MARCH 8th, 2026 PASTOR DON PIEPER
A GOSPEL OF GRACE Luke 9:1-6, 23-25; 10:1-9,17-20
“UNLEASH THE LIGHTNING!”
{Opening skit: The Comfy Chair}
One of the most influential theologians of the 20th century, Karl Barth, once made the observa-tion that “comfort is one of the great and most formidable siren calls of our age.” (Karl Barth)
He wrote that long before the La-Z Boy recliner became the best-selling piece of furniture of our generation. Comfort is the name of the game. How we love to “veg out” in from of the boob tube. We even have a name for those of us who are so inclined – we’re called couch potatoes – couch potatoes sipping Southern Comfort, munching comfort while reclined in our La-Z Boy comfy chairs!
Pastor John Ortberg writes: “Millions of people in churches these days could be called ‘pew potatoes.’ They want some of the comfort associated with being identified as Christians, but they don’t want the risk and challenge that go along with actually following Jesus. And yet Jesus urges his followers to get out of the boat – to be willing to set aside their own comfort and security to make his kingdom growing cause their top priority.” (John Ortberg)
In the provocative words of Jesus: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your (comfort-able) life, you will lose it. But if you give up your (comfortable) life for my sake you will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)
So what does it mean to follow Jesus? Where exactly would that lead us? In the opening verses of Luke 9 and 10 we see Jesus providing some instructions to help those who would follow him know exactly what that might look like. First with the twelve, and then the seventy-two, Jesus sends them out to do exactly what he's been doing since the first day of his earthly ministry: to “heal the sick, cast out demons and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now!’” (Luke 10:9)
Jesus was preparing them, training them, that they would not only be his advocates but that they also would be conduits of God’s love and power in the lives of those around them. He was equipping them, giving them the authority to be more than conquerors over the enemy’s evil schemes.
It is not insignificant that in his training of the 12 and then the 72 that he told them to leave behind all items of comfort and security. This served two purposes. One, it gave them freedom from their stuff. They wouldn’t get bogged down or distracted by trying to safeguard their belongings. Two, it also helped them to completely trust in the Lord to provide for their needs. It provided them an opportunity to grow in faith – a vital ingredient if they were to have any success.
In his book, God’s Smuggler, Brother Andrew tells of how he went from being a defiant and a angry man to one willing to risk his life for the advancement of God’s kingdom. In training to be a missionary he is challenged by the staff to trust that the Lord will provide. This is what he wrote:
“It wasn’t that I needed the security of a certain amount of money; it was that I needed the security of a relationship. I walked up the stairs, feeling more and more certain that I was on the verge of something exciting. As I looked out over Glasgow I realized that if I was to give my life as a servant of the King, I had to know that King. What was He like? In what way could I trust Him, as merely an author of a good book, or as living leader, a very present commander in battle?
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That question was key, because if He were a King in name only, then I’d prefer to play it safe. Suppose on the other hand that I were to discover in Jesus a kind of relationship in which God person-ally communicated with me, cared for me, loved and led me. That would be something quite different. I’d be willing to follow such a king into any battle.” (from Brother Andrew's God’s Smuggler)
It is clear that Jesus intends to have a huge impact on the world specifically thru those who follow his lead. How so? By moving forward under his authority, by going into battle, as it were, empowered with His Word and the Holy Spirit thru faith and prayer, and by trial and error.
Several weeks ago we saw how people were amazed at Jesus' authority. The way he spoke and taught about God, the way he healed people, set demonized people free and even forgave people of their sins when they'd done nothing against him, caused quite a stir. Over and over again we read of a common reaction: “What authority and power this man's words have! Even evil spirits obey him!”
(Luke 4:36)
Now in back to back chapters, with first his core group of twelve, and later with the 72, “Jesus gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1-2)
When the 72 come back elated, they tell him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” To speak or act in someone's name is to do so by the authority given to them and as Jesus would later make clear, all authority over heaven and earth had been given to him. Jesus uses their experience to reinforce that it’s all about the power of faith in God’s love for them: “Don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you but because your names are in heaven!” (Luke 10:20)
Just as Jesus did with the 72, Jesus has given us the authority and the power to silence demons and heal the sick. Why? Because this world, this community, is under attack - full of hurting, deceived, disconnected people – some hurting just as deeply on the inside as others are hurting on the outside. By offering to pray for people, moved by compassion for them as was Jesus, hearts and minds are opened to the life-giving truth of the Gospel: “The Kingdom of God is near you now!” (Luke 10:9)
Everywhere the kingdom of God advances, there is an intense confrontation with a dark king-dom. To be born again, to be born from above, as Jesus put it, is to be made a citizen in the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is at war. Jesus is telling us in no uncertain terms that there is a battle raging. He insists that if we are to be His followers, we must not live in a world defined by material gain and personal comfort. To see from a kingdom perspective is to know that there is a conflict of invisible kingdoms and that people’s lives are forever changed by what happens in the unseen.
