Anticipating Heaven

Posted by David on April 9, 2000 under Bulletin Articles

Reasons for anticipating life in heaven are too many to list. Even if we collectively pool our reasons, those reasons would quadruple when we live with God in His environment.

May I share a valued anticipation? When I was a young preacher, I anticipated this happening in the church on earth. After a lifetime working for and with Christians, I now understand it cannot happen on earth. The combination of humanity, ignorance, and evil prevents this anticipation from becoming an earthly reality.

I anticipate the time when not one person saved by God through Christ will be troubled by another person saved in Christ. I anticipate the time when we will not stare at each other’s weakness; criticize each other’s faults; doubt each other’s motives; feel threatened by each other; judge each other on the basis of past mistakes; fear love and respect; use negative emotions to justify poor interaction; and determine the faithfulness of others on the basis of their reaction to “my” preferences.

The power of God is incredible. Paul said it exceeds human imagination (Ephesians 3:20,21). Yet, our powerful, capable God watches as His children neglect His purposes. What God did and does in Jesus Christ can change a life, a marriage, a family, a congregation, a community, a nation, and a world. That fundamentally was God’s purpose when He sent His Son to unleash His incredible power and reveal how much He loves all people.

The living God is here. His power is available. The Savior is in place. Forgiveness is perfect. Mercy is more than adequate. Grace exists without limit.

But the Christian is not converted.
But those enslaved by evil are not saved.
But the church is self-absorbed by reactionary Christians.
But the community is held captive by destructive behavior.
But the nation moves in godless directions.
But the world does not know it has a Savior.

This is not written to be crude, but to illustrate a truth. A good friend once said, “The church is too absorbed in staring at its own navel.” The self-absorption of reactionary hearts and minds cannot achieve God’s eternal purposes in an evil world.

Why will wonderful harmony exist in God’s environment? For these reasons. All eyes will be on (1) the incredible God of mercy who saved us and (2) the incredible Lamb of God who died for us. Every saved person will be humbly awed by the unimaginable grace necessary to save him or her. We will be so filled with the praise of God that there will be no room for criticism of anyone or anything. Lord come quickly!

Confident Living Because Christ Called Us

Posted by David on April 4, 2000 under Sermons

A few years ago I was invited to speak in a Russian institute located in Kaliningrad. It was a wonderful, unique opportunity, and it was a powerful experience. That visit touched my life, my mind, and my heart. It provided me an unusual education. The people I met at the institute were extremely kind and generous beyond comprehension.

I received a special blessing because I visited Kaliningrad at a critical moment in their history. During their entire lives, they were told that the only hope for recovery from indescribable poverty was communism. Then communism collapsed. And the Soviet Union ceased to exist. And the people were totally convinced that all hope died.

I had never been among a huge population who had no hope. I could not have been prepared for what I experienced. I was in an ancient city much older than this nation that had a population of several hundred thousand people. These people were totally powerless to change anything. There was nowhere to go. There was nothing different to do. There was nothing that they could make different. They existed with no hope, no promises.

Life’s heaviest burden is existing without hope.

