So I don't know if you've heard people use this phrase before. I've heard people say it quite often in churches or in Christian circles. Maybe, maybe you've used it before. Maybe it's one of the things that you tend to say. But the thing that I've heard people say from time to time is this, preach the gospel, and if necessary use words, preach the gospel, and if necessary use words. In other words, what they're saying is that people will know Jesus through the way that you live your life, and if you behave like Jesus behaved, and your character is like his, and your speech is like his, and all of the above, you just live a good life, then people will know who Jesus is. So that's what it's all about. Make sure that you're living a good life and giving Jesus a good name, of course, then I hear other people who will take that and say, Listen, godly character is all good and fine, but serving people and meeting people, people's needs, that's what it's really all about us looking for how we can serve people, meet their needs, love them through the things that we're doing for them. Then people will see the love of Christ, then they'll really know who Jesus is when we're doing those kinds of things. That's what it's really all about, is loving and serving people. But then I'll hear a third group of people who will say, Listen again, godly character is all fine. Loving and serving people's needs and meeting them are fine too. But what it's really all about is sharing the gospel with them, using words and telling them that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, that their sins are what separated them from God, but because of what Jesus did, they can be forgiven, if they'll just receive it by faith alone, through Christ or in Christ alone. And so what is it? I mean, what are we supposed to do? Is it all about our godly character and Jesus seeing him through us in those ways? Or is it all about loving and serving people and meeting their needs and that they see Jesus that way? Or is it really all about just making sure that we're sharing the gospel and making sure that we run up to anyone and everyone and just they've got to hear the gospel right then and there, because that's what it's all about. Well, today we're going to see the answer to that question, to those questions, because in this section of Luke, what we're going to see through Jesus's earthly ministry gives us insight as to what he did and then the way he expresses his life through us. And that's what this series, remember has been all about. We're calling it life expressed because the moment we put our faith and trust in Jesus, He comes to dwell in us, and he begins to express his life through us, in speech and in actions and behavior. And so the more we know about who Jesus was, the life that he lived, will understand and look for the things that he's going to do along those lines, in and through us as we make ourselves available to Him as His instruments. So let's see if we can find out the answers to those questions, beginning again in Luke chapter four, starting in verse 38 Luke says Jesus left the synagogue. Remember, last week he was in the synagogue and healed a demon possessed man. And we're told that he went to the home of Simon, who is Simon? Simon, Peter. He's one of the disciples. Okay? And then we're told now Simon's mother in law. So then we learn that Peter's married, in case you didn't know that, and so his mother in law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. When Luke is writing this, remember Luke's doctor, that's what he did. And so he's using medical terms here, medical language and describing what it is that she has. When he's writing this word, he uses the Greek word megas, which means great, large, huge. He's trying to say she had a mega fever, not just any fever. I mean, it was a huge, large, mega fever. In other words, he was trying to imply that she is seriously sick, like, we don't know if she's going to make it that kind of sick, is what he's trying to say here. Now, when Luke says they asked Jesus about her, we don't know exactly who they are. Most likely it's at the very least Simon Peter and his wife. But maybe there are other people there. We don't really know. But either way, what we see is that they have faith. They have a belief that Jesus is present, him being in the room, he could do something about it. And so they inquire him to do something about her being sick. Luke, the author of this god gospel, may have been a doctor. He may have been a physician. But they're recognizing that Jesus, in their presence, is the great physician, right? Let's see what Jesus does verse 39 so he Jesus bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And then she got up at once and began to wait on them. Now there's so many things that we see in just that one little sentence. I mean, first of all, Luke is careful to point out that he doesn't just jump to the fact that, hey, Jesus healed her. I mean, he takes the time even it's just in a few words, to make sure that we know the detail that first Jesus did whatnobody's listening. He bent over her right? Jesus bent over her. Why is that important? Well, I think that tells us a lot about Jesus in Matthew and Mark's account of this same story, see, they both mentioned that Jesus took her hand. Now, when we see that and we're told that someone takes their hand, we understand that like that is an act of