Jan. 19, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
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| going to do our God's Graces Greater segment. | |
| And today we have some special scripture to go through, and we're going to talk about Jesus naming his 12 disciples. | |
| And we're going to actually start a very important section about the Beatitudes here in the scripture from Luke chapter 6. | |
| We're starting in verse 12, and we're going to 26. | |
| Where did we leave off? | |
| Well, the last place we left off was with Jesus performing miracles in front of the Pharisees who are plotting to undermine his authority and his reign. | |
| Basically plotting to kill him, essentially. | |
| And what happens? | |
| Well, Jesus is preaching and he's going around We're good to go. | |
| That Jesus arrives at the perfect time to basically show us that there is a different way and that we shouldn't try to create more treasure and power and wealth and fame here on earth, but we should try to build that treasure in heaven with God. | |
| And he basically does some things that really irk them. | |
| He doesn't follow their rules and their commands. | |
| And that really upsets them. | |
| And instead of them seeing the foolishness of their own ways and understanding what Jesus was trying to bring them, which was a message of hope and a message of eternal salvation, they ignored it and they plotted against him. | |
| So we left off at verse 11, where Jesus does this miracle in healing the withered hand of the man in the synagogue that enraged the scribes and the Pharisees. | |
| And we're picking up from there where it goes straight from that in Luke to Jesus going and contemplating in quiet prayer by himself. | |
| And we're going to talk about why that's important. | |
| And then we're going to talk about him naming his twelve apostles. | |
| And then we're going to start the Beatitudes, which... | |
| It's just a beautiful way to understand how to live our lives. | |
| So let's go ahead and start. | |
| We're in verse 12 of Luke chapter 6, reading to chapter 26. | |
| I'm going to go ahead and pull it up right here. | |
| It says here, During those days, he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. | |
| When daylight came, he summoned his disciples and he chose twelve of them. | |
| He also named them apostles. | |
| Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. | |
| After coming down with them, he stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. | |
| They came to hear him to beat and to be healed of their diseases, and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. | |
| The whole crowd was trying to touch him because power was coming out from him and healing them all. | |
| Then, looking up at his disciples, he said, You who are poor are blessed because the kingdom of God is yours. | |
| You who are now hungry are blessed because you will be filled. | |
| You who now weep are blessed because you will laugh. | |
| You are blessed when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man. | |
| Rejoice that day and leap for joy. | |
| Take note, your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets. | |
| But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. | |
| Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. | |
| Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep. | |
| Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the false prophets. | |
| Now I love these verses because I think there's a thread that we can find that ties all of it together. | |
| We start with Jesus going to pray alone. | |
| Now, I love that Luke makes a point to tell us how important prayer was always for Jesus and all of the other disciples as well. | |
| They always give us this incredible insight into Jesus, always taking time to go into prayerful meditation and contemplation where he was quietly with himself and seeking God's advice and wisdom and comfort and all of that. | |
| And if Jesus, the Savior, the Messiah, took the time to do that, do you think maybe me and you can benefit from the same thing? | |
| I think so. | |
| And I think that's why it's mentioned so much, because when he came, Jesus came in the flesh to experience what it would be like to be human. | |
| Because that brought us closer to God. | |
| And then, of course, with his sacrifice on the cross, that was the ultimate connection to God, as we can only find God through Jesus. | |
| But if you want to find an example in how to overcome what you're dealing with, the affliction you're facing, the problems you're going through, whatever troubles in life are coming your way, or even successes, it doesn't have to only be in times of trouble and peril that we go to God. | |
| Remember the example Jesus sets when he takes time to go in prayerful meditation and speak to God one-on-one and let God speak to him. | |
| And we can do that for ourselves. | |
| But then we get this great description of all of the disciples, who they are at least, they're named. | |