1. Travel with me back about 2000 years ago to an area that we call Turkey.
   1. It was tough to be a Christian in Ephesus. “Why?”
      1. First, even by today’s standards, Ephesus was a huge city.
         1. In the first century its population ran from over 250,000 to over 300,000.
         2. It was as big or bigger than any city we have in Arkansas or you have in West Virginia.
      2. Ephesus’ location gave it all the advantages.
         1. Besides its huge population, a lot of people passed through Ephesus.
         2. The most traveled caravan route from the east ended in Ephesus (that was their version of a truck route).
         3. Ephesus had a wonderful harbor that opened the way to Rome in the west.
         4. So Ephesus was the greatest commercial city in that region.
            1. The main commercial road that went through the city to the harbor was over 12 feet wide–that is a big road for that age.
            2. The whole route was lined with columns.
      3. Second, Ephesus was one of the religious centers of the western world.
         1. Its religious anchor was the temple of Artemis.
            1. The worship of Artemis was a world religion.
            2. The temple itself was one of the seven wonders of the world; it was the largest single structure in the Greek world.
            3. Not only was that temple the home of a world religion, but it was also one of the major financial institutions in the Roman empire.
         2. It was a major center for emperor worship.
            1. This cult worshipped the Roman Caesar as a god.
            2. Three temples in Ephesus were dedicated to emperor worship.
            3. It was simply a matter of good citizenship to worship in those temples.
         3. It was also a center for the magical arts.
            1. We are not talking about a form of entertainment; we are talking about a religion (such as Simmon the sorcerer practiced in Acts 8).
            2. There was a special kind of religious magic taught in Ephesus (Ephesia grammatta).
         4. A large colony of Jews lived in Ephesus.
   2. The mix created created some special problems for Christians.
      1. The emphasis on emperor worship caused special problems for the Ephesian Christians.
         1. It created a major crisis for them in establishing their identity as peaceful, law abiding, good citizens.
         2. People did not understand why Christians never visited the temples that honored Caesar; it made them look suspicious.
      2. The commerce made Ephesus what we would call a worldly place.
      3. The other religions did not understand why Christians were exclusive.
         1. It was common for religions to accept each other, not oppose each other.
         2. Christians did not do that.
2. The congregation in Ephesus certainly was not what we would call “the ideal congregation.”
   1. They had leadership problems in the eldership.
      1. In Acts 20:17-28 when Paul met with the elders from Ephesus, he gave them both a charge and a warning.
         1. He charged them to understand their responsibility as God intended it.
         2. He warned them that the elders themselves would cause division.
            1. Rivaling elders would act like wolves who used the church to satisfy their own objectives.
            2. Elders would seek their own followers who endorsed their perverse views.
      2. 1 Timothy 1:3 states that Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to care for a number of needs.
         1. According to chapter 3, Timothy was to oversee the appointment of additional elders.
         2. Not just any man could do the work of shepherding.
         3. To provide the flock the type of mature, unselfish shepherding those Christians needed, a specific type of Christian man was needed.
   2. Ephesians 2 acknowledges that a major problem existed between Jewish Christians and Christians who were not Jews.
      1. That was a common, serious problem in congregations where Jews and people who were not Jews became Christians.
      2. These Christians did not understand that God made them one in Christ.
      3. They did not understand what God did in the life of the Christian individual.
   3. Ephesians 4:17-32 acknowledges a major problem existed because they did not understand conversion to Jesus Christ.
      1. Too many Christians lived their every day lives in the same way that the people who did not believe in God lived.
      2. They reduced the Christian life to beliefs with little thought about the life they lived.
      3. They did not understand the basic principles of Christian morality.
      4. They did not understand that God’s teachings should change their hearts and behavior.
   4. Ephesians 5 singled out the problem of sexual immorality.
      1. I do not think Paul singled it out because sexual immorality was worse than other forms of immorality.
      2. I think Paul singled it out because the majority of the people in their societies thought it was okay.
      3. Many thought sexual behavior had nothing to do with being moral.
   5. Ephesians 5:22-6:9 acknowledges that they had significant relationship problems.
      1. Christian husbands and wives had relationship problems.
      2. Christian parents and their children had relationship problems.
      3. Christian masters had relationship problems with their slaves.
      4. Christian slaves had relationship problems with their masters.
   6. Ephesians 6:10-20 acknowledges that they had not learned the true nature of the war they fought.
      1. They had not grasped the fact that it was a spiritual war.
      2. They needed to learn how to let God protect them.
      3. They needed to wear spiritual armor.
      4. They needed to learn to rely on prayer as God intended.
3. What is your reaction? “Those Christians surely were in trouble! They were making enough ‘hell-bound’ mistakes to be lost for sure!”
   1. That is not my reaction.
      1. That is not my understanding of the message of Ephesians.
      2. If you hold that reaction with a sincere, honest heart and mind, take your sincere, honest heart and mind and carefully read Ephesians again.
      3. This time, focus on the message of the book, not the problems that existed in the congregation.
   2. Let me focus you as we examine chapter one.
      1. 1:3–They were blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
         1. God’s spiritual blessings are found only in the heavenly realm–do not look for them anywhere else.
         2. God’s spiritual blessings are found only in Christ–do no look for them anywhere else.
         3. And God had given all of those blessings to these people.
            1. The blessing of holiness before God in the forgiveness of Jesus.
            2. The blessing of sonship with God in Jesus.
            3. The blessing of redemption in Jesus’ blood.
            4. The right to live in God’s grace in Jesus.
            5. God’s inheritance given to them in Jesus.
      2. Notice the powerful, encouraging assurances that Paul gave them:
         1. Verse 4: God chose them (existing reality) in Christ before the creation.
         2. Verse 5: God predestined them to the adoption of sons (existing reality) through Christ.
         3. Verse 7: They have redemption in Christ (existing reality).
         4. Verse 8: God lavished His grace upon them (the fact that they live in God’s grace is an existing reality).
         5. Verse 11: They have obtained an inheritance (existing reality).
         6. Verse 13: They have been sealed in Christ (existing reality) by the Holy Spirit of promise.
      3. Now give careful attention to the prayer that Paul prayed for them (beginning in verse 18).
         1. May God open the eyes of your heart so that you can see what God did for you in Christ.
         2. That is the only way you will know the hope God gives you by calling you in Christ.
         3. That is the only way that you will understand the incredible wealth God gives you in His inheritance.
         4. That is the only way you will grasp the greatness of God’s power that He gives to those who believe in Jesus.
         5. Everything God did for you–choosing you, adopting you, redeeming you, giving you an inheritance, placing the mark of His own seal on you–is in full keeping with the strength of God’s might.
      4. If you doubt God’s power to do those things for you, consider what God did with Jesus whom He made the Christ.
         1. He raised the dead body of Jesus from the tomb.
         2. He seated the resurrected Jesus at His right hand.
         3. He made the dead but resurrected Jesus superior to every existing power.
         4. He gave the dead but resurrected Jesus a name that will never be surpassed.
         5. He placed everything in subjection to the dead but resurrected Jesus.
         6. And that Jesus who is the Christ is your head.
         7. And you are his body.
         8. And God’s purpose for you on earth is to be his fullness.
      5. What is the message? If God could do that with the rejected, forsaken, shamed, executed Jesus, how can you possibly doubt that God in Jesus can make you His chosen people, His adopted children, His redeemed ones, who exist as God’s heirs?
   3. What Paul told them in 3:20,21 was so encouraging to these imperfect people who have been adopted by God.
      Ephesians 3:20,21 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
      1. God can do it! He has the power to do it!
      2. Even with all your problems, all your human imperfections, God can do it!
      3. He is not limited by your ability to ask!
      4. He is not limited by your ability to understand or comprehend!
      5. He is not limited in the power that works in you!
      6. Hope! Incredible hope! Hope founded on the incredible power of the incredible God!
   4. When God opens the eyes of my heart , when I see the grace that God lavishes on me, what will I do as a Christian?
      1. Will I abuse the grace? No!
      2. Will I reject responsibility, sit down, and do nothing? No!
      3. When I see what God did for me in Christ, I am filled with awe; I am overwhelmed with appreciation; and I am consumed with a desire to look like Jesus.

To me, the only appropriate way to end these thoughts is by using Paul’s closing words in Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:23,24 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.

You and I live in a country and in a world starved for hope. May we show them the hope by showing them Jesus Christ!

The message of the gospel must be the good news about what God has done in Jesus for us. If our message is that we are better than brand X church, people will leave us when someone proves to them that brand Y church is better than we are. The message of God’s incredible hope is found in the Savior, not in us.

The Challenge That Never Ends

Posted by David on April 2, 2000 under Bulletin Articles

Recently at a workshop I heard Danny Simms quote an ancient theologian. The quote: “If you pick the things out of the gospel that you do not like and reject them, it is not the gospel you believe in. It is yourself.”

What Christian dares make himself or herself bigger than God? than Jesus Christ? than the Holy Spirit? What Christian declares himself or herself wiser than divine inspiration or more knowledgeable than divine revelation? What Christian presumes to correct God, to inform Jesus that He made a mistake, or to tell the Spirit that He is unnecessary?

What Christian would do that? The Christian who legislates things that God never legislated. The Christian who stresses things that Jesus never stressed. The Christian who seeks to be God’s temple while he or she refuses to let the Spirit live in him or her. The Christian who “reasons away” a teaching from God, an emphasis from Jesus, or a work of the Spirit. The Christian who uses human logic to rearrange God’s priorities. The Christian who is offended by things that do not offend God. The Christian who approves of things that insult God.

In short, every Christian does that. Each time we study the Bible to evaluate God’s teachings rather than to understand them, we do that. Each time we study the Bible to judge others rather than to examine ourselves, we do that. Each time we reject a clear emphasis from God because it disturbs us, we do that. In some circumstance and situation, each of us uses our judgment to ignore God’s clearly revealed desire. When we do that, we place our faith in ourselves instead of God.

