Are you and I AMAZED at His Words? Have we lost that thrill? I remember while I was in college, there was a nurse who had been in the Army—she was older than some of the rest of us—and she had been baptized by some good teacher while she was in the military service. She wanted to go to Abilene Christian College. And what a student she was! She wasn’t married. Everybody liked her. She knew a lot of people. I had a number of Bible classes with her. Let me tell you, she made 100% nearly every time! She was serious about her Christianity! She’d talk about what she’d just studied, and she would speak in excited words…THRILLED about it!!

Some of us who have grown up in the church have maybe lost the idea of being thrilled about it. We have the attitude that “we’ve heard it before.” But friends, you and I, as we grow older and study the Word of the Lord, we ought to keep reading, studying, praying and meditating and not lose the thrill of studying the Bible!

It’s a thrill to think about Jesus here, and how the people were AMAZED at what He said. He said He was here to glorify the Father in all things, [John 14:13]. He knew exactly what His work was and He’s already, in a sense, beginning it right there at the age of twelve years old in the Temple among the teachers of the Law.

Now, the parents gently rebuke Him. And He says, “You should know where I would be.” I can remember on television when they would close out the evening news at 10:30 p.m. at night, and they’d say, “Parents, do you know where your children are?” Remember that? And I could always say, “I know exactly where our children are. They are someplace in the state of New Mexico!” Sam [one of the sons of Harvey and Sue Porter] is laughing back there, but he’s the one that I…

Mary and Joseph lost their son! They lost the Son of God!! They had other children. They had cousins and all of them were playing together, no doubt—walking together, being together. But when Mary and Joseph searched for Him, they should have known where He was going to be—in the house of God! Man, I love that!!

Well, had they forgotten the angel’s words? Let me read to you from chapter 1, beginning with verse 29—Luke’s Gospel, chapter 1, verse 29: “Mary was greatly troubled at his words…” This is referring to the words of the angel who said, “Greetings, you’re highly favored, the Lord is with you,” [Luke 1:28]. “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus…’” She knew what that name meant. It was translated “Joshua” in the Old Testament—meaning “Savior! Savior!” “‘…He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…’” She knew what that was. The Jewish people had all kinds of epithets for “God.” And they didn’t call aloud the Name “God,” which was “Elohim,” in a verbal way, but they would describe Him as “The Father” or “The Heavenly One” or, here as the angel says, “The Most High.” “‘…The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end,’” [Luke 1:29-33].

Hey, Mary heard that. Joseph had heard that, and there was even more that they heard! [Matthew 1:18-25]. Had she forgotten in twelve years? Or is she confused that He grows up like a normal child, and He’s a joy to be around? And so the parents gently rebuke Him, and Jesus tells them, “I will be in my Father’s house,” and His very Words are beyond His parent’s comprehension. They do not understand what this twelve-year-old is talking about. They should have understood!

Now, when the parents came to Jesus at the Temple, they said, “We’re going to take you back home” in effect, and what? He went with them voluntarily. Here’s the Son of God, and He’s already conscious of who He is, and knows what is lying before Him. And He goes back home with them and is an obedient child. This, too, was the Will of the Heavenly Father. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right,” [Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 6:20]. So, we have that command from the Lord. Jesus was subject to them, AND He was subject to His Heavenly Father. I have written down as a note: “Parenting should always require what God requires.” Isn’t that good? What a good life you’ll have if your parents don’t require any more than what God does! But be sure that they do require what God does!

And so, Mary and Joseph went back, and they found Jesus in Jerusalem. I think about all the religions that need to “go back to Jerusalem.” Friends, we’ve got in the church of Christ today some people that are saying that we’re “out of touch” when we say that there’s a pattern, or a plan that appears in Scripture. Oh, no! We’re not out of touch. There is a pattern there. I know what they did on the Day of Pentecost to become a Christian, [see Acts 2], and I think it ought to be the same today. I know what they did in the next following few chapters to worship God, and to serve God, and to be the kingdom, and to be the church! I don’t see how it’s changed! Paul said it would NEVER change—“…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father Who is over us all, in us all and through us all.” And Paul starts off by saying there is one body, and that’s the church! [See Ephesians 4:1-6.]

God hasn’t changed! His church hasn’t changed! We live in a world that’s changing all the time. There are some “cosmetic” changes that we might make in the form, or the structure, of our worship, but you can’t change what God said is worship! And we’ve done every bit of that worship commanded by God today. It’s very simple. You don’t even have to have a building to worship! For the Lord’s Supper, you just have to have some grape juice, which, if you leave it long enough, it ferments and becomes wine, and that’s what they had in the early church. And you just have to have some unleavened bread, which is the easiest kind of bread in all the world to make. If there’s any food that’s a staple in all of the world, it’s bread! We can sing whether we have song books, or not…and they didn’t have them in the early church. We can pray, and we can preach and teach. That’s what they did in the first century, dear friends, and all the subsequent centuries coming all the way up to this century. You can trace it, because all of them sought to do what they did in the early church.