The Day to Day Life of Jesus

Transcript

come on well x yeah so as uh brother steve kind of x alluded to in his prayer um x we're gonna talk about the life of x christ um x the day-to-day life of christ i kind of x titled it x um x i saw a few members of baltimore here so x you guys might be getting double duty on x this you i did this as a sunday school x series uh a while back so x um x apologize if you're getting getting uh x second helpings here but x we x the study kind of came about uh when i x first did this uh and i was preparing x for the sunday school series i i had x this idea of wanting to try to create my x own parallel gospel account x um of taking the the four chronological x gospels or four gospels and trying to x make a chronological x account of the life of jesus x and that study brought out some really x neat lessons for me and obviously when x we look at the life of jesus there's so x many different things we could pull out x um i had two things that were really x highlighted for me and i'm not saying x these are the main points of the life of x jesus they're just things that really x stuck out to me and i thought were x really x helpful um x as i went through that that x uh x project or study x so a few things to note about that x timeline because we're going to kind of x use the timeline that i created x with the help of some other resources x as the basis for a class we're not going x to go through in detail obviously x we're going to skim over it very much x but i'm going to use it kind of my basis x i just want to give a few x uh x tips or suggestions of how i laid um x that timeline x uh the first is that the years of the x ministry of jesus are typically x determined x by passovers that are mentioned in the x gospels accounts um x there's three passovers that are x directly mentioned and there's a fourth x feast that is often assumed to be a x passover so that's how we can kind of x determine x the three different years of the x ministry of jesus x um x the passover is in the spring which is x in or in april right so so we kind of x have that as our landmark of x when the time of year x it was um and the other landmark that we x kind of have is the harvest um there's a x few references in the gospels that kind x of refer to it being a harvest time x um and the harvest typically began in x spring x and ended with the feast of ingathering x in the fall which was in september x so we kind of had those two as our two x landmarks kind of six months opposite x each other that became somewhat used to x place the events of the life of christ x that being said it's important to x highlight i don't think the timeline x really mattered to the writers of the x gospels x they're all kind of out of order at some x point or another x and they kind of just select stories x that they wanted to share because they x had important meanings or because x they're important parts of jesus's x ministry so timeline wasn't a focus for x them so we don't want to get too bogged x down in the timeline we just kind of x want to use it as a basis for pulling x out some of these lessons x one of the things that stuck out to me x though and this is one of the points x that i want to highlight as we look at x the life of jesus is that there were a x lot more things or time periods in the x life of jesus x that aren't recorded for us than i first x assumed there's a large parts of his x life that are just kind of skipped over x um i think a lot of us know the john 21 x verse 25 verse x which says that there are many other x things that jesus did that which if x everyone were written i suppose even the x world itself could not contain the books x that are written x right so with almost 4 000 versus x documenting his life we might expect at x least an overview on most of his life x but we find that there are many sections x that are left completely blank um x even during his ministry we find time x periods of like three to six months that x are just kind of skipped over from one x verse to the next x and we'll look at a few of those and x kind of show how we know that a little x bit x um and then there are a lot of weeks x that are kind of just summarized as he x went from one city to preaching to the x next city preaching and i'm not really x giving any detail what he does in those x cities he just kind of summarizes that x he went here he went there he went there x um so really when we read the gospels x what we're getting i think is the x highlights uh we're getting a few very x specific days or weeks where christ made x a very major impact x um x the accounts that are recorded for us x are kind of those extraordinary events x in the life of jesus x and while i'm sure jesus spent the time x that's not recorded still serving others x i think it's important to remember that x jesus lived to life just like we do x he ate he slept he spent time visiting x with friends and family x he had a normal day-to-day life x in fact jesus highlights x uh this at the start of his ministry x and and the lack of impact almost that x his ministry would have over in luke 20 x or luke verse or sorry luke 4 verse 24. x if you want to turn over to luke 4 verse x 24 we're just going to read that really x quick x so luke 24 or luke 4 verse 24 jesus is x speaking uh in a synagogue here he says x truly i say to you no prophet is x acceptable in his hometown x but in truth i tell you there are many x widows in israel in the days of elijah x when the heavens were shut up for three x years to six months and a great famine x came over the land x and elijah was sent to none of them but x to zarephath in the land of sidon to a x woman who was a widow x and there were many lepers in israel x in the time of elisha x and none of them were cleansed but only x name in the syrian x in the same way that only the only leper x that was healed in the time of elisha or x sorry not every leper in the time of x elijah was healed x christ kind of highlights the fact that x not everyone would be healed during his x ministry x and that's kind of the second point i x want to get at is if we assume that the x goal of jesus was to start a religious x revolution with his ministry x to kind of completely change the faith x of the nation of israel um that by most x standards we could say his ministry x failed x by the end of his ministry the nation x rejects him he only has a handful of x disciples who are still following him x and even they leave him x in the end x ultimately the religious religious x revolution x that would become christianity x um x that so quickly spread throughout the x known world x it was actually the work of the apostles x and not really due to the work that x jesus did when he was alive x so yeah i think x all that being said i think it if we are x viewing christ's ministry that way we're x probably viewing it wrong x i think the goal of the ministry