Do You Have Faith?
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good morning welcome if you're new here Among Us my name is Gene I serve here at C3 Church as your pastor if you are not new and you were here last week you know that Tony Johnson preached and gave a great message it was pretty awesome I was away because I was celebrating my daughter's 18th birthday yeah I can't believe it getting old anyway so you're like shut up hahaha 18th birthday so there are like these Landmark birthdays all right especially when you're younger like that Landmark birthday so you got 16 18. 21 all right but here's the thing they're hazardous right so they kind of all give you permission to do something hazardous 16. driving right in Naples especially that can be very hazardous then you got 18. now 18. three things that you can do first one I don't recommend smoking you have permission if you want you can start smoking not a good idea other hazardous things that you can do join the military I appreciate those of you who've done that but it's hazardous clearly all right so what's the other thing oh voting that's the other hazardous thing that you can do at 18 we're not going to talk any more about that moving on 21. now 21 is kind of special because at 21 what you can do you got all that other hazardous stuff and at 21 you can drink on top of it and make it all more hazardous right so that's the good thing so they're like you know you have permission too right so I didn't say you should do that okay right we've got that part on tape anyway so then after 21 like nothing really good happens at all like just that's it I'm just letting you know if you've turned 21 and you haven't hit anything else it's just that's it it's all like literally downhill and so instead of having Landmark birthdays I call them like Hazard marker birthdays on the roadway to life like that's kind of what you get so if you make it to 30 right the hazard marker should say something like a warning sign like slow down like that sign that says slow nobody listens to that but like hazardous road ahead right slow down you get to 40. stop right can't do that you blow it right through that stop sign you get to 50 right construction work ahead like that's see now we're getting there you're like oh yeah that's right 60. like that sign you know with the wavy lines in the road you know are like Falling Rocks like something like that right hazardous it's gonna get bad if you get to 70 dead end right like that's it but if you actually make it to 80 you cross like a Finish Line people are like clapping and everything like I don't know why they clap for younger people it's like you made it to 21 that's no time did that the person didn't do that 80 yes I cannot believe you made it with all the things you did back there congratulations it's like the checkered flag and everything for you but here's the thing birthdays get kind of different when you're older maybe it's just me maybe it's just me but there just isn't the same excitement anymore oh did someone feel sorry for me for a second don't it's totally my fault it's an attitude problem right I'm not as excited about it anymore when you're a kid it's awesome right so you know you have all this like because you've been you know marking off in the catalog I don't do it anymore but whatever you did to like let your parents know what you wanted for your birthday and then you had this faith in anticipation that you're going to get cool stuff and it was fun right and you're not really thinking about oh no one year closer to death no it's all just about like exciting things and stuff but then when you get older you're like yeah and then people stop giving you cool gifts but but I have to say this because I can get in trouble later for my family my family buys me cool gifts I do and but but here's how they know right because I complain I start complaining about things and then that's how they know what to get me it kind of works we have a system but anyway you know other people you get you know not exciting I'm not like excited about this stuff maybe I can just get the stuff for myself but it's like not really I'm just getting older that's not exciting but but here's the thing I'll tell you something about myself there are two things that I get very excited about well Jesus of course but within that the Bible if you know me I get very very excited about the Bible but here's the thing if my birthday comes up unless I said if if a birthday comes up don't get me a Bible don't why because I have them all already right so there's like there's my wife again laughing there are stacks of Bibles invading we don't have shelves enough for them so don't I have it already and the only ones I want are like expensive like can you get me the manuscript of Philippians that a password I just brought Paul you know like that's what I want right so it's not going to happen again I'm not allowed it's too expensive that doesn't exist don't worry about it but anyway the other thing and this only takes one minute and 26 seconds upon meeting me to know about me I like food everybody here is like yeah and so here's what's going to happen if you're new here and you do you don't run out on the sermon or something like that we've had that happen you know run out on the sermon and you get to meet me I encourage you to stay here meet me we're going to eat afterwards here's what I'm going to do I'm going to ask you where you're from because there's only three