Let's START some trouble!
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Let’s START some trouble
Let’s START some trouble
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Intro:
Intro:
Freedom family,
It’s not very often that a tribulation so poignant as what we are experiencing now hits us like we have been hit by this global pandemic of Caronavirous.....
And....
It is in times such as these that we greater understand and appreciate the value of community, and disect the barriers of proximity.
Because.....
this is a modern instance for us, where everyone, everywhere is feeling something about the same problem at the same time....
(pause)
Barrel:
On Friday we visited one of our members who was greatly encouraged by the words of her caregiver who said to her when trying to explain how her body was recovering....
(…and i’m paraphrasing)
“I know it may be difficult to wrap your mind around the complexities with your body, and everything that has transpired, but I want you to remember that as our Creator.......
.......God knows how to Pack!”
......and what she was saying is that God is the one who delicately placed...........and intricately designed everything about us from a physical perspective.
And...
…I wonder if there is anybody in here that comprehends the simple fact that our life complexities are Divinely calcuable!
(pause)
And...
Sometimes in order to stimulate heaven to respond we have to start some trouble!
(pause)
And while that may sound like an oxymoron to hear your Pastor encouraging you to be a trouble maker......
.... I just believe that what sustains us as a believer in Jesus Christ, is when we consistently start this kind of trouble that we are getting ready to observe in the text!
(pause)
Look at it now.....
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.
And so according to the text....
We are finding that there is a tendency that Jesus wants the disciples to avoid.....
......and that tendency involves becoming discouraged
And what Jesus understands is that.....
....we are inclined to become discouraged or anxious in tough situations.
And so......
....the subject of prayer comes up because Jesus does not want the disciples to get in a place where they lose sight of who he is “in between” the distance or the timeframe of their problem and the power of Christ’s awnser.
(pause)
And I have discovered that sometimes......
.....waiting can cause us to panic
…especially when everyone is speaking except God!
But Jesus tells the disciples.....
…whenever you find yourselves stranded in between the distance of the problem and my awnser
Persistent prayer is necessary!
And......
I believe Jesus was telling them,
“Don’t ever be tempted to stop even when it looks like the awnser is being delayed”
(pause)
I looked for some other biblical examples of what this looks like and I thought about Jacob......
And the bible says that....
Genesis
Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.
Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”
Church family......
Every now and then we got to be ready to fight for what we want just like Jacob!
(pause and expound)
Then I looked over into the book of James where it describes the persistence of Elijah.....
Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.
Church family....
Every now and then we got to be ready to see how much trouble we can start just like Elijah!
(pause and expound)
And then I said to myself, self......
.....its good to see the persistence of Jacob, and Elijah.....but is there anywhere that Jesus shows us what persistent prayer looks like
And so I turned to the prayer of Gethsemane....
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
Freedom family......
Every now and then we have to figure out a way to pray through the bleeding like Jesus!
(pause and expound)
And to push his point all the more further.....
Jesus says,
“Let me paint this picture for you more clearly!”
(pause)
He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.
Jesus says....
There was a prominent person with all kinds of influence who made decisions with authority as a judge....
…and this man was the type of person that did not care about prioritizing God in his life or making decisions from a righteous perspective built out of a righteous lifestyle
......and not only that but he neither valued the opinion or interests of the citizens, and he was insensitive towards the trouble that the people were going through.
And may I suggest to you that......
.........there are some scenarios and persons that aint afraid of you or the God that we serve
But...
Jesus says in verse 3 that there is a way to deal with those type of situations....
(pause)
Because Jesus says in verse 3,
In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’
According to the parable,
On the flip side of this story there was a woman who is a widow who is not a prominent person, and has little to no influence......
But there was something amazingly interesting about this woman in Jesus’s parable.....
Because according to the text......
This woman who has Zero prominence..............and Zero influence
.......illustrates for us this tenacious mindset that says
I didn’t come to you just to be coming........
But if I got to keep coming back!
I’m willing to get into some TROUBLE!!!!!!!
“GRANT ME JUSTICE.............against my Adversary!”
Give me my protection....
Give me my restoration....
(pause)
Because Luke’s Gospel wants to put the focus on how she is willing to do whatever she has to do to get what was due to her in this parable of Jesus.
(pause)
Look at it now.....
For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,
According to the text....
There is a timeframe of refusal
....we really don’t know how long this timeframe is, but regardless of how long it is, it’s too long!
