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[0:00] trials. And that's right off the hop. You get that in James. So they'll tell you what the book is about. A few of the authors actually will tell you at the end of the book, which is ironic. So John does that. So he's a little odd in that sense. But most of them will tell you up front. So in Mark chapter 1, you have, of course, an introduction. You have the introduction of John the Baptist. So we're going to get it into an airplane here now. And we're lifting off. And we are going to fly for a few chapters here. So you've got to stay with me. So then you have the introduction of Jesus Christ. So in verse 9, so as he came in those days that Jesus Christ came from Nazareth and Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. So you have the introduction of Jesus Christ. Mark is very brief.

[0:56] and very fast. So he is going to go at it. So you have that introduction. But what I want you to catch is actually in verse 16. And as he was going along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen.

[1:14] And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And they immediately left their nets and followed him. And going a little further, he saw James or Jacob, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who were also in the boat, mending the nets.

[1:31] And he immediately left, he immediately called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went away and followed him. So that's the introduction or the start to the book of Matthew or the book of Mark. Sorry.

[1:51] Now, you know, it's interesting. One of the things that we're going to encounter today is that North Americans don't like following. Yet Jesus said, pick up your cross, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me. So one of the best running ads occurred from 2002 to 2007.

[2:19] And it pictures beautifully we as North Americans. And that is that ad said, never follow. I don't know if you remember it, but it was an Audi ad, never follow. And that really pictures us as people. So it's an identity issue. We want to be independent. And God is calling us and saying, no, you need to be dependent. Now, I want to introduce something. Each of us, each of us has a story.

[3:00] Okay? Each of us has a story and that's what we're operating out of. So, one of the problems that I find in working with people is, well, somebody else's story is worse.

[3:16] And what I want you to remember is that you won't grow unless you address your story. So, well, his story is much worse. True, it could be. But by that, you're diminishing your story.

[3:35] And what are some of the storylines? So, I was told as an 18-year-old, okay, my dad's a preacher, that I would never become a preacher because I was too shy, too quiet. So, I led prayer time in church and nobody could hear me. They mic'd up me up and tried to volume me up and I was so quiet, they couldn't hear me. So, my dad was very embarrassed and he said to me, you'll never become a preacher. Now, that became a convenient lie because I didn't want to speak.

[4:14] So, it took me probably 17 years before I realized, no, I can speak. But now I had a lie and fear to overcome.

[4:30] That's a story. That's a story. That's our story. And I had to figure out one day, now why do I have such fear? And then I realized I had a lie. And then I realized where the lie occurred.

[4:54] I had forgotten about it. And I had to go back to that lie. And I had to actually disavow, detach myself from that lie with the truth. And the truth is that Jesus Christ has created me to be a new man.

[5:16] And I can accomplish what he has designed me to accomplish because of him. So, I could not be afraid of all the eyes facing me because there is a greater face in this room right now than your eyes.

[5:38] And that I have to remember. That helped me conquer my fear. So, when I talk about story, that's what I want you to remember. There is a lie. There is abuse. There is minor lies.

[5:57] So, think of it this way. You can have major abuse. That's called capital T trauma. But you can have simply little things occur to you over time. And they're called small T trauma.

[6:19] Those can impact you just as much as a capital T trauma over time. So, those are the kind of things we have to get out of our life and take on what Jesus Christ says about us.

[6:34] So, as I began to look at Mark and Matthew 28, 19 to 20, I began to realize that discipleship was a way to guide people into growing in their faith, no matter where we are. So, I am still growing in my faith today.

[6:58] Okay? Amen. I was going to pull on John and I was hoping there would be some response because even with my dad at 95, there's areas I wish he would have worked on.

[7:15] So, what you don't work on today continues to get worse as you age. So, I want to invite you into freedom that Jesus Christ has given us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[7:32] He died for us, was buried, and he rose again. So, we don't live well. We don't lead well until we get our lives sorted out.

[7:47] So, a number of you, how many single males do we have here? A few, okay.

[7:57] And then, obviously, the rest of you are married. But the single males are looking ahead to marriage. I'm pretty sure about that. Right, Kevin?

[8:10] Yeah. I figure you're no different than I was. So, we're looking forward to marriage. So, marriage, think of the marriages that don't end well. Okay, get that picture in your mind.

[8:25] How do we make sure we don't end up there? It's something Sharon and I have worked on because we saw two families.

[8:36] Her side and my side. My parents didn't end up badly, but her parents didn't end up well. How do we not get there? Well, that's to be honest.

[8:47] So, that's the kind of stuff I want to talk about today. So, we will look at Jesus and the fact that he is divine. We'll look at human. We'll look at that.

[8:57] But I want to concentrate on how do we as men grow in our faith. So, disciple-making is more than evangelism because Matthew or Jesus said, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father.

[9:18] So, we make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

[9:29] And behold, I am with you always to the end of the ages. Okay, so to make a disciple, they have to be baptized. And then we need to teach them all Jesus commanded.

[9:41] So, that's more than evangelism. Now, interestingly, some of the best evangelism I ever participated in occurred while we were doing discipleship.

[9:52] Because I would have people sitting there and then they would say to me, I think I need to do something. Now, being an instructor, I never guided them through because I wanted somebody else to lead them to the Lord.

[10:10] And I would play dumb. And I would say, well, I'm not sure what you should do. And I remember Peter sitting there and saying to me, Waldy, you know what to do.

[10:23] Oh, well, Peter, maybe you know what to do. And he would say, well, no, I don't know what to do. Yeah, I said, you actually do know what to do. So, I had Peter lead, well, now I forget his name, to the Lord.

[10:38] But it was through discipleship. It was not through evangelism. And I had been trained lots in evangelism. But it was actually in discipling that I led people to the Lord.

[10:50] So, this sets up the gospel of Mark and where I am going. So, Mark has got the theme of the deity of Jesus Christ and the humanity of Jesus Christ.

[11:00] It's in there. And we will run across it. But I want you to see, in particular verses 16 to 20, that Jesus also sets up how to make disciples.

[11:11] So, if Jesus commands how to make disciples, then he also is going to give us an example. So, I'm going to skip over chapter 121 to 36.

[11:30] So, this section is not as focused on the disciples, but is more focused on the crowds and actually working with the disciples' presuppositions.

[11:44] So, if you look at chapter 2, he begins off with the healing of the paralytic. I think that story might be familiar to you. And really, it is challenging the presuppositions of not only the Pharisees, but the disciples.

[12:02] So, you pick up a way of thinking. Every church does this, a way of thinking. And we tend to get blind to, we only see one way.

[12:16] And Jesus figured out that the Pharisees only saw one way. And then the disciples would have been the same way, and so he has to start picking at their presuppositions.

[12:28] So, do you understand what the word presupposition means? Do I need to explain that a little bit? Okay, so, when you think, you have some thoughts, pre-thoughts in your head that sort of filter out how you think.

[12:45] So, they set up the groundwork for your thinking patterns. It's called a worldview. So, you view the world through a certain lens. Maybe that would be a way to put it.

[12:56] You view the world through a certain lens. And Jesus, so, the disciples viewed the world through a certain lens. So, let me ask you this question. What kind of Messiah were the disciples expecting?

[13:13] A king. Pardon me? A king. A king, okay. But what kind of king? A queen. A pardon? Political. Political.

[13:24] Okay, keep going. What else? To overthrow the Romans. They were wanting Jesus to overthrow the Romans.

[13:35] So, worldview, they're thinking Jesus is a political Messiah who is coming to rule the world, which is going to happen, but they were not expecting Isaiah 53 to occur before their eyes, right?

[13:56] That had not occurred to them. Their worldview was deeply entrenched. We need a political Messiah. Okay, so, what is your worldview?

[14:10] So, I was helping a guy here this week, and he said, Waldy, when I pray, it's like praying to a glass ceiling.

[14:24] Nothing seems to penetrate. And he was dealing with a CRA. Are we all familiar with the CRA?

[14:36] A few of us have had a little bit of trouble with them. I currently am deep in with them right now, so they disallowed my donations.

[14:46] I don't have a clue why, and my pastoral clergy allows, so I just think what in the world is going on. But anyways, he was stressed.

[14:58] I said, well, let's pray. He said, no, you pray. I said, no, no, you have to pray. So, we were praying all week, and so his worldview is?

[15:15] A glass roof. Right, and so his prayers aren't heard. His worldview is that only a pastor can pray.

[15:30] See, my question would be, I'd love to talk to each one of you and see, how many of you actually operate that way too? When you're in deep trouble, I better go to the pastor and ask him to pray.

[15:44] Rather than say, okay, Pastor Wayne, teach me how to pray. So we prayed. I mean, I didn't see any good outcome.

[15:56] I really didn't. But I thought, Lord, there has to be a way through, because this man has not made any mistakes, or the accountant has not made any mistakes, or something has happened. So he phoned me Friday morning, and he said, Waldy, your prayers were heard.

[16:12] I said, no, no, no, no. Your prayer was heard. I said, I see, that's hard to get your head around. So his worldview is that God doesn't hear my prayers.

[16:28] That's a worldview. Now, where did that come from? That would be the question. So that's the story. So he is going to work.

[16:41] So now look at, turn to chapter 2, verse 18. So from 18 to 28, in chapter 2, you have a number of stories, and a number of presuppositions, first thoughts, worldviews going on.

[17:07] And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and said to him, to Jesus, why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not.

[17:20] See, that's a worldview coming through. Rather than asking him to learn from him. And Jesus said to them, while the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom do not fast.

[17:36] So, and then the famous passage, one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Then in verse 23, and it came about, he was passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to make their way along picking grain on the Sabbath.

[17:52] And of course, they're not allowed to. Okay? Can you imagine these disciples who have grown up in a church that forbade them to pick grain on the Sabbath?

[18:07] And then all of a sudden comes Jesus and says, and picks up a grain head and rubs it out and eats the grain.

[18:21] What do you think the question is going to be? Yeah?

[18:34] Or? What's another one? Right on. Well, I'd be asking, what are you doing? Wouldn't you?

[18:47] Must be a sinner. Yeah. Class one sinner. Can you see how Jesus begins to mess with them? He calmly does things.

[19:00] And there's going to be lots of things that he messes with them. You know, just working with people in church.

[19:10] We get the idea. We can't do this. We can't do that. So we led a new believers class. Excuse me. And I said to the person that, the pastor, I said, I want a table and I want permission that we can have coffee in Sunday school.

[19:32] Now, today that might not seem like a big deal. Coffee and cake actually asked for. And he said, okay, yeah, go ahead. But I got trouble. I got in trouble over that.

[19:43] So I would simply ask them, and so where does it say in scripture that we can't have coffee and cake for Sunday school? But you see how our, sort of how we grow up sets us on a path and we don't have the gospel in front of us.

[20:02] Now, there is a switch after 3, 6, sorry, much. So this is where Jesus begins to focus, focus on the disciples in particular.

[20:22] So I've called this section Connected to God. We belong to God under his authority and with our identity secure. So, this is where I want to begin.

[20:33] So, what struck me about Mark or the gospel of Mark is that Jesus does lay out for us, and I have counted seven, I like seven because it's God's number, I have counted seven sort of steps that he walks us through.

[20:51] I will only walk us through four today. Four steps, and, but four steps, four things that we have to work through in our life so that we begin to grow in our faith.

[21:07] faith, or for those of you who are already growing your faith, these are still areas we have to work with our whole life long, which Pastor T has agreed to.

[21:21] I don't find it any less today, I still have to work on things. It just, I'm sorry, it doesn't change.

[21:31] I grow, I find certain things easier, I find speaking relatively easy, that's not a problem anymore, but there's other things in my life that the Lord brings out.

[21:45] So turn to chapter three, and so there is a change in a switch in between verse six and verse seven. So look at verse seven, and Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Edomia, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon.

[22:13] A great multitude heard of all he was doing, and came to him. So, yeah, this, there's too much information to fly through, but keep in mind the Jews have already rejected Christ.

[22:27] That happens in three, one to six. So they have already rejected Christ, so Jesus moves away from the synagogue and to public areas, to the sea.

[22:39] And he is now going to specifically work with his disciples and those who come along and follow after him. So that is seven to twelve.

[22:51] And then in verse thirteen, this is where we're going to start digging in. So, and he went up to the mountain and summoned those with him, and whom he himself wanted, and they came to him, and he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out demons.

[23:13] And he appointed the twelve, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, or stone, and James, the son of Zebedee, and John, or James, and that would be Jacob.

[23:25] So, just to remember, King James put James in there because Jacob is a Hebrew name, and he wanted his English name James.

[23:36] The son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to them he gave the name Bernard and Nergis, which means sons of thunder, and Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas is scary to also betray him.

[23:59] So, now think about, take a look at that passage. What are some of the significant things that you see in this passage? Sons of thunder.

[24:12] Sons of thunder. You like that one. So, what would be characteristic of James and John? Well, they're angry men.

[24:29] Bonargis means angry. Okay, now think about that. So, often then their mouths must have been in gear before their brain was engaged. Does that happen to a few of us?

[24:42] But, you're just thinking of other people, right? That this person has got the problem. Not you. Good.

[24:56] What else? Pardon?

[25:08] Peter is a stone. Yeah. Petra. Do you notice that Jesus went up onto the mountain?

[25:21] So what is he emulating? Or who is he emulating? Moses. And what did Moses say?

[25:33] Moses. Someone greater is coming.

[25:45] But notice that Jesus is giving signs as to someone greater has come. Now, I'm not expecting you to catch this one, but Jesus says something interesting in this opening part here.

[26:02] He went up to the mountain and summoned those who he himself wanted, and they came to him, and he appointed twelve. So that, again, is a comparison. So a comparison to the twelve tribes.

[26:15] I think that's fairly obvious. That they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach. Now, that little word, with. So when you think of they might be with him, what do you think of in your life?

[26:33] When you think of someone being with you, what do you think of? Together.

[26:45] Good. What else? Okay, marriage. Good. Unity. Unity. Unity. Friendship.

[27:04] So the Great Commission is based on the Great Commandment. What is the Great Commandment? You shall.

[27:17] The Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and will, and your neighbor as yourself. Okay?