of x jesus x was not to change the heart of the x nation but rather to prepare a handful x of men x with the faith that they would need to x do the incredible work that they would x eventually do x the accounts that are recorded for us x are not like a random selection x from many events in the life of jesus x these were the outstanding ones that the x disciples remembered and these were the x events that made an impact on them x the fact of the matter is i think jesus x spent much of his time during his x ministry being faithful in what we call x the day-to-day events x so that brings us to another kind of x main lesson that i want to look at and x and kind of found in this study x and i think there's two ways we can look x at faith x the first i call grand gesture moments x these are moments where we specifically x are doing something to serve god x um x i call them grand gesture because they x they can be simple x sorry x let me rephrase that i call them grand x gesture but they can be fairly simple um x these are things like giving a bible x class x uh attending a bible school um or saying x even saying a prayer before a meal x and those grand gesture moments they x feel good because they're hard concrete x things we can look to as the not working x of our faith x and jesus obviously had plenty of brain x gesture faith moments in his life x but what the study highlighted for me x was that jesus also had faith in the x day-to-day moments x which are other ways we can think about x showing faith x um x so so what's the difference between this x grand gesture and these faith our x day-to-day faith moments x in my mind grand gesture moments are are x setting your day-to-day life aside x to focus on doing something for god so x in the life of jesus this was feeding x the five thousand um it was healing many x late into the night x um or it's the last week of jesus where x he completely shakes up his entire x routine uh to serve the people around x him x whereas day-to-day faith moments are x when we take those non-faith monday x necessary moments of life and we make x them into a moment of showing faith x um by doing them in a way that we x conveniently call it putting on the x spirit of christ right x so examples of this would be jesus with x the samaritan woman at the well x or jesus eating with tax collectors and x sinners x our jobs can be faith moments if we're x working on godly principles and x characteristics and how we deal with x others x baking can be a faith moment if we use x that time to talk or think about godly x principles or to thank god for the gifts x that he's given to us x we often feel like the bible is full of x people who just performed grand gesture x faith moments constantly because much of x the day to day isn't recorded recorded x for us of their lives x and much of the teaching of jesus talks x about these grand gesture faith moments x they are important moments in our lives x um x there are times where we need to be x ready to put aside our day-to-day in the x service of god to pick up our cross to x leave all that we have x to put our hand to the plow and not look x back x i mean ultimately that's the grand x gesture we're waiting for and we're all x preparing for it is for christ to come x back uh and we're gonna drop all and x leave to follow him x and in the meantime we work on the by by x working on smaller grand gesture moments x in our own lives now x and it's something we have to work on um x grand gestures x tire us out they're tiring our mortal x frame x struggles to handle performing grand x gesture after grand gesture x when we look at jesus at the end of his x ministry he's he's completely worn out x he's a very frail and and tired man x so as we work on preparing for these x grand gesture faith moments what i want x to highlight in in this class is that x the best way to do that is by working on x our day-to-day faith moments x by showing faith in those day-to-day x moments that are necessary for life x we're going to be better prepared for x those grand gesture moments when they x come x so that's x my tangent background aside now we're x going to jump into the the life and x ministry of jesus x and then the start of the life of jesus x kind of highlights this i feel like x uh when we get to the opening of the x gospel accounts uh we get to a time x period where there are roughly 400 years x of any grand gesture x uh or prophecy or miracle that from god x that is that's recorded for us x from the time of zerubbabel ezra and x nehemiah x all the way to mary x there are so many who would have been x saying this could be the year um you x know hey israel's an independent nation x now the messiah has to come any day at x this point x you know oh no we're under wicked roman x rule liberation must be right around the x corner they were they were sitting there x waiting for that grand gesture moment of x the messiah that had been prophesied x and yet god chooses a young woman in x mary who already seems to have an x incredible amount of faith in her x day-to-day moments x we know this because when that grand x moment arrives and the angel appears to x her she's not faced she's so rooted in x god's word that she responds accordingly x and it's also incredible to note that x god didn't only choose mary he waited to x choose her until she was already engaged x to be married which is a good indication x that god chose joseph as well this poor x carpenter from nazareth x to help raise his son x with everyone waiting for that grand x gesture moment of the messiah appearing x um x we see that the people who god chooses x to reveal himself to at that time x are the people who are at work who are x practicing their faith in the day-to-day x moments of life x you know when jesus was born x it wasn't a pharisee x in the temple it wasn't someone going x about publicly fasting who was told x about the birth of jesus x it was simple shepherds x again at work in the fields who are told x god wasn't looking for the most pious x people in the land of israel to reveal x his son to he was looking for those x examples of faith in the day-to-day and x those were the people he chose x the only other information that we have x about the early life of jesus x is the story of him when he's roughly 12 x years old when he stays in the temple to x be about his father's business x there are some 18 years between jesus x being about his father's business in the x temple and when he finally starts his x ministry x and there's a really good chance he x doesn't spend the entirety of those 18 x years sitting in a synagogue you know he x most likely spent those 18 years working x on his faith in the day-to-day x by talking to joseph as he worked with x him x by asking married questions about the x old testament when they were sitting x around the house x maybe he taught his younger siblings x stories of