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Home, Cynical Home Msg 20 20 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: If you have brought your Bible today, please turn to
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  Speaker 1: the first book in the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: We're looking at the last six verses fifty three through
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  Speaker 1: fifty eight Matthew thirteen fifty three through fifty eight. As
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  Speaker 1: is always true, our desire is to realize how relevant
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  Speaker 1: God's word is. God does not need any of us
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  Speaker 1: to make it relevant. It is relevant. He uses some
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  Speaker 1: of us to help people realize just how relevant it is.
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  Speaker 1: In this case, we have an interesting, then yet very brief,
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  Speaker 1: just six verses in the life of Jesus where we
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  Speaker 1: find him in an unusual place in his ministry, and
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  Speaker 1: that's the place where he was reared, the place he
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  Speaker 1: would call his hometown, Nazareth. Once you found Matthew thirteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty three, please stand with one another or the reading
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  Speaker 1: of God's Word. I'm reading from the New Living Translation.
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  Speaker 1: Where Jesus had finished telling these stories and illustrations, he
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  Speaker 1: left that part of the country. He returned to Nazareth,
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  Speaker 1: his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone
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  Speaker 1: was amazed and said where does he get this wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and the power to do miracles? Then they scoffed he's
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  Speaker 1: just the carpenter's son, and we don't marry his mother.
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  Speaker 1: And his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, all of
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  Speaker 1: his sisters live right here among us. Where did he
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  Speaker 1: learn all these things? And they were deeply offended and
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  Speaker 1: refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them a
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  Speaker 1: prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and
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  Speaker 1: among his own family, and so he did only a
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  Speaker 1: few miracles there because of their unbelief. Our Father, we
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  Speaker 1: step aside from the busy activities of our lives to
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  Speaker 1: be still, to be quiet, to listen, and to learn.
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  Speaker 1: Help us, our Father, as we journey twenty centuries back
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  Speaker 1: to a scene that was familiar to our savior but
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  Speaker 1: is unfamiliar to most of us today. May it be
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  Speaker 1: as though we were right there with him. May we
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  Speaker 1: relive the account as though his hometown were our hometown.
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  Speaker 1: May we feel the barbs that came from those who
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  Speaker 1: thought they knew him, and though they had spent thirty
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  Speaker 1: years alongside him, did not know him at all. In
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  Speaker 1: the process, Father, I pray that you would guard us
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  Speaker 1: from a perfunctory spirit where we are around the familiar,
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  Speaker 1: but we lose the significance because of the familiarity which
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  Speaker 1: has bred contempt. Encourage us, I pray as we see
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  Speaker 1: through this story and we learn from it lessons for life.
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  Speaker 1: In the journey from Earth to Heaven, there are many
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  Speaker 1: things we must learn, some of which are learned the
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  Speaker 1: hard way. And I pray for those going through a
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  Speaker 1: hard time. Some have loved ones who are desperately ill.
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  Speaker 1: Others have lost those that meant the most to them
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  Speaker 1: in recent days. There are some who struggle with addictions,
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  Speaker 1: they're going through a time of fractured relationships, and others
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  Speaker 1: who simply have lost their zest for life. Maybe realize,
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  Speaker 1: our Father, that your son Jesus has the magnificent ability
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  Speaker 1: of transferring his triumph to us, and his ability to
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  Speaker 1: conquer can be ours as well. But remind us again
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  Speaker 1: and again, Lord, that that's a process, and we learn
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  Speaker 1: some of life's best lessons slowly and painfully. Pain often
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  Speaker 1: plants the flag of reality and the fortress of a
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  Speaker 1: rebel heart. So I pray today for those who are rebels.
