 But tonight we're in Luke chapter 2, let's look together at these verses before us. I'm going to pick up here at verse 39, and I'll just read verses 39 and 40, and then we'll get into our study as we continue our verse by verse study here in the book of Luke in chapter 2, beginning at verse 39. Luke writes, So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Now when you look at verse 39, I want you to notice something, and I'm going to start laying some things out for you, but I want you to notice something in verse 39. This is one of the reasons why I'm blessed to know that we have more than one gospel, because you can take the accounts that are given to us in gospels like Luke, and you can compare them with the other gospel accounts, and you can actually get a better chronology. What you see in verse 39 makes it seem as if they immediately had left after the dedication of Christ there in the temple. It makes it seem like they immediately left, and notice how it reads there, they returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth after they had performed all of these things. And so what all of these things obviously refers to what we had seen last time were together in the verses that preceded these verses, but the fact is that's not the actual case. Matthew chapter 2 gives us an account there and actually gives us more information, because initially in chapter 2 of Matthew gives us the visit of the Magi, and we know that initially Joseph and Mary remained in Bethlehem, and they took up residence in the city, and the Magi came and brought them gifts. And so I'd like you to turn with me for a moment to Matthew chapter 2 so I can fill in some things, because as you're turning to Matthew chapter 2, it says again in verse 39, when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee. So it gives you an impression that they immediately had returned, but that's not the actual case. There are things that took place that Matthew records. Now in chapter 2 of the gospel of Matthew, the Magi came. These men from the east came in order that they might worship the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that these Magi brought gifts with them in order that they might present them to the king. And so as the Magi came bringing gifts, they approached the king at that time, his name being Herod, in order that they might determine what time this special appearance of the star had taken place. Now Herod wanted to know concerning that, he wanted to speak to them relating to that, because he had a desire to actually eliminate the one who had been born king of the Jews, because Herod was one of these who protected his own throne. Herod was a very evil man. Herod killed his wife, Maryam. He killed his sons. He was a man who was murderous to keep the throne and the power. So when the Magi came saying that they wanted to come to worship the one who had been born king, when they came, he thought, well, because he had been appointed the king by Rome, that there was somebody who had the actual claim to the throne. And because of that, he was very upset and wanted to have Jesus put to death. Notice with me in chapter 2, verse 8, it says, he sent them to Bethlehem, and he said, Go and search diligently for the young child, and when you have found him, bring back that word to me, that I may come and worship him also. So he determined the time and the approximate age of Jesus Christ, and sends them there with really the desire for them to bring back information to tell him exactly where Jesus is, so that he might do something deliberately to take his life. Notice verse 11, it says, when they came into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense and myrrh, then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying, out of Egypt I have called my son. And so by combining Luke with Matthew, we can piece this picture together. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary take up temporary residence in the city. They live in Bethlehem for up to two years. Because and I want you to notice this, this reason I turned you here, because Jesus is referred to in this passage as a young child. The Greek word for young child, as we translate by two words, young child, actually speaks of an infant from recent birth all the way up to toddler age. That's what gives us insight into Herod's desire to actually eliminate all children two years of age and under. It's because Jesus could have been anywhere from small to up to two years of age, which tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, his family remained there for some time. Up to two years, the Magi from the east came bringing their gifts. They go to the king Herod and they say, we have come to worship the one who has been born, king. Herod sends to his scribes, his religious leadership, and says, where is the Messiah supposed to be born? They begin to investigate the ancient scriptures and discover that Micah had stated it would be in Bethlehem. Once he ascertains where the Messiah was to be born from scripture, he tells him to go to Bethlehem. This is where he'll find him, but come back and let me know where he's at so that I might come and worship him. His intent, obviously, is to kill the one who will take his power from him. The Lord speaks to the Magi and lets them know you don't go back to him, return home another way. As he's waited for them, they don't return and he realizes that they have decided not to return, and therefore he's upset about this. But through all of this, ultimately Jesus and his family go off into Egypt. Now picking up at verse 19 in the same chapter, it says, when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who sought the young child's life are dead. When he arose, took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was raining over Judea, instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called Nazarene. And so turning back to Luke, they live in an unnamed location in Egypt. Ultimately being told to