people in this room who are from Naples you're not from Naples so I want to ask you where you're from right so then I'm going to try to gauge what kind of food you might like based on that so I'm thinking now you're talking but I'm thinking like oh what restaurants would they like right and then whether you ask me for it or not I'm going to give you a list of restaurant recommendations that happens like so if that's it that within the first minute of meeting me that is what you're going to get so here's the thing if I'm being selfish about church so we're going to do the word and then we're going to eat every Sunday is like my birthday it's great in here it's all about exciting things so that's what we're going to do we're going to dig into the word today and then we're going to dig into some food it's great we got chili today so if you like chili you're gonna like it homemade chili it's great so I'd be happy you're in church welcome to C3 Church the way I like it without the hazards yeah so not too hazardous just sitting there no all right so let's get back to the rest of the story where were we we entered the gospels and so it can be a little bit confusing they're not in chronological order I'll show you in a minute we're not going to put that up just yet but let's just recap so you get to the gospels you get the early life of Jesus so we went over that kind of stuff going back to like late December around Christmas time and then you get the herald The messiah's Herald John the Baptist pointing the way to Jesus we learned lessons from that then Jesus preaches the best sermon of all time The Sermon on the Mount people walk out on that Sermon on the Mount then we see the responses the appropriate or not responses to Jesus then Jesus teaches in Parables he starts it with the parable of the sower so basically what he's saying these are the people who responded different ways to me this is what they're like so right the seed the word it gets into that nice fertile soil but then there's rocks and so he's kind of describing that then as we saw chronologically he followed up with a bunch of other Parables some of them were about judgment nobody likes that word I said the wheat and the weeds the fish so judgment so we saw that there would be consequences for not listening to Jesus that's how he ends The Sermon on the Mount before he drops the mic all right so there are consequences we've learned that there is no condemnation if we are in Christ there will be judgment no condemnation if we are covered by his blood that's where we are at right after the parable so uh now we can put up the chart this is kind of chronological-ish a chart here um we're going to spend the majority of our time in Mark today because Mark is the shortest of All gospel Accounts at 16 chapters it gives us more details there's a little more meat here like the names of people and stuff like that so we're going to stay in Mark today for the most part one little hop over to Matthew 9 and then back to Mark again and I'll take you through this section again it's not in chronological order it can be a little bit confusing and even if you get Chronological Study guides they're all saying different things so it's very very difficult to put it together I'm doing my best here for you and sometimes we base it on themes and today this this theme this section will give us the theme of face we're going to see Faith both sides of the coin there and Faith so just look for that listen to what Jesus is saying so Jesus finishes teaching in parables then Mark 4 35 as evening came Jesus said to his disciples Let's cross over to the other side of the lake so they took Jesus in the boat and started out leaving the crowds behind although other boats followed but soon a fierce storm came up high waves were breaking into the boat and began to fill with water Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion the disciples woke him shouting teacher don't you care that we're going to drown when Jesus woke up he rebuked the wind and said to the wave of Silence be still suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm and he asked them why are you afraid do you still have no faith the disciples were absolutely terrified who is this man they asked each other even the wind and waves obey him why are you afraid do you still have no faith and so this sets up the theme today and this accounts we'll Turn the Page and Mark I hope I didn't say Matthew before Mark 5 1. so they arrived at the other side of the lake in the region of the garrisons or the getarines depending on which version you're reading when Jesus climbed out of the boat a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him pause in Matthew two men so what probably is going on here not a contradiction just Mark deciding concentrate on one man they both have the same problem most likely what is going on here but if you turn to Matthew you'll see two men but the story is the same the man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained even with a chain whenever he was put into chains and shackles as he often was he snapped the chains from his wrist and smashed the shackles no one was strong enough to subdue him day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the Hills howling and cutting himself with sharp stones what happens is as he still some distance away from Jesus he recognizes Jesus runs up to him bows low all right so he's worried why are you interfering with me son of the most