Trapped In Nazareth

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.280 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.760 podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.680 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God has moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.560 in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:18.400 Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.479 Our scripture today is found in Mark chapter six, verse 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.680 one through six. I want to read this to you 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.640 from our Savage Jesus series, which just keeps going. This 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.760 is now the longest series that I've ever preached. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.040 I didn't intend it. I just got stuck in it. 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:39.599 But we've been just tracking this man named Jesus that 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.480 we thought we knew so much about, and he keeps 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.760 shocking us and surprising us. And we realize that we 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.280 can spend our whole lives studying about him and only 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.959 begin to glimpse how great he is and also how 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:56.680 revolutionary his life was and his time here on earth. 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.480 And so we want to pick up in March six today, 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.040 and we're in for a real treat today because we 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.360 get to see Jesus take a trip back home, and 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.160 we get to see the response to his ministry from 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.720 those who knew him as a little boy. And we'll 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.040 get to evaluate that in the light of our own lives. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.440 And I want to read you the scripture and then 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.319 take some time teaching it today. Very excited about this 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:26.080 particular message. The scripture says in Mark chapter six, Verse one, 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.400 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:34.920 his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.680 in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.720 Where did this man get these things? They asked, what's 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.200 this wisdom that has been given him? 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:51.760 What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? It's going good, right, Wow, 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:58.280 this guy's good. Whoa write that down? Hey? This is amazing. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.240 But then something shifts in the tone of the text. 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.080 And this is where we'll spend our time trying to 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:10.760 discern the difference between their amazement in that verse and 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:15.640 their annoyance in the next one. Isn't this the carpenter 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.560 in this mary Son, the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:21.080 and Simon. 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:23.519 Aren't his sisters here with us? 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:28.600 And they took offense at him, And Jesus said to them, 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.720 a prophet is not without honor except in his own town. 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.359 Among his relatives and in his own home, and he 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:40.960 this next part, I know you think they made a 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.000 mistake when they typed it in for the screen because 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.639 it says that Jesus could not and we're not used 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.000 to seeing anything that he can't do. And so I know, 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:52.960 you think I need to fire the production team who 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.799 put the scripture up. That it should say he would not, 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.400 that he was unwilling to, but it actually it actually 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:00.320 says he could not. 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:02.000 He was unable to. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.880 There was one thing that even Jesus was not able 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:12.000 to do, and it was to override the unbelief of 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:17.079 the people that he wanted to heal, that he wanted 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.680 to serve, that he wanted to save. But the Bible 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.880 says that when Jesus came home, he could not do 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.079 any miracles there except lay his hands on a few 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:32.200 sick people and healed them. And it's interesting because when 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:34.800 we started the passage, the people were amazed at Jesus, 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:38.360 but now when we come to this verse, Jesus is 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.320 amazed at the people. And the only time we see 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:45.120 Jesus unable to do something in scripture, and the only 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:48.960 time we see Jesus amazed in scripture is in regards 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.480 to faith. It says he was amazed at their lack 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.840 of faith, and so there was something he wanted to 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:57.440 do for the people that he couldn't do for the 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.880 people because of something that was within the people. That's 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:02.560 what I want to speak about today. The title of 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:08.680 this message is Trapped in Nazareth. Trapped in Nazareth, And 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.480 on your way to your seat, look at the person 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:15.720 next to you and say, you seem stuck, Please be seated. 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.080 Sometimes people think Jesus was from Bethlehem. He was born 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:33.480 in Bethlehem. Oh little tell bethlm how still we see 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:34.440 the lie? 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.919 But he was born in Bethlehem. He grew up in Nazareth. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.440 That's where this passage takes place, not where he was born, 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.719 but where he was raised in Nazareth, not where he 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.839 did most of his ministry. He didn't do most of 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:54.240 his ministry in the place where he grew up, because 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.520 sometimes in order to be used by God, you have 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.560 to leave what is familiar. That's an important point and 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:03.600 we'll cover it more fully, But I just want to 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:05.880 tell you a little bit about Nazareth, which is twenty 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.880 five miles southwest of Capernaum. That was his base. That's 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:13.880 where he set up shop and moved around that Sea 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:17.600 of Galilee to do miracles. That's where his fame was 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.719 being published. When it says in verse one, Jesus left there. 