Make Room: For Power | Ps Luke Harrison

And so if you are new, you find

yourselves here in the middle of a

series called Make Room. And make room

is not just um you know, two words that

we thought of uh that sound good. You'll

see it everywhere. It's actually our

vision word of the year. We're believing

this year that it won't just be two

words that get put on a fancy banner

outside or on great screens like this,

but it'll actually be things that we

implement into our lives. That make room

will be a theme that we consciously and

deliberately go after. Make room means

that we need to be slightly

uncomfortable. And this year, as we step

into that area of uncomfortability, I

believe that we are going to see areas

of making room in the lives of people.

Whether it's around experiencing his

presence, whether it's around provision

and disciplehip, whether it's around

community, would you make room this year

as you join us as we navigate these

texts over the next 12 months together?

Make room actually comes and um Lindsay

shared earlier out of Isaiah 54:2 which

Isaiah 54:2

says enlarge the place of your tent and

let the curtains of your habitations be

stretched out. Do not hold back.

Lengthen your cords and strengthen your

stakes for you will spread abroad to the

right and to the left and your offspring

will possess the nations and more people

desolate cities. Today uh as you join

us, we are continuing on with the the

series Make Room. When we're talking

about making room for power,

more so, we are making room in faith for

the miraculous power of God.

As I started to unpack um this thought

over the last few weeks and think about

it, I came across a quote by Awtoer

that's really shook me to the core. It

says this. It says Awto is quoted in

saying, "God is looking for people

through whom he can do the impossible."

What a pity that we plan only the things

we can do by ourselves. I feel like that

frames a lot of us um throughout our

lives. It's we serve a God. We know of a

God. We've seen what he's able to do.

But so often we become content with not

experiencing that.

And so we're going to pray. And then

we're going to unpack God's word

and understand practically what he's

called us all to do as we start to make

room. My goal always as a communicator

is this is to ensure that head knowledge

becomes heart revelation that you can

actually start out working it in your

life.

More elegant speakers you will find no

doubtedly. So that's not my goal to

impress you with great words. It's just

not who I am. But what I am hoping to do

is through the text teach us some

practical outworkings that we can apply

to our lives from Mondays to Saturday.

And so as we make room, we'll apply

these areas and make room for his power.

So we're going to pray and then we'll

jump into it. Jesus.

Lord, what a privilege it is just to

gather

under your name. Name that's above all

names.

Lord, I pray that as the word goes out

today, Lord, that it won't return void,

but it will break chains and restore

hearts. Jesus, you know where all of us

are, what our heart positions are, what

we need. So would you speak to us all

individually and specifically for what

we need as we walk out these doors?

Jesus, give us the confidence and the

boldness to take practical steps and

outwork what you've called us to do as

we make room in our lives for the power,

miraculous power of God.

So we just thank you Jesus for your word

in Jesus mighty name. Everybody said

amen. I shared a quote by Awtoer

a similarly similar you know that word.

Thank you. Nailed it. Yes. [laughter]

Quote by a 20th cent 20th century

philosopher. Um you might know him Mike

Tyson.

He's good. I like it. Mike Tyson says

this, "Everybody's got a plan until you

get punched in the face." And I've been

thinking about this. I know I It's what

I do, go on these rabbit holes, but I've

been thinking about it in context of our

of our of our word of the year, making

room.

And as you can tell, I don't have the

facilities to be a boxer. Not made for

that. It probably looks like I've been

hit in the mouth a few times, but that's

not the case. I'm not a boxer. I just

don't have the ability. Now, don't get

me wrong, I love watching boxing in UFC.

Like, I love it. Like, I take my hat off

to it, but my mind struggles to

comprehend that someone can walk into a

ring knowingly that the guy on the other

side wants to take your head off. I'm

like, this is not for me. Not doing

that. Not playing the game. I'm like,

you want to win? It's yours. You can

have it. I'm just not stepping in a room

and wrestling with people. Look at me.

