Responding to the Gospel - Luke 9:1- 9

Well, it's been a blessed week and still rejoicing over last week is all of you ladies were baptized was a blessing to us

As a body of Christ you are a blessing to us and we pray that we might be as a church a blessing to you want to review the

Announcements to you tonight. We'll have our prayer service at 6 p .m Come out and join us at that time and also the summer

Bible study continues and it'll be Friday August the 4th at 5 30

Do you realize we're getting into August this coming week time flies, doesn't it?

And also this coming Saturday the August the 5th we have a men's prayer and Bible study and Breakfast so we want to encourage all of you men to come out

Saturday at 9 o 'clock for our men's fellowship and Breakfast and we always have too much to eat.

So we need some more there to help take some of that up And it's always a good time of looking in the

Lord's Word in a time of getting to know each other a little better So make sure you put that on your calendar 9 o 'clock this coming

Saturday and the counseling course Is continuing through this summer.

So the following August 12th at 11 a .m. Will be the Bible counseling course as it continues and again, the missionary of the month is

John and Becky Knox and Missionaries to Japan as you think about them uphold them in the

Lord. They have a church that they work with and they also have a

Camp where they it's usually an English camp where people come to learn English But then they use the scripture to teach them in the

English So you'll be in prayer from that I think they had one last week, but they said several people from the camp have started coming to the church we be in prayer for John and Becky Knox and With that let's open in a word of prayer

Heavenly Father we come before you this morning We present ourselves as a body of believers here at Faith Bible Church and would ask that you would speak to each one of our hearts today as we worship you as We listen to your word as we listen to the things you've laid on pastors heart

We pray that you would give pastor the liberty that he needs to Speak to us and give us the word that you have given to him

We would pray for this song service and all that is as we sing

We pray that we might honor you might consider even our own lives as we sing and our relationship to you

And we would thank you for that. We think of John and Becky Knox there in Japan. We realize it's a hard field to For Christianity, but we would pray

Heavenly Father that you would encourage their hearts Give them the strength that they need to continue on for you

And we would thank you for that. We thank you for a country Lord that we have That you've given us

Liberty and we see failings in our country But yet we do have Liberty to honor you

We would pray for our leaders Lord and we think and even though it's a year away We think of our elections and we would pray

Heavenly Father that you would be gracious to us and that you would continue to give us a country that honors and glorifies you and Raise up leaders

Lord that would look to you for counsel and to know nothing else And we would thank you and we pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen Dearly below we are gathered together to praise the Lord and let's stand and sing to him

Good morning I'm gonna be reading from Romans chapter 10 verses 11 through 15

For the scripture says whoever believes on him Will not be put to shame

For the there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord over all is rich to all

Who call upon him for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved

Now when they shall call on him and whom they have not believed And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach unless their assent as it is written?

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace? Who brings glad tidings of all good things?

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of these words Let's stand for songs to our

Heavenly Father. We sing Please turn with me to Luke chapter 9 verses 1 through 9

Luke chapter 9 verses 1 through 9 And he called his 12 disciples together and Gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick and He said to them take nothing for the journey neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money and do not have two tunics a piece

Whatever house you enter stay there and from there depart and whoever will not receive you when you go out to that city

Shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them So they departed and went through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere now

Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by him and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John has risen from the dead and By some that Elijah had appeared and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again

Herod said John I have beheaded but who is this of whom

I hear such things So he sought to see him This is the word of the

Lord Let us pray Father we're thankful that we too have heard the gospel and to certain extent

Because the Apostles whom Jesus had sent Have preached the gospel faithfully

Thank you that one day we might be able to track track down that lineage as to how

We heard the saving message and responded in faith Help us also to be faithful to the gospel message of Jesus Christ So that many more

May be saved in Jesus name Amen Now this passage comes right after Christ's display of power and authority

Remember how he stilled the storm just by the word of his mouth. He casts out thousands of demons

By his own authority and Then he healed a woman Who has been suffering for 12 years?

