The defendant, God, is the sovereign ruler of the universe and took no corrective action against the leaders of his church and his nation for their extremely serious wrongs, which ruined the life of Donald S. Drusky.

For damages, Drusky asked for the return of his youth, the skill of a great guitarist, and the resurrections of his mother and pet pigeon. Drusky hoped that God would fail to appear in court, allowing him to win the case by default.

Drusky’s case was declared frivolous and thrown out by a Syracuse court.

Servant, a publication of Prairie Bible Institute (Issue 70, 2004), p. 9; submitted by Ed Rotz, Topeka, Kansas

Things happen in life that don’t seem to make sense.

In the case of Donald Drusky it was the Loss of a job.

When I was in middle school it was the death of a youth pastor in a drowning accident.

This past year it was witnessing the destruction of hurricane katrina and the devastation in people’s lives that resulted.

Is God really in control? Because if He is, why would He let something painful like this happen? Maybe He isn’t in control… then we wouldn’t be forced to ask why He lets bad things happen

Because if He had the power, then He could have prevented these tragedies from occurring.

Explain: Omniscience and omnipotence.

His omniscience and omnipotence create a paradox. Either He is all powerful and all knowing and thus responsible for everything that happens, or He is not and He is not responsible.

Key text: Colossians 1:16, 17 16 For by him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together

By him all things were created. There is not a thing that He didn’t create. Not just visible, but invisible. Molecules, DNA, Atoms, Angels, heaven.

Thrones, or dominions, or principalities: Kingdoms, governments. Governors, Judges

These things were all created through him and for him.

He is before all things.

And in him all things are held together.

God is in control, even when bad things happen.

I believe that the first core conviction of the Christian life is that

We believe in a sovereign, loving, holy God. It is more true to the scripture and healthier to live with God as He is and has described Himself in the Bible then to attempt to craft a theology that safely answers the paradoxes His omnipotence and omniscience creates. He is in charge of life.

I choose to believe that God is omnipotent and omniscient _and_ that He is holy. I would rather live with the paradox of a good God being responsible for bad things then to live as though He does not have all power and all knowledge.

His awesomeness means that we aren’t going to understand Him. But this doesn’t feel very good.

I want God to make sense. I demand that God make sense. Don’t you?

Isaiah 40:13 Who has understood the mind [ a] of the LORD, 
       or instructed him as his counselor?

What I have come to realize is that I do not have to understand Him in order for Him to be holy. I think that this is a very key conclusion that all Christians need to come to eventually.

Hans Denk: Paradoxa: How blessed we would be were we to recognize how little we actually have. We would then bemoan our poverty and hunger after the bread of life, namely, the Christ of God, our Father. He has sufficient for all wants, but tends to give to the hungry only.

So… two things we are going to look at.

First, He is Lord of His creation. Second, He is Lord of me.

Lord of creation

New Orleans. Coast of Gulf of Mexico.

Walmart looked like it was built on stilts.

Homes hit like a wrecking ball.

Casino barges stripped of their sides. The rubble of one casino barge that had been carried up over the highway and landed on a building.

What does it mean? Was this the hand of God?

Ancient people believed Cataclysms, plagues and drought were either a judgement of the gods, or a conflict between warring gods. These tragedies struck both the just and the unjust.

It was the job of the prophets to tell them what it meant. Sometimes false prophets told them what they _wanted to hear_. While true prophets usually said the things that people _didn’t_ want to hear.

These types of events take place today. Do they still have meaning as they did in Old Testament times? Yes. A biblical prophet probably would have attached meaning to the destruction of the twin towers. To the hurricanes, to the tsunami

What I think we lack is prophets to interpret their meaning.

These events raise a big question in our mind.

Was God in control when the hurricane hit taking lives and destroying homes?

Psalm 135:6, 7 6 Whatever Yahweh pleased, that he has done,

In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps;

7 Who causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth;

Who makes lightnings with the rain;

Who brings forth the wind out of his treasuries;

Nahum 1:3 3 …Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

He is still at work. He causes the clouds to rise, He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings forth the wind. He has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. He did not leave the world alone to function out of the laws of physics. This is not as the meteorologists call simply a natural occurrence. He is Lord of the whirlwind and the storm.

How we are to approach storms is not to ask whether or not God is in it, because He is, but to ask “What do you want me to do?”

Billy Graham tells the story about the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew’s devastation. He writes about his grandson, Stephan-Nelson, who was working night and day helping the survivors to get water and food, and noticed a sign on the roof of one house which read: “Okay, God. You’ve got our attention. Now what?” I see storms of apocalyptic proportions on the horizon. God is beginning to get our attention. Now what?

Billy Graham in Storm Warning. Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 5.

OK, God. You’ve got our attention. Now what?

So, first, He is Lord over His creation.

Second, He is _my_ Lord.

Sometimes it isn’t nature that seems out of control, it is our life.

Zech is out of control. He’s been out of control since his conception. i’m ready to take steps to say that 6 children is enough. Too late.

Life is out of control. I’d like it if God weren’t so out of control. Can’t He just do what I want?

Graham Cook says “God is consistent, but he is also unpredictable. He is consistent in his nature. You always know where you are with God, but you seldom know what he is going to do next. You cannot find security in what God is doing. There is only security in who God is.”

Graham Cook, “Embracing Change,” Quiet Waters Compass (April 2003); submitted by Bill White, Paramount, California

Turn to Isaiah 29 and we will begin in verse 13

Isaiah tells the story of a time when God’s people were only serving Him externally, but not internally. They were following the outward rituals, but not with their heart. God had announced through the prophet that judgement was going to happen to them through the hand of a warring neighbor. In order to avoid this, Israel was attempting to build an alliance with Egypt to protect them from the coming siege. The funny part of this story is that they were keeping this plan from Isaiah… it looks like they thought they could keep their plans from God by keeping them from Isaiah.

