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Says Who? Why Jesus Gets the Final Word (Matthew 17) | Pastor Rod Gomez

Published on: 1st May, 2025

00:00 Simon Says

00:15 The Authority Behind Commands

00:59 Competing Voices in the World

01:55 The Importance of Listening to Jesus

03:11 God's Endorsement of Jesus

03:34 The Transfiguration of Jesus

03:58 The Significance of Best Friends

04:22 The Glory of Jesus Revealed

05:03 Moses and Elijah's Appearance

05:49 God's Declaration from the Cloud

08:34 Carefully Considering Jesus' Words

16:03 The Disciples' Test and Jesus' Response

18:33 The Goal of Demons

19:06 Faith and Prayer

19:48 The Importance of Mega Faith

20:36 The Power of Prayer

23:04 Misguided Prayers

26:05 Trusting God's Will

32:46 Enjoying the Privileges of Sonship

36:58 Final Reflections and Prayer

Transcript
Speaker:

Are you ready?

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Simon says, stand up

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Alright.

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Alright.

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Simon says, quiet down.

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Simon says, actually, pastor

Ross says, quiet down.

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I have more authority than Simon.

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Tonight we're gonna talk about says

who, just like the game of Simon

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says, what you do, how you respond

to a command depends on who the

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authority is that issues the command.

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If the authority says, do

this, then you should do that.

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Right?

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Simon says, do this and you

did it because of who Simon is.

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Who the heck is Simon?

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No one even knows.

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But what matters more is who says to do

the things that the Bible tells us to do.

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And tonight we're gonna see that what's

behind the commands of scripture are

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not just some random dude who lived

:

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who is the son of God and son of man.

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So when we talk about the question

of says who we're gonna say, Jesus is

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the one who tells us what to do in the

Bible and why should we should respond.

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Furthermore, think about this in the world

today, you have a lot of voices that are

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competing for you to do what they say.

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It.

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People want you to wear their clothes.

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They want you to wear their cologne.

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They want you to go to their school.

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They want you to dress like

them, get their same haircut.

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People want you to think like them.

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They want you to vote like them.

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People want to control you in a

lot of different ways, and you

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have a lot of different options, a

lot of different choices, and you

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have to decide who do I listen to?

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Who do I decide to listen

to with the decisions that

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I have to make with my life?

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You're gonna have friends

that have opinions about the

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person that you should date.

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Oh, did you know this girl likes you?

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She thinks you're cute.

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You should ask her out.

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You should slide into her

DMS and see what she says.

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No.

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Okay.

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People are gonna have

opinions about your parents.

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Your parents won't let you do what?

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Oh, that's weird.

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My parents, let me do this,

this, this, and this and this.

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Your parents are lame.

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You let them influence you.

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Why do people have things

that they want to tell you?

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They want to.

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They want you to live in certain ways.

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They want you to do certain

things, and the question that you

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have to ask is, well says Who?

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Says who?

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Who says that my parents are this way?

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Who says that?

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That girl likes me?

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Who says that this or them?

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And those are good questions,

but the most important questions

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about your life are says who?

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When it comes to how should I live?

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What should I do with my life?

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Well, it depends.

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Depends on who's telling

you what to do with.

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It says, who wouldn't it be so great if

God just opened up the clouds and said

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to you, put, you put your name in here.

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And he says, here's what

I want you to do, Lewis.

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I want you to marry Shea.

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Wouldn't that be awesome if God did that?

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Did God do that, Lewis?

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Yeah, he did do that for Lewis.

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Maybe you ought to pray that God

treats you like he treat Lewis.

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Wouldn't it be great for God to

say, Matt, Daniel, I want you to go

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to SMU for your college of choice.

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Wouldn't that be great?

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Wouldn't it be great when you have the

desire and the ability to get married?

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God says,

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Maggie, I want you to marry.

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Okay.

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I want you to marry a guy

that's not here in the room.

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Wouldn't that be so nice

for a guy to do that?

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And yet.

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He doesn't do that.

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But here's what he does do.

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He does break into the sky and

tell us, this is my beloved son.

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I want you to listen to him.

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That's what God does, and that's why

tonight's message is so important.

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So turn with me, if you

will, to Matthew Chapter 17.

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We're gonna look at what Jesus says and

how God says he wants us to listen to

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him, what he wants us to do with him.

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Okay.

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Matthew chapter 17, starting at verse one.

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Here's what we have.

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Here's a scene after six days.

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Jesus took with him,

Peter, James, and John.

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Those are his three best friends.

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By the way, don't let

anyone tell you otherwise.

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Jesus has best friends.

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He's got 12 disciples that he's

close to, but these three, Peter,

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James, and John are his ride or dies.

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They are the men that he always goes to.

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They're the men that are with him in

his very last hours when he's praying.

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They're the ones that are as closest

to him, so he calls to him as best

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friends, Peter, James, and John.

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By the way, how many

best friends do you have?

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Yeah, if you have one, what a blessing.

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If you have two, super blessing.

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If you have three, then

you are crushing it.

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You ought pray for best

friends like Jesus did.

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Jesus.

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That's the example for us.

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You oughta listen to that.

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We'll come back to that later.

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He calls them and he led them up

to a high mountain by themselves.

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Oh man, that's kind of a bummer here.

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And he was, here's the word, transfigured.

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The word means to be metamorphos,

to be changed in a major way.

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Jesus is transformed before them.

