We look for heroes today, and we only find them in comic books, but there used to be a real hero. He lived a long time ago. His name was Jesus, and He led a very action-packed life.
Jesus had just healed a man in a cemetery from being demon possessed, and then when he got home, there was a crowd already gathered to welcome Him back. As I would imagine it would have been a happy occasion, one with many smiles, as he began to walk through the streets among the people.
Then, a man named Jairus appeared out of the crowd and fell at the feet of Jesus. He was the ruler of the local synagogue, and he began to plead with Jesus to come and heal his 12-year old daughter.
As He was on his way there, a woman appeared out of the crowd, kneeling down and touching His robe. Now, understand that everyone there knew that Jesus was a healer; a hero that defied local logic. This woman had an issue of blood for many years, but as soon as she touched the garment of Jesus, the bleeding stopped! Can you imagine how she felt? She had been constantly bleeding for 12 years, and now she was instantly healed.
When she touched Him, Jesus felt some of His power go out of His body, and He turned to ask who touched Him. When He said that, Peter thought that Jesus had just felt some in the crowd touch Him as He passed by. But Jesus knew somebody touched Him and His healing power had flowed out to that person.
The lady then came forward, afraid she might be in trouble. When she confessed that it was she who touched Him, Jesus said something every Christian should take to heart and use as their guiding light. He said, “Woman, your faith has healed you.”
“Your faith has healed you!” What awesome words! Jesus was all about healing. He continued on His way to see Jairus’ daughter, and on the way, a servant came and told Jairus that the girl had already died.
I think he must have reacted as any father who loves his child would. I think his heart immediately started to break and his grief was probably more than he could bear. But Jesus told him to not be afraid, that she would be healed. Jairus was probably a lot like us today. He was probably numb with the news of his daughter’s death, and from that point he probably followed mechanically.
And when Jesus came to where the girl was, He brought her back from death, once again defeating the limited powers of Satan.
Shortly thereafter, Jesus called the Twelve together. Now, at this time, Jesus had many disciples, but the core group of disciples was called The Twelve. They were His inner-circle, so to speak.
And Jesus gave them …
1. POWER IN HIS AUTHORITY
Have you ever wondered what the American Christian has done with the power and authority that God has given us? I believe that we have thrown it away because we either do not believe it exists, or we don’t want to take the responsibility for having it.
I read several years ago about a small Oklahoma town that had two churches and one bar. The bar owner was a self-professed atheist, and the church congregations were both very much against the evils of alcohol.
So the churches began having a daily prayer vigil, asking God to intervene and get rid of the bar. One night, while they were praying, a fierce thunderstorm raged over the city and lightning struck the bar and burned it down.
The next day, both churches were celebrating when the news came that the bar owner was suing them for causing damage to his bar. Well, it finally went to court where the bar owner testified that the two churches had conspired to have God burn down his bar. But the two churches, in their testimonies, denied they had any part in it.
What grabbed my attention in this story was that an atheist claimed a belief in God’s power, while two churches denied that same power!
Let me tell you a living truth. God has power, and through our belief in Jesus Christ, He has given that power to us – so that we can use it for His kingdom! Any denial of that is a denial of our belief and faith in God.
LUKE 9:1-2
‘When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.’
Jesus gave them the power they needed to go into pagan areas and preach the gospel of salvation. But in order for the people to listen and believe, they had to see the power of the gospel, too, so Jesus gave them the power to cast out demons and to heal the sick.
Everybody wants to see a miracle. But today’s Christians have put a different slant on that. We believe in miracles, and we know that God has done miracles in the past. We even yearn to see a miracle today. But we don’t want to be personally involved in a miracle. Why? Because we don’t really believe in the power and authority of miracles. We tend to have a simplistic view that looks at miracles like a Hollywood kid’s movie, or something out of a cute little fairy-tale.
In truth, miracles are a direct work of God, and they are among the most powerful and Godly actions in the universe.
Let me show you what I am talking about. I sent an email to a few pastors I know, lamenting how we do not have the power of authority because we do not understand it and therefore, we find it easier to ignore than to accept. I got two emails back basically agreeing with me; I got one email back that said, “God bless, Bro!” and the rest never even bothered to respond.
