Background- God made a covenant or a promise in Gen 12 God made a promise to Abraham that He would make him into a great nation and bless all nations through him. And his descendants would be like the stars of the sky
Gen 15:17-18 God seals this covenant or promise by passing through the carcasses, it was customary for both parties to pass through and basically what you were saying was “may I become like this carcass if I do not keep up my end of the deal”
Abraham did not have to pass through this was a unilateral covenant, God is loyal to his promise. Now this may seem fine but Abraham had no offspring from his wife Sarah vrs 3
Then we find out several chapters later 18, God promises Abraham and Sarah and Sarah laughs because she is old. Chapter 21 records their sons birth and Abraham names him Isaac which means “He (God) is Laughing (now)” At this point Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90
So we pick up the story in Chapter 22
Genesis 22:1-19
22:1 As the story begins we see this comment “God Tested Abraham” Tested so he can show Abraham’s true character and prove to the generations to come that Abraham believed Him even though the request was crazy.
22:2 - Isaac was uniquely born John 1:18 and Hebrews 11:17 Isaac was unique because he was their only son and Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100, so against the odds they had this boy and now God wants him to sacrifice him.
Burnt offering was giving the best of what you had in your herd or flocks. Isaac was truly that, Abraham did have other children but Isaac was the one that God laid His promise on.
This does not make sense. If God was promising a blessing through this boy why would He ask his dad to sacrifice him?
In life many times we come across things God wants us to that don’t make sense to us or the world around us at the time but we know that God wants us to do it. Like with our finances, it does not make sense to give money away to God but God Blesses when we do.
Maybe you are confronted with a new and better job opportunity but God wants you to stay where you are because you will be more effective there.
Maybe you thought a certain career path was right for you and God keeps pressing on your heart to take a career path that pays less or may be harder.
Maybe God is pressing on your heart to do a ministry that will take a good deal of time and it seems to crazy to do.
Maybe it is forgiving someone who has hurt you that is not sorry or expressing love to your enemies.
God asking this of Abraham was enormous because Isaac was the fulfillment of the promise and Abe’s descendents would be blessed through him. So what was up why did and why does God ask us or lead us to do things that seem to be harder, less appealing or down right crazy? He wants us to trust Him and see the great things He has in store for us. He wants us to realize “Father knows best” A simple truth that most of you dads teach your children “Listen to me” Proverbs 23:22
Remember God wants the best for you, He is not trying to hurt you.
I always say when I held Zane in my hands for the first time it changed who I am, as a dad I look at life with new eyes, I think about what would interest my children, what would make them happy, how I can help them succeed, and no matter how much they annoy me, disrespect me and don’t listen to me, I love them. The things I want to instill in them are don’t make the mistakes I made, listen to wise counsel
22:3-4
If I was ever asked to give them up my answer would be no, that’s where I can learn from this example of a man who was truly willing give up everything for God. As soon as he received the word he went and made preparations for the offering. Notice there was immediate obedience, that is what God desires. Kind of funny because that is what I desire from my kids
22:5 The Hebrew is actually better translated determined, we will go, we will worship, we will come back. Showing his trust in God. Do we trust God that much, I am going to give my money, I am going to give my time, I am going to forgive that person, I am going to love my enemy. I will do these things and not only trust God to provide but have an expectant trust that God will take care
22-6-7 The question “where is the lamb?” This question must have burned Abraham’s ears, how can I answer this?
22:8 God will provide, the right attitude when we worship God, letting go of everything for Him
Romans 12:1 Sacrifices of our God are a broken a contrite heart. Psalm 51:17
22:9-11 A Son’s trust of his father. He was probably about 116 and Isaac was around 16. He could have taken Him but He trusted that his dad was following God
22:12 For now I know you “Fear” God “Reverent Awe” “Because you have not withheld your only son”
Matthew Henry said “The best evidence of our fearing God is our being willing to serve and honor Him with what is dearest to us” “Not withheld your only son”
22:13-14 God provided, just like Abraham said in vrs 8, He believed God and God delivered
22:15-18 Before the covenant was sealed but now it was sworn with an oath. Notice God says by your “seed” all nations will be blessed
God is loyal to His covenant or promise
What is the deeper meaning of this story?
Isaac = Jesus the true “seed” willingly went to the cross for us all. All nations everyone is blessed because of Jesus death. Isaac is what we call a “Type” of Christ in the Old Testament. “Type” figures help us to understand God was always setting the stage. Isaac willing went to the alter and Jesus willing went to the cross for us.
Abraham = Father, willingness to give up his son. Many times when we think about God the Father we don’t always thin of Him as having feelings, but as a father or a mother we can understand the pain a turmoil the Father went through when He gave up His son. God wanted to show all of us that this was the biggest possible sacrifice for Him to make.
So what does it mean to us today on Fathers Day in 2008
1 John 3:1a Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
God the Father in His grace love and compassion has given us the great opportunity to become His child through trusting in the sacrificial death of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead, if we trust that we will have life everlasting.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Crazy Faith Series "Jesus cast out what?"
Matt 8:28-34
Crazy faith over the last three weeks we talked about things that some people may say are crazy to believe. Jesus can heal us, if we follow Jesus there will be suffering involved, He wants our help and last week we talked about how Jesus has control over nature and the storms of our lives. Today we are going to talk about spiritual warfare, demons, unclean spirits. Is it crazy to believe there is a dark side an evil force?
Keith Green wrote a song of how Satan’s great deception of today is he does not exist. Read lyrics
Where it all started. Lucifer’s Pride Isaiah 14:12-16, Ezekiel 28:11-19 and 1/3 of angels fallen=demons
This is where sin originated and pride is the root of that sin, Lucifer wanted to be like God. Adam and Eve sin was pride as well.
When we think about it much of the sin we commit in life has to do with pride. I can do it, I can handle it, I am better at it, I want my needs met, everything revolves around me, I make my own decisions, I am the boss of men, I am my own God. So we can understand how this could happen.
Lets look at the text Matt 8:28-34 and see what happens in the account of the two demon possessed men.
Vrs 28 Demon possessed men, taken over by demons
Vrs 29 Three things the demons say
1. “What do we have to do with you?” This is not a question as much as it is a statement, Light has nothing to do with darkness. 2 Corinthians 6:14 That is why as believers we should keep away from evil
Eph 5:8-12 Read and talk about.
That is why as believers we have to be careful what we take in, through movies and tv, internet and music.
Many times we fill our minds with evil, entertainment should not be stories about rape, murder and violence.
Comedy should not be sexual innuendos and casual sex, this cheapens what God has created for a man and women within the confines of marriage. Do you see the deception here, Satan and his demons edge their way into to our lives by making light and entertainment of things we should not even talk about sinful things. And then when we have vulgar language, impure thoughts and easily fall into sin we wonder why? We were letting all these evil things set up shop in our lives
Surrounding ourselves with people who are not believers will lead us into darkness. 2 Cor 4:4 tells us that unbelievers eyes are blinded by Satan. Now lets think about this you have a problem or issue in your life and ask advice from the world, where will it lead you?
My grandma in 1950 went to the doctor because she was nervous and do you know what he told her? Start smoking
The world’s advice leads to destruction. The Bibles counsel is pray when you are anxious. The counsel of the Lord stands forever Psalm 33:11. I am not dismissing chemical imbalances and mental disorders. But the point I am making is we listen to the world and the first part of 2 Cor. 4:4 calls Satan the god of this age or world, the unbelievers God is Satan whether they know it or not because the Word says you are either for God or against.
So the question for the believer is what should we have to do with demons and Satan. But the problem is that we are taught not to recognize the power and reality of Satan because it is crazy to believe that.
2. Notice they also call Him “Son of God” the demons know who He is. One writer wrote “demons have good doctrine” I would like to correct that to say “demons know good doctrine”
James says they believe and shudder, they know Jesus and what He did.