[27:28] So the Great Commission is built on love is a relationship. Love requires two of you. Praise the Lord.

[27:39] I love my wife. Right. It requires two of you. So the Great Commission is based on relationships.

[27:55] So as I get to know people, so I can sit with people for an hour, I can partially get to know them, but I'm much better off in a chatty situation or what I loved at school was having them in my classroom or watching them play sports, watching them engage during lunch hour.

[28:24] You know, all those situations help me sort of figure out what is this person like? How do they treat somebody else?

[28:35] Because watching them, how they treat somebody else actually guides me then in what area do I need to explore in their life. So, Jesus asked them to be with him.

[28:52] Now, can you imagine having Jesus' eyes on you? Jan, where is Jan?

[29:05] Oh, you're sitting in the back. I told you you'd be fair game so you figured if I sat in the back then I wouldn't find you. But what did I notice about you?

[29:19] The nervousness or the fact that you just played with your cup, right? See, but I had to train my eyes to see that kind of stuff. Because you naturally, I don't think you're any different than me, right?

[29:34] We don't naturally pay attention to what other people are like. See, I worked with John, so you probably won't want me to go too much further, will you?

[29:47] And I worked with this John. So, but even though we were, you were in the tractor and I was in the combine, you can still catch things, right?

[30:00] And I enjoyed his daughter. She was maybe six? Yeah? Six years old at the time? Five? Yeah, it was just precious to see her.

[30:11] But there's things you can quickly observe about people, but I had to train my eyes to do that because I was too focused here. And that's our problem and we'll deal with this this afternoon.

[30:24] I'm too focused here that I don't see what is occurring in front of me. Right? Are you all with me on that one? We're blind.

[30:36] And so we have to get, take the blinders off our eyes and begin to see those around us. And Jesus has got them with him because he wants to see what is going on with these men so that he can begin to direct them.

[30:55] And I still today sometimes takes me sitting with guys now depending on what it is so working with one guy with he was working with or he was struggling with pornography and masturbation and it took me probably two years of meeting with him to figure out where I needed to go.

[31:21] But he was very guarded with me because he had been rejected so many times and so I had to find a way in and I had to keep my comments to myself and find a way to keep inviting him back.

[31:37] and it was only when he really blew it and then he came to me and he was watching to see what I would do and then when I didn't react the way he thought I should react he was thrown off.

[31:55] So but I had to teach myself or the Lord had to teach myself how to keep my eyes open to that. So that is the shift that I need you to sort of Jesus is interested in working with us you us personally.

[32:13] So he is going he is even now personally wanting to get to know you and he is watching you and observing you and not in a frightening way and then he's softly talking to you inviting you to come forward.

[32:37] Come with me on a journey and that's what I want to encourage you with. So I want to introduce you now to 13 to 35.

[32:54] Mark yeah I find it always intriguing we they they tend to say Mark is a poor writer and I just like really and he's got his book in in the Bible poor writer do you think God would let him be a poor writer no I don't think so so Mark has got a wonderful way of introducing a concept to us it's called in common language it's called a Markan sandwich so I've got a piece of bread and some cheese and another piece of bread just to get you the idea and what he's he's going to introduce a story so the story is Jesus family and then he's going to introduce the Pharisees and then he's going to come back to the family okay and what I want you to sort of as we read through this section and you're going to be thrown off by one story and I don't want you to be so we're going to talk about we're going to read about blasphemy and this is where lots of people get hooked and they want that answer but

[34:02] I want you to ignore that part of the story for now because I want you to catch what is Mark getting at here with this sandwich so there is one main point that he's driving home and then Jesus is going to respond to this point in verses 32 to 35 okay so let's see get my names right if you're not comfortable with me picking on you to read just let me know I'm fine okay it won't bother me so if you're not comfortable reading and I call on you then just wave at me say no no or something like that's perfectly fine so I would like Elliot I'm going to pick on the guys that I already met and I told him that this was fair game so

[35:03] Elliot if you would read verses 20 and 21 and then I want to 30 okay does that work Dale I'll get you to read verses 32 to 35 okay so you'll need to do it nice and loud so Elliot start off okay so Kevin now you start then Elliot come back in the scribes came down from Jerusalem were saying he is possessed by fields of and he casts out the people by the ruler of the devil and he called them to himself and began speaking to them in parables how can Satan have about Satan if a kingdom is divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand if a house is divided against itself that house will not be able to stand if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided he cannot stand but he is finished but no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house truly I say to you all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men of whatever blasphemy is without her but whoever is blasphemed against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of the Holy Spirit let him let his mother come and treasure to God and standing on the side and sent to him to the Holy Spirit to the Holy Spirit and the multitude was sitting around him and he said to him look your mother and your brothers are on the side seeking you but he answered them saying who is my mother and who are my brothers and who are my brothers and who are my brothers and who are my brothers for whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and the mother okay so you have the the sandwich okay you have the family and then you have the Pharisees and then the family so what are the what is the family arguing is the family concerned yeah so he something wrong with him okay and the Pharisees are the Pharisees concerned yeah they say he's got so the family is saying he's out of his mind right and the Pharisees they say he's got a demon okay so what's the difference between the two what would you call what would you call it when a family comes to take somebody and take them home what do we call that today no not not not no and somebody's sorry you're gonna ask you your name and then you're gonna say no I won't give my name so what's your name

[38:35] Corny Corny two Cornys maybe there's more okay so we call it an intervention so when somebody have you ever heard where families somebody's a real alcoholic and they're just creating and everything with their family with their work and they take the their son and they take him to a place where he can go through through a rehab have you heard of that that's called an intervention well that's really what they're trying to do here with Jesus and then the Pharisees are saying he's got a demon so what what are what is the family so this is the common theme between the two stories what is the family and what are the Pharisees saying and what is occurring between these two stories or this yeah these two stories again rejection or they're trying to control him and bring him back into this is not how a family functions you have to obey the family rules you've not heard of that before have you okay and what are the Pharisees doing so they're the religious culture

[40:11] I know you haven't heard of this one either it just doesn't happen anymore right I am being sarcastic so you need to know that I get facetious or sarcastic of course it happens today where a religious culture tries to control somebody so the family is trying to control right and the religious culture is trying to control so they're saying no you are not functioning like someone in our family should and the Pharisees are saying you are not functioning like someone in our synagogue should therefore we are trying to put an end to you and the Pharisees are quite adamant about it because if you look at I think it's 3.6 you can check it but they are going to do what with him?

[41:12] destroy him destroy him so this is serious business so as I as I contemplated this I got to thinking about okay okay the family is trying to control him and the religious culture is trying to control him so what is going on here?

[41:43] so that's what intrigued me so he has selected his 12 disciples and the first thing that is addressed is this whole issue now notice what okay Dale would you read 32 to 35 again please okay so how is Jesus answering the dilemma?

[42:31] yeah so he is changing the structure of family so when I told my father okay so my father would have been a I think most of you are familiar with this role by vocational pastor farmer so we farmed and dad was quite an aggressive farmer as well so but he was also pastoring then on Sundays so I remember dad at about six o'clock on Saturday would get off the tractor and go in and start preparing for Sunday morning so so I was familiar to this role so I was familiar to this role okay so when I told dad I said dad I'm going to leave the farm so I had my own farm

[43:32] I'm going to leave the farm and we are going to go to Bible school and I'm going to go into ministry so what do you think my dad said can't do that can't do that it's not how it works yeah now he he later apologized but it took a few years now you think about that so how easy is it and I realize I probably have some father-son tangos here I know I do because Wayne's sons are here but so you just ignore each other for now right you just hold your grin off your face and but you know how difficult is it then so I can remember that walk how difficult is to say to your dad no dad this is what I sense the Lord is calling me to do

[44:44] I'm geared this way I did fine farming just like my dad did I told my dad years later I said dad you should have done what I did and he said yes I should have he actually at 26 had somebody a denomination say to him so the general conference of Mennonite denomination we will pay your way through seminary and get you into the seminary to teach and dad said no that's not the way things are done that's what he should have done so I had to and then I also had to face my religious culture because I was not the smart one of the boys so I have a brother and he has a better memory than I do and so he was supposed to be the doctor medical doctor and I was supposed to be the farmer he's the farmer and I do have my PhD so irony of ironies it flipped but I had to go against what was expected in my church and what was expected at home so we can sense that there is cultural cultural and family expectations and Jesus is saying no it is only what doing the will of the father that is important following your father's footsteps there's nothing wrong with it okay

[46:40] I want to be clear about that but if the lord is calling you to something else then how can we participate how can we help our children or how can we help our brothers fathers even my dad actually went back to school in his 50s and I wish he would have gone further in his schooling so that he could have taught he was an excellent teacher he taught in Sunday school until he was 92 okay so how can we end up doing the will of the father that's what Christ is coming down to and that to me is what this sandwich declares so the sandwich focuses our attention on similarities so what is similar and where does

[47:41] Jesus go with it I should have put that up before so in conclusion my question would be where have we placed our identity where have we placed our identity see what is my identity based on is my identity based on on what I do see what have you made your what have you based your identity on that's not your identity isn't based on what you do your identity isn't based on your height on your athletic or non athletic ability your identity isn't based on your charismatic or non charismatic ability your identity is based on who

[48:42] God has created you to be so how well do you know yourself how well are you able to say that's not me so at 29 I think I was when the organization said we want you to work with 10 year old boys somehow I knew that wasn't me initially I was supposed to work in Kansas as a sort of campus pastor to kids coming out of the ghetto and they were going to send me now to Fresno California to work in the ghetto with 10 year old boys being in the ghetto didn't bother me we had lived there for a few months so I knew what was to be expected but working with 10 year old boys I love them I love 10 year old boys don't get me wrong but I knew that wasn't the connection so how well do you know yourself

[49:45] I'm not even asking you to change professions how well do you know yourself to know what you bring to your work your work is only your vocation it's your platform to be God's child how has God designed you what does he want you to bring to your work you and who are you I never thought that I would speak let alone even on the work site I was terrified so being in steel erection most of the guys came to the job site on their harleys so I give you an idea what kind of guys

[50:46] I worked with and when they were in a group there was no way talking but what I found fascinating was that if they ever caught me alone they were right away asking me questions about my faith and I had to learn to speak even though I was terrified I had to learn to speak so whenever I had them alone and one of the guys that worked for me well for us my brother brother-in-law John and I had a company together and one of the guys was probably six foot three and he had black hair that hung down to here and when he walked it would just go like this and a very stoic face like very blank expression six foot three and he had spent fifteen years in prison so what do they do in prison workout so his biceps were twenty-two inches in circumference so he was he walked like this right they were big arms we called him our bill collector well you can imagine the first few times and then I realized he was a little kitten but I learned to talk with him and men like him you know but I had to get over my fear because my fear is based on

[52:24] Waldie isn't strong enough Waldie is scared but if I am a child of the king see that's what I had to remind myself of I'm a child of the king it won't matter so one of the things that I had to get a hold of is how do I view God see who is Jesus to me who is the father who is the spirit so who is Jesus to you how does Jesus treat people so for me that was this is usually an assignment if I have guys coming to me and they don't know God then I turn them to scripture I usually turn to the gospel of Mark and I've had guys read Mark 7 8 9 10 times before they finally begin to see the real

[53:29] Jesus because they think Jesus is harsh and I like what what book are you reading world view right presupposition God is out to Wayne discipline discipline well the woman caught in adultery does Jesus discipline her no he says go sin no more well that's not how we operate you bang her over the head isn't that the way we operate we haven't figured that one out no I oh Jesus you are you are different we need to know God's character this will help us submit to his authority which grants safety freedom security and peace so question you need to ask yourself how well do you submit to authority and you can't read the rest there how do

[54:37] I react to authority how do I react to being criticized how do I react to being challenged how can we say we follow Jesus if we're more concerned about what other things think or pleasing ourself that all fits in there so lastly I think this is lastly yeah we each have a story I started out with that you have a story it may not be glamorous but if we diminish it by comparing it with others we'll never deal with our own story so it's your story that Jesus is inviting you to work with you are not being invited to work with your wife story you're being invited by Jesus to work with your story and as you work with your story as we work with our story we will grow in our faith and in our freedom okay so the first thing that

[55:59] Jesus works with in a disciple's life is learning to do the father's will submission to authority to his authority and I realized yeah there's lots of dynamics there and we could go lots of places with that one but I want to start that's where Jesus starts then I knew where I needed to start with with disciples and I've worked with disciples of all ages older than me and so I just want to encourage you this is where you need to start how do I do in submitting to Jesus Christ okay let's take 10 to 15 minutes so five after 11 we'll gather back together there's coffee downstairs so the first concept that we worked on was of course coming under Christ's authority learning to do the Father's will and so then what follows in chapter four and chapter four specifically to verse 34 so coming under someone's authority takes faith and so chapter four through to 434 is about learning how to live in faith so

[57:25] I'm not going to take time for that because I want to move to concept number two but just to point out in 434 it says and on that day when evening had come he said to them let us go over to the other side and leaving the multitude they took him along with them just as he was in the boat and other boats were with him so Jesus is always going to come along and test us now not he's just going to see!

[58:01] where are you? Now he knows where we are but he needs us to know where we are so but I want you to notice where did he put the disciples so we're going to get back to this again but just to get it in your thinking pattern just think about that where does he put the disciples so that takes us then chapter five is more more of this working back and forth about faith you can find some good examples of faith with the religious leader and the hemorrhaging woman so it's all in there so it just follows right along with his writing and then the last piece of this section is chapter six to the front end of verse six and it's there in Nazareth and there is no faith so if you just follow your pattern you can see what Jesus is doing in the gospel so it's just but you have to sit in it and

[59:06] I just want to encourage you when you read your Bible and this took me time as well but to learn to read your Bible but to sit in thinking about what is occurring here so even putting some paper in front of you and sort of sequencing it out what is happening here and writing it down so obviously I want to be here to encourage you to be in your Bible now I realize I mean I have grown up as well and I know what it's like learning to be in God's word every day I was in work a day world I farmed for eight years I was in the steel for three years I'm well aware of the challenges finding time so I just want to encourage you that this isn't for Wayne's benefit this is for our benefit so it's when we are in the word and when we are not doing more than simply reading but when we are meditating on it now I'm using the meditation in the way the

[60:21] Bible describes meditation okay so I'm not talking about Eastern meditation but the Bible talks about David talks consistently about learning to meditate upon the word of God so when you meditate on it think about it it begins to become part of us that's what I want to encourage and invite you into so reading patterns find out here again find out what you're like some of you aren't readers correct how many would say you're not a!

