Preparing the next sermon

My next sermon is based on the following text from Matthew 8:

Jesus Heals Many

14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
    and bore our diseases.”[b]

Matthew focus on presenting Jesus as the Messiah, as the king of heaven and not as a normal king from this earth. An earth king searches for power, riches, and demands to be praised. Jesus don't search for power, as He has already power which can be shown by his miracles. An earth king wants power to extend his dominion, Jesus uses his power to heal men. An earth king searches for great things to himself and consequently, talks to other powerful men and despise the weak. By other hand, Jesus deals with the infamous men and women: a leprosy, a roman centurion and now, Peter's  mother-in-law and demon-possessed.
The text shows how small things in Jesus hand may turn into a divine intervention. Isn't a small thing to find a woman lying in bed with a fever? Jesus deals with my own small things.
In fact, it is very different to see the sky with Jesus and without Jesus. Now, the clouds say something to me: "The Lord loves you" but it was not like that for most of my days even though I read the Bible and went to church.
It is very different to have fever with Jesus and without Jesus. Perhaps, Jesus don't cure, but his presence fills me with joy even when I am sick.
For me, Jesus sets my mind free from demons. I used to be paranoid as bad things happened to me orchestrated by evil people. Today, I want to discover what my good Pastor wants to teach me through his staff. I am not responsible to be so smart to avoid bad things to me; but my Lord is somehow responsible to me. He loves me and sets me free. He is tender with me.
Matthew reminds us that Jesus healed and exorcised as a fulfillment of Isaiah 53: "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases".
I must read as a personal prophecy:
He took up my own infirmities and bore my diseases.
He took up my paranoid mind, my nightmares, my insecurity, my sins so that I could belong to Him, to be united with my Creator.
What a blessing! 

Sunday, the Christian Sabbath

Today, at Sunday school, I was reading the third commandment: Keep the Sabbath, rest in the Sabbath, don't profane the holly day.
After Sunday school, we have lunch at our small church and I was waiting for my 2 sons who were called to help in a church program on July vacation. I am at home for one hour, took shower and everybody is watching netflix, but me.
I am wondering what does it really mean to keep the Sabbath for a Christian.
Is it correct to watch netflix?
Do we have to read the Bible, pray, etc. all Sunday?
We are always prone to know exactly what the commandments say, so the Jews think that it is very necessary to have the Talmud and rabbinic teaching to specify very clearly if one may or may not use an elevator on the Sabbath, the maximum weight allowed to carry, etc.
Jesus teaching don't specify things like that. A person may or may not call an elevator on the Sabbath and it may or may not lead to sin.
I should have visited mr Shizuo, who is ill in the hospital, and pray for him.
Writing this blog or prepare the next sermon is another task very suited to Sunday because it put my mind on Him. It is possible to carry some weight with the mind on the Lord as it is possible not to carry anything and sinning altogether.

Saturday, today.

My mommy is with Alzheimer, lives with my dad and my brother's family.
I visit them every Saturday morning, read the Bible and sometimes have lunch. My sister joins us in less frequent way.
Today is Saturday.
My family: spouse and children went to help a bazaar of a "Pro Poor Children Organization". This organization received donation (toys, clothes) that are selling today for a very low price.
I will take my bike and visit my parents very soon, meanwhile, I was watching some documentaries in youtube. One was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp4YZdSz2aA about plastic surgery in Seoul, another was about microdosing LSD. What are we expecting from hearts without Jesus? Where may someone find rest in this world?
Time to leave the bed. I will take my breakfast.

Jesus and The fear of the Lord

The world has a reasoning like that:

- The Lord forgives all my sins in Jesus; so I really do not need to fear the Lord. 

In fact, I have already some people say that the word "fear" means respect. Really? I am quite sure that "fear" means "fear". Jesus told in Matthew 10:28:

28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 

Jesus told that I must be afraid of the Lord because He can destroy me, destroy my soul and body. This is somehow stronger than respect. 

Today, as I was leaving my work, my professor (the one who oriented my thesis) made fun of me. He is sick and he was playing that he would transmit me his sickness. Nothing serious, but I began to think if he would play like that to some other guy. Wasn't he showing some lack of respect?