1Timothy 4:1-3 Doctrines of demons
What is bad or false doctrine? There is a bunch but here is how we recognize it and here is how demons do it.
-Adding rules and regulations to the Word, Galatians talks about that, man made rules are legalistic. Anytime a church or a person or a pastor is teaching something that is extra biblical and teaching it as truth, that is false doctrine, everyone has the liberty to teach as opinion.
But when rules are added truth decays
-Taking scriptures out of the context in which they were written,can produce false doctrine. Satan poses as an angel of light. I have heard people support abortion through the scriptures, start cults, kill others, you name it there has been a lunatic who read a short passage and put his own meaning to it and did not examine the context.
This includes being honest with the text when someone is teaching the Word they must study and prepare and make sure they are not putting their own meaning to it.
The word says 2 Timothy 2:15 Rightly dividing the word of truth, training is so important
Or base doctrines off of Christian clesheas Jesse “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” God loves dirty sinners. He hung out with unclean people and came for the sick
“Everyone has a God shaped hole in their heart”
Jeremiah 17:9-10a
-Works based salvation, a great deception is I can work my way to heaven.
3. “Have you come to torment us before the time” “Time” is reference to Revelation 19:20 and 20:10 in which Satan, demons and the antichrist will fall under judgment. Are you here as a harsh reminder of our demise?
Vrs 30-32 Demons begged to go into the pigs? This is a strange request, why? Two things
1.The demons still wanted to hurt the men around by destroying their possessions and further make Jesus a burden to them and thwart the efforts of God. IN a sense make them turn their back on God.
Maybe you are going through a crisis in your life right now and Satan and his demons are causing it in hopes that you will blow your testimony or doubt God. They will stop at nothing except Christ because they have to sidetrack you in your walk and service to God
In a book called Bondage Breaker. A High Priest in the Satanic church got saved
2.It illustrates that Jesus still has control and no matter how powerful demons or Satan is they are not allowed to move without permission
Vrs 33-34 The peoples response was they wanted Jesus to leave because all their pigs went over the cliff. This illustrates how people value their possessions more then they value God. They kept pigs and they just lost 2000 of their source of income. And they were ticked that Jesus cast the demons out of the men into the pigs.
So what do we do with all this? Ephesians says this is all going on around us, that our battle is not against flesh and blood but the spiritual powers. The Word has guidance and comfort.
1. Resist the devil and he will flee James 4:7
2. “He that is in you is greater then he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4
3. Get ready for battle Eph 6:10-20 Talks about the whole armor of God which consists of salvation, truth, righteousness, faith, preaching the true gospel, the Word of God and prayer
Crazy faith over the last three weeks we talked about things that some people may say are crazy to believe. Jesus can heal us, if we follow Jesus there will be suffering involved, He wants our help and last week we talked about how Jesus has control over nature and the storms of our lives. Today we are going to talk about spiritual warfare, demons, unclean spirits. Is it crazy to believe there is a dark side an evil force?
Keith Green wrote a song of how Satan’s great deception of today is he does not exist. Read lyrics
Where it all started. Lucifer’s Pride Isaiah 14:12-16, Ezekiel 28:11-19 and 1/3 of angels fallen=demons
This is where sin originated and pride is the root of that sin, Lucifer wanted to be like God. Adam and Eve sin was pride as well.
When we think about it much of the sin we commit in life has to do with pride. I can do it, I can handle it, I am better at it, I want my needs met, everything revolves around me, I make my own decisions, I am the boss of men, I am my own God. So we can understand how this could happen.
Lets look at the text Matt 8:28-34 and see what happens in the account of the two demon possessed men.
Vrs 28 Demon possessed men, taken over by demons
Vrs 29 Three things the demons say
1. “What do we have to do with you?” This is not a question as much as it is a statement, Light has nothing to do with darkness. 2 Corinthians 6:14 That is why as believers we should keep away from evil
Eph 5:8-12 Read and talk about.
That is why as believers we have to be careful what we take in, through movies and tv, internet and music.
Many times we fill our minds with evil, entertainment should not be stories about rape, murder and violence.
Comedy should not be sexual innuendos and casual sex, this cheapens what God has created for a man and women within the confines of marriage. Do you see the deception here, Satan and his demons edge their way into to our lives by making light and entertainment of things we should not even talk about sinful things. And then when we have vulgar language, impure thoughts and easily fall into sin we wonder why? We were letting all these evil things set up shop in our lives
Surrounding ourselves with people who are not believers will lead us into darkness. 2 Cor 4:4 tells us that unbelievers eyes are blinded by Satan. Now lets think about this you have a problem or issue in your life and ask advice from the world, where will it lead you?
My grandma in 1950 went to the doctor because she was nervous and do you know what he told her? Start smoking
The world’s advice leads to destruction. The Bibles counsel is pray when you are anxious. The counsel of the Lord stands forever Psalm 33:11. I am not dismissing chemical imbalances and mental disorders. But the point I am making is we listen to the world and the first part of 2 Cor. 4:4 calls Satan the god of this age or world, the unbelievers God is Satan whether they know it or not because the Word says you are either for God or against.
So the question for the believer is what should we have to do with demons and Satan. But the problem is that we are taught not to recognize the power and reality of Satan because it is crazy to believe that.
2. Notice they also call Him “Son of God” the demons know who He is. One writer wrote “demons have good doctrine” I would like to correct that to say “demons know good doctrine”
James says they believe and shudder, they know Jesus and what He did.
1Timothy 4:1-3 Doctrines of demons
What is bad or false doctrine? There is a bunch but here is how we recognize it and here is how demons do it.
-Adding rules and regulations to the Word, Galatians talks about that, man made rules are legalistic. Anytime a church or a person or a pastor is teaching something that is extra biblical and teaching it as truth, that is false doctrine, everyone has the liberty to teach as opinion.
But when rules are added truth decays
-Taking scriptures out of the context in which they were written,can produce false doctrine. Satan poses as an angel of light. I have heard people support abortion through the scriptures, start cults, kill others, you name it there has been a lunatic who read a short passage and put his own meaning to it and did not examine the context.
This includes being honest with the text when someone is teaching the Word they must study and prepare and make sure they are not putting their own meaning to it.
The word says 2 Timothy 2:15 Rightly dividing the word of truth, training is so important
Or base doctrines off of Christian clesheas Jesse “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” God loves dirty sinners. He hung out with unclean people and came for the sick
“Everyone has a God shaped hole in their heart”
Jeremiah 17:9-10a
-Works based salvation, a great deception is I can work my way to heaven.
3. “Have you come to torment us before the time” “Time” is reference to Revelation 19:20 and 20:10 in which Satan, demons and the antichrist will fall under judgment. Are you here as a harsh reminder of our demise?
Vrs 30-32 Demons begged to go into the pigs? This is a strange request, why? Two things
1.The demons still wanted to hurt the men around by destroying their possessions and further make Jesus a burden to them and thwart the efforts of God. IN a sense make them turn their back on God.
Maybe you are going through a crisis in your life right now and Satan and his demons are causing it in hopes that you will blow your testimony or doubt God. They will stop at nothing except Christ because they have to sidetrack you in your walk and service to God
In a book called Bondage Breaker. A High Priest in the Satanic church got saved
2.It illustrates that Jesus still has control and no matter how powerful demons or Satan is they are not allowed to move without permission
Vrs 33-34 The peoples response was they wanted Jesus to leave because all their pigs went over the cliff. This illustrates how people value their possessions more then they value God. They kept pigs and they just lost 2000 of their source of income. And they were ticked that Jesus cast the demons out of the men into the pigs.
So what do we do with all this? Ephesians says this is all going on around us, that our battle is not against flesh and blood but the spiritual powers. The Word has guidance and comfort.