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  Speaker 1: I pray that you will break through, get their attention,
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  Speaker 1: turn their hearts toward you. I pray that Christians will
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  Speaker 1: not get in the way of this, that we will help,
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  Speaker 1: that will be part of the answer rather than the problem,
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  Speaker 1: and will know how to be a friend to those
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  Speaker 1: who are awash. Give us patience, grace, understanding, forgiveness, mercy,
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  Speaker 1: and a dozen other traits that don't come easily or naturally,
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  Speaker 1: as you minister through us to those who have lost
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  Speaker 1: their way. We are grateful Father for the change of
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  Speaker 1: seasons and the reality that nothing in you changes. You
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  Speaker 1: are the same yesterday to day and forever. You have
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  Speaker 1: no winter temperament or summer, or spring or fall. You
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  Speaker 1: are always the same. We never interrupt you, we never
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  Speaker 1: catch you off guard. You are never surprised by what
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  Speaker 1: we do, but you are sometimes grieved. I pray that
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  Speaker 1: you will touch us in a deep way, Minister, especially
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  Speaker 1: to those who need encouragement. May we be reminded that
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  Speaker 1: our help comes from the Lord, and really only from you,
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  Speaker 1: that kind of help that is life changing. Because of
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  Speaker 1: that transformation, we've learned, We've learned to be generous, and
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  Speaker 1: that's why today we give with such joy. And we've
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  Speaker 1: learned that we are not the center of attention. That
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  Speaker 1: your son is, that he has first place in everything,
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  Speaker 1: and whatever crowns that may come our way. We will
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  Speaker 1: crown him with many crowns, the lamb upon the throne,
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  Speaker 1: whom we worship and adore, to whom we give today,
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  Speaker 1: and for his sake alone, we pray these things. Everyone said, Amen,
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  Speaker 1: there's something fulfilling about returning home. I suppose there's a
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  Speaker 1: little salmon in all of us that on occasion we
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  Speaker 1: just have to go back to our place of roots,
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  Speaker 1: and there relive some memories and revisit some familiar haunts,
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  Speaker 1: and reflect on those faces that represent our lives in
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  Speaker 1: years gone by. We never get too old for this.
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  Speaker 1: Even young and strong athletes who enter into the Olympics
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  Speaker 1: and are blessed to win the bronze or the silver,
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  Speaker 1: ideally the gold. Shortly after that has occurred, they can't
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  Speaker 1: wait to do what take them home that the people
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  Speaker 1: at home rejoice with them as they have earned the
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  Speaker 1: honor of that medal. Professional teams that win the championship
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  Speaker 1: in an away game celebrate on the court or on
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  Speaker 1: the field, but there's nothing like taking the trophy home
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  Speaker 1: and enjoying the parade in the familiar streets of that
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  Speaker 1: place they call home. If you've gone through a lengthy
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  Speaker 1: illness in a hospital, if you've endured years as an
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  Speaker 1: inmate in a prison, when that time ends and you're
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  Speaker 1: back on your feet, there are words that come almost
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  Speaker 1: to every individual in that place. Just take me home.
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  Speaker 1: Whether you're an astronaut that's gone to the moon, or
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  Speaker 1: a soldier that's lived through the combat, or a survivor
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  Speaker 1: that had been lost at sea and is now rescued,
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  Speaker 1: there's no place like home. Something about it brings back
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  Speaker 1: those nostalgic feelings that can't be reproduced anywhere else. A
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  Speaker 1: number of years ago, our younger daughter and I took
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  Speaker 1: a trip from southern California to Houston. We took our time.
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  Speaker 1: We had a great father daughter relationship in the car
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  Speaker 1: along the way, spent the nights and quietly went through
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  Speaker 1: the day conversation. I remember the last day, after we
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  Speaker 1: had spent the night in the hill country around Bernie
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  Speaker 1: or perhaps Kerrville. It was where we had breakfast, we
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  Speaker 1: struck out not that many miles to Houston. We actually
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  Speaker 1: we got to El Passa. We thought we were almost there.
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  Speaker 1: A boy, we had a long wish to go after Opassa. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: we're on our way to Houston. Our destination and her
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  Speaker 1: type double a father has one gold in mind. Get
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  Speaker 1: to Houston. Leave here, go there. She's looking at a
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  Speaker 1: map and she says, Daddy, El Campo, which means nothing
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  Speaker 1: to you. That's where I was born. And she remembered
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  Speaker 1: my talking about it in her room. She said, let's
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  Speaker 1: let's go. Let we can only turn off. We get
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  Speaker 1: down the Oord Highway fifteen and I said, honey, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to Houston. She says, Daddy, let's go down. It's
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  Speaker 1: not that far away. Look she numbered up and figured
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  Speaker 1: up the miles. I said, okay, okay. She turned on
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  Speaker 1: the charm and we went to El Kempo and I
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  Speaker 1: remember when we got to the city limits hadn't been
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  Speaker 1: there since I was a kid. City limits city in
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  Speaker 1: quotes city limits about ten and fifty one. And she's
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  Speaker 1: very quiet. As we drive through the streets. I try
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  Speaker 1: to find the norm Manor Theater. It's not there anymore.
