From a Seed to a Tree

anyone in here who loves family or has like weird unique family traditions for example I'll on my wife for a moment um when her side of the family gets together uh for Thanksgiving it's like 60 plus people that get together from a Wednesday to a Saturday at the same place but it's actually like harmonious like there's there's rarely ever any fights um where like if my family were to do that it would be like WWE uh like on steroids it would it would be crazy but they get together and it's this beautiful thing there's always I mean everyone knows what the schedule is going to

be without there even being a schedule they know that when you arrive on Wednesday night there's going to be vegetable soup for everybody they know that on Thursday is going to be a full day of celebrating Thanksgiving um and having a time where we share about what we've been thankful for there's going to be a big Thanksgiving meal Friday morning there's going to be monkey bread in the morning for breakfast there's going to be a gift exchange because they do Christmas on the Friday since everybody's together as well and then on Saturday there's you know most people are leaving and heading out but some stay

to watch the game the Ohio State Michigan game but if you were to show up and take away the vegetable soup on Wednesday night or not serve monkey bread on Friday morning like there's going to be some disowning of people within the family like there it's tradition all right and people hold to their traditions and again but it's because they enjoy it it's because they love it it's because it's something that wants to be passed down from from one generation to the next and so there there are times where family traditions or traditions in general human Traditions are good things I mean we have family

traditions on my side that we do for Christmas as well and they're good things and that's literally the definition of tradition is the transmission of Customs or beliefs from generation to the Next Generation because they are good because they they they provide some type of level of flourishing or good times or vibrancy but at the same time sometimes those Customs or traditions and especially if you kind of intermingle them and work them into religion sometimes those things get elevated a little bit higher than the IMO day and what I mean by that is the fact that we value what God values we value the image

of God that he has placed on human beings and so there is greater value and greater dignity and greater emphasis on the human than there is the tradition that we create in order to serve the human in order to serve um kind of our our our our ideas and what we do when we get together and this is what we're going to be talking about today is Jesus entering into a situation where there have been created some traditions that he is going to disrupt a little bit and it doesn't necessarily go well for those who have issues with that tradition and this is when it

comes to scripture there's no one who does it better when it comes to creating Traditions around God's rule around God's law and the Pharisees and the scribes I mean they just they're like we're we're going to Corner the market on this like we're going to take this territory and we're going to own Traditions all right we're going to make sure that what we are passing down is going to be passed down and then also uh not messed with like don't mess up whatever it is that we say is good and right but unfortunately what the Pharisees and scribes do and if you don't know who

the Pharisees and scribes are in Jesus's day they are the religious Elite they're the theological Giants they're the religious leaders they're the rulers of the synagogue they also make up the the high priest as well as um the rabbis as well as again the rulers of the synagogues they're the ones that if you want to know God you go through the Pharisees and the scribes in order for them to teach you who God is and also they teach you what you should do in your life in order to be considered righteous or faithful or Godly and so you could not really avoid them but you

have to go through them if you want to know something about God well that also creates opportunity for there to be some uh mixing in of what they think is right versus What God Says is right and and this is again why it's important that you understand that I'm not your religious ruler nor am I your high priest nor am I your way to know God like you are all the priesthood of Believers you are all in relationship with Jesus Jesus is your senior pastor Jesus is the one who is ruling and reigning over your life Jesus is the one who has inspired the scriptures

and has given them to you in order for you to read them in order for you to know them in order for you to interpret them in order for you to hold us accountable to them as well so that if I'm ever saying anything that's outside of it you are able to bring me to charge in regards to that because you are in relationship with Jesus you have direct access to him you do not need any other mediators or other saints that are driving that but if there is a system of religion that keeps people at best and not access to God and there's someone

in the middle well that allows for the temptation of opportunity for there to be uh well God says this and you're like well I don't know any different so maybe that is what God says and that is what we're going to be seeing today in the context of this passage is for several hundred years they've been taking and mastering the Mosaic law the the law that was given to Moses the Torah books of the Bible which is not just the Ten Commandments but over 600 rules for the people to follow in order to be considered Godly in order to live lives that are flourishing in

order to be an example to other nations as well that if you live this way you will flourish under God's favor and under God's Rule and under God's Providence the law is a good thing but the law also reveals that that we're terrible the law reveals that we're not faithful the law reveals that we don't want to do those things the law reveals ultimately that we are sinful and so what these Pharisees and these scribes and these religious Elite and religious rulers have been doing for several hundred years is saying the Mosaic law is great people are terrible and so let's add to it let's