1. Resist the devil and he will flee James 4:7
2. “He that is in you is greater then he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4
3. Get ready for battle Eph 6:10-20 Talks about the whole armor of God which consists of salvation, truth, righteousness, faith, preaching the true gospel, the Word of God and prayer
Crazy Faith Series "Jesus at the wheel"
Mathew 8:23-27
This could be the craziest thing of all, “put Jesus in the drivers seat of your life.
The drivers seat is the control seat, I rarely am in a vehicle and not driving and with my wife I always drive, maybe I am weird but I feel it is the my job to drive.
Open to Matt 8:23-27 the next crazy story
Vrs 23-25 A great storm arose and the disciples feared for their lives. This must have been a horrible storm, these guys were fishermen and used to storm coming in and out.
For them to panic like they did it must have been a big one.
Jesus must have been a pretty sound sleeper to sleep through this. So they woke Him up and asked Him to save them.
Vrs 26 “Why are you fearful?”
What are you fearful of?
People fear things like, death, heights, small spaces social situations, death of a loved one, illness. You name it there is a documented case of the fear of just about anything.
But many times common a that we all have is the unknown. Not knowing what will happen and if we will be taken care of.
The disciples were scared of what was going to happen to them. They we almost parallelized with fear. It was the unknown they were afraid of. What did they do? The turned to Jesus because the figured He could save them.
In life we all realize the death is inevitable and for many it is a fear, the unknown
Tertullian, third-century church father, speaking of death.
“It is a poor thing to fear that which is inevitable.”
Well we don’t have to fear death, Jesus can save us. Gospel
We can know it is paradise
Many times as believers even though we may not fear death we fear other things. Like…making big decisions, change, our finances, death of a loved one
Vrs 26 “you of little faith” Jesus is challenging their lack of faith, He did not say they did not have faith but what he was saying is they did not have much. After all they did wake Him up.
So what does He do? He shows them. I am going to calm this storm. This miracle communicated two things
1.Jesus has control over nature “In Him we live more and have our being”Acts 17:27-29,
And “all things were made through Him without Him nothing was made” John 1:3,
Col 1:16 He is God and He controls nature. So if you are going to give control to anybody does it make sense to give it over to the one who has control.
2. Jesus will calm the storms in your life.
Storms are… Serious illness. Accidents. Catastrophes. Financial problems. Death of a loved one. Loneliness. Divorce, no direction, Family problems, Friendship problems.
Lets draw some parallels between the storms of our lives and weather storms.
-They seem and are real bad when you are in them. Many times when we are going through a life storm we are scared, Like the disciples “We are gonna die”
Heb 12 talks about the Lords discipline and how we are not joyful in the pain but after it is over we realize it results in peace. Just like the storms of life after they are over we find a peace in the situation and appreciate that there are no storms
-You want shelter We will take any kind of shelter that will protect us from what is happening, even to the extent of doing something wrong or unethical.
Maybe your storm is..
financial and your shelter is being dishonest with the way you get or handle money.
relational or work related problem so you find shelter in drinking to escape the pain.
Direction in life so you find shelter in not making decisions and being lazy so you don’t have to face making a decision
A tragedy and you find shelter in blaming others and holding others responsible.
So what do we do? Psalm 143:8-10
-Evaluate the damage is costly and we can learn from it. After the storm is over we can learn and make the correct adjustments in life. Why are house by the beach on poles? What storm came into your life that you learned from the damage and now you are taking steps in spiritual growth to not let that happen again or prepare yourself so when it does happen again it does not have such a horrible impact.
James 1:2-4
“Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms his child”.
When we are faithless He is faithful He cannot deny Himself, 2 Tim 2:13 meaning Jesus will be who He is no matter what the circumstance. He said to them you have little faith but I am who I am and will calm this storm.
Their response
Vrs 27 “The men marveled”
Jesus controls nature and controls the storms in our lives. It may seem crazy but we have to give Jesus the wheel of our lives
This could be the craziest thing of all, “put Jesus in the drivers seat of your life.
The drivers seat is the control seat, I rarely am in a vehicle and not driving and with my wife I always drive, maybe I am weird but I feel it is the my job to drive.
Open to Matt 8:23-27 the next crazy story
Vrs 23-25 A great storm arose and the disciples feared for their lives. This must have been a horrible storm, these guys were fishermen and used to storm coming in and out.
For them to panic like they did it must have been a big one.
Jesus must have been a pretty sound sleeper to sleep through this. So they woke Him up and asked Him to save them.
Vrs 26 “Why are you fearful?”
What are you fearful of?
People fear things like, death, heights, small spaces social situations, death of a loved one, illness. You name it there is a documented case of the fear of just about anything.
But many times common a that we all have is the unknown. Not knowing what will happen and if we will be taken care of.
The disciples were scared of what was going to happen to them. They we almost parallelized with fear. It was the unknown they were afraid of. What did they do? The turned to Jesus because the figured He could save them.
In life we all realize the death is inevitable and for many it is a fear, the unknown
Tertullian, third-century church father, speaking of death.
“It is a poor thing to fear that which is inevitable.”
Well we don’t have to fear death, Jesus can save us. Gospel
We can know it is paradise
Many times as believers even though we may not fear death we fear other things. Like…making big decisions, change, our finances, death of a loved one
Vrs 26 “you of little faith” Jesus is challenging their lack of faith, He did not say they did not have faith but what he was saying is they did not have much. After all they did wake Him up.
So what does He do? He shows them. I am going to calm this storm. This miracle communicated two things
1.Jesus has control over nature “In Him we live more and have our being”Acts 17:27-29,
And “all things were made through Him without Him nothing was made” John 1:3,
Col 1:16 He is God and He controls nature. So if you are going to give control to anybody does it make sense to give it over to the one who has control.
2. Jesus will calm the storms in your life.
Storms are… Serious illness. Accidents. Catastrophes. Financial problems. Death of a loved one. Loneliness. Divorce, no direction, Family problems, Friendship problems.
Lets draw some parallels between the storms of our lives and weather storms.
-They seem and are real bad when you are in them. Many times when we are going through a life storm we are scared, Like the disciples “We are gonna die”
Heb 12 talks about the Lords discipline and how we are not joyful in the pain but after it is over we realize it results in peace. Just like the storms of life after they are over we find a peace in the situation and appreciate that there are no storms
-You want shelter We will take any kind of shelter that will protect us from what is happening, even to the extent of doing something wrong or unethical.
Maybe your storm is..
financial and your shelter is being dishonest with the way you get or handle money.
relational or work related problem so you find shelter in drinking to escape the pain.
Direction in life so you find shelter in not making decisions and being lazy so you don’t have to face making a decision
A tragedy and you find shelter in blaming others and holding others responsible.
So what do we do? Psalm 143:8-10
-Evaluate the damage is costly and we can learn from it. After the storm is over we can learn and make the correct adjustments in life. Why are house by the beach on poles? What storm came into your life that you learned from the damage and now you are taking steps in spiritual growth to not let that happen again or prepare yourself so when it does happen again it does not have such a horrible impact.
James 1:2-4
“Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms his child”.
When we are faithless He is faithful He cannot deny Himself, 2 Tim 2:13 meaning Jesus will be who He is no matter what the circumstance. He said to them you have little faith but I am who I am and will calm this storm.
Their response
Vrs 27 “The men marveled”
Jesus controls nature and controls the storms in our lives. It may seem crazy but we have to give Jesus the wheel of our lives
Crazy Faith Series "Jesus wants my help?"
Matthew 8:18-22 “Jesus wants my help?”
Vrs 18 Jesus slipped away from the multitudes of people. Why would He do this? I think if we examine this entire text we see that a possibility is that He knew they were following after Him for the wrong reason…to get their immediate needs met.
As we continue through this passage the “crazy faith” part about it is that Jesus does not want you to follow Him just because He can do something for you. He wants you to follow Him because you can do something for Him. Eph 2:10
That is crazy that I can do something for God? Not only is that crazy but He wants me to make Him the most important thing in my life and when I do, He will provide.
