Chapter 4: Isaac's Story

We are in week 3 of our series that we call “My regeneration story.” We wanted to do something a little different as we head into our sixth year of ministry together that would accomplish a couple of things. The first thing we want to accomplish with this series is to impress upon all of us just how powerful our testimony is. A part of the vision that we have for everyone who calls regeneration Church home is that you pray for one, tell one, and invite one. I think we gain strength from hearing the testimony of another person. I think we gain confidence and courage from hearing the testimony of others. Sharing with you the testimony of these five people will hopefully encourage you to prepare to share your testimony with someone else.  

Sharing our testimony is personally powerful, but it is also supernaturally powerful. In the book of Revelation John describes an encounter that he has with God in a place that is not of this world. In chapter 12 of John’s revelation he sees into the future when Satan will be held accountable and John quotes God,  “10And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

Satan will be conquered by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony of the saints. Your story may be the key that unlocks someone from eternal bondage. Your story is powerful. Even if it isn’t filled with drama your story could hold the power to free someone from sins terrible hold.

So far we have heard three different stories from three different people born on three different continents. All of them different, and yet somehow they feel so familiar. So, far I have been able to identify with Kenji’s search for belonging, and with Hedi’s search for answers, and with Betsy’s peace in the absence of answers. I believe they feel familiar because Jesus plays the lead role in each of them.

I think in today’s story we’ll experience once again the transformational power of testimony.

Isaac’s story (video here)

As I was praying and listening to Isaac’s story for the fifth or sixth time I was impressed by the fact that this story is as much about a praying mom and prodigal father as it is Isaac. My mom prayed for me too, and I believe God answered many of those. My wife prays for our kids too, and I hope God will honor her prayers as well. There is power in the prayers of a mother.

I was also impressed by the fact that Isaac’s Father’s transformation was so dramatic and so undeniable that it ultimately convinced him. It wasn’t a sermon. It wasn’t a miraculous answer to prayer. It was the evidence of a life overcome by Jesus.

I am reminded of the story of Zacchaeus. You may remember him from the song you learned in Sunday School. Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree to see what he could see…

Let’s look at the story as Luke recalls it in chapter 19 of the Gospel of Luke. (Luke 19:1-10)

1He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." 6So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." 8And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." 9And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

The transformation that Zacchaeus had undergone in front of everyone would not only lead to the salvation of Zacchaeus but to his entire household.

We see this kind of thing happen once again when Paul and Silas teach Lydia. It says that “14One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay."  

And in we read, “8Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household.”

Change so undeniable that those closest to them were left without excuse. They saw the change. Experienced the change. Desired the change.

It’s like dominos.

Domino Video here.

Maybe we were just one of the dominos in the Sully design or maybe we are the last domino to fall. We have no idea of what had to transpire behind us to get us to fall and we have no idea what our falling might do to the future dominos, but what is without argument is that something is going to happen when we fall.

Isaac had no idea that when his Dad fell for Jesus it would cause him to fall, but it did.

Have you ever set up dominos and for whatever reason one of the dominos doesn’t fall? It’s terribly unsatisfying, isn’t it? It’s like the domino had a mind of it’s own and just refused to fall.

Don’t be that domino.

Who has fallen around you at the feet of Jesus?

Is the change in their life enough to convince you to fall too?

Or maybe Isaac’s story of his falling for Jesus could push you to the tipping point.

I wonder who might be waiting to fall around you.

Who might be waiting to participate in the wonderful story that God is writing, the glorious art that God is making and all it is going to take is for you to fall.

Fall deeply in love with Jesus.

Like Isaac did, and his father before him, and Zacchaeus did before them.

Don’t be that domino.