“He Went a Little Further” - Scott Graham

my lord after all that I can't wait to hear me I just I have a lofty ambition life I will never achieve it and I hope someday to be about half of everything I've been introduced as if I pull that off I want to be quite a guy delight to have my wife with me this week it's kind of tough when she's sitting there next to me and he's rambling through all that she's like who's he talking about you're very kind you're very kind believin thank you so much what a joy to be with you today and I love going to church I just I do I just I love I love going to church I love worshiping God if you don't enjoy this there's something bad wrong with you I just you didn't get what I got this is life to me don't feel bad for me I was in a setting one time we're a pastor of a church of a totally different ilk said to my pastor I was a youth pastor at the time said to my pastor called him by his first name said dad can I ask you something she said I I heard something I just can't imagine story well you know you wonder what they hear about Pentecostals you know she's about to ask us we have pet rattlesnakes in the sanctuary or something you know he said well sure going as she said is it true do you go to church three times every week he said at least sometimes and she looked at me she was being very serious she wasn't being ugly she said I feel so sorry now the nerve that runs from my brain to the to the brake pedal on my tongue doesn't work real well sometimes the one of the accelerator it does great but the one that runs to the brake pedal it doesn't always work that day it did I didn't say anything I know what I wanted to say so I want to look at her and say sweetheart if I had to go to church like yours three times a week I'd hate it but if you could ever one time walk into the presence of the Lord as we begin to magnify God and experience the glory of being filled with the Holy Ghost and the wonder of this you would understand why we still agree with the psalmist when he said I was glad when they said to me it's time to go to church and I love it I love it I'm so glad you're here for I won't join my voice to echo with the leaders who have spoken so lately to you I recognize they're guests here from across the province across the district who have remained and thank you so much for your ability to be here thank you for staying but to those of you who are from this local church thank you for letting us invade for a few days and kind of take over the premises it's so kind of you but even beyond that let me speak to those of you who are guests here from this community I would like to congratulate you on finding your new church home congratulations you'll never find anything better and I congratulate you on that great accomplishment today amen Matthew chapter 26 so I do encourage you if you're a guest here please be sure to come back next week when they have a preacher that's normal Matthew 26 36 but today you get you cousin from down south Matthew 26 and 36 the word of the Lord says then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the disciples sit ye here while I go and pray yonder and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy and then saith he unto them my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death tarry ye here and watch with me and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying O my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou will but a preach today on the subject he went a little further he went a little further you could be seated there are so many wondrous and wonderful characteristics and I'm not even sure that's really the best word perhaps attributes is a is a better word about our Lord any one of which I could spend an extended season of time I won't here in this pulpit extolling the wonders of our God and what he is like if I recognized with me and agree today our God is a wonder and there's no one like him I could readily spend all the time allotted to me this morning on any one of a number of virtues of our Savior I could try the best I could with the frailty of human language of my limited resources to depict for you how merciful he is but until you've come to him and had his mercy touch you you just really can't understand the depths of the mercy of our God I could regale you with the accounts of his power and use big words like omnipotent and talk about how majestic and how mighty and how he can do anything but until you've come up with sickness in your body and had someone anoint you with oil and pray over you in the name of the Lord and you felt the power of God radiate through your body in that many buddy know what I'm talking about and that pain has left you and you walked out a different man a different woman then you begin to understand the depth of the power of God time would not allow me to do justice to his wisdom or his faithfulness or his truth or his might or his compassion or a host of the other wonders of this one that we serve but I will just sum it all up and tell you that the psalmist had it right when he said great is the Lord and his greatness is unsearchable recently this phrase jumped out at me which I believe depicts something great about him I will readily admit that I am lifting it from the literal context in which it was found and yet the true of what it says of Jesus is sound nonetheless it is the words that begin verse 39 in the text that I read to you today where it says of him and he went a little further oh I know that's just speaking about a literal progression in the Garden of Gethsemane that night when he left the disciples at one place and he took a few steps more to find a place where he could pray by himself but in a larger sense today I would tell you of this Jesus that I love that he has this attribute that just when you think you've seen it all he goes a little further I have discovered this as true of him in various aspects just when you think you've seen it all he goes a little further just when you think perhaps you've reached the boundaries of his mercy he forgives you one more time and he goes a little further just when you think you've seen the end of his power and there's no way out for you this time you come into the house of God on a Sunday and the majesty of the Lord descends and you find