June 11, 2025 • 27 mins
The transformative power of Jesus’s ministry in Galilee reveals the heart of God’s redemptive plan. This session begins with a moving story of a young girl named Emma who was rescued from neglect through adoption, drawing profound parallels to our spiritual condition before Christ. Just as Emma was unresponsive and developmentally behind but flourished under loving care, we too were once spiritually dormant until God’s love awakened us.
Our study of Matthew 4:23-25 takes us through Jesus’s extensive travels across Galilee—an area comparable to modern-day Knoxville with roughly 300,000 inhabitants—where he taught in synagogues, proclaimed the good news, and performed miraculous healings. His ministry drew massive crowds from Syria, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan as news spread of his compassionate power to heal every disease and affliction.
Looking deeper, we explore God’s unwavering commitment to humanity through a series of expanding covenants—from Adam to Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David—each preparing the way for the ultimate New Covenant established through Jesus. Unlike previous agreements that were limited in scope, this final covenant is rooted in love, sealed by Jesus’s sacrificial death, and offers complete restoration of relationship with God.
The miracles Jesus performed weren’t merely displays of power but tangible expressions of divine love. When he healed the sick or freed those oppressed by demons, Jesus was revealing God’s desire for wholeness in every life. Consider the woman who touched his garment after years of suffering—one of the rare moments in Scripture where Jesus “stopped,” sensing healing power flow from him to someone in desperate need.
Whether you’re exploring faith for the first time or seeking to deepen your spiritual understanding, this session offers a compelling reminder: at the heart of Christianity lies not rules or religion, but a relationship built on the transformative, adopting love of God.
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Tyler Lynde (00:04):
And that's E4.
Verses 23 through 25 says andhe went throughout all Galilee
and we know that the he here iswho Jesus.
Jesus went throughout allGalilee teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming thegospel of the kingdom and
healing every disease and everyaffliction among the people.
(00:24):
So his fame spread throughoutall Syria and they brought him
all the sick, those afflictedwith various diseases and pains,
those oppressed by demons,those having seizures and
paralytics, and he healed them.
And great crowds followed himfrom Galilee and the Decapolis
and from Jerusalem and Judeaaand from beyond the Jordan.
(00:48):
Let's pray for our time togethertonight, father.
We ask you, in the mighty nameof Jesus, that you would take
the words off of these pages outof the book of Matthew and that
you would cause them to comealive to us this very night.
We thank you for the privilegeof studying your word to us this
very night.
We thank you for the privilegeof studying your word, father.
There are people in foreignlands who crave, who hunger and
(01:09):
thirst for even one scripture tobe able to read, memorize and
meditate on.
And so, lord, we thank you thatwe've been given this great
blessing of your scripture.
We thank you for these words ofJesus, that we will be studying
over the next several weekstogether, and we ask, lord, that
you would grow us deeper in you.
We pray, lord, that truth wouldmove beyond our mental ability
(01:34):
and capabilities and it willmove into the realm of our
hearts, because we know, lord,that out of the abundance of the
heart we speak and we live.
So we ask that you wouldtransform us and change us.
And also, lord, we pray thatyou'd draw us closer together
within community, as weexperience these times together,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(01:57):
So Amy and I recently had agreat privilege, and that was we
got to go view a child beingadopted.
So we got to go to thecourthouse Blount County
Courthouse and we got to bethere for the proceedings, and
it was an amazing thing.
I've been to the courthouse forseveral reasons, most of them
not because I was called to bethere, but for other people, and
(02:20):
this time in particular, it wasone of the best experiences of
our lives, as we got to see ayoung girl, a three-year-old
girl named Emily, get adoptedinto the Seipel family.
And I already talked to themabout this and told them that I
was going to be sharing thisstory a little bit tonight, and
so they're on board with it andglad for me to do so.
(02:40):
This young lady was surroundedby drug abuse when she was born
and she was basically left inher car seat most of the time,
very poorly fed and cared for.
And here are some of the wordsthat Allie Seipel, the now mom
of Anna, shared about this story.
(03:01):
In April 2023, we received acall about a placement for a
little girl named Emma Lee.
Emma Lee, she was just 11months old at the time.
From the moment she came intoour home, something felt
different.
Emma was quiet, distant andunresponsive to our interactions
.
She rarely smiled, she didn'tmake typical baby noises and
(03:25):
showed little interest inplaying.
Imagine an 11-month-old.
How that must have been sostrange, allie and Noah having
had two sons before this andexperiencing what it was like in
a normal way to experiencethese ages, and now they're
discovering this so differentaspect with Emma.
Developmentally, she was farbehind, unable to crawl, unable
(03:49):
to roll over or lift her headduring tummy time, or even show
interest in reaching or grabbingfor toys.
It felt as though her spirithad been dimmed.
We began loving her the bestway we knew how.
Emma started weekly physicaltherapy and we committed to
daily exercises at home With thesupport of our boys.
(04:14):
We welcomed her with kindnessand joy.
We worked together to help hergrow and heal.
In August of 2023, emma rolledfrom her back into a sitting
position for the very first time.
Doesn't seem like much, but,man, it was a huge deal for them
and for her.
In September, she crawled andafter 10 long, challenging
(04:36):
months of therapy, she took herfirst steps and officially
graduated from physical therapyin June 2024.
Today she's walking, thrivingand full of life, and this is
what they call her, as they said, our little miracle.
When we were asked if we wouldadopt Emma, the answer was easy
(04:58):
Our hearts had already made roomto love her as our own.
She is happy, secure and deeplyloved in our home.
We are incredibly blessed tonow officially call her our
daughter.