A promise that we can rely on from the Word is that in following Jesus we will have what we need. Notice I did not say what we want.
There is a difference between following Jesus and following Jesus. Some only follow till things don’t work out or their immediate needs are met, or a problem happens with the other people who are following Jesus.
Are these true followers of Jesus? Only God knows the answer to that question and it not my job or yours to judge that. If a person trusts in Jesus as their Savior the Bible says they are “sealed for the day of Redemption” Eph 4:30 that means they are eternally secure.
Lets get back to the text…
Vrs 19 -20 A scribe (teacher) told Jesus “I will follow you wherever you go” now Jesus’ response was not what I would expect. I would expect something like “cool that’s why I am here to recruit people”
Vrs 20 His response What??? “Foxes”
We learn a lot about the true heart motive of the questions or statements made toward Jesus by how He answers.
Jesus realized this was a prideful statement.
1. A follower must have Humility; Jesus shows how the Father provides for the smallest of creatures, but He has no where to lay His head. He was showing the lowly state that He came to serve us. If you are not humble you are not going to be the right type of follower. Jesus was humble. Philippians 2 (gospel)
Humility in service is something that we have to pray for. Pride will seep into your life if you are doing things for your own glory. This teacher was speaking out of pride I can do it, look at me Jesus I am loud and vocal and I will follow you. Others were following Him already but he had to tell Jesus because He wanted to be better.
Reminds me of the door to door salesmen that sold hundreds of products with this line… "Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn't afford."
Many times we get full of ourselves, the way I do it is better, we criticize and say or think that we can do things better. I am a good Christian, look how bad others are doing, when you start thinking like that you have to wake up and realize you are a sinner and only by the grace of God are you doing even half way decent.
Lets take it another step, if you are serving in the church or a ministry and you think you are doing a great job that attitude will come out and guess what? No one like it.. including God. Pro 6:17 Lord hates pride
Pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick but the one who has it.
Remember Pro 16:18 pride goes before the fall.
Think about your job, everyone likes encouraging compliments when you do a good job. Don’t let it go to your head. If you did a good job, realize it is only by the grace of God that you can do a good job.
Abe Lincoln said in a presidential address
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
Be humble and give the credit to God
David Rhodes said
Pride is the dandelion of the soul. Its root goes deep; only a little left behind sprouts again. Its seeds lodge in the tiniest encouraging cracks. And it flourishes in good soil: The danger of pride is that it feeds on goodness.
The teacher had a good statement but Jesus was saying I desire humility.
The second thing is Jesus knew this man thought that this was the good life.
2. A follower will suffer; He is homeless gives us the idea of suffering, your suffering will validate your testimony. People will say you are crazy if you follow Jesus under those circumstances.
Without a promise of health, wealth and success. They will say why follow? What is in it for you? This will actually validate that you really have faith before all those people who say that. Because if the promise is that you will suffer, you will sacrifice, things will not always go the way you want them to. your “crazy faith” will turn heads.
You know why what some are calling the prosperity gospel is so popular? It is not crazy, believe in Jesus and everything in this life is gonna be alright. That is a crazy statement to believe but no one would say you are crazy to find hope in it. They would say if that’s what gets you through then good for you.
That is why you often run into people who say things like Christianity did not work for me, it is because they were lied to, they were only taught the prosperity part of the message. Which obviously there are prosperity promises like, peace, hope, joy, love fulfillment and so on, but it is only half the message and Jesus warns of that.
Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not? They're the only ones who can take it."
If you are suffering right now and it is not a direct consequence of sin, God knows you can handle it.
Lets look at all the apostles and how they died
The only apostle’s death the Bible records is James' (Acts 12:2). King Herod had James put to death “with the sword”
Peter was crucified, upside-down on an x-shaped cross, in Rome, in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy (John 21:18).
Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos.
James, the brother of Jesus (not officially an apostle), the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a club.
Bartholomew, also know as Nathanael, was flayed to death by a whip.
Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers,
Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church there.
Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded. Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67.
When I see that it makes me say they were “crazy” to follow, but then I realize they were willing to follow despite the cost, their lives.
So bottom line Jesus said, “hey do want to live a life in which you don’t even know where you are going to sleep tonight, then follow me.”
Following Jesus is tough but it is so worth it. 2 Cor 8:9 “He became poor so we can become rich spiritually” and He will provide for your needs if you do follow. Notice I said needs not wants.
So if we follow we have to be willing to suffer.
Vrs 21-22 Let me take care of business, This mans father was not dead but the man was waiting for his father to die so he can collect on his inheritance.
Two things this man is saying
1. “I would like my service to you to be comfortable let me get my inheritance this way I will be comfortable” Maybe he heard the response to the scribe and he though, this money could help us out, Jesus has no home.
You will find enjoyment in ministry but the Bible never tells us that if there is only little enjoyment I should move on. I was reading something from a Pastor who said to people in his church “there are plenty of ministries out there just find one you like” you know what people do with that, they bounce from one ministry to another because they find something they don’t like about it. There is no consistency and therefore they never truly reap the benefits of consistent long term ministry.
Getting involved in Night Light Kids, VBS, Kids club, the cleaning ministry, helping on work days, greeting, set up and clean up, youth ministry, worship. All great and enjoyable ministries but there will be tough times and that’s when your “crazy faith” pulls you through or you just cave and move on to the next ministry. Realizing Jesus wants my help, He does not need it but He wants it.
Disclaimer
Don’t neglect your family, this passage is by no means suggesting that. This man wanted to stick around and wait till his dad died so he can get the inheritance.
As a believer your first priority after God is your family.
2. He made excuses, I have to do this first
We let everything else get in the way of our service and following the Lord. We make excuses, I don’t have the time, I don’t have the abilities, I don’t feel like it. The mistake we make is we don’t pray and ask God to help us stop making excuses and follow Jesus.
Vrs 22 Jesus’ answer the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.
What are you waiting for??
Are you crazy enough to believe that Jesus wants humble people that are willing to suffer and make no excuses. And when you are willing to be that you can help Jesus.
Vrs 18 Jesus slipped away from the multitudes of people. Why would He do this? I think if we examine this entire text we see that a possibility is that He knew they were following after Him for the wrong reason…to get their immediate needs met.
As we continue through this passage the “crazy faith” part about it is that Jesus does not want you to follow Him just because He can do something for you. He wants you to follow Him because you can do something for Him. Eph 2:10
That is crazy that I can do something for God? Not only is that crazy but He wants me to make Him the most important thing in my life and when I do, He will provide.
A promise that we can rely on from the Word is that in following Jesus we will have what we need. Notice I did not say what we want.
There is a difference between following Jesus and following Jesus. Some only follow till things don’t work out or their immediate needs are met, or a problem happens with the other people who are following Jesus.
Are these true followers of Jesus? Only God knows the answer to that question and it not my job or yours to judge that. If a person trusts in Jesus as their Savior the Bible says they are “sealed for the day of Redemption” Eph 4:30 that means they are eternally secure.
Lets get back to the text…
Vrs 19 -20 A scribe (teacher) told Jesus “I will follow you wherever you go” now Jesus’ response was not what I would expect. I would expect something like “cool that’s why I am here to recruit people”
Vrs 20 His response What??? “Foxes”
We learn a lot about the true heart motive of the questions or statements made toward Jesus by how He answers.
Jesus realized this was a prideful statement.
1. A follower must have Humility; Jesus shows how the Father provides for the smallest of creatures, but He has no where to lay His head. He was showing the lowly state that He came to serve us. If you are not humble you are not going to be the right type of follower. Jesus was humble. Philippians 2 (gospel)
Humility in service is something that we have to pray for. Pride will seep into your life if you are doing things for your own glory. This teacher was speaking out of pride I can do it, look at me Jesus I am loud and vocal and I will follow you. Others were following Him already but he had to tell Jesus because He wanted to be better.
