Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

[0:00] I've got a few more announcements. Speaking of that issue one, so it is important how we vote. Not every nation has that opportunity, but here we do so we can cast our vote. But there's lots of people out there who don't know what this is all about, and there's lots of people out there who tell lies. Did you know that? They just make things up, and so we need to get the word out to as many people as we can. One of the things Ethan's ministry, Created Equal, is doing is a lot of door knocking, and really that's the best way. There are some commercials out there. I saw some early ones a while back. I think there's some commercials playing both on the internet and on television, trying to get people informed about this issue one and what it's all about.

[0:56] But just going door knocking is a great way that we can be involved. If that's something that you're interested in, you'd like to do, typically the door knocking is targeting neighborhoods where people are more likely to vote against abortion violence, and so typically you're not going to have a lot of resistance. We're just letting people know who are likely to vote our way. We just want them to know what this is all about. So if that's something that you're interested in, Created Equal is helping equip people, right, and sending people out. So let Ethan know, let me know, and we can get you connected with a group that can point you in the right direction.

[1:45] Roger? It's a slippery slope. It's a cliff. Yeah, Roger said this isn't a slippery slope, it's a cliff. Yeah, and so it's such an important issue, the right to life. And it doesn't just impact, you know, these little baby boys and girls. It impacts their families. And, you know, how many women that I've talked to over the years, if this would not have been an option on the table for them, could have been saved so much pain and misery that they've dealt with because of a choice that they were given, that they never should have been given in the first place, right? So consider doing that. A few more announcements.

[2:35] We had a family conference last weekend. It was tremendous. It was exhausting, but it was so good. People came in from out of town. Thank you. I want to say thank you to all of you here that helped out with preparing food and security and making the auditorium here look so nice and beautiful and taking pictures and all kinds of things that happened that maybe you didn't see or notice.

[3:02] But it was so important to making an event like that happen. And I want to thank all of you for stepping up and helping out with that. Again, with the marriage study, starting this coming Tuesday, 10 weeks.

[3:16] If you can only make five of those weeks and not all 10, please join us. We'd love to have you. Any age, it's not just the young married people, it's the old married people too.

[3:27] And, you know, marriage is something that we should be lifelong learners regarding, right? It's not something, you know, you read a book in the beginning and then you're good to go.

[3:38] Even though that's what some of us thought. If you plan to come, would you let me know? Just send me an email or just let me know here.

[3:52] There are some little workbooks. We're going to actually be printing them out because they rent. They don't, they're out online. They're not available, so we'll print them out.

[4:03] But I'd love to know how many can I be prepared with. If you, if you're not sure and you show up anyway, we'd still love that. Today, if you've noticed up here, we are going to be taking the Lord's Supper.

[4:16] So, look forward to that. And what we typically do with the Lord's Supper is we also take a benevolence offering. Well, what is that? We don't typically take an offering here at the church. We just have a box out in the back that people can use.

[4:29] But for our benevolence offering, we have a benevolence fund that the elders, it's called the Elders Benevolence Fund. That we use to give to people in need. People who have needs.

[4:41] Something broke in their house and they're really struggling to try to replace it. Car breaks down. They don't have the means to get it fixed.

[4:52] Things like that. I'll talk a little bit more about what the benevolence fund is about. But this is something for our church to give to on occasion so that our elders can have the wherewithal to help people who are in need.

[5:06] So, be prepared for that at the end of the service. I think that's it. I'll give one more call out. Anything else that we need to announce before we jump into the book of Mark?

[5:23] Alright, thanks everybody. Well, let's begin then. We have been going through the gospel of Mark. Mark. And we are, we find ourselves in Mark chapter 6.

[5:36] We're just going to look at six verses today. And really this is an account about Jesus going to his own stomping grounds.

[5:47] His hometown, if you will. And what he experienced and dealt with there. Talk a little bit about his origins.

