Posted by David on October 8, 2000 under Sermons
The American people as a nation have great confidence in the benefits of good government. Most of us realize our democratic form of government produces incredible benefits. No other form of government in any other large nation gives its people the benefits we enjoy. No one else has our kind of freedom. No one else has our guaranteed human rights. No other large nation values the individual as do we. The openness and opportunity that exists in our society is unthinkable in many other nations.
Religiously, a powerful truth exists that most people never see. They not only do not see it, but they may never realize that truth exists. The truth: what works best in a society is commonly superimposed on the church. The longer the church exists in a society, the more the church reflects the structure of that society. That is not hard to understand. What society does well must be good. When Christians accept it as good in society, they believe it will be good in the church.
- That is not something new; it happened in the earliest days of the church.
- Allow me to show you two New Testament examples (there are more than two examples).
- Among the early Jerusalem Christians were baptized Pharisees.
- They believed with all their being that the church should baptize only the people who first accepted Judaism (the Jewish religion).
- They believed with all their hearts God’s will was obeyed by keeping strict, controlling regulations.
- When people who had not accepted the Jewish religion were baptized, Pharisees who were Christians declared, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5).
- The church should adopt the Pharisees’ approach; that was good.
- Among Christians baptized in Corinth were people who had lived an idolatrous, sensual lifestyle.
- They declared Christians should not be condemned for satisfying their sexual desires in any way they chose (1 Corinthians 6:12-20).
- This was their basic argument: “When you are hungry you eat to satisfy your natural appetite. The hunger for sexual satisfaction is no different.”
- The church should adopt sensual idolatry’s approach to life. That was good.
- The American religious movement that resulted in the existence of the American Church of Christ began about 1800.
- That movement began with a double emphasis (a) on the freedom to follow only the Bible and (b) on the importance of unity.
- In time the emphasis shifted in a significant segment of that movement.
- The emphasis shifted to church structure.
- In that emphasis concerns focused on correct theology and correct forms.
- When more time passed, the emphasis shifted again in a significant part of the movement.
- This time the emphasis focused on worship.
- But the focus was on the forms in worship rather than an understanding of what worship is.
- The essential thing was to worship in the right way.
- To me, something is obvious (it may not be obvious to you, and it is certainly okay if you disagree with me.)
- We did what some Christians in the early church did: we superimposed our American experiences on the church.
- “Whatever are you talking about?”
- The “right” form of government produced incredible blessings in our nation.
- The “right” way of doing things would produce incredible blessings in the church.
- During the majority of my life, the congregations I worked among in the Southeastern United States focused on “correct forms.”
- The “right form” of organization for the congregation.
- The “right form” of organization for the leadership.
- The “right form” of organization for the church’s work.
- The “right form” of organization for worship.
- In a basic way, this influenced our view of God, Christ, and the church.
- “God is an authoritarian.”
- “We call Him Father, but He is really a mysterious authoritarian.”
- “When he says jump you just ask, ‘How high?'”
- God’s concern is proper government, not relationship.
- “Jesus is Lord.”
- We define the concept of Lord in the terms of an authoritarian.
- “What Jesus became after his resurrection is completely different from what Jesus was before he died.”
- “As a man, he was compassionate; as Lord he is authoritarian.”
- “We call him the good shepherd, but he is actually the Lord who exercises all authority.”
- Jesus Christ’s concern is proper government, not relationship.
- “The church is an authoritarian institution.”
- “The church is about the control of spiritual government.”
- “We call the church the family of God, but the church is actually about control, not about relationship with God or His people.”
- “The church is Christ’s body.”
- “The church was designed by God.”
- “God and Christ are authoritarians.”
- “So the church is an authoritarian institution.”
- “Big deal, David! What difference does that make?”
- It makes a basic difference.
- It powerfully influences what you regard to be spiritual.
- It is a significant factor in our children leaving the church.
- It is a significant factor in the darkness and emptiness too many Christians struggle against inside themselves.
- “Why? I do not understand.”
- It distorts our view of God, Christ, and the church.
- It creates an inadequate biblical view of God, Christ, and the church.
- It tempts us as Christians to place our confidence in rules and forms instead of God’s love and Jesus’ compassion.
- This is not a new problem; it is almost 2000 years old.
Ephesians 4:17-24 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
- There are many wonderful things in this scripture that deserve our attention, but I want you to see one obvious fact.
- How were many Christians in this congregation living and behaving?
- They were living and behaving just like the people who did not believe in God.
- Paul’s basic point was this: “when you understand what God did for you in Jesus Christ, you will not live like people who do not know God.”
- “That is not what you were taught about Jesus Christ.”
- “Let God recreate you in Jesus Christ.”
Every week I know and understand that the needs in this congregation are much bigger than I am.
- Every week I see three major needs that never end.
- I see the constant need to emphasize the truth of God’s grace and mercy.
- I see the constant need to emphasize the fact that Christ’s forgiveness is not a license to do evil.
- I see the constant need to emphasize the fact that faith in rules and forms cannot save you, but faith in Jesus Christ will save you.
- And it is impossible for me to address those three needs in thirty minutes on any Sunday morning.
I will do something this morning I never remember doing in thirty eight years of full time work as a preacher, and I likely will never do it again.
- On any given week my work is quite interesting.
- Last Sunday a family who recently placed membership made it a point to thank me for my lessons.
- Several times this week I worked with people to help them understand how to use God’s help as they fought major battles in their lives.
- Monday night I received an e-mail from Michael Cole sharing how many people read the lessons on our web site.
- Tuesday I received an anonymous letter.
- I have never before publicly discussed an anonymous letter.
- I will this morning for three reasons: I genuinely believe the person loves me; I am confident the person prays for me; I know the person is hurting.
- “I will try to be gentle. I aim to be kind. But I do have a point to make. I need to be fed from the word! I don’t know how you select the topics you do, but from my seat, I go away unfulfilled, uninspired and upset…”
- “That must have upset you!”
