Jesse Duplantis - Leave it in the hands of a specialist

Leave It in the Hands of a Specialist

own in South Louisiana, we eat something that Dpeople all around the world wince in disgust at the thought of eating crawfish . Man, we love them!

When crawfish season begins in the spring, we boil them by the pound in giant pots filled with spicy crab boil seasoning, cloves of garlic, hot sausage, potatoes and little, short cobs of corn.

Then, we pour thousands of them onto long tables while they're still steaming hot, start pinching the tails from the heads and just enjoy ourselves. It's a cultural thing, and unless you're from here, you probably just don't get it.

Because I travel a lot, I meet many people who want to know about my culture, and they especially want to know why we eat crawfish.

"How can you eat those ugly things?!" they ask in disgust.

"The same way you eat yours," I say, "A cow ain't exactly the prettiest thing I've ever seen, and hogs don't look that good to me either. I've never seen a big hog and thought it looked good enough to take a bite out of." They usually nod but they sure don't agree!

I find that most people aren't really bothered by the actual crawfish meat. What really freaks them out is the way we serve it. They remember the photos and the television footage of us sitting at long tables while piles of bright, red, boiled crawfish are poured from giant metal pots directly onto the tables. They think it's just so uncouth.

"You just pour them all over a table," they ask,

"and eat them just like that?"

"Yeah, just like that," I say. "I like them so much, I suck the juice out of the head till the eyes click!" It's not very appealing to hear about, but I guess it's the reason most Cajuns aren't skinny. With the right preparation and seasoning, there aren't too many things in this world that we can't make taste good!

Today, the Cajun culture is known around the world, and I've had many dishes outside the region that claim to be authentic. Pastors and friends have put on crawfish boils for me and tried everything they know to do to make them taste right, but I've come to believe that some things are just better off left in the hands of a specialist! Cajuns know how to handle crawfish.

Jesus Knows How to Handle People

When it comes to people, there is only one man who can handle the sin, sickness, brokenness and general misery of mankind and His name is Jesus

Christ. He is a specialist at helping the lost find their way in life. He specializes in helping the sick, sad and broken find health, joy and wholeness through a relationship with God.

You know, most people would never check into a hospital and then refuse to follow the instructions of the doctor specializing in their illness. When a person is sick, they'll do just about anything their specialist says to be made well. It makes pretty good sense.

After all, their recovery depends on the specialist's valuable instructions. Yet, many people ignore the instruction of "The Specialist," Jesus Christ.

God sent His Son into this world to give us lifean abundant life that is filled with His love, joy and peace. Jesus taught us through both His Word and His example that He was interested in helping people.

He was drawn to those who were lost, sick and hurting. He didn't care if the hurting person was very poor or very rich, He reached out His hand to help them, offering words of truth to set them free.

For centuries, the Church has not really understood the ministry of Jesus. They've tried to clean people up before presenting them to God, but Jesus never taught anybody to do thatnot through His words or through His own actions. Whether people were sick, lame, broke or hungry, Jesus took them just the way they were. He didn't make them jump through hoops, change their hairstyle or start acting like a "good person." He went right to the heart of matters because He knew that a changed heart was necessary for a changed life.

Today, I want to tell you that no matter where you are in life or what condition your heart is in, Jesus wants to take you in. His arms are open wide, and He specializes in every problem you can think of or get yourself intono matter how bad!

You can't mess up enough for Jesus not to be able to help you. He's a specialist at turning around impossible situations and cleaning the hearts of people who've done more wrong than they care to tell.

If you're in need of help, Jesus is waiting for you to turn to Himto give your life to Him and to trust Him enough to leave those problems in His capable hands.

When you leave your problems in the hands of The Specialist, you can be sure that He will cleanse your heart of sin. If you are hungry for His presence, He will satisfy your heart and meet you right where you are. Jesus went to the cross to die for your sin, and He has already paid the price for all your wrongs.

So, whatever you ask forgiveness for, He will be faithful to forgive. Isaiah 53:5 says, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."

He took those stripes across His back for your healing too, and so if you're sick today, you can cry out to Him and draw on His healing power. He is a faithful God who still heals. His power is just as real and accessible today as it was two thousand years ago, because of the power of His work at the cross.

Hebrews 13:8 assures of this when it says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."

Do not worry. If you are burdened by the problems of life, you have a place to go in Jesus. He will never leave you nor forsake youHe is your helper, and there is nothing to fear with Him (Hebrews 13:5-6). If you'll trust Him and turn the worry of those problems over to Him, He will be faithful to deliver you from the heavy emotional and mental weight of them. He is a specialist at it! There's no problem too big for Jesus to handle.

All He asks is for you to draw near to Him and put your trust in Him. Get to know Him through His Word and by praying to Himtalk to Him and allow Him the opportunity to reveal Himself to you. Jesus loves you so much, and He is more than able to take care of you if you'll leave those problems in His capable hands.

Too Little Money and Not Enough Bread.

Jesus Solves the Problem with a Two-piece Fish Dinner!

Some people think that Jesus only cared about spiritual things, but He was a lot more balanced than that. He cared about people in every wayspirit, soul and body. He taught us that we should live from the heart, serve others and use the wisdom of the Word to live an abundant life.

Jesus was a good preacher. He was anointed, and the Bible tells us in John 7:46 that He spoke like no other man. Jesus told parables (stories) in order to illustrate deep spiritual truths. He also spoke directly about life and issues of the heart. One of the things I really like about Jesus' ministry was that He rarely answered stupid questions! He flat refused to get caught up in legalistic, religious nonsense, and went directly to the source of the problem. Jesus was sincere in His delivery of truth. He also performed miracles, and the more miracles He did, the more the people came out to hear Him preach.

In the Gospel of John chapter six, there is an account of one of Jesus' most famous miracles, and it shows us that He was interested in our physical well-being. He didn't leave us spiritually hungry, and He doesn't want us to be starving physically either! This is a story that will show you what can happen when you decide to leave your problem in the hands of a Specialist.

After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.

And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased.