P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

Meet the Man from Nazareth

CONNIE: How would you like to be the subject of a FBI back-ground check? Would they find your origins impressive--or questionable? Would you do as well as Jesus when the scribes questioned His origins? Giving God's trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I'm Lonnie Melashenko.

CONNIE: Lonnie, we've spoken a few times on the program about the years you spent as a boy, living in a little farmhouse up in the wheat country of Canada. And then for a time you lived out on the island of Bermuda. That's a bit different from me--much of my childhood was spent living just outside Washington, DC, and then when I was a teenager our family moved out here to southern California--so I guess I had the feeling of being kind of close to "where the action is" during most of my childhood. What was it like for you, though--did you ever feel like you were kind of out on the outskirts of society, far removed from where the real action was?

LONNIE: That was very true, and we were marooned out in the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada. We were little kids growing up with hayseeds in our head, but in many ways when we moved to Bermuda, when we lived in these areas I felt privileged. Man I got to write to my friend's back in Canada from a foreign country, from Massachusetts. Or when we were in Bermuda working with your dad there, wow! We were kind of special, but there was closeness in our family that happened as a result of being by ourselves many times out there.

CONNIE: Well it can't be all bad, to out in the country, Lonnie. You and your four brothers have become preachers and teachers. So you didn't really feel like a "hick from the sticks"?

LONNIE: No, I can't say as I did, but I think I can empathize a bit with the kind of response that Jesus, coming from the little village of Nazareth, got in the big city of Jerusalem.

CONNIE: It's unfortunate how often we tend to judge people by where they're from, or what they do, instead of just accepting them for who they are.

LONNIE: Yes, it is, and one man who's had to deal with that--and has done so very well--is Pastor Jose Rojas. He came from a pretty rough background--and we'll let him tell you about that in a moment. But he hasn't let that stop him. Today he's a minister of the gospel with a special assignment to reach out to young people and help them come to know Jesus.

LONNIE: Jose Rojas, welcome to our broadcast.

JOSE: It's good to be with you.

LONNIE: I suppose two words could sum up the entire childhood of your life, "Not promising"?

JOSE: Very true.

LONNIE: Tell us about your early life before you met Christ, how you were born into an abusive home, and grew up in the streets of Los Angeles.

JOSE: My dad was an alcoholic and very ill and depressed, and I grew up with a lot of abuse, you know, physical and emotional abuse at home and his mistreatment of my mom. It was a tough childhood.

LONNIE: Now where as I would tend to think of those kinds of places as the wrong side of the tracks, and most Caucasians say, that's the neighbor hood, that's the dangerous part of town. Tell us about that?

JOSE: Yeah that intrigues me because growing up I thought East LA, and I still do today, is a wonderful place. But it's when you misunderstand it, I experienced the opposite when I would go to the residential district, they would call the police on us. So we thought that the residential district was the bad part of town.

LONNIE: You know I held a series of meetings in East LA one time, and I know you are absolutely right there are wonderful people, but we don't understand each other.

JOSE: Precisely, because the crime rates are higher because of the desperation, and we're afraid there physically as well.

LONNIE: Now tell us a little bit about your experience of growing up, and what made that huge change, and how does that particular story of this carpenter from Nazareth make a difference to you and your perception of life?

JOSE: That is the beauty of it. When meetings were being held by a minister in Van Nuys California, and these were Voice of Prophecy evangelist meetings. We were introduced to Jesus of Nazareth, and that was the shocking part. To discover that He was from the neighborhood. He was not from Jerusalem the residential district. He came from the bad part of the county, and when we were introduced to Him, and His experience when He went to Jerusalem as a young man and confounded the scholars with the word of God. We wanted to learn more about that word that made Him so great.

LONNIE: So that Jesus of twelve years of age somehow mysteriously became a roll model for you Jose, didn't he?

JOSE: That's right. I was ten, and here this twelve-year-old was using the word of God, and was skilled among the doctors of law in Jerusalem.

LONNIE: Now, what about expectations in terms of living on the other side of town.

JOSE: Of course when I was a kid I had a very low self-esteem and I honestly didn't believe that I would do much in life, maybe I could get a little job in town but I never thought I could accomplish much.

LONNIE: Because you lived in the environment of gangs and in fact I say this sadly but your own brother was killed by a gang back in 1989. Not very promising for you. How did this though make a difference, and what has happened since?

JOSE: The beauty of it is, that when you give your life to Jesus Christ, the Lord will bless you with the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, and you will do God's will from then on. Once again my example is Jesus; this guy from the neighborhood was filled with the Holy Spirit and suddenly began to do incredible things in the name of His Father. So after I gave my heart and my life to Christ, great things began to blossom each year that unfolded thereafter.

LONNIE: So whereas you'd been the target of gangs and you lived in neighborhoods that were trashed neighborhoods in many senses. Where has it taken you since you've come to know Jesus Christ?