- No, it did not upset me; I felt a deep sense of sadness for the person.
- I do not know who this person is, but I do know this person is a friend.
- The note talked about how much the person loves me and prays for me, and I believe that is the truth.
- It made me sad to know that someone thought that he or she could not talk to me.
- I never want to be the kind of person someone fears; I want to be a person who is approachable because I care.
One of the things I really value in this congregation is its diversity.
- Some of you live in a really tough world every day of your life.
- Some of you live in a very opportune world every day of your life.
- Some of you have very limited opportunity.
- Some of you have incredible opportunity.
- No matter what happens in our personal worlds, I want us to be God’s family.
- I want us to help people find God, depend on Jesus, and be filled with God’s Spirit.
- I want people to come to Christ because they know they matter to God, and they matter to God’s family.
[Prayer: Father, we thank you for the life and forgiveness that you provide us in Jesus. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you for the privilege of being Your family. Help us place our confidence in You and Your Son without fear. Help us open our hearts and minds so You can sustain us.]
Please let me make a confession. There is nothing I can say in thirty minutes on Sunday morning to meet every need present. So let me ask you to do these things.
- Understand that you can never exhaust God’s grace, and you never exhaust God’s grace by using it. But also understand that you must never abuse God’s grace. You abuse it if you frivolously take it for granted.
- Understand that you can never exhaust Jesus Christ’s forgiveness, and you never exhaust Jesus’ forgiveness by repenting and accepting it. But also understand that you must never abuse Jesus’ forgiveness. You abuse it if you frivolously take it for granted.
- This is my plea. Do more than declare that Jesus is Lord. Let Jesus direct your life, but also let him be your good shepherd. Understand what it means to let Jesus be Christ in your life. Allow Jesus to do for you what he wanted to do when he died.
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
Our arrogance is often exposed. Yet, we are convinced that we are not arrogant! Arrogance exists in two basic forms. The first reveals itself in human-human relationships. The second reveals itself in the human-divine relationship.
Commonly, culture and society define arrogance in human-human relationships. In human-divine relationships, God’s nature defines arrogance. We typically attempt to confront arrogance in human-human relationships. We typically are poor in identifying or confronting arrogance in our relationship with God. The Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers, and scribes also failed to identify arrogance in the human-divine relationship.
To conclude God is dependent on humans is arrogance. To think “it is primarily up to us” to achieve God’s will in our world is arrogance. The conviction that the critical leadership in the universal church, the American church, or the local congregation is human leadership is arrogance. To believe that God’s will cannot be achieved in the crucified/resurrected Jesus unless “the right people are in control” is arrogance. To conclude that the “future of the church depends on human minds” is arrogance.
God is not helpless. He actively will pursue His eternal purposes after we are dead. The first century persecutions, decline of the Mediterranean world, dark ages, European Protestant Reformation, Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, and twentieth century’s instability did not stop God. Neither will the twenty-first century and whatever is beyond.
God is not a dependent. When we conclude He is, we are incredibly arrogant. When we think God is helpless, we need to open our eyes and see His fingerprints.
West-Ark is significantly involved in evangelistic and medical missions. One service we provide in other nations is the distribution of used eyeglasses. Skilled, committed members do an excellent job matching glasses to needs. To simplify their work, a special instrument was acquired.
Opportunities created a need for a training video. One Sunday an “SOS” was sounded, and Ralph Smith volunteered his skills. Thanks to those who use this new instrument and Ralph’s abilities, the training video became a reality.
Bob and Jane Fisher visited a Texas congregation. A class talked about a member who would soon visit Russia to match eyeglasses to needs. Bob asked the lady if she had this particular tool. She did, but she did not know how to use it. She promptly received the video and had a very successful trip.
Can you see God’s fingerprints? Do you examine them in your world and life?
Posted by David on October 1, 2000 under Sermons
This is the situation. You are healthy. You are mentally and physically fit. You are free. You are in no imminent danger. However, you know for an absolute certainty that you will physically die very soon. You will not die from sickness. Your death will not be the result of a criminal act. But you know for a fact that you will die, and your death is unavoidable.
While you do not fear death, you are not ready to die. There is something that you want to do before you die, and you really want to do it. Yet, you are absolutely certain that you will never do it. You want to live, but you know that you are going to die.
For forty years your extended family has been in a major crisis. You provided the only leadership that enabled your family to survive. In a very short time, the family crisis will end; it will be history. While the crisis will end soon, you know you will be dead before it ends.
You have one last opportunity to share with your family. What would you say?
- If you can place yourself in that situation, you can identify with Moses when he spoke and wrote the book of Deuteronomy.
- That was Moses’ situation.
- Though he was a very old man, he was in excellent physical health.
- His body was much younger than his chronological age.
- Deuteronomy 34:7 records, “Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.”
- He did not die because he was old, or sick, or murdered.
- As far as his physical condition was concerned, there was no reason for him to die.
- However, Moses knew that he would die.
- In Deuteronomy 4:21 Moses told them, “Now the Lord was angry with me on your account and swore that I should not cross the Jordan…”
- Moses clearly understood that he would die before Israel crossed the Jordan into Canaan.
- Deuteronomy starts with Israel camped next to the Jordan River.
- The date is the eleventh month of the fortieth year of Israel’s wilderness wandering (Deuteronomy 1:1-3).
- Israel wandered in the wilderness one year for each day the Israelite spies spent traveling in Canaan [thirty-nine years earlier.]
- It took one year to travel from Egypt to Canaan the first time.
- They spent thirty-nine more years in the wilderness.
- In one month the forty years would be over.
- Moses knew that he would die very soon.
- Moses’ leadership brought this people through an enormous crisis.
- Through God’s appointment and guidance, Moses was their leader.
