What Jesus Said

Stephen Bohr

Secrets Unsealed

9. Relief From Stress

Well, tonight we are not going to talk about psychology.

When we talk about stress, we think it's a psychological phenomenon.

Tonight we're going to deal with stress from a different perspective.

We're going to deal with it from the perspective of the Holy Word of God.

And actually the presentation tonight is somewhat a continuation of the lecture that we had last Wednesday night where we dealt with family values from a unique, perhaps different perspective than you've heard before, but I consider that there is a very close relationship between the family and the Sabbath.

God made the family, last thing, the sixth day.

And then the first day that they lived on this earth the first full day they rested with the Lord and that's the pattern that God has established for the family I'd like to invite you tonight to turn in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 4.

Luke chapter 4 and I would like to start reading at verse 16 Luke 4 16.

Basically this is speaking about the inauguration or the beginning of the ministry of Jesus after his baptism.

This is the first event after he went to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

This is actually what he begins, his public ministry.

And interestingly enough the Lord Jesus began his public ministry on the Sabbath.

But he not only began his public ministry on the Sabbath but he also expressed in the synagogue that Sabbath what his ministry was for.

In other words the intention of his ministry.

Now let's notice Luke chapter 4 and verse 16.

It says there, so he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, what's a custom?

Custom is something that we do habitually on a regular basis.

It says, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

What day did Jesus customarily go to the synagogue, which was church in his day?

And then it says in verse 17, and he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.

And When he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

You remember the Spirit of the Lord came at his baptism, right?

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and then the Bible says that he closed the book gave it to the attendant and sat down and all of the eyes of those present were upon him.

Now I want you to notice that Jesus begins his public ministry on Sabbath in the synagogue And he presents in his message what he intends to do during his ministry.

During his ministry he's going to preach the gospel, which is the good news to the poor.

He is going to heal those who are brokenhearted.

He is going to preach deliverance to those who are captives.

He is going to open the eyes of the blind and he's going to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

In other words he not only begins his ministry on Sabbath but he actually reveals what his agenda is going to be on the Sabbath.

Now, interestingly enough, those elements that we just read in Luke chapter 4 are the very things that Jesus did on the Sabbath to diverse people.

In other words, he not only announced what his ministry was going to be like on Sabbath, but he used the Sabbath to exemplify what he had said he was going to do during his ministry.

Now let's notice several examples of this.

Go with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, and verses 21 to 24.

Remember, Jesus has just given his agenda for his ministry.

He's going to be the restorer, he's going to be the deliverer, he's going to be the 1 who blesses everyone who is sick and oppressed of the devil.

And now, right after this episode, we notice what we find in Mark chapter 1 verse 21.

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught you remember that that was 1 of the things that he was going to do according to the prophecy of Isaiah verse 22 and they were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as 1 having authority and not as the scribes.

Now it continues saying, now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit and he cried out saying, let us alone.

What have we to do with you Jesus of Nazareth?

But Jesus rebuked him saying, be quiet and come out of him.

Did Jesus release here a man on the Sabbath who was sorely oppressed by the devil, by unclean spirits?

Yes, he's fulfilling what he announced on Sabbath.

He's giving on Sabbath the meaning of his ministry.

We already studied this last time, but let's go back there and take another look at this and review quickly what we studied.

And I want to read a quotation from the Code of Jewish Law, which I didn't read last time.

Chapter 3 and verse 1, and he entered the synagogue again.

And a man was there who had a withered hand, a chronic case.

He wouldn't have died if Jesus had waited until sundown.

Verse 2, and they watched him closely, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him.

Then he said to the man who had the withered hand, step forward.

He's going to make a case out of this, isn't he?

He's going to reveal it before everybody present.

He's not doing anything in the dark, nothing in secret.

And then it says in verse 4, and he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?

Of course he knows that they're plotting to do what?

Incidentally, let me just read you here a quotation from this book, Code of Jewish Law.

I'll read you 1 of the laws that they had back then, which is very ironic.

This is found in this book, Code of Jewish Law, page 97.

Here's the rule of the rabbis it is forbidden to catch any living thing on the Sabbath even a flea but if an insect stings a person it may be removed and thrown off but 1 is not allowed to kill it Because it is forbidden to kill on the Sabbath anything that possesses life.

That's what their laws, their laws based on tradition said.

Now notice what it says Once again in Mark chapter 3, irony of ironies about what they were plotting to do on the Sabbath.

Verse 5, so when he had looked around them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, stretch out your hand.

And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

So let me ask you, what is the Sabbath a sign of?

Of being released from oppression by evil spirits.

Did Jesus have to recreate that man's hand?

Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against him how they might destroy him.

Wrong to heal on Sabbath, wrong to restore and recreate a hand, but certainly nothing wrong with planning to kill the author of life, the creator of life.

