Sun, 10 January 2016
Arise “The Secret of Success” Joshua 1:6-9
Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them (Joshua 1:6).
Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success (Joshua 1:7-8).
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).
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Sun, 3 January 2016
A mulligan in golf is a second chance. It is usually granted after the first attempt is duffed. Wouldn’t it be great if life afforded us a second chance? Well, the good news of the gospel is that we can have a second chance. Israel got a second chance to enter the Promised Land. Now, to be sure, they blew it the first time. God had rescued them from Egypt and brought them miraculously to the brink of the Promised Land. There they balked. They doubted and refused to go forward. That whole generation died in the wilderness. What should have been a couple weeks’ journey from Egypt to Israel turned into forty years of wandering. Finally, God brought them back to the Jordan. The ball is teed up. It’s their mulligan moment. God says, Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Thankfully, they had learned their lesson and this new generation arose and said “yes” to the Lord! As we retrace the journey of the Israelites, it is an opportunity us to have a fresh start too. May He hear us say “yes” as He calls us to a new place of obedience in 2016! Arise!
Arise “Make the Most of Your Mulligan” Joshua 1:1-5
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, “Moses my servant is dead . . .” (Joshua 1:1-2a).
Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses (Joshua 1:2b-3).
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you (Joshua 1:5).
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Sun, 27 December 2015
December 27, 2015 It's a Wonder Full Life Mike Holmes
"Be Patient, The Lord is Coming" Key Verses: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10 "Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord." James 5:7
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Sun, 20 December 2015
Because of Jesus, we can have a “wonder-full life.” That’s our inheritance as children of the King.
A few short years ago Prince George was born to Prince William and Kate. As the future heir to the throne of England, he was a billionaire at birth. According to records, he is the wealthiest prince that England has ever had. But as children of the King of heaven, our inheritance is greater. It is not to be counted in perishable things such as silver or gold. Our inheritance is much greater. It is life and life “to the full.”
What is meant by “life to the full”? Where can we find a picture of this kind of abundant, overflowing life? Well, in John 10:10 where that promise is given, the picture is of sheep with a loving shepherd. Their life is good because He is good. As Jesus spoke in these terms, I think it likely his hearers’ minds would have raced to the beloved 23rd Psalm. It pictures the abundant life so effectively.
This Sunday we will see the abundant life that Jesus promises and we will do so through the word pictures of the Shepherd’s Psalm. Our life is abundant because of . . .
That is the abundant life!!
It’s a Wonder-Full Life “The Wonder of Our Inheritance” John 10:10
Key Verse: “. . . I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b).
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Sun, 13 December 2015
Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.” What if the verse had ended after the first three words? “I have come. . . .” We could be left to wonder, “Why did He come?” Should we cower in fear or dance in joy? Is He coming to condemn us for our sins or save us from them?
Thankfully, the verse doesn’t end with those first three words. It continues, “that they might have life!” He did not come to condemn the world but to save us from our sins. That’s the story of Christmas!
Pray for those of us who will be teaching and preaching the Christmas story this coming Sunday. May it resound to the ends of the earth!!
It’s a Wonder-Full Life “The Wonder of His Intention” John 10:10-18
Key Verse: “. . . I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b).
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Sun, 6 December 2015
Can you guess the top five Christmas movies of all time? According to moviefone.com they are:
Folks might argue over those movies and their order in the list, but for me “It’s a Wonderful Life” is #1! It tells the story of George Bailey. He reaches a point of desperation in his life where he wonders if the world would be a better place if he had never lived. In a whimsical twist, he is actually given the unique opportunity to see what the world would have been like had he not lived. His kid brother, whom he rescued from drowning, would have died. A ship of sailors rescued by the heroic actions of that same brother would all have been lost at sea. His wife would have been a spinster. His children would never have been born. Bedford Falls, his idyllic town, would have been a hard, bitter place known as Pottersville. Little did he know the difference his life had made. By that experience his outlook changed and he came to see that “it’s a wonderful life” that we’ve been given the opportunity to live.
One life can make a huge difference.
One life has done that above all others. That is the life of the Lord Jesus. Because he was born so long ago in Bethlehem and lived sinlessly and died in our place and arose from the dead, we can have life, and have it to the full. It is a wonder full life that we have the opportunity to live. And it is all because of Jesus!
Let’s pray that this message will be heard clearly this year!
It’s a Wonder Full Life “The Wonder of His Incarnation” John 10:10
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Sun, 29 November 2015
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Sun, 15 November 2015
Leverage “Leverage Your Time” Esther 4:13-17
Key Verse: “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (4:14b).
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Sun, 8 November 2015
Leverage Your Pain
2 Corinthians 1: 1-5
Leverage happens when he takes our lives and allows struggles and pain so that: 1. We will be come more like Jesus 2. Our lives will bring honor and glory to Him 3. We will have a closer walk with Him 4. We will pray for others |
Sun, 25 October 2015
Transcript pending
LEVERAGE YOUR GIVING Malachi 3:9-12
1. Requirement for giving a. Who? A people b. What? A percentage c. When? A priority d. Where? A place e. Why? A purpose 2. Reason for giving a. Provide food b. Prove faithfulness 3. Result of giving a. Be blessed b. Be a blessing
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Sat, 17 October 2015
Transcript Pending Shortly
Leverage “Trusting God to Use Small Things to Do Big Things” Mark 6:30-44
Key Verses: “And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied” (6:41-42).
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Sun, 11 October 2015
Transcript Pending Shortly Stand “Delivered from the Lions’ Den” Daniel 6:1-28
Key verse: “My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me” (Daniel 6:22a).
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Sun, 4 October 2015
Transcript follows: Stand “The Handwriting’s on the Wall” Daniel 5:1-30
Key verse: “This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:26-28).
Fornette Fever is sweeping the nation. I want to coin that phrase this morning. Fornette Fever. I'm talking about Leonard Fornette, III. All right. He is the running back for the LSU Tigers and he is the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. He is leading the nation in scoring. He is leading the nation in touchdown. He is leading the nation in total yards rushed. He's leading the nation in yards rushed per game. All of that, having played one less game than all of the competition. So, he's and amazing, amazing fellow. I want to give you a little piece of advice. Let a sleeping beast lie. Don't poke your finger in Mike's eye! Auburn did not get the memo. All right, we played Auburn a couple of weeks ago, and one of their defensive players, he was one of the cornerbacks, or safety or somebody back there, here’s what he said about Fournette. He said, "Stopping Fournette shouldn’t be difficult, not much of a challenge." Well of course, Fournette heard about that, as did the LSU Tigers. They answered not with a word, but with the game. The first time Fournette touched the ball, he romped across the field for seventy-one yards. He went on to rush that day, in fact the whole team, ran for four hundred and eleven yards. The most the Tigers have ran for in over twenty-years. So, the moral of the story is this, don’t smack talk a superior opponent. Now just to remind you guys, and reinforce what I have been saying, watch this.... Rewind Campus Insiders
Well all right. So again, if you are going to smack talk, be careful who you are smack talking. Right?