[60:55] reader okay that's about half of you a little bit more than half of you so then I would encourage you you've got to find other ways to get God's word into your head okay and I would I don't mind podcasts okay let me hear that up front but I want to encourage you that it's more important to get God's word into your head than somebody else's thinking okay do we understand the difference so you do need help we do need Pastor Wayne you do need him but you need to get God's word in first so find ways that you can download you version onto your Bible you can have your Bible in your headphones there's lots of ways that you can do that so I just want to encourage you to find out what works for you and don't be guilted into well no no you have to sit down at five o'clock in the morning and you have to read for half an hour no find something that you don't mind enjoy doing it has to work for you so

[62:04] I do like reading and so mine occurs in the morning but it's what I do but you have to figure out what works for you and how you can get God's word into your head okay I just reflect on Mark you're going to find their sequence to it so he is going to give the instruction then he's going to tell you here in Mark 4 it's going to require faith on your part and then he's going to walk through some faith stories and then he's going to test the disciples in their faith so just think about that and sort of rest in that and we'll talk so then we come to the next section which is I've called compass so the first one I call connection so connection with God this one I call compass because in this one

[63:05] Jesus begins to work on their thinking patterns because it's our thinking patterns that are going to keep us from growing in our faith so just like I talked before about worldviews if your worldview says that God is not listening you're going to have trouble no God's listening and sometimes I you know I'm getting better I wouldn't say I'm there but you know when I sit with especially guys they do have the occasional lady that comes to my office I never used to allow it at PRBI because we had enough women around but there's not we don't have a female pastor so I do have a window on my door and I tell my administrative secretary if there's a woman in my office you need to get up from your desk every once in a while and walk by the door and glance in and see that everything is okay but

[64:08] I can I work with them to a certain extent but I usually turn them to some other ladies in the church but as I get to know guys I can help them in their journey and so I want to help them especially get to know their Lord so I got thinking about this you know the author of Hebrews writes that some of his readers are still babies and they need a bottle right chapter five end of chapter five Paul talks about the Corinthians being carnal fleshly 1st Corinthians chapter three so there are immature Christians among us and we may be one so my question I thought about I saw this one day and I thought oh that's good if God were to dress you in the clothes that represent your spiritual maturity what would he have you dressed in

[65:09] I shouldn't chuckle should I so would you be an infant so an infant doesn't always appreciate what the parents do right they have short memories and they focus on today right of course that's none of us children so are you a child they're innocent they lack the knowledge of how life works everything is about themselves teenagers are moody part of a friend group seek independence but they're looking for love and attention young adults the young twenties look for what's in it for them difficulty leaving home and insecure adults so this would be adults would be a disciple a disciple should always be thankful grateful responsible can detect good and evil love the

[66:26] Lord and they know his word so it's interesting Peter Schizzaro writes a book on the healthy church and in it he has a test that you can do to determine where you are in your spiritual growth in six different areas fascinating so in one area I found out I was still not mature so that's an area I had to work on and I've had other pastors do it and one pastor actually scored below adult in every area so you know it is so if you don't want to know where you are then don't get a hold of his book so it would not be good for you but if you are interested then it might be an idea or if you can really become curious about where you are spiritually I would encourage that where am I what's occurring in my life and how can I grow when we become a

[67:31] Christian we aren't automatically zapped into spiritual maturity I think that all makes sense right so Jesus has got to move these disciples and we're going to talk about them again from immaturity to maturity so these these eleven not twelve but these eleven men turned the world upside down literally and they were scared people they all ran when Jesus was arrested what switched well what was done within them so one area that really helps sort of helped me to figure out where I am spiritually is how I respond to various events or people in my life so if you can think through how do I react so how do I react to being called on how do I react when I am criticized see there's how do I react to certain people what kind of people do I try to avoid why see those help you figure out where you are if you don't have a test handy then those help you figure out where you are so

[69:17] Jesus knowing okay I need you to come under the father's authority but you still have a certain thinking pattern and that thinking pattern we need to work on so to grow spiritually we need to gain an eternal mindset to grow spiritually you have to begin thinking like Jesus Christ and you'll be amazed at how often we think our old way of thinking so it took I would say 15 to 20 years for me to figure out that I actually was a fairly good speaker because you can imagine the lies that were running around in my head correct I mean you can think put yourself in your own situation what's the lie that's running around in your head and there was other lies running around in my head so it's not just one but I use it because I'm sure a few of you have a fear of getting up front here and and talking so you can relate to this one so what is the fears that are running around so I had to learn to move from my temporal perspective which was

[70:42] I can read your eyes and you're falling asleep not you John but you're falling asleep I'm doing something wrong no no that you're falling asleep is not my problem see I've got to learn that's a temporal mindset but an eternal mindset is I'm delivering God's word and it's the Holy Spirit that will take that and work in your lives not me see and that frees me up if you think of the parable of the sower and the seed what's the sower's responsibility just to sow I'm not responsible for your soil well praise the

[71:42] Lord right amen I am free I get to do this and then whatever Jan thinks later on is his responsibility right did I get it right I'm saying your name right yeah so we are at the compass and I'm using the compass in here in the sense of it gives me the direction for life ahead so this runs this section runs moving from the temporal to the eternal this section runs from 66B through to 830 so I just want maybe I should just point out that chapter visions and verse divisions are not original okay they only came in with Bishop Usher around 800 so 800 years you didn't have let's turn now to

[72:45] Mark chapter 6 verse 6a so verse divisions chapter divisions came first and then verse divisions so that's all somebody's speculation and from most of the commentaries I have read and my perspective these divisions are off in Mark they didn't he didn't do a good job in Mark at all so I would split this next and I'm not the only one so it's it's standard that they would split here in 6 6 between A and B so B starts and he was going around the villages and teaching and he summed the twelve in verse seven and began to send them out in pairs so what we have here again is another another sandwich and this one runs the descending forth of the twelve from 6 6 B to 13 and then John the Baptist and then you have the return of the twelve so I'm not going to spend time on this one so I'm just going to tell you the question that is being answered here and the question is who is

[73:57] Jesus and actually Herod King Herod answers the question which is intriguing so then we are going to go through ten stories and then you will have Peter's confession in 827 to 30 thou art the Christ the son of the living God okay so this really to me this is why Mark is so intriguing and to me it's fascinating to think of Mark the author combined with the wisdom of the spirit putting this all together as a story so you have the introduction who is this Jesus you have ten stories that answer the question and Peter then confesses it at the end that's the beauty of this if you can just stay with the stories and

[74:59] I'm not going to delve into three of the stories to to to leave to the rest of the story but I want you to think about just the fascination of this that they are asking the question who is it and now we're going to start answering the question but in the midst of answering this question we're going to also see what Jesus is doing with his disciples and so the the challenge is we tend so the question is who is this Jesus and Mark is going to answer it but in that answering he's also going to show you how Jesus worked with the disciples and their mindset okay so any questions on that before I go further am I clear as mud so ask me questions just go on and

[76:09] I'll stay in my mud do you comprehend what I'm doing and does it make sense with what I'm doing I have found other authors that follow these patterns I'm not alone in this so but I just have found it intriguing what Jesus is doing here and sometimes it took me years and so I'm coming at some of you hopefully have worked your way through Mark but I'm coming at you with what took me well I taught it for 20 years so it's embedded in my mind and I see the trail very clearly the questions this point okay so with a question here in the sandwich is who is this Jesus and then Mark is going to lay out 10 stories that point out who this

[77:12] Jesus is but in these 10 stories he is also going to talk about how he worked with the disciples and where they were so this the first one is going to be the feeding of the 5,000 which you've heard plenty about so what I want us to know and I want to be clear about!

[77:35] this is to grow spiritually we'll need to gain an eternal mindset and we'll talk about that rather than an earthbound mindset because anything not done from faith is sin that's Romans chapter 14 at the end the very last verse I think it's 24 or 26 somewhere in there anything not done from faith think about that how often don't we operate simply I can do this no anything not done from faith is sin oh okay then I need to learn how to walk in faith and Jesus is going to do that with the disciples okay so the feeding of the 5,000 32 to 44 who's willing to do read chapter 6 32 to 44

[78:39] I won't pick on anybody well maybe I will Ben will you do that 44 chapter 6 32 to 44 so they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves and all the hood saw them departing and many knew them and ran there on the foot from all the cities they arrived before them and came to the tomb and Jesus when he came out saw a great lot of came and moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd so he began to teach them many things and the day was now far spent the disciples came to him and said this is a deserted place and already the hour is late send them away that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread for they have nothing to eat but he answered and said to them you give them something to eat shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat but he said to them how many bowls do you have for to eat when they found out they said five and two fish he commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on a green grass so they sat down and rins a hundred and a fifty and when he had taken the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven left and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before them and the two fish he divided among them all and they all ate and fulfilled and they took up the loaves after the whole crisis and the fish now those who had eaten the loaves for about five thousand men and the so why do you say that grass what colour is the grass green so why

[80:53] Why would the... See, now, I would argue for spring. So why would I argue for spring in Palestine? The rains came in...

[81:03] In winter. In winter and early spring. Grasses would be green. In summer, they would be... Brown. So that's why...

[81:14] You know, pay attention to these little details. It doesn't matter much, but it's intriguing. So, now... So, I don't want to discard the deity of Christ as revealed here.

[81:30] What is being compared to the Old Testament? Jesus is feeding them from His...

[81:48] From His... Thank you. Hands. He's feeding them from His hands.

[82:00] Can you imagine multiplying? What happened? Like, what happened to all that food? Okay? Who is He being compared to?

[82:13] Old Testament. To... Not Moses. God. God. The manna. Coming down from heaven.

[82:26] Right? So, that's the deity coming out. Okay? Now, He asks the disciples what? Or...

[82:37] Actually, He doesn't ask them. He tells them to... Give them something to eat. And their response is...

[82:48] In the physical. In the physical. Pardon? We don't have anything. In fact, it's going to cost us...

[83:00] A year's worth. So, where are the disciples looking? All around them. All around them. All around them.

[83:12] Except... To God. So, they have a... Temporal, earthbound mindset. Now, think of that in regards to your...

[83:28] Your Christian life. What are you willing to sign up for... To help out at church? Church. Church.

[83:46] Anything that I can physically do. Correct? Am I fairly fair on that? Yeah, that tends to be our rationale.

[84:00] What can I do physically? I'll do that. That's not faith. Faith. What did I think I could not do?

[84:15] Speak. Speak. So, I...

[84:25] And I, with my speaking, was very afraid of all the eyes looking back at me. Correct? Correct? And I realized none of you have that problem.

[84:37] You're all... You're all comfortable with all those eyes. Yeah. Fear. So, I'm living by a temporal mindset.

[84:50] Correct? Because it's all about what I can do. So, Jesus, in simply asking them, you do it, exposes their mindset.

[85:13] So, what is Jesus asking us to do? And what is it exposing? Right? Right?

[85:27] Well, Waldy, you're scared. You're scared of what people think. Right? Yeah. And really, it's not who I should be scared about, should I?

[85:44] It's not about what people think. It's about what... who thinks. Pardon? God.

[85:59] Yeah. It's hard. Because it is so much easier to see the reality of your eyes and what you...

[86:10] how well you pay attention than to think about, no, it doesn't matter. It is about what God thinks. So, see, he has to begin picking at them to begin exposing, helping them to see that they are not walking in faith.

[86:30] They're walking in a temporal or earth-bound mindset. Okay, let's take the next one.

[86:42] Walking on water. So, 45 to 52. Who do I have in the back with a nice voice?

[86:53] Voice that I don't have. That's why I always have to be mic'd. Abe, according to Amin, do you have a good voice? I think so. Think so?

[87:04] Do you have your Bible open in front of you? I do. Okay, so 45 to 52. Chapter 6.전전 Oh, interesting.

[88:09] Their hearts were hardened. Okay, so question. There's a few questions here. I'm sure you have some questions, so you need to ask yours as well. So the God moment in here is where?

[88:23] I don't want to miss it, just so we talk about it. So the God moment happens where? Where he walks on the sea. So what is that in comparison to? In Exodus.

[88:35] Not Moses, but? The parting of the sea. So my father parted the sea, and I walk on the sea. So that's your God moment, okay?

[88:48] Any questions with that? Okay, next question. Where are they? It's obvious.

[89:00] In a boat. Well, on the sea. Hmm, interesting. What's interesting about it? Don't you just love it when I look at you and you're squirming in there and thinking, okay, now is he going to pick on me?

[89:22] Against? No. They're stuck. They're stuck. Yeah. What else? In other words, I'm still fishing.

[89:35] Pun intended. They're scared. That's good to know. There's a poor foundation here. Yeah.

[89:46] Yeah. Good. They're in a boat. They're rowing. They're scared.

[89:59] Come on, work with me. It's night. Yeah. Jesus is not in the boat with them. Oh, yeah.

[90:14] So he intended to pass by them as well. So what is that in reference to? Pardon?

[90:28] He was headed somewhere, but it's a reference to Old Testament. Two Old Testament passages. And? Right.

[90:40] But and who else? So Moses and? Elijah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He gets interesting. But we're back to the disciples in the boat.

[90:53] They're rowing. They're in a boat. They're on the sea. Sea of Galilee, in fact. Not ringing any bells yet? Who are Peter, James, John, Andrew?

[91:12] Really? And they're scared. Huh. Interesting. So what's Jesus doing with them? Testing them.

[91:24] But where is he testing them? In their comfort zone. In their area of strength. Right. Right. So why?

[91:37] Well, yes, they do. But what were they resting in?

[91:50] In their own confidence. But we don't know how to rest in God's strength until we are tested to the limits of our strength.

[92:06] And where are we going to be tested to the limits of our strength? In the area of our strength. Not in the area of the things, you know, I don't know.

