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A
If you're ready for the word, say yes. All right, so I want to go to the Gospel of Mark, chapter number three, beginning at verse one. We're in a series. I teach in series. That means I take a character from the Bible, a theme in the Bible, or a book of the Bible, and we spend several weeks exploring what the Bible has to say about that and how it actually applies to our daily life. And so we're in this series called Alterations, which is actually a series on worship as a spiritual discipline. And Mark, chapter three, verse one. I'm reading this from the English Standard Version, the niv. I like the NIV because it is more of. It's a thought for thought translation. So it's not a formal equivalence. ESV tries to be more of a word for word translation. And so I think there's some nuance between the ESV and the NIV that required a little more etymological accuracy here. And so that's why I chose the ESV today. And it reads again, he entered the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, come here. And he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or do harm, to save or to kill? But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. I want to talk from this subject. I'm at the 12:30, so I know I don't have to ask for amens, but the topic of today's teaching is very simple. Wear them hands at. Clap your hands, 12:30, if you're ready for God's word. Wear them hands at. I want to start this sermon with a statement that hopefully will shape the way Psalms see relationships and consequently, the way they see worship. I am arguing that the Achilles heel for many relationships is the absence of the awareness that that relationships require more than romance. Relationships require responsibility. In other words, grand gestures and romantic rendezvous on anniversaries, birthdays, and Valentine's Day will not overcome the adverse impact of being irresponsible on the other days. Irresponsibility is a liability in relationships. I'm gonna say that one more time. Irresponsibility is a liability in relationships because relationships require operating with a degree of consciousness and consideration of how your actions, or lack thereof, impact someone other than you. It is based on this revelation. Watch this. That love is not just a feeling. Love is a function. Is this not what John makes clear in John, chapter three, verse number 16? When John says, for God so loved the world that he what gave? Because love does more than feel, love functions. Love is about more than romance. Love is about responsibility. And part of the responsibility that's required of all of us in the context of our relationships is to investigate and intentionally execute on what Dr. Gary Chapman calls our partners love languages. That is your responsibility. I meant everything I said. I said that is your responsibility. To investigate and then intentionally execute my partner's love language. Dr. Chapman argues this in his book Five Love Languages. He suggests that love languages aren't mere preferences. He argues that love languages are the primary way that an individual receives, interprets, and feels genuinely loved. It is an emotional dialect. It's the language of the soul. It's not just what I want, it's what I need the way that I need it. And Chapman argues that there are five primary love languages that people will have an orientation to. These are not static. They can be seasonal. Love languages in one season may be different in another. But Chapman argues that there are five primary that we need to take into consideration. He argues there are words of affirmation, which is expressing love through affirming speech. Somebody say talk to me there. There is quality time, which is showing love by giving. Watch this focused att. Then there is acts of service, which is demonstrating love by help, by doing helpful actions. Somebody say, help me. Then there's the receiving of gifts, which is expressing love through giving tangible tokens. Y' all scared to say amen there, huh? Scared? Somebody get real deep and say tangibility. Yeah. Then he says there is physical touch, which is comm. I heard a brother all day until that. Amen. Now you're preaching, Bishop. That's my bishop, baby. That. Listen. Wake up. Listen to the Bishop Bishop talking. This is communicating love through physical connection. And as I was exploring these love languages in the context of this conversation we're having about worship, I discovered something that's extremely important, yet I think often overlooked. I discovered that these love languages not only apply to our relationship with people. I discovered these love languages also apply to our relationship with people. Relationship with God. I saw. I saw that what Chapman said people need is what the scriptures say God wants. I saw God wants words of affirmation. That's called the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks unto his name. I saw God wants quality time. That's devotion. I saw God wants acts of service. That's using my gifts to serve him. It's saying I don't