Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Jesus was always Teaching
What was Jesus doing in those final weeks before His crucifixion? Far from withdrawing or preparing Himself in isolation, the Gospels reveal a Messiah steadfastly committed to the same three activities that defined His entire ministry: teaching, healing, and seeking the lost.
Through numerous Gospel accounts, we discover Jesus continuing to teach with authority – addressing both intimate groups of disciples and massive crowds, wealthy rulers and social outcasts, the religious elite and the spiritually hungry. His words challenged, comforted, and transformed those who truly listened. Yet He posed a piercing question that still echoes today: "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" This reveals the heart of a teacher who desired not merely to inform minds but to transform lives.
Simultaneously, Jesus never ceased His healing ministry. From restoring sight to the blind to curing diseases deemed incurable, His compassion manifested in physical restoration right up until His arrest. These healings point to a deeper truth – that while Jesus offers healing, we must be willing to receive it. Through powerful examples like Steve Jobs and a personal account of a woman who refused life-saving treatment, we're confronted with our own tendency to reject the very cure our souls desperately need.
Most significantly, Jesus remained focused on His ultimate purpose: "to seek and to save that which was lost." Every interaction, every teaching moment, every healing miracle served this greater mission that would culminate at the cross. As we approach Easter, we must ask ourselves: Are we truly listening to His teaching? Are we bringing our brokenness to Him for healing? And most importantly, have we responded to His relentless pursuit of our hearts?
Join us this Easter season as we explore what it means to fully embrace the Teacher, Healer, and Savior who gave everything for us. Subscribe and share this powerful message of hope with someone who needs to hear it today.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Today's message is Jesus is always teaching. We're going to start a reading from Matthew 20, 1 through to 24. We're going to go through Now. I'm just going to read this. You can follow along with me if you like. We're starting at Matthew 20.
Speaker 1:That's the first book of the New Gospel and it is the first book of Matthew, for the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. Now, when he had agreed with them labourers for a denarii a day, he sent them into the vineyard and he went out on the third hour and saw others standing idly in the marketplace and he said to them you also go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will give you. So they went, and again he went out at about the fifth and the ninth hour and did likewise, and about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idly and said to them why have you been standing here idle all day? They said to him, because no one hired us. He said to them you also go into the vineyard and whatever is right you will receive. So when evening had come and the owner of the vineyard said to the steward call the labourers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to be first. And when those come, they were hired. When the eleventh hour they each received a denarius. But when the first came they supposed that they would receive more and likewise received each a denarius.
Speaker 1:And when they had received it they complained against the landowner, saying these last men have worked only one hour and you made them equal to us and who have bore the burden of the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius, take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give the last man the same to you. It is not lawful for me to do what I wish to do on my own things, or is the eye evil because I am good? Is lawful for me to do what I wish to do on my own things, or is the? I evil because I am good? So the last will be first and the first will be last, for many are called but few are chosen, and we'll go on a little bit further Now.
Speaker 1:Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the 12 disciples aside on the road and said to them. Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the sallowed man will be betrayed for the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify, and the third day he will rise again. That's where we'll stop today, but I will refer back to this as we go along, and I think it's important to understand where I'm really going with this. See, as we approach what is arguably the most important and significant week in all the year well, at least for Christians and lovers of chocolate, I suppose starting with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, known throughout the world as Easter.
Speaker 1:As it is always the case, I've been praying and searching the scriptures concerning what I should preach during the lead up to this auspicious occasion, during the lead up to this auspicious occasion. Now we know what we're going to preach on Easter, because that's what Easter is all about, but I think it's important to understand and get a foundation around why this is so significant and the importance of what Jesus was doing even prior to him going to the cross. Now I started last week with communion, so I find myself these lone Sundays leading up to Easter. I want to make sure that I give this time the respect it deserves, as I ponder what to preach on this in-between Sundays I suppose it would be called, and I wonder whether there is anything significant about the Sundays a couple of weeks before Easter. What I was doing then is you've got Palm Sunday and, as we're reading in Matthew 20, because I thought I might get an idea of what Jesus was doing a couple of weeks before Easter by simply working backwards from Palm Sunday, which is discussed in Matthew 21. And here's what I found when I did that. This is important. I honestly recommend that you note this down. I'm going to give you some scriptures so I'll give you time to get a pen and paper and the significance of this leading up to it, and I'll explain a little bit more about that when I get there.
