God and I Have an Agreement

Posted by David on October 11, 1998 under Sermons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Song of reflection.]

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

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

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

“God, Get Me Out of This Mess!”

Posted by David on October 4, 1998 under Sermons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moses Has Something To Say To Us

Posted by David on September 20, 1998 under Sermons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by David on under Sermons

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

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

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

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

            [Pause here.]

3. You are not going to die.
   1. “David, that is the most ridiculous thing that you have ever said to us–if you mean that, you have just destroyed your credibility.”
      1. I am quite serious; no one in this assembly is going to die.
      2. Your body will die, and my body will die, but you and I won’t die.
         1. In our blindness and short-sightedness, we think we are our bodies.
         2. We rarely think of ourselves apart from our bodies.
         3. If our body is beautiful, we think that we are beautiful.
         4. If our body is in shape, we think that we are in shape.
         5. If our body is sick, we think that we are sick.
         6. We think, “My body is me, and I am my body.”
      3. Not so! My body is just where I live; it is my temporary address.
         1. If I say that life is about satisfying my desires, I am saying that life is about my body, not about me.
         2. If I say that life is about being ruled by the urgent, I am saying that life is about emergencies that concern my body; life is really not about me.
         3. However, if I understand that life is about the important, I know that the basic considerations of life are determined by significance and consequences.
         4. Nothing is more significant than what happens to me when my body dies.
         5. My body will stop existing, but I won’t.
         6. No consequences are greater than the consequences that I carry with me after my body dies and I change addresses.
   2. So which is important: the pleasures of the moment, the emergencies of the day, or eternal joy and peace?
      1. Which is more important, neglecting life to care for the urgent, or living life for God now to prepare to live with God eternally when my body dies and I change addresses?
      2. If my definition of the important ignores and neglects God, my life will be entangled in my desires and trapped by the urgent.

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

[Song of reflection.]

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

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

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

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

Do You Prefer Good Habits or Good Hearts?

Posted by David on September 13, 1998 under Sermons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

When God Has Our Attention

Posted by David on September 6, 1998 under Sermons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When Life Overwhelms Us

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.

