WWUTT 2302 Jesus' Authority over Diseases (Luke 4:38-44)

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Jesus did some amazing things in his earthly ministry, whether it was healing the sick, raising the dead, or casting out demons.

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But his main mission before his death and resurrection was to preach the message of the kingdom, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ. For he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Luke, we've been in chapter four. I'm gonna finish up the chapter today as I begin by reading verses 38 to 44.

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Hear the word of the Lord. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered

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Simon's house. Now Simon's mother -in -law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf.

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And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she rose and began to serve them.

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Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him.

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And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many crying, you are the son of God.

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But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the

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Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place.

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And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them,

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I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose.

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And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Now, yesterday we read of Jesus preaching in one synagogue and one man who was possessed by a demon came to him.

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Jesus rebuked the demon and cast it out of that man. And then the man was healed.

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In the presence of many who saw this took place and they were astonished at his authority by which he commands even unclean spirits to come out of a person.

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So we saw Christ's authority over unclean spirits. Here in this next section, we see his authority over even the physical.

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So we had his authority over the spiritual realm. Here we see that he has authority even over physical things to heal sicknesses and diseases.

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But still you have that reference to demons, people who are possessed that will be brought to him and he will cast them out.

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And the demons will continue to say of him that you are the son of God, just as this one in the synagogue in Capernaum had said this of Christ as well.

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And so this gives us even a little bit more light as to the intention of that evil spirit in Capernaum that had come slinking into the synagogue.

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He would not have just been allowed into the synagogue because he was unclean, possessing an unclean spirit.

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And he comes up to Jesus and says, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

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Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. So the demon apparently had a double reason for coming to Jesus.

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First of all, wanted to know what his intentions were. Why is it that God incarnate was here? And then secondly, to expose him as being the son of God for the demons continue to say that here in verse 41 as well but Jesus silences them so that his mission will not be seen too early, not until the point in time when the people, the

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Pharisees especially will want to put him to death and he would be crucified on Passover in fulfillment of the scriptures, that he would be that Passover lamb to be sacrificed on behalf of the sins of many.

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So let us come back to verse 38 here. Once again, he arose and left the synagogue that was there in Capernaum and he entered

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Simon's house. And apparently Peter, who is Simon, lives right there in Capernaum.

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Now Simon's mother -in -law was ill with a high fever and they appealed to him on her behalf.

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And he stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

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So obviously Peter is married because this being his mother -in -law would have been his wife's mother whom

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Jesus heals. And when she immediately gets up, she begins to serve them. As now the sickness has left her, she is going to show hospitality to Jesus and the other guests that are in her house.

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What a wonderful woman, what a great mother -in -law. I've actually been blessed with great in -laws as well.

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I love my wife's parents. So the in -law jokes, you don't hear that coming from me. Now what's interesting is that in verses 31 to 37, which we looked at yesterday,

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Jesus is preaching in the synagogue. One man possessed by an unclean spirit approaches

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Jesus and he cast the spirit out. I had said yesterday that this was kind of a snapshot of Jesus preaching in the synagogue.

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We don't have too many occasions of Jesus preaching in the synagogue. He, of course, probably preached in over a hundred

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Sabbaths worth of synagogues. It could have been the same synagogue several times.

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It could have been different synagogues, but he preached in many synagogues on many Sabbaths.

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And the passage that we had in verses 31 to 37 was just a snapshot, kind of the average

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Sabbath on which Jesus would have been preaching. And maybe you got somebody that shows up there who is possessed by an unclean spirit.

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This next one, the next passage in verses 38 to 39, this is kind of a snapshot of his average miracle of Jesus healing somebody and immediately they are healed.

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This is not like the way faith healers, quote unquote faith healers will do it today in which they'll lay hands on somebody and it'll be kind of this slow process of them experiencing healing or something or maybe laying hands on them.

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And you won't see the healing today, but oh, a day or two from now, perhaps they'll start to feel a little bit better.

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Of course, that's not in front of this big crowd of people anymore. That's often private and you're just, you just have to take the healer's word for it.

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But whenever we see Jesus heal somebody, it's immediate. And Jesus is standing over her, rebukes the fever, immediately it leaves her.

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And the proof of it is in her getting up out of bed and going and waiting on everybody, serving everybody who was in her house.

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But this is also a snapshot of the way that Jesus would heal that it would be immediate healing.

