Sermon Notes & Videos
2023-02-24 | Matthew 13 | All That Will Be Already Is
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Do you enjoy riddles? They can be both fun and frustrating, and most people find them entertaining, as long as the answer is forthcoming after sufficient effort is exerted. It may be that you solve the mystery yourself, or possibly the mystery-bearer rewards you with the meaning because of your honest effort. Either way, everyone involved can celebrate that what was once mysterious or misunderstood has now been made plain to see for all.
What is common in the riddle game, and because it is a game, is that the participants are all voluntary. Do you want to hear a riddle? If not, you are happily permitted to turn down the invitation. Maybe you are just not willing to invest the mental energy; perhaps you don’t have the time, or it could be that you’re just not interested —or not good at riddles. Some people find the challenge exhilarating—others irritating; no worries, it’s voluntary anyway.
But, what if the riddle-solving was mandatory, part of your job description? And what if you were never given full disclosure when you took the job? And what if quitting the job is literally impossible? Literally! Suddenly the game is no longer voluntary and not at all amusing. You are not a volunteer, but are instead being volunteered, or better said “voluntold!”
It looks something like this; “It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” What does that even mean? There are three parts to this riddle. First there’s a part that is very easy to miss, and quite contrary to how it looks. “It has been given…” This piece appears a bit like a gift, and isn’t accepting of a gift voluntary? Yes it is. But, this is NOT actually a gift; it’s a demand.
Read it this way; “You are required to…” Ah, the gift that keeps on giving, or should I say taking. Then there is “…to you…” Who is the “you” in the riddle? This is the obvious part that anyone can solve, even those not good at riddles. You might not like the obvious, but nonetheless, the you is you! And finally, the third part, which has all the makings of a classic, almost impossible-to-solve riddle; “…to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” What is that? And where do you even begin? And why do you suddenly have a pit in your stomach?
Let me explain. The pit is because knowing the answer is not at all voluntary; it’s required of every Christian. When you took the job as a Christian, no one told you that this was part of the job description. There are two common reasons for that. First, you wouldn’t have understood, and God designed it as such. Then, it’s likely no one around could accurately explain anything intelligible about the mysteries of the kingdom anyway, even those who had been in your same job for many years. That part is sad, but true. So, let me help you out. You have been voluntold to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
You must begin by defining the kingdom. And that is why Y’shua spoke in parables; and that is what you must learn. Let’s do a practice run before we begin. Parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like immortal fish that multiply in the ocean…” Think it through like this: If all the fish in the sea never died, would they eventually multiply so much that they raise the level of the ocean? The answer is no! Why? Because everything that makes a fish is ALREADY in the ocean! In other words, everything that will ever be, already is! That is what the kingdom of heaven is like. Meditate on that and then think about how Y’shua fed thousands of people with a few morsels of food, and had an excess left over. You won’t ever be relieved from your job requirement to know the mysteries of the kingdom; but, as you become skilled at unraveling those mysteries, you will get relief from that pit in your stomach.
2023-02-17 | Matthew 12 | Religionship or Relationship
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People love systems and procedures. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. In fact, God designed humans with a built-in recording system, one that can be programmed to memorize systems and procedures to your great advantage. The recording mechanism is the nervous system, with countless interconnections between nerves throughout the body. One property of the system is that the more often you send signals down a certain path, messages that jump in a specific order from one nerve to the next to produce a desired action, the more locked-in that pathway becomes. It’s like the busiest roadways in the largest cities; have you seen them? The endless passing tires carve out grooves in the roads. Or, like a river that cuts a channel into a mountain because it has flowed there for a thousand years.
However, what’s even more stunning about the nervous system is that if the pathway is not efficient, it will grow new connections, novel pathways that are shorter and straighter, which are then memorized to run on automatic. What advantage does this serve? Well, just think about tying your shoelaces. Or better yet, don’t think about it! And that’s the point; you don’t have to think about it.