Speaker 1:Now. Jesus healed two blind men in Matthew 20, 29 to 34, right. Jesus taught his disciples about greatness in serving Matthew 20, 20 to 28. In serving Matthew 20, 20-28. Jesus also taught his disciples about his impeding death, 20-17-19. And Jesus continued to teach his disciples about the kingdom, and that is in Matthew 20, 1 through to 16. In my studies this week, I also looked at the other Gospels and those same truths, along with a couple of others that Matthew didn't report. They also surfaced. He spoke with the rich young ruler about his soul. Now that is in Mark 10, 17 to 22. I don't want you to go through all of these, otherwise the whole message is going to be about Scripture. Just write these down and read them in your own time. Now, in Luke 19, 1 through to 10, he also spoke to Zacchaeus about his soul.
Speaker 1:So what was Jesus doing in the weeks and the days leading up to Palm Sunday and eventually Easter itself? Well, he was busy with the same activities that had marked his entire ministry to that point. He was teaching and he was healing and he was seeking. Jesus is always teaching. This is what it says in Matthew 4, 23. And Jesus went about all of Galileeilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then he opened his mouth and taught them.
Speaker 1:In matthew 5, 2 saying he taught them in Matthew 5, 2, saying he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribe. And we look at Matthew 7, 29. And we go down a little bit further. We go to Matthew 21, 23. And this is he said. Now, when he came into the temple, the chief priest and the elders of the people confronted him and he was teaching and said by what authority are you doing these things and who gave this authority to you? And they sent him their disciples, with Herodias saying Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God in truth, nor do you care about anyone, for you do not regard the person of men. Matthew 22, 16.
Speaker 1:Also, we read in Matthew 26, 55,. It says that in that hour, jesus said to the multitudes have you come out as against a robber with sword and clubs to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple and you did not seize me. Also, we go back to John 3, 2. See, this is what I'm saying. I'm jumping backwards and forwards in the scriptures because I've already marked them, otherwise you'll get lost, so just bear with me. This is John 3.2.
Speaker 1:Nicodemus also knew that Jesus was a teacher, and this is what it said. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher. You come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him. And we'll look at a couple more. Don't want to bore you, but scripture is important. The word of God is very important and, like I said before, the significance of Easter is paramount in a Christian's lifestyle and way of life. So if you don't know these Scriptures, please mark them or highlight them and go back and read them and get a better understanding of what Jesus was actually doing leading up to the time that he went to the cross.
Speaker 1:In John 4.25, it says this the woman said to him I know that the Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. See, this is the woman at the well knew that the Messiah was to be a teacher. Right, jesus taught in the temples John 7, 14. Now, about the middle of the feast, jesus went up into the temple and taught, and John 8.2 Says now, early in the morning, he came again into the temple and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them, and a couple more. John 8 2. These words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no one laid hands on him, for his hour had not yet come. His dearest friends knew him as the teacher. John 11 28 says this. And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying the teacher has come and is calling for you.
Speaker 1:Jesus himself summed up his time on earth as being a time of teaching. John 18, 20 says Jesus answered them. I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always met, and in secret I have said nothing. See, his teaching amazed all of those that heard it. Matthew 7, 28 says this. And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished, and at his teaching.
Speaker 1:Now there's a few more, but what I'll do is I'll just give you the the scriptural reference and perhaps you can look these up later, okay? Uh, in the book of Matthew you've got Matthew 7.28, you've got Matthew 13.54, and you've got Matthew 22.33, and he's all talking about his teaching and how amazing it was. He also went on with parables and stories in Mark 4.2. He taught them many things by parables and said to them in his teaching he taught pointedly, boldly, never shying from the point of error or hypocrisy. So you can see that it's very, very clear that he was a teacher. Yeah, you know, he taught as one speaking for God.
Speaker 1:Now, this is important to note here. Right, jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine but his. Who sent me? Jesus taught children and he taught the age. He taught men, he taught women. He taught in a home and he taught in the synagogues. He taught in the temple and he taught in the streets. He taught rich and he taught the poor. He taught the socially elite and he taught the socially outcast. He taught rulers and he taught servants.
Speaker 1:Now, this is the thing. This is two weeks before he went to the cross. Now, jesus was not taking a holiday, he was not getting his affairs in order or having a party. He could have spent this time with family or even in deep depression or despair, knowing what was to befall him. No, jesus was always teaching, fulfilling his purpose and being obedient to his Father in heaven, and we see this in Matthew 11, 1 and 29.
Speaker 1:The teacher wants your ear, for you to listen. Jesus said take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. See, he's worried about us finding rest for our soul. But Jesus knew everything, so he knew what was going to happen when he went to the cross. But him as a teacher. Looking at Jesus as the teacher, he wants your mind, he wants you to be convinced and believe.
