I love the POWER of God. I love being touched by it, I love being used in it. There is nothing like it in the world. God’s power in my life is one of the greatest ways He’s drawn me into His love. When I think back on my life and recall His mighty hand on my life I’m overcome with His great love for me. When I look back on my ministry the parts that compel me to keep going are when God moved in power. Without it my entire ministry is nothing. I wouldn’t yield for a moment my passion to see people encounter the Power, but it absolutely is the thing my wife and I have taken the most flak for. We rarely get criticism from the world for what we do but rather Christians who misunderstand or want to control what’s happening around them. When you say you want a Spirit led ministry and a Spirit led pastor they usually applaud that in a Charismatic circle. When you actually do it you awaken some spirits in people that are enemies of the Kingdom. If you want to see signs, wonders, miracles, healings, breakthrough, salvations, and changed lives with your ministry….be ready to take on flak. It’s all worth it, don’t give up, but realize it might get messy. The world around us is crying out for salvation, you can either close your ears and eyes and stay safe or be an agent of change and get messy. Come harvest with us, the field is ripe!
There are five miracles that happen in Matthew 9. Let’s take a look at what we can learn from these.
Miracle 1: 9:2-8-How to offend religious spirits and win sinners to heaven.
1So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” 3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”7 And he arose and departed to his house. 8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.
If you minister the forgiveness of sins in Jesus name it can be super offensive to Christians influenced by a religious spirit. Reaching out to broken people with the good news that Jesus paid the price for their sins is offensive to people that have co-paid with Jesus with their ‘repentance’, which is actually self-righteousness. There is little room for Holy Spirit to do the work He wants to do in a person’s life when the focus of their spiritual well-being becomes work towards approval. Expecting unchurched people to change their behavior immediately is not anything I see Jesus saying to sinners. I see Jesus respond to Zacchaeus by inviting him into a relationship (spoiler alert: the tax collecting sinner is won over by Jesus.) I see Jesus receive worship from a sinful woman and publicly defend and honor her when she is looked on with disdain.
Some will point out that Jesus tells sinners ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more,’ and ‘Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.’ Now why does he get to command the impossible from these people? Why would you say that we don’t necessarily have the right to say this to sinners? When Jesus speaks His words are Spirit and Life, His words actually change people. He has the right to say it, if your words are not bringing life to people you don’t get to tell people to change. He does not tell them ‘you need to do better, you are bringing shame to my name.’ These are actual things I’ve heard Christians say to people struggling with sin, and it is not the gospel. Jesus is showing us in Matthew 9:2 that He has power to forgive sin, and it is offensive to people because they don’t realize who Jesus really is.
To seal the deal He heals the paralytic. If we want to see people actually transformed we must speak words that are Spirit and Life (knowing the Word is key here), love mercy (Son, be of good cheer!) and heal the sick. Healing the sick and seeing miracles cannot be put aside in the preaching of the gospel just as allowing sin to be condoned cannot be tolerated in preaching holiness. Verse 8 says the people saw the miracle and glorified God. Miracles validate that God is with the person ministering and draw those who are open in. It’s easy to get caught up in the fear of praying and not seeing the miracle, but we do not have to carry the burden of validating ourselves. If we pray and we don’t see the miracle or if we share the message and it’s not received but we loved as Jesus does we win. If fear is the reason we don’t ask God for healing or miracles then we cannot say we are truly motivated by love.
Miracle’s 2 & 3: 9:18-25- A miracle on the way to perform a miracle/how to deal with the unbelief of the crowd.
18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” 22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.
When we ask God to heal people’s bodies we aren’t performing magic. It’s not about a certain way of saying things or convincing an audience that you can change nature. It’s all about the incredible love of God. Some of my favorite services I’ve ever facilitated were ones when I felt God was saying he wanted to heal backs or knees or whatever and some kid gets delivered from a spirit of suicide. We were on our way somewhere (physical healing) and get stopped to meet a need on the path. God would show off in some incredible ways during our Wednesday night services and leave us breathless, and usually a bit bewildered. My wife and I would remark to each other afterword, “What just happened?” One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the woman with the issue of blood touching Jesus and receiving her healing. It was the basis of the first ministry I pastored. I’ve always encouraged students, or anyone I’m ministering to when we worship “Reach out and touch Jesus tonight. Anything you need is going to be found in Him. He is what you are looking for!” Then when they experience Jesus it’s because they reached out and touched Him; it didn’t have much (or anything) to do with me.
Jesus did it here in Matthew 9:18-25. Walking to one place as a man on a mission and ‘accidentally’ changing someone’s life. When we minister the gospel out of God’s love I believe this will be typical of our lives. We can be missional and singularly focused but we touch people that we come into contact with as a byproduct. When I was working at a grocery store last year I helped an elderly couple to their car and loaded their groceries for them. I got to pray with them and prophesied that their grandson would return to the Lord. The lady had shoulder pain which I prayed for and saw her receive relief; a tangible touch of the love of God. That was really cool, but when I was all done and waved to them as they drove off I turned around to a guy who I didn’t realize was watching. He told me he saw what I had done and was incredibly encouraged. I didn’t mean for what I was doing to be an encouragement to him, but it happened anyway.
