Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Hi, my name is Kyla Bomstead, and I'm a member here with Restored Church.
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[00:00:58] Speaker B: I see a lot of smiles this morning. This is cool, man. It's a good vibe.
Hey, before I get started, did you guys feel that this morning?
Yeah, man. Like.
Like, when I would say, did you feel that? Like, when we were praising the first 20 minutes of the gathering.
Dude, I'm, like, over here, like, undone. I'm still trying to come down from this, although I don't know if I want to.
I want you to understand what was happening in that space. Like, was it God's presence? Was it the music?
The answer to that question is yes.
Life is, like, noisy. There's a lot of things that are battling for your attention.
It's almost like if you've ever used, like, a radio, you know, it can get really staticky, you know, just a lot of interference and things. I think life at times has a lot of static, and it can be really hard to, like, tune into reality, if you will.
What happened for. At least for me, I looked around many of you this morning in our time of praise was.
I think music and praise in general has a way of kind of, like, breaking through the static and helping you reconnect back to reality.
The glory of God, the goodness of God, his grace, his mercy, his love, his presence, his kindness, his faithful, steadfast love. Like, that's what was happening this morning. And part of me was like, we just need to keep this going. I need to not talk.
And so I'm confident that God is with us this morning. He's always with us, but I feel like he wants to do something really unique. And so I'm really excited. We're gonna jump right in. Go ahead and grab your Bible. We're gonna be in Matthew chapter 14 this morning.
Matthew, chapter 14. We're in a series called the King and His Kingdom, where we're going through Matthew. We're trying to explore as much as we can learn as much as we can about the king of the universe, Jesus, the king of the cosmos, and what his kingdom is like. When I say the kingdom, I'm talking about what the Bible refers to as the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Those phrases are synonymous and they're talking about the rule and the reign of God. So what does it look like when God as king gets his way? That can happen on the earth now, and it will happen in fullness in all of creation at the second coming of Jesus. We have a lot of hope in that. We look forward to that.
But. So this morning, anybody ever witnessed a miracle?
Yeah, many of you have witnessed a miracle. Miracles are jarring.
Miracles are supernatural. And the Bible describes miracles as signs and wonders.
So the wonder aspect of that is something which causes you to be in awe. Like, wow, there's something transcendent that I just witnessed the sign. What do signs do?
They point you somewhere. Right?
So it's God intervening in a supernatural way that produces awe, but it also points to something. It points to who he is and what he's like. It points to his power and it points to his intervening grace.
And this morning we're gonna talk about, we're gonna look at a passage with one of Jesus most famous miracles. And actually this passage is full of miracles. There's a famous one, but there's some others that we're gonna jump into. So go ahead and look at it. Matthew, chapter 14. Put your finger on verse 13. That's where we're going to start.
And before I read the passage, I would love to pray and I'd love for you to join me. Let's pray together.
Holy Spirit, I'm just so thankful for your presence right now.
I feel you touching my heart in really personal ways, and I just want to honor you and say thank you. And I know I'm not the only one.
And so we invite you to teach us.
We want to yield to you your authority, your power, your love, the things that you want to lead us into, Father, the ways that you want to guide us.
And so we ask you to show us more about the beauty of Jesus.
Show us more about what your kingdom is like and help us.
Help us to experience and yield to your kingdom so we might see more of the beauty and glory of the King.
We love you, Jesus. There's nobody like you. You're wonderful.
You're so good.
We bless you. Teach us. We pray.
And everybody said together. Amen.
All right, so Matthew 14, starting in verse 13, it says when Jesus heard about it, just some context, what just happened here with us last week?
Herod just executed John the Baptist, right?
You can look back at last week's sermon on that. But Herod just executes John the Baptist. His disciples go and tell Jesus about it. And then it says, when Jesus heard, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. So he's going, he's pausing to go pray and process that pain with the Father. We talked about that last week.
And then it says, when the crowds heard this, so they heard that Jesus got in the boat. He's going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. When they heard about this, they followed him on foot from the town. So I want you to get the picture. Jesus gets in the boat. He's trying to be alone. He's going, he's retreating. He's getting away. Okay? He pauses his ministry to get away. And. And the crowds of people, they see that Jesus is doing that. So they don't get in boats. They walk around the lake. They're gonna try to find him and meet up with him, right?
Verse 14.
When he, Jesus, went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them and healed their sick.
When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, this place is deserted. Right there in the middle of nowhere. Basically, this place is deserted and it's already late.
Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.
They don't need to go away. Jesus told them, you give them something to eat.
Underline that. You give them something to eat. Verse 17.
But we only have five loaves and two fish here. They said to him, bring them here to me, he said.
Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass.
He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them.
He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Everyone ate and was satisfied.
They picked up 12 baskets full of leftover pieces.
Now, those who ate were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.
Okay, that's our passage.
