Flipside Christian Church

On Mother's Day.

I obviously think of my mom.

Happy Mother's Day, mama.

Mom did a lot of things really well.

Two things that stick out to me
as I'm thinking about her right now.

One of those is my mom was probably

the first person,
and certainly the most consistent person

who spoke to me about who

she saw me to be in relation
to people in Scripture.

She was always telling me, this is what
I see in you, and this is who.

I also see that in Scripture.

And that was profound for me because
it gave me it gave me a high calling.

It gave me a standard far beyond myself.

When I was growing up,
I wanted to be two things.

I wanted to be Evil Knievel,
and I wanted to be a football player.

And my mom's vision of me
was much higher than those.

And she she grounded those in Scripture
and people and men of Scripture,

men of the kingdom, which called me to
something beyond my own,

you know, my own, my own desires,
which was profound.

The other thing my mom did is she stayed
faithful to my mom or to my dad.

My mom,
my mom was was faithful, married to my dad

through through good times and very, very,
very difficult times.

But she stayed and my dad stayed
and they just they worked it out

and whatever it was, they just found a way
to rely on God and rely on his word.

Staying in the Bible
and in church, in community.

And they just they just worked it out.

I was talking to Pat
and Maria Knoblock this morning

and they said, hey, this is our 40th
wedding anniversary today.

I'm way to go.

And Maria said, just by the grace of God
and Joanne Dawson and were both like,

yeah, I mean, that's all of us, right?

By the I mean, mirrors doesn't work apart
from the grace of God, because there's

a lot of forgiveness
that has to be given to.

Yeah.

And so as I think about my mom, I honor
her especially for those two things.

She grounded me in Scripture
and gave me a high calling.

And she, she she gave us

an example of what it means
even when you don't want to.

I'm not saying she didn't want to.

I don't want to add that to her
story. But.

But even you just stay. You just stay.

And by God's grace,
you work it out with each other.

It was just so. So thank you, mama.

We're
going to wrap up Matthew 13 this morning.

And when I started Matthew 13,
I didn't think it was going to take us

four weeks to get through it,
but there's just so much in it.

And just as by way of recap,
seven parables

in Matthew 13, we've looked at one, two,
three, four so far.

We're going to look at five, six,
seven today.

And with these parables, Jesus teaches us

about the kingdom of heaven,
and he gives us a warning in him as well.

And so we're going to look at both those.

But in order to understand

better what Jesus wanted us
to get from these parables,

we have to have to readjust our minds
and shift

out of the only thing we know,
our American mindset,

and try to get back into a first century
Jewish mindset.

In these parables,
there's only the first two

of the of the seven
that Jesus gives interpretation.

It's just the first two.

He said, here's the parable
and here's what it means.

The next one's parables three, four,
five, six, seven.

He gives no interpretation,

and so he leaves it up to his hearers
to understand what he means.

Our problem is
we're not first century Jews, and so

and so his his intent.

We're very far removed from that,
because we read this

as if it is written to to Americans,

and we take all of our American baggage
and put it into this.

And because of that, we don't understand
the culture of the context of it.

And so what I want to do is I want I'm
going to tell you what the current

interpretation of these parables are,

and then I'm going
to tell you the right one.

And but because Jesus didn't didn't

say, this is what I'm talking about,
we all get to decide.

And he leaves it open ended like that.

And so my hope is that you'll wrestle
with these as we go through these,

and then you'll realize that I'm
right as we talk about them.

But so here's the big idea.

Here's the big
for for these parables, here's a big idea.

The kingdom, the kingdom of God,
the rule and reign of God is not cheap.

It's not random and it's not small.

And Jesus paid all,

and Jesus deserves all honor.

That's
how we're going to wrap this, this up.

And so let me let me read for you
this first parable is only one verse long.

And this is what it says in in Matthew 13

verse 44, the kingdom of heaven is like

treasure hidden in a field,
which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy he goes and sells
all that he has and buys that field.

So here's the important terms.

We have to understand
and translate and interpret

the treasure, the field and the man.

Option one.

The most common
interpretation of this parable is this

that the treasure
is the kingdom of heaven,

and man is humanity,

and the kingdom of heaven is so valuable
that when you see it

and when you experience it,
when you find it, you sell everything

and you sell out and you go after it.

Here's my problem with that.

The kingdom of heaven is not something
that we can buy.

