WHO IS THIS | Chad Veach

0:00 What's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. We are studying the book of Luke right now, and we will be in Luke 7 and 8. Grab your Bibles or your iPhones. Go to the Bible app. We're going to study the Bible together. We're calling this series The Jesus Road, The Path That Changed Everything. Before we jump in, we want to thank every person that gives to and through Zoe Church. If you'd like to give, go to our website and you can give right there. Thank you for your generosity. Hey, and if you've never given, I want to encourage you, give for the first time. We've been saying around here, give God something. Give God something. And you can start to worship in the area of tithes or an offering. But let's jump into this week's message called, Who is This?

0:50 Luke chapter 7. We are studying together the book of Luke. and we're in chapter 7 and 8 today. Luke chapter 7 and 8. If you've missed out on the first few weeks, go back and listen. But I'm really excited to jump into these two chapters. I want to give you the message title right away, right down the title of today's message. It's called, Who is This? Who is This? All throughout Luke's writing, he's revealing to us who Jesus is. And if you'll notice throughout the gospels, people are amazed and astonished at who Jesus is. And there's things that happen throughout Jesus' ministry, but they're like, who is this guy that talks like this? How can this guy accomplish this? Who in the, are you, this guy's amazing. And in Luke 7 and 8, it shows us once again that Jesus reveals his character and his nature. And I want to remind you today. He is who he says he is and he can do what he said he would do. Come on, clap and thank God if you believe that today. He is who he says he is. He can do what he said he would do. Go to Luke chapter 7 verse 1 when Jesus had finished saying all of this to the people who were listening.

2:08 He entered Capernaum and there a centurion servant whom his master valued highly was sick and was about to die. And the centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him. This man deserves to have you do this because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue. So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him, Lord, don't trouble yourself for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. that is why I do not even consider myself worthy to come to you but say the word and my servant will be healed for I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me I tell this one go and he goes I tell that one come and he comes I say to my servant do this and he does it when Jesus heard this he was amazed at him turning to the crowd following him he said I tell you I have not found such great faith even in Israel than the men who had been sent to return to the house and found the servant healed. I'm going to give you four things to write down today.

3:26 Write down point number one. Faith grows where humility lives. Anytime you see humility, you'll watch faith take off. Notice the language of the centurion. He says, Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. I'm not worthy for you to step into my house. Say the word and my servant will be healed. He is showing great humility. I just love this about the centurion because he wasn't saying, you know, I got some authority and I know who I am. He is saying, I actually know who you are. I know what you can do. Say the word and my servant will be healed. I'm telling you today, God works with humble people. God loves humble people.

4:21 God, in fact, the Bible says, if you exalt yourself, God will humble you. And if you humble yourself, God will exalt you. If you don't believe me, ask the Cowboys. I don't know who I'm preaching to today But notice what the century says. I'm not even worthy for you to come under my roof. You ever, you ever invite somebody to church? He's like, man, you got to come to church. And they're like, oh, I can't come to church. If I came to church, the lightning would strike the place. It's like, bro, chill out. You went to Vegas one time, bro. You played blackjack, chill out. this man's saying to Jesus I'm not worthy for you to step foot in my house I understand authority for you to understand authority you've got to have some people under your authority and you've got to put your life under authority the safest best place for your life is to get under the authority of God to let God's word be the authority of your life is there anybody today that's happily gladly submitting your life to the authority of heaven so you can flourish and take off faith grows where humility lives and he says he says Jesus you don't even have to show up to my house say the word and my servant will be healed oh I love this thought put it on the screen the The centurion understood that he doesn't need proximity to have power.

6:00 God's word can travel further than any human limitation. You know what he's saying? And let me just speak to Zoe. If you're part of our church, Zoe, we're going to have Zoes all around Los Angeles in the name of Jesus. And I don't think I got to be in the room to send God's word to the South Bay. Come on, clap for everybody online who's watching right now. that the word of the, clap if you believe it's not, it's not limited to being in the room. this, this centurion had a revelation of the power of God. He says, I know you don't even have to be in my house for my servant to get healed. If you're struggling, if you've got a family member that's going through pain, if you've got someone that needs healing today, if you've got someone that's not in the room, but needs a healing, we send the word of God to that location. We send the word of God to that house. We send the word of God to that body right now. Come on. Anybody believe that Jesus has all the authority today?