Many of you know this is one of the more famous miracles that Jesus performed during his ministry, right? And scholars tell us that this would have been Jesus feeding essentially somewhere between 10 and 20,000 people. I don't know if you caught it. It said that, you know, 5,000 men, for whatever reason, they didn't count women and children. But either way, many scholars, they're convinced that that would have been somewhere around 10 to 20,000 people. All right, so I want you to get the picture here.
Think of it this way. He feeds an entire NBA arena filled with people with five loaves and two fish, all right? Scholars also agree that those loaves, they wouldn't have been like a loaf of bread like you would buy at the supermarket. It would have been about the size of a dinner roll, all right? Something that someone would pack for lunch, right? Size of a dinner roll. So think like five dinner rolls and two fish and Jesus fills up, or he feeds. Staples Center. What's it called now?
Crypto.com, i think, right? It fills up MBA, state. He feeds the whole thing.
All right, Pretty spectacular.
But this passage, it contains other miracles as well. Did you catch them?
And it kind of glosses over it like it's, oh, not a big deal.
Look back at verse 14 really quick, right? Jesus, he comes across the sea. The crowd, the large crowds, thousands of people are there waiting for him. He goes ashore. He saw a large crowd, had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now remember, how large is the crowd? Talk to me.
10 to 20,000 people, okay? Pretty big crowd. And it says that Jesus heals all their sick.
Think about this.
Like all of these people, you read the New Testament, you read the Gospels, and there's this pattern of people. They hear about what Jesus is capable of. They hear about his miraculous power. They hear about the ways that he's healing people in impossible ways. And so people go, everybody from sick, from my household, everyone's sick in my village. Everyone who's suffering in these, in these in health ways, let's bring them to the healer, Jesus. So you have all of these people, and that's why they're coming, they're bringing people to Jesus that they want to see Jesus intervene in miraculous ways in their life, right? And it says that Jesus heals all of their sick.
So a conservative estimate is that Jesus healed hundreds of sick people in an afternoon.
Did you catch why?
Yeah.
It says he saw them and had compassion on them.
That word compassion in the original Greek, which this is written in that word, compassion in the original Greek, it refers to being deeply moved in your inward parts, literally in your bowels.
That word, that Greek word for compassion, it shows up 12 times in the New Testament. And get this, every time it shows up, it's only ever used in reference to Jesus.
In fact, each time that it's used, it refers to Jesus. Get this. Responding to human suffering.
So I want you to see this isn't like a calm kind of surface level feeling like, oh, he had Compassion for this. Them.
Right?
It's the word literally. It indicates a spontaneous, almost reflexive reaction. So, like, you know, you go to the doctor and they hit your knee and it shoots up. You have a reflect reflex. Yeah, reflect. You know what I'm talking about. Like, it's involuntary. It's like you hit me here, my leg goes out. It's that kind of a word. That's what it's describing here. A spontaneous, almost reflective. Reflective action of being deeply moved in your gut and the core of who you are.
He saw them and he had compassion for them. So when you see that word compassion, think deeply. Move inside. Like, I can't.
Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you ever felt anything like that?
I think the most maybe.
Yeah, the most maybe dramatic experience that I've had of this in my life. It might not sound that way, but I try to articulate it the best way I can is. Man. Several years ago, early on in our marriage, actually, before we started church planting and I was pastoring, but we hadn't left this area yet to go to San Diego. But either way, I remember one morning, I'm sitting in my living room and I'm just kind of praying and having a slow morning with Jesus. It was like a day off. And I saw, like, a video of.
Actually, I think it was a documentary I watched. I think it was a documentary on kids in poverty in Africa.
And if you've ever seen anything like this, in my experience, it can go one of two ways. It can be like the heavy guilt. Like, you're a Westerner and you have it great, and these people have it awful, so give us your money. Like, you can just like, whoa, this is intense, you know? But they can also just be like, here's what's going on. And it was. The tone of the documentary was way more in that vein. I remember thinking just like, wow. Like, this is. I'm learning. I'm, like, learning about what it's like to be born in Kenya, for instance.
And it's hard for me to describe, but I felt God's presence in such a dramatic way, sitting in my living room by myself, watching these children.
And they're living in such poverty. Like, no clean water, not access to food.
Like, they don't. They're not wearing shoes. The clothes that they are wearing are just totally tattered.
And this is like 20 years ago or something.
And I can, like, feel it come over me, this like.
Oh, this, like, deep compassion for these children who are living in poverty.
And I Remember? I remember, like, feeling like I have to do something. Like it was like a reflex. I needed something needed to happen. And I remember I got in touch with you guys, know, ironically, Compassion International, you know, they do a lot of work with sponsoring kids and helping them get out of poverty. Really beautiful stuff. And I remember that morning just being so deeply moved in my gut. Like, I felt for like the rest of the day. It sounds weird, but, like, I, like, couldn't think about it without starting to cry.
It was dramatic, it was powerful. And it was like something that happened in me. It was like this. Oh, this deep at a gut level, like, it affected me. I saw the suffering of others and it affected me.
