Check out Matthew 4:12-25 where Jesus is just beginning his ministry and calling his first disciples to follow him, and also Matthew records about all the crowds following Jesus. [here’s a message on that text that brings more details to these points: Matthew 4:12-25 Cornerstone]
So, the brief summary brought out in part of this text is about three of the different groups of people Jesus interacted with:
- Spectators looking for the Spectacular
- The sick looking for a really good cheap doctor
- And those actually willing to follow Jesus
In these past weeks I was listening to another teacher that reminded me of this teaching by Troy about the different reactions of people drawn to Jesus. In John chapters 5 and 6 we see more of Jesus healing, drawing big crowds (feeding 5,000 +), but then Jesus gives some hard teaching (yet again)- If I could over summarize it: Jesus is the only way to God and eternal life. (But it came in a way that was hard, confusing on its own, and offended its hearers).
“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John 6:66-69)
Jesus is more than spectacular. He is the only way we are able to be with God, the creator of this world and everything in it, the definer of right and wrong, and the final Judge- bringing the perfect and holy to be with Him in His presence for eternity to worship Him and glorify Him and condemning the sinners to Hell. Through faith in Jesus we are made Holy and pure. We are born again. On that note, the next book I’m reading is Finally Alive, by John Piper.
Bonus quiz question: What happened to all those people Jesus healed, fed, and even brought back to life (for a little while longer)??
Answer: They died. Some having believed Jesus for eternal life, and probably some not believing and facing eternal punishment. So, we must always remember that God does healings and miracles only for one great purpose- His Glory. That peoples would believe in Jesus, the way He has made to restore sinful people to relationship with Him and to be with Him forever Praising, Loving, and giving Him all the Glory.
And on with my book summary:
Recently I read Surprised by the Voice of God by Jack Deere. These are my notes from my journal as a sort of “book summary”:
I marked a few places to come back to:
-Talking about conflict in a growing church adding a contemporary music service- the pastors take a prayer retreat and during that time they asked this hard question: “What would the
Jack writes about going to church:
to hear Jesus and be healed by Him
to worship God together
to be strengthened/built up in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 14:26
-by the ministry of each persons’ gifts and learning to hear the Holy Spirit. Jack followed this story with one about language-learning.
Another section that caught my attention was in the chapter “Confessions of a Bible Deist.” In it Jack talks about how it is easier to relate to a book, created sets of rules (interpretive rules), and traditions than a person. A person is intimate, emotional and it’s easier to get hurt. For the book- just discipline, will-power and intellect were needed. [But] the best interpreter of the Bible is the Holy Spirit.
Finally Jack had an interesting section on “Unbelief through Ritual and Magic.” We’re called to a person, not principles and ministry. Religious activity void of the presence of God and an awareness of Him… We have to be careful to not become like the Pharisees who diligently studied the scriptures, but never heard the voice of God. (John 5:37) But we also can’t just pursue the spectacular displays of spiritual gifts and healings and leave real relationship with God behind.
There were also some enlightening stories in the beginning of people exercising prophetic gifts. Otherwise, for as many pages as I read, it was a book I’d rate as OK. Mot a transformational read for me, but was still worth the time. It was good to get some of the active hearing of God stories and teaching; and it goes along with some of the Bill Johnson teaching we’ve been watching on Friday nights- the healings and miracles and signs and power of God- all held in the right place by the Word of Truth.
So that’s the end of that journal entry/book summary. For those interested, there was a book that was more challenging and transformational in opening me up to consider God continuing to be actively using His Spirit to communicate and to do healings and miracles. That book is: Lord, Disciple Me by Richard Mull. I read it back in the Spring of 2005 when I was studying in
Disclaimer: While books read outside of the Bible DO give perspectives from the respective authors and their influences that provide stimulus and thought, I DO NOT recommend them as the primary way to grow in following Jesus- that must be the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, and those people regularly met with as the Body of Christ.
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