Transcript
Speaker: The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production.
Speaker: Welcome back to Normal Goes a Long Way. I'm your host, Jill Devine, and let's get into it. Let's get back into our sermon series based on the story. right, hey, before we get going, I just wanna show this off. Somebody in the back there gave me a gift this morning before we started church today, and I just gotta show it off. it I just love this so much, I have to share it with you. This is my emotional support dog.
Speaker: That is so awesome. Awesome, awesome. I'm at 58. I've got one to go. um If you know about the Messiah Hot Dog League, so i'm I'm in good shape. I'm going to ball game tonight.
Speaker: Watch the Cubs beat the Cardinals and have my last dog. And I'm really, I know a way to warm up the audience, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you're not an audience. You're a congregation. All right. Good morning, church.
Speaker: morning. There we go. Good morning, church. I hope you're off to a fantastic Sunday. If you were with us last week, we jumped back into the story, and now we're in the second half, the second part of the story.
Speaker: Last week, we celebrated Christmas. God's great gift to the world has come, and now Jesus' ministry begins. Jesus is about 30 years old. Up to this point, he has been working the trade of his earthly father, a carpenter.
Speaker: Actually, the word is tecton, so it doesn't necessarily mean working with wood, by the way. A tecton could also refer to a stonemason. ah Most of the houses were built out of stone, so it you know could be Jesus worked with rocks. But either way, it's safe to assume that Jesus was no wimp.
Speaker: He was a man who was doing blue-collar work. But today, Jesus steps out of the carpentry shop, ah leaving home, so to say, and he begins the real work that he came to do.
Speaker: His ministry begins, and the first scene takes place at Jesus' baptism. Now, Jesus had a cousin named John. He also had the same middle name as Winnie the Pooh, right? John the Baptist. And John is a little rough around the edges.
Speaker: He's kind of shaggy. He's eccentric, definitely in your face. And ah John the Baptist, he was out there, like literally in the wilderness, right?
Speaker: He was set apart since birth. He was the very last of the Old Testament prophets. And he was getting people ready for the coming of the Lord. And he had just one message, and that was repent.
Speaker: And that's a good word for us too. The word repent means to turn back, to turn back away from your sin. Mr. Dwyer, our all-star eighth grade teacher at Messiah, he demonstrated this for the kids in a chapel message a long, long time ago, but it stuck with me.
Speaker: He set it up by ah placing a poster on one wall with the word sin written on it, and then on the opposite wall, there was the word God. And he explained the way it works. so When we sin, we turn our back on god and We turn our back on what God wants for us, and we go after what our sinful self wants.
Speaker: And so repentance then it's just turning around. We turn around. We turn our back on sin, and we move toward God's will and God's ways and God's wants for us.
Speaker: Let's return to John the Baptist. He is out in the wilderness. He's ah preaching repentance. He's baptizing people in the Jordan River. And one day along comes Jesus. And cousin John points to Jesus and says, Behold, the Lamb God who takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker: And those words right there are wonderfully loaded because they refer to ah atonement or paying the price for sin.
Speaker: You might recall in the first part of the story that God had devised a way for his people to pay for or atone for their sins, namely animal sacrifice.
Speaker: ah The people would select one of their very own animals with without blemish. had to be a good one. And they would take it to the priest and they would slaughter it. And this is to be ah their most valuable animal.
Speaker: right ah The blood then would pay the price or atone for their sin. The the shed blood would cover their sin. A pure, innocent animal, one of great value, took the punishment.
Speaker: Instead of a sinful person being struck down for their sin, the lamb took the punishment so that the sinner could keep on and enjoying and living in a relationship with God.
Speaker: That's not unfair. Yeah. Yeah, that's the point God was making. Totally unfair that an innocent lamb gets what you deserve. But it's the only way because you cannot get rid of sin on your own. And so God will provide a way.
Speaker: see, God does, he never condones sin. He does not sanction sin. God never looks the other way. He deals with it. God will not ignore sin, nor will he ignore us.