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.840 He didn't leave the place where he was ministering and 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.080 go back home because it wasn't working out. He left 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.560 his success to go back to where he started. And 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.440 that interesting. He didn't go back because he needed a 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.640 room in Mary's basement or to sleep on the couch 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:39.760 for a little while while they raised some funds for 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:43.640 the ministry. He wasn't go funding me and trying to 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.120 get it off the ground. He was in fact going 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.240 back home for a specific purpose, which we know because 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.640 it says this important detail that he took his disciples 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:52.359 with him. 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:54.400 Now, why is it important. 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.480 That he took his squad if I may call them 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.240 a squad, just to modernize the. 0:05:58.200 --> 0:05:59.080 Text a little bit. 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.440 If the Bible were written today, it would say he 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:04.799 went accompanied with his squad. 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:06.960 He went with them, and he went. 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.680 Back to the people who he grew up with, and 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.440 he took them with him. Now that's important why because 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.359 he's taking them as a part of their training, he 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.320 is commissioning them to change the world, and he takes 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.560 them back. I'll never forget when I took Colley to 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:24.960 Monk's Corner for the first time. She was so bored 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.760 and she acted so interested, and I knew I found 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.480 the woman I wanted because she pretended like Monk's Corner 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.200 was the most fascinating city in the United States of America. 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.479 Now she had traveled by this point to forty nine 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:43.000 of the United States. She had seen many things, and 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:46.560 so I know there was nothing special about Monk's Corner, 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:48.800 But boy, she made me feel like she was interested 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.839 in Sonic where we hung out every Friday night, just 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.040 different landmarks like this that were important to my development. 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.560 Just didn't taking the disciples home to show him around. 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.640 He has a purpose. I'm not making a detour. He's 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:04.800 not even coming home for Thanksgiving. He's not checking in 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:08.800 it's not been a while. He's actually coming home for 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:13.000 a purpose. He's coming home for a purpose. And while 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.240 he is there, he is invited to give the guest 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.400 lecture in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And as 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.680 he does that, as he stands up to teach, the 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.840 people notice that there is something about him that they 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.680 did not notice when he lived among them, because he'd 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.960 been there for a long time. But now that he's 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.160 been gone for a while, they see him differently when 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.520 he comes back. And since I already read the whole 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.240 passage to you, we may as well talk about the 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:48.000 fact that Jesus was rejected by. 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.080 Those who were the closest to him. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.000 He found wider acceptance among the sinners than he did 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.840 the religious. In fact, one way that the prophet said 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:02.080 it was he came unto his own, and his own 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:03.000 received him. 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.000 Not that's a very sad. 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.120 Place to be, by the way, when the people closest 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.320 to you don't appreciate you, don't support you. 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:14.760 And don't express their love to you. 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.200 In fact, I have met grown men who are still 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.640 trying to prove something to their dead dad who never 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.720 said I'm proud of you. There's something about when you 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:26.360 wanted approval from somebody who was closest to you. And 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.520 we all have these people in our lives that we 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.760 really desperately crave for them to tell us that not 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.120 only what we do matters to them, but that they 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:39.679 admire us as a man, maybe some man thing. I 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.120 don't know, if you can help me sort this out. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.160 Whether this is a gender thing or whether it's across 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:49.360 the board. I want to be admired by the people who. 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.720 Really know me. That means something. 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.720 To me, because I figure I can fake everybody else out. 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.400 But if the people who are closest to. 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.840 Me and now the most, if they don't think I'm 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.600 full of crap, I'm doing something, talk to me. 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.319 I love how y'all look at me confused, like you're 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.319 not full of crap. Sometimes, you know how you're real 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:14.600 nice to the server at the restaurant, but you yell 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:15.559 at your wife. 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.640 Like that, like that thing that just made you go. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:22.720 Do me? 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:35.400 So the pain of wanting someone close to you to notice? 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.800 Have you ever just wanted someone to notice? Come on, 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:40.400 I know you're sitting. 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.520 Next to them, so we got to play it straight. 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.360 Have you ever wanted somebody to just notice? 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.600 This is why I make Holly preach occasionally, because I 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:50.440 just want her to know how freaking hard it is. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.600 That's why she leaves me with all of the kids occasionally, 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:57.640 because she just wants me to know. This is not 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.520 as easy as I make it look. Okay, So every 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.200 once in a while, I got to leave these demons. 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:11.200 I mean blessings from the Lord, so you can know, so. 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:11.680 You can know. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:16.000 And yet what amazed me about the life of Jesus 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.679 was how often the people closest to. 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:24.920 Him took him for granted. And that what happens me. 