create some layers around it let's add some traditions to it to try and get them to be considered faithful or religious or Godly or whatever it is but what they end up doing is ultimately establishing for themselves this is what God God has accomplished this is what God has provided to us this is what God has said but it's not true it's not inspired by the lord it's not it's it's something that they've taken and again added layers to it but they expect the people to abide by it as if it was thus says the Lord and that's where you get into some issues well

when it comes to Jesus Jesus loves to to PO the bear Jesus loves to step into this situation and say um I never said that I I never ordered this I I never told you to abide by this way rather let me ask some questions let me let me sort of introduce some new thought let me sort of share with you something or maybe even do something in your midst that's going to go against your tradition to show you that the kingdom of God is actually something something different than whatever it is that you're ruling or lording over the people of God and that's exactly

what he does but some of the things just to kind of show you some of the crazy that we're talking about here uh Jeff Robinson who who's a theologian he gives a modern example and I'll contextualize it for us and I'll quote here but I'm going to use ransford as the contextualization of this um what if ransford passed down a rule that members of the district couldn't take more than 1,999 steps on the Lord's day because if you take one more step that's considered a long trip and that's a no no in regards to the tradition of the Jews what if he also said you

could not carry your Bible to church since such heavy lifting would be too closely resembling of work anything heavier than a dried raisin is strictly taboo or what if he added a clause in the con tion and bylaws that members must not leave a radish in salt since that vegetable might become a pickle and pickle making is work and what if he added sub paragraphs to the Constitution prescribing disciplinary action for those found guilty of other activities on the Lord's Day such as carrying a pen because you might be tempted to write or carrying a needle because you might be tempted to sew or helping

those sick with non-life-threatening Mal because it can wait till Monday or looking in a mirror or removing dirt from your clothes now like if ranser started doing that we would have to have a conversation right but those are actually rules and traditions that the Pharisees held people to like those were those were true not true in God's inspired word but true in the traditions of judaic Customs which is not not good and so Jesus enters in and he does something really unique among them so Luke 13 picking it up in verse 10 I'm going to start reading there and we'll unpack this now he was

teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath and behold there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for 18 years she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself when Jesus saw her he called her over and he said said to Heroman you are freed from your disability and he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight God and so just to kind of give you the context here first of all what is a synagogue a synagogue is not the Temple and so the temple that was built to house the presence of God is built in Jerusalem and

it's still present at this time text I'm going in and out but I think it's just waves um anyways just ignore it but there's a temple in Jerusalem outside of Jerusalem there's synagogues which are basically like smaller lesser than looking temples but it's where the Jewish people would come together for Community as well as teaching and again to just practice the rituals and disciplines of their their culture their Jewish culture and so it would be very similar to exactly what we're doing today where they would come together and the ruler of the synagogue would either be the one that would get up and would teach

and then would be discourse almost like an AMA like an ask me anything at the end of it to be able to ask how does this apply to life and so forth what they would also do is if there were traveling rabbis who were visiting a town or a village and they came into the synagogue they would also be invited or allowed to get up and teach now that ruling synagogue or the the the religious leader of that ruling synagogue would always after they teach sort of have discourse with that visiting Rabbi because if he comes in and he's teaching a new thought or if

he's teaching something different than what we're used to um he also wants to be able to protect his sound Doctrine or their human tradition or their practices and their cultural rituals and so forth and so there's always going to be some type of ask me anything at the end of it to have that sort of discourse but they're in this synagogue and he's teaching It also says that he's teaching on the Sabbath now what is the Sabbath the Sabbath is the seventh day of the Jewish calendar the Jewish uh week in which they are called to rest they get that from literally the creative order

where Jes where God created the world in six days and on the seventh day he rested and rested from work and so they just take it and and add to it and put it on hyper where they say you're not allowed to essentially do anything like I said carrying a pen carrying any type of scroll or copy of scripture you're not allowed to carry any of those those things you're not allowed to to work you're not allowed to cook you're not allowed to do any of those types of things from um Sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday that's their Sabbath now we changed Sabbath

