Why not here, why not now, why not us

*Tell the vision that the Lord gave about the tree. Our Destiny is here. I feel mine is here. That all that has happened before was preparation for what is now.

Luke 4: 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

No Prophet is accepted…

in his hometown

Why not here?

He went to Nazareth (a place he knew)…where he had been brought up (a place that knew him)…as was his custom (a place of old habits)

Jerry this is the Czech Republic
Jerry this is…Ostrava, I’m from Olomouc, Opava, …

Do you know the spirits that have control of this city? This country, people are against authority, people are so negative, there are Catholics, atheists, etc…?
What about the city of Nazareth?

John 1: 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathaniel asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. (Nathaniel came from Cana a city 6km from Nazareth.)

Some say Nazareth had a bad reputation because it was so worldly, a city close to the major trade routes with all the sin that goes with it. Do you think that there were spirits there?

Maybe the reason was the Jews expected the Messiah to come from another place (Bethlehem, or USA) than so close to home. HERE! Do you know what, as long as you live and no matter wherever you live, for you it will always be “Here”*

is accepted (“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”) Why not now?

OK God wants to do it here, Praise God, but we have so much we have to change, prepare, pray through, etc… He couldn’t mean NOW!

Now that’s A NEW HOPE Fulfilled

Do you ever think that you will be ready?

Ready for revival? * Ready (good enough) for his gifts
Do you think that you will ever know enough?

No the problem is that many people just talk about God they don’t accept that his word is true for us NOW!

Luke 4:22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. Good preaching Pastor Jerry!
The problem?

Naaman said “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.

Do we have faith in his word or faith in our methods (today this scripture is fulfilled vs. I thought…)

But, If I push you to believe, then…isn’t this Jerry Lillard? Throw him off the cliff, push him out. You get mad at me!

“Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” no prophet (We don’t accept from those we know) Why not us?

Us#1 Our Leaders

You see Jerry I used to think that my Pastor was perfect, but I have seen him and he isn’t!

Well it took you a long time to find something out that God already knew from the beginning before he called him.
Yes but if you were our Pastor then we could respect you and God could do mighty things here in our city.

NO PROPHET! This would be true for a few weeks or months, and then if I didn’t hide well enough from you, you would discover my humanity. This is important for sheep and shepherds! (SIDE NOTE)*

pASTORS

Stop playing the perfect minister, show your humanness and teach your people that it is OK to be an earthen vessel. We ministers know that our best sermons were the ones where we felt the weakest and the least ready for. The times that we cried out to God “Help me” and he did.

sHEEP

Sheep please let your leaders come down from the pedestal that you have placed him on. He has had to hide because he knows that when you discover his humanity you will lose respect. 2Cor.4:7 earthen vessel,

Luke 20: 4 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?” 5 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”

Us#2 ourselves

The same things are true for us. * We know ourselves the best and we could never expect God to use anyone as natural and weak as me. If anyone would know! Dear ones, they already know!
God has always chosen the most unlikely according to the standards of man to use to do great things.

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO CONVINCE YOU THAT GOD WANTS TO BEGIN HERE IN THIS COUNTRY? WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO CONVINCE US THAT HE WANTS TO DO IT NOW? WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO CONVINCE US THAT HE WANTS TO USE US TO CHANGE A WHOLE NATION?

Why not Here, why not now, why not us? This conference, this day and with us who are here? Somebody always had to choose here, now, us. Gideon, Ezra, Ester, David, Solomon, Abraham, Moses,