It was honestly, it was experiencing a moment of biblical compassion.
Not just empathy, not just sympathy, but a deep gut level compassion. Right?
I want you to consider what this verse is saying about Jesus.
Jesus doesn't just see suffering or notice suffering or even acknowledge it. It deeply affects him.
If you're taking notes, my first point for you this morning is this. God sees and God cares.
God sees and God cares.
And I want you to understand this reality. It doesn't just apply to this large crowd.
Okay?
Please hear me. It applies to you.
It applies to us.
All right, friend? God sees what you're going through. Some of you are in an awesome season right now. You're just thriving. You're close to Jesus, Circumstances are comfortable. You're just cranking. You're like, great. Others of you, it's tough right now.
Some of you, like, relationships in your life are fractured and you don't like it.
Some of you, you're feeling, like, anxieties around finances and like, what's it gonna look like in the next six months? I don't really fully know. And now I'm starting to get stressed and maybe a little anxious. Some of you have, like, you or a loved one, you're dealing with health issues that are fairly serious.
You know where you're at.
Can I just encourage you? God sees what you're going through and Jesus is compassionate.
He doesn't have compassionate tendencies.
It's part of who he is. Huh?
I know you know this. Can I just remind you, can you, as much as you can in this moment, attach truth to what I'm saying right now and not just me, what the Bible's saying, like, Jesus is compassionate.
He doesn't just notice it or acknowledge it. It deeply affects him. Why? Because he cares.
God sees and God cares.
So if I can encourage you this morning, regardless of what you're facing, the difficulties, the uncertainties, the stresses, the pain, the suffering, whatever it is. Can I encourage you? Do what these people did.
Do what these people did. If you're suffering, bring your suffering to Jesus. Do what you gotta do. Bring your suffering to Jesus. It's like, you know, when you go to the doctor, right?
You show up to the waiting office and hopefully someone nice checks you in. And you wait there. And then they finally call you back and they put you in that room for way too long, right? You're sitting there, and then finally the doctor comes in.
And if it's a good doctor, he or she will treat you like a human. They'll look you in the eye and they'll use your name.
And they'll say, tell me where it hurts.
Tell me where it hurts.
Why?
Because a good doctor wants to help provide healing for you, doesn't it? Doesn't he or she?
Go to Jesus.
Go to Jesus and tell him where it hurts.
Some of you, you don't have a problem telling other people where it hurts.
That's good. That's valuable. You need care. You need community. You were built for that, right? But what would it look like to go to Jesus and tell him where it hurts?
I'm telling you guys, God sees, God cares. Jesus is compassionate. Okay, let's keep going. Look back at verse 15, right? So again, like, Jesus, he spends the whole day healing probably hundreds of people.
And then here in verse 15, when evening came. So you can imagine, Jesus has spent the whole day. Okay, line up.
You know, if you watch the Chosen, they do a great job of, like, helping you see the kind of the realities of the ministry of Jesus. Like, all right, you have these thousands of people. What's gonna happen? They would, like, line up and Jesus would heal them. It's kind of cool to see that. But either way, I want you to picture this. Jesus spends the whole day healing hundreds of people. Verse 15. When evening came, his disciples approached him and said, this place is deserted and it's already late.
Let's send the crowds away so they can get into the villages and buy food for themselves. Verse 16. They don't need to.
Jesus told them, I love this. You give them something to eat. The. You. There's plural, okay? It's not just one, it's them.
You give them something to eat and look at their response. But we only have five loaves and two fish here.
Who's he talking to?
Talk to me.
His disciples. He's not addressing the entire crowd, right? He's talking to his disciples, right?
What Is he telling them to do 100%? He's telling them to do the impossible. He's telling his disciples. Get this. This is wild.
He's telling his disciples, hey, you know, the 20,000 folks out here, give them something to eat.
Feed them.
Y' all do it, right?
If you're taking notes, my next point for you this morning is this.
Discipleship to Jesus involves seemingly impossible assignments.
Discipleship to Jesus involves seemingly impossible assignments. Listen, if you're a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus, a disciple means learner. Someone who's learning to enjoy Jesus, obey Jesus, and operate like Jesus in all areas of life, okay? If you're a disciple of Jesus, God will inevitably give you an assignment that seems impossible, okay? If you've never been faced with a seemingly impossible assignment from God, I'm gonna break it to you. You might not be following him as closely as you think, okay? Because I'm telling you, discipleship to Jesus involves seemingly impossible assignments. Get this, Even teaming up with other disciples isn't enough.
Did you catch it? He gives y' all. Y' all feed them. He gives them the assignment, and then their response is, here's what we have.
So they've already kind of come together and gone. They've pooled their resources, right? They put them together, and it's not even close.
Even when teaming up, I think Mike called it, that's an impossible assignment.
Discipleship to Jesus involves seemingly impossible assignments.
I've felt this in my life, guys.
I'll share just a few of the impossible assignments in my lifetime, right? The first one, fairly obvious, but husband.
