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The Jesus Way series, Part 5
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Many of you pray for blessings without understanding what qualifies you to be blessed. We often confuse material gains with biblical blessings, but they are not the same thing. You can gain material possessions through sin, so if material gains can come from sin, are they really the blessing that God is talking about?
We tend to conflate worldly possessions with God's blessings. You get a house and say, "I'm blessed." You get a new car and say, "I'm blessed." You get a new job and say, "I'm blessed." But were you not blessed without that house? Were you not blessed without the car? Were you not blessed without the job? The blessing is different from what we think.
What the world defines as negative and what Jesus defines as negative are two different things. Jesus reveals that you are blessed when those negative things start to happen. This understanding starts with a basic comprehension of God and what He considers blessing.
Let's look at Matthew 5:11. It says, "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you just because you are my follower."
News flash: you don't have to do anything wrong to qualify for this blessing. The fact that you are following Jesus qualifies you. But what is the blessing? Mocking, persecuting, lying, and talking evil. Jesus identifies four things that will happen when you are truly blessed.
Mocking means that people make jokes out of what you take extremely serious. They turn your serious convictions into a laughing stock. Jesus was on the cross bleeding, giving His life for you and me, and they were making jokes. They were gambling and throwing dice while He suffered.
Stop crying to God when people mock you. The only reason it hurts is because you feel like the enemy is winning. But you cannot trust your feelings. Your feelings don't know God. Your feelings don't know the word. Your feelings don't know the future. Your feelings are blind—they just feel. They don't see.
Persecution means people will try to find whatever flaw they can about you in order to disqualify and condemn you. People you thought loved you, people you thought were your friends, people you used to date—they will bring up any bad thing they ever knew about your past.
"I remember when you used to be this way. I remember you used to move this way. I remember you used to talk like this."
Persecution means they are coming after you, even if you didn't start it. They will bring the fight to your doorstep. If you ever plan to be blessed, plan to be attacked.
Most of us want to be blessed, but we can't handle the attack. Some of what God is holding back from you is not because He doesn't want you to have it, but because He knows you are too emotionally weak to sustain it. You're too frustrated every time something goes wrong. You're too disturbed every time they say something about you.
If God cannot give you what you're asking for because that level of blessing comes with people talking bad about you—even if you walk perfect and do nothing wrong, you will still be dragged through the mud. Unless you are ready to be muddy, stop asking for that level of blessing.
People will tell convincingly false narratives about you. The tricky part is that skilled liars take a little bit of fact and then put a false story around it. They get you in by using what's true: "You know this happened, right?" And you respond, "Yeah, that did happen." Then they weave their false narrative: "See, before that happened, this happened, which led to that, which now leads to this."
It's so convincing because people who don't know the truth about you will believe whatever first version of the story they hear. You need to be confident in yourself to say, "I can read the lie, but I know the truth."
Yeah, you read what they're saying. You read the comments, the text messages, the conversations. But if you know it's not true, why are you so bothered? Why does it affect your joy when you know what your life is before Jesus?
Part of growing up is knowing that lies are to be expected. If it's bothering you too much, stop and ask yourself: "Why is it bothering me so much? Do I maybe believe a little bit of the lie that was said about me?"
For me, it used to bother me because people were believing the lie that was said about me. Then Jesus asked me, "Ken, are you living for people or are you living for me? I know who you are." We say we're living for Jesus, but when Jesus is affirming you and you're so concerned about what people have to say, you've lost your joy in Jesus. This is about redirecting the ship and getting you back on course. This is supposed to happen.
This is different from a lie. A lie is someone knowing they're telling a false narrative and not caring—they enjoy it. When people say all sorts of evil, these are negative things they actually believe about you.
I had a mentor in this city who told me something that startled me. He said, "What's probably going to hurt you in the future is that you're going to hear a lot of negative things about you, and you'll think it's the world attacking. But when you sift through those lies and get to the bottom, you'll realize they were started by other church people—people you loved and served with. People you confided in, saying, 'Can you pray with me?' All the while, they were the ones dragging you through the mud."
You can never please a person who wants something to be wrong with you. You keep explaining yourself for nothing. You keep having meetings. "Let's have coffee. Let's talk about it." You send that long text message—it's a waste of your time. After pouring your heart out, saying "I don't want any issue; I want to operate in love," you think you're going to get through, but they respond with more mess, more lies, more attitude.
