Matthew 18

Do you know why God calls us to go great lengths to kill sin? Because he loves you and  went great lengths to save you!

@klarckorver
@bobbiekorver

@erclosangeles
www.erc.la
info@erc.la

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Welcome to the Wake Before the Day podcast with my parents Klarc and Bobbie. We're excited to talk about the Bible and the Holy Spirit adventures. Thanks for listening. We're in Matthew 18. We've got some kids floating around right here from them. Otherwise, we're gonna just walk through the chapter talk about what stuck out to us and we'll get you on your way for your Friday. Yeah, right away verse, you know chapter 18 the first couple of verses this question is talking about greatness. Who's great? Who is good? Who's the best? Who's the winner? Who's first team and the disciples want to know like who's gonna be the greatest in the kingdom and Jesus called the little child to him placed the child among them and said truly I tell you unless you change become like little children You will never enter the kingdom of heaven therefore whoever takes the little a position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me and again, it's not that the children are more holy. Oh, hi Speaking of cruise Let's the child come to the podcast microphone. It was on Sunday. So the miracle baby is one year old Speaking of children. She's here. It's not because they're extra holy or they behave so well It's because they're dependent and they believe without doubting oftentimes. They trust mom and dad They trust Abba. They know that they need mom and dad. They actually want to be with mom and dad on Sunday night we had our first parenting kind of zoom night and One of the things we we had like maybe 50 people I think show up and it was awesome So if you're a family that can be little kids middle school kids high school kids Whatever we had people getting together and we're talking about how can we be godly parents and grow godly families and the thing We realize is that before we talk about parenting our kids We have to first be parented by God and if we're not being parented by God then we're not offering the things of heaven to our children And so it's like we also need to be like a child and be fathered by Abba And what's so interesting Mariano and our worship leader and heads our tack and does graphic design here He had such a profound word. He said there's seasons of our life where we are like the child or we're trusting God We want to be with them. We're longing for him but then there come times and seasons where we become like Teenage Spiritual people were we're too cool for mom and dad. I don't want to hang out with mom and dad I'm hanging out with my friends or I know better He says I need to be like a child I need to be parented by God and be hungry and Want to be with him and spend time with him and not be kind of too cool for school I thought that was a really profound word what Mariano said on Sunday night We did not talk about this, but that's exactly what I wrote down also. Oh really nice Yeah, so I loved how he was talking about the dependence and how you know we go through seasons of life Like I just heard you say and it's almost like We're opposed to the things of God. We're like no, I'll just figure it out I'll just handle it and you know what and I'll speak for myself. No and not Mariano But so many of those times and we've talked about this before in the podcast come when there's been Success when there's been prosperity when there's been good things good things happen And so just curious about that, you know, I think Yeah, I think there's a lot of different fruit that come from those times and some of the fruit You know that independence and autonomy It's just interesting to wonder, you know, what's going on in our hearts when things outside of our hearts Maybe our are going really well. Yeah, and so we haven't we're kind of an ongoing conversation with this How does someone be like a child? Right, what would you say? Well, where's your kind of like thought path? Oh, I just think like having a rhythm of life that keeps you connected to God intentionally because like how do you fight prosperity? Especially in America and like getting swept up in that. How do you not be a teenager? How do you stay like a child? Right. So we this is like Klarc said we talk about this all the time So one one way we feel like that the Lord we just as we've asked other people We've kind of understood like well when you position yourself to praise God. Yeah, that's one way like in humility When you continue to point to God and praise God One things, you know in cruises healing we point to God we praise God like whoa It's amazing, you know, it's so we cry out that way, but also I mean that's where I mean one of the things I think is You have to hit your trailer like when we talk about the body of Christ. It is one body. Yeah, and so if you're Kind of lone Rangering it and you're doing well and you're you know that the dangerous place to be what it's life It's not gonna be like that forever. It just won't you know life happens And so when we walk together as the body of Christ, there's going to be ups and downs Together, I think a community forces you to stay humble or at least if you're in good community people will call it out Right, we're all even just walking vulnerably and honest with people I feel like that's when like when you're sharing those kind of hurts and burdens and heavy things with each other Then even when you when we're celebrating together like we've talked about because