| A few descriptions are in there. | |
| But what's fascinating about this verse, and I love it, that somebody points out here that I think is great. | |
| I'm going to read this. | |
| This is a commentary on... | |
| The twelve disciples, right, that I found that I thought's amazing. | |
| It says, Two had hair-triggered tempers, James and John. | |
| They were called the sons of thunder back in Mark chapter 3. | |
| One lived in infamy as a traitor, and yet this unlikely crew would go on to change the world. | |
| Now what can we learn from that? | |
| We can learn that God can use us wherever we are. | |
| It doesn't matter what we do as much as it matters how we submit to God. | |
| Of course our actions speak volumes and they have an effect on our lives and our relationship to God, but God can use you wherever you're at. | |
| If you think you're in a place where God can't use you, I can tell you right now you're wrong. | |
| That's the power of God. | |
| He can take you from wherever you are, whatever walk of life you're on, just like he did with these 12 disciples who seemingly would have nothing in common other than what Jesus found inside each and every one of them, which was the power to change the world. | |
| Through Jesus, of course. | |
| He can do it for you, with you and me. | |
| I don't know what it looks like. | |
| I don't have the answers. | |
| I'm not one of those preachers who says, you know, send me a check and God's going to bless you. | |
| That is not my life. | |
| I don't know. | |
| I submit myself in humility to God and His will, as we all should, and ask God for guidance and wisdom and direction because that's what God will give us. | |
| And if you think it's impossible, I only know from my own personal experience that I can tell you that God can do great things with you without you even realizing it. | |
| I can't tell you how many times since I was saved and found by God again in my earlier life to where I am now, from my earlier life to where I am now, how I've had people tell me that what I've done with the Scriptures has helped them find their connection to God, and then I know they've gone and helped others find connection to God, and that's how we can multiply, and that's what we're called to do. | |
| So just like Jesus called his apostles and his disciples... | |
| From all walks of life, I'm calling out to you on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ to say you can be used in God's great plan to do great things that you may not otherwise be aware of or even understand or fully even be able to comprehend at this point. | |
| Trust in that possibility. | |
| It's there. | |
| But now we talk about Jesus performing these great miracles. | |
| This just solidifies what we know about his power and his authority. | |
| He goes to Gentile and Jew alike and he performs miracles. | |
| He heals people and they say that the whole crowd was just trying to touch him because the power coming out from him was so powerful that it was healing them all. | |
| That's Jesus. | |
| That's who he is. | |
| He's the God for all. | |
| He's the God who can heal us all. | |
| He can give us all what we need when we need it. | |
| Even if we don't realize or know we need it at that moment. | |
| Then it goes on to talk about him telling his disciples these important words. | |
| Blessed are the poor because the kingdom of God is theirs. | |
| Blessed are the hungry because they will be filled. | |
| Blessed are you who weep because you will laugh. | |
| And blessed are the people who are hated, are excluded, are insulted and slandered because of the Son of Man. | |
| Because what Jesus is reminding us when he says rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because he tells us exactly why. | |
| Our reward will be great in heaven. | |
| This world is going to come to nothing. | |
| Believe it or not, you and I, we share the same fate. | |
| We both will end up dead someday. | |
| Now, I know a lot of people are afraid of that, and it is a scary thought. | |
| It's only scary, though, if you don't realize that Jesus has already come and sacrificed himself to take away that fear, to take away that burden, to take away the anxiety that is caused by not knowing what happens in the next life, because we've been told what happens. | |
| We will have a great reward in heaven with Jesus. | |
| And you are fully a part of that as well. | |
| We all have access to the same gift. | |
| So, I want you all to just remember that Jesus tells us that if we are poor in this life and we are suffering, the kingdom of God will be ours. | |
| And that if we're hungry, we will be filled. | |
| If we are weeping and sad and depressed, that we will find laughter and happiness. | |
| If we are insulted and persecuted and excluded and called evil because of the name of God, we will find happiness. | |
| Even if we don't find it in this life, but that doesn't mean we won't. | |
