God and I Have an Agreement

Posted by David on October 11, 1998 under Sermons

Our lives are structured by and based on agreements. Agreements are basic to virtually everything that happens in our lives every day. Marriage begins with an agreement. Our jobs are based on an agreement. If we own property, we made an agreement. Utility services, driver’s licenses, credit cards, bank loans, social security, even the rights of citizenship are based on an agreement.

When we intentionally or neglectfully reject the commitment of our agreements, marriages divorce, jobs are lost, utility services are cut off, driver’s licenses are revoked, bank loans are recalled, social security benefits are canceled, and we can lose the rights of citizenship.

When honorable people make honorable agreements, life and relationships are blessed. When agreements are ignored, violated, or abused, life and relationships become increasingly miserable.

Few if any of us would make a serious commitment without an agreement.
1. Why?
  1. Commitment without agreement leads to pain and suffering.
  2. Commitment without agreement requires no mutual investment of self.
  3. In a commitment without an agreement, a person can walk out, walk away, and disappear without conscience.
  4. In a commitment without an agreement, a person has nothing to lose if he or she just walks off.
2. For an honest person of integrity, the act of making an agreement is the act of taking ownership of responsibility in commitment.
  1. It is the declaration, “I depend on you, and you can depend on me.”
  2. It is the declaration, “I trust you, and you can trust me.”
  3. In any successful relationship, that declaration has to be mutual.
God always commits to people who agree to commit to Him.
1. The basic nature of God’s agreement with us is distinctly different from an agreement that one human establishes with another human.
  1. In a human-human agreement, each human can provide benefits to the other human in the commitment. If I make an agreement with you:
    1. I can contribute to your personal well being.
    2. I can reward you.
    3. I can increase your comfort.
    4. I can increase your personal security.
    5. I can meet some of your needs.
    6. I can provide you blessings.
    7. I can do something that specifically makes your life or your existence better because we mutually enter an agreement.
  2. But when I enter an agreement with God, it is impossible for me to create a benefit for God.
    1. In no way does God need me or depend on me.
    2. I cannot improve God’s well being–if I never existed, it would not affect God’s well being.
    3. I cannot reward God; everything I am or have, even my life, is God’s gift.
    4. I cannot increase God’s comfort–God’s comfort does not depend on me.
    5. I cannot increase God’s security–I have no effect on God’s security.
    6. I cannot meet God’s needs–God has no needs for me to address.
    7. I cannot provide God a blessing–I am dependent on God for blessings.
    8. There is absolutely nothing that I can do to benefit God’s existence.
  3. Therefore, any agreement that a human makes with God is unique; it is distinctly different to any agreement a human makes with another human.
2. The agreement that God makes with a human is called a covenant.
  1. Covenant was the common form of agreement in the ages of the Old Testament and in the New Testament world.
  2. Everett Ferguson, in his book, The Church of Christ (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996, pp. 2-18) provides some basic insights into covenant agreements.
  3. One proper definition of covenant is a relationship based on promises or a sworn oath.
    1. A covenant between two persons is known as a parity covenant.
      1. Since the relationship is established between two humans, it is established between equals–both are equally human.
      2. A covenant between a person or a people and God is never a parity relationship; it is not a relationship that exists between equals.
        
        In every consideration, God is the superior.
        As the inferior, a human never initiates a relationship with God.
        A human can accept relationship with God only because God extends the opportunity for relationship.
    2. In relationship with God, people never propose or impose the conditions of the relationship.
      1. Humans never tell God, “You can have a relationship with us if You agree to these conditions.”
      2. Humans accept or reject God’s offer of relationship, but God determines the conditions of relationship.
3. In the Old Testament, there were occasions when God made charter covenants with individuals.
  1. In a charter covenant, God binds Himself to an unconditional promise in a relationship with humans.
    1. When God promised Noah that He would never again destroy the world with a flood, that was a charter covenant (Genesis 9:8-17).
    2. When God promised Abraham that a blessing that would benefit all mankind would come through his descendants, that was a charter covenant (Genesis 12:1-3).
    3. When God promised David that one of his descendants would always sit on Israel’s throne, that was a charter covenant (2 Samuel 11:10-17).
  2. But God’s covenant with the nation of Israel was a conditional covenant.
    1. God stated plainly that Israel’s relationship with Him was conditional before He gave them the ten commandments (Exodus 19:3-6).
    2. God would enter a relationship with the nation of Israel that accepted them as:
      1. A people who belonged exclusively to Him.
      2. A kingdom of priests.
      3. A holy nation.
    3. If:
      1. They obeyed His voice.
      2. They kept His covenant, and maintained relationship with Him.
Essential question: how did Israel say yes to God? How did they accept the offer of relationship? How did they commit to a relationship with God?
1. God offered relationship; Israel had to accept relationship; it had to have a point of beginning.
  1. What did they do to accept God’s offer of relationship?
  2. How did Israelites, the direct descendants of Abraham, say to God, “Yes; we accept your offer of relationship; we enter and honor relationship with you on your terms and conditions?
  3. They said yes by circumcising every male child born into the family.
2. God Himself established this condition of relationship with Abraham in Genesis 17:9-14.
  1. God said to Abraham, “You and all your descendants in every generation shall keep my covenant.”
  2. “This is my covenant: every male will be circumcised.”
  3. “Eight days after birth, every male of every Israelite family and every male of your servants will be circumcised.”
  4. “This is my everlasting covenant with Israel.”
  5. “Any Israelite who is not circumcised will an outcast to the Israelite people because he has rejected the basic condition of relationship with God.”
3. Was circumcising every male in every Israelite family that important? Yes.
  1. Over five hundred years later, as God delivered hundreds of thousands of Israelites from Egyptian slavery, God told them that they were to observe the Passover every year as a perpetual memorial to God’s deliverance (Exodus 12).
    1. If a non-Israelite ate the Passover memorial, before he ate, every male in his household had to be circumcised (Exodus 12:48).
    2. If the an Israelite male had not been circumcised, he could not eat the Passover memorial (Exodus 12:48).
  2. Forty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, the children who left Egypt and the children who were born in the wilderness crossed the Jordan River into Canaan (Joshua 5:2-9).
    1. All but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness.
    2. In that forty years, no one was circumcised.
    3. The first thing that was done was the circumcision of every Israelite male on a single day.
    4. Immediately after that, God declared, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you” (Joshua 5:9).
4. Israelite circumcision was not a mindless religious ritual; circumcision said, “Yes,” to God in agreeing to accept the responsibilities of relationship with God.
  1. Circumcision did not just involve the body as an Israelite yielded to a mysterious requirement of God.
  2. Listen to these instructions to Israel in Deuteronomy 10:12-16:
    Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet on your fathers did the Lord set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day. So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
  3. What does God require of you?
    1. To reverence Jehovah as your God.
    2. To walk in His ways.
    3. To love Him.
    4. To serve Him with all your being.
    5. To keep His commandments.
    6. To circumcise your heart and refuse to be a stubborn, rebellious, arrogant people.
“David, that is mildly interesting, but why should that interest me?”
1. Listen to Colossians 2:9-12, written by Paul to the Christians at Colossae.
  For in Him [Christ] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

In specific ways, your baptism was a circumcision. Baptism is a spiritual, unisex form of circumcision.

