Dramatic Intervention: Evangelism

Dramatic Intervention: Evangelism

Luke 5:17-26

I. Introduction
- Title is Dramatic Intervention
1. Could also be extreme measures
2. Or even desperate measures
- "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
1. People will do amazing/ crazy things in intense/ stressful situations.
2. Adrenaline, shock,
-What situations would lead you to dramatic intervention?
-Ill. TV show of a dramatic intervention
1. Family was worried about their loved one's drug addiction.
2. Gathered the family and talked to the family member about the addiction.
3. My family often had "family talks."
-What about a spiritual dramatic intervention?

II. Scripture

III. Barriers
-Some friends were bringing their paralyzed friend to Jesus.
-Note: Oh that we might have friends like these!
-But the problem was that there were some barriers to getting to Jesus.
1. The crowd was too large.
2. Jesus was in a home teaching.
3. Couldn't just walk up to Him.
-Note: How many of us would have given up at that point?
-Point: Persistence pays off!
1. Barriers, deterrent, discouragement will not quench our resolve.
2. We are a people who have been commissioned by God himself!
-Scripture...
1. Galatians 6:9 "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
2. 1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."
3. 2 Thessalonians 3:13 "As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good."
4. God commending the church in Ephesus...
Revelation 2:3 "I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary."
-Pray without ceasing, but don't stop witnessing either!
1. Don't stop talking about Jesus.
2. You just keep sowing the seed!
3. Don't grow weary or discouraged!
-2 Corinthians 9:6 "The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."

IV. Regardless of Costs
-It took the paralyzed man's friends a long time to do all this.
1. They risked rejection by Jesus, lawsuit for a damaged roof, social embarrassment, etc.
2. Don't put a price on the human soul!
-Calling of Saul/Paul
1. Acts 9:15 [to Ananias] "Go, for he [Paul] is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel."
2. Paul was stoned, ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned, chained up, shipwrecked, snake bit, hated, etc. 3. But they couldn't stop him or silence him or keep him from carrying people to Jesus.
-v. 20a "when He [Jesus] saw their faith"
1. The faith of the friends made the difference.
2. It led to the paralyzed man's forgiveness.
-Query: Could your faith be holding back your spouse/ child/friend/neighbor?
-Ill. It's easy to tell when something is on fire.
1. If you put it close to something flammable it too will catch ablaze!
2. Any fire that does not spread will go out!
-Point: We are not the church, if the fire of the Spirit doesn't catch other hearts ablaze!

V. How Extreme is the Need?
-This is not some suggestion God has made to us.
1. It is not a hobby or past-time we do ‘on the side.'
2. It is not a secondary objective or a optional goal.
3. It is the primary thrust of who we are in Christ!
-Jesus said to Nicodemus that His mission/purpose was to seek and to save the lost.
1. So if we're Christian...
2. We adopt that mission/purpose!
-The greatest act of worship is ‘carrying' someone to Jesus!
-We're talking about eternity here!
1. The difference between Heaven & Hell.
2. The difference between being lost in sin and redeemed by the blood!
-Jesus' call to the disciples was: "Come with me and I'll make you fishers of men."
-Point: Some people are.... they need someone to...
1. ...so lost, they need more than directions to Jesus... escort them back to Him.
2. ...so blind...take them by the hand!
3. ...so weak...lean on all the way to Jesus.
4. ...so much pain....help them focus on the Savior.
5. ...wandering in the wilderness & ... lead them into the promised land.
6. ...tossed to & fro in the storms of life &... be the lighthouse that they might find Christ.
7. ...so busy...stop them and point to Christ!
8. ...living in so much hypocrisy... show them the truth of Christ.
9. ...so disoriented by worldly things... help them re-order life around Christ!
10. ...so paralyzed by sin... carry them to Jesus.
-These ppl might articulate it like this...
-Psalm 69:1-3, 13-15, 29
"Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. [2] I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. [3] I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. [13] But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. [14] Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. [15] Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. [29] But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!"
-There are some ppl in need of a dramatic intervention.
1. Something extreme.
2. B/c if it doesn't happen they may end up in Hell.