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:29.559 You know this, sometimes when you get too close to something, 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:36.360 it becomes too common. Remember, these people had a hard 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:41.440 time seeing Jesus as their deliverer because they had seen 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:46.880 Jesus in diapers. It's kind of hard to believe he's 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.679 going to save the world when you knew him in 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:50.720 his terrible twos. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:53.160 Did Jesus have terrible twos? 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:53.520 I don't know. 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.040 That's a theological question for another time. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.559 But it's kind of hard sometimes to see the miracle 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:07.040 in something that you have become familiar with. He quotes 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.720 a saying because these people that he grew up around 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.120 don't seem to receive him on the same level that 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.600 the Gentiles, even who were not known to associate with 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.400 the Jews, and in fact were known in many ways 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:25.439 to be resistant to the Jewish religion, had no problem 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.280 welcoming him. In fact, when he showed up for them, 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:29.559 they came in droves to hear him speak. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.199 But now he's back. 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.440 Home, and the disciples must have been shocked, because I 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:35.680 know they were looking forward to this. They're taking the 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.200 show back home, and certainly we're going to get to 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.440 see the impact of the ministry in this small town. 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.400 Nazareth isn't a big place. Nazareth is only like a 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:46.520 couple hundred people. 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:47.959 The only reason you know. 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.480 The name Nazareth is because Jesus put it on the map. 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:55.120 Before Jesus, Nazareth was unknown. And so going back to Nazareth, 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.240 you know, twenty five miles from where we're doing all 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:02.679 this great ministry, going through the precipitous cliffs of our Belle, 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.280 all of these routes that they would travel the seven 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.960 mile major trade route as they're going, don't you know 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.920 Peter was excited. I can't wait to show them what 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:13.800 Jesus can do. Boy, they're gonna be shocked when they 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:17.320 see what you've become. He's going back home, Bieber is 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.360 going back to Canada, Drake is going back to Toronto. 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:23.040 Jesus is going. 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.600 Back home to Nazareth and he's preaching and it's amazing. 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:27.520 They're amazed. 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.839 Ooh that's good, Jesus, Oh that's good. 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.880 And all of a sudden somebody said, wait, he's one 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:39.120 of us. And the moment they categorized him as one 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:39.760 of us. 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:41.440 He became common. 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:46.800 And the moment you categorize something is common that was sent. 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.280 To be special, you trip over the miracle. 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:56.280 Because you miss it in the mundane. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.640 Yes, Lord, I'll preach it just like that. 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.079 God said for me to tell some of you husbands 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.720 that some of the things that you used to be 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.880 amazed about in the woman that you married are some 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.640 of the same things you're complaining about eight years in. 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:17.400 Mike Purnitt, you said it. You know how it is. 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.240 It's some of the things that are amazing when a 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:21.600 relationship begins. 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:27.280 Oh, he's just so, he's so amazing. He's just mysterious. 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:33.680 Okay, I want to holler at you in eleven years 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:40.040 about how mysterious he is and how amazing it is, 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.720 because in eleven years you might be mad that he 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:49.640 won't talk. It was sexy that he was mysterious, it 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:54.200 was amazing, But now what was amazing is annoying. 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:55.920 Let me help the fellas out. 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.040 You know how she looks amazing when she comes out 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.800 for a date. The reason she looks amazing is because 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.920 you don't yet have a glimpse into the process by 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:08.439 which she looks amazing. 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:09.959 And I promise you. 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.600 Something about the process that it takes to make her 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:14.960 look amazing. 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:17.959 It's going to be two hours of you waiting. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:29.600 I'm not preaching about me, he qulls averb. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.119 A prophet is without honor only in his hometown. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.000 In other words, sometimes the people who are the closest 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.880 treat it the most common. And this is the principle 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:46.840 that we would summarize by saying familiarity breeds contempt. But 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:52.280 I'll tell you something else. It also breeds complacency. And 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.720 when something is so close to you for so long, 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:00.400 when when God puts something in your midst that is 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:07.120 magnificent and miraculous, but you live among it long enough, 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:11.720 sometimes you have been around it so long that you 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:16.440 cease to be amazed by it, and you start taking 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:22.520 things for granted. In one way, if people take you 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:24.640 for granted, I want you. 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.120 To know, it's a compliment. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:32.480 It's a compliment to your consistency. 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:34.760 If people take you for granted. 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.320 This is why your kids never say thank you, because 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:38.160 they always eat. 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:48.239 Starve them three days. Cut the water off. 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.000 For a week, you know, the reason they don't thank 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.480 you for it is because it's always there. I had 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.000 to understand this about preaching because when I started preaching, 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:00.640 people were always pinched my cheek. 