out he's still got power he hasn't tapped yet and he goes a little farther just what you think his plan is run out he goes a little further just when you think his grace can't carry any longer he goes hello anybody here what I'm telling you just when you think that you're too weak and you can't make it another day aren't you glad of his strength is made perfect in our weakness and he goes a little further he is a God that just goes a little further there's a man in mark chapter 2 that learned this of Jesus he was plagued with some type of paralysis or neuromuscular disease which rendered him bed fast the Bible calls it palsy he was helpless and he certainly had no way to get to Jesus and so four friends began to carry him to the house where Jesus was but a crowd had swelled there until it was absolutely impossible for them to get through the doors the mass of people that throng that building to see Jesus were hanging out windows and filling out onto the porch and it would have been impossible for any one man to try to wiggle his way through that crowd much less than four of them carrying a bed with a crippled man there on and so I don't know who had the idea somebody got the harebrained idea let's go up on the roof and let's tear a hole in the roof now I don't know who the homeowner is but he's an understanding sort of gentleman because these guys go up on the roof and admittedly it wasn't shingles or shakes it was it was just that snowed out they began to tear beside the patch until they had opened not just to hold a peek through but a hold big it up overhead that they could lower that bed down inside I have to wonder what was going on in the worship service when that started happening I may not be real bright but I think we were singing and hitting the music here extraordinary if you worship here regularly you're so spoiled yeah I said it you're spoiled you want to thank God for the giftings that God's put in your church but I think as good as they are there's compelling as it is if ceiling tiles start dropping out on folks Ed's in middle of service I'm guessing probably things would come to a stop all the sudden fashion whatever birds and whatever it been Tupper started raining down in the house not just a little hole I mean one tile and then two tiles then they start pulling the grid out imagine until this hole opens up overhead and they began to lower down through that thing by four ropes the man that's crippled on that bad they find and and the other thing that amazes me they probably had to tear more than one hole because Jesus probably wasn't under the first hole they tore loose I mean they're not gonna put him and swing him over to where it is so they keep tearing until they finally because man isn't it great when somebody just gets desperate to get to Jesus I wonder how this service might change if somebody here just said you know what I'm not leaving this place until I get in touch with Jesus Christ don't dare me to preach I wonder what might happen if somebody said I really didn't care about protocol I don't care what anybody thinks about me I don't care how much I interrupt the program I came here with a need and I and I don't plan to leave this place until I touch jeez hey pour the hole in that roof and they began to lower him down and the Bible says when Jesus saw their faith that's the first thing I'd like this preaching to do today is to convince somebody that you can have an answer today well I'm sorry I know I speak American but I think that was pretty clear that wasn't confusing or anything I didn't even use any big words I didn't use any big words all I said is you can have an answer today if you've got sickness in your body there's a healer in this house if you've got a need in your life there's provision in this house if you've got a backslidden child there's a savior in this if you need something I've got good news for you they sang about it today Jesus is here and if you taste we reach out to him you'll find out he will go a little further because he looked out at that man in that bed and he did not do what they expected they anticipated that he would lift him off that bed and he did in time but the very first thing that Jesus did was in mark 2 and 5 we Jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven it wasn't what they came for but they got more than they anticipated it wasn't what they expected but Jesus went one step beyond what they expected they hoped his body would be healed but his spirit was made whole I hope somebody can receive what I'm telling you today I don't know what she came to this house expected but I'm thrilled to tell you he always goes beyond our expectations is there anybody that could testify that when you came to Jesus you got more joy than you expected and more peace than you expected and more deliverance than you expected cause he always goes a little further he came for healing for his body and he left with healing in his soul he came for a new hope in this life and he left with fresh hope in the life to come cause you see that's just how Jesus hears you come for one thing but he goes a little further you come looking at me one way but I'll go a little further I preach to someone today you may have come to CCC this morning out of curiosity and just looking for a temporary band-aid on life's problems but I'll go one step further because what I preach about is not just an emotional trick to deal with life's problems I preached about a savior that can fix life's problem this isn't a support group just to help you make it through life this is a savior that can answer your questions and straighten your pathways and make your life different he goes a little fur Oh somebody ought to praise God right now for that there was a man Matthew chapter 8 he learned this about Jesus of all dread things he was a leper leprosy was a horrific disease in that day it's still nothing to laugh at but at that time it was a scourge on the people a man diagnosed with leprosy was immediately driven from among society to dwell in a leper colony to avoid the spread of that terrible disease it was forced to call out any who approach to him unclean as a warning so that they would know to keep their distance and not come near to him separated from his family unable to work dependent on whatever