Still Thankful In An Imperfect World

As I’ve searched scripture, I’ve discovered that every house that Jesus ever went into, He made a difference in that house. He went to Simon the leper’s house and that’s where a woman broke open that bottle of expensive perfume impacting the entire environment – all because Jesus was in the house! When Jesus went to Levi’s house, Levi went and got his family and friends so they could be exposed to Jesus, giving them the opportunity of a lifetime to get right with God – all because Jesus was in the house! When Jesus went to the home of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus also went to Zacchaeus’ house and when He went to his house, salvation came to that house – all because Jesus was in the house!

Jesus made the difference in every house that He went into; He made a difference! As a matter of fact, in Mark 2:11-2, it states, “And again He entered into Capernaum, after some days, and it was noised that He was in the house. And straight away many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door, and He preached the word unto them.” The Bible tells us that four men brought their friend and they couldn’t get in the front door, so they tore the roof off the house and got their friend in where he was healed – all because Jesus was in the house. May I suggest to you today that maybe we should take Jesus to our house!

We see in the text where Jesus leaves the synagogue and goes to the home of Simon. This is the same “Simon” who in a few days will have his name changed to “Peter”. This is the same Simon that would later become one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. We are also informed in this text that Simon’s wife’s mother was in the bedroom suffering from a high fever. Simon brought Jesus in so that Jesus could address the situation. Now I need you to note, however, that all of this happened after they left the synagogue after they left the house of God – all of this happened after they left the church! According to Mark’s Gospel 1:29, which gives us more detail, Simon was also in the synagogue with Jesus! Simon went to the House of God despite the challenges and difficulties he was facing at his own house. He went to the House of God even though his world was imperfect and upside down!

Problems in your house

I bring this to your attention because there are many who won’t go to God’s House because of the problems in their own house. Many won’t go because of the issues they’re facing at their own house. It’s always “my husband this” or “my wife that”. We claim that the reason we don’t go to the house of God is because of the challenges from “our Mom, our Dad, our children, our money, our friends, our job or our grandmother”.

Simon however, decided that regardless of how tumultuous his situation was, despite the pain and hurt that was currently in his home, and despite the uncertainty in his home, he was still going to the House of God. “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth”! Psalm 34:1 Paul writes to us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus!” Simon said, “I’m still going to the House of God!” Simon still goes to the House of God even though he’s living in an imperfect world. Not only does he go to the House of God despite the challenges at his own house, he goes to the House of God despite the challenges in his own life. Now let me remind you again that he’s still Simon at this point. He has yet to become Peter. He has yet to become a rock. He has yet to become a stone. He has yet to become secure, sound and sure! At the time of our text, Simon was not really following Jesus like he ought, but he still goes to the House of God.

You have to stop using the excuse that the reason you don’t go to the House of God is because you’re not what you’re supposed to be yet. Simon has yet to become Peter but he still shows up at God’s house. You can’t keep sitting around talking about “as soon as I get myself together, then I’m going to church”. As a matter of fact, the church is the only institution or organization that we approach like that. You don’t hear anyone say, “As soon as I get my tooth together, I’m going to the dentist” or “As soon as I get this pain out of my body, I’m going to the doctor”. You don’t hear, “As soon as I can see, I’m going to the ophthalmologist” or “As soon as I get this car running, I’m going to the mechanic”. No, you take the broken stuff to different places to get them fixed. That’s what the church of Jesus Christ is for. We don’t wait until we get better before we go to church. We go to church so we can get better! So despite the fact that Simon is not Peter, despite that he’s not the “Rock”, despite he’s not stone or secure yet, he still goes to the House of God, because God takes us just as you are, you don’t stay just as you are because whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!”

Simon went to the House of God despite the challenges he was facing at his own house. Simon went to the house of God despite the challenges in his own life. But also, Simon went to the House of God despite the challenges in the House of God. The church is the best thing that God left here for us, but we still have issues in the church. And this is what people use for justification as to why they don’t come to church. They say the church has too many issues and phony people are in the church. But despite the issues in the church, Simon still went!