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And his face shone like the sun and

his clothes became white as light.

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What you're seeing here is the

glory of Jesus pulled back and

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made evident to his disciples.

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They're able to see something that

you and I will see at some point.

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They got to see a glimpse of it, like

a trailer to the movie they're getting.

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They're getting to see something

of who Jesus really is.

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Stay shown and get this.

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Verse three.

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Behold, by the way, be the word behold.

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When you see this word here,

the word means to, to look.

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Pay attention to this.

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Check this out.

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So behold, look at this.

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Pay attention.

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Some guys show up.

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They appear.

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Moses and Elijah talking with him.

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Moses represents the law.

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Remember Moses is behind the books.

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Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Deuteronomy, oops, Genesis, Exodus,

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Leviticus, numbers, Deuteronomy.

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There you go.

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There's the five books.

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And Elijah represents the prophets.

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And so you have the law and the prophets

coming to Jesus and what you have.

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And after that, then.

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Peter says, Lord, this is awesome.

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This is so good that you're here.

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I can see you're, you're

in your blazing glory.

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Uh, and then we got Moses and

Elijah Peter's flipping out.

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He's like, let's just build some tents.

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This is great, but it doesn't stop there.

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He was still speaking when check out verse

five, A bright cloud overshadowed them.

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This is God.

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God in the Old Testament would

often show up as a cloud.

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He shows up there and he says,

with a voice from the cloud.

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He says, this is my beloved son.

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With him, with whom I am well pleased.

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Listen to him.

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So you see him.

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Jesus is being radiated.

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There's a glory that's

being shown to them.

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Moses and Elijah, the law and

the prophets show up to pay.

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Uh, to pay Jesus homage.

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And then the father speaks up and says,

even though Moses and Elijah are here,

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they're great and all, but Jesus is

better than the law and the prophets.

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Jesus is superior to them because

he fulfills both of those things.

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The father says, this is my beloved son.

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What does the word beloved mean?

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Think about that.

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Have your parents ever

introduced you to their friends?

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This is my beloved son Jackson.

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This is my beloved daughter, Sophia.

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Your parents ever do that.

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When you introduce me to your friends, do

you say, this is my beloved youth pastor?

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Nobody?

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Not yet.

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Okay.

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Someday beloved means someone that is

special, a chosen loved one, someone

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that you say, this is my person.

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They are my special, uh, chosen

person that I will choose to put my

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love upon for better and for worse.

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God says about Jesus,

this is my beloved son.

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Jesus is the son of God.

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He's special in God's side.

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And then he says, with

Jesus, I'm well pleased.

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He's telling everybody, and this

is not the first time God says,

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says this about Jesus, but he

says, with Jesus, I'm well pleased.

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That is what Jesus is doing.

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I'm really excited about, and there's

nothing that Jesus can do to make

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me love him more or love him less

because he is perfect in my sight.

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And then he says to all of us,

I want you to listen to him.

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I want you to listen to him.

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The disciples heard this.

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They fell on their faces

and they were terrified.

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If God were to speak out of the heavens

right now, sometimes we, we think,

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oh, it'd be so cool if God showed up.

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But in reality, if God showed up

right now and spoke to us, this would

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be the same thing that you would

experience your face, you'd fall on

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your face, and you would be terrified.

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Have you ever heard those stories of

people that encounter angels and like, oh,

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the angel told me that I was supposed to

go here, or I was taken to heaven, or I

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was taken to hell, or something like that?

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I, I wonder about those stories

because every time someone has an

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encounter with God or an angel in

scripture, they're usually afraid.

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They're usually terrified, and the way

that they typically respond is like this.

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They fall on their

faces and they're shook.

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You would be too, if God spoke there was a

cloud in this room and there's thunder and

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lightning, and then God starts speaking to

us through the cloud, you would be shook.

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They're shook.

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Jesus says, Hey guys, don't worry.

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Rise, get up.

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You have no, no need to fear.

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Lifted up their eyes.

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There was no one but Jesus.

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And so the law and the prophets disappear.

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Moses and Elijah, Elijah are gone.

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Jesus is there.

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Remember what God says?

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He's my beloved son.

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I'm well pleased with him.

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I want you to listen to him.

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Point number one.

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You ought to carefully

consider the son's words.

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Carefully.

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Consider the son's word.

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Jesus is the son of God.

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Therefore, you ought to listen to him.

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We said, Simon says, do this or

that, and you guys did it, but God

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says, Jesus says this and that.

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Right?

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You ought to listen to him.

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Why?

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Because God is endorsing

Jesus as the son of God.

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He's saying, this is my son.

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He's got my authority.

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Listen to him.

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He's the one that matters.

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I want you to pay attention

to what Jesus says.

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If you've gone to our church at Sunday

morning, you might not have noticed this,

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but the air conditioner, when it's on,

it goes, Ooh, like that, super loud.

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You can not hear it

except when you go inside.

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Even though your brain might

register it, what will happen

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is that you'll stop hearing it.

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In fact, do you hear

what's happening right now?

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Yes.

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Do you hear it in the back?

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That humming in the back?

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I don't know what that is, but

it's making a sound back there.

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When you walk into this room for

the first time, what do you smell?

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Junior hires, cafeteria.

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Junior hire.

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What'd you say?

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People you smell.

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People you might smell stale.

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Chicken nuggets.

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You might smell cleaning supplies.

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But all it takes is about 15 minutes.