VI. Urgency
-Ill. A missionary coming home from a journey of about three days.
1. His son, John, comes running to meet him across a field with tall prairie grass.
2. As he ran, he suddenly fell out of sight.
3. At first the missionary thought it was a game, but then remembered there was an abandoned well in the field.
4. In a panic he ran to the spot and pulled his son out of the well.
5. His son's first words as he hugged his father were: "O Papa, why didn't you hurry?"
-Ill. When Jacob or Hannah fall & hurt themselves they will cry.
1. You'll never see a parent run faster than when their baby is in danger or hurting.
2. It is instinctual!
-Point: The ‘paralyzed' won't cry out in the same way a baby does, but they are hurting in a much deeper way!
1. Suicide... on the rise.
2. Depression... on the rise.
3. Addiction (alcohol/ drugs/etc.)... on the rise.
4. Despair, defeat, spiritual depravity, etc.... on the rise.
-Ill. Gen William Booth (founder of Salvation Army) was walking through London w/ his son, Bramwell.
1. His son was 12 or 13 and was surprised by his father when he took him by the hand and took him into a saloon.
2. The place was crowded w/ men & women participating in all kinds of evil.
3. Some were passed out, some were making passes at ppl other than their spouses, some were gambling, etc.
4. Gen. Booth said: "Willie, these are our people. These are the ppl I want you to live for and bring to Christ."
-May I suggest that some of the celebrity gossip shows wouldn't be so entertaining if you viewed them in light of eternity?
1. Maybe some of the worldly music you listen to wouldn't be so entertaining in light of a message echoed in Hell.
2. Maybe your heart would be broken if you measured your success not by worldly standards but by the measure of a soul!
-There are some ppl in need of a dramatic intervention.
-It's urgent that something be done!

VII. Whom Shall I Send?
-Query: What if God calls you?
1. What if you're the one to intervene in a dramatic way in someone's life?
2. What if you are the one with the call?
-Ill. Maybe today will be to you what Isaiah experience in Isaiah 6.
1. He experienced the glory of God!
2. Isaiah 6:8 "And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I [Isaiah] said, "Here am I! Send me.""
-Ill. Maybe your call to work for the Lord has been coming for some time.
1. Maybe you're like Samuel.
2. Samuel was lying in bed and heard God call to him three times.
3. Each time he ran into Eli.
4. Finally Eli realized what was happening...
5. 1 Samuel 3:9-11 "Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place. [10] And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant hears." [11] Then the Lord said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.""
-Let me ask again: Could your faith be the ‘lynch-pin' for revival?
-This paralyzed man went home "glorifying God."
-v. 26 "And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.'"
-Sounds like something I want to be a part of.
-A dramatic intervention.

Response: "Here I Am, Lord"

Relevant?

Ezekiel 1:1-5a, 15-16a, 22, 26-28; 2:1-2

Relevant?: Ezekiel #1

I. Introduction
-Why are you here this morning? (Israel History)
-Does what happens here make a difference in your life?
-If you had to tell about one thing God did in your life, or how being a Christian made a difference, could you?
-We would like to believe we are more technologically advanced than ever before, more civil, more wealth, more secure, etc.
1. So how does this book [Bible] have any bearing on our lives?
2. Why & How can it tell us how to live?
3. Or a man [Jesus] who lived 2000 years ago.
-How can these things be relevant?
-Relevant is a buzz word in the church today.
-What is relevant to your life?

II. Scripture

III. Relevant
-Relevant means: having significant bearing on the matter at hand
-You might hear:
1. "That's not relevant to this discussion."
2. "Ask only relevant questions to the topic at hand."
3. Presidential debates: their answers aren't relevant to the questions.
-If you go into a Christian bookstore & into the ministry section you will see the word ‘relevant' in a lot of book titles.
-"Relevant" is a buzz word.
-They say: "The church has to make its ministry relevant to the world."
-In other words: "Ministry must be done in such a way that it has significant bearing on the matter at hand."

