The God Who Does More

Posted by David on December 10, 2000 under Sermons

Teens, if you worked hard and creatively on a school project that was special to you, and a person sabotaged your project, what would you do? From your heart, would you ask the person, “What can I do for you?” If you worked hard to create a healthy dating relationship with someone you really cared about, and a person made him or her believe a lie about you, what would you do? From the heart, would you ask the person, “What can I do for you?” If a person unjustly and unfairly created a serious problem between you and your family, what would you do? From the heart, would you ask the person, “What can I do for you?”

Adults, if you worked hard and creatively on a project at work that was special to you, and a person sabotaged your work, what would you do? From the heart, would you ask the person, “What can I do for you?” If you worked really hard to build a healthy relationship with the man or woman you loved, and a person made the man or woman you loved believe a lie about you, what would you do? From the heart, would you ask the person, “What can I do for you?” If someone outside your family unfairly and unjustly created serious problems within your family, what would you do? From the heart, would you ask the person, “What can I do for you?”

Is your answer, “Don’t be ridiculous! It would be stupid to be kind and considerate to a person who caused you trouble! Anyone who causes that kind of trouble deserves all the consequences they get!”

1. When God created this world, He gave some incredible gifts (Genesis 1, 2).
   1. God not only gave the gift of life, but He gave everything necessary to sustain life in an ideal state.
   2. Included in the gift of life was the special gift of human life.
      1. God did something very special in the gift of human life.
      2. He made men and women unique; no other form of life possessed the qualities of human life.
      3. In fact, God made the first man quite aware that he was different.
         1. The first man viewed all the animals and named them.
         2. As he did so, he realized no animal’s life was like his life.
         3. After that experience, God presented Eve to Adam; her life and his life were the same, ideally suited for companionship.
         4. God designed them to perfectly meet each other’s companionship needs.
         5. In their ideal state their differences perfectly complimented their needs.
      4. God gave them both another gift: an ideal relationship with Him.
         1. They associated with God intimately.
         2. Their relationship with God was without fear, anxiety, terror, or negative consequences.
         3. God was their great friend who loved them.

   3. Then the first man and woman perverted every good gift God gave.
      1. They destroyed their ideal relationship with God.
      2. They destroyed their ideal relationship with each other.
      3. God created everything to be very good.
      4. Evil, through their choice, perverted every good gift God gave in His creation.

   4. However, instead of annihilating them, God gave more.

2. In time evil drained God’s good creation of all its good (Genesis 6:1-8).
   1. People became less and less what God created people to be.
      1. The situation became so evil that there was only evil and no good.
      2. Evil so totally perverted the “good creation” God made that God’s Spirit constantly struggled against people.
      3. People became so evil that they thought no good thought.
      4. Even in their unspoken motives, every intention was evil.

   2. And God was deeply grieved for two reasons.
      1. Every good gift that God gave was destroyed by evil.
      2. People were exactly the opposite of what God created them to be.
      3. That which God made good became a source of intense grief to God.

   3. It is true that people paid the consequences for being evil.
   4. It is also true that instead of annihilating humanity, God gave more.

3. More time passed, and God selected a man named Abraham to begin God’s plan to again introduce ideal good into an evil world (Genesis 12:1-5).
   1. Evidence says God’s selection was not based on Abraham’s goodness.
      1. Joshua 24:15 suggests that Abraham and his forefathers worshipped idols prior to God’s call.
      2. After Abraham chose to follow God, he made some notable mistakes.
         1. When he perceived that he was in danger, he intentionally deceived people about his marriage to Sarah (Genesis 12:10-20).
         2. When years passed and the son God promised was not born, he asked God to accept his solution (Genesis 15:1-6).
         3. When more time passed, he accepted Sarah’s solution which became a disaster (Genesis 16).
      3. Abraham certainly was not perfect, but he always renewed his trust in God after he experienced an occasion of faithlessness.

   2. Though Abraham was not a perfect man, God still did more.

4. Much time passed, and God produced the nation of Israel from the descendants of Abraham and Isaac [the son God promised Abraham].
   1. Abraham’s descendants became slaves in Egypt, not a nation (Exodus 1).
      1. God with incredible, powerful acts rescued these slaves from Egypt (Exodus 7-14).
      2. Even though God did incredible things to reveal his identity to these rescued slaves, the adults rescued from Egypt were a horrible disappointment; they refused to trust God (consider Exodus 17 and 32).
      3. Their faithlessness and sinfulness offended God so deeply that God separated Himself from the adults who left Egypt (Exodus 33:1-3).

   2. But as huge as that disappointment was, God did more.

5. With everything God did for Israel, Israel followed the same decline into evil that people followed long before Israel existed.
   1. Israelites in the period of the judges became increasingly evil (consider Judges 17 – 21).
      1. They forgot God and God’s ways.
      2. Every person did what was right in his own eyes.

   2. Israelites in the period of the kings were deeply idolatrous and offended God through fundamental expressions of faithlessness.
      1. In the united nation of Israel, David was the only bright spot (1 Samuel 8 – 1 Kings 11).
      2. In the divided nation of Israel, there were very few bright spots (1 Kings 11 – 2 Kings)
         1. In the ten tribes who broke away, not one king ever followed or directed people to worship God.
         2. In Judah, very few kings tried to lead the people back to God.

   3. In the periods the prophets were active [they spanned many periods] a forgiving God repeatedly asked Israel to return to him.
      1. In love, He tried to awaken them to the fact that they were destroying themselves.
      2. But on most occasions, they refused to listen.
      3. In most periods, they said they had no problem.
      4. They rejected God and refused to repent.

   4. Israel was a huge disappointment to God in these periods, but God did more.

6. In spite of Israel’s failures, in spite of evil’s reign in the hearts of humanity, in spite of the fact that God’s own people did not know Him, God still sent ideal good back into the world.
   1. God sent His own son as the ideal good (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).
      1. He sent His son to be a living, human example of what it meant to be good.
      2. And God did more.
      3. He sent His son to use his life doing good for undeserving, evil people.
      4. And God did more.
      5. He let His son die for all the evil committed by all people.
      6. And God did more.
      7. He resurrected His son from death to prove that He, God, had the power to resurrect us from our evil and to resurrect us eternally.
      8. And God did more.

   2. God promised and promises that every person who will place his or her trust in His son will be recreated, right now, to live in the good that comes only from God (Ephesians 4:20-24; Colossians 3:9-11).
      1. God does not do that because we are good.
      2. God does that because He is good.
      3. God is the source of all goodness, and the avenue to God’s goodness is Jesus Christ.

