INTRO.- ILL.- A woman’s husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she stayed by his bedside every single day. When he came to, he motioned for her to come nearer.
As she sat by him, he said, "You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times. When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there. When I got shot, you were by my side. When we lost the house, you gave me support. When my health started failing, you were still by my side... You know what?"
"What dear?" She asked gently. "I think you bring me bad luck."
The moral of the story is that some relationships are not good. Some people are not good for one another. Some associations are not good because some people are not good.
Brothers and sisters, it’s true that bad company can get any person into a lot of trouble.
I Cor. 15:33 “Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
ILL.- I read that the young actress, Lindsay Lohan who starred in HERBIE: FULLY LOADED in 2004, recently entered rehab for her drinking problem. She is only 20 years old and she already has a serious drinking problem. Why? Well, look at who she’s been running around with: Paris Hilton and Britney Spears who appear to be a couple of party girls. Bad company corrupts.
Britney Spears also needs to clean up her act, because she’s a mother who, in my thinking, is neglecting her babies. And she’s strayed a long way from her Southern Baptist background in Louisiana. And it’s because of the bad company that she’s been keeping over the years. Hollywood corrupts. At least, some people in Hollywood corrupt others.
Matthew 21:12 “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.”
When Jesus entered the temple area things began to happen. Jesus cleaned house, among other things. And when Jesus enters another temple, things begin to happen. WHAT TEMPLE? The temple that God gave each one of us…our bodies. When Jesus enters into a person, things begin to happen, to change, and change for the better.
PROP.- From this text, let’s think about what happens when Jesus enters into a person’s life. 1- When Jesus enters He drives out evil 2- When Jesus enters He calls for prayer 3- When Jesus enters He brings healing 4- When Jesus enters He evokes praise
I. WHEN JESUS ENTERS HE DRIVES OUT EVIL
Matthew 21:12 “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.”
When Jesus enters anywhere, a temple area, a human heart, evil cannot stay. He drives out the evil.
ILL.- Did you read or see where that lady beat off a mountain lion who was chewing on her husband? It happened on Wed., Jan. 24th. Here’s the news item. A 65-year-old woman fought off a mountain lion attack in Northern CA using a ballpoint pen to stab the animal -- and in the process probably saved the life of her 70-year-old husband.
The lion pounced on Jim Hamm at the end of a 10-mile hike in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. He was trailing his wife when the big cat attacked, pinning him face down on the trail.
Nell Hamm did all the right things. She approached and screamed at the lion. Then she grabbed a branch and began beating it on its back.
“It wouldn’t let go, no matter how hard I hit it,’’ she said in an interview at Mad River Community Hospital Thursday, where her husband was in intensive care recovering from surgery.
Jim Hamm, who was trying to tear at the face of the cat, told his wife to grab a pen from his pocket and stab the cat in the eyes. She did, but the pen broke. “That lion never flinched,’’ she said. “I just knew it was going to kill him.’’
Nell Hamm picked up the branch again and this time slammed it butt-end into the cat’s snout. The lion had ignored her until then. Finally, she had its attention. The cat stepped back, and glared at her with its ears pinned back. “I thought he was going to attack me,’’ she said. Instead, the cat slipped into the ferns and disappeared.
Wow! Talk about exciting and frightening! I don’t plan doing any hiking anywhere and especially, northern California!
Brothers and sisters, the evil one is just like that old mountain lion. He’s a hanger-oner! He never wants to let go. And so with evil in our lives. It doesn’t give up very easily. It continues to claw its way into our lives in order to deceive, gain control and kill. But when Jesus enters in things can change! They will change!
ILL.- Billy Sunday, the baseball evangelist, thundered against evil during the Great Depression. He preached Christ as the only answer to man’s needs until his death in 1935. He said, “I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. When I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition.”
That’s the spirit! But it can only happen with the Lord’s help, with His Spirit working within us.
Matt. 6:13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Lord, deliver us from the evil one and from our own evil. Only the Lord can do that. We must lean on Him. In time, we can become cleaner and better people. John, the son of thunder, the hothead, became the apostle of love. If Jesus is at work in your life you WON’T stay where you are.
II. WHEN JESUS ENTERS HE CALLS FOR PRAYER
Matthew 21:13 "It is written," he said to them, "’My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ’den of robbers.’"
Our house should be a “house of prayer” but often it’s a house of confusion and conformity. Confusion, because we allow the rush of the day to invade us to the point where God is shoved out and we have no time to talk to God.
Conformity, because we are conformed to the surroundings around us instead of drawing aside to have some quiet time with God. But God wants us to be a people of prayer. Not simple, surface prayers, but prayers that penetrate our own hearts and the heart of God.