high God in the name of God he says which is interesting like don't torment me don't torture me so Jesus said already said to the Spirit come out of the man right so he's saying don't don't Torture Me Jesus asks his name what's your name Legion for we are many there are many of us inside this man so then you notice there's a herd of pigs on a hillside it's like that steep Cliff he didn't want to run over on a hillside 2 000 pigs and he asked Jesus send us into the pigs so Jesus gave him permission or them permission it says they go into the pigs these evil spirits and the evil spirit pigs go right off the cliff and drown in the water it says they die now here's a thing just a little note for you they're probably gents if you don't know a lot about the Bible this doesn't make a difference if you do it does Gentiles they're probably gentile people not Jewish because Jewish people can't eat pigs pigs are unclean so it's probably a gentile area that they're in because they're Pig Farmers keep going so what happens is the herdsmen freak out they're going in there by Town tell everybody what's going on they bring a crowd back with them and they see this formerly demon-possessed man fully clothed in his right mind but then ask him to get out of the area they tell Jesus to go away why well I'm not a farmer but I'm assuming that 2 000 animals is a lot right so they have their financial interests and mind here Jesus has just cost them a lot of money also if it's a gentile area they don't really care about this Jewish Messiah they're not interested so as crazy as this was they've just lost a ton of money Jesus go away so he does he gets in a boat goes to go away but the now the man who is demon-possessed is begging Jesus to go with him but he says no go back and tell your Kinsmen your family how merciful god is and what he has done for you so the man spreads it all over that area of your Bible might say decapolis just means 10 Towns all over that whole area and everybody was totally amazed so here you have or contrast to Faith right you have the response of the people and their financial interests and the formerly demon-possessed man now wants to be a faithful follower of Jesus again faith Mark 5 21 Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore then a leader of the local synagogue whose name was Jairus arrived when she when he saw Jesus he fell at his feet pleading fervently with him my daughter my little daughter is dying he said please come and lay your hands on her heal her so she can live so now crowd gathers around they want to see what's going to happen so they're going to his house but a woman is in the crowd who has been bleeding for 12 years spent all her money to get well and she's just gotten worse but she thinks to herself if I just touch his Club I'll be made well I'll be healed or closed right so you can just today's language I just touch his imagine someone walking around him is going to touch his clothing and I'll be healed really crazy Faith so she does comes up behind him touches him instantly she's healed well it says Jesus felt like power going from him so he stops who touched me those disciples and Luke I think it says Peter you see these crowds around you how can you say who touched me right so you're assuming people like bumping into him and there's lots of crowds like that but Jesus knows somebody touched him so now the woman's terrified so to our observant Jew here you're not supposed to be touching it especially if you're bleeding you're a woman you're not supposed to touch the rabbi the priest or whatever he's not supposed to do that he'd be made unclean so she's really worried right now comes up to him confesses to him Jesus says daughter your faith has made you well go in peace you're healed now as soon as that happens Messengers come from gyrus's house remember now interesting woman's bleeding 12 years the daughter of Jairus is 12 years old so messenger comes don't bother the teacher anymore daughter's dead Jesus don't be afraid just have faith what Jesus says dismisses some of the crowd goes to his house now he's got Peter James and John they're kind of like the lead Apostles or lead disciples if you will so it brings them along with them and the parents he gets there and people are mourning and crying it's like what are you crying for girl's just asleep then they flip a switch they start laughing they go from grieving to laughing that's weird well we know if we read the Old Testament there's professional mourners right so now if you've ever been to a funeral with one or two people at it it's not a good look so synagogue official you know they're going to honor him and they'll have professional mourners there so I think in Matthew it says they're playing music and stuff like that so you know I don't know about you but when I see someone grieving like you know I can be funny but I can't get them to laugh that fast right so that's why they're probably not really invested here so sends everybody away get out get out go away goes into the room where the girl is touches her hand and says talitha Kum which means little girl get up and immediately she starts walking around and they were all amazed it says so here you have another contrast The Laughing people versus Jairus so faithful right come and heal my door he knows that Jesus can do this follows him anyway told she's dead follows him in anyway Faith versus no faith if we hop over to Matthew 9 27 after Jesus left the girls home chronology