BRING
YOUR TROUBLES TO JESUS!
I. Trusting In Him II.
Listening to Him.
In the name of Jesus , the Savior with
a heart for sinners, dear fellow redeemed children of God;
There are certain sounds that just
sort of stick in your mind- like the sound of people crying out when they are
hurt. Like the cry my brother made when
his fingers got pinched in the car door.
There was also a little boy at school when I served in Michigan who was
playing “Hide-N-Go Seek” and ended up with his hinge in the door when the
“seeker” came through the door. I can
remember the cry of my Grandmother when she fell and broke her hip while
visiting at our house. That same night
while waiting for xrays in the hospital emergency room, I heard the cry of a
middle aged woman in the next room whose husband had just passed away suddenly
from a heart attack. Though it might be
quiet here in church right now, I would
imagine that there are hearts and minds crying in pain and heartache. JESUS SAYS, “BRING YOUR TROUBLES TO ME.” Let’s bring our troubles to Jesus I.
Trusting In Him. II. Listening to
Him.
Do you know anyone who is like Peter? A person who once something is on his mind, it
just has to come out of their mouth or it seems their head might explode? Sometimes Peter just had to talk. Remember on
the Mount of Transfiguration when he blurted out his plan to make three tents
up there on the mountain. Or think of
how just hours before he denied even knowing Jesus, he bragged to his Lord
about how he would never leave him.
Sometimes it was a good thing that he could not keep quiet, like when
the Sanhedrin told him to stop telling people about Jesus. Peter respectfully replied that keeping still
about the Savior was something they could not do. Yes, sometimes there were things he should
not have said, but on this day he had something that was good to tell to
Jesus. Peter and the others brought this
important matter to Jesus trusting in his power.
Peter was born in the town of Bethsaida,
but later moved to Capernaum-maybe he followed his bride there. At any rate, his mother in law was staying
with them. The Bible tells us, “As soon
as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon
and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever.” She hadn’t gone to the synagogue that day
because she was sick with a fever. It
seems it wasn’t just an ordinary fever. In
his Gospel, the physician Luke says that she was suffering from a high fever literally
burning up with this fever. You know how
it is with fevers-they can be kind of a scary thing. There can be all kinds of things to worry
about. What did they do? God’s Word tells us, “So they told Jesus about her.” Remember the hymn
we just sang, “Oh what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear-
all because we do not carry-everything to God in prayer.” There might be all kinds of reasons why we
don’t bring our problems to Jesus. Maybe
we underestimate his love or his
power-thinking that he doesn’t have time or doesn’t care about the little
things going on in our lives. Maybe we
overestimate our abilities- thinking that we can get out of this problem all on
our own.
Look at how
Jesus’ takes care of things! “So he went
to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to
wait on them.” Jesus took her by the hand and helped her up. And immediately
she was all better! Normally, what
happens when a fever goes away? Isn’t a person just sort of worn out? When Jesus helps her with this problem, it’s
clear he is the one who made the fever go away.
It wasn’t something that just had run its course. Jesus is someone we can take things to
trusting in his power.
Soon everyone
had some problem to bring to Jesus. “That evening after sunset the people
brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at
the door.” What was Jesus reaction as
the whole town showed up at the door with sickness and trouble? I would have been all flustered or maybe even
mad thinking, “I can’t handle this.” But
look at Jesus. “ …and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove
out many demons.” How did the demons
react to Jesus? We don’t know because
our powerful Lord Jesus would not let them speak. That’s right! They were silent! “He also drove out many demons, but he would
not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t tell us how he
kept the mouths of the evil angels
closed tight. He also doesn’t tell us why.
We might think of a couple of reasons that show us how smart the Savior
is. If you lived in Capernaum, you had probably heard these demons talk before
through the people they had possession of.
The lowest kind of filth and perversion laced their lies and
threats. Would you have believed them,
if they had spoken the truth about Jesus?
Also when the demons were not busy spewing filth, they were working hard
to distract people from the Savior and his mission. So Jesus makes sure they cannot distract
anyone by speaking. There may be many
other reasons Jesus would keep their mouths shut.
Jesus doesn’t always tell us how He does things, nor does he
always explain for us why he does things.
He doesn’t explain for us why his way of helping a person is sometimes
to make them well again immediately and other times to make them completely
well by taking home home to heaven. He
doesn’t always explain for us how the bad things he allows to happen in our
lives will always be turned and work for our good. But we do know that He loves us. He tells us that in His Word. That’s why it is so important that as we
bring our problems to Jesus that we
listen to His Word.
Do things in your
life get so busy that you forget to pray? Jesus was way busier than I am-busier
than you are. He was on a mission to
save the world! But listen, “Very early
in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went
off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Now certainly that was Jesus doing everything perfectly in our place. But it was also Jesus giving us an example
about what is important in our lives.
In the middle of all of these busy things, many of them good things,
Jesus takes time to talk with His Heavenly Father. When Scripture records Jesus conversations
with His Heavenly Father, often they were talking about that rescue mission of
saving sinners rather than all the people he had been helping by cleansing
their leprosy or giving them something to eat.
As Jesus helped people with their earthly problems he preached to people
about the problem of their sins and how he would lay down his life for them so
that they too could can God their Father.
He even says, "This is why I came." Peter and the
others searched for Jesus and must have thought he had done a disappearing
act. When they finally found him, they
said, "Everybody's looking for you!" That tone seems to imply that Jesus should be
doing what the people want. But that's not why he came! Jesus patiently taught them that He came to
seek and to save those who were lost.
When
Jesus says “Let’s go somewhere else”, it shows His great love for others and
for you. He wanted to
preach the gospel in other villages too. There were others who needed to hear
the good news that God had sent a Savior who would live a perfect life. He
would carry our sins to the cross and pay for them all when he died on Calvary.
He would rise from death with our forgiveness.
“So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and
driving out demons.” Jesus wanted you to
one day hear and believe that He is the Savior. He is the one who has helped with our
biggest problem. He is the one who is
there to help with our other problems.
Jesus wants to hear about your concerns about
where our country is headed. HE is the
one who will be with us no matter what happens. His Word says, “The Lord
upholds those who fall.” Jesus wants to hear about the sin that poking
our conscience or the temptation that’s crouching outside our door. He is the one who paid for sin in full. He says in His Word, “It is finished!” He is the one will help us to peel off the
grip of temptation on our hearts. He
says in His word that He “breaks the power of canceled sin.” Jesus wants to hear about our neighbor or our
family member whose souls we are worried about.
Through the miracle of prayer, our concerns come to the ear and heart of
the Father. His Word tells us of the praying of Daniel and Abraham and Paul and
Hannah and Solomon and the tax collector.
Is there a problem pressing on
your heart today? Let’s take our
problems to Jesus! Amen.
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