Notes and Sermons by Pastor Rob Henderson

THANK YOU FOR GIVING TO THE LORD

2008-09-08T06:39:00.000-04:00

SepTEMBER 7, 2008

Ruth 4:13-17; Psalm 71:9; Titus 2:2-3

A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own,
so she likes other people's little girls. A grandfather is a
man grandmother. He goes for walks with the boys and
they talk about fishing and tractors and like that.
Grandmas don't have to do anything except be there.
They're old, so they shouldn't play hard or run. It is
enough if they drive us to the market where the pretend
horse is and have lots of dimes ready. Or if they take us
for walks, they should slow down past things like pretty
leaves or caterpillars. They should never ever say 'hurry
up.'

Usually they are fat, but not too fat to tie kids’ shoes.
They wear glasses and funny underwear. They can take
their teeth out and gums off.

It is better if they don't typewrite or play cards except
with us. They don't have to be smart, only answer questions
like why dogs hate cats and how come God isn't married.
They don't talk baby talk like visitors do, because it is hard
to understand. When they read to us they don't skip, or
mind if it is the same story again.

Everybody should try to have one, especially if you don't
have television, because grandmas are the only grown ups
who have got time.

Happy Grandparents Day! And on this day we take time to thank God for the heritage of grandparents that all of us are blessed with. Only Grandma would let me eat cookies when I shouldn’t. Only Grandma could make cornbread without a recipe. Only Grandma could tell scary stories that would keep me awake at night.

Your kids, my kids, our kids need grandparents. The children of our church need those of us older to step in at times and grandparent them. The kids in our community need the wisdom and influence of the older folks- I suppose those in their golden years- people like a lot of you.

The American Indians always highly valued the elders of the tribe. The elders were the ones who were to dispense wisdom and knowledge that was the result of their years of experiences both good and bad. In fact, the core values of our Tribe are referred to as the “Seven Grandfather Teachings” of Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Humility and Honesty. For Tribal people God is referred to as “Grandfather”- a name of endearment and respect. The role of the elders to set an example for the younger tribal citizens is lauded over and over. They have something to give to our young people.

How important it is that the grandparents here today do the same in sharing their life of learning, not from some formal education, but from the school of hard knocks. And how valuable that kind of teaching is to the young people of today!

Margaret Mead, the noted anthropologist, has said a lot of controversial things, but you will find no authorities debating her statement in her article “Grandparents and Educators.” In it she said, "Somehow we have to get the older people, grandparents, widows and widowers, spinsters and bachelors, back close to children if we are to restore a sense of community, a sense of knowledge of the past, and a sense of future to today's children."

I couldn’t agree more! Today we need grandmas and grandpas to take up the slack where parents are floundering or downright failing our kids. I thank God for the grandparents in my children’s lives. Sure, they weren’t perfect grandparents but in my mind they were perfect enough.

In our scripture text we read of the closing years of an old woman named Naomi. Naomi has returned to her native land of Israel but has no means to care for herself. She needs a man to redeem her possessions and the only way that happens is when her foreign daughter-in-law, Ruth, follows her to a strange land, meets up with Boaz and marries him. She then conceives a child and gives birth to a son, Obed, the grandfather of the future King David. And we see a strapping baby boy sitting on the lap Naomi. The people all around celebrate for and with Naomi that she has gained not merely a grandson but a son who is her kinsmen redeemer.

There are three very important aspects of this circumstance of the Grandmother, Naomi, and how her life not only was changed but how God came through and used her to change the future. I want to use this framework to remind you as grandparents how important your role is and your place in society.

Let me begin by reminding us that through grandparents…

1. Our Ancestral Roots are Remembered.

Not everybody is a grandparent but everybody is a grandchild. And as grandchildren, we need those connections to our ancestral roots that somehow does something for our self-worth and self-esteem. How does that work?

a. Without grandparents we would forget our past.

Without the memories of the long lost years of the 30’s I would have very little clue about the Great Depression. But my Grandmother and Dad lived as the poorest of the poor in Versailles, Kentucky. I also learned of family members and their idiosyncracies of which some I wished I didn’t know.

Many of you have heard me speak of my mom dying young at the age of 51 and my grandmother dying at the age of 39- a few years before I was born. One of our tribal elders knew my mom and my grandmother. He tells stories of my grandmother, especially, that does something for my inner being and my sense of connection to the past.

b. Without grandparents we would lose our future.

In fact, if I didn’t have grandparents then I don’t exist. We often think of our young people as our future. Well, the fact is without godly and wise grandparents there would be no future. Most of us don’t realize that what we enjoy today was built on the backs of many of you and your generations. The future would be lost if you had not made sacrifices in the past.

I think of this church and the buildings and facilities we have; however, they weren’t built by me or paid for by our younger people. You and your grandparents sacrificed and sweated and cried over putting together what God called you to do.

c. Without grandparents we would miss the present.

You in our older generation remind us of the present joys of life. One day, my body is going to begin to falter. No longer will I be able to shoot a lay-up or climb a tree and shoot my bow and arrow. I and those around my age need to enjoy the present but also look with expectation to the future.

Not only are your roots remembered but through grandparents…

2. Our Current Reality is Renewed.

Not everyone is a godly grandparent. And this may be where the message begins to turn for some. The reality is that true grandparenting comes by the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians. I am convinced that God calls every grandparent to a life of love, holiness and sacrifice. Sadly, not enough grandparents or even enough Christian grandparents fit this description.

But there is something about godly grandparents that help me in this day and age.

a. Godly Grandparents authenticate this present life.
Life gets hard at times. And life is tough. But I have seen the lives of enough of you to know that there is a certain faithfulness that is needed in these days. You have followed God in the workplaces as well as the church fellowship. You live out your days in prayer. You authenticate this present life for the rest of us by the daily actions of your faithfulness to God. Thank you.

b. Godly Grandparents teach us the wisdom of life.

I have learned so many things from many of you but the one thing that continually disturbs my thinking is that I don’t have all the answers. However, by listening to your stories and hearing your perspectives I have learned a certain wisdom that only comes with the years of serving God. Thank you.

c. Godly Grandparents model for us the practicality of life.

You have patterned for young people like me what it is to live by faith, to live within your means and to do the right things no matter what. As younger people we need your models of sensibility and no-nonsense living. Thank you.

Through godly grandparenting you are renewing the Church’s sense of reality and understanding that these are no normal times.

I also see…

3. Old Relationships are Reborn.

Some of the great lessons in life are learned best when we get older. So often the things we think are so important and so critical seems to fade as we get older. Many of us need only look back a few years and find that perhaps we stood too hard for some things and hurt the relations we had with people and even family members that we dearly love.

As we get older we can use the wisdom of our years as we allow the Holy Spirit to work through our life to see old relationships reborn. Let’s not wait for the next funeral to wish that we had made up with old acquaintances. I have three suggestions on this issue.

a. Break the Bonds that Divide You from Others.

Sometimes it seems to me that there is a particular bond of divisiveness between parents and children. What I mean is that the only means of communication between some parents and adult children is disagreement. This bond of disagreement is not good nor is it healthy for the grandchildren.

First, don’t speak ill or evil about your grandchildren’s parents. Always speak positively.

Second, respect your children’s expectations for the grandchildren. Don’t do things that undermine their authority.

For you to be all that God calls you to be as a grandparent find a way to reach back into the lives of your children and grandchildren. It may mean apologizing and making things right. But do the right thing.

b. Build a Bridge Over the Troubled Waters.

Our adult children and their children need help at times. When you see them struggling in the troubled waters don’t just shout swimming lessons. Help them out and then teach them to swim.

c. Broaden Your Awareness of the Needs of Others.

I stepped into the home a grandparent one time who proudly displayed pictures of their grandchildren except one. The grandfather refused to display his eldest grandson because he wore a nose-ring and had funny colored hair. I was shocked and not sure what to say in that moment.

As a grandparent is impendent upon you to accept your grandchildren and strive to understand the difficulties that they face in a world that is increasingly calling them to do things differently. I wonder how much different this young, lost man might respond to the gospel if his grandfather would love him half as much as Jesus loves him. I’ll say this, it will be very difficult for that boy to believe that Jesus loves him if his grandfather- who claims to be a Christian- acts as thought he does not.

Learn to love each one of your grandchildren. So what if they talk weird, dress funny or listen to goofy music. Just remember, someday they will have grandchildren who will talk weird to them, look funnier and listen to crazier music.

The last observation about grandparenting that I believe is critical to your walk of faith is to experience a…

4. Personal Religion that is Redeemed.

So often are so many Christians diagnosed with such a bad case of the hardening of the categories that we lose personal sight of our own relationship with God. I want to be a grandparent who loves God in such a way that I will continually experience a renewal of my own faith.

How can you experience a personal religion that is redemptive in your old age?

a. Let God work again in your life.

Take time out for some real prayer and fasting in your life. Take time in the Word and take time to listen. You may be retired and you may be tired but commit your ways to the Lord and see him rise again in your heart.

b. Seek God daily through prayer and the Word.

You are never too old to seek God and seek God’s will.

I think of Daniel who in his old age received yet another vision. He struggled in prayer until he was exhausted and still did not receive an answer.

c. Expect God to do something great.

As a younger person, sometimes my greatest disappointment is when I see people who are older and wiser than I see the world as worst off than it was. True, it probably is but people in my generation and younger need to see your faith rise to the occasion. We need to see you expect God to great things.

We need to see your faith in God grow.

We need to see your trust in us grow.

We need to see your hopes of a better future grow.

We need to see you expect God to great things.

Conclusion: Thank you for giving to the Lord.

Thank you for giving your self for others. Thank you for living your life for God’s purposes. Thank you for taking time out for young people like me who were trying to find their way in life. Thank you for allowing young preachers like me to learn on the job. Thank you for passing the reigns of leadership on to newer people and trusting God for the increase.

Thank you for being a godly grandparent. Truly, may all come behind you find you faithful. May the fire of your devotion light our way.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE- GOD'S WAY

2008-09-08T06:27:00.000-04:00

August 24, 2008

Proverbs 18:22; Ephesians 5:21-33

[This was a two part sermon- partly because I digressed more than I anticipated.]

Introduction:

I was bagging groceries, minding my own business when this cute, dark haired girl frolicked through the check-out lane I was working. I put on my best muscle show for her as I crowded four packs of Charmin into rectangle paper bags. And in that moment all of history was about change- in my life, her life, your lives and countless others. That seventeen year old boy fell in love and was changed forever.

If there ever was an argument against evolution and if there ever was an argument against the concept of atheism, love would be the very thing to raise. How can conscious creatures like us human beings fall in love with another? How can we explain love in real terminology?

Love is truly a many splendored thing. And the love between a man and woman- the kind of love that changes lives- can only come from God.

What do you know about your marriage and what happened on that wedding day?

A few weeks ago I performed an Indian Wedding ceremony. I stood before the bride and groom and the whole company of witnesses to lead them into vows that I pray will carry them and their love for the rest of their days. I wore a traditional tribal shirt that represented the Woodlands Indians- of which the Ottawas are considered. An elder in the tribe gifted me with a bone and beaded collar- he jokingly called a “choker.” With these I stood with the marriage manual- the Bible- and led them into the riches of God’s grace called marital bliss.

But what happens so often after the ceremony is what makes or breaks a marriage. Today, I want to break down this concept of love and marriage for us so that we can come away with a greater understanding and appreciation for this wonderful gift of God in our lives.

1. Marriage Commended.

God loves to see love blossom in the life of his creation. Unlike animals that have only a primal concept of love, we as human beings long to love and be loved. And despite the problems that marriages experience, marriage is commended by the scripture.

Proverbs 18:22- “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.”

Proverbs 19:14- “Houses and riches are an inheritance from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.”

A person receives an inheritance that is tangible and legally passed on to the next generation. But to receive a godly wife is truly God’s gift to the husband. I would hope that as men we appreciate the beautiful wife that we have been given.

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy concerning the various family issues that this young pastor was facing. Concerning the young women whose husbands may have died in war he says this:

Hebrews 13:4- “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

In Ephesians the Apostle Paul reiterates the concept of marriage that God instituted in Genesis.

Jeremiah 29:6- “Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they may have sons and daughters. Increase in numbers there; do not decrease.”

The greatest influence a person can have is to be married, raise children and send them out. When Jim Eliott was being urged by his parents to stay in the States and minister, he responded by pointing out “Blessed is the man whose quiver is full.” What is a quiver full of? Arrows. What are arrows meant for? Not remaining in the quiver but to be shot out. My calling as a parent is to send out my children to have families and influence the world.

And the Bible teaches that the proper way to have a full quiver is to be married first.

2. Marriage is an Obligation.

Genesis 2:24- “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

Mark 10:8b-9- “So they are no longer two but one. Therefore, what God has joined together let man not separate.”

The simplicity of the message cannot be overlooked: they will become one flesh.

a. One in body.

The sexual intimacy in a marriage brings the two to a physical one-ness.

b. One in soul.

There is an emotional binding over time as the married couple learns the idiosyncrasies of each other. They begin to think more in tune with the other, their wills become more conducive to each other’s, and their emotions become more influential with the other.

c. One in spirit.

As the couple matures spiritually, their marriage becomes more spiritual. What used to take excessive discipline now becomes regular habit. They are more spiritually in tune with each other’s needs.

This is why divorce is hell. Divorce is the shredding of a binding that was meant for eternity. The Bible speaks very strongly against divorce for this reason.

Jesus speaks these words:

Matthew 5:32- “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.”

God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). The marriage is supposed to be an example of Christ and the Church. When divorce occurs it must only be a last resort issue that is compelled by “unfaithfulness” circumstances. What those “unfaithfulness” circumstances are depends on the parties involved. Certainly, sexual infidelity is one that is highly ranked by scripture.

I would also personally add that if a woman is in a relationship where she is at high risk of physical and emotional danger, she maintains the right to leave that situation. There is no way that I would counsel someone to stay in a dangerous relationship of that kind.

Conclusion:

The week we spent an entire day at Six Flags Great America. Now, I am not into spinning rides. My wife is. She is not into roller coasters; I am. Because of her recent surgery she was to ride her favorite rides. I didn’t say, “Tough luck” and run off to the nearest coaster. Instead, we worked together to spend time together. We rode the train, we watched a movie about dolphins and we walked the park.

However, there were times when I did get to ride the roller coasters. And I was reminded once again that marriage has its ups and downs. Marriage has it difficult turns and twists. There are times of laughter and times of difficulty.

PART TWO

3. Marriage is an Exchange.

The success of a marriage is dependent on the exchange rate that we give it. How does a marriage work in the exchange factor? Through sacrifice. We give up something to gain something or someone greater.

If there is anything that I have learned about marriage, love and ministry its these three important concepts:

First, you get what you pay for. Whatever you want out of a marriage is what you invest into it. No question here. Those who put their marriage and family first will generally reap blessings and rewards for their sacrifices.

However, there is something else that I have learned…

Second, what you pay for is not always what you get. There are times that the parents’ sacrifices and best efforts are not enough. They pay the price to raise their children the right way and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Kids make choices because they have free wills. And sometimes as parents we just simply have leave them in God’s care.

Third, sometimes you get what you didn’t pay for. Sometimes and even many times there are those who have discovered that in their family circle there are benefits they receive- not because they have been so good or done so well- but “just because.” God in some extra-ordinary way blesses the mom or dad, the husband or wife, with relationship miracles. I can’t explain how seemingly dysfunctional parenting reaps positive results with the children.

Put that same thought into the marital realm. I have been the beneficiary of a wonderful wife- far more than I have paid for. But let’s not be naïve either: To make our marriage work we have made our share of sacrifices, worked through our share of frustrations together and have stayed faithful to the other.

Like a well-kept garden, you need to cultivate the soil of the marriage to reap the joys of Biblical love. And this is not an easy thing.

Genesis 29:20- “So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.”

Hard work is never an issue if it’s worth the hard work. Jacob was so enamored with Rachel that his labor seemed easy. He never lost sight of his goal of wedding his true love Rachel. And even after being deceived by his father-in-law he willfully worked an additional seven years.

The great tragedy in our times is that people forget that there is a cost to marriage. You have to work to make a marriage work. A solid marriage doesn’t simply occur by fiat.

Song of Solomon 8:7- “Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”

What do we learn from this particular verse?

a. Love is invincible and unquenchable even when flooded by difficulty.

Every marriage becomes challenged by a variety of issues. Look at some of the wedding vows for a moment:

 For better, for worse:

Believe me, after twenty-five years Naomi and I have see the better days and the worse days. We know what it is to scrimp and scrape to get by. And perhaps we will see better better days and maybe we’ll have to face worse worse days. But these things are in our Lord’s hands.

 For richer, for poorer:

We know the poorer part far better than the richer part. Yet, how many marriages are dictated by money? How many base their love on what material benefits that they are receiving in the marriage? A marriage based on money is void of true love. This richer and poorer stuff is not merely about money but things, materials and status.

When I have failed my wife is by my side. When she has been rejected I’ve been by her side. This is what it’s about- being there for the other.

 In sickness and in health:

Yep, we know that one too. Need I say more? You’ve seen her health issues. And believe me in sickness and in health eventually will knock at the door of your marriage.

b. Love is so priceless that it cannot be bought- only given away.

You cannot bribe someone to love you. Love is something that is only given away. The exchange of love is an exchange of each one- the husband and the wife- giving to each other with no strings attached.

You can’t buy me lu-uv! However, neglect of love undermines the whole deal!

How do we as men give away our love for our wives? How do you as wives give away your love for your husband?

Compliments. Husbands: When was the last time your told your woman that she is beautiful and the only woman for you? Wives: When was the last time you told your man that he is handsome and the only man for you?

Let them know they are wonderful and beautiful. Be your spouse’s number one cheerleader even if they don’t give you too much to cheer about!

Thanksgiving. Learn to thank your spouse for doing something for you. My wife is the best at this. Whenever I get something for her- the remote, a glass of Diet Squirt, the groceries out of the van- she always thanks me. Me? I’m batting about .200. But I’ve been taking batting lessons to get better.

Support. Be that strong arm to lean on when your spouse is in need. Who knows when that may suddenly happen in a huge way. Start now. Be there to wipe away their tears (not only women but men as well). Be there to encourage them when they have failed. Support each other through thick and thin.

Attention. Give your spouse the attention he or she deserves. I realize budgets are tight and getting tighter. But consider having the occasional “date night.” Even if it’s McDonald’s or Wesco pizza, do something that adds a little pizzaz. (Of course, if Wesco pizza adds pizzaz to your marriage you might need to see me.)

Apologize. Learning to say "I'm sorry" is of the utmost importance. Without recognizing our own failings in our marital and family relationships we will hinder true growth and spirituality in the home. My kids, my wife need to not only hear but see my humility when I am wrong. Likewise, they need to do the same. I would much rather die admitting I was wrong about something than living a life of denial.

These things and many others strengthen your relationship with each other. And you just might begin to experience the awesome joys that a marriage should experience.

Allow me, now, to delve into a wee bit of theology for a moment about marriage and what it represents:

4. Marriage is a Reflection.

The reality of a marriage is that it is supposed to be a reflection the love of God in the hearts of two mere human people. This love for each other tells the bigger story of Christ’s love for his church.

Consider the passage in Ephesians 5.

 Christ loves the Church.

When husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loves the Church, this speaks of an agape love. There are times when we may feel hurt or scorned- but we still love our wife. There may be times where we may feel ignored or disrespected- but we still love our wife.

Look at how Jesus loved the Church: How? He gave up everything for the Church. In the same sense, as husbands we give up everything for our wife.

 Christ died for the Church.

By giving up everything, he did not consider the humility of being a human being something of an embarrassment. If there is ever a character trait that we need in the lives of a lot of husbands and that is humility.

We need men to die to themselves and humble themselves. Are you ready to do that, husband? Are you ready to become less so that your wife becomes greater? Then wash the dishes after dinner. Make her go watch her favorite show while you do the dishes.

That is Biblical because…

 Christ washed the Church.

Continually, the life of Christ cleanses us. In a similar sense, as husbands we are to bath our wives in prayer and the word of God. We are to pray over her and speak kindly to her. There should never be any pride in a man who speaks down to his wife or speaks unkindly to her or about her.

But what about the wife?

Wives, respect your husband and the fearful role that he has been placed into. Pray for us. Most of us don’t have a clue and we’re learning on the job about your feelings, your likes and dislikes, and your ever-changing moods. Show your husband the same respect you would show Christ if he was here in a bodily presence. Allow him to be your spiritual leader. And if he doesn’t seem to be doing the job, let him know that you need him to be you spiritual leader. And then see what God does.

There is one other aspect about marriage that I feel needs to be addressed:

5. Marriage is Exclusive

Marriage is not for everyone. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:8- “Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.”

Some people in the early church considered celibacy to be holier than marriage. Marriage is not intended for everyone. God calls some to not be married.

I uphold the Roman Catholic Church’s stance against the world’s way of thinking about the marriage of priests. They believe that their spiritual leaders should be free of the marital commitments of this earth and serve God and the Church only. I support this fully.

In our tradition, we don’t believe this for our pastors. That’s alright.

The Apostle Paul expresses to the Corinthian Church that he wishes everyone would be as he. However, he then tells them in the next verse: “But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”

This speaks of those who fall in love. They can get married.

A few years ago I was blessed to perform the marriage for a 71 year old man who never had been married and never had a serious relationship all of his life.

What we know throughout church history is that there have been those who have accepted the role of celibacy as the high calling of their life in order to minister exclusively for the Church and for God.

However, this is not for everyone.

Conclusion:

But what matters most in all of this? God’s faithfulness to us and our faithfulness to each other. How else can you measure success in life but by the closest relationships we keep.

GOING FOR MORE THAN GOLD

2008-08-26T19:34:00.000-04:00

August 17, 2008

Psalm 81:16, 2 Timothy 4:7-8

I have absolutely enjoyed the Olympics this year. Every chance I get, I’ve been watching some of the most amazing athletes in the world compete. As I watched one young lady well up with tears during our National Anthem after winning the gold medal, I was struck by how much goes into an athlete’s life in order to reach that pinnacle in life.

And I thought about our lives as Christians. What we live for is worth far more than a gold medal- even eight gold medals that swimmer Michael Philips has achieved. Without taking away from the tremendous achievements that this represents, one day those gold medals will fade away and mean nothing in the scope of your eternal destiny.

How do we live our lives for the cause of Jesus Christ and go for more than gold in our lives? Let us begin by looking at…

1. The Christian on Steroids.

On of the saddest days for sports fans came when United States sprinter, Marion Jones, admitted to doping in the time leading up to the 2004 Olympics in Australia. It wouldn’t have been so bad for her to have to give up her medals for cheating but those who ran with her in the 440 Relay lost their gold medals as well.

Its one thing for your behavior and actions to affect only you. But the sad truth is that just like Marion Jones whose actions affected her teammates, so to our actions as Christians affects those on our team.

I think about the problem of steroid use in any athlete and wonder how they can lay down and sleep at night knowing that they have cheated their way to the top. Rather than do the things they are supposed to do in proper training, they tried to short-cut. And sometimes to the detriment of their own health.

When any Christian strives to live the Christian life without God, they are doing much the same. This is short-changing the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. Let me share three examples of what I’m saying:

a. Ways of the World.

1 Corinthians 3:19 warns us by saying, “For the wisdom of the world is foolishness…” So often it is easy enough to look at the wisdom of the world and use that as a grid for our Christian life.

I get concerned when Christians begin to dabble with “positive” thinking gurus who promote a self-centered guideline rather than the Scriptures in order to live properly. I have very little regard for people like David Dwyer who calls on you to see within yourself.

b. Thoughts without God.

God warns his people in Psalm 81:11, “If you would but listen to me.” It is so easy for you and I to get caught up in our own thoughts and our own way of thinking and ignore what God is saying.

God wants us to listen to him through the preaching, teaching and reading of His word. He desires for us to consider Him within our thought processes. How easy it is to forget God in the times we need him most.

c. Strength of Self.

In verse 12 of that same chapter, God goes on to point out that his rebellious people “follow their own devices.” Again, how easy it is to ease God out by not only following the ways of the world, not listening to God and depending on our own strength.

These same folks will claim faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternity in heaven. What they forget is the life of holiness in between. What we do with our lives between salvation and death does matter.

You cannot cheat and become spiritual no more than an athlete can cheat and be a better athlete. They may show incredible feats of strength but in so doing short-cut the system.

Likewise, the Christian who claims Christ but then follows self, short-cuts their own spirituality. And in the end, those closest to them suffer the worst.

Not only are their Christians who are on steroids but there is also the…

2. The Person Lacking Faith.

How deep is your faith in the good news of Jesus Christ?

Consider this wee bit of triva:

How many gallons of water it takes to fill an Olympic size pool?

An Olympic pool is 50 meters in length and 25 meters in width and 2 meters minimum depth. In proper American dimensions: 164 feet long, 82 feet wide and 6 ½ feet minimum depth. Total gallons of water: 660,253 gallons. Your typical backyard pool would use between 10,000 and 30,000 gallons of water. (Just in case you were thinking of putting in a pool some day.)

I encounter too many Christians whose Olympic pool of faith looks good on the surface but is only a centimeter deep.

Here’s the skinny about faith: Faith is not believing in the impossible; faith is trusting God for the impossible. But yet too often there are far too many Christians who have strived to live a life of faith but fail to do so because they are too easily deceived by what faith really is all about.

An athlete must have a certain level of confidence in what they are doing in order to achieve the impossible dream. In a similar sense, a Christian must have a level of confidence in their Christian faith (in the living sense) in order to achieve the potential God has raised them for.

Remember, Romans 10:17 teaches us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.” We must be listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit in order to have a strong, Biblical faith.

But what about the people of God in Psalm 81? They stopped listening to God and it affected their faith in God.

So what are some of the evidences of a person who is lacking faith in their walk with God?

a. Fantasy Camp Faith.

This is the faith that is surrounded by something other than God. This kind of Christian lives in some kind of fantasy world. They don’t consider the Christ-filled life but yet desire to have all the benefits of the Christ-filled life.

So they go to fantasy camp every Sunday- if they have time. They proudly carry their Bible and scribble the notes but then forget what it’s all about by the time they eat their Sunday dinner.

b. False-Positive Faith.

There are those with the false-positive faith. These are the people who put their confidence in the wrong things. They truly believe in their heart that they have faith but it’s a faith that simply sits back in comfort and acceptance.

c. Flouting God’s Principles.

In essence, the Christian without true faith in God- a faith that is then reflected by Godly behaviors and attitudes- may not really be saved. They become like the people in Psalm 81 who have embraced the idols of the world and put their trust in government first and their trust in their friends first and their trust in their selves first. In verse 11- “…Israel would not submit to me.”

What a sad testimony for the person who is believing they are going for the gold and then achieves it only to find out that this not what it’s all about. God has something more than the gold and silver of this world.

The Christian of true faith refuses to simply accept the status quo in their life. Faith moves mountains and changes lives. Faith involves prayer- intense God fearing, Holy Spirit driven and Christ believing prayer. This kind of Christian has discovered…

3. The Life in the Spirit.

This run for more than gold calls for us as Christians to find that life of love, faith and hope. And the midst of that life, God provides us with all that we need.

The problem for the people of Israel was that they were rejecting God’s offering of Himself for their lives. Instead they longed to do their own thing rather than God’s. They preferred the idols of wood and stone over the living presence of God. They chose their way rather than God’s way.

a. Salvation from God.

In 81:6-7 we find that not only is the burden of slavery removed but that the people of God were rescued from the enemy’s hand.

Likewise, for you as God’s child, he lifts the burden of slavery and then delivers you from the enemy. No longer does Satan have dominion over you. You are now bought with a price- the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Now you have…

b. Sustenance from God.

God not only lifted the burden of slavery off of his people and delivered them out from under the leadership of Pharaoh, but he also provided for them in the wilderness as they headed towards the Promised Land.

Did you know that gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps eats 6000 to 10,000 calories a day. (I don’t but feel like I do every time I go to the China Buffet!)

Michael Phelps' breakfast menu includes three fried egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, mayonnaise; then throw in an omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast with powdered sugar, and three chocolate-chip pancakes. Yummo!

