INTRODUCTION:
A lot of things happen in the middle.
For Example :
Here is a simple fact: In order to come out of something, you first must go in.
In order to get out of bed, you first must get in bed;
To get out of the car, you have to get into the car;
To get out of the room, you first must go into the room.
One of greatest things about living for God is the joy of coming out of the middle
There is joy when we come out of the Middle!
Being delivered; being set free; being loosed of the enemy and the grip of sin is a miracle and it's happens in the middle
?Ezekiel - In the middle of the valley of dry bones / can the bones live ?
?The 3 Hebrew boys in the middle of the firey furnace
?Johna in the middle of the belly of the whale
We find Jesus and His disciples in the middle today. There was a lot going on the Monday after Triumphal entry. It all happened in the middle, today I want to speak on the Miracle In The Middle.
STAND / READ / PRAY
Look at you Neighbor and say It Happens In The Middle
Jesus is on his way out from Bethany and He is hungary. He sees a fig tree from afar and decides to go check it out b/c He is hungary.
He still had a 7 mile walk to Jerusalem to take care of some business. He gets to the fig tree and finds no fruit only leaves.
Now figs would produce crops 3-4 x per yr. Jesus being who His being all man b/c He is hungary but yet all God say's "Let no one eat from you ever again."
I am just wondering if there is anyone in the house this morning who has been found full leaf looking all pretty, looking the part of a chirst follower but not producing any fruit?
Jesus curses this tree.
Better yet . Have you ever been flowing along in life being all pretty and at full leaf and you drift right into something and you can't get out of it and before you know it you feel its curse??
Jesus curses the tree and makes His way to the city. As He and His disciples approach the city gates Jesus says "Let's go to the Temple."
What happens next is the miracle b/c it happend in the middle of the Narrative here.
Jesus goes in looses His mind and goes absolutely ham on these people!!!!
The Temple in thoes days was the economic hub of everything. If someone needed something they went to the temple first to enquire.
(house cleaner, home service/repairs,)
These people were making bargins for the remission of sins.
To top it off they could not even use Ceaser money. They had to uses Temple money.
They were bargining to buy sacrifices, (sheep, doves,goats, ect..) and the money changers were charging stupid amounts of intrest and fees to make all kinds of money.
Jesus could'nt take it! Mayhem comes loose and He takes ropes off the floor and braids them into a whip and starts knocking over, things on the table and eventually turning over the tables and driving these people out of His house.
ILLUSTRATE/ WITH WHIP AND TURNING OVER TABLE.
What if Jesus wants to turn some tables over in your Temple today?
Come on somebody?
There was a guy in the NT his mane was Saul and Jesus turned over his tables.
He thought what he was doining b/c it was for the Church/Temple and the Temple leaders was good. It wasn't good in God's eyes.
So Jesus being resurrected reveals Himself from Heaven to Saul filps his tables and changes his name to Paul and he went on to write 2/3 of the NT and pant Churches all over.
Here is waht Paul said - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV) 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
James 2:26 (NKJV) 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
I want you to see what Jesus turned over that day in the Temple. I beleive He turned over 4 table that day.
1.) THE TABLE OF IDOLS
an Idol is: Anything we give our lives to other than Jesus.
idols aren’t limited to graven objects crafted by human hands.
Idols are anything that you give your life to. That you pour every ounce of your energy into in hopes of it bringing you the things you desire in return.
Anything you place above God. There are many idols we struggle with and many of them creep into our lives without us even realizing.
We assign far too much value, energy, and hope to these things. The idols we build in our lives are serious offenses against God.
Ya'll heard of Moses in the Bible ? He was told to leave the childern of Isreal and go up on a moutain to mmet with God. While he was up thewre he would be given the 10 commandments of how the People should live. Well while he was up there obivouslly he was moving fast enough.and the people grew antsy. so the tooks all their gold melted it down and formed a golden calf and began to worship it. The very first commandment of the 10 is - "Thou shallt have no othewr gods befor Me."
Why Is God a Jealous God?
Because God is without sin, God’s jealousy in response to idolatry is righteous and holy anger.
God is jealous for his relationship with you because he passionately loves you and does not want you to be destroyed by idols.
A.] Family
Now, I’m the first that to say family is important and a major part of all our life experiences. Without family, life would be rough.
But we begin to idolize our family when we see our family unit as an inwardly focused huddle that is above all other things in life.
We should link arms and take the unity of our family to be outwardly focused instead. When family becomes more important than church, caring for other people, and living out the love of Jesus, we have turned our family into an idol.
b.] Career Success
We pour everything we have into our career.
You will work all the hours in the world. You will be the first to arrive and the last to leave. You will make sure your answer is “yes” to any request that is made of you. You’re known as the reliable and hard worker who gets the job done.
But the reason you’re doing all of these things is because your career success is your top priority.
