Christs authority — Matthew 1-8

0:11 Well, I'm excited to be here this morning to be with you all and excited to bring this message. So, let's just ask the lord's help as we as we get started. Our heavenly father, we want to give thanks today. We're thankful for the lord Jesus Christ. We we know that we've purposed to set aside these weeks to study Christ and to consider what might motivate us or compel us to serve the lord Jesus and to to minister to his body.

0:44 Father, we're we're asking that as we look to the scripture and we ask for the Holy Spirit to help give us understanding. We're asking for you to to enlighten our minds in such a way that maybe we we rethink some things. Maybe we think about some things differently than what we thought about them in the past. Father, help us to calibrate ourselves in alignment with you and your word. Not with human thinking, not with human philosophy, not with current trends.

1:15 Father, we pray that you would allow us to break through all that and see it as vain, see it for what it is, see it as as wood, hay, and stubble. Help us to see this morning what you consider, what you put value on, what you consider gold, silver, and precious stone. Father, we ask for this because we know that we are a needy people. We recognize you as our heavenly father. We come to you as simple human beings.

1:51 We acknowledge your deity and and we pray this now in the name of your son, the lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I tell you what, let's start with a little bit of raising of hands. Meaning, I'm going to ask you a question. You raise your hand.

2:08 If it fits fits you But how about raise your hand if you were alive and watching basketball in the mid seventies. Alright. Alright. The crowds are getting younger and younger. But You you may remember the mid seventies.

2:28 Maybe you've heard of this particular fellow's name. His name was Bill Walton. Anybody recognize that name? Yeah, okay, good, right? Six eleven, he's even taller than Tim, right?

2:42 And so, here here this guy, basketball player came into the NBA. He was a top round draft pick and went to the Portland Trailblazers. Oh, Trailblazers. Yeah. He went to he went to the Trailblazers and became most valuable player.

3:00 He would be part of the team of the Trailblazers in that in that seventies era that won a national championship And he had a wonderful career. A lot of... In fact, he's probably got like this list of awards about as long as my arm. And he was also with the Boston Celtics when they won one of their championships. And he got to play with Larry Bird and and Kevin McHale and Bill Russell, some of those folks and so, we we think about Bill Walton but does anybody remember where he went to college?

3:31 UCLA.

3:32 Yep, there you go. It was a good good crowd. UCLA. And how about this? Where who was coached at the time when Bill Walton was there?

3:40 John Wooden.

3:41 John Wooden. Right. Say again?

3:43 11. Many back to back national championships did he have? Was asking Now,

3:52 is it 10? Thought it was 10. I believe it 10. But.

3:55 I stand correct, right?

3:57 But John Wooden, now, John Wooden, one of the greatest if not, the greatest, right? The greatest basketball coach in our in our time and so, we want to think about this that that people would want to play for John Woodhams, right? I knew I was going to do this. I'm going get tongue tied on John Woodhams and John Wooden. Alright.

4:20 But but here at this great basketball coach at a great school, UCLA, I got a great basketball program that he he went at what at least maybe 11 national NCAA championships which by the way, happy March. It's beginning of March madness right now. Alright. So, all this is going to be going on. He he won 88 consecutive games in is it's redundant to say consecutive and in a row, isn't it?

4:48 But he won 88 consecutive games with his team, led his team to victory. A great man. Now, look, people want to play for John Wooden and if you played for John Wooden, you did it his way. And isn't that appropriate? He was the coach.

5:03 He was the head coach. He was the head of that program. He was the authority in that basketball arena. Now, Bill Walton, we're back to Bill. He played for John Wooden and this was after a break.

5:22 You know, I don't know if it was a spring break or or it might have been might have been the holiday break, you know, because basketball is right in the middle of of Christmas break and and one of John Wooden's, he had he had standards, he had rules, he had ways he wanted the boys to to conduct themselves on and off the court. One of the things that he he was keen on was no facial hair. No long hair and he said, he gave this reason. It takes longer to dry and you might catch a cold. But but that was one of his standards and so, after the break, here comes Bill Walton as a college young fellow and he comes back from breaking.