Speaker 1:There was a day when Jesus taught some particularly difficult truths and almost everybody threw up their hands in disbelief and walked away from that time. Many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve right, do you also want to go? But Simon Peter answered him Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Now, that is profound. John 6, 66-68 said said the teacher is not satisfied for you to simply hear his word. He wants to convince you of them, to know that you believe what he teaches. Can you not hear the sadness in his voice as he said? Perhaps he even spoke in a low voice, or maybe even a whisper. Do you also want to go away? The teacher, jesus. He wants your life, for your behavior to be modified, for what he taught.
Speaker 1:I'll give you many verses about Jesus teaching. All are worth pondering, but this is one that you need to underline in your body, so I'll give you a minute to turn to it. I want you to turn back to Luke 6, 46 to 49. Now, when you find Luke 6, 46 to 49, I want you to underline that very first part. But why do you call me Lord, lord and sorry, I'll read this again but why do you call me Lord, lord and not do the things which I say? The New Living Translation puts it this way. So why do you keep calling me Lord, lord, when you don't do what I say? I mean, I see it in me, and I see it in many of those that I've ministered to in years of ministry a tendency to profess belief in the words of Jesus right up until it gets hard to live according to those words, when we tend to fall away or we stop listening. And this is what and I'm preaching to myself as well this is what we all have a tendency to do.
Speaker 1:We listen to him when he says that we can believe and be saved. Yay, we tick that box. We listen to him when he says there is a heaven that we can look forward to. Yay, that's happy for us too. We'll tick that one. We listen to him when he says we can pray and ask him for anything. That's great, we get what we want, the desires of our heart. And we listen to him when he says he promises us good things.
Speaker 1:And then you will always find that there is a but, right, and this is but spelled B-U-T, not B-U-T-T. But sometimes, you know, people are speaking out of their but and this is but spelt B-U-T, not B-U-T-T. But sometimes people are speaking out of their butt Excuse my French, but listen to this. Then something comes into our life that hurts and he tells us to get through it and we waver. Perhaps others are telling us something else, something positive, the opposite to his teaching, and in the natural that sounds good. Perhaps the things that they say for us to do are not as difficult, but the hard, painful truth is it will cost us something money, family or sacrifice of some kind so we recoil from it. Perhaps our friends and our family tell us the opposite and their way seems easier, better. That's when we really find out if the teacher has our ear and our mind and especially our lives.
Speaker 1:Look, I lived for some years in another state and because I've got people listening from all over, I don't want to mention where I was from, because you probably won't know the significance of it unless you pull out an atlas. I served in a wonderful little Baptist church. I mainly went there because my wife's uncle ran the little Baptist church, but there was a man there who was on fire for jesus and serving him hold heartily right up until his wife died suddenly and his life was upended. Now I'm just going to use first names because, uh, I don't want to, you know, like privacy concerns, of course, I would just call this guy Steve, right?
Speaker 1:Steve completely collapsed and crushed his belief, crashed in his faith. The pastor there I mean, I didn't know what to do. The pastor tried to help him and encourage him in the Lord, but he would not hear any of it. I had too many bad things happening to me and I was still a young Christian at this time, so I understood why he was unwilling to listen. I made a point of never feeling that way again, having a lack of biblical knowledge or a lack of understanding of how to handle situations like this. I was totally out of my own depth and it says in the word that we perish through lack of knowledge. I did not know all this back then, but Steve was a very close friend of mine, I used to work with him and so he wanted me to help him with his wife, and I literally did not know what to do.
Speaker 1:Perhaps you've had some bad things happen to you. Maybe you used to listen to the words of Jesus, but now some bad things are happening and you're listening to other teachers instead. There are plenty of those teachers out there who will jump in when you stop listening to Jesus. Eve stopped listening to Jesus and Satan jumped right in whispering in her ear, and we all know what happened there. We need to listen to the words of Jesus and let them drown out all the other words, especially when it's hard to do so. Those are times we need his true faith.
Speaker 1:Jesus was always healing and I'll go back to Matthew 4.23, and it says that Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the, the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people, and you can go through all the healing scriptures and everything that he did. I'm not going to um get bogged down with those, because I want to get to the main crux of my message. All right, but I want to off with this. This is in Matthew 14.14 and 36. And and when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. They begged him that they might touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched it were made perfectly well. See, the multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the mute, the maimed and any other type of person laden with sickness or disease. Put them down before the feet of Jesus and he healed them. And as we read through the Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John, through the Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John, we read that he's healing two blind people, one of whom the Gospel tells was named Barmaeus. Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes and immediately they received their sight. Jesus was always healing. So how do we respond to that? What response does a healer want? Well, the healer wants to hear you. He wants to heal you. The healer wants you to bring your sickness to him, your disease, your brokenness, because he knows he can fix it.
