Bring People to Jesus - February 9, 2025

Mark chapter 7, verse number 31.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

Jesus is out ministering and healing and helping people.

And the Bible says in verse 31, and again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

And it's interesting to note that this is a very interesting take that Jesus has in his movements, in his itinerant ministry.

He's traveling around, but it's not from A to B.

It's a bit of a horseshoe kind of weird-looking path.

How many of you have ever been following Jesus and you're wondering, why is he taking us this path?

This is not the simple way, it's not from here to there.

They said the fastest way to get somewhere is a straight line.

He's not taking me in a straight line.

Well, he doesn't go in a straight line here.

But we do see that he is going and he is ministering and he is moving and he has divine appointments.

And oh, by the way, he has divine appointments for your life too, that you will never get to without personal disappointments.

And so here we see Jesus, he's making his way back, if you would, to the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum.

It would have been his headquarters.

See, that's where a lot of his placement was, where he was doing a lot of ministry, but then he would venture out and he's going out maybe 100, 120 miles.

We would have thought some of this area that he's coming through is like Lebanon.

He's coming back around, if you would, and he's ministering.

And for those of you who think, you know, why does the pastor always leave the church?

Why do the people always go and do these exploits?

Why can't they just stay here?

I'm sure they thought that about Jesus too.

Why doesn't he just stay right here at the Sea of Galilee at Capernaum?

We're all here.

Because there's other sheep that need to be reached.

There's other people that need the blessing of God.

And we must follow Jesus as well.

And I praise the Lord that there's a balance between having a home base and at the same time reaching other people.

And so he makes his way back to the Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coast of Decapolis.

And immediately, look what it says in 32.

And they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impudent in his speech, an impediment in his speech.

And they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

Notice that somebody cares enough about this deaf mute that they bring this person to Jesus.

And they say, Can you please just like do a miracle?

Can you put your hands on him?

Could you heal him?

Could you help him?

Please, Jesus.

We heard that you're healing people, you're helping people.

Can you please do this for this person that we care about?

How many of y'all got somebody you care about you want Jesus to touch?

You want Jesus to do a miracle?

Something's going on in their life.

And that's what's happening here.

The Bible says in 33, and he Jesus took him aside from the multitude and put his finger in his ears.

And spit, he spit and touched his tongue.

And looking up to heaven, he sighed and saith unto him, Ephatha.

That is, be opened.

And straightway his ears were open, and the string of his tongue was loose, and he spake plain.

What a miracle.

I mean, can you imagine?

This guy could see.

And so Jesus comes over and he puts his fingers in the guy's ear.

Now come over here, Nathan.

No, don't, I'm not gonna do it.

I might, you might not have cleaned those suckers, you know, I don't know.

But he puts his fingers in his ears and he spits and then he he he puts, what's it say?

He spit and then he touched his tongue.

See, Jesus is putting his finger right on the pain points, right on the blockages, right on the hindrances.

And I want you to understand this.

You and I, we make a grave mistake when we hide all of our faults and all of our fears, and we try to don't look at me.

I'm gonna isolate.

I don't want you to see my problems, I don't want you to see my weaknesses, I don't want you to see my pains, I don't want you to see my worries.

That's your problem.

You're delaying the miraculous power of God in your life because you're blocking him.

You've got to be willing to be vulnerable and expose the pain points and expose the trauma and expose the blockages to be able to say, God, I hurt, I have pain, I can't hear, I can't speak, I can't, God, please do for me what I can't do for myself.

And how about this?

Do for him or her what they can't do for themselves.

You have to expose those areas to Jesus.

And Jesus, he steps up and he says, be open, and right away the guy can hear, and the guy can speak.

And Jesus says in 36, and he charged them that they should tell no man.

But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it.

And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well.

And he maketh, he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.

Why do you think he said, hey, don't tell anybody?

See, Jesus wasn't doing ministry for the limelight, he wasn't doing it just for the success of it.

