Nevertheless (Pt.1)

(Part 1 of 2)

“He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”-Matthew 26:39

Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 26 is really unique. The first thing that catches my attention is His questioning of the possibility that His death could be avoided. Was it possible? Was it possible that God could see to it that Jesus did not die on the cross? I mean, He is God. I would venture to say, yes; however, in doing so it would have aborted the entire plan of redemption that God had established since the dawn of creation. 

In His flesh, it is obvious that Jesus didn’t want to walk through a gruesome, violent death on a cross. If there were another way to accomplish God’s redemptive purposes without having to go through such trauma; I believe that He would have been receptive to it. So, Jesus prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”

On multiple occasions Jesus acknowledged that nothing was impossible with God:

“But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”-Mark 10:27

However, Jesus went on a little further with His prayer. He prayed, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” This is where I have been challenged in my own prayer life. 

The reason so many people abandon prayer is because they don’t see their prayers answered as they had hoped and believed. It wasn’t because they had a lack of faith, in fact, they had all they faith needed to see a miracle happen. Yet, their prayers did not come to pass. Ever been there? Has your prayer life suffered because of it? 

How often, though, do we pray for what is possible, without praying God’s will be done? What if Jesus had stopped short in His prayer to the Father? 

Imagine for just a moment, what would have happened if God had answered Jesus’ possible prayer? You and I would still be in our sins. You and I would be still be lost and bound for hell. The prayer that would have benefited Him most in the moment, would have had far reaching effects on the rest of humanity. Yet, it was possible. Why? Because prayer is never a question of God’s ability. 

The reason so many people are disillusioned with prayer is that they pray what is possible, without praying God’s will be done. Praying “possible” prayers is believing that because God can do it, He will do it. We never take into consideration, how answering that prayer may influence God’s redemptive purposes for mankind. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Do You Hear What I Hear? (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

 “A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”-Luke 1:39-45

At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She heard something! She didn’t hear Jesus with her ears or see Jesus with her eyes. Mary didn’t inform Elizabeth of her pregnancy, nor was she far enough along to be showing. Rather, Elizabeth recognized the presence of Christ informed her soul and spirit. She began to proclaim, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me?” Elizebeth recognizing the spirit of Christ responded with joy and acclamation. 

The child that Elizabeth carried (who would grow up to be John the Baptist), neither saw Jesus nor heard Jesus, yet when Jesus came into the room, John leapt with joy inside of Elizabeth. He recognized his creator and responded with joy at the presence of God. 

It wasn’t until the shepherds had an angelic visitation and went and laid eyes on Jesus that they returned glorifying and praising God. It wasn’t unit the wisemen traveled to Bethlehem to see the newborn king that they presented their gifts and worshiped Him. However, Elizabeth at just the sound of Mary’s greeting was awakened to the spirit of Christ. You don’t need decorations, Christmas carols, or a powerful sermon to awaken the Christmas Spirit inside of you. 

Some of you just can’t seem to get into the Christmas spirit. Instead of awakening joy inside of you, this time of year awakens anxiety, depression, and stress. We have allowed the over-commercialized components of Christmas to deafen us to the sound of Christ’s presence. 

We’ve convinced ourselves that it would take an angelic vision to awaken our hearts to the spirit of Christ. Yet, it is my prayer that we would recognize the presence of Christ in the simplest of greetings. That we would experience eHim in the handshake of a stranger, the smile of a child, and the gentle encouragement of a friend. In those moments, I pray that we would recognize the presence of Jesus.

Honestly, I love the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas, but all I have enjoyed is the exhilaration of festivity, if I don’t experience the presence of Jesus in it. I think God would be pleased if we all celebrated Jesus’  birth like Elizabeth. I realize that Elizabeth was not there when Jesus was actually born. She wasn’t there when He was born into this world, but she was fully present the moment that He was born in her. 

“At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”-Luke 1:41 

Elizabeth was fully present the moment that Christ filled her soul. Christmas can come alive in you, too, if you will let Christ be fully present in you this Christmas! 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Do you hear what I hear? (Pt.1)

(Part 1 of 2)

“A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”-Luke 1:39-45

How do you spread the news that the Savior of the world has been born? How do you inform mankind of such a magnificent event? Obviously, at the moment Jesus was born they didn’t have the luxury of sharing a selfie on Instagram, posting it on Facebook, having it printed in the local paper or announcing on the evening news. However, God does have a flare about Him and did announce Jesus’ birth in a couple of extraordinary ways:

We read in Luke 2:9-14: 

“Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”-Luke 2:9-14

God announced the birth of Christ in magnificent fashion to a group of shepherds near Bethlehem using a mighty angel chorus. Then, later, we read in Matthew 2:1-2:

“Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

God in another extraordinary display of wonder announced to a group of wise men the birth of Christ using a sign from heaven to point the way. 

