Supernatural Meets the Natural | Pastor Chris Kouba

Go ahead and grab your Bibles, open them up with me to Luke chapter four.

Luke chapter four is where we're going to spend a little bit of time.

Let me add my word of greeting to Amos's earlier.

My name is Chris Cuba, and I have the privilege of being the lead pastor here at United City.

And I want to take this opportunity to welcome all of our men and women at all of our correctional facilities.

We are very grateful to be able to bring this message to you.

Let's give them a hand and celebrate the fact that we get the chance to bring this to you today.

1999, Kevin Costner starred in that movie for the love of the game.

It's a good movie, guys, if you're looking for a good sports movie.

Ladies, if you're looking for a good chick flick, it's got kind of both.

It's a good little mix of both, all right?

But in this movie, you've got a washed-up veteran pitcher who is at the end of his career.

He finds himself pitching on a bad team.

He's having a bad season.

But at the very end of this season, he's doing something no one thought he would ever be able to do at this stage of his career.

And on the line was his ability to throw a perfect game.

If you're not a baseball fan, a perfect game means that there are no errors, there are no walks, and there are no hits.

27 up, 27 go down.

He has the chance to be able to do this, and he says there in that scene, God, I'm going to ask you to do something I told you I never would.

If you can get involved in this baseball game for at least the next 10 minutes, I would really, really appreciate it.

Let's ask the question: does God care about sports?

Now you may quickly be like, no, he doesn't care about all that kind of stuff.

But look, and your team is down at a crucial moment, and then all of a sudden you know that a kit is going to be the difference between winning and losing, or a made basket is going to be the difference between advancing to the next round of the playoffs or not, or you find yourself first down in 10 at the 20-yard line, and you know you have 80 yards to go in order to make a touchdown.

And if you score that touchdown, then you win the championship.

It's amazing how your theology can change in that moment.

I don't really know if you care about all this stuff, but if you do, it'd be really cool if you'd care right now.

I'm not gonna crack the code on whether God cares about sports or not.

I'm not gonna be able to tell you theologically what how he uh if he cheers for what team.

I do know this.

Uh he probably cheers for the Cowboys if he does have a team, but let's just throw that out there.

Um and I guarantee he cheers for the Astros and doesn't like how they're being treated right now, all right?

So, that being said, I do want to ask this question.

What does God care about?

The assumption is God cares about the really, really big stuff in life and the really, really big stuff in the world.

But what we all really kind of want to know is does he care about my stuff?

Does he care about the little things?

The things that in the grand scheme of things aren't really big things, but in your life, they're huge things.

We've been looking at a series for the last couple of weeks called Wonder.

We've been looking at the miracles of Jesus.

And we've been asking you to expect the unexpected.

We've been looking and exploring what it looks like to have the supernatural invade in the natural world.

For you to have something that is unexplainable be experienced.

We've kind of tried to teach you about does God still do this kind of stuff?

Does the things that we read about in the Bible, is it just left for that, or is this something that we could have experienced in our lives?

I want us to begin reading in Luke chapter 4, beginning in verse 31.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

It says, And he, speaking of Jesus, went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

You're gonna see this idea of authority come up a couple of different times as we walk through this passage.

You'll see it multiple times if you were to read through the gospels and learn more about the person of Jesus.

You see that there were a lot of different teachers in those days.

There were a lot of different people who would give out their opinions or they would give explanations about even sacred texts, but none of them did it like Jesus.

You see, when Jesus spoke, people it says were astonished because it was as though he had authority.

It just stung or set a little different.

It just had the ability to kind of pierce through the surface and seemingly get to the depth and you to be able to hear it differently.

I want you to know that Jesus, in what he teaches us, he's gonna teach us in such a way where you're gonna be compelled to be different.

Not just that you would be knowledgeable, but that you would be changed.

That's the authority that Jesus has in his teaching.

Let's keep reading.

Verse 33, and in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon.

And he cried out with a loud voice, Ha, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

We talked about this last week, even demons have good theology.

In verse thirty-five, but Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him.

And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.

And they were all amazed and said to one another, What is this word?

Before they were astonished at his teaching, now they're astonished at his word.

For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.

And reports about him went out in every place in the surrounding region.

Jesus is gathering some attention here.

Jesus is gathering some crowds because of his teaching.

It was one.

We were like, you gotta listen to this guy.