Then there is the miracle of Jesus raising the dead. Before the miracle, Jesus is laughed at. If you want to talk about spiritual things with unbelievers you will be scoffed and laughed at. I didn’t say non-Christians, I said unbelievers. How did the church become such a haven for unbelief? It’s easier to see the miraculous at psychic fairs, on the street, and in the store than it is in a group of Christians that think they know everything. When I challenge the voice of this unbelief I’ve been met with preposterous reasoning and poor scripture understanding. Let’s call it what it really is: great wickedness. Unbelief comes from a heart hardened and turned against the Lord. Sometimes this deterred Jesus from performing miracles, but here it didn’t. I think it’s because it wasn’t complete unbelief, He had been invited. Plus the crowd gets put outside. If you want to see miracles happen in your midst, put people who carry unbelief away from what you are doing. Don’t invite them onto your leadership team or share spiritual things with them right away. Ask God to soften their hearts so they can see and believe God’s goodness. When that happens it is indeed a marvelous miracle. Verse 26 says ‘News of this spread through all that region,’ I believe that some of those that laughed had their hearts softened and became voices of belief.
Miracle 4: 9:27-30- Desperation: A vitally important principal to teach people for breakthrough.
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” 28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
In pastoring I think it’s important to impart to your people a desperation for Jesus. In Matthew 5:6 Jesus tells us “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” These guys were desperate for Jesus to heal them and they got what they came for. Lethargy has a foothold in many Christian lives, a lot of times the answer to their problem is walking by them and they just can’t muster the strength to reach out and grab it. I have seen this commonly in marriages and parenting, and when those things fall apart for the people you minister to, it is heartbreaking. Jesus can save marriages if He’s invited into them. Jesus can save rebellious children (and terrible parenting) if He’s invited into the situation. If you’re walking through these kind of things and you haven’t mustered the strength to shout and scream out to the Lord, you need to get desperate. If you have and you haven’t got the amen you need, keep screaming!
Take it up a notch, follow Jesus indoors. Verse 28 says these guys followed Jesus inside. They could have just accepted that Jesus had passed them by without honoring their request, but they didn’t. Elsewhere in the Bible when blind men are crying out to Jesus people are shushing them, I assume it was happening here too. Desperation will push aside embarrassment. If you are too embarrassed to receive prayer, get counseling, cry out when God is moving during a worship service- you are not desperate and God will most likely pass you by. This isn’t grim news, just an encouragement to get to Jesus by any means necessary.
Miracle 5: 9:32-34- The offensiveness of Glory and the courage to be offensive.
32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”
A saying my friend Kawika has is ‘We’re after the cloud not the crowd.’ I like it and it has relevance here. The spiritual world is misunderstood by many Christians. If something doesn’t immediately make sense or have a practical application in the very moment it can be seen as distracting or unimportant. Things like speaking in tongues, spiritual dreams, or even crying because you are getting a touch from God are seen as secondary or silly. These specifically are things I have heard people say that ought to know better. If you can give people a relevant to their life message most times they’ll be happy. There is nothing wrong with talking about things that apply to everybody, there is nothing wrong with having a message that is popular as long as it draws people to Jesus and doesn’t contradict scripture. That being said it makes me sad that some people never want to go deeper than a surface level with the Lord. It makes me sad when Christians apologize or cut short a powerful move of God because they want to appeal to a larger audience, not realizing this is the very thing that would save the lost.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks to a large crowd and they are amazed, His message was relevant to them. In John 6 He says ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’ and they are perplexed and offended, His message went deeper than they cared to go. Here in verses 32-34 Jesus does something that divides His audience. I’m sure the Pharisees could appreciate that this man who was mute now could talk, but what they had witnessed somehow offended them. Did the man with the demon shake? Did he fall over backwards like a charismatic meeting in the 80’s? Was there some sort of glory cloud present? It doesn’t say any of that, it just says ‘when the demon was driven out.’ I bet you Jesus did something that they couldn’t fully comprehend, so they jumped to the conclusion that Jesus was fostering the demonic. If we can see how foolish and wicked the Pharisees are when we read the Bible can we see the same depravity in the lack of understanding when it comes to a move of God today? Churches like Bethel in Redding California get such disgusting things said about them because they experience God on a level some aren’t familiar with. When you go after God with everything you have you might lose the respect of the crowd. Be ok with that. Be after what God is doing, even at the cost of the crowd. Jesus did it and didn’t apologize for it.
Lord, I pray for the sleeping that they would wake up to Your glory and goodness. I pray for those who are awake to be encouraged to do exploits for the Kingdom. I pray for those who are lost to be found by those who are awake, and I pray that You would receive the reward of Your suffering in with my life. In Jesus name, Amen.
thebearplane 
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