Sunday Service - "Laboring Faith" - 5/31/2020
Our gracious father how we thank you that we can gather in your house. What a joy it is to come before you into certainly Lift Your Name up for that's why we're here. We're here to Worship You The Mighty God who is the guide and director of our lives and the strength of US facing all the difficulties of life. May you be here with us and may you help us to honor you and then feel the blessing of your presence in our site. May you go with us now as we continue on in Jesus name. Amen. greatest.
Our reading this morning is taken from Matthew chapter 28 the last three verses 18 through 20. Then Jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything. I have commanded you and surely I Am With You Always to the very end of the age.
Our prayer request this morning. Let's remember the Morgan Family Bernice has passed on she is with the Lord. She was ready for that that to happen by the end. And so praise the Lord for that but let's pray for the family as they mourn the loss of a dear one who they loved and Bender's Christian prayer for the healing of our nation. We need to be focused on the ACT for
we do not need a nation that is so divided in so many ways. We need God's healing on our land unless remember to pray for Tanya as she continues through this process through the summer of also healing interesting. We're looking at healing today. So let's go to prayer. Our gracious father how we thank you that we have a God who loves us to come before you went to seek you with our desires and requests and to recognize that your Mighty hand is there to give wisdom and understanding to our request even if you say no it is for our best and as we realize that we can draw closer to you and understanding and wisdom. And that is the desire of life, especially for those who all of you as Lord and savior. Father we do want to remember the people that are of our community and our world that don't know you father. Our heart goes out for them for there is a desperation to the need of their lives for a part knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, they are lost and sent to Destruction for all eternity. What a burden that is on their lives and father made be a heartache for us to see them not know you and to seek after you for the era their salvation. Lord we pray that you would be with the Morgan Family as they grieve the loss of a Bernice what a wonderful faithful servant of you and it is it is discouraging to see people like that leaving this Earth and yet we know that that is part of the life process. May you give comfort and peace and the even a sense of healing to the family as they look at her life and find peace there Lord. We do pray for our land. We are suffering right now with.
Bigotry on both sides and we need healing we need your hand to touch the lives of the people of our country for you call on us to cry out to ask for forgiveness. And we do ask for forgiveness for the evil that we have seen perpetrated on our land in the people of our land and we pray that your healing touch would take place that you would restore the peace and the joy of Our Lives. Father we do. Oh Wonder remember Tanya as she continues through this process. We know it's a long process but father may you touch her body and give her the sense of peace and a recognition that your Mighty hand is at work in her life as she goes through this may your strength be there. And now father for all those who have unspoken request that haven't been mentioned we pray for those needs that are being laid before you even now the desire for healing for a change in life or a financial renewal for the burden of loss. Lord may you touch each heart in each line so that they know you more deeply than ever before then we pray that you would continue to be with us. Now as we continue to worship Services. We cry out to you and our hearts and our lives seeking to know and understand you more and more blessing this. Oh Lord Our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let's begin with a another prayer. Gracious father how we thank you that we can gather before you to worship the Mighty God and Father we pray for your power and your presence to be here mightily that each and every one of us. Our hearts would be touched by your spirit to guide us and wisdom and understanding of you father tomorrow. I pray that you would touch my heart for you have called me to speak today and so father may I humbly yield to you and trust that your spirit will take hold of me that has I open my mouth at the very words that I speak would be from you for a part from you. Nothing good happens. I trust you father and pray that you would guide a living one in the name of Jesus Christ. We ask these things. Amen.