Emily Jade Seiple, we love youmore than words can say.
(05:19):
And why did I share that storytonight?
To make some of you cry.
No, that wasn't my goal.
My goal with sharing that storyis it's not that dissimilar
from our own stories.
We were lost, we were introuble, we were without God in
this life, and Jesus enteredinto our lives and began to
(05:43):
reveal himself to us and overtime we began to realize and
recognize our need for a Saviorand we accepted him into our
lives to change us forever.
And the Bible tells us that atthat very moment, and even
before that, god adopted us intohis family and, how many of you
(06:07):
know, he's in the process ofworking with us and growing us
and helping us to reach newmilestones over and over again.
And in a way, the Sermon on theMount is sort of like a
training manual.
It's kind of a way that Goddescribes for all of us what it
looks like to grow spiritually,and so we're going to be looking
at that together over the next,like I said, nine or 10 weeks.
As we look at this initialpassage in Matthew, the same
(06:30):
essence, like I've said, of thisadoption is displayed in grand
detail.
Jesus arrives on the scene andwhat is he about?
If you had to describe Jesus inone word, what would be the
word word, one word, what wouldbe the word?
It's almost impossible, butwhat would be the one word?
Love.
(06:58):
Jesus is love, love.
The fact that in 1 John it saysthat God is love, it's a
descriptor, it's something thathelps to identify who he is, at
the very core, at his very root,his character and nature, is
love, right?
And so, as we look throughthese verses tonight, I want us
to contemplate what that lovelooks like.
Love is first understood througha relationship between a father
and a son.
Let's not make it all about usin the beginning, right?
(07:19):
How many of you know, if youlook back throughout all of time
and if you could peek intoeternity past, you can imagine
the relationship that Father,son and Holy Spirit shared with
each other and that continues totoday and will always be right.
They are one, and so, fatherand Son, you can imagine again
(07:39):
that deep love that they had foreach other.
And it's almost Father's Day,right?
Woo-hoo.
I wonder how much moneyHallmark makes on Mother's Day
compared to Father's Day.
I'm just throwing that outthere.
But anyway, you can imagine thedifference, the way that Jesus
feels about his Father.
What do you get for God?
(08:01):
If you're going to give a giftto your Heavenly Father, jesus
is going to give a gift to yourheavenly father.
Jesus is going to give a giftto our heavenly father.
What is he going to give him?
Yeah, he said we can give himmore kids.
We can give him more children,children that he could adopt to
be a part of his family, right?
(08:22):
And so what does HeavenlyFather?
Not wanting to be outdone inthe love quota, right, he's
wanting to give something aswell.
And so what does the Fatherthink concerning Jesus?
What can he give him?
A bride, a beautiful, spotlessbride.
And so we see creation comingout of what A relationship of
(08:46):
love between a father and a son.
Creation was an outworking oftheir love for each other.
At each point of creation, theGod had said what?
At each day, at the end of eachday, what does it say?
They said it was good.
But on the sixth day, after Godcreated humanity, after he
(09:09):
created Adam, what did he say?
It's very good?
And why did he say it was verygood?
This is a Bible study.
We want you to think right.
We're going to have someinteraction and we're going to
be talking to each other.
I want you to think right.
We're going to have someinteraction, we're going to be
talking to each other.
Why did he say it was very good?
What was the difference?
All of those other things wereimportant, but what was God
(09:36):
actually creating in order tocome to the last point where he
would create humanity.
What was he creating?
A family, yeah, he was creatinga family.
He was creating a space.
He was creating a space, abeautiful creation, a created
space for adam and eve to livein it.
Right, the garden of eden, youknow about that.
Right, somebody's gonna needtheir, their child, eat.
(09:57):
I heard that the other day.
I can't tell who it is becauseI might get in trouble.
I've learned the hard way thatlet people tell their own
stories and their own storiesand their own truths, right, but
when they're born and you hearthat name, remember this night,
you see, love was multiplying.
Not only was love sharedbetween Father and Son and
(10:19):
Spirit, but now love is given tohumanity, love is shown to his
creation.
Imagine what it must have beenlike for Adam and Eve to walk
and talk with God in the garden.
Imagine a place of perfectionwith no weeds and no mosquitoes
and no.
What else do you not like?
(10:39):
Nats, nats, pigs, pigs, wasps,nats, nats, pics, yeah, pics,
wasps, yeah.
I was following the grass theother day and I moved the kids
trampoline and something cameout of the, the post and that
thing and, let you know, got ahold of my thigh finger and I
was so proud because I didn'tsay anything.
(11:00):
That's cooked.
I'm going to share a poll thathappened.
Sorry, they're kind of smackingat it.
Yeah, they don't like to diewhen they get them.
They got to hold you.
But anyway, think about theperfection that this created
space must have been.
And yet, looking around at allof this creation, adam and Eve
(11:25):
had to be enthralled by gettingto talk and walk with God like
actually get to do that.
That's amazing, butunfortunately we know that
that's not the end of the story,is it?
Sin brought a separation betweenGod and mankind.
Sin brought a separationbetween God and mankind, as any
(11:47):
good parent does.
There were boundaries that wereset in the garden and really,
just, there was really one rule.
One rule you could eat fromevery tree in the garden except
for the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil, because if you
eat it, you will, you will die,you will surely die.
Satan tempted them andchallenged their thinking as to
(12:08):
whether God really loved them orif he was holding out on them,
and Adam and Eve gave into thetemptation.
And so God, in order to remainholy, had to do what he had to
deal with the sin that they hadcommitted.
Adam and Eve had rebelledagainst God, they had disobeyed
him and they had brokenrelationship with him, and so he
, god, in order to remain holy,had to deal with the sin that
(12:31):
was committed.
