Heath Pressley's Blog

At the AnchorPoint we are going verse by verse through the book of Luke. This is a new experience for me. I’ve always been a topical guy. At first I wasn’t so sure about going verse by verse. It was outside of my comfort zone. But to be honest I have found that I love it. The biggest reason is Jesus. As I prepare, I am trying to find out everything I can about the text - the original language, commentaries, Beth Moore’s “Jesus The One And Only” etc. As I am doing this I am falling more in love with Jesus. What an amazing man He was, and what an amazing God He is.

Sounds great doesn’t it. There’s a problem though. There’s too much to cover. I have discovered that there is too much about Jesus to cover in the small amount of time we have each week in the talk at The Point. So, I’ve had to make some choices. I’ve had to narrow it down to the one walk away I believe God wants the people at The Point to have. But it is still frustrating. I want everyone at The Point to get what I’m getting. I can’t cover it in the talk, so what to do? Then it hit me - Just one little word from God’s heart – Blog.

So, from time to time in this space I will be expanding on what we got in the previous week’s talk.

As promised, here is the part we couldn’t cover in “Life Swap In You Body.”

The question is, “Was Jesus ever limited? Luke 5:17 says, “the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.” Several things pop into my mind. Was this power stronger on this occasion than on others? Were there ever times when God’s healing power wasn’t with Jesus? Maybe you thought those things too.

Let’s look at the original language first. The word for power in this verse is dunamis. Which means power, especially achieving power. Another word that is translated power, strength or might in the original language is ischus. It is applied to God’s divine power. Dunamis is the earthward application of God’s divine power.

Jesus being completely divine while at the same time completely human always had the ischus power within Him. He never lacked that power. However, the earthward application of that power, dunamis, was only used when it served the divine purpose of God. Beth Moore put’s it like this in her book and Bible study, Jesus The One And Only, “I hope you catch that Christ was ready and willing to apply His ischus to specifically achieve dunamis healing that day. Christ healed many times, but the implication is that healing was part of a far more specific agenda in certain instances. Christ is always able. He is often willing. Sometimes He is more than willing – He is utterly resolved.”

Now let’s take a look at who was in the crowd that day. Pharisees. The Pharisees may not have needed physical healing that day, but they did need Spiritual healing. They needed their hearts broken from legalism and pride. They needed to repent from how they had built a religious system that kept people far from the heart of God just so they could remain in control. It is in this context that we find Jesus had the dunamis power to heal. He didn’t want to just heal the physical, but He wanted to heal the soul.

I don’t know about you, but my soul needs to be healed. Jesus is the only one who can do it. The only question is will I let Him?

How about you – will you let Him?

I want to model authentic faith before my kids. I don’t want them to just have head knowledge about the religion called Christianity, but instead I want them to be followers of Jesus. So, the other night at our supper table I asked God to let it snow like crazy. The weather people in Seattle had predicted that we would wake up to snow the previous morning. They lied and my kids were disappointed. The cold air came through but there wasn’t any moisture. I wanted it to snow also. Who wouldn’t trade a couple days of sledding for the regular routine. So, we held hands around the table and I asked God to turn everything white.

He did. Right after supper the snow started to fall. In Newcastle, our little corner of Seattle, we got 8 inches. And for the last several days it has been winter wonderland. The apostle James said, “the prayers of a person living right with God are something to be reckoned with.” Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not claiming that I caused it to snow. I’m not that arrogant. I believe it was going to snow weather I prayed for it or not. But I do believe that God heard my prayer and He knew that my family and I wanted it to happen really bad. So, as it was snowing and we were running around in it like crazy people in the dead of night, God was watching and enjoying the show.

I believe that God cares deeply about the things that I care deeply about. I know that sounds incredibly arrogant, but it really isn’t. I also believe that God cares deeply for the things that every person deeply cares about. Think about it – a sparrow can’t fall out of the sky without His notice. He knows how many hairs we have on our heads, and in my case that number is consistently being subtracted. The reason God cares so deeply about the things that we care about is because He cares so very deeply about us.

We were created to live in an adventurous relationship with Him. When we destroyed that relationship He made everything right again through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. And now that the price of our rebellion has been paid He longs for that adventurous relationship to be lived out again. In that regard He wants to be the very center of our existence. His life permeating everything we are and do. The Psalmist tell us that “those who delight in Him, He gives the desires of their hearts.” In other words, He places the passions of our lives in our hearts if we continue to pursue that adventurous relationship with Him.

This has some dynamic implications for our lives. For me, it means that I can be comfortable in the skin that I am in. I am who I am because God has wired me to be that way. I think my wife is white-hot smoking’ because God wired me that way. I want to win at everything I do because God wired me that way. I love to watch sports because God wired me that way. I want to see people connect to the heart of God because God wired me that way. It also means that I have to let God into every nook and cranny of my life. Because when I do my ambitions, drives and desires align themselves with His plan and really cool things happen.

So, with that said, God, it would be great if the Seahawks could beat the Bears.

Standing outside the Miller Theater at Columbia University in New York I saw him shuffling down the sidewalk. I was busy talking on my cell phone, so as he went past I barely noticed that he was walking with the help of a cane. Twenty feet past me as he reached the corner of Broadway and 116th I noticed a movement. I turned and saw that he had fallen face down on to the pavement.

The bustle of rush hour continued all around him. It was as if no one noticed that this man was down and needed help. This is the part of the story where I wish I could say that I became a hero and stepped forward to help. I didn’t. My first thought was, “Someone should help that guy.”  As I was thinking this, a police officer turned the corner and went to the man and offered assistance. Three minutes later an ambulance arrived and the man was taken away. Through all of this the people of the city continued to move past without even a glance to the well being of that man.

After he was taken away I went up to the officer and asked if the man was going to be o.k. The officer said, “No, he was dead before he hit the pavement.”

I’ve processed several things with God since that experience. The first is that we are all already dead before we hit the pavement. The Bible speaks clearly to the fact that all people everywhere are born into this life separated from God. Spiritually speaking we are already dead. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” “There is no one righteous – not even one.”

I’m a pastor, a faithful husband, and loving father. But I am also a deeply flawed person. In the deepest crevice of my heart you will find sin and rebellion. I am dead. But while I am dead I am alive. I am alive because of Jesus. Through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave I have been rescued. His life is in me and His light is plunging to the depths of the darkest parts of my heart exposing the sin and making me new.

Even though you are dead you can be alive. It doesn’t matter what you have done or what has been done to you. If you give your heart and your life to Jesus He will make you alive.

The second thing I processed was to never forget that people all around me are already dead. I am to identify with the officer or the ambulance workers not the passers by. Jesus wants to rescue everyone in the world, and He wants us to be His rescue workers.

When you live life from this perspective life is never boring. It is an adventure! When you live life from this perspective suddenly you are not doing mundane things. You are a special agent in the underground fighting in the unseen war. Jesus was right when He said, “Whoever clings to their life will lose it, but whoever gives their life away will find it.”

Yes I am dead, but also alive.