The Same Said Unto Me

The Mormons think they're right. The, oh, he brought up Islam. The Muslims think that they got the truth.

So what makes you think you have the truth? Why are you putting all these billboards up saying 8-3 for truth or 8-5-5 for truth? And so we were talking to him and I shared some things with him. And now meanwhile, Jeremy's sitting over here driving and he's listening to this conversation. We get to the campsite and we get unpacked, we get everything set up.

We, he had asked me earlier, hey, would you have anything to share with the youth or have a discussion, you know, to talk about over the, well, what would have been a campfire, but because of fire restrictions, we had flashlights and lanterns and things like that. So we were going to have a discussion there. And so I just brought up to the youth.

I said, I wonder if you guys would give me some ideas about what you would share if you ever had to have a sermon. Or give me some ideas what I could preach sometime for a sermon. And so different ideas came out.

Different people suggested things. Maybe you'll hear some of them sometime. I don't know.

Talked about women of the Bible. Talked about spiritual freedom. How do we lead people down the road of spiritual freedom? Maybe ladies, maybe you're in a prison ministry sometime to in a ladies prison and you want to lead somebody to freedom.

So we talked about that. And, but then Jeremy brought up, he says, well, I think maybe it'd be interesting to hear the same thing you shared with Grant on the way here to the campsite today. You talked about truth and why he should believe the message given by Jesus.

And he says, I thought that was interesting. Maybe everybody else would like to hear this because we interact with people and we want to share the gospel with them. We want to share why the message is true and so forth.

I said, well, I think, Jeremy, everybody's heard that already. I've shared that. You know, my children, they could probably quote it by heart.

They listened to me sitting in the office talking. Well, but he didn't think so. He thought there'd be people that could benefit from it.

So I thought, well, maybe I'll start out by just sharing what I shared with Grant on the way up there. Grant, his wife was Julia. And they were, again, not believers.

They didn't believe in Christianity. They didn't believe in the Bible. He seemed to be a fairly stable citizen of America.

He was in the military. He had went to Iraq, he said, with, oh, I forget which war it was. I think it was the one when George Bush was president.

And they were sent over there. And Grant looked back at that time. He said, I believed something, but I was wrong.

I think it's probably, he's probably referring to back at the claims during that time of, it was, it actually came up because I mentioned 9-11, the airplanes crashing into the Twin Towers. And he brought up, yeah, I was in the military and I was sent over to Iraq because we were supposed to destroy, I'm reading between the lines, these weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein supposedly had. We got over there, found out he didn't have them after all.

And so the whole war was a waste. That's kind of what the attitude that I, I read between the lines there a little bit. So anyway, he was in the military, came home.

He's now he's just living a good upstanding life, gave up his Catholicism and he believed, but now he sees these billboards and he's wondering, why do we believe that they're true? So I just shared with Grant, I said, well, Grant, listen, you mentioned Buddhism. He seemed to really be focused on that. I said, first of all, Buddhism might have some good principles and so forth, but it doesn't really even attempt, as I understand it, to address some of the big questions of life.

Like, for instance, where do we come from? I don't think Buddhism tries to answer that question. Is there a God? Just kind of leaves those questions hanging. What's gonna happen to us when we die? Maybe they have an answer for that, but it's not real clear.

I said, some of these other things that you mentioned, Mormonism, Islam, they do have an answer for that, but how do we know that their answer is right? And why do I believe my answer when I say Jesus' version is true and not the message given by Joseph Smith or the message given by the Prophet Muhammad? Why would I not believe that? I mean, after all the people who follow those religions, they believe it very strongly. They'll go to great lengths to promote their ideas. So, I just introduced Grant to something.

I said, you know, when we talk about Jesus, Jesus himself made some outrageous claims that none of these other guys did. He claimed not only that he had the truth about these important questions, but that he could essentially provide evidence for the truth. People, they asked him.

It wasn't, he wasn't just saying it in a vacuum. People asked him, can you give us evidence to prove that what you're saying is true? They call it a sign, but basically it's another word for evidence. Give us evidence in modern terms that Jesus, you're telling us the truth.