I took my bike and I was looking the beautiful sunset created by the Lord, then I thought:

- Shouldn't I fear much more the Lord than my professor?

The Lord is the one who really may destroy me; not my professor (truly, I think he is not a bad guy) nor any other human being (I know a lot of humans worse than my professor). What have I done to the Lord that I don't deserve to be destroyed by Him?

The only thing I am doing is to look to Jesus on the cross.

Jesus came to the oppressed and not to the oppressor. He came to those who searches refuge on the Rock. Let my wicked heart praise Him when I am feeling bad, when I am feeling oppressed, because He is taking care of me.

Bible preaching

I am always trying to preach using three questions that will guide the sermon and I want to make these three points preaching very clear to the congregation. Sometimes, I was very proud that I could make the text much simpler, much easier to understand even though, making hard questions that the text poses. That is why, I got offended when someone said my preaching was wordy.
Pr. John MacArthur is a great preacher that I have been following for years. It is very common that I listen to him when preparing my own sermons. In fact, for studying the sermon of the mount, I tried to listen to Tim Keller whenever he had a message about a certain passage, John MacArthur that preached all verses of Matthew (so, no excuse to not listen him) and mainly Martin Lloyd Jones who was, for me, the higher authority on the "Sermon of the Mount". I am now in Matthew 8, so I am following J MacArthur now.
I watched:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8nVKA2rsPI
I understood that pr. John MacArthur focus the Word and he does not care to divide the text or take three points from it. In fact, it is common that I consider making improvements to John MacArthur sermons when I divide the text in three topics, but perhaps, I should not care so much in clarifying the Bible.

Were all my days written before?

I decided to title this blog as Psalm 139 - NVI due to verse 16:

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

When I read it, I understood that all my days were written in the book of the Lord. A friend of mine explained that "days" are not in Hebrew. In King James, we see "members" instead of "days" which is closer to the original in Hebrew, although "members" are not written too.

16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

My friend understood that this divine book is the DNA code which encodes how the members and the whole body will be created. He believes in Free Will so he advocates that the Lord has not written all our days in a book. If a man sins because his will is totally separated from the Lord's will, how would the Lord has written all our days?
Well, now I am somehow convinced that the King James translation is better than NVI, but I still believe that the Lord knows every detail of my future, my decisions and my sins included, that is, the meaning of NVI translation is also correct.
The Lord is outside this finite universe, this finite space and time; and for me, He knows everything, every quantum particle, every electron location of this universe. He knows all my thoughts, all my sins and all my future sins because as a writer outside his own book, He may see things in which time He desires.
He even designed me before creates the Universe, as in Ephesians 1. How? I do not know. Why? He wanted me to have some grasp of  who He is and in doing so, adore Him.

Critique

The Diana's critique about my last sermon (last week) lasted in my head despite I have written my last post.

I am really used to receive criticism, so what did last week critique so disturbing? 

I concluded that what really offended me was something like: "your message was very confusing, wordy, and the congregation was not apt to digest it". 

So, why this critique really offended me?

Because, I take myself as a great professor that can clarify the Bible to the congregation. Surely, I see myself as much better prepared than other teachers and I really mean it.

However, am I responsible to make the audience understand the Bible?

The Bible is not simple. I make some effort to clarify it, but am I doing right? 

The book of Mark is full of mysteries and ends with a great question: what happened to Jesus body? (the resurrection was added to Mark).

The gospel says that Jesus was talking to parables so that they hear and do not understand; so that they do not convert. Very strange a statement like that in the gospel...

It is in Matthew 13:14-15:

 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

If it is all true to Jesus, why on earth should I teach about the Bible in a clear way so that all congregation listens, repents and has a new life? I would like to, but I am not responsible to it. I do not see Jesus thinking like that. 

Jesus attracts some people and repels other people, He saves and He condemns.

In conclusion, I am not so responsible to convert people and, I am not so responsible to clarify the message. Perhaps, a great human effort to clarify the sermon may damage the gospel and take away its beauty. There are a lot of mysteries in God's Word. Perhaps, if only I could motivate the congregation to search for answers in the Bible, to dig in its mysteries... then I would have preached well.