 Let's begin our study mark chapter 1 verses 29. We'll start at verse 29 or read verses 29 through 31. We'll get into our study. Oh Yeah, one last thing. I forgot to read this I'll just read it all married engaged in dating couples are invited to join us for our couples conference on Friday evening August 20th from 7 to 9 and then on Saturday August 21st from 8 30 to 1 PM Our conference will include teachings From Jason and Christie Duff. They're going to be Jason's going to be doing teaching They're going to do a workshop also they're from the Garden Fellowship as well as Larry Powers and Workshops will be available child care is not provided The cost is $20 a couple and you can register online or stop by the gazebo after services to register and registration is open through August 15th if you're married Engaged a dating couple these these are the kinds of things that you want to be involved in so I invite you to be part of that again That's in August and it's from the 20th. It's on the 20th and the 21st All right. Here we are mark chapter 1 verse 29 and Reading to verse 31 Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue they entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever and they told him About her at once so he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and Immediately the fever left her and she served them So let's begin this we're looking at a healing that the Lord Jesus Christ performed and and in order to introduce that Let me give you a little background a little development so we can see this in some context We need to remember as you read your Bible that when Adam fell The once perfect world was immediately changed God's intention was that man would enjoy his presence forever But this has changed when Adam disobeyed and took of that forbidden fruit You see when sin entered into the world death entered also into the world Romans 5 12 says therefore just as sin entered the world through one man and Death through sin in this way death came to all people because all sinned When it says because all sinned we need to know that Adam was what has been called the federal head of humanity And what happened is he passed on to all human beings his own nature is fallen nature It's a nature that we all possess and that's the reason why there's so much evil on planet earth It isn't simply the environment that produces sin and sinners Adam was in the perfect environment yet. He's still sin As we see in revelation when Jesus rules in the Millennium people will still die At the end of Jesus's thousand year reign on earth Satan will be released from his prison He'll deceive nations. He'll gather an army. He'll launch a final assault on believers And we saw when we studied revelation recently in chapter 20 verse 9 How it says they went up from the breath of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and fire Came down from God out of heaven and devoured them And we saw that those are the last living unbelievers and they were going to be dealt with and will be dealt with immediately But even under perfect conditions man still sins We have a nature a Nature that is a sinful nature that needs to be redeemed and So with sin came sickness and obviously sickness leads to death Sickness and suffering serve as reminders that we live in a broken world And Romans 822 it says we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time Well, the short length of our lives reminds us that one day we will die Psalm 39 verse 5 says you indeed have made my days as hand breaths. My lifetime is nothing before you Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath and then he said sela Think about that That should serve as motivation this knowledge that We will one day die out of serve as a motivation for us to be prepared for its Inevitability and Psalm 90 verse 10 it says our days may come to 70 years or 80 if our strength endures yet The best of them are but trouble and sorrow for they quickly pass And we fly away So that's why Jesus came to earth to save people from God's wrath in First Thessalonians 5 verse 9 God didn't appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ Because it's appointed unto men to die and after this judgment Jesus came in order that we might be saved that we would not enter into a time of judgment that would Eventuate in God pouring his wrath out on us as unrepentant sinners And so Jesus came he came preaching He came teaching and He also came to bring deliverance from the enemy as well as healing of the sick And that was a preview of when he would rule and reign on planet earth under his rule Satan will be bound forever Sickness will no longer exist and That's being shown to us We see that when we just saw last time together that he had delivered a man who was demon possessed and now It's going to be revealed to us as he heals Peter's mother-in-law So it says in verse 29 as soon as they had come out of the synagogue They entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John and so On the same day that Jesus delivered the demonized man. He went into Simon's house the synagogue service had ended Most likely it would end around noon The first four men that he had called would have attended that service with him They had heard his teaching and they had seen what he had done when he had delivered this man who was demon possessed And so notice how they're entering the house of Simon and Andrew this this house was located near to the synagogue It was very large. It was large enough to house Peter his wife Andrew his family Peter's mother-in-law. We've been there many times in this area. It's called Capernaum and They have