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  Speaker 1: It was there when the Earth's crust cooled, but now
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  Speaker 1: it's been that many year years it's been taken away.
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  Speaker 1: Floyd's Theater wasn't there, read Helmer Shak's Pharmacy wasn't there?
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  Speaker 1: I remember read helmer Shak's Pharmacy marble counters. My brother,
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  Speaker 1: my sister and I stood on the counter in our
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  Speaker 1: silk pajamas, singing Heil right in the viewer's face. It
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  Speaker 1: was one of the great songs of yesteryear. We sang
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  Speaker 1: for a double dip ice cream cone, but helmer Shak's
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  Speaker 1: Pharmacy was gone. I said, well, maybe there's one place
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  Speaker 1: that's still standing. So we took a turn and I
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  Speaker 1: did my best to navigate us to where I thought
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  Speaker 1: it might be, and sure enough, there it was a
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  Speaker 1: little garage apartment, sort of leaning as a result of
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  Speaker 1: the prevailing Gulf Coast winds. And she said it was
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  Speaker 1: this And I said, well, Colleen, is where your daddy
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  Speaker 1: was born, same bed where I was conceived. I was
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  Speaker 1: born right there. My dad used to say that my
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  Speaker 1: mother never liked it, that he would tell people that,
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  Speaker 1: but it was true of all three of us kids
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  Speaker 1: right there. And she sat there in silence and looked,
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  Speaker 1: and I saw the mist come over her eyes. I
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  Speaker 1: was home. We turned and went down a couple of
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  Speaker 1: blocks and came to a rather big, white, two story
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  Speaker 1: house where my grandmother and granddaddy had lived all of
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  Speaker 1: my childhood, growing up a big porch out front, and
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  Speaker 1: a swing on the porch. And I pulled up, and
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  Speaker 1: I say, this is where Granddaddy Lundy and Mama Old
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  Speaker 1: Lundy lived, where your daddy, your aunt and uncle played
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  Speaker 1: on that front porch. If you listen closely, you could
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  Speaker 1: almost hear the kids running up and down the porch.
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  Speaker 1: And as she looked and I look, it occurred to
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  Speaker 1: me that the words of the great theologian Waylon Jennings
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  Speaker 1: fit that scene. Splintered wood, rusty chains, this old front
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  Speaker 1: porch swing remains a pendulum of memories, swinging back and
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  Speaker 1: forth on a summer breeze, singing old church hymns and
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  Speaker 1: nursery rhymes from the day's way back before my time
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  Speaker 1: with a little child upon my knee, singing every sweet
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  Speaker 1: word back to me. Look how far I had to
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  Speaker 1: come to get back where I started, from the child's wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: passing time, singing old church hymns nursery rhymes. Nothing quite
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  Speaker 1: like home. Maybe Jesus felt the urge at this tough
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  Speaker 1: time in his life and ministry. Oh he's a grown
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  Speaker 1: man in his early thirties, but life has now lived
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  Speaker 1: at a non stop double time level pressure isn't going away.
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  Speaker 1: The crowds of his followers, they're enlarging, and he is
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  Speaker 1: doing a wonderful work among them. He is healing the sick,
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  Speaker 1: even though a paralyzed hand, he gave life to it.
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  Speaker 1: And those with demons he delivers them, and those who
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  Speaker 1: are hungry, he feeds them. And his ministry is is
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  Speaker 1: just packed with people, and he sees in their faces
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  Speaker 1: their need for rest. He says to them on one occasion,
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  Speaker 1: come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden,
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  Speaker 1: you who are burdened, and I will give you rest.
