Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Newman Church Podcast, wherever.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: You are in the world. We are so glad you've joined us.
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Our prayer is that this message will reveal more of who our heavenly Father is as we grow deeper in intimacy with Jesus. Enjoy the message.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: We're going to jump to Luke chapter eight this morning.
Luke, chapter eight, part two of a message I started last week about the credentials of the kingdom. The credentials of the kingdom, which will actually show you today what the credentials of the kingdom are.
It's a very powerful thing. So we're talking about miracles.
We're talking about the gospel being not just in word, but in power. And when it says that in 1 Corinthians 4:20, the kingdom of God is not in word, but it's in power. The kingdom of God is not in Lagos, which means it's in the context there. It's not just. It's not just a preach, it's not just a speech, but it actually is in power. And that's the word dunamis. So it's a demonstration of power. And that power, dunamis, actually refers to divine ability, supernatural power, miraculous power. That's what it means. It's not just, you know, someone who's eloquent, who's powerful because they've got a gift. They're powerful because they're charismatic. No, this is another dimension. We're not talking about human ability here. No matter how gifted, how eloquent or. This isn't what we're referring to here. This is not what the scripture means. This is power that comes from God. It's supernatural. So we'll start reading at verse one. Luke, chapter eight through verse three. This is new King James Version. Now, it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him. And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons. And Joanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod's servant, steward, and Susanna and many others who provided for him from their substance. All right, so what I said last week in the opening comment, and I'll just reiterate it is simply this, that Jesus, when he was on the earth, he didn't just preach a message. It's interesting that what we do I could challenge. I guess we could. We could challenge the whole thing in terms of how we gather what we do today in the 21st century. Jesus, as we see here, went around. He was itinerating, he was Going to the people.
And I'm not saying there weren't people that came to him, because clearly they did. He sat on the hillside, he met in homes, he discipled them, he taught them, he was in the synagogue 100%. But the point is that there's a place for us to carry and take the gospel outside of what we do here on a Sunday morning or any other time. We're called to be kingdom carriers. Amen. So the gospel that Jesus preached wasn't just a message to be shared by declaration, but it was a kingdom to be spread in demonstration of the spirit and power, a very, very significant shift. Love what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, 4 and 5. He says in my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration. There's that word again, demonstration of the spirit and of power. That your faith, your faith, he says to Christians, to believers, should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Well, there's so much here that your faith wouldn't be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now, of course, he's referring to his time in Athens when he was going toe to toe with the Greek philosophers and he was contending and, you know, the way he brought the Word to them was brilliant. He entered into their context. And Paul himself was very well educated and he understood these things. But what he's saying is, I don't lean toward that. I'm not going to use apologetics to try to persuade someone to come into the kingdom, even though he did argue. The Bible actually says that. For example, in Acts 28, it says that he contended or he argued with them, trying to persuade them from the Scriptures. That's powerful. That's true. But he recognized that there had to be more to it than just a theological debate or, you know, entering into a dispute in terms of debating, you know, as they would in that day as Greeks, as philosophers. So he said there has to be the demonstration of the power of God. Because you could say, well, Paul, you're such a brilliant debater.
What does that mean? Oh, your faith is resting in the wisdom of men.
But he says here, but when it's the power of the spirit and demonstration, then our faith rests in the power of God. It's interesting. It doesn't even say the wisdom of God. It says the power of God. You think, well supposed, the wisdom of man or the wisdom of God. No, he says, no, it's the wisdom of man versus the Power of God. And so there's something that happens, there's conviction that takes place when we encounter God for who he really is. And so we saw in the first two points really of this message, which is all about revealing the kingdom and power, is that firstly, Jesus wants to do miracles, as he did in Bible days, to show God's great compassion. He's compassionate. There's over 14 times in the New Testament where the phrase says, and he had compassion. He had compassion on them, he healed them, he taught them, he corrected them, he fed them. And it's all was motivated by his great compassion and his love for people. Aren't you glad that he's compassionate? And so today he wants to show his compassion toward people. I've seen the Lord do amazing things that I could say, well, it was his compassion. I would have never done that. I mean, there's certain people that I would have not been compassionate or merciful to if I was God, you know, and hello, you know what I'm saying? And. But the truth is, God is so merciful, and it's the kindness of God that leads to repentance. I love Hosea 3, verse 5. It's probably, to me, it's one of my favorite verses in the Bible, next to Luke 5:16, which you can look that one up. But the whole idea of this passage in Hosea 3, 5 is in the last days in the latter times, there will be a people that will fear the Lord, one translation says, Another one says, come trembling to the Lord and his goodness.
