talking about the blessing of the church family.

  41:42-41:44

  This is the blessing of the church.

  41:44-41:45

  And see, it's not just me.

  41:47-41:50

  If Paul and Carrie went home and found their house burned down, how many people would put them up?

  41:52-41:53

  See? See how many houses you have?

  41:54-41:56

  This is the blessing of the church family.

  41:58-42:00

  This is exactly what Jesus was talking about.

  42:02-42:02

  You are covered.

  42:04-42:05

  You are totally covered.

  42:07-42:08

  God will provide for you.

  42:09-42:17

  You know, since I became a Christian, not only have you seen how many houses and cars I have, you know what else I have a lot of?

  42:18-42:20

  I have a lot of grandmas.

  42:21-42:27

  I could give you a list of people that are like grandma to me with no blood relation.

  42:30-42:31

  I have a lot of fathers.

  42:32-42:34

  You know, I have a great biological father.

  42:35-42:39

  He passed away a few years ago, several years ago.

  42:41-42:43

  I have a lot of spiritual fathers.

  42:44-42:46

  I have a lot of dads in the faith.

  42:48-42:52

  I have one biological sister, but in the church - do you see how many sisters I have?

  42:53-42:54

  Do you see how many brothers I have?

  42:56-42:57

  Are you getting the point?

  43:00-43:05

  She's like, "We left everything." Jesus is like, "Yeah, and look at what you're getting.

  43:06-43:07

  So much more than you left.

  43:10-43:14

  I left home when I was about 20 to go to Bible college.

  43:14-43:15

  I left one house.

  43:16-43:29

  Look how many I inherited." So the idea, it's not worth what you give up, there is no one who has ever sincerely followed Jesus Christ and ever looked back and said it has not been worth it.

  43:33-43:38

  You can scratch out the word "not" if you're wanting to correct the myths. It's worth what you give.

  43:39-43:44

  And finally, look at verse 31. This was a favorite saying of Jesus.

  43:47-43:54

  He said, "Many who are first will be last, and the last first." That's a neat saying, right?

  43:54-43:55

  What's that mean?

  43:57-43:58

  Well, think about it.

  43:58-44:10

  If we were all going to race, and you've all had a sample of how fast I am, but if we were all going to race, and like Justin's like-- here, he's not sick, right?

  44:10-44:12

  So Justin's like, who won the big church race?

  44:13-44:18

  And we were like, well, the person that came in last also came in first.

  44:18-44:22

  And the person that actually came in first also came in last.

  44:22-44:22

  What does that mean?

  44:24-44:25

  What does that mean?

  44:26-44:27

  It means we are all tied, right?

  44:28-44:31

  We all cross the finish line at the exact same time.

  44:33-44:36

  That's what Jesus was highlighting for these disciples.

  44:36-44:41

  Remember, they were just about to get into another argument about which one of them had the highest degree of awesomeness.

  44:43-44:43

  He said, "You're all equal.

  44:46-44:49

  Heaven is going to be just as awesome for me as it is for you.

  44:50-44:52

  Heaven is going to be just as awesome for you as it is for me.

  44:53-45:04

  And we're not going to be looking around heaven going, "This is okay, but I really wish I had what that guy had." First will be last and last will be first.

  45:05-45:06

  It's all going to be equal.

  45:08-45:09

  The question, is it worth it?

  45:11-45:13

  It's worth it for every single person who comes to Jesus.

  45:15-45:37

  Going back to the beginning, the man asked Jesus again, "What must I do?" And if you're sitting here today thinking that salvation is something that you attain, salvation is something that you have to bring something to the table, I'd like to remind you that Jesus gave the church two ordinances to remind us who it's really all about.

  45:38-45:39

  The first one is baptism.

  45:42-45:47

  In baptism we identify with Jesus, death, burial, and resurrection.

  45:48-45:50

  Baptism is the public profession of faith.

  45:50-45:56

  It's a picture of dying to yourself and being raised in the newness of life with Jesus Christ.

  45:58-46:13

  I love that picture because nobody that gets baptized says, "Here's how I saved myself." What they get up to say is, "I just had to let go and fully trust in Jesus Christ.

  46:13-46:15

  I died to myself." That's baptism.

  46:15-46:16

  Have you made that step?

  46:16-46:17

  Have you been baptized?

  46:18-46:23

  If you have not, we are baptizing this Saturday at 5 o'clock at Northway Christian Community.

  46:24-46:27

  We already have some people who are interested and some people who are going to get baptized.

  46:28-46:29

  And I would encourage you, now is the time.

  46:31-46:35

  If you have never made the public profession of faith in Jesus Christ, you need to contact Contact me immediately.

  46:36-46:39

  Amy, after church, my contact information is in the bulletin.

  46:39-46:41

  We need to have this happen now.

  46:43-46:45

  The picture of identifying with his death, burial, and resurrection.

  46:46-46:49

  And as our ushers come forward, we're going to receive the Lord's Supper today.

  46:52-47:05

  You know, 1 Corinthians 11.26 tells us that every time we do this, We proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

  47:06-47:19

  And just as there is nobody in the baptism tank that has something to brag about, there is no one who receives the Lord's Supper that can think that they bring anything, giving themselves eternal life.

  47:20-47:32

  We remember that this is the body, the blood, this symbolizes the body and the blood of Jesus Christ He laid down his life to pay for it.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 10:17-31

1. Why did Jesus tell this man to sell all he has before becoming a follower? Is this a requirement for everyone to follow Jesus? Why or why not?
    

2. What do you think most people (who aren't born again believers) are trusting to get them to heaven? Why do seemingly most unsaved people think they are "good"?
    

3. Why do you think Jesus preached the OT Commandments to this man?
    

4. Jesus said in Mark 10:23 it is difficult for "those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God". Why do you think that is? What does this say about our culture, where everyone has wealth, even the "poorest" in our society?

Breakout Questions:

Pray for each other. 

Servanthood: The Way to Greatness

We would like some greatness, please... (Mk 10:35-37)

Three shocking statements from Jesus about the path to true Greatness:

1. SUFFERING isn't optional. (Mk 10:38-40)

Philippians 3:10 - that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death...


2. SERVING isn't optional. (Mk 10:41-44)


3. It's the path JESUS himself took. (Mk 10:45)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:06

  Open up your Bibles to the Gospel according to Mark and chapter 10.

  00:07-00:12

  Now, we are going to be picking up today in verse 32.

  00:13-00:16

  And before you say, "Now hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.

  00:16-00:18

  Last week you left off with verse 16.

  00:20-00:24

  Why are we skipping this next section?" Well, we are not skipping it.

  00:24-00:28

  We are going to be doing that section next week.

  00:29-00:31

  Well, why aren't you doing it this week?

  00:31-00:43

  Well, today we're having elder installation and I wanted to abbreviate the message a little bit and the passage we're looking at is going to be much easier to do than the passage that we're doing next week.

  00:43-00:44

  So you're welcome.

  00:46-00:49

  So Mark 10, verse 32, okay, we're fast forwarding a little bit.

  00:49-00:51

  We'll do the flashback next week.

  00:51-00:56

  It says, "And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them.

  00:58-00:59

  And they were amazed.

  01:01-01:02

  Those who followed were afraid.

  01:03-01:29

  And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was happening to him, saying, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock Him and spit on Him flog him, and kill him.

  01:30-01:34

  And after three days, he will rise.

  01:35-01:43

  This is actually the third time in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus turns to His disciples and says here's what's going to happen.

  01:43-01:47

  I'm going to Jerusalem, and they're going to kill me, and I'm going to raise from the dead.

  01:47-01:49

  And you remember what happened the first time?

  01:49-01:50

  Peter rebuked them.

  01:50-01:54

  Peter pulled Jesus aside and was like, hey, don't talk like that.

  01:55-01:57

  That's not gonna happen, man, don't talk like that.

  01:58-02:01

  And then Jesus rebuked Peter, get behind me, Satan, remember that?

  02:02-02:06

  Well, the second time, your Bible just simply says they didn't understand.

  02:07-02:16

  Jesus told them again, and the Bible was like, yeah, he's talking about this death resurrection thing again and we don't get it, and it says they were afraid to ask him.

  02:17-02:18

  And you know why, right?

  02:18-02:19

  Remember like the Peter incident?

  02:19-02:21

  Like, hey, ask him about like the death thing.

  02:21-02:23

  Like, no, you ask him, okay?

  02:24-02:25

  Hey, let's see if we can get Peter to ask Him again.

  02:25-02:27

  And Peter's like, "Shut up.

  02:28-02:29

  I'm not asking Him, okay?

  02:30-02:37

  I'm not asking Him." It says, "They were afraid to ask Him." This is the third time.

  02:39-02:48

  And then we launch into another conflict amongst the disciples about greatness.

  02:50-02:52

  What does it mean to be great?

  02:53-02:58

  And you're like, "Pastor Jeff, I think maybe your brain's still a little baked from the summer.

  02:59-03:10

  Didn't we just have a sermon about this recently?" And the answer is, "Yeah." "How recent?" "It was in the last chapter. In Mark chapter 9, we talked about this.

  03:11-03:26

  It comes up again. But did you know, at the Last Supper, the Last Supper, Jesus sitting down, instituting the new Passover, the covenant of his blood, the Lord's table, teaching.

  03:27-03:30

  Do you know what the disciples were talking about at the Last Supper?

  03:31-03:34

  They were sitting around arguing which one of them was the greatest.

  03:34-03:37

  This was a constant thing with them.

  03:37-03:41

  Which one of us is the greatest and I'm greater than you and Jesus picked me first.

  03:41-03:50

  Well, he picked me last because, you know, I was kind of like the cream of the crop and he really wanted me to be the grand finale of his selection.

  03:50-03:55

  And they were always, always, always arguing about who was the greatest.

  03:56-03:57

  And I need to say this, though.

  03:58-03:59

  Again, we've talked about this before.

  03:59-04:05

  And I'm sure some of us are probably thinking, why were they like that?

  04:05-04:07

  I mean, let's be honest.

  04:08-04:12

  Show of hands, who thinks that's a little weird that the disciples were kind of obsessed with that?

  04:13-04:14

  It is a little weird.

  04:14-04:15

  What's the obsession?

  04:15-04:17

  But I want you to think about something, okay?

  04:19-04:20

  Who were the disciples?

  04:21-04:33

  These weren't aristocrats and presidents and congressmen and kings and princes and lofty executives and CFOs of companies.

  04:34-04:35

  Who were the disciples?

  04:36-04:38

  They were blue collar guys, right?

  04:38-04:41

  They were like, they were a bunch of Joe averages.

  04:41-04:43

  So I want you to think about their lives for a second.

  04:44-05:00

  Ok, so you're like Peter and Andrew and James and John, and one day you're slinging fish onto the dock and cleaning your nets, and God shows up and says, "I want you to follow me to be part of this eternal thing that I've got going here, the church.

  05:01-05:07

  You're going to be a disciple. You're going to be a foundation in the church." Me?

  05:09-05:09

  Me?

  05:12-05:14

  I'm like just a guy.

  05:14-05:16

  And you're asking me to be a follower?

  05:16-05:18

  Remember Matthew the tax collector?

  05:19-05:27

  Like sitting in his booth and Jesus was like, "Follow Me." And he - "Me?" Like the most hated guy in town?

  05:28-05:30

  You can put yourself in the place of the disciples.

  05:30-05:37

  They went from complete obscurity to walking around with God.

  05:39-05:45

  And we confess that in the flesh, we can see where that might start to go to your head a little bit.

  05:46-05:47

  True or false?

  05:48-05:50

  That might start to go to your head a little bit.

  05:52-05:57

  You see, it went from I've been chosen by God.

  05:58-06:05

  You know, I have this chance of greatness that I never imagined that I could have.

  06:07-06:08

  Think about it.

  06:10-06:20

  When they were fishing, did they ever dream in a million years that there was going to be this glorious mission from God from them?

  06:22-06:22

  Never.

  06:24-06:29

  It's easy to let pride convince you that you are something that you are not.

  06:29-06:32

  And church, we can fall into the same trap.

  06:34-06:48

  I think for the disciples, The reason they kept arguing about greatness is because it became less about the God who chose them and it became more about, "It's me that God chose." You see the difference?

  06:49-06:57

  "God chose me?" To, "It's me that God chose." You know who I am?

  06:59-07:02

  God was looking down from heaven and He said, "There's my first round draft pick.

  07:03-07:04

  He's a blue chipper man.

  07:05-07:06

  He's rookie of the year.

  07:06-07:12

  I want Him. God saw something in me. That's pride. That's pride.

  07:14-07:16

  And church, we can fall into that exact same trap.

  07:16-07:18

  Before we look at this text, I just need to give you that warning.

  07:19-07:20

  We can fall into the same trap.

  07:21-07:32

  You know, young church plant and so dependent on God for everything, and wow, look at the things God's doing, and people getting baptized, and people coming to Christ, and people growing, and marriages being saved.

  07:32-07:36

  And we can look at these things like, wow, look what God's doing, look what God's doing, look what God's doing.

  07:36-07:39

  And then we can start to go to, look what I did.

  07:40-07:41

  Look what I did.

  07:42-07:44

  God is lucky to have me on His team.

  07:46-07:47

  That's pride.

  07:49-07:51

  And that will kill the church.

