Take Nothing – Receive Everything

Notes from Fred:

Sunday was a true Celebration Day – as we celebrated building a strong foundation for the future, through $12,965 given to our Fifth Sunday Offering; and through 2500 miles on our Walk to Jerusalem, receiving the blessings of Wellness for our minds, bodies, and spirits as we go!

And after our Worship Service, we began building a strong foundation of faith for a group of our members who came together to begin a new Small Group!

Take Nothing – Receive Everything

On Sunday, we continued our Journey to Wellness through our Walk to Jerusalem, by God’s guiding Words – to take nothing with us on our Journey, leaving behind the burdens that keep us from being made well; and taking with us, instead, the power of Jesus to drive out the demons of our burdens, and the support of each other to walk beside us. (Luke 9:1-3,6)

In summary:

1. Many of us have rushed out on our walk to Jerusalem. But many of us have missed a step, without which we will not receive the full wellness that God wants for us. Before we begin walking – Prepare for the Journey!
2. Our Scripture comes to us right on the heels of Jesus healing a woman who came to him, confessed the burden of her spiritual and bodily disease, trusting that he could make her well. Jesus declares, “Your faith has healed you – now get up and go in peace!” Jesus then calls his disciples, then and now, together, and sends them on a journey for wellness of mind, body, and spirit.
3. But before they begin that Journey, he prepares them by giving them two Travel Advisories. Advisory No. 1: Take nothing for your Journey! These words sound strange, but Jesus advises us to take nothing, because he knows that we too often take unhealthy burdens on our Journey to be made well. We prepare like the woman Jesus met on the road, who was healed by her faith in Jesus by confessing her burdens, for us: worry; pride; anger; grudges; broken relationships; bad choices; irresponsible uses of our time and money; over-scheduled lives; grief; illness; disappointment; failure…
4. In order to lay these burdens down, we need to see that they are all in the past – and we must not take them into the future. This is the wisdom of Hebrews: “Throw off everything that hinders you, and run the race marked out for you – for us, the Journey to Wellness that Jesus has marked out for us.
5. This is the wisdom of a man named Jay who was kept from being made well, not by his addition to drugs, but by his regret for the past, his inability to forgive himself of his past failures – and was finally made well when he realized, “As long as you are a prisoner of the past, you will never know the freedom of  the future.”
6. This is the wisdom of a person in our church, who has been beset by chronic illnesses since they were a small child, including conditions today that have affected their dreams for the future. But they proclaimed to me that they will not be bitter about the past or worry about the present. They have seen loved ones destroyed by these burdens. Instead, for them, the past is the past, and they are hopeful for the future, forging new dreams, hoping that “today, I will be healthier than yesterday!”
7. Do you want to be healthier? Then name your burdens; take nothing for your Journey to Wellness; know that your burdens are yesterday; today is a new day for a new wellness….
8. Yet the condition of our world and many of our lives are proof that it is difficult to lay our burdens down and take nothing for the Journey to wellness. That is why Jesus reveals that we actually do take something for the Journey – Travel Advisory No. 2, Part 1: Take with you the power of Jesus to drive out demons; take the Good News that his power can make you well in mind, body, and spirit! For Jesus knows that we will not empty our lives of the burden of “the Devil we know,” until there is something better to fill them.
9. This is the wisdom that Mark McGeough, one of our members, offered to a young man burdened with an addiction – “I will addict you to something so much better, the way you feel when you are in great shape.” The young man began to lay his burden down: “I would really like that…” But for this young man to empty himself of his burden and begin a Journey to Wellness, he will have to put himself in Mark’s hands, who has the power to give him what he needs.
10. It is the same way with Jesus, only more. He offers to replace our burdens with his power that will drive out the demons of our burdens, as he did for the woman on the road, if we will ask him to give us his power to drive them out – to free us to be made well.
11. Yet this will not happen for us, unless we accept Jesus’ Travel Advisory No. 2, Part 2: Take one thing more on our Journey to Wellness: Each Other! Jesus called his Disciples to come together in order to go on their Journey to Wellness. We must also prepare for our Journey by coming together – to confess our burdens to each other; ask together for Jesus’ power to drive out our unhealthy demons; encourage each other as we walk our Journey; call together on the power of Jesus when the demons threaten again, which they surely will….
12. So, prepare for your journey. Find a prayer partner or a Small Group to go together. It is only when we go together that we will be make well in mind, body, and spirit.
13. This is the truth discovered by Judas and Peter. Both betrayed Jesus. But Judas faced the burden of his betrayal alone, and ends his life. Peter went to his small group (the other ten Disciples); they faced the burden of their betrayals together; faced Jesus together; gave their burdens to him; received his power; were made well….
14. I closed on Sunday with the story of Iva. She weighed 437 pounds and was beset by numerous health problems. She began a journey to wellness by herself, treating her problem as physical, trying  crash diets. Her problems got worse – She became even more unhealthy in her body, mind, and spirit. In desperation, she turned to her Pastor. They prepared for a new Journey for Iva by discovering her burdens, which were in her mind and spirit – disappointment, depression, and despair. With the help of her Pastor and a small group, she turned her burdens over to Jesus, received his power, and began the journey with her new friends, with a healthier diet and exercise. Today, Iva has lost 200 pounds, only takes one medication, is walking witness to the Good News of what happens when we prepare…
15. Every time her Pastor sees Iva, he says: “God is good.” And Iva responds: “Tell me about it. I am living a life I only dreamed of!” It does not have to be a dream for us. It can be our life – If we prepare by taking nothing for our Journey, except the power of Jesus and each other!

Connection for the Week: Ask your Small Group (join one if you are not in one) to help you name your burdens and give them up to Jesus in return for his power to be made well; walk to Jerusalem with each other; and experience a new life filled with new wellness of mind, body, and spirit, as you do.