In verse 16 God has promised the “finest of wheat” and “honey from the rock.” God is not content to spiritually starving his people. He wants us to have the best if we would just let him feed us through His word and from the Holy Spirit.

This salvation and sustenance results in something more glorious than any world fame or acclamation:

c. Satisfaction from God.

Within the heart of every one here today, you want that sense of peace and joy that can only come from God. God calls on us to “open wide your mouth” so that He “will fill it.” (v. 10)

When God gives us the spiritual provisions that we need, there is a deep satisfaction that feeds our spirit and gives us that spiritual rest from the works of our own hands.

This satisfaction allows us to receive…

4. The Believer’s Reward.

I am really proud to be an American (most of the time). What really gets me going is to watch amazing feats achieved by amazing athletes. And when they win, what a tremendous reward for them and for us as a nation.

The reality is that we are in more than a race for eternal life. We are in a war. And this war requires for us to utilize weapons of the spiritual realm if we are to be victorious- as God’s word promises. To be victors calls on us to fight the good fight of faith.

To the one who overcomes, God promises a reward that is far greater than that of the world.

a. Enabled to Compete for the Prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24 tells us: “Run the race in such a way as to get the prize.”

We have too many Christians lolly-gagging their way around the track of life.

One of the amazing things to see in the Olympics is not only the winners but those who almost win or even those who couldn’t finish due to debilitating injury. One American female runner wept because she couldn’t go on due to illness. These players give everything they have- literally- in order to win a prize they can’t take with them.

We have the privilege to run in a race that is far greater in importance and reward. It’s not a matter of giving it everything you’ve got; it’s a matter of living everything you’ve been given by the Holy Spirit.

This will then result in our…

b. Experience of Completing the Race.

No player ever wants to win a gold medal by default. At times it has happened. Too many times I wonder how many would not make it were it not for the gracious patience of God!

The experience of completing the race is when our Lord looks at us and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

So what do we say in regard to all of this?

Conclusion: Never quit the race of life!

In 1968, the country of Tanzania selected John Stephen Akhwari to represent them in the Mexico City Olympics.

Along the racecourse for the marathon, Akhwari stumbled and fell, severely injuring both his knee and ankle. By 7pm, an Ethiopian runner had won the race, and all the other competitors had finished the race. There only remained a few thousand spectators in the huge stadium when a police siren at the gate caught everyone’s attention.

Limping through the gate came number 36- John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania. His leg was wrapped in a bloody bandage. Those present cheered as the courageous man completed the final lap of the race.

Later, a reporter asked Akhwari the question on everyone’s mind: “Why did you continue to race after you were so badly injured?”

He replied: “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to begin a race; they sent me to finish the race.”

My friends, our Lord does not save us so that we can merely begin a race but saved us so that we might finish the race despite the frustrations and disappointments in life.

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out or us.” (Hebrews 12:1)

REVIVING THE SOUNDS OF JOY

2008-08-26T16:03:00.000-04:00

August 10, 2008

Genesis 4:1-2a; Jeremiah 32:27, 33:10-11, Colossians 3:18-21

“You know I can’t smile without you… can’t smile without you!
I can’t laugh and I can’t sing… I’m finding it hard to do anything!
You see I feel sad when you’re sad. I feel glad when you’re glad.
If you only knew what I’m going through. I just can’t smile without you!”

I sang this Barry Manilow song to Naomi more than a few times while she was laying there in the hospital after her open heart surgery. This has been our song since our dating years. Every once in awhile we’ll sing it in the car while traveling somewhere.

Do you have songs in your marriage that are old favorites? Songs that revive and refresh the love you have for your husband or wife? Or have the sounds of the bride and bridegroom fade away over the years?

What troubles me today is that the joyful sounds of godly homes are becoming more hushed in today’s world. Too often the sounds coming from marriages are the sounds of dissension and discord rather than the joy of the Lord.

Don’t get me wrong, I realize that we face real life and reality makes us deal with unkind issues. However, in the Christian home divorce is never supposed to be the answer. Just because finances may back you into a corner or your spouse has issues you didn’t know about ahead of time does not warrant one to leave the other.

Add children into the mixing bowl, turn on the Kitchen Aid mixer and see what happens.

I believe that our Lord has a simple message of hope and order for the Christian families that are represented here.

1. The Christ-Centered Family Experience.

If we are going to experience something of this holy love, then we need to realize this in the context of our family.

The ultimate sense of holiness is when we learn to love others as well as loving God. In fact, if you can’t love others then I’m not so sure that you can love God.

What I long to see in our church are moms and dads who are in love with each other; whose lives are committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And who don’t care a wit about the world’s ways but care every bit about God’s ways.

Moms and Dads whose love for each other inspires their children; whose love for God arouses their own spiritual senses.

Jesus presents to the family the perfect example of what it means to be a Christian home. His love, surrender and obedience marks the path for the rest of us in our homelife.

I have somewhat of a crude outline of what I’m talking about. Hopefully this will add to what you already know about your role within your family life.

a. Wives: Submission out of Respect.

Sometimes we can get so bothered by the concept of women in submission. And honestly, too much has been made of this issue. I do not believe that a woman should be in obedience to her husband- as though she were a mere child. The scriptures call for the wife to be in submission to the husbands spiritual leadership.

Show me a wife who is loved by her husband as she should be loved and I’ll show a woman most likely to embrace her role of submission in the family circle.

What does the Bible say about this issue of submission? Very clearly the Apostle Paul speaks of the wife submitting out of respect for her husband.

This word respect in the Greek is phobio- which is a word that speaks of reverence. In other words, the wife’s role in a Christian home is to have a holy recognition of her husband’s position as the head of the relationship.

Where problems come into play is when the wife steps outside of this holy reverence for her husband and his responsibilities and attempts to take over.

There is something very simple that does bother me at times but not in a bad sense but only in a sense of concern. The husband is the spiritual leader of the home. The wife is to submit to him as her spiritual leader. His role is to lead the family in spirituality. And yet how many times do we find the wife taking the lead- either by her lack of trust in him, her impatience with her husband’s own personal struggles or his lack of trust in God?

So if the wife is supposed to submit to her husband out of a holy reverence for his spiritual authority in her life, what is this supposed to look like for him?

b. Husbands: Love out of Surrender.

I am highly concerned that too many husbands have abdicated their role as the spiritual leader of their families.

You will notice that I have continually added the adjective spiritual to the leader word- and I have done this on purpose. I refuse to see husbands and fathers as simply “the leader of the marriage and home.” Without Christ in their heart they cannot be the Biblical leader calls them to be. As a man of God, you are the spiritual leader of your marriage and your home.

Being the spiritual leader is your God-given role as a Christian man. And the very most important thing you can do is to love your wife. The second most important thing you can do is to exasperate or be harsh with your children.

This love for your wife should be exactly that kind of love that Jesus shows to the whole Church. So how do you love your wife as Christ loves the Church?

Christ gave his life for the Church. Therefore, as the husband, the man of God, you should give your life for your wife. How do you do this?

Remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? As he prayed, his sweat turned to blood. And his words have reverberated in the Lenten message every year: “Not my will but yours be done.”

Jesus’ life could be summed up as one of surrender. He surrendered his status in heaven to be like humanity. He surrendered the power on earth so that people like us could be healed and the message of God would be delivered. He surrendered his life unto God for death so that we might be saved.

If only we could see this kind of surrender from the lives of dads and husbands today! Giving up our status, our power- our very lives for the sake of our wife and children.

Folks, that’s change I can believe in! When men give up those things that seem most important to their sense of being so that their family may live- that’s real change.

I am convinced that when the wife and husband are loving each other Biblically and setting an example of submission out of respect and love out of surrender, children respond in obedience- not simply to their parents- but to the God who saves the family.

c. Children: Obedience out of Example.

“Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the earth.” “Children obey your parents in the Lord.”

There is something special about children who are obedient to their parents. It seems that all of parenthood is about “birthing pains.”

First, there is the birthing pains of child-birth. Then there are birthing pains as they learn to walk. Then they have that first day of school. Then they graduate kindergarten. Then they go into Middle School. Then they go to High School. Then they graduate and go into the real world- as though the world we built for them was some kind of fantasy camp.

And all through this we as parents have birthing pains. We agonize of them being late coming home, there first or fifth or tenth boyfriend, the video games they like, the friends they have and the money they cost. These things take a toll on us as parents. That’s why we get gray hair!

If I could be brief but to the point bear with me. Mom’s and Dad’s: don’t be too harsh with your kids. Don’t over-react to their behaviors. Don’t worry too much. BALANCE is the key word in all of this.

Balance in discipline. You are their leaders as parents. Discipline them. Teach them the Word of God and help them to understand their relationship with Jesus Christ. As parents you must teach them boundaries. The saddest thing is when children don’t learn the boundaries or they forget the boundaries when they are older and the court-system has to teach them the boundaries- usually the harder way.

Let me share my personal opinion about physical discipline.

Spanking your child is not a bad thing. Hitting your child is a bad thing. Any kind of discipline in the heat of anger should be avoided. Not spanking is alright if you have a good sense of how to discipline without. But whatever you do, do with consistency. There is no worse kind of discipline than that which is inconsistent. The kid finds himself being punished and doesn’t know why or they go unpunished and think they can do worse next time.

Bruising children physically cannot be tolerated. You should never spank to hurt or bruise. Spanking is to teach and only to teach. Furthermore, there are age limites to spanking. A baby is beyond understanding what spanking is all about. However, most two-year olds have a grasp of what consequences are all about. Spanking after age seven is not recommended on my list- but that depends on child. Certainly, no child over twelve should be spanked.

And never, ever slap them or strike them in the face. This demeans their dignity and bruises their spirit.

Balance in your faith. I get highly concerned when I see the parents putting on spiritual airs that aren’t real. And the worst result is that the children who witness the hypocrisy are the ones who suffer the worst. Be honest with them when you struggle. If you sin against them, apologize without being guilted into it. It’s okay for them to see you with your hair down- but with balance.

Balance in your words. Children need to hear good things and the right things come out of your mouth. Even worse than bruising a child physically is bruising a child emotionally. Telling them they are worthless or a mistake or calling them names is unacceptable by any parent. Learn to speak positively and lovingly and Biblically.

Balance in their obedience. Children should speak respectfully to their parents. I would never tolerate my kids ever raising a voice or a hand to my wife. This is my wife- not merely their mother. They need to see that Dad loves Mom more than them.

Children should be allowed to speak their difference with you. If they disagree with you then let them- as long as they do so respectfully. If they are right then they are right. You, dad, should be man enough to admit if your children are correct about the issue- even your wrong-ness in a circumstance. This is the idea behind not exasperating your children.

And yet so many families- Christian families struggle with the whole family circle problem. The way it is supposed to be too often doesn’t mesh with real life. However, this should not keep us from striving to have a family that is Christ-centered. Does this seem like the impossible?

Well, let me tell you, God does the impossible- all the time. He did for our family and he can for yours.

2. A Promise to do the Impossible.

Jeremiah reveals from the Lord a promise of hope for the land. Remember, the land all around them was in disarray. The Chaldeans had invaded Jerusalem. Things looked utterly hopeless. And yet God gives a promise that once again the sounds of the bride and bridegroom would be heard again.

How many have entered into holy matrimony with beautiful ceremonies, gorgeous decorations and wonderful music and yet those things became as dust and destruction as the marriage unravels? I have had the joy of working with numerous couples in their pre-nuptials and have seen too many marriages struggle in ways they shouldn’t struggle.

I am convinced that when two people who are guided by their faith in Jesus Christ and seek after God’s own heart, that there is nothing in the world that can tear apart that marriage.

How about your marriage? Are joyous sounds of music missing from your home? God wants to renew those sounds of bride and bridegroom. God wants to do something wonderful in your life and in your spouse’s life. God wants to become personal and real in your home.

There is nothing too hard for God. Even the salvation of your family.

HOW SHALL YOU THEN BE ANGRY?

2008-08-26T15:59:00.000-04:00

August 3, 2008

Ecclesiastes 7:9, James 1:9, Mark 3:1-6, 10:13-16, 11:15-17

Note: Message adapted from David Thompson God’s Healing for Hurting Families Chapter 7 “From Destruction to Dynamic” pp.101-116

What do you do with anger? Sometimes we aren’t sure how anger should be dealt with but be assured that how you deal with anger makes all the difference in the world you live in with the people you live with and the person of Christ that you live for.

Anger, as we have learned, is a natural part of life. Without anger we would be dead meat. But with anger, we can do a lot of damage that for some people will never be undone.

So, how do you deal with anger? There are three ways that we handle anger. Remember, with anger there is good and bad. There’s constructive and there’s destructive.

Suppression- I’m angry but I am not going to show it. Suppression is what we might think of as good. That’s true to a degree. However, this kind of anger can also be very lethal in that when you suppress your feelings over years there can be an exploding point in some way. That explosion may be in a multitude of health problems or a sudden nervous breakdown of some kind. Remember, again, that it is constructive to suppress anger but that there is also a destructive manner to suppress anger.

Repression- I’m angry but I don’t know it or I deny that I am. This is the Christian’s favorite way to deal with anger. We deny it. We become like Dr. Leo Marvin in the movie “What About Bob?” In it, you can see he’s beginning to burn with anger but says, instead, “I’m not angry, Bob. I don’t get angry.” All the while everyone watching the movies sees that he is angry.

Expression- I’m angry and somebody’s going to know I’m angry. This the most popular view of anger and perhaps rightly so. There is little respect for a man who has an unbridled anger. People suffer all sorts of consequences over anger that is not under any sort of control. I do believe that we can express our anger constructively. The worst kind is in the destructive mode.

Anger occurs when boundaries, integrity or rights of someone has been violated. When the dog urinates on the new carpet a boundary has been desecrated. When a child is told that they are worthless their integrity has been abused. When someone ignores the felt needs of another human being then their rights are infringed upon. And in that instance the resulting anger can be suppressed, repressed or expressed.

Jesus shows us how to properly deal with anger and the things to be angry about. First, though, I want us to consider…

1. RIGHTING THE WRONG RIGHTS.

Too often our anger gets the best of us because we have perceived that our rights in some way have been violated. And when we allow our selves to become defensive about our personal territory or boundaries we become ready for war.

What are some of those boundaries? Well, I have witnessed a few instances when there were expressions of anger that were unwarranted:

Dinner was late being fixed.

Shirt wasn’t ironed properly.

Somebody lost the remote.

Any one of the tiny issues can suddenly cause an explosion in some households. What do we do about our own misunderstanding of our rights being wronged? What can we do to correct this problem?

a. Go beyond justifying your anger.

This sounds too simple and it is. Too often we can fall into the trap of justifying our self-centered anger. The question is not whether or not you were justified in being angry but whether or not you will allow God to help resolve that anger. This requires the intentional pursuit of holy love.

b. Admit responsibility your anger.

When you are intentionally pursuing holy love in all of your relationships, then you must come to that place to admit your own responsibility for your anger reactions. You look in the mirror and you don’t like what you see. In admitting responsibility to your self and to God you begin that first step to…

c. Surrender your anger.

The very essence of holiness is surrender of my will and my way to God. This includes the hurt and pain I suffer (or perceive to suffer). By surrendering your anger to God begins the process of God healing your broken heart and healing the wounds that have been inflicted. This does not mean getting rid of your capacity for anger or surrendering responsibility for your anger. “It rather involves owning that anger as a creation endowment meant to serve your needs and bring glory to God.” (Thompson)

d. Learn forgiveness.

To apologize to God or your wife or kids or neighbors is actually the easy part. To apologize to your self can be a whole other story. However, you must come to that place of learning not only to seek forgiveness but to also forgive your self.
What we are not looking for is cheap forgiveness. Family members should hold you accountable for your anger. The Church should hold you accountable for your anger. YOU should hold your self accountable for your anger. What we are looking for in the whole process of forgiveness is, what Thompson calls, authentic forgiveness.

Authentic forgiveness does not mean letting someone off the hook but it does mean that you, me, us relinquish our right to retaliate.

To forgive your self means that you relinquish the right to hurt your self and demean your self. To forgive your self means that you will seek the necessary help to be an overcomer in Christ.

There’s another aspect of this forgiveness issue that comes to mind. Too often we who have struggles with anger problems usually grew up in an atmosphere that caused us early childhood pain. Now, I’m not going to get into a lot of depth nor am I suggesting a valid excuse for bad behavior. A lot of people grew up in bad homes but they don’t shoot people at work because of it.

In the book The Good Guy by Dean Koontz, these words jumped off the pages and into my notebook: “Under a lot of anger is a sewer of self-pity.” Whether this is totally true or not may be left to debate but what strikes me is that a lot of anger that people display involves unresolved issues from the past. They saw examples of the wrong kind of anger that was often directed at them. Feelings of self-worth were flushed and they have a hard time expressing and processing their true feelings.

The fact is that we all have unresolved issues from childhood and our early years and even regrettable acts on our part. And these issues will likely remain unresolved the rest of our lives. However, how we deal with anger as Christians will make a world of difference in the Christian faith of our children and those around us. What we have to do is learn to forgive those in our past- especially the short-coming of our parents. We may even need to seek counseling. Believe it or not, just because you’ve become a Christian does not mean that you ceased being human.

e. Seek reconciliation.

Seeking reconciliation is important both to the offended and the offender. For you as the offended, find ways to help the person who is easily angered and hurts you. At the same time, you as the offender need to discover ways to vent your anger, walk away from the situation and/or retreat until you have cooled off.

Steps 8 and 9 of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous spells out the issue of reconciliation quite well: “We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.” And, “We mad direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”

Making amends reminds us that reconciliation will often involve restitution. This means that we are willing to pay for the material damage inflicted and even do a “penance” of work for those we offended.

Here’s the deal: nlike Spock on “Star Trek,” we are not Vulcans who have no emotions like you humans. We come equipped with anger straight from our manufacturer: God. God has emotions. God gets angry. So if God gets angry what does he get angry about? God gets angry about sin, injustice and hypocrisy. What we learn is not how to correct our wife or kids but we must learn that we need to be…

2. CORRECTING THE RIGHT PROBLEMS.

A lot of people like to try and correct others and their short-comings but never see their own. Jesus shows us the kinds of things that need to be corrected. He teaches us by his actions what are the right problems.

To get a clearer picture for us as believers about how to be angry we need to see up front and personal the One of whom we are supposed to follow. Jesus got angry about some things. Therefore, it behooves us to be angry at the things that made Jesus angry.

The Gospel of Mark chooses to give us three pictures of anger in Jesus’ life.

a. Religious Tradition over Healing of People.

Here we see Jesus on the Sabbath Day in a synagogue. There are four parties involved: Jesus, a man with a crippled hand, people watching to see if Jesus would heal the man and the Pharisees who loved their letter of the law more than God. God’s instruction through Moses commanded that there be a “hollowing” of the Sabbath by refraining from work. By the time Jesus showed up, the devout Jews had developed some elaborate traditional laws to keep the Sabbath.

Jesus senses the heaviness of the situation. He realizes that he is crossing over a sacred boundary that had been kept for centuries. However, he also sees the hypocrisy of the holy. He questions the keeping of the Sabbath over the healing of the person. What does Jesus do? He heals the man.

b. Abuse of the “Little Ones.”

In this picture, people are bringing their children to Jesus for him to bless. Jesus disciples begin to impede this by rebuking the parents. Remember, children in the ancient world were counted for little and especially if you were female. Even in Jewish society, children were at the bottom of the social ladder. The disciples saw that they were hampering Jesus’ valuable time.

Jesus became indignant. He rebuked them, instead, and called on them to become like children in their hearts. And then he put his hands on the children and blessed them.

c. Religion as Route to Power.

The third picture we see is found in the temple court. Jesus sees money-changers in the temple court doing what, probably at the beginning, was well-intentioned assistance for out of town worshippers coming into the Temple. However, this assistance had turned into thievery and fraud. The people were being bilked of their money so that those in charge could profit- extending their own power over the people. Jesus was incensed. He turned over the tables and chased them out- probably to a cheering crowd. There was no way he would allow religion- especially His religion- become a route to power by stepping on the backs of others.

In these three cases, we see anger as a constructive method rather than destructive. Here, anger is not some out of control behavior but a method of showing the truth.

So how do we take these actions of Jesus and move them into our hearts as believers?

3. LIVING THE RIGHT EXAMPLE

Jesus gives us the right example of expressing anger. He shows us how we are to truly be an angry human. He shows you how you should then be angry.

a. Heal others.

Jesus was not afraid to rock the boat in order to reveal the heart of God for the hurting. We have to be willing to take criticism and the like in order to see that the lives of the lost are healed. To reach those mired down by sin requires Christians like us to become angry about sin and what sin is doing to our families and neighbors. Are you angry about the lostness of humanity?

b. Intervene on behalf of the Little Ones.

Jesus stepped in and confronted his own friends, the disciples. There are times we have to confront our best friends for their mis-behavior. It doesn’t mean that we hate them but it does mean that we love truth and fairness. Jesus’ intervention brought blessing to the children and their parents, and it also brought a new revelation to his followers.

c. Embrace and Bless the Little Ones.

Jesus not only blessed the little one but put his hands on them.

When was the last time any of us blessed the lost with our touch? Are we game to get down into the muck and change the lives of those who are not like us? This means that we will not treat the lost as though they had leprosy or some infectious disease but that we will put our selves at holy risk for the Gospel of Christ.

d. Commit to Long-term help for Offenders.

Jesus didn’t dump his disciples and get new ones because of their lack of regard for all of human life. Instead, he spent time with them to teach the right way to live. Especially for those of us in ministry, we can become frustrated when people don’t see the world as we see it. However, Jesus kept living out the Gospel message and kept teaching and praying so that these same insensitive disciples would grow and learn and put into practice the right practices on how to live.

e. Act Vigorously to Expel and Restrain Evil.

Simply getting angry about sin is not going to accomplish a whole lot. Our anger needs to be like Jesus’ anger- tied to compassion and love. The extortioners and embezzlers in the temple not only were kicked out of the temple but they got a lesson about the treatment of God’s worship.

We are called by God to do as Jesus and walk in His steps. To do so calls on to become activists against evil. We may not be Superman or Batman or one of the Fantastic Four, but we are Christians who are supposed be possessed by the power of God for the salvation of all of humanity. This means that sin will anger us and the power it holds over our loved ones and others will anger us.

Conclusion:

Are we serious about our anger? If so, I would like us as one body of Christ to pray the following prayer about anger. I believe that we are in this together as Christians.

“Heavenly Father, help me to be angry about the things that make you angry. May the Holy Spirit empower me to handle anger in the right way; help me to be self-disciplined about anger so that I do not hurt those closest to me; and enable me to display the right kind of anger in every situation. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

THE ANGER MATRIX

2008-08-26T15:47:00.000-04:00

July 27, 2008

Genesis 4:2b-8, Proverbs 14:17, Ephesians 4:29-32

Key verse: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” (v. 31)

I recently read where a man in Wisconsin was so angered by his lawn-mower refusing to start that he hauled out his short-barrel shotgun and put a bullet into it. He figured that it put the lawn mower and him self out of misery. Instead, he was arrested for unlawful use of a firearm and disorderly conduct. He argued that he had a right to shoot his lawn mower if he wanted; it belonged to him.

Anger is the fuel for life. Without anger you nor I could function realistically in the world. We need a level of emotion that moves us to do things and save lives in the process- maybe our own and those closest to us.

It’s okay to get angry over the unrighteousness we see in our world. However, if we allow anger to burn deep within us, it may cause us to do things that are regrettable.

In recent news, we have seen the deaths of people because of anger over circumstances that went beyond what should be lawful or ethical. Murder is not the answer a problem that stirs up anger.

This morning I want to try and help us differentiate anger. It may seem a bit confusing but yet I hope that by slicing this anger into some compartments you will be helped in dealing with anger issues in your own life.

There are four faces of anger by Dr. Mark Gorkin that I want to use as our backdrop to helping you get off the road of rage and getting on to the path of peace. Dr. Gorkin is a psychologist who specializes with anger management issues and has worked with the U.S. Postal Service on this topic. He portrays anger with a matrix that outlines four key areas that of which anger displays itself.

Remember from last week that anger is not the problem. The problem is how we handle anger and what that does to those especially close to us. It is so frustrating to see young families and old families become torn apart by anger issues. In his book God’s Healing for Hurting Families, Dr. David Thompson shares the anger issues at stake in his family- a pastor’s home, of all things, and the healing that God can bring to our homes. He says that “giving your anger to God involves healing for damaged emotions.” What a loaded statement to think about.

Anger expressed is far too often anger that has been boiling and composting for years under the surface. God desires for us to use this emotion in the right way and for the right purposes. But before we get into that (next week) let’s consider the Anger Matrix and see what anger looks like.

1. Defining the Terminology.

a. Purposeful: Intentional anger and with a significant degree of consideration, calculation and self-control.

b. Spontaneous: Spur-of-the-moment outburst of anger that has very little pre-meditation or planning. There is a little moderate self-control.

c. Constructive: Anger expression with integrity and boundaries. This is when anger expressions affirms and acknowledges one’s integrity and boundary without intending to threaten or violate another person’s integrity or boundary.

d. Destructive: Anger expression lacking integrity or respect. This is when the anger expression intends to protect one’s self-interest by threatening or violating another person’s integrity and boundary. This kind of anger may be intentional or non-intentional.

2. Distinguishing the Anger.
We are going to show you four skits of the same situation that will help us define the differences of how anger is handled. We have the father whose son has arrived home later than the 11pm curfew with the family car. This son has neglected to call ahead to inform nor has he a good reason for being late.

a. ASSERTION: Purposeful and Constructive.

In this scenario, the father acknowledges immediately his own feelings by saying, “I’m angry.” He then goes on to clarify his own emotions, expectations and future limits. When he says, “I want to talk with you” he’s expressing the need for them to interact to solve the problem together.

b. HOSTILITY: Purposeful and Destructive. (Cain and Abel- Genesis 4:2b-8)

The second scenario shows an irrational hostility. What we have seen shows not only of still being in control, but this time includes a level of hostility that seems a bit over the top. The child is told that he is irresponsible (true or not), that he “made me sick with worry” (probably) and his trustworthiness is questioned. When these kinds of statements are made they cut to the heart of the other person and takes down their own self-esteem. Comments such as these and in the same tenor can make a child, spouse or acquaintance feel worthless and even take on the characteristics of which they are told they are.

This kind of anger is referred to by Thompson as “passive aggressive” anger. This kind of anger is veiled under a certain level of thoughtfulness. People who don’t suddenly lose their cool are considered are more socially acceptable. This “Godfather” type of anger is then express through the wife not doing certain things to get back at her husband or the husband doing things to get back at the wife but all with a veneer of smile and cheeriness. Anger is anger whether it’s a blow-up or grimaced smile.

c. PASSION: Spontaneous and Constructive.

This time the father reacts with passion. The son answers. The difference is that the father has a sense of self-integrity and healthy respect for his son’s boundaries. On the spontaneous side the father expresses his feelings and so is the son. On the constructive side the father indicates that a meeting will ensue the next day when cooler heads are more likely to prevail.

This approach is critical to most of us here. Most people I would argue tend to express themselves more spontaneously when confronted with a problem. This approach is critical, especially if you have 1) reservations about turning the confrontation into a win-lose or right-wrong battle; 2) you hope not to damage the relationship; 3) you desire for both of you to learn something from the situation.

This means that a healthy respect for each other needs to be in place to protect the relationship. It’s okay to express your hurt and frustration. It is also okay for the other person to express their excuse. Sometimes one or both need some separation or even some sleep to better deal with the problem or disagreement.

d. RAGE: Spontaneous and Destructive.

This time the father responds with outright rage at his son. His explosion includes name-calling, strong words (maybe even swearing if you aren’t in church) and threats that include doing bodily harm. This is a bullying tactic intended to bring down the son. The son has no way or opportunity to respond and even if he did, the father would not hear or listen. Whether this father is projecting his own sense of helplessness, fear or control is not the issue. The problem is that great harm is being done to the relationship. Worst, this may signal the beginning of the end for this father and his son.

These scenarios are by no means the only ones but certainly communicate to us the potential problems that anger can cause.

