FEB 14 2016 | Built for Radical Faith: The Supernatural and Compassion Gifts

Sea Change Church · "Built for Radical Faith: The Supernatural and Compassion Gifts" · Adam Stadtmiller · February 14, 2016
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Open your phones or your iPads to Matthew 10, verses 1 through 8. Jesus is out of the box in this verse. And I told you as we've been speaking about spiritual gifts, I've been trying to find stories in the Bible to bring a narrative to the teaching. I find that just teaching straight spiritual gifts, it's just hard for me. I get bored. I like history more than chemistry. I just, who I am. I like, you know, I like sociology more than math.

No offense to any of the math teachers here. They can, you know, the Will Hunting's and from Good Will Hunting, they can get into that world. It's not me. But here, I was looking for a story that I could start talking about some of the gifts that, some of them, that are in the, what they would consider the supernatural camp. Now, supernatural means that things are happening beyond what human natural ability can do.

And so, I was beginning to pray and say, where can I, where can I find this? And I believe that all spiritual gifts and all giftings, and if you need to, without unpacking that, if you go back a few weeks in our, in our online, you can listen to the sermons about what I mean by spiritual gifts, where you can find them. You can find them in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, the different gifts.

But I believe that any time God takes an ability of ours, even whatever that ability would be, and we dedicate it to him, and he comes in and causes the results to be exponentially, or even 1%, greater than we can do on our own. And you're living in the supernatural. We tend to love Hocus Pocus as a people. We have all these TV shows that take us into the ethereal.

We like all that, and I believe we serve an incredibly unique, eternal, mystical God. I studied Catholic mysticism for a while, and looked at different saints, and people, and even Protestants, and the great revivals, where all of a sudden, things started happening that were beyond what things that normally happen. And so, this week, as I was looking for a narrative, I met with one of our local pastors here in town, and he said, you know, I've built my entire ministry around Matthew chapter 10, where Jesus says to go do a few things.

I'm going to read that here in a moment. And he said, I've tried to do that my entire life. And I went and read Matthew 10, and I thought, whoa, we're out of the box. Jesus is out of the box. And I think we need to allow Jesus to be out of the box. If you don't put him out of the box, no matter what it is in your belief system, he tends to be a caged tiger that escapes.

Has Jesus ever escaped your box? On whatever issue it is, whether it be a supernatural thing or not, he escapes your box, or the cage that we put him in. This week, I was telling a friend of mine, he's a real encourager, and I said, you know, if this area and this area of my life was going really well, it just wouldn't be fair for the rest of the world.

It feels like I always have to have a few things that are bad. Like, God will only do so much good, because God is, you know, it wouldn't be fair if these two or three areas. You know, we always feel like you have to have a few bad things going on. It can't just all be good. And he said, since when is God fair? And I thought, what do you mean by that?

He said, since when's God fair? Why can't it all go well? And I thought, I got God in a box. I can only do so well, right? I've got to have a few, you know, lashes from the whip on a regular basis, just to, you know, whether it be to keep you humble, whether to keep you, your head not from being in the clouds, whatever it is. And I realized I put a God in the box on how much joy, peace, goodness I can have in my life.

How about we let God be God, and we stop self-editing what God can do, and just let God be God, especially with our prayers. I'm huge with just praying audacious, huge prayers. This week, I had a prayer request come in that I started praying 10 years ago. I prayed that I would be asked one prayer, and three years ago I put it on my list, I'd love to get asked to speak in England, in the UK, which would be amazing, in Great Britain.

And then another thing, I worked for an organization, they had a conference called New Wine, if you've heard about it. It's a vineyard conference, it's a giant conference. Well, this week, I got invited to England to speak in Scotland at their New Wine conference, although the Scottish always have to be a little bit different, so they call it the clan gathering, they don't call it New Wine, but it is that.

I thought, how cool is God? I forgot, I forgot. As a matter of fact, they invited me to the clan gathering, and I went and looked it up, and it said a New Wine event. And I went, whoa, 10 years ago I prayed that, I forgot I prayed, God never forgets. Outside of my box. Where have you put God into a box? Jesus, in this scripture, is out of the box.

Let me read it to you. Jesus called, if you open up your notes, or look at there on your notes. Jesus called his 12 disciples to him. I love this, that he calls them to him, and then he sends them out here in a moment. So that is how our life often goes. Every morning, every day, he's calling you to him, so that he can send you back out, and it's an ebb and flow of the tide of your life.

