Sermon Tone Analysis

We are continuing our series called / / REACH: Finding God in a Noisy World.

The first week asked the question, / / What are you reaching for?

Or, let’s ask, who are you reaching for?

Are you reaching toward Jesus for what you need?

It can be easy to say God provides, but are we learning to actually reach out to Him in the areas we need him, rather than trying to solve something we were never mean to solve ourselves?

We looked specifically at healing.

I was reminded again this week that healing is of such value to God.

In my daily bible reading on Friday I was reading Luke 10 and it says that Jesus chose seventy-two other disciples.

So, last week we looked at Jesus reaching out to twelve disciples to follow him, but these seventy-two are in addition to those twelve.

We looked the fact that Jesus is forever and continually reaching out to us, calling us into a life of following Him.

And in Luke 10:1 it says, / / The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.

So these seventy-two were not brand new, and it doesn’t say this is the call to follow him, this is him choosing seventy-two of his disciples that are already following and sending them on this special mission.

They have been following, they have been listening to His teaching, and he thinks they are ready to go out and represent him.

This is just kind of the way that Jesus works.

A chapter earlier in Luke 9:1 it says, / / One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases.

Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Then we find ourselves a chapter later and I guess he thought that first one went well so he chooses another seventy-two to do the same thing.

It’s interesting.

We talked last week about the cost of following Jesus.

That sort of, salvation message we wish we would’ve got.

That the invitation is to follow Jesus through a whole lot of stuff and it’s not promised to be easy, but it is promised to bring us to life!

So, at the beginning of Luke 9 Jesus sends out the twelve to minister, and by the end of Luke 9 it’s actually one of the scriptures we read last week where Jesus has conversations with three different people who wanted to be disciples, or they said they would follow him, but when it came down to it, they weren’t really ready.

One didn’t like the sound of Jesus not having a place to live, another wanted to go home and deal with some family stuff, and yet another wanted to go say good-bye to his family before he followed.

Jesus’ response to all of them was essentially, / / You’re not ready to follow if you’re not ready to follow now.

If you can’t make the decision right now, then right now might not be the time to make that decision, because this is going to cost you, and you should make this decision knowing what you’re walking into, so that you can make this decision with your whole heart, your whole mind, and all your strength.

And this is not Jesus rejecting them, he’s saying count the cost.

He’s saying know what you’re getting in to, because those who follow me have to know they are ready, because if they aren’t the road I’m walking will be too difficult.

I had this moment when I was 18.

I was in Toronto at a youth conference.

I had probably the second most vivid spiritual experience I have ever had.

The band was on stage leading worship, I was near the back of the room.

I was really struggling at that point in my life.

I didn’t really want to be there, but everything in me knew that Jesus was the only real way to life.

And I had a vision of everyone in the room raptured.

I kid you not.

It felt real as real can be.

And in this vision of course I freak out because I’m still here.

Now, do I think I wasn’t saved.

I don’t think that was the point.

Remember I said last week Jesus parables are in a lot of ways like how we teach our kids, you give the extreme because it makes the point you need to make.

So I’m loosing it in this vision.

I’m devastated that I’ve missed the rapture.

And as a kid growing up in a church where this was the big moment we’ve all been waiting for, and then you’re not included.... wow.

I come out of the vision and worship has ended and a girl walks onto the stage and begins to talk about this School of Ministry they have.

This 5-month school to get your heart right with God.

And this is what I said.

I so identify with these people in Luke 9. I said, “God, I’m not ready to give you my life right now, but I promise you, I will go to this School of Ministry...”

The next year of my life was actually really difficult.

Felt like there was a whole lot of push back leading up to this moment.

But as I promised, it was a year and a half later that I walked into that school, and it was 6 years later that I left that place. 2 years of school.

4 years on staff at the church.

Leading worship on Sundays, and conferences.

And that same year was the year Kelley and I ended up getting together, traveling the world leading worship and teaching.

My point is this.

In that moment, even though I was being quite foolish in saying, “Not today Jesus...” I didn’t feel Jesus disappointment.

Even in the story of the rich young ruler, from Mark 10, it says Jesus looked at him and felt genuine love for him as he told him the cost of following.

Not rejection.

Not disappointment.

There are even those who believe that rich young ruler, who walked away sad at hearing that Jesus said he had to sell all of his possessions, came back later and followed Jesus.

There’s no biblical basis for that, but this isn’t a story of Jesus rejecting us, it’s a story of us sometimes not being ready to follow, and Jesus being extremely patient with us!

So, we get to the end of Luke 9 and these three conversations happen, three more decisions of not being ready to follow....

And the very next verse....Luke 10:1, Jesus chose seventy-two others.

Yes, some couldn’t take up that call.

The call to follow Jesus has a cost, but the result is what we are all deeply and desperately longing for.... life.

Think about it, it’s what we’re about to celebrate tomorrow.

And I think we’ve gotten it…I wouldn’t say wrong, but we’ve been sold a bit of a deception.

Tomorrow we celebrate what we’re all looking for…probably what all of humanity is looking for.

Our forefathers were smart when they wrote this:

/ / We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The deception is this, that the document is called our Declaration of Independence, and that we call it Independence Day when those things, life, liberty & happiness are all found in our dependence on God.

Ya, / / we call it “Independence Day”, but Life, Liberty & Happiness are all found in our DEPENDENCE on God!

/ / Life - There are so many scriptures on this, but let’s just resolve to say that Jesus is the way to life - John 10:10, The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.

My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

/ / Liberty - [the state of being free]… Again, the words of Jesus John 8:31-32, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

/ / Happiness - Of course, we could quote a whole lot of scripture here about finding our joy in the Lord, but John 17, right before Jesus is betrayed and arrested, he is praying and says this to God the Father of his work with the disciples, / / “I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy…I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message...” (John 17:13,20)

/ / Life, Liberty & Happiness are found in following Jesus to His life, being faithful to His teaching for freedom, and listening to His voice to be filled with joy!

See, one of the issues is that we as a nation have taken it upon ourselves to make our life, liberty and happiness.

And I know I’m a transplant, but I consider myself a patriot.

And I truly think that / / Our greatest freedom in America IS that we are free to pursue God for these things.

The great deception we face is that because of our freedom, we think we can do it on our own!

Here is my honest opinion on why we are seeing some of the things we see in this world right now, and in this nation.

The things we look at and go, “How did this happen?

How do people not see the truth?”...

Romans 1:21-23 says this, / / Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks.

And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.

As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

And instead of worshipping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired…

The only change I would make is where it says, “They worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles” I would probably say, “They worshipped the ideas of mere people, technology they thought would save them, science itself instead of the Creator who made all things, and their own ideals instead of the Truth.”

That’s why we asked last week, do you know who’s reaching out to you?

When we recognize that Jesus himself, God, the creator of the world is reaching out to us, why would we not want to reach back to Him?

Maybe I got off track a bit here, I started by talking about the seventy-two that Jesus sent out.

But it’s all connected.

These seventy-two were committed, Jesus begins to reach out to people, and they were reaching back.

They were truly following.

They were listening and applying and as a result experiencing freedom and the Kingdom of God.

And like I said, as I was reading this, I was reminded of God’s nature to be a healer, which is one of the things we are reaching for.

His nature to truly give us life, freedom & happiness.