   3. And even with all that, God does more. Listen:
      Romans 5:6-10 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
      Romans 8:31-34 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
      Ephesians 2:1-6 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

7. God wants to help us.
   1. If we let him, God will help.
      1. Whatever the mistake, the failure, the addiction, or the evil, God can and will do more.
      2. Consider.
         1. With all that God did in spite of human failure and evil,
         2. With God letting His son leave home,
         3. With God letting His son experience human rejection,
         4. With God letting His son die a horrible death for us,
         5. How can we possibly think that God does not care about us?

   2. For every person who trusts, God does more.
      1. Stop predicting God’s actions, and let God help.
      2. Stop doubting God’s ability to help, and let God help.
      3. Stop creating obstacles for God, and start cooperating with God.

God knows when I am trying to resist evil. God knows when I am lying to myself. God knows when I am faking, just going through the motions.

If we will do what we are capable of doing (trusting, repenting, committing), God will do more.

What Is To Come

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

For many, December is a hectic month! Many are so busy in December, they do no want to think beyond Christmas. A common thought: “If we can only survive until December 26th!” As busy as December is, we [your staff] must be busy planning for 2001. Actually, we were seriously thinking and praying about 2001 months ago.

About three months ago, your staff made serious projections regarding our 2001 work. We seek healthy transition from a work that looks at the immediate [“that’s good; let’s do it soon!”] to a work doing good in ways that increase its future opportunities [today’s good create building blocks for tomorrow]. A 2001 calendar for many planned events was printed recently on the back page of What’s Happening At West-Ark.

What is the goal? Actually, the major goal exists in 2002. We hope to interact with the Fort Smith community in a major outreach in 2002. To prepare for that, we want to increase the effectiveness of our outreach and influence in the Fort Smith area. Our primary objective is to use Jesus’ person and teachings to touch [constructively] the lives of people in the Fort Smith population area. We ask Jesus to guide us in helpfully ministering to lives and families. He is the master. He can help “the unhelpable.”

Fort Smith is a religious city. Church buildings and worship sites are everywhere. Yet, about fifty percent of the people in our population area are not religiously active. They do not worship once a month anywhere. Many struggle alone against the emptiness and void. Many have neither purpose in life nor objectives for living. They merely exist.

We want to move from the sorrowful head shake (“isn’t that sad”) to proactive outreach. We want to share Jesus’ hope, God’s promises, and eternal purposes. We want to be a powerful, positive force for God in this population area. We want Jesus to do through us what he came, died, and was resurrected to do.

Desire is not enough to make that happen. If we move from sorrowfully gazing at the need to introducing people to God’s hope, forgiveness, and direction provided in Christ, several things must happen. These happenings rest on a foundation of three things.

(1) We place our faith in God’s power. If we love and serve as Christ wants, God can and will touch and change hearts [including our own!]

(2) We must trust God’s use of us. It takes more than “motivational lessons” to build confidence. As a congregation, we must trust the truth that God can and will work through each of us.

(3) We must believe God will address peoples’ needs in ways that exceed our comprehension. We do not have all the answers to the complex problems evil creates in the lives of people. Yet, we trust God’s grace, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness to minister to the heart of any person cleansed by Jesus’ blood.

“It’s the Heart” (part 2)

Posted by David on December 3, 2000 under Sermons

This evening I want to make one point. It is my prayer that you understand that one point better than ever. It is my prayer that you cannot stop thinking about your deeper understanding. It is my prayer that your understanding will mature you spiritually.

The one point: a primary reason for David being a man after God’s own heart is found in David’s trust in God.

I am confident that to those present this point is not impressive. I am confident a common reaction would be, “Certainly! God’s people trust him! That is what being godly is all about–trusting God!” I am also confident that many of us do not understand what it means to trust God. David’s trust in God shakes our faith to the core. David is a person in the Bible who demonstrated what it means to trust God.

1. To understand David’s trust in God, we need to begin with the first king of Israel, Saul.
   1. We need to remember that God Himself picked Saul to be Israel’s king.
      1. God told Samuel whom to anoint (1 Samuel 9:15,16).
      2. Samuel told Saul that his anointing to be king was from the Lord (1 Samuel 10:1)
      3. God gave Saul a changed heart (1 Samuel 10:9).
      4. Yet, with all God did for Saul, Saul chose a course as king that deeply disappointed God.

   2. We also need to remember that God rejected Saul and took the kingdom away from Saul’s descendants (1 Samuel 15).
      1. In the mission that God gave Saul to destroy the Amalekites, Saul totally disappointed God.
         1. Saul’s concept of obedience and God’s concept of obedience were fundamentally different.
         2. Saul’s concept of honoring God dishonored God.
         3. God made it very clear that acts of worship are never a substitute for surrendering to His will.
      2. God rejected Saul as Israel’s suitable king because Saul was not trustworthy; God could not depend on Saul.

2. God through Samuel anointed David to be the next king of Israel (1 Samuel 16).
   1. David understood what Samuel’s anointing meant, and on that day David powerfully received God’s Spirit (1 Samuel 16:13).
   2. David’s interaction with Saul after that day strikes us as strange.
      1. Saul suffered from bouts of deep depression, anger, and foul moods.
         1. David played the harp for Saul to soothe Saul’s troubled moods.
         2. Even though Saul made attempts to kill David, David still played for him.
      2. When David’s military accomplishments caused Saul to become extremely jealous, David was still loyal and trustworthy to Saul.
         1. When Saul made attempts to have David killed, David took no retaliation against Saul.
         2. When Saul forced David to leave his wife and family and flee to the wilderness to escape death, David took no retaliation against Saul.
         3. When Saul had the priests, their wives, their children, and their livestock at Nob killed because one priest gave David food, David made no attempt to retaliate against Saul.
         4. When Saul’s elite military forces chased David and his men in the wilderness as though they were wild animals, David made no attempt to retaliate against Saul.
      3. Why? David trusted God.