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  Speaker 1: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. For
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  Speaker 1: I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find
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  Speaker 1: rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, my burden
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  Speaker 1: is light. And how they must have come sometimes by
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  Speaker 1: the thousands. And if you've ever ministered to people in
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  Speaker 1: large numbers, and you've done it day after day, week
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  Speaker 1: after week, you know the meaning of the word exhaustion.
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  Speaker 1: It's a draining and you love the people, and yet
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  Speaker 1: those needs never end, and they're always those expectations are
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  Speaker 1: always greater than the ability to supply. Except in his case,
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  Speaker 1: he could meet whatever the need, but it drained him
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  Speaker 1: of his energy. Now, on top of all of that,
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  Speaker 1: there were those who despised him, never doubted even when
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  Speaker 1: he has done no wrong, they found wrong. When he
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  Speaker 1: and his disciples ate grain on the Sabbath, they found
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  Speaker 1: fault in that, though it wasn't breaking the law. And
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  Speaker 1: he confronted them, and he refused to be intimidated by them.
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  Speaker 1: That also is energy draining. And then they'd had enough.
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  Speaker 1: According to Matthew twelve and verse fourteen, they called a
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  Speaker 1: meeting and they plotted how to kill him. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if you have ever been stalked, but I know
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  Speaker 1: what it's like. Some of you may. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: that anyone ever wanted to kill me, but they did him.
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  Speaker 1: That's pressure. Every move he made, they worked it against him.
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  Speaker 1: Every motive they questioned, every action they criticized. More and
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  Speaker 1: more energy drain. More and more. He cast out their demons,
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  Speaker 1: and along came the pharise. He said, he's doing that
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  Speaker 1: in the power of Satan. How blasphemous. But they never
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  Speaker 1: let up. Finally, he may have sighed around sunset one
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  Speaker 1: evening and thought, I think I'll go home for a while.
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  Speaker 1: Fact that seems to be the way we get into
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  Speaker 1: the story at the end of Matthew thirteen, when Jesus
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  Speaker 1: had finished telling the stories and illustrations, he left that
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  Speaker 1: part of the country and he returned to nazareth hometown.
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  Speaker 1: Let's stop there. Sounds pretty idyllic to most of us
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  Speaker 1: who live in a busy city where there's traffic and
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  Speaker 1: traffic lights, where there are deadlines and demands that seemed
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  Speaker 1: never to end. Going back home sounded like a great idea.
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  Speaker 1: What you may not know is that it's about thirty
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  Speaker 1: eight forty miles away from there, and in the terrain
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  Speaker 1: it is uphill and it is a rugged road. You
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  Speaker 1: wonder what he and the disciples talked about along the way,
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  Speaker 1: and out under the night they spent under the stars.
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  Speaker 1: You wonder what he told them as they were going
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  Speaker 1: to sleep. In the back of your Bible, you will
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  Speaker 1: find a map that's marked the Ministry of Jesus. The
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  Speaker 1: Ministry of Jesus. You're at the right map when your
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  Speaker 1: map shows two bodies of water aside from the Great
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  Speaker 1: Sea on the left, the Mediterranean. When you're into Israel,
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  Speaker 1: you will see to the north the Sea of Galilee,
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  Speaker 1: oval shaped, and from there the trickling River Jordan down
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  Speaker 1: into the greaters larger sea, the dead Sea that goes nowhere,
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  Speaker 1: which is why it has its name. Back to Galilee.
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  Speaker 1: Look in the northern shore of Galilee and put your
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  Speaker 1: finger on Capernium. No doubt, that's where he is at
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  Speaker 1: the end of Matthew thirteen, when he decides to leave
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  Speaker 1: and go outside the region. Now trace your way with
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  Speaker 1: your finger to the northwest for you who are geographically challenged,
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  Speaker 1: down a little and to the left, and you will
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  Speaker 1: see in the lower Galilean region Nazareth. Huh. There it
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  Speaker 1: is as obscure as El Campo in Texas, But there
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  Speaker 1: it was home. When I come to a moment like this,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's helpful to a pause and let my
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  Speaker 1: mind run free. We think of our savior, and certainly
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  Speaker 1: we should as undiminished deity, and he was that without question,
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  Speaker 1: But we tended to discount that he was also true humanity.