I'm built for speed, not comfort.

They'll just take me out. Boom. Gone.

Fight over. It's just not what I'm made

to do. But I've been studying and um my

background is actually in sports

science. That's what I did um at

university. And so I study the brains

and the mindset of athletes. And uh one

of the things that I've studied and

learned about boxers is that we all have

a fight orflight reflex.

But what boxers have learned to do

through training by being intentional

and deliberate is changing the way that

the body reacts or the way that the body

reflexes to external stimuli.

What they've done is they've retrained

the reaction time. What they've been

able to do is where the typical person

when somebody throws a punch at you

would cower or step back or just put

their arms up and hope for the best.

That's me. Like what they've learned to

do is retrain themselves

to absorb external stimuli and then

react accordingly.

And I've been thinking about this in the

context of our faith and about making

room for the power of God.

And it reminded me of the saying which

is this. Courage isn't the absence of

fear. You would have heard this. It's

it's acting correctly despite it.

In the same manner I think about faith

and go faith is not the absence of fear.

It's about acting correctly despite it.

And you see just like boxes we have a

fight orflight reflex spiritually.

And my question today is helping us all

unpack whether or not we react with a

fear reflex or if our response is a

faith reflex. And similar to boxes, the

whole concept and premise is if we are

finding ourself reflexing out of fear,

how do we retrain our minds and our

spirits to reflect and react out of

faith?

And so the question is, do you have an

uncontrollable fear reflex?

When the world comes at you, when life

gets tough, when a situation doesn't

make sense, what is your reaction to

that moment? Is it one of uncontrollable

fear where it takes you out, you can't

do anything about it? Is it a a a reflex

of frustration

where you just turn and point a finger

at God and God, I don't understand. This

is not making sense.

Or can we find a better way?

Can we find a place where we acknowledge

what's happening, but our reaction

towards that is a reflex of faith?

And so what we're going to do over the

next few minutes we've got together is

we're going to unpack some scripture

and then what I'm going to do is give

you three very practical points that we

can build our life and the journey of

making room

for the miraculous power of God. Three

very basic things. Here's the thing

though. Always easier to say than it is

to do like most things. And what I'm

hoping is that this is not just a word

we hear today and we leave you here and

go, "Yeah, I remember that guy. South

African said something. Don't really

know what he said, but I knew you spoke

about the power of God." No, no. What

I'd love for us to do is go home and

actually implement this from Monday to

Saturday. Because making room, if we're

going to see the power of God in our

lives, is not going to be a once-off

occurrence. It's going to be a daily

decision that we make in order to be

uncomfortable

and make room for the power of God.

So this is what we're going to do. We're

going to read some scripture

and I'm going to tell you a few great

things that I think we can learn from

it. So if you've got your Bibles, would

you turn with me to Luke 8

Luke 8:40

verse 40?

Going to read 13 verses

and then we're going to teach from it.

Is that good? Great. Here we go.

Now when Jesus returned, the crowd

welcomed him, for they were all waiting

for him. And there came a man named

Gyrus, who was a ruler of the synagogue.

And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored

him to come to his house, for he had an

only daughter, about 12 years of age,

and she was dying.

And as Jesus went, the people pressed

around him. And there was a woman who

had an discharge of blood for 12 years.

And though she had spent all her living

on physicians, she could not be healed

by anyone. She came up behind him and

touched the fringe of his garment. And

immediately, the Bible says, her

discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus

said, "Who was it that touched me?" When

all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the

crowds surround you and are pressing in

on you." But Jesus said, "Someone

touched me, for I listen, for I perceive

that what? That power has gone out from

me." And when the woman saw that she was

not hidden, she came trembling and

falling down before him, declared in the

presence of all the people why she had

touched him and how she had been

immediately healed. And he said to her,

listen,

daughter,

your faith has made you well. Go in

peace. And typically what we do as

communicators is we'll talk typically

talk about this text and preach on this

text or we'll preach on the next text

which is the continuation of the story

of Gyrus. But what I believe is there's

a clear understanding here that Gyrus is

about to learn something from this

encounter between the woman and Jesus.

