Unexpected

When I was in college I was searching for the perfect gift for Christmas for Arika and we were just dating, and since I was in college I was on a pretty tight budget

so I was looking on Amazon on cyber monday and trying to find a good deal and one thing that scrolled across my screen was this necklace

and it looked like this beautiful necklace, and it said made out of gold and had a real diamand.

and not only that it was regularly 160 dollars but for cyber Monday it was on sale for less then 15.

and I remember I was so excited and I started telling my friends about this great deal and I believe two others ended up ordering the necklace.

And when we got the necklace it looked a little different from the picture.

It actually looked a little cheaper, but me and my friends thought it would still work.

So we ended up still getting it and and I believe it was before we were heading for Christmas break I we all gave our girlfriends there present and they actually liked it.

But here was the issue I believe it was later that hour as Arika was wearing it the necklace fell apart.

and then I kept getting text from my friends that day saying the same thing happened to them.

So I learned a lesson to be more careful with amazing deals online.

But have you ever expected one thing and got something different?

You can probably relate to where you order something online and get something very different

I have a friend who is trying online dating right now. they told me how a lot of times they see something online and get something very different.

But today what we are talking about is how we have our own picture of who Jesus is.

but the issue is that often times we picture Jesus as the person we want instead of the person He is.

But a lot of times what we will find is that this picture we have is of who we want Jesus to be instead of who He is.

We have these ideas on why

You know some of us we might picture Jesus as a God that gives us money and makes our life happy

Some of us might view Him as a political figure

I have ran into people before who think He is awful because of an event that has happened in their life.

But often times what happens

But here is the issue because when we view Jesus how we want instead of who He is we cheat ourselves on the richness of God.

And today we are going to be in a passage where from what we can tell John the Baptist expect Jesus to be a little different

and because of this he actually ends up questioning who Jesus when he is in a rough spot.

So turn with me to

And if you were with us last week John the Baptist was a person who prepared the way for Christ ministry

And I believe last week in the passage we were in and actually today as well it mentions that John the Baptist was the greatest person to ever live and will ever live.

So I am being critical of John this morning but remember he was a better person then me.

(Pause)

but that also show us that even when you are an amazing person you can still have a misconceived idea on who Jesus is.

And this actually impacts us practically

So once again we are in it says:

Matthew 11:2–11 NIV

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

So right in verse two John is hearing what Jesus is doing where he is preaching a healing people and he actually has this “Wait a minute moment”

Because he is going “Wait a minute!” this isn’t who I thought Jesus was!

Because he probably thought what a lot of others thought that Jesus was this political figure who would overthrow and concur.

and if you were with us last week you can probably remember the passage that said the axe is already at the root of the tree getting ready to cut it down and burn it in the fire.

An

And now John is in prison and you can almost imagine him just thinking any day Jesus is going to bust me out of here.

but then he hears that Jesus is out preaching, teaching and healing and you can almost picture him going “Wait a minute Jesus! What are you doing?!”

“Don’t you know that I am going to die soon in prison for doing your will?!”

And he gets to the point where in verse 3 where he sends people to Jesus to say look “Are you the one we should be expecting or should we keep looking for someone else?”

And the issue here is that John had a misconceived view of who God is.

And often times we do as well.

Our issue is that we like to do to God what we do to Christmas presents.

We end up placing them in a box, we wrap them neatly like this one and then a lot of times we store it away.

and

And then what happens is when somthing happens in our life that is outside of our personal view on God.

We do the same thing that John does where a trial comes up and we go Jesus are you the one I should be looking for or should I be looking for someone else.

You know often times we view God as the messiah who will deliver us from ever trial instead of the God that will deliver our souls.

But what is great about John is when he has doubts and

Jesus’s main focus was not delivering people from trials (although it happened), but His main focus was changing lives.

This is why Jesus tells the people who John sent to tell John what they have seen and heard.

Because the blind see, the lame walk, the leper is cured, the deaf will hear, the dead are raised to life and the good news is being preached to the poor!

And you are probably thinking wait a second pastor, most of those things seem like these people were delivered from a trial.

But if you look at the focus of all of Christ miracles typically it goes deeper then the miracle

where the focus is the loves that are being transformed because of what Christ did.

Because when a maricle happens like these. The maricle is not the only thing that happens but lives are completly changed.

The healing a lot of times is a byproduct of what Christ did.

its like how if there is a fire it creates smoke, but you typically do build a fire for the smoke but for the warmth and light right?

Thats the part we love!

But just like that Christ will work miracles in our life but it is a byproduct of what He is doing in us.

and when we do not see the miracle or that byproduct we can remember we are not following Christ for the smoke, but for the fire.

So look at verse 6 with me because it says God will bless those who do not turn away when they live for me.

You know there are times in our lives where we go through trials and issue where we say God can you actually deliver me from this situation?

We ask what John the baptist ask where we go God when are you going to deliver me? are you really there? Are you really the one I have been waiting for?

But it is through these times where we endure that our faith is strengthened and we are blessed.

I want to end with a story today.

I had the honor of speaking with Arnold about a day or so before he went to the lord and at this point it was very clear that he did not have much longer.

He was in pain, and just not doing well, but one thing that amazed me was the faith he had in God and the overwhelming peace He had because of Him.

And I believe he had this peace because He knew God.

You know today as we are getting ready for Christmas I want to end with a question “Who do you believe this baby is that is coming?”

Because he diden’t just come to make your life easier but he came to deliver your soul.

and there may be times where we go through a hard time and you go God are you really here?

But what I love about John is he does not run away from God during this but he actaully runs to Him and say’s “God whats going on?!”

you know when we are going through that trial, when your in prison, when you are in that hard situation, when your in the hospital bed

How are you going to respond?

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