The Parables of Jesus

Chris Buttery

Sacramento Central SDA Church

The Parable of Jesus: Hold the Mustard

You know, folk have, prophets of all would have loved to have lived in this day and age.

There's a story that I read not too long ago about a fellow by the name of Frank Zizmanski.

Frank Zizmanski was a football player for Notre Dame back in the 1940s.

He played as center and probably to the right of that a little bit or the left of that occasionally.

Frank was an excellent player for Notre Dame and could easily have let it certainly go to his head, but he was known for being modest about his abilities and the skills in his game.

1 day Frank had been called to the to witness a civil suit in South Bend, Indiana.

When he was called to testify, the judge started asking him questions.

Are you on the Notre Dame football team this year?

Continuing to inquire, the judge asked his final question, How good a center are you, Frank Zizmanski?

Now Zizmanski kind of squirmed in his seat because he was known for not liking to brag on himself but he responded and said, sir I'm the best center you've ever had.

Well now his coach, a man by the name of Frank Nehi was in the courtroom that day and he heard Zizmanski's response and naturally he was surprised.

He knew Zizmanski always to be unassuming and modest so when the proceedings were over he went over and he took Zizmanski aside and he asked him why, Zizmanski, why did you make such a statement?

Well Zizmanski blushed and he said, well I hated to do it coach, after all I was under oath.

When, friends, when you've got to tell the truth, you've got to tell the truth.

And telling the truth is necessary, especially when it has to do with correcting a misconception about the kingdom of God.

Now, if somebody were thinking, were to think certain things about God's kingdom and what they thought was wrong, it would be most definitely important and imperative to make sure that the person has a right conception of the kingdom of God, or else that individual could be led astray, could cause a person even perhaps to be lost.

That's why when Jesus was here on planet Earth he made up made every attempt to clear up any misconception anybody had regarding his kingdom.

That's why Jesus wasn't about to let people think something different when it had to do with the matters or matters of eternal consequence and he did this of course through the use of parables.

We've been talking about some of Jesus parables to help fallible mankind get a grasp on eternal realities.

Jesus used comparisons, he used some form of attachment, He placed 1 thing by the side of another to be sure that no 1 would be confused and left out of the picture with regard to the most important subjects delivered to mankind.

Now I wanna take you to another parable here this morning.

So would you turn there with me to Mark chapter 4, and we wanna take a look here.

In this particular instance, Jesus is seeing he needs to set the score straight, so to speak.

He again needs to tell the truth about the nature of his kingdom.

And it was really for his disciples that he was giving this explanation.

He gave this illustration to those who had called upon his name and had pledged themselves to his cause, hopeful in seeing the kingdom of God grow and taking on more citizens than were presently there as they thought were there.

Now Jesus gave a wrong explanation here, it could cause them to become easily discouraged and dispirited, unenthusiastic about what they signed up for.

Actually, it's likely they were already beginning to wonder whether being connected with this controversial teacher was such a good idea.

They might have been asking why more people weren't signing up like they had.

Why were there only a handful of them when there should have been many more?

Because isn't this man about to establish his kingdom here on earth?

And it's likely that if the disciples were questioning the sides of their group, no doubt they were being influenced by the religious leaders of the day.

These religious leaders wouldn't have been careful to keep their thoughts to themselves about this new teacher and this band of new disciples.

So you can probably imagine that the leaders made a little fun of the fact that Jesus only had a few followers, especially considering that they thought and he had said that he was here to establish his kingdom.

I mean come on Jesus, how do you expect what you to do what you say you're going to do with only a handful of believers?

How are you going to do these great things without wealth, without power, without prestige and honor.

You know, it's kind of always the way, isn't it, when someone seems sees you cutting in on their show and you don't mean to do so intentionally.

Some folk are just bent on belittling and ridiculing.

They can't stand it, so they mock you and they laugh at you, and instead of moving over and making room for you, they resort to disparagement and vilification.

So Christ knew their thoughts, and he read their hearts of these religious folks.

He's not about to let the jealousy of these individuals contaminate his disciples.

So Jesus is going to set the score straight in this parable and encourage his followers and you've got to love Jesus for doing that, amen?

And Jesus said, and Aaron read that fairly well here this morning, so thank you son.

Mark chapter 4 verses 30 to 32 it says, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God?

Or with what comparison shall we compare it?

It is like a grain of mustard seed which when it is sown in the earth is less than all the seeds that be in the earth but when it is sown it groweth up and becometh greater than all the branches so or sorry than all the herbs and shooteth out great branches so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it." Now probably this is another thing you're going to have to get used to me saying and that is herbs, because you see that there is an H in front of the E and the RBS.