ILL.- The early African converts to Christianity were faithful to pray. Each one reportedly had separate spots in the thicket where they poured out their hearts to God. The several paths to these spots became distinctly marked; and when any one began to decline in prayer time, it was soon apparent to others. They would then kindly remind him, saying, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”
What about you? Does the grass grow on your path to God? For the Christian, prayer should be one of the most natural things we do every day, every hour of the day.
ILL.- George Washington Carver, who invented the process by which we have peanut butter, said, “My prayers seem to be more of an attitude than anything else. I indulge in no lip service, but ask the great God silently, daily, and often many times a day, to permit me to speak to Him. I ask Him to give me wisdom, understanding and bodily strength to do His will. Hence, I am asking and receiving all the time.”
I think what Carver did was better than nothing but what most Christians do is better. What’s that? To me, prayer is more than just being silent before God. It is literally, verbally, constantly talking to God about anything and everything.
Phil. 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I Thess. 5:17 “Pray continually.” As someone said, “Prayer should be the key of the morning and the bolt of the night.” Studdert Kennedy said, “Prayer is not an easy way of getting what we want, but the only way of becoming what God wants us to be.” And “he who stands best kneels the most.” Is your house a house of prayer?
III. WHEN JESUS ENTERS HE BRINGS HEALING
Matthew 21:14 “The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.”
ILL.- Preacher/author Tony Campolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man’s healing. That next week he got a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer."
Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer had been eradicated! But before he could think much about it she said, "He died." Compolo felt terrible. But she continued, "Don’t feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God.”
She said, “He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn’t take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence.”
But the lady told Compolo, "After you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We’ve sung. We’ve laughed. We’ve read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they’ve been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing."
And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, "He wasn’t cured, but he was healed."
While Jesus may not heal certain physical infirmities that we have, He does want to bring healing to our spirits. I’m not saying that Jesus can’t bring physical healing, it’s just that we don’t see that happening all the time. And hopefully, all of us know that our ultimate healing will come in heaven.
IV. WHEN JESUS ENTERS HE EVOKES PRAISE
Matthew 21:15-16 “But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant."Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "’From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?"
ILL.- The 79th Academy Awards will be Sunday, Feb. 25th and many people go crazy over actors such as: Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Penelope Cruz, Meryl Streep, and others.
But as far as acting ability is concerned if all of them were truthful and honest, they would give God the credit for it. He is the giver of life. He is the creator of life and the creator of talent and ability in every person’s life. No one gets anywhere in life or gets anything good without the permission and blessing of God!
ILL.- At the recent (Jan. 15th) Golden Globe Awards actor Warren Beatty received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures. Actor Tom Hanks gave the introduction to Warren Beatty, which was good but overdone. Then Beatty came forward to accept the award and talked about himself and talked on and on. It was painful to watch and listen to. I felt that, in a sense, Beatty slobbered all over himself, trying to pat himself on the back.
Needless to say, I was not impressed with Warren Beatty. Actually, I was more impressed before he started talking.
Any time we talk about ourselves and our accomplishments we are treading in dangerous water. Warren Beatty gave God no credit for any good in his life. Not that I remember.
Rom. 1:25 “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”
Many people serve created things, including self, instead of the Creator. Many praise created things instead of the creator. Many praise themselves instead of God who enabled them.
ILL.- Now the reverse of that happened in a concert in Chicago many years ago, Harry Lauder, Scottish singer and songwriter, sang to an overflowing audience. At the conclusion, the audience stood and applauded loudly and long. After the applause subsided, the audience said in unison, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
Showing splendid humility, Lauder replied, “Don’t thank me! Thank the good God who put the songs in my heart!”
Harry Lauder was right. God is the author of all the good in our lives. If we can sing, then give Him the praise.
Heb. 13:15 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
I Cor. 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Or to His praise!
It seems to me that when Jesus truly enters a person’s life he evokes, or excites or calls forth praise in us and from us.
ILL.- Occasionally, you will hear some people say, “Thank you, Lord” in response to something good that happened in their life. “Thank you, Lord” for the good food. “Thank you, Lord” for the rest of the night. “Thank you, Lord” for helping me to get my work done. “Thank you, Lord” for the safe trip. “Thank you, Lord” for my child’s good behavior or good grades at school. “Thank you, Lord” for that bonus at Christmas. “Thank you, Lord” for my thoughtful mate. On and on, the praise should go. And the Lord is definitely the one who deserves the praise for all that good in life.
The words “Thank you, Lord” and words of praise should fill our hearts and our mouths. When Jesus truly enters into our lives, our mouths should erupt with praise!
CONCLUSION----------------------------
ILL.- Someone said, “Some people will change when they see the light. Others change only when they feel the heat.”
Thomas a’Kempis wrote, “Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”
II Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Please don’t the let change stop. Let Christ continually work in your heart and on your life. Let Him in enter your temple. Let Him guide, direct and bless. Let Him cleanse you, and make you into a person of prayer, praise, and healing to others.
