In reflecting on our ongoing discussion about the power of God, a theme that you hopefully have seen emerging in recent weeks is the fact that nearly every breakthrough and miracle that we will experience in our Christian walk will require a faithful request or else some sort of bold initiation on our part. I have said it before: “God will use you to work your own miracles.” Scripture confirms this. Two weeks ago, we learned about the woman who was healed because she waded through a crowd just to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe (Mark 5:24-34). The two blind men in Matthew’s Gospel similarly had to call out to Jesus before having their sight returned to them (Matthew 20: 29-34).

This week’s story is a little different. It’s a little shocking, really. It starts off ordinarily enough—if one could ever really refer to Christ’s miracles as “ordinary”—beginning on the heels of yet another ‘self-initiated’ miracle, where a Roman officer has just offered a bold analysis of authority, thereby impressing Jesus and healing his slave (Luke 7:1-10). After this episode, Jesus travels the ten miles from Capernaum to Nain. It is here where this week’s story begins.

Jesus, as you can probably imagine, has garnered quite the following by this point in his ministry. He’s healed leapers (Luke 17:11-19); he’s cast out demons (Matthew 8:28-34); he’s fed the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21) and restored the sight to the blind through some rather unusual means (John 9: 1-34). What’s more, he’s probably earned the reputation as a particularly cheeky prophet at that. By now he’s worked a month’s worth of Sabbath days (thereby incensing the local Pharisaical devotees), and even managed to get kicked out of his hometown of Nazareth. Indeed, controversy tends to spiral in his wake. That is all to say that this young rabbi was likely to have a crowd of disciples, onlookers, enthusiasts and scrutinizers surrounding him wherever he went.

So on the road to Nain this entourage, all abuzz with the witnessing of miracles and ten miles of teaching, meets up with a crowd with an altogether different timbre. The crowd whom Jesus encounters in Nain is a funeral procession accompanying a widow who has just lost her only son. This is a rare and terrible blow for any single mother, but even more so for a woman in this time and culture, who would’ve lost not only her last blood relative but her financial safety net as well. She, in effect, has lost everything. At the front of this procession would likely have been a band of her peers wailing along with her in an act of demonstrative sisterhood.

These two crowds eventually meet—one craving life and the other mourning death. The emotional contrast could not be starker nor Jesus’ reaction more surprising. Upon witnessing this woman and intuiting her sad circumstances, he is moved to intervene. His intervention, however, is surprising in several ways. First, it is interesting to note that this woman, unlike the other stories mentioned above, does not ask for his intercession. Her dire worldview has probably become such that she is tired of the faithful and all their optimism. She’s stopped asking for miracles long ago. Her prayers, she tells herself, have not and will not be answered. She’s done. Jesus, though, spots her and calls to her, “Do not cry!” Authoritative. Curiously, Luke reports that his reaction was one of excessive compassion, though most of us are prone to intuit one’s yelling at a widow as an especially insensitive act. The thing to catch here is that Jesus is refusing to agree with her situation, and is instead provoking her to think otherwise. Tough love, some might call it.

But Jesus isn’t finished. He never is. He goes a step beyond speaking and moves to action. As Luke reports, he walks into this crowd, the death crowd, and tells the boy to “get up.” Equally authoritative. And out of an equal compassion. The boy, as you have read, does exactly that. Another miracle has been worked and witnessed.

As an aside, it is crucial to recognize that becoming a Christian is not a one-way ticket to The Good Life. Even after that altar call your day to day existence will more than likely remain a challenging endeavor and your obstacles will still be there where you left them. So let’s be frank, the Christian walk is not paved in bricks of gold. What Kingdom living does offer you is not only a Savior and Redeemer, but what’s more, a community of people who will speak into your world encouragement and, when necessary, conviction. They will become your brothers, sisters, friends, and mentors. It is the crowd round you, and not a plastic smile, that will help to keep your feet moving when life becomes nearly unlivable, and in this circle you will find hope. And Jesus will of course be there as well, teaching and affirming you every step of the way.

