I was in mid-shave one morning recently, all lathered up, attacking my whiskers with my razor and I heard a little "bang" down the street, and suddenly the power went out. Now fortunately I was still able to find my face in the dark - it was approximately where it usually is. But I knew the rest of the morning was going to be very interesting. You see, it wasn't just a circuit breaker, oh no, no, the power was out on the whole block. No toasted bagel today! No hair dryer, no lamp to read my Bible by - why? That grey cylinder that hangs on that telephone pole down the street - we had no power because the transformer had blown!
Well I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Transformer Trouble."
The problem, that suddenly dark morning, wasn't that there wasn't any power - it was still up there in those wires. I remember the day after a hurricane when I saw electric wires on the ground, I mean they were arcing all over the place with the power coming out. No, the power was there, and our needs were still there, the lights and the appliances and so on, but the transformer that brings all that power to our need was out. That's what happened in Jesus' home town.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 13:54. It says this, "Coming to His home town, Jesus began teaching the people in their synagogue and they were amazed. 'Where did this man get his wisdom and these miraculous powers?' they asked, 'Isn't this the carpenters son? Isn't his mothers name Mary and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters here with us? Where, then, did this man get all these things?' And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, 'Only in His home town, and in his own house is a prophet without honor.' And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith."
Well, the miracle power sure was there. He'd healed and changed many lives many other places and the same needs were there in Nazareth, but one thing made the difference between the places where Jesus' power made a mighty difference, and the place where He did very little - faith. Total trust in Jesus as the miracle maker, the mountain mover.
You see faith is the transformer that connects all the voltage of heaven to the situation, the need in front of you. I wonder what it might be said of you, or your family, or your ministry, or your business. He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. You're not expecting, you're not believing that Jesus is going to do something powerful, so He won't. The most unsettling thing about this power failure in Nazareth is these are the people who knew Jesus best. Well, that's us Bible believing Christians today - the people who know Jesus best may be the people who believe Jesus for the least.
Familiarity can breed lazy, limited faith. We put God in a box and this is how God always works - and He's surely going to work within those limits now, right?
Well, this account seems to tell us that our faith determines the size of the box in which God will work. If we draw a small box within which we ask Him and believe He'll work, He apparently will stay in that box. But He promised "to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." That's Ephesians 3:20.
Now maybe you're facing some situations right now where you really need the full power of the Lord Jesus working for you. But honestly things have seemed pretty powerless recently. The power is there, the current of God flows undiminished. The need is there, but the power isn't connecting with the need - sounds like there's trouble in the transformer. Your faith in what your Savior can do, that's what's missing. Well, let this be the day when you open yourself up to something bolder, something bigger. It may be what you ask Him for, or He may give you something equally miraculous that He knows is better. But one way or another, the transformer of faith will bring down the voltage of heaven to light your life.