Posted by David on September 20, 1998 under Sermons
What is important? That is such a simple, three word question. But the answer to that simple question is one of life’s most complex answers. The basic answer to that question is influenced by three factors. Who you ask. Where that person lives. What he or she declares to be his or her needs.
If I asked that question in Russia, or India, or Africa, or China, or South America, I would not get an American answer. If the people live in a place of violent instability, or in a place where starvation occurs, or in a place flirting with economic collapse, or in a place of severe political repression, their answers will not be our answers.
So let’s confine our answers to American answers. Most of us live somewhere within the spectrum of middle class America. So, middle class America, “What is important?” I ask you, “What is important?”
- Before we can declare what is important, we must answer this question: “How do you determine what is important?”
- Do you determine the important by:
- The desires of your body that control your life?
- What is urgent and pressing “right now”?
- Considering long term significance and consequences?
- For example:
- If I asked eight-year-olds, “What is important?” answers would focus on short term desires.
- If I asked teenagers, “What is important?” answers would stress, “Peers who unconditionally accept me for who and what I am.”
- If I asked adults in their 20’s, “What is important?” answers would stress career opportunities, or life style choices, or marriage.
- If I asked people in their 30’s, “What is important?” answers would stress personal fulfillment through achieving personal goals.
- If I asked people in their 40’s, “What is important?” answers would stress some form of success.
- If I asked people in their 50’s, “What is important?” answers would stress preparation for retirement.
- If I asked people in their 60’s, “What is important?” answers would stress material security.
- Let’s ask a different group of people, “What is important?”
- Ask twenty-five-year-old expectant parents whose unborn child has just been diagnosed with a catastrophic abnormality, “What is important?”
- Ask a thirty-year-old wife whose husband was just killed in an automobile accident, “What is important?”
- Ask a forty-year-old husband whose wife has been diagnosed with breast cancer, “What is important?”
- Ask a fifty-year-old wife whose husband had a massive stroke and is in a coma, “What is important?”
- Ask the family of a seventy-year-old woman or man who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, “What is important?”
- In a very real way, the question, “What is important?” is just another way of asking, “What is life about?”
- Hebrews 11:23-29 makes an insightful, fascinating commentary on Moses’ life.
- Moses is one of the primary figures of the Old Testament.
- God used Moses as God used no one else.
- Moses was unique; there has never been another person like him.
- Exodus 1 and 2 provides us insights into the problems that enveloped the people of Israel at the time Moses was born.
- The Israelites had served the Egyptians as slaves for generations.
- The Israelite population had grown so rapidly that the King tried to create population control.
- He decreed that every Israelite boy born was to be thrown into the Nile River and drowned immediately after birth.
- At Moses’ birth, his mother refused to obey that edict and, instead, hid Moses for three months.
- Then, instead of throwing Moses into the Nile to die, she floated him in a basket on the Nile hoping that he would live.
- She floated him in the area where the royal family bathed, but she could not predict what would happen when an Egyptian found him.
- The King’s daughter found and accepted him.
- She had Moses’ mother nurse and care for him until he was old enough to come to the palace.
- Then she adopted him as her son.
- In today’s terminology, from today’s perspective, Moses had it made.
- He was adopted into one of the world’s most powerful families.
- He completely escaped slavery to become one of the world’s most privileged people.
- Education, wealth, prestige, and opportunity were his as a matter of right because he belonged to the royal family.
- No one on earth had a better material life.
- He had everything he wanted, and he could do anything he wanted.
- But Moses knew his origin and his identity.
- Moses also knew that his people continued in the horrors of slavery.
- One day he risked everything to help just one Israelite who was being abused by an Egyptian.
- The Israelite did not appreciate his help, his effort backfired, and he had to flee into the remote wilderness to keep the king from executing him.
- Forty years later, God had plans for him.
- Exodus 3 and 4 tells us how God revealed those plans to Moses.
- When Moses learned that God wanted him to return to Egypt, he wanted no part of God’s plans.
- Though he resisted God, God convinced Moses to return to Egypt.
- Hebrews 11:23-29 states these things.
- It was faith that caused Moses’ mother to hide him instead of kill him.
- Moses could have considered himself a member of the royal family and forgotten all about the fact that he came from slaves, but faith would not let him do that.
- Moses had a choice: he could enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, or he could share the abuse of God’s people.
- Because of faith, he chose abuse over pleasure.
- Why? Why would he “make that crazy, ridiculous decision”?
- Moses understood God was doing something special in His work with Israel.
- Though Moses knew nothing about Jesus Christ, God literally was making necessary preparation to send Jesus to become the Christ.
- Though Moses did not realize precisely what God was doing, he understood that his greatest reward was found in serving God’s purposes.
- Moses understood that there was greater reward in reproach and abuse than in wealth.
- The rewards of being used by God to achieve God’s purposes would be greater than the immediate rewards of wealth, pleasure, and privilege.
- So he lead all those slaves out of Egypt, unafraid of the king’s wrath, because he saw the unseen.
- By faith he kept the Passover knowing that night that Egyptians would die in order for Israelites to be delivered from slavery.
- By faith he led those slaves across the Red Sea, the same Red Sea that minutes later drowned the Egyptian army.
- “Moses, what is life about? What is important? You had it all. You had privileges and wealth that we will never know. So tell us, Moses, what is life about?”
- “Moses, is life about our physical, emotional, and material desires?” No, it isn’t.
- “Moses, is life about the urgent, about the things that demand, or push you, or press you?” No, that is not what life is about.
- “Well, Moses, what is life about?” Life is about the important, and the important is always defined by God and His purposes.
- “But, Moses, where did God and His purposes lead you?” Though I escaped slavery to live in luxury, God’s purposes led me back to the slaves to be their leader.
[Pause here.]
- You are not going to die.
- “David, that is the most ridiculous thing that you have ever said to us–if you mean that, you have just destroyed your credibility.”
- I am quite serious; no one in this assembly is going to die.
- Your body will die, and my body will die, but you and I won’t die.
- In our blindness and short-sightedness, we think we are our bodies.
- We rarely think of ourselves apart from our bodies.
- If our body is beautiful, we think that we are beautiful.
- If our body is in shape, we think that we are in shape.
- If our body is sick, we think that we are sick.
- We think, “My body is me, and I am my body.”
- Not so! My body is just where I live; it is my temporary address.
- If I say that life is about satisfying my desires, I am saying that life is about my body, not about me.
- If I say that life is about being ruled by the urgent, I am saying that life is about emergencies that concern my body; life is really not about me.
- However, if I understand that life is about the important, I know that the basic considerations of life are determined by significance and consequences.
- Nothing is more significant than what happens to me when my body dies.
- My body will stop existing, but I won’t.
- No consequences are greater than the consequences that I carry with me after my body dies and I change addresses.
- So which is important: the pleasures of the moment, the emergencies of the day, or eternal joy and peace?
- Which is more important, neglecting life to care for the urgent, or living life for God now to prepare to live with God eternally when my body dies and I change addresses?
