 Matthew 15 verses 29 through 31 the multitude marveled is the name of this particular message it's interesting to me to note that we're going to be looking at miracles and one in particular a miracle of healing that the Lord does and it's interesting how the Lord teaches me lessons concerning healings and all because yesterday I was washing my car and and I filled a bucket with water and I was bending down to lift the bucket up to move it and my back went completely out on me and so my lower back right now it's actually blessed the Lord he's he's been very kind to me today but my lower back is it feels like there's a nail that's red hot that's from the spine all the way to the right hip and down to my knee and so I was handling the first service that it's interesting I'm teaching on healing and I've been asking God to touch me but he loves other people more than me but anyway I'll speak about a God who heals because indeed our God does and I thank God that I was able to teach first service and prayerfully without any problem I'll be going through second service also and thanking the Lord for for his goodness to us so beginning in verse 29 reading to verse 31 Matthew writes in Jesus departed from there skirted the Sea of Galilee and went up on the mountain and sat down there then great multitudes came to him having with them those who were lame blind mute maimed and many others they laid them down at Jesus's feet and he healed them so the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking the maimed made a hole the lame walking and the blind seeing and they glorified the God of Israel what I'm going to do just so that you're prepared for this is I'm going to give you an introduction give you some details to set the context this is after all the Bible study we're going to do that then what I'm going to do is conclude with some application and I believe that the application is helpful for us to understand the ways of the Lord as it pertains to this particular passage and as I mentioned I'm also going to cross reference this with a portion of scripture in the Gospel of Mark that gives to us some insight that is not given to us here in Matthew 15 and so at a certain point I'm going to have you turn with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter 7 and you'll see that in just a moment but let me begin by laying down a foundation giving you an introduction so that we have a context whereby we can understand what the point is here in verses 29 through 31 of Matthew chapter 15 we know that Jesus has been ministering in a region of tire and Sidon tire and Sidon as I mentioned to you before is in southern Lebanon just north of the nation of Israel we have seen that Jesus cast out a demon from a young girl at the request of her mother a Canaanite woman and Jesus at this point doesn't desire to enter into Galilee so he skirts it by going east towards the Sea of Galilee now Mark's Gospel gives us more insight because in Mark 731 Mark wrote Jesus left the vicinity of tire and went through Sidon down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis now Jesus leaves the area of tire goes through Sidon continues south to the Sea of Galilee notice again he made his way into the region of the Decapolis the Decapolis the word Decapolis is a is a word that says 10 cities that guy is 10 in Greek police is city it's the region of the 10 cities that Jesus is going to which is east of the Jordan River now early in the ministry of Christ we saw in chapter 4 verse 25 that he had made a great impact Jesus made a great impact on the people of that region because Matthew tells us in chapter 4 verse 25 great multitudes followed him from Galilee and from Decapolis Jerusalem Judea and beyond the Jordan when we're looking at his works one of his great miracles that he did was in the region of the Decapolis in an area called the gatherings that's where he had delivered two demonized men who were living in the tombs now Matthew mentioned there were two but the other gospel writers concentrated on only one and when we looked at that particular portion of scripture this man who lived in the Decapolis this man was severely demonized because he was inhabited by a multitude of demons when you see the conversation between Christ and this one particular spokesman of the two Jesus says what is your name and the man responds Legion and then we're told it's because there are many demons living within him and so he saw Jesus he approached him and and he declared to him we know who you are and in this conversation after the encounter Jesus delivered him from his tortured condition Luke tells us in chapter 8 verse 35 that a crowd soon gathered around Jesus for they wanted to see for themselves what had happened they saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting quietly at Jesus's feet clothed and sane and the whole crowd was afraid because the Lord had delivered this man who had kept them terrorized well Jesus now returns to the area to reap what has been sowed earlier and he enters into that region and great multitudes once again come to him with their needs now I noted with you last summer together that tire was located some 12 miles from the border between Israel and Lebanon if you were looking at a map of California you reduced it to scale it would be like California and Oregon's border and tire and Sidon would be to the north so tire is 12 miles from the border and then Sidon's another 20 miles to the north and so I say that because in order for Jesus to go to the area of the Decapolis it says here that he first went to the north so he went north then went east and returned south so that detour into Lebanon and back would have taken several weeks he ends up in the region of the Decapolis Decapolis