There were many curses thatwere handed down because of the
sin that was committed, but thebiggest one of all was that they
would be removed from thepresence of God, kicked out of
the garden, and in the place ofthe entrance of the garden were
placed angels with flamingswords to maintain their
distance.
Because if they had remained inthe garden were placed angels
with flaming swords to maintaintheir distance, because if they
(12:52):
had remained in the garden,there was another tree that they
could have eaten from, whichwas what?
The tree of life.
Not only did they suffer thisfate, but how many of you know
that all of humanity, except forJesus that would be born after
them, would be born dead in sinand trespasses?
(13:12):
And that's all of us.
We were born not sick, not sortof not okay.
We were born dead in our sinand trespasses.
Romans 3.23 and Romans 6.23, youcan write those down for
reference.
So God's love is displayed,though, through a promise in the
middle of the punishment, inthe middle of him giving out
(13:35):
these decrees and causing all ofthe different parties that were
involved in this sin to bepunished because of the sin that
they were committed.
There's a verse thrown in there, genesis 3, verse 15.
And I'm reading this one,actually from the NIV and I will
put enmity between you and thewoman and between your offspring
and hers.
He's cursing Satan at thispoint.
(13:56):
I'll put enmity between you andthe woman and between your
offspring and hers.
He will crush your head and youwill strike his heel.
Who's the one who's going tocrush the head of Satan?
Jesus, and he did that, didn'the?
(14:20):
Satan is already.
Take this to the bank.
Satan is already a defeated foe.
And Satan did attempt to strikeJesus' heel, and we know that
Jesus is victorious.
You see, god had no intention ofleaving his children in this
place of desperation.
God had no intention of notaddressing the problem of sin
and creating a pathway forredemption.
(14:41):
He will go to great lengths tomake a way for them to have a
chance to be restored to rightrelationship with himself.
So how did God do this?
Let's just take a quick journeythrough the Old Testament, from
Genesis to Malachi.
Are you ready?
I'm only kidding, we're goingto do this in 30 minutes.
We're halfway there.
God kept an open pathway forhis love through the covenants.
(15:06):
Let's just quickly look throughthe covenants in the Old
Testament.
Right?
We already talked about Adamand how that covenant was broken
.
The next one is well, let medescribe what a covenant is.
A covenant has particularcharacteristics.
So, first, every covenant has amediator, a person with whom
God makes the covenant right,who represents a particular
group of people, which could betheir family, their tribe, etc.
(15:28):
Second, every covenant promisescertain blessings for those who
keep the covenant.
So if you do this, then I willdo this right.
Third, there are conditionslaid out for keeping the
covenant and curses that comewith breaking these right.
Fourth, each covenant has asign which is used to celebrate
and remember the covenant.
(15:49):
And finally, god's family takeson a new and bigger form with
each successive covenant.
God doesn't bring a newcovenant on unless he's looking
to expand and multiply.
God is not a God who shrinksback.
God is a God who expands andgrows.
So let's look at God's covenantwith Noah and you can write
(16:10):
down Genesis 6 through 9.
After rescuing his family on theark, god makes a covenant with
Noah promising not to destroythe world by flood.
Again, they will be blessed,but they are not to drink the
blood of animals nor to shed anyother human blood.
You see the interaction there.
I'm going to do this for youand I'm requiring this from you.
God leaves as a sign, a rainbowyou can say it out loud, it's
(16:36):
okay A rainbow.
Friends, it's time to take itback.
This is God's sign.
This is God's sign.
He put a rainbow in the sky andgrows God's chosen people from
a couple under Adam and Eve toone holy family, right.
So the next one is God'scovenant with Abraham, or would
(16:57):
have been Abram at the time.
God reaches out to Abram.
He's the chieftain of a tribe,so we're moving from a family
now to a tribe, and he'spromising him a great deal,
including land and descendants.
Promising him a great deal,including land and descendants.
God further explains that thisis a promise that all nations
will be blessed through him andthat his descendants will be too
(17:18):
great to number.
Remember what he uses as acomparison for the number of his
descendants Sand and stars.
Ever tried to count them?
That's the point.
Yeah, the sign of this covenantwas circumcision, and the
(17:39):
chosen family grows into oneholy tribe.
The next covenant was with Moses.
You can read all about Moses inthe book of Exodus After a side
trip to Egypt by which God,through Joseph, saves his chosen
tribe, israel has grown to benumerous and Pharaoh has
enslaved them, and God usesMoses as a what, as a judge and
(17:59):
liberator, to free Israel fromslavery, swearing to be their
God and asking them to worshiphim alone.
The sign of the covenant is thelaw which is called the Ten
Commandments, and the holy tribehas grown now into what A holy
nation.
A holy nation.
And then we have God's covenantwith David 2 Samuel, chapter 7.
(18:22):
David is chosen by God to leadIsrael as her king, and God
swears to David that one of hisdescendants will forever remain
on the throne of Israel.
The sign of this covenant isthe throne and temple which
Solomon, david's son, will build.
Didn't we just read about thatin our Bible reading for this
year?
We just have concluded, andSolomon dedicated the temple to
(18:44):
the Lord, and the nation has nowbecome a holy kingdom.
Isn't that interesting?
You can look back at all ofthese and find direct ties to
Jesus as well, if you thinkabout the Exodus and Moses being
a deliverer.
How many of you know, jesus isour deliverer.
Think of David becoming thisking and having a lineage of
kings.
(19:04):
Who is Jesus?
He's the king of kings and Lordof lords, amen.