- If my definition of the important ignores and neglects God, my life will be entangled in my desires and trapped by the urgent.
Does your body decide what is important, or do you?
[Song of reflection.]
I have never lived in a place that I did not enjoy living, but I have never enjoyed living in a place more than in Fort Smith. The more enjoyable it is to live in a place, the harder it is to live by faith.
Our country is so blessed, so advanced, and so prosperous that it is hard to live by faith here. Our prosperity and our technology make faith seem backward, unimportant, and unnecessary.
To make Moses’ choice, we must see what Moses saw. All godless pleasure is temporary. Lasting wealthy is not material. Lasting wealth is found only in God. But to find it, you must see the unseen.
Each day you decide and declare what is important. Do you make your body the lord of your life? Or do you make Jesus Christ Lord of your body and your life?
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
Satan is a gifted liar (John 8:44). His specialty is “mind games.” His “mind game” with Eve began with a lie. After hearing her repeat God’s warning, he said, “You won’t die! God is dishonest! He knows when you distinguish between good and evil that you will be as smart as He is” (Genesis 3:4,5). Deception then guided her observations (Genesis 3:6). Satan won the “mind game,” and human evil became reality.
All temptation begins with a “mind game.” Deceit is the key to all wickedness. All evil, from vicious violence to “innocent” self-righteousness, begins in the mind.
Satan’s most sophisticated “mind games” are reserved for worship assemblies. He convinces us that we are worshipping while we actually are “playing” his “mind game.”
Three events produced the three most significant transitions in human history. Each transition forever altered human reality. In the first, evil became a part of human existence. In the second, forgiveness became available to all humanity. In the third, humanity will appear before Jesus Christ.
Our weekly communion acknowledges all three. We consider the significance of each transition, and we praise God for what He did for us in Jesus’ death.
The power of the Lord’s Supper is mental. It is not perfunctory, habitual, or mechanical. We do not “take communion” merely because we eat the bread and drink the juice. Communion is far more than listening to prayers, eating the bread, and drinking the juice. One can do all three and not commune with God and Christ.
When you participate in communion, do you focus on Jesus Christ, or do you play a “mind game” with Satan? His selection is as diverse as video games. “Distraction,” “criticism,” “daydreams,” “anticipation,” and “impatience” are but a few of his games.
The ultimate communion experience will come when we commune with Jesus in heaven. How we will celebrate! Celebrate what? Jesus’ victorious destruction of evil. Jesus’ marvelous gift of forgiveness. Jesus granting us eternal salvation in heaven. Praise and only praise will fill every mind! May that praise begin here and now!
Posted by David on September 13, 1998 under Sermons
Which would you prefer for a next door neighbor: a person of excellent habits or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a good friend: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a husband or a wife: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a child: a child with excellent habits, or a child with a good heart?
It is wonderful to have a neighbor who conscientiously cares for his property while respecting your property. It is wonderful to have a friend who always treats you with consideration. It is wonderful to be married to a husband who always is thoughtful and courteous, or to a wife who always is gracious in her comments and deeds. It is wonderful to have a son or daughter who shows respect and uses good manners.
As wonderful as those situations are, none of them compare to having a neighbor, a friend, a husband, a wife, a son, or a daughter with a good heart.
When you discuss good behavior, you are discussing the quality of a person’s self-control. When you discuss a good heart, you are discussing the quality of the person.
- Can you imagine any person being so arrogant, so vain as to declare that he or she can relate to any person anywhere in the world?
- Can you believe that anyone would think that he or she could relate to anyone anywhere in the world?
- Can the poor relate to the rich?
- Can the privileged relate to the deprived?
- Can the illiterate relate to the well educated?
- Can the successful relate to the oppressed?
- If we think about it, really think about it, few of us honestly believe that any person could relate to everyone.
- Yet, God sent one person to this world to relate to everyone, to be the Savior for everyone, to bond with everyone.
- Most of us would say, “Sure Jesus can do that; he is God’s Son.”
- We say that because that is what we have been told; “Jesus is the Son of God, and the Son of God can relate to anyone.”
- May I ask this question: would not the fact that Jesus is God’s Son make it less likely for him to relate to everyone instead of more likely?
- Yet, in a very genuine, real way Jesus does relate to every person–that is one of the true mysteries about Jesus.
- A life time of teaching and preaching that has given me the opportunity to share Jesus on three different continents.
- I am amazed at the way that people relate to Jesus.
- I saw it happen in the life of a witch doctor in African.
- I saw it happen in the life of an atheist in Russia.
- I saw it happen in the lives of disillusioned college students in Poland.
- I have seen it happen among extremely poor persons.
- I have seen it happen in highly successful persons.
- I have seen it happen with the educationally advanced and with those who have no education.
- I have seen it happen in the lives of the abused, the dysfunctional, the addicted, the suffering, and the devastated.
- In each case, this is what I have seen–every time a person relates to Jesus, he or she relates to Jesus’ heart.
- It is always Jesus’ heart qualities that enable people to relate to him.
- People do not relate to Jesus because he was a Jew, or because he was poor, or because he was powerful, or because he was the Son of God, or because he was resurrected.
- It is Jesus’ heart that allows people to relate to him.
- It is his heart that calls people to him: Matthew 11:28,29.
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
- Are you tired? Do you have exhausting burdens that crush you?
- Come to me; I will give you rest.
- “Jesus, how are you going to give me rest?”
- You will place yourself under my control by putting on my yoke, and as you wear my yoke you will learn from me.
- “Jesus, why would I do that? Yokes are made to burden you, to make you pull burdens. Yokes aren’t made for rest; yokes are made for hard work. Why should I put on your yoke?”
- First, carefully note what Jesus did not say.
- Put on my yoke because I have the power.
- Put on my yoke because I have come from God.
- Put on my yoke or I will destroy you.
- Put on my yoke because all authority is vested in me.
- Put on my yoke because I am the Lord.
- Second, carefully note what Jesus did say.
- Without fear, put on my yoke because I am gently and humble in heart.
- Because of my heart you will find rest from your exhausting burdens.
- Jesus’ heart creates an appeal that allows him to relate to all people.
- The qualities that people most admire about Jesus are always heart qualities.
- His meek or unassuming nature.
- His compassion.
- His mercy.
- His forgiveness.
- His kindness.
- His unselfish, sacrificial nature.
- These all are heart qualities.
- The person who relates to people with his heart is the person who relates to people by touching their hearts.
- Jesus’ emphasis on the state and condition of our hearts is clear and profound.
- In Matthew 5:8 he declared, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
- We commonly stress the fact that a person with an impure heart will not see God in heaven.
- While I agree that statement is true, I personally think that Jesus meant something far more than that.
- Without a pure heart a person will not perceive the presence of God.
- When, surrounded by nature, I watch an incredible sunset, I see God.
- An atheist can witness the same sunset at the same place, appreciate the same beauty, but only see a random accident.
- In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said that the greatest commandment ever given is to love God with all of our heart.