I mean, when he talks, it's just different.

Like it just sounds different.

And then now we see an evil spirit that's coming upon him, this idea of extreme evil in every capacity, and we see that with a word, this evil demon leaves him, comes out of him, and he is now in his right mind.

Now we know that Jesus has great authority, and that Jesus has great power in his teaching, and that Jesus has great authority, and Jesus has great power in his commands, and he can face unclean spirits.

We talked about this last week and be able to cast these things out.

But what about the normal stuff?

What about the stuff that you're probably thinking about?

Then again, you don't necessarily want to make a huge deal about it, and you don't necessarily want to have everybody in the church be knowing about it and make a big, huge carrying bridge thing and let everybody know about this problem, but it consumes your every waking moment.

Am I ever gonna not feel this way?

Is this marriage ever gonna be any better?

And my finances ever gonna change from where they are right now.

Is this job all there is?

Whatever version that is for you, is this feeling of despair just how it's going to be?

Let's keep reading.

I want you to see what Jesus does.

Verse 38, and he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house.

Now, Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf.

And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

I've got a mother-in-law like this.

My mother-in-law is just absolutely awesome.

She just basically wakes up and all she thinks about is how to go serve everybody else.

Uh, and so you can tell, I if she's since it seems like that's what Simon's mother-in-law is like here.

Basically, it's a situation to where because she was sick, she wasn't able to do what she most naturally felt like she wanted to do, which is to go serve other people.

And so it says here that he she has a high fever, and that Jesus comes in.

Oh, and he he cast that out real quick, and then she goes back to serving.

Look at what it says in verse 40.

Now, when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him.

And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.

And demons also came out of many, crying, You are the Son of God.

But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew what that he was the Christ.

Look back at verse 35.

In verse 35, you see a man with an unclean spirit comes up upon Jesus.

He has good theology, Jesus says a word, and that demon is cast out.

Fast forward over here to verse 41, and you see that there are many demons.

So now you see not just one evil spirit, you see many evil spirits, and it says there that Jesus cast them out too.

We see here in verse 35 and in verse 41 the fact that Jesus is able to take the darkest, horrible, most evil, awful things that ever could possibly come up against you, and just with the word of his mouth, he can bring healing.

Folks, we know this.

We talked about this last week.

The the Doug Ruckers in your life, the ones who are strung up on alcohol and strung up on drugs and seemingly with no hope and no purpose, can go, like Kathy said, her wife, his wife, say, I was married to a man who all he did was try to figure out how he could run away from God, and now I'm married to a man who seeks after God.

That's what Jesus can do.

I want you to see that in the extreme situations of life, we can come to Jesus because he has the power and he has the authority over the big things in our lives.

Go back to verse 40.

Now, when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.

That's a pretty big summary sentence.

These people don't have diseases and don't have demons that are big enough to be able to make the paragraph.

All of them made the sentence.

What this means is that let's just act like you have somebody who maybe had a limp.

And this limp was something that every single day they had this limp.

This limp was something that everybody that was around them knew that they had this limp, didn't bring it up anymore because it was awkward.

They'd seen him so many times, but every single day the one who had the limp knew he had the limp.

And even though it wasn't a big deal to everybody, it was still a big deal to him.

He got healed.

How about the one that has a skin disease, the disease that basically is something again that the people may have brought it up and people may don't that they notice it, but they don't necessarily want to always talk about it because it's kind of rude or it's awkward, but it's the thing that that person who has it, and every single day when they look at something that shows their reflection, they're reminded how much they don't want it anymore.

It's not a big deal to everybody, but it was a big deal to them.

They got healed in verse 40.

We don't know all of the various diseases, we don't know all of the things, but just because it's not inoperable cancer doesn't mean it's not significant.

What I want you to see is that Jesus is somebody who does miracles in the massive, huge, big things in life.

And he also does stuff in verse 40 that are almost oh yeah, he did that too.

Oh yeah, he healed me here.

Oh yeah, he provided for me here.

Oh yeah, God, God did give me that opportunity with this job.

You know, I honestly, I've just been so busy, I didn't even notice how much he has provided for me.

You see, the supernatural can invade the natural in the really big stuff, but the supernatural can also invade the natural in the seemingly insignificant stuff.

Here's what I want to give you a couple of teaching points today.

First of all, I want you to see this.

I want you to see that Jesus has authority over the natural world.