So we find that God had a destiny for them… just not one that they wanted.

Let’s read:

Isaiah 29:13 13 The Lord said, Because this people draw near to me, and with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught them; 14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 15 Woe to those who hide deep their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and who knows us? 16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him who made it, He didn’t make me; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?

God says “You’ve got it backwards.” I’m the potter, you’re the clay. You think that you can control your destiny. But I am the one who is in control.

We are not in a position to judge whether or not what God is doing in our lives is right.

Job 36:23 23 Says “who can say [to God], ‘You have committed unrighteousness?’

Missionary Gracia Burnham, who was held captive by terrorists in the Philippines for more than a year and whose husband was killed during the rescue, writes:

Sometimes I wonder, Why did Martin die when everyone was praying he wouldn’t? Why does Scripture lead you to believe that if you pray a certain way, you’ll get what you pray for? People all over the world were praying that we’d both get out alive, but we didn’t.

Her questions made her realize it isn’t always easy to comprehend God’s nature:

I used to have this concept of what God is like, and how life’s supposed to be because of that. But in the jungle, I learned I don’t know as much about God as I thought I did. I don’t have him in a theological box anymore. What I do know is that God is God—and I’m not. The world’s in a mess because of sin, not God. Some awful things may happen to me, but God does what is right. And he makes good out of bad situations.

Corrie Cutrer, "Soul Survivor," Today’s Christian Woman (July/Aug 2003), p. 50

God is God and I am not.

[emphatically] God is God and I am not.

When nature is out of control, when my life is out of control, God is God and I am not.

Close with this. Found in my devotions.

Habakkuk 3:17

though the fig tree doesn’t flourish,

Nor fruit be in the vines;

The labor of the olive fails,

The fields yield no food;

The flocks are cut off from the fold,

And there is no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh.

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

If everything fails around me. The crop fails. The creek rises. Everyone abandons me. Nations surround me. I have a terminal illness. A loved one dies.

I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.

Do you know people that are poor? Have you ever been poor yourself? Probably the closest some of us have come was when we were in college or first married. Some of you may even be poor now.

We’ve known lots of people that were poor… they’ve lived in our home.

And our family has been at various times of our life part of the working poor. Employed or underemployed, but still struggling to make ends meet.

It is hard to think of the poor as blessed as we are going to read that Jesus said of them. I don’t know if we have felt blessed when we were struggling.

While picking up provisions for a weekend trip, author Donald Miller describes what happened as he stood in line at the grocery store.

He writes: “At the checkout counter, the lady in front of me pulled out food stamps to pay for her groceries. I had never seen food stamps before. They were more colorful than I imagined and looked more like money than stamps. It was obvious as she unfolded the currency that she, I, and the checkout girl were quite uncomfortable with the interaction. I wished there was something I could do. I wished I could pay for her groceries myself, but to do so would have been to cause a greater scene. The checkout girl quickly performed her job, signing and verifying a few documents, then filed the lady through the line. The woman never lifted her head as she organized her bags of groceries and set them into her cart. She walked away from the checkout stand in the sort of stiff movements a person uses when they know they are being watched.

On the drive over the mountain that afternoon, I realized that it was not the woman who should be pitied; it was me. Somehow I had come to believe that because a person is in need, they are candidates for sympathy, not just charity. It was not that I wanted to buy her groceries; the government was already doing that. I wanted to buy her dignity. And yet, by judging her, I was the one taking her dignity away.

Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz (Thomas Nelson, 2003) p.84; submitted by Jennifer Scott, Carol Stream, Illinois

This tends to be how we feel about the poor. We either feel sympathy for them, or we believe that it is their fault that they are in their situation.

So, what does Jesus have to say about poverty and riches.

Let’s Read Luke 6:17-26

Luke 6:17 He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; 18 as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed. 19 All the multitude sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said,

“Blessed are you who are poor,

For yours is the Kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are you who hunger now,

For you will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you will laugh.

22 Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.

23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich!

For you have received your consolation.

25 Woe to you, you who are full now!

For you will be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now!

For you will mourn and weep.

26 Woe, when men speak well of you!

For their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.

First, before we talk about the poor, let’s begin with the rich. These woes are rather off-putting, because in most cases they describe us. When compared to local poverty and world poverty, we are all rich. we are full, we laugh, and men speak well of us.

So why does this seem to provoke woe from God while He simultaneously blesses the poor?

It is because we have our needs met and thus don’t need Jesus.

24 “But woe to you who are rich!

For you have received your consolation.

We have what we need. We have received our consolation. So why should we look to Jesus for anything more.

Luke records many instances in which Jesus warned the rich that they were going to have a more difficult time then the poor entering the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 16:20 20 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 It happened that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. 23 In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. 24 He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’

25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish.

Then in Luke Luke 18:18

18 A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

19 Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

21 He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”

22 When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me.”

23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.

24 Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”

So, what can we do?

We need to learn from the poor.

While we cannot be the blessed because we are poor, Matthew says that we can be blessed by being like the poor. [Repeat]

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit”

Normally we think of it as having poverty of spirit. That our spirit is needy. That is different from the poor who are also physically needy.

I don’t have a commentary to back me up on this.

But another way to read “the poor in spirit” is to be like the poor

To take on those attributes of the poor that make them more susceptible to the Kingdom of God.

it is learning to think and act like you are poor.

To be dependant.  The poor depend on God to provide for their needs. Because we have our needs taken care of, all we have left is our wants, which God isn’t concerned about. When you are poor and don’t have enough rent this month, what do you do?  you pray and depend on God. When you are poor and don’t have enough to buy food to eat, what do you do?  you pray that god with provide and stretch the food.

Let’s look at why the poor are blessed and how we can be like them.

First, the poor were blessed because they were like Jesus who became poor on our behalf.