JOSE: I now am a minister of the gospel, and I lead youth across the North America, over 260,000 young people, and I lead many of our denominations government relations, and I am now working with the second president of the United States…

LONNIE: You've twice now worked for the White House haven't you?

JOSE: That's right. I now help them with violence issues, and youth, and neighborhood, and residential questions on different issues.

LONNIE: We got to get to the end of the story here. Not only are you preaching worldwide, but something has happened with you're family and your own dad, tell us about that.

JOSE: Well the Lord has blessed my family, and my dad now gives Bible studies to as many as sixty people a week. It's incredible the transformation that has happened in my father's life since he met Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior.

LONNIE: So that strange ancient Jewish carpenter from Nazareth still has a profound impact on the Rojas family?

JOSE: That is right. We know by experience that Jesus Christ can take anybody, no matter if their from the residential district or the neighborhood and do miracles in them and through them.

LONNIE: So Jose Rojas give us in a capsule for the people that may be living in East LA or some other parts of Boston, or Philadelphia, Or Milwaukee, talk to them for just a moment.

JOSE: If you are out there in the neighborhood, remember that Jesus understands your journey. Get up and give your life to Him. He will take you to places you've never imagined. Be faithful and see for yourself.

LONNIE: Jose Rojas it is an honor to have you on the broadcast. God bless you in your ministry. What's on deck for the next coming months?

JOSE: In the next months, I'm working with the White House on several projects, and with Congress on other projects, but more than that we have fifty-two thousand young people volunteering to share Jesus across North America, and that is my greatest joy.

LONNIE: Might mention here that Jose Rojas has a brand new book out, tell us about it?

JOSE: It's called, "Jose, God found me in Los Angeles" and it is a simple quick read story of my mentors, the people that God sent to touch me along the way, and who I owe a deep debt of gratitude too. The Lord used them to bless me.

LONNIE: God bless you Jose, and may He bless others through you and your ministry.

JOSE: Thank you pastor.

CONNIE: Jose is a fascinating man--if you get a chance to meet him, one thing you'll always remember his amazing mustache!

LONNIE: That's for sure. But the thing I find most impressive about him is the way his whole life is a testimony to what the power of God can do for a person--no matter how humble or questionable their background.

CONNIE: It's called the gift of a new heart, and it's available to all of us, as Steve Darmody reminds us in this song.

CONNIE: That is the greatest gift of all--a changed heart, a new life. Whatever your background, God is able to take you where you are and make something new and better out of your life.

LONNIE: A new, improved version of You!

CONNIE: That was Steve Darmody singing "A New Heart," from his album Constant Refuge. As always, there's more information about the music on our programs available at our web page at VOP.COM. Remember, if you want to know more about any of the things you hear about on our broadcast, VOP.COM is the place to go.

LONNIE: Say, Connie, have you ever met a "nowhere man?"

CONNIE: Well, I can't say as I have. What exactly is a "nowhere man?"

LONNIE: In his book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer describes a whole subculture of people who live on the fringes of society, trying not to make a blip on anyone's radar screen. If they work a few days, it's for cash. If they stay in a national park, they usually climb over the fence at 2:00 a.m. so they don't have to log in. These people will just disappear for a month, three months, even for years at a time. And a few months back David Smith and I did a series of programs for our daily broadcast that we titled "Nowhere Man." Of course we could just as well have called it "Nowhere Woman," because we were dealing with a situation many people find themselves in--they just don't feel that they count for anything in the world. They're down and out and discouraged--ready to just fade into oblivion.

CONNIE: It's tragic, but it can happen to anyone.

LONNIE: It can, and if you know someone who's really discouraged with life right now, you might want to order a copy of the little book Nowhere Man and share it with them. It takes a Christ-centered look at how God sees all of as important.

CONNIE: We have a free copy of Nowhere Man for you to read yourself, or share with someone. Just call us at 1-800-872-0055 and ask for it. We'll give that number, along with our mailing address again in a moment, but now le'ts listen to Lonnie's message for today, "Meet the Man from Nazareth."
Sermon

Meet the Man from Nazareth

Consider the case of a little boy named Larry. His mother's name is Diane. But it was left to the courts to decide who his father was--and what his last name should be. It seems that when Larry was born, Diane gave him her former husband's last name, even though she thought he belonged to Larry, her current live-in boyfriend, so he ended up with the boyfriend's first name and the former husband's last name. Later, when Diane married yet another man, she and her new husband tried to adopt the boy. Only when the custody case went to court did a fellow named Randy show up and prove through DNA tests that the boy was really his son!

Poor Larry had four possible last names. Not a very auspicious beginning to life. Not something you'd want to brag about in school. Can you imagine the poor little tike going through life with a name like Larry Smith-Jones-Johnson-Brown?
I don't think so.