So then, the last one, andthat's the one that the verses
that we read tonight really kindof give us a view into, and
that is the new covenant ofJesus.
The new covenant of Jesus.
In this covenant, jesus is bothGod and mediator.
(19:27):
He's the high priest, he's theperfect man, he's the chieftain,
just like Abram.
He's the judge and the prophet,he's the king.
He fulfills every promise madein the other covenants and
promises to us what?
Life eternal with God, foreverand ever.
(19:49):
And how does he cut thiscovenant?
What is required of him?
Death.
He will sign this covenant inred, by willingly laying down
his life as the once and for allsacrifice for the sins of the
world.
God saves us by grace alone.
And our proper response lookslike what are the two things we
(20:11):
must do?
If we want to?
What is it?
Repent, and what does repentmean?
To turn, to change direction,to change our mind about who God
is and who we are Right.
So we're going to repent.
And what's the second thing?
We must believe.
We must believe what, that heis, who he says he is.
(20:36):
Amen, he is who he says he isand he is who he says he is.
And then also there's afollow-up to these things.
So to repent and believe and bebaptized.
Be baptized, the Holy Kingdomnow becomes the universal church
, not the universalist church,don't connect with you, but it
becomes the universal church,the big C church.
(20:58):
Don't get me back if you, butit becomes the universal church,
the big C church, right?
So you see all of thesedifferent covenants described
throughout the Old Testament andthen moving into the new, the
new covenant is characterized bywhat we already talked about in
the beginning One word love.
The new covenant ischaracterized by love, is
(21:19):
primarily characterized by love,and it is its central principle
and guiding force.
It emphasizes God'sunconditional love and grace and
calls for believers to love Godand one another.
As a reflection of that love,aren't you glad that there's
been a new covenant that's beenestablished that each and every
one of us can benefit from, andwe can use that benefit to
(21:42):
benefit and bless others?
That is the gospel, that is thegood news.
This covenant, establishedthrough Jesus, promises
forgiveness, reconciliation anda restored relationship with God
.
And all of these concepts arerooted and grounded in love.
All of these concepts arerooted and grounded in love.
So Jesus, in this passage,begins to travel extensively
(22:04):
throughout Galilee.
There were about 300,000 peoplein this area.
So how big is Knoxville?
About 300,000.
So if you think of Knoxvilleand you think about the expanse
of the ministry of Jesus at thistime, it's grown in a year and
a half to the point to where I'mnot saying that the crowds were
that large, but the group ofpeople that the crowds were
(22:27):
coming from was around 300,000people.
And he's preaching the gospelof the kingdom, the good news of
the kingdom.
And what is the good news?
It's that great, grand, grand,merry news that God has come, in
the person of the Messiah, todeliver Israel and to inaugurate
the kingdom of God.
(22:47):
It was the news which every Jewlonged to hear, although what
did they think that it actuallymeant for them?
What did they want to bedelivered from?
They wanted to be deliveredfrom Rome.
God had something else in mind.
What did he want to deliver?
Delivered from?
They wanted to be deliveredfrom Rome.
God had something else in mind.
What did he want to deliverthem from the bondage of sin and
death and the grave Amen.
(23:08):
Much higher goals, much loftiergoals.
The news which every Jew, likeI said, long to hear.
Jesus also backed up what hewas saying by what Powerful
signs and wonders.
I want us to just recall thereisn't anything that's too
difficult for Jesus.
(23:28):
There wasn't, and there isn'tanything that is too difficult
for Jesus.
There wasn't a case that wasbrought to him that he sat down
and scratched his head and saidnot really sure about this one,
he was prepared.
He was ready.
He was the image of God.
He represented his father insuch beautiful ways.
(23:50):
Think about the kindness andcompassion of Jesus.
How many of these people hadbeen overlooked and pushed aside
.
Remember the woman that had theissue of?
I don't remember what was saidof her that she had been to I
think it was nine doctors or itwas a lot of doctors, and nobody
could help her and she hadspent everything that she had
(24:11):
and she just felt like, if Icould just reach out and touch
the hand of His garment, thevery bottom.
I don't want to disturb Him,but I want to stop him from his
movement.
I don't want to interruptanything.
I just believe that there'ssomething about this Jesus and
the kindness of this Jesus thatcan change my life.
And so what did she do?
She reached out and touched hishand and Jesus stopped.
(24:35):
You know how few times it saysthat Jesus stopped?
Very rare Jesus stopped.
And what did he say?
Drew touched me, of course, hisdisciples being brilliant the
men that they were.
They said Jesus, you okay,there's lots of people around
you, it could have been anybody.
(24:56):
I just touched you and he saidno, I felt Birch Eagle out,
something came through me andout of me to touch somebody at
their point of need.
This is the new covenant.
This is what we get to enjoy asmembers and participants of the
(25:19):
new covenant.
I'm not saying that we won'texperience sorrow in this life.
Part of the new covenantreality is the fact that he's
with us and he dwells in us byhis spirit.
So it's not always about thedesired outcome.
It's about the fact that wehave been restored to right
relationship with God because oflove.
(25:40):
So his fame began to spread andpeople came from all over to
get a touch from this generousman.
He mercifully healed them andset them free.
I'm going to just read the wordsto this old song that probably
all of us know.
I would try to sing it, butwithout some accompaniment.
We all might need to take amoment to pray.
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It says how deep the Father'slove for us, how vast beyond all
measure that he should give Hisonly Son to make a wretch His
treasure.
How great the pain of searingloss.
The Father turns His face away.
How great the pain of searingloss.
The father turns his face awayas wounds which, near the chosen
(26:22):
one, bring many sons to glory.