Guys, you're allowed to chuckle at that.
Do you realize, like, you read Ephesians, you read Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and he says, husbands love your wives. Listen to this. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
Any men in the room just killing that?
Or am I the only one that's just radically failing at that? Every day, love your wife. Just as Jesus loved his church and laid his life down for her.
Die to yourself. Like, listen, that could kind of sound romantic. I think every guy in the room would be like, I'll jump in front of a bullet for my lady. Heck, yeah. You know that slow motion, like, no.
And you're the hero, and you're like, yeah, I'll do that. Sign me up.
But the, like, day to day, choosing her over me.
Ugh, I don't know about that one.
I'm not trying to be silly, okay? But, like, impossible.
Seemingly impossible.
Here's another seemingly Impossible assignment on my life. Again, unique to me, Father, raising children is super easy.
It's like the simplest, easiest thing in the world.
Especially, like, raising children in a culture that is so radically me centered.
Like the water that my kids are swimming in from every angle is. The world revolves around you. The world revolves around you. Satisfaction and pleasure and joy are found when you put you at the center of your life and you feed all of your desires and yada, yada. You guys know where I'm going with this.
Everywhere they turn. Expressive individualism, right? It's just a fancy way of saying I'm at the center of my life.
And then what happens is it just becomes so easy to worship things like comfort that becomes supreme in your life, right? Materialism. We live in a place that's comfortable, right?
When I say materialism, I just mean this, like, this desire just more, more, more, more, more, more.
And it breeds this, like, entitlement.
I'm entitled to a good life. I'm entitled to a comfortable life. I'm entitled to health.
I'm entitled to well being.
Dude, it's like, it's the water we swim in. It's hard to raise children to, like, worship God, to put God at the center of their life instead of what their culture everywhere is screaming at them. No, you belong at the center of your life. That's a hard job. Can I get an amen?
It's hard, man. It feels seemingly impossible.
Here's another one. Again, unique to me. But if you guys know our story, our journey, church planting has been a huge part of what God's done in hijacking our lives and beautiful way. I said with honor and respect.
But, like, this is for my household. This is our third church plant. Many of you in the room have done this multiple times. Like, church planting. Here's the thing. Church planting is like. It sounds like kind of.
It sounds kind of romantic, you know, like. Oh, yeah, like entrepreneurial and all that kind of stuff, which it is. It's beautiful things. And I hope I don't sound like I have a complaining spirit right now. I'm genuinely not, I promise you. So if I'm coming across that way, I'm doing a poor job communicating.
Thanks, ej.
Bless you, girl.
But church planting is like.
It's sort of like building a boat in the middle of the ocean.
And, like, the waves. Don't like the wave. It's not, like, calm, you know, it's not like a bay in Hawaii where it's like, wow, the water's glassy and this is just comfortable. It's like the water's freezing cold and the waves are massive and they just crash down on you, and you don't have any tools. You're just trying to, like, do it.
That's church planting, okay?
There's never enough resources. Those of you guys that have, like, started business and stuff, you kind of know what I'm talking about with this part of it. There's never enough resources. There's never enough time to be able to address all of the needs. And all of the needs are important, so it's not like, oh, some stuff's more important than others. No, everything's important. You're trying to build a boat so people don't drown, right? It's like, there's never enough time. There's never enough money. Good God. There's never enough money. There's never enough energy. There's never enough time.
Just like. That's church planting. Just reality.
I'm going to say something, and it might sound like I'm exaggerating or being dramatic, but I'm really not.
This church is a miracle, guys.
It's a miracle.
It's unbelievable.
Why is it a miracle? Because church planting is seemingly impossible.
Another thing, just church leadership in general. Many of you guys serve this church and provide leadership in ways that are sacrificial and beautiful and amazing. I want to honor you and bless you.
Church leadership is.
Whoo.
It's like parenting. It's the best thing and the hardest thing at the same time.
You ever been hunted by a lion?
That was a great transition.
You ever been hunted by a lion?
Like, read First Peter, chapter five.
First Peter, chapter five says that Satan, right? Satan is prowling around like a lion looking for someone to devour.
Go read that again. Because it's in the context. Like, if you read it in context, it's literally in the context of elders in the church.
Satan hunting like a lion, guys. He is relentless.
I hate him.
He's relentless. And listen, as much as I hate him, he hates our church.
He hates the church, Capital C, Global Family of God. He hates this church. Why? Because it's a threat to the kingdom of darkness.
You guys worshiping God and saying yes to how God would lead you and guide you. You living with faith, you operating in the ways of Jesus is a threat to the kingdom of darkness. Anybody in the room enjoy being threatened?
No. Satan doesn't either. Right? You're a threat to the kingdom of darkness. Listen, discipleship to Jesus involves seemingly impossible assignments, guys.
And listen. Everybody's Different, Okay? We're not all given the same assignments. I'm not sharing those with you to try to, like, brag or make my. It's not about that at all. I'm just trying to share my heart, my life with you. This is what it looks like for me. Everybody's different. We're not giving all the same assignments. I shared some of mine.