“God does not want me to show mercy to people like that!” He will. “God does not want me to forgive that person!” He will. “God does not want me to be kind to those people!” He is. “God does not want me to return good for evil when that happens!” He did and does. “If their repentance sickens me, heaven surely does not rejoice!” Oh, but it does! Each time a person repents, the success ratio of the cross increases.

God does not look at anything the way we do. He never has. Our challenge is to look at everything as God does. We need spiritual glasses. Even when we wear them, we struggle to have “eyes” of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.

I thank God for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They show me the good news. They permit me to see my Savior in human form. They reveal to me what God accomplished in Jesus’ death and resurrection. They inform me of the assurance of my hope.

We do not need the “gospel according to us.” When I rely on the “gospel according to me,” I spiritually fail. When I rely on the gospel according to Jesus, I spiritually succeed.

Please Don’t Bother Me

Posted by David on March 26, 2000 under Sermons

Describe the ideal congregation. Were it possible for each of us to write our description of an ideal congregation, the descriptions would be fascinating. I am talking about descriptions from every age group and from every need group of Christians.

I would not dare guess how many different concepts of an ideal congregation are seated here right now. Each of us assume that the majority of the congregation have the same concept of an ideal congregation that we have. When we consider an ideal congregation, I sincerely doubt that a majority hold any concept in common.

I recently heard about a conversation between two members of the church in another state. One asked, “What’s the congregation like where you attend?” The man replied with some frustration, “My congregation is always planning something new to do. They have more ministries than I can count, and they are constantly urging people to get involved. It is just busy, busy, busy all the time. And they never leave you alone.”

The man who asked the question relied, “That is too bad! You ought to go to church where I go. You come in, sit down, get up, and go. Nobody bothers you.”

Is your description of an ideal congregation a congregation that never bothers you?

1. I want you to listen to the Psalms describe a person.
   1. The description:
      1. Psalm 1:1,2 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
      2. Psalm 63:6-8 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, for You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.
      3. Psalm 77:11-13 I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?
      4. Psalm 143:5,6 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land.
      5. Psalm 119:9-16 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.
   2. I want you to note some common characteristics of the person described in these Psalms.
      1. Each of the readings obviously talk about a person who hungers for a close relationship with God.
         1. This person does not reach out to God because he has to.
         2. He reaches out to God because all his being wants to.
      2. Each of these readings declare that it is as natural as taking a breath for this person to think about God.
         1. He thinks about God as he goes about the day to day affairs of life.
         2. He thinks about God at night.
         3. It is a natural thing for him to meditate about God.
      3. Each of these readings show that it is important to the person for God to be pleased with him.
         1. God’s opinion of him matters.
         2. He wants God to know that he cannot imagine life without God; such an existence is unthinkable.
      4. This hunger, this desire to think about God and to walk with God comes from the heart.
         1. While it certainly involves what the person does, it cannot be contained by mere deeds and acts.
         2. This hunger and desire arises from what the person is, from what he inwardly is.
   3. To me it is obvious that this person could never regard a “Please don’t bother me” congregation as being ideal.
2. Consider two well known verses heard frequently if you grew up in the church.
   1. Jesus gave the first in an introduction to a sermon.
      1. It is one of the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-11.
         1. The beatitudes describe the righteous person.
         2. Jesus’ description was quite different to the common description given in the Jewish religion.
      2. One characteristic of a righteous person was this:
         Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
         1. The righteous person has an appetite for righteousness.
         2. He is like a person who is starving, or a person who is parched.
         3. Jesus’ promise is simple–the person who hungers for righteousness will be satisfied.
      3. To me the profound insight is this: God does not force feed anyone.
         1. The decision to eat or not to eat belongs to each one of us.
         2. The person who cultivates an appetite for righteousness will have it.
         3. We each develop the willingness for Him to feed us.
         4. We meditate on his teachings.
   2. The second verse is a statement made by Paul shortly before his execution. Consider Paul’s statement in 2 Timothy 2:15 as it is translated in several translations.
      • King James translation: 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
      • New American Standard translation: 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
      • New International translation: 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
      • Jerusalem Bible translation: 2 Timothy 2:15 Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work, and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.
      • Today’s English translation: 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to win full approval in God’s sight, as a worker who is not ashamed of his work, one who correctly teaches the message of God’s truth.
   3. Carefully note the key emphasis in Paul’s statement.
      1. First, receiving God’s approval is a serious commitment in our lives.
         1. It is not, “if it happens it happens; if it don’t, it don’t.”
         2. It is not an accident, the accident of being with the right people at the right time.
         3. It does not happen without our involvement and interest.
         4. Gaining God’s approval was to be so important to Timothy that he committed himself without reservation to gaining that approval.
      2. Second, we will settle for nothing less than God’s approval.
         1. The objective is not our fellow Christian’s approval.
         2. The objective is not the church’s approval.
         3. The objective is not the approval of the prominent perspectives in our area.
         4. The objective is not the approval of the “who’s who” in the Church of Christ.
         5. The objective is standing and living in God’s approval.
      3. Third, we seek to obtain God’s approval by doing two things.
         1. We serve God’s purposes in such a manner that we have no reason to be ashamed of our work.
            1. Our work makes us unashamed.
            2. Our insensitive stubbornness does not blind us to shame.
         2. Our work does not shame us because we handle God’s message of truth carefully and accurately.
            1. We do not force God’s teachings to say what we want them to say.
            2. We are devoted to understanding the message, and we live by God’s emphasis, not by human emphasis.
3. Give serious thought and consideration to two things.
   1. On April 1 we will have our annual teachers’ appreciation dinner in our Family Life Center.
      1. This week Ted Edwards wrote everyone who has taught in any part of our teaching program to encourage them to attend.
      2. If by some chance you didn’t get a letter, but you taught in VBS, in WINGS, in the education program, or in any aspect of our work, we want you to come.
      3. Everything that God wants to happen in our lives begins by learning.
      4. To learn and to grow in faith, there must be teaching.
      5. We want to encourage and appreciate our teachers.
4. Next Sunday morning quarter two of emphasis on Christian service begins. (See Year 2000: Spiritual Success or Distress?)
   1. The first quarter we focused exclusively on Jesus.
      1. We learned that Jesus was a servant.
      2. We learned what it meant for Jesus to be a servant.
   2. Next Sunday morning we begin studying the fact that Christians are servants.
      1. The title of the quarter’s study is, “Jesus Makes Us Servants.”
      2. Jesus is the perfect example of what God wants us to be.
      3. This quarter will develop a basic understanding of what God wants us to be.
   3. I want to issue three challenges.
      1. The first challenge is given to those who do not attend Sunday morning classes.
         1. All the adult classes are studying the same material.
         2. All the teachers of those classes get together every Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. to discuss the next Sunday’s lesson.
         3. There is a variety of study opportunities.
         4. This is the ideal time to become part of a class.
         5. Bring your appetite to learn, and come.
      2. The second challenge is to those who attend but want a different learning situation.
         1. The elevator works.
         2. Every adult has access to all the classes upstairs and all the classes down stairs.
         3. The reason we installed the elevator is to give every adult access to every class.
      3. The third challenge is to those who enjoyed last quarter’s study.
         1. I have received so many encouraging comments and so many statements of appreciation for the material.
         2. One person came to me this week asking permission to share some of the material with another congregation in another state.
            1. She said that she has been a Christian for a little over ten years.
            2. But our recent studies have taught her more than she has learned at any time in her Christian life.
         3. If you enjoyed your class last quarter, encourage someone to come next Sunday.