They'll come trembling to the goodness of the Lord. Now isn't that paradoxical? If he's good, why would we tremble?
But he actually is saying that there is a sense in which his goodness is so overwhelming that we just want to fall down and worship Him. We just want to acknowledge who he is.
And it's the amazing thing about the Lord is He's so good, he's so merciful, he's so compassionate, and he wants to bring healing to people's lives. It's a powerful thing. The second thing we looked at was the comprehensive nature of the gospel, the completeness of the gospel. And what we meant by that is that the gospel isn't just about your spiritual needs. It's not just saying, oh, Jesus died so our sins would be forgiven. Absolutely. That's where it all starts. The cross ultimately was to forgive us of our sins. It says in Romans chapter four that he was delivered over for our offenses, but he was raised for our justification. So it is so that we would be forgiven, but ultimately to be restored to the Father, but to go back and experience his original intention for humankind. If you, you want to know what that is, you have to go back to Eden. You have to see what it was. And so there's a place where he is saying, I want to bring wholeness to you. And we looked at the word in the New Testament for salvation, soteria. And we unpacked that. And one of the things that we noted is that word actually means to be free from the harassment of an enemy. And the root. I'm sorry. The verb sozo is used at least four different ways in the New Testament. It's used for forgiveness of sins. It's used in relation to being set free from demonic powers and influence. It's also employed in regards to physical healing. And lastly in regards, it's used in James, chapter 1, verse 21, about bringing healing to our soul, our psyche. So it's our mind, our emotions, our will. God wants to make us whole in every way. Spirit, soul and body. See 1st Thessalonians 5, 23. So this is all about being complete. Spirit, soul and body. That's what salvation is. Jesus did not just forgive people of their sins. He didn't just do that. He healed the sick. He set people free. He did amazing things. He restored people and, and brought people back into their identity, understanding who they are as part of God's family and so on. So it's, it's a powerful thing. Well, today we're going to look at the final two points and we're going to look at, firstly, the Gospel being revealed in power for very significant reason. It doesn't have to do with us as believers per se, but it has to do with those out there who don't know him. And what I'm talking about is we need to see the demonstration of the kingdom of God in power because of the coldness or the callousness of men's hearts.
Listen to this. Jesus, his ministry credentials. Are you ready?
We know he didn't study. He didn't go to the, you know, the latest rabbinical school. He didn't study under Hillel or Gamaliel or any of these great rabbis.
But Jesus did know the word. He did study. But he literally was credentialed by heaven. Watch this. Acts 2. 22 says this. Men of Israel, hear these words. Peter says, jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know. One Translation Says that he was accredited.
He was accredited to you by the Father. Jesus was accredited with mighty works, wonders and signs. So the credentials, the accreditation of the kingdom we see here in Jesus ministry was the power of the Holy Spirit, signs, wonders and miracles. Now, anytime I preach this, regardless of where I go, and if it doesn't happen today, this will be the first time someone pushes back and says, but an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, right? Are you advocating that we seek signs? No, I'm not advocating that we seek signs. I'm not advocating we seek gifts and not the giver.
What I'm saying is there is a place for us to believe. You know that Paul said in First Corinthians 14, Earnestly desire spiritual gifts.
Do you know what the word is? It's the same word that's translated lust.
Whoa. Really? It doesn't sound very nice.
It means to long with a deep longing so that something is yours. So when he says, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, he's saying you need to contend for that. You want that you pursue that. You should want that to be yours, to appropriate it into your.
So there's nothing wrong when seeing spiritual gifts and wanting spiritual gifts. Okay? So some people would say, no, no, no, no, no. We just seek Him. He gives us the gifts. No, it's true, we seek Him. But he says, I want to give you gifts and I want you to want to receive those gifts. I want you to desire to be used and receive my gifts. Because ultimately it's not about us.