However, before angels appeared to the shepherds and the star appeared to the wise men, before any of them laid eyes on Jesus; Elizabeth was the first to hear the news of Christ’s coming. No angels announced His coming to her. No celestial anomalies caused her to take notice. The passage tells us that simply at the sound of Mary’s greeting something happened to Elizabeth that informed her soul. It was more than the sound of her cousin’s voice that she heard that day, rather at that moment she recognized the spirit of Christ. Truth is, you don’t hear Christmas with your ears, you hear it with your heart!

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Make Room

“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”-Luke 2:1-7 

In preparation for our Christmas series of messages at church, I have been carefully reading through Matthew 1 & 2 and Luke 1 & 2.  These chapters are packed with people whose lives were forever changed by the birth of Christ. 

We read about Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, who while pregnant with John, had an encounter with Jesus while He was still in Mary’s womb. We read of the three wise men who traveled from the east, following a star, that led them to the newborn king. Of course, we read about a carpenter (Joseph) and a young woman by the name of Mary who would give birth the our Savior. We read about the shepherds who were among the first to hear of Christ’s birth through an angelic visitation and discover two precious saints of God, Anna & Simeon, who had waited their whole lives to see the Messiah and finally get their chance. 

However, the Christmas story didn’t end with the birth of Christ. His birth is still changing lives today. His birth is still giving hope and healing broken hearts. The Christmas story is ongoing and the cast of characters is growing day by day as people find hope in our Savior. 

The challenge today, is not whether we have room in our hearts for Christ, but rather will we make room. Let’s be honest, our lives are filled to the brim with commitments, obligations, passions, interests, and personal ambitions. Much like the innkeeper in the story of Christ, it wasn’t that he had room to spare and turned Mary and Joseph away because he was cold and mean. No, he had no room because the inn was fully occupied. There was no vacancy.

To make room for Mary and Joseph, he would have had to remove somebody else from a room they were occupying and give it to them. Sometimes I think the innkeeper has been given a bad reputation. Seriously, he didn’t know that Mary and Joseph were coming, so he wasn’t prepared for their arrival. He didn’t know who they were and neither did he know that Mary was carrying the Messiah inside of her. Perhaps, if he had, the story would have been different. 

So many of us today are like that innkeeper. We have occupied our lives with so much that we have left no room for Jesus. What I love about the story is that Mary and Joseph didn’t try to force their way into a place where there was no room, instead they found a place with plenty of space to accommodate Jesus. 

Jesus is never going to force Himself into a place where there is no room for Him. So, if you want Jesus to come into your heart and life, you are going to have to make room for Him. You are going to have to give up some things in your life, that have kept your heart, mind, and life occupied for so long. As you turn from those things, your heart will open to receive Him. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Your Cana Moment!

“Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”-John 2:6-11

Of all the miracles that could have been Jesus’ first miracle, why would Jesus choose the miracle of turning water into wine as His first? Why not walk on water first, or feed the five thousand or heal the sick first? A casual reading of this passage might make you think this was some kind of warm-up miracle. He really wasn’t looking to do anything, yet Mary kind of forced the issue:

“The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” -John 2:1-5

However, if we can look past the fact that it was His least extravagant miracle, we will find that it was His most extraordinary. Because what Jesus was about to do to the water, He desires to do in each of our lives.

The miracle in Cana was not about Jesus being capable of changing the molecular structure of water into wine. It was a demonstration of His ability to categorically transform one thing into something new. With a little heat I can change water to steam or with some frigid cold I can turn water to ice. Regardless, it is still going to be H2O. Jesus, however, can transform it into an entirely different compound. He can make it a new creation!

He didn’t make good wine better or even bad wine better for that matter. Instead, He made that which was not wine, to be wine. He demonstrated with water what He intended to do with us:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”-2 Corinthians 5:17

That is a hard truth for many to accept. Jesus doesn’t simply want to make you better, He wants to make you new. Sometimes it’s easier to have faith in the idea that God can create something from nothing than it is to believe that God can transform something common (like you & I) into something extraordinary. 

It was at Cana where God showed us just what He is capable of, if we will put our trust in Him. Today is your Cana moment! Jesus wanter you to come to Him and let Him transform your life!

