Big Trouble Ahead - Transmitting God's Power

[Music] hey we're walking through this crazy season of turmoil and yet we need our faith to flourish in the midst of it well to do that the foundations of our faith are essential we've got to not just know about them we have to understand them and assimilate them into our practice we're going to explore a little bit this idea of transmitting god's authority the biblical language is the laying on of hands but it's really how we establish continuity in the communication of our faith from generation to generation from place to place it's an important part of your journey enjoy the lesson just about finished this little series that we've been working with has ended up not being such a little one but about thriving in the midst of big trouble big trouble is just the street language for the biblical word tribulation the bible ends with the great big trouble and the the new testament teaches us that the prelude to that will be uh increasing trouble and whether we're in the ultimate into the age or not we're walking through a season of tremendous turmoil it may have been introduced to us with a virus from wuhan china but it didn't conclude with that virus receding in fact the greatest part of the turmoil is in front of us economic turmoil a political upheaval censorship propaganda a lack of truthfulness all of those things i believe that are increasing as we watch lawlessness violence they're not diminishing and it shouldn't there is a frightening component to it but i don't believe the intent is for us to be afraid i think we can flourish in the midst of that in fact i think we can shine brightly in the midst of that with a message that will be a place of hope and a foundation for a whole new future for a new generation of people in the kingdom of god the only thing that makes it terrifying and frightening if is your if you've imagined your future was secured by this present order and the present way things are conducted if those are the things you imagine that secure your future it's a terrifying time and if you haven't awakened to that you're just not paying attention but there's a pathway through that that is triumphant and victorious and it has to do with something that is beyond time something that's unshakable and that's what we've been trying to understand in some more detail in this particular session i want to talk to you about transmitting god's power and i really appreciate your enthusiastic response to the topic our text for this has been hebrews chapter 6 the first three verses he said let's leave the elementary teachings about christ and go on to maturity not laying again the foundation so what the author of hebrews is really saying is we've got to grow up in the lord a little bit and i don't want to keep reiterating the foundation principles the foundation of our faith is a person he's the chief cornerstone we're taught his name is jesus of nazareth there is nothing that we can is that's more significant to that no denomination no congregation no translation no style of worship jesus is the cornerstone of our faith but once we've established that there are some foundational teachings that are essential and if your foundation is not strong when there is turmoil and turbulence and pressure against it your faith will collapse that's the reason they use the word foundation and so then the author of hebrews introduces us to six teachings doctrines and teachings are really interchangeable teaching sounds a little less pretentious six foundational teachings that are essential for the stability of our faith and we've been looking at them we're gonna i hope to complete them in this session good lord willing the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death it's one faith in god two instructions about baptisms three the laying on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment and god permitting we will do so the one we haven't talked about is the laying on of hands and that's our target in this session as i have worked on these i have been surprised a bit one of the mentors in my life taught me that list when i was a young person so it's been in my consciousness in my awareness in my portfolio so to speak for a long long time but as i have spent these sessions preparing and getting ready through these weeks i have been surprised at the depth at which the scripture speaks about these topics and if you'll allow me at least from my vantage point it seems to me that most of these six foundational teachings have slipped from our practice and our awareness if you go look at the top-selling christian books or the top-selling christian books from last year or you go survey um sermon titles you go to the places where people collect christian literature and data these are not the talking points in fact i think we'd probably be uncomfortable if i told you we were going to give an exam on these things based on scripture not our opinion most of us would have a little there'd be a little anxiety around that we are struggling a bit with just the fundamental presentation of scripture and as i've reflected on it and meditated on it and prayed about it it's becoming increasingly clear to me how far we have drifted from the fundamentals of scripture now i'm not saying everywhere and there are certainly exceptions to that and i don't mean it in accused and accusatory way but there are some fundamentals presented to you in scripture that you can't deviate from and imagine that your faith will hold and i didn't bring you the list you you know them pretty well many of them begin in genesis god's the creator you can't redesign that if he's not the creator don't listen to the rest of what he has to say but if he is the creator perhaps obi-wan you should focus the notion of male and female that was god's idea those were the options marriage between a man and a woman those were god's ideas the sanctity of human life that is god's idea and then around the