Everyday Yes #11 -- (finally)

Okay, so I was going to do this yesterday. I was even setting up to start doing it; but then I had to answer the door and found my daughter standing there smiling at me. She had a few hours to kill before Brandi's dad met up with her to deliver "said child" back to her mother. LOL We hung out a bit and then watched a movie. By the time she left, around 7 pm, it was time to relax for the night. But here I am now, so let's do this, shall we?? Oh, and I know I haven't moved Friday Funnies yet, but that will come this Friday. As previously mentioned, Sermon Summaries will move upon change of Sermon Series so as not to disrupt the flow of the messages. I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I know, if possible. If not possible, just know to look for them on the Forum Page from that point forward.

How many of you have either driven or hiked to the summit of a high mountain?? In my 53 yrs, I've been up Mount Washington, highest point in Northeastern US, exactly twice. It's about 3 hrs. drive to the parking lot of the Auto Road, then about 30 minutes to drive up 7.6 miles to the parking lot near the 6,288' summit. They say that on a clear day, you can see down into Boston!! (with a telescope) The views are 360 degrees of New England "amazingness"!! Of course, having the "World's Worst Weather", it's important to time your trip according to current conditions. The views are totally worth it though!! But what happens when you come back down?? The view "shrinks", doesn't it??

And that's true of our lives sometimes too. Something amazing happens, and you praise God for this incredible thing He's done*. Then the next day comes along, as it inevitably does, and the "amazingness" of the major event is gone. It's back to "life as usual", and we go about our lives as though the events of the day before hadn't happened. (or maybe it takes a few days, but the point is there) "Normal" comes back into reality and if the next bit of "amazingness" doesn't happen for a good while, we may forget and get discouraged when something bad happens. Today's passages give us insight into how the Disciples handled such a time in their lives. Let's look at them together...

Matthew 17:14-21 New International Version

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy 14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” 17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” [21] [a]

1. Matthew 17:21 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 9:29.

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Mark 9:14-29 New International Version

Jesus Heals a Boy Possessed by an Impure Spirit 14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. 17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” 19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. 28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.[a]

1. Mark 9:29 Some manuscripts prayer and fasting

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We see by these passages how Jesus' everyday shaping of The Disciples grew their faith for serving with Him. Today they do that same work in us, as we allow Him access.

In order to gain context into these passages to better understand why Jesus was so frustrated with them, we need to take note that the story immediately before this was on the mount of Transfiguration*. This was the "mountain top experience" the Disciples had just taken in. (3 of them, anyway) The rest had been left down in town to minister however they were able. So the ones attempting the boy's exorcism had not been on the mountain with Jesus, but they had been present at many of the other miracles Jesus had done during their time together, so they still should have known better than this by now. Thus Jesus' frustration.

Jesus' even goes as far as to call them "unbelieving and perverse", vs. 17+19, respectively. He simply cannot fathom their continually "little faith*" after everything they've seen Him do and heard Him say. Nearly 3 years of ministry together, and they still didn't get it!! At least not to the extent they should have by then. They were still focused on the problems rather than The Solution. It would be akin to going up the mountain and looking at the rough terrain or narrow road* rather than trusting your equipment and skill or your car and driver to get you to the top safely. Too much focus on the wrong things brings fear and a potential for failure. That's not the life Jesus wanted for them, nor is it the life He desires for us.

God's vision is infinitely bigger than ours, and it's His desire that we trust Him in it. Only faith in God can show us what is truly real. (see John 10:10) It's not limited by our physical senses. It brings to light the 3 major elements of Jesus' Ministry --

1. Who He Is -- Everything Jesus said and did during the 3 yrs of His public Ministry, pointed to the truth that He was Messiah, healer, Lord, redeemer, etc...

2. What He does -- Luke 4:18-19 tells of Jesus reading from the book of Isaiah that The Messiah would preach, free prisoners, recover sight, release the oppressed, and proclaim the Lord's favor. (Is. 61:1,2) This in turn, helps us to recognize our roles in aiding His ministry in the World today. Those are the, "earmarks", if you will of what it looks like to follow Christ. It is left to us to decide how best to act on them in each of our lives after prayerful consideration as needed*. (although #3 gives us insight as well) Pastor Matt brought out the example of a child following behind daddy with the toy lawn mower or "cooking" on toy kitchen. We learn best by doing...

3. How He does it -- Jesus never focused on the problem. His faith was displayed in strong, quiet assurance that God would work on behalf of those who put their trust in Him. As we've mentioned before, Jesus was not out to impress anyone with "showmanship". He was simply there to bring "whosoever will" to the saving knowledge of Himself and the Father*.

We will notice in the passage from Matt. 17, verse 20, that Jesus mentions faith as a mustard seed more than once in His illustrations. That shows us just how big God is compared to how little is required of us to bring His power to bear in our lives. We tend to look at our problems and not see any easy solutions, if we see any at all. But God's view and vision are perfect. He has the telescope on top of the mountain to see all that can be seen from His vantage point. He would even be able to see Boston from Mt. Washington on a "not so clear" day while all we would see is the clouds.