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:02.840 Oh, that was so good. And one day they stopped 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:03.640 pinching my cheek. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.280 And at first I was offended because I thought they 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:12.800 didn't appreciate me. And then I realized that maybe it 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:18.240 wasn't that I wasn't preaching good anymore. Maybe I had 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:23.840 preached consistently well enough for long enough that they no 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.560 longer felt the need to pat my bottom to get 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:28.360 me to do it again. 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.800 This is what I teach our staff at Elevation Church. 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.960 I'll say, you know you're getting good at something when 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.960 people stop telling you that you did a good job, 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.880 because it just becomes what they expect from you, and 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:47.160 they'll stop complimenting you because you're consistent. So when they 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:51.560 stop complimenting you, that in itself is a compliment. In 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.760 other words, if I'm telling you, thank you so much 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:58.520 for doing this on time, that's. 0:16:58.360 --> 0:16:59.160 Not a compliment. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:05.720 Translation, you are so unreliable and undependable that I am 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.080 literally shocked that you got your stuff together for once. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.840 Thank you for making your bed. What are you twelve? 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.960 I expect you to do it. You're supposed to do it. 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.760 You don't have to thank me for preaching. I preach 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:20.760 because it's fire shut. 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:23.439 Up in my bones. Who unto me if I do 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:31.760 not preach the gospel. If you want to send me 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:33.679 a gift card, I'll spend it. But I don't have 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:34.239 to have it. 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.000 I don't have to have it touch somebody say I 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.560 don't need it, not to survive on because I have 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.800 matured like Jesus, to the point that even when they 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.760 did not see him for who he was, he still 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:52.560 did what he could. He could not do many miracles, 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.600 but he did what he could, unappreciated what he could, 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:01.520 uncelebrated what he could, unnoticed what he could, unrecognized what 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:02.040 he could. 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.200 Taken for granted what he could. Here's the danger. 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.560 While it is a compliment to you, when people take 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:15.160 you for granted, it is a danger to them because 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.359 what is consistently hear me Lake Norman, what is consistently 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:30.720 taken for granted is eventually taken away. Here comes Jesus 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:36.440 to his hometown, Nazareth, and he's coming with the same 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:41.200 healing power that resurrected a twelve year old girl in 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:44.560 Mark chapter five that healed a woman with the issue 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:44.920 of blood. 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:46.320 She didn't take Jesus for granted. 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:48.479 She knew she had one shot to get to him, 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.360 and she wasn't gonna throw away her shot. 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.359 She knew this might be the only chance that I have. 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.159 It's funny to me people come to uh Elevation sometimes 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.800 from other parts of the country, and it always shames 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.080 some of us who live here because it's in our backyard. 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.840 And it's on their bucket list, and they're excited. They 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:12.160 got the. 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:16.080 VIP brochure, they got an Elevation Worship hoodie on with 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:20.840 the Elevation youth had on, and they got some They 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.040 know all the songs better than the people who live 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:24.040 in Waxaw. 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:26.400 And it's kind of crazy to. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.479 Us because they come with a spirit of worship. They're early, 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:32.679 they don't complain about the park, and they didn't have 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:34.760 to deal with it because they got there early. And 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.320 then it puts some of us to shame because what's 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.760 on their bucket list is in our backyard. And sometimes 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.960 we can take something for granted, and I'm guilty of it. 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.160 Sometimes that God has given me the privilege to pastor 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.879 such a wonderful, beautiful church, full of such diversity of thought, 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.840 diversity of ethnicity, diversity of income, diversity of background, diversity 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.320 of strength. And sometimes I can let it become just 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:02.280 another Sunday. 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.720 But the devil is a liar. This is not common. 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.360 This is not common, This is not common. 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:13.240 And I will not take these things for granted. 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.320 I will not allow my. 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:29.400 Miracle to become trapped in my familiarity. Here what I said, 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.080 because you might have clapped over it. I will not 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:37.600 allow my miracle to become trapped in my familiarity. Jesus 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:42.600 comes to Nazareth, full of healing, full of resurrection, full 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:47.040 of blind eye opening power, full of death, ear opening power, 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:51.440 full of lame to walk, blind to see power, full 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:55.280 of dead raising power, and all that power shows up 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.399 in a little town like Nazareth, and Jesus has not 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.880 lost any power on the twenty five mile journey through 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.119 the cliffs of our Bell. But the people have lost 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.159 their appreciation of his power. And since they have lost 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:13.200 their appreciation for his power, they have limited the potential 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.320 for his power to be released into their lives. I 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.000 wonder has it happened to some of us when we 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.560 first got saved. We were grateful. It felt good to 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.760 be forgiven. It felt good to be free. It felt 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.480 good to have something to live for. It felt good 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:32.360 to have an orientation in life that was not us 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:35.159 on a throne. It felt good to not need people 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:37.359 to tell us what we were worth because we had 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:39.719 been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:41.400 But something happens. 