And I understand folk around here like to say herbs or something and the H is silent, but it is an H and so you say herbs, or at least I say herbs.

And so Jesus is sharing here with what comparison shall we compare the kingdom of God.

In fact Christ is bringing, drawing his followers into, or his hearers into consultation as it were, inviting them to participate in the quest for truth and he leads them to the mustard seed as they begin their journey.

Jesus said the mustard seed is like the church on earth.

That's what Jesus was saying And you've got to wonder whether there could have been anything better to use to illustrate a profound truth than a mustard seed.

And as we unravel this parable you're going to see that Jesus couldn't have used anything better to get his message across.

Now, no doubt there are some here today that enjoy their mustard, and I wouldn't want to deprive you of that.

Has anyone ever heard of the Mustard Museum?

All right, we got a mustard lover right here, okay.

So mustard museum in Middleton, Wisconsin.

Now the fellow by the name of Barry, Barry Levinson, he was the founder and the curator, he's the curator of the National Mustard Museum.

And he said that it came about because of the Red Sox, the Boston Red Sox.

Apparently in 1986, his favorite baseball team lost the World Series, and so Barry went to an all-night restaurant, not an all-night restaurant, an all-night supermarket, trying to find the meaning of life and he passed through by the mustard in the mustard aisle there a thought popped into into his head if you collect us that is the mustard they will come well they did and they have apparently Barry's Museum sports get this 5624 mustards I didn't even know that there would be that many.

5, 624 mustards from all 50 states and from over 70 countries in the world, which would obviously make his collection a sight to behold.

Now with all due respect, I'm certainly not interested in mustard.

Now that may have been perhaps because back in the day when I was young, I may have said something in front of a grownup, and instead of getting my mouth washed out with soap, someone put a little mustard on my tongue and I can still taste it to this day.

I don't know but to this day, to this day, if I'm asked if I like mustard I ask folk just to hold, put a hold please, hold on the mustard.

So what was Jesus driving at in the parable?

The mustard seed in Jesus' day was the smallest of all the seeds sown by Palestinian farmers, far smaller than wheat, far smaller than barley, for instance.

A mustard seed today is only about 1 millimeter in diameter.

You know what a centimeter is, and you just divide that into tens, you get 1 millimeter, you see.

Actually, it's the smallest of all the herb seeds that there is.

That's why in Jewish literature, for example, the mustard seed is frequently referred to denoting minuteness.

So I'm no expert, but I understand that there are, in general, 2 types of mustard seeds.

You've got the yellow variety and you've got the black variety.

Both herbs are used widely in cooking, but it's highly likely that it was the black variety Jesus was referring to here in his parable that grew in the wild in abundance in Palestine in those days.

So whereas the yellow mustard seed was a low-lying plant or shrub, not growing to more than about a foot or 2 from the ground, the black particular, the black variety, the black variety of mustard seed would reach heights to about 6 to 12 feet with branches about an inch thick.

So when Jesus says it grows to become a tree, which is what we read, it grows to become a tree, he's not referring to the mustard plant's nature, but he's really referring to its size, you see.

You've seen other little herb bushes, right?

You've got, that's all slipped, you've got thyme, you've got rosemary, you've got oregano, oregano.

You've got all those types of things, right?

You didn't know that we said oregano, what was it, oregano, there it is.

It's oregano, but those are small lying herb bushes, right?

But this thing just takes off 6 feet, that's where I'm at, and beyond.

And that's a herb tree or a herb bush, biggest of all the herb bushes.

Some things are probably beginning to form in your mind with regard to what Jesus is trying to drive out.

Anil Kanda

Ceres SDA Church

Last Lap

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, thank you again for this time of worship.

Thank you God for bringing us through a whole year with 2016 around the corner.

Thank you God for your faithfulness, for your graciousness, for your goodness to us.

And thank you Lord for what David said, to the Lord belongs, escapes from death.

And today we come together to give thanks, to give praise for what you have done for us.

And Lord, together we also want to pray for our church budget as been talked about earlier.

We pray corporately, God, asking for your blessing and your provision.

You are the Great Shepherd in Jesus name.

Amen Name of the Sermon today is called the last lap the last lap How many people when you go home you have somebody in your family that is just So adamant about taking pictures How many people have family members like that?

And this person is just so adamant about taking pictures.