Just by her touching his garment And finally, he raised a girl from the dead with one command arise and this passage shows us the implications of Jesus and Jesus authority and power shown from the previous events

First he sends out the twelve Apostles to preach the good news about his kingdom second the news of Jesus even travels to Herod's palace

Who wonders who Jesus could be? In fact this chapter will focus on Who is

Jesus? and at the climax of this chapter chapter 9

Will be Peter confessing that Jesus is the

Messiah from God Right Luke sets this up in order for it to unfold slowly with this great revelation

Jesus is the Messiah Now the significance of Jesus power and authority is this

For the first time since Genesis 3 after the rebellion of Adam and Eve death and sin ruled over God's creation

Sure, there were healings here and resurrections here by some of the prophets but they were just few and far in between but When Jesus comes into the stage when he enters the world his ministry

Brought something that was more ratcheted up more intensified than ever

He has authority over sin and death He is someone who can not only

Claim to forgive sins But he can show it By canceling any effects of sin at this point.

There hasn't been a single thing whether demons natural disaster Diseases or even death itself that could not oppose

Jesus authority and power and When we take a look at this

Picture we have to Come to a decision

Who could this be? Such a formidable of opposition against the power of sin and death that has not been seen before Has just arrived so who could this be and So the main point of this text is all who hear the gospel must respond to who

Jesus is All who hear the gospel must respond to who Jesus is first point after revealing his authority

Jesus commissioned his apostles to proclaim and prove the gospel as they depend on God alone for full provision after revealing his authority

Jesus commissioned his apostles to proclaim and prove the gospel as they depend on God alone for their full provision

Now the first two verses of this chapter starts with his commission of the twelve apostles and after gathering the twelve

Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure all diseases and the number twelve is important because just as God Chose the twelve tribes of Israel to form a nation to represent and to reveal his character and nature

Jesus has chosen twelve apostles to represent him and To reveal who

Jesus is to the world Right. There is this parallel Action here, right?

This is not to say the twelve apostles replaced the twelve tribes of Israel Because God still has plans for the twelve tribes of Israel in the future

But it's to say there's this parallel Roadway and in which they do meet and it they both meet in Christ in the person of Christ and now

The Apostles are important because they represent Jesus and they reveal the truths about Jesus And this is why many of the

New Testament books are either directly written by the Apostles themselves such as Paul's epistles and Paul is that untimely apostle who came later, but personally commissioned by Jesus nonetheless

Matthew and John the Gospels according to Matthew and John are written by the

Apostles themselves, right? and or Some of the

New Testament books are written under the authority of the Apostles such as Mark and Luke John Mark the author of Mark was the direct disciple of Peter of the

Apostle Peter and Luke Was the direct disciple of Paul, right?

So there was this of apostolic authority behind all the books of the

New Testament Now as the twelve apostles Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and diseases and here power signifies the

Capacity to do the miracles and the authority signifies the jurisdiction the right to perform these miracles

Now instead of trying to separate the two I think it is best to group both of them together

They were given both the ability and the right to perform these miracles

When they went out to preach the gospel And the twelve apostles were given actually complete control over both demons and diseases

Now, how are they different from Jesus because Jesus also had authority over demons and diseases well, the major difference is that Jesus power and authority and twelve apostles power and authority

Are different because the Apostles derived their power and authority from Jesus, right?

It's secondary. It's indirect while Jesus Authority and power over demons and diseases are directly from himself

The Apostles have to be given these authority and power

From Jesus the source is Jesus they themselves the

Apostles are not the source of the power and authority and What this tells us is that Jesus is greater than the

Apostles The Apostles are only great because of the one who sent them

Right. The Apostles are only great because of their master Now then verse 2 further unfold what kind of ministry the

Apostles will participate in He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick

First it is a ministry in Which they're preaching they're sent out to preach

The Apostles were not to set up shop in their local hometown and wait for people to come to them and To you know be healed and to hear the message, but rather they were sent out they were to reach out to various regions around and the purpose again is to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick and I label these two as proclamation and proof

Proclamation and proof First proclamation here is to preach the kingdom of God Preaching the kingdom of God overlaps with preaching the gospel as we can see in this

In the summary verse of verse 6 the Apostles preached the gospel

So there's a there's a replacement of the word here while in verse 2

It's the Apostles are sent out to preach the kingdom of God of verse 6 says the

Apostles are They they indeed preached the gospel and What this means is in their immediate context.

So in the first century AD before Jesus death and resurrection Preaching the kingdom of God was to proclaim what

God is doing in and through Jesus Christ to deliver his people right and This would include their need the listeners need to repent of their sin turn away from their sin and turn toward God and to trust

Jesus to be from God and to be the source of deliverance and They were to believe what kind of authority and power

Jesus held over all created things That's what it meant to hear

The gospel the the kingdom of God when the Apostles went out to preach the kingdom of God.