[92:22] No, it's because in the areas of my strength. That's right. Thanks, Bob. Yeah. So here we, let's put him in the boat.

[92:35] Okay. This is the second time he's got him in the boat. And he's going to put him in the boat again. Yeah. So Jesus kept putting me into the pulpit.

[92:47] Oh, you know, Jesus, you could try. I'd be willing to try something else. I can work well with my hands. My mouth?

[92:59] No. I have been in quite a few different churches. I'll put it that way.

[93:11] I'm fascinated by what they have up front. Pulpit. Music stand. No music stand.

[93:23] So when you think about it, when you go up onto a stage, and I've been in some churches that are a little larger than this, but you go up onto a stage and there's no pulpit, where do you stand?

[93:37] You know, it's amazing what goes through your mind. So I'm, you know, in the boat, and the Lord says, okay, let's try this.

[93:49] There's no, there's no music stand. Where am I going to stand on that stage? So they're in the boat. They're in their area of expertise, at least four of them.

[94:03] Okay? And you can be counted on that they're going to be relying on those four. So again, we have the feeding of the 5,000. You feed them.

[94:15] And they look at their hands. Well, all we've got is five loaves and two fish. Okay, Jesus says, okay, this isn't working.

[94:32] Let's go to the boat. Okay, guys, you go ahead of me and you start rowing. And, you know, I mean, God can do what God can do.

[94:44] He sends, so from the Golan Heights, apparently over the Sea of Galilee, there is V's or canyons like this, and the wind will come through there and funnel through there, increasing the velocity, of course, of that wind.

[95:00] So when it hits the sea, you can imagine you're rowing. You're not going anywhere. They probably were going backwards. And fascinating, then along comes Jesus walking on the water.

[95:13] Like, okay, big waves. Like, how did this work? And I like it isn't in this one, but another one. He gets into the boat, and they're immediately at the shore.

[95:28] And think about that one. You know, just fascinating to me what God does in his word. So now we've got them in the boat, and we've again exposed that they're relying on their own know-how and physical strength.

[95:47] So again, where is Jesus gently pushing us in our area? Where is he gently trying to point out to you, to me, you're relying on your own strength.

[96:04] you're not walking the way you need to walk. So in 53 to 56, is, they cross over, they come to the land.

[96:27] People recognize him, and they begin carrying people. Now notice the irony here. They get, they know who Jesus is, and they bring the sick to him, and he heals them. So, the disciples haven't caught on, but these people have.

[96:41] So you have, no faith, no faith, and then you have faith. And then notice the next pattern, the Jewish leaders are in 7.1 to 23.

[96:58] Now, the only thing I want to pick up in here is, Jesus' statement, and I've just got to look for it here, 7.18. So he says, and he said to them, are you too so uncomprehending?

[97:18] Do you not see that whatever goes into the man from the outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated? Thus he declared all foods clean.

[97:30] But he was saying to them, that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. So here he identifies the problem. It's what's in us that's the problem, not what's around us.

[97:45] So if we focus too much on, well, if my wife would just do this, or if my friend would just do this, I would do a lot better.

[97:58] No, no, no. It is us. It is me. How well do I know my heart?

[98:14] The heart is what? Yeah. Yeah.

[98:26] How well do I know myself? That has been a journey. That has been a journey. Yeah. And I have to repent on how I treated my wife.

[98:42] Oh, gracious. I was unkind. Just by a look. Just by a look. And in a look, I diminish who she is.

[98:58] She's my gift. She's my partner. And life will not get better if I don't work on me.

[99:16] As I have worked on me, I've invited, just by working on me, I invite my Sharon to come along with me. But the more resistant I am to God, the less willing, of course, she will be in working things out as well.

[99:34] So Jesus points out it's the inside. We are earthbound. I need things my way. But I get so much more when I rest in Him.

[99:53] So do you see, and the rest of the stories all fall in line with exposing the disciples. So if you go to story in chapter 8, verses 22 to 26, the last story, it's a two-stage miracle.

[100:15] And if you get lost in the fact that Jesus, what in the world happened? could He not perform this miracle straight away?

[100:27] Like, why is it a two-stage miracle? So what is Jesus with this miracle indicating? See, and what is He indicating with the deaf and dumb mute in 731 and 37?

[100:48] See, if you think about it, these two healing stories give us an insight into where the disciples were spiritually.

[101:02] So it's not that Jesus can't heal instantly in this last story, but He demonstrates through the blind man.

[101:12] So how does the blind man see when he's healed the first time? Do you remember the story well enough or do we need to read it? It's blurry.

[101:24] Trees are upside down. Now how does a blind man know that trees are upside down? You know, we need to ask questions.

[101:38] That's why this is so funny. Like, how does a blind man know the trees are upside down? So maybe he grew blind, I don't know. But anyways, it pictures that the disciples aren't quite there yet.

[101:53] They're not quite seeing things right yet. And then Jesus heals them. Now think about it. Peter declares at the end here that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[102:06] What does Peter say after this? So then after this, Jesus is going to say, I'm going to die or I'm going to be persecuted, I'm going to be nailed to a cross, I'm going to die, and then I'm going to be buried and rise again.

[102:24] What does Peter say? Pardon? Yeah, he rebuked Jesus.

[102:36] He said, no way. So is he seeing things clearly? No. But he is partially there. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[102:48] So that miracle pictures where the disciples are at. So we can be in our journey, we can start seeing things and grow in our relationship with the Lord, but we need to make sure we work at it.

[103:03] So do you understand how Jesus, in this sequence of ten stories, stories, is working with the disciples to grow them in their spiritual faith. So he's got to first begin exposing how they're bound to doing things the way the world does them.

[103:21] So we begin, have to start thinking about how do we do things in our spiritual life. So identify, identify how we live from an earthbound perspective.

[103:37] love. And here, there's no guilt in this. Jesus isn't going to do this through guilt. He is doing this through love.

[103:49] Because God's motivator is love. It's not the hammer. So he's going to do it through love.

[104:00] So just take away, look, yes, Jesus gets after the disciples, but he does everything from a basis of love. So I'm just inviting you into taking a look at yourself and identifying where in my life do I live from an earthbound perspective.

[104:21] perspective. Where do I live from an earthbound perspective? How do I react when I'm asked to do something?

[104:35] Obviously that I don't think I can do or that I don't want to do. How do I react to the situation? situation? So my mentor always said to me, circumstances, events, and people never steal our peace and joy.

[105:02] We have all the peace and joy there is. All they do is prevent you from enjoying them. So he was once asked to pray for somebody because I don't have God's peace in my life anymore.

[105:17] And he just said no. Well that's quite a shock. You just say no. And so he let it hang in the air for a while.

[105:28] Then he said, let me pray for you to determine what circumstance, event, or person is stealing your peace. Because you have as a Christian all the peace there is.

[105:42] That never diminishes. But you're allowing something from keeping you from enjoying it. Circumstances, events, or people.

[105:56] How often don't people steal our joy? I'm sure you can comprehend that one. How about events?

[106:08] Yeah, events can do that. circumstances. Something comes into your life and we go into the doldrums. Why?

[106:20] Well, because we aren't clinging to the Lord Jesus. But he is using it to expose where our hearts are.

[106:32] through the I have a far easier time living by sight what I can see.

[107:09] So when I'm using the I here, it's talking about me. What I can see because I can easily see whether you accept me or not. See, that's easy to see.

[107:22] So living by sight, learning to trust what the Father says about me is far harder than trusting what I hear you say.

[107:37] So learning to trust what the Father said about me. No, Waldy, I created your mouth. Yeah, you stumble over your words.

[107:49] You don't always know what to say. But I created your mouth. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, it should.

[108:01] Moses said the same thing. So I'm in good company. Learning to trust.

[108:15] See, first I would pray, Lord, help me not to make a mistake when I speak. Right?

[108:29] Help me to be clear. Right? Good prayer, right? No. No.

[108:39] I prayed. Finally, I prayed, Lord, help me to know that I'm okay when I make mistakes. That's a different prayer.

[108:51] Help me to laugh when I realize what mistake I have made.

[109:04] I don't know what it... It was at West Point, and I was speaking. And I think, like, I said wives when I should have said wife.

[109:20] And I realized as soon as it was past my lips, you know, okay, this is hilarious. And so I just simply said, oh, sorry, wrong church.

[109:31] I might as well just go with it. But you've got to get to the point where I made a mistake. But laugh about it.

[109:43] And it's hard. I found it extremely hard. Because I had lived so much in my life on what you think.

[109:54] No, it's what God thinks. And what I do here this weekend is all I do is so. The Spirit will take it from there.

[110:06] And that's what I have to keep in mind. And that's what I had to learn. When I walk out these doors this afternoon, it's off me.

[110:23] Now, I have to do my work. I definitely agree to that. So I'm not absolving myself of that.

[110:33] But I am not the responsible one. That is my Heavenly Father. He is the one that sees me through. And that to me has been a long journey.

[110:45] So I don't want to make you think that it just happens overnight. It doesn't. Okay? So I went back to Bible school at 26.

[110:59] At 30, we were on the steel. At 33, I was in seminary. We came to PRBI as I was turning 37. So that gives you a little bit.

[111:12] And I would say, then I became academic dean when I was 38. So then I had to work with other faculty. And I would say, faculty, do you know what a prima donna is?

[111:24] Some of you do. Some of you didn't smile. But they're special people that think the world revolves around them.

[111:35] So I had to work with these kind of people. But fortunately, I had worked on the steel with guys that were, you know, yeah. Funny thing.

[111:45] Yeah, here's a funny story. I never had an iron worker swing his fist at me. Yeah, then you should know the rest of the story.

[111:58] So God's path is walking by faith. Living focused on him.

[112:10] Living with an eternal perspective. I need to do my part. By faith, strength in the Holy Spirit.

[112:27] But the Holy Spirit, the Father, Jesus Christ, are the ones that complete the work. Not me. And then that relieves me from the eyes that stare back at me.

[112:42] So, what are your fears? What are you telling yourself?

[112:57] I don't gain anything out of those questions. Do you see how that works? But you do. But I've learned to ask the questions.

[113:11] And I've learned to actually see where people are. But the irony is, is I can see where people are. But if I name it in their life, they will deny it.

[113:26] And then I have lost. So I have to find ways to invite them to see where they are. And it's amazing what happens when they are willing to voice where they are spiritually.

[113:43] Because all of a sudden they begin to gain strength. But if I say to them, this is what I see in your life. Denial goes up. The walls go up. I have lost.

[113:54] And I'm working with a man right now who is close to my age. So this will help. You think about somebody close to my age.

[114:05] I'm 70. But close to my age. And I have still not got through. Anytime I even suggest or hint anything, the walls go up.

[114:18] So I'm still exploring. And I've been with him, I think, almost a year now. So my task is simply to invite.

[114:31] Invite you to think. Become curious about yourself. Not the person sitting beside you. Especially not your wife. I want you to think about you.

[114:43] And what you need to work on and work through. Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for this morning. And I pray, Lord, I know things are percolating.

[114:55] And I pray, Lord, that you would move in these hearts and minds. And bless us now as we move into lunchtime. In Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, we'll pick up there after lunch.

[115:10] Now is the challenging hour. When we have food in us, then the sleep takes over. So I'm glad it's not turkey.

[115:21] Because turkey would put all of us to sleep much quicker. So at least I've got the advantage of this hamburger. And hamburger is a little more tougher to...

[115:33] Maybe we'll keep some of you awake. So I won't do any dancing up front to try and keep you awake. So the first thing that Jesus worked on was what?

[115:49] With the disciples. Pardon? Well, there. No, let's back up one. No, so I have said that quite often then.

[116:03] So let's back up once more. So what did he start off with? The first sandwich. Who his family was.

[116:14] Who his family was. Or authority. Submission to his authority. Connecting with God. So C, connecting with God. And then we come to the world view.

[116:25] So compass. What world view are you going to function under? So is it going to be a temporal world view? And I'm happy you've caught that. That's excellent.

[116:37] So we're progressing. So those are the first two. And so now we're going to move to number three. And work with that one. So this one is, you can't quite see it.

[116:49] But chapter 8, verse 31. To chapter 9. And again, I'm only going to work on the front end. But chapter 9, verse 29. So again, that would be my division of the chapters.

[117:02] Rather than where they are. But if we turn to chapter 8, verse 31. Any questions from this morning before I go into number three?

[117:22] Okay. So you want me to back up?

[117:39] No, just a good reminder. Yeah, you bet. Just tell me, Waldie, back up. Yeah. Just in the end, when the session comes, it's up there.

[117:51] Okay. Okay. Okay.

[118:02] 8, 31 to the end of the chapter. So who is, well, we switched spots so you, I can't find you right away. You didn't, Kevin, but you've read already.

[118:15] Okay. Joe, are you comfortable in reading? Okay. So 31 to, I think it's 35 or 36. The end of chapter 8.

[118:26] Yes. No, it's 38. So, 31 to 38. And Peter took him aside and began to do it.

[118:55] But when he had turned around and looked at his disciples, he revealed to Peter, saying, Get anointed him, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man.

[119:11] And he had called the people to himself, with his disciples also, he said to them, Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow him.

[119:27] For whoever desires to save his life, will lose him. And whoever loses his life for my sake, and to God's people, will save him.

[119:39] For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and gains his own soul? For what will a man give in a change for his own soul? For what, for whoever is ashamed of me and my works, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him, the Son of Man, also will be ashamed, and he comes in the glory of his Father, with the Holy Spirit.

[120:05] Okay, so this is the third sort of area that Jesus is now going to focus on with his disciples. So, first, you have to learn to come under authority, under God's authority.

[120:20] Then second, you have to figure out how you operate in your head, your worldview, how you function, what sort of leads you. And then, here Jesus is going to talk about how you actually start solving some of that problem.

[120:36] So, the key verse here is, If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Okay, now just to back up, in verse 31, And, yeah, in verse 31, Jesus utters his second passion prediction.

[120:58] Okay, so he's going to do three of them, and he's going to plainly state what's going to happen to him. And each time, he becomes more specific. Okay, so you have a clear indication.