on the site of what they believe was the traditional site at least of Peter's Peter's home. They have a church there that you can actually go and look at if you want to we don't ever enter in We just stand on the outside and see it looks like a spaceship to be honest with you But we've been there many times and it was a good-sized plot And and so it was actually more than just a house if you're thinking in terms of homes and all in Peter's home It was more like a complex one writer said that it would have had an inner court with a millstone for grinding It had hand presses for oil the stairway to upper-level rooms for family to live in it had access to the roof We know that Peter and his brother and friends were successful businessmen. They lived well They operated a business. They had more than one boat. They had employees I gave them finances to own a good-sized home in Capernaum. And so Jesus went to Simon's house Undoubtedly he went after synagogue for a meal And maybe that Simon had another motivation for having Jesus come to his home because it says in verse 30 Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever. They told him about her at once Well Luke being a physician like to give more details and so in the gospel of Luke chapter 4 It says in verse 38 that she had a very high fever and the word fever and the way they described it would give us Insight that it was due to an infection that she had He also went on in Luke 4 38 to say that they made a request of him concerning her Well, since she was in his home, Peter had hoped that Jesus he had he was in his home Peter had hoped that Jesus would bring healing to her. She was very sick She was unable to get out of bed It was difficult for her because it would have been ungracious for her not to greet the gas She's unable to come to him And that would have grieved her so what does it say? Well in verse 31 It says he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up Immediately the fever left her and she served Again Luke tells us in chapter 4 verse 39 he stood over her and rebuked the fever and It left her immediately. She rose and served them that word rebuked when it says he stood over and rebuked It means to forbid or admonish We had seen earlier that Jesus had rebuked an unclean spirit when he delivered this demon-possessed man And now he speaks in similar manner to a fever and the illness departs Later on we're going to see how Jesus rebukes the wind in the sea that threatened to swamp a boat He was in in mark 34 chapter 4 It says he arose and rebuked the wind said to the sea peace be still the wind ceased and there was a great calm So whenever Jesus rebuked something the effects were immediate. He healed her completely immediately and without asking for a financial contribution Now I want to close this section with two thoughts and this is something I think is practical enough to bring up The first thing is the obvious thing Simon was married Jesus healed his mother-in-law His marriage continued around 25 years past the ministry of Jesus. How do we know that first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 5? Paul said have we not power to lead about a sister a wife as well as other apostles as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas Cephas was the apostle Peter and we know that first Corinthians was written 25 years later It was written in 8056 That means it's not necessary for a minister to be unmarried He could wish that he wasn't married, but it's not necessary for a minister to be unmarried Sometimes we think that you're more spiritual if you're a salivate or an unmarried person Salibacy can be a spiritual decision that is made to serve God completely in Matthew 19 verse 12 Jesus said some men are salivate from birth Some are salivate because they've been made that way by others But still others are salivate because they have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven Let anyone accept this who can the apostle Peter Was a married man? Jesus healed his mother-in-law and his marriage continued at least 25 years later Into history a second thing after being touched by Jesus. She immediately served him She used her restored health to be abused and service to him as well as to other people So we need to remember that we've been saved to serve We serve Jesus and we serve those who are in need in Galatians 6 verse 10 It says therefore as we have opportunity Let us do good to all people especially those who belong to the family of believers So you've been saved not just to enjoy life on your own You've been saved to serve the Lord. You know that you've been saved I've been saved we've been saved to serve God and to serve one another to do good Because when people see the good they can glorify our God in heaven That's why Jesus said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father and heaven And so one of the traits that I think the church needs to remind itself of that demonstrates that we're saved It's by the kind of life that we live It's a very important thing for us to love one another and love those who were unsaved. It's very important One of the reasons why I think that when you're on Facebook or in social media be aware of that Because there's a lot of rebuking that goes on I see it on I'm not always on Facebook by the way But I do go on on occasion and and I read Advice being given or anger that's being presented and all kinds of weirdness sometimes advices and and We can be unkind to one another be kind be kind to one another. That's a very important thing to do You know, we've been saved to serve the Lord and and and that's an earmark of salvation