SERVICE IN THE KINGDOM

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date November 3, 2024
Text Matthew 10:1-16
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Last week we used Matthew 7 :13-14 as one of the scriptures about hell. Before that, we looked at Jesus confronting unclean elements of society by invoking the power of the new kingdom he was introducing. He cleansed a leper in 8:3, expelled many unclean spirits in verse 16, expelled some exceedingly violent demons in 32, and healed a paralytic in 9:6. Chapter 9 ended with Jesus calling His disciples to work in the harvest field that he said was already ripe and needing many workers. Before the ascension at the end of chapter 28, verse 19 we find Jesus commissioning them to make disciples of all nations.

JESUS GIVES HIS DISCIPLES THE SAME AUTORITY THAT HE EXERCISED

Today chapter 10 begins with Jesus summoning his twelve disciples and giving them the same authority that he exercised to heal people of their diseases and to cast out unclean spirits. These men were ordinary men and seem to have been relatively unknown and normal men. What set them apart from others was that Jesus specifically chose them (called them) for this apostolic ministry. They were to be his agents to introduce the message and power of the kingdom.

In verse 5 we read a rather curious command that Jesus gives them, “do not go among the gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans, go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: “The kingdom of heaven is near, Heal the sick raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. “Freely you have received, freely give.”

OUR GIVING IN SERVICE IS TO BE LIKE GOD’S GIVING TO US.

  Salvation is a free gift.  Healing is a free gift. Deliverance is a free gift.

Jesus probably said this because he knew the temptation of man to want to profit from supernatural power. Simon the magician in Acts 8:18-19 thought he could profit from the power of God. He offered money for the supernatural power that he saw, and Peter said to him, “may you die along with your money.”

Our service for the Kingdom is only to be for the sake of those we serve, expecting nothing in return. It also of course then, is serving and glorifying the Lord too, because even giving a cup of cold water in His name, is like we are giving it to Him. The world’s way is; don’t do anything for anyone unless you are paid for it. Unions particularly brought this idea into our lives. Unions were important when they first began at the beginning of the industrial revolution because owners took advantage of workers. But all during the 20th century they kept pushing for more money and less work. When I worked at the Orrville Body Co., I remember that if you needed a part or tool at the tool shop, you couldn’t just have someone handy to pick it up. Only the people who used it had to pick it up. If you weren’t assigned a particular job, you weren’t allowed to do it. You may get paid to stand around and do nothing, rather than do a job that you weren’t specifically hired to do. The Kingdom way is to do whatever the master tells you to do. We are to serve and glorify Him at all times. Doing whatever he gives us to do.

So Jesus’ concern is that the Jews be given the first opportunity to hear the gospel. His last instruction to them in Acts 1:8 gave an order of priority. Jerusalem first, then Judea, Samaria, and then the remotest parts of the earth.

There were basically:

THREE REASONS WHY THEY WERE TOLD NOT TO GO TO ANYONE BUT THE JEWS

1 . First, several Old Testament passages indicate that God raised up Israel to be a priest to the other nations who would also become part of God’s kingdom. Gen 12:3says, I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Exodus 19:6. In Psalm 2:8 we read; “Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. Isaish 9:1-2…there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future, he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the sea, along the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death. A light has dawned in Isaiah 49:6…he says; It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. It will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. Jonah 4:11. Nineveh has more than 20,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?

By taking the message of the kingdom first to the Jews, Jesus was deliberately preparing the nation of priests so that their ministry to the Gentiles could be full.

2 Secondly up to this point the disciples had no experience in cross-cultural ministry. As typical Jews of their day, their cultural experience was homogeneous. Not only did their religious scruples separate them from the Gentiles, but their understanding of the Gentile mind was also quite limited. That cross-cultural ministry would be left to a man like Paul, who would come along later, a man with the life and background who could communicate to the Gentiles.

3 Also a further reason for this limited ministry was simply that with such a small force of workers, it was eminently practical to concentrate the ministry on a rather small area.

Only when Galilee was successfully evangelized with the gospel would Jesus have an adequate foundation for pursuing other areas. ‘

We know that the gospel did spread into Samaria and Judea to the south of Galilee. Decapolis on the east and Syria on the northeast. And then after the earthly life of Jesus, the apostles continued to take the gospel further to the south in North Africa, to the far east all the way to India and perhaps China, and to the north and west into Asia Minor, Greece, and all of Europe.

A practical word in limitation of ministry given by Jesus is that if we can’t do it at home we have no business trying to export it. This is why many mission boards require a period of effective home service as an internship before allowing missionary candidates to go overseas. I remember when I was teaching Church Growth at Nyack College (NY) in 1994, there was a young seminary student who felt called to work with Jewish people in Israel when he graduated, but wouldn’t do anything to minister to the Jewish people in New York City, (Where there is a higher concentration of Jews than anywhere else, outside of Israel) He said that while he was in school, he just didn’t have time. Perhaps it wasn’t his fault. His professors didn’t see the value of involving students in ministry while they were learning. This sometimes is the problem with “academia”.: schools of higher learning in other fields, outside of medicine, seem to expect you to get the theory and then try to put it into practice. Jesus gave the best training. For three years the disciples got his teaching, and every day they saw him put it into practice, and they helped him do it, and then he sent them out.

Today there are those who accept the complete authority that was given to the disciples, and others who believe that authority was given only for that time, when the gospel of the kingdom was first being preached. Now we have the written word of God. They believe that we have the authority to proclaim the gospel of salvation, but not to do the things that Jesus sent the 12 out to do—He told them to heal the sick raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons.

It does seem that we do not have the same frequency of seeing the signs and wonders that the apostles did, but we certainly still do see them today, especially in other parts of the world. It is astonishing for me to hear a “cessationist”: (a theological position that states that all miracles ceased at the end of the first century) make the statement that he or she has never seen a legitimate healing or miracle take place today. They just haven’t been in the right place at the right time, and of course, because of their lack of faith, they haven’t seen God work in this way. The truth of the matter is, that there are millions of people all over the world who see little miracles happening all the time, but also there are unexplainable Biblical proportions miracles happening too. Smith Wigglesworth in England at the beginning of the last century saw people raised from the dead, including his wife. My grandmother was pronounced dead for a few minutes as my family was praying (I hadn’t been born yet) and she came back to life. The most astounding account happened in Nigeria when Pastor Daniel Ekechukwa was raised from the dead after an accident near the town of Onitsha on November 30, 2001. He was dead for 3 days. His body was embalmed and was in a casket. His wife had heard about the ministry of a German Evangelist named Reinhart Bohnke who held massive meetings of over 100,000 people where miracles were taking place. She had the body of her husband taken there because God had told her that He would raise him back to life. and after Bohnke laid his hands on the casket and prayed the man sat up climbed out of the casket and sat on the platform. You can imagine the reaction of the crowd. He testifies and preaches about God’s power today. You never hear about this kind of thing in the Western Media, because they don’t know what to do with it.

There is an actual video though of this event. The fact that people still don’t believe, testifies to the words in Luke 16:31, before Jesus was crucified and rose again, we read about the rich man and Lazarus that we talked about last week. Where Abraham told the rich man in hell, that “people have Moses and the Prophets, and if they won’t listen to them, even if someone comes back from the dead they won’t listen.”

The occurrence of a miracle was considered by the Jews to be a sign that God was sanctioning the activity of the agent of the miracles. Thus, Jesus used miracles in the promotion of his spiritual kingdom. When he left Earth only a small body of Jews believed that he still lived and that the Kingdom would proceed. The best proof of his resurrection, the best apologetic to convince the Jews of Jesus’ Messiahship had to be the continuation of the miracles in his name; but this was not to be a substitute for saving faith but a catalyst for it. If there is an infrequency today of the kind of signs and miracles we see in the New Testament it is mostly because of our lack of faith, in certain segments of the Church. Nevertheless, it is true that they are done more discriminately today as sheer grace on God’s part The individual, (Jesus’; love and compassion for individuals), not the kingdom as such, is the focus of today’s miracles. And don’t forget that the ultimate healing takes place when we go to meet Jesus and receive our spiritually perfect bodies.

In the next section, beginning with verse 9 we see that they should not seek to profit financially by their ministry, but were told to accept the support and hospitality of the people to whom they ministered. They were told to travel lightly and to seek to bring, and be a blessing wherever they went. On the other hand, when they were not welcomed, they were not to remain in those places that withheld hospitality but were merely to “shake the dust off their feet” in protest against that house or city.

Jesus is instructing them not to try to argue anyone into the kingdom. Instead, he wanted them just to announce the presence of the kingdom and keep moving on with the message. Those cities that refused the message about the kingdom, unfortunately, would suffer more than the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah throughout scripture represent exceeding wickedness because they were cities that were decisively judged by God not only for their exceeding immorality and wickedness but also for their lack of hospitality to the people and message of God. Similarly, cities that blatantly rejected the announcement of the coming kingdom would experience harsh judgment too.

There is also the idea in this idiom, something important fo the disciples themselves. This ancient Eastern expression means to shake off the animosity and bitter feelings which arose between another and you as you leave, so that you may go on your way with your heart full of peace and joy, as a godly person should. You must never take with you the “dust of hatred and resentment”, shake it off and leave it behind so you may continue with a pure heart.

Look now at verse 16. Why would anyone send sheep into a pack of wolves? Jesus sent them out knowing that some people would act like wolves if sheep were present. They would be attacked. He did this to rescue the other sheep (9:36). They were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. But he also told them not to be like typical sheep. They were to be “shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” We know that sheep could be described as innocent, but certainly not shrewd. In the next section verses 17-20, we see the description of the shrewdness that Jesus had in mind. The disciples were to be aware of the tactics of their enemies. They would be persecuted.

No matter how we are received our task is to share the gospel of the kingdom with others. Jesus is pressing us into this kind of service, just as much as he did the disciples. What is so wonderful is, we have the same power and authority that they had.

When Jesus ate the “last supper’ with his disciples, he told them that when they took the meal they should do it in remembrance of him. Remember all that he taught them. Remember the authority he gave them. Remember all the miracles that they saw take place. Oh how much we should remember about who Jesus is. He is our Savior, Our Sanctifier, Our Healer, and our Coming King!

HELL IS A REAL PLACE

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 27, 2024
Text: Matthew 7:13,14 Luke 16: 19-31
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Hell is a real place!. For several hundred years, the low, swampy area was occupied mostly by the Potawatomi tribe. Later in the early 19th century, it was the most unpleasant part of a trail between Lansing and Dexter, MI. It was a point on the route taken by traders going between the Huron River and the Grand River. It still exits today 20 miles North West of Ann Arbor.

What a place to live! I wouldn’t want to live there just because of the name. They sponsor a 10 mile race every year called the “Run Thru Hell” race, and you get a T-shirt that says “ I Ran Thru Hell.” The name came about probably because of some German travelers in 1830. When the stagecoach stopped there one sunny afternoon one said to the other, “So schon und hell!” roughly translated as, “ So beautiful and bright!” Their comments were overheard by some locals and the name stuck. Some think that after Michigan gained statehood, George Reeves who began the first trading post there was asked what he thought the town he helped settle should be called, and replied, “I don’t care, you can name it Hell for all I care. At any rate the name became official on October 13, 1841.

Now this isn’t the real place of course that we want to talk about this morning. This time of year—Halloween—it would seem that most people treat anything to do with death, or demons or hell as something like Santa Claus. It’s fun to use all the symbols and icons that portray the season.

