God Makes Space For Misfits Pt. 1

[Music] open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Mark in Chapter number eight the gospel record of mark chapter eight verses 22 through verse number 26 from the new American Standard Version of the Bible is this word and they came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man to him and entreated him to touch him and taking the blind man by the hand he brought him out of the village and after spitting on his eyes and laying his hands upon him he asked him do you see anything and he looked up and said I see men but I'm seeing them like trees walking then again he laid his hands upon his eyes and he looked intently and was restored and began to see everything clearly where as 26 reeds and he sent him to his home saying do not even enter the village thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God shall stand forever I want to pick some time this this month this Advent season to begin the series of messages throughout this month that may strike you as a bit odd for Christmas an Advent season but but indulge me for a moment I want to talk this Sunday and the rest of this month from this subject God makes space for misfits God makes space for misfits I want to unpack a poem each line of this poem each stanza each phrase of this poem by a woman named Susan best I want to use each stanza each paragraph of that poem to underline someone in the scripture and in this church who is in the world's eyes a misfit I love Christmas I love the smells I love the sights I love the sounds of Christmas I always have as I start singing Christmas carols in February I love the season of Christmas I love riding around looking at decorations I like going in Highland Village and the gallery are looking at Christmas trees and listening to music on the elevator everything about this season brings me back to home - my mother's macaroni and cheese I don't need anybody else's potato salad cuz it doesn't taste like my mother's nobody could make a house smell like my mother made a house smell during this time of year then I like Charlie Brown and Lucy I like Snoopy and Linus I don't miss How the Grinch Stole Christmas but my favorite is Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer I like the song but I like the show because Rudolph and Yukon kornelius end up on the island of misfit toys Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose and if you ever saw it you would even say it glows all of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names they wouldn't let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games then one foggy Christmas Eve santa came to say Rudolph with your nose so bright won't you guide my sleigh tonight then all the rain Dez loved it and they shouted out with glee Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer you go down in yeah you know it you you know all before they couldn't stand Rudolph talk about his red nose but then when Santa noticed him brought him up to the front let him be the head reindeer everybody loved him shouted out with glee and then there's an elf on the show who doesn't want to make toys he wants to be a dentist and there's some toys with one eye missing and one arm missing and it's an island full of misfit toys this is a church full of misfit toy nothing in your background says you ought to be in here this morning somebody ought to help me preach the day but thank God for grace thank God for the Incarnation that when we don't fit in anywhere else Christ came to fit us in the form the poem by Susan best since that night when in Judean skies the mystic star dispensed its light a blind man moved in sleep and dreamed that he had sight that night when Shepherds heard the song of hosts angelic choir a near a deaf man stirred in slumber spell and dreamed that he could hear that night when in the cattle stall slept child and mother cheek by Joel on a turned his twisted limbs and dreamed that he was hold that night when all the newborn babe the tender Mary rose to lean a loathsome leper smiled in sleep and dreamed that he was clean that night when in the manger lay the sanctified who came to save a dying man moved in sleep and dreamed there was no grave but I want to pick up that first stanza that night went in Judean skies the mystic star dispensed its light a blind man moved in sleep and dreamed he site site seeing site Helen Keller said there is none so blind as he who has sight but no vision I wish I had a witness here it's a dreadful thing to to be in church have a Bible go to Santa school and still have no vision God is moving all around us God is still blessing God is still providing God is still making a way and everybody around you can see it but you walk with me around the text this this this story is only in the Gospel of Mark Matthew Luke nor John records this story it's a miracle of a man who is blind he wasn't born blind as was the man in another passage of scripture in John's Gospel he's not blind from his mother's birth he was born seeing but he lost his sight and so his friends bring him to Jesus and they want Jesus to touch him but rather than touch him Jesus does something that is peculiar only to this miracle this is the only time Jesus touches anybody twice this miracle is really a parable in action because not only is Jesus doing something for the man he's teaching his disciples not only does Jesus touch him but I need you to see the preparation for his healing before Jesus can heal him Jesus