Is it possible, that with all that we taught and emphasized about baptism, that we missed the basic point of baptism? Is it possible that we missed the point that no knowledgeable Israelite would have missed? Is it possible that we missed the point that was emphasized to non-Jewish converts?

What point? Your baptism said, “Yes,” to a relationship with God. In baptism, you accepted relationship to God and you made an agreement with God. Baptism was not just something your body did. It is also something your heart did.

Do you understand that you made an agreement with God when you were baptized? Do you know at baptism that you made an agreement to maintain relationship with God for the rest of your life?

[Song of reflection.]

We have a serious problem. We are a people who break agreements and throw away commitments. We abuse our marriages. We abuse our jobs. We abuse our credit. We abuse our driver’s license. We abuse our government. We abuse our rights.

And we don’t understand that we agreed to maintain relationship with God when we were baptized into Christ. Can a people who abuse human relationships learn how to maintain their relationship with God?

Know who Jesus is. Believe that God was working in Him. Accept the blood of Christ. Say “yes” to God. Be baptized into the One who died for you. Be willing to commit to an agreement with God.

Kicking Dirt Or Shouting Encouragement?

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

A person hiking in a wilderness area fell into a deep hole. The fall was his fault– a combination of carelessness, poor judgment, and foolish behavior. Though the hole was twelve feet deep, the fall produced no serious injuries.

After his head cleared from the daze of the fall, he was determined to climb out. He used every climbing technique. Yet, his best effort lifted him only eight feet.

His struggle produced thirst, then weariness, then exhaustion. Physically spent and canteen empty, he stopped trying to climb. In panic, he shouted until he lost his voice. Convinced that he would never be found, he lost all hope.

The next day a hiker found him. “How” he fell was obvious. “How” he fell revealed “why” he fell. “How” and “why” made evident his carelessness.

The man was much too weak to help himself. Going for help was out of the question. Left alone, the man would soon die. Really, the choice was simple. Should the hiker kick enough dirt in the hole to bury the man? Or, should he shout encouragement until he prepared for a risky, strenuous rescue effort?

From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was (is) the hiker who discovered us in our pitiful condition. Humanity is “the man in the hole.” Our condition, individually and collectively, is pathetic.

From the first, he shouted encouragement. He could have “kicked dirt” on the pathetic lepers, the ungodly prostitutes, the dishonest tax gathers. and the self-centered multitudes that craved miracles and food. Instead, he shouted the encouragement called hope.

He did not even “kick dirt” on the Pharisees. If you carefully study his exchanges with them, you will see that they attacked and he taught. Only late in his ministry, after many attempts to teach them, did he expose them in accountability’s harsh light.

When Jesus finds you in your “hole,” what do you want? A kick of dirt, or, a shout of encouragement? When you discover someone in his or her “hole,” what do you give them? A kick of dirt or a shout of encouragement?

“God, Get Me Out of This Mess!”

Posted by David on October 4, 1998 under Sermons

“Listen! Did you hear that? What was that?” Have you ever said those words at night when you heard a strange sound that you could not identify? Isn’t it amazing how sensitive our ears are to strange and unfamiliar sounds?

When our family lived in West Africa we had a night watchman whose name was Maurice. Maurice sat on our large, concrete front porch almost every night with his tiny kerosene lantern burning. Maurice was almost bind. He saw poorly in daylight, and almost nothing at night.

At times I would bedevil Maurice at night. We would drive up after dark. Maurice would be sitting on the porch in the dark. I would open the car door and say in a high, falsetto voice, “Good evening, Maurice.” With genuine seriousness he would always respond, “Good evening, madam.”

When we moved to West Africa, our daughter, Anita, was two years old. She had to make a lot of adjustments to the house and the environment. The first several months we were there, it was not unusual for her to cry out at night. Joyce was quick to hear her and quick to respond.

I don’t hear well. (I know, American men generally don’t hear well after they go to sleep.) Life on the mission field was a physically demanding life. That combination of those two factors meant I slept soundly. In their society, the men were light sleepers and the women slept soundly. The mornings after Anita cried out at night, Maurice would say to Joyce with just a touch of disgust, “Madam sleeps like a man. Master sleeps like a woman.”

God has sensitive ears. His ears are tuned to our plights and our cries.