However, there was an article in the Los Angeles Times a few years ago written by a Korean American journalist Connie Kang, entitled, “Next stop the Pearly Gates…or Hell?” she states from a George Barna survey, that an overwhelming majority of Americans continue to believe that there is life after death and that heaven and hell exist. But only one-half of 1% said they were hell-bound. These are the people who think that they want to be with other people like themselves in hell, where they will just enjoy themselves sitting around eating and drinking so to speak. This of course is a false picture of what hell is like. The Bible doesn’t depict anything at all enjoyable. You would think if you believed in hell, you wouldn’t want to be there. The survey found that 71 % of Americans believe in hell. Nearly 4 out of 10 (39%) believe hell is “a state of eternal separation from God’s presence,” while nearly one-third (32% believe it is “an actual place of torment and suffering where people’s souls go after death.” Only 13% believe hell is just a symbol of an “unknown bad outcome after death.”

For every American who actually believes he is going to hell, there are 120 who believe they’re going to heaven.

This optimism stands in stark contrast to Christ’s words in our text. (Matt. 7:13,14) “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

The Bible clearly teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3;23) Sin separates us from a relationship with God. (Is. 59:2) God is so holy that he cannot allow sin into his presence. (Hab. 1:13)

Because we are sinners, we must have our sin taken care of before we can enter into God’s presence. We can’t do anything ourselves to become holy enough or good enough for heaven. We cannot enter heaven just as we are, but we can come to Jesus Christ, just as we are, and place our faith and trust in Him, who paid the price of our sin, which is death; if we receive this salvation.

There is a question asked by Randy Alcorn in his book called: HEAVEN “ — “IS HEAVEN OUR DEFAULT DESTINATION…OR IS HELL?” Most people today understand immediately what the implication of this question is. However if you haven’t used a computer very much or at all, you may not have understood what is meant by “default.” The dictionary gives definitions that are well known, like if you default on a payment or something similar. This means you do nothing, or very little. Your action taken wasn’t sufficient. Understood in this way the default position is automatic. There will be some action taken by the opposing party. Now apply this (like with a computer—it brings up something automatically on your hard drive.) When applied to heaven or hell; everyone does not go automatically to heaven, even though to hear what is said at a lot of funerals, or the assumptions made in movies or even general conversation you would think so.

· Heaven is not our default destination

· HELL IS!

No one goes to heaven automatically. Hell will have people in it who have not received God’s free gift of redemption. (The price was paid in full by his son Jesus.) but we must receive this new life by accepting this gift so that our names are recorded in “the book of Life” (Rev. 20:12-15)

In spite of the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that there is a heaven, that all people do not automatically go there, and that there is a literal place of punishment called hell or hades in Greek, many pastors and theologians do not like to preach and teach that unbelievers are destined for a literal place of torment, fire, and sulfur (the KJV & RSV says brimstone, an old English word meaning sulfur.) There are many verses in the book of Revelation which state this. It is where we get the expression — “fire and brimstone preaching. “

Over the years it has become commonplace for theologians to question the Biblical doctrine of hell. The truth is that published doubts about the reality of Hell began in the 1800s and have continued throughout the 20th century up to this century. Even the late great Charles Haddon Spurgeon, spoke about this problem. In 1865 he said, “There is a deep-seated unbelief among Christians just now, about the eternity of future punishment…there is a suspicion that sin is not, after all, so bad a thing as we have dreamed. There is an apology, or a lurking wish to apologize to sinners…but I am afraid it is the old nature in us putting on…charity, which thus leads us to discredit a fact which is as certain as the happiness of believers.”

Today the problem isn’t any better, and it isn’t just the liberal theologians who ignore this biblical truth. So-called evangelical pastors and theologians have a hard time reconciling hell and punishment with the love of God.

Is “fire and brimstone” preaching just an expression?

The doctrine of hell has driven many people away from Christianity. One man said that he would not want to be in heaven with a God who sends people to hell. His preference was to be in hell so that he could live in defiance of such a God. If such a God exists,” he complained, “He is the devil” Comments like that are blasphemy to the committed Christian who believes the Bible.

To some the punishment of hell does not fit the crime. Yes, all men do some evil and a few do great evils, but nothing that anyone has ever done can justify eternal torment. And to think that millions of good people will be in hell simply because they have not received Christ, (as the Bible affirms) strains credulity. Unbelievers think it’s like capital punishment for a traffic violation.

I want to remind us again that hell was not created for people but for Satan and the fallen angels. They are the ones who will be the tormented, not the tormentors. The suffering of hell will be given out by God, not by Satan and his demons. God will also include in that punishment, those who reject the salvation He has provided. The rejection of Jesus Christ is what merits the punishment of hell.

However, I’m sure that you have heard many times, as I have, that God wouldn’t send anyone to hell. It just doesn’t fit what we know about God—who is LOVE. Some people believe that ultimately everyone will be saved and go to heaven. Others say: that Jesus never spoke about heaven or hell, he was just concerned about how we live on earth. Of course, this comment is totally one of ignorance because Jesus spoke much about both and in fact, he spoke more about hell than heaven.

The classic answer to the question about a loving God sending people to hell is: “God doesn’t send anyone to hell, we send ourselves there when we refuse to accept His son Jesus Christ who as the substitute for our sins, and receive Him as Savior and Lord of our lives, and when we insist on living a life of rebellion and disobedience to Him.” That of course is a true statement and might help sometimes to answer someone. Other times it doesn’t do much good.

We must share this idea, that God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. The Bible says that He is not willing that anyone should perish. but because of His justice, He must condemn unbelievers to hell. Jesus explained this in Matthew 25:41 where he told about the sheep and the goats, that those on his left (the goats) were told; “depart from me, you who are cursed into ETERNAL FIRE prepared for the devil and his angels.”

This aspect of hell, eternal fire is what people don’t like to hear about, and particularly in recent days the gospel is frequently given with no mention of it. I understand this, and I myself have talked to people about the Love of God when telling what Christ has done for us, but there must be a time when we do explain the consequences of not accepting Christ. Here I believe we have all failed at some time or another. We must share Biblical truth with love though. People need to know that the wages, or salary—the payment for sin—is DEATH. (Rom. 6:23) That is; spiritual death. It isn’t the end, and you just die, and nothing afterward. The Bible teaches everlasting punishment in a literal hell. However, it doesn’t do any good to do what some new Christians have done with their friends and family. They just blurt out—“you’re going to hell unless you repent.”

It is the Holy Spirit that will “convict the world (people) of sin.” It is only the Holy Spirit that will make the reality of hell understood. It is horrible and we must let people know that there Is indeed punishment for rejecting Christ. The fire is literal, but not like we understand fire. The Bible communicates to us in a way that we can understand. Since we understand how fire burns and hurts, we know that pain is involved. But what is hard to understand, and therefore theologians try to explain it away, is that the fire is eternal and can not be put out. That it doesn’t consume those who are cast there. Because when we think in human finite terms we think, how is it possible that fire won’t burn someone up and they are totally gone? Unbelievers will have different bodies someday too, or else it will be just their soul and spirit, the very essence of who we are that will suffer pain. The use of the word fire is to help us understand that this will be a painful punishment and it won’t ever stop.

The descriptions which are familiar to most of us and make it clear what hell is like would be;

“fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 13:42) Have you ever been in such pain, that you grind your teeth? Rarely do we suffer like that, but in order for us to understand how serious this is, the Bible explains it this way.

Fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev. 20:10)

Lake of fire is used 5 times in Rev. 20:15, 21:8. This is the second death, after the judgment.

What is the bottomless pit? The abyss is used 9 times; it refers to the lower regions as the abode of demons, out of which they can be let loose at times.

· Gehenna is used 12 times; Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew is Gehinnom –the Valley of Hinnom, or dump. Where children were burned with fire as sacrifices to Molech one of the pagan gods In the Old Testament. (I Kings 23:10), and (Jeremiah 7:31)

Jesus mentioned the reality of hell many times. In Matt. 23:33, He called the Pharisees a brood of snakes, and said, how will you escape being condemned to hell?

He talked about outer darkness. Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30. He said that the “subjects of the kingdom:

(the unbelieving Jews) will be cast into outer darkness, and here it is again, “… there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.)

· Hell is a place of torment (Luke 16:23, 28) also called Hades.)

· Matt. 5:22—- anyone who calls his brother “fool” will be in danger of the fire of hell. .

· Matt. 18:8,9 speaks of eternal fire, and the fire of hell.

· Matt. 13:42; 50—fiery furnace, and gnashing of teeth.

· Mark 9:44, 48—where the worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.

The specified duration of hell has also been watered down by many today. By those who preach part of the gospel, but refuse to accept the clear teaching about hell. You see, there is no need for “good news” –that we can be saved because, without hell, there is nothing to be saved from.

It is eternal and everlasting, just as life with Christ is eternal and everlasting.

Matt. 25:46 –it is an everlasting punishment.

Mark 25:46—It is eternal condemnation

Heb 6:2—It is eternal judgment

Matt 18:8,9—eternal fire.

Mark 9:43-49—unquenchable fire.

II Thess. 1:9—everlasting or eternal destruction

Now it is here that some theologians and pastors preach that if something is destroyed it can’t go on forever. But the word destruction does not mean annihilation. This same word is used in Matthew 9:17; Luke 15:4 and John 6:12,17. In none of those instances does it mean “to pass out of existence.”

Robert Morey writes, “There isn’t a single instance in the New Testament where this Greek word apollumi, means annihilation in the strict sense of the word. Greek lexicons define it as “to be delivered up to eternal misery.

It is true that the Greek word which is usually translated as eternal, does not by definition mean eternal (like we usually think of it). It specifically refers to an “age or “eon”, a specific period of time. However, it is clear that in New Testament usage it is sometimes used to refer to an eternal amount of time. Rev. 20:10 speaks of Satan, the beast, and the false prophet being cast into the lake of fire and being tormented day and night forever and ever.

It is clear that these three are not “extinguished” by being cast into the lake of fire. Why would the fate of the unsaved be any different (Rev. 20:14,15).

The most convincing evidence for the eternality of Hell is Matt.25:46. “Then they (the wicked) will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” In this verse, the exact same Greek word is used to refer to the destiny of the wicked and the righteous. If the wicked are only tormented for an “age,” and then are totally annihilated, then the righteous will only experience life in heaven for an age also. If believers will be in heaven forever, and they will, unbelievers will be in hell forever.

Our other text that Carol read is Luke 16:19-31

About the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a beggar that sat outside of the rich man’s house. But when they both died, the rich man was in hell and complained about the heat and cried out to Abraham to send Lazarus to give him just a little bit of water for his tongue. This can’t be done, because of the Casim between them. Then the rich man begs to let him go back from the dead to warn his brothers. He is told that they have Moses and the prophets to warn them. And “even if someone comes back from the dead they still will not believe.”

It is still true today, that even when people are told about the realities of hell they won’t believe it.

Jonathan Edwards, that great 18th-century preacher said that the reason we find hell so offensive is because of our insensitivity to sin. It seems that the greatness of sin is determined by the greatness of the One against whom it is committed, (and that is God.)

It is only the Holy Spirit that can convict people of their sin, and bring them to repentance. In Edwards’s great sermon: “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” he couldn’t finish his sermon, because of the noise of weeping, as people were clinging to the posts that held up the roof of the sanctuary— because they felt the power of the Holy Spirit and it felt like they were sliding into hell.