Let me show you what was going on in the church he went to. Check out verse 33, “And. in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with a loud voice”. In other words, there was a man in the church who was possessed or controlled by a demon or evil spirit and he interrupted what Jesus was doing. He cried out with a loud voice. Jesus was teaching and He was teaching with power and authority unlike the Rabbis and the teachers of that day. And the man said, “Jesus I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God but leave me alone”. This was going on in the House of God. Simon, who had issues at his own house, goes to the House of God. When he got there, Jesus was up preaching and there, Jesus was up preaching and there was a man filled with an evil spirit and he interrupted Jesus. Now all the focus went from Jesus to this man in the House of God. If this had been one of us, we would have said, “I’m out of here! I can’t go to church like that! That’s too much for me. I am not going to leave trouble of home and come to worship where trouble is!” We would have missed out on seeing the deliverance of God and missed out on a blessing for ourselves.

Church isn’t for perfect people

Listen, you have to understand, the church never claimed to be a place for perfect people. The church’s claim is that it’s a hospital for sick souls. And nobody goes to the hospital expecting to find all the patients well. We go to the hospital looking for sick people getting better. So it is, we go to the house of God not because we are perfect, but we go there because we are sin sick and we need to see Dr. Jesus seeking another prescription from the word of God with a few doses of the Holy Ghost. Simon learned in this passage that the devil will come to church also. The reason why we are so shocked about the devil showing up for church is because we don’t read our Bible. If we did, then it wouldn’t be a surprise that the devil is there.

In the book of Job 1:6 it says, “The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan was also in the midst of them. The book of Revelation talks about Satan having a seat in church so don’t be surprised when he does show up. And he normally doesn’t come by himself.

He believes in carpooling. Well now since you know he comes to church and you know he’s looking for a ride, you want to make sure he doesn’t come with you! You can always tell when you are under satanic influence. You see it right there in verse 33. That is, whenever you start interrupting what Jesus is doing in His House or in the life of someone, you are under satanic influence.

You know the enemy is messing with you when you recognize who Jesus is but you want Jesus to leave you alone. The Bible tells us that if we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us.

Jesus is cool (and King)

Now according to our text in verse 38, church was over and the benediction had been given, Jesus went home with Simon. Although church was over, Simon wasn’t finished with Jesus. With some of us, from praise and worship to the benediction, Jesus is cool and King! We will sing, shout, clap our hands, dance in the aisles, say Amen, quote scripture, give honor to God and thank him, but as soon as the benediction is given we can”t spell Jesus.

That’s because we leave Him alone right after the benediction. Simon on the other hand says he knows church is over, but he keeps walking with Jesus and nothing had changed at his house. His mother in law was still sick and it was still a heated situation in his home. His wife was still emotionally distraught about her mother. The children were concerned and worried about Granny – nothing has changed but Simon kept walking with Jesus. 

Now I finally understand why many of us don’t walk with Jesus. Here is why. Because you come to church and see Him deliver other people and you cop an attitude with thinking all the devil that’s in those people and yet he won’t heal what’s happening in your home. So you stop walking with Jesus.

We need people with enough faith to say that even when there is no change at my house, I’m going to keep on walking with Jesus! Can you keep walking with Jesus when nothing in your house has been turned around? So Simon takes Jesus to his house and Jesus goes in and handles the fever and raises up Peter’s mother-in-law off of her sick bed and then she began to leave.

This passage teaches us that Jesus is a healer. Luke 4 is about healing and casting out demons. Jesus can heal you! He’s Jehovah Rapha!

Ronald Regan once said, “everybody that’s for abortion are those who are already born!” You never hear the unborn talking about they will support abortion! In the same way when I hear someone say God can’t heal or won’t heal, it’s never anybody that’s sick. It’s always somebody in good health. I never had anyone who was sick deny prayer. God is a healer!

There was something broken in Simon’s house that would help fix Simon. You and I keep wanting God to fix what’s broken in our house but God keeps wanting to fix us! God says I can’t fix what’s broke in the house because I’m using that to fix you! Once I fix you, then I can fix what’s broke in the house. He’s working on us.

Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, Texas and after the storm the people were cleaning up the beach. they began finding treasures of things that at some unknown time had ended up in the water deep in the sea; things of value that no one could see. There were things of value that no one could get to while buried at sea.

But when the storm came, it would stir up the waves and stir up the treasures that had been buried. These once hidden treasures were now coming up to the surface. God knows that there is some valuable treasures in you, but nobody can see it. God says I know how to get it out of you. I’m going to send you a storm.