Transcription
The following program is sponsored by friends and partners of Kingdom connection. We're all the body of Christ. God's not in a white box, a black box, the Hispanic box, Asian box. We're all God's people, and we gotta get out of the box and be the church He's called us to be.
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Look with me at this amazing story in Luke chapter 7. I'll begin reading with verse 11. Now it happened the day after that He went into the city called Nain, and many of His disciples went with Him, a large crowd. That's important. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a large crowd. So He got in a large crowd in verse 11. With Jesus, she got a large crowd with the funeral procession in verse 12. A large crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He said He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." She was weeping over her child, and Jesus said, "Do not weep." Then He came, underscore this, and He touched the coffin, and those who carried Him stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." So he who was dead sat up and began to speak, and He presented him to his mother. How many of you, since we're missing a few things in between the the lines, can you imagine this actually happening? Then fear came upon them all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us! God has visited His people." The report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region. Then verse 14 says, "He came and touched the coffin." I'm preaching today on what happens when Jesus touches your coffin. It's interesting that one of the definitions of Webster's dictionary on boxes is he puts in it. I'll just tell you what he said. He said it's a small compartment. It's a box is a small compartment with a lid on it. And then he concludes after he gives other descriptions of what a box is, and one of the definitions I found very interesting was a coffin. A coffin is a box. And I want to talk to you for a few moments because here's a widow that we are told she had lost her husband, and now she's dealing with the tremendous grief. In a male-dominated society, the only heir, the only protector, the only provider that she had was her son, and now her son has died of premature death. They're on their way to the graveyard to bury him, and this woman has a large group with her who are mourning. They're crying, they're singing funeral songs, sad songs, tears, moaning, groaning. It's sad. And they're coming one way, and they have a coffin of the of the heir, the boy, the the only one who who could take care of her in that male-dominated society, and they're going to the funeral ground to bury him. And then coming from the opposite direction on the same road is Jesus, and the Bible said He had a large crowd with Him, and they're singing. But they're not singing funeral songs, they're singing praise songs. I think that somebody was singing, "I was blind, but now I see." I think somebody was singing, "I was lame, but now I can leap." I think somebody in the back was singing, "Base," probably singing, "I was dead, and now I'm alive." And so here you got this happy, joyful praise party going on, and you got sad, sad, sad, and the two collide. The two collide. And I just love what Jesus did when when they collided. Jesus turned to the mother who was mourning and said, "Weep not over your child." I believe today that God is wanting to collide with the sad songs and the sad stories and the sad episodes of your life, and He wants His praise to overcome your sadness. And I love the fact that Jesus said to her, "Stop weeping. Don't cry anymore over what you think is finished in your life." And then Jesus walked over, and He did something strange. He did not touch the dead boy. He touched the coffin. He touched the box. He touched the thing that had the boy in a box. He touched it, and when He touched it, the boy sat up and began to speak. He said, "Weep not." And when He touched it, the kid sits up, and he begins to say something. What did he say? The Bible is not clear what he said, but since I'm gonna preach this sermon, I'm gonna tell you what I think he could have said. Do you know that it was common in biblical days, in that again, male-dominated society, the reason that widows were in such a horrible place, and you read of widows constantly in the Bible and how in need they always were, is because she had lost her husband, and now she had lost the only male left in her family, and now she would be out on her own. She would be an outcast. She would be dependent upon somebody just basically giving her scraps from their table. She had not a bright future. But here's what I want you to see. When Jesus touched that coffin and that kid said up, you know what they said? They said that even when a male died and there were no heirs to that male in the family anymore, that because they were such a communal or family and group, that the people from the community, the men would come in, and you couldn't just run down to Walmart or somewhere through the mall and get clothes. Clothes were very valuable, and male clothes were needed always. So if they knew that a male, the last male, had died in that home, the men from the community would go in and take his clothes, and you know what they said? They said they would actually many times wear them to your funeral. They would get your shoes and wear them to the funeral. They and she couldn't stop them. The widow couldn't stop them. They'd take the coat, the hat, the shoes, the trousers. They would have it all on at the funeral so they would look good. And when Jesus touched the box or the coffin that had him limited, and Jesus said, "Come out of there," and he and he comes out, and he sits up, and he begins to say something. What do you think he said? You know, you know what I think he said? I think he said, I think from that elevated position on the shoulders of those people, he looks out and he sees his coat. He