jonah and david and abraham x he most likely prayed and thanked god x for the little things in his life as he x walked from town to town x morning by morning we're told that jesus x woke up and no matter what business he x was about that day x he made sure god's word was a part of it x you know the the word of god awoken him x every day i'm trying to remember the x verse now in isaiah that that referenced x that but you know does that x kind of refer to this idea that that x morning by morning he listened to the x word of god and had it on his mind x he had to learn that that was his x father's business so when the time came x and it was time for him to begin his x ministry and begin that kind of grand x gesture x his faith was ready for it x the story of jesus's ministry x begins when he is around 30. x um x according to luke 3 verse 23 he's x 30 years old when he comes to be x baptized by john the baptist x and baptism is one of those grand x gestures that we all kind of take in our x lives um x and it's worth noting that jesus waited x 30 years of working on his faith in the x day-to-day before he made the choice to x take that step x it was something that he really wanted x to make sure he had down down pact x before he took that grand gesture x it's pretty incredible grand gesture x this baptism of jesus he comes he's x baptized x he's ready to begin his ministry x you know the heavens open up god speaks x to those around the holy spirit descends x upon him x and i think at this point john must be x the edge of his seat you know everything x he's been prophesying for the past few x months is about to come to happen x and you know the people are finally x going to see the lamb of god x and then jesus disappears for 40 days x he goes off on his own no disciples of x john follow him no miracles are x performed x no sermons are preached x he just leaves and disappears for for x the next month and a half x and john's left there by the river x jordan x continuing to prepare the people for a x moment that he probably thought x should have come and passed already x and to me that makes the bible just so x real right this very relatable moments x in our own lives x we think about like our own baptisms x or or bible schools or whatever it may x be we do all this work we work up to x that one grand gesture x and then life goes on x you know not much actually changes x yeah i'm experiencing it a little bit x right now as trishan and i get back into x the day-to-day life of getting back from x from south africa x you know i x we're going to repeat this idea over and x over again in this class but the key to x withstanding that kind of grand gesture x crash x whether it be our baptisms or bible x schools or even a mission trip x it's making sure that we have faith in x our day-to-day moments x and john's an excellent example that he x doesn't miss a beat despite the fact x that he got a thought he was handing x over the reins to jesus at the baptism x when jesus gets up and leaves he x continues to preach repentance he x continues to teach he continues to x prepare his disciples for a day when x they would leave him to follow jesus x when we look at the start of his x ministry i mean a lot of it this first x year kind of follows suit x with the rest of that baptism theme of x being a very dull x beginning to a revolution x it kind of starts and fits here and x there x there's big moments sort of randomly x spaced out throughout the first year x but for the most part it takes almost a x year for his ministry to actually take x off it you know it's not something that x happened instantly x after being tempted in the wilderness we x don't know how long after x jesus returns to john and in john 1 x we're told that john sees jesus and says x behold the lamb of god x and he sends his disciples x andrew and peter are included in that x group x at this point to follow after jesus x and jesus and those disciples travel to x galilee at some point as we see in john x 1 verse 43. x they probably seek out some additional x disciples and by the time we get to the x wedding feast in john 2 jesus seems to x have a very small collection of x followers with him x but he's not really performing any x miracles or sermons at this point x john 2 verses 12 to 13 tells us that x he's not in galilee very long before his x heads up to jerusalem for the passover x and so if jesus was baptized you know in x september which i would suggest is x the most likely x scenario based on x looking at the the timelines and stuff x it seems like he was probably born in x september so his 30th birthday would x have been around september x if he's baptized around his 30th x birthday x um x which seems likely based on luke's x account then almost six months have x passed x between the baptism of jesus in x september and this first passover x ministry x in april x of the following year x so we discovered six months of the x ministry of jesus with only one miracle x of turning water into wine x i mean in fact when we look at all four x gospels x there's 69 verses for this time period x between this baptism and this first x passover x um and 43 of those come from the gospel x of john and a good half of those talked x about john the baptist not jesus x it's just kind of brushed by these first x six months we don't really know what he x did we don't know what happens x it's definitely not that grand gesture x entrance that many of us and many of the x people then would have expected from the x messiah x the first passover of jesus that we we x see in john 12 verses or 2 verses 12 to x 13 x uh really seems to be the beginning of x his ministry where he really hits the x ground running x um not many of this people at this point x would have known who he was x and all of a sudden the next thing you x know in john 2 verses 15 it tells us x that jesus has made a scourge of cords x he's driving livestock out of the temple x and he's turning over tables x and this account is very similar to the x ones we see right before jesus's death x based on what john says in john 2 verses x 23 to 25 i'd say these are two separate x events x um x but a lot of parallels a lot of similar x things happen between the two events x and i think that's a really good example x of the lack of an of impact that the x ministry of jesus had x after three years of preaching the x temple was right back to being a den of x thieves the same as it had been when he x began his ministry x you know despite grand gesture after x grand gesture just like miracle after x miracle x the majority of the jewish population x wanted jesus dead at the end of his x three years x and this grand gesture here of cleaning x up the temple at the beginning of this x ministry may have changed people's lives x for a little bit x but in the end they went back to their x day-to-day lives they went back to being x the way they