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Summary

So so when you are when you open your Bible to the middle and you find yourself at the book of Psalms that is not only at the center of the Bible, but it's also in the center of the books of wisdom books of wisdom in scripture include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon so that middle section of your scripture prior to the prophet and after the Pentateuch and history that is where we find these books of what wisdom wisdom is living life the way that God intended in the books of wisdom we receive a bounty of living a righteous life we find righteousness written about talked about a lot in the books of wisdom we also see God in the books of wisdom we see God that he is holy he is righteous wise he is the just creator all of these themes are found within the books of wisdom it's interesting because you'll will hear in the in throughout the ages in the secular world and even within the Christian world some of you'll hear these comparisons made between the Israelites and Christians and those around them and and saying there are all these overlaps that you know well well the Christians have a story of creation but so does this culture and so does this culture and and really it's just a story and and it's just a way to try to explain things every culture has a creation story and so it's it's leading into this comparison comparison where where we compare the Bible as one of many ways to know God or one of many ways to show us how to live righteously but that that is in error it is an error to say that the Bible is just one more story in how we can live or how we can speak to be good people some overlap there is some overlap in wise sayings in the books of wisdom there might be some some some overlap between the books of wisdom and other cultures of the ancient near east but there's a major clarification that has to keep forefront for us in our minds and that wisdom wisdom is based on God's created order wisdom is based on God's created order all wisdom all truth belongs to God and he has given this to his people also biblical wisdom is different than all the other cultures and religions because it emphasizes one God it emphasizes one God God who is the source of all knowledge God who is the source of all understanding all that is right and wrong is according to God's wisdom and perfection whether we want to make comparisons or not we know that the source of all truth the source of all that is true is God and so everything everything we know everything we learn everything we do everything we say is is in accordance with the wisdom of God it's according to his wisdom according to his perfection and our right our righteousness our rightness is fulfilled in Christ for us wisdom books are filled with poetry and prose but don't let this stop you from loving the Psalms don't let this stop you from loving the books of wisdom and don't let it stop you or intimidate you from turning to the Psalms I know so oftentimes with the book of Psalms it is either oh I love the Psalms or oh my gosh I'm trying to get through the Psalms because it's it's very high high nature with with the writing it's very very high uh verbiage and and so it's we get lost or we can get lost um I personally am not one that sits down often with a book of poetry but Psalms are different the Psalms are different and so even if you do not uh excuse me even if you do not love poetry you can still love the book of Psalms and the books of wisdom um uh uh do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do so Okay, so this is so cool. I also know that there are times in my life when it is absolutely appropriate to to go to the book of Esther and it really speaks and then there are other times in my life when I would I would not understand what I'm supposed to get what I'm supposed to be led in from the book of Esther right does that make sense but in the book of Psalms as we turn to the Psalms maybe it's Psalm 23 that I need in this very moment maybe it's the first Psalm maybe it's the last Psalm maybe it's Psalm 119 speaking of God's word maybe it's Psalm 51 and I will full confession here Psalm 51 I go to a lot a lot but it's I think that one and this is a biased opinion that one just gets right to the heart of man and to the heart of God love Psalm 51 So I'm going to stop talking about it right now because I can't stop I love it So Luther also calls the Psalter the spirits summary of the whole Bible he says the Psalter should be precious to us if only because it most clearly promises the death and resurrection of Christ and describes his kingdom and the nature and standing of all Christian people it could well be entitled a little Bible since everything contained in the entire Bible is beautifully and briefly comprehended and compacted into a manual it seems to me as if the Holy Ghost had been pleased to take on himself the trouble of putting together a short Bible touching the whole of Christianity in order that they who are unable to read the whole Bible may never the last never the last find almost the whole sum comprehended in one little book the Psalter is the very heragon of books don't be scared of the book of Psalm we are going to have a great time going through this I hope and I pray that our study will open the book of Psalms for each of us for every single one of us and and that we will be able to weave it into our life of prayer into our prayer life because it is God's own word given to us that we get to recite to pray right back to him and we don't have to worry if we're eloquent when we pray we don't have to worry if we're getting exactly what we're trying to portray because we are praying God's own words to him and that's a beautiful thing that is a beautiful thing Blessed, Lord God, we give you thanks for the opportunity to gather in your house on this the Lord's day. Well it matters we know that one of the things that happened was Luther standing up for God's word and standing up for the truth of both his law and his gospel it really was the push that others needed others who were not happy with the church at large and saw the corruption also in their own countries it really pushed that ability for others who saw the need for reform to bring reform into their own countries into their own cities and so we saw a lot of ripple throughout Europe and then throughout the world where there was a lot of reform so if you think about it we had the church