Life was tough!
1. They had been invited to move into the country, to come as privileged guests who could settle in the choice land.
  1. For at least a generation, if not much longer, they had status and privileges.
  2. Then, suddenly, their whole world changed.
2. A new ruler came into power, and the new ruler distrusted them.
  1. Overnight, by decree, the privileged guests became slaves (Exodus 1:11).
    1. They had been shepherds and herdsmen.
    2. Now they were forced to provide the brute strength for major building projects (Exodus 1:14).
  2. But the ruler still feared them.
    1. Even as slaves, their population was growing much too fast.
    2. So the ruler issued an edict to the midwives: “Kill every male child the moment he is born” (Exodus 1:15-19).
    3. But the midwives reverenced God and refused to kill the children.
    4. So the ruler issued another decree: “Parents, throw every newborn male into the Nile River” (Exodus 1:22).
  3. Can you imagine the suffering, the agony, and the fear of these people?
3. God saw and heard what was happening.
  Exodus 3:7-9
  The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
  1. I have seen their affliction.
  2. I am aware of their sufferings.
  3. I have come to deliver them.
  4. Their cries are before me.
I want to ask you a question: did the fact that God saw their affliction, knew their sufferings, heard their cries, and came to deliver them mean that all they needed to do was sit back, relax, enjoy life, and let God solve their problems?
1. Moses came to enslaved Israel with a message from God: God will end your slavery, take you out of Egypt, and give you your own country.
  1. Israel’s first reaction: “Thank you, God! Do it!”
  2. Moses presented this request to the king, and conditions got much worse, much more miserable.
  3. Israel’s second reaction: “Moses, I hope that you can live with yourself after what you have done to us!”
  4. Then came the ten disasters that God brought on Egypt, and the last disaster secured Israel’s release from slavery.
  5. Israel left at night with Egypt’s encouragement and blessing.
  6. Then Israel was trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, and they declared that Moses brought them out there to die.
  7. God created a way to escape across the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army when it tried to follow.
  8. And Israel rejoiced in their freedom and praised God.
  9. Then Israel began crossing the dessert wilderness.
  10. And they complained about water and about food over and over.
2. My questions are these:
  1. Would God, who destroyed their slavery, let them die in the wilderness? No.
  2. Would God, who delivered them from Egypt, deliver them from all their enemies? Yes.
  3. Would God actually lead them to the country He promised them? Yes.
  4. Would God actually allow them to possess that country? Yes.
  5. If they placed their confidence in God, would all that happen? Yes.
3. My important question: Did that mean that all they needed to do was relax, enjoy life, and let God take care of the situation?
  1. Absolutely not!
  2. They had to leave Egypt at night–on foot! Would we try that?
  3. They had to walk across the river bed of the Red Sea in a wind blowing so hard that it backed the water up and dried the river bed. Would we do that?
  4. They had to walk across the low humidity, dry desert wilderness. Would we do that–and do it without complaining?
  5. They had to fight for the land–under God’s specific direction and guidance. Would we regard that as God taking care of it?
  6. God did not do these things for them; but God made it possible; and God made the outcome certain; in fact, without God it would not and could not happen.
“Those Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness were ridiculous beyond belief!”
1. “They saw the plagues, they crossed the Red Sea, God gave them food and water in the dessert, and they still doubted, still had no faith–unbelievable!”
  1. “Over and over God provided their needs when they could not.”
  2. “No matter what the situation was, God was always greater than the need or the problem.”
  3. “Yet, every time things were tough, they stopped trusting God. Incredible!”
2. We are just like them.
  1. “David, we are not! We have never been just like them!”
    1. “God never did the things for us He did for them.”
    2. “The ten disasters in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the water and food in the wilderness–we haven’t had those experiences.”
  2. God did something greater for us than He ever did for them.
    1. He gave us Jesus.
    2. He gave us the cross.
    3. He gave us the resurrection.
    4. He gave us a level of mercy, grace, and forgiveness that they never had.
  3. When things go just the way we plan, just the way we expect, just the way we want, just the way that makes sense to us, just the way that fits our outlook and our perspective and our understanding, we declare, “God is at work! God is powerful! God can make it happen! It will happen because of God! Thank you, God! We trust You!”
  4. But when things do not work out the way we plan; or expect; or want; or that makes sense to us; or that fits our outlook, or our perspective, or our understanding; we quickly ask, “Where is God?”
    1. And we declare, “It is not going to happen! God can’t do anything about this. This situation, this problem, this trouble is bigger than God.”
    2. And we say, “If God is powerful as He says He is, this never would have happened in the first place.”
    3. And we doubt, and we even want the worst to happen, and we ridicule those who dare trust God.
3. Let’s think about Israel for a second.
  1. Was God at work when the Egyptian king said, “No,” to Moses? Certainly.
  2. Was God at work when the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites? Certainly.
  3. Was God at work when the dessert was hot, and dry, and there was little food or water? Certainly.
  4. Did God have lessons to teach:
    1. The king? He said He did.
    2. The Egyptians? Absolutely.
    3. The Israelites? Oh, yes.
  5. Isn’t it easy to see that looking back? Do you think it was so easy to see if the Egyptian army was chasing you or you were walking in the hot wilderness?
4. “Yes, but they saw the things God did!” Do you keep a list of your prayers that God has answered?
We have transformed Christianity into a spiritual insurance policy with options.
1. The options are almost endless.
  1. The basic policy is hell insurance, and you need to be baptized and occasionally attend a worship assembly just to have basic coverage.
  2. But to add the option of tragedy insurance, the cost increases–that takes more worship attendance and getting involved.
  3. The crisis insurance option cost still more: you have to add prayer and study.
  4. And the “protection for life” option is the most expensive.
    1. This is a family policy that covers husband, wife, and the kids.
    2. The cost for that coverage is serious godliness.
2. But it is just religion, just a spiritual insurance policy.
  1. You just have to decide how much religion you want.
  2. Determine the cost, and buy for what you think that you can afford.
  3. If you cannot afford more than the basic policy, then you take your chances.
Christianity is not an insurance policy! Christianity is an existence that uses this life as opportunity to prepare for life with God.
1. That is why repentance is a crucial part of becoming and being a Christian.
2. In becoming a Christian, repentance is the conscious choice to redirect life away from sin and toward God.
3. In being a Christian, repentance is the unending process of making mid-course corrections as we learn more and more about being God’s people.

At no time in history has God solved problems without effort from the people involved. Life is a mess.
Faith is built by our choosing to allow God to guide us through the messy problems of life. God has the map. Jesus Christ is the way. Let Him teach you how to live and how to be His person.
How much do you trust God? Do you trust He has the answers when the mess won’t go away? Let God clean you up and show you the path to follow. Trust, repentance, and baptism will clean you up.

The Disappointment of Failed Expectations

Posted by David on September 27, 1998 under Bulletin Articles

As a society, we are a people of exaggerated expectations. We frequently expect the unlikely from our nation, community, marriages, families, careers, and life situations. In all spheres of existence, our expectations prime us for disappointment.

Interactive factors generate high expectations. One example: advertisements and promotions entice us to anticipate the unrealistic. “Buy this car! It will grant you status…alter your relationships… change your image…give you access to a desirable peer group…change your lifestyle…and boost your career.” A car? Really?

And how does a person feel when basically that car gets him or her from point A to point B at so many miles per gallon like any other car? Talk about failed expectations! When our car is a primary measurement of our life, what commentary does that make on the basic nature of our expectations?

Often failed expectations disillusion Christians. Our most common reason for being disappointed with God is failed expectations. We assume that if God does not produce the results we expect through the plans that we make, that God has failed us. God has not “been at work” as “He assured us that He would.”

God never stops working. Never is there a moment when God is not at work. Never do we humans create conditions that make it impossible for God to work. Christian disappointment never measures God’s productivity or success.

Never is there one way to accomplish God’s objectives, or one avenue to pursue God’s purposes, or one means to fulfill God’s will. God worked in Egyptian slavery, the Sinai wilderness, the idolatry of Israel, the legalism of the Pharisees, the denials of Peter, the persecutions of Saul, and the cross of Jesus.

Regardless of how evil the world becomes, God works. In spite of our misguided goals, God works. Through the worst and best intentions of weak humans, God works.

His work produces its best results when fellowship is genuine; love is unpretended; commitment is whole-hearted; and our faith is 100% in Christ and 0% in us.

Moses Has Something To Say To Us

Posted by David on September 20, 1998 under Sermons

Generally, most Christians give little or no thought to Moses. Who Moses was or what Moses said has no significant place in our thinking. If Christians want to consider “important spiritual matters,” rarely will those matters include Moses. We identify Moses as “the voice of the old covenant.” We are very quick to inform people that we are under the new covenant. We shift the spotlight dramatically and exclusively to Jesus Christ as we focus their attention on the new covenant.

Moses was not the Son of God. Moses did not reveal eternal atonement for the sins of all people. Moses did not inform Israel or anyone else about God’s eternal redemption.

Because that is true does not mean that Moses is insignificant to Christians or unimportant to Christianity. It certainly does not mean that Christians should pay no attention to the man and the message that God gave him.

Moses can teach us invaluable lessons about loving God and being devoted to the will of God. Moses will teach us these lessons if we will only listen. Just as Moses taught Israel essential lessons about being the people of God, Moses has essential lessons to teach us about being the people of God.