They are going to say all manner of evil against you because they just don't like what God is doing through you. Never expect someone to celebrate your win when your win was the win they wanted and didn't get. Never expect it. It's not humanly possible. Envy means "I've prayed for what you have, but you got it." It's hard for them to celebrate your win when it looks like it came at the expense of their failure.
After telling you about these four attacks, Jesus says: "Be happy about it. Be very glad." Most of you can't get to that place because you're too bothered by what's being said.
I had a viral moment recently. You know what I did? Me and my sisters went to a restaurant, I got a plant-based plate, and we laughed for three hours. Why? I'm happy about it. I'm very glad. Why? Because that means Jesus is still truth. He told me it was going to happen.
If He prophesied that it was going to happen, why would you be hurt when what He said comes to pass? If He said this and it came to pass, He said some other stuff, too:
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. You are more than a conqueror through Him that loves you. What the enemy meant for evil, God is turning it around for your good."
Believe the whole Bible.
Jesus said, "Be happy about it. Be very glad, for great reward awaits you in heaven. Remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way."
This shakes our normal paradigm because happiness and joy should be your only response to attacks. That's what confuses the enemy. When the enemy throws his best punch and you come into church giving God your best praise, the enemy is confused. He thought you were going to be depressed, sad, and destroyed like everybody else. But what he didn't know is you already had a prophecy hanging over your head.
"God already told you how the story was going to happen. Now you know the victory comes in the end. For I know the thoughts I think towards you, says God. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end."
That joy, worship, and praise should be our only response. Most of us get mad or sad about it. But God wants you to be happy. Be so happy that people actually start getting mad at your joy. Be so happy that they thought they were breaking you, and here you are smiling, having a great time. "Oh, I'm just enjoying my life."
"You really thought what you said was going to break me? I was supposed to be dead a long time ago, but God. You really thought what you felt about me was going to change my joy? I ain't supposed to be alive today, but God. You really think after everything I've lived through, I'm going to be mad about what you got to say?"
You cannot expect to be anointed by God and not live through this kind of attack. If every prophet before you went through it, what exempts you? It's just not reality. You are blessed when it happens. Learn to be happy. Learn to have joy. Learn to say, "God, you've been so good to me. The fact that you chose me to live out your glory in the earth—the fact that you chose me to suffer—that is glory. It is praiseworthy. You shed blood for me. All I got to do is shed dead weight."
What I love about Jesus is that He never allows us just to do nothing. People say, "God has me in a season of rest. I need a sabbatical for a year." But people are dying every day. God didn't tell you to do nothing for a year. God told you to stop looking at the stage. You still are supposed to be witnessing in the streets.
Look at Mark 6:35: "Later in the afternoon, his disciples came to him and said, 'This is a remote place and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so that they can go to nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.'"
The disciples come to Jesus. There are 5,000 people here, not counting women and children. They come with a prayer request. This is how we come to God—when we notice a problem happening and we summon God to move on our behalf. They realize that they don't have the authority to send these people away, but Jesus, you do.
That's what most of us are like when we pray:
"God, there's some stuff happening in our city. God, there's some stuff happening in our nation. God, there's some stuff happening in my family. There's some stuff happening on my job. God, I'm summoning you to do something about it."
But look at what Jesus says: "You feed them."
Why I love Jesus so much is because He's always challenging us. They came expecting Him to send the people away because they weren't thinking the workload should be on them. They were thinking Jesus should do the work. Many of us are doing nothing, waiting for Jesus to move a mountain in our life. But Jesus said, "You speak to the mountain and the mountain will obey you."
They protested: "We'd have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people." Their response was, "With what?"
No, no, no. This is it. Jesus says, "You feed them." And they're like, "Do I look like a grocery store? With what?"
It's the same thing when God is telling you to heal your family. You're like, "With what? Do you see the brokenness? Do you see what I've gone through? Do you see what I've had to do? Please show me, Jesus, what you're going to give to me to be able to heal this family."
Sometimes Jesus is challenging us to do what we are expecting others to do. Look through your life and start combing through. I promise you, if you look through your life, you'll start realizing there are some things you've been waiting on God to do, and He's been waiting on you to do.