here two Blind Men followed along behind him shouting son of David have mercy on us they went right into the house where he was staying and Jesus asked them do you believe I can make you see yes Lord they told him we do then he touched their eyes and said because of your faith it will happen then their eyes were opened and they could see Jesus sternly warned them don't tell anyone about this but instead they went out and spread his Fame all over the region when they left a demon-possessed man who couldn't speak was brought to Jesus so Jesus cast out the demon and the man began to speak the crowds were amazed nothing like this has ever happened and all Israel they exclaimed but the Pharisees said he can cast out demons because he's empowered by the prince of demons so two things I want to point out one day I just forgot about the last account Jesus gets kind of practical after he heals the girl raises her from the dead he's like get her something to eat it was kind of interesting but he says this don't tell anyone about this and again in this account don't tell anyone about this and so just a side note really doesn't have anything to do with our theme there's something called the Messianic Secrets if you read the gospels very carefully he's constantly remember the water into wine all right woman not my time right so doesn't want to get the ball rolling on all these things that he's going to have to fulfill he has to do it in a certain time at a certain time and in a certain way that's what's going on here so if you're wondering don't tell anybody why not so and then he told the demons possessed Gentile man go tell everybody he's not Jewish right so they're not going to care return the page Mark 6 1 Jesus left that part of the country in return with his disciples to Nazareth his hometown the next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and many who heard him were amazed they asked where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such Miracles they're seeing it right then they scoffed he's just a carpenter the son of Mary and the brother of James Joseph Judas and Simon and his sisters live right here Among Us they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him then Jesus told them a prophet is honored everywhere except in his own Hometown and among his relatives and his own family and because of their unbelief he couldn't do any Miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them and he was amazed at their unbelief it was amazed at their lack of Faith quick note if you're in the Christian Community you may have heard people there's some denominations that'll point to this and say that oh look Jesus lacked power at a certain point no wrong why do they do that well they want to elevate themselves by making Jesus less wrong wrong wrong don't listen to that teaching he had power this is more like I can't even write with these people like really you saw me do the Miracles and everything that's a moral issue here like forget it they don't have the faith to be healed so that's what that's like there's no problem with Jesus at any point here so don't miss the theme he was amazed at their unbelief but their lack of faith that's the point we talked about responses to Jesus this section deals with the response of faith or not so the people in his own Hometown no faith even the disciples at a certain point the beginning of the account no faith why do you still have no faith they've seen all this stuff what's wrong with you he's saying and again the people of the garrisons the wrong response but we see both sides of the coin here the people are more interested in their financial interests but the guy now wants to become the formerly demon-possessed man wants to become a faithful follower of Jesus he's going to leave his own area and go Jairus faith the woman bleeding 12 years faith I just touch his clothes I'll be healed amazing then we see another contrast the mourners and their lack of faith The Laughing people the Blind Men do you believe I can make you see yes cause of your faith can see and again though jealousy of the Pharisees Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith so natural question how do we get faith well the Bible tells us Romans 10 17 we'll get there in a minute faith comes through hearing that is hearing the word of Christ well we have that so Faith starts there and so if we go back I'll connect this for you Parable the sower remember what was the seed the seed was the word of God that so the fertile soil did what let this let the word in then what happened in the fertile soil it took root where couldn't it take the Rocks can't get in there it needs to take root so it's not good enough just to hear we have to let this get from like bouncing off of us maybe getting inside our heads but even that's not good enough it has to get there so the route has to go here and so it's all about the heart and the sermon on the mountain those are the keys all these things go together the response if we hear with humility of heart then the word can take root we've seen it right in this room right all I need to do is just start doing this around the map preach it just saying what Jesus said nothing else say what Jesus said some people oh right that's humble yes nobody here in this room is perfect including me especially me not perfect so I hear Jesus words when I read the Bible I'm like okay you got to work on that you know start taking notes that's correct good we're not