Messages

Message: “Free Lunch” from Dr. Rick Mandl

A message from the series “Meals With Jesus.” During his time on earth, Jesus shared many meals, with a wide variety of dinner guests-tax collectors, religious leaders, skeptics, prostitutes, fishermen… Just as Jesus reveals his character through the words he spoke and the miracles he performed, he shows himself through the meals he shared and the people he sat across from.
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Hey, church family great to welcome you. Wherever you are and however you may be joining us, we’re glad you’re here. What you’re looking at on the screen is a picture of what is, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The World’s largest sandwich ever made. This sandwich weighed in at 5,440 lb and was put together by Wild Woody’s Chill and Grill, Roseville, Michigan, on 17 March 2005. The sandwich contained: – 150 lb of mustard – 1,032 lb of corned beef – 260 lb cheese – 530 lb of lettuce – 3,568 lb of bread Any way you slice it, that is one big sandwich. Just the top slice of bread took 8 men to maneuver into place. This sandwich was somewhat of a novelty because no one sat down to eat it after it was constructed. It was simply put together for purpose of setting the record in the Guinness Book of World Records – – for World’s Largest Sandwich. Today we’re going to look at the story of a meal that Jesus provided, and unlike this sandwich, this was a meal that was consumed. It’s what is most often called the Feeding of the 5,000. But even that name is a bit of a misnomer because that number of 5,000 only includes the men who were present, that’s the way they counted things at that time. So when you factor in the women and children present, in all likelihood we’re talking about a meal that fed upwards of 10,000, maybe as many as 15,000 people, and it was a meal that Jesus provided for them at no cost. It truly was a “Free Lunch”. If you have your Bible or your Bible app, let me encourage you to open to Luke 9:10-17. As you’re turning there, let me mention that many would regard this miracle as the most famous among all the miracles that Jesus performed during his earthly ministry, and the reason is that among the miracles Jesus performed, this one is the Only One that is reported by all four of the gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – all four of them include this miracle in the gospels they wrote that bear their names. And the references for those four different accounts are listed there on your message notes. I’ll be reading to you from Luke 9, but then I’ll also be drawing from the records of the other gospel writers as each of them provides some additional details. Let’s begin by looking at Luke 9 beginning in verse 10 we read… “When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida. But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick. “Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, ‘Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.’ “But Jesus said, ‘You feed them.’ ‘But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered. ‘Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?’ For there were about 5,000 men there. Jesus replied, ‘Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ “So the people all sat down. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. And the story concludes by telling us that . . . “They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!” As I mentioned this is the only miracle that Jesus performed that is recorded in all four Gospels. But even though it’s VERY FAMILIAR, it’s ALSO OFTEN very misunderstood.Like the little boy in Sunday School, who when asked what his favorite Bible story was, answered, “My favorite story in the Bible is the story of the multitude, that loaves and fishes.” Well, the people in this story are NOT LOAFING and they’re NOT FISHING, but they were fed loaves of bread and fish for lunch. Some people, who have a hard time with the miraculous, try and rewrite this story. They will tell you that if you want to believe this story in the way that it’s described – as a miracle – you can. But they’ll tell you that what really happened was, all the people who were gathered here this day had actually brought their own lunch with them to eat. But the problem was that they were selfish, they had plenty of food, but nobody wanted to share what they brought, with anyone else. And so Jesus sees this little boy in the crowd, ghis little boy who only had a few loaves and couple of fish, and with that wonderful, warm, Jesus-smile, He melts the heart of this little boy, and he persuades him to take his lunch out, and share it with others. And that single act of generosity, brought conviction on everybody else who was there, and so they took out their lunches, which they had been hiding, and they also shared them with everyone present and that’s how everybody ate. At least that’s how one person explains it.Now if you want to believe that – even though it doesn’t say that – you can. I think it’s easier to take it the way that it’s presented as a miracle and to realize that miracles are no big deal for Jesus. Today, I want to share with you Three Lessons From This Free Lunch…1. Jesus Has COMPASSION For People In Need If you look at the CONTEXT in which this miracle took place, you’ll see that in the first verses of Luke chapter 9. Jesus had called His disciples and He had commissioned them, and He had sent them out on what was in effect a mission trip. He sent them to TEACH and PREACH and HEAL and CAST OUT DEMONS. And as we come to verse 10 in this 9th chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we see that they’ve returned from that mission trip, they’ve given their report to Jesus, and His plan and theirs was to slip away quietly. Now I wonder, if you’re trying to get away, if you’re trying to get some peace and