- Moses led them in the confrontation with Pharaoh.
- Moses led them out of Egypt and slavery.
- Moses led them across the Red Sea to freedom.
- Moses led them to Mount Sinai to receive God’s law and organization.
- Moses led them to the border Canaan the first and second time.
- Moses led them in the wilderness for forty years.
- Moses literally saved Israel from destruction on several occasions.
- When the people had Aaron build the golden calf so they could turn to idolatry, it was Moses who pled with God not to destroy the nation (Exodus 32:9-11).
- When the ten of the twelve spies destroyed the confidence and faith of the nation, it was Moses who pled with God not to destroy the nation (Numbers 14:11,12).
- With all his being, Moses wanted to enter Canaan; he even pleaded with God to let him go with the nation into the land (Deuteronomy 3:23-29).
- God responded by saying, “No! And do not ask me again!”
- “Prepare Joshua to lead the people into Canaan.”
- Moses was enabled to view Canaan from the top of Mount Pisgah, but he never entered Canaan.
- Much of Deuteronomy is Moses’ last opportunity to share with Israel.
- For forty years he has been their leader in the worst of conditions.
- By the power of God, he led them out of slavery.
- By the power of God, he led them across the Red Sea to total freedom from the Egyptians.
- By the power of God, he led them in the desert for forty years.
- By the power of God, he fed and watered them.
- And he watched as every adult [but two] who left Egypt died in that wilderness.
- And he had a relationship with God unsurpassed by anyone but Jesus.
- And he had to say good bye, to give the leadership to Joshua.
What did Moses say to Israel in his final message?
- I want us to focus on Moses’ message for about four weeks.
- I predict many of you will be amazed.
- I urge you to bring your Bibles and see for yourself.
Why do you think many of us will be amazed?
- Let me use your own concepts to illustrate why.
- If you characterized the book of Deuteronomy, how would you describe it?
- “It is a book of laws.”
- “God gave these laws to the nation of Israel, and Israel was to obey them.”
- What kind of obedience were they to give God?
- “I did not know that obedience came in ‘kinds’.”
- “They were just supposed to do what God said do.”
- “If they did it, they obeyed; and that is what mattered.”
- If you think Deuteronomy is just a book of laws that God gave Israel, and all Israel needed to do was what God said do, you will be amazed.
The first four chapters of Deuteronomy are an introduction and foundation to what Moses said in the rest of the book.
- This was their physical situation: they were camped near the Jordan River ready to cross into the territory that God promised them.
Moses reminded them of their past.
- “You remember when I reorganized our method for addressing problems” (1:9-18).
- At first, every man in the nation who needed a judge to resolve a conflict between himself and other man came to Moses.
- Moses organized a system for judgments to resolve problems within each tribe.
- “You remember that we traveled from Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) to the border of Canaan” (1:19-40).
- We sent twelve spies into Canaan (it was to be a “how do we go about it” mission, not an “is it possible” mission).
- Ten of the spies discouraged your fathers, and your fathers refused to enter Canaan.
- Their refusal angered God, and He declared that your fathers would die before the nation entered Canaan.
- Then your fathers realized their refusal was a huge mistake (1:41-46).
- Against God’s instructions, they decided to attack, and they suffered a great defeat.
- They wept before God, but God was not moved by their tears (there is a huge difference between the tears of regret and the tears of repentance).
- The nation then spent forty years wandering in the wilderness, and God provided their physical needs (2:1-7).
- Then the account focused on Israel’s conquest of the territory east of the Jordan River that became the land belonging to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
- Principle one of that conquest: Israel could not take any of the land that belonged to the nations who descended directly from Abraham (God promised Abraham that he would be the father of nations in Genesis 17:5).
- Several nations came from Abraham.
- God gave each of those nations their country just as God gave Israel Canaan.
- Israel was not to take what God gave those nations.
- Principle two of the conquest: they could take the land of the nations who did not descend directly from Abraham.
- The men who inherited the territory east of the Jordan River were given the responsibility to help conquer the territory west of the Jordan River (3:18-22).
- God told Moses, “Do not ask Me again for permission to enter Canaan! You will not go into Canaan” (3:23-29).
- I would characterized 4:1-14 as, “Listen, remember, and obey.”
- I would characterized 4:15-31 as, “Carefully do two things: avoid idolatry and keep your agreement with God.”
- I would characterize 4:32-40 as, “Think about God’s nature and remember why God blessed you.”
There are two points I want you to consider carefully.
- Point one: “God occupied the primary role in everything that happened to bring you to this moment.”
- “Your choices determined God’s responses.”
- “But God always occupied the primary role.”
- “You are not here because of your power; you are here because of God’s power.”
- Point two: “God is unique; nothing is like God.”
- “No nation has the righteous laws you have” [other nation’s laws were based on their concept of justice, but not on fairness] (3:8).
- “No nation has been helped by God like you have been helped” (4:32).
- “No people has heard God’s voice and survived, but you have” (4:33).
- “No nation has been formed inside another nation through trials, miracles, war, and God’s mighty hand as you have been” (4:34).
- “God did these things in these ways for a reason.”
- Reason one: “That you might know He is God and there is no other.”
- Reason two: “He loved your forefathers and chose their descendants hundreds of years before you were born.”
- “Therefore, never exaggerate your importance.”
- “God personally brought you out of Egypt with His power” (4:37).
- “God removed stronger, bigger nations so that you could have their land.”
That is why you should follow and obey God.
Four powerful truths were affirmed to Israel that need to register with us as powerfully as they did with Israel.
- One: you are because God is.
- Two: you always have been totally dependent on God; God has never been dependent on you.
- You are blessed because of God’s love for people who were more faith filled than you.
- Never diminish God’s significance; never exaggerate your own significance.
