Pastor Brian and Jacque Lother
Jacque: That's so beautiful Keith, so beautiful. And thank you everybody. I just considered a privilege to be able to support Brian in all he does and to love on all of you and to help any way we can. That's our privilege. Thank you for allowing us to do that.
Brian: I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you. So I want to thank you for all of your help and support, because this really is a team effort. One of the great gifts to me is that when you were 12, the Lord called you into really chaperoning life as well.
Jacque: Back then in the old days, you had to find a man to connect to. So I said, okay, Lord, bring me a missionary or a pastor and I'll just help him.
Brian: And we are really from the old days, in the olden days. I had a piano student once who asked me if our mother and dad came over and covered wagons. I said almost. Sometimes I feel like I came by covered wagon, but I don't know.
Jacque: You are only as old as you feel. Well, that doesn't work quite as much anymore.
Brian: Today, I'm feeling pretty old.
Jacque: Here is another one: Age is just a number.
Brian: That's right. That's right.
Jacque: Can I just say a couple little things about some important stuff happening?
Brian: Absolutely.
Jacque: Okay. Then we will start. The Christmas tea is happening. We are signing up. We are getting excited. The train is pulling out of the Depot and it's going and we just really want to make sure I know a lot of our friends are watching today because you are not here. And then a lot of our wonderful friends are here. But everybody, we are just opening this first of all to Hope women, because we want to make sure everybody, whether you want to host a table or you just want to buy a ticket and come and sit with other Hope ladies. We want to make sure that all of the Hope women have the first chance to be at the tea because we are limiting the size this year.
Brian: What about the guys? Can the guys come to the tea?
Jacque: Well, the guys can come because one of the best parts of the tea is the men serve us. Oh.
Brian: Oh, so we get to go too. We get to become servants.
Jacque: There you go. It's so fun.
Brian: We get to be like Jesus.
Jacque: You get to be like Jesus. And they put on their white shirts and they look so spiffy. It's just so fun.
Brian: We clean up once a year, you know, the Christmas tea.
Jacque: If you have any questions, Shelly will be in the back today and she'll answer all your questions. Secondly, we always decorate the sanctuary so beautifully for Christmas because we love to celebrate the birth of Jesus. One way you can help is to buy a poinsettia in honor of a loved one. And then we will decorate the platform, decorate the platform, and we will also have a list for a couple weeks online in the service of all the people that bought poinsettia and the person that they were memorializing.
Brian: We will put them up on the screen.
Jacque: Yeah, we will put them on the screen. Great idea. That order needs to be in by November 9th. I just want to make sure you know that so you can get in on that. Thirdly, Lou and Dave, I have communion today, right?
Brian: If you need prayer for anything, go over to communion after the service and Dave and Lou will pray for you. I think Pastor Robert will be there as well. Tequaris, if you want to join them, please go over there and pray for people. I know there is just really a great special time with connecting with our savior during that.
Jacque: And speaking of prayer, our sweet Israel had a seizure this morning. We told Lana and Jim that we would come together and pray for him right now.
Brian: So father, we just lift up Israel to you, not just the nation of Israel, but our Israel, the Israel from Hope. We pray Lord, that your spirit will just come and overshadow him, touch him, such an innocent young man without guile. And I pray, Lord, that this physical issue that he struggles with, that God, you will bring your healing touch. Nothing is too difficult for you, God. You are the God of the impossible. So we come to you again and ask, in Jesus name, for you to bring grace and love to the Cobb family today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
We are so grateful, again, for Pastor Robert and TeQuaris being a part of Hope. One of the really blessings that has happened through COVID is obviously we've invested more in our online ministry and our online community of faith is really growing. We are so grateful for all of you who watch every week by online, across the country and even some other parts of the world that tune into us almost every week. We are so grateful for that. Out of the effort of kind of increasing our abilities to do livestream and some of that sort of stuff, we've just increased our technical abilities here with our recording and our sound. Joel and Micah and all of our tech crew have done such a great job. We out a couple times a week, two short, inspirational videos called Moments of Hope. How many get those?