Someone once said unless a man's faith saves him out of selfishness and into service It will certainly never save him out of hell and into heaven So when the Lord had saved us it's in order to serve him and to serve others And then there's somebody one time I was in Mexico and he approached me and he said, do you know why? Why Peter denied Jesus and I said no he said because Jesus healed his mother-in-law Now I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but I'll just throw that out to you. I'm sorry Now at verse 32 had eveninged when the Sun had set They brought to him all who were sick and those who were demon possessed and the whole city was gathered together at the door Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons and he did not allow the demons to speak because They knew him So people began taking notice of this young rabbi from Nazareth his teaching his preaching His healing ministry is attracting attention After delivering the demon possessed man his fame began to grow around Galilee He healed Peter's mother-in-law people began to hear of this The Sabbath day has ended The people are now beginning to flow out of their houses You see they they would remain in their homes or close by their homes are in the day until Sabbath ended and So now because Sabbath is over they can they can now pour out of their homes and they'll do that when you go to Israel And it's Shabbat. It's Sabbath when you go to Israel Sabbaths usually starts around dusk on Friday and then concludes at dusk on Saturday and Jerusalem we were normally in Jerusalem on Shabbat and When you're there everything shuts down almost every single thing is shut down. There's nothing you do It's a rest day for us Because everything is shut down But after the Shabbat is ended after Sabbath is ended you'll see people coming out of their houses They go into different places we go to a place called Ben Yuta Street where there's a there's a dining and shopping and things And we'll go there and you'll see all the young people a lot of people will come out and they begin to congregate No, they've been doing that for thousands of years or 2,000 years at least since the time of Christ and before that And so they're now able to come out of the house now They're able to go and mingle amongst the people but what they're doing is they're coming to see Jesus Christ Now they waited For Jesus for the Shabbat to be over so that they can seek him out and why is that why would they wait even though There's one who's healing. Why would they wait until it was officially over? Well, it's because they're afraid of their religious leaders The leaders had believed the healing on the Sabbath. It was called physical labor Later on in its ministry on the Sabbath Jesus healed a man who had been born blind Jesus healed him instantly, but the authorities when he did that were outraged about it They said this this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath And so what they did is they sought out his parents and they questioned the parents about him They were sure that the man had not been blind So they asked do you have any proof that this one here is your son and that he was blind And it says in John chapter 9 verses 20 through 23 the parents responded by saying we know he's our son And we know he was born blind But how he can see now or who opened his eyes? We don't know ask him. He's of age He'll speak for himself And John goes on to say his parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders Who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was messiah would be put out of the synagogue And that's why his parents said he's of age ask him They were so concerned because their life was tied up in the life of israel's religion And for them to be ex-communicated to be kicked out of the synagogue Was to put their soul in jeopardy And they weren't willing to do that They were so committed to what they believed in everything that they were part of That they said you have to ask my son ask him. He's of age He can speak for himself because they were afraid that they would be ex-communicated removed from the synagogue And that shows the value that they had other religious beliefs They didn't want to give the impression that they were Sabbath breakers Well, that's taking place here in mark chapter one the same kind of thing But notice in verse 33 it says the whole city was gathered together at the door Now scholars estimate that the population at that time of that city was around 1500 So when it says that the whole city is speaking it's speaking of a good amount that's gathered at peter's door The people were in need they were anxious for christ to bring healing to them They gathered the sick and those they need they brought them to simon's house And they desired jesus to touch them to set them free and that's what friends and that's what family do By the way is you gather your friends and you bring them to the lord You speak to them you share with them one of the things that i think is very important that we need to remember Is to be people who have such a solid walk with god that we can be in evidence of his grace and secondly That we should be those who witness or share our faith or at least Invite people that they might be able to hear the good news of the gospel of jesus christ That's what god has called us to do and that's what they were doing We can do that ourselves you can email somebody you can send them a text message You can you can share on social media you can make a phone call But the most important thing in the best way I think that you can have somebody that talk to them about the lord and