- In Matthew 6:11 Jesus observed that our hearts live where our treasures reside.
- In Matthew 15:8 he stated that it is an insult to God to praise God with our words while our hearts are far removed from God.
- And in Matthew 15:19 he declared that evil thoughts are born in our hearts.
- Conversion involves the response of the human heart to Jesus.
- Becoming a Christian is first and foremost a conversion process.
- Logic may play a role in the conversion process of some people, but the core of conversion is not based on intellectual reasoning.
- Facts and deductions may play a role in the conversion process of some people, but the core of conversion is not based on the scientific process.
- Conversion to Jesus Christ is the response of the human heart to the heart of the Son of God.
- The book of Acts verifies that heart responses are critical in the conversion process.
- In Acts 2 Peter preached to a Jewish audience in the city of Jerusalem.
- A number of these listeners either condoned or encouraged Jesus’ crucifixion.
- Peter used prophesy, facts, and reasoning to convince these people that the Jesus that they killed was actually God’s Son.
- He declared the fact of the resurrection, and declared that by resurrection God made the crucified Jesus both Lord and Christ.
- Those who believed Peter “were pricked in their hearts” (Acts 2:37).
- Their hearts caused them to cry out asking what they should do.
- Their hearts moved them to repentance.
- Heart acceptance led them to baptism, to the forgiveness of sin, and to acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord.
- In Acts 7 those who rejected Jesus and his resurrection were angry at a Christian named Stephen, and they put him on trial.
- As Stephen defended his teachings, he declared that these people murdered God’s Righteous One just as their forefathers had murdered God’s messengers.
- Stephen’s statement “cut them in their hearts” (Acts 7:54).
- When Stephen said that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, they killed him.
- Heart rejection of Jesus moved them to kill Stephen.
- In Acts 8 an influential magician named Simon believed and was baptized.
- He had been called the Great One because people believed that he had special powers.
- When Simon saw the power of the Holy Spirit that Peter and John possessed, he wanted to buy that power.
- Peter replied, “Your request to buy God’s power is wicked.”
- “In no way are you to be involved in the use of this power.”
- “You desperately need to repent of your wickedness and pray for forgiveness.”
- Peter did not say, “You are wicked because:”
- “You have violated a commandment.”
- Or, “You have been disrespectful of authority.”
- Or, “Your theology is wrong.”
- Or, “Your thinking is evil.”
- Peter said, “Your heart is not right. Pray the Lord if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven” (Acts 8:22).
- A misguided heart led the baptized Simon back into horrible wickedness.
The person converted to Jesus Christ cannot remain the same person. He or she cannot remain the same person because Jesus’ heart has changed his or her heart.
Becoming a Christian is much more than giving up bad habits or learning new behavior patterns. Conversion involves a fundamental change of heart. That is why repentance is essential in conversion. Repentance redirects the heart.
When my heart is touched by Jesus’ heart, I cannot be and will not be the same person. When my heart is changed, I am changed.
In human relationships, if your basis for relationship choices is good habits instead of good hearts, you will experience sorrow and disappointment as long as you live.
When God establishes a relationship with a person, it always is on the basis of a good heart, and never on the basis of good habits.
Do you need guilt destroyed? Give God your heart. Wear the yoke of Jesus Christ. Do you need rest? Come to Jesus.
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
In Ephesians 3:14, Paul began a written prayer. It opens with this declaration: “I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every (or “the whole”) family in heaven and on earth derives its name . . .”
God is the Father of all in the heavenly realm and all on earth. He created all of us in both realms. He created the opportunity for all of us on earth to come back to the family. Originally, we were part of His family. Through redemption, we again can be in His family. We are family because God is Father.
If we accept the opportunity again to be in God’s family, certain things must happen. We must allow His power to strengthen our inner person through His Spirit. We must let Christ make his home in our hearts through faith. We must be rooted and grounded in love. We must be open to God’s total work in Christ. Our comprehension of the full dimensions of God’s work and purposes in Christ must constantly expand.
We must be able to comprehend. We must know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge. Our goal must be to let God’s fullness fill us.
The state of the American family causes us to groan, lament, and predict dire national consequences. The family problem that concerns us the most is this one. Too many kids control and run the family. Perhaps for much too long the same problem has existed in God’s family. Perhaps we assumed that being Christ’s church meant that the kids run the family. The Father needs to direct God’s family, not the kids.
We desperately need to bow the knees to the Father as we humbly seek His fullness. We must try to comprehend the full dimensions of God’s work in Christ. Our conscious goal must be to be God’s family rather than to run God’s family.
Attending worship assemblies and being God’s family are not identical. Assuming church habits and accepting family commitments are not identical. Being religious and becoming spiritual family are not identical.
Do you want West-Ark to be a great church or to be a great family? Could we be both? Yes! But, becoming a great church is dependent on being an exceptional family.
We love for people to attend our assemblies! Whatever the reason, we love for people to be a part of our worship. But we are committed to being God’s family, and that requires far more than attendance. Be informed! Be involved! Grow spiritually!
Posted by David on September 6, 1998 under Sermons
A common, challenging difficulty that we all experience on a continual basis is the challenge of getting someone’s attention. At no time is this challenge more demanding or more complicated than at those times when the person is certain that he or she already knows what you want.
“You don’t need my attention. You just think you need my attention. You don’t need to tell me anything. I already know what you want. I’ll take care of it. Don’t annoy me. Don’t force me to stand here and act like I am listening to you. I don’t need to listen because I already understand. What I do not know is not important.”
It deeply frustrates us when we attempt to get the attention of someone who will not listen. Refusing to give attention to things that deserve attention is a human problem. We all are a part of the problem. Nowhere do we create that problem more often than in our relationship with God.
We make it extremely difficult for God to get our attention.
This evening I want us to examine some important lessons to be learned from Elijah’s wilderness experience. We will study from 1 Kings 16:29 through 1 Kings 19.
- First, we need to set the context of Elijah’s wilderness experience.
- In all of this, carefully note Elijah’s faith, commitment, and sacrifice.
- Elijah was God’s prophet in northern Israel approximately 250 years after the nation of Israel divided.
- These events occurred during the reign of King Ahab, who ruled in northern Israel for twenty-two years (1 Kings 16:29).
- All the kings of northern Israel were extremely wicked men.
- But Ahab was more wicked than all the previous kings (1 Kings 16:30).
- He considered it trivial to live in all the sins of the previous kings (1 Kings 16:31).
- He married and made queen a non-Israelite, pagan woman named Jezebel.
- Through her influence, he built a temple and sacrificial altar for Baal who became the official god of northern Israel.
- He did more to provoke God than all the previous kings of Israel (1 Kings 16:33).
- Northern Israel was so evil that Elijah pronounced a public curse on the nation: it would not rain for a long, indefinite period; there would not even be dew, not until he asked God for the rain to return (1 Kings 17:1).
- After that pronouncement, God commanded Elijah to go into hiding and told him where to go.
- He hid in the wilderness and at the brook Cherith.