[121:09] Now, in Deuteronomy chapter 13 and Deuteronomy chapter 18, there's passages there that tell you how to determine whether someone is from God or not.

[121:25] Okay, and those, so, people have said to me, Well, the Bible is circular. You have to believe in the Bible, and that's all you've got. No, the Bible actually sets a criteria by which you can evaluate whether what the Bible says is true or not.

[121:44] So, if you take a look at Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 20 to 22, it actually tells you, gives you the test for determining whether the Bible is true.

[121:58] So, to say, well, you just have to trust the Bible, well, the Bible actually, God actually gives you a test. And, you know, it's a pretty stringent one. So, it says that if a prophet utters a prophecy, and even one thing doesn't come true, he is not from God.

[122:20] Okay? That's a pretty tight one. So, you think of people that prophesy, and you know what their penalty was for false prophecy? Death.

[122:31] So, that's a pretty tight prophecy. Now, think about it. Jesus three times gives a prophecy about his death, burial, and resurrection.

[122:44] And each time, he becomes more specific. And then, of course, it's all completed. So, he not only is his life, but his words are all validated.

[122:58] So, when people say, well, the Bible is circular, you can say, no, it isn't. We have proof from God's word. So, those are sort of things that also appear in this passage.

[123:11] That's why it's so complicated when you start. But I was trying, when I was looking at this passage, I was trying, so Matthew chapter 28, I was trying to determine exactly what does Jesus want to, teaching them to observe all things that have commanded you.

[123:31] That's what I was interested in. So, but I'm just as interested or fascinated by how his deity is exposed through it as well. So, and his humanity. So, it's there.

[123:42] So, I'm not, in that sense, ignoring it. But the third thing that he wants us to learn is to die to ourselves. So, by dying to our self-centeredness and following Jesus, we will grow in maturity.

[124:01] So, by dying to my self-centeredness and following Jesus, I will grow in my maturity. So, I had to think of these three.

[124:13] I deny self, pick up the cross, and follow Jesus, right? So, we need to learn to die, and we need to learn to hang, and we need to learn to fall.

[124:30] So, you just, you know, how to die to my self-centeredness, my selfishness, right? I don't think I'm any different than you. I'm selfish.

[124:43] Are you with me, or are you all past that? We're selfish.

[124:57] We come home, and what do we expect? I have one brother, and I have six sisters.

[125:09] So, you can imagine, I wasn't allowed in the home, because there wasn't enough work in the home and gardens to keep six of them. So, mom had, in fact, one of my sisters was often with us, because there wasn't enough help on the farm.

[125:23] I couldn't see anything that needed to be done in the house. So, when I married Sharon, she was the reverse. So, she expected me to help.

[125:35] Well, I couldn't see. Now she's trained me so well, she will say, keep your hands off that until I get done with it. Because I'll clean it up. Because I know what to do with cleaning up now.

[125:47] But I have to see how my self-centeredness, you're here for me. Ah, no. She's here to be my partner. We're here to serve together.

[125:58] And I had to see past my selfishness. There was about me. No, it's not. I need to deny myself, right?

[126:12] That's kill the self-centeredness. Pick up my cross, and Luke says daily, and follow him. Well, what happened to him?

[126:28] I mean, they spit on him. Yeah, he wasn't treated well. So, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself.

[126:41] So, now, to understand what he is after here with deny himself, you have to keep the three together. And take up his cross, and follow me. So, taking up his cross, and follow me, you can't make deny himself refer to food, to things, etc.

[127:04] Because that doesn't fit with take up your cross. They have to come together. So, when you think of deny yourself, it's got to relate to things, to myself, to my selfishness.

[127:18] Because my selfishness, or my self-centeredness, is going to lead. Because I'm going to lead out of who I perceive myself to be.

[127:29] And my selfishness is going to be front and center. I'm sorry. That's just the way I am. And that's what I have to continue to work with. So, I have to learn to deny myself.

[127:44] So, it has to be something with my inner character. Not things, and this is going to come out further in verse 35. But it has to be something within myself.

[127:56] And take up my cross daily. So, there is things that I have to learn to put to death in my life. And we'll talk about this as well in the next section.

[128:07] But, that I have to learn to take up. And then, learning to follow Christ's example. Well, how did he treat those who were interested in following him?

[128:20] The Pharisees, he treated with a club. He hit them over the head. But, those who were interested in following.

[128:32] I mean, how many times did these disciples disappoint Christ? So, when I'm working with people, that they disappoint me is not the point.

[128:45] I've got to work with them. Okay, I didn't get through on that one. What is going to be my next tack?

[128:56] Now, you may say, well, Waldo, you're a pastor. No. The Lord has given you a platform. Your vocation is not your life.

[129:08] It's your platform to be a disciple. So, who is there with you? Who do you run into contact with?

[129:23] I was reminded of this, I think it was this past week. A friend of mine works with a number of people. And, one of them now is coming to church with us.

[129:37] And, he said, well, I didn't know he was a Christian. See, yeah, you have to let your light shine. But, if that's all you do, they may just think you're a good person.

[129:49] Right? So, you do have to open your mouth sometimes. And, you know, the funny thing is, in sharing your faith, it doesn't have to be the full presentation.

[130:07] So, you know, and I love these studies. I don't know where they come out of. But, they say that a person takes about 17 different contacts from different people that bring somebody to faith.

[130:22] And, it also, sometimes, is only a word spoken that draws somebody. So, Sharon and I were leading, so our church in Texas broke the church up into smaller congregations of 30 to 35 adults.

[130:43] Or, 40 probably. And so, we were leading a group of 35, I think, adults. So, I thought, okay, I want to see how this works out, this presentation.

[130:54] Or, how many of them came to faith as adults? Because, quite a few of them had. So, I said, okay, how many of you came to faith from a non-Christian background and then came to faith as an adult?

[131:08] And, what was interesting was all but one. One came to faith as a child. So, that means that 34 then came to faith as an adult.

[131:18] Okay, that's intriguing. Yeah, you can begin to see I'm a little inquisitive, right? But, it's helped me to think about questions. So, my next question was, okay, how many of you got the full gospel presentation and then came to faith?

[131:35] One. So, that's 33 sitting there. And, I say, okay, tell me, how did you 33 come to faith?

[131:51] All of them said, well, it was words. It was as simple as somebody saying, praise the Lord. And, I would go away thinking, why did they say that?

[132:04] Isn't God good? So, can you say that? Isn't God good? That's fairly easy, right? Don't make it complicated for yourself.

[132:18] Isn't God good? Well, 33 came to faith because someone along the way said something as simple as that. But, to think about that, I then have to sort of deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Him.

[132:32] So, Sharon is much better at thinking about those kind of things. And so, we would go, we used the north safe way for many years.

[132:46] Now we live in south, southwest corner of Grand Prairie, so we're somewhere else. But, we'd go through, and certain things would happen, and we'd get a reduction or something, and Sharon would say, isn't God good?

[133:03] Praise the Lord. So, one of the sales ladies actually asked Sharon once, okay, I've watched you, the two of you come through here, and you're always positive.

[133:17] And then you say, God is good, or something like that. I'd like to talk to you. So, she took Sharon out for coffee. So, if we think about helping others in their faith, think about making it uncomplicated for yourselves.

[133:36] you can learn what you need to share. I would encourage you to learn that. What needs to happen in the journey, there's four things. It's not complicated.

[133:47] But if you're not there yet, then just simply talk in simple language. And it's amazing what happens. So, don't make it complicated. Okay?

[133:59] It can be done by everyone. And I realize you're saying, no, Walde, that's where you are. And I think, well, I wish you would just have seen me 20 and 30 and 40 years ago, how terrified I was than how the Lord helped me along.

[134:16] You know, really, when I'm thinking about it, you can help yourself even, and I don't know whether you pray here Sunday morning in church service.

[134:27] Do you do that? Once in a while? If it happens, I would encourage you to make sure yourself do it to either sit there and pray or stand up and pray.

[134:38] Like, put yourself in those situations where you do it. Because as you get into it, you begin to improve and become braver and braver. But if you don't try, you never become, get in there and get involved.

[134:54] So, that's what I made myself do. So, I was terrified of meeting people. So, seminary, there was 1,200 students.

[135:09] So, I made myself meet somebody new every week. Get their name down, get their occupation down, what they had done, where they were in their journey in seminary. I made myself a goal of getting to know people because I knew I was terrified.

[135:27] So, putting myself into this path, and that, to me, was the big thing about denying myself because I would have been comfortable and sitting in the back and being a fly on the wall.

[135:40] But it doesn't, didn't help me at all. So, denying self, picking up my cross, and following Jesus. Jesus left heaven's glory to do the Father's will.

[135:57] Surely, we can leave our fear and do the Father's will. And that was my biggest challenge. So, secondly, then, verse, verse 35, for whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it.

[136:23] For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Now, this one is a little more challenging, but, I've got to switch my, so, you have it there for whoever wishes to save their life.

[136:45] Now, this word here is the word, the Greek word psuche, you've got a P in there, psuche, and it does not mean life as, so, how many have heard of the female name of Zoe?

[137:01] Or Zoe? Yeah, what other ways can that be pronounced? Z-O-E, Z-O-A, but it's the Greek word for the life force within us.

[137:14] Okay? So, this isn't that Greek word. So, when you think of life here, think of aspirations and dreams.

[137:25] Okay? Not life force. So, the Greek has four words for life, which makes it difficult in English.

[137:37] And if you, you've all got a second language, most, most of you, I think your second language is English. Is that fair? How many of you is your, is German your second language?

[137:51] Okay, how many is the first language? Yeah. Okay, so with two languages, I think you can understand now some of the complications.

[138:02] So, how many times have you been telling somebody else a low German joke and then you try and translate it in English and it falls flat?

[138:15] Okay, so you get it. Okay, so Greek has four different words for life. Bios is one, and from it we get our word biology.

[138:29] Okay, psyche is another one and from it we get our English word psychology. And then we have zoe and from it we get our life force.

[138:45] So think of the combination eternal life. So now you're going to ask me the question, which Greek word is in there? it's zoe.

[138:58] So we have an eternal life force in our body when we receive Christ as our personal savior. Isn't that fascinating? Okay, and this is number four, and number four is psuche, and psuche is our aspirations and dreams, who we think we are, it's all that kind of stuff packed in here.

[139:25] So when you think about it, then we should read whoever wishes to save his dreams, his aspirations, see doesn't that change this a little bit?

[139:37] Shall lose it. See, doesn't that make sense? And whoever lets their dreams go, their aspirations, for my sake and the gospel shall, what?

[139:54] God shall give you the desires of your heart? See, it all fits together. So life here has to do with, so when you think of saved here, don't think of our eternal salvation, think here of how do I live my life here now.

[140:14] So if I want to have a good life, I need to let go of my aspirations and dreams, my selfishness, what does Jesus want for me?

[140:31] Believe me, I had my aspirations and dreams on the farm, and I was well on my way by the time I was 25. I have enough Mennonite heritage in me to be aggressive.

[140:46] I see lots of Mennonites who are very entrepreneurial. You are aggressive, you have a plan, you know where you're going.

[140:58] I was no different. Mine was going to be a cattle ranch. And I just, I don't have time to go into the story, but it just was I thought I was quite brilliant to get around some banking institutions.

[141:14] I was too young to go from the farm size I had to the farm size that I was willing to buy. And so they put in the caveat that I had to get rid of my cow herd to be able to handle it all.

[141:27] So I thought, well, I will sell my cow herd, but in spring I can buy it back. Well, in spring cows were four times as expensive.

[141:41] I sold them at the normal price, so I didn't lose. But by spring they were four times the price. So my dreams, the Lord said, no, that's not really how you're made.

[141:53] Are you willing to listen to me now? So aspirations. So I'm not really asking you to give up your jobs and go into ministry.

[142:05] ministry. I'm simply asking you what are your aspirations? Do they fall in line with what Jesus wants from you? Often Jesus isn't asking you to leave your work.

[142:21] He simply wants you to use your work for him. But I was really stuck on being a rancher.

[142:32] so learning to lose the dream and attach myself to Jesus Christ.

[142:46] Learning to deny myself, taking up my cross and following him, and learning to make sure my aspirations line up with Jesus Christ.

[143:02] You know, I had plenty of young men at PRBI that, because their dads were pastors, they felt they needed to be pastors. And, you know, I would talk with them, I would question them, and I would explore, and I would, you know, work with them, and they would, year two, year three, year four, and I would just, I don't think so.

[143:28] You don't have the same heart for this ministry. Your heart is over here. And, yeah, some of them went into ministry and then got banged pretty hard, because their heart wasn't in it.

[143:41] So, how has God designed you? I met some, plenty of young men whose dads were pastors, and they became pastors, so don't get me wrong, but just because dad was a pastor doesn't mean you need to be, just because your dad is a mechanic doesn't mean you need to be, just because your dad is a farmer doesn't mean you need to be.

[144:03] You need to be what God has designed you to be. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

[144:14] Psuche. It's psuche again. Or for what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Psuche. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and with his father's holy angels.

[144:44] So psuche has to do with our inner life, our essential self, a sense of who we are, the self-centered life, how do we begin to address this area in our lives and the same in the area in the lives of others?

[145:06] Are we good? Can I move to my next slide? I'm going to ask now. Are we good? Okay, so some things that have helped me, or a question that will help, what will be some of the bigger challenges in working with myself?

[145:35] So can you think of some of the challenges that you see in your own life? What are some of the bigger challenges as you think of learning to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me?

[145:46] Accountability. Accountability? Okay. So having somebody to walk with you, somebody that knows you better than most.

[146:01] Can I ask you another question? How good are you at listening? Yeah, yeah, that's me too.

[146:15] It's hard, isn't it? Who sometimes asks us the best questions? You're not willing to say it?

[146:32] Yeah, our wives. Oh, yeah. Why are they so good at it? I don't know. I think you do.

[146:42] So why are they so good at it? Pardon?

[146:54] Because they know us. They know us. My goodness, they sleep with us. They know every aspect of us. Yeah. Did you say something too?

[147:05] Or who? Okay. you know, it took me, yeah, the longest time to learn to listen. Where did that come from?

