Taking off the Limits

Thank you for allowing us to join you here today. It’s a great honor and priviledge to preach from the Word of God here at Calvary Temple Assembly of God.

Preaching at any church is a humbling experience, but preaching at a church who is seeking the will of God about their next Pastor is extremely weighty. I think of the messages that have come from this pulpit and all faith filled prayers at this alter and I am truly overcome with emotion thinking that the Lord has orchestrated this moment.

I am thankful for your consideration. My family is hopeful that you feel the same way we do about God’s will for the future of this church.

I have a tradition. I like to tell a joke before each message. They aren’t usually good jokes, but when I have a captive audience, I like to share my kind of humor.

Four people were on a small airplane—the pilot, a college professor, a pastor, and a Boy Scout.

The plane suddenly lost its engines and was heading to the ground. The passengers reached for the parachutes. Unfortunately, they found there were only three parachutes onboard.

The pilot grabbed one and said, “I’m the most important man on this plane. I must go down and report this accident.” He jumped out.

The college professor said, “I’m the smartest man on this plane. My knowledge is a benefit to all mankind.” He grabbed a pack and jumped.

The pastor said, “Son, you go ahead and use the last parachute. I’m an old man—I’ve lived a good long life, and I’m ready to die. You go ahead and jump.”

The Boy Scout said, “Pastor, that won’t be necessary. We can both jump, because the smartest man on the plane just jumped out with my backpack.”

I sure do love that joke! It reminds me that we aren’t always as smart as we think we are. In fact, most of us would agree that when we look back on our lives or certain situations there are some things we’d love to change or redo.

The truth is that we’ve all made mistakes. We’ve been stubborn. We’ve been wrong. It’s because we aren’t perfect.

You’ve walked into this church one way, but I’m telling you that you can walk out a different way.

Things in your life can change. That change can start this now. The past does not need to hold you anymore. You can be free.

I want to ask you a question today:

Does our lack of Faith Limit the move of God?

This time of year reminds me of something that happened back when my wife and I lived in Bixby, Oklahoma. We didn’t have any kids. Kris and I were both working at a Christian school. Kris was teaching Art and Biology, and I was teaching Senior Bible and a Computer class.

Well, a miracle happened at the end of October. We had a massive ice storm followed up by a massive snow storm. Oklahoma Power and Electric wasn’t prepared and pretty much everyone in the area lost power. Everyone except US! It was a miracle. Our neighborhood had power.

School was canceled for almost 2 weeks! What a blessing for us! Not for everyone else without power, but we were having a great time. Baking, watching movies, and just hanging out with friends.

Well, we had this one couple of friends who were without power. They would come over to our house during the day and then drive home, sleep in sub zero temps, and drive back to our house the next day. We invited them to stay, but they wouldn’t do it! Instead of staying in a warm home with people who cared for them they chose to drive home and sleep in the freezing cold.

I begged them to stay. We tried everything we knew to do, but they wouldn’t listen. They were determined to do their own thing.

There was nothing we could do. They had the power to make their own decisions. For good or bad, they were in control and there was nothing we could do to change their minds.

When the storms of life come, it feels as though we lose power and control. When this happens we try to figure out what we are going to do to make it through in our own strength instead of trusting the Lord.

Like our friends, we find a place of comfort in the Lord for a time, but for whatever our reasons, we choose to leave that place of comfort and step out into the cold.

God has all the power, yet we choose to walk through the storms without His strength. We choose our own strength, ideas, or plans.

What does God do when we choose our own path? How does He respond?

Well, most of the time, He allows us to do our own thing.

He won’t impose His will in our lives.

It goes all the way back to the perfect garden that God created for humanity to enjoy. Remember what He said in Genesis 2?

Genesis 2:16–17 NKJV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

God gave us the ability to make decisions. He allows us to choose a path. The first man and woman proved that God will allow us to choose the wrong path.

Each one of us have opportunities to choose to trust God or trust ourselves; To walk in His power or our own.

Our main scripture for today is found in Matthew 13. It tells us of the time that Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth.

He wanted people to know that He was the Savior of the world.

He wanted to heal the sick.

He wanted to work miracles in the town that He grew up in, but none of that happened.

Why? Lack of Faith.

You know what I think? Jesus still wants to do these things! He’s just doing them through the work and ministry of the church. He wants to reach people here in Lawrence. And so do I!

We must build our faith and not put limits on what God can do. God can do anything, nothing is impossible, but I do believe in our scripture we can find a few things He won’t do…

I want to point out three things that Jesus Won’t Do.

Let’s read the scripture today:

Matthew 13:53–58 NKJV

53 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. 54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Jesus Won’t Make People Believe

He had been traveling all over the place preaching and teaching. He was extremely popular. In the next two chapters it tells us that He was surrounded by up to 20,000 people at one time. Massive crowds would follow Him.