We're going to BNI Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 12 today. We're talking about laboring faith and it's not maybe what you think laboring faith is when we are truly seeking after God's work in our lives so that we might be useful instruments of him it in our world. A couple of weeks ago I share this with the congregation the time I had a brain tumor that really had almost taken my wife and when I went into the VA in Roseburg, they took a CAT scan and then an MRI and figured out what it was and once they found out what it was they held me in the hospital and I spent a couple of nights there and there's I was there I was Examining the Scriptures it through my mind because I didn't have to buy a Bible at that time and seeking God's guidance and understanding of what I was going through at that time. And so God was revealing certain scriptures to me in one of the main scriptures that just popped out and just spoke to my heart was found in the book of Philippians chapter. 1 verses 20 through 26 as I read it maybe you can understand where I go with this. It's supposed to be in several ways. Let me read it to you. I eagerly expectant hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now is always Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain if I'm to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me yet. What shall I choose? I do not know I'm torn between the two I desire to be part and be with Christ which is better by far but is more necessary for you that I remain in the body convince the best I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the face so that through my being with you again, you are joy in Christ will overflow on account of me. And as I went through this and examined this in my life, there were two things that jumped out at me. First of all, I believe the God wanted to keep me around and so I have a lot of confidence that he was going to take me through all the surgeries and all the struggles that I had to go through in the second thing was that I knew that if God decided to keep me around he was going to use me. I didn't know where I didn't know how God was going to use me. So as I look back those 7 years now, I can see that he brought me here to powers to be a minister of Faith here and to minister among you and then now to those who are listening even now to this this service. It's a laboring faith in the course when I got through with the surgery. I was weak and unable to do those things that I wanted to do. And so God inspired me to just start working my body out so that it would be useful for his service and I started out by walking about a hundred and fifty yards my first day. After 6 months, I was actually walking and running eight and a half miles. So God took me along that Journey so that I would be prepared to come and begin ministering here. That's a laboring faith because I was truly seeking God's Will and understanding and of course he was teaching me through the entire process as I made my way here. So as we look at this message today, let's think through some of those things that keep us in the Living God in help us to learn what he wants for each of Our Lives because if you are a believer in Jesus Christ and following him he has labor for you to do are you seeking that labor? Let's start off by reading the first 4 verses of the mark episode. Jesus is just beginning his ministry. He is done a few healings along the way and evidently the people that are involved in this understand and know of those healings. It starts out verse one a few days later when Jesus again entered could party him the people heard that he had come home and so many gather they're gathered that there was no room left not even outside the door and he preach the word to them some men came bringing him a paralytic carried by four of them since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and after digging through it lower the mat the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. It worried that it goes on but there was a desire in their hearts to see healing on this man and they believe that Jesus was the one who could do that. man's focus a happens to be towards healing and we'll talk about that little bit but you know, we all want that we all want healing and I know some of you were out there hurting right now and you desire that healing Paul had the same experience he was hurting he was struggling with his faith and he prayed to God and asked for his healing on his life and his desire 2nd Corinthians 12 verses 7 & 8 to keep me from becoming conceited because of these are passing great Revelations. Remember that all went out into the desert for it to be taught by God for 3 years and God gave him a great number of lessons in art of them or deep things about who he was and so he had all these gifts. He says there was given to me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me. So God allowed Satan to somehow torment Paul. Three times. I pleaded with the Lord to take it away. He went the Lord and asked three times that God would please remove this suffering from him. Okay, we'll get back to that later on in the service. But see his desire was for healing, you know in that kind of a desire that most of us would have how many of you would love to be walk into a hospital lay your hands on everybody there and heal them and allow them to walk out free of any disease. I think almost every one of us would love to be able to do that, right? I made that sounds like it would be absolutely wonderful. Not always God's plan, but it is a gift. If we read in the 1st Corinthians 12:9, it says to another Faith by The Same Spirit to another Gifts of healing by the one spirit. Few years ago. I got a call from my sister and my mom had fallen and broken her back. And so Merry and I got together. We took Zack with us on up to see my mother in Seattle area and we got there to the hospital and went into her and she was curled up on the bed there in just incredible pain and there was no relieving of her pain how much I wanted her healing and of course I laid my hand on her and I prayed for the God would touch her and healer. That was an incredible desire of my heart. And I think that most of you have been in that experience where you see somebody hurting desperately and you want them to be healed and you desire that healing so much. God chooses to heal sometimes and chooses not to heal. And we have seen that even in our congregation. There are some who have been hurting so desperately and we have called The Elder the board together and we have
put oil upon them later hands upon them and prayed and there are times when tremendous healing is taking place and other times when it hasn't that's God's choice, but is our labor of faith that were called to God tells us to do that to pray for those who are hurting.