I want to take you to a story in the bible today where there was some smack talk going on. The guy in the story was not smack talking another player, he was smack talking the Creator. God, himself. Here's the story. It's from Daniel, chapter 5. It goes like this. There was a king. His name was Belshazzar. He was the king of Babylon. Babylon, at that time, was the greatest empire of its day. Babylon, the city, was, of course, its capital. He called for a feast to be held. He invited a thousand of his lords, along with their wives and all of their conconkybines. They all got together in the great palace hall and Babylon. They began to feast. Over and over again, the scripture tells us that they were drinking wine. I take from numerous references, and the verbs that are used there that they were actually getting drunk. It was a wild, drunken, party. You can imagine with the wives, concubines, there, I wont go into detail, but it was a wild party. It went from bad to worse, when Belshazzar, somehow got this idea to call for them to bring to the feast hall, some gold and silver vessels, that had been in the temple in Jerusalem. Now, just to jog your memory, Babylon had conquered Jerusalem. They had destroyed the temple and they had taken from the temple, several of the articles that were there. They had been in sort of a museum of sorts for decades. I suppose to demonstrate the superiority of the Babylonian gods over the God of Israel. But this man made the mistake, this king did, he said, "Bring those golden vessels to me." When they came in, they began to pour into those vessels, that were meant for the worship of Almighty God, their wine. They began to toast, false gods, gods of gold and silver, and bronze and metal and stone and praise those false gods. All the while, blaspheming the one true God. What was it? It was scriptural smack talk. Don’t smack talk your superior. But they were reveling there in the banquet hall. Just as their wild revelry was reaching its climax, in their drunkenness and their sexuality, in that moment a hand appeared. Now, this October, we are getting close to Halloween, OK; here is you a Halloween story. A real one. A hand appears. No arm attached. No body to it. But a hand appears and the hand begins to write in the plaster of the feast hall some words. And as that hand appeared, right by the lampstand, the Bible says, so that it was illumined for everyone to see. I can imagine, that banquet hall went completely silent. All of those guys who had been drinking, all of the sudden, you talk about sobering up in a hurry; they sobered up in a hurry. They were watching those words being carved into the plaster with this bodiless hand. The king was terrified. The Bible says, actually that his knees knocked together he was so afraid. He called for the astrologers, the enchanters, the magicians, the wise men of his kingdom to come and to tell him what did these words mean. They all came, but as we have seen prior in the book, they were of no help whatsoever. They were charlatans. They were frauds. They couldn’t interpret what was being done. About that time, when all hope seemed to be lost, the queen came out. Now, I take it from study, that this was not the wife of Belshazzar. We might refer to her as the queen mother. She perhaps was even Belshazzar's mother. Maybe a daughter of King Nebuchadnezzar. She had been in the royal line. She knew the history of what God had done in Babylon. She said O King, don’t let your knees knock together, don’t be terrified. There is someone in the kingdom who can tell you what these words mean. He is Daniel. That old prophet that had been brought captive to Babylon by your grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar. He can tell you what the words mean. So the king sent for Daniel to come. And Daniel came in. Daniel saw the handwriting on the wall. Daniel knew immediately what it meant. I’m going to share with you, what the words on the wall, the handwriting on the wall, meant. It was a message not only for that smack talker, Belshazzar, but it’s a message for every one of us today. In honor of that message and God's word, I want to ask you to stand up. To show your respect for Him. We are going to read what was written on the wall. Daniel chapter 5, beginning in verse 25. And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Lets pray together. God I thank you for the hundreds of people that have gathered here for this moment. To hear you speak from your word to us. God I pay that something of the effect of how Belshazzar must have felt and those lords and ladies as they saw that hand writing. How awakened and sobered they were to see it. I pray that somehow, we might feel similarly. And that we would hear you speaking to us, today, through these ancient, but true words. Open every ear. Open every heart to your message today God. I pray it in Jesus name, Amen. Please be seated.
For the message today, I want to invite you to a feast. I know everybody loves a party. I’m going to invite you to go to this party that was held so long ago there in Babylon. I want to call it, a senseless party. If you want to follow along this morning, the outline is on the back of your worship guide. You can write in those blanks, it will help you pay attention. Listen to the voice of God. I want to invite you to a party. This is a party I’m going to call, a senseless party. Look in verse one that opens up this chapter. It says, King Belshazzar, made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousands. Now, this is an occasion. This is kind of like Cinderella going to the ball. You know and the King is their and all the attendants, all the lords and the ladies and there is sumptuous food and drink for all. It’s a festive occasion. You want to be there right? Maybe not. This was a senseless feast. I know what some of you are thinking. You are thinking, ok here we go, party pooper. The preacher he's going to put douse, a damper on our fun. God's a killjoy. He’s a spoilsport. He doesn’t want us to enjoy life. Listen friend. Listen. The only way you will really know joy, the only way you are really going to know genuine deep satisfaction is by honoring the living God. He's not a party pooper. He, in fact, He's the life of the party. Did you not know this? Let me illustrate. You remember that young couple that were going to be married? And like all weddings, and all couples, they make out their invitation list. Guess whom they put on their invitation list? Jesus. They wanted Jesus to be at their wedding. Let me just recommend to some of you out here that are engaged, when you are making out your invitation list, you make sure Jesus is first on the list. Lord we want you at our wedding. We want you to be honored. Well, this young couple invited Jesus to their wedding. You may remember the story. They had been partying, in those days; the wedding went on for several days. They had been partying those days and the party was going to grind to this very uncomfortable end, because they had run out of supplies. In that instance, Jesus intervened. He took the common things of life, water, and he turned it into the most exquisite thing they had ever drunk. Jesus did that. He brought life to the party. You remember man, Jesus doesn’t steal joy, Jesus, really knowing him and really following him, Jesus give joy. He’s no against parties, he's just against senseless parties. All right? You remember another occasion, talking about parties. Do you remember? There was a man in the New Testament, in the Bible days, he had two sons. One of the boys, the younger of them, came to his daddy. I think he had grown weary of life around the farm. He said Dad; I want you to give me my inheritance, now. A radical request of the father. I’m sure with a heavy and broken heart he conceded to his son's request. He gave him his share of the inheritance. You remember what the boy did? He took that money, and he's like, I’m outta here! He went off to a far land. There he spent all of that hard earned inheritance that his daddy had garnered over the years. The bible says he wasted it on riotous living. Women, wine, wild parties, senseless parties. One morning he woke up literally in the pigsty. He is wallowing there in the mud among the pigs. He thought to himself, don’t the servants in my daddy's house eat better than the husks that I am eating here in this pigsty? He said I’m going home. He got up and he began to go back home. I can imagine the scene, cant you? That daddy, broken hearted, praying for his boy. That God would bring him back home. That daddy, I can just picture him, sitting in a rocker, on the front porch. He’s looking out across the horizon there across the pastures. He’s praying, even as the sun is setting, Oh God, God bring Johnny home. God, turn his heart. About that time, as the sun is setting he sees the silhouette of a figure. He stands up, squints his old eyes to see better. He can see by the gait of the young man, the way he is walking. He says, I think I see my boy. I think that’s my boy coming home! The bible says that he ran to his son. He didn’t stand there with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face. How dare you come home. NO! The Bible says he ran to where his boy was. He threw his arms around that stinking boy, muddy from the hog slop. He kissed him and he said Hey, bring out the supplies. Kill the fatted calf because my son, who was dead, now is alive. He said let’s party! Well that’s not the King James, but you know what I mean. Lets celebrate! I remember the first time I ever heard that story preached in Spanish. We were missionaries to South America. The preacher, when he was preaching along he said, "Y el hijo regreso a casa y el padre dijo, 'Hagamos fiesta!'" I only understood the last word. Fiesta! But if you look back in the Spanish bible, that’s exactly how it’s translated. Lets have a fiesta. Lets have a party! Listen friend, God's not against parties! The right kind. But the senseless kind, he's against. He is.