Our impressions of Moses are heavily influenced by the negative occasions that occurred in his life.
1. We are likely to be familiar with these facts.
  1. Moses fled into the wilderness to run away from life and hide when he was forty years old (Exodus 2:11-25).
  2. Moses did every thing possible to say, “No,” to God when God instructed him to return to Egypt (Exodus 3, 4).
  3. Moses struck a rock to provide water for Israel while in the wilderness, and God had instructed him to speak to the rock (Numbers 20).
2. The last forty years of Moses’ life were devoted exclusively and entirely to leading Israel out of the slavery of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.
  1. These were by far the most difficult, demanding, frustrating, exhausting years of Moses’ life.
    1. His first forty years were lived as a part of the royal family–a time of privilege and easy living.
    2. His second forty years were lived as a shepherd who tended a flock in the isolation of the wilderness–a very simple, uncomplicated existence.
    3. His last forty years were an adventure in frustration and exasperation.
  2. Few of us have ever considered the depth of Moses’ frustrations as he led Israel.
3. I want you to consider how exasperating being Israel’s leader was from beginning to end.
  1. Moses returned to Egypt convinced that God had given him a simple task.
    1. God had given him the power to perform some miracles to impress and convince both Israel and the king (Exodus 4:1-9).
    2. He would get an audience with the king.
    3. He would make his request and perform his miracles if necessary.
    4. The king would release Israel.
    5. They would leave.
  2. He successfully convinced the people of Israel that was what would happen (Exodus 4:31).
  3. That was Moses’ expectation, but that is not what happened (Exodus 5).
    1. The king rejected his request.
    2. The king immediately made the Israelite slaves’ work next to impossible.
    3. When their work became an impossible burden, the leaders said to Moses, “May the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 5:21).
    4. And Moses said to God, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 5:22,23).
    5. And God said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 6:1).
4. That was just the beginning of forty, long, frustrating years.
  1. When Israel was trapped between the King’s army and the Red Sea, Israel said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 14:11,12).
  2. As Israel began their journey in the wilderness, they grumbled at Moses saying, “What shall we drink?” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 15:24).
  3. When Israel was hungry, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron saying, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 16:3).
  4. While Moses is up on Mount Sinai receiving instructions from God, Israel convinced Aaron to build a golden idol, and they said of the idol, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 32:8).
  5. Moses’ own brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, challenged his leadership saying, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Numbers 12:2).
  6. Moses led this people to Canaan, sent out spies to prepare for an invasion, but when the spies returned, ten of them said, “The people of the land are too powerful for us to conquer.”
    1. Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron saying, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Numbers 14:2-4).
  7. Korah led a rebellion again Moses and Aaron saying, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Numbers 16:3).
  8. Dathan and Abiram joined the rebellion and said to Moses, “Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us? Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Numbers 16:13,14).
5. Nothing more clearly reveals the depth of Moses’ frustration as does Numbers 11:10-15.
  1. People began to ask, “Who is going to give us some meat to eat?”
  2. They began thinking about the vegetables and fish they ate in Egypt.
  3. They were sick of eating manna day after day after day.
  4. So everybody began crying in their tents–a whole nation of depressed people crying!
  5. And Moses reached “the end of his rope.”
  6. Listen to Moses’ frustration as he talks to God: “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’ I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Numbers 11:11-15).
    1. Note that he did not ask for God to kill Israel; he asked God to kill him.
    2. God did not rebuke him or get angry with him, but provided him some help.
Let me give you some insight into the spiritual measure of this man.
1. When his own brother and sister challenged his leadership, they angered God.
  1. It states of Moses that no man on earth was as humble as he was.
  2. When God punished Miriam with leprosy, Moses prayed that she be healed.
2. That is characteristic of Moses.
  1. When Israel built the golden calf as an idol, God wanted to destroy the people and begin again with Moses.
  2. It did not happen; it did not happen because Moses interceded for the people.
  3. When the people refused to trust God enough to enter the land of Canaan, God wanted to destroy the people and begin again with Moses.
  4. It did not happen; it did not happen because Moses interceded for the people.
3. I want you to note a powerful, marvelous evidence of the depth of Moses’ personal devotion to God.
  1. When God wanted to destroy faithless Israel, God did not care what unbelieving, wicked people thought or said about Him, but Moses cared what unbelieving, wicked people said about God.
  2. Listen to Moses reason for interceding for Israel and note that it had nothing to do with Israel or Moses; it had everything to do with God.
    1. At the incident of the golden calf: “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ “ (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Exodus 32:12,13).
    2. At the incident when Israel refused to enter Canaan: “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ‘because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.‘ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.) (Numbers 14:13-19).

If we had the devotion, the commitment, and the concern for God that Moses had, what God could do with us and through us! And we have something Moses never had. We have Jesus Christ.

Is Life About the Desirable, the Urgent, or the Important?

Posted by David on under Sermons

What is important? That is such a simple, three word question. But the answer to that simple question is one of life’s most complex answers. The basic answer to that question is influenced by three factors. Who you ask. Where that person lives. What he or she declares to be his or her needs.

If I asked that question in Russia, or India, or Africa, or China, or South America, I would not get an American answer. If the people live in a place of violent instability, or in a place where starvation occurs, or in a place flirting with economic collapse, or in a place of severe political repression, their answers will not be our answers.

So let’s confine our answers to American answers. Most of us live somewhere within the spectrum of middle class America. So, middle class America, “What is important?” I ask you, “What is important?”