return. As Joseph and Mary and the young child are returning, their intent is to go back to Bethlehem. There's probable good reason for that, one of it being, one reason being that in Nazareth, where they're from, Mary was not respected because she had become pregnant prior to marriage. So it would seem that Joseph's intent was simply to return to Bethlehem. But the Lord said, no, that's not where you're going to be. You need to go back up into Nazareth. Sometimes the Lord will send you back to the place you came from to be a testimony in that place, even though it would be more comfortable to be somewhere else. Sometimes he'll send you back there because that's where Jesus was intended to grow up. Now when it says he shall be called a Nazarene, there's a lot of talk about what that means. Some would say that it's in reference to the fact that those in Nazareth were regarded as being less cultured and intellectual than those down south. Down south in Jerusalem, you have the temple. And in the temple, if you lived close by it, you could go to temple quite often. You also had the opportunity to hear some of the finest rabbis, the rabbinic teachings of your day. So the people who lived up in the Galilee region would be what we today might refer to. I don't know if we even use this term anymore, it used to be used. They were called hicks. They'd say, these people are backwoods types. They're intellectual bumpkins. They're not close to the center of intelligentsia. They live up to the north, up in the north, whereas we live down here in the south. We're closer to the temple, closer to the rabbis. We're much more religious. And so the Nazarenes were actually, the people lived up in Nazareth were actually looked at as being less cultured and less intellectual than those who lived down south. But the Lord had a reason for sending him up there because he wanted him to be raised in that area. Now, I want to continue on by looking here in chapter 2 of Luke and picking up again in verse 39 and 40, but I'm going to give you some more things and then we'll move into verse 41. I'll read verse 39 again and go into 40. It says, when they performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. I want you to see something because in verses 39 and 40 and then moving on to verse 41, you actually find a gap of several years because when you get into verse 41 down, actually verse 42, it tells us that Jesus was 12 years old. So what you have, and this I thought this is interesting today, maybe you will if you don't bear with me, there are no accounts in Scripture of the events of the life of Christ for several years. For several years. I mean, we know that he's probably somewhere around two years of age or so, but you have a gap of no less than 10 years between verse 40 and verse 42. So what I find interesting about this is after Jesus Christ died, was buried and was resurrected. There were myths that began circulating concerning him. There are actually hundreds of myths that have been chronicled. But some of the myths were speaking about events in the life of Jesus as a child. There are some who believe that Jesus as a child actually went to various places and learned various things. I've heard stories of Jesus going to India to sit under the Indian masters so that he might gain esoteric knowledge. There were pseudo, they call them pseudo-gospels that were written, you know, within 100 years after the death burial and a resurrection of Jesus. One of them is called Pseudomathu. The other one is called the Gospel of Thomas. There's a variety of others like that. And as I was preparing this, I began to think how interesting it is that there have been stories that are actually documented. I wrote something down for you just to show you what I'm talking about because these are myths about Jesus' childhood. For example, the Gospel of Pseudomathu recorded something. It says, the child of Jesus who was sitting with a happy countenance in his mother's lap said to a palm tree, bend down your branches and refresh my mother with your fruit. And immediately at this command the palm bent down to the feet of the blessed Mary and they gathered from its fruit and they all refreshed themselves. The apocryphal Gospel of Thomas in chapter 2 verse 1 says that Jesus made soft clay and modeled 12 sparrows from it. And it says, Jesus clapped his hands and cried to the sparrows, be gone, and the sparrows flew off chirping. So there were stories like this about Jesus doing miracles that were already being circulated. What is interesting is, and this I found interesting, is the Koran, the book that the Muslim uses, actually used Thomas, the Gospel of Thomas, which is a discredited gospel. They used the Gospel of Thomas and took something from it and in Surah 5, 110, it says, by my leave you, Jesus, fashioned the shape of a bird out of clay, breathed into it and it became by my leave a bird. And so what you end up with is the Koran quoting sources that actually are not biblically correct. In Surah 19, 30 and 31, it says, when Jesus was a baby, it says, the child spoke out, I am a servant of Allah. He has given me the book and he has appointed me a prophet and he has made me blessed wherever I go. I don't know if you know this, but the Koran teaches that Jesus was a Muslim and that he actually was under the inspiration of Allah. He was a prophet of the Muslim faith. I don't know if you know that or not. You find that in the Koran. Actually, I didn't quote all of Surah 19, 30 and 31 because it goes on to say that he gives gifts and he makes prayers in the Muslim fashion. And so what he had done, what Muhammad did is he had heard stories from traders who had come through where he lived and he began to collect those and he wrote them down and presented them even in the Koran as being word of God. What the reality is, is this is from the Gospel of Thomas and other myths that were being circulated. The whole point of me telling you this is so that you might realize that what you