Sermon Notes February 17, 2013

Sermon Text: Luke 9:1-17; John 6:4, 22-59

Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 3:1-18

Sermon Title: The Disciples Commissioned, Jesus’ Identity Questioned, and Jesus Unleavened

Review

This major unit in Luke (8:4-9:17) is broken into two sections: 8:4-21 and 8:22-9:17. The first unit is a call to faith: “Take heed therefore how you hear” (Luke 8:18). The second unit is designed to display the basis for belief, which is Jesus’ power and authority over all areas of life: He stills a storm (8:22-25), exorcises demons (8:26-39), heals a woman with an issue of blood (8:42b-48), resurrects a dead child (8:40-42a, 49-56), and provides food for the multitude (9:10-17). We have spent the past two week studying Luke 8:22-56 which identifies the character of God as being both supremely powerful and immeasurably compassionate, therefore, trustworthy.

Introduction

Today, we will conclude our study in this section of Luke. 

This passage marks a significant transition for the Lord Jesus Christ. Approximately half of His three-year ministry is over, and His death on the cross is about eighteen months away. [1]

This passage is broken into three minor sections, which are identified in the sermon title: The Disciples Commissioned (vv. 1-6), Jesus’ Identity Questioned (vv. 7-9), and Jesus Unleavened (vv. 10-17; John 6:22-59).

The Disciples Commissioned (vv.1-6)

vv. 1-2, 6

The promise of Luke 5:10 is beginning to be fulfilled: the disciples are “catching people.”

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul presses the point that ministry in the Church is made up of the contribution of all the parts. Why? Because we were made in the image of God, we are designed to work in unique roles towards a common goal. The image we were made to reflect is that of the Trinity: Three divine persons in a continual circular dance that implies intimacy, equality, unity, and love – yet distinction. 

“When the church functions at its optimum, ministry is the sum total of what God is doing through everyone’s gifts” (Greg Ogden). 

Here Jesus gives the disciples power and authority. Authority is the right to do something, while power is the ability to do something. Here Jesus is preparing the disciples for His departure by modeling true discipleship. True discipleship is training and empowering others to discover and use their gifts for the glory of God and the good of the Church. 

Much wrong theology and practice have been derived from a misinterpretation of this passage. There is a reason Jesus gave the disciples authority over all demons and diseases (v. 1) along with the message of the kingdom of God (v. 2) and the gospel (v. 6).

If their message was to be validated and believed, there needed to be a way to attest to its divine origin. Such miraculous confirmation was no longer needed after the completion of the NT. Even by the end of the book of Acts, miracles were fading from the scene as the apostles disappeared. Paul healed people early in his ministry, but toward the end of his life, he did not heal Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20) and advised Timothy not to have healing faith or find a healer, but to treat his recurring stomach ailment with wine (1 Timothy 5:23). Since the completion of the NT, a messenger’s message can be measured against the inspired, infallible, inerrant standard of God’s Word. [1]

I think it is important to again be reminded that of the myriad of miracles Jesus could have performed or could have commissioned the disciples to perform in order to validate their message, He chose to relieve human suffering, showing God as an involved and compassionate God. 

vv. 3-5

Again, much wrong theology and practice have been derived from this passage. This is not a call to poverty for all messengers of Christ. The instruction regarding their initial commissioning was to teach them trust for future missions. This is proven by the Lord’s reference to these verses in the upper room eighteen months later. “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything did you? They said, ‘No, nothing’” (Luke 22:35). Then, the Lord said to them, but now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one” (v. 36). 

The disciples’ practice of staying in one place is designed to contrast that of philosophers, swindlers, and false teachers who went from house to house begging for money. 

To a Jewish man, shaking the dust off his feet was a common gesture which represented judgment.

Jesus’ Identity Questioned (vv. 7-9)

Possibly plagued by his guilty conscience (Proverbs 28:1), this is the same Herod that beheaded John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29). Herod’s question is taken in view of Peter’s profession in Luke 9:18-20.

Jesus Unleavened (vv. 10-17; John 6:4, 22-59) 

Other than Christ’s resurrection, the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. “The feeding of five thousand men, along with surely an equal number of women and children, was the largest work of divine creative power since creation week and the restructuring of the earth after the  flood” (MacArthur). [1]

Who were the crowd who surrounded our Lord in this remote place, poor and helpless without any food? This is a picture of mankind. We are a company of poor sinners, in the middle of a wicked world, without strength or power to save ourselves and in great danger of dying from spiritual famine. Who is the gracious teacher who had compassion on this starving multitude in the wilderness? It is Jesus himself, always compassionate and kind, always ready to show mercy, even to the ungrateful and evil. He has not changed. The heart of man can never be satisfied with the things of this world. It is always empty and hungry and thirsty and dissatisfied until it comes to Christ. [2]

We absolutely cannot understand the meaning of this miracle unless we hear from John what happened the next day (John 6:4, 22).

We have a tendency to wonder where God is when things look bleak. Sometimes God’s will is not to relieve suffering and remove affliction. Jesus relieved the hunger and suffering of the 5,000 in Luke 9, however John tells us that the next morning during breakfast Jesus did not relieve their physical affliction. What was God doing? After all, they went to far greater lengths to pursue Jesus the next morning than they did the day before (getting on the boat, investigating where He was, and tracking him down). 

We can fully understand what Jesus meant in John 6 by looking to Exodus 12-13. Why? It was in Exodus 12-13 that our Lord instituted Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread. In John 6:4, John tells us it was Passover on the day Jesus fed the 5,000. Therefore, “the next day” mentioned in John 6:22 means it was during The Feast of Unleavened Bread that Jesus refused to give them breakfast.