6:03 He's got a full beard. And you know, the team's regathering and and so, there's just kind of this the coach was there and he he didn't say anything right away and there was this awkward silence. People are coming back in and you know, imagine players are like, hey, what's Bill thinking about that? Don't he know? Like, that's not going to fly and so, there's this awkward silence and finally, Bill broke the silence and said this, Coach, it's my right.

6:33 And Wooden kind of like looked up at him and says, what what's what's that, Bill? It's my right to have a beer. And Wooden responded and said, well, Bill, do you feel strongly about this? And Bill said, oh yes. Yes, sir.

6:49 I feel very strongly about this. Perhaps, thinking like, if he took a stand, he might be able to keep his beard and Wooden responded to him and he said, Bill, I admire a man who's got strong beliefs and convictions is willing to stand by them. We're going to miss you. He shaved right then and there and practiced with the team that that day. Now, I want to use this basketball story as a bit of an illustration for us or a bit of an analogy and here's what I'd like to illustrate is the fact that you've got a head coach who's got a very definite way in which he wants things done and so you've got a head coach in a college and a basketball program.

7:40 You've got these coaches, these teams of coaches, these recruiters that are out there issuing invitations. We like you. We like you. We like you. Would you come play with us?

7:49 Then, over here, you've got this set of players that are that are budding, aspiring, wanting to play basketball for a for a for an a top notch program and so they're like putting out themselves, wanting to get these invitations, right? So, you've got one group looking for players, you've got the other group looking for a team And it's a beautiful thing when when the invitation is issued and the player says yes. But you understand that player is is coming under conditions knowing that what they're signing up for. And much like with John Wooden, if you played for John Wooden, he had a set of of standards that you were going to meet on and off the court, and there was no compromise. The analogy I would like to draw is, well, the local church.

9:02 In a very similar way, Christ is looking for those who would join his church and we are looking for a potentially looking for a savior. We're looking for a place to be plugged in, be involved, understand our purpose, why we were created, etcetera. So, the head coach and the lord Jesus Christ is what I meant when I said, I want to compare these two in a in a respectful way. Christ is so much more than a head coach but you understand that the head coach has the authority. The lord Jesus Christ has the authority in the church and so, this this morning, as we continue on with our topic that we want to study Christ, the lesson for us this morning is authority.

9:50 The authority of the lord Jesus Christ. When we look at Christ today, we want to examine the aspect of his authority. In order to do that, we're going to allow the scripture. In fact, if you want to go to Matthew chapter seven, please. Matthew chapter seven.

10:08 I've chosen Matthew to help us identify some of the things about the lord Jesus Christ and his authority. Matthew chapter seven. While you turn there, I'm going to review just a just a bit of of where we've been in this series so far. We we introduce the series by hearing a message that John Woodhams, not wouldn't, brought on Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

10:44 Some of the action items that we that we took away from this that message was to follow Christ's example. Christ was lowly in mind. He was humble. He he humbled himself. He was thinking of others, selfless.

11:01 He was obedient. And so these are all examples that we could follow with Christ. Then, last week, we heard a message on justification and sanctification. We we recognize that justification is the lord Jesus Christ work on Calvary. What would what work would be be done in order to make us our redemption to be possible.

11:25 Christ work on Calvary. Then, we we considered sanctification which we note is a process and the sanctification is Christ work on in us. Justification, Christ work on Calvary, sanctification, Christ work in us and we we would say that sanctification is a process. We it would be correct to say that we have been sanctified. We are being sanctified and we will be sanctified.

11:52 I like what Jay Nicholson said about this process of sanctification. He said, you know sanctification is working if people look at me and they think of Jesus. That's another way to look at sanctification but it is set apart. It's doing things in a different way and and we consider this, being renewed in the spirit of our mind. Ephesians chapter four and verse 23, being transformed by the renewing of our mind.