- God sent ravens with meat and bread to feed Elijah twice a day.
- Can you imagine how lonely that was? Can you imagine his diet? How would you like to eat food that birds brought you as you lived in isolation?
- He hid at the brook until the drought dried it up.
- Note: Elijah’s pronouncement created suffering for himself.
- When the brook dried up, God sent Elijah north to the town of Zeraphath in Sidon where a non-Jewish widow was to care for him.
- I find it interesting that Jezebel who killed the Lord’s prophets, and this widow who took care of Elijah, came from the same region.
- Elijah saw her as he approached the gate of the city and asked for water.
- As she left to get him water, he asked for bread also.
- She explained that all she had was a little flour and oil; she was preparing to bake it for her and her child to be their last meal before death.
- Elijah asked her to make him a small cake of bread first, and then make one for herself and her child.
- He urged her not to fear, because the flour and oil would last until the rain returned.
- She did as he requested, and the flour and oil lasted.
- Later, her son became ill suddenly and died.
- She believed her child died because a holy man lived in her house.
- Elijah saw it as an injustice falling on the person who took care of him.
- Elijah asked God to restore the child’s life, and God did.
- Her response, “I know that you are a man of God, and that God’s word in your mouth is truth.”
- After a long period (James 5:17 in the New Testament says it did not rain for three years and six months) God instructed Elijah to go to Ahab to inform him that the rain would return.
- There were several reasons for Elijah speaking to Ahab.
- Ahab searched everywhere for Elijah; he wanted to kill him.
- Elijah’s curse stopped the rain.
- Ahab believed he could end the curse by killing Elijah.
- Ahab needed to know that he had not frightened nor intimidated Elijah.
- Ahab also needed to know that it was the Lord of Israel, not Baal, who sent the rain.
- This was also to create an occasion for Elijah to challenge Israel to a unique contest.
- Ahab and his chief servant, Obadiah, divided the territory up to search for water in order to spare Ahab’s livestock.
- Though Obadiah was Ahab’s chief servant, Obadiah was totally devoted to the Lord of Israel.
- Elijah met Obadiah, and Obadiah greeted him with great respect.
- Elijah told Obadiah to bring Ahab to him.
- Obadiah knew how desperate Ahab was in his search for Elijah.
- He also knew that Elijah appeared and disappeared without a trace.
- If he told Ahab that Elijah was there, and if they did not find Elijah when they came, Ahab would be so furious that he would kill Obadiah.
- Elijah took an oath that vowed he would be there when Ahab came.
- Elijah had a contest with four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel.
- When Ahab and Elijah met, Elijah said the indecision about who was God in Israel had gone on long enough.
- He asked Ahab to gather the heads of the Israelite families and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal (male cult god) and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah (the female cult goddess) at Carmel so the matter could be settled.
- Ahab did.
- Elijah proposed a contest.
- Let them prepare a sacrifice for Baal and he one for the Lord.
- Let them ask Baal to consume their sacrifice with fire, and let him ask the Lord to consume his sacrifice with fire.
- The fire would prove who was the God of Israel.
- The prophets of Baal would have first choice of the sacrificial bulls and first opportunity to call for fire.
- They agreed–everything about the contest favored them and their beliefs.
- They prepared the sacrifice and went to extreme measures to convince Baal to send fire.
- Though they spent most of the day calling to Baal, nothing happened.
- Elijah drenched his sacrifice in water, asked God to act, and with one request God sent fire that consumed the sacrifice, the altar, and the water.
- Elijah expected this to turn the hearts of Israel back to God (1 Kings 18:37).
- The representatives of Israel confessed, “The Lord [they called God by his Israelite name] is God.”
- The four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal were executed. (Nothing indicates that the four hundred prophets of the Asherah came.)
- Elijah then informed Ahab that rain was coming, and urged Ahab to return to Jezereel quickly before the road became impassable for the chariot.
- Elijah ran cross country, and Ahab took the road.
- God was with Elijah, and he arrived in Jezreel before Ahab did.
- When Ahab told Jezebel about what happened at Carmel, she sent word to Elijah that he would die before the next day ended.
- Jezebel institutionalized the worship of Baal in northern Israel.
- She personally supported the prophets.
- They ate at her table.
- She was furious.
- Elijah was demoralized, defeated, and depressed.
- In fear he fled south out of the territory of northern Israel.
- He left his servant at Beersheba in Judah.
- Then he fled over twenty miles into the wilderness south of Beersheba.
- He stopped to sit down under a broom tree, a desert bush that can grow 12 feet high, and asked God to let him die.
- He felt like a total failure; he believed that he had accomplished nothing; life had lost its meaning.
- He went to sleep.
- An angel awakened him to eat food and water prepared for him.
- He ate and went back to sleep.
- The angel woke him a second time to eat more because he had a long journey, and this is all the food that he would have to sustain him.
- After eating the second time, he began a journey of forty days that took him all the way back to Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai.
- Moses fled to this same area when he left Egypt (Exodus 3:1).
- Israel later camped in this same area to receive the ten commandments (Exodus 18:5).
- Elijah entered a cave in the mountain.
- God asked, “What are you doing here?”
- He explained, “I have been zealous for the Lord; the sons of Israel have rejected your covenant; they have torn down your altars; they have executed the prophets; I am the only one left; and they are trying to kill me.”
- God told him to go stand at the entrance to the cave; when he did, it was obvious that the Lord was passing by.
- Elijah listened for God’s voice as He passed by.
- There was an unbelievably strong wind that broke rocks, but God’s voice was not in the wind.
- There was an earthquake, but God’s voice was not in the earthquake.
- There was fire, but God’s voice was not in the fire.
- Then there was a quiet sound of gentle blowing, and God’s voice was there.
- And God asked again, “What are you doing here?”
- Elijah gave the same answer.
- And the voice of God said, “Go back and do the jobs I have for you to do.”
- “You are not the only one in northern Israel loyal to me.”
- “There are seven thousand there who have not worshipped Baal.”
- Please consider several things.
- Elijah’s dream was to turn northern Israel back to God.
- He thought that he had accomplished his dream when he won at Carmel.
- When the contest at Carmel changed nothing, he felt like a failure.
- He felt like he failed, not because he failed God, but because he did not achieve his expectations.
- Elijah was a man of incredible faith and sacrifice.
- But when he failed to achieve his expectations, his faith turned to fear.
- In fear, he became the exact opposite of what he had been in faith.
- Elijah expected God to cause things to happen that God had not promised.
- The evil situation in northern Israel was not as simple as Elijah pictured it.
- It was not as simple as proving that God was alive, or as simple as changing worship.
- It was not a matter of dramatically demonstrating the power of God.
- The problem was created by wicked people with wicked hearts, and that is a very complex matter.
- It took far more than facts and power to change hearts.
- Elijah’s fear exaggerated his false sense of failure.
- He was afraid of Jezebel (not four hundred and fifty prophets, Ahab, and the heads of the families of Israel) because he realized nothing had changed.
- Because he could not change people, he believed that he had failed.
