Rejection and Mission

[0:00] Please turn to Mark chapter 6. We're going to look at the part of the chapter that Julia read.

[0:10] It goes on as a very exciting second half of the chapter. I thought that would perhaps make it a little bit long if we tried to cover all of that. So we're just going to look at the first 13 or 14 verses. And it seems to me that the theme that is going on here is the theme of faith.

[0:29] And it's opposite of rejection of faith or rejection of Jesus Christ. You may have asked yourself the question, if Christianity is true and right, then why do so many people not believe it?

[0:48] Why do so many people reject it? Why are so many people not in church this morning? And you might have a particular take on which people you're thinking about.

[0:59] You might be thinking, why do my family not believe in Jesus Christ? It's a very painful thing if you're the only Christian in a family. It certainly makes you feel the odd one out from time to time.

[1:12] Why do so many people in Brighton, for example, not believe if it's true? And the majority of people don't, do they? Or you might say, why in the West, which used to be a Christian civilization, why is it, you can perhaps include America in that, why is Christianity seeming to be less mainstream and more marginal?

[1:41] And if you're thinking of it historically, of course, there's a particular historical example of this, that the Jewish nation, which were the center of God's attention for thousands of years, in the end, when Jesus came, the Jewish nation, more or less en masse, decided that they would not believe in Jesus Christ.

[2:05] And that's a particular historical instance of this whole question of why is it that the people that you'd expect to have faith don't? How is it that they reject?

[2:17] And that's what's going on in these few verses as well. What answers are there? Well, one answer is, of course, that this is God's secret, the secret purposes of God, which we usually refer to as his sovereignty, meaning his rule, even in areas that we don't understand.

[2:36] And that is certainly an answer. God knows and he doesn't choose to tell us. Another answer why people don't believe is ignorance. They don't believe because they don't know.

[2:50] They don't know what it is they're disagreeing with. And you could say that in Europe, there's a large amount of ignorance about what the Christian gospel actually is.

[3:01] And you might say they don't believe because they don't know. But here's a third answer, which is the opposite, which is familiarity. And this is the rejection which comes when people do know what they are disagreeing with.

[3:16] People who are close to Christian things and they reject it. So perhaps children whose parents are Christians and the children reject.

[3:27] Or parents whose children are Christians. Or family members, people who are close. They are familiar with things and through that they reject.

[3:40] And we come across Jesus' own teaching. That there are people who hear. And even if they're taught by Jesus himself, who's the best Sunday school teacher, the best preacher, the best pastor.

[3:58] Even if they're taught by him. Yet still people, he says it in the parable of the sower. People can hear. But when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

[4:14] They stumble. They trip over. And the Bible contains a rather severe warning to say, You make sure that you're not one of the ones that trips over and stumbles.

[4:29] It happens. So Paul says in Romans 11, 20 to his Gentile hearers, Make sure you don't get proud and arrogant and careless and negligent and arrogant.

[4:44] And you might fall and you fall over. So everybody needs to be on their guard. Everybody needs to be taking heed. So let's look at this particular passage.

[5:02] What's been happening? Well, Jesus has been revealing his amazing authority. And we've been seeing in some of these stories in considerable depth. The question like, Who is this that even the wind and waves obey him?

[5:18] Jesus who can turn death into sleep, Which we had in the chapter 5, With a little girl, Jairus' daughter.

[5:33] And in each of these cases, The power and authority of Jesus is presented, Along with the call for faith. So Jesus who commanded the wind and the waves, Said to his disciples, Do you have no faith?

[5:47] And the Jesus who could raise the little girl from the dead, Said to her father, Don't be afraid, just believe.

[5:58] So the response of faith is important. Granted, that when the demonized man, The man with thousands of demons in him, In chapter 5, When he was delivered, There's no mention of faith there.

[6:12] So that's perhaps a counter example. But the others, Faith, Was specifically mentioned. He's been calling for the response of faith.