compassion, that's an expression of love, an expression of care or concern for someone. When we grab their hand, and I think Luke is trying to make sure that he's saying something similar here, that when he looks over her, or bends bent over her, he's saying that Jesus took the time to see her, for her to see him, right? I don't know what state she was in, but maybe even though she was seriously ill, she could still be aware that he was in their presence, right? Maybe just aware, but not really in and out. And he leans over to make sure that she she can see that he really is there, that he is present. She could see the the look of care and the look of love and the look of concern on his face for her. He didn't just want to heal her and make her better. He wanted her to be seen, to know that she was loved and valued in that way. So that's the first thing that he's careful to point out. The second thing is that we do see that he heals her, and he just does it through words. He used this word rebuking the fever, the same word that he used about the demon and rebuked of the demons, kind of thing. But again, he just, he just used words. And when we see that Jesus has the authority not just to cast out demons with words, but he's also got the authority to cast out sicknesses and illnesses and to heal people from these things that are bothering them, the other thing we see is that when Jesus heals in this way, he does a complete healing and an instantaneous healing, right? I mean, you and I go to the hospital, or we get healed, or finish up some surgery, and everybody's like now, be careful. Be sure to get your rest. Be sure to build your strength back up. It may take a 24 hour period time of a few days. It may take, it may take a few months for you to get all the way back to normal. But not Simon's mother in law. I mean, she's healed, and she jumps up and she's like, how can I serve everyone? She's just right back to 100% normal, and just gets after her day. Jesus has that kind of power to heal completely and instantaneously. Now that's the kind of thing that gets people's attention, and we see that it does from what Luke says in verse 40. He says, At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. So so we see that word has spread, right? I mean, this is earlier in the day, Simon's mother in law laying around, not sure if she's going to make it. She gets healed. And evidently Simon, or his wife or whoever else was around must have gone out and been like, Do you know what happened to my mother in law? She was dying, and Jesus said some words, and she's completely healed, like, Look, she's in there serving us right now, right? So, so throughout the day, the word just begins to travel. Oh, so and so said, so and so said, and all of a sudden, everybody's showing up at Peter's house by the time the day ends. Now, Luke doesn't tell us that here, that it's at Simon Peters house, or where his mother in law was, but the other writers do, they say everybody's gathering around, right? And so there's this, this crowd that is coming the the word has spread about this. Now we're also told that it's sunset. So this has had time to spread throughout the day. It's sunset, it's later in the day. That's another important detail, because it was a Sabbath day. He had been teaching in the synagogue. It was Sabbath. It was a day of rest, and people were kind of like, I don't think I'm supposed to get out and take people to Jesus. That would be a work, and I can't work on the Sabbath. But now that it. Was sunset and the Sabbath day was ending. People are like, we're free to now get everyone to Jesus. And so that's the other important detail we see here. And then finally, let's just think about it this way. I mean, if you're anything like me, when it is Sunset, you're going, Yes, praise the Lord, because it's time to start winding down and to relax and to get ready for bed, because it's been a long day, right? So we can just infer that Jesus has been busy. He's been out doing things. He's teaching in the synagogue. He's over here healing, you know, he's doing his stuff right, and so it's the end of the day. He's probably looking for some relaxation in a time of rest, but what happens is, everyone shows up. What's he going to do? Now, keep in mind, we've just been told by Luke that he's healed someone who is demon possessed and someone who is sick through what? Just words. So this is a possibility. All the people show up. Jesus is there. He has the power to just say words and they're healed. The most efficient and effective way would be to Hey, come on in. Gather around. Gather around. You guys are all sick. You want to be healed? Okay, be healed. Now, go home. I'm going to sleep, right? Could Jesus have done that? Been pretty easy. Seems like it had been the most efficient thing to do. Let's just get them and then they could go rest. It's dark, Jesus, they probably want to go home and sleep too, right? But he doesn't do that. Why is that important? I mean, Luke tells us that that each one of them, one by one, calls up,lays his hands on them,and then heals them.He bends over Simon's mother in law. Before healing, he invites them up, one by one, all night long, I see you, I love you, I value you. You're important to me. I see your need, and I'm here to meet your needs be healed. No telling what they were all going through. Some of them may be infectious diseases and other things, but