He's saying, you can't do what I've called you to do on your own. You need these gifts. You have to have them if you're going to make an impact in the world and other people's lives. And frankly, we need the power of the Holy Spirit just to go to Target these days.
So it's true. We need his power. We need his divine enablement and the supernatural, as they're called in 1 Corinthians 12, the manifestations of the Spirit. So it's a powerful thing. Now, there are many today who, due to unbelief, hardness of heart, spiritual blindness. Remember, the Bible says that Satan's blinded people. Satan has blinded them so they will not be able to withhold the glory of. Of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ. You can preach to them till they're blue in the face. Till you're blue in the face. Nothing happens. Nothing happens. In the days of the prophet Elijah, after three and a half years of drought, when Elijah heard from The Lord. And he said, elijah, go show yourself to Ahab because I'm about to send rain. What happened was even, even Elijah heard the sound of an abundance of rain. And when he gathered the people together and he confronted them, and he said, hey, how long will you waver or falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, if Yahweh is God, serve him. If BAAL is God, serve him. So who are you going to serve? Make up your mind. Stop fluctuating. Stop deviating here. I want you to make up your mind. Choose whom you're going to serve. That's powerful convicting preaching, isn't it? Can you imagine?
And what does the narrative say in 1 Kings 18? And it says, and the people answered him, not a word.
Powerful preaching. But it didn't touch their hearts. It didn't move them. They remained set in their ways, cold, calloused and unmoved, sometimes preaching.
And we can say, well, it has to be in the anointing. Are you trying to tell me that Elijah wasn't anointed?
And yet the people still remained unmoved? So what happens is God actually says to the prophet, okay, let's take it to the next level.
Gather the false prophets of baal, and we're going to have a showdown here at the O.K. corral.
You ready? How many? Remember the. Okay, Koram. Okay. If not, just you can look it up.
The truth is there's actually this slice. He said, okay, you're going to call upon your. Your God on baal, and then I'm going to call on Yahweh and the God that answers by fire.
Let's agree he's the true and only living of God and let's just settle the score and worship him. Deal?
And they're like, it is well spoken.
That's what they said. It is well spoken. So we know the story. What happens is these false prophets, they cry out to BAAL from morning till evening. They cut themselves. They do all these things, and Elijah's mocking them. And, you know, where is your God, etc. And what takes place is nothing. There's no answer. There's no fire. There's no response from their God at all. When Elijah steps up and he prays a short prayer, basically to say, let it be known, Lord, that you are God and that I've done all these things at your word and that you hear me and that you're turning the hearts of these people back to yourself again. And after he prays that prayer, he had prepared the altar, the Fire of God falls. And the people this time fall on their face, prostrate, and they cry out and they say, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.
Because of the manifestation of the fire of God, now you can try to win people apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. And you may get lucky.
Even when the apostles preached, the Bible says they preached in power and authority and it cut the people to their hearts.
So there has to be a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. You see New Testament signs and wonders, validate. Now listen to this, because this is a bit controversial, okay? But again, let God be true. Let his Word be true, right? We can have our opinions. But if the Word says something differently, guess who has to change?
Guess who needs to change?
Does anybody know who needs to change?
If you believe something but the word contradicts it, well, you don't have to change. You can stay in your error if you want, but you'll never experience the fullness of God's intention and purpose for your life.
So what does the Bible say? Listen to this. This is Hebrews 2, 3 and 4. This salvation which was first announced by the Lord, meaning when Jesus was on the earth. He's Lord, he's Kyrios in Greek. He literally was the one who proclaimed salvation. And then the writer says, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. In other words, the apostles, those who heard it. But then it doesn't stop there. Jesus preached it. There were people that heard it and they spread that message. But it doesn't stop there. It says God also testified.
God testified. Hello.
You know, in America, especially in the Deep south, they have something they call testimony services.
And those testimony services are where people get together and they say, the Lord has been good to me. And they share testimonies of God's goodness. And it's powerful. You get enough testimonies and people say, he did this. He healed me. I had this breakthrough. I had this miracle. Very faith building for sure. But I want to point out something here. He's not talking about human testimony. He says here very clearly, God also testified to it.