  07:52-07:57

  That's what was causing all the arguing among the disciples.

  07:57-07:58

  Everybody with me?

  07:59-08:02

  Ok, so on your outline first of all, we're going to go through this quickly.

  08:02-08:03

  Let me draw a line.

  08:05-08:07

  Verses 35-37.

  08:07-08:09

  We would like some greatness please.

  08:10-08:11

  Where does the line form for greatness?

  08:12-08:14

  Look at verses 35-37.

  08:15-08:27

  And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." You're like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, I have a question.

  08:27-08:29

  How old were James and John when they asked this?

  08:30-08:33

  Like seven and five?" Let's be honest.

  08:35-08:36

  That's pretty childish, isn't it?

  08:37-08:37

  Kids do that.

  08:38-08:38

  Kids do that.

  08:39-08:49

  "Daddy, I'm going to ask you for something, but I want you to say yes." "No, I want to hear what you're asking." Kids do that.

  08:51-08:52

  I think I did that.

  08:54-08:58

  "Mom, I want to ask you for something, but I want you to say yes.

  08:58-09:02

  I'm feeding you your answer." That's what James and John did to Jesus.

  09:04-09:23

  "We want You to do for us whatever we ask of You." And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" And they said to Him, "Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand, one at Your left, in Your glory." Actually, do you know Matthew 20?

  09:24-09:31

  And verse 20 tells us that James and John - Matthew 20 says that they brought their mom.

  09:33-09:33

  True.

  09:34-09:44

  They brought their mom to ask Jesus to make them the greatest.

  09:45-09:46

  One at the right hand, one at the left.

  09:46-09:48

  You get what that means, right?

  09:48-09:53

  Like, make these the preeminent, the prominent, make these your right and left hand men.

  09:55-09:56

  And they brought mom.

  09:56-09:57

  Why?

  09:58-10:03

  Because almost every mother thinks that their kid is the greatest.

  10:06-10:09

  Like Justin Katie, your mom thinks that you're the greatest thing in the world.

  10:10-10:11

  I'm sure of it.

  10:12-10:13

  I am sure of it.

  10:13-10:14

  And Ken, I know your mom.

  10:15-10:17

  She thinks you are the greatest thing in the world.

  10:17-10:19

  You are the greatest thing in the world.

  10:19-10:25

  And Darren, your mom thinks you are the second greatest thing in the world.

  10:25-10:38

  Well, so James and John get Mom involved, using her to leverage some sort of maternal influence, and that's basically the request.

  10:39-10:40

  "Jesus, we'd like some greatness, please.

  10:41-10:44

  We see that you're not just a rabbi.

  10:44-10:50

  We see that you are the Christ." We went to the front of that line, okay?

  10:51-10:56

  When you start handing out the assignments, Like, you know, we are your lieutenants.

  10:56-10:57

  We want that position.

  10:58-11:01

  And their mom's like, "They're such good boys, Jesus.

  11:01-11:05

  Come on, let them be." We'd like some greatness, please.

  11:05-11:08

  Look at Jesus' response on your outline.

  11:09-11:11

  We're going to go through this very quickly.

  11:11-11:14

  But here's three shocking statements from Jesus about the path to true greatness.

  11:15-11:19

  See, they thought the path was just simply like just show up and ask, right?

  11:19-11:20

  Dibs!

  11:21-12:16

  Jesus gives three shocking statements path to true greatness, number one is this. Suffering isn't optional. Suffering is not optional. Look at what he says in verses 38-40. Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized, but the sin of my right hand or of my left, it's not mine to grant, it is for those for whom it has been prepared." Suffering isn't optional.

  12:16-12:22

  Jesus talks about the cup and the baptism and those are metaphors for suffering.

  12:23-12:24

  Those are metaphors for suffering.

  12:24-12:34

  I think it's Psalm 75 verse 8 talks about the cup of God's wrath that Jesus drank on our behalf.

  12:34-12:36

  And it was a euphemism for suffering.

  12:39-12:40

  Same with the baptism.

  12:41-12:53

  Jesus said, "Are you able to endure the kind of suffering?" And their answer was, "We can." And notice Jesus gave a very gentle response.

  12:54-12:56

  He said, "You will." And Jesus knew.

  12:58-12:59

  Jesus knew.

  12:59-13:02

  Do you know that James was actually the first martyr?

  13:04-13:04

  He had it.

  13:05-13:08

  And John was actually the last.

  13:08-13:11

  Exiled to the island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation.

  13:12-13:12

  So Jesus knew.

  13:13-13:13

  This was prophecy.

  13:13-13:14

  He knew.

  13:15-13:22

  They said, "We can suffer right there with you." If you don't like Jesus, you will.

  13:23-13:34

  You don't even understand the extent that the gravity rather that your words are holding, but you are going to suffer.

  13:36-13:47

  So, church, despite what smiley preachers on TV try to sell you, I have to remind you that suffering is part every Christian's life.

  13:48-14:04

  You know, you come to Jesus Christ, you're born again, and Christ alive in you, but we're still living in this fallen flesh, and we live in a sinful world surrounded by sinful people with a devil prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

  14:05-14:07

  And you don't think that there's going to be suffering.

  14:09-14:10

  There is going to be suffering.

  14:12-14:15

  I'd like to remind you, I actually put this on your outline.

  14:17-14:24

  The Apostle Paul, when we, remember this, when we went through the book of Philippians, Paul says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

  14:24-14:30

  Paul says, "I want to know Jesus and I want to know the power of his resurrection." I'm like, "Okay, line is forming.

  14:31-14:35

  Who wants to know the power of his resurrection?" Everybody's jumping in line for that.

  14:35-14:36

  "I want to know the power of the resurrection.

  14:37-14:39

  I want to know the power." "Yes, yes, yes.

  14:40-14:40

  That sounds great.

  14:40-14:41

  The power.

  14:41-14:42

  Sign me up for that.

  14:44-14:46

  But what's the next phrase?

  14:46-14:54

  Paul says, "And may share his sufferings." Okay, where's the line form for that?

  14:54-14:55

  Like whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.

  14:56-14:59

  What happened to your best life now?

  14:59-15:00

  What happened to that?

  15:00-15:04

  What happened to God just wants to give me all the stuff I want to make me happy?

  15:07-15:13

  Knowing Christ is, is knowing the power of the resurrection, but knowing Christ is also Sharing in His suffering.

  15:15-15:16

  Becoming like Him in His death.

  15:18-15:21

  Redeemed person in a fallen world, you are going to experience suffering.

  15:22-15:26

  Sometimes Christians, let's be honest, we are such knuckleheads about that.

  15:28-15:33

  I have people come to me and they are like, "Well, you know, they don't like me at work because I am a Christian.

  15:34-15:39

  And what do I do about that?" That is a hard situation.

  15:39-15:44

  That's an extremely heartbreaking situation when you have to deal with stuff like that at work.

  15:44-15:48

  But I just want to gently remind you that that's expected.

  15:50-16:02

  And if you can go to work, and you're a Christian, and you're working around sinful people, and you never experience any resistance or any type of persecution, there's a problem with that. Right?

  16:02-16:03

  There's a problem with that.

  16:04-16:05

  Because Jesus promised.

  16:07-16:09

  He said, "If they hated me, they're going to hate you.

  16:09-16:16

  Servants not above his master, right?" Look, they unjustly hated and mistreated Jesus.

  16:18-16:21

  And if you're identifying yourself with Him, it's going to happen to you.

  16:22-16:27

  You're going to experience suffering, because you identify yourself with the Son of God.

  16:29-16:30

  Yes, it's hard.

  16:31-16:33

  But yes, also it is expected.

  16:34-16:41

  Notice Jesus said, "Leave the place of honor stuffed," he said, "Leave that up to God." He says, "God has that stuff prepared." God the Father?

  16:42-16:43

  God the Father has that prepared.

  16:45-16:51

  You embrace the reality check that suffering is part of being a follower of Jesus Christ.

  16:51-17:00

  So suffering is an optional, "Oh, I wish I had more time this morning." That is so perverted in Gospel presentation in our country, it's sickening.

  17:02-17:04

  Leaving that out. Leaving that out.

  17:04-17:05

  God just wants you to be happy.

  17:08-17:09

  God wants you to be holy.

  17:10-17:12

  God wants you to find your satisfaction in Him.

  17:12-17:15

  And God wants to be your strength and to be your very life.

  17:15-17:17

  And suffering is part of it.

  17:20-17:24

  Number two, serving isn't optional.

  17:24-17:27

  Look at verses 41-44.

  17:28-17:29

  Serving isn't optional.

  17:31-17:38

  And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

  17:39-17:42

  And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant.

  17:43-17:44

  You totally get that, right?

  17:45-17:53

  James and John grabbed their mom, go to Jesus, make us like your right and left hand man.

  17:55-18:04

  And the other ten were like, "Who do you think you are?" And why did they feel like that?

  18:06-18:07

  Because they thought it should have been them.

  18:08-18:14

  You think for a second that you should be sitting at the right hand of Jesus?

  18:14-18:15

  That's my spot.

  18:17-18:20

  That was where the indignation came from.

  18:21-18:24

  James and John just beat them to asking.

  18:26-18:27

  I deserve that spot.

  18:28-18:32

  Well teaching time, it says Jesus called them to Him.

  18:34-18:35

  in session here.

  18:35-18:46

  Jesus called them to Him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones exercise authority over them.

  18:48-18:52

  But it shall not be so among you.

  18:53-19:00

  But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.

  19:01-19:07

  And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

  19:08-19:11

  So suffering is an optional. Secondly, serving is an optional.

  19:13-19:16

  Think of the leadership examples that the disciples would have experienced in their lifetime, right?

  19:17-19:19

  You complain about your leaders? Think about Herod.

  19:21-19:22

  He was a treat, wasn't he?

  19:23-19:25

  Think about Caesar.

  19:27-19:29

  Think about the people in positions of authority.

  19:30-19:31

  Pontius Pilate.

  19:33-19:37

  These were the people that the disciples would have looked at as people in positions of greatness.

  19:38-19:40

  And these are the people that Jesus is referencing.

  19:42-19:44

  You see what makes for great leadership with these people?

  19:46-19:49

  The disciples are like, "Yeah, we totally get that." Lording it over.

  19:49-19:54

  Authority. You do what I say or I smack you back down into place.

  19:54-19:59

  All right? And everybody looks at those leaders and they're like, "Wow, they're really great. Everybody follows them.

  19:59-20:00

  Everybody's scared of them.

  20:01-20:03

  Jesus said, yeah, that's how the Gentiles do it.

  20:03-20:06

  Meaning, that's how godless people do it.

  20:07-20:10

  Jesus said, that's not how you do it.

  20:11-20:15

  You live in a different kingdom.

  20:17-20:20

  And a different kingdom has different guidelines.

  20:21-20:25

  And I'd like to remind you, church, there are always two ways of doing anything.

  20:26-20:27

  There's the world's way, and there's God's way.

  20:28-20:32

  I read some quotes on what makes a great leader.

  20:33-20:37

  Peter Drucker says, "Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked.

  20:37-20:46

  Leadership is defined by results, not attributes." He's like, that's what makes leadership, results.

  20:47-20:53

  Here's one, "A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.

  20:54-21:01

  Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.

  21:01-21:02

  That's John Zenger there.

  21:03-21:07

  Leadership is the key to 99% of all successful efforts.

  21:08-21:08

  First kind goals.

  21:10-21:14

  Michael Jordan says you have to earn your leadership every day.

  21:14-21:20

  And I'm sure in these leadership quotes, I'm sure we can extract some maybe little tidbit or nugget of wisdom.

  21:21-21:26

  But I just read a lot of quotes this week that leadership has to do something inherently with the leader.

  21:27-21:32

  Like you need to be great and you need to get results and you need to, and you need to.

  21:33-21:35

  What was Jesus' commentary on great leadership?

  21:35-21:36

  On greatness?

  21:38-21:42

  On what it means to be great in God's eyes?

  21:44-21:45

  He said it's about being a servant.

  21:47-21:48

  Like I said, there's two ways of doing anything.

  21:48-21:50

  There's the world's way and there's God's way.

  21:50-21:57

  And growing as a disciple means that you're growing in forsaking the world's way of doing things and you're growing in God's way.

  21:57-21:58

  That's why Jesus said, "You know what?

  21:58-22:00

  This is what the Gentiles do.

  22:00-22:08

  This is not what you do." Because in God's kingdom, greatness is measured actually in opposite terms as the world's, right?

  22:09-22:13

  The world says, "If you want to be great, you need to become more.

  22:16-22:17

  Make more of yourself.

  22:19-22:23

  Build your portfolio." That's the world's way.

  22:23-22:24

  What's God's way?

  22:24-22:26

  Not become more, but what?

  22:29-22:30

  Unless...

  22:30-22:32

  The world says greatness is about getting.

  22:33-22:37

  We esteem the people that seem like they have a lot of stuff, right?

  22:37-22:43

  They're rich and they're wealthy and they've accumulated and wow, look at the size of his house and look at the size of his car.

  22:44-22:48

  The world says greatness is about getting.

  22:49-22:51

  The kingdom greatness is about what?

  22:52-22:52

  About giving.

  22:53-22:53

  About giving.

  22:54-22:55

  See how it's opposite?

