Jesus goes back home to Nazareth- He did not many works there because of their UNBELEIF

First of Four Summer Sermons-“Daring Faith”

Fredrick Russell challenges the members of the Allegheny West Conference to baptize at least 500 people in the year 2009. This conference was split off from Allegheny, whose first president was J.H. Wagner (also the second president of South Atlantic).

THE PLAN- RUSSELL, RUSSELL, RUSSELL, AND HERNANDEZ

The June 25, 2016 Sabbath worship service at Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, Atlanta featured the first of four sermons in a “summer teaching series” entitled “Daring Faith: The Key to Real Life.” Berean Lead Pastor Fredrick Russell intends to deliver the first three of the four sermons in this series. The final sermon will be presented by Southern Union Conference Ministerial & Evangelism Director Roger Hernandez. The first sermon was named “A God With Limits?” Here again (praise God) is a link to the ENTIRE SERVICE. Pastor Russell mounts the podium at time marker 1:43:25, and his remarks extend to time marker 2:19:40, culminating with an admonition by the speaker for all of us to “trust in God.” A lack of trust by the citizens of Nazareth who grew up with Jesus had resulted in their not being able to receive the blessings that He had intended to bestow upon them. He was “without honor” in His own country. We were urged by Pastor Russell to not display a similar lack of faith and trust in God, as this would serve to limit our own blessings. This Sabbath service, and this quarter of the calendar, was concluded by Holy Communion.

At 1:44:29- “Not just another sermon on faith!”

“A GOD WITH LIMITS?”   YOU ARE THE ONE WHO LIMITS HIM!

“The place where we are about to go  [into} here, over the next several weeks, is a place I have not been in my own faith before.” The planned extent of, and the division of labor between the presenters of the projected sermon series was now outlined. “Its called ‘Daring Faith,'” Pastor Russell said. “Not just faith, but daring faith, the key to real life.” He expressed his hope to increase the level of faith in his own life, and that of his flock as well. The scriptures that pertained to this sermon (as a type of negative object lesson) were read to the congregation, Matthew 13:53-58. “Jesus had just come home.” the pastor noted. People should have been excited about His return, as He had been doing some very exciting things lately. A consideration of the lackluster nature of the reception Jesus received by those who knew Him before he was famous, and insights into the spiritual consequences this bad reception were described as “probing” by Pastor Russell, and the preacher added that it also “probes our own faith.”

The events from Matthew 13 can be summarized as follows: Jesus comes home to Nazareth. The townspeople are initially impressed by the wisdom and power of Jesus, but this first impression quickly yielded to a less charitable opinions about a man they had always assumed to be as ordinary as they themselves were. There was nothing in Christ’s humble background that portended exceptionality. But rather than celebrate the fact that Jesus had transcended His plebian roots, the people of Nazareth seemed rather to resent His success, and despise his person (Pastor Russell tastefully abstained from dusting off the “bucket of crabs story” to illustrate the bad-natured attitudes of those who take umbrage when someone appears to have “got above their raisin’).

Jesus acknowledged this negative response by observing that “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” An alternate way of stating this would be “familiarity breed contempt.” Their bad faith placed a barrier between them and Jesus. They had therefore effectively “limited” the power of God. “You of little faith” is an accusation Jesus makes several times in the Gospels. Those who knew him best, rather perversely, believed in Him the least. The Gospel of Mark reveals some highly significant details about this episode, ones which shall be introduced at the proper moment.

I used to commute through Marshville, North Carolina. The local police loved to relate how native son Randy Travis was a no-account punk when he was a teenager. Hapeville, Georgia police talk the same way about their native son, Jeff Foxworthy. As I frequently received speeding tickets, I had opportunities to talk.with police.

“I have gotten to know a few famous people in my day. I won’t name-drop. I have also gotten to know a few infamous people as well.” Once the initial, superficial relationship has been passed, Pastor Russell confided, ones comfort level with the famous rapidly increases. The pastor observed that we discover that they are “…just like everybody else. They put their pants on one leg at a time.” They have good times, and they have bad times. Once you get to know them, it is easy to take them for granted. The gloss is off of them.

Pastor Russell recently spoke at a campmeeting in Missouri. While there, he encountered a professor at the University of Missouri, and accompanied him to the campus. They discussed an incident that had happened previously at the school. The football team had gone on strike, refusing to play because of some racially motivated friction that was occurring on campus at the time (read this New York Times article entitled “Black Football Players Lend Heft to Protests at Missouri“).