were they went back to the x way they think that they were x comfortable with x and i think it's an important lesson for x us right we often want that grand x gesture from god in our own lives x but that faith that's gained from those x grand gesture moments is fleeting x and it kind of leaves us with those post x grand gesture lows x and the faith that's the last the faith x that god's looking for in us is a faith x founded on day-to-day interactions with x god x so after this first passover jesus then x in keeping with some of the teachings x that we get recorded for us x um x he leaves jerusalem and he starts to x baptize in judea x john 4 verse 1 tells us that the x pharisees start to make trouble for him x when they find out that he or his x disciples x are preaching and baptizing x and so jesus leaves judea and returns to x galilee he goes back to his hometown x we get the story of the samaritan woman x at the well as he travels back x um x and that story seems to be in the fall x right as in the end jesus says in john 4 x verse 35 x he says lift up your eyes for the fields x are already white x to harvest x so it could have been baptizing here x roughly for four months right not not x sure how long but there's a little bit x of time here between x the passover and and jesus returning to x galilee x so at this point the four gospels align x as jesus returns to galilee and it can x be a little confusing because the three x synoptic gospels matthew mark and nuke x read as if these events happened right x after his baptism x um when most likely they're almost a x year after he's baptized his events of x him first returning to galilee x um x it's at that point that john the baptist x is arrested uh it's possibly the same x pharisees who are making trouble for x jesus x may have been involved in arresting john x the baptist we know that the pharisees x and herod were closely together in the x crucifixion crucifixion of christ so x it's x easy to believe that they had a x relationship before then x uh we're not trolled which disciples are x still with jesus as he returns to x galilee we don't really know who's x following him at this point x um x but it would seem and i would suggest x that that many of his disciples kind of x returned to their homes at this point x they kind of finished the ministry of x jesus they kind of finished their x mission trip you know they went with him x to jerusalem they're going back to their x own lives now x um we can assume andrew and peter x definitely had left and followed jesus x for you know maybe a nine month ministry x now which is a decently long time and at x this point they returned to their old x lives even jesus returns to nazareth so x everyone seemed to kind of go home at x this point x and we don't know how long after that uh x happens um but eventually we get a the x story of matthew 4 and mark 1 where x jesus is walking along the sea of x galilee and he sees peter and andrew x again back at work with his their parent x or with their father x casting their nets into the sea x and he calls them to come and follow him x again x and they were introduced to james and x john for the first time x in matthew 8 verses 14 to 17 and mark 1 x verses 29 to 34 and luke 4 verses 39 x to 43 x again all these gospels start to align x and we get the the healing of peter's uh x mother right so he calls peter and he x goes and he heals his mother-in-law x what's interesting about this is this x means that peter had a wife and possibly x kids that he was trying to support as he x had been following jesus for these past x nine months x and as he later on goes out to preach x the gospel x um which means x it makes his returning to his old life a x little more understandable just in case x it wasn't already x um x how many of us could spend nine months x away from our home our spouse our x parents or our kids it's a long time to x be away following after x some anyone x but jesus after healing late into the x night after healing peter's x mother-in-law he decides it's time to x hit the road again to go out and preach x the gospel x and he tells his disciples that he's x going to go do just that x and we're not told x uh x at what point this happens um x but matthew 4 verse 23 tells us that x jesus went about all of galilee x and there's no mention of his disciples x going with him x there's a good chance that peter and the x others decide to stay home at this point x and continue work x um after all it's only been a few months x at most since they got back from their x last trip from following him um you know x they had only just gotten back to work x they weren't about to drop it all and x leave him and follow him again you know x it would have been crazy they're just x starting to make an income again x and again who knows how much later on it x is but we come to luke 5 and x we see jesus approaches to disciples x again and they're struggling while x they're at work x now i should say it's possible that luke x 5 is the same account as recorded in and x matthew 4 and mark 1. so it's possible x that these are you know the same account x of him calling the disciples x but based on the healing of peter's x mother-in-law which is found earlier in x luke 4 so it's before matthew 5 and the x first calling of the disciples is before x that so based on that kind of event x there i i'd suggest these are two x separate stories x so he calls him the first time he heals x peter's mother and for whatever reason x he has to call them again now and and x luke 5. x he uses their boats to preach to the x people and then he tells them to let x down their nets once more and they bring x in this great hall and peter says in x luke 5 verse 8 he says depart from me x for i'm a sinful man lord x and i think peter knows full well that x he should have followed jesus this last x time he realizes now his mistake in not x leaving paul and following him sooner x and so luke 5 verse 11 tells us that x they forsook all and followed after him x so this is the third time now that jesus x has called peter and andrew at least x you know three times where they had to x perform this grand gesture to leave all x and follow him x um x and it took three times for it to x finally stick before they finally do at x this point not return to their nets and x continue to follow after him x and it's interesting to know what what x put peter over the edge you know what x kind of convinced him that he has been a x sinful man and not following after jesus x it was a simple faith moment you know in x the day-to-day work of letting down his x nets one last time x and it's important to know i don't think x this is a shortcoming in in the x character of the disciples x you know them returning to their old x lives um x it's rather a step in the development of x their character x we can let's let's look at luke 9. x um x it's just interesting