Oftentimes, we tend to try to spend most of our life on the high tide, and not go in to spend time with Jesus. I want to say, if you're spending too much time on the high tide, maybe an ebb needs to come, and you need to spend some time with God. Get refreshed, get recharged, and get sent out. And so he called his 12 disciples to them, and he gave them authority.

Let's remember, who has the authority in the universe? Beyond the universe, because God is beyond the universe. He's beyond time. He's beyond tactile. It's funny how science is trying to understand. It's funny, you know, Einstein was trying to understand the cosmos. Even understanding the cosmos isn't big enough. You see, the cosmos is a temporal, physical thing, and so the highest goal of science is to understand what's physical.

What science doesn't understand, and I love science, is that we need to get beyond that. You see, the goal needs to be beyond what we think we can understand. It needs to be beyond our understanding, if that makes sense. And so talking about authority, God has all authority. Do you believe that? I mean, it's not a bumper sticker. Do you believe that he actually has all authority?

Jesus actually said in Matthew 28, 17, when he sent out the disciples, this is another time he drew them together before he ascended to send them out. You'll see this ebb and flow. Make sure you have the high tide and the low tide in your life. And he calls them to him, and he says, all authority has been given to me, and I give it to you. Now, he gives his authority to whoever he pleases.

You see, he's a three-letter word. God. And he does what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. And so he gives this authority, and he has all authority. Have you lost the understanding that God has all the authority? That he's bigger than your little paradigm of what he can do? I think whenever we talk about, especially spiritual gifts, or your life, or his purpose for your life, and please make sure you put that caveat of his purpose and his will for your life, because it was never your purpose.

It was never your will. It was never your life. It's always been his. So quit worrying about it, and just come into Jesus on the low tide, and go back out when he sends you. He gives all authority. He says, and now this is where Jesus is the caged tiger who escapes. Anybody see the elephant that escaped in India this week online? Just a couple people?

No one saw that? You do not want an elephant to get out in La Jolla. Trust me. Are there any elephants in La Jolla currently? I don't know. In our church. Jesus gets out of the spirit. He calls them together. He says, and I gave them all authority to drive out impure spirits, meaning demons, to heal every disease. What kind of disease? Every. Just some?

No. Every. And sickness. And then it gives the names of the apostles. We won't go through those right now, but at the very end, I think there's one that's really interesting. Simon the Zealot. And who? Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. I don't know. Why do you give him the power? Have you ever thought about the grace of God? God, the people that don't deserve it, he still gives them an opportunity and a chance?

And he says, even Judas himself was sent out with the authority to cast out demons, with the authority to heal the sick, with the authority to do these things. Why does God do that? You know, God's not fair all the time. He's a righteous judge, but he's not always fair. And it also teaches me this. Don't trust everybody that does a miraculous sign.

You've got to use discernment. You've got to see the fruit of their life. You know, it says that in the end times, that Antichrist will come and will have all these signs and wonders, and everyone will be wowed. And they'll miss it because of these things that they see. Judas was one of them. I thought that was an interesting note. Verse 5. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions.

Do not go among the Gentiles or any town of the Samaritans. Now, know this. Jesus, remember, he had gone to Samaria. This wasn't him being racially profiling. This wasn't him being a racist or anything like that. It had to do with his calling to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. It was just the way God decided because God had to start with the people.

Now, God decided to start with Abraham. Abraham. Was Abraham a Jew? Was Abraham a Jew? Anyone? Right. He was not a Jew until God made him the father of the Jewish nation. And then Jacob changed his name and Jacob became who? Israel. That's right. So realize this. That Abraham was not a Jew, but the Jews looked back to him as the father of their nation.

And Israel had the name of that people, was changed to Israel through Jacob. Interesting. Jesus could have come to the Navajos. Have you ever thought about that? He could have. Why not? He was just looking for someone who was faithful. He was looking for someone where he could plant his heart, his mission, and start with one person and go out from there.

And maybe in La Jolla or UTC or Bird Rock or PB or wherever you live, he's still looking for someone today and that someone is you. Maybe you're the hero of someone else's story. Maybe God is calling you to something greater than yourself. Maybe you've just confined yourself to these little problems. Your problems make us so small, don't they?

Don't our problems make me small? My problems make me small. Tiny. Oh, I got this problem. It's never going to get fixed. Ah, the enemy's just chewing on your ear. But God is a big God. And he sends them out. And he says, do not go out among the Gentiles or into the town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. Why? Because he wanted them back.