Blacks make up a very small percentage of the student body at the University of Missouri, yet nearly half of the players on their highly lucrative football team are African American. This news will surprise no one.

The professor gave Pastor Russell a tour of scenes of the famous boycott. The U. of MO. had just hired a new “diversity officer,” a noted Adventist with whom the pastor was previously acquainted. Pastor Russell said that he had recently been watching C-SPAN (and he took this opportunity to jokingly refer to the general apathy that most display toward this important resource, including, alas, many Bereans). The president of the University of Missouri was speaking, and brought up the name of the Adventist diversity guru Pastor Russell knew intimately. Even though he was in the national media spotlight (as was Ben Carson recently, another associate of the pastor), this was not particularly impressive to one who knew that Kevin McDonald, PhD was a man much like any other man.

Such was the case with the citizenry of Nazareth, with regard to Jesus. The man of the hour had just returned home for the very first time [Thomas Wolfe came up with the phrase “You Can’t Go Home Again:” the citizens of his native town, Asheville NC, did worse than ignore him. They hated him with a great passion, despite the fact that he had immortalized them all]. Jesus was the talk of Palestine. Pastor Russell joked that Jesus, back home, preached at the “Berean Synagogue.” They should have been proud. “Here is our own homeboy…” the pastor said, to illustrate the appropriate reaction.

A 14th century fresco, “Jesus Preaching in the Synagogue at Nazareth,” located in the Visoki Decani Monastery in Serbia. From this uneven SOURCE.

“I remember the first time I went home,” Pastor Russell reminisced. He had expected a much better reception than the one he received. He had, after all, graduated from Oakwood, and was actually now leading a congregation. He spoke, as did Jesus, at his old home church. As the pastor was stationed at the door, after the service shaking hands, the typical comment was as follows: “Freddie, its good to see you! Are you still as bad as you were growing up?” The pastor wanted to reply, “Hold it! I just preached the Word! I’m a pastor now! Can you be excited about that?” Back in Nazareth, the congregation that had just heard Jesus preach were thinking to themselves “This is just the carpenter’s son. This is just Mary’s boy.” They were “totally unimpressed” with Jesus.

“And Jesus wanted to perform some outstanding miracles in front of them. He wanted so much to bless those people,” Pastor Russell said. But this desire by Jesus was not to be gratified. Mark 6:6 was now added to the mix, a verse which supplies an interesting detail to the account of Jesus’ homecoming not found in Matthew: “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” The people could only remember that Jesus was a blue collar worker’s son [a huge scholastic industry used to exist around the snobbish English attempt to prove that the plays of Shakespeare, a man of relatively humble birth, were actually written by some nobleman]. Jesus wanted to bless them. “But the Bible says He couldn’t do it,” the pastor revealed. “It didn’t say He WOULN”T do it. It did not say He didn’t have the ABILITY to do it. The Bible says He COULN’T do it!”

The pastor was giving a ride a few month ago to Associate Pastor Pilgrim, whose old car was not operational. He said to her, “Danielle, look at this text (the text under scrutiny), what this text is saying?” He explained to her, and subsequently to the rest of us, the importance of the specific terminology that this verse  (Mark 6:5) employs [Matthew states that He DID not, but Mark reveals that He COULD not], and the significance of these terms.

Pastor Pilgrim at time marker 1:59:04, reacting to Pastor Russell’s memory of his revelation to her. Some fancy direction from the Media Ministry! “Yes, yes, I recall that encounter,” she appears to be thinking.

A revelation came over the pastor himself as he mused, “What is it that God may have wanted to do in my life, but He could not because I did not believe in Him?” The question was redirected to the congregation. What does God want to do for you, but is prevented from so doing? “We’re not just talking about simple faith here. Let me tell you the bigger part of this. They were not just rejecting Jesus… they were rejecting God!”

One of the wellsprings of this rejection was revealed by Pastor Russell to be idolatry [a concept many traditionally equate with the antiquated worship of images of heathenish false-gods, but Christians who have been paying close attention are all aware that this subject is a very contemporary one]. The pastor refreshed our awareness of what idolatry means, as applied to our modern age: “When I have something that is so big in my life that it blocks me from fully trusting God… that thing becomes idolatry.” We often fail to trust God with the issues we may be facing. God may be trying to say, “I can work this out for you,” but you may begin to think “I don’t know if God is going to come through.” “Not only did you begin to think it,” the pastor stated, “you began to mouth it as well.” The main theme of this sermon was restated directly to the choir at this point. “I am telling you choir. There’s some stuff in your life you have never received because you’ve chose not to trust God!”

