Gifts That Guide Us to Tomorrow VI, The Gift of Healing

Read with me today's text. The First Service did this very well. I was pleased with their boldness. Colossians 1, 9 through 14, if you have an NIV, I'll be reading out of that version, but if we all read it off the overhead, I think we can proclaim it with a little more strength than we're accustomed to. And folks, sometimes just declaring the Word of God itself is an event. And so let's do this together. Let's declare this. And Paul, in his characteristically long sentences, reveals some powerful truths here about the Church. Let's read it together and out loud, shall we? And I want you to just, in the words of, was it Wellington Boone? Yeah, shout me down. Here we go. Ready? For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Well, as you probably already guessed, this has been a very challenging week. Three or four days of being in boxes, two or three days of moving, and a day of Emmanuel Canestresi, who came on Wednesday and challenged all of us who were able to come to that service. But I did get away for a season to seek the Lord on this message and kind of shut out the distractions of all this, and to hear from the Lord about today. And I want to say very candidly, folks, bringing a message on Sunday morning, as far as I'm concerned, is the highest privilege and responsibility that I have. And I receive that as a charge from the Lord and from the elders of this church to be diligent in the pursuit of that. Because I never want to come up here and just reheat an old sermon. How many of you have not been here... Well, let me say this, how many of you have been here less than ten years? You see, I could go back eleven years and pull out a whole bag of sermons, and you wouldn't know. But I'm committed to not doing that, and I'll tell you why. Because many of you provoke me with your hunger for God. And you say to me, I want to hear from the Lord for my own life, but also for the church. You want to be part of something that's current, or as the Bible used the word, rhema, a current or perceiving word from God. And that isn't always easy to come by. And sometimes we get into a pattern, and other times the Lord just sort of shakes things up, as He did this week. And so I want to talk today, not about the spiritual gift of healing, which was the announced topic, but I want to share my heart with you today, and I believe it's God's heart, about how North Way Christian community can become, listen, a church that heals. A whole church that heals. Where the environment that exists in this church is for healing. And I don't know about you, but I know I need healing in my life. And as I'm going to share in a few moments, I see a world out there desperately needing healing. But all this has to do, initially, with how you perceive things. And it's going to take, and folks, and Scott's already set this up very well, it's going to take some radical readjustments of how we perceive things if we're to get on the same page. The parallel passage to Colossians 1, where Paul writes about this, is in Ephesians 1, 17 and 18. And there he writes about his desire that God would open the eyes of our heart, that they may be enlightened to know the hope to which He's called us. When he says that the eyes of our heart might be enlightened, what's he talking about? You see, we perceive with our head, and we perceive with our heart. We see with our mind and understanding, but we also understand how we know what it's like to be led by your heart. Not always the same thing. The message, translation uses these words, it says, that your eyes will be focused and clear so that you can see exactly what God is calling you to do. That's what I want to talk about today. What exactly is God calling us to do as we move into our new building? I want to just make this point very clear, because if you perceive this different, or if you perceive it in a different way, we are going to have problems. If we all perceive about the same way, God is going to move in a wonderful way. I'm convinced. Help me with this. How many of you wear glasses? Thank you. How many of you wear them for distance? You can't see very far away very well. If you have your glasses on, take them off. If you have contacts in, don't mess with them. Nancy is going to help us here. I produced a little eye chart. Here we go. How many can read that? With or without your glasses? I picked your favorite word in the English language and started there. Let's keep on going. Read as long as you can. I am a great person and a wonderful servant of the Lord. North Way is a great church. I'm losing some of you. Pastor Jay and staff and elders are helping us to move forward. And God, I'm losing a lot of you. And I know it will be a challenge. But I will grow more and more like Christ through struggle. Yeah, gotcha! Now, leave it up there, Nancy. Now, those of you who got lost after I put your glasses on. Okay. You may have thought, if you didn't have your glasses on, that that overhead was fuzzy and out of focus and all