really have is you have silent years in the life of Jesus Christ. There have been tons of people who have tried to say oh, he did this and he went there, but none of that is recorded in Scripture. Now, as a Christian, the only thing I can do is hold to the primary source. The primary source is the Word of God. Anytime you get caught up with anything else, you're gonna have some problems. When you're in the Word of God, when you remain close to it and you study it and you use it to cross reference itself, you're gonna remain safe. But when you begin to pick up stories from other sources, that's when you find error and that's where you have contradiction. That's the reason why I took the time to try to take you to Matthew to say a few things about this so that you might know that by taking Scripture and comparing it with Scripture, you can find the truth of the matter. But if you go outside and pick up other sources, you're always gonna find yourself in error. What we have here is a picture of Jesus Christ growing and he grows in a normal way. I wanna show you some things that I think we can apply. In verse 40 it says, Jesus grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. What we see here very simply is this. Jesus grew physically. Speaking of him being an infant into young adulthood at the age of 12, a young boy growing into manhood, he grew physically. Notice it says he grew strong in spirit. When it says he grew strong in spirit, it speaks of his character. We'll look at that in just a moment. It says that he was filled with wisdom and it also says the grace of God was upon him. Now as you look at this, this is what God intends for us as well as what he did in the life of his own son. I want you to see this with me tonight. Growing strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom and the grace of God being upon him is something that can happen to us. We can grow, obviously we grow physically. I don't even wanna speak concerning that. What I'm talking about is being strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and walking in the grace of God. That's Jesus Christ. That's what Luke is pointing out to us. But what's interesting to me about that is it's something that he would have for us too. When it speaks of growing strong in spirit, that speaks of his moral character. It gives to us an insight into Jesus' integrity. In other words, if I'm gonna grow in integrity, if I, as a person, by making application, knowing that Jesus did this, how would that be effective in my life? What Jesus did is as he grew, and you'll see this in a moment, as he grew in knowledge and understanding, it's simply putting into practice what you know and what you believe. And let me tell you something. There's a difference between knowing and believing. Because when you know something, that can be simply information. Believing is putting into practice what I know. And when I put into practice what I know, I'm gonna grow in my moral character. In other words, there are people who know more than they do. Now all of us, it's true for all of us, we all know more than we do. We all have more training than we actually put into practice yesterday. As we were leaving Spain, there was a situation, a difficulty, and some of the guys, when they got into the van, were saying, you know, boy, that really upset me. And I was talking to one of the guys, and I said, you know, whenever I, one, I said, we need to keep, you know, we need to refrain from saying things. Sometimes we may be angry, we ought to refrain ourselves from letting, you know, letting that be vented. We need to have more self-control. And later on, and there wasn't anything bad that happened, they were just sharing with me. I said, you know, we need to do that. And I said, you know, because for me, it's always the end of the trip where I have the greatest difficulty. And it's, you know, because when you take trips, and some of you travel, you know, you get ready, and you always get ready hours before you leave if you travel somewhere. So if you're going to fly out at noon, you're at the airport, we'll say, at nine o'clock, but that means you got up at six o'clock, prepared, took that drive, you know what I'm talking about, and you finally get there, and then you stay there for three hours, then you get on the plane, then you finally fly, then you fly 11 hours, then you get off the plane, and you move from point to point until you're back on another plane, and you're flying another two and a half hours, then you get there, then you get in a van, and you take all your things to your hotel room, and then you unload, but now you're busy because you're going to continue moving, and so your day can be 22, 23 hours before you put your head on a pillow. That's how it works. Sometimes when you think, well, he's on a trip, that's what I'm doing. That's what happens. And so we talk about that because you get tired. You get very, very tired. Well, yesterday we leave, and that's what's happening. So we're having a little difficulty, and I say, oh, you know what? And I turn to this guy, and I say, you know, it's always at the very end of the trip that I have my problems. And so we got on the plane there in Malaga. We fly into London's two and a half hour flight. We were there for a couple hours, and then you have an 11 hour flight to get home. We finally get home last night at seven or eight o'clock at night. I got home, but my luggage didn't. And so we stand there at the carousel for about 30 minutes waiting to see if the bags are going to come. They're not there. And I walk up to one of the fellas who works there, and I said, we can't find our bags. He says, oh, yeah, your bags didn't come because it's on a computer sheet. They have that. Your bags didn't come. And I look at them, and I said, I can't believe this. Why? And everything I had been telling the guys in the morning right in front of me, right there. And I said, I can't believe he says, how would I know? And I looked at