And I want to tell you this, that maybe if you have grown up in the church or had an understanding as a child of God, and now you're not so sure and you've been wandering and checking out other things, God wants you back. He wants to know you as Father. And Jesus wants to be the way and he wants to empower you with the power of the Holy Spirit.

He died on the cross for fellowship. Died on the cross for fellowship. And it says, and as you go, now I love this, as you go, proclaim this message. Now you're going to see a connection between a message and a power. The message and the power go together. It says, proclaim this message. The kingdom of heaven has come near. What a great message. Isn't that a good message?

When was the last time you proclaimed that message? Now you don't have to say it in that way. You can proclaim it with your life. You know, others have said, you know, don't even use words. But realize this. Do you live with the understanding that the kingdom of heaven is drawn near? And that when you go somewhere with the spirit of God in your heart, no matter if it's a meeting, a soccer coach, or whatever it is, that the kingdom of heaven is drawn near in you.

That you bring the kingdom. That we are kingdom bringers. And that the kingdom of God and the geography of your life intersect in the place where your feet dwell. That's it. And our job is to make earth a little bit more like heaven. You know, that's it. That's your mission. To make wherever you are a little bit more like heaven. Whether it's in your car.

Whether it's with your kids. Whether it's in your marriage. Whether it's in your workplace. Whatever you do. How can I make this more like heaven? That's why we need to spend time on the ebb tide of our life with Jesus. Knowing who he is. Understanding who he is. So that we can understand what heaven's like. Because if you never get a sense of knowing what heaven's like.

And the way to know what heaven's like is to know the people who dwell there. And Jesus Christ dwells there. To know Jesus. To know God as Father. To know the Holy Spirit intimately. To begin to listen. To begin to test. And experiment. The same way a scientist experiments with different things. Maybe you found out that they proved Einstein's theory this week.

That time actually has blips in it because of black holes. I don't understand it. But they were able to measure it. Right? Some crazy thing about all of a sudden time has like. It stops. There's like little like pause buttons in time. Yeah. Duh. The Bible's been telling us that forever. There's a thing beyond time. It's called eternity. And there's a little taste of it that they proved.

I love how science keeps proving the Bible. Over and over and over again. If you want to be able to put the kingdom of God. And insert it into the place. The spiritual geography of your life. I encourage you to spend time with those that dwell there. And those would be the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son. Says the kingdom has come. And then he says.

Oh he's really out of the box here. Verse 8. Look at verse 8. Jesus what are you doing? Like. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Okay. Now the local pastor told me that he has built his entire ministry on this. Okay. Here in La Jolla. And I thought. Wow. Raise the dead. Cleanse those that have leprosy. Today. Maybe that would say Zika. Okay. Maybe that would be the word.

If we were today. It would be the Zika virus. Or whatever it would be. Let's make it a little contemporary. Drive out demons. We don't believe in demons anymore. Right. Right. We don't believe in. The world doesn't believe in demons. At least this part of the world doesn't believe that there is anything demonic. Although the scripture says that the entire battle that we fight has nothing to do with the physical components.

It says that it is a battle that happens in the air. It says that everything is a spiritual battle. And everything on the ground is one in the heavens. That's why prayer is so important for your life. To begin to pray. Drive out demons. Freely you have received. And freely give. One of the things that really stuck out there is that final verse to me.

Is that when we are giving our lives away with any gift or talent. There's a spirit like Kai said of this generosity. It's like God freely gave this to me. I just want to. I just want to give it away. I just. Your wife just bubbles over with generosity. You see the more we understand the freedom. How much. How freely God gives to us. Because he gives out of an eternal riches.

You get that. God doesn't give out of temporal riches. He gives out of eternal riches. Whether that be peace. Whether that be hope. Joy. Finance. Whatever these are. Everything there. There's no lack. And so what God does. Is God pours these things out upon us. And it says that now when you go out. To heal the sick. And to pray. Or whatever it is. Or to encourage people.

Or to use whatever gifting you have. Do it freely. And I want to encourage you. The more you understand how freely God has given to you. The probably. The people who have been saved from the hardest bits. Of life. Or have come the furthest. They understand most generosity. And grace. The people that have gone to the lowest depths. And have been saved from that.

Those people seem to be free sometimes. Because they understand. It's like a person who almost died. And then they lived again. And all of a sudden they live their life. With a new perspective. And with new eyes. With fresh baby skin. That's what we're called to do. You know. How is the. How is the. I'll use the word. You know. Let's say knapsack. How is the knapsack.