[5:59] His humble origins there in Nazareth. And then ultimately he's, we're going to find that he's not really received well in his hometown. At least the message that he brings.

[6:11] And then we find that he, he actually refuses to do any miracles there in Nazareth. We'll look at, well, why that is. So, we're going to go ahead and read through Mark chapter 6 verse 1.

[6:27] Mark 6 verse 1. Then he went out from there and came to his own country. And his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue.

[6:37] And many hearing him were astonished, saying, Where did this man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to him, that such mighty works are performed by his hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon?

[6:54] And are not his sisters here with us? So they were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.

[7:06] Now he could do no mighty works there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people, and he healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.

[7:17] Then he went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. So as we've been reading, Jesus has been going from town to town.

[7:28] He's crossed the Sea of Galilee a few times. He's gone to different places, Capernaum, which is the hometown of Peter. But here he's making a stop at his own hometown.

[7:42] Now it doesn't say here, but can anybody shout out, where's Jesus from? Anybody know? Nazareth. Yeah, Nazareth is his hometown. Now is Nazareth where he was born?

[7:54] No, Jesus was actually born right in Bethlehem. But he spent most of his growing up years in this little town of Nazareth. Nazareth wasn't any kind of big city.

[8:06] It was a fairly small town. We might think of it as a podunk town. Not a lot going on there. Not a huge center of trade or anything like that.

[8:17] But this is where he spent his childhood and much of his adulthood as well, really, before he started his ministry. Jesus started his ministry about the age of 30.

[8:30] And so he would have grown up in Nazareth for the most part and started his career. What was his career? He was a carpenter. We just read about that when they were mentioning, who is this guy?

[8:47] In verse 2, it says this, And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue. Now the synagogue was a place that Jesus liked to go to, especially on the Sabbath. It was a place where people would congregate.

[8:59] It was an opportunity, especially for the Jews, to speak to people. This was his tradition. We also find this was a tradition of the other apostles, or Jesus' apostles, and then the apostle Paul as well, would go to the synagogues on a regular basis.

[9:21] One of the things I think about in reading this is, you know, Jesus went to a place where people were congregated, ready to hear something, ready to hear something interesting.

[9:32] You know, in the synagogue, it was something from the law, from the scriptures, from the Hebrew Bible. And so Jesus came and, you know, he spoke from the scriptures and beyond.

[9:47] But when I think about trying to reach out to people today, where do you go? Where do people congregate? Really, Jesus is trying to reach people with a new message.

[10:00] His message, the gospel of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is at hand. We're trying to reach people with the gospel of the grace of God, that Jesus Christ died for your sins.

[10:14] We look at the life of Paul, and Paul, when he, Paul went to the Gentiles, right? So he did go to the Jews. He went to the Jewish synagogue and other places where the Jews would congregate and meet.

[10:27] But there was at least one time where Paul was going to the Gentiles. He was in the city of Athens, which is a pretty big city at the time, a big city of commerce.

[10:38] And where did he go to try to reach people? He went to a place that we would today call Mars Hill. Mars Hill was a place where people would go to talk about philosophy and ideas and ideas of wisdom.

[10:56] And so that's where Paul went. And so people were looking for new ideas, and hey, here's a new one for you. There's this guy Jesus, and he did something that you haven't heard of yet.

[11:07] In times past, I think we do kind of a morning devotion with our family, and usually we read through the scriptures.

[11:19] But we took a couple of weeks and just went through church history. And one of the things that we studied or looked at was the Great Awakening period. It was a period in the 1700s, both in England and the U.S., in which there was kind of a lot of deadness in the churches.

[11:37] But a few people, think of John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards, really the circuit preachers was Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield and a few others.

[11:51] And they would go from town to town and go to churches and preach about the gospel. There were lots of people in those churches who were not saved, not converted.

[12:08] I don't know that it's too much different today. There are churches that you can go to today, and people don't know or understand the gospel. And what an opportunity that we could do.