has mentioned 10 cities they were semi independent Gentile cities and its region is just south of modern Golan Heights today now verse 29 tells us that Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there so he's not close to a populated city he's on a mountain slope and as that's taking place verse 30 says great multitudes came to him having with them those who were lame blind mute maimed and many others they laid them down at Jesus's feet and he healed them so while in this region the news that he's there spreads people begin to come to him these are people as mentioned earlier who are already familiar with his ministry and they're coming to Christ because they want him to help it's like what it says in Psalm 27 verse 7 where the psalmist said here oh Lord when I cry with my voice have mercy also upon me and answer me and that's what's taking place this crowd this multitude comes now I want to develop this a bit further by taking you to mark chapter 7 and showing you something there would you please turn with me to mark chapter 7 we're going to look at verses 32 through 37 because mark 7 32 through 37 supplies us with a miracle that is not mentioned in the other gospels somebody says I'm new to this where's mark yet marks in heaven but his book is the next one to the right so in mark chapter 7 verse 32 then they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech and they begged him to put his hand on him and he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers in his ears and he spat and touched his tongue then looking up to heaven he sighed and said to them if I thought that which is be opened immediately his ears were open and the impediment of his tongue was loosed and he spoke plainly then he commanded them that they should tell no one but the more he commanded them the more widely they proclaimed it they were astonished beyond measure saying he has done all things well he makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak so we're going to spend some time looking at this I'm going to develop this with you because we've just seen in Matthew's gospel that multitudes came but this is an incident here that gives us to us some insight concerning how the Lord works in healing so beginning here in verse 32 and I'll start again as if I'm introducing this passage notice how it says in verse 32 of mark chapter 7 that they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech it would seem that he had become deaf and could could speak only with great difficulty due to an illness and Jesus is going to do a miracle in terms of his healing this man as we look at this together we need to remember something about miracles you see there are a lot of people today who speak concerning miracles and on there are purposes to miracles a miracle by definition is something that man cannot do it is something that God can do a miracle that is performed by God will always result in in glory being given to God a miracle performed by God is never going to result and someone giving glory to the person who supposedly performed it the miracle is always intended to draw attention to the God who performs it and what we have here is we have a miracle and many miracles that are taking place we need to know that miracles weren't performed by Jesus in a haphazard fashion simply by whim or emotion they weren't performed to provide excitement and they certainly were never performed to provide entertainment for bored people Jesus didn't perform them to have a following alone or to gain financial prosperity from performing them when you read your New Testament you're going to note that there are some 37 miracles recorded in the New Testament performed by Jesus Christ and the purpose of performing the miracles was one of the ways of establishing the credentials of Jesus's ministry in John's gospel in chapter 20 verses 30 and 31 John said Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name and so the miracles were performed not for entertainment the miracles were performed not by whom or fancy they weren't done haphazardly a miracle was performed to draw people's attention to Christ that they might believe in him now Mark included this miracle to confirm that Jesus is Messiah the Apostle Peter makes reference to the credentials of Christ when he was preaching in Acts 2 22 where he said men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know so this confirmed that Jesus is Messiah and the kind of miracle that Jesus is performing here in Mark is one that was prophesied that Messiah would perform when you look in the Old Testament for example in the book of Isaiah chapter 35 verses 3 through 6 in those verses Messiah is being spoken of and the things that the Messiah of Israel would do again I'm laying this down so you know that Jesus was performing miracles so people would believe that he's the Son of God and that people could have life in his name and that they established his credibility as well as his credentials and so in Isaiah chapter of 35 verses 3 through 6 this is what is called a messianic prophecy this relates to the Messiah to come and it says there strengthen the feeble hands steady the knees that give way say to those with fearful hearts be strong do not fear your God will come he will come with vengeance with divine retribution he will come to save you then will the eyes of the blind be opened the ears of the deaf unstopped then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy water will gush forth in the wilderness streams in the desert and so these works that are listed for us in Matthew and this work that we're looking at was intended to draw people's attention to Jesus as Messiah so as this is taking place notice what it says in verse 32 how it says that they begged Jesus