How? By signs, wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
So in Acts 2:22, we see that the evidence of miracle signs and wonders show that Jesus was a man accredited by God, the messenger.
But here we see that the message endorsed by the Father through signs, wonders and miracles.
Very important. I challenge you to study and look at the examples in the New Testament. You're going to always see this inextricable connection, this link between preaching the Gospel and the demonstration of the power, no matter who it is, Jesus, Peter, Paul, whomever, it's New Testament. It's what God desires for us today. And we've already looked at several examples of this. One more thing I want to just say about this. So we talk about the Great Commission. Remember that? The Great Commission, it's not a language that's used in the scripture explicitly, but the concept of commission is found the Scripture. It's inherent in the word of God. So what is the Great Commission? Well, firstly, it's great.
Why is it great?
Because it's God's priority. So if it's a Great Commission, it means it is. Like of all the commissions, it's the mother of all commissions.
It's the most important. It's the primary, it's the primeval. And what he's saying here is that this Great Commission requires a mission. There's a mission, but it's a commission. Which means there are two parties or two people, two persons involved.
Right? It's co.
We collaborate, we cooperate. So it's two individuals. So who. Who is involved?
God and us. Right. So look at Matthew. I'm sorry, Mark 16, verse 20 says this. And the disciples went everywhere.
That's their part, right? And preached. Wow, that's awesome. They did their part and the Lord worked with them. The Lord was working with them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.
So they go out, they preach, they proclaim, but God backs it up. He confirms. He's working with them, confirming it with many signs and wonders, miracles, etc. Powerful.
So today, if we're going to reach people, we need to see the power of the Holy Spirit. I just posted something on my Facebook account and it was a really cool testimony. Todd White was in an airport and there was this girl there, and apparently she had spinal issues. She couldn't bend over. She was in pain all the time. And he just spoke to her and he prayed for her and she was completely healed. And he said, hey, bend down, touch your toes. And she did that. And her friends that were with her, they just looked at each other and they just. They broke into tears. They just burst into tears. They said, like, what? What is this? And it was. It was just that the power of the Holy Spirit. And I have personally seen this many, many times. I'm sure some of you, if not all of you have also seen this, where the power of the Holy Spirit comes into a situation on a person that otherwise is closed to the Gospel. All of a sudden now opens their heart to Jesus. They may not get saved right there on the spot, but sometimes they do. They give themselves to Jesus right away. I mean, I can tell you there was a time we were preaching in Canada, and there was a woman that came to visit the church, and she was in a wheelchair. She had been in a car accident and really bad shape. And on a good day, you know, she could walk with a walking brace on a good day. But this day when she came to visit us, she was in a wheelchair. It was really bad. And we just, at the end, prayed for people, said, if you need a miracle, please, we'd love to pray for you. How many know that we need to make room, we need to make space for people? What if you pray for them and they're not healed? What if I pray for them and they are healed?
Right? So I'd rather do it and not do it. So what happens is we prayed for this woman. She went and sat down. Okay, A few minutes later. Actually, it was at a few minutes later, she comes walking up to the front, and we're ministering to people and we're worshiping God. And she looks at me and she says, pastor Glenn, do you notice anything different about me? And I'm looking at her, I'm like, I don't know.
And honestly, like, I'm not the best with details at times.
She was walking. She didn't have a walking brace or stick or anything. She wasn't in her wheelchair. And she was completely healed, completely healed on the spot.
She grabbed her mobile phone and called her nephew, I believe it was, or her son, I think it was her son, who's a youth pastor in the west coast of the United States, and told him what had just happened while we're in the service.
And what happened was the next day, she had always wanted to visit Niagara Falls because that's where we lived, very close to Niagara Falls. And she said, I've never been there, and I'd love to visit Niagara Falls. The next day, she went there and she walked for four hours without any help, any assistance. Walked all around. And a few days later, she actually called one of her friends and said, I don't know, I think I might have lost my healing. And her friend said, what? Why? What's wrong? She goes, I'm in so much pain. I'm so sore. I'm so stiff. And she said, what did you do? She, oh, I walked for four hours yesterday. And she said, well, perhaps your muscles aren't used to it for 12 years or 14 years, and that's all it was. Her body wasn't used to it and it was overkill. And so she literally was fine a few days later, and she was completely healed. But one of the things that took place is she had family that lived in the area where this church was located. And her family found out about the healing and the miracle. And guess what took place?
