Danger In The Distance | Savage Jesus | Pastor Steven Furtick

[Applause] mark chapter 1 verse 40 a man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees if you are willing you can make me clean filled with compassion Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man I am willing he said be clean immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning see that you do not tell this to anyone but go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them instead he went out and began to talk freely spreading the news and as a result Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places yet the people still came to him from everywhere I'd like to speak today for a few moments about danger in the distance danger in the distance certain phrases in our Christian vocabulary lose their power or at least their ability to penetrate our psyche because of usage like when we say grace this is a phrase or a word a concept that is so familiar to many of us that I am afraid when we sing amazing grace we can barely through our yawning understand just how scandalous the concept is I also thought that maybe one of our worship leaders at one of our locations would write us a song called dangerous grace because to really understand the grace of God is to understand that it jeopardizes the way you have lived your life and it will not be contained by our conception of it but our conception of it must come up to the level of its efficacy in mark chapter 1 verse 40 through 45 we see an example of this kind of grace and I'd like to spend the majority of my time in just one verse the first verse verse 40 says that a man with leprosy came to him I looked in Matthew's Gospel Luke's Gospel and John's Gospel to see if I could find a little more information about this man mark doesn't tell us much about his background his hair color his eye color he doesn't even give the common courtesy of stating his name now come on you even ask your server his name at the restaurant and this man who is the subject of one of the first miracles recorded in this marking account does not even get a name we are not told his name but we are told about his condition which is leprosy we're not given his name but we know about his issue which is leprosy he goes to show that sometimes your identity can be consumed by your issues that is you can become more known by what's wrong with you than who you have the potential to be is anybody here to the point that you no longer know your own name or you no longer have a real sense of your identity or yourself we are losing a sense of ourselves at times because our issues have run so rampant that they have consumed our issues have consumed our identity now when Moses met with God the fire was burning the bush but it did not consume the bush it burned and burned and burned and God spoke from the bush he said I want you to know who I am Moses said who are you he said I am Moses said I am is a good start what comes next and then God said without saying whatever you need comes next because I will not change I am but what you will need in different seasons of your life will change so whatever you need I will already be before you even know your need I am you need how many are grateful for an omnipotent omniscient God who knows what you need and can be what you need now some people know what you need but they cannot be it some people would love to give you what you need if they could but they can't God is the only one who simultaneously knows what you need and is what you need and I dare you to look at the person next to you even if you've been married for 43 years and tell them you can't be what I need not in every season you can't be what I need you might come close sometimes well I need a God who is familiar with my secrets and my most intimate issues and has still made the decision to love me on my worst day with no makeup on in my failure with my flaws I need a God who will choose me not just despite my flaws but because of my flaws and cause all things to work together for my good according to his purpose who will make my weakness his strength who will set up and dwell in the midst of a broken praise God is that to me this man has given no name we know his issue but not his name his identity has been completely consumed by his issue I'm hanging out on this point because I wonder has it ever happened to you God did not say I am the great I did but there is always a temptation in life to over identify either with your issues or with your gifts so if you are really good at something you can learn in life to perform in such a way that you received the praise of people because of what you do God is not the great I do he is the great I am I feel like the revelation of this is worth us hanging out in verse 40 for just a minute we've got time a man with leprosy a man with leprosy whose name has been consumed by his disease for which there is no cure a man who has been relegated and confined and quarantined to the outside quarters of society prohibited from normal human relationships caused to dwell in desolation in Leviticus 13 we see a snapshot the kind of situation this man would have lived in the Book of Leviticus at points reads more like a whole 30 book than it does like a scripture verse because all the dietary restrictions are there and then when you get to Leviticus 13 it's more like a dermatology manual then it is like a devotion and so don't read Leviticus if you're looking for that quick inspiration you know it gives prescriptions like this it says if you have leprosy anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes let their hair be unkempt cover the lower part of their face and cry out unclean unclean and watch what's next as long as they have the disease they remain unclean they must live alone they must live outside the camp the greatest pain of this particular issue is not physical it is emotional it is the pain of isolation so now you understand the significance of this phrase a man with leprosy who had no name came to him who was the name above every name I could preach that for a whole series that thing just hit me the Holy Spirit of God just told me to tell you that whatever name your issue has there is a name that is above that name and if you can name the issue I know a name that is a