and bring the fellowship if you You will issue a personal invitation and and that's what they were doing They were bringing people and and this is because jesus took personal interest in each one of them And the bible tells us he ministered to each one of them and look for verse 40 It says when the sun was setting all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them That's because he's compassionate He's approachable. He's loving He's welcoming There was nothing about christ that would keep people from wanting to come to him There was nothing about him that was intimidating only to the unrighteous could he be intimidating just upon glance or awareness But when these people were sick they had no hesitation They would bring their sick people to jesus christ and he took time and he ministered to every one of them And what he did is he began to reveal his authority and his power He demonstrated his power over sins of facts, which is illness As well as the devil, which is spiritual And those works anticipated the cross which bruised satan's head and broke sins power Though we still suffer and ultimately die death does not have final victory Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 says since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity So that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death That is the devil and Free those listen to what it says and free those who all their lives are held in slavery by their fear of death their fear of death In first chrithians 15 verse 54 paul said when this corruptible has put on in corruption This mortal has put on immortality Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory You know 40 years of Passing this church over 40 years of ministry I've I've seen And quite a number of saints go home to be with jesus And the ones that I knew I didn't know every one of the people in our fellowship who've gone on to be with the lord But in a short period of time even you know, not that long ago We saw quite a number of people pass on into eternity And that's hard. It's never easy It's it's never easy. I've I've officiated at many funerals First funeral that I can remember doing I was around 28 years old and I my very first funeral I ever officiated at was was uh for for a man who was a um A pedophile I I remember the second funeral I ever did was for a man who Committed suicide. I mean One of the other ones was was um officiating over a funeral of a Of a stillborn baby And the pain that each one of the family members had In so many varying degrees I've seen a lot of Of pain over the years. I've seen a lot of hurt And I can tell you this that that's There's never it's never an easy service. It's never easy To perform a service. I I was honored to be able to Perform the service for both my dad and my mom. It's never easy to stand up behind a Pulpit and and talk about what that person meant to others. It's never easy But I can tell you what makes it makes it Bearable is when I have been able to say this person knew jesus christ And to comfort the family To say to the family. It's not It's not goodbye It's I'll see you later Because we have that that hope in us I was asked how was it that you were able to perform the funeral for your father my father's Homegoing was so sudden and and unexpected. How are you able to do that? Because my father when he went home to be the lord, you know, I he died on a thursday I introduced a guest speaker that we had for a thursday night Uh men study that we had at that time I introduced him. I said i've got to go home. My father just passed my dad just died So I went from the hospital My sister rebecca showed up at the hospital I'm sorry at the airport I was waiting at the airport My sister comes in from new mexico. She walks in I had to greet her with the news our dad just daddy just died Then I went in on thursday that night I drove directly from the airport to introduce our guest speaker. I mentioned my father went home to be with the lord That's saturday. We had a servant saturday. I did the servant saturday sunday. I did three services The next wednesday I buried my father and performed a wedding How did you do that? Because of the comfort of the lord because I know where my dad is I didn't lose my father He's with my savior when you have that hope When you have that hope you're able to do things people don't understand But that that that's that's that's how it is guys That's why christ came And jesus came and people had this desire for their sick ones and jesus came to heal them because sickness is tied up with the fall And so he came to demonstrate that he is here. He has a power to he has a power over the devil He has a power over sickness. He's demonstrating this and he's he's helping people and he's healing those who are sick with various diseases Because there's not a single disease that was beyond his power to heal in jeremiah 32 27 It says i'm the lord the god of all mankind is anything too hard for me In psalm 103 verse 3 bless the lord. Oh my soul who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases And so sometimes we don't ask for healing Sometimes we ask not But james said you have not because you asked not And so the wisest thing we can do is ask the lord god you're the you're the god who is able There's nothing too hard for you and i ask in jesus name and if he should heal them bless you lord If not then we have the ultimate healing and we're with him anyway And so it's a win-win anywhere that i look at it and so As he's doing this notice what happens it says in verse 34 He healed many who were sick with various diseases Meaning there were many people