Before we can declare what is important, we must answer this question: “How do you determine what is important?”
1. Do you determine the important by:
  1. The desires of your body that control your life?
  2. What is urgent and pressing “right now”?
  3. Considering long term significance and consequences?
2. For example:
  1. If I asked eight-year-olds, “What is important?” answers would focus on short term desires.
  2. If I asked teenagers, “What is important?” answers would stress, “Peers who unconditionally accept me for who and what I am.”
  3. If I asked adults in their 20’s, “What is important?” answers would stress career opportunities, or life style choices, or marriage.
  4. If I asked people in their 30’s, “What is important?” answers would stress personal fulfillment through achieving personal goals.
  5. If I asked people in their 40’s, “What is important?” answers would stress some form of success.
  6. If I asked people in their 50’s, “What is important?” answers would stress preparation for retirement.
  7. If I asked people in their 60’s, “What is important?” answers would stress material security.
3. Let’s ask a different group of people, “What is important?”
  1. Ask twenty-five-year-old expectant parents whose unborn child has just been diagnosed with a catastrophic abnormality, “What is important?”
  2. Ask a thirty-year-old wife whose husband was just killed in an automobile accident, “What is important?”
  3. Ask a forty-year-old husband whose wife has been diagnosed with breast cancer, “What is important?”
  4. Ask a fifty-year-old wife whose husband had a massive stroke and is in a coma, “What is important?”
  5. Ask the family of a seventy-year-old woman or man who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, “What is important?”
4. In a very real way, the question, “What is important?” is just another way of asking, “What is life about?”
Hebrews 11:23-29 makes an insightful, fascinating commentary on Moses’ life.
1. Moses is one of the primary figures of the Old Testament.
  1. God used Moses as God used no one else.
  2. Moses was unique; there has never been another person like him.
2. Exodus 1 and 2 provides us insights into the problems that enveloped the people of Israel at the time Moses was born.
  1. The Israelites had served the Egyptians as slaves for generations.
  2. The Israelite population had grown so rapidly that the King tried to create population control.
    1. He decreed that every Israelite boy born was to be thrown into the Nile River and drowned immediately after birth.
    2. At Moses’ birth, his mother refused to obey that edict and, instead, hid Moses for three months.
    3. Then, instead of throwing Moses into the Nile to die, she floated him in a basket on the Nile hoping that he would live.
    4. She floated him in the area where the royal family bathed, but she could not predict what would happen when an Egyptian found him.
    5. The King’s daughter found and accepted him.
      1. She had Moses’ mother nurse and care for him until he was old enough to come to the palace.
      2. Then she adopted him as her son.
  3. In today’s terminology, from today’s perspective, Moses had it made.
    1. He was adopted into one of the world’s most powerful families.
    2. He completely escaped slavery to become one of the world’s most privileged people.
    3. Education, wealth, prestige, and opportunity were his as a matter of right because he belonged to the royal family.
    4. No one on earth had a better material life.
    5. He had everything he wanted, and he could do anything he wanted.
  4. But Moses knew his origin and his identity.
    1. Moses also knew that his people continued in the horrors of slavery.
    2. One day he risked everything to help just one Israelite who was being abused by an Egyptian.
    3. The Israelite did not appreciate his help, his effort backfired, and he had to flee into the remote wilderness to keep the king from executing him.
  5. Forty years later, God had plans for him.
    1. Exodus 3 and 4 tells us how God revealed those plans to Moses.
    2. When Moses learned that God wanted him to return to Egypt, he wanted no part of God’s plans.
    3. Though he resisted God, God convinced Moses to return to Egypt.
  6. Hebrews 11:23-29 states these things.
    1. It was faith that caused Moses’ mother to hide him instead of kill him.
    2. Moses could have considered himself a member of the royal family and forgotten all about the fact that he came from slaves, but faith would not let him do that.
    3. Moses had a choice: he could enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, or he could share the abuse of God’s people.
    4. Because of faith, he chose abuse over pleasure.
    5. Why? Why would he “make that crazy, ridiculous decision”?
    6. Moses understood God was doing something special in His work with Israel.
    7. Though Moses knew nothing about Jesus Christ, God literally was making necessary preparation to send Jesus to become the Christ.
    8. Though Moses did not realize precisely what God was doing, he understood that his greatest reward was found in serving God’s purposes.
    9. Moses understood that there was greater reward in reproach and abuse than in wealth.
    10. The rewards of being used by God to achieve God’s purposes would be greater than the immediate rewards of wealth, pleasure, and privilege.
    11. So he lead all those slaves out of Egypt, unafraid of the king’s wrath, because he saw the unseen.
    12. By faith he kept the Passover knowing that night that Egyptians would die in order for Israelites to be delivered from slavery.
    13. By faith he led those slaves across the Red Sea, the same Red Sea that minutes later drowned the Egyptian army.
  7. “Moses, what is life about? What is important? You had it all. You had privileges and wealth that we will never know. So tell us, Moses, what is life about?”
    1. “Moses, is life about our physical, emotional, and material desires?” No, it isn’t.
    2. “Moses, is life about the urgent, about the things that demand, or push you, or press you?” No, that is not what life is about.
    3. “Well, Moses, what is life about?” Life is about the important, and the important is always defined by God and His purposes.
    4. “But, Moses, where did God and His purposes lead you?” Though I escaped slavery to live in luxury, God’s purposes led me back to the slaves to be their leader.
      
      [Pause here.]
You are not going to die.
1. “David, that is the most ridiculous thing that you have ever said to us–if you mean that, you have just destroyed your credibility.”
  1. I am quite serious; no one in this assembly is going to die.
  2. Your body will die, and my body will die, but you and I won’t die.
    1. In our blindness and short-sightedness, we think we are our bodies.
    2. We rarely think of ourselves apart from our bodies.
    3. If our body is beautiful, we think that we are beautiful.
    4. If our body is in shape, we think that we are in shape.
    5. If our body is sick, we think that we are sick.
    6. We think, “My body is me, and I am my body.”
  3. Not so! My body is just where I live; it is my temporary address.
    1. If I say that life is about satisfying my desires, I am saying that life is about my body, not about me.
    2. If I say that life is about being ruled by the urgent, I am saying that life is about emergencies that concern my body; life is really not about me.
    3. However, if I understand that life is about the important, I know that the basic considerations of life are determined by significance and consequences.
    4. Nothing is more significant than what happens to me when my body dies.
    5. My body will stop existing, but I won’t.
    6. No consequences are greater than the consequences that I carry with me after my body dies and I change addresses.
2. So which is important: the pleasures of the moment, the emergencies of the day, or eternal joy and peace?
  1. Which is more important, neglecting life to care for the urgent, or living life for God now to prepare to live with God eternally when my body dies and I change addresses?
  2. If my definition of the important ignores and neglects God, my life will be entangled in my desires and trapped by the urgent.

Does your body decide what is important, or do you?

[Song of reflection.]

I have never lived in a place that I did not enjoy living, but I have never enjoyed living in a place more than in Fort Smith. The more enjoyable it is to live in a place, the harder it is to live by faith.

Our country is so blessed, so advanced, and so prosperous that it is hard to live by faith here. Our prosperity and our technology make faith seem backward, unimportant, and unnecessary.

To make Moses’ choice, we must see what Moses saw. All godless pleasure is temporary. Lasting wealthy is not material. Lasting wealth is found only in God. But to find it, you must see the unseen.

Each day you decide and declare what is important. Do you make your body the lord of your life? Or do you make Jesus Christ Lord of your body and your life?

Mind Games

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

Satan is a gifted liar (John 8:44). His specialty is “mind games.” His “mind game” with Eve began with a lie. After hearing her repeat God’s warning, he said, “You won’t die! God is dishonest! He knows when you distinguish between good and evil that you will be as smart as He is” (Genesis 3:4,5). Deception then guided her observations (Genesis 3:6). Satan won the “mind game,” and human evil became reality.

All temptation begins with a “mind game.” Deceit is the key to all wickedness. All evil, from vicious violence to “innocent” self-righteousness, begins in the mind.

Satan’s most sophisticated “mind games” are reserved for worship assemblies. He convinces us that we are worshipping while we actually are “playing” his “mind game.”

Three events produced the three most significant transitions in human history. Each transition forever altered human reality. In the first, evil became a part of human existence. In the second, forgiveness became available to all humanity. In the third, humanity will appear before Jesus Christ.

Our weekly communion acknowledges all three. We consider the significance of each transition, and we praise God for what He did for us in Jesus’ death.

The power of the Lord’s Supper is mental. It is not perfunctory, habitual, or mechanical. We do not “take communion” merely because we eat the bread and drink the juice. Communion is far more than listening to prayers, eating the bread, and drinking the juice. One can do all three and not commune with God and Christ.