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. 2corinthians 8:9

Jesus gave up all the riches of being king of the universe to become poor so that through his poverty we might become rich. So, the poor are blessed because they are like Jesus.

Second. He was compassionate for the needy.

Luke 4:18

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim release to the captives,

Recovering of sight to the blind,

To deliver those who are crushed,

19 And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Luke 5:31 “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.

As I said in my previous sermon, Jesus meets us in our point of need. not our want. The rich and the powerful wanted Jesus to be the Messiah in their image. But the poor _needed_ Jesus to be whatever He was because He ministered to their need. Jesus never ministers to our wants. We need to be desperate for Him. The poor are often more desparate for him then the rich.

The third reason that the poor were blessed. It was comparatively easy for a poor man to become a Christian; for he could lose little in this world, and would gain much in the world to come. The poor can respond to the call of the gospel with a certain abandonment and uncomplicated totality because they have so little to lose and are ready for anything.

A rich man would not be inclined to make those sacrifices, and to expose himself to those sufferings to which all Christians, during the first ages, were liable. (J. Thomson, D. D.)

So, How can we be like the poor.

Monika Hellwig, lists the following “advantages” to being poor that I think we would do well to imitate.

1. The poor know they are in urgent need of redemption. We need to be like the poor in our desperation for God’s help.

2. The poor know not only their dependence on God and on powerful people but also their interdependence with one another. The poor rest their security not on things but on people. The poor need other people. Intimacy is created when we are met by others in our time of need. We need to be like the poor in this respect. Relying on each other.

4. The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance. We know a woman from back home who used to live a very humble life. Then she decided to run for state congresswoman.

6. The poor can distinguish between necessities and luxuries. I have a very difficult time with this. One of the reasons my generation can have a difficult time living inside their means

7. The poor can wait, because they have acquired a kind of dogged patience. We need to…

9. When the poor have the gospel preached to them, it sounds like good news and not like a threat or scolding. We need to…

Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Zondervan, 2001, p. 115); submitted by David Bartlett, Rochester, Minnesota

Read Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;

2 Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive

To the voice of my supplications.

3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with You,

That You may be feared.

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,

And in His word I do hope.

6 My soul waits for the Lord

More than those who watch for the morning—

Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD;

For with the LORD there is mercy,

And with Him is abundant redemption.

8 And He shall redeem Israel

From all his iniquities.

Introduction.

Wants vs. needs.

We do it with God, we do it with people, and we do it with our lives.

I am so focused on what I want, that I don’t realize how good it is that my needs have been met.

I need a relationship with God. I want Him to give me my desires.

I need food. I want cajun.

I need water. I want Mt. Dew

I need shelter. I want my dream home.

I need meaningful relationships. I want them to be on my terms.

Our relationship with God must begin at the point of need.

I often wonder why it is that I strain to see God’s hand in my everyday life.

I am beginning to realize that when my focus is on God providing for my desires, I will fail to see the abundant ways that he has supplied my needs.

Psalm 130 is written from a man who needs God.

verse 1 says “ 1 Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord”

A reminder of Jonah, in the belly of the whale. In the depths crying out to God.

These are men who need God. They aren’t coming to him to have their wants met. They are desperate for God. Are we desperate for God? When was the last time you cried out to God. Take a moment, and examine yourself and ask “Am I desperate for God?”

Let’s dive in.

4 points

read verse 1 and 2

Lord hear me

1 Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh.

2 Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.

I want God to talk to me.

I need Him to hear my voice.

I like to describe myself as a frustrated pentecostal. I believe that all the spirit filled supernatural gifts are for today, and yet I don’t see them manifest in the world around me. I want desperately to see God’s work.

But David here, instead of being frustrated that God isn’t speaking, prays to God that He would listen

What a transforming prayer.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and said in desperation “You aren’t listening!”

David is praying to God: “Listen to me!” “Lord hear my voice.”

When I am focused on my wants, I will desire to see God act to meet my wants.

But when I am focused on my need for God, I will simply cry out to Him “Lord hear my voice,” and be satisfied that He heard me.

Read verses 3 and 4

If God kept a record of sins

3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with you,

Therefore you are feared.

What a revelation this is

What if God kept a record of sins.

Romans 1:18 says 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

If God were to keep a record of our sins, His wrath would be visited upon us. His wrath



But instead David writes in verse 4

4 But there is forgiveness with you,

Therefore you are feared.

Then later in Psalm 103:11, 12

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has he removed our transgressions from us.

This should change our whole perspective of life.

Humility that God has forgiven us.

But also desperation that sinners would come to follow Jesus as Lord so that He can save them from His wrath.

Thank God He does not keep a record of our sins.

I wait for the Lord

5 I wait for Yahweh.

My soul waits.

I hope in his word.

6 My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning;

More than watchmen for the morning.

“more than the morning watchers, that watch for or until the morning” {h}; than watchmen of cities, or the keepers of the wails, as Aben Ezra; those who are upon the last morning watch, and are looking out for the morning light; that they may go off from duty, and lie down and sleep: or than those that sit up with sick persons; who, being solitary and melancholy, as well as want sleep, long for the morning, that they may have some refreshment: or rather than the priests and Levites that watched in the temple, that waited for the morning, that they might be relieved by others;

When we learn to focus first on asking God to hear us, our next step is to wait on Him. I believe that He will answer. But He does so in His time, and so we must learn to patiently wait.

verse 6 says that we wait for Him like watchmen long for the morning.

I remember when I was teaching music that sometimes we would have to get up at what to me is mega early… 5am to get on a bus at 6am. While sleeping, I would be so afraid that I would oversleep my alarm clock that I would wake up every little bit and look at the time. I was a watchman waiting for the morning.

Another group of watchmen were those who would sit on the walls and watch for enemies. This was a round the clock job, and so some would work the graveyard shift and be up all not. These people were watchmen waiting for the morning.