If you are not getting those, all you need to do is either give us your email or you can go to our website and there is a place where you can sign on to get into the portal, or whatever it's called, and you can get these videos. I want to just play one of the videos. It's actually from the first sermon that Pastor Robert spoke here just about a month or so ago. His sermon was kind of the inspiration for my message today. I want to play this video first to kind of set the stage for my message. Also for those of you who don't receive the "Moments of Hope," these are incredibly wonderful evangelistic tools. They are encouragement to people. You can send them to friends and family. With the internet nowadays, let's use the internet for something good instead of something bad. Let's shoot these things out to our friends. Here's this short, roughly one minute inspirational video taken from Pastor Robert's message from about a month ago. Our tech crew says they are working on it. Here we go.
[Video 46:05 - 47:15]
Brian: Wouldn't it be just easy to sense of somebody? Wouldn't it be inspirational for somebody? The title of my message actually today is called "The pressure is off." Most people think the pressure is on, but the pressure is off. I want to kind of connect it to Pastor Robert's message because his message was really about just sharing the good news of Jesus. But so many of us, we feel that as a pressure to do that. We feel it's like a commission, like the great commission: go into all the world and preach a gospel. But that's the wrong way to look at it. It's really as you are going throughout the world, share the gospel with Jesus. It's not so much a command to go somewhere as much as it is an invitation to be something, to be a mouthpiece, to be something that God can use.
Most of you may not realize this, but after every message on a Sunday morning, we have a co-worker who lives in Jamaica who transcribes the whole message from Sunday morning, and then Pastor Jeff gets that message usually by Monday, the next day and he starts going through that whole message.
Jacque: And that transcription is also on our website, in a blog.
Brian: It's in our blog. And then he pulls out a section from each message. And then we have another co-worker who lives in Mexico City that we send these things to and the video to, and he puts these videos together for us. It's one of the most incredible tools that we've ever had at our disposal for bringing in encouragement to people because you don't even have to knock on their door. You don't even have to deliver apples, which some of the people did last week and had a really good response from, but you can just sit at your device, your iPhone, your iPad, your computer, and you can just be an inspiration to somebody rather than talking about how add everything is in the world. So get on the Google. I think that's what the—
Jacque: Be careful what you are saying.
Brian: What's the ladies at the Christmas— the folding table. The folding table calls it the Google. You'll see them again this Christmas on December 11th. The Google will be back. Just get on the internet and send something inspirational to people because we have so much good to talk about. There is so much good that God is actually doing in the world, but the problem is it doesn't get any press. So you and I are now the press for getting this good news out. It's not something from compulsion, but rather it's an opportunity.
I want to start by reading a wonderful portion of scripture. We are going to read from mark chapter six. This is also found in, I believe, John chapter six and a couple other portions of the gospels, but Mark chapter 6, verses 30 through 44. This is one of, I think, all of our favorite stories.
Jacque: Okay. And you can stop me whenever you want if you have a comment to make. And you are not interrupting
Brian: I try not to be too interruptive, but sometimes, it just sparks up within me and I—
Jacque: Then you've got to say it.
Brian: I've got to say it.
Jacque: The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place, but many who saw them leaving, recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. And when Jesus landed and saw the large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
Brian: So my guess is even though Jesus, as the creator, my guess is in his humanity, he didn't know very many of these people. He didn't know them on a personal level. They had heard about him from some of the things that he had been doing and they gathered there. When he got off the boat, there was this large crowd there and he had compassion on him. I kind of reflected back on my mind when I go to the state fair. There are different streets at the state fair, and sometimes the streets have some contour to him. There are times when you are on the higher part of the street and you are looking down the road and all that sea is a sea of humanity. It's nothing but a sea of humanity. I've asked the Lord when I go to the state fair, Lord, give me compassion on these people. Because so oftentimes I'll look and see how they are dressed or how they are acting or what they are doing, and I want to judge them. That's just not how Jesus is. So I still have a lot of my old self to still die in me, but I'm intentionally praying that I will have a heart of compassion for people because that's who Jesus is.
When he looked upon the crowds and the masses— If you go to a football game or a soccer game or any kind of gathering where there is thousands of people, or maybe you go to a rock concert, certain there is 50,000 people worshiping at that rock concert, and unfortunately they are not worshiping Jesus, but they are still worshiping, are you going to have compassion on them? I want to have that kind of heart that God had in Jesus, that he has a heart of compassion. So let's go on.
Jacque: What makes me think about this is Jesus must have been so tired.
Brian: Yeah, and hungry
Jacque: And hungry. And you know what, he didn't say, "No, I'm too tired."
Brian: He had compassion. So began teaching them many things.