right we had the church then we had the Roman church and the Eastern Orthodox church so we had this split which if you study the Eastern Orthodox church that just like the Roman church turned Protestantism in the oh my goodness with the reformation so there are some ups and downs some bumps and trials within the Eastern Orthodox religion as well and there are splits that happened there as well as so they've got denominations within the church there too so then we so we had those then then within the Western church all of a sudden after the reformation that's where we see a lot of different branches or denominations within the Christian faith start to really take off and others was really interesting there was a study done and it said that it estimates or estimations show that there are more than 200 Christian denominations in the US and a staggering 45,000 globally according to the center for the study of global Christianity so one of I would say one of the problems with coming out of the reformation and the split with so many denominations is that just like anything that is good can go wonky you think about it there are denominational splits throughout history over just arguments nothing theological just an argument and then there are theological arguments also that lead to splits and denominations but there was one one colleague or cohort of mine in seminary who talked about a small town I believe is in Colorado a small town in Colorado that you walk down the street and there's church after church after church after church and how those how those churches came to be was that this family and this church was angry with this family of this church so then they were going to go ahead and start this church and so that entire town was infested with anger churches right so so there can be some issues and and so out of the reformation then you have people like Zwingli in Switzerland who who wants to reform is inspired by Luther and but then he does not like what Luther which Luther is saying no we're basing we're pulling everything all of our theology is coming out of scripture and and so then there's this big split over the Lord's Supper over communion and and and that's where and infant baptism we get a big split out of that and then you've got the anabaptists running out and and coming out of that and so there are a lot of splits in the Christian church that came out of the reformation which was not started with the intention of splitting the church at all it was started with the intention of being unified in scripture but then man gets involved and we go right so so that is how we have so many so many split so many denominations and the reformation really emboldened people and that is it's wonderful but it also has some difficult consequences and and that doesn't take away from the need for the reform it doesn't take away from the power of the reformation and and God's work in it but I think it's important that we see the big picture and and we see what can happen uh when we take over something and so then that leads us to today does the reformation still matter I mean because we have enough denominations we can all almost everyone in the world has access to God's word so does the reformation I mean we're not we're not needing that anymore we're not you know I mean you know are the same benefits the same matters the same uh purpose of the reformation do they does it pertain today yes yes absolutely what came out of the reformation is so important um think of the solace the solace faith alone grace alone word alone if we don't have that in the church that is where we go wonky do and never come back we have to stick and maintain even in our modern church today grace alone faith alone word alone it's vital that we as a Christian people know the word not just know about the word that there is a word but that we know the word looser when he was told to recant um he said unless I am convinced by scripture and plain reason I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils for they have contradicted each other my conscience is captive to the word of God I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe God help me amen we have to go back to God's word over and over and over again it is part of our call as God's sheep to know the shepherd and how do we know the shepherd Jesus tells us my sheep know my voice and we have God's voice speaking to us from his word that is where we know the shepherd and so that word alone that solar scriptura out of the reformation is absolutely vital for us to hold onto the reformation really opened up to us to all of the Christian church the word which is the grace of God it is the holiness of his law and it is the grace of his mercy the promise of life for us and one of the um we'll call it a bugaboo one of the bugaboo's that I have as a pastor as a Christian as a mom as a person with kind of the Christian church at large is that we like it easy we like life easy we like life convenient and so we take that love of convenience that love of easy and we bring it right into our faith lives and we don't invest and I don't mean like a stock market investing right I mean like we don't invest in knowing the truth of God's word and so we'll pick up a book that says this is from a pastor but it's from a pastor who denies the Trinity so that's not a Christian book or we pick up a devotional book that claims these are new words of Jesus Christ but God in various and old ways spoke to people of old by the prophets but now in these last days he has spoken to us by his word that is not this devotional the word is complete in the Bible that we have been given and so we can't exchange the fullness of God's word for for a variety of feel good or self-empowered theology this is where the reformation is so vital for us today and we are all we are all in the sermon today we talk about the the talents that God gives us and and the generosity and and he gives to each of his servants according to their ability we are not all called to the same to the same place right we are not all called if we were all called as preachers then we are all going to be talking over each other right but we are all called as the sheep to know our shepherd and to know him intimately he already knows us intimately and so we are called to know him and called to know him better and we do that by diving in to his word and so so okay so um so what I want us to take out of this study from the reformation I mean it's