him, and I said, you're right. I said, I'm so sorry. I said, I'm just tired and frustrated. Forgive me. You know, I turn and I walk away, and I don't know. I'm hitting myself in the head, you know, intellectually stupid, stupid, stupid. Why'd you do that? You know, and it's always that way. You can know. I mean, I know. But when it comes down to it, my flesh is, you know, sin lies at the door. You know, looking for opportunity to be expressed. I remember on one occasion I was flying out somewhere, and we went to Ontario. My wife and I were there. We sat there and waited for our plane. It was supposed to be loading. So I'm thinking, how come they're not giving a loading call? So I go up to the desk and I say, excuse me. We've been waiting for our flight to be called. It hasn't been called. Oh, well, that's because your flight was canceled. I said, what? Your flight was canceled. And you're going to have to go downstairs. Now I'm thinking, oh, man, you know, we've been here for all this time, et cetera. I go downstairs and I'm fuming. Now you won't really know that. Marie knows I am. You know, Marie knows I'm fuming. I'm standing there in line going, I can't believe this. And we had to go to Los Angeles. And here we are in Ontario and I'm going to be late and I'm fuming. And so I walk up to the desk there and the lady behind the counter looks at me and she says, a ticket, please. And I hand her the ticket. I'm not saying anything. I'm just thinking, Lord, I can't believe that. She looks. David Rosas, oh, I listened to you on K-Wave. And I said, oh, I'll praise the Lord. What a hypocrite. You know, oh, glory, glory. What a hypocrite. I mean, the Lord, poor Marie, she said that. No, that was me. But I'm just standing there going, oh, Lord, you're so, you're too much. I mean, you get me every time, every time you get me. You know, you know more than you do. Jesus was somebody who never had that breaking connection, ever. Jesus always walked in that way. That's why I need a savior. That's why I need a savior. But I see in this passage here that I can grow in spirit and I can become better than I am. In Proverbs 20, verse seven, the Bible says, the righteous man walks in his integrity and his children are blessed after him. So Jesus grew strong in spirit. Also, it's interesting, it says he was filled with wisdom. And it says he grew stronger, was filled with wisdom. That being filled with wisdom includes intellectual development. It's interesting to note that Jesus Christ was fully human as well as fully God. Being fully human, he actually obtained information in the normal way that you and I do. The normal way, which comes through study. It comes through prayer and it came through meditation and memorization. Jesus Christ, in other words, when he was born, was given information the way that you as a baby and to adulthood have been given. The way that I have, he obtained information. And yet, when you read the words of Jesus Christ, you see that he mastered Scripture because he quoted from the Law of Moses, from Isaiah, from Jeremiah, from the Book of Daniel, the Psalms, Malachi. There are a variety of places that you see Jesus quoting Scripture and giving explanation. Sometimes you may think, in other words, that Jesus was born being the word incarnate that he automatically knew all of these things because he was the one who inspired all of these things. And yet, from a human perspective, he obtained information the way you and I did, which means that he spent time studying and pursuing and growing in that way. That's what the Scripture is saying. I want you to see it. The child grew and became strong in spirit filled with wisdom. And so Jesus spent time, trying to tell you. He spent time in the Word of God, the way that you and the way that I do. Jesus spoke at least three languages. We know that he spoke Hebrew, obviously, because he quoted from the Hebrew. We know that he spoke the common language of his day, which was Aramaic. And we also know that Jesus spoke Greek. And so he spoke three languages. He obtained those languages in the normal way. I've told you this before. My son, David, when he was in high school, one day approached me and said, Dad, I've been praying that God would give me the gift of tongues. And I thought, well, that's an interesting thing. My son has never shown an interest in something like that before. And I thought, oh, really? And I said, really, son? Yeah. He goes, I'm asking God to give me a gift of tongues. And I'm thinking, really, why? And he says, and you know what else? I'm asking him to give me Spanish. And I said, Spanish? Well, it turns out that he wasn't doing well in his Spanish class in high school. And he thought that God, if he prayed, would give him the Spanish language. And I said, son, it just doesn't work that way. But I did tell him this. I said, listen, I think that's a prayer God's going to answer. And he got very excited. He said, really, Dad, you think God will give me with Spanish? I said, I think he will. All you need to do is study, you know, spend some time working on the language. You'll get it, son. But if you think he's going to unscrew the top of your head off and drop Spanish into your head, it doesn't work that way. Sometimes we think that may work that way. It doesn't. Listen, when I first got saved, I had heard that you could learn in your sleep. And I wanted to have the Bible read to me at night when I was sleeping so that I would subconsciously be gaining knowledge of God. It does not work that way. So the Lord Jesus Christ actually spent time pursuing the Word of God. And that's what we do, too. And notice also, it says, the grace of God was upon him. God's grace was upon him, leading him, directing him. He walked in the grace. It was motivated by the grace of God. In 2 Peter, the Bible tells us in chapter 3, verse 18, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so Jesus Christ had great grace upon him, but we also have the grace of God upon us. So much so