Title: Taking The Bull By The Horns
Text: Mark 6:1-6
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Introduction:
- God has a plan!
- And His plan is that the Toronto Maple Leafs and not going past the Philadelphia Flyers.
- In life God has a plan, and I think it’s fair to say that most of the time I don’t understand God’s plan for my life, my family, or my health etc.
- We have all experienced death and the questions that are left from loved one.
- Questions like "Why"
- Why is she/He hanging on, and what is God’s reason for doing this? Basicly what is God’s plan.
- And although we may never no sometimes why God does the things He does, we must always remember that God has a plan.
Transition:
- This morning in our text we see that God had a plan for His hometown and for the world, but at the time His hometown didn’t know the plans God had for them and it cost them.
- Not only did they not know God’s plan, they didn’t want to know God’s plan.
- They viewed Jesus as an amazing teacher, but some thought of Him as to ordinary for them to think He was the Messiah. Certainly this can’t be God in the flesh!
- All they could see Jesus as was nothing more then just a carpenter.
- Also when the towns people used the phrase “Mary’s Son” it was an insult to Jesus, why?
- Because a man was not described as his mother’s son in Jewish usage even if she was a widow. It was an insult to be referred to as a mother’s son.
- So there word’s only meant insults, because perhaps they knew there was something unusual about Jesus’ birth.
- Therefore since the townspeople could not explain Jesus, they took offense at Him, finding no reason to believe He was God’s Anointed One.
- One might ask, If Jesus being God knows all, why would He go back to His hometown, only to be rejected and insulted?
- Because God has a plan. God still gives us a chance to respond to Him, and He does so in His hometown.
- Jesus plan or purpose for going back to His hometown was to perform miracles in the presence of faith.
- Jesus not doing any miracles or that He couldn’t do any miracles in Nazareth does not mean a restriction on His power. Rather, Jesus could have done greater miracles in Nazareth, but He chose not to because of the people’s unbelief. Unbelief that amazed Him.
- Jesus mighty works were meant to further the Kingdom of God, not try to convince a group of stubborn people who had already thoroughly rejected Him.
- To do miracles would be of no value because the people did not accept His message or believe that He was from God.
- Now only a few had faith to come to Him for healing.
- But as far as it is known, He never returned to Nazareth after He went on His way.
- I don’t want to be a person who doesn’t believe God’s plan for my life.
- I don’t want to be a person who doesn’t have faith in God for the impossible.
- The Bible says, that I am saved if I call on the name of the Lord.
- The Bible says, to ask of Him and I will give the nations, that means salvation.
- The Bible says, by His stripes I am healed. That means I can ask Him for healing.
- The Bible says, whom the Son sets free is free indeed, that means deliverance.
- The Bible says, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, the old is gone and new has come, that means my past is forgotten and I have a brand new start in God.
- The Bible says, that I have victory over the enemy, that noting is impossible for those that believe, what are you believing for, what are seeing from God’s perspective?
- I know what the enemy sees, “Death, stealing of joy, defeat, fear, lack of faith, blindness from the things of God and from the Word”
- It’s time for us as a church to start seeing ourselves the way that God sees us, with victory, stop looking at yourselves the way the enemy sees you.
- God sees victory, victory and more victory.
- What if God doesn’t answer my prayer? Then God has a plan for you, that does not meet your way of thinking.
- But don’t let the reason that God didn’t answer be credited as a lack of unbelief or a lack of faith.
- God may not answer the way we think He should answer. But we keep un believing anyway, never doubt what God can do through you.
- So what can we take from in this passage of scripture, and apply to our lives, so we will not become like the people of Nazareth, who represented Israel’s blindness, their refusal to believe that God can do the impossible.
- I have 3 points for you to consider and apply to your life when you face difficult situations and don’t understand what God is doing, or why He did what He did.
Point 1: Persistence
- In your daily prayer time be persistent, never give up on praying for healing or praying for someone else healing.
- One prayer might not do it, you may need to be persistent.
- My grandmother prayed for her children for years and hasn’t seen all of them come to the Lord, but because of persistence I will take up the torch and continue on where she left off.
- One family member said, we knew she prayed for the family faithfully never giving up, so who will bath the family in prayer? I will. That’s persistence, I don’t know why God allows us to wait so long for answers but sometimes He does.
- The devil wants you to stop after a week, sometimes after a day.
- But God likes to teach us the art and passion of persistence.
- God knows what persistence is. God demonstrated His persistence by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the world. That’s persistent love for the world who continue to reject Him and go there own way.
- It has been approx 6000 years of time since man has been created, and all we have done is reject God’s grace and mercy.
- God show’s His persistence by waiting one more day for one more person to receive Him, friends that’s persistence.
- We would have given up after the first week, but God is still going strong after 6000 plus years of rejection.