That's what they would have heard Now on this side of the cross right after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of the kingdom is Complete there's a complete picture One thing is still the same.

It still is what God has done in and through Jesus Christ To deliver his people that hasn't changed at all except right

We're given more details as to how God has done the deliverance, right what he has done and how he has done it and Really the gospel right or the kingdom of God the gospel of the kingdom of God is that the

King himself Jesus He had to lay down his life to deliver his people from the realm of sin and death

In order for his people the Kings people to enter his kingdom The King himself had to die for his people and rise from the dead

So preaching the gospel and preaching the kingdom of God for us is that only through the substitutionary death of King Jesus for our sin and through his resurrection

We are brought into God's very kingdom so the gospel and the message of the kingdom of God their same they're the same for us and You have to be weary of those people who try to separate them as if Paul preached the substitutionary death of God as the gospel while Matthew Mark and Luke preached the gospel of the kingdom

Supposedly different but they're the same It's how God delivers his people through Jesus Christ The gospel is the same as the gospel of the kingdom now

When the first century audience hears about Jesus How will they believe the message right after all they they don't have the

New Testament Right. The proof is the derived power from Jesus to heal

You can see how the first audience may hear this news and they would have thought that's too good to be true

You're the Messiah here now Show me Right after all in the

Old Testament all the messianic prophecies really showed restoration

Right, there's healing There's there's restoration from sin

There's reconciliation with God now

You can't even imagine Right the Apostle Peter He enters a new town right he's saying is anyone sick right, not just a cough, but really sick and Under Jesus authority

Peter prays and heals the man who was at that town known to be irreparable

Right no cure That's the proof. He preaches the message when people start questioning like how do we know it's true he was given the authority to heal and That's what would have

Convinced the early first century Jewish townspeople Wow God is doing something great

Through this person named Jesus What do we do how do we respond?

Right. The message that God has brought his kingdom through Jesus is validated through the apostolic miracles of healing

Now verses 3 to 5 show us the glimpse of Jesus instruction for this new ministry

The instruction starts with God's provision Take nothing for the journey neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money and do not have two tunics apiece

Jesus gives a prohibited list of items for his Apostles here A staff is a walking stick that was very common in the in ancient

Israel Especially they're traveling for miles right through hard terrains not concrete right paved roads

Now a bag would have been a purse to hold money and food and even bread is included here, which is a basic need and Money signifies that the

Apostles themselves are not funding the mission themselves, right? But they must rely on the generosity of others

Whom God would use and not having two tunics apiece means only take one that you're already wearing

Now, what is what does this mean? Jesus Apostles the ones that Jesus sent out must completely rely on God for their provision

Just as they are depending on Jesus for the power and authority Over the demons and diseases

They must depend only on God for everything else required for ministry

It's not just the spiritual aspect It's both the spiritual and physical that the

Apostles had to depend on God for now

I Must briefly note the differences that exist between Matthew and Mark's accounts and that this is from Mark 6 and Matthew 10 and the reason why

I mentioned these two major differences is because People try to Take a look at them and see the differences and then use it to say

Oh see there are errors in the Bible see the Bible's contradictory, right?

So I I want to go over the major differences and explain as to why there are not contradictions

So first both Luke and Matthew prohibits staffs while Mark allows for one

Second Matthew prohibits sandals while Mark allows sandals and Luke does not even mention sandals

And many crooked minds have used these sections specifically To claim that scripture is an error

Right. However, there are explanations to these discrepancies so first the first major difference is that Matthew's command is

Do not acquire In translations like ESV Has that or even

NKJV I believe has that it's a different verb than do not take it's do not acquire

So do not get it So what that means is in other words Matthew's command is do not get extra sandals

You would expect if you're going on a long journey, you might want to take extra pairs

You don't know if you're gonna run if your sandals are going to be worn out By the time you get to the next town

But what Matthew's saying don't take the extra pair you're gonna trust God with that so when

Matthew Says do not acquire sandals. It's not saying take off your sandals go barefoot

But rather just go with what you have So the staff would make sense do not acquire staffs would mean

Don't take multiple steps. Of course over time the staffs would break Right.