he could scrounge out of the garbage or the random generosity of others that might give him something for a simple day-to-day existence is it any wonder a man that finds himself in that dilemma we would read of him in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 1 when he was come down from the mountain Jesus great multitudes followed him verse 2 and behold there came a leper and worshipped him saying lord if you will you can make me clean let me explain it to you very simply you know why he was there because he didn't have any other option there wasn't any other way to be whole there wasn't any other solution to be had there wasn't anything else he could do people sometimes like to make fun of us as Christians well that's just a crutch well I'm a make fun of somebody I've never in my life seen some I woke up said some dear brother walk along on a crutch foots in a big boot a bandage singing to walk on crutches they say huh you're just using a crutch well yeah hello brain what's up yes I'm crippled I use a crutch well Jesus is just a crutch well no he's more than that but I am crippled I'm a sinful man that needs a Savior don't feel bad for me for going to the only place that has my answer I don't understand folks I want to make fun of me why you go to church yes I need an answer and there's no other place to find my answer he didn't have any other options he didn't have any other hope yes he came to Jesus there is no shame for somebody that needs what only Jesus can provide to come to Jesus nobody else could help him if his family could have done so he would have long since been well if his friends could have helped him he would have already been made whole if medical science could have done it he would not have been living on the outskirts of society but because there was no other answer he came to Jesus I would like you to know that nothing has changed in that regard there is no answer for life but Jesus I need the church to testify today there is no answer except Jesus your friends can't fix your life your family can't heal your heart no book or program can solve it but if you ever come to Jesus all things are passed away and all things become new I understand him coming toward Jesus but the amazing thing is what happened next Jesus started walking toward him everybody else you imagine that leper comes walking in that crowd man they part you talk about the Red Sea they're peeling back away from him they're stumbling over each other they all fought to get there early to get close to Jesus and now that dude starts walking in and people are elbow on their way back get back get back get back it's a leper and they look up to notice the most amazing thing is that Jesus starts going toward him closer and closer and closer until instinct kicks in and that man does what he's been doing for years every time somebody came to him unclean but Jesus went a little further voices for the crowd Jesus that's far enough and he went a little further hey he's not worth it and he went a little further don't you understand how dirty he is and he went a little further nobody will get near him and he went a little further oh I feel like preaching to somebody today that voices around you maybe say it he's unworthy she's unclean nobody has time for them but I'm glad to tell you that in this place today you want to know what you feel down in your heart that's the footsteps of a savior that just keeps coming and keeps coming and keeps coming and keeps coming he always habo your shoddy animal he always goes a little further and then those nine amazing words Matthew eight and three Jesus put forth his hand nobody would go that far but Jesus went where no one would go and he went a little further and he touched a leper I preached to you today that is just his nature he goes a little further he reaches to those that others have given up on he cares about those that don't even know him enough to love him he even touches the one that everybody else draws back from and when he touches that man he utters the words I will be clean and yes the miracle came but only because Jesus went a little further if you came out of your mother's womb talking in tongues I can understand why you'd give me this look today but if you know if you know that when you walk in church the first time it would have been made perfect sense for Jesus he's gone on but if you're willing to admit that on that day you took one step toward him and he took about nine steps towards you and when nobody else had time for you Jesus went a little further somebody ought to be rejoicing right now your teacher gave up on you but Jesus went a little further the authorities gave up on you but Jesus went a little further your family said there's no hope for him but Jesus went a little further aren't you glad when he got there he touched you and nothing was ever the same I could spend so much time I will not but I could spend so much time this morning warning you to incident after incident where Jesus always went a little further than they expected 5,000 men plus women and children and they got one carry out dinner from a fish-and-chips place we went the other night after service for the sister Carter to eat some joint diplomats arrives at the 24-hour place our fish and chips they filleted a whale this could have enjoyed it Lord I looked at these I finished it hey you don't just wake up one day the body like this you got to work at it okay don't touch five thousand men plus women and children and they bring him one little carryout dinner from Long John Silver's you have those up here no you don't have those what's your fish and chips place up here deluxe they carried out one long one carry out dinner from deluxe now we all communicating okay just treat it like a foreign mission service I'm just an outsider okay now you would have thought it would have been enough if he just managed to give everybody a crumb but he took those five loaves and two fish and fed everybody until they were full and then invented Tupperware because the Bible says they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers I'm not real bright but that's one for every disciple I just get this idea the Jesus and I just want you to understand I don't just do what you expect I go beyond that and I go a little further cuz we're