of the Christian life You're also grieving at the same time. Yeah, you know, we are we are holding these things intention together. Anyway, loved That sentiment that Mariona brought up and then yeah, just as you walk through life Well, you know, what does that look like for you in the ups and the downs and the valleys and the mountaintops? Yeah The picture though of child like I feel like it it just hits me right now because our kid we have a bunch of little kids Yeah, and so they want to be with us right now right now. We're cool What does that mean right now they're like we're the cool parents, but in a couple years and I'm out of here Yeah, I know maybe maybe we'll stay cool. I don't know what to figure out what to do first number six six What's interesting about the next verse six is I see verse six through nine and verses ten through fourteen being really connected and that's because You're dealing with great lengths in both situations. Let me explain Versus six through nine Jesus is saying if you're following Jesus, you need to go great lengths to kill your sin He's basically saying if anyone causes one of these little ones these people who believe in me to stumble It's better to have a large millstone hung around their neck a millstone is a rock that's thousands of pounds It ground grain pressed wine whatever it's this huge stone It's better to hung around your neck and throw it into the depths of the sea so that person be drowned Jesus says woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble and Woe to the person through whom these things come he says if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble Cut it off and throw it away It's better for you to enter life and maimed or crippled than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into eternal fire If your eye causes you to stumble gouge it out and throw it away It's better for you to enter life with one eye and have two eyes be thrown into the fire of hell Jesus is saying you and I need to go great lengths to walk in purity Great lengths to follow Jesus great lengths to abstain from sin now. This is not literal Otherwise, we would all be footless Handless and eyeless right but what he's saying is do what you need to do turn your TV off Get a passcode on something get an accountability partner Join a group and have people ask you hard questions every week Go great lengths that you're not abstaining in sin and flirting with the things of this world go great lengths To do this yeah, and also then help for yourself, but also for other people Okay, now when you get down to verses 10 through 14 The reason why you go great lengths to abstain from sin is because God has gone great lengths to love you That's what you have to win. Yes, you have to accept So verse 10 on it talks about this parable of a wandering sheep, which is you and me Someone just sent me a video the other day of this sheep running and it there's this massive crevice in this field And there's a massive in this like it's got to be like a mile wide There's this one crack and the sheep jumps in the crack It's like what a dumb animal and this guy pulls it out by its hind legs The thing starts jumping around three jumps head first back in the crack You could go anywhere else and you're gonna jump in this crack like are you serious? And it's like that's a picture of me and so this is what Jesus does He goes great lengths to save us when we're tempted to go great lakes to sin says see to it that you don't despise one of these Little ones I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my father in heaven So what do you think if a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away? Will he not leave the 99 on the hills to go look for the one that wandered off and if he finds it truly I tell you he's happier about that one sheep and about the 99 who did not wander off in the same way your father in Heaven was not willing that any of these little ones should perish and so We got go great lengths to fight our sin Why because God has gone great lengths to love you great lengths to redeem you great lengths to save you So we celebrate Jesus for what you've done. We thank you for these images of sheep You silly sheep jumping into rocks and cracks. I mean I can attest to that I spent my life growing up was with animals farm animals and sheep We I feel like that's like the one animal my parents were like no like we're not even gonna mess It's stupid and so interesting that that okay language here But uh, forgive me. It's interesting that that's how you know We're described well I I so love the visual of that also and I want to point out you guys if you have your Bible look at verse 12 It says what do you think if a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wonders? It doesn't say if a Salty shepherd boy out in the field It says if a man owns I know that's a small kind of haphazard like really easy to read over part But don't read over it because that is giving us the picture of God the father coming to rescue us I think that's something that like as would be as we're being parented by God Sometimes that's like weird because you're you know a 50 year old adult or you're a 30 year old adult, right? Wrong because the way that we enter the kingdom of heaven is by identifying as a child of God It is by adoption through sonship. That is how we enter and it's not entering you know JVB team like we enter like the kingdom we enter and we sit at the right We sit under the family of the man who sits at the right hand of God the father It is the man who owns the hundred sheep that