[6:22] The stories that we've been looking at have been taking place around the lake, Although this is an exception. We go inland for this story. He goes back to his hometown, Verses 1 to 6, And experiences rejection.

[6:38] Then he sends out the 12 disciples, The 12 apostles, And tells them about possible rejection. And there's an alert for a sandwich going on here, Because there is a Mark, Mark and sandwich.

[6:54] We send out the apostles in verse 13, And we, That's the top of the sandwich. We don't get to the bottom of the sandwich, Until verse 30, When the apostles return.

[7:08] So, Apostles, Apostles, And in the middle, The meat in the sandwich, Is the story of Herod and John the Baptist. Now we're not going to do that bit, But it's there, And it's connected.

[7:20] And in that story, We get rejection again. We have rejection in Jesus' hometown. We have rejection, Possible in the villages, Where these apostles go out.

[7:32] And we also have rejection in the palace, From top to bottom. We have, This going on. And it's, It's a sober note.

[7:42] Previously, Jesus has been extremely popular. People have thronged him, And gathered round him. And this is telling us, Well, Yeah, That's great. But it isn't all like that. And there's another reality, In Christian work, And in the Christian life.

[7:56] Which is what we're looking at. So let's take these, One at a time. The first one is probably a little bit shorter. Rejection at home. So the text says, Jesus left there, Went to his hometown, Accompanied by his disciples.

[8:14] When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, And many who heard him were amazed. So there's Jesus teaching in the synagogue, And people say, This is amazing.

[8:29] There's an interesting word for amazing. There's several words for amazing, Or to be astonished. And this word, That we have here, They were amazed.

[8:41] Seems to be used particularly, About Jesus' teaching. So I'm not sure, That I can think of an equivalent word, Which says, I'm astonished at what I was just taught.

[8:52] But I'd like to put some words, Into the mouths of the hearers. Perhaps they're thinking, You know, What we've heard was really radical. We've never heard the scriptures, Explained from this point of view, Before.

[9:04] Or, Maybe Jesus had taught them, That salvation wasn't by the law, It was by faith. I could well imagine, That Jesus teaching them that.

[9:15] And as they sat in the synagogue, They'd say, We've never heard it told like this before. We thought it was all to do with keeping the law. And now we're being told, It's to do with faith. This is astonishing.

[9:25] This is radical. It turns our understanding upside down. Maybe Jesus had taught, About the animal sacrifices. And maybe he'd said, The blood of bulls and goats, Can never take away sin.

[9:36] There needs to be a better sacrifice, And a bigger sacrifice. And his hearers would have said, That's astonishing. I thought this was all, I thought our faith was all about, Killing lambs and bulls, And sacrificing them, On the altar in Jerusalem.

[9:50] And Jesus is telling me, That's just leading to something else. That's astonishing. And radical. And maybe Jesus, Whoops, I shouldn't have pressed that button. Maybe Jesus is saying, I'll tell you something else, About you as a nation, You're God's chosen people, But I'll tell you something, God is going to send out his gospel, The gospel of the kingdom, Your king, He's going to send that out, And even the Romans will be welcome.

[10:17] And they might have said, This is astonishing. Really? You know, Totally radical. So, I'm just speculating, But the people who heard it, Were astonished.

[10:29] They were amazed. But, They start commenting, To themselves. And, They say, Where did this chap, Get these things?

[10:40] They don't actually say man, They just say this, This one. Where did this one, Get these things? What's this, Wisdom that's been given to this chap, That he even does these miracles?

[10:53] So, Three times they say, This bloke, It's not a very respectful way, Of referring to Jesus. Where did he get this? What is this stuff, That he's telling us?

[11:05] What's this wisdom? And, They don't dispute, That he does the miracles. They don't say, Oh, It's just a trick. They know that he does, These powerful miracles. And they know, That he's telling them, Something wise, And strong.