   3. There are two specific incidents that reveal what trusting God meant to David.
      1. The first incident is recorded in 1 Samuel 24.
         1. Saul took 3000 elite soldiers into the wilderness of Engedi to find and destroy David and his men.
         2. In one place, there was a huge cave; David and his men hid in the cave.
         3. Saul went inside the cave to answer the nature’s call and evidently laid aside his robe while he relieved himself.
         4. This presented David with the perfect opportunity to kill Saul.
         5. David refused to kill him, and he refused to permit his men to kill Saul.
         6. David did quietly cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, but he felt guilty for doing that.
         7. When Saul dressed and left the cave, at some distance away David called to him, and respectfully bowed.
         8. “I could have killed you, but I did not.”
         9. Listen to David’s reason:
            1. Verse 10: “I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.”
            2. Verse 12: “My hand will not be against you.”
            3. Verse 13: “My hand will not be against you.”
         10. In our words, “God placed you in your position; God will remove you from your position; but that is God’s decision, not mine, and God will care for it.”
         11. “I refuse to undo what God did.”
      2. The second incident is found is 1 Samuel 26.
         1. This time Saul took 3000 elite soldiers to the wilderness of Ziph to destroy David and his men.
         2. David had spies watch Saul’s movements, and David knew where Saul made camp.
         3. David watched as the entire camp went to sleep.
         4. Saul was sleeping in the center of the camp (formed in a circle).
         5. David and Abishai slipped to the center of camp and stood with Saul at their feet.
         6. Abishai wanted to kill Saul with a single thrust of his spear, but David would not permit it.
         7. Instead, they took Saul’s spear and water jug some distance away from the sleeping camp.
         8. From a safe distance, David woke up the camp and condemned Abner, the captain of the solders, for not protecting Saul.
         9. Saul clearly understood that David could have killed him.
         10. Why did David not kill him?
             1. David said no one could stretch out their hand against God’s anointed without guilt.
             2. God made Saul king, and God would determine when Saul should stop being king.
             3. But it would be God’s decision, not David’s.
             4. David trusted God.

3. To those of you who have been serious Bible students for years, there is nothing new in anything I shared.
   1. You have known those facts and situations for many years.
      1. However, we may fail to see the lesson about trusting God if all we do is know the facts.
      2. It is not enough to know and appreciate the facts.

   2. Perhaps the only way we can open our eyes to the lesson about trust is to examine the situation in contrast.
      1. Here is a man who:
         1. Knew beyond question that God selected him to be king.
         2. Saw the evil of the current king, saw his ungodliness in the nation.
         3. Knew the king had destroyed God’s priests and their families.
         4. Knew the king was an evil influence in the nation.
         5. Knew that he, himself, would not lead the nation into evil.
         6. Had his life placed in great jeopardy because of this man, lived in misery, and was unjustly separated from his family and friends.
      2. Here is a man who had the opportunity to correct or avenge all of those situations on more than one occasion.
      3. Yet, he refused to do it because he trusted God.
         1. Because he trusted God he would not make himself king.
         2. Because he trusted God he would not remove Saul as an evil influence in Israel.
         3. Because he trusted God he would not avenge the deaths of the priests by killing the evil Saul.
         4. Because he trusted God he would not relieve the misery this evil man caused him by killing Saul.

   3. Many of us would classify David’s refusal to kill Saul as stupidity, not as trusting God.
      1. Our reasoning:
         1. “Obviously, God intends me to be king.”
         2. “Obviously, God is disgusted with Saul.”
         3. “Obviously, God has commissioned me to solve the problem–the man is evil, he killed the priest, and the nation would be much better off if he were dead.”
         4. “Obviously, the man is trying to kill me; if he succeeds what God intends cannot happen; it is the will of God that I kill the man.”
      2. That is not the reasoning of a man after God’s own heart.
         1. Was David a military man? Yes.
         2. Had David killed people to defend God’s honor? Yes.
         3. Did David use violence to destroy the enemies of Israel? Yes.
         4. But David trusted God to remove Saul as king when God wished to do so.
         5. David did not “reason” himself into acting by “assuming he was the instrument of God’s will.”
         6. David trusted God to take care of His own business, and removing Saul from the throne was God’s business–not David’s.
      3. David trusted God instead of justifying himself.
      4. That is the primary reason David’s heart had special value to God.

One of the most difficult characteristics of godliness is trusting God. It is much too simple to classify our decisions as God’s will. It is much too easy to substitute our justifications for trusting God.

What If …

Posted by David on under Sermons

This morning I want to share some thoughts with each person who considers himself or herself a Christian. If you regard yourself a Christian, I am sharing with you. I want to begin by asking for God’s presence in a special, powerful way.

[Prayer: “God, my prayer is very simple. Do what You always have done among Your people. Shake us up. Trouble our minds. Knock the crust off our hearts. Help us wake up and repent.”]

November and December are difficult months for me personally. It is a time of enormous joy, and a time of incredible agony. There are many contributing reasons. One primary source of the agony is what I see happening in people’s lives. Sometimes the pain I see threatens to overwhelm me.

November and December highlight two devastating realities. The first reality involves Christians who live by the “it doesn’t matter” philosophy. In their choices, they commonly say, “It doesn’t matter.” In their behavior, they commonly say, “It doesn’t matter.” In their pleasures, they commonly say, “It doesn’t matter.” In their entertainment, they commonly say, “It doesn’t matter.” Then November and December come and unmask crises. Then, in naive ignorance, Christians in crisis ask, “What’s wrong, God? We go to church.”

The second reality involves Christians who are certain they have the answers. “I know how to produce the right religious results! I know what makes marriages successful! I know what works in rearing children! I know what works in the universal church! I know what works in a congregation! I know the rules, I know the priorities, I know the objectives–just plug my system in and let it rip!”

Then November and December reveal moral tragedies and relationship tragedies among Christians. And we are astounded by the fact that (a) our answers are not working (b) our system is ineffective.

1. I receive great spiritual blessings when I learn how to examine Bible teachings and situations through “then eyes” instead of “now eyes.
   1. Learning how to study with “then eyes” is a never ending process.
      1. Often it is not fun, but always produces rich spiritual blessings.
      2. It is never fun to learn that your focus and understanding are flawed.
      3. It is always a powerful blessing to come closer to God.

   2. May I encourage you to look at a situation with “then eyes” instead of “now eyes?” The situation is found in Matthew 11:2-6.
      Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
      1. The situation: Herod the tetrarch placed John in prison because John condemned him for taking his brother Philip’s wife (Matthew 14:1-12).
         1. Luke 1:5-25 and 57-66 inform us that John was conceived through a special act of God and was born to serve a special mission for God.
         2. Matthew 3:1-12, Mark 1:2-11, and Luke 3:2-20 inform us that John was a powerful evangelistic force in Israel as he prepared the people’s hearts and minds for Jesus.
      2. This is the way that I always looked at John’s question from prison:
         1. God gave John a special mission before his birth.
         2. As an adult, John was a powerful preacher in Israel.
         3. John was imprisoned and could no longer preach to the multitudes.
         4. In the isolation of prison, John wondered, “Did I accomplish the job God gave me to do?”
         5. So he sent disciples to ask Jesus if Jesus was the person John was to introduce to the people of Israel.

