Galilee

Baptism does not save us, but it is the outer sign that Christ has saved us by his grace, and we have chosen to live lives of willing obedience.

In Matthew chapter 28, Jesus met with his disciples on a mountain in Galilee for one of the last times.

This experience is recorded both in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark.

Matthew's Gospel adds details that Mark's Gospel does not include.

"'For truly, I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, "'you will tell this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move.

"'Nothing will be impossible for you.'" As they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus told them, "'The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.

"'They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised up.'" And they were deeply distressed." When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the temple tax approached Peter and said, Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? Yes, he said.

When he went into the house, Jesus spoke to him first.

Whispers spread.

Who is this man? Within days, word raced across Galilee, and the crowds began to swell.

But growing crowds carry hidden perils, pride, popularity, and the pull to build your own kingdom.

So how did Jesus stay grounded when success came knocking? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll offers biblical wisdom every one of us needs to hear.

It was a divine authority that compelled the people to listen and to admire Jesus.

They're amazed.

Not surprisingly, verse 28, immediately the news about him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.

People began to come to Capernaum to see him, to hear him, to witness this unusual spokesman.

Life is running and I'm Moshe coming to you from Israel in the Galilee.

You've probably heard of the Galilee.

It's really called in Hebrew the Kinneret, but you can call it the Galilee.

It's a kind of nice day here.

What are we on the 5th of November? And let's see what we got going on here.

There it goes.

So he said, and I did not know him, but the one sending me to immerse in the water, this would have been Father God, Jehovah, said to me, that one upon whom you see the spirit descending and resting upon him it is the one immersing in the spirit of holiness wait a minute i jumped ahead too much hold it okay verse 32 and john testified saying i saw the spirit of a dove descending from the heavens and it rested upon him it was a spirit shaped like a dove and i did not know him but the one sending me to immerse in the waters said said to me that one upon whom you see the spirit descending and resting upon him immersing in the spirit of holiness so he didn't he didn't really understand Yeshua too much yet okay and I saw and I testified with that this is the son of God well he knew that he knew a lot okay um with two from the disciples and he saw Yeshua walking about and he said behold the Lamb of God and his two disciples heard what he spoke and they went after Yeshua and Yeshua And he said to them, what do you seek? And they said to him, Rabbi, which is said, my teacher, where is the place of your dwelling? see and they came and saw the place of his dwelling and they dwelt with him on that day and the time was about the 10th hour and one from the two who heard from John and went after him was Andrew, the brother of Simon.

He found his brother Simon and said to him, we have found the anointed which in the Greek tongue is Christos Christ is the Latin okay so it would have been Christos well would have been Mashiach in the Hebrew then to said I'm sorry Yeshua saw him and said you are Simon son of Jonah to you shall be called Kepha and in the Greek tongue Petros and he desired to go towards Galilee and he found Philip and Yeshua said to him And Philip found Matthew, I'm sorry, Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him concerning who Moses wrote in the Torah and the from Nazareth, Nazareth.

He gives them instructions.

He says, after I am raised, I'll meet you in Galilee.

So he already knows that he is going to be raised from the dead.

He's going to defeat death.

It's not just here, sometimes do it there, do it sometimes.

It's something that we should do always in order to stay in the will of God and know what the will of God is and to keep us from that temptation, to recognize the temptation and keep us from it.

Any other comments on this passage, Steve, before we wrap up? But now remember, Jesus told him earlier that after he was raised, he was going to meet them in Galilee, back up in the area where they operated out of mostly.

So while he's here in the garden, he's going through this great stressful period of knowing that he is going to be mocked, tortured, crucified to the point of death.

He is the Lord of all.

You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John announced, with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power.

He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him.

We are witnesses of all the things he did both in Judea and Jerusalem.

Lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai, lai.

We separated in Babylon, we went down to Egypt, and we went to Galilee, which continued for 1,000 years.

Now is the time, now we know, that there was a healing among friends.

Lai, lai, lai Bye.

I created you.

Can you imagine how he felt knowing that for three years he'd been cruising here in the Galilee, ministering to people constantly, touching them, being around him, didn't want them to get any rest.

And Jesus came to those times like you and I where you say, you know what, enough is enough.

I need time alone.

John 21, after this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.

Simon Peter, Thomas called the twins, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing.

They said to him, we will go with you.