You have repeated the pattern so often that now all you have to do is initiate the path and it seems to run on autopilot. You can do just about anything and tie your shoes at the same time. People that play musical instruments learn patterns and eventually, their fingers do the walking with what appears to be no conscious effort. In both cases, it did not start out like that. It was a repetitive step-by-step process until it became “natural.” The pattern of message transmission has, in a sense, carved efficient paths, like tire grooves in a road or river channels through a mountain. And there are so many other examples in which these efficient patterns of message transmission are advantageous: typing, sports, dancing, driving, professional skills, etc. The nervous system learns efficient pathways and builds new connections as needed—then the nerves fire on autopilot to produce consistent reproducible actions—in other words, methodical duplicatable patterns that seem unconscious. We humans seem to use this type of system-building in just about everything, and most times it is beneficial. However, when we apply these system-building tendencies to relationships, things don’t go so smoothly. It seems that humans don’t respond well to their connections with loved ones being overridden by an oblivious system that requires no conscious effort, no thoughtfulness. No one wants to be in a mechanical relationship that is built on autopilot—human connections nurtured by “methodical duplicatable patterns that seem unconscious.” And let me assure you, nor does God.
When we build our relationship with God into a system of rules and procedures—that is called religion. And when we insist others adhere to our preferred system of rules and procedures—that is called legalism. Legalism is equivalent to strangle-ism. It’s the way we choke the life out of our relationship with God. God is not interested in your legalism or your religion; He is, nevertheless, interested in a relationship. Don’t turn your relationship with God into a religionship with God. If you do, you will actually be worshiping a God of your own creation, one who would command you to sit back and rest on the Sabbath, while you watch a man suffer. You will have created a God who would prefer you to strictly adhere to Sabbath rules, rather than heal a man who had been suffering his whole life. Trust me, if you think that the Father of our blessed Savior Y’shua would choose Sabbath prohibitions over a man’s life, you are in a religionship with Him, not a relationship.
2023-02-10 | Matthew 11 | Pillows of Doubt
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How long have you identified yourself as a believer, a child of God, a Christian? One month? One Year? Five years? Or, five minutes? I don’t know that it really matters, because regardless of how long, undoubtedly you have had doubts. Someone or something, people or circumstances, has challenged your belief system—rattled your faith.
In Scripture, we see the very same doubts that show up in our own lives working even in the lives of the most steadfast of Bible characters. These doubts are often fueled by gossip or someone’s personal opinion. What a shame it is to be influenced by another’s wrong assessments, false reports or any form of gossip, when likely they gained their information from mostly erroneous assumptions, baseless allegations, and downtrodden misrepresentations. Taking cues from someone living in a world of unmet expectations, a person carrying their own bag of doubts is unwise. And you can be sure they feel they are accurately portraying truth and reporting facts when in reality they are just passing on bad information.
Today we witness the solid and steadfast John the Baptist, very likely acting on information that fluffed up pillows of doubt, causing him to question the very thing he had been preaching. The prophet sent by Yahweh to make the crooked paths straight—raised up to prepare the way for the King of kings and Lord of lords, had himself become rattled.
We often read today’s passage and what immediately catches our attention is that John has sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He is really the One, or should he look for another. Yes, John, the same John who proclaimed, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” was now asking, “Are you really the Lamb of God?” Bizarre, right? Yet, it happens all too often. If we assess John’s question, we might come to a few different conclusions. One is that John was changing course on Jesus altogether; He’s not the coming Messiah. Another could be that he was just having some “doubts” based on frustration, or impatience, or discomfort. He was, after all, locked up in a nasty prison. It is also possible that he had hopes, as most Jews at the time, that the Messiah would be a powerful military figure, arriving to free Israel from their oppressive captors. Or, maybe he was simply afraid that his days were numbered, and he was just confirming that his certain death was for the right reason.
Setting aside the need to know exactly why, we must still conclude John doubted Jesus. It is also very likely he didn’t get there on his own. He certainly had plenty of help from his own disciples who had their own erroneous conclusions that the coming Messiah would be a “warrior and reigning king.” Their unmet expectations and wrong assumptions caused them to pass on bad information, casting pillows of doubt over John, not the best type on which to lay his imprisoned head, one soon to be separated from his shoulders.
Sadly enough, John did not get to see the fruits of his own ministry. And by and large, that too forms the bedrock of our very own pillows of doubt. Not tasting the fruit of your labor, or seeing an immediate return on your investment into the Kingdom of God, can be very destabilizing to your faith. Does this happen to you? Are you resting your head on such pillows—pillows of doubt? And worse yet, are those doubts being fueled by the baggage and bad information from fellow believers?