Jesus began his healing in some of these First episodes but it continued on and he was actually healing often even outside of Israel. It says in Matthew 24 news about him spread all over Syria and people brought him all who were ill with various diseases these suffering severe pain the demon-possessed those having seizures and the paralyzed and he healed them imagine that if you knew this somebody could heal other person you love wouldn't you do everything you could to get that person to the one who could heal? Yeah, I mean that's part of our life. We don't lot we don't like to see our dear ones suffering and so we desire their healing. and that becomes a part of our journey of faith that we have laboring to see that that takes place.
Jesus was healing a great deal as we just read and one of the people that he did hear was a boy whose father came to him. He actually had come to the disciples before he came to Jesus and the disciples and tried to heal and they couldn't heal him. This was a powerful possession that was going on and the man came to Jesus and falling before him cry it out. You know, if you can please heal him I thought it was interesting the words that Jesus gave to him. He says this if you can Jesus said everything is possible for him who believes immediately the boy's father explained I do believe help me overcome my unbelief.
You see where sometimes at that point where we want to believe we want the healing to take place, but our faith is weak.
And we want to have that faith that truly brings about healing because we're not the Healer even if you're blessed with the gift of healing you really aren't the Healer. It is God, who is The Giver of that gift for the power of the holy spirit that does the healing? And so it is through his power and his strength that we have to seek that but is that the most important thing for our lives is the healing of people the most important thing. I Think Jesus begins to address that in the next step reading verses 5 through 8. It says these words when Jesus saw their faith. He said to the paralytic son. Your sins are forgiven. Now isn't that an interesting way to go your son your sins are forgiven he didn't heal his body he said your sins are forgiven Now some of the teachers of the law, we're sitting there thinking to themselves. Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming who can forgive sins. But God alone immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts and he said to them, why are you thinking these things? Why are you thinking these things?
UC there's a healing that each and every one of us need that is far greater than any suffering that we might possibly do on this Earth for we are creatures of sin then sometime in our live we have this send that enters in I told the story this week is I talked with the graduates at the Baccalaureate and I went through my life when I was sitting in a church service at 5 years old in the preacher was talking about
Coming to know him. He was talking the gospel story and letting us know that we are simple creatures and here I am a five-year-old. You know, how many sins did this five year old commits and I began to think through the process what? Yeah, I might have lied to my parents a little bit and I might have done this and I recognized okay, I'm a sinner and then he said, you know, we've all sinned and because we've send were condemned to hell for all eternity.
Really? I'm condemned to hell because I might have lied to my parents.
That's the case in the Bible confirms. This Romans. 3:10. 11 says as it is written there is no one righteous. Not even one. There is no one who understands no one who seeks God in other words every last one of us has this burden of sin in our lives that is taking us away from God towards eternity of Destruction in hell.