not like us as the district but the church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday with the resurrection of Jesus Christ because Sabbath in its truest meaning is not just a rest from work but it's a rest in Christ it's a realiz ation that not only your physical presence but your spiritual presence is at rest because of the finished work of Jesus not just that you finished your work on Saturday and therefore now you get Sunday off or Friday and you get the weekend off it's not just a physical rest but it is a gathering of the Saints to come together hear the preaching of

the word the singing of the word the praying of the word and resting being rejuvenated and renewed in the rest of Christ that he has already accomplished and done everything for you and therefore you get to sit back and receive this this spiritual Vigor this renewing of your spirit because we are resting in Jesus but that sometimes also Inc includes work on our part it includes a work like it's it takes work for you to get here in the morning right um if you were to walk here it' probably be longer than 1,999 steps but this is what Jesus is doing he's entering in on

their Sabbath day which again is is I think just strategic because he's going to poke at their tra tradition he's also teaching in their synagogue and in the midst he sees this woman this woman and when and and it says that she's had a disabling spirit for 18 years now this is as we'll see here in a moment it's a type of demonic oppression that has kept her bent over so it's like and this is where you see horror films these days that like draw inspiration from like this demonic oppression that bends people over and they're like climbing up walls and stuff like we're not

necessarily I mean that can happen but we're not saying that that's like specifically what's happening in this moment like she's not in this synagogue climbing the walls and is like you know vomiting at the mouth or anything along those lines but she's had this disabling spirit that Satan has given her and bound her with for 18 years and Jesus sees her when Jesus saw her he called her over and said to Heroman you are freed from your disability and he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight now I love this because it shows that Jesus is initiating healing for her like

often times when you look through the gospels you'll see friends that have a paralyzed brother and they're like we're going to get this brother to Jesus and so they're climing climbing on roofs and cutting holes in roofs and like you know dropping the guy down and they're saying like let's get him as close to Jesus as we possibly can other areas people are like coming to Jesus and they're saying like my daughter is sick or my daughter is dead or my servant is ill and they're coming to him and requesting of him this is a moment where she's not requesting of Jesus to do anything

but he is seeing her condition and he's moving towards her and this is actually a greater picture of what God's kingdom is actually doing for us where it is the initiating love of God towards us versus it ever being an initiating love of us towards God in all reality like for God so loved the world that he gave his only son is God loving the world and then giving his son it's God loving the world and then sending his son to us it's not us down here in the domain of Darkness looking up at God saying hey do you think you could do something for

our condition do you think you would be willing to um I don't know see what Jesus is up to right now and see if he'd be willing to come take the form of a bonder servant take the form of a human and live for 30 years just Bound by this flesh and then for three years do some teaching and some Mira like do you think that would be an option like no we're we're not doing that in our human world like we are in the domain of Darkness blinded deaf in our sin dead in our sins and God initiates his love towards us he comes

to us and we see this in this picture of this poor woman who has endured 18 years of this disabling Spirit Jesus initiates her healing and I love that this is a moment also that really kind of looks like a charismatic church service where again they bring people in wheelchairs down front attempt to heal them but in this situation Jesus actually does it like all of the people in the service witnessed this absolute Miracle of Jesus it it would be like if someone in this room like had someone that was here that was paralyzed and I was like as I'm preaching I'm like hey I

I notice you're in a wheelchair come here and then I like lay hands on them and they get up and then they're like all right let's all get up and let's all start praising God and seeing like like that's what happened but at the same time that this is happening what if ransford I just love picking on you what if ransford was back in the corner with his arms just indignant how dare you heal that person right now how dare you do that on the Lord's day but the ruler of the synagogue indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath said to the people so

now he's trying to protect his Doctrine here he's trying to protect their way of doing things their tradition and he asks a couple of things or he starts teaching he directs his attention to his congregants and he says there are six days in which work ought to be done come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day which I mean just I mean what a guy to hang out with right like um he sounds like a Dapper Dan here but this is a guy who who so cares about the right things or in his mind doing the right things that he's

not able to see Jesus performing a miracle that benefits truly the IMO day and when I say IMO day I'm saying saying the image of God that God has bestowed to humanity this man cares more about us not working on the Sabbath then he does another human being being healed of an ailment that they've had that has been provided by Satan for 18 years again not the kind of guy you probably want to hang out with so then the Lord answered him so now they're in a dialogue they're in a discourse they're going to ask me anything type of situation so then Jesus answered him

you Hypocrites does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his Donkey from the manger and Lead it away to water it interesting all right now Jesus knows all things knows this individual that he's talking to this ruler of the synagogue knows that this ruler of the synagogue even though he has rules that he's imposing on his people he will go home and he'll do what appears to be work and also I don't know I mean I'm not saying that like the Pharisees are like big Peta guys here but apparently cares more about the animals and making sure that they're taken care

of and they're not going to die than a human a fellow congregant who is being healed on the Sabbath day which again as a side note I think is one of the things one of the strategies of the enemy one of the strategies of Satan is because of his hatred towards the IMO day is to get us caring more about everything else than we do the IMO day if we can care more about our organization or our work or our animals or our home or like our physical the house like if we care more about taking care of it than we do the humans inside

it well that's a good strategy of Satan it's a good strategy you hypocrites Jesus is pointing out the fact that though they have rules and traditions for the people regarding what they can or cannot do on the Sabbath they themselves do not follow the rules they create the rules and then Lord it over the people but themselves do whatever they want and if you actually look at the language of Hypocrites it's their um it's their phrasing that they use for the actors in sort of their theatrical world the two-faced ones the ones that wear masks up front but are someone actually different they're pretending to

be something they're not and so he's calling this guy out he's saying you are a ruler of the synagogue you are supposed to be leading and teaching the people how to know God and commune with him but the reality is is you're teaching them things that do not tell them about who God is nor do you even commune with God yourself you're a hypocrite that's why later Jesus refers to the Pharisees as whitewash tombs well what's a tomb a tomb is something that embodies something dead on the inside inside and what he's saying is they've whitewashed them they make them look really good on the

outside but on the inside they're dead so he refers to this man as a hypocrite and then Jesus asked this question ought not this woman a daughter of Abraham whom Satan Bound for 18 years be loosed from this Bond on the Sabbath day so now Jesus is wanting him to answer he's wanting him to provide a reasoning for his interpretation of why Jesus can't do what he did in this moment why he can't do what he did In This Moment another thing that Jesus does here is he also mentions that this woman is a daughter of Abraham meaning that she belongs to the Covenant Community

of Faith that she believes as Abraham did and therefore it's counted to her as righteousness so not only that but Pharisees and scribes tended to believe that the ailments of people so if if like like for example if they were looking at this woman who's been over for 18 years they would look at her and say your condition is because of your sin and so likely you're just unrepentant likely there's something in your closet that you're not talking about likely there's a lifestyle that is in disagreement with God's Direction and Order and Creative Design and you're going against that we're going to allow you to

be in the synagogue but your condition is because of your sin and we talked about this a little bit last week with the story of Job where job was I mean considered in the East there was no one greater I mean they're like the greatest of all people in the East and job who loves God and is faithful to God Satan again goes to God and has this conversation with god and then comes back and God essentially gives him permission to just go wreak havoc on job's life his livelihood his family and then eventually starts wreaking havoc on job as far as like giving him

all these sores and just like let's give him the most miserable existence possible and he'll curse your God and so what job's friends do is they come in and they say all of this is happening because job you're sinful and you're not dealing with it and job's like before the Lord I'm above reproach like I'm I'm following the way of the Lord and the Lord even says that and so the ailment here they don't have a category for this bent over woman for 18 years that would be considered the daughter of Abraham that would actually be a smack in the face to this to this

Pharisee this ruler of the synagogue how dare you call her a daughter of Abraham if she were a daughter of Abraham she would be living a life that is flourishing and that is vibrant and that is successful and that is privileged and Jesus is getting to the hypocrisy of this he's saying and and probably again this is kind of not explicit but more implicit it's probably the reason why she didn't request anything of Jesus maybe she does have a mentality of job the Lord gives and the Lord takes away if the Lord wants to heal me of my ailment he will and praise God for

that and if he doesn't and I'm going to continue on with this Thorn In My Flesh like the Apostle Paul who prayed for his physical ailment to be removed but yet the Lord said no no I'm going to allow it to remain because it's going to show and display my strength in your weakness like that's an economy of God that he uses for us and so there might be a moment in this where she's looking at this and she's thinking well yeah he could heal me if he wants to but if he chooses not to it's not going to change my belief in him I'm

a daughter of Abraham and that might be a reality but there are moments there are times where Paul prays for it to be released and God does not remove his Thorn In the Flesh but says rather you're going to continue suffering for me and I'm going to show you how much you're going to suffer for me for the sake of my name that's going to be your reality because it displays my strength in your weakness something that I Think Jesus is doing here is that he sees her weakness because of this oppress disabling spirit that she's had for 18 years and Jesus is showing something

different where he's saying not only am I going to display my strength in your weakness but I'm going to show and display my strength in Satan's weakness in Satan's weakness this is the disabling Spirit he's given to you he's bound you with and I'm going to show you that I'm stronger than him and before I show you that in just a moment I wanted to show you one more thing as he said these things all his adversaries were put to shame and all the people rejoiced at all the Glorious things that were done to him now there's another passage that's that's skipping ahead a little

bit in Luke 14 1-6 it's very similar to this one I'm going to read this one for you as well so that I can make these connections one Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees they were watching him carefully and behold there was a man before him who had dropsy I'll tell you what that is in a minute and Jesus responded to the Lord lawyers and Pharisees saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not but they remained silent then he took him and healed him and sent him away and he said to them which

of you having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out and they could not reply to these things so this one's on another Sabbath Jesus dining in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees who was watching him carefully it reminds me of um Dumb and Dumber where Lloyd and Harry are in the van and and Lloyd's like I'm gonna get you and Harry's like nuh and Lloyd's like I'm I'm gonna get you um like that's what I feel like these Pharisees are doing and I I will never compare Jesus to Harry

again but um but like that's what these they're trying to catch him up in something they're trying to just we are going to figure out a way to bring a charge against you so that we can rid you of our culture of our region because what you are doing is infringing upon our way of life and if you start doing something different if you start giving freedom to these people where we are controlling them because of our human Traditions well all of a sudden now you're going to remove our livelihood you're going to remove our job status you're like you're going to take away all

that we are and Jesus is essentially saying that's the best thing that could happen to you that's the best thing that could happen to you if you are willing to see it and then in their midst there again was this man who had dropsy which is a medical condition of excess internal water causing swelling of the body and limbs Jesus asked this question is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not so he's he's a he's basically looking at them and saying you guys are the experts on the law you are the interpreters of the law is there anything in the law that says

I cannot heal on the Sabbath and they actually know there's nothing there's nothing in the law that does not allow him to heal on the Sabbath now in their human Traditions they have laws regarding that but in the law itself there is nothing that keeps him from being able to do this work and so he does it and Jesus heals the man and he sends him away and once again it stumps the Pharisees they don't like it but they don't have an answer for why they don't like it which is honestly always the posture of traditionalists like if I if I so hold to traditions

and you come in and disrupt my traditions and I get upset about it I don't know why I'm upset about it other than the fact that this is the way we've always done things so I don't like it now is the point Jesus is trying to make is that it's simply okay to heal on the Sabbath like is that the point he's trying to actually make with these guys is he coming in healing this woman been over for 18 years just to show them that it's okay to heal on the Sabbath is he healing this man with dropy on the Sabbath just because he's trying

to show them it's okay to heal on the Sabbath or is he actually making a different point to these Pharisees the point is actually found if you go back to 13 Verse 18 the point is found in the parable in the next four verses the point is not that Jesus is just trying to help them see that it's okay to do what he did it's a good thing but it's not the main thing the point is that Jesus is plundering the kingdom of Satan and undoing what Satan has done he's undoing what Satan has done he's he's entering the world that is bound by sin

and Jesus is wreaking havoc on the effects of sin he he is invading the kingdom of darkness and bondage by establishing the Kingdom of Light and freedom and Jesus shows um he he shows here that he is more powerful than Satan to to do this to do this and also that he does not need the permission of the religious Hypocrites who have turned from believing in God to believing and trusting in their Traditions interpretations and practices so not only is he coming in to show hey Satan has done some things and I'm going to undo it not only am I going to undo it but

I'm going to show you that Satan is considered the strong man but there is a stronger one who will come in and plunder his house and his kingdom and I am that strong man who will bound the other strong man and I will get rid of him where he's been bounding us I'm going to bound him where he's been shackling you in sin I'm going to free you of that and break those shackles and I am going to usher in a new kingdom that is ridding him of his kingdom and I want to show you what Jesus is about to display in this Parable is

that his kingdom which comes in super small is going to eventually be Total Domination Total Domination what this Parable is meant to do for us as Believers in the Kingdom of Christ is do nothing more than create so much confidence and pride and privilege that we have that our King Jesus has this time type of authority and status and strength to be able to come in and undo anything that Satan has done that we have done in our own sin and fallenness that religion has done in its own ability to try and create all these extra rules around the rules and around the rules that

are not beneficial but rather create misery among people like Jesus is coming in and saying not anymore not anymore so in verse 18 it says this Jesus he said therefore now again you got to connect therefore to what he just did in the synagogue that's the reason why the therefore is there it is therefore a reason it is there to show you that what he just performed is connected to this Parable that he's about to teach us what is the kingdom of God like asking this question to the congregant in this Jewish synagogue what is the kingdom of God like and to what shall I

compare it it is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and SE sewed in his garden and it grew and it became a tree and the birds of the air made nests in its branches and again he said to what shall I compare the kingdom of God it is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three three measures of flower until it was all leavened the main point is that the gospel movement Christ's Kingdom the spread of Christianity began very small like a mustard seed and like leaven which we can kind of see that as like yeast and the power

and authority of Christ is going to Prevail in the growth and expansion of this Kingdom like the mus seed that becomes a tree full of branches that birds come and nest in as a side note many theologians believe this is a picture of Christ bringing the gospel to the Seed of Abraham to the Jewish people in which the gospel is planted and and when you take the idea of a seed and they go so many different illustrations with it but a seed essentially goes into the ground and it dies and then out of that death it ends up growing and producing the tree that it

is and so we see Jesus Christ being the seed ultimately of Abraham of the the true offspring of Abraham the true Offspring also of Eve that is going to eventually crush the head of the serpent but in so doing it's going to be by way of his own death Christ is the seed that goes into the ground that dies but then in his resurrection in that first Sprout him being the first fruits of this new kingdom starts off with 12 disciples and then by way of those 12 disciples 72 disciples and then out of those 72 disciples you get 120 and then you get eventually

500 at his resurrection who witnessed the Risen Christ and then after that 500 you eventually get at the preaching of Pentecost 3,000 people saved and added to the church that day and then you get a couple of weeks later another sermon preached and there's 5,000 men not adding to women and children so it's estimated another 15 to 18,000 people added to the church that day you just get this seed that started off with Jesus Christ the initiating love of God coming to us dying for us and then as him being the first fruit Begins the spread of his kingdom the church era that has been

going on for the last 2,000 years that as you continue to even track it again you got to remember even though they're adding thousands of people at a time Christianity is outlawed in the Roman Empire outlawed so if you get caught practicing Christianity they're going to send you to Rome and if they send you to Rome it's a death sentence it's a death sentence all right you see this by way of Peter and Paul as well Paul's like hey I'm going to get to Rome I'm probably going to go on trial because they're imprisoning me for it but eventually give me some money so that

I can eventually get to Spain because I want to get the gospel there they like God will do but he gets he gets killed in Rome Peter gets hung upside down in Rome like all of this stuff happens and it comes to fruition in Rome because Rome is the epicenter of the Roman Empire and they don't want anything I mean think about it anybody that tries to disrupt the way the Romans do things doesn't go well for them until you get a bunch of Barbarians eventually going at it but Christianity was this new way of doing life that was contrary to the Roman Empire and

especially their Roman theology which is very mixed in with Greek mythology it was very different so it's it's not their way of doing things so they're just going to kill you by way of of of belonging to this well a seed that continues to spread eventually when you get to around 325 ad guess what becomes the state religion of the Roman Empire Christianity Christianity why because it had become the majority belief system the majority belief system and and again even though it's an emperor it's still a political system it's still a political system where you're like if I want to stay in power I got

to go with the majority and that's what most scholars believe Constantine did was he was like I can either try to continue to sniff this out but it looks like this you can't stop this and so Constantine converts to Christianity right around 325 ad and then you get I mean just a a mass expansion to where really the Dark Ages which are like 500 AD to 1500 ad is actually this beautiful widespread expansion of Christianity to where when you get around to the 15th 16th centuries I mean it is a world known religion and I'll just say religion because that's what the history books call

it what started off as a seed it grew into a tree and you're like what are the birds most scholars believe that that's the the the grafting in of Gentiles again so like they're not a part of the actual tree but they're getting to reap the benefits of this tree and so they're coming in and it's very similar to language to what you see in John 14 and 15 as well as in Romans 9 of this idea of a Vine and branches and some of the branches that go apostate which are basically unbelieving Jews man they get broken off they get broken off because they

