Port City Faith Church
Sunday Morning - March 8th, 2026
  • There Is Power In The Blood (Power In The Blood)
  • You've Already Won
  • Who Else
  • Agnus Dei
  • As we get closer to Easter we are looking at the Various titles of Jesus - of which there are many.
    We started with the Logos or Word of God, How Jesus is the source of all truth, knowledge, and being.
    That to know God’s Word is to know Jesus.
    Then last week we explored his most famous title of Christ or Messiah,
    his role as High Priest, Righteous King, and who Brings about what is good.
    This Week we explore a title i think most of us forget, but it was the very thing his disciples called him,
    Rabbi, or teacher.
    We get so Caught up in calling Jesus our Lord and our saviour, and our messiah, that we forget that for his disciples He was their teacher.
    The word Rabbi comes from the Hebrew word Rav, meaning Great, or in this sense, “great one”
    It then includes the personal suffix “I” so it means “My great one,” or “My Master”
    Like a master tradesman training his apprentices.
    Now to understand what a Rabbi did, we have to understand the way the schools were set up around Jesus’s time.
    Boys would Go to school until age 12, by then they were expected to have memorized the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible
    If they hadn’t memorized the torah, they dropped out of school and went to learn their father’s trades,
    If they succeeded they went on to secondary school, which taught the various traditions of different teachers.
    By age 15 they had a choice, They could go back and learn their father’s trade (now several years behind) or they could seek out a Rabbi to follow and learn from.
    They would approach a rabbi and ask to follow them, and if they could prove that they would be a good student the Rabbi would say “follow me”
    Now lets look at how Jesus did it.
    First when Jesus was 12 he wasn’t just learning the bible, he was teaching it in the temple,
    Luke 2:41–47 ESV
    Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
    He knew the scriptures better than anyone else his age as was debating with the Rabbis in the temple.
    But then Jesus never studied under a rabbi, we know this because he remains as a carpenter like Joseph until his 30s.
    Which is why when Jesus visit’s his hometown the people there reject him,
    Mark 6:1–3 ESV
    He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
    They are saying “hold up! Where did Jesus learn these things? he is the carpenter, he never studied under anyone! we know his family, a real rabbi would have studied instead of working all these years.”
    Church let me say this: I do not think there is anything wrong with seeking a good education, and i think that Pastor and teachers should get as much training as they can to prepare for the role, but you do not need to go to seminary to learn and understand the Bible, and some of the greatest preachers who ever lived did not receive a full education.
    So Jesus was excelling far beyond his age, but then he chose not to peruse the traditional rabbinic education, which taught the traditions of men. And when he called his disciples they didn't come asking to follow him, he went to them and called them to leave behind their work to learn from him.
    Matthew 4:18–22 ESV
    While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
    Jesus called Peter Andrew James and John from their fishing boats, and they left and followed him,
    and when Jesus calls Matthew a tax collector, he does the very same thing.
    Matthew 9:9 ESV
    As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
    Jesus didn’t pick the best and the brightest to come and follow him, he picked the failures and the rejects, those working their father’s trades, those who had dropped out of Bible school, to be his students. Because Jesus does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. In fact there are times when people who think they are qualified seek to become his disciple, and He turns them away.
    Mark 10:17–22 ESV
    And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
    This young man comes to him, asking about eternal life, And Jesus like any rabbi, begins to question him.
    Why do you call me good? Only God is good correct?
    Do you follow the commandments?
    Look at what Jesus is saying - he lists 5 of the 10 commandants,
    He leaves out Have no other Gods, Do not bow down to idols, remember the sabbath, Do not take the Lord’s name in vain, and do not covet.
    Then he says there is one thing you lack.
    Sell all your possessions, give the money away, and then come and follow me
    Get rid of the things in your life that you value more than God, then come and follow me.
    And as they traveled from place to place, Jesus would teach them.
    Most of his teachings were simply teachings he would tell his disciples, and as he taught, the crowds would gather .
    Look at the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7 it started out as Jesus Getting away from the crowds to teach his disciples:
    Matthew 5:1–3 ESV
    Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    But look how it ends:
    Matthew 7:28–29 ESV
    And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
    So Jesus goes up on a mountain - which means hiking up a mountain - with his disciples, to teach them, and the crowds follow him up there to listen to his teaching, because it is that good.
    The Same thing happens with his parables
    He Begins teaching his disciples, and then crowds appear and he has to speak louder, or get into a boat,
    Mark 4:1–9 ESV
    Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
    And then afterward his disciples would come and ask him what the parables meant,
    Mark 4:10–12 ESV
    And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”
    Jesus basically says when the crowds show up he starts teaching in parables, because he wants to teach his disciples, and only those who sit and meditate on the parables will understand them. but he would explain the parables to the disciples when they were alone.
    Mark 4:13–20 ESV
    And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
    So Jesus was a masterful but unconventional rabbi. His teaching was so good that people would come to listen to him, even if they didn’t understand what he was teaching, and he would try to explain everything to his disciples,
    and often times they didn’t truly get it.
    And Jesus is different from the other rabbis, in that his teaching comes from himself,
    Luke 20:1–8 ESV
    One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
    The Priests and the Scribes are asking Jesus about what he is teaching, where does it come from, what rabbi has taught this before you?
    If you have ever heard of the Jewish Talmud, that is what it is, it is a collection of what the various rabbis though the years have taught about the Bible, and in many cases they are at odds with one another, and it will say “Rabbi Gamaliel taught this, and Rabbi Hillel taught that,”
    Jesus when asked about this asks Where did John the Baptist learn to baptize? he was answering their question with a question of his own. John’s baptism was from God, and So Jesus’s authority is from God.
    So Jesus is a skilled teacher, and he teaches from his own authority, not from the traditions of the other rabbis,
    So church, this is my question for you,
    How do we come to see Jesus as our rabbi?
    First we learn what taught and commanded.
    Matthew 28:19–20 ESV
    Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
    Teach them to observe all I have commanded.
    Church we need to learn and study what Jesus taught!
    But notice that at the great commission Jesus makes his disciples the new teachers.
    So another way you relate to Christ as a Rabbi or teacher is to learn from the teachers who have gone before you
    Paul taught this way
    1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV
    Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
    Paul is a disciple of Jesus, and so he seeks to imitate Jesus, those who learn from paul can imitate him.
    Church I am here to help guide you.
    and if i am doing my Job correctly, I will be imitating Christ,
    Finally, but not least, The Holy Spirit
    John 14:26 ESV
    But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
    Church part of the role of the Holy Spirit living in us, is to help us remember the teachings of Jesus.

      • Luke 2:41–47ESV

      • Mark 6:1–3ESV

      • Matthew 4:18–22ESV

      • Matthew 9:9ESV

      • Mark 10:17–22ESV

      • Matthew 5:1–3ESV

      • Matthew 7:28–29ESV

      • Mark 4:1–9ESV

      • Mark 4:10–12ESV

      • Mark 4:13–20ESV

      • Luke 20:1–8ESV

      • Matthew 28:19–20ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 11:1ESV

      • John 14:26ESV

  • Who You Say I Am
Port City Faith Church
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