[147:19] Well, I've lived with you for a while. I can see it. I couldn't see it. Yeah, I'm blind. I'm blind. You know, one of my things was being honest with myself.

[147:35] So, accountability, I'll put that one in, being accountable. Having, you need someone besides your wife, but I'm going to say you need to listen to your wife.

[147:47] You need your wife. So, whoever's married, you need your wife. But you do need a friend. And I would argue for a few different kinds of friends. So, I'm going to jump off your accountability.

[148:00] So, Paul had his Barnabas, right? So, we need a Barnabas. So, with Barnabas, I'm talking about somebody who is an encourager.

[148:12] You need somebody who is an encourager. So, one of the guys I met here early in my PRBI years, his name is Alan, and he became my Barnabas.

[148:27] Now, he is nine years my senior. He would listen to me, all my rants and disappointments. He didn't have a lot of answers, but he became sort of my lightning rod and my encourager.

[148:43] So, I was able to put my lightning down the rod, and it would dissipate and be gone. and he would be my encourager. We also need a mentor, and this can actually be someone younger, because I've mentored all ages.

[149:06] I've had a mentor. I would say I've had a number of different mentors, and they've been different things to me along the way. So, one that could listen to my voice over the phone, he lives in North Carolina, and he can listen to my voice over the phone and tell if there's something wrong.

[149:27] Just by the way I say hello. So, you know, that's quite something, that's remarkable. Now, my contact with him has, he's 84 now, so my contact with him has probably two or three times a year, but it used to be weekly.

[149:46] So, a mentor. Then you need your Timothys and your Tituses. So, you need your people underneath you, and even for those of you who are younger, I've talked with one of you, you're 15, some of you are in that age range, not you Kevin, but you wanted me to be talking about you, Elliot's 15.

[150:12] 15. So, even at that age, you can have your Tituses and Timothys, someone that's younger than you, that you can be an encouragement to.

[150:25] So, every age, but I also want to encourage those of you who are older, and I'm going to say, and I don't ballpark me here, but in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, that there are older men that you can be an encouragement to.

[150:42] So, spread that out. Some of these older people need to be encouraged as well, and need to be built into. So, this can be cross generational, and I want to encourage that, that you are building into other people's lives.

[150:59] So, think of accountability, think of honesty, you have to be honest with yourself, and you have to become curious, about yourself.

[151:11] Why do you do the things you do? Okay, why did I react that way? Why did I get so mad?

[151:27] Why do I do the things I do? Fathers, why do I react a certain way with my kids? shame? Why do I do this? I was shamed a lot as a kid by my parents.

[151:45] And I bore the brunt, that coloring, so again, that would be a world view I dragged along with myself. Shame, there is a place for shame, but it just convicts you of sin.

[152:00] but when shame says that there's something wrong with me, that's wrong. So, shame that brings conviction is fine, but shame that you end up thinking there's something wrong with me, no, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, correct?

[152:27] Yes. See, and some of us need to learn that. I would actually say all of us. Fearfully and wonderfully made.

[152:38] See, if I can keep that in my mind about myself, then if I'm dealing with you, I can keep that in my mind and deal with you with compassion.

[152:51] But I have to learn to deny myself, so why do I react the way I react? Why when my wife, when Sharon does something, do I get triggered?

[153:07] Why when Sharon raises her voice, do I get triggered? Well, why? Because mother would yell at me.

[153:25] Even when I had done something good. So, Sharon wasn't even mad at me. She was just excited. Isn't that ironic?

[153:38] She wasn't mad at me. She was excited and she would yell. But it triggered my story. And I would react.

[153:49] and that has taken a journey to let her be excited. Because she's not me. Why did I marry her? Because she gets excited.

[154:01] I was so, you know, couldn't let myself show any excitement. Yeah. Yeah. So, we moved to North Carolina.

[154:22] This brings up a story. So, we moved to North Carolina after Bible school, January 1st of 1984. Of course, we were looking for churches to attend.

[154:35] And, well, what did we know of Baptist churches? They were all Baptist churches. I mean, it would all be good. Well, I'm pretty sure most of you have never heard of the Primitive Baptist.

[154:48] Anybody heard of the Primitive Baptist? So, we landed in their church. Now, it wasn't like the country Primitive Baptist. So, the country Primitive Baptist, if they want to see whether or not you are living by faith, they bring in rattlesnakes.

[155:07] And, you have to hold the rattlesnake. And, if you get bitten, that's okay, because you're supposed to be able to survive the bite. Okay, that's the country.

[155:20] So, we were one step removed in the city, Primitive Baptist, and the rush was for the front seats. And, I see even Wayne has abandoned the front seat here.

[155:32] But, the rush was for the front seats, because then you could express yourself and really get into the sermon. Yeah, so, yeah, we Mennonites are very stoic, very, don't raise your hand, might think you're a bit odd.

[155:51] So, Sharon would get excited and I would react. Triggered. And, because of her upbringing and her dad's verbal abuse, anytime I was strong in my voice, I would trigger her.

[156:14] So, remember, with your wives, they have a story and you have a story. And, usually, I've never found it any different, the couples that come to us for counseling, they trigger each other.

[156:33] But, we don't go to telling them you need to stop that, we go to, okay, let's figure out your story. Okay, Wally, you were yelled at as a child.

[156:45] Can you be curious as to why, when your wife yells, even positively, you react? So, that took me a journey.

[156:58] to figure out what happened. And, I had blocked a lot of my childhood out. It makes it difficult. And, I even asked my brother, and he would say, you don't remember?

[157:12] What's wrong with you? Kind brother, right? Accountability? But, then, there's things he doesn't remember either, so, we're fair. so, he said, well, do you remember the time?

[157:26] And, I said, no. He said, you came up the stairs, and you were stumbling, and you hit at the door, and we were loud, and mother started yelling at you.

[157:37] And, because I was behind, he's one year older, because I was behind, I escaped the wrath until he said you kicked the dog, because the dog was in your way.

[157:49] Isn't that what we do when we're mad at, yeah, you kick the cat, right? And, the cat goes flying, oh, I see a few of you have done that too, yeah. And, then, he said, he got it, because he laughed.

[158:03] Oh, yeah. So, that story, you know, now I can laugh about it, but it helped me understand that's why I'm reacting. So, I have to become curious about myself.

[158:19] And, then there's other things. So, accountability, but I'm sure you can think of some other things that will help you become a little bit more knowledgeable about yourself and what you need to deny in your life as well.

[158:35] Questions, comments? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[158:52] Yeah, and you pick it up. You know, what is the Lord asking you to put down? Yeah. One thing for me was hockey, because we were already having kids and I wanted to play my hockey, but it denied Sharon any opportunity during the week to be away.

[159:14] So, okay, that's not fair. So, I had to learn to put the hockey down. Yeah, right on. So, how can we as men or as husbands learn our wives and stories or our partner stories?

[159:30] Become curious about their story. Now, some of it will take time. Now, I do remember Sharon telling me stories of abuse, but I was so ashamed about my story that I didn't explore the abuse in her life.

[159:52] So, becoming kind in it with their story. So, just keep in mind that one in four women are sexually abused.

[160:05] So, when women come with sexual abuse stories, the story is 98% likely to be true. Okay?

[160:19] That's something to remember when you're dealing with sexual abuse. Guys, I think it's, of course, much lower. Sharon feels that I was sexually abused.

[160:32] I'm not quite sure. Yeah, that's a journey, a story for me to be curious about. But, ask, you know, even, even, your first name is?

[160:46] Peter. Peter, even, tell me some of the circumstances around this story that you've told. you know, getting them to tell you that story.

[161:00] So, here's a story that I used to tell Sharon quite often. I'm good with cattle. I can tell the difference between one black Angus and the next.

[161:15] I'm good that way. I don't know how good I would be today. It's been 40, more, 45 years or something. So, I don't know where I would be today. But, I was good enough as a kid. So, my dad would send me to the pasture with the hired men.

[161:30] I was six. And, the hired man and I would be arguing all the way home that I would say that was our cow. And, he would say, no, it wasn't. And, we'd get home and all dad would say is, well, what did Waldey say?

[161:43] And, the hired man said, well, he says, it's our cow. Dad said, okay, it's our cow. You know, so, then, when I was ten, dad was selling calves.

[161:57] And, he had promised one calf to me and one calf to my brother. Okay? Now, there's a set up in this story coming. So, school was half a mile from home.

[162:10] I had asthma those years. So, running home should not have happened. So, I ran home, got home, all out of breath, ran straight to the barn, did not see the correct two calves, yearlings, really, and ran straight in and complained to dad.

[162:32] Now, to dad's credit, he phoned the shipper and got the calf back. I'm impressed with that. But, the story, Sharon just said to me, okay, Waldey, now, what in your story have you never observed before?

[162:50] Become curious about that story. So, what does, what curiosity as you've heard the story come to mind? What would make you curious about my story?

[163:08] Okay, what happened? Good. My dad's a pastor, keep that in mind. Your dad's reaction? My dad's reaction, yeah, positive. Positive. What?

[163:20] My actions. Think about my actions. What did I do? You assumed something.

[163:32] I assumed something. But what did I do? I complained. No, no. I ran home. Why did I run home?

[163:43] I didn't trust. Right on. So, you begin to see part of your story when Sharon asked that question, why did you run home?

[164:06] I had never thought of that question. So, can you listen to your wife ask the questions? Can you become curious about your own story to see where you need to adjust?

[164:21] And then can you become curious about your wife's story or even your children's stories? So, remember, we live on this side of Eden, correct?

[164:34] Or are some of you perfect? I love your reaction, thank you. So, we live on this side of Eden, right?

[164:48] We're not going to do it perfect. So, there comes a point in time where we have to talk to our children and explain to them, we messed up in your life too.

[165:03] I've talked to all four of my kids, and I can identify certain things I've done wrong, but I also let them say, well, dad, here's also where you messed up.

[165:18] And if you need to see a psychiatrist, go. You can blame things on me. I'm fine, because I want you free. I want you free.

[165:30] I want you better off than I was. I had to learn a lot of this stuff in my 40s and 50s. Praise the Lord, there's life after 60.

[165:49] I realize I'm ancient for many of you. What's the saying when you age, everything dribbles?

[166:00] my nose never used to be a problem, but it dribbles. So, what object or who do I think of first in challenging situations?

[166:16] So, what I'm asking by this question is, when things get challenging, what do I do? So, do I go object, do I go to the fridge and eat?

[166:33] or do I go to porn? See, where do I go?

[166:48] And porn isn't the only one, alcohol is another one, food is one, but I go all the places that don't help me. When I should be going to the people that can help me, my wife, my friend, my mentor, people that can help me through because I want to live life to its fullest.

[167:17] And if I'm always bound by my fear, I'm not going to live life to its fullest. my parents were good.

[167:34] But dad did not know how to build a relationship with his kids. Okay? And mom, mom, mom, you know, I understand mom today.

[167:56] Dad has come with time, but because of that I lived with a lot of fear. So my grandpa fought with the white army in Russia during the revolution.

[168:10] Where is Igor? So my one grandpa fought with the whites and then my other grandpa was made to fight with the reds. So grandpa got caught in the Crimea.

[168:23] I don't know how well you know your revolutionary history. They got caught in the isthmus and then they were being systematically killed.

[168:35] So he escaped by piling, they were in a concentration camp and he and a friend, I think there's three of them, piled bodies on top of each other.

[168:46] So they were being shot every day. There was another group shot and then the bodies were piled up against the barracks till spring so they could bury them. and they moved the bodies over to the fence and stacked them up and then jumped over the fence and got away.

[169:01] Now think of the PTSD that they experienced. So that's what my mother would have grown up with. So I understand mom. But then see they say PTSD hits even the third generation.

[169:16] okay. So that's what I experienced and I even had to learn to put it down with my kids. So can we be curious about our story?

[169:29] So I can have compassion for my mom today which I didn't for many years. Okay. Because I had to learn to work through my story. But I had to become curious.

[169:42] I had to become curious. Why do I do this? And why do I take it out on Sharon? And why does she do the things she does to me?

[169:57] Can we become curious? Well, my wife has a hard time with driving.

[170:11] But you know, when her oldest brother said to me one time, I'm terrified of my father's driving, I thought, well, if he was terrified, then I could understand why Sharon is.

[170:25] So I've learned to adjust my driving. Because I love my wife. She understands where the problem is.

[170:36] It's not my driving. fear is so deeply ingrained, she has a hard time getting past it. Right? So can I be kind? Yeah, I can. So I'm a by-the-speed limit kind of guy.

[170:52] Yeah. Oh, there's still times when I don't see everything. But I try and help her with that. Her brother said one time, I was driving with dad the other day, and I now know that Cadillacs can fly.

[171:11] And Jay is his name, and he said, I don't understand why I always have to change my brakes. Ron just said, well, I sure know.

[171:22] So what object or person do I think of first in challenging situations? See, we become our own gods. How will I be, how will I overcome?

[171:40] Well, I have to find out what the trouble is. If I want to overcome, I'm going to have to figure out what I rely on.

[171:52] Okay, so I got hooked on porn as well. So I had to figure out what the problem was. boys. And we will tend to be hooked on porn as men very easily because we did not have, and hear me use the word intimate, and I don't mean sexually, but have an intimate relationship with our fathers.

[172:16] So think, those of you who have boys already, you need to have a good intimate relationship with your boy. Boys. Okay, so when you lack an intimate relationship with your dad, that's number one, and a relationship with your mom, the tendency will be for you to go after pornography.

[172:40] So it isn't accountability then that you need to work on, somebody to hold you accountable to get you off the porn, but it's working on your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

[172:54] As you grow in your intimacy with Jesus Christ, you will overcome your porn and masturbation. Okay? That's how it's done. Accountability only helps so much.

[173:07] So I have worked with guys who are married, and then their wife want me to hold them accountable. And so then when I don't get them to stop, then they say, well, you're not holding him accountable.

[173:17] And I will say, well, that's not how it works. Which is so ironic, because you think, well, surely accountability is what's going to get them off this. No. It's learning to be intimate with Jesus Christ.

[173:32] A personal relationship, and even with you as their counselor, or friend. And I'm not talking sexually, I'm talking relationship.