[Prayer: God, stimulate our appetite for righteousness. Increase our hunger to understand Your message. Help us handle Your truth properly so that we understand You and Jesus properly.]

In my introduction, I asked you the wrong question. The question is not, “What is your concept of the ideal congregation?” The question is, “What is God’s concept of the ideal congregation?” God’s concept begins with people who are hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The Christian Life Is Based On Conversion

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

In the 1960’s I preached for a university congregation in Florida. John F. Kennedy ran for the Presidency. He was the first Catholic to run for President, and it was a dirty campaign that incorporated a lot of religious prejudice.

In the congregation was a professor who supported Kennedy and was deeply offended by the religious prejudice. One day he and I had a private conversation. He reacted against the common “slippery slope” argument that, if Kennedy were President, the Pope would control America.

I was not “into” politics and never knowingly used “preaching” to pursue political objectives. He said, “You would do the same thing, wouldn’t you? If you had the power to make everyone do what you think is right, you would make them do it, wouldn’t you?”

His question shocked me. I could not comprehend that any Christian seriously held that perspective. I managed only a simple “no.” I was quite young (from my today’s perspective!). I did not know a Christian could endorse a perspective of forced obedience. Forced obedience is faithless obedience.

Forced obedience (in any form) is not conversion. Conversion is based on three things. (1) It is based on the astounding realization that the resurrected Jesus is God’s son [faith]. (2) It is based on a personal desire to redirect life [repentance]. (3) It is based on the personal determination to let Jesus teach you how to live life [commitment]. The combination of that realization, that desire, and that commitment expresses itself in the rebirth of baptism.

The problems we witness in the church astound us. Long ago Christians “bought” the assumption that being “the church” eliminated problems of every kind. I do not know how that assumption was created and empowered. Being “the church” in the first century did not eliminate the problems of their day.

Why are there so many problems among Christians today? Why do we find virtually every problem in our culture among those who have been baptized into Christ? Why? There are many reasons. Among them is this one: too many who were baptized were never converted.

One objective of our adult Sunday morning Bible classes is to convert the baptized to Jesus who is the Christ. Please begin or advance your conversion by studying with us.

The Quiet Enslaver

Posted by David on March 19, 2000 under Sermons

The quiet enslaver is pornography. For our introduction tonight, I want to you to watch and listen to part of the interview James Dobson did with Ted Bundy on January 23, 1989. On January 24, 1989, Ted Bundy was executed for the murders of several women and girls.

[Show the video clip from Life On The Edge by James Dobson from Session 7, “Pornography: Addictive, Progressive, and Deadly,” produced by Word Video Curriculum Resource and distributed by Focus on the Family.]