In both cases, they were anxious for morning. waiting expectantly for the sun to rise.

In the same way, we need to be expectant for God, waiting patiently for Him to act or to speak, attentive so that when He does, we will recognize His voice or His actions.

A couple points:

First, as we wait, verse 5 says “i hope in His word.” Where we can expect to hear Him speak is in His Word. I hear God’s voice most often when I hear the word of God spoken and suddenly, gold letters are around a certain phrase.

Second, as we wait, we are waiting for the things of the Lord, not for the things that we want. God has his own agenda. Sometimes it lines up with ours, but often it doesn’t. When we wait on Him we need to learn to discern His voice from ours.

Finally, verse 7 and 8 speak hope for the people of God.

7 Israel, hope in Yahweh,

For with Yahweh there is loving kindness.

With him is abundant redemption.

8 He will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Out of our need for God comes hope for the church.

Repeat

The church needs to be filled with needy people. Needy for the things of God. Desperate for God. Dissatisfied with the amount of God we have. Desiring to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.

When this is the condition of the people of God, then in verse 7 David says “Israel, hope in Yahweh. With Him is loving kindness. With Him is abundant redeption.”

He will redeem His church from all her sins.

Prayer

Lord, you are our Lord.

Teach us to put aside our wants, and to need you. Desperately.

We wait for you.

Redeem your people from all her sins.

Let our lives so shine by our desperation for you that people would be drawn to make you Lord of their lives.

“Maybe you weren’t paying attention.”

Donna Blalock, Lubbock, Texas. Christian Reader, “Kids of the Kingdom.

Sometimes we think we have enough but God really has more for us.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry John the Baptist’s disciples noticed that Jesus was getting more attention then John was.

John 2:26 says

26 They came to John, and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.”

27 John answered, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.

28 You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’

29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.

30 [Jesus] must increase. I must decrease

As we study through the book of Luke, this is I believe the most important lesson that we can learn. More of Jesus. Less of me. It is tempting for us who have grown up in the church to be like the little girl who thought she’d already learned it all in Illinois. We may know the stories, but our lives still need renewal of our passion for God. The story of Jesus needs to impact us so that we say with John, “Lord, let there be more of you, and less of me.

Turn to Luke chapter four, verse 14 and we’ll read together through verse 30.

14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. 15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim release to the captives,

Recovering of sight to the blind,

To deliver those who are crushed,

19 And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

20 He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

22 All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” 24 He said, “Most assuredly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”

28 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

It’s funny how in small towns there are small occassions when someone leaves and reaches some degree of public notoriety. You probably know of some stories in Filer, Buhl, or Twin.

But it can be a mixed bag when celebrities return to their hometown.

It was very exciting for everyone in Ephrata when one of our high school baseball player signed with a major league baseball team. But it was awkward when he came back because the story was that he squandered the opportunity.

Another guy was the second in line to be the actor playing Robin in a Batman movie. It was very thrilling for everyone even though it didn’t materialize. But then he came to town and did some standup comedy that wound up being rather filthy.

When Jesus came to Nazareth He was a returning celebrity

In John 1:19-4:45 we learn some of the things Jesus was busy doing before coming home to Nazareth.

Jesus called Andrew, John, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael to be his disciples, turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana, talked with Nicodemus and the woman at the well and healed a royal official’s son.

Then in verse 14 of Luke 4 we read:

14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.

15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.



Jesus was a celebrity returning to His hometown

Jesus spoke often in Jewish synagogues. These were gathering places for worship that sprang up during the time when the Jews no longer had their temple. Synagogues were places of worship on the sabbath and schools for young boys during the week. They continued to exist even after the temple was rebuilt. Any town with at least ten Jewish families could have a synagogue. The synagogue was administered by one leader and an assistant. Often the leader would invite a visiting rabbi to read from the Scriptures and to teach. Thus Jesus, traveling from town to town, teaching, preaching and doing miracles would be a popular person to invite into a town’s synagogue. Life Application Bible Commentary for Luke, p. 92

When I read different books about the order of worship in the synagogues I was fascinated to discover that there were lots of differences in how they described it. I imagine it was like it is for us with little subtle changes happening all the time.

You’ll also notice that there were lots of similarities to what we do.

1. An opening prayer

2. They would recite a confession of faith or what was called the shema from deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 “Hear, Oh Israel The Lord your God the Lord is one.

5 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

6 These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart;

7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for symbols between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the door-posts of your house, and on your gates.

3. Then there would be readings, A psalm

4. and then Readings from the law and prophets

5. Following the readings would be a Brief message or a sermon (given by a rabbi, traveling speaker or one of the men of the congregation based on the scripture read.)

6. Closing prayer and dismissal



So at the appropriate time, probably following the reading of the psalm, the leader of the synagogue handed the scroll to Jesus, the traveling rabbi who opened it to Isaiah 61 and read

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim release to the captives,

Recovering of sight to the blind,

To deliver those who are crushed,

19 And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

This would have been a very familiar reading to everyone because He was reading about the Messiah that they were waiting for.

What they didn’t expect was when He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”



Job description.

Most of us have job descriptions, even if they aren’t written down. They describe what it is we are supposed to do so that if ever anyone needs to check and see if we’ve been doing our job, they can line up our work with the job description.

This was Jesus’ job description.

As we read through the rest of Luke we’ll see that these were the things Jesus was doing in His ministry.



Preach good news to the poor

Heal the Brokenhearted

Proclaim release to captives

Recovery of sight to the Blind

Deliver the Crushed

Both physical application and spiritual.



