Hi and welcome
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to the Books of the
Book series here on 3ABN.
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We're exploring
the Gospel of Matthew.
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Let's meet our
Teacher and Guest,
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Dr. Ranko Stefanovic,
professor of New Testament
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at Andrews
University Theological Seminary.
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Ranko, it's so good,
as I call again a friend,
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to have you with us here.
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It's been a joy
exploring the Gospel so far.
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I can't wait to hear
more of what's ahead.
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Yes, Glenn. It's
a great joy to me,
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to be with you
here at this program.
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We have known each
other for how long,
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for more than 20 or 22 years.
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You were actually
teacher of my own children
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when you were
there at Andrew's Academy
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and then you were my colleague
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in the department of Religion
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at Andrews
University for about nine years.
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And Glenn, I have come
really to appreciate you.
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You have a great
passion for ministry.
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Actually I wanted to
inform our viewers that Glenn,
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every year
organizes a group of students
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going to different parts
of the world to do mission,
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the mission of work.
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He has a great
pastoral heart and young people,
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they really love him
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and I know about great
impact that you've made
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on the lives of my own children,
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probably your
contribution is great for them,
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that they are
today in the church.
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Thank you, Glenn, very much.
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Thank you. It's always a
joy to do ministry together.
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And I can't wait to get
into the scripture here.
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Ranko, lead us in pray
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that we may have
God's guidance as we study.
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"Our Heavenly Father,
thank you for giving us
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this wonderful Gospel written
by disciple by name, Matthew.
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Father, we are learning
here about unique picture
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of Jesus Christ and we
want that Jesus who was then,
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become our own
savior now and today.
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So please speak to us
and give us the thoughts
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that the Holy Spirit can impact
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in understanding
the life of Jesus Christ
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and to understand how
great savior He is to us today.
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We pray all of this in
His precious name, Amen."
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Amen. Ranko, it's
been a wonderful journey
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so far in the Gospel of Matthew.
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I'm looking forward to
what God has for us this time.
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Where are we in
the story of Jesus?
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You know, as we move
through the Gospel of Matthew,
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as he is portraying Jesus
and His ministry of earth,
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there is one thing
that we have to keep in mind
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that which is
going on there with Jesus
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and His ministry was a
part of the great controversy.
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Yes. That even
started there in heaven
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between God and Satan.
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And Satan, he knew
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that Jesus would one
day come to this earth,
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to his kingdom there,
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he was waiting
for that opportunity.
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So we have
everyday of Jesus ministry,
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can I say even every
minute of Jesus ministry,
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was just under a
scrutiny of Satan
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and watch to
prevent the Jesus ministry.
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You know why Jesus came, to die?
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To save his
people from their sin.
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And Satan was
making a constant effort
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how to prevent
that ministry of Jesus
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and the
redemption that He wanted
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to provide for human beings.
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It is with that thought
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that we are coming
here to Chapter 14.
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Doesn't that make His
victory and sinlessness
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so much more wonderful? Yes.
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Because he's under such attack.
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That attack is not
only directly towards him,
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it's directed towards others.
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See, Glenn,
first what Satan did,
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he turned to Jewish
leaders. That is why
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Jewish nations
are against Jesus.
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When we go further on,
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he tried even to
use Jesus own family,
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his brothers against Jesus.
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He did everything,
everything to prevent Jesus
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and His ministry.
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Now there is a very
sad event that took place,
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that really marks
somehow a turning around
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a point in Jesus ministry
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and what was going
on from this time on,
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it's the death
of John the Baptist.
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So please I would
really like to ask you,
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if you can read
Chapter 14, verses 1:12.
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And we should
remember that John the Baptist,
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was one that had introduced
Jesus. Introduced Jesus.
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And prepared the
way and is a relative.
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"At that time
Herod the Tetrarch heard
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the reports about Jesus
and said to his servants,
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'This is John the Baptist,
he has risen from the dead,
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and therefore these
powers are at work in him.'
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For Herod had laid
hold on John, and bound him,
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and put him in prison
for the sake of Herodias,
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his brother Philip's wife
because John had said to him,
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It is not lawful
for you to have her.
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And although he
wanted to put him to death,
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he feared the multitude,
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because they
counted him as a prophet.
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But when Herod's
birthday was celebrated,
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the daughter of Herodias
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danced before
them and pleased Herod.
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Therefore he
promised with an oath
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to give her
whatever she might ask.
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So she, having been
prompted by her mother, said,
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'give me John the
Baptist's head on a platter.'
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And the king was sorry,
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Nevertheless
because of the oath's
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and because of
those who sat with him,
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he commanded it
to be given to her.
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So he sent and had
John beheaded in prison,
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and his head was
brought on a platter
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and given to the girl
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and she brought
it to her mother.
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Then his disciples came
and carried away the body
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and buried it and
they went and told Jesus."
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What a terrible brutal tragedy!
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Actually, the event
that is portrayed here
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is not only in the Gospels,
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we know that the
Jewish historian, Josephus,
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actually he noticed this event.
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When John the
Baptist was beheaded,
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actually the news spread
throughout Galilee and Judea.