there. He cast out many demons and he didn't allow the demons to speak because They knew him so once again. He doesn't need demons to proclaim who he is He doesn't want the people associating his ministry with the witness of satan And so he tells them to be quiet verse 35 now In the morning having risen a long time before daylight He went out and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed and simon and those Who are with them searched for him when they found him they said to him everyone's looking for you But he said to them let us go into the next towns that i may preach there also because for this purpose I have come forth and he was preaching in their synagogues throughout all galilee and casting out demons Now the previous day think about it for a moment The previous day was filled with events and even though he was fatigued because it was an all day kind of thing He rises the scripture says he rises up early to pray He could have ministered healings to hundreds of people. He would have been exhausted But he rose up he rose up before the sun rose and he prayed And so his authority was demonstrated by his works, but his supply of power came through prayer He did the will of his father. He was in constant communion with his father and his message and his miracles were through his father In john 1410 he said do you not believe that i am in the father and the father and me the words that i speak to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the father who dwells in me does the works So he said what the father wanted said and he did what the father desired done And because of this communion with his father was of utmost importance now prayer is the habit of his life And we see many instances of jesus praying We saw that he was praying when he was baptized luke 321 He prayed when he chose the 12 luke chapter 6 He prayed when he fed the 5000 matthew 14 He prayed before his transfiguration in luke chapter nine He prayed at his friend lazarus's tomb in john nine He prayed in the garden of gethsemane in matthew 26 and he even prayed on the cross His life was filled with prayer and his life in minister We were so filled with prayer that it left a lasting impression on his men when you read your bible You might find this interesting his men never asked him certain things that you would think that they would ask They never asked jesus for example to teach them how to preach They never said lord, can you give me a Teaching on how to go out and teach it. Can you can you teach me how to study the bible? They didn't ask him Now these are things that that they they could have obviously watched him as he would preach and they watched him As he would his heart was prepared to give god's message But the only thing you'll ever see in the new testament that they ever asked jesus to teach them to do And this is interesting to me is they said teach us how to pray Teach us to pray In luke 11 verse 1 one day jesus was praying in a certain place when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray just as john taught his disciples We see that there's a connection with the things that you're doing and the things that you're saying With your prayer life. Listen, we need to learn to pray We need to be a people of prayer so many times people will say well, you know when you've got nothing else left to pray No, the first thing we should do is pray And see what the lord will do God answers prayer doesn't he God answers prayer and sometimes oh, no, he does. Oh, yes god answers prayer God is a god he says you have not because you asked on call him to me and i will answer these show the great and mighty things Without no, it's not Jesus taught us to pray lord teach us to pray and he said pray in this manner our father will art in heaven hallowed be thy name jesus taught us to pray Why because jesus had constant communion with his father and he wants his his Followers to have the same we speak to the lord like it says paul says pray without ceasing We can have a communication with god We don't have to offer sacrifices Any longer they're already offered for us when jesus gave up his life for us He laid his body down for us when he shed his blood on the cross for us when when we were born again Through his resurrection and power of the holy spirit We now have access to the throne whom of god and we don't have to go through a lot of different hoops And we don't have to go through fei checks and all to get in to see this We just get on our knees or we speak to and we're driving i pray a lot when i'm driving and we and we can say god My son god My mom god My daughter god my grandchild god my friend god my wife god my husband god help me god help me What a privilege you have What a privilege i have to come before the throne of god with boldness And to step in with prayer and faith and say god I'm not sure what you want to do. I don't even know how to pray. Sometimes I can only make groanings Sometimes I don't know exactly what to pray lord But I do know this Whatever it is that needs to be done. You're already aware of it Because you already know my need before I even ask And lord, there's times that I don't even know what I need other than I need your help some way And i'm asking you now in jesus name To please answer this prayer And they watched him They would watch him rise up early And they'd see him find a solitary place And jesus would speak to his father communing with him And basically god saying this is what the father saying this is what you're going to be doing today And he teaches us how to pray And what happens is he becomes a pattern to us And so as this is taking place