  22:56-22:58

  The world says for greatness you have to elevate yourself.

  23:00-23:01

  You have to promote yourself.

  23:02-23:04

  Where the kingdom says you need to lower yourself.

  23:05-23:13

  In a nutshell, the world says greatness is about who has people serving Him.

  23:15-23:22

  Or Jesus says greatness is about you doing the serving.

  23:24-23:25

  He walked into a room.

  23:25-23:34

  We could walk into a banquet and we could evaluate the great person based on who's sitting down and having all these people come and serve Him.

  23:35-23:37

  While Jesus could walk into that same banquet.

  23:38-23:41

  He's evaluating greatness on who is doing the serving.

  23:43-23:44

  Remember when we were kids?

  23:44-23:48

  I don't know how it was in your neck of the woods, but I know how it went in Shekorah.

  23:48-23:53

  Remember the saying, "I'm not your slave." Remember that?

  23:54-23:58

  "Hey, go get me something to drink." "I'm not your slave." Did anybody else say that?

  23:58-23:59

  Or was that just like, okay.

  24:00-24:01

  Remember that?

  24:01-24:15

  "I'm not your slave." And then we get a little older and we read the Bible where Jesus said, "Whoever will be first among you must be slave of all." That's literally bond servant.

  24:16-24:18

  You know, a slave who is a slave by choice.

  24:19-24:22

  A slave who loves his master so much that he chooses to be a slave.

  24:23-24:46

  At Harvest Bible Chapel we're not allowed to say, "I'm not your slave." Our saying is, "I am your slave." As Jesus said, "If I want to be great in God's eyes, I need to be a slave of all." And finally, suffering isn't optional, serving isn't optional, but finally you have to see that it's the path that Jesus himself took.

  24:48-24:51

  Three shocking statements from Jesus about the path to true greatness.

  24:52-24:55

  You know, we're talking about suffering, we're talking about serving.

  24:56-25:04

  You know, suffering and serving sounds like something that's pretty typical for, you know, a Joe-nobody like me living in a little place like this.

  25:06-25:08

  But Jesus himself took this path.

  25:10-25:12

  Because look at what he says in verse 45.

  25:14-25:33

  "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." When I was reading this this week, the word that really stuck out to me was the word "even." For even, what's the point?

  25:35-25:39

  He's like, even God in the flesh operates under these principles.

  25:41-25:44

  Jesus wasn't saying, look, do what I say, not what I do.

  25:44-25:46

  I'm God. You're not.

  25:46-25:48

  You act like a slave. I act like God.

  25:49-25:50

  Do we have our roles in order here?

  25:51-26:00

  Jesus is talking about being a slave and He says, "Even I live by this principle." Jesus, what makes you so great?

  26:01-26:02

  God in the flesh, right?

  26:03-26:03

  True.

  26:04-26:08

  But Jesus was saying He lived out His greatness through what?

  26:09-26:10

  Through being served?

  26:12-26:12

  Serving.

  26:14-26:17

  That's how God manifested His greatness.

  26:17-26:21

  Can you wrap your brains around that concept?

  26:21-26:23

  Because church, I cannot.

  26:24-26:26

  I've been walking with Christ since 1995.

  26:27-26:28

  I don't understand this.

  26:28-26:40

  If anybody in the history of the world deserved to have the red carpet rolled out for him everywhere he went, who would it be?

  26:41-26:42

  Jesus Christ.

  26:44-26:54

  They should have rolled out the red carpet, sprinkled rose petals and still carried him on one of those padded throne things everywhere he went.

  26:54-26:58

  Because look, God's in town, and let's honor him and treat him as such.

  27:00-27:02

  That wasn't how he operated, was it?

  27:02-27:04

  He said, I didn't come to be served.

  27:04-27:06

  I came to-- I came to what?

  27:06-27:07

  I came to serve.

  27:09-27:11

  I came to serve.

  27:12-27:14

  I came to give of myself.

  27:16-27:35

  And as I close this part of the message, notice Jesus said, "And to give His life as a ransom for many." Even though the disciples at this point didn't seem like they wanted to talk about the cross and the tomb, Jesus brings it up again.

  27:37-27:44

  Jesus said, "I came to give My life as a ransom." Why? Because by nature, You and I are sinners.

  27:47-27:53

  We have rebelled against, we have rejected the living God.

  27:53-27:55

  And we have made ourselves to be God.

  27:55-28:00

  We have put our desires, our selfish ambitions above everything.

  28:02-28:08

  And in God's eyes, we are lawless, sinful enemies of God.

  28:10-28:13

  to God we owe a debt that we can't pay.

  28:15-28:17

  Because you can sit here this morning, you're like, "You know what, Pastor Jeff, you're right.

  28:18-28:19

  "I have been way out of line.

  28:21-28:25

  "God, I'm sorry." You're still guilty of sin.

  28:27-28:29

  You owe a debt that you can't pay.

  28:30-28:34

  The good news is Jesus came to pay a debt that he didn't owe.

  28:36-28:39

  Jesus, that's why he said he gave his life as a ransom.

  28:39-28:40

  A payment had to be made.

  28:42-28:54

  When Jesus Christ was on the cross, understand, what was happening was He was bearing the weight of the sin of the entire world on Himself.

  28:55-29:05

  And God was punishing Jesus - think about this - God was punishing Jesus as if He Himself committed every sin that's ever been committed.

  29:07-29:08

  Jesus took that upon Himself.

  29:09-29:13

  2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Jesus became sin.

  29:14-29:17

  When He was on the cross, He literally became sin.

  29:17-29:19

  And God treated Him like sin.

  29:20-29:22

  He treated Him like I deserve to be treated.

  29:23-29:24

  That's how God treated Jesus.

  29:25-29:28

  He treated Jesus like you deserve to be treated.

  29:29-29:33

  He treated Jesus like Adolf Hitler deserved.

  29:33-29:35

  And like Osama Bin Laden deserved.

  29:35-29:39

  Think of the worst sinner that you know.

  29:41-29:42

  God treated Jesus like that.

  29:44-29:47

  Because He took our sin upon Himself.

  29:49-29:53

  And that's why Jesus said that He gave His life as a ransom.

  29:55-29:58

  A payment had to be made.

  29:59-29:59

  And I paid it.

  30:01-30:03

  You owed a debt that you couldn't pay.

  30:05-30:07

  I'm going to pay a debt that I don't owe.

  30:09-30:13

  You see that Jesus was willing to become a servant.

  30:14-30:15

  Like how far are you willing to go, Jesus?

  30:16-30:18

  How far are you willing to go?

  30:19-30:22

  How about enter the world by being born as a baby?

  30:22-30:23

  You willing to do that?

  30:24-30:25

  Jesus said, absolutely.

  30:26-30:28

  I'll come into the world the most humble way possible.

  30:29-30:29

  All right.

  30:30-30:33

  How about you're born in the place where they feed the animals?

  30:34-30:35

  I'm willing to do that.

  30:37-30:39

  Are you willing to live on the earth without a house?

  30:42-30:43

  Traveling everywhere.

  30:45-30:51

  Being treated like a demoniac by some, by the religious elite.

  30:52-30:53

  You willing to go that far?

  30:55-30:56

  Are you willing to be spit on?

  30:58-30:59

  Damn.

  31:00-31:09

  Are you willing to go all the way to the cross, to die for the very people that have rejected God in the first place?

  31:10-31:13

  Are you willing to make yourself that kind of a servant, Jesus?

  31:14-31:21

  You would go all the way to dying on a cross for a bunch of snakes?

  31:23-31:29

  Jesus said, "Church, this is your example.

  31:31-31:53

  When you consider being a servant, when you consider working for Christ, you don't need to look at your example as, you know, "Well, look at Brooke, so faithful, always, you know, so happy to hide behind the computer screen, hope nobody sees her, hope Pastor Jeff doesn't talk about her in the sermon.

  31:55-32:00

  What a great picture of being a servant. Good picture.

  32:01-32:25

  She's not the model of servanthood. You can say, "Look at all that this person does. Look at Mike Gates, driving the vans and the signs and all the work that he does with getting things set up." Mike Gates is a great example, but he is not the example. Your example is for serving as Jesus Christ.

  32:26-32:34

  That's why Jesus said, "For even I, even I didn't come to be served, came to serve."

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 10:32-45

1. In your opinion, what makes someone "great"? How does Jesus' teaching impact your view of greatness?
    

2. Why do you think suffering is a necessary component of the Christian life? How would you encourage a Christian friend who is enduring suffering?

Breakout Questions:

Pray for each other to grow in a "servant of all" attitude.

Let The Children Come: A Lesson On Child-like Faith

Jesus and the Children (Mk 10:13-14)


The Joshua Parallel (Mk 10:15)


Child-Like Faith Is:
Not trying to OVER-INTELLECTUALIZE the things of God.

HUMBLING yourself.

Taking God at His WORD.


Jesus Blesses the Children (Mk 10:16)

Guest Speaker - Levi Keller

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:01

  Well, it's good to be here.

  00:02-00:14

  Like Pastor Jeff said, it's been a long time coming, but finally we've arrived at the time where they will put a mic on my head and give me 30 minutes to talk, which is very dangerous.

  00:16-00:19

  I'm very excited to be continuing our study in the book of Mark today.

  00:20-00:26

  Today's teaching is going to be from Mark chapter 10, verse 13 through verse 16.

  00:27-00:33

  And just before we dive in, just to butter you up a little bit, I have a little story of when I was a child.

  00:34-00:39

  I was two and a half years old, and my mom was trying to get me to stop using diapers.

  00:40-00:44

  And so she decided that each day I didn't use diapers, she would give me a dollar.

  00:45-00:56

  And I was like, "Man, a whole dollar, wow." And so I did it, and each day, she'd take me across the street and we'd go and buy a little Hot Wheels car, because they were a dollar.

  00:56-00:59

  So each day I'd get a new car, so that was awesome.

  01:01-01:16

  And so one day, after probably three or four days of that, she said to me, "Levi, you know, if you save your money, "you can get an even bigger car." I was like, "Whoa, an even bigger one." And so I decided to save my money.

  01:17-01:19

  17 days later, I had $17 saved up.

  01:20-01:31

  We go to Target, and I had that $17 snuck, stuffed into my little Snoopy wallet, carrying it around, ready to go dish out some cash for the nicest car I could find for $17.

  01:33-01:36

  So we're walking through the store and she's like, Levi, you want me to carry your wallet for you?

  01:36-01:37

  And I said, no, I want to carry it myself.

  01:38-01:39

  Maybe not that many words, but.

  01:40-01:44

  And so she let me carry it myself, even though she thought it might get lost.

  01:45-01:50

  And so we arrive at the checkout and it's gone.

  01:50-01:53

  I was like, I don't know where it went.

  01:53-01:54

  I don't know.

  01:55-01:58

  And so we go around the whole store looking for it.

  01:58-02:01

  We check customer service, asking people around in the aisles and stuff.

  02:02-02:04

  And no one had seen it.

  02:04-02:04

  We couldn't find it.

  02:04-02:05

  It was gone.

  02:07-02:14

  And so we left, as I hung my head in shame, without a car, out to the parking lot, into our real car, probably a van actually.

  02:15-02:17

  And so we're driving away and I'm crying.

  02:17-02:25

  I'm saying, "Mommy, can we pray?" And I'm two and a half years old and I wanted to pray and have God help me find my $17 in my Snoopy wallet.

  02:25-02:27

  That was the most important thing for me at that time.

  02:28-02:31

  And so she pulled over, we were pulling out of the parking lot, she pulls over, we pray.

  02:33-02:36

  Turn around, go back into Target, and we find it.

  02:38-02:44

  And that's not the biggest thing in the world, $17 in a Snoopy wallet, but it was big for me at that time.

  02:44-02:52

  And I think God used that, even in my life up to this point, as a testimony that faith, he works through faith.

  02:53-02:54

  He works through my prayer.

  02:54-03:01

  I don't understand how that happens, but he worked through my prayer and my faith as a child, two and a half years old.

  03:03-03:07

  And so in the passage we're talking about today, Jesus addresses faith.

  03:08-03:09

  And he says that it's very crucial.

  03:11-03:15

  In fact, it determines if we're going to enter the kingdom of God or not.

  03:16-03:17

  And so let's read the text.

  03:18-03:20

  Let's dive in and then I'll have a word of prayer and we'll start.

  03:21-03:25

  So turn to the book of Mark, chapter 10, verse 13.

  03:26-03:30

  And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.

  03:31-03:35

  But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me.

  03:36-03:39

  Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

  03:40-03:50

  Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

  03:51-03:52

  So let's pray real quick.

  03:53-03:58

  Dear God, I pray that you bless this portion of your word to us today.

  03:58-04:02

  I pray that we learn awesome things about you through it.

  04:03-04:14

  I pray, Lord, that you would speak through me today, help me to not give my own ideas, but to give the ideas that you put in your word and nothing else.

  04:16-04:19

  Lord, I pray that I'm faithful to the text and faithful to you.

  04:20-04:24

  And please open people's hearts and minds to receive this great word that you've given to us.

  04:24-04:26

  In your precious name I pray, amen.

  04:27-04:40

  All right, so from the top here, verse 13, "And they," stop, they were the parents, "they were bringing children to him that he might touch them.

  04:40-04:42

  And so the parents were bringing their children to Jesus.