He wasn't just doing it so people could say, Hey, look at me, look how great I am.

He actually cared about people.

He actually loves people.

He actually comes to seek and to save that which is lost.

It's not all about the imagery, it's not all about the reputation, it's not all about, hey, everybody, look at what I'm doing.

It's about, no, I love this person, I care about this person, I want to see this person get some help.

It's a big difference in life and in ministry.

When you have this heart for God and you realize that Jesus does heal people and he does help people.

Now I know some of you, you probably have family members, like you're talking to them, but it's like you're talking to a wall.

And you want Jesus to put his fingers in their ear.

Like a syringe.

You know.

Open those ears up, buddy.

Maybe you're looking for some communication and they're tongue-tied, they got an impediment in their speech, and they they just can't speak, they can't get it out.

Maybe emotionally they're locked down, maybe mentally they're locked down.

But, anyways, they're locked down, and you want God to touch their tongue.

God can still do it.

He told Moses, who hath made man's mouth?

God can make you to speak, God can make you to hear.

God made and designed all these things.

And so, if you're in a relationship with somebody that they're, they're they're for whatever reason they're blocked, they're hindered, listen, bring them to Jesus.

Tell it to Jesus.

He's a friend that's well known.

How many of you guys you get like me sometimes where you just get frustrated?

The easiest thing to do is just get angry at the person.

I'm trying to talk to you and you're not listening.

I'm trying to have a relationship with you, but you're not communicating back.

Or because they're not doing what you want, you just stay mad.

How many all just stay mad?

And if we're not careful, we can live in this constant state of frustration because people have problems and we want to fix them, but they won't be fixed.

And so we go from person to person, place to place, situation to situation, all while being angry, blaming other people because, hey, you're making my life harder.

Am I talking to anybody out there?

I'm just telling you, it's like if we're always blaming everybody else because they're not making us happy or because they're not communicating.

The problem is us.

Like the wrath of man doesn't work the righteousness of God.

We've got to get back and say, okay, God, it's me, it's me, it's me, oh God.

I need you to touch me.

I need you to help me.

God, I'm not praying, I'm not interceding, I'm not loving people.

I'm just so mad at him or her because of this, this, and this.

But really, my reaction to these problems is the real issue, God.

Please make me more like you.

Make me an interceder.

Make me somebody that says, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

Make me somebody that's your hands and your feet, God.

Please help me to go out and love people once again.

And care about people.

I look and I see this passage of scripture, and I see Jesus, he's going from place to place to place, and he's helping people, and he's ministering to people, and he loves people.

And I got to thinking, Jason, are you are you bringing people to Jesus?

Are you actively going out and sharing the gospel?

Are you praying for people?

Are you loving people?

Or is it all about you?

All about what you want, and building your life and your castle and your business, and everything's about you and your world.

Here's how you can tell when you've made your world an idol.

When all of a sudden your world, your business, your home, your car, your finances, when all of a sudden it's not going the way you want it to go, and Jesus has the divine detour and it causes a disappointment and delay in the building of whatever you think should take place, and all of a sudden you're getting mad and frustrated and angry, and all of a sudden you're doubling down on trying to build your kingdom.

When those alarm bells go off, when you're living in discontent and frustration, that right there is a warning.

Warning, warning, warning.

You're trying to build your kingdom, not his kingdom.

You're trying to get people to serve you and do what you want rather than you serve God and do what he wants.

And that's why I love, I love when God gives us these divine interruptions where it's like, hey, I'm going this way and I'm going that way, and I'm going to minister to this person, and how are you doing with it?

I look at Jesus and He is on the move.

He's helping people, He's healing people.

How many of y'all believe that He can still help people and heal people?

I still believe that God can.

I still believe He's doing miracles.

I still believe He raises people from the dead.

I still believe He heals cancer.

I still believe God calls people.

I still believe.

How many of y'all still believe in God?