sees his shoes. He sees his hat. And he says, "Hey, you give me my coat back! Hey, you give me my hat back! Hey, you, that's not your shoes, that's my shoes, give them back!" When Jesus touches your coffin, you can tell the devil, "Give me back my joy! Give me back my health! Give me back my dream! Give me back my expectation! Give me back my faith in my victory!" I don't have to live life in a box full of limitations with a lid on my success and joy. When Jesus touches your coffin, you can say to the enemy, "I'm taking it all back!" The undertaker and the gravediggers went out of business. In other words, those who were profiting from death. When Jesus touches the coffin, and you may be listening to me, and the enemy may have your child in a coffin of drug addiction, in a box of of alcoholism, in a box of depression, and Rexi, on some kind of thing that the enemy's doing trying to kill your child, and some parent has been weeping and weeping. But today, you're going to have a collision with the power of Jesus Christ, and He told me to tell you, He's going to touch the coffin of your child, the thing that it that has held them bound, and they're going to come up and come out in Jesus name. If you believe it, it's time to say something. He opened his mouth and he said something. When Jesus touched his coffin, a coffin is a box. I really believe the enemy wants to box all of us in. I believe that he loves to get us in a box and put us in there and put our God in there and put our our dream in there, and then put a lid on it and say, "That's as far as you're going. That's as successful as you're gonna be. That's as good as life is gonna get for you." And the enemy loves the box of sin. And then here's the here's the lesson. If you stay in a box long enough, it becomes a coffin. I believe what the enemy wants to do is box God in and box you in in the small spaces, into small compartments, and get you to stay there until the dream ends up dead because you allowed your faith to have a lid on it. In the Old Testament, the presence of God was kept in a box. It's called the Ark of the Covenant, and they believed that the box that God was in, that was made with man's hands, brought them victory. But they had God with a box, and they had a lid on that box. And if they had that box, then they had victory. If they didn't have that box, they had defeat. The Old Testament is a book about a God who is in the box called the Ark of the Covenant. But Jeremiah prophesied that there was coming a day when no longer would we wish for the good old days of the Ark of the Covenant, but he said, "There will come a day when the Lord Himself will be among you." The New Testament is not a book about God in the box. The New Testament is the flesh. The the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Suddenly, God in the New Testament stepped out, put skin on, and Jesus got out of the box. That means that you don't have to confine God to church. That you can't say He can only bless me in church. God is out of the box. He'll go into your home. He'll go into a bar. He'll go into a crack house. He'll go into a messed-up marriage. He'll go anywhere. This doesn't just feel good in here. You can take it with you. God wants to get out of the box, the box of religion, the box of tradition. God is bigger than the box of drugs. God is bigger than the box of addiction. I'm just preaching just a minute. We like to put God in a box because we think God is like us. God will not go in this box. He is not a Republican. God is not in that in that a shock. God is not a Republican. You can't put Him in that box. God is not a Democrat. You can't put Him in that box. We'll go even further. God is not from Georgia. And we'll go even further. God is not an American. God loves the men in Nigeria. God loves the man in Mexico. God loves the man in South America. God loves the woman in Europe. God cannot be put in a box. We want God to be like us, but God says, "I'm all by myself." He's not on the Republican side or the Democratic box. He says, "I'm on my own side. You're either with me, or you don't get me. I don't get in your box. I'm God all by myself." Then we'll really mess up and get anybody mad. The snob. God is not a bad news. God is not a Lutheran. God is not a Methodist. God is not a Catholic. God is not a Pentecostal. God is not a charismatic. God says, "I won't be put in any of those boxes. I came for the whole world. I came to pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and I need you to get me out of the box. I'm tired of people putting me in the box." We're all the body of Christ. God's not in a white box, a black box, a Hispanic box, Asian box. We're all God's people, and we gotta get out of the box and be the church He's called us to be. Somehow to give Him praise. If you believe that, I apologize for screaming. It's the truth. You don't know why some of you don't praise the Lord yet. It's because you you came up in a little religious box that said, and the enemy has put a lid on you, and that's that's why you're half dead. But if you would just allow the Holy Spirit to break the lid off just a little bit and stick you little hand up, you'd be amazed. Praise is not a Pentecostal thing. It's a Bible thing. Just get your hand up. Do what the Bible said, and God bless you. Anybody want to get out of the box of religion? I love a box of worship, out of the box of man-made theology. You know why some of you don't tithe? See, I just killed it because that doesn't fit in my box. So you just you just said, "God, you stay out of my finances. I'm my own provider. I don't I want God in that, but I want God in that box." You know what the problem is? I'm enjoying this. If nobody else is, we treat Jesus like a jack-in-the-box. We get discouraged. We go through hard times. I can't wait to get this church Sunday. Oh, honey, pastor to really be anointed. I hope they sing my favorite song. Oh, and crank it up, crank it up, and it starts. Oh!