When you participate in communion, do you focus on Jesus Christ, or do you play a “mind game” with Satan? His selection is as diverse as video games. “Distraction,” “criticism,” “daydreams,” “anticipation,” and “impatience” are but a few of his games.

The ultimate communion experience will come when we commune with Jesus in heaven. How we will celebrate! Celebrate what? Jesus’ victorious destruction of evil. Jesus’ marvelous gift of forgiveness. Jesus granting us eternal salvation in heaven. Praise and only praise will fill every mind! May that praise begin here and now!

Do You Prefer Good Habits or Good Hearts?

Posted by David on September 13, 1998 under Sermons

Which would you prefer for a next door neighbor: a person of excellent habits or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a good friend: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a husband or a wife: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a child: a child with excellent habits, or a child with a good heart?

It is wonderful to have a neighbor who conscientiously cares for his property while respecting your property. It is wonderful to have a friend who always treats you with consideration. It is wonderful to be married to a husband who always is thoughtful and courteous, or to a wife who always is gracious in her comments and deeds. It is wonderful to have a son or daughter who shows respect and uses good manners.

As wonderful as those situations are, none of them compare to having a neighbor, a friend, a husband, a wife, a son, or a daughter with a good heart.

When you discuss good behavior, you are discussing the quality of a person’s self-control. When you discuss a good heart, you are discussing the quality of the person.

Can you imagine any person being so arrogant, so vain as to declare that he or she can relate to any person anywhere in the world?
1. Can you believe that anyone would think that he or she could relate to anyone anywhere in the world?
  1. Can the poor relate to the rich?
  2. Can the privileged relate to the deprived?
  3. Can the illiterate relate to the well educated?
  4. Can the successful relate to the oppressed?
  5. If we think about it, really think about it, few of us honestly believe that any person could relate to everyone.
2. Yet, God sent one person to this world to relate to everyone, to be the Savior for everyone, to bond with everyone.
  1. Most of us would say, “Sure Jesus can do that; he is God’s Son.”
    1. We say that because that is what we have been told; “Jesus is the Son of God, and the Son of God can relate to anyone.”
    2. May I ask this question: would not the fact that Jesus is God’s Son make it less likely for him to relate to everyone instead of more likely?
  2. Yet, in a very genuine, real way Jesus does relate to every person–that is one of the true mysteries about Jesus.
    1. A life time of teaching and preaching that has given me the opportunity to share Jesus on three different continents.
    2. I am amazed at the way that people relate to Jesus.
    3. I saw it happen in the life of a witch doctor in African.
    4. I saw it happen in the life of an atheist in Russia.
    5. I saw it happen in the lives of disillusioned college students in Poland.
    6. I have seen it happen among extremely poor persons.
    7. I have seen it happen in highly successful persons.
    8. I have seen it happen with the educationally advanced and with those who have no education.
    9. I have seen it happen in the lives of the abused, the dysfunctional, the addicted, the suffering, and the devastated.
  3. In each case, this is what I have seen–every time a person relates to Jesus, he or she relates to Jesus’ heart.
    1. It is always Jesus’ heart qualities that enable people to relate to him.
    2. People do not relate to Jesus because he was a Jew, or because he was poor, or because he was powerful, or because he was the Son of God, or because he was resurrected.
    3. It is Jesus’ heart that allows people to relate to him.
  4. It is his heart that calls people to him: Matthew 11:28,29.
    Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
    1. Are you tired? Do you have exhausting burdens that crush you?
    2. Come to me; I will give you rest.
    3. “Jesus, how are you going to give me rest?”
    4. You will place yourself under my control by putting on my yoke, and as you wear my yoke you will learn from me.
    5. “Jesus, why would I do that? Yokes are made to burden you, to make you pull burdens. Yokes aren’t made for rest; yokes are made for hard work. Why should I put on your yoke?”
    6. First, carefully note what Jesus did not say.
      1. Put on my yoke because I have the power.
      2. Put on my yoke because I have come from God.
      3. Put on my yoke or I will destroy you.
      4. Put on my yoke because all authority is vested in me.
      5. Put on my yoke because I am the Lord.
    7. Second, carefully note what Jesus did say.
      1. Without fear, put on my yoke because I am gently and humble in heart.
      2. Because of my heart you will find rest from your exhausting burdens.
  5. Jesus’ heart creates an appeal that allows him to relate to all people.
3. The qualities that people most admire about Jesus are always heart qualities.
  1. His meek or unassuming nature.
  2. His compassion.
  3. His mercy.
  4. His forgiveness.
  5. His kindness.
  6. His unselfish, sacrificial nature.
  7. These all are heart qualities.
The person who relates to people with his heart is the person who relates to people by touching their hearts.
1. Jesus’ emphasis on the state and condition of our hearts is clear and profound.
  1. In Matthew 5:8 he declared, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
    1. We commonly stress the fact that a person with an impure heart will not see God in heaven.
    2. While I agree that statement is true, I personally think that Jesus meant something far more than that.
    3. Without a pure heart a person will not perceive the presence of God.
    4. When, surrounded by nature, I watch an incredible sunset, I see God.
    5. An atheist can witness the same sunset at the same place, appreciate the same beauty, but only see a random accident.
  2. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said that the greatest commandment ever given is to love God with all of our heart.
  3. In Matthew 6:11 Jesus observed that our hearts live where our treasures reside.
  4. In Matthew 15:8 he stated that it is an insult to God to praise God with our words while our hearts are far removed from God.
  5. And in Matthew 15:19 he declared that evil thoughts are born in our hearts.
2. Conversion involves the response of the human heart to Jesus.
  1. Becoming a Christian is first and foremost a conversion process.
  2. Logic may play a role in the conversion process of some people, but the core of conversion is not based on intellectual reasoning.
  3. Facts and deductions may play a role in the conversion process of some people, but the core of conversion is not based on the scientific process.
  4. Conversion to Jesus Christ is the response of the human heart to the heart of the Son of God.
3. The book of Acts verifies that heart responses are critical in the conversion process.
  1. In Acts 2 Peter preached to a Jewish audience in the city of Jerusalem.
    1. A number of these listeners either condoned or encouraged Jesus’ crucifixion.
    2. Peter used prophesy, facts, and reasoning to convince these people that the Jesus that they killed was actually God’s Son.
    3. He declared the fact of the resurrection, and declared that by resurrection God made the crucified Jesus both Lord and Christ.
    4. Those who believed Peter “were pricked in their hearts” (Acts 2:37).
      1. Their hearts caused them to cry out asking what they should do.
      2. Their hearts moved them to repentance.
      3. Heart acceptance led them to baptism, to the forgiveness of sin, and to acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord.
  2. In Acts 7 those who rejected Jesus and his resurrection were angry at a Christian named Stephen, and they put him on trial.
    1. As Stephen defended his teachings, he declared that these people murdered God’s Righteous One just as their forefathers had murdered God’s messengers.
    2. Stephen’s statement “cut them in their hearts” (Acts 7:54).
    3. When Stephen said that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, they killed him.
    4. Heart rejection of Jesus moved them to kill Stephen.
  3. In Acts 8 an influential magician named Simon believed and was baptized.
    1. He had been called the Great One because people believed that he had special powers.
    2. When Simon saw the power of the Holy Spirit that Peter and John possessed, he wanted to buy that power.
    3. Peter replied, “Your request to buy God’s power is wicked.”
      1. “In no way are you to be involved in the use of this power.”
      2. “You desperately need to repent of your wickedness and pray for forgiveness.”
    4. Peter did not say, “You are wicked because:”
      1. “You have violated a commandment.”
      2. Or, “You have been disrespectful of authority.”
      3. Or, “Your theology is wrong.”
      4. Or, “Your thinking is evil.”
    5. Peter said, “Your heart is not right. Pray the Lord if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven” (Acts 8:22).
    6. A misguided heart led the baptized Simon back into horrible wickedness.