Scott Burr 
Dayspring Community Church 

Nothing Wasted! (Pt.2)

(Part 2 of 2)

“Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.”-John 6:11-12

The problem that most of us have, is that in order to bless many, God has to break up the loaf. That seems so contrary to how we want to live our lives. We don’t want to live broken, we want to be whole.Yet, as appealing as a whole loaf can be, left intact it is all that we have. If we remain whole, we can only give ourselves to one person, but broken we can be a blessing to many. In God’s economy, dividing doesn’t diminish the amount we have to give, it multiplies the people that can be reached.

Jesus took that boy’s lunch and broke it. This creates a stumbling block in so many people’s hearts and minds. That ideal life that you have dreamed of, carefully planned, and settled into; at times must be broken or disrupted to bless many. Those disruptions are God’s way of preparing us to be shared. 

We all go through trials, difficulties, and seasons of pain and in those moments we may feel as if we are falling to pieces and perhaps that is exactly what is happening. Unfortunately, we look at brokenness as a problem and not an opportunity. We want God to step in and take those broken pieces and reassemble us like a puzzle, but instead God is trying to prepare our lives to be given away. Truth is, we receive better from people that have experienced what we have been through. 

That part of your life, like when you lost a child, you can share that experience with others going through the same thing. How about when you and your spouse struggled in your marriage and God brought you back from the brink of divorce? You can share that experience with others and give them hope. Or when you lost your job and had to file bankruptcy and thought you’d never recover? You can share that with others and be an encouragement to them. 

Finally, sometimes we hold back because we fear that what we give will be wasted. Ever feel like you give and give, but never see a return. We feel spent and depleted and so we stop giving of ourselves, worrying that we are wasting our loaf (life). However, a life that is broken and blessed by God is never wasted: 

“After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.”-John 6:12

Nothing wasted! Jesus gathered up the pieces of that little boy’s lunch and collected twelve baskets full. In the end, that little boy ended up with far more than he started with, because he was willing to give up what little he had at first. 

It’s not about what you have to bring, but what you are willing to give. The key is that you give it to God first. That little boy could have divided his own lunch up and maybe fed two or three others. Instead, he brought his lunch to Jesus, let Him bless it, and saw the multitudes fed. Today you may not feel like you have much to bring, but if you will give it to God; He will bless it to see the multitudes fed. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Nothing Wasted! (Pt.1)

(Part 1 of 2)

“Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” -John 6:11-12

The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand is an iconic story in the Bible. It is recorded in all four of the gospels and is an amazing account of God’s provision. However, reading it again I realize that the lesson goes deeper than just fish and loaves. It reveals more than simply what God can do with a little boys lunch, but rather it demonstrates what He can do with your life, if you will let Him.

There are three major characters in this story: Jesus, the crowd, and His disciples. I say, three, because those are the groups we most often focus on when we teach and read this passage. However, the real hero of this passage is the young unnamed boy who gave up his lunch. We don’t know who he is or to whom he belongs, but it is curious that the one person in this story who acted with complete selflessness doesn’t even get a name drop!

More than anyone else in this story, God’s desire is that we identify with that young boy. This young man didn’t have a lot to offer, but he was willing to give what he had to bless others. He could have eaten what he had been given and went home satisfied, but rather he did something extraordinary with what little he had and God used it to bless the multitudes.

Jesus received the two fish and five loaves from the young boy and the according to the passage he took it, blessed it, broke it, and gave it away. That is precisely what God wants to do with your life, if you will give it to HIm. He will bless it, break it, and give it away.

In our culture, we measure value by how much we have or how much we have accumulated. However, in reality, how much we have isn’t as important as how much we are willing to give. Pastor Andy Stanley stated it like this: “The value of a life is always measured by how much of it is given away.”

It reminds me of a story in the Bible about a poor widow who came to the temple with her offering. She dropped in two coins that did not amount to very much. At the same time a rich man came in and gave a hefty offering which was much larger in comparison. Yet, Jesus turning to his disciples told them that the widow gave more than anyone else that day, because everyone else gave out of their surplus, where she gave out of her need.
So it isn’t too hard to believe that even Jesus’ disciples looked at the little boy’s lunch and thought: “We don’t have much to work with here.” The need was so vast and what this little boy had to offer was so small. Let’s be honest, sometimes it isn’t just other people that see us as having little to offer, we see ourselves that way too. Because of that we hold back. We don’t even bring to Jesus what little we have.

The beauty of this story is that nobody that day, besides Jesus, knew the potential that little boy was carrying around with him. He carried the making of a miracle, yet nobody but Jesus saw it.

Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church