So what can we do as Christians to deal with anger issues? What if you have already given the devil a foothold with your anger? Let me give us some ideas that hopefully will disarm the evil one’s hold in our lives.

3. Disarming the Devil.

A lot of times we think of alcoholism as a major problem for families as well as drug use and the like. However, perhaps more debilitating that this is anger. When anger takes hold of a home, everyone is affected and hurt. The pain goes deep and cuts out the heart of child while he or she is young.

There are three aspects to deactivating the wrong anger and activating the right anger.

a. Establish a New Purpose for Life.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (v. 29)

What should come out of your mouth when you speak? When Paul speaks of “talk” that comes out of your mouth, this is not an exhaustive statement about angry words but includes any communication of sinful anger. Remember the little Sunday School diddy? "Be careful little mouth what you say... There's a Father up above, looking down to you in love, so be careful little mouth what you say."

b. Experience the Spirit Power for Living.

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” (v. 30) These words should signal the end of the sinful life for the Christian. And if you are prone to anger problems then you need to understand that there is a power of the Holy Spirit that not only changes your heart but changes your actions. What grieves the Holy Spirit is when we use the flesh to try and achieve what we need in the Spirit. This grieves the very heart of God.

You need to experience a fresh wind and fresh fire of the Holy Spirit in your life. To pray on one hand and then to live a life of rage on the other is unbiblical and wrong. In fact, I would conjecture that it is nearly impossible to pray in the Spirit and be filled with anger at the same time. “Be not drunk with wine (or anger) but filled with the Holy Spirit.”

c. Express a Biblical Process for Feelings.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.” (v. 32)

Sometimes we just don’t know how to express day to day the right way of doing things- especially when it comes to anger problems. Let me now give you some practical tips for processing your feelings without allowing it to handicap your marriage or relationships with other people.

 No name calling. Words may not break my bones but they do cut to the soul. Name calling hurts people.

 Don’t be a “last word” freak. Learn to just walk away. You don't always need the last word. Escalation happens when people have to have the last word.

 Respect the integrity of others. Each person has boundaries and we need to respect those boundaries. We need to regard the dignity of every human person we encounter regardless of who they are or what they represent.

 Get rid of sinful anger. Give your anger to God. Don't say: "I'm not going to get angry again." Instead, say: "When I do get angry I'm going to give that anger to God."

 Live a life of love. Perhaps the greatest advice I can give you is to take time and read 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter gives us a great guideline on loving others and not putting ourselves on anger's edge.

CONCLUSION.

In the end of things, we have to give our anger to God. And this is what I want to do in these closing moments of prayer.

GETTING OFF THE ROAD OF RAGE

2008-08-26T08:47:00.000-04:00

July 20, 2008

Ephesians 4:26-27

“In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."

Most of us drove right on through this past by not realizing it was Road Rage Awareness Week here in Michigan.

The American Automobile Association prepared a study that showed over 10,000 car accidents incited by angry drivers, 12,610 injuries and 218 deaths. Road Rage involves people of all ages though a significant number are men in their twenties. Eighty to ninety per cent of us will have an encounter with someone with road rage. (www.roarrinc.org)

Anger, however, is not confined to the highways and byways of life. Anger comes to us every day and in big ways and small ways.

How we deal with anger says a lot about our character and who we really are. People who have learned to handle anger properly learn self-discipline techniques that help them cope with unforeseen problems. Others have learned more importantly the value of God’s forgiveness and the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart and life. Others continually ask God to forgive them only to blow up once again at the newspaper carrier or the garbage truck man. Over and over. Others simply swallow the problem even though they wish they had the guts to tell someone like it is.

What brings on anger? There are three very important catalysts to anger of which only one of them is needed to create the dynamic we call anger. What are they?

1) Injury. Someone does harm to you or someone or something you care about.

2) Insult. Someone levels a wrong word either at you or against you. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Most of us DON’T live by that mantra. No one likes to be insulted.

3) Injustice. Whenever your cherished belief is violated you feel the brunt of unfairness and this will make you angry. Maybe you see a white police officer targeting only Hispanic drivers. That violates your sense of right and wrong.

4) Invasion. This is when your personal space is violated by someone else. Oftentimes someone will attempt to intimidate by stepping into your personal area or taking a hold of something that belongs to you.

5) Intention. The previous four will give way to this fifth aspect of anger and you sense an energy that moves you to do something about being injured, insulted, the injustice or invaded.

What we have to understand is that not all anger is bad. Without anger there would be no United States of America. Without anger slavery would still be an issue for us today. Without anger, we would still be lost as sinners.

Of course, we don’t need to go far in the church to understand examples of anger. God himself became very angry with his people for their continual failures of following his will. Jesus on a couple of occasions overturned the tables in the temple and chased out the money-changers because what he saw happening was wrong- and it angered him.

Let’s be clear that anger is a double edged sword. There is good anger and there is wrong anger. Good anger gets upset by things or situations in life that are proper to get upset about. Anger against slavery caused Orange Scott and Luther Lee to take matters into their own hands when their church denomination refused to deal with the wrong-ness of slavery. Eventually, not only did they give aid to runaway slaves but they started our denomination- the Wesleyan Methodist Connection.

I will spend some time on the issue is that all of us are affected by anger- whether it be within our selves or the brunt from other people. I believe that anger is a bigger problem in homes than we will admit. And so for the next several weeks I will be addressing various aspects of anger because I truly believe that if we can win with anger we can win in our families, in our church and in our community and world.

My goal for you is that you would get off the road of anger and live on the path of peace. On the path of peace you still get angry but about the right things and you deal with them in the right way.

I have three observations about anger that need to be tackled today:

1. The Answers to Anger.

Anger is one of those natural emotions that you can’t live with nor can you live without. Anger costs the angered broken televisions and windows, damaged cars and other things destroyed. Worst are the marriages and families shredded apart by one person’s unbridled anger.

Anger is a raw emotion just like sexuality, hunger and love. When used in the wrong way anger is its most destructive. When use properly anger is very constructive. Differentiating the difference is critical for us if we are to be the kind of Christian God has called us to be.

a. Anger as natural.

There are those who see anger as just a natural thing that everybody has and that needs to be harnessed. I agree to some degree with this ideal. What is important to understand from the Apostle Paul’s words is “be angry and sin not.” Because anger is such a raw emotion, a person might be angry one time and not sin but yet get angry the next time and sin.

b. Anger as acceptable.

John Rambo is an angry man. And in the movie, “First Blood” he lashes out at law enforcement and society. Rambo’s anger represents to a lot of Americans as acceptable anger.

c. Anger as the answer.

For some people, anger is the only answer. They learn early that if they throw a tantrum or pout they can get their own way. They never learn that a kind word turneth away wrath. They always see anger and its trappings as the way to live.

d. Anger for everyone.

The reality is that everyone does get angry. The person who says, “I don’t get angry” is not being honest about who they are or they are on drugs or drowning their anger in other ways.

However, hostile anger- of which I will be differentiating next week- is not the answer to life’s problems. And the point I want us to wrap our minds around is that when anger becomes unbiblical and against God’s word and things holy then we’ve got a problem.

There is a price-tag that dangles from every wrong anger incident. What does anger cost you?

2. The Costs of Anger.

In the movie “As Good as it Gets” Jack Nicholson plays the part of a wealthy writer who has a bit of an anger outburst problem. He gets easily angered when things don’t go to his specifications.

Think about it: anger costs you something. It costs you the things you have as well as the relationships that are most important. When you lose your cool and lash out at a family member with no concern for their emotional well-being, you are being selfish and self-centered to only make your self feel better. But the problem is that in the end you don’t feel better. Afterwards, you apologize or worst, pretend it never happened. Your spouse, your kids or your neighbors move on hoping not to set you off again.

When anger is unbridled and unfettered there is cost that far exceeds the cost of replacing a window or television. When a person lashes out in anger they could, and many have, receive financial and institutional costs for their crimes. Parking lots are great places to get angry and so are highways and village streets.

Cost #1 – Your Health
It has been well documented that chronic, high levels of anger are associated with an increased risk for health problems. How often anger is experienced and how it is expressed during periods of emotional distress are significant factors in determining the impact on one’s health. It is not uncommon for a person to suffer heart attacks and strokes as a result of unrelenting anger in their life.

Cost #2 – Your Self-Esteem
Although the expression of anger may feel good at the moment, it often leads to feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment, and remorse. On a cognitive level, one might realize that his or her response was overblown, misdirected, and unwarranted. The result, in most cases, is damage to one’s self-esteem. You feel anger towards yourself and these kinds of feelings can lead to a poor outlook on your life and lead to some very detrimental consequences.

Cost #3 – Your Relationships
Very few things can damage a relationship as much as the inability to manage one’s anger. Frequent and/or intense outbursts, whether verbal or physical, can destroy marriages, break apart families, and ruin friendships. So many times we have sat with couples whose anger has endangered their marriage. There is no place for abusive anger in any relationship. No woman should tolerate the abuses of a husband or boyfriend who displays uncontrolled anger.

Cost #4 – Your Children
The effect on children of witnessing chronic and intense anger in the household can be devastating. Children who are the victims of anger grow up with anger problems of their own. Any one who believes that their childhood abuse didn’t affect them is not looking in the mirror properly. Children should not live in fear of mom or dad- at any time other than the proper kind of fear when they have done wrong. No child should ever have to fear for their well-being with their parents or the well-being of another sibling or one of their parents.

Cost #5 – The Workplace
What gets accomplished in the workplace, both quantitatively and qualitatively, can be severely compromised by poorly managed anger, frustration, and resentment. People thing that anger doesn’t cost them at work are in a fantasy world. Anger issues cost companies money, cost the workers raises and affects the outcomes of a business.

Cost #6 – Your Spirituality
We must not under-estimate the toll that anger takes on a person’s relationship with God. When a person allows themselves to engage in fits of rage they allow Satan to have not only a foothold in their life but they allow Satan to control their life. And this is not conducive to the Christian way of living.

The scriptures make clear the problems of anger for the follower of Christ. We are to “live at peace with all men.” This call is not about peace treaties but about a life that is truly one of peace and care.

The costs of anger are far too great for us to ignore. Let me now share some…

3. Tips for Anger Management.

In order to manage anger there needs to be a few things in place. One of them is that you need to have Jesus Christ in the right perspective of your life. Too often people will use “Jesus” as their weapon of choice when they are angry- in the wrong way and context. Something else that needs to be in the right perspective is understanding the role of the Holy Spirit in handling anger in the proper way.

There are two areas of your life that

Physical/Emotional:

1) Rest: Get your sleep.

2) Nutrition: Eat properly.

3) Time Management: Learn to schedule your self.

4) Laugh a little: Don’t take others too seriously.

5) Laugh a lot: Don’t take your self too seriously.

Spiritual:

6) Devotions: Take God and His Word seriously.

7) Forgiveness: Forgive others just God has forgiven you.

8) Grace: Live a life of Grace first.

9) Justice: Let God avenge your injury.

10) Surrender: Give it all to Jesus.

BUILDING AN ARK TO SAVE THE FAMILY

2008-08-26T08:33:00.000-04:00

July 6, 2008
BUILDING AN ARK TO SAVE THE FAMILY
Genesis 6:5-8, Acts 2:38-39, Hebrews 11:7

The family circle is the most basic human government on the face of the earth. God created and intended for this to be that way. Our participation in "family" is crucial to the well-being of our souls and the growth of those around us.

What makes a house into a home? What makes a group of individuals into a family? How does the most basic of human governments supposed to look like?

There are five very important features of a quality Christian home. You would think at first glance that such things as prayer, holiness and church attendance would be the key ingredients to a Christian home. Not that these are not important but those are things that are fluid. They should be flowing in and through the other elements of any Christian home. What I am looking at are the structural things that transform the Christian home. Hopefully these are traits that are prayerfully implemented into your home.

1. There is a Character to be Shaped.

Every house has a particular “character” about it. I learned in construction that there are different kinds of homes that reveal a certain character about them due to the style of the home. A basic ranch home is simple in design with a low pitched roof and generally easier to build. A Cape Cod home is one that has unique “eyebrows” that take the roof line around a corner. A home with Swiss gables is usually has a steeper roof that juts out from the outer walls. An “A-frame” is a 12/12 pitched roof that starts about a foot off the ground.

We could move on and see the interior color schemes, the floor style and the door-frames. These- as much as anything- reveal ever more closely the character of the people who live inside.

Look even closer at the furniture and you will learn even more about the people who inhabit the house.

My point is that for a Christian home to truly be Christian, it will have a certain personality. There will be things that go beyond furniture and decorations.

What character does your Christian home reveal about your family? Don't forget, Noah's character was grounded in his relationship with God.

Notice some things about Noah from Genesis 6 that reveal a whole lot about his Christian home:

a. Noah was a righteous man. (Gen. 6:9)

In being a righteous man he had a good reputation with his neighbors and friends. The people around him considered him a man who was blameless.

As moms and dads, there are so many times that you have to take the lead in obeying God. And kids see this. They see the books you read, the magazines you peruse and the movies you watch. They may even know the web sites you vist.

b. Noah was obedient to God. (Gen. 6:22)

He was more than a husband and father- he was a follower of God. And following God meant being obedient to what God called him to do- even to build an ark. Your family will be impacted by your obedience to God.

c. God remembered Noah. (Gen. 8:1)

Noah’s integrity and obedience was responded to by a loving and caring God. Even though the world all around was ignoring God and doing their own thing, but Noah was different. And because Noah was different, Noah’s family was different. And in being different they were rescued by God.

We must remember that God remembers us in the face of judgment, persecution, trials and tribulations. When your whole seems like a flood, God is there protecting you as a parent.

d. Noah worshiped God. (Gen. 8:20)

This verse does not mean that because of all the previous things that Noah now begins to worship. No, this verse indicates that Noah and his family were worshippers of God continually. They made room for God in their family time to give God glory and honor.

This is why families need to be in church. They need to be praying TOGETHER,singing TOGETHER, and growing TOGETHER.

Your walk with Christ shapes your character. But more than just shaping your character as a mom or dad, your walk with Christ helps shape the character of your children. And the whole family is impacted. When you walk with Christ you are building an ark to save your family- just as Noah did.

Secondly,

2. There is a Desire to be Had.

One of the great tragedies of our time is that God has been eased out of our lives and mentioned only in a time of crisis or need. What I am wondering is how many of you here truly want to have a Christian home?

If you want to have a Christian home then you need to desire to have one. Prayer and Bible reading help build that but do you desire in your heart as a wife and husband, as a mom and dad, or as a grandparent to have a home that reflects the values of our Lord and Savior?

Two important pieces to this desire must be present:

a. Parental Vision.

Take some time and think about how your family life operates. Does it just happen as probably 99.99% of homes do? Or are you deliberate about the life of the home?

You need to see what God sees for your home life. You need to see your family relationships through the lenses of God’ word. A vision is not some far-fetched dream but is a very real view of what God wants.

b. Family Participation.

For desire to really take hold you need family participation. We have gone on a number of vacations that quite honestly would be pretty boring without the others. And so it is with the family structure. A family needs to see the need for complete participation.

Noah’s family came together. There is no indication from the scriptures that any of the children- even as adults- rejected the God of their father and mother. Together they entered the ark.

Who knows what the surrounding community was saying about Noah. A lot of indicators from a variety of scholars are that Noah was likely made fun of and ridiculed. There was no such thing as rain, according to the Venus theory. Flooding was unheard of. And yet, they believed and were saved.

You see it takes desire to have a Christian home. I had someone once tell me how they envied the kind of life I had and the family that I’ve been blessed with. They wanted that kind of life for themselves. However, they failed to take the price tag seriously. Which brings me to our third point:

3. There is a Price to Pay.

For any Christian desiring the things of God they will come to learn that there is a price to pay for that Christian home to truly become Christian. There is a cost to being a godly father and mother. There is a cost to being a godly son and daughter. There is a cost to being a godly grandfather and grandmother.

Whatever you desire to see happen for the glory of God in your family life, realize this: there is a price to pay.

The number one problem in our Christian homes and the reason why so many Christian homes struggle with the things of the world is very simply that there are too many moms and dads, husbands and wives who do not want to pay the price.

But let me ask you this: what price is too much for the sake of your souls and the souls of your children. Again, as parents the only thing we can take to heaven with us is our children. What price is too much to pay for that?

Some of you know what I am talking about. You’ve walked this road. You know that there is no price too much for the sake of our children.

What is the price that has to be paid to build an ark to save your family?

a. Sin and Self.

We live in a time where the self has been elevated to deity level. I’ve heard way too often, “You’ve gotta do what’s best for you.” Come on! If we live our life by that mantra then we will have a family life that is part of the American litter scattered around the countryside.

Sin will affect your family life. Selfishness will affect your family life. These things of this world can only bring doom and gloom to the home and keep you from building an ark to save your family.

What can you do?

Allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify your heart. We need homes that are filled with the holiness of God. And for that to happen we need moms and dads who have surrendered sin and self to God.

b. Materialism and Money.

We have to surrender the idea of keeping up with the Joneses, the Smiths or the Johnsons. All these gadgets and things that are so important are not going to make our family stronger in the long run. It will simply create a bigger spiritual vacuum.

Things are nice and things make life more fun. But at what price? The family that strives to do things together at the expense of worshipping God and worshipping with God’s people are too expensive for their spiritual life.

Recently some families in the Hudsonville community have taken a stand against their children playing Little League baseball on Sundays. Their heart conviction tells them that they need to be in church with their families on Sunday. Even though no games are scheduled, they could not in good conscience commit their children to being in games that would keep them away from Church.

Now, I am not against playing ball on Sundays. But what we do with the issue of being with God’s people is critical. What you do on Sundays does matter and it matters to God and should matter to us as parents. Are the things we do depriving us of being with God’s people in worship? [More on the Sunday/Sabbath issue in another sermon this winter.]

c. Reputation and Recognition.

Have you ever been in a store and hear a squalling kid and a desperate mom trying to deal with this carnal creature screaming in the grocery cart? Admit it: we’ve all thought, “Thank God that kid’s not mine!” And we might even comment to our spouse about what we would do if that was our kid.

Naomi recalls dealing with our kids playing hide and seek in the clothes racks at Meijer. What fun she had while I was out roofing!

In raising our families we have to relinquish our status and any glory that might come our way. Sometimes we might be embarrassed by our children’s behavior. We have to be willing to let our family grow and not worry about the naysayer’s. We don’t raise kids and bless out home for earthly recognition and reward. Our reward is when we meet our children in heaven.

d. Calling and Career.

There is a place where we concede our calling and career to the betterment of our family. How many are there who have surrendered what they thought could have been a better life with better money and better connections in order to live the good life God already had for them?

Again, there are too many families that have suffered because mom or dad, or mom and dad, needed to climb the corporate ladder and take on more hours away from home. How many have lost their families and relationships because the raise was more important than raising their kids?

For some, getting a raise at work is more important than raising the kids at home.

The price to pay for a Christian home and to know that your wife will be there when you get home is priceless. The price to pay is nothing when the children honor you as they should. The price to pay doesn’t ever come cheaply- especially because…

4. There is Work to Do.

For your home to be all that God wants it to be is going to require work. There are maintenance items that just have to be done.

No one here (at least in their right mind) enjoys housework: washing dishes, vacuuming the floors, cleaning windows or straightening up pillows and shams. Why? It’s monotonous work. It’s the same old thing every few days.

Who, in their right mind, loves housework? Who can't wait to get the vacuum cleaner out and do more housework?

“Didn’t I just wash these dishes yesterday?” “Didn’t we just clean these windows a few weeks ago?” “I have to vacuum again?”

For you maintain a Christian home is going to take work. There are three very important aspects of this:

a. Maintenance.

To keep relationships vibrant in the home takes maintenance. You can’t live on a roller coaster every day. You need days of routine and monotony. Boring days are okay to have. Enjoy them when they come your way.

There are few subpoints that I plan to come back to at a later sermon but let me give these to you:

 Time.

For good maintenance of relationships you need both quality time and quantity time.

 Energy.

We have on occasion watched the television show called “The Nanny.” What amazes me is how self-absorbed so many parents are. On one show, the husband would come home from work, go upstairs and play on his computer for 2-3 hours! In the meantime his poor wife has been going stir-crazy with the kids all day and is trying to get supper ready. Especially as parents, we have to be ready to give of our energy to the other anytime- even when we might be running on empty.

 Money.

Too often, money dictates relationships in families. Either its not enough money or too much money. Sometimes parents unwittingly create animosity with their kids by having too high of an expectation on their elementary concepts of money. In other words, treating a first-grader like he or she has a college degree in accounting. Or, they just give the kids anything and everything they want. Again, balance is needed in how we teach our children the value of money and how that works in God’s kingdom.

Not only does maintenance take work but you as parents need…

b. Teamwork.

Mom and Dad: you’re on the same team! Work together. Don’t let the kids divide and conquer. As a team, Naomi offsets my weaknesses and I offset hers. And rather than feed off each others weaknesses as a husband and wife, we need to build each others strengths. This takes teamwork. (Again, coming in more detail from a sermon this summer.)

Furthermore, as parents you are not alone. It also takes a church to help you. The family of God is critical to the well-being and growth of you and your family. Where would my kids be without church people like you? Where would my wife and I be were it not for the nurturing of the church? The role of the church is to enhance the home ministries of every family.

And this point cannot be complete without naming extended family members. In the ideal situation, grand-parents are very important to the children. Our kids need the nurturing affects of grandmas and grandpas. Their eternal life may depend on this!

c. Repeat.

Repeat over and over the maintenance issues and teamwork. Parenting is work. But work that is well worth the reward… when they finally go to sleep at night. And there is not a more angelic look on a child’s face then when they are sleeping peacefully knowing in their heart that Mom and Dad love each other.

Be creative when budgets are tight. Boring, though, is not always a bad thing.

So what more shall I say?

Conclusion: Build an Ark to Save the Family.

Without going into extremism as some have in the past, let me simply state that as Christian parents we must build an ark to save our family. So let me leave you with three very important allowances

1. To build an ark to save the family calls on you to allow yourself to determine to be all that God calls us to be as parents. Most of us don’t know how to parent our kids. We’re learning on the job. So we must be determined that we are going to raise our children God’s way.

2. To build an ark to save the family calls on you to allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth as parents. We have to quit being intimidated by what the world says and do what God says. It’s not easy being a parent. But as James Dobson’s book title says: Parenting isn’t for Cowards.

3. To build an ark to save the family calls on you to allow God’s grace to work. We cannot do all we should do as parents. We will succeed at some things and fail at a lot of other things. We will inadvertently bruise our kids in some way or we may hurt them and not realize the long-term consequences. Grace allows us to balance our short-comings as parents with those things we do well. Grace allows us to balance our attitudes with our kids and with each other. Grace helps us realize that if it weren’t for God we could not do what we have to do. Grace will even heal those errors in parenting.

TEETER-TOTTER MARRIAGE

2008-06-10T10:44:00.000-04:00

Sunday June 8, 2008

Genesis 2:24, Song of Songs 8:6-7 (NLT), Hebrews 13:4

We’re going to speak about marriage today. Marriage is not simply a word; marriage is a sentence- a life sentence

The playground game that every young child loves to play is the teeter-totter. Or, to some of our old-timers, the see-saw. The goal of the teeter-totter is for one person to sit on one end of a board and the other person sit on the other end and then push each other up and down. Kids love this as much now as we did when we were children. And there is only one rule to the teeter-totter: the loser is the one who tries to win.

Marriage is like a teeter-totter. The wife enters the marriage on one end and the husband enters on the other end. They find their place and the game begins. But too often in too many marriages, the joy of early love soon gives way to one trying to change the other, the other trying to dominate the relationship, and pretty soon all that is left of love is the shadow of a fading dream of “’til death do us part.” The death of a marriage is by far the greatest tragedy in all of humanity.

This is not God’s plan for you and your marriage. And so today I come to this message with a heavy heart for you and your home. I see far too many give up too soon. I see far too many who are not willing to give one way or the other. I see far too many broken vows, broken homes and broken hearts. This is not the way it is supposed to be.

What is it that we can learn from our Lord this day that will make a difference for you and your home and your children who come after you? I have three understandings that I want us to focus on this morning that I believe will make all the difference in your marriage.

The first for us to understand is that a married couple begins on…

1. Opposite Ends of the Same Goal.

When Naomi and I got married nearly a quarter of a century ago we climbed on that teeter-totter with a lot of junk in our trunk. She told me of a time while teeter-tottering as a child the other kid jumped off and she landed with a tremendous thud. After that incident she found it very difficult to trust other kids- fearful they might do the same thing.

That word trust is very important to a marriage. You have to trust the other person for the marriage to work. If you cannot trust them then you are going to be filled with questions.

When a marriage begins, a couple has to learn that they are very different from each other. It is true that compatibility is very important but when you put two souls together their differences will rise to the surface.

What are they?

a. Strengths and Weaknesses.

Every person has strengths and weaknesses. And sometimes these are very different or opposite of the other person.

To maintain a strong marriage you have to learn to allow your strengths to feed the marriage in order to overcome the weaknesses that both partners bring. You cannot allow your self to feed off the weaknesses of your spouse. Look for their strengths and allow their strengths to feed you and nourish the marriage.

b. Blessings and Bruises.

Every couple brings blessings and bruises into the marriage. Your gifts and abilities, your heritage as a Christian are blessings that you bring to the marital circle. Just as well, those hurts and pains from childhood, an abusive home or tragic incident are bruises that can breakdown the relationship. When one person begins to revert to the very things that damaged their childhood, the clock starts ticking.

c. Microwave and Crock-pot.

A further difference between men and women in the marriage is the old saying that men are microwaves and women are crock-pots. Let me make clear that generalities don’t make good rules and the same holds true here. I am speaking in a generality.

Guys, you need to realize that your wife needs continual affection that does not always lead to sex. Ladies, you need to realize that your husband has sexual needs that only you can meet. These differences are not intended to create strife but to bring a spiritual understanding and togetherness.

Men are turned on by thoughts, feelings and visuals a whole lot quicker than women. Women are more slowly brought along. But in learning more about each other, the couple should be able to realize that even though they come into the marriage on opposite ends they still strive towards the same goal of creating a holy environment for the glory of God.

The second understanding we need to have in our marriages:

2. Complementary Means for the Same Purpose

Even though we are very different- kind of like lady and the tramp in some cases- there are still those balances that give the marriage the kind of supplements it needs to grow in grace and holiness.

a. The Art of Listening.

I found this humorous observation about some marriages:

Married life is full of excitement and frustration:
* In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
* In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.
* In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

Listening to the other is critical.

And you have to listen to more than words. Why is it that us guys have the hardest time of truly listening to our wife’s feelings? This is where the next point comes into play.

b. The Aid of Learning.

Marriage is about learning. Learning what the other person likes or doesn’t like. Learning what his favorite meal is or her favorite flower. Learning about each other is what marriage is all about. Marriage is more than a legal contract. This is a harmony of souls that God has brought together.

A third point that needs to be understood is.

d. The Act of Love-making.

Hebrews 13:4- “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pre, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

God is the creator of sex. He set human drives in motion, not to torture men and women but to bring them enjoyment and fulfillment. God saw that Adam had no suitable helper. So he created the woman. Instead of being opposite they were complimentary to each other and similar in every way except their reproductive systems.

Whatever you do in your marriage keep your bed pure! Honor God with your bodies by remaining true to each other and in so doing true to God.

A very real and problematic issue for some marriages is sexual dysfunction. Sometimes there are physical issues that a doctor needs to be consulted about. Other times, though, there are emotional issues and a good counselor needs to be consulted. There should never be any shame to any person who is striving to be all that they can be for the glory of God and for the satisfaction of their marriage partner.

There is a third understanding about this teeter-totter marriage that we have to address:

3. Transformed Hearts by the Same God.

God’s ultimate purpose for your marriage is to make you holy. Marriage is his sanctification tool to cleansing your heart and life.

When a couple gets married their whole life changes. And the later a person marries, the tougher the changes.

This transformation by God in the hearts of a husband and wife comes with some imperatives:

a. The Dynamic of Balancing.