does something that he's never done before he takes the man away from the crowd he takes him outside the village of Bethsaida he takes him out by himself but he takes him by the hand brothers and sisters that's something to be said about taking somebody by the hand when we greet each other we we shake hands which is a form of greeting saying how are you how you doing without going into a whole lot of words a handshake speaks a whole lot but when I'm in trouble when my heart is broken when my soul is weary I need more than a handshake I need somebody to hold my hand because when you're lonely it makes a difference when somebody's holding your hand when you're sick it makes a difference when somebody's holding your hand when you've lost a loved one it warms your heart when somebody's holding your hand Jesus not only touched them but he took him by the hand and we are not going to get people saved until we take them by the hand because the human touch is more than just a pat on the back it's walking with them until they get it right I have to be careful right here because in this climate of sexual harassment you can't tell a woman you look good today without some kind of connotation that that's not what you intend you can't befriend a woman or man unless you're sleeping together that's the culture we live in so you have to keep people at arm's length because you don't want to be misunderstood because you might end up like Matt Lauer charlie rules are or somebody like that because Russell Simmons somebody like that because everything now can be easily misrepresented but as a child of God if your intentions are right when I'm in trouble I need somebody to hold my hand I need somebody to walk with me in my stuff and I don't need you to stay away from me I need you to lead me around some stuff that you can't lead me around unless you hold in my hand shaking my hand and walking away it's not gonna help me through the darkness of my night I need you to stay there and hold my hand in the midst of my misery Jesus teaches something in this text but he doesn't teach in any other passage of Scripture he takes the man by the hand and takes him away from everybody because there is a there was a thin line that there is a line we have to learn how to handle between ostentation on one hand and self-revelation of faculty on the other hand when you know how to do something humility makes you keep it undercover there isn't it strange that that folk who don't know anything make the most noise but folk who know how to do stuff you have to you have to get it out of that you got to dig it out of them you got to pull it out of them because when you really know that you know that you know you don't have to show off because the cream will just rise to the top somebody help me preach it if you're loud and boisterous and always pushing yourself that's a deep-seated insecurity but when you know you can do whatever it is you know you can do they got a bag you and ask you and control you and pull it out of you because you are afraid of ostentation ostentation is wanting to be seen wanting to be applauded wanting to be recognized and if you do it for that reason you're doing it for all the wrong reasons you you you have to be careful you have to walk a thin line between pride and humility Jesus takes the man outside the village to prepare him for the healing because Jesus does not want any any undue attention because he wants to deal with this man one-on-one and brothers and sisters I think that's how we gon fill this church I think that's how we gonna save this community I think that's how we're gonna win this city for Christ by dealing with people one on one stop being afraid to touch somebody stop being afraid to be in people's lives to be friend and contact people because you're not going to win them standing away from them I wish I had a witness in stop sitting on the Pew by yourself go get somebody else to sit with you stop praising God by yourself get somebody else with you to praise God you got to get individual with people [Applause] Jesus made a point of taking this man by the hand to take him away from everybody to deal with him one on one and that's how we got to deal with one enough we got to befriend one another we've got to get in one another's situation you got to put yourself in the other person's place talk back to me if you can stop being saved and forgetting about everybody who is lost because one day you were lost and somebody got you in contact with Jesus Christ and if somebody got you in contact with Christ you ought to get somebody else in contact with Christ when was the last time you witness CI quiet you got right there I know you're safe I know you belong to Lily Grove I know you called the church on Sunday but when was the last time you did what God said to do go in the hedges and the highway and tell somebody about Jesus Christ know how allowed in here and then don't have allowed our fan tell somebody out Raths I know a man from Galilee if you're in sin he can set you free Jesus took him by the hand make contact with him stayed with him till he got it right and then when they got to the outside of the city after the the preparation for the healing I want you to look in text with me at the process of the healing Jesus did something to him that would offend us he spit in his eye I'll see some of y'all getting mad right now that's offensive in this culture for somebody to spit on you let alone spit in your eye that that's a