Latest / HBCWestminster / The Crowd or the Crew? • Mark 3:7-19

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The Crowd or the Crew? • Mark 3:7-19 · HBCWestminster

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Open your Bibles, if you would, to Mark chapter three, Mark chapter three, and beginning in
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verse seven, as you're turning there, just a reminder from last Sunday and kind of where
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we left off that Christ has both the authority and the ability.
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He not only makes the rules of grace by faith, but then he can enforce those rules that we
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count on for our salvation.
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There will never be a day we ended with last Sunday where we come to heaven's gate and
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the sign reads under new management.
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Jesus is the one who declared the gospel.
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Jesus is the one who enforces the gospel.
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And so the rules never change.
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If you have been saved by his grace, then you are saved for all time.
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And with that in mind, would you stand as we pick up right there in Mark chapter three,
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beginning in verse seven and going through verse 19.
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And as Sam reminded us, so I will remind us again that these are the very words of God.
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When it says Jesus withdrew.
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With his disciples to the sea and a great crowd followed from Galilee, from Judea and
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Jerusalem and to do Mia and free from beyond the Jordan from around tire and Sidon.
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And when the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him and he told his
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disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him for he had
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healed many so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.
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And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out.
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You are the son of God.
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And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
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And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired.
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And they came to him and he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him.
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And he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.
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He appointed the 12 Simon to whom he gave the name, Peter, James, the son of Zebedee and John,
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the brother of James, to whom he gave the name bow energies.
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That is the sons of.
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Thunder, Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and time Thomas and James, the son of
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Alpheus and Thaddeus and Simon, the zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him, our Lord, God,
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you are the creator and sustainer of all things, and we depend upon you for life and breath and
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everything.
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And Lord, we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word this morning as we look to it for
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eternal life in Jesus name.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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You guys can be seated.
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Imagine the scene.
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Jesus can heal and nothing is too difficult for him.
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And he cannot be told to stop.
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He exercises authority, which is unmatched, unparalleled, unprecedented.
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And now word is beginning to spread before we take the plunge.
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Let's dip our toes into the tax and you guys in your own Bibles, just take note of the verb.
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In our text this morning.
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What verbs do you see?
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Shout them out.
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If you, if you see some verbs in the text, what's going on, you know, what's interesting about this
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text, particularly if you get a sense for the verbs in the text, you will get a sense for what's
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going on.
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What's going on there.
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What withdrawing, following, crushing and crowding, healing, crying, touching.
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Appointing, look at some of those verbs.
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Isn't that interesting?
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Withdrawing, following, crowding, crushing, pushing, touching, falling, crying, calling, appointing, and sending.
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That pretty well sums up what's going on in this text.
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Doesn't it?
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Isn't that interesting?
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What is seeming pandemonium at times.
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And yet from that pandemonium.
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From what is seeming chaos.
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What Jesus does is pulls out the 12 apostles to whom he will give the first century reigns of the church.
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Crowds is what we see in this morning's passage.
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In fact, above verse seven, you'll even notice the caption that the ESV translators have chosen for this text is a great crowd and crowds play a particularly important role in Mark's gospel.
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If.
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You remember our introduction to the gospel.
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You remember that we can almost divide the gospel into two big pieces, two halves.
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The first half chapters one through nine, Jesus is presented as the servant of mankind.
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He came to serve and not to be served.
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The second half chapters 10 to 16, Jesus came as the sacrifice for mankind to give himself to offer himself as a ransom for many in that first half of the book chapters one through nine.
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The author Mark uses the word.
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Crowd.
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What is in the Greek?
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The word.
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Oclos oclos, he uses that word oclos 42 times in the first nine chapters, almost five times per chapter.
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The argument that Mark is trying to present is Jesus came for the people.
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He came to serve the crowds, the masses, the regular, everyday, normal people like you and I, that is, that is the people for whom Christ.
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Can.
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And you notice throughout the first half of Mark's gospel, that great crowds indeed followed, but that does not mean that great crowds believed they followed.
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They were curious, they wanted to see what he would do next, what he would say next.