Reminds me of the door to door salesmen that sold hundreds of products with this line… "Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn't afford."
Many times we get full of ourselves, the way I do it is better, we criticize and say or think that we can do things better. I am a good Christian, look how bad others are doing, when you start thinking like that you have to wake up and realize you are a sinner and only by the grace of God are you doing even half way decent.
Lets take it another step, if you are serving in the church or a ministry and you think you are doing a great job that attitude will come out and guess what? No one like it.. including God. Pro 6:17 Lord hates pride
Pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick but the one who has it.
Remember Pro 16:18 pride goes before the fall.
Think about your job, everyone likes encouraging compliments when you do a good job. Don’t let it go to your head. If you did a good job, realize it is only by the grace of God that you can do a good job.
Abe Lincoln said in a presidential address
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
Be humble and give the credit to God
David Rhodes said
Pride is the dandelion of the soul. Its root goes deep; only a little left behind sprouts again. Its seeds lodge in the tiniest encouraging cracks. And it flourishes in good soil: The danger of pride is that it feeds on goodness.
The teacher had a good statement but Jesus was saying I desire humility.
The second thing is Jesus knew this man thought that this was the good life.
2. A follower will suffer; He is homeless gives us the idea of suffering, your suffering will validate your testimony. People will say you are crazy if you follow Jesus under those circumstances.
Without a promise of health, wealth and success. They will say why follow? What is in it for you? This will actually validate that you really have faith before all those people who say that. Because if the promise is that you will suffer, you will sacrifice, things will not always go the way you want them to. your “crazy faith” will turn heads.
You know why what some are calling the prosperity gospel is so popular? It is not crazy, believe in Jesus and everything in this life is gonna be alright. That is a crazy statement to believe but no one would say you are crazy to find hope in it. They would say if that’s what gets you through then good for you.
That is why you often run into people who say things like Christianity did not work for me, it is because they were lied to, they were only taught the prosperity part of the message. Which obviously there are prosperity promises like, peace, hope, joy, love fulfillment and so on, but it is only half the message and Jesus warns of that.
Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not? They're the only ones who can take it."
If you are suffering right now and it is not a direct consequence of sin, God knows you can handle it.
Lets look at all the apostles and how they died
The only apostle’s death the Bible records is James' (Acts 12:2). King Herod had James put to death “with the sword”
Peter was crucified, upside-down on an x-shaped cross, in Rome, in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy (John 21:18).
Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos.
James, the brother of Jesus (not officially an apostle), the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a club.
Bartholomew, also know as Nathanael, was flayed to death by a whip.
Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers,
Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church there.
Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded. Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67.
When I see that it makes me say they were “crazy” to follow, but then I realize they were willing to follow despite the cost, their lives.
So bottom line Jesus said, “hey do want to live a life in which you don’t even know where you are going to sleep tonight, then follow me.”
Following Jesus is tough but it is so worth it. 2 Cor 8:9 “He became poor so we can become rich spiritually” and He will provide for your needs if you do follow. Notice I said needs not wants.
So if we follow we have to be willing to suffer.
Vrs 21-22 Let me take care of business, This mans father was not dead but the man was waiting for his father to die so he can collect on his inheritance.
Two things this man is saying
1. “I would like my service to you to be comfortable let me get my inheritance this way I will be comfortable” Maybe he heard the response to the scribe and he though, this money could help us out, Jesus has no home.
You will find enjoyment in ministry but the Bible never tells us that if there is only little enjoyment I should move on. I was reading something from a Pastor who said to people in his church “there are plenty of ministries out there just find one you like” you know what people do with that, they bounce from one ministry to another because they find something they don’t like about it. There is no consistency and therefore they never truly reap the benefits of consistent long term ministry.
Getting involved in Night Light Kids, VBS, Kids club, the cleaning ministry, helping on work days, greeting, set up and clean up, youth ministry, worship. All great and enjoyable ministries but there will be tough times and that’s when your “crazy faith” pulls you through or you just cave and move on to the next ministry. Realizing Jesus wants my help, He does not need it but He wants it.
Disclaimer
Don’t neglect your family, this passage is by no means suggesting that. This man wanted to stick around and wait till his dad died so he can get the inheritance.
As a believer your first priority after God is your family.
2. He made excuses, I have to do this first
We let everything else get in the way of our service and following the Lord. We make excuses, I don’t have the time, I don’t have the abilities, I don’t feel like it. The mistake we make is we don’t pray and ask God to help us stop making excuses and follow Jesus.
Vrs 22 Jesus’ answer the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.
What are you waiting for??
Are you crazy enough to believe that Jesus wants humble people that are willing to suffer and make no excuses. And when you are willing to be that you can help Jesus.
Crazy Faith Series "Jesus Heals"
Crazy Faith Series “Jesus Heals”
Introduction to the series: In life we say “you are crazy” in many different contexts. I like to surf and I do it all winter and usually if there is someone on the beach in the middle February if they say anything they usually say “you guys are crazy for being out there” Chris Baille likes to sky dive and people probably say “you are crazy for jumping out of planes”. We both realize when people say this they probably don’t mean it in the bad sense. But some mornings in February when it is 15 degrees out and I scrap the ice of my car window and drive to the beach I think “what am I crazy”
Then I realize I have a passion for surfing and I love to do it, if that is crazy then that is what I will be.
Faith is not much different, when you believe what the Bible teaches some may say “you are crazy” most of us would take offense to that statement because they are mocking our belief system. Maybe there are even days in your life that you say “what am I crazy to believe this” it seems far fetched or it has not always “worked” in my life. But then you realize if I really have a passion for Jesus and what he has done in my life other people will say I am crazy because from their unbelieving perspective it may seem crazy to believe the claims of the Bible.
Matthew 8 contains some accounts of things that Jesus did that most people would say it is crazy to believe or that is impossible. For the next 4 weeks we are going to work through Matthew chapter 8 and look at those things which happen to be some core beliefs of our Christian faith. So I have decided to call this series of messages “Crazy Faith”
The first thing I want to do is find out what a working definition and description of what faith is
The dictionary says
Faith is a confidence or a trust in something
Hebrew 11:1 “substance” means essence or reality
“Evidence” is proof
Faith is…proof that the unseen is real.
You may not realize it but you exercise faith everyday when you watch the news and take their word for what happened in the world. When your friend or family member tells you what they did that day and you believe them.
I guess for many of us the degree of faith we have is based on the source of information.
John 20:28-29 Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.
Vrs 30-31 The Bible is so that we may believe and have eternal life.
Our source is the Word of God.
Turn to Matthew 8
The first 17 verses have to do with Jesus healing people of sickness. We obviously see that if the Biblical accounts are accurate Jesus did heal all those people and many more in other Scriptures.
But does Jesus heal today?
There are four accounts of healing from Jesus and two are more detailed. I want to look at those accounts and see what we can learn and how we can apply them to our lives
8:1-3 From the first account we see that the leper said “are you willing” and Jesus said that He was willing. We have to understand that any healing from sickness or disease must be in God’s will. The question most of us ask is why God did not heal? The question we should ask when it comes to healing is, what is His will for the situation I am in or the sick person is in.
We know that Paul had a “a thorn in his flesh”
2 Cor 12:7-10, here Paul received from the Lord that He displays power in our time of weakness. Sometimes it is more of a miracle to see the way people handle sickness and what they do while they are going through it, then the sickness being healed.
Acts 28:8 Paul healed a man by laying hands on him and praying for him.
Why could Paul not heal himself?
Because it was not in the will of God!
Remember if someone is skeptical about the reality of God because themselves, or another person was not healed they are in essence saying that no one would ever die. That is not logical or reasonable for that matter.