Like those who longed for breakfast in Luke 9, the Israelites longed for deliverance from the harsh Egyptian taskmaster. For 400 years the Israelites waited, and waited, and waited for the Lord. Finally, prior to their deliverance, the Lord instructed the Israelites, “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:14-15). To be cut off from Israel meant to be killed (Leviticus 20:2-3). 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorated the fact that they had to leave in a hurry (Exodus 12:31-34, 39). This is not a minor detail. This is the main detail regarding The Feast of Unleavened Bread. We groan, grow impatient, and struggle living in a fallen flesh in the midst of a fallen world. Leaven is a picture of sin (1 Corinthians 5). The point is this: You groan and grow impatient with this world, but deliverance is coming. However, deliverance will come unexpectedly and abruptly. Those who will be delivered are those who are forgiven from sin, as evidenced by satisfaction in Jesus regardless of life’s circumstances. In Exodus 12-13 the Lord was telling the people how to get ready for deliverance. To be dressed for departure is to be dress without leaven (holiness).

I don’t know about you, but much of the time I still feel like I am in Egypt. Much of the time I feel like I am in bondage, being beaten, in chains, and forced to bow under the whip of a cruel taskmaster. Oftentimes my hope is that this life will end and Heaven will come. I just want relief from my fight with sin. I need a break from myself. 

Because of this fact, in John 6 Jesus was communicating to the crowd, “There is something you need more deeply than even food and it is me.” The crowds response was, “We only want you to deliver us. We don’t want you. We want what you can do for us. We don’t want you. What good will you do us if you will not deliver us.?” That is why Jesus calls himself the bread of life. Jesus is saying, “I am the unleavened bread that you must eat as you journey through this life into the promised land of Heaven. If you follow me for any other reason but for me myself, you will never be satisfied as you journey through this harsh and difficult world.”

My restlessness and exhaustion in this life functions to remind me that this world is not my home. I am motivated to strive for obedience and trust because of the promise of abrupt deliverance and a restful eternity. Not that sin is good, but the struggle is good because it reminds us that our hope is in the future.

From John Calvin’s Institutes:

“By our tribulations God weans us from excessive love of this present life. Whatever kind of tribulation presses upon us, we must ever look to this end: to accustom ourselves to contempt for the present life and to be aroused thereby to meditate upon the future life. For since God knows best how must we are inclined by nature to a brutish love of this world, he uses the fittest means to draw us back and to shake off our sluggishness, lest we cleave to tenaciously to that love. Then only do we rightly advance by the discipline of the cross, when we learn that this life, judged in itself, is troubled, turbulent, unhappy in countless ways and in no respect clearly happy; that all those things which are judged to be its goods are uncertain, fleeting, vain, and vitiated by many intermingled evils. From this, at the same time, we conclude that in this life we are to seek and hope for nothing but struggle. For this we must believe: that the mind is never seriously aroused to desire and ponder the life to come unless it be previously imbued with contempt for the present life.

But let believers accustom themselves to a contempt of this present life that engenders no hatred of it or ingratitude against God. Indeed, this life, however crammed with infinite miseries it may be, is still rightly to be counted among those blessings of God which are not to be spurned…

We begin in this present life, through various benefits, to taste the sweetness of the divine generosity in order to whet our hope.

Of course, this life is never to be hated except in so far as it holds us subject to sin; it is still fitting for us to be so affected either by weariness or hatred of it that, desiring its end, we may also be prepared to abide in it at the Lord’s pleasure, so that our weariness may be far from all murmuring and impatience. For it is like a sentry post at which the Lord has posted us, which we must hold until he recall us.” 

From Richard Baxter’s The Saint’s Everlasting Rest: 

“O my soul, do you stagger at the promises of God through unbelief? (Romans 4:20). I highly suspect you. Can God lie? Can He that is Truth itself be false? What need does God have to flatter or deceive you? Why should He promise you more than He will perform? Dare not to charge the wise, Almighty, faithful God with this! O wretched heart of unbelief, has God made you a promise of rest, and will you come short of it? But your feast, my Lord, is nothing to me without an appetite. You have set the delicacies of heaven before me; but unfortunately, I am blind and cannot see them. I am sick and cannot relish them. I am so paralyzed that I cannot put forth a hand to take them. I therefore, humbly beg this grace, that as you have opened heaven to me in Your Word, so YOU would open my eyes to see it, and my heart to delight in it. O Spirit of life, breathe your grace into me. Take me by the hand, and lift me from the earth, that may see what glory You have prepared for those who love You (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). Ah, my dear Lord, though I cannot say, "My soul longs after you" (Psalm 84:2), yet I can say, "I long for such a longing heart." "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:4).”

Sources: 

1. MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Luke 1-5. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009.
2. Ryle, J.C. Luke. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1997.

Sermon Notes February 10, 2013

Sermon Text: Luke 8:26-56
Sermon Title: Jesus: The Compassionate King
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:1-17

Context

This major unit in Luke (8:4-9:17) is broken into two sections: 8:4-21 and 8:22-9:17. The first unit is a call to faith: “Take heed therefore how you hear” (Luke 8:18). The second unit is designed to display the basis for belief, which is Jesus’ power and authority over all areas of life: He stills a storm (8:22-25), exorcises demons (8:26-39), heals a woman with an issue of blood (8:42b-48), resurrects a dead child (8:40-42a, 49-56), and provides food for the multitude (9:10-17). In summary, Jesus shows His power and authority over nature, demonic spirits, disease, delay, and death deems him trustworthy.