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  Speaker 1: Feelings you have. He had longings that you have. He
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  Speaker 1: had the exhaustion you feel after a full day, or
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  Speaker 1: a pack week or a series of weeks. He too
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  Speaker 1: felt exhaustion, so he took the journey. They walked, of course,
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  Speaker 1: about a two day walk until they finally came to
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  Speaker 1: that little sign that said Nazareth. Maybe it didn't mean
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  Speaker 1: as much to the disciples as it did to him,
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  Speaker 1: because it was there. He had spent almost thirty years
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  Speaker 1: of his life working in Joseph's carpenter shop. It was
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  Speaker 1: there he went to school in the synagogue. It was
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  Speaker 1: there he met the neighbors and they knew him. It
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  Speaker 1: was there Mary had her other children, four boys and
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  Speaker 1: other A number of girls. Were not told how many,
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  Speaker 1: or ever told their names. It's a big family. They
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  Speaker 1: lived in this little place, and all the things you
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  Speaker 1: went through he went through was there. He played with
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  Speaker 1: his buddies. It was there that his mom called him
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  Speaker 1: to supper. It was there his dad whistled when it
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  Speaker 1: got dark. It was there that he earned a living.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure built fine furniture and very comfortable yoke for Oxen,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps even cabinets. It's where his brothers and sisters lived.
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  Speaker 1: I'm taking my time here because I want you to
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  Speaker 1: feel what the people of Nazareth felt. It's easy to
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  Speaker 1: forget old Nazareth, and it's easy to forget all of
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  Speaker 1: the memories that surrounded him there. Several years ago, I
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: was buying a car, and while the paperwork was being done,
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  Speaker 1: I said, in the little office of the salesman, I've
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  Speaker 1: never known him before and haven't seen him since. But
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  Speaker 1: while we were together, you strike up a conversation, as
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  Speaker 1: all of you know, we got on the subject of
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  Speaker 1: where we were reared. I said, then, where were you?
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  Speaker 1: I knew he was from another country, and he said, actually,
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  Speaker 1: I'm I'm from the Middle East. I said, are you really?
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  Speaker 1: I'm I'm intrigued by that. Where in particular? He said, well,
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  Speaker 1: I'm from a little town called Nazareth. Really, I go.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever seen the J and J carpenter shop
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  Speaker 1: when you were in Nazareth there? No, he said, I
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  Speaker 1: never have. And you never see a name carved into
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  Speaker 1: a tree named Jesus? You ever see, he said? Name? What?
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  Speaker 1: Never heard of him? So we had a chance to
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  Speaker 1: get a little better acquainted. It was a great talk
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  Speaker 1: we had, very unguarded, as he learned a great deal
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  Speaker 1: about the one who also was reared. Where he was reared.
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  Speaker 1: It's there Jesus formed his earliest impressions about life. It
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  Speaker 1: was their life made up its mind for him. So
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  Speaker 1: he returned to Nazareth's hometown. You know what's interesting is
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  Speaker 1: that the synagogue where he went all of his growing
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  Speaker 1: up years still there. Except in those days he was
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  Speaker 1: a part of the congregation. But it's not uncommon to
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  Speaker 1: this day when a guest is fairly well known, that
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  Speaker 1: the rabbi will invite the person that's known to speak
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  Speaker 1: to the congregation to be the guest preacher, if you
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  Speaker 1: will that day. So that happened, no doubt, worry had
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  Speaker 1: travel His name was by now the household name all
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  Speaker 1: over what they call then the Romans called Palestine. Israelites
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  Speaker 1: hate it when we call their country Palestine. It's Israel.