It’s more than just being a hard worker. Your life is defined by how successful you are at your career. Even to the point of placing other life priorities on the back burner all for the sake of success.
When your life revolves around your job and how good you are at that job, it’s very likely that career success has become your idol.
ILLUSTRATION: BUDDA BASHING PARTY
What would happen if you walked in to work tomrrow and they said "I am sorry we are cutting back and we no longer need you."
What about my degreem what about all thime I put in on projects, what about all the systems I put into place.
Jesus want you to love Him not your Job, Family, sucess.
2.) THE TABLE OF HURT
Some people in here today are just hurt! And, Jesus wants to turn over the table of hurt in your heart.
?Maybe you were hurt as a child, touched inapproately, abused, maybe wound up in the DSS system,
?Maybe you were cheated on by your spouse and eanded up in a divorce
?Maybe someone has said something to you and that hurt your feelings and it cut you to the core.
?Maybe you were the kid that got picked on or bullied as a child
?Maybe your mom left you a little child for someone else to raise you.
?Maybe you have done some stupid stuff and hurt your loved one then ultimely yourself.
I don't know what has hurt you but You and God know. You have focused on it so much it controls you and your hurt has turned into hate.
?“Holding on to Hate is like letting someone live rent-free in your mind”
Hate is a reat Emotion. The person who hates is dealing with an emotion as powerful and demanding as love.
Hate is stronger than we are - You can't hate someone/somethgis just a little bit.
Hate releases the Inability to let go.
Hatred hangs around like an unwanted dinner guest. It’s awfully hard to get rid of.
Hate gives you a Desire for revenge. People who hate feel wounded. They often want to hurt others as much as they have been hurt.
James says - James 3:8-18 (NKJV)
8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Jesus wants to not only flip this table but He also wants to drive it out today.
3.) THE TABLE OF PRIDE
The Bible is clear that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 ESV)
But how does that work? Sometimes it seems that prideful people are the ones who win elections, receive awards, conquer opponents and become rich & famous.
Our culture is often attracted to the loud, brash, and bragging people.
This makes us doubt that indeed pride brings destruction.
Pride is easy to spot on everyone else but so hard to see on yourself
? Pride causes over-confidence, which blinds us to our weaknesses and can lead to destruction.
When we’re prideful and over-confident, we can overlook potential weaknesses, dangers and pitfalls.
We think past success guarantees future success. Over-confidence has led people to take risks that have sometimes resulted in death, in business failure, and in financial ruin, familes being busted apart.
?Pride causes self-focus and repels others.
One of the great lessons I have learned as a pastor is that the most beautiful word people hear is their own name.
Along with this comes the fact that people love to talk about themselves: their experiences, opinions, concerns, emotions, etc.
Great conversations are like a volleyball. The ball goes back and forth. If the ball stays on one side, the game can’t make progress. But many people, after talking about themselves, overlook asking about the other person/s.
The Bible tells us; “Don’t act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves. Don’t be concerned only about your own interests, but also be concerned about the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4 GW)
?Pride causes people to reject help they need from others.
Prideful people refuse to listen and learn. They hear but do not recieve! There are many things we cannot do for ourselves. But pride brings destruction by deluding us into thinking that we don’t need any help, we can do it ourselves.
Pride causes us to go into others temples and flip their tables. You dont have the right to do this. Only Jesus can into the temple and flip tables. Why??? Because it's His Temple
The greatest example of this is salvation. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so we wouldn’t have to save ourselves. Yet many think they can “save themselves” by being “good enough” to go to heaven. It’s one of the most ridiculous thoughts imaginable, yet people believe it.
Scripture says clearly; “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 KJV)
Think about how many times you say "I" and how many times you speak others names.
All I know is PRIDE keeps us from being generous, and serving others b/c we are worried all about ourselves.
4.) THE TABLE OF A OVER CROWED LIFE
What if Jesus dosen't want to just drive out sin, addiction, and bad stuff ?
What if today He wants to cleane: s you of distractions even if it's good things?
Maybe today you are here and your life is so full of The PTO, Helping some orginaztion, Being the room mom at your kids school, Coaching you son baseball team, Fishing, Reading, Social Media
These are good things but maybe they are consuming you.
These tables should be filpped if they keep us from being all God wants us to be.
We get so busy in our Temple (heart) we can't see who Jesus is
The Text ends like this Jesus was heading back from flipping tables and they passed the withered fig tree and PETER SAY'S MASTER THE FIG TREE YOU CURSED IS WITHERED FROM THE ROOT UP (WHICH MEANS ITS DEAD)
Jesus took this moment to teach them about faith. He tells them to speak to the moutain and it will be cast into the sea.
Here is the deal - The miracle took place in the Temple when Jesus took complete control - These men saw Him differently - They realized they all had some tables to filp in their on hearts - to be able to have the faith The Master was teaching about.