The kingdom of heaven is not attained

by what we have purchased.

It's not for sale.

The the truth is that

that we have nothing to offer to God.

We have nothing of value to offer to God

that he would say, okay, now
you've earned it, now I'll sell it to you.

That's not how this works, though.

That is the prevalent interpretation
of this passage of this parable.

Let me tell you the second option.

The field is the world.

The man is Jesus.

And the kingdom

of or the treasure are the Jews.

Let me tell you why I believe
that to be the accurate

interpretation

in Jewish law.

Remember, we got to go back and think
like first century Jew in Jewish law.

Whoever owned
the field owned the treasure,

and you couldn't get the treasure
if it was in the field,

out owning the field.

And the Jews understood
this about themselves,

that they were the treasure of God.

They knew that. Why?

Because that's what they have.

That's what Scripture says
from the Old Testament.

On Exodus 19, God says, now therefore,
if you will indeed obey

my word, my voice, and keep my covenant,
you shall be my

what?

You'll be my

treasure, my treasure, possession
among all the peoples.

For all the earth is mine,

and you shall be to me
a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words that you shall speak
to the people of Israel.

So from the beginning God said, listen,
you need to tell

all of my people
that you, as my people, are my treasure.

For you are a

people holy to the Lord your God,
the people your God has chosen.

The Lord your God has chosen you
to be a people for his.

What?

They're the treasure, his treasure.

Possession.

Out of all the peoples
who are on the face of the earth,

it was not because you were in number,
more in number

than any of the other people,
that the Lord set his love on

you or tells you, for
you were the fewest of all the peoples.

But it was because the Lord loves you and

is keeping the oath
that he swore to your fathers

that the Lord has brought you out
with a mighty hand, and redeemed you

from the house of slavery,
from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt.

You're my treasure.

But it's not because of who you are,
because I chose you.

Do you see that?

I have to understand the Jewish mindset
as Jesus would speak this to the these

these people who are listening.

For you are a people holy to the Lord
your God.

And the Lord has chosen you
to be a people for his.

What treasure are you?

Are you seeing this in the Bible?

Treasured possession out of all the people

who are on the face of the earth?

This is God's choice.

And the Lord

has declared today
that you are a people for his.

What treasured possession,
as he has promised you,

and that you are to

keep all his commandments,
and that he will set you in praise

and in fame and in honor,
high above all nations that he has made,

and that you shall be a people
holy to the Lord your God, as

he had promised the Jews
when they heard this parable.

They're like,
we get it, we're the treasure.

And God found us in the midst

of this huge field, but he chose us.

This would resonate with him.

And this parable says, when this man found

this treasure in the field,
he went and sold all he had.

In his joy. He went and sold all he had.

We know from Scripture
this is exactly what happened.

Looking to Jesus, the founder and
perfecter of our faith, who for the what?

What's the Bible say?

Read it with your mouths open.
Who for the what?

For the joy that was set
before him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is seated
at the right hand of the throne of God.

He saw some treasure, and out of joy
he went.

He sold it
all. That's what the Bible says.

Have this mind amongst yourself,
which is also which is yours

in Christ Jesus, who,
though he was in the form of God, he was

God did not count equality with God
a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself, sold it all

by taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of man,

and being found in human form,
he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on the cross.

He sees this field full of humanity
and sees this treasure

and thinks that I want
that, and I will go by that field

so I can possess that treasure,
and I'm going to buy it with my own blood.

Do you see this?

The kingdom of heaven,

the rule and reign of God in this world
starts

with the Jews because God chose them.

Do you understand?

Church?

There's a parable.

There's a parallel of this parable
in the Old Testament.

And any of you, if you're a Bible student,
your brain should be firing right now.

Back in the Old Testament,
this thing was lived out

in a living color in the real world,

but nowhere

the book of Ruth.

Understand the Bible.

I'm going to I'm going

to I'm going to give you the Book of Ruth,
chapter four, in just a few verses.

Okay.

Then he said, This is Boaz.

Boaz is the hero of the story.

He's the redeemer of this family.

So to Naomi, Naomi's
the one who's lost her husband

al-Malik
and has some possessions that she owns.

He says

Naomi, who has come back from
the country of Moab,

is selling the parcel of land
that belonged to our relative Elimelech.

This was her husband who died.