Here are these who according to their law couldn't even kill a flea and they're planning to kill Jesus Christ, the Creator.

Their laws, their traditions had obliterated the commandment of God that says, thou shalt not kill.

Now go with me to Luke chapter 14 and verses 1 to 6, another 1 of these healing episodes of Jesus.

Now it happened, as he went into the house of 1 of the rulers of the Pharisee.

Boy, this is going to be right in the wolf's mouth, isn't it?

Because it's in the home of a Pharisee, and Jesus is going to make a point.

Now it happened, as he went into the house of 1 of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched him closely.

And behold, there was a certain man before him who had dropsy.

That's an excessive accumulation of water in the tissues that causes great pain.

Verse 3, and Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

Let me ask you, how would you answer that question?

8. Family Values

As you read the Gospels, you find that Jesus is constantly in controversy with the religious leaders of his day.

And all of these sects that existed in that day also claimed to be Jews.

You know, you had the Pharisees, you had the scribes, you had the Herodians, you had the Essenes, you had the Sadducees, you had all these different denominations in the days of Christ.

And Christ was a Jew and he was always in conflict, in controversy with them.

You can hardly turn 1 page in the Gospels without finding Jesus in some controversy with these religious leaders, particularly.

And as we studied in 1 of our previous lectures, the whole controversy revolved around the issue of whether the law should be written on tablets of stone and you should try and measure up, or whether the law should be written on the heart in such a way that you naturally do, automatically do what the law requires.

In other words, the whole controversy had to do with the law written on tables of stone or the law written on the tablets of the heart.

And this is what Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20 is speaking about.

Here Jesus speaks and he says, For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, Notice that Jesus does not require less, Jesus requires what?

Does he require at least as much as what the Pharisees were giving?

Does he expect better fruits in our lives?

Yes, Jesus said, by their fruits ye shall know them.

But these things need to be produced by an internal motivation rather than imposed by a law written on tablets of stone.

And so Jesus says here, For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." And then Jesus is going to amplify what he's talking about.

First of all, as we've studied, He deals with the commandment that speaks about murder.

Now for the Pharisees, murder was to kill somebody physically.

But Jesus says no, murder is deeper than that.

So if you hate your brother, you've already committed murder, even if you have not committed the act.

Then Jesus goes a little bit further down, and he speaks about the seventh commandment.

And in a moment, we're going to return to this commandment.

We're going to go to another chapter in the Gospel of Matthew.

But Jesus speaks about the commandment that says, thou shall not commit adultery.

When he speaks, the Pharisees are very happy because they say, we've never slept with any woman other than our own wives.

But then Jesus says, whoever looks upon a woman to covet her or to desire her has already committed adultery in his heart.

So notice that Jesus goes beyond the external act.

He goes beyond just what we do outside and he says that unless our motivations for doing are internal, Unless the heart moves us to do it, it's worthless in the sight of God because it's legalism.

So what Jesus wanted was to have people live a religion of the heart, to live the commandments because the motivation came from inside rather than imposed by a law from outside.

Raise your hand if you understand what I'm saying and what I'm saying is making sense to you.

We had a whole lecture on what Jesus had to say about the rule of law.

Matthew chapter 19 and we're going to amplify this aspect of the seventh commandment.

Here Jesus is going to deal with the seventh commandment of the law of God, thou shalt not commit adultery.

And He's going to amplify what we've already noticed in Matthew chapter 5.

Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings that he departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

Great multitudes followed him and he healed them there.

Notice who was the controversy with again?

Same Pharisees that we read about in Matthew 5 and verse 20.

It says, once again, the Pharisees also came to him, testing him and saying to him, notice, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?

It most certainly does, because it's speaking about marriage.

And so that question is, can you get a divorce for any reason?

Is it lawful to get a divorce for any reason in the sight of God.

Now I want you to notice what Jesus answers in verse 4.

And he answered and said to them, have you not read?

He does not direct them to the rabbis or to the traditions of the elders.

And notice he continues saying, have you not read that he who made them at the beginning, who is that who made them at the beginning?

But particularly there's 3 persons in the Godhead.

There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Which 1 was the active agent in creation according to what we've studied.

In fact, in the Gospel of John, just reviewing, it says in verses 1 to 3 of chapter 1, in the beginning, notice, in the beginning was whom?

And the Word was with God and the Word was God.

So in the beginning was the Word who is God and then it says for through him all things were created.

Now doesn't that sound a lot like Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1?

It says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

So who was the creator according to scripture?

It was none other than Jesus Christ who established marriage at the beginning.

So notice once again verse 4, and he answered and said to them, have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female, who made the gender differences?

So is it God's plan that human beings blur the gender differences?

Is it acceptable for individuals to form homosexual marriages or lesbian marriages?

Not if you go by what the word of God says.

Now, let me say we need to love the homosexual without loving his homosexuality.

