Sunday Setup – Matthew 12:9-14

Hey Gross Church family and welcome to the Sunday setup. This our time each week we digitally gather together Thursdays at two o'clock to prepare our hearts to hear God's word to pray over God's word so that as we preach through it as we praise through it on Sunday that we can practice it during the week. Well, today we continue on in this series through the miracles of Jesus in the book of Matthew. And as we come to it, uh, we see where Jesus has a miracle, but there's controversy around it because he heals a man on the Sabbath day. And on Sunday, we'll pick up some more context of this passage. But we're going to be in Matthew 12. We're going to start at verse 9 and really highlight the story of this miracle. And it says this. It says, "Moving on from there, he entered their synagogue. There he saw a man who had a shriveled hand. And in order to accuse him, they being the Pharisees asked Jesus, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He replied to them, "Who among you, if you had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn't it take hold of it and lift it out?" He says, "A person is worth far more than a sheep, so it is lawful to do what is good on the sab Sabbath." Then he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out, and it was restored as good as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might kill him. As we look at this passage, we see that Jesus on the surface just heals a man who had a crippled, shriveled hand. But more than that, Jesus is showing his authority over the religious activities of that day. That he is the one to fulfill the law, but he is also lord over religion and the law in the Old Testament that has led to this point. And as we begin to look at this and pray through this passage, uh first I want us to start um in this time, this first prayer prompt is if you back up to verse 8, it says, "For the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath." And we're going to get the context of that passage in a second. But we see how Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath, Lord of Rest, the Lord of everything. And our first prayer prompt as we think about how we should worship him, how we should praise him is let's just start right here is God you give rest in. God you give rest in. Thinking of how he is the Lord of Sabbath, the one who take a break to give rest. That Jesus is our true rest. God is our true rest. And God you give rest in. Just praise God for the ways he gives rest in ways that our world does not. Pray those prayers to our God. Heat. Heat. God, we praise you that you give rest in our spiritual, our physical, our emotional, and every need we have. Lord, we have a restless heart. God, we yearn for things that are eternal as you tell us in your word. And you are the only one that truly gives us rest in that area cuz you are an eternal God that fills the eternal void in our life. God, you give rest because you are all powerful. Um, you are the Lord of work. You are the Lord of goodness, but you are also the one who can cause us to find uh sleep and rest and enjoyment and to be able just to settle down because you are the great healer. You are the great provider and Lord, you are just sovereign over everything. God, we thank you that you are Lord of the Sabbath, that you impart and your grace gives us rest when we need it. And Lord, we worship you because you are the only one who can provide that, not the things of this world. But God, we not only praise you that you are Lord of Sabbath, that you give us rest, but there is a response that we have to take in order to when we see this passage of where we're called to move forward in. In verse 14, we see the negative response of this passage. It says when the Pharisees saw this, when they saw that Jesus healed a man, when they saw that Jesus was Lord over the Sabbath, it says they went out and plotted against him how they might kill him. And just think about that. They went out and they plotted. Their plots were not good. They went out and plotted his death, his his murder, his arrest, and eventually being nailed to a cross. But we need to go out and we need to plot. But when we go out and plot, we go out and plot how we are to make Jesus known, how we are to get closer to Christ, how we are to lead our families well. So a little different prayer prompt on the positive response from what we see from the Pharisees in this scripture is here is our prompt is Lord, let me go out and plot too. Let me go out and plot to how I can get closer to you. Let me go out and plot how I can reach my neighbors with the gospel. God, let me go out and plot how I can love my family deeper and more fully and be present. God, let me go out and plot to blank. Pray that prayer to our God. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. God, let this be just the prayer of our church that we can go out and we can plot and we can think and we can ponder and we can wonder and we can pray about how we can effectively make Jesus known in the community around us. How can we reach surprise in Sun City Festival and Sun City West and Grand and Proper and Verado and Lord just the places that we have impacts and how can we be praying prayers of going out and plotting not in a bad way but in plotting and strategizing and thinking how can I reach my neighbors? How can I share the gospel? How can I love the people around me? How can I start in my family but extend to my neighborhood to make Jesus known in an incredible way? God, let us not have a withered heart like that of the Pharisees, but Lord, let us have a heart that is accepting of what Christ is doing, but is also overfilled with his grace and mercy that we then want to extend that invitation to the world around us. God, we thank you for this time. Uh we thank you for this passage and Lord we just praise you for who you are as the Lord of Sabbath and the Lord of our lives and we lift all this up in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, thank you guys for joining us today. We can't wait to see you this Sunday at 9 and 10:30. Have a great rest of your week. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.