This was senseless party. I’m going give you two reasons it was senseless. Number one, because of the setting of that party. Now you probably don’t know this, but let me clue you in to what was going on that very night. Even secular historians tell us the story. We have it in Daniel five, but we can also read of it in Herodotus and Xenophon. The great Greek historians. That very night, Cyrus the Great was coming from Persia with the Meads and the Persian army. They had encircled the Babylon. As they were partying in the banquet hall, the smoke from a thousand Persian campfires were rising to the heavens. They had put a siege on the city. There is King Belshazzar, ensconced in the city. I suppose he thought he was invulnerable. He could not be defeated. He was untouchable. After all, don’t you remember I told you guys, the wall of Babylon were some eighty feet thick. That’s about the width of this auditorium. They stood about three hundred feet high. Chariots could race around the top of the walls of Babylon. Inside the walls of that city, they food stored for twenty years. They had plenty of water. They had built the city over the Euphrates River and the river flowed right beneath the city walls through the city and out the other side. I suppose he thought he could ever be taken or defeated. So there they are, with danger encroaching from every side, partying it up! Pass me the wine, let’s drink, lets engage in immorality. What a foolish man he was. He didn’t know that very night his soul was going to be exacted of him. I like a party. Sometimes its time to party. When there’s a wedding. When there’s a reunion. When there’s a salvation. The bible says, listen to this! Listen to this, the bible says, when a sinner repents, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels. You hear that? There is a party in heaven whenever somebody gets saved. You say the angels are rejoicing, no that’s not what the bible says. The bible says, listen, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels. It’s not the angels rejoicing, you know who is rejoicing? God is rejoicing! He is celebrating. I love a party as much as anybody. But not the senseless kind. I think about America. Sometimes I think we think that we're undefeatable. We can’t be conquered. We’re surrounded by a moat. We have the Pacific Ocean on one side protecting us from China and Russia. We’ve got the Atlantic on the other side; nothing from Europe or Africa could come and harm us. We think we're impregnable. We think we have walls about us that reach to the heavens. Do you know how Babylon was taken that night? Upstream, upriver, King Cyrus had told his engineers to create a dam of sorts. A sluice. They re-routed the Euphrates River out of its riverbed into some swampland and as the water trickled out of Babylon, the Persian walked into the city beneath the walls in the bed of the river. Not a shot was fired. Not a sword was clashed; they took the city without a battle. In fact they say the only one killed that night was King Belshazzar himself. Now you think about the setting we live in. we think we are impregnable. We think no one can defeat us. Yet we smack talk the Lord. We curse; we take his name in vain. We engage in all kinds of sexual perversion. We drink, we party, and we live in debauchery, as if God would never hold us accountable. It’s a mistake. It was a senseless feast. Because of it’s setting, and here’s the second reason. Because of the sin at the party. The sinning that was there. I’ve already alluded to this. They were drinking. Now, you all know what the bible says, do not be drunk with wine wherein is excess, because it leads to debauchery. We’re not to be drunk. My own view, my own stance the best way not to get drunk is never take the first drink. I don’t touch the stuff. I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs and I recommend the same o you. These people were not living that way that night. Man they were drinking it up. They were becoming inebriated. They weren’t thinking clearly. Perhaps for that reason he calls for the vessels from the Temple. And he profanes them. There in that orgy, with the wives and the concubines and the wine flowing freely, they curse the God of Heaven. Be careful. Be careful how you live. God will hold us accountable.
Now let me go to the second thing. I talked about a senseless party. But here, listen to this, in that moment, as the party reached its zenith, its apex that hand appears. And you all know the phrase, the handwriting on the wall. This is from where it comes. God wrote on the wall. And what did he write there? Listen to it. Mene Mene Tekel and Parsin. You say preacher, what does that mean? Well I’m glad you asked. The king didn’t know either. He wanted to know. You will be wise to want to know. Number one, it says something about our days. It says something about our days. The very first word is the word Mene. Look at verse 26. Mene, that is, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Did you know that the bible says, that every day of your life is known by God before even one of them comes to be? God knows the number of your days. He knows how long we will all live. He knows how brief it is. Listen to what the bible says, Psalm 90, verse 12. So teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. We need to learn to number our days. Life is fleeting. Life is passing. That’s what James 4 says. Yea, you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are but a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. You guys ever seen a kettle on a stove? And maybe it’s going to brew up hot tea or something of the sort. They put that thing on to boil and that little kettle begins to sing and from its spout rises a mist. But even before that mist touches the ceiling, it vanishes. It’s gone. The bible says, so are our lives. They are fleeting. They are passing us by. So quickly. That was the first word God gave Belshazzar. Your days are numbered. Times up, your numbers up. You are being held accountable. Number two. He didn’t say something only about his days. He also said something about his deficiencies. Now look at the next verse, verse 27. I’m going to put it up on the screen for you. From the bible we read these words. Tekel. What does that mean? Well really you could translate it with one word. Weighed. Here it is elaborated. Tekel. You have been weighed and in the balances and found wanting. Now I know we don’t like to weigh our selves. Do we. I actually have a scale; Nell and I do in our bathroom at home. Its very prominent right there. And every day, pretty religiously I step up on that scale. Not because I want to really, but I step up on there because I want to know what I weigh. Because I know that impinges on my health, and its something of accountability to me. It tells me, man you don’t need to eat so much. Lay off the Mountain Dew. Get some things together in your life. I weigh myself. I have yet to step on there and weigh myself and find myself wanting. You know, I’m never deficient. In fact I get on there and I’m always like, oh man, I need to lose twenty pounds. And probably, you are like that too. Our problem is that we weigh too much. But the problem with Belshazzar was he weighed too little. You are found wanting. I weighed you and you are a lightweight. I feel like I’m Donald Trump saying that. Ha Ha. You are a lightweight. What does he mean? Well if you can imagine in your mind, a scale. All right. It’s a balance. God says, I put you on the scale. Here you are. You weigh this much. But on this side of the scale, I put all of the Holy demands of My Law; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make unto yourselves any graven image. You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vein. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not covet. And when I weighed you in this scale, against God's demands, you're wanting. You’re a lightweight. You don’t measure up. You’re deficient. We are lightweights. We are sinners. Doesn’t the bible say, for all have sinned and we've come short of the Glory of God? Mene, Mene, Tekel. Your numbers up. You’ve been weighed and you’re found wanting. Parsin. This is a word about our destiny. You see, when God weighs us, what is hanging in the balance? Our eternal destiny is. Where will we end up? What will be our end? He said to Belshazzar, that night, Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Meads and Persians. That is, there are consequences to the way you’ve lived Belshazzar and there always are.
Now let me come to the end. Because there is a destiny. There are potentially two separate finishes towards which we are all headed. There was one finish, here illustrated by the man Daniel. He’s what I’m going to call for the uncompromising. Daniel is now in his eighties. He’s been a captive for seventy years in Babylon. He has remained faithful to the Lord. Full of faith. What happens to him as he very boldly tells the king, your numbers up king. You’ve been weighed and found wanting. Your kingdom is going to be stripped from you. What happens? God blesses him. You can read the verses right here. What transpired in Daniel's life? God blessed him. But there is another destiny. There is another finish. That was the finish for the king. Here is the mightiest man of his empire. Called to account by God. And the bible tells us very succinctly in verse thirty. That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king was killed. His number was up.