to look at these x parallels here a little bit x luke 9 verse 57 x through 62. x it reads x now it happened as they journeyed on the x road but someone said to him lord i will x follow you wherever you go x and jesus said to him foxes have holes x and birds have of the air have nests but x the son of man has nowhere to lay his x head x then he said to another follow me but he x said let me first go and bury my father x and jesus said to him let the dead bury x their own dead but you go and preach the x kingdom of god x and another also said lord i will follow x you but first let uh let me first go and x bid them pharrell which who are at my x house x but jesus said to him no one having put x his hand to the plow and looking back is x fit for the kingdom of god x so the story of the disciples being x called three times that it maybe puts x these parables x of jesus into a bit of a different light x you know obviously i don't think the x disciples will be excluded from the x kingdom simply because they had to learn x how to follow jesus x and i think it's a good reminder for us x to to be gentle with how we deal with x others and how we deal with ourselves x you know if even the disciples have x after a year of x uh x sorry could return to their nets and god x was still willing to work with them x i doubt he'll give up on any of us if we x have to if we lose our way for a little x bit x we just have to to get back up and try x again x the second year of the ministry of jesus x begins over in john 5 x when jesus returns to jerusalem for x another feast x it's it's pretty common tradition that x this is the second passover of jesus um x although it's not actually recorded for x us that it is but but um it's a bit of a x guesswork here but but it's held x tradition that it's a passover meal that x he goes up to in bound five x um in this story we get the story of a x miracle at the pool of bethesda where x this lame man x uh tries to climb into the pool as it's x stirred up to be healed x he goes down to the pool of bethesda at x this point and on on the sabbath he x picks one man out of many who were there x to be healed right but there's one man x that he picks x who had been there for 38 years x now remember jesus is only 30 years old x and this man had been there for 38 years x which means that this man would have x been there from the time jesus was 12 x you know when he decided he had to stay x in jerusalem x all every year that he would have gone x to jerusalem since x there's a possibility that jesus x recognized this man who who knows x and we don't know his reason for picking x this one man but it's a good example x again of the lack of impact or or the x highlight the fact that jesus didn't x heal everyone here at this moment it was x just that one man and i don't have a x reason for that i don't x you know i have a lesson necessarily x it's just interesting to note that that x this one man was picked x as we get into the the summer of the x second year of his ministry after that x passover we kind of reached the height x of his popularity x you know the next year or so of the x ministry of jesus is a part that we're x all familiar with almost all of his x famous teachings and stories kind of x come from this this next year x unless they come from the last week of x his life which is kind of another one x where we get a lot of information x about his life x um x it's at this point uh when he's returned x to galilee after the passover x that he retreats into a mountain to get x away from large clouds that had started x to follow him on a regular basis now x and when his disciples join him he gives x the sermon on the mount which is x recorded for us in matthew 5 to 8 in x luke 6. x and here we get a good summary of the x teachings of jesus and kind of what his x teachings were at that time x you know we get the eight beatitudes x um we get lessons on jesus fulfilling x the law saying that disciples were not x to merely follow a letter but to follow x the principle behind that law he tells x them to pluck out their eye if it causes x them to stumble x to turn the other cheek and to love your x enemy as yourself x to store up treasure in heaven x and that no man can serve two masters x he encourages them to seek first the x kingdom x to remove the log from their own eye x first x and again he says to to do unto others x as you would have done unto you x he then gives the parables the wise and x the foolish builders x and then he finishes and he comes down x from the mountain and returns to his x ministry x and it's interesting due to matthew's x account it reads as if this is one of x the first things that jesus does is go x up into this mountain and get this x sermon on the mount x um but as we look at the timeline we see x that it really falls almost x near the middle of his ministry x and from this point forward jesus kind x of outlines all this stuff in the sermon x on the mount gives it very x straightforward here's what i want you x to do x to his disciples x and then he becomes much more cryptic in x the way he teaches x from that point forward we see he x switches to teaching in parables x over the next six months that follow the x second passover jesus we get some of the x most popular parables of jesus x the parable the sower x the parable of a light under a basket x the parable of mustard seed x the parable of a man who finds a x treasure in a field and the parable of x the pearl of great price x matthew 4 verse 34 says that without a x parable he spake not unto them and when x they were alone he expounded all things x to his disciples x his use of parables at this point um x seems to be another good indication that x the goal of jesus ministry was not x really intended x for the population as a whole but for x those 12 disciples his and his other x closest followers who are willing to x seek out the answer x it's not like jesus was trying to hide x his teachings from uh x the the people or the meaning of his x parables from the people as a whole x but you couldn't simply make the grand x gesture of following jesus for a week to x learn the lessons that he taught x you know you couldn't just go to the x jesus bible school and expect to find x life-changing answers x it took him following him day after day x you know being with him in a constant x manner x um being with him alone when he was with x the disciples to learn the meanings of x his x teachings and again i think this is a x really good lesson for us like we are x spending an hour uh looking at the life x of jesus skimming over the surface x but to really understand the lessons x behind what he teaches we need to listen x to his words on a regular basis right we x need to listen to them as a whole and x make them a part of our day-to-day life x a little saying that i like is x lessons in life that are worth learning x are often the ones