Jesus has authority over the natural world.

Jesus is capable of miracles.

Back in those days, it was different than today.

You basically had people that could do exorcisms and do different magical acts.

It was kind of weird.

It was basically like Doctor Strange, but in real life, we don't know how it all worked.

But what we do know is this when Jesus did it, it was different.

Because he had authority.

He did it with a display of power.

And so what it shows us is that we can come to Jesus in the really, really big things, but we can also come to Jesus in the seemingly small things, which begs the question: what do you need the supernatural to do in the natural in your life?

For some of you, maybe it's in the throes of addiction and it may be demon oppression in every single way, like we talked about last week.

But if I had to guess, for the majority of you that are listening to me speak here today, it's stuff like, man, I just wish my kid would not rebel.

I just wish that our finances would look different.

I just wish that this hurt and bitterness that fills my heart could be healed.

I just wish that my marriage wouldn't be in a place where I feel like all I'm doing is existing.

What is it that you're asking and that you want God to do?

Maybe you've been in a situation to where you assume God's too busy, so you just hadn't brought it up.

You know God can do really, really cool big stuff and miracles and all that kind of a thing, and that's great.

He doesn't want to mess with this sickness that I've got.

That just happens to be something that is just all the time.

What is it that God is asking you today to begin to bring up to him and to say, Hey, I would like for you to speak into this.

Jesus has authority over the natural world.

Keep reading with me in verse 42.

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place.

And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them.

But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose.

And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

The second teaching point today is this Jesus moves in your head and in your heart.

Jesus moves in your head and in your heart.

I come from a theological tradition which basically has rightly so emphasized the importance of God's word.

We've made it a big deal in order to know God's word, to read God's word, to study God's word.

I want to make sure that whenever you come to United City, you hear God's word opened and you hear God's word speak.

Literally, it is one of our core values that the Bible speaks.

We want you to be somebody who is a self-feeder, and we want you to be actively engaged in a Bible study where you are learning from God's word and you're letting it sit, you're sitting underneath it, and you're letting it speak to you.

It is so vitally important that we know the right things.

I believe God is somebody who wants us to operate out of order, not out of chaos.

And verse 43 even shows us that when he had the opportunity to do miracles, it says that Jesus needed to leave to go preach because that was more important.

Which shows us this.

The goal isn't just that, Christianity, the goal isn't just that you would learn certain things and learn the right things.

It's also that you would experience the right things.

You see, Jesus is somebody who healed people who are sick.

Jesus is somebody who came along the lame and allowed them to walk.

Jesus is somebody who let the blind be able to see.

Jesus is somebody who healed marriages and healed relationships and healed broken hearts.

May it never be said that we are people who emphasize that we want to make sure that we know the right things, but not emphasize the fact that Jesus wants us to feel the right things.

We don't want to go to one extreme, which basically in Houston, Texas, it's all over the place.

You got people that talk all about signs, miracles, and wonders.

It's all about your experience.

It's all about making sure that you get your miracle and you get your whatever, and they're forsaking right doctrine and theology.

On the other hand, let it never be said of a church that they are somebody who has turned the Christian life into a lecture instead of a lifestyle.

Jesus wants your head, but he wants your heart too.

Folks, this is so important because there's gonna be certain times when you don't understand.

There's gonna be certain times in your walk and your relationship with the Lord, you're gonna wonder why.

And you have to know this.

Jesus cares about those feelings, cares about those emotions, cares about those hurts, just as much as he cares that you know how to think the right way.

He wants your head and he wants your heart.

Let me give you, conclude by giving you a couple of points of application and advice.

If this is true, what then should we do?

This is so important.

First point of advice is this be open but cautious about the miraculous.

Be open but cautious about the miraculous.

Let me give you a few reasons why.

Number one, in his sovereign authority, God doesn't always choose to perform a miracle.

We've got to recognize in this situation here, Jesus healed all of the people in verse 40.

And then in verse 43, when the townspeople were like, man, we gotta capitalize on this.

This is awesome.

We should just bottle him up and keep him here at Capernaum and just make him set up a teaching ministry out of here, and people will know that we're the place that you can go to in order to make sure that there's no sickness in all of Capernaum.

And he says there, it is very important that I go preach and that I go teach.

God often chooses not to perform a miracle in your life in order to teach you something greater than a miracle could ever accomplish.

I'm gonna say it again.