  04:43-04:46

  And I just wanna talk about that word children there for a moment.

  04:47-04:51

  The word that Mark uses is a Greek word, and it's paideion.

  04:52-04:53

  And that word means a younger child.

  04:54-04:59

  Many study tools and concordances that I looked at said it would be likely around seven years of age or younger.

  05:01-05:05

  Matthew also uses the word child when he writes a parallel to this event.

  05:06-05:15

  But Luke, when he writes a third parallel, in Luke chapter 18 verse 15, he uses actually a different word there.

  05:16-05:16

  I mean child.

  05:17-05:20

  He uses the word brephos, and it means infants.

  05:21-05:22

  It could even mean an unborn child.

  05:24-05:29

  And so Luke writes in verse 15 chapter 18, they were bringing even infants to him.

  05:30-05:37

  And so this would have included infants, and possibly up to age seven-ish or younger of children.

  05:37-05:40

  And so just to get that picture in our mind.

  05:40-05:43

  And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them.

  05:44-05:49

  So why were the parents so set on Jesus laying his hands on the children?

  05:50-05:51

  Well, there's all kinds of reasons.

  05:51-06:01

  One Bible teacher that I listened to explained that it was a custom for the fathers and the elders of the synagogue to lay hands on children's heads and bless them and pray for them.

  06:02-06:04

  It was a Jewish custom in the day.

  06:04-06:06

  And so that was probably one of the reasons.

  06:06-06:08

  Jesus was a rabbi.

  06:09-06:12

  And so he obviously spent a lot of time in the synagogue.

  06:14-06:23

  Another reason, and I think a reason that stuck out to me the most after reading through Mark is that there was power in the touch of Jesus.

  06:25-06:29

  All throughout the Gospel of Mark, there are many, many references to Jesus laying his hands on someone and healing them.

  06:30-06:33

  And most of the time when he healed someone, He did physically touch them.

  06:36-06:52

  Actually in chapter 5 there's an event and it's a woman who's following him around and she says, "If I can even touch his garment, I will be made well." And so she goes up behind him and swipes his cloak and he felt power go out of him and heal her.

  06:53-06:57

  And he said, "Who touched me?" And the disciple said, "What do you mean who touched you?

  06:57-07:06

  You're in a crowd." And he said, "No, who touched me?" He wanted, of course Jesus knew who touched him, but he wanted her to come forward in faith.

  07:08-07:19

  And so she came forward and told him, "If I could even touch your garment, I knew I would be made well." And he said, "Your faith has made you well." And so some of these children might have been sick and needed healed.

  07:20-07:21

  His touch did indeed heal people.

  07:22-07:30

  Maybe their parents thought that if they had a well child, that if they brought him to Jesus would prevent disease for him to touch them.

  07:31-07:38

  And so there are many reasons, pick one, pick all the above, but there are all kinds of reasons for him laying his hands on the children.

  07:40-07:43

  And as they were bringing children to him, the disciples rebuked them.

  07:44-07:46

  And rebuked is a strong word.

  07:48-07:50

  Disciples didn't want the kids all up in their business.

  07:52-07:55

  And so what I picture is Chuck E. Cheese, okay?

  07:56-09:41

  rugrats running around picking their nose, stealing each other's pizza. And that's how the disciples saw the kids. They saw them as a burden. They said, "We don't want you here. Get out." That was their attitude. I think that at this time Jesus was actually in a house. Now I'm just speculating here, but if you go to verse 10 of chapter 10, it says, "And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter." They were having a teaching time. Jesus was teaching his disciples about divorce. And if you just take out in the ESV there's a break there and with a new sub section or subtitle and that I mean that's not in the original text in the Greek so if you just let it flow they'd still be in the house. And so I think they were probably in the house the parents are barging in bringing their kids to him and they're like we have it we're having a teaching time here can't you see? We're important the children aren't. But Jesus didn't see the children in the same way the disciples did. He didn't see them as a burden, rather he wanted them to come to him. So verse 14, "When Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.'" That word "indignant," I don't know if I'd ever heard that word more than five times in my entire life before I read this passage, and so I didn't know what it really meant, but it's a very strong word. It packs quite a punch. It means he was angry. He was very angry at the disciples, and he said, "Let the children come. Don't hinder them, because to them and to such belongs the kingdom of God." And here we see a very important thing.

  09:41-09:52

  We see two sides of God that are shown all through the Scriptures. A righteous anger towards those who are opposing him in his own and love to his children.

  09:53-10:50

  He wanted those children to come to him. He says, "Do not hinder them." This reminds me actually of a sermon that was given two weeks ago. I encourage you to all go listen to it. It should be up on the website by now, the Harvest website. But in that text it said, "Better for a millstone to be tied around your neck than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble." So Jesus doesn't play around when it comes to his children. In fact, he loves his children so much that he died on a cross for them, taking the punishment for their sins in their place, the wrath of God beating down upon him. And if you're a Christian, he did that for you. And if you're not a Christian today, repent, believe in him for the forgiveness of your sins and that love applies to you as well. We all deserve to go to hell because we've sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

  10:51-11:07

  I just quoted a scripture there. But Jesus in his kindness and love came down from his throne, lived a perfect life, keeping every single one of God's laws, 613 of them given in the beginning of the Old Testament. He kept every one perfectly so that we wouldn't have to.

  11:09-11:22

  And he died upon a cross, taking the wrath of God for us, and was buried, rose again on the third day, defeating sin and death once for all, and now he's back on his throne and his message is to come.

  11:25-11:25

  Like a child.

  11:27-11:30

  For to such belongs the kingdom of God.

  11:31-11:45

  To such there means that it wasn't just specific children that were with him that day, rather to all who come to him with faith, helpless, not able to make it to heaven on their own, but needing Jesus.

  11:47-12:11

  The children couldn't keep the law at that age. They probably didn't know what it was. They might have known what it was, but they wouldn't have been able to keep it. I mean, you were just like, picture again Chuck E. Cheese. It's So we must come to Jesus because he's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him.

  12:11-12:14

  And you can't please God unless you have faith.

  12:15-12:18

  Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6.

  12:19-12:22

  This is an important one to underline in your Bible.

  12:24-12:28

  "And without faith it is impossible to please him.

  12:28-12:57

  For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Romans 4 talks about Abraham being justified by faith, nothing else. The law wasn't even given at the time of Abraham. He didn't even know what it was, but he was justified by his faith and saved by his faith. That's how God still saves people today, by their faith.

  12:59-13:24

  So going on to verse 15, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And so in verse 14, Jesus opens up the kingdom of God to all who are such as his children, as those children, helpless and in need of And here he makes it actually exclusive to that group.

  13:24-13:29

  If you refuse to humble yourself and have faith like a child, you will not enter the kingdom of God.

  13:31-13:32

  That's very scary.

  13:33-13:34

  Very scary.

  13:36-13:41

  And so at this point, we're probably wondering, do I have childlike faith?

  13:42-13:43

  How do I get childlike faith?

  13:44-14:01

  Jesus says it's necessary for us to enter his kingdom. And for this we're gonna hearken back to the Old Testament, the story of Joshua. Back in the book of Numbers, actually, I'm gonna turn there real quick.

  14:03-15:20

  All right, so back in the book of Numbers we find ourselves in the heart of the Pentateuch, which is the first five books of the Bible. And we're at the point where Moses, the leader of the Israelites, sends spies out to scout the promised land, which is the land of Canaan. So Moses sends out 12 spies, one from each of the tribes of Israel, after they were liberated from slavery in Egypt, and after 40 days they return bringing back these humongous fruits. I think they were humongous. The Bible says that he brought back, they brought back these grapes, this vine of grapes that took many people to carry. And so I picture that, not a small vine with small grapes that's just really like a lot of them. I picture it like a scaled version of a grape vine and like huge fruits like this big. That's just what I picture. And they say, "Indeed, the land flowed with milk and honey, but there was a problem. And the problem is that Canaan was occupied by many enemy peoples." And so all the, that 12 of there could focus on were the fact that they probably, they thought, would get overthrown by the enemy peoples in the land.

  15:20-15:25

  But two people who went to scout out the promised land had faith.

  15:26-16:09

  Numbers chapter 13, verse 30, "And Caleb quieted the people before the Lord," or I'm sorry, "quieted the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we we're able to overcome it. Caleb was one that had faith. The other one that had faith was Joshua. And so when they said this, the people of Israel were like, "You guys are nuts. There's no way we can go into the land. We're just going to get beat up. Let's just go back to Egypt and be enslaved some more. It would be better if we would have died there instead out here. And these people were grumbling against God. They didn't have faith in Him.

  16:11-16:16

  So God did not allow anyone who grumbled against Him that day to enter the land that He had promised.

  16:17-17:18

  The only ones He allowed to enter were Caleb and Joshua. Numbers chapter 14, verse 30, this time, "Not one of you will enter the land, I swore with an uplifted hand, to make your home, except Caleb and Joshua. So he limits the ones who inherit the promised land to those who had faith, but not until after they suffered. They were to bear the punishment of the ones who grumbled in the current generation for 40 years in the wilderness, wandering around. I just want to relate that to following Christ. If we enter the kingdom of God, or if we will enter the kingdom of God, that is from following Christ and having faith in Him, but that's not an easy path to life. In fact, life will probably be a lot harder. As we saw in the videos today, bad stuff happens, but with faith in God we will get through those things and it will be well worth it, as we will soon see in our story here.

  17:19-18:14

  So we're just taking a—there's a lot of stuff that happens in the middle here, lots of laws given and lots of things that happen. We're just going to fast forward to the beginning of the book of Joshua. That's right after, it's two books later in the book of Numbers, so it's the sixth book in the Bible. And so we see that Moses has just died and Joshua assumes the position as the leader of Israel. And Moses, they're about to enter the Promised land, Moses could not enter the promised land. Why could he not enter? Well, that's because God had told him to speak to a rock that water would flow out of it. And Moses at this time is on some sort of power trip, and he decides to hit it twice with his staff instead of doing what God told him to do. Therefore, sort of taking credit for this miracle, and he also takes some credit for other things that had been done in the presence of the Israelites. And so God punishes him for this.

  18:15-18:54

  just a parallel that I thought of was us taking credit for our own salvation, thinking we can do it on our own. Well, if I'm a good person, I'll go to heaven. No, that's not what the Bible says. Joshua was able to enter the promised land through faith in God. We are able to enter the promised land, heaven, through faith in Christ, the same God. Moses there is a parallel to entering heaven by the law. And I'm not saying Moses didn't go to heaven, I'm saying it's just a parallel. Him not entering the promised land, the law was given through him.

  18:56-18:58

  That's just a parallel. He obviously went to heaven.

  19:01-19:26

  But Joshua there, entering the promised land through faith, is a parallel to us entering heaven through faith in Christ. We couldn't enter heaven by the law, not even if we tried, because we all sin and we're dead in sin from the time we come into existence. In fact, Ephesians chapter 2 says by nature we are children of wrath. Romans chapter 5, death came through Adam. We inherit that death.

  19:27-19:44

  But life comes through Jesus Christ. We have no chance to even be remotely good, and However, through Jesus, we can enter the kingdom of God just as the Israelites entered the promised land through Joshua's faith.

  19:45-19:57

  Just a side note there, Joshua's name, Moses changed it, it was a little bit different before Moses gave him a new name, and he made it into a divine name, and it's Yeshua, essentially.

  19:58-20:01

  Joshua, we just pronounce it Joshua, it was really Yeshua.

  20:02-20:05

  Jesus's name originally was Yeshua.

  20:05-20:07

  We call him Jesus, we speak English.

  20:08-20:09

  But his real name was Yeshua.

  20:10-20:11

  Joshua's name was Yeshua.

  20:11-20:13

  Joshua entered the promised land.

  20:13-20:15

  Through Jesus, Yeshua, we enter heaven.

  20:16-20:17

  It's a great parallel.

  20:18-20:19

  I'm not just making this stuff up, you see.

  20:21-20:22

  Jesus is a kind God.

  20:23-20:27

  As I said before, he died in our place, taking God's wrath for us.

  20:28-20:32

  We're legally justified if we have faith in him.

  20:33-20:36

  If you refuse to repent, turn from your sin and apologize.

  20:36-20:37

  God wants an apology.

  20:39-20:48

  If you refuse to repent and turn from your sin and embrace him by faith, he will exercise his judgment against you because legally he has to, he's just.

  20:48-20:49

  He is a just God.

  20:51-20:55

  And that judgment is a sentencing to hell eternally.

  20:56-20:57

  That's a big problem.

  20:59-21:00

  But Christ is a big solution.

  21:02-21:06

  So receive the kingdom of God by faith in Christ, please, please.

  21:08-21:12

  So through all of that, I know that was a little bit long, we get a lot of application.

  21:14-21:15

  So I have three main points.

  21:16-21:26

  The first one being, and these are all sort of going to come out of that illustration, the first one being, don't, and I'm changing this, you can put it up.

  21:26-21:33

  That one says, "Not trying to," what childlike faith is, "Not trying to intellectualize the things of God." I want to add a word to that.

  21:33-21:40

  I want to say, "Not trying to over-intellectualize the things of God." I'll explain what I mean.

  21:41-21:43

  What do I not mean, first of all?

  21:43-21:46

  I don't mean that we shouldn't study.