Speaker: The heavenly father is not a permissive parent. so No, he will deal with it. God gets involved personally. He will provide way.
Speaker: ah Jesus, he will provide the way. The way is the permanent way for you and for me and for the whole wide world. Jesus, the Lamb of God, enters the scene, and today he begins a long three-year walk to the cross.
Speaker: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And the story continues as Jesus is baptized and the spirit descends as a dove and lands on him. Then there's a voice from heaven that declares, oh, you are my son whom I love with you. I am well pleased.
Speaker: God says the same thing to you at your baptism, by the way. You are my child who I love with you. I am well pleased. Father, Son, Holy Spirit all show up same time, same place, demonstrating to the world and to you and me that Jesus is God himself.
Speaker: Now, following the baptism, the Spirit of God leads Jesus into the desert wilderness where for 40 days, get this, he goes without food.
Speaker: And he is tempted by Satan. You have heard of him. He goes by other names as well. Lucifer, the tempter, the devil.
Speaker: ah The name devil in Greek is diabolos, coming from the root word to divide. the devil comes to divide. That's his name, to divide.
Speaker: He is a separator. That is his goal, to separate people. people from God. By the way, if you ever come across a guy with a cheesy mustache wearing a red jumpsuit and holding the pitchfork, that ain't the devil.
Speaker: That's just some weirdo. Satan is way more deceptive than that. Come on. He's not a cartoon. In Genesis, just at the beginning of creation, Satan enters the perfect garden of Eden, and he tempts Adam and Eve to sin, to go their own way.
Speaker: Turn your back on God, go your way. And they fall for it hard. And now he is back, and he's going to try his hand with Jesus, who is also known as the second Adam.
Speaker: See, this is the great do-over. Jesus goes into the wilderness for you and for me. He is representing all mankind. Jesus true God and true man. This is important.
Speaker: And he goes there intentionally to be tempted because he's going in our place. He is going as the second Adam. It is a rematch. And Satan comes at Jesus with all that he's got.
Speaker: Jesus is literally starving. and so Satan tempts him with this. If you are the son of God, then turn these stones into bread. Do you see that?
Speaker: The word if. Oh, he's bringing into question Jesus' identity. That's big because he does that to you too. If you're a child of God, you wouldn't have done that.
Speaker: If you are. Oh, see how he does that? If you are the son of God. And I know that you got to be hungry, so why don't you turn these stones into bread and dig in?
Speaker: and isn't that just the way?
Speaker: just the way he goes about it. Sneaky stuff, appetizing stuff. He knows you, he knows what button to push.
Speaker: That is his mode of operation. He goes after. Your weak spot. He sees you in your moment of need when you are down, when you are out, when you are exposed.
Speaker: And that is when he comes to throw a slippery solution to your problem. He knows your weakness and he personalizes temptation. You see, every Christian wears a target on their back.
Speaker: If you are living for Jesus, if you confess Jesus Christ as one and only Lord and Savior, if you are bringing your kiddos up to know Jesus as Savior, then heads up, were a target.
Speaker: And Satan's great goal is to separate you from god God's Word.
Speaker: He aims to have you turn your back on god and go your own way. Go with your own words. Go with somebody else's words, but not God's word. I'll tell you what, it's the way of death, and that's what Satan wants. he And he often strikes when we're weak.
Speaker: And you don't have to go into the wilderness to experience this. No, a hospital room will do just fine. ah So will a cemetery or a midlife crisis or a heartache or a failure or a financial strain or when you are stressed out or maxed out or burnt out. It is during those tough times that that lead you into the desert, and Satan is waiting for you.
Speaker: When you are weak, when you are weary, Satan comes calling. And if you are unprepared, what was once unthinkable
Speaker: becomes enticing.
Speaker: what was once unimaginable in the wilderness. You would never do that. Prior to the wilderness, you would never, ever, ever think there and go there. a sudden you get the wilderness and all sudden becomes quite possible.
