What Kind of Messiah Is This? Matthew 8:1-4

Eureka Baptist Church

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November 1, 2020

00:01: We have gone through a season where health has been on everyone's mind At any given time since the fall of mankind there has been sickness and physical ailments
00:13: But there are certain times in history Where health is more on the front burner?
00:19: There have been pandemics throughout world history where health is the focus for better or for worse
00:25: This has been the case with kovat 19 since March Kovat 19 carries a stigma with it almost unlike any other physical problem someone can have
00:35: You have a cold no big deal If you have pneumonia, this does not get much attention
00:42: Even though it is serious But when it becomes known that one has kovat 19 everyone
00:49: Wakes up you see that on the news this person was diagnosed with kovat 19 almost like they had stage 4 cancer now
00:59: It's getting attention not because it is more serious than other viruses or physical ailments at least in most cases
01:06: But because it is infamous It is infamous Now in Old Testament times there was a particular disease
01:14: That carried a stigma with it almost like no other and that was leprosy leprosy still exists today
01:24: But it is rare and its treatment is effective where one can live a normal life
01:30: The treatment was discovered in Norway in 1873 by a man named
01:35: Amar Hansen Leprosy is a very serious physical condition as one author wrote it is a bacteria that spreads on the skin then leads to spongy tumor like swellings affecting internal organs and Weakening the bones making them susceptible to other diseases like tuberculosis as the bacteria spread nerve damage occurred leading to a person being crippled at at the feet and The hands became useless
02:07: The nerve damage also occurred around the eyes leading to blindness While the nerve damage led to a lack of the sensation
02:17: There was there was no pain the person wouldn't feel pain, but but there was disfiguring that was taking place that would debilitate them and People would look on at lepers and see this
02:32: As one author wrote by this time one can see the person in this pitiable condition is a leper
02:39: By a touch of the finger one can also feel it One can't even smell it for the leper emits a very unpleasant odor
02:49: Moreover in view of the fact that the disease producing agent frequently becomes hoarse and you can now not only see
02:57: Feel and smell the leper, but you can hear his raspy and voice in the
03:04: Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 13 When one had a less serious form of leprosy they were considered clean
03:12: Others were thought to maybe have leprosy and they were quarantined for seven days and in some cases seven more days sound familiar
03:21: After 14 days if the symptoms did not worsen the priest at the temple would declare them clean
03:30: These people dodged a bullet because those who acquired the more severe form of leprosy known as Hansen's disease
03:38: Had a very difficult life ahead of them Leviticus 13 46 tells us that leprous people were to be kept out of the camp in isolation
03:49: They can only be around other lepers because this bacteria was highly contagious and there was no human cure
03:56: The skin disease that went with people Greatly affected one's social life, which was even worse than the physical condition itself
04:06: Lepers were outcasts They were those who faced Humiliation, they had a disease that could not be cured and they were cut off from normal life
04:18: Lepers lived a life of suffering Physically mentally and emotionally
04:25: We know from kovat 19. What's what isolation is like and all of us have experienced isolation to some extent as A church we went two months without meeting and those who have had the virus or been in contact with one who it has had
04:40: The virus has been required to quarantine for 14 days. In fact, there's some people in our church today
04:45: We don't have the virus. We don't think they do but they're quarantined because they were around someone who may have had it
04:52: It's not easy being cut off from society over long periods of time
04:59: We are made to be in community We've experienced that recently The difference between kovat 19 and leprosy is that with kovat 19 there is an end
05:10: We don't know when it will end but the season where this virus is the focus will pass
05:16: But for the leper, this was not so Every leper had this strong desire to be healed to be able to get back to their old life
05:28: The lepers in the first century who lived in Galilee had a unique Opportunity that others in different periods did not have
05:37: They could be cured through a man a man who walked among them
05:44: This man was not an expert doctor but God in the flesh and He could do things that no other man could do
05:57: This morning we are going to see Jesus perform a miracle But what we are going to see is that this is not why
06:06: Jesus came to earth. The physical was not his focus The spiritual was so this time