12:19 Romans chapter two verse or 12 verse two. Colossians gives us this concept, being renewed in the knowledge which is the the thinking area of our mind and so we would conclude this, that in Christ, in Christ, we are a new person. We have a new mind Now, what? New person, new mind, now what? I'd like to suggest to you that that our now what is to serve.

12:50 Is to serve. You see, because not only do we have a new person, we're we're we're a new person. Not only have we had this transforming effect on our mind by being renewed, not not being conformed to this world but being renewed by by the lord Jesus Christ himself, by the work of the holy spirit, by the by the scripture and so we have a new person, we're a new person, we have a new mind, but we have a new master. That's the lord Jesus Christ. He's our new master, our new king and I would be remiss in our summary if I didn't acknowledge which I I feel the message that Wayne brought was tremendous on on Jude.

13:31 What chapter was it in Jude? Oh yeah. Jude chapter one. Where where listen to this, how what are we looking? We're we're a new person.

13:40 We have a new mind. We've got a new, we've got a new master. Now, unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with the excellency of joy. That's sanctification. You see, he's he's going to present you faultless.

13:56 He's going to present you he's going to present you clean. He's washing and cleansing his bride and we have an opportunity to cooperate with that sanctification process. Now, it's going to bring him great glory and exceeding joy but look at the verse 25 or you you don't have to look there but listen to this, to the only wise god, our savior, there's four things here. Be glory, majesty, dominion, authority. Both now and forever.

15:09 I'm going to go back and I'm going to I'm going to highlight something. You can you can follow along with me. Go back to chapter one. Go back to chapter one and let's let's notice this. We're just going to take a quick glance at a few a few things that we understand concerning Christ authority and the the gospel starts.

15:27 Now, realize we've broke the four hundred years of silence and now, the gospel comes and so here we have this genealogy is what begins the the Matthew chapter one. This whole course of tracking through the genealogy of the lord Jesus Christ. Now, what's that telling us? That he's the king. He's in the line of the king.

15:47 He's in the he's in the tribe of Judah and and tracking right down through David is his father and so here he is. He has the authority of a king. Now, we look at verse 18 in chapter one. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise when when as his mother, Mary, was a spouse to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the holy ghost. What is this going to tell us?

16:14 Not only does he have the authority of the king but he has the authority of god. He is born of woman but born by the holy spirit, not by a man and so, here, we we see Christ authority in being god. Look at verse 21, the same chapter and she shall bring forth a son and and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. What do we see here? His authority, his authority to forgive sin.

16:50 We're going to see a little bit later in Matthew where where where Jesus is to teach us in a in a meeting like this and the and the roof breaks through and a paralytic is let down and we have this debate with the Pharisees and all the religious people and and they and Jesus makes this statement. I'm going to heal him. I'm going to do this so that you will know that the son of man has power, has authority to forgive sins on earth. You see, the lord Jesus Christ has authority over sin. He has the authority to forgive sin.

17:24 You're in chapter one. Flip over to chapter two. Matthew chapter two and verse 11 And when and when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child, this is Jesus, with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him, and when they had opened their treasures, they presented to him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What do we see here? Christ authority, he received worship.

17:52 They recognized his authority. They bowed down and worshiped him and not only worshiped but gave him gifts. And then we're you go to chapter three. In chapter three, we we hear about John the Baptist as he's as he's proclaiming the coming of the lord. You remember in John chapter one, he would write behold the lamb of god which takes away the sin of the world and here in in in Matthew chapter three and verse 11, John is speaking and he says, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me, the lord Jesus, he is mightier than I.

18:30 What is he saying? He has authority. He is mightier than I. He he he his shoes, I am not even worthy. I'm not even worthy to bear.

18:43 He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And you see, John recognized in the presence of the lord Jesus Christ, this man, this god man who had the authority invested in him by god himself as god himself, he would consider himself not worthy to even unlatch the shoe. Keep that mind in mind as we go forward but in chapter three, we understand then, we have the record that where John does baptize the lord Jesus but notice verse 16, this is Matthew chapter three and verse 16 and when Jesus was baptized, went up straightway out of the water and low the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove and lighting upon him And low a voice from heaven opened and and saying this, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Heavens open to declare the Lord Jesus Christ authority. The Father spoke, the Father spoke, This is My beloved Son.