1. A synopsis of the information [is given to produce continuity for those who read this lesson on our Web site].
   1. Ted Bundy grew up in a good home that emphasized Christian values.
      1. He stressed that his parents were not responsible for what he did.
      2. They tried to protect him from the things that contributed to his destruction.
      3. He was one of five brothers and sisters.
   2. His addiction began with his involvement with “soft” pornography.
      1. When he was 13 he and some friends found some pornographic materials that someone had thrown away.
      2. They began to search garbage cans, and the materials they occasionally found introduced them to a higher form of pornography.
   3. He emphasized this progression in pornographic addiction.
      1. Once a person becomes addicted to pornography, he searches for more potent forms of pornography that can create a great sense of excitement.
      2. Like other addictions, addiction to pornography reaches a point when even “hard” pornography is not enough to produce the excitement the addict wants.
      3. At that point the person wonders if an act of sexual violence would produce the excitement he wants.
      4. Prior to his first murder, he described himself as a normal person, in no way a monster or a pervert.
         1. The secret of his pornography addiction was so well hidden that no one suspected it existed, and no one thought him capable of murder.
         2. Prior to the first murder, he lived a normal life and was “okay.”
         3. After the first murder, all his moral convictions and values returned within a day.
         4. He felt horrible and could not believe that he was capable of such acts.
   4. He stressed the fact that men who are influenced by pornographic violence are not monsters.
      1. Any man can fall victim to that influence.
      2. Men so influenced are sons and husbands.
      3. He stressed that he came from a good Christian home, and parents could not protect their children from this influence.
   5. He requested that Dobson conduct his last interview because he wanted to share a message with the country. In that statement:
      1. He emphasized 100% of the men he had known on death row (and he had been in prison a long time) who were awaiting execution for violent sexual crimes had been addicted to pornography.
      2. He stated that he could not believe (in the 1989 world and prior to the Internet) what was coming into the homes via cable television.
         1. The graphic sexual violence available in the home would not have been permitted in X-rated movies thirty years prior to 1989 (in the 1950’s).
         2. Seeing what children could watch in their homes terrified him because these things fed children like it fed him, and it would have the same effect on people with his problem that it had on him.
      3. He did not blame pornography for his violent, cruel acts.
         1. There were many contributing factors to the development of his violence.
         2. But he said that he would not have committed the kind of violent acts he did had it not been for hard pornography.
2. [The text of my sermon after the video clip began at this point.] Remember some basic thoughts in that interview.
   1. Number one: the pornography problem began in a way that seemed innocent and harmless.
   2. Number two: the natural progression of pornography leads to addiction.
   3. Number three: that addiction motivates the male to look for new highs.
   4. Number four: the addicted can be every day, normal, okay, good people from good homes; they just have a secret that they hide well.
   5. Number five: that the most conscientious parents cannot protect their sons from this influence in our society.
   6. Number six: that 100% of the men on death row facing execution for violent sexual crimes in the time Ted Bundy was there had been addicted to pornography.
3. One of the most powerful, horrible addictions that exist in our society is sexual addiction.
   1. The foundation of sexual addiction is pornography.
      1. It devastates the addicted.
      2. It devastates marriages.
      3. It devastates homes.
      4. The cruelty that it inflicts on the lives of the men, of the wives, and of the children cannot be exaggerated.
   2. “That is itself an exaggeration! Why should pornography be considered so devastating and cruel?”
      1. Number one: once a man is addicted, he cannot escape the war of sex appeal.
         1. America is a sexually oriented society.
         2. Explicit sex surrounds us–on comedy television series, on violent television series, on television talk shows, in television commercials, in the newspaper, in catalogues, in movies, on videos, in the way women dress.
         3. And Americans are constantly told the greatest pleasure to be experienced in life is sexual pleasure.
         4. In fact, how many things can you name that do not use sex appeal in powerful, explicit ways?
         5. If you are addicted to drugs and want to break the addiction, change your environment.
         6. If you are addicted to alcohol and want to break the addiction, change your environment.
         7. If you are addicted to pornography, how can you change your environment so that you are not constantly facing erotic stimulation from our society’s abuse of sex appeal?
      2. Number two: the addicted man struggles as he tries to establish and maintain a long term, healthy relationship with a wife.
         1. Pornography builds excitement by creating fantasies.
         2. No healthy marriage relationship can compete with sexual fantasies.
         3. In fact, the addicted person prefers his fantasies to a relationship.
            1. A relationship requires two persons, requires effort and understanding, and involves disappointment.
            2. Fantasies take only one person (self), require no effort, and do not have to deal with the disappointments that occur in a relationship.
      3. Number three: the fantasies become a powerful form of slavery.
         1. Since a love relationship does not exist, the kindness and fulfillment experienced in a love relationship do not exist.
         2. Fantasies are extremely selfish; healthy love relationships are extremely unselfish.
         3. Fantasies exploit; healthy love relationships fulfill.
         4. Sexual fantasies attack and destroy relationship skills by making the person increasingly selfish, self focused, and self centered as he increasingly is ruled by his feelings and desires.
4. How do teens and men get involved in pornography? What are the common doors that lead to that involvement? [The following doors are not listed in any order of priority or common occurrence.]
   1. Natural curiosity is a door.
      1. The boy is going through puberty.
      2. His body is maturing.
      3. He deals with feelings and desires he never experience before.
      4. He is curious, and that curiosity is fueled by our culture’s use of sex appeal.
   2. The inability to relate to other people is a door.
      1. Commonly, this person has no role models; he develops in a relationship vacuum.
      2. He does not know how to interact with others.
      3. He prefers fantasy to confusion.
   3. Low self esteem and low self image is a door.
      1. Mom commonly verbally emasculated Dad.
      2. Dad commonly verbally abused Mom.
      3. They taught him a thousand subtle ways to tear people down.
      4. In the process he perceives that they are tearing him down.
      5. He grows up in an environment that tears people down, and in that environment he is always afraid, always unsure of himself.
   4. Learned behavior is a door.
      1. His home was not a religious home.
      2. Pornography was openly used by Dad.
      3. Dad encouraged him to develop the same desires and attitudes.
   5. Peer influence is a door.
      1. The teenage world is full of pornography.
      2. Business trips are full of pornography.
      3. Pornography is supposed to be a part of the male experience in our society.
   6. A personal search for the sexual highs portrayed on television or in the movies is a door.
      1. There is no realization that these are actors and actresses acting out a script.
      2. Such sexual highs do not exist in real life; they are artificial.
      3. When these sexual highs are not experienced, the man thinks something is wrong, and that he is being cheated or robbed.
   7. Friends who live “on the dark side” are a door.
      1. Pornography is a part of their life style.
      2. They delight in inviting others to join them in their lifestyle.
   8. The rites of social passage are a door.
      1. In our society pornographic preoccupation is the way you stop being a boy and start being a man.
      2. It easily becomes a part of the activities at proms, spring breaks, college parties, bachelor parties, business trips, and conventions.
   9. Drugs and alcohol are a door.
      1. Pornography contributes to inducing the “high.”
      2. Stimulate all the physical senses; seek maximum pleasure.
   10. Being “cool” is a door.
       1. The vast majority want to be accepted by those who are popular.
       2. That is a powerful force among teens.
       3. But it is also a powerful force among those who “are playing the game” in the business world.
   11. Loneliness and sexual frustration in marriage are a door.
       1. In the last lesson we talked about the power of the male sex drive.
       2. We also saw from Genesis that the purpose of marriage is to destroy loneliness.
       3. When marriage does not destroy loneliness in the husband, pornography becomes a powerful temptation.
   12. A loveless environment is a door.
       1. That loveless environment may be the home for the teenager.
       2. It may be the marriage for the husband.
5. What is so bad about pornography?
   1. It dehumanizes women.
      1. Women are portrayed as objects instead of persons.
      2. They exist to be used and exploited, not loved in a caring relationship.
   2. It encourages the man to become ultra selfish.
      1. It focuses the man on himself, his feelings, and his desires.
      2. Nothing is as important as his sexual gratification.
      3. Nothing is more devastating to a marriage than being married to a sexually selfish man.
   3. It destroys relationship skills.
      1. It makes you less a person in your marriage.
      2. It diminishes you as a husband and a father.
      3. You are unconcerned about relationship skills that build a mutually fulfilling life.
      4. Your wife has value to you only to the extent your wife gratifies you.
      5. You become increasingly selfish in your perspectives and outlooks.
   4. It perverts a powerful gift from God into a destructive evil.
      1. Pornography never makes a man more godly.
      2. Pornography never makes a man kinder, more compassionate, more understanding.
      3. Pornography never makes a man more like Jesus.
      4. Pornography never makes a man a better Christian, a better husband, a better father, or a better person.
   5. It robs the man’s children.
      1. It robs them of the depth and quality of love they should experience.
      2. It robs them of the role models they need in the healthy, loving interaction of Mom and Dad.
      3. It robs them of the greatest opportunity they have to learn the value of a person and respect for a person.
      4. It robs them of the quality of warmth and caring that a child should experienced in any home.

The use of pornography is a significant problem among Christian men. Today it is an easier problem to develop than it has ever been. Today it is easier to hide than it has ever been. With Internet access, it is easily, quickly available to teens and to men.

The ease of availability and the ease of secrecy makes it more urgent than ever that we structure our homes to be an oasis of love, peace, and faith. It makes it more urgent than ever that husbands and wives build happy, fulfilling marriages that destroy loneliness.

“I Wish I Lived When …”

Posted by David on under Sermons

If you could pick any time period to live in and any geographical area on earth to live in, what would you pick? If you could live at any time in history, in any age, what age would you choose?