Now let me conclude. The handwriting is on the wall. Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin. Did you know friend, listen to me, everybody here listen to me. Those words that were written to the king so long a go, did know very honestly, they could be written of each one of us. I don’t want us to get here and look down our nose at King Belshazzar. He’s no greater a sinner than I have been. If I had to answer for the handwriting on the wall for my life, I’d be in trouble. But did you know there’s another handwriting in the Bible? I want to point you to it. It’s found in Colossians, chapter 2, verse 14. I’m just going to refer to this. Colossians, chapter 2:14. Listen to what the bible here says. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us and he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. You hear that? There’s another handwriting. Those sins that we’ve committed, the things of which we are guilty, its as though those have been written. But Jesus did something wonderful. He took the handwriting that was against us and blotted it out. He nailed it to his cross. That is, he took our punishment for us. Some of you are old enough to remember, Whiteout. I took typing back in the seventy's. Ya’ll don’t even know what a typewriter is, I know. A typewriter was a machine, every time you would strike a key, there would be a corresponding strike on the paper, through a ribbon and it would imprint the letter there. Well somebody invented what they called Whiteout. It was this beautiful thing. It was a little bottle of white paint. You’d open it up and it would have a little brush. What you could do was, if you made a mistake when you were typing, you could just ratchet the paper up and dab that Whiteout on the letter where you'd made the mistake. Then put the paper back in position, and strike the new key and it would be as though you didn’t make a mistake. Awesome! Whiteout! Then somebody invented what they called an autocorrect typewriter. This was even better. Because it not only had a ribbon for the ink, it had another ribbon that was white. If you made a mistake typing, you could hit a key and it would bring the cartridge back, and you could strike the key again that you had erroneously struck and not the white ribbon and it would cancel out the mistake you’d just made. Any of you here old enough, make me feel good, anybody know what I’m talking about? All right, there you go, good. I’m not as old as I thought. Then somebody invented autocorrect on texting. [Audience Laughter] Man, I could tell ya’ll some stories about my autocorrects. Wouldn’t it be good in life? If there was a whiteout? You think about the things you’ve done. The things of which you are ashamed. Wouldn’t it be good if there was a whiteout? Wouldn’t it be good if there was an autocorrect? Friends, there is. There is. But he didn’t white it out in white. It’s whited out in red. It’s the blood of the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus. There, he nailed our offenses to the cross. Now here is your choice. Listen to me. Here is your choice. And on it your eternal destiny hangs. You can take the handwriting on the wall, or you can take the handwriting on the Cross. Which will it be?
Lets bow our heads. Thank you Lord Jesus that you blotted out our sins. You nailed our offenses there and in your body you suffered the consequences of our sin, so that we might be forgiven. We might be cleansed. That we might be accepted into your family. Oh God, thank you for this gift. I party that everyone here would make sure that they have received that gift. They have trusted in Christ. Help us Lord, I pray it in Jesus Name, Amen.
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Sun, 27 September 2015
Transcript pending shortly
Stand “The Original Beauty and the Beast” Daniel 4:1-37
Key verse: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Daniel 4:37).
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Sun, 20 September 2015
Stand “A Foxhole Faith or a Furnace Faith?” Daniel 3:1-30 (SERMON TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS)
Key verse: “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).
There’s an old adage that says, there’s no atheist in a foxhole. I don’t know if you can prove that you can prove that. There have been some atheists who claim to be so in a foxhole, but when the bullets are whizzing by your head, and your life is on the line, people tend to seek and strike bargains with God. It would kind of go like this, “God, if you spare my life, if you get me out of this mess, I’ll believe in you.” “God, if you heal me of this cancer that I have, I'll serve you.” “God, if you will you, fill in the blank, then I will, fill in the black.” that's what we would call a foxhole faith. I really don't belittle that or make fun of it because I guess that’s a better faith and none. God is so gracious. He sometimes bows and concedes to that kind of a faith. But really not the kind of faith that honors God. What we want to do today is draw a contrast between what we might call foxhole faith, on one side, and a furnace faith, on the other side. Now a furnace faith is very different from a foxhole faith. Here’s what the furnace faith says. “God, even if you don't get me out of this mess, I still am going to believe in you.” “God, even if you don't heal me from my cancer, I know you're still good and you deserve my allegiance.” “God, even if you don't get me the promotion that I been working for praying for, God even then, I’m still going to praise your name. That’s the kind of faith that God wants every one of us to have. Not a foxhole faith but instead, grow up, and get a furnace faith.
Now where would you meet with some guys that have that kind of faith? Well I got good news for you. We’re going to meet them this morning. They’re right there in your Bible and if you’ll open up your Bibles to Daniel chapter 3 you’re going to meet them. Daniel chapter 3 and the whole chapter tells the story of three young guys. I'm only going to read a portion of the chapter to get us cranked up and going. We’re going to read verses 1 through 18. But really listen to this now, all right because this is a launchpad for our message. Lets stand up to show honor to God's word, all right. You can sit for my word but we’re going to stand up for God’s word. Here we go. Daniel chapter three, we’re going to start in verse one. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Here, perhaps is the key question in the whole chapter. “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
Lets pray. God I know that there have been times in my life when I’ve bargained with you. I’ve had a foxhole faith of sorts. Asking you to do things for that and me if you would, I would in turn do something for you. God I pray that you just blow that approach to you away today. And that all of us would come you, not in some kind of bargaining position but just to say, Lord even if you don't do what we prefer, even if we go through the fire, God we're going to seek by your grace to be faithful to you. Grant us, God, a furnace faith, I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Please be seated. Well this morning, we are going to meet three very courageous men. And let me just go ahead and tell you guys, I’m going to have to be quick this morning alright, because when we finish this message, you’re going to meet a couple of other courageous young men who are going to take their stand for Christ in baptism and I want to gear up for that already. Because every one of us, needs to decide for whom we will stand and before whom we will not bow. These three young men made the right decisions and I want to share the story with you. And I know for a lot of you, you've heard this story, you know it. Its almost like Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Hansel and Gretel, except it's not. This is true. This is exactly what happened. It’s God working miraculously on the behalf of his children. I want you to perk up as though you never heard it before and we’re going to follow Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as they demonstrate a furnace faith.
Now there was a song, sung many years ago, and I’m not going to sing it for you. I know you’re glad, but it's about these three young men they wouldn't bow, they wouldn't bend, they wouldn't burn. And that’s going to be the outline I’m going to follow this morning. Number one by the way if you want to follow along, just turnover on the back of your worship guide there is an outline and that you can write in some things as God impresses them on you.