He says to the person who's in line
to buy it, to buy

the possession of this field,
if you will redeem it, redeem it

the day you buy the field
from the hand of Naomi,

you also acquire

Ruth,

this woman, to be your bride.

I cannot redeem it for myself.

Then the guy says.

And so Boaz said to the elders
and all the people, you are witnesses

this day that I have bought
from the hand of Naomi

all that belonged to Elimelech, her dead
husband.

Also.

What Ruth
the Moabite to be my wife, he says,

Naomi, this field belongs to her.

And I want what's in that field.

Because Ruth was attached to the field.

And Boaz couldn't
get the bride without buying the field.

And once he bought the field,
he possessed the treasure attached to it.

Do you understand?

So this parable was fleshed out
in the nation's

history, in the story of Ruth and Boaz.

And so when Jesus would say
this and be like, oh, we get it.

Absolutely.

The kingdom of heaven does start with us.

You buy the field, you get the treasure.

But after the Boaz
did it way back in the day, God, Ruth,

where the treasure God bought us there,
grooving with this.

Right.

And then Jesus tells this parable.

Again.

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
in search of fine pearls, who,

on finding one pearl of great value, went
and sold all that he had and bought it.

Now here's the modern interpretation,
the prevalent one the most.

People think the important terms
the merchant and the pearl.

The vast majority of people interpret

it this way that the merchant is a man
and the pearl is the kingdom of heaven.

And again, you find this great pearl.

The kingdom of heaven is so valuable.

You sell all you camps,
you can go get that pearl.

Same problem as the previous parable.

They can have is not for sale.

You can't buy it.

No matter what you give,
you don't earn it.

And so option number two is this
the merchant is Jesus.

And if in the first parable,
the treasure were the Jews,

in this parable the pearl is us non-Jews.

Here's why.

Because to the Jew,

a pearl was not a treasure.

They would not consider pearls
to be of any value.

Do you know why?

Okay, let me tell you.

Because what a pearl come from

and were unclean to the Jews.

They couldn't be touch them

there. So?

So the Easter, the thing that makes
the pearl was unclean to the Jews.

And there's no way a Jew

being in right Jewish obedience

would associate himself with that
which is unclean and oyster or a pearl.

Do you understand?

So? So Jesus right now is like before they
they got it.

They're like, yeah, we're the treasure.
We understand that.

And now they're like, wait,
wait wait wait wait, what

the the kingdom of heaven

isn't just about us.

You can't include them

because that which is unclean is Gentile.

You can include non-Jews in this.

This is about us.

How can you include that
which is unclean in the kingdom of heaven?

It'll defile it.

Do you see what Jesus is saying?

This was shocking.

This was this was transformed.

This was revolutionary.

This is something
they had never heard of before.

They were the treasure, not Gentiles,

not us.

The pearls.

We're the unclean ones.

We're the dirty ones.

And Jesus is saying, listen, you're right.

You're unclean and dirty.

You got nothing to offer me,
but I have chosen you.

And that which everybody has claimed
is unclean

and unworthy, I have redeemed,
I have made worthy

not because of who you are,
but because of what

I've paid for you.

See what what Jesus was doing was

he was making known this mystery
that God has set in place

since the beginning of the world,
and nobody knew it until right now.

We know for this from the book of
Ephesians to bring to light for everyone.

What is the plan?

The plan of the mystery
hidden for ages in God,

who created all things,
so that through the church

the manifold wisdom of God
might be made known to whom?

To the rulers
and authorities in the heavenly places.

Here's what he's doing.

He's saying through the church,
the mystery of God

that has been hidden from
the very beginning is now being made known

not just to our neighbors,
not just to the people that we live with,

but is being made known right now.

To whom?

Angels and demons.

Through the church.

The mystery of God is being revealed

to the heavenlies.

The mystery of what's the mystery?

The Greek word Mousterian,
which literally means

God's hidden plan until he reveals it.

It's not something we go try to discover.

It's like I'm going to blind your eyes
until I'm ready for you to see it.

And now's the time. Through the church.

Here's what the Bible says in verse
six of chapter three of Ephesians.

The mystery is this, that the Gentiles,
the pearls, are fellow heirs,

treasures, members of the same body,

and partakers of the promise in Christ
Jesus through the gospel.

That's the mystery.

And it was, it was, it was
it was not revealed until Jesus

said, listen, I got a mystery
to tell you, to reveal to you.

I'm including that which is unclean.