20:25 Look at chapter four and verse 19, and He said, this is speaking to the Lord Jesus, and He said unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. You see, here we get a glimpse of the lord Jesus Christ as a leader. He's showing his authority. I will. In fact, a separate study sometimes would be an interesting study.

20:50 Go through and and identify all the I wills that the lord Jesus speaks. I will make you fishers of men. I will make you my witnesses And so here he's got the authority to put you into service and to help you execute that service that he wants you to do. Follow me was the instruction. You see, the lord Jesus Christ has the authority to be followed.

21:16 You and I have the opportunity to follow. And then, we come to the Sermon on the Mount chapter five and from from chapter five all the way to chapter seven where we just read, we hear the sermon on the mount and you you know, I want to maybe draw back the the parallel to say, like the sermon on the mount, here Jesus is setting things straight according to his economy. We talked about John Wooden as some of the things that he expected from his players. You know, the first thing he did, first day of opening of the season, he taught his players how to put on their socks. He said, Pull them up tight.

21:54 Wrinkles cause wrinkles cause blisters. He would teach them how he wanted them to put on their socks. But he had things that might have been quirky like that but he also said this, Hey, every time you score, you acknowledge the player that passed it to you. Every time. I hear profanity on the court, you're done for the day.

22:18 When we go to play another team, you respect your opponent. And so we hear these things that this was the rules according to John Wooden if you were going to play for him. And here's the Lord Jesus Christ on the Sermon on the Mount. These were the rules. These were the guidelines.

22:38 These were the expectations that he's going to set out for any that would choose to follow him. In fact, you go through the, you go through the sermon on the mount and you hear this little phrase, I say, You've heard it been said, but I say. You heard it been said, but I say. And so what is he doing? He is stating his economy, what his thinking, this is God's idea, not man's thinking, this is God's thinking in the way that He's gonna set things up.

23:06 Blessed are the fill in the blank. An eye for an eye. Go with them not one mile, but two. Be quick to forgive. In fact, if you're...

23:18 If you find... You remember you have an altar against your brother, leave it there. Go. Be reconciled with your brother. Come...

23:23 All these things that he's setting into place. Judge not that you be not judged. And so here He is doing this and as He's speaking, as He's speaking this Sermon on the Mount, we come back to the verse that we read, chapter seven verse 28. And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, when he had ended this this this sermon of chapter five all the way through chapter seven. When he had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his teaching, at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority.

24:05 Now, it's with that that we introduce chapter eight. You see, we're trying to consider the authority of the lord Jesus Christ. We're trying to consider the authority of the lord Jesus Christ and we're trying to to to study Christ and understand what this would mean for my service for him and in my my relation to the local body. Chapter eight and verse one, when he came down from the mountain, a great multitude followed him and behold, there came a leper and worshiped him. You see the authority again?

24:42 Worshiped. Worshiped him saying, lord, if thou wilt, can you make me clean? And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him. Here's one of those another I wills. I will be thy be thou clean.

24:58 And the immediately, his leprosy was cleansed. And so what do we see here? Right in the beginning of chapter eight, we see the Lord Jesus Christ exercises his authority over disease. Notice verse four, then Jesus said to him, see that thou wilt tell no man but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. Now, let me ask you this question.

25:29 If you were that, we we maybe don't we don't quite fear leprosy as much as today. I don't know. Could we equip, could we equate it to COVID? I mean, like say, say you were you you had COVID, you got underlying health issues, and you're on a respirator. Okay?

25:51 And then the Lord Jesus... You have this encounter with the Lord Jesus and you say, Lord, if you could heal me. And He says, I will be healed. Now you're pretty excited about that. Right?

26:05 Mean, that's pretty amazing. Doctors couldn't do it. Drugs they were pumping into you couldn't do it and here you are, you're back on track. Now, but the lord Jesus says, go and do one, you know, fill in the blank. Would you do it?