To only believe because of a miracle will also be a let down. Faith healer ill
Then you might be saying to yourself other people had the power to heal people not only Jesus? The answer to that is yes. During the time that the NT was being written God gave people the gift of healing and authenticated the Gospel of Jesus. This was a time when the Gospels or the rest of the NT were not written but being lived out. Now we have the NT and we can read it to authenticate the Gospel.
So do people today have the gift of healing? I would say no to the way that most people are thinking of healing, faith healers because the NT is closed, meaning no more Scripture is being written. And yes to the fact that some are blessed with a compassionate ministry of prayer for sick people. Pastor that said “who cares”
Bottom line is God still does heal people today, but He does not need to use people to heal other people.
The first truth about healing that we learn from this passage is it must be in God’s Will
Vrs 4 “Don’t tell anyone” and show yourself to the priest. In Lev. 14 A cleansed leper had to offer a sacrifice under the law.
-So a possibility is that Jesus did not want him to get sidetracked before he followed the law.
-He also may have wanted the man to be a testimony to the religious leaders
-As far as keeping quiet most theologians would say that until the man showed himself to the priests it would not be observed as a legit healing.
-If the man offers a gift he is attributing the work to God
The centurion’s servant healed
Verses 5-7 The centurion asks Jesus and to heal him and Jesus agrees.
Verse 8-9 Then the centurion says that Jesus should not have to go to his house. He does not feel worthy.
Verses 10-12 Now Jesus teaches a theological truth. Just because someone is Jewish does not mean they automatically go to heaven. In fact many others will become the spiritual seed of Abraham that are not the physical seed of Abraham the Jewish people and those who do not believe will not be saved Jew or non Jew.
Our entrance into heaven is based on trusting in Jesus as our Savior. Not good works and not what family we were born into.
The other thing Jesus is communicating here is “faith” This man had faith that Jesus could do the impossible, heal someone. He did not have to see the person, touch them or be in the same room. It seems as though this man understood Jesus was God.
Vrs 13 Jesus heals the man. This statement makes us ask a question.
Does our faith limit how God can work? No
We need to have faith that He can do it. If He can save us from our sins He can heal sickness and problems. We never want to say that He can’t, that would be doubting what He is capable of.
Matt 13:57-59 is sometimes used to say that Jesus does not do miracles among us because we don’t believe He can. But what it is really saying is Jesus did not do the “mighty works” because they did not recognize who He was. The Messiah
We have to remember that Jesus did not heal to convince people to believe. He healed as an act of compassion to meet the needs of people and a result of that many times was belief. In fact some people saw these things and still did not believe.
John 12:37 many will not believe even if they saw the healing.
So the second truth we learn is we must believe that God can heal.
Then we see Jesus heals Peter’s mother in law.
Vrs 14-15
Vrs 16-17 Now Jesus was casting out demons, we will actually get to this in three weeks.
He healed the sick to fulfill prophecy.
The quote from Isaiah two fold, meaning salvation and sickness
Wayne Grudem states “Our complete redemption from physical illness will not take place until Christ returns”
Is it crazy to believe that Jesus can heal today? Maybe to some but the Scripture teaches
We need to ask Him His will and believe in faith that He can do it
Introduction to the series: In life we say “you are crazy” in many different contexts. I like to surf and I do it all winter and usually if there is someone on the beach in the middle February if they say anything they usually say “you guys are crazy for being out there” Chris Baille likes to sky dive and people probably say “you are crazy for jumping out of planes”. We both realize when people say this they probably don’t mean it in the bad sense. But some mornings in February when it is 15 degrees out and I scrap the ice of my car window and drive to the beach I think “what am I crazy”
Then I realize I have a passion for surfing and I love to do it, if that is crazy then that is what I will be.
Faith is not much different, when you believe what the Bible teaches some may say “you are crazy” most of us would take offense to that statement because they are mocking our belief system. Maybe there are even days in your life that you say “what am I crazy to believe this” it seems far fetched or it has not always “worked” in my life. But then you realize if I really have a passion for Jesus and what he has done in my life other people will say I am crazy because from their unbelieving perspective it may seem crazy to believe the claims of the Bible.
Matthew 8 contains some accounts of things that Jesus did that most people would say it is crazy to believe or that is impossible. For the next 4 weeks we are going to work through Matthew chapter 8 and look at those things which happen to be some core beliefs of our Christian faith. So I have decided to call this series of messages “Crazy Faith”
The first thing I want to do is find out what a working definition and description of what faith is
The dictionary says
Faith is a confidence or a trust in something
Hebrew 11:1 “substance” means essence or reality
“Evidence” is proof
Faith is…proof that the unseen is real.
You may not realize it but you exercise faith everyday when you watch the news and take their word for what happened in the world. When your friend or family member tells you what they did that day and you believe them.
I guess for many of us the degree of faith we have is based on the source of information.
John 20:28-29 Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.
Vrs 30-31 The Bible is so that we may believe and have eternal life.
Our source is the Word of God.
Turn to Matthew 8
The first 17 verses have to do with Jesus healing people of sickness. We obviously see that if the Biblical accounts are accurate Jesus did heal all those people and many more in other Scriptures.
But does Jesus heal today?
There are four accounts of healing from Jesus and two are more detailed. I want to look at those accounts and see what we can learn and how we can apply them to our lives
8:1-3 From the first account we see that the leper said “are you willing” and Jesus said that He was willing. We have to understand that any healing from sickness or disease must be in God’s will. The question most of us ask is why God did not heal? The question we should ask when it comes to healing is, what is His will for the situation I am in or the sick person is in.
We know that Paul had a “a thorn in his flesh”
2 Cor 12:7-10, here Paul received from the Lord that He displays power in our time of weakness. Sometimes it is more of a miracle to see the way people handle sickness and what they do while they are going through it, then the sickness being healed.
Acts 28:8 Paul healed a man by laying hands on him and praying for him.
Why could Paul not heal himself?
Because it was not in the will of God!
Remember if someone is skeptical about the reality of God because themselves, or another person was not healed they are in essence saying that no one would ever die. That is not logical or reasonable for that matter.
To only believe because of a miracle will also be a let down. Faith healer ill
Then you might be saying to yourself other people had the power to heal people not only Jesus? The answer to that is yes. During the time that the NT was being written God gave people the gift of healing and authenticated the Gospel of Jesus. This was a time when the Gospels or the rest of the NT were not written but being lived out. Now we have the NT and we can read it to authenticate the Gospel.
So do people today have the gift of healing? I would say no to the way that most people are thinking of healing, faith healers because the NT is closed, meaning no more Scripture is being written. And yes to the fact that some are blessed with a compassionate ministry of prayer for sick people. Pastor that said “who cares”
Bottom line is God still does heal people today, but He does not need to use people to heal other people.
The first truth about healing that we learn from this passage is it must be in God’s Will
Vrs 4 “Don’t tell anyone” and show yourself to the priest. In Lev. 14 A cleansed leper had to offer a sacrifice under the law.
-So a possibility is that Jesus did not want him to get sidetracked before he followed the law.
-He also may have wanted the man to be a testimony to the religious leaders
-As far as keeping quiet most theologians would say that until the man showed himself to the priests it would not be observed as a legit healing.
-If the man offers a gift he is attributing the work to God
The centurion’s servant healed
Verses 5-7 The centurion asks Jesus and to heal him and Jesus agrees.
Verse 8-9 Then the centurion says that Jesus should not have to go to his house. He does not feel worthy.
Verses 10-12 Now Jesus teaches a theological truth. Just because someone is Jewish does not mean they automatically go to heaven. In fact many others will become the spiritual seed of Abraham that are not the physical seed of Abraham the Jewish people and those who do not believe will not be saved Jew or non Jew.
Our entrance into heaven is based on trusting in Jesus as our Savior. Not good works and not what family we were born into.
The other thing Jesus is communicating here is “faith” This man had faith that Jesus could do the impossible, heal someone. He did not have to see the person, touch them or be in the same room. It seems as though this man understood Jesus was God.