Posted by David on under Sermons
“Who are you?” That question is almost impossible to answer. How do you explain who you are? Would you answer by talking about your family tree? By talking about your parents? By talking about your children? By talking about your occupation? By talking about your education? By talking about your spiritual perspectives? Is that how a person explains who he or she is?
Do you know who you are? “What a dumb question!” No, the question is not dumb. It is a serious, honest question. Many people have no idea who they are. These people do one of two things. Either, they waste a lot of their life, time, and energy because they have little idea of who they are. Or, they invest an enormous amount of life, time, and energy trying to discover who they are.
Are you one of those people? Declaring you are a Christian does not mean that you know who you are. Do you have a real, deep understanding of who you are, or do you flounder through life with no real understanding of who you are?
This morning I want to share an insight I am convinced is true and to the point: no person can know who he or she is unless that person knows God. The foundation for knowing who you are is an honest, correct understanding of God.
- In my study, I conclude this is one of scripture’s basic theses: people must know God to know themselves.
- When we do not know God, we cannot know ourselves, and it is in not knowing ourselves that we make our tragic mistakes.
- Scripture repeatedly reveals that people must know God to know themselves.
- In Genesis’ account of the origin of human evil, Eve misunderstood God (Genesis 3:1-7).
- Her temptation became credible because she was suspicious of God.
- Because she was suspicious of God she thought she understood herself.
- The result was disaster.
- Because she was suspicious of God, she deceived herself about herself.
- Humanity made an enormous decline into evil when the sons of God married the daughters of men (Genesis 6:1,2).
- This is my conclusion: the men who were the sons of God had the heart and spirit of Seth.
- Seth, the third son of Eve, and his descendants “called upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:25,26).
- They wanted closeness to God.
- Their relationship with God determined their identity.
- Who were the sons of God? The people who wanted closeness with God.
- I conclude the daughters of men were women that had the heart and spirit of Cain.
- In spite of God’s mercy and Cain’s guilt, Cain deliberately “went out from the presence of the Lord” (Genesis 4:16).
- From the moment that God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, Cain wanted nothing to do with God.
- The daughters of men wanted nothing to do with God.
- Genesis declared the incredible evil of Noah’s day (when no one had a good thought–Genesis 6:5) happened because men who desired closeness to God married women who wanted nothing to do with God.
- Because people destroyed their desire to be close to God, they lost their identity.
- They became incredibly wicked in mind, in heart, and in action.
- From Genesis 12 to the close of the Old Testament, that truth is repeatedly illustrated and documented in Israel’s failures.
- At some point while they were living in Egypt, these descendants of Abraham forgot who God was.
- The purpose of the plagues in Egypt recorded in Exodus had two objectives.
- The first obvious objective was to convince Pharaoh to release Israel from their slavery.
- The second equally important objective was to introduce these slaves to the living God.
- These slaves were to become the nation of Israel with a new sense of identify.
- But their new sense of identity depended on knowing God.
- God could bring their bodies out of slavery, but He could not bring their hearts out of slavery unless they knew Him.
- Over and over the Old Testament declared Israel failed themselves simply because they did not know God.
- The period of the judges was a period of enormous wickedness and failure because Israel did not know God.
- The reigns of King Saul and King Solomon resulted in incredible wickedness and failure because they both lost their knowledge of God. (Each begin with a close relationship to God, and each ended with no relationship with God.)
- The period of Israel’s northern kingdom was a huge failure because they did not know God.
- The period of the southern kingdom was almost a continual failure because they did not know God.
- Repeatedly the prophets told Israel and Judah, “You deceive yourselves because you do not know God!”
- “You do not behave like God’s people because you do not know God!”
- “You do not worship God like people who know God because you do not know God.”
- “You refuse to repent of your wickedness because you do not know God.”
- “You do not know yourselves because you do not know your God.”
How do you react to what I have shared?
- Your reactions are mixed.
- Some of you understand what I am saying, and it concerns you.
- Some of you sort of understand what I am saying, and it makes you nervous.
- Some of you do not relate to anything I have said, and, honestly, it is boring.
Let’s see if we can eliminate the boredom.
- Will you use your imagination for just a moment?
- Suppose we replaced the screen behind me with a huge electronic tally board.
- Suppose God controlled the electronic board.
- Suppose the tally board flashed the numbers up for all of us to examine.
- The number of men, women, and teens in attendance this morning. (It appears.)
- The number of adults and teens in this audience who used pornography this week. (It appears).
- The number of adults and teens who used alcohol or drugs to get high this week. (It appears.)
- The number of people who told a vulgar or racial joke this week. (It appears.)
- The number of adults and teens who cursed or used ungodly language this week. (It appears.)
- The number of adults or teens who engaged in a promiscuous or adulterous sexual act this week. (It appears.)
- The number of adults and teens who let money be their god this week. (It appears.)
- The number of adults and teens who let pleasure be their god this week. (It appears.)
Am I still boring? Am I failing to be relevant?
- Do you know why people use pornography?
- It allows them to have selfish gratification with zero commitment.
- Pornography is a loveless indulgence of physical desires and passions.
- It is an escape into a fantasy that totally alters reality.
- Do you know why people use alcohol and drugs to get high?
- It is a way to try to cope when life is overwhelming and there is no peace.
- It is a way to escape when life becomes intolerable.
- It is a way to selfishly indulge and gratify my physical senses.
- Do you know the foundation of vulgar and racial jokes?
- The same foundation stands for both–a demeaning disrespect for people.
- Vulgar jokes dehumanize women or men by disrespectfully demeaning them.
- Racial jokes dehumanize ethic groups by disrespectfully demeaning them.
- Do you know the foundation of cursing and ungodly language?
- The foundation combines two forms of contempt.
- The first is a basic contempt for God.
- The second is a basic contempt for people.
- Do you know the foundation reasons for promiscuous and adulterous sexual acts?
- Reason one: they let me abandon myself to the self-centered, personal gratification of my sexual desires.
