* Hey Blog readers, I have opened up comments once again! After a year of taking a break, we decided that we wanted to hear from all of you (especially during this 100 Days Boot Camp challenge we are doing at Southbrook Church!) So comment away! Here we go!
** Next 100 Days post will be tomorrow!
What would you say if I told you I am 100% positive I can tell you how to be invincible?!
- Another nutty pastor?
- What’s the catch?
- This will somehow end in a plea for money, right?
- Christians are psychos and this just proves it?
- Tell me more!
I know. I know. Christians have somewhat of a reputation for bizarre, unfounded claims supposedly acquired directly from God (anyone remember the Prayer of Jabez?) , but this one is real. I didn’t hear a voice in the shower or anything like that. In fact, it’s right there in plain sight! If you read the Bible much at all, you’ve probably seen it yourself!
Anyway, let’s cut the suspense and get right to it. Though there are many examples I could use, for no particular reason, I will use the following,
John 7:29-31,
“29 But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.” 30 Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time[a] had not yet come.
31 Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”
And, John 8:20,
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.”
How hard is it for a mob to seize hold of one guy when He’s standing right in front of them?
Ok, one more…
“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
7Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”
9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”
A little background on this one is in order.
This is one of Jesus’ greatest miracles–the raising of Lazarus from the dead. However, getting everyone on board for the stage to be set for this one wasn’t easy.
- Jesus had to appear callous before gracious by saying it was better that Lazarus died then if He’s been there in time to heal him from his sickness!
- He had to refocus everyone on the fact that He was God and as such could do anything! Including dealing with death.
- Jesus had to wait long enough for all doubt to be removed as to whether or not Lazarus was really dead.
- Jesus had to convince His followers to return to the place where they’d just tried to kill Him.
Four pretty significant hurdles, but the last one takes the cake. Ever notice how tough we talk when everything is hunky dory? Theorizing about what God can and can’t do (even though we ought to know there are no “can’ts” with God), debating about what we think he should do, what we think He will do, how we think people will react, how they should react, blah, blah, blah.
Yep he rubber really meets the road when we lay our lives on the line merely on the fact that God told us to do something. And Jesus’ mission from His Father was to go to the cross–it was the only way, period. The ‘time’ for which He came into the world would expire at the cross–every minute of every second of every day leading up to that point; however, was not His time.
- So the people trying to arrest Him before that fateful Friday morning were wasting their time.
- Those trying to seize Him before that morning might as well have been trying to nail jello to the wall–not gonna happen.
- The one’s spinning yarns, telling tales, setting up women caught in adultery, trying to make it look like Jesus was against Rome, accusations of debauchery, all of them…
Exercises in futility.
Why?
Because faithful Christ follower told by God to do this or go there–who responds in faithful obedience is utterly invincible until God says otherwise!
Put another way, if you are at point A and God says He has plans for you to get to point C, it matters not what Satan throws at you as you approach point B!
The one’s spinning yarns, telling tales, setting up women caught in adultery, trying to make it look like Jesus was against Rome, accusations of debauchery, all of them! And more…
- a mountain? No problem
- A gossip? Don’t make me laugh.
- A liar? They’re always found out.
- A lunatic? See above.
- A deadly team of ninja assassins? No problem.
They are all hopelessly spinning their wheels. They can’t get anywhere against you if God is for you. Until your time comes…Your time hasn’t come.
You’re invincible!