What are yours?
What are yours?
If you're a follower of Jesus, you have God given assignments on your life, hear me? That are super important that God chose you for. Isn't that amazing? Like, isn't that cool that almighty God would choose you? He would select you and go, you're the man for the job. You're the woman for the job.
It's amazing, man. Like, it's flipping cool.
Discipleship to Jesus involves seemingly impossible assignments. Now, we're not all given the same assignments, right?
But we do have several in common. Actually, we have a lot in common. Okay, here's a few that I just was praying through that I feel like God highlighted. Here's a few of these seemingly impossible assignments that we all have in common. Here's one that's really fun.
Matthew, chapter five talks about loving your enemies.
That's exciting.
That's your natural reaction too, right?
Someone hurts you, someone wrongs you, someone opposes you.
Love your enemies, Jesus said.
And it wasn't a suggestion.
It's a command. It's an assignment. Love your enemies.
Is that. That's a seemingly impossible assignment.
Do you remember when Peter comes to Jesus and he's like, yo, Jesus.
So when there's conflict and stuff and like, I'm supposed to forgive, but, like, how many times should I forgive? Do you remember what Jesus said to him?
Yeah, yeah. 70 times 7. Okay. Now, I do not believe that Jesus wanted him to do the math and calculate what that number would be. And then after that number be like, nope, Nothing beyond that.
No, Jesus is saying that because it's basically like, more times than you can count, Peter.
That's how many times we're to extend forgiveness to somebody.
That's hard, man.
That's hard. When you're wounded, huh?
That's hard. When you're like, can I trust you?
That's hard. When the relationship is experiencing conflict, it's hard.
Dare I say, it feels impossible sometimes.
How about this one? Those of you guys that have been following Jesus for a little while, Matthew 28, the great commission, go and make disciples of all nations, like the whole planet Jesus, like every people group.
Listen, I don't know about you, I'm having a hard enough time making disciples in my household, in my city, in this valley, in this region, all nations. Jesus, that's impossible. How am I gonna. How is 12 guys that have been following him around for three years gonna pull that one off?
Impossible, right?
Here's one that might make some of you in the room feel uncomfortable, but we don't need to, because we can talk about it.
Sacrificial generosity.
One of the things that I'm so proud of, belonging to this church, one of the reasons for that is because you guys are incredibly generous. Most of you in the room are very generous, very generous with your time, very generous with your resources, investing in God's kingdom in a plethora of ways. Bless you. Honor you. Amen. Yes. Well done, dude. This concept of God leading his people into a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. When I say sacrificial, it's generosity that hurts.
Like, oh, man, I have to say no to this good thing to say yes to giving this away way.
I guess just kind of like a talk to the members of the church for just a second in cool ways. I feel like God wants to do some things in our. In our church, guys. Like, I feel like I'm. I'm actually convinced that as a church, there's some important initiatives that we need to pursue in the seasons to come. We need a facility.
Like, we're not just, like, losing, like, running out of space on Sundays, not just in here, but in the kids, but, like, midweek too. Like, we are kind of like, we've been hitting a ceiling for a while now. Like, we need some more stability and some more space from a facility standpoint. All right? I don't know if you've ever checked the real estate situation, but it is seemingly impossible. It just is. It's crazy right now. Okay? Not only that, like, we need.
We need to invest in more ministers.
We need to kind of. We need to bring some people onto staff. We do. Our church needs it. You guys need it. It's, like, for what God wants to do, for the growth, for the development. And I don't just mean numerical. I mean spiritual growth and development. We need to invest in more ministers. We need to do it. We need to solidify our staffing. Hear me? Both are going to require money. Huh? Both. They're going to require money.
Hear me. Sacrificial generosity. It might seem like an impossible assignment, but listen, discipleship to Jesus, it involves seemingly impossible assignments.
On the generosity piece, on the financial piece. I want to encourage you Guys, again, you guys are incredible. But I want to encourage you. Everyone's on a different stage and phase of their journey of following Jesus. And we have to be the kind of community where it's safe for people, wherever they are, to just simply take their next step in following Jesus. Not go, like, if you're not operating perfectly, like, there's not a place for you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But I want to encourage you, wherever you are on that journey, some of you, like, you've actually. It's no condemnation, but you've never actually. You've never actually given financially to the mission of the church.
If that's you, I just want to encourage you to take your next step, do something, start.
If you've never done it, start.
And if you have been kind of occasionally giving and sowing seeds into the mission of the. Of the kingdom through this church. Beautiful. It's amazing. You have been. I wanna encourage you, make that regular your next step, like, every month, right? That way the church can plan for it. It can help stabilize the budget of the church. We know what's coming in, we know where it can go, right? And if you've been faithfully giving every month, you're tithing, whatever you're doing, like, that's amazing. Bless you. Awesome.
