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[0:00] This is the morning service at Holy Trinity on the 20th of May 2001.

[0:13] The preacher is Jacob Kawashi. His sermon is entitled Jesus Can Handle It For You and is from Luke chapter 9 verses 23 to 26.

[0:30] Once again we thank God for giving us the opportunity to come in fellowship with Him and with one another.

[0:43] We thank God for counting us among the livings. It's a privilege to be alive. And not only to be alive but to be in good health. It's a privilege. It's a grace from God. We look at...

[0:56] We will consider the two passages we read this morning. And we're talking on the topic, Jesus can handle it for you.

[1:14] Jesus can handle it for you. So we bow our heads as we pray. Gracious and merciful Father, we thank you for the gift of your word and the opportunity you've given unto us to study it.

[1:33] We ask God that as we go through your word, please speak to us. Speak in the way that your word will be a blessing to each and every one of us. May we hear you vividly.

[1:45] May we understand you. And by your power upon us, you will help us to be doers of your word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[1:55] I just quickly want to take you through a wall of imagination. I just want you to imagine along with me that a friend of yours came to you, a very wealthy person.

[2:16] He came to you and he said, look, I have burned the bridge. In another word, I've gotten rid of everything because I'm taking a new job somewhere.

[2:29] Ah, a new job. You were so happy to hear that. Oh, that's good. And then you quickly ask him, because you know who he is and what he has.

[2:45] If you are going away, what are you going to do with your cars? The number of cars we know you have. You have so many cars. He said, oh, just yesterday, I walked down to Victoria Market and I was giving the keys to my cars, to anyone I need.

[3:04] And all those that I met, I gave the cars out to them. He said, you mean all your cars? He said, yes, all the cars, I've given them out to those I met in Victoria Market. Ah.

[3:15] And then you were pondering on that, you quickly added, I have even closed my accounts, both at home and abroad. Ooh, that is another thing.

[3:26] You mean all the millions you have, what are you going to do with them? And what will become of the millions you have? Then he said to you, no, just last week, I walked down Elizabeth Street and anyone I meet in the street, I was just giving him thousands of dollars, thousands of dollars.

[3:45] And all the millions are gone. You are still pondering on that, you are yet to come out of that shock. Then he quickly added, my companies, my houses, and all my landed property, I've given them out to some people that I consider their lucky people.

[4:01] Ooh. This time maybe you're looking for some cup of cold water to cool you down, even though it's winter. You're shocked, you're not really getting out of that.

[4:12] And then he added, the only thing I have left with me are this jacket, this shirt, and this pair of trousers and shoes that I'm wearing.

[4:27] And then you've got so tense to the extent that you begin to wonder what type of a job made this your good friend to do such a thing. And then you ask him, by the way, what type of a job are you going to start?

[4:42] And he said to you, I am going to become a houseboy. A houseboy? Yes. He smiles and he says, yes, I'm going to become a houseboy, serving somebody somewhere.

[4:57] I don't know if you are given the opportunity to make a phone call at that moment. Are you going to call an ambulance? Or maybe you are going to call a psychiatrist to look into the brain of the man, whether he is well at all.

[5:14] It sounds nothing but madness for somebody to go to that extent, to get rid of everything, because he had a vision that he was going somewhere to do something for somebody.

[5:27] a houseboy. A houseboy. And if you look at 1 Kings chapter 19 with me, if you like, you open your Bible to 1 Kings chapter 19.

[5:38] The story of Elisha comes out so clear. Elisha did a similar thing. And we are told that when Elijah came to Elisha, the passage says that Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha.

[5:55] In another word, it was a sign language telling Elisha that you are going to be the next prophet after I have gone. Come and follow me.

[6:09] And Elisha said, oh, what a good news. It's so good news to me today that I cannot keep it to myself. And he pleaded with Elijah, please let me go back to my people.

[6:22] And I want my people to know about this good news that I'm going away to serve the living God. I want my people to know about this good news that I'm going away to be a servant. And Elijah said to Elisha, fine and good, go.

[6:40] A good news that he was ready to share with other people. A good news that he was ready to tell his people, his relations about it. And I want to challenge us brothers and sisters.