Jacque: By this time, it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said. "And it's already very late; send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
Brian: If you read this same portion of scripture in the book of John, he said this to Andrew and the scripture says, "And he did this to test his faith." He did this to test his faith, like, what was he going to really trust in? Andrew didn't think of it as an aspect of faith or trust. He just thought of it as something in the natural realm. And so his response was this.
Jacque: They said to him, "That would take more than a half a year's wages. How are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" "How many loaves do you have?" He asked.
Brian: Jesus asked this question, "How many loaves do you have?"
Jacque: He told them to go and see. And when they found out, they said five loaves and two fish.
Brian: Now get this, there were 5,000 people, or actually, the Bible says 5,000 men. There could have been maybe 10 or 15,000 people that day there. The only person that had any foresight was a little boy to bring five loaves and two fish.
Jacque: His mom sent it.
Brian: It was a good Jewish mom that sent him out that day, taking care of him. All he had was five loaves and two fish. Now get this: another portion of scripture says they were barley loaves. Barley is like the low-class bread of the culture. It's not the better wheat bread; barley was kind of the low class. That's what Midian was grinding out back when God called him a mighty man of warrior. I think it's important that we don't lose sight and the significance of even the kind of bread that this boy had, because God will take anything and use it. God can take anything and anybody, no matter what strand of life we are in, no matter how little it might seem to be. When he blesses it, it becomes something incredible. Let's go on with the rest of the story.
Jacque: Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two and looking up to heaven, Jesus gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.
Brian: I wonder if the fish that he divided were cooked.
Jacque: Oh, that's a good question.
Jacque: I don't think they were eating sushi; I think it was cooked.
Brian: That's even a greater miracle if he can create it cooked.
Jacque: He broke the fish and it was already cooked. Anyways, let's go on. I digress.
Jacque: Yes. You think deeply yeah. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of men who had eaten was 5,000.
Brian: The scripture says they ate and were satisfied. My mind went back to a moment when we were in Haiti and we were building an orphanage there and we brought our food with us to Haiti. A lot of obviously the kind of food you bring would be like canned chicken or canned tuna and crackers and stuff that doesn't need to be refrigerated. You get out to the work site and all of a sudden there are a hundred kids out there. They just kind of appear out of nowhere. And then the very awkward situation happens because some of them have reddish hair because of malnutrition.
Jacque: We were building an orphanage.
Brian: We were building an orphanage for a lot of these kids who didn't have parents. One of our favorite meals was to just have a Ritz cracker and put some chicken or Tuna or something on it. You are sitting and looking at all these kids and you are eating in front of them and it's like, you feel guilty about it. So I gave a cracker to one of these little kids and instead of just grabbing it, they took it, they smiled, they thanked me. And then all of their friends got in a line and they broke just a little tiny piece off the Ritz cracker and gave it to every single one of their friends. Instead of just eating the whole thing by themselves, they shared.
When I read this portion of scripture, the scripture here says, "And they ate and they were all filled." Let me tell you something, in Haiti, that line wasn't full when they got eating that little cracker. We would try to give them more and more and more. But what Jesus did, when Jesus put his power and his love and his compassion, because this whole thing started with compassion; he saw them and he had compassion on them. It all started with compassion. When Jesus put his compassion and his love and grace into this situation, when the people finished eating, they were all full; they were satisfied. I just want to remind ourselves that that's what Jesus does in our lives: we can truly be satisfied when he is truly the bread of our lives.
This story shows us very clearly that as followers of Jesus, we don't have to produce or manufacture anything on our own. The disciples weren't capable of manufacturing anything. They weren't even capable of having enough money to go buy food to feed anybody, but rather what you and I need to do— and this is why the pressure's off. What you and I need to do is simply distribute what he blesses and what he offers, just to give what he blesses and what he offers. Sometimes that could be reconciliation. Sometimes that could be deliverance. At other times, that could be miracles that God is offering. Sometimes that could be grace. It could be compassion, but our calling is not to replace God, but to release him. Our calling is not to replace who God is, but rather to release who God is into people's lives. First in our life, because we need to have God released in our lives and then of course, into the lives of others.