Of your life. In regard to giving things out. Do you have this like. This like. Defensive mentality. Well I got to be really careful with my time. And we do need to be wise with our time. But is everything no. Before it's yes. You know. I really feel like the biggest change that's happened. Especially with the internet. And all how fast the world is moving.

Is we have gone from a culture of yes. To a culture of no. That's really affected the church. It's really affected believers. Because so many believers start with a no. How many emails do you get? How many requests do you get to do things. Where you just get overwhelmed. You can still start with a yes. And then make a wise decision afterwards. Does that make sense?

As opposed to starting with a defensive posture. Jesus says that he's living a life. Where he is just. Just giving out. Because he knows where to go to refresh. Because the refreshment that he receives. On the ebb tide of his life. Is eternal refreshment. But if you're not going to the ebb tide. If you're not going to the mountain. If you're not getting away for a retreat.

If you're not making sure that you have time. Because there were times where Jesus could not be found. To refresh yourself. You were going to be tired out and worn out. I want to say. Find the Lord. Freely you have received. And freely you give. Jesus is out of the box. Now here's what's interesting. As I was looking at this scripture. What Jesus is telling the disciples to do.

Or the apostles in this case. As soon there will be apostles. After he ascends. Was exactly what he had just done. In chapter 9. Your homework. Should you choose to accept it. Is to go back to verse. To chapter 9. And read through it this week. And see that Jesus. Jesus has been modeling. This kind of lifestyle. He's been raising the dead. He's been healing the sick.

And then he tells people to go out. And do it as well. And he's asking the disciples to do one thing. To make earth more like heaven. I think if there's one thing. That you get out of this message today. Is make where you dwell more like heaven. Make it more like heaven. Do you have an understanding of what heaven looks like? As a matter of fact. Right now.

Just speak out to me. A few characteristics of heaven. And I'll repeat them. So people on the tape can hear it. What? Health? Yeah. Health. In all ways. Spiritual. Emotional. Mental. I have a friend in the congregation. Who has a goal. To cure. Anxiety. And depression. That's his goal in life. To do that. Wow. Wouldn't that be like heaven? Right. What else? Joy.

Peace. What else? What? Glory. I love glory. How much glory do you have in your life? That's a good one. I need more glory. Not like on the field football glory. Like I scored a touchdown. But just the glory of God. Worship. Right. What else? What are some other characteristics? Right. Lack of sorrow. Yeah. Energy. Energy. Fulfillment. Peace. Okay. On and on. Write those things down.

And then go implement them into your life. You know they're available to you. Supernaturally. To go and to have encouragement. To go and to give joy. To bring flowers into your work. It's that simple. To show up to the place you usually go. Go buy flowers this week. And to the place. Whether it's CVS at a pharmacy. And bring them here. I bought you guys these flowers.

Because you're back in the little corner of the CVS. And you never see the sun. And you're like moles back there. And I'm going to bring you. No offense Katie. I know you're back over there at CVS. I see you. I see you home girl. Bring some flowers to Katie at PBCVS. It's awesome. You guys have been doing it too. Somebody at the Faded Awning. I told you it was one of my favorite stores.

Actually it is my favorite store. I love the Faded Awning here on Gerard Street. Two of you went in there. And they said to me when I went in the other day. Two of your people came in and shopped here. Because they said you mentioned it. And they were the nicest people. And amazing and kind. And I thought yeah. They're doing it. We're going out. And they're making a difference.

And people were remembering who you are. Make earth more like heaven. Write that down. Let me just tell you. When we get into the supernatural. We have to first realize. That the entire faith. Is based on the supernatural. Jesus did what from the dead? Do you get that? Like that is the starting point. I mean we have creation. Can we believe in miracles?

Can we believe in healing? I find it quite a jump. To believe that Jesus rose from the dead. And that we will raise from the dead. But we don't believe for healing now. I find that to be a jump. That my faith. I don't have enough faith. Not to believe in healing. Let me say that again. I don't have enough faith. Not to believe in healing. Because if I believe.

That he is going to heal me completely. From death. We will rise from the dead. Then I believe for healing today. All types of healing. To believe for that. I don't have enough faith. Not to believe in it. Because I just. I can't get my head around. That Jesus raises from the dead. And then. I raise from the dead. And you raise from the dead. When he comes back.