[6:53] It is a starting point for each and every one of us. It is a thing that we should not be ashamed of it. It is a thing that we should be anxious to tell people about.

[7:05] The good things that Jesus has done for us and he's still doing. So he asked for permission to go and tell his people and Elijah said to him, fine and good, go ahead, tell your people all that you're going to do.

[7:19] And we are told that Elisha was from a family that we can consider a rich family. Because in those days for anyone to be plowing with twelve yorks of oxen is not an easy thing.

[7:36] So he had twelve yorks of oxen but that is not enough. He had eleven servants who were serving him because we are told in this passage that he was plowing the twelve york while the other elevens were handled by servants.

[7:49] So he came from a rich family and he had people serving him. But he wanted to tell his people that I'm going to start a new job. He went back home where to.

[7:59] And what did he do? He slaughtered all the york of oxen. And he burned the blowing equipment and a kind of made fire out of it.

[8:11] And he cooked the meat and he gave it to people and people ate and were so happy and he told them that look, I am going away. I've caught a vision of going away to serve a servant of God somewhere.

[8:25] And the Bible said that then he set out and followed Elijah. He virtually on his own got rid of everything.

[8:38] He see to it that everything vanished. Everything that he was depending upon in life he put everything aside because he has gotten a vision to go and become a prophet of a living God.

[8:56] And I think for us to really understand this passage in 1 Kings we need to consider it as we look at Luke chapter 9 where we read as the second lesson.

[9:08] Because in Luke chapter 9 from verse 23 Jesus made this statement. He said that if anyone will come after me that person must observe these things.

[9:19] One, the person must deny himself. anyone who wants to come after me must deny himself. Forget about who you think you are in the society.

[9:33] Forget about who you think you are when it comes to academic as far as serving God is concerned. Forget about what you think you have gotten in this part of the world as far as being obedient to the Lord is concerned.

[9:48] Jesus said deny yourself. If we want to follow him we must deny ourselves. And in denying ourselves it's like forgetting everything and just saying Lord Jesus let it be your own way.

[10:04] And he did not stop there. He said that that is one. The other thing that we must do is that you want to follow him deny yourself and carry your cross daily. And whenever we talk of cross what comes to mind is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[10:19] so the cross is a place where everything must be put to death. And in another word this passage is saying that anyone who wants to follow God through Christ more closely that person must put to death anything that will be of hindrance.

[10:38] And we saw that one in the life of Elijah. Elijah went back home and he got rid of everything. Mind you I'm not telling you to go and get rid of whatever you have at home tonight because I have said you need to follow Jesus closely.

[10:55] But what we are saying is this anything that will be of hindrance to you to follow God more closely I think it's better you get rid of that thing. So the truth is that on the cross everything was put to death.

[11:12] Any desire that is contrary to the will of God put it on the cross. Carry your cross daily. Put that thing to death. The attitude the behavior that you know within you I know within me that is not glorifying God.

[11:26] Put it to death. The things that I've been doing that I personally know is not glorifying God. Put it to death. That is carrying your cross. The way I react to people that I know is not glorifying God.

[11:40] Put it to death. The things I do in the secrets that people are not there to see me and it's not glorifying God. Put it to death. That is carrying the cross. And Jesus went on to say also that by the time that you have done this one two thing the thought is that you will then come and follow me.

[12:02] And we saw that one in the life of Elijah too. You see the simple truth is that if you are following someone you cease to dictate for yourself what it should be done. the moment you become a follower of someone you become like someone who is just imitating somebody.

[12:19] You dare not do anything your own way again. You do things the way the person whom you are imitating asks you to do. And we saw that one in the life of Elijah and Elisha. Most of the time it was Elijah telling Elisha what to do.

[12:34] Elisha tarry here. Elisha go to the left. Elisha go bring me some water. And Elisha was just following Elijah one step after the other. And that's what Jesus said here.

[12:46] That if you want to follow me, if you want to become part of me, you must first of all deny yourself, carry your cross, follow me. Do exactly that which I desire you to do.

[12:59] Don't think of doing your own will. It's a call to a total surrendering to God. It's a call of saying look God, I let go everything because I want to follow you.