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:45.159 Because we don't have to sacrifice bulls and goats and 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:48.560 pigeons and doves and bulls, and since we don't have 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.600 to smell the blood of the sacrifice, sometimes we can 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:53.920 become complacent and treat the blood. 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.240 Of Jesus which was shed for us, as a. 0:21:56.119 --> 0:21:59.119 Common thing because we don't feel it. And because we 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.840 don't feel it, we begin to become familiar with it. 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:04.760 And when you become familiar with it, sometimes you miss 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:07.200 the power of it. And some of you are tripping 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:10.080 over your miracle because it's been in front of you 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:17.239 so long you have stopped being amazed. I came with 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:22.000 a word for somebody. Stay amazed. Don't get jaded by it. 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:25.560 Don't start to back up and put your hands in 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:27.080 your pocket and act like. 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:28.359 You got yourself here. 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.200 If we can get honest, you know you still need 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:35.000 that same grace. If it wasn't still flowing, you wouldn't 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:38.520 be still breathing. Don't blame me like that. There's some 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:41.520 stuff in your life that if it had not been 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:51.120 for the Lord on yours I five five people. Tell them, 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:55.640 I'm still amazed. Stay amazed by it. Don't get too 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:59.080 comfortable with it. Don't start thinking you earned what you 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:02.640 first received. Don't start acting like God owes you will 0:23:02.720 --> 0:23:05.680 favor to leave you on the planet. Every pay is 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:08.879 a gift, Every breath is a gift. Now, let's do 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:14.159 what David said. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:18.040 Let everything that has hands clap those hands. 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:20.040 Holgy people and. 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:30.119 Shallow to God with a voice of triumph. 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:36.680 Power came to Nazareth, but it was trapped. 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:45.480 It was trapped in their familiar expectation, and they missed 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:46.199 the miracle. 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:47.440 They tripped over it. 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:54.119 Literally, it's implied in the word that mark Usus says 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:57.560 that they were amazed. But then when they started thinking 0:23:57.600 --> 0:24:00.560 about it, watched their dialogue. Where did this man get 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:06.919 these things? They didn't deny his power? What's this wisdom 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:11.840 that has been given him. They didn't deny his wisdom. 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:16.600 What are these remarkable miracles that he is performing. They 0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:22.240 didn't deny his miracles. They didn't doubt it. They despised it. 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:29.360 Why did they despise it? Because he looked like one 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:35.960 of them. He came in a common way, and when 0:24:36.000 --> 0:24:39.640 God comes in a common way, we trip over him. 0:24:39.720 --> 0:24:43.000 In our process of trying to get to something that 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:48.000 we think is important, we trip. Here's what they said. 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:54.200 Isn't this the carpenter there tripping? They're tripping? They thought 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:57.960 he was tripping. Who does he think he is? This 0:24:58.000 --> 0:25:00.120 guy is tripping. I love how they call him this, 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:04.080 this man, this dude. It's only five hundred people in 0:25:04.119 --> 0:25:06.159 the town. You know good and well what his name is. 0:25:06.440 --> 0:25:08.239 But they gave him a different name. What's what they 0:25:08.240 --> 0:25:15.800 called him? The carpenter? Common This one's even better. Isn't 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.280 this Mary's son? You don't do that. In Jewish custom, 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:23.240 you call the child by the name of his father. Now, 0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:25.600 maybe at this point Joseph's dead, But even if Joseph 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:27.159 is dead, you still call him by the name of 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:39.040 the father, unless you don't know exactly who his father is. Remember, 0:25:39.119 --> 0:25:44.480 Jesus came from questionable circumstances. Mary said it was God. 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:46.440 But none of us saw the pregnancy test. That angel 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:50.919 didn't tell us. She was telling the truth. So we 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:53.679 know Mary's his MoMA. She's got the same nose. But 0:25:54.880 --> 0:26:04.040 that daddy thing baby, that baby, that baby might have, 0:26:04.960 --> 0:26:10.960 I don't know. Mary was talking to Tom. They spent 0:26:11.040 --> 0:26:13.760 a lot of time together. It is circulated. See Nazareth's 0:26:13.760 --> 0:26:15.119 small town. You didn't grow up in a small town, 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:16.840 so you don't know how it goes in a small town. 0:26:18.520 --> 0:26:21.880 It didn't take long for this rumor to become embedded. 0:26:24.480 --> 0:26:27.040 Where did he come from? None of us really know. 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:29.800 It wasn't what he did that they doubted. It was 0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:35.880 where he came from. Where did he come from from? 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:40.120 Nazareth? Who was one of them? 0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:42.000 And so they looked at him for a minute, Oh 0:26:42.080 --> 0:26:45.040 this is good, and then they remember, wait, he's. 0:26:44.880 --> 0:26:50.320 One of us. He can't be special. He came from us. 0:26:52.200 --> 0:26:55.679 What would make them think like that? What was it 0:26:55.720 --> 0:27:02.520 about Nazareth that had them trapped in their percep Okay, 0:27:02.520 --> 0:27:06.240 now we need Nathaniel because you know Christmas time everybody 0:27:06.280 --> 0:27:08.040 always sings Mary. 0:27:08.080 --> 0:27:10.720 Did you know? But Mary wasn't even in church that day. 0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:13.520 She wasn't even there. She wasn't even in the synagogue. 0:27:14.359 --> 0:27:16.760 You don't hear this preach from Pulpits a lot, I 0:27:16.760 --> 0:27:19.200 think because it's hard to tie up with the boat. Jesus' 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:21.800 family thought he was crazy during the three years of 0:27:21.800 --> 0:27:26.800 his ministry. In Mark chapter three, they came to get 0:27:26.880 --> 0:27:30.639 him from Capernaum. They came to bring him back home 0:27:30.880 --> 0:27:32.399 because he had gotten Here's how we say it in 0:27:32.400 --> 0:27:36.320 the South, too big for his breeches. That's a Southern saying, 0:27:37.119 --> 0:27:38.560 bridges being our pants. 0:27:38.720 --> 0:27:41.040 I don't know. I don't know how you say it 0:27:41.080 --> 0:27:42.760 back home. I went to Australia. 