that take time to x learn right they're not ones that you x just pick up right away x during the six months after the second x passover we also get some of the most x popular healings of jesus x you know we get the centurion servant x uh we get the resurrection of the widow x of nain's son we get the healing of x legion of jairus daughter of the woman x with the hemorrhage two blind men and a x demon-possessed man who was dumb x around that same time jesus decides to x return to his hometown in nazareth x and again he's met with skepticism to x the point where both accounts call out x and matthew and mark that he's unable to x do any miracles there x as we just saw this is obviously not x doing in any inability on jesus's part x to perform miracles but rather due to x the people's inability to see past x their old version of jesus x you know they say is this not the x carpenter's son is it his mother mary x and his brothers james and joseph and x simon and judas and his sisters are they x not all with us x once then hath this man all these things x and i think it's important to note that x changing the way we see things is no x easy task you know we should never x expect it to just happen in a day x people people don't change that quickly x you know i think sometimes we think or x we expect x that changing someone's mind is simply x providing the proof you know putting it x right out in front of them uh and you x know we say the right thing or we post x the right thing and all of a sudden x they're gonna believe what we say x um x but the proof of how hard it is to x change people i think x is is looking at the disciples when we x look at the disciples they x they were impossible to change that you x know uh luke 8 x verse 1 tells us that jesus went through x every city and village preaching and at x this point we know that 12 disciples x were with him so they witnessed many of x these miracles x and yet when we come to matthew 8 verse x 23 x we find jesus asleep in the back of a x boat during a storm x and when he calms the storm the x disciples are in a complete astonishment x they say what manner of man is this x you know casting out demons healing x sicknesses even raising people from the x dead that's one thing but to stop a x storm like that's incredible x you know i think it's important for us x to reflect on on how long it takes to x change our own character to change the x way we see the world x i mean these men have been with jesus x now for a year and a half at most x and really they've only been following x him for the past six months or so x but it didn't matter that jesus x performed grand gesture after grand x gesture for them you know the evidence x was literally right in front of their x face x but it was going to be the day-to-day x actions of jesus that would eventually x change these men x later on we find that peter says they x followed him because he had the words of x life that's why they folded it wasn't x the miracles it wasn't the grand x gestures it was because he had the words x of life x and so i think this is another good x lesson for us right rarely does x performing this grand gesture of x providing proof x actually change the way someone sees x things x something we all need to get better at x is realizing that i think day-to-day x interaction of love care and compassion x often work far greater miracles than any x message that can be given in a day x the success of the ministry of jesus was x obviously not in turning the hearts of x the nation but instead in building a x day-to-day faith in these 11 simple men x i think he knew full well that from the x very beginning of his ministry it x wouldn't be a success in those terms x as many of us would measure it x um x i think you'd already kind of learned x the lesson of elijah that you don't x convert the hearts of people with x earthquake winds and fires x but rather you convert them with that x still small voice of day-to-day x interaction x i know i suggest that all this kind of x takes place during that summer after the x the second harvest or the second x passover as matthew 9 verses 35 to 38 x closes closes with jesus again saying x that the harvest is plentiful but the x laborers are few x it's at this point that jesus decides to x send out his twelve disciples on their x first mission work x um so about uh two half two years since x his baptism x you know disciples have been with him x for maybe maybe about a year now maybe a x little under a year x um x and he decides to send them out on their x their first mission trip x regardless of where they seemingly were x at terms of belief at that time you know x they were still astounded that he could x calm storms um x he still feels like they're ready to go x preach on their own and it gives them x power to perform miracles as well x which i think again another incredible x lesson for us that i took away um x you know we can be so quick to hold our x brothers and sisters to have such high x standards as to what we see the truth x being x and yet jesus is clearly willing to let x men who saw the world very differently x than he did x serve and work with him x you know if he was able to allow men who x only a few weeks x after this ministry so they go in this x ministry and only a few weeks afterwards x you know they think he's a ghost x he lets them go out and preach x i think it's very good for us to be x careful not to dismiss any brother or x sister simply because they have a x different world view than we do x you know it's the message of the x disciples is very simple they go out and x they say the kingdom of heaven is at x hand x he provides them comfort and x encouragement and then he sends them out x and then matthew or sorry mark 6 12-13 x tells us they went out and preached that x men should repent they cast out many x devils they anointed but then he was uh x who they were sick and he they healed x them x and that's it x by the time the disciples returned just x the next first over x the passover is at hand again x so if we're you know he sends it out x right at the harvest x we've just skipped six months ago now x because we're at the passover again so x september to april again six months x where we have no recorded x message of what jesus did six months x where we have no idea what he did for x that time period x we can suppose that he also went out and x preached like the disciples did uh he x could have performed other miracles or x had other confrontations with the x pharisees x but ultimately we don't know what he x does you know six months that's x one-sixth of the ministry of jesus it's x just skipped over from one verse to the x next x mark 6 verse 14 tells us that the you x know the very next verse that that uh x john the baptist had been killed by x herod and when the disciples return and x bring back that news to jesus x he decides to retreat to a deserted