a great historical study it's fascinating to know how things move shift change um so that's just from a historical perspective that's a fun study to do but it also has a practical study for us or a practical purpose application for us today as Christians we are called to dig in to study to not only know about God but to know God and we do that by digging in by diving in to our bibles and not everything in the Bible is going to be easy to um to discern but we have a long history of church fathers of theologians who will walk with us through those passages we have certain passages in scripture that are difficult but we know that it's there for a reason and that's why we turn to good sound foundational sources we first look to scripture to interpret scripture and then we look to solid theologians to help us to walk with us um pastor eyeball myself Steve David we are here also to walk with you um and as you know I mean I'm more than happy to jump in and study if I don't know something it's fun um we have uh the small catechism what a great place to start the small catechism just very basic explanations very very basic guidance with God's word and with our Christian beliefs we have small groups and there are small groups that are doctrinally founded there are small groups that are um on biblical studies biblical Bible or biblical books we have um different Bible studies for men and women for kids and have you ever heard that the best way to learn is to teach okay so think about someone someone in your life who needs to be taught who can be taught who can you teach because we all have at least one person in our life that need grace alone faith alone word alone and as Christ's disciple that is our call to know our shepherd and then to share it so that his flock continues to grow and be called to him so I hope that you understand the significance of the reformation um not only in history but uh but really in our lives even today and does anyone have any questions or thoughts yes yeah yeah yeah can I explain what we mean by grace alone word alone faith alone so um yes absolutely so so with the early church um in in Catholicism bless you um we had uh it was a matter of I needed to do in order to have righteousness and um and so we are not made righteous and we are not saved by anything that we do but it is only by the grace of God that we are saved it is only by the grace of God that we are called into faith and that faith in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior saves us and so we find that it is through God's word alone that um that we are led that we are taught that we are saved that we are um that we know God and because there were even just in the very first early church with the Apostles there was a um uh uh uh the judyisers who were saying you know yes we are saved by grace saved by faith plus by doing this by doing these works by maintaining these ceremonies by keeping up with this law of the Jewish law this you know this mosaic law does that make sense? okay yes does it make sense now okay good yes so it's not anything we do it's not anything we can do um it is it is God and God alone which is really hard even for us who say face alone grace alone word alone that alone can be a real tricky thing because um we are all about together we are all about how do I get to pitch in um and what do I need to do in order to gain this this or this right so this is emptying ourselves of our pride um emptying ourselves of thinking that we have anything to offer because we don't not in matters of salvation huh no oh goodness we really no we don't so there is so okay so this is getting into um decision theology where there is a synergistic indecision theology there is an idea that there is a synergistic um happening in our salvation that we have a part to play but if we have any part to play at all then why can't we do most of it or all of it there's um the Mormon church teaches that um that we are saved by grace after we've done everything else that we can so that's still a synergistic and and that's a whole different Mormonism is not a Christian non-denomination we can go there another time but um so then but but this is a monogistic salvation that Christ and Christ alone saved us polygianism or semi-pollegianism is um is the idea that that we are born with that little spark of goodness that we can do something um to earn you know or we can participate with God in our salvation but we can't scripture is very clear that we are born as enemies of God we are born with evil in our heart that we are intent on um on I'm trying to be polite about this but it's like um it's like shove off God I mean right that is that is kind of that is how we are born we are born not wanting to seek God we are born blind to God and in his grace and his mercy he calls us through his gospel we hear both his law convicting us showing us our sin and we hear his promise of salvation so God calls us to himself if Eeson says it is not by our own work it's a gift from God we are called to him and so we respond when Lazarus was called out of the tomb of death he didn't have to sit in there covered going I hear Jesus calling me should I get up right no he hears that and I don't I'm honestly not trying to be like snarky at all like he hears that called Lazarus come out Lazarus live by my word by my calling and Lazarus comes out there isn't a choice now once we are called into faith we have choices of matters this side of heaven right but the salvation we do not have a choice in we are called and invited by Christ we don't invite him he has invited us he told his disciples you did not choose me I chose you I have called you and that is the same today it is he who called us yeah yeah right right absolutely so it's it's a reversal of the choice so instead of and I'm hoping I'm going to say this right because I know I got to sort this so instead of like there are some Christian denominations that that say you need to make a choice to follow Jesus and then after that everything becomes under God's will Jesus what shoes should I wear today Jesus what direction should I take at this stop sign right and it's the reverse it's the reverse of that it is I have called you as my child I have made a choice about you you are mine all right I am a Christian which way should I go well this seems right and good to me Lord protect me and you go and it's we have free choice in matters of earthly things this side of heaven this kingdom we have free choice but God has called us so all right I don't know if we have any time for anymore anything else nothing deep okay this has been such a fun study really really fun so I thank you so much for going on a ride through the reformation with me and I'm really excited about pastors numbers class so anyway if you have any other thoughts or questions anything you can always email me and I will eventually get to it all right God bless Hello and welcome to our fourth session in this class entitled, Trees in which we take a biblical examination of some of the trees that we see in Holy Scripture. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate he ascended into heaven is seated at the right hand of the Father same thing he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead his kingdom will have no end then moving over to the Athenation creed we read that the Father is one person the Son is another the Spirit is another but the deity of the Father Son and Holy Spirit is one equal in glory co-eternal and in majesty what the Father is the Son is and so is the Holy Spirit uncreated is the Son the Son is infinite eternal is the Son Almighty is the Son the Son is God the Son is Lord the Son was neither made nor created but was alone begotten of the Father he has taken humanity into himself he does not transform deity into humanity it's very important again that's holding those two full natures with one another as complete and whole truth those are from the creeds but those words that we hear from from that the the only Son we hear that in scripture and that's exactly where we're going to turn now let's go to John the the gospel of John that's the fourth gospel and we're just going right to that first chapter this first chapter when you really sit there and think and read through it and ponder and meditate on what it means and what is really being written and said here it can become overwhelming just the the heavy truth of it it's absolutely gorgeous so John the first chapter we're going to look first at verses one through three in the beginning was the word so in the beginning we have that in another place in scripture Genesis in the beginning in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God he was in the beginning with God all things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being so here we have it set up that there's this word the word was not only with God but the word was God that is absolutely trinitarian in in its nature and it's in its patterns words that this word which in the Greek is logos or logos this is held up as as that that which is with God in the beginning and not only with God but was God this is where we get that from the Athenation Creed the Sun is infinite eternal is the Sun right we have this uncreated that he is with God continuing on with verses 14 through 18 the word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory the glory as of a father's only son full of grace and truth John testified to him and cried out this was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace the law indeed was given through Moses grace and truth came through Jesus Christ no one has ever seen God it is God the only son who is close to the father's heart who has made him known so we know God and God is revealed through the person of Jesus Christ Jesus himself tells us this which we will get to let's look at the birth of Christ we had this reading earlier today in service or we'll have it in a little bit in service Matthew 1 so go over you're going to flip backwards to the first gospel which is Matthew and this is about the birth of Jesus the Messiah bless you so skipping down into into verse the last verse in or last sentence in verse 18 she was found this Mary was found to be with child from the holy spirit then jumped down to verse 20 when Joseph had resolved to to dismiss Mary quietly an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for the child conceived in her is from the holy spirit you are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins and this is what fulfills the prophet the words of the prophet look the virgin shall conceive in baris son and they shall name him in manual which means God is with us so again we have that set up right from the beginning in this birth telling or retelling of Christ that he is conceived of the holy spirit that he will be named Jesus that he will be called Emmanuel which means God is with us let's go over to the gospel of Luke the first chapter that's the third so you're going to go through Matthew past mark and find yourself in Luke the first chapter and starting in verse 30 this is where the angel has come to Mary to tell her well we'll read it the angel said to her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God and now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom there will be no end Mary said to the angel how can this be since I am a virgin the angel said to her the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you therefore the child to be born will be holy he will be called son of God again that birth story or the coming birth story the angel stating this is this is the son of God he will be called holy name him Jesus so we're getting before he's even born we're getting this set up by the angel through the holy spirit that that Christ will be conceived by the holy spirit and that he will be indeed the son of God here God with us in the solid declaration in the formula of concord so that's part of the book book of concord the confessions the Lutheran confessions it says it reads that he demonstrated his divine majesty in his mother's womb in that he was born of a virgin without violating her virginity I thought that was very poignant that even before birth Christ was proving himself to be God in that he was conceived within a virgin by the power of the holy spirit but she in her virginity was not violated right I think that's that's a really poignant poignant remark there so that was one demonstration of his divine nature he had humbled himself and he was found to be in human form but Jesus did reveal his divine nature in his earthly ministry let's go back oh you know what let's stick in Luke because we're here already and we're just going to go down to Luke 2 verses 41 or picking up in 41 and we're going to we're going to kind of skip ahead this is where Jesus was lost and I say that with air quotes they thought he was lost in Jerusalem so Mary and Joseph turned back to find him they