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And then what?

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What do you smell?

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Nothing.

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Nothing.

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You get used to it.

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Your brain does something really cool.

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It acclimate to the environment

after it realizes there's no

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threat to your bodily harm.

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Your brain says, okay,

I can shut this out.

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And it stops listening

and it stops smelling.

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You become nose blind to what's happening.

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You become sound deaf to

what's happening around you.

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The problem is that a lot

of us do this with Jesus.

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You come to Wednesday nights and

you hear everything that, oh, I

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feel like I've heard this before.

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You go to Sunday mornings, you're pastor

PJ preach, oh, I've heard that before.

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And then you start becoming

deaf to what Jesus is saying.

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And this is really dangerous

because Jesus is speaking on

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behalf of the authority of God.

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You ought to carefully consider

the son's words or otherwise.

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What you're gonna end up doing is

ignoring the only one who really matters.

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You end up ignoring the words

that Jesus is saying to you, and

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I can prove it to you right now.

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Lemme ask you this question.

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What has Jesus said to you through his

word that you're still not obeying?

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All of us have something I can

promise you, all of us have something.

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What has Jesus said in his word that

you're still not obeying at the,

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the first time you felt conviction

about that you might have said,

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oh man, I really should do that.

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Jesus wants me to witness to my un, un

unsafe friends, or Jesus wants me to

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give up listening to certain kinds of

this or playing certain kinds of that.

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Jesus wants me to give these up.

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And then the first time you felt that,

you might say, oh man, I feel conviction.

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At some point though, you can so ignore

Jesus, that you just stop hearing him.

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You stop feeling conviction

over the things that you

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should feel conviction about.

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This is why I'm saying you need

to carefully consider his worth

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because this is not just some

random dude talking to you.

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It's one thing for someone on the

street to say, Hey, I want you to

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vote for this particular candidate.

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I want you to, you know, vote for me

for a SB, and they want you to put

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them on the a SB Student Council.

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Well, fine.

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Not a big deal.

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Doesn't matter if you listen to them.

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Doesn't matter if you do

or don't, not a big deal.

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But when someone says, Hey, I'm the son of

God, you might say, okay, well prove it.

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Okay.

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How about this?

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God breaks open the clouds

and says, this is my son.

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Listen to him.

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I mean, what else do you want?

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Carefully consider the son's words.

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Carefully consider his words, because

if you don't, you end up losing

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all the benefits and privileges

that come with listening to him.

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Says who?

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Well says God,

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Jesus is superior to the

law and the prophets.

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Here's what that means for you.

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If I'm gonna carefully consider what

he says, if he's superior to the law

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and the prophets, that means Jesus

can be all of my righteousness.

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He is my rightness with God.

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He is the voice that speaks

to me for all of my life.

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He's my prophet.

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Jesus is the only son of God.

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Remember, God's God the father

says, this is my beloved son.

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This is my beloved son.

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He doesn't say that about

any other religious figure.

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He doesn't say that about Muhammad.

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He doesn't say that about

any of the gods of Hinduism.

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He doesn't say that about, uh,

about any other religious figure.

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No, no one else.

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This is my beloved son Jesus and

Jesus alone, which means he's

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my only offer for salvation.

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You have no other options.

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If you want to be right with God, then

Jesus, you ought to listen to his words.

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Jesus is beloved by the Father.

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Remember, he's the one who

is special in God's sight.

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Let me ask you this question.

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Let's pretend for a second.

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My daughter Phoebe's here.

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All right?

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My beloved daughter, Phoebe.

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Let's say little Phoebe here is

goofing off, and you see here and

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you're like, oh, Phoebe, that kid.

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And then you run up and you boo

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Poor Phoebe's flying.

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Don't do that to my daughter.

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What do you think any reasonable

father would do in that situation?

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He'd pull out his Glock.

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A

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okay.

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I wouldn't do that, but you would

expect that a, a father that loves

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his beloved daughter would step

up, like, what are you doing?

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I might lose my job for what I

have to do in response to what

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you do to my daughter, right?

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If I put my hands around your

neck, you would understand.

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If you're kicking my daughter

and you know, you're drop kicking

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her across the the hallway.

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How do you think God feels when

we disregard his beloved son's

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words when he says, this is my son.

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Listen to him.

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And you say, well, I'll think about

it if I, if I like what he says.

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God, maybe he'll listen.

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But if he in crowds and crouch is on

my life and he tells me to change the

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way I live, or change the way I talk

or change what I think about the Bible,

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then I don't know that's asking too much.

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God has every right to say,

son, you better watch out.

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Daughter, you better step back

'cause I'm about to come down on you.

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Jesus is God's beloved son.

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He's not just a regular guy.

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You ought to carefully

listen to know what he says.

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Jesus is pleasing to the Father.

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This is my beloved son,

with whom I'm well pleased.

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One of your greatest areas of

weakness is that you know, and

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I know you're not good enough.

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We all know that.

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In fact, this is why we all do what we do.

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We wanna, we wanna aspire

for a lot of money or status.

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We wear certain clothes

to signal to people.

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I'm cool.

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I'm good enough.

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I'm worthy enough in Jesus, though we can

be joined with Jesus, and God can look at

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you and say with you, I am well pleased.

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Because of your association with Jesus.

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You don't have to rely on your good looks.

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You don't have to rely on your intellect.

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You don't have to rely on

your money making ability.