have. Are y' all here? See, I say, are you here? See, one of the things the enemy doesn't want you to do is to be aware of your assets. Somebody say this in faith. I'm an asset. Come on, say it like you mean it. I'm an asset. See, that's not arrogance. That's awareness. Did you hear what I just said? See, some people are calling people Christian humble when those people are naive because you can't have humility without awareness. Hallelujah. Did you hear what I just said? You say, no, you're humble. No, they're naive. You're humble when you are aware of what God's given you, but you hadn't forgot that he's the one that gave it to you. Did you hear what I just said? And some people with unhealthy theology don't know the difference between arrogance and awareness. So when you are aware, they call you arrogant because they think something's wrong with you, when the truth of the matter is there's something wrong with the way they have understood humility. Humility isn't naivety regarding what God gave me. Arrogance comes when you forget who gave it to you. I know what I am. I just am what I am by the grace of God. I'm trying not to run. I feel like I got it. Don't run, don't. I feel like I got a runner in here today. I said, I know what I am, but I am what I am by the grace of God. Boy, if I had time, I would talk about how the enemy exploits naivety and how predators discern naivety. They look for people who don't know who they are. They look for people who don't know what they have. They look for people who hadn't accurately discerned the degree of gifting that God puts on the inside of them. And they want to exploit that before someone becomes aware of that. And this is why when Jesus heals blindness in. In some of our lives, it's not physical blindness that's keeping us seeing from the outside. It's spiritual blindness that's keeping you seeing from the inside. And some of your issues gonna be some people love you better blind. They like the you that couldn't see. They liked the you that didn't know value. They liked the you that didn't have a revelation and that you are an image bearer of God and a carrier of the purpose. And the plans of God. And when you start getting a revelation, it causes a revolution in terms of what you tolerate. And they start saying stuff like, you changed. And you should start saying stuff like, and you didn't. That's the problem. The problem isn't that I changed. The problem is that you didn't. That you hadn't learned how to love people. You only know how to use them. Somebody say, I'm an asset. So God has put inside of everybody. You got natural ability. That's what you're born with. Saved or not. That's called talent. Saved or not, you got it. Then you have acquired skill. Those are skills you have acquired out of choice or necessity. Got me? Then there's spiritual gifts, special abilities that are distributed by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building the body and serving humanity. Got me? So you can have natural ability and acquire skill without God. You can't have spiritual gifts without the Holy Spirit. He distributes. Are y' all following me? The gifts as he chooses. So when I say you're an asset, I'm saying you've got natural ability, acquired skill, and spiritual gift. Now, I'm gonna tell you something. When you hit your sweet spot in life, the sweet spot in life is when there's a convergence of all three of those things where God puts you in a season where you using your natural ability and your acquired skill and your spiritual gift, that's called a threat to the devil. That's called a spiritual weapon of mass destruction. That's called an asset to the kingdom of God. Somebody say, I'm an asset. So I'm just making this point. Acts of service. God is saying, I gave you all of those. I'm not asking for all of it. I'm asking for the first right of refusal. You got. He said, you got natural ability. You got acquired skill, you got spiritual gifts. Before you start going and using it on everything else, come to me, because I'm the one that gave it to you. And I need you to ask me why I gave it to you. Because it's one thing to be aware that you have it. It's another thing to be aware of why I gave it to you. And God is challenging some of you to go to go back to him and say, you got first right of refus. I don't get to do with this what I want to do with this. Because you didn't give this to me just for me. He said, that's my love language. Acts of service. But then there's the fifth one. The fifth one Is God wants physical touch. Now, Pastor, God's a spirit. How can you touch him physically? You can't. When I say physical touch, I mean worship. Because physical touch, in part is a reflection or an expression of what you do with your hands. Did you hear what I just said? Yes. Yeah, I said. I said physical touch, in part, is expressed by what you do with your hands. And so when I say God wants physical touch, I'm not saying God wants to be touched physically. I'm saying there's something in God's love language that wants you to do something with your hands that when it comes to worship, God