none were too unclean for Jesus to lay his hands on to say, I see you, I love you, and I am doing something about what you're going through right now. So we see is that it was important to Jesus to meet people's needs. It was part of his purpose, what His earthly ministry was all about. And what we've been saying again is if Jesus puts himself in you to express his life through you, and this is the kind of thing that he was up to during His earthly ministry, then guess what he's going to be up to, in and through you and I, meeting people's needs. Now, before you go running out and trying to lay hands on someone and heal them in this moment, what's he doing meeting needs? Are there lots of other ways that people have needs other than being sick and needing to be healed. Nod your head like this, yes, there's a lot of them. So we're not just talking about, oh Jesus, we go lay hands on people, and I'm just going to start healing everyone. Well, there's a lot of ways that he could want to express his life through you, to meet people's needs, and in doing so to see them. He wants to look in their eyes through you. He wants them to see he values them through you and the expression of your compassion and love and care and concern and the way, not just doing but the way he uses you to meet their needs. So this is what Jesus was up to, at least so far. Let's see what Luke says next. Verse 41 he says, Moreover, so in addition to demons, came out of many people shouting, You are the Son of God. But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew he was the Messiah. This is what we saw last week. Jesus has authority and power over demons, and he's doing the same kind of thing as he's healing people from their various illnesses. He rebukes them from speaking. Why? Because they're sharing about who he is the demons know, Jesus is the Son of God. He's the Messiah. And of course, Jesus wants people to know that, but he doesn't necessarily want them to hear it through demons, right? I mean, that could be the kind of thing that goes, no, wait a minute. I mean, a demon one way you go, yeah. I mean, even they know, but then you're kind of connecting something. And so he's going. That's up to my father, when and how people become aware that I'm the son of God and that I'm the Messiah. So you just be quiet until then. Okay, not much I can do about it. Remember, last week we talked about how Dimps, Dimps, demons become wimps. See that I combine demons and wimps together to call them Dimps. You learned a new word today. So this is what was happening all through the night. People were healed from their sicknesses, from the evil that was tormenting them, keeping them in bondage. And now Luke tells us what happens at the end of it all. It's going on all night long. Verse 42 at daybreak. Okay, now it's done, right? We're in a new spot. Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were told were looking for him, and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. First thing to notice here, Jesus goes out to a solitary place. I mean, even though Jesus was born into this word, fully God, he was born fully man, and he experienced everything that there was to experience in being human, and we humans get tired. Jesus got tired. He needed rest. He needed to escape and pull away. The other thing that we don't necessarily see here, but Mark and Matthew tell us in their accounts of the gospel, is that when Jesus spent time in solitude, he was doing so to pray, to talk to his Heavenly Father. We talked about this last fall, if you were here for our rhythms of grace series where we looked at, kind of a fresh look at the spiritual disciplines. And we talked about this, how the father led Jesus into times of solitude, silence and solitude, and how if he did that in and through Jesus, and it was important for him, the Son of God, fully God and fully man, then again, how important would that be for us? We could look for him to do the same kind of thing in our own lives. And so that's one reminder as we see that and continue to see that as it pops up, even though our focus is on the other things here in this passage, it's not a constant, hey, go serve people. Go meet their needs. He's gonna express his life through you, and you can never stop. Just keep meeting their needs all the time. Just going to pull you away for some rest and relaxation and some prayer time, and to spend with him and enjoy the fellowship, not that you don't have fellowship with Him, even when you're doing those things. It's not like, okay, now I got to reestablish my relationship with God and reconnect. He's in it all. But there's just something unique about pulling back and just being still and knowing that He is God, right? It's just sweet. Okay, so this is what he leads him to do in this moment. But then we're told that people are going, Uh, don't you try to leave here, right? I mean, so they run and find Jesus, and they're like, no, no, no, no, no, we want to make sure that you stay. They try to keep him from leaving, is what it says in verse 42 why? Well, wouldn't you if you see Jesus healing everybody in your community and people who are impacted by evil spirits, you'd want him to stay too. Just stick around, continue to meet all of our needs the rest of the time. Jesus, it's interesting what Jesus says in his reply, verse 43 but he Jesus said, I must proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. And