People wanted to see miracles. They didn’t just take Him at His word that the Kingdom of God was coming. They wanted proof.

You get the idea that this kind of annoyed and saddened Jesus:

John 4:48 NLT

48 Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”

Jesus had a desire to reach people with the truth that He was the long awaited Messiah.

He had come to fulfill prophecy, set up a kingdom that would last for eternity, and set people free from the bondage of the law.

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But, Jesus wasn’t always known as the great teacher and healer.

He grew up in a small town. He went to church. He had friends. The family was known. The town of Nazareth only had about 1,500 people and they lived in close proximity.

In His life, before publicly starting His ministry, Jesus would have taken part in the normal church services. Reading scripture and even teaching.

Personally, I think that Jesus probably had some close friends from His hometown; People He desperately wanted to reach with the truth of who He was.

I also believe that Jesus wanted to heal the sick in His hometown.

Maybe there was an individual there who had been sick for a long time that Jesus was hoping to touch and set free.

This is how my mind imagines His desire to return to His roots and preach to His hometown.

There was a problem when He preached there. People didn’t believe that He was the Son of God. In fact, they even asked the question, “How can He do all of this”.

Or in other words, “who does He think He is?”

The scene in Matthew ends with Jesus saying that Prophets are honored by everyone except the people from their own town.

It tells us that because there was no faith there were no miracles.

He did not work miracles because they didn’t believe.

We need to notice...He didn’t work miracles to MAKE them believe.

Jesus won’t MAKE us believe in Him. He wants us to step that step of faith on our own.

We can be guilty of trying to get God to do something to prove Himself.

God if you do this for me then I will do that…just show yourself to me.

Here’s the truth:

Faith and Believing is a choice WE must make.

It can’t be made for us. Jesus won’t make us believe in Him. Even though He wants us to trust in Him as our Savior, Healer, Deliverer, and King more than anything.

He won’t make you follow Him.

His own hometown rejected Him. He didn’t make them believe Him. It’s something He won’t do.

Jesus is calling you. He wants you to believe and take another step of faith, even if you’ve been a believer your whole life, He’s calling you to greater faith. Faith that He isn’t done with this church.

But, if you’re looking for a sign or miracle before you trust in Him, then you’ll probably be disappointed.

But if you’re tired, worn out, ready for a change. This is what He says to you this morning..in His words:

Matthew 11:28 NLT

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Trust in Him today.

Trust Him for Salvation.

Trust Him for Healing.

Trust Him for Grace.

Trust Him for your Family.

Trust Him for Everything.

It’s a step of faith. But He won’t make you trust in Him.

Here’s something else Jesus won’t do...

Jesus Won’t Reject People

How different could it have been that day? What pages are unwritten in the Bible because people rejected Jesus that day?

We can look at other examples in scripture to find exactly how Christ responds to people who place their faith in Him.

There are three places in scripture where Jesus told someone that their Faith made them well.

He healed 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19), the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9:20-22), and a blind man (Mark 10:46-52).

Jesus told all of these people that their faith in Him had made them well. HE made them well; it was nothing they did. It was just trusting that Jesus was the Son of God.

In some translations of the Bible, the word “well” is translated as “whole.” And the word “well” in each of the three passages is the same word translated “to save” in John 3:16-17.

John 3:16–17 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

God sent His Son to save, make well, and make us whole. Jesus is what the world needs.

To be “whole” is to be saved. Beyond physical healing, God's plan is to save the world from sin. It is His plan to save us from eternity away from Him.

Jesus loves the world despite the fact the world has rejected Him.

He will not reject anyone who believes in Him. Here’s something you might need to hear today.

Romans 5:8 NKJV

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus won’t reject you. He loves you just as you are!

God loves us because he chooses to love us in spite of our failures. He loved us while we were still sinners, and he will never stop loving us.

In the same chapter of Matthew, Jesus told about the man who discovered a treasure in a field and went and sold everything he had so he could buy the treasure.

We are that treasure to God. He gave everything to purchase us and redeem you. And, even though we often refuse, reject and run away from God, he is always eager to accept us when we repent and return back to him.

This is grace.

When we feel alone, abandoned or overwhelmed, we can take heart that our relationship with God is not based on our performance but simply upon our faith in Jesus. He chooses to love us and use us even when we don't deserve it. If it were anything else, it wouldn't be grace.

Here’s what we need to do: Have faith in Christ.

Trust in Him as our Savior. Know that through Him is the only way to receive forgiveness of sin, freedom from bondage, and hope for the future.

Ephesians 2:8–9 CEV

8 You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. 9 It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.

What is our response to this great acceptance?

Confession

1 John 1:9 CEV

9 But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.

Repentance

Acts 3:19 CEV

19 So turn to God! Give up your sins, and you will be forgiven.

Action

Galatians 5:13 CEV

13 My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love.

I’ve mentioned two things that Jesus won’t do: 1) Jesus Won’t make you believe and 2) Jesus won’t reject you

Things in your life can change. That change can start Right here and Right now. The past does not need to hold you anymore. You can be free.