Speaker 1:It's interesting to me how often people will hear that there is a cure and yet turn away from it. Now I'll give you an example of that. Now, probably a lot of you out there will know Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs, multimillionaire, he was the founder of Apple and he's dead now. He died from the ravages of liver cancer. I have Steve's biography on my shelf in my home somewhere. He refused all normal treatment that could have saved him, choosing instead to try alternatives that were not accepted by medical communities because he had a bucket load of money. As his disease progressed, he reversed course on that, eventually even mentioning that he wished he had listened sooner, but the disease had progressed too far and Steve Jobs passed away.
Speaker 1:Now my dear friend Carol, who was the wife of my Steve the Steve that I know, and don't get confused thinking I knew Steve Jobs because I didn't I sat in a doctor's office with both of them one day as she listened to her doctors describe the treatment that could save her life. I asked the doctors what her chances were if she had this treatment. Now he told me and Steve that her chances of survival were extremely high Note that Her chances of survival were extremely high this is looking at things in the natural and that that form of cancer was easily treatable and that the success rate was excellent with this treatment. She asked what would happen if she declined, and the doctor told her that the cancer would spread to her brain and she would die. So what do you reckon her result was her answer to the doctor? You would think that she would have jumped at the chance and said yep, let's get into it. How soon can we start? But no, carol said no and left the doctor's office, refusing the treatment. And of course, it's easy to guess the rest of the story. The cancer spread to her brain and she died. Listen, somewhere between initially refusing the treatment and finally succumbing to the disease, she started to question her own decision and ask the doctors if the treatment was still an option. But, as you may be well aware of, if you catch cancer soon enough, most of the time they are life-changing, but you still maintain your life. In this case, it was too late. That ship had sailed is what the doctor reportedly said to her.
Speaker 1:I looked at Steve one day and truly wondered why. I experienced this as a young Christian knowing nothing of supernatural or spiritual significance of how to help them, and think why, when one knows how they can get well, would they refuse the treatment? Why, if only I knew then what I know now and this is one of the many reasons I do these podcasts If I can just touch one person through my podcast and have it save them. I believe this is what the Lord wants me to do. Jesus has the cure for whatever is broken and hurting in your life. He was always healing and still wants to heal today. I'm not just talking about disease and physical sickness. Sometimes, often, he does heal in that way. I'm talking about any hurt, any brokenness, any pain, any loss, any grief, anything that is wrong in your life. Give it to Jesus, he can make you whole. Give it to Jesus, he can make you whole.
Speaker 1:Jesus is always, always seeking. What he wants to do is he is seeking the lost, for the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost Luke 19.10. Who was he seeking? He was seeking one who has gone astray. Could that actually be you? Right up until the end, he knew this was his purpose. He prayed in Gethsemane, hours before the cross. In Gethsemane, hours before the cross, he said now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came to this hour.
Speaker 1:Paul summed it up this way, jesus' entire ministry was faithfully saying that he was worthy of all acceptance. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am a chief. This was Paul saying this In 1 Timothy 1.15,. John gave a similar summation and we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world, and that's 1 John 4.14. Jesus was always seeking, so how do we respond to that? Jesus was always seeking, so how do we respond to that? Our response should be the seeker wants to find you. The seeker wants you to be saved.
Speaker 1:Jesus took a long detour once, through Samaria. It was way out of his way to go, but the bible says that he had to go that way because he knew there was a woman there who needed saved. He met her at the well and shared the gospel with her, and you can read about that in john 4. Listen, I could go on and on and on, but the main thing is that the purpose of jesus was to go about teaching good and healing all those repressed of the devil. He actually came to save us and the ultimate sacrifice was done at the cross, and so, in saying that, I think it's important that we remember.
Speaker 1:You know we started this sermon with a question what was Jesus doing a couple of weeks before Easter? And we determined that he was teaching and he was healing and that he was seeking. He's still doing those things right now, today, in this place, with you listening to this. Are you listening to his teaching and letting it direct your life, even when it's hard? Are you seeking out his healing for your hurt and your pain, for your grief and your loss, for your brokenness and your need? And, most of all, have you reached out to him when he sought you? Have you received the gift of salvation he seeks to give you? All right, let's just ponder that right now and we will leave that where it is, and I know I've gone a little over, but it's important that we get the right concept in leading up to that special celebration of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God bless for now.