fight if somebody accidentally spit on me talk back to me if you can I wish somebody would spit on me I hear you talking and then spit in my eye oh we gonna fight about that but but I want you to get it right now I want you to understand what I'm saying in that culture they believed that saliva had medicinal properties as a matter of fact you may not admit it but when you cut your finger you put your finger in your mouth somebody ought to help me preach it and in a second or so the blood stops cuz it must be some medicine in that survived Jesus spit in the man's eyes to heal him and when he spit in his eyes Jesus said do you see anything and the man said I'll see men but they look like trees walking and then Jesus leaves the spit along and touches his eye and it says what do you see now and the man says I see everything clearly somebody ought to help me right here this is the only time that Jesus has to do something twice in order to heal now what is Jesus trying to tell us I'm glad you asked because sometimes salvation illumination is gradual sometimes you don't get saved right away it takes sometimes years for you to get seen sometimes you got to hear preaching over and over and over and over and over and then finally the gospel makes sense let me see if I can help us some people have a testimony of being delivered from drugs or delivered from almost being killed delivered from some dreaded sickness or they're delivered from alcohol addiction and they've been through a whole lot they've been to jail they've been shot at they've been beat up they've been dogs chased them they've been run over by a car and and they survived all of that and they come the church that they get saved and we hear that testimony and it's so graphic and so instructive that when we hear all of that we say wow I must not be saved I didn't go through all of that God works with each of us individually some forgot to go to jail to get saved some people got to get shot in order to come to Christ but some of us just come to Sunday school just come to Bible study just just was raised in a Christian home and we didn't go through a whole lot of stuff we got it right away am i helping somebody this morning don't shout on somebody else's testimony get a testimony of your own and you don't have to go through what they went through but if God just saves you gradually then praise God for graduated salvation because it's not about the experience it's about grace because he doesn't have to save anybody he takes the man out and he says what do you see he said I see men that's trees walking but Jesus said I got to get that straight because if you see men as trees you're gonna climb on if you see ministries you're gonna start chopping them down cutting off some of their limbs bringing them down to your size I gotta get your sight straight because until you see men as creations of God you'll never go out your way to help them get seen until you see men and women as your equal you will never go out of your way to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ that's why all of us in here this morning have no cause to look down our sanctimonious nose that the person in the pew next to us because all of us are here this morning by the grace of God somebody went to jail but God had grace on you somebody had an abortion but God still loves you somebody here had a divorce but God still loves you somebody was raised in a family where nobody cared about you but if nobody loves you in Houston Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so somebody here got saved just because you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior he didn't have you take you through a whole lot you just got it right away [Applause] that's why I like preaching at this church because you get it right away I like preaching at seven-thirty I don't tell my 11 o'clock folk I'll say that I like preaching at this early hour because when you get up this early you got it you understand it you really know that if it had not been for the Lord who was on my side my enemy would have gotten the best of me you got it you know that if the Lord hadn't opened the door if God had not rescued you you would be dead and in your grave I lost reaching the folk who got it before I give it to him he had to bring him out he had to bring him out so he could bring him in sometimes God got to bring you out so he can bring you in sometimes God got to hurt you for he can heal you you got to break you for he can bless you he's got to knock you down before he can raise you up because that son do you some things you can't see until God shows them to you he says what do you see he said I see men but they look like trees walking in Jesus a second time touches the man to demonstrate to us that if you don't get it the first time he'll stay with you till you get it and I'm so glad I got a God who never gives up on me if I missed it the last time he'll show it to me again watch this every morning I want you to get this every morning when you wake up and see a sunrise that's Jesus spitting in your eyes every tragedy you ever came through that's Jesus spitting in your eyes every baby he ever let be born in your family that's Jesus spitting in your eye every sickness he ever rescued you from that's Jesus spitting in your eyes not to insult you but to get you to shout a minute because when God does something that you don't expect you ought to give God some unexpected hallelujah I notice not the way you are I know you