06:14: I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 8 We will look at verses 1 through 4 and if you use it a red
06:21: Bible in the pews, it's on page 966 The sermon is titled what kind of Messiah is this and here's our big idea
06:32: This is what the sermon is calling you to do Follow Christ for the right purpose follow
06:38: Christ for the right purpose. So we're gonna see two reasons why But before we jump into our text, let me give you a little recap of where we were a week ago
06:49: Last week we closed out the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus wrapped up the greatest sermon ever preached
06:55: What we saw the last four Sundays is that Jesus summed up life in four categories two paths two teachers two disciples and two foundations
07:07: There is truth and there is falsehood Jesus simplifies life
07:15: Once he got to the end of the sermon either we are going on the path of life or we are going on the path that leads to destruction
07:23: The fourth category that Jesus explained was showing us that there are two foundations in life
07:30: One foundation is Jesus and this is sturdy ground. The other foundation is where is when one goes their own way
07:39: This is a foundation that is built on sand and it crumbles The sermon last week called us to build our lives on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ And when one does this he or she will stand at the final
07:56: Judgment when it says that when the winds and the rain and the flood beat against that house the house
08:01: Stood why because it was built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ now, let's
08:10: Move on here to our text this morning We're now done with the Sermon on the Mount But now we are going to see
08:16: Jesus in action as he continues his ministry in the Galilean region in northern
08:21: Israel Let's begin by looking at verses 1 and 2 when he came down from the mountain great crowds
08:34: Followed him and behold a leper came to him and knelt before him saying
08:41: Lord If you will you can make me clean
08:47: Well, what verse 1 tells us is that Jesus just finished his sermon and he comes down from the mountain where he preached
08:57: And as he comes down from the mountain, we read that great crowds Followed him
09:02: Now we get a little taste of this in our world when someone famous is Out and about and people like oh look who that is and then people flock
09:12: Toward that person. I Remember hearing the story of people going to the PGA championship at Hazeltine golf course in,
09:21: Minnesota Now this is back in 2009 One person who experienced this said the crowds that followed
09:28: Tiger Woods were similar to the crowds that followed Jesus in ancient times as those woods is going from hole to hole
09:35: Masses of people are following him, right? There's other golfers there. They're not following those people. They're following Tiger Woods And this is what it was like in the first century
09:43: Jesus wherever he went. He drew crowds. They followed him where he went
09:50: What we read here is that Jesus goes from preaching to helping people one -on -one and here it he is about to minister to a man who was ostracized from society
10:03: Now we already learned about the background of leprosy in the introduction This was a horrible condition and it carried with it a stigma unlike any other condition
10:17: One author I was reading said that ancient Jews made a list of 61 defilements in other words
10:25: If you were defiled by one of these things there was degrees of how bad they were some were worse than others
10:33: The number one defilement was coming into contact with a dead body What was number two number two
10:41: Was leprosy coming in contact? With a leper as we see in these two verses this leprous man
10:51: Desperately wants to be healed and he knows about Jesus power He would have been he would have known there was no natural cure for this condition
11:02: So his only hope was for the supernatural We live in a time
11:08: Where people scoff at the belief that there could be anything supernatural
11:14: But this comes from the sinful heart that has an animosity toward God Romans 1 verses 21 through 23 says for although they knew
11:24: God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were hardened
11:34: Claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal
11:39: God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things
11:46: So those who reject God and the supernatural are not coming from a place of intellectual superiority
11:55: They're coming from a place of moral Inferiority and what I mean by that is that they don't want
12:01: God to exist They don't want God to run their life. So they say you know what? I'm gonna come up with some reason that God isn't there and let's not believe in the supernatural and we see that in our world
12:14: Now I've never been to Israel, but my parents have been there a few times When what
12:19: I know is that people in that part of the world believe in the supernatural without batting an eyelash.
12:27: I Heard a story about the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu He was asked what their foreign policy was, you know, what his answer was.