(pause)
But the point is really not how long is the timeframe of refusal....
But the point is......
.......what does this woman do in between this time!
(pause)
Does she shrink away in fear?
Does she become overwhelmed with worry?
Does she fade away completely into hopelessness?
And......
according to the text she did none of the above
Because......
the last action we heard about her was in verse 3 where it says.....
While he kept REFUSING.......
she decided......
I’m just gone......... KEEP COMING!
(pause)
And the text says,
......that because she kept coming during the timeframe of refusal
.......that she is getting ready to END the TIME of the PROBLEM she is facing!
Because the judge starts doing some self reflection and says,
Even though I’m not a Godly man......
......and even though I aint really a person who cares about what other folk think of me
(slight pause)
“Because this WIDOW keeps causing TROUBLE!”
yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”
“Because this WIDOW keeps causing TROUBLE!”
I really want her to just leave me alone......
She keeps getting on my nerves to the point that she’s about to drive me crazy!
(pause)
Can I just pause right here to tell you that when I thought about all of the women that KEPT causing TROUBLE on my behalf...
When I thought about all of the times my wife, and my mother
and aunties, and Mubba spent PRAYING me through.....
(pause)
I had to send out some random thank you’s and text messages that said.....
Thank you for being a TROUBLE MAKER!
And......
I would encourage some of you to do the same thing........
because you know like I know.....
that if you didn’t have them in your life you would still be waiting!
(pause and expound)
But because this widow was PERSISTENT........
......the judge said
“She’s destroying my personal peace”
And.....
“If I don’t do something and give her what she wants....
.....she’s going to WEAR ME OUT!”
(pause)
And I wonder if there’s anybody with the mindset that says......
“It’s time for me to cause the type of trouble that ENDS what we’re going trough!”
(pause)
Watch this......
Jesus says in verse 6
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.
In other words....
Think about the conclusion that the judge just came to in the parable.....
An unjust judge..........
......just gave in to a widow who was faithful
She has ZERO influence
........but she created a systematic approach that had built in intervals that suggested
“No matter what happens........
......you didn’t come this far to stop”
Because.....
Trouble makers don’t press STOP
Trouble makers only press PAUSE
........and that’s only so that we can catch our breath to CRY OUT even louder!
And....
…I wonder if I got any trouble makers that know how to catch your second wind!
…I wonder if I got any trouble makers ready to CRY OUT even louder!
They thought you was ROWDY before.......but they aint seen nothing yet
The enemy been playing
Because you’re getting ready to HOLLER till HEAVEN OPENS up what you need!
(pause and expound)
Jesus says in verse 7......
And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?
In other words....
Don’t you think God will give what’s right to God’s people?!?!
(pause)
And....
even though it may seem like it’s taking a long time.....
......Do you really think God is going to just let God’s children cry
....and take God’s time getting to God’s children?
(pause)
Barrel expound: Me and Champ, and the girls.....when they cry for help!
Jesus says in verse 8...
I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
In other words....
God aint going to take as long as the unjust judge in the parable that Jesus is telling the disciples........
But when we start causing TROUBLE........
We shorten the interval of times.........
.....related to our struggle!
(pause)
The only thing Jesus asks at the end of verse 8 is......
“Will he find any FAITH on the earth like this?”
A FAITH that perseveres like the example of this widow in Luke’s Gospel......
.....When it looks like there is little or no possiblity of success
......this kind of FAITH looks difficulty square in the face and says,
Don’t start nothing.......
......and it wont be nothing.....
But I aint stopping until.......
I GET WHAT I CAME FOR!
(pause)
And....
what i hear Jesus saying to the disciples and you and I is this.....
......with this type of FAITH and praying.....
......Not even heaven will be able to rest if we cause enough trouble with our persistent prayers!
.......Not even heaven will be able to rest if we cause enough trouble with our persistent prayers!
One voice is good.....
Two voices are better....
But when we ALL come together and decide you know what....
Let’s start some TROUBLE......
.....like this WIDOW example in the parable of Jesus
We’re getting ready to cause HEAVEN to move EARTH on our behalf!!!!!
(pause)
Our Father....
Let your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven!
And what soever you shall bind on earth.......
shall be bound in heaven......
And what soever you shall loose on earth.......
shall be loosed in heaven.....
(pause)
But we need some TROUBLE MAKERS!