So what did Jesus say? Well, when Grant asked those questions back when he was a Catholic, he asked kind of the same questions. What did they tell him? They said, well, you just got to believe it by faith. You're not going to get any evidence.

Just believe it. Believe it by blind faith. And that's going to be your answer.

And Grant, to him, that wasn't good enough. So he left Catholicism many, many years ago. Well, I just said, Grant, actually that was a wrong answer.

Because Jesus didn't leave people hanging with this blind faith answer. He gave them evidence. He says, yes, I will give you evidence.

And the evidence I'm going to give you is going to be my own resurrection. He basically offered to allow his enemies to kill him and bury him. And he says, I'm going to rise again three days later.

That's what Jesus said. And we could read between the lines and say essentially Jesus was saying, if I don't rise again, you can ignore what I'm telling you. And later on, Paul said the same thing.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, our faith is vain. It's only if Jesus did rise from the dead that we can hang our hats on what Jesus said regarding truth. So I said, Grant, do you see how important that is? Jesus came and He offered proof that He was telling the truth.

Everything He said. Where did we come from? Is there a God? Why are we here? What's going to happen to us when we die? How can we prepare for life after death? Jesus answered all those questions. Were His answers true? They're true if the evidence He gave actually happened.

The evidence He offered. Did He really rise from the dead? Okay, Grant says, yeah, I can understand how important that is. So why do you believe it happened? How do we know? There's no way to know.

Did Jesus really rise from the dead or not? I said, well, actually there might be. Let's talk about that. I said, first of all, if you're going to examine that question, you need to ask another question.

And that is, what type of question are we asking? If it was a scientific question, you would want scientific evidence to back it up. If it was a courtroom question, a forensic question, you'd want probably some kind of forensic evidence. You know, maybe the fingerprints or the DNA samples or whatever.

If it was a mathematical question, you'd want mathematical evidence to prove that it's true or not true. But in this case, it's a historical question. It's an event in history, the resurrection of Jesus.

If it's a historical question, what do you need? Historical evidence. And so I pointed out four facts from history that the majority of historians would agree on. And this was a sample of well over 3,000 historians who have studied this.

Not just believing historians, skeptics and, you know, you have various walks, conservatives and liberals, people from both sides of the aisle, so to speak. But the majority of them would agree on four basic facts from what happened back 2,000 years ago. Number one, fact number one, is the burial of Jesus.

The majority of historians today that are interviewed, regardless of where they are religiously, would agree that there was a real person named Jesus who was killed by the Romans and buried. Again, the majority of them would agree that there was some sort of happening whereby his followers, some of his women, his female followers, went to the tomb about three days later and looked to find the body and it wasn't there. So somehow or another, the body appears to have been missing three days later.

Fact number three, the post-mortem appearances. Post-mortem means after death, if that's a confusing term to you. But post-mortem appearances.

People believed they saw, hundreds of them believed very strongly they saw Jesus alive after his death and burial. And the fourth one is the disciples belief. The 12 disciples or 11 disciples that followed Jesus around for three years, they came to such a powerful belief in his resurrection that they went throughout the whole world telling people he had risen from the dead.

And even to the point they were willing to be tortured and killed rather than give up that belief. So those are the four facts. Again, we've got the burial, we've got the empty tomb, we've got the appearances and we've got the disciples belief.

And so I said, Grant, you know, we could try to figure out some explanation of how to put all four of those facts into a theory, a hypothesis. I said, here's a hypothesis one atheist came up with. It's called the hallucination theory.

He knows hallucinations really do happen. That's true. They do.

So he hypothesized that people who saw Jesus alive after his death and burial, they were just hallucinating. In fact, he had a hypothesis that they had a chain reaction hallucination. So I have a hallucination that somehow he catches it from me and he has a hallucination just down the line.

Hundreds of people believing that they're seeing Jesus alive when it was all just a hallucination. I said, well, let's just examine that. Is that reasonable? If so, does it explain all four of these facts? Well, fact number one or one of the facts was the appearances.