Number one, a furnace faith, all right, its what were talking about. A furnace faith will not bow. Furnace faith will not bow. Now that there are a couple of temptations that came these young men's way. They were, first of all, tempted to bow in compromise. The King, the mighty King of Babylon, the greatest king of his day had erected this giant statue. I want you guys to just get in your mind's eye, the magnitude of this. Maybe you can conjure up the image of other statues that you know. Here’s one you have seen before. It’s the statue of Christ the Redeemer. It’s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And that statue spans about 60 cubits high. The very dimensions, within a few feet, of the statue that was erected in the plains of Dura. Can you imagine that the grandeur of that scene. Here is this mighty statue, an idol, erected by King Nebuchadnezzar. It was made of solid gold. What would the worth be of that? You know that gold sells for about $1500 an ounce. This is 90 feet tall. Solid gold. And it dazzles in that desert sun. And he commands that everyone at the sound of the orchestra, they will hit their knees, in obeisance to that idol. And I know all of you have been to the stadium and maybe some of you guys were yesterday at the Stadium and you’ve seen in a crowd, the wave right? It starts over in one section, someone will stand up and then it goes through the whole and the wave passes through. Will I imagine here an inverse wave? Because at the sound of that trumpet, when they saw the fiery furnace over there smoldering in the distance. And by the way, you remember that Babylon had its start as a place called Babel. You guys remember Babel? It’s where they were going to erect the Tower to the heavens. And many scholars believe that the brick kiln, K I L N, in the brick furnace, that was used to make all the bricks that built a tower toward heaven in Babel, this is the same fiery furnace where threatened to be cast there if they don’t bow down. Now, so here we come. Here is the inverse wave. And boy then the music sounds, they all in terror, they hit their knees. Perhaps the get on their face. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are the exception to this. Here comes the inverse wave and those three boys stand there. I don’t know that they made a scene; I don’t think they shouted out, I don’t think they try to draw attention to this. They just, in humility, yet loyalty to the Lord, the just stood their ground. They were tempted to compromise. They had a reason to be afraid. The king of Babylon set bow down. They had a greater fear than the king of Babylon; they feared the King of Kings. And the King of Babylon said bow down, the King of Kings said, don’t you bow down. Where did he say that? You remember? You guys know your Ten Commandments? Lets just start the very beginning. Number one, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Number two… Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images, nor shall you bow down to them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had a choice to make.
Are we going to compromise? Are we going to go along to get along? Are we ore are we going to standup for what God has said. I want to challenge every one of you listening to me today, to have a furnace faith. And to say God, I’m going to stand for you no matter how hot it gets in the kitchen. They wouldn't compromise. Not only would they not compromise, they wouldn't conform. You see a furnace faith will not bow down in conformity to what the world demands of us. And you know we’re living in a day when it seems as though the pressure to conform is as great as it's ever been in my lifetime. There was a time when our culture kind of aided you in your walk toward Christ, at least to some degree. Ostensibly, but today it's as though, the culture is going one way and God is saying go the other. You have to be like a fish willing to swim upstream if you're going to stand for the Lord. When that inverse wave hit everybody was bowing down. Everybody’s doing it. Everybody’s getting wasted. Everybody’s doing drugs. Everybody’s sleeping together before they're married. Everybody’s morals are changing. Everybody’s conception of marriage is changing and everybody's doing it. No. Everybody is not doing it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are not doing it. They’re standing for the Lord. And I want to challenge a whole auditorium of people here, to be willing, in the furnace, when the fire is hot to say, “I am not going to bow.” what God has said, by his grace, and for his glory, I'm going to seek to be obedient.
You know peer pressure is powerful. There’s an experiment done, some years ago, to illustrate the power of peer pressure. Here’s the way it was done. It was done by a psychologist, her name was Ruth Berenda, and they worked with teenagers. And would all you teenagers, look right up here. Here was the experiment that teenagers, at a time, come into a room. Nine of the 10 were in on the deal. One of them though, was like the guinea pig. And so they would come in ten at a time and what they were asked to do was to raise their hand when the teacher pointed to the longest line on the board. There were a number of lines. Each of a different length. It was obvious which is the longest and had before hand agreed, with the nine, when we point to the second longest all of you raise your hand. And the experiment was to see what would the one teenager do that was not In the know. So the teacher began to point to the lines. Raise your hand will become the longest line. When the teacher pointed to the next to the longest line, all nine hands went up. They were watching I guess through two-mirrors or something like that and they watched as invariably, the one teenager that was, like not in the in the know on this, they would look around, with a bewildered look, and be like [shyly raises hand]. 75% of the time. They were just doing what everybody else was doing and don't we feel this? There is such a temptation to conform.
Listen to what God says. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Proving what is that good and acceptable of will of God be transformed by his words .I would challenge us to stand. Even if there is peer pressure to go the other way. And let me just add this one other thought and then ill go on. Pressure is not a sin. Peer pressure is a fact. I’m going to say it again. Peer pressure is not a sin. Peer pressure is a fact. What does that mean? That means, if you got good friends, peer pressure can work to your advantage. But if you have poor friends, peer pressure can work to tear you down. Do you think it’s coincidental that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood? What difference did it make to Shadrach that he had Meshach and Abednego to stand with him? I believe it helped him. Peer pressure can work for you. And I'm so glad for you collegians and you high schoolers and you middle schoolers that are standing together. Be involved in the student ministries here. Be involved in the collegiate ministry. Man if it Micah says Hey were going to get together and we’re going to stand on our heads, just bring your pillow and come on man. Whatever were doing, you be involved in it. because peer pressure isn’t a sin, its just a fact. If you get good peers, they will help you toward God.
All right so, number one. A furnace faith will not bow. Number two. A furnace faith will not even bend. All right now. This is bow right? You get down like this. This is bow. Those boys wouldn’t even bend. They wouldn't do it in the face of a second chance. Now this is a part of the story you may not have noticed when were going through it in that initial reading. Let me just review this for you. The king gave the command, right. Everybody bow down when you hear the music. And everyone bowed down in the inverted way except these three guys. There were there some tattle tales in the group. Who likes the tattletale? Nobody likes a tattletale but here come the tattletale's. O king, live-forever, they’re buttering him up. There’s some Jews that you appointed, they're jealous of these men and they don't pay attention to anything you say O King. And that was in exaggeration. Those are good young men. They are in fact; the King had concluded that they were 10 times better than all the other servants. He actually, I believe, really liked those young men. But they don't pay any attention you King, they don’t bow down to your gods. They don't worship the idol that you set up. The latter half is certainly true, they would not bow. And so the king, the Bible says was enraged. Now watch this. When the Bible says that he was enraged, my own conviction is that he was not enraged solely at those three young men. I think he was enraged because of the tattletales. He was enraged because these three young men whose service he valued now, or he's put into this quandary of what to do with them, because obviously they defied his authority. If he lets them go, it undermines his authority before all. And he is enraged at this. He wishes that it had not been brought to his attention. Now why do I say that? It’s because he gave him a second chance. Had his rage been solely and wholly against them, he would just execute them. But I think he had an affection for these young men I believe their witness to him had been strong. He knew there was something remarkable about the young men. And he said, boys, I’m going to give you another chance. Right. Here is what we’re going to do. Same song, second verse. Were going to tap the baton, and we’re going to crank up the orchestra and when they do, fool me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me. I’m not going to let you get me again. This is your last opportunity. Going once, going twice. He gives them a second chance. Did you know that’s the way the devil works? The devil is always going to come and give you a second chance. He's going to tempt you. And if you don’t yield to it, it’s not like the devil just gives up. Doesn’t say oh man, he whooped me. Ill just give, all right. He’s a hause, I ain't gonna mess with him. NO. The devil is going to come after you a second time. He is going to give you a second chance. You don’t believe me? Do you remember what happened to Jesus? We’re talking Jesus here. Jesus all right. Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. This is Luke chapter 4. Listen to what happened at the very end of those temptations. Jesus triumphed in everyone. Partly because he knew the word of God and he quoted it to Satan. He whipped him. Listen to how it includes. Luke, the Bible says, that Satan left him for a more opportune time. That is, the devil wasn't even giving up on Jesus. He is going to come after him again. And he did. Don’t think you not to come after you, he is. I want to challenge you, don't bow, don’t even bend. Don’t even bend when a second chance comes your way. Do you know why they didn't bend; do you know why they didn’t bow? Because they had some sure convictions. I mean they were rock-ribbed in what they believed. Now I want you to look at the verses that are on the screen. You are going to see the convictions that they held. And this is what you make you stand when everybody else's bowing. The Bible says, when threatened again a second time, “if this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not,” now mark those words, “but if not, be it known to you O King, that we will not serve your gods.” now what are the convictions that shine in those verses? Number one, they had a conviction that God is strong. I love what they said, “our God is able,” he is able to deliver us and he will, they had a conviction that God was strong. In fact he is stronger than anyone. I love that truth reinforced in the New Testament. But now unto him is able, to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine. Friends of our God is strong and he is Almighty deserves our allegiance. So they had that conviction. And then, the other condition that they have was he was sufficient, he was sufficient. Now listen to what they said, and here we come to the furnace faith in its purest form. Our God is able to deliver us, we believe he is going to, but if not, but if not, but if not! I love phrase. If he doesn't deliver then I’m just going to give up on God, I’m just going to quit, I’m just going to throw my Bible away, If God doesn’t do what I want….is that what they said? No, I love what they said. They said, “but if not,” if he doesn't rescue us, we are still not going to bow down to the idol that you have made. We are not going to serve your gods. They believed that God, in himself, was sufficient. God is enough. He alone is worthy. Not for the gifts that he gives me. What if I got sick of cancer? Say God you heal me from my cancer, and if you don't heal me, then forget you God. That’s a foxhole faith. Right. God, my marriage is falling apart and God if you'll save my marriage then I'll follow you. God I need this new job. God I’ve worked hard for this. I deserve this new job. God if you'll do this for me, then I'll follow you. NO, these young men said, “but if not.”