6:57 I just love this because this man, he says, oh no, sorry, sir. I didn't even come to you myself because I don't think I'm worthy. He's showing great humility and he's showing a revelation of who Jesus is. You have so much dang authority. If you just say the word, my servant will be healed. I love that because I believe Jesus is speaking a better word over your life. And he's sending his word to your home. He's sending his word to your marriage. he's sending his word to your body right now clap if you believe that he has all the power and all the authority so they got back they got back to the house and when they got there the servant was healed and the centurion was like see I told you I told you Jesus is like that Jesus has I'm telling you he's so strong he can say it in one city and it will land in another he could be in Highland Park and bless somebody in Rancho Cucamonga Thank you.

7:54 all from his what word that's the authority of his words so he's revealing in this story Luke is trying to teach us about the character and the nature of Jesus there's another part right here let me just mention it real fast in the same if you keep reading there's a woman that breaks this jar of oil and she comes and she worships at Jesus's feet and wipes her tears with her hair and she's showing great worship in humility. You can never separate humility and faith. Humility and faith go hand in hand. And wherever you see, wherever you see faith growing, it's because of humility. Humility is the only thing that every time you put it on, it looks good on you. Humility is that thing. Remember, God is drawn to humble people. And if you struggle with arrogance, if you're cocky and prideful, welcome to the club. There's nobody in the church that's like, oh, I don't struggle with any of that. Proof that you do. Gotcha. We all struggle with pride. We all struggle with arrogance. We all struggle with self-centeredness. We're all selfish. If you don't think you're selfish, get married.

9:16 I did not know I was selfish until I got married. So the first thing we see is we see Jesus and he sends his word to a centurion's house and he heals the servant. He keeps going. And I love the second story. Go there in your Bible, Luke chapter seven, verse number 11. Now, soon after Jesus went to a town called Nain and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out, the only son of his mother and she was a widow and a large crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, don't cry. Then he went up and touched the coffin that they were carrying him in and the bear stood still. And he said, young man, I say to you, get up. And the dead man sat up and began to talk. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

10:18 write down point number two today. Jesus moves towards the broken filled with compassion. I just love this because Jesus, he finds himself, he's walking over to name. Name, you can't find it on Google or Apple maps. It's in the boondocks. It's in the woods. It's past Palmdale. you can't find name. Jesus rolls up into Nain. He like, dang, this is small. Y'all only got one stoplight. You ever be to a small town and the, and the gas station is also the grocery store. It's like a little Mart. They got milk and lighter fluid all in the same place. He's up in there. He's like, this is small. He walks out of the grocery Mart. He sees a woman.

11:11 the Bible says she's a widow. So she's already suffered. She's already had her heart broken. She's a widow and her only son has now died. So she's got double the pain. They're walking with the boy. The pallbearers have got him in the coffin and she's grieving. Jesus sees her. When he sees her, he does not walk up and solve the problem first. When he sees her, the Bible says he sees her and he has compassion. Why does Jesus have compassion? Because he is compassion. He's not trying to put it on. He's not trying to say, what do I say in this scenario? He is a man fully acquainted with grief, a man of sorrows. So he walks up. He's saying, I see you before I do miracles. I am for you and with you before I'm the God that needs to perform the mighty act. Anybody thankful today that God knows what you need, knows where you are, knows what you're going through today. Come on, clap South Bay. If you believe today, his eye is on the sparrow.

12:16 He didn't walk up and go, stop crying. It is I, Jesus. Fear not. When I'm on the scene, everything's fine. He says he walks up to her and he starts to weep with her. Why does he cry with her because he wants her to know. I want to let you know that I see you, I hear you, and I'm with you. she needed the compassion before she needed the miracle this story reminds me that jesus the first thing is that he knows he knows what you're going through the bible says before you pray god already knows what you need god knows where your bank account is at today god knows where your heart is at today god knows everything about you and he's fully in love with you and he's proven to this woman i know what you need you need my compassion to the woman she needed compassion to the boy he needed resurrection power he was what the woman needed and he was what the boy needed and i'll tell you he's what you need today come on clap if you believe that he weeps with the woman and then he says to the boy boy get up out of that grave we serve the type of god that could ruin a funeral you know i serve the type of god that just when something looks done just when something looks dead if jesus shows up on the scene resurrection power will bring it to life Thank you.