[12:21] Just like Jesus went to the synagogue, and there was a new message that they hadn't heard. Paul went to Mars Hill. There was a new message that those Greeks had not heard. I know that there are a few people here who have, through like the Gideons, have been able to take opportunities to speak to churches.

[12:43] And, you know, they're in various states of faithfulness or lack thereof. But I think about those days during the Great Awakening in which the churches were actually a place where there was a lot of souls saved.

[13:05] So today, churches might be a place that you can go, but where else can you go where people might be willing to listen? College campuses.

[13:18] College campuses. Young people, they're learning new things, getting all kinds of ideas from their professors. Many of them, not very good ideas.

[13:29] But I know lots of people, they have a full-time ministry. Their ministry is to evangelize on college campuses. They'll travel around all over the country, find a spot.

[13:41] Sometimes they get kicked out. Sometimes they have to find a lawyer because that's not how things work in America. It's not how they should anyway. And so sometimes you have to get a lawyer involved.

[13:53] But we'll go and preach in the open air to those on college campuses. And what a tremendous ministry that is. We, here as a church, went to the county fair.

[14:07] That's where people were congregating, at least for that week, in Champaign County. And so we took that opportunity to speak to people. And they were out. And how many came to our booth because they were interested in what we had to say?

[14:18] But another thing, another place that so many people meet today or go to is on the Internet. And so what a tremendous opportunity.

[14:33] You know, there's television as well. And people have used television as a way to reach people in the past. I think that's kind of going away, right, in the Internet. People are going to YouTube and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and some other places that I have no idea what it's about.

[14:54] But these are tremendous opportunities for people who sometimes they're looking for answers. Sometimes they're not. But we can use those platforms to try to reach people with the gospel.

[15:09] It says, so they went to the synagogues. And many, back to verse 2, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, where did this man get these things?

[15:19] And what wisdom is this which is given to him that such mighty works are performed by his hands? It says that they were astonished. And what were they astonished by? It's two things. The wisdom with which he spoke.

[15:32] And it doesn't say here exactly what he said. And then the mighty works, the things which he did. Verse 3, is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?

[15:56] And so they were offended at him. They see this man, Jesus, and they recognize him. Wait a second. I know this guy.

[16:10] The first thing, so they really identify familiarity with him based on three things. One, that he was a carpenter. Two, the son of Mary. And three, who his brothers and sisters were.

[16:22] We'll look at those three individually. But this really speaks to Jesus' obscure origins. Jesus did not grow up as a miracle worker, as a wise sage that people came to for advice.

[16:38] There are a few examples where there was a certain amount of focus or attention put on Jesus. One was his birth, right? But that was fairly limited in scope to a few farmers or shepherds, right?

[16:54] The angels introduced the birth of Jesus. And then some, what we call today, wise men, the magi, who came. But otherwise, he was born in relative obscurity.

[17:08] Born in a stable. And there is one other story in which Jesus kind of brought some attention when he was, was it 12 years old? I can't remember exactly his age.

[17:19] But it tells the story of when Jesus went with his parents to Jerusalem, to the temple. And he got lost. And ended up spending some fair amount of time debating, discussing, conversing with the teachers of the law there in the temple.

[17:36] And, you know, put a few people in quite some awe. But outside of those two things, we don't really know much about the early life of Jesus in his childhood.

[17:48] But we can tell from here, especially, Jesus wasn't anybody special when he was growing up. I mean, he was somebody special. But he didn't come across as any different from really anybody else.

[18:03] He didn't give great speeches. People didn't come to him from far away to get advice from this 12-year-old or 14-year-old. Or even 20-year-old.

[18:16] He wasn't a great teacher. He wasn't known for having profound wisdom. There's an interesting gospel, they call it.

[18:33] So we have today in our Bibles four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But did you know that there are more than just four gospels? In the early centuries, there were lots of books that were offered as stories about the life of Jesus.