Yeah, that would explain that. Would it explain why the disciples believe Jesus was had really risen from the dead? Yeah, I would explain that too or at least help. But I said, here's the problem.

It wouldn't explain why that grave was empty. You see, a hallucination doesn't pull a body out of the grave. It just does something with the minds of the people that are experiencing it.

So I said that one fails. It doesn't explain all four facts. So let's go on to another one.

The stolen body theory. This is the first theory that was come up with. Hey, the body's missing.

What happened? Well, the disciples snuck in by night and stole the body away. They buried it somewhere else. I said, is that reasonable? Well, that would explain why the grave was empty.

If you can figure out why they got past the guards and all that. But it would not explain the appearances. And it would not explain why the disciples believed why they behaved as they did.

They believe they behaved as people who were not hiding a body somewhere. They believe they behaved as people who really believe their master had risen from the dead. You see, if they were hiding a body somewhere, they knew where it was.

They would have known the whole time that the resurrection was a hoax. It wasn't really true. And people people will sometimes give their lives or be willing to be tortured and killed for something that's not true, but only if they believe it to be true.

And I use the examples of the cult leader down in South America, they drank poisonous Kool-Aid because a cult leader told him to drink this poisonous Kool-Aid. They believed him. And so they drank it and they gave their lives.

I think, what, 900 of them is a huge number of people who gave their lives because this cult leader told him to drink poisonous Kool-Aid. Or another example, more modern, more recent history, running airplanes into the Twin Towers in September 11. They believed that they're going to get whatever the Muslims get after they die if they would run these airplanes into the Twin Towers and kill a bunch of people.

So they did. That's somewhat well known. People will do that, but they will only do that if they believe the lie to be true.

When people know that a lie is a lie, they won't give their lives for it. And if those disciples had moved the body, they would have known that the resurrection was a lie. They would not have given their lives for it.

So that one doesn't seem reasonable. Another one obviously is, well, what if somebody else moved the body? What if it was the authorities that moved the body? The Jewish or the Roman authorities. And, you know, does that explain everything? Once again, it explained the empty tomb.

It might even help explain the disciples' belief, but it would not explain the appearances. And it would not explain why the authorities behaved as they did. Why, if they were trying so desperately to get rid of Christianity a year later, how do you do that? It's very simple to get rid of Christianity.

All you have to do is prove the resurrection false. Well, how do you prove the resurrection false? It's, again, very simple. Just produce the body.

I mean, there's the body. See, he didn't rise and so if they would have done that, if they could have done that, they would have done it. That's what the authorities would have done.

They didn't have the body, so they didn't do it. And so that one fails as well. Finally, at the end of the day, I shared with Grant, I said, there's really only one reasonable explanation left.

And that is that Jesus really did rise from the dead, just like he said he was going to do. And that's how we today can know based on the evidence that we have available, that Jesus did rise. And because he rose, we can know that he is who he said he is.

He is the son of God. And if he is the son of God, God does exist. And if he is the son of God, then what he said about the afterlife must be true.

And if he is the son of God, then what he said about what we need to do to prepare for the afterlife must be true. And so at the end of the day, the answer is we serve a risen savior. The billboard he saw was go read Matthew's gospel.

And he would have gotten a lot of those same facts out of there. He could have gotten even more if you'd read Luke, if you'd read John, if you'd read Mark, if you'd read First Corinthians, First Corinthians 13. And so that's my that's that's just a. A brief synopsis, a brief summary of what I shared with with Grant on that on that phone call.

I'd like to read some more verses here. If you would turn with me, John, Chapter five. And what we're going to read here is a passage a story of something Jesus did and some things he said back before he rose from the dead.

But we can look back at this passage knowing what really did happen, knowing that he was going to rise from the dead. So we're looking at it from the perspective of a resurrected savior. But here's something that happened before his resurrection.

And this is the story of the lame man. I went back and looked in my notes before preaching that before preparing this this morning to see when I last spoke from this passage. And I think it was around 16 years ago.

And so I most of you were not here when I shared from this passage. And many of you may have been here, but you probably forgot it. You were little children at the time.