person of jesus there's a whole set of things that are unique and and cannot be negotiated away the virgin birth the jesus of nazareth was the incarnate son of god again it's not optional his death burial and resurrection the significance of the church in case you've forgotten jesus said he was the head of the church and that he would build his church and hell itself couldn't stop it jesus is not the head of some quaint outdated outmoded initiative i promise the authority of scripture it is the authority for your life not your opinion about it not how you feel about it not what your folks think that i could go on and on but what becomes so clear to me is how far we have drifted and how easily it is to manipulate your faith into the to the bless me bucket or the what i want bucket or the hell i want to be happy bucket or what i want my kids to get to do and all of those things are a part of the journey god's not opposed to them but they're not the foundation of it because all of those things are subject to trends that change and seasons that come and go and and we need a stability in a time of turmoil or you will lose your way and i think it's appropriate to take just a moment you know this notion the principles and practices that are lost there's a because of our we're in the midst of it you know the expression it's hard to see the forest for the trees and sometimes when we're so close to something we lose sight of that this challenge of losing a part of our perspective on our faith and the practice of our faith it's not unique to us in the 21st century this has been a challenge for the people of god throughout scripture and candidly a challenge for the people of god throughout the history of the church i brought you a couple of examples because they're so stark you know we'll start in the old testament but it's not just an old testament issue hezekiah some of you know him he's a king a good king a king that that god blessed and unable to do many good things but in second chronicles 29 it describes the temple in jerusalem now we're accustomed to having a place of worship on almost every corner if you live in this part of the world you know you can choose where you worship but that would not have been the case in antiquity there was a centralized place of worship god dwelt there not every place else i mean this the temple was the center of their religious life and because they were a theocracy a people with god at the middle of their world the temple was the center of their national life it was their identity as a people it's centered in their holidays there was no separation clause and when hezekiah is king it says in the first month of the first year of his reign he opened the doors of the temple of the lord and repaired them there's a hint the temple doors are closed and they're in ill repair he brought in the priests and the levites he assembled them in the square on the east side and said listen to me consecrate yourselves now consecrate a fancy word i mean set yourself apart now whatever you've been doing get yourself ready for something else consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the lord you wouldn't think you would have to say that get the temple ready for use the god of your fathers remove all defilement from the sanctuary [Music] our fathers were unfaithful they did evil in the eyes of the lord our god and they forsook him they turned their faces away from the lord's dwelling place and they turned their backs on him they also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps they didn't burn incense or present any bird offerings at the sanctuary to the god of israel they just stopped sounds kind of familiar therefore the anger of the lord has fallen on judah in jerusalem and he's made them an object of dread and horror and scorn as you can see with your own eyes hezekiah had to open the doors turn on the lights go gather the priest and said clean up your act and get the building clean we're going to use it again it's hard to imagine that could happen but it did and you know what happened again and again and again and now we can say in the 21st century it's happened again can we get over ourselves and our pride and our self-righteousness and say on our watch truth fell in the streets can we say on our watch we we took our eyes off the children and we weren't paying attention to what they were learning can we say on our watch the sanctity of human life was not that big a deal can we see on our watch we didn't care if the ten commandments were in the schools or the scriptures were read there any longer do you understand for a decade upon decade upon decade upon decade in the history of this nation there was a different story to tell open the doors turn on the lights let's clean up our act not the first generation not the first time that the principles and practices have been lost in second kings 23 another king this time another good king his name is josiah he had to clean up a whole set of stuff that was worthless than hezekiah did and he's barely 20 years old barely 20 years old think of all the things he could have been doing as a 19 year old king unlimited power [Music] think of all the things he could have given himself to parents stop giving your kids license to be wicked please encourage them to honor the lord encourage them to choose the lord there's a trajectory there's a momentum we need god's help second kings 23 the king gave this order to all the people celebrate the passover remember the passover it's a holiday it's the it's their annual remembrance of the deliverance from egyptian slavery when death came to egypt remember the first born in every household where there was no blood from the lamb everybody firstborn died and they were driven out of egypt they plundered egypt the gold and the silver well it wasn't god said you're to celebrate this every year it's the defining moment of the their national identity they celebrate it until today and josiah says