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  Speaker 1: But his name was known all over Israel. And of
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  Speaker 1: all things, this man comes back. But remember, their memory
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  Speaker 1: is not of the great crowds and all the significant
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  Speaker 1: words that he had spoken. That Their memory is thirty
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  Speaker 1: years of growing up. They remember when he played on
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  Speaker 1: the Nazareth Neanderthal soccer team. They played the Cana Cougars
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  Speaker 1: and beat them and won the trophy. They remember that
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  Speaker 1: he's just another guy who happened somehow. Date of following
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  Speaker 1: and a hearing forty miles away and beyond this is
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  Speaker 1: a Nazareth. So word traveled among the community, and did
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: you hear that Mary's son is going to preach? No doubt,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Joseph is dead, never mentioned in his adult life. So
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Mary gathers the family, and no doubt many of them
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: were married by now, and having grown up with Jesus,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: they had the standard brother opinion and sister opinion. And
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: there he stood. They had their meals with him for
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: almost thirty years. They had seen his work, conversed, argued,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: had the standard relationship you have. But now he's standing
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: in the synagogue, and he speaks with such wisdom and authority,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: it says look at it. They were amazed. Amazed at least,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: so the Greek word means to be filled with such
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: amazement that one is overwhelmed. Whoa They were blown away.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: He never talked like this when he was having suffer
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: with us. We don't remember speeches that he gave or
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: great works he did. And so they naturally ask where
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: does he get his wisdom the power to do miracles.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: They even scoffed and said, he's just a carpenter's son.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: By the way, Joseph had nothing to do with his conception,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: But of course they thought Joseph was his daddy and
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: and and we know Mary his mother, and and and
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: we know all the brothers James and Joseph, and Simon
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: and Judas, and by the way, none of them believe
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: in him. And we know all of his sisters. I mean,
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: come on, and then we read they were deeply Scandalizzo scandalized.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: I like the way, uh, Eugene Peterson captures the essence
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: of all this. Who does he think he is? They
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: got their noses all out of joint. Yeah, it's like
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: you would if it were your brother or my brother,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: as foot as he think he is talking like this. Frankly,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: they didn't really have a clue at Robertson, in his
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: fine word Pictures in the New Testament writes, what the
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: people of Nazareth could not comprehend was how one with
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the origin and environment of Jesus here in Nazareth could
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: possess the wisdom which he appeared to have in his teaching.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: That has often puzzled people, how a boy whom they
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: knew could become the man he apparently is After leaving home,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: they stumbled at him. Good rendering of Scandalizzo to cause
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: to stumble. They they stumble over his words mofat renders
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: that they were repelled by a weymouth renders it they
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: turned against him. Robertson adds it was unpardonable for Jesus
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: not to be commonplace like themselves. Who does he think
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: he is? For what is worth? And it will mean
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: more to some of you than others. The most difficult
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: people to convince of your faith in Jesus is your
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: own family. Don't answer out aloud, but how many of
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: you have attempted to tell them of how your life
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: has been changed through the power of Jesus Christ? Who
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: do you think you are? Tell him me this. It's
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: not that they desired to be offensive him or to
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: appear inhospitable. It just beyond their ability to comprehend. I
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: love scenes like this because it breaks it all down
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: into a way that everybody can get it. They were
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: offended by him, and we read they refused to believe
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: in it. There it is, by the way, that didn't
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: last forever. Weren't we encouraged by that? Jude named earlier
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: is the one who Judas, who wrote the Book of
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Jude just before the end of our Bible, just before Revelation.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: Not only did he believe in, but wrote a letter,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: and James did as well, and he didn't believe until
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: the resurrection, and then when he believed, he really did
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: went full more and became a leader in the early
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: first century church. So they came around. It gives us hope,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: doesn't it? Doesn't it give you a little encouragement, you
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: who have tried to reach your brothers and sisters, and
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: moms and dads and family members to no avail. Let
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: me give you a little, a little illustration that I
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: hope you won't forget. It helps me witnessing to those
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: who aren't ready to receive. It is a lot like
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: tossing a log onto a frozen lake. It hits, the ice,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: bounces around, then lies there more snow, more ice, more sleet,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: sits on top of the lake, until one day the
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: sun begins to shine and the weather turns warm, and
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the lake falls and the log sinks in. Do not
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: think that because you have spoken of Christ and it
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: wasn't received, that it will never be meaningful to them.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Your words, no doubt, will never be forgotten. Our brains