Revival in the family. And the whole family, even young adults got saved as a result of a miracle that took place. Come on, give God praise, please.
So never stop believing in the goodness of God and that he wants to reach people. He loves people.
Lastly, this is our fourth and final point. The compounding of faith. The compounding of faith. We need miracles. As believers, as disciples, as Jesus followers. We need miracles. Why do we need miracles? Because God has designed us to live from faith to faith.
Now, I want to show you something here, please. Mark 6, 45, 52. This is a story about Jesus walking on the water. Just an ordinary day and in the life and ministry of Jesus walking on the water.
When the evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was alone on land. Jesus saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he went out to them walking on the lake. He was about to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost.
They cried out because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid. Then he climbed in the boat with them and the wind died down. Watch this. They were completely amazed.
They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the lobes. Their hearts were hardened. Whoa.
Completely amazed is not a good thing here.
But Jesus just walked on the water. That's pretty amazing.
They're completely amazed. And Jesus is like, shouldn't be amazed.
And why?
They considered not the miracle of the loaves, the feeding of the 5,000, the 4,000. They considered not the miracles of the loaves. In other words, they did not remember or call to mind the power of which Jesus had shown in feeding thousands by miracle. And that having done that, he had power now to save them from the storm.
What does that mean? It means that everything we go through in life, every challenge, every opportunity, is really an opportunity for a miracle.
God to show his goodness and faithfulness.
When Lynn shared the testimony about how God literally gave us a car, can I tell you, it's not the first car that we've been given.
When we were living in Texas, before we moved here, we needed a car. We had moved back from Perth. We didn't have a car. And we prayed. And again, we didn't have the money.
And guess what happened? A professional baseball player rang us and gave us a car time after time after time. But what we said was, we're going to create space for the miraculous to happen.
In other words, we're going to run ahead and get in debt because we didn't feel, and I'm not saying it's wrong to ever do that. We didn't feel like the Lord was saying, that's what I want you to do. When we moved to Melbourne, we prayed. We had opportunities to, you know, someone, oh, I can maybe connect you with this person and they can help you. And in my spirit. And Lynn and I felt the same way. We just felt like the Lord said, don't do it. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't do this. I'm going to provide a miracle. And honestly, I felt like God said, you will not have to owe. You won't owe any money. You'll get a car. Either someone will give you a car or cash or whatever you need to get a car. And I honestly felt like God said, this is my will. Don't do anything. Wait, wait, wait. Now, I'm not saying that's for everyone. You've got to hear a word from God. That was a rhema word that we were getting in our spirit. Wait, I'm going to do a miracle. We waited weeks and it went into months. We still didn't have a car. And literally, the person who had allowed us to use their car ended up saying to us, I need to collect the car. And at that point, we didn't have an answer. We didn't have a solution. And literally within a few days, that miracle took place. So that there was no gap between when they collected the car and when we needed a car.
And can I add, we didn't tell people about it.
We didn't say, classic, oh, please pray for us. We need money for a car.
Is that. Come on.
That's saying, hey, if you've got money, right? Think of us. Remember the poor?
No, it was about this. We prayed to God and we said, father, you know, make your requests made known to God. God can speak to people.
And he did. He put it in people's hearts to give toward us.
And he's faithful. He's good.
The point is, when we've seen God do this multiple times in different areas, different ways, it builds faith for the next time around. Right? David killed a bear, a lion, and then a giant. And when he saw the giant, he simply said, hey, you're no different.
Same God.
Look, he was with me for the bear, the lion, you're going down, too.
There's no difference.
There's no difference. But he had faith, and it continued. So Romans 1:17 says this.
It says, our faith level increases incrementally. We're called to live from faith to faith. So the just shall live by faith. And it talks about in the amplified faith, that leads to more faith, faith that arouses more faith is what it says in the amplified.
Faith begets faith. Faith arouses more faith, Faith leads to more faith. God was with me then. He gave me the breakthrough then. He's going to give me the breakthrough now. He's no different. He's not changed. He's the same faithful father, and I'm believing him.