0:27:42.840 --> 0:27:46.480 In Australia they call it tall poppy. It means when 0:27:46.520 --> 0:27:48.920 you get to Hi, you want to grow up too high. 0:27:48.920 --> 0:27:51.520 Somebody needs to cut you down. This is what's happening 0:27:51.520 --> 0:27:54.800 in Nazareth. They're like, ooh, it's good, ooh, the healer 0:27:54.840 --> 0:28:01.560 is here. Wait a minute, Mary's boy, this is tooo familiar. 0:28:02.840 --> 0:28:06.800 This feels like us. And when it felt like. 0:28:06.800 --> 0:28:10.280 Them, something within them caused them to push it away. 0:28:10.720 --> 0:28:13.160 We only see why in John chapter one. 0:28:13.400 --> 0:28:17.760 And I'm so glad that God gave us four Gospels, 0:28:18.200 --> 0:28:22.760 because Mark puts one perspective, Matthew puts one, Luke puts one. 0:28:23.000 --> 0:28:27.080 In Luke four, it says that they were so offended. 0:28:27.800 --> 0:28:32.040 Scandalon is the Greek word. It means to set a trap. 0:28:33.160 --> 0:28:37.760 They were so offended they became trapped in their offense, 0:28:38.560 --> 0:28:43.120 and God's power could not operate at its full capacity 0:28:43.560 --> 0:28:47.680 because their mentality was trapped in their offense. 0:28:48.120 --> 0:28:49.880 Why were they so offended? 0:28:50.360 --> 0:28:53.560 What was it about Nazareth and the people of Nazareth 0:28:53.920 --> 0:28:56.280 other than the fact that they grew up around Jesus? 0:28:56.760 --> 0:28:59.160 Was there something else? There had to be something. 0:28:58.920 --> 0:29:02.120 Else for them to push away, to have sickness in 0:29:02.160 --> 0:29:02.960 their village, but. 0:29:03.040 --> 0:29:05.960 Push away the one that could heal them, for them. 0:29:05.760 --> 0:29:09.640 To have demon possession oppressing their children, but send away 0:29:09.880 --> 0:29:12.080 the one who could make the demon shriek and run 0:29:12.120 --> 0:29:15.440 out of town. What was it about Nazareth that made 0:29:15.440 --> 0:29:18.160 them push away the one who came to set them free? 0:29:18.560 --> 0:29:22.120 What was it about Nazareth? Well, Nathaniel's gonna tell us. 0:29:22.280 --> 0:29:24.800 Nathaniel doesn't get a lot of speaking parts in the Bible, 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:28.920 so let's pay close attention. Is very uncommon that Nathaniel speaks, 0:29:29.240 --> 0:29:31.720 But the Bible tells us one thing that he said 0:29:32.320 --> 0:29:36.320 that this whole text and our entire understanding of why 0:29:36.360 --> 0:29:39.600 God often cannot do what he wants to do in 0:29:39.640 --> 0:29:43.880 our lives. It hinges on this because when Philip came 0:29:44.120 --> 0:29:48.040 to find Nathaniel, he was excited about Jesus. This is 0:29:48.080 --> 0:29:51.560 when Jesus was first assembling his squad, this is before 0:29:51.600 --> 0:29:54.600 he sent them out to do any miracles. And Philip 0:29:54.640 --> 0:29:58.200 comes running up to his friend Nathaniel. He's called Nathaniel, 0:29:58.240 --> 0:30:01.800 and John's gospel other right call him Bartholomew. He had 0:30:01.840 --> 0:30:06.040 an alias here he's called Nathaniel. And Philip comes to 0:30:06.160 --> 0:30:09.320 Nathaniel because sometimes the first thing you do when you 0:30:09.400 --> 0:30:13.280 really meet Jesus is drag people with you. Sometimes, when 0:30:13.320 --> 0:30:15.640 God really gets a hold of your life, you will 0:30:15.640 --> 0:30:16.960 bribe people into coming. 0:30:16.760 --> 0:30:17.960 To church with you. 0:30:17.440 --> 0:30:20.040 You'll buy them Starbucks to get them to sit with 0:30:20.120 --> 0:30:21.720 you in church because. 0:30:21.480 --> 0:30:23.760 You know how messed up they are. But you can't 0:30:23.800 --> 0:30:24.240 tell them that. 0:30:24.440 --> 0:30:26.120 But if you drag them in this church and let 0:30:26.120 --> 0:30:28.760 me open the Bible, God will tell them, and together 0:30:29.000 --> 0:30:31.360 the Holy Spirit in you can get them fixed. And 0:30:31.400 --> 0:30:33.640 so you say come with me to church, and they say, 0:30:33.640 --> 0:30:35.560 I don't like church, and you say, well, this is 0:30:35.600 --> 0:30:38.200 a normal church, and they say, I'm in the church 0:30:38.280 --> 0:30:42.400 before I hearn about that evolution in church in churance 0:30:42.600 --> 0:30:43.320 in that the church. 0:30:43.680 --> 0:30:46.080 That's the church where you're coming with me. Now shut 0:30:46.160 --> 0:30:46.680 up and come. 0:30:47.000 --> 0:30:50.360 And so Philip found Nathaniel verse forty five, John one 0:30:50.720 --> 0:30:51.640 and told him we have. 0:30:51.720 --> 0:30:52.480 Found the one. 0:30:52.560 --> 0:30:56.280 Somebody shout, we found him. This is the one Moses 0:30:56.320 --> 0:30:59.080 wrote about in the Law, and whom the prophets also wrote, 0:30:59.200 --> 0:31:08.640 Watch Jesus of Nazareth, where's he from again? Nazareth the 0:31:08.720 --> 0:31:15.720 son of Joseph. And Nathaniel's reaction helped me to understand 0:31:17.000 --> 0:31:22.000 why the people of Nazareth resisted Jesus and missed his miracles. 0:31:22.160 --> 0:31:25.200 And it helped me understand why I tend to push 0:31:25.200 --> 0:31:30.320 people away sometimes. And it helped me understand why sometimes 0:31:30.360 --> 0:31:32.320 I reject the love people are trying to give me, 0:31:32.360 --> 0:31:37.560 but really I'm rejecting something else. Because when Philip said 0:31:37.600 --> 0:31:42.160 we found the one, Nathaniel was excited. But when he 0:31:42.200 --> 0:31:48.120 said where he was from, Jesus of Nazareth, Philip said 0:31:48.680 --> 0:31:54.320 forty six, Nazareth, let me do this in my best 0:31:54.360 --> 0:32:05.280 ai voice. Practice Nazareth Nazareth. Tell me about Nazareth. Watch 0:32:05.280 --> 0:32:09.720 what he says. It hinges on this. I thought they 0:32:09.880 --> 0:32:13.960 only rejected Jesus and took offense and were trapped scandal 0:32:14.000 --> 0:32:16.720 on to set a trap. I thought they were offended 0:32:16.720 --> 0:32:21.440 by Jesus because they were so familiar with him. But 0:32:21.560 --> 0:32:26.120 now I think the reason that they rejected Jesus is 0:32:26.120 --> 0:32:33.720 because they rejected themselves. Apparently Nazareth had a reputation because 0:32:33.720 --> 0:32:37.000 the first thing Nathaniel said was Nazareth. 0:32:38.960 --> 0:32:42.960 Can anything good come from there? 0:32:46.440 --> 0:32:51.640 That's how I feel about myself sometimes, you know, because 0:32:51.680 --> 0:32:56.720 I know myself. And when they took offense at him, 0:32:57.520 --> 0:33:01.080 at first I was angry with them. Then I realized 0:33:01.960 --> 0:33:06.960 they weren't really rejecting him. They had a reputation. And 0:33:07.080 --> 0:33:13.040 Nazareth is this backwoods town. Nazareth is on nobody's bucket list. 0:33:14.240 --> 0:33:19.000 They talk funny in Nazareth. It's not like Jerusalem. It's 0:33:19.040 --> 0:33:20.400 not a very religious place. 0:33:21.880 --> 0:33:22.440 Nazareth. 0:33:24.840 --> 0:33:29.800 You mean the boy with a baby daddy, who were 0:33:29.880 --> 0:33:35.240 not even short Nazareth. He came from us. It wasn't 0:33:35.280 --> 0:33:38.360 that they couldn't believe what he did. They couldn't believe 0:33:38.400 --> 0:33:48.080 it came from them. His miracles to them were remarkable. 0:33:49.440 --> 0:33:51.680 But when they tried to reconcile the fact that he 0:33:51.880 --> 0:33:58.840 was one of them with what he was doing, they 0:33:58.880 --> 0:34:02.680 couldn't reconcile the fact that something good could come from us. 0:34:04.880 --> 0:34:06.719 And when you have a view of yourself that has 0:34:06.760 --> 0:34:07.680 been shaped. 0:34:09.440 --> 0:34:16.440 Year after year, even generation after generation, by stereotypes, or 0:34:16.480 --> 0:34:20.359 by generalizations, or by failures, it comes to a point 0:34:20.400 --> 0:34:23.560 where you really start to believe that nothing good can 0:34:23.560 --> 0:34:26.960 come from you. And some of you are right there today, 0:34:27.040 --> 0:34:31.960 trapped in Nazareth because you got some things in your past, 0:34:31.960 --> 0:34:35.120 and some of them aren't even your fault. But just 0:34:35.160 --> 0:34:37.680 because it wasn't your fault doesn't mean it's not your prison. 0:34:40.080 --> 0:34:43.320 And in this room there is sexual molestation that happened 0:34:43.440 --> 0:34:46.920 twenty three years ago and still dominates. 0:34:46.719 --> 0:34:48.719 Your perception of what your future can be. 0:34:50.760 --> 0:34:52.760 And there are many in this room who are still 0:34:52.800 --> 0:34:57.719 imprisoned in a failed relationship. The relationship failed five years ago, 0:34:57.760 --> 0:34:59.680 but you are living in it in this very moment. 0:35:01.480 --> 0:35:05.640 Can anything good come from someone like me? He's just 0:35:05.800 --> 0:35:08.960 like us, He's one of us. And they were amazed 0:35:09.000 --> 0:35:12.640 at first, and then they began to despise what they 0:35:12.680 --> 0:35:16.120 were first amazed that when they realized, wait a minute, 0:35:16.239 --> 0:35:18.120 he's one of us. There is a part of us 0:35:18.160 --> 0:35:20.400 that is able to believe that God is great. 