In Jesus Christ knows this and he wants them to realize that the greatest healing is not the healing of the body. The healing of the spirit and that's his greatest desire is desire for you and me and so when we think about the physical healing we need to understand that it is also related to God's desire to change the spiritual position of your life and my life. There is relief there there is relief there and that's I listen to that Pastor preach the gospel story told us about the real healer who is Jesus Christ who came to this earth who live the perfect life and willingly gave his life up on the cross getting his blood so that I didn't have to shed mine. You says all you have to do is believe did he did this work? James 5:16 talks about this a little bit. He's actually talking about physical healing but he gets into the whole idea of Are Spiritual healing as well therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective
When we are righteous and Walking with God, we have a powerful prayer. But what are we praying for? What is the greatest desire of Our Lives? You know, do we struggle more over the spiritual condition of people are the physical condition of people and I think sometimes we kind of tend toward the physical because we can see that we don't see that spiritual blindness in a person but we ought to remember that the people are office really blind and in Jasper it need of a savior. Jesus talked about that in John chapter 10. He said the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy Satan wants to steal your life to kill you and destroy you for all eternity. But then he says I have come that they might have life and have it to the full Jesus desires the fullness of life. And so here in this little scenario that we see about these people dropping this man to the ground before Jesus Christ his first desire, is that his Spirit be healed his sins forgiven him. Because that's the most important thing. You know, the the physical healing is important. But now it is important. This is what healing we need to be made new in Jesus Christ. And when we come to that point where we realize we're Sinners and we need a savior and commit Our Lives to Jesus Christ. We take on the Holy Spirit becoming new people separated from sin. We don't have to send anymore. We're holy and Bound for heaven. Paul writes about this is 2nd Corinthians 5:17. Therefore if anyone in his craw is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come if you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are a new creature you are holy and righteous before the Living God why not? Because you're holy and righteous individual it's because your sin has been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ when God looks at you. He looks at you through the blood of Christ and sees one who is Holy and pure and righteous through him and his work in your life. We are new creatures and that's what he wanted for this man. He wanted him to believe in who Jesus was. Much more than the Healey went ahead with it. Let's finish it off here this section. Starting verse 9, which is easier to say to the paralytic your sins are forgiven or say get up. Take your mat and walk. But that you may know that the son of man has Authority on Earth to forgive sins. He said in the to the paralytic I tell you get up take your mat and go home. He got up took his mat and walk out in full view of them. All this amazed everyone and they praised God saying we have seen at we have never seen anything like this.
You know, it comes down to the desire of a choice in our lives and what we want that is more important than anything else. And our desire ought to be the number one priority is to know Jesus Christ and express Jesus wear world. You know God calls us and not just know him but revealed that we are in. Going back to Paul's struggle. You know, he prayed to God three times. God. Take away this pain whatever it was and we aren't told exactly what it was. It may have been blindness or something like that, but he wanted relief from this and he prayed to God that he would relieve it. God said no, here's what he said verse 9 of chapter of 2nd Corinthians 12 what he said to me. My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses. So they cries power May rest on me. In other words. His desire was most of all that God would be able to do is working in this life because God is the only one that can truly bring change to our alliance is the only one that can make a difference for us. You know, you can't make a difference and I can't make a difference in other people's lives. It is only the work of the spirit of God in our lives. It makes a difference and changes us and makes it more like him and helps others to see him clearly and that's what Paul wanted more than anything else. He didn't mind being weak because he knew that in his weakness. God was most powerful.
He could do the work that Paul could not do and it's the same for each and everyone of us. God can do that work? But sometimes he does do it both ways is he did for this man here and Mark chapter 2 in the Old Testament. There was a scenario a captain of the armies of the arameans. Was sick with Leprosy and desired healing but he didn't know of any healing and then this servant girl came to him and said there's a prophet in Israel who can heal you and so he went to Israel and he came to the prophet's house and the prophets and serving out and said go dip three times in the River Jordan. You'll be healed. And I was there. You said what's the matter with it? When it what am I going to do? You know that the rivers in my country are better than the River Jordan and so he went away angry but his servants documented go ahead and dipping three times in the Jordan. He did so in the leprosy was removed from his life. And it came back to the house because he recognized that truly the god of Israel was the only God and 2nd Corinthians 2nd Kings scuse me, 5:15. It says Nate nickname and all his attendance went back to the man of God and he stood before him instead. Now. I know there's no God in all the world except in Israel. Now I know that there is no God in the world except in Israel. That's what we need to come to the recognition that Jesus Christ is the only God in the world that we need to recognize and if it takes healing the bring somebody to that point praise God that that healing occurred.
