Sunday Morning Service, 3/22/09

Songs

• [ Great In Power]
• [ Made Me Glad]
• [ Glory In The Highest]
• [ My Chains Are Gone]
• [ Majestic]
• [ I Exalt Thee]
• [ More Than Conquerors]
• [ Praise Song]
• [ Every Day]
• [ Awesome In This Place]

Message: The Same No More

When I was in the Navy, I had the privilege to teach for quite a while. I remember a video of a man who was in a box. He wanted to get out of the box, and examined every corner and crack until he found a way out of the box, only to find himself in a bigger box. He then worked his way out of the bigger box, only to find himself in another box. This happened several times in the clip, and the point was that it wasn’t the location that needed changing, but the man himself.

There was once a young man who always got into trouble, and each time the fault was in someone else. It was always his friends, his parents, his teachers, his supervisors who got him into trouble. But the only thing that was consistent in all of his problems was the young man himself. John Maxwell wrote a book called “Thinking For Change.” Change has to happen in all of our lives. Jesus brought salvation not so that we could remain the same, but so that we could change. I recently had to come to terms with my own mortality, and one of the questions I had to ask myself is, “Have I changed enough?” We all need to ask ourselves, “Have I changed enough?”

Change will continue to happen as we grow older and have life experiences. Pastor Paine recently preached on Revelation 3:14-16, and really drove home the point that staying the same, or being lukewarm, is not an option. But some people live their lives believing that things will always remain the same. Many of us wrestle with that same attitude. We often tell ourselves that as soon as the difficult situation of the moment is past, life will return to the “same old thing.” We find comfort in sameness.

There is no discomfort in “the same old thing.” We go to the same job, set our alarm clocks to the same time, watch the same television shows. “Same” is a familiar member of our household. When anything comes along that threatens to change “same”, we become upset.

We’ve had a lot of changes in our church lately. In Norfolk, we went from 21st Bay to Little John, from Little John to Chesapeake, then to Newtown and Baker, then met in various hotels until we bought this place. Even when we moved here, some people became upset because it “just wasn’t the same.”

Don’t get me wrong; “same” holds an important place beside “variety”. I have been married to the same wife for thirty-five years, and I’m not looking for a change.

In the book of Acts, we see changes happening in the church. At first, the disciples only ministered to the Jews, then God called Peter to go to the Gentiles. Then we meet Paul, and follow him throughout the New Testament.

Peter and John are going to the temple and they find a guy begging. I want to point out both the seriousness of this guy’s illness and the immediacy of his cure. His illness made him unable to travel, so that he was forced to beg in the same place all day every day. They had no social programs in those days; begging was a way of life. It still is, in some parts of the world. Like some of you, this beggar probably believed that things would never change.

This man’s life was in a rut, and we know that the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth. I remember trips in Haiti when we drove through ruts that were so deep that the car sunk in down to the level of the windows. Some of them look like harmless mud-puddles at a distance. It’s only when you’re in the middle that you realize how treacherous they really are.

Some of you are in a rut. Your life stays the same, day after day, week after week, while change happens all around you. People around you are blessed; they grow and prosper in God while you stay the same.

I want to talk about this man in the gate, whose life was in a rut. When he saw Peter and John, he asked for money. Peter, like most pastors today, didn’t have a lot of money. Peter knew he didn’t have what the man wanted, but he definitely had what the man needed. But first, he had to get the man’s attention. He looked at the beggar and said, “Look on us.” That’s important. Can you say, “Look on me” without the demons jumping on your back like they did to the vagabond Jews?

The apostles were able to do great things not because of who they were. They were fishermen; they were tax-collectors. They were able to do great things because of the presence of God in their lives. Has God taken your life as theirs were changed? Can you say, like they said, “Look on me?” Do you have enough personal experience with God to command peoples’ attention?

The next thing that Peter said, was “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” The power of God in his life was strong enough that he was able to say that with confidence. How could that happen?

Saul, later named Paul, had a mighty experience with God. He was struck down, blinded, led by the hand to a man of God, and prophesied over. But it wasn’t until he demonstrated his obedience that he was given power in his life.

The name of Jesus is the trigger that releases the power of God. Power moves; heaven comes to attention; angels take heed; deliverance stands ready; healing and hope stand by at the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarus. Yet most people only call on that name when they’re hurt or upset. Satan desires to dilute that power.

We should reserve the name of Jesuss for the healing, the hope, the working of miracles. But that power will only come when Jesus becomes personal in our everyday life. There’s power when you pray in the name of Jesus. There’s power when you worship in the name of Jesus. Do you lay hands on your seat and ask God to move in your worship? If not, then it’s no wonder that you can see God moving in others’ lives while nothing changes in your own.

I encourage you to get the power of God in your life. It’s there for the taken; it belongs to you.

Let’s get back to the cripple at the gate. He had everything that was needed to walk. He had his arms and legs, his bones and tendons and muscles, yet he couldn’t walk. But when the power of Jesus was released, he not only was able to walk; he leaped and jumped and ran. When he looked at Peter, he didn’t see the man; he saw the power of Jesus within. And when Peter looked at the beggar, he didn’t see the man; he looked beyond the rags and looked to the hills whence cometh his help. And “same” got out of the rut and got in touch with “change.”

Some of you think you can’t live without your weekly television programs, but the only thing you can’t live without is Jesus. You’re going to be dead a lot longer than you’ll be alive. Your 401-K retirement plan might be in trouble, but my retirement plan is doing just fine, because my investments are laid up in heaven.

When the power of God was released in the lame man’s life, his life changed forever. Some of you are like the lame man; you have every ingredient to make your life work but you have no power. You have skills and talents and abilities, but no power of God. I know this because you keep coming to me with the same problems, over and over and over.

Think what would happen if you received the power of God and let it loose in your life! Do you want the signs of the beliver to follow you, as it says in Mark 16:17? Then leap up, and rejoice, and live in the power of God in your life. When that power is released, you who are merely average will be looked upon with wonder. People will say, “Is this really the same guy we once knew?”

After the lame man was healed, what did he do? He ran into the temple. That temple had always been there, only a few feet away from where he was begging, but he had always been denied its blessings. Some of you are denied blessings because you live a beggar’s lifestyle. When you release the power of God in your life, I guarantee that God will take you places you never thought possible. When that happens, you will never be the same again.

I remember what it was like at 2:30 in the morning when Pastor Davis shared the gospel with me. I remember gathering around Sister Davis’ table, learning that the Bible had stories to tell that were more than just childhood fables.

God wants you to get involved in more than just church; God wants you to get involved in Jesus Christ. God has it all for you.

Church, look at me. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and be made whole.