found him on verse 46 after three days they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers when his parents saw him they were astonished and his mother said to him child why have you treated us like this look your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety he said to them why were you searching for me did you not know that I must be in my father's house but they did not understand what he said to them then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them his mother treasured all these things in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor so he knew he was in his father's house can you imagine a 12 year old speaking with such authority and such wisdom amongst these learned rabbis that there was even in his young age it he was already revealing his divinity just by his wisdom so now let's go over to John the second chapter where we have Jesus first miracle at the wedding at Cana John chapter 2 on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding when the wine gave out the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine and Jesus said to her woman what concern is that to you and me my hour has not yet come his mother said to his servants do whatever he tells you now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rights of purification each holding 20 or 30 gallons Jesus said to them fill the jars with water and they filled them up to the brim he said to them now draw some out and take it to the chief steward so they took it when the steward tasted the water that had become wine and did not and did not know where it came from though the servants who had drawn the water new the steward called the bridegroom and said to him everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after their guests have become drunk but you have kept the good wine until now Jesus did this the first of his signs in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him so this is his first miracle that he performed he is revealing his glorified nature he's revealing his divine nature through that miracle if we go over to John 11 we see another incredible miracle in the raising of Lazarus we're going to start with verse 25 because I think this is a really important I don't think I just think but this is period a really important statement that Jesus makes about himself in verse 25 Jesus says to Lazarus's sister I am the resurrection and the life those who believe in me even though they die will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die he is declaring himself to be the resurrection let's go down to verses 38 through 44 Jesus again greatly disturbed came to the tomb it was a cave and a stone was lying against it Jesus said take away the stone Martha the sister of the dead man said to him Lord already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days Jesus said to her did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God so they took away the stone and Jesus looked upward and said Father I thank you for having heard me I knew that you always hear me but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here so that they may believe and that that you sent me when he said this he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come out the dead man came out his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go this only God could do the man had been dead and I know that that Paul does call someone back to life but this it's done in the name of Jesus right and here we have Jesus praying he's saying this is done to show his glory to show the Father's glory rather and it's it's very important to realize and this is something that I like to draw attention to when we're called into faith it is just as Christ called Lazarus right he said come out Lazarus didn't him and ha he didn't sit in the cave saying I don't know is this the choice I want to make right he just came he was called and he came and that is that is how we are called into faith we are dead in our sin we are dead in our trespasses we may as well be Lazarus physically dead we're dead and then Christ calls us into faith and we respond not because we make a choice but Christ has made that choice for us and has called us into faith by name we're about out of time I've got some more okay hold on okay I know I've got so in John 14 it tells us that Jesus is the revelation of the Father Philip Jesus is talking to Philip and Philip is saying where are you going and where are you going and and he says that Philip could believe because of all the works that Jesus had performed through his divine nature he was able to perform all of these works and that Philip could believe through those works by witnessing those works if not by the words alone but again those works always point to the word they always point to the truth that Christ is God in Philippians 2 6 through 11 it says though he was in the form of God he did not require a regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself taking the form of a slave being born in human likeness he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name so at that name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father in collagens to verse 9 it says in him in Jesus the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily second Peter has more we're going to go into this more next next class period where we'll also look at the transfiguration where Jesus glory is shown and revealed before three of his disciples so if you have questions ha ha that's the there you go no time for questions today ha ha ha ha if you have questions email me and we will pick up here on the first of January so not next week but the following week in 2020 we will pick up with the divinity of Christ Well, we continue on in our study this morning. A carousine burning stove were all strangely puzzling to the inquisitive swamp merchants clinging together for moral support they watched the two on and the neonia that his wife with their baby they observed closely as the two on lifted a steaming bowl of food and began serving some of it onto his plate their eyes growing wide with mingle fascination and horror they glanced at each other and trembled then one of them put into words what they were all thinking a semmol hap ke maken these were a cannibal people they ate other humans but they never ate the brain they never ate the brain and so they ran out into the tribe and they were telling everyone about this to on who was eating brains it's true one of