0:35:21.719 --> 0:35:24.000 But when we try to reconcile the fact of. 0:35:23.960 --> 0:35:29.680 His greatness with the reality of our brokenness, we start 0:35:29.719 --> 0:35:33.520 to feel like these people and we push Jesus away. 0:35:33.680 --> 0:35:36.440 And it's not that we can't believe that he's great, 0:35:37.840 --> 0:35:40.439 it's just that we can't believe that anything good could 0:35:40.440 --> 0:35:41.920 come from. 0:35:41.680 --> 0:35:42.680 Our life. 0:35:43.920 --> 0:35:46.720 Because there's so much that I don't know, and there's 0:35:47.000 --> 0:35:49.040 so much that I should have done it, so much 0:35:49.080 --> 0:35:51.960 that I shouldn't have done. And now I'm trapped in 0:35:52.080 --> 0:35:55.480 Nazareth because see, I've made some mistakes and I know 0:35:55.640 --> 0:35:58.600 Jesus is a healer, and I know he's amazing, and 0:35:58.640 --> 0:36:01.720 I know he's a miracle. World is not his miracle 0:36:01.760 --> 0:36:06.240 working power. That's in question. Here is me. I'm trapped 0:36:06.840 --> 0:36:10.919 in Nazareth. It's me and I'm a preach till all 0:36:10.960 --> 0:36:14.080 of your facade comes falling off because you come in 0:36:14.160 --> 0:36:16.720 this church and you look at me a certain way, 0:36:16.960 --> 0:36:19.600 and you come with this sterile approach to God, but 0:36:19.719 --> 0:36:22.960 he can't do what he really wants to do in 0:36:23.000 --> 0:36:29.400 your life. Because you're trapped in Nazareth. So you listen 0:36:29.440 --> 0:36:34.360 to me preach, and you'll sing a few songs, and 0:36:34.400 --> 0:36:35.800 you'll say a few prayers. 0:36:36.760 --> 0:36:40.120 But Jesus is limited in what he can do through. 0:36:39.960 --> 0:36:43.759 Your life because you are trapped in what you were. 0:36:48.280 --> 0:36:54.360 Nazareth was so unknown and so disregarded that Nathangel's first 0:36:54.440 --> 0:36:56.359 response was not Nazareth. 0:36:57.560 --> 0:36:58.480 Not Nazareth. 0:36:58.680 --> 0:37:04.560 Like the devil tells you, you. 0:37:02.400 --> 0:37:04.560 You really think you can raise those kids? 0:37:04.800 --> 0:37:07.120 You never saw it done. What makes you think you're 0:37:07.120 --> 0:37:12.239 going to be any better than your dad was? It's 0:37:12.280 --> 0:37:16.360 what tells you you can't. It's what can be in 0:37:16.560 --> 0:37:21.879 proximity of the power of God, but not receive. They 0:37:21.880 --> 0:37:28.160 were right there, but they resisted and rejected it. And 0:37:28.200 --> 0:37:31.799 yet it wasn't Jesus they were rejecting. It was that 0:37:31.880 --> 0:37:37.080 they had been rejected and people have said something about 0:37:37.120 --> 0:37:41.400 you long enough you start to believe it's really true. 0:37:42.840 --> 0:37:44.960 And I am convinced that the people of Nazareth that 0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:49.520 day were not rejecting Jesus as much as they were 0:37:49.520 --> 0:37:54.640 rejecting themselves. See, you have to develop your view of 0:37:54.640 --> 0:37:57.359 who God is through the prism of who you think 0:37:57.400 --> 0:38:01.839 you are. And if you believe the rest of your 0:38:01.880 --> 0:38:05.919 life that you are worthless, it will be very hard 0:38:05.960 --> 0:38:09.040 for you to worship a God who thought you were 0:38:09.120 --> 0:38:20.000 worth dying for. As a matter of fact, I want 0:38:20.040 --> 0:38:23.440 to help set somebody free who has been disappointed because 0:38:23.440 --> 0:38:26.160 someone rejected you. A lot of times they're not rejecting you. 0:38:27.480 --> 0:38:29.800 A lot of times what they are rejecting is something 0:38:29.800 --> 0:38:33.160 that had nothing to do with you. And sometimes they 0:38:33.200 --> 0:38:37.080 push you away because there's something pushing on the inside 0:38:37.080 --> 0:38:39.480 of them. A lot of what we experience as rejection 0:38:39.760 --> 0:38:44.359 is really just projection. It's people who have been disappointed, 0:38:44.560 --> 0:38:47.160 who have been hurt, And now you're thinking, what's wrong 0:38:47.200 --> 0:38:50.040 with me? Why doesn't she appreciate me? It's not you 0:38:50.200 --> 0:38:54.720 she doesn't appreciate. Is that she can't appreciate herself because 0:38:54.760 --> 0:38:58.160 she has not yet healed from something. Sometimes when people 0:38:58.239 --> 0:39:01.400 are pushing you away, it's not even about you. Stop 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:05.400 being so self centered. Stop thinking that people are responding 0:39:05.440 --> 0:39:09.279 to you. People have real hurts, people have real issues. 0:39:09.560 --> 0:39:12.239 Sometimes they can't get over what happened to them. To 0:39:12.400 --> 0:39:16.360 celebrate you, will you love them anyway? Are you strong 0:39:16.440 --> 0:39:20.359 enough in God? Is your relationship with him strong enough 0:39:20.400 --> 0:39:24.120 to know that what they say about me doesn't change 0:39:24.160 --> 0:39:31.840 who I am. Men's denial cannot block my destiny. 0:39:33.840 --> 0:39:35.160 Jesus was still a. 0:39:35.040 --> 0:39:39.160 Prophet, whether they knew it or not, whether they celebrated 0:39:39.200 --> 0:39:42.360 him or not, whether they rolled out a red carpet 0:39:42.600 --> 0:39:45.120 or ran him out of town, he knew who he was. 0:39:45.800 --> 0:39:48.879 Do you know who you are or do you need 0:39:48.960 --> 0:39:50.640 people to tell you who you are? 0:39:51.560 --> 0:39:54.000 Because if you let people tell you who you are, 0:39:54.320 --> 0:39:57.239 they'll say you're just a carpenter. They'll say you're just 0:39:57.280 --> 0:40:00.680 a single mom. They'll say you're just a teenager. They'll 0:40:00.719 --> 0:40:03.440 say you're just a divorceee. But if you know who 0:40:03.520 --> 0:40:06.480 God is, you realize your life is not defied by 0:40:06.480 --> 0:40:09.279 an event. Oh, as a matter of fact, it actually is. 0:40:09.800 --> 0:40:13.160 That event happened on a hill called Cavalry, when he 0:40:13.360 --> 0:40:16.360 set his blood for me, when the precious Lamb of 0:40:16.520 --> 0:40:19.799 God looked at me through time and set I'll die 0:40:19.920 --> 0:40:22.319 for him. 0:40:22.360 --> 0:40:34.080 So now I know that I am accepted by him. 0:40:35.000 --> 0:40:39.920 I love Jesus tenacity because a lot of us, if 0:40:39.920 --> 0:40:43.799 we would have been rejected in our hometown, that would 0:40:43.800 --> 0:40:45.840 have been enough to kill our mission. 0:40:48.520 --> 0:40:51.760 But what I want to show you for everybody who. 0:40:51.600 --> 0:40:55.600 Has been rejected or has been rejecting the grace that 0:40:55.640 --> 0:40:58.839 God has been trying to give you. Sometimes you're rejecting yourself. 0:41:00.120 --> 0:41:06.200 Is that something good can come from Nazareth? I say 0:41:06.400 --> 0:41:11.880 something good can come from Nazareth. And I want to 0:41:11.920 --> 0:41:14.719 tell you another thing. Well, I got you here. You 0:41:14.800 --> 0:41:19.240 don't have to stay where you started. How many praise 0:41:19.320 --> 0:41:27.000 God for that? I don't have to stay. 0:41:27.680 --> 0:41:30.439 I don't have to stay where I started. I don't 0:41:30.480 --> 0:41:34.920 have to be who I was. I don't have to 0:41:34.920 --> 0:41:40.359 be trapped in Nazareth. I don't go home and tell 0:41:40.400 --> 0:41:43.840 your husband you're leaving like he's Nazareth. 0:41:46.040 --> 0:41:49.279 People will abuse my little sermons sometimes take them out 0:41:49.320 --> 0:41:49.920 of context. 0:41:50.800 --> 0:41:53.200 Be quitting your job like it's Nazareth. 0:41:54.400 --> 0:41:56.440 You got a mortgage to pay, bro, and I need 0:41:56.440 --> 0:42:01.000 you to tithe, So keep that job. Keep that job. 0:42:04.520 --> 0:42:10.319 Maybe Nazareth isn't a place. Maybe it's a perspective. That's 0:42:10.320 --> 0:42:14.719 where we get trapped, not where we are, but what 0:42:14.760 --> 0:42:16.799 we think about where we are. Jesus could have done 0:42:16.800 --> 0:42:20.759 it in Nazareth, they just weren't willing to receive it. 0:42:21.400 --> 0:42:24.360 And what's what he did, Because this is what somebody 0:42:24.400 --> 0:42:26.240 under the sound of my voice needs to do today. 0:42:27.040 --> 0:42:28.600 And I don't know why, but I feel like when 0:42:28.600 --> 0:42:31.440 I show you this, it's going to help you understand 0:42:31.480 --> 0:42:36.040 how to get unstuck. That's something that has been playing 0:42:37.239 --> 0:42:39.759 like it's on repeat on your playlist, over and over 0:42:39.800 --> 0:42:41.840 in your mind that you can't get out of. 0:42:42.680 --> 0:42:44.799 It could be a failure. It could be a friend 0:42:44.800 --> 0:42:47.560 that left you. It could be somebody you keep trying 0:42:47.600 --> 0:42:48.200 to prove. 0:42:48.000 --> 0:42:50.000 Yourself to, but you're never going to prove yourself to 0:42:50.040 --> 0:42:52.480 them because they've never proved themselves to themselves. So how 0:42:52.520 --> 0:42:54.319 are you going to get their approval if they don't 0:42:54.360 --> 0:42:56.839 even approve of themselves. This is what's going to help 0:42:56.880 --> 0:42:59.080 you because I never saw it before because I preached 0:42:59.080 --> 0:43:01.399 this passage. One day, I'm going to do a whole 0:43:01.440 --> 0:43:04.160 series called I Apologize, and it's going to be all 0:43:04.200 --> 0:43:05.400 the passages that I. 0:43:05.440 --> 0:43:07.759 Preached and I screwed them up, and I'm going to 0:43:07.840 --> 0:43:08.239 go back and. 0:43:08.200 --> 0:43:11.440 Apologize to those passages of scripture in a whole series. 0:43:11.880 --> 0:43:13.040 And this is installment one. 0:43:13.080 --> 0:43:16.840 I apologize for stopping in verse six because often I 0:43:16.840 --> 0:43:20.239 would stop right here and say. 0:43:19.320 --> 0:43:21.040 He was amazed at their lack of faith. 