Preparing to Fill the Kingdom by John

PREPARING TO FILL THE KINGDOM
Mk 3:1-15

1. Have you gotten the message of these first chapters of Mark?
(1) John said, "He is the Messiah."
(2) God said, "This is My beloved Son."
(3) Demons said, "You are the son of God."
(4) He has power over diseases.
a. Peter's mother-in-law was healed.
b. A leper was healed.
c. The paralytic was healed.
(5) Jesus had the power to forgive sins.
(6) He said, "I am Lord of the Sabbath."
2. Let's step ahead of the text for a minute.
(1) If you see oceans, mountains, storms and all natural wonders, and you don't say, "My Lord controls it all!" you've missed the point. HE IS LORD OF ALL!!!
(2) Only one place in all of creation is not under His dominion.
a. That one place is the heart of mankind!
aa. He has the power to control our hearts, but...
bb. He chose to make us and keep us free.
cc. We believe He does that so that when we turn to Him, it will be a supremely real experience.
b. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. God is in control of everything, including the future, whether we realize it or not.
c. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess Jesus as Lord! That's coming! The demons and Satan already are acknowledging the greatness of God! Look at how the evil spirits in the Scripture obeyed Jesus!
d. But woe unto you! If you wait for that final day to proclaim Him Lord! That will be too late for you to be saved from eternal destruction!
3. In Mark, Jesus steadily advances to the cross. He was preparing to fill the kingdom! ill. My son was trying to play basketball while in High School in Weiner, AR. He could shoot well, and had some good moves, but he reacted hesitantly, and that kept him third string. The coach talked to both of us about it. He said to make that team, a kid had to start in grade school. He had to be so well coached that he didn't have to think before he acted. His players had to react. If they didn't, the play was over while they were thinking about what to do next. Jesus was prepared. He had planned every step He would take to the cross, and He did it just as He planned.

I. Jesus Worked With Individuals, But Never Forgot The Multitudes. 3:1-5.

1. Pharisees accused the disciples of picking grain on the Sabbath, and Jesus answered their accusation with Scripture.
(1) From that point on, the Pharisees watched His every move.
(2) Jesus habitually went to the temple on the Sabbath day to worship.
(3) Pharisees attended not to worship God, but to find fault.
(4) Even those of us who are closest to the Lord sometimes do this. (It results from bitter experiences.)
2. Jesus displayed command, knowledge, wrath, and grief as He acted in compassion.
(1) He told the man to stand.
(2) He asked the Pharisees a question.
(3) He showed anger. "Orgas," is the strongest word for in the New Testament for anger. It refers to the kind of feeling we should have for all sin.
(4) He showed grief for their spiritual obtuseness.
3. He healed the man with a command, and demonstrated again that He is Lord of all!!!
4. The Pharisees again said "no" to Jesus! They hated the Herodians, but they united with them to destroy Jesus!

II. JESUS WORKED WITH THE MULTITUDE, BUT NEVER FORGOT THE TWELVE.

1. He looked ahead to their coming, and planned to receive them. ill. In Wellington, KS, First Southern, we had 78 seats in the auditorium. We built the S.S. up to 128, and people had to sit on the platform, and stand. The next Sunday, the attendance would drop. We could take in a porch and add about 30 more seats. It would cost only $100.00, but the people would not do it! They didn't want to spend the money! I thought that was absurd, don't you?
(1) Mark almost sounds worn out as he says in vv. 7,8, "they came from everywhere!"
(2) A small boat stood by to receive Jesus if the crowd pressed too hard.
2. Picture the scene.
(1) Pushing, shoving, grasping, clawing people.
(2) Demoniacs crying out.
(3) Jesus healing, commanding, being buffeted.
3. He could have worked right there indefinitely, but he had other work to do. There were multitudes not yet born who also had to be saved!
4. Jesus did not forget the twelve, they were learning on the job.
(1) They saw the need of the people.
(2) They saw the desire of the people to know God.
(3) The disciples saw the pressure, and they thought Jesus was being endangered.
(4) They also saw the power and authority of the Son of God!
5. Jesus worked with multitudes, but His Akpostles were always on His mind.

III. JESUS DIRECTED HIS ATTENTION TO THE TWELVE, BUT NEVER LOST SIGHT OF THE CROWD.

1. He climbed a mountain. Not many crowds will follow a spiritual leader up a mountain (unless they can drive).
2. He "made" twelve disciples for four primary purposes.
(1) They would continue with Him.
(2) They would preach the Good News.
(3) They would perform healings.
(4) They would cast out demons by the power and the authority of God.
3. Though His attention was on them, He was still conscious of the crowd and each and every individual in it.
4. The Second calling of each apostle was to become another Jesus to the world! All did become like Jesus except for Judas Iscariot.

conclusion:

1. Only God can focus His attention on every human being at once. Jesus is God!
2. How wonderfully Jesus patterned His life and work to reach each person ever born, or to be born!!!
2. Oh, that every pastor could work with individuals and multitudes without neglecting His staff!
3. Oh, that we could stop acting like egocentric crowds clawing to get a goodie from Jesus!
4. Oh, that we would begin to be more like Jesus to the world! Each one of us! ill. Peter Lord, Titusville, FL, Jack Taylor, TX, Herbert Hodges, NC, W.O. Voight, Little Rock, AR all said, "I was successful by the world's standard, but I could not go on! Now I rest in Jesus, and He works through me. I am His child. I just obey!"
5. Joy in Jesus comes when you let Him prepare you for His kingdom.
6. While we pray, will you commit yourself to Jesus, and ask Him to prepare you to live as He wants you to live?
7. If you are already saved, have you ever asked the Father to make you like Jesus? This is a good time to do it!
8. Believers were first called Christians at Antioch, and they referred to believers being "little Christs." Do you dare ask God to make you a little Christ? I do, and I urge you to do the same. We need to be like Jesus!


EmmanuelComunityChurch 10/29/2006

Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego-A Living Faith. by John.

SHADRACK, MESHACK, ABEDNEGO-A LIVING FAITH.
Daniel 3:1-30 (Read 3:8-18)

1. (Recount the story of Chapter 2, and subsequent obelisk.)
2. It's easy for people with little faith, or no faith, to discount the great miracles of the Bible.
(1) We know it is human nature to stretch the truth. The Gossip Game illustrates it well.
(2) We know everyone wants his nation to look good.
(3) We know everyone wants his God to be the greatest.
3. But stranger things than Biblical truths occur daily, and we have no trouble accepting them.
(1) I opened the Wichita Eagle-Beacon May 10, 1981 and read that the earth opened up in Winterhaven, Florida and swallowed a house and 8 Porsche autos. (Limestone dissolved, or a subterranean water channel collapsed.) Who would believe that? I did. Do you?
(2) In 1945 during WW II, Harry S. Truman had a little sign on his desk that said, "The buck stops here!" He made a choice, and two atomic bombs completely cleared a circular mile in both the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. They left a huge depression in the earth! Do you believe it? I do.
(3) Blind Homer wrote about a city being covered with volcanic lava. In the 20th century archaeologists uncovered portions of it. Do you believe that really happened? I do.
(4) Why disbelieve this Daniel account? Why disbelieve that the earth opened up and swallowed Korah in Numbers 16:31,32. Why disbelieve Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 were destroyed by fire and brimstone? (These things differ very little from these later historical facts I just mentioned. We believe them, don't we?)
4. We need to be like Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego!

I. THEY TOOK A STAND FOR GOD.

1. Taking a stand for God is in itself a fearsome thing, but for them it was a multiplied fearful situation.
(1) They lost a war and were captives in a foreign land. (Even their names were changed.)
(2) They had already taken one stand with Daniel and that turned out okay, but another one?
(3) Life and death hung in the balances for them. They stood any way!
2. Now this concerns us because we are constantly faced with choices.
(1) Will we eat oatmeal and water, or spiced meat and alcoholic beverages?
a. That's not really very important, is it?
b. Most of our decisions seem no more important than that, but every decision prepares us for another greater decision!
(2) When a big test comes, what then? ill. We pray at meals, but not always in restaurants. Suppose you were eating in a very worldly supper club, would you pray? If you did not because you did not want to embarrass someone else, that's one thing, but if you were afraid to be embarrassed, that's another!
3. These three men had not tested God and did not know what God would do, nor did they know for sure what they would do.
4. Sometimes fears become fact, and theirs did!

II. God Allowed Their Faith to Be Tested.

1. God knows all about us. He doesn't allow us to be tested to find out about us, but so we can find out about ourselves!
2. These men spoke right up for God, and gave a good witness of their faith in Him. vv 16-18.
(1) Note they did not try to commit God to save them. God is Sovereign, and they knew it and they acknowledged it.
(2) Our God has all eternity mapped out in fine detail, and He works His Own plan, not ours. (I believe He even plots in changes ahead of time because He knows what and when we will pray!)
(3) The king carried out his legal threat and the enemies must have chortled in fiendish glee! (Note these men were killed).
3. If you are tested, will you pass or fail? God knows, do you know?
4. What will you do if you find out you will fail your test of faith?
5. When you've been tested, you know what to pray about and for!

III. God Vindicated Their Faith in Him.

1. Nebuchadnezzer saw four figures walking in the flames.
2. He called to them, but only three came out.
3. Not a scorched thread or even the smell of smoke was on them!
4. Will God vindicate your faith?
(1) Is your faith in God?
(2) Or is your faith in your own abilities?
(3) You will be vindicated if your faith is real!
5. God has not changed!

Conclusion:

1. If you really belong to Jesus, take a stand and stay with it!
2. You will be tested, but you'll pass every test because God will not let you be tested above your ability to bear it, and you will grow every time you pass a test.
3. God always keeps His Word. He is growing you into the person He wants you to be, and He alone knows just what you can be!
4. Will you stand with Him, or fall without Him?

Emmanuel 5/10/1981
Emmanuel 8/23/1987
1st Bapt, Valentine, Revival, 4/23/1990
Emmanuel Community Church 10/22/2006

A Miraculous Healing by John.