verse 36 simon and those who were with them searched for him And when they found him they said to him everyone's looking for you And so there he is looking for him And they found him What happens is simon must have awakened and he found that jesus is gone They're still at his house and perhaps some in the city had come early to see jesus and simon looked for jesus He's not in the home He discovers that he's not there and he goes and he looks from now He's not alone because there's no doubt that andrew james and john Would have gone with him in search of christ In luke 442 it says when it was day he departed and went into a deserted place and the crowd sawed him And came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them Well, they found him verse 37 And notice it says everyone is looking for you So those from the city accompanying peter and the men Well, they're largely unbelievers They're not looking for messiah They're looking for free health care That's true, huh? That's what they're looking for free health care And that's not unusual by the way because we have needs we have physical needs And they remind me of the 5000 that jesus fed And and after feeding the 5000 that was just the men not including the women and children They saw him out and jesus was able to see obviously right through them in john chapter 6 verse 26 it says that Jesus answered them and said most assuredly i say to you you seek me not because you saw the signs But because you ate of the loaves and were filled you want your physical needs met and you see that i can do that So whether it's in healing or whether it's in meals. That's what you want free from me But their interest was not in his message In his miracles as their interests They weren't hungry for the things that mattered they weren't hungry for salvation They were hungry for health And in the end the city largely rejected him in spite of his ministry to them As a matter of fact Jesus ultimately curses the city of capernaum for their unbelief In matthew 11 23 and 24. He says it. He says you capernaum will be lifted to the heavens. No You'll go down to hades For the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in sodom It would have remained to this day That i tell you that it will be more bearable for sodom on the day of judgment than for you You wanted what i could give you You wanted health. You knew that i was a miracle worker. You needed to be released from the power of demons I get that i understand that but you really didn't want when i came to offer you There are a lot of people to this day who only want what they can get from them in the physical But they don't want what is spiritual So notice verse 37 Peter said everyone's looking for you capitalize on your popularity. These are exciting times You've got something going something good here Him being a marketer. He was a businessman. Look at all the crowds. Give them what they want but notice He said in verse 38 let us go into the next towns that i may preach there also because for this purpose I have come forth And he was preaching in their synagogues throughout all galilee and casting out demons so we're going to close By considering what jesus did After prayer he knew what he was to do Now he has cast out demons. He's healed all manner of sickness But he didn't say i have come to cast out demons and to heal He said i need to preach because this is my message People can be delivered from demons and healed from illness and still perish And he's saying i've come to preach the kingdom of god to man And i'm not confined to one city Jesus came to call sinners to repentance and to seek and to save the lost Because they could be perfectly healthy free of demons and still go to hell In matthew chapter 5 verse 29 the second portion of that scripture says it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish Than for your whole body to be cast into hell We're living in a time and i'll close with a couple of thoughts about this I was asked recently in one of our Facebook kinds of things that that we do What's the importance of preaching Preaching the word of god is the only way that people are going to be saved God could have aligned the stars to say jesus saves in such a way that they look up and they say jesus saves I better get saved, but he didn't It's the foolishness of the message says preach It's the gospel message whereby god is speaking to man and saying this is your lost condition and this is the solution And so how can somebody believe that they don't hear and how can they hear if somebody is in scent? And so what god has done is god has given to us a message a message of salvation Our salvation isn't going to come in the way that it seems right now many people think that it may I think what we need to do and and help me I Help me done. I I hope I can make this clear because this i'm just speaking from my heart right now and maybe I Maybe I shouldn't I'm greatly concerned with the churches today That seem to forget the preaching of the gospel is the only Only way somebody hearing and receiving it's the only way that they can be saved I mean we look through the book of revelation and we see that over and over again Even angels are preaching the everlasting gospel. There are two witnesses preaching the gospel There's a word of god that's going forth and that's the only thing that transitions people from from hell into heaven It's the only thing that transfers your your life to to walking in the way that you are and transfers it over into the Walk of light it comes through the gospel guys. That's how you got saved It didn't come because somebody somebody impressed