To bring us into glory. But in between that time. Nothing in regard to healing happens. As some people say. I don't have enough faith for it. Because I believe that God will heal us. And raise us from the dead. I want to say that what you believe. And you see in your notes here. What you believe about the supernatural. Will greatly influence the story of your life.

Look. I'm not saying. That you have to. Become a Pentecostal. Circuit tent preacher. Of the 1930s. Okay. With a handkerchief. And a sweaty handkerchief. And running around. Slapping people on the head. I'm. I'm not saying. You have to go there. But do you believe. That God can do more than you think he can do. That is where I want to live. I do believe. That if I pray for someone for cancer.

To be healed for cancer. It's possible. If God. Decides to heal them. Because it's not up to me. I don't have a gift of healing. But I have a gift of being a conduit. And I have a gift of obedience. To go and pray for someone. And to see what God wants to do. Now. I've been. Had two. Major healings in my personal life. And they were both. Physical. Obvious.

And yeah. So one was. I. I blew out my knee. And I had tore my ACL completely. And I was. It was buckling. And I'd done it playing basketball. And I was getting ready to go in for the surgery. And a guy named Scott. Whelan from my old church. Came up to me. And he said. Hey. I was going to have surgery. And a guy prayed for my knee. And it was healed. And I didn't have to have the surgery.

And I know you're going to have surgery tomorrow. So I want to pray for you. And this guy. He's always trying to pray for healing for people. So I said. Cool. Laid hands on my knee. I had the MRI. The thing was severed. It was buckling. I hadn't played basketball for six months. I went in to the surgery. 20 minutes. Got the gown on. The whole deal. 20 minutes into the surgery.

They wake me up. I'm groggy. And the doctor says. I'm coming out of it. And he says. Hey. We didn't have to do the knee surgery. He said. I would have had to deconstruct your knee. To reconstruct your knee. And he said. There must have been something wrong with the MRI. We must have read it wrong. Yeah. Yeah. It was good. So three days later. I played basketball three days later.

You have all that. Because they blow it up full of. They put a bunch of. Like. I don't know. Fluid in there. So they can do the surgery. That was one. Another time. I was in Hong Kong. And I had a. A back injury. And I had a nine millimeter bulge in my disc. And we were at this worship service. And the Holy Spirit really began. To be tangible. I can't really.

Explain it. Other than. You ever gotten really afraid. And had fear. And you can feel it. Well. It was the same way. But it was. In the positive way. It was a real sense of God's. Joy. And power. And there was just a sense of. It was thick. It was like you could swim through it. I don't know how to explain it other than that. And I hadn't. Bent. Down. From. There was probably a range of motion.

Of about six inches. And I couldn't stand all the way up. And I couldn't bend all the way down. If you've ever had sciatic. Really bad. And it was. It was just miserable. And I remember. I had gotten to the point. Where I wouldn't let people pray for me. Because I was running in these. Charismatic Pentecostal circles. Which I still run in today. I love having.

I love my Pentecostal friends. They give me encouragement. And I just. If you don't have any Pentecostal friends. Please get some. Like they're just so good. Like Patrice here. She's one of my friends. Rob. You know. They just give you a word of encouragement. They're always willing to pray. When you're not. And I remember. I was at a vineyard pastors conference.

Because I come out of the vineyard church. And they're like. Adam. They saw me walking out. And I was like. You know. And they're like. Hey. Come over to these pastors. We're going to pray for you. I was tired of being prayed for. I'd been prayed over and for. And they'd. They'd beat me like a drum. Okay. And I just remember saying. No thanks guys. I'm just going to go home.

Like you know. That. That takes some good discouragement. To turn down. A pack of wolves. Of vineyard pastors. Like I was. Who wanted to pray for me. Well. We were in Hong Kong. A little bit later. And I went on the trip. And we were there. And you know. It's funny. When the light. They started having this. Like the. Electricity was fading. And so the light bulb got.

Was just fading in and out. It was like. And it was like being in a bomb shelter. It was hot. And there was no air conditioning. And the Holy Spirit was doing some. Really amazing things. And this guy comes up to me. And he says. Hey. I'm going to pray for your back. God wants to heal your back. And I'm like. Okay bro. And I. So I said. Okay. And so. I'm sitting there.

And as he's praying for me. He starts pushing me forward. And I went down. And I touched my toes. And I. Trust me. I was nowhere close to touching my toes. I. It's funny. For two weeks afterwards. My hamstrings were hurt because he pushed me so far. I got up and the pain was gone. Completely. Nine millimeter bulge. I was scheduled for surgery. They canceled the surgery.