I love the story of the Exodus. Children of Israel come out of Egypt. Powerful story. And here they are. They're in the wilderness. They're free. And they're like, oh, finally, relief. We're on our way to the promised land. And what happens is Pharaoh changes his mind. And he sends out his military to pursue the children of Israel in the wilderness. And they find themselves in a literal, veritable between a rock and a hard place. A veritable between a rock and a hard place. You know what I'm trying to say? Trying to be too eloquent. And what happens is, there's no way forward, and they can't go back. Red sea's there. Pharaoh and his armies are behind them. What are we going to do?
So Moses cries out to the Lord, he's concerned, where are you, God? People are freaking out. Did you bring us out here because there were no graves in the wilderness, all of this stuff. And God speaks and he says, stand still and watch. See the salvation of the Lord.
Stretch forth your staff. Boom. Red Sea parts, they go through. Remember that? It's found in Exodus, chapter 14. In the next chapter, chapter 15, we read the narrative of Miriam, Moses, sister, and some other ladies who take up the tambourines. They're dancing and they're singing a song. Do you remember that? And they're saying, hey, we will sing unto the Lord. He's triumphed gloriously. The horse and rider have been cast into the sea. The Lord is my God. He's my strength, my song. He's now my victory. He's my Father's God. I'll Praise him. Awesome song, right? We actually used to sing that years ago.
If you remember that, say Amen. If you say, I don't. I'm glad I don't remember that, say Amen. Okay, so that's all right. But the point is, he's. He's saying, look, that song is a great song, isn't it? And it's like, everybody, everybody. And it's like.
It's kind of like, hang on a minute. Moses is like, hang on a minute.
Right song, wrong side.
That's the right song, but you're singing it on the wrong side.
You see, it's easy to praise God after you experience your breakthrough.
It's easy to praise him in the promised land. But can you worship him in the wilderness?
You see, they should have worshiped him before. But they were panic stricken. They were anxious. They didn't know, where's God? Why are you allowing this to happen in my life? Have you forsaken us? Have you abandoned us? They should have went into worship and praise. Then they had just seen 10 miracles.
Right song, wrong side.
How many of us have done that?
Thank you, Lord. I knew you'd do it. And the Lord's like, no, you didn't.
I'm just good. I'm just gracious.
You actually doubted me.
You were good off and on. Some days you had faith, some days, no.
But he loves us.
And his will for your life and my life is that we go from faith to faith.
If we grow.
Can I tell you that sometimes we say testing and trials, it tests our faith. And faith produces character. And character, when it's fully developed, leads to patience. We quote James, all those scriptures. But can I tell you that if all we experience is hardship and difficulties and we don't see any deliverance, any breakthroughs, any healings, Remember the story of Lazarus?
Right? The story of Lazarus. It's like, oh, it's for God's glory. God's glory? What, that he died? Some people actually preach that. No, it's to the glory of God that he would be raised back to life again.
There has to be a miracle. There has to be a breakthrough. There has to be an answer to your prayers.
And what I'm saying to us in this short teaching series here is that God wants us to believe in his goodness, in his power, in the supernatural. He wants us to believe and expect him to give us breakthrough. I want to just close with this one verse. It's found in the book of Zephaniah. Some of you have heard me quote this previously, but I'd like us to look at it. It's found in Zephaniah chapter one, and it's speaking of the people.
And I'll read it to you from two different translations. The new King James puts it this way. Zephaniah 1:12. And it shall come to pass at that time. This is the Lord speaking that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled in complacency. Complacency. Did you hear that? He's not saying, I'll settle those who do evil. I will kill those, I'll destroy those, I'll judge those, I'll punish them, whatever that are doing all these evil things. Like, even though obviously God addresses that he's the God of justice, what he's saying here is, I will punish those who are settled in complacency. Then listen to this. Who say in their heart, they may not necessarily be articulating it verbally, but they're saying it in their heart. Look at this.
The Lord will not do good.
Wow.
Neither will he do evil. The Lord will not do good.
Do we believe he's going to do good?