Behold the man upon a cross, mysin upon his shoulders.
Ashamed, I hear my mockingvoice call out among the
scoffers it was my sin that heldhim there until it was
accomplished.
His dying breath has brought melife.
(26:43):
I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything,no gifts, no power, no wisdom,
but I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from hisreward?
I cannot give an answer, butthis I know with all my heart
(27:05):
his wounds have paid my ransom.
Come on the great merry goodnews of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Haven't we all tasted of this?
Haven't we all experienced it?
Don't our hearts burn within uswhen we consider this, when we
(27:26):
hear these words, my friends,let's shake ourselves loose from
anything that would try to keepus away from these truths.
What in the world are we doing?
Spending hours a day worryingabout things when we should be
focusing in on the love of Goddisplayed in each of our lives
(27:51):
because of Jesus Christ?
And that's E4.
Verses 23 through 25 says andhe went throughout all Galilee
and we know that the he here iswho Jesus.
Jesus went throughout allGalilee teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming thegospel of the kingdom and
healing every disease and everyaffliction among the people.
(00:24):
So his fame spread throughoutall Syria and they brought him
all the sick, those afflictedwith various diseases and pains,
those oppressed by demons,those having seizures and
paralytics, and he healed them.
And great crowds followed himfrom Galilee and the Decapolis
and from Jerusalem and Judeaaand from beyond the Jordan.
(00:48):
Let's pray for our time togethertonight, father.
We ask you, in the mighty nameof Jesus, that you would take
the words off of these pages outof the book of Matthew and that
you would cause them to comealive to us this very night.
We thank you for the privilegeof studying your word to us this
very night.
We thank you for the privilegeof studying your word, father.
There are people in foreignlands who crave, who hunger and
(01:09):
thirst for even one scripture tobe able to read, memorize and
meditate on.
And so, lord, we thank you thatwe've been given this great
blessing of your scripture.
We thank you for these words ofJesus, that we will be studying
over the next several weekstogether, and we ask, lord, that
you would grow us deeper in you.
We pray, lord, that truth wouldmove beyond our mental ability
(01:34):
and capabilities and it willmove into the realm of our
hearts, because we know, lord,that out of the abundance of the
heart we speak and we live.
So we ask that you wouldtransform us and change us.
And also, lord, we pray thatyou'd draw us closer together
within community, as weexperience these times together,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(01:57):
So Amy and I recently had agreat privilege, and that was we
got to go view a child beingadopted.
So we got to go to thecourthouse Blount County
Courthouse and we got to bethere for the proceedings, and
it was an amazing thing.
I've been to the courthouse forseveral reasons, most of them
not because I was called to bethere, but for other people, and
(02:20):
this time in particular, it wasone of the best experiences of
our lives, as we got to see ayoung girl, a three-year-old
girl named Emily, get adoptedinto the Seipel family.
And I already talked to themabout this and told them that I
was going to be sharing thisstory a little bit tonight, and
so they're on board with it andglad for me to do so.
(02:40):
This young lady was surroundedby drug abuse when she was born
and she was basically left inher car seat most of the time,
very poorly fed and cared for.
And here are some of the wordsthat Allie Seipel, the now mom
of Anna, shared about this story.
(03:01):
In April 2023, we received acall about a placement for a
little girl named Emma Lee.
Emma Lee, she was just 11months old at the time.
From the moment she came intoour home, something felt
different.
Emma was quiet, distant andunresponsive to our interactions
.
She rarely smiled, she didn'tmake typical baby noises and
(03:25):
showed little interest inplaying.
Imagine an 11-month-old.
How that must have been sostrange, allie and Noah having
had two sons before this andexperiencing what it was like in
a normal way to experiencethese ages, and now they're
discovering this so differentaspect with Emma.
Developmentally, she was farbehind, unable to crawl, unable
(03:49):
to roll over or lift her headduring tummy time, or even show
interest in reaching or grabbingfor toys.
It felt as though her spirithad been dimmed.
We began loving her the bestway we knew how.
Emma started weekly physicaltherapy and we committed to
daily exercises at home With thesupport of our boys.
(04:14):
We welcomed her with kindnessand joy.
We worked together to help hergrow and heal.
In August of 2023, emma rolledfrom her back into a sitting
position for the very first time.
Doesn't seem like much, but,man, it was a huge deal for them
and for her.
In September, she crawled andafter 10 long, challenging
(04:36):
months of therapy, she took herfirst steps and officially
graduated from physical therapyin June 2024.
Today she's walking, thrivingand full of life, and this is
what they call her, as they said, our little miracle.
When we were asked if we wouldadopt Emma, the answer was easy
(04:58):
Our hearts had already made roomto love her as our own.
She is happy, secure and deeplyloved in our home.
We are incredibly blessed tonow officially call her our
daughter.
Emily Jade Seiple, we love youmore than words can say.
(05:19):
And why did I share that storytonight?
To make some of you cry.
No, that wasn't my goal.
My goal with sharing that storyis it's not that dissimilar
from our own stories.
We were lost, we were introuble, we were without God in
this life, and Jesus enteredinto our lives and began to
(05:43):
reveal himself to us and overtime we began to realize and
recognize our need for a Saviorand we accepted him into our
lives to change us forever.
And the Bible tells us that atthat very moment, and even
before that, god adopted us intohis family and, how many of you
(06:07):
know, he's in the process ofworking with us and growing us
and helping us to reach newmilestones over and over again.
And in a way, the Sermon on theMount is sort of like a
training manual.
It's kind of a way that Goddescribes for all of us what it
looks like to grow spiritually,and so we're going to be looking
at that together over the next,like I said, nine or 10 weeks.