As he grows up, the boy will no doubt want to put all that behind him. We all want to know where we come from, who we really belong to. People invest thousands of hours researching their genealogy to figure out where they really fit in the world. It gives us a sense of identity--especially if we find out that there's royalty or fame or riches in our pedigree.

So, consider the case of a Man named simply "Jesus of Nazareth."
You remember the story from the first chapter of the Gospel of John, don't you? When Philip first became a follower of Jesus, he hurried to find his friend Nathanael and excitedly reported " 'We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote-- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph' " (John 1:45 NKJV).

And Nathanael's response: " 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' " (v. 46).

Now, here's the intriguing thing about this story. Nazareth was just a tiny little village--most people in Jerusalem had probably never heard of it. It was vastly overshadowed by its near neighbor Sepphoris, which had up until recently been a provincial capital. But Nathanael knew about Nazareth, because he was from Cana, which was another tiny village just over the hill from Jesus' hometown. And what he knew about Nazareth wasn't good.

In Jesus' day, the whole region of Galilee--which included both Nazareth and Cana--was considered second-rate territory in the Jewish mind. It hadn't officially been part of the kingdom of Judah for nearly a thousand years--ever since the schism between Israel and Judah during Solomon's son's reign in about 930 BC. In fact most of the territory of Galilee had been settled by foreigners in the years after the fall of the kingdom of Israel.

So, people from that region were always a bit suspect. It was just assumed that their blood wasn't as purely Jewish as someone from the southern regions--members of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Say, do you remember what the apostle Paul said about himself? When he was arguing that he was just about as Jewish as anyone could possibly be, he wrote in Philippians 3:5, "[I am] of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee" (NKJV).
Being from Galilee, and from Nazareth in particular, was no badge of honor. But now I want you to notice something else about Jesus--and about Paul.
As we've noticed, early in his life, Paul was very proud of his lineage. At one time he trusted in his pure Hebrew blood for his salvation. But something drastic happened to him along the way that changed all that and made him realize that origins, birth lines, genealogies, and family name are not the key to the kingdom of God.

All the walls of pride he had built around himself came tumbling down one day. Here's how he described what happened to him:

" 'Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" So I answered, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said to me, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting" ' " (NKJV).

That, by the way, is taken from Acts 22:6-8, and is part of Paul's defense of himself when he was accused by the Jewish hierarchy in Jerusalem.
Now, did you notice something fascinating in Paul's story--something about Jesus? Did you notice how Jesus identified Himself to Paul there on the road to Damascus? He called Himself "Jesus of Nazareth."

Now, if it were me, and I had grown up in a place of ill repute, and had since moved to a much better place--say, heaven for example, I think I'd be tempted to change the way I spoke about myself. I think I'd want to identify myself as "Lonnie of heaven"--wouldn't you? Not Lonnie from that despicable little jerkwater Nazareth.
But that wasn't Jesus' way of going at life. He wasn't ashamed of His origins.
In fact, Jesus' association with Nazareth ennobles the name of that town to this very day. Tourists by the tens of thousands flock to Nazareth every year, precisely because Jesus once lived there.

All through the Gospels, Jesus is identified as "Jesus of Nazareth," and He continued to identify Himself with that town even after His ascent to heaven, because the reputation of His hometown did nothing to demean Him as a person. He knew that He could choose to rise above any negative association the town might have, and live His life as a child of His heavenly Father.
He lived as though He had come from heaven, not from Nazareth, because He knew His true origin, and His true destiny.

And the good news is that He wants to live that kind of life in you and me.
Friend, I don't know what your origins are. I don't know what your first name or last name is. I don't know who your father is--perhaps you don't even know who your earthly parents are. But I'm here to tell you--no, Jesus is here to tell you--that it doesn't really matter. Whether you're the son or daughter of a reigning king, or the child of an unwed street person from skid row, remember one thing.

Just as Jesus changed the meaning of the name Nazareth, you can change the meaning of the place you came from. If you'll live as Jesus lived. In full knowledge and faith that your real father isn't on earth, but in heaven.
Jesus wants to live that kind of life in you, if you'll let Him in. He says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock." He stands at your heart's door, waiting for you to invite Him in. For you to accept Him as your Savior, God as your Father, and the Holy Spirit as your guide.

You see, friend, that's the secret to changing your life. To upgrading your life. To overcoming the circumstances--the background that haunts you.
Remember. Your real Father is in heaven. You don't need a paternity case in court to prove who you belong to. Remember this from John's Gospel:
"To all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1:11, 12, NIV).
When you receive Jesus into your heart, heaven is your real origin, and your real destiny. And God will empower you to live that heavenly life today--just as Jesus of Nazareth did.

Won't you receive the man from Nazareth into your heart today--and again, every day?

Let Him adopt you as His child, and write His name after your name--write your name down in heaven.