Since we are Christians, since we are here to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, since we are in a worship assembly, it is likely that some of us would say, “If I could choose a time and place, I would choose Palestine in Jesus’ lifetime. I wish I could live when Jesus lived and worked.”

Why? “I would like to hear him preach. I would like to see his miracles. I would like to the watch the people. That must have been an incredible experience!”

I would not want that. I would be afraid to live at that time because I would be afraid of my reactions. If I lived in Palestine when Jesus lived, I do not know how I would have reacted to Jesus. Jesus was extremely different. When Jesus died, he was so misunderstood that nobody grasped what he was doing or what God was doing.

1. This morning I want you to consider the things that happened to Jesus in Mark 3.
   1. Mark 3 begins with Jesus teaching in a Jewish synagogue on a Sabbath day.
      1. In attendance was a man with a withered hand.
         1. That meant the hand was contorted and drawn and of no use to him.
         2. It also meant that his hand would never be of any use to him.
         3. He would live and die with a useless, withered hand.
      2. Jesus asked the man to come stand before the congregation.
      3. He asked the congregation, “Which of these actions comply with the laws concerning the Sabbath: doing good or doing harm; saving life or killing?”
      4. Nobody answered his question; everyone was silent.
      5. Jesus looked at them in anger, grieved because their hearts were hard.
      6. Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand, and immediately the man’s hand was restored to its usefulness.
      7. The Pharisees, the best read and most religious people present, left immediately and began to plan how to destroy Jesus.
   2. Jesus left the synagogue and went to the shore of the sea of Galilee.
      1. An enormous crowd of people from far and wide had gathered because they heard of Jesus’ miracles.
      2. He sent the disciples ahead to secure a boat that Jesus could use to keep the huge crowd of people from crushing him.
         1. The people knew that he had the power to heal.
         2. Everyone was trying to touch him.
         3. Even the demon possessed were bowing before him as the demons acknowledged that he was the Son of God.
   3. Later Jesus went up on a mountain with many of his disciples.
      1. From all those disciples, he selected twelve.
      2. These twelve were to be with him, to preach for him, and to cast demons out of people.
   4. After that he returned to Capernaum and entered the house where he stayed.
      1. When people heard that he was in the house, such a large crowd gathered that he and the twelve could not even eat a meal.
      2. When his relatives heard about what Jesus was doing and the great commotion he caused, they came to take him in custody because “he has lost his senses,” or “the man has gone crazy.”
      3. Some scribes from Jerusalem [a scribe became a religious expert by copying scripture by hand] came and declared that Jesus was using Satan’s power to cast out demons.
         1. Jesus said, “That is an amazing explanation! If that is what is happening, that is great news!”
         2. “If a kingdom has a civil war, the war destroys the kingdom.”
         3. “If a family fights itself, the fight destroys the family.”
         4. “If Satan is fighting against himself, he is destroying himself.”
         5. “However, no one robs a strong man’s house without first tying up the strong man.” Satan was the strong man, and Jesus was robbing Satan’s house by casting out demons.
         6. “The one sin that God will not forgive is the sin of giving Satan credit for the work of God’s Spirit.”
      4. Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrive.
         1. With all the crowd and commotion they cannot get to him.
         2. They want to talk to him privately–wonder if the relatives sent them?
         3. He was informed that his mother and brothers are outside and wanted to talk to him.
         4. Jesus responded by saying, “The person who does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
2. “Wow!”
   1. I do not like to be verbally attacked and I do not like to watch as other people are verbally attacked.
      1. Watching people attack Jesus for doing good things would have distressed me.
      2. I did not need to be there.
   2. I do not like to hear people oppose God while they act as if they are serving God.
      1. Hearing the Pharisees plan to destroy Jesus by discrediting him would have distressed me.
      2. I did not need to be there.
   3. I do not like to be misunderstood, and I do not like to see other people misunderstood.
      1. Watching Jesus’ family misunderstand him would have distressed me.
      2. I did not need to be there.
   4. I do not like to be in crowds that are pushing and shoving as every person tries to get what he or she wants.
      1. Being in a huge crowd where everyone wanted the opportunity to get close enough to Jesus to touch him would have distressed me.
      2. I did not need to be there.
   5. I do not like to have people assign evil significance to good motives and godly acts, and I do not like to hear people assign evil significance to the godly motives and deeds of others.
      1. To listen to the scribes say that Jesus functioned by using Satan’s power would have distressed me.
      2. I did not need to be there.
3. To me, one of the fascinating lessons in Mark 3 is seen in the way people reacted to Jesus.
   1. Mark 3 is a chapter filled with incredible contrasts.
      1. We see the Son of God doing nothing but good as he helps physically sick people and teaches spiritually sick people.
      2. And, we see all these different reactions by different groups and persons.
   2. Look at the reactions.
      1. Religiously, the Pharisees were the most influential people in Israel.
         1. They were restorationists who wanted Israel to return to the old paths (that was their terminology).
         2. They were the best read, most knowledgeable religious people in Israel.
         3. They knew the scriptures.
         4. Their reaction to Jesus:
            1. “You cannot heal a man on the Sabbath day!”
            2. “That is a violation of the law, for the law clearly says that you must not perform an act of work on the Sabbath!”
            3. “And how dare he challenge us and embarrass us in public! That man is dangerous! His influence and popularity must be destroyed!”
      2. The demons knew Jesus’ true identity.
         1. They knew who he was, and they knew what he could do.
         2. They had no intention of serving Jesus instead of serving Satan.
         3. They just knew his power was supreme over Satan’s power.
      3. The people who knew Jesus had the power to heal the sick wanted a miracle.
         1. They saw Jesus as an immediate solution to a physical problem.
         2. Life would be fine if they could just get their physical problem fixed.
      4. In naming the twelve, Mark listed Judas Iscariot and noted that he was the one who betrayed Jesus.
      5. His extended family thought he had gone crazy.
         1. How else could they explain what he said?
         2. How else could they explain what he was doing?
         3. How else could they explain his challenges to the religious establishment?
         4. The family needed to get this man under control!
      6. The scribes, the experts in the literal wording of scripture, said that Jesus’ ability to cast out demons came from Satan.
         1. The demons knew him because he was the chief demon.
         2. The demons obeyed him because he was the leader of the demons.
         3. Jesus could be explained away because Jesus was the ultimate form of evil.
      7. Perhaps his immediate family wanted to talk to him because the extended family could not bring him under their control.
      8. Then there were the listeners who sincerely wanted to hear and understand what Jesus taught.
         1. Jesus said that they were his real family.
         2. They were his real family because they wanted to do God’s will.
         3. He came to do God’s will, and he shared a special bond with all people who wanted to understand and serve God’s will.
   3. On the deepest level of my understanding, may I share with you the reason that I would not want to live in Palestine during the time of Jesus’ ministry.
      1. I do not know which one of those people I would have been.
      2. Jesus was so radically different in how he lived, what he did, and what he taught, I do not know if:
         1. I would have been one of the Pharisees who, as a religious expert, said that Jesus was so different and radical that he was dangerous.
         2. I would have been one of the demon possessed.
         3. I would have been one of the sick that just wanted my physical problem fixed.
         4. I would have been a Judas that saw Jesus as an opportunity to satisfy my greed.
         5. I would have been one of those who thought that he was crazy and needed someone to bring him under control.
         6. I would have been a scribe who thought that Jesus was an evil man who got his power from Satan.
         7. I would have been a listener who wanted Jesus to teach me God’s will.
   4. Who do you think you would have been?