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You can say, with Jesus, I, I can

be associated, uh, with him and

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become well pleasing in God's sight.

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You gotta carefully consider Jesus'

words 'cause he tells you how to do that.

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Jesus says, turn from your sin.

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Put your trust in me, and you

can be well pleasing in my

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father's side, just like me.

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Super important that we start there.

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Gotta pay careful

attention to Jesus' words.

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Why?

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Because he's got God's endorsement.

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He is the son of God.

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You ought to listen to him.

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It's one thing to hear Jesus.

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It's another one to

listen to what he says.

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I can hear him without doing what he says.

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I gotta hear and I gotta listen.

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So the disciples here.

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When the test comes,

they kind of mess it up.

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Take a look here, Matthew 17, verses 14

through 20, when the crowds, uh, sorry.

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And when they came to the crowd, a

man came up to him, kneeling before

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him, said, Lord, have mercy on my son.

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Here's another father

talking about his son.

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There's lots of fathers and sons

in this text here, uh, comes

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and says, have mercy on my son.

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He has seizures and suffers terribly.

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Think about this.

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Have you ever seen someone have a seizure?

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Their body gets rigid.

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They might start foaming from the mouth.

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They just start, you know, one of.

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Terrifying.

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It's a strange experience to see someone

have an actual seizure in front of you.

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Well notice here his seizures and

his suffering is not only physical.

419

:

When we see it, we typically think,

oh, he needs a certain medication.

420

:

He needs to see a doctor to get

diagnosed, and that doctor's gonna

421

:

give him an anti-seizure medication.

422

:

That's usually what we

do, pay attention to.

423

:

What happens though, he often falls

into the fire and into the water.

424

:

Uh, in and of itself, you might say,

okay, I guess he's seizing, and as

425

:

he's walking next to the fire in

the water, he seizes up and then he

426

:

falls into the water in the fire.

427

:

Wow, that's, that's kind of scary.

428

:

He says in verse 16, I brought him to your

disciples, and they could not heal him.

429

:

This is a big deal because his disciples

were given a special authority to heal,

430

:

and so if they're unable to do the

thing that God says that they should

431

:

do, something's amiss, something's

broken, and Jesus answered them.

432

:

No problem.

433

:

Be patient.

434

:

I got your back.

435

:

No.

436

:

Look at what Jesus says.

437

:

To his disciples and to this father.

438

:

Here's what Jesus says.

439

:

He's flaming.

440

:

He's spiting fire here.

441

:

Look at what he says.

442

:

He says, oh, faithless and

twisted generation, faithless and

443

:

twisted Jesus is not full punches.

444

:

He says, part of the reason here that

we're having this issue, the reason the

445

:

disciples couldn't do is because they

were faithless and they were twisted.

446

:

They were seeing this the wrong way.

447

:

How long am I to be with you?

448

:

And in other words, Jesus saying,

I'm not gonna be here forever.

449

:

I can't, I, I'm, I've gotta

go to the father soon.

450

:

How long am I to bear with you?

451

:

Bring him here to me.

452

:

Jesus rebuked the what?

453

:

You see it?

454

:

Jesus rebuked the, the demon.

455

:

Well hold on a second here.

456

:

He had seizures.

457

:

Jesus is saying here, not that,

not that every seizure is a demon,

458

:

but he's saying in this case.

459

:

This physical effect that this young

man was experiencing was the result of

460

:

a demon inhabiting him and that demon

tried to destroy him, tried to put

461

:

him in the fire, tried to drown him.

462

:

The demon was doing something to

him to destroy his physical body.

463

:

By the way, that's what

demon possession looks like.

464

:

If you wanna have any sense of, is my

friend possess or is something happening?

465

:

Typically a demon's goal is to

destroy the human inhabitant or the

466

:

human person that they're inhabiting.

467

:

That's what I'm trying to say.

468

:

The the demon's goal is

to mar the image of God.

469

:

This is part of their fun.

470

:

They enjoy hurting mankind.

471

:

And so one of the signs that there's

a demon behind something is if

472

:

there's deliberate bodily harm that's

happening because of the demon.

473

:

Does this still happen today?

474

:

I believe it does.

475

:

We just don't.

476

:

We don't see it the same way anymore

because when we see a seizure or a

477

:

headache, we just think, oh, it's

automatically a physical thing.

478

:

Not saying that it's not, but

I'm also saying there could be

479

:

a spiritual component to it.

480

:

So he says, uh, rebukes a demon.

481

:

He goes out, everything's fine.

482

:

The Dece, the disciples are

like, okay, Jesus, what happened?

483

:

We understand that you said

we're a faithless and twisted

484

:

generation, but what happened?

485

:

Jesus says, because of your little faith

there baby, baby faith, undeveloped

486

:

faith, which is by the way, in contrast

to the woman who had great faith.

487

:

Remember that woman from tire.

488

:

She's coming for her daughter and he

says, oh, woman, great is your faith.

489

:

And she was like, oh lord.

490

:

Even the ma, even the dogs get

the crumbs that fall on the floor.

491

:

And Jesus says, wow,

your faith is so great.

492

:

He says, your faith is mega

faith, but of the disciples.

493

:

He says, you guys have small faith.

494

:

So interesting because these

are the ones that are, he's

495

:

training to, to be his leaders.

496

:

And then he goes on to say, look, if you

have, if you have faith, if you had a

497

:

robust, healthy, mega faith, you could

say to this mountain, move and go there.