Last week we studied one facet of Jesus’ power: His power over nature. The point of our passage last week was as follows: Jesus’ power and authority shows that He can be trusted.

The point of our passage this week is as follows: In the storm, Jesus revealed that He is even more dangerous, unpredictable, and powerful as an earthquake on water. This week we see Jesus moving away from impersonal wind and waves to relieve the suffering of man. Although Jesus is inconceivably powerful and totally unpredictable, His compassion is immeasurable.

Review

From Tim Keller’s “The King’s Cross”:


"Mark has deliberately laid out this account using language that is parallel, almost identical, to the language of the famous Old Testament account of Jonah.

Both Jesus and Jonah were in a boat, and both boats were overtaken by a storm—the descriptions of the storm are almost identical.

Both Jesus and Jonah were asleep.

In both stories the sailors woke up the sleeper and said, “We’re going to die.”

And in both cases there was a miraculous divine intervention and the sea was calmed.

Further, in both stories the sailors then become even more terrified than they were before the storm was calmed.

Two almost identical stories—with just one difference.

In the midst of the storm, Jonah said to the sailors, in effect: “There’s only one thing to do. If I perish, you survive. If I die, you will live” (Jonah 1:12). And they threw him into the sea.

Which doesn’t happen in Mark’s story.

Or does it?

I think Mark is showing that the stories aren’t actually different when you stand back a bit and look at it with the rest of the story of Jesus in view.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “One greater than Jonah is here,” and he’s referring to himself: I’m the true Jonah. He meant this:

Someday I’m going to calm all storms, still all waves.

I’m going to destroy destruction, break brokenness, and kill death.

How can he do that?

He can only do it because when he was on the cross he was thrown—willingly, like Jonah—into the ultimate storm, under the ultimate 
waves, the waves of sin and death.

Jesus was thrown into the only storm that can actually sink us—the storm of eternal justice, of what we owe for our wrongdoing. That storm wasn’t calmed—not until it swept him away.

If the sight of Jesus bowing his head into that ultimate storm is burned into the core of your being, you will never say, “God, don’t you care?”

And if you know that he did not abandon you in that ultimate storm, what makes you think he would abandon you in much smaller storms you’re experiencing right now?

And, someday, of course, he will return and still all storms for eternity.

If you let that penetrate to the very center of your being, you will know he loves you. You will know he cares. And then you will have the power to handle anything in life with poise."

God is not safe. God is not manageable. God is not predictable. However, as we will see this morning, God is compassionate and involved.


The point of our passage this week is as follows: In the storm, Jesus revealed that He is even more dangerous, unpredictable, and powerful as an earthquake on water. This week we see Jesus moving away from impersonal wind and waves to reveal His compassion in relieving the suffering of man.

Introduction

Along with the story about the storm, all three synoptic authors record the stories of the Gadarene demoniac, the woman with the issue of blood, and Jairus’s daughter.

The Demoniac: Jesus is compassionate in the dungeon (Luke 8:26-39)

v. 26: There is only one recorded instance of demonic activity in the Old Testament along with a few allusions to demons; (e.g., Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37), Genesis 6:1-4, where demon-possessed men cohabitated with women (cf. 2 Peter 2:4-5; Jude 6). Outside of the gospels and Acts, there are no references to demon possession in the New Testament.¹

v. 27: The very word, demoniac, describes a man possessed by a demon and therefore, acting like a maniac. Luke tells us he had not worn clothes in a long time. Mark tells us that he was constantly cutting his body with sharp stones (Mark 5:5). Matthew tells us this violence was often directed at others (Matthew 8:28). 

v. 28: Like the demoniac of 4:34, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”, this one knew who Jesus was (contrast to the disciples in v. 25). Can you imagine the mystery of this demoniac? Verse 30 informs us that the “spokesman” for the demon referred to himself as “legion” because “many demons had entered him.” It is likely the demon was alluding to a huge number when he said “legion” because a legion had about six thousand soldiers.

v. 29: Emphasize how this represents (although we do not believe demons can possess regenerate people) the daily struggle we face against sin.

v. 30: discussed in v. 28 above

vv. 31-32: The demons immediately concede. The place of confinement for evil spirits (Revelation 20:1-3).

vv. 33-34: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter said to him, ‘Lord I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death’” (Luke 22:31-33).
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. For the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

v. 35-37: “Frightened” comes from the Greek word phobeo, which refers to extreme fear (the related noun phobos is the root of the English word “phobia.”

Remember the consistency with the disciple’s fear after Jesus calmed the storm? Why the fear following such a miraculous deed? Why were they more terrified in the calm than they were in the storm? Because Jesus was as unmanageable as the storm itself. The storm has immense power – they couldn’t control it. Jesus had infinitely more power, so they had even less control over him. [2]

For those of you who understand what I am talking about, the train of thought goes something like this: Yes, I understand I have no control over the most difficult circumstances in my life. However, I have less control over the God who is sovereign over them and because God is sovereign over all things, my inability to manage him makes me afraid. 

v. 38-39: “Since he knew enough to be saved, he knew enough to be a missionary. The priority for him was not further training, since he was the lone witness to the gospel in that region. Here is an example of God’s grace in the face of man’s rejection. Though they totally rejected Jesus, Jesus did not reject them, but left a missionary in their midst” (John MacArthur). [1]

How lonely must this man’s life have been?

