Jesus in the House

This is the message my pastor preached Wednesday March 18, 2009. It is used with his permission and cannot be found anywhere else on the internet. I wrote it while listening to the CD of the service. It is a very long article and it is really for those who are already saved. Not saying that you can't read it if you're not saved.

 

David made a statement, I once was young and now I am old. In the entire span of my life, I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor His seed begging bread. That was probably the reason he said, "I was glad when they said let us go up to the house of the Lord." Not sad like a lot of Christians get, not mad. Some people get mad at you. Confessing to be Christians, they get mad if you ask them to go to church. They get mad if you plan on having a revival because it offends them. You're not supposed to get sad or mad, but be glad.

David was glad because he wanted to thank the Lord for all the generous things that God had done for him. Has God done anything good for you? Do you owe Him some praise right now? God has been more than generous to most of you and we cannot give Him enough praise. If you approach God with the right attitude, an attitude of respect and honor, the Bible says that if you draw nigh unto God he will draw nigh unto you. That is something that we have to learn to do is reverence God. When we are in His house, we have to let Him know that we appreciate everything that He's done in our lives.

Mar 2:2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

Mar 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

The word was that Jesus was in the house. Nothing was said about Jesus preaching, didn't say he was ministering, He hadn't said a word, but the crowds came just because they heard that He was in the house. This really should be our attitude. You can ask people to go to church and they'll ask, "Who's preaching?" Or they'll ask, "Who's singing?" It really shouldn't make any difference if Jesus is in the house. The main thing is to know that He is in the house. if it takes a preacher or singer to get you to go to church, it may be an insult to Him. He may say, "Why don't you just come because I'm going to be there." We shouldn't have to have a special preacher or singer to get us out. It should mean something just to be in His presence.

While He was there, the Bible says, He saw a man that was brough before Him and he had the palsy. The Bible also says that jesus hadn't done anything to heal or help this man, until He saw the faith of the congregation that had gathered in that night. (Mar 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. ) He didn't or wouldn't address the issue, until He saw their faith. The Bible says, "And when he saw THEIR faith, then he healed the man that had the palsy."

 

Is Jesus in your house? Do you believe that He is? Have you done anything to make Him see that you believe in Him? (The questions I ask of you not for you to give me an answer, but for you to ask yourself and to get you to examining your own self) And when he saw THEIR faith, there was something they were doing that got Jesus' attention. Maybe it was just a little prayer line, or maybe it was just someone standing to their feet and raising their hands to honor Him, but there was something that got His attention because the Bible says,

When he saw THEIR faith, then He approached the man with the palsy and healed him. If they hadn't done something that got His attention, if everyone had just sat real still with legs and arms crossed a sour look on their face, I wonder if He would have healed that man. Do you think he would have looked around on an old cold, dead congregation that wouldn't respond in any way, wouldn't stand up, wouldn't praise Him, and wouldn't worship Him do you think the Bible would say, "When he saw THEIR faith."

What are you (the reader) doing to express your gratitude towards God? There are ways of letting God know that you are grateful. Simply standing to your feet and raising your hands, is one of them. That's one way of letting God know that you are grateful for the things that God does in your life.

Jesus also looked around and saw some scribes sitting there. They were His adversaries and the Bible states that Jesus knew what they were thinking. He knew what was in their hearts and perceived that they were opposing Him because He was getting ready to heal another man with a withered hand. He already healed the man with the palsy and made the scribes mad and there was another man with a withered hand and He was getting ready to heal him. He looked around and the Bible states that the attitude of some of the people in that congregation provoked Him to anger. In their hearts they were saying, "You can't do that here on this Sabbath Day. You;re not allowed to do that on the Sabbath Day." They were opposing Him in their hearts and He knew their thoughts.

Do you think that anytime in your life that God might have been grieved with the way you acted in or outside of a church service?

Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? Maybe your countenance had fallen like Cain's. I can imagine God at times saying of me, "There is something bad wrong with him. Look at what a face he is making." We must be careful how we look because God does watch us. He notices when we're mad, when we're depressed, oppressed and in our hearts we are bitter. You try to sing with bitterness in your heart, you try to preach with bitterness in your heart, you try to fellowship with bitterness in your heart, you can't smile and you can't worship just because you are so bitter. Have you even been that way? (I have been there many times) The Lord notices these things.