x place and tried to be alone more over x the loss of his cousin x but of course as he crosses that sea x many crowds run and follow after him x and john 6 4 tells us the passover was x nigh and this is now the third passover x of his ministry x two years since he first cleared out x that temple x uh mark 14 verse 14 tells us that jesus x had compassion on the multitude and all x four gospels again kind of line up as we x get the feeding of the five thousand we x kind of can can use that as a concrete x event that x line up all four gospel accounts x after this jesus sends the 12 away and x he goes into a mountain and pray and x proceeds then to walk on water by them x and then they again think he's a ghost x and we get the story of peter trying to x walk on water x um x remember like jesus the disciples had x just spent six months preaching on their x own x supposedly performing miracles that you x know they were casting out demons of x their own x and yet we have two miracles recorded x here you know maybe only a couple weeks x after they return from that trip x where they're in complete shock you know x the feeding of the 5000 and then walking x on water x it's not easy to change the way people x see things x at this point um john often does this he x fills in gaps that the other gospel x accounts x leave out so we get another x gap-filling story here in the account of x john and john 6 x um starting in verse 22. x it says that people followed jesus again x when they realized he had crossed the x sea x and i think it's worthwhile we're gonna x zoom in on this event for a little bit x um you know it's a day after the feeding x of the 5000 x i think roughly right around that time x period x uh and john gives us a really big x section on this event and i think it's x how important to highlight it x because i think x now that john the baptist is dead jesus x knows that his time is drawing to a x close you know he knows that his x timeline is is wrapping up x and i think it's reflected in how he x treats the people in the story x he becomes very critical in john six of x the people he says you know you follow x me because of the miracles i do and the x food that i eat he says x seek the meat that endures under x everlasting life x and people are very confused at how they x can do this they ask him you know how x can they get that meat and he tells them x to believe in him x so the people ask him what signs show us x thou then that we may see and believe x you know what what does x thou as a reader i think we sit here and x and we're kind of like what do you mean x he just you just healed so many of you x for the past few years he just fed five x thousand of you with with five loaves x and two fish what kind of sign do you x want because all the evidence you could x want x and i think that's the right question x what kind of sign did they want x you know other prophets before jesus had x performed miracles and had not been the x messiah x i don't think this was a question of x whether he was sent from god or not i x think they knew he was sent from god x but rather they're asking whether or not x you could give them what they wanted x they wanted liberation they wanted to be x a free people again and so they're x asking can you show us that prove to us x that you are the messiah that we that we x want x and this is one of the dangers i think x of setting our own minds now when we x decide on the miracles that we want to x see x we can often overlook the miracles that x are happening right under our noses x remember the teaching of jesus was to be x born again to change the way we think x he's trying to change their perspective x it's not an easy task to do it but if we x want to see god in our lives we have to x be willing to look for him we have to x seek him out x and i like that word seek x um x it's reflected in the greek as well x um when we look at zeke and and the x greek because it implies looking in a x non-obvious location x like looking somewhere hidden you're x seeking it out it's not obvious it's not x right in front of you x you know if we if we only look for god x in the areas we expect him to be there's x a good chance we're going to miss out x all together in all the other areas in x our lives that he's working in us x we have to change our perspective and x look for god in the areas of our lives x where we we don't expect if we want to x find him x so when we go back to the story of jesus x and the jews in john 6. x um he's using very cryptic language x language he goes back and forth with the x jews for a while x but he gets very blunt with the people x he ends by saying that they have to eat x his flesh and drink his blood and if x they do he will dwell in them x and i think we can downplay that x statement a little because we're x familiar with that idea x um x it'd be pretty weird and extreme to hear x for the first time you know if the x middle of this x class i just started saying that you all x had to eat my flesh and drink my blood x you probably would look at me a little x funny x um x we of course with our 2020 x 2022 hindsight x you can see that jesus was very clearly x had in mind the events that were coming x that following passover x um x but john 6 66 tells us that from that x time on many of his disciples went back x and walked no more with him they could x not see because on that strange teaching x it was such a foreign concept to them x that they they left him they stopped x following after him x because they realized he wouldn't give x them the sign that they wanted x so jesus turns to the 12 and he asked if x they too would leave but peter answers x lord to whom shall we go you have the x words of eternal life x we believe and are sure that you are the x christ the son of the living god x and from what i can tell x this is probably the first time that x jesus uses this idea of his flesh and x blood and these types of symbols x which means there's a good chance the x disciples have just as little context as x everyone else does at this moment you x know they have have no idea what he's x talking about at this time x and yet these twelve had a strong enough x faith in jesus at this point their x day-to-day faith had been built enough x whether it was through the preaching x that they had done whether it was x through the day-to-day interaction with x jesus x but they were willing to follow jesus to x get the answers they knew that if they x stuck with him he would reveal the x parables to them x you know they knew that the lessons x worth learning were ones that didn't x happen in a day x again an incredible lesson for us i x think right there are times where x answers are not straightforward where we x don't know what god may be telling us or x trying to tell us x but if we want the answer we have to x keep following him x walking away from god simply because we x don't have