498

:

Nothing will be impossible for you.

499

:

Jesus says.

500

:

In Mark chapter nine, Jesus says

it like this same, same story.

501

:

Mark provides a slightly

different account.

502

:

He says, this kind of demon cannot

be driven out by anything but prayer.

503

:

And I think that's the key for us.

504

:

Point number two, you ought to

prayerfully pursue mega faith in the sun.

505

:

Probably what went wrong for the disciples

is that they were just trusting in their

506

:

previous activity, their prior success.

507

:

And so when this father brought

his son, they're like, Hey, demon

508

:

be gone, or whatever they said.

509

:

They didn't take time to pray.

510

:

They didn't take time to seek God's will.

511

:

They didn't take time to pursue

God, God's will in this situation.

512

:

But if you wanna see someone who has

genuine faith in the sun, if you wanna

513

:

know, if you have real faith in the sun,

I would ask you, how's your prayer life?

514

:

That's really where you get

to see things like this.

515

:

Things that we tell my kids to

do, we tell my kids all the time

516

:

like, Hey, eat your vegetables.

517

:

We want them to eat their vegetables.

518

:

We tell them and we mostly mean it.

519

:

Like, if you eat your vegetables,

you're gonna be strong.

520

:

We tell 'em that, but they

only kind of believe us.

521

:

They only kind of believe us because

they don't actually always eat it.

522

:

They just sit there, they'll, you

know, push it around the plate.

523

:

Particularly the girls and Jacob,

they'll just push it around the plates.

524

:

They don't typically eat the veggies,

525

:

but we do the same thing with God.

526

:

We believe prayer is

powerful until it costs us.

527

:

Yeah, I believe vegetables make

me healthy, but I'll, I'll.

528

:

I'll eat them at some

point when I get older.

529

:

Prayer is faith in action.

530

:

Prayer is how you show that you

really do have faith in God.

531

:

If you don't pray, it's because you

don't believe that God does anything.

532

:

You don't believe that God has

your best interest at heart.

533

:

Prayer is one way that we say,

God, I trust that what you tell

534

:

me is true and that when I pray to

you, you want to hear from me and

535

:

that this is good for me to do.

536

:

Jesus wants us to pray.

537

:

This is where our faith grows.

538

:

This is what's what makes our faith good.

539

:

In fact, one of the reasons that you

may pray and not find your answer, James

540

:

says in James four, he says, you desire

and you do not have, so you murder.

541

:

You have desires inside of you

where they're unmet, so you

542

:

just kill people to get it.

543

:

Not literally in this

case, murder the heart.

544

:

You covet and you cannot obtain.

545

:

So you fight and quarrel.

546

:

You do not have James says, because

you do not ask one of the reasons.

547

:

Your life is not what you want it to be,

it's because you're not praying about it.

548

:

You do not have because you do not ask.

549

:

If you want to grow in your

faith, you should pray about it.

550

:

If you wanna see progress in

your relationship with God,

551

:

you should pray about it.

552

:

If you want better and deeper

friendships, you should pray about it.

553

:

If you wanna see changes that

are significant in your life,

554

:

you should be praying about it.

555

:

You do not have because you do not ask.

556

:

That's the first problem.

557

:

If you want mega faith in the

sun, genuine, robust faith

558

:

in the sun, you have to pray.

559

:

There's no shortcut.

560

:

If Christianity doesn't make

sense to you, you should pray.

561

:

God, if you're real, if

the Bible's legit, show me.

562

:

I want to know.

563

:

And if you have a sincere heart before

God, I doubt he will turn you away.

564

:

Say no, I'm not gonna tell you.

565

:

I don't want you to know.

566

:

Gotta pray.

567

:

You do not have because you do not ask.

568

:

James says, you ask and do not

receive because you ask wrongly

569

:

to spend it on your passions.

570

:

This is another hiccup when you're

praying for mega faith in the sun.

571

:

Sometimes you're praying

for the wrong thing.

572

:

You're praying for things

that are shortsighted.

573

:

One of the things that my girls like

to do is they play with everything.

574

:

Everything and anything.

575

:

If it's in their space, if they look at

things, they're just gonna play with it.

576

:

One of my daughters was helping cut,

uh, vegetables recently, and so she

577

:

picked up a knife and she was like,

oh, Phoebe took, come over here.

578

:

Phoebe.

579

:

Phoebe, come play with me.

580

:

Phoebe.

581

:

She's got a knife on him the whole time.

582

:

Come over here, Phoebe.

583

:

And she, oh, she just, literally,

she's gonna kill somebody.

584

:

Doesn't even think twice about it though.

585

:

If she were to say, dad

for my next birthday.

586

:

I want a machete.

587

:

Machete.

588

:

Gimme machete.

589

:

Dad, that's all I want.

590

:

Would you, if you were me, would

you buy my daughter tabby a machete?

591

:

That's a good answer.

592

:

I'm glad.

593

:

No, no.

594

:

You're not allowed to come over Carson.

595

:

Her a good, yeah, maybe that that'd work.

596

:

No, 'cause I don't want it

to play with the real one.

597

:

I think it's okay.

598

:

Yes, a good father, a good mother, a

good brother and sister is not gonna buy

599

:

their siblings something that they're

probably gonna kill themselves with.

600

:

God does the same thing you, you do

not have, because you do not ask.