What Jesus has effectively done in this story (and beyond) is shaken death by its collar. Perhaps you require a similar ‘shaking.’ Perhaps you have responded to the wailing of the death crowd and decided long ago to tuck tail and walk in their ways—out of fear, or despondency, or faithlessness. Jesus is perhaps calling to you those same tough, provocative words: Stop crying and get up! And perhaps the local church will be the last thing, maybe the only thing, that can help get you back on your feet.

This woman’s situation was possibly the worst. In accordance to Jewish Law, she was completely shut off from society. She had no one in her life save for the doctors who were causing her grief. They would get her hopes up for healing, but she would only get worse and her hope would fall. Despair and solitude are a bad combination. This combination makes room for bitterness, anger, and thoughts that lead to a twisted, darker view of the world. She was completely alone.

Then, she heard that Jesus was coming. Jesus was on His way through town in order help someone else. Usually, Jesus would show up without any one knowing; this time, word came ahead of Him. And she had heard about Him. Now, she has a choice. She can either adhere to the Jewish Law and stay at home, away from society and from the people who were constantly letting her down. Or, she could muster up her faith one more time and break the rules by seeking out Jesus. To venture out was a danger, for she could not hide her disease; she could not hide that she was unclean; but that fact did not stop her. Her faith was stirred when she heard He was coming. Faith comes when the Word is spoken.

The woman came to an interesting conclusion in verse 28. She thinks that if she can “just touch His robe,” she’ll be healed. Why? There is no Biblical mandate stating that the robes of a Rabbi are holy and have healing powers. She could have come to this conclusion because of the rules influencing her world. An unclean woman is forbidden from touching a Holy Man. So, in following the rules, perhaps she thinks just touching His robe will do the trick.

OR…she remembers the Word of God and has received a revelation. Isaiah 6 describes God as sitting high and lifted up with the train of His robe filling the Temple. There are several Biblical references to God’s robe and His glory. Maybe, she knew this. Maybe, she believed Jesus was the Messiah and how He is different from any other. She believes what she hears and decides to take a chance and break the rules. She fights through the crowd–the doubts, the fears, the opinions of the world–and reaches out to Him and grabs His robe…

And Jesus feels it. He immediately stops what He is doing and asks, “Who touched me?” Everyone around Him is like “We all are touching you!” But Jesus knows. This was different. The woman approaches Him, falls at His feet, and tells Him her story. And He listens intently. That is the nature of Jesus. When someone reaches out to Him, He stops everything and focuses on the person, wanting to know their story. Nothing else matters save this one person.

This woman had lived her life in rejection and pain, yet, in hearing the Word, she stirred her faith. She worked her miracle; fighting all doubts and fears to reach Him. And Jesus listened to her. Then, He completed the miracle. In front of everyone, He says, “Daughter, your faith has healled you.” He elevates her back into the Family of God by calling her “Daughter” and seals the deal started by her faith.

Faith is the key. It stirs a person to go the bold. Position yourself, work the miracle, and GO THE BOLD!

Matthew 5:13 & 14 (NLT): “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

Arrange your life around the House. That is a concept that is difficult for most Christians to understand. Mainstream Christians have a habit of keeping the “God-thing” in their life separate from the “life-thing.” Isaiah is urging people to live IN the “God-thing.” The Prophet Haggai urged the People of Israel in much the same way. He urged them to repriortize their lives so that the House of God was in the center of all they did. But to those of us who understand and live this principle, we see the blessings.

Yes, it is difficult sometimes to combat the mistakes and overall bad history of the church when living in the world. It is almost too easy to keep the “God-thing” for Sundays. In doing this, we miss the message God is sending to us: A healthy Church is the greatest force on earth! Church is God’s business. He is building His church to be the mightiest force this world has ever seen! Now, it is understood that there is no such thing as a perfect church because there are no perfect people to run them. But if you are willing to invest into the church, you will reap the blessings.

Church is engagement. That is a lost factor in this day and age when people who have been offended by the Church stay at home to watch church on TV or listen to it in podcasts. There is no accountability, no relationship, no interaction. Church is all those things! Offense comes as a chance for us to push through and breakthrough! To conquer mountains in our lives and defeat giants standing in our way! Church is accountability; it is the opportunity to choose good over evil and see where those choices take us.