- Reason two: they let me use people; I can look at people as things to be used instead of individuals to be respected.
- Reason three: they let me run away from life and play “let’s pretend.”
- Do you know why many people make money their god?
- For many it is a search for person significance.
- For many it is a quest for personal power.
- Do you know why many people make pleasure their god?
- Some let pleasure be their god because they are so empty inside.
- Some let pleasure be their god in their search for a substitute for love.
- Some let pleasure be their god in an attempt to escape rejection and depression.
Will you please ask yourself a question?
- How many Christians who let God show them who they are use:
- Pornography to indulge their fantasies?
- Alcohol or drugs to get high?
- Vulgar or racial jokes to demean other people?
- Cursing or ungodly language which show contempt for God and people?
- Promiscuous or adulterous acts to indulge in self-centered gratification?
- Or money or pleasure for their god?
If you know who you are because you know God, will those things find a place of welcome in your life?
[Prayer: God, unless we let You teach us, we do not know who we are, Help us find our identity in You. Jesus found His total identity in You. May we find our true identity in You.]
Are you sure you know who you are? Do you know what you look like? “I should! I look in the mirror often enough.” Go home, print the question, “Who am I?” on a piece of paper, hold that question under your chin, and look in a mirror. Then ask yourself, “Have I ever seen myself?” Have you ever seen yourself in God’s mirror? God’s mirror is the only honest mirror.
Jesus is the only person who looked exactly like God wanted him to look, who was exactly who God wanted him to be. Why? Because Jesus perfectly understood God. Jesus knew who he was because he knew God.
The better you know God, the better you will understand who you are.
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
God blesses me by allowing me to be a part of you. This weekend we had 515 teens, teachers, youth ministers, and interested adults who attended Crosswalk.
We regard it as incredible when (1) Sunday morning attendance grows by 75 or (2) two hundred adults attend a Saturday seminar for 4 hours when the Hogs are playing. Five hundred fifteen people met Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to about 9:30 p.m.
What did they do? They worshipped. Have you listened to over 400 teens declare in song to God, “I stand, I stand in awe of You”? Or listened as they ask God to “Light the fire in my soul”? When you do, be ready for “goose bumps” and tears. Terry Davis is an incredible song leader. When you sing with Terry, you worship.
They listened to powerful lessons urging them to let Jesus make a difference in their lives. Craig Hicks is a well trained, well educated man. How he connects with young people! He makes scripture come alive (because scripture is alive to him!).
They attended classes. Specific, directed studies were taught by teachers committed to youth work. Harding University’s Theatron made thought-provoking applications of biblical principles in the form of modern parables.
Consider this interesting situation. (1) Have every adult Christian of each congregation represented witness the day. (2) Ask each one a simple question: “What did you see?”
I saw adults with a passion for souls fighting for our teens’ minds and hearts. I saw Christians fighting to make Jesus the most powerful force in our teens’ lives.
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Sadducees had a passion for (1) tradition (their old paths), (2) the institution (the temple and its priests), (3) regulations and procedures (elevated to the status of law), (4) heritage and culture (more essential than the person), and (5) the preservation of forms (identity was godliness!).
Jesus’ passion was for people (hurt people, sinful people, rejected people, insignificant people, hopeless people). The primary difference between Jesus and the Pharisees or Sadducess? God’s priorities. All agreed that God’s will was preeminent, but their understanding of God’s priorities was radically different.
Probabilities: Our teens (1) know more teens from divorced or single parent homes than with their mom and dad; (2) know many sexually active teens; (3) know many teens who experiment with alcohol and drugs; (4) know some teens who had an abortion.
Jesus’ church needs Christians who, like Jesus, have a passion for souls.
Posted by David on September 24, 2000 under Sermons
I want you to recall, specifically, the worst class you took in high school or college. I do not mean the hardest class. I do not mean the class you feared the most. I mean the worst class. The worst class was the class you regarded to be completely useless and totally unnecessary.
For most of us, the worst class was a required class. It was a class not directly related to our major or minor. But it was a necessary class. We had to take it to get a diploma. We dreaded it because we regarded it to be useless. Every class session was torture because we resented being forced to take the class.
One such class I took was a college course in German. Languages other than English are not my strength. My high school was too small to have a single foreign language course. I had zero exposure to any language but English. But my college major required a course in a foreign language, preferably German.
My German teacher was around eighty years old. She never visited Germany. She never had a conversation in German with people whose primary language was German. A student’s grade was determined by three things: where you sat in class, what you wore, and your hair style. If you looked at her she called on you. If you did not look at her, she did not call on you. It was a horrible situation and experience for two semesters.
But all of us endured our worst class. Each of us took a worst class. We “played the game.” We may not have learned anything, but we “played the game.” We may not have taken anything useful from the class, but we “played the game.”
- “Going to church” or “being religious” or “church membership” too often is approached with the same feelings and attitudes that surrounded our worst class.
- It is like the necessary class that we hate to take but we have to take.
- We come because we “have to play the game.”
- It is one of the “necessary things” that we “must do” if we are to receive God’s diploma.
- .On earth, diplomas open the doors of opportunity.
- Church attendance opens the doors of opportunity after death.
- Church attendance is a strange occurrence.
- Those whose hearts were not converted attend with no expectations.
- They physically attend and are bodily present.
- But that is all that matters.
- Some who attend are simply doing what is necessary.
- They are convinced that attending is important, and that is why they come.
- But they really do not know why it is important.
- If someone asks them to explain the importance, their answer is vague.
- They simply accept as a fact that attending is important.
- Many of our children grow up asking “why?”
- Children are perceptive.
- They know when we are “playing the game.”
- Their question: “Why do you play the game?”
- They also know that we do not have any deep, personal explanation.
- Many of our friends, neighbors, and associates wonder about the same question.
- “Next month we plan to spend every Sunday doing ‘__X__’.”