A Dying Daughter and a Desperate Woman: Jesus is compassionate in disasterous nature, demonic spirits, disease, delay, and death.

Disease, Delay, and Death (Luke 8:40-56)

Remember, here is what we are trying to show here: Because Jesus was sent to reveal the character of God to us, we learn about what God is like by observing Jesus. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
 He was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). As He observed the outpouring of sorrow over the death of Lazarus, “He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33) and wept (v. 35). Jesus knew all along that He would raise Lazarus from the dead. However, Jesus was still grieved to tears over the ruinous effects of sin and suffering in the world.

The only thing that truly gets us up in the morning is the promise of a new heaven and a new earth from which disease, death, sorrow, and suffering will be forever banished (Revelation 21:1-5; Isaiah 65:17; 66:22).

vv. 40-43: Here we find two very contrasting souls. One was a man, the other a woman. One was rich, the other poor. One was a respected leader entrenched in society, one was an unclean outcast. But the principle transcends, “God gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5; James 4:6).

According to Leviticus 15:25, this woman’s condition would have rendered her ceremonially unclean, placing her in the social status of a leper.

Of all the impressive miracles He could have done to prove that He was God, Jesus chose to do those that relieved people’s suffering. Instead of flying off the pinnacle of the temple, He rescued His terrified disciples from a life-threatening storm. Instead of instantly creating a cow or a horse, He created food for thousands of hungry people. Instead of lifting up a mountain and casting it into the sea, He healed the sick and rasied the dead. His choice of miracles revealed not only Jesus’ deity, but also His divine compassion. [1]

v. 42b-48: Imagine the curiosity and panic the crowd, the disciples, and Jairus felt during this exchange between the woman and Jesus. When Jairus met Jesus he told Him that his daughter was almost dead.

v. 44: In the Old Testament the Lord commanded the men to have tassels on the four corners of their garments (Deuteronomy 22:12). The Greek verb translated touched is more accurately translated “clutched.”

v. 45-47: At first glance, this passage can be very confusing. What does it mean that Jesus felt power go out of Him, yet did not know who touched Him? How is it that Jesus can read the thoughts of the disciples and Pharisees, yet does not know who touched Him? Let me remind you of when we discussed the hypostatic union and the mediation by the Holy Spirit of Jesus incommunicable attributes.

v. 48-55: Imagine if Jairus knew of the centurion’s encounter with Jesus? Imagine the anxiety during all this. The woman with a chronic condition is getting attention instead of the little girl who has an acute condition. Jesus chooses to stop and talk with a woman who has just been healed. This makes no sense. It is absolutely irrational. In fact, it’s worse that than: It’s malpractice. If these two were in the same emergency room, any doctor who treated the woman first and let the little girl die would be sued. And Jesus is behaving like such a reckless doctor. Jairus and the disciples must be thinking, “What are you doing? Don’t you understand the situation? Hurry, or it will be too late. The little girl needs help from you now, Jesus. Hurry, Jesus, hurry. [2]

But precisely because of the delay both Jairus and the woman get far more than they asked for. Be aware that when you go to Jesus for help, you will both give to and get from him far more than you bargained for. Be patient, because the deal often doesn’t work out the way you expected. We have such delusions of grandeur that our self-righteousness and arrogance sometimes have to be knocked out of our heart’s by God’s delays. [2]

“Trust me, trust me,” Jesus continues to reiterate.

“Daughter” could be translated “Honey.” Jesus is only recorded saying this strong word of endearment once ever.

v. 56: “Amazed” translates a form of the verb which literally means “to stand outside oneself,” and is translated “He has lost His senses” in Mark 3:21. This “miracle induced fear” has been a consistent thread through this section in the storm (v. 25), the people of Gadara (v. 37), and the woman healed of her disease (v. 47).

Tim Keller, Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

We wanted to share what one of the Sunday School classes is studying. In this video, Tim Keller answers questions at the The Veritas Forum regarding God, man, and the world in which live. This is a challenging and helpful discussion that deals with difficult questions Christians and non-Christians face in our age.  

Sermon Notes: February 3, 2013

Sermon Text: Luke 8:22-25; Mark 4:35-41

Sermon Title: Jesus, The True Jonah

Scripture Reading: Jonah 1:1-17

Read Sermon Text: Luke 8:22-25; Mark 4:35-41

Introduction

Mark includes a very important detail that Luke fails to mention, “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side’” (Mark 4:35).

What day is Mark referring to? Mark is referring to the same day we have spent the past three weeks discussing. Jesus takes the disciples on a boat the same day He taught the parable of the soils. 

Context and Overview

Therefore, the context is set by the parable. In the parable Jesus was strongly cautioning His listeners to take very special care how they hear the Word of God. Although many people hear the Word of God, few people have the kind of heart Jesus described in Luke 8:15, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

In the boat, Jesus illustrates for the disciples what it means to be good soil hearers.

Faith is the key to a heart of good soil and fruitful hearing (Hebrews 11:6). A more familiar word for faith is trust. Luke records Jesus asking, “Where is your faith/trust?” (Luke 8:25). Mark records Jesus asking, “Have you still no faith/trust?” (Mark 4:40). In both instances Jesus is making a statement: You should be and have to be more trusting.

The faith in view here is not initial faith, but an applied faith that functions in the midst of pressure. It holds fast patiently (Luke 8:15). [1]

It is a faith that has depth of understanding and can be drawn upon in tough times. It is faith that “kicks in” and recognizes that God is in control, even in the face of disaster. It is trust in God’s Word even when circumstances seem contrary to its fulfillment.