David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then sent her husband to the front of the battle so he would be killed, so he committed murder. Nevertheless, when the prophet Nathan pointed out his sin, he said; “against you and you alone, oh God have I sinned.”

If we understand that, we might understand better that God has no choice but to condemn us to a hell of eternal punishment if we continually reject His son Jesus Christ, and want to live our lives without Him. He will say to us then someday, Okay—have it your way—you cannot spend eternity with me. Depart from me, I never knew you!

The important thing is for us to come to Jesus, just as we are—sinners. We can be assured because of what we read in the Bible that there is a literal hell that is for the Devil and his angels, and for all those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. But we can also be assured that we do not have to go there if we receive Jesus. If you have never been assured that you have this kind of relationship with the Lord, you can come to him this morning. Do not leave this sanctuary without knowing for certain that you have eternal life.

Name of sermon in caps first

THE FIELDS ARE WHITE READY FOR HARVEST BUT THE WORKERS ARE FEW

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 20, 2024
Text Matthew 9:16-38
Pastor Paul Lehmann

In `Matthew chapter 9, last week we saw Jesus sitting down to eat at a table with tax collectors and sinners. The scene is set in a bustling marketplace in Capernaum, a town on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The aroma of freshly baked bread and roasted meats fills the air as merchants call out to passersby, trying to sell their goods.

Among those gathered around the table with Jesus are Matthew, also known as Levi, a tax collector who left everything to follow Jesus, and other individuals who were considered outcasts by society. They had come to be in the scene after hearing about Jesus’ teachings and witnessing His miracles. Despite the disapproving glances from the religious leaders and the whispers of the crowd, Jesus welcomed these individuals with open arms, showing them love and acceptance.

As they sat together sharing a meal, Jesus used the opportunity to teach a valuable lesson about the new way of life He was bringing. He spoke of not putting new wine into old wineskins, illustrating the need for a fresh perspective and openness to His teachings. The imagery of the wineskins bursting if filled with new wine was a powerful metaphor for the transformative power of Jesus’ message and the need for hearts and minds to be renewed to receive it fully.

What is Matthew 9:16-17 about?

When we look at this verse, we see that Jesus is using the metaphor of new wine and new wineskins to teach us a valuable lesson about growth and change. We need to be open to new ways of thinking and living as we experience growth or spiritual transformation, just as new wine ferments and expands, requiring a new, flexible container like a wineskin that can stretch and adapt.

Imagine pouring fresh, bubbling wine into an old wineskin that is rigid and brittle – it would burst and spill out, wasting the precious contents. Similarly, if we try to contain the new things that God is doing in our lives with our old, rigid ways of thinking or living, we risk missing out on the blessings and opportunities that come with growth and change. Jesus is reminding us to be open to new possibilities and not be constrained by our old habits or beliefs.

So, as you reflect on this verse, consider what new things God may be doing in your life. Are you willing to let go of old ways that no longer serve you and make room for the new? Your growth and transformation may require a willingness to embrace change and adapt to the new things that God has in store for you, just as new wine needs new wineskins.

These verses from Matthew 9:16-17 are part of a larger dialogue where Jesus responds to questions about fasting. He uses two vivid metaphors to illustrate his point: a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins.

In the first metaphor, Jesus speaks of the impracticality of placing new, unshrunk cloth on an old garment. The new cloth will shrink, causing the tear to worsen, highlighting the incompatibility of the new with the old. Similarly, in the second metaphor, new wine must be put into fresh wineskins as the fermentation process requires flexibility. Old wineskins, being rigid, would burst, ruining both the wine and the container.

These metaphors echo the theme of renewal and transformation found in other biblical passages. For instance, 2 Corinthians 5:17 emphasizes that in Christ, we become a new creation, shedding the old ways. Ezekiel 36:26 speaks of God giving us a new heart and spirit, replacing the old, hardened one.

Today, these verses challenge us to embrace new ways of thinking and living as followers of Christ. They urge us to let go of outdated habits and mindsets that are incompatible with a life transformed by Jesus.

To illustrate this point, imagine trying to run the latest software on an old, outdated computer. The system would struggle and fail, much like trying to live a new life in Christ while clinging to old ways. If a man is trying to overcome an addiction by embracing a new community and lifestyle further illustrates the need to let go of the past for true transformation.

Jesus’ metaphors in Matthew 9:16-17 call us to wholeheartedly accept the new life He offers, leaving behind the old ways that hinder our growth. This passage encourages us to be open to God’s transformative work in our lives, trusting that His ways are superior to our own.

Imagine your work habits—sometimes, sticking with old ways doesn’t cut it for new challenges. Jesus talked about new wine in old wineskins; it bursts, right? Just like outdated methods at the office can hold you back. Open your heart to new ways of experiencing faith, like upgrading your tools for efficiency in your job or spending quality time with family. Are you ready to let God’s fresh power transform your life and renew your spirit?

We’ve been talking the last few weeks about the greatness of Jesus Christ and the miracles he has performed. As we continue to look through chapter 9 we see him again performing healing miracles, and even raising a girl from the dead.

In verse 18 a leader of the synagogue came to Jesus about his daughter who was sick, and while he was gone she died. He came out of desperation. A faith that was hopeful. Nothing else had worked for him When Jesus got to the house where the flute players and mourners were there, they “laughed” and mocked Jesus when he told them to leave, she was just “sleeping.” But they left and Jesus healed her and raised her up to life.

The woman with the issue of blood crept up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched the hem of His cloak Some might think like the commentator William Barclay, that hopeful persistent, dogged type of faith.

We have in the Old Testament Elisha took Elijah’s mantle in 2 Kings 2:9the mantle that had fallen from him and struck the water, it divided and he crossed over.

Then in Acts 5:14-16 (NIV) people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by, so that they might be healed

. Then again in Acts 19:11-12 we read: “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out from them.

Today we must pick up the mantle of God’s power. We may cry out; “where are the miracles today?

We have to be about the work God calls us to do. He has given each of us spiritual gifts and a work to do. For him and his healing power flows through us as we do the work How many miracles in the book of Acts was surrounded by prayer?

Peter and John went to the temple at the hour of prayer

The elders at Antioch were praying and fasting and the Spirit spoke.

Paul and Silas probably prayed every night at midnight—one night they were in jail

While Paul preached the Spirit fell.

The power of the routine is that God meets us at appointed times and in these appointed ways. If we are not there doing the work we will not see the miracle God has planned. If you long to see the interruption of our plans by the Spirit, we need to be faithful to the plans we have made. All of us are called to share the word (preach the word), make disciples and honor God with the work of our hands.

Paul said in Col. 3:17; 23-25 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

How can we reclaim the mantle of Elijah? The mantle represents a passionate pursuit of the Lord himself—not power, not influence, not even integrity. Let us strip away all the garments of selfish ambition and modern thinking, and take up the mantle and strike the river that blocks our way. The shadow of Peter and the handkerchief of Paul for us is only possible as we allow the Lord to build us in his image, and we submit and surrender our complete being to him, and obey him and submerge ourselves in the truth and power of the Spirit, and give ourselves to the poser of prayer.

As Jesus moved about surrendered to the will of the Father, in obedience to the call and mission of establishing the kingdom on earth, doing all the miracles we read about and then some. He did this with love and compassion. Sometimes that is lacking in what we do. May we ask for this in our ministry, in order to accomplish all the Lord is asking and expects from us.

At the end of this chapter in verses 37 and 38 we read about the waiting harvest.

Here is one of the most characteristic things that Jesus ever said. When he and the orthodox religious leaders of his day looked on the crowd of ordinary men and women, they saw them in quite different ways. The Pharisees saw the common people as chaff to be destroyed and burned up; He saw them as a harvest to be reaped and to be saved. The Pharisees in their pride looked for the destruction of sinners; Jesus in his love died for the salvation of sinners.

But here also is one of the great Christ truths and one of the supreme Christian challenges. That harvest will never be reaped unless thee are reapers to reap it. It is one of the great basic truths of our faith and life that Jesus Christ needs US. —BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. He wants people to hear the good news of the gospel. He is not willing that anyone should perish. He doesn’t want to send anyone to hell in spite of the fact that some people believe that. ( People send themselves to hell when they refuse to put their faith and trust in Jesus as their Savior.) But they won’t hear the gospel, unless we tell them. “Both across the street, and around the world.”

Even if we say, okay—I’ll just pray for more workers. Very good , especially to go overseas. But prayer is not enough. A person might say, “I will pray for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom every day.” But in this case especially, prayer without works is dead.

Martin Luther had a friend who felt about the faith like Luter did. He said he would stay back at the monastery and uphold Luther’s hands in prayer, and Martin Luther would do all the work to bring about the Reformation. So they began that way. Then one night back at the monastery, he had a dream. He saw the world as a huge corn field, and there was Martin Luther trying to harvest it all by himself –a lone reaper… .He woke up and saw the truth in a flash, I need to help Martin. So he left the monastery and went out to help with the harvest.

So it is with us.. It is not enough to pray. It is not enough to give our money. Christ wants everyone of us to be involved with the harvest—praying and giving and GOING.

If the harvest of people will ever be accomplished, we must be committed to be one of the reapers.

WHEN JESUS CALLS US, OUR FAITH IS ON THE LINE

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 13, 2024
Text Matthew 9:1-13
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

In these chapters, Matthew assembles a collection of miracle stories designed to demonstrate that Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah and that he works by God’s power. They also emphasize his commitment to restoring those who are in need of repentance and a new life. Beginning in verse 1 of chapter 9 until verse 8 we see the connection of forgiveness of our sins and healing. In this passage, the details of this account don’t mention the details as we read about in Mark and Luke. In those accounts friends of the paralyzed man tried to get him to Jesus who was teaching in a crowded room where he was teaching, back in his “home town” Capernaum. You may be thinking, I thought he was from Nazareth. Well yes, that is where he grew up after his birth in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph returned there, but after he started his ministry, “he did very few miracles there, because of their lack of faith” in him. On the other hand, he did his first miracle at the wedding feast in Capernaum, and they responded to him so it became the base location for his ministry.

So now: JESUS HEALS A PARLYTIIC. MATTHEW 9:1-8

He is in someone’s home where he is staying, according to Mark 2; and because of the crowd, the men carrying the paralytic couldn’t get in the house so they went up the outside staircase to the flat roof and dug through the clay tiles, so they could lower him down in front of Jesus. Seeing this faith demonstrated by his friends, Jesus said to the paralyzed man “Take heart, your sins are forgiven. “

Sometimes our healing today may depend on whether we confess our sins or not. This man didn’t confess his sins, but he needed Jesus. I believe because it was before the cross, he was healed because of the faith of his friends. For us, we must confess our sins. (I John 1;9)

My dad had Multiple myeloma (bone cancer) was in severe pain and wasn’t expected to live much longer. We were in graduate school at Nyack, NY the Fall of 1966. We didn’t know about this, but my sister told me that my dad gave her a list of people to call and ask them to forgive him. I knew that he needed to ask my sister for forgiveness, because he tried to keep her from going to Pentecostal church meetings in Akron, Ohio. I also knew that he had bitterness against his sister (my Aunt Reva) for not being fair with the distribution of inheritance. So she was on the list. My surprise was, that my sister told me there were about 20 names on the list. She called them all, and I think some were surprised that he felt that way. But after this, he began to get better, and the Lord touched him, and he lived 4 more years. I believe there is still a connection between forgiveness of sin and healing for us today.