God often chooses not to perform a miracle in your life in order to teach you something greater than a miracle could ever accomplish.

Jesus promises his presence with you during your trials.

He never promises that you will be removed from your trials.

Revelation chapter 21, verses 4 and 5 is such an unbelievable promise.

Revelation 21:4

It says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.

Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

This is an unbelievable promise in Revelation chapter 21, verses 4 and 5.

Revelation 21:4

But please hear me, it is not a guarantee for right now.

There still is tears.

There still is pain, there still is crying.

God can and does choose to perform miracles, but sometimes he does not, and that does not make him have any less power, and that does not make him have any less authority.

Second thing I would tell you as well, as it relates to being cautious about the miraculous.

Be cautious but open.

Number two, God is not required to do a miracle to prove that he is God.

Let me just tell you if you have this mindset where you would say, I'll believe in God if He does this, then please know what you ultimately put your faith and trust in is the whatever is on the other side.

And God can be trusted.

He can be trusted when things happen that we don't understand.

He can be trusted when that person is not the same.

He can be trusted when that diagnosis doesn't change.

He can be trusted when the hard reality of a broken world exists, and it can allow us to be sustained as we wait for the world that is to come.

We must not demand that heaven happen here on earth as though somehow God has to do that as a magic trick in order to prove that he is God.

Our faith is built on a historical reality of the fact that during a time in history, God sent his one and only Son, Jesus, to live on this earth, he died a sacrificial death, and he experienced the greatest miracle of all, the miracle of resurrection.

And that fact is now achieving for us an eternal weight of glory, even here in the present.

So therefore, we can stand today knowing that our faith is secure, so that if God doesn't do a modern day miracle today or a modern day miracle tomorrow, our faith is built on a miracle that took place in the past that still has effect for right now.

This is hard to hear.

But it's so vital that we do not throw out what we want to feel.

On the other hand, my last point of application would be to you.

Expect the miraculous.

God can and does do miracles.

Exodus chapter 15, verse 11.

Exodus 15:11

Who is like you, O Lord among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

That is meant to be a hypothetical question, because the answer is no one.

No one is like our God.

No one is able to come and stand up against him.

And so, therefore, in light of that, if you've got a sickness, if you've got a marriage problem, if you've got a financial issue, if you've got a hang-up, if you've got an addiction, if you've got something, you can bring these things before the Lord and know that God can do a miracle in your life.

I got a text between services from a couple in our church that we prayed for at our last collective night, which I encourage you to be a part of our collective nights.

We have them the first Wednesday of most months.

We're gonna have it here on May 3rd, here, not this coming Wednesday, but a week from Wednesday.

And the whole purpose of us getting together is gonna be to worship and to pray.

We're gonna be asking God to do the miraculous.

And she gave me an update about a prayer request that they had in their situation and they're in this couple, they were trying to get pregnant and walking through that, and basically they've had some issues with the baby.

They did get pregnant, and they've had some issues with the baby, they thought they were gonna maybe gonna lose it, and now they're waiting on an appointment.

And they said they just they just struggled through because they're wondering, am I supposed to ask God to do something?

Like, am I supposed to pray and ask is it okay to ask God for a miracle?

And absolutely the answer is yes.

And no matter what happens, though, God is still good.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16.

Hebrews 4:16

Here's what it says it says, let us live with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

If we only limit ourselves to the natural, then we will never be able to see and expect the supernatural.

But instead, if we expect the unexpected, this isn't name and claimant, but this is God giving you what he says he has the ability and the authority and the power to do in your life.

Matthew chapter seven, verses nine through eleven.

Which one of you, if you're not asking for bread, we'll give him a stone.

This isn't your chance to lay out your wish list as though you're just gonna throwing things on the wall and seeing what happens.

But it is the opportunity, according to Psalm chapter 37.

Psalms 37 · chapter mention

If you delight yourself in the law of the Lord, it will give you the desires of your heart.

We're gonna close our time together in prayer today.

I want to ask that you bow your heads and close your eyes.

I'm gonna ask if you're watching me online that you will do the same thing.

I'm gonna invite our prayer team to come on up, staff team to come on up.

What do you want God to do?

What is it that you would say, I I I need God, I need I need the supernatural in this.

Maybe you've been too embarrassed to bring it up.

Maybe you've just thought it's not really worthy of fathering God about, but it consumes your heart, it consumes your mind, it consumes your time.