didn't believe the truth they didn't believe the true gospel they didn't believe the actual same thing that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob believed in which was this forthcoming Messiah who would be the true Messiah they don't believe it so they're apostate they get broken off and then there are these wild offshoots these wild branches these Gentiles which is anybody who's not Jew these Gentiles then get grafted into the vine as if they are of the same Vine which is why you and I are able to say today just like this bent over woman you and I are daughters and sons of Abraham we are true

descendants of Abraham because we are the Believers of Christ we are the family that belong to the Covenant that God established with Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his offspring namely Jesus Christ Christ and so this is what Jesus is doing when he comes into these moments is he's coming in and he's showing in a situation in an event he's showing what he's doing on a grand scale throughout human history he's coming in and he's saying there are going to be systems of belief that do not actually produce any type of Vitality or lifegiving Spirit or forgiveness or any of those things but

rather as a picture of this woman there they keep you in the state that you're in they they don't help you out at all but what Jesus does is he comes in because of his perfect life and his substitutionary death and the fact that his God's Wrath poured out on him on his death burying him satisfied God's Wrath towards our sin he then resurrects three days later and all of this is the work of Jesus Jesus so that as that is then proclaimed and spread throughout the Nations people believe it actually get freed from the bondage of the strong one Satan because a stronger one

has entered the scene and has undone everything that Satan and our sin has done to bound us it frees us it forgives us and it allows us to then enter back into a relationship with God that is lifegiving and eternal Eternal it is the only thing that transfers us from the domain of Darkness into the kingdom of Christ the kingdom of the beloved Son as Colossians 1 says and so the seed becoming a tree is like a nod to the tree of life we're connected to the tree of life which is Jesus the leaven or Yeast becoming bread is a nod to the bread of

life Jesus ultimately being this thing that that impacts and works and moves his way throughout all of our domains of society and our families and he is the way the truth and the life and he is saving people he's saving people and that's why often times what what a message like this should do when we see what Jesus does is it builds our confidence to be able to take the message of the gospel and to be able to share it with those who don't know it because we don't have to have confidence in ourselves that we're going to be able to articulate it in such

a beautiful way that we reason with them and they're like man you're so intellectual that I want to follow whatever it is that you follow no when we come into those moments we're saying look we're Beggars bringing another beggar to the one who actually can provide for us we're Sinners coming to another sinner telling you that there's someone who can forgive you of your sin who can release you from the shame and the guilt that you experience because of that sin and can actually provide for you forgiveness and life and life abundant and you get to have all of this if you believe and trust

in Jesus and the work that he has accomplished not the work that anybody else accomplishes you don't have to believe anything else other than simply believing in Jesus and that's what we're begging people to interact in and the beauty is when we Proclaim that message the Holy Spirit the spirit of Christ is entering into that situation as we're talking with someone he's entering into their heart because that's what Jesus Does He initiates himself he doesn't ask for permission he doesn't wait for them to say is it is it okay if I come in no he looks at us and he says hey yeah you've been

bound for 18 years by Satan with this oppressive Spirit right or hey your sin is is kept you dead dead your entire life not anymore not anymore you've heard the gospel and you believe in me I forgive you like that's what God does in that moment we don't get to see it all work out exactly how it works out but all of the sudden in this individual it's just I was blind and now I see I was blind and now I see I was deaf I could not hear it but now I hear hear it I was I was stupid and now I understand that's

what happens and passages like this give us confidence that that tree that he is building and and growing is continuing to grow it's continuing to spread in every domain of our life in every sphere in of society in Indianapolis in the midwest in in our nation and in the Nations across the world Jesus is still spreading his seed he's still growing and expanding his kingdom and he's stronger than anything that we would ever face or come against and we take that confidence and we say let's walk in step with his Spirit let's walk in step with his his Spirit let's be bold like Jesus is

bold why because as Galatians 2:20 says I no longer live but Christ lives in me so if Jesus is confident to go in these situations and Proclaim what he was proclaiming and to teach what he was teaching and to do what he was doing Jesus now lives inside me I have confidence and boldness to be able to walk into these situations to be able to have these conversations with my co-workers or my neighbors or my family members or whoever it is and say you know what if they think I'm an idiot well yeah the gospel is foolish to those who are perishing honestly you should