puppet that can make your issue she got it that can make your issue take a knee in the presence of Almighty God let's take 10 seconds to embrace that name [Applause] oh Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess I don't want to wait til one day I might as well use my tongue right now he came to him and he did it he did it all wrong he did it all wrong he did the total wrong thing this man this he broke every religious rule in the book he didn't first of all announced unclean unclean okay he didn't he didn't identify himself by his issue unclean unclean and he did not keep the appropriate distance because when you have leprosy you've got to stay back because you are contagious this law was not given because people were cruel it's kind of like I didn't think to say this and the other ones but y'all are so advanced you pull stuff out of me you know how there are certain kids you don't want your kid around not that you don't like that kid but if that kid rubs off on your kid it's just like they don't have the same values and then you might realize your kid is that kid that's a parenting sermon and I don't do that it's a machine to him 4950 that's the distance fifty paces away fifty paces away that's how long you had this this that's that's the appropriate distance that a leper was supposed to keep in order that they would not defile someone who was clean if it 50/50 basis I thought about calling this a message a fifty paces to grace not Fifty Shades and nothing like that 50 paces to Grace and he's he's allowed to be around people not too close though not too close though just at a distance he can come to church the leper can come to church but if he comes to church he has to sit behind a special screen so nobody will catch what he has the only way that will make you sit in a special place at elevation is if you are late but we don't check you at the door you know what's your issue and then see you accordingly wouldn't that be interesting [Music] to see the leper had an advantage over a lot of us his issue was on the outside a lot of us don't have spots on our skin we have secret spots spots in our soul issues of insecurity you you can't see them certain issues you can see you know certain addictions manifest in practical ways and then someone goes to get help the thing about secret spots though is when they are on the inside of you you can be in church but you are behind a screen so the the screen keeps other people from seeing you as you really are but it also keeps you from seeing God as he really is you'll need to help me preach this I'm feeling very vulnerable back [Music] you can come to church but you're behind the screen you can come to church but you don't really let the presence of God touch you you can come to church but you fight down the emotions you can come to church but you play it off cuz the people next to you they they kind of know you and you feel kind of ashamed see shame always creates a screen a screen to keep you from being who you really are from from seeing and being seen and from back here behind this screen on that church but not really I'm coming home physically but I'm staying at work emotionally I learned how to hide behind the screen cuz if I stay behind the screen they can't see me on this screen give me a phone I need a phone they phone behind the screen behind a screen the devil's got a siding behind screens top creepiest it with my hand preaching to you right now behind that screen behind that screen will you create digital personas to hide your dysfunction and in an age where we have more apparatus to connect but they never one for we are impotent to be intimate because intimacy requires proximity in other words you got to come out and be seen you can't be seen sisters behind a screen [Music] so the man violated the law that was meant to protect the people from being infected by what had consumed his skin and he heard that there was a man who had been standing up in synagogues and telling demons to sit down and shut up and he figured if Jesus can deal with demons maybe he's got something for my skin too if Jesus can do that for them see that's what you need to be encouraged if he ever did it for anyone what's the stop him from doing it for you you're decided to take the walk of shame 50 steps the first one must have been the harness hmm if I stay here I'm gonna die I'd rather die trying to behold then live half-hearted [Applause] here's my whole sermon in case you're watching this online in Wisconsin then you need to get lunch in the oven and you can't watch the rest the danger of isolation is much greater than the risk of intimacy that's the whole sermon it's safer to come out from behind the screen and be seen as you really are than it is to hide behind an image of what you want people to think you are while you die inside in secret spots secret insecurities that cause us to stay behind performance and profession so he started that wall of shame 4948 nobody stopped me yet 47 I got a question just a question where was Peter Peter shouldn'ta let this man get that close to Jesus Pete remember when Peter cut off Malka says you're in the garden where was his sword this could've ruined the whole ministry because if if the unclean touches the clean the clean becomes unclean 46 but this man had apparently become desperate I don't know what happened on this day or if it was just his personality type but he decided to try I'm going to present myself 45 44 43 42 41 40 still got a long way to go but I'd rather I'd rather find out for myself 39 38 because if he can really do what they say he can do I can hold my daughter again 37 36 35 I don't even know if I'm gonna make it to him because they could kill me for what I'm doing right now they can stone me outside the camp for daring to bring my defiled self in the presence of the undefiled but 34 33 because sometimes you come to a point where you don't even care how it looks anymore or really even what it costs you because I I'd rather live as I really am then you die in this lonely place so 32 31 I wonder is anybody coming today 30 29 28 I hope they don't kill me 27 26 25 I know I look crazy but 24 23 22 I might as well 21 I've already lost so much 20 I'm desperate 18 17 16 15 14 13 too far to turn around I'm closer to this than I am