12:36: He said Miracles, he says God protects us this part of the world knows miracles
12:44: Unlike the skeptical West the West that we live in. This is the region of the world where extraordinary things happened
12:52: This is the place where God did mighty works in the Old Testament And this is the place where the
12:58: God -man Jesus walked This is the place where he would eventually be risen from the dead this leprous man believed in the supernatural
13:09: To this point Jesus had already healed many in Galilee the news spread and he would have heard this
13:18: Matthew 4 23 said he healed every disease and every affliction among the people
13:25: We don't know if the lepers saw others get healed from a distance or if the news passed and he heard about it
13:31: What we do know is that he believed Jesus could do this What we see in verse 2 is that this leper had a lot of courage and faith
13:41: What we read is that he came to him As we read this we should admire the faith of the leper
13:50: He believed that Jesus could perform this miracle of healing him from this horrid disease
13:57: What we've already seen from the Old Testament is that lepers were excommunicated They were cut off from society and yet this man pursues
14:06: Jesus What is interesting is that Jesus as God? He wrote the
14:14: Old Testament law the Father Son of the Holy Spirit They gave the law of the
14:20: Old Testament we're in Leviticus it talks about These lepers being cut off from the people and when
14:27: I say cut off what I mean is they were separated from them They were put in a camp with other lepers and they couldn't go out in the open in Society so Jesus knows this law from the
14:38: Old Testament So you might think well this leper is approaching him and so he's gonna tell the leper you go to the camp
14:44: Where the law tells you to go But does
14:50: Jesus do that no He doesn't What Jesus said about himself in Matthew 11 29 is that he is gentle and lowly in heart
15:04: He wants people to pursue him. He wants people to come to him
15:10: He doesn't drive people away In fact John 6 37 says that everyone who comes to Jesus he will never cast out
15:21: What Matthew 9 36 says is that Jesus had compassion when he looked at the crowds
15:28: So when he sees all these people going every which way Most of whom are going the wrong way and as he looks at them.
15:35: He has compassion And by the way, this is something to think about this when we look at our world
15:44: And when we look at our world how far our world has fallen from God, what's our response to that?
15:51: do do we hit them over the head and and laugh and Mock or do we have compassion and say what a horrible place to be?
16:01: I feel so bad for this person. Let me and then pray for them that that should be our response as we look at the world
16:07: We live in One mark of a true Christian is that you have compassion
16:14: You look on someone and you feel sad for them and you want to help you don't mock them you want to help
16:22: I've enjoyed hearing a story by Mark Mark Brooks that is When he worked in the prison system as a correctional officer
16:30: There was a time when Mark was not compassionate towards certain prisoners because they did such horrible things and he thought they were just getting
16:37: What they deserved But as God worked in Mark's life Compassion grew in him even to the most unlikely people
16:46: The people the world would spit on and rejoice as they looked at their misery as they were being punished for their crime
16:55: During the season when God was really working on Mark's heart. There was a man who committed heinous crimes
17:02: So heinous, I won't even share them publicly This man was diagnosed with terminal cancer and the doctor told him that he only had months to live as Mark looked at this man.
17:14: He was filled with compassion and he shared the gospel with him I think you shared the gospel with him right or you had a good gospel conversation with him
17:22: This compassion to one most would not show compassion to What was something that he didn't once have but now the
17:29: Lord graciously gave him this ability Just to have compassion on this man
17:36: Lepers were people Who many did not have compassion toward and these are people who had this disease at no fault of their own and Yet they were looked down on by society
17:51: Even though in Old Testament times God isolated lepers from the community. This does not mean he treated them as second -class citizens
18:00: We see that right here The God -man is so kind to this leper as He comes to him.
18:08: He listens to him He doesn't send him away and say go back to that isolated camp where all the other lepers are
18:15: He receives them as he comes to him. Let's read
18:21: Jesus help this man in verse 3 and Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying
18:27: I Will be clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed
18:35: So what we see is that Jesus tells the man that he will heal him and he does We see the power of God here
18:43: He wasn't given a medication where the doctor tells him, you know, you'll take this medication and you'll feel better several days or several weeks from now
18:52: Immediately this man is healed as Jesus touches him That's incredible and Jesus was glad to do it
19:03: Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2 says this concerning Jesus This is a prophecy about Jesus The spirit of the
19:10: Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim
19:18: Liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the
19:23: Lord's favor and The day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn
19:30: What we see here is how big the heart of Jesus is He came to this earth to heal.
19:38: He healed people physically and he healed people spiritually The Lord's desire to heal and his willingness to heal shows how gracious God is a
19:50: God's heart of hearts. He is a gracious God Now this doesn't mean that he's not a
19:57: God of justice. He very much is a God of justice. He will punish every wrong
20:04: But God is a gracious God when God punishes the wicked by the way
20:11: Ezekiel 33 11 says that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked
20:17: Now he is satisfied with his justice. Yes, he doesn't regret Sending anybody to hell because everybody who is in hell deserves to be there.