   3. When you use the “then eyes” to look at Bible teachings, you ask questions. The question I ask you to consider is a “what if” question.
      1. John 1:29 plainly states that before Jesus’ ministry, John recognized Jesus’ true identity and presented Jesus to his disciples as “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
      2. John 1:32 plainly states that the Holy Spirit confirmed to John that his identification was right.
      3. What if confusion caused John to ask his question?
         1. What if Jesus’ work and actions confused John?
         2. At the time of conception (not birth), the angel Gabriel informed Mary that Jesus would sit on King David’s throne, and that he would rule the descendants of Jacob forever in an endless kingdom.
         3. In his ministry, Jesus did not look or act like a king.
         4. Jesus demonstrated no desire to be political.
         5. Jesus was to be God’s sacrificial lamb and to achieve God’s purposes by using methods and an approach neither used nor seen in Israel.
      4. What if John asked, “Are you the right person?” because he did not understand what was happening?
         1. What if John’s question was not primarily produced by his prison experience?
         2. What if his question came from the fact that he could not understand Jesus’ actions?
            1. Jesus was attracting multitudes.
            2. But Jesus was making no move toward the throne of Israel.
         3. What if Jesus was not causing to happen what John thought should happen?

   4. I think Jesus’ answer provides us powerful insights.
      1. Instead of explaining what he was doing, instead of saying, “Yes, John, I am the man,” Jesus quoted from Isaiah and told John’s disciples to report that they saw and heard to John.
         1. The Isaiah statements Jesus sent to John come from Isaiah 35:5 following and Isaiah 61:1.
         2. The context of Isaiah 35:5 is God’s promise to restore Israel, and the context of Isaiah 61:1 is the restoration of Israel’s relationship with God.
      2. This is Jesus’ message to John (Matthew 11:5,6).
         “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
         1. Had ever the blind received sight, the lame walked, the lepers receive cleansing, and the deaf heard as had occurred in Jesus’ ministry?
         2. Had ever the poor had God’s good news preached to them in Israel? No!
         3. Were devoutly religious people taking offense at Jesus? Yes!
         4. What if Jesus was saying to John, “You may not understand what is happening, but what is happening is what God intended to happen.”
      3. One truth is clearly evident: God did the unexpected in the birth and life of John; God did the unexpected in the birth and life of Jesus; and God did the unexpected in presenting the gospel.

   5. Throughout Israel’s existence, Israelites placed their faith in the system.
      1. Obviously, Jesus was not the system.
      2. Jesus declared, “Place your faith in God, not in the system.”
      3. “The gospel is not found in your system; the gospel is found in God’s son.”

2. Please think about some insights that we Christians need to understand.
   1. The gospel’s power is not found in a religious system; it is found in a Savior, the son of God, God’s sacrificial lamb.
      1. Haven’t we learned that the realities of spiritual existence in an evil world cannot be addressed by a system?
         1. You and I will never be rescued from evil by a system.
         2. Systems control, label, and condemn.
         3. Systems destroy hope by focusing on failure.
         4. Systems declare it is all up to us; systems declare it is a matter of human performance.
         5. Nothing is as lifeless, as empty of mercy and compassion, as unforgiving as a controlling religious system.
      2. Haven’t we understood that spiritual existence in an evil world is possible only through a Savior?
         1. God’s Savior can rescue us from anything.
         2. God’s Savior destroys human failure.
         3. God’s Savior guides instead of controls, releases instead of labels, and frees instead of condemns.
         4. God’s Savior destroys failure by giving hope.
         5. God’s Savior says, “I did for you what you can never do for yourself.”
         6. God’s Savior is the source of life, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.

3. I want to share a personal conclusion; it is the result of over forty years of Bible study, working with Christians in crisis, and being in crisis.
   1. I fully understand this is my personal conclusion.
      1. I fully understand that many will not agree with my conclusion.
      2. I fully understand that your agreement makes me neither correct or incorrect.
      3. I fully understand that I am no more than a human, and not inspired.
      4. This is from me to you; think and use God’s wisdom.

   2. My conclusion: I find enormous irony in the fact that fifty years ago the system we believed would establish faith and stabilize godliness is, today, destroying faith and making godliness look ridiculous.
      1. Some of our own Christian adults take that system and justify anything they wish to justify, “There is nothing wrong with X. The Bible does not condemn that.”
      2. Because of the system, some of our own Christian adults look at the godless forces devastating our marriages and destroying our homes and say, “Don’t be ridiculous! That is perfectly harmless! There is no way that is the cause!”
      3. Some of our own children use the system to declare, “That is not evil! That is good! My friends aren’t evil, and they do that. It is not an evil influence! It does not hurt anybody! Besides, its fun!”

4. This one simple thing grieves me deeply: we produced a lot of people in the church who know volumes about the rules and regulations of the system; we produced too few people in the church who have a genuine, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
   1. When someone with love and concern tries to awaken us to the obvious, it is too easy to react rather than think.
   2. We watch too many of our teens abandon faith, too many of our young adults justify unspiritual lifestyles, too many of our marriages fail, too many of our homes become hollow shells, and too many of our brothers and sisters in Christ trade spiritual existence for being religious.
   3. What happened? Why can we be more concerned about being religious than being holy? Why can we be more concerned about technicalities than godliness? Why can we be more concerned about self-justification than purity?

What if God sent you, personally, a messenger. The messenger said, “I understand that the West-Ark congregation exists to be God’s community. What in the West-Ark congregation says to you that the congregation is seriously dedicated to God’s purposes?” You had to give an answer. What would you say?

Would you say, “Those blinded by evil see. Those made lame by ungodliness walk. Those who had the leprosy of sin are cleansed. Those who were deaf to God hear. The spiritually dead are made alive in Christ. We share the good news of Jesus with the poor. And Jesus never offends us.”

Is that happening in your life? Has your blindness turned to sight? Do you walk in righteousness? Are your sins cleansed? Has your deafness become hearing? Have you been raised to life in Jesus? Do you share Jesus with the poor? Does Jesus never offend you?

Looking Ahead

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

For many this is a joyful time. Family get-togethers and reunions with friends bring special joys to those celebrating the renewal of relationships. November and December provide “time” for such celebrations. Many long to be with family or special friends throughout the year. But … life’s daily demands in a society fueled by over-commitment rarely provide opportunity.

While for many it is a time of joy, others find it a time of intense loneliness. Intense loneliness comes to a person separated from family or friends he or she would love to see. A wide variety of “causes” keep some families apart. It is difficult to watch others enjoy their families when he or she cannot be with his or her own.

Intense loneliness comes to a person who lost a family member or special friend. For people who lost someone to death, the void is enormous. The emptiness can be overwhelming. An irreversible transition occurred, and everything about this season painfully reminds him or her of the loss.