One of the things that we learn from Jesus about what we should be doing is the importance of prioritizing the needy. Doing so personally. It’s easy for us to feel like we’ve done our part when we make a donation to an organization that specializes in caring for the needy. Jesus didn’t make a donation to the leper colony. He was out in the midst of the needy so that He was able to help them personally. Our work is usually the place that this happens the most. We all are present with needs, but we need to also be available to minister to them. Deana comes home with lots of stories about the needs of both the students that ride her bus, and the drivers that she works with. She is not only present, but she also makes herself available to minister. One of the reasons that I frequent coffee shops is that it gives me an opportunity to meet the people that work there. People know that I am a pastor and so it gives me opportunity to talk about spiritual things. And when needs come up, I will be available.

Continuing with verse 22:

22 All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’”

24 He said, “Most assuredly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.



Jesus showed that it is often difficult for us to change among people who have known us for forever. He had grown up with them and they knew Him as the Joseph the carpenter’s son. Now He had become something different. You and I will never change to the degree that Jesus did, but we need to be careful that our familiarity with each other doesn’t keep us from taking radical growth steps in our relationship with Jesus and personal ministry. Jesus had to step away from the familiar when He returned to His home church and it cost Him, nearly fatally.

Inertia can be one of our greatest enemies as Christians. When I moved back to Ephrata to plant Columbia Basin Mennonite Community church, I was a wild eyed twenty-something with new ideas and new beliefs about living out the gospel. But as time passed on, and the church eventually closed, I began to settle into a safe faith. The funny thing, is that it probably didn’t look very safe to people around me because I was still a bit of a radical. But I had lost the edge that had defined me earlier. I took my place among the other Christians in the church and played it safe.

But when we imitate Jesus, it is often going to cost us, and sometimes with the very people that we have grown up with in the faith. This happened to Jesus, and it will likely happen to us if we are pursuing radical renewal in our lives.

25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”

28 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

St. Augustine said “They love truth when it enlightens them, but hate truth when it accuses them.”

Jesus was pointing out that He had not come just for the Jews but the Gentiles, the very people who oppressed the Jews.

Jesus wasn’t saying that He came to the Gentiles and _not_ the Jews. He was saying that He came to both which upset the status quo.

We need to remember that just as Jesus came for the Gentiles as well as the Jews, He came for the sinners as well as the saints.

If our friends only include Christians, then we are not following Jesus’ example. If our church only ministers to ourself, we are not following Jesus’ example. This includes the sunday morning service.

Eugene peterson says of the church “The Sunday morning congregation is a hospital.” Eugene Peterson, Leadership, Vol. 2, no. 1.

I heard a story this week of a church that was reaching out to non-Christian troubled youth. It gradually made the parents of the churched youth uncomfortable because of the character of the troubled youth. Eventually the parents pulled their youth from the youth group.

I think what should have happened was that the church should have developed a discipleship group for the churched youth that would train them to be ministers to the nonChristian youth. Then you wouldn’t have had to choose between the churched youth and the nonchurched youth.

Jesus discussed this with the Pharisees in Mark 2:16, 17

16 The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

If push comes to shove, we need to always choose to minister to the sinners even if some of the churched won’t accept it.

C.S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.”

Have you ever had a sin that you just couldn’t seem to shake, and thought to yourself, “once I get this nailed, I won’t struggle with sin anymore.” We live with the illusion that the sin we struggle with is just one area and that keeps us from realizing how sinful we are in other areas.

Lewis goes on to say “That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, book 3, chapter 11; from Sermonnotes.com

Today we’re going to look at the time when Jesus was in the desert immediately after his baptism and prior to the beginning of His ministry and was being tempted by Satan. We’re going to see what temptation is like, what the devil’s role is in it, and how we can imitate Jesus in resisting temptation. This is a challenging message because by setting out to resist temptation, like Lewis said, we realize how bad we are. We will be testedwhen we try to resist temptation. I became more aware of temptations in my own life as I was preparing for this. If you take this sermon to heart, the same will happen to you.

Prayer. “Open our eyes and our ears to the lure of temptation. Thank you that your son Jesus resisted temptation so that we might have the Holy Spirit to empower us to resist temptation. As Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Luke 4:1-12 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness

2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

5 The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want.

7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”

8 Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

9 He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here,

10 for it is written,

‘He will give his angels charge concerning you, to guard you;’

11 and,

‘On their hands they will bear you up,

Lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’”

12 Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

13 When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.

Temptation

(from introduction) What is temptation.

Temptation is a test. It does not mean trying to get you to sin. It means testing you.

When you take your drivers test, you aren’t being tempted to break the law. You are being tested to give you the opportunity to show that you won’t break the law.

God allows us to be tempted. But just like the driving instructore, that does not mean that He is trying to get us to break the law. James says “Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one”

He gets us out on the road where Satan attempts to get us to do evil for the purpose of building endurance in us.

James 1:2-6

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4 Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The devil

(from introdution) what the devil’s role is in temptation

Mark Twain said We do not pay [Satan] reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents. A person who has, for untold centuries, maintained the imposing position of spiritual head of four-fifths of the human race, and political head of the whole of it, must be granted the possession of executive abilities of the loftiest order.

Mark Twain. Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 3

one of the things we’re going to see time and again in Luke is the war that’s being waged by Satan and his demons against mankind

Temptation is one of his tools.

When he tempts us, it is to prove that we fail. And so he will lure us by putting things in our way to distract us. When God tests us, it is to give us the opportunity to prove that we serve Him.

Important to realize when things get thrown in our way it often means that the enemy is trying to keep us from being effective ministers in this world.

So,

Three ways we can win the test of temptation.

Take courage that you do not fight temptation alone.

In the book of 1Corinthians 10:13 Paul told the corinthian church “13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man.”

When I am going through some trial, I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one struggling with this problem. Isolation and loneliness increase our susceptibility to falling prey to temptation. Being around other Christians in a setting where you can talk about your struggles is so necessary. Sunday school, youth group, sunday evening fellowship and young adult small group are ways to take comfort that we’re in this together. We’re not alone in our temptations. They are common to everyone.

Ask God for wisdom.