Jesus needs people on the earth to represent himself through just as the father represented himself through Jesus. Remember when Jesus said, "If you've seen me using the father; I don't say anything unless the father tells me to say it"? He was truly representing his father. You and I had the opportunity to represent Jesus. Jesus was a human who represented the father and the humans who represent Jesus on the earth are you and I, the church of Jesus Christ and this concept of being sent because Jesus felt like he had been sent from the father. For God so loved the world that he sent. He gave his only son who was Jesus. He understood that he had been sent by the father to represent the father to the earth. That's why it's so important for us to see their letters in red, because that's the best expression of who the father is. Jesus was the best expression of who the father was.
This concept of being sent this very important because sent ones have authority as long as they stay in line of who the person is who is sending them. But as soon as they get outside that framework, then they no longer represent them. I think there have been a lot of people trying to represent God in a way that God isn't at all. I think there is a lot of people being a mouthpiece for God today, spokespeople for God today that aren't representing God at all how he really is. As a result of that, more and more and more people in the church and in the world are completely dismissing the church as relevant. The reason they are dismissing it as relevant is because we really haven't represented the father as he really is.
We've represented a religion. We've represented some sort of formula of how we can please God, or make a stairway to God, as I said last week. But in reality, what you and I have to do or get to do is simply reflect who Jesus is, our father in heaven. This is why it's so important to get the words in red embedded deeply into our hearts and souls. Jesus said on many occasions, "You have heard it said, but I say unto you." He was talking to religious leaders who were actually quoting the scriptures, but we are quoting them incorrectly. He said, you have heard it said this, this and this, but I'm telling you this, which was a contradiction to what they had been hearing.
People have said a lot of things claiming to be mouthpieces for God, but they don't reflect the passion nor do they reflect the nature of Jesus. So when you are listening to discerning or trying to discern someone you are listening to just let this be a filter for you: Is this reflecting the passion and nature of Jesus what this person is saying? Because if it isn't, it's not of God. It's not of God. When someone is sent, the importance is not on the person being sent. So again, the pressure's off; the pressure's not on you. You are just being the sent one. You don't have to convince anybody of anything. It's not your job to be successful. It's not your job to get more numbers in our job is to reflect the person who sent us, to represent the person who sent us.
The sender is responsible for creating the conditions and supplying the tools needed for the task at hand. So God has given to us certain tools that he gives at certain times as he wills. The problem again for us is at times we've tried to create formulas, how to use those tools. But the fact of the matter is if you want to pound a nail into a board, you don't use a circular saw. If you need to cut a board, you don't just start hammering on it with a hammer. We need to use the tools that God has given us for the moment that that tool is needed. Jesus was a sent one. That's why he had authority, and he received his authority from the father who sent him. So let's read John 14, 8 through 14.
Jacque: And Jesus said, peace, be with you.
Brian: I skipped over that one. I want you to read the next one, John 14, 8 through 14.
Jacque: And Phillip said, "Master, show us the father. Then we will be content." Jesus said, "You've been with me all this time, Philip. And you still don't understand to see me is to see the father. So how can you ask where's the father? Don't you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere words. I don't just make them up on my own. The father who resides in me, crafts each word into a divine act."
Brian: So we get this picture here, don't we? Jesus is painting this picture, but he is just not doing his own thing. He is not doing his own thing. He is doing what the father is asking him to do. He is actually representing his father in heaven. Let's go on.
Jacque: Believe me. I am in my father and my father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see, these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I am doing, but even greater things, because I, on my way to the father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it.
Brian: We have to understand this, that when we— because all of us have requests. I started praying when I was a child. I prayed that I would get an a on my test without having to study. Frankly, when I read this person, a scripture that whatever you request along the lines of who he is and what he is doing, I realize as an adult, that prayer didn't line up with who Jesus was and what he was doing. We have to pray in alignment with who Jesus is and what Jesus is doing, but that's how the father will be seen, the scripture says. That's how the father will be seen in the things that we do when we actually pray along the lines of who Jesus is and what he is doing. And so that's how the father will be seen for who he is in the son.
And then he goes on to say you can request; whatever you request in this way I will do. So we need to kind of pull back a little bit on just kind of making a Christmas wish list and start to ask the question of Jesus: What are you doing? What are you doing? How are you doing it? Where are you at doing this? And begin to pray these in these ways. One of the most important things for us to understand is that we are not manufacturers of his presence. More than likely, most of us have either seen or been exposed to people who try to do that, try to manufacture some kind of manifestation of the presence of God. We don't need to do that. That's a lot of pressure on me if I'm expected to manufacture the presence of God, isn't it? All I simply do is reflect what God is doing and take the bread and the fish that is ours and let him bless it. And then I just simply start to distribute it. Then that takes the pressure off of me. There is another really good portion of scripture. We find it in Luke chapter 10, verses 16 to 20. Let's read that.