No, just trust God with it. Just go with what you have Now The Fact that Matthew and Luke align with not having staffs is quite important What this is telling us is that Luke is probably going with the concept of Matthews Don't take extra stuff

Right Luke and Matthew probably had the same source So hence

Luke's prohibition of staff is most likely Prohibition the prohibition of taking extra staffs right so what that means is

They're actually not contradicting one another mark is telling you just take one staff

Matthew and Luke are saying don't take extra staffs Just go with one what you already have

Because presumably they already have one right and They're depicting just different viewpoints.

They're depicting different angles to the same instruction and in the end all three of the gospel authors make the same point the

Apostles of Jesus Christ need to only trust God for all provision

For themselves they do not provide for themselves Because God will provide

Now after covering the material provision Jesus instructs them regarding their lodging

After all they do have to stay Somewhere and in verses 4 to 5 we see the two scenarios

One is whatever house you enter stay there and from there depart Right first they do not have to book hotels when they're representing

Christ Jesus, right? He informs them that there will be people who will host them

Not only hosts they will host them for the whole duration of their ministry in that specific town

And this is vastly different from the ancient traveling philosophers that existed in the

Greek culture there were traveling philosophers who would go around town to town right to share their ideas and And then lodge in that town and these philosophers what they would do is they actually had to go from house to house and beg for provision and Lodging But for the

Apostles God will provide You just stay in that one house

Until God says you're ready to go You don't have to go from one house to the next Jesus guaranteed them full lodging now verse 5 gives the protocol for rejections

After all living in a fallen rebellious world Not all would welcome and warmly

Warmly welcome those who are preaching the good news of Jesus Christ and Whoever will not receive you when you go out of that city shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them

Shaking the dust off one's feet was really a visible sign of good riddance

It was a warning of Actually a judgment to come I don't want anything to do with this town

Even the dust that stuck on my feet right after all the city just rejected the messengers of the gospel the message that can save them from the righteous judgment of God and Then verse 6 shows us the summary result of what happened after their

Commission So they departed went through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere so it did happen and the twelve accomplished what

Jesus had sent them out to do and As mentioned above preaching the gospel

Replaces the preaching the kingdom because they overlap in meaning the significance is clear

It is what God is doing through Jesus Christ in order to save It's the same good news that transfers you from kingdom of darkness

To Jesus kingdom now first,

I would like to go over the wrong application of this text the wrong application of this text

Is to directly apply this as if we are the Apostles Right as if get rid of your extra

Birkenstocks, right? Throw away throw away your wallets right and moreover, right a

Really bad one would be when some people make Healing their sole focus of their ministry

These people do not see that healing is the evidence of God's kingdom coming through Jesus Given By Jesus himself

Right. It's the authority that Jesus has given To specifically the twelve

Apostles to show as the proof for the gospel What they do is they detach the significance of Jesus appearance from the signs

These so -called healing pastors or healing ministers they may have conferences and they charge an exorbitant amount of money to manipulate people's feelings by Artificially getting their hopes up that by being one of the thousands

Maybe you'll be called on and you might be able to see again. You might be able to hear again and they

Most often end up being fraudulent right To this day there have been so many fraudulent cases in which we find out people who claim to have been healed

It was set up right Secular journalists have uncovered this because they've seen the mic connection with the earpiece on the pastor right

That is the wrong application of this passage this This passage does not guarantee

Authority to heal for people here It was for the Apostles Now I'm not saying

God can't heal people today for sure if God wanted to heal people he totally can he's a gracious and merciful

God and He's answered some of our prayer prayers for some of you when you were sick or when you were going through surgeries

What I'm saying here is there are no person walking around with the authority to heal all diseases

Today because the twelve Apostles are no longer with us and This passage that part directly applied to the

Apostles not us However, there are certain principles from the

Apostolic Commission that transfer to the church ministry, right? first as Richard read to us this morning

Romans 10 It applies to us that we are to go out to preach the gospel

Right, and it is a wonderful thing when people go out to preach the gospel, right? How beautiful all the feet

That bring the good news so it does apply to us because elsewhere in the

New Testament God makes it clear that part applies to us as well right

Second a Christian ministry requires a total reliance on God It is not up to us to save one soul, right?