James 5 16 says, Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

We want to pray with and for you today.

We've built in time in our services to do this very thing.

We just asked the question if you're here today, no one looking around, and you would say, I need a miracle in my life.

Would you raise your hand?

I'm looking over here to the right, my right.

Would you raise your hand?

You'd say, I need a miracle, praise God for you.

So many of you on how about in the middle, this middle section here, would you say I just I need a miracle?

This is just a I need God to do something in this.

I need him to change, intercede in this.

Raise your hands, praise God.

All of you all see you in the back there, Charlotte.

See you.

My left, you're on my left side.

Raise your hands.

I see you, Aaron.

Continuing to pray for you.

See you guys all over the back.

You just raised your hand and said, You need a miracle today.

I want to ask you to do something if you're willing to, and I hope that you would be.

We've built time and service for this.

We've got staff members, we've got prayer team members that are here up front, and we just want to pray with and for you.

We believe that there's power when we bring these needs before God and call them out by name.

If you want to share them with us, we'd love to speak specifically about those prayer needs and pray with you.

If you don't want to have to share, you just would say, I just want to be prayed for.

That's fine too.

God knows what you need.

That's the beauty of this.

He says that we can bring these things and find grace and mercy to help us in our time of need.

So I want to ask that you come and be prayed for in just a moment.

There's others of you that are here.

I'm gonna maybe ask that, let's say you're with your spouse, or maybe you're as a family, and you just got something, and maybe right where you are, you just sort of turn in these moments.

We're gonna build it in time.

So I promise you, I don't want it to be weird or awkward, but I do want you to pray.

So maybe for you, you just want to pray right there where you are.

Just turn together as a family and just huddle up and just literally make a little prayer circle, and and you guys just pray for that need that maybe is pressing on your heart right now.

If you're by yourself, maybe you want to make this area up front almost like an altar.

There's nothing magical or special about being up front.

I just think there's something different about your posture that just says, God, I really do believe you.

It doesn't mean anything's gonna happen or no hocus pocus, nothing like that.

But what I do think is that our posture helps our hearts be in tune with the fact that God, you you can you feel this.

I'm not alone.

I'm not by myself, I'm not walking this road just with hopeful expectation.

Instead, Lord, I I lean on you.

Maybe you've got just where you are, if you came by yourself, maybe you just want to pray right there, maybe even on your knees.

You've had many people of first service do that very same thing, and they just they just cried out to God, maybe for some of you the miracle is He needs to heal your heart.

I'm gonna pray when I say amen.

I'm gonna ask us to stand and I'm gonna ask you to move, or I'm gonna ask you to circle up, I'm gonna ask you to get in a posture to pray.

Father God, we come before you and we just ask that in these moments that we have left, Father, that you would help us to know and help us to feel what we need to do, what we need to feel.

Help us to know of your goodness and loving kindness, but God help us to feel that as well.

I pray, God, for miracles to take place.

We thank you, Father, that you are a God who has the authority and the power over this natural world.

We can trust you.

So, God, I pray that you would allow us to be in a position and a posture today where we freely and humbly admit that without you, we got nothing.

Father, with you, we've got it all.

So, Father, we seek you today.

We come before you today, and we ask that you would move, break hearts, that you would heal hearts, Lord, that you would do what only you can do.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Would you stand up and as you stand, our team is up front?

You circle up as a family, you do whatever it is that God's leading you to do.

But let's just pray and ask God to move with these moments.

Come on.

Just continue to pray.

Maybe you want to just again, just as a family, as a couple, whatever it may be, what is it that you need to ask the Lord for?

He wants to hear from you, just know that He He likes to hear from you.

He wants to hear from you.

Maybe you've got a friend in your life group, maybe somebody that's close by that you would say, Hey, I'll I'll pray with you.

Maybe you just want to gather around them, just whatever God may be leading you to do.

I'm gonna ask the team to sing again, and let's just continue to pray and go before the Lord in these moments.

Come on.

If you want to be prayed over today, we want to again give you that opportunity.

But just know that there are some of you, what you need today is the miracle of salvation.

Reality is you can't fix this life on your own.

You were never intended to.

You're gonna mess it up.

You're the you're the reason why it is where it is in the first place.

You live in a broken world, and because of your own personal sin, it has led you to the place of hopelessness, but God did not leave us.