[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday, the 25th of January, 2015. This service also included guest speaker, Dale Moorefield with The Gideons International.]
The first miracle recorded in the Gospels of both Mark and Luke came as Jesus was speaking with authority in the synagogue. Today we’ll be taking a brief look at His word, beginning with that first miracle as recorded by Mark in the 1st chapter of his Gospel, verses 21 through 28…
21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” 28 And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.
--Mark 9:21-28 (NKJV)
Let us pray... Father, we are here to worship You and to hear Your word and the words Jesus spoke with the authority You gave Him. Speak to us now, O Lord, with that same authority so we can fully receive Your message. May Your Holy Spirit write it on our hearts and may we carry it back into the world that so needs to hear Your voice. In the most precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
You probably all know about the Mutiny on the Bounty. First Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Captain William Bligh. Not living up to his surname very well, Christian set Bligh and his supporters adrift in an overcrowded lifeboat, kidnapped some women and took some slaves from Tahiti, and carried them and most of his fellow mutineers off to Pitcairn Island. The little group quickly unraveled there, drinking whiskey distilled from a native plant, killing one another and dying from local diseases. In the end, only one of the original mutineers survived, John Adams, who found himself surrounded by a somewhat odd assortment of women and children.
And then an amazing thing happened. Adams was looking for useful supplies when he came across the Bounty’s neglected Bible. As he read from it, he took its message to heart and began teaching his small community. He taught the colonists the Bible’s scriptures and helped them obey its instructions. The message of Christ so transformed their lives that twenty years later, in 1808, when the ship Topaz landed on the island, it found a happy society of Christians living in prosperity and peace, free from crime, disease, murder and mutiny.
Jesus still speaks with authority, and miracles still happen even today.
Do you remember the story of when Jesus was 12 years old and Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover? When they headed for home, about a day out Joseph and Mary noticed Jesus wasn’t with them. They went back into the city and found Him in the Temple with the teachers, listening and asking questions, amazing everyone who heard Him.
Well, that turns out to not be an exception. Luke tells us in chapter 4 verse 16 of his Gospel that it was Jesus’ custom to go into synagogues on the Sabbath to teach. And Mark tells us He taught and spoke with authority. Of course we know that authority came directly from God. The very words coming from His mouth brought miracles into being.
A man possessed by an unclean spirit cried out to be left alone! That man, that spirit within him, knew exactly who Jesus was. He even said so, in verse 24, and identified Jesus as “the Holy One of God”. But Jesus told the spirit to come out and leave that man, and His very words, His voice, drove the spirit out and away. Those who witnessed all this were so impressed they commented that even unclean spirits obey His words. His word.
Back when I was a Gideon, our guiding scripture was from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 11. Listen to verses 10 and 11 from that amazing book of prophecy…
You probably all know about the Mutiny on the Bounty. First Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Captain William Bligh. Not living up to his surname very well, Christian set Bligh and his supporters adrift in an overcrowded lifeboat, kidnapped some women and took some slaves from Tahiti, and carried them and most of his fellow mutineers off to Pitcairn Island. The little group quickly unraveled there, drinking whiskey distilled from a native plant, killing one another and dying from local diseases. In the end, only one of the original mutineers survived, John Adams, who found himself surrounded by a somewhat odd assortment of women and children.
And then an amazing thing happened. Adams was looking for useful supplies when he came across the Bounty’s neglected Bible. As he read from it, he took its message to heart and began teaching his small community. He taught the colonists the Bible’s scriptures and helped them obey its instructions. The message of Christ so transformed their lives that twenty years later, in 1808, when the ship Topaz landed on the island, it found a happy society of Christians living in prosperity and peace, free from crime, disease, murder and mutiny.
Jesus still speaks with authority, and miracles still happen even today.
Do you remember the story of when Jesus was 12 years old and Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover? When they headed for home, about a day out Joseph and Mary noticed Jesus wasn’t with them. They went back into the city and found Him in the Temple with the teachers, listening and asking questions, amazing everyone who heard Him.
Well, that turns out to not be an exception. Luke tells us in chapter 4 verse 16 of his Gospel that it was Jesus’ custom to go into synagogues on the Sabbath to teach. And Mark tells us He taught and spoke with authority. Of course we know that authority came directly from God. The very words coming from His mouth brought miracles into being.
A man possessed by an unclean spirit cried out to be left alone! That man, that spirit within him, knew exactly who Jesus was. He even said so, in verse 24, and identified Jesus as “the Holy One of God”. But Jesus told the spirit to come out and leave that man, and His very words, His voice, drove the spirit out and away. Those who witnessed all this were so impressed they commented that even unclean spirits obey His words. His word.
Back when I was a Gideon, our guiding scripture was from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 11. Listen to verses 10 and 11 from that amazing book of prophecy…
10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
--Isaiah 55:10-11 (NKJV)
God, through His prophet Isaiah, notes that the rain and snow fall from heaven and nurture the earth, making it fruitful for the benefit of all His creation. He then declares that in the same way, His word goes out from His mouth and does not come back empty but instead accomplishes everything God intended for it. His word.
In Bible Study recently, we’ve started taking a fairly in-depth look at the Gospels, working chronologically. Part of that study focused on how John describes Jesus before He took human form as “The Word”. John opens his Gospel by clearly declaring, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is God’s Word, sent straight from the Father’s mouth to accomplish everything God intended Him to, returning only after He had provided a means of salvation for God’s most beloved creation: mankind.
Jesus. God’s Word. The Word of authority that even unclean spirits obey.