[173:43] So being, having a close relationship if you struggle with that word. If you struggle with the word intimate. So there's a way through. I don't know how, I would say I've been free 30 years.

[173:58] I guard every door. I know how easy it is to go back. But I guard every door. So I know it's in here.

[174:09] I know there's some of you who struggle. I'm aware of that. The stats are horrible, so I'm not naive. and the stats are growing into horrible with women as well.

[174:23] So it's, our society is terrible. But we have Jesus Christ. And because of that, we can overcome. We can overcome.

[174:36] So we have to become close with our Savior. Get to know him. Read the gospel. And you'll probably have to read it a few times to see the beauty of our Lord.

[174:50] The challenge is cutting off our self-centeredness and becoming Jesus-centered, which requires living by faith. Well, I went a little overboard, but a little bit longer.

[175:07] Any questions though? Yeah.

[175:21] Yeah. And that's what the devil is after. Yeah. You bet. See, the beauty of it is, you know, I just come in here and talk about it and then I'll leave it all up to Wayne.

[175:49] Right on. Okay, let's take 10 minutes and we'll finish up. We won't finish up, but we'll do number four.

[176:05] Jeremy. It's been a wonderful day, hasn't it? Those sweets are just gorgeous. I shouldn't be so observant, should I?

[176:18] You take off his dad. Oh, yeah. And he takes real willpower to avoid that table.

[176:31] Yeah. God. Well, I hope the curiosity is growing in your life and that you will be a little bit more curious about your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[176:46] We are heading into the last session for today. So, for me, as I studied the gospel of Mark, there are sort of seven specific targets.

[177:02] So, learning to come under authority, dealing with our world view, learning to deny ourselves, and we're going to deal with four now, and then five has to do with servant leadership, and then, no, that's six, and then seven is crisis and commission.

[177:24] So, as Jesus is heading to Jerusalem, then the disciples are put into a crisis situation, and they are exposed that they still aren't trusting enough.

[177:37] So, crisis and commission, they are then commissioned to go into the world. So, the Lord will test us along the way, and then he will test us as we enter into, and so, I would say that my crisis and commission actually happened while I was at PRBI, where the Lord put me into a sort of crisis and then a commissioning situation, and I would just, yeah, that's where I really am very thankful for my mentor, and his ability to sense in me where I was at, and how he could help me.

[178:20] So, this last one is called community, that we're doing today is called community care, and so learning to serve the least of them, so 930 to 1031.

[178:32] So, the story here, again, this section starts off with another passion prediction, and then seven stories.

[178:42] Now, I didn't put the seven stories onto my screen, I didn't think of that one, like I did with the ten stories, but we're going to have the passion prediction, and then we're going to have seven stories in this case, and they're going to reinforce where Jesus heads to next with his disciples.

[179:05] So, I would like someone to read 930, 930, to 32, so somebody will volunteer for that, okay, Bob, and then someone to read 33 to 37 for now, we'll stop there, we'll read that.

[179:31] Okay, I forget your first name, Henry, Henry, Hain, I try and repeat things to get it in my head, so I tell myself, and it's sort of true, I need to do three times in order to sort of get it in there, so I got past the embarrassment of forgetting names, and just keep going at it, so my mind is a sieve, and rightly so, that's just the way I am, and so that's not an embarrassment, so I just go after, okay, I forgot your name, I'm sorry, let's go at it again, so eventually it sticks, and then people wish it hadn't, because I will meet them in Costco, so students I hadn't seen for 20 years, and I've seen students try and avoid me, because they know the questions that are coming, you know, how are you doing, where are you going to church today, that's the good one, I'm not going to church, oh, why is that, and we start, okay, so Bob, 30 to 32, chapter 9, then they departed from there, and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know it, but he taught his disciples, and said to them, the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise the third day, but they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him,

[181:02] Henry, then he came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, what was it you disputed among yourselves on the road, but they kept solid, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest, and he sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, anyone desires to be hurt, he shall be last of all, and third of them, and he took a little child and set him in the midst of them, and when he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, whoever received one of these sons and children in my name receives me, and whoever received me receives not me, but him and them.

[181:39] Yeah, amen. So what are some of the things from the passage that Bob read, that you noted? So again, this is the second Passion Prediction, there's one more coming, and it's going to come in 1032, and it's going to be about leadership in that section, so this one is about community care, but what are some other things you notice in that one?

[182:04] So 930 to 32. Right. He's on a mission.

[182:17] Good. What else? Right. Okay, so what's in their mind with that one?

[182:34] What had he done with Peter? He rebuked him. Okay, we're not figuring this thing out, and what does it say in there? They did not understand.

[182:48] But why? Why aren't they understanding? They're thinking earthly. Their Messiah was not going to die.

[183:06] So Isaiah 53. Do you know, and I think you're well aware of this, Isaiah 53 is not read in synagogues today, but it was read in synagogues well into the Christian era.

[183:21] And then it started leading many of their people to the Lord because they saw the similarities between Isaiah 53 and Jesus Christ. At that point then, so I don't know when this happened, three, four hundreds, five hundreds in there, then they started not to allow Isaiah 53, 52 and 53 to be read in the synagogues.

[183:41] And that now is becoming one of the most, so there is a group in Israel called One for Israel, and their podcast on Isaiah 53 is one of the most hit podcasts in Israel.

[184:00] It's in Hebrew, so you know that it's only Israelis that are watching it, or Jews, and it's got over 20 million views. So that says something.

[184:12] So we need to pray, not just for the peace of Jerusalem, but for the hearts of the Jews to be turned to Jesus Christ, and for the Palestinians.

[184:23] There's many Palestinians coming to the Lord, and we just need to pray that both sides will come together because so many are turning to Jesus Christ. that's what we need to pray for.

[184:36] So they didn't understand. They're still caught in their fog bank, in their earthbound perspective. So, you know, encouragement here, guys.

[184:49] It takes years. So don't walk away from this and say, I need to do this, I need to do this. No, I'm going to come back to this, but let's do one thing.

[184:59] What's one thing that sort of impacted you today, and work with that? Otherwise, it's overwhelming. I've given you lots today already. Okay?

[185:11] But I would encourage you, what's one thing the Lord is sort of nudging you with? And again, remember, the Lord is kind. You start one step at a time and then it will happen.

[185:23] Okay? The Lord was kind to me. Yeah, I was determined because so many people have said I'd never accomplished something.

[185:37] My dad was not the only one. When I told our non-Christian, I was a corner store, but it was out in the country, so it's really not a corner store, but that I was going to Bible school.

[185:50] He was non-Christian, he was an alcoholic, and he said to me, you? It should be Armin. You're not geared for school.

[186:03] So those kind of things sort of rattle around in your head, right? But they do become sort of a fire in your bones, and the Lord used that.

[186:16] Yeah. And I went to school, and went to school, and went to school. So I have three degrees behind my name. God can accomplish great things, even with the lies that rumble around in your head.

[186:38] Learn to put them to death. So second passion prediction here. Now we're going to move into seven stories. I'm not going to cover them all again, but I want you to reflect on some of them.

[186:52] And hopefully I have got a bit of curiosity in your bones to go back at the Gospels. And if you are brave, Matthew writes to the religious mindset.

[187:07] Okay? Mark writes to the common mindset, and Luke writes to the intellectual mindset. So if you keep that in mind, then you can look at, but they follow the same pattern.

[187:18] The only difference is Matthew and Luke have got birth stories, but they all then follow the same pattern and you can actually put it all together in the same categories that I have with Mark.

[187:35] It's all the same. Some will have longer stories and sections. Some will have additional stories, but it's the same structure. So they all have the three passion predictions, they're all in the same place in their books.

[187:51] So let's see if I can get these right now. I'm going to pull it off the top of my head. Mark 8.34, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me, I think is Luke 9.26 and Matthew it's not coming to my mind.

[188:13] So somewhere in there. But they all have that same verse and they've all got it sectioned the same way. So it's the same thing, but just keep in mind they're all writing to different audiences. That's all you need to know as you work your way through it.

[188:27] So the first story that comes is the story that Henry, see now that's three times, see I'm working on it Henry, see, that if I keep doing that then it comes.

[188:41] So Charlie, I just met Charlie, yeah, and George, so not bad. I haven't met you and you yet, and I forgot your first name. See, I have not repeated it three times.

[188:55] Memo. Memo. M-E-M-O. Oh, your parents sent a memo. I guess so. Yeah, see that'll help me. My actual name is Guillermo, but Mexico memo is short for that.

[189:13] Oh. I can't get over what Spanish does to certain names. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that might help.

[189:24] Memo, that's good. So, Henry, I want you to read your passage again. Then he came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, what one did you dispute among yourselves on the road?

[189:45] But they kept silent from the road and had disputed among themselves who would be raised. Then he sat down with all the twelve and said to them, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and serve them all.

[189:57] Then he took a little child and set him in the midst of it. When he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me, but him who sent me.

[190:15] So in this section, because this is where he begins, it's going to be a focus on how I do what? David.

[190:34] Right? Don't confuse me now. So what's he going to focus on?

[190:49] What's this passage about? Denying self. Denying self, but in regards to what particularly?

[191:01] So who does he bring into their midst? Children. What have they been talking about? Who is greatest? And I realize none of us struggle with that too, right?

[191:13] No, we don't fight each other, we don't wrestle with each other, we don't play hard hockey against each other, no, no, no. Or now, Kevin Quinich.

[191:28] how old were you when you came to Canada? Zero. Oh, you were born here. I was born here.

[191:38] So did you play hockey? I do a little bit, yeah. Okay, so you knew how to take your aggression out on the rink? I'm not as aggressive as some of the people there, but yeah. Oh, there's others that are more aggressive?

[191:50] Oh, okay. Crazy, I'm aggressive. Crazy, yeah, it's the only place where a Christian man can demonstrate that he's a man. I shouldn't say that, should I? Yeah, that's right.

[192:08] Okay, so who's the greatest? And Jesus puts a child in their midst. So tell me something about children in that day and age.

[192:24] Humble, okay. They were kind of looked down upon. They were looked down upon. They were the most marginalized persons in the culture.

[192:38] So who is the most marginalized in our culture? Not children. You run after your children like I've never seen. Probably the elderly.

[192:54] The elderly. the elderly. Yeah. So he puts a child in their midst and that to me sets the course for these next six pieces.

[193:15] He sets it in motion. How are you going to treat the most marginalized in our society? The child. Children were, if they were not wanted, were cast out onto the street.

[193:32] Do you know that Christians of that era would regularly go to the dump to collect babies? Because that's what happened to babies. They wouldn't even kill them before they threw them onto the dump site.

[193:43] and they would go and collect them and bring them home and raise them. So you think of our throwaway society today with abortion.

[193:57] We've been there before. We have murdered children for millennia. and we murdered them today for our selfish reasons.

[194:14] Yeah. So the marginalized. So what is going to be the test of greatness? How?

[194:32] How I serve or how I treat the marginalized in my society? Yeah. How do I treat those around me?

[194:44] So in church here probably it's going to be the elderly. We probably don't have too many people that are struggling with their sexuality. But we would have that.

[194:55] How do we treat these people that have struggles? How do we treat those around us? But I also know that within communities there is different rankings of people.

[195:09] How do we treat each other? So to me this is a whole area that Jesus had to deal with because you can detect it in his disciples.

[195:20] If they are arguing over who is the greatest, then you know he has to deal with how they treat other people.

[195:32] And he simply sets a child in their midst and says how you treat this child. So that's always struck me.

[195:44] Now I don't know if you do it here, but it used to be that when the preacher was done preaching, they would make him go to the door and he would have to shake people's hands.

[195:57] Do you do that here? No? I wouldn't encourage you to do that. I always was bothered by that. So one way I got around it was to get down and talk to the kids as they came by.

[196:13] You know, how do you treat the little kids that come? I realize that we place lots of importance on them, I understand that, but I don't think we place a lot of care.

[196:24] So even with the 15-year-olds and the 17-year-olds, I get to know them pretty quickly in church, and then I usually slap them on the shoulder, punch them, and work with them because they want attention too.

[196:44] So it's fascinating to me, I've been in West Point for two and a half years, how the young people will come up to me and they're not my ministry. I'm there for the rest.

[196:56] We have a youth pastor. But they need our attention. They need to be seen.

[197:08] We all want to be seen, correct? Yes, you do. You all want to be seen. I'm sorry I have not shook hands with every one of you.

[197:22] I've got a fair number of names down. Unfortunately, if I came back next week, I could get them into my head more permanently.

[197:35] So I will probably, if I see you in Costco sometime, stop me and say, we had you at Mountview and give me your name and let's reconnect.

[197:52] Or you didn't get to introduce yourself, then just introduce yourself. I'm very comfortable with that. But we want to be seen and that's to me what Jesus is doing here.

[198:03] So how will we as people learn to serve the most marginalized? So that's his first story. So the second story is in 43 to 50.

[198:17] So who will read 43 to 50? Go ahead. Your first name is? Joel.

[198:28] Joel. Oh, there's two Joves. I met another Joel. Good. 43 to 50. Oh, sorry.

[198:39] I'm in the wrong story. 38 to 42. Okay. Not unanswered in saying teacher. We saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name.

[198:59] We and we forbade him because he does not follow us. Yeah. but Jesus said, do not forbid him for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon share afterward speak evil of me.

[199:32] To hear? Yep. For? For he who is not against us is on our side. Amen. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, assuredly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

[200:01] Amen. Thank you, Joel. Right on. See, that to me, you could have told me that, no, I'm not a good reader.

[200:12] Right. But you said, no, I'll do it. And that's good. Because then you put yourself on a course of keeping going and keeping improving. Right on. Yep. We had one new believer in our class that was from Bolivia.

[200:28] And he came to Canada not with one stitch of English. So there's a few of you like that, right? Yep. Okay. And so I would make people read.

[200:43] And of course, when I knew, came around to Henry, not this Henry. See, that's four times now. See. When I came around to Henry, I knew.

[200:53] Then one day, Henry said, no, no, I want to read. And he would have read at your speed. And I said, Henry, where did you learn to read? He said, well, I've been doing night school.