[18:49] And people, you know, presented these as real, accurate accounts about the life of Jesus.

[19:02] The only ones that we accept today as authentic are those four that we see in our Bibles. There was one called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. And it was all about the early life of Jesus.

[19:17] And it tells many, many stories about miracles that this little boy Jesus accomplished. And, you know, I'm sure they're very interesting stories.

[19:30] I haven't read them in detail. But when you read this account that we're reading this morning, do you think that the idea that Jesus performed all these miracles when he was a child makes any sense?

[19:47] It doesn't, does it? Because these people, they're seeing this man Jesus, and they knew him as a boy. And this is shocking to him, that he's a miracle worker, and that he is some kind of special person.

[20:03] No. Jesus grew up in relative obscurity. And I think that was part of the plan. In fact, we don't see any miracles from Jesus at all until after what?

[20:14] There was an event that happened. Yeah, the turning of the water into wine in Cana. And that happened after what?

[20:25] After Jesus was introduced to the Jewish people through the baptism of John. That was when Jesus' ministry started. And it says that the Holy Spirit descended upon him.

[20:38] And that's when he began his miracle working ministry as well as the rest of his ministry. So, first, they identify him as the carpenter.

[20:49] Is this not the carpenter? This guy. Hey, Judith, isn't this the guy that fixed our front porch like two, three years ago?

[21:05] What? What does he say? He's saying these things about himself. And he's doing miracles? What's up?

[21:16] This doesn't make any sense. You know, a carpenter back then was not just somebody who works with wood. When we talk about a carpenter today, we think about somebody usually who works exclusively with wood.

[21:27] But a carpenter was, we would think of today as like a contractor, a builder, a construction worker, somebody who works in construction. They would build homes and bridges and other things.

[21:39] And being a carpenter was an honest living. But it was not somebody who was held in high esteem. Like maybe a teacher of the law or a Pharisee.

[21:52] And Jesus was not. I think the thing maybe that they were getting at was he's just a carpenter. This isn't like somebody who was trained by a rabbi. Like one of the Pharisees.

[22:05] This guy's, he's just a worker. He just fixes things and builds things. And then they say, is this not the son of Mary?

[22:18] Now a question you might think of, well, why would they say son of Mary and not son of Joseph? Usually somebody is identified by who their father is, right? You can read in the Bible. And so a couple of reasons.

[22:30] One, I think there's actually a few parallels to this account in Matthew, Luke. And there's actually a small reference to this account in John.

[22:45] But in the book of Matthew, verse 1355, they call him the carpenter's son. And so that's a reference to Joseph. Jesus was a carpenter because his father trained him to be a carpenter.

[22:59] In fact, I imagine that it was the family business, that his brothers were likely carpenters as well. In Luke chapter 4, where this account is given, it actually mentions, is this not Joseph's son?

[23:13] And it mentions both Joseph and Mary. So they may have mentioned both Joseph and Mary in talking about, well, who his parents are. But his parents are not people of renown, of probably even much means.

[23:31] And so who is this guy? Another reason they might have brought up Mary, it's possible. Who knows? But you know, Mary, I've heard some rumors about Mary.

[23:44] Especially about her firstborn son. I heard that she got pregnant before they were married. And so who knows?

[23:55] Maybe that was part of why they said, isn't this the son of Mary? You know, another reason why Mary would maybe be brought up instead of Joseph, it's very possible and I think likely that Joseph, Jesus' father, had passed away at this point.

[24:13] We never see any reference. I mean, we see some reference to him, but we never see him kind of show up anywhere. Whereas we see Mary show up in several different occasions throughout the Gospels. And then is this not the brother of, and they list four brothers that Jesus had, and then several sisters.

[24:35] Jesus was part of a large family. And so, you know, these are people that are probably still living in Nazareth, and they're still living among them.

