Fire From Heaven?

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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Luke, chapter 9, verses 51 -62. When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up,

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He set His face to go to Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead of Him, who went and entered a village of the

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Samaritans to make preparations for Him. But the people did not receive Him, because His face was set toward Jerusalem.

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And when His disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

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But He turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, I will follow

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You wherever You go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, the

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Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. To another He said, Follow Me. But he said, O Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

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And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said,

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I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. And Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen. We're going to deal with a difficult topic, one that needs to be addressed, though.

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As we walk through the first half of our Gospel text today, we will not work on the second half where the foxes have holes and things like that.

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You'll notice that Jesus says of His disciples, and even of Himself, that He doesn't have a private jet or a mansion.

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But that's a different sermon altogether. Today we're going to deal with a difficult and thorny topic that has to do with calling down fire from heaven.

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You're thinking, well, who's doing that nowadays? Let me give you an example that we may be familiar with and unfortunately uncomfortable with.

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Remember a couple of weeks ago, an Islamic terrorist walks into a gay nightclub in Orlando and guns down 50 people.

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Horrifyingly awful. If that weren't bad enough, I don't know if you've been paying attention to the media, there have been some

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Christian ministers who've received national attention for basically saying they got what was coming to them.

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That's an example of calling down fire from heaven, if you would. Where the response from Christians is, good, those sinners got what they deserved.

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That's not what Christ's church is about. So let's walk back through the first half of our

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Gospel text and we'll do a little cross -reference work in the book of Acts as well. Here's what it says.

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When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.

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A good way to translate this is He set His face like flint. Jesus becomes single -minded.

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And why is He going to Jerusalem? To bleed and to die for the sins of the whole world, for your sins and for mine.

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And you'll note here that James and John and his disciples clearly are of the opinion that Jesus is heading for Jerusalem to do something different.

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Finally, the Messiah is heading to Jerusalem. That can mean only one thing. Jesus is going to be coronated as king.

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We're going to be His cabinet members. He's going to kick those evil, idolatrous Romans out.

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All the evildoers are going to die and righteousness will reign forever.

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That's what they're thinking. How do we know? By what happens next.

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Jesus sent messengers ahead of Him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans. Samaritans, yeah.

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Jews and Samaritans really didn't get along. A Samaritan, well, that becomes a derogatory term.

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You really want to insult somebody as a Jew, you call them a Samaritan. Those half -breeds, idolaters who don't worship in Jerusalem, we know what's going to happen to them once the

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Messiah takes over. We know what He's going to do to them. Well, He's heading to Jerusalem.

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His face is set to go to the cross. He sends emissaries ahead of them to make preparations, but the people of Samaria did not receive

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Jesus because His face was set toward Jerusalem. And so when

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His disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

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I mean, it makes perfect sense. Think about the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel, right? Think about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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Well, with the prophets of Baal and Asherah at Mount Carmel, God caused fire to come down and consume

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Elijah's sacrifice. And all the prophets of Baal and Asherah lost their lives that day, right?

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This is what we should expect. The death of the unrighteous. They're going to get what they deserve.

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So, since you're heading towards Jerusalem, Jesus, why don't we flex some spiritual muscle?

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Why don't we just nuke Samaria? We'll just turn it into a parking lot and everybody will know you're coming to Jerusalem, right?

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Well, things do not turn out as James and John expect. I remember when I worked in the corporate world, we had a term that we used for an uncomfortable meeting that a boss would have with his employees or employee, right?

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Let's say somebody at the job isn't quite doing their job. Their productivity numbers aren't where they need to be.

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Maybe their sales numbers are down. Maybe things aren't going right and they're having a negative impact on the team and their performance, right?

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We had a term for the meeting that the boss would have with that employee. It was called the come -to -Jesus meeting.

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That's what we called it, right? In fact, if you Google it, they'll talk about how this is jargon for that type of uncomfortable meeting.

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Well, James and John, they for real had a come -to -Jesus meeting here with Jesus Himself. And look at what the text says.

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He turned on them and He rebuked them. No mention of, love your zeal, boys.

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You got the right idea. He full -on rebuked them. We don't know the words of Jesus' rebuke.

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The rebuke, that's some pretty strong language. Jesus gets in their face.