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Hallelujah! I'm feeling something. Praise the Lord! Oh, Franklin Jensen. Oh, Jack is out of the box. That's kind of how we do Jesus. Crank it up, get the music going, treat you a little bit, get some joy, get some faith in my soul. Jesus comes out of the box. We feel like, "I can make it." As soon as the service is over, get back in the box, Jesus. That felt good in church, but that won't work out here. That was amazing, but my marriage has real problems. My kid is really on drugs, and we're going through hell. My finances are falling to pieces, and I appreciate that service, but you need to just get back in your box. And that's all we do many times, is just come in and do this over and over and over, and Jesus gets out of the box, and we put Him back in. But He wants to get out of the box and go home with you. He's not a friend. He's bigger than the box you put Him in. And if the enemy can't get us to put Jesus in the box, then he'll come along and try to push us back in the box. Okay, okay, Jack, you got saved. You you walked down and gave your heart to Jesus, but I know who you really are. Get back in that box of shame. Get back in that box of condemnation. Get back in that box of depression. Get back in that box of addiction. You're an alcoholic, and you can't stop, and you're never gonna stop, and you're addicted to drugs, and you're never gonna get free, and you're depressed, and go back in your box of depression, and then go back and get a little help and pop up a look again, and then let me push you back in. I'm telling you what I believe the Lord is trying to say to people who are listening to me with this simple, simple message. It's time to get God out of the box and let Him take you out of the box because when He touches, when He touches your coffin, He's bigger than your problem. He's bigger than your situation. He's bigger than your needs. When Jesus touches your coffin, the coffin cannot hold you. He didn't touch the person. He touched the thing that held them down, that put a lid on them. He said, "I am breaking the power of the box off of your life. There is no lid. There is no limit. There is no stopping you from going where I've called you to go and doing what I've called you to do." Somebody give the Lord a praise right now if you believe it. Don't let the devil treat you like a jack-in-the-box. I'm free, and I'm staying free. I'm out, and I'm staying out. I'm delivered, and I'm staying delivered. The only time the box is mentioned anytime in the New Testament, all is talked about in the Old Testament is a box, the Ark of the Covenant. But the only time a box is mentioned in the New Testament, the actual word box is used, it's found when the woman with the alabaster box walked into where Jesus was with that expensive perfume, and it did not say she poured it on his feet. It said she broke the box at his feet. Do you know how you can break the curse of the box, the limit of the box, the limitations, the the small space that life has put you in, the enemy that keeps pressing you down and pressing you down? Do you know how you break out of that box? At the feet of Jesus. God sees your past. He knows you have a past. What blessed me about that is she was a prostitute, and she used that perfume to attract men. One commentary said that would identify her. That smell would identify her in the marketplace to men to know that she was available. And she brought the thing that represented the cycle of sin in her life, the box that lie, "You're nobody. You're a prostitute. This is who you are. Stay in this box. You'll never change." And she broke it at His feet and turned what used to bring shame into worship and poured it on His feet. God knows you have a past, but He sees past your past. And she broke the box at the feet of Jesus. And I've come to tell you today that there is a cure. If life has put you in a box, and you feel like you're so limited in small spaces, and it's just not happening, when Jesus touches your coffin, you didn't touch the boy. He touched the thing that had him limited, and it had to let him go. When Jesus touches your coffin, that thing that has you boxed in has to let you go. And this is your day. Jesus is ready to touch your coffin. If you don't get out of the box, it'll end up being a coffin. But today, there's hope. Today, there's faith. I feel life. I feel faith. I feel joy. I feel like that we're about to hear the crushing sound of boxes in the spirit world. Some of you have hit a plateau in your life, in your career. You're not here today by accident. I'm telling ya, I have faith for this stuff because I watch the enemy. Every time we would grow, every time we would get to a certain place, the enemy would come and say, "Well, you did good, but that's about it. Now, don't believe for anymore." And every time God had to break me out of the box and believe for greater or greater. There are no limits on you. Take the lid off. Don't you let the enemy treat you like a jack-in-the-box. Get back in there. Get back in that low self-esteem. Get back in those excuses of, "I'm not talented enough. I'm not good-looking enough. I'm not educated enough. I don't have enough money. I can't do it. I'm nobody. I'm the wrong color. I'm the wrong person. I'm the wrong gender." Don't let the enemy push you in that box.
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