CONFRONTING REALITY
BIBLE PASSAGE: MATTHEW 16:13-16; LUKE 10:17-20; PHIL.1:27
Picture taken from Google
Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of
Solomon’s Wisdom FB page
Lesson
ideas taken from: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons
MAY 16, 2021
MEMORY VERSE
Whereas ye
know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a
vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If
the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
JAMES 4:14-15
INTRODUCTION:
During this time, we have
heard from the news that there had been a lot of well-known people died. It
seems like time for going home in heaven or time for judgement in hell. I don’t
know if young people have the feeling that “LIFE IS REALLY SHORT” (ask for
response or wait for response from the audience). Bible says, “Whereas ye
know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a
vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If
the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
I went to PCBS to buy some good bible tracts but sad to say tracts
are out of stock (it’s because of pandemic). The cashier told me that “giving
tracts” has small percentage of reading it by unbelievers. I said it’s just
part of my first conversation or introduction but at the back of mind I said,
“at least there’s still small percentage”. This is better than do nothing.
I have here a short video clip of my cousin who recently died
(watch). If he or she were one of your love ones what would you feel? Part of
the clip said, “Hindi mo man lang na-enjoy ang bahay mo”? Have you heard that
po? That’s the reality of life. 1 Timothy 6:7 says, “For we
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” This seems little
okay but the saddest thing you can feel, if one of your love ones were going to
hell.
For this reason, why we keep on sharing the
Gospel to all people. Sad to say we are limited doing things pertaining soul
winning because of pandemic. We are so blessed that this church has “foreign
missions”; we can be a part of it. By the I am so grateful to the Lord that we
have reached 500k for whole year in missions. We just include in prayers that
all the committed-members will fulfill their obligations. Personally, I am
thankful to the Lord, though it’s pandemic, I have continued my mission
commitment up to this time. But personally, I’m not satisfied with supporting
the missions financially only. Acts 1: 8 says, “…ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” I think I can do
simple ways like giving of bible tracts, Gospel messages to FB friends and many
other ways. If you notice, that some of our young people make videos and share
on FB; this is what I admire. That’s thumbs up for me. Other people would say,
there’s a short percentage to be watched by unbelievers and kneel to God and
accept the free gift. But for me, doing that, is not only a great blessing for
possible hearers but for the person doing the video because it’s a good feeling
to open your mouth and say your outlines without stuttering or doing that from
the heart. Acts 8:35 says, “Then Philip opened
his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached
unto him Jesus.”
This pandemic is a great impact to our
spiritually lives; it could give positive or negative impact. Positively, we
valued more of our life and our time but negatively, we might feel complacent
staying at home and we wrestle more in the flesh. In this lesson, we have three
reminders in fulfilling our purpose here on earth.
LESSON OUTLINE:
1. WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT JESUS? (MATTHEW
16: 13-17)
When Jesus came
into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John
the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He
saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said
unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
In this
passage The Lord Jesus gave two crucial questions to his disciples.
The first one is, “Whom
do men say that I the Son of man am?” Who do others say I am? Why was He
concerned with others say? Why did He care for this? Did He need others view
about Him to perform miracles? What have you heard about Me? The Pharisees
misunderstood Him; they called Him Beelzebub. Jesus needed not to be understood
by the Pharisees in order to do miracles. The Jews thought He was just a
carpenter but He was not stopped in doing miracles. He asked that question not
to be understood but because He wanted to know what they were saying. Is anybody talking about Me yet? In
chapter 16, he had done so many things; He just wanted to know that after the
things He has done, is anybody talking about Me yet? By this point, He’s healed
a multitude of diseases: given sight to the blind, he caused the lame to walk, he
walked on water, healed a woman with an issue of blood, he’s raised Jairus’
daughter, he healed Peter’s mother in law. He had done so many things and he
was just wondering, after everything he has shown in the world, is there
anybody has seen what I have done and would come to conclusion that I’ve got to
tell others about this? Have you seen enough to tell other folk who am I? Have I
done enough in your life for you to declare that I could not keep silent about
what I’ve seen. to tell others about Him? I’ve got to tell somebody. “I’ve seen
Him.” Too many people don’t know him because a lot of Christians have seen how
God works but chose to keep quiet.
Whom do men say
that I the Son of man am?” The disciples answered, “And they said, Some
say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one
of the prophets.” Traditionally, the answers are wrong but let’s have
questions. What do they think He’s John the Baptist? Why compare Him to Elias
and Jeremiah? John the Baptist preached repentance and forgiveness of sins.
Elijah was a miracle working prophet. And Jeremiah is a weeping prophet who has
compassion and love to His people. Jesus was not upset to these answers- on
this category because He preached repentance and forgiveness; He forgives sins.
He can make miracles in everyone’s lives and he loves people unconditionally.
He loves us even we are unworthy to be loved.
The second question is, “But whom say ye
that I am?” Who am I in your
world? Don’t give me answers base from others because: we are not saved by the
opinion of others, we can’t live on else’s faith, you’re not right with me if
your parents are Christians or praying for you, You’ve got to know God for
yourself. In chapter 14:33, the disciples have already said that “Jesus is the
Son of God. Then why Jesus asked again? If we see in chapter 14, they declared
Him as the Son of God, after the storm in the sea and after Jesus quieted the
storm. Now, in their way to Jerusalem, which Calvary awaits them, Jesus asked
again the same question. Because anybody can claim to know Jesus after the
storm is over, Jesus needed to know who He is when the worst has yet to happen.
The worst is about to come. Anybody can praise God when the bills are paid, the
question is, do you have enough faith when you know the worst is about to
happen then still trust in JESUS. You can’t survive Jerusalem base from what
your love one’s faith. Life can put you in situation wherein you can’t find
someone to lean on. Do you still have enough faith in Jesus that when time
comes that you stand by yourself, pray by yourself. YES, I KNOW JESUS. I KNOW
HIM FOR MYSELF.
