Jesus Is In The House

Inspired by Elvis Burrows "When Jesus Shows Up" But only a little snip herre and there may remain.

TITLE: When Jesus is In the House 05-27-2013

TEXT: Mark 2:1-12

INTRODUCTION: THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT, JESUS MOVES IN THE CHURCH

A. Is Church a celebration of historical facts, a recitation of rituals, a religious observance. Or, is it a powerful celebration of the presence of Jesus where the Holy Spirit moves in vibrant ways?

1. It used to be different. There was a time when our great-grand-parents, even though they didn’t have cushioned pews, air conditioning, and over-produced music, a computerized sound and light systems, internet and other technological aids.

2. One thing they had at the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission on Azusa Street, One thing they had at Bethel Bible School in Topeka Kansas was the presence of Almighty God in their midst. Jesus was in the house.

--There was genuine love for one another.

--They blatantly, openly defied Jim Crow Laws.

--Worship would go on for hours (even uptight white folk stayed).

3. Out of these great movements came other great movements. It was the revival which spread from west to east across our nation. Older established denominations caught some of the fire and reignited. It’s all but petered out now.

4. I’m 50 white man. I’ve never seen a great move of God with my own eyes in the church.

--The closest thing I’ve seen is the Brownsville Revival Rick took me to down in Pensacola. That’s has stopped not too.

5. Man gets involved, politics, a little greed slips in, what about the profit motive, and new found fame of discovered personalities.

6. I see now why God had to literally kick every ounce of the Dog poop out of Moses, let him rot until he was 80 years old, could no longer speak without a stutter, then God could use him more mightily than he used any man.

7. The Bible says Numbers 12:3 Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.

B. And so today where Christian entertainment is king, we should know…God will not share His glory with any man or woman who would dare to stand up and snatch it out of His hand.

1. The true glory of God, the true presence of God will not show up in that place.

2. I don’t know about you. I don’t want the rhinestone…I want the diamond. I don’t want the fool’s gold, the gold plated or gold filled…I want the 24k. I don’t want the show, I’m tired of the show…I want Jesus. I just want Jesus.

3. The Church can’t be like the country club, or the technical college where people come to take a few classes for an hour or two, learn some facts for self-improvement, then go do something fun.

--If ever a time we need the power and the presence of God is now.

4. We may be doing things by the book, but if those things are void of the power of the Holy Spirit then we are no better than the book club. Maybe we could start Bingo night.

5. At this stage of my Christian journey, I’m not going to settle for a just “casual Christian ministry”. I’m even fed up with the idea of “the pastor as a professional”. I don’t care if I garnish the respect of a Doctor or lawyer whether I’ve received the number of years of education they have or not.

6. God has saved my life. He is doing great things in my life. –While He is doing those great things, it sure hurts, but the end result is fantastic!

7. I haven’t come this far to settle for just business as usual, I want to experience the power of God, especially every time I enter into these doors. Do you?

8. But I have come to today to remind us that we have something so precious… the precious gift, the person of Holy Spirit. He is the One who brings Jesus into a House today. When Jesus enters a house, things happen.

TS. When Jesus is in the house…

I. YOU GOTTA START TALKING

A. On the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, was the humble little town Jesus chose to be home base for His Kingdom which would know no end in time or boundary. Our text tells an interesting story which happened there one day Mark 2:1-12 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”