Well, good morning, friends. It is a joy and a privilege to be here with you again. For some of you who don't know, I had the privilege of speaking here back in October. And so I feel like I've cheated to some degree. where I had an advantage because I visited this congregation back in October with my wife Xochitl as we were traveling through the area. And the district, the EFCA West District had asked me, hey, since you're out in the central area, can you swing by and speak for us here? And so here I am again. Xochitl, would you please stand just to greet the brothers, my wife Xochitl. Yes, this October we'll be celebrating 29 years of being married and have three wonderful young adult boys that are growing up and one of them recently moved to Santa Ana and so we last week at the national conference got to have a couple of meals with him and see him that he's doing well. Friends, I want to invite you to open the bible with me to the gospel of Matthew chapter 4 and that's where we want to spend our time this morning and I've entitled this message the mission of the good news. I know some people call it the gospel or the gospel of the kingdom or the kingdom of God but I selected the good news and I wanted to perhaps be a little bit more modern or fresh with the terms, but it all means the same thing. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God, the gospel of the kingdom, we selected the mission of the good news. Now, when I was a child, when I was a child, I had the privilege of growing up in an evangelical church. And I can't remember how old I was, but there was a missionary from Africa who was a guest speaker at the church. Broken English, all I could remember him speaking on was Matthew chapter 4 verses 18 and on. I can't remember all the words he said, but I remember a song he sang. And it stuck into my heart, and it was engraved in my mind. And it went something like this. And here's my, Cesar, this is my two and a half line audition for the worship team, which I know I will never make it, so I won't even claim that I will attempt it. But here it is. It went something like this, and some of you might even recognize it. I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men if you follow me, if you follow me, if you follow me. I will make you fishers of men if you follow me. What a great reminder of the mission of the Good News. It's an invitation. It has this universal dimension to it where it's proclaimed, and it's preached, and it's like this clarion that sounds around the world to all men of all nations, of all tribes, of all languages, inviting them to come and see. to come and learn, to come and experience. And I remember as a young man, that song burned. Something in my heart was kindled. Something in my heart and my mind awoke. It awoke. And I found myself intrigued. And the context of the scripture that we're gonna read this morning, we find that at the beginning of chapter four, Jesus is in the wilderness. to be tempted by the tempter. Something interesting about the first 11 verses of Matthew chapter 4 is that Jesus was led by the Spirit. He was led by the Spirit. He was taken by the Spirit, another version says. Furthermore, we also are told that in verses 12 through 17, Jesus started his ministry. When he heard that John the Baptist had been arrested, he began to move. And so we see this movement of Jesus from one place to another. And then all of a sudden, he recruited. his followers from verses 18 through 22 of chapter four of the Gospel of Matthew. Then we end up in what many scholars would call a pericope, and we observe that he started inviting others to join him in this mission of the good news of the kingdom. And we end up here in verses 23 to 25. We're gonna pause and we're gonna read it, and it reads something like this. And he went throughout Galilee, First observation, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria. And they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Friends this is the Word of the Lord for us today. Amen. Some people have identified this as a ministry narrative, or a narrative of ministry of Jesus. We find Jesus' impact spanning from across the Transjordan, where and particularly the areas that he went while we're described. And there's even a little bit debate as to did Jesus even enter these areas? We're not told. But what we do know is that his fame spread. like a wildfire. Guess what? He didn't have Facebook or Instagram. The word spread like a wildfire. And he just ministered throughout Galilee. Again, verse 12 tells us that after John was arrested, John the Baptist, this speaks to and alludes to a prophecy that's being fulfilled. Think about this. Seven centuries before, Seven centuries before, a man by the name of Isaiah spoke these words, and if you wanna jump there quickly, it's this messianic prophecy being spoken to or alluded to by Isaiah seven centuries ago in Isaiah chapter nine, verses one through two, and it reads something like this. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations." And notice this couple of descriptors here that we find in verse 2 of Isaiah chapter 9. He says, the people who walked in darkness. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. Something was happening here in the Gospel of Matthew that was fulfilling this messianic prophecy spoken by Isaiah seven centuries before. Second thing we observe here in the context has to do with Matthew chapter 4 verses 14 through 16, that messianic tone in the pericope borrowed by Isaiah that was placed geographically in Galilee of the nations. The gospel was never meant just for a nation. It was never meant to be just exclusively for a people group. It was meant to be for the nations. that the heralds of the good news will proclaim it as a clarion that will be sound, that would be heard, that would be made known and made famous to the nations. And that's very significant because again, if you observe Matthew chapter 4 verses 14 through 16, it gives us that geographical identification as to where Jesus was moving in ministry so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. Verse 15, the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, borrowed from Isaiah chapter 9 verses 1 and 2, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, something there very important. The Jews hated Gentiles. The Jews preferred to be dogs than Gentiles. That was their view on the Gentiles. And so we read here in verse 16. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light. For those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. Can you read even Johannian theology here of John chapter 1? The very first verses in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then in verse 4, that light, the light of the world, the light that gave life to men came into the world, though the world did not know Him. who created the world, and the world was made by him. Later on we read, even to those who he called his own did not accept him, but to all who believed, he gave them the right to become children of God. What a wonderful reminder of this. So here's a few things of the text that we want to consider before we start jumping into the application of this morning's teachings. For example, when we read the phrase, the way of the sea, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, this is basically, according to Douglas Hagner, this is just a simple description addressing a geographical location. helps us place the context. So if we had a map we could see that. I've never been to the Middle East. Hopefully one day I will after studying and studying and reading. One day the day will come maybe we can perhaps all take a trip out there and enjoy and walk and explore some of these ancient ruins where even our dear Lord walked when he was in the face of the earth. But the Way of the Seas basically speaks to a geographical location. The Galilee of the Gentiles, according to Leon Morris, addresses a people group, a mixed people group. Once again, we see it in the early pages of Jesus' ministry. But then we also get a cosmic view when we get to Revelation chapter 5 or Revelation chapter 7, and we have this cosmic view of the heavens. where all the people of every nation, every tribe, every language are before the throne. Now let me tell you this friends, I don't know how God's gonna do this, but every language in heaven, I don't know how he's gonna understand it, that's why he's God. Perhaps we're all gonna be speaking Spanish, I don't know. I don't know, that's just, I'm just throwing that out there, right? But it could be English, it could be Japanese, who knows? Maybe a heavenly language. But we're all gonna be there, represented from every tribe, every nation, every language, every people groups. Praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord for that. My personal bias, I hope the Puerto Ricans are in the worship team. I love Caribbean and I love salsa. But the Galilee of the Gentiles represents a mixed people group, which really, as one scholar put it, this helps us understand that it's the non-Israelites that lived in the area, those that were despised and rejected by the people of God, who were tasked with representing and being that light and the glory of God amongst the nations, and yet it also describes for us once again that the Messiah came to those who had been despised and marginalized and outcasted and treated inferiorly. as less than because they were Gentiles. There's such a rich teaching in that. Even the gospel of Luke, Luke in theology highlights for us over and over and over how Jesus directed his ministry to those who were marginalized in society. The sick, the women, the poor, the widows, those who had no voice or no rights in that ancient society. But then there's the third word that really helps us unpack the context of the text that we are considering. What does it mean to dwell in darkness? Because just like in Jesus's time, our 21st century world is full of darkness. Just listen to the news. See what's happening in public schools. see the advancement of pride initiatives at all levels of the government. And it seems like things are getting worse and dark and bleak. My friends, I would hope that would never take us by surprise. Because this was also foretold by Jesus when he walked the face of the earth. He said, in the last days, Even those who love me, their love will grow cold. In those last days, even mothers will be against children and children against their parents. Paul will later tell Timothy at the latter stages of his life, many scholars believe it was towards the end of his life. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, the verse eight verses there where he admonishes him to do the faithful work, preach the Word of God, preach sound doctrine, and never give up even though people will grow weary with even wanting to listen to sound doctrine. That people would be running to preachers and people who would just soothe their ringing ears. But the world has become very dark. So what are we to do? What would Jesus do? That famous WWDG or DJ, what would Jesus do? Oh, I'm sorry, I mixed it up. That's my dyslexia. Please forgive me. But what would Jesus do, right? And we would have to ask the same question. Well, here's a hint. I think Jesus would engage the darkness. I think Jesus would go and have a meal in those areas of town that we like to avoid. I think Jesus would engage the homeless. I think Jesus would engage the junkie. I think Jesus would engage the gangster and the prostitute and the homosexual. I think Jesus would be drawn to these people to proclaim, because that's, after all, he came to fulfill the mission of the good news. And so when we read in