1. God’s most useful servants had wilderness experiences.
   1. Joseph had a wilderness experience (Genesis 37-40).
      1. He was the favorite son, the second to the youngest son.
      2. He was an arrogant teenager who loved to provoke his grown older brothers.
      3. He had a horrible wilderness experience that began when his brothers captured him and sold him into slavery.
      4. But the experience matured him, fixed his focus on God, and created the faith of dependence.
      5. Years later, he could look back and see God working in everything that happened.
      6. 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).
   2. Moses had a wilderness experience (Exodus 2-4).
      1. His parents were Israelite slaves, but Moses grew up in the King’s palace as the son of the King’s daughter.
      2. Moses knew that he was an Israelite and had slaves for parents, and he planned to use his privileged position to help his people.
      3. 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.
      4. So Moses fled to the wilderness to live as a shepherd for forty years with no intention of ever helping his people again.
      5. But God took Moses from the wilderness and used him to lead Israel to freedom.
   3. The Israelite David had a wilderness experience (1 Samuel 20-31).
      1. His experience was produced by the injustices of a jealous man who left God.
      2. His wilderness experience included many near death experiences, a harsh existence, and a miserable life often lived in enemy nations.
      3. In this period David wrote many of his greatest psalms, psalms that we still read for inspiration, strength, and hope.
      4. The wilderness experience helped David become Israel’s greatest king.
   4. The prophet Elijah had a wilderness experience (1 Kings 19).
      1. Elijah lived as God’s spokesman in northern Israel among people who never worshipped God, but worshipped and served the god Baal.
      2. After years of being God’s spokesman, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest.
      3. He proved God was real and powerful, and that Baal had no power.
      4. He thought that his great victory would turn the country around.
      5. 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.
      6. God refocused Elijah and sent him back to get on with God’s work.
2. Even Jesus, God’s own Son, had a wilderness experience (Matthew 4:1-11).
   1. Jesus went to the wilderness to focus on his ministry.
      1. He totally devoted himself to focusing by fasting forty days and nights.
      2. When the fasting ended, Satan immediately tried to destroy Jesus’ focus and divert him from his mission.
   2. Satan made three attempts to distract Jesus, to lead Jesus away from God.
      1. Satan’s first attempt dealt with a real physical need and a practical solution.
         1. “Your are weak and hungry–you have not eaten for forty days.”
         2. “You will never serve God’s purposes if you die in this wilderness.”
         3. “If you are the son of God, make bread out of these stones and eliminate the problem.”
         4. This failed to distract Jesus.
      2. Satan’s second attempt asked Jesus to prove his faith by deliberately, intentionally putting God on trial.
         1. “God promised to protect the Messiah.”
         2. “You believe that you are the Messiah.”
         3. “Since you believe that you are the Messiah, jump off this high place and let God catch you.”
         4. “If you are the Messiah, God will not let you bruise your foot.”
         5. This also failed to distract Jesus.
      3. Satan’s third attempt is the infamous short cut.
         1. “You came to this world to become king.”
         2. “Your planning to become king the hard way.”
         3. “Bow down to me, and I will make you king of the entire earth.”
         4. “I will make you what you came to be without all the trouble and pain.”
         5. This, again, failed to distract Jesus.
   3. Jesus resisted Satan.
      1. 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.)
         1. God said we must understand that food does not give a person life.
         2. A person has life because he lives by God’s teachings and instructions.
      2. 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.)
         1. Faith depends; faith does not test.
         2. Creating tests prove that you doubt, not that you trust.
      3. 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.)
         1. Evil never achieves God’s purposes.
         2. Worshipping Satan achieves evil’s purposes, not God’s purposes.
         3. Only God is worthy of worship.
3. Making a trip to the wilderness is never pleasant, but being in the wilderness can serve a powerful, godly purpose.
   1. No wilderness experience is ever fun or pleasant.
      1. Joseph found no pleasure in being a slave–he experienced injustice stacked on top of injustice.
      2. Moses found no joy in the wilderness–it was just a feeble attempt to escape.
      3. David found nothing but suffering, isolation, and intense loneliness in the wilderness–it seemed that his faithful service produced nothing but hardship.
      4. Elijah never expected to find pleasure in the wilderness–all he wanted to do was die.
      5. The wilderness brought Jesus no joy–it brought him into person to person conflict with Satan himself.
   2. In each one of these men’s lives, the wilderness was a powerful tool in the hand of God.
      1. It brought each man to a higher level of spiritual maturity.
      2. It caused each man’s trust in God to grow to new heights.
      3. It reinforced the godly focus of each man.
      4. 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.
      5. Because of the wilderness experience, their godliness grew.
      6. Because their godliness grew, God could use them for greater purposes.
4. My personal world and your personal world are dominated by evil.
   1. Regardless of how godly we are or how deeply we trust God, each of us will visit the wilderness, and more than once!
      1. We can always tell when we are in the wilderness.
      2. Every time we are overwhelmed, we are in the wilderness.
         1. It may be the sense of helplessness.
         2. It may be the distress of failure.
         3. It may be uncontrollable circumstances.
         4. It may be injustice.
         5. Anything that depresses us, distresses us, or causes us to feel defeated takes us to the wilderness.
      3. When life seems out of control, we are in the wilderness.
      4. When life does not make sense, we are in the wilderness.
   2. When we visit the wilderness, one of two things will inevitably happen.
      1. We will grow closer to God.
         1. We will trust God as we have never trusted Him.
         2. Our focus on God’s will and purposes in our lives will become clearer.
      2. Or we will turn away from God and decide to live life on our own.
         1. We will blame God for everything that happens.
         2. 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.

The Tools

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.)

The Team

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.