26:22 That's the question. What you do? Do you think that fellow when he got healed from his leprosy, that that terminal illness that he had? Do you think when when Jesus said, hey, go show yourself to the priest and give the gift that's commanded by Moses. Do you think he did it?

26:37 I would, I bet you he was he was was rocking and rolling, ready to go, doing it. He he he went right there. That's what I would speculate. And so, notice the authority over disease and not only does he heal but he gives instruction. Let's keep reading in in this verse in this chapter verse five.

27:39 I say to another, come and he comes. I say to my servant, do this and he does it. When Jesus heard the man speak these things, he marveled and said unto him, unto the people that were following him, truly, I say to you, I have not found so great of faith. No, Not in all of Israel. You know, for our purposes this morning, I'd like for us to consider or or or to think about this.

28:08 Do you think the centurion had an understanding of authority? I think that was... Christ marveled at his faith, but I think he also was appreciating the fact that here's a man who understands authority. Let's just take a few lessons from this centurion. Go back to verse five, and when Jesus was entered into to Capernaum, there came a centurion and he was begging him or pleading with him, asking him.

28:37 You know what the centurion did? Here's the lesson. He came to the right place. He gives us an example of a man who came to the right place. He came to the lord Jesus Christ who had the authority to do what he was asking him to do.

28:51 And so that's for you and I. We need to come to jeep... Come to the right place. We need to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And look, this was outside of himself.

29:00 The centurion could not do it on his own. He needed someone higher than he. He needed the lord Jesus Christ and and now, look at verse six and saying, lord, my servant lies at home sick sick of palsy, and is grievously tormented. Let's let's define that little word lord. You see, here's a centurion and this would have been a fellow in the Roman army.

29:30 Hey, he's not a Jew, okay? And so, here he would be named numbered among the Gentiles and yet he calls him lord. Webster defines lord like this. One having authority. And isn't it interesting that we hear this?

29:46 We hear this centurion who who who understands order, who understands military rank, and who understands what it means to call somebody lord and recognize the authority. He says, lord, would you come heal my servant? Verse seven says, the Lord Jesus said unto him, will. I will come and heal him. The centurion answered the Lord...

30:16 Or or answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you would come under my roof. You hear a little bit of that John the Baptist right there? I'm not worthy to unlatch the shoe of the lord Jesus. Lord, I'm not worthy that you would even come under my roof, that you would even come to me. Hey, this is this is an important lesson to grasp that you and I are not worthy.

30:45 We do not merit salvation. We do not, you know what? You know what Bill Bill Walton could have said? Hey, I'm the man. I got the height.

30:55 I got the strength. I got the high school experience. You need me on your team. What do you think Wooden would have done that? But listen, how about this?

31:10 You and I can't go to the Lord and say, hey, I'm one of your star players. I mean, well, in fact, we were last week, we were talking with a fellow, Ron Locklear and I were talking with a fellow and we were over at Downtown Cleveland and we had gone into that, the old Ohio Bank and Trust where they redone the Hynens came in there and put a supermarket in there and there was that rotunda there. It was a fabulous architecture in there and there was a fellow. We were on the 2nd Floor and there was a fellow, you know, working up there just in a just one of these kind of outgoing fellows, you know, and and we're looking over the the edge and and this guy, he was, he started the conversation. He goes, hey, you guys, it must be your first time here And Ron spoke up and says, yeah, how did you know?

32:03 He goes, everybody that walks by always hits the banister if it's their first time here. Because his banister is this brass banister and you're like, I want to see what this stuff is made of. But like he recognized that. And Ron said, I'm glad that banister's there because sure wouldn't want to fall and anyway, don't want to this is I don't want to drag out this story but the the fellow said, yeah, you wouldn't wouldn't want to fall and Ron said, the real question is, if you fell, where would you be? He goes, oh man, I'd be I'd be I'd be in bad shape.

32:38 He goes, no, I meant like, where would you be for eternity? And the fellow said, well, I I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. You know, I do I do my best. I I'm pretty good and Ron is only Ron could do.