[13:14] And if we move down a little bit to verse 24, verse 24 reveals to us that we are bound to make a choice.

[13:26] That is what is found in chapter 9 of Luke verse 24. We are bound to make a choice. You see, this world that we are living in it and this faith that we have come to be in it, in Jesus Christ, is a faith and a world that you just have to make a choice.

[13:46] You are bound to make a choice. It was a choice you made that made you to leave your homes and come here this morning. You made a choice. We are bound to make a choice.

[13:57] As a businessman, you are bound to make a choice, either to succeed or to fail. So, verse 24, we are called to make a choice. And that choice is, you either make a choice by depending upon what you think you are and what you feel you are and what you think you can accumulate without Jesus Christ and what you think you can do on your own desires without Jesus Christ and where you think you can go on your own without Jesus Christ and end up losing your soul.

[14:33] That is what that verse is saying. Or you make a choice of letting Jesus take control of everything, letting Jesus have his way in every decision you make and that will lead to gaining your soul.

[14:50] It's great. It's great. Bound to make a choice. No one will claim to be neutral. You cannot just be neutral. You just have to make a choice.

[15:01] When Elijah came to Elijah, Elijah was forced to make a choice. And thank God he made a choice that I will follow you Elijah. He had the right to say look I will go with you Elijah.

[15:14] But he had the mind to say look I will go with you Elijah. He made a choice. And I want to call on us that we should make a choice.

[15:25] You see the problem with some of us Christians today is that not that we have not decided to follow Jesus Christ. Yes, we have agreed to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That is not a big problem.

[15:36] The problem that God is encountering with many Christians is that we've decided to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior quite all right, but we have not submitted totally unto him. We have not submitted in totality unto God.

[15:52] We are yet to surrender. We are yet to say, Lord, take control. And that reminds me the fact that we are living in a world that everybody wants to make it.

[16:06] And there's the truth about it. This world is full of I must make it. We want to succeed. We want to excel. We want to be champions. Yes, I'm not against making it in life.

[16:18] Neither is this passage. No. As I said to them in the eight o'clock communion today, I did not leave Nigeria and come to Australia to Melbourne specifically at Ridley College and be a failure.

[16:31] I'm not going to go back home and tell my bishop, I did not pass all my exams. I fell all my papers. No. I came purposely here because I want to succeed. I want to make it in life.

[16:43] But brothers and sisters, the danger is that if you make it in life without Jesus Christ, it's losing. It's a loss. But if we make it in life with Jesus Christ, it's a big success.

[16:57] God and that's why we are called to our total surrendering unto God. It's a matter of saying it is not my will. God, have your way, your will be done.

[17:08] God, and that reminds me of a young man who got a new job, very good job, and that was his first month of receiving his salary.

[17:24] He was paid on Wednesday, and it was a big amount of money anyway. and that Wednesday every Wednesday in his church there is a service they call miracle, one hour of miracles so after receiving and closing from work he said to himself if I will go home and come back for this service I might be late so he decided to go to the service straight from work he got to the church the service was on already praising God, singing and all sorts of things and then not long ago when he entered the band that were leading the people now started a chorus I surrender all I surrender all all to Jesus blessed

[18:29] Savior I surrender all so wonderful so great to the extent that the pastor went to the mic and he grabbed the mic and he invited the whole church stand up on your feet everybody and lift up your two hands unto the Lord and sing this chorus lively joyfully surrendering to God in totality and of course in Africa if a pastor says stand up you must stand up you just have to stand up so everybody stood up and everybody's hands up surrendering to God and singing that chorus I surrender all two minutes later the pastor discovers somewhere there somebody of course was up quite alright but only one hand was up so the pastor went to the mic again and he said the Lord is saying to me there is somebody somewhere there who is just lifting his one hand up

[19:32] God is calling you lift up your two hands and surrender to God in totality he said the second time he said the third time he said the fourth time the fifth time the person is still one hand up he said the sixth time when he was saying the sixth time the person said to himself it will take angel Michael 24 hours to wrestle my hand out of my pocket don't waste your time pastor keep quiet his right hand was up his left hand was right there in his pocket why was his left hand was in his pocket his left hand was in his pocket because that is where his salary was he was holding onto his monthly pay his salary was there in his pocket so God I surrender my right hand but my left hand I will take control of everything that is there brothers and sisters maybe some of us we are like that not that we have not accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we have accepted