that the grace of God will work within us to give us the ability to be a tremendous testimony of his goodness to the world. In the Book of Acts, in chapter 3, there's a story about Peter and John going to the temple during the hour of prayer. And as they're about to enter into the gate called Beautiful, there's a man who's laying there who's crippled. And the man looking up at Peter when Peter says to him, look upon us, look at us. The man looking up, intending to receive or expecting to receive something from Peter, Peter looking back down at the man and says, silver and gold, have I none? But such as I have, I give unto you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I say unto you, rise to your feet and walk. And the Bible tells us that Peter reaching down, takes them by the hand, and begins to lift him. As he begins to lift the man, the man receives strength in his ankle bones, his knees and his hips, and he has instantaneous balance. He begins to walk. The Bible says he begins to leap and he begins to praise God. And I don't want to, I shouldn't speed past that. Walking, leaping. You know, you can walk, babies learn to walk, but to jump requires a lot of strength and balance. It's something we naturally can do now, but you remember, if you're a parent or perhaps you've seen your siblings or whatever, that they first crawled and then they got themselves up onto a couch, perhaps, or a table, then they began to stumble as they toddled on, but they didn't just instantaneously stand up and jump around. That doesn't happen because you have to develop balance and strength and coordination of radio, other things. But when Jesus Christ does a work, as he did in this man's life, the man was instantaneously healed, to the point that people began to gather around, seeing this man who had been there begging for so long. And as they saw that, Peter had an opportunity to preach and he begins to say, men of history, why do you look upon us as if by our own goodness we caused this man to walk and to be healed, as you see here is this day. And they began to minister the Word of God. As they did so, a number of people became convicted and wanted to receive crisis as their savior and all. And it got the religious leaders incredibly upset and so they put them in jail and they wanted to deal with them. And ultimately what happens, and it's recorded in Acts, ultimately they just recognized that they had been with Jesus and in the time that they spent with Jesus they were able to see that these men, though they were unlearned, had actually been with the master who taught them these things. And the grace of God began to show through their life and so ultimately in Acts 4.33 it says, with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. I believe very strongly that we as believers can grow stronger in spirit, we can be filled with wisdom and the grace of God can be upon us. And that's what I'm encouraging you to tonight. As you saw the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, it's a simple statement. He grew up, he gained in these areas. It's a picture of what God can do in us too. Now this is taking place verse 41. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the Feast. When they had finished the days as they returned the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother did not know it. But supposing him to have been in the company they went a day's journey and sought him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they didn't find him they returned to Jerusalem seeking him. Now so it was that after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. So when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said to him son why have you done this to us? Look your father and I have sought you anxiously and he said to them why is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business but they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. The nation of Israel the men of Israel were given a mandatory requirement to be in the city of Jerusalem three times during the course of the year. There were three major festivals that they would go and they would celebrate. They normally would go to celebrate the Passover the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles and you find that in the book of Exodus chapter 23. Those are mandatory for the males to attend. As religious and devout Jews both Joseph and Mary had the habit of going during this time in the season and that's what it's saying here when it speaks in verse 41 of the Feast of Passover. So as they went up to celebrate the Peace of Passover something incredible happened. What happens is they have finished they have finished the days according to verse 43. They finished the days and they returned leaving after doing Passover and they would continue with another week's celebration as they were returning in verse 43 the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem but Joseph and his mother didn't know it supposing him to have been in the company they went a day's journey. So what would happen is if we were travelling from the north, Nazareth being about 55, 60 miles or so to the north of Jerusalem often we would travel with friends and family in a caravan and the women would go on a little bit ahead and they would walk behind and as the men were walking behind the men would just visit amongst themselves and the women would be there visiting amongst themselves and they'd have the kids with them and then they would end camp. When they got together to camp that's when they began looking for Jesus but they can't find him he's not with any of the friends and he's not with any of the relatives so they have already gone a full day's journey so now they have to return because they spent another day searching well it takes another day to get back then they go into the third day and they're looking for Jesus Christ and so what they ultimately do is as they're looking everywhere for them you can imagine for a moment if you