God is saying, "He's going to heal your family through you. He's going to touch your family." Yes, He knew about the brokenness in your family. Which is why He birthed you in that family. I want to challenge you on this one: I'm not saying you can't stop and get healed. But some of you have permanently detached from your assignment. You ran to other people because it was easier. It's easier to work with someone with no trauma. But it was harder for you to work with the people that hurt you, which is proof there's still some healing that God is trying to do.
Your assignment is usually the very thing that makes you feel disqualified. What scares you? What has God called you to that's so big that you have to admit, "God, I'm not sure I have what it takes to do that?"
Most of us say our assignment is what we can physically see ourselves doing. But no, your assignment is usually the very thing that makes you feel disqualified. I'll prove it in scripture.
When God called Moses, the first thing he said was, "I cannot do that. I have stammering lips. I'm not good at talking. You want me to go to Pharaoh where there's a warrant for my arrest? I'm not good."
He called Isaiah. Isaiah said, "God, please do not call me. I'm a man of unclean lips. I cuss way too much. My family cusses too much. I'm going to slip up on that stage. Do not call me."
Jeremiah said, "God, I'm way too young. I haven't lived long enough. I don't know enough. I feel underqualified for the assignment."
God will always call you to something so big that you feel underqualified to do it. But that's proof that you're supposed to do it. When it scares you, then you know you will need God every day of it in order to accomplish the assignment.
I wish I was talking to people who understood purpose. I can't do this in my own strength. I can't do this in my own ability. I need God in every single way. Anything that you can do without God is a trap to you because you will start to have pride and rest in your own ability and your own words. That's where the enemy wants you—in a place where you trust in you.
But God calls you to stuff that's bigger than you. What is God saying to you in your life that He wants you to do? Stop praying about it. You do it. Stop asking Me to do it. You do it.
I want to challenge you about your kids. Kids can be wild. But sometimes you've been pushing them away all these years, and now you're mad because they won't come close. Some stuff God can't heal. Your apology will.
"Some stuff God ain't going to heal. Some stuff is going to be your repentive heart. It's going to be you saying to the child, 'Come here to me. I failed you and I missed the mark. There were times I should have loved you that I abused you. There were times I should have told you I love you that I cussed you out. There were times you were crying because you needed attention, but I whooped you because I thought you were bad. Please forgive me. I'm human and I gave you the best I had, but I missed the mark.'"
There's some stuff in your life that hasn't changed because you're not desperate enough. You're still comfortable with it. When you pray, "Lord, I need you," that's not desperation. Real desperation sounds different.
Look at the story of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46. It says, "When they reached Jericho, as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. And a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, 'Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.'"
I need you to understand what just happened. The crowd called him "Jesus of Nazareth"—they identified Jesus based on the town he grew up in. But blind Bartimaeus called him "Jesus, son of David." Two different identifications. Bartimaeus knew that he was the Messiah because prophecy said that whoever is the son of David is the Messiah to take away the sins of the world.
He didn't call Him based on His location. He called Him based on His anointing. He called Him based on His identity.
It says He shouted this. This is why people are saying you're too loud in church. You ain't loud enough. Because he shouted:
"JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!"
They're too loud in church? That's why we have more miracles in churches with that kind of desperation. I'm not here to be funny. I'm only being honest. I'm not here to put you down. I'm only being honest. God responds to desperation. When you're too quiet, God is saying, "Cool. You don't need me then."
Look what the church people told him to do. Verse 48: "Be quiet. Many people yelled at him."
"I'm yelling for Jesus. Y'all yelling to silence me."
It's always somebody who's not desperate telling the desperate person to be quiet. It's always somebody pretending like they got it all together telling a person who desperately needs God to be quiet.
"Be quiet. Stop yelling. We're tired of hearing you yell. We're tired of seeing you cry at the altar. We're tired of seeing you chase after God."
But they don't know what you need from God. They don't know how hard you've been going after Him, how much you've been seeking, how much you just needed a breakthrough.
He said, "Jesus, have mercy on me." But it says he only shouted louder. "What will you do when they try to silence you? People talked about your worship and you stopped coming to the front. They talked about your shouting and got you to sit in your seat and be quiet. But desperation doesn't care about the opinions of the people around you."
They told him to be quiet. The Bible says he shouted louder:
"JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!"