[20:39] Jesus quite alright as our Lord and Savior but we are still holding on to some things we are still holding to some things we have surrendered the right hand but we have refused to surrender the left hand we have decided that Jesus have your way in this aspect of my life but this aspect of my life I take control of it God is calling us to a total surrendering in life and verse 26 we quickly move as we look at verse 26 to close verse 26 is a warning against those who are ashamed of surrendering in totality to God I mean to testify for Jesus and his word verse 26 he said that if anyone of you is ashamed of me and my words it's a warning we have seen the danger of making the wrong choice in verse 25 if you make the wrong choice you have said it in verse 25 it's too bad but verse 26 if you are ashamed to identify with me that is another too bad and easy and you know some of us as Christians the problem we have is that we have not really come out of some of the things that we need to come out of them some of us we are ashamed to talk about

[22:10] Jesus Christ we've limited three areas where we should talk about Jesus Christ when we come to church on Sunday oh it's a beautiful time to talk about Jesus Christ to use all the beautiful quotations from the Bible oh the Lord is a perfect faithful God we talk about him on Sundays only and for some of us we talk about him in the church and probably at home that one is under probability and some of us we talk about Jesus in the church at home and maybe in some Christian gatherings it's too bad that some Christians today are even ashamed to talk about Jesus in their places of work we are ashamed to talk about Jesus even in schools Elijah was not ashamed to tell people that I was going after Elijah to the extent that he called people it was not only his relations that he gave the meat to the Bible said that he gave the meat to people and they ate he was not ashamed to tell people I've got I've gotten a vision

[23:19] I'm going somewhere to serve the living God don't be ashamed to talk about Jesus we should not make our Christianity only on Sunday Monday to Saturday we don't talk about Jesus we don't have anything that will give a reference to Jesus I think this passage is challenging us to a kind of never be ashamed to talk about Jesus and you know apart from the fact that some of us are ashamed to talk about Jesus the most dangerous thing that is going on in the Christendom today is that some of us we have restricted Jesus to a specific area we have restricted him we've asked him to stay in specific places we go to some extent of doing things in our own way and asking him you be this side I will go this way there was this young man who attended a conference lively conference and the topic of that conference was invite

[24:29] Jesus into your house and you will fight your battles on your behalf and that young man went back home so happy a rich man with a very big mansion he went back home and he said look I must invite Jesus into my house he got one of the big room ready furnished everything he made it self content everything he put it there and he went and invited Jesus Jesus come to my house and Jesus find he came to his house and the moment Jesus came to his house the young man took him to his room and he said Jesus look at this room everything here look at this one here look at that one I purposely put them for you for your own enjoyment and benefit he handed the key to Jesus and he said to him just stay in your room and mind your business and we shall be good friends and Jesus said oh thank you my good friend and he left they went about their normal activity that day later in the night the man decided to sit down in the general sitting room and watch the television

[25:42] Jesus was in his room 12 midnight the man discovered one of the windows was about to open he went there and he saw it was Satan who was trying to open the window to come in so there was a struggling between him he was trying to close the window Satan was pulling it to open so they were struggling close open close open and they struggled until they break and when they broke Satan ran away the man went with annoyance and angry to Jesus and he knocked at his door Jesus Jesus open the door and Jesus opened the door and the first thing that came out of the man's mouth is that I was told that if I invite you into my house you are going to fight my battles on my behalf and you had me yesterday night struggling with Satan and you did not come to help me Jesus said to him yes I had you quite all right but you told me to stay in my room and mind my business and we shall be good friends and I want us to be good friends that's why I stayed in my room and he said okay no problem if that is the case you are free to come out of your room you are free to come to the general sitting room and Jesus said fine thank you normal activities went on later in the night the man decided to go and stay in his own private sitting room and watch his television