were a dad or a mom and you have a 12 year old that's missing you can imagine the panic that would go on in your heart at that moment and the city is filled with many pilgrims and you get greatly concerned and that's what's taking place and they can't find him it says in verse 46 so it was that after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers both listening to them and asking them questions now after the festivals the doctors of the law the rabbis would actually sit around in the open and they would discuss theology and as these eminent professors of the law would gather the people were given the freedom at that time to come and to just sit amongst them I don't know if we have anything that's equivalent to that to be honest with you it would be kind of it would be kind of like Calvary Chapel having a pastor's conference we have our pastor's conferences where the senior pastors from all over the United States will gather and we have that every year in June and so there'll be hundreds of pastors and the pastors gather together and we receive teaching and all of that and we have fellowship it would be kind of like you as a person who serves the Lord but are not in pastoral ministry you being able to come and there's pastor Chuck and some of the people that have influenced your life that you respect and it would be like Chuck and several of the guys just around talking and sharing but you're interested in what they're talking about because you love the Lord and you'd like to gain some insights and have some questions I'd like to ask and it'd be great to ask pastor Chuck these questions and so at a certain point you know they would turn and say is there anything that you would like to ask and you have your opportunity at that time to say you know I was just wondering about this that's what would take place and so the people would come they would sit amongst the doctors of theology and the theologians would speak amongst themselves and these were the eminent ones these were the ones who had great learning and knowledge and you need to understand that during the day of Jesus theology was looked at as being the queen of science it was the it was the premier thing that you could know that you were greatly respected because you knew God and you knew God's word and you really esteemed these rabbis and these are the people who are they have forgotten more than a person ordinarily can learn in a lifetime these are brilliant people and that's what's taking place but amongst them is a 12 year old Jesus and Jesus is there and I want you to see what's taking place it says in verse 46 again so it was that after three days sitting in the midst of the teachers both listening to them and asking them questions now remember with me I'm going to develop something with you Jesus according to what we were just reading in verse 40 Jesus grew strong in spirit in wisdom and in the grace of God his being in the temple doing what he's doing is an evidence of that how many 12 year olds do we know who would find and I pray that if you have a 12 year old that he or she is like this but how many 12 year olds do we know who would actually prefer being in a theological discussion than playing Game Boy or something I mean how many do you really know like that how many are there like that that if they had an option between playing their video games or talking to a pastor and asking their spiritual questions how many do we really know like that and let me tell you they're very few and so that's where Jesus is at the age of 12 which gives me insight into his hunger for the things of God the Bible tells us in Psalm 27 verse 8 when you said seek my face your face Lord I will seek that was Jesus when you said seek my face my heart said I will seek your face that's my desire that's a premier hunger of my heart Jeremiah 1516 says your words were found I ate them your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart I am called by your name oh Lord God of hosts my desire is to know you you have a heart like that God will satisfy your desire if you desire the things of the Lord God will give you the desire of your heart you make that determination that I will pursue you Lord I will find you as I seek you and you will open up my eyes to understand wondrous things from your law God will do that in your life see the problem I think that many of us have is we have our eyes set on too many things there are too many distractions for me and so what happens I don't know that I always love him with all of my heart Jesus undoubtedly had this incredible hunger for the things of his father so where is he going to be he is going to be in his father's house that's where he is going to be there is that hunger to be with him there is that hunger to be around the things of the Lord I was gone for several days as you know I haven't seen my grandson Josiah I come into the office today and my daughter comes in and I hear a pounding on my door you know a pounding on the door and I open the door because I know who it is and I open the door and here comes my grandson running into the room and jumps into my arms and I swing him around and I kiss his face and I'm so happy to see him because I love him so much and I miss him so much when you said seek my face your face oh Lord I will seek I understand that I understand that connection I want to be close to the Lord the way my Josiah missed Papa and I would call and I would say hi baby how are you and he'd say two things are you still in Spain and are you coming home tomorrow are you still in Spain Papa are you coming home tomorrow so Corrine said he missed me terribly and I see that I see that now if my grandson wants to come just to be held by Papa for a little while I want to be like that with the Lord I want that in my heart and that's how Jesus was for him to you know I would I would I rejoice and I was blessed and and looked forward to just being in the house of the Lord and so that's the heart of Jesus Christ but I want you