Jesus said that every nation would hear. That doesn't mean every person in every nation, but the gospel is going to go to each nation, right? Okay. And then the people are going to hear the gospel. It's God's intention. You know, there's some, so I retract that. I believe it's his intention that everyone hear the gospel. But the commission is that every nation is gonna hear it, right? Seems to cover everybody, right? Bless the Lord. Okay, so remember that this is our commission, this is what we do. And if you kinda inhibited doing this or reluctant or whatever, you have a God that'll do in you all the stuff that you're unwilling to do because of your own precondition. There's one thing to go tell somebody about the party tonight. It's another thing to tell them about God, you know, right? But we want God to get us used to telling the people about him, right? Bless the Lord. And with that, we're gonna go on with our sister that's gonna come up and just really blow us away in song. That's so funny. That's a big lift there. Hello, let's let's just worship the Lord. Let's get ready to sing songs of Zion. Hallelujah. God has been so gracious to us. He's been so good. And I always look forward to worshiping him in spirit and in truth. Oh, there we go. She's trying to she's trying to turn. There we go. He is the, we're going to start off singing songs that we know. How about Lion and the Lamb? Let's just start there. He is the Lion and the Lamb. And we're going to just sing because we have folks, folks, we have the Lord fighting on our side. And I say folks, because we have the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are not alone. It's crowded on our behalf. Hallelujah. So, let's just sing together. He is the lion and the lamb and you know, people say, well, Keisha, what's significant about that? That means he is meek and lowly and he is ferocious all at the same time. He knows who he needs to be and when he needs to be just that and that's what I love about our god. He is just good. You stand tall and you fight. You fight on our behalf. You are so good. All right, let's sing. He's coming. He's coming on the clouds. Kings and kingdoms will bow down. Can you see that in your mind? And every chain will break as broken hearts declare His praise. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Let's sing! Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He is roaring with power and fighting our battles. And every knee will bow before Him. Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains. And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Oh, every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Thank you Lord. You are the Lion of Judah. We are never alone. He fights for us. Hallelujah. The wonderful Lion of Judah. So this is what we're doing. We make way for the King. So open up the gates. Make way before the King of Kings. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Our God, who calls the saved, is here to set the captives free. For who can stop the Lord Almighty? Our God, our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. Before our God, our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains. And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Oh, every knee will bow before the lion and the lamb. Now we're going to sing that second verse again because it just gets really good to me. And I just love that we make way for the king of kings and the lord of lords because he is worthy, hallelujah, and deserves, hallelujah, a royal entrance. So can we do that one more time? Hallelujah. Here we go. So open up the gates, make way before the King of Kings. Can you see that? Open up your hearts. Hallelujah. Our God who calls the saved is here to set the captives free. For who can stop the Lord Almighty our God? Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah He's roaring with power and fighting our battles And every knee will bow before Him Yes, our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain For the sin of the world His blood breaks the chains. And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Yes, every knee will bow before our God. Our God is the Lion. The Lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. And every knee will bow before the Lion. Our God, our God is the Lamb. For the sin of the world His blood breaks the chains And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb Yes, every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb Every knee will bow before our Savior. Yes. Every knee must bow and confess that He is Lord. Hallelujah. I love this part. It says, for who can stop the Lord Almighty? You can declare it. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Nothing. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? No one. Who can stop the Lord? We say to the storm. Yeah. We say to sickness. Hallelujah. We say the death and the grave. Hallelujah. We say no one who can stop the Lord. None of my stuff. Who can stop the Lord? No one, nowhere. Who can stop the Lord? No one, nowhere. Who can stop the Lord? God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah He's roaring with power and fighting our battles And every knee will bow before our God Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain For the sin of the world, His blood breaks every chain Yes, every knee. Yes, every knee will bow before him. Yes, every knee will bow before him. Yes, every knee will bow before the lion and the lamb. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. that we are fighting the good fight but we do not fight alone and we do not have to be afraid. We do not have to jump in the ring scared. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Because we don't even jump in. We are fighting an already won battle. He is already victorious. How do you know that? He has already worked it out. Hallelujah. He just asks us to show up. And it's something to show up knowing you're already victorious. It's not something different. You show up knowing, well, I'm just supposed to be here to collect the, you know, the spoils here. We don't have to be afraid. Hallelujah. And the enemy, he roars. He puts so much noise in the air so that you just don't show up. How many know that we don't have to have this? The Bible says He did not give us the spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. Hallelujah. Power, love, and a sound mind. Power, love, and a sound mind. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We can just praise Him all day on that. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This song says this. Let him turn it in your favor. Hallelujah. And watch him work it for your good. I love this part. Because he's not done with what he started. Hallelujah. And he's not done until it's good. So this here. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. Now you say it with me. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. We're gonna say that again. You say it with me. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. Let me hear you say it. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello strength, hello hope, it's a new horizon. Now listen to this. Now if you're ready for a breakthrough. I hear you singing, yes. Just open up and just receive. Cause what he's pouring out is nothing you've ever seen. you've ever seen. Here's your part. So hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Belt it out. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. Are you welcoming that? Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. strength hello hope it's a new horizon and this is what we're declaring say fear is not my future you are you are we're saying this sickness is not my story you say you are you are and heartbreak's not my home you are You are. And death is not the end. You are. You are. Fear is not my future. Yes. Here we go. Yes. Sickness is not my story. Yes. Lord, heartbreak is not my home. Death is not the end, Jesus. Here we go. Say hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. That's what we're welcoming. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. Here we go again, fear. Say, fear is not my future. Yes. Lord, sickness is not my story. Lord, heartbreak is not my home. You are. And death is not the end, Jesus, you are. Let's say it again, declare that thing. Lord, fear is not my future. Yes. Lord, and sickness not my story. Yes. And heartbreak not my home, Lord. Lord, and death is not thee, in Jesus you are. So hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. We're doing something new. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. Yeah, we welcome. Hallelujah. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. One more time, hello. Hello, peace. Hello, joy. Hello, love. Hello, strength. Hello, hope. It's a new horizon. Fear is not my future. Say, fear is not my future. You are. You are. Hallelujah. Floor sickness, not my story. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. And death is not the end, Jesus. One more time, fear. Lord, fear is not my future. You are. Lord, and sickness not my story. Yes, Lord. Lord, heartbreak not my home, Lord. You are. and death is not the end lord you are lord death is not the end lord brought that out beat to declare it lord death is not the end lord jesus you are lord death is not the end jesus we have to know what we know death is not the end lord you What we know is that the Lord takes care of us. He takes care of his children. Hallelujah. Sickness is not your banner. Hallelujah. Jesus is your banner. Hallelujah. Heartbreak is not your tattoo. Hallelujah. Healing is your tattoo. Hallelujah. healing and wholeness. Hallelujah. Provision and defense. Hallelujah. That's what he has promised. Hallelujah. And heartbreak not your home. He is. Hallelujah. You are lord. Lord heartbreak not my home. You are. You are. Lord. Sickness not my story. You are. You are. Lord, fear is not my future. You are, you are. Lord, fear is not my future. You are, you are. Lord, fear is not my future. You are. Lord, fear is not my future. Lord, you are my future. Lord, you are my future. Yes. Lord, you are my future. The Bible says you are the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, Lord. That means, Lord, you, you are my future. Lord, you, you are my future. Yes, yes. Lord, you are my future. You are. You're the same God yesterday, today, and forevermore. That means you've been doing the same job, Lord God, since the world began, before it began, Lord. So you have not changed, Lord. You have not wavered, hallelujah. You are not figuring this thing out, Lord. You are perfect. Hallelujah. Your ways are perfect. The way you keep is perfect. Lord God, the way that you make out of no way is perfect. Lord. Hallelujah. Lord. So, I don't have to worry if you can. You have always lord. You will always lord. You will always because that's all you know to do. That's all you If he dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor, how much more will he clothe you? How much more will he clothe you if he watches over? Every sparrow, how much more does he love you? How much more does he love you? If he dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor, how much more will he clothe you? How much more will he clothe you if he watches over every single, every sparrow? How much more does he love you? How much more does he love you? How much more does he love you? How much more can he show you? How much more does he love you? How much more can he show you? How much more does he love you? How much more can he show you? How much more does he love you? How much more can he show you? Every sparrow Every lily. Can you see that? The Lord cares about the lilies in the valley. Hallelujah. They are insignificant to us. Hallelujah. Yet he dresses them. Hallelujah. He waters them just right so that they might bloom. And you are his prize creation. How much more can he show you that he really does love you? How much more can he show us that he really does love us hallelujah hallelujah if he dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor how much more would he clothe you how much more would he clothe you if he watches over every sparrow. How much more does he love you? How much more does he love you? He loves you. Hallelujah, Lord. He loves us. Thank you, Lord. He loves us. He loves us so much and that's why it's so easy to worship a god. Hallelujah. That would watch over sparrows. Meaning, he would watch over us that much more. He shows us so much more. Thank you for loving us god. Hallelujah. Thank you for When we don't deserve it, Lord. You do not make us earn your love, Lord. You've given it to us freely. Hallelujah. You have poured it on us, Lord. And you've maxed out on your love for us, Lord. And it never wavers, Lord. We are always overflowing with love from you, Lord. And we are grateful, Lord. So when you see us worshiping, Lord, and we are worshiping because, Lord, we know that we didn't earn the kind of favor that you are bestowing on us, Lord. We did not earn your son going to the cross, Lord. We did not earn him dying a sinner's death, Lord, for us, Lord. And so our hands are raised, God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Because we know lord god. Hallelujah. How much you love us. Hallelujah. And