Matthew's borrowed words of Isaiah seven centuries before, it helps us to unpack what does it mean. This in the original language just means people were sitting in darkness, that's all it means. It's like if I took a seat here, sorry camera friends, but if I took a seat here, that's what people were doing. Think about this, people sitting in drugs, people sitting in prostitution, people sitting in disparity, people sitting without hope, people sitting in depression and anxiety and shame. Can you think of many people like that around your community? that are living and sitting and dwelling in darkness? And that's the people that Jesus addressed, for he would later say, I didn't come to heal those who are healed. I didn't come to save those who are saved. I came to heal the sick and save the lost. Even the Beatitudes that we read in the following chapter, in chapter five, blessed are the poor in spirit. That means if we're rich in spirit, oh boy, we'll have to process a few things. But basically, it's those who are hungry and thirsting for God's righteousness and his holiness in life. Has nothing to do with the monetary situation we're living in. Because God blesses the rich, God blesses the poor. There are prideful rich and there are prideful poor. And it's something that God does holistically in the life of those who he's ministering to. And so when we think about the figurative connotations of the word dwelling or darkness, when we use this figuratively, it refers to one or more of the following features. According to some Leon Morris, he would say it refers to those who are living in the blindness of their mind and of their heart. It is those living in depravity, in despotency. It's those who are living in delusion. It could be spiritual or moral darkness. It could refer to any of these things. One more thing that I found very interesting was the antonym of darkness is light. light. And this is beautiful because they're even in the midst of darkness, as like one text in the scripture says, where sin abounds, their grace is more present. Friends, there's something about darkness that should not scare us. There's something about a dark and bleak society that shouldn't intimidate us. It should embolden us. It should encourage us to engage it and hit it head on to say, we can also be clarions of the good news amidst the dark places. And so we see all of these things that are circulating and happening in the context of this place here that Matthew is describing. Here's a few other verses in the Bible that can help us unpack some of the context of what we just read in Matthew. For example, when you read Psalm 23, what a famous song, right? Most of us know the lord is my shepherd i shall not want but how about verse four where it says even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death And then he says, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. How about Psalm 107, verses 10 through 14? Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the word of God. How many people do you know that rebel against God's word? And unfortunately for them, they don't know, but they bring so much calamity on their lives, so much unneeded pain, so much unneeded hurt, so much unneeded bad experience, when all they need to do is heed to God's Word. Huh? And spurned the counsel of the Most High. So He bowed their hearts down with hard labor. They fell down with no one to help. They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and burst their bonds apart. Yet even in dark places, the power of the gospel transforms people's lives. And so we see this over and over, even in Isaiah 59. I will not read it all, but you can go back and kind of overview that and review it. And Isaiah 59, verses 1 through 8, we read about what God called His people. What was their sin? What was their darkness? And He gives a description in those eight verses about weakness, a lack of justice, a lack for fighting for the cause of the poor, Speaking out for those who didn't have a voice pleading the cause of the widow and the orphans And even if you jumped one chapter behind in isaiah 58 reading the description of a people of god who was Celebrating all the religious practices and they thought they and and you could see it in isaiah 58 They were so passionate about their celebrations and god said your celebrations are an abomination to my soul which really teaches us that sometimes too much religion is not a good thing if it doesn't match up with our orthopraxy. Because God would like to have good theology for us, for his people, but then it needs to match up with our praxis, with our practice. And so you read this whole context, and then this context was so dark that a light would come to shine in darkness. And then look at this in Isaiah 42 verses 6 through 7. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness I will take you by the hand and keep you I will give you as a covenant for the people a light for the nations to open Eyes that are blind to bring out prisoners from the dungeon from the prison those who sit in darkness This is the mission of the gospel. Can you hear and listen to the theme? How about Isaiah 60, verses 1 through 3? Arise and shine, for your light has come, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will arise. upon you and his glory will be seen upon you and the nations shall come to your light and the kings to your brightness of your rising hallelujah glory to god for when jesus came the light shone across humanity the light that had so long been awaited for and so we arrive back in our pericope this morning in Matthew chapter 4 verses 23 to 25. And he went throughout Galilee to those who were sitting and dwelling in darkness. And he did three things. First, teaching in their synagogues. Secondly, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. And third, healing