Mar 3:1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

Mar 3:2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

Mar 3:3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

Mar 3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

Mar 3:5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

Jesus at that time was provoked to anger. You can see that I am not the only one who gets mad sometimes. If the Lord got angry at the expression of the congregation, then at times I will get angry at the expression of the congregation. The singers feel the same thing I do. They stand and sing, doing their best to get us involved in worship and praise, while we sit there and do nothing, naturally they are going to get upset. They may not admit it, but they do. They get offended. It matters to them whether you respond or not. It matters to me.

If we would all practice just saying, "Amen," every once in a while, it would be like throwing water one me. It refreshes me when I can just get an "Amen." If I can just see one old weak hand go up. that tells me that someone is wanting me to preach and it encourages me. It's like saying, "Preach on preacher, I hear you. You're helping me." That's what we need to do.

We all have a battle to fight and the devil wants to stand between me and my message, he wants to stand between me and my prayer, me and my praise, me and my worship, he wants to stand between you and me. He don't want you to hear what I have to say. He don't want you to be strengthened, to be encouraged or to be motivated in any way so he's going to do his best to put up a barrier between me and you. The devil knows that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. he doesn't want you to hear God's Word because the Word of God brings life and faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

 

Going to the Book of Jude, when it is written as being to you, I want you to substitute your name because it is written to you the reader. It is a personal letter to you.

Jud 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you (the reader) of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you (the reader), and exhort you (the reader) that ye (the reader) should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

If you contend for the faith, what is it that you are actually doing? The word contend means to fight. He is saying I encourage you (the reader) to fight for the faith. I have heard people say the devil is after my home, he's after my car, he's attacked my marriage, and he's after my job. The devil don't need these things, he has no use for any of these things. He doesn't drive or need a house. He doesn't need your husband, your wife nor your job. He attacks these things because they are what he uses to get hold of your faith. All he really wants, is your faith, because the Bible sates that faith is how you are saved. We are saved by grace through faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by the Word of God.

How do we walk? By faith. Why don't the devil want you to hear this Word? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by the Word of God.

The devil wants to fight me, he don't want me to preach, I have to contend for this faith, I have to stand against him, he's going to challenge me, it's warfare, it's a standoff, each night I mount the pulpit i'm going to be challenged, I'm going to be opposed and there are nights that I walk out of here I lost the battle because you won't help me, you didn't amen me, you didn't encourage me, you wouldn't stand with me, Jesus wasn't proud of you because you wouldn't back His Word, and when I preach the Word, you need to get behind it. This is how we all contend for the faith. When you help me, Jesus is going to anoint me and we will all be blessed because we are fighting for the faith. The Bible says, "The just shall live by faith."

How strong is your faith? The Bible says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." Do you have any? If not, you better get some, because without it you cannot please the Lord. So we are in a battle and we are fighting for the faith.

Jud 1:20 But ye (the reader), beloved, building up yourselves (the reader) on your (the reader's) most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.

When you really talk to God, you will talk to Him in the spirit. It doesn't matter what your lips are saying, when you talk to God you will talk to Him in the spirit. I am not saying you will always be praying in tongues when you talk to God, but when you really talk to God, it is more than just jibber jabber, it is more than kneeling and reciting a prayer, you talk to God through your spirit.

Have you ever had a heavy heart or a burden and you come before God? It is not you but it is your spirit that talks to god and when you get under a really heavy burden and you are baptized in the Holy Ghost, then He will take over because you don't really know what to pray for. He intervenes for you and even your own mind is unfruitful in what's going on. But the Bible says you will build yourself up in the most holy faith.

You hear a lot about little faith, much faith, and great faith, but you hear very little of holy faith. It says if you praying in the Holy Ghost, you build yourself up in the most holy faith, which is a reminder, you can't get anything from God if you don't live holy. You can pray until you are blue in the face, but until you come to God holy, you can't approach God in any other way but holy, and pray to Him in the spirit in the most holy faith, you will not hear from God.

