Rise Up In Resurrection Power

Rise Up in Resurrection Power

Sunday, August 20, 2017

By Rev. James May

In everything that happens in life there are lessons to be learned. Whether we learn them or not depends upon what we choose as our point of focus. We can zero in the circumstances around us such as tragedy, danger, inconveniences, trouble, and all the outward signs and appearances of what lies before us; or we can focus on the solution, the answer, and the awesome power of God Almighty to help us overcome life’s troubles and live in victory and power.

The result of where keep our focus and what we do, what we say and what we truly believe about the things we face will always become evident in the days ahead. Either we will learn to be overcomers by faith, or we will continually live in defeat, with lives full of worry and fear about everything that comes our way. Christians should live above worry and fear because we should have faith in our God to overcome every obstacle in his way and in his own time.

I feel led to bring your attention this morning on a very familiar story in the New Testament book of Luke, chapter 8. It’s the story of Jarius’ daughter. I know you’ve heard the story many times, yet I think there’s something that the Holy Spirit would have us to see that perhaps we haven’t seen before, and if you have, then let this message be a reminder of what we should be focusing on.

Luke 8:40 And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.

Everywhere that Jesus went, after his fame was spread, there were throngs of people following him. I have no doubt that some were there just to hear his teaching, but I think that most were there to see if he was more than that. They were looking for a Messiah, and they wanted to see if Jesus would be the One. Of course he was the Messiah, but he did not attempt to overthrow Roman rule and he never focused on making Israel and the Jews a free people who would enjoy peace and safety. He came to establish a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one. And that was not what the Jews even wanted much less understood.

Having cast the devils out of the man among the tombs of Gadara, Jesus complied with the requests of the people around that area who were probably Jews engaged in raising pigs. They had asked Jesus to leave before their work was revealed and before they lost their means of income. It was not legal for Jews to raise pigs which were an unclean animal according to the Law of Moses.

If he could deliver one demoniac and cost them a whole herd of pigs, what would happen if Jesus went around delivering more people from the devil? Their earthly wealth was far more valuable to those who raised the pigs for a living, than learning and knowing the awesome power of God and having a revival in the land where men could be set free from every bondage of sin and the chains of the devil that kept them bound.

Don’t be too hard on the pig farmers in Gadara though. After all, we have that same spirit not only in America, but even in our own church sometimes. I wonder how often we might choose the things of the world over Jesus? What might take his place as the most important thing, or the most important person in our lives?

The people of Gadara didn’t want Jesus around. The asked him to leave so he did. There is no record that Jesus ever went back to that land. He won’t go where he isn’t wanted. Gadara had its opportunity for a visitation of the Son of God in their midst, but they didn’t value his presence and lost their chance for a great revival and deliverance. It is true that the former demoniac of the Gadarenes preached Christ, but there is no record of how effective his witness was. Nowhere is there a record in the Bible of a church being established in Gadara.

But when Jesus came back to the shore of the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee the Galileans were there by the hundreds waiting on him to step ashore. The Sea of Tiberias was also called the Sea of Galilee or the Lake Gennesaret.

I pray that America, and even just the people of our own community would have that same attitude toward Jesus. America, and even man in our own community are like the Gadarenes who loved their lives and their fortunes more than Jesus and who chose to throw him out of their lives! We need to be like the Galileans who ran to meet him, invited him into their homes and their lives, and wouldn’t leave, not even to get a sandwich at the Tiberian McDonalds because they were so hungry for anything from God? Sure, they may have come for the wrong reason some of the time, but at least they came, they heard and they were expectant!