Driving Home His Point

Tony Hauck
Church on the Rock Melbourne

In Matthew 21:12-14 and Mark 11:15-17 Jesus does three things in quick succession. First, He drove out of the temple the money changers and vendors who had set up shop in the court of the gentiles. It was supposed to be set apart for the gentiles (nations). Next, He declared that the purpose of His house was prayer, for all nations. Finally, He sat in the temple healing the sick.

Maybe this order of events is significant. Perhaps if His church returned to the primary purpose of prayer, He would once again sit in the midst of it healing the sick.

Unity

Tony Hauck

Church on the Rock - Melbourne

I have really worked and prayed for unity among pastors and churches in our city. I believe it’s a huge deal to God. If fact, I think it’s a prerequisite to getting many of the things we’re asking for; things God won’t give to us as individuals. Things we have to come to Him together to get. Let me attempt to justify my belief biblically. Consider Psalm 133.

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! {2} It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. {3} It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing; Life forevermore."

We begin with the prerequisite: unity, and end with what we want: God’s commanded blessing. Note that we’re to dwell together in unity. I think that implies substantially more than coming together occasionally for big meetings. But look at the picture God paints twice in between the action and the result.

First the anointing oil poured on Aaron’s head that runs down to collect at the hem of his priestly garments. The New Testament says that now we’re God’s priests. Ephesians 4 describes the church as a body knit together with Christ as the head. There is enough anointing to heal a sick woman who touches the hem, the lowest position in the body. Then the dew that collects on Mount Hermon and pools together as it runs down to become the Jordan river. Jesus said in John 7 that we’d have rivers of living water flowing out of us.

So why don’t we see the manifestations of the Kingdom we’ve been asking for? The problem isn’t a lack of anointing. All the anointing the church is ever going to have has already been poured out on the head, Jesus, who dwells in us (Col 1:27). Maybe the problem is a lack of connection. How can anointing flow down from the head to the body if the body is dismembered? How can we have a river if we each hoard our own little stream? We know how important it is to stay connected to Jesus, but we may have underestimated how important it is that we stay connected to each other.

A Bad Day for Jesus

Pastor Tony Hauck, COTRM

June 7, 2010

What would you think if I began by telling you that three people we prayed for this Sunday got miraculously healed? Would you consider that a good service? Well, no one got healed this Sunday that I know of, probably like most Sundays in most churches. And that leads to my point. I was reading in Mark and two verses stood out to me.

Mark 6:5-6 "Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching."

I thought, we’d be ecstatic if a few sick people got healed. Do you know what that means? It means a bad day for Jesus is still more than most of our expectations. Does Jesus marvel at our unbelief?

So then Jesus went about the villages teaching. I guess that’s all He could do, since He could do no mighty works. I wonder if that’s why the church is so full of teaching and so lacking in power. Maybe that’s all we have faith for.

Well I don’t want to settle for just good teachings. I’m determined to stir myself up, raise my expectations, press in, and connect with the Jesus I read about in the New Testament.

Who’s with me?

Looking Toward Heaven

Pastor Gary Stebbins, COTRM- April 15, 2010

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Jesus set out to find some time alone and went off by Himself in a small boat. However people were desperate for a touch from heaven and by the time Jesus arrived at His destination, a great crowd had already assembled. In Matthew 14:14 it says that Jesus “felt compassion for them and healed their sick.”

As the day wore on and evening approached, the disciples, obviously tired from a long day, suggested that Jesus send everybody home. “After all,” they reasoned, “ … this place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves (Mtt 14:15)." Sounds like a reasonable and even responsible thing to do. However, Jesus had other plans. Jesus suggested that the people did not need to go away, and furthermore, He asked the disciples to feed them. “What,” I am sure they must have exclaimed, “We only have five small loaves of bread and two fish, how can we possibly feed a crowd so large?”

Jesus did something very interesting at this point. He took the bread and the fish and, “looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied (Mtt 14:19-20).” I found this very interesting when I read it. There was not enough food to feed the over 5000 people who had gathered, and yet Jesus calmly, “looking up toward heaven” offered them the bread and fish that they had.

How could Jesus feed five over 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish? Immediately following this miracle, Jesus, “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone (Mtt 14:23).” It was Jesus pattern to regularly get away and spend time in the presence of God the Father and pray. His constant communion with the Father enabled Him to minister to the people. During these times of drawing away from the crowds to be with His heavenly Father, Jesus became increasing aware of the Father’s heart. As a result, in His moment of need, all Jesus had to do was “look up toward heaven” to reassure Himself of God’s purpose and plan for Him at that very moment in time.

It is obvious that prayer and spending time alone in the presence of God was important to Jesus, as it should be for us today as well. Looking back at the beginning of this passage of scripture, there is another benefit of spending regular, consistent, time with God. When Jesus first saw the crowd that had gathered it says that Jesus “felt compassion for them and healed their sick.” When Jesus looked toward heaven, He was not just feeling sorry for the people because they were hungry. Through spending time in prayer He had acquired the heart of the Father for the people around Him. His heart was filled with the compassion of God for the people. Therefore, even after a long day of ministry, Jesus was willing to take time and demonstrate the reality of the Father’s compassion by asking God to feed the people. In faith, without any outward sign, Jesus thanked God for the provision to feed over 5000 people.

Today we want to be able to work the same miracles that Jesus worked, but are we ready to spend the time in communion and prayer with the Father that Jesus spent?

I think we are!

How often do you pause to “look toward heaven?” Do you regularly spend time with God alone? How about gathering together with other believers to pray and worship God?