celebrate the passover to the lord your god it's written in the book of the covenant and oh by the way a little few verses earlier they'd lost the book of the covenant nobody noticed he said i found the book and it's in there we're supposed to be doing this this is our story he said i read some editorial from a major american newspaper today that said our nation will be much better off when the children are secular and they're not infused with religion we'll be more peaceful and cooperative i'm shouting at my computer screen based on what piece of information you knucklehead his opinion and he asserts it if it's some sort of gospel i've studied a bit of history we don't do well apart from the transforming power of god celebrate the passover as it is written in the book of the covenant not since the days of the judges who led israel nor throughout the days of the kings of israel and the kings of judah had any such passover been observed but in the 18th year of king josiah this passover was celebrated to the lord in jerusalem he said we're going to have a celebration and the review of us we haven't celebrated the passover like that in hundreds of years again this notion of principles and practices lost is not new to us the question is but we have the courage to choose a new path or do we think that the problem is the hearts of the wicked some of you prefer the new testament so i chose one passage from there this is jesus matthew 12. when the pharisees saw this they said to him jesus look your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the sabbath can you imagine lecturing jesus on sabbath rules i mean i'm just thinking but you know we laugh at that but have you ever taken god the task because of his poor job performance oh have i ever. i mean with some plain language right do you ever quote his word to him and tell him he's not paying attention have you forgotten this passage and i'll read it to you and it's like have you looked at this lately have you this get a little indignant with god i mean i know you don't like to admit it at church i think everybody here has been mad at god threatened to withdraw well that's the best you're going to do i'm not going to serve you [Music] don't you know they panic in heaven so i mean it's easy for me to poke fun at the pharisees but the truth is it's easy for those of us who are religious to act as if god doesn't understand his own principles it isn't god who needs to be different folks it's us i don't understand everything that i'm asked to walk through i don't understand all the challenges or the there's much i don't understand but when i read this it's a little easier to see look your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the sabbath and jesus answered haven't you read what david did when he and his companions were hungry he entered the house of god and the answer to that is no they haven't read it lately [Music] they've been reading with us they would have read it lately we just did he entered the house of god and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread which was not lawful for them to do but only for the priests or haven't you read in the law that on the sabbath the priests and the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent i tell you that one greater than the temple is here and if you had known what these words mean i desire mercy and not sacrifice you would have not condemned the innocent for the son of man is the lord of the sabbath they had drifted away from the practices and the principles of the sabbath oh they had their rules they had their habits they had their traditions they had their ways of evaluating but they didn't understand how far in the weeds they had gone folks we don't know how far in the weeds we've gone we know our habits and our routines and we can point to them and then we can point to the way our parents or our grandparents and i'm a part of this story i've spent my life doing this so i'm not casting stones at anyone i'm telling you the outcomes we are seeing are because there's not enough light we're stumbling in the darkness and the salt hasn't been effective we have stepped away from the principles and practices we're not the first generation but when i read that list of foundation doctrines repentance repentance judgment the resurrection of the dead the laying on of hands those things seem far away from us far away from our interest far away from our focus they're not essential like foundational things are if you're going to go see the doctor you want him to wash his hands between patients right it's much less critical to you if he did extracurricular studies and post-graduate whatever as if he washed his hands between the patients those foundational behaviors make all the difference well i want to spend our time that's left with this notion of laying on of hands and i gave the title the transmitting of god's power because i really think that's the essence of it laying on of hands brings continuity to the body of christ it brings continuity between one generation and the next in fact i would submit you its principle function is to provide continuity in the body of christ it's an essential element in the history of god's people from the the early chapters of genesis to the conclusion of the new testament there are some spiritual perspectives about specific functions and i i'll just tag them we'll look at them in briefly but it's about to we lay hands on one another to transmit blessings or spiritual authority or wisdom or the holy spirit or a spiritual gift or a ministry or secondly to commission the biblical way of commissioning a person for service in the body of christ you see the skeptics will say it's just a profunctory public presentation oh so with your opinion you set aside the practice of scripture i've been in those institutions they make fun what a quaint idea what an out of date idea the laying on of hands is a way of endorsing or giving authority to another person