them exclaimed in words unintelligible to us it's true indeed the two on his eating brains wondering what the excitement was all about i lifted another fork full of macaroni to my lips it's a different world two world colliding how how was he going to be able to share the gospel of jesus christ with these people it was very very difficult the the warring villages of the sawi people had come together there were three tribes that had come together in the excitement of the two on and his family being there these three tribes that stayed at a distance from one another at all times unless they were hunting one another or seeking revenge because they were bound to war with one another if they got in close proximity but all of them wanted to be close to this white spirit all of them wanted to figure out what was happening all of them wanted the steel act and the match stick and the razors and the tin cups they were so excited about these tin cups because they would hold water otherwise they would go to the river throw up water into the air and try to catch it in their mouth because that was the same way to drink their water so they all wanted to be there and so dawn is trying to figure out how to speak to these people that are constantly warring with each other constantly fighting with each other he's trying to learn a language that had no written form he's just picking up what he can and making his many notes and writing everything he can to figure out how this language works and he's supposed to take this and communicate Jesus how is that going to happen and not with a very peaceful people though they were kind to him and his wife at that point so he gets to the point of trying to share Jesus trying to share the good news I spoke of God creating man in the midst of a beauty is some of the world the advent of evil into the human community the age old promise of a deliverer and finally the wondrous appearance of that deliverer I was approaching the climax of my narrative describing the ministry of Jesus among the Jewish people when suddenly my own yawned out loud and reached for his knife in a piece of split vine lying on the map beside him he was bored he didn't care about the story he didn't care about what he was hearing only once did my presentation win a ringing response from the them I was describing Judas is scary it's the trail of the son of God about halfway through the description I noticed they were all listening intently they noted the details for three years Judas had kept close company with Jesus sharing the same food traveling the same road at the climax of the story Maum who had whistle or who had yawned earlier whistled a bird called admiration Connie and several others touched their fingertips to their chest and off still others chuckled at first I sat there confused then the realization broke through they were claiming Judas as the hero of the story yes Judas the one whom I had portrayed as the satanically motivated enemy of truth and goodness and Connie leaned forward and exclaimed that was real to a son I man to a son I means to do with a man as one would do with a pig to fatten him with friendship for an unsuspected slaughter I saw now that the saw we were not only cruel but honored cruelty their highest pleasure depended upon the misery and despair of others overt killing no longer held real pleasure for them they would even risk letting an intended victim escape in order to pursue the more sophisticated ideal expressed in to a son I man that was why the story of Judas is scary it had aroused them it had touched the cold for of their psyche awakening a deep almost the blimminal response Judas was a super saw and Christ the object of Judas's treachery meant nothing to the men in the man house they honored the cruelty they honored the betrayal and the treachery they thought that was an ideal they lived to find the greatest treachery they could they lived to kill their enemy by tricking him first by inviting him in befriending him fattening him with friendship in order to betray him and kill him and eat him it was great honor in that culture so dawn was kind of stuck he's finally at a point where he can share Jesus and they hear about Jesus and they're cheering for Judas he knows the word he can speak with the saw he tribes but it doesn't matter because there is no hope for peace among these people there is no hope for them to understand Jesus in the words that he's using because even when someone is befriended in these tribes there is no guarantee that it's real there's no guarantee that these relationships these feelings these good vibes with these other tribes is real there's no trust there at all and so dawn is stuck because he's got three tribes of the sawi people living near him fighting with one another every single day no one had been killed at that point but he knew it was coming there was bloodshed every day over minor things in dawn's perspective and so he finally realized and announced Carol and Stephen and I need to leave you need to be able to live bar a part because there will be no peace amongst you if we stay you need to be in distance from each other so he announced that they were leaving and quickly the tribal leaders had meetings in each of their tribes and all my life long they were talking and they dawn and his wife could hear talking all night from these different tribal camps and in the morning they met together in a scene where the tribes were coming together the women were wailing and clawing at the men the men were carrying their children and don't know what was going on and so he watched and he saw two leaders kio and maehore they stood face to face maehore kio challenged will you plead the words of kimura among your people yes maehore responded I will plead the words of kimura among my people then I give you my son and with him my name and kio held for his son and maehore received him gently into his arms and then maehang held a lot one of his baby sons and cried kio will you plead the words of him and among your people yes then I give you my son and with him my name I give you my son and with him my name and don't watch as each of these men carried the other man's baby to his respective tribe and don't couldn't decide if he should stop this if they were going to kill these baby what was going on he didn't know what to do but he was also extremely curious at what was taking place he announced that he was going to leave because there could be no peace and