And I believe that this story and this

encounter that we notice is going to

play a pivotal role in the way that

Gyrus responds

in the next section. So we continue

reading.

Verse 49 says, "While he was still

speaking, Someone from the ruler's house

came and said, "Your daughter is dead.

Do not trouble the teacher anymore." But

Jesus on hearing this answered, "Do not

fear. Only believe and she will be

well." When he came to the house, he

allowed no one to enter with him except

Peter, John, and James. We'll talk about

that in the father and the mother of the

child. And all were weeping and mourning

for her. But he said, "Do not weep, for

she's not dead, but sleeping." And they

laughed at him, knowing that she was

dead, but taking her by the hand, he

called, saying, "Child, arise." and the

spirit returned and she got up at once

and he directed that something should be

given to her to eat. We jump to

Ephesians 1 uh 19. I'll start reading

from verse 16 says, "I do not cease to

give all thanks uh for you." Paul

writing to the church in Ephesus,

remembering that you in my remembering

you in my prayers that the God of our

Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory,

may give you the spirit of wisdom and of

revelation in the knowledge of him,

having the eyes of your hearts

enlightened that you may Here we go.

Know what it is to hope to which he has

called you. What are the riches of his

glorious inheritance in the saints? And

here it is. And what is the immeasurable

greatness of his power towards us who

believe according to the working of his

great might. Three very practical tips

that I'd love for us to walk away here.

three practical thoughts that we can

build our lives upon as we start to make

room for the power of God. Here's the

first one.

Very simply, know who Jesus is.

Gyrus built his understanding and his

willingness to approach Jesus based on

what he knew and what he saw.

Jesus was traveling through the region

and Gyrus went, "Based on what I heard

and saw, I know that he's able, so I'm

going to go to him."

And my question to us is, how do you

believe when you don't know?

If you don't know what he's capable of

doing, how do you have faith that he's

capable of doing something?

And so Gyrus intimately knowing Jesus

and what he is capable of doing

approaches him going, "My daughter is

dying. I've heard that you can solve it.

Can you come to my house?"

But he approaches Jesus with a

confidence based on on an understanding

of who Jesus was.

I've been thinking about this thought

knowing Jesus and the importance of

community and and us getting around

people of faith.

Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from

Romans 10:17

what?" From hearing and hearing through

the word of Christ. I spoke about this

at the back end of last year, but the

importance of all of us individually to

have our own personal and daily

relationship with Christ.

Unfortunately, coming to church on a

Sunday is just not going to cut it.

Somebody reading 13 pieces uh verses out

of scripture is not going to be enough.

You see, a boxer doesn't step into a

ring without training.

He doesn't just decide one day, I'm just

going to go take on the battle. Yep,

here we go. No, what does he do? He

conditions himself and trains that

reflex day in and day out and day in and

day out and day in and day out. And

sometimes that consistency looks

monotonous. And sometimes it feels like

as he goes through those routines that

nothing's happening. But here's the

thing. when he steps into the ring and

suddenly notices his ability to shift

from fear to action.

And so if we're going to make room for

God this year, it's going to start with

us by knowing who he is for ourselves.

That's point one. Know who Jesus is.

And my question to us all today is, what

does that look like for you on a

day-to-day basis?

My wife always says, "It's not that you

don't have a priority for it's not that

you don't have time for something. It's

just that it's not a priority."

It's a challenging thought that always

just reminds me I I don't have time to

do this. I don't have time for this.

Like, it's maybe just not a priority

because I'm not saying read a whole a

whole book of the Bible every day. I'm

just saying let's get in the word, Dave.

Five minutes, 10 minutes. If you're

doing 10 minutes, can you do 12 minutes?

If you're reading one verse of the day,

could you do one chapter a day?