you know i have i have asked the lord it seems in spiritual matters we forfeit a great deal from generation to generation you know in the scientific community much less so they they publish their findings they record them they train generation upon generation upon the the new learnings the new practices the technological breakthroughs the the we build upon the learnings we do it in technology we do it in so many parts of our lives but in spiritual things it seems to me we start at ground zero every generation and that hasn't always been the case we serve the god of abraham isaac and jacob there's clearly a momentum built generation to generation we've lost sight of this a little bit because we've lost sight of some of the foundations and laying on our hands it's a way of endorsing or giving authority it's a way of equipping of transmitting spiritual gifts or authority enabling a person to carry out what god has called them to we don't lay hands on one another to identify what we want to do or what we want to become or what we think somebody should do but to cooperate with what god has made evident i'll give you a couple of biblical examples we can start in the old testament moses and joshua i think you know both characters i tried to select some familiar narratives this is a far more predominant theme we could spend a good bit of time on this but i tried to choose characters you would know so you will know the backstory at least in part or the narrative in part moses and joshua or moshua moses and joshua i think you know right okay well in numbers 27 moses is nearing the end of his journey and he knows it and he's concerned about the the leader who will complete the journey so moses said to the lord may the lord the god of the spirits of all mankind appoint a man over this community i love moses heart the god of the spirits of all mankind looks there's a spirit in every human being the message we have the hope that we hold out is about so much more than time and what can be gained or lost in time your spirit is eternal what is that destiny the people that you know when you love and you work with and you care about and you shop with what is their destiny for eternity we've gotten pretty casual about that in fact if evangelical's kind of the label that the the secularists will put on that kind of a worldview and they speak of it derisively with hatred something to be limited all sorts of bad things emerge from that kind of a world view it's not an anger at other people it's not a condemnation of other people it's a conviction that there is a god and that he can be known and that you don't want to step out of time without knowing him that's a loving message the god of the spirits of all mankind to point a man over this community to go out and come in before them one who will lead them out and bring them in so the lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd throughout scripture one of the most desperate statements that can be made is to be a people who are like sheep without a shepherd sheep do not do well without a shepherd so the lord said to moses take joshua the son of nun a man in whom is the spirit and lay your hands on him lay your hand on him have him stand before the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence give him some of your authority so the whole israelite community will obey him words are important give him some of your authority moses there's really has been nobody like moses don't give him all of your authority but give him some of your authority so the community will follow him he's to stand before the priest who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the urum and the lord and at his command he and the entire community of the israelites will go out and at his command they will come in and moses did as the lord commanded him he took joshua and he had him stand before the priest and the whole assembly and he laid his hands on him and he commissioned and as the lord instructed him through moses i would submit to you this is a real transaction it's not just a ceremony it isn't just a ritual of endorsement it's not like a swearing-in that there is a spiritual transfer that takes place joshua starts his life as a in the brick pits of egypt he's moses aid to camp he's watched a lot and he's seen a lot but he's being asked to complete a task that moses couldn't they can't afford for a leadership fail and god's solution wasn't a training course it wasn't a video review he was capable he gave moses a flyover of the promised land he said lay your hands on him deuteronomy 34 there's an interesting commentary on it now joshua son of nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because moses had laid his hands on him so the israelites listened to him and did what the lord had commanded moses the implication is clear if moses hadn't done that joshua's future would have been different is it possible we've left something out of our practice we've overlooked it we've diminished it we've said it wasn't that valuable i left the passage out just because of time and the length of it but when jacob israel is taken to egypt to see joseph the son that he thought was dead and he's no he's he's near near the end of his life he says i want to bless your sons bring manasseh and ephraim to me i want to bless them i want to put my hands on them if you remember the story some of you will the eldest son would usually be the inheritor in an agricultural society the eldest child typically was the one who would inherit because if you took the cropland and you divided amongst 12 kids it wouldn't take very many generations and everybody would starve but it was when it was time for jacob to pray he crossed his hands and he put his right hand on the younger in his left hand on the elder and joseph tried to correct it and he said no i didn't misunderstand i'm not confused it's not my eyesight nor my age i have a blessing for both but they're different it's so clear in the