wrong. And you could have mumbled and said, why didn't they give you the right? But you realized that when you put your glasses on, you were enlightened and you saw clearly the message. And the clearer you saw, the more you could perceive as we went all the way down. And some of you boldly in my face said, more, more, more, even though I used the smallest possible type to do it. But that's the point being, of course, that what you perceive will greatly affect your responses. Dear ones, I want to talk about perceptions concerning ourselves, our world, and the move. Those are the three main points. And by the way, uncharacteristically, I don't have any outline to give you just a blank page because things weren't operating quite as smoothly as usual. But take your notes out and maybe just jot down a couple of these things. You see, because this is going to be so big, this move is going to be so big. Someone asked me the other day, well Jay, isn't it really kind of like just a family building a bigger house and moving in? And I said, categorically, no. It's not going to be like that. Rather, it's going to be like a family building a big house and inviting extended family from out of state to come and they liked it so much they stayed and the neighbors came by and they liked it so much they stayed and then some people from down on the north side came and they stayed and then some people from down the street came and pretty soon it was filled up with people they didn't even know. That's the way it's going to be. And I was reading in Luke 14 this morning in my quiet time, as some of you were, and God spoke to my heart, I'm going to talk about this next week, about who we're going to invite to come to what he's prepared. And it's going to be big, a big change. And I want to say it's going to be a positive change for all of us if we perceive God's purposes together. First of all, let me talk about how this impacts you if, number one, you perceive your identity correctly. The first thing you've got to perceive is your identity. You, yourself. The foundation of seeing everything else clearly is understanding who you are in Christ. How many of you know knowing who you are affects almost everything you do? Your identity always affects your behavior? Both of my sons have a number of friends who are high school football players and a lot of the guys are pretty normal, but some of these high school football players, that's their identity. Have you ever seen it? And you go to talk to them and you ask them a question and they can talk without moving their mouth. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that's cool. And then they pull their hat down over their eyes. Yeah. And it's that who they are. High school football player. So that's how they behave. And I'm picking on them and I could pick on some of you from USX and PPG. And you act your certain way. Who we perceive we are affects how we act and respond. Isn't that true? My mom used to say, you know, act like a pacifist. What does that mean? Be bald or what? I never understood that. You've seen the pictures in the hospital. You know where it's all going. Anyhow. By the way, there are people who are newer to North Way who come here and try to change their behaviors before they get their identity in Christ straightened out. They're funny people to watch. And they come in and they think, well, I guess you've got to lift your hands to come in here. But they don't have a clue as to what it's about or what Christ meant and all that. And so they're doing that and they feel really weird. So they're like this. And they're real paralyzed. And it's hard. Or they're trying to get the behaviors. Or some of you like to hug, you know. You like to hug. I mean, your mission on a morning is to find how many people you can just hug. And others of you, when you see the hugger coming, you change aisles. You know, you can get out of their way because I don't want anyone violating my airspace. You know, get away from me, huggers. I don't want... And you see, a lot of that is just that some find an identity that overflows with love. And they just want to show that somehow. And others say, well, I'm not there yet. But if you know your identity, you see, if you're very clear about who you are, then the changes that God may ask of you are not nearly as intimidating or difficult. And I want to highlight a few points about identity. Write these down. There's three categories that Scripture defines about our identity that are very important. I'll just reference them. Number one, say it with me after I mention it. You are accepted in Christ. Say it. I am accepted in Christ. Write down these scriptures. How accepted are you if you're in Christ? The Bible calls you in John 1, 12, a child of God. Your whole identity changes from a child of man to a child of God. The Bible calls you in John 15, 15, a friend of God. No longer an enemy, Jesus says, you're now a friend. You're so accepted, Romans 5, 1 says, that you are justified, or is justified, just as if you never sinned. I do