But could we start to get a little

uncomfortable as we believe that God's

calling us to make room

for these power? It's going to take a

little uncomfortability.

So that's the first point.

Know who Jesus is.

Here's the second one. Seems simple

again.

Maybe for you, not for me. Here's the

second one.

We ought to what? Silence the

negativity. So the first thing we're

going to do is we're going to know who

Jesus is. Simple. The second thing we're

going to do is silence the negativity.

J squ both Jesus and Gyrus

made a conscious decision

to ignore the external stimuli happening

around them. They made a decision to get

away from the negativity.

Gyrus,

someone from his own house

said, "Don't bother the teacher. Your

daughter's dead."

I don't know about you, but if someone

from my own home came, I'd feel a little

despondent. I'm like, "Guess so."

What does he do?

Spoke about the importance of the woman

with the issue of blood being healed.

But what does Gyrus do?

He focuses on Jesus based on what he

knew and what he saw.

Because what did Jesus do? Jesus

accredited the woman's healing to her

what? Her faith. And then what does

Jesus tell Gyrus after someone brings

the negativity? And what does he say? If

you'd only what? Believe.

And Gyrus

stripping away the negativity goes, I

don't know what you're talking about.

But I've just seen Jesus accredit

healing to her faith and he's told me to

believe. So right now I'm locked in on

Jesus.

The negativity didn't go away.

The crowds didn't just disappear,

but his focus on them did.

As I mentioned, I enjoy watching sport,

study sport, study athletes. I enjoy it.

I dive deep into the understandings and

the biomechan mechanics of how people

work. And one of the areas that really

intrigued me, athletes speak about this

calling it being in the zone or the flow

state. It's when training has happened

so much that when they get into the

game, their body starts taking over in

situations. They ignore the external

stimuli and they focus solely on what

they're doing.

But athletes don't find themselves in

the zone unless they train for it. It

it's they don't just rock up and go,

"Oh, let's see how this goes."

A 100 meter sprinter on the block

standing there, crowd shouting, athletes

on either side of them is focused on one

thing, the finish line and the starting

gun.

There's a concept in running called run

your race.

That's what Gyrus does. He locks in on

Jesus because he knows who he is. And

these three elements are going to build

upon one another. We're going to know

who he is. We're going to silence the

negativity. And my question to us all

today is, what's it in your life that

you need to silence?

What negativity do you need to silence

in your life?

Whether it's the enemy or or I'm going

to be honest, people in your life.

Oh, you heard it before. Are you you too

sick? Don't bother the teacher about

that.

Oh, that prodal you believing for too

far gone. Don't worry about that.

That relationship that you feel like you

need to work on, ah, it's too far gone.

It's too hard. It's uncomfortable. Don't

worry about that.

But one of the tricks that the enemy

tries to continually play on us is to

sew that negatively.

Both Gyrus and Jesus understood Proverbs

Proverbs 18:21

18:21. Both death and life are in the

power of the tongue.

And so when Jesus gets to Gyrus's house,

what does he do? Peter, James, John,

mom, dad, you're coming with me.

Everybody else, get out. Why? Because

both death and life are in the power of

the tongue. Jesus knew that he was going

to walk in and bring faith.

Gyrus focused on what he saw and what he

knew went with Jesus.

I've been reading something in Mark 9:24

Mark 9:24

over the last few weeks and I've been

wrestling with it because I feel like

it's an indication of how a lot of us

find ourselves.

Mark 9:24 is a story about a dad who

Mark 9:24

falls to his feet in front of Jesus

going, "Lord, I need help. My son is

possessed by demons and nothing seems to

work.

And Jesus says to him, all you need to

do is believe.

And the father's response stumps me

because I think so often this is an

indication of human nature. And the

wrestle we have with the external

stimuli around us. The dad looking at

Jesus goes, "I believe,

but help my unbelief."