all of the sudden these men are giving each other their babies and walking away and he didn't know what was happening and so he asked he asked a young man and the man said kio had given his son to him as a tarot tim a peace child and the hand in return has given a tarot tim to us why is this necessary I asked to on you have been urging us to make peace don't you know it's impossible to have peace without a peace child among the sawi demonstration of friendship with suspect except one if a man would actually give his own son to two his enemies that man could be trusted so they had a peace child and of course dawn Richard's in realized there's a way there's a way to communicate this there's a way to communicate after all when dawn had given up all hope when dawn thought there was absolutely no way to reach these people with the gospel of Jesus Christ right there in their own culture prepared way before dawn had ever heard of the sawi tried prepared for him for that moment to bring the gospel they had something within their culture within their culture of hate and cruelty they had something that was the peace child because my okodon this is dawn talking and he had named god in the sawi language he said my okodon it's the greatest spirit that's how he could explain who god is because my my okodon wants men to find peace with him and with each other he decided to choose a once for all tarot child good enough and strong enough to establish peace not just for a while but forever because all of the peace children that these warring tribes would give to each other eventually that that child would die because we all die as human beings and so then that war would pick up again until another peace child was offered and so he explained that Jesus because none of man's peace children were good enough that god had to send his own son to establish that peace forever for among all human children there was no son good enough or strong enough to be an eternal tarot I paused and searched their faces the curiosity level was rising whoever did he choose asked Mahane toasting a stick of beetle grubs over his cooking fire I answered with another question did kio give another man's son or his own he gave his own son they replied did you make him give another man's son or your own I gave my own he replied remembering the agony so did god they all it's that it clicked with them it made sense they heard it may have looked at me and asked if he the one you've been telling us about Jesus he's the very one I replied but you said a friend betrayed him if Jesus was a tarot it was very wrong to betray him we have a name for that we call it tarot gummon it's the worst thing anyone could do you're right again I said looking at me and in the eye despising the tarot child of god is the worst thing anyone can do I'm used inwardly before this moment jude jude has been a super saw me now now he was a villain tell us more man said laying aside his stick of toasted beetle grubs finally it made sense finally dawn had broken through with their own customs that still were not enough but Jesus Jesus the great spirit gave his son Jesus and all of a sudden it clicked and from there he started to be able to open up more and more of the gospel in this culture and language and try tried that had otherwise been closed at best and he was able to get the gospel into their lives and they started converting and he had some of the elders in the tribes who converted to Christianity and the peace children those two boys they grew up one died a young man that he was a Christian and the other one ended up getting getting educated and coming back to teach and he also lived a Christian life and think within those tribes how many they were able to save of that indigenous people just incredible I love that story so not only not only did dawn need the words of peace he needed that to click that message of peace through Jesus Christ he also needed the people to be of peace and open to receiving that word and that's nothing that dawn had done that was prepared beforehand by the grace of God that there would be a moment in their heart and hearts where they would be open they would be people of peace to hear that word and to receive that joy and that forgiveness so I wanted to share that story with you and if any of you ever want to read this you're welcome to borrow it it's a it's a fascinating fascinating story I'm still reading about cannibals who was twisted so our our gospel or our scriptural person of peace or experience of peace we're going to open up to act the 10th chapter it's the story of Peter and Cornelius and they spoke the same language they could understand each other but Peter was he was a Christian that at that point you know in Acts he was you know sharing the news of Jesus but he was sharing with other Jews and Cornelius was you the Gentile so it was still two cultures that were colliding still two cultures that could easily talk past one another but Cornelius Cornelius had been prepared by God he knew he knew that there was something and so it says if we pick up in verse 1 in Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius a centurion of the Italian co-hort as it was called he was a devout man who feared God with all his household he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God that interesting he had not heard of Jesus at this point or Jesus Christ as the Savior who did not have that belief in Jesus but he was praying to God and giving alms he was starting his heart was warmed he was ready to receive and one afternoon at about three o'clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him Cornelius he stared at him in terror and said what is it Lord he answered your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God now send men to Jafa for a certain Simon who is called Peter he is lodging with Simon and Tanner whose house is by the seas seaside and when the angel who spoke to him had left he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him and after telling them everything he sent them to Jafa we continue with Peters side about noon the next day as they were on their journey and approaching the city Peter went up to the roof to pray he became hungry and wanted something to eat and while it was being prepared he fell into a trance he saw the heaven opened in something like a large sheet coming down being lowered to the ground by its four corners in it were all kinds of for footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air