today seven six you're gonna keep marching around those walls are you gonna stop I'm a man of unclean lips and I live amongst the people of unclean lips and you can see in my skin that on the surface I'm defiled but but I have more faith than a lot of the people who have perfect skin because at least I came I heard that you could heal and I'm here and I know I'm not supposed to be here and I know they could kill me for being here and if you are who I've heard you are you are the Holy One of God and your holiness and my unholiness do not belong in this same vicinity but I'm here I took fifty steps to get here that I wasn't supposed to date but I'm here I'm completely out of place but I'm here put the verse up again I'm here I'm out of place oh it wasn't the 50 steps that got him he'll it was the next thing he did when he got there a man with leprosy came to him and begged him I'm here and I'm humble it wasn't those first 50 steps they got a meal it was the fifty first you can come all the way to church and not get healed because you won't get it like this but if you will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and hit your knees in your heart and let God know I don't want to be my instance anymore I heard what you could do and if you will you can make me clean I know you can I'm just not sure if you will I found out it's much easier to get people to believe that God is great than it is to get them to believe that God is good it's not hard to get people to believe that God can do anything the universe declares the glory of God and the sky's show forth his power the firmament his handiwork is not can God make an ocean that I wonder about it's can God still the Seas within me because I know you can but will you and Jesus did something so scandalous so dangerous see intimacy is risky for Jesus to touch this man it put him at risk of catching what the man had and he touched the man he touched the man some of you won't even high-five your neighbor in church without hand sanitizer and Jesus touched the man is Liz a man he touched them you can't do that Jesus because according to Levitical law if the unclean touches the clean the clean will become unclean jesus said I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it see when that which is perfect has come that which is imperfect will be done away with now one greater than Moses is on the scene this is one greater than he who heard I am this is the I am which was spoken of in that bush and he saw the scene so Jesus says I'm not worried about touching him if the unclean touched the clean then the clean becomes unclean but if the unclean touches Jesus Jesus y'all better get ready I'm a tropics who is the perfect sinless spotless Lamb of God when one is unclean touches one is perfectly clean the unclean doesn't make the cleanup clean the clean makes the ugly [Music] the only three people in the center section ladies is contagious Oh magnify the Lord with me let us sing song touch everybody you can reach say grace is contagious its contagious its contagious its contagious grace is more contagious than shame it doesn't matter what you've done it doesn't matter where you've been it doesn't matter what you smell like it doesn't matter what they labeled you you are not what you did and you are not what they said somebody shout I am God now take 20 seconds and act like you just got here [Applause] I've never heard of them before I heard I am the bread of life I heard I am the light of the world I heard I am the gate I heard I am The Good Shepherd I heard I am the way the truth and the life I heard I am the resurrection I've never heard this one I am Willy God's nickname is will and he touched him he touched that man the first time that that man felt something on his skin he was touched by the one who wrapped him in flesh and the word became flesh this is just a gospel message this is just the Gospel message it's not very deep I understand that it's not very profound I get that but there's so much shame that keeps us away from the presence of the God who was already willing to take it away so much shame when Jesus looked at that man the Bible says he was forty one filled with compassion he was filled with compassion you look confused are you confused 910 coming back twelve thirteen fourteen I saw you had that digital Bible I'm not sitting next you I notice you're in that digital Bible and when I just said that Jesus was filled with compassion you look confused sit down let's talk about it for a second pull it back out because they said Jesus was filled with compassion you know there it is give me yours this is a mess right here maybe break out this woman's pink Bible to show you what the Word of God see this is what your says - it says filled with compassion we're all reading that same translation and who's got an orange elevation Bible you got why we gave away like 19,000 of these to people who made a profession of faith or rededication and 5/2 praise the Lord you study the Bible like this yep see this one we gave you this one is is the one I wanted to show they translated it from Greek and sometimes the the languages there's there's a distance between culturally how they saw certain concepts and how we see certain concepts and when we say grace it's a soft term but when the Hebrew mind thought of grace they imagined grace coming from the same place that anger came from it all came from I'm a teacher were you got any friends who make fun of you for coming to this church break this out on the mat lunch today plug needs some eye yeah just say it with confidence they won't know if you said it right just say it just say in the Greek tell your neighbor in the Greek is splut neat so my and here in this translation which they did in 2011 the NIV translation committee they did it a little different they said Jesus was indignant and in 84 when they got together to translate it according to the same protocol of translation they put it as put the other one up there again if you can in the back compassion and then when they translated it again they said no it should be indignant angry furious frustrated annoyed indignant undignified which one is it was he filled with compassion or was he indignant yes yes he was filled with compassion and he was indignant it came from the same place