And when the people of God come into that healthy church, then ” nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory.” Matthew 5:14 says that we are “the light of the world.” The world is dying. Everyone born into this world is dying. We are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” Salt is used to preserve; Light is used to reveal! Suddenly, the darkness is chased away to reveal what is truly around us.

The Light is not about us. When you look directly at light, you hurt your eyes. You can’t look directly at the sun without doing damage to you eyesight. We are a light to the world; they are not to look at us (so beware of pride!); they are simply to see the truth when the light comes on. When the light comes on, the world changes!

Notice how Jesus used two different words in Matthew 5. He said “salt of the earth“ and “light of the world.” Salt, as previously stated, is meant to preserve. We dig deep into the earth–into the darkest depths of people’s lives where there is pain. We rub the salt in deep, preserving them by giving them hope when all seems lost, help when no one else is there, encouragement when they lose faith, love in a cruel world; we stay in the depths and we preserve!

The light has been there the whole time, but they can’t see it. You can’t force them to see it. Yet, we keep bringing the light. Sometimes, they catch a glimpse and it angers them, so they lash out. But keep holding on. Because, soon, God moves and the light is seen. Their world is illuminated around them, and they see the truth! The truth is revealed in the light. The light is the revelation that leads them to God, the source of all light.

So, be aware of your affect on the world around you. Don’t be afraid to invest in people. When you care, you can change the direction of a person’s life. When the light comes on, you can see where you are going. If the destination is destruction, you can change your direction now that you see that there is another path: God! “nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory.” The only hope the world has is in you and I preserving them long enough for them to see the light! Dial the “self” down and make it about someone else. We are going to change the world!

Communion is the representation of the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples the night before he was crucified. It was the beginning of the establishment of the new covenant. The old covenant did not allow for us to receive all that God had intended for us, thus, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we were given full access to God and all He had in store for His children. Jesus was the final sacrifice that fulfilled the duties of the old covenant. God’s yearning to communicate with His creation was so strong that Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life–thanks to the God in Him–where he healed and ministered to hundreds of people. Eventually, the religious leaders turned on him. He was handed over to the Romans, where he was crucified. There was much happening in the natural, but so much more was happening in the supernatural. There was a tremor through Heaven. As Jesus breathes his last and gives his spirit, he descends into the depths of the earth and pays the price. He defeats death; we no longer have to fear death. He defeats the devil. Then, he ascends up to his disciples for a short period of time before he returns to Heaven, where he presents his blood, the final sacrifice for humanity, and God accepts it. And every single human being from that point on has access to God.

Communion, this eating and drinking together, can be summed up in one word: Access. Jesus said, “I am the door.” When we walk through the door of Christ, we gain full access to God. We feel unworthy, for we sin. We wonder how God can accept us. It is because Jesus is the Great High Priest. As it says in Hebrews, Jesus faced ever temptation we face and gained victory over each one. Through this understanding, he gives us the grace and mercy we so desperately seek when we enter the presence of God.

The writer of Hebrews talks about a man named Melchizedek who appears briefly in the Old Testament. Abraham has gained great spoils of war after he went to war against multiple kings in order to free his nephew. One such king was the King of Sodom. The King of Sodom went to Abraham and demanded his stuff back. In the midst of this, Melchizedek appears. No one knows where he comes from or who he is. He simply appears in the midst of this fight between Abraham and the King of Sodom. Things are suddenly suspended. It is almost like the King of Sodom is dealing with Abraham when everything is suddenly suspended and Melchizedek appears. He brings bread and wine, and together, they have the first communion. Abraham is so touched by this that he gives a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek. Melchizedek disappears after that and is never heard from again. Many Bible scholars believes this occurance is a theophany–when Christ appears in the Old Testament.

The communion they shared was a glimpse of what was to come. A few thousand years later, Jesus sits with his disciples. He breaks the bread and shares the wine. He says that he is going to leave soon; his hour had come; he was going to establish a new covenant. Humanity would soon have access to God; the same access Jesus had, we were going to have. Yet, so often, we don’t feel worthy. But Hebrews says to “come boldly to the throne of God. There, we will receive mercy.” The mercy you seek is in the throne of God. There, we find mercy. There is the grace to help us in times of need.