As we look at this initialpassage in Matthew, the same
(06:30):
essence, like I've said, of thisadoption is displayed in grand
detail.
Jesus arrives on the scene andwhat is he about?
If you had to describe Jesus inone word, what would be the
word word, one word, what wouldbe the word?
It's almost impossible, butwhat would be the one word?
Love.
(06:58):
Jesus is love, love.
The fact that in 1 John it saysthat God is love, it's a
descriptor, it's something thathelps to identify who he is, at
the very core, at his very root,his character and nature, is
love, right?
And so, as we look throughthese verses tonight, I want us
to contemplate what that lovelooks like.
Love is first understood througha relationship between a father
and a son.
Let's not make it all about usin the beginning, right?
(07:19):
How many of you know, if youlook back throughout all of time
and if you could peek intoeternity past, you can imagine
the relationship that Father,son and Holy Spirit shared with
each other and that continues totoday and will always be right.
They are one, and so, fatherand Son, you can imagine again
(07:39):
that deep love that they had foreach other.
And it's almost Father's Day,right?
Woo-hoo.
I wonder how much moneyHallmark makes on Mother's Day
compared to Father's Day.
I'm just throwing that outthere.
But anyway, you can imagine thedifference, the way that Jesus
feels about his Father.
What do you get for God?
(08:01):
If you're going to give a giftto your Heavenly Father, jesus
is going to give a gift to yourheavenly father.
Jesus is going to give a giftto our heavenly father.
What is he going to give him?
Yeah, he said we can give himmore kids.
We can give him more children,children that he could adopt to
be a part of his family, right?
(08:22):
And so what does HeavenlyFather?
Not wanting to be outdone inthe love quota, right, he's
wanting to give something aswell.
And so what does the Fatherthink concerning Jesus?
What can he give him?
A bride, a beautiful, spotlessbride.
And so we see creation comingout of what A relationship of
(08:46):
love between a father and a son.
Creation was an outworking oftheir love for each other.
At each point of creation, theGod had said what?
At each day, at the end of eachday, what does it say?
They said it was good.
But on the sixth day, after Godcreated humanity, after he
(09:09):
created Adam, what did he say?
It's very good?
And why did he say it was verygood?
This is a Bible study.
We want you to think right.
We're going to have someinteraction and we're going to
be talking to each other.
I want you to think right.
We're going to have someinteraction, we're going to be
talking to each other.
Why did he say it was very good?
What was the difference?
All of those other things wereimportant, but what was God
(09:36):
actually creating in order tocome to the last point where he
would create humanity.
What was he creating?
A family, yeah, he was creatinga family.
He was creating a space.
He was creating a space, abeautiful creation, a created
space for adam and eve to livein it.
Right, the garden of eden, youknow about that.
Right, somebody's gonna needtheir, their child, eat.
(09:57):
I heard that the other day.
I can't tell who it is becauseI might get in trouble.
I've learned the hard way thatlet people tell their own
stories and their own storiesand their own truths, right, but
when they're born and you hearthat name, remember this night,
you see, love was multiplying.
Not only was love sharedbetween Father and Son and
(10:19):
Spirit, but now love is given tohumanity, love is shown to his
creation.
Imagine what it must have beenlike for Adam and Eve to walk
and talk with God in the garden.
Imagine a place of perfectionwith no weeds and no mosquitoes
and no.
What else do you not like?
(10:39):
Nats, nats, pigs, pigs, wasps,nats, nats, pics, yeah, pics,
wasps, yeah.
I was following the grass theother day and I moved the kids
trampoline and something cameout of the, the post and that
thing and, let you know, got ahold of my thigh finger and I
was so proud because I didn'tsay anything.
(11:00):
That's cooked.
I'm going to share a poll thathappened.
Sorry, they're kind of smackingat it.
Yeah, they don't like to diewhen they get them.
They got to hold you.
But anyway, think about theperfection that this created
space must have been.
And yet, looking around at allof this creation, adam and Eve
(11:25):
had to be enthralled by gettingto talk and walk with God like
actually get to do that.
That's amazing, butunfortunately we know that
that's not the end of the story,is it?
Sin brought a separation betweenGod and mankind.
Sin brought a separationbetween God and mankind, as any
(11:47):
good parent does.
There were boundaries that wereset in the garden and really,
just, there was really one rule.
One rule you could eat fromevery tree in the garden except
for the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil, because if you
eat it, you will, you will die,you will surely die.
Satan tempted them andchallenged their thinking as to
(12:08):
whether God really loved them orif he was holding out on them,
and Adam and Eve gave into thetemptation.
And so God, in order to remainholy, had to do what he had to
deal with the sin that they hadcommitted.
Adam and Eve had rebelledagainst God, they had disobeyed
him and they had brokenrelationship with him, and so he
, god, in order to remain holy,had to deal with the sin that
(12:31):
was committed.
There were many curses thatwere handed down because of the
sin that was committed, but thebiggest one of all was that they
would be removed from thepresence of God, kicked out of
the garden, and in the place ofthe entrance of the garden were
placed angels with flamingswords to maintain their
distance.
Because if they had remained inthe garden were placed angels
with flaming swords to maintaintheir distance, because if they
(12:52):
had remained in the garden,there was another tree that they
could have eaten from, whichwas what?
The tree of life.
Not only did they suffer thisfate, but how many of you know
that all of humanity, except forJesus that would be born after
them, would be born dead in sinand trespasses?
(13:12):
And that's all of us.
We were born not sick, not sortof not okay.
We were born dead in our sinand trespasses.
Romans 3.23 and Romans 6.23, youcan write those down for
reference.