The person converted to Jesus Christ cannot remain the same person. He or she cannot remain the same person because Jesus’ heart has changed his or her heart.

heart Becoming a Christian is much more than giving up bad habits or learning new behavior patterns. Conversion involves a fundamental change of heart. That is why repentance is essential in conversion. Repentance redirects the heart.

When my heart is touched by Jesus’ heart, I cannot be and will not be the same person. When my heart is changed, I am changed.

In human relationships, if your basis for relationship choices is good habits instead of good hearts, you will experience sorrow and disappointment as long as you live.

When God establishes a relationship with a person, it always is on the basis of a good heart, and never on the basis of good habits.

Do you need guilt destroyed? Give God your heart. Wear the yoke of Jesus Christ. Do you need rest? Come to Jesus.

God, the Father of His Family

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

In Ephesians 3:14, Paul began a written prayer. It opens with this declaration: “I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every (or “the whole”) family in heaven and on earth derives its name . . .”

God is the Father of all in the heavenly realm and all on earth. He created all of us in both realms. He created the opportunity for all of us on earth to come back to the family. Originally, we were part of His family. Through redemption, we again can be in His family. We are family because God is Father.

If we accept the opportunity again to be in God’s family, certain things must happen. We must allow His power to strengthen our inner person through His Spirit. We must let Christ make his home in our hearts through faith. We must be rooted and grounded in love. We must be open to God’s total work in Christ. Our comprehension of the full dimensions of God’s work and purposes in Christ must constantly expand.

We must be able to comprehend. We must know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge. Our goal must be to let God’s fullness fill us.

The state of the American family causes us to groan, lament, and predict dire national consequences. The family problem that concerns us the most is this one. Too many kids control and run the family. Perhaps for much too long the same problem has existed in God’s family. Perhaps we assumed that being Christ’s church meant that the kids run the family. The Father needs to direct God’s family, not the kids.

We desperately need to bow the knees to the Father as we humbly seek His fullness. We must try to comprehend the full dimensions of God’s work in Christ. Our conscious goal must be to be God’s family rather than to run God’s family.

Attending worship assemblies and being God’s family are not identical. Assuming church habits and accepting family commitments are not identical. Being religious and becoming spiritual family are not identical.

Do you want West-Ark to be a great church or to be a great family? Could we be both? Yes! But, becoming a great church is dependent on being an exceptional family.

We love for people to attend our assemblies! Whatever the reason, we love for people to be a part of our worship. But we are committed to being God’s family, and that requires far more than attendance. Be informed! Be involved! Grow spiritually!

When God Has Our Attention

Posted by David on September 6, 1998 under Sermons

A common, challenging difficulty that we all experience on a continual basis is the challenge of getting someone’s attention. At no time is this challenge more demanding or more complicated than at those times when the person is certain that he or she already knows what you want.

“You don’t need my attention. You just think you need my attention. You don’t need to tell me anything. I already know what you want. I’ll take care of it. Don’t annoy me. Don’t force me to stand here and act like I am listening to you. I don’t need to listen because I already understand. What I do not know is not important.”

It deeply frustrates us when we attempt to get the attention of someone who will not listen. Refusing to give attention to things that deserve attention is a human problem. We all are a part of the problem. Nowhere do we create that problem more often than in our relationship with God.

We make it extremely difficult for God to get our attention.

This evening I want us to examine some important lessons to be learned from Elijah’s wilderness experience. We will study from 1 Kings 16:29 through 1 Kings 19.