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This was a very
significant, significant event.
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Herod, that is mentioned
here, was Herod Agrippa,
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Antipas, the son
of Herod the great,
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that notorious ruler
that tried to kill Jesus,
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you know by killing those
children there in Bethlehem.
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But evidently the Herod here
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was nothing
better than his father.
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According to Josephus,
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he was so much
afraid of John the Baptist
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because people were
holding him as a prophet.
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He was afraid for his throne
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and evidently he
tried to find any excuse
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to kill the John the Baptist
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and he took that
opportunity and he killed John.
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We see something of Jesus,
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you referred a
couple of lessons ago
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about Jesus compassion.
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How does He
respond to this sad news?
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Actually, there is one
phrase to tell us everything in,
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in verse 13, the first phrase.
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"When Jesus heard of
it, he departed from there."
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Where did he go?
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"By boat to a
deserted place by Himself."
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Far away from everybody.
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Evidently, in the
death of John the Baptist,
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Jesus saw a
precursor of His own death.
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Jesus saw that
His ministry very,
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very soon will come to its end.
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By the way, from this point on,
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very short time passed
until the time of Jesus death.
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Even though, I think the viewers
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should not be
confused with the fact
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that we have how many
more than 10 Chapters,
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14 Chapters up to that point is.
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This is not the
time indication here,
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we just start
talking about short time
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from this point
on until Jesus was--
00:08:02.81\00:08:04.41
Few months. And
Jesus was very much
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concerned about his own
ministry and what will happen
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and can you
imagine, we are dealing here
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with a human nature of Christ,
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concern that He had,
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He rendered to the
secluded place there,
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where nobody was
there to contemplate
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about the future of his ministry
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and what will happen
to Him in the last day
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of His ministry when He
has to die on the cross.
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And we could
pause and be very aware
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that we may need
to do the same thing
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when bad news comes
when we hear of sorrows.
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We just need to
come away sometime.
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Just yesterday, I got news
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that a friend of
mine had passed away
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half way around the world,
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I need to spend just
a little time with God,
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there's sometimes when
we just got to tell Jesus
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because no one else understands.
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Jesus Himself went
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to His Father to
be alone with Him.
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But Glenn, Jesus
went to the seclude place
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but there is something
very interesting that I notice.
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What do we have in
the rest of verse 13?
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Was he, was he alone there?
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"But when the
multitude heard it,
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they followed Him on
foot from the cities.
00:09:08.24\00:09:10.71
And when Jesus went out
He saw a great multitude,
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He was moved with compassion."
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Even his
grieving is interrupted.
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So can you
imagine, did Jesus say
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please leave Me alone,
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you know, I
need to be by Myself,
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I have issues and problems.
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Can you imagine?
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What is the
expression for compassion,
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His inner organs were moved.
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So that the worry
and care about Himself
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disappear from Jesus
because the needs of the people
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were much more important
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than His own
situation in which He was.
00:09:45.15\00:09:47.92
Boy I learned
something from this.
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What a heart of love.
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So many times we, as Christians,
00:09:50.72\00:09:53.69
we are so much
concerned about ourselves,
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we are concerned
about our own situations,
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about own problem
and we find it as excuse
00:09:59.49\00:10:02.30
why we do not, you know,
00:10:02.33\00:10:03.97
carry the witness
about Christ to others as
00:10:04.00\00:10:07.90
after learning
about Jesus Christ,
00:10:07.94\00:10:09.57
is the needs of
others are much important
00:10:09.60\00:10:12.67
than our own needs
00:10:12.71\00:10:14.34
and when we show
compassion toward others,
00:10:14.38\00:10:17.21
it effects our
inner spiritual life here.
00:10:17.25\00:10:20.25
But there is something else,
00:10:20.28\00:10:21.72
I'm sorry for interrupting you.
00:10:21.75\00:10:23.08
No, no, please.
00:10:23.12\00:10:24.45
Not only that
Jesus was not alone
00:10:24.49\00:10:25.82
with reference with the people,
00:10:25.85\00:10:27.62
keep in mind, you can
go to the secluded place
00:10:27.66\00:10:30.69
and if you think, you are alone
00:10:30.73\00:10:32.06
but you are not
alone, who is there?
00:10:32.09\00:10:34.23
Is the devil. The
devil--the devil never,
00:10:34.30\00:10:39.67
never left Jesus by ourselves.
00:10:39.70\00:10:41.74
So what happened,
people were hungry there,
00:10:41.77\00:10:44.97
Jesus showed compassion
00:10:45.01\00:10:46.41
and we know that
he fed 5,000 people
00:10:46.44\00:10:49.58
with few loafs
of bread and fish.
00:10:49.61\00:10:53.65
Okay. The Christians usually
are familiar with this story
00:10:53.68\00:10:58.39
but then comes verse 22.
00:10:58.42\00:11:00.99
What do we have in verse 22?
00:11:01.02\00:11:02.62
"Immediately
Jesus made His disciple
00:11:02.66\00:11:04.33
get into the boat
00:11:04.36\00:11:05.69
and go before Him
to the other side,
00:11:05.73\00:11:07.46
while he sent the multitudes
away." That's surprise.