expect it but pray again for the strength of Christ in you and the spirit of Christ in you to be outweighing your fear of what they're going to think of you and just say you know what if I don't say anything if I don't share if I don't evangelize then what I am also saying is is the exact same thing as these Pharisees don't heal on the Sabbath don't heal them on this day let them remain as they are that's functional Pharisees knowing the truth but not living it so are we going to be functional Pharisees or Saints following our King Jesus who's stronger than

everything that we will encounter let's pray together father we thank you so much for your goodness us you're so so beautiful and strong you are holy and righteous and God we as humans we just we do some dumb things at times where we create rules and traditions that that you told us not to and we create our own fears and anxieties that you told us not do but you show us in situations like this one where Jesus is stronger than it he's smarter than it he's wiser than it and he steps in and he initiates his kingdom and he continues to advance his to bring

Sinners back into relationship with God as Saints he undoes everything that Satan has bound Us in he undoes everything that we have bound ourselves in with our own sin and he frees us he frees us and he makes us stand upright and then we go on praising and glorifying him I pray that we see that for ourselves but then I pray that we also see that for those around us and that just as Jesus stepped into this synagogue and saw this woman and brought her good news I pray that we would see our lives and situations and our the people that we come into contact

with on a daily basis and that we would see them and that we would come to them with good news with good news father strengthen us with this help us with this help us walk in step with your spirit it's in your name we pray amen I'm ask you to go ahead and stand as we come to this time of communion as I mentioned in the message there is a moment where Jesus is on the cross and there is something that Jesus says when he's on the cross that is so important for us Jesus enters into this synagogue on the Sabbath when they're supposed to

be resting and the greatest message that's ever been given to us that allows us to rest is when Jesus is on the cross breaking his body and shedding his blood and he speaks to the father and he says it's done it's finished it's finished which means your debt you owe him is paid it's done it's paid in full it's finished and for those who believe in that believe in that work of Christ not your work not what your your Merit has done not what you've earned not how you've cleaned yourself up none of those things things not your Traditions I don't care what your church

background was I don't care any of those things Jesus Christ if you believe in the work that he has done for you he ushers in this ceremony that we call the Lord's Supper Lord's communion Lord's table is a remembering of what he has accomplished for us that we don't have to do ourselves it is a moment where we get to sit back and we get to just thank him with so much gratitude that you broke your body and you shed your blood for the removal and forgiveness of our sins it removes shame it removes guilt it removes all of those things that the accuser wants

to continue in shackling us to but this is him being able to tell us you're free you're free you're free because you're forgiven you're forgiven the work is done and so if you believe that Christ did this that he broke his body for you and he shed his blood to replace your penalty and to substitute himself for it I invite you to come down grab the elements bring them back to your seat and we will partake together in this act of worship for we receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed he

took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes let's continue on in worship what is Our Hope in life and death Christ Alone Christ Alone what is our holy confidence that our souls to him belong

who holds our days within his head what comes apart from his command and what will keep us to the end the love of Christ in which we stand oh sing hallelu Our Hope Springs Eternal oh sing [Music] hallelu now and ever we can [Music] Christ Our Hope in life and [Music] death what truth can call the trou soul God is good oh God is good where is his grace and goodness known in this great de us blood holds our faith when fears arise who stands above the stormy trial who sends the waves that bring us night unto the shore the rock of Christ oh sing

Hallelujah Our Hope Springs Eternal oh sing [Music] hallelu now and ever we confess Christ are open life and [Music] death unto the grave what will we sing Christ he lives Christ he lives and what reward will heav bring everlasting life with him there we will rise to meet the Lord their sin and death will be destroyed and we will feast in L Joy when Christ Is Ours forever more oh sing hallelu Our Hope Springs Eternal oh sing hallelu now and ever we confess Christ Our Hope life life and death and oh sing hu Our Hope Springs Eternal oh sing hallelu now and ever we confess

Christ Our open life and death now and ever we confess Christ Our open life and death Heavenly Father we are so grateful for the work that you have done for us For Your Glory all the things that you have shown us in your word things that um have happened long ago but we can still see today we thank you that you have freed us from our bondage that we don't have to live in slavery to our sin and our depravity we have freedom and hope in you we thank you that we are not bound by the rules but that you give us freedom in the

law that you have created for us God we just pray that you would convict our hearts of where we are focused more on the rigidness of perfection and and rules and um what we should and shouldn't do and where we are missing what you are doing for your people that we would not um miss a moment of opportunity to love and