then he heard a voice saying get up Peter kill and eat but Peter said by no means Lord for I have never eaten anything that is good but he was a profane or unclean the voice said to him again a second time what God has made clean you must not call profane this happened three times and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had had or had seen suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared they invite him they tell him to come he goes to Cornelius and we're going to pick up we're going to pick up just a couple verses later in verse 23 the second part the next day he got up and went with them and some of the believers from Japa accompanied them the following day they came to Cessaria Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends on Peter's arrival Cornelius met him and falling at his feet worshipped him but Peter made him get up saying stand up I'm only immortal like the two on the two on the saw we people thought that Don Richardson was a spirit that he was a God of thought and Don had to correct them and say no no no no no get up just as Cornelius had to be told get up don't worship me I am not God and as he talked with him he went in and found that many had assembled and he said to them you yourself know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean so when I was sent for I came without objection now may I ask why you sent for me he was making it clear we have different cultures we are a different people but God has shown to me that you are not profane why am I here right we've got two cultures meeting not colliding meeting two people had been prepared for this Cornelius had been prepared Peter had been prepared for this and Peter picking up down in verse 34 Peter began to speak to them I truly understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him you know the message he sent to the people of Israel preaching peace by Jesus Christ he is Lord of all that message spread throughout Judea beginning in Galilee after the baptism and John announced how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him we are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem they put him to death by hanging him on a tree but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name he had the opening from Cornelius you have a word for me Peter what is this word the saw we tried they wanted to hear what Dawn had to say they didn't know what he had to say and it didn't click Cornelius knew he wanted to hear what Peter had to say and what does Peter tell him he tells him exactly who Jesus was exactly what happened to Jesus and exactly who Jesus is picking up in 44 while Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God then Peter said can anyone withhold water for baptising these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have so he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ then they invited him to stay for several days good news good news shared and think when this when this word of the gospel when the good news of Jesus Christ was opened to the Gentiles it continued to spread out and out and out that is how we have this word because Cornelius was open to it Peter was told by God that the Gentiles were not profane take this word to them Cornelius heard it his family heard it his household heard it they were filled with the Holy Spirit they were baptized and they took that message out to their whole household was baptized their whole household was converted these tribes the men of the tribes the others of the tribes heard the word of the Lord and they were baptized and they took it out God's word is promised to reach the ends of the earth and it does God's word is performative it does what it says and that's where this is so exciting to see these real people from scripture and from real today history that they took this word of the Lord and they reached out and they reached across barriers and they've reached across language barriers and they've reached across other cultures and they've shared Jesus and Jesus as the word of God does what he said and he forgives sin and he brings and calls them calls us as sinners to himself so what this means I guess for us today is that we don't quite know always who God is calling us to be amongst and sometimes there are these absolutely impossible situations like dawn where I got to wash my hands of this I need to leave because this isn't working I'm not getting through we don't ever know who God is calling us to be amongst but he is always preparing a way for us he's always preparing people preparing their hearts to hear the word of the Lord and if God was open an entry point with a savage and cannibalistic people certainly he has opened an entry point for you and for I to share our faith with someone maybe our favorite barista at the coffee shop maybe our children the other parents at our children's sports events maybe a coworker maybe someone in Chicago or Navajo New Mexico or Costa Rica or Dove Elementary we never know who God is preparing for us to share that word with but we know he's preparing it and we know we have that word so even when we're called out of our comfort zone even when we called into a new culture we have the word and we will be given that moment that in like the peace child will have that connecting moment with whom we're supposed to be sharing the gospel so learn the people learn the people that you interact with learn about who they are where they come from that's the beauty of being everyday missionaries as we are we get to learn our neighbors we get to learn the different cultures and what makes people tick and then we get to share the word and we need to remember that we're not the savior Jesus is we're not swooping in to save anyone Jesus has already saved us we get to deliver that news so that other people may be saved as well we are the messengers Jesus is the savior and God has prepared for us the peace child whatever that may be because God gave us his peace child I feel like I have to end saying that's really good news it's just incredible so I really I really do encourage you to to go out this week and keep in mind who God is putting in your lives and the different cultures even if it's someone from the Northeast if that's the different culture then why is God putting that person in your life and how can you connect and how can you share Jesus you Would you open your Bibles, please?

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