And it says here in verse 49: "And when Jesus heard him." I need you to know that when you cry out to God, He hears you. Your desperation cry is not falling on deaf ears. Please know that the people around you may be looking crazy now, but they're going to keep looking crazy when they watch God move in your situation.
It says Jesus heard him. It says, "And He stopped." Jesus wasn't there for blind Bartimaeus. He was headed to somebody else's house. But here's what the cry of desperation does: The cry of desperation will bring your miracle closer to you when it's not even your time.
"God, you may not be here for me, but now that you're here, I need something from you. Maybe you didn't come for me, but now that I'm close, I got to get what I need."
And so He stopped and He says, "Tell him to come here." So they said to the blind man, "Cheer up. Come on. He's calling you."
Ain't this crazy? Watch this. The people that were telling him to shut up—the people telling him, 'Be quiet, stop making all that noise'—now that Jesus has moved for him, they say, 'Cheer up! He's calling for you! Look! Come on, brother, let me walk with you to the front. Jesus wants you!'
Ain't it crazy how people switch up on you fast? The same people that were telling him to shut up want to walk next to him now that they know the blessing is getting ready to happen. There are people in your life who are talking crazy now. But please hear me—those same people will want to walk hand in hand when God starts moving in your life because they always chase the blessing.
They said, "Cheer up. Come on. He's calling you." And Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. And look what Jesus says in verse 51:
"Jesus said, 'What do you want me to do for you?'"
When you get Jesus's attention, He says, 'What do you want?' "I heard you calling my name. I heard you crying for me. I wasn't stopping here. I wasn't planning on it, but you got my attention. You got me to stop. What is it that you need me to do, my son?"
And the blind man said, "My Rabbi, my Teacher, I just want to see."
How dare you be quiet when you know you can't see. You know you can't see your future. You know you don't understand what God is doing. You know you feel blind concerning what God is calling you to. How dare you let people get you to be quiet when you know you need to see.
He said, "I just want to see. I'm not even asking for a car. I'm not even asking for a blessing. I just want to be able to see."
And Jesus says to him, "Go, for your faith has healed you." Jesus told the man that his own faith healed him. What if I told you that it's your own faith stopping you? What if I told you it ain't the church, it ain't the people, it ain't the pastor? What if I told you that it's your own faith stopping you from getting what you need from God?
Because you don't believe enough to be desperate enough. You don't believe enough to be desperate enough to say, "God, I need you to do this for me."
My challenge to you today is to trust God again. Because some of y'all, let's be real, you stopped trusting God. Along this journey, you've lost faith that Jesus, son of David, can do it for you. Along this journey, you lost the faith that everything that you put before God, God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you could ask or think according to the power that works in you.
Somewhere along this journey, you stopped being desperate. But I'm trying to wake up the cry inside of your spirit, the cry inside of your heart.
You still believe that God can heal your baby. You still believe that God can heal your family. You still believe that God can heal your mama. You still believe that God can heal your grandma. You still believe that God can heal your body. You still believe that God can heal that relationship. That you still have a desperation before Jesus that He can do it for you.
God, that we would be in a place to be like You, Jesus, as You're commanding us, God, to have this level of hunger for You. That blind Bartimaeus was hungry. He was desperate. And even when people tried to get him to be quiet, he got louder. He got thirstier. He got more desperate.
I pray, God, that we would never be a church that tries to get quiet when people try to shut us down. I pray, Lord God, that our worship gets louder. I pray, God, that the praise gets louder. I pray that the desperation gets stronger. I pray that we will always remember, God, that You are able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think.
I pray to the God that healed cancer nine times—that You will heal it ninety times. That the God that healed lupus four times, that You will heal it forty times. We believe, God, that You can do all things, that nothing is impossible for You.
But God, that we would be with You. That when You challenge us, we step out on faith. That we feed the five thousand and do something—God, that we respond with yes. Your servant is listening. In Yeshua's name we pray.
If you want to give your life to Christ, if you want to say yes to Jesus—maybe you've never said yes to Jesus and you want to today—I want to give you an opportunity. He's calling you out. He's challenging your faith. He's saying, "I want you to come forward. I want you to do something about it. You can say yes."
If you're looking for a church home and want this church to be your church home, you can come forward at this time. Just say yes. Don't let anyone make you feel nervous.