601

:

And when you ask, you ask wrongly

to spend it on your passions.

602

:

That is, God is not in the business of

making you selfish, and so if your goal

603

:

is to please Jesus, those are prayers

that he'll be interested in answering.

604

:

If your goal is to please

yourself, not so much.

605

:

He continues you adulterous people.

606

:

Do you not know that friendship

with the world is enmity with God?

607

:

Therefore, whoever wishes

to be a friend of the world

608

:

makes himself an enemy of God.

609

:

One of God's cares is that your

prayers reflect friendship with God

610

:

and not friendship with the world.

611

:

So maybe your prayer is,

Hey look, I wanna be famous.

612

:

I wanna be an pro eSports athlete.

613

:

God, I wanna be the next That guy.

614

:

You guys know who I'm talking about.

615

:

I don't even have to say his name.

616

:

You know who I'm talking about.

617

:

Maybe God doesn't wanna do that for you

because that would make you more worldly.

618

:

That would make you more unlike Jesus.

619

:

So that's on the per of God's

interested in answering.

620

:

Some of you guys wanna

make a ton of money, man.

621

:

I see some of the houses down Frontier.

622

:

I'm like, oh, I want that house.

623

:

And some of the houses in Prosper.

624

:

Oh, I want that house.

625

:

Some of the houses in Frisco.

626

:

Oh, a huge house.

627

:

Do you guys know Dion Sanders house

in Prosper just went on the market.

628

:

I'm looking at buying it.

629

:

I'm telling, telling the truth.

630

:

I'm just thinking about

it, thinking about it.

631

:

I, I might put a down payment today, it's

on sale, but God probably doesn't want to

632

:

gimme that, doesn't wanna give you that.

633

:

Not because he doesn't like

giving us good gifts, but because

634

:

he knows what our hearts need.

635

:

You should pray for mega faith in

the Son because of who the son is.

636

:

He's the son of God.

637

:

He's the son of man.

638

:

He's the one that matters.

639

:

And ultimately, your life and

my life matters insofar as we're

640

:

supporting what Jesus is doing.

641

:

So let's say you get it.

642

:

You're praying, well, what

happens when it seems like God

643

:

isn't answering our prayers?

644

:

We see some things here in what

James says, but there's more.

645

:

Take a look with me at

Matthew 17 verses 22 and 23.

646

:

Here's another thing that might happen

when we pray to God and God doesn't

647

:

answer the way that we think he should.

648

:

In fact, Lewis talked a little bit about

this last week and a and a great sermon.

649

:

If you weren't here for that, you

should go back and listen to that.

650

:

Here's what Jesus says in

Matthew 17, verses 22 and 23.

651

:

He says, as they were gathering in

Galilee, Jesus said to them, the son of

652

:

man is about to be delivered into the

hands of men, and they will kill him.

653

:

They'll kill him, and he will

be raised on the third day.

654

:

They're gonna kill the Son of man and

they're gonna raise him on the third day.

655

:

The son of man is a term that Jesus

is using to refer to Daniel chapter

656

:

seven, which is the special name for

the person who would be the ruler.

657

:

He'd be the ruler, the ultimate ruler.

658

:

This is the God man.

659

:

That's why Jesus calls

himself the son of man.

660

:

So he says, I'm gonna be

betrayed into the hands of men.

661

:

I'm gonna be killed, but I'm

gonna rise in the third day.

662

:

Now, notice how the apostles,

uh, the disciples respond.

663

:

They were greatly distressed.

664

:

They were sad, they were way down.

665

:

They're, they're, they're tripping on

this like, what are you talking about?

666

:

Jesus, we have every expectation

that you're gonna be the man.

667

:

How are you gonna die?

668

:

What's this about?

669

:

They don't get it.

670

:

What they don't get though is that Jesus

is always going to do the father's will,

671

:

so you ought to trust the Son to do.

672

:

The father's will trust the

son to do the father's will.

673

:

Now, here's the problem with that.

674

:

The problem is that the father's

will is often not our will.

675

:

Your will and God's will

are often not the same.

676

:

Maybe a little bit, but in large ways,

your will and God's will are at odds.

677

:

So when we say the son, the one who's

well pleasing to the father, the one

678

:

that we should have mega faith in, we're

trusting him to do the father's will.

679

:

The father's will, is gonna be

against our will most of the time.

680

:

I could probably say that with safety,

unless your heart is fully united

681

:

with Jesus, you're gonna have a hard

time because he's gonna tell you to

682

:

do things that you don't want to do.

683

:

Son's gonna do the father's will.

684

:

When I went to a summer camp years ago,

we played this game called the trust fall.

685

:

It's a terrible game.

686

:

I hated it.

687

:

But probably the scariest part of the

trust fall A after you step up on the

688

:

log or whatever tall thing that you're

standing on, you cross your arms like

689

:

this, and then you hope that all of

your friends are still behind you.

690

:

The moments that is the scariest

is probably not like when you're

691

:

just about to do it, right.

692

:

It's not that it's, it's the second

you actually commit to doing it.

693

:

That is the scariest part.

694

:

The actual falling is kind of thrilling,

but it's the part before the falling.

695

:

It's where you lose control.

696

:

It's like I'm giving up control

and I'm gonna let myself fall back.

697

:

It's terrifying.

698

:

Have you ever done this before?

699

:

Yeah.

700

:

We should do this as one

of our illustrations.

701

:

We might do this after

we're done with this.