  21:47-22:01

  All said to Timothy, "Study to show yourself accountable." 1 Peter 3.15 says, "Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you." We need to know things about the Bible.

  22:02-22:03

  It's a command.

  22:05-22:15

  What I mean is that we don't have to drive ourselves into the ground trying to over -intellectualize things like creation.

  22:16-22:19

  The Bible says that the earth was created in six days.

  22:20-22:22

  24 hour days, that's what I believe.

  22:23-22:31

  I don't have to come up with some cute explanation of the first chapter of Genesis in order to satisfy my limited finite mind.

  22:32-22:34

  I just believe it because God said it.

  22:37-22:40

  Old Testament stories, there's a talking donkey in the book of Numbers.

  22:41-22:42

  Water flowed out of a rock.

  22:42-22:44

  These things seem impossible.

  22:45-23:16

  the Red Sea parting? I believe it because God said it. And there's plenty of reasons to believe that this stuff actually did happen. There's plenty of evidence. All I'm saying is we don't need to over intellectualize. The Trinity, the Trinity is something that no one can ever grasp even if they tried to. Three separate persons all being God but not being each other. It's still one God but it's three persons, who can grasp that?

  23:16-23:17

  Nobody can grasp it.

  23:18-23:20

  But we just have to believe it because that's what the Bible says.

  23:21-23:30

  We can take comfort in Deuteronomy 29, verse 29, saying the secret things of the Lord are for him, the things revealed to us are for us to know.

  23:32-23:34

  God told us some stuff.

  23:35-23:36

  He can't be confined to the book.

  23:37-23:47

  In fact, the book of John, this isn't in my notes, but the book of John says that the things that Jesus did, even while he was on this earth, could fill all the books in the world.

  23:50-23:52

  So just imagine the things that an infinite God knows.

  23:54-23:56

  We just have to have faith.

  23:57-24:03

  The Israelites, over-intellectualized, when they thought, well, those peoples of Canaan, they're very strong, we're like grasshoppers in their sights.

  24:04-24:05

  They were large people, giants.

  24:07-24:14

  But God had told them that he would drive them out before them, and that they would have victory, They couldn't wrap their brain around that.

  24:15-24:16

  And so they didn't trust him.

  24:17-24:18

  That was a big mistake.

  24:20-24:24

  So first point, don't over-intellectualize the things of God.

  24:26-24:28

  Point number two, humble yourself.

  24:29-24:30

  And these all kind of run together.

  24:30-24:35

  They're kind of all together, not so much separate.

  24:37-24:37

  These three points.

  24:38-24:42

  But we must come to Christ humbly, realizing our need for a Savior.

  24:43-24:56

  First Peter 5.6 says, "Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you." Everybody in Israel thought Joshua was stupid for having faith in God.

  24:56-24:58

  They said, "Are you kidding me?

  24:58-25:03

  Those people are strong out there, especially the other 10 who had seen them." But Joshua had faith.

  25:04-25:05

  Caleb had faith.

  25:05-25:12

  They're the ones who entered the promised land, and if we have faith in Christ, as I've said a million times today, We will enter the kingdom of heaven.

  25:14-25:15

  We just have to believe.

  25:17-25:20

  Point one, don't over-intellectualize the things of God.

  25:20-25:22

  Two, humble yourself.

  25:23-25:25

  Realize that you can't do it on your own.

  25:25-25:26

  Joshua couldn't do it on his own.

  25:27-25:29

  But he had faith in the words of God.

  25:31-25:34

  Point number three, take God at his word.

  25:36-25:38

  God told the Israelites to trust him.

  25:39-25:41

  The ones that did entered the promised land.

  25:42-25:44

  He tells us to trust him too.

  25:44-25:52

  In fact, he makes that faith the deciding factor of our entering his kingdom or not.

  25:54-25:55

  He tells us to trust him.

  25:55-25:58

  If we don't have faith like a child, we're not going to enter the kingdom of heaven.

  26:00-26:02

  So we need to have faith.

  26:03-26:10

  Another thing that I didn't put on the slides because I just thought of it last night was I'm gonna go back to the book of Mark here.

  26:11-26:12

  A little detour.

  26:13-26:15

  Back to the book of Mark, chapter 10.

  26:17-26:18

  This is all from verse 15.

  26:20-26:25

  It says, "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God "like a child," what do children love to receive?

  26:25-26:26

  They love to receive gifts.

  26:27-26:30

  The Bible, specifically what comes to my mind is the book of Romans.

  26:31-26:40

  Paul says over and over, "Salvation is a free gift from God, you can't earn it." It's a free gift, and here he says receive.

  26:41-26:45

  We must receive that gift like a child, excited, thankful.

  26:47-26:51

  Just picture a little giddy kid on Christmas opening his gifts.

  26:53-26:55

  We need to treasure God, treasure Christ.

  26:55-26:57

  He's the prize won for us.

  26:58-27:00

  That's the ultimate source of joy is Christ.

  27:03-27:07

  And if we receive this gift, We are going to heaven with Him for all of eternity.

  27:09-27:10

  How good is that?

  27:12-27:13

  So good.

  27:14-27:15

  So three points.

  27:16-27:18

  Don't over-intellectualize.

  27:18-27:20

  It's just gonna drive you into skepticism.

  27:22-27:26

  Point two, humble yourself, knowing we can't do this on our own.

  27:28-27:30

  Point three, take God at His word.

  27:30-27:33

  He makes promises in the Bible that are great promises.

  27:34-27:36

  And he can't lie.

  27:36-27:38

  We learn that in the Old Testament.

  27:38-27:40

  God can't lie because he is truth.

  27:40-27:41

  That's one of his attributes.

  27:42-27:43

  He's truth.

  27:44-27:45

  He can't lie.

  27:46-27:48

  And so believe him, add his word.

  27:50-27:53

  Receiving the kingdom of God with childlike faith.

  27:55-27:56

  Moving on to verse 16.

  27:58-28:02

  And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

  28:04-28:06

  Again, this shows Jesus' love for the children.

  28:06-28:09

  He did not see them as a burden, and he doesn't see us as a burden.

  28:11-28:14

  Instead, he loved them, and he loves us.

  28:16-28:21

  He loves us, not because of any performance we can give him, but because he does.

  28:22-28:24

  He just loves, that's how he is.

  28:24-28:27

  He is love, another one of his attributes.

  28:28-28:32

  He chooses to love us, not because we're good.

  28:34-28:39

  He loves us so much that he makes us his children through Christ.

  28:41-28:44

  So Jesus blessed the children, laying his hands on them.

  28:46-28:53

  And so really all of the application of this sermon comes from those three points into this question that I just want to leave you with.

  28:55-29:00

  Have you humbled yourself to God's word, believing Him there and having faith like a child?

  29:01-29:03

  If your answer to that question is yes, awesome.

  29:04-29:08

  If your answer is no, I hope you will.

  29:09-29:15

  I hope that we can all humble ourselves, believe God at His word with a childlike faith.

  29:17-29:23

  And just in closing, I think people are probably wrestling with faith here.

  29:23-29:26

  I wrestle with it myself, we all do.

  29:26-29:29

  Jesus was very clear in this passage about how important it is.

  29:31-29:32

  So we must take it very seriously.

  29:34-29:37

  We try to make things a lot more complicated than they are a lot of times.

  29:39-29:43

  Doing things to please God and get into heaven, maybe I check that off my list.

  29:44-29:46

  That's not how God works.

  29:47-29:52

  He works in the way of saving people through their faith in Christ.

  29:53-29:54

  That's the only way.

  29:55-30:08

  It's not that complicated. It's so simple a child can understand, but theologians for thousands of years have wrecked their brain every day trying to figure it out.

  30:09-30:12

  We just have to have a childlike faith.

  30:12-30:15

  It's not that complicated. So I just want to pray.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 10:13-16

1. What is it about children and their faith that make them a prime example for Jesus to use when talking about the type of faith we must have to enter the Kingdom of God?
    

2. Why don't adults have the same type of faith that as children do?
    

3. What is an area or situation in your life in which you have not had a child-like faith?What attribute(s) of child-like faith can you grow in to improve in this area?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for childlike faith in your group!

Marriage: God's Unchanging Plan

Why God Hates Divorce, and Why You Should, Too

1. Divorce is caused by SIN . (Mk 10:1-5)


2. Divorce destroys God's WORK . (Mk 10:6-9)

God's Plan for Marriage:


1. Will never CHANGE . (Mk 10:6a)



2. Is for a MAN and a WOMAN . (Mk 10:6b)


3. Is turning TWO people into ONE person. (Mk 10:7-9)


3. Divorce leads to more SIN . (Mk 10:10-12)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:04

  Turn in your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 10.

  00:05-00:07

  Mark chapter 10.

  00:08-00:12

  While you're turning there, do you know that Batman show from the 60s?

  00:13-00:13

  You know that show?

  00:14-00:16

  You remember that show, right?

  00:16-00:21

  Adam West, Burt Ward, and you know, Kapow, and you know, Biff.

  00:22-00:22

  Remember that?

  00:23-00:28

  Now, when I was a kid, that was my favorite show.

  00:30-00:35

  And my son Cade, who is eight, it's his favorite show.

  00:36-00:37

  They started bringing it back.

  00:37-00:39

  They're replaying it on TV.

  00:39-00:41

  I guess there was some legal battle or whatever.

  00:42-00:46

  And so they've been replaying that show, and it has become Cade's favorite program.

  00:47-00:50

  So much so that when we're in the car, that's what he wants to talk about.

  00:50-01:01

  He likes to play, you know, guess which character I'm describing, and he describes one of you, he likes the bad guys, obviously, if you know Cade, pray for us.

  01:01-01:08

  But he describes one of the bad guys, and then, you know, Aaron and I have to guess which one he's describing.

  01:08-01:21

  And Friday we were going to a small group picnic at the malls, and Cade was describing And Catwoman, I guessed it right away.

  01:21-01:25

  I'm really good at this game, just from the sheer amount of times that we've played it.

  01:25-01:49

  But then I said, "You know what, Cade, when I was your age, I thought Catwoman was the most beautiful woman in the world." And Erin turns to me, and she said, "And what changed?" And I said, "I met you." And she said, "That is the right answer." Why am I telling you that story?

  01:50-01:52

  Because today we're going to talk about marriage.

  01:53-01:56

  And from that little story you can tell I'm an expert.

  01:57-02:01

  You have to understand that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to marriage.

  02:01-02:02

  I say that tongue in cheek.

  02:02-02:07

  If you're visiting with us, obviously I have a lot to learn.

  02:08-02:09

  As we all do.

  02:10-02:12

  Which is why we take time to turn to God's Word.

  02:13-02:22

  Let's do a quick poll when we talk about marriage and divorce and sexuality and those kinds of things.

  02:23-02:29

  I'm going to make some statements and I want you to just jot down how you feel, but this is just your opinion.

  02:30-02:34

  Marriage is to be between a man and a woman only.

  02:35-02:37

  Do you agree or disagree?

  02:38-02:40

  Marriage is for a man and a woman only.

  02:40-02:42

  Agree or disagree?

  02:43-02:44

  I guess, undecided, right?

  02:44-02:45

  You have to give that option.

  02:47-02:51

  People of the same sex should be permitted to get married.

  02:52-02:53

  Agree or disagree?

  02:56-02:57

  What about reasons for divorce?

  02:59-03:04

  If someone has an affair in the marriage, that is a reason to get a divorce.

  03:04-03:06

  Do you agree or disagree with that?

  03:07-03:10

  If someone is unfaithful in their marriage, that is grounds for divorce.

  03:11-03:11

  Do you agree or disagree?

  03:13-03:18

  What about "falling out of love with the person"?

  03:18-03:19

  I don't love her anymore.

  03:20-03:21

  Or I don't love him anymore.

  03:22-03:25

  Is that a reason to get a divorce?

  03:26-03:32

  Do you agree or disagree that that is a valid reason just because you don't love each other anymore?

  03:32-03:33

  Is that a reason for divorce?

  03:34-03:35

  Agree or disagree?

  03:37-03:39

  What about irreconcilable differences?

  03:41-03:45

  Are irreconcilable differences a reason for divorce?

  03:45-03:46

  Do you agree that they are?

  03:48-03:49

  Or do you disagree with that?

  03:50-03:58

  When it comes to marriage and divorce, understand that when I ask you what you think about it, that's a trick question.

  03:59-04:12

  Because as much as I love you, and I say this with all the love that I can muster, it really It really doesn't matter what you think about marriage and sexuality and divorce.

  04:13-04:15

  What matters is what God thinks about it.

  04:16-04:24

  You're like, "Well, why did you take us through that little exercise then if it doesn't matter what we think?" The reason I did that was because I was trying to expose the problem.

  04:26-04:33

  The problem is that we dictate morality by our opinion, not the Bible.

  04:35-04:35

  That's the problem.

  04:37-04:43

  We have decided what is right and wrong is based on our feelings, our opinions, what we think, our world view.

  04:46-04:52

  When instead, God has determined what is right and what is wrong.

  04:53-04:59

  And you know church, when we talk about divorce, that is such a hot topic even in the church.

  05:01-05:12

  Because let's be honest, you've heard me say this a thousand times, Lord willing I'll say But isn't it true, Christians, that as people we have a tendency to go to the extremes on the spectrum, right?

