Don't Believe the Lies - Lesson 2
Notes
Transcript
Recap:
Lie: Jesus was all about rules and regs.
Jesus is all about loving people like us, no matter what.
Tonight’s lie:
Lie: Jesus is kind of a wimp.
Lie: Jesus is kind of a wimp.
Reality is Jesus is powerful, blazing fire, creator, strong enough to destroy your probs, tell a Pharisee to shut up, flip a table, stop a storm in its tracks, that’s the real Jesus!
We have a different, incorrect image of Jesus in our minds.
soft, white guy, flowy hair
holding an animal
safe and soft
Jesus is loving, tender. He will embrace us, care for us, nurture us.
Sometimes we get stuck with this image in our minds.
Buddy Jesus.
The real Jesus is more powerful than we can imagine.
The real Jesus is more powerful than we can imagine.
He is full of power and authority. That’s why the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him; because they were intimidated by HIS authority.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
calls most powerful leaders “white-washed tombs”
they look like nice cemeteries
good on outside, full of dead things on the inside.
Openly, blatantly calls them hypocrites.
A soft, timid, wimpy person would not do that. Jesus is like a boss!
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
We read this story and fail to appreciate it.
I think we expect the disciples to be over-reacting. [SHOW GIF]
We’re forgetting, a few of Jesus’ disciples were experienced fishermen! They had seen it all. NOW, THEY are terrified.
Jesus is ASLEEP. Come on now, asleep? This is actually funny to me. This is like Chuck Norris level cool.
Chuck Norris doesn’t ever call the wrong number. You just answer the wrong phone.
Chuck Norris tried to lose weight. But Chuck Norris NEVER loses.
When Chuck Norris walks across the meadow, he doesn’t smell the flowers. The flowers smell him.
Ever wonder why hurricanes only have one eye? Cause Chuck Norris punched the other one out.
Chuck Norris is an actor who played really tough, awesome characters. His fans made him into a legend.
Jesus is the real deal. This storm threatens him. Jesus tells it to stop and it does.
I love me some CN jokes, but Chuck Norris has nothing on Jesus!
Disciples flip out! What kind of man is this?!
1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
Demon possessed man terrorizes a small town. Chains can’t hold him, he cuts himself with boulders, no one can control him.
Jesus shows up. This man is terrified of Jesus’ power, he comes and begs for mercy.
Jesus is able to drive out all of the demons living in that man with just his words.
He is powerful!
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Jesus gets MAD at a bunch of shady guys ripping off worshipers. Tryna take people’s $.
Jesus gets righteously angry, makes a whip, and takes care of business. Flips their tables, drives them out.
Jesus doesn’t sound like a weak, timid guy who walks around carrying baby lambs. Jesus is passionate and powerful!
Jesus is passionate and powerful!
Jesus is passionate and powerful!
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Check out the description of Jesus when he comes back at the end of time:
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
king of kings and lord of lords.
Jesus is a God of power.
If he was safe, fluffy, no one would have hated or tried to kill him.
The creator of Heaven and earth in a human body! This is incredible. This is the God we need!
We need a God who is bigger, stronger, and greater than anything we’ll ever face in life.
We don’t need a buddy Jesus, we need a God that isn’t weak, but also isn’t always safe.
Don’t believe the lie that Jesus is a wimp. He is supremely powerful. He’s better than hero in your mind - Chuck Norris, Super Man, the Avengers, Luke Skywalker. Those characters aren’t real, but we flock to them out of the reality that we need someone with real power. Jesus is who we need. He is the only one who can save us and hold our lives in our hands.
Jesus is NOT a wimp. He is supremely powerful.
Jesus is NOT a wimp. He is supremely powerful.