every... Now, I don't know if this is hyperbole on Matthew. I don't know. But I ask the question of the text, did Jesus really heal all those who were sick? Every single one? Because I know I've prayed for sick people, and some people haven't healed, and some people have. In fact, my father-in-law never wanted me to pray for him because he says, everyone you pray for ends up dying. But then right before he was going to pass, he asked me to pray for him. But Matthew makes it a point. He uses, and he's very, very strategic and intentional throughout his whole entire gospel to really make an emphasis on Jesus, his healing ministry. It says Jesus healed all, all those, every affliction among the people. And then verse 24, so his same spread throughout all. Notice how he uses the word all, every. And so he says he healed all, right? His fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons. So again, if you've ever done some analysis on inner healing, sometimes you'll discover that there's a big discussion in evangelical theology, how much of this is demonic and how much of this is clinical. And there's a healthy balance, and there's a healthy understanding between the both of them. But nonetheless, nonetheless, there is manifestations of demonic seizures and possessions and things of that nature. And so, Jesus addressed those things, those having seizures and paralytics, and He healed them. And then great crowds followed him throughout Galilee and the Decapolis, which means ten cities, and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. So here's a few observations, and I'm going to try to run through this and then hopefully give you some applications in the last five minutes that I have left here. First of all, we see that Jesus proclaimed the kingdom. This is very evident in verse 23, the second part of it, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Somebody defined preaching or proclaiming as heralding, announcing. So this is the difference between proclaiming the gospel and teaching the gospel. One of them is proclaiming it. It's heralding. It's announcing. It's just simply proclaiming it. Inviting others to come our lives should to proclaim. We should be heralds of the good news wherever we find ourselves Now notice even Jesus would later tell his disciples right before he was about to be crucified He was said hey, I'm gonna leave the world, but I will not leave you as orphans I will send the third person of the Blessed Trinity the Holy Spirit who will come and comfort you guys so that you guys are not alone and Then he says, when you find yourself before the synagogues and those who would try to incarcerate you, don't worry about what you're going to say. For the Spirit of God will teach you every word that you shall speak. For he doesn't speak on his own accord. He speaks according to everything I have taught you. Wonderful lesson on the discernment of spirits. Where does it come from? What is it saying? How does it speak? Is it in alignment and accordance with Scripture? Those are beautiful things that we would have to consider. But yet Paul, in his masterful way and his theological way of explaining to us, gave us what many scholars would call the first articulation of the gospel in a formalized way. And he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 through 8, I'm not going to read all of it. You can read it on your own, but I will read the first two verses of it. Verse 3, For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Verse 4, That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. What a phenomenal way to explain the gospel, taking and drawing from the Old Testament that the New Testament is built on. And then you understand that the promises made in the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New. And together, they form a symphony of God's good news to humankind. Oh, hallelujah for that. Secondly, Jesus taught in synagogues. There's this distinction between teaching and proclaiming. Teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Teaching, unlike proclaiming, teaching, and there's some, because you can find texts in Mark's gospel and Luke's gospel, where Jesus actually preached. It says Jesus preached in the synagogue. Here, Matthew uses the word teaching in the synagogues. But basically, teaching indicates imparting more detailed information regarding an announcement that was made. It's instructive. It gives people the details. It gives them the steps to follow. A good example of what teaching looked like is the Sermon on the Mount. Sermon on the Mount is very interesting. Perhaps one day we'll get to study it together. But the Sermon on the Mount basically goes like this. Instead of me standing up and preaching to you from a pulpit, you would be standing up, and I would be sitting down, and then I would be teaching you. And that's exactly what Jesus did on that mountain. He sat down, and then all the disciples surrounded him, and then the mass of people were there gathered around him, and he began to teach them what many have identified as the principles and the teachings of the kingdom. Third, Jesus healed those with needs. I think there's something about healing that sometimes scares us, sometimes frightens us. But healing isn't just physical. Healing is also spiritual. It's emotional. It's holistic. And I personally, if I could rephrase my points, I would say Jesus seeks to seek human wellness and human flourish. He wants us to be blessed. He wants us to experience shalom. And shalom is not just monetary, it's not just physical, it's holistic, to live in God's peace and favor. And I think there's something about the gospel that produces that in the life of those who come to receive it, believe it, and repent. And so we see this even in verse 17 of this same chapter. Jesus, he began to call people into repentance. He picked up