  05:12-05:13

  Don't we do that?

  05:14-05:16

  And when it comes to divorce, that's what you see in the church.

  05:18-05:21

  On one hand, it's you can get a divorce for any reason.

  05:23-05:25

  Because God wants you to be happy.

  05:25-05:31

  And if being with this person doesn't make you happy, you know, God wants me to be happy, so God wants me to get a divorce.

  05:31-05:39

  I actually had a woman come in a previous ministry and she wanted to meet with the elders about her marriage.

  05:39-05:48

  And she came before the elders and said, "God told me to get a divorce." And my reply was, "No, He did not.

  05:49-05:56

  Apparently somebody told you that, but it wasn't God." But for some people it's any and every reason.

  05:58-06:01

  You know what else you see in the church is the other end of the spectrum, right?

  06:02-06:05

  There is never any reason whatsoever you should get a divorce.

  06:06-06:12

  And if you do get a divorce, you are scarlet-lettered for the rest of your life.

  06:12-06:15

  You are known as the divorced person in the church.

  06:15-06:23

  And you are like second-class, kingdom-of-heaven citizen, and you should wear that shame on you the rest of your life.

  06:23-06:45

  I have seen some churches do some horrible and hateful things to people that have been through a divorce, even not of their own choosing, left by their spouse, abandoned, and the church treats the victim like they're the one at fault.

  06:47-07:12

  And now you're no longer eligible to be part of any of our ministries, and you can kind come in and watch what's going on, but because of somebody else's life choices now, it's over for you. That is wrong. So, all in favor of getting God's Word on the matter? All in favor? Good.

  07:13-07:18

  I was really hoping, like if no hands went up, I was going to be like, It was an awkward Sunday at church.

  07:19-07:22

  Let's look at verses one and two in Mark chapter 10.

  07:23-07:35

  It says, "And he left there," Jesus, obviously, and his disciples, "and he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again.

  07:35-07:41

  And again, as was his custom, he taught them." Okay, from this point on in Mark, we've talked about this.

  07:41-07:44

  It's marching to Jerusalem, going to Jerusalem.

  07:44-07:48

  Jesus knows when He goes to Jerusalem, He knows what's waiting for Him there.

  07:50-07:55

  Betrayal, arrest, beating, suffering, nailed to a cross, death, resurrection.

  07:56-07:57

  He knew that that was all waiting for Him.

  07:58-08:00

  And that's what Mark is telling us here.

  08:00-08:06

  Jesus is marching to Jerusalem and the crowds are still coming and He was still teaching.

  08:06-08:35

  And verse 2 says, "And Pharisees came up, and in order to test him, asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?'" So the Pharisees' question, the Pharisees' confrontation is going to lead to this final word on marriage and sexuality and divorce.

  08:36-08:54

  Interestingly, you know Mark gives us a little bit of the geographical description, the setting of where Jesus is, and where Jesus was experiencing this confrontation was very close to where John the Baptist was beheaded.

  08:54-08:57

  And who remembers why John the Baptist was beheaded?

  08:58-09:01

  It is not lawful for you, Herod, to take your brother Philip's wife.

  09:04-09:09

  So here's somebody that stood up for righteousness in marriage and was beheaded.

  09:10-09:18

  And I don't think it's a coincidence that in this same area, the Pharisees come up and they're like, "Hey Jesus, what do you think about marriage?

  09:20-09:21

  Is it lawful?

  09:23-09:29

  Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" Well, let's talk about divorce.

  09:29-09:30

  Do you have your outlines?

  09:32-09:36

  I believe it's Malachi 2.16, rather.

  09:36-09:37

  God hates divorce.

  09:39-09:50

  And you're going to see as we go through the text, the title of this message is "Why God Hates Divorce and Why You Should Too." Why God hates divorce and why you should too.

  09:50-09:51

  Jot this first one down.

  09:51-09:59

  Number one, God hates divorce because divorce is caused by sin.

  10:01-10:10

  "Earnest is caused by sin." Do you notice it says in v. 2 that they were trying to test Jesus.

  10:10-10:10

  Okay?

  10:11-10:19

  So understand, this wasn't some group of earnest seekers that came up to Jesus and they're like, "You're obviously a very wise teacher.

  10:19-10:25

  Can you instruct us on what is proper?" That wasn't their intention whatsoever.

  10:25-10:32

  They were trying to trap Jesus asking him a question about a hot topic.

  10:34-10:36

  You know, and I was thinking about that this week.

  10:37-10:40

  In modern days, it would be something like this.

  10:40-10:42

  You know, I'm going to trap you with a hot topic.

  10:42-10:45

  So I'm going to go up to-- I'm going to trap Justin, OK?

  10:45-10:49

  Because he's just like getting too big for his britches, and I'm intimidated by him.

  10:50-10:52

  And we're going to play a little game, all right?

  10:52-10:54

  I'm going to feed you your line, so don't worry, all right?

  10:56-10:57

  I want to trap Justin.

  10:58-11:00

  I want to make him look foolish.

  11:00-11:01

  I want to discredit him.

  11:02-11:04

  So I'm going to trap him in some hot topic.

  11:05-11:07

  Any hot topics we can think of to trap him?

  11:07-11:08

  Oh, I know.

  11:09-11:10

  Guns.

  11:11-11:11

  OK?

  11:12-11:16

  I'm going to ask you if you think that people should carry guns.

  11:16-11:18

  And we're going to play out both scenarios, OK?

  11:19-11:21

  So your first answer is going to be yes.

  11:21-11:22

  All right, you ready?

  11:22-11:23

  You know yes is your line.

  11:24-11:24

  OK, yeah.

  11:25-11:25

  You got that?

  11:25-11:25

  All right.

  11:27-11:31

  So Justin, do you think people should be allowed to carry guns?

  11:32-11:40

  Oh, OK, so we have all these people going around shooting up all the schools and movie theaters, and you just think everybody should have a gun.

  11:40-11:42

  He just thinks everybody should have a gun.

  11:42-11:43

  Did you see this?

  11:43-11:45

  He thinks everybody should have a gun.

  11:45-11:45

  Let me guess.

  11:46-11:48

  You think they should just hand out bazookas at the post office.

  11:49-11:50

  Is that what you're saying, Justin?

  11:52-11:53

  Trying to make him look stupid.

  11:54-11:57

  That's impossible to do for Justin Cady, right?

  11:58-11:58

  We're playing a game.

  11:59-12:00

  OK, now your answer is no, all right?

  12:01-12:01

  OK.

  12:03-12:08

  So Justin, you think that people should be allowed to carry guns?

  12:09-12:11

  Oh, so you think people should just be defenseless?

  12:12-12:14

  You think the government should just dictate everything?

  12:15-12:17

  You don't think the Second Amendment's important at all?

  12:17-12:19

  Why don't we just throw out the whole Constitution?

  12:20-12:21

  So do you see what I did there?

  12:21-12:22

  He couldn't win.

  12:23-12:27

  Or if Justin was like, "Oh, this is a trap, I don't know." Oh, you don't know.

  12:27-12:29

  You don't think it's an important enough decision to think about.

  12:30-12:32

  You don't think that you should really...

  12:32-12:34

  Thank you for playing along, Justin.

  12:35-12:40

  The point is this, this is what the Pharisees were always trying to do to Jesus and we're gonna see this some more.

  12:41-12:49

  It was, let's ask Jesus a question that he can't possibly answer because no matter what he answers, we're going to try to make him look dumb.

  12:50-12:52

  We're going to try to discredit him.

  12:52-12:53

  There's all these crowds, right?

  12:53-12:53

  We saw that.

  12:54-12:56

  All these people were around Jesus.

  12:56-12:58

  Let's make Jesus look foolish.

  12:59-13:03

  Let's make Jesus look like maybe He's not the rabbi everybody thinks that He is.

  13:05-13:07

  They try to do it here with marriage.

  13:08-13:11

  Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife, Jesus?

  13:11-13:12

  And you can imagine a scenario.

  13:12-13:16

  Jesus is like, "Yeah." Like, "See?

  13:18-13:24

  Even He doesn't think marriage is that important." And Jesus thinks if a woman is getting on your nerves, you should just dispose of her.

  13:26-13:28

  Which is what the Pharisees taught by the way.

  13:29-13:32

  But see I think they kind of knew what Jesus was going to say.

  13:33-13:37

  I think that they probably figured Jesus was going to lean towards no.

  13:38-13:45

  And the reason I think that is because of the next statement that they make shows that they were kind of loaded for the response.

  13:46-13:50

  So Jesus, do you think that a man should divorce his wife?

  13:50-13:55

  And Jesus is like, "No." Like, "Oh, okay, well Moses said it was okay.

  13:55-13:56

  Moses allowed it.

  13:56-13:57

  Hey, everybody, look.

  13:58-14:12

  Moses said this, but Jesus says no." "Oh, does it disagree with Moses, huh?" Everybody say, "Stop doing that." But you understand what's going on here?

  14:13-14:14

  Let's make Jesus look foolish.

  14:15-14:16

  Does this make Jesus look like He doesn't?

  14:17-14:18

  No.

  14:19-14:19

  Okay?

  14:20-14:22

  Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

  14:23-14:25

  I love Jesus' response to the bait.

  14:27-14:41

  Jesus says in verse 3, "He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?'" And understand this question was intended to get people thinking about what the Scripture actually said.

  14:42-14:49

  Because Jesus here in this question was showing a complete disregard for cultural opinion.

  14:50-14:51

  Take note of this.

  14:51-14:55

  Jesus' response was showing a complete disregard for cultural opinion.

  14:56-14:57

  You can study this out.

  14:57-15:01

  In the first century, the rabbis taught this, ok?

  15:01-15:07

  It wasn't like secular, pagan, heathen society kind of embraced divorce.

  15:08-15:10

  The rabbis taught this.

  15:11-15:16

  But if your woman does not make you happy, you should get rid of her.

  15:18-15:21

  You should dispose of her, and they taught for any reason.

  15:22-15:22

  Any reason.

  15:23-15:24

  And they had a list of examples.

  15:26-15:27

  This is true, look it up.

  15:28-15:33

  If your wife burnt your supper, divorce.

  15:35-15:37

  I heard a couple of you say amen under your breath.

  15:40-15:44

  wife is gonna knock you out and I am going to do nothing to defend that.

  15:45-15:59

  There's some weird one about if your wife spins around and like exposes her ankles. Seriously, like divorce. If your wife speaks ill about your mother.

  16:00-16:09

  The rabbi said, "Show her the door." And they taught you can divorce for any reason.

  16:09-16:10

  Any reason at all.

  16:10-16:11

  Any reason at all.

  16:11-16:12

  They're like, "You know what?

  16:12-16:27

  You just need to be happy, and if your wife isn't making you happy, get rid of her." That was the cultural opinion, and that's what the religious leaders were teaching.

  16:28-16:31

  But notice what Jesus' reply was.

  16:32-16:34

  Notice He didn't say yes or no or maybe.

  16:35-16:38

  Jesus answered the question with a question back.

  16:39-16:48

  And He said, "What did Moses command you?" In other words, what Jesus said was something everyone in here needs to learn how to say when confronted with these issues.

  16:48-16:51

  Essentially, what Jesus was saying was what does the Bible say?

  16:52-16:53

  What does the Bible say?

  16:54-17:08

  I know a lot of Christians, even on the subject of marriage and divorce and sexuality, promote unbiblical views of those things.

  17:08-17:10

  And I don't understand the double standard.

  17:12-17:30

  Even people that wear the name of Christ saying, "Well, I think if a couple of the same sex really love each other, why shouldn't they get married?" And the answer is, "What does the Bible say?" That's the answer.

  17:31-17:35

  "What does the Bible say?" This is where Jesus took them.

  17:37-17:47

  Look at verse 4, it says, "They said, 'Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.'" What are they talking about?

  17:48-17:49

  Jot this down.

  17:49-17:51

  I want you to look this up, this is homework.

  17:52-17:57

  Deuteronomy chapter 24, the first four verses.

  17:58-18:04

  Jesus is like, "What did Moses say about divorce?" Moses allowed us to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.

  18:05-18:07

  They were talking about Deuteronomy 24.

  18:09-18:20

  And I want you to read this, because when you turn to Deuteronomy 24, you're going to see that there was not a command about why to get a divorce in that passage.

  18:20-18:21

  There was not.

  18:22-18:23

  There was not.

  18:25-18:26

  Does that passage talk about divorce?

  18:26-18:27

  Yes.

  18:28-18:36

  That passage just simply says, if you send your wife away, if you divorce your wife - he's really describing a scenario.

  18:38-18:39

  Here's the command in the passage.

  18:40-18:40

  Take note.

  18:41-18:43

  This is the command in that Deuteronomy 24 passage.

  18:44-18:52

  God says if you send your wife away, if you divorce your wife, you cannot take her back to become your wife again.

  18:52-18:54

  Why would God make up a rule like that?

  18:57-18:59

  Because it's protection of women is what it is.

  19:00-19:02

  God was protecting women. Why?

  19:04-19:05

  Because men can be monsters.

  19:07-19:17

  And instead of viewing a woman as God does, men can view women as a means to satisfy themselves.

  19:19-19:22

  And Deuteronomy 24 was a protection against that.

  19:22-19:24

  Meaning this, like, you know what, Aaron, I love you.