notice to put his hand on him again in the years that I've been ministering I've had on more than one occasion people ask me what is the symbolism of the lane on of hands because you see laying on of hands in the old as well as the New Testament what is the symbolism of that and the lane on of hands symbolizes God touching man what they're asking for is a connection with God it says in Luke chapter 4 verse 40 when the son 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 and so God touches man through Jesus Christ and as Jesus is reaching to touch this man it's also revealing to us his compassion and his love now I don't know if I should share that here let me see if I have it somewhere else nope I don't so I'll share it here this isn't in my notes so this is something I think that is important to say God touched man through Jesus the world thinks we're mad all the time Christians are mad we're mad about everything we're mad about the music we're bad about movies we're mad about everything just ask us we'll tell you we're mad about parades we're mad about everything we're mad that the government has taken away our rights we are mad constantly and some things I think there is a holy indignation that we the church ought to have of course there were times when Jesus showed indignation he showed indignation at religious hypocrisy when Jesus got angry at people notice with me he wasn't angry at the sinners he got mad at the religious people you see that especially throughout Matthew but it's highlighted for us in very definite terms in chapter 23 when we get there we'll have a chance to see Jesus meek and mild very angry I know you're looking forward to that but the church is mad about everything we're mad all the time about everything and we're getting to be known at this time as what we're against and not what we're for we have to be careful we have to be careful God is compassionate and loving but sometimes we look at people who are unsaved and get mad at them for acting as unsaved people we get mad because they do the things that they do we get mad at them and we begin to be angry and pontificate and begin to speak concerning the good old days and this and that when in fact it has been said that those in the 50s more people went to hell in the 50s than any other time in American history and there's a possibility that that may be true because we had come off of the off of the great victory in World War two and many people became complacent yes people went to church but that doesn't mean that they were all saved it simply meant it was what they did and yeah there was some morality at that time that that I grew up in and appreciated of course I'll always look back at fondness and some of the things that I was raised to believe and to see and all of that but that didn't make America a Christian nation but makes Americans Christians is being born again and and having your your sins washed by the blood of Jesus Christ and so we're we're known for being angry all the time now in the early church in the first century of the early church somebody was writing concerning this and they said if you were to have been able to ask a non-believing person at that time to describe a Christian if you were to ask a non-believer to describe a Christian during that day you'd probably get a different answer in the first century than you get today because in the first century when God began to pour out his spirit when the church was birthed and the power of the spirit was alive in the church and the love of God's Word was transforming lives there were those who would make comment concerning Christians and all you need to do is look up some early comments you could Google this comments about early Christians and you'll see that there are historians that would say things related to Christians loving one another because the mark of the believer Jesus said he said like this he said by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another greater love has no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends that all of the law and the prophets are summed up in this one word love thy neighbor as I self when the scribe asked Jesus what is the great command in the law Jesus said love God with everything within you and love your neighbors yourself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets how will people know that we're Christians they will know we are Christians by our love and though I may lay my life down though I might give all that I have to the poor though I do all these sacrificial things pollen first Corinthians 13 said if I have love I am nothing he said he who loves not knows not God for God is love and yet today the church is mad about everything we're mad about everything and we're fighting for our rights and we're going to demand those things when in reality we're to lay our lives down so that people might come to know that there's a savior am I saying that we should allow sin to run rampant no I'm saying watch our hearts because we can be angry again if you ask the Old Testament somebody during that rather the New Testament church when it first began if you ask what is a Christian they'd say he's one who loves they even call one another brother and sister they greet one another with a kiss a holy kiss they they're family but today if you say what's a Christian they're haters they're against everything they're mad about everything and that's unfair I don't believe that that's true of any of this any of us here I don't believe that at all but that's the jacket that has been placed on us we're haters we're angry because we're not loving the sinners for the sake of Christ we're mad at them for being sinners and yet when people brought someone to Christ and they said please lay your