You still believe He can, and He does.

Man, I still believe.

And so I got to thinking about how to get people to Jesus.

How do we do it?

How do we do it, God?

Write these notes down.

Number one, seek the Savior's help.

Seek His help.

Don't try to do it on your own.

Go to Him, be persistent and be persuasive and get in proximity.

Get on the topic.

You say, how do I get this, my friend, my husband, my spouse, my son, my daughter, my coworker, how do I bring them to Jesus?

Ask Jesus for help.

Like talk to Jesus about it and then get on the topic with them.

Hey, would you like to go to church?

Hey, can I pray for you?

Hey, I see this is happening in your life.

And even if they're like, no, no, no, even if they're like this, do, do, do, not listening, not listening, not listening.

Be patient, be sweet, be persistent, stay on the topic, and eventually God will move on their hearts.

I'm sure this uh deaf guy who couldn't hear, and he was a mute guy, he couldn't speak, eventually they had to figure out a way to communicate with this guy to be able to say, hey, let me take you to a guy that can help you.

Let me get you to the doctor.

Let me get you to the doctor, let me get you to somebody that can actually do something in your life.

You don't have to stay this way.

How many of you guys are done being in the a position of being stopped and stuck?

Let me tell you something.

You gotta get to Jesus.

Maybe you know somebody that's stopped up and can't communicate.

Seek the Savior's help.

Number two, write this down.

Schedule a meeting.

You gotta schedule a meeting.

You see, they they get in proximity, they get the deaf guy and the mute guy over to Jesus and they say, Hey, Jesus, please, can can we have a meeting?

Can you can you give us your time?

Can you touch him?

And I got to thinking when you're scheduling a meeting, how important it is.

Listen, there's there's some things that you just can't do in public.

Like a lot of times I want to help people and I want to counsel people, but listen, if if if I'm at the door over here and you want to drop all of your issues and there's like 400 people behind you, that's not the time.

Right?

Like, make a phone call, say, Pastor, what's the best time that we can schedule a meeting where we can talk in a good way where we're not rushed?

That same is that that thought is true with everybody else in life.

If you try to cram your desire in such a short moment, it doesn't always work.

Now, sometimes it might, but it's better for you to say, you know what, hey, can we get a can we get a little private meeting?

Hey, I with building a whatever it is you're building, hey, can I get a private meeting?

I'd like to talk with you.

Now, when you're dealing with deep emotional trauma, physical trauma, it's gonna require, listen, a physical face-to-face.

It's gonna require a private meeting.

It's gonna require a personal touch.

And that's what took place here.

Jesus, he says, okay, you want me to minister to this guy?

Absolutely.

You know, when you're bringing people to Jesus, you got friends, you're bringing them to church.

Listen, they're gonna hear a message from the pulpit, they're gonna enjoy the music and things of that nature, but I'll tell you what they need.

They need a personal meeting.

They need to understand the Bible, they need to understand they're a sinner, they understand they need to understand these concepts about salvation.

And it's just, it can't be rushed.

There's some concepts they've got to walk through, there's some trauma they gotta bring out and unfold where you can be able to say, okay, let's let's let's walk through this.

And Jesus, here's what Jesus does: He doesn't, he doesn't heal this guy right there in front of everybody.

He says, Hey, come on over here.

He pulls him aside.

And he works with this individual in a private way.

And so, number one, seek the Savior's help.

Number two, schedule a meeting.

Number three, number three, use spiritual tools.

Remember this, we're we're in a spiritual battle.

And we can't just force, you know, a solution on people.

We've got to use our our our tools that God has given to us.

Now, salvation is a gift from God.

He's a surgeon, it's a spiritual surgery.

He cuts the foreskin of your heart off and he makes you born again.

He gets rid of the wickedness of your flesh.

All of that happens spiritually when he quickens you and makes you alive.

