Transcript for 7-19-09 Closed Captioned Sermon, Zion, Torrance, CA

A Close-Captioned Sermon

Pastor Dave

Let us rise for the reading of this morning's sermon text

recorded for us in Mark's Gospel where we read from

Chapter 6, the first 6 verses.

Jesus left there and

went to his home town accompanied by his disciples.

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the

synagogue and many who heard him were amazed.

"Where does this man get these

things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been

given him, that he even does miracles! (Excuse me) That he

even does miracles. Isn't this the carpenter?

Isn't this Mary's son and the

brother of James, Joses, Judas and Simon?

Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they

took offense at him. Jesus said to them,

"ONLY IN HIS HOME TOWN, AMONG HIS RELATIVES

AND IN HIS OWN HOUSE IS A PROPHET WITHOUT HONOR."

He could not do any miracles there, except

lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Then Jesus went around teaching from village

to village. (NIV) This is the Word of our Lord.

Let us pray:

Glorious and Gracious God,

may the words of my mouth and the meditation of each of

our hearts be acceptable in Your sight,

our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

... The congregation ...

... is seated.

.... (Silence)

... Dear Followers of ...

our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In recent weeks, we have witnessed

the death of two interesting

human beings.

One who gave us the moonwalk,

and the other

who told us of men

walking on the moon

And I'm sure that it's very easy for you

to see which of these men was the greatest.

The one who had the most influence in our world.

The one who changed the world in which he lived.

The one that will forever be remembered as

the one and only ...

the greatest ...

the King of Pop.

You laugh.

But to those people who believe THAT

and to those people who looked

to him and found in him

inspiration and joy,

and motivation for their life,

his passing was

extremely shocking to them.

And extremely difficult.

To those who thought he was nothing more

than another contemporary singer,

his passing means very little.

And so they become annoyed

at the fact that they have to

continue to hear about it.

I think THAT very thought

helps us understand

what went on in the synagogue

when Jesus stood up

to read the Scriptures.

Because He read them with authority.

He spoke the Word of God with all of His strength,

and all of His power, and all of His might.

And in that synagogue in His home town,

the people were amazed.

They were amazed at how He spoke.

They were amazed at the miracles that He did.

They were amazed that

He was the son of Joseph and Mary!

A mere carpenter, and they didn't say it

with love and awe in their voice.

Isn't this the brother of James and John and

Judas and Simon?

Aren't His sisters here with us?

Who does this person THINK that he is?

Their lack of faith.

Their lack of trust in whom Jesus was and

what He had accomplished.

not ONLY

caused their Lord to remark

at their lack of faith

but they stopped and limited

His work among them.

He could only lay His hands on a few people.

He could only lay ... no,

He could only heal a few sick people

and He had to leave.

He had to leave because they did not see Jesus

as the Messiah,

as the Prophet of God.

They saw Him as another

human being

It certainly is a reminder to us to ask ourselves:

How do WE see Jesus? How do we REALLY see Him in our lives?

Is He an almighty, all-powerful Lord of our life?

of our life?

Do we go to Him with every concern ...

to put every thought submissive to His will?

Or are we like those people

who heard Him speak in the synagogue

and dismissed Him?

Well, that's his words. They don't apply today.

I don't believe that about Scripture.

What are we saying?

Would that bring honor to God's Messenger?

Would that bring honor and authority

to God's One and Only Son?

Who came into this world to save us?

We really have to look at the way we treat Jesus

and His Word.

Is it just something that passes into our life and

waves over us

and has absolutely no affect?

That we come here week-after-week-after-week

for what reason?

If we leave week-after-week

after week

without putting into practice the things that we've learned.

without having our faith

strengthened.

We're just hearing the Word

and not doing anything about it.

Because then we're just like the children of Israel.

Just like the people that the Lord

told Ezekiel about. He said,

I am sending you to a group of people

a group of people who are rebellious

and obstinate.

They don't want to HEAR what you have to say.

They don't want to KNOW about God. They only want to

hear what they WANT to hear. What makes them happy.

They only want to DO what they WANT to do.

They don't want to be taken out of their comfort zone.

They don't want to think that they could be the ones

whom God has chosen to carry His Word and

to do His work in the world.

How easy it is for all of us to sit here and go through

our life not giving honor

to God's Prophet.

Without taking to heart the Message.

Oh, we love the part that says,

"Your sins are forgiven."

But we don't like the responsibility that comes with

that because we have greater responsibilities in our lives.

We all have better things that we could be doing

with our time than working for the Lord.

But we certainly want the Lord there when we want Him to

work for us.

Just like the Apostle Paul, isn't it?

Who had a messenger from Satan,

a thorn in his flesh,

to stop him from becoming conceited

He went to God and prayed to God at least three times

to remove that from his life

And the Lord said, No.

No. My grace

is sufficient for you.

And in your weakness

I am strong.

Sound familiar

in your own life?

Have you gone to the Lord

and He's said "No" to you?

Or I'm not going to remove what's there?

Do we realize the STRENGTH of God's grace?

The POWER of God.

That we TRUST Him in our lives and

give honor to Him because of the work that He has done.

He backs up His Word with actions.

The actions of His love are

that He has gone to the cross,

He has been raised from the dead,

He sits at the right-hand of God,

He rules all of creation

for the benefit and glory of His church.

He IS going to come again to take US to be with Him.

Not empty words, but words that are

supported with His actions and what He did

from the healing of the sick

in those people in His home town

to the miracles of raising people from the dead,

giving sight to the blind,

letting the deaf hear and the mute speak.

There is His strength and there is His power.

And do we come to God trusting and honoring THAT power?

Or touting our own?

And wanting our own to be better?

Wanting US

to be the ones

to have all of the glory

and to have all of the praise.

Does that bring honor to what Christ has done?

How amazing that Jesus went to His own home town

and preached to them the Gospel

shared with them the Word,

And they rejected Him.

But it didn't stop Him from doing His work.

He continued on.

And the same thing is true for us in a world that is

going to reject Christ

because they don't believe who He was.

They don't see Him as anything more

than another human being

in the history of this world.

They don't see Him as the Son of God.

They don't see Him as the Savior of the world,

But WE DO!

He IS the Lord of our life,

He is the ONE who has brought to us the

forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

And we trust that.

And we believe that

and now is the time for us to take that old sinful nature

and get it under control.

To get off our complacent rear ends

and to do what the Word has said.

To look into our lives and actively ask ourselves

the question: How do I honor

the Prophet of God?

How CAN I continue to

honor the Prophet of God?

What are the ways that I can

bring MORE honor and give MORE glory

to God's Prophet?

Those are questions that if you ask yourselves

and turn to Scripture and study It,

you will find a myriad of answers.

God will give all of us opportunities each day

to choose to honor Him,

or to dishonor Him.

Put our faith into practice,

or to be a rebellious and obstinate people.

Those are the choices.

It's such a clear

and definite mark.

It's one that

we need to examine.

And Scripture tells us today

to make that examination

and to honor God's Prophet. Amen.

Let us rise

Now may the peace of God

which goes beyond all of our

understanding, keep your hearts and your minds and

especially your lives in the one true faith

unto life everlasting. Amen.