It is not up to us when influences in the city It's not even up to us to financially support this church

In the end all the provisions for this church that's needed for the ministry of the gospel comes directly from God There's no number of flashy programs and gaudy entertainment that will sustain this local body indefinitely for this church

What sustains us is God's? merciful provision

It is his faithfulness Lastly a

Christian ministry is gospel focused Sadly we see all of these so -called kingdom ministries

I don't even like using the word kingdom as an adjective when it's a noun Because it's confusing but these ministries

They call themselves kingdom ministries and you would expect to hear the gospel, but you don't

Because what they do is they forget the king They feed the hungry they clothe the poor they visit the sick and those are all great things that are commanded in the

Bible, right? but They're not kingdom ministry

Unless there is the proclamation of the gospel to those who are materially held

Such a program has nothing to do with the kingdom of God In the end these people who are met with some of the basic physical needs

But their most dire need of reconciliation with God Goes unmet

Unless these people hear that they can be forgiven of their sin and adopted into God's family by trusting that Jesus died

For their sin and rose from the dead. They're just slightly more comfortable as They head to hell

None of them are transferred to the kingdom of God By being clothed and by being fed

By being taken care of this is not to say don't do that It's to say if you're going to call it a kingdom ministry make sure

The gospel of the kingdom is open to them That they actually experience

Reconciliation with the king by the king through his death and resurrection and think of it this way if someone who is not from Jesus kingdom

Can do it it is not a kingdom ministry if a non -believer can feed the poor

Clothed clothed the naked visit the prison. It's not a specifically

Christian ministry If that's in that sense now

What is the implication of Jesus revealed authority all? Must respond to Jesus in view of his authority and power

All must respond to Jesus in view of his authority and power So as the

Apostles proclaimed the gospel and provided proof the news even reaches to the highest level of Judea Right Galilee King Herod verse 7 now

Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by him and this really shows how powerful and popular the early

Christian ministry was in the first century The Tetrarch here means

Herod was one of the four leaders Around this region Herod was ruling over Galilee specifically now

I'll set that I'll set the context here for Herod This is Herod and Tephas Who reigned in Galilee and Perea the northern region of the land of Israel?

from 4 BC to ad 39 Now Mind you he was not a

Davidic King, right? He does not have lineage back to David He was in he was a ruler installed and approved by Rome In the other gospel accounts, he married his sister -in -law

Herodias which obviously was against the law of God and However under Herod right might makes right so he does it anyway who's gonna stop him

Now there is one person who does speak against him. And that's the Prophet John the Baptist and When he does speak against Herod They imprisoned

John and remember might makes right So then on Herod's birthday

He foolishly promises his Stepdaughter, right the daughter of Herodias Ask for anything your dance was so pleasing to me right and she after consulting her wicked mother

Perversely asked for the head of John the Baptist and Subsequently Herod beheads

John the Baptist in prison and delivers the head on a platter To his stepdaughter

That's the context that we didn't quite get from Luke, but you can get that from Mark chapter 6 so upon hearing about Jesus ministry the second part of verse 7 makes sense and He was perplexed

Because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead right

Some in the public believe that Jesus ministry was truly from God after all the miracles restorations the preaching of the kingdom of God it seemed like This was some eschatological prophet

So the news went around. Oh, maybe this is John the Baptist who came back

After all John the Baptist was that prophet to proclaim the coming of the Messiah Now verse 8 gives us the two other options that Herod even considered and by some that Elijah had appeared

Elijah was one of the more famous prophets in the Old Testament as He was known for his miracles right raising the dead fire from heaven that burns down the wet sacrifices, right

He hears from God Now in Malachi 3 & 4 God does promise in the last days that Elijah will return

So because Jesus ministry was so powerful People assumed that the full restoration was coming and which they believed

Jesus must be the returning Elijah But of course someone greater than Elijah was there and the last option was that Jesus was one of the old prophets and By others that one of the old prophets had risen again now from the during the

Intertestamental period what I mean by intertestamental means in between the Old Testament and the

New Testament there was a silent gap of about four centuries around three three centuries three to four and What people believed was that some of the dead prophets would come back.

I mean some of the big ones like Moses Isaiah Jeremiah and of course

The third option is more general than the first option the first or the second option, right?

Elijah coming back and John the Baptist coming back Now it could be just one of the old prophets, right?

