DESPERADOES
Ptr Glenn Narvaez
May 18, 2014
Introduction:
Do you like to observe people? I do. People are different from each other. Physically we are different from each other. Some are short. Some are tall. Others have beautiful noses, others don’t. Others have beauty pageant quality others don’t. We also have different temperaments. Some have short temper, others have are very patient. Some are pessimist, some are optimist. Some look at half empty glass, some look at the half full glass. We also have different attitudes to certain things and events, and so on. I guess God created us like that.
But I also notice a common quality with those who are “successful” or those who get what they wanted. As I read the newspaper, watch TV and read the bible I noticed one quality that is common to many of these people and even the Old and New Testament saints. They possessed this quality and they get what they desired from God. I would like to have this quality. Of course, not to get what I want, but to let the kingdom of God come in my life. When I say the Kingdom of God it means the will and purpose of God in my life and ministry. The bible says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and (Psa 37:4 NIV) Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
What is this quality?
I seem to notice the spirit of desperation and persistence among these people. And they get want they came for. I don’t think that they have twisted the hand of God and force Him to give what they want, but God favored and blessed them because of their faith and persistence.
GOD DESIRES TO BLESS HIS CHILDREN. It is His will to bless us. But I think the problems lie with us. We block the flow of God’s blessings through our attitude towards God. The bible says in (Psa 23:6 NIV) Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life…If that is the promise of God, why then we don’t seem to experience this on a regular basis? I would like to know the answer. Maybe the answers can be found as we study the lives of these people.
As I read the bible, I seem to notice these personalities. Who are these people?
• Bartimaeus
• Zacchaeus
• Woman w/ blood problem
• Jacob
• Abraham
• Elijah
• Roman soldier with a dead son
• Persistent widow
• 4 friends and a paralytic
• Mary who anointed Jesus’ feet
Many became heroes of the bible because of their desperation to seek God and his will for their lives. I noticed that the attitudes of these people toward God were extra ordinary. They do not settle for less. They know that their God is willing and able to do their request. And God did not fail them.
All of Gods people are needy, but few are willing to acknowledge that need, It is when the need is acknowledged that a condition of desperation begins to be developed in us.
Forgive me for the TITLE of this sermon because just like me you may have a negative understanding of this word. I use the word in a positive, encouraging manner. I would like to encourage everyone to have a desperate faith in God just like the characters in these texts.
WHAT IS DESPERATION?
Why desperation?
Desperation only comes when there is a recognized need that is beyond our own ability to meet.
DESPERATE:
(1) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair
(2) Showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken as a last resort
(3) Showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire
So what are the qualities of the Desperadoes and how to be like these people? How to get things from God and how to get things done? Do you like to get things from God? Do you like to receive the blessings? This maybe the missing ingredient. Let us turn to the bible and study and learn these people. Lets open our bibles in Luke 18.
For they do not care what anyone thinks.
They do not care what anyone says
They will go where no one else will go
They won’t let anything stop them
They will do desperate things
(from Blessed are the Desperate by Revivalist Terry Sisney)
QUALITIES OF THE DESPERADOES?
1. Persistence-“(Luke 18:5 NIV) yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'" Widow, Zacchaeus, Bartimaeus, Blood lady
2. Sacrifice-(Luke 18:22 NIV) When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Luke 18:23 NIV) When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Sacrifice wealth, fame, position, pride
3. They know what they want-(Luke 18:41 NIV) "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord, I want to see," he replied.
If we cannot answer this question, maybe we are not that desperate.
4. Creativity-(Luke 19:3 NIV) He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.(Luke 19:4 NIV) So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 4 friends and a paralytic
5. Courage-(Mark 5:2-28 NIV) When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." She was not thinking about passing the chance. There is no tomorrow for her. She got to do what she got to do. And she did and got healed.
THE BLESSINGS OF THE DESPERADOES?
1. The unjust judge got pissed off, but The widow got justice
2. The crowd shouted and rebuked him, but blind man got what he wanted
3. The people and church leaders got angry, but The little man got saved
4. The Master may have been hindered, but The bleeding woman got healed
5. The roof got broken, but the paralytic was restored
Conclusion:
Our attitude towards God reflects the degree of God’s blessings, working, and dealings with us. Many of our prayers are not answered simply because we’re not too eager, desirous, excited or desperate to desire it. We sometimes don’t care if God answers us or not.
Are we desperate for the blessings of God? Do we really know what we want? Now is the time to be desperate for God and his blessings.
