Jesus, The Misfits Refuge

I'm a misfit. So I'm speaking from experience.

I like the way Jesus welcomes me.  

"Come to me all you who are weighed down and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Talking with a friend at church she said, "I feel so much like a misfit."  I assured her that Jesus has a place for her (Psalm 68:5-6);  
A place marked with favor, blessing, glory and beauty.  
A place in his family. 

I know about not fitting in so well.
Yet, because he made a place for me I find rest.
 When all I had for a life was ashes.  
Jesus still wanted them.  
I remember the moment.  
It was like I was holding my life in my hands and all it really was before him was ashes. 
He still wanted the ashes.  
If I would simply offer them to him, he would take them.  
I did. 

The first thing Jesus said on the New Mountain, in his Mountain Sermon was....

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"  Matthew 5:3

A broken life, ashes in hand, I heard a welcome and a desire.  God wanted to know me.  I wanted to shrink back, in some kind of protection from disappointment, but I didn't.  I dove in.  If eternal life is anything like that moment, I am all in forever.  

God put everything together for the misfits to find family and love.  Jesus descended into the deepest depths of hell itself, into the depths of human brokenness and depravity.   He also ascended from the earth to sit down at the right hand of the Father (Acts 1:9; Ephesians 4:11-13).  He walked among the poor with a simple Gospel that transformed them heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 5:3). 

Upon descending to the depths of hell, he stripped the Devil of his armor, weapons, keys and defeated his plans, abilities, and future.  Then he ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father.  Sealing forever the blessings of the blessed. 
Forever he linked heaven and earth in the fullness of his grace, redemption and glory.  Heaven and earth are locked together until....


all his enemies are placed under his feet

"Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he “has put everything under his feet.”^c Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all."  I Corinthians 15:24-28

All things are unified and in harmony with his work and council. 

"He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth."  In Him.

Ephesians 1:9-10 

A new haven and a new earth he will create

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”^a for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’^b or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”      

Revelation 21:1-5

This is good news for people ravished by the world. The is good news for people who long to know God. 

The Gospel of the Kingdom reaches to the very depths of the world's brokenness.  It lifts people out of the poverty in which this world traps them. 

So what about the church?  The Ekklesia.  The Kingdom bearing culture?

For all our enlightenment, we can look just like Israel in our lack of understanding.   The power and life transforming grace of the Gospel falls away from us and our message for the poor disappears. 

Are we proving to the impossible the Gospel of the Kingdom? 

I have always felt the church must be, is designed to be, a place that reflects this first saying of Jesus.  Blessed are the poor in Spirit. 

The Church must be a place where the poor can find refuge and encouragement, new life and hope.   It's their place where 100% everything is theirs with no money no price (Isaiah 55).  The redemptive price was paid by our Lord.  It's the place where love fills their lives instead of condemnation, shame and all the rules that keep them down (Isaiah 61). 

The church is a place where the Father's heart for the widow and orphan must shine (James 1:27).

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." 


The church is a place where the weakest of these can find a home and a family (Psalms 68:5-6; Ephesians 3:14).

The church is a place where life and love spring from hope eternal and direct connection with Jesus (1 John 3:16; 5:1-5; John 15) .  And we know he is in love with us (Psalms 144:1-2; John 3:16).  We know that he pours loving kindness into us in spite of our shortcomings and weaknesses (Ephesians 3:17-18). 

A place where misfits FIT.

It's challenging to fund a misfit bunch.  So we opt for more secure paths and more solid social standings and people.  The poor and needy can have little to give, though a widows mite was the best offering in Jesus' eyes.    

Is the church making a trade off for money?  Doing all the frills and thrills to capture an audience and cash?  Some churches spend more on sound systems and facilities than 10 poor families make in a lifetime. 

Is this what Jesus was talking about? Blessed are the poor who get to experience a great sound system?

It doesn't take much thought to find yourself hungering for something much, much more.  Something deep, intrinsically beautiful and powerful enough to change the heart and life of the most broken people. 

I believe the Gospel Jesus went to the Cross for, Rose from the Dead for, and Ascended and sat down for is one that actually changes the lives of the poor in spirit and the poor. 
  
Now if the poor were streaming into such places and finding hope, life and transformation that could be worth it.  Typically what I see is middle class or wealthy congregations expecting the poor to 'catch up socially, educationally, etc....  

We want church to be where we find friends.  Friends who are like us.  Have the same interests.  Same social standing.  Same success rate.  The problem is the poor.  They don't have money to socialize like the typical middle class American.   So how do we relate?  What common ground do we share?  How do we function as family in the Kingdom?  

If we pull Jesus out of the center we end up with a spiritual YMCA or modern hunting club.  Same interests, abilities, social networks, all the forms without power.  

I don't typically find Jesus making these same demands. 

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28

What kind of rest is that?

It is hard to fit misfits in the current consumer middle class realities of the church today.  



Jesus is building "a people who were not his people" from the bottom up.
The Gospel is always doing this.  Jesus' Kingdom is the most powerful reality on the earth and God's most treasured conspiracy today.  The simple Gospel changing people into eternal sons and daughters through the perfect work of Jesus Christ and the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit.  

We carry it everywhere we go.  We can freely offer it's life and power for eternal life in every setting on earth.  The family of God is filled with this Kingdom.  We are the carriers of it's wonder and signs.  

But, we may find little flowing grace, little revelation, little power in the Spirit or his presence if we don't love the poor.  If we show favoritism for any reason we drive away the most powerful and beautiful expressions of the love of God and the power of the Gospel we can see.  

The apostolic cry of the church in Acts - "Don't forget the poor".  We would do well to look around our houses of worship and see if they are there.  If the misfit apostles who Jesus changed the world with are in our midst or not.  

Much love in Jesus.  
Brother Jeff

Get these two foundations in prayer!  

How's your 24?  
How's your prayer walk?  
Sowing into prayer is the greatest avenue for consistent joy in Jesus than any other thing out there.   

Take a new step into the depths and riches of knowing Jesus.  Pray. 

Start today.  5 mins listening to or reading the Scripture and Psalm 27:14 wait for the Lord. 
Grab some time and steal away with Jesus.  
He is remarkable to be around.  
You will tap into the grace of God.
The Father sent Jesus to restore us to him and he is longing to know us in Christ.  (John 17:3) 


1. 10 Keys to Praying with Power
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/10-keys-to-praying-with-power-moving.html

2. 10 Keys to Sustaining Supernatural Life 
 http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/12/10-keys-to-sustaining-life-in.html

3. Why is the Prayer House Empty? 
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-is-prayer-house-empty-or-is-it.html

4. Intimacy with Jesus Beyond Religion? 

Feedback?  Ideas?  

I would love to dialogue with you. 

Share your comments.  

2018  

Transfiguration! 

www.jeffreynoldsministries.com 

Thanks for Reading!   

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Please share em.
Re-shares are great. thank U.

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Re-Shares lov em.  Thank you! With much love in Jesus 

You can do this thing!  He's got you. 

Jeff Reynolds   --- 

Brother Jeff

Jeff Reynolds Sr. Leader
Capstone Christian Fellowship