[24:46] In Philippians chapter 2, Paul says this about Jesus. Philippians 2 verse 7 says this.

[25:01] But he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. Jesus came without a reputation.

[25:15] He didn't come to show off how amazing he was, to come, you know, straight as a king.

[25:26] In Isaiah chapter 53, verse 1 through 3, it says this, talking about Jesus. Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

[25:38] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him.

[25:52] He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him.

[26:05] Jesus came intentionally in a vessel of weakness and relative poverty. And I think he did that on purpose.

[26:19] And we'll actually see this. We'll tease this out as we finish this and look at a parallel account of this whole story. I was on Twitter a few weeks ago.

[26:31] Any other twits out there on Twitter besides me? Okay. I see one sheepish hand. You know, I actually find it very enlightening because you see where popular culture is going and what's kind of going on in the culture there.

[26:45] But there was something that I saw. Somebody who seems to promote, like, the, like, Greek ideas.

[26:59] Greek ideas. I think the account is called The Hellenist or something like that. And they posted a picture. And it was a picture of three statues. One of Zeus. The other of Aphrodite.

[27:13] Another one of Apollo. And then they juxtaposed those statues with a picture of a man on a cross. Mostly naked, dying on a cross.

[27:28] And he said this. Which of these gods should we teach our children to worship? And under each of the gods.

[27:41] Under Zeus it said, God of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, and order. And under Aphrodite the goddess of love and passion and pleasure and beauty. And under Apollo the god of oracles, healing, archery, music, light, and knowledge.

[27:58] And under Jesus they wrote, the god of loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, meekness, and poverty. You know, I don't know if Jesus is the god of poverty.

[28:13] But, you know, he did say that he was, he came for the poor in spirit. And so, to many, and especially if you look back in that day, this was how people viewed this man, Jesus.

[28:32] The weak and poor and beggarly. Not conquer your enemies, love your enemies. But what foolishness, right?

[28:46] What foolishness. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 27, Paul says this. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

[29:02] And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. God loves to work with and to use the lowly, the poor, the weak.

[29:17] Those who are kind of, it's harder for them to get their words out. He liked to use Moses, who had a hard time talking. Is that comforting to you?

[29:32] It's comforting to me. You know, there are very few people out there who are exceptional. Exceptional orators and those who have political power and prowess and lots of influence.

[29:44] God doesn't really like working with those people all that much. He likes to work with, according to Paul here anyway, people who are just kind of average and below.

[29:58] People like you and me. And that was how he came. That's how he came to the world, as one who is weak and lowly.

[30:09] And because of this, many people were offended. Not just those here in Nazareth, but many. Many people are still offended today. This word offense just means a stumbling block.

[30:26] In fact, the Bible references this using that kind of visual several times. It says in Romans 9.33, As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.

[30:45] And whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. Jesus is called a rock of offense. And Jesus has been an offensive person.

[30:58] Not just back then, but in every age. To the Jews and to the Romans, he was too weak and too humble. To the Greeks, he was too simple-minded.

[31:11] His message, that message of the cross that Jesus died for your sins. I mean, what kind of message is that? I mean, the Greek philosophers had so much more profound and complicated ideas to consider.

[31:29] Today, what is the big thing that offends people about Jesus? What I see most often is that he's too puritanical. Right?

[31:40] He says too many things about our sins. And that Christianity stuff, I don't want to have anything to do with that. Because, well, it puts a hamper on my lifestyle, the lifestyle that I want to live.

[31:58] Jesus said, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country.

[32:08] It's possible, I've read, that this was a familiar saying, though maybe not a prophet, But a sage or a wise man is not without honor except in his own country.

[32:20] And this is, there's a similar saying that we use today. Have you ever heard the phrase, Familiarity breeds contempt? Have you ever heard that? If you Google that, you'll find that is a common phrase and something you'll find even in, like, psychology dictionaries.

[32:39] Because there is this psychological concept with us human beings that the closer we are to something or someone, we have less respect for it.