The psalmist said, I would have fainted had I not believed. I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
Would have fainted. But I believed. I believed not in my faithfulness, not in my faith, but in his goodness, in his reliability, in his steadfastness, in his character.
I believe he's good. I believe I'll see a breakthrough. And I'm willing to. To put all my eggs in one basket. I'm willing to literally put it all on the line. I'm willing to believe. I'm not going to run ahead. I'm not going to try to solve the problem myself, but I'm going to trust you. Because you go before me and you make the crooked way straight and the rough place is smooth. So give God space to do what he wants to do in your life and stop invading and literally stepping into those things that he wants to do for you. You literally thwart and abort your opportunity for a miracle by acting on your own.
God looking for a people of faith, a people that believe in miracles. Miracles are normal. We say that, right? Miracles are normal. Really, they should be, right? Jesus apparently believed miracles were normal. Right?
He said, like they were amazed because of the hardening of their heart.
Miracles should be normal.
You should expect to see the goodness of God. We should believe that.
I said I would read it from another verse. Listen to this translation. Sorry, Zephaniah 1, verse 12. I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem, darkest Jerusalem's darkest corners, to punish those who sit complacent in their sins. They think the Lord will do nothing to them, either good or bad.
The Lord would do nothing.
Like, right, I'm captain of my own fate.
I've got to create my destiny. I've got to make the way.
And we live that way. And we listen more to Tony Robbins than we do to Jesus Christ.
Do you know who Tony Robbins is? He's a self help guru. Okay?
He's a leadership guy. You can do it. You got. You can do this, you know? It's in you now. It's in him.
It's in him and he wants to do miracles.
He wants to do it, but we have to create space. We have to believe in the God of miracles.
We have to believe he is the God of miracles. Amen.
Quickly.
Three things. Consecration.
We need to step into consecration. A life of prayer, holiness.
Build up ourselves in our most holy faith. Praying in the spirit. Right Jude, revelation. Walk in the truth of scripture. What does the scripture say? Renew our minds.
Right?
Be conformed to the world. Be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Get the Word in you. Word in you. Word in you. What does the Word say? It is written. It is written. It is written. It is written. Let God be true. Let every man be a liar.
Lazarus is dead. No. He is only sleeping.
Demonstration. Look for opportunities for God to demonstrate his power.
Create space for God to do miracles.
Create space. Well, here's an opportunity right here.
Here's an opportunity right here.
This is terrible. No, it's an opportunity.
I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying it's an opportunity. Sometimes you can be confused, shaking.
You can feel like, what do I do? I don't understand this. Why am I going through this? No, it's an opportunity.
It's an opportunity for God's goodness. He wants to do things and I don't know all the answers. None of us do here on earth. Why? Sometimes people aren't healed.
Sometimes things happen, terrible things.
But I'm saying this. It doesn't change the character of God.
It doesn't change his character.
He's good and he wants us to believe in his goodness. Saints don't be anyone who, you know, settled in complacent to say their heart, the Lord will not do good.
Do you believe in his goodness?
Do you believe he's amazing?
Amen.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us. We hope that you enjoyed today's podcast and we realize that not everyone has had the opportunity to respond on to the good news of the Gospel. And for this reason, in all of our services and platforms, we want to extend to you the opportunity to follow Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we have been created for a relationship with God. However, sin, which is essentially disobedience, independence and disbelief, or us simply missing the mark, entered the world and separated us from God. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death and a debt was owed. And the Bible tells us that he demonstrated his love for us that while we were still sinners, he died for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus, that whoever believes in him will be saved. All that is required of anyone is that they believe in Jesus, the Son of God who came, lived, died and rose again so that we could be forgiven, made right and given the right to become children of God and to have life forevermore with Him.
Today you can begin a relationship with Jesus. To believe in him is to simply to respond with faith in our hearts and confess with our mouths that he is Lord. And we do that through a simple prayer.
Follow along with Me Dear Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. I thank you that you love me and came to forgive me of my sin. I repent from my old way of life and I turn to follow you. I receive the free gift of eternal life and I ask that you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live a life of following after you. I thank you that I am born again as a child of God and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you prayed this prayer for the first time, we would love to connect with you and connect you to your next step and the local church in your area. You can contact us on our website at NUMA Church. Thanks for listening.
