Touré Roberts - You're Closer Than You Think

You gotta have a theme; you’ve got to have a title. So, my title for today is «You’re Closer Than You Think.» You’re closer than you think, and I want us to look at Mark, chapter six, and we’re going to examine the first six verses. It’s not an unfamiliar passage of Scripture if you’ve been reading your Bible. It’s an interesting story, and I must admit that I’ve recently begun to look at this passage differently. I want to give you the backdrop—those things that preceded this chapter.

What happened was Jesus, prior to this, was supernaturally energized. I mean, he was so supercharged that he was healing everybody of everything, everywhere. He was just walking by, and women with issues of blood were pressing their way to him, saying, «If I could just touch the hem of His garment, I’ll be whole.» People were touching him, and they were getting healed. He raised people from the dead; people came to him saying, «My daughter is dying, ” and she dies, and he raises her back up to life. I mean, Jesus, as it relates to power, ability, and ministry—multitudes were following him. He was preaching profound wisdom; he was at the top of his game.

People were flocking to Jesus because they were getting from him what they could not get anywhere else. They were walking for miles upon miles to get to this man whom they had never even seen; they had just heard of what he had done. As a result of their faith and desperation, they were moving and trying to get to Jesus. People were taking off roofs and being lowered into houses to reach this man because he was doing things that had never been done before. His room was healing people—wow! I never looked at it that way, and people’s lives were changing. It’s just crazy!

Then this happens: It says, „Now when he had gone out from there”—where was there? The place where he was pursued passionately and desperately. As a result of being passionately sought after, people were seeing things they had never seen before. So, when he goes out from there and comes to his own country, his disciples followed him. When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, the same way he did in those other places. Many hearing him were astonished. Does that sound like what we talked about last week? Many hearing him were astonished, saying, „Where did this man get these things?“

It seems they were doing okay, but watch the turn: „And what wisdom is this which is given to him, that such mighty works are performed by his hands?“ They were doing all right, but then they shifted: „Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?“ So, they were offended by him. I don’t understand; he just came from places where people pursued him. They fought to get to him, and as a result, they were healed from all diseases, things they’d had forever. Yet here, he’s doing the same thing—walking, talking, and teaching—and these mighty works are present. But for some reason, when he gets to his own country, this familiar rarity factor kicks in, and now they’re saying, „Wait a minute! Aren’t you Mary’s son? And aren’t you Joseph’s brother?“ In fact, „Your sisters are hanging out with us even to this day.“ They were offended by him.

In verse four, it says, „But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.'“ And it says, „Now he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.“ He marveled because of their unbelief. Then he went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

At the root of this message, prophetically for you, is I believe that God has a lot more for you that you have not tapped into yet. I want to come down and talk to you so badly. As I was praying, the word that he gave me for you is that where you are versus where God wants to take you, what you have versus what God wants to bring into your life, and what you are walking in versus what God wants you to walk in are two completely different things. The only problem is perception. It was the same Jesus, the same miracles, the same power, the same authority that was working tremendously here but could do very little there. It wasn’t that he lacked power; it was that they lacked the perception that would unlock that power in their own lives.

What got me was—it says that when I used to read that story, I would feel sorry for Jesus. I did, because here is humble, lowly Jesus. Everybody outside his own family is being moved by him and blessed by him. Then Jesus comes home to be amongst loved ones, friends, family, and relatives, and surely they are going to welcome him and celebrate him as the powerful Messiah that he was. But instead, they questioned him, rejected him, and ultimately were offended by him. In my immaturity…