Pastor Edgar Mayer;
For more sermons and other writings check out pastors homepage: http://www.geocities.com/mayeredgar
New Season
Coming
Luke 3:21-23: When all the people were being baptized, Jesus
was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit
descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: You
are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. Now Jesus himself was
about thirty years old when he began his ministry
Jesus was thirty years old and his life
was about to change. Up to that point Jesus was not the Jesus that we know from
the Bible. He had not yet preached a single sermon, had not yet healed a single
person, had not yet driven out a single demon, had not
yet called a single disciple
Up to that point to most people Jesus was ordinary even odd. Thirty years old and still not married,
always since an early age hanging
around the temple and always wanting to talk about God.
I dont know how Jesus felt about his situation but
thirty years is a long time when not much seems to happen. He seemed stuck living in a tiny village with no money to speak of
and no connections to anyone important.
Then a new preacher appeared on the scene John the Baptist. He created a stir. People came out into the country around the
Right now! The time had come. The life of Jesus was about
to change. There was a new season coming. He would begin a new work. And may I submit this to you: I believe that the same is true for us. I have a growing
conviction that the life of this church is also about to change. Your life
my life is about to change. There is a
new season coming and we have seen the signs all year long. When Jesus was thirty years old he came
into something new. He began a new work which according to the Bible is our work now, that
is: share the good news of salvation with power.
There is a new season coming for you. If you are young
and this is a service organized by
the youth then almost by definition
you face one life-changing circumstance after another: choosing a
profession (apprecenticeship or uni), falling in love, leaving school, getting
a license, preparing to vote,
If you
are young, then for you there is inevitably a new season coming and I pray that
it will be a new season in God that you wont miss what he has for you.
If you
belong to our church youth (or if
youve taken an interest in our youth),
would you agree with me that we are not the same as we were last year? Over the
last twelve months a few of you made a first-time faith commitment to Jesus
Christ, Merinda was baptized, and then many others left behind the faith of
children and sought and embraced God for themselves. You may have wrestled with
the challenges praying to God by
yourself, reading the Bible, coming out as a Christian even at school but then you moved forward, wanted and discovered
a personal relationship with God for yourself. There was something happening at
Christian Life Week, the Hillsong Conference,
Our
numbers are growing. There is a new season coming.
I read again how it happened for Jesus in the Bible
Luke 3:21-23: When all the people
were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was
opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a
voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry
As
he was praying, heaven was opened
You prepare for the new season in your life by praying to God that is: You
remain open to God, expecting from God, pestering God if need be. When Jesus
was praying on that day of the Bible reading he was already thirty years old
and he could have become bitter saying: God, where are you? This is
useless. Ive made a mistake by going to church and investing so much time into
you. And yet, Jesus didnt give up
but persevered and kept praying and exercised patience until the time had come
when in a breathtaking way (exceeding what anyone would have thought
possible) the life of Jesus was about to
change. Unheard miracles would be performed by his hands. The answer to Jesus
prayers was a long time coming but maybe this new season of unprecedented power
and world-saving work would have daunted and destroyed a younger man. You and I
trust the timing of God. Our lives are about to change.
The Bible reading said: And as Jesus was praying, heaven was opened and
the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. Like Jesus we need the Holy Spirit for the
new season that is coming upon us. With the Holy Spirit comes power which
enabled Jesus to say Luke 4:18-19 I
read again from the Bible: The Spirit of the Lord is on me
to preach
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and
recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed
Then in the power of the Spirit Jesus proceeded to do what he had
announced. I read some more from the Bible Luke 4:33-36: In the
synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at
the top of his voice, Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of
Are you ready for a season like that? Many a time I
hear people put themselves down. They say and you may
say: I am not good speaking in
front of others. Im not good studying and reading a book. I cannot pray
without falling asleep. I dont know how to share my faith. Im too shy to talk
to people. Im no leader. I cannot do what Jesus did. Right! Thats wrong! Can I encourage and admonish all of us: When the
new season is coming upon us, none of these statements are true. They are lies
coming out of unbelief not reckoning with what God can do through us. TD Jakes was one of the most powerful
preachers at the recent Hillsong Conference enthralling 30,000 people despite
having a small speech impediment. He had a lisp. John Piper is one of the most
prolific and widely read theologian of our time but he
cannot speed-read. To his frustration he is a slow reader but that has not
stopped God using him.