IV. Problem 1
-Ministry is geared toward ppl loving the church rather than God.
-If you participate in that kind of ministry you will begin to believe that if ppl like you, your ministry is successful.
-Ministry success is not based on whether ppl like you.
1. It's not based on whether everyone thinks you're cool.
2. It's not based on whether you are best buddies w/ someone.
3. Just b/c you are friends w/ a Christian, doesn't mean you'll make it to heaven.
4. You must be friends w/ Christ.
-Therein lies the problem: We sometimes seek for ppl to like the pastor more than the Savior.
1. The church, pastor, ppl, eclipse the Messiah.
-Then, I leave the church b/c I do not like the pastor.
1. I leave the church if I do not like a member.
2. I leave the church if my feelings get hurt.
-God calls ppl to churches just like He does pastors.
-You can make it to heaven w/out being best friend w/ everyone!
1. Some ppl just meld better than others.
2. I just get along better w/ some ppl than others.

V. Problem 2
-Ministry looks more like the world.
-Ministry is based on disguising the Gospel.
1. Repentance is tucked away.
2. "We look like you!"
-Ministry is not based on whether ppl think you are like them.
1. Point: It's really hinged on whether you are different than them.
2. What do you have to offer if you are the same.
-Some "relevance" based ministry seeks to convince you that it is alright if you stay the same as long as you like what is happening.
-Real ministry says, you cannot remain the same.
1. Truth changes your life... & the way you go about it.
2. Interacting w/ God is a change of heart, a renewing of the mind, a washing of your actions, & a cleansing of pride & motives!
-Sometimes we ask for the preacher's messages to be relevant.
1. Wouldn't we like more self-help kind of sermons.
2. They are all the craze.
-Some pastors preach on nothing but your finances, your human relationships, how to get a good job, how to have your best life now, how to...
1. That seems more relevant.
-But is that more relevant than a message on the Holiness of God?
1. Is that relevant in light of eternity?
2. Is that relevant in light of the glory of God?

VI. What is Relevant?
-You don't really decide what is relevant, you prioritize your life.
1. Truth is truth. It is never irrelevant.
2. Truth is always relevant!
-Ill. Gravity, you cannot really ignore it.
1. You can fight it...parachutes
2. But it doesn't become obsolete, or irrelevant.
-Ill. "This is a youth service, you don't have to wear a tie."
1. I didn't come to fit-in, but to proclaim the Gospel.
2. I didn't come to be cool, I came to lift up Jesus!
3. I didn't come to entertain, I came to preach Christ crucified... a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness to Gentiles!
-Query: To minister to...
1. ...teens do I have to wear frayed jeans, grow a goatee, & fix my hair like I've not combed it?
2. ...those in the nursing home do I have to get a hearing aid, use a walker, and wear glasses?
3. Is my ministry [and yours] limited by our age, our dress, our income, our racial background?
4. Do you have to be black to minister to blacks?
5. Do you have to be rich to minister to the rich?
6. Do you have to be a doctor to minister to a doctor?
7. Do you have to be from KY to minister to those from KY?
8. Do you have to be 20 something to minister to 20 something's?
-O what limitations we have placed on God!
1. What boundaries we have placed around His power.
2. What restrictions we have placed on salvation!
-Lie (Satan): you can minister only to ppl just like you.
-Definition: having significant bearing on the matter at hand
1. So what is the matter at hand?
2. Is it how much money you make?
3. Is it what job you have?
-What about in raising your children? Is the real issue...
1. ...how smart your kids are?
2. ...whether they are popular or not?
3. ...whether they are successful?
4. ...whether they are a sports star?
5. ...whether they are homecoming queen?
6. What has significance/ bearing to the issue at hand? Are they holy/godly?
-What issue trumps all others?
-The world is screaming that God is irrelevant!
1. He has no bearing on anything.
2. Can you see past that?
3. Have you been bogged down in that?
-What about eternity?
-Point: We need a new vision of His glory!
-A desire for "relevance" leads to sin.
1. Learn to be okay w/ being different.
2. "Fitting in" drives/moves toward sin.
-If kids cannot deal w/ being different when it comes to style (adults too) how can they resist the temptation to conform to this world!?
1. I don't want my kids dressing like ball stars b/c they may also conform to their sins!!
2. I want them to be different!