20:26: He knows that's right But he doesn't throw a party. I Remember hearing someone say that one time.
20:32: I was like, yeah, that's right At his heart of hearts God is a gracious God Now leprosy is a good symbol for the biggest problem that all humanity has
20:47: We look at the world right now. We wonder what is the problem of the world right now? one word answer sin
20:54: Sin is the problem with the world right now. You get rid of sin. There's no problems. There's no wars
21:00: There's no friction. There's no political turmoil There's no bad neighbors.
21:06: There's no bad families. There's no bad friends There's no
21:13: Backstabbing There's no murder Sin is the problem with the world we live in and Leprosy is a good symbol for the biggest problem of all humanity the spiritual condition of sin
21:30: It's not a coincidence that this is The first healing of this chapter as we will see
21:36: Jesus will heal several more times before this chapter is over the ancient disease of leprosy
21:42: Symbolizes sin probably better than any other disease at this time in history As one author put it leprosy is a graphic illustration of sin
21:52: Like leprosy sin infects the whole person and it is ugly lonesome corrupting contaminating alienating and incurable by man lepers in ancient
22:06: Israel were vivid objects of sin But Psalm 103 verse 3 says this about God.
22:15: He heals all our Iniquities and heals our diseases It's humbling when you realize that we all have this enormous problem in Common left to ourselves.
22:28: We would be hopelessly lost forever But God in his love sent
22:34: Jesus to die So that we might be delivered from our spiritual disease the disease of sin
22:40: This disease will forever isolate us from God if we will not believe in the
22:46: Lord Jesus Christ that he came to the earth to die for our sins and was raised gloriously from the dead as Jesus touches this man
22:55: He is clean from the thing most plaguing him in his life And when we believe in Jesus, we are set free from that which most plagues us
23:06: And you know what it's a beautiful truth to realize that you are a sinner Because you in order to fix the problem you have to know what the problem is
23:15: The problem is sin once you realize you're a sinner Then you're given the good news.
23:20: The good news is the gospel what Jesus Christ did on our behalf When he came on a rescue mission to save sinners in this life this side of heaven
23:34: That freedom begins as followers of Christ Lives the try to live sinless lives and pursue righteousness.
23:41: They won't be perfect We know that but but the freedom starts this bondage to sin that the freedom starts
23:47: When you follow Christ and in the age to come you will be completely free from sin
23:53: Everyone who knows Christ as their Lord Savior and treasure. That'll be their experience complete freedom
24:00: So the physical healing here is symbolic of the spiritual healing. He gives us through freeing us from our sin
24:06: And this is the first point follow Christ for the right purpose
24:11: The first reason why is that he came to cleanse you from your greatest disease the disease of sin?
24:18: The second reason why We are to follow Christ for the right purpose is Jesus did not come to wow the crowds
24:27: He did not come to wow the crowds verse 4
24:34: Let's read this and Jesus said to him See that you say nothing to anyone but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them
24:47: At the end of verse 4 we read that Jesus tells the leper to go show himself to the priest in The cases where the lepers in the
24:55: Old Testament were healed They would go to the priest and offer the gift that was commanded in Leviticus 14
25:01: And so what this tells us is that God Supernaturally healed people that there was no medication that would heal anybody
25:08: But at times in the Old Testament God would heal someone and when they did they were to go to the priest and offer a gift that would officially
25:16: Declare that they were clean Earlier in this sermon We applauded the leper for his courage in approaching
25:23: Jesus and his faith in believing that Jesus indeed could heal him But in Mark 145 the parallel passes to our text in Matthew we read that he disobeyed
25:37: Mark 145 says That he the leper went out and began to talk freely
25:44: About it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town
25:50: But was out in desolate places and people were coming to him from every quarter So he let it out
25:57: Jesus told him don't tell anybody the leper goes out tells everybody what had happened
26:06: And what we see is that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town in the region of Galilee But even though he couldn't enter a town he as he was out in the country people would find him and so there were still crowds
26:17: Following him Now as we read this we might ask the question. Why would Jesus?