quiet, only to find out that someone has followed you, how do feel? Jesus response was to welcome them and teach them, and that’s kind of the opposite of what we’d expect because usually, if you are followed by someone, if you’re chased by someone, if you’re being pursued by someone, usually your reaction is not to turn around and say, “Welcome! Great to see you! C’mon over, let’s hug it out!” Yet that’s what Jesus did and the Gospel writer Mark tells us why. It’s because “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” When Jesus looked at them, He saw their brokenness, He saw their needs. He didn’t see them just as an inconvenient bunch of people who showed up to mess up his plans. Through all of this Jesus wasn’t JUST TEACHING THE CROWD, he was also MODELING TO HIS DISCIPLES that this is how you do ministry. You do this SELFLESSLY. You do this WITH COMPASSION, you do it WITHOUT THE KIND OF SELF-IMPORTANCE that says that you can’t stop and serve somebody who interrupts your schedule. Another lesson that we see from this miracle is that… 2. God uses PEOPLE to accomplish His PURPOSES You don’t see it in Luke’s account but if you look at the record of this same miracle in John chapter 6, you’ll read that when “Jesus saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. He turned to Philip, and he asked him, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” Now, we know Jesus isn’t asking Philip this question because he needed information, and the reason we know that is because the next verse in John’s account tells us that “He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.” And Philip was ready with an answer, “Philip replied, ‘Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!’” Now maybe you wonder… Why, among all the disciples, did Jesus direct this question to Philip? And the fact is, we don’t know. We’re not told. But if I had to guess, I’d tell you that it’s because in John chapter 1 we’re told that Philip was from the town of Bethsaida which is a little town on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And in Luke 9:10, we’re told that that is the place where this free lunch for 5,000 is going to take place – in Bethsaida – in the very place that Philip grew up, in his hometown. So if anyone would know what resources were available locally, it would be the local kid. So it’s like “Philip, you’re from around here, where do you think that there is a bakery big enough to feed this crowd?” Now again, Jesus said this to TEST him. So let me ask you, did Philip and the other disciples pass this test or did they fail it? I’d have to say they failed. Philip and the others looked at their available resources, and they did the math, and they figured… 5, 10, 15,000 hungry people… Five loaves of bread, and two little fish? It doesn’t compute. Philip was looking at the enormity of the challenge, and the availability of the resources, but he was also totally forgetting all about who he had with him in Jesus. Philip was a pessimist. A pessimist with an ability to do mental math, but a pessimist nonetheless. I remember hearing about two neighbors. One was an optimist, always joyful, always trusting God, always with a smile on his face, always believing the best. But his neighbor, and both of them were farmers, his neighbor was a pessimist. His neighbor woke up every morning with a sigh. Maybe you know somebody like that. Maybe you are somebody like that. So one morning the sun was shining and the optimist got up and he said “What a beautiful, bright, sunny day God has given us!” His neighbor, the pessimist said, “Yeah, but if that sun keeps shining it’ll scorch all of our crops.” The next day it rained, and the optimist, true to form, said, “What a gift that God is giving us to water our crops, and give them a drink.” And the pessimist said, “Yeah, but if the rain doesn’t stop, it’s gonna wash all our crops away.” And this went on all the time. One day the optimist decided to give the ultimate test to the pessimist, he invited him to go with him to do a little duck hunting. He had something in mind. There they were out on the boat with their shotguns, ducks flew up, they pulled the trigger, shot a couple of ducks, they fell into the water and the optimist couldn’t wait. He smiled and the twinkle in his eye said to his dog, “Go get ‘em!” His dog gets out of the boat, walks on the water, gets the ducks, and brings them back, again walking on the water the whole way. And the optimist smiles and goes, “What do you think of that?” And the pessimist said, “Oh, your dog can’t swim, can he?” That’s a pessimist. When two pessimists meet at a party they don’t shake hands, they just shake heads. That’s Philip. Philip is calculating the need and cost. But he made a mistake in his calculations. And his mistake was that when he calculated the need and the cost, he forgot to factor Jesus into the equation. Now you might want to defend Philip because maybe you figure if you’d been there you would have done the same thing. But remember, Philip was there when Jesus turned water into what? Into wine! Philip was there when Jesus healed the nobleman’s son. Philip was there with Jesus in John 5 when Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda. A man who had been ill for 38 years. When faced with the miracle of feeding 5,000, Philip should have said, “With man this is impossible. But with you Jesus, all things are possible.” But he didn’t. And yet he was allowed to be part of this miracle anyway. Why? Because… 2. God uses PEOPLE to accomplish His PURPOSES And if you want proof of that, you can see it in the key phrase that Jesus uses in response to his disciples telling him that feeding all these people is an impossible task. Look at what Jesus says to them in Luke 9:13, after they encourage him to send the crowd away so they can find food and lodging. Jesus tells them, “You feed them” The key phrase