text that there's an intentionality to it a purposefulness to it it's not just some random prayer so i'm not some polite mumbling fathers one of the most significant things you can do is a blessing on your children we treat it so casually i think of all the things we prioritize in front of it it matters it truly does elisha and king jehoiash it's an interesting story elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died you know there's so much about scripture i don't understand and so many things i can't explain elisha this remarkable man of power and faith and the supernatural and the miraculous he's going to die with an illness now the spirit of godhead is is so real and so profound that the years after his death they throw a dead body and they're in a hurry there's an army approaching to throw a dead body into his his burial place and when the dead body touches elisha's bones he's raised to life again so i don't think we could argue that elisha is a long way away from the lord we'll have to wait to heaven for some answers elisha was suffering from an illness and the king of israel went down to see him and he wept over him my father my father the chariots and the horsemen of israel and elisha said get a bow and some arrows and he did so take the bow in your hands and he said to the king of israel when he had taken it elisha put his hands on the king's hands open the east window and he opened it shoot and he shot the lord's arrow of victory the arrow of victory over arum elisha declared you'll completely destroy the aramaians and he said now take the arrows and the king took them and elisha told him strike the ground and he struck it three times and he stopped elisha was angry with him you should have struck the ground five or six times and you would have defeated and completely destroyed them but now you'll defeat them only three times and elisha died and was buried what's the distinguishing part of that story when elisha puts his hands on the king's hands say why i can't give you an explanation i can report the news but i can tell you that in our practice and our imagination in our hearts and our trust we've stepped a good bit away from it i can tell you one of the implications from that the man who knows god can be the defense of a nation elisha demonstrated it on more than one occasion would you be willing to be that kind of a person doesn't come easily it doesn't come without a sacrifice it won't come if you incorporate compromise and if the lord is an intrusion folks the bible offers us some imaginations that we've stepped a long way away from i think we could say david was the man who changed the course of the nation moses was a man who changed the course of a nation joshua was the man peter and james and john and paul we could think of a lot of people couldn't we it's not some obtuse secondary notion they didn't change because of great political power or great economic power or great intellectual [Music] but because of their their familiarity with the spirit of god and their willingness to yield to him it says in the book of acts god said david was the man that would do anything i asked him to do you can be that kind of a person there's an underlying principle that comes with this idea of the laying on of hands or this this notion of transmitting god's power it has to do with the authority of your words and i don't have a lot of time and i don't want to belabor it but i put some of these verses in your notes i'll at least tag them and you can reflect upon it in genesis 1 you know the creation narrative what could what did god use caterpillars dynamite lasers said god said let there be light and the lights came on we're introduced again again the big rock ideas of scripture we meet in the early chapters of genesis god said there was an authority in his word that brought order to our physical world that god's word is more powerful than any force in the physical universe and you're created in his image we are his image bearers it separates you from all of creation when dr carson was here and he talked about the human brain and how it's distinguished from from other mammals brains he said it in words that i can't even spell [Music] but i was sitting there going yes what he said i'm in for some of that you don't have to be smart if you just have smart friends proverbs 18 verse 21 says the tongue has the power of life and death you know it's true you know how badly words can hurt or the kind of healing they can bring i understand this idea can be misused it can be misconstrued don't step away from it because that folks food can be misused we're doing that as a nation but doesn't mean i don't want to eat right so don't let the fact that somebody takes it and misconstrues it or uses it to an extreme cause you to step away from the truth that's presented to us in genesis 1 again that's very near the beginning it says god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them god blessed them he blessed them blessing is using your words for a specific outcome a betterment the blessing of god makes a difference he blessed them and said be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth and subdue it rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air he blessed them that's a use of words do you believe a blessing makes a difference well that's not how me and my people think genesis 3 again very near the beginning the lord said to the serpent because you have done this cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals one of the principles we learn in physics is that for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction if you believe that blessings are real then it's only logical to believe that the negative the opposite of that what would you call something that's the opposite of a blessing well curse is a pretty good word i'll never i was studying in a class at vanderbilt and it wasn't a particularly faith-filled environment it was a discussion about the hebrew