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I'm sure the meeting, well, wasn't too long. And I'm sure the words were very strong and had something to do with the fact that that's not what

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He's about. You see, Jesus has set His face towards Jerusalem so that sinners do not get what they deserve.

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He's going to take everything upon Himself. What they deserve,

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He's going to suffer in their place. That's why He's heading towards Jerusalem.

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And it says, and then they went on to another village. Just leave them alone. Just leave them alone, right?

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So we want sinners to get what they deserve so many times. That's how we think. That's how we talk amongst ourselves, is it not?

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But have you ever stopped to think that when you talk like that, that you are quite ironically and quite blindly leaving yourself out of the category of sinner?

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If you really want sinners to get what they deserve, then isn't that what you want for yourself? Isn't that what you want for your pastor?

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Isn't that what you want for the church council? Isn't that what you want for everybody in this community? Everyone in this nation?

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Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Is that what the church is to proclaim?

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Sinners are going to get what they deserve. We've been called to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

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Today is the day of salvation. Today is not the day of judgment. Today is the day for us to be on our knees praying that we and others do not get what they deserve.

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Today is the day for us to pray for our enemies. And when somebody strikes us on the cheek, we turn to them the other.

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Today we are called to humble ourselves and to take up our crosses and follow

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Christ and participate in His sufferings. And that means suffering insults.

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That means suffering true persecution and maybe even martyrdom. That means, well, believing that it is a joy to be despised the same way

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Christ was despised. And you think, that's crazy.

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My reputation will be tarnished. People won't invite me to their Christmas parties. I've got to stand for my rights.

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I can't be dishonored and mistreated. Isn't that what

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Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem to do? For you and for me? Let's do a little cross -reference work.

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This is going to build, by the way, into next week's sermon. You have to think of next week's sermon as being a compliment to what we're going to talk about here.

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Let's look at Acts chapter 14. If you'd like to turn in your Bibles, I'd love to have you follow along.

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Acts chapter 14. We're going to look at how the Gospel is advancing and how

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Gentiles are being brought into faith in Christ through the preaching and teaching of the

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Apostle Paul, who although he did not witness James and John's come -to -Jesus meeting, knows full well that the job of us

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Christians right now is to suffer and pray that nobody gets what they deserve.

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Acts 14, 1 -28. Now, at Iconium, they, the apostles, entered together into the

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Jewish synagogue, spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

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I wish it ended right there. The end, and they lived happily ever after. Watch what happens.

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But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, poisoned their minds against the brothers.

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What do you do when that happens? Well, watch what happens. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the

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Lord, who bore witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

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In other words, they preached the Gospel in the midst of active and vocal hostility and did not let the hostility keep them from proclaiming

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Christ and Him crucified for our sins. Let them scream.

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Let them yell. Let them carry on. We're going to tell you about Jesus. But the people of the city, they were divided.

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Some sided with the Jews, some with the apostles. Yeah, you'll notice that preaching the

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Gospel has this really bad habit of not uniting people, but dividing them. Jesus said that because of Him, people's enemies would be those in their own household.

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Father against son, daughter against mother, son -in -law against father -in -law.

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The Gospel divides. So here they're all divided.

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They weren't clearly bringing peace, right? But they were with God. And when an attempt was made by both

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Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat them and to stone them, stone is a very polite way of putting it.

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The goal is to actually murder them. The stones were the vehicle for the murder.

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Does that make sense? Remember playing the game Clue? It was Mrs. Plum in the kitchen with a knife, right?

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The knife was the murder weapon. The stone here is the murder weapon. The goal is to kill these guys via rocks, right?

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So when they heard that their goal was to mistreat them, oh, and to murder them, they learned of it and they fled to Lystra and to Derby.

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No calling down of any fire on these towns. Just, well, moving along.

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These are cities of Laconia and to the surrounding country. And there they continued to preach the

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Gospel. The good news that Christ has bled and died for our sins and rose bodily from the grave for our justification.

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Now at Lystra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. A little bit of a note here. Lystra is a pagan town that worships pagan deities.

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They don't know much at all about the God of Israel. So watch what happens.

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At Lystra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and he had never walked.

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He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him, seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice,

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Stand upright on your feet. He sprang up and began walking. And when the crowd saw what

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Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the Laconian language, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.