Why do you think Jesus
asked this question in Caesarea and not in Galilea which they came from? Not just
they are on their way to Jerusalem but they’re in Caesarea, Philippi.
During
the time of Jesus Caesarea Philippi was located in the land of Israel far north
above the Sea of Galilee. It was 1150 feet above sea level and located at the
foot of Mount Hermon. One of the primary sources of the Jordan River came from
an unusual cave at Caesarea Philippi which gushed forth water in ancient times.
Inside the cave there was also a pit which was so deep that the bottom could
not be discovered. It was such a natural place that many ancient cultures
worshiped there. The ancient Canaanites worshiped there, and later the Greeks
build a shrine there dedicated to the God Pan (it's Greek name was Paneas), and
Alexander the Great knew of the place. https://www.bible-history.com/jesus/caesarea
Caesarea,
Philippi was really a central headquarter of pagan religion. There were temples
to false gods. All around the city and everywhere you looked there was a temple
to an idol god. All around them there were temples to false gods. It is not
coincidence that God asked them “But whom do you say that I am?”. Let’s
paraphrase, “With this place where people worship anything, with false gods or
man-made gods and pagan religions around you, do you know who I am?” Jesus
did not ask them, do you know god? It’s because anybody can believe in god and
anybody can talk about god but rather He said, “I want to know who I am? Or Who
Jesus is?” We cannot be saved without
Jesus. We miss Jesus of who He is if we
compare Him to John the Baptist, Jeremiah and even to Elijah.
C.
Lewis is a writer of many books; he wrote 40 books. He said that he accepted
Jesus as a teacher but not God. He wrote many books but no understanding about
Jesus’ identity. WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT
JESUS? Or we just keep silent? Doing this proves that we don’t understand the
Gospel. We’ll miss Jesus of who He is!
2. DO YOU REJOICE IN ALL THOSE THINGS? (LUKE 10:17-20)
And the seventy returned again with joy, saying,
Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto
them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:
and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not,
that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names
are written in heaven.
Jesus has commissioned
70 disciples and sent them two and two and before let them go, He gave them
instructions:
To all leaders, pastors and
others who ministers in God’s ministry, there are multiple temptations around. We
need leaders who can contain the mega success, “I don’t want to be known; I
want to be faithful.
Don’t rejoice in that! Remember
Jesus has been the disciples for the ministry. He knows that He can be with
them all the time. Cost of servant leadership (foxes) Sometimes we need to
sacrifice. WE can’t rest on past success
when there’s future work to be done.
To preach and to serve
1) Rejection dirt off
2) Don’t do this for gain and money and let the Lord reward you
3) Sending as lambs among wolves
When they
came back to Jesus, the ministry has been successful. They came back bragging
and boasting, “Lord even the devils are subject unto us, through thy name.” We
might have some moments of success in our lives or in the ministry but Jesus
said, “DON’T REJOICE IN ALLTHAT?” Why Jesus said that don’t rejoice in that
success? It seems that that … Don’t rejoice that demons are subject to you?
Subject to means voluntarily surrender. If you see in the previous chapter,
verse 39-40
Don’t
rejoice that they surrender to you because they don’t always do that. If you
see in the previous chapter, verse 39-40, it didn’t go down that way, “…And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and
they could not.” Luke 10:3 says, “Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as
lambs among wolves.” Devils are the spirits you deal with and wolves are the
people you face. The demons surrender for a little while. There are wolves you
don’t know. Wolves are untamed. We see
lions, bears and tigers in circus but never see wolves even in Zoos. Wolves are
mean and nasty and they’ll bite you. They’ll never alone; they run in pack and
clicks in ministries. Pastor said, “The sad reality is there are demons and
wolves in churches”. Sometimes they surrender every now and then but they know
how to bite back. Don’t rejoice in that because they are not always like that
in ministry. There are times in ministry that when you preach, nobody says,
“AMEN” and you’re faithful in the ministry and won’t be rewarded. The
temptation of the enemy is to cause you to become addicted to those momentary
moments of success and you become dysfunctional when you realize there are
still wolves around you. We need to be served when nobody is clapping. Be
faithful over the gospel when only one or two people show up. We can carry the
assignment when people don’t appreciate you, don’t love you or even don’t pat
you at the back.
There something else to rejoicing and in last line
it says, “… but rather
rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. We’ve got a home over in glory.
You’re not doing this ministry for the applause of people. When we stand before
our Maker, He’ll say to us, “Well done”. This task is not always as glorious as
it looks; there are multiple mean moments. If you don’t know that you have a great
reward, you’ll walk away. If you’re not certain that there’s another reason to
serve, you’ll quit. When you know that you have another reward or God is
pleased, you’ll persevere in the ministry even there are wolves.
Before I became a leader, I was a beginner, a new convert and no
knowledge about things in the ministry. I should not allow the new title of my
name to overwhelm my Christianity and discipleship in the ministry.
Be careful with the ministry you’re holding. Don’t allow your ministry
divert you away from personal relationship with God. You need to Be careful
with the wolves; they’ll always try to put as down and leave the
3.
ARE WE
PART OF THE STRIVING CHRISTIANS FOR THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL? (PHILIPPIANS 1:27)
Only let
your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come
and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast
in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
a)
Choosing not swine from souls (Mark 5:8-17)
b)
Shut not your eyes (Acts 26:16)
c)
Engaging in world missions (Matthew 24:14)
d)
Pray for more laborers and compassion (Matthew 9:36)
CONLUSION:
ILLUSTRATION ABOUT A DOCTOR WHO DON’T
PRACTICE ANYMORE…