Today’s section of scripture is packed with personal and prophetic subject matter. Jesus, as always, is so masterful at bringing His disciples to the place where they recognize the correct answer to the one question He asks that matters most to every human; “Who do YOU say that I am?”
2023-02-03 | Matthew 10 | Practicum
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“Let My people go!” Those words were made famous when Moses echoed the heart of God in the presence of an obstinate king. At first, Moses was resistant; He was not an eloquent man. “What could I say? I don’t speak well. The best I can do is mutter and stutter a few words, certainly nothing a king would take seriously.” It would seem Moses was somewhat correct, as seven times he made that demand, each falling on deaf ears. But in the end, God did release His people to go, and the journey began for those who would soon become His bride at Mt. Sinai.
Everything that led up to the moment of their release is recorded in the catalogue of miracles, signs and wonders. God’s supernatural involvement continued as they headed toward the sea and then across. And His supernatural intervention kept coming as they wandered. In a sense, Israel was conditioned by supernatural encounters. They had witnessed ten plagues and the protection of a lamb’s blood. They watched a wall of darkness rise to hold back the most powerful military in the world, while the same cloud gave them light. They stood still to observe a small stick held over an ocean—powerful enough to part the waters, leaving a dry ocean bed. Yes, you could say they had become conditioned by the supernatural. And it didn’t end there. They drank water from a rock, ate bread from heaven, and wore shoes that never got old. And that strange cloud that protected them by the sea guided them on their journey, both day and night, its fiery glow lighting their way in the darkness. And it all began with four words, “Let My people go!”
Many generations later, our blessed Savior gathered His original twelve disciples, who had also been conditioned by witnessing the supernatural, and He conferred on them an apostleship; “Be My sent ones!” But, instead of making demands of an obstinate king to “Let My people go!” He now was the King making demands of His people; “Let’s go My people!” Maybe He was even more direct; “Go My People!” Perhaps He took a more informative approach, “I let my people go.” Or possibly He chose to be more instructive, “My people are let go.” Regardless of which technique He implored, we know this… He was not demanding something from a king; He was the King demanding something from His people.
This was His sentiment… “You were introduced to the Kingdom of Heaven; you learned the truth about what your faith was always meant to be in My lengthy sermon on the mountain; and then you witnessed the supernatural in action—now it’s your turn to go and do. I am commissioning you, giving you the authority to perform all the miracles you’ve witnessed in Me. And I am certain you will feel just as Moses did, completely ill-equipped to speak on My behalf. But, don’t concern yourself one bit. You are not there to speak your own words anyway. My words will fill your mouth at the moment you need them.”
“And I am certain you are wondering if you will face pushback, rejection and persecution in the company of your own people, your own family, and also when you face secular leaders. Let Me put a rest to your wondering—you will! But, don’t worry; if someone could steal your soul, then I’d say you should be concerned, but it’s only your body they can harm, and for that you need not fear. And I am certain you are concerned about provision—food, clothing, shelter and money—don’t be. “Don’t worry; pagans worry about such things. And your heavenly Father knows what you need.” Just go, build your faith muscle; it’s time to transition from witness to participant, from taker to giver, from someone who sees and hears, to someone who does!”
2023-01-27 | Matthew 8-9 | Let the Dead Bury the Dead
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Water finds the path of least resistance. Want proof? Just place a barrier into any stream, and the water will simply find the easy way around it. It won’t first choose to climb over the barrier. It would only do that if its path is blocked completely, otherwise it takes the way of least opposition. Pour water on any flat surface and it seeks to descend into every crack and indentation. Water would rather go lower than sit on top.
Disciples, unfortunately, cannot take the same easy way around as does water. When obstacles block their progress, disciples must choose to stay on top, to take the high ground; they must opt for the hard road. In fact, Y’shua often separated Himself and moved to higher ground, or to the other side of the sea, or He delivered an impossible message, just to separate who would follow from those who would take the path of least resistance. The journey of a disciple begins with some miraculous encounter with the Lord and then moves to this phase; “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” And then Y’shua challenges your offer with some version of this; “Okay, let’s get started! Here is what you can expect as one of My followers; it will be a life of zero possessions, zero comfort, zero security and zero certainty. Still want to follow?”