Abraham was justified because he believed. The world cannot understand this concept. We have been preprogrammed to think that we can’t get something without earning it. Do this in order to get that. It is not so with God. You cannot earn His love and acceptance. He has freely given it. All we can do it keep moving forward, keeping taking one step at a time, and keep moving toward Him. The closer you get to God, the softer you become. Suddenly, life is not all about you. The Holy Spirit comes to the soft heart and softens it even more until we open up to God’s grace and love and begin to make that journey.

He keeps the mercy and grace in the Throne Room because He wants us close. He wants us to come to Him. He wants us there with Him forever. He has everything we need. He knows we don’t feel worthy. He encourages us a make another step. To come a little closer. He has it all. Just come in. “Come into my presence,” God says, “without fear. Because there was a sacrifice. There was some blood, and there was a body that has been presented to me that once and for all gives you access to my mercy and my grace. Come and be with me. Come closer. I’m not the God for you to fear. I’m not that angry God that the devil has tried to deceive the world. I’m not that God who judges and casts down and turns from. I’m the God of redemption. I’m the God of the second chance. I’m the God of healing. I’m your Father. Come. Come into my presence.”

Jesus shows up in the midst of our battles, our anxieties, and our short comings. We break bread together, we share some wine together, and we fellowship together. And He gives us strength to make the right choices. He helps us get stronger by taking us into the presences of God, the strength of God, and the mercy of God. He says, “Come in.”

When you come into that throne room, there is strength. The closer you get to God, you change. The more you go into God’s presence and partake in His grace and mercy, the stronger your become. Come to God every single day. You will become stronger. The presence of God is the only antidote for the soul. The presence of God washes away all things that hinder you from Him. Will you come in?

The foundation of discipleship is that we are connected like family. Being a believer has a different meaning than being a disciple. Being a disciple means instilling certain patterns of behavior in your life. Believers are born; disciples are made. Our act of faith gives us a re-birth, and we become a believer. But Jesus says in Mark 16 to go into the world and make disciples. You aren’t born with all of the things you need to be a fruitful person. You get those things from being nurtured, fed, cared for, taught and instructed. You need to learn by following those instructions. The process of growing a Christian (little Christ – one that can emulate Christ) is like raising a child. Once you become a mature believer, you can start to nurture and instruct others. We work hard to maintain a healthy environment so that when people are born into God’s family in this church, they can be healthy and grow.

If the new believer is born into a healthy environment, they will begin to grow. Pretty soon, that believer is going to start yearning and desiring more. The Apostle Paul talks about the milk of the Word vs. the meat of the Word. They need to be fed more as they grow. If you don’t feed them, they will die, their growth will be stunted or they will look elsewhere for food. New believers also need covering and a home. The church is the place that God set up to shelter and nurture new believers. The church also brings leadership, discipline and guidance. Getting people discipled – or disciplined – requires leadership. We are a family, and there are certain things that have to be in a family for it to function. Families need parents and leadership. Parents need to bring vision, direction and covering. When that’s in place, there is the potential for awesome things to happen in that family.

Paul made the decision to start teaching this model of family and leadership in the church, even though he had only met many of these people once in his life. He had very little interaction with most of the churches he planted. He would put things in order, appoint leaders and move on to the next city. He would teach the leaders to emulate him – be a disciple – and then raise up more leaders in the same way. “Brothers and sisters, pattern your life after mine.”

In Paul’s day, there weren’t many churches. If you didn’t like the leader, you couldn’t just jump down the road to the next church, so the major things stayed major and the minor things became minor. You had to submit to the church and its covering. Today, there are churches on every corner and people bounce around and don’t get planted. There are valid reasons for leaving a church, like when you aren’t being fed. But the church is meant to be a family. We are meant to be joined into the family. If there is anything in the modern church that is threatening it like a cancer, it is its inability to submit to authority. The spirit of how we live in the Kingdom is not one of independence, but one of submission. Despite what we see in the world, the Kingdom is based on interdependence and interconnectedness. The benefits of being connected and covered are unlimited. Living outside of God’s covering and structure can be devastating. You can’t move from believer to disciple if you aren’t connected in this kingdom kind of way.

