Wild promise or weak faith? Ask Sarah about becoming pregnant at an elderly age. Ask disciples told to do like Jesus did, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the unclean, and drive out evil. 'Who me?' you guffaw loudly. Yes, you.
Life can throw us some remarkable curve balls. We see God throwing these beauties at folks all the time in scripture. Few actually find what God expects from them to be perfectly reasonable and do-able. Quite the opposite. It's more like Moses" 'Who? Me?'
The story of God's promise to Abraham that Sarah would indeed be bearing a son ... at an elderly age ... must have shocked Abraham, but it made Sarah bust out with a big laugh. There are a lot of lessons in that laugh, but you'll need to check out the sermon video.
We understand the crazy nature of what happened to Sarah, but we don't often stop to appreciate that what Jesus expected from his disciples was no less off the charts.
The passage from Matthew starts with Jesus doing intense ministry among God's needy and hurting people. Jesus exclaims that the harvest of suffering people is great but the workers who would minister to them with love, grace, and compassion are few. (No, "the harvest fields" don't refer to heathen needing conversion, and "the workers" are not charged to convert them.)
He turns to his disciples and gives them the First Commission. (Last week's passage, Matthew 28: 16-20 is called the Great Commission - a comparison shows some remarkable differences and similarities (ah, that's another sermon, isn't it?)) Jesus' instructions may go on quite a bit, but in a nutshell, the disciples are instructed to do just what Jesus has been doing: heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the unclean, and drive out evil.
It's quite an eye-opener for the average believer. Get the whole story from the sermon video below, and note the downloads below the video panel.
Life can throw us some remarkable curve balls. We see God throwing these beauties at folks all the time in scripture. Few actually find what God expects from them to be perfectly reasonable and do-able. Quite the opposite. It's more like Moses" 'Who? Me?'
The story of God's promise to Abraham that Sarah would indeed be bearing a son ... at an elderly age ... must have shocked Abraham, but it made Sarah bust out with a big laugh. There are a lot of lessons in that laugh, but you'll need to check out the sermon video.
We understand the crazy nature of what happened to Sarah, but we don't often stop to appreciate that what Jesus expected from his disciples was no less off the charts.
The passage from Matthew starts with Jesus doing intense ministry among God's needy and hurting people. Jesus exclaims that the harvest of suffering people is great but the workers who would minister to them with love, grace, and compassion are few. (No, "the harvest fields" don't refer to heathen needing conversion, and "the workers" are not charged to convert them.)
He turns to his disciples and gives them the First Commission. (Last week's passage, Matthew 28: 16-20 is called the Great Commission - a comparison shows some remarkable differences and similarities (ah, that's another sermon, isn't it?)) Jesus' instructions may go on quite a bit, but in a nutshell, the disciples are instructed to do just what Jesus has been doing: heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the unclean, and drive out evil.
It's quite an eye-opener for the average believer. Get the whole story from the sermon video below, and note the downloads below the video panel.
| 06-18-17-ff-answers.pdf |
| 06-18-17-is_anything_too_hard_for_the_lord.pdf |