This major unit in Luke (8:4-9:17) is broken into two sections: 8:4-21 and 8:22-9:17. The first unit is a call to faith: “Take heed therefore how you hear” (Luke 8:18). Why? “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). 

The second unit is designed to display the basis for belief, which is Jesus’ power and authority over all areas of life: He stills a storm (8:22-25), exorcises demons (8:26-39), heals a woman with an issue of blood (8:42b-48), resurrects a dead child (8:40-42a, 49-56), and provides food for the multitude (9:10-17). In summary, Jesus shows His power and authority over nature, demonic spirits, disease, and death.

The point of our passage this morning is simple: Jesus’ power and authority shows that He can be trusted.

Luke 8:22

What is important to notice here is that Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1). Therefore, when Jesus said, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake,” He was broadcasting a seed into their hearts. 

Also, we must not picture a small row boat here. A fishing boat that could hold many disciples would’ve been a very large vessel. 

Luke 8:23

Matthew’s account describes this as so great a storm that the boat was being “swamped” by the waves (Matthew 8:24). The Greek word for “storm” in this text is “seismos,” meaning earthquake.

Truly, the geographical setting in which they were sailing would have been a perfectly conducive environment for an earthquake on the water. Given the Sea of Galilee’s topography, such a storm could descend onto the sea quickly without notice and, at night, could hardly be anticipated. The sea is some seven hundred feet below sea level and is depressed with hills, such as Mount Hermon, which is ninety-two feet high. The cold air from the mountains continually clashed with the warm air coming up from the Sea of Galilee, producing violent storms. [1]

Also, to give proper credit to the magnitude of the storm, it is helpful to be reminded that many of Jesus’ disciples were professional fishermen. The storm must have been an exceptional one for such a large vessel to take on water and experienced sailors to panic with certainty of their impending death.

Notice the contrast: The disciples are at the height of panic and worry while Jesus portrays rest.

Luke 8:24

Urgency is conveyed by the use of the double vocative (the vocative case is a noun that identifies a specific person) “Master, Master.” In Luke, the double vocative usually signifies great urgency and high emotion.

Mark includes another important detail we need to remember. Mark 4:38 has the disciples complaining that Jesus does not care about the urgency and danger of the matter. 

Luke 8:25

In this verse we have two questions which lead us to the application of the passage. The first question is asked by Jesus, “Where is your faith.” The second question is asked by the disciples, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

This significance of the first question was already discussed earlier in the message. Jesus is making a statement: You should be and have to be more trusting. Trusting in what? Not simply in the fact that Jesus would save them. Sometimes Jesus doesn’t deliver from calamity. However, the trust Jesus expected here was a holding fast to the seed: “Let’s go to the other side.”

The point of our passage this morning is simple: Jesus’ power and authority shows that He can be trusted.

Therefore, what should we do because of what we have learned?

Isn’t it true that we are all guilty of reading the Gospels and quietly mocking the disciples for being so slow to “get it”? Not here though. This story hits home. This story resonates with all of us. 

Everyone who has ever tried to live a life of faith in this world has experienced this same scenario. Circumstances pounce unexpectedly like an earthquake and God seems to be absent. Everything is going wrong, you’re sinking, and God seems to be asleep, unaware, or indifferent. “If you loved me,” you think, “you would get involved while I am drowning.”

Now, before addressing the disciples’ question, let’s address the reason for their fear. The fear mentioned in Luke 8:25 has nothing to do with the storm itself. We can be certain of this fact because in verse 24 Luke tells us that there was a perfect calm after Jesus rebuked the wind and waves. So what were the disciples afraid of? 

Why were they more terrified in the calm than they were in the storm? Because Jesus was as unmanageable as the storm itself. The storm has immense power – they couldn’t control it. Jesus had infinitely more power, so they had even less control over him. [2]

For those of you who understand what I am talking about, the train of thought goes something like this: Yes, I understand I have no control over the most difficult circumstances in my life. However, I have less control over the God who is sovereign over them and because God is sovereign over all things, my inability to manage him makes me afraid. “He lets things happen that I don’t understand. He doesn’t do things according to my plan, or in a way that makes sense to me.”

What could have caused the disciples to rest as Jesus rested? What could have stilled the raging storm in the disciples’ hearts in the same way Jesus calmed the sea? 

If the disciples had understood that Jesus’ love and wisdom were as unbound as His power, they wouldn’t have been afraid. If you have a God great enough and powerful enough to be mad at because He doesn’t stop your suffering, you also have a God who’s great enough and powerful enough to have good and loving reasons that you can’t understand. You can’t have it both ways. Elizabeth Elliot put it beautifully in two brief sentences: “God is God, and since He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere else but in His will, and that will is necessarily, infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.” [2]

Be careful lest you think I am moralizing the stories application. You moralize a passage when you make it primarily about you. This story isn’t first about you. This story is about Jesus.

What makes us so certain that this unmanageable, unsafe God can be trusted?

This brings us to the sermon title, “Jesus: The True Jonah.”

Keller on Jonah and Jesus

Tim Keller, King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, pp. 57-58:

Mark has deliberately laid out this account using language that is parallel, almost identical, to the language of the famous Old Testament account of Jonah.

Both Jesus and Jonah were in a boat, and both boats were overtaken by a storm—the descriptions of the storm are almost identical.

Both Jesus and Jonah were asleep.