Paul continues in 1Corinthians to say “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure”

If you are being tested, God will always make a way of to follow the law. He’s like the driver’s ed instructor telling you to watch out for the one way street ahead so you don’t go down it. We need to learn to go to God in prayer and ask Him for our driving instructions.

James 1:5, 6

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

An important part of the story of Jesus’ temptation that Luke tells us is that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit went he went into the desert to be tempted. He was not alone. And neither are you. If you lack wisdom to deal with a temptation ask God in faith who gives liberal help to us.

Use scripture.

Jesus quoted scripture at every temptation to refute satan.

Memorize scripture.

If you struggle with overeating, “Man shall not live by bread along, but by every word of God”

Satan offered Jesus control over everything. If you struggle with taking control of everything, you need to always remember that God is the one in control. You need to get your focus off yourself and onto God. So Jesus quoted and so should you: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”

The same is true if you put acquiring possessions ahead of God. “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

Take advantage of your sonship. “I can sin, because God will just forgive me. “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

If you have a problem with lust: Job 31:1 1 “I made a covenant with my eyes, How then should I look lustfully at a young woman?”

Worry: I’m a world class worrier. I have a PHd in worry from Worry University hanging on my wall.

I need to quote daily: Matthew 6:33, 34 33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.

Satan does not leave us alone. He didn’t leave Jesus alone.

We need to be ready for the battle with him, and not be like the ostrich who hides his head in the sand.

Before we pray, I’d like to end with some scriptures about our war with the devil. To help us realize how important it is to take the devil seriously.

1Peter 5:8, 9 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.

Ephesians 6:12, 13

12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.

2Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one.

2Timothy 4:18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly kingdom; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

At one of our elder meetings a month or two ago, we were looking at an assessment question from a MCUSA booklet that relates to our vision of being a place for spiritual renewal to happen to each of us.

It asks if this statement is true:

“Schedules become simpler and less full, in order to make room for others and recognizing the presence of God.”

How do you think we are doing at that? How are you doing at it?

Lately when members of my family want to add something to our schedule, I’ve been replying “our schedule just keeps getting busier and busier.” I’m sure yours is the same.

It’s no wonder that one of the popular topics in Self help books is time management.

Two here. (show getting things done, and first things first)

How to cram even more into our already busy lives.

Mennonite Church USA has provided worship resources for today to focus on stewardship. As I looked at the topics, I thought the most helpful to us would be to look at our stewardship of our time.

Let’s list some symptoms of hurriedness and see if it’s something you struggle with.

Symptoms:

-looking for the closest parking spot to the store so you’ll save time

-trying to judge the quickest line in the checkout so you’ll get out quicker

-getting impatient at slow drivers. i’m hot and cold with my driving. sometimes i’m in a hurry. but there are often times when my children say “why are you driving so slow,” and the answer is that I’m in no hurry.

-too many projects

-seeking information, not wisdom. cnn headlines news and usa today are successful because they allow us to digest

What can we do?

First let’s get some Biblical perspective from two passages, Psalm 90:10 and 12, and John 10:10

First, Psalm 90:10, The length of our days is seventy years— 
       or eighty, if we have the strength; 
       yet their span [a] is but trouble and sorrow, 
       for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Teach us to number our days aright, 
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

How old do you think you’ll live to?

I’ve always thought I’d live to be one hundred. I’ve had grandparents and great-grandparents that lived into their 90′s.

One of the motivators for health in our society is fear of death. People are trying to find ways to prolong their life.

And our society doesn’t seem to value the role of age in our lives.

30 year olds are trying to look like 20 year olds. 40 year olds are trying to look like they are in their 30′s. 60-80 year olds are trying to live like they are in their 50′s.

None of us wants to admit with Moses that the length of our days is limited, even if we have strength… they quickly pass, they fly away.

So we aren’t to deny the process of aging, instead we are to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

For more perspective, read John 10:10 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Did you hear what Jesus said he came to give?

A fulfilled life. Not a full one.

This is one of my core scriptures. Because the pressures of life can lead us to be cynical about this world. Jesus came to give us life. A fulfilled one.

Typically a if we fill up our life with too much stuff activities, things, it keeps us from having a fulfilled life.

Listen to this quote from MMA’s small group

Bible study “Time Warped,” “The more we do, the more we accumulate, the more we attain, the less we are able to live. Our ability to fully engage life’s experiences, embrace its subtle mysteries, and be enriched by special moments, is significantly reduced by the amount of things we do, the speed at which we do them, and the reasons why they seem important to us.”

My former pastor Doug Murren used to describe his life in the church as moving 100 mph with your hair on fire.

When we are trying to do so much, our lives get full, rather then fulfilled.

We spend more hours working so that we can make more money so that we can get more things that take up more of our time.

So, what do we do? How can we win back our lives from the busy-ness that encroaches on us.

I want to leave you with eight Scriptural encouragements that can help you take back your lives.

1. Come to Jesus to receive rest.

If there is one thing missing from our lives today, wouldn’t you say it is “rest”? I

don’t mean a nap on Sunday afternoon, I mean a spirit and a soul that is at peace

with God and itself. I don’t know many people who can say that because they just

don’t have time in their lives to pursue this kind of rest. But Jesus not only calls

us to rest, he modeled it.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Notice that Jesus says he will give us rest. This implies that it is a gift, and it also reminds us that we must approach and ask for it. When’s the last time you asked and received the gift of rest?

2. In Jesus’ life, he modeled this rest First in observing the Sabbath. Jesus said in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”The Sabbath was given to us in order to have communion with God and retreat from the constant pull of the world. It is our opportunity to step aside from the hecticness, contemplate on how and where God has been at work, and restore our souls.

