He’s good but He isn’t safe

Numbers 14:28 “Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.”

The Bible is FULL of people who refused to focus on their inability…and chose to believe in God’s ability working through them.

JOHN 14:12“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
PHILIPPIANS 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

• What if Noah had said, “I can’t build a boat?”
• What if Abraham had said, “I can’t relocate at this stage in my life?”
• What if David had said, “I can’t fight that giant…he’s too big!”
• What if Nehemiah had said, “I can’t build a wall around an entire city!”
• What if Peter had said, “I denied Christ, I can’t preach to all of these people on the Day of Pentecost.”
• What if Paul had said, “I can’t write down what I feel the Spirit leading me to write; after all, who would actually read the words of a former murderer?”

AGAIN… The Bible is FULL of people who refused to focus on their inability…and chose to believe in God’s ability working through them.

The Life Of a believer is so exciting!!!
Proverbs 4:18 (NLT) “The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.”

C S Lewis In “The Lion, the Witch & The Wardrobe” a conversation takes place when Susan and Lucy ask Mr. & Mrs. Beaver to tell them about Aslan, the lion in the story who is the Christ-figure. They ask if Aslan is a man and Mr. Beaver replies: “Aslan a man? Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the woods and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and make no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about being safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
That conversation is loaded…please get the last line, He’s good, He’s the King…but He isn’t safe.”
We’ve done a pretty bad job at trying to paint a picture of Jesus in today’s society that is safe. His hair is always perfect (did they really have product back then?) He teeth have obviously either been whitened or capped. His robe never has any wrinkles and is always the whitest of whites (I guess the dust and dirt in Israel simply refused to stick to His clothes.) And…He never becomes irritated, upset or does anything that might offend anyone.

Matthew 16:21-27
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Take Up the Cross and Follow Him
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

Make no mistake about it…He IS GOOD but He is NOT safe! Following Jesus doesn’t EVER lead to a safe, comfortable & predictable life.

1. If you are going to follow Jesus, you are going to upset some people
   Matthew 10:34-36 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
2. If you are going to follow Jesus, He will bring out changes in you.
   Luke 19:8 “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” We cannot meet Him and stay the same!
3. If you are going to follow Jesus, He is going to challenge you to look straight ahead and NOT behind, no matter how good or bad it may have been
   Luke 9:62 “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
4. If you are going to follow Jesus, you have to be willing to trade up. Mark 1:18 “At once they left their nets and followed him.”
5. If you are going to follow Jesus, you will let Him rule your finances
   Luke 16:10-13 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
6. If you are going to follow Jesus, you ARE going to hear His voice clearly and accurately.
   John 10:4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
7. If you are going to follow Jesus, it is going to move your heart to care about others.
   People Who Don’t Know Him
   Mark 16:15 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
   Everyone Especially Body Of Christ 1 John 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
   2014 will be my best year yet!!! Going big!

PRAYER DIRECTIVES
Father don’t let us see you through the lens of our own ability. Thank you for filling us with your might. I command myself to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Nothing is impossible for those who BELIEVE!!!
Forgive us for ever desiring safety over advancing your Kingdom.
Spirit of Revelation stir the heart of every believers. Cause us to rise to the reality of our status in YOU! We are retired to rule … to manifest Your Kingdom.
Thank yo for the open door. We will go through and release your purpose for 2014!
Make this Wednesday night a prayer meeting to remember. WOW look what the Lord has done!

9 COMMENTS

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, GEOFF POWELL SAID
Unsafe.? I had never really thought of Jesus that way before. But when put in the perspective that trying to maintain my own status quo is me trying to be “safe”, it makes so much sense. What can I do with God? Anything! For I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me! Who is God in all this? Well He is the one who can do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all I can ask or think, according to the power that I allow Him to work through me. I can do it, because He promised me that greater works than He performed I will perform, I just have to trust Him because truly, He is Good! Thank you Jesus! Let’s go walk on water, open blind eyes, cleanse some lepers, heal the sick and bring freedom to those held captive! We can all do it, we just have to be willing to be a little unsafe by getting out of our comfort zone for it is He that does the work through us..
Thanks for the words Ps Karl, enjoying them all!

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, KELLY MICHALCZYK SAID
“If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.” Robert Fritz No compromise in 2014! I’m believing with you all!

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, KARLY.THOMAS85@GMAIL.COM SAID
If your dream is something possible it’s too small, Jesus was a fearless and unsafe leader, time to start having some fearless and unsafe dreams for 2014.

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, RON MILLS SAID
Being a true follower of ChRist requires courage. He will ask you to go places you would rather not go, do things you know you can’t do, and become someone that just isn’t you; or at least that the way it seems. But in the end, as one faithfully follows The Lord; we will do, go, and become and discover to our great delight and amazement that this is what we were created for! Christ is the author of life, and only He knows how to live it. I choose to give up my own way of living, because I have discovered that I do not know how to live. So now it is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me to the glory of God the Father. I want this year to be a year that resonates with His purpose, His plans, and of course, His provision.

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, PAT WATT SAID
Change change and more change. May it be so! NOW…Amen…

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, GORD SAID
Thanks again Ps. Karl! Wonderful challenges to my personal status quo which clearly needs to be transformed to the “new normal” of a Jesus follower who acts as if he believes what he says. Looking forward to Wednesday night filled with dunamis-packing presence.

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, D KARL SAID
A big AMEN to Coleen’s post … and Stefan it is such a joy watching your testimony unfold … God is Good!!!

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, STEFAN NICHOL SAID
Am reminded of a quote I once heard, “Courage is fear which has said its prayers.” It can be scary to follow God at times but it is far more frightening to think of living my life without the presence of God in it. On October 31, 2012 I sacrificed the thing I loved most in this world – my cocaine habit – to be closer to my God. It can be quite hard to give up the life you know but often not as hard as it is to live it. Pastor Karl is correct when he says changes come when you follow God. Every time I prayed the answer I got, no matter the question, was, “Quit snorting cocaine.” Once I listened, it took awhile, my life began to change immediately. The difference between the man in Romans 7 v the man in Romans 8 is the best way I can describe it. Those of you who pray with me in the healing rooms and at the altar have noticed many changes am sure. Since starting to work on my death I have found great peace and joy in living. In many ways my life has levelled up. It feels weird experiencing abundance but only because it is new. Would rather feel weird because what felt, “normal”, obviously was not working for me. My philanthropy is between God and I but I can attest to the fact that as I listen, the money comes. Am not sure what my thoughts on Jesus are other than how wonderful of it was of him to reconcile me to God. Jesus’ father. That is who I direct my prayers too. I am beginning to hear the still, small voice within which the prophet Elijah speaks of in 1 Kings 19: 11 – 13. Listening to it causes arguments at times but has never led me astray. As I close, am reminded of another quote I saw on the wall of Bishop Ronald Haynes church(not Catholic, he is Jamaican, unsure which branch of Christianity he follows), “As I come to the end of the light I know and step into that darkness I know I will find sure footing or my God will teach me to fly.”

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014, COLEEN SAID
My prayer focus is for those who are challenged right now in their relationship with Christ Jesus. Lord, give them clarity, wisdom and courage and a new vision and renewed passion for you Lord and your purposes.May we all walk upright and boldly as a true representation of Christ Jesus. a royal heir of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.Also,Lord, woo your people to come out and join in prayer Wednesday eve. AMEN!