I mean, it's like everyone's just about to go eat or do something and someone's like everyone stay where you're at we're taking a picture right and then when you are sitting there and you're holding that smile for as long as you can they get out another camera from somewhere I don't know where and they began to take more pictures and then they put the camera on a timer and then they go sit Down with you and take that picture right then they exchange a few people and they continue to take pictures How many people had any kind of experience like that this week?

Okay, you know I have somebody in my family like that.

I have 2 cameras and this is 1 of my cameras right here.

Okay, I've been told my iPhone 5 is outdated.

How many people here still have an iPhone 4?

How many people still have a telephone that's connected to a wire into the ground or to the wall?

How many people here don't have an email account?

I don't know when it just stopped working But the front face or the back facing camera the main camera with the flash on it does not work well And all the pictures come out very very grainy I mean really bad and so whenever I'm taking a picture even though I try to focus The camera is just not working well.

I tried cleaning the screen, the glass part of it, still nothing.

The only part of my camera that has a good camera is in the front, the front facing camera.

And oftentimes when I'm taking a picture, what I'll have to do is I'll have to turn the camera around and Somehow guess that it's actually taking a good picture of people Right and so when I'm taking a picture of say my dog or friends or family whatever I'll have to turn the camera around and I'll have to look and then take a picture.

Whenever I try to film a video like parts of the people will be missing from the video because I have to use the front-facing camera like this and take a picture.

You know, cameras are very interesting things.

They pick up on angles and perspectives that sometimes we don't pick up on.

A few months ago, there was an article that came out with about 26 27 pictures whose angles really captured an unusual, let's just say Scene I want you to pay attention to these different angles And I want you to tell me what's unusual about this picture right here.

This girl looks like she has 10 foot long arms.

That arm actually belongs to this kid right here.

I want you to see this picture right here.

OK, tell me what looks off in this picture.

This guy is not sitting on her back right now.

That is actually part of her dress, okay?

He's actually closer to the window, but the picture looks like he is riding her like a horse right now.

I want you to see this picture right here and tell me what looks off in this picture.

This guy in the back is actually part of the family.

He's wearing a shirt or sweater that makes it look like he is actually part of this painting, but he is a real human being.

Yeah, he looks like he has a big back, right?

It's just a bag on a chair in front of him, but he looks like he's got huge shoulders and a wide waist, okay?

It's actually a kid underneath here whose arm is coming out this way but it looks like his arm is broken.

And these shots were not taken in, they're not contrived shots.

It's a antediluvian bird, right, right it's about perspective angles.

Yeah, it looks like the little kid has an adult-sized head, but where is the head of the kid?

His head is right here, but the skin matches so well underneath that shade you can't tell they're 2 separate heads right here but the kids head is right here.

That is not a dog woman fishing That is a woman with red hair and her golden retriever is sticking out its head so it looks like there's a dog lady fishing.

Somebody took this picture, I think in a Train or an airplane, but the woman was sleeping her head was laid back over here.

The dog was alert and it looks like it is 1 of the Egyptian gods, right and Then there's this 1 Anything strange about this 1 It looks like his head is connected to her body.

And he is actually hugging her who seems to like have a man's body right here Okay, and how about this 1 That is not a fish with a human arm.

That is actually a fish that was swimming by when another screwbarber someone Underneath the water under the water was taking a picture.

So it looks like the fish has an arm reaching out to the other fish Right really strange when you look at pictures and sometimes they capture angles That are not meant to be and then it changes the way the picture is supposed to look You see when you look at the story Of Jesus being born there are many different angles that are part of that picture or that scene and different angles can produce Different interpretations.

I want everybody to take their Bible Let's go to the gospel of Luke Chapter 2 and I want you to pick up on some interesting things Luke chapter 2 Remember what I preached about earlier I'm in the I think it was a couple weeks ago that the entirety of the Bible was pointing to the coming of the Messiah.

You look at all the Old Testament, all the prophets, they were pointing forward to this great event, all the great miracles and the preservation.

And so as we're, we're getting ready and closer for the Messiah's advent We would be expecting it's going to be amazing But when he actually shows up the reader is caught off guard because he's supposed to be expecting something Great something powerful something wonderful But when he finally gets to the chapter in which Jesus is born, all of a sudden it can be quite confusing.

Take your Bible, go to Luke chapter 2, I want you to see verse 1.

And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Vicki Griffin

Lansing SDA Church

Depression: The Way Out

I have already been blessed by all the music.

My son, when he was little, he played that very song and I remember approaching him after he performed it and saying, Anthony could you smile when you do that?

And he was his age and he said, my teacher said there are 50 things going on in your brain when you do this.