Is God limited by your faith? What does He want to do through your surrendering to His will?

Here’s the last thing I want to say to you today:

Jesus Won’t Forget People

I don’t care how many times you’ve rejected Christ. What I care about is that you’re here today and have an opportunity right now to trust Him in your situation.

You know what’s most interesting to me about this passage in Matthew 13? What’s interesting is that this is not the first time that Jesus visited His hometown to preach the truth to them.

This is really an important part of this story.

Luke 4:16-30 tells about the first time Jesus went back home to tell them who He really was. It was actually the first thing He did when He started His ministry.

Remember what happened. Jesus was Baptized, then He spent forty days in the wilderness being tested by the devil. Well, Luke says right after that temptation, He went home to His church, stood up and read from the book of Isaiah.

It could not be mistaken by anyone in that room that Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah that Isaiah was prophesying about all those years ago.

So, what happened? Let me read it to you:

Luke 4:28–30 CEV

28 When the people in the meeting place heard Jesus say this, they became so angry 29 that they got up and threw him out of town. They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him down from there. 30 But Jesus slipped through the crowd and got away.

The crowd wanted to MURDER Jesus. His hometown wanted to kill Him.

Remember, this is long before the ministry where Jesus proved that He was the Messiah by fulfilling the prophecies. Before He turned water to wine, healed the sick, raised people from the dead, and before He brought hope to thousands that the Kingdom of God was coming.

To these people He was just the Carpenters Son. They didn’t know any better.

So, maybe this is why Jesus came back to them in Matthew 13 to give them another chance to believe. Maybe they heard about Him…could something have change?

He just couldn’t Forget them.

What an amazing picture of perfect grace. These people didn’t deserve the Savior of the world. They rejected Him and tried to murder Him.

Yet, because of His great love, Jesus came back to give them another chance to believe.

He just couldn’t give up on His people. He couldn’t forget about them.

Friends, Jesus won’t give up on you either. He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t forgotten this church!

You may have heard the good news of Jesus hundreds of times, and never really took a step of faith. Well, today could be your day.

Maybe you’ve lived on fire for Him before but you’ve lost that first love. Today could be the day you remember Christ again.

You’re here right now in His presence, just like the people of that day in Matthew 13. You have been given another chance to respond in faith to Jesus.

What will you do?

Here’s a final thought:

The Disciples had the best vantage point to know who Jesus was. They witnessed first hand all the teaching, preaching, healings, the trial, the crucifixion and saw Jesus after the resurrection.

Well, almost all of them witnessed Jesus after the resurrection. There was one who didn’t see Jesus after He rose from the grave proving once and for all that He was the Messiah.

John 20:24–25 CEV

24 Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn’t with the others when Jesus appeared to them. 25 So they told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But Thomas said, “First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won’t believe unless I do this!”

Look what Thomas said… “I won’t believe”.

1) Jesus won’t make us believe. Thomas saw EVERYTHING. He of all people shouldn’t have needed any other proof. He had been with Jesus. He had been through so much with these other men, why would they have lied to him? Why didn’t he just believe?

He chose NOT to believe. Just like the people of Jesus’ hometown rejected Him the first time, Thomas rejected the truth. What happened?

2) Jesus won’t reject you. Thomas deserved to be rejected for his unbelief, but that’s not how God works.

If you have breath in your lungs, you’ve not gone too far. Jesus still wants you.

Here comes Grace:

3) Jesus won’t forget you!

Jesus didn’t forget about this friend that didn’t believe. He gave him another chance.

John 20:26–28 CEV

26 A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples 27 and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!” 28 Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!”

Jesus returned. He came back.

Just as He gave His hometown another chance, He gave Thomas another chance to believe.

What as the outcome? Thomas believed. The hometown people didn’t.

Are you a Thomas or a Hometown Friend? Will you reject Christ or accept Him?

Life is about choices.

Today you can make the best decision you could ever make in your life. You’ve walked into a room today one way, but I’m telling you that you can walk out a different way.

Things in your life can change. That change can start Right here and Right now. The past does not need to hold you anymore. You can be free.

Today you can make the choice. Jesus is waiting for you.

Jesus has come back for you. His grace is ready to reach your heart of stone.

Listen to the words of our Lord this morning:

John 20:29 CEV

29 Jesus said, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!”

There are things that Jesus won’t do.

He won’t make you believe, He won’t reject you when you come to Him, and He won’t forget you if you’re far from Him.

The question is really not what He won’t do, it’s what Will you do?

Remember my friends I told you about? They CHOSE to sleep in the freezing cold. They didn’t have too, but for whatever reason they didn’t stay with us. I’ll never understand why people won’t help themselves.

Today is your day of break through. Today is your day for freedom. Today is your day for revival - it starts now