In both stories the sailors woke up the sleeper and said, “We’re going to die.”

And in both cases there was a miraculous divine intervention and the sea was calmed.

Further, in both stories the sailors then become even more terrified than they were before the storm was calmed.

Two almost identical stories—with just one difference.

In the midst of the storm, Jonah said to the sailors, in effect: “There’s only one thing to do. If I perish, you survive. If I die, you will live” (Jonah 1:12). And they threw him into the sea.

Which doesn’t happen in Mark’s story.

Or does it?

I think Mark is showing that the stories aren’t actually different when you stand back a bit and look at it with the rest of the story of Jesus in view.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “One greater than Jonah is here,” and he’s referring to himself: I’m the true Jonah. He meant this:

Someday I’m going to calm all storms, still all waves.

I’m going to destroy destruction, break brokenness, kill death.

How can he do that?

He can only do it because when he was on the cross he was thrown—willingly, like Jonah—into the ultimate storm, under the ultimate waves, the waves of sin and death.

Jesus was thrown into the only storm that can actually sink us—the storm of eternal justice, of what we owe for our wrongdoing. That storm wasn’t calmed—not until it swept him away.

If the sight of Jesus bowing his head into that ultimate storm is burned into the core of your being, you will never say, “God, don’t you care?”

And if you know that he did not abandon you in that ultimate storm, what make you think he would abandon you in much smaller storms you’re experiencing right now?

And, someday, of course, he will return and still all storms for eternity.

If you let that penetrate to the very center of your being, you will know he loves you. You will know he cares. And then you will have the power to handle anything in life with poise.

God is not safe. God is not manageable. God is not predictable. God is good. – my statement, not Keller’s

When through the deep waters I call you to go,

The rivers of woe shall not overflow;

For I will be with you, your troubles to bless,

And sanctify to you in your deepest distress.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Sources

1. Brock, Darrell. Luke 1:1-9:50. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1994.
2. Keller, Timothy. The King’s Cross. New York, New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2011.

Sermon Notes -- January 27, 2013

10 Practical Suggestions on “Holding Fast”

1. Pray that God would give you the good and honest heart described in verse 15.

• “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
• “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:24).

2. Read, memorize, talk about, and meditate on the Word the week prior to Sunday.

• One of the glorious benefits of verse by verse studies is that you know what text will be preached the following week. Read it repeatedly, read commentaries about it, listen to sermons about it and come with some understanding of what you are about to hear.

3. Talk about the Word and specifically how it applies to your heart with someone during the week following Sunday. 

• Meet in small groups, bring it up at lunch, talk about it with your friend or  spouse, discuss it with your children – How should what you heard today affect your life tomorrow and how can people pray for you and hold you accountable to that?

4. What you watch and hear seeps into the soil of your heart.

Have you ever witnessed places in the soil where oil, gasoline, or chemicals were poured? That places tends to stay barren and never bear fruit.

• “Put aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). “How do you receive the implanted word? By putting aside all filthiness and wickedness. This is what makes the word ‘unreceivable.’ It astonished me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch – and then wonder why their spiritual lives are weak and their worship experience is shallow with no intensity” (John Piper). I love the old hymns, but also prefer different styles of worship and accompaniment. However, for those of you who just can’t seem to “get into” the worship on Sunday morning, I would challenge you to examine whether or not you have unreceivable soil. MAYBE it is not so much a style issue as it is a soil issue?
• “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Look at what is before your eyes” (2 Corinthians 10:3-7a).
• “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).

5. Get a good night’s rest on Saturday night. 

I am aware that some of you work all night on Saturday, get off at 7 AM and shower and grab a bite to eat and come straight to church. Bless you. God has special graces for you and you must seek his special help. Trust him. He will help you. But I am talking to the rest of us who make our own choices about when to go to bed. My counsel is: decide when you must get up to have time to eat, get dressed, pray and meditate on the Word, prepare the family, and travel to church; and then compute backward eight hours (or whatever you know you need) and be sure that you are in bed 15 minutes before that. Read your Bible in bed and fall asleep with the Word of God on your lips and in your mind. 

It takes more discipline to go to bed on time than to get up on time. There are not as many pressures to go to bed. And sleep is so boring compared to playing or going out or watching TV. I especially exhort parents to teach teenagers that Saturday is not the night to think of staying out late with friends. If there is a special late night, make if Friday, not Saturday. It is a terrible thing to teach children that worship is so optional that it doesn't matter if you are exhausted when you come. What happens here is more important than a college entrance SAT, and we do work hard to get our kids to sleep well before an important test. 

Without sufficient sleep, we are not alert; our minds are dull, our emotions are flat and unenergetic, our proneness to depression is higher, and our fuses are short. "Take heed how you hear" means get a good night's rest before you hear the Word of God. 

6. Forebear one another without grumbling and criticism. 

Psalm 106:25 says, "They grumbled in their tents; they did not listen to the voice of the LORD." Saturday night's and Sunday morning's grumbling and controversy and quarreling can ruin a worship service for a family. My suggestion is this: When there is something you are angry about or some conflict that you genuinely think needs to be talked about, forebear, and put if off till later on Sunday after worship. Don't dive in Saturday night or Sunday morning. 

And when you come to worship, don't come as hypocrites pretending there are no problems. We've all got problems. Come saying: Lord, show me the log in my eye. Humble me and cleanse me and show me so much of yourself that I know how to deal with this in a more Christlike way than I feel now. You may be surprised how many of your crises get changed in the light of God's Word and worship. 