I started. By the time we got to Thailand. I was running again. That was 15 years ago. No bulge. Immediately healed. That's twice that that's happened in my life. I've got no explanation for that. Other than. God's really big. And I'm stoked that he did it. And I'm willing to pray. Are you willing to step out? Even to encourage somebody. Let me say. Encouragement is just as powerful of a healer.

As someone getting their knee healed. You ever seen someone who might take their own life. Because they're discouraged. How important would it be to get a Barnabas. He was the son of encouragement in the scriptures. How important would it be to get a Barnabas. To come give a word of life. Words have the power of what? The scripture says. Life and death.

Jesus is called what? The word. In the beginning was the word. Words are so important. And so powerful. And to seek the Lord. And to say. Lord. I need a word from you. You know. We constantly. It's in regard to God giving us words to speak. And we do need to be careful. Because I don't want to go up to people and say. God told me this. God told me that. But sometimes I feel like he does share things with me.

I think on my own on a regular basis. What I'm going to say. Why not just put that into God's camp. And say. God. I have a person I'm going to talk to. I'm going to have a counseling appointment. Or my wife's coming home. Or my children. Or my daughter's discouraged about this. Because before I say anything. Can I just spend a little bit of time with you God.

And say. Would you just. Just ask God. Would you just give me something to say. Then begin to read the scripture. Begin to wait. You know. I have found so often. That just God gives me a word. Even in the emails that I write to people. I just seek the Lord. There's so. You know. As a pastor. A lot of. Like anybody. A lot of. Of crucial emails come in. And emails can be a minefield.

Right? Anybody learn that one yet? You got to be so wise. But. Every email I write. I want to try to. To give the kiss of life on it. To bring life to that. That's supernatural. That's supernatural. Not allowing. You speaking encouragement to somebody. To be supernatural. Is putting God in a box. Once again. I'm not saying you have to be the tent revival.

Pentecostal. But can you go a little bit further. Than you are now. To believe that God can do great things. Jesus here is saying. Raise the dead. Heal the sick. And go after. Those. Things. I'm only going to speak on this. I feel like. I need to skip over. But I need to say. Because it's so interesting. On the notes there. The food court of spiritual gifts.

Here's what I mean by that. It's. You ever go into a food court? I like food courts. Do you like food courts? I do. Because there's Chinese. There's the Greek Euro. There's the. What else they got at a food court? Yeah. Orange Julius. Back in the 70's. I'm dating myself. Right? Right? The Italian place. Borrow pizza. You know. Mexican Rubio's. Right. This is what I have found out about God.

God allows us. Excess. If we want it. And he even blesses excess. Which I don't understand. And look at spiritual gifts like a food court. If you want to go in. And say that there's encouragement. And then there's. There's healing. And then there's prophecy. And then there's all these gifts that we're looking at. If you want to go to one of those places.

And just feast. Because God is eternal. You will never come to the end. Of what that spot in the food court can give you. But you won't be balanced. You will. You can binge there. And if you ever met the believer. And whether it's spiritual gifts. Sometimes it's the political believer. Sometimes it's the Israel believer. Sometimes we become not just followers of Christ.

It's I'm this kind of a follower of Christ. This. And none of those things are wrong. I love all those things. I love what God was doing in Israel. Obviously politics are a huge thing right now. But what I want to make sure. Is that. I feast somewhere to the point where it becomes a stumbling block. To people knowing what I really want to be about.

And that's following Jesus. If you want to be healing guy or gal. Well you can do that. But you can do it in excess to the point where it becomes a stumbling block. And I want to say that. I believe fully in the power of every bit of healing that we can have. But I want to make sure that like I was earlier. When I first started experiencing these gifts.

I think I started becoming a stumbling block. Where the gift or the prophecy or the word or this thing became so big. Or the power. Like that was the thing I dug. Experiencing God's power. Praying for someone. Seeing them healed. Having. Seeking God for a word. And God giving me a word. And somebody saying. How did you know that? How did you know that?

I remember a guy walked up for prayer one time. And I just get these thoughts. Walked up. I was at a conference. I was speaking there. And I felt. I'm pretty sure it was the Lord. I just got this thought. Swimmer. And then I got this thought. Head of the team. What do you call it? The guy who's. The captain of the team. Guy was like 22 years old. Walks up.