not just gonna feed that outfit out there I'm gonna send you home with enough to feed you and your family and your neighbors cuz I'm just telling you I live for him long enough to know that he blesses more than I expected and he does more than I think and just when I think I've seen everything the Lord says let me show you I can go a little fire I could spend all day but I won't I keep promising that Dona I could show you time after time Peter gets out of the boat washed to Jesus on the water he sees the wind and the waves and he sinks Jesus crabs him by the hand and rescues him and walks him back over to the boat now that's a pretty good miracle he didn't drag him through the water up to his neck he walked back to the boat he walked on water folk that's a pretty good miracle you would have thought it would have been enough to step into the boat and just bask in the Wonder and the glory that bhai says he walked on water but the Bible says that two things happen when they got back to the boat the storm stopped and the Bible says he mmediately they were at the other side don't ask me how it happened I don't know how it happened I just know that they were in the middle of the sea Jesus put his foot on the boat and there at the dock I don't know how it happened I only know that Jesus says to them yes I stopped the storm and sure you could probably roll your way in but I'm gonna do more than you think I'm not only gonna stop your store I'm gonna get you to your destination I'm just trying to tell somebody you come to this altar today he's gonna do more for you huh boy yes ah he's gonna do more for you than you ever thought he would do because Jesus always a little hallelujah hallelujah but it might be perhaps no story in Scripture no account in scripture I hate to use the word story Bible stories makes it sound like Mother Goose wrote Old Testament hate that phrase maybe no account in scripture better illustrates just how far Jesus will go than one that's located in Luke chapter 15 it's often referred to as the lost chapter not because it's been misplaced from Scripture but because it contains the record of three lost things you read that chapter and you will read about the lost sheep and you will read about the lost coin and you will read about the lost son Jesus relates to these three parables to his followers in one day but the first among them has to do with a sheep that wanders away from its master we don't know what caused that sheep to become distant it had spent time in the flock it knew the church it knew the shepherd somehow someway for some reason that sheep had wandered off perhaps a storm came one day sometimes sheep go through storms and they can get a little scary maybe that's what did it and that sheep got a little a little frightened by the storm and drifted away from the church maybe a predator came maybe the howl of the wolf or the growl of the bear terrified that little sheep and it fled and terror and fear into the night because sometimes the roaring of the lion the enemy that goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour it can be a little frightening sometimes and people growl and people run and sheep get separated from the flock maybe it was hurt by another member of the flock who knows maybe there was a day that one of the other sheep wounded that little lamb and it bolted and fled and said I'm not gonna go back because I got hurt there I don't know what the situation may be it just got careless and and drifted away without noticing and just over time it got more and more distant away from the shepherd whatever the cause when we find this situation in Luke chapter 15 we find this little lamb this little sheep a long way away from the safety of the sheep coat whatever the cause it is dark out it is nighttime and the Sheep is terrified shivering on a Ledge huddled under a bush lay this little sheep I'm guessing at that moment it probably can't even quite put its finger on how it got there if you were to ask how did you get from where you were to this distant and frightening place I'm guessing that sheep would have said you I don't even really know I can't I just know that more times than I could wish more times than I could even count I have wished that I could be back there by the Shepherd a kid I remember what it was like the shepherd had me in his arms and loved me and held me and now I'm out here shivering in the night if only I had not come this way if only I could do it over again him only I could change some things but here I am and I don't even know what to do and I don't even know how to get back I feel so alone and listen I can hear the enemy growling out there in the darkness and I'm helpless and I don't know how to defend myself I'm scared I'm hungry I'm a little embarrassed because of choices I've made and I would do anything but I don't know who to talk to I don't even know what to pray I got good news because of all that sheep is out there trembling in the darkness back in the Sheep cult there's this Shepherd walking around going 95 96 97 98 99 1 24763 96 97 98 99 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 99 and he doesn't ask any questions and he doesn't even debate the issue it doesn't matter how dark it is it doesn't matter if there's a storm brewing on the horizon the Shepherd just goes to his house he gets his coat he gets his staff and he gets his light and he starts looking I got it yeah God is it is the nature of the Shepherd to go farther than you ever think he'd go you'd think it'd be enough to say well I'll leave a light on and maybe he'll find his way home we'll have service twice on Sunday and maybe he'll find his way home all I know is the Shepherd said I love little lamb so much that I'm gonna go look at is there anybody that ever got a little distant and you're mighty glad that the Shepherd said I'll go further than others go I'll look longer than others look I love deeper than others love I will fight maybe I'm the only one here but I guarantee I can testify there were days that I got distant and I'm glad the Shepherd came looking for me he took that light and he began to go up and down the mountainside and he went in and out of the valleys I don't know how long it took him I don't know how tired he may have patna I don't know how sore his feet became