Do We Look For Another?
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Collection
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Our sermon will be on Luke 7:18-23
We have a website: https://tahlequahworshipcenter.com/
We had a group come in and have a fundraiser - thanks to all who came and helped
I want to have a work day in August. And we all want to go down to the river or lake.
Prayer requests:
Sue
Georgey
Billy and his Dad
Dorcus
Barbara’s Sisters
Uganda
Songs
Softly and Tenderly
Where Could I Go
Down To The River To Pray
Do We Look For Another?
Do We Look For Another?
When I was younger I went to church, but it didn’t stick.
I started looking for something else.
There are others who do the same.
They are looking for something, but they’re not going to find it. At least in the way and where they are looking.
Someone I think about when I think about this is the Beatles.
Their music seems a bit benign now, but in the 60s they stirred up a bunch of controversy.
There’s the famous remark of Lennon when he said that the Beatles had become “more popular than Jesus.” Which, by the way, was never true.
One of them, George Harrison, became a follower of Hare Krishna and later dabbled a bit in other things.
There’s an iconic picture and album cover that shows them crossing the road:
In the picture, they are crossing the Abbey Road. The Road is going somewhere, but they aren’t looking at the road, they are just crossing it.
They’re not looking the right direction. Abbey Road Baptist Church is only a block away.
Do We Look For Another?
Do We Look For Another?
Lennon however, wrote a song that probably summed up his belief:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
and then the next verse:
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
I told you that I didn’t become a Christian until I was 30, but I guess you could say I always believed in God.
I was always good with directions at least when I’m outside.
One time I lead a group of boy scouts on a hike. The problem was that I got off on the wrong ridge. I didn’t get lost, I just didn’t know exactly where I was.
I didn’t tell the boys that, I just told them it was taking longer to get back than I thought.
Today we are going to talk about John the Baptist. He wanted to make sure he was on the right path.
He’s asking “Do We Look For Another?”
18 Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things.
19 And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
20 When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ ”
21 And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.
22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
23 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Do We Look For Another?
Do We Look For Another?
At this point John has been in prison for awhile. Some people think that John was having doubts, but what if he sent his disciples for their own sakes.
He was about to be killed and he probably knew it. He could be telling his disciples that they can follow Jesus now.
When John’s disciples came, Jesus was in the middle of healing many.
They got there is see Jesus literally fulfilling prophecy.
Jesus responds by quoting Scripture. He quotes Isaiah.
1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Jesus makes 3 main points in quoting this scripture.
The Sick are Healed
The Sick are Healed
Jesus healed many people and these disciples of John had just witnessed some of it.
Can you imagine? These disciples are asked to check out Jesus to see if he is the one.
What do they see?They see the power of God.
They saw the power of God’s healing.
Can you imagine? Do you think they were affected? Yeah.
If they listened to John, if they believed John, don’t you think they believed Jesus?
Look at the healings listed here.
These aren’t healings that can be faked.
It’s not like what I have. They call RA the invisible disease.
The people that Jesus healed were people that others knew had been blind who now can see.
Those that couldn’t walk, were suddenly able.
The lepers were people that would have been visible. Their skin was deformed and then they were normal.
What about the dead being raised. Can you imagine that?
The hair on the back of my neck is raising just thinking about that.
These disciples of John would have seen and believed.
The Gospel is Preached
The Gospel is Preached
The next thing is that they would have heard Jesus preach the gospel.
The thing that John was known for was his preaching.
Can you imagine the power of the Spirit that they had?
Peoples lives were transformed by their words.
Now it says here the poor will have the gospel preached to them.
We need to look back to the sermon on the Mount to understand this.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Also Isaiah says
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Luke shortened that to “Blessed are you poor.”
The Isaiah passage we read says:
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
The Gospel is Preached
There’s the gospel: To proclaim that Jesus was coming and that he was coming again.
Now for us: To proclaim that Jesus came and he’s coming again.
Now for me that’s a comfort, why? Because I mourn for God’s coming. I mourn for everything to be set right.
Jesus came to set us free. We are trapped by our sin and we need Jesus to set us free.
And he’s coming again to set everything right.
One thing that is set right is that for some ...
The Truth is Believed
The Truth is Believed
Here’s what I think: The disciples of John believed. I think John sent them for this very reason.
Someone might say “The Bible doesn’t say that.” That is true, but it also doesn’t say that John had doubts.
The opinion of the early church is what I just told you.
John heard the voice of the Father, he saw the spirit of God, he saw Jesus whipped away to be tempted.
How could he be in a state of doubt?
I don’t think he was. I also don’t think the disciples of John were either after this.
They went back, they told all of John’s disciples and then I believe they followed Jesus after John was martyred.
Incidentally, do you know why John was killed? It was because he stood up for the Biblical definition of marriage.
Now, I’m going to twist this thing on its head.
Do you know to who these points apply to as well? The Church - Us!
The Sick are Healed
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
The Sick are Healed
We are to take care of brother, we are to heal them, we are to love them.
The Gospel Is Preached
This is our main jobs. Not just me but everyone.
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
And they will believe
The Truth Is Believed
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
The Truth Is Believed
Our job is to help those in need,
Preach the Gospel so others will proceed,
And teach those that believed
Are you ready? Let’s get the job done.
Do you believe? Let’s learn together.