It’s not about the Bread

Welcome

Good Morning

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Intro

I want to start today off by talking a little about who we are as a Church Family.

Our Vision is To be a Place to Belong a Church for the Whole Family.

When I speak of Church I mean a gathering of Followers of Christ all set on the Same Mission.

The Mission I believe God has set us on is His Kingdom Come, His Will be Done, On Earth as it is in Heaven. More Specifically it has to start for us in McPherson County.

In McPherson County as it is in Heaven.

If we are going to accomplish that Mission it is going to take Every Person who calls this Church Home putting in to Place the Practices of Jesus.

But How do We do That.

Well First We have to Know Jesus and What He Practiced.

So the first step is.

Spend Time With Jesus

You have to start studying your Bible and Spending time in Prayer.

But what if you have never been taught how to do that. Well we have a Next Step for That.

Grow Here Begins September 7.

Roll that Video Please:

So Once You put in to Practice the Discipline of Spending Time With Jesus you should naturally begin to feel the tug to start:

2. Becoming Like Jesus

Jesus was deeply rooted in the practice of being with and loving others. He surrounded himself by his friends and disciples. He never went anywhere alone unless He was spending time with God alone.

He was committed to His Followers and His Followers where committed to Him. We believe that His Followers today should be Committed to a Local Church Family and it’s Mission.

If you would like to Know more about that we have a Rooted Here Class Next Sunday in the Second Service. I will Personally be teaching that next week at 10:45a.

You can come to first service and here the message then stay for the second service to attend Rooted Here.

The third step in being part of the Mission of Freedom Chapel is to:

3. Do What Jesus Did?

So what did Jesus do? He served others, He loved others, He Prayed for others, and He was active in Others lives. Jesus did Save Us for us to become Spiritual Consumers, He Saved Us to Become Spiritual Contributors.

Now I believe that God wants us to Be Like Jesus out there, but I believe He wants us to start in Here.

Acts 6:1–7 CSB

1 In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. 2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch. 6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

Did you know that for every person who is serving on a Sunday Morning it equals 3.5 People in the Seats. It is proven spiritual multiplication.

There is a common misconception that the Pastor should take care of that. No the Church Family should all take part in the Sunday and Wednesday Gatherings.

As We continue to see God Move in our Midst and our Numbers continue to Grow we need everyone to get involved.

If you have not already attended Serve Here Class we have one coming up on September 14 at 10:45a.

Many Hands Make Light Work and Service Leads to Growth.

Look at all the places We need Help on Sunday Mornings.

Now let’s dive into today’s Message.

Turn With Me to Matthew Chapter 16

Body

Matthew 16:1–12 CSB

1 The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away. 5 The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.” 8 Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? 9 Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected? 11 Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

There is a lot to unpack here so let’s start unpacking.

Matthew 16:1 CSB

1 The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

Here we have to Sects of the Jewish Leadership coming to Jesus to once again test Jesus.

We are way past the feeling Jesus out to determine if He is from God…..They have rendered Judgement and are looking for more reason to build their Case Against Him

We need to Understand the Beliefs of each of these groups, I believe to better Understand why Jesus is so threatening to thier way of thinking and Teaching.

The Pharisees

Very Meticulous in their Religious Observance.

Considered themselves seperate or distinct from all other sects of Judism especially the common people.

We must understood many Pharisees followed these practices out of Love for God and several of them became followers of Jesus including Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea.

What was a stumbling block for the revolved around disagreements on how to practice Torah and lifestyle.

After all many of them believed it was their strict observance of the law and lifestyle that made them more Holy and Righteous.

We are no different. There are spiritual practices and disciples that Help us to grow closer in Relationship with God, however it is when we began to think those Disciplines and practices are what make us better than or more Holy than we get into trouble………….

Then You have

The Sadducees:

A Religious and Political Group of Priestly Aristocrats.

They were a more exclusive group focused on Temple administration, political power, and interpreting the Torah.

They too did not have much interaction with the Common People due to their High Priestly Role.

They held tight to the Torah alone ( first 5 books of the Bible) ignoring the Prophets and did not believe in Hell, The Resurrection of the Dead, or Signs and Wonders.

This makes this coming together all the more a insincere or Hypocritical in their intentions.

We see through out the Matthews writings that Jesus is asked to produce a Sign from Heaven.

Satan in Matthew 4

The Pharisees in Matthew 12

And this wasn’t out of the ordinary throughout the Bible.