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It's not this slow process of healing. It's not when he curses an unclean spirit, it takes a while for that unclean spirit to go somewhere and that person to restore themselves to a good state.

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No, he cast the spirit out and immediately that person is well again. This is the authority that Christ has over the spiritual and even over the physical.

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And then you have in verses 40 and 41, you have an account of general healing and general casting out of spirits.

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So you have a specific occasion of casting out spirits in 31 to 37, a specific occasion of healing in verses 38 to 39.

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And then you have a general speaking of Jesus healing many diseases and casting out many evil spirits verses 40 to 41.

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Now, when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him.

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They came right to Peter's house. It looks like brought all of their sick and infirmed, those who were lame, those who were leprous, those who were even possessed by evil spirits.

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And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many saying, crying out, you are the son of God, just like that evil spirit in the synagogue there in Capernaum.

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But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the

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Christ. So when these evil spirits possess somebody, then they have an ability or an opportunity to be able to speak.

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But when they were not possessed by somebody, it's not like you could hear their voice somewhere out there in the air.

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They had to have a body through which to communicate. Now, as I had mentioned these things yesterday, it can be a hobby horse for some people to want to study demonology, angelology, as it might also be called, the study of angels, the study of the spiritual realm in general.

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It's not bad on its face to want to study these things or even come to an understanding of who

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Satan is. Who is Hasatan? Who is the accuser or the adversary?

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What sort of role does he play in our opposition even to this day? What is his origin?

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What is going to become of him? Even studying those things can be a worthy study if understood from the scriptures.

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You can study outside the Bible, of course. You can seek some extra biblical sources and see what they might have to say concerning Satan or demons or angels or any of that nature.

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Though you have to take those things with a grain of salt because the real truth about these beings and even

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Satan himself, we're not gonna find anywhere else but from the word of God, from the

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Bible. This is where the real truth is because we know that this word is inerrant. It is without error.

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Everything else outside of scripture might be speculative, but this is where we will find the truth.

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While it is good to study those things, we still must be careful. We must be sure that when we look into those things that it points us back to Christ, just as what we read yesterday with the healing of the man with an unclean spirit.

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The point of that is really not to learn something more about demons. The point of that is to see the authority of Christ because the people were astonished at first by his teaching, seeing that his word possessed authority.

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That was in verse 32. And then as he casts out this evil spirit, the people say, what is this word?

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For with authority and power, he even commands the unclean spirits.

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So what we're meant to see in that passage is that Christ reigns over all of these things.

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In Colossians 1, verse 16, it says, by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

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That's talking about even those beings in the spiritual realm. All things were created through him and for him.

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And then later on, it says in verse 19, for in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

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The death of Christ on the cross accomplished even more than just our salvation, although it certainly accomplished that.

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He died as an atoning sacrifice for sins. He rose again for our justification, it said in Romans 4.

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All who believe in him will not perish under the just wrath of God, but we will be forgiven our sins and we have everlasting life with Christ because he died for us, because he is that spotless lamb who died in our place to take away the sins of all who would believe in him.

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But Christ's death accomplishes even more than this, as it is through his death, through his cross, that God is reconciling all things to himself, whether in heaven or on earth, through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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The cross is the pivotal point of all of cosmic history, everything that is happening in the universe rotates around that event that happened there at Calvary 2 ,000 years ago, the death of the son of God, the perfect son of God.

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And even through this death, all things are being reconciled back to God. He is making all things new as Jesus said, and we are looking toward, looking forward to a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, as Peter talks about in 2

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Peter 3, the cross of Christ accomplishing all of this. Later on in Colossians, in Colossians 2, verse 13,

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Paul says, and you who were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh,

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God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its illegal demands.

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This he set aside, mailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

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So Christ's death on the cross was a triumph even over the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, even over the spiritual and demonic forces.

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Christ accomplished something great with his death and his resurrection from the dead.

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Now, I mentioned to you yesterday as we were looking there at Luke 4, well, verses 31 to 37 about this evil spirit that Jesus cast out in the synagogue in Capernaum.

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I mentioned to you that we see a lot of this happening during the earthly ministry of Jesus with a number of people coming to him with evil spirits and Jesus casting them out, also granting authority to the disciples that they would be able to cast out these evil spirits.

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And there seems to be something that was going on during that particular time that may not be as prevalent in the world now as it was then because when

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Christ died, he accomplished something in disarming those evil spirits and putting them to open shame, triumphing over them through his death and his resurrection.