in return god, we just want to love you more. We want to serve you better lord god. Hallelujah. And we want to tell a world a What an awesome God we serve. Can we just send up a great praise to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? What an awesome God we serve. What an awesome God we serve. He is great and greatly to be praised. Hallelujah. Welcome to Transforming Love Christian Center. We are so happy to worship with you. What an awesome, awesome, awesome opportunity to worship God in the beauty of His holiness and just to entreat the Lord and just to let Him know how much we love Him. It is just so beautiful to just have an opportunity to do that beside brothers and sisters. who love him too and those who are streaming with us we are just so excited that hopefully wherever you are your hands are raised and you also are worshiping our God because he's so good he's so good so good hallelujah and we're just happy to be able to just give his name some praise we do not take it lightly that you've made your way down to this house and into this stream and so we're happy to have you It is a great Sunday to be in the service of the Lord today here at one nine three zero zero Redwood Road and Castro Valley and we are here every Sunday at 1 30 p.m. And so we are happy to have you With that being said I have a couple announcements a Bible study is on October Okay, what I will say is every Thursday at 7 p.m. via Zoom, please reach out to us via our website at www.transforminglovecc.org where we can give you that information and you can reach out to us to get more information about how that all works. Hold on one second. All right. Okay, so I'm going to hand it over to Rod so he can do announcements. Good information to know. Good afternoon, family. Good afternoon, family. Okay, I wanna make sure y'all here. I just have one little announcement concerning a brother of the church. Some of you know him, some of you do not. His name is Marcus, Marcus Shaw. He's gone home to heaven now to be with our Lord. And his service is going to be this month on February 22nd. That's a Saturday at 1 p.m. And it's gonna be in Berkeley at the South Berkeley Senior Center. And the address is 2939 Ellis Street. And that is again in Berkeley. Thank you, be blessed. Amen. Praise the Lord, everybody. Oh, come on, praise the Lord, everybody. I know it's rainy outside. I know it's cold. And I know a lot of people are like, ah, not today, Lord. But I'm grateful that I can be in the house of the Lord today, amen, because God has been just that good. Amen. Sister Keisha, you blessed me with that song. Thank you. Appreciate that. Amen. Amen. As Rod was saying, our friend, one of the guys that helped us in the very beginning of ministry, I need a new water. His name was Marcus, and Marcus was one of the guys that was instrumental in helping us put up sound and all that kind of stuff, and did a lot of work around the church to help us. And unfortunately, the Lord has taken him home. He is the close friend of Rodina Dunbar from Love Center. And I will not be doing the funeral, but I will be giving special words, words of comfort. Amen. So if you can make it on February 22nd, please come on out. Amen. We would appreciate your presence. Amen. All right, let's get into the Word. Father God, You know the state of everyone here today. You know our mindset. You know we have struggled with this week. You know our successes and our failures, God. You know that places and times and situations where we've been tempted, you know where we have overcome temptation, you know where we have been subject to or subdued by that temptation, God. We ask for forgiveness of our sins, Father. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you that in spite of us, Father, you never fail. You are consistent. As Sister Keisha was saying, you cannot help but do good. You are good. That is just who you are, God. And it is because of that goodness, Father, that we turn to you and we return to you, even from those wayward places, Father. I'm so grateful, God, that you sent your son Jesus to be our example. Not only our Savior, not only our Lord, but our example, Father. Someone we could see, Father, as an example of what happens when the Holy Spirit takes control. We're asking today, God, that you would help us to hear your word today. Help me to preach this sermon. You know where I struggled in delivering and preparing today, Father. I just ask, God, that you would anoint me supernaturally, Father, to speak a word of encouragement. so that we would trust you, that we would love you even more. You love us so much, God. You love us so much. Help us to respond to that love in a way, Father, that you would appreciate, in a way that is something that you would agree with, God. Not just a love that we would be offering you that could be superficial or just religious. But help us to worship you, Father, in spirit and in truth. We thank you for this word today. We just ask that you would just be a blessing to us, Father. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, Matthew, the fourth chapter. We stopped at the 11th verse. We're moving on to the 12th verse, preaching line by line through the book of Matthew. Amen. Hello, people in the back. Got a whole church back there. I appreciate your service. Amen. All right, I'm just going to read the word and get the title and get right into it. Hopefully, I won't be too long today. I do have a lot to say. And I know it's Communion Sunday. So apologies right off the bat, if I'm just been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. Or some people say Naphtali. So that was what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, Beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. Underline that. Galilee of the Gentiles. What does he say there? The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light. And for those dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. From that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven. is at hand. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is the sphere in which God is ruling and reigning. Amen? Those of us who live in the kingdom of God, we recognize, we acknowledge God for who He is, we believe He is Lord, and we respond in a way to where we are obedient to the God that we serve. Amen? Amen. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is the sphere of where God is ruling. He rules the hearts and minds of the people, amen, in that kingdom. I want to speak to you today from the title, The Light That Defeats Our Darkness. The Light That Defeats Our Darkness. Now, we want to say thank you to Brother Boxton for preaching last week, amen. Thank you for the word. And I just want to catch us back up and just kind of give a simple review of where we were before. What we see here in the fourth chapter of Matthew is that the Holy Spirit has led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. And Jesus has won that victory over Satan. The Holy Spirit, after Jesus was baptized and confirmed by the Father, Jesus was then led into the wilderness to be tempted. And the temptation of Christ from Satan Normally, as I said, has three key elements. Lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. And I said to you several weeks ago that that is pretty much the devil's M.O. That is pretty much how he operates. He has a myriad of ways of tempting us with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Amen? But these three elements are used by Satan to normally get one sinful reaction, one sinful response, or lack of response, a reaction, rather, when Jesus is being tempted, what we saw Satan doing is basically tempting him by saying, if you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, do this, do that, do this, do that. Respond in this way, respond in that way, react in this way. If you are who you say you are, then go ahead and prove it. Do it. Make it happen. Basically getting Jesus to jump ahead of his father's timing. Okay? Lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, pride of life. What do I want to do? I want to nudge you out of the will of God, even though you have the word of God. I want to nudge you out of the timing. I want you to jump ahead of your father's timing. So what happened here is Satan wants Jesus out of sync with the Father's will. He wants Jesus out of sync and step with the Holy Spirit. Okay? Amen? In order to get him to take possessions of blessings that Jesus already had coming to him. Amen? I want Jesus I don't care if you're the son of God. I don't care if you're saved. I don't care if you read your Bible. What I want you is out of sync with the will of God. What I want you is out of step with what God has on the schedule. I want you off calendar. That's what Satan was doing. Amen? Amen. Basically, Satan wanted Jesus to sin by not waiting on God to deliver promises that are already coming to him. Does that sound like anybody's story? So it's very important for us to see the sequence here of this scripture. And as it's laid out by Matthew in its context, we see that Jesus Christ is our example. Amen? We have victory in Christ. Why? Because Jesus dealt with this temptation for over 40 days straight and never sinned once. Not in deed, not in word, not even in thought. I don't know how long you last, but sometimes I don't get through the whole week, I don't get through the whole day without my whole thought problem. Oh, sorry about that thought, Lord. I can't stand her. Sorry, Jesus. Right? He did this not only because He's the Son of God, He did this, watch this, saints, by staying in worship with His Father. By what He's always taught us to do, it says in the Word of God, to worship Him in spirit and truth. Amen? To worship Him in spirit and truth. He stayed in step, in sync with the Spirit. He stayed in alignment with truth, which is the Word of God. Okay? You see that? So Matthew takes us from the temptation of Christ directly into, say this with me, the Galilean ministry. Okay, so what's happening, I'm just teaching here a little bit, there's a Judean ministry, okay, and then there's a Galilean ministry. And what's happening where we left off in verse 11 into 12, there's a period of one year. Matthew skips all that, and basically the Judean ministry of Jesus, which lasted almost one year, is discussed by Matthew. It's not really discussed by Matthew, rather. This one-year period is covered by John, which you can read it, when you get a chance, by John chapters 1 through 4. Okay? So, chapters 1 through 4 of John fit in between Matthew verse 11 and verse 12. Okay, that's what's happening. Okay, now let me just kind of catch you up here and fill in the gap here. During that time, Jesus traveled from Judea to Galilee and there were several events recorded by John. We see, for instance, Jesus turning water into wine in Cana. Okay, remember that? We see that Jesus goes to Jerusalem and makes a whip. and drives out all the merchants in the temple. Remember that? Okay, we see that Jesus on the way there, he heals a little boy, several other things. Remember Jesus has a conversation with the head teacher Nicodemus when Nicodemus comes to him in chapter three. He comes to him and asking about, you know, how can I be born again? He comes that night because he's scared of the gang rulers that he's running with, the Metapharisees, remember that? And all these things are recorded about Jesus Christ. Basically, Jesus is making an announcement that the King has arrived, which coincides with what John the Baptist was saying when he was saying that Jesus is the King, and furthermore, he's the Messiah that we've been waiting for. Are we there yet? You're staying with me? Okay. All right. So here's the thing. Right before—ooh, I sound like my dad. Sorry. My goodness. Sorry about that. Right before Jesus gets into Galilee, he runs into a very key person. She's a symbol that Jesus is getting ready to start his ministry. Jesus is getting ready to meet the woman at the well. Okay? This is key. All right? A year has gone by almost of ministry, and he says, oh, I remember, he says, we must needs go through Samaria. I got to meet this lady there. She's a Samaritan woman, amen, who we must talk with. Amen. Come on in. Amen. Jesus meeting that woman is highly significant because this is basically how he's getting ready to start ministry. This is the first time that Jesus announces to anyone, in his own words, who he really is. He told that woman, that woman of the night or whatever you want to call her, that He is the Messiah. He hadn't done that yet. Okay? What's interesting, we need to take note of, is this woman is a Samaritan. She's not a Jew. Okay? She's a half-breed. Okay? She's considered the worst of the worst to the so-called Jewish purebred religious elite. Okay? They will have nothing to do with Samaritans. They will go all around Samaria to get to Galilee. Okay? And she's there right in the middle. Jesus says, no, we got to go through there because this is the kind of person I'm actually, I don't want to give it away. All right. But Jesus takes the time to sit and talk with her, to tell her who he is. And then it says in, let's see. Right after John has been announced that John is actually on his way to prison, it signals to Jesus, okay, this is time for me to start my ministry. So just like Jesus was, watch this, led into the wilderness to be tempted by the Holy Spirit, amen, Jesus is now led to Galilee, amen. to start his ministry. Now I want to keep your finger there, and I want to just kind of look at this other scripture to kind of make a little simple point. Luke 4.14, Luke 4.14, just a little simple statement, but it blew me away because I was like, Lord, I feel like this is what you're saying, and God confirmed it by scripture. It says, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit. Say that, in the power of the Spirit. To where? To Galilee. Amen? Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit, and of course, you know, there's all kinds of word going around through the surrounding country about who, you know, the fact that Jesus is there. So Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted after he was greatly affirmed Amen? Established and affirmed by his father. Amen? One year goes by before Jesus really gets started in ministry, and the Holy Spirit now leads him to Galilee. And Galilee, as we will see in a few minutes, is probably the most unobvious place where you would want to start ministry. Okay? Meaning, what do you mean by that, pastor? None of us would have been smart enough to figure out to go to Galilee first. Okay? But the Spirit knows all things. The Holy Spirit wants us to be in sync with Him. Amen? Most of you, if you're like me, once we get a word from God and some kind of affirmation, approval from the pastor or whoever, we just get busy doing stuff. Right? We just start moving. And that's when we get in trouble because we're not patient enough to wait on the leading of the Holy Spirit, even if somebody gives the word. If God gives you a word, and you know it's from God, that doesn't necessarily mean you move right now. There is Holy Spirit timing. Amen? We see this in the predicament of Abraham and Sarah, right? God promised Abraham and Sarah a child, and the wife gets impatient, and Abraham thinks her idea doesn't sound half bad. Right? And they decide to take matters into their own hands, not waiting on God. And before you know it, they take matters into their own hands and things get worse. Amen? Amen. God eventually will make good on His promise, but because of their sin, their promised son came along with completely and totally unnecessary complications. Amen? You know the story. Abraham has a sidekick. And then she had a son by the name of Ishmael. And my point here is if Jesus Christ, who is a son of God, has the wisdom to wait on the Spirit, even though he's been affirmed by God, then what do you think we have to do? Okay? Now that's just my setup. All right. So Jesus is now led into Galilee to start ministry. And we're going to see that this place, Galilee, is the most interesting place to start. Matthew 4, 12, back to our text. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. Jesus doesn't go into Galilee because he's afraid that what happened to John will happen to him. Actually, if you look at the map of where Galilee is situated, Galilee is right in the same territory of King Herod. King Herod is the one that had John arrested in the first place. Why was John arrested? Because King Herod decided he's going to take his brother's wife and marry her. because he thinks he's king and he can do anything. And whatever thing that they had going on, John is bold, as I said before, he don't care about nobody and what anybody got to say. He stands up in front of the king and says, I rebuke you. If you don't put that woman down, you're going straight to hell. And they're like, you know what? You put my business all on Facebook, I'm putting you in jail. So that's what happened. Amen. Which now places Jesus' ministry as the focus point instead of John. Because remember John, everybody was going to John to be baptized. Now the focus is solely on Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is still out there ministering and John is off the scene, which goes right along with what John said. He said, he must increase and I must decrease. So how does that happen? Because God allows John to go into jail so that the focus will be totally on Christ. Amen? All right. We keeping up with all this? A lot of information, but I'm trying to get to it. All right. Verse 13 says this, and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived at Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, or Naphtali. Maybe Jamie knows which one. All right. so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. Verse 15, this is what Isaiah said, the land of Zebulun and the land of Nathalie by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, here we go with that phrase again, Galilee of the Gentiles. Now the land of Galilee was conquered and eventually given to the tribe of Zebulun and Nathalib during Joshua's leadership when they were coming out of Egypt, and they went through 40 years of the desert, right, in the wilderness, and they wandered around, and eventually they conquered that area, and God says, okay, you can cross over to Jordan and start divvying up the land to all the tribes of Israel. Remember that? All right. So Joshua passed the land into these Jewish tribes and they were told to root out all of the inhabitants. Amen? Whoever is living there, God says, I want them out of there so that their ways will not get into your spirit. I don't want you cohabitating and being neighbors with folks that are not my people. I want you to go in and take the land and kick everybody else out. That's God's orders. Amen? Amen. However, these tribes were never fully successful in driving out the previous occupants. So you still got the Canaanites there. Amen? So the Canaanites are still living in the land. And on top of that, because of where Galilee is situated, Galilee is often subject to invasion because they have foreigners there. that are surrounding these areas. So you've got the Phoenicians, and they're on the west side, and then the northeast you've got the Cyrenians, and they're on a certain side, and then in the middle of that you've got the Samaritans. So even though this territory was claimed by the Jews, they were surrounded by people who were not considered God's people, and they were constantly being invaded, which means you've got folks coming in with different ideas. Foreign ideas about who God is and who God isn't. So there's an idolatry, you know, you sitting there trying to praise God and your neighbor's over there praising some chicken or something crazy. Right? Blowing up smoke to God. And you're like, oh, Lord. I was just trying