you with their eloquence It didn't come because somebody told you certain things about What you should you should do to make this this world a better place It came through the gospel of jesus christ when when I was 70 years 70 i'm 70 now when I was 20 years old 50 years ago when I was 20 years old Now we were living in crazy times some of you read about it in your history books Others of you lived through it and and you know what I mean. There were crazy times. We had riots We had conditions on the earth that people are saying are terrible, you know, but for us it wasn't global warming for us It was global freezing That's interesting how that message changed from from freezing to warming, but it does we had pestilences We had wars. We were going through the vietnam war We had protests. We had riots. We had the whole nine yards. We had so much And there was so much despair and there was so much hopelessness and drugs were crazy and rampant and violence was growing We had similar things then that we do now What has been what has been is now what we see the writer of ecclesiastia said there's really nothing new under the sun And that's true. There were rebellious people. There were broken marriages. There were hurts. There were abortions There were it was there You know, I lived in a time when when the musician stopped entertaining and began to think of themselves as preachers And so you had groups like crossbeast stills nashing young who felt that it was their job and obligation To tell us how to vote. We had guys like john lennon who stayed in bed You know with his his wife yoko to to give peace a chance and things like that I grew up with that stuff. I heard that stuff. That's what we grew up with You know, there's no hope without dope is what we used to say I used to think that that what I could do I thought maybe we ought to do this is go and get as much acid as I could drop it in a In the water so that when people drinking they drip out and everything would change I actually thought that we could get people right with by using drugs We lived in a crazy time guys a crazy time violence anger assassinations Martin Luther king jr. John f. Kennedy robert kennedy We saw it all It was hopeless angry. There were crowds in the streets There were there are songs that were written about that for what it's worth by the buffalo springfield and others You know, there's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear this man with the gun over there telling me I got to be aware it's time to stop But that was that was our message that I grew up with that and guess what it was hopeless It was hopeless. We couldn't elect righteousness We had to be changed and that comes through the gospel of jesus christ. That's how it happened. Forgive me That is the burden of my heart We're so busy trying to get people into Puse because people saying I don't want to go to church anymore. So we make it entertaining. It's not entertaining It is soul saving it is soul Transforming it gives you hope it gives you peace you have a relationship with god Your life is transformed because you read the word of god and you say god buy your power. I'll do this I want to be kind. I want to be good. I want to be pure. I want to be loving. I want this god Help me And he does through the power of the holy spirit. That's why in this church I will never veer from teaching you the word of god. That's why Because that's how your life is changed That's how it's changed It isn't changed by going to starbucks drinkings of coffee and complaining It isn't changed by doing the facebook things, you know, you're taking the shot. You're a demon You're gonna have some kind and it's crazy the people are saying oh, you're gonna get the mark of the beast We went through the book revelation. It's a voluntary thing. The mark is already on your heart Oh, you're gonna get some kind of poison And this is the stuff that people are buying into and then getting mad at other people for not possessing or believing Gotta stop that The thing that matters Is the truth And not just words called truth the truth of the gospel that sets you free from the bondage of sin Put your feet on the right path instruct you on the way to live Wherewithal shall a man Young man cleans his ways by taking heed there to according to thy word Thy word have I hid in mine a heart that I might not sin against you How can my life be pure take heed to the word of god? How can I be set free Jesus said the truth will set you free How can I have power to live? Jesus said you shall receive power after that the holy spirit has come upon you You shall be witnesses to me and jerusalem and judaeus america unto the other most parts of the earth How can I be how can I be free? I I have the power through the holy spirit And I have the word of god that guides my footsteps and I have the ability to commune with god himself And say father in jesus name. I ask you help me to live a life that not only counts but counts for other people I don't want it to be just about me lord I wanted to be about you and people knowing you because the only way to transform this nation Isn't to look back at the history and say there used to be christians here. It's to be christians now That's how to change the nation not to look at our history But to look to the future and to be that present right now. That's what I'm sorry I didn't prepare these things, but that's on my heart I just want us as a church To not forget that we're a church That we are an organization a community of those who are like-minded. We love christ and we want to serve you And we want our friends and we want our families to know