I'm in recruiting that which has always
been rejected in my kingdom,

because I have chosen to value them
and to treasure them.

It's not just about you Jews now.

It's about all of humanity that I am
offering my blood to buy them back.

That's the mystery.

And when Jesus does that,
all of the angels and all of the demons

sit back in amazement
and they go, what is going on?

How can this be?

This God who is so holy and so set apart

and so righteous, is including dirty,
nasty people?

How his mercy and his grace
are so profound

that these people
who cannot even clean themselves up,

who cannot ever do what is right
consistently, have been bought

with the blood of Jesus and by his blood
he's made them holy.

Are you kidding me?

That's what
the angels and demons and Satan himself

are discovering

by us,

by God's church.

Did you know that?

That's what's at stake.

And that's why I get so passionate

and excited about God's
Word and about his plan.

Because what you and I do,

who you and I are.

What this church becomes, matters

not just to our neighbors,

not just to our family, though
it does matter for them.

But it matters because you and I,
as the Church of God, are on display

right now.

To the very angels
in heaven and demons in hell.

And they sit back in amazement, going,
what kind of God is this?

And how you and I reflect

the mercy and grace of God

is God's testimony and revelation

to even demons about his character.

The way we forgive

is testimony to even demons

about the character of God.

We are God's declaration and testimony,

and they discovered every time they see
us, and they see the church

live out God's mysterious plan
and the wisdom of his mercy and his grace.

And so the question.

What does your life reveal of

the glory of God to the unseen world?

What does your life

right now
reveal about the glory and the mystery

and the mercy and grace of God
to the unseen world?

Because the fact is,
you and I are being watched

not just by each other.

Hebrews 12 one.

Since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses,

let us run with endurance.

Set aside every weight
and send that cling so closely,

and let us run with endurance races
set before us.

Who's the cloud of witnesses?

Certainly it is the people mentioned
in chapter 11 right before.

Certainly it is, but it's also the angels

and even the demons who are watching

to seeing if our lives
in our church prove and live out

the incredible love and mercy

and grace of Almighty God to save pearls

like me.

And it's worth stripping away

everything that hold you back.

So that we run with endurance

and we don't quit, and we don't back off

the race that God has given us.

For the good parables,

Look at this next one.

Do I have the next one?

No. Let me read it to you.

I did something wrong with the slides

and so they didn't get up
and let me let me read it to you.

Here's this next one.

Matthew 13, starting in verse 47.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net
that was thrown into the sea

and gathered fish of every kind.

When it was full men
druid ashore and sat down

and sort of the good into containers,
but threw away the bad.

So it will be at the end of the age.

The angels will come out
and separate the evil from the righteous,

and throw them into the fiery furnace.

In that place there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.

Oh my goodness!

The sea and the parable of the world.

There are so many passages of Scripture
that talk about this sea

being the nations, and I don't have time
to to lay it all out for you.

But you can you can research that yourself
if you want to.

But the sea represents the nations.

The fish represents
people of every kind, Jews and Gentiles,

righteous and unrighteous.

Which will be separated.

Not all roads lead to heaven,

and it doesn't matter how sincere
your faith is,

you can be very sincere
and very sincerely wrong.

Jesus said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life and nobody.

I don't care how sincere you are,
can't care how good you are.

Nobody comes the father except through me.

I'm the gate, I'm the door.

I'm the only one.

The invitation is very expensive,
but the inclusion is very small.

Through Christ and Christ alone,

nobody comes to father but through Jesus.

And when that separation comes
of the righteous

in Christ and the unrighteous,
there will be a separation.

And when that separation comes,
those who are unrighteous,

who have not repented of sin,
who have, who, who have not renounced,

and who have not trusted
Jesus for their salvation,

are thrown in the fiery
furnace for destruction, hell.

And Jesus says, when that time comes,

there'll be two responses of people

who are thrown in the fire furnace,

weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And the best way I've understood
this is is from R.C.

Sproul. He's in heaven now.

But he says this.

There will be those who are stand
at the gates of hell with weeping,

who realize fondly in that moment
with great sorrow and remorse,

all that they have sacrificed,

all that they have lost
by rejecting Jesus as lordship.

And they will weep with great tears and
great remorse, and it will be too late.

The other

action that some will have
is gnashing of teeth,

that even as they stand
before the gates of hell,

they will be so vehemently angry at God,
they'll say.

