Strange Things Are Happening

You see, if you went fishing all night long and didn’t catch anything, it would be strange to catch a whole net full by doing the same thing again.

If a LEPER was EATEN UP with SORES all over his body it would be a strange thing for those SORES to be INSTANTLY GONE.

And if a man had been SICK and BEDRIDDEN for years, it would seem rather STRANGE to see him being let down from the ROOF on his bed and then for him to JUMP UP out of that bed and walk home. And all of this was done by the POWER of JESUS. These were STRANGE THINGS but at the same time they were absolutely WONDERFUL THINGS.

And here’s the GOOD NEWS. God is still doing STRANGE THINGS TODAY. Things that are DIFFERENT from what is USUAL, ORDINARY, or EXPECTED. And so that’s what I want to talk to you about today. STRANGE THINGS that God is doing. Before we do let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.

Brother ____, would you lead us?

I. So the first thing I want you to see, STRANGE THINGS WERE HAPPENING, and because of that, ALL DIFFERENT kinds of people were coming out to see.

Looking at Verse 17, there was some HIGH FALLUTIN people who had come out to hear what Jesus had to say. There were Pharisees and Doctors of the Law.

The Pharisees were probably examining everything Jesus was wearing and how he looked. Maybe they were looking into his Genealogy and who His parents were. These were the things that were important to them.

These DOCTORS of the LAW were actually INSTRUCTORS who had devoted their lives to the TEACHING of Jewish Law. I’m sure as Jesus spoke they were NIT PICKIN every single thing He said.

And it also tells us that they had come from Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. They had come from MILES AROUND to SEE and HEAR this man named Jesus.

Also we see not just High Fallutin people, but DESPERATE PEOPLE were coming. Verses 18 and 19 tell us the story of the men who couldn’t get into the house where Jesus was at, so they CLIMBED UP onto the ROOF and tore the ROOFING TILES BACK so that they could let their friend down in front of Jesus. Now that’s pretty desperate.

There must have been people there just because they were CURIOUS. It tells us that there was a MULTITUDE of people. Not just a few but MANY.

And I think you still have the same type of people who come out today. People see that things are DIFFERENT than what is USUAL, ORDINARY or EXPECTED. People who might come out just because we’re STRANGE.

Look up here for just a minute. I know it’s HARD. Ok, now look to your right. Now look to your left. Do you know what you just looked at? Something STRANGE. Something that is becoming more and more different from what is USUAL, ORDINARY or EXPECTED. You just looked at someone who is here in church on a Sunday morning. Why is that strange? Because most people don’t do it anymore. Here in the U.S., the percentage of people who attend church on a REGULAR BASIS is down to 20%.

ILLUS: Three weeks ago today we were in Scotland and it was a Sunday Morning. I like to go to church when I’m on vacation to worship my Lord, so Saturday night Rachel and I started looking for a place to go. We got on the internet and found that the closest Baptist Church was the Delbeattie Baptist Church. It was probably 25 miles away. So Sunday morning we got up and headed over there. We had a good service, our brothers and sisters in Christ were sweet to us, and the deacon there, Brother Colin, preached a good message. And there was a total of 12 people there. Us 4 and 8 other people. I told you that 20% of the people here in the U.S. attend church on a regular basis. In Scotland it’s down to 8.9%. Wales is down to 4.8%. And England is at 4.7%.