It’s one thing to ‘give up dipping snuff’ because you joined a church.
It’s an entirely different matter when you have been raised from the dead.
That’s how the bible describes us prior to being rescued by Jesus. (Eph 2:1-4)
We. Were. Dead.
And if you want to get technical about this, we were born dead. Hence, the need to be…’born again’. (John 3:3)
That day Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb after being dead for four days was pretty impressive. It silenced His critics…for a just a little bit. How do you argue with that kind of miraculous transformation? Oh…critics whose hearts have hardened and hold fast to form and tradition will always want to discredit a changed life. Look what they did to the man who was born blind and then Jesus healed him …as in restored his sight. You can read of it in John 9. The poor guy struggled a bit trying to please the local theologians with a logical explanation and to no avail. They finally just kicked him out of church. (vs. 34)
Then there was the man in the Gadarenes who was so out of his mind and tormented and possessed by literally thousands of demons…that he ran like a crazed animal in the wild….chains could not keep him bound nor could he even keep clothes on himself. He was often seen and heard crying out from tombs and cutting himself with a stone. (Interesting that today, many people are known to be ‘cutters’. I wonder what could be behind that?) But then he had his own encounter as well with this Man from Galilee. And it did not take Jesus a running start and a lengthy wrestling match to deliver this man from his tormentors. When the locals showed up and saw the ‘one who had been demon-possessed sitting and clothed and in his right Mind...they were afraid.” (Mark 5:15)
I can understand being afraid of this guy when he was being driven by his demons...but healed and delivered...where’s the celebration and rejoicing? And you know what they did next? They ‘pleaded with Jesus to depart from their region’. (17). As in...we are not at all comfortable with this practice of where people in great need of a physician and deliverer finally get set free. This makes us feel uneasy...please go. So Jesus got in the boat to do just that. But not before the man who had been in such torment came to Jesus and ‘begged Him that he might be with Him.’ (18). The response he got might surprise some but Jesus actually declined his request, instead instructing the man to ‘go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how He has had compassion on you.” (20)
“Go...and... tell what great things the Lord has done for you...” What is Your story that you are telling?
Peter would later write how he and the others were a witness to all the things Jesus did and “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)
Is God not with us today in the same manner that God was with Jesus back then?
Are you aware that when Jesus was preparing to return to His Father in heaven, He commissioned His disciples to continue on with the ministry that He began, telling them to go and teach everyone the very things that He had taught them. Then in Mark 16:20 we read “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”
This should come as no surprise to any student of the bible because Jesus was rather emphatic when He stated: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12). This is not about inspiring some ego driven preacher running out and starting a ‘faith healing ministry’ and making a name for himself on some TV cable channel. It has more to do with the fact that people have never stopped being tormented and afflicted by the powers of darkness; and the ministry of Jesus, who came to set those very captives free, is still in great need of being carried out today.
If you go back to our passage there in Acts 4 where the leaders of the local synagogues were up in arms and indignant over what these rogue disciples were doing, the did have to admit that a ‘notable miracle had been done through them and is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it.” (16). Now flip over to the next chapter and read vs. 12-20 and how ‘multitudes gathered...and sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits were all healed.” (5:16) No doubt you can find thick commentaries today where learned men will try and explain why God doesn’t do things like that anymore, but I’m thinking they are the very ones that Jesus chuckled over when He thanked His Father for ‘hiding these things from the wise and the prudent’ and revealing it to the babes. (Luke 10:21)
But please underline vs. 20 there in Acts 5 where an ‘angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out...(you probably saw where they were thrown in the local jail for causing such a scene with their preaching) and then commanded them to “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people ALL the words of this life.”
“All the words...to this life.” Yeah...there really is a few more words in this Book we claim to love and trust in besides: “believe in Jesus”. But over time, ‘doctrines of demons and deceiving spirits’ (1 Tim. 4:1) along with a plethora of ‘other gospels and Jesuses’ (2 Cor. 11:4) have filtered in to our churches and pulpits and the best we can offer up is a feel good message that is void of power and leaves us in an empty shell of a ‘form of godliness’. (2 Tim. 3:5)
I am inspired by Paul’s bold declaration to the Corinthians telling them that “My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (2:4)
Look how he addressed the elders at Ephesus as recorded in Acts 20:27-30- “I have not shunned (or shrunk back) from declaring to you the WHOLE counsel of God!” He goes on to warn them there, that after he departs, ‘salvage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock’. (29). Do you think he was suggesting four legged beast would come in to town and eat up people...? Or maybe he was referring to the same ‘wolves dressed like sheep’ that Jesus warned us about in Matt. 7:15-20.
Friends...we all fell asleep just like those virgins in Matt. 25 did...and then darkness came. I have no doubt that we are in a similar time and moment where a warning cry is going out and God is wanting to awaken those who have ears to hear. There is a flood of darkness sweeping across the land and people are hurting and being destroyed in the same manner as when Jesus was walking the earth. But for a host of reasons, we have been reluctant to declare the whole counsel of God and ‘warning people to flee from the wrath of God and in turn bringing forth fruits of repentance.” (Matt. 3:7-10).
There is indeed a place of refuge and peace and healing and freedom, but it is only available to those who truly call on the Lord in complete surrender giving all their heart to Him. In that moment, anyone who does just this can experience the peace of God’s protective hedge envelope them and silence their tormentors. But it is only then that He begins a good work IN you...provided you abide in Him and continue on with Him.
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