If it takes other things you don't let God do his work because the greatest healing of all is that spiritual healing that happened in the a.m. And it happens to us when we trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior God heals. And we need to recognize that. back to James chapter 5 verse 14 James calls the people to seek help. Is anyone of you sick you should call on the Elders of the church to pray over him with oil in the name of the Lord and that's why I said before this is exactly what we have done in this church when somebody is truly in need and we pray over them and ask for God's healing on their lives and we've seen the movement of God in those times, and we've not The movement of God, it's his choice. It's his desire. But our desire most of all. Ought to be to look to God for Spiritual healing and not only our lives. Because we all are at points of struggling are limes and walking with the Living God but in the lives of everyone else, that's what he's left us here on this Earth to do he's left us to be Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Says in Hebrews 2:10 in bringing many sons to Glory. It was fitting that God for whom and through whom everything exists should make should make the author of Salvation perfect through suffering. About that a little bit. Jesus Christ went through the suffering he didn't get the healing, you know, is he prayed in the garden before? He said Lord if there's any way take this from me and God said no way you have to go through it. And so he went through all the suffering. For you and for me.
You know and that's the battle that we face in this life if we are truly being laborers. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has called us to follow him and be obedient to his call. You know, whatever that call might be. One of the ways that we as a church in his people of God can do that is through the struggles that we see happening in our nation and our world today. We're in a real battle in many ways and coronavirus is apart of that but one of the struggles we saw this week was you know, the police literally before the film watched him kill a man.
As he was supposedly performing his duties, you know when it is wrong. It was an act of bigotry that is
It's hard to imagine it's hard to imagine and yet we watch that happen. Most of us have seen it on the on the videos on TV or our phones. And it shows it reveals that we're going through a lot of struggles and torment. You know God hates that he hates that there was an episode that happened in David's time in 2nd Samuel. 21 if you want to go to that area, but what happens is that God was angry with Israel and he had brought famine on the land for three years. The people were suffering for 3 years. And David was uncertain. What what's going on? Why is God doing this to us? And he went to I got it. He said what's the matter? What can we do to bring about healing to our land? And God said that saw.
The previous King had persecuted.
Persecuted the gibeonites the gibeonites were a tribe of people that made a a treaty with Israel before Israel knew that they were part of the land. They were supposed to conquer but the treaty stood and yet saw tried to destroy the people the gibeonites. And God said I'm bringing judgment because he was a bigot towards these people and tried to destroy them when he should have helped them. And so you're suffering.
Which of the gibeonites and you said what we what can we do to resolve this problem? We give you a knight said give a 7 of the sons of Saul.
And they took those seven sons and they killed them and laid them out before God.
Guess what God. Did he brought back healing to the lamp?
God is severe in his desire to see that we live honestly with the people that are around us now. I'm not calling on to murder the the sons or relatives of this man. Please don't get that in your mind. But what I'm saying is that God is calling us to stand up and make a difference in one of the ways that you and I can make a difference in our country and our world is the fall before the Living God who truly can change things and ask him to make a difference in our lives. And he is the one that can make a difference in our lives and the lives of our country.
If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and confess their sins before me and heal their land remember he said that the Solomon and the people Confess your sins. Well, our sin is the sin of bigotry. It may not be your sin. But is the sin of the people of this land and we need to confess it before the Living God and ask him to forgive and heal our land.
This is just one of the examples of laboring for faith. I lay it before you we need to be people that are willing to lay down and pray for the healing of our land. And the coming of the freedom of people who are persecuted are land.
That is laboring for the faith.
labor for faith in the Living God and he will heal. Because he promised he would. Our gracious Father We thank you that you give us episodes in Scripture that Tara Dar hearts. And help us to look deeper into the issues of life to see your call on each of us and we pray that you would help us to recognize that and the stand up and begin laboring for the face of our lives and the lives of the people that are around us. May we seek you and ways of healing particularly spiritual healing of ourselves. in our land and our world bless us. Oh Lord Our God in Jesus name. Amen.