And so when you're thinking about salvation and bringing people to Jesus, it's not just about being in the proximity of the church.

And it's not just being around Christians, it's actually introducing them to the Savior, who is also the surgeon who can deal at the deepest part of their heart so that they can get the healing and the remedy on the inside.

And so you say, preacher, well, what kind of tools does he use here?

Well, he uses touch.

Uses touch.

Now I get, there's some really creepy people out there, you don't want them touching you.

Right?

Like seriously.

But don't let the creeps steal a tool from you.

If you're authentically trying to minister to people, Jesus, he uses the power of touch.

Lays his hands on this person.

You say, what else is he using?

The word of God.

Out of the mouth of God, remember he said, let there be light, and there was light.

He created the galaxies, he created everything with the spoken word.

And so when you think about the tools that we have for leading people to Christ and healing people and helping people and ministering to people, you've got to get into the Bible.

You got to get into the Word of God.

You we've got to hear it from God.

He goes up and he says, Ephratha, be open.

You say, What's he doing?

He's speaking the blessing, the life over this individual.

He's using prayer.

He looks up almost as to feel the pain.

He sighs.

You'll see a few times in the scripture where the Savior sighs over the plight and pity and misery of man.

He looks at this guy who can't speak and he and he and he can't hear, and he feels his pain, and he knows he wants to help him, and the Savior is touched by the feeling of our infirmities, and he sighs before he heals.

And many times when I'm leading people to Christ or doing some counseling, and maybe you felt this as well, you feel the people's pain.

You feel their heartache.

You feel their struggles, you feel their physical problems and their emotional problems and their financial problems.

If it was up to me, man, I'd heal everybody.

I'd solve every financial problem.

I'd make sure everybody was well taken care of.

But I gotta tell you what, it's not up to me.

And it's so humbling, isn't it?

It's so humbling when you just want to help people and love people and yet you're so severely limited.

And you say, well, why does God do that?

Because you and I are not the savior.

We're not the person that solves people's problems.

He is.

And there's some situations that he doesn't want to solve those problems yet because he's trying to lead those people in a certain way.

And if you try to get in there and mess with it too much, you'll block the savior from doing whatever he's supposed to do.

And they won't get the growth they're supposed to have.

And so, because of that, there's so much extra pain that comes upon our hearts that we've got to get back to the spot where we say, Okay, God, you're the doctor, I'm just the helper.

What spiritual tools do you want to use?

He uses touch, he uses the word of God, he uses prayer, and listen to this: he uses faith.

He uses faith, the power to call those things that are not as though they were.

I'm calling out, be opened, be opened ears, be loosed mouth.

Hey, the problems, the strongholds, the trials, the struggles.

Open it up, oh God.

I'm using faith to pronounce victory over this situation.

Woo! You see how he ministers.

Pretty amazing, right?

Write this down, number four, when you're trying to bring people to Jesus, seek the Savior's help, schedule a meeting, use spiritual tools.

Number four, speak life.

Speak life.

See, I think many times our issue is we speak death.

We see the problem, and then we beat that stinking horse to death over and over.

You just don't listen.

You just don't care.

You're not looking at me.

Hey, you're the problem.

Why do you always do this?

Why do you never do this?

Oh, you're such an idiot.

Oh, you know what, you never do this.

And we get very, very, very good and skilled at destroying people that need the mercy and love of God.

And typically we would we destroy the people who are closest to us because familiarity causes us to think, oh, they're not going anywhere.

And because you're so close to them, you see all of their problems and faults more than anybody else.

And that level of closeness should not give you license to just destroy them with your words.

Listen, you wouldn't let somebody else come to your home and just beat your wife or beat your husband or destroy your children on your watch.

Then why do you do it?

Why do you do that?

Why do you sit there and let the devil infiltrate you just to smash and dash your family to pieces?

It's a problem that we must repent over.

I look at the Savior and He's checks out the situation and he does the opposite of what we do.