Speaker: but a tough marriage can make a good man look twice at the wrong woman and vice versa.
Speaker: Extended sickness or a tragedy can make even the strongest Christian question God's love or even his reality.
Speaker: Stress, despair, loneliness ah can take the sickest idea and twist it in a way in which it becomes something to consider.
Speaker: As Jesus was tempted by Satan, the unthinkable is offered to him. Hey, Jesus, let's team up. You can skip all of the suffering and the shame and the cross, and instead you can be the ruler of the world. All you gotta do is bow down and worship little old me. And what does Jesus do?
Speaker: Well, he does what you and I can do. Jesus sends Satan packing with, get this, with the word of God. You see how important this is?
Speaker: And Jesus is quoting some Old Testament stuff now. It is written, do not put the Lord your God to the test. It is written, worship the Lord your God only. It is written.
Speaker: And as Jesus quotes God's word, the devil just gave up and left. But he'll be back. And I'll tell you, if you battle temptation, and who doesn't, we all do, then pick up the sword of the Spirit,
Speaker: Sort of a what? Go on the offense. The sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God. You pick up the sword of the Spirit and start swinging, which means you have to have some verses committed to memory.
Speaker: i Have some verses some Scripture in your head and in your heart. It's incredibly important if you don't. You're going to be in trouble when it comes to temptation because your willpower won't cut it.
Speaker: You're just not that good. We're just not that strong enough to take that him out You need the word of God. So when Satan comes calling, and start swinging some scripture. I'm gonna give you my two personal favorites.
Speaker: My first, Ephesians 6, 11. Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. I say that one daily. Daily.
Speaker: Another, that's what I say daily too. Matthew 16, 23. Get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me.
Speaker: yeah And you know what? It works.
Speaker: it's That's the only way I know. You do that, say that. You can say it out loud. Say it in your head, say it in your heart, wherever you are. That's the word of God there. You speak that truth and you will see the devil slink away.
Speaker: and he has to because he cannot stand up to Jesus who is the word of God. Okay, Jesus comes in the place of all mankind.
Speaker: take on Satan and win. He's doing it for us. This is the big do-over. Jesus is in the business of recreation.
Speaker: He was there at the beginning, and now he has come to make all things right, to make them new. And so as you read chapter 23 of the story, or as you read through the Gospels in your Bibles, you will see Jesus always making things right.
Speaker: He's turning water into wine, his first miracle. He's healing people of their diseases. He's preaching good news to the outsiders, to the poor. He's casting out demons. He's calling sinners.
Speaker: He's gathering disciples. Now, one of those 12 is an interesting guy. I'm just gonna talk about Nathaniel, kind of a sharp tongue on this guy. He comes off kind of cynical, a little bit arrogant.
Speaker: And here's how he came in to get to know Jesus. Nathaniel has a buddy named Philip, and Philip goes to Nathaniel, and he tells him about Jesus. And he says, hey, Nate, I think he's the one.
Speaker: He's the one we've been waiting for, the Messiah. You've got to meet this guy, Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathaniel responds, bah! Nazareth, that hick town, that place is dump.
Speaker: Nothing good ever came out of Nazareth, not a chance, no way. And Philip, all he says is, come and see. Come on, come with me, come and see. And then wouldn't you know it, here comes Jesus and he walks up to Nathanael and says, hey Nathanael, how's it going?
Speaker: And Nathanael says, how do you know me? How do you know my name? And Jesus looks at him and he says, I know everything about you, buddy.
Speaker: I saw you before. You were even talking to Philip. You were underneath the fig tree. Well, Nathanael, quite naturally, is a little freaked out, a little blown away.
Speaker: And Jesus says, follow me and I'll show you even greater things than this.
Speaker: Amazing. Jesus gathers the most unlikely people to be his disciples. ah You look at Matthew, the hated tax collector.
Speaker: Follow me, Matthew. And he gets up and he jumps at the chance. He turns around. He leaves the past behind. and he heads straight for Jesus.