There are still plenty of people walking around with unclean spirits, and I’m not talking about just the truly demon-possessed. Pedophiles, serial killers, rapists, drug pushers, porn merchants, slave traffickers, psychopaths… I don’t think it too much a stretch to say these types of people have very unclean spirits within them. Maybe even a few believers could use a little internal washing every now and then.
Jesus can still speak authority into their lives and drive out those filthy spirits and replace them with His Light and the Holy Spirit. Just like in the story of the Bounty mutineer Adams, Jesus can still speak miracles into being through His word. But they can’t hear His word if it is not made available to them in one form or another. What if Adams had not found the ship’s Bible?
Let’s try a little exercise… Follow along with me and snap your fingers… (Snap your fingers once every second or so for about 15 or 20 snaps.) If you’re good, you can use your left hand. How about both hands? OK, that’s enough. That was fun, right?
Well, every time we snapped our fingers, somewhere in this big old world… two people died. In our 20 or so seconds of snapping, nearly 40 people passed from this earthly existence. How many of those do you think ever had the chance to know and accept Jesus as their Lord and Master? How many found salvation through Him and His word?
In just a few minutes you’ll have the opportunity to donate to the Gideons and help them provide Bibles throughout the world. Through them, you can help place the Gospel of Mark and the prophecies of Isaiah into the hands of millions of people each year. Together we can increase the odds of those 2 people each second having found salvation through Jesus before their passing from this life to the next.
We can give financial support to this wonderful effort, and we can give our prayers asking God for His support, and that He will open even more doors for the Gideons into countries where they are not yet allowed. Be generous in your giving so that others might gain eternal life.
Help spread His word, God’s Word, throughout the world.
Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, Creator of all there is, speaker of Life, we thank You for Your Word that brings Light to the darkness of this world, that speaks with such great authority into our lives. We thank You for those who made sure that Your word was available to us, so that we could come to know You and Jesus and experience Your mighty works within us. And we thank you for Your Holy Spirit that now lives within us, replacing the unclean spirit that Jesus drove out of our hearts.
Forgive us, please Father, when we get all caught up with the busyness of life and forget the business Jesus left us: that of spreading Your word and the Good News of Jesus throughout all the world. Please bless the Gideons for carrying our this task so well and bless us for helping them with our dollars and our prayers of support.
Hear us now, please Lord, as we pause in the silence of this place to open our hearts to You in personal prayer…
And the Word of Your mouth, it shall not return empty; it shall bless the earth wherever it is heard. Help us make Your word read and heard by all the earth, O Lord. In the most glorious name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer we pray. Amen.
In Bible Study recently, we’ve started taking a fairly in-depth look at the Gospels, working chronologically. Part of that study focused on how John describes Jesus before He took human form as “The Word”. John opens his Gospel by clearly declaring, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is God’s Word, sent straight from the Father’s mouth to accomplish everything God intended Him to, returning only after He had provided a means of salvation for God’s most beloved creation: mankind.
Jesus. God’s Word. The Word of authority that even unclean spirits obey.
There are still plenty of people walking around with unclean spirits, and I’m not talking about just the truly demon-possessed. Pedophiles, serial killers, rapists, drug pushers, porn merchants, slave traffickers, psychopaths… I don’t think it too much a stretch to say these types of people have very unclean spirits within them. Maybe even a few believers could use a little internal washing every now and then.
Jesus can still speak authority into their lives and drive out those filthy spirits and replace them with His Light and the Holy Spirit. Just like in the story of the Bounty mutineer Adams, Jesus can still speak miracles into being through His word. But they can’t hear His word if it is not made available to them in one form or another. What if Adams had not found the ship’s Bible?
Let’s try a little exercise… Follow along with me and snap your fingers… (Snap your fingers once every second or so for about 15 or 20 snaps.) If you’re good, you can use your left hand. How about both hands? OK, that’s enough. That was fun, right?
Well, every time we snapped our fingers, somewhere in this big old world… two people died. In our 20 or so seconds of snapping, nearly 40 people passed from this earthly existence. How many of those do you think ever had the chance to know and accept Jesus as their Lord and Master? How many found salvation through Him and His word?
In just a few minutes you’ll have the opportunity to donate to the Gideons and help them provide Bibles throughout the world. Through them, you can help place the Gospel of Mark and the prophecies of Isaiah into the hands of millions of people each year. Together we can increase the odds of those 2 people each second having found salvation through Jesus before their passing from this life to the next.
We can give financial support to this wonderful effort, and we can give our prayers asking God for His support, and that He will open even more doors for the Gideons into countries where they are not yet allowed. Be generous in your giving so that others might gain eternal life.
Help spread His word, God’s Word, throughout the world.
Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, Creator of all there is, speaker of Life, we thank You for Your Word that brings Light to the darkness of this world, that speaks with such great authority into our lives. We thank You for those who made sure that Your word was available to us, so that we could come to know You and Jesus and experience Your mighty works within us. And we thank you for Your Holy Spirit that now lives within us, replacing the unclean spirit that Jesus drove out of our hearts.
Forgive us, please Father, when we get all caught up with the busyness of life and forget the business Jesus left us: that of spreading Your word and the Good News of Jesus throughout all the world. Please bless the Gideons for carrying our this task so well and bless us for helping them with our dollars and our prayers of support.
Hear us now, please Lord, as we pause in the silence of this place to open our hearts to You in personal prayer…
And the Word of Your mouth, it shall not return empty; it shall bless the earth wherever it is heard. Help us make Your word read and heard by all the earth, O Lord. In the most glorious name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer we pray. Amen.
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