Yes, he assesses the problem.

You gotta know what the problem is.

But just because you know what the problem is doesn't mean you know how to bring the solution.

Some of us are very good at looking at the problems, but we're not very good at getting to the solutions.

Some of us are always very good at looking at the losses and the pitfalls and the issues and the struggles and the warts and the and all the setbacks and all the history of why somebody messes up and we keep score of all that junk rather than looking at, let me look and see what our Lord can do.

What has he done with grace and mercy and kindness?

And I wonder what our master can do in this situation.

When I look at Jesus in this passage, I don't see him going, Well, no duh, you got a hearing problem, you idiot.

You've been jamming your ears with all kinds of crap.

What's up with that?

You've been, no wonder you can't talk.

Your heart's all jacked up.

You've been caking it with all kinds of nastiness.

All that stuff's a given.

He already knows the human condition.

What does he lean into?

The solution.

He leans into be opened.

Ephratha.

Hey, I want to help you.

I want to heal you.

I want to minister to you.

Hey, how good are you at speaking life to the problems in your life?

How good are you at speaking blessing over those areas that are that are held down by Satan?

How good are you at giving the hey, listen, honey, I'm so I love you so much.

Hey, son, I'm so proud of you.

Hey, church family, I see you sacrificing.

Hey, I see this.

Listen, I look at the problems.

I'm going to speak blessings over you and encouragements over you and praises over you.

Let the streams of fortune flow upon you.

Let the healing power of good communication come into you.

Oh God, open their ears and open their eyes and open their mind and bless them with the Holy Spirit of God.

What would happen if all of a sudden you started doing that for your spouse, your son, or your daughter?

It'd be like, come on over here, sweetheart.

Let me speak some blessings over you.

Let me speak some life over you.

I promise.

You this.

You start practicing.

Now, I'm not saying you need to physically do that, okay?

Just to some of you guys take things a little literally.

Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't try it.

I mean, who knows?

But I am saying, like, listen, use these tools.

Like, start speaking life over your family and blessing, right?

Every good woman buildeth her house, but a foolish woman, she plucketh it down with her hands and with her words.

Let's be people that speak life into our homes and our family.

Let's be people that speak the solutions and speak the blessings and see God prosper.

Listen, what will happen to your husband's heart if all of a sudden you're you're admiring him and you're respecting him and you're encouraging him and the areas maybe he's lacking or he's short and he's messed up.

You start praising the little positive that you see in him.

What would happen then?

What would happen then?

All of a sudden, it'd be like, oh yeah, she likes me.

Yes.

And this could go any which way to the to the wife, it could go to the children, it could go to the pastor, go to the deacons, it can go to the members.

All I'm telling you is this use your tongue to speak blessing and life over people.

And watch what God does.

He'll bless you big time.

And then write this down.

Number five.

And I'm finished.

Isn't it good being in church today?

Aren't you glad you came to the house of God?

Man, I love this place.

I love the Lord.

I love the Bible.

I love what we get to do.

Number five, share the wonderful works of God.

Share it.

Amen.

Now I know in this situation he says, hey, shh, don't tell anybody.

But it's kind of hard to hold it down if all of a sudden you couldn't talk for a long time and you couldn't hear for a long time.

It's gonna be kind of hard to hide that.

You know it's really hard to hide when somebody gets saved.

If you truly get born again, listen, you're gonna be telling people about Jesus.

If you were backslidden and you were messed up and you were in sin and you were vile and you didn't pray and you didn't read and you didn't sing all of a sudden, you're sitting in the front row, and all of a sudden you're singing, praise him, praise him, and like you're just letting praises out of your mouth.

Your sister, your brother, your spouse, your kids are gonna be like, What?

You were a deaf, dumb mute before.

Now all of a sudden you got the giddy up in your soul.

They'll know where that came from.

They'll know, okay, he he said he couldn't talk before.

He said it wasn't my personality before.