32:53 He just hung his head. He goes, oh my. Oh my. You're in worse shape than I thought and anyway, they had a good conversation but you and I are not worthy. Imagine.

33:07 Imagine that you would say, god, I'm pretty good. Let me in. You see, the unworth, grab hold of that unworthy concept. I mean, grab hold of that same thing that the attitude that that John the Baptist says, I'm not worthy and so, the the next thing that we we want to see here is this whole concept of being under authority. Verse nine, for I am a man under authority having soldiers under me.

33:34 I say to this man, go and he goes. I say to another, come and he comes and I say to my servant, do this and he does it. Hey, you know what? I don't think we as Americans understand authority. We've got the god of the universe.

33:57 The lord Jesus spoke the world into existence. He tells us things to do. Would we be willing to obey the lord Jesus even just to Jesus commands? Like like this what this verse is saying. Says, go, go.

34:18 Says, come, come. Says, do, do. Do this in remembrance of me. Go you into all the world. Love others more than yourself.

34:44 Start let them let the mind, let the words of Christ come in. Seek you first the kingdom of god. What what if we took it just like this guy said, Look, I understand authority. I'm under authority. I live this world.

34:59 And so when my superior tells me to go, I go. And when our superior tells us, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, would we go? Would we seek? Understand authority there's something here that I want to want to grab hold of before we leave the centurion. What what about this?

35:25 What if what if he would have asked the centurion or or what if the centurion would well, somebody raise your hand if you want to be a servant today. Who would like to be the servant? Play the role of the the servant in the centurion's home. George. Let's say George is laid up sick.

36:00 Right? Would we agree with that? And so here, let's say, Chase, you're the centurion. Okay? You're a man who understands authority.

36:10 And now you understand authority and you've got a servant, George. George is your servant. Now let's say Chase says, Hey, George, I need you to go get the mail. Now, you remember your guy is sick. Am I like he's laid up?

36:27 He's grievously tormented. Do you think he's going to go get the mail? Not at that moment, no. So you'd thinking of a punishment form. Okay?

36:37 But but listen. Listen. Catch a hold of this. The lord Jesus Christ would come to you and I as the one who has authority and he would tell you to go and not only is he going to give you the instruction, he is going to enable you to go. You see, the centurion, he could tell his servant to go but the servant was in a in a in a wreck, in a sick condition, and he could not go.

37:08 He didn't, he understood authority but he didn't have the authority to command him at that time when something else was afflicting him. But when the lord Jesus Christ gives us our instruction, he gives us our enablement. One of the other great players that played under John Wooden was Kareem Abdul Jabbar and do you know that Kareem was noted for his glamorous hook shot, right? Guess who taught him the hook shot? John Wooden.

37:41 John Wooden took that fellow and says, look, I want you to be my player and I want you to take advantage of the of the natural talent that you have and here's a way that you can shoot the ball that you're going to be unstoppable. He gave... He planted that seed, he equipped him, he taught him and there he executed. That's the lord Jesus. He's going to say to you, I give you this gift and I'm going to teach you how to use it.

38:06 He's got the authority to allow you to go, to allow you to come, to allow you to do. Now, listen, we gotta give him this authority. I mean, he has it but we gotta get, you see how it's a reciprocating thing? Read on. Read on.

38:25 We're going to we're going to hit just a few more things as we as we as we wind this down but look at 14. We gotta hit, we gotta understand. I mean, we gotta we gotta look in on. Peter's mother-in-law and see how she's doing. Look at look at verse 14 and when Jesus was come to Peter's house, he his his wife, Peter's wife's mother laid sick of a fever.

38:48 She's in bad shape just like George was. Okay? And he touched her hand. Notice where he touched her. He touched her hand.

38:58 And as soon as he touched her hand, the fever left her and she arose and ministered unto them. Now, here's the lesson. Maybe you heard this before. Saved to serve. What is what is what is here Jesus is exercising his authority over over illness again and now he's saved his heart.

39:17 Where did he touch her? He touched her on the hand. He touched her on the very thing that she's going to use for his service and there she is ministering to the lord Jesus and those that followed him. Saved to serve. We see, we recognize Christ's authority and we understand that he saved us with a purpose in mind.