don't care at all like that but this is a special occasion he woke me up this morning he put food on my table he made my enemy leave me alone so I came to this mountain appellant thank you for spitting in my eye [Applause] you know what else spit some Oh grace Spitzer no mercy spit some Oh blessings spit some more healing spit some more of your goodness spend some more of your favor on me that's some drops and when he touch them the second time he said I see clearly and the verb tense is in the imperfect meaning from now on since Jesus touched me I'm gonna see everything this last word not gonna leave you alone we look now at the from the preparation of his healing to the to the process of his healing but this story ends on a sad note because there is finally a prohibition to his healing he he processed them he prepared him but then he gave him a prohibition this story ends on a sad note after the man is healed Jesus said here's what I want you to do don't go back to where you came from [Applause] [Music] I said and the reason it's sad is because the man is from Bethsaida and Jesus did most of his miracles in and around Bethsaida he fed the four thousand he fed the five thousand right around Bethsaida He healed a man who was done by just putting his fingers in his ears and the man started hearing he healed the sick he raised the dead right around Bethsaida and all the mighty works he did in Bethsaida Bethsaida was the stiffest in unbelief and Jesus told that man don't go back and show them what I did because they will not appreciate it they will not shout over it they will not give God any glory to understand what I'm saying you got to go back to Matthew chapter 11 where Jesus said if I had done this entire E and Sidon they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes and they would have shouted all over the place but I did this miracle in Bethsaida in your sight and you didn't move and if what I did for you blind man will not move those people stay away from them and God is telling somebody in here this morning there's some folk in your life you just got to stay away from get away from unbelievers be be not unequally yoked I wish I had a witness with an unbeliever don't try to convince somebody who's an unbeliever just shout about God's goodness if you got a shout by yourself give God glory if you got a shout by yourself cuz once you start seeing you don't fit in anywhere I'm trying to quit here but but there's some folk right here who can help me testify about being a misfit they didn't choose you to play on the team a misfit you you went to the party but but nobody dance with you a misfit you wouldn't raised in a house with a mother and father your daddy walked out on or your mother was not feeling and loving and so you never could quite fit in people criticize you because of your clothes because of your looks because of the kind of house you were raised then because of the old background and so for that reason you didn't fit in your mother or father died when you were young and early in life you you had no real direction except somebody just took in and so for a long time you felt like a misfit that they wouldn't choose you to play basketball they wouldn't choose you to run or to hit the ball if they never chose you you're always on the outside looking in in my day you have to be light-skinned to be an aka that's theirs back in the stone Age's you had to you had to be real light-skinned down in south Louisiana you had to be real light-skinned to be any cane that that was back in the seventies you had to be fine and get struck to be a delta you have to have the dreams to be an alpha you had to be real cool to be a Kappa you have to have a mean streak to be a Q dog and so if you want light skinned you couldn't fit in with aks if you wasn't fine and had hips you had a hard time getting into Delta Sigma Theta if your grades were messed up you couldn't be an alpha if you weren't cool and and I've had charisma you could not be a Kappa if you didn't have a mean streak you couldn't be a cute dog so most of us in here would be misfits but thank God you don't have to be any King Oh Delta or Kappa our cue to fit in pledge Jesus and since I met Jesus my life has changed since I met him I will never be the same my life is sweet I'm so satisfied yeah brothers and sisters never said all the misfits in here this morning there's a man at the river giving sight to the blind have a got a witness here let me say to everybody here who's felt hard and the man who was left out I know somebody who loves you more than your mother and your father I know somebody who will walk with you even though you have a record somebody will be a friend or even though you have been down and out I know somebody who will pick you up even though you've been to rehab I know somebody who will love you even when your life has fallen apart jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so little ones to him belong they are weak but he is strong yes jesus loves me I've been a myth a misfit all my life I've been on the outside looking in all my life but since I've been saying since I met Jesus Christ as my savior folk who used to look down on me I'm now looking up to me because God knows how to take your misfit life and turn it around [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 27,990

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Id: 8ar48qtgljI

Length: 38min 7sec (2287 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 20 2018