Jacque: The one who listens to you listens to me, the one who rejects you, rejects me. And rejecting me is the same as rejecting God who sent me. The 70 came back, triumphant. Master, even the demons dance to your tune. Jesus said, "I know. I saw Satan fall a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I've given you, safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions."
Brian: This doesn't mean that we are supposed to bring snakes and scorpions into the church to prove how much faith we have by walking on them. But especially in this culture, when they were walking with sandals and an arid area and sometimes they are walking at night and they could step on snakes and they could step on scorpions and people could be bitten. That was their culture. Jesus was giving them peace of mind here. He said, listen, I'm with you. I saw Satan fall and I'm conquering Satan. He is still the God of this world, but I am conquering. And as we go forward, we are going to conquer more and more and more. Some of these things, you live in a fallen world; fallen things happen to people, but it doesn't have to completely destroy your faith, nor does it have to completely destroy you.
Jacque: No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil.
Brian: Now this is really good. The great triumph here is not that we have authority over evil, although we do, but Jesus is saying that is not what the real triumph is here. What the real triumph is this.
Jacque: But in God's authority over you and his presence with you.
Brian: Nothing can keep God's presence from being with you no matter what circumstance you come into. Frankly, the greatest miracle of all— when we look back on our lives and see the rebellion, and we see the sin in our lives, isn't the greatest triumph that God's authority now reigns in our life? I know it is for me. I know what I was like before I really gave my heart to Christ. I know how selfish I was and I still struggle at times with me first. I think we all do a little bit, but Jesus did something in my heart that made me want to love other people. That didn't happen before I really met Jesus. When his authority came into my life, it was a thought of me wanting to be submissive to him, the king, not that I now had the ability to tell people what to do. However, I do tell the demons what to do. They have no place in our lives. They have no place in our lives. We have authority over them.
That's why the disciples came back from, from this short mission’s trip that the 70 were on and they came back and said, "Master, even the demons, dance to your tune." They do dance to the tune of Jesus. Whatever Jesus says, they do. Whatever's Jesus says Satan has to do so. We often kind of think that this battle is, here's Jesus and here's Satan, and they are waging war this way. Not at all. Jesus is here. And Satan is, if my arms are longer, I would get down to where at Satan really is. He is so far beneath the creator and Jesus. That's why the scripture says, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to the glory of God, the father, that Jesus is the Lord and that the demonic realm, they believe who he is and they tremble. They do. So we need not worry about those kinds of things. So let's finish this real quickly.
Jacque: It's not what you do for God, but what God does for you. That's the agenda for rejoicing.
Brian: We rejoice in not what we've accomplished for God, but we rejoice in what God has accomplished for us. And then he allows us and invites us to participate with him in being distributors of his wonderful grace and glory. One more portion of scripture, and then we will come to an end here: Luke 13, 10th, or 17th. I love this story.
Jacque: He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn't even look up. She had been afflicted with this for 18 years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. Woman, you are free. He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall giving glory to God.
Brian: Do you think there was quiet in that house of the Lord that day? I don't think so. I don't think so.
Jacque: The meeting place president—
Brian: That's an American way of saying the religious Pharisee leader
Jacque: Furious. He was furious.
Brian: He was furious.
Jacque: Furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. He said to the congregation, "Six days have been defined as workdays. Come on one of those six, if you want to be healed." My word, I can hardly read this. "But not on the seventh, the seventh."
Brian: The Pharisee actually didn't say that to Jesus. He was saying this to the other people. You've got six days to come here and get healed. Then the seventh, it doesn't matter how bad off you are. You stay sick. Jesus became furious over that. That was what we would call righteous indignation. I like to think once in a while I have it, but usually I realize it's just my flesh. It's not really righteous indignation. It's just my flesh. However—
Jacque: But Jesus shot back, "You frauds, each Sabbath, every one of you regularly untie your cow, or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water and thinks nothing of it. So why isn't it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these 18 years?"