13:48 and and and so he says to the boy in the coffin he says boy get it's time for you to get up if we were singing worship we say get up get up get up get up out of that grave get up get up get up get up out of that grave that's enough That's enough. and he it says it says he hands the boy over to his mom you want to know what he's saying here he said we're not done yet just when you think something's over god can bring it back to life just when you think oh this is this thing's dead and gone if jesus shows up nothing can stand against his plan. He is saying to this mom, you thought it was over. I'm here to tell you it ain't over till I say it's over. He's proving his authority once again.

14:51 and so and so and so the story of name reminds us and teaches us that he knows what we need he is what we need and he always has more in store anybody thankful for that about our god can we clap and thank him one more time so then we keep reading into chapter eight and in chapter eight he tells us a parable of the sower of the of the of the word of god he's trying to teach us let me just visualize this for you real fast before i read he's trying to teach us the power and the potential of what this book could do in your life anybody by show of hands you believe in the bible today you believe in the in the b-i-b-l-e so watch this story this story is jesus trying to show us the potential of what these words could do in your life.

15:45 So he tells this story. It's called the parable of the sower. Go now to chapter eight in verse four and watch what it says. While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from towns afar, he told this parable. A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path and it was trampled on and birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground. And when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants, but still other seed fell on good soil. Everybody say good soil. Good soil. It fell on good soil and it came up and yielded a crop a hundred times more than what was sown. When he said this, he called out, whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. And his disciples asked him what, what, in the world could this parable have have meant and he said the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of god have been given to you but to others i speak in stories so that though they seen they may not see though hearing they may not understand verse 11 this is the meaning of the story i just told you the seed is the word of god those along the path are the ones who hear the word and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a little while, but in the time of testing, they fall away.

17:17 The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on through their life, it is choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and a good heart who hear the word, retain the word, and by persevering, produce a crop. Write down point number three today. I love this. Jesus reveals what people truly love, truly trust, and truly fear. He's revealing. So watch this. Sometimes Jesus reveals his authority. Other times Jesus reveals our condition. In this instance, he's showing us what's inside of us. He tells the story about the word and he says, the word is like a seed and it goes forward and it's sown. And the first thing that happens when the word is sown is the enemy of your life comes to snatch it away. The enemy of your life comes to steal it away.

18:18 And I just, I just got to tell you, first time I ever heard this teaching, first time I ever heard this verse taught was from Joyce Meyer, 1998. I moved from Seattle, Washington, down to Los Angeles in my freshman year at Bible college for our freshman orientation. I was in San Dimas on the east side. We did our freshman orientation at Huntington beach at the beach. And so we, I found a ride with a junior in our Bible college. And I said, can I hitch a ride to the beach? He let me ride. And so I got in this big Buick with some other classmates and Bible college nerds. When we get into a Buick, we don't listen to secular music. we listen to cassette teaching tapes and my boy put in a cassette of Joyce Meyer teaching and she taught this word that when the word gets sown the evil one comes to snatch it away right away you got to remember this about church it's life change and then lunch and in between life change and lunch the enemy of your life is coming to snatch that word why does he snatch it immediately because he knows if it sets into you it's going to do something so powerful it will change your life come on clap if you believe it's got the power so he snatches it immediately why because he can't afford to let it set into you i'm sitting in the back of this buick just in the back right up against the window and she's teaching on this teaching and I thought the reason why I don't have no word in me the reason why I don't follow the Bible and God has led me to Bible college I've been in church my whole life as a pastor's kid and every Sunday that word got snatched out of my life so I don't have any fruit from my life yet because I've been allowing the word of God to get stolen from my heart you got to know this about God about the enemy of your life he comes to steal kill and to what destroy before he destroys he steals why would I get to destroy him when I could just steal from you

20:26 and I'll steal your joy I'll steal your marriage I'll steal your mind I'll steal the work I'll destroy you by stealing before I ever have to get to really destroying you So the first example he gives are the ones that receive the word and then they go to lunch and snatched away. He said the second ones, the second ones, they get, they get all excited. They come to church. They're like, Jesus is amazing. church changed my life. And then like two years later, they not in church.

21:05 They not in church. They not in church. I liked it. I liked it. I liked it. I liked it. It's the whole thing. then he said the third one are those that are in church and over time god was great god was their center but you got to be careful because sometimes sin doesn't look like sin he says riches pleasure and the worries of life come in and choke the word he said but the ones that receive it on good soil let me just encourage you today the power and the potential is not in the seed the power and the potential is in the soil you've got to keep gardening your heart I don't know what kind of home you grew up in but in the house I grew up in the worst day of the week was Saturday because on Saturdays we couldn't sleep in and we did chores, double whammy.