1. Every form of professional, business, or industrial organization must deal with a combination of needs, problems, opportunities, and demands.
   1. That is not a matter of choice; it is a matter of necessity.
      1. Every business exists in the highly complex environment of law, need, opportunity, and competition.
      2. The business that succeeds is the business that effectively manages the demands created by law, need, opportunity, and competition.
   2. Even small business organizations are dependent on forming an effective, reliable teams.
      1. Look at the obvious.
         1. 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.
         2. There is only one way any organization can do that: build a responsible, dependable team.
      2. What if an organization does not develop a responsible, effective team?
         1. At some point, demands will exceed the ability, strength, and time of “the leader.”
         2. When “the leader” burns out, the organization crashes.
2. God used a team to produce the most important reality that exists–salvation.
   1. Evil entered human existence by human decision and choice.
      1. We made an incredible mess of life and relationships.
      2. The mess we made was too complicated for us to correct.
      3. God did what we could not do; He rescued us from the mess we created.
   2. God did it through team work.
      1. God created the plan; made the promise to rescue us; implemented the plan; and persevered until forgiveness and salvation were realities.
         1. With frustration that we cannot comprehend, God worked through the nation of Israel.
         2. Their failures and faithlessness constantly frustrated God’s purposes.
         3. Israel often made it impossible for God to keep His promises.
         4. But God never quit, never changed His mind, never altered His plans.
         5. 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).
      2. God sent His Son as a true human to live the human existence.
         1. Jesus used the last years of his life in a ministry that focused exclusively on God’s purposes.
         2. He died by crucifixion to serve as God’s sacrificial lamb and create atonement for sin.
         3. He was raised from the dead by the power of God, made Lord and Christ, and provided everyone the opportunity for forgiveness.
      3. When the resurrected Jesus ascended back into heaven to sit on God’s right hand, God sent the Holy Spirit.
         1. 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).
         2. He gave them a perfect remembrance of everything Jesus did and taught.
         3. He worked in doing many things in the lives of those who entered Christ.
         4. He makes each of us who enter Christ the temple of God.
         5. The Holy Spirit is the living presence of God at work in the life of those who belong to Jesus Christ.
      4. We have salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and life in Christ because God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit worked together.
3. I deeply enjoy being a part of you for many reasons.
   1. One of those reasons is that the elders and staff work together as a team.
      1. We clearly understand that the only way that this congregation can meet the challenge of its potential is through effective team work.
      2. Serving God’s purposes as Christ’s church in today’s world is a challenge beyond description.
         1. When our renovations and Family Life Center are complete, our property and facilities should have a value that exceeds five million dollars.
         2. 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.
         3. Our current commitments include:
            1. Significant mission commitments in at least three other nations.
            2. Developing a growing, effective spiritual education program for adults and children.
            3. Equipping our families to build better marriages and better homes.
            4. Assisting both individuals and families in crisis.
            5. Continuing an effective youth work.
            6. Sustaining an effective program from 60 + members.
            7. Developing an effective support and involvement system for new comers and visitors.
            8. Sustaining a visitation, support, and outreach work with those who are sick or shut-ins.
            9. Continuing to develop an inner city outreach.
            10. Sustaining extensive benevolent programs.
            11. Sustaining an active jail ministry.
            12. 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.
         4. 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.
      3. The only possible way that we can address our needs and accept the challenge of our opportunities is to build an increasingly effective team.
   2. The leadership and staff are constantly learning how to be a better, more effective team.
      1. First, I want to remind you of the people who are on the team.
         1. We have two secretaries on staff.
            1. 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.
            2. Debbie Belote has been secretary for this congregation for eleven years. Debbie, too, is conscientious, committed, and an excellent projects person.
         2. As of last week, we have four ministers on staff.
            1. 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.
            2. 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.
            3. In November, I will have been with you for two years.
         3. Presently, we have five elders who are part of the team.
            1. 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.
            2. Sam Roberts retired from years of work as a personnel manager. He has an excellent ability to talk to people one on one.
            3. Earl Flood has served this congregation as an elder on two different occasions. Earl loves to help people, and Earl helps people.
            4. Bob Null has worked many years in upper management. He has incredible communication skills. He is gifted in communicating with large groups.
            5. 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.
            6. Each one of them bring something unique and valuable to the team.
      2. 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.
         1. Ted came to help work with two enormous opportunities that we have:
            1. To help our over-all spiritual education program grow to new levels of service and effectiveness.
            2. To help us meet the enormous need of better member involvement.
         2. The elders have asked Ted focus his time and energy on our education program for the immediate future.
         3. Ted was attracted to West-Ark because of our positive spirit and attitude, and because we are looking toward the future.
         4. He brings to the team a different background and life experience.
            1. Ted’s father and mother divorced when he was in the first grade.
            2. He lived with his mother until he finished junior high, and lived with his father while in senior high.
            3. His childhood and his teen years were difficult years.
            4. In his late teens and early 20’s he completely left God.
         5. He recommitted himself to God in 1984 and immediately began to share what God was doing for him with his friends.
            1. Some of them did more than listen: they were converted.
            2. Because of his effectiveness, the Iowa congregation he attended paid him to quit one of his jobs and do one on one teaching.
            3. He began correspondence work at Sunset School of Preaching.
            4. Finally, they supported him to complete his studies and degree.
            5. When he graduated, they hired him as second man.
         6. For many reasons I am glad Ted is a member of the team.
            1. He has no desire to “take over” anything; he came to work with others.
            2. He loves to serve, and he enjoys working in the background.
            3. He has a good reputation as a teacher, a hard worker, and a “people person.”
         7. 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.

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?

Would You Teach Me How?

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.