him too Doesn't matter who's the president in the end it matters who's your savior and that's jesus christ and that's With that of course what we do is we do our civic responsibilities. That's what we do We should be aware of the times that we're living in of course We should we ought to vote accordingly because people want to a battle in order to secure for me the right to go to a ballot box So I don't disrespect the the veterans and those who lay down their lives for us so that we would have the freedom to vote And when christians don't vote well, we get the government that we deserve So we ought to be aware of what's going on but at the end At the end It's the gospel that changes lives Not more laws Not more rules It's the gospel And if we hold fast to that our lives show it in the way that we live And they will know you the long to me jesus said by your love That you have one for another By your love that you have for me By your love that you have For those who don't know me Not that I can win an argument Not that I can convince somebody that this is right or that is right This is wrong But that I can by the spirits power be a transformed vessel a vessel of honor That can take this living word Present it to people And watch god heal them Watch god put broken marriages back together Watch god take the the the son and the father that were so at at odds And because of the gospel Bring a healing To teach us the value one another To teach us that there's one race the human race and we ought to love one another Not because your culture is mine Or your skin color is mine But because god created you in his image And he created me in his image And so at a certain point the only color that matters is red The color of the blood of christ that washes us from all our sin And I can look to A person of a different ethnicity or a different Racial background And I can say to them it doesn't matter I respect and I honor and your the things that you value I I respect with you But I don't put your values above mine because the value I want to have Is the value of the kingdom Of the kingdom of god that we together that we may disagree about certain things. That's okay. Human beings do that But in the in the end the essential thing is that we both love the same god through the same saviour Jesus christ And walk in the same spirit and because of that we'll have unity in christ And we can do that and be a model to a world that is so out of control And they can say you know what there's peace amongst those people. They're not fighting They're not devouring one another. They're loving one another. That's a place I need because I already have tension in the world But that place has peace. Where'd you get your peace from? I got peace through god through jesus christ who gave me my sins Important to me his holy spirit and gave me a hope for the future And I just trust him and I know that through it all through it all God is going to be victorious. He already is and he's given me victory What is the number one lesson i've learned people have asked you've been with the lord a long time You're an older man now What's the number one lesson you have learned pastor davin that is this it all works out in the end God is in control and i'm just going to trust you That's how it works It works And so until that point i'm going to learn to love one another the way scripture says To care for one another respect one another honor one another pray for one another Encourage one another exhort one another. There's so many one another scriptures in the new testament I want to learn to do those things Because in the end again jesus said i didn't come To just one place I have other cities that i need to go to to tell them the kingdom of god Is at hand Follow me that's what jesus did And we need to tell the world the kingdom of god is at hand follow jesus Father we ask that you would work within us to that point That lord we we would We would learn to put the main thing In its proper place to keep the main thing the main thing And father we can be so distracted by so many Voices that are calling to us for attention fix this do that believe this So lord i ask that this church would be settled in you not complacent and not apathetic But just settled That we would stand firm in you And I pray for unity of your spirit That this church would keep you the center of our attention I just ask that because it brings glory to you and even as our eyes or close our heads or perhaps there are some right now The holy spirit is speaking you need to get right with him. You may be watching online Maybe in an overflow But the holy spirit is speaking you need to you need prayer you need to get right with the lord god is speaking to you I want to pray for you before we close And if you need prayer would you raise your hand right now and allow me to do that Father you see these hands that are going up in this place in jesus name I ask that you would reach down and touch each person whose hand is raised to you I ask lord that your holy spirit would influt us That lord that we would serve you that we would walk in your in your power and for those perhaps who don't even Have a relationship and are saying god i need you now i pray that you would fill them fill their soul And lord awaken them to you So right now we yield our lives to you we yield to you We ask that your hand would be upon us and we give you praise for this lord And we will serve you and we give you all thanks now Because lord i know you're going to answer this prayer bless you Thank you You can put your hands down and jesus i pray you'd keep moving in all of us in your name amen