Ready…for the one who is more
powerful
Advent in 3-D
Part 1 Sunday December 4, 2005
Intro: Clip
from Scene 30 in The Passion right after the crucifixion… the lingering
affects of the earthquake, the destruction in the temple, and the
harrowing of Hell…stop before taking down from the Cross…
Let’s read this together:
“The beginning of the gospel about
Jesus Christ, the Son of God… and this was [John’s] message: ‘After me
will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I
am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” Mark 1:1, 7 NIV
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Beginnings are critical:
If you don’t begin a project well, or if you don’t begin a
journey well, or a relationship…odds are these things will not end
well… Beginnings have a way of framing the way we think about the
rest of the journey eg My first day in law school-- “Look to the
left, look to the right, these people will not be with you when you
graduate in three years”… and it was one fearful and competitive
step after another the rest of the way!
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And for many of us, to begin a
spiritual journey in a church like this is a real challenge
because long ago we began such a journey in a church where the first
message we heard was “You’re a bad person”, “We need your
money—please give more” “You’re spiritually ignorant” or “”You have
to jump through these hoop before you can join our club”… and those
beginnings so discouraged us that we have a hard time getting back
on the road with Christ…
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But listen again to what Mark
writes about the beginning of the Good News about Jesus
Christ: Read Mark 1:3, 7-8
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The beginning of the Good News
is very simple: Get ready! He’s more powerful than you can
imagine! And does He have a gift for you!!!
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And thast may be the best
description of the WHOLE gospel of Mark: That it is and was
literally written as “just a beginning”, just an introduction to all
the Good news about who Jesus Christ is, and what he has done for
you and me, and what high hopes he has for us, what gifts he would
give us…and this passage we read for Advent is the beginning
of the beginning!
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And the key to the beginning of
the Good News is understanding two words: “More powerful”
First, He is more powerful
than John…
John himself says ‘After me will come one more
powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to
stoop down and untie.” Mark 1:1, 7 NIV
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That was a remarkable thing for John
to say given his own origins: The vision to Zechariah,
angels, miraculous birth in old age, godly parents
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God chose JB in the desert to
receive the direct, prophetic revelation of God’s own word after an
absence of 400 years! God chose JB for this!!
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His ministry—the crowds, the response,
his challenge to Herod himself, his popularity and imprisonment for
fear…
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No wonder when John was about to be
executed, and John’s disciples came to Jesus for an encouraging
word, Jesus said, “I tell you, among those born of women there
is no one greater than John…” Luke 7:28 NIV Jesus was saying
“There has never been, nor will there ever be, a more powerful
spiritual prophet, teacher and leader than JB among human beings
like you and me… BUT even JB says “Jesus is more powerful than
me”… And that’s a claim and a reality that ought to knock
you and me out of our socks dear one, because it cuts right against
the message of our culture that says that Jesus is a great and
wonderful and inspiring teacher among a host of great and wonderful
and inspiring teachers.
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So you and I have to make a
choice here from the very beginning: Either we can believe
what the culture tells us about Jesus, and put him in the hall of
fame for great religious teachers where he can gather dust witrh the
rest…or we can read on and find out
THAT HE IS, SECONDLY, MORE POWERFUL
THAN YOU AND I COULD EVER IMAGINE!
And how is he more
powerful? Well let’s
take a look at what else Mark has to say about the power of Jesus
Christ…
Jesus is more powerful in
his compelling and life-orienting words…
As
Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother
Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come
follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once
they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:16-18 NIV
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What happened here…
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Illustration: several months ago, the
violent fugitive in Atlanta who killed several people in fleeing
from court, took hostage a single mom who just happewned to be a
follower of JC, and began to share with him from The Purpose
Driven Life some of the life changing and life orienting words
of Jesus Christ that were quoted from the Bible in PDL… result: he
surrendered!
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Any number of people here this morning
who could share with you some scripture, some words of Jesus, that
were so compelling and so life changing they led to a reorienting of
that person’s life…that’s the compelling power of Jesus’ words!
Jesus’ touch is more powerful
than sickness and disease…
A
man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged him on his knees, “If you are
willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached
out and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”
Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Mark 1:40-42 NIV
Jesus is more powerful than our
sins…
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[The story of the paralytic—paralyzed
by sin…And jesus looks at him and Jesus said, “Which is easier:
to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get
up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…’” He said to the
paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He
got up, took his mat, and walked out in full view of them all.”
Mark 2:9-12 NIV
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Some of you are here this morning,
paralyzed by the memory of something you did that you know as wrong…
or perhaps paralyzed by something that was done to you by someone
who knew that they were doing wrong… I know, because you have shared
with me the pain, the shame, the guilt, the inability to get overf
these things
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And the beginning of the Good
News for you is that Jesus can wipe that sin away, and remove it’s
paralyzing effects from your life, with just a word!!
Jesus is more powerful than the
storms…
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One evening Jesus invited the
disciples to get into the boat and go across the lake and get some
rest… and while Jesus was resting in the back a terrible storm came
up…panic!...Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves,
“Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely
calm.” Mark 4:39 NIB
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Storms will come up in life: a
financial crisis, athe loss of a job, a debilitating sickness, the
birth of a child …all these and more
can leave us feeling, like the disciples, that we are swamped and
about to go under…
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And sometimes you will even find
yourself in the middle of a storm precisely because you have, like
the disciples, followed Jesus’ instructions and gotten into the boat
with him! My experience in the storm
this wseek…How the LORD delivered me with a song on my lips in the
morning “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and
righteousness…an e-mail from Lovey\...and a phone call and a prayer
from a dear friend in NC….and so came the calm—the winds died
down, and it was completely calm.