There might be just a few that might remember it, but I'm I got a hunch. Not very many. OK, so let's we're going to read this.

John, chapter five, and let's go ahead and read. Let's go and read the first 18 verses here. So follow along if you can.

John, chapter five, verse one. After this, there appeared there or there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is a Jerusalem by the sheep market at pool, which is called in Hebrew in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda having five porches in these lay a great multitude of impotent folk.

A blind halt withered blind halt withered waiting for the moving of the water for an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water where whosoever then first after the troubling of the water step in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity 30 and eight years when Jesus saw him lie and knew. That he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto him, will thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool.

But when I am coming, another step down before me. Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked and walked and on the same day.

And I'm sorry. And on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews, therefore, said unto him that was cured.

It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them.

He that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. Then as they him, what man is what man is that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk. And he that was healed with not who it was for Jesus had conveyed himself away a multitude being in that place.

Afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him, behold, thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.

But Jesus answered them. My father worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the Lord to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father making himself equal with God.

Now, we're going to back up just a bit here, and I would like you to you to help me find a few key words, five words in verse 11. So let's read verse 11 and then we're going to go back to John chapter one and we're going to read another verse. And I want you to do this.

I want you to help me find the five words that are the same. In verse 11 of this passage, as well as a verse, John one, verse 33. So let's read verse 11 again.

Pay close attention and help me out here. John five, verse 11 says, he answered them. He that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk.

All right. Keep your finger there if you need to turn back to John one. And let's read verse 33.

Well, let's just give a little bit of a context here. Verse 31, John the Baptist. I'll back up to verse 29, the next day, John, see if Jesus coming unto him and sayeth, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said after me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore, am I come baptizing with water and John bear record saying I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode on him and I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him. The same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

What are the five words? Did you pick it up? Should we go back and read it again? Verse 11. He answered them. John 5 verse 11.

He answered them. He that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. John 1 verse 33.

And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him. The same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. What are the five words that are the same? The same said unto me.

So let's write those words up here. The same said me. Okay.

One, two, three, four, five. Yes, I counted right. So what's the point between that little phraser? How significant is that? Let's just go back a little bit.

Put ourselves in the shoes of that lame man. Is he sitting there by the pool? He desperately wants to be healed. He's hanging out by that pool because there's an angel.

There's troubling of the water. There's healing if he does it right. I don't know if that's... I don't know all the theology behind that.

Is that some pagan thing? Is that some... You know, was that an actual miracle from God? I really don't know exactly what was going on there at the pool. But whatever it was, it was his only hope of healing. And then along comes Jesus and heals him.

He says, rise. And power comes into his legs and he has something that he hasn't had for many, many, many years, if ever, strength to walk. And he stands up.

And then Jesus tells him, take up your bed. Pick up that mat and walk. Now, I don't know how much of that went through his mind.

Maybe it went through his mind. This is the Sabbath day. Can I really do this? The Pharisees, they're not going to like this if I pick up my mat.

But then he realized who it was that told him. It was the same exact person who had just healed him. And there was no question.

I'm picking it up and I'm walking. And he did. He picked up his mat and he walked.

And John the Baptist, the same thing. He had seen the Spirit descend on this Jesus. And actually, he was, I think, John the Baptist was talking about God, anointing him, God the Father, anointing him with the Holy Spirit.

And he said, the same said unto me. And he gave an authoritative statement because he knew where it came from. And this lame man is receiving, he's willing to do whatever it takes because of who it was that was talking to him.

And my question is, what about us when we hear an authoritative statement? Some statement coming from someone that we have no question he's an authority. Someone who can rise from the dead, no less. Are we willing to hear his voice and respond? We have a passage in John 8, verse 11.

We'll just talk about it. You know it. The woman caught in adultery.

What were the two statements Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery? Just go by memory. What were they? After, okay, let's go through the story just a little bit. The Pharisees came, says this woman caught in adultery.

Moses said, stoner. What do you say? Stoner or not stoner? Well, first one day, Jesus wrote in the ground and you know all that. Finally, okay, go ahead and stoner.

