Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S2-E15 | Everyday Eurasia |  Chad Dickerson

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S2-E15 | Everyday Eurasia |  Chad Dickerson · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  This week we will join the NCM team from Eurasia.
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  Today we will listen to Chet Dickerson.
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  Chet serves on the Eurasia region along with his wife
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  Lindsay and their two children, Chet Girl.
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  He serves as the Eurasia NCM Program facilitator and the
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  necessary Missions Team Co Coordinator for Spain.
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  Matthew 12, nine through 13, says he left that place and
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  entered their synagogue. A man was there with a withered
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  hand, and they asked him, Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath,
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  so that they might accuse him? He said to them, Suppose one of
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  you has only one sheep, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,
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  will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?
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  How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep?
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  So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
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  Then he said to the man, Stretch out your hand.
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  He stretched it out and it was restored as sound as the other.
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  So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
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  This whole passage turns around this phrase spoken by Jesus.
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  For many of us, if we read this assertion by Jesus out of
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  context, we might think how obvious, or might glance over it
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  looking for the important part. Because of course it can't be
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  wrong to do good. Jesus is addressing something
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  bigger here. The Pharisees were following
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  Jesus and this was the second challenge to him that they made
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  regarding the Sabbath. They saw Jesus and his disciples
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  pick grain on the Sabbath in the previous passage, and they were
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  now seeing whether Jesus would break another rule regarding the
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  Sabbath by healing the man with the withered hand.
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  In typical Jesus style, he answers their question with a
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  metaphor that not only the Pharisees would understand, but
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  everyone listening. When a sheep is in trouble, even
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  on the Sabbath, anyone present would help the sheep in the same
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  way. Jesus, without pausing, tells
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  the man to stretch out his hand and we see that it was healed.
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  Jesus leaves no room for doubt that his approach is one that
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  doesn't mesh with the Pharisaic interpretation of the law.
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  The man had a withered hand that probably wasn't an immediate
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  threat to his life. He wasn't desperate for Jesus
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  help and we see nothing in the passage saying he even asked
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  Jesus to heal him. But Jesus heals him, and through
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  that he reiterates what he said in the previous passage.
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  The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
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  For the Pharisees, the law was king.
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  To be right with God and to be pure in the sight of God, the
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  law had to be followed religiously.
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  By healing the man on the Sabbath in violation of that
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  law, Jesus is pointing to a higher authority and to an ethic
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  that is holier than simply doing what is correct and lawful.
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  He does what is good. He does what is right and
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  pleasing in the sight of God. He restores the dignity and
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  health of the man. The Pharisees didn't get it.
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  They were blind to the one who existed before the law and were
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  deaf to His message of restoration that would put them
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  back into right relationship with God.
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  Who were the Pharisees in our lives today?
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  What rules or traditions are keeping us from showing the
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  compassion that Jesus showed to the man with the withered hand?
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  In what areas of our life are we too worried about what other
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  people might think? Or are we too worried about
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  doing what is expected of us instead of showing compassion
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  and doing good as Jesus has shown us?
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  May we always be guided by the good, pleasing, and perfect will
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  of God and not the expectations of others.
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  Let us pray, Lord, help us today to keep our eyes fixed on You,
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  to hear your voice above the voice of legalism and self
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  righteousness. Challenge our perceptions of
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  what is right and push us to do good always Lord, make us holy
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  as you are holy and use us as your instrument for the
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  restoration of those whose hands are withered both physically and
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  spiritually. Today.
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  We love you Lord, and we praise you.
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  Today, in Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
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  Thank you for listening to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Fate for everyday. For more Everyday Stories,
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  For our newsletter and further information about the Eurasia
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  region, visit our website, eurasiaregion.org.