What is it that stops one from moving down the path of discipleship while others grow in Christ? It’s pride. The kingdom will challenge your humanity. In our hearts, we are selfish. Without Christ, we are only living for ourselves. If the seed of the kingdom doesn’t get into us and flourish, we aren’t going to move forward and partake of the benefits of God’s kingdom. We have to walk in God’s process. It requires that we lay down our lives, not take up our lives. Paul says we are all connected. You can’t act independently of the church anymore. We are one.

“Pattern your life after mine and learn from those who follow our example.” Learn from those who are living in and for this Kingdom. Learn from the people that God has joined you to and that he brings into your life. God will position people in your world. Sometimes they are people who, in the natural, you may not want to respect. That is where the challenge comes in. Are you going to submit and trust that God put them in your life for a purpose? God will bring people into your life that you would consider the last person you could learn anything from. But God works all things for good for us. If we are proud, we won’t receive what God has for us or what God is trying to get to us through these people. Pride will stop us from receiving. It will keep you crawling when you should be running. It will keep you walking when you should be soaring. God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. The Kingdom mindset is connectedness, humility and submission.

I Corinthians 3:16: “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” The church has nothing to do with buildings. Buildings are means to an end. The church is people – a group of people joined together.

Ephesians 2:20: “We are His house built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. The cornerstone is Christ.” The foundation of our church is Christ. He is the chief visionary officer of this church. “We who believe are carefully joined together becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”

The church is not Dean and Jill’s church. It is not based on anyone’s gift. We are not joined to a church because of the leaders, we are joined to Christ. It is built on the foundation of Christ. Jill and I provide the macro vision for the church, and we raise up leaders to manage departments and needs in the church in areas that play to their skill sets. We are all about teams here. We want to bring out the best in people. The church is a group of people carefully put together, not a group of people following a “man of God.” We are all joined together following Christ and allowing Him to fulfill God’s vision through us.

Cycling is a great example of the church. You cannot finish a long race on your own – your individual strength is not enough. When you connect to a group and fall into line, you share strength and can go farther and faster than you could on your own. When you are at the back of the pack, you get to rest and depend on the strength of the group to pull you through. When you are at the front, you face the most resistance and lead the rest for a time. But everyone has a turn at the front and at the back, and everyone works together for the same goal. This is an amazing analogy of the church.

Sometimes we just don’t want to connect to others. We have an internal aversion to connection and we just want to do things alone. We let our pride convince us that we don’t need or want anyone else in our lives. We think that we don’t need other people for our walk with God. We have an innate resistance to being part of a team. But the Bible says “If one can put a thousand, then two can put two thousand to flight.” At the last supper, Jesus asked the disciples to eat together, be together and stay together in remembrance of Him. He wants us to connect with others in the church and, when we do, He will be in the midst of it.

For many years in the early church there weren’t even church buildings. Churches met in homes, in small groups. We, in this age are used to the structures and buildings of the modern church, and sometimes become out of touch with what the church is about. Man has become more independent, and many think that all the problems of the world can be solved through the ingenuity of man. We think we have the answers to everything. We do, but only when we are connected to God and others. This is such a foundational revelation that we all need to have about the nature of the church and our walk with Christ. As we connect to Christ, we connect to other people.

Paul says that we are the family of God. We have been adopted in and we are God’s family. There are expressions of God’s family all over the world. We believe in the church tribe philosophy, like the twelve tribes of Israel. There were twelve tribes in the church – different vibes, one God. Different tribes are right for different people, but we all love God. Find your tribe and connect to it. Get beyond your pride. Lay down your own agenda. God wants to connect us and join us together. God doesn’t want us stranded on our hundred mile race by ourselves, killing ourselves trying to finish our own. Find your team and do life together. Be discipled and challenged. We are building the temple together.

Sometimes you will be weak, but in your weakness others around you are strong and are there to help you through. When you are strong, you can help others around you. In a team, when one is weak, the strength of the others make them strong. You can’t do life by yourself. God didn’t intend for you to be alone. He joined us together so that we have a core strength to support each other. That is the Kingdom.

Cheers,

Pastors Dean and Jill