I’m going to tell you a story out of World War II. It’s a true story and it was set on the beach in France. This is in 1940. Early in the war. And was not going well for the Allied cause, in fact, the United States and not even entered World War II yet. And Hitler and the blitzkrieg were rolling across France. The British had come to France’s aid and there were over three hundred thousand Brits in France trying stop the onslaught of Hitler. But they weren’t faring well. And they had retreated as far as they could go. They had gotten right up against what he called the English Channel. There were in a little port called Dunkirk. There was no escape. Hitler's Panzer divisions were surrounding them. The enemy. And behind them was the ocean. England was terrified that they would lose 300,000 of their finest. Their governing authorities declared a day of fasting, and prayer that God would intervene. One of the stories that comes out of that battle was of one of the commanders there in Dunkirk. It said that he simply sent a telegram back to England. The question was what are you going to do in the face of this overwhelming enemy when it seems as though there's no escape. He answered with a three-word telegram. His words were, “but if not.” We want to be rescued. We want to be saved from this dilemma. But if not, were still going to face the enemy. But if not, were still going to hold the line. But is not, we’re going to give our lives in service for right. But if not. I don’t know if you know the story, its called The Miracle of Dunkirk. God blessed and it was a remarkable story of how they rescued out 338,000 soldiers. Many of them were rescued to what they called The Little Boats of Dunkirk. There weren’t enough army boats to get them all, so mom and pop got in their little trawlers and in their little dingys and went across the British Channel and rescued those men. It’s a great, great story. But I love the commander. But if not! We’re not going to bow before you. Were not going to even bend.
How does it conclude then? What happened to these three young men? Well, if you won't bow and you wont bend, then you wont burn. Furnace faith will not burn. You know the story don't you? The Bible says that the king was furious now, doubly so. He ordered that the furnace be heated up seven times its original level. And they bound those men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They threw them into the fiery furnace still bound. So hot was the fire that the burly men who carried to the mouth of that oven and threw them in were overtaken by the flame and in the heat. They were killed. Down went Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. Bound into the flames. Apparently there at the floor of the furnace there was an opening through which, perhaps, they injected the fuel for the flame and the king was positioned just so he could see those three young men. Perhaps he imagined that he would in glee, watch their bodies burst into flames and be consumed. But instead as he looked into the furnace, he was amazed. He asked some of the other attendants, he said, “How many men did we throw into the fire?” they said, “O King, we cast in three.” He said, “How is it that when I look in there, I don’t see three men, I see four? And the fourth is like a son of the gods.” There was something about that one that glowed. Probably redundant, but he shown with the Shekinah glory. Who was that fourth man? Do you know who it was? It was a Christophany. It was an appearance of the Lord Jesus pre-incarnate. Jesus had come to the fire to rescue them.
What do we learn from this? Number one. Fire happens. Listen, if you live here on this Earth, you are going to have some fires come your way. There are going to be some difficulties. You’re going to get sick. Your child is going to get sick. Your relationships are going to be frazzled or broken. You’re going to have disappointments in your life. Fire happens to all of us. Doesn’t the Bible say? The sun shines on the just and the unjust. Rain falls on the just and unjust. You are going to go through the fire. Those young men did end up in the fire because they were disobeying God, those young men ended up in trouble because they were obeying God. God didn’t rescue them from the fire; God rescued them through the fire. He’s going to do the same for you. Fire happens. You better get ready. You better know Jesus, so that when you're in the fire he's there with you. Can we do a little math? Here’s a little math problem, all you bright university students. Let me give you a math problem. How many men were cast into the fire? Three. How many appeared there? Four. Four men in the fire. How many came out? How many are left in the fire? One. You know where Jesus is? So often, you’re going to find Jesus the fire. Trouble comes your way. You’re going to find him, as you never did before. He’s going to grow you. In fact, listen to this. Listen! Fire helps. That’s the last thing up here [pointing to sermon outline]. Fire happens and fire helps. They were thrown in bound. So how is it that they were walking about in the fire? You know how it is that they were walking about in the fire? The only thing that got burned was the ropes that bound them. When they came, because the King said, “come out, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.” And they came out and they went over to them, and they said, “Man! Your clothes aren’t even singed. Your hairs not singed. Even the sent of smoke is not on you.” The only thing they lost was the thing that bound them. Listen you go through hard times in your life, the only thing you lose are things you need to lose. There’s freedom in the fire. When we get into difficulties your going find Jesus closer is ever been.
All right now. To conclude. The story is told about a wagon train. It was traveling across the West, and as they traveled westward, they heard, behind them, the crackling of fire. They knew the sound. All of us have been watching fires out west. Those that were in the wagon train, they looked behind them and as far as they could see along the horizon, there were bright walls of flames. Smoke was billowing toward the heavens and the wind was blowing very fiercely. They knew that they could not outrun that line of fire. It would soon overtake them. There they are in the middle of the plains, no place to escape. What would they do? Many of them began to despair. Thought this would be there end. Then one enterprising person among them knelt down and he lit a match and he sat the grass in front of them ablaze. Now the same wind that's pushing the flames toward them catches this new blaze. And it begins to burn the grass in front of them and the brush in front of them. So now two fires are raging. Both going westward, one behind them, one front of them. Then you know what those enterprising settlers did? They simply rolled forward into the part of the plains that now is already been burned. You know what folks? Fire can't burn the same place twice. Once all that’s combustible been burned away, the safest place you can these were the fires already burned. What am I saying to you? Jesus was in the fire. That’s not the only time Jesus has been in the fire. When on the cross, God’s righteous judgment and wrath against sin was being poured out. You can imagine it a flame, as it were. The holiness of God, bringing judgment to bear. The Bible says, the soul that sins it shall surely die. The wages of sin is death God's holiness demanded that sin be punished. Did he just wink at sin? There would be no justice in him; there would be no holiness in him. No, sin must be judged. And Jesus, there on the cross, took our place. And it's as though the fire of Heaven burned across the ground at the cross. If you will, buy faith, step into that place where Jesus suffered your wrath, the fire can no longer touch you. You’ll be safe. You’ll be safe.
