You can be amazed by the wonderful worship music that we get to participate in and not be living by faith. You can be amazed by the wonderful teaching and preaching you hear and not be living by faith. You can be amazed by the love of your small group and not be living by faith. There's a huge and significant difference between amazement and faith. God is not willing to leave you in divine amazement. He wants you to become a person of sturdy, assured, hopeful faith. So he will take you where you haven't intended to go to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own. Passage explains to us why this is a moment of astonishment and not faith. It says, "For they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened." Did not understand about the loaves meant that disciples hadn't learned their lessons, talking about the feeding of the 5,000. You see, every miracle of Christ was intended to preach something about the Gospel of Christ. That's what the miracles are about. The miracles preach the gospel. And so they hadn't learned their lessons. And it says that they hadn't learned their lessons because their hearts were hardened. Now, it's a physical word picture. Look up here. It's the picture of a stony heart. If I had a stone in my hand right now and I was pushing that stone with all of my might, what would you expect would happen? Well, look at the size of my arms, it's not hard to answer. The answer is nothing because that stone is resistant to change. That's what hardheartedness is, it's resistance to change. And why are we resistant to change? Because we're all too satisfied with where we are. We're all too satisfied with what we received. We're not needy and hungry. The guys in the boat were all too satisfied. They weren't learning their lessons. Luella, my dear wife, and I gave birth to a son. Well, actually she gave birth. This kid just didn't understand the concept of gifts. We would buy him a toy, birthday or Christmas. He'd tear open the box, discard the toy, and play with the box. It drove me crazy. Made me nuts. And so one Christmas, I decided that I was going to experience parental victory and find a toy that he would actually play with. I grabbed my wife, Luella, poor thing, and took her on this quest. We were out there way longer than it made any sense to be. I was not going to lose. I finally found a toy that seemed like it was made for my son. I knew he couldn't resist this one. And so at Christmas, when it came time for him to open that gift, we were surely more excited than he would've ever been. He tore open the box like a little boy would not thinking about recycling and actually began to play with a toy. I had such feelings of victory. I went into the kitchen to talk to another one of my relatives, was in there for a few minutes, got something to drink and went back into the living room where the tree was, where he was, and he was sitting in the box. Now, you may say, "Why is this man sharing with us this cute family story at the end of this message?" Here it is. You have been given the most awesome gift that could ever be given. It's a gift that's gorgeous from every perspective. It's the one gift you could never earn, you could never achieve, you could never deserve. It's the essential gift of gifts that every human being who's ever taken a breath desperately needs. It's the only gift that has the power to change you and everything about you. It's the gift of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I Am deeply persuaded that in the face of being given that gift, many of us are content to play with the box. We're content with a little bit of biblical literacy. We're content with a little bit of Theological knowledge. We're content with a Sunday morning Christianity, but a life that's really driven and shaped by other values. We're content with a little bit better marriage, a little bit better parenting, but we're not holding onto that gift of grace with both hands. I'm saying, "I can't believe that I've been chosen to receive this gift. I'm not letting go of this gift till it's done everything that it was meant to do for me. I want to read about this gift. I want to study this gift. I want to be by people who know about this gift. I want a fellowship with them around this gift. I love the gift of grace. It's not just a part of my theology. It's life to me." You see, there really is a profound difference between amazement and faith. What is God doing right now? With zealous, unrelenting, terrifyingly committed zeal, he will turn us into people of faith. You do not have the power to resist that. He will turn you into a person of faith. He will complete that work. And he will not say to you, "Get out of the boat." You don't get it. He will say to you once again, "The I Am is here. You'll never again be the same." And so he will take you where you haven't intended to go to produce in you what you could not achieve in your own. Sisters, when you're going through difficulty, that's the gospel you need to preach to you. Sisters, when you're standing next to someone who's going through difficulty, that's the gospel you
Transcript: Session 2
WOMEN HELPING WOMEN
2 7
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