Intense loneliness comes to a person who experienced marital separation or divorce. The season makes rejection’s wound raw and sore. “Part time” visits with your own children are bitter-sweet. The silent questions will not stop: “What is wrong with me? Why can I not be loved? Why was I rejected?” It is not merely being alone. It is the void created by absence of relationship.

Intense loneliness can come to the person who paid the prices to “become healthy” by escaping the sickness of a seriously dysfunctional family. One of recovery’s prices is awareness of things that never existed. Accepting “things that never existed” is painful. Accepting the cost of sick relationships in one’s family of origin can be agonizing.

Thanksgiving day forty-three of us shared the joys of meal and friendship in the Family Life Center. For a variety of reasons, many of us could not be with our families. We enjoyed being family for each other.

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve occur on Sundays. Our usual 6 p.m. assembly is scheduled Christmas Eve. On New Year’s Eve, we will meet (6 p.m.) in the Family Life Center to praise God. After praise, our elders will share some personal encouragement. Everyone, please bring finger foods that evening. After our elders share, we will enjoy a finger food fellowship. Jerry and Meg Canfield, Ron and Debbie Belote, Curtis and Jean Jackson, and Mike and Missy Blasdel will host a New Year’s Eve gathering for those who wish to stay. Anyone may stay or may leave to attend personal plans made for the evening.

May we be sensitive to everyone! Love from caring is powerful! Everyone has worth!

What Is the Purpose of Life?

Posted by David on November 26, 2000 under Sermons

Some questions always have the potential of starting a challenging, thought provoking discussion. Always have that potential? Yes, always. How can any question always have the potential of producing a challenging, thought provoking discussion?

First, the question is relevant to every person’s life. Any person who asks the question must answer the question. A person can choose to ignore the question, but no one can say the question does not concern his or her life

Second, everybody has an answer to the question. Everyone has a viewpoint, and their viewpoint is the foundation of their answer. That viewpoint might be specific, or it might be general, but every person has one.

Third, each person considers his or her answer to be important. He or she holds his or her viewpoint for a reason. That reason is personally important.

“Can you give us an example of that kind of question?” I am glad you asked! I surely can. My example: what is the purpose of life? You might want to qualify your answer, but I guarantee you that you have an opinion, a viewpoint, an answer. I would be surprised if one older teenager or one adult present could honestly say, “I have never thought about that question.” If you thought about it, you have an opinion.

1. I want you to consider three New Testament situations and ask yourself what all three had in common.
   1. The first situation involved Mary, Jesus’ mother, when she learned about her conception (Luke 1:29-38).
      1. God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, Galilee to inform an engaged virgin named Mary that she would conceive a child while a virgin, before she married.
         1. Gabriel greeted her: “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
         2. That greeting deeply disturbed Mary; she did not understand it.
         3. Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”
            1. “You will conceive a son and name him Jesus when he is born.”
            2. “This son will be a great person; he will be called the son of the Most High; and God will place him on David’s throne where he will rule over Jacob’s descendants forever in an endless kingdom.”
            3. Mary answered, “I don’t see how that is possible. I am a virgin.”
            4. Gabriel answered, “It is possible because the Holy Spirit and God will cause it to happen, and the son born will be called God’s Son.”
            5. As an evidence, Gabriel informed Mary that Elizabeth, an older relative, was pregnant (for the first time). He said, “Nothing will be impossible for God.”
      2. Mary’s response: “I am God’s servant. Be it done to me according to your word.”
      3. What an incredible response! “I am God’s servant. If God wants me to be an unmarried, pregnant virgin and have a special son, let it happen to me.”

   2. The second situation involved the son Elizabeth conceived (Luke 1:8-25).
      1. This time Gabriel appeared to the elderly priest, Zachariah.
         1. He was offering incense in the temple when an Gabriel appeared.
         2. Fear gripped Zachariah when he saw Gabriel.
         3. Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid; your petition to God has been heard, and your wife will have a son whom you are to name John.”
         4. “You and many others will rejoice when he is born.”
         5. “He will be an unusual child; before birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit; he will never drink an alcoholic drink; and he will cause many people in Israel to return to God.”
         6. “He will prepare Israel to receive someone special.”
      2. Zachariah said, “My wife and I are old. How do I know this will happen?”
         1. Gabriel responded, “God send me to bring you this good news.”
         2. “Since you do not trust this news, you will not speak until John is born.”
      3. John was born and became an unusual preacher.
         1. He lived in the wilderness; he wore crude clothes; and he ate crude food; he never used alcohol; he never cut his hair–we would see nothing physically appealing about John.
         2. But he perhaps was the most powerful, convicting preacher Israel ever knew.
         3. Thousands came to the wilderness to hear him; thousands repented; and thousands were baptized.
         4. Jesus once said that no one ever physically born was greater than John (Matthew 11:11).
      4. In today’s terminology, John was weird and lived a very basic, difficult life.

   3. The third situation had to do with the Christian Paul.
      1. Prior to his conversion to Jesus Christ, Paul was a violent, dedicated enemy of Christians.
      2. He organized the persecution and arrest of Christians.
      3. He did everything in his power to destroy the church.
      4. As he was on his way to another country (Syria) to arrest Jewish Christians in Damascus and return them as prisoners to Jerusalem, he met the resurrected Jesus Christ (Acts 9).
         1. Years later Paul explained what happened that day when he discovered Jesus really was the Christ.
         2. This is what he remembered Jesus saying to him:
            (Acts 26:16-18) “But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
         3. From that moment Paul’s life was never the same: the persecutor of Christians became the persecuted Christian.
         4. He endured incredible suffering for Jesus and for Christians.

   4. What do those three situations have in common?
      1. All three incidents provide a powerful answer to our question, “What is the purpose of life?”
         1. Why was a virgin willing to be pregnant when she knew how people would react to her pregnancy?
         2. Why was a preacher willing to live a strange life in the wilderness when God gave him an enormously important people mission?
         3. Why was the persecutor of Christians willing to become a persecuted Christian?
      2. The answer is to be found in their common understanding of life’s purpose.

2. So I ask you, what is the purpose of life?
   1. There are many, many different answers to that question, but you have one of them.
      1. Some say life has no purpose: you live and die, and that is all there is to life.
      2. Some say life’s purpose is to survive: whatever you need to do in your situation to survive, do it.
      3. Some say life’s purpose is centered in “me:” my happiness, my pleasure, my success, my desires, my future.
      4. Some say the purpose of life is your family: whatever you need to do for the good of your family, do it.
      5. Some say the purpose of life is seen in your heirs: the purpose of everything you do is found in what you pass on to your family when you die.