Jesus said John 14:12: I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me
will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these
You and I Jesus said that we will do even
greater things than he did: speak the Word of God with power, deliver people
from the demonic, heal the sick,
The time will come, when heaven will open
for us and the Holy Spirit will descend on us with power to begin a new work.
Pastor Peter Steicke a colleague and a friend he is at the moment in Uganda and this is what he wrote in the Uganda
Team blog which you find on the website of the Para Vista Lutheran Church in
Adelaide: While the rest of the team enjoyed a well earned rest to do some
maintenance on the van and a few tourist things, Cees and I headed off with
Henry Balidawa to Bukobo, a very small village some 3 ½ hours each way north
east of Jinja. Feeling tired after only arriving home at 10.30 the night before
and hitting the road by 8, we were not overly enamoured by the prospects of the
day. We picked up some other people along the wayfour in the ute and four on the backand to lift our spirits, began to
praise and worship. It was then we had a blow out. The tyre was completely
wasted and we marvelled at the Lords protection. Problem, the rod for
unlocking and lowering the spare from under the back of the ute
was nowhere to be found. After much frustration and many numerous and ingenious
attempts to lower the spare, I felt led to take authority over the situation in
prayer through the name of Jesus. While praying for the tyre to be released it
dropped to the ground with a thud while one of our friends was having a little
jiggle on it. We continued on our way rejoicing, and sensing that Father God
had something special planned for this day which the devil wanted to thwart.
I had planned to preach on
Jesus and Zacchaeus, but part way through the service Cees, who has a prophetic
calling, discerned that something was not right in this village and that there
was a strong sense of evil spirits robbing the people of joy and vitality in
life in general and in their relationship with Jesus. There was a lot of
comings and goings all around us.
So, just as the gospel from
Luke 10 was being read, I prayed for the Lord to reveal a scripture to preach
on, and he gave me Luke 10:17-20, but I
started from the beginning.
Jesus appointed
seventy; there are about seventy adults here today. Jesus send
them out; he sends you out. They were to go with nothing; you dont have very
much, but you do have the presence of Jesus. Jesus told them to bring peace and
to eat and drink with others; you can do that as you build relationships with
others and get along side of them in their hurts. Jesus told them to heal the
sick as a sign of the kingdom; you also have his authority to do that.
When the disciples
returned they were full of joy and rejoiced that even the demons obeyed them.
I related to these
people that demons are like the dust that was all around us. It is messy and
unpleasant, it makes you dirty and unclean, and it can even cause things to not
work properly. When it rains, the dust turns to mud and you can become stuck in
it, not being able to move or grow. Do you know anyone like that? Do you know a
congregation or village like that? They all nodded Yes.
Everywhere in
Just then the Lord revealed to
me while I was preaching that there was a spirit of unrest in this village. So
we did some basic group renunciations and breaking of curses, along with the
power of the witchdoctor, and we talked about what this means.
We talked, v 19,
about the authority Jesus has given them to sweep this village through prayer.
In all of this, we are not to be focussed on the spirits, but on our
relationship with Jesus who has given us victory over sin, death, and the power
of the devil.
It was a wonderful time of
prayer, repentance, rebuking of the enemy, and total reliance on the completed
work of Jesus in the power of the Spirit.
There was still
unrest around us in the compound, and at the end of the service
we were exhausted.
They then announced that there
were ten or more people who wanted to receive prayer from us and, of course, as
soon as this was announced, this number at least doubled. My heart dropped. All
I wanted to do was get out of there (not very gracious, I know!). Cees called
the two men from that village who had been at the
conference and asked me to minister with one, while he ministered with the
other.