(9:1-8). Jesus inspired controversy by first saying, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you” (v. 2), even though the man had neither confessed his sins nor asked for forgiveness. The scribes were offended at Jesus’ apparent blasphemy—his assumption of God’s prerogative to forgive sins. Jesus, however, validated his actions by healing the man. But unlike the paralytic, we must confess our sins to be restored in our relationship with God.

That story leads naturally into the next, in which Jesus again offends Jewish leaders and performs more dramatic healings that validate his ministry.

After the healing of the paralytic, we see that this was immediately prior to when in :

MATTHEW 9:9. JESUS CALLS MATTHEW

Verse 9 As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him.

“As Jesus passed by from there.” This phrase serves as a transition from the story of the healing of the paralytic (9:2-8) to the story of the call of Matthew (9:9-13). Verse 9:1 spoke of Jesus coming “to his own town,” which Matthew earlier identified as Capernaum (4:13). Mark also locates the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum (Mark 2:1), and we can assume that the events of this account take place in that town. Capernaum is located astride the highway from Damascus to Jerusalem on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee and is therefore a major commercial center.

Jesus “saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office” Since Capernaum is located on a major highway, Matthew may be serving as a customs agent, collecting duties on goods in transit. He does not ask to follow Jesus, nor does he repent or ask forgiveness. Jesus’ call to Matthew is as shocking as his earlier claim to forgive sins (9:2), and demonstrates that God loves and wants to redeem every person.

When Jesus said “Follow me,” Jesus is calling Matthew in much the same way that he called Simon and Andrew (4:18-22). He tells them to follow, and they follow.

However, the call of Matthew differs from the call of the fishermen, because Matthew is a tax collector. Fishing is an honorable profession; tax collecting is not. The Romans contract with local people to collect taxes, and the collectors extort excess taxes for personal profit, enriching themselves at the expense of their fellow citizens. They are thus held in great contempt, are barred from the synagogue, and are considered the moral equivalent of robbers and murderers (Barclay, pages 337-338).

“He got up and followed him.” To follow Jesus, Matthew must abandon his lucrative job, knowing that he can never regain it. By so doing, he also cuts himself off from his old network of friends. To obey Jesus’ command, therefore, requires Matthew’s absolute commitment. It is a remarkable act of faith.

Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 give the tax collector’s name as Levi, while this Gospel says that it is Matthew. We do not know if they are the same person, but it seems likely that they are. In lists of apostles’ names, we find Matthew but not Levi (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13).

Early Christians suggested that Matthew is the writer of this Gospel,

MATTHEW 9:10-13. JESUS EATS WITH SINNERS

10 It happened as he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

“It happened as he sat in the house” (v. 10a). Luke places the dinner in Levi’s house (Luke 5:29), but Matthew describes it only as “the house.” The “many tax collectors and sinners” that are present seem to confirm that it is Matthew’s house because they would constitute a natural guest list for the newly converted tax collector. It seems likely that, in a spirit of joy, Matthew invites Jesus and all his friends to a great feast at his house.

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (v. 11b). Some translations call them “lowlife” or scum. The Pharisees are offended. Sharing a meal, especially in a public setting, implies acceptance—even approval. The Pharisees complain to the disciples rather than to Jesus. Perhaps they are afraid to engage Jesus directly—or more probably they have chosen not to enter the house and are reduced to asking their question of disciples who are within reach.

“Sinners” could mean nearly anything, but in this context probably refers to people who fail to observe Jewish food laws, concerns for ritual purity, and the like.

Jesus, however, overhears the question and responds, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (vv. 12-13). The Incarnation ( that is, God, coming to earth in the form of the God-man Jesus the Messiah) is for the benefit of those who need it. The irony is that the Pharisees need the Incarnation as much as anyone, but their religious pride causes them to miss it.

The Pharisees might have responded very differently to this dinner. They too champion hospitality–but only to the righteous poor. They also champion distancing oneself from sinners.

The Old Testament emphasized that Israelites must separate themselves from pagan tribes. The Talmud taught, “Associate not with the wicked man, even if you can learn from him.” Psalm 1 blesses those who “do not take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers.” The Psalmist asks for vindication, because “I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked” (Psalm 26:5). Paul says, “Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

There is much wisdom here. Bad company corrupts! One bad apple spoils the barrel! Bad company is the devil’s net! You can’t run with dogs without getting fleas! These old proverbs reflect the truth that the company we keep makes a difference in our lives.

My wife and I taught our children to choose their friends carefully—not for social standing but for character. However, it is also true that our daughter Karen, had a positive influence on a boy of questionable character—so much so that we believe that God put her in touch with him during her Sophomore year in high school here in the States. Also, our son Eric, in his Junior year in high school, a group of kids wanted him to join them in playing the game Dungeons and Dragons. He refused, believing it was an Occultic game that was influenced by Satan. It is not easy to know when to avoid evildoers and when to mingle with them for the sake of the kingdom.

In looking at this text, we will do well to remember that the Pharisees have a point about evildoers. Their concern is not without merit. They are upholding wisdom that has been gained painfully through the centuries. They do not want evil companions, and they do not honor evil people with their presence. For us today, the problem with not separating from old companions is that too often new Christians are not filled with the Holy Spirit, and haven’t been discipled. Therefore, they are vulnerable to backslide and fall into the sins of those they are trying to reach.

It is only as we keep this perspective that Jesus’ actions take on real force. Jesus reaches out to the lost at great personal risk (actions like this will cost him his life, after all), in the hope of saving people who do not seem worth saving. We should be glad for that! Otherwise, who could hope to be saved? The key is to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit before we attempt to witness to “old “ companions.

“But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’” (v. 13a). The Pharisees’ question to the disciples (v. 11) constituted an indirect challenge to Jesus. Jesus responds by telling them to “go and learn,” implying that their understanding of scripture is defective—that they have failed to dig into the depths of the prophets.

The quotation is from Hosea 6:6. “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” is a Jewish idiom meaning, “I desire mercy more than sacrifice.” The word sacrifice here stands for obedience to Torah law–the ultimate sign of one’s devotion to God. However, Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea to note that God prefers mercy to a slavish devotion to the requirement for sacrifices.

In his appeal for mercy, Jesus highlights God’s love for the undeserving. Ritual purity, while important, is less important than love of God and love of neighbor.

“for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (v. 13b). These are categories that Pharisees use —–righteous and sinners as categories to pigeonhole people. Pharisees number themselves among the righteous, of course, and that is how most people see them. They are sinners too, but cannot see that, because they “tithe mint, dill, and cumin” observing the law even in its smallest details (23:23). The problem is that they neglect “the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith” (23:23). The verse from Hosea highlights the fact that temple sacrifice requires less of the person than does mercy. Sacrifice can be done routinely—even mechanically—with no involvement of the heart. A person can sacrifice at the temple in a perfunctory manner that has little effect on day-to-day life. Mercy, however, quickly becomes an affair of the heart, involving a human face—a human story. Elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (22:37-40). Sacrifice is a way of expressing devotion to God—of keeping the first great commandment. Mercy is a way of expressing both love of neighbor and devotion to God—of keeping both great commandments.

The fact that Christians are no longer subject to the Jewish sacrificial system does not make us immune from Pharisaic error. P.T. Forsyth a Scottish theologian warns, “It is possible to be so active in the service of Christ as to forget to love him.” It is certainly possible to be so active in the service of Christ as to forget to love our neighbor.

TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 6, 2024
Text: Proverbs 3:56
Guest Speaker Shawn Cullen

Listen to live audio here

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

THE GREATNESS OF JESUS CONTINUED

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 29, 2024
Text: Matthew 8:16-34
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Last week we saw that you cannot give what you do not have. In order to achieve greatness in your life, you need to experience greatness — God’s power at work in your life. That’s his role. Today, we’ll look more closely at our role in achieving greatness. It’s been said that successful people are successful because they’re willing to do the things that ordinary people are not willing to do. For example, great business leaders don’t become successful by shuffling papers all day with one eye on the clock; they work hard, they work efficiently, they get things done, and they put in the extra hours when necessary. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible.

Great parents don’t become great parents by merely nodding at their children every few days and handing them some spending money. They go to ball games and recitals, they go to church together, they eat meals together, they spend evenings together enjoying each other’s company. Great parents achieve greatness through providing direction, security, discipline, and love. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible.

Great marriages aren’t made through merely an equitable living arrangement: you do the dishes, I’ll do the yard. Great marriages are made when two people share their hearts and souls and dreams with one another, when they honor and respect and build trust in one another, when they put the needs of the other ahead of their own needs. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible.

In the same way, a great Christian life doesn’t occur by merely attending church on Sunday and making a half-hearted attempt to live by the 10 Commandments, and find out about God, to find out more about Jesus. A great Christian life occurs when a person becomes radically committed to following Jesus and doing his will. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible. And it’s what God wants for you.

In order to achieve greatness in any area, there are certain things you have to abandon. Mark McCormack, author of What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School, said “If you want to be successful in business, you’ll have to abandon the idea of the 40 hour work week. It takes longer than that to succeed.”

When two people get married, they abandon their past, with a vow that says, “Forsaking all others, I pledge myself only to you.”

When a couple has their first child, they abandon some things as well. Such as, silence. Sleeping through the night. Watching a TV show all the way through. These things all involve sacrifice, and yet, they’re all worth the rewards they bring.

It works the same way in the Christian life. If you’re serious about being a Christian — if you want to live a great life that has a positive impact on the world around you and the world for generations to come — then there are some things you’ll have to abandon.

Today we’ll look at four events in the life of Jesus that teach us four things you’ll have to give up in order to be great.

In the first story, a teacher of the law approached Jesus and said…

19 “Teacher I will follow you wherever you go.”

20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

In order to achieve greatness, the first thing you’ll have to do …

  1. You Have to Abandon Empty Promises.

I can imagine what took place in this scene. This man heard Jesus speak with wisdom and authority, he witnessed Jesus performing miracles, and in a rush of emotion he said, “Lord, I’ll follow you anywhere!” It sounds good, except he didn’t take the time to consider what his words really meant, and what their ramifications might be. Jesus checked him on it. He said, in effect, “Are you sure about that? Are you really sure? Are you willing to be homeless? Are you willing to lose everything? Including your life?”

Later in this gospel, Jesus will say…

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

He was making it clear to his followers: Following me comes with a price. Don’t promise more than you’re willing to give.

When it comes to preaching on salvation, I’ve heard two extreme positions.

One is “Easy Believism”: All you have to do is believe in Jesus, and he will save you. It doesn’t matter how you live, because we’re not saved by works, we’re saved by grace. The emphasis of this view is not that Jesus is Lord as much as it is that Jesus is your Savior.

On the other end of the spectrum is Works Salvation: In order to be saved you have to live up to a certain standard, and if you don’t reach that standard, you’ll lose your salvation, or you’ll miss out on getting it in the first place. The emphasis of this view is not that Jesus is your Lord or your Savior, but that he is your tyrant.

A more balanced approach is what is called Lordship Salvation. We understand that salvation is God’s free gift that we cannot earn or deserve, and we receive this free gift when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord. The emphasis of this view is that Jesus is your Lord and Savior; he saves you from your sins and you receive him as Lord (as boss) of your life.