26:23: Say this why would he tell the leper don't tell? Anybody it is true that Jesus healed many and this is one of the ways that he would show
26:32: That he indeed was the Messiah But he didn't want to be known for this alone the primary reason
26:42: Jesus came to the earth was to save sinners Luke 1910 says that the
26:48: Son of Man came to seek and save the lost What we must understand is that the the mainstream belief in First century
26:58: Judaism was that the Messiah would come in power drive out his enemies and reign
27:06: The Old Testament did not predict two comings of Christ some Jews read the suffering
27:11: Messiah of Isaiah 53 and they thought there must be two Messiahs one who suffers and one who comes in power and Reigns they had no concept of the
27:24: Messiah Suffering and then rising from the dead so there could not be one
27:30: Messiah who suffered and reigned according to their belief Even the disciples that the twelve disciples were caught in this when
27:39: Jesus told them that he was going to die and rise again Their their response was one of perplexity.
27:46: They're like what that's not what we've been told Jesus did not want
27:53: Jews to misunderstand who the Messiah was if People knew
27:59: Jesus mostly through his power of healing and doing other miracles This would be a problem and Jesus knew this they would believe the false
28:09: Understanding that he was the Messiah who came only in power But that is not the
28:15: Messiah predicted in the Old Testament This is why his teaching ministry was so important He wanted people to know what they needed to know about him and what
28:25: God calls everyone to do So this is why he did miracles in private and hid his messianic identity to most
28:35: Now we see this other places in the Gospels in Luke chapter 8 verses 49 through 56
28:40: Jesus healed a little girl By bringing her back from the dead After healing her he told them tell no one that he did this you think he wants everybody to know
28:51: You know that he did this and he told them don't tell anybody in Matthew 16
28:58: Jesus revealed to the disciples that he is the Christ After telling them this he charges them in in chapter 16 verse 20
29:08: Tell no one that he was the Christ At this point in his ministry
29:14: Jesus did not want most people to know that he was the long -awaited
29:19: Messiah predicted in the Old Testament He did not want people to follow him for the wrong reasons
29:27: There were many thrill seekers who loved being around him
29:33: Because he could he could do all these mighty miracles It's neat being around a guy
29:40: Who does this? But Jesus did not want this he wanted people to follow him
29:45: Submitting to his lordship and believing in him as Savior After Jesus resurrection he told the disciples in Luke 24
29:59: Verses 44 through 48 He told them he said I fulfilled all of this
30:04: I am the Messiah of the Old Testament, and then he tells them at the end go proclaim that Forgiveness of sins is accomplished in my name
30:13: Okay, so now he's telling them go tell the world about the Messiah everything about the
30:19: Messiah But during his ministry He was slow to reveal his identity
30:27: And this is what Jesus wanted people to know about him, and if they only looked at his supernatural ability
30:33: They would miss the point of why he came to earth 2 ,000 years ago
30:38: He came on a rescue mission to save sinners in our day
30:44: It seems that some churches operate like many of the Jews of the first century They thought that power displayed a large crowd following one
30:56: They thought that that was evidence of God of God's work. If there's a crowd that must mean
31:01: God's working That must means God's stamp of approval Isn't that what
31:07: Jesus did he did great things and he got big crowds When your goal is to put on a show to get big crowds
31:19: Almost always there will be compromise As my old pastor has said
31:24: What you win them with you win them, too In other words whatever brings people in the door you have to keep doing things to keep them there
31:33: But if but if Jesus is the reason you're in the door you're gonna stay Once you're in a church.
31:39: They they did a raffle for a truck. Oh They got crowds to come What are they gonna stay three months later you have to do a new truck and keep doing that That would get expensive right man
31:54: But Jesus wanted people To believe in him for who he was and by the way, this is not just a problem with church leadership it's a problem with people who desire a church that will entertain them and not function how a church should function as 2nd
32:11: Timothy 4 3 says the time is coming when people will not endure a sound teaching But having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires
32:23: In this fallen world Jesus was not impressed with crowds Nor should churches be
32:31: Right if crowds are the measure we are an epic failure As I didn't write that in my notes by the way,
32:37: I'm just thinking about this But we're not a failure. God is working among us. I believe that Churches do not exist to draw crowds.