Like I believe, but the external noises

are telling me that's impossible. Like I

believe and I've seen it for other

people, but I don't know if I'm worth

it. Lord, I believe, but you know, the

people are telling me that the prodal

that's so far is too far gone and

they've done too much. I believe, but

help my unbelief.

Feel like so often that unbelief is

stirred up by the enemy and by people

around us sowing negative thoughts at

you.

We need to get around people of faith.

People like Peter, James, and John.

Well, Jesus says we're going to go heal

someone. Let's go. And friend, listen. I

I'm not saying and standing here saying

I understand the nature of everything in

the sovereignty of God. That's not what

I'm doing. And what I don't want to do

is dismiss any hurt

or pain or situation that didn't align

to to to the way you expected.

I I I just don't get it.

I don't know why some things work out

for some people and not. I don't know

the answer to why good thing bad things

happen to good people. I just I don't

have that. But what I have is principles

that I've seen my life based upon that

have made significant changes in my

life. And these two have been pivotal.

Just know who Jesus is and strip away

the negativity. Those two elements in my

life has changed significant.

If you're sitting on the front row,

you're getting a shower because I'm

sweating. So, sorry.

What a powerful verse. Proverbs 18:21.

Proverbs 18:21

Death and life are in the power of the

tongue. Who are you surrounding

yourselves with? People of faith,

community of faith,

people who say, I don't know how, Luke,

but I know God can. I don't have all the

answers, Luke, but I believe in the God

that I serve. I've seen miracle upon

miracle. I don't know how, Luke, but I'm

willing to come into the room with you

and pray.

Or we surrounding ourselves with people

that are going, "Don't don't bother

about it, Luke. Just you might as well

start to learn to adapt because it is

your lot. Cel such is life."

Very simply know who Jesus is. Stand

firm on that. That's how Gyrus's journey

started.

That's how he saw healing. The second

one is eliminated the negativity. Would

have been so easy for him when the the

the servant came to his house and said,

"Don't bother the teacher." Just to go,

"All right, you're right. Let's just

back it up. Guess we need to plan a

funeral."

It takes him at his word. Here's the

third one very quickly. We need to bring

Jesus into the room. So, point one, we

we're going to know who Jesus is.

We're going to silence the negativity.

Here's the third one. Simply, we're

going to bring Jesus into the room. I

shared the story for some of that you

don't know. At the back end of last

year, my son, he was five days old. Five

days, not months, not years, five days

old. Found himself in Westme Children's

Hospital.

Doctors doing all the the tests on him,

trying to figure out what's going on.

Uh, sorry. Um, Lucel, we just don't

know. We don't know what's wrong, but

just prepare for the worst.

What does that mean? like like the

worst,

like death, Luke.

Like, you need to get ready to say

goodbye to your son.

I remember walking through the corridors

of the hospital. And I'm weeping. My

shirt's literally drenched in sweat and

tears and and I've got nothing left. I

remember Holy Spirit arresting my heart

and just saying, "When you walk into

that room, you need to speak Jesus.

And I walk in and and I almost get to a

place where I need to fake it till I

make it. So shoulders back, eyes

bloodshot, I'm going whatever it takes

to bring some level of faith into the

room to ensure that any faith my wife

had in the room, I wasn't going to strip

and bring any negativity. And I walk in

and I just say in the name that's above

all names, in the name of Jesus, I

declare healing. It's all I had. And

over the next 12 hours, I could just

pray the name of Jesus. I had no fancy

words. I had nothing else. But I knew

who he was and I've seen what he's done.

Nurses and doctors walking in going,

"Prepare for the worst. We don't know

what's going on. Nothing we're doing is

working." And so we made a decision to

kick the doctors and the nurses out and

all we could do is pray. And we brought

Jesus into the room. And let me tell

you, it's got nothing to do with who I

am. At that stage, I wasn't a pastor.

Sitting in the back corner over there,

that's where I love to be. I enjoyed it.

It was comfortable.

But we brought Jesus into the room.

I stood on the fact that I knew who my

Jesus was

and I stripped the room of negativity.