But the first person to stoner has to be someone who's never committed sin. Well, they turned and walked away one by one. Finally, she's Jesus and the woman.

Jesus asked her the question. No one there to condemn you? She says, no, they're all gone. So Jesus gave her two statements.

What were they then? Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, that woman was an adulteress.

How easy do you think that second one was for her? To go and sin no more. That wasn't the way she lived. She was used to sinning.

This was who she was. But who was it that told her go and sin no more? It was the same one who told her neither do I condemn thee. And he had the authority to do that.

He had the authority to get her out of jail free. He had the authority to let her out of death row. And he's the one that said to her go and sin no more.

I don't know we have any testimony about her anymore. I don't know if we ever hear from her again. I don't think we do in the Scriptures.

But I got a hunch those words rang through her mind. The same said to me go and sin no more. The same one who said neither do I condemn thee.

Who else do we have examples of this in Scripture? We have Abraham. Abraham, go take your son and kill him. How likely would you be to take that advice if some voice came along and said, go kill one of your children.

But you see, it wasn't just any voice. It was the same said unto me voice. Abraham had been given promises before this.

I will make of thee a great nation at a time when Abraham had no children. And Abraham heard that voice and found that voice to be reliable. And he had a child in his old age.

And it was that same God who told Abraham take sacrifice thy only son. The same said unto me. It wasn't just anybody, but it was the same.

What about Ezekiel? He was called to be a prophet of God. He was given messages from God. And he said, go take these to your people.

He was given a wife. He must have been in love with his wife, Ezekiel was, because it called her the delight of his eyes. And then God came to Ezekiel and said, you know, I've got something for you to do.

I'm going to use your wife as an object lesson. She's going to die, okay? I'm going to kill her. And then I want you to not show any emotion.

No grief. No mourning. And this is going to be an object lesson for the people of Israel.

Now, Ezekiel could have objected. He could have said, no way. I'm not going along with this.

I'm not going to do this. Object lesson. But you see, it was the same that said unto me, here's a wife.

The same that said unto me, you be a prophet. The same God that had been faithful up until now. The same God that had proved himself over and over again.

It was the same that said unto me that this is going to happen. And somehow Ezekiel pulled it off. Somehow he was faithful through that unbelievably trying circumstance that God had allowed him to go through.

Peter. Another one. Matthew 18.

Peter was a man who had been forgiven much already and he is yet to be forgiven a lot more. He knew what it was like to experience the forgiveness of Jesus. And so he asked the question, how often do we need to forgive others? Well, Jesus built on the fact that Peter had been forgiven and said not seven times a day, but 70 times seven unlimited amount of time.

And he says, if you want the forgiveness that comes from God. You've got to forgive others. And that's the message for all of us.

The same that said it to us. And I wonder how many we could raise a raise. How many are born again? How many have been forgiven by God? And we could ask you that.

It's the same God today that has forgiven us that is now telling us you go and forgive others. And that's what Peter was experiencing. When Jesus gave that story of the talents, the forgiving, and He said, you've been forgiven so much.

Therefore, go forgive others. You know, it means a lot more than just some preacher telling you go forgive people that do you wrong. It's pretty hard sometimes.

But when the same said unto you, the same Jesus who forgave you all your sins, who gave you an inheritance in heaven, and He says go forgive others, it becomes very, very powerful. What about Paul? Paul was told one time, I'm going to show you a bunch of things that you're going to have to suffer. Well, that's not very welcome news.

But who was it coming from? The same Jesus that met him on the road to Damascus. I am Jesus. It's hard for you to kick against some pricks.

And Paul believed. And when it was Jesus who said, I'm going to show you what things you must suffer. Suddenly, it was all different.

We have other more modern times. We've got David Brainerd, the missionary to the Indians, who gave up a tremendous amount to be a missionary. We have Jim Elliott and the five missionaries down there in Ecuador who gave their lives to spread the gospel.

Adam Irem Judson in Burma. C.T. Studd. You know, he's a wealthy sports player.

And he was called to go to, I think it was China, then Africa. Maybe it was the other way around. He spent a lot of time overseas.