Brian: Isn't that such a wonderful analogy? You untie your donkeys or your colt or your cows and you bring them out to water, even on the Sabbath, and yet you are mad at me for untying this woman who has been locked in a stall for 18 years.
Jacque: And setting her free.
Brian: And setting her free.
Jacque: This is what Jesus does this. When he put it that way, his critics were left, looking quite silly and red faced and the congregation was delighted and cheered him on.
Brian: Wouldn't you cheer him on? Wouldn't you cheer him on especially if you are one of these people? The fact of the matter is some people are really all bent over from hurt and rejection. They are all bent over from anger and abuse. They are doubled over from anxiety. The tempers are out of control. And then all of these things have become demonically reinforced for years in their lives. But today, isn't that a wonderful word today? Isn't that a great word today? But today, if you want things to be different in your life, that's a pretty good place to start, just wanting things to be different. That's a really good place to start, just wanting things to be different because it's never too late to open your heart. It's never too late to open one's heart.
This woman opened her heart. She had been desperate for 18 years. She had been bent over probably in a lot of pain. She got freed that day because she opened her heart and she responded to Jesus. What do you think would have happened if she would have let the Pharisee intimidate her and she had have said, "Ooh, this is a Sabbath. I'll come back tomorrow." I don't know that she would have ever received her healing.
None of us can change our past whether it's what we've done or whether it's things that have been done to us. But every single one of us can start over. Every single one of us can start over. This lady had a do over. She started over. I'm sure she felt the pressure from the religious leaders because they had the ability to kick her out of the synagogue. And that was anathema. That was like the Ichabod being written over the doorposts of your home.
But you and I are the sent ones and wherever we are at, we need to represent Jesus to the people in our circle of influence. Jesus came that day to that synagogue, bringing who he was and what he was with compassion to people, particularly to this lady who had been bound by Satan and kept in a stall for 18 years. Jesus has come to set the prisoners free and to destroy the works of the enemy, whether it's in our lives as believers or whether it's in our lives, people's lives as non-believers. I would just simply encourage us today that we can represent Jesus first in our own character, in how kind we are, in our suffering, in our compassion and our thought. Let's just represent Jesus as best we can in our character. Let's reflect Jesus as best we can in those areas. When we fail, we can just ask God to come and transform us and help us.
But secondly, we actually don't manufacture his power, but we can distribute his power and his grace. We don't create as power, but we can distribute it because greater is he that's in us than he that is in the world. And so remember we are reflectors of his glory. We are like a magnifying glass when the sun shines through it, and you put that reflection on another object, you can actually light a fire with that when the sun is shining through it. When you and I let the sun shine through us and we allow his mercy and his compassion and his grace and his strength and his power and who he is to reflect through us, and we let that reflection target a person, I believe the love of God will begin to burn in that person's heart.
We don't have to manufacture anything, especially as presence. We simply have to reflect it and distribute what he blesses. Jesus took those five loaves and those two fishes, and he lifted them up to heaven and he blessed them. Whatever God has in his hands from you, that he is blessing, just take that and distribute it, just distributed. You don't have to worry about numbers. You don't have to worry about converts. You don't have to worry about how many people are believing. You don't have to even worry about how the world is changing. I said to Jacque, last night, when we were young, I just really wanted to change the world. The longer I live, the more I realized that the world didn't seem to be changing how I wanted it to change.
But God has begins to show me that every time I love somebody, I actually changed that person's life. I change their world. Every time I loved somebody, I change their world. I am no longer am aspiring to a worldwide ministry that will change the world. I just want to bring Jesus and reflect the letters in red to the people in my circle of influence. I want to bring the love of Christ to those who have been bound up in their lives for years. Let us pray. Pastor Jeff, would you come?
Jeff: Everybody feels a little bit lighter today?? Isn't that great? You know, Jesus talked about how when we are filled with the spirit, how it becomes a stream of life, that Wells up within us. I realized when I read that once that when it comes to this great commission, that we sometimes feel very pressured by, what it really, all it involves is we've got this well inside of us of fresh water. All it really involves is when you come across anybody in your life, like Robert told us about in the "Moments of Hope", you just dip into that well of cool, fresh water, and you offer it to them. Here, would you like a drink? It's pretty good water. That can be in the form of kindness, or as pastor Brian just said, loving them and just expressing acceptance. It's so easy to do it wherever we are, just to be like him. I don't know if we could ever say this, but you know, Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the father." I wonder if we could ever say if you've seen me, you've seen Jesus? That would be a good goal.