7. Come in a spirit of meek teachability. 

Not gullibility. You have your Bible and you have your head. But James says "In meekness receive the implanted word" (1:21). If we come with a chip on our shoulder that there is nothing we can learn or no benefit we can get, we will prove ourselves infallible on both counts. But if we humble ourselves before the Word of God, we will hear and grow and bear fruit. 

8. Be still as you enter the room and focus your mind's attention and heart's affection on God.

I would like to recommend that as we enter the room here we "come on the lookout for God and leave on the lookout for people." That is, come quietly and go hard after God in prayer and meditation. Then leave with a view to taking risks as you extend your welcome and love to other people. We will not be an unfriendly church if we are aggressive in our pursuit of God during the prelude and aggressive in our pursuit of visitors during the postlude. 

Are you with me in this? This is different than the way many churches conceive of the pre-service atmosphere. For many, the louder the better, because it connotes life and friendliness. That is legitimate in some contexts, but something huge is lost, a sense of the greatness and holiness and wonder of God. There are almost no times in our lives when we together get blood- earnest about God and our meeting him in his greatness. Let Sunday morning be one of those times. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Where do we do that? Let's do it just before the service in this room. Let the Commons be abuzz with greetings. But let this room reverberate with the electric power of silent passion for God's glory. There is a world of difference between the silence of apathy and the silence of passion! Pray, meditate on the text to be preached, ponder the words to the songs. Go hard after God. 

9. When the worship service begins, think earnestly about what is sung and prayed and preached. 

Paul says to the Corinthians, "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature" (1 Corinthians 14:20). And he says to Timothy, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything" (2 Timothy 2:7). Anything worth hearing is worth thinking about. If a message does not require the engagement of your mind, it is probably not going to take you anywhere beyond where you are now. But that would probably not be biblical preaching. If you would take heed how you hear, think about what you hear. 

10. Desire the truth of God's Word more than you desire riches or food. 

As you sit quietly and pray and meditate on the text and the songs, remind yourself of what Psalm 19:10-11 says about the words of God: "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." So because the Word of God is greater than all riches and sweeter than all honey, take heed how you hear. Desire it more than you desire all these things. 

As Proverbs 2:3-5 says, "If you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." 

May God make us a people who hear the Word of God and bear fruit a hundredfold so that the lamp of our lives will be on a lampstand giving light to all who enter the kingdom of God. Take heed how you hear! Amen. 

PSALM 63 – Pray God would mold your heart into this. 

Italics above: (http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/take-care-how-you-listen-part-2; By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org)

Sermon Notes January 20, 2013

Sermon Text: Luke 8:1-21

Sermon Title: Take Heed How You Hear part 1-2

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:1-21

What did we learn last week?

This passage is exclusively about hearing. Last week we learned that the care we take in hearing God’s Word will determine our eternal destiny. The difference between Heaven and Hell is how you hear. 

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away” (Luke 8:18).

“He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us, then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from.’’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’” (Luke 8:22-27).

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).

“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned” (Hebrews 6:4-8).

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11)

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fade away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:9-13).

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you and evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:12-19).

“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

Wait a minute!? Am I saying that you can have your salvation and then lose it? Am I saying that you can earn your way into Heaven by good works? Am I denying the doctrines of grace? By no means friends.

And we both believe that paradox is woven into the nature of the universe, and that resisting it drives a person mad. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.

We don’t adjust the brain-baffling categories of Scripture to fit human reason. We take it as one of our jobs to create categories in human minds that never existed in those minds before — a job only God can do — though he makes us agents. For example, we labor to create categories of thought like these: 

• God rules the world of bliss and suffering and sin, right down to the roll of the dice, and the fall of a bird, and the driving of the nail into the hand of his Son; yet, even though he wills that such sin and suffering be, he does not sin, but is perfectly holy. 
• God governs all the steps of all people, both good and bad, at all times and in all places; yet such that all are accountable before him and will bear the just consequences of his wrath if they do not believe in Christ. 
• All people are dead in their trespasses and sins, and are not morally able to come to Christ because of their rebellion; yet, they are responsible to come, and will be justly punished if they don’t. 
• Sin, though committed by a finite person and in the confines of finite time is nevertheless deserving of an infinitely long punishment because it is a sin against an infinitely worthy God. 

(http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-sovereign-god-of-elfland-why-chestertons-anti-calvinism-doesnt-put-me-off).

Read Acts 27:13-26 and 27:30-32.

Here is the point: Yes it is absolutely true that God chooses whom He will save (Romans 9-11) and causes those whom He chooses to persevere or be unconditionally secure until the end (Philippians 1:6; Romans 8; John 10:28-29). However, I must also believe that if I am not a good soil hearer, I will fall away and will spend eternity in Hell. 

The Parable of the Four Soils Explained

Each of the four soils describes a different way to hear.

Hard Soil (Luke 8:5, 12)

These seeds are said to fall along the path (vv. 5, 12). The path describes the pathway or rows between the fields. Because of the traffic along the path, the soil became hard-packed and impenetrable. Sure, truth (the seed is the Word of God) was found on the surface of the path; with the sower “broadcasting” along the path, the path was certain to be littered with seed. However, the seed did not penetrate.

The hard soil hearers are certainly interested and receptive to the Word, but it does not penetrate. The hard soil hearers often comment on how a text was interpreted or communicated, but rarely speak about personal conviction and need of change. Like the Pharisees, the hard soil hearers hold the Word dear, yet are found examining everyone else rather than themselves. 