You learn as a spouse to balance things out. A good teeter-totter game allows both on each end to use a counteracting force to put the teeter-totter in motion. Each person learns to push just enough to off-set the other and vice-versa.

Balancing each comes when you take up the slack for the other’s weakness. “For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.” Naomi and I have had our problems but yet have learned to balance these things with our strengths.

b. The Process of Living.

This balancing act is really about a process of living that we have developed. There are habits that we have gotten into that really has knit our hearts and lives together. When we are apart for a week it begins to seem like an eternity. The house is very quiet when my wife is out of town. But I do get all the covers at night though!

c. The Gift of Forgiving.

If there is a most important piece of advice I could give and that is the gift of forgiving. Forgiving the other is a gift- not only for the forgiven but the forgiver. Learn to apologize. Learn to forgive. And then make up and forget. Move on. Let it go. And if it happens again, go through the process again. Remember, forgiving each other isn’t just for church folks but for those closest to us.

Conclusion: The True Power of Love.

Song of Songs 8:6-7- “Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with everything he owned, his offer would be utterly despised.” (NLT)

Where does the power of love truly come from? Do you long to have the kind of love in your marriage where the many stormy waters cannot quench love? Do you long to have the kind of love in your marriage where even the flooding rivers cannot wash it away?

On the teeter totter with husband and wife at both ends stands Jesus Christ in the center. When we allow him to take over we can know that our marriage will never be the same. Jesus is the one who can bring balance to your teeter-totter marriage. Jesus is the one who can bring fullness to the otherwise off-kilter people who have tied the knot. Jesus is the one who can make you holy through marriage.

ESSENTIALS FOR THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY

2008-06-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

Sunday June 1, 2008

Isaiah 8:17-18, John 4:46-53, Ephesians 6:4

John Maxwell once said: “The only thing parents can take to heaven is their children.” And no matter how much money we make in life, or the success of our business venture or the fame and fortune we might amass, those things we cannot take to heaven with us. But what we can take to heaven is our children.

Isaiah speaks as a father of two children. Isaiah, his wife and his sons had a prophetic impact upon their people and the surrounding countries. We find in Hebrews 2:13 that these verses would have significance in the coming of Jesus Christ.

The nobleman or “royal official” came to Jesus because his son was gravely sick. He wanted Jesus to come to his home and heal the boy. Instead, Jesus called on the man and father to simply believe. Out of compassion and grace Jesus speaks and the nobleman believes. The son is healed- even though it is not in the way the man wanted. The result? He and his household became believers in Jesus Christ.

The Apostle calls on fathers not to exasperate their children. His goal is to get parents to realize that their actions can just as easily impede their children’s spiritual growth as the actions of the world. We have to understand as parents our role and the importance of having a spiritual family life that truly honors God and each other.

God wants to use your family in saving the world. I have all summer to preach on the different aspects of the Christian family but yet I approach this message with a certain amount of desperation. Your and your family are important to God’s plan to save humanity. Just as God used Isaiah and his family and God reached with mercy into the nobleman’s family he wants to use you and your spouse and children to make a difference in a world that desperately needs to be difference.

With that in mind, I want to share five essentials that Naomi and I have found to be important to having a solid Christian family home-life. By no means do we proclaim to have set the standard as parents but yet I believe that we do have something to offer to you from our own experiences as parents.

These may seem to general ideas but they must be more than general if your home-life as a Christian family is going to be all that God wants it to be.

1. The Treasure of Each Other.

I would hope that after nearly 25 years that our family has learned what it means to treasure each other as family members. Are we the most perfect family? Not likely. But yet we have learned to cherish each other.

As parents, Naomi and I couldn’t be prouder of our kids. We love to celebrate their accomplishments.

Three important aspects of this treasuring each other we have found important:

a. Connection.

Stay connected. Our kids know that they can call us anytime. Over the four years of Charity in college we learned more about Instant Messaging and long distance phone cards and all of that. We want to stay connected with our kids. And yes, it costs money to be connected but it’s well worth it to us. And if we don’t hear from them, we call. Now if we want Josh we send him a text message- its faster and more likely to get a response.

b. Celebration.

Celebrate each other’s successes. The greatest moment of my life is when I was ordained. And yet, it was not about my success but about us as a family. Everyone shared in the ordination. Why? It goes back to our trailer park days with me on a Saturday night studying at the kitchen table. It was the family sacrificing the security of dad being gone for a week to take classes. It was Naomi letting go to let God work.

Next year, we will embark to New Brunswick one more time- Lord willing- to watch our kids, Charity and Andrew, graduate college. And a year after that, we will be there when Joshua graduates. We want to be a part of each other’s celebrations as well as each other’s hurts and pains.

c. Humor

I’m not so sure we are the funniest family. We don’t play too many mean jokes on each other but we do know how to laugh with each other and even at each other. A family that laughs together stays together.

d. Vacation.

The greatest family advice my foster dad gave me was to take a family vacation at least once a year. Family vacations are those memory markers that you and your kids will cherish for a lifetime. I don’t have time to speak of our drive up Porcupine Mountain in Tennessee or the Natural Bridge State Park or the sauna on wheels in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These times and others create memories that you will never regret. Did we have the money to do these things? Usually not- but the purchase far outweighs the price.

e. Apologize.

One of the most important aspects for any family member is learning to apologize when wrong. If you can’t do that as a Father, husband, mother, wife, son or daughter, you are short-changing the grace of God in your life and in your family. Saying “I’m sorry” and really meaning it, can make all the difference in the spiritual life of a family. I’ve had to apologize far more than I care to admit but I would not once take back a single apology.

These are merely five thoughts about ways that you as a family can treasure each other.

Something of utmost importance is…

2. The Importance of Salvation.

As Christian parents we have placed a very high importance on having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Two things that I believe have really had an impact on our family life when it comes to our personal relationship with Christ.

a. Telling the stories of Jesus.

As a family we need to tell each what Christ is doing for us. Our kids need to hear it from us and we need to hear it from them. While Charity was training for Child Evangelism she told us of how she learned to depend on the Holy Spirit’s help in order to memorize scripture. These are the kinds of things that a family learns to share with each other about.

b. Living the stories of Jesus.

But what good is telling the stories unless we are living the stories. Everyday life will tell each other far more than words about where our hope and trust are at. Who we are will overshadow what we do and say. And the first ones to pick up on this is our family. They see you with your “hair down.” They see the grumpy side of you. But what they really need to see beyond your holy perfection is the real you being made holy.

None of us has arrived to that spiritual perfection of faith. We all are in the process of growing in Christ. And that is what your spouse and your kids need to see. They don’t need to see Mom or Dad striving to be pompously holy in public but experience their fits of rage in private. They need to see Mom or Dad apologizing and then making good on the apology by striving to improve their behavior.

A key part of emphasizing salvation is found in…

3. The Value of God’s Word.

Long before I became a pastor, I have always had an intrigue with the scriptures. I have read and studied the Bible, read what others say about its passages, and have exalted it as our standard for family life.

In what ways can we allow the scriptures to be valued once again in our homes?

a. Read the Bible.

There needs to be a place in your life as a parent in reading the Bible. Make it a part of your life. Realize the values that the Bible teaches as a part of your life.

b. Be honest about the Bible.

There are some hard things in the Bible that are difficult to understand. However, we can be honest about them without taking away the significance of the Bible. I don’t like reading certain passages but I also realize that the Bible is honest about everyone else it depicts so I can be assured with being honest about those things that don’t mesh with my thinking. I strive then to learn more so that I can relate those tough problems with the rest of the family.

c. Talk about the Bible.

We strive to look for the Biblical values we can draw from movies, television shows and the like. Why? There is so much trash out there that somebody needs to say something positively- even in with a negative context.

What do I mean? After our family watched the movie “Minority Report” my son and I discussed the issue of pre-determination vs. pre-destination. While watching “The Matrix” we talk about the this world’s values versus the ideals of the Bible. There are all sorts of ways that you as parents can inject your Biblical world-view into the conversations of your family time.

Of course, we could not go on and on about the spiritual family life unless we spoke of…

4. The Significance of Prayer.

Pray and pray some more. But what do we really do with this “greatest spiritual” resource in our family life?

a. Be Thankful.

Prayer is about more than just a family altar. A family needs to be praying together and allowing the blessings of prayer to permeate every need. Prayer is about being thankful.

Unless we are truly thankful to God for all we have, our prayers will be hollow to the rest of our family. Learn to become more thankful. Give thanks to each other, give thanks to others and give thanks to God.

Have a thankful heart in everything and for everything you have.

a. Be Realistic.

Don’t hold out unrealistic expectations for your family altar. Some families are scattered to the wind when the morning sun rises. However, find those opportunities to do things together that bring you together in a prayerful atmosphere.

Eating together brings that opportunity. The family dinner table is a lost art in America. We need to find ways to recapture that in all the hustle and bustle that we engage in. Over the years we have done that as a family in a variety of ways.

There were times in my roofing days that Naomi would bring dinner out to the job sites. Oftentimes, we would meet as a family at a restaurant. These times bring an atmosphere of prayer to the family circle.

b. Pray together.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of just simply praying together as a family.

One of the most important times at the end our day when the children were young was me as the Dad going in a praying with our kids. “Now I lay me down to sleep…” Those days may be past but prayer certainly doesn’t lose its luster.

Naomi and I as aging parents have learned to rediscover prayer together. Though we are not consistent on an everyday basis we still value these times as significant to our own spiritual well-being and to us as a couple.

I have spoken of the Treasure of Each Other, the Importance of Salvation, the Value of God’s Word and the Significance of Prayer.

There is one more thing that must not be forgotten:

5. Respect for the Church.

I absolutely will not tolerate disrespect within our home for the Church or the people of the Church. We can disagree as the people of God within the Church ministry but rest assured that our children will not hear us air out our grievances against anyone. We may not agree on a variety of issues- and that may be fine or not, I’m not sure- but you will not be down-graded in our home.

There are times when church people have hurt me by the things they have said. Most of the time people say things without intending to hurt me or my family. I understand that because I realize that there may be times I say something that comes out the wrong way and have hurt someone without intending to. These things happen.

And even if someone does say or do something to hurt me, it doesn’t get told at home. My kids and many times my wife will be completely unaware that there might be a conflict. Why should they be hurt in the process of God’s people working together?

So our home will not be a place of putting down the people of God or the ministry of the Church.

Why? The Church is the Bride of Christ. The quickest way to get into a fight with a man is to disrespect his woman. And the quickest way to lose out spiritually with our Savior is to disrespect His Bride.

So how can you bring respect within your home for the Church and be blessed in the process?

a. Be careful what you say.

Words can come out wrong and so we must be quick to correct something we might say. The best way to be careful of what you say is to…

b. Speak positively about everyone.

To my kids, everyone probably seems like my best friend. That’s the way it should be. There is no room to put down other people- especially the people of the Church that I am called to pastor.

I try to find the best of motives in others. That includes you. If someone is critical of me or what the church is doing and are faithful members in attendance and tithing then I believe that they have the best of motives. They want the church to succeed in ministry. They aren’t seeking their own will but the will of God. And if they are doing something self-centeredly then God will sort that out.

c. Participate in the ministry.

Your family needs to be involved in the church ministry in some way. There are countless ways that a family can participate in ministry. Come and speak with me and we’ll get you busy.

d. Support your church.

Don’t forget to pray for your church. Pray for your pastor as a family. Pray for your church as a family. Pray for the lost as a family.

Support your church. Be there with your volunteerism, finances and energy. Let your family know that church has a high place of value in every facet of your life.

Conclusion: Valuing God’s things.

Funeral for Randy Burmeister

2007-10-22T21:45:00.000-04:00

RANDY L. BURMEISTER
May 11, 1961 to September 30, 2007

Prelude music- Josh Groban CD

Job 19:25-27a- “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes- I and not another.”

Psalm 46:1-3- “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

John 11:25- Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

John 16:33- [Jesus says to his disciples] “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4- “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Randy L. Burmeister, age 46, of Coopersville and formerly of New Era, passed away Sunday, September 30, 2007 at his home. He was born May 11, 1961 in Shelby, the son of Robert "Jim" Burmeister and Anna Lutz Burmeister.

Randy was raised near New Era. He was a 1979 graduate of Shelby High School. He served with the U.S. Navy for thirteen years. He had attended auctioneering school in Minnesota. Randy was a truck driver for Holland Special Deliveries.

He is survived by his wife, Joyce; his son, Robert W. Burmeister; the mother of his son, Chris (Dominic) Merlington; his brother, Glen Burmeister; aunts, uncles and cousins; and his most loyal and best friend, his dog, "Hootch" and his other dog family- of which there are numerous and beautiful. Randy was preceded in death by his mother in 1975 and his father in January of this year.

This was a good man. There are so many ways to describe “good” in reference to a person but for Randy, the definition is made up by friends and family. I have listened among you, read the condolences and considered what “good” meant in the perspective of his life as it intertwined with yours.

“He was a generous man with a big heart.” It has been noted over and over his willingness to help others, to volunteer and give of him self. He was compassionate to those who were in greater need than him.

“Randy was a kind and funny man.” He loved humor and enjoyed a good joke. He most definitely enjoyed chiding others. A good ribbing by Randy meant that he liked you. His jokes were witty and entertaining to everyone involved.

“Randy was a good friend.” Those who were closest to him saw him as a man of devotion and love. He would literally give what he had if you needed it.

“Randy was an exceptional man.” He possessed talents of all sorts- a licensed contractor, truck driver, mechanically inclined, goat farmer and “auctioneer”- and on and on the list goes. He considered himself a jack of all trades and master of none. But I don’t believe it- and neither do a lot of you. His natural abilities to learn new things and his creativity allowed him to give of himself to others and to do a wide variety of things.

“Randy will always hold a special place in my heart.” We all echo that sentiment this morning. He will truly be missed and yet still be loved. Despite the emptiness we might feel or the loneliness that creeps in we can know that his memory will be cherished all of our days. Yes, Randy holds a special place in all of your hearts today. That is why you are here.

Allow me to add that Randy was a passionate man. He had an intense love for his wife Joyce. He was committed to her as a husband should. He had an intense love for his son Rob. He was proud of his son who is serving our country in the U.S. Navy in Japan. Despite the distance and time-zone difference, they spoke weekly on the phone. Whatever Randy did he did with passion.

Prayer

Music by CD- Josh Groban

There are three important questions that we need to deal with.

1. Why?

Why did this happen?

Every pastoral ministries class will teach the students that you never try to answer why. Every book for those who deal with grieving families will tell you to not try to answer the “why” question.

I do not take lightly this issue, nor do I do so without the family’s express permission. They could have simply asked that I go a different direction and I would. However, they believed that Randy would not want it any other way. Joyce said that Randy had a high respect for me, and that he began to really accept the Christian faith for him self in a way he had never been able to for years. I want to honor that respect.

In answering the “why” question, we have to consider the ramifications of the Scriptures, the reality of a sinful world that we live in and have the recognition of Randy’s illness.

a. The Ramifications of the Scriptures.

The Bible teaches that it is a sin to take your own life. Within the commandment, “Do not kill” lay the principle of the taking of human life. (Exodus 20:13) We assume that it is God’s prerogative to give or take life. We are, what Psalm 139 calls, “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God. To end our life intrudes upon sacred territory that belongs to God. As Job said: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

But is it possible for saints to feel so bad that they want to die?

If I told most people that Moses and Elijah wanted their life to end they’d probably not believe me. However, the fact is that both Moses and Ezekiel came to the very end of themselves.

Moses was frustrated with the stress and pressures of leading people out of Egypt who later wanted to go back to their slavery and slave-masters. They were dissatisfied with Moses’ leadership and he felt the brunt of their dissatisfaction. So he calls on God in Numbers 11:14-15- “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now- if I have found favor in your eyes- and do not let me face my own ruin.”

Elijah should have been flying high after an emotional victory over the prophets of Baal in the book of 1 Kings. He faced down 400 of these pagan priests. The result? He is suddenly running for his life. King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, has threatened him, he’s exhausted and depressed as he makes a beeline for the wilderness. Under a broom-tree he sits down and prays that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” (1 Kings 19:4)

b. The Reality of a Sinful World.

We must constantly be aware of the sinful world that we live in. This is not the way it was supposed to be. God created a perfect world for humanity, but because of humanity’s choice, sin entered and the perfect became mutated and humanity became separated from God, nature, each other and themselves.

Sin is a perversion of what is holy and good.

Jesus Christ came to show us how we should live. His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead brings defeat to sin and sin’s power.

However, we still live in a fallen world and we still deal with sin all the while we are here on earth. And because we live in such a world filled with sin, we are forced to wrestle with issues bigger than our selves.

c. Our Recognition of Randy’s Illness.

This was not a matter of someone who was out to hurt other people nor was it a matter of selfishness. This was a matter of a serious mental disease that was only recently discovered.

If Randy had died of cancer there would be very little difference in our gathering here today. Most times, it is not the cancer that kills, but the results of its effects on other parts of the body. In this case, Randy’s mental disease took a devastating toll on him.

Randy suffered from bi-polar disorder. He hurt people he dearly loved because he had a mental disease that was slowly taking over. Some of you here felt that hurt immensely.

Understand that in his latter days he expressed regret to Joyce in private conversations as they sought a means for him to cope with this disease. He told her that when he would lose control it was as though something was taking over and he could not control himself.

The last few months were very difficult as different medications were tried, adjusted, changed as well as him seeking new employment in order to have a more consistent schedule. He was not sleeping properly but yet seemed to be feeling better. In the end, though, it was too little too late.

Let me interject this: we don’t take mental health serious enough in today’s society. We’re getting better, but we too often forget that the human brain is the most important organ to the human body but gets little fanfare. We need to become more aware of such diseases as bi-polar disorders that affect so many people. There is help for those seeking help.

So this brings us to the second question I want to address:

2. What?

When I received the call, I was in my office working on church stuff. I dropped my head into my hands. This did not seem real to me, and I didn’t know Randy as well as many of you.

Two important “what” questions come to mind.

a. What could any of us have done?

I think of myself and wondered if a phone call sometime might have made the difference. Many of you, who were closer to him as family and friends, probably have even more intense questions than a simple phone call.

What could any of us have done? Not a whole lot. The fact is that people in Randy’s condition sometimes get to a place beyond the point of no return. They become mentally exhausted, frustrated with themselves and tired of fighting. They come to a place of just simply giving up because they feel that they are the burden and that others would be better off. They lose sight of how much God loves them and how much their loved ones love them.

As a family you should take caution not to be consumed with guilt. If death had occurred because of an incurable disease, you could not have changed the direction of events. The same is true here.

So…
b. What can you do now?

First, forgive Randy for what has happened. Yes, it was wrong for him to do this, but also realize that he did not do this out of rebellion against any of us or against God. Forgive him for the way he has hurt you in the past. Only an Eternal God can know the sickness and suffering that can grip both mind and spirit. We must endeavor to remember the goodness and kindness of his life.

Secondly, give grace to others. We all encounter people who have varying problems and circumstances. Too often we are too quick to judge someone who cuts us off on the highway or says something to hurt us.

Thirdly, if you need help or a loved one needs help, then seek it. I am more than willing to assist you in anyway possible. Randy would want you to.

And the last question I want to address is “how?”

3. How?

How do we move on from here?

Our challenge at this point is to turn to God- through our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed Holy Spirit, for comfort and assurance. Jesus faced his hour of death and said, “Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.” (John 16:32)

I say this because I want you to know that in the shadow of death you are not alone. Jesus is saying to you right now, “you are not alone, for the Father is with you.”

How do we carry on?

I like the verse in Ephesians 2:4-5- “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved.”

a. Accept God’s Amazing Love.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus loved his own to the very end. (John 13:1) That is the kind of intense love God wants you to realize in your own life. The very essence of God’s character is love. He loves you right where you are at in your life and in the midst of your own personal frustrations and failures. God’s amazing love reaches deeper than we could ever imagine to the very core of who we are.

b. Realize God’s Amazing Mercy.

None of us could be what God calls on us to be without his mercy. While we were sinners Christ died on the cross for us. This is important for us to understand. God’s mercy is what makes God forgive us of our sins. All of our sins.

c. Experience God’s Amazing Grace.

When you and I accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we then experience God’s amazing grace.

This sinful world thirsts for God’s grace. I am sure that all of us here today long to experience the reality of God’s amazing grace in our life.

Conclusion.

Randy had a wide variety of music that he enjoyed from Kansas to Leann Rimes. But one song that I am sure he would want you to know about is “The Long Black Train” by Josh Turner.

This song warns those who might choose to follow the devil’s way of living. I have no doubt that Randy would say to us today:

“But you know there's victory in the Lord I say
Victory in the lord
Cling to the Father and his holy name
and don't go ridin' on that long Black Train.”

Committal.

October 14, 2007 The Endangered Harvest

2007-10-17T18:08:00.000-04:00

Oct14’07
THE ENDANGERED HARVEST
Matthew 9:35-38

Matthew 9:36- Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

“God had only one Son and he made that Son a missionary.” So said the great African missionary, David Livingston.

The heart of being a missionary is realizing that missions is not about money or ability but about compassion for the lost- for those sheep without a shepherd.

Last week we had a real live missionary family come and speak to us about their experiences in Mexico, their current status and their vision of expanding the work of the church through Bible training of pastors.

This week we are going to talk about you and I as missionaries to our fields here in Oceana County.

Have you ever realized that you are a missionary? Have you ever considered that as a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a direct responsibility to reaching the lost?

“I thought that was the pastor’s job.” Sheep beget sheep; pastors lead the sheep. It doesn’t absolve me of personally sharing my faith. However, too often we miss the point of evangelism and missions because it’s too easy to see others do it rather than we ourselves do it.

In our text, Jesus speaks as one with a heart of compassion for the lost. If there is ever one thing that bothers me more than anything else and that is when God’s people who are supposed be born again, don’t have any compassion for the lost.

Here’s my challenge: love and appreciate the most unlovable person with the same kind of love and appreciation that you are showing me as your pastor this month. If you want to appreciate me and show me that appreciation, then don’t throw dinners and give me gifts; love others in our community and be willing to bring them to Christ.

Moving on…

One of the grave aspects of farming is that sometimes all of the harvest does not get harvested. There are reasons for that. Jesus points to one of them but before we get to his point let me share a few other reasons that churches do not harvest more than they do.

1. The Weather Factors.

One could be the weather factors. Too much rain, not enough rain, too much heat, too much cold and on and on- weather is a key issue to farming. These things contribute to a poor harvest.

The same holds true for any church ministry and any Christian. But there is a difference: we don’t need to let the weather determine our ministry. When we allow our ministry to be blown to and fro by the winds of societal change, we will see our purpose get knocked off course and our mission of reaching the lost lose traction.

How do we deal with weather factors?

Psalm 121 gives us some good insight to how we can deal with the climate conditions we deal with.

a. God controls the weather.

He is the maker of heaven and earth. He knows the climate we are in.

b. God watches over us.

He is not asleep but available to us when we have need.

c. God is our protector.

He is our shade in the heat of the day and covering in the coldness of the night

2. Geographical Location.

It seems to me like Oceana County is the jelly belly of agriculture. We grow peaches, pears, apples, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and mulberries. But where is my favorite fruit? Bananas? What about coffee beans? Why don’t we have coconut trees? I like a good orange on occasion. Why can’t we grow them here?

Location determines what you grow and harvest. In Jesus geographical location such things as wheat, barley, olives and grapes were in abundance.

I make the geographical point to say this: we have to know what we can or can’t do. Too often churches are guilty of trying to do outreach programs that were not designed for them. It would be pretty hard for us to operate an inner city mission ministry here in Shelby. You don’t design a ministry to reach Polish immigrants if you are not in Chicago. And so we need to look at those aspects of ministry- those entry points that are uniquely ours.

What we need to do is realize three very important geographical characteristics of outreach:

Who are we reaching? Who are the people that live here? Where do they come from? From this characteristic we can begin to see that our community breaks down into a two main groups: Anglos and Hispanics.

What do they need? Everybody needs something. We need to discover the felt needs of our community. Do they need food? Clothing? Shelter? Money? How about English? Budgetting classes? Job Training? On and on, but there are felt needs. One that easily gets overlooked is friendships. People need friendships.

What do we have to offer? This is important because it forces us to realize two important facets of helping people. First, do we have the set skills and gifts necessary to reach them. Second, do we have the willingness to adjust ourselves and learn new skills and receive the necessary spiritual gifts to do the ministry?

This is the place God has called us to and this is the time that he has placed us here. Now, what are we going to do about it?

3. The Marketplace Value System.

Another reason is marketplace values. For farmers to make a profit calls for them at times to dispose of the harvest in ways that seem wasteful. It bothers me but I also understand the economic side of farming. Some do allow locals to come in and glean from the “corners of the fields” in order to avoid the wastefulness that is sometime required.

And so it is not unusual for a farm to not harvest 20% of its crops or to mow down the asparagus field late in the harvest. There are certain marketing techniques that have to be applied.

In a similar sense, the church can become susceptible to the marketplace value system.

All we need are people just like you to go into the harvest fields.

How can we avoid the marketplace value system?

a. Money does not equal ministry.

We can very easily allow the finances become the focal point of outreach. The fact is that we do not need money to do ministry.

b. People are people, not profit.

Any church that begins to view new people as a means of income has lost sight of the vision and compassion of Christ and should close their doors. If any ministry sees people as profit they have lost the heart for true ministry.

4. The Dynamics of Disease.

Another reason that fields are not harvested can be due to disease. When blight hits trees the effects can be devastating. We learned as we crossed the Mackinac Bridge that firewood is not allowed over the bridge from either direction. This is to combat the ash borer bug. The hoof and mouth disease that strikes animals has its beginnings in 60 different viruses- that is why it is so hard to combat.

How does disease affect the spiritual harvest?

a. We tolerate sin in our own lives.

It’s pretty hard to talk to sinners about the changes they need in their own life when there is no change in ours. The best witness is

b. We tolerate the lack of outreach.

In a sense, though, if we do not share Christ, are we disobeying God and thereby sinning?

Pastor Carlos shared a story with us about a man who came to Christ. He was so excited about the change in his life that he was telling everybody about it. When he was among family members, where he shopped and then when he went to work. At his job, as he was telling others, a man stepped up and said to him, “That’s great! I’m a Christian too.”

This new believer just looked at him for a moment. Then he said, “I have been working here for twenty years! Why haven’t you ever said anything to me?”

Good question.

c. We tolerate the lack of resources.
Sometimes we need the resources to combat disease. And so, rather than depending on God, we find ourselves depending- well- on ourselves. This furthers the spread of problems and doesn’t allow us to please our Father.

We can talk about weather factors, marketplace values and the dynamics of disease but Jesus hits the heart of the problem: workers.

5. The Necessity of Workers.
In all the things that Jesus could have pointed out, he zeroes in on one important aspect for the lack of harvest: workers.

But another reason is a very simple one: lack of workers. If you do not have the workers to harvest the crops then the crops will rot from the trees or you as the farmer are forced to mow the asparagus fields- as happened last spring.

There are some important points for us to consider:

a. Jesus had a heart of compassion.

Do we have a heart that breaks over the lostness of our community? Does our heart break when we hear of bad things happening to people.

b. Jesus saw the sheep without a shepherd.

By having this heart of compassion means that you will begin to have a vision for the lost. You will begin to see their specific needs. They are weary from working multiple jobs to make it in life; they are weary from the relationship problems they face; they are weary from a life of sin that offers no hope- just more of the same.

They are sheep without a shepherd. They are people who- other than not being in the church- are like you and me.

c. Jesus calls for harvesters.

This is the cry of Jesus heart. When the Samaritan woman brought others to Jesus he declared to the disciples then that the fields were white with harvest.

Oceana County boasts of one of the longest harvest seasons anywhere. We begin in April in some years with asparagus and some are still picking apples come late October. In the off season, trees are being trimmed and tractors are being upgraded. There is hardly any downtime from the business of harvesting.

And it should be that way with us as a church. I take full responsibility for my work and leadership as your pastor. Can I do more? Absolutely. But it doesn’t stop there. Everyone of us who names this church as theirs and names Jesus as Lord and Savior of their life needs to also take on the responsibility of evangelism.