there is “YOU FEED THEM” Could Jesus have fed them all by himself? Could He have performed the miracle without involving any of his disciples? Absolutely. He could’ve had an In-N-Out burger, fried and a coke instantly plopped in everybody’s lap. But it didn’t happen that way because He uses people to accomplish his purposes. He uses people. You don’t see it here, but in John’s Gospel, we’re told that it was… “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother” who brings the young boy to Jesus who had the five barley loaves and the two fish… Why did it happen this way? Couldn’t Jesus have found this little boy without any help from his disciples? Of course he could, but God uses people to accomplish his purposes. He used Philip, He used Andrew, He used that little boy, and He can use you and me if we’re open and available to being used. From this FREE LUNCH, we learn that Jesus Has COMPASSION For People In Need, that God uses PEOPLE to accomplish His PURPOSES, and… 3. Where God GUIDES He PROVIDES When Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You feed them.’ Their focus was only on the little that they had to work with. They told Him, ‘We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ Let me ask you, were they correct in their inventory when it came to the resources available to them? Was it true that all they had were five loaves and two fish? No that wasn’t true. What they actually had was five loaves, two fish, and one Jesus. Jesus, the guy who they’d seen turn water into wine. The guy who they had seen cleanse the lepers, heal the sick and raise the dead. They had forgotten that it wasn’t just five loaves and two fish. It was five loaves, two fish, and one Jesus. Someone once said that there was a reason that they called these twelve the DUH-sciples… What does Jesus tell them to do? He said . . . “‘Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” And what were the results? Verse 17 says, “They all…” And they didn’t just all eat, but “They all ate as much as they wanted”. And they didn’t all just eat as much as they wanted, but… “They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.” What’s the application in this story for you and me? Let me answer that in the form of three questions, that I want to challenge you to ask yourself? Question #1 – What challenges, what problems, what obstacles am I facing in my life that, if I’m honest, I think is too big for God to handle? Maybe it’s a change of habit in your life? Or an addiction? Or a temptation that you don’t feel like you’re strong enough to beat? Maybe it’s seeing your kids changing? Or maybe it’s somebody you love that you’ve been praying for them to faith in Christ and you don’t think that’s ever going to happen? For the disciples, what they thought was too big was the crowd, 5,000 men, and the Bible says that was just the men. Where you’ve got 5,000 men, you may have 5000 women, and maybe another 10,000 kids. So likely, between 15 and 20,000 people here that is a lot. An impossible need for them to meet. Maybe too big, even for Jesus to handle it is impossible. What do you feel is too big in your life, for God to handle? It’s like, you can trust Him for salvation and forgiveness, and to provide you with a forever home in heaven, but you’re not sure you can trust Him with this? Question #2 – What do I think is too little for God to use? What do I think is too little for God to work with? Maybe it’s your own talents and abilities that frustrate you. You have a dream, you have a vision of how you would like to be used by God. But you feel like “I just can’t do it. I don’t have what it takes. I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough money. I don’t have enough talent.” If you feel that way, I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong. I’m not going to tell you “You’re the man, you’re the woman.” What I’m going to tell you is that you’re probably right. Because actually, the lesson in this story is not: don’t think like that. “You are awesome.” “You are powerful.” “You have unlimited capabilities.” The lesson is, you’re probably right, that the need is enormous. And your abilities are so small and so few. But the lesson is – – – start with what you have and watch what God can do? And you see this truth over and over and over throughout the pages of scripture. Start with the little you have. David took his five smooth stones, and his slingshot and brought down a giant. Moses had a shepherd staff. He threw it down and it turned into a snake. He picked it up by the tail it turned back into a staff. The disciples had two fish and five loaves and with that little they fed thousands. What would you do, if you believed that God could do that? Some of you hear that and you think “I do believe!” Okay, then let me turn the question around this way… What will you do because you believe God will provide? This 9th chapter of Luke’s gospel begins with Jesus sending his disciples out on a mission trip, to teach and preach and heal and cast out demons. When they return from that trip, they really didn’t have much to report, in terms of results. But then, they are given the opportunity to participate in a miracle in which Jesus feeds thousands. And the very next chapter, Luke 10, begins with Jesus sending them out again, and He warned them, He said, “As you go, you don’t have much, by way of resources… It will be very easy to become discouraged because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few…” But when they came back, this time they were filled with joy and they had great reports. What was different? What was different was that they had seen what God can do with what we offer to Him, and they believed that they weren’t limited by what they had in themselves. . . . They could trust in the One who promises us that where He guides He will provide, and provide abundantly. Would you pray with me?

