Commencing with verse number 11, and I will end reading in verse number 21, Mark chapter 8, commencing in verse 11. Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, testing him. But he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation. And he left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.
Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then he charged them saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves saying, it is because we have no faith.
no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?
Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? They said to him, 12. Also, when I broke seven for the 4,000, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?
And they said, seven. Verse 21 reads, so he said to them, how is it? You do not understand.
Thank you. You may have your seats. The grass withers and the flower fades. With the word of our God, we shall stand forever. For a moment, I want to talk about don't miss the signs.
Don't miss. The signs. A truck driver was on his way to deliver his load and he was cautious about the signs because he did not want to pass his exit.
But he missed the sign that said there's a low overpass ahead. Trying not to miss his exit, he missed a sign that warned of a low overpass. And so he went on that road and missed that sign and his truck got stuck underneath the overpass. Traffic started to back up.
People got angry. Crowds gathered because the truck was unable to get out from under the low hanging overpass. And for an hour or so, traffic was backed up for miles because this truck driver... Missed the sign. They brought out engineers, civil engineers, and tow trucks, and winches, and grease, and everything they could think about to get the truck out from under that low overpass.
And there was a child riding his bicycle. and he said to the policeman, I know how to get this truck from under this overpass. There were civil engineers out there, winches and tow trucks and grease and truck drivers who had... 40, 35 years of experience. But this child on the bicycle says, I know how to get this truck out from under this overpass.
And nobody paid him any attention. And finally, in exasperation, the policeman said, okay, son, what is your suggestion? He said, let some of the air out of the tires. And the truck will just roll out from under the low overpass.
The lesson here is that it is easy to overlook the obvious when it is staring you right in the face. Old folks used to say you can't see the forest for the trees. You're looking right at it.
The answer is obvious. It's right in your face. And you can't see it because you're looking for something hard and difficult and strange and enigmatic.
In philosophy, there's what is called Occam's Razor. And Occam's Razor is named after a philosopher named William Occam. And the dictum of Occam's Razor is, all things being equal, the easiest answer is always the right answer.
The easiest answer is always the right answer. And this child who did not have any civil engineering experience, who had not driven a truck in his life, just figured out that the easiest thing to do is to let go. the air out of the tires and let the truck roll from under below overpass because it's sometimes glaringly apparent but we miss it because we try to make what's easy complicated I say to the brothers here who preach the gospel that one of the secrets to great preaching, one of the secrets to great preaching, well the first one is you got to be called to preach, that's number one, but one of the secrets to great preaching is taking what is complicated and making it simple. But we try to take what is simple and make it complicated. Signs are very important in the physical realm.
You can go for miles out of the way because you miss a sign. You can miss some directional clues like low overpass, detour, dead end, dangerous intersection. travel at your own risk. There are signs posted everywhere to give us directional clues, and if you miss them, sometimes they are fatal because you miss the sign.
Likewise, in the spiritual world, God has erected signs that point us in the direction of Jesus Christ. But what is happening in church now is that people are looking for something sensational and exciting and a menu of attractions that the church has to offer them with no salvation in it. You may not like this part of the message but brothers and sisters the danger of the church Trying to make the gospel comfortable and comprehensible. The danger of a church that tries to make the gospel comfortable and comprehensible, that would be alright if you didn't have to face a cross.
Because the cross says, if you will come after me. You have to deny yourself, take up a cross, and follow me. The church has only one responsibility and that is to mature you in Jesus Christ.
The church is to grow you towards godliness. The church is not attractional in its function because Jesus said you got to hate your mother and father. your brothers and sisters houses and lands for my sake because if you put your hands to the plow and look back you're not fit for the kingdom of god brothers and sisters we can't we can't lower the standard of righteousness to try to attract a crowd who ain't gonna stay anywhere Because every week the show got to get bigger. Because if you get them in here with a show, the show got to get jazzier and louder and deafer every week. This week is a mud wrestling contest.
Next week is a big butt contest. And the week after that, it's a dominoes match. And the week after that, we're giving away a car.
And the week after that, we're paying all your credit card bills. That's a trick. That's a scheme of the devil to get you in the church without Christ. I wish I had somebody to help me.