runs and goes and looks and That's phenomenal like if you think about an owner again just in terms of livestock and at this time of an agrarian culture If you own them, you're definitely not working them. You're probably nearby because you do have because you have Commitment to the flock and that is your livelihood But you have people that are hired hands or you have your family that are working that for you Anyway, wanted to point that out. That's another thing. That's like So phenomenal is that when you read like in Philippians that God himself lowered himself Yeah, he came that he was the one that he sent his son and so Phenomenal it's by the name of Jesus alone. And so we got it. It's Him alone. You gotta know that and as we go great lengths to abstain from sin Understanding God's gone great things to love us. God takes in seriously. That's what the next couple verses talk about verses 15 Through 20 talk about dealing with sin in the church and so it really gives us a method and a blueprint Where if there's a problem, yeah, we're called not to go gossip not to tweet mean things not to slander not to even not to avoid He says you got to go to them one-on-one and say hey I've observed this. I actually want to put two cents in this. I am blown away by this first two This actually just happened to a member of our family a few months ago Where some there's a disagreement and someone went to social media and just blasted somebody that I love and really care about Yeah, and that person who I love and dearly cared about messaged all of us and said hey, this is happening Just so you know, I'm fine. Please respond in the flesh do not respond publicly I am working behind the scenes and I'm okay and I in that moment you guys Yeah Interesting things coming out of me that I had to examine myself But blessed by these verses because that's how we honor God in conflict we honor God in conflict by going directly to the person Not by bringing it up on social media exactly exactly and as we deal with it Then if it doesn't go well you bring someone else from the church and you bring more and if those folks So don't respond well to that correction and encouragement and rebuke then it says You know separate yourself from them and really that's motivated by love because people need to see God loves you, but there's a way to follow God. There's a way of losing your life that you gain your life There's a way of picking up your cross and following him. There's a way of treating people There's a way of speaking to people It was what we're called to and so when I mess up I need to be teachable to my wife I need to be submissive to her in that way. I need to be submissive to the elders of the church I need to be submissive even to my own kids when they say dad like you know This hurt this hurt my feelings or I think you might ascend in this way I got to be respectful of that Then that the chapter ends it's the parable of the unmerciful servant and really we're dealing with big numbers again Say how many times should I forgive somebody Jesus is saying basically not seven times at 77 times meaning It's a lifelong process Continue to be forgiven and to forgive those things are correlated. They're connected if you're not forgiving anybody else You yourself are not gonna be forgiven And so what kind of what happens in the rest of this parable is someone who doesn't understand the depth of their brokenness and the depth of their need Is not gonna be gracious to other people But when we understand how much God loves us in the great lengths. He has gone to save us from our nasty sin We're gonna live out of that grace. We're gonna love God. We're gonna love other people well and Yeah, it's encouragement. So we're wrapping up, but we got Kirby girl here and Kirby Our family last week or two has been working hard one of the things we've been trying to do is instead of doing ABCs We brush your teeth or wash your hands We've been trying to do the books of the Bible and the apostles creed and After dinner and after breakfast those are the two meals We have together for sure a whole family around the table. Yeah read scripture and we do the books of the Bible So Kirby is gonna recite the books of the Bible. Are you gonna do it to the rhythm or are you gonna do it? Just? Speaking it we did to a rap song if you know shy Lynn shai Lynn and any I think you can look up his kids album and That is how we learned the books of the Bible to the song I think it says the name of the song is God know the books God know the books K curb take it away Genesis This would have the biggest numbers do the run a me Joshua judges first first and second Samuel first and second Kings first and second Chronicles as Rania Maya Esther Joe song Proverbs Ecclesiastie soul song in my day a Jeremiah Lamentation is equal Daniel Jose Joel Amos Obadi Jonah Mike and a him Rebecca the fun Naya Haggai Zach Coray of Malachi Matthew Mark Luke John acts Romans first Christians second Christians glacial He's in Philippians Colossians first Thessalonians second Thessalonians Timothy Titans finally in Hebrew James first and second Peter first first John second John third John Jude revelation Boom goes the dynamite high five girl way to go So hey, we hope that you are encouraged by Kirby's books of the Bible memorizing and we encourage you to do the same All right, so God bless you and as always church on Sunday. You're invited. Hope to see you there The Lord bless him keep you make his face sign on you and be graces to you the Lord Turn his face towards you and give him his peace. Have a great day Bye.