hand on him it was more than just a rabbi reaching over and grabbing somebody by the shoulder it was a symbol of God connecting with man and they knew that Jesus Christ would do that that he would reach and he would touch them why because the God you and I serve loves us he loves us sometimes we get healed sometimes we don't not up to me to determine when he heals it or who he heals is up to me to believe that he does heal and he does and they would bring their friends and they brought the crippled and they brought those in pain to this one that they knew would show compassion and isn't that what we're supposed to be doing in this day is bringing them to the one who shows compassion absolutely one of our members of our fellowship was speaking to me the other day just the other day and was telling me how that he works with an unbeliever who was invited to a church service and he asked her what she got out of the church service when they reconnected at work and she was real hesitant to speak but she finally said I don't know I just felt that it was a very angry angry place to be at and sometimes churches can feel that way listen I have a lot of passion about a lot of issues and I know on Wednesday some of you were with us on Wednesday I showed some of that passion and it's there I'm not you know I'm not going to get passionate with you now but it was there on Wednesday and it could seem like I'm angry and in some ways there's an anger of course when I see certain things and I see how people are being deceived but at the same time I'm not angry at sinners for being sinners and Jesus brought they brought these people to Jesus and God was touching man as Jesus was touching them that's his compassion now I want to show you some things here I want to show you in verse 33 beginning in verse 33 now when it after they begged him to put his hands on him notice verse 33 he took him aside from the multitude put his fingers in his ears he spat touched his tongue looking up to heaven side and said to him if I thought which is be opened immediately his ears were opened the impediment of his tongue was loosed he spoke plainly let's look at that together first he takes him aside verse 33 took him aside from the multitude put his fingers in his ears now when I read that the first time as a new believer that gross me out I'll be honest it still does Marie used to clean the baby's ears I am anyway but he took him aside first he took him aside now why would he take him aside well probably to make him feel more at ease and to be able to concentrate on what is about to take place there's a group of people their multitude it says and so Jesus takes him aside since spend some private time with him so that reveals to us that there is a personal relationship with him that is a premier importance he wants to show this man in the midst of a multitude some personal attention the Lord by the way can still do that there are times when you're being taught a Bible study regardless of whether it's here somewhere else and you can be in a group of people and you know that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you you know that even though you may be in the midst of a group you may be seated amongst others this is the spirit of God speaking to you can sense it you know God is doing that God is saying something to my heart right now the Lord has a way of doing that he takes you aside even in a group and he says I want this to be yours you need to understand this he took him aside now you see sometimes it is necessary to get alone with God to be free of distraction free of disturbances it's like what it says in Psalm 46 verse 10 be still and know that I am God there are times that the Lord wants to speak specifically to you and here Jesus takes him aside so it's a personal time with him not simply a group experience but a simple personal time then he puts his fingers in his ears why would he do that well he did that to signal what he's about to do by touching him the way that he did it was it was provoking anticipation and it was encouraging him to faith I'm about to do something and I want you to be provoked to this I want you to anticipate I'm about to do something wonderful for you Psalm 62 verse 5 simply says my soul wait silently for God alone for my expectation is from him third he spat and touched his tongue that would be a visual illustration of what he was to do he's going to loosen his tongue and then in verse 34 he looked up to heaven inside and said to him now that indicated the origin of the healing when he looked up to heaven Jesus was saying your healing is going to come from God we need to remember that Jesus had been accused of doing miracles by the power of Satan he'd already dealt with the accusation that his power originated with the devil so in looking up to heaven he was showing who did the work like it says in Psalm 30 verse 2 oh Lord my God I cried out to you and you healed me fifth he sighed again that reveals his love for the man he showed this poor man that he cares that's something all of us need to remember by the way I keep saying this I don't even know why it's not as if I need to be reminded of this because the Lord reminds me daily that's the truth and I hope that didn't sound wrong but daily he reminds me that he loves me and cares daily his mercies are renewed every more every morning his compassion spail not I wake up almost every day remembering what I was I don't know about you but the enemy is just waiting for you to wake up so we can whisper your scum I don't know if that happens to you happens to me I wake up morning scum first I look at Marie but she's not awake so I know it it's somebody else it's been said that when the devil knocks on your door send Jesus to answer it because