[32:49] We tend to have more respect for people who are far off, who are distant, people that we don't know. And there may be lots of reasons for that. But it's something that can impact all of us.

[33:04] And it seems that that was something that impacted these folks out in Nazareth. You know what it makes me think of is, it's like the plot line in, like, 50% of Hallmark movies.

[33:15] Where the girl, you know, there was this guy that she kind of liked in her hometown, but she wanted to go see the world and go out to the big city. And she meets this guy, right?

[33:26] And, oh, he's so amazing. She doesn't know him, right? And then, you know, some kind of, something happens.

[33:37] And she realizes, she realizes what? That things were just better back home. And that the guy back home that she was familiar with, that wasn't maybe as exciting as the guy in the big city, is the best.

[33:52] That's where true love is, right? Familiarity breeds contempt. But I think we can find the same thing in other family situations.

[34:04] Where children, you grow up with your parents, and, you know, you're familiar with them. You become familiar with, you know, the regular way of life, and, you know, maybe even the mistakes that they make, or whatever it might be.

[34:22] So when they give you words of advice or wisdom, you might maybe look on it with contempt. Well, this can happen in a marriage, right? We might be tempted to, you know, and honor our spouse and the things that they may say as we ought to because of the familiarity that we have with them.

[34:48] And, you know, because of this whole psychological concept, we might be tempted to not become familiar with people because they might not honor or respect us as we think that they should.

[35:11] I don't think we ought to do that. I was talking to a guy many, many years ago when I was in Bible college, and he told me about a conversation he had with a big-time evangelist, a guy who would go to, I can't remember, I think all over, India and Africa, and he would hold these big crusades.

[35:30] And he told this guy, he said, I never get to know personally, I don't ever get really close to the people that I'm preaching to because when you do that, you know, they won't look to you with the same amount of awe and reverence and honor.

[35:53] And I think that's just foolish and corrupt. But I think Jesus himself was comfortable with familiarity. He had his 12 disciples.

[36:05] He saw each other day in and day out. Let's move on. Chapter, or verse 5. Now he could do no mighty works there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and he healed them.

[36:20] Now why was that? It says in the next verse, and he marveled because of their unbelief. And then he went about in the villages in a circuit teaching. He could do no mighty works there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

[36:39] Now why is this? It says he could not do any mighty works. Was Jesus' ministry somehow limited by men and their response or reaction to him?

[36:54] Well, I think that's absolutely true. In fact, in Luke chapter 13, verse 34, Jesus says this, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather you together or gather your children together as hens gather her brood under her wings.

[37:17] There are things that God wants to do with people at times and because they are not willing, his hand is limited with what he wants to do.

[37:36] But really, I think in here, this is maybe a case of hyperbole. When you say that Jesus could not do something, I think it's really just an emphasis in that he was not willing to do something.

[37:51] Think about a 14-year-old boy who is invited to join some other boys on a cruel prank. And just as they're about to go on their mission, the young 14-year-old boy, his conscience gets to him and he stops and he won't go with them.

[38:09] And they said, Come on, let's go. And what does he say? He says, No, I can't. I can't do it. And it's not that he can't physically go.

[38:21] It's he's saying, My conscience will not let me. I can't do it. And I think that's what's going on here with Jesus. He could do no mighty works. He was not willing to because of the reaction of these people.

[38:36] I want you to turn to Luke chapter 4. This is a parallel passage on the same event.

[38:50] But it provides a lot more detail, which I think will show us two things. Because I think there's two outstanding questions. Why were they so offended? And then why did he do no miracles?

[39:06] Luke chapter 4, verse 16. So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.

[39:17] And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

[39:37] Then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all were, excuse me, and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him.

[39:48] And he began to say to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Wow. Wow. Those are the words.

[39:59] Those are the words that caused awe, astonishment, it says. They were astonished at what he said. What? Today this is fulfilled in your ears?