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Barnabas they called Zeus. Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifices with the crowds.

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Reminds me of a Star Wars movie where C -3PO is worshipped by walking teddy bears, right?

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But Paul and Barnabas are not gods and they're not about to allow the glory to go to Zeus or to Hermes or any of the false gods of the

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Roman pantheon. So when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their garments.

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They rushed out into the crowd crying, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like nature with you.

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We bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living

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God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations,

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He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

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Even with these words, they scarcely restrain the people from offering sacrifice to them.

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Now there seems to be this unwritten rule in the universe currently under the curse, and the rule goes something like this,

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No good deed goes unpunished. Have you ever felt that way? You did the right thing and you suffered for it.

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Well, that's kind of what's going to happen next. Remember, a guy who was crippled from birth is now walking.

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God has healed them. They've heard the good news of Jesus Christ, and now it's time for this unwritten rule of the universe to now, well, spring into action.

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But the Jews from Antioch and Iconium, oh boy, notice the tenacity.

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Notice the tenacity. They left their towns. We've heard

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Paul is in Lystra. We've got to get there. That guy has got to die.

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So they leave town, make the trip to Lystra for the whole purpose of killing these guys.

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So when the Jews from Antioch and Iconium, having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

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So they made good on their threat to have him stoned and to murder him. They thought they had accomplished the deed.

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They thought he was stone cold dead. Think about it.

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That had to hurt. So when the disciples gathered around him, the disciples thinking

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Paul is dead, thinking they have a funeral to prepare for, shocks them all.

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He rose up. He entered the city. And on the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

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No calling down of any fire from heaven. No praying,

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I hope you get what you deserve. How dare you murder me, even though I'm still alive.

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Notice, he goes about preaching the Gospel from city to village to town.

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Each and every place, he's proclaiming Christ, making sure that everybody hears the good news, that Christ, the true

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Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, has come to earth to bleed and to die for their sins and announces to them forgiveness and peace with God.

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Calls them to repent and to be forgiven. And God even grants miracles to go along with the message to verify the veracity of the claims of the

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Apostle Paul. Some hear and they believe. Some hear and they grit their teeth and their response is,

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I want to kill you! Right?

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And rather than stand for his rights, stand up against the aggressor, the oppressor, the one who wants to cause him to suffer,

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Paul always takes, well, the path of suffering.

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And when push comes to shove, he leaves town. Why? Because Jesus said, if they won't listen to you, move along.

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Shake the dust off your feet and move along. Today is not the day of God's judgment and wrath.

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Today is not the day where sinners get what they deserve. Today is the day that sinners get to hear good news preached to them.

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Today is the day of God's mercy and of God's grace. We are not called to rule and to reign and to execute and flex power.

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We're called to suffer. So when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, and here's the best part, saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

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And that's how we enter the kingdom of God, through many toils and tribulations.

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Today is the day of suffering. Today is not the day of glory. So our text today says that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem so that we would not get what we deserve.

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Not only did Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem, he single -mindedly accomplished his journey.

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And he goes to the cross and the Scriptures say that God laid on Jesus the iniquity of all of us, the iniquity of the whole world.

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John the Baptist said of Jesus, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, your sin and mine, so that undeserving, wretched sinners like you and like me can be forgiven and have peace with God.

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Today is the day of the preaching of the good news, not the preaching of God's judgment.

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Today we know that God's judgment is coming and that judgment will be just.

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And it's very sad and tragic that on that day, forgiven sinners, sinners for whom

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Christ has bled and died for, will unfortunately, sadly, choose to get what they deserve rather than believe and be forgiven.

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But that is not today. Knowing that God's wrath is coming, how are we to conduct our lives?

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Calling down fire from heaven? Praising God when terrorists attack and kill sinners?

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No. We're not ISIS. We're not Muslims. We're Christians.

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We've been given good news to proclaim. Christ set his face towards Jerusalem and calls us all to repent and to be forgiven.

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And repentance is not a one -time thing. Repentance is the lifestyle of Christians.

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And so we now deny ourselves, take up our cross, follow

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Christ, and through many trials and tribulations and sufferings and persecutions and maybe even martyrdom and death, we march, setting our faces now towards the new

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Jerusalem, the one coming. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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