[11:18] But they're standing back, And saying, What's all this? Where's this come from? And it's really, A beginning of distancing themselves, From Jesus. And they go on, In the same tack, And they say, Isn't this, The carpenter?

[11:33] Now interestingly, There isn't a word, We have words, For the different trades, Don't we? Carpenter, Bricklayer, Electrician, Roofer. They just have one word, For somebody who makes stuff.

[11:45] And so they say, Isn't this the maker? And I just think, It would be really, Interesting, If they put a capital M there, Isn't he the maker? But they say, Isn't he the carpenter?

[11:57] Isn't he the tradesman? And, The people, We know his family. We know his, We know them. They, They, They live in the same streets, They just live around the corner from us.

[12:12] Isn't this Mary's son? A little bit derogatory, Because you usually name somebody, After the father. Isn't this Joseph's son? So maybe Joseph had died, Or maybe they're, They're sort of, Making, Aspersions about, About the legitimacy of Jesus' birth.

[12:30] But isn't this Mary's son? The brother of James, And Joseph, And Judas, And Simon, And aren't his sisters, Aren't his sisters here with us? So, These are arguments, Not to do with his, His family, His familiarity.

[12:45] And, Taking all that together, They stumble. The word, To take offense, Can be used to trip over. They tripped over. They went headlong.

[12:57] They, They, They took offense, At him. So, He's rejected at home. There is rejection here.

[13:09] And, Jesus, Comments on this. He says, Well, You know, I go to other places, They listen, And, They believe me.

[13:21] But here, Where you really ought to know me best, You, Reject me. And he says, Isn't this, Doesn't this so often happen? Only in his hometown, Among his relatives, And in his own house, Is a prophet, Without honor.

[13:39] Only in his hometown, Is the prophet not honored. And the comment goes on to say, Or the writer goes on to say, He could not do, Any miracles there, Except lay his hands, On a few sick people, And heal them.

[13:54] Well, I have to say, Even if I saw a few sick people, Having their hands laid on them, And they were healed, I'd think, Wow, That's amazing. But, By comparison, With other places, We're told, This was a relatively, Small number of people, That received this blessing, From the Lord.

[14:14] And, It, It, It references power, He was not empowered, To do these powerful things. And, Isn't it, Isn't it something, That, The unbelief, Of these people, The fact that Jesus, Had come close to them, And, Done stuff, And said stuff, And they could see him, And they were well placed, To believe in him, But they didn't.

[14:43] And, The result of this, Is in a sense, That the, The presence of God, Draws back, That, They don't have, Miracles done in front of them, It, It, It all, God sort of, Absents himself, From them.

[15:00] And it's a warning about, Unbelief, Isn't it? Because if you're saying, Almost certainly, In any given group of people, Then, There's probably one or two, Who are thinking, I'd like to get further away, From Jesus, Rather than closer.

[15:14] Just to say that, As you, Back off, From Jesus, In a sense, God backs off, From you, And you might see, Less of the work of God, In your life, If you, Back off, Not so many, Mighty works, Being done.

[15:35] And furthermore, It's said of Jesus, That he was amazed, At their, Unbelief. He was amazed, At their lack of faith, Verse 6, Very seldom, Is it said, That Jesus is amazed, It's usually other people, Who are amazed at him, Who read through the gospel, Jesus is doing stuff, And people are going, Wow, Wow, Amazing, Astonishing, Wow, All the way through, They were even doing that here, Weren't they?

[16:06] Astonishing teaching, Amazing. And this is the one place, Where it says, Jesus was amazed. And, That's what it says. Jesus, Perhaps, Looking at the situation, And saying, Sort of, Puts people off, So he doesn't look like God, Just looks like, An ordinary human.

[16:25] So, His humanity, Reveals God, In a way that we can grasp, But veils God, Because, We might not be impressed, Where is God?

[16:37] Well, In Jesus Christ, Take another good look at him. And of course, His familiarity, Can either equip us, Or blind us.