Well we have had a wonderful time doing the Foods for Thought series.

I am very thankful for this opportunity this morning and I bet some of you may be thinking well I'll bet this lady is talking about depression because she's just happy all the time and she's just going to tell us all what to do about it.

Depression, the way out is our topic and I have spent probably more time getting ready for this very complex topic than maybe any other presentation I've ever done.

I've put a lot of heartfelt prayer into it.

I've been calling people that I know have really suffered, who've had a shadow over their hearts and minds their entire life.

And I've asked them, what is it that would be the worst thing that could come out of a speaker's mouth in the topic on depression?

Can anybody relate to hearing some things that you just can't believe would come out of somebody's mouth when you're suffering?

And what would be the thing that you would really need to hear and want to hear?

And I got some very interesting and wonderful input in this.

I'm not gonna take time with it, but I was not raised a Seventh-day Adventist.

I came from an extremely violent home and suffered serious and brutal beatings from the time I was very small and so I started running away from home when I was 5.

I don't have a recollection of feeling safe.

I don't have a recollection of not being sad.

I don't remember waking up being excited about a new day.

And so I think this veil was over my own heart for very many years.

And so the title of this topic today, Depression, The Way Out, is actually the name of a book.

And I remember I would like to recommend this book to those who want to delve further into this topic in terms of a holistic approach to climbing away from depression.

I think if I were going to name it in terms of a goal, I would call it getting unstuck.

Has your brain and your mind ever been stuck?

How many of you would like to get unstuck?

If I were going to talk about the process of what we're going to talk about today, the process, it would be restoring and building connections in the brain with others and with God.

And it is my hope and my prayer today that this presentation will bring some clarity to the topic of depression, that it will bring some inspiration and motivation and most of all hope to anyone who is suffering from flying negatrons circling around their head all the time.

Depression has been defined as a state of feeling gloomy, sad, and apathetic.

Now major clinical depression affects about 15 million Americans.

And it's the leading cause, this surprised me, it's the leading cause of disability in the United States and Canada even ahead of heart disease and any single cancer.

It is increasing by 20% in our population and in Canada every single year.

It is described as an episode of sadness or apathy along with multiple other symptoms that lasts at least 2 consecutive weeks and is severe enough to interrupt daily activities.

I think most of us have experienced disappointment in life.

Has anybody in here experienced disappointment?

And you know, if we don't learn how to deal with disappointment, it can degenerate into discouragement.

And if we don't know how to get out of discouragement, then it can devolve into depression and despair and finally, self-inflicted death.

Suicide is a leading cause of young men from age 12 to 20 in the United States today and it is climbing.

I would like to quote from an author, we're just taking a few minutes to understand what's going on in your head with clinical chronic depression.

John Rady is a neuropsychiatrist from Harvard University.

1 is called The User's Guide to the Brain.

And it's about getting a spark in your brain from exercise, the effects of exercise on the brain and other body systems, other mental health issues, including depression.

And I would like to share what he says about what's going on in the head of a person who is suffering from clinical depression.

Because there's a lot of misunderstanding out there.

There's a lot of judging going on when people fall into these states.

And the last thing that a person would want or need to hear is, well, we all have ups and downs, just get over it.

And so we want to know how to think about this disorder, what it means, how it affects us.

There are so many different types of depression and there are numerous causes and we're not gonna go through all of those but we're gonna talk about principles today.

In your life as well as in your brain, your brain cells.

There are distinctly different types of depression and actually depression mimics the flu.

I spent a day at a seminar with a specialist called a psychoneuroimmunologist.

They study, You know, these specialists know more and more about less and less, and he was 1 of those people.

And they studied the link between the stress system, the immune system, and the brain, this brain-body connection.

Do you think there's a connection between the brain and the body that we need to be aware of.

So, when a person is experiencing a decline in mood state, there are flu-like symptoms that occur.

Without the fever, what do you feel when you have the flu?

All of these things are flu symptoms and your brain is literally putting you into hibernation when you are experiencing this depression.

There are physical alterations taking place in the emotional circuitry.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

The Parable of Jesus: Hold the Mustard

33m

Last Lap

45m

Depression: The Way Out

55m

Eyes Wide Shut

45m

The Exalted Angel

27m

The Persecuted Angel

27m

Thyatira (Reading Revelation- 11)

30m

Pergamos (Reading Revelation- 10)

30m

Night’s Song

44m

#Xmas

43m

What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You!

39m

Youth, Do You Dare?

43m

Sound Doctrine