Ask Jesus. What might it look like for me to, like, sacrificially give discipleship to Jesus? It involves seemingly impossible assignments. And for some, I just want to acknowledge sacrificial generosity. It can seem really impossible.
And I get it.
It's not. It's contrary to my nature.
But it's the operating system of the kingdom of God.
Okay.
There's one more seemingly impossible assignment that I'm convinced God highlighted this week as I was preparing for this message. Actually, it came up in the prayer room.
Dude, this past Tuesday, God's presence was so incredible. I was at the 9 this last Tuesday. God's presence was so strong, guys. But this. This came really, really strong in the prayer room.
But this seemingly impossible assignment is from John, chapter 13. I think I gave you guys the verse back there. John 13:34. This is 34 and 35. This is Jesus speaking.
He says, I give you a new command assignment.
Love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another by this. Everyone.
Can you say everyone?
That's pretty comprehensive. Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.
That sounds nice, doesn't it? That sounds great.
Talk about an impossible assignment, huh?
Hey, Love each other the way I love You.
I can't even.
I can't even love myself the way that you love me, Jesus. I can't even love my wife the way that you love me, Jesus.
I can't even love my children the way you love me, Jesus. And I'm supposed to love the rest of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
He goes even further with this a few chapters later in John, I want to read this to you. John 17.
Did I give you 20 and 21 or just 21?
Act 21. That's fine.
Jesus is in the context of it, Jesus is praying for future disciples. So the people that would hear the gospel through the original 12, that's you and me and every Christian that ever lived, he's praying for us. And this is what he says in verse 21. May they us all be one.
As you, Father, are in me and I am in you.
May they be one in may they be in us. Listen to what he says so that the world may believe. You sent me similar heart to what he said in John 13. But listen, the impossible assignment here that I feel like God was highlighting for us is for the whole church to be lovingly united with one another.
Okay, Real talk.
Going to pull back the curtain behind, like, the church, so you can kind of look in.
There's constantly conflict in the church all the time.
Why?
Because you have not yet fully glorified sinners on their way to becoming more like Jesus, being totally sanctified in his presence forever. But there's a process, right? Sanctification is a process. Sanctification is a fancy word for saying becoming like Jesus.
But whenever you have sinners coming in contact with other sinners, you get some friction.
So this whole, like, assignment essentially to being united in love, it's like, honestly, pastorally, I know it's not everyone's experience, but like, I'll speak for the pastors and leaders in the room. It's always seemingly in jeopardy. Cause there's always something going down. There's always some conflict that needs to be resolved. There's always some brokenness that needs to be healed. There's always something, right?
Being united in love is always in jeopardy. But did you catch what's at stake if we're not?
I hope you see it.
What's at stake is the belief of the world. Jesus says there are spiritual realities to how we live, how we in this room live with one another.
Now, does the outside world have all this insight into the dynamic, the relational dynamics of this community? No, but there are spiritual realities and spiritual implications that Jesus is highlighting here the belief of the world is at stake. In other words, the lost being saved.
That's wild, huh?
So hear me. If there's anyone in the church that. Let's be real at a heart level, maybe not broadcast, but if there's anyone in the church that at a heart level, you're not totally united with, in love, like, this is my brother, whom I love.
This is my sister and who I love, like. Like, if that's not the case, if there's. If there's anyone in the church that, at a heart level, you're not united with and love, please hear me. Do whatever it takes to reunite.
Like, do whatever it takes to fully reunited. This is my brother. This is my sister.
Even though we have differences, even if we have disagreements, even if we don't see things exactly the same way, this is my brother.
This is my sister. We are united in love. And I feel that inside.
Not just. I'd use my mouth and kind of describe it. I actually feel that inside. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Do whatever it takes to reunite. Because according to Jesus, what's at stake is the mission of the church.
The lost being saved.
Hey, rewind. Disciple of Jesus, Christian in the room, rewind. However many years back you need to go to remember what it felt like to be lost in your sin, to be, like, separated from communion and fellowship with God.
The darkness, the depravity, the hopelessness, the depression.
It's dark, man.
And there are people currently right now who are walking in darkness. The scriptures say, and we're called to be salt and light.
And I just want to take a moment and say, many of you in the room, you do this so well, so inspiring.
Unbelievable the ways that you guys fight to preserve unity. You work through the difficult stuff. It's messy sometimes, but, oh, man, it's so worth it. But I just. We got it. We gotta know what Jesus is saying here. It feels like an impossible assignment, but what's at stake is the mission. You with me?
Discipleship to Jesus. It involves seemingly impossible assignments.
So this begs the question, when we're faced with one of these seemingly impossible assignments, what on earth do we do?
Look back at verse 16.
They don't need to go away. Jesus told them, you give them something to eat.
That's the impossible assignment, right? Check out what he says or what they say. But we only have five loaves and two fish here. They said to him, bring them here to me.
Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish looking up to heaven. He blessed them and he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. And the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Do you see it?