For whatever reasons of translation or content, neither of our passages entirely comes out directly and says that the kind of miracle enacted in the story requires fasting and prayer. They only include it in a footnote, but it's an important bit to pay attention to. The level of faith (and therefore, preparation) is different for some miracles than for others. For example, a problem with finances is generally pretty simple with the right adjustments in budgeting, income, and/or expenditures. And if necessary, there are other resources that may be able to help in the moment or on a temporary basis. That doesn't require faith so much as clear thinking and planning. Conversely, health issues or injuries may require a far greater effort of prayer to a successful result*. Obviously, the success of something on the level of an Exorcism requires extreme levels of faith and preparedness. (even some movies tell us that)

Pastor Matt described the act of fasting as, "the intentional embracing of our weakness" in the face of major issues. This is in direct opposition of our tendency toward bravado and "false strength" that we put on in an effort to prove that we can take care of ourselves.

Of course, as we know, when you're fasting for God rather than simply for dietary reasons, prayer is always part of the plan*. It is this combination that brings us to a place of complete emptiness in order to allow for God's power to show itself strong on our behalf. The fasting is a recognition of our physical limitations while prayer is a recognition of our mental and spiritual ones. We bow in humble admission that God sees what we cannot. We bow in submission to the acknowledgement that His Plans are best.

The bottom line is, God's Kingdom is on the move and cannot be stopped. He invites us all to join Him in showing the World that He is present and at work* in the loving display of the fullness of grace and truth. God's Kingdom stands strong in the face of opposition, and that's the strength we can only gain through the Holy Spirit in us as Christians, and on us when answering God's call of ministry in our lives*.

In closing, Pastor Matt read a powerful passage from Ephesians 3:14-21 -- it is Paul's prayer for God's love in their lives that goes beyond all they can ask or think that their lives would be full in the abundance of His power.

We get a "front row seat" to see God do what only He can do!! ...and we get to help!! How cool is that!!?? -- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. Praising God for the amazing thing He's done -- Some of you may have heard of the term, "Ichabod Moments" to describe these times. This stems from the stories in 1 Samuel 4 and 14. This article brings good information and insight - https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/hopeful-truths-from-the-ichabod-bible-story.html They are like "foundation stones" on which we build our faith because we look back on them to remember how God has been powerful in our lives before, and we have the reassurance that He will do so again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJGgAHOiL2E No rights. (I'm mixing songs into the footnotes because I don't have an official list, not having attended the service.)

2. The Transfiguration is not an event I've explored very deeply other than to verify the fact that John the Baptist was a type of Elijah in the facts that he looked similar and had the same message. I've actually used the example of a Cover Band as opposed to the Original to illustrate this point before. (a former Pastor of mine offered congratulations on the image) Also, in looking at these passages before I started typing this afternoon, I noticed the verse just before the Transfiguration takes place. Jesus is saying that some alive there that day would not taste death before the Kingdom of God comes in power. Prior experience in discussing this online brought me to the awareness of Preterists. For those who don't know, these are people who believe that this verse and the later one speaking of rebuilding the Temple were referring to the The Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD as the Second Coming of Christ. There are multiple reasons why this is ludicrous, but I'll let you sort them out for yourselves. (barring that, you could look waaay back in my blog entries and read it there) (probably close to a year back...) ;p Maybe one of these days I'll get around to super-linking these references... who knows?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYTKYpnRnAQ (no rights)

3. Narrow road -- Mt. Washington Auto Road is wide enough for 2 vehicles to meet, but not always with more than a couple of inches' clearance. They recently paved it, but one wonders if they've added a guardrail... ;p (I haven't been up in nearly 20 yrs)

4. Prayerful consideration as needed -- facing a difficult conversation with a boss, co-worker, family member, or friend, may require prayer for wisdom and guidance. Prayer for what to buy at the supermarket, probably not. (I've actually heard of people who pray about every. single. thing. While 1 Thess. 5:17 suggests that we, "pray without ceasing", the practical details of our day is not necessarily what Paul is talking about there. He is simply recommending a continual awareness of God's presence in our lives. In thinking about this, Tevya, from Fiddler on the Roof always comes to mind. He talks to God any time He's not talking to another person. It's truly remarkable!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F1o8m-VGqQ (no rights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isSXzbPByks

5. Bringing "whosoever will" into the Kingdom. Once again, proof that God's Salvation is offered to ALL, not just to the Jews. (more on this in "far distant" blog posts as well... Included in my thoughts here is an explanation of the Trinity as brought to light by recent experiences with reading The Shack Revisited and discussion among friends. I have come to an understanding of The Trinity as one would think of business partners of a company. Equal power in separate roles. Each equally invested in the success of the mission. (I know, it's not a perfect analogy, but I think it's the best anyone can really do) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwuDSw-9cUQ (no rights)

6. Greater amounts of faith for greater results -- thanks to my time in one of my previous Churches (see full disclosure on my Personal Intro blog entry), I've been healed of physical issues twice. During the same period, I had faith to pray over the minivan I owned at the time. I prayed over it every time I got in, and when the time came to trade it in, the mechanic was amazed I had been able to drive it at all, never mind for the year or more that I had it!! There was something about the front end that should not have worked... I don't remember exactly now.

7. Also during my time at that Church, there came a call for 3 days of prayer and fasting ahead of New Years once, due to "sin in the Camp". Sometimes, extreme times call for extreme measures.

8. God is "present and at work" -- a common theme in our Church messages

9. The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts at the moment of Salvation. He comes onto our lives for the purposes of ministry at specific times. Many people get this confused, but it was a distinction heavily emphasized at the same Church where I was healed. There is also more to be found on this in prior blog entries.