[Prayer: God, create within our hearts and minds a hunger to do your will. Open our understandings to the teachings of Jesus so that we can understand your will.]

How do you look at Jesus right now? Is he too different to be taken seriously? Do you acknowledge his identity, but you let Satan control your life? Do you just want Jesus to fix physical things? Do you think he is crazy? Do you think he is evil? Or, do you listen to Jesus with an open mind and heart because you want him to teach you God’s will?

People can tell how I look at Jesus. They can tell how you look at Jesus. The way we live and the way we use our lives tells others how we look at Jesus. What do they see when they look at our lives? What do you want them to see?

If You Don’t Have Love …

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

“My work” is thought provoking. I work for God with people. No two weeks are alike. God constantly increases my insights, and persons are never alike. Combining the work of our unique God with the needs of unique people makes each week unique.

Last week cancer claimed Stan Spainhour’s physical body. His friends would tell us quickly that cancer never claimed Stan’s life. He refused to allow cancer to take charge of his life. His faith and his attitude in the last fourteen months were a challenge and inspiration. Though he was very sick, he refused to stop being Stan.

Last week I was privileged to be with those who loved him in Fort Smith. I was privileged to be with those who loved him in Witchita Falls, Texas. Even after death, Stan provided me the time and opportunity for reflection from an unusual perspective.

In my reflection an obvious truth stood out. If you do not have love, you do not have anything. The abundance of love makes a person wealthy. “Things” cannot make a person wealthy. We leave “things” behind. We take love with us.

Love’s wealth is unique. You must have love to have love’s wealth. You cannot buy love. You cannot force love to exist. You cannot demand love. You cannot “fake” having love. You cannot borrow love. The only way to have love is to give love. The more love that you share the more love that you receive.

As unique as love’s wealth is, people know it exists. People are starved for love! They prize love’s wealth! When they do not have love and its wealth [and many do not!], people go to unusual extremes to find and possess them. Do you doubt that? If you don’t have love, what would you give for it? If you have it, for what would you sell it?

The greatest gift you can give is love. The greatest power you have to alter life is found in your power to love. The greatest treasure you will leave behind is your love. Nothing contains the power or the influence of love. And every person has the ability to love!

While love is this earth’s greatest power, it is also this earth’s most neglected reality. Why should that surprise us? Love is from God, and this world neglects everything that comes from God. Do you want to increase love in your life? Get closer to God.

Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Is God Still Able?

Posted by David on March 12, 2000 under Sermons

For thirty seconds I want you to dismiss the fact that you are sitting in a church building. For thirty seconds I want you to forget that you are supposed to give “church answers.” Can you do that? Can you be honest with yourself for thirty seconds? Can you answer this question as you would while sitting at home?

Give me thirty seconds of honesty with yourself and answer this question: what do you believe in? Nothing is not an honest answer. Everybody believes in something. Do not tell me what other people believe in. Quietly, in your own mind and heart, tell me tell me honestly what you believe in.

Let me ask the question in another way. Do you believe in anything bigger than you? Do you believe in anything bigger than your feelings? Your wants? Your desires? Your priorities? Your personal convictions?

Or, what is supreme in your life? When you absolutely must make hard a choice, what consistently comes out on top? You? Your feelings? Your wants? Your desires? What is important to you? In hard decisions, what consistently is the deciding factor?