- So with feelings of total defeat, he quit.
- We are like Elijah–we are convinced that the powerful and dramatic would cause people to accept the facts and worship, and everything would change.
- God made it quite clear to Elijah that God’s voice is not found in the dramatic.
- In fact, God’s most powerful expressions are not in the dramatic, but in the quiet voice.
- It is he who hears the quiet voice that lets God be God.
- Were I to paraphrase God’s conversation with Elijah, it would be this: “Elijah, what are you doing way out here where it all began with Moses and the rescued slaves of Egypt? I did not ask you to take care of Me. I don’t need you to take care of Me. I am in control of the situation. All I asked you to do is serve me. That is all I want you to do. I will take care of the rest. You are exaggerating the situation. You are not the only one who is loyal to me. Now, go back and do the work I give you to do.”
God got the attention of this dedicated, devout, faith-filled man of God. The only thing Elijah failed was his own agenda, his own expectations.
God meets us in our wilderness to teach us, to get our attention, and to tell us to stop exaggerating. God meets us to tell us that we must stop making our expectations His agenda.
We need to be very careful about being more concerned about accomplishing our agendas as the church than we are about being Christians who serve God.
Posted by David on under Sermons
Life is a journey that moves from one crisis to another.
Within the lifetime of many people in this assembly, Poland has experienced four completely different governments, and each government radically altered the lives of its people.
Two world wars have been fought on European soil causing massive destruction.
Two atomic weapons have exploded over major population areas in Japan.
The Soviet Union no longer exists. Russia has experienced complete failure in ideology, total confusion in government, and is close to economic collapse as a nation.
India has been overpopulated and starving for decades.
Africa has gone from colonialism to chaotic nationalist that is often brutal and bloody.
The greater majority of the world’s population lives under repressive governments. At least seventy-five percent of today’s population lives with three unthinkable realities every day. Everyday, they never have enough to eat. Everyday, they never have a healthy water supply. Everyday, they never have access to adequate medical help. For most of the world’s population, survival of the day is the rule of life.
“I am glad we don’t live from crisis to crisis.” Oh, but we do. Our crises are different, but they are just as devastating. Plenty of good food, pure water, and available medical help do not eliminate crises.
All of us move from crisis to crisis. Within the boundaries of just four things, ninety percent of us move from crisis to crisis. Within our marriages relationships, within our parent-child relationships, within our jobs or occupations, and within our financial challenges, ninety percent of us move from crisis to crisis. Add health problems, and ninety-nine percent of us move from crisis to crisis.
Our crisis are wilderness experiences.
- God’s most useful servants had wilderness experiences.
- Joseph had a wilderness experience (Genesis 37-40).
- He was the favorite son, the second to the youngest son.
- He was an arrogant teenager who loved to provoke his grown older brothers.
- He had a horrible wilderness experience that began when his brothers captured him and sold him into slavery.
- But the experience matured him, fixed his focus on God, and created the faith of dependence.
- Years later, he could look back and see God working in everything that happened.
- At that time he told his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
- Moses had a wilderness experience (Exodus 2-4).
- His parents were Israelite slaves, but Moses grew up in the King’s palace as the son of the King’s daughter.
- Moses knew that he was an Israelite and had slaves for parents, and he planned to use his privileged position to help his people.
- His enslaved people rejected his first attempt to help them, and they rejected him in a way that would cause the King to kill Moses.
- So Moses fled to the wilderness to live as a shepherd for forty years with no intention of ever helping his people again.
- But God took Moses from the wilderness and used him to lead Israel to freedom.
- The Israelite David had a wilderness experience (1 Samuel 20-31).
- His experience was produced by the injustices of a jealous man who left God.
- His wilderness experience included many near death experiences, a harsh existence, and a miserable life often lived in enemy nations.
- In this period David wrote many of his greatest psalms, psalms that we still read for inspiration, strength, and hope.
- The wilderness experience helped David become Israel’s greatest king.
- The prophet Elijah had a wilderness experience (1 Kings 19).
- Elijah lived as God’s spokesman in northern Israel among people who never worshipped God, but worshipped and served the god Baal.
- After years of being God’s spokesman, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest.
- He proved God was real and powerful, and that Baal had no power.
- He thought that his great victory would turn the country around.
- When the queen promised him that he would be dead within 24 hours, Elijah fled to the wilderness and begged God to let him die.
- God refocused Elijah and sent him back to get on with God’s work.
- Even Jesus, God’s own Son, had a wilderness experience (Matthew 4:1-11).
- Jesus went to the wilderness to focus on his ministry.
- He totally devoted himself to focusing by fasting forty days and nights.
- When the fasting ended, Satan immediately tried to destroy Jesus’ focus and divert him from his mission.
- Satan made three attempts to distract Jesus, to lead Jesus away from God.
- Satan’s first attempt dealt with a real physical need and a practical solution.
- “Your are weak and hungry–you have not eaten for forty days.”
- “You will never serve God’s purposes if you die in this wilderness.”
- “If you are the son of God, make bread out of these stones and eliminate the problem.”
- This failed to distract Jesus.
- Satan’s second attempt asked Jesus to prove his faith by deliberately, intentionally putting God on trial.
- “God promised to protect the Messiah.”
- “You believe that you are the Messiah.”
- “Since you believe that you are the Messiah, jump off this high place and let God catch you.”
- “If you are the Messiah, God will not let you bruise your foot.”
- This also failed to distract Jesus.
- Satan’s third attempt is the infamous short cut.
- “You came to this world to become king.”
- “Your planning to become king the hard way.”
- “Bow down to me, and I will make you king of the entire earth.”
- “I will make you what you came to be without all the trouble and pain.”
- This, again, failed to distract Jesus.
- Jesus resisted Satan.
- When Satan asked him to make bread from stones, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3: 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. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
- God said we must understand that food does not give a person life.
- A person has life because he lives by God’s teachings and instructions.
- When Satan asked him to jump, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
- Faith depends; faith does not test.
- Creating tests prove that you doubt, not that you trust.
- When Satan asked Jesus to worship him, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:13: You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
- Evil never achieves God’s purposes.
- Worshipping Satan achieves evil’s purposes, not God’s purposes.
- Only God is worthy of worship.
- Making a trip to the wilderness is never pleasant, but being in the wilderness can serve a powerful, godly purpose.
- No wilderness experience is ever fun or pleasant.
- Joseph found no pleasure in being a slave–he experienced injustice stacked on top of injustice.
- Moses found no joy in the wilderness–it was just a feeble attempt to escape.
- David found nothing but suffering, isolation, and intense loneliness in the wilderness–it seemed that his faithful service produced nothing but hardship.
- Elijah never expected to find pleasure in the wilderness–all he wanted to do was die.
- The wilderness brought Jesus no joy–it brought him into person to person conflict with Satan himself.
- In each one of these men’s lives, the wilderness was a powerful tool in the hand of God.
- It brought each man to a higher level of spiritual maturity.
- It caused each man’s trust in God to grow to new heights.