Yeah.

What it was is he wasn't liberated by Christ yet.

He was in his own way.

The flesh, the world, and the devil got in his way.

Now all of a sudden, he's singing these songs and he's praising God.

Then he's out the job site, and he's at the workplace, and he's at the school, and she's over here, and all of a sudden, let me tell you about my Jesus.

And sometimes it's as simple as this you're talking to me, and I used to do this.

It's, I'm gonna respect you, and I'm gonna care about you, I'm gonna care about this meeting, and I'm taking this stupid thing right here that is a tool, but I'm gonna show you that you're important.

And I was a blind person, and I was a deaf person and a mute person to the fact that I was completely disrespecting you before.

Let me show you what the power of Christ does in our lives when we get healed and helped and get revival.

Sitting clothed, look at this, and in our right mind.

I'm so locked in and I'm so focused right now on what you're saying.

I can hear you, I can see you, my mind and my heart is not trying to do everything for everyone else all the time, but I am in the zone right here with you.

Now, if I, through the power of the Holy Spirit, am listening to you because God has opened my ears and I'm picking up what you're saying, and I'm saying, okay, is that what you mean?

How do you think the person is gonna feel being heard, being seen, being understood, they're gonna feel loved.

And I'm here to tell you, some of you guys today, you're blind, you're deaf, and you're mute spiritually.

You've been doing certain things, and you had no idea that you were doing it.

You couldn't receive good communication, you wouldn't give good communication, and it's because there's been a blockage, a spiritual blockage.

And this is why if you're on the other side of that, and I'm almost finished, guys, if you're on the other side of that, where it's like you're trying to talk to somebody and they're just not responding back, you're trying to speak and they're not even acknowledging it, the answer is not to yell at them and be frustrated at them and say, What's wrong with you, you idiot?

The answer is to back up and say, Lord Jesus, please would you help my husband?

Lord Jesus, would you please help my wife?

Lord Jesus, would you please reach your hand in and help me to be spiritual?

Help me to love them, help me to care for them, help me to model, help me to be the change, God.

I know they don't care about me enough to actually give me undivided attention.

They don't care about the people in the workplace to give undivided attention, but really they're not doing it to me, God, they're doing it to you.

Did you hear that?

However, you treat me is an indicator of how you're treating him.

And how I treat you is an indicator of how I'm treating him.

So check this out.

I'm going levels now.

I hope you are with me.

You can actually see the dynamics of somebody's love life with God by how spiritually in tune and connected they are and their treatment to the physical beings in their life.

So, for example, if I'm mistreating you, if I'm angry and upset at you, if I'm not giving you time and attention, if I'm dissing and punking you and controlling you, it's because my relationship this way is not good.

I'm trying, I'm upset at God.

Did you hear that?

And I'm taking it out on you because I can't see him.

But this is the process of what's happening inside of me.

You say, what do I do if that's me?

You need to back up and say, God, please forgive me.

Please help me, please heal me.

I don't want to treat people that way, and I don't want to treat you that way.

Now watch this, and I'm finished.

Once you get the ephrata in your ear, in your tongue, and all of a sudden you can hear again and you can speak again, give God the praise.

Give God the praise.

Tell people, listen, I I used to have brain fog.

I used to just have diarrhea of the mouth, or I couldn't speak at all one of the way or the other way.

I wouldn't listen, I wouldn't care.

But now guess what?

Because God has stilled my heart, He's helped my soul.

I'm able to be all the way here.

I'm able to be undistracted.

I'm able to listen to you and talk with you and give you good feedback.

I'm able to pray for you and love you.

And it's not because I'm good.

It's because of Jesus.

I'm telling you, this is what the people in our community need.

They need Jesus.

The people in school, they need Jesus.

But if we're gonna be healthy vessels, healthy examples for the people that we want to reach, let's get the help first on the inside of us.

That we can be that age, that we can bring people to Jesus.