splud Nitze my it means the guts the bowels the place where you really feel it which becomes much more meaningful when you remember that the first sign of leprosy is that you lose feeling in your extremities and now this man who has lost the ability to feel and who has gone numb is touched by a savior who can feel for him this is where Christianity is different than every other world religion this is why we're not just one in a list because we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but he is able to be touched with the fee and you know what happens in life we we go numb especially in this age of information where we are expected to process all of the events all at once the good ones the bad ones we can't feel it anymore when you go numb you can get hurt and not feel it and you can die of a small cut that becomes infected because you do not feel it and you don't know it needs healing because you do not feel it as the enemy made you go numb to the point that you no longer feels what needs so my Jesus felt for the man the religious system had gone numb the religious system went when jesus healed a man with the shriveled hand one chapter later in mark they were worried about which day he did it on they had gone so numb that the only thing they could think about was he broke the rules but Jesus who is the righteousness of God looked at this man with compassion and he looked at the shame that the man carried with anger slug meets a lie and Jesus looking at the man's condition breaks the rules makes a move he feels for the man he touches the man he touches him because he feels for him I want to break over the sin I don't want to go through life hiding behind screens and numb on the inside I don't want to feel again I want your presence for that I want approval I want to feel again why was the angry wasn't angry at the man it wasn't the man's fault he had leprosy maybe he was mad because he knew that the man was gonna do exactly what he told him not to do did you catch that part in verse 43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning again the English is weak its weak it's not wrong it's just weak it means Jesus charged the man with a flared nostril that's the picture look this up on Google you will see one scholar said Jesus snorted now I know you don't like snorting Jesus you like snuggy Jesus but Jesus snorted and told the man don't tell anyone what I did to you because if you tell people it will prohibit me because they will just want me to do for them this kind of miracle but I've got to do what I came to do which is die for their sin not just fix their issues [Applause] Jesus had that Marty McFly thing going on you know that Back to the Future he knew that the man was gonna do exactly what he told him to do but he healed him anyway he knew you would still struggle with sin but he saved you anyway this is so powerful I need to hurry up touch somebody said he did it anyway he knew that even though my change would be broken I would still struggle with the remnant of my sin but he did it anyway Jesus told the man don't tell anyone and the man went and told him anyway I could preach that a couple ways one way would be when God has touched you and healed you in ways that no one can you can't keep it to yourself no one will have to train you to evangelize you will just naturally tell somebody he changed me in fact your life will be like product placement people will start asking you what happened to you and you'll be like come see a man who told me come see a man who wasn't ashamed to touch me don't just come to church with me you need to meet a man women are [Applause] he went and told everybody what he wasn't supposed to tell and the Bible says setup because he did it's so beautiful that Jesus verse 45 could no longer enter a place openly you see it to see it but stayed outside in lonely places when this story started the leper was in the lonely place by the time it was over Jesus was where the leper belonged [Music] [Applause] here's the gospel he did not just heal the man's skin he took his place and that's why I praise him not just because it gave me a good parking spot not just because my family always went to church not just because I feel guilty but because he took my place somebody shot he took my place see the Bible says the leper came to Jesus I beg to differ because in the fullness of time God sent his son to be born of a virgin the leper didn't come to Jesus Jesus came to the leper I want you to know he sees where you are he knows what you struggle with he is come to you somebody given praise because eBay [Music] he didn't just heal my issue he took my place he took my place now the leper can go in and Jesus must stay out and he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God this gospel I preached has the power to take away your guilt in your shame but you gotta get in position my brother my sister you can't get this grace until you're willing to bring yourself into submission if you will you can you see I'm weak I heard you were strong will you do it for me God on the inside I I don't just I don't just want my screen to be shinier I want you to touch me on the inside I want to feel again I want to feel again I want to return to my first love I want my land to burn again with holy oil will you touch me Lord and Jesus reached out touch the man and his shame was gone hey thanks for watching two things I want you to do first click our logo to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a single video second you can click the give Now button to support the ministry and we'll be able to continue reaching people all over the world thanks again for watching

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 486,705

Rating: 4.8843551 out of 5

Keywords: Elevation Church, Pastor, Preacher, Steven Furtick, Humble, Humility, Forgiveness, Screen, Intimacy, Leprosy, Unclean, Jesus, Bible, Gospel, Grace, Unashamed, Identity, Contagious, Praise, Labels, Willing, Healing, Healed, Hope, Peace, Shame, Danger, Dangerous, Compassion, Distance, Indignant, Steven Furtick Sermon, Steven Furtick teaching, Steven Furtick message, numb, Feelings, Emotions, weak, sin, issues, Savage Jesus

Id: 8CnYD7spDuE

Length: 41min 31sec (2491 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 19 2018