I say this to emphasize that salvation is not something you work for, that it comes as a payoff at the end of your life for all of your hard work. If that were the case, you would never be able to earn it because you, or no one else in the world, can be that good.

Salvation is a gift. It comes with a price, but you don’t have to pay it. Jesus paid the price for your salvation when he died on the cross for your sins. In order to receive this gift, you must accept as it was given — from the one who wants to be Lord of your life. Paul said…

All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)The key word here is “Lord.” We talk a lot about God’s grace and mercy; they are foundational principles of our faith.

God freely forgives your sin. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past or how many times you have failed in the past — God’s mercy is available to you. When you give your life to him, he will turn it around and make it into (as the song says) something beautiful. But when you come to him — when you choose to follow him — he wants you to mean business, because he means business. He also wants you to be filled with the Spirit and not follow the desires of the flesh.

God doesn’t make empty promises, and if you’re serious about following Jesus, you can’t expect to get by on empty promises. In order to achieve greatness in the Christian life you have to abandon empty promises.

Secondly…

  1. You Have to Abandon Lame Excuses.

In the next verse, a man approached Jesus and said…21 “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

These words sound harsh, don’t they? It sounds as if this man is saying, “Lord, give me 48 hours to take care of my deceased father’s funeral arrangements, and I’ll be right back.” And Jesus says, “Forget about your dead father, and forget about attending his funeral. Stay here and follow me.”

His words may sound harsh, but that’s not what this conversation is about. The explanation lies in the way the phrase “I must bury my father” was used. This phrase — and the mindset that accompanies it — is still used in many cultures today. The notion is that grown children have a continuing obligation to their aging parents, to care for them and provide for them until their death, and then, finally, to bury them.

This man wasn’t saying, “Jesus, I need some time off to go to the funeral home.” He was saying, “Jesus, I want to follow you, but not today. Today, I have other priorities.” And maybe, just maybe, he was saying, “And I don’t know what my parents would think if I were to start following you. They might not approve. They might cut off my inheritance. And when it comes down to it, I’m more concerned with what they think than I am with what you think.” There was a little bit of a spark inside this man that caused him to want to follow Jesus, but he couldn’t get past his lame excuses. When it comes to excuses about not being a fully-devoted follower of Jesus Christ, I’ve heard (or perhaps made) just about all of them.

Some teenagers may say, “I’ll get serious about following Jesus after I get married…when I don’t have to struggle with sexual purity.” (When they get married, they’re in for an eye-opener, aren’t they?) And then, married people might say, “After my divorce, I will get serious about following Jesus.” Business people say, “I realize this deal I’m involved in is a little questionable, but as soon as it goes through, I’m really going to get serious about doing business God’s way.”

We can spend years living this way: “Lord, I’m going to get serious about following you…soon…but not quite yet.” We find ourselves living in a place called Someday Isle. by Dennis Waitley.

He wrote…There is an island fantasy
A “Someday I’ll” …What that means is: Someday I’ll we’ll never see; When recession stops, inflation ceases.Our mortgage is paid, our pay increases. That Someday I’l…where problems end. Where every piece of mail is from a friend. Where all the nations can go it alone. Where we all retire at forty-one. Playing backgammon in the island sun. Most unhappy people look to tomorrow; To erase this day’s hardship and sorrow. They put happiness on lay-away, And struggle through a blue today. But happiness cannot be sought. It can’t be earned, it can’t be bought. Life’s most important revelation is that the journey means more than the destination. Happiness is where you are right now
Pushing a pencil or pushing a plow. Going to school or standing in line,
Watching and waiting, or tasting the wine.
If you live in the past you become senile. If you live in the future you’re on Someday I’ll .The fear of results is procrastination. The joy of today is a celebration. You can save, you can slave, trudging mile after mile, But you’ll never set foot on your Someday I’ll; When you’ve paid all your dues and put in your time. Out of nowhere comes another Mt. Everest to climb
From this day forward make it your vow, Take Someday I’ll –and make it your now!

In order to achieve greatness, we need to give up our excuses, give up the tendency to put off what needs to be done, and take action today. Do you want to become great? Then abandon the lame excuses that only to serve to hold you back, and get serious about your relationship with God today.

Thirdly, in order to experience greatness in life……

  1. You Have to Abandon Limited Faith.

In the next story Jesus gets into a boat with his disciples, to sail across the Sea of Galilee. Matthew writes…

24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

25 The disciples went and woke him, saying: “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

At this point, the disciples had seen Jesus perform many miracles [Mt. 8:16] including the man with leprosy, whom Jesus touched and made clean; the Centurion’s servant whom Jesus healed from a distance; and Peter’s mother-in-law, who had a life-threatening fever.

The disciples had witnessed the amazing power of Jesus, and yet, when faced with their own crisis, they were certain that he was unable to help them. If they’d had time during the tempest to articulate their fears, I’m sure they would have said things like, “Leprosy is one thing, but this is a huge storm! We’re talking major crisis here. ( They had no idea that he had power over the weather). And just because he’s helped others, what gives us the right to think he’ll save us? He has no idea what’s going on right now. Jesus is not paying any attention to us. He’s sound asleep!”

Have you ever felt that way? You’ve seen him work in the lives of other people, but he seems to be asleep when you’re facing disaster? When that happens, how do you respond?

As we look at this story; Think about how the disciples should have responded…how they would have responded if they had great faith. Three possibilities. They might have spoken to the storm themselves, in the name of Jesus, and calmed the winds by his authority. Or they might have simply ridden the storm out until they got to the other side of Galilee, knowing that they were safe in the presence of Jesus. Or they might have woken him up…but instead of saying, “We’re about to drown” they might have said, “Lord, we need your help; will you calm the storm?”

Their faith wasn’t strong enough for them to do any of those things. So, instead, they panicked. Jesus woke up, and before he rebuked the wind and the rain, he rebuked his followers: he said, “Your faith is too small.”

If you want to achieve greatness in this life, you have to abandon the limits you’ve placed on your faith. Great people have great faith. You’ve got to let go of the idea that God will bless someone else, but he won’t bless you…that he’ll perform a miracle for someone else, but not for you. You’ve got to let go of the idea that God is willing to move only in small ways, but not in big ways. You’ve got to have a “no-limits” faith in what God is willing and able to do in your life.

Jesus said plainly to his followers..

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22)

and it will be yours.” Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, Mark 11:34

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” (John 15:8)

These are bold promises, and we sometimes go to great lengths to qualify them and explain away why they can’t be taken at face value. But Jesus doesn’t make empty promises — and he doesn’t water them down with small print.

His words can be taken at face value. If you belong to him, his power is available to you — and the only limits on what he can do for you are the limits you yourself put into place. James said…

You do not have, because you do not ask God. (James 4:2)

If you want to achieve greatness, abandon the limits of your faith. Be bold enough to trust God to do the impossible.

Now, let’s let take our final point from the next story in today’s text. This story teaches us that in order to achieve greatness…

  1. You Have to Abandon Mixed-Up Priorities.

After Jesus and his disciples got off the boat, two demon possessed men approached them, and began taunting him. In the distance, a herd of pigs was feeding, and the demons said to Jesus…

31 “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

32 He said, to them, “Go!” so they came out and went into the pigs and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.

33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

What’s amazing about this story is that the people of this region cared more about their pigs than they did the two demon possessed men who had just been delivered.

I’ve heard people say that it was cruel of Jesus to send demons into a herd of pigs. Now, the truth is, I don’t know why Jesus worked this miracle in the way that he did, but I do know this: the value of a few pigs cannot be compared to the value of two human lives.

The people of that region didn’t care that there were two extremely disturbed men living among the tombs. They just stayed away from them, because the men weren’t important to them — they just cared about the pigs. This story reminds us that people matter to Jesus more than anything else.

In order for us to achieve greatness, we must value what Jesus values. People must come first. Not our livelihood or possessions, but people. To achieve greatness, other people must be at the top of your priority list. As long as things as most important to you, you’re doomed to a life of mediocrity. Greatness recognizes the value of human lives What does it mean to take Jesus seriously? It means that you have to let go of the things that hold you back. It means that you have to quit playing games with yourself and with God, and you have to get down to business.

Empty promises? He doesn’t buy them. Get serious about committing your life to him.

Lame excuses?

Limited Faith? It only stands in the way of experiencing his power. He won’t accept them. Take action today. Stretch yourself to a no-limits faith in God’s ability to work in your life.

Distorted values. They only lead to mediocrity. Value what Jesus values. Devote your life to serving others.

This is what it means to take Jesus seriously. This is the next step on the road to greatness.

WHEN YOU NEED A MIRACLE

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 22, 2024
Text Matthew 8:1-17
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

As we continue in Matthew, we begin to see glimpses of the greatness of Jesus. In the first few chapters of Matthew we saw how he was destined for greatness — that he was God’s chosen Messiah, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, born of a virgin, without sin. In the second section of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount, we see that he is a great teacher. He taught as no man had taught before — with an authority that amazed the crowds. And now, as we turn to the pages of Matthew 8, we see Jesus doing great things — performing incredible miracles — including silencing a raging storm and driving out demons.

In this section of Matthew’s gospel we also see Jesus issuing a challenge to his followers — a challenge to go beyond the mundane “business-as-usual” routine of daily life and, instead, strive to achieve the greatness that Christ has in store for all who follow him.

In the weeks to come we will examine closely Matthew 8-10, because it contains the Master’s Guide To Greatness. If you want your life to be great, then you won’t want to miss this series. Now, keep in mind, when I talk about “greatness” I’m not referring to fame or notoriety or any other kind of human recognition. Those things may or may not be part of the package.When I refer to living a great life, I’m talking about living a life that has impact in this generation and for generations to come. Think of the man who led to Christ the man who led Billy Graham to Christ. The obedience of the evangelist, Mordecai Ham, changed the course of history, and yet, without some research you would never know his name.Jesus calls us to greatness, The first lesson in greatness is very simple: You cannot give what you do not have.

An apple tree will never produce a peach — it’s impossible. A man without a penny to his name cannot give you a million dollars — he doesn’t have it to give. In the same way, we cannot share the power of God with other people if we haven’t experienced the power of God in our own lives. It’s impossible. You can’t give what you don’t have. So, in order to make a difference in the lives of others, we need to open up our own lives to God, nd let him begin to make a difference in us. Many of you are way ahead of me on this. You’re saying, “How can I even begin to think about changing the world when my own life is falling apart? I don’t have it together, how can I expect to help anyone else get it together?”

Today we’ll look at three stories in Matthew 8 — three people whose lives were changed by the power of God. These stories teach us how to experience God’s power in our lives; they teach what to do you when you need a miracle. Let’s take a look at each one.

  1. THE LEPER Matthew 8:

1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.

2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the man was cured of his leprosy.

4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

2000 years later, it’s easy to miss the significance of what took place here. Fortunately, we don’t have firsthand knowledge of leprosy as did people during Jesus’ day. Though the illness still exists in some areas, it is, for the most part, contained. Leprosy is a highly communicable disease. You can contract it simply by being in close proximity to someone who has it. And if you touch that person, your chance of getting it increase significantly. Because of this, a person who had leprosy became one of society’s outcasts. In Palestine, during the time of Jesus, the leper was not allowed within the city limits of Jerusalem. And in the circumstances in which lepers were allowed in a public place, the leper was required to warn others of their disease by crying out “Unclean! Unclean!”