So God's love is displayed,though, through a promise in the
middle of the punishment, inthe middle of him giving out
(13:35):
these decrees and causing all ofthe different parties that were
involved in this sin to bepunished because of the sin that
they were committed.
There's a verse thrown in there, genesis 3, verse 15.
And I'm reading this one,actually from the NIV and I will
put enmity between you and thewoman and between your offspring
and hers.
He's cursing Satan at thispoint.
(13:56):
I'll put enmity between you andthe woman and between your
offspring and hers.
He will crush your head and youwill strike his heel.
Who's the one who's going tocrush the head of Satan?
Jesus, and he did that, didn'the?
(14:20):
Satan is already.
Take this to the bank.
Satan is already a defeated foe.
And Satan did attempt to strikeJesus' heel, and we know that
Jesus is victorious.
You see, god had no intention ofleaving his children in this
place of desperation.
God had no intention of notaddressing the problem of sin
and creating a pathway forredemption.
(14:41):
He will go to great lengths tomake a way for them to have a
chance to be restored to rightrelationship with himself.
So how did God do this?
Let's just take a quick journeythrough the Old Testament, from
Genesis to Malachi.
Are you ready?
I'm only kidding, we're goingto do this in 30 minutes.
We're halfway there.
God kept an open pathway forhis love through the covenants.
(15:06):
Let's just quickly look throughthe covenants in the Old
Testament.
Right?
We already talked about Adamand how that covenant was broken
.
The next one is well, let medescribe what a covenant is.
A covenant has particularcharacteristics.
So, first, every covenant has amediator, a person with whom
God makes the covenant right,who represents a particular
group of people, which could betheir family, their tribe, etc.
(15:28):
Second, every covenant promisescertain blessings for those who
keep the covenant.
So if you do this, then I willdo this right.
Third, there are conditionslaid out for keeping the
covenant and curses that comewith breaking these right.
Fourth, each covenant has asign which is used to celebrate
and remember the covenant.
(15:49):
And finally, god's family takeson a new and bigger form with
each successive covenant.
God doesn't bring a newcovenant on unless he's looking
to expand and multiply.
God is not a God who shrinksback.
God is a God who expands andgrows.
So let's look at God's covenantwith Noah and you can write
(16:10):
down Genesis 6 through 9.
After rescuing his family on theark, god makes a covenant with
Noah promising not to destroythe world by flood.
Again, they will be blessed,but they are not to drink the
blood of animals nor to shed anyother human blood.
You see the interaction there.
I'm going to do this for youand I'm requiring this from you.
God leaves as a sign, a rainbowyou can say it out loud, it's
(16:36):
okay A rainbow.
Friends, it's time to take itback.
This is God's sign.
This is God's sign.
He put a rainbow in the sky andgrows God's chosen people from
a couple under Adam and Eve toone holy family, right.
So the next one is God'scovenant with Abraham, or would
(16:57):
have been Abram at the time.
God reaches out to Abram.
He's the chieftain of a tribe,so we're moving from a family
now to a tribe, and he'spromising him a great deal,
including land and descendants.
Promising him a great deal,including land and descendants.
God further explains that thisis a promise that all nations
will be blessed through him andthat his descendants will be too
(17:18):
great to number.
Remember what he uses as acomparison for the number of his
descendants Sand and stars.
Ever tried to count them?
That's the point.
Yeah, the sign of this covenantwas circumcision, and the
(17:39):
chosen family grows into oneholy tribe.
The next covenant was with Moses.
You can read all about Moses inthe book of Exodus After a side
trip to Egypt by which God,through Joseph, saves his chosen
tribe, israel has grown to benumerous and Pharaoh has
enslaved them, and God usesMoses as a what, as a judge and
(17:59):
liberator, to free Israel fromslavery, swearing to be their
God and asking them to worshiphim alone.
The sign of the covenant is thelaw which is called the Ten
Commandments, and the holy tribehas grown now into what A holy
nation.
A holy nation.
And then we have God's covenantwith David 2 Samuel, chapter 7.
(18:22):
David is chosen by God to leadIsrael as her king, and God
swears to David that one of hisdescendants will forever remain
on the throne of Israel.
The sign of this covenant isthe throne and temple which
Solomon, david's son, will build.
Didn't we just read about thatin our Bible reading for this
year?
We just have concluded, andSolomon dedicated the temple to
(18:44):
the Lord, and the nation has nowbecome a holy kingdom.
Isn't that interesting?
You can look back at all ofthese and find direct ties to
Jesus as well, if you thinkabout the Exodus and Moses being
a deliverer.
How many of you know, jesus isour deliverer.
Think of David becoming thisking and having a lineage of
kings.
(19:04):
Who is Jesus?
He's the king of kings and Lordof lords, amen.
So then, the last one, andthat's the one that the verses
that we read tonight really kindof give us a view into, and
that is the new covenant ofJesus.
The new covenant of Jesus.
In this covenant, jesus is bothGod and mediator.
(19:27):
He's the high priest, he's theperfect man, he's the chieftain,
just like Abram.
He's the judge and the prophet,he's the king.
He fulfills every promise madein the other covenants and
promises to us what?
Life eternal with God, foreverand ever.
(19:49):
And how does he cut thiscovenant?
What is required of him?
Death.
He will sign this covenant inred, by willingly laying down
his life as the once and for allsacrifice for the sins of the
world.
God saves us by grace alone.
And our proper response lookslike what are the two things we
(20:11):
must do?
If we want to?
What is it?
Repent, and what does repentmean?
To turn, to change direction,to change our mind about who God
is and who we are Right.