 

Notice what is written, "But you beloved, building up yourselves." Don't ask for somebody else to pray for you all the time. God has taken the responsibility off of everyone else and if I go to hell it won't be your fault and if you go to hell it won't be my fault. "I've asked them come pray for me and I told them to come pray for me," but Jude shifts the responsibility to you (the reader). Don't depend on others just pray for yourself. Build your own self up. Stop relying on others to pray for you, encourage you, and strengthen you. If you're going to get strong in the Lord, build you own self up. Nobody knows how to pray for you like you do. Nobody knows what's going on in your life like you do so pray for yourself! You have to learn to pray for yourself! Many of will not pray for our own self. We will lie around and backslide waiting for other people to pray for us.

Build up yourself. Go look in a mirror and say, "Work no your own self."

2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Stop examining everybody else. They need this and they need that, they need to quit this and they need to quit that, they need to do this and they need to do that, why not just work on your own self? I'm sure there is something in your life, envy, jealousy, spite, strife, a temper, I am sure that you have something that needs worked on. Maybe you can be a better wife, a better husband, a better father, a better mother, a better son, a better daughter. Let's work on our own self before we start working on others. We'll examine everyone else. looking them over, but refuse to work on our own selves.

Have you ever built anything? Can you build without a plan? Now notice this, build yourself up. When you build, you have to have a plan. Maybe you have to make a little blueprint. You have to plan on investing some money and some time, but you have an idea of what you want. As a christian, what do you want to be? You see Paul, talking about the faith, said "The life that I now live in the faith is not like the life that I used to live." The emphasis is on the word NOW which means it is a different life than you had before. The Bible says, "According to faith that works in me, I now have to present my body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God which is my reasonable service."

Now what do you need to work on? The Bible says, "Be not conformed to the world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind." Now more questions. Are you completely satisfied with how you are living? Is there any room to work on you? Can you just thank the Lord, I'm not completely where I need to be, but I'm getting better. Can you do that? I'm not completely healed, but I'm still going to thank Him because I'm getting better. You see when you build, you don't build it all at once, it is a process. It takes a step at a time. I'm not where I ought to be, but I'm sure not what I used to be. I'm not completely delivered but I'm going to praise Hin because I'm getting better.

You can't just have a casual or indifferent attitude like, if He wants me to change, He can change me. If He wants to heal me, he can heal me. If He wants to bless me, He can bless me. If He wants to comb my hair and brush my teeth, He can. Have you ever been around people with that attitude? When are you going to do something for yourself? Most churchgoers are spoiled rotten. A brother was sick at home and I didn't get to go see him for two weeks. When I did se him, he acted like it didnt matter. I told him you know what, you would be surprised at the people if they're sick a week, they think that you have to stand right by their side every minute of the day or they're mad at you.

Building yourself up in the Holy Ghost, praying in the most holy faith. I know that there have been times in our lives that our faith hasn't been what it should have been. How many have almost departed from the faith? Paul prophesied that in the last days, many would depart from the faith, they will quit fighting for it. I want you to know something, as long as you're alive, the devil is going to fight you. You're going to have to fight for this thing called faith. God gave every man a measure of faith. It is what you are saved by, justified by, and walk by. Doesn't it make sense that's the reason the devil wants your faith?

If you don't have enough faith to go to church, I doubt that you have enough faith to go to heaven. I know there are all kinds of people who call themselves christians, but they won't go to church. If they really dont have enough faith to go to church, I really don't look for them in Heaven. Now that is just my opinion. There's a reason, I'm not saying this about those that can't go, but about those who won't go. we have all been weak. We've come to a place in our lives that we have been weak in faith. One of the greatest men that ever lived, actually died in a backslidden condition and through his dying prayer was restored. In Bible study we had talked about the forgiveness that would come in the next world. When we were talking about blaspheming the Holy Ghost Jesus said, "It won't be forgiven in this world, neither in the world to come." indicating that some sins will be remitted in the world to come.

I want to remind you of a prophet, Samson. He was at his weakest point. Actually he had already backslid because when anything else takes priority in your life over God, that's what makes church boring. That's what makes it a burden to most people. It is because Jesus actually doesn't have first place in their heart. They don't want to admit it, but that's what's really going on. Actually God had lost first place in Samson's life and at his weakest point, Satan tried to use a woman to try and destroy his faith. The Bible states that Samson had finally revealed his secret to her and showed her his heart. He had a secret that should have been kept secret, but he let it out. He ended up sharing his secret with the wrong person and it destroyed him. You have to be careful who you talk to. Don't share your heart with everybody.