perfect but humility I'm not so great got a lot to work on okay but then some people we've seen it get up and walk out joked about it we have people take a call right I accused you guys of Faking calls and calling each other to get out of here I've had people walk out that's a rock not letting it in there hearing the truth it's not convicting you or it is but you're not going to let it take root that's a good faith and so when we hear with a humble heart the word gets in there and it starts to take root then what happens naturally start to produce good fruit you produce a crop 30 60 100 times you start producing faithful fruit you exhibit faith more and more and more it can be hard and I think there are different levels of faith on your walk yeah but something some Measure of Faith will be visible you'll see it in the person's actions and if not the rocks and that's why Jesus quoted Isaiah right they can't they can't hear they're like the idols they make they're fake they're just blinded to it they're deaf to it did he come like what they worship now Tony went to Isaiah 6 last week and that was good that's what Jesus is quoting parts of Isaiah 6 Tony expanded on that one to other parts great answering the call so it's like the call of Isaiah very important chapter in Isaiah 6. what's interesting is that Paul in his letter to the Romans quotes Isaiah as well but in this certain section as it pertains to Faith Romans 10 16. but not everyone welcomes the good news for Isaiah the prophet said Lord who has believed our message he's quoting another section of Isaiah so faith comes from hearing that is hearing the good news about Christ there it is next question so what is faith Bible answers that too Hebrews 11 1. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for it is the evidence of things we cannot see confidence and Assurance faith is complete trust in something we can't see this is interesting faith is the reality of things hoped for right so the control if you're getting a little more literal of things we cannot see now within that there's the beginning of faith and it begins with God's character he is who he says he is this is the beginning of faith that we know that the end point is his promise he will do what he promised he comes through this is why the preacher or author of Hebrews says this verse 3 Hebrews 11 3 by faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen the beginning of the Bible Genesis by the time we get to verse 2 the Earth was formless and void nothing so contemplate that for a second if we believe in God we believe from nothing he created everything that you can now see everything that you can now touch from nothing likewise from what we cannot see now which is our eternal life the new heavens and new earth they're not here yet I'll talk about that in a little bit can't see it but we know he's going to come through that's Faith so in the same way the universe everything was created by his command out of nothing we will have eternal life from what we cannot see this is Faith the question is do we trust that God will deliver do we believe do we believe in eternal life that he is going to deliver that promise foreign we are saved by the grace of God this is important Bob not many works that we do although they're important saved by grace through our faith I want to show you something about that maybe some people haven't contemplated Ephesians 2 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take credit for this it is a gift from God think about that it is gift it is in childlike faith that we anticipate this gift from God Jesus sermon so if you get to Matthew 7 verse 11 right before the Golden Rule verse 12 and so if you're Heavenly fathers gave you good gifts how much more will your heavenly father give you or Luke the Holy Spirit he clarifies right if your child asks you for a loaf of bread will you give them a stone no child asks you for a fish will you give him a snake Jesus says it for some people walking if you evil people can give your children good gifts how much more will your heavenly father come through and so it relates like the gifts how excited were you when you were a kid you knew your parents had come through how much more should you be excited about an eternal gift you know instead of those toys my mom sold at the garage sale all perishable the stuff you have now may not care about it in just a couple years how much more should we be excited about that gift you know what he was saying last week there is no greater gift than that that should be enough the songs were perfect we don't even plan that out right so they just go based on who can come and sing and all that other stuff and I was listening to songs almost cried just listening to them I'm like wow that's enough to be excited about that did that why do we need more so it's important to have this excitement about just this anticipation of that promise that's important that's faith it's so many and I think this is a part of the problem so many keeping it with short-sightedness so many just cheap in it it's terrible they want they want the Lesser gifts now it's all they can see terrible and it's just you know Ed was talking about a Bible study you just went to another country for too long stop going away for that long but too long but you know and you come back and it's like they should they probably do they have like you got to be like debriefed or something or you could put through some kind of program because