- It reinforced the godly focus of each man.
- It forced an essential decision–make the choice to depend on God, or choose to be angry at the world while you resent the injustice.
- Because of the wilderness experience, their godliness grew.
- Because their godliness grew, God could use them for greater purposes.
- My personal world and your personal world are dominated by evil.
- Regardless of how godly we are or how deeply we trust God, each of us will visit the wilderness, and more than once!
- We can always tell when we are in the wilderness.
- Every time we are overwhelmed, we are in the wilderness.
- It may be the sense of helplessness.
- It may be the distress of failure.
- It may be uncontrollable circumstances.
- It may be injustice.
- Anything that depresses us, distresses us, or causes us to feel defeated takes us to the wilderness.
- When life seems out of control, we are in the wilderness.
- When life does not make sense, we are in the wilderness.
- When we visit the wilderness, one of two things will inevitably happen.
- We will grow closer to God.
- We will trust God as we have never trusted Him.
- Our focus on God’s will and purposes in our lives will become clearer.
- Or we will turn away from God and decide to live life on our own.
- We will blame God for everything that happens.
- We will decide that God is weak and useless.
Satan harasses you; God prepares you. Satan wants your relationship with God to fail; God wants to use you for greater things. If your wilderness experience causes you to be angry, bitter, and focused on yourself, Satan wins. You do not have enough faith for God to use you for greater purposes.
But if your trust in God deepens, God wins. And God will use you and your life in ways that exceed your imagination.
When you are in the wilderness, do you stand alone, or do you hold God’s hand?
A person who is truly converted to Jesus Christ, who understands that life only exists in God, declares war on Satan. The war never ends. Satan will never stop. He will lead us to the wilderness again and again. The strength is not in us. You will never be a match for the evil of Satan. We succeed only because we have the grace and mercy of God. Don’t foolishly say, “I can take care of this by myself.” Reach out and hold on to God. Only God is strong enough to defeat Satan. Survival in the wilderness depends on holding the hand of God. Survival in the wilderness requires surrending to Jesus Christ.
Are you taking the world on alone, or are you holding God’s hand?
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
Every godly person and many evil people acknowledge human kindness to be an exceptional quality. Godly people admire and respect kindness. Many evil people are touched through kindness. Only a dead heart is beyond the touch of kindness.
Kindness is revealed in a rainbow of actions and attitudes. It speaks through the languages of the word, the deed, the attitude, and the spirit. Kindness is the quality of heart that determines the dimensions of a person.
What is the greatest expression of kindness? the highest order of kindness? Mercy is the greatest expression and highest order of kindness.
Mercy is pure kindness. Mercy in kindness responds to evil circumstances that demand justice. It feels compassion for a person who deserves nothing.
Mercy is never based on “merit.” It is impossible to “deserve” mercy. Mercy shows consideration for a person who is completely undeserving. It recognizes that every person–even the evil one–was created in God’s image. A person’s worth is not found in his status or achievements. It does not come from his or her past or present. Worth comes from origin. Evil cannot destroy origin.
Because humanity needed mercy, God sent us a Savior. He did not send us a judge, or an accountant, or a moral analysis expert.
We needed to escape justice. We were accountable. Moral analysis was unnecessary–we were (and are) evil. We needed forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the product of justice, accountability, or moral analysis. Forgiveness has a single source. It is the supreme expression of the supreme kindness: mercy.
The God of mercy forgives. We, the forgiven, show mercy because we received mercy. We, the forgiven, refuse to occupy the role of judges. When the forgiven judge, they insult the mercy they received.
Never forget this truth: we will never belong to God because we are good; we will always belong to God because He is merciful.
Posted by David on August 30, 1998 under Sermons
Listen to a parable I call, “The parable of the tools.”
It is a parable about two carpenters. One carpenter loved tools. Nothing gave him more pleasure than going to a huge hardware store and looking at the tools. A new tool always fascinated him. He was intrigued by the jobs each new tool could do.
He purchased every tool he could afford. He proudly displayed his tools in a special work room. They were displayed neatly with a specific order with special lighting. He invested major money in his tools, and each tool was of the finest quality. He knew each tool well, and he could tell anyone every job that the tool could perform.
Though he was a carpenter, he never used any of his tools. He owned his tools to look a them, not to use them. He never built anything.
The second carpenter loved to build things. He could never afford new tools, and he never had many tools. Rarely did he ever build anything when he had the tools that he needed. What tools he used were old and worn, and did not always work well.
But build he did. He was always building something, and he did excellent work. Everyone who hired him was blessed by his skill and his work.
In the parable of the tools there is a tragedy and a regret. The tragedy: the carpenter who loved to build never had the tools of the carpenter who loved tools.
The regret: the carpenter who loved to build would have been a blessing to so many more people if only he had better tools.
You and I are carpenters. We are apprentices of the greatest carpenter that ever lived. Jesus built lives. He taught us the importance of building lives. We understand that physical buildings are only tools.
May God deliver us. May we never love tools. May we never love buildings for the sake of having buildings. May we never measure who we are or what we are doing by a our buildings.
May God give us wisdom. May we allow Jesus to teach us how to build lives. With fine tools or with poor tools, may we build lives. As God blesses us with better tools, may we in Christ build lives as we have never built lives before.
James 1:22-27
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
Posted by David on under Sermons
As a congregation, we have wonderful, incredible diversity. No where is our diversity more evident than in the occupational and professional backgrounds represented in this congregation.
Several different school systems are represented. We have members who are teacher’s aids, teachers, teaching specialists, and administrators.
Several different hospitals and clinics are represented. We have technicians, nurses, doctors, and those in administration.
Every level of industrial manufacturing is represented. The communication and technology industries are represented. The freight industry is represented. Numerous private businesses are represented.
This diversity is a real blessing. It enables us to accept an important truth.
- Every form of professional, business, or industrial organization must deal with a combination of needs, problems, opportunities, and demands.
- That is not a matter of choice; it is a matter of necessity.
- Every business exists in the highly complex environment of law, need, opportunity, and competition.
- The business that succeeds is the business that effectively manages the demands created by law, need, opportunity, and competition.
- Even small business organizations are dependent on forming an effective, reliable teams.
- Look at the obvious.
- That team must have people who can care for accounting, banking, inventory, purchasing, personnel supervision, product or service development, advertising and promotion, and the distribution of product or services.
- There is only one way any organization can do that: build a responsible, dependable team.
- What if an organization does not develop a responsible, effective team?
- At some point, demands will exceed the ability, strength, and time of “the leader.”
- When “the leader” burns out, the organization crashes.
- God used a team to produce the most important reality that exists–salvation.
- Evil entered human existence by human decision and choice.
- We made an incredible mess of life and relationships.
- The mess we made was too complicated for us to correct.
- God did what we could not do; He rescued us from the mess we created.
- God did it through team work.
- God created the plan; made the promise to rescue us; implemented the plan; and persevered until forgiveness and salvation were realities.
- With frustration that we cannot comprehend, God worked through the nation of Israel.