When we're faced with an impossible assignment, what do we do? Two things. We bring what we have to Jesus. Step one, like, hear me. We bring what we have to Jesus. We don't hold anything back.
We bring everything we have. We bring it to Jesus, okay? We bring it all. That means.
That means we bring our resources, all of it. Our time, our money. We lay it all before Jesus. Jesus, whatever you want, here's what I have.
It's not much, but here's what I have. Here's all the time that I have. Here's my calendar. Here's all of the money I have. Here's my money, all the energy I have. Here it is. Your doubts, you bring those too. I don't know what's gonna happen with this. This feels impossible, Jesus.
Your fears, your insecurities, your dreams, even everything. You don't hold any of it back. You bring it to Jesus, okay? You don't hold anything back. You bring what you have to Jesus. And the second phase is what? Do what he says.
Do what he says.
That means we obey and obey. Oh, it so often feels like a four letter word, doesn't it?
Do what he says. Listen, even if it doesn't make sense, even if you're like, ah, that's not what I would do.
Jesus, we should be sending these people back to the villages so that they can buy food.
Even if it doesn't make sense to you. Hear me? Even if you disagree.
Love your enemies, Tom.
Yeah, but Jesus, you don't know how bad that person hurt me. And you don't.
Even if you disagree, even if it's not what you would do, even if it doesn't make sense.
Guys, when we're faced with an impossible assignment, bring what you have to Jesus and do what he says.
Do you realize what this is?
Hear me, this is faith.
It's trusting God.
That's what this is.
And hear me, when a regular person, like when an ordinary person lives by faith in Jesus, something spectacular happens.
My final point for you, and it's cliche.
With Jesus, the impossible is possible.
I know that sounds cheesy, like coffee mug cheesy, but it's true.
Listen to me. It's true.
It's true.
With Jesus, the impossible is possible.
Listen to me.
With Jesus, marriage is possible.
With Jesus, singleness is possible.
With Jesus, parenting even. It's possible with Jesus. Loving your enemies is possible with Jesus. Forgiveness is possible with Jesus. Making disciples is possible with Jesus. Sacrificial generosity. It's possible with Jesus. All of the ministry things that you guys give yourselves to, that you feel like you're confronting with, like, wall after wall after wall, you need breakthrough. I'm telling you, with Jesus, even that stuff is possible.
Because with Jesus, the impossible is possible.
Some of you, you're in a season where you're, like, discouraged right now.
You're battling discouragement.
Most of the days of the week, you're battling discouragement. You feel maybe stuck. I was praying this morning, and I felt like God was like, yep, some of them are stuck. They feel stuck. They need breakthrough. You feel stuck.
One impossible circumstance after another. Seemingly impossible circumstance. Right.
Can I have permission? I'm actually going to assume permission because I'm in a pulpit. I'm going to assume permission to exhort you, not with my opinion, but with the truth of the word of Almighty God. Friends, listen to me. If you're in that space, bring what you have to Jesus. Don't hold anything back. And then do what he says.
I'm telling you.
I'm telling you, if you do that, watch what happens. I dare you.
I dare you. And don't give it, like, 24 hours.
Sometimes Jesus does the miraculous in an instant like this, and other times he takes his time.
Why? Because he's strengthening your faith.
Cause that's what matters. We're saved by grace through.
Talk to me.
Yes, man. Let's not forget that we play a part in it. We are responsible for what or who we put our trust in, friends.
And I'm telling you right now, you place your faith in Jesus. He will never let you down.
Will bad things happen? Absolutely they will.
The Christ was crucified, huh?
Bad things will happen to good people.
But your faith in Jesus will never let you down.
With Jesus, the impossible is possible.
Okay, Ben, I want to call you guys up, if that's okay. Please come on up. And we're going to.
I'm almost done.
I want you to see the truths in this passage because they're profound.
And if we can actually attach truth to them at the core of who we are, it has the power to transform our lives.
Like, literally transform your wants from wanted.
Like, have you thought about this, guys? We talk about sin and different. You know, do you know why you sin?
You sin for the same reasons that I do. Do you know why?
Because you want to.
Because you want to.
The gospel of Jesus, one of the most profound powers, if you will, of the gospel of Jesus is that it has the power to not just transform your life, to transform what you want.
It's a work from the inside out.
And so when a person, when their faith in Jesus, when they see Jesus as the one who.
Let's just say that he fulfilled the most impossible assignment ever, right?
That he lived the perfect life in your place and in my place that we never could. He was perfectly whole to.
And then he died the death that you and I deserve on the cross. He absorbed all of the punishment for all the ways that we resist and reject God. And we sin against God and against the people that God loves.
But Jesus, he fulfills that impossible assignment.
Why?
To save us, right? Can I get an amen? Absolutely.
But do you realize the implications of what Jesus has done for your desires?
When you see Jesus clearly as the Savior and Lord that he is, what it does, it starts to change what you want.