you you just can't help but come here and go wow these people don't get it at all these countries where people have so much less it's better I think all this stuff is interfering with our faith it's crazy and so it's important to know that very big problem it's not biblical if you just read the Bible if you know the word really well and then you go and here's the word for it I'm going to give it a different word I've said this before if they're called the Prosperity Gospel or the American gospel right yeah yeah I was told this they're actually think just think about they're missionaries they come here from other countries like third world countries to tell us what Christianity really is that's actually a thing but this Prosperity goes It's So rampant and all it takes just all it takes is just for yourself just read the Bible you'll listen to this stuff and go what this is crazy that's not at all what it means Jesus is constantly talking about dying and warning you about it too you're not concerned with this stuff but they are but here's the thing I call it the half gospel that's what I call it maybe some other people call it that too the half gospel because it's half true we can be healed I've seen Miracles I've seen healing if you know my story dyslexia I don't have that problem now clearly it's not a problem it happened so we can anticipate healing but sometimes it doesn't happen and if you read the Bible you know this it's totally obvious Paul for example second Corinthians 12 Thor and aside I pleaded with God three times to take it from me it was a messenger from Satan to torment me probably some ailment my grace is sufficient for you let Paul have that ailment he says to stop him from being proud have you been really sick in your life I got sick I got a little something wasn't too bad a little stomach bug I survived but here's the thing you know I started to end but it's interesting I started to empathize with other people who have that huh was I proud ooh I'm so healthy oh I run in the bathroom all the time you don't have stomach problems because you don't eat right well said I get it what do I do I'm like oh this is not fun I start becoming more empathetic I needed that sometimes Thorn on the side my grace is sufficient stop being so proud God puts us through Seasons to stop us from being proud to bring us to our knees when we lose a lot of money what do you do oh now you're praying sometimes God does that right not going to bring up the news but we're trying to distract you from that but we saw what happens don't trust in that not a good idea get too proud he'll fix it so but I get it it's easy to sell the scene right the Unseen is a really hard sell but it's easy to say you know what you're going to be healthy and Wealthy no matter what and then they get sick well you know you lack Faith that's what it is couldn't be God being a great father and disciplining you no it's not that because we don't like that word either discipline but if you read your Bible you went like this to everything I just said because if we keep going Hebrews 12 what does it talk about discipline like crazy the whole chapter couldn't be that though even though the word of God says it is and here's the thing even as great as these Miracles were this is crazy stuff that's great they're just a sign we're gonna as we keep reading we're going to get there Jesus gets done with this people following around for all the stuff the Miracles and he chases them away with a really hard teaching all right so spoiler alert read John 6 if you want to figure it out anyway even as great as they are they're just a sign their sign pointing to something else in this case they're pointing to Jesus I'm the Messiah believe in me but he is enough and he'll get there with these people here's the thing apply some logic this girl 12 years old we don't know how old she lived to but guess what she died she died he rose her from the dead and I don't know how long she lived and she died who's the point the point is that it's a foreshadowing of her future or future Resurrection that's the point it's just a foreshadowing of that we all die it doesn't matter you can be healed and here's the thing even the most conservative Christians it's kind of funny on the other side they'll they'll criticize the health and wealth gospel and then when they get sick they're like Lord please heal me what did you just ask for you believe it too or you want to but we're gonna die it doesn't matter you can get healed of anything you're going to die so what's the point the resurrection so when we get healed the point isn't like yay for me we get healed the point is we need to go out and give glory to God you need to preach it that's the point and if you're not why should you expect for anything else to happen to you good that is it's all for God's glory that's the point so foreshadowing of permanent things greater things yet people get stuck and they should get short-sighted and they shortchange themselves they miss the mark the funny thing is about the half gospel some of these Word of Faith you know they just take Roman's 10 totally out of context but think about it the whole premise for it completely fails on the definition of faith think right I want all this stuff that I can see and touch now that's not faith that's just not faith faith is believing and hoping and the things we do not see now that's faith sometimes we Short change ourselves with what can be seen faith means looking