- Their failures and faithlessness constantly frustrated God’s purposes.
- Israel often made it impossible for God to keep His promises.
- But God never quit, never changed His mind, never altered His plans.
- In Israel’s worst failures, God repeatedly declared of Himself, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6).
- God sent His Son as a true human to live the human existence.
- Jesus used the last years of his life in a ministry that focused exclusively on God’s purposes.
- He died by crucifixion to serve as God’s sacrificial lamb and create atonement for sin.
- He was raised from the dead by the power of God, made Lord and Christ, and provided everyone the opportunity for forgiveness.
- When the resurrected Jesus ascended back into heaven to sit on God’s right hand, God sent the Holy Spirit.
- He guided the twelve apostles into a complete knowledge and understanding of the truth about what God did and was doing in Jesus Christ (John 14:26).
- He gave them a perfect remembrance of everything Jesus did and taught.
- He worked in doing many things in the lives of those who entered Christ.
- He makes each of us who enter Christ the temple of God.
- The Holy Spirit is the living presence of God at work in the life of those who belong to Jesus Christ.
- We have salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and life in Christ because God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit worked together.
- I deeply enjoy being a part of you for many reasons.
- One of those reasons is that the elders and staff work together as a team.
- We clearly understand that the only way that this congregation can meet the challenge of its potential is through effective team work.
- Serving God’s purposes as Christ’s church in today’s world is a challenge beyond description.
- When our renovations and Family Life Center are complete, our property and facilities should have a value that exceeds five million dollars.
- This year contributed funding in weekly contributions, buildings funds, mission funds, and benevolent funds will easily exceed $800,000 and will possibly approach the $1 million level.
- Our current commitments include:
- Significant mission commitments in at least three other nations.
- Developing a growing, effective spiritual education program for adults and children.
- Equipping our families to build better marriages and better homes.
- Assisting both individuals and families in crisis.
- Continuing an effective youth work.
- Sustaining an effective program from 60 + members.
- Developing an effective support and involvement system for new comers and visitors.
- Sustaining a visitation, support, and outreach work with those who are sick or shut-ins.
- Continuing to develop an inner city outreach.
- Sustaining extensive benevolent programs.
- Sustaining an active jail ministry.
- Expanding the work of CURE (The Compassionate Utilization of Resources)–a unique disaster relief and medical missions program that is reaching out to many countries.
- There are more than twenty-five active ministries that are a part of the life and work of this congregation, and we have other major needs that we have not begun to address.
- The only possible way that we can address our needs and accept the challenge of our opportunities is to build an increasingly effective team.
- The leadership and staff are constantly learning how to be a better, more effective team.
- First, I want to remind you of the people who are on the team.
- We have two secretaries on staff.
- Myra Flippo has worked as secretary for this congregation from the day it came into existence. She is conscientious, systematic, and she has a talent for caring for important details.
- Debbie Belote has been secretary for this congregation for eleven years. Debbie, too, is conscientious, committed, and an excellent projects person.
- As of last week, we have four ministers on staff.
- Roy Dunavin has served as a minister for 22 years in this area. He was an evangelism minister in one of the congregations that merged, and has served this congregation from day one of its existence. He works with hospital visitation, one on one teaching, and mission trips.
- Brad Pistole is completing his eighth year as youth director, and this is his home congregation. The work he does with our teens is better than excellent. He cares about them deeply, and they know it.
- In November, I will have been with you for two years.
- Presently, we have five elders who are part of the team.
- If I understand correctly, Mat Griffin has served as an elder the longest. God blessed Mat with the gift of compassion, and it touches everything he does.
- Sam Roberts retired from years of work as a personnel manager. He has an excellent ability to talk to people one on one.
- Earl Flood has served this congregation as an elder on two different occasions. Earl loves to help people, and Earl helps people.
- Bob Null has worked many years in upper management. He has incredible communication skills. He is gifted in communicating with large groups.
- If I remember correctly, Bill Dickey is “the new kid on the block” among our elders. Bill is steady, quiet, observant, and relates to almost anyone.
- Each one of them bring something unique and valuable to the team.
- The second thing I want to do is introduce you to the newest member of the team. His name is Ted Edwards, and Ted has given me permission to share these things with you.
- Ted came to help work with two enormous opportunities that we have:
- To help our over-all spiritual education program grow to new levels of service and effectiveness.
- To help us meet the enormous need of better member involvement.
- The elders have asked Ted focus his time and energy on our education program for the immediate future.
- Ted was attracted to West-Ark because of our positive spirit and attitude, and because we are looking toward the future.
- He brings to the team a different background and life experience.
- Ted’s father and mother divorced when he was in the first grade.
- He lived with his mother until he finished junior high, and lived with his father while in senior high.
- His childhood and his teen years were difficult years.
- In his late teens and early 20’s he completely left God.
- He recommitted himself to God in 1984 and immediately began to share what God was doing for him with his friends.
- Some of them did more than listen: they were converted.
- Because of his effectiveness, the Iowa congregation he attended paid him to quit one of his jobs and do one on one teaching.
- He began correspondence work at Sunset School of Preaching.
- Finally, they supported him to complete his studies and degree.
- When he graduated, they hired him as second man.
- For many reasons I am glad Ted is a member of the team.
- He has no desire to “take over” anything; he came to work with others.
- He loves to serve, and he enjoys working in the background.
- He has a good reputation as a teacher, a hard worker, and a “people person.”
- When I asked what should people know to understand him, he read Colossians 1:28 because it reflects his ministry goal–to help people mature in Christ, to help each person grow to a new level.
“David, as a member of the team, what are your goals?” Goal one: every sermon I preach, every class I teach, I want to deepen your faith and your understanding. Goal two: I want to help you grow closer to God and live life fully in Christ. Goal three: I want deepen our desire to be godly people. Goal four: I want to increase our willingness to trust God–with our minds, our hearts, our souls, our sins, our failures, our fears, or worries, and our abilities.
I want to let God work through me to bless you.
As an important part of the team, what are your goals.
We are living in a complex, misguided age. It is taking a terrible toll. It has never been more important that we be successfully. Would you feel that we were successful if we averaged 1800 in Sunday morning worship, a thousand Sunday evening, and a 1000 Wednesday evening?
“David, would you?” No. “What would you consider success?” Success is helping Christ change people’s lives. “What do you mean?” To me, success is Christ helping husbands and wives in distressed marriages; Christ helping teenagers in crisis; Christ helping people who are drowning in stress and anxiety; Christ helping people discover the meaning of life; Christ helping people escape emptiness, loneliness, fear, or hopelessness.
“Why is that success?” The less focused we are on God, the more impossible our lives become. Learn to let the team work in your life. Let God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit give you life and teach you how to live it.
Are you alive in Jesus Christ? Do you know how to live life in Jesus? Does evil have control or does God have control of your life?
Posted by David on August 23, 1998 under Sermons
If we don’t know how to do something, we can’t do it. The only way that we can do something that we don’t know how to do is to learn.