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And so he was amassing these great thronging crowds of humanity because they were enamored with him, with his teaching, with his miracles.
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But.
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But as you read, it turns out those crowds were pretty fickle as easily as they came.
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So also they left.
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In fact, that word crowds oclos is not often used in a positive light.
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Jesus had a tremendous number of followers.
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We'd call him an influencer.
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Okay.
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He had, you, you can just imagine tens of thousands.
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Hundreds of thousands of followers.
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And yet those followers turned out actually to be obstacles.
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Much of the time.
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In fact, Mark uses that word 42 times, never in a positive light.
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The crowds oftentimes were an encumbrance, not a good measure of his success.
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He contrasts that interestingly with another Greek word.
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It sounds very similar.
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It's the word house.
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We get the word household from it.
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It's the word oikos.
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Oikos is not yogurt.
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Okay.
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I know that's what we think.
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Oikos is the Greek word for house or household.
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And what's interesting is he takes, if you didn't know Greek, you'd never know the difference, but he is intentionally pitting these two words against each other.
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He's, he's kind of making a play on these two words because they sound so similar that don't fall in with the oclos.
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Make sure you are part of the oikos.
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The cross.
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The crowds are this encumbrance to ministry, tons of people, but not a lot happened.
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On the other hand, the oikos where things get small.
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Once you get into living rooms, far less people and yet far greater ministry.
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The point that Mark is trying to make throughout his gospel is to ask us this question.
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Are you part of the oikos or are you part of the oikos?
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Are you just an observer?
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You're curious, skeptical, still undecided.
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I'm here because everybody else is here.
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I kind of just want to see what he does next.
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Or are you part of the household, the family, the committed ones?
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I've told you recently about the work that the spirit of God is doing in my sister-in-law's life.
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Her name is Sarah.
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This is Hallie's sister, her pastor, Sarah's pastor.
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And I are lifelong friends.
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His latest comment to me was this.
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We text frequently.
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We have been praying for my sister-in-law, Hallie's sister, for years and years and years, for decades.
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And her pastor recently texted me and he just said this.
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He said, Danny, it's unbelievable.
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Sarah never misses a week.
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She never misses.
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And then he said this.
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Now, we just have to get her to move from a row to a circle.
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That's all he said.
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The next step is to get her to move from a row to a circle.
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And I began to think about what does that mean?
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What's the difference between a row and a circle?
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A row is where you sit and watch.
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You go to the movie theater.
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You sit in a row.
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You go to a play.
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You go to watch a play.
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You sit in a row.
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Your friend comes to you and says, man, you got tickets for that concert.
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What row are you sitting in?
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A row is where there's a show happening and you sit in a big long line and you watch what's happening.
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A circle is very different.
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A circle is where you're engaged.
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You're part of something.
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It's where you contribute.
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A circle is where you belong.
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Her pastor's point was this.
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The following Christ is not something you watch.
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The following Christ is something you live.
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The church is not a show you sit and watch.
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He said, well, wait, we're all sitting in rows right now.
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I know.
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I know.
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But this is not what it is.
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This is not where it ends, right?
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We don't stay in rows.
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The point is, and I know that for some gatherings, right?
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Just for efficiency sake, we got to sit in the most efficient way possible.
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But if I could, honestly, we'd sit in a giant circle.
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There's no head or tail.
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There's no front or back.
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Everybody contribute.
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Everybody has to share something.
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And I know that many people, maybe even some in here.
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I hope not, but are only here to come and watch.
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That's all I'm doing.
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I come, I watch, I leave, see you next week.
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And many people for years will just sit and watch.
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They don't contribute.
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They observe and they duck out.
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And if that's you, listen, you're missing out.
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You're missing out.
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I don't want you to leave.
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I'm not saying stop doing that.
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What I'm saying is take another step forward.
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Don't take a step out.
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Take another step forward.
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Join something like a connect home.
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That's the whole purpose of those connect homes.
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We don't sit in rows, right?
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We sit in circles.
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We eat together.
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We pray for each other.
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We take communion together.
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The church is not something you watch.
