Lead Pastor
Sermons by Wade Allen (Page 10)
Our sermon this morning highlights the five keystones for becoming wise men and women of God. “The sort of people that we become is, in large part, determined by the voices that we choose to listen to.” (Adam McHugh) The first voice we must choose to listen to is the voice of Jesus, the Word in flesh. God has given us His Word so that we may know how to live—it is our guidebook for life. But there are innumerable voices that are competing for our attention and many of those voices are trying to seduce us to find fulfillment outside the bounds of Scripture. What voices are we listening to?
Why do some people respond to situations while others react? when a person responds, he takes into consideration the desired outcome—he thinks first. No thought is given to the outcome when a person is reacting. Reacting is emotional—responding is emotional intelligence. If we want our lives to be characterized by emotional intelligence, then there are six things that we must consider every time we communicate with others.
So for the next ten weeks, we’re going to be focusing on what it looks like to build successful relationships and what skills are needed to build them. Asking: Where do I struggle relationally? What attitudes do I need to change? How can I be more patient with those people who annoy me? What things do I do that annoy those around me? Essentially… how can I be a better_________? For God’s answers to these questions, we’re going to look to some ancient wisdom in the Proverbs.
We are here today to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Most of us know the details of these events. We know the “what” of this story, but do we know the “why”? As we seek to answer the question “why?” I want to focus more on why it matters to me and you. Is the biblical story of Easter still relevant in the twenty-first century? Do the events that happened so many years ago really have an impact on my life in the here and now?
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36). If Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, then why would we—as citizens of His kingdom—live according to the principles of this world? Should we not live according to His kingdom principles? So as we continue our study in the Gospel of Luke this morning, I want us to pause and notice five principles for life in the kingdom of God.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word counterintuitive means “contrary to intuition or to common-sense expectation (but often nevertheless true).” So to say something is counterintuitive does not mean that it is faulty, absurd, contradictory or unreasonable—it just means that we do not readily understand it because it goes against the way we normally think. The fact is: most aspects of the Christian faith are both counterintuitive and counter-cultural! Most of the concepts that we will be considering today will be contrary to what our intuition or common-sense are telling us, but nevertheless is true! We’ll be looking at four different issues in this passage. First, we’ll consider, why did Jesus need for extended times of prayer? Why did He need partners in the ministry? Why would people go to a man wondering around in the desert to be healed? And why would Jesus teach the things He did to the crowds? What He said made no sense at all from their perspective!
One of our Christian brothers in Ukraine related a story that a Russian tank approached the point there where they were helping people. The Russian soldiers got out of the tank and said, ‘We’re out of gas, but we’re also out of food and water, and we’re freezing.’ And so the Ukrainian believers that these Russian soldiers are fighting against gave them water, food, hot tea, and even let them use their cell phones to call their families back in Russia.” The prayer request of one of our leaders in Ukraine was: “Pray for us. Pray for our people. But pray that we will have opportunities to reach the Russian soldiers with the gospel.” There is no way to explain their attitudes and actions except to point to the work of God in their hearts! The sign that you follow Jesus Christ is that you love one another. What an amazing display of love by these Ukrainian believers!
As we continue our study through Luke—“In the Steps of the Savior”—I do not want us to forget the context in which Jesus is saying all these things. Anytime we seek to understand the meaning of a text, we must first examine its context, then its next larger context, and eventually in light of the overall teaching of Scripture. The Old Covenants pointed out our need for a Savior, and the New Covenant shows us all about that Savior. It is my prayer that we will come to an understanding of this new covenant and the promises of God that are found therein.
Unseen forces… invisible sources of power… Whether we’re talking about the gravitational force of the earth or the ultraviolet rays of the sun, we may not be able to see them, but we can definitely see their effect in our lives! As we continue our study through the Gospel of Luke, we will consider a passage today where Jesus’ power and authority came into question. Let’s study this passage to see what happened and to hopefully see the effects of the unseen power that courses through Jesus’ being.
In our text today from Luke 5, we encounter a situation that I’m almost certain none of you have ever experienced. Sometimes it can be difficult for us to understand something if we do not have any personal experience that can connect us to that thing or event. In our passage today, we are introduced to a man who is suffering from a highly contagious skin disease—referred to as leprosy in Scripture. When we think about lepers—and the pain and suffering that they must have undergone as a result of their disease—we probably feel sorry for them. But that was not how they were treated in the first century A.D. Let’s look at how Jesus broke the cultural norms to reach out with compassion to the dregs of the society.