Still the same.

Listen here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/ef1c0482/still-the-same...

Another airport scene.

Another opportunity.

Truth is, I'm always looking for them.

Walking up to my airline's gate, I heard the announcement: 'full flight - 'appreciate if you would gate check your carry-on bag to make room for others.' As I stood in line, I saw a woman waiting near me, also with a pink suitcase...and pink shoes. [Funny thing--my pink obsession often opens unexpected doors and conversations] I stepped over to talk to her and she saw the Bible in my bag, and commented on it. Another sister sitting in a wheelchair next to her, chimed in, 'I have my Bible too--right here in this plastic bag!' And we were off! We talked about how God connects, how Jesus loves and how we make the world smaller and kinder by having these kinds of conversations. I hugged them both and walked away with a smile in my soul.

Jesus.

Jesus is.

Jesus is love.

Jesus is relational.

We last looked at Jesus calling the disciples--after he had prayed all night about it.1

Do you have a big decision to make? Prayer is not just invaluable, but irreplaceable.

Luke writes, then "he [Jesus] came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.2

So they came because they knew. Not only had they heard of Jesus, but they had friends who had been healed by him. Why, they walked more than 250 miles from the towns of Tyre and Sidon (modern day Lebanon), to get to Jesus!

Just how many were there . . . we do not know. So, then what happened?

Luke says, "those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all."3

Wow, the freeing, life-giving, healing power of Jesus--it changed everything!

Back to the airport, Friends. As I stepped back to wait for Group 5 to be called, a man standing nearby commented that people seemed to be tense as they waited to board. He commented he had been in Raleigh for business, that his company wanted to move him, 'but it is a big decision moving from the U.K.,' spoken with a thick British accent.

'Yes, that is a big decision - so are you a praying man?' I queried.

'No, not at all,' he said, though I used to go to church and that stuff.

'So what happened?' I asked.

'I just don't believe - I guess you could say I'm an agnostic atheist,' he said, 'science, I guess.'

'Oh come on - science does not disprove Christianity!' By now we were walking down the jetway. 'DNA, the complexity and fine-tuning of the Universe - both are evidence of an intelligent mind, not random chance or evolution,' I supplied.

'Ah man, I hope my seat is next to yours! This is good,' he said, and took a look at his boarding pass. (Our seats were not near each other) 'The other thing about Jesus--I don't doubt he existed, but I have trouble with his divinity; I just don't believe he was God--' he looked over at me as we got to the door of the airplane.

'Oh, I see - so you know other people who walked out of the grave like Jesus, do you?'

And then, as I was peeling off to the right to my airplane seat, I said, 'look me up - pastorwoman.net.' And. he. did.

So, Jesus and divinity?

Well friends, we have more than the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life, teaching and miracles; we have the first century writings of Flavius Josephus (Jewish historian) and Publius Tacitus (Roman historian). Both record crowds flocking to Jesus because he performed miraculous works and healings. Note: it did not serve the values or purposes of either one of these men to record this information.

The fact is, Jesus taught like no other, set people free from the demonic and healed their diseases because he was the Son of God--given miraculous power by God to substantiate Jesus' claim that he was who he said he was, the Messiah.

And the great news for us today - Jesus is still the same One who loves like no other, who sits at the right hand of the Father and prays for us,4 his children--the same God who hears and answers prayers today.

'Yeah, but I don't really know the right words to say,' you say; that's okay, he will make sense of your words, just pray...

'Yeah, but I don't really have too much faith,' you say...

Check it out, Jesus said 'if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.'5

A mustard seed? Yes. Last evening, I had dinner with a sweet friend who reached inside her purse and produced what is in the picture--a vintage box of mustard seeds! !! Look closely at the picture above--a mustard seed is about the size of the head of a pin, yet Jesus said our faith need be no bigger than that to move mountains. That's because our little faith is put in a mighty God who is moved to answer prayer for the big needs in our lives--just like Jesus did that afternoon so long ago - for those who came from near and far.

Jesus. "Call on Him" - Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6wxwXn5gDU

Christine

Luke, #27

1 - Luke 6.12-16

2 - Luke 6.17-18a

3 - Luke 6.18b-19

4 - Romans 8.34

5 - Matthew 17.20