the enemy likes to remind you of what you've been and I I I have to remember that the sigh of Christ reveals the heart of the Lord from for this man but by application for us he breath deeply inside sincerely caring for this guy and showing his compassionate love Isaiah 53 4 says surely he has borne our griefs carried our sorrows Jesus in in John chapter 11 has a work that he's performing in in in a miracle for Lazarus and Lazarus had died and in John 11 verses 33 through 36 it says when Jesus saw her weeping the Jews who came with her weeping he groaned in his spirit and was troubled he said where have you laid him they said to him Lord come and see and then this is the shortest verse Jesus wept and the Jews said see how he loved him I don't know I don't think I need to say this again I say it often but do you know that God loves you do you know that he does he does the other day I was Murray and I had the terrible task of having to watch my two-year-old granddaughter my Zoe I I love all my babies and we had a chance to to watch her while mama was gone for a little while and I sat down we went to the house and I sat down on the couch and it's kind of funny because when we walk in I go into another area of the room and Zoe's upstairs with mama and mama says to Zoe somebody's here to see you and I can hear Zoe in the upstairs saying Papa and Marie standing at the foot of the stairs saying rats you know Papa and then Zoe comes walking down the stairs with her mom and she sees grandma and steps down and looks at grandma and smiles and says where's Papa and I'm in the kitchen behind her and she turns it she comes running to me and she just holds on to me and I just love that baby and we sat down at on the couch she just lays back in my arms and lays there for two hours just laying there you know and I learned spiritual lessons by the way I don't tell you stories like that to try and endear Zoe do you I learned spiritual lessons as I go through life I say isn't that what I'm supposed to do aren't I supposed to rest in the arms of my savior who loves me aren't I supposed to care for him and know that he cares for me am I not supposed to come to him and rush to him and hold him and love him I believe so because he loves me and I understand that so I keep saying this to you because I know that love heals hearts love heals broken hearts instead of us being angry that we got we got the shaft in life we ought to say thank you God I got the savior in life Jesus came in and he broke he healed my broken heart he's transformed me he's made me new I bless the Lord and he has compassion for me he revealed his love to me a sixth thing he says to him be opened in Aramaic and so as he speaks he's speaking with authority his desire is immediately accomplished because in verse 35 it says immediately his ears are open the impediment of his tongue was loosed and he spoke plainly so in saying this out loud the man immediately receives the healing it says in Psalm 33 verse 9 he spoke it was done and he immediately could hear and speak perfectly and what do you think his first words would have been we don't know it isn't said but I cannot help but wonder if it wasn't simply praise God for the healing that I just received praise you for what you've done we saw that in the case of the man of the Gadarenes it says in Luke 8 39 that he went his way proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him proclaiming what God has done I cannot help but assume and perhaps read in that he would have been very grateful for the work that Christ did and I can't imagine that he wouldn't have said thank you to him we were in New Jersey last week some of you noticed I wasn't here others didn't and there is a festival called bridge fast on the shore there in New Jersey we're on the radio in the the bridge which is a radio station that broadcast in New Jersey all the way up to Connecticut and we've been on the air there for a long time and so we had the opportunity of going in I ministered there I I ministered at the bridge fast on on Friday had a chance to meet with some of the listeners then Friday night Greg Laurie was there and Greg gave a great message and several hundred people came forward at the invitation it's very well heavily attended and on Saturday had an opportunity to be on the radio and interviewed and not so much interviewed but as part of a panel answering questions there were four pastors on a panel and now again I want to develop this with you for just a moment because there were four of us pastors on a panel and listeners are sending in questions that they would like the panelists to answer one of the questions that we were asked to answer related to giving away our faith and they were saying how do you learn to share your faith with other people can you give to us some insight into that so the men began to share some things related to giving away your faith and and so I stepped in when it was my opportunity and I said this I said how many of you listened to us on the radio and then hands went up and I said that's great I said how many of you know what my wife's name is and they raised their hand and I said could you please tell me what her name is and they said Marie and all these people are yelling out Marie and I said how did you know her name and now we're in Jersey we're not here in California or in this church we're in New Jersey and I said how did you know her name and they said you talk about her I said do you know why I talk about her they got quiet I said because she pays me to she says talk about me I said do you know that I don't even realize that I do did you know that I don't realize that I do it's just part of my life it comes out because Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks I said I don't do that to endear you to my wife or my wife to you I do that because that's where my heart is and as I'm sharing it just so happens that I mentioned the things that mean most to me you want to know how to give away your faith fall in love with Jesus Christ when you're in love with Jesus you're going to talk about him now I do think it important to memorize scriptures to know ways to be able to show your faith in the bible it's not just oh I love him he loves me you want him okay let's pray there are scriptures that we can have there's none right just no not one it's appointed unto men to die once after this the judgment gods who love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life if you confess Lord Jesus there are many scriptures that you can tie together as you share but fall in love with the Lord it is not that difficult to speak about the one you love you don't have to you know be seated they're going oh am I going to talk about Jesus I don't know how how am I going to do all you don't have to do that you're just talking to somebody say you know what did you do this week and I was in church really why well you know I'm a believer I love the Lord it's that natural it's not like oh Lord open the doors of opportunity in the name of Jesus it's just conversation and don't get caught up like you're some salesman you've got to close the deal just share the Lord and I have no doubt in my mind that somewhere as his man's mouth is opened and he hears what would you say what would you say to the Lord I'd say thank you wouldn't you thank you Jesus I can speak I can eat I can hear my tongue has been moved and with my tongue I will preach thank you Jesus that's how it works fall in love with the Lord I will give you thanks in the great assembly I will praise you among many people Psalm 35 18 well notice in verse 36 he commanded them that they should tell no one but the more he commanded the more widely they proclaimed it this has happened before he had cleansed the leper the leper went out and spoke and people are now marveling at what the Lord is done but when he said don't speak the reaction was one of disobedience because they're actually stealing blessings from others and they're missing the point remember he came to save not only to physically heal people there's a story of a of a crippled man at the pull of Bethesda he had been there for some 38 years and the Lord Jesus Christ performed a healing on him and later on Jesus it says in John 5 14 found this man in the temple and said to him behold you have been made well sin no more less a worse thing come upon you there's something worse than being crippled and that is perishing without God so you can walk but make sure your walk is straight and towards the Lord and as this is taking place they according to verse 37 were astonished beyond measure and they said he's done all things well he has done all things excellently he has done all things beautifully and so i'll close by turning you back those of you who turned with me to mark i'll close by looking at verse 31 where it says in Matthew 15 31 the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking the maimed made whole the lame walking the blind seeing now notice verse 31 and they glorified the god of israel the multitude marveled they were awestruck this enormous crowd desiring to be touched by Jesus these Gentile pagans like the Canaanite had an opportunity to experience the grace of God and this portion of scripture gives us four things as i conclude four things that i want to show you four insights and i'll just touch them briefly as i conclude first this passage reveals to me that Jesus is approachable great multitudes came to him he ministered to them not only did they come but they brought people with him because he's approachable Jesus invites us to come Matthew 11 28 coming to me all you who labor and heavy laden i will give you rest so Jesus is approachable second he's able to meet needs notice again they brought to him those who were helpless the word lame there that is used as a word that includes mutilation it can speak of being deprived of a foot these people may have included those who were crippled by others but god made them to walk we're talking of physical healings here but some of us in this church have been crippled by other people i'm speaking to some right now who have been crippled by other people and you can't really walk healthily you haven't walked healthily you can but you haven't because somebody told you when you were growing up that you're worthless somebody told you should have aborted you somebody told you when you were growing up that you were ugly you were overweight that you had a bad complexion i mean you can go through all the things that people can with cruelty say to you you're stupid you're ignorant you're the wrong color one thing after another and you can hear that your whole life you'll never amount to anything why do we even try you're never going to do anything you can't be anything look at your dad your dad's messed up you're going to be just like your father look at him you'll never have anything you'll never be anything you have heard that not all of you some of you have i know be on a shout over down you're nothing you'll amount to nothing you are crippled but jesus makes the lame to walk i don't have to listen to what man says i have a goddess says i love you i'll transform your life i'll make you worth something because in me you can do all things because i will strengthen you you are brand new in christ old things are passed away behold all things are become new you can be in the in the hand of god you can be used he is the we are the clay he is the potter he is the one who fashions us and i can say to those who have