00:11:07.50\00:11:10.10
He's just had
this incredible meal,
00:11:10.13\00:11:12.17
tremendous response,
00:11:12.20\00:11:13.90
what a response that
people must have had!
00:11:13.94\00:11:16.44
Okay, Glenn, if
people are hungry
00:11:16.47\00:11:20.64
and I feed them,
00:11:20.68\00:11:22.14
isn't that not an opportunity
to open the word of God
00:11:22.18\00:11:26.11
and to teach those people
00:11:26.15\00:11:27.48
and now because
they see a miracle
00:11:27.52\00:11:29.65
that's so
receptive, why suddenly,
00:11:29.68\00:11:32.52
actually Matthew
different then Mark,
00:11:32.55\00:11:36.69
hardly uses the word
'immediately'. Mm-hmm.
00:11:36.73\00:11:40.66
When he uses the word
immediately, it's immediately,
00:11:40.70\00:11:43.40
there is
something that happened,
00:11:43.43\00:11:45.90
that prompted Jesus
to tell His disciples
00:11:45.93\00:11:48.40
go there to the boat,
00:11:48.44\00:11:49.77
let swim the other side of lake,
00:11:49.80\00:11:51.14
leading people, why?
00:11:51.17\00:11:54.41
There was something to do
with the response of the people.
00:11:54.44\00:11:57.05
The people. And then we have
00:11:57.08\00:11:58.95
through the
Gospel of John Chapter 6
00:11:58.98\00:12:00.92
to find explanation,
00:12:00.95\00:12:02.28
Matthew does not
talk, talk about that.
00:12:02.32\00:12:04.29
And when we read
the Gospel of Matthew,
00:12:04.32\00:12:06.79
when people saw the
miracle that Jesus did,
00:12:06.82\00:12:09.89
they said, this is the
kind of a king that we need,
00:12:09.92\00:12:14.20
we will not work, we will arrest
00:12:14.23\00:12:16.53
and He will
provide food, food for us.
00:12:16.56\00:12:19.33
Let us make Him the king
00:12:19.37\00:12:21.77
and all our economic
problems will be solved.
00:12:21.80\00:12:25.44
Actually it is at that
moment that Jesus recognized
00:12:25.47\00:12:29.31
the effort of
Satan to prevent Him
00:12:29.34\00:12:32.81
to go to the cross
00:12:32.85\00:12:34.92
and to accomplish His
mission in an easy way.
00:12:34.95\00:12:37.92
Do you remember? Very similar
00:12:37.95\00:12:39.29
to what he
tried to do with Jesus
00:12:39.32\00:12:41.36
with those first
three temptations.
00:12:41.39\00:12:44.16
And you see,
Jesus need not succumb
00:12:44.19\00:12:46.19
to that popular demand,
00:12:46.23\00:12:48.23
Jesus recognized
here an effort of Satan
00:12:48.26\00:12:51.13
to prevent Him
to go to the cross
00:12:51.17\00:12:53.80
and immediately Jesus
departed from that place.
00:12:53.84\00:12:57.17
Actually God always
succeed, God is always victor,
00:12:57.21\00:13:01.08
God always, always wins
00:13:01.11\00:13:02.71
and Satan's plan at this
moment failed completely.
00:13:02.74\00:13:07.65
They wanted to
make Messiah a king
00:13:07.68\00:13:09.35
but they didn't understand.
00:13:09.38\00:13:11.19
Jesus has to redefine
their understanding of Messiah
00:13:11.22\00:13:14.62
and to redefine their
understanding of the Kingdom.
00:13:14.66\00:13:17.53
Because imagine, if
they could have a leader
00:13:17.56\00:13:19.19
who would feed
them and clothe them
00:13:19.23\00:13:21.40
and raise them
from, do all these things,
00:13:21.43\00:13:23.37
they could overcome any army,
00:13:23.40\00:13:24.73
they could finally have
their national state again.
00:13:24.77\00:13:27.34
But you know, Jesus
went to another place,
00:13:27.37\00:13:31.24
then people come
there to visit Jesus.
00:13:31.27\00:13:34.78
Again Jesus
shows the compassion.
00:13:34.81\00:13:36.71
Jesus is always
there to help people.
00:13:36.75\00:13:38.91
Boy, what kind of Jesus Christ
00:13:38.95\00:13:41.82
is present in the
Gospel of Matthew.
00:13:41.85\00:13:43.52
Jesus who really cares
about the needs of people.
00:13:43.55\00:13:46.42
He does not look at
our mistakes that we made.
00:13:46.45\00:13:50.69
Sometimes our ill
intensions that we make,
00:13:50.73\00:13:53.96
really Jesus looks
deep there in our heart,
00:13:54.00\00:13:56.90
He sees our needs
and He cares for us.
00:13:56.93\00:14:00.20
We're gonna learn a lot more
00:14:00.24\00:14:01.57
about the compassion of Jesus
00:14:01.60\00:14:02.94
in just a moment
right after a break.
00:14:02.97\00:14:04.57
We'll be right back.
00:14:04.61\00:14:05.94