22:10 And my parents were so evil by nature. They made us garden. They made us pull weeds. And then my dad was such an awful dad. I'm kidding, I'm being facetious. He's an amazing dad. But he would come out and he would check my work. It's not bad enough, I gotta do it. He's gonna check my work. So I go out there, pull weeds, and then my dad would ask me, are you ready for me to check your work? Yes. And he would come and he would check my work and he would discover that I didn't pull nothing. I just moved bark around.

22:41 Then he'd see in the corner of his eye, there's a little leaf sticking up. And he'd go over to the little leaf like, what is this? He'd move it around. All the roots of the weeds were still in there. I find so many people in church are just moving bark around. They're not wanting to get to the issues of their heart. They're just saying, I just want to change my friend group. I'm going to go to a new church. I'm going to date somebody else because I don't want, oh, come on. I'm preaching to somebody today. You got to keep gardening that heart. You got to pull out that bitterness, pull out that resentment, pull out that selfishness, pull out that impurity, pull out that greed, pull out that idolatry, pull out that self-centeredness, pull out that old ways, pull out that rebellion, pull out, oh, I'm preaching to somebody now. You got to garden that heart so that the word of God can change your life.

23:39 It doesn't matter if the seed has the power. If it's not landing, somebody praise him today. I got to do my part for the word of God to do his part. Somebody praise him today. Put it on the screen. The condition of the soil determines the future of the seed. We think that it's all about this. How come the church ain't changed my life? the preaching didn't change my life. How could it change your life? Your soil's not ready.

24:09 The power of God's word is irrefutable. It's just got to land on good soil. And I'll just declare that Zoe church, we're a good soil church. We're coming to repent today. We're coming to turn from our wicked ways. We're coming to ask God for forgiveness. We're coming to humble ourself like the centurion to say, I'm not even, come on, clap if you believe it. I got to humble myself today. I'll put it on the screen. The soil of your heart determines the survival of your faith. The soil of your heart determines the survival of your faith. How could you make it in following Jesus? If you don't keep guarding in your heart, stop moving, bark around, stop acting like everything's good. Stop just hiding all your pain and all your issues. Stop trying to just act, act like God. I don't want you to check my work. No, God loves you enough to get down and pull out that stuff and do some heart surgery on you to say, I've got a better plan than you could ever imagine. And stop being like me, the type of person that come to church and go to lunch and then between life changing tacos, stolen. You understand what I'm saying? And maybe the word is not producing because it's not even in there oh god it's not even in there it's already stolen that's why the bible says thy word have i hidden in my heart that i might not sin against thee is this encouraging anybody anybody understand what the what jesus is trying to show who he is he's trying to reveal who we are who we are sometimes the bible will show you his authority other times the Bible will reveal our human condition.

25:58 Why does he do this? Because we have a propensity to spring up with joy and not last a long time. We have a propensity to fall in love with money and wealth and pleasure more than God. But those that have good soil, the Bible lands on it and it produces a harvest. The message said, beyond our wildest dreams, You're not just believing for somebody today that God's word will land in your heart and work in you something you could never work in yourself. Clap if you believe it today. he continues on last, last, last story today in Luke chapter eight, verse 22 on one day, last story today, one day, Jesus said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side of the lake. So they got into a boat and set out as they sailed. He fell asleep. A huge storm came down on the lake so that the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. And the disciples went and woke him up saying, master, master, we're going to drown. And he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters and the storm subsided. And then all was calm. Where is your faith? He asked his disciples in fear and amazement. They asked one another, who is this?

27:23 Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water and the winds and the waters obey him. Write down the last point today. I love this. The powers that overwhelm people could never overwhelm Jesus.