32:46: They exist to create real disciples quality Disciples disciples by the way who can stand up To what's happening in our country
32:58: To what's to the oppression that might be on the way. We need to be a church that is prepared for that Jesus wants quality disciples people who follow
33:11: Christ for the right reasons and Jesus wants to be the Lord of your life And this is my goal and my prayer for Eureka Baptist that we would grow together
33:21: Doing life together doing the one and others together That there's a passage in Romans 12 verses 9 through 18 that talks about what a church should look like Let me read this to you
33:31: Let love be genuine abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good love one another with brotherly affection
33:38: Outdo one another in showing honor do not be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit
33:44: Serve the Lord rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer
33:50: Contribute to the needs of the Saints and seek to show hospitality Bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them rejoice with those who rejoice
34:01: Weep with those who weep live in harmony with one another do not be haughty but associate with the lowly
34:08: Never be wise in your own sight repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all
34:17: If possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all That's what a church is supposed to look like that's a healthy church
34:28: This is what true disciples do those things. I just read We are not here to Wow.
34:35: We are here to grow and live together on our journey to heaven
34:41: Throughout Jesus ministry we see this he was not interested in big crowds
34:48: Isn't that remarkable? When you read the gospel, let's stand out to us. He's not interested in big crowd.
34:53: He had often had big crowds But he wasn't thinking man. We're really doing good. Let's just let's keep let's keep getting people to come there was one episode in John chapter 6 where Jesus preached and everybody left him and Only the disciples were with him the twelve disciples and Jesus said to them
35:11: Are you gonna leave too and you know what they said to him? Where else would we go? You're the only one with the words of eternal life
35:19: That shows true disciples right there Jesus preached hard things that drew drove people away and only a handful were with him
35:33: He was interested in sincere Disciples people who believed in him for the right purpose and were willing to follow him no matter how much the cost
35:42: During Jesus ministry He knew that people would follow him because of the Wow factor and not what he taught and this is why he told the leper
35:51: Don't tell anyone in verse 4 But the leper who was just healed made things harder by letting the news get out
36:00: About Jesus supernatural ability as mark 145 informs us Jesus did not want to be a world -famous magician
36:09: Where people followed him for the glamour that their sinful hearts desired This was so in the first century and it's still so in the present day
36:20: Churches need to be built to foster an environment where people do not follow
36:26: Jesus for the glamour Right what you win them with you win them to but Jesus plan is to build a church genuine followers of Jesus Christ So we are to follow
36:42: Christ for the right purpose We've seen two reasons why in this text the first is that he came to cleanse us from our greatest disease the disease of sin and Also, the second reason is that he did not come to wow the crowds
36:55: People can follow him for the wrong reasons like many do And many in the first century did many do today and May this church be one where we follow him for the right reasons, right?
37:07: We were 100 % committed to the solid foundation of the Word of God That Jesus has handed down to us through his
37:15: Apostles and Maybe maybe live by that And not be tossed to and fro but by the by the new thing that's on the block
37:26: So this is what God calls us to live for In our lives and so may we do that and people who understand this are true disciples
37:37: Now next Sunday is going to be a unique Sunday Unlike maybe anything you've ever seen now, we're gonna we're gonna have a harvest festival and again, it's not too wild the crowds
37:49: All right. We don't want to undo the whole sermon by doing that next week Our morning service is gonna be the harvest festival, but the goal is still going to be the same
37:57: To glorify God and And to be helped that everyone would come to be that everyone who comes would be helped and encouraged
38:06: And challenged and and so next Sunday will still be that but it's gonna be done in a different way We're gonna be singing some different music
38:13: Mark is gonna be playing a lot of country gospel songs next week with and Laurie I think you're planning on singing with them, too.
38:20: And so I Look forward to to having that time with all of you
38:26: So you won't want to miss it, please come out and the sermons gonna be different, too Because we're gonna look at the history of our church and how
38:31: God has worked over the last 140 years at Eureka Baptist So, please come next
38:38: Sunday Let's pray Father in heaven.
38:49: I'm amazed Lord it how you accomplish things In the first century when you came
38:55: Lord you you drove many away with your message The miracles drew people to you and then once you started teaching
39:02: Thing is thinned out because You called people to count the cost and many were not willing to count the cost and those thrill seekers who followed you
39:13: For the wrong reasons ran away But those who were genuine stayed with you in my prayer
39:19: Lord that our church would be full of people who are rock -solid believers Genuine believers who are willing to follow
39:27: Jesus for the right purpose Lord my prayers that if anyone here is here today who doesn't know
39:33: Christ as their Lord Savior and treasure My prayer is that they would believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved
39:38: That they would realize that he came 2 ,000 years ago to cleanse us from our sins