- “Join us. We are going to have a great time!”
- And they see you really want to join them.
- But your answer is, “Aw, I’m sorry. I can’t. I have to go to church.”
- Obviously, you are “playing the game.”
- Why? Why is it so important for you to “play the game”?
- If our children or someone close to us is bold enough to ask, “why play the game,” it alarms us; it shakes us up.
- No one should be forced to explain why they “play the game.”
- Everyone should understand the importance of “playing the game”!
- You don’t ask why.
- You don’t understand why.
- You just do it.
Do you have a hero? “A what?” A hero.
- I understand that word is not used much any more.
- It is out of date, politically incorrect, obsolete.
- It has been replaced with words like role model, mentor, or icon.
“What is a hero?”
- A hero is someone who captures your heart and your imagination.
- A hero is someone you admire to the point of devotion.
- A hero is someone you willingly permit to influence your thinking and life on your deepest levels.
- You likely do not refer to this person as your hero, but I do not doubt such a person exists in your life.
I have a hero.
- No one influences my life as much as my hero.
- In all honesty, my hero has changed me as a person more extensively and deeper than anyone else who has been a part of my life.
- The person I am today is distinctly different from the person I was twenty years ago.
- The person I was twenty years ago was distinctly different from the person I was thirty years ago.
- The person I was thirty years ago was distinctly different from the person I was forty years ago.
- And I am very aware that my hero is not through changing my life.
- In fact, my life is in greater transition right now at this age than ever before.
The better I understand my hero, the more my life changes.
- He does not change my life by using pleasure, or success, or money, or status, or anything material.
- In fact, those things distract me and reduce my hero’s influence in my life.
- My hero never deceives me, but all those things constantly try to deceive me.
- I have lived long enough to know that the foundations of pleasure, success, money, status, or materialism are illusions.
- My hero teaches me how to live instead of promising me things.
- He sustains me on a daily basis in a hostile world.
- And every single one of us live in a hostile world, whether we realize it or not.
“Can you explain why he is your hero?”
- I never had anyone who accurately knew me for what I really am and still loved me enough to die for me.
- He covers every ungodly thought, every wicked emotion, and every evil deed I committed in my life, and he will keep right on doing that.
- He builds our relationship on a forgiveness that literally acts as if I never did anything wrong.
- Every single day of my life he gives me the opportunity to be a different person.
- When I was immature and stupid, he was patient.
- He makes me a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better son, a better brother, a better friend, and a better neighbor.
- He helps me build a life that matters, a life that death cannot stop.
- He gives me an identity that cannot be stolen.
- He teaches me how to be at peace in my life.
But for all of that to happen, I have to trust him.
- My most difficult lesson in life is learning to trust him.
- Often what he teaches me does not make sense when I learn the lesson.
- But it always make sense after I change my life.
Why is Jesus Christ my hero?
- Because he shows me God.
- Because he teaches me how to live so life is blessed and not destroyed.
- No one else shows me God; no one else teaches me how to live without destroying life.
- God sent the prophet Jeremiah to His people; He told Jeremiah before he began to teach that no one would listen to him.
- Jeremiah was surrounded by the spiritual disaster of idolatry among God’s people.
- As he looked at that disaster, this is what Jeremiah said, (Jeremiah 10:23) I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
- Centuries later God sent His son to His people knowing that His people would kill His Son.
- Jesus knew how desperately God’s people needed a Shepherd, and he came to be that desperately needed Shepherd.
- When explaining that he came to be the good shepherd who cared for and protected the life of his sheep, Jesus said, (John 10:10) I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
- Note that Jesus did not come that we may have things.
- He came that we may have life.
[Prayer: God, help us let Jesus be our hero. Help us permit Jesus to show us who You are. Help us permit Jesus to teach us how to live. Increase our ability to trust You, and to trust Jesus.]
Every time I preach I try to challenge your heart and mind. Every time I teach I try to touch your heart and mind. Sometimes as I prepare my lessons, tears flow. It is that important to me that God use me to touch your hearts. What I do is not a job. What I do is a life.
We need to stop “playing the game.” We need to let Jesus be our hero. Unless we let Jesus teach us how to live, we cannot know how to have life. You don’t agree? Let me meddle by asking some hard questions. Those of you who have experienced divorce, before you married the first time did you intend to divorce? Those you who struggle with adultery, or promiscuity, or pornography, was that your plan for your life? Those of you whose controlling god is addiction, is that the god you want? Those of you whose god is pleasure, does pleasure deceive you? Those of you whose god is money, does that god give you an empty life? Those of you who are killing yourself and neglecting your family to acquire things, do those things depress you?
Do you honestly want failed relationships, sex, money, addictions, or things to be your god? Do you honestly believe that they can give you life?
One last question: when are you going to stop “playing the game” and start letting Jesus teach you how to live?
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
Our lives are lived in weariness. Weariness is the daily context of life for many Americans. Many unmarried are weary of loneliness. Many married are weary of “let’s pretend,” faked relationships. Many parents are weary of unappreciative children. Many children are weary of parents who do not comprehend their world. Many are weary of pleasure’s emptiness. Many are weary of hypocrisy. Most of us are weary of the illusions of the American lifestyle. Most of us are just plain tired, and the future’s road appears to wind through exhaustion.
If we conclude weariness in “postmodern” American culture is unique, we deceive ourselves. Acts’ second sermon was delivered to Israelites assembled at the Jerusalem temple. Israelites had a 1500 year history of weariness: the weariness of Egyptian slavery, the weariness of the exodus, the weariness of Canaan’s conquest, the weariness of the judges’ rule, the weariness of the kings, the weariness of a divided kingdom, the weariness of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, the weariness of the return to their homeland, and the weariness of Roman occupation.