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The church is a family that you belong to.
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And so let me ask you before we even get into the text.
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Are you sitting in a row?
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Are you sitting in a circle?
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Are you part of the crowd or are you part of the crew?
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I'm going to divide the text this morning into those two parts.
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We're going to make some observations about the crowd and then we're going to
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notice how from the crowd Christ calls what will become his crew.
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Notice in verse 7.
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Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and a great crowd followed from
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Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem into Jumia from beyond the Jordan from around
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Tyre and Sidon.
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When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
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He may be tempted to say, well, this is a little insensitive of Jesus.
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Right?
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Withdrawing to get away from the crowd.
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And then you read on.
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And you're like, well, this is a little bit insensitive of the crowd.
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Like man, give the guy a day off.
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He can't get away from the crowd.
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But listen, that's not what he was doing.
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He wasn't withdrawing from the people.
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He was.
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Remember the context of this.
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Right?
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Last week, he was in the synagogue.
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He heals this guy.
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Do you remember the Pharisees, their skepticism, their accusations of him?
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They were testing him.
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They were trying to trap him.
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He wasn't withdrawing from the people.
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He was withdrawing from the hypocrites from the formalist.
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From the Pharisees, he was getting away from them.
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If he was trying to get away from the crowds.
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Guess where he would not go to the seaside where it's open, right?
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He was actually withdrawing to have a greater following a greater group that this is.
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If you've been with us through the study of Mark, you'll recognize this picture.
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This is the city of Capernaum where Jesus was living.
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This is where he kind of this was his headquarters in the north.
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It's on the north tip of the Sea of Galilee.
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This is the hometown of Peter.
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All right, Peter and Andrew James and John were all from Capernaum.
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It's a fishing village.
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It continues to be a fishing village today.
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These are the ruins of the ancient synagogue in Capernaum.
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This was the largest synagogue in the north.
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It remains the largest and most intact.
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What's the word?
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What was Indiana Jones archaeology?
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It's the greatest archaeological synagogue still in Israel today.
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Okay.
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So when they're digging this thing up, this is the ancient synagogue.
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This is where Jesus would have done that miracle from last week.
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That's the synagogue.
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He goes into the synagogue.
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He's got these Pharisees watching.
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He calls everybody's attention and he just says, hey, you want to see if I'll heal a guy on the Sabbath?
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Watch this stretch out your hand, right?
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And a new hand grows out from this guy and man, there is a stir and so you can imagine he leaves the synagogue and this is what he would have gone into.
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This is the ancient synagogue.
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This is the city of Capernaum as they've dug it all up, right?
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Indiana Jones and his bullwhip is digging up the stuff.
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That's what it now looks like.
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So this is the ancient city or tell of Capernaum.
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You can see tight, tight alleyways and roads and streets and walls everywhere.
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It would have been a very compact little city.
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And so what Jesus does, he's not withdrawing to get away from the crowds.
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He's withdrawing to a beach or two with the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee.
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This is just a quarter of a mile down from Capernaum.
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There's the Sea of Galilee.
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It is wide open.
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This is not far from where he actually preached the Sermon on the Mount.
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The Mount of Beatitudes.
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It's now called is within a quarter of a mile of this picture being taken.
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So he leaves the city in order to allow the crowds to grow not to get away from them at the notice.
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A few things about this particular crowd.
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Number one.
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It was geographically diverse.
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The crowds were from every corner of.
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Israel from every walk of life.
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You can see there the list Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem,
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Edomia, the Jordan, Tyre and Sidon.
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Here is a map of Israel during the time of Christ and you can see where some of these people places would have been.
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There's the Sea of Galilee.
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There it is right about there on the top is where Capernaum would be.
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Okay, all the way down here is Edomia.
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This is the trans Jordan.
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This is from beyond the Jordan when it says that they're from beyond the Jordan, Judea's,
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down here all the way up here in what is now today.
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Lebanon are Tyre and Sidon all the way up to there.
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Okay.
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So Jesus is here on the Sea of Galilee and people are coming walking from all the way down there and all the way up there and all the way over here.
