What does it mean for Jesus to be the Lord of the Sabbath? Are we truly resting in Him, or are we caught in the chaos of our own making? Join us as we explore the miracle of healing on the Sabbath and discover how we can plot to make Jesus known in our lives. Let's dive in together!
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.