But if the Word of God can't draw you, if the power of the living God can't draw you, a scheme can't save you. We have to ask ourselves, little girl, we have to ask ourselves, do we want budgets? Buildings and butts in the seats or do we want disciples?
I wish I had somebody to help me. We we have enough members. We need some disciples.
We need some people who will make some sacrifices, who will inconvenience themselves, who will pay the tithe, who will give in the offering, who will love people without qualification. We need some people who are not so concerned about seats, but they give God their service. I wish I had my 730 crowd. As we seek to do missions, as we seek to do missions in context, let's not weaken the gospel to cross the line into cultural accommodation. As we do mission in context, let's not cross the line in the cultural accommodation.
Because everything at church shouldn't be pragmatic. I'm not looking... for clients.
I'm not looking for customers because the customer model means that there's something we got to offer you. There's something we got to give you to keep coming. But the only thing I can offer you that will keep giving is Christ. And if Christ is not enough for you, a new car is not going to save you. You are not my customer.
You are a disciple of Jesus Christ. And I am not here as the pastor, and Lily Grove is not here as the church to meet your physical me. Listen, giving away clothes and giving away food is missions we do because we're saved. It's not anything to do to save somebody because if all you come here for is food. When the food run out, you run out.
If all you come here for is clothes, if all you come here for is because you the president, you over the tape ministry, you over the audiovisual ministry, you are president, you are the secretary, when we move you from that, you're going to quit coming to church. Would you be shocked to know that there are some people who would not do ministry if we didn't pay them? They would quit coming to church if their ego needs are not being met. Why is it you got to be president? I wish I had a witness here.
Why is it that the only reason you in a Sunday school class is because you teaching? Because a real saved person don't have to do the teaching. You can say amen for somebody else's teaching.
The real preacher don't have to be preaching. You can shout when another preacher is preaching. In verse number 11, unless I hold you too long, in verse number 11, there is a stern demand, a stern demand. Jesus has just finished one of the greatest miracles of his ministry. He took seven small loaves of bread and a few small fish and he fed 4,000.
There are seven baskets of leftovers. Large baskets of leftovers. And Jesus and his disciples get into a boat and go over to another region of Galilee.
As soon as they arrive, they are met by the Pharisee. The Pharisees were the religious conservatives of their day. The Pharisees were the Tea Party of ancient Israel. They were legalistic and they hated Jesus because he refused to do things the way they thought things should have been done.
So Mark uses their request of a heavenly sign from Jesus as a negative object lesson on faith. They said to Jesus, show us a sign from heaven. They show up, they arrive in military array, almost like an army. They come in ranks, almost like an army, to dispute, to argue with Jesus. And say to him, if you are the Son of God, show us a sign.
Show us a sign and we will believe. My brothers and sisters, the sign requested by the Pharisees is not simply for a miracle. Because in the synoptic gospels, a sign is not a miracle and a miracle is not a sign. Rather, the Pharisees requested of Jesus confirmation of his ministry from God himself, and they wanted outward and compelling proof of his divine authority.
They said, we will have faith if you can prove it with a sign. I said to the brothers in the back that's like a man putting a private eye on his wife while he's out of town to follow her around so he can have faith in her. I don't want you to miss that. He needs proof that she's faithful so he can have faith in her. Faith like love doesn't need proof because if I gotta prove it every time you leave town that's not love that's doubt You doubt my faithfulness.
You doubt my love for you. So to prove I love you, you got to have somebody watch me. See how quiet y'all got right there?
I like to watch whenever I have the time, whenever I just want some mindless foolishness, whenever I just want mindless entertainment, I watch that show Cheaters. Some of y'all have seen that show and they have somebody follow their husband or follow their wife. And when they find out, what happens? When the stuff hits the fan, that woman jumps out of that car and jumps on that woman and jumps on that man, and they got to separate them. Because love, when it is real, faith, when it is true, needs no proof.
Let me get back to the scripture. Jesus ain't got to go back on the cross for me because I believe he already did it. Jesus don't have to come out of the grave for me again because I believe he already did it because if he has to do it again I didn't believe it in the first place and the problem with signs is you need another sign. And then if he does that, I need another sign.
And if he does that, I need another sign. I don't need another sign. He proved it on the cross.