What an amazing time. The Lord
filled us with boldness while he stretched out his hand to heal and signs and
wonders were performed through the name of his holy servant Jesus (Acts
Pastor Peter
Steicke and the
Only are we ready
for the new? As old as you are as young as you are can you see yourself operating in the prophetic, pray for healing and
see someone healed, share the good news of Jesus Christ and then see the
demonic submit to him,
This may be out there and scary and beyond our
abilities. However, did we notice what Pastor Peter Steicke also wrote: Feeling
tired after only arriving home at 10.30 the night before and hitting the road
by 8, we were not overly enamoured by the prospects of the day
at the end of
the service we were exhausted.
All I wanted to do was get out of there
Then
what an amazing time.
Pastor Peter
Steicke and Cees could not do anything by their own strength either. They were
tired and exhausted and more than ready to get out the situation but then God
came through with his power. As young as you may be, as weary as you may be, as
limited as you may be, God can do anything through you because the work of the
There is something else and this
ties in with the theme of todays service words that are silver boxes. Hear the Bible reading one more time Luke 3:21-23:
And as Jesus was praying, heaven was opened and the
Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from
heaven: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. Now Jesus
himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry
When the life of Jesus was about to change, God the
Father spoke something into his life that released him for the new season that
was upon him. What surprised me initially was that he didnt give any instructions
or map out a strategic preaching schedule or point out a good reference
library. God the Father was not practical at all but he said words like a silver box he said to Jesus: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am
well pleased.
If Jesus had to hear these words to be released into
something new, how much more do we need to hear these words? The past often
manages to cling to us and weigh us down with regret and guilt and shameful
memories. And then all this waiting on God makes us uncertain. Does he love us?
Does God like us and favour us? Or does he only see the sin that is in our
hearts the lust, the greed, the
idolatry, the selfishness, the anger, the gossip,
Does God love you?
If we are unsure on this point, we are not free to step
out and rise with boldness in a new season of spiritual power. Thoughts that
condemn will hold us back, damn us, thus rob us of the
future. Yet, God speaks to us if we only open our ears to hear him: You are my Son you are my daughter , whom I
love; with you I am well pleased.
God, are you really pleased with us? We might say that
these words are only appropriate for Jesus because he was a man without sin but
thats not true. The Bible says that the shepherd boy David who was to become
king of Israel flawed in many
respects the Bible says that he was
1 Samuel 13:14:
a man after Gods own heart
There were character traits that God liked. Another young man came to
Jesus and asked him about eternal life. He was a seeker and committed to obeying
the commandments of God. Jesus looked at him and loved him. In the end that
young man chose not to go all the way with Jesus he was rich and put
money first but the Bible says
Mark 10:21: Jesus looked at him and loved him
As imperfect as our faithfulness and our zeal may be, do not be surprised
when God sees something special in you and says: You are my Son you
are my daughter , whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
God has seen your dark hours of battling temptations,
wrestling with forgiveness in our relationships (maybe our marriages), becoming desperate over finances,
God has
seen us when we invested our flawed self in a relationship with him and hung in
there before the power of a new season. He wants you to know he wants me
to know that he loves you. Whatever
may have been in the past is cleansed by that love and at the same time the
future is released by that love.
The Bible assures us further and this applies even to the worst of sinners Romans 8:1: Therefore, there is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. This means: As we put our faith in Jesus
Christ his sacrifice on the cross for our sin we receive forgiveness from God and become people in Christ. The
righteousness and holiness and perfect character of Christ become ours by
faith. Therefore, hear it now the words of God the Father to you and me
for the new season coming: You are my Son you are my daughter , whom I
love; with you I am well pleased.
I come to a close. We better get ready for our life is
about to change. The signs are all there. God wants to bring a new season upon
us. We pray and persevere until it comes dont become bitter by any delays and then already now we think through and prepare ourselves for what
will happen when more of the Holy Spirit and his power will descend on us. At
first there may be fear but then we want to have a longing for what is possible
in God like what happened in
Our life is about to change and considering the prospects we cannot wait. God, we want to be ready. Amen.