1. All of us are aware of the fundamental importance of learning.
   1. Do you know how to:
      1. Sew? Could you make clothing without being taught?
      2. Change a tire? Could you change a tire without being taught?
      3. Make cornbread? Could you make it without being taught?
      4. Drive a straight shift car? Could you drive it without being taught?
      5. Swim? Could you swim without being taught?
   2. Virtually everything we do we learned how to do it.
      1. We expect learning to be a part of life.
      2. We expect to be taught.
2. 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.)
   1. Jesus made this statement after his resurrection, not long before his ascension.
      1. The statement contains three instructions.
         1. Go make disciples.
         2. Baptized those who would be disciples.
         3. Teach the disciples you make to observe all the commands that I gave to you.
      2. The primary instruction is to go make disciples.
         1. A person is baptized because he or she wants to be a disciple.
         2. The person expects to learn and to practice Jesus’ teachings because the person has chosen to be a disciple.
         3. You do not baptize a person who does not wish to be a disciple.
         4. A person who does not want to be a disciple will not learn or practice Jesus’ teachings.
   2. Let’s ask the important question: what is a disciple?
      1. 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.”
      2. It was common for recognized teachers to have their pupils, and for the pupils to be devoted to that teacher.
         1. The thinking, the understanding, and the views of the teacher became the thoughts and understandings of the pupils.
         2. 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.
      3. The New Testament mentions:
         1. The disciples of the Pharisees, or Jews whose thinking and views were determined by the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Mosaical law (John 9:28).
         2. The disciples of John the baptizer, or Jews whose thinking and views were determined by the teachings of John (John 1:35).
         3. And there were the disciples of Jesus (John 4:1).
            1. In a special sense, this referred to the twelve who were hand-picked by Jesus himself (Matthew 10:1-4).
               1. They followed him and learned from him on a daily basis.
               2. They learned from the experience of being with him as well as from his teachings.
            2. 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).
   3. Jesus told his hand-picked disciples who had witnessed the fact of his resurrection to go throughout the world calling other people to discipleship.
      1. When I decide to be a disciple, I choose to be a pupil, to learn.
      2. Who will be my teacher?
         1. Obviously, the person calling me to Jesus will teach me.
         2. But whose teachings will that person teach me? Jesus’ teachings.
         3. Is he teaching me to follow him as a person? No, he is teaching me to follow Jesus.
         4. Who will I look to as “the teacher”? Jesus.
         5. Whose teachings will I learn? Jesus’ teachings.
         6. Who will I follow in my life? Jesus.
   4. If I choose to be a disciple, a pupil, a learner who is devoted to Jesus, what will Jesus teach me?
      1. Will Jesus teach me all about worship?
         1. No.
         2. Jesus did not teach about the practices or the ceremony of worship.
         3. His teachings did not focus on worship as a practice.
      2. Will Jesus teach me all about the church?
         1. Will he teach me all about church organization, church leadership, and church responsibilities?
         2. No.
         3. Jesus’ teachings did not focus on the church.
         4. The gospels only record Jesus using the word twice.
   5. Then what will Jesus teach me?
      1. 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.
      2. He will teach me how to think from God’s perspectives and purposes.
      3. Jesus will teach me how to love like God loves.
      4. Jesus will teach me how to serve God and people as he served God and people.
      5. Jesus will teach me how to treat people.
      6. Jesus will teach me how to commit, in love, to God.
3. “David, are you trying to say that worship and the church are unimportant?”
   1. Absolutely not.
      1. It is impossible to love God and not worship Him.
      2. It is impossible to be Jesus’ disciple and not be a part of his church.
   2. “Then what are you saying?”
      1. Unless we are disciples, we will never worship God appropriately.
         1. Worship comes from what we are just as certainly as what we do.
         2. Only disciples will praise God as He deserves to be praised.
         3. Only disciples will reverence God as He deserves to be honored.
      2. Unless we are disciples, we will never be the church in the way Jesus intended us to be the church.
         1. Only if we are disciples will we leave a worldly, ungodly life and actually make our life in Jesus Christ.
         2. Only if we are disciples will we learn to live the kind of life Jesus intended for people in the church to live.
      3. 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:
         1. Look at life and death as God does.
         2. How to think like Jesus thought.
         3. How to love like God and Jesus love.
         4. How to serve like Jesus served.
         5. How to treat people like Jesus treated people.
         6. How to commit to God in love.
4. 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.
   1. Let me ask you a very basic question: why were you baptized?
      1. “I was baptized for the forgiveness of my sins to enter the church.”
      2. When you were baptized did you have any desire to be a disciple?
      3. Did you intend to let Jesus teach you how to think when you were baptized?
      4. Did you want Jesus to teach you how to love?
      5. Were you making a decision to learn how to serve?
      6. Did you want to be taught how to treat people?
      7. Were you consciously making a commitment to God?
   2. Or, were you basically baptized to become a member of the church in order to do church things?
      1. Has your Christian life been one long, internal, spiritual struggle because you have been committed to church rules instead being committed to discipleship?
      2. 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.
      3. It is frighteningly easy to be pro-church and anti-discipleship at the same time.
         1. Being a part of the church and being a disciple are commitments that should bless each other.
         2. They were never intended to be separated.
5. “David, you talked about splitting hairs this morning. That is what I think that you are doing right now.”
   1. Let me ask you to consider this.
      1. Because we are taught so little about being husbands or wives before we marry, we make some awfully big messes in our marriages.
      2. 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.
      3. 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.
   2. 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.
      1. 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.
      2. Discipleship is not about how you act in church buildings; discipleship is about how you live your life.