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People are walking because they've heard that this guy is offering free healthcare Edomia in the south.
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You see that word there Edomia in the south was a hundred and twenty miles away.
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If you read your Old Testament's right, you're going.
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Going through the Bible in a year with us.
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You're going to hear about the people of Edom.
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The Edomites Edomia Edom and Edomia are the same.
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That's where it is.
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Wait a hundred and twenty miles when it talks about east of the Jordan.
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We're talking about a minimum of 20 miles.
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Some maybe 50 miles to the east Tyre and Sidon 50 miles to the north.
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This is a massive span.
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So you're talking geographically diverse more than that.
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They were also ethnically diverse.
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Galilee Judea were primarily Jews Edomia.
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Trans Jordan were primarily Arabic Tyre and Sidon in the north were a mix of all kinds of Gentiles.
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So you can imagine an ethnically diverse group of people.
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They looked different from each other.
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They spoke different from each other.
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They acted culturally very differently from each other and what a great reminder.
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It is we say this all the time,
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but in case you're new Christ really did come for everyone.
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He really did the promise was genuine genuine when he says in Romans 10,
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whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
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If you want to be saved from your sin,
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Jesus is for you and just let me just take quickly just a little man summary of the scriptures
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and just to prove this point and Jesus was the one who said come to me all who labor and are heavy laden.
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I will give you rest.
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Anybody can come to Christ again.
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It was Jesus in John 637.
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Whoever comes to me.
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I will never cast out.
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If you come to Christ in faith and in humility,
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you will be received Romans 10 and verse 13.
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Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
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What a promise that is listen to Revelation 22.
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We're talking five verses from the very end.
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This is the last page the spirit that is the Holy Spirit of God
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and the bride.
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That is the church say come.
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And let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come
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and let the one who desires to take the water of life without price.
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If you've been coming on Wednesday nights,
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you'll remember Pastor Sam and our thrive studies has been saying that when you hear the beginning of a verse,
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it is meant to remind us of the entire verse when you hear the beginning.
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And so you look at that little phrase the water of life.
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Without price.
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That's actually a quote from the Old Testament.
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And listen to the full quote from the Old Testament.
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It's from Isaiah 55 come everyone who thirsts man.
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You thirsty and I'm thirsty.
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The invitation has come to the waters.
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He who has no money anybody else broke like man.
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I'm broke.
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You got no money come by and eat and then we'll look what he says come by wine and milk.
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Without money and without price.
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I'll give it to you.
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And then he has such a great question.
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Why are you spending your money for that?
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Which does not satisfy?
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Why are you chasing after things with your life that are hollow?
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But like Solomon said in Ecclesiastes like chasing after the wind their vein.
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Listen diligent to me diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.
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Incline your ear come to me here that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant.
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You can come and drink the water without price.
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I will make a covenant with you.
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He says just come to the Lord.
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Remember it was just a few chapters before this and a description of the coming Messiah then the coming of Jesus Isaiah was written 700 years before Christ.
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But look at this promise.
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God is talking about his son.
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He says it is too light a thing that you should be a servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob.
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To.
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To bring back the preserved of Israel.
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Did he only come for the Jewish people?
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He says that would be too light a thing instead.
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He says I will make you as a light for the nations.
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Amen Nations.
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Here we are Coloradans.
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They couldn't even conceive of Denver Colorado when these words were written.
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They didn't know this dirt even existed and yet here we are.
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Still proclaiming the goodness of God that my salvation may reach to the end.
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Of the earth and it is almost an overwhelming thought to consider how the gospel of Jesus Christ has made its way down through the centuries and across continents to reach our front doors.
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Can you imagine the journey that the gospel has taken since those words were written to the time where somebody shared it with you and what a great thought and it does cause me to ask to whom will you share it?
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Can you imagine the journey that the gospel has taken since those words were written to the time where somebody shared it with you and what a great thought and it does cause me to ask to whom will you share it?
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If somebody shared the gospel with you somebody faithfully passed down the good news and trusted to them to you.
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And now with whom will you share it Christ came for everyone.