bible and they said you know the the writers of the hebrew bible have this idea that words have like a and the professor kind of stumbled a minute and said like a like a tangible quality they said it's like words could impact your life see if you stand apart from the text and you don't imagine it has really any authority or any validity if there's no faith mixed in there you're just left to provide a diagnosis as an observer and even the secular observer said you know the words in the hebrew bible have a capacity to impact the human life for the positive we call that a blessing in the negative we would call that a curse how readily do we fold our arms go well you know pastor i'm just not sure how much i believe in all that stuff i know it's why we're reading it together it might help us is it possible we've taken some of the foundations of our faith and pushed them so far into the periphery so far into the shadows that our faith is wobbly and unstable and uncertain and can't withstand the storm i think it's possible in the new testament the laying on of hands is used for a variety of things and i didn't bring you an inclusive list but just to kind of open your thoughts it's it's used in the context of praying for the sick in mark 16 15 17 it says you'll place your hands on sick people and they will recover james 5 and verse 14 says is any one of you sick he should call for the elders of the church to pray over him [Music] and anoint him with oil in the name of the lord you i've said to you many times do you believe in praying for the sick or going to the doctor yes who said it was an either or choice we read that verse and i think our kind of our default question has to do with who's an elder but i think there's a much more important question the invitation to be ministered to is only extended to those who are part of a community of faith if you're an independent contractor if you prefer a lone ranger faith there's very little prescription provided for you in the scripture the book of revelation that remarkable revelation at the end of the age it's a message that's it's written to seven specific churches of which the lord says i know your deeds i know your strengths and your weaknesses and he provides a resolution to all the above if you weren't a part of the seven churches you weren't a recipient of the message again i think we have treated the the privilege of being in community far too casually i've said to you on a number of occasions in recent months that our faith had been distilled down to something around comfort and convenience and we assimilated that into our imaginations of what was valuable and what was important because we didn't really attach a great deal of spiritual significance and we certainly didn't imagine there was much authority or or much power invested in what we were doing i mean we didn't want to go to hell but beyond that we had better resources better economic resources better health resources better resources for our children better futures for them apart from the things of god so we didn't really have to encourage them in the things of god we didn't want them to be pagan we didn't want them to be muslim or buddhist but you know we didn't want them to be and i think god's begun to say to us there's a better way the new testament assumes a believer will be in community there's another there's another role or function or outcome of the laying on of hands it has to do with imparting the gifts of the spirit of god and again that's not relevant if you don't need any power beyond yourself if your contacts are sufficient and your resources are adequate and you can outwork it or out think it or out organize it you're okay but when you bump into something that you can't and we need a power greater than ourselves how is that released how is it communicated how's it transmitted it's a very important question we asked that question about a virus we asked it with great intentionality we adjusted our whole lives and we changed our face coverings and our hand washing and our social habits and our there's a power greater than a virus amongst us do you think we could learn how to communicate how to transmit it how to welcome the holy spirit into our lives more completely when the apostles in jerusalem it's acts 8 heard that samaria had accepted the word of god they sent peter and john to them when they arrived they prayed for them that they might receive the holy spirit because the holy spirit hadn't yet come upon any of them they'd simply been baptized into the name of the lord jesus they've been born again again in the context of the book of acts we're invited into this notion of the the new birth and spirit baptism and that idea is being pulled forward here in acts chapter 8 and peter and john placed their hands on them and they received the holy spirit and when simon saw that the spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles hands he offered them money he said hey i need that ability but he recognizes the apostles placing their hands on them had enough of an impact that he imagined it could be monetized we're not the first generation to wander into the weeds acts chapter 9 different context different story this is ananias he's being sent by the spirit of god to go pray for the persecutor of the believers in jesus he doesn't want to go but he ends up yielding to the ins the assignment and ananias went to the house and he entered it he placed his hands on saul and he said brother saul the lord jesus who appeared to you in the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the holy spirit if we did that in the current environment the overwhelming temptation would say lord i don't have to go see him he's a wild man he's crazy he's angry he's violent i will fast and pray all day and i will pray for my living room there's no distance in the spirit and then i would quote him the 22 verses i know where they didn't go which had no bearing whatsoever on the assignment