They said to Jesus, if you really have divine authority. Prove it because there's a record that there are those who came before you who proved that God was with them. Joshua commanded the sun to stand still. Samuel prayed during a battle and the Lord sent a clap of thunder so loud that it confounded the enemy.
Elijah prayed and it did not rain nor was there any dew for three and a half years. But like many people today... The Pharisees had heard and seen enough to convince the most stubborn skeptics. There's been enough gospel preach just this month to save all of Houston.
You don't believe not because the gospel is not being preached, you don't believe because you don't want to change your life. The Pharisees refused to believe after Jesus had already healed the sick. He'd already raised the dead. He'd already delivered people from demon possession. He had already walked on water.
He had already calmed a storm. Jesus had already twice multiplied a small amount of fish and loaves. The demand for a sign is itself, is in itself a sign attempting to gain by empirical evidence what can only be gained by faith and trust. When you always need proof, that's a sign that you are trying to gain by empirical evidence what you can only see by faith and trust. I don't have to put my hand on it to believe it's coming.
I can just watch what he's done in somebody else's life. It don't even have to be my miracle for me to shine. It doesn't even have to be my breakthrough for me to give God glory. Because my faith does not depend on proof.
Because faith that depends on proof is sight. And we walk by faith. and not by sight. Brothers and sisters, there are people who like this sensational model of church growth. And they're saying, Pastor, you've got to do something big.
And you've got to do what they're doing down the street. And you've got to do what they're doing around the corner. And you've got to have bells and whistles. And you've got to make it pop. And you've got to make it rain.
And you got to be crunk and you got to be all of that. But let me tell you the danger and the problem with that model and with that attitude. Young people between the ages of 18 and 40 don't care about anything. They don't, they don't, they're not against anything and they're not for anything.
Same-sex marriage don't bother them at all. Homosexuality is the new straight. Gay for them is the new straight.
With young people, I could preach on Sunday and be a gangster rapper. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sell dope on Tuesday and Thursday. And they would be lined up around the corner to get in here on Sunday morning because Rev is all that. But the problem with nominal Christianity is it produces nominal Christians.
And a gospel that is weak and watered down produces Christians that are weak and watered down. And when hell comes in your life, you're gonna need a savior. When the bottom falls out in your dreams, you're going to need the Holy Spirit. When people walk out on you and leave you by yourself, you're going to need a company keeper. And that person is Jesus Christ.
Somebody here over 40 ought to help me testify. He'll be a mother for you. He'll be a husband for you.
He'll be a father for you. He'll open a door that was closed in your face. He'll make a way. out of no way. He'll heal your sick body.
He'll make your crazy children come back to their senses. He'll put food on your table, clothes on your back. He will make a way somehow.
Yes, he will. Yes he will, if you trust and never doubt, he will, surely, I tried him. I said I tried it for myself and he dried tears from my eyes. He lifted up my bow down to hell. He made my enemies leave me alone.
He brought back the joy of my salvation. Won't he do it? I said, won't he do it? Won't he do it?
Why don't you grab somebody and tell somebody, yes he will! Yes he will! I've seen the lightning flood. I've heard the thunder roll.
I felt sins breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus bidding me still to fight on. He promised He promised! Let me, let me, let me, I want to go back to my little word here. I got a little more here.
There's a little more. There's a little more here. There's a little more meat on this bone. I want to chew on this bone a little while longer. Lord, I want to holler right now.
But I want to chew on this bone a little. Hey! He's a way maker.
He's a rock in the weary land. He's a shelter in a mighty storm. He's bread when you're hungry, water when you're thirsty.
Have you tried it? I want to get in verse 12. I know, I know, I know, I know he'll fix it. I know he'll turn it around. I know he'll make a way out of nowhere. Is there a witness here this morning that can't nobody do me like you?
Why don't you grab somebody? Why don't you shake somebody's hand? Tell them I know what prayer can do. I know what faith can do. I know what God can do.
I want to get back to the question. I'm all turned around here now. I'm all wool gathered here now.
Because the Holy Ghost just shows up when he wants to show up. And I got a whole lot written down here. But let me just go on and get after it.
Because the Holy Ghost has showed up. And I don't want him to think I'm glad he showed up. When you trust God, you don't need a sign. Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.