  19:25-19:31

  And we've been married for a while and it's really not working out so good and I don't feel about you the way I did back when.

  19:31-19:33

  So I'll tell you what, I'm going to marry someone else.

  19:35-19:38

  And I marry someone else and then I decide, you know what?

  19:39-19:45

  Erin was a much better wife than woman B here, so I'm going to take Erin back.

  19:46-19:47

  And what am I doing?

  19:47-19:51

  I'm just treating her like property.

  19:52-19:54

  That's why God wrote that, does that make sense?

  19:54-19:55

  That's why God wrote that commandment.

  19:55-19:57

  You don't treat women like that.

  19:58-19:59

  That was the commandment.

  20:00-20:01

  But you see what the Pharisees did?

  20:01-20:03

  They only saw one part of that.

  20:04-20:05

  Certificate of divorce.

  20:05-20:07

  They were like, "Aha, there it is.

  20:07-20:08

  Certificate of divorce, divorce, divorce.

  20:08-20:10

  Moses commanded divorce.

  20:10-20:19

  He commanded it." I actually had a man come to me totally justifying his divorce on the grounds that he did the paperwork.

  20:20-20:20

  Seriously.

  20:21-20:22

  He's like, "I did all the paperwork.

  20:22-20:29

  I know that my divorce is biblical because I did all of the legal paperwork, just like the Old Testament says, you do the paperwork.

  20:31-20:39

  I'm like, "Congratulations, you are a Pharisee." Because that's exactly what they thought.

  20:39-20:40

  Just do the paperwork.

  20:41-20:41

  Right?

  20:41-20:42

  Isn't that what Moses said?

  20:43-20:44

  You've got to have a certificate, right?

  20:44-20:45

  Suitable for framing.

  20:47-20:47

  Obnoxious.

  20:49-20:49

  Obnoxious.

  20:51-21:10

  But look at what Jesus said in verse 5, "And Jesus said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.'" They're like, "Moses said, 'Write a certificate of divorce,' and Jesus said, 'Do you know why?'" Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.

  21:11-21:18

  That's the grounds for divorce, that's why divorce happens, and that's why marriages decay is because of hardness of heart.

  21:19-21:19

  That's why.

  21:21-21:23

  Like why is my marriage falling apart?

  21:24-21:26

  Because one or both of you are hard-hearted.

  21:26-21:26

  That's why.

  21:28-21:29

  Why do I want to divorce my spouse?

  21:30-21:32

  Because one or both of you are hard-hearted.

  21:32-21:33

  That's why.

  21:34-21:38

  Like well, how do I know that I'm hard-hearted?

  21:38-21:41

  Or how do I know that my spouse is hard-hearted?

  21:43-21:45

  And biblically there are two evidences of hard-heartedness.

  21:47-21:48

  This is a whole other sermon.

  21:49-21:49

  Just jot these down.

  21:51-21:54

  There are two evidences of hard-heartedness and the first one is adultery.

  21:55-21:58

  Adultery, Jesus said it in Matthew 5:31-32.

  21:59-22:03

  The parallel passage to Mark 10 here is Matthew chapter 19.

  22:04-22:07

  But that's an evidence of hard-heartedness is adultery.

  22:08-22:25

  When you get to the point that you are willing to physically enter in a relationship with someone not your spouse, that's evidence that you have hardened your heart to what God says about marriage.

  22:25-22:26

  That's the evidence.

  22:27-22:28

  You have hardened your heart.

  22:29-22:32

  You have rejected what God said about marriage.

  22:33-22:36

  And you have decided to make yourself God and please yourself.

  22:39-22:40

  That's one evidence.

  22:40-22:47

  The other evidence, 1 Corinthians chapter 7 talks about it, Specifically verse 15, abandonment.

  22:47-22:48

  Abandonment.

  22:48-22:51

  When a spouse completely abandons another spouse.

  22:51-22:53

  That's an evidence of being hard-hearted.

  22:53-22:55

  Jesus said, "Why does divorce happen?

  22:55-22:59

  Because of hard-heartedness." How do we know someone's hard-hearted?

  22:59-23:03

  They sleep with someone else, or they abandon their spouse.

  23:04-23:05

  Just walk out.

  23:06-23:08

  A man just decides, "I can't take this anymore.

  23:09-23:09

  I'm leaving.

  23:11-23:13

  I don't care what happens to her.

  23:15-23:16

  Abandonment.

  23:17-23:18

  Her woman walks out on her husband.

  23:20-23:26

  If you're willing to just turn around and walk away, that is evidence of being hard-hearted.

  23:28-23:30

  The point is this, why does God hate divorce?

  23:30-23:32

  Well, Jesus highlights it for us.

  23:32-23:34

  Because divorce is caused by sin.

  23:35-23:36

  There's no way around it.

  23:36-23:38

  Why do people get divorced?

  23:39-23:40

  Because they're choosing to sin.

  23:41-23:42

  Because they're hard-hearted.

  23:44-23:51

  And I want to encourage you that these conditions, adultery and abandonment, those conditions do not obligate you for divorce.

  23:52-23:52

  Okay?

  23:53-23:57

  It's not like, "Well, my spouse committed adultery, therefore I have to divorce them." No.

  23:58-23:59

  You're not obligated to.

  24:01-24:07

  Divorce is motivated by sinful, selfish desires, treating people as disposable.

  24:08-24:17

  I would encourage you church, listen, I don't know what's going on in your marriage, but I do know this, no marriage is beyond saving.

  24:20-24:21

  No marriage is beyond saving.

  24:23-24:27

  Like we've been struggling for ten years!

  24:28-24:29

  We can't get eye to eye.

  24:31-24:33

  God has the power to save your marriage.

  24:34-25:08

  Pastors, if you don't understand, we've both done some stupid and irresponsible things. God has the power to save your marriage. Are you telling me that you've done something in your marriage that has been so bad that God is sitting up in heaven going, "Wow, there is nothing I can do about this one." I mean, obviously not. Your marriage can be saved. Your marriage can be saved. God's power. A couple words of encouragement to to that, and what do we do if our marriage is struggling?

  25:09-25:10

  What do we do if our marriage is struggling?

  25:10-25:11

  Jot these down.

  25:13-25:15

  First of all, I would commend this to you.

  25:17-25:18

  Do not use the "D" word.

  25:20-25:23

  Divorce, we're talking about it here because it's in the Bible.

  25:25-25:30

  But you are forbidden to use that word in your communication with one another, husbands and wives.

  25:31-25:32

  You are not allowed to use that word.

  25:33-25:35

  You are not allowed to hold it over as a threat.

  25:37-25:38

  You know what, why don't we just get a divorce?

  25:38-25:44

  If things are that bad, if I'm such a rotten person, if I'm so bad, why don't we just get a divorce?

  25:45-25:51

  You are not allowed to say that because you're making the out an option.

  25:52-25:54

  That's something that Aaron and I have done.

  25:54-25:57

  We're like, we're not even going to use that word in our house.

  25:58-26:07

  No matter how bad things may get, we are not even going to explore getting a divorce.

  26:08-26:09

  We don't use the word in our home.

  26:11-26:16

  I would also encourage you, you know Justin earlier was talking about small group involvement.

  26:17-26:19

  That's another encouragement for you.

  26:19-26:22

  If your marriage is struggling, you and your wife need to get to a small group.

  26:24-26:24

  Okay?

  26:25-26:32

  The Fidelity Fairy is not going to show up at your house and sprinkle dust on you and magically save your marriage.

  26:33-26:38

  If you're not pursuing Christ yourself, how do you think it's going to happen?

  26:39-26:43

  How do you think Christ is going to be the Lord of your marriage if you're not pursuing Christ being the Lord of your life?

  26:44-26:57

  You and your wife need to get to a small group where you're digging into God's Word together, and you have men keeping men accountable, and women keeping women accountable, and encouraging each other, and lifting each other up in prayer.

  26:57-26:58

  You need to be in a small group.

  26:59-26:59

  Okay?

  26:59-27:01

  The Sunday to Sunday thing doesn't work.

  27:02-27:08

  If you're like, "This is the sum total of my Christian walk "is the hour and so on Sunday." You need to be in a small group.

  27:09-27:11

  I would also, here's another word, write this one down.

  27:12-27:12

  Counseling.

  27:13-27:14

  Counseling.

  27:15-27:18

  That is going to take an act of humility.

  27:20-27:22

  I think that's why a lot of people don't do it.

  27:23-27:24

  What does the Bible say?

  27:25-27:28

  Over and over, humble yourself, humble yourself, humble yourself, humble yourself.

  27:29-27:29

  An action.

  27:31-27:32

  Humbling yourself is an action.

  27:34-27:41

  And if your marriage is struggling, an action maybe that you need to take, then you know what, we need to go talk to somebody else.

  27:42-27:44

  There is no shame in that.

  27:46-27:46

  There is no shame.

  27:47-27:51

  The shame is having a problem and refusing to deal with it.

  27:51-27:52

  That's shameful.

  27:53-27:58

  But there is no shame in saying, "We're having this problem and we haven't really been able to get on the same page.

  27:58-28:09

  Let's get somebody that can get us on the same page biblically and come and talk to me." Or, "There's wonderful Christian counselors." Don't be too proud to talk to somebody else.

  28:09-28:10

  We need each other.

  28:12-28:14

  Why God hates divorce and why you should too.

  28:14-28:17

  I have a hard time saying divorce because we don't use that word in our house.

  28:18-28:20

  Why God hates divorce and why you should too.

  28:20-28:22

  Number one, divorce is caused by sin.

  28:24-28:29

  Number two, divorce destroys God's work.

  28:31-28:34

  Divorce destroys God's work.

  28:35-28:38

  Look at verses 6 -9.

  28:38-28:40

  And revving up the context here.

  28:40-28:51

  Jesus said in verse 5, "Because of your hardness of heart, He wrote you this commandment." Verse 6, "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

  28:53-29:02

  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

  29:02-29:08

  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

  29:10-29:12

  The divorce destroys God's work.

  29:13-29:15

  This is the problem with divorce.

  29:15-29:21

  You know for marriage, God has a purpose, God has a picture, and God has a plan for marriage.

  29:21-29:24

  And divorce destroys all three of those.

  29:26-29:28

  God has a very specific purpose for marriage.

  29:29-29:33

  And choosing divorce is a choice to destroy that purpose.

  29:34-29:35

  God has a picture for marriage.

  29:35-29:38

  We're going to talk about, just a couple of moments.

  29:41-29:43

  completely destroys the picture that God has for marriage.

  29:45-31:12

  The plan, let's talk about God's plan for marriage. Jot these down. You're going to see this is right from the text, okay? I'm not on a political platform here. This is right from the text. God's plan for marriage, letter A, will never change. It will never change. Like, oh this is so old-fashioned, Pastor Jeff. This is so old-fashioned. Look what Jesus said. He says, "But from the beginning of creation." Meaning when God created from day six, this has been the plan. God put this plan in motion from the beginning, and it is not going to change. And the audacity, the audacity that we would even as a people use the phrase "redefining marriage." That is so obnoxious to say let's redefine marriage. Who in the world do we think we The God of the universe has, from the very beginning of his creation, says, "This is marriage." And we come along and say, "No, it's not.

  31:13-31:16

  We're going to change the definition." Who do you think you are?

  31:17-31:19

  Do you realize how obnoxious that is?

  31:20-31:22

  That would be like, I would go to my brother Mark here.

  31:23-31:25

  I'm like, "Oh, Mark, I see you have your beautiful family with you.

  31:25-31:35

  This is Jack and Jesse, right?" "You know what? From now on, your name is Raymond and your name is Douglas.

  31:36-31:44

  Okay? With the power invested in me by Harvest Bible Chapel, this is Raymond and Douglas.

  31:46-31:51

  From now on, everybody call these two boys Raymond and Douglas." And what did you say, Mark?

  31:53-32:01

  Who do I think I am coming along and renaming the boys that Mark and Kristen named?

  32:02-32:04

  Who do I think I am to just come along and say, "Nah, nah, nah.

  32:04-32:05

  We're going to change that.

  32:06-32:08

  We're going to change that." Like I'm sorry, who are you?

  32:10-32:14

  You realize on an infinite scale that's what people are doing with the Word of God?

  32:16-32:17

  We're going to redefine marriage.

  32:18-32:21

  No, it doesn't have to be between a man and a woman, it can be between two men.

  32:23-32:24

  Did you run that by God?

  32:26-32:30

  Because if you didn't, you might want to check yourself on that one.

  32:31-32:43

  So notice, first thing it says is, "will never change." Jesus said, "This is the way it's been from the beginning." Secondly, that letter B is for a man and woman.

  32:44-32:45

  It's for a man and a woman.

  32:46-32:57

  Look at the next phrase in verse 6, "God made them male and female." Again, there's so much controversy about the issue.

  32:58-33:10

  I've had so many people say, "You know, Jesus never said anything about gay marriage." The answer is no, He didn't list all the wrongs.

  33:11-33:13

  He just declared the one right.

  33:14-33:16

  He didn't list all the wrongs.

  33:16-33:17

  He declared the one right.

  33:18-33:34

  Jesus didn't say, "Well, you know, from the beginning, it wasn't as if God created just two men or just two women, or God created like a man to be with an animal, or a man to be with three women, or a woman to be with eight men." He didn't give all of the wrongs.