They heard and saw Jesus and they knew that Jesus could not be just an ordinary rabbi like an ordinary teacher

He couldn't be just an ordinary pastor. He's doing something marvelous here.

He's preaching really powerfully here What this shows us is that even the immediate audience?

Could not just dismiss Jesus as just another good teacher That the modern people have no problem doing

His miracles and authoritative teaching made him beyond a good teacher and more of some sort of prophet

Now although Mark and Matthew show us that Herod in the end decided to believe the first one that John the

Baptist came back Luke actually leaves us hanging. He only shows us the deliberation

Process what what Herod is thinking about rather than the resolution of it So Herod said

John I have beheaded but who is this of whom I hear such things? right so he sought to see him and This is done on purpose for Luke to not show the resolution of what

Herod how Herod made up his mind And it's really to get the readers to question then who is

Jesus? Right after seeing all these miracles and authorities Then who can

Jesus be the readers Just like Herod are left and asking themselves, huh?

Who is Jesus if not John the Baptist if not Elijah if not one of the old prophets then who is he?

Right. Well, we we don't have this Fresh eyes when we read this text mainly because we know who

Jesus is We know when we've been spoiled right someone spoiled it for us

But the first century readers of Luke would have been like, huh? Who who who could this be?

Even Herod's asking this question now

This is important for us this morning because when we come face to face with Jesus power and authority

We too have to ask the question Who is Jesus? It does not matter whether you hold the highest office of the land like Herod Or no office of any kind like one of those unknown townspeople

One must respond to the gospel In fact not choosing to answer.

The question is a response in itself For some reason people think

Unbelievers nowadays believe agnosticism is like a humbling a humble option, you know

Yeah, I'm not I I'm not that, you know, well -educated. I just don't know

I don't know who Jesus could be Right. I don't know if God exists.

I think so, but I don't know which God, you know People think that's that's a humble option or it's it's not a choice at all, but it is a choice

In fact, it's actually a choice to reject what God has revealed in Scripture It's to say that well

Scripture is not enough for me to convince me of who Jesus is. It's actually a prideful choice

It's just as prideful as to reject God fully Just to as to say,

I don't know who this God could be now this morning

The most important response one can ever make really is who is Jesus?

Considering what you have heard about him in Scripture Right the early first century townspeople.

They heard it through the very mouths of the Apostles, right? They've actually seen

Jesus do the miracles They've seen so they could actually make that valid choice.

Well, maybe Jesus is from God to deliver his people For us we have something better right

We have the written record of Jesus ministry and his death and resurrection for our sin and when we consider

God's Scripture We have we I don't think we can just come out with saying he's just merely another

Jewish rabbi, right? He's just merely a good Jewish teacher After all even

King Herod didn't think so that was not even an option he considered Now I'm not saying

King Herod was right to think that it's John the Baptist coming back because that's a very that's a that's totally an underestimation on his part for sure

But I I believe the modern man underrate Jesus even more despite the more we know about revealed

Christ Right most Americans have access to Jesus climactic act of deliverance on the cross and from the tomb on the third day he rose yet We tend to really undervalue who

Jesus is Yeah, he's just one of many religious leaders

He's just another moral teacher Similar to Buddha and Confucius We have the

Bible and we have the Bible in multiple versions and it's so accessible you can go to Stay in any hotel room and you might find a

Gideon's Bible and one of the drawers Bible can be accessed on your phone

For free Bible can be heard on the radio

For free for Americans How much more serious and urgent Do our responses need to be of who is

Jesus When we were given so much more than the first century

Jews He cannot be just a good religious teacher

He cannot be just another prophet He cannot even be the final eschatological prophet who?

Ushers in the great Messiah He has to be the

Messiah himself the very person whom

God used to deliver his people once and for all from sin and death and to Restore them back to God.

That's the response that's required for all of us who encounter

Christ in Scripture this morning, let us pray

Father we are privileged and fortunate that we have access to So many of the miracles and proof of who

Jesus is Couldn't be any clearer and God I pray that we would all respond

Appropriately in faith Knowing that any other option leads us to death

Help us to focus on the gospel Whether we're sent out to another country or sent out in our workplace

Sent out to the grocery market that we would always be ready and eager

To share the good news of Jesus Who which can save anyone from sin and Satan in Jesus name

Amen Well teach God's Word to your kids to your nephews to your to everyone, you know, and let's stand and sing