Some people are perceptive and gifted. They have the confidence and understanding to teach themselves. These people are the creative ones. They are the inventors and the fixers. They can “figure out” ways to do something that they have never done before. They are the exceptions.
Many who cannot teach themselves are “fast learners.” When someone shows them how to do something, they understand quickly. They learn a lot with just a little teaching.
More people learn if they have a good teacher. Learning is not a problem. They need a teacher who can help them understand. When they understand, they learn well.
Some people have difficulty learning. They must be convinced that they can learn. You must prove that they can understand. Once they believe that they can learn, they learn well.
Regardless of how we learn, we all must be taught.
- All of us are aware of the fundamental importance of learning.
- Do you know how to:
- Sew? Could you make clothing without being taught?
- Change a tire? Could you change a tire without being taught?
- Make cornbread? Could you make it without being taught?
- Drive a straight shift car? Could you drive it without being taught?
- Swim? Could you swim without being taught?
- Virtually everything we do we learned how to do it.
- We expect learning to be a part of life.
- We expect to be taught.
- Two of the best known and most used verses in the New Testament are Matthew 28:19,20.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
- Jesus made this statement after his resurrection, not long before his ascension.
- The statement contains three instructions.
- Go make disciples.
- Baptized those who would be disciples.
- Teach the disciples you make to observe all the commands that I gave to you.
- The primary instruction is to go make disciples.
- A person is baptized because he or she wants to be a disciple.
- The person expects to learn and to practice Jesus’ teachings because the person has chosen to be a disciple.
- You do not baptize a person who does not wish to be a disciple.
- A person who does not want to be a disciple will not learn or practice Jesus’ teachings.
- Let’s ask the important question: what is a disciple?
- The word “disciple” in both the Greek and the Latin mean “the pupil of the teacher;” the literal meaning of the Greek word is “to learn.”
- It was common for recognized teachers to have their pupils, and for the pupils to be devoted to that teacher.
- The thinking, the understanding, and the views of the teacher became the thoughts and understandings of the pupils.
- So disciple came to mean more than just a person who learned; it came to mean a learner who was devoted to a particular teacher.
- The New Testament mentions:
- The disciples of the Pharisees, or Jews whose thinking and views were determined by the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Mosaical law (John 9:28).
- The disciples of John the baptizer, or Jews whose thinking and views were determined by the teachings of John (John 1:35).
- And there were the disciples of Jesus (John 4:1).
- In a special sense, this referred to the twelve who were hand-picked by Jesus himself (Matthew 10:1-4).
- They followed him and learned from him on a daily basis.
- They learned from the experience of being with him as well as from his teachings.
- But there were also many people who were devoted to learning from Jesus who were not a part of the twelve, and they were also called disciples (John 6:66,67).
- Jesus told his hand-picked disciples who had witnessed the fact of his resurrection to go throughout the world calling other people to discipleship.
- When I decide to be a disciple, I choose to be a pupil, to learn.
- Who will be my teacher?
- Obviously, the person calling me to Jesus will teach me.
- But whose teachings will that person teach me? Jesus’ teachings.
- Is he teaching me to follow him as a person? No, he is teaching me to follow Jesus.
- Who will I look to as “the teacher”? Jesus.
- Whose teachings will I learn? Jesus’ teachings.
- Who will I follow in my life? Jesus.
- If I choose to be a disciple, a pupil, a learner who is devoted to Jesus, what will Jesus teach me?
- Will Jesus teach me all about worship?
- No.
- Jesus did not teach about the practices or the ceremony of worship.
- His teachings did not focus on worship as a practice.
- Will Jesus teach me all about the church?
- Will he teach me all about church organization, church leadership, and church responsibilities?
- No.
- Jesus’ teachings did not focus on the church.
- The gospels only record Jesus using the word twice.
- Then what will Jesus teach me?
- He will teach me how to look at the world, how to look at God, how to look at life, and how to look at death.
- He will teach me how to think from God’s perspectives and purposes.
- Jesus will teach me how to love like God loves.
- Jesus will teach me how to serve God and people as he served God and people.
- Jesus will teach me how to treat people.
- Jesus will teach me how to commit, in love, to God.
- “David, are you trying to say that worship and the church are unimportant?”
- Absolutely not.
- It is impossible to love God and not worship Him.
- It is impossible to be Jesus’ disciple and not be a part of his church.
- “Then what are you saying?”
- Unless we are disciples, we will never worship God appropriately.
- Worship comes from what we are just as certainly as what we do.
- Only disciples will praise God as He deserves to be praised.
- Only disciples will reverence God as He deserves to be honored.
- Unless we are disciples, we will never be the church in the way Jesus intended us to be the church.
- Only if we are disciples will we leave a worldly, ungodly life and actually make our life in Jesus Christ.
- Only if we are disciples will we learn to live the kind of life Jesus intended for people in the church to live.
- We will not worship God as He wants to be worshipped, and we will not be the church as Jesus wants us to be unless we learn how to:
- Look at life and death as God does.
- How to think like Jesus thought.
- How to love like God and Jesus love.
- How to serve like Jesus served.
- How to treat people like Jesus treated people.
- How to commit to God in love.
- One of the reasons that we have so many problems with ungodly attitudes and ungodly actions in the church, in our homes, and in our relationships is because we became church members without becoming disciples.
- Let me ask you a very basic question: why were you baptized?
- “I was baptized for the forgiveness of my sins to enter the church.”
- When you were baptized did you have any desire to be a disciple?
- Did you intend to let Jesus teach you how to think when you were baptized?
- Did you want Jesus to teach you how to love?
- Were you making a decision to learn how to serve?
- Did you want to be taught how to treat people?
- Were you consciously making a commitment to God?
- Or, were you basically baptized to become a member of the church in order to do church things?
- Has your Christian life been one long, internal, spiritual struggle because you have been committed to church rules instead being committed to discipleship?
- If you are trying to be a church member without a commitment to being a disciple, a pupil, a learner, you have a lot of unnecessary problems.
- It is frighteningly easy to be pro-church and anti-discipleship at the same time.
- Being a part of the church and being a disciple are commitments that should bless each other.
- They were never intended to be separated.
- “David, you talked about splitting hairs this morning. That is what I think that you are doing right now.”
- Let me ask you to consider this.
- Because we are taught so little about being husbands or wives before we marry, we make some awfully big messes in our marriages.
- Because we are taught so little about being parents before we have children, we create some huge problems in our homes and in our children’s lives.
- One of our most ridiculous assumptions is that all you need to do to be a good husband or a good wife is get married, and all that you need to do to be a good parent is have a child.
- One of the greatest reasons for many of the serious problems in our marriages and in our homes is the fact that we have never been disciples.
- When we do not allow Jesus to teach us how to think, to love, to serve, to treat people, and to commitment to God, we will have serious problems in our marriage relationships and our home relationships.
- Discipleship is not about how you act in church buildings; discipleship is about how you live your life.
Is Jesus your teacher?
Are you his pupil?
Do you let him teach you how to live?