[16:49] So as I was mentioning, About human families, Children brought up in a, Christian home, Have a huge, A huge, Huge privilege. They're well equipped, To believe, But also, They might be blinded, Because they see, See all these things, They get used to it, Familiarity, Can breed contempt, Can't it?

[17:12] See mum and dad, When they're having an off day, And not on their best behaviour, When they're at the end, Of their tether, And they might say, Well if this is Christianity, Don't want anything to do with it. What a horrible thing, That would be.

[17:24] But you see, This is the dilemma, Isn't it? People have, Are equipped, By familiarity, And might be blinded, By it. And there are, Sometimes, Causes of stumbling, In Matthew 18, He says, Just be careful, That you don't actually, Become the cause, Of somebody, Stumbling, As to their faith, It says, I hope I've got the right reference, Woe to the world, Because of things, That cause people, To stumble, Such things, Such things, Must come, But woe to the man, Through whom they come, That's quite, Sobering, Isn't it?

[18:10] He's saying, You really, Really, Don't, You know, People will be put off, By things, And they'll be put off, For the wrong reasons, But, You really hope and pray, That you won't be, One of those reasons, And it's a good reason, For us to, To be careful, The way that we live, Don't be the, The cause, Of somebody else, Stumbling, And churches, Need to be careful too, One of the things, That puts people off, Christianity, Can be churches, The sins, That go on in churches, Perhaps unchallenged, Perhaps undiscovered, For a long time, Disunity, One of the great, Turn offs, For church, Where, Christians, Should be united, In Jesus Christ, In the gospel, And yet, Can't manage to do that, It's a really big turn off, And the awful betrayals, That sometimes happen, Where, Pastors go off, With the, Organist's wife,

[19:12] Or, Or even the organist's husband, And, People feel, Terribly betrayed, This is the person, Who taught me the gospel, And, How can I believe it, When I see, Such a betrayal, Of those principles, In the life, Of this person, There are causes, Of stumbling, And, We ought to make sure, That we are not, One of them, There are, Some causes, Of stumbling, That are unavoidable, And, We don't want, To avoid them, So, When Paul talked, About his preaching, He said, Some people are put off, Some people are put off, Because I tell them, About the cross, Of Jesus Christ, Galatians 5, Verse 11, He says, He talks about, The offense, The stumbling block, Of the cross, And that's, We don't want to avoid that one, He's saying, If I change the gospel, So it didn't include, Jesus, Shedding his blood,

[20:14] Bearing the wrath of God, For my sins, If I could change it, So it didn't have that, More people would believe it, Or some people believe it, That don't believe it, At the moment, But he said, I'm not going to change it, Because that is the good news, That is the power, Of God to salvation, It's a stumbling block, For some, But, I'm not going to change that, And, To, Summarize it, Jesus is looking for faith, He's looking for people, Who will, Take the evidence, Listen to, Know what he says, See what he does, And in fact, Trust him, Let's look at the next page, While the computer is deciding, Whether it's going to, Do what I said, I did press the button, I will press it again, It'll probably all change in a moment, Have a look at the next verses, While I just see, Whether I can make it,

[21:15] Behave itself, It's being very naughty, So let's look at what happens, In the next verses, So we've left, The hometown, We've thought about that, But, And Jesus is now thinking, In terms of expansion, It says, In verse, End of verse 6, Jesus went round, In a circle, It's a sort of circular teaching trip, Teaching from village to village, Well Jesus can do so much, In that way, But, He can do more, If he does what happens next, Calling the twelve to himself, He sent them out, Two by two, And gave them authority, Over evil spirits, If you look what happened, It says in verse 12, They went out, Preached that people should repent, They drove out many demons, And anointed many sick people with oil, And healed them,

