1 Timothy 4:13 Project Ep. 46 (Mark 3:20-4:20 & Psalm 22:19-24) - February 15, 2025

[music] You are now listening to First Timothy 413 Project with the undershoppers of the Cathedral of Praise Philippines, Pastor David E. Sumrell and Sister Beverly Sumrell. Welcome again to Project First Timothy chapter 4 and Pastor Sumrell the Pastor of the Cathedral of Praise and thank you for allowing us to be a part of your life. We're endeavoring to follow Paul's instructions again to Timothy to give attention to the public reading of Scripture or following the pattern that we find at the book of the Amaya that broke out the Great Revival as the priest stood up and just read from the Scriptures and gave the meaning. We're good doing the New Testament this year and next year we'll do the Old Testament but every night we take some time with the book of Psalms. So let's go to Sister Beverly for the Psalms tonight. I'm Sister Beverly, we're looking at Psalm 22 today starting in verse 19. Psalm 22 again is a messianic Psalm we call it a messianic Psalm because it's describing Armasiah something that happens in his life and for sure Psalm 22 is full of detailed descriptions of the crucifixion of Armasiah. In verse 19 it says, "O Lord, do not stay far away. You are my strength, come quickly to my aid. Save me from the swords, spare my precious life from these dogs. Snatch me from the lion's jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen. So remember on the cross how Jesus cried out, "My God, why have you forsaken me because God the Father had turned his back on the sin, he could not look upon it." Verse 22, "I will proclaim your name to my brothers so this is Armasiah talking. I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people." For one thing we note that this is one of the many many Psalms that is quoted directly in the New Testament. First is directly quoted in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12. It quotes this as, "Jesus, praise, what do we notice about this praise of Jesus?" Well, I will proclaim your name, that's the theme of our praise. Our praise is never about ourselves. No matter what topic we're singing about, it's not about us, it's about him. And Jesus said, "I will proclaim your name." Your greatness, who you are, to my brothers and sisters, so what do we know? We know this is not a vertical song, it is a horizontal song. He's proclaiming the name of God, to his brothers and sisters, that's us. I get to count myself as part of the family of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. We have our Father God, and Jesus is praying this, that he will proclaim God's name to us, his brothers and sisters, and it says, "I will praise you among your assembled people." Well, of course, we will praise God, among his assembled people, but just imagine that. It says, "This is the praise of Jesus. He will praise God. He will proclaim the name of God, as we are assembled, two or three are gathered in his name. There he is among us." You know, sometimes we should not be so much on, talk, talk, talk, and we should be a little bit more on, listen, listen for the voice of Jesus. What is Jesus doing when we're praising God? He's also proclaiming the name of the Father to us. I think we should listen and proclaim at the same time. You know, in the Hebrew, that's very easy because it's the same word. Proclaim, the Hebrew word for proclaim, is the same word as listen. We listen for his voice. At the same time, we are proclaiming his praises ourselves. We should be so aware of him when we are praising, not just, "Oh, I think I sang the wrong note." Oh, did I get the words right? It's not just like that. It's about awareness of his presence. What is he doing? What's he doing in my life? What is he revealing about the Father to me right now in this service? Let's keep ourselves very God aware in all that we do, but especially as we gather to praise his name, amen. Tonight we're going to pick up in Mark chapter 3, verse 20. One time Jesus entered a house and a crown began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples could not even find time to eat. When his family heard about what was happening, they tried to take him away. He's out of his mind, they said. I want you to notice, success always breathes more work. Remember the parable of Jesus that the faithful one always received more responsibility. Success always brings more work. The effect of success says more work and they were so busy they couldn't even find time to eat. But you notice Jesus never complained and the apostles never complained. Sometimes in the ministry that's the effect of success and we had to learn to never complain. But sometimes our families complain because families do have opinions about our lives because they love us, not because they're bad people because they love us. But the teachers of the religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said he's possessed by Satan, the Prince of demons. That's where he gets the power to cast out demons, that's an action. They traveled all that way from Jerusalem just to express their bad attitudes. If they walked a hard walk, you're talking six days. If they walked a normal walk, you're talking two weeks of travel. Up and down mountains, either that or down the mountain and up the Jordan River Valley. But either way, they went through a lot of trouble and a lot of hardship just to be able to complain. I've always found that bad attitude people are often very, very motivated. You need to remember that one day. Bad attitude people could be very motivated. Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. How can Satan cast out Satan in the ass? A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. If Satan is divided in fights against himself, how can he stand? He will never survive. Now, one of the things you and I need to understand is that the kingdom of darkness is very united. Sin does not tolerate dissent or disagree with it. Satan's kingdom, there is no dissent or disagreement. You know, there's freedom in the kingdom of God because God gives His free will, but Satan. Everything about sin and Satan takes away the free will of man in this controlling. I look at this verse that I go, "Okay, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart." And I look at some of our families and I would say, "Moms and dads, please get it together." And I would say, "Young people, please get it together." The basic building block of all societies are families. And when I hear preachers tell young people, "If you don't like your family, if you think your family is toxic, leave your family," and I want to look at some of these foreign preachers and say, "You know, would you go back where you came from?" I mean, please forgive me, I don't want to sound big and incredulous, but excuse me, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. Our role as pastors is to turn the hearts of the fathers toward their children and vice versa. Our role is never to divide a family. So I would challenge you, young people. If you're having problems with your family, you know what, you're the child. How about if you just get it together and go, "You know what, I'm going to work to make my family strong and you made it." So let me illustrate this further, verse 27, "Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger. Someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house to Jesus and say, "You want to know how I cast out demons? I'm stronger than Satan." All of a sudden stronger, who can plunder the house? Only someone