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Amen.
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But if we don't share it, that is not the message that people will hear.
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That people that we don't share the gospel with will assume that the gospel is not there for.
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For them.
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We know the truth that Christ came for everyone.
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one and let us not beloved friends by our evangelistic negligence or apathy unintentionally
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preach the opposite that he only came for the privileged few that crowd was diverse but notice
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it was also dangerous the crowd was dangerous and for two reasons number one because of its size
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look at verse nine he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd
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lest they crush him there were so many people that they were crushing in around him have you
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ever been in the middle of a scary sized crowd you can feel it right we're like oh
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this might be a little bit out of control there is no crowd control
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i've i've said before that persons are smart but people are dumb
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individuals are smart
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but when you get them in a big old mass there really is this weird mob mentality you've heard
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of that before people do things in crowds that they would never do alone and that's what was
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beginning to happen the crowds were beginning to seize upon him and so it was dangerous because of
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his size so he said grab me a boat i'll jump out on the boat and then shove me off so that there's
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room between us and the crowds it was dangerous for its size but it was also dangerous because
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notice the people that were part of this crowd i i've seen kind of i don't know folksy art
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jesus walking through meadows alongside smiling little kids and little lambs like that was not
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this crowd whatever scene that was portraying right the the little lambs you're like wait where
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are all the little lambs there were no little lambs there were frantic sick people and there
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were demon possessed people
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so you can imagine it is hysterical this crowd okay look at verse 10 he had healed many
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so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him they're not asking permission
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right this is not organized this is not getting a line and we will henry ford factory style you
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know kind of get them all through that's not this they are clamoring around him and whenever the
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unclean spirit saw him they fell down before him and cried out you are the son of god and he strictly
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ordered them not to make a move and he said i'm not going to make a move i'm going to make a move
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make him known and transport yourself if you would it's it's always uncomfortable to do this
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because none of us ever want to relive those months but transport yourself back to june of
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2020 is it too much to call it covet hysteria mania and man regardless of what you think about
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it and all of that i that that's not my point can you imagine if there was a person in june of 2020
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who it was discovered really could heal people just by touching them
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all you got to do is touch them what would that have done globally
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i mean no price would have been too much no risk would have been too much no sacrifice would have
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made people would have lined up people would have crushed the healer right such was our
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mania that's what's happening every sick person within 120 miles
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and their families are clamoring after him the second group the demon possessed i mean there were
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people in the crowd who were clearly being dominated by demons and whose voices were
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not their own from among the thronging masses you could hear alien voices they were possessed
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they were obsessed crying aloud for help and they were not their own people they were not their own people
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they were obsessed crying aloud for help and they were not their own people they were not their own people
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you are the son of god but these cries were silenced by christ commanding them not to make
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him known you may say well why why would he tell him not to declare the truth what they were saying
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was true you are the son of god why would he strictly order them not to make him known
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the reason is this because if people in the crowd
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didn't understand the source from which that testimony came that it was actually from demons
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his acceptance of those demons proclamations by the people who were in the crowd
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being the son of god might have inadvertently provided for those demons a pedestal upon which
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they could stand and then attempt to dethrone him i've been saying all along i knew who he was
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i am the discerning one i am the truth teller can you imagine demons standing up
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and manipulating people and deceiving them saying i've been telling the truth all along
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i told you who he was so now follow me that's exactly what they would have done
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the testimony of the son of god would have been the testimony of the son of god
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the testimony of demons was not only no help to christ it was actually no help to anybody else
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either the testimonies of the enemies of god even when they speak the truth at times does us no good
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however the testimonies of those who have been made well
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and then are willing to share the goodness and grace of god he does not silence
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and do you guys remember there's a time in luke chapter 7 where jesus
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goes into the house of a pharisee he dines with one of the pharisees the pharisee's name is simon
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he goes to simon the pharisee's house as they're reclining at the dinner table
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eating together their dinner is interrupted by a woman's cries do you remember this
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i don't know how she got in there i don't know how she was not noticed they're all eating together
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leaning toward the table feet extended backward because feet in the middle east were disgusting
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feet are still disgusting can i get an amen
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i don't understand flip-flops good for you guys but man so they would they would eat with their
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faces toward the temple or toward the table they would stick their feet away from the table and
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dinner is now being interrupted by the cries of this woman who is down at jesus's feet and her
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tears are falling onto his feet and she's using her tears to wash his feet and then suddenly
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everybody could smell this unbelievable perfume in the air and she is pouring out perfume on her
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on his feet and she's using her own hands to wash his feet and she's using her own hands to wash his feet
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the bible describes her in luke chapter 7 what a phrase this is it says
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a woman of the city a woman of the city showed up and by that the scriptures meant a prostitute
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a prostitute is now touching his feet and simon the host the owner of the home the pharisee
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thinks in his own mind if he were really a prophet he'd know who this woman is and that she is a
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a sinner. Remember the whole category we talked about just a couple of weeks ago,
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there was a whole category, the misfits, the untouchables, the sinners. She's one of those
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sinners. If he was really a prophet at Jesus, understanding what he was thinking, looks at
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Simon and says, Simon, let me ask you this. How'd you recognize her so fast? That's not what he said.