[22:16] So something's going on here, Jesus is sending these twelve, And I would like to just think about what's happening, The logic of sending these people, He calls them apostles, The word to send in Greek is apostello, So that's the sending word, And the apostles are the ones who were sent, And there is an understood method of doing this, Certainly in Jewish culture, That you could send somebody, Your shaliach, To do things for you, And a particular example of the sort of thing, Although it does, I don't think it uses this word, It's Genesis 24, Where Abraham, Who's lying in bed, Sends off his servant, To find a wife for his son, And this chap is given full, Full permission,

[23:18] Full authority, And what they would say is, A shaliach is as the man who sent him, A man's shaliach is as himself, He can do the things, And make the decisions that the sender makes, And this is sort of what's happening here, Because Jesus has authority, And he gives his apostles authority, That's what we're told in verse 7, He sent them out two by two, And gave them authority over evil spirits, And Jesus has a mission, He's been going around teaching and preaching, And he gives the mission, On to the apostles, Next slide, Jesus had been going round, The villages, And the apostles are going to go round, And they can cover more territory, Than Jesus can,

[24:19] So they are as the sender, In authority and mission, And they do the sorts of things, That Jesus did, They cast out demons, Heal the sick, And they preach repentance, And we're told, In a rather lovely phrase, In verse 14, That Jesus' name became well known, Herod heard about this, For Jesus' name had become well known, And I think it's a result, Of what's been happening, Jesus goes round, But when his apostles, Going out two by two, They can cover more territory, And it comes to the ears, Of the governor, So there's a principle, Of delegation, And extension of the gospel, Via people, Worth pondering that, You think, Well actually couldn't Jesus, Have enlisted angels to do this, Because there's a story, In the book of Acts,

[25:20] Where an angel goes to Peter, And an angel goes to Cornelius, And why couldn't God, Just keep on doing that, Sending angels to people, But he doesn't do that, He, With the Peter and Cornelius, He sent the angels, To arrange the meet up, But when the meet up, Was there, It was one human being, Talking to another, And that's the way, The Lord loves to do it, There's a lasting principle, As we shall see, But we need to, To think it through, A little bit, So let's, So before you, Sell your bread, And just, Only wear sandals, Because that's what it says, To do here, Just hold on, Don't take any rash, Rash decisions yet, Let's just look at, What's actually happening, So let's look at, First of all, The provision, These were his instructions, Take nothing for the journey, Except a staff, The other, The other gospels, I think say, Staves, Plural, So I think there's a,

[26:21] I think there's a harmony, It's just saying, Just take one stick, You don't take several of them, You know, Your Terylian one, And your, Andean one, Anyway, Take a staff, Bread, No, Don't pack any sandwiches, Bag for carrying, A lot of stuff in, No, It's a bit like, Packing to go on easy jet, Isn't it?

[26:45] Spare money, No, Don't take any spare money, Sandals, Little bit of, Debate, As to what sort of footwear, It was, But it's okay to wear sandals, So presumably, Not heavy boots, Sandals, And not an extra tunic, I don't think this is, A provision to do with, Laundry arrangements, I think they were pretty minimal, The laundry arrangements, I think it's to do with, Keeping warm, So, Don't, Pack something, Just in case, You have to camp out, At night, And you're going to need, An extra layer, You're not to do that, And the whole, So you might be wondering, Why is it, Why is it spelled out like this?

[27:29] And I think the answer is, That this particular mission, Depends on, The hospitality, Of the people, That they're going to, It's, They're going to, The villages, They're going to, The Jewish villages, And the expectation is, That these are God's people, And God's servants, Can expect, Hospitality, From God's people, And it's all, Settled on that, That's the way, You're going to depend on, The hospitality, Of God's people, You won't be camping out, You won't be having to, Get any money out of an ATM, When you're not expecting it, You'll be provided for, That is the, That's the particular mission, They're on at this time, So hold that thought, And we'll come back to it, Let's look at the reception, That's spoken of, And Jesus says, Whenever you enter a house, Stay there until you leave that town,