stronger. Jesus is telling them, "You're looking at somebody stronger than Satan here." I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences. He told them this because they were saying he is possessed by an evil spirit. The beloved blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a strong thing, but when you hear people, religious people attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, I'm trying to give Satan the credit for what the Holy Spirit is doing. Blast-free in the Holy Spirit that's a hard thing. Verse 31, "Then Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him. All right, now we're going all the way back to what we first started reading today. Mom is upset. I think Jesus is out of his mind. He's working too hard. He doesn't have enough time to eat. So mom of the brothers. Where is Joseph? I don't know where Joseph is, but mom of the brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus and someone said, "Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you." Jesus replied, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" And notice you, that's a mentioned father. Then he looked at those around him and said, "Look, these are my mother and my brothers. Any one who does God's will is my brother and sister and mother. Any one who does God's will," he says, "That's my family." All right, beloved, you're going to have to understand. We have a spiritual family that is based on each of us doing the will of God. And you know what, when people stop doing the will of God, then maybe they're not family anymore. But look at it from the positive side. The apostle put to Jesus one day and said, "We've left everything to follow you." And he said, "Yep, everything you've left in this life, father, mother, all of that." But not just assets, but relationships. He said, "You're going to receive a hundredfold return in this life." And I look at my life and I look at Sister Beth's life. And I look at Shaz's life and I know the family that we walked away from. And yes, it wasn't always easy. But we laid it all down to follow the call. And I look at the mothers I have in C.O.P. I look at my brothers and sisters in C.O.P. I look at the family I have, a person asked me, "Why would you want to die in the Philippines and be buried in the serenity?" I said, "Well, that's why my family is buried." It's in serenity. God has given Sister Beth and I in Pastor A and E.J. a wonderful life and a wonderful family called C.O.P. Never forget the strength of our spiritual family. Chapter 4 verse 1. Once again, Jesus began teaching by the leg short now. Notice this was a common place that Jesus taught because it's easy to get into a boat and the water will amplify his voice and he can reach more people. This is a common tactic or teaching method of Jesus. A very large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat that he sat in the boat while all the people remained on shore. He taught them by telling many stories in the former parables such as this one. Listen, a farmer went out to plant some seed and he scattered it across the field. Some of the seed fell on the footpath and the birds came and ate it. Some seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plant soon wilted in the hot sun and since it didn't have deep roots it died. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so that they produced no grain. The other seeds fell on fertile soil and they sprouted and grew and produced a crop that was 30, 60 and even 100 times as much as they had been planted. And he said to them, "Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand." Now beloved, look at the beauty of this passage. The seed that fell on a footpath, that would be a hard heart. The seed can't get in. The seed that fell on the shallow soil, the water is right there at the surface. So growth is going to happen very quickly but also it dries out very quickly because the sun evaporates the water very quickly. The water can't go deep into the soil but those fertile soil. We want to be fertile soil and we don't ever want to allow thorns to grow up in our lives. Verse 11, "He replied, 'You are permitted to understand the secret of the kingdom of God, but I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled when they see what I do, that they will learn nothing, when they hear what I say they will not understand, otherwise they will turn to me and be forgiven." Now, that's one of those verses in my Bible. I put a question mark next to it, "Don't you want everybody forgiven Jesus?" I mean, that's one of those verses I don't understand. Then Jesus said to them, "If you can't understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?" So this parable is a key to understanding the kingdom. He said, "The farmer plants the seed by taking God's word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots, they won't last long. They fall away as soon as they had problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. The seed that fell among the foreign represents those who hear God's word but all too quickly. The message is crowded out by the worries of life, the lure of wealth and desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of 30, 60, even a hundred times as much as had been planted. There's so many ways to look at this passage. One way I call the Battle of Salvation, Satan immediately becomes the steal of the word to prevent salvation. Then Satan comes with trouble and persecution and the people wilt quickly and they lose their salvation. That's lost salvation. And then versus 18 to 20 I call fruitless salvation. These are Christians that go into heaven, but because of the weeds that they've allowed to grow up in their life, the worries of life, the lure of wealth, the lust for other things, there's no fruitfulness. And remember, fruit always has seed in it. They're not out preaching the word and planting the seed of the word in other people's lives. There's no evangelism taking place. You will always find gatherer churches, gatherer Christians, not those bearing fruit but the gatherers, a gatherer church, a gatherer Christian, is a Christian who's going to heaven, but they've been controlled by the worries of life. They've been controlled by the lure of wealth. They've been controlled by the desire for other things so they cannot produce fruit. They can only gather fruit, beloved we want to be people who gather fruit. And we do that by three steps. We hear, we accept God's word and we produce a harvest in Jesus' name. Oh, that's good stuff, beloved. God bless you. Thank you for tuning in again tonight. And please, I look forward to seeing you in the services this weekend. And don't forget, Lord, in prayer. Tonight, as you lay your head upon your pillow, I pray that God will give sleep to his beloved. I pray that your soul will be quieted like a winged child in his presence. And the God will give rest to you. In Jesus' name, we'll see you tomorrow night. Thank you for joining us today on the first Timothy 413 project with the undershoppers of the Cathedral of Praise, Philippines, Pastor David E. Catch their podcasts and all leading podcast platforms and listen through DZBR 531 or tune in online at www.bible.radio. The Cathedral of Praise is a church fully committed to Jesus Christ and His Word. Our main campus is located at 350 Taft Avenue or meet the Manila, Philippines. For a full list of COP campus locations and service schedules, visit us at cathedralofbracemanila.com.bh. Tune in again tomorrow for another inspiring reading from the New Testament and Psalms.