not understand how good God could be to say, I mean, a person like me, it's just as if I never sinned. That's how accepted I am. I'm so accepted that the Bible says that I was bought with a price, that I'm the possession of God, that's 1 Corinthians 6, 20. And I'm so accepted by God that he calls me a saint, Ephesians 1, 1. Saint Jay. That's a stretch, I know. How about you? We haven't done this for a while. What's your name? Say saint and tell someone your name. Okay, I'm Saint... Hi, I'm Saint... Go ahead, tell them. I'm Saint Chris. I'm Saint... Any Saint Bernards here? One back there, okay. It's always a tougher moment. There's some that just roll right off your tongue, you know, Saint Mary, Saint Lance. I have to think about that one. But that's not a stretch. I mean, that's what the Bible says. In Christ, we're sanctified. We're saints. The second category of identity is that we are secure in Christ. Listen to these scriptures. We're so secure that the Bible says it will never stand condemned. You never need to fear God leaning over His throne and pointing down at you and saying, get out of my sight. In fact, Romans 5, 1 and 2 says, Now therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We are so secure in Christ that we can never be separated from His love. Romans 8, 35. You'll never go anywhere where God's love won't be there for you. We're so secure that the Bible says in Romans 8, 28 that He'll work everything together for good because He loves you and you're called according to His purpose. You are so secure that He calls you a citizen of heaven. Now, you may believe, hey, I'm just stuck here in the earth. But in the end, you see, your citizenship, your final destination is already set. You're going to heaven. That could make you a little happier looking. All right? Philippians 3, 20. And Bible says that God is so secure that He's not giving you a spirit of fear but of love and power and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1, 7. And how about this one? You're so secure that 1 John 5, 18 says that the evil one cannot touch you. You can say thank God for that. Your identity, accepted, secure, and number three, significant. How significant are you? The Bible says that you are the salt and light of the earth. Dear ones, you may wake up in the morning and say, you know, I'm just a burger flipper on my way to who knows where. But God said, no, you're the salt and the light of the earth. The Bible says in Matthew 15, 16 that you are chosen and called and appointed to bear fruit for God. That you're the temple of God, 1 Corinthians 3, 16. That you're a co-worker with God, 2 Corinthians 6, 1. In other words, when you go out and begin to move, you are working side by side with Almighty God. That you're seated with Him in heavenly places, Ephesians 2, 6. And listen to this, Ephesians 3, 20, you are His workmanship. And the word in Greek means God's poem. You're the creative expression of the heart of God to the world today. Now dear ones, I don't know, I just took the five minutes to do that and some of you didn't care and didn't listen and don't. But I want to say to some of you who did, isn't it great to know who we are in Christ? Isn't it great to know what God has invested in your life? And if you have that as your foundation, it changes everything else that God asks you to do. And that's the issue here. Our identity is no longer propped up, you see, by lots of external things. We don't need to be secure in things that don't really matter. In fact, if we understand our identity, we can be like Paul the Apostle was and that is available to God for wherever we need it. How many of you think Paul was mature? I'd say he was pretty mature, wouldn't you? How many say he flowed in the spiritual gifts? Read 1 Corinthians 14. How many say he was powerful in prayer? That he was an apostle? He was all these things that... How many of you would like to... If he came here to speak, you'd come here, all right? I mean, he is the authority, the greatest Christian of all time. And yet the Bible says he was so secure in who he was in Christ that, I'm going to ask you to read this with me, that he didn't cling to that identity, he didn't run and hide to do godly things and spiritual things. Here's what he said, 1 Corinthians 9, read it with me. Leave it up for just a second. How many of you are following me right to this point? You see what I'm saying? If you're secure in your identity, accepted, secure eternally and significant, then you can afford to adapt yourself to do whatever it takes to win the lost. And look, if you want to get into deeper things, do a word study on what it means to share in the blessings of the gospel. Paul said there's a blessing out there that's deeper than just doing hallelujahs before God. And I want to just say to us today, church, let's get clear glasses on the perception of who we are in Christ. We are accepted, secure and significant in him and therefore we can be whatever we need to be to the lost of the world that we might win some and share in the