[201:05] And I want to participate. I thought, right on. Good for you. So the disciples then, now, Joe, I realize that you were reading and concentrating on your reading, so we'll just leave you alone.

[201:19] And we'll pull on the rest of you. You were all listening really intently. And so now you'll tell me what went on in the story. So what happened in the story? Go ahead, Dale.

[201:36] Someone other than the 12 disciples was casting out demons. Right. Now, just think about that one. Don't we have a story just a little ways back?

[201:50] Now, we didn't read it today, but if you think about it, Jesus came down the mountain with his three disciples and to the bottom of the mountain, and there his other disciples were, and they were eating.

[202:04] No. No, they were doing what? They were trying to cast a demon out of a little boy. Now, isn't that ironic?

[202:14] This guy is casting out demons? Isn't that curious? And then, John. No. No. Sons of thunder, right?

[202:26] Don't you dare do that. And Jesus says what? Yeah. Inclusive.

[202:40] We're together. So, we may not, I may not attend church with you, but we're still believers. We're still in this together.

[202:52] Inclusive. I realize there's dynamics. I understand. But, we are, we're going to spend eternity together.

[203:03] Jesus will straighten us all out. Right? You'll straighten us all out. But we'll be in eternity together. So, let's learn how to live with each other today.

[203:17] So, inclusive. The third one, third story. I will leave the third story out, although it's, teaches about how to cut things off.

[203:31] So, maybe I should, so, verse 43, and if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands go into hell, into unquenchable fire.

[203:48] 45, and if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. Verse 47, and if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. So, again, it's not, it's hyperbole.

[204:02] Cutting your eye out isn't going to make you stop seeing things, because you've got your mind still. So, it's cutting off the thing that you tend to focus on.

[204:15] So, guys, we have a problem with lust. Christ pointed that out. It's learning to keep our eyes, at face level.

[204:29] That's one of the hardest we have. It's learning to focus here with women, and not below. My wife has had to, she's brave enough, so she has had to tell boys, keep your eyes up, even though she was 20, 30 years older than them.

[204:50] But she was not afraid to say, get your eyes up. So, we need to learn to keep our eyes up. So, it's not necessarily cutting, gouging out her eye, it's learning to keep our eyes up and focused away.

[205:07] And it, it does over time, take a hold of your life. so it was a real struggle for me. And today, I think it's very subconscious today that my face stays up or diverts frequently.

[205:25] Like that I don't, try not to focus on a woman. And I realize we all have that problem, so we need to learn to keep our eyes up.

[205:35] So, your hand causes you to stumble, so again, it's, it's your, what you do with your hands, get them involved in the wrong thing, your feet take you the wrong way, it's making sure that you make your feet go the right way.

[205:49] So, it's not necessarily cutting them off, but you have to learn to cut things out of your life. I want to focus on the fourth story, and that's where I will leave it with the stories, and then I will finish with some questions at the end.

[206:03] So, verses, chapter 10, verses 1 to 12. So, George, would you read that for us, please? From 1 to 12?

[206:14] Yeah. And he arose from that and cometh unto this course of Judea by the farther side of Jordan, and the people resorted unto him again. And as he was wanting, he taught them again.

[206:25] And the Pharisees came to him and asked them, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting him? And he answered and said unto them, what did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away.

[206:38] And Jesus answered and said unto them, for their heart took their heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female, and for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.

[206:53] And they twain shall be one flesh, so then they are no more two but one flesh. What? Therefore God hath joined together that no man but a son. And then the husband and his disciples asked him again of the same matter and he said unto them, whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another commit adultery against her.

[207:15] And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she commit adultery. Okay, so this is an interesting passage and it really took me a while to sort of figure out why is it here?

[207:30] So think of it, we are in a different section here from 9.31 to 10.31, so 9.30 to 10.31. It's a different section but why has Mark sort of plugged it in here, plumped it in here?

[207:45] Because it's about divorce. So that intrigued me and it really did take me time. I did talk it over with my mentor and he slowly, but he was, yeah, slowly asked me questions and helped me to reflect on it.

[208:01] But if it sits in this section and you're going to see if you follow through on studying some of this on your own, you'll see that they come back, he comes back immediately to little children after this section so it falls into place.

[208:17] So notice that the Pharisees ask Jesus this question about divorce. So you know that it's ill-intended. Okay?

[208:28] So they are wanting to get Jesus. They're wanting to trap him. So that you have to keep in mind. Jesus' response is to them. Okay? So this is not a definitive answer on divorce because Jesus says different answers in Matthew.

[208:46] So you have to take his answers here and there to sort of find a complete answer. So that's what complicates it. Here it's fairly definitive. But if you watch Jesus, he also says that the woman is responsible.

[209:02] So the Pharisees only have the man as having the ability to divorce. And in that culture, the man could simply walk. We don't have our culture where legally you are not free to do that.

[209:19] In that culture, the man could walk. The woman couldn't. So it's a different culture and you have to keep that in mind. But I want to come back to why, what is something significant about marriage that would place it into this concept of care, of care, community care, what do you do on your wedding day?

[209:47] Make a commitment. Make a commitment. Well, make a covenant. So what's the difference between a covenant and a commitment?

[210:09] Covenant is before God. Covenant is before God. Not towards man, but to God. Right. So a covenant is a lifelong covenant!

[210:21] With God, with your spouse, in front of witnesses. Okay? Commitment, to me, is really what a lot of marriages, and that's why you've used the word, I'm sure, what a lot of marriages today are like.

[210:36] It's just a commitment. Tomorrow I may love someone else, so then I can go on. But this is a covenant. So it struck me as I was thinking about this sequence here that we have the child, we have someone else casting out a demon, so we're supposed to be inclusive.

[210:57] We have learned to cut off our sin, so because that's going to keep me from working with other people, because if I don't deal with my sin, I won't be able to help anybody else, right?

[211:11] Isn't that what Jesus said about take care of the log in your own eye before you take out the speck on somebody else's? Yeah? So he's repeating himself here? So third, fourthly then, we have this with marriage.

[211:24] So it's, when we give our word on that day, we have given our word to covenant faithfulness. Okay? Now, is God a covenant keeping God?

[211:38] Yeah. So he is calling us to the same. So community care involves keeping my word. and which is the most important place on our wedding day and throughout life then with my spouse.

[211:57] How do I keep my word the rest of my life with my spouse? I totally get our, yeah.

[212:09] So we've had two divorces in our home and our kids. So I'm well aware of dynamics. It takes two people to marry and it takes two people to keep a marriage.

[212:20] So I understand it all. But Jesus is talking about the fact that this is one of the high grounds of life, is marriage, and it's about keeping our word.

[212:32] Now that applies to a lot of areas. So I think it is Psalm 20 verse 5 which talks about the fact that the psalmist swears to his own hurt.

[212:46] So if I've, I'll use your word, if I've committed to do something for a friend, okay, here's a good example. I committed to doing this session, for April the 20th.

[213:03] Correct? Today is April 20th. Come about March, I received a text requesting my presence and Sharon's at PRBI's grad and guess what day it was?

[213:24] Today. April 20th at 10 a.m. And we were being honored and I said, well, I can't.

[213:40] I have a commitment and I will keep my word. I did not even approach Wayne about whether I could change the weekend. but you know what's interesting, so I said, no, I won't be there but Sharon will be.

[214:01] And I've always been honored. Sharon has, was there, I was there 29 years and Sharon was there 25. And, you know, as president they want to make a big deal about honoring.

[214:16] but I felt they needed to honor Sharon. So today Sharon got honored. So I wasn't there, my boys were there and that's what I felt was, so I was very thankful that I had actually committed to this but I, I want, I honor my word.

[214:34] That took me time. Okay, so please don't hear me bragging on that. That took me time to learn to honor my commitments, to think through my commitments. When I make a commitment, can I think through the commitment and then because I've made a covenant and with marriage, can I think through covenant to what I've covenanted to but when I make a commitment can I hold to my word?

[214:58] Because the psalmist says I swear to my own hurt. So in this case I could not go to the, to the grat. So that is, was a bothersome thing but no, I committed to doing this and I enjoy this.

[215:12] I hope you see that. I do enjoy this. So keeping our word in all circumstances, in my covenantal circumstances and in my commitment circumstances.

[215:27] So then there's three more areas, 10, 13 to 16, childlike trust, 10, 17 to 27, disciple trust in God's care, 10, 28 to 31, a disciple's reward.

[215:45] So Jesus taught that serving the least of them will be the test of greatness. So community care.

[215:59] So if you don't follow through these seven, then they're going to follow through, identify how we treat the least of them. So think through how you treat others but especially those that you consider to be of lesser stature that don't deserve your time.

[216:18] I think that would be a good way to look at it. How do you treat them? You know, is it kids in your life? Is it the aged? You know, are you, some of you will have older parents.

[216:33] You know, how do you treat them? Jesus said, I did not come to be served but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many. So that would be in the next section.

[216:46] But I thought I would put it in here to remind you this is what Jesus said and we're supposed to model ourselves after Jesus in our marriage. Right? So what verse is that?

[217:01] Ephesians chapter 5, 25, I think. So we were supposed to follow Jesus' example.

[217:12] So yes, the wives were to submit. We spend lots of time there but I wish we would spend lots of time on the fact that we are supposed to sacrifice our life the way Jesus sacrificed his life for us.

[217:27] I think women would find it far easier to submit if we would spend all our time learning how to sacrifice ourselves. They'd be happy then to follow us. Okay, and then I've got the disciple serves the least.

[217:45] So here I've got the seven stories all together. and the last one, disciple gains a reward.

[218:03] So this was years of learning to listen to the Lord in this and then learning to put it into practice in my life. so I'd love to get into some of your heads and see what you are going to take home and work with but I'm glad you probably all are glad that I don't have that kind of ability to get into your head memo, right?

[218:36] students often thought I did but it's just that over time you learn what sort of is common and what people work with.

[218:50] so so what are some of your questions what are some comments or thoughts that you have either way yeah I wasn't focusing on anybody else thank you yeah and it's I think it's easier Wayne to teach information rather than teaching about how do we grow in our relationship with the Lord and it's not think about it this way so you can all tell me some facts those of you who are married you can all tell me some facts about your wife right?

[220:05] so we can all tell us you can all tell me some facts about God he's eternal he's omnipotent but knowing facts about your wife or about a friend does that make for a relationship?

[220:23] no no when I began hearing my wife so what does a woman really want to hear from you?

[220:35] not on how many miles you drove that day how many trucks you unloaded right? see Bob smiling no they want to know how you felt correct?

[220:50] yeah it is actually that is correct I won't even ask you because I will just affirm it and say yes this is the fact they want to know what you felt in the day unfortunately we as men don't feel things because we have been taught not to feel it's not that we don't feel things it's we been taught not to feel so the only one who could feel things in my growing up home was my mom so then I learned to stuff it and I think we as Mennonites I'll still claim to be a Mennonite though I've been told by some Mennonites I'm not Mennonite so yeah so we have been taught just to stuff it and then we can't explore things with our wives what did you feel like Sharon when I come home will ask me well Waldie what were some of your feelings through the day well I know now what some of the things I felt during the day

[221:56] I've appreciated the engagement I've appreciated that you have been with me with your eyes so I've appreciated that I've appreciated some of the honesty the engagement so Pedro right yeah see I'm the only one that what did you say I'm the only one you spoke to today yeah yeah memo yeah you said before that I got too close you Joe Joe you let me get close to you yeah even yeah right on so those are the kind of things I know to share rather than how many men were here I haven't even counted haven't bothered doesn't matter but that we had a time together over our

[223:04] Lord and Savior and that it's a relationship you get to eternity it's a relationship that you're going to it's not facts you go home and even you as young men not married Dale are you married no you're not married yet just Shane and Alex oh and your sister Melody have I got that right just Shane and Alex yeah do they give you guys a hard time no that's good but you'll go home and you'll have an opportunity to share some of your experiences and hopefully some of you who are not married will talk with somebody else and talk about some of the things that you hope to work on so leadership is next but I want to close with this one let's pick just one area that we struggle in and decide how we can tackle it and then let's tell a friend for accountability sake so come back to

[224:24] Memo's comment here if you keep this all to yourself that's where it'll stay but if you learn to share it with somebody else and especially with somebody that was here so surely you have a friend here share something you learned because the more you open your mouth and verbalize what you've learned not necessarily what I taught see the ironic thing is it can be actually totally unrelated because I may have said something that sparked this and that's what you need to deal with I had no clue never intended but somehow this sparked and you need to deal with that but you talk to somebody else and it starts putting you on a path not necessarily that the person will remember but you remember I said this so I need to get going on it that's the irony of it so I just encourage you in it let me close in prayer are we ready for that or do you have a question or comment in

[225:46] October in Valley View would it be beneficial to invite you back to the last three last last two it probably would be beneficial for me to do the last the number six but then to have a whole session see and this is where you would have to come prepared with questions and I'm not saying I would have the answers but together we would have the answers so I would do a refresher and then I would lead him to question six I have really not done a lot with point seven crisis and commission although it is in my book I have I got got rid of one if somebody wants one and you can they're twenty dollars you can get them off

[226:47] Amazon but so it's in there but it it's it sometimes helps to just do a refresher but do you have Sunday school because I could do it there but it would really help if you came with questions so write down your questions and then ask me I won't always have an answer but at least get you thinking about some things I would like you to think about your stories somebody mentioned it to me about story we talked a little bit about story downstairs somebody talked about it that was a new reflection and I just I think I've connected enough with story for you to understand how important it is right that you're held hostage by your growing up and early adulthood so that factors in how you live Christian life and you think you're living the

[227:49]  Christian life but coming to church every Sunday and listening to Pastor Wayne no no there's more to it there's a whole journey of relationship with Pastor Wayne and with Jesus let me pray Heavenly Father I want to thank you for the ready involvement with these men and Lord may you grow in them I realize now your Holy Spirit will work in their lives and sometimes Lord it is humorous where you go with them but that is the beauty of it and so may you lead them into paths righteousness for your name's sake Lord I pray in Jesus name Amen Blessings Thank you very much for giving out your time Yeah Very interesting