Because the very one who said yes and fulfilled the impossible assignment of the perfect life and the cross and the resurrection, that very same Jesus who did that for you because he loves you, oh, my goodness.
What that does is now I desire to sin. But guess what? You know what? I start to desire more than I desire sin.
I desire to honor the one who loves me, who gave Himself for me.
I want you to see this.
God sees you.
He sees me in our brokenness. And he cares.
And he doesn't just care. He doesn't just have that deep, guttural compassion. He does something about it once and for all. Sin, Satan, death dealt with.
Would you bring what you have to Jesus?
No one's as trustworthy as him. Huh?
No one's as trustworthy. He doesn't condemn you for the things that you're holding back either.
He goes, you're doing great, but there's more.
You're doing great, but there's more. I need you to trust me.
I'm going to give you seemingly impossible assignments in your discipleship. To me, you're not going to understand, you're probably not going to agree, but to the degree that you and I trust Jesus with everything that we have and we do what he says, that's a demonstration of faith. Faith and trust with a same thing.
When we demonstrate that faith, when we act on it, the seemingly impossible becomes possible.
And the most impossible thing is that God himself, who says, be holy as I am holy, that's an impossible assignment.
He enables a way for you and I to actually do that.
How? Because he changes our Desires. I desire holiness more than I desire sin.
Is it a process? Absolutely. But I'm telling you, it's the process that God wants for every single one of us.
What's your next step?
Maybe there's things. Maybe there's things right now in your life where you know you're holding him back from Jesus. And I understand, guys. I know that it can be hard. Can I trust him? I've experienced pain. I got wounds. I got hurts. I got insecurities. Or on the flip side, life's really comfortable, and this seems pretty great.
So I don't really need Jesus as much as maybe other people do. That's what the Pharisees thought. That's danger. Danger. Danger, Danger, danger.
God sees. God cares. I want to invite you this morning. Come to Jesus. Bring what you have. Don't hold anything back and do what he says.
John 15. He says, Apart from me, you can do nothing.
Not believe the lie. Let's believe the truth and watch God continually transform our lives as individuals, our life as a community and the whole planet. Friends, you with me.
Stand with me if you're able. I want to pray for us.
Holy Spirit, what do you want?
We want to give you what you want.
Sunday mornings, we benefit, man. It's great.
But Sundays are for you.
They're worship gatherings.
They're worship gatherings. They're for you.
What do you want, Father?
Your children want to please you.
I ask you, Holy Spirit, that you would make clear to us the next step in our discipleship journey. The next step in the seemingly impossible assignments that you give to your children throughout their lifetime, to see more of your kingdom come in them and through them.
We want your will to be done on the earth as it is in heaven.
Your kingdom, where you are ruling and reigning, Jesus, where you are getting your way. So I. I invite you to speak to your children. We open our hearts to you this morning. It's going to be different, slightly different for every single heart in the room. And there's so many similarities that we get to collaborate with and we get to. We get to experience together because that's how good you are.
You're personal and communal at the same time. There's nobody like you.
Jesus, thank you that you see us and you care.
Thank you for your grace.
Thank you for your blood that cleanses us from all and any unrighteousness.
Thank you that we don't have to produce a righteousness of our own, but we get to freely receive the gift of your righteousness.
Help us, we pray.
We love you. Lord, we pray these things in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
If you're on the prayer team this morning, would you make your way to the front with. We're gonna spend the next 15 minutes responding to God. So this is both personal and corporate, okay? Personal and corporate. This is you offering praises that only you can offer unto the Lord. You get an opportunity to do that. Fill this room. He loves to hear you sing. There's no reason why you shouldn't sing other than fear of man, but fear the Lord, okay? Give him your offering. Give him your praise offering this morning of gratitude in your heart for what he's done. If you have not given your life to the lordship of Jesus, you can do that this morning. You can say, jesus, I'm done being the Lord of my life. I'm done worshiping lesser things. I want to give my life to your lordship. And I believe that what you did, the impossible assignment that you said yes to and then fulfilled, is for me. You can receive the free gift of salvation this morning. If you have not yet done that, I want to encourage you, do whatever it takes to do that. Because life is short. You do not know how. You do not know how much time you have left. It's fleeting urgency. Give your life to Jesus if you haven't yet, okay? He loves you. If you want to receive prayer for any reason, there's something that you're holding back. There's something that you feel like you're lacking. You're recognizing maybe a lack of trust or a lack of faith in your life.
You need God to touch you for any reason. Or you need God to touch someone that you love dearly, someone close to you. Come receive prayer. There's trust in men and women who would love to minister to you. God wants to touch you. He wants to bless you as God's people assemble in order to bless him and worship him and minister unto him. He comes.
He comes where he's wanted. He wants to bless you. He wants relationship. These trained men and women would love to facilitate prayer for you. You can come forward anytime. Okay, you can come forward right now. You can come forward in just a bit, but we're going to fill this room with praise and we're going to respond in ministry. Okay?
Love you guys very much. Enjoy him.