1. May I share with you what I personally believe?
   1. These factors lie at the foundation of my hard decisions.
      1. I believe that God is the origin of life.
         1. I do not know how He made the world.
         2. I do not know why He made the world.
         3. I do not understanding why He made humans the unique life form that they are.
         4. But I accept as fact that life came from God; God is the origin of the person.
         5. My existence is not the product of accident, chance, and time; I exist by the design and power of God.
      2. I believe that God talked to, guided, and made the world’s key promise to Abraham.
         1. I believe that God was able to work through Abraham because Abraham trusted God’s promises.
         2. I believe that Abraham lived as a nomad in the land of Canaan because he followed the specific direction of God.
         3. I believe that Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah by an act of God to fulfill God’s promise.
      3. I believe that God made the nation of Israel from the descendants of Abraham.
         1. I believe that God began with one couple, one child, and two grandchildren and produced a nation.
         2. I believe that God intended that nation to live by the same faith that produced the same dependence on God that Abraham had.
         3. I believe that God gave that nation specific reasons to trust His promises.
      4. I believe that God brought Jesus into our world through the nation of Israel.
         1. I believe that was God’s specific intent and purpose before Abraham lived.
         2. I believe Jesus came to reveal the purpose and intent of God for people.
         3. I do not believe that Jesus was an accident or a convenient opportunity.
      5. I believe that Jesus is the Christ.
         1. I believe that he was executed by people and was resurrected by God.
         2. I believe that he gave his life and his blood for our atonement and was raised from the dead to become the Savior of all people.
      6. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.
         1. As Lord, I believe that he has the power to destroy the sin of any individual through his forgiveness.
         2. As Lord, I believe that he has the power to sustain the forgiven through his the grace and mercy by continuing forgiveness.
         3. As Lord, I believe that he can and will enable forgiven people to stand before God unafraid in the judgment.
   2. Now, permit me to share with you what I know: I know I am going to die.
      1. “Oh, David, how morbid can you get!”
         1. Accepting a fact that I cannot alter is not morbid.
         2. I cannot appreciate what God did for me, does for me, and will do for me in Christ if I do not accept the fact that I will die.
      2. Death is a fact.
         1. Everyone born dies.
         2. Have you personally ever known an exception?
         3. Do you actually think that you will be that exception?
   3. Americans are a strange people.
      1. We do everything we can to remove ourselves from the reality of death.
         1. For example, I grew up on a farm and like many, many Americans we grew, killed, and preserved our meat.
         2. Today meat comes from the grocery store and does not involve death.
         3. Another example, our hospitals, as much as possible, separate the living from the dying.
         4. There was a time when death was a family experience.
      2. At the same time, Americans are enthralled by violence.
         1. Violence is a major part of American entertainment.
         2. We enjoy violent sports.
         3. One formula for making a movie financially successful is to include graphic violence in the plot.
         4. Many successful television series must include at least occasional violence.
         5. Many of the most successful video games are based on violence.
      3. We want to remove ourselves from the reality of death, and yet we want to be entertained by simulated death.
         1. We do not wish to deal with the fact that we will die.
         2. Yet, we want to be entertained by simulated violence and death.
2. What I believe and what I know makes me confront a necessary choice, and I must make a decision, in fact I will make a decision–and so will you. The choice:
   1. I will decide that this life is it and indulge myself.
      1. I will make me supreme.
         1. I will make my feeling supreme.
         2. I will make my desires supreme.
         3. I will make my preferences supreme.
         4. I will make my priorities supreme.
      2. I will not allow anything to get in the way of the importance of “me.”
         1. I will not let my marriage get in the way.
         2. I will not let my children get in the way.
         3. I will not let people get in the way.
         4. I will structure everything in my life around the importance of “me.”
      3. And the older I get:
         1. The more selfish I become.
         2. The lonelier I become.
         3. The emptier my life becomes.
         4. The more afraid I become.
      4. And I will die.
   2. Or, I will decide that this life is not it, and the One I meet after this life is bigger than I am.
      1. I will understand that the purpose of life is to allow God to live in me, to change me, and to teach me how to treat people.
      2. There is a tremendous emphasis in the New Testament on the fact that belonging to Christ changes the way I treat people.
         1. Jesus placed enormous emphasis on:
            1. Forgiveness
            2. Mercy
            3. Kindness
            4. Compassion
            5. Humility
         2. We are told that love is a part of God’s nature, and that the Christian who does not love cannot know God (1 John 4:8).
         3. We are told that the Christian who loves, lives in God and God lives in him or her ( 1 John 4:16).
      3. When I live in God, God lives in me.
         1. My marriage gets better because the person I married is important.
         2. I become a better parent because the people I brought into this world are important.
         3. I become a better person because people are important.
         4. I structure my life around my concern for people because my God teaches me how to love people.
      4. And the older I get:
         1. The more unselfish I become.
         2. The more purpose life has.
         3. The fuller life becomes.
         4. The less afraid I become.
3. There are about 700 of us sitting together right now. If I asked you, “What is the purpose of the West-Ark Church of Christ?” what would you say?
   1. I am sure that we would give many different kinds of answers.
      1. There are many appropriate answers.
      2. There are also some highly questionable answers.
      3. I have no doubt that many of you would disagree with some of my answers and that I would disagree with some of your answers.
      4. And I understand that agreeing or disagreeing would not make any of our answers God’s answers.
   2. Let me anticipate one answer that I disagree with: “The mission of the church is to preserve the Church of Christ.”
      1. If we are truly a part of the church that God built on Jesus Christ, none of us individually nor all of us collectively could destroy it if we wanted to.
      2. God is still able.
      3. God who is the origin of life, who made a nation from Abraham, who sent his son through Israel to be Savior of the world, who resurrected Jesus to be Lord and Christ and head of the church is still able.
      4. God will preserve the church; we just need to be the church.
      5. Our decision is not how to preserve the church; our decision is how to serve God’s purposes as the church.
      6. The Christian assists God by doing this: (1) we belong to God only, and (2) we allow God to teach us how to treat people as God wants us to treat people.
         1. If we do less than that, we oppose God.
         2. If we do more than that, we try to be God instead of serve God.

[Prayer: God, increase our faith in Your ability.]

In Luke 12 Jesus told a parable about a wealthy farmer who had an enormous harvest. His harvest was so big he did not know what to do with it. He made two decisions. He decided to build bigger barns. He decided that he would have enough to take care of him for many years, so he would live the good life and take it easy.

God called him a fool. He said, “Tonight you will die, then who will all this belong to?” Jesus said so it is with every person who uses wealth for himself and is not rich toward God.

What do you believe in? Is anything bigger than you? Is God still able?

We Can’t. God Can

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

There are many things I wish about me. I wish that I was not so hard-headed. God has an awful hard time leading me. Sometimes I am so “dense” that I forget what He taught me in the past–over, and over, and over again.

I wish that I was not so forgetful. God, I deeply apologize for making it necessary to reteach me the same lesson–over and over and over again. When my children were at home, they frustrated me because they forgot lessons already learned. God must get terribly frustrated with me!

I wish I more readily trusted the lessons God taught me. I deeply value some of the most difficult experiences in my life: being forced by the authorities to cease work as a missionary; experiencing the trauma of reverse culture shock; having close friends become determined opponents. While I never want to endure them again, God used each experience to teach me powerful lessons. Yet, in “crunch times,” I find it so difficult to trust those valued lessons. In “crunch times,” feelings overwhelm understanding.

We live in an incredibly complex society. We live in the shadows of overwhelming cultural wickedness. We stagger through the devastation of weak and failed relationships. We witness and experience so many heartaches and so much suffering.

Our country uses “cosmetics” to distort reality. Each day America “puts on its face” to create a glamorous appearance. It skillfully uses the “cosmetics” of pleasure, fantasy, and escapism to convince us that it knows the secret to “the good life.” But America’s “good life” reduces relationships to rubble piles. “The good life” is ultra selfish.

Life is so complicated! It is so deceptive! It is so demanding! Culture’s deceitful “makeup face” is devastating. Its deceptions create suffering, betrayal, and misery. The innocent are deceived before they are old enough to gain understanding.

Often the needs of the devastated overwhelm us. Those whose hearts wish to share the real hope of a compassionate Savior see the needs and despair. At that moment caring hearts are the most vulnerable to Satan’s discouragement.

At that moment we must trust a truth as old as mankind, as old as earthly evil. Those in despair must learn to trust this truth. Those with caring hearts must continue to trust this truth. What truth? “We can’t. God can.” The solution will not be found by our playing God. The solution is not found in our brilliance, wisdom, and perceptions. The solution is found by learning how to let God be God in our lives and relationships.

Perhaps life’s most critical lessons are learned from two simple realizations. “I can’t. God can.” From those two realizations we understand what God knew from the first sin: we need a Savior. In all matters of salvation, “We can’t. God can.”