VII. Hard to See How Relevant.
-Even for Christians it is hard to see how relevant God is to us.
-Ill. Time magazine said $20 billion in US for porn movies
1. estimated $57 billion worldwide
2. Is God that relevant or not?
-The world is screaming that God is irrelevant.
-Do you believe that?
-What about when...
1. ...you go to work on Monday, and listen to the profane, vulgar conversations.
2. ...you hear about the immorality running rampant among your co-workers.
3. ...you go on vacation see the loose & lurid behavior of the wicked.
4. ...you walk through your neighborhood and see the hurting families destroyed by divorce, abuse, affairs, & alcohol.
5. ...your kids come home from school talking about what they learned at school, playing vulgar & sinful music, flippantly talking about sex.
6. ...you turn on the TV and watch holly wood blaspheme all that is holy, idolize the wicked & immoral behavior, and dismiss biblical conscience.
7. ...loneliness is oppressive, hopelessness ushers in despair, and the chaos pushes us to the limit...
8. Then the temptation is to think that this [church, Bible, faith, God] is irrelevant.
-And ppl ask:
1. At the point I am dealing w/ a death in the family, why would a man named Jesus dying 2000 years ago have any bearing on my situation?
2. At the point I have lost my job and am unable to pay my bills, what difference does it make that God made a covenant with Abraham?
-The Israelite in captivity w/ Ezekiel asked: What difference does God make now?

VIII. The Real Problem
-This problem is old as time.
1. We are trying to make God relevant to us (bring Him to our level).
2. Rather than trying to be relevant to God.
-Ill. On Judgement day
1. He won't ask us: "Do you know me?"
2. He will say: "Depart from me, for I do not know you."
-The problem is we've diminished His glory.
1. We've rejected it for materialism, lusts of the flesh, and rusted things of this world.
2. The church has accepted a counterfeit!
-Ill. Famous Atheist Richard Dawkins, author of ‘The God Delusion,'
1. ...about his visit to a 12,000 strong evangelical church here in America:
2. "I worry that these ‘born-agains' are being persuaded to return to childish certainties. That the only truth they need is God..."
3. That's it... the atheist got it!
-We all affirm that God is the most important thing in life, but do you live it?
1. Would your calendar be different if you lived that way?
2. ...check book... family... church... be different?
-Ill. It will take more than an hour on Sunday.
1. Commercial: 20 min/day for 3 wks for killer abs.
2. We apply that to spiritual matters
3. To be Christian will take more than 20/min a day 3 days a week!!

IX. God is Relevant
-Ezekiel got a vision of the Glory of God.
1. That vision of glory gave him something worth saying.
2. It gave him a life worth living.
3. ...a purpose worth fulfilling.
4. ...a mission worth accomplishing.
-How relevant is your life?
-To SS teachers: "Point to Jesus!"
-To song leaders: "What is relevant, is not what we sing, what notes we hit, or what style it is; but who we sing to!"
-To preachers: "What is relevant is not the latest fad or popular thing in the church, but Christ and Him crucified. Preach that!"
-To parents: "Christ is the most important thing in your child's life."
-To couples: "Christ is the most important thing in your marriage."
-To teens: "Christ is the most important thing in your life!"
-To children: "Christ is the most important thing in your life!"
-Don't say it, Live it!

X. Conclusion
-Do you see the glory of God?
-Does God eclipse everything else in your life?
-So many ppl are investing their lives in good things, but irrelevant things.
1. They are missing the glory of God!
2. They are missing the most important thing.
-Why are all these other things not relevant?
1. Why is God/ the Gospel so relevant?
2. B/c the most fundamental need of humanity is still a spiritual need.
-Ezekiel fell on his face when he saw the glory of God.
-But the Spirit picked Him up and set him on his feet... and he heard God.
-You can ignore it, or you can live with new relevance.
1. God is relevant.
2. Do you see that?

Response