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Now, that's not to say that there are not demonic forces anymore. I absolutely believe that there are.

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In fact, the work of the devil does continue even though it's more restrained now than it was then.

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In Ephesians 6, 16, it says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

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So obviously, Satan does have weapons at his disposal though we just read in Colossians 2, 15 that he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame.

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So they are disarmed, but Satan is still on the attack. He just doesn't have the kind of power that he had prior to Christ's death and resurrection from the grave.

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So Satan is still out there prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour as Peter warns about in 1

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Peter 5. But we know that Satan's power has been weakened. His ability to deceive the nations is not what it once was.

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Jesus talked about plundering the strong man's house, binding the strong man so that he may plunder his house.

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And that's a reference to binding Satan so that he may plunder his house, rescuing unbelievers and bringing them to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and the hearing of the gospel that was preached to them.

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So we see this abundance of spiritual activity that seems to be happening during this time of Jesus' earthly ministry.

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It may not have that kind of abundance anymore. There are still evil spirits. I believe demonic possession is even a thing.

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And it's not something that we should dabble in flippantly or glibly or just with thinking that it is something harmless.

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As I said, it's okay to look into this and study these kinds of things. But in that study, it should be pointing you back to Christ, seeing that he is triumphant over all of this, seeing that he reigns over the spiritual realm as well as over our world, over those things that we can see and over those things that we can't see.

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Let it point you to Christ, that you may see his power and his authority.

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If you think that this stuff, this spiritual stuff is just kind of a harmless study and you can do it and maybe even try to tap into it, like what's the possibility that I could summon a demon or be able to communicate with something in the spiritual realm?

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Well, then you're playing with something very, very dangerous and you never know, you may be playing with something from which you cannot come back.

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You just don't wanna mess around with that kind of stuff. The Lord forbids that we would mess around with those kinds of things.

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In the law to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 18, the Lord said, there shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the

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Lord. And mentioned among those different things would be somebody that communicates with spirits, not just inquiring of dead souls, but even trying to communicate with the spiritual realm, communicating to the other side, so to speak, or trying to tap into angels and demons.

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Doesn't matter whether it's angels or demons, God forbids that we would try to enter into that realm as though to communicate with those beings.

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You're gonna end up connecting with something that you're really gonna regret. And as I said, who knows, but God might even turn you over to that kind of depravity and you've found yourself in the midst of something from which you cannot come back.

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We are not to dabble in those things. When it comes to drawing to the spiritual, drawing near to the spiritual, it's

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Christ that we should draw near to. And he gives his Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We absolutely should consider spiritual things because we are spiritual people in Christ.

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But understand that any study of angels and demons meant to bring us nearer to Jesus who reigns over all of this, not to try to commune with those angels and those demons.

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Now, as we finish this up here, at the end of Luke four, we have in verse 42, when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place.

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And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them,

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I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose.

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There are many people that wanna try to say what Jesus came for. It was to do great miracles. It was to feed the poor.

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It was to set prisoners free or any of these other things. Jesus says plainly here in verse 43, exactly what his mission is while he is on this earth.

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I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God and going to the other towns to do this as well, for I was sent for this purpose.

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And then later on, when Jesus will appoint the disciples and he will send them out to preach the good news, they are sent for the same cause, for the same purpose, that they would preach the good news of the kingdom of God.

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And we become citizens of that kingdom when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, a kingdom that cannot be seen with earthly eyes, but only when we understand spiritual things, may we understand and even be able to see the kingdom of God.

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And there's a portion of it that we can touch and experience in this life even now, but we will not see it fully until we leave this mortal coil, these physical bodies, and enter into the spiritual realm, the heavenly places, to be with Christ our

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Savior forever, when we die and he brings us home in glory. And though we will leave these bodies, one day even these bodies will be resurrected and made into something else, something imperishable, that even in our resurrected bodies, we may dwell with a resurrected

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Christ forever in his eternal kingdom. Let's finish there with prayer.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for teaching us these things according to your word. May we become familiar with your word so that we may know

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Christ all the more. It draws us near to Jesus. And we also have such a familiarity and a love for your word that we would share it with others so that they too may hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and turn from their sin to put their faith and trust in Jesus.

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Our sins will be forgiven and we will have everlasting life with God. Make it so,

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Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the

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Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand The Text.