[28:31] So you're welcomed in, And then the next night, You find that their neighbour, Has a swimming pool, And, Huge plasma television, And you think, Oh perhaps we'll go and stay there, No, You stay where you, Where you were first welcomed in, So stay in the house, That you're welcomed to, But, You might not be welcomed, If any place, Will not welcome you, Or listen to you, Then what do you do, You shake the dust off their feet, When you leave, As a testimony against them, Now that's worth thinking about, The shaking dust off their feet, Would be what you did, If you were an orthodox Jew, And you had to go through, Some unclean, God forsaken place, Like Samaria, And you had to go through there, Because that's the way, The road system worked, But when you got to the boundary, And you entered good old, Home territory again,

[29:31] You would shake the dust off your feet, Say I don't want any of that, Unclean, God forsaken stuff, Clinging to me, Back home, This is home territory, And what he's saying is, If they don't accept you, You do that to them, You shake the dust off your feet, And you say, This is a God forsaken, Unclean place, Why is it?

[29:54] It's in Israel, No, But because they haven't welcomed, The apostles of Jesus Christ, It's a very, A very radical thing, For him to tell them to do, It's a witness against them, It's a witness against them, To make them think, Oh, Gosh, Were we as wrong as that?

[30:18] And presumably, They go on to the next village, Hospitality withheld from the apostles, Is a rejection of Jesus, Which is a rejection of God, And it reminds us, That some doors get closed, Jesus is saying, You go out, And you won't be universally popular, Some people will reject you, And that is a very serious thing, For them to do, And in case you were thinking, Of doing that, Yourself, Just remember, In the previous story, Where the, Townspeople, Who had had the pigs, And the pigs had jumped into the sea, And they didn't like Jesus doing that, When they said to Jesus, Go away please, Do you remember that he did?

[31:08] That's frightening, Please don't be the person, Who rejects Jesus, And you find that, The dust of your house, Is being shaken off, His feet, As it were, It's a warning, Not to refuse, The one who speaks, You get that in the, Begin of Hebrews, You know, You have seen so much, You have had so many privileges, Make sure you don't, Refuse the one who speaks, The one who speaks, From heaven, That's an awful thing to do, Terrible thing to do, But let's look at the, Picture of it, Rejection in the villages, They're rejected in one place, They shake the dust off their feet, They go to the next village, And there's a pattern here, Rejection in one village, Means blessing for the next village, Of course they go on there, And actually this pattern, Is duplicated over the course of history, Because on the big picture of it, As Israel as a whole, Rejected Jesus,

[32:11] The blessing went on to the nations, That's a huge big, Step change in history, It's this, The same thing, Happening in, On the large scale, And I'm sure there are, Missionary stories, About nations that have closed, Their gates to the gospel, Remember that China did that, And kicked out their, China and inland missionary missionaries, But God wasn't stopped by that, It was to the detriment, Of the people who chucked, Who rejected the gospel, That blessing went elsewhere, And in fact God did wonderful things, Has done wonderful things, In China since as well, Well, How shall we, Think about this, Think about the mission, By Jesus apostles, To those villages, Compared with, Later and now, So I, Do you know, I had a very clever way, Of doing this click, So that it wouldn't all come up at once,

[33:12] But it hasn't worked, There we go, So first of all, Question for apostles, If you happen to be an apostle, This is for you, Should you be doing, The same thing, As these people, With your staff, And your sandals, And everything, Or different, So I've got two answers, Number one, You should be doing the same, Because the message, That the apostles had, Then is the same message, As now, So please apostles, Be telling us the same thing, You are our foundation, You're the foundation, Messengers, You are the representatives, Of Jesus Christ, You give us the gospel, So keep on doing that, And of course, That's what's in scripture, Isn't it?