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: have a way of creasing them into the cells, and sometime,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: at life's most difficult turning points, we remember things that
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: we were told. Pain will bring thoughts to us, loss,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: lengthy illnesses, near death struggles. Many a person I talk
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: to will tell me before we later bury him or her.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: It was not until recently I realized what my daughter
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: had in mind, or what my cousin meant when he
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: said to me, told me of Jesus. I now see it,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: But for right now nobody sees it. Who knows. Maybe
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: some of them got up walked out. You know what,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: It's hard to believe, because you would think for the
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: privilege of being able to hear Jesus teach, I mean,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: how long a line would you stand in? But they wouldn't.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: In fact, we read this after they didn't believe in him.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Then Jesus told them, look at this. A prophet is
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: own own family. The sentence literally reads, a prophet is
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: not dishonored except in his native town and in his house,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: which probably means household family. And with that reproof we
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: read something else that's eloquent, the very last sentence in
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: the chapter. And so he did only a few miracles
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: there because of their unbelief your Bible will read a
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: similar way. What shut it down with a response He
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: read on their faces and maybe heard in the murmurings
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: they want nothing to do with what I have to say.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: I'll say more about in a moment, but I'll tell
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: you audience reaction means an enormous amount to someone communicating truth.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: And he's very sensitive and he realizes, though he's home,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: those from his family had little interest in what he
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: had to say. Now, there's a couple of applications I
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: want to draw from this simple vignette. You've been so
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: patient to listen as we've worked our way through it.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: Here's the first thought I want to leave with you.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: We should never overestimate the importance of family and friends.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: We should never overestimate the importance of family and friends. Now,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: you won't often hear words like that from me, because
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: I'm such a family man. But I've learned that family
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: members are not always right, and I've learned that family
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: responses are not always the ones I need to rely on.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: If I am committed to following the Lord Jesus, if
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: we often say hook, line and sinker, if I am
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: fully committed to him, then the advice of others, including
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: even family members means less than the direction Jesus is leading.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: The old Esop's fable comes to pass again, familiarity breeds contempt.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Now in this case we have a classic illustration. He
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: was shut down because of their unbelief, and he then
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: reproved them, which included a reproof to his own family.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: I come for whatever reasons I had in mind, and
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: I find the axiom here again, a prophet is without
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: honor in his own hometown. Here's a second. We should
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: never underestimate the importance of others response. Their response to
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: Jesus hindered him from saying anything else. I think he
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: may have entered his message before he planned to. He
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: certainly stopped doing a great works among them. We should
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: never underestimate the importance of others responses. This gives me
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: a chance to do something I rarely do. I want
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: to do it today, to talk to you about you,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: the congregation of Stonebrier Community Church. You know me well
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: enough to know that I'm not gonna blow smoke here, okay,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: but I have to tell you you're the best when
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: it comes to responses. I've never preached before. A gathering
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: more receptive when it's serious you're as silent as a tomb.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: That's good. You're not fiddling around, you're not rustling around.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: You're riveted. That's a great response, not to me, but
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: to the truth. You're hearing something is funny. You laugh.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: I've been at churches where I've said something that was
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: meant to be funny. It's like, okay, I learned that. Well,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go there. You're not like that at all.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: You're very spontaneous. In fact, that list of faces that
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: you looked at earlier, those guest preachers, every one of
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: them loves to come back to this place to preach.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: You know why you I've had a number of them
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: say I've never had a congregation like that. I mean, chuck,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: They've got they bring their Bibles. I think, what do
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: you think they're going to bring time magazines. Sure, they're
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: going to bring their Bible. And he said, you know
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: when I say something from the scriptures, like oh, and
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: I say turned here that, well, not all summer you turn.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: I'll just listen, but most of you turn. You know
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: why you're responsive? Stay that way? It is uh, it
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: is contagious. It gives energy to the one who is
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: pouring out a soul. William Barkley addresses this in a
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: beautiful way, and I share his words with you. He writes,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: the prophet, as so often happens, had no honor in
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: his own country, and their attitude to him raised a
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: barrier which made it impossible for Jesus to have any
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: effect upon them. And he goes on, there's a great