Message: “Choose Your Words Wisely” from Judy Mandl

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Judy Mandl looks at Ephesians 4:29 and reminds us that when the Bible talks about letting no “unwholesome” words proceed from our mouths, it’s speaking about something more than just swearing and cursing.

Message: “Can We Disagree Without Being Disagreeable?” from Judy Mandl

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Judy Mandl looks at Ephesians 4:31 and Romans 12:18 and reminds us that during these times where people are increasingly finding themselves disagreeing with one another, there is a way as followers of Jesus, that we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Message: “The Party Crasher” from Dr. Rick Mandl

A message from the series “Meals With Jesus.” During his time on earth, Jesus shared many meals, with a wide variety of dinner guests-tax collectors, religious leaders, skeptics, prostitutes, fishermen… Just as Jesus reveals his character through the words he spoke and the miracles he performed, he shows himself through the meals he shared and the people he sat across from.
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Hey church family, I want to welcome you as we come together for worship – wherever you are and however you may be joining us. Whether you’re here with us in our Worship Center, watching from outdoors on our patio, or joining us online. It’s good to have you with us. I wonder how many of you have been watching the Olympics over this past week? It’s been fascinating to watch the best athletes in all kinds of different disciplines, come together to compete on the world stage. To me, it’s also fascinating to see how the different events, in which they compete, can capture the attention of so many people. People who in all likelihood, pay no attention at all to those same events during the four years, between each of the Olympics, but then, because these events are included as part of the Olympic games, they will stay riveted to the screen to see who the winner is when it comes to things like Synchronized Swimming or 3-on-3 Basketball or the Canoe Slalom. If I were to ask you, “Who is the Greatest Olympian of all time?” The answer is probably something on which most people can agree. It would be Michael Phelps. Clearly the most decorated of all Olympians having won a total of 28 medals – – 23 of them Gold. No one else even comes close. That’s the great thing about the Olympics. With Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, to differentiate their achievements. . . You know who the greatest is in every event. But, if you move away from the Olympics to other athletic endeavors – – well, then it’s tougher to get agreement – – on that question of – – – Who is the G.O.A.T.? For example, “Who is the greatest basketball player of all time?” It depends who you ask “Who is the greatest baseball player?” Again, which era? Modern-Day or All-Time? With steroids or without? The greatest football player? What position? Jesus was once asked, within all the commandments that God has given, which one of them was the greatest. He didn’t have to think long before giving an answer to that question, and we’ll see how his answer to that question plays into what we’re looking at today as we continue our series called: “Meals With Jesus” And the reason we’re calling this series – “Meals With Jesus” – is because what we’re looking at in this series are “Meals With Jesus” Specifically several of the “Meals With Jesus” that are recorded for us in Luke’s gospel. If you’ve read through the gospels, you know that Meals were an important part of Jesus’ ministry, and if you read through the gospels, you’ll also see that a term that Jesus repeatedly used often to describe himself, was the term “Son of Man” In Luke 19:10, He tells us that . . . “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” In Mark 10:45, he said . . . “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And in Luke 7:34, He tells us that . . . “The Son of Man came eating and drinking…” The first two, “To seek and to save” and “To serve not to be served”, to us may seem a little more lofty, a little more noble, than the third. Somehow, the idea that “The Son Of Man came eating and drinking seems a little more mundane, but the truth is you learn a lot about a person, and get really get to know them when you share a meal with them, and that’s why we’re looking at these meals with Jesus. Today’s meal is a dinner that he attended in the home of one of the religious leaders of his day a Pharisee named Simon. You’ll find the story in Luke chapter 7, verses 36-50. So if you’re got your Bible or your Bible app, let me encourage you to turn there now. In Luke 7, beginning in verse 36 we read that, “One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.” Why had this Pharisee, this religious leader invited Jesus into his home for this meal? We’re not told. We know that Jesus was a popular rabbi, who when he spoke could gather a crowd. So maybe Simon the Pharisee wanted to hear him for himself. More likely. it relates to something we’re told a few verses before the beginning of this incident. Back in Luke chapter 6 and verse 7, we’re told that “The Pharisees…” which again, was the group of which Simon was a member, “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely. . .” Maybe Simon wanted to trap Jesus, or maybe he just wanted