Because the leaven of the Pharisees is religious tradition. That's running people away from church. And the leaven of Herod is worldliness that's running people away from church. So if religious tradition is running them away and worldliness is running them away, that's just one thing that can keep them. Tradition on one side, worldliness on the other side, both of those things grow when you put yeast in them.
And brothers and sisters, hear me. Because a thing is growing, don't mean it's healthy. Because cancer grows, a broken ankle swells, arthritis in your knees. That ain't healthy.
And listen, if we got to change our music to suit you, you might want to find you another church. And if I got to change my preaching style because it's too traditional for you, you might want to go down the road. Because if you show up here on Sunday morning, we're going to sing Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross. We're gonna sing what a friend we have in Jesus.
We're gonna sing let the spirit lead you. We're gonna sing I love the Lord he heard my cry and pitied every groan long as I live trouble rise I'm a hasten to his throne because that kept us when we were nobody. God knows.
I said, God knows I'm not about to change my preaching style because I believe he was born in Bethlehem. I said, I believe he was reared in Nazareth. He was baptized in the Jordan. I believe he healed the sick.
He raised the dead. He gave sight. Right to the blind. He made the lame walk.
I believe he is the resurrection and the life. I believe he is the bread of life. I believe I believe he is the water of life.
I believe he is the door of the sheepfold. And if you come in any other way, you enter in as a thief and a robber. I believe he's the Son of God.
But more than that, I believe one Friday on a cross, he died. didn't he die? You know where I'm going with this because I say it every Sunday morning. He died, didn't he die? But early Sunday morning he arose from the grave with all power in his hand.
That kind of preaching will save you because Jesus a rock in a weary land Jesus is a friend when you're friendless y'all know him don't you he's the Adams Redeemer he's Abel's vindicator he's Abraham sacrifice. He's Noah's ark. He's Moses bush on fire. Y'all know him, don't you?
He's Joshua's battle axe. He's Gideon's fleece. He's Samson's power. He's David's music. He's Solomon's wisdom.
He's Jeremiah's bomb in Gilead. Y'all know him, don't you? He's Ezekiel's wheel in the middle of a wheel. He's God's only son.
He's Mary's baby boy. He's James and Jude's older brother. He's Matthew's king. He's Mark's suffering servant. He's Luke's great physician.
He's John's Word made flesh. He's Acts coming of the Holy Ghost. He's the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
He's the blessed and the only potentate. He's the faithful and the true witness. He's Alpha and Omega. he's the beginning and the end he's the first and the last the more I call him the better I feel the more I call him the better I feel Jesus early in the morning Jesus in the midnight hour has he brought you out I said has he brought you out come on help me testify He died. Didn't he die?
But early Sunday morning, he got up from the grave. And that same Jesus is coming back again. Why don't you encourage somebody?
Why don't you encourage somebody? Grab somebody by the hand. Tell them, I know it looks bad right now. But... this too will pass.
Come on, tell somebody else, I know it don't seem like it's gonna turn around, but he will turn it around. Won't he do it? I said, won't he do it? Why don't you hug somebody?
Tell them I got good news for you. I got good news for you. Jesus is coming back. Some glad morning, when this life is over, I will fly away. I'm going home.
to be with the Lord. I got a mother over there. I got a father over there.
But I want to see Jesus. I know he's all right. He walks with me.
He talks with me. I tried him. For myself.
If you tried him for yourself. And you're not ashamed to testify. If he's been good to you. And you don't mind shouting a word.
Take a minute right now. To tell him thank you. For all you've done. Thank you.
For the many ways you've made. Thank you. For the. Many doors you've opened. Thank you.
For the many tears you've dried. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I know he's alright. Beware of any church or any preacher who takes the focus of Jesus Christ. Beware of any ministry or any church program that takes the focus of Jesus Christ.
Because it will grow with the leaven of the Pharisees and it will grow with the leaven of Herod, but it's not good growth. Good growth is right in the middle. The bread of life. It's not fish and loaves. It's not meat and drink.
It's Jesus Christ because listen they were looking for a sign and the sign of heaven was right in their midst and they missed it. The sign this morning that God really loves me is a cross. You want to know how much God loves you? Go to Calvary and see on a cross Jesus dying that I might have a right to the tree of life.