is asking, where them hands at? He said, that's my love language. That's my love language. And the text Here in Mark 3 is an incredible example of what I'm attempting to articulate. We get to peek in on an experience that Jesus has in the synagogue. Somebody say church. Okay. The text says, there's a man in the synagogue who is dealing with a withered hand. The word withered there doesn't mean, like, deformed. It doesn't mean that the hand is decaying. It means that the hand is withered in the sense that it is no longer functional or as mobile as it used to be. You got me. Okay. Even I. I think the word here is in the present imperative. So it kind of speaks to this idea that it did not always exist in that condition. It is ongoing. It is withering away. He's in church, and something is withering away. Y' all aren't talking to me. Did you hear what I just said? He's singing songs and something is withering away. He's hearing teaching from the Torah each week, and something is withering in a way, because it is possible to be in a church environment and still have a culture of coping where church becomes your anointed anesthesiologist, where I come to get put to sleep, but then wake back up to the same pain and predicament. It's coping. It is inspiration to help me handle something that might be subject to transformation if I would give it over to the Father. And the Bible says, jesus, come in the synagogue. I'm gonna say it one more time because I thought I was at the 12:30. And at the 12:30, you can't say that name too much. You start saying that name at the 12:30, something start happening on the row. You start saying that name at the 12:30, people start getting healed. You start saying that name at the 12:30, praise starts. I said, Jesus. Jesus comes in the synagogue. Isn't it amazing? Jesus comes to church. And when Jesus comes to church, you go from a culture of coping to a culture, a change. When Jesus comes to church, Jesus doesn't just sit and watch us wither away. Jesus said, I don't care how long this has been happening. Jesus wants to do something about it. But the text says something interesting. Give me the text, guys. Y' all good? I got 13 minutes. Here it is, Here it is. Text says something interesting. It says, and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. Now you'll see at the latter part of the text, I think if you look at verse six and seven, you'll see that these they that Mark didn't tell us who they are in verse two. But in verses six to seven, Mark tells us that the they were actually Pharisees. And Pharisees are who I call self appointed church police who feel like they got to protect God and God's standards from God's people. So they deputize themselves and go around trying to lock everybody else up. Because they are watching a man who has probably been in the synagogue regularly withering away. And they are not obsessed with helping the man. They're obsessed with picking a fight. Because level three wants to help. Level two want to fight, want to argue Sabbath while people are withering in our midst. Did you hear what I just said?
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A man's.
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Because listen, in those days, if your hands didn't work, you probably couldn't work, right? You worked with your hands during those days. So this man's economic viability is probably impacted. We don't know how he's impacted emotionally. We don't know if he's dealing with any sort of physical pain or discomfort. But the people in the synagogue are watching a man being impacted physically, emotionally, spiritually, economically, and they rather fight about the Sabbath. But Jesus. I said, but Jesus. Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, come here. He didn't say, come here and I'll heal you. He didn't say, come here and I'll set you free. He didn't say, come here and I'm going to restore your hand. He just said, come here. Because this wasn't a call to a promise. This was a call to proximity. Because sometimes God addresses your problems by calling you to closer proximity. You will say, fix this. He'll say, come here. You'll say, heal that. He'll say, come here. You'll say, turn this around. He'll say, come here. It's not that you aren't close, but he'll call you closer because some problems are only addressed when you get in closer proximity to him. And he'll use some problems to fix the problem of distance. I feel a little something pushing me here. Am I talking to anybody that senses him telling you, come here, Come closer? I need you praying more. I need you in the word more. I need you fasting more frequently? Well, if he's telling you to come here, you need to get ready, because there's something that's withering, that's about to be restored. He said, come here. And then he asked a question. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? To save a life or to kill? Here's what's interesting. Are y' all okay? Jesus here. Here's what's interesting. I'm almost done. Jesus here. Here's what's interesting. Jesus is actually challenging the way they've historically understood the principle of the Sabbath. What he's trying to do for them is what he has to do with so many of us who are kind of reared and shaped in a church environment. He has to show you places where you have confused your historic interpretation of what something means with what it actually means. So for generations, they have understood the rest on the Sabbath to mean you can do nothing on the Sabbath, even Good. That's their historic interpretation of what the Sabbath meant. And what Jesus has to do is to help them see there's a difference between what the Bible says and what you think it means. And because there's a difference between what the Bible says and what you think it means, you can't treat what you think it means like what it says. What it says is doctrine. What you think it means might be dogma. And they are not the same thing. And when you got dogma, you become dogmatic. Am I making sense? And then you want to fight while other people are withering, but I need somebody in the room to say, I'm too busy to fight. Yeah, yeah, you won. You. If you want to be right, be right. I'm getting ready to feed the hungry. You right. I'm getting ready to clothe the naked. You right. I'm getting ready to raise my children. You right. I'm getting ready to leave an inheritance for my children's children. You write. You right. You got it. This is not the only time Jesus dealt with this. There's a time where he's in the feet, where him and his disciples are walking on the Sabbath. They're Hungry. There's a field. The disciples go in the field, get some corn. And the same Pharisees church police come and say, why are you picking food on the Sabbath? And Jesus said, wait a minute. You have misunderstood the principle of the Sabbath. He says, you completely misunderstood it. Right? See, people are arguing about this in the New Testament. And so that's why Paul's like, hey, don't get into arguments about a Sabbath day, a new moon. You remember that. He says, the believers in college, he says, don't argue about any of that. Because the principle of the sex, the shadow, the. The day of the Sabbath was a foreshadowing of the day of Jesus. We have now entered into his rest. So now Sabbath is not a day. It's a principle, My God. It's a work, rest, principle. Now am I making sense? Okay, so Jesus said, now listen, man wasn't made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man. It's like you prioritizing the wrong thing. You putting the Sabbath over people, when the reason that the Sabbath exists is for people. So whenever you are interpreting scripture in a way or applying scripture in a way where you feel like you've got to put something over the people. God doesn't change his truth for people, but the truth exists to serve God's people. Am I making sense? He's just trying to get them to see that what the Sabbath is, is. It's revealing to you what a pattern that's a picture of the way you've been created to work. You've been created for. They work. Rest, rhythm. Hallelujah. This is why God, who created the world in six days, rested on the seventh day. He didn't rest on the seventh day because he's tired. He rested on the seventh day because he's a teacher. He's teaching you how to rest not as a response to fatigue, but how to rest as a response to accomplishment. To look at what you've done in the six days, say, it's good. Hallelujah. I'm not satisfied, but it's good. I'm grateful for what's been accomplished. So, Jesus, I'm almost done. Y' all good? So. So. So, Jesus, give me a text, please. They don't believe me. I want them to see this in the Bible. Here it is. He says, when he asked, they were silent and he looked around with anger. He was grieved at their hardness of heart. He was grieved at their what? He was grieved at their what. He was grieved at their what hearts so he wasn't grieved because they were incorrect. He was grieved because they were uncorrectable. All of us at some point are going to be incorrect. The question is, when Jesus confronts us with truth, will we be correctable? Hallelujah. And I'm gonna say something because this word is a word you got to embrace if you're gonna live a third way life. The kingdom requires something called repentance. Metamufu, a change of mind that leads to a change of direction. Jesus says, I need you to be willing to make you U turns once I reveal to you you going in the wrong direction. And if you'll make a U turn, I'll turn your life upside down. I need somebody to shout U turn. I thought I was at the 12:30. I say say U turn. Yep. Your haters need to hear it, your enemies need to hear it, your friends need to hear it, your family needs to hear it. God's getting ready to orchestrate a U turn in my life. A U turn is coming. A U turn is coming. A U turn is coming. A U turn is coming. Are you Hey. A U turn is coming. A U turn is coming. A U turn is coming. A U turn is coming. A U turn as prophetic, A U turn. A U turn. Somebody take about 13 seconds and praise him for the U turn. It's coming, it's coming.
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It's coming.