Peter’s first sermon (Acts 2) emphasized God [by intent and design] made Jesus Lord and Christ. Peter’s second sermon (Acts 3) emphasized Israel’s need to repent. God’s people needed to repent! God’s chosen people needed to repent! Abraham’s descendants, heirs of God’s promises, needed to repent!
What an emphasis! Why not talk to people about (a) idolaters’ need to repent or (b) atheists’ need to repent or (c) wicked Israelites need to repent or (d) rebellious Israelites need to repent or (e) unethical Israelites need to repent? Did not those groups need to repent? Certainly!
Then why tell people assembled to pray to the living God they needed to repent? (1) If other people needing repentance repented, their repentance could not remove these people’s need to repent. (2) The people at the temple could not have their sins “wiped away” unless they repented. (3) They could not experience God’s “times of refreshing” unless they repented.
The long journey of weariness would continue if these people who believed in God, who assembled because of faith in God, who came to pray to God refused to repent. God could end their journey into weariness if they allowed Jesus to be their Christ. To accept the fact that Jesus was the Christ was not enough. They had to allow Jesus to be Christ in their relationship to God.
For the same reasons, we desperately need a total redirection of life. God cannot replace our weariness with the “time of refreshing” until we permit Jesus to be Christ in our lives. As long as Jesus Christ is nothing more than a fact, our journey into weariness will continue.
Posted by David on September 17, 2000 under Bulletin Articles
The world cannot understand Americans. Considering all of our society, Americans have the greatest prosperity and highest standard of living known in any sizable society on earth. History has never known a sizable nation that had our standard of living.
Yet, depression is common in America. Among the young and the old, suicide is significant. Alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, sexually transmitted disease, promiscuity, dysfunctional families, one parent families, rejection of commitment, dishonesty, and a lack of integrity and character are sources of major social problems.
How can a society with so much, experience so many serious problems? Many of the world’s societies cannot understand. In their societies, the majority live in poverty with minimal human rights. To them, the combination of prosperity and human rights produce a wonderful society. America has that combination. Why do we not enjoy our wonderful existence?
Prosperity and human rights do not eliminate stress. Alcoholism, drug addiction, and sexually indulgent behavior are popular attempts to escape stress. Family relationships fail to nurture and sustain healthy love and acceptance. That failure creates the stresses of loneliness, rejection, and despair. Americans mistakenly believe honesty, commitment, integrity, and character are the roots of distress. We incorrectly believe the emotional antidote for stress is irresponsible, selfish, pleasure-centered existence.
Jesus once invited the burdened of Jewish society to come to him (Matthew 11:28-30). His guidance would unburden their lives. He was gentle and humble. Through him they would find rest.
Rest! What a wonderful word! What a beautiful concept! Rest is the opposite of stress. Stress is the enemy of rest. Jesus produces rest in a burdened life by taking the burdens. It is easier to serve Jesus than it is to be enslaved to burdens.
If we Christians wish to validate the gospel and capture the attention of the masses, all we need do is to allow Jesus to give us rest. Stressed out Christians cannot communicate the peace and healing of the gospel.
Suggestions: (1) Let your life demonstrate that Christ destroys stress. (2) Never distress each other. (2) Do not promote or endorse ungodliness because evil creates stress. (4) Commit to honesty, integrity, and character. (5) Learn how to help each other with life’s burdens.
Posted by David on September 10, 2000 under Bulletin Articles
Labor Day just passed. School just started. The routine for fall, winter, and spring just began. Just now life returns to “normal” (whatever that is).
Our children begin or return to school to “learn.” Our teens begin or return to junior or senior high to “learn.” Our young adult children begin or return to colleges to “learn,” or to skill training to “learn.” Many adults reenter the “track” created by job or career that requires us to “learn” for the business’ sake. After Labor Day passes and fall routines resume, the emphasis shifts as much to learning as to doing.
What will be learned that will last a lifetime? What will be learned that will make a difference to our futures? What will be learned that will matter? How much will be learned only to be forgotten? How much will be learned never to be forgotten? How will our learning bless our lives? How will our learning curse our lives?
Someone suggests, “Learning is a wonderful thing. Learning produces better futures. Learning blesses by producing joy and fulfillment.” I do not think Eve would agree. I do not think Lot’s wife would agree. I do not think many of the Old Testament prophets would agree. I do not think that Ananias and Sapphira would agree.
Eve would testify that learning about evil is not a blessing. Lot’s wife would testify that “learning the hard way” is not a blessing. The Old Testament prophets would testify that learning the way God deals with His rebellious children is not a blessing. Ananias and Sapphira would testify that learning how God feels about Christians who try to deceive Him is not a blessing.
The experience of learning does not necessarily bless. (That certainly is not the affirmation that ignorance produces blessings!) The lessons and messages produced by learning may or may not bless. Evil’s purposes through learning never intend to bless. Righteousness’ purposes through learning bless if the heart of the learner cherishes God. Learning is a fascinating process: the same learning produces powerful blessings in one person and just as powerful curses in another person.
A significant question: are we learning for the moment, for the future, or for eternity? Few people want to die physically. Many consider physical death as the beginning of nonexistence. Even many who express confidence in life after death have quiet, serious doubts about an existence after death. While we say that we do not want to die, rarely do we realize that we cannot cease to exist even if we prefer nonexistence.
Perhaps learning’s most significant question is this: how will our existence after death be affected by what we learn? What we learn in this life determines our experiences after death. Fascinating! Sobering! So, what will you learn this fall?
Posted by David on September 3, 2000 under Sermons
This congregation has had an eventful summer. We sponsored some successful mission trips. We conducted our most successful VBS in years. The ladies held some successful gatherings. The ministry leaders and deacons had a fruitful meeting with the elders. We appointed four new elders. The elders have taken some major steps toward becoming more effective shepherds. A number of people have privately and publicly redirected their lives.