And he gets ready to pray. And I just said. Hey. Can I just. Ask you something? And I said. You swim? He goes. Yeah. How'd you know I swim? I said. I don't know. I just felt like I just. It just came to me. And I said. Are you the captain of the swim team? He goes. Yeah. It was a college team. He goes. Yeah. I'm the captain of the swim team. I was in Paris with Carrie.

A couple years ago. And we were at a bookstore. And a guy was there. And he was behind the book. American guy. But at the. What's the place called? Shakespeare and Company. It's the one that was made famous. From the left wing movement. Of the literary movement. In the 1920s and 30s. I was there. And there was a guy behind the counter. And I said. Is your name Steve?

I just. I don't know why that came to me. He said. Yeah. Steve. Have you met me before? I said. Are you from Rochester, New York? Yeah. How did you know I'm from. I said. I don't know. I just knew. Nothing. Nothing happened beyond that. I tried to make the conversation. Oh. Well. Maybe this is an opportunity. Nothing beyond that. I have no idea what that meant.

But. Is that weird? It seems weird. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Thank you for saying yes. That is weird. But I feel like I'm getting this relationship with the Holy Spirit. Now what I didn't say to Steve was. God told me. Your name is Steve. And you're from Rochester. And. Tag that with whatever I think I need to tag it with. I don't know what it had to do with. But I was just trying to be obedient.

And I went back there looking for him. When we were. When I was there recently again. To go see him. But he wasn't there. I don't understand. I want to get God out of a box. Let me ask you this. Are you willing to pray for healing? These gifts that we're talking about today. And you'll see them at the end. If you go to the back of your notes. This grouping.

This is the fourth grouping of. Third grouping of gifts that we've gone through. We've gone through the servant gifts. And we've gone through. There was another form of gifts. And I forgot what they were. But this is the third grouping. And these are the compassionate gifts. And they include. And you'll see at the bottom of your notes. Encouragement.

Healing. And mercy. This is what I love about the compassion gifts. Compassion gifts give concern for the sufferings and misfortunes of others. They are encouragement. Healing. And mercy. And I heard this in a movie last night. It says people with the spiritual gifts of compassion. Make the world seem more kind. I love that. I want to say that the reason I did that.

That whole thing on the supernatural. At the beginning of this message. As we come in now for a close. Is because these final three categories. All have things that are outside of the box. Now. We don't see encouragement as outside of the box. Even though if you look at it with the lenses that I showed you. Of taking an eternal word. Hearing from God.

And actually speaking it over someone's life. In a way that they can receive it. That is not a stumbling block to Jesus. Then I believe that that. Then that's supernatural. If we look at it with those lenses. Once again. We don't want our gifts. Or the way that we use them to be. On a stumbling block. Pastor Mark Foreman. At my old church that I used to work at.

North Coast Calvary Chapel. Said. Look. We might have views on the sanctity of life. But I never want a woman who comes into this church. To stumble over abortion on the way to get to Jesus. Very strong views on what we think about life. Very strong. But I don't want a speed bump. When you walk in. That you fall over before you can get to Jesus. The one thing I see about Jesus.

When he employed all these giftings. Is it was natural. It was supernatural. And it was a bridge. To Jesus. Every gift you have. It's got to be a bridge. I get. A little bit twitchy. When I see. Excesses. In whatever gift it is. Or whatever topic. Whether it's not a gift. That becomes a wall. Instead of a bridge. When I see. That's how I measure things. When people start getting saved.

Because all these gifts are for a reason. That people might know the love of God. If you get to 1 Corinthians 13. It says these gifts are going to what? Pass away. Tongues. Healing. Is there going to be a need. For anyone with a healing gift in heaven? Right. Turn your badge in at the door. The whole point of a healing gift. The whole point of getting a word of knowledge.

Where God tells you things that maybe you shouldn't know. The whole point is that they can know who Jesus is. That he might introduce them to the father. That's it. And what I want to say is. Guys. We are fully open. To every. At this church. And this is the history before I ever got here. And it's my history. We are open. To it all. If we can. Look. If someone gets hit by a car.

Out in front. And they die. You can be assured that if I'm here. I'm going to go out there. And I'm going to put my hand on them. If I can. And ask God to raise them from the dead. Why not? Let God edit it. What I'm not going to do. Is put a white shawl on. Dance. Blow smoke up in the air. Make a big deal of it. I'm just going to go out and say. God. I don't know what I'll do in the moment.