702

:

Nope.

703

:

Trust fall.

704

:

Scariest part.

705

:

Letting go.

706

:

Letting go.

707

:

And losing control.

708

:

But that's what faith looks like.

709

:

I'm letting go and I'm letting

God control what happens next.

710

:

'cause I can't.

711

:

I can't be trusted, but

I know he can be trusted.

712

:

Here's some things about the father's

will that we can just read from, from

713

:

what Jesus said in these few verses.

714

:

The father's will, first of all,

is often painful when Jesus says,

715

:

the son of man's gonna be killed.

716

:

That's not a joyful experience.

717

:

He's not saying Things

are gonna be great for me.

718

:

I'm gonna go into Jerusalem.

719

:

They're gonna love me.

720

:

They're gonna lift me high.

721

:

They're gonna put me on a on a throne.

722

:

They're gonna crowd me.

723

:

It's gonna be wonderful.

724

:

No, Jesus' death was painful.

725

:

In fact, it was one of the

most painful and excruciating

726

:

experiences you could ever imagine.

727

:

I.

728

:

The father's will for your life is gonna

be painful because here's the thing, the

729

:

father's will, is that you be conformed to

the image of the son, which is gonna push

730

:

you out of your comfort zone so often for

your good so that you become like Jesus.

731

:

It's gonna be painful.

732

:

The father's will is often painful.

733

:

It is also often perplexing.

734

:

Pop quiz.

735

:

What does the word perplexing mean?

736

:

Call it out.

737

:

Confusing.

738

:

I'm confused about this.

739

:

I chose perplexing 'cause it was

what the, you'll see perplexing.

740

:

It's perplexing.

741

:

I don't, God, what are you doing?

742

:

Have you ever asked that of

God, God, what are you doing?

743

:

God, why are you, why is

this situation happening?

744

:

Why does my mom not understand this?

745

:

Why does my math teacher hate my guts?

746

:

Why does my youth pastor talk for so long?

747

:

God, why do you do that?

748

:

I'm, I'm perplexed.

749

:

I don't understand.

750

:

Here's the thing, guys.

751

:

God's will is like level 500 billion and

we operate on like level three most days.

752

:

God is doing 10 billion things

at one time and you and I

753

:

can see five of those things.

754

:

God is playing 3D chess with a infinite

board of billions of people making

755

:

billions of decisions all the time.

756

:

And we can see like three

of those things at once.

757

:

God sees everything at once,

past, present, and future.

758

:

He knows exactly what he's doing, so

you might be confused, but he's not.

759

:

That's his will.

760

:

You just have to be comfortable to say,

I'm gonna need to trust the son because

761

:

he's gonna do things that are gonna be

way outside of my realm of understanding.

762

:

The father's will is

always purposeful though.

763

:

You might be confused, but God's not

saying, oh, what did I do that for?

764

:

Where did I, where did I leave Carson?

765

:

I forgot.

766

:

Did I get Carson married yet?

767

:

No, no.

768

:

He's, he's 45 and still single.

769

:

I forgot about him.

770

:

My bad.

771

:

Well, hold on.

772

:

Maggie, are you gonna be 45 and single?

773

:

How about if you're 46

and you're still single?

774

:

No.

775

:

Let's commit right now.

776

:

No.

777

:

Okay.

778

:

No pressure.

779

:

Think about it.

780

:

Let me know.

781

:

Talk about it later.

782

:

God's will is painful, perplexing,

but it's always purposeful.

783

:

God has a plan, and here's

the thing, that plan is good.

784

:

God's plan is good.

785

:

In fact, lemme just give you the last one.

786

:

It is good because it is always perfect.

787

:

God's will is always perfectly good.

788

:

He will accomplish his greatest

glory and your ultimate good

789

:

if you're on God's side.

790

:

If you're mega faith is in the sun,

listening to his words, carefully,

791

:

considering them, putting them into

practice and trusting the Son to do the

792

:

father's will, you have nothing to fear.

793

:

It's just gonna be hard.

794

:

Just like the son says, I'm gonna be

delivered by the way, the son will be

795

:

delivered is a passive word delivered.

796

:

Jesus isn't going there by himself.

797

:

The father is leading him.

798

:

He's recognizing that God's behind it.

799

:

They're gonna kill him, and he's

gonna rise on the third day.

800

:

What did Jesus accomplish

with this resurrection?

801

:

Only the salvation of those who

were to repent and believe in him.

802

:

That's it.

803

:

Just the salvation of all.

804

:

Who would ever trust and believe in Jesus?

805

:

That's all the best plan ever.

806

:

Jesus had to suffer the the most.

807

:

Devastating and painful experience ever.

808

:

Father's will is often painful,

perplexing, but it is always

809

:

purposeful, and it is perfect.

810

:

You ought to trust that.

811

:

Finally, as we close out this sermon

here, I need to show you this last

812

:

section, which is kind of unusual, but

let me show you the point behind it.

813

:

They came to Capernaum.

814

:

This is Peter's hometown.

815

:

This is likely Jesus hometown as well.

816

:

He was staying with Peter.

817

:

Collectors of the two drop attacks.

818

:

Came to Peter and said, does

your teacher not pay the tax?

819

:

Peter's like, yes, of course he does.

820

:

It goes to Jesus and says, Hey, Jesus,

uh, about that tax, you didn't pay it yet.

821

:

Uh, I didn't pay it yet.