said to me you're nothing i can say you know you're right a hundred percent i am nothing but in christ i have everything that i need i can say that and i do say that because he has transformed my life and he'll transform yours too people have a tendency of mutilating other people we're like those those crabs that are caught when people are out there catching crabs they throw them in the bucket and one of the crabs is crawling over the other ones to get to the top so it can get out of that bucket but those crabs reach up and grab it and pull it back down because that's what people will do they will not rise and they don't want you to either but in the lord jesus christ i've been set free and i can rise above those circumstances and be what he's called me to be i hope somebody heard that because you need to jesus christ is the answer he does transform us you don't know my story i don't really tell it to you you know things but you don't know all the things of course why would you why would you even care but i can tell you that i thought i was stupid i grew up thinking i was stupid and unlovable nobody loved me that's how i felt stupid not worth anything stupid and not worth anything i got saved when in the army they gave us a battery of tests some of you veterans know the tests i'm speaking of they come up to me this stupid kid who only read comic books was loaded from the time i was 15 16 years old and alcoholic by the time i was 17 graduated high school with a d-minus average and they walked up to me and they said rosalis in the battery of tests that we gave you have a propensity to learn languages we want to send you to the monterey school of languages so that you can be a translator serving in the united states army as a translator you can learn languages because i was one of the few people that in that testing was able to do it and i said oh really no thank you i don't want to spend any more time in the military than i have to they come up again and they said rosalis we want to send you to west point you have passed the battery and we want to put you into west point you're appointed to west point you can become a military officer what's required of you is nine years of service but you can leave the service in nine years as a captain appointed to west point some of you don't understand what that means that's one of the highest honors you can have one of the highest honors that you can have and i was there 20 years old feeling stupid and the lord was saying you aren't as stupid as you think you are i've made all things new you're not stupid david i can use you and i'm telling you don't let the world tell you what you can or cannot do let the lord speak to you and he will show you great and mighty things that you don't know he will i hope that encourages you Jeremiah 32 27 i am the lord the god of all flesh is there anything too hard for me third he was worth making the effort effort for no matter what the sacrifice it isn't always easy to come to him made it necessary for them to overcome hardship to even get to him it must have been difficult to make this journey with so many crippled people listen it's difficult just to take a vacation let alone bring someone with such challenges you know what i've discovered i've i finally understood when i had kids i finally understood how difficult it is and why my dad was always mad on vacations i finally discovered why dad was mad he was mad because of us because all the complaining it's hard sometimes to take a journey with just regular people how about those with real needs and so it must have been real difficult for them to come but don't you think Jesus is worth it i do i do my wife marie did you know i have a wife named marie i my wife this church started 35 years ago we had a four-year-old karin a two-year-old david and a three-month-old by the name of joseph when this church began four years two years three months mama you understand those numbers don't you it's a lot of work right it's a lot of work four-year-old by itself is hard my stela's four she's gonna be four oh four-year-olds are a handful two-year-olds three months not so bad they don't do anything other than this marie was here on sunday morning wednesday night when we started sunday nights she was there sunday nights she made the sacrifice and the effort because she knew it was worth it and a lot of parents don't and they wonder why their kids are not serving jesus it's because mom and dad didn't understand how important it was for them to be in an environment that is contrary to the flow of the world and then they wonder when the kid turns 17 why he doesn't want to go to church anymore it's because it was foreign to him in the home parents let me encourage you you don't have to come to our bible studies go to bible studies during the week i'm not trying to build up numbers in my bible study i'm trying to build you up and i'm trying to build your family up because we when those kids he had high school we held on for dear life because it's rough and to this day my wife and i pray for our children daily that god will do a work in their life and all of them are adults with children of their own except for joseph joseph and carino don't have a child yet so they i've written them out of my will it's worth the effort finally he's gracious he didn't turn them away he touched them Psalm 116 verse 5 the lord is gracious and righteous our god is full of compassion one thing we need to remember about the lord jesus christ and it was said in mark 737 he does everything well and the result will always be the multitude will marvel someone said when blind souls are made to see by faith the mute to speak in prayer and praise the maimed and the lame to walk in holy obedience it is to be marveled at