beyond the visible things of this world sometimes we miss the obvious right this is about spirituality now this is about things you cannot see the obvious but so much commercialism in this world that is seeped into our churches so much that we miss the blatantly obvious faith means looking beyond anything here anything that we can see and touch to the joy we will have in Jesus we don't have to deal with any of this anymore that's the key to having a truly Abundant Life Of Joy no matter what your circumstances are as Paul says whether I have a little or I have a lot I have joy in both things contentment faith means you don't have to have the reaction the rest of the world has so start small like traffic if you have your concentration on the destination right you're not so upset about every little thing in front of you but scale it out right you don't have to get so upset about every little thing in front of you and we'll look at the Bible calls it little even if you think it's big scale it out scale it out the media right so here here's the base premise this is it this is what they're trying to get you to worry about you're gonna lose your stuff that's it whether if you think it's your freedoms or you think it's your money whatever you think it is oh no we're all gonna lose our stuff if that's you I would love for you to come along with me to the hospital and visit someone dying you're not going to be worried about your stuff when you when when you are there but the world the media right they it's designed to agitate a lack of faith that's it it's designed to agitate a lack of faith not saying that if you got agitated you have none I'm very careful with that I think you have none but there might be a lack of faith if you're getting agitated we're gonna lose our stuff that's it that's the base premise that's it they want you to be worried about it but what does Jesus say go back to The Sermon on the Mount Read It Again we have to be to the point where you're not worried about losing your stuff because your treasure is in heaven where moths can't eat it and thieves can't steal it right so you're not worried about these thieves in the media I can't get my treasure my treasures are there again you can have nice things it's fine right so we see in the Bible people have some nice stuff they're using it remember the women following Jesus they're using their resources to help his ministry fine but it's how you view your stuff can you be content like Paul and lose it all and now well my Treasure's in heaven can you be like that this is what Jesus is asking for your concentration is on the destination you know if this is if it's gotten here you should know all of this is temporary you should know that that's what it says clearly I'll read it to you but if you have faith and you believe it then you really know you're confident in it it's all good perish anywhere I'll read it to you it's funny because so you don't even know who he is but I just want to say his name so there's this famous actor he's getting really old and he made it to 90 years I think it's like 91 right so so anyway so what they do he's like 91 they shot him in outer space right so that's what happens you don't even get a Finish Line you just get like fired up in outer space might as well so now he's got to go to space for real he was an actor and so it was really funny because I was talking about all kinds of other things and so this got my attention of this part of it he saw the earth now I've seen pictures I've never been to outer space although my parents used to accuse me of that but I've never actually like literally been to outer space space cadet they don't use that word anymore anyway so but I've seen pictures it looks beautiful it's really crazy like the Earth and wow he sees it he sees it and he gets angry you know what he's angry about like he it was beautiful and it flipped the switch he's like people he had this like hate for anger about people they are ruining this beautiful thing that's that's what he was angry about if you're angry about that don't tell me right now because it's going to flip on you so anyway he's he's angry that's what he's angry about he's upset that people are ruining the Earth huh okay clearly he has not read this he has not read this it's not people who are going to ruin the Earth this tells us that people are we do not have that kind of power we're not going to do it that's not the way it's going to go down I have faith it's not because this tells me it's not the way that's going to go down so he either well both has not read this and or doesn't definitely does not believe it I believe it I believe it God is in control not us so here's the thing I'll take you there II Peter a little context Peter's last letter before he's going to die he knows he's going to die giving some instructions generally to the church he warns about unbelievers we get into chapter three he warns about people being short-sighted mocking you for your faith he's just saying this is what is going to happen what you should expect you're going to suffer then he reminds us that the Lord will destroy the very Earth that he created that's what it says read second Peter read all chapter three and every single thing I said will be in there he's going to destroy it then people are going to be judged mentions that too so he says have patience Lord's not being slow he wants everybody to be saved patience then he writes the second Peter 3 11. the word of God