to go to Bible study. What is happening here? Okay, so that's what's happening. So they're in the same territory because they didn't drive all the people out and there are several nations, Galilee nations, amen. Yeah, that's what I want to say. The territory is surrounded by people who are not considered godly. The city is considered to be infected with mysticism. Amen. Folks going around believing everything. So here's my point. Isaiah, hundreds of years ago, prophesied through the power of the Holy Spirit that the area that he was given to the Jews, God was given to the Jews, previously occupied by Jews, would eventually be surrounded by Gentiles and also infected somewhat, or influenced rather, by the Gentile belief systems. The phrase, Galilee of the Gentiles, literally means heathenous Gentiles. So in other words, Jews who lived in the area were surrounded by complete and total heathens. And this is where Jesus says, this is a good spot for us to start my church. Interesting. Huh? Right. Which would normally be a complete and total turn off to hyper-religious people. Right? But Jesus saw it as an opportunity to reach folks that were not really churchy. Are you following me? Why? Because sometimes the more religiously stubborn you are, it's hard for you to hear truth even if it comes from God himself. Are you hearing me? Because remember, the Jews of Jerusalem and in Judea were the religious elite, but they were out of step with God. They have all the rules and all the regulations, all the ceremonies, Curtis, but they don't know God. They do church real well, but there's no relationship. You hear what I'm saying? You know? All right. They thought that they knew everything, and that is the very reason why Jesus would know it was going to be really, really hard to reach them. So he says, you know what? We're going to go down there to Galilee. The Holy Spirit leads them to Galilee. Now, if you look ahead in Scripture, what we'll see a couple of weeks from now, is we're going to see that Jesus chose his disciples from this area. They're called Galileans. Amen. These were the Jews that you would not normally pick if you're going to start your church. Saints, most of us would have chosen the Jews from different area, but Jesus said, I want to go down there where the roughnecks are. Folks that don't necessarily make good synagogue members. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Folks that didn't go to Holy Names High School or even Skyline. You went to Castlemont in the 80s and the 90s. The only thing that came out of there was people that had a PhD in fighting. I will wear you out, you hear me? If you say something about my mom, what would you say? Jesus was like, let's start the church here. For all the people not in Oakland, that's a really, really tough school in inner city. Amen. All right. Another point, watch this, just kind of sitting at the background. Another point is that Josephus, he's a historian, recorded that Galilee was one of the most agriculturally fertile places to grow food. Okay? Which means that even though Galilee was kind of a small area, it was highly packed with people. It was a concentrated place full of folks because the land was extremely fertile and they tilled every part of that land. So, you know, back in the day, you know, people didn't go to the grocery store. Everybody was in agriculture. You had to be in order to survive. There wasn't no Safeway or Raley's and Lucky's. Okay? So you had to grow your food. So people were flocking to that area in order to make good on the land and get the benefit from the land because the land produced amazing food. So you put that together, you got the best food in the area, which draws all the heathens from around the surrounding area. who are mixed up with all their beliefs about God, and this is why you have to listen to the Holy Spirit. He knows all things. You and I would never do that. My dad used to talk about people who select church members by spearfishing. You know, oh, this would be a good deacon. Oh, this would be a good, you remember Geneva? Oh, this would be a, she'd be a good soprano. Let me use her, yeah. Oh, she could teach Bible study. Oh, I like this family. They look like they're real clean cut. Look like they're going somewhere. People church, picking church folks like that. Jesus said, draw the net. Pick up everything and anything. Some good fish, some not so good fish. Let the Holy Spirit do the separating. And I'll tell you, you might get a boot here and you might get a sword and a knife and a rock, but pull it up. Jesus said, go into the place where folks, you know, do not really, really know God. It seems to be that he's saying the gospel is prime for the folks in this area. Because my gospel is not just to the Jews, my gospel is to people like you and me. Folks who are not Jewish. Amen? The gospel is also to everyone in the whole world. Amen? Amen? We get the good news just like everybody else. Are you hearing what I'm saying? It seems to be policy for God to go into the areas where the need is the greatest. Here's my point. He sends the light into the places that are the darkest. If he wants his church filled, it's like he's saying, I want my church filled with people who come from the worst places rather than filling my church with people who need Jesus only a little bit. Are you hearing what I'm saying? You know, just sprinkle a little Jesus on top of what I'm doing because I already got my life figured out. I just need a little help with it. No, he said, no, no, not those folks. Go to somebody who is in complete chaos. whose family is in total dysfunction. It seems to me that he sends the light into those areas, people that have the most issues, people that have no clue of who God is. Some folks, you might be the first generation in your whole entire family line that got saved, right? He's saying, no, no, send the light there. Amen? If we're going to start off a church, we got to start this thing off right. Go to the people who definitely know that they need me. Amen? So what does that do? Ephesians 2. 2.11-13. Real quick. Almost done. Ephesians 2.11-13. Therefore remember, this is Paul talking to the Gentiles. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Here's the point. Remember that you were, at that time, separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant's promise, having no hope without God in this world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Huh? Somebody's getting it. Somebody's getting it. Huh? Then you skip down, same chapter, skip down to 17th verse. Skip down to 17th verse. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. He's saying, baby, I'm preaching to everybody. The folks that know they're off and the folks that don't have a clue because you're so religious. I'm trying to preach to everybody. He said, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God. Are you excited about that? Do you know what that means, saints? Jesus was sent to Galilee of the Gentiles. Jesus was sent to the people who had no hope, who were strangers from the commonwealth, who were away from or nowhere near and had no access to the holy inheritance. And Isaiah promised this long ago so that it says to us that this thing that God has done, including all of us in His inheritance, it's not an afterthought. God didn't just go, oh yeah, we forgot about the African-Americans and Asians. No! He planned this long ago. Are you hearing what I'm saying? He's coming to save those who are on the outside, to think that God would give his people, the Israelites, the Hebrews, land, all the while knowing that later on Gentiles are going to be in the area. People kept out of the promises of God, but God sent His Son there to do ministry because Jesus came to save us all. Amen? The gospel goes out to everyone. Amen? It is His desire, it is the Father's desire, says in Timothy, it is God's desire, the Father's desire, that everyone would be saved. Amen? Isaiah was given this prophecy, and he was also told what would happen in that area. Give me Isaiah 9, 1 and 2. Let's look at the prophecy. Isaiah 9, 1 and 2. Did I get that? I hope I did. Okay, very good. It says, it's called, the title of this section is called Hope in the Messiah. Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Nathalie will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles You see this? This is Old Testament Isaiah quoting. Wow. Huh? Which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea will be filled with glory. And here's what he said will happen. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in the land of deep darkness, the shadow of death, huh? A light will shine. Who was Isaiah talking about? He's talking about Jesus. Right? Jesus is that light. Amen? Prophesied years before it happened. Amen? Now, Matthew, being led by the Spirit, finds that prophecy and through the insight of the Spirit, picks out what's happening and picks up on what's happening in Galilee as Jesus is approaching. Wow. Amen. Matthew 4.16. Let's look at it again and present it in the actual New Testament. Matthew 4, 16, good, thank you, here we go. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, amen, amen. For those dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. The people dwelling in darkness, they live in darkness, they abide in darkness, there is no escape from that darkness. What is he saying? Have seen a great light. Jesus is coming to town, amen. Those who are dwelling in a shadow of death? Those doomed to die in hell because they just don't know any better? Huh? On them, a light has dawned. Jesus is coming with his gospel of forgiveness and deliverance. Amen? They were a people who were sitting in darkness. There was no way out. There was no escape. There was no understanding. They're ignorant of God. They don't even know who God is. They don't have any of God's promises. There's no future. They don't have any of God's laws. They live any kind of way. They don't know anything that's better. They haven't heard the truth. Amen. They didn't know God's ways. They don't know the one who even created them. They live without purpose. They cannot succeed. It was on these people that Jesus said, let's start the church here. Which says to you and me, saints, that no matter where you come from, No matter what you went through because of what you went through and where you came from. No matter how dark your situation is, it's not too dark for the love of God to reach you. Jesus is coming for you. Yes, even you. Now to appreciate this passage, you have to go into Scripture and look at Scripture from this standpoint. You have to know what it's like to be in darkness. Huh? You have to know what it's like to have messed up so bad, where you think that there is no rescue coming for you. Huh? You have to know what it's like to be on the outside. Huh? To be on the outside of God, to be on the outside of His will. You have to know what it's like to disobey God to the point to where it seems like He's done with you. Huh? You've done something so wrong where you feel totally disconnected from God. Has anybody ever done something and felt that, ooh? Anybody ever been there? See, that's how the Gentiles felt in the presence of the Jews living in the Galilee of the Gentiles. Huh? That's what it was like to be in that region. They were separated from the promises of God while they're living amongst God's people who are looking at them like, y'all ain't going to make it. Right? Because you're just doing all kinds of foolishness. You ain't going to make it. But according to Isaiah, Jesus was always coming to this area. The Gentiles were considered rejects and outcasts, huh? And that's what it was like to live amongst those Jews. Have you ever messed up so badly to where not only God knows about it, but the people around you know about it? Have you ever been treated like you don't belong? Huh? Maybe you come from a very religious family or a very religious background, and you were the one that got pregnant. You were the one that did drugs. You were the one that went to jail. You were the one that got caught up in some sin. And your family's looking at you like, oh, we need a do-over. Huh? These are the people that Jesus came to. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Huh? These are the folks that Jesus said, no, if we're going to start a church, start a church with the folks that can feel the weight of their sin. Start a church with the folks that realize how much they need me. Huh? Don't send me up to Jerusalem and Judea where they think they got it all together. No, no, take me down to the Galilee of the Gentiles, them reject, castamon folks. I have a feeling I'm going to get in trouble. The school board will call me, listen Pastor Rodman. Jesus began to preach repentance. Give me Matthew 4, 17 and we're done. Last scripture. In this passage. The land of Zebulun, 17, not 15, sorry, maybe I said 15, 17, yeah. From that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Same message that John was preaching, right? Amen. Jesus began to preach repentance because The kingdom of God, that's what really the kingdom of heaven really means. The kingdom of God is at hand. Just like John the Baptist was saying, he's extending, oh I love this, he's