Jesus is more powerful than
your hopelessness
And
a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She
had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent
all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse… (explain)
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And how many of you
have been in situations where things just seem to go from bad to
worse—chronic situations, like this woman’s, that never seem to get
better—a broken relationship, a sickness, a habit or an addiction or
an unhealthy pattern of relating to others that you can’t seem to
overcome no matter how hard you try?
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This woman, she
thought, “If I just touch his clothes I will behealed.”Immediately
her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed
from her suffering.” Mark 5:25-26, 28-29 NIV
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No matter how desperate
you are, no matter how hopeless you feel, no matter
how depressed and defeated by your circumstances you
have become, Jesus has more power to deliver you in the hem of his
garment than all the self-help plans and counselors you can buy!!!
And he has the power to turn your hopelessness into a new
beginning, in an instant—just like he did for this woman!
Jesus is more powerful than
Satan…
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Virtually every Biblical scholar and
critic agrees—one of the unique dimensions of Jesus ministry was the
amount of time he spent casting out demons and delivering people
from places of satanic bondage. One day in the middle of all, this
the religious critics blasted him and aid…
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Jesus said, “No one can enter a
strong man’s house and carry off his possessions until he first ties
up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.” Mark 3:27 NIV
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What was Jesus saying here? “I’m
stronger than the ‘strong man’ Not long after that Jesus
went across the lake to the land of the Gerasenes and encountered a
man who was so full of demons, so consumed by satanic bondage, that
he had super-human strength—and no matter how they chained him up he
tore the chanins apart and broke the shackles on his feet…
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And the Bible says “No one
was strong enough to subdue [the man with the evil spirit]…” But
what happened next proved exactly what Jesus said to the scribes and
the Pharisess…
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And when they came to Jesus, they
saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons,
sitting there dressed, and in his right mind.” Mark 5:4b, 15 NIV
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In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says “If
I drive out demons by the finger of God, then you can be sure the
Kingdom of God has come to you!” (Lk. 11:20) It’s as though Jesus is
saying when God comes to deal with the liberation process in
our lives, confronting those places where we have opened a door to
things from hell, he doesn’t need his whole arm, he doesn’t
even need his whole hand—by his finger he flicks out the
powers of hell!
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And he’s asking you and me today,
“Will you let me point my finger in your life?” Will you let me
point out the ways that Satan has dissipated, confused and
fragmented your life? Will you let me point out those areas where
you need to be free? Jesus is saying, “Will you let me
point out and flick away anything which has enthroned itself in your
life other than my gracious and loving rule?”
Finally, Jesus is more powerful
than death…
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When Jesus stopped to help the
hopeless woman, he was on a 911 call to save a little girl who was
dying… but while he was healing the hopeless, she died.“Your
daughter is dead,” they said to Jairus. “Why bother the teacher any
more?”…
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And doesn’t that sum up the awful
finality of death…don’t bother God—it’s over. Period., You and I are
powerless and there is nothing we can do about it..
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But Jesus didn’t leave them
powerless and broken with grief…After Jesus put them all out, he
took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with
him and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and
said to her, ‘Talitha koum!’ (which means, ‘Little girl, I say to
you, get up”) She stood right up and walked around (she was
12 years old) At this they were completely astonished. Mark 5:35,
40-42 NIV
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Yesterday we celebrated the life
of Dennis Monaghan, and the greater life he is now enjoying in
Christ Jesus! Dennis: the first member of SRC to die. But
the message at the service was not “Don’t bother”… it was “If you
are in Christ, like dennis was, you will never say goodbye to dennis
for the last time—because he’s simply changed his address…he’s moved
on from the dress rehearsal of this life to the real drama of the
next with Christ…
And you see, because
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Jesus’ words
are so powerful and compelling that they change a person’s life
direction
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And because
his touch is more powerful than our sickness and disease
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And because
he has power to forgive sins
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And because
he has power to calm the storms of our life
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And because
he has the power to turn our hopelessness into healing and new
beginnings
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And because
he has the power to cast out of you and me and controlling force
from the pit of hell
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And because
he has the power to deliver you and me from death and into a
life that will never end
He is more than a great
teacher: HE IS THE LORD!
“You
must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or
else a madman or something worse…but let us not come up with any
patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not
left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere
Christianity
One more thing: When he
removes… purposelessness, and sickness, and sin, and storms, and
hopelessness, and bondage, and death from our lives what will he put
in its place?
And
this was John’s message: “After me will come one more powerful
than I… I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:7-8 NIV
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There’s a fullness of life Jesus
wants to give us—the same fullness in which he lived and operated.
Because Jesus didn’t just come to wipe our slate cleans…n or
did he come to just remove the garbage…HE CAME TO FILL US TO
OVERFLOWING WITH A LIFE SOURFCE AND POWER THAT WILL ENABLE US TO
LIVE OUR LIVES THE SAME WAY HE LIVED HIS!
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And that’s through the baptism
Jesus offers…beyond repentance and forgiveness of sins—the
baptism of the holy Spirit (explain)
ARE YOU READY? Let me close by asking you to ready yourselves for a new
indwelling of His fullness in you life this Advent…Let me
suggest a couple of things:
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Read this
Gospel of Mark: 24 pages/ 4 pages a day…see me!
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Let Jesus touch you with
that greater power in just one area of your life:
Directionless? Ask for… Storm? Ask for… Hopelsessness? Touch the
hem of his garment in prayer, by yourelf or with another…
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Invite the powerful one into
your life today: for the first time? (salvation) For a
fvresh infilling…prayer team available during HC in the back
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