| And that doesn't mean that God is not going to intervene right now in whatever way He can to help you and lift you out of whatever you're facing. | |
| He can do it and He will do it according to His will, not ours. | |
| His plan, not ours. | |
| His timing, not ours. | |
| You have to train yourself to be okay with that. | |
| Submitting to God means submitting to His will, and His will is beyond our comprehension most of the time, I would imagine. | |
| That's one of the toughest things we have to do is let go. | |
| But then Jesus tells us that those who are rich should basically... | |
| He says, but woe to you who are rich! | |
| Because you've received your comfort. | |
| Woe who are now full, because you will be hungry. | |
| Woe to people who are laughing, because you will mourn and weep. | |
| He's not saying if you have money, you're bound to be suffering. | |
| He's not saying that, I don't believe. | |
| He's saying that if you just ate a big meal, that you're going to be starving. | |
| But he's saying, I believe, what you can read into this in context to the other scripture that's with it, is that he's saying that if you've built your treasure on this earth, and you've neglected to build it with him, Well, you've had the comfort that you wanted and you sought, but you're not going to have the comfort in heaven that God has promised if you've neglected God and rejected Him. | |
| He's not saying because you ate a meal and you're full that you're going to be hungry. | |
| He's saying spiritually, if you've feasted on what's of this world and ignored God, ignored His Son, ignored the power, then you will be hungry. | |
| Spiritually, if you've laughed and mocked those who've dedicated their life to God, who have given everything they have, who have found themselves basically having nothing, even if they have everything, if they don't have God, if you've mocked those people, then you will be the one who's mourning and weeping when it's all said and done. | |
| He says, woe to you! | |
| He says, when all people speak well of you, for this is the way the ancestors used to treat the false prophets. | |
| So when you see these people who reject God, who mock God, who chastise God, who have everything that you would think makes your life comfortable and happy and good, when you see these celebrities, and I'm not saying all of them, but some of the ones who reject God openly and live this dark, evil existence, Jesus tells us what's going to happen to them. | |
| They'll end up getting there. | |
| So don't worry about them other than worrying about trying to deliver the message of God to them. | |
| We're not here to hurt our brothers and sisters. | |
| We're here to treat our brothers and sisters as we would want to be treated according to what Jesus taught us. | |
| We're here to build our treasure in heaven. | |
| And a part of that is bringing others with us, sharing the gospel, living for God every day, going back time and time again and saying, God, show me the way. | |
| That's what we're called to do. | |
| And we're going to talk about it in the next episode about loving your enemy. | |
| So I hope you guys are ready for that. | |
| Let's go ahead and say a prayer and then we'll wrap it up. | |
| Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you so much for giving us these incredible words to understand you more clearly. | |
| Lord, I pray that for myself and all those out there watching that You'll give us more clarity and insight and wisdom into what you need from us for you, Lord. | |
| Help us become better for you so we can help others. | |
| Lord, I don't know what the plans are for me and I don't know what the plans are for all those out there watching, but I humbly ask that you share whatever insight and discernment you need to with us so we can understand more clearly what we have to do to be your humble servants. | |
| We thank you for your mercy and your grace and your love. | |
| We give our lives to you freely. | |
| And we thank you most of all for the sacrifice of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. | |
| In Jesus' name, amen. | |
| All right, guys. | |
| Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode. | |
| We're going to go ahead and sign off there. | |
| I want to say thank you all for watching. | |
| We'll see you on the next one. | |
| There's a few links below if you want to help out and make a donation. | |
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| Keeps this channel going. | |
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| And leave a thought in the comments if you have any thoughts about what you think about what we went over here today. | |
| If you want to add or contribute, please feel free to. | |
| I love reading your comments. | |
| But with that being said... | |
| I want to say thanks for watching this episode of God's Grace is Greater. | |
| We'll see you on the next one. | |
| Until then, my name is Craig. |
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