   2. Genesis informs us that human life began perfectly connected to God.
      1. At some point, evil [through deception] was invited into human existence, and, at that moment, Satan disconnected people from God.
      2. Not only did evil break our prefect connection will God, but it also totally perverted our world.
         1. Our relationship with God was perverted.
         2. Our human relationships were perverted.
         3. Our marriage relationships were perverted.
         4. The home was perverted.
         5. Sex was perverted.
      3. In that perversion:
         1. Innocence become fear.
         2. Love became injustice.
         3. Purity became guilt.
         4. Trust became cynical doubt.
         5. Openness became deceit.
      4. Do you want to see the perversion?
         1. When God presented Eve to Adam for the first time, Adam said, (Genesis 2:23) “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Awe, appreciation, gratitude, acceptance! Adam knew Eve was a unique gift from God!
         2. Do you remember the first statement Adam made about Eve after they both surrendered to the deception of evil?
            (Genesis 3:12) The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” The woman, blame, rejection, disclaimer! What a change in perspective!

   3. From the moment evil became a part of the human condition forward, God has had a single objective in people: reconciliation; reconnect people to God.
      1. Mary understood the purpose of life was to serve the purpose of God.
      2. John understood the purpose of life was to serve the purpose of God.
      3. Paul understood the purpose of life was to serve the purpose of God.
      4. They each understood that God’s purposes are bigger than the convenience and the physical existence of the person.
         1. They understood a reality was at stake that was much bigger than they were.
         2. If God could use them to advance His eternal purpose in reconciling people to Himself, may God be glorified in the use of their lives.

   4. What would I give my children?
      1. If I give my children a great education but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      2. If I give my children a wonderful standard of living but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      3. If I give my children a bright future on earth but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      4. If I give my children wealth but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      5. If I give my children great opportunity for success but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      6. No matter what I do, if I fail to open my eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I am nothing.
      7. God’s eternal purposes are enormous when compared to anything in physical existence, and that will be beyond dispute the moment you and I die.

[Prayer: God, help us escape the deceit of this physical existence. Help us understand that Your eternal purposes are bigger than physical life. Help us understand that the greatest thing that could ever happen to us or for us is eternal reconciliation with You.]

I am afraid that we are too much like Lot when God sent angels to help Lot escape the certain destruction of Sodom. The influences of Sodom destroyed Lot’s wife and daughters. They perhaps destroyed Lot also. Nothing in Sodom that was good for Lot. But he thought Sodom was good for him. Lot did not want to leave. Because Lot refused to see the dangers, he lost everything.

Outside God’s purposes, we are the victims of evil and its deceit. Evil tells us the physical is all that matters. We like the physical. We like the indulgence of now. The eternal is an unimportant hypothetical. The physical is real. We are tempted to take our chances with the physical. We don’t see the dangers. And, like Lot, if we live for the physical, we will lose everything.

If you serve God’s purposes, God’s purposes must be bigger than you are, more important than you are. God’s purposes moved Mary to accept pregnancy as a virgin. God’s purposes moved John to live a very strange lifestyle. God’s purposes moved Paul to rejoice in persecution.

What do God’s purposes move you to do? In you, what do God’s purposes have to do with your real purpose in life?

“It’s the Heart” (part 1)

Posted by David on November 19, 2000 under Sermons

Tonight we head into the most peculiar, difficult time of the year for a preacher. From the week before Thanksgiving until the week after New Year nothing is normal in a congregation’s work. First, we have no idea about who will be here for the next six or seven weeks. Second, in this period there is little continuity. As hopefully is evident to you, I prefer for continuity to occupy a significant role in my preaching. I prefer for lessons to build on each other. This may be more obvious on Sunday evenings.

For the remainder of November and much of December, on Sunday evenings I would like for David, the Old Testament King of Israel, to be the basis of that continuity. The central question that will serve as continuity’s foundation is this: “Why did God have such a special appreciation for David?”

1. That question is not as easily answered as you might think.
   1. I suspect the typical answer of most Bible students is rather simple: “God deeply appreciated David because he was a man after God’s own heart.”
      1. That is a good answer if we understand it.
      2. If we understand the answer, we can answer another question: “Why was David a man after God’s own heart?”

   2. From our Christian perspective in our American society, David is a truly strange person to be called a man after God’s own heart.
      1. He was a young shepherd when he was anointed to be Israel’s next king.
         1. That means he spent most of his time alone in the wilderness area with animals.
         2. That means he was not surrounded by people developing people skills, and good kings needed people skills.
         3. He probably was the family shepherd because he was the youngest son in the family–it was not a prized responsibility.
      2. He did not live among the scholars.
         1. He was not called because he was what you and I would consider an Old Testament scholar.
         2. He was not the student of some notable Bible scholar.
         3. He was just a plain, ordinary, little brother shepherd.
      3. Many of us would find his actions distasteful.
         1. When he killed Goliath, the first thing he did was take Goliath’s sword and cut Goliath’s head off (1 Samuel 17:50, 51).
         2. He carried Goliath’s head with him from the battlefield back to the city of Jerusalem as a trophy (1 Samuel 17:54).
         3. He paid the bride price for his first marriage with body parts from two hundred Philistine men that he and his soldiers killed (1 Samuel 18:27).
         4. He had several wives (1 Samuel 18:27; 25:40-43).
         5. One of his sons temporarily drove him from his throne and tried to kill him (2 Samuel 14 and 15).
         6. The ungodly antics of his adult children, which included rape and murder, would have made a great television daytime drama.
         7. He had a man killed in the attempt to cover an act of adultery with the man’s wife (2 Samuel 11).
         8. On at least one occasion he allowed personal pride to control his decision (2 Samuel 24).
      4. How could a man who did such things and had such a family be a man after God’s own heart?
         1. Maybe that designation is a mistake.
         2. Maybe David was a man after God’s own heart as a young man, but not as a king.
         3. Maybe we have glamorized David’s faith and closed our eyes to David’s mistakes.

2. We do not make a mistake when we call David a man after God’s own heart.
   1. For the modern Christian, probably the book of Acts popularized the understanding that David was a man after God’s own heart.
      1. Acts 13:22 After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’
         1. Paul was speaking to an audience in Antioch of Pisidia on his first missionary journey.
         2. He was recalling some of the high points of Israel’s history.
         3. He noted that God removed Saul from being king and placed David as king because David was a man after God’s own heart, a man who would do God’s will.
         4. Paul went on to say that Jesus Christ was a descendant of David.
      2. When Stephen preached his sermon in the Jewish court, he laid the foundation for the point of his sermon by using Israel’s history.
         1. Acts 7:46 David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
            1. Stephen referred to David as a person who “found favor in God’s sight.”
            2. God permitted David to plan for the construction of the temple because of his special relationship with God.
      3. While the book of Acts popularized David being the man after God’s own heart for the modern Christian, that was the common understanding and perception of godly Jews who lived after David.
         1. Paul reflected an accepted understanding among the Jews who lived outside of Palestine.
         2. Stephen reflected an accepted understanding among the Jews who lived in Jerusalem.

