Drawing a Line in the Sand

Yeah, been spending too much time with David. Jenna really felt and it said there afterwards that it just felt like a real weight to what she felt the Lord wanted to say a number of weeks back. And then I know that people were had wanted to respond. Maybe one or two did, but not everybody did that morning. And then Jenna said, ​“I know she didn’t mean any harm by it cuz I know her.” She says, ​“I know we don’t do this too often, but would you want to come up and be prayed for?” And just something about that line, ​“We don’t do this too often” just has sent me on a bit of a journey of stuff that just maybe suppressed, but almost over the last week or two since Jenny opened that up, has just bubbled up in me.

And my confession to you, I guess, is what maybe this is going to turn into. My confession to you is because I have lived and live with the disappointment of not being healed. I’ve realized that impacts my it impacts how I lead. And my confession to you is that I’ve set my expectation really low because of living with disappointment.

And we’re saying he still reigns and he’s still God. And that’s been my wrestle. My wrestle has been what are you going to allow to dictate this journey of seeing the kingdom come of believing it’s at hand or believing the kingdom is among us believing that Jesus is here among us the heavens are open the gates are open and he’s present he’s here and there’s some there the distance has grown too wide between knowing the theory of that and expecting it and longing for it and believing it that it’s real. And almost I don’t know if I need to do it, but almost I confess, I apologize that I’ve allowed maybe my disappointment to set the expectation for what God wants to do among us.

And when Jenna says we don’t do this too often, I just want almost a line in the sand even today to say that’s not going to be said of us anymore that it’s a unique occurrence that we pray for the sick. What is come on? That’s a unique occurrence. we just lay hands. And I don’t know what happens when we lay hands on people, but I know that it says it in the Bible. I know that something mysterious and miraculous happens. And there’s a part of me just wants to say, ​“Let’s all together cuz I’ll need you. I’m maybe trying a we riding a we bit of a wave of faith this morning, but there’ll be tomorrow morning. I’ll need somebody. I’ll need somebody around me just to remember what God did. Remember what God stirred in you over the last couple of weeks.” Let’s keep fanning that into flame.

And for Paul, Paul said to Timothy, the laying on of hands, fan into flame, the laying on of hands, seeing people set free, people the sick being healed. And I suppose we’ve been back into the gospels, looking through the parables, and you just cannot avoid the fact that every time the kingdom shows up, that Jesus shows up, there’s demonstration of it. And Mike, again, my confession to you is that I’ve just recognized that there’s something, however it’s happened, through disappointment, through watching what’s going on in our world, through all the noise that can sometimes drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit, all of that has allowed me to settle for mediocrity. And he still reigns and he’s still God. And how dare I settle for mediocrity when he still reigns and he’s still God.

And I know that even this morning, we want to pray for you if you’re sick. We want the last couple of songs. If you’re sick, wherever you want to do it, if you want to stay in your seat, just get somebody to pray for you or come down to the back and we’d love to lay hands on you. If you’re sick, if you’re going through pain, if you’re lacking peace, if you’re lacking joy, if there’s something in your life that’s completely consuming you, we’d love to lay hands and pray for you. And just even be willing to embrace the mystery. I still live in the mystery of believing and trusting the kingdom is now and it’s not yet. that have I’ve lent too long. I became indifferent because I’ve just stayed in the kingdom. Not yet. But it’s now. It’s at hand. If I believe everything that Jesus says in here, something’s going to have to shift in me, in us.

And that’s why today I just wanted to worship because even yesterday was drawn to Matthew or Mark 14 where it actually all the noise is taking place. Didn’t even realize this, but the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for a way to arrest Jesus. the noise that was around Jesus and his ministry and that’s still what the enemy wants to do. He still wants to distort who Jesus is. He still wants to distort what Jesus wants to do. And all this noise that was taking place around him in Mark chapter 14, Jesus finds himself slipping into a home and reclining at a table and Mary comes and just pours out everything that she has at the feet of Jesus because she recognizes even with all the noise, with all her bad reputation, with all the threats, with all of the stuff that can seek to kill, steal, and destroy, she just recognized that in spite of all of that, Jesus was worthy just to pour out everything on. It was a year’s worth of it was an expensive perfume that she poured out on the feet of Jesus because she just recognized that he was just worth it all. And I’m sure she had her own needs. She had her own stuff, but she came recognizing that it was just worth pouring it out all out at the feet of Jesus. And it was remarkable that Jesus said that what she’s done is going to be told everywhere. And I don’t know if there’s any other stories that’s told in every one of the gospels, but this one is. The story of this lady Mary pouring everything she had at the feet of Jesus because she just recognized that he was worth it all. He was worthy of it all.

There’s a part of me today is just I’m willing to confess this and hope that it stirs something within you to say that we’re no longer going to settle for mediocrity because either the kingdom is present or it’s not. Either Jesus is among us and is still healing, drawing people back to himself or he’s not. And what’s the good thing about living in the mysteries and we’ll talk about this in a few weeks time with the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son. The lost coin and the lost sheep are found after a long search. But the lost son is it’s just divine initiative. It’s divine initiative. God just does something. There was no human engagement. Nothing happened apart from he came to his senses. spirit was after and the spirit is at work in the lives of people and I love that.

And even as we just pray and as we worship, God is drawing people to himself. There’s going to be times that will require us to be active and search and go after and be hungry. There’s also times that he just awakens us to our senses. Guys, come on back up and I know how many more songs you have left, but just in the last few moments and even if you just want to come and pray for hunger, if you’re coming back to pray, even you lay your hands on me cuz I’m just Jesus, even just I’m coming with a thirst and with a hunger with a sense that you just want to demonstrate your kingdom among us. And it’s not always doesn’t always need to happen here. In fact, I prefer that it happened out there. But let’s create an expectation at least in here. If we can’t create it in here, it’s going to become really difficult. And it is difficult to do it out there. Thank you for allowing me to do that. I want to lead really well.

We’re leading a way that will increase expectation among us that Jesus desperately loves you, desperately for you. Desperately wants to restore and heal, make all things new. I know it’s easy to say this in the emotion of a moment, but I’m desperate. I’m just longing that this becomes a bit of a marker for us, a line in the sand where Jesus just something shifts, something shifted in us, not just in me, but just among us.