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I like to, I like to kind of insert that. That's not, that's not in Luke chapter seven. That was
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my own. Okay. But I, but I do wonder sometimes if he didn't say stuff like that, man, you
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recognized her pretty quick. Let's talk about that. That's not what he said. He said, Simon,
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listen, from the time I came in, you didn't give me any water to wash my feet. From the time I came
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in, you didn't greet me with a kiss. Customary at the time would have been a kiss on both cheeks,
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right? We would say like a handshake. That would be our equivalent of it. Can you imagine going
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into somebody's house, walking up to somebody and saying, Hey, my name's Danny. And them looking at
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you and looking at you.
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And just walking away. Like it was an intentional snub of Jesus. You didn't kiss me. And yet this
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woman has not, she is washing my feet with her own tears. And she has not stopped kissing my feet.
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You wouldn't kiss my face. She hasn't stopped kissing my feet. You offered me no oil to anoint
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my head. And yet she's pouring out liberally splashing perfume upon my feet.
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Let me tell you a story, Simon. A man had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii. 500 denarii is like
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a day's wage. This would have been a debt of somewhere around two years salary. Whatever
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you make in a year, double it. That's how much he owed. It was a significant amount of money.
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You're talking about a house mortgage. Maybe not today. That's like 75 years of whatever you make.
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Okay. But imagine just an insurmountable number. This guy owed that much.
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Another guy owed 50 denarii. You're talking about a two-month debt. It was payoffable.
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The master, the owner comes and he says, you know what? I'm just going to forgive both debts.
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Now, let me ask you, Simon, which one of the two was the more grateful?
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Simon says, well, I suppose it was the one who had been forgiven more. Yeah. The one who's been
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forgiven the most loves the most. The one who's been forgiven the most loves the most. You want
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to know why this woman loves me?
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So much. She understands what she's been forgiven of. And let me ask you church. Do you understand?
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Have you come to grips honestly with what you've been forgiven of? If you think that you're a pretty
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good person and just need this much forgiveness, then guess what? Your salvation is actually pretty
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cheap. But if you understand the true depravity of your own heart and what you're capable of,
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if your attitude really is, as you're looking at,
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the off scouring of society, if your attitude really is, you know what? But by the grace of
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God, that's who I would be. You're reading your history books. You're like, you know what? If I
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had been raised that way, I would have done the same thing. I'm no better than anyone else. If
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you come to grips with that, then you will love the Lord the most. If you were here on Wednesday,
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you heard, uh, Ashley Christmas sharing testimony, Michael and Ashley are beloved members of our
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church.
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Friends. She shared testimony. She actually said, I kind of sprung it on her. She didn't know she was
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going to do it till just shortly before she kind of said, you know, pastor Danny, I'm nervous. She,
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if you were here on Wednesday, she stood right here and she's like, I'm really nervous. I never
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do this. And then she shared this 10 minute flawless testimony. It was, it was funny. It
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was engaging. I'm like, what are you talking about? Nervous and never, I never do this.