   2. From the beginning of God’s special relationship with David, the emphasis was on the fact that David’s heart belonged to God.
      1. When King Saul became such a grave disappointment to God, God took the rule of Israel from the lineage of Saul’s descendants. His sons would not inherit his throne.
         1. 1 Samuel 13:14 “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
      2. When Samuel was sent to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king of Israel, as he looked at Jesse’s sons, God reminded Samuel that God looks at the heart.
         1. 1 Samuel 16:6,7 When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
      3. David’s heart relationship with God became the high standard for the kings of Judah.
         1. 1 Kings 8:17,18 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.
            1. King Solomon made this statement about his father, King David.
            2. It was in David’s heart to build the temple.
            3. Because it was in David’s heart, God was honored by David’s heart desire.
         2. 1 Kings 9:1-5 Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'”
            1. Solomon’s future as Israel’s successful king depended on living before God in “integrity of heart and uprightness” as did his father David.
            2. If Solomon did that, his sons would rule Israel.
         3. 1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
            1. Solomon failed as King in his old age.
            2. His wives turned his heart away from God to idols.
            3. His heart was not wholly devoted to God as was David’s heart.
         4. 1 Kings 15:1-5 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, like the heart of his father David. But for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
            1. Abijam failed as Judah’s king because his heart was not wholly devoted to God as was David’s.
            2. David did what was right in God’s sight his whole life except in the incident of Uriah.
            3. David’s obedience came from his heart.
         5. For the kings of Judah, the standard for devotion to God and obedience was David’s heart.

3. What was it about David that made his relationship with God a special heart relationship?
   1. That is the question that we will examine the next few weeks.
   2. I want to begin with a lesson that I hope is obvious in what we examined tonight.
      1. Being a person after God’s own heart does not depend on perfection.
      2. David was not a perfect man.
      3. No person is perfect before God.
      4. Obviously, imperfect people can be people who have a special heart relationship with God.
      5. Two things will be true of anyone who has that special heart relationship with God.
         1. They are wholly committed to God’s will as a person.
         2. Their heart is revealed through their commitment and their obedience.
            1. A person can obey God without giving God his or her heart.
            2. But no person can give his or her heart to God and refuse to obey God.

Tonight the issue is not, “Are we perfect.” No one is, and no one can be. The issue is, “Does your heart belong to God?” Is that your desire? Is that your choice? If God was on a mission to select a man or woman after his own heart for a special use, would God select you because of your heart?

Our Dream Society

Posted by David on under Sermons

I want to begin by reading from a New Testament translation called The Message, a modern English translation. My purpose is simple: I want you to hear Paul’s thoughts in familiar words. The reading begins in Colossians 2:6. [Certainly, you may read from your translation. But I encourage you to listen and to read from the screen.]

“My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

“Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spiritual beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.”

1. Can you picture your concept of the ideal society?
   1. Describe the ideal society that you would like for your family.
      1. There would be no divorce, no broken homes, no single parent homes, no hostile marriage relationships.
      2. Husbands would genuinely love and respect their wives, and wives would genuinely love and respect their husbands.
         1. Men and woman would come from loving homes and understand how husbands and wives should treat each other.
         2. Men and woman would possess good relationship skills and learn to build relationships of trust.
         3. Men and women would know how to be open and honest in their marriages; their relationships would use good communication.
      3. No alienated children, abused children, rejected children, lonely children, or unloved children would exist.
      4. Every child would know that he or she was loved, wanted, appreciated, and valued for who he or she was.
         1. Parents would be friends as well as parents.
         2. Every child would know that both Mom and Dad were there for them, and that Mom and Dad would love them even when they made mistakes.
      5. People in general would know how to love, how to be compassionate, how to show mercy, and how to be understanding.
         1. No hate, violence, or dangers created by society would exist.
         2. Because crime and injustice did not exist, no one would be afraid.
      6. You would not have to worry about protecting your property.
         1. You could be a good neighbor without hesitation.
         2. You could help a stranger without being nervous.
         3. No one would take advantage of anyone.
         4. Everyone honored honesty, integrity, and character.
         5. You could trust what you heard and never be hurt.

   2. We could continue, but is that enough to describe your dream society?
      1. While we understand such societies will never exist (and never have), I think all of us would agree that would be a dream society.
      2. Would you like to live in such a society?
         1. I would!
         2. Wherever that place existed, that would be a great place to live, to work, to be married, and to raise children.

2. Now I want to ask the hard question: if all those conditions existed, would those situations make it a Christian society?
   1. No.
      1. It takes more than successful marriages to make a society Christian.
      2. It takes more than stable homes and good parent-child relationships to make a society Christian.
      3. It takes more than people knowing how to treat each other with respect, compassion, and mercy to make a society Christian.
      4. It takes more than destroying hate, violence, prejudice, crime, and fear to make a society Christian.
      5. It takes more than good neighbors and kindness to strangers to make a society Christian.
      6. If you doubt what I am saying, let me illustrate its truth.
         1. From the 1940s to the 60s in this society people knew nothing about the dangers of tobacco.
         2. Nothing was known about the links between tobacco use and cancer, heart trouble, or emphysema.
         3. Commonly, when people gathered, there was a cloud of tobacco smoke.
            1. If you went to a high school basketball game, the cloud of tobacco smoke filled the gym–so heavily it burned nonsmokers’ lungs.
            2. In restaurants, nonsmoking sections did not exist, and the cloud of tobacco smoke could hang heavy.
            3. No smoking facilities and no smoking zones did not exist.
            4. One of the difficult experiences of airplane travel was enduring the tobacco smoke.
         4. People smoked on television, people smoked in the movies, people smoked everywhere.
         5. Cigarette ads were everywhere, and tobacco companies had broad sponsorships. [Do you older folks remember, “Call for Philip Morris” and the Lucky Strike ads?
         6. If the people living then heard about today’s restrictions on tobacco use, no one would have believed it.
         7. What did Jesus Christ have to do with the change? Nothing.
            1. I am well aware of the stance the church took against smoking.
            2. I am also well aware that the men used the break between Bible classes and worship to go smoke.
            3. The enormous opposition against tobacco products in our society has nothing to do with faith in Jesus Christ; it is based on health concerns.
      7. The great sexual revolution in America began in the 1960s.
         1. That complex evolutionary process included opposition to the Vietnam war, rejection of religion, and the rejection of past marriage customs.
         2. It accelerated at an incredible pace.
         3. Moral warnings and cautions were not a serious issue in society at large.
         4. Then AIDS exploded on the scene of homosexuality and promiscuous sexual activity.
            1. And things changed when the AIDS crisis exploded on the American scene from 1979 to 1981.
            2. Did sexual morality have anything to do with putting the brakes on? No
            3. Did faith in Christ have anything to do with putting the brakes on? No.
            4. The fear of a disease that ended in almost certain death put the brakes on for a while, and reshaped sexual behavior.
            5. It has nothing to do with faith in Christ, but with physical health concerns.
         5. You doubt it? What do you think would happen if a proven vaccine protecting against AIDS was released within the next twelve months?