[40:10] In you? This is just the carpenter. So, verse 22, So all bore witness to him and marveled the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

[40:22] And they said, Is this not Joseph's son? And he said to them, this was his response. And we don't know if this was his response based on something that they said or maybe something that they were thinking.

[40:33] There were times where it says that Jesus knew what they were thinking. But he said to them, You will surely say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself.

[40:44] Whatever you have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country. That kind of sounds odd to us. But here's what he's saying.

[40:55] I know what you guys are thinking or maybe I know what you're saying. Prove it, Jesus. You're just a carpenter. You know, we've heard you've been doing all these miracles in these other places and you say that you're some special person.

[41:13] Prove it. Give us a miracle. Show us something. Prove to us that you are somebody special. Physician, heal yourself.

[41:26] And this was Jesus' response. Then he said to them, Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout the land.

[41:42] But to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet and none of them was cleansed except for Naaman the Syrian.

[41:57] So all those in the synagogue when they heard these things they were filled with wrath. Why in the world were they upset with Jesus saying this? Well, here's what Jesus was saying.

[42:09] During this time of Elijah when the heavens were shut up there were plenty of sick people. There were plenty of people who had need. But Elijah only is recorded going to two people.

[42:22] Neither of them were Jews. They were Gentiles. And just like Elijah and God himself was rejected at that time by his own people and instead he did miracles for the Gentiles.

[42:40] And they knew what he was saying and that is why they were filled with wrath. Jesus, show us a miracle. And Jesus' response was nope.

[42:53] Not today. And why? Because of their hard-heartedness. And then it says this and they rose up and they thrust him out of the city and they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built that they might throw him down over the cliff then passing through the midst of them he went his way.

[43:17] They were quite upset. You know, Jesus did not like being tested. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 1 it says this Then the Pharisees and the Sadducees came and testing him they asked him that he would show him a sign from heaven and he answered and said to them When is it evening you say it will be fair weather and the sky is red and in the morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening.

[43:42] You hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky but you cannot discern the sign of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign shall be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

[43:57] And then he left them and he departed. You want a miracle? Nope, not for you. You ask for one because you want me to prove something?

[44:08] The evidence is clear. I think this gets back to what we discussed when we were talking about the parable of the sower.

[44:22] And Jesus said back in Mark chapter 4 he said to them Take heed what you hear with the same measure you use it will be measured to you and to you who hear more will be given.

[44:37] Take heed what you hear. Take heed how you hear. With the information that you've already been given will you come to that with humility? Will you come seeking after the Lord the messenger Jesus?

[44:53] Or will you come to him and say prove to us we want more evidence and Jesus was saying listen no I'm not going to give you more evidence.

[45:07] You want more evidence not because of your love and interest in me but because of your hard heartedness and because of that I'm not going to do it. Jesus is more than willing and we see this right Jesus healed so many people and he was willing to those who came to him with a contrite heart with humility even those that had a little bit of faith just a little bit of faith that's all Jesus needed was just a little tiny bit of faith a mustard seed of faith even those who said help me believe help me in my unbelief and Jesus was willing to help but those who are hard hearted Jesus said no even what you have will be taken away.

[46:07] Let's end there in a word of prayer and then we're going to do our Lord's Supper. Father these words of yours are gracious and and difficult it's we want Father to see your word go out to all the nations and for people to receive you.

[46:27] May we be people who are not afraid to go out and preach your word to give your message of the cross to all those who are willing to hear.

[46:37] may you work in each heart to bring humility to receive that message in the way that it should be received with humility of heart lowly hearts poor in spirit in Jesus mighty name amen.