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It'S coming. Texas, if you don't need a U turn, be quiet. If you don't believe in U turns, be quiet. But if you believe your God can turn it around. He looked around, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored. Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored. Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored. So this man had an alteration because he was obedient to what Jesus said, do with his hands. If he wouldn't have stretched out his hand, he could have potentially missed an alteration. And there are many of us who are underestimating how God responds when you do what God says says do with your hands. And we're getting ready to go. I got three points, but you're only getting one cuz the other services we only, we don't even get past this one. Cuz Jesus as a Hebrew understood all of the different instruction that they had received regarding what God wanted them to do with their hands, like lifting their hands or extending their hands. But one that is important, that's often Overlooked is found in Psalms 47:1. And that's where the writer says, clap your hands. And so I said, okay, I need to know. I know they translated it clap in English, but because the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, I wanted to know what was the Hebrew word and how would Hebrews understand that word? Clap. And the word clap for them meant to strike with purpose. It's the same word that we would have used to hammer a nail into a wall or to drive a stake into a ground. It is intentional. I'm trying to solidify something. Watch this, watch this, watch this. Clapping of the hands is what's called embodied theology. Clapping forced the body to participate in what the spirit was declaring. It is saying, my whole being agrees with and anticipates your goodness. It's an act of celebration for what God has done. Appreciation for what God is doing and anticipation of what he's getting ready to do is not passive appreciation, but active participation in calling forth God's continued intervention. Each clap is saying, you did it before, do it again. You did it before, do it again. So when we hear clapping, we hear noise. But when heaven hears clapping, heaven hears, they won't be to do it.
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Do it again, do it again, do it again. We believe you will do it again. We believe you will do it again. Yeah, we believe you will do it again. Say, we believe you will do it again. Say do it again yeah, do it again again oh, do it again, do it again, do it again say do it again I seen you do it again, do it again and you do it again yeah, I seen you here.
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Do it again and you do it.
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Again, do it again, do it again, do it again.
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Without the music, without the music. Come on.
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You move the mountains and I believe. I see you do it again. You made a way when there was no way. Yeah, I believe I see you too I see you moving mountain I see you made a way and I believe I see you do it I see you do it I seen you do it I believe you will I seen you do it. You heal my body, you set me free. You heal my body, you set me free. I see you do, I see you do it again. I see you move you sir. Oh clap your hands and I believe I see you do it Say I see you move, you move the mountain I see you do. It's gonna turn it around. It's gonna work in your favor.
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Late in the midnight.
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One more time, Sam.
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I want to pray. Cuz there's somebody. I felt this prompting at the last Service. And I want to pray into this. And we're going to go, but I want to pray because there's some. Some of us. Listen to me. We need an encore. We need God to do it again. Listen to me. But this prayer is for those whose story story is similar to the prodigal son. In Luke 15. You need God to do something again because of what you mismanaged when he did it before. That's the story of the prodigal son. He squandered it, what the Father originally gave him. And he felt hopeless. He felt such despair that he said, I'm gonna just go back and make myself like one of my father's hired servants. And he had his whole speech together. And before he could get it out, the Father said, go. Give me a robe, Go give me a ring because I got a robe that fit and a ring that fit and shoes that fit because I got enough to do it again. I'm here to pray for Luke 15 restoration and may your testimony be Lord, when you do it this time. I'm ready. I'm wiser now. I'm stronger now. Is there anybody in the room? Your testimony. I'm ready now. I'm grounded enough. I'm strong enough. I'm holy enough. I'm focused enough. I'm ready now. Now, Father, I don't believe you put Luke 15 in the Bible just to show us what you can do for him. I believe you put it in there to show us what you have done and what you can do for us. Now. Some of us have squandered seasons, squandered wealth, squandered opportunity. But you're the God who can do it again. And I pray now for Luke 15 restoration that brings you glory and brings you honor and brings you praise in Jesus name. We're getting ready to go, but look at me. Some of you need him to do something for you the first time. Talking to you online, too. You need him to save you. And I'm not talking about make you religious. I'm not talking about make you like him. I'm talking about surrendering your life to his leadership. Because he can't save a life he doesn't lead. It's Lord and Savior, not Lord or Savior. It's Lord and Savior, not Lord or Savior.
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It.
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And if you're here today and you're tired of trying to do this without it.