He's Enough

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We know that God has been enough but when does spoken word become fact in our lives. (the reveal) Extreme home: The true joy of following Christ.

Tonight’s message is about great news, our Lord has won! I can say this with great joy in my heart. It’s always amazing to know that God is enough for me and even more than that He is all I need. Though I don’t have a great deal of years under my belt of ministry have been able to see God working in the lives around me, and that gets me excited! It is always good to be able to bring a great report to the pastoral team here of success. The victories that we have in ministry in this church are fantastic. Hearing of a community that is touched by a children’s program in the summer or God’s work in the ministries that we are able to support financially and in prayer. I think when God is through see the work of his people in this church he has one word across his lips, YES!!!!! You see God is always pleased when His children are walking in his will. Tonight I would like to stop and walkthrough Jesus’ interaction with 72 of his followers as they come back with good news. But before that I would like to share a story.

The story:

Man it is nice getting the job done! There is something satisfying about knowing that you have succeeded in the things that you are doing. As a task oriented person I am driving by the fruit in my labors. It is great to know that all the work you have put in has come with great success. I can only image that is what the seventy-two where feeling as they came back to Jesus after being sent out to tell the people of the good news of the Kingdom of god being near.

When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” (luke 10:17-20)

Point #1: Freedom is good, life is best

📷 Jesus hears the wonderful news from his disciples, the demons are listened to these people. It’s a true victory in the ministries of these followers. They returned with joy. The moments when a person can revel in the power of God in their lives. One recent example of this was in our time at camp Van Es. One thing that God had placed on my heart was to give the parents a chance to participate in camp. We asked that they put together a shoebox that had a few gifts in it that showed their awareness of their child. Then to top off these boxes we had them write a note in it. The notes purpose was to express their observations of their youth’s faith journey. It was meant to express how they have seen God working in the youth’s life. As we handed out the boxes and the group started to unpack these boxes our leadership walked in the joy of a win. God had placed a ministry win in our retreat. We were able to witness God speaking through the heart of parents. All I had to do was form a letter that would be given to the parents. I did absolutely nothing else, then God’s love showed up in these boxes for our youth. Now I’m certain at these moment when God saw the melting hearts of these kids His heart was like, YES!!! But one thing about ministry is the victories in front of us pale in comparison to what God has placed in our lives.

After the Disciples had finished Telling Jesus how they were successful within His strength, Jesus has a moment to tell them where this fits into the plans his Father has.

Jesus is discussing with them not he current battle that has been won by these men in their travels but, I battle that was waged in Gen 3, when Adam and Eve where deceived. These men we now walking in the authority to conquer the evil one through their strength in God. Read Romans 16:20, That being said Jesus saved the best news for last…

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” The authority that is given to us in order to see god’s glory in our time here in earth will pass away. The one thing that doesn’t pass away, that is love. The love that the father had for his people to when he send his son to die on the cross for us so that any one who believes in him shall can fearlessly know that god has placed their names in the book of life. Church we are meant to follow the will of God but our action can’t be solution. A battle won is a great opportunity to have joy in our lives but we are missing the point if our hearts miss the spiritual war. Jesus told his followers that they have power over the enemy and they will not be broken.

We heard this morning, the battles in our lives are not ours, but God’s. Jesus was trying to show the disciples that the strength in them was not of their make, but God in them.

Point #2: “… Their hearts”

Let’s read on…

At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.

“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Luke 10:21-22)

We can often struggle with why God seeks the childlike. One common perception of being childlike is that we find our reliance on God. Jesus takes a moment in our passage to stop and rejoice in the lives of these followers.

This scene was of Jesus stopping to rejoice in the childlike faith of his follower’s. Here we get to see my favorite phrase once again in the text, YES!!! Jesus is pleased that the Father has made the plan all along a child’s game. The reason these men could bring joy to the heart of Jesus is they weren’t looking to themselves for the answer. Instead they had place themselves in the care of their teacher.

Jesus goes on to talk through the reason for this ability to rely on God as children rely on their father.

“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

A knowledge of the son could only be established through Jesus revealing this to the disciples. But why? Why would Jesus chose these people to know about the good news. Read Micah 6:8b

Do what is right, found in our relationship with God

Love mercy, love others faithfully

Walk humbly with our God, “live the way that your God wants you to”

I believe that these men walked with Jesus in humility not looking to themselves for their strength. And it is at this point that Jesus comes back to them to give them great news.

Point #3: “… Seeing”

Jesus sent out his disciples to share that the “Kingdom of God is near”. The kings of Old Testament prophets stood for God in the adversity of their time in order to show faithfulness.

“Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples and said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen. 24 I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”

In this passage Jesus is telling His disciples that they have the privilege of seeing the time of the Messiah. Those faithful to God in the Old Testament would not be able to experience God’s sacrifice though they spent their lives telling others of the grace that would come to God’s people (1 Peter 1:10-12, ). Jesus was there to release power to his disciple which would free people of their spiritual bondage BUT, ultimately the point has always reconcile people to God.

Closing:

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