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I'm like, man, it was unbelievable. And she, she didn't glory in her sin. It wasn't bragging,
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thinking about how much she had sinned. But I will tell you, there's a woman who understands
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what she was saved from. And let me ask you, you who are there, what are the odds that three years
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from now she's turning her back on her Lord? You guys heard her. Here's what the Lord saved me
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from. It was miserable. It was joyless. It did not satisfy. It was false. It was hollow. It was
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scary. Our lives were filled with fear. I thought it was going to lose my husband. I thought it was
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going to lose my family. I mean, it was, it was an unbelievable testimony.
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But what are the odds that now two years from now, she's going to say, ah, that's enough. I'm
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going back. You guys, there is no way she knows what she was saved from, man. Imagine mixed among
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the recently healed and the demon possessed within this crowd were lepers who had been healed,
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but who still bore the deformities of their condition and mixed into this crowd were
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disabled, decrippled.
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Normally crippled who were now leaping and skipping. Can you imagine what if you were
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friends with one of those guys who was born disabled, had never walked. And then at the
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age of 38, he suddenly gets his legs back. And you're like, dude, why do you keep skipping
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everywhere? Can you imagine this guy everywhere he goes? He's just like this. Like just, can we
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just walk? No, I've never skipped before. It'd be like walking with an eight-year-old boy.
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Like, why do you run everywhere?
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Can you just walk? No. Skipping is more fun. Can you imagine the recently healed blind
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and they just keep staring at you? You're like, you're making me uncomfortable.
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You're like, yeah, but I, I just, I didn't know.
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Like, dude, it's a tree. I know I've never seen one before. I could feel them. I could hear them.
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I could smell them. That's what they look like. Right? So mixed in, you've got this rabble,
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this uncontrollable,
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but don't forget that kind of pockmarked all throughout are these recently healed,
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blind, crippled lepers, the demon possessed whose minds and bodies have been ravaged,
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but we're now restored. And from among this great pond of humanity, Christ begins fishing out
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his apostles. It's just not the crowd you would imagine him doing it in.
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That's the crowd. Let's look at the crew. And with this, we'll be done. Look at verse 13.
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He went up on the mountain and called to him, those whom he desired. And they came to him.
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There's the sea of Galilee. These are the cliffs of Arbel, the Arbel cliffs. This is where I think
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Jesus went up onto the mountain. Now he is withdrawing from the crowd. He is making that
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crowd intentionally smaller. Verse 14. And he appointed 12. That word appointed is the same
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word as made. It is the same word as created. It is the same Greek word that the,
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Greek version of the old Testament uses in Genesis one, one in the beginning,
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God created the heavens and the earth. He didn't appoint 12. He made them.
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They were nothing before. And out of nothing, just like he did in Genesis one,
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out of nothing, he created something. He made them whom he also named. Remember God made Adam.
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Adam's job was to name all of the animals. It is very clearly Genesis one language. He is starting
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over.
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Here. It is a new creation. And listen, friends, you can also be a new creation.
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Isn't that true? Out of nothing. God can create something. If anyone is in Christ,
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behold, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. So that it might be with him.
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They, he wanted intimacy with them, but not only would they be with him, they would also be for
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him. He would send them out to preach. He, they would have authority to cast out demons. He
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appointed the 12.
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And there's the list of names. Now I'm not going to go through each of the names individually.
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We're going to spend the next 18 months with those guys. So you'll come to know them quite
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well. Each of their personalities, each of their foibles and strengths, the crew
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Mark's point here is that discipleship doesn't consist of what disciples can make for Christ,
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but rather what Christ can make of his disciples. And that is exactly what he can do for us.
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He's sitting in a row, watching, observing arms crossed, leaning out, or he's sitting in a circle
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contributing, engaging, leaning in. You're part of the crowd unconvinced. You're part of the crew.
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Yes, formally nothing, but from that, nothing God can make great things of Lord. Thank you for
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your word.
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God, I pray that we would be transformed by it in Jesus name. Amen.