It isn’t just the congregations that are untaught and untouched by the word of God, it is also the pastors of those congregations! Whereas we once proclaimed the word of God, we now hide behind a wall of ignorance and disbelief. No wonder we see little of God’s work in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
When I was a young boy, our pastor said, “He who sits on a red hot stove shall rise with haste!” I think we are all ready today to sit on that red hot stove so we shall learn how to rise up in the power of God.
And the main reason we do not believe is because …
2. WE DO NOT FULLY RELY ON GOD
There is a long list of TV shows that deal with the supernatural. Many computer games are based upon demons and demonic activities. While at the same time, there is a number of shows that are based on angels and things that seem to be from God. But we look at all of them as nothing but a good night’s entertainment.
That is the problem of the American church. We look through eyes that are half closed. Comfortable in our spiritual slumber, we end up denying the devil and God alike, because we look at what they can do as ‘cute stuff meant for TV.’
We’d better wake up! Our eternal lives are at stake and they are too important to ignore the truth any longer! Christians need to start relying on God once again, not just with the half-hearted acknowledgment found today, but with a reverence and humbled heart that fully relies upon God for all we have.
LUKE 9:3-5
‘He told them: “Take nothing for the journey – no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town.”
Jesus wanted them to rely, not on the things of this world to do a Godly work, but to rely on Jesus to do that work. He told them to take nothing. Why did He tell them that? He told them that to show them that He is their provider and sustenance, not the world. He wanted them to learn how to fully rely on Him for all things.
Now, this next part is where I think most Americans can learn from today. Jesus told them that if people do not welcome them, they are to do nothing more than shake the dust from their feet and leave. In other words, Jesus was saying that if they find people who do not like them and treat them mean, to not get all upset about it, but to keep focused on their work and go elsewhere to do that work.
Today, very few Christians are willing to go out and really try to tell others about Jesus. We come up with all kinds of excuses to justify it, too. But it all boils down to one thing; people might get upset at us if we do.
The trouble with focusing so much on what others think about us is, we have no room left to focus on what God thinks of us. And I will tell you something very crucial: It is more important to please God than it is to please the neighbor down the road. CAN I HEAR AN AMEN ON THAT?
We rely on others around us to give us their approval. When we do not get that approval, we get upset and our strength collapses like a house of cards on a windy day.
If we were to rely on God for what we need, we could then begin to see our neighbors as people who really need God’s word, and we would then be able to love them enough to see past their defenses and look into their hearts. See, it isn’t about keeping somebody from being upset with you. It is all about loving that person enough to do what you can to keep them from going to hell.
Who do we rely on? Most people will believe a friend before they will a Christian when it comes to what the Bible says. The problem is that many friends don’t know what the Bible says; all they know is what one of their friends told them, and most of the time it will be totally inaccurate information.
There is the story of a Mexican outlaw back in the days of the Wild West who would sneak into Texas, rob a bank, and then sneak back into Mexico before he could get caught.
One day, however, the sheriff and posse cornered the outlaw in a bar. They surrounded him and told him to say where the money was or they would blast him full of holes.
The problem is that the outlaw could not speak English, so he depended on the bartender to interpret for him. He didn’t want to be shot, so he told the bartender that the money was under the big rock by the town well.
The bartender told the sheriff, “He said go ahead and shoot him, he isn’t telling.”
The moral of the story is this: Do not rely on just anybody to interpret the truth for you. They might have a hidden agenda.
Miracles do happen, but in order for them to happen, we must know who to rely on. When we rely on God ….
3. WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS
LUKE 9:6
‘So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere they went.’
You hear me talk about the difference between real Christians and casual Christians. Let me explain exactly what I am talking about.
There are many people today who go to church and swear up and down they are good Christians. These same people, however, have been taught and believe something other than what the Bible says.
Here are just a few examples of how a false teaching is evading our churches today.
Many churchgoers today are taught to believe that when people go to hell, they are only there for a period of time before they go to heaven. Their reasoning for that is some sins are worse than others and the less serious the sin, the less time spent in hell.
Now that might make a lot of sinners really comfortable with their sin, but there is nothing in the Bible that even hints at such a fantasy.
Many others believe they can go out and do whatever they want, week after week, as long as they keep coming in to their pastor and ask him for forgiveness. The problem with this is that a pastor cannot forgive you.
