Series about Jesus - gospel of john in every adult hand
Not scary, or dominating-sovereign, lord, sinless, theological words
Want to talk about things that help us feel as approachable-available
Jesus relates to regular people
Look at where he was from
A normal place where normal, uneventful, poor people came from
Can anything good come from Nazareth?
Look at the people Jesus chose. Anyone was available to him. think of who he passed over - Romans, rich, Pharisees, Herod
He resisted the proud
Luke18:14
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humble, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
If he were calling folks today
Who are those that he would avoid
Who would he seek out?
He was normal
He was accused of running with sinners
Luke7:29-35 [what is the point of this?]
29(All the people, even tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John. 30But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.) 31"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:"We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirg and you did not cry." 33For John the Baptist can neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' 34the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children.
What is the point of this?
- he was accused of running with sinners
- the Pharisees had closed hearts - were not baptized by John
- wisdon is proved right by all her children
Confused followers of Jesus have got this wrong for years....
Mark10:13People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. for the kingdon of God belongs to such as these, 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
He doesn't want to be distant...real people relate to a real savior.
Somehow over the years spirituality became for the pompus, guilt bearers
We strained under the load
Church has become the place where normal people feel uncomformtable
Many of you here today have a story of pain...from a church
Quote from a will..."With regard to my estranged family who were never there for myself or my children, but always there for their distorted version of [names and denomination], I give and bequeath the sum of $1 each to my "mother, father, two brothers and sister" and request that they donate the same to their precious church to whom they had a greater allegiance, than to their first child and sister."
The very place that is to heal us, has wounded us...
Pharisees put loads on others
Would not carry them themselves
Jesus did not put on loads, he freed people from loads, freed them to live
Better
You have to be better than you are to go to church
People that go to church think they are better than you
No question we want to get better,
but we come as we are...no strings attached
Jesus wasn't looking for those who thought they were better. He resisted and rebuked them
Jesus was looking for those who are hurting, normal, regular, authentic
Sometimes it takes times of hurting and brokenness before we can undertand the love and grace of God
The pierced picture - call attention to it.
Todd Agnew, my Jesus
Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet
But, He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale ST. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear if I cry out load
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus
My Jesus bled and dies
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?-----there is a place where the presence of God reaches people
Todd Agnew, my Jesus
There is a place where the presence of God reaches people. When we are honest enough to stop pretending, he can come in and heal our wounds.
There is an old story an aged preacher, lets call him Jeff, who became fearful as death drew near. His friends chided him: "What! Are you afraid that you'll be in trouble with God because you weren't Billy Graham?" "No," the old pastor replied, "I am afraid I will be in trouble with God because I was never Jeff."
Have you bought the Jesus that the church sold you, that said you were not good enough? That you had to pretend?
The Jesus that we know says in Matthew11:28 "come unot me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Matthew11:28
Let me go a different direction for a moment and ask you a question. Who are you inviting to church?
Who is out there?
We need to welcome the broken, the divorcing, the poor, the struggling, the tattooed
- permanent identification with something
- I want to be able to talk the language of this generation
Mike Montgomery-am I welcome in this church
Maybe you are here today and you have the same question
Conclusion
Here is the good news
Jesus comes for those in pain, for the imperfect, for the broken, for regular people living normal lives
Have you come to church and tried to act like everything was okay?
You don't have to
You thought you weren't good enough
You thought your weren't acceptable
You were not holy enough, not spiritual enough-you don't have to worry about such things
Jesus is looking for regular people.
And these, he chooses
Listen, you will hear his voice....Put down you nets, come follow me
So let's go back to the question
If Jesus was picking
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