Speaker: And that night, as Greg was sharing at the beginning of the service, ah Matthew has a party. And it's filled with all these, his buddies, tax collectors.
Speaker: and And Jesus is there with some of his disciples. He hasn't got them all yet. And then the Pharisees and the other religious do-gooders, I don't know how they got in the party, but they're there for some reason. And there are a Appalled by this. They are shocked.
Speaker: They are muttering. They're always muttering, always muttering. And they're like, oh, Jesus, look at him. he socializes with outcasts and losers and sinners and these unclean misfits. He eats and drinks with them, with these sinners. He must be one too. And Jesus knows what they're thinking. And so he kind of stands up and he says, he goes right at them. He goes, you don't get it.
Speaker: You don't get it.
Speaker: It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Why don't you go and learn what this means? And he's quoting God's word here. This is Old Testament word. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Why don't you go and learn what that means?
Speaker: You see, I didn't come to call people who think they got it going on. I came to call sinners. And Jesus was turning the legalistic religious world of the Pharisees on its head and they hated him for it.
Speaker: Except for this one Pharisee named Nicodemus. He was kind of a big deal, a member of the Jewish ruling council. I mean, if if you were looking for somebody in that world who was doing it right in that time, in that place, it's it's Nicodemus.
Speaker: He was of the right tribe. He is of the right nationality. He is the right pedigree, right profession, a very religious, very Jewish Pharisee. He is a leader of Pharisees.
Speaker: Elite company for sure. Everybody looked up to Nicodemus by worldly standards of his time and place. Nicodemus had a going on. He was all right, but he had it all wrong.
Speaker: However, there was something
Speaker: and Jesus that made Nicodemus kind of stop and think and scratch his beard
Speaker: ah something about Jesus, the way he acted, the way he treated people, the way he made you think about the goodness of God.
Speaker: Nicodemus wanted to know more. He's curious guy. hadn't seen anything like this ever. And so he comes to Jesus at night secretly, and Jesus and the old Pharisee have a conversation about life in the kingdom of God. And this a mind blower for Nicodemus because Jesus told him that it wasn't about following religious rules, but about being born again.
Speaker: wasn't about being a good person, so It's about having faith in what God has done and now is doing right in front of you.
Speaker: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes not works, not tries to earn it. Whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Speaker: Well, this sounded like pretty good news to Nicodemus, and he eventually came to believe. ah Jesus really was God in the flesh. And you can find Nicodemus meeting with Jesus in John chapter 3 in your Bibles. But if you turn the page to the very next chapter, you will see Jesus having an encounter with a totally different kind of person.
Speaker: I think it was set up this way. Just about the exact opposite of Nicodemus in every kind of way humanly possible. Jesus approaches a Samaritan woman at a well.
Speaker: Now, according to the religious standards of the day, if Nicodemus is all right, then this poor woman is all wrong. She's a half-breed Samaritan, the hated enemy of the Jews.
Speaker: And on top of that, she is despised and rejected by the Samaritans themselves. because she has a checkered past. She has gone through the more than a few husbands, or maybe they have gone through her.
Speaker: Regardless, the man she is currently living with is not her husband, and everyone in town looked down upon the scandalous woman, marginalized for sure.
Speaker: And so she goes to the well at high noon when no one else is around. She goes in the heat of the day when no one else is around because she's tired.
Speaker: She's tired of the dirty looks and the sneers and the eye rolls and the whispers. She was the exact opposite of Nicodemus in every way, but they're exactly the same here where it matters in the heart.
Speaker: Both of them had it wrong. Both of them needed ah savior. Jesus came, and he opened her eyes by letting her know ah he knew everything about her.
Speaker: He did that thing on her too, that Jedi stuff. He says, why don't you go home and tell your husband, right? Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And he spoke to her about living water, a water that will never run out, a water welling up to eternal life. and And then Jesus explains to her that he himself is that living water right in front of her.