Jewish law forbade people from even saying “hello” to a leper. And, unless you wanted to be labeled “unclean” yourself, you were required by law to stay at least six feet away anyone with leprosy — except on windy days, and then the distance was increased to 150 feet. [William Barclay; The Gospel of Matthew Vol. 1; page 296] And yet, Jesus allowed this unclean man to approach him, and have a conversation with him, and then Jesus reached out and touched him! This tells us a lot about Jesus’ attitude toward people: as far as he is concerned, there’s no such thing as being “unclean.” He considers no one untouchable.There may be things about your past that have made you feel unclean. Things that have happened, things you have done that cause you to think: “I’ve given up my chance to do something great with my life. God could never use me now. I’ll just have to settle for mediocrity”. Nothing could be further from the truth. You’re never so unclean that Jesus cannot clean you. You’re never so lost that Jesus cannot save you. You’re never so far gone that Jesus cannot use you. If he is willing to reach out and touch a leper, he is willing to reach out and touch you. Notice how Jesus treats this man. With condescending pity? Not at all. He treats him like a responsible human being; as he heals him he issues 2 commands: Tell no one about this, and show yourself to the priest. Tell no one. Why did Jesus tell the leper to tell no one about his healing? Aren’t we supposed to tell others what Christ has done for us? Jesus gave this command for a reason. He was not a showman. He healed people out of compassion, not out of self-promotion. He knew his miracles would get the recognition they deserved without him proclaiming it. Show yourself to the priest. The Jews had a set of detailed instructions (Leviticus 14) about ceremonial cleansing for a person who had leprosy. Once a person had gone through those steps, they were declared to be clean, healed of leprosy, and were no longer social outcasts. Once again, they were accepted into the community. Jesus was telling this man: Move on with your life. You’re no longer an outcast; you’re part of the community. What this story teaches us about experiencing the power of God is that miracles and obedience go hand in hand. God wants you to experience his power in your life, but it comes with a condition: he wants you to obey.

Sometimes what he asks you to do may not make perfect sense to your own limited understanding, but there is a reason for everything he asks you to do.If you want to experience God’s miraculous power, if you want to achieve greatness, then you must understand: Greatness goes hand-in-hand with obedience.

Next, let’s look at the story of…

  1. THE CENTURION verse 5

5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith…”

13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed that very hour.

A centurion was a Roman military leader who was in charge of 100 men. (Centurion…century…100) There are two remarkable things about this man. (1) As Jesus said, he showed great faith. (2) He also showed great compassion. He came to Jesus on behalf of a slave, asking for his help because the servant was “in terrible suffering.” In those days, slaves typically wouldn’t be considered worthy of such concern — especially from a hard-boiled military leader — but this man’s attitude was different. And his attitude resulted in his experiencing the power of God. Jesus said this man had great faith. Why? What was it about his faith that was so praiseworthy?

First of all, it was a “no-limits” faith. He understood that Jesus could heal his servant from where he stood, without having to make the journey to his home. He understood the authority of God, the power of God. He knew that Jesus wasn’t just performing parlor tricks on people who with psychosomatic maladies; he was the ultimate healer, he was God’s chosen one.So, he said, “Jesus, I’m not worthy for you to come to my home. Say the word right now, and my servant will be healed.” This centurion’s faith was remarkable because it was a “no-limit” faith; he truly understood the power of God.

Also, it was a humble faith. This centurion understood the grace of God. He knew that he wasn’t worthy, and he didn’t pretend to be. He was a Gentile, and Jesus was a Jew. He was a soldier, and Jesus preached non-violence and turning the other cheek. He was a slave-owner, and Jesus certainly didn’t advocate that custom, either.

So, he didn’t come to Jesus saying, “Do this for me, because I have earned it.” Instead, he said, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof…”

He was saying, “I’m not worthy, but I’m asking you anyway.” This centurion’s faith was great because he understood something that we need to strive to understand ourselves: God’s work in our lives is a work of grace. He’s not good to us because we are good; he’s good to us because he is good. Has this ever happened to you? You’re in a desperate situation and you need God’s help, so you approach him as if you’re sitting down at a negotiating table, and you bring a special offer — one that you hope he can’t refuse.”God, I’m a good father to my children, and a good husband. I go to church most Sundays, unless there’s a game on, and I never pad my expense account at work. Now, I need your help, and if you’ll get me out of this mess, I’ll start to tithe…and I’ll read my Bible every day…and I’ll call my children and grand children more often.” We say things like that, and in the back of our mind we imagine God’s response: “O.K. Just this once, but I’ll be watching you, buddy. “That’s not the way it works. That’s not faith; it’s bargaining. And none of us are in a position to bargain with God.

The centurion understood this, so he didn’t try to negotiate a deal with Jesus. He knew that anything Jesus did for him would be an act of grace. Do you know what grace is? Undeserved kindness. If you need to experience God’s power, you can.But understand this: it’s not coming to you as a payback, it’s coming to you as a present. It’s a gift.

The centurion’s faith was remarkable also because it was a compassionate faith. He understood the kindness of God. He was so moved by his servant’s suffering that he appealed to Jesus on behalf of his servant.Now, let’s be practical for just a moment. For the centurion, there was a bottom-line benefit to his servant being healed: The servant could get out of his sick-bed and go back to work. But the centurion’s attitude wasn’t “I want to protect my investment.” It was, “I want to ease this man’s suffering.”

Some of you may have read Bruce Wilkinson’s Prayer of Jabez. The first part of the prayer is to say, “Lord, bless me.” There are some who’ve missed his point. The idea is not to be blessed so that you can stockpile blessings. The idea is to be blessed so that you can bless others.This story teaches us that compassion is a key to experiencing God’s power in your life. Greatness goes hand in hand with compassion.

  1. PETER’S MOTHER-IN-LAW Verses 14-15

14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.

15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

When Matthew records that Peter’s mother-in-law had a fever, he’s not referring to a mild case of the flu — something that would pass after a few days of rest and relaxation. A “fever” in New Testament times referred to a serious illness. It could have been Malta fever, which lasted months and most often resulted in death. It could have been similar to typhoid fever, or it could have been malaria, which was the most common fever people suffered from, and was nearly always fatal, in the first century.

When Jesus came to Peter’s house, he touched the woman’s hand and she was healed. We learned in the story of the Centurion that Jesus doesn’t need to touch someone to heal them — or even be in the same room with them — and yet, he touched both the leper and Peter’s mother-in-law. This gives us insight into the tender, compassionate nature of Jesus. He treated people with kindness and dignity.As soon as she was healed, Peter’s mother-in-law “began to wait on him.” The message here is obvious. Her response to experiencing a miracle was to begin serving Jesus.

Experiencing God’s power and serving him go hand-in-hand. That is what greatness is. It doesn’t come through being served, but through serving. Jesus said…

Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. (Mark 10:43-44)

Greatness and service go hand-in-hand.

A great life is not determined by what we get, it’s determined by what we give. And we cannot give what we do not have. In order to achieve greatness — to live a life that benefits the world for generations to come — we must first experience God’s miracle-working power in our own lives.

Today, if you’ve come here thinking “I need a miracle…I need God to move in my life”, I want you to realize this: you’re positioned for greatness.

God wants you to experience his power. He wants to bless you, so that you can do great things with your life. God wants you to experience his power so that you can walk in obedience…so that you can reach out to others with compassion…so that you can live a life of service.

That is what “greatness” is — and it is within your reach.

No matter what your life has been like up to this point — even if you consider yourself a spiritual leper — Jesus is willing to reach out and touch you today, and you will never be the same.

OUR POTENTIAL AND OUR PERFORMANCE

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 15, 2024
Text Matthew 7:1-14
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Too often in our Christian life, we discover that Christians have a high possibility, but may be guilty of low performance. This often happens in a lot of areas of our life. When I was in grade school, before we got letter grades about 6th or 7th grade, my teachers always wrote one of two things. Either it was: “Paul talks too much” or “Paul isn’t working up to his ability.”

The high degree of success attained by our machinery in the mechanical age of the first ¾ of the last century is due to efficiency, and efficiency is the relation of a machine’s performance to its possibility or potential. The same is true in the more recent high technological age that we are in, Efficiency in the hi-tech age is the relation of a computer’s performance to its potential. Of course, the real problem is not the computer’s potential, but the users understanding of using it.

I do not even come close to utilizing the potential of my computer. You know the “Dummy “books you can buy? : Like “Baking for Dummies” or “Electricity for Dummies.” Well: the book “How to Use the Computer—for Dummies’} —- I even had trouble understanding that..

:A Christian’s efficiency is the relation of performance to possibility, we then ask, “What are the possibilities of Christianity?” More specifically—what is our potential as a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian? It is unbelievably supernatural. That is if we are living our lives directed, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Having said that, we have to be careful not to overstate ourselves here and put the possibility so high that the performance could never match it or even approximate it. The answer of Jesus’ purpose, is sufficient. He said, in John 10:10; …”I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ( more abundantly (KJV) or in all its fullness_. That is above the average, above the crowd. This is our possibility or our potential.

We all probably feel that our possibility far exceeds our performance.

But we should do what Paul did when he felt the same way. We read in Phil. 3:13-14;…”I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, (that is the power ot the resurrection), but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We human beings display a vast capacity for self-deception. For example, we are in danger of changing righteousness into self-righteousness, and perfection into a perfect reputation; but we accomplish this so cleverly that we are at best only vaguely aware of the monstrosity we have created.

Against all such types of righteousness, Jesus strongly denounced in chapter 6 verses 1-18 where he teaches about giving to the needy, and then on prayer. — and he gives searching counter-demands in verses 19-34 where he teaches about fasting, money, and worry.

Now in Matthew chapter 7, He warns against two other dangers:

FIRST OF ALL—THE DANGER OF BEING JUDGEMENTAL

  1. In verse 1, we have the command. “Do not judge! It is easy to see how powerful and dangerous the temptation to be judgmental can be. The challenge to be holy has been taken seriously, and a fair degree of discipline, service, and formal obedience has been painstakingly won. Now, I tell myself, I can look down my long nose at my less disciplined peers and colleagues (our brothers and sisters in Christ). Or perhaps I have actually experienced a generous measure of God’s grace, but somehow I have misconstrued it and come to think that I have earned it.

As a result, I may look critically at those

         whose vision, in my view, is not as large as my own,

         whose faith is not as stable,

         whose grasp of the deep truths of God is not as masterful,

         whose service record is not as impressive (in man’s eyes, at least),

         whose efforts have not been as substantial

You see, people are diminished in our eyes; we consider their values as people inferior to our own values.

The harping, critical attitude may become so poisonous that men whose spiritual stature, personal integrity, and useful service, that are really superior to us, somehow emerge as spiritual pygmies and intellectual paupers by the time we have finished our ungodly assessment of them.

Jesus warns in the Sermon on the Mount–do not judge or you too will be judged. There is a wide range of meanings to the word used here which we translate as judge. To judge can mean to discern, to judge judicially, to be judgmental, to condemn (judicially or otherwise.) The context must determine the precise shade of meaning. The context here argues that the vese means do not be judgmental do not adopt a CRITICAL SPIRIT, a condemning attitude. The Living Bible simply says, Don’t criticize

The same verb is found twice, with identical meaning in Romans 14:10 “You then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written as surely as I live, says the Lord, Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.” –So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.”