These young men hey listen; they didn’t have a foxhole faith. Now man the bullets were whizzing. Their lives were in jeopardy, but they were bargaining. They weren’t saying God if you’ll get me out of this, I am going to love you. God if you’ll get ne out of this, I’m going to serve you. No, they said God, if you don’t; we’re still going to love you. We’re still going to serve you. Now I want to challenge my own heart, as I do yours, to have more than a foxhole faith. If that's all you can muster, I guess I'll be glad for that, but it is not enough friends. God wants us to honor him by faith says, even if not. Even if not, I’m going to follow you. Now I’m going to pray for us. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to pray for us, then we’re going to see, two very courageous young men take their stand. And then we’re going to sing and praise to God. And when all that’s done and we’re dismissed. I’m going to remain here with some of the staff members to receive any of you that want to talk about faith in the Lord Jesus. How to know him as your Savior. All right, so lets pray to together God we give you praise for the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These young men, who wouldn’t bow, who wouldn’t bend. Thank you God, they didn't burn. You rescued them. Lord we know that you will meet us in our fires and you will help us. You’re able. You’re strong. You’re sufficient. You merit our love and our allegiance. May we give it to you. God give us grace to do that, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.
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Sun, 20 September 2015
There’s an old adage that says, there’s no atheist in a foxhole. I don’t know if you can prove that you can prove that. There have been some atheists who claim to be so in a foxhole, but when the bullets are whizzing by your head, and your life is on the line, people tend to seek and strike bargains with God. It would kind of go like this, “God, if you spare my life, if you get me out of this mess, I’ll believe in you.” “God, if you heal me of this cancer that I have, I'll serve you.” “God, if you will you, fill in the blank, then I will, fill in the black.” that's what we would call a foxhole faith. I really don't belittle that or make fun of it because I guess that’s a better faith and none. God is so gracious. He sometimes bows and concedes to that kind of a faith. But really not the kind of faith that honors God. What we want to do today is draw a contrast between what we might call foxhole faith, on one side, and a furnace faith, on the other side. Now a furnace faith is very different from a foxhole faith. Here’s what the furnace faith says. “God, even if you don't get me out of this mess, I still am going to believe in you.” “God, even if you don't heal me from my cancer, I know you're still good and you deserve my allegiance.” “God, even if you don't get me the promotion that I been working for praying for, God even then, I’m still going to praise your name. That’s the kind of faith that God wants every one of us to have. Not a foxhole faith but instead, grow up, and get a furnace faith.
Now where would you meet with some guys that have that kind of faith? Well I got good news for you. We’re going to meet them this morning. They’re right there in your Bible and if you’ll open up your Bibles to Daniel chapter 3 you’re going to meet them. Daniel chapter 3 and the whole chapter tells the story of three young guys. I'm only going to read a portion of the chapter to get us cranked up and going. We’re going to read verses 1 through 18. But really listen to this now, all right because this is a launchpad for our message. Lets stand up to show honor to God's word, all right. You can sit for my word but we’re going to stand up for God’s word. Here we go. Daniel chapter three, we’re going to start in verse one. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Here, perhaps is the key question in the whole chapter. “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
Lets pray. God I know that there have been times in my life when I’ve bargained with you. I’ve had a foxhole faith of sorts. Asking you to do things for that and me if you would, I would in turn do something for you. God I pray that you just blow that approach to you away today. And that all of us would come you, not in some kind of bargaining position but just to say, Lord even if you don't do what we prefer, even if we go through the fire, God we're going to seek by your grace to be faithful to you. Grant us, God, a furnace faith, I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Please be seated. Well this morning, we are going to meet three very courageous men. And let me just go ahead and tell you guys, I’m going to have to be quick this morning alright, because when we finish this message, you’re going to meet a couple of other courageous young men who are going to take their stand for Christ in baptism and I want to gear up for that already. Because every one of us, needs to decide for whom we will stand and before whom we will not bow. These three young men made the right decisions and I want to share the story with you. And I know for a lot of you, you've heard this story, you know it. Its almost like Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Hansel and Gretel, except it's not. This is true. This is exactly what happened. It’s God working miraculously on the behalf of his children. I want you to perk up as though you never heard it before and we’re going to follow Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as they demonstrate a furnace faith.
Now there was a song, sung many years ago, and I’m not going to sing it for you. I know you’re glad, but it's about these three young men they wouldn't bow, they wouldn't bend, they wouldn't burn. And that’s going to be the outline I’m going to follow this morning. Number one by the way if you want to follow along, just turnover on the back of your worship guide there is an outline and that you can write in some things as God impresses them on you.
Number one, a furnace faith, all right, its what were talking about. A furnace faith will not bow. Furnace faith will not bow. Now that there are a couple of temptations that came these young men's way. They were, first of all, tempted to bow in compromise. The King, the mighty King of Babylon, the greatest king of his day had erected this giant statue. I want you guys to just get in your mind's eye, the magnitude of this. Maybe you can conjure up the image of other statues that you know. Here’s one you have seen before. It’s the statue of Christ the Redeemer. It’s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And that statue spans about 60 cubits high. The very dimensions, within a few feet, of the statue that was erected in the plains of Dura. Can you imagine that the grandeur of that scene. Here is this mighty statue, an idol, erected by King Nebuchadnezzar. It was made of solid gold. What would the worth be of that? You know that gold sells for about $1500 an ounce. This is 90 feet tall. Solid gold. And it dazzles in that desert sun. And he commands that everyone at the sound of the orchestra, they will hit their knees, in obeisance to that idol. And I know all of you have been to the stadium and maybe some of you guys were yesterday at the Stadium and you’ve seen in a crowd, the wave right? It starts over in one section, someone will stand up and then it goes through the whole and the wave passes through. Will I imagine here an inverse wave? Because at the sound of that trumpet, when they saw the fiery furnace over there smoldering in the distance. And by the way, you remember that Babylon had its start as a place called Babel. You guys remember Babel? It’s where they were going to erect the Tower to the heavens. And many scholars believe that the brick kiln, K I L N, in the brick furnace, that was used to make all the bricks that built a tower toward heaven in Babel, this is the same fiery furnace where threatened to be cast there if they don’t bow down. Now, so here we come. Here is the inverse wave. And boy then the music sounds, they all in terror, they hit their knees. Perhaps the get on their face. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are the exception to this. Here comes the inverse wave and those three boys stand there. I don’t know that they made a scene; I don’t think they shouted out, I don’t think they try to draw attention to this. They just, in humility, yet loyalty to the Lord, the just stood their ground. They were tempted to compromise. They had a reason to be afraid. The king of Babylon set bow down. They had a greater fear than the king of Babylon; they feared the King of Kings. And the King of Babylon said bow down, the King of Kings said, don’t you bow down. Where did he say that? You remember? You guys know your Ten Commandments? Lets just start the very beginning. Number one, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Number two… Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images, nor shall you bow down to them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had a choice to make.