- Just because God doesn’t answer prayer the way we think He should that He is not in control of our lives. Church God has a plan for your individual life and it’s a perfect plan. Also God has a plan for this church, despite the struggles we face.
- Always remember the enemy has a plan and he will be persistent until the end. Until we are destroyed or our families are destroyed, or our kids are destroyed.
- Don’t let the enemy win, be persistent and keep on praying, keep on believing, keep on serving God despite the hardship, grow through the hardship and allow God to teach you something about yourself.
Point 2: Respect
- For God and who He is. What can God do? Have you ever asked yourself that question?
- What can God do in my life? Where could He take this church or my family etc.
- What miracle will I see today?
- Church I believe God to do anything.
- Now there are a few things that God needs to strengthen me in, but as I move closer to God, they soon become faint in His sight.
- I need to pray, believe and have faith no mater what God does. I need to have respect or reverence for God and no that He will never let me down. Listen to this story to help explain what I mean:
Clark Clifford shares this reminiscence of his former boss, Harry S. Truman: Every morning at 8:30 the President would have a staff meeting. One day the mail clerk brought in a lavender envelope with a regal wax seal and flowing purple ribbons. Opening it, the President found a letter from King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, whose salutation began, "Your Magnificence." "Your Magnificence," Truman repeated, laughing. "I like that. I don’t know what you guys call me when I’m not here, but it’s okay if you refer to me from now on as ’His Magnificence.’"
Truman subsequently sent a message to the United Nations supporting the admission of 100,000 Jews into Palestine. Soon afterward he received a second letter from King Ibn Saud. This one began: "Dear Mr. President."
- The president didn’t answer the request of the Saudi Arabian, thus Truman lost the respect of the King.
- Me we never be like the King and lose our respect for God because He didn’t answer our prayer the way we thought He should have.
Point 3: Submit
- As we continue to pray right until the end of our need or situation, learn to submit to His Lordship over your life. Learn to submit to God’s direction and plans for your life.
- Always remember God has a plan for you.
- Those few people that were healed believed, they persevered, had respect for Jesus and submitted to His Lordship and believed Him.
- The Bible also says to submit one to another (Eph 5:21) That’s hard to do but it’s God’s plan for us as humans. Listen to this story as I explain:
Driving down a country road, I came to a very narrow bridge. In front of the bridge, a sign was posted: "YIELD." Seeing no oncoming cars, I continued across the bridge and to my destination. On my way back, I came to the same one-lane bridge, now from the other direction. To my surprise, I saw another YIELD sign posted. Curious, I thought, "I’m sure there was one posted on the other side." When I reached the other side of the bridge I looked back. Sure enough, yield signs had been placed at both ends of the bridge. Drivers from both directions were requested to give right of way. It was a reasonable and gracious way of preventing a head-on collision. When the Bible commands Christians to "be subject to one another" (Ephesians 5:21) it is simply a reasonable and gracious command to let the other have the right of way and avoid interpersonal head-on collisions.
- When we submit to each other and God great things happen.
- When we submit to God, He leads our lives into blessing and rest.
- Church, let us first learn to submit to God, and then learn to submit to each other.
- When you pray, submit to His leading and direction for your life, don’t get mad or bitter because you didn’t get it your way, learn to submit.
Conclusion:
- Don’t think of Jesus as ordinary, or condemning, but rather a just, gracious God slow to anger abounding in compassion, ready to minister to His children who are hurting.
- Let me close with this story:
In a recent number of the "Sunday School Times" a story is told of an Eastern king which illustrates at once our delusion respecting natural processes, and also God’s work and presence in them. The king was seated in a garden, and one of his counselors was speaking of the wonderful works of God.
"Show me a sign," said the king, "and I will believe."
"Here are four acorns," said the counselor, "will you, Majesty, plant them in the ground, and then stoop down for a moment and look into this clear pool of water?"
The king did so, "Now," said the other, "look up."
The king looked up and saw four oak-trees where he had planted the acorns. "Wonderful!" he exclaimed, "this is indeed the work of God."
"How long were you looking into the water?" asked the counselor.
"Only a second," said the king. "Eighty years have passed as a second," said the other. The king looked at his garments; they were threadbare. He looked at his reflection in the water; he had become an old man. "There is no miracle here, then," he said angrily.
"Yes," said the other, "it is God’s work, whether he did it in one second or in eighty years."
- Sometimes we are like that, we pray and expect God to answer in one second, but fail to realize that miracles could take longer to test our persistence, respect, and submission.
- When God is testing and refining those areas of your life, never give up praying and believing God for miracles of healing, salvation, deliverance etc.
- If we allow God to be in control of our lives, He will answer according to His knowledge and in His timing, we are to respond in faith.
- May we never make God feel these emotions, “And He was amazed at their lack of faith.”
Lets Pray!!!