Pastor Russell preaches to the choir.

Mark Chapter 6, Verses 3, 4, and 5 were glossed by Pastor Russell, with an emphasis on the unexceptional nature of Jesus’ Nazareth work, hamstrung as He was by a lack of faith. Verse 5 notes this fact: “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.” There are some things in your life,” Pastor Russell told the assembly, “where God will give you a little bit of blessing… He will give you just enough.” This partial blessing is because you do not fully believe. God says, “I can do no more for you.” The insight seemed to overwhelm the pastor himself. “Wow,” he proclaimed. He recalled that in his life there were times that he was trustful. But there were also times that he was fearful. God attempted to clarify the issue for the pastor: “When what your fear became so big, it became bigger than me…” {This lack of perspective had been previously cited with regard to the concept of idolatry, you will recall.] Again, personal insights were generalized. The congregation was admonished not to let either material or spiritual concerns become “bigger than God.”

A previously mentioned idea came in for some additional attention. “When I don’t believe in God, I am not just rejecting what God can do for me; I’m rejecting God also,” Pastor Russell revealed. “That’s why Jesus was so offended, choir! That’s why He was amazed!” He added some detail to his previous insights. “They reduced Him down to a place where they could dismiss Him”

The choir receives even more personal attention from the pastor, but the rest of us were  able to overhear the urgent message that he was confiding to them all.

Printed notes were available to accompany the sermon by Pastor Russell, but he chose this day to not fully integrate them with his remarks. They highlighted the “Problem with Familiarity,” the diminution of both the Quantity and Quality of the miracles that Jesus was able to perform in Nazareth, and concluded with a focus on the cause of all of this underwhelming mediocrity: Unbelief. The notes did serve as a useful souvenir of the sermon, and displayed a few important Bible verses that illustrated and clarified the very simple, but also very important lesson that Pastor Russell was attempting to hammer into the occasionally thick skulls of the congregation. The first of these verses was Psalm 127:1:

A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. (NIV)

The pastor recalled that he used to use this text quite frequently in relation to wedding ceremonies. He attached it to the issues of marriage and family. A few days back, however, Pastor Russell experienced a kind of epiphany about this verse. The Lord revealed to him that “this is [about] your life.” Unless the Lord builds your life, then you labor in vain. He asserted that many in the congregation were currently laboring in vain. “It ain’t working for you,” he truthfully disclosed. We only occasionally let God inside. God would respond to this general exclusion in this manner: “You have not even begun to scratch the surface of what I would do in your life.” He is amazed at our unbelief. God wants us to trust Him with everything, and not just a few thing (the theme of “total surrender” is a recurrent one at Berean. Recurrent themes are typically not only those that are of the greatest importance. They are also those that seem to be most quickly forgotten. Booster shots are therefore regularly administered  by the ministerial staff). “Some of you here have lives that are so off-kilter, and you show up here every weekend, and you try to figure out ‘why is this thing not working out for me?” The problem is a lack of full trust in God, and a reluctance to place not just a few of one’s affairs, but all of one’s affairs into His capable hands. The second of the relevant verses cited was Psalm 118:22:

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone… (NIV)





“The stone that has been rejected is none other than Jesus Christ,” Pastor Russell reminded us. It was related to the preceding verse: “Unless the Lord builds the house…” (“house” being a metaphor for “life,” the pastor inferred) “then you’re going to labor in vain,” he promised. The stone we reject from our lives is, of course, Jesus. “You never came to the place in your life… where you trusted God with everything,” the pastor reasserted [a second “booster shot” for those who may be prone to  half-hearted commitments].  The musical accompaniment for the conclusion of the sermon, and the commencement of communion, was now cued by the pastor: Natalie, if you would…” He turned back to the main body of Christ, and continued his words of warning. “The Lord says that you have rejected the very person that can get you through, and get you out, and get you over everything.” We content ourselves with lives that fall far short of the lives that God has planned out for us. “Could it be that you are living just a small percentage of what God really wanted for you?” There could well be things God intended for you that you have “never reached, never lived, never done, never experienced,” Pastor Russell lamented. The third relevant verse  was Hebrews 11:6:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (NIV)

“Diogenes Lights the Darkness with a Lamp,” an image by Nicolai Abildgaard. The subject is a seeker, but not a seeker of God. He is simply looking for an honest man.