I don't know how many winds and storms lasted him I don't know how many creeks and rivers he had to cross I only know he wouldn't quit o Shepherd why don't you just give up and go home no I think I'll go a little further he's probably already dead well I think I'll just go a little further he'll come home when he's good and ready no I'm gonna go a little further but it's late Shepherd look at your feet they've been pierced by nails I'm gonna go a little further you're bleeding from the wounds up and down your back and the crown of thorns on your head I'm gonna go a little further you already came from heaven to a major to a cross to a tube how much further will you go Shepherd I'll go as far as I have to go I'll walk in to a church in Fredericton on Sunday morning July 3rd and I'll walk back to the Pew and I'll tap you on the shoulder and walk tears fill your eyes I will tell you I came all the way here just to find you I wish everybody would love the Shepherd for just a minute I wish everybody would love the Shepherd for just a minute come on I need everybody in the house to love the Shepherd for just a minute why don't you stand with me right now throw your hands in the air and love the shepherd for just a minute I want to tell you what I know in the spirit of god the shepherd paul the shepherd go ahead love him don't quit the shepherd is walking through this house today and he came all the way to you he calls to you you wanna know why there's that stirring down in your heart because the Shepherd will go a little further you want to know why those tears are in your eyes because the Shepherd will go a little further so preacher you don't even know me no I don't I know the Shepherd just close your eyes just for a minute here listen to me see because this Shepherd that I serve he doesn't just pardon Isaiah 55 and 7 says he abundantly pardons he doesn't just satisfy Psalm 36 and 8 says he abundantly satisfies he doesn't just give life John 10 intense and I've come that you might have life which of my heaven more he always goes and I will freely confess this morning that I wanted to just preach about the first part of this message God's willingness to heal and have everybody shout about how powerful he is and open the altar to let somebody with a sickness and you can do that today please understand if you're here and you've got a need in your body today man he abundantly heals and he will go beyond he does he is able to do exceeding abundantly above everything we ask and think but I felt a real constraint in the spirit very early this morning laying in bed I woke very early I felt a real constraint in the spirit today to just tell somebody and I realize my the danger of my position because I am probably leaving the ninety and nine to go find one but it puts me in pretty good company that's what the Shepherd does and I talked today to that one you say you don't know how far away I am from him but I know he goes a little further and just when you think you've put yourself outside the reach of his mercy he goes a little further and just when the enemy tells you you've messed up too big this time he goes a little farther and just when the enemy says you're lost now he'll never find you he goes a little I wonder once again for just a minute if everybody in this house that knows the Shepherd would lift your hands and your voices to him and begin to thank God for the mercy of the Lord that's been showered in your life today I reach for the one today I reach for the one I reached for the one huh boy you shot a coyote oh I need an intercessor here today I'm reaching for the one the shepherd is leaving the ninety and nine today and he's reaching for the one I called to you today I know you're here I've been doing this long enough to know where I am and the Holy Ghost and there's somebody here that needs to respond to this word today and the shepherd would like to embrace you once again doesn't mean you're lost I know we use that term on I'm not trying to paint it out that you're some abominable sinner it's just we get distant and the Shepherd comes reaching and for us once again I'm reaching today the Shepherd is reaching today for somebody they're gonna sing here in just a minute and I would like to invite you to come to this altar there's somebody here that just needs if you have to just ask your friend your neighbor next to you I want to go down there and pray would you come pray with me there I know where I am there's somebody here that knew this altar and you knew this church and you knew these people but in your heart you know you've gotten distant from the Shepherd and God said this preacher who from a thousand miles away to come tell you that even when you get distant the Shepherd and it keeps reaching for you he's still coming he's still reaching and I know you may feel unclean and you may feel like a leper but Jesus just keeps coming towards you and we need to respond today make it easy for some folks to come would you would you make it easy for supposed to come by maybe some of us just coming down here and embracing the Shepherd I open the altar today for the family of God to company in the midst of it fees I put it with you ma'am I plead with you ma'am I can in the spirit the Holy Ghost tried to tap you on the shoulder and say he's freaking to you you need to get back at the Shepherd's arms he'll go a little further sir I'm preaching to you today you know how close you used to be to him and now the shepherd is coming to you say come come come come I invite you today to come get back in the Shepherd's arms that's it son that's it son come back and getting the Shepherd's arms again that's it son God sent me a thousand miles for you he almost shut down I gotta yell boy you're cut tatyana elbows see God sent me a thousand miles for you son he's gonna keep chasing you he's not gonna let you go he's gonna keep coming for you

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 12,755

Rating: 4.7966104 out of 5

Keywords: scott, graham, he, went, little, further, preaching, preach, sermon, sunday, atlantic, district, upc, upci, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, apostolic, pentecostal, united, summer, summit

Id: lHgvb8IKqt4

Length: 39min 17sec (2357 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 07 2016