And we must love the lesbian without loving her lesbianism.

We need to love the sinner, but we can never love the sin.

And in fact, when we speak to people, we have to speak to them the truth in love because we want them to be saved in the kingdom of Christ.

And so he says he who made them in the beginning made them male and female and said.

This is interesting because when you go back to Genesis you discover something very peculiar.

The words that were given at the marriage ceremony in Genesis are simply written as if they were by Moses.

Now let's go back there, back to Genesis so that you can see the point that I'm trying to make.

It gives the impression that either Moses is writing this or perhaps even Adam is speaking this.

But we're going to notice in a minute that the 1 who spoke these words was Jesus himself.

Verse 24, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become 1 flesh.

In Genesis it's just written as if Moses is writing it or maybe Adam is speaking these words But what does it say in Matthew?

7. How to Pray

It sure is a blessing being alive, isn't it?

When you really think about it, it's the greatest blessing that we can have, is to be alive.

Not only for our physical life, but also for our spiritual life.

And tonight we want to talk about our spiritual life, 1 of the aspects of our spiritual life.

And so let's get right into our subject, our subject of study is how to pray.

Now I have read many books on prayer and I have read many definitions on prayer and I'd like to share with you 4 of my favorite definitions of prayer, based on my own prayer experience.

The first 1, the 1 I like the best, is that prayer is the breath of the soul.

What that means is that as you cannot live without breathing physically, you cannot live without breathing spiritually.

You know, we said in a previous lecture that food is God's word as we study it.

You know, you can live several days without food, but you can only live a few minutes without breathing.

And so Prayer is 1 of the indispensable elements, perhaps the indispensable element of spiritual life.

Another definition which I like of prayer is that prayer is when the weak arm of man grabs on to the omnipotent hand and arm of God.

When our limited resources are combined with God's limitless resources, when the weakness of man takes hold of the strength of God.

Another 1 which I like is prayer is the key in the hand of faith that opens heaven's storehouse.

In other words, heaven is like a storehouse and with the key of faith through prayer, we open that storehouse and God is able to pour out his blessings abundantly upon us.

And then there's probably my second most favorite after the breath of the soul, and that is Prayer is like speaking with God as you would speak with a friend.

What were the habits of Jesus in connection with prayer?

What conditions did Jesus lay down that we need to meet in order for our prayers to be answered?

I'd like to share with you this evening several principles that our Lord Jesus gave and which are also found in other portions of scripture on how to get our prayers answered.

The first thing that I would like to deal with is the best time and place to pray.

You know some of the best prayer experiences that I have are when I'm riding my bike in the morning.

And I have my little loop there, it's a mile long, I go around 5 times, and during the times that I'm going around, I'm able to reflect on spiritual things, I'm able to pray to the Lord.

Another of my favorite times to pray is when I'm studying God's Word, and I do quite a bit of that.

Some of you come to the office here and you'll see me in the fellowship hall with books all over the table.

And at certain times when I get to a place where I cannot go any further, I can't understand what I'm studying, or I'm at a point where I can't understand a certain issue, I raise a little prayer to God.

And it's amazing how frequently God is right there ready to give me a clear way and to explain what I am not able to understand at that particular moment.

Now let's take a look at the best moments that Jesus chose for prayer.

Go with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter 1 and verse 35.

The best time to pray is not in a public service.

It's not when you're surrounded by the hustle and bustle of life.

Jesus chose a particular time and place to pray.

It says, now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place, and there he prayed.

And this isn't the only time that we find this concept in the Gospels.

Notice here that it tells us the 2 favorite things, or the favorite place and the favorite time that Jesus chose to pray.

It says in fact in verse 35 that it was a long while before daylight.

Now why do you suppose Jesus chose this particular time and this particular place to pray.

Because at this time, everything is quiet.

You can concentrate on what you're saying.

And you can also hear the voice of God more clearly speaking to you.

And so the best prayer life that we can have is not the prayers that we utter in church or the prayers that are uttered in public.

The best prayers, the best experience in prayer is in a solitary place early in the morning.

And by the way, the Lord Jesus also prayed in the evening after everybody had gone to bed.

So his favorite times were early in the morning before everybody got up and also in the evening after everyone had gone to bed.

In fact, let's read Matthew 14.23, which refers to this experience of Jesus in the evening.

It says there in Matthew 14.23, it says, And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up on a mountain by himself to pray.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

9. Relief From Stress

1h

8. Family Values

1h

7. How to Pray

1h

6. Overcoming Life’s Mistakes

1h

5. Moses and Jesus

1h

4. Good and Evil

1h

3. How Jesus Understood His Self Identity

1h

2. The Unconditional Love of God

54m

1. The Word of God

57m

Watching and Observing

1h 12m

Ten Accurate Ways to Predict the Future

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Despicable Christians

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Sound Doctrine