822

:

Are we gonna, are we gonna

get to that some point soon?

823

:

Jesus says to him, Simon,

what do you think about this?

824

:

From whom do the kings of earth take toll

or tax from their sons or from others?

825

:

So, of course, Peter says, well, from

others, not from the sons, the sons of the

826

:

kings don't pay the, the, the royal taxes.

827

:

He says, you're absolutely right.

828

:

Then the sons are free.

829

:

The sons are free.

830

:

Who's the son that's in mind here?

831

:

Here's fathers and sons again.

832

:

The son of God is free.

833

:

He doesn't have to pay the temple tax.

834

:

It's his temple.

835

:

It's like Jesus saying, let me

give $2 from my right hand and my

836

:

left hand, like this is my money.

837

:

Nothing's happening here.

838

:

However, he says not to

give offense to them.

839

:

Go and catch a fish in the fish's

mouth is gonna be enough money for

840

:

both of us and go give it to them.

841

:

That's what happens here.

842

:

Jesus tells Peter something remarkable.

843

:

If you are alive with Jesus, if

you are part of Jesus' family, you

844

:

got special Jesus level privileges.

845

:

Point number four, you ought to

enjoy the privileges of sonship.

846

:

Sonship.

847

:

Sonship is another way to say being

a child, being a son in the family.

848

:

Of course, you could say, enjoy

the privileges of daughtership.

849

:

That just doesn't sound as nice.

850

:

Sonship being a son or

daughter in a family.

851

:

When I came to FCA, um, I forgot my id.

852

:

Um, and if you know anything about

FCA, they don't let you in unless

853

:

you have an ID during school hours.

854

:

And so I came like, no, but

I, but I'm here all the time.

855

:

I'm a pastor.

856

:

Uh, I like, I'm, I've got a degree.

857

:

Like I, I'm okay.

858

:

I'm not gonna hurt anybody.

859

:

Uh, but they weren't listening until

I had the headmaster with me and the

860

:

headmaster's like, oh, he's chill.

861

:

Let him pass.

862

:

Headmaster just had to give a wave

of the hand, and she's like, all

863

:

right, you go, sir, I strolled

on in and dreaded after them.

864

:

You can't touch this.

865

:

Now stopping me.

866

:

I was able to get in because of the

access that the headmaster had, not

867

:

because I didn't have my my id, so

I couldn't get in, so I trusted her.

868

:

She got me in.

869

:

You get access to God, not because you

earn it, but because of who you're with.

870

:

Who you're with in this case is the son.

871

:

The son gives you full and

free access to the father.

872

:

In fact, family

privileges, two major ones.

873

:

Okay, here you go.

874

:

Number one.

875

:

Riches in Christ.

876

:

Actually, I have three here.

877

:

Riches in Christ.

878

:

Number two, freedom from

the Old Testament law.

879

:

Number three, full Never ending

Acceptance by the Father.

880

:

These are three family privileges that

you get when you are allied with Christ.

881

:

When you repent of your sin,

put your trust in Jesus.

882

:

You are given the full riches of Christ.

883

:

The sons are free.

884

:

Jesus says, the sons are

free in Christ, they're rich.

885

:

You have all of the heavenly

blessings that Heaven can offer.

886

:

They're yours in Christ.

887

:

Secondly, you are free

from the Old Testament law.

888

:

You no longer are obligated to sacrifice

goats and sheep and things like that.

889

:

Praise God for that.

890

:

If you've ever read the book of Leviticus,

you'll feel how important that is.

891

:

Lastly, I, again, I had to come back

to this 'cause it's so important.

892

:

Being allied with Jesus, turning from

your sin, putting your trust in him means

893

:

that you will never, ever find yourself

on the business end of God's wrath.

894

:

You'll always enjoy full never ending

acceptance by the father, and this is

895

:

what you and I most desperately want.

896

:

There's a thousand voices

telling you who to follow, who

897

:

to listen to, what to trust.

898

:

Wouldn't it be great if God just

opened the heavens and told us

899

:

who to listen to and who to trust?

900

:

Of course, this is what Jesus did.

901

:

This is what He did for you and for me.

902

:

Our job is to ask the question.

903

:

Are we listening?

904

:

Says who Well says God.

905

:

He's the one who says,

listen to Jesus, follow him.

906

:

Are you listening?

907

:

Are you willing to submit

yourself to the beloved son?

908

:

If so, two major takeaways.

909

:

One, if you're not a Christian,

listen to the beloved son.

910

:

Repent of your sin and

put your trust in him.

911

:

Two, if you are a Christian, what

area of your life has Jesus spoken?

912

:

And you're still just dragging your

heels saying, well, I'll get to

913

:

it eventually, or when I grow up.

914

:

This is my beloved son.

915

:

The father says, listen to him.

916

:

Let's pray about that and we'll go

talk about it in our small groups.

917

:

Now, God help us to pay

attention to the Son.

918

:

He is the Son of God.

919

:

The Son of man.

920

:

You've proven it, Lord, you've

given us every reason to believe.

921

:

We pray that you help us now to

do that, to believe in Him, and to

922

:

show our belief in him by actions.

923

:

Let those actions be solidified

tonight in our small groups.

924

:

In Jesus name, amen.

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Compass Student Ministry Sermons Podcast
Compass North Texas Student Ministry Podcast
All the sermons preached at Compass Bible Church North Texas in the student ministry.

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