Brian: Good to aspire to that.
Jeff: All they've got to do is read the red to know if we do or not. Who wants the Lord to use them in this way? Should we just ask the father to open up doors this week for each of us to love somebody in a fresh, new way and to just reflect Jesus to them for the Lord to take what we have to offer, the two loaves and fishes that we are in, bless them? Father, we give ourselves to you for that very thing. We trust you for it. We yield to you for it. We ask you, Lord, I ask you for each one of us who's here today, who is listening by live stream that this week we will see opportunities open up wherever we are to show somebody love to care for them, to give them something that brightens their day, is meaningful to them, that reflects Jesus. And Lord, in the end, maybe we will even get to tell them about you.
The one thing we can always tell them is God is real and he loves you. God is real and he loves you. That's very easy thing to say. Lord, we are asking you to do that for us. Divine appointments this week opportunities to give who we are, what you've blessed in us to others. If you happen to be listening and all of this is new to you, you've never actually trusted Jesus with your life, I want you to pray with me right now because that's where it all begins. When we trust Jesus for the very first time, or maybe you've been wayward for a long time and you need to come back, then this is for you as well. It's very simple. You just have to say Jesus, I opened my heart. Sorry for how I've lived. Please forgive me and fill me with your spirit. I want to begin again. I trust you, Jesus, to lead my life from this day forward.
It's a beginning of a whole new life, whole new era. If you've prayed that prayer, we want to know about it. You can go to our website and click "contact us." You can send us a message. We would love to hear from you. If you were touched by this message, let Pastor Brian know. You can do the same thing. Before we go, we just want to pray for any needs that might be represented here. Who needs healing today? Who needs a touch? Who needs help with their finances or with a relationship? If that's you, just put your hand up. Here or at home, if you are sitting in your living room, put your hand up. We are just going to let God see our hands and we are going to trust him to meet us right where we are.
Lord, we thank you that you forgive all of our sins and you heal all of our diseases. You meet us where we are at and you bring us through. And so father, I just ask for miracles, for release of your power into the lives of those who have their hands up right now, a release of your grace, a release of healing in the bodies and in our minds and our emotions and in our relationships. We trust you for that. We receive it now because we know that you are the God of miracles. Thank you, Jesus.
I would just like to extend that prayer because it may not just be you, but you might— In fact, I know that every one of us know somebody who needs a miracle from Jesus; they need to know Jesus. We all know people like that. Picture them in your minds right now; we are going to ask Jesus to intervene in their lives. People that we love and care about, who haven't yet met the savior or who have a really significant need, just lift them to the Lord right now. Picture me your mind.
Father, you see the faces of the ones that we carry in our hearts, the ones that we love, the ones that we pray for often, but together we lift these loved ones up before you and we ask that you do a miracle in their lives. We ask for your salvation. We ask for your intervention, your interruption, into their lives, with your love and your mercy. We trust you for that and we thank you. Pastor Brian—
Brian: A number years ago, when I was more of a director of music in a couple of different churches, we sang a song called "Then Jesus came." It kind of starts by saying something like this: one sat alone beside the highway, begging. His eyes were blind; the light, he could not see. The song goes on to say, but then Jesus came. Jesus came that day to the woman in the synagogue who had been bent over for 18 years. Jesus came to blind, Bartimaeus on the side of the road. Jesus came to the leper who everybody was rejecting, and Jesus wants to come to us today. Jesus wants us to be the distributor of him to people.
So when you come across somebody who, like this woman has been bent over for 18 years, maybe it's a different kind of bending over. It might not be from arthritis. It might not be something physical. They could be standing erect on the outside, but on the inside, they are completely bent over, let's bring Jesus to them. Let's bring the savior to people. Let's reflect who he is to them and in so doing, we don't have to do anything. We simply bring what has been given to us. So let's raise their hands again.
And now may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. May you reflect the beauty of the nature and compassion and love and power of our savior, Jesus Christ. This, we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dave and Lou and Pastor Robert and TeQuaris will be over here serving communion you after the service. If you have some more prayer needs, they will be glad to pray for you. God bless you. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for watching us online. We love you. Keep writing us. We appreciate all the contacts that you give to us. Hope to see you soon. God bless you and have a wonderful day. Bye-bye.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 10-24-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.