Vrs 13 Jesus heals the man. This statement makes us ask a question.
Does our faith limit how God can work? No
We need to have faith that He can do it. If He can save us from our sins He can heal sickness and problems. We never want to say that He can’t, that would be doubting what He is capable of.
Matt 13:57-59 is sometimes used to say that Jesus does not do miracles among us because we don’t believe He can. But what it is really saying is Jesus did not do the “mighty works” because they did not recognize who He was. The Messiah
We have to remember that Jesus did not heal to convince people to believe. He healed as an act of compassion to meet the needs of people and a result of that many times was belief. In fact some people saw these things and still did not believe.
John 12:37 many will not believe even if they saw the healing.
So the second truth we learn is we must believe that God can heal.
Then we see Jesus heals Peter’s mother in law.
Vrs 14-15
Vrs 16-17 Now Jesus was casting out demons, we will actually get to this in three weeks.
He healed the sick to fulfill prophecy.
The quote from Isaiah two fold, meaning salvation and sickness
Wayne Grudem states “Our complete redemption from physical illness will not take place until Christ returns”
Is it crazy to believe that Jesus can heal today? Maybe to some but the Scripture teaches
We need to ask Him His will and believe in faith that He can do it
Thursday, May 15, 2008
"Like a Mom?"
One day a year based upon President Woodrow Wilson’s bill in 1914 to make the 2nd Sunday in May Mothers day, we honor our moms.
What do mom’s tell us about God? Maybe you have or had a godly mother that taught you the things of the Lord.
Abe Lincoln said
“No man is poor who has had a godly mother.”
Maybe your mother never spoke a word about God, but her actions of just being a mom communicated characteristics of God.
God has characteristics of a mom, this should be no surprise because God created moms and Genesis 1:27 says that He made male and female in His image. On this mothers day I want to look at the Biblical passages that talk about the characteristics of God that are attributed to Mothers.
Why does God so often use the image or picture or metaphor or idea of motherhood to express himself? It’s like we are a child sat on God’s lap and we look up and we say, “God, what are you like?” And God thinks, “How do you explain the wonder of Divine Love and Grace and Strength to a small human child with a limited brain and a limited vocabulary?” And God realizes that the best way is to use a metaphor? is to say, “well, I’m like?” And so he looks around at everything in the child’s life, everything that could be used as a metaphor. What could God compare himself to in a way that would capture some of the mystery and marvel of who He was? And he looks high and low and then he sees the child’s Mom, “That! That’s what I’m like. I am a mother.”
1. Isaiah 66:13 comfort
When Thomas Edison was a young boy his teacher sent him home with a note which said, 'Your child is dumb. We can't do anything for him.' Mrs. Edison wrote back, 'You do not understand my boy. I will teach him myself'. And she did, with results that are well known.
There is nothing like the comfort of someone who knows you so well, that can communicate with you and knows what makes you happy, or how to help you.
That is usually our mom but it is always God.
He knows you because He made you.
He can comfort you because He knows what is wrong. You may be going through a relationship problem, God is there.
Maybe you are anxious about something, God is there. Maybe you are struggling with something, God is there. Maybe your mother is not around anymore and you just want that motherly type of comfort, God is there.
The comfort of a mother is something that God uses as an example of in our lives to teach us when we are very young.
The comfort of a little child to know that mom is there to clean up their mess. All of us have mess in our lives that not even mom can clean up and that is where God’s comfort comes in.
2. Luke 13:34 Long to embrace and clean up our mess… Most mothers long for the best for their Children. God does want the best for us and more importantly He knows what is best for us. It is a relationship with Him. Just like a mom desires a close personal relationship with each of her children that is what God wants from us. The way that we can have that is through Jesus and what He did for us to.
3. Luke 15:8-10 Sacrifice. God sees us as lost because of the mess of sin in our lives. Like the women who sacrifices her time to find that valuable coin. God sacrificed something of value to Himself so we can be found. Jesus, remember earlier I talked about the mess that our moms can’t clean. God sent His son Jesus to clean up our sin mess if we trust in Him. And like this passage says “the angels rejoice in heaven when a sinner changes his mind about who Jesus is”
The bible says that Jesus was the Sacrifice for us Eph 5:2 and the Bible says if we trust in Him we will spend eternity in heaven because He and only He can clean up our sin mess
4. But it does not stop there. As Christians we need to Trust God Psalm 131:2 Trust David compared how we need to respond to God with how a weaned child responds to his mom, trusting that his mom will fulfill their needs. A baby that is not weaned cries until it is fed, even if the mom is there saying hold up a minute I will be right there. But an older child who is weaned knows now that when the mom says I will be right there they usually believe and trust the mom.
That is how David looks at God. He trusted God because God had been good to him.
We can trust that God does have a course for us, and cares about every aspect of our lives, we just have to take Him at His Word and trust Him.
Lastly, , No matter what you will always be the child of your mother and mothers have an amazing capability to deeply love their children and could quite possibly have something called unconditional love.
But Unconditional Love is probably something only God is truly capable of.
Once you enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you cannot lose God’s love, Like the Sara Groves complacency, loss of focus or as Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of God. We cannot lose the love of God through Jesus Christ. Romans 8:38-39
We cannot lose the love of God through Jesus Christ.
Whatever your situation this mother’s day know that God is like a mother in your life.
What do mom’s tell us about God? Maybe you have or had a godly mother that taught you the things of the Lord.
Abe Lincoln said
“No man is poor who has had a godly mother.”
Maybe your mother never spoke a word about God, but her actions of just being a mom communicated characteristics of God.
God has characteristics of a mom, this should be no surprise because God created moms and Genesis 1:27 says that He made male and female in His image. On this mothers day I want to look at the Biblical passages that talk about the characteristics of God that are attributed to Mothers.
Why does God so often use the image or picture or metaphor or idea of motherhood to express himself? It’s like we are a child sat on God’s lap and we look up and we say, “God, what are you like?” And God thinks, “How do you explain the wonder of Divine Love and Grace and Strength to a small human child with a limited brain and a limited vocabulary?” And God realizes that the best way is to use a metaphor? is to say, “well, I’m like?” And so he looks around at everything in the child’s life, everything that could be used as a metaphor. What could God compare himself to in a way that would capture some of the mystery and marvel of who He was? And he looks high and low and then he sees the child’s Mom, “That! That’s what I’m like. I am a mother.”
1. Isaiah 66:13 comfort
When Thomas Edison was a young boy his teacher sent him home with a note which said, 'Your child is dumb. We can't do anything for him.' Mrs. Edison wrote back, 'You do not understand my boy. I will teach him myself'. And she did, with results that are well known.
There is nothing like the comfort of someone who knows you so well, that can communicate with you and knows what makes you happy, or how to help you.
That is usually our mom but it is always God.
He knows you because He made you.
He can comfort you because He knows what is wrong. You may be going through a relationship problem, God is there.
Maybe you are anxious about something, God is there. Maybe you are struggling with something, God is there. Maybe your mother is not around anymore and you just want that motherly type of comfort, God is there.
The comfort of a mother is something that God uses as an example of in our lives to teach us when we are very young.
The comfort of a little child to know that mom is there to clean up their mess. All of us have mess in our lives that not even mom can clean up and that is where God’s comfort comes in.
2. Luke 13:34 Long to embrace and clean up our mess… Most mothers long for the best for their Children. God does want the best for us and more importantly He knows what is best for us. It is a relationship with Him. Just like a mom desires a close personal relationship with each of her children that is what God wants from us. The way that we can have that is through Jesus and what He did for us to.