blessings of the gospel. We've got to perceive that as the starting point together. You see, it's not the external things that really count. How many of you used to know a clergyman, a priest or a pastor that wore a collar? You know, one of those little white... How many of you could see me in one of those? A little too much snickering back there. I probably couldn't see myself either even though I've had a hard time with that all along. You know, my grandmother, when I graduated from seminary, gave me the money to buy a robe for the Presbyterian church. And I... Look, it was 200 bucks. I got a kick in stereo for 200 bucks for that. I never did buy the robe, but that's the way it was. She never knew. But you see, collars... Those symbols... Those don't make me a minister. It isn't the symbol. It's what's on in the heart. And you see, our external things... These banners or whatever symbol... How many of you... Those aren't what we worship. The cross that we may put up here or we have had in our back, in our histories... Those are just reminders, aren't they, of an unseen truth. And you see, when your identity is secure, you don't need external things. You simply know that you're secure, accepted and significant in Christ. In fact, the Bible says we're to worship in spirit and in truth, not with all the external things. And that's the trap of those things. How many of the people... All they really do worship are the symbols. And without the symbols, they're lost. What's that called in the Bible? Idolatry. The worship of idols. And so that's the beginning point. Perceive clearly who you are. And that frees you then to go on to the second point. And that's how you perceive the world. Because you see, dear ones, if you know who you are in Christ, then you realize that you've been sent on a rescue mission to the world. That Colossians scripture... Nancy, I'm going to ask you to dig that up again. Colossians chapter 1. At the very end, we read there that God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. When you look at the world around you, do you see them as just kind of nice people who are trying their best? Or do you see them as evil people who are out to undermine? Or what do you see people like? That person you're going to call on for an account tomorrow? That neighbor that you're going to exchange pleasantries with at the bus stop? What do you see them as? You know, sometimes I look at people and I say, they're actually, they seem like nicer people than I am. But that isn't the issue to God. The issue is, are they lost or are they found? And the truth of the matter is, the whole world, you see, the Bible says, is lost under the power of sin. Jesus said, But I came to seek and to save that which was lost. And lost people need rescued. Did you see the article and the story, the tragic story this week about that ferry that sunk? 800 or 900 people perished. And I remember seeing some of the images of people in those life rafts being pulled up. And I heard one man tell a story, there were 16 in his raft and the helicopter, you know, went by them several times and they knew they were going to be out in the ocean in a few more hours. And it was so awful that people took their clothes off and dove into the sea to die rather than to suffer. 16 in the raft, 10 perished, 6 were saved. Some people who are lost, who need rescued, can't help themselves. And I think we need to ask God for the perception to see the condition of humankind all around us, church. The Bible says the whole world is under the power of sin. It's not a popular word. You're not going to read about it in today's Post Gazette. But the Bible says that sin entered the world at the fall and it holds the entire world under a powerful and 100% unavoidable grasp unto death. The Bible calls it the mystery of iniquity. The whole planet is infected. We all are inclined to sin. We all have a genetic disposition, relationally, emotionally, spiritually to sin, to wander from God, to violate, to hurt. It's in us. How many of you find that even though you know God it still works in you? You wonder why is it there and you struggle with it. It's a principle. It's not just the acts or actions that we do, you see. We have the mistake of aligning sin with an action. It's a work. It's a principle. Let me use this analogy if you'll watch up here. I dropped my Bible. That was an act. But what caused the act? Gravity. So, what's the greater truth? That the Bible fell or that if I drop it, it's going to fall again. Well, obviously, the principle that made that happen underneath it all. You see, when someone goes out and they curse God or they hit their wife or they lie to their boss, that's a sin. But the much deeper principle is that power is at work within them all the time. And that's what they need rescued from. And the Bible says that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to rescue us from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. That's the thing that we've got to see at work. And that's why the Bible says all of