In response to the 72, Jesus pointed to the effect they were having on the world beyond their vision. “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,” (Luke 10:18) he told them. Their actions took place in the visible world, which they could touch, smell and see. Jesus, with supernatural insight, saw that those actions in the visible world were having a startling impact on the invisible world.
When we claim our apostolic authority as those who have been sent..., amazing things begin to happen. Dark kingdoms tremble; the prisons and dungeons that hold men, women, and children cap-tive begin to crumble; prison doors open; chains unlock; and God’s people are set free! How so? In this as in all things we follow Jesus’ lead. In his name, by his authority, we silence the demons.
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Jack & Johnny were brothers and best friends. One day Jack is cutting wood with a power saw. J.R. gets restless so Jack encourages him to go ahead and go fishing. While J.R. is at the lake Jack has a fatal accident with the saw. Johnny not only blames himself for his brother’s death, but worse yet, so does his father. He’s is told that he is “nothing”. He’s told that the devil took his brother suggesting that he somehow is a servant of the devil. He’s told that the devil took the wrong son – that he is the one who should be dead. The voices of the enemy take root and his lies corrupt a boy's identity.
Johnny grows into a talented musician, but one with a chip on his shoulder, a power saw in his heart, a voice whispering in his ear that he is “nothing”, that he’s inherently bad, and those lies linger and smolder.Those lies diminish his sense of self, rob him of his joy, ruin one relationship after another and imprison him in a life style of drugs and alcohol and angry outbursts. When he hits rock bottom, June,a friend in Christ helps him dry out, and points him to the truth, his true identity as a child of God.
That's the story of Johnny & June Cash as told in his autobiography and captured in the film...
His belief that he is nothing, and his demons of unresolved guilt and shame, are finally silenced through the God of second chances, and his experience with the Good News that he is loved, cherished and forgiven by the one whose opinion is ultimately the only one that matters, sets him free.
There are folks consumed with the darkness of the enemy’s lies, convinced that God could not and does not love them, trapped in desperate loneliness, manipulated by fear and deception. When we, those who follow where Jesus leads, love on those so deceived, pointing them to the truth of what God says about us in scripture, and praying for them by his authority, the enemy trembles: “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” (Luke 4:34)
You’ve got that right! Jesus silenced the demons. That day in Capernaum, and later in Korazin and Bethsaida, and later still in Ephesus and in Rome itself, the kingdom of darkness suffered defeat after defeat thru combined effort of Jesus' followers! Satan fell from heaven like lightning in the sky! (Luke 10:18
What can we do? We can do what June did. We can be present with those in a world of hurt, we can love on them with the same love Christ has shown us and we can pray for them, trusting the Spirit of Truth to set them free as we point them to Jesus. We can begin by asking God to unleash the lightning – to release His healing truth into our own hearts and minds! By boldly pursuing our own healing and liberation we can more confidently and joyfully love on and minister to those around us. And they exclaimed, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” (Luke 10:17)
And they will again – for the Spirit of the risen one indwells the heart of every believer! This winter I became aware of a family in our community that was under attack from the enemy. In an amazing piece of timing I was asked to critique a book entitled, Spiritual Authority, by Dr Rob Reimer.
He shares how he encountered a woman in deep pain. “She was hearing voicees; the voices were blasphemous and telling her to hurt herself. I didn't have any experience, but this seemed clearly dark to me. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and took a risk. I asked, 'Have you ever considered that your problem could be spiritual in nature?' Before I knew it I was involved in trying to help her heal and be delivered from the enemy's influence. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was convinced that Jesus didn't want her to live tormented like that and that God was with me. I knew that I didn't get a junior Holy Spirit when I was filled; I got the same Holy Spirit that was in Jesus, and with God's help and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, I was able to lead her to inner healing and freedom.”
(from Dr. Rob Reimer's Spiritual Authority)
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I resonated with those words. They spoke to me in three ways. One, I know to be used by God in this way, to step out and begin to follow in Jesus' footsteps as he is training me, and anyone of you so willing, I first had to step out of my comfort zone and take a risk, because just likee Dr. Reimer, I have no ideea what I'm doing. But God does! That's the second thing. I know that God is with me. He's going to honor that risk taking, if by no other means, by teaching me, training me, as much thru my mistakes as through His succcesses through me. And third, I know it's no junior Holy Spirit that he has filled me, or you, with. It's the powerful Holy Spirit by which Jesus healed lepers and cripples and put countless men and women who were in our world of darkness on the way to freedom, because, after all, Jesus, is the Way, the Truth, telling us who we really are, and the life of freedom he intends for us!
That's why it's so crucial that your inner lies be silenced that you may know who you really are!
Let others in the Body of Christ pray for you...., and then in turn, offer to pray for those you encounter who find themselves hurting in body, mind or spirit. Open your hearts and let me pray for you...!
“Jesus gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and heal all diseases. Then he esent them out to tell everyone about the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1-2)
“I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning in the sky! (Luke 10:18