3. Luke 15:8-10 Sacrifice. God sees us as lost because of the mess of sin in our lives. Like the women who sacrifices her time to find that valuable coin. God sacrificed something of value to Himself so we can be found. Jesus, remember earlier I talked about the mess that our moms can’t clean. God sent His son Jesus to clean up our sin mess if we trust in Him. And like this passage says “the angels rejoice in heaven when a sinner changes his mind about who Jesus is”
The bible says that Jesus was the Sacrifice for us Eph 5:2 and the Bible says if we trust in Him we will spend eternity in heaven because He and only He can clean up our sin mess
4. But it does not stop there. As Christians we need to Trust God Psalm 131:2 Trust David compared how we need to respond to God with how a weaned child responds to his mom, trusting that his mom will fulfill their needs. A baby that is not weaned cries until it is fed, even if the mom is there saying hold up a minute I will be right there. But an older child who is weaned knows now that when the mom says I will be right there they usually believe and trust the mom.
That is how David looks at God. He trusted God because God had been good to him.
We can trust that God does have a course for us, and cares about every aspect of our lives, we just have to take Him at His Word and trust Him.
Lastly, , No matter what you will always be the child of your mother and mothers have an amazing capability to deeply love their children and could quite possibly have something called unconditional love.
But Unconditional Love is probably something only God is truly capable of.
Once you enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you cannot lose God’s love, Like the Sara Groves complacency, loss of focus or as Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of God. We cannot lose the love of God through Jesus Christ. Romans 8:38-39
We cannot lose the love of God through Jesus Christ.
Whatever your situation this mother’s day know that God is like a mother in your life.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
"Raise my Ebenezer"
“Raise my Ebenezer”
1 Samuel 1100 years before Christ, it was a spiritually dark time for Israel the priesthood was corrupt and people were turning away from God. There was a remnant that were following God but by and large Israel was falling away.
1 Sam chapters 4-6 The Israelites brought the Ark of the covenant into Shiloh they were just defeated by the Philistines and 4000 men fell. The Bible says they the Hebrews shouted so loudly that the earth shook.
Talk about the Ark Priest came into the holy of holies one time a year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) the priest brought the blood of a goat to atone for the sins of the people
The Mercy Seat and the two cherubim angels and the Lord dwelt there. Contents Ten Commandments, Aarons Rod that budded with almonds to prove that he was the priest and chosen by God , and the Golden pot of hidden manna. These we all reminders of what God did for them.
So of course when the ark was moved for worship they were going to be excited and shout. The Philistines heard the shout and pretty much said lets put an end to this
The Philistines defeated Israel and took the Ark of the Covenant and slaughtered 30,000 people.
When they told Eli the priest that his two sons where killed and the ark was taken he fell over and broke his neck and died.
So the Philistines moved the Ark around for 7 months and during that time they suffered plagues of tumors and rats so they said we have to get rid of this thing. So their priests said send it back with 5 images of gold tumors and 5 golden rats as a sacrifice. They hooked it to two cows and said if it returns to its own territory it was the Lords hand that struck us, if not it was by chance. Well guess what it went to the Israelites field of Joshua in Beth Shemesh
After the ark was in Beth Shemesh and 50,000 people died for looking into the ark they were so disturbed by what happened they brought the ark to Kirjath Jearim which is 10 miles from Jerusalem
Pick up in
1 Sam 7:1-12 Israel was weak and afraid and did not have spiritual focus, but the Lord was the one who did the work.
Vrs 1-2 Eleazar “God is power or help”
House of Israel lamented after the Lord “had sorrow or mourned deeply”
Vrs 3-4 Samuel spoke… If you return to the Lord with all your heart, serve Him and put away false gods.
Ashtoreth- Goddess of fertility and sexuality
Baal-pegan god of nature and fertility
Basically Samuel was saying they had to renounce their perverted sinful selfish ways
These two manmade gods are the eppitomy of a life centered around self.
The promise is that God will deliver them from the Philistines.
What is God saying to us? Change your mind, about who Jesus is believe that He is your Savior. As a Christian change your actions, be obedient and put God first, don’t put other things or people before God.
Vrs 5-6 Then Samuel prayed, obviously praying to the Lord is a center piece to seeing something in our lives change. Notice the Israelites response, the fasted and recognized their sin.
Vrs 7-8 The Philistines heard and attacked, and the Israelites appealed to Samuel to keep praying because they were afraid.
Vrs 9-11 The Lord confused the Philistines and the Israelites were able to drive them back
Vrs 12 Then Samuel put up the stone as reminder.
So in this biblical account we see they received the message, listened to it and God rewarded them, but God was the one who did the work and Samuel wanted to put up a constant reminder of how God will help his people if they listen to Him.
Literally speaking, an Ebenezer is a "stone of help," or a reminder of God’s Real, Holy Presence and Divine aid. Spiritually and theologically speaking, an Ebenezer can be nearly anything that reminds us of God’s presence and help
1 Samuel 1100 years before Christ, it was a spiritually dark time for Israel the priesthood was corrupt and people were turning away from God. There was a remnant that were following God but by and large Israel was falling away.
1 Sam chapters 4-6 The Israelites brought the Ark of the covenant into Shiloh they were just defeated by the Philistines and 4000 men fell. The Bible says they the Hebrews shouted so loudly that the earth shook.
Talk about the Ark Priest came into the holy of holies one time a year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) the priest brought the blood of a goat to atone for the sins of the people
The Mercy Seat and the two cherubim angels and the Lord dwelt there. Contents Ten Commandments, Aarons Rod that budded with almonds to prove that he was the priest and chosen by God , and the Golden pot of hidden manna. These we all reminders of what God did for them.
So of course when the ark was moved for worship they were going to be excited and shout. The Philistines heard the shout and pretty much said lets put an end to this
The Philistines defeated Israel and took the Ark of the Covenant and slaughtered 30,000 people.
When they told Eli the priest that his two sons where killed and the ark was taken he fell over and broke his neck and died.
So the Philistines moved the Ark around for 7 months and during that time they suffered plagues of tumors and rats so they said we have to get rid of this thing. So their priests said send it back with 5 images of gold tumors and 5 golden rats as a sacrifice. They hooked it to two cows and said if it returns to its own territory it was the Lords hand that struck us, if not it was by chance. Well guess what it went to the Israelites field of Joshua in Beth Shemesh
After the ark was in Beth Shemesh and 50,000 people died for looking into the ark they were so disturbed by what happened they brought the ark to Kirjath Jearim which is 10 miles from Jerusalem
Pick up in
1 Sam 7:1-12 Israel was weak and afraid and did not have spiritual focus, but the Lord was the one who did the work.
Vrs 1-2 Eleazar “God is power or help”
House of Israel lamented after the Lord “had sorrow or mourned deeply”
Vrs 3-4 Samuel spoke… If you return to the Lord with all your heart, serve Him and put away false gods.
Ashtoreth- Goddess of fertility and sexuality
Baal-pegan god of nature and fertility
Basically Samuel was saying they had to renounce their perverted sinful selfish ways
These two manmade gods are the eppitomy of a life centered around self.
The promise is that God will deliver them from the Philistines.
What is God saying to us? Change your mind, about who Jesus is believe that He is your Savior. As a Christian change your actions, be obedient and put God first, don’t put other things or people before God.
Vrs 5-6 Then Samuel prayed, obviously praying to the Lord is a center piece to seeing something in our lives change. Notice the Israelites response, the fasted and recognized their sin.
Vrs 7-8 The Philistines heard and attacked, and the Israelites appealed to Samuel to keep praying because they were afraid.
Vrs 9-11 The Lord confused the Philistines and the Israelites were able to drive them back
Vrs 12 Then Samuel put up the stone as reminder.
So in this biblical account we see they received the message, listened to it and God rewarded them, but God was the one who did the work and Samuel wanted to put up a constant reminder of how God will help his people if they listen to Him.
Literally speaking, an Ebenezer is a "stone of help," or a reminder of God’s Real, Holy Presence and Divine aid. Spiritually and theologically speaking, an Ebenezer can be nearly anything that reminds us of God’s presence and help
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