creation, Romans 8, 22 and 23, is on tiptoes looking for the redemption of the children of God. All of creation is waiting for the day that God breaks the power of sin and creates a new heaven and a new earth that's free from that bondage. That's what we have to proclaim. And dear ones, my word to us today is may God help us to perceive that we are now on a rescue mission as a church. We've now been called to establish a missionary outpost with a big green roof where people who are in the clutches of sin and its power can be rescued. That's it. And we need to do whatever it takes to rescue the perishing. Nothing should be beyond our creative grasp. Let me give you an illustration. Tony Campolo, many of you know him, wrote a story in a book that he wrote called The Kingdom of God is a Party. And he'd been called to speak in Hawaii at a seminar. And, you know, because of the time change and all six hours difference or whatever it is, when he got over there he couldn't sleep. He got up in the middle of the night he was hungry. And so he left the hotel and went down, went to the first cafe, bar thing that he could find, not realizing that when he got in there that it was a hangout for local prostitutes. And he got real uncomfortable real fast. You know, because it's bad PR. Seminar speaker, prostitute, and all that stuff. But as he was sitting there kind of contemplating what he was going to do, he overheard one young lady mention that the next day was her birthday. And he had an idea. He said to the owner of the cafe, he said, I'd like to throw a party for this young lady tomorrow night. You know, what time do the girls come back from work? He said, well, about 3 a.m. He said, well, if I bought a cake and some decorations and so on, would you tell her friends to all be here? I'd like to make a big deal for her. Well, the next day he did the seminar as he'd been scheduled and then that evening he went and bought the cake and the decorations, spent most of those late hours fixing up the cafe, decorating it. All the girls were out doing their shift. At 3 o'clock they all came back in and there were the balloons and the cake and everyone was excited. It was like nothing they'd ever seen before. Along the way they turned and sang Happy Birthday. At the end of the song they didn't know what to do next and they all looked over to Tony and said, what's next? Being a preacher, he said, let's pray. All this cafe and bowed their head. And he prayed about God's love and God's forgiveness and God's salvation and God's plan. After the prayer people were welling up with tears and the bartender looked over and said, you're not a preacher, are you? He said, yeah, I am. He said, no, you couldn't be a preacher. What are you doing here? He said, yeah, I am. He said, what kind of preacher are you? What kind of church do you preach in? He said, the kind of church that throws a party at 3 a.m. for hookers. In other words, the kind of church, the kind of person that's not afraid to take a risk to rescue the perishing. And church, I'm not asking you to do something bizarre. I'm not asking you to go out and do something that you're not fascinated with. I am asking you to say, God, use me to rescue the perishing. Let me be a part of a church that heals. See, a church that heals has a mentality that says, no matter what it takes, we'll be there to extend a lifeline to someone who doesn't even know that their condition is terminal, spiritually. That's why we have generations, you see. People, do you have any idea how many folks just sitting around you today have addiction problems in their background? And they would tell you, if they're honest, that they can't help themselves. They deny it as long as they can, but they get to the point where they say, I can't get out of it. So we have a generations ministry. And we have a ministry called Confident Kids to help children put their lives back together that have already been bruised and broken up at an early age. And that's why we want to create all kinds of outreaches, you know, to help people who can't get out of their dilemma any other way. We want to rescue them. That's why we built that gymnasium, so we can have a place to pull people in and expose them to something different than just the nightlife that's out there. We're here to rescue the perishing. And a church that heals has a passion to do that. And that's what I want you to perceive as we move. And it's going to take all of us working together to see it come to pass. And that's the last point, is, you know, perceive your identity in Christ. Perceive the condition of the world. And number three, perceive how this move is going to work. I'll just tell you, we are coming online at a time that's very unique in redemptive history. How many of you have heard about the Spirit moving in some unique ways right now? You know, I've seen and talked to people who have been exposed to a move of God, and you've heard about holy laughter, and you've heard about the power of God and touching lives, and people being slain and healings, and