to hear him for himself. We don’t know. What we do know is that “when a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.” When the Bible describes this unexpected guest as a “certain immoral woman” – that is simply a kinder and gentler way of saying that she was “a prostitute.” Also, what’s implied here is that this isn’t the first time that this woman has heard or seen Jesus. Somehow she learned that Jesus was going to be there, and so she prepared this gift, this alabaster jar of expensive perfume. She brings this gift to this dinner party, and she essentially crashes the party, because this is her opportunity to give this gift to Jesus. Maybe she had heard, as Pastor Andrew shared with us last week from Luke five, that Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors Maybe she knew Jesus had a reputation for welcoming those that no one else would welcome. Maybe she had heard him teach on the prodigal son and realized that God’s arms are always wide open to the runaway who wants to turn to him. Verse 38 tells us that this woman “knelt behind (Jesus) at his feet, weeping…” By the way, when it says that she knelt behind Jesus, it helps to understand how banquets were served at that time. They were most often served not at a table, where we would dine today, but instead around something called a TRICLINIUM. Tri meaning three sides, Klein meaning to recline. And so you would come into the banquet and instead of sitting in a chair, you would kind of recline. You would lay up on one elbow, so you could eat and talk to the people next to you, and the servants could come in the middle and serve or come around, you and serve from behind you. And so Jesus is at this table, and his feet are kind of out behind him. That’s kind of important to the story, right? So this woman has “. . . knelt behind (Jesus) at his feet, weeping… Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.” “When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!’” And it’s here we’re given some insight into the spiritual problem that Simon had. He could clearly see that this woman was a “sinner”. What he was blind to was the fact that he too was a “sinner”. And Jesus is about to tell him a story, to help him to see the thing that to which he was blind. But before we get to that story, I want you to notice something, and what I want you to notice is that this Pharisee felt like he was a man of judgment, a man of discernment. He sized up the situation, and he concluded that if in fact, Jesus was a prophet, which is what many people were saying he was, well, then, of course, he would “know” what kind of woman it was who was touching him. The next verse tells us that Jesus “answered” Simon, and that’s significant because Jesus answered not Simon’s words, because he hadn’t said anything, but instead his “thoughts”. Simon is about to discover that whether or not Jesus “knew” what this woman had been “doing” – he clearly “knew” what Simon had been thinking. Verse 40: “Then Jesus answered [Simon’s] thoughts. ‘Simon,’ he said to the Pharisee, ‘I have something to say to you.’ ‘Go ahead, Teacher,’ Simon replied” Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” “Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.’ ‘That’s right,’ Jesus said. Now, in trying to figure out who is who, in this parable let’s start with the moneylender. Who do you think the money lender is, to whom both of the characters, in the parable owed a debt they couldn’t pay? If you answered, God – you’re right. Each of us, like each of the debtors in Jesus’ story, owes a sin debt to God, and each of us is bankrupt, as it relates to our ability to pay. The two debtors in the parable are the prostitute, the woman who is anointing Jesus’ feet, and the Pharisee, Simon. And the point of the parable is that the greater a debt that we realize that we owe to God. The greater our love for Him will be when we realize how much he had to forgive when he forgave us. The prostitute had no problem in realizing the enormity of her sin debt. Simon the Pharisee? His was another story. Although he owed God a debt that was just as unpayable as this woman’s was, Simon, because of his self-righteousness, was blind to his need for God’s grace and forgiveness. Take a look at verse 44. There we read that “Then (Jesus) turned to the woman, and said to Simon, ‘Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.’” “You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.” This encounter concludes with Jesus saying to Simon, “‘I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only a little love.’” The point here is that: MUCH FORGIVENESS = MUCH LOVE LITTLE FORGIVENESS = LITTLE LOVE Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” (Luke 7:47-48) “The men at the table said among themselves, ‘Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?’ And Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” How could Jesus say to this woman, “Your sins are forgiven”? How could He say to her “Your faith has saved you?” What had she done in order to put in a position to receive those words from Him? And what do we have to do, today, 2,000 years later, in order to hear those same words from Him said to us? Well, the answer to that question is, what we have to do, is the same thing that she did. How do we activate God’s forgiveness? In order to do that, three things have to happen.1. We have to recognize that we’re SINNERS That’s the starting point. Recognize that God is perfect and holy, and we’re not. Recognize that He has set a standard for what it means to live rightly, and we can’t meet that standard. If we’re honest, I think most of us would admit that we can’t consistently live up to our own standards, that we set for ourselves, but less God’s standard. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all fallen short of God’s standard. Number two, when it comes to the sin debt that we owe to God.2. We have to realize that we’re BANKRUPT Regardless of which character in the story that Jesus told… The debtor who owed a debt of 50 pieces of silver, or the debtor who owed a debt of 500 pieces of silver we more easily identify with, it doesn’t matter. The bottom line is we don’t have the means to repay and settle the debt that we owe. And no amount of religious activity, no amount of personal resolve, or good works can ever make up for the debt that we owe. And that leads us to the third thing that we have to do which is to 3. We have to rely on Jesus as our only HOPE You can’t pay the sin debt that I owe to God, because you’ve got a debt of your own, and I can’t pay the sin debt that you owe, because I have a debt of my own. Only someone who was perfect – – only someone who did not have a sin debt, because he never sinned could pay our debt for us, and that’s what Jesus did at the cross – – when he died there – – when he accepted the punishment upon himself that we deserve. And my question for you today is have you done that? Have you recognized that you’re a sinner? Have you realized that your sin problem is one that you don’t have the ability to solve because when it comes to the sin debt that you owe, you’re bankrupt? Have you looked to Jesus as your only hope? If you’ve never done that, I hope that you’ll seriously consider doing that today, because there’s no other way to activate the forgiveness of God than this. It’s only through Jesus. “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Now turning back to our story, what I want to make sure you don’t miss is what I believe to be the main point. And to see that, I want you to look again at Jesus’ words in verse 47, and I want you to notice the relationship between God’s forgiveness toward us, and our love for him. We saw that in Luke 7:47, it’s there that we saw that: Much Forgiveness = Much Love, Little Forgiveness = Little Love. I asked you to think earlier about “The Greatest Of All Time” The Greatest Olympian of All Time The Greatest Athlete of All Time and I mentioned to you, that whereas those questions might be too many questions that are up for debate, when Jesus was asked “What’s the GREATEST COMMANDMENT of all time?”, He didn’t have to think long at all before giving an answer. Matthew 22:35-38 says, “One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” The greatest commandment is to LOVE God. What Jesus quotes here in Matthew 22 is what would have been the best-known passage to all of the Jewish people. It comes from Deuteronomy chapter 6 says, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord your God is one.” The next verse says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might.” By the way, this greatest commandment that Jesus talks about teaches us something very important about God. It teaches us that God is a personal being, not just some inanimate cosmic force The reason I say that is because you can’t fall in love with an inanimate force. You can only fall in love with a person. All of which begs the question: as a follower of Jesus Christ, how much do you and I really love Jesus? That’s the question I want you to consider. You say, “Well, that’s a good question. But how could I possibly answer that? How could you possibly quantify that and come up with a grade for myself?” Well, we’re going to take a little test to answer that and you can grade yourself on a scale of 1 -10. I want to share with you five characteristics of how people act when they love someone. I’ll walk you through the five of them and then I’ll ask you to grade yourself from 1 to 10. Ten means you’re absolutely perfect, you could not be better. One means you couldn’t be worse. Number one, when you love someone. . .1. You long to be with them Think for a moment about young couples who are in love. Are they satisfied if they only get to be together every other Wednesday evening? No, Why? Because when you love someone, you want to be with them every moment of every day. Well, God reveals Himself to us in the Word of God, in prayer, in meditation. We can tell, number one, how much we love God by how much we yearn to spend time with God in prayer, in studying His Word, in spiritual meditation. Grade yourself on that. How did you do, from one to ten? Number two, when you love someone. . .2. You want to please them For example, gentlemen, when it comes to our girlfriends, to our fiancées, or to our wives, you know what we do. We try to learn what their favorite restaurant is, what their favorite leisure activity is, what their favorite vacation spot is. We try to do what we can to help out around the house. We try to remember anniversaries and birthdays and Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, the day we went on our first date, the day we got engaged, Why do we do that? We do it because we love them, and we know this makes them happy.When you love somebody, you want to make