[46:59] Amen. Well I'm going to have the elders come up and we're going to take the Lord's Supper we're going to start with our benevolence fund our benevolence offering just real quick these funds are not to go into the general fund for the church they're funds to be set aside for people who are in need we don't this isn't something we expect visitors to give on this is something for our church family to to give to and we don't just we're not you know some some churches and some ministries kind of just give willy nilly to anybody who asks you know that's really a dangerous thing we try to make sure that we understand the situation that people are in because you know that you can actually hurt people by giving them things right and so we try not to do that we want to know the situation and what's involved so that we can give wisely we'll go ahead and pass out the plates while I give some instructions for the Lord's Supper so a little bit of instruction you know every church kind of does the Lord's Supper a little bit different first of all well we're going to pass out these elements here in just a moment and in some churches you know sometimes people come up to the front sometimes you'll pass out the elements and people just take them you know whenever they're ready the way that we'll do it here is that we'll pass out the elements both the the grape juice and the bread and and then we'll hold on to that and we'll all take it together as we read the scriptures who who is this for this is for any believer you don't have to be a member of our church this this is meant for the body of Christ meant for those who are believers in the Lord and it doesn't matter if you belong to our church or another church you're welcome to take with us sometimes people ask well what age is appropriate and I

[49:14] I leave that up to the parents you know some people say well you've got to have a profession of faith and and that may that may be the case for your family and what you decide I think that our children for us the way that we do it is we just allow our children to remember the Lord with us all together and so that's kind of how we do it so we'll leave that up to the parents and then what is it for what is this for why are we doing this why do we take this Lord's Supper for you know in some churches Catholic church Lutherans and Anglicans and others you know this is a sacrament this is a way to receive God's grace and that's not what this is at all this is a memorial this is for us to remember the Lord and what he did for us and to proclaim his death until he comes and so let's go ahead and grab this microphone we'll start with we'll go ahead and start with the the juice and we'll pass this out and and then we'll pass out the bread at the same time in fact maybe maybe we get some extra help so we can kind of do them both at the same time all right we'll get three all right thank you you guys got that all right while we're passing that out

[51:09] I had this song it's kind of based on the message a little bit I'll play at least at least part of it here it was said this man was of no reputation yet he could stop a rising storm with a gesture of his hand but he chose to use his hands to hear hearts of darkness hearts of stone just like mine would be revealed he was a man of no reputation by the wise considered a fool when he spoke about faith and forgiveness in a time when the strongest heart broke but this man of no reputation loved the weak with relentless affection and he loved all those warred spirits just as they were he was a man of no reputation it was said this man brought home the confusion that he'd achieve his ends by any means and the truth would bring revolution well for once they were right the truth set us free the hearts of the captive were his only concern and the powerful knew their days were ending he was a man of no reputation by the wise considered a fool and when he spoke about faith and forgiveness in a time when the strongest heart broke but this man of no reputation loved the weak with relentless affection and he loved all those warred spirits just as they were he was a man of no reputation use the mic here he was a man of no reputation

[54:42] I like that song but he has become a man of great reputation right because of what he accomplished for us on the cross and so as we what are we doing today we are remembering the blood that he shed for us the body that he broke for us this is a time for us to just remember what he did for us it's a time of joy a lot of times when it comes to the Lord's Supper people are encouraged to reflect on their sins and how bad they are and a lot of us have sins that we still need to work on and deal with and that is true but that's not what this time is for this is a time for us to to put our eyes on him not on us right on what he did for us and so I'm going to read read from the scripture here this is in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23 in which Paul gives some instructions to the church on how this Lord's Supper should be taken and as I read we'll take this together for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my blood this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this is the cup or excuse me this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me and then it finishes off with this for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes and he is coming again again right and we need to proclaim his death and what he accomplished for each and every one of us until that day let's pray

[57:12] Father thank you for what you accomplished for us let it never grow old may we continue to remind ourselves and those around us of the great thing which you accomplished for us you became a man of no reputation humbled yourself to the point of death on a cross that we might have life and we thank you so much for all that you accomplished in that for us in Jesus mighty name amen amen thanks everyone