to see something else Jesus is seated there in their midst notice how it says both listening to them and asking them questions now the word listening listening to them and asking them questions the word listening means to consider what is being said it speaks of perceiving comprehending understanding in other words Jesus listened carefully and perceived what they're saying once again there needs to be something within you deep calling unto deep something within you that says even if I don't understand it right now I want to understand this I want to understand this I want to perceive so I listened very carefully so that I might hear what's being said so that I might understand well that's what Jesus was doing Jesus was listening and as they spoke the word of God he was carefully weighing what they were saying that's what it means when it says he was listening but the statements that they're making would then provoke him to ask questions and I want you to see something here and I'll say it briefly but when it says in verse 46 into verse 47 both listening to them and asking them questions all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers part of the way that you see an intelligence in somebody is the kinds of questions they ask the kinds of questions they ask especially as they're growing older can give to you a perception of the depth of that person and when Jesus was asking questions of them it was the response so what they were saying so as they would say something Jesus would respond with a question well how is it how is it that and they were I'll put it like this there are times that I have spoken to a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old and they usually have some very general questions did Adam and Eve have belly buttons some very general questions do you ever think about that one? they did because when they were finished God poked them in the stomach said you're done but anyway they have some general but when they begin to ask perceptive questions like in the book of Ezekiel chapter 38 that kind of question is a lot more it shows a lot more inquisitiveness and intelligence and it causes me to take a step back and say I'm dealing with somebody who really thinks and listens and you respect that because you see a degree of intelligence and wisdom in this person that you're not used to seeing so the kinds of questions you ask very often shows the depth of your walk with God so when Jesus is speaking and listening to them and as he listens he would then respond and they were amazed at the depth of this 12-year-old as he's asking these questions of them they were astonished according to verse 47 at his understanding and his answers they were unable to answer his questions but when they questioned him he answered theirs and amazed them as a matter of fact not only at the age of 12 but all through the rest of his life in John chapter 7 verse 15 Jesus was dealing with some people and the Jews marveled saying how does this man know letters having never studied how does this man know the ancient scriptures having never gone to any of our seminaries having never gone to any of our programs he's not associated with us in this way but with God's word how did he gain this understanding listen, if you spend time in the word of God you will be amazed at how you can amaze other people just from your knowledge of Scripture you'll be surprised at how many people have been in church for many years who don't know the Bible and if you study the word of God you may even amaze people and that's what Jesus did now remember Luke had told us that Jesus grew in wisdom and upon him in Isaiah chapter 50 verses 4 and 5 Isaiah writes the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary he awakens me morning by morning he awakens my ear to hear as the learned the Lord God has opened my ear I was not rebellious nor did I turn away that's a messianic Scripture speaking of the Messiah Jesus when we were in college I was going to Azusa Pacific University a number of years ago taking a class there and Jeff Johnson and I were in a particular class Jeff Johnson is a pastor of Calvary Chapel of Downey and he and I were seated in this class and we were in this class with several other pastors now this was many years ago I was in my 30s at that time and as we were there in class we had an older pastor who had been in the ministry for many years and over 30 years in ministry and he pastured a fellowship in the area there in Azusa and I remember he finally after several weeks of class he finally turned and he looked at Jeff and he looked at me and he said I just want to ask a question and it was in the class and so he said I just want to ask a question and and the professor Dr. Grant said okay and so he turns and looks at Jeff and me and he says I just want to know why and Jeff and I were seated next to each other so I remember looking at Jeff and looking back at him and I said why what? He said I just want to know why your churches grow and I looked at him and we didn't have an answer for him you know we didn't have an answer for him I don't know why but I know now because the grace of God is upon you because God's grace is what does the work and this man wanted some technique he wanted to know what is it that you do give me five things that I can do so my church can grow we had no clue about that we just looked at him neither Jeff nor I had an answer for him because you know what it's God's grace and yet it still causes people to marvel it still does it still causes people to look and say how come something's happening over there you know what it is it's the grace of God it always will be and so as the Lord was ministering there the grace of God now as this is taking place they're being amazed when they saw him they were amazed now his mother said to him son this is like mom isn't it why have you done this to us look your father and I have sought you anxiously and he said to them why is it that you sought me did you not know