First, we need to set the context of Elijah’s wilderness experience.
1. In all of this, carefully note Elijah’s faith, commitment, and sacrifice.
2. Elijah was God’s prophet in northern Israel approximately 250 years after the nation of Israel divided.
  1. These events occurred during the reign of King Ahab, who ruled in northern Israel for twenty-two years (1 Kings 16:29).
    1. All the kings of northern Israel were extremely wicked men.
    2. But Ahab was more wicked than all the previous kings (1 Kings 16:30).
    3. He considered it trivial to live in all the sins of the previous kings (1 Kings 16:31).
      1. He married and made queen a non-Israelite, pagan woman named Jezebel.
      2. Through her influence, he built a temple and sacrificial altar for Baal who became the official god of northern Israel.
    4. He did more to provoke God than all the previous kings of Israel (1 Kings 16:33).
3. Northern Israel was so evil that Elijah pronounced a public curse on the nation: it would not rain for a long, indefinite period; there would not even be dew, not until he asked God for the rain to return (1 Kings 17:1).
  1. After that pronouncement, God commanded Elijah to go into hiding and told him where to go.
    1. He hid in the wilderness and at the brook Cherith.
    2. God sent ravens with meat and bread to feed Elijah twice a day.
    3. Can you imagine how lonely that was? Can you imagine his diet? How would you like to eat food that birds brought you as you lived in isolation?
    4. He hid at the brook until the drought dried it up.
    5. Note: Elijah’s pronouncement created suffering for himself.
  2. When the brook dried up, God sent Elijah north to the town of Zeraphath in Sidon where a non-Jewish widow was to care for him.
    1. I find it interesting that Jezebel who killed the Lord’s prophets, and this widow who took care of Elijah, came from the same region.
    2. Elijah saw her as he approached the gate of the city and asked for water.
    3. As she left to get him water, he asked for bread also.
    4. She explained that all she had was a little flour and oil; she was preparing to bake it for her and her child to be their last meal before death.
    5. Elijah asked her to make him a small cake of bread first, and then make one for herself and her child.
    6. He urged her not to fear, because the flour and oil would last until the rain returned.
    7. She did as he requested, and the flour and oil lasted.
    8. Later, her son became ill suddenly and died.
      1. She believed her child died because a holy man lived in her house.
      2. Elijah saw it as an injustice falling on the person who took care of him.
      3. Elijah asked God to restore the child’s life, and God did.
      4. Her response, “I know that you are a man of God, and that God’s word in your mouth is truth.”
After a long period (James 5:17 in the New Testament says it did not rain for three years and six months) God instructed Elijah to go to Ahab to inform him that the rain would return.
1. There were several reasons for Elijah speaking to Ahab.
  1. Ahab searched everywhere for Elijah; he wanted to kill him.
    1. Elijah’s curse stopped the rain.
    2. Ahab believed he could end the curse by killing Elijah.
    3. Ahab needed to know that he had not frightened nor intimidated Elijah.
  2. Ahab also needed to know that it was the Lord of Israel, not Baal, who sent the rain.
  3. This was also to create an occasion for Elijah to challenge Israel to a unique contest.
2. Ahab and his chief servant, Obadiah, divided the territory up to search for water in order to spare Ahab’s livestock.
  1. Though Obadiah was Ahab’s chief servant, Obadiah was totally devoted to the Lord of Israel.
  2. Elijah met Obadiah, and Obadiah greeted him with great respect.
  3. Elijah told Obadiah to bring Ahab to him.
    1. Obadiah knew how desperate Ahab was in his search for Elijah.
    2. He also knew that Elijah appeared and disappeared without a trace.
    3. If he told Ahab that Elijah was there, and if they did not find Elijah when they came, Ahab would be so furious that he would kill Obadiah.
  4. Elijah took an oath that vowed he would be there when Ahab came.
3. Elijah had a contest with four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel.
  1. When Ahab and Elijah met, Elijah said the indecision about who was God in Israel had gone on long enough.
    1. He asked Ahab to gather the heads of the Israelite families and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal (male cult god) and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah (the female cult goddess) at Carmel so the matter could be settled.
    2. Ahab did.
    3. Elijah proposed a contest.
      1. Let them prepare a sacrifice for Baal and he one for the Lord.
      2. Let them ask Baal to consume their sacrifice with fire, and let him ask the Lord to consume his sacrifice with fire.
      3. The fire would prove who was the God of Israel.
      4. The prophets of Baal would have first choice of the sacrificial bulls and first opportunity to call for fire.
    4. They agreed–everything about the contest favored them and their beliefs.
      1. They prepared the sacrifice and went to extreme measures to convince Baal to send fire.
      2. Though they spent most of the day calling to Baal, nothing happened.
      3. Elijah drenched his sacrifice in water, asked God to act, and with one request God sent fire that consumed the sacrifice, the altar, and the water.
      4. Elijah expected this to turn the hearts of Israel back to God (1 Kings 18:37).
      5. The representatives of Israel confessed, “The Lord [they called God by his Israelite name] is God.”
      6. The four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal were executed. (Nothing indicates that the four hundred prophets of the Asherah came.)
    5. Elijah then informed Ahab that rain was coming, and urged Ahab to return to Jezereel quickly before the road became impassable for the chariot.
      1. Elijah ran cross country, and Ahab took the road.
      2. God was with Elijah, and he arrived in Jezreel before Ahab did.
4. When Ahab told Jezebel about what happened at Carmel, she sent word to Elijah that he would die before the next day ended.
  1. Jezebel institutionalized the worship of Baal in northern Israel.
    1. She personally supported the prophets.
    2. They ate at her table.
    3. She was furious.
  2. Elijah was demoralized, defeated, and depressed.
    1. In fear he fled south out of the territory of northern Israel.
    2. He left his servant at Beersheba in Judah.
    3. Then he fled over twenty miles into the wilderness south of Beersheba.
    4. He stopped to sit down under a broom tree, a desert bush that can grow 12 feet high, and asked God to let him die.
    5. He felt like a total failure; he believed that he had accomplished nothing; life had lost its meaning.
    6. He went to sleep.
  3. An angel awakened him to eat food and water prepared for him.
    1. He ate and went back to sleep.
    2. The angel woke him a second time to eat more because he had a long journey, and this is all the food that he would have to sustain him.
  4. After eating the second time, he began a journey of forty days that took him all the way back to Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai.
    1. Moses fled to this same area when he left Egypt (Exodus 3:1).
    2. Israel later camped in this same area to receive the ten commandments (Exodus 18:5).
5. Elijah entered a cave in the mountain.
  1. God asked, “What are you doing here?”
  2. He explained, “I have been zealous for the Lord; the sons of Israel have rejected your covenant; they have torn down your altars; they have executed the prophets; I am the only one left; and they are trying to kill me.”
  3. God told him to go stand at the entrance to the cave; when he did, it was obvious that the Lord was passing by.
    1. Elijah listened for God’s voice as He passed by.
    2. There was an unbelievably strong wind that broke rocks, but God’s voice was not in the wind.
    3. There was an earthquake, but God’s voice was not in the earthquake.
    4. There was fire, but God’s voice was not in the fire.
    5. Then there was a quiet sound of gentle blowing, and God’s voice was there.
    6. And God asked again, “What are you doing here?”
    7. Elijah gave the same answer.
  4. And the voice of God said, “Go back and do the jobs I have for you to do.”
    1. “You are not the only one in northern Israel loyal to me.”
    2. “There are seven thousand there who have not worshipped Baal.”
Please consider several things.
1. Elijah’s dream was to turn northern Israel back to God.
  1. He thought that he had accomplished his dream when he won at Carmel.
  2. When the contest at Carmel changed nothing, he felt like a failure.
  3. He felt like he failed, not because he failed God, but because he did not achieve his expectations.
2. Elijah was a man of incredible faith and sacrifice.
  1. But when he failed to achieve his expectations, his faith turned to fear.
  2. In fear, he became the exact opposite of what he had been in faith.
3. Elijah expected God to cause things to happen that God had not promised.
  1. The evil situation in northern Israel was not as simple as Elijah pictured it.
  2. It was not as simple as proving that God was alive, or as simple as changing worship.
  3. It was not a matter of dramatically demonstrating the power of God.
  4. The problem was created by wicked people with wicked hearts, and that is a very complex matter.
  5. It took far more than facts and power to change hearts.
4. Elijah’s fear exaggerated his false sense of failure.
  1. He was afraid of Jezebel (not four hundred and fifty prophets, Ahab, and the heads of the families of Israel) because he realized nothing had changed.
  2. Because he could not change people, he believed that he had failed.
  3. So with feelings of total defeat, he quit.
5. We are like Elijah–we are convinced that the powerful and dramatic would cause people to accept the facts and worship, and everything would change.
  1. God made it quite clear to Elijah that God’s voice is not found in the dramatic.
  2. In fact, God’s most powerful expressions are not in the dramatic, but in the quiet voice.
  3. It is he who hears the quiet voice that lets God be God.
6. Were I to paraphrase God’s conversation with Elijah, it would be this: “Elijah, what are you doing way out here where it all began with Moses and the rescued slaves of Egypt? I did not ask you to take care of Me. I don’t need you to take care of Me. I am in control of the situation. All I asked you to do is serve me. That is all I want you to do. I will take care of the rest. You are exaggerating the situation. You are not the only one who is loyal to me. Now, go back and do the work I give you to do.”

God got the attention of this dedicated, devout, faith-filled man of God. The only thing Elijah failed was his own agenda, his own expectations.

God meets us in our wilderness to teach us, to get our attention, and to tell us to stop exaggerating. God meets us to tell us that we must stop making our expectations His agenda.

We need to be very careful about being more concerned about accomplishing our agendas as the church than we are about being Christians who serve God.

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