3. The other area where Jesus modeled rest was personal solitude. Many times in

Scripture we are told of Jesus’ withdrawing to a desolate place in order to pray and be alone with God. In our modern vernacular, we would call this a “retreat.” How many of you have ever taken a personal retreat or been part of a group retreat. How many

of you practice solitude on a regular basis? For some people, solitude can be a

challenge. For many hurried people, it may take several hours just to quiet our minds and hearts to a place where we can connect with God. Yet, if you talk with people who practice solitude regularly, they will tell you that it is one of the best things they do.

4. Be still. Both Psalms 37 and 46 remind us to be still and know that he

is God. Take time every day to slow down and acknowledge God’s sovereignty in your life.

5. Seek God first. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus reminds us to seek first God’s king-

dom. No matter what your to-do list looks like, each day is an opportunity to serve God.

6. Do not worry. Jesus, James, the apostle Paul – all alluded to this. The follower of Jesus need not worry about anything. God will provide. If you didn’t do everything on your list this week, what would you worry about not getting done? Is that really

worth worrying about?

7. Learn to say “no.” I’m a big fan of no. No is not a bad word. It is a freeing word. A liberating word. And sometimes we need to simply tell people, even the church,

that we can’t do something this time. Recall Moses in Exodus 18. As magistrate, Scripture tells us he was overseeing the people’s issues “from sun up to sun down.” It took his father-in-law, Jethro, to come alongside and show him a better way. Jethro

said, “This isn’t good for you or the people.” Moses needed to say no. Maybe you do, too.

Not just saying no to committments and people. Saying no to ourselves. Merlin Mann of www.43folders.com recently told the story of subscribing to a magazine that he had previously only bought on the newsstand.

He writes: “For a year we subscribed to my favorite magazine, The Atlantic. Where I used to love leafing through The Atlantic on the newsstand and then buying a copy to bring home, by the time the second home-delivered issue appeared, I was already jaded. “Feh. Another thing I have to read.” And onto “The Pile” it would go. I’d taken something I occasionally did on purpose and for pure fun and turned it into an experience with all the anticipation and thrill of opening the gas bill.”

We need to learn, I need to learn to say no to our impulses which add more clutter and take more time away from our already hectic schedules.

8. Focus on one thing. I was doing a year end review that asked what books I had read. I read a lot but as I looked at my bookshelf to find the books I’d read, I had only read a chapter here of one and a chapter there of another. I’d not read through one book. So now I’m taking the time to read through books.

Studies have repeatedly shown that we get more done when we do one thing at a time

and do it completely. How many of us spend our day doing a little bit here, a little bit there, and then wonder why we’re so frustrated at the end of the day?

Philippians 2:9 says

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If nothing happens today in this sermon, we want to exalt the name of Jesus. You should come away with a sense of awe about Jesus’ name.

Jesus’ name is so important because it did not come from human origin. It came directly from God himself.

When we utter the name “Jesus,” we are not speaking an ordinary name. This is the name that God gave HIm which is above every name. We need to reclaim a sense of awe at the name of Jesus.

This Sunday is called Holy Name on the church calendar. It commemorates the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

Technorati Tags: bible, demons, kingdom of God, Jesus

This Sunday is called Holy Name on the church calendar. It commemorates the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

Luke 1:26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

28 Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”

29 But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.

30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’

and then in Luke 2:21 When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Jesus pronounced ee ye soos. Comes from the Hebrew word for Joshua. The angel told Mary’s husband Joseph the meaning of the Word in Matthew 1:21. He said “for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

I think it’s really important for us to use proper names when talking about God. That’s one of the reasons I use a Bible translation that uses the name Yahweh for God. We live in what’s called a pluralistic society. Pluralistic means lots of ideas side by side, each given the same amount of legitimacy. Yahweh is side by side with Allah, with the Buddah, mother earth, and others, and given no more significance to most people. In fact, there are often people attending Bible believing Churches who believe that each of these are legitimate ways to center your life and secure your eternity.

This is much like that of the Roman empire where multitude gods were acknowledged side by side. Pantheon. And leaders were considered gods. Tolerance for the Jewish God Yahweh. In fact, the Roman rulers were mostly tolerant of Jesus. His crucifixtion was more a result of the Jewish leader’s intolerance then the Romans.

The gospel of the Kingdom of God stands in the face of this and says, “No, there is only one God, He is Yahweh, and His Son Jesus is the only way into heaven.” He is a rock that makes men stumble. He has a claim on your life.

While driving with her 3-year-old nephew, Connor, his mother asked him to name the other people riding in the car with us. After he answered successfully, she then asked him to name every other family relative he could think of, including their nicknames–and he did. “Connor, what is God’s other name?” she finally asked him. Everyone all sat quietly, expecting him to say Jesus. After pondering the question a moment, his little face lit up. “Why, God’s last name is ‘Bless America,’” he said.

Amanda Scroggs, Alexandria, VA. “Heart to Heart,” Today’s Christian Woman

People have lots of funny ideas about who God is and what His name is. So, the name of Jesus is very important. It discriminates between Him and all the imposters out there.

Today we’re going to look at what role the name of Jesus plays in our lives.

Inside your bulletin (see this post) is a hand out with a list of some of the scriptures that reference the name of Jesus. Take it out and you’ll be able to follow along. Because the teaching on the name of Jesus is so extensive, I thought it would be good for you to have a reference. Stick this in your Bible, or at home on your refrigerator.

I want to make a point at the beginning that it is the Kingdom of God that is advanced through the proclamation of the name of Jesus.

Jesus the King. Servants act in the name of their king. The boundaries of a kingdom domain are established under the name of the king. Wars are fought.

When we use the name of Jesus, we are establishing territory in the name of our king. We are declaring that Jesus is Lord _here_.

First, there is Authority over demons in the name of Jesus.

I had the opportunity to read the sermon that Andy preached on the weapons of our warfare and it was a reminder that we don’t just live in a physical world, we live in a spiritual world that is antagonistic against us. It’s in this world that authority was given in Jesus name over demons.