Over lunch the conversation is almost exclusively a critique of someone else – what they said; how they handled a text; what is wrong with the Church; what errors were made – rather than deep introspection on how the text applied to their life and how they need to change. Hard soil hearers are good at pointing out problems, but are rarely part of the solution.

Biblical literacy is not to be confused with Christian maturity. Homiletic accuracy is not the same as godliness. 

Theological dexterity is very different from practical holiness. Successful leadership is not the same as a heart for Christ. Growth in influence is not to be confused with growth in grace. Because of the feeling of arrival, I/you don’t sit under my own preaching (Tripp, Paul. Dangerous Calling p. 105).

Rather than humble learner, you sit as judge. Rather than someone to be known, God has become a puzzle to be pieced together. Your hermeneutics have led you to approach the Bible as a text book to dissect, rather than approaching the Bible with the intent if it dissecting your heart. 

Maybe the greatest sign that you are a hard soil hearer is that you are not considering for a moment that I just described you. What I am saying is just sitting on the surface; it will not penetrate. Without God’s grace the seed just sown will sit on the surface of your heart and will be easy picking for the birds to steal it away.

Rocky Soil (Luke 8:6, 13)

Here Jesus teaches that these hearers receive the Word with joy, but cultivate no root. These hearers are perceived to “grow up” above the surface of the soil, but have no depth beneath. Eventually, trials expose the hearer for who they are: joyful hearers and circumstantial followers. 

If you have ever re-sodded your lawn, you might understand what I mean. After re-sodding five times in my life, I consider myself an expert. The first several times I put down sod my neighbors would enviously comment on how beautiful, green, and lush my lawn was. I outwardly accepted their praise with humility, while raging inside with pride. You see, lawn of the month was my objective and my new sod was the key. 

As I have gotten a little bit older and a little bit wiser my response to these compliments have changed. Now my reply humble inwardly and outwardly: “Thank you, but I would ask that you withhold your compliments until after the winter.” The once green grass goes dormant, or to sleep, over the winter. During this period, the grass turns brown, which is its defense against drought and cold.

You see, during the trials of drought and freeze, the winter reveals the depth of the root system. Because all the grass is brown, you just don’t know if the grass persevered until spring. How – it comes back green, healthy, and lush like before. 

According to the University of Purdue (http://purdueturftips.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-lawn-is-brown-and-crunchy-is-it-dead.html), there is a way for a lawn to survive during the trials of winter: 

“A friend recently asked me recently what to do about their lawn during these very dry conditions. I told them, honestly we will really just need to wait and see. He said, so I should just accept a little bit of brown? I responded, accept a whole lot of brown! If you have been regularly watering your lawn you should continue, the turf has been conditioned to this practice and shutting off the water may be damaging to survival. The driving factors for survival during severe drought have to do with rooting depth and the reservoir of available water. What about fertilizing? One of the suggested water conservation practices is to stop or reduce (decrease amount) nitrogen fertilization during periods of drought. There is no need to push shoot/leaf growth in the plant when other resources like water are limited.”

In other words, the seed fell on the rock. The seed didn’t fall on good ground and then someone threw rocks on top. The seed feel on the rock. What does that mean? It means that although your heart received the Word with joy, you didn’t have pliable soil. The trials revealed the shallow nature of your heart. What do you do? Why was the root shallow? You can make it on lack of moisture and still remain (to some degree) green. However, when there is a drought, you will be exposed. If you neglect your heart in times of drought, you will fall away.

When you’re in the intersection between the promises of God and the details of your situation, what you do with your mind is very important. In this intersection, God will never ask you to deny reality. Abraham did not deny reality. Romans 4 says that he “considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (v. 19). Faith doesn’t deny reality. No, it is a God-focused way of considering reality. As Abraham renewed his mind and meditated on God, he actually grew stronger in faith even though nothing in his circumstances had changed yet (Tripp, Paul. Dangerous Calling p. 133).

Thorny Soil (Luke 8:7, 14)

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.

It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for

heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not

the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we

drink in every night.”

― John Piper, Hunger for God

I run the risk of sounding like I am promoting asceticism here. Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals. I am not promoting asceticism here. I believe in enjoying God’s gifts and I believe strongly in Christian liberty. I like to play. I like to have fun.

With that said, you cannot go to work, play 2 hours of video games, mess with fantasy football for half an hour, watch three games on Saturday and one on Sunday, do little league, dance, gymnastics, lift weights, play cards, go dancing, check your Facebook ten times a day, have a cagillion (defined by the Urban Dictionary as a little more than a bagillion but less than magillion) pins on Pinterest, watch full television seasons in two days on Netflix, have too much to drink, go to the movies, have dead noise in your car, listen to Boortz, Rush, and Hannity or sports talk radio each day – then waltz in here on Sunday with a few personal devotions and a podcast in your pocket and expect to bear fruit. 

Good Soil (Luke 8:8, 15)

In our day it is said that preaching is not an effective way of communication or the most conducive environment for change. I agree that is a biblical statement. However, preaching has never been an effective way of communication. Regardless of what I have said this morning, I would do well to expect about twenty of you to hear this, hold fast to it, and bear fruit because of it. So I echo the words of Christ, “Take heed how you hear.”

What did we learn this morning? 

This passage is exclusively about hearing. Last week we learned that the care we take in hearing God’s Word will determine our eternal destiny. The difference between Heaven and Hell is how you hear. 

What should we do because of what we have learned?

10 Practical Suggestions on “Holding Fast"--next week.