Mose, Aaron, and Elijah were all asked for Signs of their Calling by God.

But Jesus is Done with Signs. So Here is how he responds.

Matthew 16:2–3 CSB

2 He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times.

They can forecast the weather by what the see but can not understand what is Spiritually going on by what they see.

He is saying You have seen all you need to see in order to Know Who I am and What I am doing.

They have seen healings, mass feedings, messianic miracles and yet they can’t figure out what it all means.

Matthew 16:4 CSB

4 An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”

An evil and adulterous generation.

Deuteronomy 32:5 CSB

5 His people have acted corruptly toward him; this is their defect—they are not his children but a devious and crooked generation.

Jesus is again pointing them back to the Torah……

But are we so different: We have to be careful that we are not just looking for Signs and Wonders to prove to ourselves God is moving. Instead of trusting what we know and walking it out in faith.

We can see the signs of what is going on.

Now is the Time to press in……

Then He tells them the only sign they will see is the sign of Jonah.

Matthew Presents Yeshua, King Messiah (A Messianic Commentary) Rejection by Some of the Rabbis 16:1–12

Often the sign of Yonah is associated with the three days and three nights the prophet was in the belly of the great fish. However, as we previously noted, it seems the real sign of Yonah is not the chronology of this experience but the evident fact that he died in the fish and was resurrected on the third day (cf.

So Jesus leaves them and they set sail back across to the gentile side of the Lake to get away.

Matthew 16:5–8 CSB

5 The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.” 8 Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread?

This is something we really need to grasp.

The Disciples missed it all the time….Why are we so hard on ourselves when we don’t get it.

So often we are caught up worrying about the Basics of Survival we miss the Spiritual Lessons God is trying to teach us.

The Disciples are sitting there trying to figure out how the are going to buy leaven for bread making without buying it from the shop of a Pharisee or Sadducee.

Matthew 16:9–10 CSB

9 Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected?

If we need bread I can provide bread………

Matthew 16:11–12 CSB

11 Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Leaven is a Bacteria that is essential to baking bread. We know it as Yeast and yeast can really mess up your plans.

Today we use Yeast but in Jesus’ time an older Piece of Dough was used.

For your Sour Dough makers this is the Starter.

Grandma’s Cook book and the Monkey Bread Disaster………

But on the Spiritual Side Leaven is used to teach spiritual lessons.

Spiritual Leaven can destroy or Corrupt our souls.

Rabbinic Tradition emphasizes that Leaven is a symbol for sin that can puff up and permeate the soul.

This is why at Passover the Jews must cleanse their home of all Leaven as a reminder to cleanse their spiritual lives as well.

The issue with using old leaven over and over again is that it tends to start causing imperfections.

The Leaven that had spoiled the Pharisees was that their way of life made them Righteous and that anyone who didn’t do it their way was Out of the Kingdom, and that Jesus was Demonized.

The Leaven of the Sadducees was the curruption of financial gain at the expense of the people they were supposed to be interceding for. Turning the House of God into a place for Money Changers and merchandise.

Jesus is telling the Disciples to look inwardly and to take great care what they let into themselves Spiritually.

Like wise we need to be alert to the Leaven we are allowing to build us up. We need to look inwardly at the Sin in our lives the might be corrupting our thinking and even our church.

In today’s world we have become so tolerant of sin in our midst. Why because we aren’t taking care of our own sin, so allowing greater sin in our midst gives us an excuse to keep living the way we are living.

We call is Grace but I am afraid if Paul was to write us a letter it would go like this.

1 Corinthians 5:1–8 CSB

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this? 3 Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So how to we cleanse ourselves of the old leaven?

By Spending Time with Jesus and Becoming more like Jesus

We can not help people Make Jesus Lord of Their Lives when He is not Lord of Ours.

We must go back to forming our ideas and our way of thinking from the Bible.

I here opinions coming from Members of this church that in know way line up with the Bible.

Both on the Left leaning side and the Right.

Just because the church you used to attend did it a certain way doesn’t make it Biblical.

2. Our Culture must become one built on Prayer and the Word.

or we are doomed to the same fate as the Pharisees and Sadducees.

3. We need the Accountability that comes relationships with fellow believers.

This is why we do 21 days of Prayer two times a year.

To Clean out the Leaven and I feel terrible that I did not promote it well.

We have one week left. I would challenge you to not miss out on this week. 6:30a here at the Church Monday through Friday.

Saturday at 9:00a

Matthew 16:12 CSB

12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Would you stand with me this morning.

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