How dare you?

How dare you?

So hateful towards

the Messiah that even as they
look at the furnaces of hell, they will

writhe in anger?

Can you imagine?

Matthew 13 is about the vastness
of the kingdom

of heaven, the mystery of God
now revealed through the church.

And so Jesus,
those are the seven parables.

And he says to his disciples,
he says, listen, verse 51.

Have you understood all these things?

It's like when I say, do you understand

what's what's our kneejerk reaction
when I say, do you understand?

Yeah, right.

Be like, oh yeah, I get it. Sure.

It's exactly what they say.
So do you understand all of this?

Like. Yeah.

He's like. Okay.

You say you understand it.

Therefore, every scribe who
has been trained for the kingdom of heaven

is like a master of a house
who brings out his treasure.

Out of his treasure? What is old?

What is new, his old.

He's saying, listen, that's fine if you
say you understand it, here's the deal.

Now you own it.

You're the master of your house.

It has been deposited
into your store room.

Now you own it. Now
you've got to bring it out.

All the old stuff you learned at VBS,

all the old stuff you learned
in the Bible, stories from your kid,

all that little stuff, all stuff,
you know, and then all this stuff.

You're just now
the old stuff of the new stuff.

You've received it
freely. You better give it.

Don't just hold it inside
and get fat and happy and content

thinking
that you're walking with Jesus, right?

Because you know something
now you own it, now you give it.

Do you understand?

Now you're afraid to say, yeah.

I don't know, I don't know.

And then he he wraps it up like this.

And this is the hardest passage
for a preacher. Preach.

I preach this a couple of weeks ago,
and my buddy's church.

I can preach it at someone else's church.

It's hard to preach at your own church.

And if you've read Matthew 13,
you know exactly where I'm going.

If you haven't read Matthew 13,
then you should have, like I told you

two last week, but I'll read it for you
now here's what it says.

And when Jesus finished these parables,
he went away from there,

and coming to his hometown,
he taught them in their synagogue.

So he was like in Fresno,
when he comes back to the ranchos,

you know how that
goes. He's come back home.

So that they were astonished.

And they said, where did this man get this
wisdom in these mighty words?

Isn't he the carpenter son?

Isn't his mom called
Mary under his brothers James and Joseph

and Simon and Judas,
and I don't know all his sisters with us.

Where the end of this man get all the way
to come up with this stuff?

And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them,
A prophet is not without honor,

accepting his hometown
in his own household.

And he didn't do many mighty works there
because of their belief.

When something becomes common,

when someone becomes common,
they're not seen as special.

If they're not seen as special,
there's nothing unique.

Even Jesus.

And instead of receiving his
word, they reduced his role.

Let me say that again.

Instead of receiving his word,
they reduced his role.

Who is this.

Think he is?

We know him.

Familiarity meant normalcy,

and so he must not be special.

I coach pastors a lot.

And what I tell you, I'm pastors.

Is this your most effective?

Years in ministry
in one place will come after you're there.

Seven years.

So you got to stay past
seven years to really get effective.

The problem is, most people don't.

Most pastors don't, so they never reach
effectiveness, honestly.

But it'll be after your seven.

But here's what I tell them.

If you're going to stand a church
in one church that long, over seven years,

this verse right here
is going to become your experience

because you're just going
to become normal and common.

You take that same

teacher and that same voice
that's not honored in one setting,

put them in a different setting,
and they are honored.

Has nothing to do with the voice,
has nothing to do with the message.

That's what Jesus is saying.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

That's the old saying.

And what Jesus is getting to

is that low expectation limits reception.

Low expectation limits.

Reception.

You know what that's like?

Sunday just becomes common. Normal.

Like whatever.

It's the ball guy.

It's.

The expectation is low.

Then so is the reception,

which means there's no result.

And I understand what Jesus is.

And he's saying those who are closest
to the pastor struggle to honor him

because they see him in ordinary
settings all the time.

And honestly,
friends, the Ranchos is unique.

It's really unique
because we can't get away

from each other out here

and we really can't.

And you see the pastor

up close and personal.

And you see him on the sidelines.

And you see him drive too fast

and you see him not wave at you, though
you don't realize the sun's in his eyes

and he doesn't know who you are, so he.

Doesn't wave.

And you see him raise his kids.