says since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this everything what holy and godly lives you should live looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along on that day he will set the heavens on fire and the elements everything will melt away in the Flames but we are looking there it is again forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised a world filled with God's righteousness you're looking for a world filled with righteousness it is not going to be here do not have that expectation you will be very disappointed because the word of God just told you it's not we are waiting for the new heavens and we look forward to this promise that is the end point of faith faith is knowing that now here's the thing Faith doesn't mean you don't care I'm a pastor I clearly care about y'all now here I care about food too it doesn't mean you don't care it just means faith will shape your perspective on what's really important I mean so I get crabby if I don't get my cheat meal but I don't lose my mind a small example all right like the ice cream we're working on it all right but where do little children do I don't get it they lose their minds right they don't get what they want now it shapes up respect things might not be going well for me right now but I'm not losing my mind because things are in perspective sometimes you get real sick one of my prayers that I'm such a baby because like I'm usually in good health so I get like a little bit sick my wife is like you could never be a woman like no no I could not so but you sound like a bit of a baby but at one point I was praying I'm like Lord just come back like this hurts like I don't want to deal with this anymore just come back right that's the response like just ah enough by faith we know that this is not the prominent world to come here it is so if you read and you get like the second to last chapter what's that it's a second last chapter and you read towards the end if you've read the whole thing everything I'm saying is obvious so Christian's room read the Bible they're like yep yes you know this here's what happens we get to what Peter's talking about and we see that judgment Jesus comes back this is a prophecy he has not come back the second time yet it's a prophecy John it's kind of like a prophet here he's seeing the future then he sees this Revelation 21 1 then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the old Heaven and the old Earth had disappeared and the sea was also gone and I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband I heard a loud shout from the throne saying look God's home is now among his people he will live with them and they will be his people God himself will be with them and he will wipe every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain all these things are gone forever amen that that we need to place our faith in that faith is just it's the key component to finding Joy it is the key component and you know Tony made me think I kind of added this after I heard him and we're just going to close here I'll just end with this idea and he was right say there's so many people who just they feel like their lives are out of control everything's out of control and his job especially maybe worse than mine where like everything's out of control and that's again this is what the media is telling you everything's out of control that's always been crazy read your Bible again like I read the Bible a lot and so when I watch the news I'm like no big deal I've read the Bible you've been here for a while there's some crazy stuff happens in there makes what we're going through look like a walk in the park it's nothing yet it's still agitated says we're being persecuted really what do you see on your way here it's kind of nice the air conditioning persecuted read your Bible again read your Bible again it's not out of control God is in control right the world's out of control the banking systems are out of control all the people are out of control God is on the throne he's in control and that's all that matters to me that's it that's faith that right whatever world's out of control you need to hear that clearly keep that with you God is in control goodbye listen your Bible instead it'll be right God's on the throne and so by faith we wait in anticipation joyfully of a new Heaven A New Earth where there's no more sorrow no more crying no more pain just the Eternal peace and goodness of God and so I closed today I want to close with some scripture I'll just pray the scripture to you because no one can say it better than God so if you don't believe me believe this learn if you're taking notes it's second Corinthians 4 starting and read the whole chapter but we continue to preach because we have the same kind of Faith the psalmist had when he said I believed in God so I spoke we know that God who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you all of this is for your benefit and as God's grace reaches more and more people there will be great Thanksgiving and God will receive more and more Glory that is why we never give up though our bodies are dying our Spirits are being renewed every day for our present troubles are small and won't last very long yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever so we don't look at the troubles we can see now rather we fix our Gaze on things that cannot be seen for the things we see now will soon be gone but the things we cannot see will last forever amen