Ended up becoming hugely unhealthy because of all the diseases he had. But his statement was, you know, God has done so much for me. That was his mentality.

God has done so much for me. And it was him that said, go and give. What can I not give up for him? George Mueller, mighty in prayer.

God used him in a mighty way. And, you know, why don't you do things a little differently, George? Why don't you, you know, you've got all this money stored up for yourself. But he said, no, I'm trusting God.

And over and over again, he would pray. And it was the same God that answered prayer over and over again, the same sudden to me to do things this way. And so he was faithful to that.

Ralph Palmer, one of the men that I've looked up to over the years, he, you know, passing out gospel tracts all over the United States. And why did he do that? Well, if you read the early part of his life, it was amazing how God had showed mercy to him, brought him down into the depth of sickness after he was a backslider. But God had mercy on him.

And so that voice ringing through his mind, the same sudden to me, go and be a missionary to America. And so he was. He was very faithful in that through gospel signs, through gospel tracts.

And so as I think of today, then believers today who call on the name of the Lord, what's Romans 10 tell us? Those who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And once again, we haven't asked for the raise of hands, but I'm sure quite a number of hands would go up if we'd ask you, have you done that? Have you called on the name of the name of the Lord? Have you been saved? If you love me, Jesus said, obey my commands, commands to love your enemies. I think of the story of Dean Taylor, who was in the military and he heard that voice, love your enemies.

But it wasn't just a voice from anybody. It was a voice from the son of God, the one who could say, kill me and I will rise again and come through on it. It came from an authoritative voice and he finally decided I can't ignore it.

That's why he ended up getting out of the military. Maybe we look at him and say, that was a good thing for him to do. How much did he have to give up? I don't know.

Did he have to give up some military pension? Did he have to give up an honorable discharge? I'm not sure what all he had to give up. Today in Russia, I hear they've just started instituting a draft over there, bringing people in to help fight the war of Ukraine. I got a hunch people over there are going to have to give up a lot more to carry out the commands of Jesus.

Love your enemies. Somebody said it's a 10-year prison sentence if you're called to go to the military and you don't go. Other commands of Jesus.

Commands about our money, our possessions. Commands about divorce and remarriage. Commands about, like we already talked about, forgiving those who who have wronged us.

So, what has God given us? How does He want us to use it? Us here at Valley Christian Fellowship. We've got a lot of things. We've had good friends among us here.

We've got a couple of marriages coming up. So, what does God tell us to do? I think of the command there in Mark where he says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Then I think of some messages I got this morning from Ben and Sarah Smith.

You know, at the time they got married, they were making plans, if I got it right, to already go to Ghana. They were already thinking about that, talking about that. They met on the mission field and then they were going.

Is that what God is calling us to do? The same said to me. The same one that has given us all the blessings that we have here today. He's the one that said, go and preach the gospel to every creature.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Go and teach all nations. Let's go to one more passage here before we close.

Turn to Mark, if you would. Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6, and we'll start reading in verse 30. Verse 30, Mark 6, verse 30, And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

So in modern terms, Jesus said, let's go backpacking. Let's go camping. Let's go off away from all the people and the hubbub.

Let's jump in our little motorboat and here we go. And so they did. They got away from it all.

And they had a good time of fellowship. It was refreshing. And they're, you know, I don't know what all they talked about, you know, as they were off there in that backpack.

Maybe they took a little hike to the top of a cliff or a waterfall or something. And they just had a wonderful time. It was kind of short lived, but however long it was, I'm sure it was a blessing to them.

Maybe they were comparing, hey, what kind of, you know, backpack you got or water filter. I don't know. Bartholomew, you know, what's that knife you're carrying there? What brand is it? I don't know what they discussed.

Were they planning the next backpacking trip? Was that the purpose? Let's get better at this so we can go further and, you know, do more. Maybe next week we could go again. Was that their focus? And I think the answer comes really, really quickly after this little outing they had.

The focus was not the next backpacking trip. It was the next ministry opportunity. They were getting refreshed so that they could go into the harvest field.