on John's message. John was a hard guy. Camel skin and a belt and eat bees, eat wild locusts and honey? I mean, that guy was pretty scary if you ask me. But yet his message was, people, you better repent and believe for the kingdom of God is at hand. Verse 17, Jesus picked up the same message. He called people to repentance for the kingdom of God was at hand. There's an urgency about the good news. This is a hard rhetorical question. Do we sleep at ease knowing that our neighbors are going to hell? Can we be at ease while somebody's overdosing on drugs? Can we be at peace knowing that innocent children are being trafficked through sex slavery? I think these are the things that Jesus would really knock on our door here, even in Clovis, and ask us, what can we do, even from a distance? How should we engage? How should we seek those who are lost? And I think that's the beauty of this text. And then we read, right? Jesus' fame, and finally, Jesus' fame was for the glory of God. Jesus was the first to say, I didn't come and do my will. I came to do the will of my Father. Jesus didn't come to build His name up, to build His glory, to establish it. He came to establish the kingdom of God. And this is something that we should model even in our lives. Even if this text is descriptive and not prescriptive, but there's something here of value for us to model our lives and model our ministries as Jesus did. that even as I was reading, in all things Christ Supreme, and I was reading about loving God and loving people and making disciples, and I've been just percolating on all the phrases that are used here in Clovis, I came back to one thing. In all things, as we make Christ Supreme and we love God and we love people and we make disciples, may God be glorified. May he receive the highest praise. May he become famous in Clovis and beyond Clovis by the obedience and the faithfulness of godly people who have loved each other sacrificially, unreservedly, and are busy making the gospel for his glory. So that his name would become famous across the street and around the world. And so I want to leave you with these simple applications. Then I want to close with one more text. We too should proclaim the good news. That should be applicational. And friends, let me tell you, these last two days, Xochitl and I have, this is icing on the cake for us. Last week, we were at our national conference, met with friends from all over the country and all over the world. hearing the good deeds that God is doing through the Evangelical Free Church of America. And it's exciting. But when I was barbecuing with the guys and meeting with many of you on Friday, getting grilled on all the questions, we walked away with a sense of gratitude and joy. We, too, should be committed to teach the precepts of the Good News to anyone who is willing, because not everyone is willing. Somebody asked me, Pastor, do you do counseling? I said, I do biblical counseling. There's a huge distinction between counseling and biblical counseling. We need to allow and believe that God can produce human flourish because of the good news. Remember, you and I are not fabricators of signs and wonders. That is the work of God, and it's His prerogative. If He wants to raise a lame person, or wants to restore somebody out of drug addiction, or pull somebody out of some demonic possession, that's all God. That's not our business. Our responsibility is to be faithful heralds of the good news. It is God's responsibility to skin them and clean them. And if he so chooses, praise God, he is God. If he wants to stop the sun for 24 hours, if he wants a part of sea, he's God. He can do whatever he wants. However he wants to call people unto himself, all he needs from you and me is my last point, a faithful partnership with the good news to glorify his name. And I would hope that that would be our prayer and what drives us and what would passion us. Finally, as Paul would tell the believers in Corinth, reminding them of their triumph in Christ, he tells them these words in 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14 through 17. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, And through us, notice this, and through us, spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are an aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Huh, you thought the series of zombies, The Walking Dead, was hip. We live it. Verse 16, to the one, a fragrance of from death to death. So get a load of this, my friends. To the other, a fragrance of life to life. Whether you like it or not, to some people, you're going to stink. Your message is going to be a bad odor. To others, you're going to be such an aroma of life. And then Paul would tell the brothers in Corinth. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not like many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. May that be our message today, this week, and the many coming days. Let us pray. Father, to those who may be on the fringes of listening and considering surrendering their life to your good news, our prayer is that they would confess your name as Lord and Savior. To the many who are hurt, to the many who are in depression, to the many who are living in condemnation and guilt. To them, Father, we would pray that your Holy Spirit would transcend space and time and reach them. Perhaps they're watching online. Perhaps they're here physically. The scripture teaches us, if we call upon the name of the Lord, we shall be saved. Father, I would pray that whoever it is that would call upon your name, as Proverbs 18 says, the righteous, the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run to it and they are saved. May everyone who's listening to this message find salvation in the name of Jesus Christ alone. Father, for your praise and your glory and your honor, may it be so. We pray in Jesus name.