And, as soon as it does not appear to be all sunshine and rainbows, too often the would-be follower reacts with some form of excuse: I’m coming, but let me go check my work schedule first; or let me get the approval of my wife; or let me calculate the current valuation of my stock portfolio; or let me evaluate the condition of my business ventures, so I can determine if it’s a good time for me.
Note to self: it’s NEVER a good time!
Other times the disciple-to-be bypasses the “I’ll get back to you phase” altogether, and just fast-tracks his excuse, conceding quickly to his wind-blown thinking, “Thank you, but no thank you; I changed my mind.” It’s a life of excuses that fuels the easy way around, rather than a life of reasons; reasons to energize a leap over the barrier; or reasons to empower knocking it down; or reasons to simply exercise the patience necessary to wait in front of it, until it crumbles before your faith.
Then there are those who do jump right in, but when it gets challenging, that is when they change their minds; their past life starts to look so good again. As such, they return to their old ways and never look back. Others have even convinced themselves that they really did choose to follow, only to realize when pressed that they never actually joined in the first place. They are easily exposed as being completely unprepared when asked, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” Such a question leaves them speechless. If that is you, things will end very badly.
I guess the question remains, “Which type of ‘disciple’ are you?” When He says, “Follow Me into a life of zero possessions, zero comfort, zero security and zero certainty!” do you tell Him you will get back to Him after you check your schedule; that you might have some dead bodies to bury. Or do you say, “Lord, to whom else shall I go? You are the only One with the words of eternal life.” And for good doctrine’s sake, let’s make this clear; the only true disciple is the one who sees “zero” as a perfectly acceptable option!
2023-01-20 | Matthew 7 | Six Degrees of Separation
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I don’t decide what is true; I just report it. And quite frankly, it does not matter if you like it or not. Truth does not bias itself; and it has no allegiance to anything, other than itself. And maybe the worst part about the truth is that it hurts sometimes. You’ve heard that phrase, haven’t you? Here’s why it hurts. The truth exposes pretense, everything that isn’t right, real and authentic; and unfortunately for many of us, gentle Jesus is a specialist in truth.
“Truly, truly I say to you…” Y’shua said that twenty five times in John’s Gospel. And that leading phrase with a single “truly” appears fifty additional times in the other three Gospels. “Truly” is the word translated as Amen, from both the Greek and the Hebrew, and when it inaugurates an idea, it claims something about the nature of the truth that follows. It asserts that the claimant has intimate, personal, and firsthand knowledge about, and authority over the subject matter. When repeated, as in “truly, truly,” it is an almost audacious claim from Y’shua that the truth that follows is His own original idea. Y’shua is saying that He is not merely aware of these truths, He is the originator and author of them. That itself was revolutionary! Why?
What is so rattling about Y’shua staking claim to those original ideas? Sure, claiming that an idea is original is both radical and presumptuous. But, it becomes even more tortuous when we overlay Y’shua’s assertion that He also said nothing, other than what His Father told Him to say. Think about the implications of His claim; “This truth originates from Me, and I only echo My Father’s words.” So, how could all those ideas have originated from Him, unless… unless He was also boldly proclaiming that He and His Father are ONE? This too is a radical paradigm-shifting revelation, truth worthy of, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM; and He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
It’s time to grab the shovel! Dust off the archeologist’s pick. Sharpen the scalpel; we are about to do some exploratory truth surgery! We are going to unpack the truths that literally separate God’s people from everyone else. Are you willing to square off with reality; to become completely vulnerable to truth? If you dare submit yourself to this experimental procedure, first sign off on the release of liability—because someone is going to get hurt. Yes, too often the truth hurts.
Let’s get started, but to participate you must be willing to measure your temperature by each of these six degrees of separation. Truly, truly… (1) submit yourself to an intense sober self examination; (2) expose your deepest inner desires; (3) pick the gate that leads to either the wide or narrow road; (4) let others taste the fruit that grows on your tree; (5) look into the mirror and face your real identity; (6) and choose the foundation on which to build your life. Oh, and if you think you can fake any of it, know this: “Truly, truly, no one can hide from the Originator of truth; all things are naked and exposed to Him, and you will be held accountable to everything He sees, which is, well, everything—truly, truly.