39:35 He he saved us to put his in his service. You know what? We've said it before. He doesn't have hands and feet here on this Earth. It's you and I.

39:43 He gave us a gift. He gave us the the the the his will. He gave us the plan. He gave us the the the holy spirit. He gave us the scripture.

39:53 He's given us everything we need to serve him. Will you do it? She was saved to serve. She was serving the body right there. Verse 18 Now, when Jesus saw the great multitude about him, he commanded them to depart on the other side and a certain scribe came to him and said, master, I will follow you wherever you will go.

41:04 This is a wooden. This is a wooden response, okay? Jesus said unto him, follow me. Let the dead bury their dead. I mean, we just gotta sit on that and think about it for a minute but I mean like, wow.

41:19 Wait, I can't go tend my tend to my parents? Follow me is the instruction, okay? Here here he is. He's the authority. He's setting the course.

41:31 It's his economy. Then we I would just abbreviate the next thing that happens. You're familiar with it. Remember, Jesus got in the boat. He says, let's go over on the other side and they got in with all the disciples who were who were experienced fishermen and and a and a great storm rose up.

41:49 So much so that they thought they were going to perish. Jesus is sleeping in the boat and so, they come to and say, master, don't you care that we're going to perish? He gets up and he says, peace be still and what's he doing? He's exercising his authority over all the natural elements, over the wind, and the wave. It was it was calm immediately and they there, they're pondering him and they said, wow, who is this that even the winds and the waves obey him?

42:16 They recognize his authority. Then, they do come over to the other side because Jesus said they were going over to this side. They get to the other side and where are they met with? They're met with two demon possessed fellows and and we won't go into all that detail but we know this that Jesus well, even the demons recognize his authority saying, you know, we're they Jesus exercises authority over the demons, cast him out to the into the swine, swine run down the hill, and the people go into town. Look at verse 33.

42:52 And they kept them the the shepherds, the the the sheep or the the pig farmers. They fled. They went their way into the city and told everything that was that was befallen into the those that were possessed of the devil. Verse 34, and behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him, they besought him or begged him and said, would you leave, depart out of our coast? You know what Jesus did?

43:22 He left. You see, I said before, we have to cooperate with his authority. Jesus, he's a perfect gentleman. He doesn't force his authority on us. In fact, if we tell him, leave, he's going to leave.

43:43 I'm saying this even to us as as that are believers. We've accepted the lord Jesus Christ as our savior but we've told him, hey, get off the throne. I want to be on the throne. I'm calling the shots. Now, we don't say it that blunt.

43:59 I mean, we don't say it that boastfully but that's how we live. That's how we live. We've told Jesus to scram. Just like those farmers did. Just like those people did.

44:10 Hey, would you leave our coast? Jesus left. There was a few other quotations that I forgot to give you along the way. John Wesley defined a local church like this. All at it and always at it.

44:31 Meaning, everybody's a part and they're always at it. The local church. Missus Morrison, she loaned me a book this week. That's another thing. If you go to her house, ask her if she's got a good good book for you.

44:44 She said this, this is our our David Long said this in a book that that she she lent me. Your life will be a total loss if you control your own life and live to please yourself. Your life will be a total loss if you control your own life and live to please yourself. JB Nicholson said, it's not that the local church meetings vie or compete with other things. It's that anything trumps the local church.

45:58 Wow. I've been healed. He's told me things to do. I've been saved. I've been cleansed.

46:04 I've been made fit. I've been made ready. I can do. You see, there it is. The lord Jesus Christ, his authority, our opportunity to embrace his authority, and to live.

46:47 We realize that the lord Jesus well, we we read it already that that that all glory be to him. All dominion be to him. All authority be to him. All majesty be to him. There's so many things about his about his about his person and father, help us.

47:03 We want to serve you in the way that you want to be served. We want to be a part of of what you are doing in our own life and in the lives of those around us. We pray this now in the name of the lord Jesus Christ. Amen.