them happy. God tells us in the Bible what makes Him happy. John 14, Jesus says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” So second of all, we can tell how much we love God by how deeply we are committed to biblical obedience in every area of our lives because we know that this is what pleases God. Grade yourself. How did you do on that one, from one to ten?And then number three, when you love someone. . . .3. You are loyal to them The apostle Paul said in Acts chapter 21, “For I am prepared not only to be imprisoned but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.” We can tell how much we love God by how we react when we are presented with an opportunity to stand up for Him, at work, or in the office, or at school. We can tell how much we love God by whether we’re willing to take a stand for Jesus regardless of what it might cost us. Grade yourself on that from one to ten.And then number 4, when you love someone…4. You want to tell others about them Have you ever met someone, who is convinced that they have just found the person who is the love of their life, their soul mate? If you have then, you know that when that happens, they can’t stop talking about them. Why? Because when you love somebody, you want to talk about them.The Psalmist David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be on my lips.” David said, “I love God, and therefore, I love talking about Him.” So you can tell how much you love Jesus by how anxious you are to talk about Him and tell other people about Him.And then number five, when you love someone…5. They become the central focus of your life Think about it for a moment. If your fiancé, your husband, your wife, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, or your children were suddenly just removed from your life, would that make any difference in the way you live your life? Would it make any difference in the way you spend your money? Would it make any difference in the way you use your time and your energy? You know it would! You build your life around these people that you love. So it would certainly make a difference if they weren’t there!But let me ask you, if God were suddenly removed from your life, would it make any real difference in how you spend your time? In how you spend your energy? In what your daily schedule is, or in how you spend your money? We can tell a lot about how much we love God by central of a focus He is in our life.Now, if you tally up your score If you rate yourself, 1-10 on each of those five things, I wonder . . . How many people got a 50? Raise your hands? 49? 48? 47? 46?The truth is, I didn’t either.The point of this exercise is not to depress us. The good news of the Bible is that, as God’s children, God doesn’t love us because we love Him the way we should; God loves us for no good reason at all, and He always will. But is there anything we can do to grow in our love for Jesus? I believe there is and let me suggest two things. . . .Let me suggest two things you can do . . .1. Ask God To Show Me How Sinful I Am Take a look at our Memory Verse for this week. It’s a prayer that comes from Psalm 139 and it says. . . “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you.” (Psalm 139:23-24).I would encourage you to pray that prayer, but you need to know that this is a prayer that takes a lot of courage to pray, and the reason is, that the more God answers this prayer, the uglier it gets. And do you know why? It’s because we may be followers of Jesus, and our sins may be forgiven, and we may be on our way to heaven and be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, but understand this: you and I are still sinners, with a long way to grow.The more God shows us how far we have to grow, the uglier it gets. Some of you hear that and you think, “Well if that’s true, then why in the world would you ever ask God to do this?” Why would ask Him to show me my sin? Why would I ask him to point out anything in me that is offensive to Him? Well, the answer is in the story we looked at today. Do you remember what Jesus said about this woman? He said, “The more we realize what we are and the more we realize what God has really forgiven us of, the more we’ll love Jesus.” That’s what He said. It’s a good thing to know that because then you appreciate Jesus and His love more. So, ask God to show you how sinful you are…And then number two…2. Ask God to help me to get to know him better God reveals Himself to us in the written Word of God. We need to be students of His Word. We need to be studying it, reading it, and meditating on it — not so we can grow in our appreciation of theology, but so we can grow in our appreciation of who God is. Get into the Word and get to know who God is, and I promise you, the more you get to know Him, the more you will love Him.And our Lord Jesus Christ said that loving God with you’re your heart, and soul and mind and strength is the greatest thing that any person can ever do. This is, what He said, impresses Him the most.Let’s pray together.

Message: “Gifted For A Purpose” from Judy Mandl

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Judy Mandl reflects on 1 Peter 4:10-11 and reminds us that God has given each of us certain gifts and that those gifts are not all the same. Along with the gifts God gives us the strength to use them, not for our glory but for His.

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