Anytime we as individuals and a congregation grow spiritually, our success costs Satan. Satan jealously guards his kingdom. He does not care who attends church as long as they are in his kingdom. He is extremely evangelistic and extremely deceitful. When we do anything to cost him, he is enraged and counterattacks.
While it has been a summer of growth and spiritual development, it has also been a summer of stress. The stress load has been and is high. Stress is reality for those who dare to lead and live on the front lines in the war against evil. We feel like Satan is saying, “Boys, don’t mess with me. It is time you personally learned a lesson and learned it well. When you cause me trouble, it will cost you.”
Jesus dared to mess with the devil. He dared to let God work through him to defeat the devil. And it cost Jesus. We must remember two things: (1) because Jesus let God use him, Satan lost. (2) Jesus knew how to fight the devil.
This evening I want you to consider Jesus’ wilderness temptations in a different manner. Commonly we study Jesus’ wilderness temptations to try to deepen our understanding of the temptations. That is not what I want to do this evening. This evening I want us to focus on how Jesus recognized the deceptions and defeated the temptations.
- Let’s begin with a very brief review of the wilderness temptations in Matthew 4:1-11.
- God’s Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness for the purpose of being personally tempted by the devil.
- Jesus prepared for this encounter by fasting forty days and nights.
- In my understanding, this was the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry.
- Everything was at stake.
- Because of the fast, Jesus was hungry.
- Satan suggested that Jesus turn some of the stones lying around into bread and care for his physical need.
- Jesus refused and in refusing quoted Deuteronomy 8:3.
- Satan took Jesus to a high place in the temple area.
- He suggested that Jesus demonstrate his confidence in God by jumping from the high place.
- He even quoted God’s promise to take care of him.
- Jesus refused and in refusing quoted Deuteronomy 6:16.
- Satan then offered Jesus a deal.
- “Bow to me and worship me, and I will make you the king of all people.”
- Jesus refused, and in refusing quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20.
- It was then that Satan temporarily broke off contact with Jesus and the angels came and ministered to him.
Obviously, Jesus used scripture to deal with the devil.
- However, if all we see is that Jesus quoted three verses when he was tempted, we miss the most powerful truth.
- We do not understand how Jesus dealt with the devil unless we understand why Jesus used those verses.
- He did not use just any verses he happened to know.
- The lesson is not: “Quote scripture, and you can successfully fight temptation.”
- Satan quoted scripture to create one of his temptations.
- Evil can use scripture to clothe its suggestions in the appearance of “rightness.”
- It is not the fact that scripture is used that temptation is defeated.
- It is the fact that scripture is understood that defeats Satan and his temptations.
The first temptation that Matthew lists is the temptation to turn stones into bread.
- Jesus rejected the temptation by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3. Read with me Deuteronomy 8:1-5.
All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
- God used your wilderness experience to humble you.
- He used it to test you (the reactions of their hearts were an unknown to God).
- The purpose of the testing: “to know what was in your heart.”
- It was what was in their heart that determined if obedience occurred.
- “God used hunger to humble you.”
- “He wanted you to realize that you could not take care of yourselves.”
- “He fed you with a food in a way that you could not imagine–manna was totally foreign to your experience.”
- “The purpose: to teach you that life depended on trusting God.”
- “Remember your experiences.”
- “In forty years your clothes did not wear out.”
- “In all that travel in the dessert, your feet did not swell.”
- “You know in your heart that God was using discipline just like you use it.”
- Jesus understood that life was sustained by trusting God, not by turning stones into bread.
The second temptation in Matthew’s list was the temptation to jump from the temple and let the angels catch him.
- This was to demonstrate his trust in God.
- Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. Read with me Deuteronomy 6:16-19.
You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.
- The incident of Massah is recorded in Exodus 17 beginning in verse 1.
- The cloud that God provided them for guidance led them to Rephidim to make camp.
- There was no water at Rephidim, and the people were much, much larger than the population of Fort Smith (and they had their livestock).
- The people began to quarrel with Moses and demand that he give them water.
- Moses asked:
- “Why are you quarreling at me?”
- “Why are you testing God?”
- The people were thirsty and grumbled.
- “Why did you bring us out here to kill us, our children, and our livestock?”
- It was a dangerous, tense situation.
- Moses prayed to God and asked, “What will I do with them?”
- “They are about ready to kill me.”
- The Lord gave these instructions:
- “Take the elders and go before the people.”
- “Take with you the staff that you used in Egypt to strike the Nile River and turn its waters into blood.”
- “Strike the rock with that staff.”
- “Water will come out of the rock.”
- “The people will drink.”
- Moses did as God instructed, and the people had water.
- He named the place Massah (test) and Meribah (quarrel).
- How did Israel test God at Massah?
- Their words and actions asked, “Is God among us or not?”
- They wanted God to prove He was there and could take care of them.
- Without jumping, Jesus knew God was there and would take care of him.
Matthew records the third temptation as Satan’s bargain: “Bow down and worship me.”
- Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 6:13 or 10:20. Read with me Deuteronomy 6:13-15 and 10:20,21.
Deuteronomy 6:13-15 You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 10:20,21 You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.
- The first commandment of the ten commands was, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2).
- The first principle of relationship with God, ground zero, is that you reverence God and only God. Nothing else receives your worship.
- Satan’s request was unthinkable.
This is the truth I want you to see clearly:
- Jesus understood scripture.
He did not just quote any verse that happened to pop into his thinking.
His answer came from his understanding of the truth, and his understanding of the truth was founded on the context of the scripture.
He knew the true meaning of the scriptures he quoted.
What does it take to deal with the devil? Faith? Certainly! Commitment to God? Certainly! The desire to be a godly person? Certainly! But if you deal with temptation effectively, it takes more. It takes an understanding of scripture.
Aside from the grace of God, we are no match for Satan. He will deceive us every time when he extends temptation if we do not understand scripture. We will never understand scripture unless we also learn the context of scripture.