The pastor explained things from the viewpoint of God: “If you’re not seeking me, and you’re not open to me, and you’re not coming for me… I can’t reward you, because you don’t even know me.” The pastor made a self-evident assertion, saying that “you can’t trust someone that you do not know; even Jesus.” If in the course of your life there is no effort to establish a connection with Jesus, you are distracted perhaps by what the pastor vividly described as “head junk,” and “head stuff.” “if you seek me,” God revealed to the pastor, “you get to know me. And if you get to know me, you get to trust me… All you need to do is TRUST ME [the amorphous background music by keyboardist Natalie Raggins would slowly transform itself into the familiar strains of Richard Smallwood‘s song “Trust Me“]. We were reminded of the few paltry works that Jesus accomplished in Nazareth. Pastor Russell applied this concept to his listeners, revealing the attitude that God displays to those who are only partially committed: “I will do a few little things among you, Bereans, but I will never allow you to experience what I can truly do in this church… because you have boxed me, you have framed me, and you have said ‘God, I will trust you this far, and no further.'” Pastor Russell employed a rare (for him) bit of “anaphora” (repetitions which carry over a common word or phrase) for his next few statements. “What would happen in this church if all of us today said this: with everything in my life, God, I chose to trust you.”

“With the bad doctor’s report, I chose to trust you.”

“With my marriage, I chose to trust you God.”

“With the job, I chose to trust you God.”

“With my kids, I chose to trust you God.”

“With my finances, I chose to trust you.”

The logo (Restore, Rebuild, Renew) for Berean’s current Capital Campaign. Not equal giving, but equal sacrifice.

A matter of local concern was appended to this list (Berean is raising money for some improvements to its aging facilities):

“With my commitment to the [R3] Capital Campaign, I chose to trust you. Because God says, I can’t do much among you, unless you trust me first.”

As the pastor was putting the finishing touches on today’s sermon, he had to pause for a moment in order to admit to God that there were many moments in his own life where he had not trusted Him. “And now God,” he vowed at this time, “I give everything to you.” {This is the instant that Ms. Raggins chose to reveal, rather than conceal, the exact song she had been previously obfuscating.] We were instructed to close our eyes, and to bow our heads. “What do you need to trust God with now?” During the extended prayer, the pastor reminded us that God gives us the fundamentals, but that there was so much more that He could give, were we to have faith enough to be able to receive it. We were urged to forsake the idolatry of making our worries bigger than God. “I am a rewarder,” Pastor Russell stated, regarding the business of the Father. “That’s what I do!” If you chose not to believe this, then you are going to displease God. Hebrews 11:6 was partially repeated: “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Pastor Fredrick Russell closes out the sermon segment of the three hour 6/25/2106 Berean program with prayer. Natalie Raggins, seen at right, plays “Trust Me.” Luther Washington II is the third person in this image.

“Father, I pray for us all right now… that you would take every ounce of unbelief out of this room.” The congregation was urged to declare, “God, I trust you.” We were admonished to diligently seek Him, for without this due diligence, our efforts would be futile. We would need to get to know God intimately, and personally. This knowledge would reveal that God, indeed, is worthy of out trust.
“Never allow us, ever again, to be at that spot in our lives of where you cannot do, you could not do, because of our unbelief. God, please; everything you have for us, bring it about, Because, God, we absolutely trust you with everything. Daring Faith, the Key to Real Life [the title of the sermon series, you will recall], is found only in trusting you. For our prayer is in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Thus was the sermon concluded. The printed sermon notes included a fourth Bible verse that Pastor Russell did not utilize in his remarks. As he was much moved by the Spirit, the Spirit was chiefly in charge of the final form, as presented, of this first sermon in the projected series of four about faith.

The omitted verse was Romans 2:4. It is one that upbraids those who would presume to spurn the enormous blessings that God wishes to bestow upon us all, were we not sufficiently receptive to these. It would have, perhaps, ended the sermon on a relatively negative note. My extreme, “Message Bible” style paraphrase of this verse would be this: “Hey! You morons! Just where do you think you get off, anyway? Are you all too dense to recognize a good thing when you run across it?”

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

The banjo playing youth in this image was too proud to accept a blessing from the Atlanta businessman whose left ear and sideburn are visible at right. Maybe a little too inbred as well, and unable to make wise decisions.