A Miraculous Healing
Mark 2:1-12

1. We live in an age when people tend to believe all miracles are faked like the work of The Great Houdini, or David Copperfield.
2. It is popular among many to deride people who really believe God performed miracles in the past, and that He still performs them in the present. Few believe He will perform miracles in the future!
3. Why did Jesus perform miracles?
(1) Was it just to help the sick? Many of us believe that is a good enough reason, Amen?
(2) Was it to produce faith in unbelievers? Many of us believe it was, don't we? Amen?
(3) Some of us believe it was also to fulfill Old Testament prophecy such as Paul quoted in Ephesians 4:7,8, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: 'When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.'"
4. Dolores and I have personally experienced God's healing. By more than 50 years of experience, we are blessed and happy to say God's healing is real and permanent!
5. This particular healing has something almost unique about it.
(1) I say almost because there are a couple of other healings that are also unique and similar.
(2) Most healings in the New Testament mention only the person being healed, but in this one, the man's friends are prominent.
6. Let's look at it directly.

I. These Friends Had Faith in Jesus, But It
Their Faith Was Not Complete.

1. As far as we know, their faith was not what we would call a saving faith, but it was strong enough to cause them to go to great lengths to reach Jesus!
2. Their work shows how great they felt the need was.
3. I've never known anyone who was willing to tear the roof off of a church building to be healed, or to find Jesus, have you?
4. In fact, I haven't known of many churches that were so filled with people that there wasn't room for four, or five, or six more people, have you?
5. I remember well the story a missionary told about an African boy who left home in search of Jesus. He walked across Africa barefoot with his shoes around his neck. He wanted his shoes to look nice when he found Jesus!
6. I also remember well a Mexican man I met in Violet, LA that left Mexico and traveled over the world to find the little baby Jesus. That was the only Jesus he knew about. His church in Mexico had a crèche with the form of a baby in it, and he was told that was the Savior. He was badly injured in an accident in France, and while lying in a hospital bed there; a Baptist minister came and told him about the real Jesus. He immediately gave himself totally to the Lord. When he was well, he took ship and ended up in New Orleans. He married and lived in Violet for years. He and his wife were in their 80's when I went to tell them about Jesus. Instead he blessed me with his own testimony!
7. These friends would not stop until they lowered their friend down in front of Jesus!
(1) Oh, what a blessing to have friends like that!
(2) And oh, what a blessing to be a friend like that!

II. Jesus Knew the Need of This Man, His Friends and the Rest of Those Present.

1. V. 5, Why did Jesus not say, "Rise and walk?"
2. Why did He say, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
3. I think the answer should be obvious to all of us who are Christians.
(1) What's more important? Is it to have a healthy body, or to have a home in heaven?
(2) It's obvious from v 7 that these men were not aware of Who Jesus Was! They said, "Why does this man talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
4. Jesus was aware that all men need to know that He is God!
(1) No mere sinful man can save people from their sins. Jesus can because He is God, and He became our payment for sin because He never sinned! II Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
(2) I don't understand how can people have faith in anyone other than God, can you?
(3) If people do have faith in anyone other than God, their faith is in vain!
5. Just saying that the paralytic's sins were forgiven didn't produce any faith in the disbelievers, did it?
6. Jesus knew the need of their hearts, and He knows the need of your heart and my heart right now!
7. This miracle did it for them. What will it take for you? In John 20:29 Jesus was talking to Thomas, and He said, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
8. You've heard God's Word and that should be enough!

III. Jesus Always Completed His Miracles.

1. Jesus knew what was in the unbelievers' hearts then, and He does now.
2. He turned to those disbelievers and said, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?"
3. Then He completed His work of grace, He turned to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
4. The man did those three things Jesus told him to do, and the crowd was amazed!
4. Their amazement turned into belief in Jesus!
(1) They praised God!
(2) And they said, "We have never seen anything like this!"

conclusion:

1. James said in 2:19, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder."
(1) Such a belief is certainly better than being an atheist, but it is not a complete belief, and it can lead to horrible sins. Saul believed in one God when he was putting Christians in prison, and they were being killed as heretics!
(2) Jesus gave us this parable to let us see that even the good works of these friends was not enough to save their friend, and it was not enough to save them either!
(3) Religion without Christ in your heart is a waste of time and effort!
(4) Jesus is the only way to life eternal!
2. Jesus knows where each one of us stands.
(1) He knows the thoughts of our hearts!
(2) He cares about the struggles we have in life and in preparing for eternity.
(3) He not only healed the man, who had an obvious need, but He healed his friends, and He made believers out of the crowd of thrill-seekers who watched HIm.
(4) Not a single soul dwells on this earth that Jesus is not concerned for him!
3. Perhaps you are here, and you are having trouble giving yourself completely to Jesus.
4. That's what we are here for. Jesus cares about you, and we are part of His miracle!
5. We want to help you find Him as your Lord, your Savior! We want you to live eternally.
6. Will you let us help you? Come during the invitation hymn to the front pew here, and we will help you.
7. When you believe, you too, will say, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Emmanuel 10/17/2006