Compare & Contrast | Greg Ford | One Church
ICEBREAKER
Take a minute to brag about yourself. What is one accomplishment people might not know about that makes you proud?
MESSAGE NOTES
[Luke 14:1]
One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely.
Life experience has the potential to make you wiser, or to make you more foolish.
“History doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme.” - Mark Twain
Concept…The depth of the Pharisee's concern about Jesus…It was partially tied to his threat to their personal power or influence, but it was largely tied to the threat that Jesus was to the nation as a whole.
[John 11:43-44]
Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
[John 11:45-48]
Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46 But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
Herod…”King of the Jews”
[Matthew 2:1-3]
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this…
Back story on Herod (Herod the Great)…history books tell us that he had to work hard for everything that he had achieved.
- He was a second son…Herod was 25 he has appointed governor of Galilee, and his older brother was appointed governor of Jerusalem.
37 BC he recaptures Palestine through military force…after that he begins rebuilding the Jewish temple in an effort to curry political favor with the Jewish people…Built several buildings and ports
He had to convince the Roman senate & Caesar Augustus, the Romans Emperor, to make him the “King of the Jews.”
Notice the language in [Matthew 2:2]
They asked, "Where is the one who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star rising and have come to worship him."
He had worked hard for everything that he had…and all of the sudden out of nowhere these guys show up at your door step telling you that they are looking for the king of the Jews who is supposed to be born any day now?
[Matthew 2:12]
When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
[Matthew 2:16]
16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under…
To the Pharisees these 2 situations rhyme.
Be aware of your triggers…look at the whole picture
Compare Contrast Conclusion
Relationship + Job + Church
Sometimes what is probable keeps your from seeing what’s possible.
Life experience has the potential to make you wiser, or to make you more foolish.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Share about a time in your life when people have put you in a category before knowing your story?
Have you ever put someone in a category because of your own past experiences, and what would you do different now?
How are my past experience affecting of view of the present & future?
What are some triggers in your life from past experiences that cause you to come to a quick conclusion? Take a moment and surrender those to God.
What life experiences have made you wiser and or foolish?