[33:53] That's why, Our new testament, Is so important to us, That's foundational, From the apostles, But then I'm going to say, Well they should do different, And in fact, Even in, In the book of Acts, They did different, They didn't always, Not take a bag with them, And they didn't always, Only wear sandals, And they didn't always, Rely on, Jewish hospitality, Because of course, The gospel has gone out, Beyond home territory, The gospel's gone out, Into foreign territory, And it's gone to, Wales, And the Ukraine, And England, And France, And, All the countries of Africa, And all these different places, And it's not home ground, So the missionary, And Peru, So missionaries need to, Take some money, They need to take some food with them, They need to make preparations, They need to go on courses, To be prepared, Because it's different, Yeah?

[34:55] So, The apostles did it differently, I'm getting ahead of myself, So the next question is, Should, What about us? And the answer is, Well we are different to them, Because we're not apostles, The apostles, These first generation, Foundation, People, To whom Jesus gave the gospel, They are as the one, Who sent them, We're not apostles, But we can carry on, Their mission, We can be apostolic, If you like, We wouldn't expect, To do the things, That they did, We wouldn't expect necessarily, To do exorcisms, And healing, It's not, We are not the apostles, God might choose to do that, Should he wish to, But we couldn't, Demand it, And expect it, But we do carry on the mission, Because Jesus went round so far, And those apostles, In those days, Went round so far, And there's, Territory still to be, To be going, With the gospel, Including Peru,

[35:57] So, We're not apostles, But the message, Is still the same, They went round saying, Repent, Peter in Acts, Was still saying, What shall we do to be saved, Repent, And be baptized, And Paul in Acts, Acts 17, Was saying, God commands everybody, To repent, And in Luke 24, Jesus says, Repentance and forgiveness, Will be preached, Let me get the quote, Repentance and forgiveness, Of sins will be preached, In his name, To all nations, Beginning at Jerusalem, So all nations, Need to hear of repentance, And the forgiveness of sins, So it's sort of, Same but different, Is what I'm trying to, To say, So let's bring to a conclusion, Jesus, Calls people to himself,

[36:58] Not just him, But he uses other people, And in the passage, We've been looking at, He's been calling people to himself, By his apostles, And he wants people, To put their trust, In Jesus, So he's looking for faith, So I'm going to say, Have you put your trust, In Jesus, Do you find him, To be trustworthy, Can you commit, The whole of your life, Into his care, And they were calling, For repentance, Two sides of the same coin, To turn from self, And sin, To God, To say, The centre of my life, Will no longer be me, But will be God, And I am turning, From idols, From sin, To God, And I'm saying, Do you have faith, Are you living a life, Of repentance, Are you turning towards the Lord, Are you trusting in him, Because that's what it's all about,

[38:00] The call of Jesus, Then the risk, Of Jesus, And the risk is rejection, And if it happened to Jesus, It can happen to us, And we might find, As we grow older, That not all our children, Believe in Jesus, Or, Not all the people, Near us, Believe, In the incident here, It was home, Nearby, And in the palace, Well, We might find rejection, In all sorts of places, And we're to be prepared for that, It's not, It's not outside God's plan, It isn't that you were told, You were never told about it, You have to face that, Rejection, Results in the absence of God, So if you're in the middle of rejecting God, Just now be warned, Because if you pursue down that line, You'll find less and less of God, Or you could find less and less of God,

[39:02] Getting in your way, Be warned, And if you're actually, Now rejecting Jesus Christ, You are doing what those people did, Jesus wipes the dust off, Off his feet, As it were, You're writing your own death warrant, You're saying, I don't want this message, I don't want this saviour, I don't want this God, That's a very, Awful, Decision to be making, Be afraid, And the result of this message, Well I refer us again, To that rather beautiful sentence, At the other end of the sandwich, Where it said, King Herod, King Herod, King Herod heard about this, For Jesus name had become well known, And I say,

[40:04] Isn't that a brilliant result, Through, The ministry of these people, Jesus name had become well known, Wouldn't it be great, If in Brighton and Hove people could say that, About the witness, That we have, About the Lord Jesus, Let's sing together, Amen,