extending the obedience of God past the Jews to all people, which would bring the blessings of God. not just to the Jews, but to all people. Amen? Now there's an equal opportunity for someone to come to God and get in on the inheritance that God has for them. Not just what you get when you go to heaven, but the truth of the matter is, saints, if we're being honest with ourselves, we need some act right while we're here on earth. Right? I don't know how to do this on my own. I think I'm stronger than I am, but the truth is, if I don't have the Holy Spirit living in me and guiding me in my decision-making, even when I get a word from God, if I don't have him helping me to pause myself and wait on the Holy Spirit's timing, Huh? All of that is coming with the Holy Spirit. What I need is repentance that gets me into the kingdom of God. I repent of my sins. I trust in Jesus Christ, who has done this perfectly. Amen. And now, even though I'm a Gentile, I get in on the blessings of God, which are going to bless my life. Why? Because He causes me, over time, to become more and more obedient. I hate my sin. I hate it! I don't love it. You know what I hate? I hate the fact that I like it and I hate it at the same time. So what I need is supernatural intervention to help me so I trust in God so I don't destroy my life. Are you hearing what I'm saying? That's what's happening here. He's saying if we're going to start a church, let's go to the people that need me. Amen? What's happening? They've seen a great light. Who is that light? Jesus Christ. Amen. John 1, 4-9 says this. Oh, I love this. John 1, 4-9. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness. Point to yourself. The darkness. That's where it's coming from. in me." Amen? And the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Who is he talking about? John the Baptist. He came as a witness to herald, amen, to say that the King is coming, right? To bear witness about the light, amen? That all might believe through him. He was not that light. John the Baptist is not that light, but he came to bear witness about that light. The true light, verse 9 says, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. Who are they talking about? In the Galilee of the Gentiles, Jesus Christ was bringing light to the darkness. Are you hearing me? That's what he does right now. He hasn't stopped. He's bringing darkness under subjection to his light. Amen. Give me John 8 and 12 and I'm done. Oh, Holy Spirit, you put this one together. Thank you, Lord. Jesus says, again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Oh, whoever follows me will not walk, abide, live, dwell in darkness. Let's do it back. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. but will have the light of life. Jesus is saying something very simple. If you look at the temptation of Christ, right, and I think the Holy Spirit was ingenious for doing this. He goes right into the Galilean ministry of Jesus Christ, to the place who need the light the most. We see Jesus victorious in temptation. And then we see him skip over a year and say, let's get to the point. These people over here are losing in the area of temptation. You see how it's going together? Come on, Holy Spirit, teach this. Amen? So he says, what happens? Isaiah prophesied that a light would come. Jesus is that light. Amen? And he said, if you follow me, you will not be in darkness. but you will have the light of life. The main point is Jesus is sent to the darkest place in the most populous area in order to make this huge statement for you and I for all time. And what is that? What is that? He wants the world to hear this statement. And that statement is you, Jamie, and everybody else, you're in total darkness. You can't see the light. Amen? You don't know where the light is? I've got to come find you. I am the light. He sends his light to where the need is, which is you and me. The whole world needs the light of Christ. What he's saying is we are blind and we can't see, y'all. We can't do this. We have darkness inside of us. If Jesus doesn't bring that light, we will just follow ourselves in the deeper darkness. Amen? What's the counter of that? Follow Jesus into the light. Amen? He is that light. I'm done. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I don't know about you. I don't know what you're struggling with. I don't know what you're dealing with. I don't know where you're succeeding or failing. But here's the bottom line, saints. The first step is recognizing your darkness. The first step is not being like the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea. Even though Galilee was the place where they had a bad reputation, that was actually the better spot. Right? Because it was the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea that actually rejected Christ. But that rejection opened the door for you and I. Amen? For the folks that don't have it all together. He's saying don't be like them. Amen? Recognize that you have darkness in you and you are in need of light. Did anybody recognize that about themselves? I'm not just talking about people who don't know Christ, I'm talking about even believers. I got some stuff I am dealing with. Am I alone? I had members call me this week about times they failed. I'm like, yeah, but thank you for being honest about it. Right? We need the light. Amen? We need the gospel that brings us into the kingdom, and we need to follow that light, which is Jesus Christ, who allows us to be successful in the kingdom for his glory. Father God, I thank you for these words. I ask that before we go into communion, Father, you impress upon our hearts, Father, the desire to repent, the desire to turn to you. Help us to recognize that we just don't have it in and of ourselves. We like what we do and we hate what we do at the same time. Help us to be honest with ourselves, Father, be honest with You. Help us, God, but not to make an excuse for what we want to do. We desire that You are Lord over our lives, and we know, Father, that does not come from us, but it comes from You. So I'm asking for myself and this church, and for all those that can hear us online, help us to be wise in our timing, help us to be subject to the Holy Spirit even though we know the Word, help us to look for that light to come to Jesus Christ, to repent of our sins and trust in Him, for He saved us from our sins, paid the penalty, for our sins against you and our rebellion against you. And for those of us who are currently in Christ, help us to continue to follow the light and recognize our consistent need for him. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.