then Luke says, that's what he did. He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. If you're following along in your own Bibles, I would suggest highlighting or underlining the word must in the words that's why I was sent. That's missional language. That's Jesus saying, this is part of my purpose. This is what I am here to do. We talked about that a few weeks ago when we looked earlier in Luke chapter four, when he unrolled the scroll of Isaiah and was talking about being here. Part of that was to proclaim the good news, to share the gospel, to declare it, to tell people with words about the good news of God's grace, how they can enter into His kingdom through faith in him, and what he would eventually accomplish on the cross. And so if this is what Jesus's purpose was, this was his mission to proclaim, to declare, to share with people. Guess what he's going to do through you and through me? Yeah, you already knew what we were going to say. He's going to lead you and express his life through you to share the good news about God's kingdom with other people. In other words. Whole line that says, share the gospel and use words if necessary doesn't really apply. Apparently, words are necessary.They're very necessary.Matter of fact, Jesus, when we talk about godly character, because that was the thing. That's what that statement is implying. If you just live like Jesus, people will know who he is. They'll come to know him through just the way you live your life. We can read all of the Gospels and Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, lived a perfect, sinless life. How many records through the gospel do we have of people just falling down in his presence from his good behavior and going, Oh, I'm going to make you my Lord and Savior, because you're just the best guy I've ever seen, none that I'm aware of. Why? Because words are necessary. People need to hear that they're sinners and that they're separated from God. Because we don't tend to see it a lot of times like we do. We know we're not perfect, but then we go, but look at that guy. I'm not that bad. We can always find a way to justify who we are and what it is that we've done. So they've gotta be told. We gotta be clear gospel presentations of how bad the bad news really is, which separates us from God, but how good the good news is that Jesus substituted himself in your place to to pay the penalty for your sins so that you could be forgiven. And so words are necessary. People responded to his teaching and sharing of the gospel and the good news of the kingdom. And if that's what Jesus did, and he put himself in us to express his life through us, He will do the same thing through you, and He will do the same thing through me. Jesus still does it today. He just does it through the church, through me and you as His instruments. I was listening to a podcast earlier in the week. They gave me a great example of this, a great reminder of this. It's the compelled podcast. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you've listened to it. It's real stories of real Christians that are being interviewed and told in a kind of a compelling way to capture their story of how they came to know Jesus and what Jesus was doing, and the way he expressed his life through people to lead them to Christ, and then what he did in and through them on the other side of that. And there's some fascinating stories. There's several seasons of it, and I've listened to a number of them. And this one was from a while back, but they were listening to or interviewing a man named Greg steer, who runs a ministry called dare to share. And he he tells this fascinating story of his family. I mean, he's got one of the most interesting families growing up. I mean, they were the most violent people. When you talk about rough family, it was like an understatement. I mean, his mom one time took a baseball bat to this guy's car, who was not a good guy, and treating her wrong, and then took a baseball bat to him, and several of them have gone to jail. They were big, strong, rough people, and they were just violent people, and they parted, and they were into things and bodybuilders, and just always some of those violent people around. He tells the story of one of his uncles. His name was Uncle Jack, and the way he describes them is that Uncle Jack looked like the Wolverine, like he really looked like the Wolverine, and he kind of had this voice like him, and he was violent like him. I mean, out of the whole family being violent and strong and big, he's like Uncle Jack might be the most violent. I mean, he took two cops out one time himself and then ended up in jail. And so he's describing who this guy is, and then he says, but one day he's sitting in his home with his wife in this old country he describes him as a hillbilly preacher. Knocks on his door. He knew who he was through a mutual friend who reminded him that this guy's daughters had been coming to his little country church, and he wanted to go share the gospel with Uncle Jack. So he knocks on the door, and he talks about how Uncle Jack answered the door shirtless with two beer cans in his hand, one that actually had beer in it, and the other one for spit and chew. I mean, this was the guy that were type of guy that we're talking about right here. And he's like, Hey, I'm so and so, and I'm here to share the gospel, and I'm friends with whatever. And