We know we are to:” judge prophets:” we see that in I I Corinthians. We also know that there is the gift of discernment. It is a Christian’s responsibility to discern if a person’s attitude or spirit is of God or not. However we sometimes jump to the conclusion that if it isn’t of God it must be a demon. But we must realize that our human sinful nature can cause us to speak and act like out in the flesh and not the Spirit. That’s when we need the gift of discernment in order to tell the difference. We know that we should tell the difference –“by their fruit.” We often here the defense of someone with a critical spirit; “I’m not being judgmental, I’m just a fruit inspector”

Dr D.A. Carson in his book on the Sermon on the Mount, says; “the one who says that usually, has taken on himself some special role. What is fundamentally at stake he thinks is attitude. This is clearly seen in that particular kind of critical spirit found in gossip. It is not always the case that what the gossip says is malicious; what one says might in fact be strictly true. But it is always the case that the person says it maliciously; that is he speaks without any desire to build up, or any real concern to instill discernment. That person wants only to puff himself up, or to be heard, or to enhance his own reputation, or to demean the person about whom he is speaking.

James 2:12-13 tells us; “ Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.”

The point of verses 1-2 in our text is not that we should be moderate in our judging in order that others will be moderate toward us, but rather that we should abolish judgmental attitudes lest we ourselves stand utterly condemned before God. Chapter 6 verse 14 reminds us: “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy—For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive man their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

It seems that Jesus in these two verses is using this belief to drive home his point—the measure we use, when criticizing others, will be applied to us.

For instance: When we criticize someone for not telling the truth. How truthful are we? Do we slant the truth, or exaggerate to make us look better? Or perhaps we apply God’s standard of justice to wealthy people who exploit the poor by unfair practices and greed. But how often have we been greedy? How often have we robbed others of value for money in our work? Robbing our employer of time.

Mal. 3:3-8 talks about robbing God. “you have (cheated me) robbed me of tithes and offerings. Do we rob God of his tithe?

Verse 3 shows what we usually do. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust (splinter) in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank (or log or beam) in your own eye?”

Verse 4 : ‘How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

You may remember the illustration of this that I have used before, and so has Pastor Wayne. There was a young preacher in a country church that peached sermons to encourage his people to do greater things for God. There was a deacon who did little and seemed to care less. It caused the pastor great concern. On several occasions the preacher would tell him exactly what he thought, but the deacon never got the point. He always thought he was talking about someone else. One Sunday, the preacher made it plainer in his message to whom he was talking about. After the service the deacon said, Preacher you sure told them today..” The next Sunday it rained so hard that no one was at the church except this one deacon. The pastor thought that he would now know about whom he was talking about. The sermon went straight to the deacon who was the only one there. Following the service, the deacon told the pastor; “Preacher you sure told them if they had been here.”

We ae so like that! We never see our own faults or sin, we never recognize the beam in our own eye. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is in the Bible. After David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then had her husband sent to the front lines of the battle so that he would be killed and he was. II Sam. 12:1-7. David just couldn’t see that the prophet Nathan was talking about him. Nathan told David this story:

There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing, but had a little lamb he had worked hard to buy. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate, and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing a lamb from his own flock for food, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and served it to his guests.

David was furious. As surely as the Lord lives, he vowed any man who would do such a thing desires to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity. Then Nathan said to David—YOU ARE THAT MAN. Verse 13 says; Then David confessed to Nathan’,” I have sinned against the Lord.” Then Nathan said; Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. So we have the danger of being judgmental and not seeing our own faults and sins, the plank in our eye, but seeing the speck in someone else’s eye.

The second danger is;

  1. THE DANGER OF BEING UNDISCRIMINATING

After warning us against being judgmental, Jesus warns us against being undiscriminating, especially in our choice of people to whom we present the wonderful riches of the gospel. He says; “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. –If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”

the dogs Jesus is referring to is not the nice cuddly or domesticated house pets with wagging tails and affectionate natures. They are semi-wild hounds (pariah dogs), vagabonds and mongrels that roamed the streets and hills, tongues hanging form their mouths and burrs clinging to their filthy coats of fir, as they rummage for food in savage packs in the city’s rubbish dumps. The pigs were not only an unclean animal for the Jews, but were probably derived from the European wild boar and was capable of certain violence. The two animals together serve as a model of people who are savage, vicious and hold an abomination. These two are brought together in a negative context again in II Peter 2:22 …”of them (that is, certain people), the proverbs are true, ‘a dog returns to it’s vomit, and a sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’” The reference is to the fact that unbelievers, whose nature has never been renewed, possess physical or animal life, but not spiritual or eternal life, and unless they respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to accept the good news of the gospel, they will respond as in the picture that Jesus sketches—of a man holding a bag of precious pearls, confronting a pack of hulking hounds and some wild pigs. When he throws a few pearls to them, they pounce on them thinking they are food, but when they discover they are hard, and tastless, they turn on the man and tear him to pieces. Jesus applied the same principle to the ministry of the twelve when he gave them his charge before sending them out on their first mission. He warned them that in every town and house they entered, although some people would be receptive or “worthy”, others would be unreceptive or unworthy. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words; “shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.” The important thing to understand here is that this Eastern saying means to “shake off the animosity and bitter feelings which arose between another and you as you leave, so that you may go on your way with your heart full of peace and joy, as a Godly person should. You must never take with you the dust of hatred and resentment; shake it off and leave it behind so you may continue with a pure heart.

Have a spirit of discernment and don’t be judgmental. Take a look at the log in your own eye, before you criticize anyone without discerning their motives or attitudes. And finally use that gift of discernment to determine who is open to receiving the gospel.

KINGDOM PARABLES OF SOIL & WEEDS

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 8, 2024
Text Matthew 13:19; 24-30
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Last week we emphasized that Phillip had “the Power of One” because of the Holy Spirit calling him and using him in a large revival meeting in Samaria, but then was told to go on the road in Gaza to an Ethiopian who was trying to understand the book of Isaiah.
I have mentioned before about the “Sower” who went out to sow the seed (the word of God), and in our text that Carol read, we see that the seed fell on different kinds of soil.
This parable is aimed at two different sets of people; that is,
Those who preach the word, but also the main group Is,
Those who hear the word.
The parable certainly teaches that the Word of God can be accepted in different ways, and the fruit that it produces depends on the It is like this with what Jesus is saying to us. He is basically saying —Are you hearing? When he says “Those who have ears to hear, let him hear.”
The message Jesus communicated through this parable was so important that all three synoptic Gospel writers recorded it. Although the lesson is quite simple, this parable received special treatment by being carefully interpreted by Jesus in verses 18-23. The main message in this parable is simply that: the human soul may be compared to:

VARIOUS TYPES OF SOIL IN WHICH THE SEED OR THE WORD OF GOD IS SCATTERRED.
1.The first soil which was very hard—probably like clay that with the sun bearing down, became so hardened that the seed just lay on top and the birds could easily come and eat it. These birds are like the evil one (Satan) who comes and snatches away what was sown in a person’s heart.

  1. The second kind of soil we are told was rocky. Often we think of it as soil containing a lot of rocks, but actually a field with a lot of small rocks or stones in it would still permit some seed to go down and establish roots. What we have here is soil only a few inches deep covering a layer of limestone. This soil may be compared to a person with a flighty mind who refuses to think deeply and thoroughly. These are people who enjoy a fad or something new, people for whom form is more important than substance, people for whom an emotional appeal is far preferable to a reasoned appeal. This type of soil is deceptive because on the surface it appears as good as any other soil. It’s all the more deceptive because evidence of life appears immediately from the seed. However, the lack of a root system soon forces the untimely death of the plant before fruit or grain has been produced. Some people who receive the Word of God eagerly embrace it wholeheartedly and end up abandoning their new faith because they have not considered the full implications of its life-transforming power. Some people use Christianity simply as a way for their immediate problem to be taken care of, and when their problem is solved, they quickly revert to their former lifestyle and belief system. On another occasion, Jesus said that unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit People of shallow soil are not willing for the seed to die and therefore, are not really ever able to bear fruit.
  2. The thorny soil is also deceptive because it looks good, but is crowded with competing seeds. Like a busy, cluttered life, the thorny soil is filled with many activities that claim a person’s attention and affection. The current pursuit of self-actualizing and self-fulfilling activities is an example of thorns in a person’s life. Jesus mentioned that the thorns are like the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. Again we have a situation where the implications of the fullness of the kingdom of god and its expectations for its followers are not readily comprehended.
  3. Finally, the fertile soil is completely unlike the other three.

Verse 23 shows the four types of soil representing different responses to God’s message. People respond differently because they are in different states of readiness. Some are hardened, others are shallow, others are contaminated by distractions and worries, but some are receptive.

My good friend Dr. David Schroeder who was in college with me, and was on the Basketball team with me, wrote a commentary on Matthew and comments about where the good seed fell. He says; …”it is unlike the hardened path because it is soft It is unlike the rocky soil because it is deep. It is unlike the thorny soil because it is clean. This type of person is prepared to hear, understand, and obey the teaching of the kingdom.

The question for us this morning is;
HOW HAS GOD’S WORD TAKEN ROOT IN YOUR LIFE?
WHAT KIND OF SOIL ARE YOU?

Verse 9 says; “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!” Human ears hear many sounds, but there is a deeper kind of listening that results in spiritual understanding. If you honestly seek God’s will, you have spiritual hearing, and these parables will give you new perspectives.
Verse 10 we read; “His disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you always tell stories when you talk to people?” When speaking in parables (or stories), Jesus was not hiding the truth from sincere seekers, because those who were receptive to spiritual truth understood the illustrations. To others, they were only stories without meaning. This allowed Jesus to give spiritual food to those who hungered for it while preventing his enemies from trapping him sooner than they might otherwise have done.
Jesus was saying to the disciples that this message was the one that the prophets of the Old Testament knew would come through God’s chosen Messiah.
Through this parable:
JESUS COMMUNICATED VARIOUS MESSAGES. He communicated:

a message of encouragement.
Seeds from the Word of God will be sown and find suitable soil in which to grow and produce a wonderful crop called the kingdom of God.
Jesus also offered,
a message of realism in that He clearly stated that not everyone will be responsive to the word of God. Nevertheless, the disciples should be persistent because the seed needs to be sown, regardless of the unresponsiveness of some people.
Verse 12 Jesus said; “To those who are open to my teaching more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But to those who are not listening (and hearing), even what they have will be taken away from them.”
Verse 13 “That is why I tell these stories, because people see what I do, but they don’t really see. They hear what I say, but they don’t really hear, and they don’t understand.
Verse 14 “This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah (6:9-10) which says; “You will hear my words but you will not understand. You will see what I do, but you will not perceive its meaning.
Verse 15 “For the heart of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—–so their eyes cannot see and their ears cannot hear and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.
How easy it is to agree with Christ with no intention of obeying. It is easy to denounce worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and still do nothing to change our ways. :
JESUS ALSO BROUGHT A MESSAGE ABOUT PATIENCE.
It takes a long time for the seed to bear fruit, but there is life in the seed and eventually, that seed will sprout in the right soil and bear the fruit of the kingdom of God. Therefore, the message is also one of great hope to the disciples and us.
Then in verses 24-30, we see:
THE TARES (WEEDS) AND WHEAT EXPLAINED AS AN ACT OF AN ENEMY.
This particular kind of weed that Jesus refers to, would have been very familiar to a Palestinian audience. It was like a curse to those who were farmers. It was a weed called “bearded darnel” or (Lolium Temulentum). In their early stages the weeds looked just like the wheat or barley and you couldn’t really tell which were weeds and which were wheat. (Now I have sometimes had trouble telling which were weeds and which were flowers, You don’t want to mow the flowers, but it’s ok to mow the weeds. (The weeds will come back again though if you don’t dig them out by the roots). The darnel could be distinguished easily once the wheat began to get a head of grain on it, but by that time their roots were so intertwined that the weeds (the darnel) could not be weeded out without tearing the wheat out with them.
The picture of a man deliberately sowing Darnel in someone else’s field is by no means only imagination. This was actually sometimes done. To this day in India one of the worst threats that a man can make to his enemy is “I will sow bad seed in your field,” and in codified Roman law this crime is forbidden and its punishment was a fine or a flogging.
The whole series of pictures within this parable was familiar to the people of Galilee who heard I for the first time.
Although Jesus had just finished telling four parables, the disciples were still pondering the parable about the wheat and the weeds. He followed with another point-by-point allegorical interpretation of a parable. Jesus specifically said that the one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, (Jesus) field is the world. The good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom, while the weeds are the sons of the evil one. The enemy who sows the seeds of the weeds is the devil. The harvest, He said, is the end of the age and the harvesters are the angels.
The point of the parable is that when the weeds are pulled up, they will be burned in the fire, whereas the good seed will be separated from the weeds. The imagery Jesus used about the end of the age is quite alarming. This is the final judgment. Verse 41 indicates that the Son of Man will send out the angels who will weed out of the kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will be thrown into a fiery furnace where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The righteous, however, will enjoy much more favorable future in the kingdom of their Father.
At this point, Matthew interrupts the parables to explain that Jesus was speaking to the crowd using parables to fulfill a prophecy in Psalm 78:2 that says; “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world,”
So we see that there is the time for judgment (Matthew 13: 36-43) [the last verses of this section]
This passage teaches us that there is always a hostile power in the world (Satan) who is waiting to destroy the good seed. We must always be on our guard.
It teaches us how hard it is to distinguish between those who are in the Kingdom and those who are not. A person may appear to be good, but in fact, may be bad, and a man may appear to be bad and may yet be good. We are much too quick to classify people and label them as good or bad without knowing all the facts.
It teaches us not to be so quick with our judgments. If the reapers had had their way, they would have tried to tear out the darnel and they would have torn out the wheat as well. Judgment had to wait until the harvest came. God will do the judging at the end. A person in the end will be judged and the angels will obey the Lord’s command. He will not be judged by any single act or stage in his life, but rather has he or she accepted the message of Christ, and the salvation provided through his shed blood on Calvary; and then he will be judged by the fruit.
It teaches that judgment does come in the end. It may be that humanly speaking, in this life the sinner seems to escape the consequences of sin, but there is a life to come. The person who rejects the gospel of the kingdom will be thrown into everlasting fire. Yes there is a HELL.
WE SEE THAT WE SHOULDN’T DO THE JUDGING BUT WE CAN ALSO BE ASSURED THAT GOD WILL DO THE JUDGING
The kingdom is much greater than what we might imagine, but we understand the concept better than the disciples. We see the kingdom spreading throughout the world. What we need to understand though, is we must contribute to the kingdom through the transformation of lives in our community. Once we grasp the significance of that, we won’t be so concerned about the functioning of our church for “church people”- for the body of Christ is larger than the local church. We don’t enlarge the Kingdom so that our local church can get bigger. We lead people into transformed lives and incorporate them into the local church so that they can grow, and so that we can make a greater impact on the world and transform more lives so the Kingdom can get bigger. Discipling people so that they in turn will bring about community transformation (IITim. 2:2)

THE POWER OF ONE

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 1, 2024
Text: Acts 8:4-8; 26-39
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

The title of my message this morning is The Power Of One. In sports, one player is often times dominant. It was true in the days of Michel Jordon when he played basketball for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. Sometimes one person isn’t enough. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points himself in a game, but he never won the NBA championship. In order for one superstar player to lead a championship team, the one player must make all the others better. This is what is happening in the WNBA league, where Katelyn Clark is breaking all kinds of records as a rookie player, and with her overall play and assists everyone on the Indiana Fever team has now reached 16 w and 16 losses. They are now 6th in the league, and will probably make the playoffs. It is the first time since 2013 that their record has been 500. They were the last-place team last year. She has demonstrated:

HOW THE POWER OF ONE CAN AFFECT OTHERS

What is it that has to happen for one person who is strong or skilled to be successful? Well, the answer is, usually there has to be co-operation from others. I

IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM,

WE MUST COOPERATE WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

The early church in Jerusalem suffered great persecution, after the first martyr, Stephen was stoned. The people scattered everywhere preaching the gospel. These were ordinary people like you and me, doing the ministry that they were taught to do by the apostles, who stayed in Jerusalem, at least for a while.

Then we see today in our scripture reading that Phillip had a tremendous healing and deliverance ministry in Samaria, where multitudes were coming to Christ. So let’s look at: Three significant events in our text.

FIRST, THE JERUSALEM CONGREGATION WAS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT JUDEA AND SAMARIA (verse 1)

Sometimes God has to use force to get us to do what is in His perfect plan Oh, I don’t mean he will force you to do something you don’t want to do, but He uses other people and circumstances to threaten our position like sending persecution.

When the church is persecuted, the church always becomes stronger.

God wants us to go out where the people are. Where the unbelievers are. We must get out of our Jerusalem, out of the four walls of our church. Out of our comfort zone, and out of the status quo. When we go, Jesus said, (or as you are going, is the more accurate rendering of the Greek in Matthew 28:18,19), we are told to make disciples.

This presupposes that there is witnessing, now that we have the Holy Spirit to give us that power. (Acts 1-8 says; “after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power, to be my witnesses.” In Jerusalem in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

Verse 4 says; “…those who were scattered abroad, preached the word wherever they went.” Now do you think all of those were the equivalent of Bible School or Seminary trained witnesses? Of course not. They simply “preached” what they had heard and what they had experienced.

THE SECOND THING IN OUR TEXT THAT IS SIGNIFICANT IS THAT:

SOME ARE CALL TO SAMARIA.

Our Samaria will always be a “stretch” for us, just like it was for the early church who as Jews —wouldn’t have anything to do with the Samaritans. But they went wherever God told them to go. Verse 5 tells us that Phillip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.

First, it was only Phillip—ONE PERSON—who started the revival.

Many of you are aware of the fact that Samaria is that area a little north of Jerusalem The quickest way to go from Jerusalem to Galilee would be to walk straight north, but the Jews would go another way. They would avoid going through Samaria, cross the river Jordan, and go up the east side of the river through Perea into Decapolis, so as to avoid Samaria completely. It would take them twice as long, but such was their extreme prejudice against the Samaritans. It was because the Jews felt they had lost their racial purity when centuries before the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom and Samaria were carried away to Media. They never came back and were assimilated into the country into which they were taken. Those who remained in the country inter-married with the incoming strangers and lost their right to be called Jews at all. When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem to build the wall that was destroyed, the Samaritans came and offered their help in this sacred task. They were contemptuously told that their help was not wanted. Because of this, they turned bitterly against the Jews of Jerusalem. It was about 450 BC when that quarrel took place, and it was as bitter as ever in the days of Jesus. So this was still the situation at the time of this persecution. So going to Samaria was really a cross-cultural effort. They were certainly different, even though they spoke the same language. Have we reacted contemptuously against those of another religion or ethnic group? Thinking they have rejected Christ—they aren’t interested we think. Who are your Samaritans today?

Our Samaritan ministry may be just someone we are not normally drawn to. Or it may be someone that the majority of other people despise. It may be someone that is a different nationality or race, but it may be a category like the homeless or someone who speaks a different language than you do. Or you don’t know anything about their religion, or they are part of a sect that is intimidating.

What were the things they SAW in Samaria? With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. Wow! This would freak us out or actually cause us to shout and praise the Lord. What was the result of these miracles? There was great joy in that city!

We would like to see revival but on our terms. We don’t want to be uncomfortable or see anything weird.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria (of all places) had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. They preached the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

THE THIRD SIGNIFICANT EVENT WAS THAT :

Phillip is called by an angel to leave a successful ministry and go to the desert.

God south take the desert road to Gaza. This is where we see the importance of THE POWER OF ONE. Person. Don’t think in terms of a mass crusade, but rather think about what God is asking you to do, as one person. You can make a difference. The key is obeying the Lord when He shows you what He wants you to do

What is the first thing that Phillip did?

  1. He obeyed. He started out when the Spirit told him to go to that chariot and stay near it.
  2. When he saw he had a DIVINE APPOINTMENT, with the Ethiopian who was reading the Word but not understanding, he explained the Word to him
  3. The result was he accepted the Messiah and wanted to be baptized Sometimes he wants us to just go to one person, whom he has prepared.

In the book Power Evangelism, by John Wimber, you may remember when I told you about Kerry Jennings who when driving on the freeway home, praying, the Lord told him to get off at a certain Exit, where there was a restaurant he was familiar with, He was used to this kind of leading so he OBEYED. God had told him to look for a certain waitress and tell her that God had something for her. God said that what he had for the waitress would be revealed when he talked to her. Here was a divine appointment, arranged by God, and he received a word of knowledge for the appointed time. These encounters are God’s things and are meetings that are ordained to demonstrate His power in developing His Kingdom. (Eph. 2:10_

After being seated in the waitress’ section, he began to ponder all the reasons for not delivering the message. While caught up in anxious thoughts, she approached. Before he could say anything, she cheerfully said, “You have something for me, don’t you? In response (his resistance now gone) he told her that God had sent him specifically with something and then two insights regarding her job and a relationship both areas of trouble for her were supernaturally revealed to him. Asking God for courage he told her. She was stunned. She knew that she was encountering god because the only way this man could know the things he told her was through supernatural means. That scripture calls: a Word of Knowledge I Cor. 12: 8.

At the end of the conversation they prayed. She cried. Later Kerry learned that she was the daughter of a pastor now deceased and that she had turned away from God. Soon after the divine appointment, she gave her heart to the Lord.

Divine appointments are an integral part of ‘Power Evangelism” (especially one person). People who would otherwise resist hearing the gospel are instantly opened to God’s Word. Sometimes even the most hostile individuals turn to God when a significant need is met.

We must obey the Lord who says to go to all ethnic groups (that’s the great commission) and make disciples. Sometimes he forces us (by persecution) or other circumstances. When He says go, we should go, not rationalize, or analyze the situation.

Miracles follow those who believe and then people accept Christ. He demands, faithful witnessing and preaching. Sometimes he wants us just to go to one person whom he has prepared. Just like Phillip did—he went to the chariot and stayed near it. Or maybe, go to a certain restaurant, for instance.

THERE IS POWER IN ONE PERSON WHEN THEY OBEY AND GO AND USE THEIR SPIRITUAL GIFT TO MINISTER TO SOMEONE WHO NEEDS JESUS.

Yes, you can make a difference. If each of us just leads one person to Christ, and they do the same and so on, just like Pastor Wayne says in his book: “Learn from the Master. “The problem is; that we don’t witness to that one person, to begin the spiritual chain of reproduction.

D.L Moody said, “We have yet to see what God can do through one person who is totally submitted to Him.”