Samson went to sleep with his head in the lap of Delilah. When he woke up his head was shaved. His hair was where his strength laid and when it was gone, Samson was nothing. The Bible teaches us that in God we move, live and have our being and without Him we are nothing. Samson was in some bad trouble. he had lost everything that he ever had. They had taken him down to nothing. Samson used to be a king, now he has no crown. He used to be a judge, but now has no throne. A man that used to have strength, but now he has no power. All this because of worldliness. All because of a woman and because he had become a stranger to the house of God. He shunned the commandments of God, he avoided church like some of us do today, and when he did go, he wanted to get out as soon as possible. He ended up getting weak, the enemy came upon him at his weakest point and they shaved his head and when Samson woke up he realized that it was too late because the enemy had taken his power and God was gone.

A lot of us are going to end up like Samson. We will wake up and it's too late, we never had anything because it's been gone for a long time. What we are living on is not good enough to take us in. We might think we have more than what we really have.

Here Samson is, head shaved (no strength) and his eyes are put out. His body is weak and he is blind and unable to defend himself. His confidence is gone, his heart is broken, and he had no friends or family. He is treading at the mill with chains and fetters on his feet and hands. He begins to notice that what is around him is oxen, and asses. (if you want to know more about yourself, take a look at what's around you). What a mess Samson is now in. He starts thinking, "You know, the only difference between me and them, is that I know better and they don't." (paraphrase) When you go back out into the world, and you start drinking and partying ending up in trouble. You start looking around you and see your drinking buddies and drug buddies, you realize that you are almost destroyed and you start thinking to yourself, "The only difference between me and them, is that I know better."

Samson begins to pray. All he has at this time is only a memory of what used to be. Isn't it a sad place to be that the only happiness you could find is in a memory of what used to be? He began to seek God. No one else was there to help him. Samson begins to encourage himself and build up his own self in the most holy faith. he looks up and says, "God, remember me? I'm the one that took the jawbone of an as and killed a thousand of the enemy with it. I'm the one that destroyed the fields and picked up the gate of Hebron. I'm the one that destroyed armies, do you remember me?" You have to think that maybe as Samson reached up his hand to wipe sweat off his face that he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. An old familiar feeling comes over him. The Bible states that anyone who will come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit I will in no wise cast him out. If you feel remorseful for what you've done and guilty, ashamed and embarrassed for what you've done, God will restore you. You can find repentance with the Lord and Samson in his dying cry he makes a request saying, "God do you remember me?" You can just imagine that he feels something on the back of his neck and maybe down his back, strength returning to him like he had before. His hair begins to grow and the anointing begins to come upon him.

The Bible states that they led him out from the mill and took him into the palace and he asked a little boy to take him to the pillars of this house and the boy led him over to them. He laid his hands upon them and the anointing of God came upon him once again and Samson killed more of the enemy in the glory that he didn't deserve, than the glory that was promised him at his birth. It is all through the grace and the mercy of God. You see God hadn't forgotten what Samson had done in the past when Samson said, "Remember me." if you were dying today and you were cold, and backslid on God, have you done anything in the past that you could ask God to remember you by? Is there maybe something, He could give you credit for? Have you gotten anything at all? I call them receipts. Do you have any receipts?

I know that to a lot of you, what I am preaching is foolishness. I have a lot of family and friends who look at me and ask why I preach the way I do. Why do you want to make a fool out of yourself? The Bible states that it is the foolishness of preaching that confounds the wise. There is a common salvation that is acquired through faith. What has God done through you in the past, that you can remember that if it had not been for Him, you would not have made it through? If it hadn't been for the Lord, who was on my side. Work on yourself. If you miss Heaven, you are the one responsible. We can blame others, (the blame game has been going on for years), I would go down there but that preacher preaches too long and they sing too many songs. Preacher didn't shake my hand last week and a brother was rude to me. These are just a few excuses that people use to try and justify not going to church.