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: lesson here. In any church service, the congregation preaches more
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: than half the sermon. Do you know that? No wonder
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: you're tired when the message is over, you've preached half
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: the sermon. With me, every congregation preaches half the sermon.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: The congregation brings an atmosphere with it. That atmosphere is
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: either a barrier through which the preacher's word cannot penetrate,
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: or else, there's such an expectancy that even the poorest
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: sermon becomes a living flame. You're a model of that
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: that's cultivated over the years. We learn to listen, We
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: learn to value prepared messages. We learn to observe insightful
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: comments and make them on our own as we go
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: back to the biblical text and draw from it truth
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: for our lives. That's why when you go home, the
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: sermon still lives, and you can return to Matthew thirteen
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: fifty three to fifty eight and relive the scene at Nazareth,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: because you've gone home with him, You've walked those forty miles,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: you've slept under the stars, You've stood before family that's
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: frowning at him. And I think some of that came
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: from Mary as well. Who is he? I changed his diapers,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: I've seen him grow up. That's why I love the
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: song Mary, did you know? And there's that line in there,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: he will soon deliver you, Mary, he will soon deliver you.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: One day in her life, she realized, I've given birth
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: to my savior, my Lord. What a response? What a
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: humbling response? Or humble response? Never lose your love for
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: gatherings like this. It's like a magnet. I'm serious, though
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: I'm away for a little while. I'll tell you, isn't
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: a Sunday comes that. I don't think that gum it
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: Steve gets to preach instead of me. Well, I mean
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: not exactly like that, but I have thoughts like they
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: have the joy of standing with this congregation and delivering
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: their souls and having that appreciated, appreciated. I can't tell
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: you what that means. The late Howie Hendrix used to
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: say to me when we talked about various students, some
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: of whom were losing heart for their studies. I asked,
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Prof of why would that be. I mean, I'm the
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: kind of guy that's on the edge of his seat.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: I never wanted the prof to go home. I wanted,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: I wanted more, but some didn't. And he said, you
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: know before we're too critical. They probably don't have anybody
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: at home encouraging them. Very insightful. If you're gonna give
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: yourself to the truth of the scriptures, it needs to
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: be appreciated, and you do a marvelous job of that.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: I mean that with my whole heart. Now let me
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: say to you who still can't quite find yourself able
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: to respond like this, maybe it's because you've never realized
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: the power of the Cross and what was accomplished there.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: I heard recently of a man who had heard the
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: message of Christ. It was presented to him very carefully,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: very thoughtfully, and appropriately, and he died without Jesus. He
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: now knows. But it's too late the power of the
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: cross if you haven't the ability to respond in a
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: way that's grateful and excited It may be that you
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: just never met the one who wrote the story, or
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: the one who went homed in Nazareth. I'd love for
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: you to meet him today. Now with me, will you,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: just said? Very quietly. One of jesus disciples once wrote,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: he came into his own but his own did not
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: receive him. Interesting nuance in that statement. John wrote, it
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: could be rendered he came to his own things, but
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: his own ones did not receive him. That's what it means.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: He saw the hills and the lakes, he saw the
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: great sea, all of which he had made on this planet,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: and all of it received him and continued to obey him,
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: even when he said peace be still, stop and the
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: waves stopped and the storm went away. But not even
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: his own household welcomed him. They were offended by him.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: If you've never met the Lord Jesus, your offense may
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: be brought on by a misunderstanding. He's not just another
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: hometown boy, grown up good. He's the Master. He's the Savior.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: He who has the Son has the life. S n
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: who does not have the Son of God does not
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: have the life. Trust the Son. Release your grip, set
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: aside your resistance and humbly take him. Do it now,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: you may not have tomorrow. Do it now. Thank your
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Father for this nostalgic journey back to a place that
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: most will never visit except in the mind. Thank you
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: for the opportunity to read live the scene. And can
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: it be that we should gain an interest in the
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: Savior's blood. Died he for me, died he for me
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: who knew no sin. Thank you Father for the Savior.
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you that he died for us. We love you, Father,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: and we worship your son Jesus in his name. We
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: worship you and praise you. All his people said amen.
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: The preceding message Holme Cynical Home was copyrighted in twenty
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: sixteen and twenty twenty one, and the sound recording was
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in twenty twenty one by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc.
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.