0:43:21.520 --> 0:43:24.759 But right there in the same verse, it says he 0:43:24.800 --> 0:43:29.080 was amazed at their lack of faith. Right there in 0:43:29.080 --> 0:43:31.399 that same verse where it says he was rejected by 0:43:31.400 --> 0:43:33.320 the people who should have respected him the most. 0:43:33.760 --> 0:43:35.680 Have you ever felt that way? 0:43:36.320 --> 0:43:39.240 It could be a parent, it could be a child 0:43:39.719 --> 0:43:42.000 that you've done the most for. The only people that 0:43:42.040 --> 0:43:43.799 can really hurt you are the ones you really love. 0:43:43.920 --> 0:43:48.400 There's nothing like being rejected by people that you expected 0:43:48.440 --> 0:43:51.520 more from and even had the right to expect more from. 0:43:51.560 --> 0:43:53.520 He should have been able to do ten times the 0:43:53.520 --> 0:43:56.520 miracles in Nazareth. He should have been able to do 0:43:56.600 --> 0:44:00.600 much more for the people who already knew him, and 0:44:00.640 --> 0:44:04.400 that could have been enough to stop him. 0:44:04.640 --> 0:44:06.560 Soft Jesus would have stopped in Nazareth. 0:44:07.600 --> 0:44:11.239 Oh, I'm sorry, y'all think I'm taking it too far. 0:44:11.960 --> 0:44:16.480 I'll tone it down. I apologize. I'm so sorry. I 0:44:16.520 --> 0:44:19.760 won't say these things anymore. I'm sorry. I won't heal anybody. 0:44:19.840 --> 0:44:21.600 If y'all don't like it, I'll go back to the 0:44:21.640 --> 0:44:24.520 carpenter shop. It's cool. Just please don't make fun of me. 0:44:25.000 --> 0:44:30.640 We get so worried about rejection that we miss God's 0:44:30.719 --> 0:44:35.719 next direction for our life. And the moment you understand 0:44:35.719 --> 0:44:41.440 that many of the rejections that we experience are really redirections. 0:44:44.040 --> 0:44:49.600 You will no longer be trapped in Nazareth. Some of 0:44:49.680 --> 0:44:54.600 us have gotten bitter offended. We're trapped scandaloon to set 0:44:54.600 --> 0:44:56.719 a trap trapped in Nazareth. 0:44:56.920 --> 0:44:59.560 What is Nazareth? The place where people said you couldn't 0:45:00.000 --> 0:45:03.399 a place where who was supposed to be there wasn't there? 0:45:03.640 --> 0:45:06.040 The place where you failed and you had great expectations 0:45:06.040 --> 0:45:12.480 and you disappointed them. Here's what happens next. He was 0:45:12.480 --> 0:45:18.240 amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus, so rejection 0:45:18.440 --> 0:45:22.680 is not the end, because the next thing he did 0:45:23.640 --> 0:45:25.440 after they rejected him in Nazareth. 0:45:26.200 --> 0:45:28.680 Watch this went around teaching. 0:45:28.360 --> 0:45:33.319 From village to village, calling the Twelve to him. 0:45:33.520 --> 0:45:36.040 He's already called them to be his disciples. 0:45:36.840 --> 0:45:41.280 Now he can release them into their ministry, calling. 0:45:41.239 --> 0:45:43.919 The twelve to him. God, I love your word. 0:45:43.960 --> 0:45:47.120 Thank you for showing me this, because I thought rejection 0:45:47.280 --> 0:45:50.759 minute was over. But when I read this, I realize 0:45:51.280 --> 0:45:55.279 that some of our greatest blessings can only come on 0:45:55.360 --> 0:46:01.319 the other side of rejection. And to send them out 0:46:02.520 --> 0:46:07.400 two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. 0:46:08.120 --> 0:46:11.280 These were his instructions. E take nothing for the journey 0:46:11.320 --> 0:46:13.399 except the staff. Touch somebody say you don't need it, 0:46:13.760 --> 0:46:15.960 You don't need it. Whatever you don't have, you don't 0:46:15.960 --> 0:46:18.080 need it. Whatever they didn't give you, you don't need it. 0:46:18.239 --> 0:46:20.719 Whatever they didn't say, you don't need it. Whatever wasn't 0:46:20.760 --> 0:46:22.719 put in your path, you don't need it. Don't take 0:46:22.760 --> 0:46:26.520 it with you. Wear sandals, but not an extra shirt. 0:46:26.640 --> 0:46:28.120 Verse ten. Whenever you enter. 0:46:27.960 --> 0:46:30.080 A house, stay there until you leave that town. And 0:46:30.160 --> 0:46:32.560 if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, 0:46:32.640 --> 0:46:38.439 leave that place. Don't you stay trapped in Nazareth. Don't 0:46:38.480 --> 0:46:40.560 you spend the rest of your life trying to prove 0:46:40.640 --> 0:46:43.600 yourself to people. Don't you spend the rest of your 0:46:43.640 --> 0:46:46.200 life apologizing for a week's season. 0:46:51.719 --> 0:46:52.440 They won't welcome you. 0:46:52.440 --> 0:46:54.080 If it doesn't work out there, if you can't get 0:46:54.080 --> 0:46:54.479 it right. 0:46:54.400 --> 0:47:00.360 This time, leave that place. Leave that place. It's not 0:47:00.440 --> 0:47:02.120 an address, it's not a zip code. 0:47:03.400 --> 0:47:08.120 It's a perspective, and shake the dust off your feet 0:47:08.160 --> 0:47:11.399 as a testimony against this. Must be why he brought 0:47:11.400 --> 0:47:15.279 the disciples to naza because he wanted to show them 0:47:15.280 --> 0:47:20.160 what to do with rejection, and he knew that they 0:47:20.200 --> 0:47:26.239 were not ready to be released in ministry until they 0:47:26.280 --> 0:47:34.080 had first been rejected. The road to resurrection is paved 0:47:34.760 --> 0:47:43.640 with rejection, and the stone that the builders rejected, that 0:47:43.719 --> 0:47:50.480 the people tripped on, became the chief cornerstone. Jesus had 0:47:50.520 --> 0:47:54.680 showed them how to cast out devils, Jesus had showed 0:47:54.719 --> 0:47:57.879 them how to heal the sick. Jesus had showed them 0:47:57.920 --> 0:48:01.239 how to touch lepers. But now he's showing them how 0:48:01.239 --> 0:48:03.000 to do one more thing that they're gonna need and 0:48:03.000 --> 0:48:04.160 then they can be released. 0:48:04.719 --> 0:48:08.520 He had to show them how to shake it off. Oh, 0:48:08.520 --> 0:48:12.000 I feel the spirit of Taylor Swift. And he had 0:48:12.000 --> 0:48:13.279 to show them one more thing. 0:48:14.080 --> 0:48:16.759 It's not always gonna go like you wanted to go, 0:48:17.160 --> 0:48:18.960 and not everybody is gonna see. 0:48:18.800 --> 0:48:20.000 What you want them to see. 0:48:20.200 --> 0:48:22.759 And you're not always gonna make the right moves, and 0:48:22.800 --> 0:48:25.799 there are gonna be some mistakes. But if you will 0:48:25.880 --> 0:48:35.640 say it off and move forward in faith, you're ready. 0:48:35.680 --> 0:48:41.440 Now you're ready. Now you failed some and you're ready. 0:48:41.480 --> 0:48:45.160 Now you've heard a lot as you're ready. Now you're 0:48:45.239 --> 0:48:50.759 humbled by it. You're stronger because something you now know 0:48:51.560 --> 0:48:56.920 that only God can approove of you. You now know 0:48:57.040 --> 0:49:01.600 not to look to people for their validation. You're coming 0:49:01.640 --> 0:49:10.360 out of Nasareth. Stop tripping. Stop tripping over what people think. 0:49:12.280 --> 0:49:15.640 Stop tripping trying to get somebody to clap for you 0:49:15.680 --> 0:49:20.040 who's not even paying attention. They got their own car payment. 0:49:22.040 --> 0:49:24.080 Stop needing people to validate what you know. 0:49:24.239 --> 0:49:29.680 God made you already. 0:49:35.560 --> 0:49:39.240 Those disciples went out from there and they started casting 0:49:39.239 --> 0:49:43.000 out demons, taking authority. 0:49:43.680 --> 0:49:48.880 But first they had to go through rejection. First, they 0:49:48.880 --> 0:49:52.880 had to go through disappointment. First, they had to go 0:49:52.880 --> 0:49:55.839 to Nasareth. Twenty five mile trip. 0:49:55.920 --> 0:49:58.719 Jesus took the boys on just to show them what 0:49:58.760 --> 0:50:03.160 to do, and it doesn't work, Just to show them 0:50:03.160 --> 0:50:07.880 that even Jesus had to be rejected. He was despised 0:50:07.920 --> 0:50:10.560 and rejected, you know why, so you would never have 0:50:10.640 --> 0:50:14.960 to be You might be rejected by people, but you 0:50:15.000 --> 0:50:21.480 will never be rejected by him. 0:50:21.520 --> 0:50:24.040 And I want to tell you one more thing. Stand 0:50:24.120 --> 0:50:24.879 up so I'll quit. 0:50:26.000 --> 0:50:32.399 God selects what man rejects, so people pick Saul. God 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:38.880 wants David. You better celebrate everybody who's ever hurt, everybody 0:50:38.880 --> 0:50:42.160 who ever had someone. 0:50:42.719 --> 0:50:45.520 Come on the stone that the builders rejected. 0:50:50.160 --> 0:50:53.440 I feel resurrection and power rising up in thirty people. 0:50:54.200 --> 0:50:55.880 Where are the thirty. 0:50:56.239 --> 0:51:00.120 We're coming out of national, coming out of the gray, 0:51:00.680 --> 0:51:05.279 coming out of here, coming out of failure. If less 0:51:05.360 --> 0:51:10.160 you and you know, let those hands and class I 0:51:10.320 --> 0:51:12.360 believe in Naster lives. 0:51:15.520 --> 0:51:16.640 Thank you for joining us. 0:51:16.960 --> 0:51:19.400 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:51:19.480 --> 0:51:22.960 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:51:23.440 --> 0:51:25.600 You can click the link in the description to give 0:51:25.719 --> 0:51:29.640 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:51:29.719 --> 0:51:33.480 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:51:33.960 --> 0:51:35.280 You can share it with your friends. 0:51:35.560 --> 0:51:37.840 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:51:37.920 --> 0:51:40.040 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:51:40.040 --> 0:51:40.879 Elevation Church. 0:51:40.960 --> 0:51:42.600 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.