What did he say in John 4? Lift up your eyes and look on the harvest. That's what Jesus said. Go and teach.

And so these blessings we have, it's the same One who gave us the blessing. And it was a blessing. I'm a little sore today, but it was still a blessing.

I've got good memories from the camping trip. But it's the same Jesus who gave those blessings to me, gave them to us, who said unto us, lift up your eyes and look on the harvest. You know, I'd like to alter, I'd like to change the announcements just a little bit.

It was announced on this coming Tuesday night we're going to have a youth singing. I'm going to change the name of it. Just this coming Tuesday, instead of a youth singing, we're going to call it a youth social because there might be more talking than singing.

There might be some singing, but we've been through some good experiences as a youth group. We had a meeting here a few weeks ago, a couple of months ago, maybe now, Sunday morning. We had some good talk from Brother Mark's sister and we're here last weekend.

Got together as a youth, talk about it. And, you know, some of these camping trips we've had some good discussions. I was here this past one, but I understand there were some good discussions, the previous one as well.

And these discussions have helped us as a congregation, maybe especially as a youth group, maybe building relationships, maybe even mending relationships, but preparing us, looking into us as a group and saying, what needs do we have and how can we correct or help those needs? How can we build each other up? And we have sermons here at church and we have a lot of focus on getting ourselves right. The purity meeting tonight, a very key part of preparing us for life, preparing us for the next temptation that comes along, preparing us to be useful vessels, cleaning ourselves, making ourselves these clean vessels that God can use. But what's the end result then of that? It's not just keep looking internally, but finally lift up our eyes and look and go and move and make some changes.

And so here on Tuesday night, we're going to have that be a little bit the focus. OK, we're going to do a project together. I'll put it that way.

We're going to do a project together to help us lift up our eyes on the harvest fields. And so I want you all to be there. If anybody decides it sounds safer just to stay away, we're all going to be involved in the project, even the ones that don't make it to my place on Tuesday night.

Everybody's going to be involved. We'll draft you from a distance. So be better if you just were there.

OK, so Tuesday evening, I want to invite you there. We're going to talk about this. How can we, now that we've had these very, very valuable times of pulling together, and I'm not saying we're done yet on the pulling together and the internal focus and all of that.

That's not, I'm not going to say that at all. But at some point, it's good. Even if you're not done fixing all the internal problems, it's good to start looking out.

It's good to start looking out at distance. And so we'll be communicating as we go. I'm not going to give you too many more details here this morning, but I want to invite you to the youth social on Tuesday evening, and we'll give you more details at that point.

And we're going to see what God can do. So in closing, whether you're youth, whether you're not, my question is, who is this Jesus? Is he really the resurrected son of God, the creator of the universe like he claims to be? All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made.

If he is, then what has he said to you? What has he said in the still small voice in your closet? That's one question. But if you say, I don't know, I'm not very good at listening to still small voices. Well, we don't have to be limited to still small voices because, you know, you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

You have four whole books of his biographies with his words that are aimed at us. So go read those words. What has Jesus said to you? And when you're listening to the words of Jesus, remember, he's the same one that said unto us, I will rise again.

He's the same one who said to us, I will heal you. I will forgive your sins. That's the one you're listening to.

It's not me, a preacher up here behind the pulpit or somebody who writes a good book or preaches a good sermon that you hear online or whatever. That's not the person speaking. It's Jesus, the son of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

He's the one that's speaking to you when you get these commands. As you listen to him, can you do like the blind man and say the same said unto me, take up your bed and walk? He said, it's him. I can't not do it.

The only reasonable thing to do to a man who has just, you know, healed my legs, the only reasonable thing to do is to obey him. Is that how our response is when we hear a command from Jesus? Let's bow our heads for prayer. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus and we thank you, Lord, for all that you've done.

We thank you, Lord, for the stories in your word. We thank you for the response of the blind man who said the same said to me, take up your bed and walk. No matter how much trouble it got him into, no matter how unpopular it made him, he was willing to do it because it was you, Lord.

It was your son. And it was his command. And so he said, I'll do it.

Lord, I pray you give us hearts to do the same in Jesus' name.