So we're going to repent.
And what's the second thing?
We must believe.
We must believe what, that heis, who he says he is.
(20:36):
Amen, he is who he says he isand he is who he says he is.
And then also there's afollow-up to these things.
So to repent and believe and bebaptized.
Be baptized, the Holy Kingdomnow becomes the universal church
, not the universalist church,don't connect with you, but it
becomes the universal church,the big C church.
(20:58):
Don't get me back if you, butit becomes the universal church,
the big C church, right?
So you see all of thesedifferent covenants described
throughout the Old Testament andthen moving into the new, the
new covenant is characterized bywhat we already talked about in
the beginning One word love.
The new covenant ischaracterized by love, is
(21:19):
primarily characterized by love,and it is its central principle
and guiding force.
It emphasizes God'sunconditional love and grace and
calls for believers to love Godand one another.
As a reflection of that love,aren't you glad that there's
been a new covenant that's beenestablished that each and every
one of us can benefit from, andwe can use that benefit to
(21:42):
benefit and bless others?
That is the gospel, that is thegood news.
This covenant, establishedthrough Jesus, promises
forgiveness, reconciliation anda restored relationship with God
.
And all of these concepts arerooted and grounded in love.
All of these concepts arerooted and grounded in love.
So Jesus, in this passage,begins to travel extensively
(22:04):
throughout Galilee.
There were about 300,000 peoplein this area.
So how big is Knoxville?
About 300,000.
So if you think of Knoxvilleand you think about the expanse
of the ministry of Jesus at thistime, it's grown in a year and
a half to the point to where I'mnot saying that the crowds were
that large, but the group ofpeople that the crowds were
(22:27):
coming from was around 300,000people.
And he's preaching the gospelof the kingdom, the good news of
the kingdom.
And what is the good news?
It's that great, grand, grand,merry news that God has come, in
the person of the Messiah, todeliver Israel and to inaugurate
the kingdom of God.
(22:47):
It was the news which every Jewlonged to hear, although what
did they think that it actuallymeant for them?
What did they want to bedelivered from?
They wanted to be deliveredfrom Rome.
God had something else in mind.
What did he want to deliver?
Delivered from?
They wanted to be deliveredfrom Rome.
God had something else in mind.
What did he want to deliverthem from the bondage of sin and
death and the grave Amen.
(23:08):
Much higher goals, much loftiergoals.
The news which every Jew, likeI said, long to hear.
Jesus also backed up what hewas saying by what Powerful
signs and wonders.
I want us to just recall thereisn't anything that's too
difficult for Jesus.
(23:28):
There wasn't, and there isn'tanything that is too difficult
for Jesus.
There wasn't a case that wasbrought to him that he sat down
and scratched his head and saidnot really sure about this one,
he was prepared.
He was ready.
He was the image of God.
He represented his father insuch beautiful ways.
(23:50):
Think about the kindness andcompassion of Jesus.
How many of these people hadbeen overlooked and pushed aside
.
Remember the woman that had theissue of?
I don't remember what was saidof her that she had been to I
think it was nine doctors or itwas a lot of doctors, and nobody
could help her and she hadspent everything that she had
(24:11):
and she just felt like, if Icould just reach out and touch
the hand of His garment, thevery bottom.
I don't want to disturb Him,but I want to stop him from his
movement.
I don't want to interruptanything.
I just believe that there'ssomething about this Jesus and
the kindness of this Jesus thatcan change my life.
And so what did she do?
She reached out and touched hishand and Jesus stopped.
(24:35):
You know how few times it saysthat Jesus stopped?
Very rare Jesus stopped.
And what did he say?
Drew touched me, of course, hisdisciples being brilliant the
men that they were.
They said Jesus, you okay,there's lots of people around
you, it could have been anybody.
(24:56):
I just touched you and he saidno, I felt Birch Eagle out,
something came through me andout of me to touch somebody at
their point of need.
This is the new covenant.
This is what we get to enjoy asmembers and participants of the
(25:19):
new covenant.
I'm not saying that we won'texperience sorrow in this life.
Part of the new covenantreality is the fact that he's
with us and he dwells in us byhis spirit.
So it's not always about thedesired outcome.
It's about the fact that wehave been restored to right
relationship with God because oflove.
(25:40):
So his fame began to spread andpeople came from all over to
get a touch from this generousman.
He mercifully healed them andset them free.
I'm going to just read the wordsto this old song that probably
all of us know.
I would try to sing it, butwithout some accompaniment.
We all might need to take amoment to pray.
(26:00):
It says how deep the Father'slove for us, how vast beyond all
measure that he should give Hisonly Son to make a wretch His
treasure.
How great the pain of searingloss.
The Father turns His face away.
How great the pain of searingloss.
The father turns his face awayas wounds which, near the chosen
(26:22):
one, bring many sons to glory.
Behold the man upon a cross, mysin upon his shoulders.
Ashamed, I hear my mockingvoice call out among the
scoffers it was my sin that heldhim there until it was
accomplished.
His dying breath has brought melife.
(26:43):
I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything,no gifts, no power, no wisdom,
but I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from hisreward?
I cannot give an answer, butthis I know with all my heart
(27:05):
his wounds have paid my ransom.
Come on the great merry goodnews of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Haven't we all tasted of this?
Haven't we all experienced it?
Don't our hearts burn within uswhen we consider this, when we
(27:26):
hear these words, my friends,let's shake ourselves loose from
anything that would try to keepus away from these truths.
What in the world are we doing?
Spending hours a day worryingabout things when we should be
focusing in on the love of Goddisplayed in each of our lives
(27:51):
because of Jesus Christ?
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