This call for harvesters is a call to prayer. Are we praying not only for those God has raised up but praying that God raises up more harvesters?

They are sheep without shepherd. “Who will go for us? Who shall we send?” God is asking and the answer is the church.

We are the answer to reaching the sheep with a shepherd.

September 30, 2007 The Thirst Quencher

2007-10-17T18:05:00.000-04:00

Sept30’07
THE THIRST QUENCHER
Psalm 42:1-2, John 5:5-15, Isaiah 55:1

Water covers a vast majority of the earth’s surface. We use water to drink, clean and grow. Without water, human existence would be impossible.

Without the living water of Jesus Christ it would be impossible to become a Christian.

I want to talk about the drought in the human heart. Perhaps you find your dry heart drowning in cursed circumstances.

But let me tell you about the promise of deliverance by God’s grace. There is a way back to the heart of worship. There is a restoration of the human heart. There is still a river that flows from the throne of God. There is hope and that hope is here right now.

No longer do you need to suffer from spiritual dehydration. No longer do you need to be dying of thirst like stranded survivors on a lifeboat in ocean water.

He is the Living Water that quenches the thirst for eternal life and refreshes the thirsty ground of your heart.

Psalm 42:1 sums it up best for all of us at one time or another: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God?”

Today is that day when you can come and meet with God. This is your day of opportunity. Quenching thirst has nothing to do with how smart you are, how faithful you are nor how rich you are; quenching thirst has everything to you accepting what the Holy Spirit has for your life this morning.

Water for good health.

Water for cleansing.

Water for drinking.

Drink of the living water of Jesus Christ and you will never thirst again.

1. The Waterless Pit.

Perhaps you are in what Billy Graham calls a “waterless pit.” Perhaps you have tried everything to satisfy, to bring peace and joy to your life, to have a sense of forgiveness and a sense of belonging.

And you haven’t found it. Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. [“Thirsty for Water?” by Billy Graham]

He goes on to say, drink of drugs and you will thirst again. Drink of fame, fortune and you will thirst again. Drink of the things the world tries to sell you and you will thirst again.

Jesus was not simply speaking off the top of his head. He knew this woman would there. He knew she was lost in sins. He knew the kind of conversation that would take place.

And he spoke to her about the deepest need of her heart.

As she awoke that morning, I wonder if she thought in her heart, “Where can I go and meet God.”

Have you wondered that? Did you awake this morning with all your problems and troubles and stresses and wondered, “Can I go to church and meet God today?”

She came to the only source of water she knew that would never fail: Jacob’s well. It was a well full of historical and religious significance.

A lot of people go to places that have significance in their life. They go to sporting events or cemeteries or the beach. They are looking for someplace to meet a deep, deep need in their heart.

She came to the only place she knew and it was there she met with God. It was there she received eternal life.

But come to Jesus Christ and drink of the water he has for you and you will never thirst again.

Jeremiah 2:13-“My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

a. Have you forgotten God?

How easy it is to get so busy with life and so consumed with raising our families, earning our income and striving to climb the ladder of life. And in the thick of all of these things, God gets eased out of our lives. Sure, you may get to church or you may read your Bible, but somehow you lost that vibrancy of your relationship with Jesus Christ.

b. Are you drinking from a broken cistern?

Everyone needs something to quench the thirst of the human heart. So often though, they strive to drink from what God calls broken cisterns. These containers may come in the form of selfish entertainments and endeavors that hurt more than they help. Even good Christian people can find themselves moving from the river back to the cesspool.

c. Searching for something real.

Today is your day of drinking at the streams of living water.

So what do we all need to know and understand this morning?

2. The Fulfilling Pool.

Zechariah 14:8- “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.”

There is no time that God’s love for you will end. And the living water of salvation flows continually throughout eternity.

Let me share with two very important points: the reassurance of God’s promises and receiving all of Grace.

a. The Reassurance of God’s Promises.

 The Promise of Eternal Life.

 The Promise of the Abundant Life.

Ezekiel 47:9- “Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.”

b. Receiving All of Grace.

 Choosing to be clean. (cleansing)

Isaiah 1:16-18- “Wash and make yourselves clean… Come, now let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

 Enjoying the joy of salvation. (eternal life)

Isaiah 12:3- “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

 Pass o the Blessing. (blessings)

Isaiah 44:3- “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendents.”

Conclusion.

Isaiah 55:1- “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Perhaps you have come here today because this is the only thing you know. Perhaps you woke up today and wondered if you could meet with God. Maybe you had your doubts. Maybe you had your suspicions.

But now is the time. Today is the day of your salvation.

John 4:13-14- “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.”

This is for you.

What do you say to that?

There is something unusual about God’s grace. It reaches down to the very place that you are at in the very condition that you are in. And here, Jesus speaks words that she cannot believe. She marvels and wonders, “Am I meeting with God?”

And it is there at Jacob’s well, the only place that she knew for the very thing she needs the most, that she meets with God.

Hear the words of Jesus as he spoke to those who doubted: “If anyone is thirsty, let hhim come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38)

September 23, 2007 LIVING AND LEAVING A LEGACY- The Example of John Wesley

2007-09-25T08:10:00.000-04:00

Sept23’07
LIVING AND LEAVING A LEGACY
Zechariah 3:2

One of the talents that always amazes me is the talent for landscaping. I have enjoyed seeing what some of you have done with your yards and property. Without extravagance, you tidy your yard, place trees or bushes into certain places and have rocks or other objects to dress things up.

One day I went to my foster mom’s house to study. Instead, I was thrown in with my brother, Tim, and foster dad as we planted bushes and a small tree. What was incredible to me was Tim’s knack for putting a certain bush into a certain spot. And then laying out the bark and such. Wow! It was beautiful when we were finished. I could not have done that in a million years.

Some people have the knack and the rest of us just copy. We look through Architectural Magazine for ideas; or we see someone else’s yard in another town; or we just make something up as we go. Some of us have the landscape knack and some of us don’t.

In a similar sense, God used John Wesley to change the landscape of Christianity. Sure, up to that point we had some great leaders who contributed much to the Christian setting:

 Tertullian in the 2nd century was a great defender of Christianity and was the first to write the word “Trinity” and put our faith in Latin.

 Augustine in the 300’s who was stirred deeply by the preaching of Bishop Ambrose that he left his life of sin, was baptized and moved to the coastal African city of Hippo. There he lived as a pastor, preacher and administrator. He was a key to the foundational doctrinal statements of Christianity along with Athanasius.

 Thomas Aquinas- the overweight Italian who was often called the “dumb ox” because of his size- lived and ministered in the 1200’s as a Dominican preacher and scholar. He wrote the “Summa Theologica”- a systematic summary of theology, philosophy and ethics. He also penned commentaries on the Old Testament and New Testament. He believed that God planted into the heart of every person this thing called “reason.”

 Bernard of Clairvaux was one of the most influential spiritual leaders of the Middle Ages. He believed that true understanding came by walking in humility and communing with a loving God. He wrote a book called Grace and Free Will that argues for a salvation that only comes from God. He died as a lowly abbot in 1153.

 Martin Luther hammered his “95 Thesis” on the door of the Wittenburg Castle Church on October 31, 1517. His protests against the Roman Catholic Church were the result of seeing the abuses of power and lack of accountability in the organization of Christianity. He was calling the Church back to living and ministering by the Scriptures and living the Christian life by faith alone.

 John Calvin was best known as the greatest systematic theologian and disciplinarian of the Reformers. At only the age of 27, he released the first of his many editions of Institutes of the Christian Religion. Even to this day, this theology book remains what some have called the “Mount Everest” of systematic theology.

 Who else could I speak of? How about Iraneaus- the first century theologian, Perpetua, the martyr of whose death marked the beginning of the fall of Rome; the mystic- John of the Cross and Teresa Avila; Thomas A’Kempis and his book The Imitation of Christ that Biblical students and Christian seekers still read; John Knox who took a simple and pure gospel message to the Scots; and on and on I could go.

[God and His People by Dr. James L. Garlow]

I mention these because they all left their mark on the landscape of Christianity. They spoke of the importance of living a life of piety. They spoke of understanding the logical-ness of Christianity. They taught about living and breathing a life of faith and trust in God; they pursued truth through Jesus Christ at the very point of death.

And then along came one man who embodied the various influences of Christianity and rearranged not only the front-yard of Christianity, but its backyard, its porches and the rooms inside.

John Wesley shows up at a time when the Anglican Church in England could not and would not reach the common man like you and me. The clergy was corrupt, parishes were without priests and the church did little to meet the spiritual needs of an ever-increasing urban population.

Without question, John Wesley presents to not only the Wesleyan Church but all of Christianity a model of a fulfilled Christian life through selfless ministry. And God used this man of emotion, organization and methodology to merge together the thought processes of our faith.

In many ways John Wesley’s thought represents the mainstream of Christian tradition. In a time when we seem to be so divided by denominationalism, consider what God brought together within the life of one man:

 He was raised and spent all his life in the Anglican Church, which gave him an understanding and appreciation for the catholic faith.

 Wesley’s mother was the daughter of a noted Puritan divine who instilled in her children the Puritan concern for righteousness based on principles from God’s Word.

 As an 18th Century Oxford student and later an instructor, Wesley developed a thorough understanding and commitment to rationality.

 Wesley also possessed a lifelong interest in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

 His experiences as a missionary to Georgia filled him with fascination of the Moravians and their calm Christian faith. So much so, he traveled later to Moravia to learn more about them.

[The Wesley Bible, “The Wesleyan Perspective” pp. xxvii-xxviii]

What Wesley was able to bring out of all these experiences was a genuine blend (or synthesis) of Christian faith in which he seemingly took irreconcilable concepts and then developed a consistent system of Christian beliefs.

I will save the theology lesson for later, but let me say this much: Wesley did far more for the Christian faith that he does not get credit for. However, in recent years, Christians from all sorts of backgrounds are beginning to see and credit him with his contributions to our faith.

Now, how does this fit with you and me? How do we take his influences on the world and apply them to our puny little lives here in Small-town, USA?

I have four aspects of his life that I believe will help us better appreciate ourselves as Wesleyans and encourage each of us in our quest to serve our Lord.

1. Salvation on Horseback.

Wesley rose at 4 am every day and then efficiently used the next 18 hours of his life to minister to people all over England. He had a customized a table built for read and writing while riding horseback between towns and churches. Until he was a seventy year old man, he continued to travel by horse. Then he converted to carriage for his elder years.

a. Example.

I can think of no better example of putting the Christian disciplines into action like Wesley. His early to rise so that he could preach to the men and boys coming to the factories at daylight is incredible to think about. His organizational skills and willingness to delegate tasks to others is a model for all those in leadership. And yet he took his responsibilities serious enough to fight through snow-drifts and rain-storms to preach the gospel personally all over England, Scotland and Ireland.

b. Energy.

There are very few people who could out-do Wesley and the energy that sprung from his spry 5’5” and 125 pound body. He ate sparingly and properly. He lived a long life and I will bet a good reason for that is his willingness to do without excesses in living.

How much more effective would any of us be for God’s service if we would eat healthier and exercise more? Perhaps some of our ailments and short-comings could be changed if we changed some of our habits. [But I love the Chinese the buffet!]

c. Efficiency.

Money is an example of his efficiency in life. John Wesley was one of the richest preachers ever but had very little money in the end. He sold penny tracks and made a fortune. But he lived as he preached: “Earn all you can, save all you can and give all you can” were hallmarks of an efficient life.

His trilateral was all about giving. You earn all you can so you can give more. You save all you can- not so you can have more- but so you can give more. Everything about money was viewed through lenses of giving to God’s kingdom.

John Telford, in his biography of John Wesley, tells of Wesley’s meticulous adherence to being punctual for all appointments. Wesley’s frame of mind was that he never had a moment to lose. Once, when he was kept waiting for his carriage he was heard to say, “I have lost ten minutes for ever.” He always expected his coachman to be ready at the precise moment fixed. “Have the carriage at the door at four,” he said to him at Hull in 1788. “I do not mean a quarter or five minutes past, but four.”

2. A Brand from the Burning.

At the age of five the home of Samuel and Susannah Wesley caught on fire in the night. All the children (some 19 in all) were removed safely from the house, but when they were counted, John was missing. You can only imagine the frantic search for him. A farmer from nearby spotted little John- looking out of an upstairs window in the midst of the leaping flames. Several neighbors climbed on each other’s shoulders, until the man on top was able to put his arms around the boy and pull him out of the flames to safety. Only moments after he was rescued, the entire house exploded in flames. Ever after, for the rest of his life, John Wesley referred to himself “as a brand plucked from the burning,” quoting Zechariah 3:2.

a. Your Value and Identity in Jesus Christ.

What about you? Have you considered the value of your life and the identity that you have in Christ Jesus?

b. A Special Purpose for One Moment in Time.

For me, pastoring and preaching are the calling of a lifetime. I cannot begin to image myself as anything else. And for Wesley, his life of preaching, teaching, pastoring and organizing was his call of a lifetime. He simply could not do anything else. He knew that God had called him to a special purpose for this one moment in time.

What is your call of lifetime? What is it that God has called you to do as a Christian? Is it to be a spiritual leader to your grandchildren? Is it to turn your work environment into a mission field instead of a place to earn a living?

Wesley understood his calling. He knew what God was calling him to. And so he did it- to the very nth degree of his being.

Wesley was like the Apostle Paul who wrote in Colossians 1:29- “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which works so powerfully in me.”

Do we understand our special purpose? Do we realize that when this moment passes there will be no other opportunity and no more time to make a difference?

He understood the ramifications of what it meant to follow after God.

This resulted in seeing what even other churches saw:

3. The Resources are in the Harvest.

John Wesley saw potential that the Church was somehow not seeing. He soon realized the kind of people he was reaching were untrained and even illiterate people who longed for something life-changing. He recognized that in order for these new Christians to truly grow, they didn’t need theologians in the pulpits, they needed pastors.

Where would he get them?

There is a phrase that has been kicked around church plant circles for awhile: The resources are in the harvest. When a church begins to plot its way in ministry and that ministry begins to make traction and start growing, God somehow plants within that growing ministry the resources necessary to keep growing and moving forward.

Wesley saw the human resources right away: the very ones who were getting saved would be the very ones he would train to be leaders. By the time Wesley died he had over 120,000 lay preachers.

Two things are important for us to understand about this:

a. First, we need our younger people here to rise up and be willing to be led into leadership.

If you are young and name Jesus as Lord, then you need to be willing to be used of God in any capacity God calls you to. This is where pastoral leadership comes into play. Furthermore, you are called- not to run rough-shod over the old people and their old ways- but to learn to love and lead with a heart of love. Together, young and old can blend their perspectives and differences about certain things.

We need your energy and your ideas.

Let’s face it: every local church is always in danger of being a dying church. However, God sends people our way for them to be used in the ministry to keep the ministry alive and growing.

b. This means that the rest of us need to do those things that develop others into new leaders.

I realize that some here have passed their more productive days. But God can still use you as a spiritual guide and prayer warrior for someone else.

Some of you know that we have a new puppy in our home. Yes, we are finally grand-parents. This Shi-tzu pup loves to run, and jump and play- all over our old dog, Sky. Sky can’t run like she used to. Sky has arthritis, her liver is shot and she gets out of breath easily. But this pup insists on playing and so Sky plays with her. It’s a hoot to watch!

The other day, Donna and I were speaking on the telephone. Donna understands animal behaviors because The Farm uses animals as a means of counseling with some people. I mentioned this to her and she told me that a young puppy will actually help breath new life into the old dog.

Hmmm. What does that mean for us? As new people come into our church, as babies are born, and new things happen, perhaps we who have been in the church awhile might learn some new tricks.

So let’s band together in prayer as we seek to raise up new leadership for this ministry.

And then watch as God works through you and me in a powerful way.

4. An Un-Bottled Message.

John Wesley was so full of knowledge that he was almost like a two-liter bottle of Coca-cola. And when the Holy Spirit got a hold of his life, that bottle got shook up big-time and God’s Spirit was poured out all over England and it spread to America.

Wesley’s message was very simple: “Rest from the guilt of sin by justification and from the power of sin by sanctification.”

a. A life-time of experiences.

You and I have within our Christian lives, certain experiences and knowledge, that if we would let the Holy Spirit shake up our life, we would see God work in amazing ways.

Consider the hardships we face. These things shake us up but do we allow it to be used by the Holy Spirit?

b. A Christ-life to share.

We face good times and bad times but do we let either one be used by the Holy Spirit to pour out the message of Christ throughout Oceana County?

Wesley’s life was used to change England. Most historians say that England would certainly have experienced a bloody revolution like France did in those days had it not been for the holiness preaching of Wesley and Whitefield among others.

What kind of influence could your life bring to your family that may be torn apart of disagreements and trouble? What kind of influence can we as a church have on a community that is divided politically in this very time?

We are not called to keep this treasure we have to ourselves but to share ourselves with those all around us and with those God has called us to.

Conclusion:

John Wesley’s life was not perfect. He dealt with a bad marriage that I am sure created some gossip baggage and he fought emotional issues like others do. But his life of holy living demonstrated the Christ-life in such a way that even those who hated him couldn’t help but respect him.

You don’t have to be a jerk to change the world. You just simply have to be a person willing to let God use you with the set of talents, abilities and gifts that he has given to you by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, if you tune in closely to the Lord, you just may hear that still small voice calling you to something specific he has just for you.

We can sum up what it means to be a Christian by what those early Methodists lived by so that their lives would be all that God called them to be:
o Devotions: Begin and end every day with God.
o Ministry: Be diligent in your calling.
o Christian Service: Employ all spare hours in religion.
o Holiness: Examine your heart every night
o Work Ethic: Avoid idleness
o Temptation: Resist the very beginnings of lust
o Good Deeds: In every act reflect on the end.
John Wesley was instrumental in the abolition of slavery, which he condemned often and wrote against. He also worked diligently for civil rights, and popular education.
At the age of 86 he was still preaching to huge gatherings of people two and three times a day, seven days a week.

On October 7, 1790 he preached his last outdoor sermon in a churchyard in Kent. His last sermon was given in a house in the country village of Leatherhead on February 23, 1791. His last sermon text was, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

A few days later, at 10:00 in the morning, on March 2, 1791 John Wesley spoke his final words, “Farewell.” Thousands of people walked by his open coffin in the City Road Chapel in London. John Whitehead preached from II Samuel 3:38 at his funeral,
“Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?”

September 9, 2007 Why Every Kid Needs a Grand-Parent

2007-09-11T07:39:00.000-04:00

Sept9’07
WHY EVERY KID NEEDS A GRAND-PARENT
Genesis 48:8-10

The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia. Her primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes. She also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap into the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day. (www.grandparents-day.com)

Here are some anecdotes that Glenda sent to me that I thought might give us a good chuckle when we think about Grandparents Day.

A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like: "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods." The little
girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

**
My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?" "You're both old," he replied.
**

Grandparents are a powerful influence in the lives of their grandchildren. Parents can fail at parenting but a good grandparent can make up for lost ground. Parents can be the best at what they do, but a good grandparent will outshine them every time. Father can know best but Grandpa can do it better.

So what is it that makes you as a grandparent so special?

My Grandma Henderson filled a void in our home with her love, stories from the depression days (scary ones too) and supper composed of pinto beans and cornbread. During those long dog-days of summer she would take all of us grandchildren to the Hackley Library- on foot, of course. She hand stitched quilts and taught me how to sew- a talent I use with pride from time to time. She’d buy small gifts; give us special treats at her apartment in the Hartford Terrace. She lived to old age after a lifetime of eating chicken fried in lard, mashed potatoes with gravy and bacon and eggs. There was no one like her- before or since.

Today we are reminded that every person is a grandchild and every grandchild needs a grandparent. I am convinced that grandparents have so much more to offer than they realize.

Our scripture text suggests that there are three nurturing aspects of grand-parenting that every grandchild needs.

1. Grandparents as a Blessing.

One of the saddest situations I have to deal with from time to time is the grandparent who rejects a needy grandchild. This should never be!

Without getting too specific, my children had a classmate here in Shelby who became pregnant while still in high school. She carried the child to full term and gave birth to a strapping son. Occasionally I have seen the boy with her and her parents. Each time it seems that the grandfather has a hold of the kid with such love and affection.

One day I had the opportunity to speak to this grand-dad. I told him how proud I was of him and how good it made me feel that he was being a father figure to his grandson. He thanked me and also added: “Hey, he’s my buddy.”

I just pray that God somehow works continually in that family circle.

Every grandchild needs to be a loved and wanted grandchild. With the advent of blended families in our country and the out-of-wedlock births we have seen the explosion of shared grandchildren. What I mean is that there are a high number of grandparents whose children have stepchildren from other relationships. It’s not uncommon for a child to have several potential sets of grandparents.

Consider my circumstance. I have Grandma and Grandpa Higgins who died before I was born. I had Grandma and Grandpa Barnes of whom I never met. After my mother remarried my step-dad, I had Grandma and Grandpa Henderson who were divorced (I never met Grandpa Henderson). As a teen-ager I had Grandma and Grandpa Black and Grandma and Grandpa Moulton. I ended up with ten grandparents! Some of you may have had more. Of all my grandparents I never knew a single one of my “blood grandparents.” My interactions with grandparents were confined to Grandma Henderson, the Blacks and the Moultons.

Some of you have the opportunity to be like my grandparents and to be loving and caring grandparents to children that are not your blood. If so, take full advantage of that opportunity. Don’t worry about what others may think. And I realize that in saying this you have to use wisdom in each individual situation.

Every grandchild needs to be wanted by their grandparents. Unfortunately there are too many grandparents who fail in this. What does the Bible say Jacob did?

“Are these your sons?” (v. 8) He inquires of them- perhaps in a grandfatherly, joking matter. But don’t forget, these boys had an Egyptian mother. She was not one of Abraham’s people. And yet he accepted these boys as one of his own.

a. Jacob gave them God’s future.

He says in verse 16- "Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” "And he blessed them that day, saying, in you shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh; and he set Ephraim before Manasseh" (v. 20). They need you to give them God’s future.

b. Jacob gave them his heritage.

Jacob adopted the two boys. "They are mine." (v.5). "Let my name be upon them, and the name of my father Abraham and Isaac" (v.16). He treated them with the same blessings that the son was supposed to receive. True, later Joseph received a blessing by Jacob, but yet Joseph was not to be named as a tribe of Israel. Instead, Ephraim and Manessah would receive that blessing.

By claiming them he opened up his heritage to them. It allowed them to claim not only a family heritage but also a spiritual heritage.

c. Jacob showed them God’s riches.

Our grandchildren need to experience something about God’s grace in their lives. Too often they have witnessed a world filled with un-grace. You can be that person of grace in their lives no matter how far away they may live.

You as a grandparent- Be a blessing to your grandchildren and any others that come your way.

2. Grandparents as Nurturers.

There’s something about grandparents and their life experiences that helps them help the rest of us. It’s kind of like the old Texan proverb: “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.”

Somehow I believe that this is what makes so many grandparents good nurturers. They have a lifetime of wisdom to share with us younger ones.

I like the example of nurturing that Grandpa Jacob gives to us this morning.

a. Jacob showed them affection.

b. Jacob hugged them.

c. Jacob gave them his love.

Every grandchild needs to be loved. Just as Jacob gave them his love, I propose to you that you love your grandchild or grandchildren.

d. Jacob treated them with respect.

He recognized them as important and respected them appropriately. He didn’t talk down to them nor above them but laid out a future for them.

Jacob nurtured his grandchildren before he died and gave them something else far more important.

He shared with them his spiritual heritage.

3. Grandparents as Spiritual Guides.
There is something very important about grandparenting that must never change in your life as a grandparent: your spiritual guidance.

Our world is starving for spiritual leadership. They need grandmas and grandpas to set an example of everything that is right.

I thank God for what he has done in my life and were it not for the love and acceptance I received from godly grandparents, I am not so sure some of the Biblical values would have stuck to me like they have.

a. Jacob gave them an example of humility.

He recognized that without God his life was emptied. And so one still night Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. It changed his life.

Your grandchildren need to hear of that life-changing moment for you. They need to hear how God brought to the place of total surrender.

I am convinced that a lot of times our younger people become frustrated with their grandparents and the older generation because they don’t know why you do things a certain way or why you go to church or why your lifestyle is so different.

Tell them why and in telling them you will be offering to them God’s hope for their lives.

b. Jacob gave them God’s hope.

Many of us see the sorrow in the eyes of children in our community. They need to have hope somehow instill in their hearts or else they will grow up with no hope and no God.

c. Jacob gave them an example of worship.

The position of worship. "He (Jacob) bowed himself with his face to the earth" (v.12).

The attitude of worship. "Jacob . . . worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff" (Heb. 11:21).

d. Jacob gave them an example of godliness.

How you live your life will be the greatest testimony you can leave. To say nothing about Christ to your grandchildren is a crime. To say something about Christ but then don’t back it up with right actions is a sin.

May all your grandchildren who come behind you find you faithful.

So what do we say in conclusion of all of this?

I came across an article by Dr. Elmer Towns entitled “How To Bless Children.” Here are some closing tips for you as a grandparent to apply to your grandparenting skills.

CONCLUSION: HOW TO BLESS CHILDREN
Dr. Elmer Towns suggest five steps to blessing children that I think are very appropriate especially for our grandparents this morning. (God Bless You by Elmer Towns)

Step 1: A meaningful touch.

Step 2: Blessing with a spoken word.

Step 3: Attach high value to the one being blessed.

Step 4: Picture a special future for the one being blessed.

Step 5: An active commitment to fulfilling the blessing.

2007-09-04T19:14:00.000-04:00

Sept2’07
OH, THE LABOR OF IT ALL!
Galatians 4:19

Some commonly asked questions about pregnancy and childbirth (courtesy of “Basic Jokes- Clean Jokes for a Dirty World”):

Q. My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
A. Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.

Q. When is the best time to get an epidural?
A. Right after you find out you're pregnant.

Q. Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery
room while my wife is in labor?
A. Not unless the word "alimony" means anything to you.

Q. What happens to disposable diapers after
they're thrown away?
A. They are stored in a silo in the Midwest,
in the event of global chemical warfare.

Q: I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
A: With any luck, right after he finishes college.

The Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of childbirth as a means of getting the attention of the Christians in Galatia who have somehow exchanged the freedom they have in Christ for the slavery of rules and regulations. Paul’s desire is that Christians live a life of freedom.

Jesus uses the same metaphor when speaking to Nicodemus about being born again. He said that flesh begets flesh but Spirit begets spirit. Just as a human person can only give birth to a human person, so to only the Holy Spirit can birth a new spiritual life in a person.

The reality is that God the Holy Spirit formed God the Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). If you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior then what is this supposed to look like in your life?

1. When and What are You Expecting?

There is something about pregnancy and childbirth that give us hope. You and I have heard the phrase asked of a pregnant woman: “When are you expecting?” This phrase carries within it the connotation of hope.

There is a certain hope that the Apostle Paul holds out for those who have claimed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

He has an expectant hope that they will grasp the truth and freedom of being a Christian. Adam Clark suggests that as their conversion to Christ had been the fruit of much labor, prayers and tears, so he felt them as dear children.

Consider the implications of spiritual expectancy for your life:

a) Can you handle the truth?

Jesus shows us what it means to live a life of truth. And truth is the perhaps the most difficult battle that a Christian faces. To come to salvation we have to admit the truth of our sinfulness. To grow in this salvation we have to admit the truth of our weaknesses and shortcomings- and yes, even sins we have committed. To reach the place of being sanctified wholly we have to admit the truth our utter reliance on the Holy Spirit’s power for cleansing.

To live the Christian life means that we come face to face with the truth. Jesus speaks to Pilate on the day of his execution about the establishment of the kingdom of truth. Pilate then responds by asking, “What is truth?”

For Christ to form within you calls for you to handle the truth with care.

Another implication that has to be considered is this:

b) Are you truly saved?

Jesus shows us not only what it means to be truly human and to reveal to Christians our Heavenly Father and his love for us, but Jesus more importantly came to “…take away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

Remember, the angel told Joseph: “She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

What the Bible teaches is that “Jesus died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15) and that through identification with His death you can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness given as a gift to you. The teaching is not Christ for me unless I allow to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).

c) Is your faith increasing?