Only God can forgive, but He won’t forgive unless you repent from your wicked ways. If you continue to stay in you sin, and then ask another human to forgive you, you are playing a game that you will lose.
Casual Christians go to church to feel good about themselves, but they have no intentions of trying to study God’s word so they can live it, or so they might be able to tell somebody else what it means.
What are the differences between Casual Christians and real Christians?
Real Christians have put Jesus as the number one priority in their lives, no matter who says anything about it. And they have learned that their only strength comes from their belief in Jesus.
Let’s bring this closer to home so we can all identify with it. I have had a very bad back since I was 15 years of age. I have injured it several times and in 2004, a surgeon told me it was so bad there was nothing he could do for me.
He said he couldn’t even get to the vertebrae because they were all encased with arthritis. Basically, he said all I could do was be very careful.
I had a preacher call me to the front of a sanctuary while he was preaching one Sunday. He said he felt that I needed prayer for my back. I didn’t tell anyone, but my back was hurting so badly that day I could barely sit in the pew.
I stood there and he prayed a prayer that was nearly inaudible. And while he prayed that quiet and gentle prayer, he touched my chest ever so lightly. His hand felt very warm. I went back and sat by my wife and within minutes, my back was not hurting at all.
Here it is, years later, and I am still going strong. A few months ago, while we were renovating this church, I slipped a disc and walked around like a question mark for about a week. And then I had others pray over me and lay hands on me. My back is fine.
And this has happened to several of you in this congregation. Lorine was instantly healed with prayer one Sunday. Don has been healed of cancer and is now living proof God can and still will heal.
You have seen it with your own eyes, but many of you don’t believe because you don’t understand. Those that believe receive - and those that don’t, well all they are left with is their doubts.
God can do anything He wants, whenever He wants to do it.
PSALM 115:3
‘Our God is in heaven, and He does whatever He pleases.’
We can accomplish great things when we have the right motivation.
A man went fishing at a pond one day. There had been reports about wild dogs in the area, and several had been shot. But he didn’t believe he had anything to worry about, so he casually set up his equipment.
He was at the pond for a few hours, enjoying the relaxing time more than on the fishing. And then he happened to look across the pond and spotted about five dogs. As quickly as he saw them, they saw the man, and then they took off in his direction.
The first thing he did was get a new belief! And then he got motivation. He ran as fast as he could back to his car. He couldn’t hear the dogs anymore, but he still believed he was in terrible danger, so he kept running.
What I am getting at is we will do and show what we believe. Many people claim to be a good solid Christian, but their actions show they aren’t. The only time a person can show that they are a strong Christian is if they have been motivated to do so.
There is only one place to get that motivation: Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God and our Savior. And without that motivation, no matter what we try and portray, we still act like the person we are; one who lives in the world, not in the kingdom
In closing, let me share a story about Shrek the lost sheep. A sheep gets sheared once a year. As the wool grows during the year, it collects dirt from wherever the sheep might go. But when that wool comes off, it leaves the sheep looking and smelling much cleaner.
Shrek got lost and his shepherd searched everywhere for him. He evaded capture for six years. When they finally found him, he was in a cave, high in the mountains of New Zealand. And his wool was over a foot long. The first thing his captures did was pin the wool back out of his eyes so he could see to walk.
They took him back, and prepared to shear him. His wool was almost black with dirt and it smelled very badly. But they finally got it all off, and Shrek looked much cleaner.
Shrek is much like us. We have all gone astray and have lost our way in this dirty and sinful world. And left unchecked, that dirt and sin covers us, making us look filthy to our Lord.
But just as those shepherds spent years pursuing Shrek, our Savior, the Good Shepherd as pursued us. And just like those sheepherders cleansed Shrek by shearing him, Jesus Christ cleanses us with the blood that He shed on the cross. And in that blood, we look clean and sinless to our heavenly Father.
Have you been like Shrek - wondering in the desert? If you will just look in the direction of Jesus, you who are lost, can also be saved. Will you do that this morning? Will you let yourself be rescued by the Good Shepherd?
Christians can do great and mighty things through the power of the One who was sent to save us. But first, we must be willing to place Him first in our lives, even above ourselves.
Have you done that yet? Or, is what you want still more important than what He wants for you?
INVITATION