[27:09] Jesus was there in the general sitting room watching his own and sometimes some of us Christians we are like that we prefer to have our own places apart from where Jesus should be we go our own way we try to put Jesus wait here let me go there and come back all that you need to do just stay here and this man went to his private sitting room 12 midnight the same episode repeated itself one of the window in his private sitting room was about to open he went there who was there Satan the same struggling and they went struggling until day break and when day broke the same thing Satan disappeared this time he went with every annoyance you could imagine one could have in this war and the first thing he said to Jesus he said Jesus I know you are always sleeping on duty and maybe some of us we have passed through difficulties in life and maybe we are beginning to think as if

[28:13] Jesus has forgotten you you are beginning to think as if Jesus has gone asleep he is no longer thinking of Jacob he is sleeping on duty no he is not Jesus said to him no I am not sleeping on duty I had you struggling quite alright but you see my friend I still want us to be good friends and I stayed in where you've asked me to stay and then he quickly added you see you Jesus you're always looking for excuses always looking for excuses okay you are free to enter my private sitting room and Jesus said thank you good and fine they went about their normal duties that bookshop in the afternoon and he bought good books and he was so excited with his books that he decided to stay in his room and read one of the books and he stayed in his bedroom lying on the bed and reading one of his books the same episode this time window to his bedroom was about to open he went there who was there

[29:17] Satan the same struggling until daybreak and the of throwing Jesus out of the house he was about to say I am fed up with you Jesus I want to quit this issue of following you I prayed for five months about my sickness you've not done anything I prayed for five months about that business it has not progressed yet I prayed for five months for that my brother nothing has happened I am about to quit maybe somebody is saying that in his mind about to throw the things of Jesus out quit the job of serving him quit the job of believing in him you've been believing in him for 20 years now nothing has changed or maybe you've been believing in him for something that for the past one month now it has not happened don't quit yet and Jesus said the same thing he said look

[30:17] I stayed where your bedroom and then the man quickly ran to his bedroom this time brought out all the keys to all the doors in the house he opened all the doors he brought out the keys to his cars brought out even his account book he brought out everything that was hidden in his room and he placed them at the feet of Jesus and he said to Jesus take control of everything take control it went on that afternoon the man decided to go to the market to do some shopping this time he went into the shop and he bought a pair of track suit he bought a pair of canvas shoes and he bought a pair of boxing gloves and he came back home so excited with all that he bought around 11 p.m.

[31:16] in the night he went to his room and dressed in these new he was jumping around as the latest boxer and he was saying to himself tonight is the night Satan is in trouble tonight is the night Satan is in trouble I want to say the same to you it can still happen don't give up yet tonight might be the night that that thing that has been bothering you for life could be in trouble tonight might be the night that Satan could be in trouble and Jesus was so excited with this young man he said what is happening he did not answer him he was just saying tonight is the night Satan is in trouble and Jesus said fine and good they all sat down in the generosity room 11 26 the man sat down to just watch the television waiting for 12 midnight because that is the time that Satan comes 15 minutes after what is happening fast asleep gone he slept so sound that he did not wake up until around 9 30 the next day morning and when he jumped out of his chair he was shouting

[32:45] Jesus Jesus where is Satan did Satan come here last night and Jesus said to him calm down yes Satan came in here last night but I handled him on your behalf brothers and sisters I don't know what you are struggling with in life I don't know neither do I know your difficulties and your pains I don't know the things that you think Jesus has forgotten you as far as those things are concerned I don't know what you are passing through I don't know your sickness and your bitterness neither do I know anything you're struggling with but one thing I know for sure is that if you allow Jesus to have control of everything Jesus can handle it for you shall we bow ahead as we pray I I just

[33:45] I just want you to say Jesus I want you to handle it for me I don't know what you want Jesus to handle it for you neither do you know what I want Jesus to handle it for me but one thing I know for sure is that if we allow Jesus he can handle it for us kumbaya malo kumbaya kumbaya malo kumbaya kumbaya malo kumbaya kumbaya oh lord kumbaya kumbaya kumbaya that is our desire oh god that you come by us in our difficult moments we come just as we are to surrender everything to you

[34:58] Jesus handle it on our behalf and let your name be glorified amen oh oh oh oh Thank you.