The result of Christ in you is an ever-increasing faith. Now the kind of faith I am talking about is not a fate-faith: what will be will be. Nor is it a false-faith: I say one thing but believe another. But a faith that is grounded in the hope that Jesus Christ has given to us of not only eternal life but a hope of life of power in and through the Holy Spirit.

An expectant Christian knows that what God is forming in their life will bear fruit into a needy world. Just as Mary bore the fruit of Christ into a dark world and just as Alisha bore to us a second son, so to the Christian is to bearing fruits of righteousness into a world that needs righteousness.

Are you expecting?

Something else we need to consider is…

2. Your Life Under Construction.

A pregnant woman has within her life a new life developing and growing within. She carries in her body not only this new life but also bears the marks and weariness of this tiny new life that is ever-present.

For the Christian, the very life of Christ within is growing. And the more this life grows, the more aware they are of changes happening in their own life.

In our scripture text, the Apostle Paul speaks to the Galatians of his concern that they have turned their hearts away from the previous work in their hearts. Now I am not going to get into whether the Galatians have lost their salvation and now need to start their Christian faith all over. Commentators have drawn some lines in the sand that I’m not willing to draw. However, know this: how can any person, who believes in Jesus Christ for salvation, continue to follow him if they have rejected the very essence of his life in theirs?

There are some important comparisons about a normal pregnancy and the new life you now carry in your heart:

a) The importance of a good nutrition.

The Galatian church allowed the wrong things to influence them. They did not practice good nutrition in order to grow in their faith. They allowed the wrong kinds of things into their life- namely, the former spiritual life they once lived. They traded their trust in Jesus Christ for trust in another belief system.

b) The importance of your responsibility.

The fact of your life under construction is realizing consistently and daily that Jesus was your substitute for your new birth. And if Jesus was your substitute for your new birth, then he is going to also be your power for new life.

Paul’s point to the Galatian Christians is their life is supposed to be different from their previous life. You as a Christian is not about you have a buffed up new you, but drastically changed you.

“[God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Today’s view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. But what Paul tells us is that Jesus was “made … to be sin for us… ” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We then become acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. (Chambers)

In a similar sense, as Kevon was growing within Alisha he grew- not because of all the specific things she has given up- but because of a particular death that she experienced to give him a growing life. She gave of her total self in order to see him grow and be born the healthiest that

c) The importance of good influences.

Studies have shown that children are affected during pregnancy through the stresses the mother deals with and even the kinds of music she listens to. Some believe that a pregnant woman should read to her unborn child and talk to him.

This brings up the issue of influences in your life. What is it that is influencing you for God’s glory? Having the right kind of advice as you walk with God and as Christ is being formed in you is crucial to your spiritual growth. So often we can be influenced by the liberal news media and those who oppose anything remotely Godly.

Last week as Naomi and I were at Butterworth Hospital for those four days, we had the opportunity to share our faith with a few nurses. A couple of them talked of their frustrations as moms, in-laws and so forth. One in particular was a single mom of two beautiful boys. She affirmed her faith with us but admitted how difficult it was to get to church.

We urged her to go. We told her that her children needed the church, they needed positive role models for their lives. I then told her that the times she really needed to be at church were the times when she felt least like it.

And I hold that same challenge to you. When you wake up and don't feel like coming to church- don't let the devil defeat you. You come to church. You need the family of God and the family of God needs you.

We need church. We need spiritual leadership. We need each other. As Keith Drury titled his book: There’s No I in Church.

What is influencing your spiritual growth?

Paul is share’s his frustration with the Galatian Christians so that they can realize the liberty that they have in Christ. This is the destiny that God calls every believer to.

3. Your Destiny of Liberty.

An unborn child cannot live in the womb forever. As nice and cozy things are, there is a point of freedom that they go through. And from birth they begin to exercise their freedom.

Parenting is really all about letting go at the right times. If a parent let’s go too soon, then the child falls into the danger of low self-esteem and rebellion. If a parent doesn’t let go soon enough the child falls into the danger of low self-esteem and rebellion. So what’s a parent to do?

The Galatian church was wallowing in slavery. This is not the kind of life God calls any Christian to. Galatians 5:1 sums up best the destiny for the believer: “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of bondage.”

Paul is stating very clearly that end goal for your life is freedom from sin and over sin.

a) This was the mission of Christ.

Isaiah 61:1 prophecies Jesus mission as well as Jesus taking ahold of that prophecy as being fulfilled through him. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for prisoners.”

b) The truth is the instrument of liberty.

John 8:32- “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

c) The Spirit of life gives you freedom.

You see, “because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2)

Furthermore, “…where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” (2 Cor. 3:17)

Conclusion: Your Life in Christ.

Oswald Chamber said it best:
Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that “Christ is formed” in me. And once “Christ is formed” in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.

August 26, 2007 "Living Life out of the Gospel Coffee Cup"

2007-08-31T21:20:00.000-04:00

Aug26’07

Experiencing the full power of the gospel through your life.
John 20:19-22

Why in the world do we come to church, gather ourselves as members for meetings and eat food together.

In your hand you have a few coffee beans. Each person who names Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has been given certain gifts and abilities. In fact, I am fairly sure that each of us possesses numerous gifts, abilities and talents.

Let me review something I preached a couple of years ago.

Everyone is born with natural talents. These are the innate capacities of aptitude- how smart you are; your bent toward certain likes and dislikes; and the endowment of particular physical capabilities. Let’s face it: some are smarter than others; some like things others are so fond of; and some can jump higher and run faster.

Everyone has learned abilities. These are the skills that we have developed because of our childhood upbringing. Some of you know how to milk cows; I have never milked a cow. Some of you know how to take a motor apart and put it back together again; I have a hard enough time changing spark plugs. Some of us know how to shingle, shake and roll a roof; many of you wouldn’t be caught dead on a rooftop.

Then there are spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit chooses to give to us. Some are gifted with healing, helping others, doing church administration and an assortment of gifts as the Spirit deems necessary for the body of Christ to minister.

I want to add a fourth: Appointed Ministers. These are those appointed, first by God and then affirmed by the Church, to particular ministry duties. Some are called to be apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers. These have to do with God’s calling to a certain ministry over the talents, abilities and spiritual gifts that they may already possess. To be a pastor or teacher is not about the gift as much as it has to do with the call.

Here’s the skinny: you are a minister and my goal today is convince each one of us of the value of ministry. We are in this together and we need to get together and be about the business of our heavenly Father.

Jesus clearly understood his mission on earth. He realized early on that he had to be about his Father’s business. And, finally, at the age of 33 he breathed his last on the cross: mission completed.

But yet, Jesus mission was not completed. There was a lot of unfinished business on earth that the Father needed to have accomplished. Have you ever wondered why Jesus did not live forever and get all the work done in healing and changing lives? That is where you come in.

Jesus does live forever and is getting the work done in healing and changing lives. That is why we exist as a church: to heal and change lives. His mission now becomes our mission.

I would like us to notice some important aspects of your ministry within this church that parallels the disciples in those early days of the Church.

1. Ministering with Peace over Fear.

They were afraid. But Jesus, twice, says “Peace be with you!” They were scared for their life.

This peace that Jesus spoke was not simply a greeting from a friend to another friend. This was a peace that echoed the “Shalom” peace that recalled the grand vision throughout the Old Testament of the salvation and restoration of Israel. Furthermore, this peace that Jesus speaks of is to remind them that he is the giver of peace. Earlier, the Apostle John relates to them what Jesus said in 14:27- “My peace I give you… do not be afraid.”

But how many of us are afraid of life? Of the unknown? Of ministry? Of stepping out by faith? Of obeying the Holy Spirit?

Let me make a few suggestions for you to have peace over fear when you reach out and love someone.

a. Accept the peace that Jesus offers.

The peace Jesus offers is not the kind of peace the world gives. What kind of peace is that? A peace that is earned. A compromising peace: you do this, we’ll do that. The world’s kind of peace is really unrest. They are “…like the tossing sea,” Isaiah 57:20 says, “which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.”

b. Access peace through the Holy Spirit.

What is more, the blessed Holy Spirit fills us with this peace. Peace is not a frame of mind nor is it an attitude. This kind of peace is the fruit of the inner Spirit. This kind of peace stirs up, not mire and mud, but blessings to you and to those whose lives you touch by your inner, Holy Spirit filled peacefulness.

c. Abide in peace with your Heavenly Father.

This peace Jesus gives was the result of him bearing our punishment on the cross. (Isaiah 53:5) Job 22:21 reminds us of these words: “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.”

The peaceful person who lives above fear abides in peace with God. The result is untold blessings as God the Father works in and through your life.

For our context today, God is calling on us to realize his peace as we reach out into the lives of other people. This ministry should be ruled- not by fear of what others may say or who might oppose- but be ruled by the peace that overcomes fear.

Have you ever been afraid to say something righteous? You don’t need to be afraid. Have you ever been tongue-tied when you attempted to witness to someone? Have no fear. Allow the peace of Christ to rule in your heart since you were called to peace. (Colossians 3:15)

Not only does Jesus speak of peace but he breathes power into the lives of those he is sending.

2. Reaching with Power over Weakness.
There is nothing worse as an employee than to be sent to work without the proper equipment. There is nothing worse than to try and work on a car without the right tools. There is nothing worse than to try and lead people to Christ without power.

Imagine if Jesus told these guys: “Peace be with you. I am leaving in a few days, so good luck to you in carrying out all that I taught you.” Are you kidding?

These guys were weak. These guys were sacred. These guys were hiding. These guys were wanted- dead or alive. And then Jesus breathes on them to receive the Holy Spirit. This breath is his power and it is the same power that breathes through our lives as it has been passed down from the apostles, through the hearts of believers for some 2000 years and into our hearts this morning. “I’ve got the power” is more than a song but a reality for you today.

So how does this work?

a. We have the power of the Holy Spirit.

I like Ephesians 1:19-20- We must realize the Holy Spirit’s “...incomparable power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his might strength which he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead.” The same power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that raises us to new life.

Whatever your weakness or fear, God the Holy Spirit is there to work miracles through your life. You no longer are weak but strong through him.

b. We have the power of prayer.

There is nothing like the power of prayer. I’m not talking about some kind of comfort we get from knowing that people are praying but I am talking about the kind of praying that sees prayers answered. People are saved, problems are solved and Jesus is glorified.

c. We have the power of blessing others.

Our prayer life should be blessing other people. Too often we easily get caught up in praying for our own personal miracles rather than praying for miracles for other people. When we pray, we must pray for the deliverance of others.

d. We have the power to set prisoner free.

Jesus call to ministry is our call to ministry. Don’t think for a moment that our call as a church or as people is just to warm the pew and sing heart-warming songs. Our call is one of power to rescue people from drug abuse, broken marriages and their slavery to sin.

This denomination was built on rescuing black people from slavery. Today, this church has a part in rescuing Mexican people from the slavery of sin and abuses. Today, we have a responsibility to not only reach them but to reach anyone in our ministry circle in our community.

If we don’t who will?

e. There’s power in the blood of Jesus!

This power that is ours is through the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other or greater authority than the shed blood of Christ. This blood saves you and me and others from our sins. This blood gives us access to the throne of grace. This blood sprinkles our consciences and cleanses our hearts. This blood opens the door for the Holy Spirit to move in and through our lives. This blood empowers us to set the prisoners free, the give food to the hungry and clothes to the naked. There is power in the blood!!

Not only does Jesus give peace over fear and power over weakness, but we can now…

3. Experience Passion over Apathy.

If we are going to truly be a church with a “Grande Passion for Jesus, Others and You!” then we need to exhibit a passion that gives us delight in seeing God move and work.

Too many Christians are apathetic Christians. What do I mean?

Let me ask you this: Do we care enough to make a difference?

Do you care enough to allow the Holy Spirit to take over your entire life? Your finances? Your motives? Your everyday living? Your attitudes about other people? Your hopes and dreams?

If we are to experience passion over apathy, what does this kind of passion look like?

a. It isn’t about you.
Following Jesus does not mean that your wildest dreams will come true. Following Jesus does not mean that life will be comfortable and cozy. In fact, following Jesus may bring the opposite.

But it isn’t about me or you…

b. It’s all about God.

God knows the plans he has for us as a Church. We may have missed out on some of his plans already… I don’t know. But starting today, we can determine as a body of believers that we will make our lives and this ministry all about God. Why? Because this church belongs to his Son. Jesus paid the price that could not be paid to redeem us. We now belong to God, this Church is his and whatever he decides to do with it.

I do have a sneaking suspicion of what God wants to do with this church.

c. It’s reaching the lost.

He wants us reaching the lost. This needs to become a priority. This needs to be the ministry work of everyone here- not just the pastors and a few others.

So how do with do this?

Conclusion- We make a difference TOGETHER.

In order for us to make a difference means that we will make that difference together. You cannot enjoy the essence of ministry unless you are in the ministry with everyone else and ministering in unison with the heart-beat of God and God’s people.

Your few coffee beans won’t make much difference for anyone else. You can enjoy them, but put them together with others and see a “holy brew” take place. This calls for you and to crawl out of the gospel cup and see the world around us and see each other through the lenses of the cross.

Your teaspoon of coffee beans will make approximately one cup of coffee. I know, I make coffee by the pot and by the cup. However, put your coffee beans together and see what happens.

The more coffee you make, the fewer beans you need per cup. Why? Because the beans are doing something together and when God’s people get together, work together and bring people to Christ together, there is a multiplicity of ministry.

In other words, together we make a holy brew.

I have on this table a coffee grinder. What God desires for us to do, is take our few talents, abilities, gifts and callings, and put them together with everyone else. Grind them up and allow him to brew through us his will for ministry.

The result? Not just rich, wonderful smelling coffee, but a sacrificial aroma that pleases God.

How about it? Are you willing to allow our God to use you through this church ministry in reaching our community for Jesus Christ?

August 19, 2007 "The Best Part of Waking Up"

2007-08-31T21:07:00.000-04:00

Aug19’07

Living a life of Prayer, Praise and Peace
Daniel 6:1-28

[Outline- first 6 points- from Warren Wiersbe Expository Outlines on the Old Testament, Quick Verse 6]

Imagine awaking tomorrow morning, pouring a cup of coffee, opening your Bible and communing with the Lord in your own back yard when suddenly armed guards scale your fences and arrest you. You would wonder what country you were in!

Of course, this seems a bit far-fetched for us as Americans. However, we have brothers and sisters around the world who cannot worship as openly as we do, they hardly dare to carry their Bibles in public and certainly have to be careful as to how they display their faith.

However, the reality for someone such as Daniel was a clear and present danger everyday. He not only was kidnapped as part of a noble family in Judah as a fifteen year-old, but was forced to work for foreign kings and leaders- many of whom not only did not worship the God he worshiped but were spiteful and hateful towards him. For over 80 years he established himself as a man who stood firm not to be defiled with the king’s meat and to be a man of integrity and humility.

Daniel made the most of his exile to a foreign land. Sure, he harbored the hope and prayer of returning to his home city of Jerusalem. But in the meantime, he made the most of every opportunity to serve the Babylonian masters that were over him.

In this 6th Chapter Daniel experiences a twenty-four hour period that is perhaps the most eventful of any Old Testament character. (So I will be attempting to cram a 24 hour sermon into 30-40 minutes.)

In this chapter we spend a day in the life of the prime minister of the Medo-Persian Empire. Daniel is not a teenager in this chapter; he is a man in his eighties. Old age was not going to get him down anymore than it did in his younger years. Age is no barrier to serving Christ, nor is old age any protection against temptation and testing. Because Daniel started young as a man of faith and prayer, he was faithful to the Lord even in his old age.

My goal is to help us realize that the best part of waking up for the Christian is that nurturing relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ. Your faith gets challenged everyday- certainly through temptation the devil brings and by other people who either despise the God we serve or misunderstand who we really are.

Daniel shows us that being faithful is the only way to live and that God honors the faithfulness of his people. Furthermore, God brings divine protection in times of hostility from the enemy of our soul.

1. A Dawn of Devotion
One of our people shared with the Wednesday Bible Study group that she was grateful for everyday that the Lord gives to her. I wonder if any of us- especially those of us under sixty consider the brevity of life enough to realize that each day that dawns is another opportunity to give praise to our Lord with our lives.

Daniel sets for us an example of how his day began.

How did Daniel begin each day? He prayed to the Lord. In verse10 we are told that Daniel prayed three times a day in a special “prayer chamber” on top of his house.

Psalm 55:17- “Evening, morning and noon, I cry out in distress and he hears my voice.”

Daniel started his day with the Lord and it’s a good thing that he did. Maybe that is a lesson for us to learn about our daily prayer habit. The enemy is always going to and fro seeking whom he may devour just as he was afoot against Daniel. And Daniel was going to face one of the greatest tests of his life.

Prayer was not an incidental thing in Daniel’s life nor was it accidental; prayer was the most essential thing in his life. And the same should hold true for us.

Notice a few things about Daniel’s prayer life:

a. He had special times of prayer.

You can be sure that he talked to the Lord all day long. The Apostle Paul speaks to the Thessalonians of praying without ceasing.” God certainly smiled on Daniel for his consistency in prayer by calling him “greatly beloved” or “highly esteemed.” (9:23; 10:11, 19), language that in the NT the Lord reserves for His own Son.

b. He had a special place for prayer.

It was Daniel’s faithful walk and consistent prayer life that made him one of God’s “beloved sons” (read John 14:21-23 carefully). How important it is to start the day with the Lord. Abraham had this habit (Gen. 19:27); so did David (Ps. 5:3) and our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 1:35).

c. He had special answers to prayer.

Over and over Daniel came before the Lord in prayer believing that God will answer. A great example of this is found in 2;18 when faced with an “answer or else” command to interpreting the kings dream. “He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.”

d. He recognized his status in prayer.

Daniel realized that God was God and he was the child of God. He never lost sight of his status, if you will, with God. His prayer life was not one of treating God like Santa Claus but seeing God in his awesome power. Daniel was truly desperate for more of God and his prayer life showed this.

e. He assumed the same position in prayer.

Have you ever spent time on your knees praying before the Lord? Have you assumed the prostrated position on the floor before a holy and awesome God? Perhaps some of us would do well to not simply “kneel in my heart” but actually make it a truly physical act of an inward reality.

2. A Morning of Deception (6:1-9)
The Medo-Persian government under King Darius was governed by 3 prime ministers and 120 satraps- that is, provincial administrators. Darius realized that he was getting fleeced by some of these leaders so he reorganized his kingdom, making Daniel one of the top three “presidents” and then considered giving him the leadership keys over his whole kingdom. This shows us that…

a. A Christian does not have to compromise to succeed.

God had honored Daniel for his faithfulness, so that he was practically the second ruler in the land. There were actually 124 persons involved in the leadership of the land: Darius the king, the three presidents (with Daniel as #1), and 120 princes. We see that Darius was so impressed with Daniel that he was planning to make him the official second ruler. The promotions of Daniel in Babylon are proof that a believer does not have to compromise to succeed (Matt. 6:33).

b. The wicked are continually jealous.

The other 122 leaders were not too happy about Daniel’s success. For one thing, he was an alien and a Jew. Satan has always hated God’s people and always did his best to persecute them and eliminate them. The wicked always hate the just. Certainly godly Daniel was honest and kept careful watch over the affairs of state; the other leaders were stealing from the king and covering up their thefts with false accounts.

c. Sometimes opposition will not make sense.

The wicked lie about God’s people. In this case, they told Darius that all the presidents agreed on the plan to worship him (v. 7) even though Daniel had never been consulted. But Darius, in his puffed up pride and gullibility, agreed to sign the decree without first consulting with his best president. But history shows that Darius was easily influenced by flattery.

Sometimes opposition will come up against us and it just won’t make sense. It’s one thing to run into antagonism and know what the reasons are. And then there are those times when someone will oppose us that seemed like they were on our side.

d. The Christian always trusts God- no matter what!

But notice Daniel’s attitude in all of this: he trusted God (v. 23).

3. A Noon of Decision (6:10-13)
How many times have any of us received bad news? What do we do in those times? Do we stew in worry all day? Or do we hit our knees in prayer?

a. Daniel refused to altar his lifestyle to accommodate sin.

Daniel was one of the first ones to hear of the new decree, and he had to decide what to do. Of course, his godly character and spiritual walk had already decided for him: he would serve the Lord and pray to Jehovah just as he had always done.

b. Daniel refused to compromise his Biblical values.

Daniel could have made excuses and compromised. He was an old man who had served the Lord faithfully all his life. One little compromise at the end of his life could not do too much damage. Could he not be more useful to the Lord alive than dead? No. Daniel refused to compromise.

He chose rather to be eaten by lions than to miss one prayer meeting.

c. Daniel remained steadfast despite the peering eyes.

His enemies watched as Daniel went to his prayer chamber where the windows were always open (“Pray without ceasing”), and they could see him kneel and lift up his hands toward Jerusalem. Now they had him. But Daniel had peace in his heart. He was praying, giving thanks, and making supplication, and this is the formula for peace (Phil. 4:6-7).

d. Daniel had built a spiritual discipline that he was not about to break.

Daniel was used to praying and had been since he was a teenager. So to go to prayer in a time of distress was normal. He had built a spiritual discipline of prayer in his everyday life.

To our young people: It is important for you to see the wisdom in building spiritual habits when you are young.

4. A Sundown of Disappointment (6:14-17)

There are two very important realizations about Daniel’s predicament:
First,
a. King Darius was foolish and realized it too late. (v. 14)

Second,
b. Daniel’s Enemies reminded the king of the law. (v. 15)

The king realized what a fool he had been, but even his power and wealth could not alter the law of the Medes and Persians.

c. God did not want Darius to deliver Daniel; that was a privilege He was reserving for Himself.

Daniel was not depending on the king either. Psalm 146:3 tells us: “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in mortal men, who cannot save.”

Have we learned like Daniel the whole idea of trusting God no matter what circumstance we are in? When you are faced with a den of lions see what Daniel saw: God did not want to save Daniel from the lions’ den; He wanted to deliver him out of it.

And it may mean you go through a problematic situation, but in the midst of it- if you trust God- he will bring a deliverance that will blow you away.

5. A Night of Deliverance (6:18-23)

a. The contrast between Daniel and King Darius.

What a contrast between Darius in his palace and Daniel in the lions’ den. Darius had no peace, yet Daniel was perfectly at peace with himself, the Lord, and the lions. Daniel was in a place of perfect safety, for God was there.

Darius had labored all the previous day to save Daniel from judgment, yet he could not break his own laws. Daniel simply talked to the God of the universe and received all the power he needed. In every way, Daniel was reigning as king while Darius was a slave.

b. Daniel’s faith in God delivered him (6:23; Heb. 11:33).

It is amazing that he had any faith at all, after living in that idolatrous heathen land for so many years. His daily fellowship with the Lord was the secret: he had faith, and he was faithful. See Ps. 18:17-24.

Christians today face many temptations to compromise, and it often appears that the “safest” course is to go with the crowd. But this is the most dangerous course. The only really safe place is in the will of God. Daniel knew that it was wrong to worship the king and pray to him, because Daniel knew God’s Word. He would rather die obeying God’s Word than live outside of God’s will.

Satan comes as a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8-9) and uses our enemies to try to devour us (2 Tim. 4:17). However, God can deliver us if it is for His glory. It is not always God’s will to deliver His children from danger; many Christians have given their lives in the place of duty.

Jesus tells the Church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:10- “Be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life.”

6. A Morning of Destruction (6:24)

Morning finally arrives. Coffee is brewing in the diners. People are beginning another day of business and life. But in the palace of the king judgment is coming.

But God came through. God delivered Daniel from the mouths of the lions. And the sin of the those opposed to him was truly revealed.

I’ve wondered what these guys were thinking the next morning? Fear certainly had come over them to see that Daniel had survived. The result of their sin- like any other sin- had huge ramifications

a. Sin is always a tragedy.

Sin- in any way or form- is a tragedy. This should be a lesson to any of us who strive to demean or bring down any of God’s people.

b. Reaping the whirlwind of what one sows.

Galatians 6:7 gives us this warning: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Hosea 8:7- “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”

Sin out of control has it penalty that is usually far greater than the crime itself.

It’s frustrating to see the results of what sin does in a person’s life. Look at these jealous leaders who attempted to dispose of Daniel in a false way: death. They brought the wrath of the King upon them that not only affected them but their wives and children.

Let me interject this warning: there are those Christians who have tried to bring down God’s leaders- especially pastors that they have disagreed with. Things are inappropriately said, rumors are invented and spread. In fact, if a spiritual leader falls from grace they seem to take great delight.

Furthermore, in our community more recently, the Village Council has made a personnel decision that some people have vehemently disagreed with. Now I am not setting them up as “Daniels” in this case, but they are governmental leaders that we must respect as Christians.

Whether they have made the right decision, recently, or not isn’t the issue here. What is an issue to me is the backyard gossip and unfounded accusations about council members. This is thoroughly and completely inappropriate. The same holds true for any of the same being spoken about the person they dismissed. I would hope that we as Christians and especially members of this Wesleyan Church set an example of doing what is right.

For any of us that have been falsely accused, hang in there. Truth and God somehow win out in the end.

c. God will always be glorified.

Remember, God always vindicates His own. “The righteous is delivered from trouble, and it comes to the wicked instead.” (Proverbs 11:18)

God permitted Daniel to go through this experience (vv. 25-27). Why? Because it brought great glory to His name. When Christians overcome temptation, they always glorify the Lord, even if only the angels and demons are watching. May we, like the Apostle Paul, desire that Christ might be magnified in our bodies, as he wrote “whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20).

7. The Dawn of New-found Faith. (25-28)

King Darius discovered through Daniel’s unshakable faith the realization of God and seems to have put his personal trust in him.

So what do we learn from King Darius’ and his reaction the next morning?

a. Our actions do influence other people.

b. Do right when people are looking and when people are not looking.

c. Trust God to see you through the tribulation.

d. Know that God has a bigger plan than you can see.

Conclusion: Final Lessons from the Lion’s Den:

• Daniel exhibited a life-time of trusting and obeying.

What is your life-time habit going to be? Do you trust God? Are you obedient to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life?

• Prayer is the heart-beat of your relationship with God.
Is prayer a spiritual habit that defines your private life with Christ? I don’t ask this to build up guilt but to draw each of us into a necessary lifestyle. Prayer to the Christian should be like water and food to a thirsty and hungry man.

• There's no need to worry about today... or tomorrow.

Do you worry about the situation and circumstances you are in right now? Worry is a natural by product of being human. But God calls us to supersede worry with trusting him.

Wednesday Nite Bible Study- "Paul's Six Questions" Romans 8:28-39

2007-08-14T14:33:00.000-04:00

PAUL’S SIX QUESTIONS
Romans 8:28-39

1. The Question that Affirms Our Faith.

What shall we say in response to this? (v. 31a)

There is no need to fret over what God will do. In times of frustration where is our faith? In times of rejection where is our faith? In times of hardship where is our faith?

What should our response be?