3. I want to share a thought with you for you to consider. I do not ask you to agree with me; I just ask you to think.
   The thought: the church is more concerned about its desire to control society than it is about building faith in Jesus Christ.
   1. Christians are very concerned about social issues and laws.
      1. We want to control the behavior of people in society who are not Christians.
         1. We believe Christian behavior is good for society.
         2. So we want to control society “for its own good.”
         3. Our desire is basically selfish–we want our children to grow up in a good social climate.
            1. Is that wrong? No.
            2. My point is not that it is wrong to want a good moral environment.
            3. My point is that our desires often have little to do with faith in Christ or God’s eternal purposes.
      2. Will proper faith in Christ have a positive impact on society? Absolutely!
         1. Will it influence people to be more compassionate, kind, merciful, and forgiving? Absolutely!
         2. Will it improve marriages? Absolutely!
         3. Will it stabilize homes? Absolutely!
         4. Will it improve situations and conditions for children? Absolutely!
         5. Will it improve the way people treat people? Absolutely!

   2. However, there is an enormous difference between placing our faith in Christ to pursue God’s eternal purposes and seeking to control society to accomplish our own purposes.
      1. When we create the impression that God does not care why people do the “right thing,” we misrepresent God and trash Jesus Christ.
      2. When we reduce the Christian life to nothing more than doing the “right thing,” we misrepresent God and trash Jesus Christ.
      3. God did not send Jesus because He thought Jesus would provide the “right touch” of completion; He sent Jesus because the Christ is essential.
         1. We dare not think it is possible to produce the results of Christian existence without faith in Jesus Christ.
         2. It is impossible to produce godly existence without faith in Christ.

[Prayer: God help us see and understand what we must know and understand in Jesus Christ.]

How much of your life is the result of your faith in Christ? Whose purposes does your life target–yours or God’s?

God Is At Work In Our Midst!

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

Sunday concluded “Missions Weekend,” an annual November event to focus us on our foreign missions outreach for the coming year.

On November 1, 1996, Joyce and I arrived in Fort Smith to work with this congregation. Our introduction to your work was Missions Sunday. The contribution was well over $100,000. For most of our lives, we worked with small to middle-sized congregations and some in West Africa. We were astounded to be part of a congregation capable and willing to commit so much in a single Sunday to its missions plans. It was a new experience for us.

Consider three things. Saturday morning several attended an informal prayer breakfast. Missionaries or involved contacts shared happenings in specific areas. One reported about an embassy for a formerly atheistic society. This embassy recently invited our mission team to relocate their residence and work in an unused section of its facilities. They are impressed with an outreach that shows mercy and compassion. Another reported on invitations to our teachers and preachers [on a regular basis] who are invited to teach congregations of a worldwide religion. In unlikely circumstances, a restoration movement is coming to life. The third told of the gift of land worth $500,000 in a major city of a third world country. The land was given to be the site of a new congregation. A national gave the land, and nationals are building a building and supporting a preacher.

Three principles we must remember. (1) All God asks us to do is sow the seed. Help people learn about Jesus Christ. Trust God to bring the seed to life and produce His crop. Do not waste time worrying about God’s part. Trust God and sow the seed. (2) If we want God to entrust us with more ability and opportunity, we must use the ability and opportunity we have. Why should God entrust us with more if we fail to use what we have for His purposes? (3) God is sovereign. He does things His way [not ours!]. He does not need for us to tell Him how to do His work. Trust Him enough to sow the seed. Leave results to Him. Just teach Jesus Christ.

You doubt those things? Then, you need to read again the three things I shared, think, and ask God to increase your ability to trust Him to care for His work.

One of West-Ark’s Big Weekends

Posted by David on November 12, 2000 under Bulletin Articles

This weekend is dedicated to our foreign missions involvements. The goal of Sunday morning’s missions collection: $140,000 in contributions and pledges. Prior to last Sunday morning’s worship assembly, the missions committee distributed an explanation of the goal’s “financial breakdown.” The funds provide the core financial support for our missions commitments for the year 2001.

Bill Smith, an elder from the Whites Ferry Road congregation in West Monroe, Louisiana, will be our guest speaker. Adults, remember to assemble in the auditorium for Bible class.

The American mindset is fixed on permanent solutions. We want to “meet needs and solve problems” once for all time. When approaches are not “permanent fixes,” Americans often consider such approaches a waste of time. American Christians are not immune to such thinking. Perhaps nowhere (among Christians) is this perspective’s reasoning more evident than in foreign missions planning and work.

Care to guess how many thousand people Jesus taught? How many thousand people he healed? How many hours he spent serving others? The total number of miracles he performed? After years of unselfish service, after teaching thousands, after healing thousands, only one hundred twenty people were committed to Jesus after his resurrection (Acts 1:15). Peter first presented the resurrected Jesus as Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Three thousand people responded. To us, that is an enormous response. However, it is a small group to start a worldwide movement.

Jesus was God’s Son. He committed exclusively to God’s will–even in death. Only he did exactly what God wanted in exactly the way God wanted it. Yes, he permanently solved evil’s problems through perfect, continuing forgiveness. Yes, he made reconciliation to God a permanent option. Yes, he permanently created a people possessed exclusively by God. No, he did not end Satan’s influence. No, he did not destroy temptation. No, he did not destroy evil’s deceptiveness.

Through Jesus the solutions to evil are permanent. No change to the physical state of people was permanent. God’s forgiveness solves the problem of evil one person at a time. Each generation decides its own response to God’s love. The fact that one generation responds wholeheartedly to God’s love does not guarantee the next generation will make the same choices.

Why do Christians commit ourselves to godly character? Why are we people of integrity? Why do we treat other people properly? Why do we respond to evil by doing good? Why do we show compassion instead of justice? Why do we share Jesus’ good news with people who neither realize they need it nor want it? Because we seek permanent solutions? No. Because we know God. Because we love God for giving us Jesus. Because it is good, just as God is good.