he goes, Well, I don't know Jesus, but I I know that guy. And so I guess I'll give you a couple of minutes here. And so he comes in and he shares the gospel with him. Now, the thing about Uncle Jack is that he had actually even as violent and rough as he was, he had grown up in church for a while as a kid, but all he heard, or at least all that he thought he heard, was about the rules. Do this. Don't do this? Be a good guy, be moral, all of that stuff. Well, he was the furthest thing from the truth. He was like, Well, I'm not that guy. Obviously. I'm going to hell, so I might as well just have some fun, right? And so this is what he was up to. Didn't understand it, but this old country preacher was like, no, no, it's not about that. He's like, we're all sinners, all of our. Sin separates us from God. It's about what Jesus did and his love for you to die on the cross, to be able to forgive you and and if you'll just receive His gift of forgiveness by grace, alone, through faith, alone in Christ, alone, you can be saved. You can be changed and have eternal life in him, and he's like You mean to tell me that all I have to do is receive this gift by putting my faith and trust in Jesus for my salvation. That's what I'm trying to tell you. He said, Well, that's the best news I've ever heard. I'm in except he said in some more colorful language, because he didn't really know any better, right? And then what Greg steer says is that this guy, from that day forward, just started telling anyone and everyone about the good news of Jesus. He was still pretty rough around the edges. He even tells a story about one day he's a body builder. He's in the sauna with some other guys, and he's trying to share Jesus with this guy. And somebody keeps interrupting him, and he finally turns around and says, Dude, if you don't shut up, I'm going to knock you out, because I'm trying to tell this dude about the love of Jesus. Now be quiet. Guy interrupts him again. He's like, I'm serious, man. He starts telling about Jesus. Guy interrupts him the third time, and he literally does. He turns around and cold cocks the guy and knocks him out, and then finishes telling the guy about Jesus, and then prays for the guy to receive Christ, right there on the spot where this dude knocked out True story. He even said the guy that was there was at his 50 year wedding anniversary and confirmed that it was true whenever this whole thing had happened. This is the kind of guy we're talking about. But listen, Jesus had begun. He'd put his life in him, and was starting to express his life through him. And it was through Uncle Jack and his all of the stuff he had been and life experiences he had been through. And not just this guy, but Greg says that there were 250 to 300 people that got saved and showed up at this little country church in one month, because he just started telling everyone about the good news of Jesus. He's like Jesus. Do you know the good news of Jesus? He changed my life. Can I tell you about him and just tell everyone Iwas an Uncle Jack.Jesus's mission was to proclaim the good news of the kingdom. He now lived in Jack, and he expressed his life through Jack make sure everyone heard the good news of the gospel, and again, he will do the same thing through you and through me.Now, does that mean that's what it's all about?Well, yes. And I mean, we just read the whole passage about how Jesus met people's needs. He bent over people, laid hands on each one, and took time to see them. Evidently, that's important to Jesus, too. A lot of times, my guess is that those people were way more open to hearing him proclaim the gospel because he had met their needs, because he had looked in their eyes and said, I do love you and I do care for you. And they generally could feel and sense that and go, Well, I'm a lot more open to who this guy might be now, so maybe that's the way he works in and through you, to meet people's needs, to love them, to show care and concern and build a relationship, and then to proclaim the good news of the gospel in and through you. One of our missions partners here in Tyler, as most of you know, is the mentoring Alliance, and they have this phrase as part of their missional language, that we provide tangible help in eternal hope. Well, that's not just the mission of the mentoring clients. That's Jesus's mission, right? He provides tangible help to people and eternal hope. And that's the mission that he's still on today, through every single one of us. And so the question becomes, who is he leading you to give tangible help to? And who is he leading you to give eternal hope to? Most likely, it's the same person, a neighbor, somebody in one of your classes, teacher, coach, if you're a teacher, one of your students, someone in their families, co worker, a boss, maybe an employee. If this is the life that Jesus lived, and the one he's still continuing to live in and through us, we can expect him to do that through us today, and so he's gathered us together here as the church in this building. He's the head of the church. He expresses his life through the church. In a minute, he's going to send us as the church out, and he's going to express his life through us to provide tangible help and eternal hope to people who are lost and dying in our community and all around the world. How's he going to do that through you this week? Who does he want to serve through you this week?