We have a confidence due to our faith in Jesus Christ. We have a sure salvation.
(Isaiah 12:1-3)

2. The Question that Reminds us of God’s Power.

If God be for us who can be against us? (v. 31b)

God is for us and not against us. The all-powerful, the all-knowing and all-seeing God is on our side. This should give us the security that we need in the face of insurmountable odds. (Psalm 91:5, Job 11:18)

3. The Question that Acknowledges God’s Faithfulness.

Will he not also graciously give us all things? (v. 32b)

The proof is that He gave His very best on the cross. Surely He will freely give us anything else we need. As God’s children bought by the blood of Christ, we have the riches of his grace at our disposal. (Philippians 4:19; Titus 3:4-7)

4. The Question that Ridicules the World’s Objections.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? (v. 33)

Can anyone indict us for sin? No! We have been justified, and that standing before God never changes. (Hebrews 13:6, Psalm 112:7)

5. The Question that Mocks Satan’s Accusations.

Who is he that condemns? (v. 34a)

Can anyone condemn us? No! Christ died for us and lives now as our Advocate (lawyer) at God’s right hand. (Romans 8:1, John 3:18)

6. The Question that Confirms God’s Love.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (v. 35a)

Can anything separate us from God’s love? No! Not even the devil himself can separate us! (“principalities and powers”—v. 38). (John 10:28, Matt. 28:20)

God does not keep His child immune from trouble. Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real.

a. “Shall tribulation …?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be—whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness—it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).

b. “Shall distress?” Can God’s love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

c. “Shall famine?” Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we are being starved?

d. “Shall nakedness?” What about our Wesleyan brothers and sisters in foreign lands who were turned out of their homes at night, stripped of their clothes as they fled into the Sierra Leone jungle? Are they separated from the love of God?

e. “Shall danger or sword?” “Where does the love of God go when minutes are turned into hours?” (“Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot) What about those loneliest moments a person bears prior to death itself?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it—the love of God in Christ Jesus. (Oswald Chambers)

August 5, 2007- "The Tim Horton's Gospel Message"

2007-08-14T13:26:00.000-04:00

Aug5’07
THE TIM HORTON’S GOSPEL MESSAGE

Everybody is an evangelist. Every company is trying to give to you their good news.

Leonard Sweet aptly points out: “The best and brightest in the corporate world are proud to be known as evangelists. Why do you think the business world plugged into the power evangelism just as the church seems to have lost the vision?” (The Gospel According to Starbucks p. 15)

He goes on to tell his readers to listen to the following:
• Japan’s hottest phone vendor, Yasumitsu Shgeta, calls himself a “phone evangelist.”
• Larry Gibson is a former West Virginia mining maintenance worker who has done a turnaround. He calls himself an “evangelist of the environmental cause.”
• John Bates, cofounder of BIGWORDS.com and Redioner has a calling card that reads: “John Bates, Evangelist.”
• Karen Allen of the Recording Industry Association of America is known as “Internet Evangelist.”
• One of six questions asked by Russell Reynolds Associates to determine whether you have “Web DNA” is this: “Are you more evangelical than Matthew, Mark, Luke or John?”
• Business Week magazine selected as one of the greatest innovator managers of the past 75 years was John F. Welch of General Electric and bestowed him with the title “Management Evangelist.”
(Ibid., pp. 15-16)

There’s something terribly wrong when the business world recognizes something that someone else is supposed to be doing, but aren’t so they take the idea and make money off of it. They have hijacked our terminology and, yes, our very livelihoods as the Church to use for personal gain. At the center of what they do is not the living and holy Savior Jesus Christ, but the idea of making profit.

But rather than be distracted with what they are doing we need to take notice so that we can be doing what we are supposed to be doing Each one of you here is an evangelist. Your life is sharing some kind of so-called “good news.” The message of your life tells other people what is at the center of who you are and what is the most important aspect your life.

One of my favorite watering holes in Canada is a place you have heard me speak of time and again: Tim Horton’s. There is something special about their coffee and donuts on an early morning heading out to the lake to catch a full limit of bluegills. Who is Tim Hortons?

Tim Horton’s is what some might be tempted to call the Canadian Dunkin Donuts. Yes they sell coffee and yes they sell donuts. But don’t get them confused. After that, the comparisons fall apart. Tim Horton’s prides themselves on 20 minute coffee and one of the widest varieties of sweets you’ll find anywhere.

Let me share the a brief history about Tim Horton’s. Whether you have heard of them or not, I think you will see some important parallels for us as a church.

The Tim Hortons chain was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario by a hockey player named- well, you guessed it- Tim Horton. The chain’s focus is on top quality, always fresh product, value, great service and community leadership. This has allowed it to grow into the largest quick service restaurant chain in Canada specializing in always fresh coffee, baked goods and homestyle lunches.

The first Tim Hortons stores offered only two products – coffee and donuts. The selection of donuts to enjoy was highlighted by two original Tim Hortons creations, the Apple Fritter and the Dutchie. They became the most popular donut choices in the 60’s, and remain two of the most popular today.

But as consumer tastes grew, so did the choices at Tim Hortons. The biggest change in the chain’s product focus took place in 1976 with the introduction of the phenomenally successful Timbit (bite-sized donut hole), today available in over 35 different varieties. The chain’s growth into the 1980’s brought about a whole series of new product introductions: muffins (1981), cakes (1981), pies (1982), croissants (1983), cookies (1984), and soups & chili (1985). Sandwiches, which were originally introduced in 1993, were re-introduced as a new and improved line-up of 6 varieties, called “Tim’s Own”, in 1998. Also, in the 1990’s, bagels (1996), flavored cappuccino (1997), Café Mocha (1999) and Iced Cappuccino (1999) were introduced. In 2003, the Turkey Bacon Club sandwich and Maple Pecan Danish were successful menu additions. In 2005 Tim Hortons introduced, Yogurt & Berries, Cinnamon Roll and Hot Smoothee to the menu. Many new great products were added to the menu in 2006 such as the Chicken Salad Wrap and the hot Breakfast Sandwich (eggs, sausage or bacon, processed cheese on a toasted homestyle biscuit).

The chain’s biggest drawing card remains its legendary Tim Hortons coffee. They throw away their left over coffee every 20 minutes. You are always guaranteed a fresh cup of coffee every time.

In 1995, Tim Hortons merged with Wendy’s International, Inc. Tim Hortons locations can presently be found in Michigan, Maine, Connecticut, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York, with responsible expansion continuing in these core markets. Currently, there are more than 2,723 stores across Canada, and over 339 locations in the United States.

As I have compared the Tim Horton’s message of top quality, fresh product, value, great service and community leadership to 2 John I have seen some very important aspects of the Gospel Message for us as a church this morning. I pray that I have not stretched the scriptures where it should not be stretched or fall short of what the scriptures say to us in our 21st century padded pew church.

God wants our Church- Shelby Wesleyan Church- to all that it can be for the glory of Jesus Christ. He desires to see us have a grande passion for Jesus Christ in our everyday life, a grande passion for those around us and a grande passion for our community and world. So what is it about the Tim Horton’s gospel message that should shake us awake this morning?

1. Significant Qualities of the Gospel Message.

(Top Quality)

Stamping a seal on products is very important to any food item in the marketplace. When you get your cup of coffee in a Starbucks coffee cup, that cup is the seal that guarantees your coffee drink satisfaction. If you are not satisfied you can return it for another or get your money back.

Top quality is a goal for every company that is worth its salt in the marketplace. How much more crucial is it, then, for the Church to have top quality as its goal.

But there is something different about the Church. The difference isn’t that we make ourselves into being something- as though we were a Tim Hortons restaurant. The difference is what God the Father through Jesus Christ has already done in us.

The significant aspects of the gospel message includes these three key components that the Apostle John opens his letter with:

a. The Church. (1-2)

“To the elect lady and her children…” This is the church. John was not likely writing to another Christian lady with a family but to a church. The Church is key to the gospel message.

b. The Truth

He then goes on to speak about truth five times. He emphasizing the very fact that as Christians and as a Church the truth resides in our hearts. Jesus Christ is the very source of this truth. Every Church ministry must operate in truth and be accountable to that truth. Every Christian must likewise be held accountable for the truth that we are supposed to know and understand and live by.

Another component is referred to by way of the grace, mercy and peace that are found through Jesus Christ.

c. The Cross.

These three elements come only from God and they are evident in our lives when we live a life that is immersed in truth and love.

2. A Fresh Product found in the Gospel Message.

(Fresh product)

When I used to work at Publix Supermarket in Florida, I loved coming into our store early in the morning and smelling the bakery in full swing. Ahhh! What a wonderful way to start the day- a fresh baked donut.

As a Christian every day of your life must be lived liked the fragrance of a bakery- early in the morning. Unfortunately, too many of us let our morning breath get the better of day.

But God’s word calls us to something greater than ourselves because there is supposed to be someone greater who lives within us.

Christianity needs to be fresh everyday. But too often we would rather keep passing our day-old message rather than pray up a new message for today. Again, the Apostle John sets us up with some factors that effect the fresh product of our gospel message.

a. Walking in the Truth.
b. Loving One Another.
c. Obeying God’s Commandments.

How much simpler can this get? Walk in the truth- that is, tell the truth and let the truth lead your life; love others- not with a love that is of yourself but the love that God filled your heart with when he saved you from your death of sins; and then simply obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit.

3. The Value of the Gospel Message.

(Value)

We need to beware of deceivers who bark their wares from all parts of the world. I appreciate those of you who come to me with questions about books you’re reading or a television preacher’s comments. We need to constantly be aware of how Satan strives to trip us up with

In the days of the early Church there were a group of people who moved in and out of churches spreading dissension through false teachings. These were called Gnostics.

Gnostics were not simply an off-shoot of Christianity, but were around before Christ. They sought to undermine Christianity by just what John writes: “They do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.” They deny the very essence of who God is, the truth of Jesus Christ and the real working of the Holy Spirit. They perceive themselves as religious people who receive mysterious and transcendent spiritual because they are open to truth coming from any source. But yet they reject the realities of Jesus Christ.

The core value of the gospel message is found first of all in Jesus Christ.

a. Jesus Christ as our Core Value.

At the very heart of who we are as Christians and the Church is Jesus Christ. We cannot get away from this. Jesus is our core value. And from this core value of Christ must emanate the whole ministry of the Church.

b. The Church representing that Core Value.

We represent Jesus Christ. When you as a Wesleyan pump gas at Wesco or Clarke’s or BP, you represent this church. The things your do and say in the restaurant represent this church- not just you.

Our message has value not because we are Wesleyans but because we are Christians. We represent the greater local church of Jesus Christ here in Shelby.

4. Christian Service is the Gospel Message.

(Great Service)

a. The Church as a Safeguard:
Keeping what we have worked for.

b. The Church as a Mission:
Teaching what our lives are all about.

5. The Impact of the Gospel Message.

(Community Leadership)

Let’s not kid ourselves about this gospel message that every Christian carries within their heart. That message must have some kind of impact in the world around us.

There is a key phrase found in verse 12: “our joy may be full.” The Apostle John writes to the church that he desires to meet them face to face so that they can both enjoy full impact of what Jesus Christ is doing.

Let me make clear that there is no room in this church ministry for jealousy of any other church ministry. It is not our place to become conceited about what we do nor is it our place to become bitter over what someone else is doing. We should glorify our Father in heaven for how God uses others to reach and touch lives.

There is something that is fulfilling to any church that is impacting its world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. What kind of impact is this supposed to have?

a. We influence our community.

If we don’t who will? God is calling on us to have an influence of holiness in our community. Last year during a meeting with other local pastors, one of them looked across the table at me and said these words: “Rob, your church has a history of holiness. Our community needs the holiness message that your church offers.”

The Holy Spirit spoke to me that moment. We have a rich heritage of holiness that most of us have a hard time grasping and yet it is the message that we have traditionally believed sets a person free from the tentacles of sin, the bondages of alcohol and drugs, and frees the sinner not only from the guilt of their sins, but frees them from their sinfulness and sets them free to serve the living God.

b. We inspire other believers.

Notice in verse 13: “The children of your elect sister greet you.” These words tells the church that John is writing to that they are not in the boat all alone. There is another church doing the gospel message through their lives just like them.

I firmly believe that we must recognize the importance of being in the same boat with other Christians. I love our times together with other Christians. At the crusade this week we have an opportunity to mingle with other Wesleyan type people like us. You need this. Our church needs this.

Conclusion.

Businesses such as Tim Hortons have figured out how to make coffee and donuts into money. Their good news is that fresh coffee and donuts are the very thing you need. And if your wife doesn’t think so, then she can have a bowl of chili and tea biscuit You see, their good news is a gospel message that they have something for everybody.

What is our gospel message?

Our role as a church in sharing the gospel message that Jesus saves. And this message is shared when we live this message.

July 22, 2007- "Being a Church with a Grande Passion"

2007-08-14T13:23:00.000-04:00

July22’07
Being a Church with a Grande Passion!
Luke 9:32

TOP TEN RESPONSES IF YOU ARE CAUGHT SLEEPING ON THE JOB

10. "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."
9. "This is just a 15 minute power-nap as described in that time management course you sent me."
8. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the White-Out. You probably got here just in time!"
7. "I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm."
6. "I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance."
5. "I was doing Yoga exercises to relieve work-related stress."
4. "Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem."
3. "The coffee machine is broken..."
2. "Someone must've put decaf in the wrong pot..."
1. " ... in Jesus' name. Amen."

If we are going to be a church with a grande passion then we need to be a church that is fully awake and fully engaged with the mission God has called us to.

If we are to be a church with a grande passion then we need Christians who have a grande passion.

What does this mean? There is something that happens when the Church is fully awake. We become a church of passion. We are fervent in our prayers, ardent in our worship and zealous in our outreach. Why? We have passion for God and his ministry.

On the contrary, our enemy works hard to lull us to sleep. Too many Christians and too many churches suffer from a slumbering spirit that keeps them from being all that God wants them to be.

One of the great joys of coffee is that the caffeine generally keeps people awake and makes their thinking sharper. Of course, for a small few coffee has no affect on their sleep habits and causes other issues. But by and large, people have used coffee as a way to stay awake during a sleepy afternoon or a long over-night drive somewhere. Obviously, too much dependence on coffee can create a whole host of other problems.

However, what we as the church need most is not a good dose of caffeine but the filling of the Holy Spirit. We need God the Holy Spirit to wake us up so that we can see the glory of Christ at work in our everyday lives and at work in the ministry of his church. We desperately need to wake up and be the church we are called to be.

What is this supposed to look like?
A Church with a Grande Passion is…

1. A Church that Looks with Eyes Wide Open.

There is an unusual illness that is called narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder caused by the brain's inability to regulate sleep-wake cycles normally. At various times throughout the day, people with narcolepsy, experience fleeting urges to sleep. If the urge becomes overwhelming, individuals will fall asleep for periods lasting from a few seconds to several minutes. In rare cases, some people may remain asleep for an hour or longer. Other symptoms that go with this are hallucinations during sleep, temporary paralysis and loss of voluntary muscle use. (Narcolepsy Information Page) Some contributing factors to narcolepsy would be sleep apnea, shift workers who oftentimes do not have consistent sleeping habits and drugs or excessive caffeine- especially before bedtime.

I had someone recently tell me of a teacher they once had who would literally fall asleep for about 45 seconds during her lectures. And then pick right up where she left off without missing a beat.

To be a church with a grande passion means being a church that is fully awake. In order to truly see the world around us and for us to truly see the needs that our community has means for us to have the eyes of our heart wide open.

In 1 Chronicles 12:32, the sons of Issachar understood the times and knew what the nation of Israel should do. In the same sense, we as a Church need to have a fresh vision of our times so that we can have better understanding of what we should do.

There are three crucial factors that we need to be aware of:

a. We need to be Aware of our Surroundings.

What works in the inner-city of Grand Rapids or Chicago may not be the thing that works for us. And what worked for the cornfield church that I came from may not be the thing that works here. The point is that we need to be aware of the changing culture that is all around us. We need to be aware of the changing needs of the people of our church and neighborhood.

b. We need to be Aware of our Enemy.

Satan does not desire to see this church impact this community or any other part of the world. He goes “to and fro like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” When we face battles and frustrations we have to be aware that our enemy is not people but the devil and his forces of darkness.

c. We must always be Aware of our Power.

The devil cannot touch us as long as we trust in our Lord. He cannot thwart our plans or undermine our efforts so long as we are walking after the Spirit in all we do. Jesus said that “he will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail.” In other words, hell itself cannot hold us back as a Church from achieving what God calls you and I to achieve.

Our worst enemy to evangelism, to outreach, to growing in numbers and seeing people’s lives change is us. We are our worst enemy. But the church with a grande passion for God, for God’s people and for those who need Jesus is going to be a church whose eyes are wide open and sees what needs to be done.

Furthermore, the church with a grande passion is a…

2. A Church that Loves to Love.

How do we keeping on loving even when we don’t feel like it?

Everyone gets sleepy from time to time, but if sleepiness of spirit is keeping you from loving others on a daily basis, you may be suffering from a slumbering spirit. A few years ago I spoke about this issue and challenged us to be awake in the Spirit. To do so means that we eliminate issues in our life that blocks the work of God. It’s like a river where the water is blocked by a dam of some kind. Too often our love for others cannot flow into their lives because we are asleep in spirit.

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What does it mean for us to be awake and fully engaged as a loving Church? Somehow I cannot help but believe that when we are awakened we will see the full glory of Christ at work in our lives and the ministry. Obstacles will not be seen as barriers to what God desires to do.

a. You will Love God with ALL of your Heart.

A fully awake Christian is one whose heart is totally and completely devoted to God. There is no holding back of anything. We have surrendered our hopes and dreams to our heavenly Father who has better hopes and dreams for us.

b. You will Love others as yourself.

Of course, it helps if you have the proper self-esteem that is drawn from Christ in order to truly love others as you should. A person who loves their neighbor as them self is one who is not intimidated by what they have, do or receive. We aren’t jealous of them or covet their things.

A person who loves their neighbor as them self is one who confidently walks by faith in their own salvation. They are not engaging in behaviors that undermines their position in Christ Jesus. They know that they are not their own- they’ve been bought with a price.

Get a church full of Christians like this and you have a “Bath Bomb” waiting to happen. And the result?

 Shelby Wesleyan Church Loves its community more than its status.

 Shelby Wesleyan Church Loves each other more than self.

 Shelby Wesleyan Church Loves anyone even when it hurts to Love them.

Are you a loving Christian? If not, then I challenge you to allow the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with love to over-flowing. Let God strip you down to where all you have is his love in your heart.

Are we a truly loving church? If not, then it’s high time we became one. Not because we are so determined to be a loving church but because we have opened our heart and soul to the revival fires of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s be the church that loves just because it’s the way we are.

The third important aspect of being a church with a grande passion is…

3. Church that Longs to see the glory of Jesus.

Like a lot of Americans, when I wake up in the morning I love a good cup of coffee. Even when its decaf, I still enjoy the warmth of the coffee mug on my cold hands and the taste of fresh brew on my tongue. And on especially cold fall mornings, there is nothing I long for more than to get my deer blind in the dark and pour a hot cup of joe and wait for the big one to show up and join me.

As a church, we should have a longing for something more and something better than what we enjoy here on earth. We should be a church that longs to see the glory of God.

“When they became fully awake they saw the glory his glory.”

Not only do we see with open eyes the needs of the community around us and we respond with a heart of love, but when we are fully awake we will see the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ. What might his glory of look like for us?

a. We will thirst for more of God.

It’s easy enough to sing such songs as we have today: “Lord, lift me up and let stand on heaven’s tableland.” This song relates what it is live a life fully awake. In each verse, the Christian is testifying to new steps of faith, and a thirst for more of what God has for him or her. This Christian longs to catch a glimpse of “glory bright.” We can sing such things but can we truly live such things?

Is there a thirst in your life for more of God? If there is then your life will reflect a desire for what matters to God most. What is it that matters to God more than anything else in all of the world?

People. And so the result is that…

b. We pray to see others come to Jesus.

A longing church is a church that longs to see others come to Jesus Christ. It’s wonderful to talk about missions and missionaries and the need for people’s lives to be changed. But it’s quite another to get on our knees in prayer and fasting to see people experience the transforming power of Jesus Christ in their life. It’s wonderful to hear you sing of when Jesus came into your heart. But it’s quite another to pray that others sing with us of when Jesus came into their heart. How urgent is your prayer for those lost in sin?

Not only do we pray for others to come to Christ but we come alongside of those around us and…

c. We urge others towards heaven.

Within this very congregation there are all sorts of personalities and with that comes personality conflicts. In our community we at least ten different churches- two of them Wesleyan. There are certainly differences between each one.

Even though these things are going to exist, one thing we must do is heed Hebrews 10:24- “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” The writer prods us as Christians to look at ways that we can help each other along life’s journey.

He (or she) goes on to write that famous verse 25- “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Conclusion:

Somehow in the mix of these things, we will see heaven come down to earth. You see, to believe in Jesus Christ, to follow his ways and to participate in his ministry means that I am going to witness his glory taking place through the ministry of the Church.

Peter, James and John saw the glory of Christ. And when they did, they wanted to build monuments and stay in that place. But what did Jesus do? He urged them to move on; in much the same way that when experience the presence of Christ in ministry we move on to share what we saw.

As we begin to celebrate the Lord’s supper this morning I want to challenge us to be a church that looks at our world with our eyes wide open, to love loving God, one another and others and being a church longs to see the glory of Christ.

July 15 & August 12, 2007- "Living the Life You Would Gladly Stand in Line For"

2007-08-14T13:18:00.000-04:00

THIS BEGINS MY COFFEE SERIES- BECOMING THE CHURCH WITH A GRANDE PASSION. This first sermon was actually preached in two parts- July 15 & August 12.

July15’07

Walking in the Spirit:
Living the Life You Would Gladly Stand in Line For
John 14:25-26, Galatians 5:16, 1 John 3:9, Ezekiel 11:19

One of the great frustrations is standing in line. I am a busy guy and I do not like standing and waiting for anything. In fact, you find me spending more time looking for a shorter line than standing in one. Standing in line is my pet-peeve about stores.

What I have discovered about the Christian life is that to grow means to wait. Over and over we learn through the scriptures that waiting is crucial to growth. The Old Testament saints had to wait for the coming Promise of Christ. The disciples were told at the ascension of Christ to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. And all new believers are told that we are to watch and wait for this same Jesus who will return to earth someday.

God has something better for us who wait. God has something far better for those of us impatient about his blessings or anxious for the next new thing. God has something for you today that makes waiting worthwhile.

When Naomi and I were dating we couldn’t wait for our wedding day when could finally tie the knot. Then after we married we couldn’t wait to have children. Then after children we couldn’t wait for them to go to school- all day. Then after they went to school we couldn’t wait for them to become teenagers and start carrying their wait around the house. (No laughter, please.) Then after they became teenagers we couldn’t wait for them to graduate high school. And now we are in waiting mode again: waiting for them to finish college, waiting for grandchildren and waiting for our final retirement.

Life is filled with waiting. But there is something far better than any of this. In fact, for the rest of the summer I want us to focus on the kind of life that is worth standing in line for. Like waiting for a good cup of Starbucks Coffee™ there is something far better for those who walk by faith. And today I want us to wrap our thinking around what it means to live our life by the Holy Spirit.

Let me be honest: I am tired of trying to build a church. I am tired of trying to make everybody happy- especially me. I am tired of trying to be all things to everyone and seeing no one saved as a result. I desire a fresh vision from God. I long to catch a wave of the Holy Spirit in my own life.

This past week, God gave me a fresh vision for ministry. The reality, however, is that it’s not a fresh vision but a revival of an old one. God gave me a vision of heaven during worship at campmeeting last week. “When with the ransomed in glory, I shall see his face. It will be my joy forever, to sing of his love for me!”

I long to go to heaven in a way I have not in years. I long to see my Savior, Jesus Christ, face to face. I long to sing with the heavenly chorus forever of what his sacrificial love has done in my heart and what his love has done for my life.

What does it really mean to be a Christian? What does it really mean to have Jesus Christ in your heart and the leading of the Holy Spirit in your daily life?

Where is the desire to stand in line and wait on God in prayer?

Where is the desire to stand in line at an altar of prayer confessing our sins and waiting for the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit to work through the blood of Christ?

Where is the desire to stand in line for the kind of life worth standing in line for? If I can stand in line at the Caribou Coffee stand at the Detroit Airport for a cup of black elixir then surely I can stand in line and wait on God!!

God has something better for you. And to him you’re always next in line. So what lessons does our Lord desire to teach us today?

1. There are Two Great Changes in the Christian’s life.

Remember that moment you got saved? Remember that day when Jesus became yours and you became his? Remember how he called you out of a life of sin?

It does not matter if you came from a life of crime and deep sin to Jesus Christ, or if you came from the house sitting next door to heaven. You were lost in your sin. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Just because some of you sinned real sins and some of you only thought about sinning real sins, you were all still sinners who needed Christ.

The first change is the…

a. Change from a perishing sinner into a saved believer.

I was once lost in sin- or as the old hymn goes, “I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore.” But then Jesus entered my life.

There is a great change that takes place. This is not merely switching sides or trading teams; this is a transformation of your life. You are no longer a sinner in rebellion against God but now you are a saint- one of God’s children.

The change that happens is this kind of quantum leap- from sinner to saint. The process of transformation begins at your new birth. God begins to clean up your life through the ministry of the Church and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The second change is the…

b. Change from a fleshly believer into a spiritual Christian.

God’s goal is not that you would receive Jesus Christ so that you can get into heaven, but his goal is that you would receive Jesus Christ so that he can bring heaven down to earth and into your life. In the words of Max Lucado: “He loves you just the way you are but he doesn’t want you stay that way; he wants you to be like Jesus.”

And this is where a lot of Christians get stuck. They desire to go on to maturity as a Christian, but they begin to flounder and fail. And what happens is that they settle into a life of ease. They soon forget the waiting game of faith; they forget the power that changed their heart; they forget that there is something beyond belief that God is calling them to.

And so when a pastor calls on people to evangelize or get more involved in ministry or give of your money or share your talents and gifts, people seem to be “…ever hearing but never understanding, ever seeing but never perceiving.” (Isaiah 6:9)

But there are windows of spiritual growth opportunities that every church at one time or another opens. We go through “Forty Days of Purpose” or “The Fruitful Life” or this past spring, “Spring Life.” We work hard at becoming more spiritual and more fruitful and more mature.

However, we struggle. Yes, I included myself in this statement. None of us are exempt. What is it that can truly change the fleshly believer who likes himself more than God and others and who just simply want a “Santa Claus” God to believe in? What is it that can truly make you a spiritual believer who trusts God so much that you will give up anything and everything to follow Christ?

There must be something that more to spirituality than going to church. There must be something more to spirituality than being nice to other people. There must be something more to spirituality than keeping the rules.

How do YOU become a spiritual believer? How do YOU become a spiritual person who pleases God in all that you do?

2. Only the Holy Spirit can make the believer spiritual.

During the American Civil War [I know it is supposed to be called the “War Between the States” but this is easier for people to grasp], the South started out of the gate winning battles and truly showing their courage and leadership. However, the North had a plan through President Abraham Lincoln. Say what you want about his struggles to find good generals, he had a plan and stuck to it. What was that plan? Win the Mississippi River and blockade the southern cities from doing trade with other countries. This was critical to winning the war- especially the imports. He knew that the South didn’t have the industry to keep pace with weapons and machinery to win a war. In the end, the Union achieved its goals and won the war.

One of the little known problems that exemplified the South’s struggle with winning was one item: coffee. More than tea, coffee represented whether they were successful or unsuccessful. Slowly but surely a good cup of coffee was becoming increasingly difficult to come by. So they found inventive ways to make coffee: chicory, roots and other non-coffee grinds mixed with coffee to make it last. And as the South began losing battle after battle, those of prestige and power felt its reality first-hand every morning.

Here’s the deal: coffee is coffee. You can’t make coffee out of anything else. Sure, you can add your flavors and cream and sugar, but you cannot get true coffee flavor out of anything else but coffee. The same holds true to the life of a Christian.

You cannot get true spirituality out of any other source. Only the Holy Spirit can make you, the believer, spiritual.

So how does this work? I’m glad you asked.

There are two sides to the cross that Jesus died on. These two sides make all the difference in the world for your spiritual life. You cannot live one side without the other side. Get them out of balance or ignore them- as many Christians do- and your life will be miserable. What are they?

a. The Destructive Side of the Cross.

This is the negative side of the cross. On the destructive side, the cross destroys everything that originates from the man in the Garden of Eden called Adam.

Through Adam, sin entered into the world. If you want to blame anyone for your sin problem you can blame Adam. It’s his fault. He in turn, blamed “that woman.” (Romans 5:12, Genesis 3:12)

As a sinner who comes to Jesus Christ, God begins to work in your heart. He may start by eliminating the really serious sins. I know a fellow in our church back in our college days who was in the process of quitting smoking. God was working through a process of destroying sin in his life but left this issue until later. And when later arrived, God began to work through the ministry of the church to help him come to victory over that area.