that I must be about my father's business but you've forgotten who I am one when you say my father was looking for me Joseph's not my father if you're wondering if you're wondering if I'm with my father the answer is yes I am with my father in his house so the first thing you should have done if you are wondering where I am is you should have come directly to where I meet with my father which is here was Jesus being disrespectful to his mother is this a sin no of course not he's speaking respectfully but he's also speaking to her as her teacher you need to understand you gave birth to me but I'm your teacher I'm your leader I'm your messiah and you'll see this in a moment I'll read this it says he went down with them that his mother kept all these things in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men mom I am obedient to you as a son I honor my mother as the scripture says but when it comes down to the priorities of the kingdom of God I must be about my father's business I have been called this is what Jesus is saying with a purpose and the purpose is to bring the glory of God to earth I am the ministry that my father has given to me if you wanted to know where I am the first thing you should have done is thought where would I be and the answer would be in my father's house so rather than you being worried which by the way you didn't have to be rather than being worried you should have automatically known where I would be I'm here I'm here in my father's house to marry his mother to think about that to begin to treasure those things in her heart because she needed to remember through his entire life who he was and what he had come to do she needed to be reminded of that now finally spiritual understanding sometimes comes mentally as a matter of fact normally does I mentioned this to you and I'll close with this thought one of my favorite scriptures is found in John's Gospel chapter 13 verse 7 I've quoted this to you numerous times you're familiar with it already but let me close with it it's a portion of scripture where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples and has he has come to the feet of the apostle Peter that he might wash the apostle Peter's feet and as he's speaking to Peter he says to him what I am doing you do not understand now but you will understand later I believe that God does works that we may not understand at that moment this is what we're seeing here Mary does not understand all that's going on but spiritual knowledge sometimes comes over time maybe in a bible study today hearing something that doesn't apply to you right now but it will later on I'll give you one last example when I do studies on marriage and the family there are people who are single out there who are saying this doesn't apply to me I'm not married listen if you take your notes and you pray and you seek the Lord through some of the things that I'm trying to teach you when you get married oh now I see that you know you don't have any kids right now and you want kids why? but say you do if you hear enough bible studies about doing devotions and praying and if you bring those things into your heart they may not be applicable right now but they will be then there are things that you know now in your head that you're going to know through experience later on isn't that true? that's how we learn you know I read a book on driving a car but I didn't know how to do it until I climbed behind the wheel and scared my dad half to death then I began to learn how to drive I learned by reading and by watching see I could read about driving and I sat next to my dad all my life watching my dad and my mom drive and I could talk to you about oh that's the steering wheel the accelerator and that's the brake and you know all of that I could talk to you about that I knew very little about it until I sat behind the wheel and I began to drive myself then I began to learn it's like when I taught Marie my wife how to use a stick shift you know boy wasn't that fun you know because I would say honey I'd say put the clutch in that thing on the third pedal over there the clutch put it all the way down let the clutch out slowly put the accelerator bang bang bang you're bouncing down the street you know stop okay start again and she knew and she'd done it before but she had forgotten how but to talk it through and to do it those are two different things and spiritually you learn a lot of things if you study the Bible guys you learn a lot of information but there's a difference between transformation and transformation and transformation comes through assimilation because as you take this and put it into your heart and then begin to practice now you transform now you grow so it's one thing for me to say I love you it's another thing for me to be getting put off by something you're doing and then having at that point to say God love isn't a feeling love is a decision help me to do the right thing here because that's the loving thing to do because right now I'm getting irritated and frustrated and so it's one thing to sit over and espresso talking about how everybody needs love it's another thing when somebody's irritating you and you want to lash out because they're bothering you and that's when you take what God has taught you and that's when you put it into practice and it doesn't always feel good but it's the right thing to do and you go home feeling better about doing the right thing leaving that person in the hands of the Lord so he can deal with them as he will there are spiritual things you learn sitting in Bible studies and you hit then you leave and God gives you opportunity to put it into practice and that's when you begin to understand Mary saw many things in the life of her son that she would treasure in her heart and think about wondering about what kind of person I'm raising she treasured these things and she thought on these things and ultimately she began to understand these things and that's how it works in our spiritual life