all that. And God seems to be stirring in places unlike anything I've heard in the last 10 or 15 years. And there's a lot of curiosity. I'm going to be talking about that over the next several Wednesday nights. But you see, I believe that's not so we can all just have a nice glory hallelujah club time. I believe God is simply saying to the church, I'm going to empower you for this last great move of harvest evangelism. And folks, if I understand God, if I understand the words of God that are coming, I believe that we are online just at the right time to be in sync with the move of God that's going to close out this age and receive all the harvest that God has for us. Amen. Go ahead, brother. You can clap. That's all right. I believe it because God's put it in my heart. He's affirmed it in His prophets. He's spoken to many of you. But church, I want to end with this. I also know at the same time that your lives are full of struggles. Your life is like mine. I don't go home and sit down with Carol and decide which one of our accounts will we write our Operation Accelerate check from. Which one of our huge reserves will we deplete just a little bit? Just like I have bills, I have challenges, I have one in college, one next year, and one year after that, and so on. I've got physical struggles. You do too. I spilled coffee on my shirt today. You might have too. I'm very aware, I mean this sincerely, with the pain that's in our church. It's real. With the struggles. I'm very confident that I'm not alone in some of my doubts and fears. That some of you have them too. But listen. For 13 years, we have faithfully provided teaching and seminars and counseling and training. And we've been there for you. And we've brought people in to impart things we didn't have. And we're going to keep doing that because we love you and we're here to shepherd you. But I also believe that it's a time now to see us as going on to our next step as a people. And that if we'll open our arms and receive those that God's sending, He'll take care of us. His grace will more than adequately supply for all of our needs. Are you ready to move ahead? It's going to be a real change. Next week, I'm going to talk about the specifics of this in some way. And here's what I want you to do in conclusion. I didn't do a very good job with this for a service. I want you to take your notes, those of you who didn't use them, or a piece of paper or a business card. And if you have a question you'd like me to answer related to what I've just talked about, I'm going to answer these questions next week. If you have any questions about the move or about our mission or about our strategy or about how we're going to operate differently in the new building, write it down. Put it in the offering basket right now. And I'm going to answer these. And next week's sermon is going to be our first information superhighway hyperinteractive cyberspace message. We're going to talk back and forth and we're going to have little pockets of dialogue. It's going to be unlike any sermon you've ever had here. You're not going to sit and listen. We're going to talk back and forth. All right? Go ahead and do it. Write it down, any piece of paper. You can put your name on it if you'd like to, if you have the courage. But you don't have to. I'll be happy to answer your questions. And now I want to pray together. Heavenly Father, as I conclude this message today, I thank you for the awareness I have of your spirit here today. Lord, I thank you for a church that's willing to relinquish its securities and its own preferences. And I pray, Father God, that as we go forward from this time and in this place, that we would cling to our identity in Christ and that we'd embrace our potential in the Spirit. And I thank you, Father. Just remember these things as we go forward. Just remember one or two of them, if not all five. Number one, remember that we're not here for ourselves. We're here for the lost. It's the only reason. Number two, remember to bring and include people in everything that you do. See those two words? They're in italics. Bring and include. Everything you go to, ask yourself, who could I bring today? Who could I include? Every time you get a cup of coffee, every time you go to a class, every time you go to a service, including the 16th, who could I bring? Who could I include? Number three, be willing to sacrifice what you might prefer in order that others might be healed. Number four, give room for others to change. Dear ones, change doesn't happen overnight. If that person still runs down the other aisle to get away from you to hug, say, that's okay. I'll catch up to you pretty soon. Give them time to change. We all grow at a different pace. And number five, we must trust the God of our history to be the God of our future. The Lord has not brought us 13 and a half years to this point now to just fling us out into some kind of chaos. He has a strategy and a plan, and it's going to be great because He's a great God. Let's stand together and thank Him as we sing.