But too often, Christians want to hang on certain things. They come to a certain point of surrender but then back off. They give up certain sins like adultery but maybe they hang on to pornography. They give up certain sins like lying but they still like to gossip. They give up certain sins like stealing but then they think nothing of stiffing the paper carrier.

They fall into this “how bad can I be and still be okay” attitude.
On and on, we can go. People who call themselves Christians become poor examples of the Christ-life. Why? Well, it’s because they are not allowing the destructive side of the cross destroy the sin that so easily entangles them.

Are you free from sin this morning? Or are there some nagging sins that you have hidden in the floor of your tent? Are you truly allowing the destructive side of the cross to do the work of crucifying the sin in your life?

But wait, there’s more. There are people who have stamped out sin in their life. They have overcome every bad habit, paid their tithes and offerings and are now ready for heaven. But their lives seem to be void of power for daily living. Their faith is weak, they’re stuck in elementary issues and they have reduced spirituality to simply remaining victorious over past sin habits.

Pride is their problem. It’s a dangerous sin because it causes a subtle separation between the believer and the God he or she serves. Without realizing it they come to depend upon their self rather than the Holy Spirit.

But praise God in Jesus Christ there is another side of the cross:

b. The Constructive Side of the Cross.

This is the positive side of the cross. On the destructive side, the Holy Spirit is destroying our sinfulness and self. On that side, there is a full crucifixion taking place to sin and self.

On the constructive side, the Holy Spirit builds up everything from Christ so that you can be spiritual. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works through the crucifixion blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said in John 15:25- “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

It is the Holy Spirit who builds you up so that you can be spiritual. It is the Holy Spirit who brings power to your life. It is the Holy Spirit who takes your old life and gives you a new life. This was Jesus’ plan for his disciples and it is his plan for you now.

The Holy Spirit is the one who entirely sanctifies your life. As you submit your sin habits and your selfishness, God the Holy Spirit moves through your spirit, soul and body and sanctifies you wholly.

This is the life of the Spirit. This is the life I would gladly stand in line for. How about you? Do you long to have the Holy Spirit do a work in your life that cleanses you of that dirty, filthy sin?

Here’s the thing: You cannot be spiritual if you are drinking stuff made from the wrong coffee beans. And the world we live in can make all kinds of imitations but it cannot perform the true work of the Holy Spirit in your heart that then sweeps through your life. This is what changes you and makes you a truly new creation in the image of God’s son, Jesus Christ.

What this means then is…

Conclusion: To be the kind of Christian you ought to be means
belonging to the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul knew what it meant to trust in God and not in our self. He warns the Galatian believers that the way of following the “Judaizers” was a way of following the power of the flesh- a person’s self-will and sinful nature. You cannot please God with sin or in your own strength. So he wrote these words: “So I say live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” To live any other way is to live by the world’s standard. But to live by the Spirit- well, that’s a life worth standing in line!

When you belong to the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit is truly working in your heart there will be evidence. We call this fruit. What is your life supposed to look like when sin is absent and God is truly God in your life?

a. There will be fruit… But where’s the fruit?

An apple tree bears apples. A cherry tree bears cherries. Grape vines bear grapes. This is what they are supposed to do. And as a Christian your life should bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

b. There will be power for all situations… but where’s the power?

There will be a strengthening of your inner spirit.

We have too many Christians who are weak in spirit. Their spirit has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, but they have allowed too much of self and sin to get into the way of Holy Spirit work.

So how does you inner spirit get stronger? Through the preaching, teaching and study of the Scriptures.

c. There will be wisdom… but are we using it?

You cannot get smarter spiritually if the number one reading item in your life is the newspaper. You cannot get true spiritual wisdom from the things of the world any more than you can from godless horoscopes.

Only the Holy Spirit can give you true wisdom to know right from wrong. How does he work?

• Through the Scriptures.

• Through your Church: Pastor, discipleship, and ministry involvement.

• Through your spiritual friends.

• Through your inner spirit.

d. There will be victory over sin… but why do we seem to be losing?

When temptation comes your way you will have a power to resist the devil and he will flee from you. The Holy Spirit has come so that you might live the spiritual life not meant for just a certain few but meant for you.

The Apostle John wrote: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God.” When you became a Christian

e. You will experience true worship… but why do we look to other means for spiritual nourishment?

Do you long to just worship God? Do you long to have worship in daily life that glorifies God and strengthens your heart? This comes by the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your heart.

What about you this morning? What is it that you need to let go off so that the Holy Spirit can move through your heart and into your life, spilling over into the darkened world around?

I met a fellow at camp who has become a recent Christian with his wife at one of our churches. One of the areas that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to him about is the computer. And so, by the leading and power of the Holy Spirit, he has decided to turn off his computer for ninety days. That’s spirituality!

How about you today?

June 24, 2007 "Free to Rise and Shine"

2007-08-14T13:15:00.000-04:00

Jun24’07
FREE TO RISE AND SHINE
Isaiah 42:1-9, Galatians 5:1, Ephesians 1:4

People are a superstitious bunch. One of the areas of interest that all of us seem to have is what will happen in the future. Look at some of the ways we will go to find out about our future.

You can search through your newspaper and find the daily horoscope that will give you some direction for each day. Or you can go to a Chinese restaurant and after your California flower sushi you can crack open a fortune cookie and see not simply advice but a prediction for your good fortune. At the County Fair there is a booth where a soothsayer will read your palm and tell you about your future. You can pick up the telephone and call the Psychic Hotline.

All right, so you aren’t a superstitious person. But you still want to know what the future holds.

So you pick up the newspaper and read the financial page or you watch a cable news channel and get all sorts of Wall Street information to predict how well your investments will earn. Maybe you’ll call a Charles Schwab type.

My, oh my how we want to know what will happen to us. Not that we want to know if bad will occur but that something good will come to pass. We seek and look for something positive in our life. We long to know if this spiraling circle of pain and frustration will ever end and that good will come our way.

In Isaiah’s day the people of God were no different than we are today. They wanted to know what the future holds just like us. So they looked to other gods and idols. They sought after things made of wood and stone instead of the Living God. And so God speaks through Isaiah and makes his own prediction. He promises the coming of a Servant who will be God himself who will bring justice and mercy. This coming Servant will not break the bruised reed nor will he snuff out the flickering candle. Why is God promising this? Because he has called his people to righteousness and to be a light to a lost world. He has called you to something better and greater than just having an easy life.

1) Seeking Freedom from Corrupt Sources.

Everyone wants to be free. “Free to be me.” “Free to succeed.” Freedom is the anthem of the United States.

But where do we truly find freedom? The Apostle Paul writes to the Galatian churches calling on them to “Stand strong in the liberty…” But too often we forget the liberty we have in Christ and look elsewhere.

The world of Isaiah’s day did much the same thing. People looked for hope and freedom from idols and things. These corrupt sources could not do what God can do. What is it that people back then and today take a hold of in order to bring some kind of freedom into their life?

a. Money.

18th Century author and poet, James Russell Lowell, once wrote: “Wealth may be an excellent thing, for it means power, and it means leisure, it means liberty.” For most people, to have money means for them to have more leisure and liberty. Throw in security for safe measure and you have pretty good picture of how money can become an idol real fast.

The sad thing is that those who relentlessly pursue money find their life lived in a vacuum. They miss the joys of life because they have centered all of their decision-making around money. They have a hard time giving to the Lord’s work because they don’t want to lose financial ground.

Don’t get me wrong; to be good stewards of our income is critical to good spiritual health. But if we allow the bottom line of our estate to dictate how we give then we have missed the whole issue of living by faith and trusting in God.

On the flip side of the coin, those without money can be just as guilty of making money an idol. The result? They short-change society by ignoring what they owe and stealing from God by not tithing.

God wants us to have a healthy balance when it comes to money and not make money an idol.

b. Health.

There isn’t a person who doesn’t want good health. But we must be careful that we are not setting up our doctors and nurses as “gods.” They do a lot of good, but what about prayer? Do we really believe that God cares and heals our hurts and pains?

c. Education.

I am a firm believer in knowledge. I think that the worst thing is for a Christian to not know the scriptures and thereby not know God very well. I also believe in college education- whatever the cost. But good intellect is not the answer to the deepest hurts in your heart if that education does not include God. I did not agree with the village sign that had the quote: “A good education is the foundation of our youth.” A good education is important but not the most important thing in life. Education should not be an idol.

d. Success.

We all love success stories. Like Elmer Doolin who bought the recipe for some corn chips from a Mexican man in Texas who wanted to go back to Mexico in the 1930’s. He parlayed that $100 purchase into Fritos® corn chips and started the Frito Lay company.

Success is wonderful, but we can be so focused on it that it becomes an idol for far too many people.

e. People.

I heard that Paris Hilton is getting out of jail soon and is going to do an interview with NBC, of whom will give her a million dollars for some childhood photos. While in jail, she has set a record for the most mail received of any inmate before her.

Look at how we set up celebrities and worship what they do, what they wear, what they eat and where they go. We even do this in the church.

Again, let’s keep some balance. I have certain people that I hold in high regard. But I must realize that their feet are made of clay. They are not God. They are people.

We cannot allow people to become idols.

f. Things.

And then there are “things” that can easily become idols. How would you respond if someone rammed your car? I have seen two examples of that in my lifetime. I slid into a dear elderly lady’s car in the Oakwood Wesleyan parking lot. She was mad at me for several weeks. I was crushed in my spirit that such a thing would be so important to her. I apologized, offered to pay for the car but she would not speak to me at all. Until my pastor talked with her.

This last winter, someone in our church got dented while in service. How did they respond? Had it fixed. I offered to talk to the neighbors and find out who did it but they said there was no reason to.

These things we have- our home, our nic-nacs, our vehicles and anything else important will of no value when we get to heaven so why should they consume so much of our values here on earth.

These needful things are really not so needful if we keep our focus on God. God says to us just as he spoke to his people back in Isaiah’s day: “Indeed they are worthless; their works are nothing; their molded images are wind and confusion.”

And in your desperation of living a full life with corrupt sources, we can still miss the boat if we are…

2) Searching for Love in all the Wrong Places.

You want to be loved. Don’t deny it, don’t hide it and don’t run from it. You and I want to be loved by someone else.

That is only natural. We were born that way. God built into our very essence as human beings to love and be loved. But somewhere along the way- probably beginning in the Garden of Eden, that essence has been hijacked by the devil. People are running and searching everywhere for true love and true happiness. And most, including a lot of Christians, never find it.

And so, their life becomes filled with pain and misery in relationships that God cannot bless. What are some of the wrong places that people search for love?
We all want to be told that we are loved. I love to hear the words, “I love you” from my wife and kids the most. These are important.

What is it, then, that keeps so many people including some of you sitting here from truly experiencing the love of Jesus Christ in your heart and life? I can’t get exhaustive but I believer perhaps three hungers of love that everyone longs for but many find in the wrong places.

a. Affirmation through sexuality and impurity.

This is a huge, huge problem in our society. Something happens in a wrong way for a lot of people. They short-change their sexuality to be loved or in the misguided idea of loving someone else. They give up purity for impurity.

Others, in their inability to have a true and transparent relationship with someone else, will engage in a private fantasy life neither affirms them as a person nor does it make them happy.

When a person seeks to be affirmed in a way that degrades their God given dignity, they become a hollow personality and cannot have meaningful relationships of any kind. This includes family, friends and co-workers. Something happens in the human psyche that breaks down a person’s ability to relate with others when they are engaged in immorality.

b. Acceptance in exchange for expectations.

Performance orientation is a term that is used to define the role too many people have to live in order to be accepted by family or friends. Basically it means that you have to perform to certain expectations. A classic example can be found in the statement: “Mommy won’t love you if you do that.” Or, “Daddy will love you if you do such and such.” These statements may not be spoken specifically but they are shouted loud and clear through dysfunctional parenting practices.

Far too many of us here today have lived trying to please our parents. To get acceptance we do things. What if I don’t do them? Then Mother or Father will be disappointed.

God has called you and I to freedom in Christ. However, we cannot truly follow Christ unless we put off following others. This is a fact of scripture. Jesus calls on us to give up these in order to put him first in our life. Then these other relationships fall into their proper perspective.

c. Acknowledgment of any kind and in kind.

“If she’s nice to me then I’ll be nice to her.” This is that classic golden rule reversal and it’s something that gnaws at one’s self-esteem. We think we are doing what’s right for our self by doing this. This tit-for-tat relationship never works in the end. Again, it is a hollow relationship that’s not real. If you want people to be nice to you then you be nice to them. No problem. But when we reverse that we become a slave to the negative.

Once again, God looks and sees people like you and I who long to have true relationships and give and receive true love. He sees your pain and frustrations with life. And he wants to rescue you.

Through Isaiah he says in verses: “Who has declared from the beginning that we may know? And former times, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’? Surely there is no one who shows, surely there is no one who declares, surely there is no one hears your words. The first time I said to Zion, ‘Look, there they are!’ And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings. For I looked, and there was no man; I looked among them, but there was no counselor, Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.”

All around us there are no answers to love and acceptance. Who will be able to stand among us today and be the answer? Who will be able to hear and deliver truth to our hearts?

3) A Life of Significance in knowing Christ Jesus.

God looked among those in his holy city and saw no one. He saw that there was not going to be an answer among the people. They were hooked on idols and pleasure. So then he makes a promise. And that promise has vibrated through the centuries. He promises Jesus Christ. He promises someone who is a man but is also like him.

a. The Promise of Redemption.

And if you are sitting here with as a bruised reed or a smoldering flame, know that even though others may have given up on you or have kicked you while you’re down, the Suffering Servant has arrived to deliver to you justice through truth and to make you righteous.

i) The bruised reed.

All of us at one time or another was once a bruised reed. You can’t get through life without being bruised in some way. The question then becomes, “What do we do about the bruise?”

Jesus Christ comes to you as the suffering servant who does break the bruise reed. Reeds are those hollow cane plants such as cat-tails or sugar cane. A reed gets bruised by storms or animals or even people. And when a reed is bruised it begins to lose its vitality and eventually needs to be removed.

Do you feel helpless and maybe even worthless this morning? Do you sense that deep within your self, you are a bruised reed? Don’t be afraid, our Lord is very near to you.

ii) The smoldering wick.

Not only will the coming Servant Jesus Christ not break the bruised reed, but he will not put out the smoldering wick. The original Hebrew calls the wick “flax.” What causes a wick to smolder? Sometimes because it doesn’t have enough oil to keep it fresh, it will smolder and eventually flame out. Other times the wick may become wet and struggle to stay lit. And other times, someone may throw something over it to keep it from breathing.

A smoldering wick describes a lot of people. They want to trust God but their faith becomes weak. They want to believe but something struggles within them to grasp a hold of that for which Christ Jesus took a hold of them. They long to have a real relationship with the Living God, but so many things are going on around them and a lot of them aren’t good.

Jesus Christ does not come along to finish off your flame. There has been so many times in my life that I wonder how much longer the candle would stay lit. So many times I have searched within the darkness of my world for just a light.

Back in the late 80’s, rock band Scorpions recorded a hit song called “Send Me an Angel”. It’s a beautiful but unbiblical ballad that sings of the humanistic philosophy the operates for too many people. Hear the words:

“The wise man said just raise your hand
And reach out for the spell
Find the door to the promised land
Just believe in yourself
Hear this voice from deep inside
Its the call of your heart
Close your eyes and your will find
The way out of the dark.”

However, this is not a life of freedom. I remember the song in those dark rough days of my floundering faith. But I realized- with the assistance of some Francis Schaeffer writings and my own church family- that the words of this song might sound beautiful, the lyrics might ring with some truth but it held no real answers. Only in Jesus Christ- fully and completely surrendered to him, did I find true freedom and significance.

b. The Assurance of Faith.

Without Christ life makes no sense. But with Christ you may not know the answers or the future but you can know a few things that will make a world of difference in your everyday faith.

• With Christ you can know true love and acceptance.

• With Christ you can know the forgiveness of sins.

• With Christ you can know your purpose in life.

• With Christ you can know the future is in God’s hands.

• With Christ you can know the value of your new self.

Conclusion

Outside of the city of Ephesus there was a dump that held not only the city rubbish but also the imperfect babies that were born. For a family to not have children was a tragedy; but to have deformed babies was a curse from the gods. And so the parents who gave birth to such a child, would make there way there.

Like most dumping grounds, what is thrown away by one might be treasured by another. And on occasion you would see a childless couple seeking to have their own family, going to the dump in hopes of finding a child still alive- even though it would deformed in some way.

When the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4- “God loved us and chose us in Christ…” This is our adoption into God’s family. Before the creation of the world he loved you and chose you in Christ. You and I were in the ash-heap of life. We were crippled by sin, blinded by the devil and lost without any hope. But God in his great mercy loved you like no other could.

As we move into our time of communion, I invite you to partake of the elements as a celebration of your life in Jesus Christ. This is that wonderful time and opportunity for you re-dedicate your life to God. This is also that time when- through this means of grace- that the Holy Spirit comes down and meets your deepest need.

June 17, 2007 "A Man is a Dangerous Thing!"

2007-08-14T13:10:00.001-04:00

Jun17’07

A MAN IS A DANGEROUS THING
Judges 13:8

And so here we are once again on Father’s Day, reflecting on who we are as men and what God is calling us to become.

Father’s Day is a little bit different in the church. In the church every man is a father and, for that matter, every woman is a mother. Each man here is to be a spiritual example of living the Christ-filled life in front of every child that comes into our ministry.

Today, we celebrate not simply our fathers but we celebrate men. We celebrate what it means to be a man. We celebrate the challenges that men face. We celebrate the strength of the Spirit that is supposed to drive a man.

I consider the challenges that face our families all around. I see these young moms and dads at Wal-mart and Meijers and wonder what they are searching for in life? Like the rest of us they are hoping to make a better life for themselves and their family. Like the rest of us they have bills to pay, jobs to go to and family problems. I see them walking down our streets, pumping gas at the gas station, putting up yard sales. Are they finding the right kind of fulfillment that will satisfy?

I see the state manhood in America and I am very troubled by what I see. I am bothered by the slow emasculation of boys as they grow up in our schools and communities and even our churches.

You see, being a man should be a dangerous thing. And when I say “man” I mean a man whose heart has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit through the cross of Jesus Christ. When I say “man” I mean a man who knows what it is to have Jesus as his life-giving strength so that he can then be the life-giving strength to his wife and children.

But sadly, we seem to be a world where a man- way too often- is a dangerous thing. You name the crime and 90% of the time a man is involved. I quote Edwin Louis Cole once again: the greatest problem with America is the fatherless home. The result? Children without proper male role models and mothers without a husband to strengthen them.

You show me a man, who loves Jesus with all his heart, loves his wife with all his heart and loves his kids with all his heart and I will show you a successful man of God, a fulfilled husband and a happy father.

Everywhere I see young men who are desperate for something real, something that not only makes a difference in their lives, but makes their lives make a difference. This something is what I believe every man longs for within his heart.

Every man here- from the youngest to the oldest longs for a fight to win.

You know me well enough to know that I love sports. I love my Kentucky Basketball, my Michigan football, my Detroit teams and, of course, Shelby High School. I want to see my team win. But God does not call us to be spectators in the fight for our wives and children and grandchildren.

I am convinced that John Eldridge was right in his book Wild at Heart when he speaks over and over of men longing for a fight to win. He goes on to quote a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson called “Miniver Cheevy.”

Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean when he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.

Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were
prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.

Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam's neighbors.

Miniver mourned the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;
He mourned Romance, now on the town,
And Art, a vagrant.

Miniver loved the Medici,
Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.

Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediaeval grace
Of iron clothing.

Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
And thought about it.

Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking:
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking.

Miniver Cheevy was a man who lived a life of a dreamer who could not see the reality around him. Here’s a man in a small town who longs for the fight of a man and yet dreams of years long past. He regrets being born during his time because there was something idyllic about the old days, the days of war stories and wished he could have been a part of them. He mourned the lost Romantic age when a knight in shining armor would fight to the death for his loved ones. He loved the Medici- an Italian family that not only controlled Florence, Italy for 400 years but also produced three popes, countless Lords and Dukes, and the wife of King Henry II of France. He cursed what he saw around him- the modern age and longed to see the suits of armor that showed men ready for battle. In his latter days, Miniver realized that, yes, without money you couldn’t do much, but with money it really came to mean nothing. And in the end…

“Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking.”

I believe that way too often men find themselves longing for a return to the days of the big fight again only to find that the fight is done and over with. The days of leadership, the days of love, the days of battle are past. And even though as good Wesleyans we don’t cry in our beer about it, we may come to regret that we did not do more and that we did not fight harder.

Yes, Miniver Cheevy reminds us of life without something to fight for. Miniver’s problem is not that he is born in the wrong era or to the wrong family or even that there is nothing to fight for but that he refuses to see the cause in his present day.

What does it mean to be a man of God? I could have chosen a man such as Abraham, Moses, David, Nehemiah, Paul or John. But those seemed too simple and, quite honestly- who among us can really identify with these big shots? But tucked away in the midst of story about the strongest man in the Bible we find a humble, hard-working Dad who quietly sets an example of what it means to be a man.

The man’s name is Manoah. And the occasion is his barren wife who has had a visitation from the angel of the Lord. He is overwhelmed- not only by the prospect of having a newborn child come into his life, but the very idea that this child is to be raised quite a bit differently.

We find the people of Israel doing their own thing once again. They had no leadership and they were being oppressed. So God puts into motion a plan to rescue them.

Down among the troubled tribe of Dan we find a childless couple. They long to have children of their own. To not have children was a reproach not only for the wife but also for the husband.

There are some key concepts for the different aspects of manhood from this chapter that I would like to focus on this morning. Each aspect is critical to the fulfillment of most of us men here this morning. Let add to this: you can’t have only one without the other two. They stand together and grow together.

1. Manoah- the Man of God.

a. Peace with God.

Manoah’s name very simply means “rest.” And there is something about a man who is at rest. Being at rest with God means that there is peace with God. In fact, to have Jesus in your life means that you have ceased from your selfish works of righteousness and have taken a hold of Christ for your strength. Jesus becomes your “Sabbath-rest.” The very purpose of the Sabbath Day was to teach the Israelites that they needed to fully depend upon God to provide for their salvation. Read Hebrews 3 and 4 for more.

Manoah had this rest. He had peace with God. And it was expressed when he…

b. Sought God in Prayer.

As we have read, Manoah’s wife received a visit from the Angel of the Lord. Now when you read this very simply think “Jesus Christ.” Most scholars agree that this “Angel of the Lord” is none other than God himself incarnate.

God meets his wife, tells her that she is going to conceive a son, lays out the strict requirements of her pregnancy, and then the stipulations of his child-rearing.

What is Manoah’s response? He seeks God in prayer on how to raise this child.

What would our world be like if parents- and especially fathers- sought God in prayer over their children? I think we might have a far different world.

Furthermore, as a man of God, Manoah…

c. Experienced the Presence of Christ.

When was the last time you as a man experienced that face to face encounter with Jesus Christ? These encounters don’t just happen. But there is something about God’s grace and Manoah’s demeanor that allows him to see God.

Not only was Manoah a man of God but we see Manoah as the husband.

2. Manoah- the Husband.

A lot of us are husbands. I love being a husband. I love my wife and in 8 more days we will be married 24 years. Almost a quarter of a century.

Manoah shows us a couple of essentials when it comes to being a husband that are pretty basic to any marriage.

a. Faithful to his barren wife.

In a day when he could just as easily short-cut the system and fathered a child through another woman or concubine, or when he could have divorced his wife because she was sterile, he chose to remain lovingly faithful to her.

Guys: we have all sorts of challenges to our marriages. The internet porn is only 2 or 3 clicks away; the wrong relationship is only 2 or 3 chance meetings away; and what we say that kills a woman’s spirit is only 2 or 3 words away.

Be careful of what you watch on television or the internet; be careful of ANY woman you encounter; be careful of your words that can wound her.

But there is more: Faithfulness to your wife is about more than staying pure in the marriage bed. Faithfulness to your wife is about more than avoiding Proverbs 7 women. Faithfulness is about more than just saying the right words.

Faithfulness is about loving your wife as Christ loved the Church. Faithfulness is about bathing her in the Word of God, about praying over her and about showing her greater respect than we would show any other man, woman or child in the world.

Manoah was a not only a faithful husband but he was…

b. Supportive of his wife.

He was there for her. He cared about her. He listened to her. But there is one key element here:

• He was not intimidated by her spiritual insight.

I have met guys who seem to be intimidated that their wife knows her Bible, and prays often. Come on! That’s crazy jealousy. But rather than immerse themselves in prayer and Bible Study, they put her down.

Manoah was not jealous. He longed to see the Angel of the Lord as well. And so he prayed. How did God answer that prayer? By appearing to his wife first again.

Instead of jealously, “Manoah arose and followed her.” (v. 11) Guys there are times we need to follow our wife’s spiritual leadership on things. Just because we might be the spiritual leader of our home does not mean that our wife knows nothing. In fact, she might know a lot more than we do but keeps her mouth closed to keep the peace.

• His obedience resulted in a spiritual blessing.

Manoah invites the Lord to eat a special meal. Whenever someone of that time offered to prepare a young goat for the guest then it was a very high honor. This was a type of fellowship offering. But our Lord encourages Manoah to make a burnt offering to the Lord.

Manoah then asks him what his name is. The Angel of the Lord answers: “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.” Some translations say: “It is wonderful.” It kind of reminds us of Isaiah speaking of the coming Christ as being wonderful.

They put forth the burnt offering and the Angel of the Lord is caught up in the flame. Manoah and his wife saw this and fell to the ground.

Manoah then declares that they are going to die because they have seen God. But his wife intervenes with more spiritual insight: “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.” (v. 23)

His wife gives birth to a strapping son and named him Samson. Manoah becomes a dad.

3. Manoah- the Father.

I like this David Thoreau quote: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Too often men have not lived because they failed to learn the essential facts of life in order to live a purposeful life.

Manoah was certainly not a man who would look back and discover that he had not lived. Look at some of the highlights of his life’s actions as a dad:

a. He Understood his weakness.

This is why he sought God in prayer.

b. He Recognized his need for God’s help.

We can never be too proud as men to not seek assistance. Maybe as dad or grandfather you need help in dealing with your situation. There is nothing wrong with good Christian counseling. Begin with prayer as you seek God’s help.

c. He had the best interest of God and his son in mind.

Manoah was far from being a selfish father. If there was a situation he dealt with it even-handedly.

d. He Intervened with godly advice.

When he saw his son looking to marry an ungodly woman, he spoke to his son. He didn’t do so with a controlling anger. But he did so with godliness.

e. He was Supportive of his son.

When Samson married, he showed up to the wedding and stayed for the feast.

f. He Earned the respect of his son.

Samson was not an easy child to raise. However, Samson knew their faith. When he had touched the dead carcass of the lion to scoop out honey, he respected them enough not to brag to them at any time about it. I get very frustrated when I see kids- especially adult children- who disrespect the spiritual values of their parents but openly doing things. Sinner or not- it’s wrong. Samson had a respect for his father and mother.

And in the end, after his own death, they buried Samson beside his dad.

Conclusion.

I am always reminded this time of the year of World War II’s D-Day at Normandy, and what it takes to be a man. Yes, war is hell, but war reminds us of what history has told us about the historic role of men as defenders. I’m not trying to take anything away from women in the armed forces (I have a cousin who was in the military) but in the muck and the grime of life or death battle, we see the kind of courage that is needed not just to win wars but to win our families back home.

So, every year, I pull out “Saving Private Ryan.” I don’t recommend this R-rated movie but there is something fascinating about the plot line throughout the movie. James Francis Ryan is a soldier whose brothers have all died in conflict. A small group of rangers are put together to go into the outer country of France and bring him out alive so that he can be sent back home to his family. Slowly, one by one, various members die in various battles as they search for Private Ryan. Finally, in the end, he is found, they defend a strategic bridge at the cost of every other member save for two. Private Ryan is saved.

And men, it will cost us our lives many times over in order to save our family and our community. But are we willing to the pay the price in order that they might taste freedom in Jesus Christ?

Being a man of God is a dangerous thing. You should be a dangerous man armed with the armor of God.