Passage: Luke 4:14-21
This talk was originally followed by the prayer station: Dragon’s Den
Resources Needed:
Dragon’s Den Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBiUOw7rNps
Who here has ever watched Dragon’s Den?
The idea behind the show is that people who have ideas for new businesses or products “pitch” their ideas to a group of millionaires and try to get them to invest.
A great example of a Dragon’s Den success is a guy that you may have heard of called Levi Roots. In 2007 he presented his “Reggae Reggae” sauce to the Dragon’s Den, secured £50,000 of investment from the Dragons and his products are now sold to in their hundreds of thousands.
Ok, for a moment lets pretend that we are all multi millionaires. We are going to join the other Dragons listening to what an inventor. And he’s going to tell us why we should invest our hard earned cash into his invention. I will then ask you what your decision will be.
Video – show a section of the video from 0:20-2:52
So, you have three options available to you at the moment. They are invest, don’t invest, or wait and see.
Who would invest?
Who would wait and see?
Who is out already? Why?
Video – show from 3:30-4:47
Now you have two options, invest or don’t invest.
Why? Why did you want to invest or why did you not want to invest?
I think most people would not be keen to invest because the product simply didn’t match the description. It was an egg cooker that didn’t seem to cook eggs.
Believe it or not, the Dragons actually did invest!
When I read today’s passage for the first time I was taken by how keen people were to listen to Jesus. What made him stand out from the crowd that people would hang on his every word.
I wonder if a big part of it was because Jesus “delivered the goods”. It worked! Jesus didn’t just stand there saying that he could heal people, he healed them. He didn’t stand there talking about forgiving sin. Sins were forgiven, and often with dramatic results.
Jesus said it, and he did it. He was the real thing. He was authentic. He had credibility. He had an authority to speak.
Imagine if I stood here and spoke about clarinets and how to repair one. How amazing they are to play, what a fantastic tone they have because of all that goes into the technicalities of building them. Well if someone then asked how many clarinets I have made I would lose all credibility because I don’t think I have ever even played one.
But if Andrew stood here and did the same he would carry huge authority, because not only is he a very gifted player, he also makes them. (This example was great for us as it was a member of our congregation – pick a member of yours who has a particular speciality or a famous figure that everyone will know)
I would like to read you another passage from John where Jesus has just appeared to the disciples after his death and resurrection.
In John 20:21-23 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
We have the same Holy Spirit within us. So we can live the same authentic lives which means we don’t just talk about the Christian life, but so we can live the Christian life. We might think we’re not up to it. We see all of our failures. But God “invests” in us!