27:45 Let's just go to the beginning of what we read. He said, let's get into the boat so we can go on to the other side. Translation, Jesus knows where he's going. Let me translate it further. Jesus knows where he's taking you. So they get on the boat. And all the disciples are like, I'm on a boat. and it's all good because Jesus is on the boat and then they sail out and Jesus is like yo we've been busy I'm gonna take a nap anybody thankful that the bible's telling us we could take naps because some of these people on the internet be like I don't take naps I'm like if God napped I can nap Thank you. clap if you love naps amen hallelujah i just want to tell you i'm guilt-free this afternoon when i take my sunday the best nap day of the whole week is happening today don't get caught napping on monday but sunday is a glorious godly nap worship team come join me and so and so jesus on the boat and everything's good and then he's like oh yo i'm kind of tired i'm gonna go take a nap and so jesus goes down and he takes a nap and and then when he's napping you notice a storm breaks out you know the bible's trying to tell you just because jesus is in your boat doesn't mean you won't face storms we think i go to church i shouldn't face a storm i know god i shouldn't face a storm god's in my boat i shouldn't face a storm Just because Jesus is in the boat doesn't mean you're not going to face some winds and some waves and some storms.

29:23 But if God is with you and in your boat, what do you got to worry about? Clap and praise him if you believe you got Jesus in the boat. And the problem with the elements, the problem with storms is sometimes they're louder than God.

29:45 And so they, you know, the wind's howling and everything's going crazy. And I think at first, you know, the disciples were like hanging on to the edge like, yo, this is crazy. You know, but then like we hit like a big bump and they're like, this is crazy. And then after a while, go ahead, man. A guy, you go play. Can we get, can we get some keys? Cause it's going to, it's going to help the story, man.

30:11 My guy's just standing there, man. Help me help you help everybody. finally one of the guys is like hey man this is not looking good we gotta go i don't know if he knows what's going on one of us needs to go wake him I don't know if he's aware of all this.

30:42 So they're like, you do it. And another guy's like, you do it. And another guy's like, I'm not waking him up. You do it. So maybe they Rochambeau or something, or I don't know. I think it was Peter that had to do it. Peter always getting in trouble anyways. he's like all right i'll do it and wakes him up hey jesus you ever wake up somebody from a nap you're like oh god i hope this goes good Hey, OJ Money. Jesus finally he like wakes up and they're like hey so sorry so sorry I know you've been tired oh we got a situation I think we need your help I just can imagine Jesus just kind of rolling over and being like Thank you.

31:52 and he gets up and he calms the storm. I don't know what you're going through, but there's not a storm that's bigger than God. And he calms the storm and then he speaks to their faith.

32:16 And he says, oh, ye of little faith. he is trying to teach us that it is never about the storm but it is always about our faith so why is you if i'm on the boat i told you where we're going why let the conditions move your faith you should have held on go i know what he told me i know where we're going I know he has the authority I know who he is who is this they go, who is this man that even the winds and the waves obey him? How does he have so much power?

33:13 How does he have so much authority? Sometimes Jesus would preach in a church and they'd leave the church and they'd walk away and they'd go, what in the world was that? The graciousness and the authority that came out of his life. Who is this guy? Luke wrote down this book so that you and I could understand. He is who he says he is, and he can do what he said he would do. I don't care if you're in name and you feel like you're a nobody. I don't care if you're a centurion and you don't feel like he's worthy. I don't know if you're in a storm today, but my God is who he says he is, and he can do what he said he would do. Come on, clap and give him a praise today. and I want to say for us I want to say for us at Zoe if this is your home church if you're not from our church thank God can we clap and honor those that are visiting from we have people from all over the world every Sunday that are in Los Angeles thank God but if this is your church if this is your church if Zoe's your church hear me hear me loud and clear let us always marvel in amazement at who he is Thank you.

34:25 Yes. Oh, man. Because I just think that the disciples sat back down on the boat, and now they're in smooth water, and Jesus is back sleeping, and they're probably sitting there, like, kind of embarrassed. And they're kind of like, you ever be with your buddies, and you just, everybody's just doom scrolling?

34:49 Nobody want to look at each other? one of them finally is like, told you. Told you we shouldn't have woke him up. Peter, that's on you, man. That one's on you. We should have known. We should have known.

35:14 He has all the authority and all the power. Demons have to tremble at the name of Jesus. Sickness has to flee in the name of Jesus. Death has to rise in the name. Come on, clap if you believe it today. Who is this? I'll tell you who he is. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the beginning and the end. He's the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He's the Bread of Life. He's the Bright and Morning Star. He's the Son of Righteousness with healing in his wings. I'll tell you is, he's living water. he's the good shepherd he's the great I am he is who he says he is he can do what he said he would do come on stand to your feet come on let's pray again thank you so much for listening to this week's message we pray that I brought you great strength and great encouragement don't forget to subscribe and share the message if you'd like and we'll see you back next Sunday at Zoe Church