Mark 9:38 39 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.” But Jesus said “Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.

People who weren’t even following Jesus had power over demons in Jesus’ name.

Acts 16:18 She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.

When we are confronted by darkness, whether it is in the physical world, or in the spiritual world, we need to claim the authority of Jesus’ name over these spiritual forces.

Second, there is Authority over sickness in the name of Jesus

Soon after Pentecost, a lame man asked Peter for a money.

In Acts 3:6 Peter said to him, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

It was in the name of Jesus that the miracle occurred. Peter was extending the boundaries of the Kingdom of God by praying for healing in the name of Jesus his King.

Some other examples:

Acts 4:10 be it known to you all and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole.

Acts 4:30 While you stretch out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.

In this case, not just healings, but signs and wonder. Ponder what that means.

It’s important to know that the powerful movements of God that establish themselves in local churches are most often a result of recovering the spirit of the book of Acts and the early church. We need to go back to Acts and begin applying the power of the Holy spirit in the name of Jesus.

Third, the Kingdom of God’s domain is expanded when people come into the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus.

Preaching, faith, repentence, and baptism all happen in the name of Jesus.

Speaking/preaching in the name of Jesus

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (the messiah) they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 9:27 After Paul’s conversion, Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

Believing in his name

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name.

John 20:31 these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name.

1John 3:23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as He commanded.



Repentance, justification and forgiveness of sins are in the name of Jesus

Acts 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins.

1Corinthians 6:11 Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

We are baptized in the name of Jesus

Acts 2:38 Peter said to them “Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:48 He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.

Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Application: In sharing the good news of the Kingdom with people, we should make frequent use of the name of Jesus. Because there is power in the name. And also because it differentiates the gospel from the other religions of the world.

Fourth, the boundaries of the Kingdom of God are expanded when We live in the name of Jesus

Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Living in Jesus’ name illustration

Laura Duvall Bush tells the story of when her daughter Aimee was in nursery school, she’d come home each day with drawings, collages, and other projects. Next to her own name she’d scrawl the name of someone she loved–usually Mommy or Daddy, sometimes baby brother Ben. “I did this for you,” she’d proudly say.

She says “As I reflect on this, I remember the apostle Paul’s exhortation, “Whatever you do … do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). If Aimee could do every school project for me or for her dad, surely I can do my “projects” for my heavenly Father. Now I often ask myself, Have I written my Lord’s name on all I’ve have done today?

Laura DuVall Bush, New Britain, CT, Today’s Christian Woman, “Heart to Heart.

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.



Sometimes we suffer in the name of Jesus.

Acts 5:41 They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.

Acts 15:25 it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The year was A.D. 155, and the persecution against Christians swept across the Roman Empire and came to the city of Smyrna. The proconsul of Symrna, swept up in this persecution, put out an order that the Bishop of Symrna, Polycarp, was to be found, arrested, and brought to the public arena for execution. They found Polycarp and brought him before thousands of spectators screaming for blood. But the proconsul had compassion on this man who was almost a hundred years old. He signaled the crowd to silence. To Polycarp he said, “Curse the Christ and live.”

The crowd waited for the old man to answer. In an amazingly strong voice, he said, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How dare I blaspheme the name of my king and Lord!” With that Polycarp became a martyr.

Leith Anderson, “Can Jesus Trust Us?” Preaching Today, Tape No. 126.

Conclusion:

Awe when we say the name Jesus.

Begin to say the name Jesus in everyday settings. It’s evangelism. Learn to talk about Jesus, not just saying the generic “God”

What practical way can you put Jesus’ signature on the projects in your life.

This post is licensed under the Creative Commons license.

What does it mean to be repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit?

“You will only revive the burning power and passion of Christ in your life by opening yourself to the power of God’s Spirit, by anchoring your daily life in the disciplines of worship, Bible study, prayer, and faithful service, and by welcoming god’s direction in the everyday routine of your life.” – Greg Laurie A Passion for God p. 13

Three word pictures in the Greek help us to understand what the term “filled” means.

First, it was used of the wind filling a sail and pushing a boat through the water. To be filled with the Spirit is to be moved along by God Himself. He becomes our source of motivation. When we are filled with the Spirit following His commands becomes a delight instead of a drudgery.

Second, being filled carries the idea of permeation and was used of salt permeating meat in order to flavor it and preserve it. God wants His Spirit to permeate our lives and influence everything we think, say and do.

Third, being filled means to be under the control of something or someone. The previous verse says to “not be drunk with wine.” The problem with drunkenness is that it controls you. When you are drunk, it controls your body, your mind, even your mouth. And then when you later aren’t drunk, it controls you by drawing you to the time when you can get drunk again.

Being filled with the Spirit is similar, only in a much more positive way. It means placing every thought, every decision, every act under the Spirit’s control. Galatinans 5:16 promises “Walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” When you walk in the Spirit you have the resources to do what God wants you to do and to not do the things God doesn’t want you to do.

How to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit?

How to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit?



“Be filled is a command. Doesn’t really give us an option.

But paradoxically, the greek shows that it is not something that we can achieve through our own efforts,

It is something done for us and to which we submit.

We do our part and the Holy Spirit does His.

So, what is our part.

1. Ask to be filled with more of the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:9-13 9 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

keep asking. not just asking once.

keep seeking. not just seeking once.

keep knocking. not just knocking once.



This is so basic, but I can tell you that I don’t always keep asking.

Acts 1:4-5 4Being assembled together with them, he charged them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Wait. Waiting is hard.

Wait expectantly. “for the promise of the Father, baptism in the Holy Spirit.”



3. Don’t quench the spirit. 1Thessalonians 5:19.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.



We quench the spirit when we have unrepentant sin, a lack of love for God, and/or for others. Or when we deny the work of the Holy Spirit.

This post is licensed under the Creative Commons license.