Charles Burgeon says, "Prayer moves the

yarn that moves the world." But so often

we find ourselves leveraging prayer as

the last resort.

And just again disclaimer, I'm not

saying don't go to the doctor.

I'm not saying don't go get the

financial aid and advice that you need.

I'm not saying don't go to the recruiter

to to help you find a job. All I'm

saying is I wonder if we can start with

Jesus as a faith reflex and not a fear

reflex.

feel like this year if we're going to

start to make room for the power of God,

then we need to stir up a little

righteous indignation in ourselves. Be

willing to get a little bit

uncomfortable.

I don't know about you, but when I think

about that lady standing there with the

issue of blood, all I can think about is

the fear and the the the

uncomfortability that she had standing

there watching this teacher walk by that

everybody called savior

and going I've heard that he can do

something

but the willingness to break through the

crowds

and stretch out in a last ditch effort

just to grab the hem on his coat. Her

willingness to be uncomfortable and have

faith.

12 years of suffering in a moment the

Bible says immediately power left him.

Making room for the power of God

requires us to be slightly

uncomfortable.

Can't keep doing the same things and

expect different results.

And I'm not talking about works. I'm

talking about a level of faith.

going to make room for Jesus and the

power

of God this year. It's going to take us

to be uncomfortable, but it's going to

start with those three principles,

knowing who he is,

silencing the negativity in our lives,

and bringing Jesus into the room.

And in a moment when we wrap up the

service,

some of our prayer team are going to

come up. We'll have some of our pastors

up here and we would love [music] to

pray for you, finding a situation that

seems impossible.

Friends, today is the day I believe we

need to throw our shoulders back a bit

more. Look our problem in the eye and

go, "I don't know how, God, but I know

you can."

In the name of Jesus,

we're going to see the impossible turn

to the possible. That which seems so far

gone.

But it starts with saying yes to Jesus.

Starts with making room for him to be

the Lord and Savior of your life.

Revelations 3:20 says, "I stand at the

Revelation 3:20

door and knock."

He's the ultimate gentleman,

but he'll wait. And he's been waiting

for you to open the door to him. And he

stands and he knocks.

Would today be the day that you open

that door and say yes to [music] him as

you make room in your heart for him. So,

with every head bow and eye closed, just

to give people a moment of privacy here,

I don't want to embarrass you. I'm not

going to call you forward, but I wonder

on the count of three, if you want to

say yes to Jesus, either for the first

time you've never done it, or you know

in your heart that you've walked away

from God, and today's the day you want

to draw a line in the sand, you want to

say yes to Jesus, would you be so bold

enough, would you be willing to get

uncomfortable just [music] for 10

seconds, just to raise your hand so I

know who I'm praying for? If that's you,

on the count of three, would you say yes

to Jesus? One, friend, know that Jesus

loves you so much.

Even if you are the only person on this

earth, he would have gone to the cross

for you. Three, that's you. Would you

raise your hand just high enough?

Awesome. Hands going all across the

room. Incredible. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I

see that hand. Thank you. Thank you. At

the back. Thank you.

Thank you. Another hand in the middle.

Thank you.

Give you a few more minutes. You want to

say yes to Jesus. Today is the day of

salvation. The Bible says.

Come on. Why don't we celebrate with

those people? We believe that is the

best decision that you can make. Look at

me. If you put your hand up. The Bible

says that for every person that puts

that says yes to Jesus, the heavens

celebrate.

This is what I can't guarantee you. I

can't guarantee you that suddenly

everything's going to turn around. It's

going to be perfect. But what I can tell

you is that you've got a savior with you

that's willing to walk the journey with

you. So, we're going to say a prayer

from your heart to God. If you would

repeat after me and as a church family,

we're going to say it together. Say,

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on

the cross for me.

I invite you to be Lord and Savior of my

life.

guide me, guard me and give me peace in

Jesus mighty name. And everybody said

amen.