the answer right now x we'll never provide the answer for us x we're missing out on our opportunity to x get the answer if we leave just because x we don't have the answer right now x so john 7 verse 1 picks up and says x after these things jesus walked in x galilee for he would not walk in jewry x because the jews sought to kill him x after this the third year of the x ministry of jesus now beginning we see x that the popularity of jesus is now x officially over x after a very relatively quiet first year x a very popular second year x jesus spends much of his third year x avoiding the jews he spends time in tyre x and sidon x the capitalist and around galilee where x he performs miracles feeds the four x thousand heals many x at one point during this third year he x warns his disciples about the leaven of x the pharisees x and we get another one of those slightly x comical stories x where the disciples are to worry that x you know he told them to wear the leaven x because they'd forgotten to bring bread x and you know it's kind of we chuckle as x we read it x and i think it's these little stories x like those that help you know ground the x disciples and the gospel accounts for us x they make it a very real thing um x you know here they have been with two x years x with jesus and they still don't really x get it you know like these aren't these x perfect saints that are often portrayed x for us these were men and women like us x who were worried about where they're x going to eat lunch you know that that's x what they're thinking about x and i think it gives us a very good x indication about um x just how much time jesus must have spent x with them on day to x you know we all think well duh it's a x lesson like how did you not catch on the x fact that it's a lesson jesus is talking x to you like if jesus talked to us we'd x just assume it was a lesson x um but i think it's important to x remember that there's a good chance that x not everything jesus said was a lesson x for them x you know everything recorded for us is a x lesson yes x um that's why it's recorded x there were probably plenty of times x where jesus did just ask his disciples x what kind of bread they had for lunch x around the same time x jesus then asks his disciples two people x say that he is x they said that some think he's john who x was beheaded only a few months earlier x um x risen from the dead x some say he's elijah implying that he x was preparing the way for the true x messiah who would come after him x and others say he's just another prophet x but when he asks his disciples peter x once again proclaims that he is the x christ the son of the living god x they understood at this point that he x was the messiah he'd convinced at least x these 12 men x that he was the one that they've been x waiting for x and so he tells them that he's going to x die and be raised again again he starts x to teach them these things this is the x first time in the third year of his x ministry is the first time that jesus x starts to teach him that he's going to x die and be raised again x and he tells them to likewise prepare to x take up their own cross x he closes out his final summer x and focuses on the now these last five x nine months of his ministry i'm x preparing the disciples for what he's x about to face x and he is preparing himself also x we get the story of the transfiguration x where he goes and he speaks to moses and x elijah and who face very similar x situations of being alone as he was x at that time x we see his his timetables kind of x pressing on him because following the x account of the transfiguration he says x this phrase oh faithless and perverse x generation how long shall i be with you x and suffer you x and i think that kim james makes that x sound pretty harsh um harsher than i x think he the actual meaning is x um x that persevere x scene simply means misled and suffer x with uh means to bear with so like in x ephesians four verse two he says bear x with one another in love it's the idea x of carrying a heavy load like an ox with x a yoke x um which should bring back some imagery x when we think about the teachings of x jesus x i think what he's saying here is oh x faithless and misled generation how much x longer will i be with you to bear your x burdens he's worried about that pressing x time that he has to work with them x because it's coming to an end quick x he teaches them they just need the faith x the size of a mustard seed x again then repeats the son of man is x going to die he's really trying to drill x this into them and work with him that x his time is coming to a close and they x need to have that faith they need to be x prepared for what they're about to face x we see that around this time x could be uh there's this feast of booths x that happens in john 7. so after the x feast of booths which was in the winter x um x we get the story of lazarus the death x and resurrection of lazarus x so so it's interesting to note the x timeline there because if we're in the x winter of the third year of the ministry x of jesus um that means lazarus died less x than three months before the crucifixion x of christ you know within a relatively x short time frame x um x so it's pretty incredible when you x realize that less than three months x before jesus dies and is resurrected x much of the city x witnessed the proof of lazarus being x raised x that would include the pharisees who x wanted to put jesus to death it would x include the disciples who who you know x failed to understand that jesus would be x raised x this is a very well-known event it's not x something that you know was old news by x the time the fourth pastor overcome x around comes around it was fresh x and yet again the disciples still didn't x quite fully understand what was about to x happen to jesus x despite eight years of preparation x and literally just witnessing the death x and resurrection of a friend x we see that when x his time comes our lord stood alone x he had laid the groundwork he'd spent x three years working with these these 12 x men x he'd planted that mustard seed of faith x in his disciples x by all accounts when our lord crucified x most of us would classify his ministry x as a failure x if the story ended there at the the x death of our lord x what did he have to show for it no one x was there for him the nation had x rejected him you know the leaders of x that age had overcome him x like a little seed kind of planted in x the ground x that day-to-day interaction that jesus x had done with his disciples started to x sprout x despite the fact that it was very dark x at the time of his resurrection kind of x like a seed again covered over x with a little extra watering after the x resurrection x we see that that faith was ready to grow x into one of the most incredible events x of faith or examples of faith this world x has ever known