But what I would hope to do. Is say. God. You're the bringer of life. Can you bring this person? Can you bring them back? Can you? That's it. And then let God do his thing. That's the kind of church we want to be. To get people to use your gifts. That they might know your father. That's why you have a gift. That they might know your father. And not have your gift.

Or the gifts of a church. Or the one thing that we want to feast on as a church. Because I only want to feast on one thing here. God's fatherly love. And knowing his son. And experiencing the Holy Spirit. That's it. That's what I want us to do. And if you want to be on board. And you like how that cooking. You know smells. Come be a part of it. And we want to release you.

To use your gifts here. In this body. So these gifts are. Compassionate gifts. Are encouragement. Healing. And mercy. And I'll let you look at those later on. Go back in your notes if you would. Back to Jesus freely traded in the supernatural. So one thing about Jesus is he is a supernatural religious figure. He did all these miracles. There's a lot of religious figures.

Not you know that you see in the world. But Jesus. We tend to remove the supernatural component of his life. He was incredibly supernatural. He traded in that. Why? Because his connection to the kingdom was so strong. It was impossible for him not to. You see if you're in touch with the kingdom. The earth is going to become more like the kingdom around your life.

Get in touch with the kingdom. And see what God does. See what God does. And if you begin to find excess. If you begin to find things that are taking people away from knowing the fatherly love of God. Maybe you need to ask God where you can edit it back a little bit. Because it's all about people coming to know Jesus. He traded in the supernatural.

He was naturally supernatural. And we have a tendency to want to create. Now this is really key. A tidy Jesus. Or a messy Jesus. You see extremes are easy. One of my other employers. Paul Martin when I was at Soul Survivor. A ministry with Matt Redman and Tim Hughes. And some of those worship guys. One of the things he always said was. Extremes are easy.

It's so easy to be. It's so easy to put a business suit on Jesus. You know. Really clean. He's Jesus CEO. Anybody read that book in the 1990s? Jesus CEO. He's just a good CEO. He's smart. He's on mission. He gets things done. He's never going to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. Because he's Jesus CEO. He's just tidy. And then we got messy Jesus.

You ever know anybody that knows messy Jesus? I do everything. He's like the crazy uncle that shows up at the party. Ah. Holy Spirit. You don't have a room he's going to go. Ah. Ah. I saw a video. There was a revival meeting. And the guy ran up past the preacher. Through his jacket. The jacket landed on the preacher's head. And the guy jumped in the baptismal.

Anybody seen that video? No one else but me? And it's entitled like revival comes. Or something like that. I should put it on. I'll put it on our Facebook. No I can't put it on the Facebook page. Just Google it. I don't know. Try to find it. You Google searchers. I'm like. That's messy Jesus to me. One of the things I find out is if the spirit is working in me teaching.

He's not going to have 12 other gifts. You know. Somebody told me that recently they were somewhere and the pastor was preaching. And somebody stood up and said I got a word of prophecy. And they gave a word of prophecy. I just. I don't often see when one gift is being. The Holy Spirit steps on another. The toes. Does that make sense? It's just messy.

Extremes are easy. You know it's funny what Jesus says. To people. Because when he talks about the extremes of the tidy Jesus or the messy Jesus. He actually condemns both. Look at here. Matthew 12 39. He answered. A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign. But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. People were saying Jesus show us another sign.

Make us some more food. Wow us with gifts. There was these people. All they wanted was him for his gifts. The miracles that he did. Jesus got sick of it. He's like dude enough with the miracles. Enough. You know what sign you're going to get? The sign of Jonah. It's not a good sign. Trust me. Look up sign of Jonah. You don't want the sign of Jonah. It's a sign of condemnation.

He's enough. Enough. Will you please stop with all the miracle seeking. I'm tired of it. Ooh. You ever seen that before? Messy. He goes I'm not that messy. At the same time. Jesus says in Matthew 13 58. And Jesus didn't do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. There's other times where he said you know if I had done even these amount of miracles here.

They would have believed. No matter how many miracles I do. Because you don't even have the faith to believe in him. You'll never get saved anyways. He said you don't believe. You don't have the faith for anything. Don't you have the faith for anything? He condemned it. He says you just want. You just want a tidy Jesus. And he says I'm not willing to be that tidy.

And he condemns it. It's interesting trying to find that balance. Let me just tell you. This is the. This is the challenge. Today. Make your earth where you put your feet more like heaven. That's it. Come and tell the stories. Make it more like heaven.