Speaker: That he's, I'm the Messiah. I'm the one you've been looking for. And he changed her life.
Speaker: And that, dear woman, becomes the first Christian missionary. She's a hero of the faith. She runs back to town and tells everybody about Jesus.
Speaker: Come and see. Come and Jesus makes everything new. He knew everything about me. He is the Messiah. He is the king of fresh starts. He is the king of do-overs.
Speaker: And Jesus does the same for us today. No matter where you are, he knows no matter who you are, whether you're a Nathaniel or a Matthew or a Nicodemus or a Samaritan woman thirsty for something better.
Speaker: Jesus knows you. He knows everything about you. He knows your name. He came for you. You see, the story of Jesus is about the heart of God.
Speaker: You want to know the heart of God? Look at Jesus. It is about wanting you and loving you and saving you and living for you and dying for you.
Speaker: is the greatest story in the world. I pray that each of us will see the story of Jesus with fresh eyes as we journey through the New Testament. and i i pray that as ah ah we take a look, that we will just be astounded again. You know?
Speaker: Amazed. in a of God's great love for you and for me. Well, let me leave you with this. True story. This one took place in the early nineteen eighty when life was cool.
Speaker: Think um Somewhere remote jungle of East Asia, a couple of missionaries showed the Jesus film to a group of people.
Speaker: A Jesus film. It's kind of like you know how we have The Chosen now. In the day, this is what they used to missionaries would take the Jesus film. It was a couple hours worth of the Gospel of Luke, basically.
Speaker: because and They would go to different places and show the Jesus film. and They showed it in East Asia to a group of people who had never heard of Jesus before, and they had never seen a motion picture before.
Speaker: It's a very accurate portrayal of ah the life of Jesus from Luke's gospel. And here's how author Barry Davis tells the story. One unforgettable evening, they saw it all, the gospel in their own language, visible and real.
Speaker: And they watched mesmerized by this good man, Jesus, who healed sick people and who was adored by children.
Speaker: And then, without trial, being beaten jeering soldiers. And as they watched this, the people became unglued.
Speaker: They stood up and they began to shout at the screen. demanding that this cruel outrage just stop. And when nothing happened, they attacked the missionary who was running a projector.
Speaker: Perhaps he was responsible for this injustice. And the missionary had to stop the Jesus film and explain to them, hold hold on, the story's not over yet.
Speaker: There's more. And so they settled back down onto the ground, but you know kind of holding their emotions in check. But then came the crucifixion.
Speaker: And again, the people could not hold back. They began to weep and wail with such loud grief that once again, the missionary had to stop the movie.
Speaker: And again, he tried to he calmed them down and he explained to the story's not over yet. There's even more.
Speaker: And so they com composed themselves and they sat down to see what would happen next. Oh, well, you know what's next. The resurrection.
Speaker: absolute pandemonium broke out of that. that All of sudden, this gathering of people, it just erupted into ah party. The noise was jubilation, and it was deafening.
Speaker: The people started dancing, you know, and slapping each other on the back, and Christ is risen. And again, the the missionary had to shut off the projector, okay, everyone?
Speaker: But this time, he didn't tell them calm down and wait for what happens next, because all that was supposed to happen was happened in the story, in their lives, is happening.
Speaker: And my dear friends in Christ, my hope and my prayer is that we would have that same reaction in our hearts as we take in the story of Jesus, as we listen to him.
Speaker: And watch what he does. That we would have ah just a great joy about us knowing and believing that Jesus is God. And that Jesus is real.
Speaker: And Jesus is alive. And Jesus has come. And Jesus loves you so much. Now that's the story.
Speaker: And it is to continued. Continued. please join us again on Thursday of this week as Miss Hannah and Miss April take this week's chapter and sermon series and present in kids form.
Speaker: And you can learn more about this right now at normalgoesalongway.com. We really appreciate you hitting play on this week's episode and can't wait for you to come back on Thursday.