  33:34-33:35

  He declared the right.

  33:36-33:38

  He says, "Here's how it was in the beginning.

  33:38-33:39

  Remember creation?

  33:39-33:46

  God created exactly one man, and then He created exactly one woman.

  33:47-33:50

  And God's like, "Here's the plan.

  33:50-33:52

  Man, woman.

  33:53-33:56

  This is it." It's God's design.

  33:57-33:58

  It's God's design spiritually.

  34:00-34:04

  Men and women by their makeup are meant to complement each other.

  34:05-34:09

  Without a biology lesson, God's designed physically.

  34:11-34:13

  Marriage is for a man and a woman, according to Jesus.

  34:13-34:14

  You see that?

  34:16-34:17

  You all looking at this in your Bible?

  34:18-34:27

  So the next time somebody is like, well, Jesus didn't really say anything about homosexual marriage, you can point them to this passage and say, look at what Jesus did say about marriage.

  34:28-34:30

  Male and female is how God created.

  34:30-34:31

  This is the plan.

  34:32-34:54

  Thirdly, God's plan for marriage is turning two people into one person. Turning two people into one person. We have in our presence today our adorable newlyweds Taylor and Kate Brown. They have survived one month of marriage.

  34:57-35:08

  What's that? That's a bit easy. I texted Taylor, remember like what a week or two ago, I'm like how's your marriage holding up and he's like it's so rough off, and I knew he was kidding.

  35:09-35:10

  So good to have our newlyweds.

  35:10-35:12

  Anybody here been married less than a month?

  35:13-35:15

  I told you I was going to quiz you guys on this.

  35:16-35:18

  Most important verse in the Bible about marriage, what is it?

  35:18-35:23

  And not only are you newlyweds and just heard this, but you're also studying to be a preacher, so no pressure.

  35:24-35:26

  Most important verse in the Bible about marriage?

  35:27-35:27

  Yes.

  35:28-35:29

  Genesis chapter 2, very good.

  35:29-35:34

  Alright, you can tell your professors that you get bonus points for that or something.

  35:35-35:37

  You know, he actually listened during counseling. Did you hear that?

  35:38-35:42

  The most important verse in the Bible about marriage is what Jesus quoted here.

  35:43-35:55

  "Therefore, for this purpose a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." You're like, "Why is that the most important verse about marriage?" Well, Jesus said it like Matthew 19, here Mark chapter 10.

  35:55-36:01

  And then when the Apostle Paul was talking about marriage, 1 Corinthians 6, take a guess which verse he quoted.

  36:02-36:03

  Genesis 2.24.

  36:04-36:07

  And then Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul talks about marriage.

  36:07-36:11

  You are not going to believe which verse he quoted when he was talking about marriage in Ephesians 5.

  36:12-36:14

  Yes you will, it's Genesis 2.24.

  36:15-36:17

  This is the most important verse in the Bible about marriage.

  36:18-36:21

  And notice, it was Jesus' go-to verse.

  36:22-36:24

  But also notice his commentary.

  36:26-36:35

  He quotes, "Therefore, man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." And then Jesus gives two sentences of commentary.

  36:36-36:37

  Why does God hate divorce?

  36:37-36:37

  Look at this.

  36:38-36:42

  "So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

  36:43-36:45

  But therefore God has joined together.

  36:46-36:47

  and not man separate.

  36:48-36:54

  God's plan is to turn two people into one person.

  36:55-36:56

  That's God's plan.

  36:58-36:59

  You also remember this from counseling.

  37:00-37:06

  I said from your wedding day forward, there is no difference between Taylor and Kate.

  37:07-37:10

  When people think of one of you, they should automatically think of the other.

  37:11-37:12

  Because you're no longer two people.

  37:13-37:14

  Now you are one person.

  37:15-37:20

  I said the same thing almost two years exactly earlier to Ken and Amanda.

  37:20-37:26

  "You are no longer two people from now on." Remember I said it's not Ken and Amanda, it's one word.

  37:26-37:28

  It's Ken -Amanda.

  37:28-37:30

  And actually that's what Cade calls you guys.

  37:30-37:36

  When he talks about you guys, he's like, "Ken-Amanda." He gets it because they're not two people, they're one person.

  37:36-37:41

  And he's like, "Well, can you explain that?" "No, I can't explain that." But that's what the Bible says.

  37:41-37:44

  God doesn't view you as two people, he views you as one.

  37:44-37:46

  They are no longer two into one.

  37:46-37:48

  And you can't divide one.

  37:48-37:48

  You just can't.

  37:49-37:52

  If you try to divide one, you are just going to get pieces of something.

  37:53-37:53

  Nothing whole.

  37:56-38:02

  And those of you blessed with children, you get a great representation of the concept of two becoming one, right?

  38:04-38:05

  And think of your kids.

  38:06-38:07

  What a perfect representation.

  38:07-38:09

  Two people becoming one person.

  38:10-38:15

  So the point is this, God's plan for marriage is turning two people into one person.

  38:16-38:18

  It's turning two people into one person.

  38:20-38:22

  Look at Jesus' last statement here in verse 9.

  38:22-38:27

  It says, "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." See what Jesus is saying?

  38:27-38:29

  He says God's doing this thing, right?

  38:29-38:34

  God has this project going where He's turning two people into one person.

  38:35-38:36

  That's what God's doing.

  38:38-38:40

  Are you going to step in and try to undo that?

  38:41-38:45

  You know, my brother, besides being a phenomenal musician, he's a phenomenal artist.

  38:46-38:52

  And imagine, he's also like phenomenally huge, and he's even stronger than he looks.

  38:52-38:56

  But I want you to imagine that, you know, he's up here painting something.

  38:56-39:02

  Like, "Darren, what are you painting?" He's like, "Well, I'm painting a happy mountain and a happy tree." He's been taking Bob Ross classes.

  39:05-39:13

  But imagine, you know, the 500-pound gorilla is up here painting, and you just walk up to him and take the paintbrush out of his hand and say, "You know what?

  39:14-39:21

  I'm making stick men and a wagon and a swing set." How many people would line up to do that?

  39:21-39:23

  To undo the work that he's trying to do?

  39:24-39:33

  You're like, "No, pass on that." Jesus said, "God," who's even stronger than Big Brother, "God is doing a work.

  39:34-39:35

  Do you really want to step in the middle of that?

  39:36-39:40

  Do you really want to step in and try to undo something that God is trying to do?

  39:41-39:42

  Bad plan.

  39:43-39:43

  Okay?

  39:44-39:45

  Really bad plan.

  39:47-39:48

  Why God hates divorce.

  39:49-39:50

  Get this project going.

  39:51-39:57

  When a person steps in to try to unravel that and separate the two that have become one, bad plan.

  39:58-40:03

  And then finally, and quickly, why does God hate divorce?

  40:04-40:05

  Because divorce leads to more sin.

  40:07-40:11

  In the house, the disciples ask Him again about this matter.

  40:12-40:26

  Okay, so Jesus deals with the confrontation and He makes these very bold statements that were just as bold in His day as they are when we read them today because people are so backwards about marriage.

  40:28-40:35

  The disciples were just kind of like, "Whoa." He really went against what the rabbis teach.

  40:36-40:59

  And as they asked him again about the matter, "Jesus, can we sort of circle back here and talk about marriage again?" Verse 11, "And he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her, And as she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

  41:00-41:06

  You see that not only is divorce caused by sin, divorce just leads to more sin.

  41:08-41:12

  I referenced Ephesians 5 earlier, and we're not going to turn there.

  41:14-41:21

  But you have to know that the goal of marriage, Ephesians 5, 22 verses 22-33, write that down, look this up.

  41:21-41:27

  You're going to see that the goal of marriage, what's God's goal for marriage?

  41:28-41:29

  To make you happy?

  41:30-41:31

  That's not really the goal.

  41:33-41:33

  Do you have kids?

  41:34-41:35

  That's not really the goal either.

  41:37-41:52

  According to Ephesians 5, God's goal for marriage is that a husband and wife would would be a graphic display of the relationship that Jesus Christ has with His church.

  41:53-41:54

  That's God's goal for man.

  41:56-42:01

  In this picture, Paul says the wife represents the church.

  42:03-42:05

  What's the church attitude towards her Lord?

  42:06-42:11

  Love, submission, service, relationship.

  42:13-42:17

  The relationship that the church has with the Lord Jesus Christ.

  42:17-42:20

  And what's the relationship that Jesus Christ has with the church?

  42:22-42:22

  Servant leader.

  42:24-42:26

  The wife seeing herself as the submissive helper.

  42:26-42:33

  I wish I had time to talk about being submissive because it is not what 99% of people think that it is.

  42:35-42:44

  Actually, the Bible, Ephesians 5.21, the verse previous to this passage on marriage says that in the church we should all be submissive to one another.

  42:46-42:48

  It's a concept that we should be so familiar with.

  42:49-42:56

  But all of a sudden when we talk about submission in the home, it sounds like this radical right -wing concept.

  42:57-43:04

  But the picture is the wife is the submissive helper and the husband, representing Jesus Jesus Christ is the servant leader.

  43:05-43:10

  He has the only fulfilling roles for a marriage.

  43:13-43:15

  Divorce just ruins the picture.

  43:16-43:17

  Divorce ruins the picture.

  43:18-43:19

  Wife represents the church.

  43:19-43:20

  Husband represents Christ.

  43:21-43:27

  So for a husband to walk out on his wife, what does that do to the picture?

  43:27-43:30

  Do you think Jesus Christ would ever walk out of His church?

  43:31-43:40

  "You know what, I've loved you and I've been alive in you and I've been providing for you and I'm sick of you and I'm leaving you." Is that Jesus?

  43:40-43:41

  Is that Jesus?

  43:43-43:48

  That's why when a husband does that to his wife, it grieves the heart of God because God says that's not the picture.

  43:49-43:49

  That's not it.

  43:51-43:58

  Or when a wife says, "I know that my husband is to be the leader, but nobody tells me what to do.

  43:58-44:00

  I don't care what he says.

  44:00-44:00

  He's an idiot.

  44:02-44:03

  Would the church say that about Jesus?

  44:05-44:06

  Would the church say that about Jesus?

  44:07-44:13

  I know that this is what Jesus said, but we're going to do what we want to do instead because we know better.

  44:15-44:16

  It ruins the picture.

  44:17-44:33

  I promise you, not on my integrity, on the integrity of God and His Word, that when you When you seek married people, when you seek people that are not yet married, but someday plan to be married, this is for you too.

  44:34-44:48

  When you seek to live out the roles that God has described in your Word, you will have a fulfilling and satisfying and God-glorifying marriage.

  44:49-44:53

  And when you try it your way, It's hard to kick against the goads.

  44:55-44:59

  So, I just want to close with a word.

  45:00-45:09

  For people here who have been through a divorce, I know a message like this because of what the text says, you could leave here feeling beat up.

  45:10-45:16

  Like wow, Pastor Jeff just spent like 45 minutes really making me feel like a loser.

  45:16-45:17

  And that is so not the intention.

  45:18-45:22

  The goal always is to reflect what the text actually says.

  45:23-45:25

  But I want to give a word for those who have been through a divorce.

  45:27-45:28

  There is healing.

  45:30-45:30

  There is healing.

  45:32-45:43

  Don't take this as permission, like, "Well, if there's healing, I was thinking about a divorce anyways, so I'll just divorce and experience the healing on the other side." Shall we continue the sins that grace may abound?

  45:44-45:46

  May it never be, God forbid.

  45:47-45:51

  I'd be one of those, "well, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission" kind of people.

  45:52-46:05

  But if you've been through a divorce, you know, there are parts of all of our pasts that there's regret and there's hurt, and we wish we could turn the clock back and do things a little bit differently.

  46:07-46:09

  The fact remains that we can't do anything about that.

  46:11-46:20

  We can do today, take an understanding of what God has said in His Word, and ask ourselves, what are we going to do about this today?

  46:22-46:24

  What are we going to do about this today?

  46:25-46:34

  If you've been through a divorce, we said this at the top, I want to say it again, you are not a second class follower of Jesus.

  46:34-46:35

  Your life is not over.

  46:36-46:39

  Your ministry is not over just because you have been through a divorce.

  46:40-46:42

  God is a God of healing and restoration.

  46:43-46:50

  I just want to simply close by asking you one question when it comes to marriage and divorce.

  46:51-46:53

  You have to pick what camp you're going to be in.

  46:54-46:56

  Are you going to be in the Pharisees' camp?

  46:58-47:00

  That says marriage is conditional on my happiness?

  47:02-47:03

  And people are disposable?

  47:05-47:06

  Or are you going to be in Jesus' camp?

  47:08-47:14

  Because marriage is created by God, defined in His Word, and displays His love.

  47:16-47:16

  Let's pray.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 10:1-12

1. Why did Jesus say divorce was caused by "hardness of heart" (Mk 10:5)? What does that say about how God views divorce?
    

2. Read Deuteronomy 24:1-4. What is the actual command regarding divorce? Why did God make such a commandment?
    

3. How would you respond to someone saying to you, "The Bible doesn't say marriage has to be between a man and a woman. If two gay people love each other, why shouldn't they get married?"

Breakout Questions:
Discuss how you can be a more godly spouse. Pray for strong marriages in your group!