To be

and be a lot safer

for me as your pastor
and for your staff at this church

to keep our distance from you

and to not let you get close.

Because the closer you get to me,
the closer

you get to us, the more familiar
we become,

and the more familiar
you become, the less honor.

Oftentimes.

But that's not the example of Jesus.

And so you get an up
close and personal look,

all the flaws, all the failures,

all the cracks.

But you also get to see up close
and personal

the grace that God has given a failure
like me,

to keep me in the game.

But it's tempting for the church
to take it all for granted.

Now, let me be clear.
No pastors like Jesus.

That's not the correlation I'm making.

Please understand that

it's not the same.

But for the context

and for the application,

honor is less in our context about

worshiping the messenger and rightly
than it is rightly receiving the message.

That's what honors
about rightly receiving the message.

And the message throughout
all these parables is John 316 For God

so loved the world that he gave his one
and only son, that whoever believes in him

would not perish but have everlasting
life. He saw a treasure,

and it wasn't a treasure

until after he gave his blood for it,
and it became treasured.

And if you give your life and sacrifice
your life to the God who loved

you and sacrificed his life for you,
you will be saved.

The question is, are you in a position

to receive the message?

I understand if you overlook
the messenger, that's okay.

My prayer before I teach and preach
every time is God.

May they forget about me
and only remember you.

Jesus, I get it.

Forget the messenger,
but do not overlook the message.

That God chose to value you,

though you have nothing to offer him.

You and I had nothing
to the experience of God.

His eternity is
not better because he has me.

His eternity is not better because
you have trusted him with your faith.

Your eternity is better, not his.

We have nothing to offer him.

There's a song we sing
sometimes that really gets me at times.

Says Jesus didn't want heaven without us.

Who? He brought heaven down.
That's just not true.

He's fine in heaven without me.

But he chose to love me.

And the price he played
paid his his blood.

Now you can reject him.

That's on you.

And you'll be separated eternally.

Some of you with weeping,
some of you with gnashing of teeth.

And it will be too late.

Or you can confess your sin,

repent of it, renounce it,

turn around and be saved,
and invest the rest of your life.

Pledging your allegiance to this kingdom

that is on display
for even demons to marvel

at God.

And by God's grace here.

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Consider.

If in this next 30s you had to face God

face to face right now,
would you hear those words?

There's no more time
to make up for anything you got 30s.

Would you hear those words?

Well done by good and faithful servant.

By faith and repentance of sin.

Make it so.

By faith and repentance, and make it so.

I want you to pray with me.

Father,

thank you that you have loved us
with an everlasting love,

that there's nothing we could do or not do

that would change your love for us.

I pray

that none of us squander
the knowledge of that.

Thank you.

You saw an old dirty field.

That you saw

an old nasty. See

that which you chose to treasure.

And redeemed by the blood of your son.

Thank you.

Father.

I pray by the Holy Spirit that there's
anybody here who is not confessed

their sin to you.

Receive forgiveness from you,
repenting of their sin in this moment,

father, that that would happen,
that they would choose that right now.

That they would avoid those two options
of weeping or gnashing of teeth.

Oh, God.

That you would revive hearts
that have grown cold,

softened hearts that have gotten hard,

bring new life to those that have grown

numb.

Friends, I'd invite you in this moment.

Something along these lines
to say in your own words.

God forgive me.

I confess my sin to you.

I accept what Jesus did on the cross

so that I can be forgiven,

and I reject, and I renounce my sin,

and I repent.

I choose to walk

a different path from here on.

Have mercy on me.

Give me all that your grace allows.

And I accept my role of being on display

to not just my neighbors,

but even the very angels and demons

of your mercy and your grace.

Father, this is.

This is heavy stuff.

This is real stuff.

And I pray that you would allow us,
by your spirit,

to walk in a manner worthy

of your calling and the name of Jesus.

In your name I pray.

Amen.

You're okay.

Parables are good,

I love you, I'm proud of you.

That was.
That was a deep one to stay through.

Now, listen, I want you this.

I want you to go back, and I read.

I want you to read chapter 13 again,
prayerfully, with some new eyes.

Let it live inside you.

And there is chapter 14.

In chapter 14,
we get to some of the fun stories

that that maybe you've heard before
Jesus and miracles and stuff.

It's just it's just awesome.

So read those two chapters this week.

Will you, will you, will you? Yeah.

All right. I love you. Let's sing.