that god had given to him you go you place your hands on him it's not true in every case i'm not trying to create a new behavior but i'm telling you there's a portion of what the scripture invites us to that we have not made room for in our imagination it took courage on ananias's part to walk knock on that door and say i'm here paul i the lord sent me to lay my hands on you and pray for you he could have snapped irons on them see i don't think we've understood the courage it takes to follow the lord we think we're courageous when we say let's pray lord bless my friend amen in jesus name how about them titans that's been our story you know i don't talk about my faith at work i could be sued you mean in a place where we're supposed to be tolerant of all perspectives we have bowed to the threat of economic reprisal if we're so bold is to say i believe in jesus when they coach our children on which gender they are today or that we should be we should make decisions about one another based on our outward appearance or the corporate boardroom determines which cities or states they will punish based on world views that the citizens in that state embrace and we're ashamed to say i believe in jesus [Music] our problem is not the wicked and i'm not throwing stones at you i'm the one that came up with let's pray [Music] i'll put those little steps in there so you could slide that prayer in so nobody noticed they wouldn't figure it out until you were gone i think the good news of acts 9 is anyone can be directed to lay hands on somebody and pray for them there's not some subset we lay hands on one another to commission servants in the church in acts chapter six the church is growing it's changing rapidly they can't keep up they can't keep up with the new people coming they can't keep up with the demands that are being made wouldn't that be wonderful and all that's taking place right in the face of persecution well they're threatening him they're putting him in jail we're only a chapter away from our first martyr and in the midst of all that turmoil and all that frustration and all that pushed back there's a rapidly changing dynamic people coming to faith you see i've mistakenly thought that if the revival took place there'd just be parades and happiness and joy that was really not what the bible says so the 12 gathered all the disciples together and they said it really wouldn't be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of god in order to wait on tables we're doing too much of that brothers choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom we'll turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer in the ministry of the word and the proposal pleased the whole group so they chose stephen a man full of faith and of the holy spirit and philip and somebody else and somebody else and somebody else somebody from antioch who was a convert to judaism in verse 6 they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them look at verse 7 so the word of god spread did the word of god spread because they made a management decision to to share their responsibilities was this an outcome that came just from a delegatory decision well i think that delegation probably had some impact upon it but i i think it's pretty clear though the words that are most frequently used and repeated have to do with the involvement of the spirit choose men that are full of the spirit and the wisdom of the spirit give them some responsibility they chose stephen a man full of of the holy spirit they presented these men to the apostles and they laid their hands on them and remember this is told to a group of people who for the story of moses and joshua and josiah and joash and elisha that's their family's story they're very familiar with that narrative they're not borrowing a practice from somebody else they understand this to have shaped generation after generation after generation all the way back to when jacob is praying for joseph's kids in egypt yeah we need some people to wait tables bring them over here we want to pray for them and then what's the outcome the word of the god so the word of god spread and the number of disciples in jerusalem increased rapidly and even a large number of priests became obedient to the faith they were ordaining helpers the new testament word for deacon just means a helper a servant servers they weren't handing out blocks of authority or grants of responsibility they were saying we need some help will you serve and we need the best amongst you the brightest the most qualified but you're not going to serve just because of your curriculum vitae or your resume you're going to serve because of the presence of the spirit of god in your life and out of that list of seven servers that they anointed and caused the church to flourish we stephen who's the first martyr and philip becomes an evangelist talented people serving biblically and i'm about out of time but biblically the pathway to promotion and the kingdom of god is through serving it's not something heinous that we dreamt up to recruit people to do meaningless jobs again we've drifted a long way away from a biblical perspective we're too busy or too talented or too important or to something [Music] too busy with our own selfish pursuits time and my calendar and my energy it's what i want to do i didn't put put it all in your notes i'm going to give you some references in matthew 23 and verse 5. i've got a couple of minutes jesus is talking and he's talking about the religious leaders of his day and he said everything they do is done for men to see they make their phylacteries wide it's their public expressions of their faith and their clothing he said they make their clothing and their public presentations wide and their tassels and long and they love the place of honor and the most important seats they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and jesus said the greatest among you will be your servant for whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted we won't be great in the kingdom of god i want how many just really is there really only 10 or 12 of you right [Applause] what do you say yeah do i have to do something no jesus said would you like to be great in the kingdom on the night he's to be betrayed they have a passover meal with jesus think of the anguish in jesus he knows he's about to be tortured to death he knows judas is going to betray him he knows his best friends are going to deny him nobody is going to stand with him he knows he's going to stand in the streets of jerusalem at the judgment seat of the roman governor and hear the people shout crucify i think there might have been a little emotional turmoil last passover meal with them before all of that and he washes their feet when he gets done he puts his robe back on and he says do you know what i've done for you what's the answer to that no they'll have to sort that out later he said the greatest amongst you will be your servant he said i've done this for you now you go do this folks our foundation has some cracks in it we've got lots of words and lots of experience and lots of years in church and lots of sermons and we got badges and stuff and i'm grateful for all of that i'm not saying that that we're completely in the dark i'm saying there's some adjustments we can make to be more effective to be more fruitful to bring about some different outcomes that we're waiting for others to change we think it's an election or a candidate or a person or that you know that the truth will be told that social media will change or something or television will be different or hollywood we want somebody else to be something different it's us i'm grateful for all the progress we have we started in hebrews 6 he said remember the the closing verses of chapter 5 said at this time you should be ready for solid food but you're not you need milk and if you said if you have to live on milk you're an infant and then it starts chapter six remember we added the chapter breaks that didn't come with the original writing this is now we don't want to lay again the foundational truths we want to go on to maturity we don't have to revisit the beginning points about repentance and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment and the laying on of hands that's the beginning things now let's go well let's come back and be sure we got our foundations in place let's begin to say to the lord say to the holy spirit i'm open i'm willing to learn i'm willing to change i'm willing to be different if there's any place my priorities have drifted help me to see that amen let's stop us sir let's not be like the pharisees criticizing jesus if you don't like the outcomes in your life right now stop being mad at god and begin to talk to the lord lord help me understand help me understand the appropriate response for this place help me we're not the first people to struggle with it jesus kept looking at the disciples that are you really that dull i've got a feeling he's looked at gabriel when he were talking about me he said can you believe how dull he is well lord he grew up in a barn yes but his mother tried how many of you be willing to say to the lord tonight i'm willing to change more than i would demand anyone else change i'm willing to change why don't you stand with me i want to pray we will see god move in ways that are so different than anything we have seen i believe that and you'll need the grounding of his word and a heart opened to his spirit to believe that it's him because what we're most familiar with is our our patterns and our habits and our routines and our traditions we need a new response now we need a new response father we come tonight i thank you for your word and its power and authority and i pray that you would give us understanding hearts not for the words of a person but for your truth in our lives but nothing's hidden from you no circumstance no detail no challenge no need no point of frustration holy spirit we ask you to help us if there's any place or anything within us that limits what you would do i pray that you will help us to recognize it we want to fulfill what you created us for give us ears to hear and eyes to see hearts to understand in new ways i pray that we'll be willing to repent where it's necessary that there'll be a new respect for you that would grow in our hearts a new boldness and a new courage to to stand in the face of antagonism and threat i thank you for it i praise you for it we pray for our children pour out your spirit upon them turn their hearts to you in ways that we've never seen before give them a hungering and a thirsting for righteousness we're longing for your kingdom may we have the wisdom to encourage them to stand with them to walk with them i thank you for it for all that you will do in jesus name amen hallelujah god bless you [Applause] hey this is pastor alan thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed it like it and most importantly share it with your friends if you want to be notified when there's new content when we post new material if you'll just subscribe to my channel and hit the bell you'll get the notification most of all i pray god blesses you as you continue on your spiritual journey and open your heart to the lord god bless [Music] you

Channel: Allen Jackson Ministries

Views: 108,295

Keywords: Pastor Allen Jackson, allen jackson ministries, world outreach church, alan jackson, sermons, preachers, how to be saved, Finding Jesus, pastor allen jackson sermons, laying on of hands, hands, laying hands, Moses, Joshua, Ananias, consecrate, Hannah, Hannah's prayer, Jacob's blessing, why do Christians lay hands, place hands, God's power, body of Christ, Church, supernatural power, Elisha, words carry authority, authority of words, power of words, what is a deacon, who can lay hands

Id: f1-0T1sjKlk

Length: 55min 38sec (3338 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 14 2022