Are we going to compromise? Are we going to go along to get along? Are we ore are we going to standup for what God has said. I want to challenge every one of you listening to me today, to have a furnace faith. And to say God, I’m going to stand for you no matter how hot it gets in the kitchen. They wouldn't compromise. Not only would they not compromise, they wouldn't conform. You see a furnace faith will not bow down in conformity to what the world demands of us. And you know we’re living in a day when it seems as though the pressure to conform is as great as it's ever been in my lifetime. There was a time when our culture kind of aided you in your walk toward Christ, at least to some degree. Ostensibly, but today it's as though, the culture is going one way and God is saying go the other. You have to be like a fish willing to swim upstream if you're going to stand for the Lord. When that inverse wave hit everybody was bowing down. Everybody’s doing it. Everybody’s getting wasted. Everybody’s doing drugs. Everybody’s sleeping together before they're married. Everybody’s morals are changing. Everybody’s conception of marriage is changing and everybody's doing it. No. Everybody is not doing it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are not doing it. They’re standing for the Lord. And I want to challenge a whole auditorium of people here, to be willing, in the furnace, when the fire is hot to say, “I am not going to bow.” what God has said, by his grace, and for his glory, I'm going to seek to be obedient.
You know peer pressure is powerful. There’s an experiment done, some years ago, to illustrate the power of peer pressure. Here’s the way it was done. It was done by a psychologist, her name was Ruth Berenda, and they worked with teenagers. And would all you teenagers, look right up here. Here was the experiment that teenagers, at a time, come into a room. Nine of the 10 were in on the deal. One of them though, was like the guinea pig. And so they would come in ten at a time and what they were asked to do was to raise their hand when the teacher pointed to the longest line on the board. There were a number of lines. Each of a different length. It was obvious which is the longest and had before hand agreed, with the nine, when we point to the second longest all of you raise your hand. And the experiment was to see what would the one teenager do that was not In the know. So the teacher began to point to the lines. Raise your hand will become the longest line. When the teacher pointed to the next to the longest line, all nine hands went up. They were watching I guess through two-mirrors or something like that and they watched as invariably, the one teenager that was, like not in the in the know on this, they would look around, with a bewildered look, and be like [shyly raises hand]. 75% of the time. They were just doing what everybody else was doing and don't we feel this? There is such a temptation to conform.
Listen to what God says. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Proving what is that good and acceptable of will of God be transformed by his words .I would challenge us to stand. Even if there is peer pressure to go the other way. And let me just add this one other thought and then ill go on. Pressure is not a sin. Peer pressure is a fact. I’m going to say it again. Peer pressure is not a sin. Peer pressure is a fact. What does that mean? That means, if you got good friends, peer pressure can work to your advantage. But if you have poor friends, peer pressure can work to tear you down. Do you think it’s coincidental that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood? What difference did it make to Shadrach that he had Meshach and Abednego to stand with him? I believe it helped him. Peer pressure can work for you. And I'm so glad for you collegians and you high schoolers and you middle schoolers that are standing together. Be involved in the student ministries here. Be involved in the collegiate ministry. Man if it Micah says Hey were going to get together and we’re going to stand on our heads, just bring your pillow and come on man. Whatever were doing, you be involved in it. because peer pressure isn’t a sin, its just a fact. If you get good peers, they will help you toward God.
All right so, number one. A furnace faith will not bow. Number two. A furnace faith will not even bend. All right now. This is bow right? You get down like this. This is bow. Those boys wouldn’t even bend. They wouldn't do it in the face of a second chance. Now this is a part of the story you may not have noticed when were going through it in that initial reading. Let me just review this for you. The king gave the command, right. Everybody bow down when you hear the music. And everyone bowed down in the inverted way except these three guys. There were there some tattle tales in the group. Who likes the tattletale? Nobody likes a tattletale but here come the tattletale's. O king, live-forever, they’re buttering him up. There’s some Jews that you appointed, they're jealous of these men and they don't pay attention to anything you say O King. And that was in exaggeration. Those are good young men. They are in fact; the King had concluded that they were 10 times better than all the other servants. He actually, I believe, really liked those young men. But they don't pay any attention you King, they don’t bow down to your gods. They don't worship the idol that you set up. The latter half is certainly true, they would not bow. And so the king, the Bible says was enraged. Now watch this. When the Bible says that he was enraged, my own conviction is that he was not enraged solely at those three young men. I think he was enraged because of the tattletales. He was enraged because these three young men whose service he valued now, or he's put into this quandary of what to do with them, because obviously they defied his authority. If he lets them go, it undermines his authority before all. And he is enraged at this. He wishes that it had not been brought to his attention. Now why do I say that? It’s because he gave him a second chance. Had his rage been solely and wholly against them, he would just execute them. But I think he had an affection for these young men I believe their witness to him had been strong. He knew there was something remarkable about the young men. And he said, boys, I’m going to give you another chance. Right. Here is what we’re going to do. Same song, second verse. Were going to tap the baton, and we’re going to crank up the orchestra and when they do, fool me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me. I’m not going to let you get me again. This is your last opportunity. Going once, going twice. He gives them a second chance. Did you know that’s the way the devil works? The devil is always going to come and give you a second chance. He's going to tempt you. And if you don’t yield to it, it’s not like the devil just gives up. Doesn’t say oh man, he whooped me. Ill just give, all right. He’s a hause, I ain't gonna mess with him. NO. The devil is going to come after you a second time. He is going to give you a second chance. You don’t believe me? Do you remember what happened to Jesus? We’re talking Jesus here. Jesus all right. Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. This is Luke chapter 4. Listen to what happened at the very end of those temptations. Jesus triumphed in everyone. Partly because he knew the word of God and he quoted it to Satan. He whipped him. Listen to how it includes. Luke, the Bible says, that Satan left him for a more opportune time. That is, the devil wasn't even giving up on Jesus. He is going to come after him again. And he did. Don’t think you not to come after you, he is. I want to challenge you, don't bow, don’t even bend. Don’t even bend when a second chance comes your way. Do you know why they didn't bend; do you know why they didn’t bow? Because they had some sure convictions. I mean they were rock-ribbed in what they believed. Now I want you to look at the verses that are on the screen. You are going to see the convictions that they held. And this is what you make you stand when everybody else's bowing. The Bible says, when threatened again a second time, “if this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not,” now mark those words, “but if not, be it known to you O King, that we will not serve your gods.” now what are the convictions that shine in those verses? Number one, they had a conviction that God is strong. I love what they said, “our God is able,” he is able to deliver us and he will, they had a conviction that God was strong. In fact he is stronger than anyone. I love that truth reinforced in the New Testament. But now unto him is able, to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine. Friends of our God is strong and he is Almighty deserves our allegiance. So they had that conviction. And then, the other condition that they have was he was sufficient, he was sufficient. Now listen to what they said, and here we come to the furnace faith in its purest form. Our God is able to deliver us, we believe he is going to, but if not, but if not, but if not! I love phrase. If he doesn't deliver then I’m just going to give up on God, I’m just going to quit, I’m just going to throw my Bible away, If God doesn’t do what I want….is that what they said? No, I love what they said. They said, “but if not,” if he doesn't rescue us, we are still not going to bow down to the idol that you have made. We are not going to serve your gods. They believed that God, in himself, was sufficient. God is enough. He alone is worthy. Not for the gifts that he gives me. What if I got sick of cancer? Say God you heal me from my cancer, and if you don't heal me, then forget you God. That’s a foxhole faith. Right. God, my marriage is falling apart and God if you'll save my marriage then I'll follow you. God I need this new job. God I’ve worked hard for this. I deserve this new job. God if you'll do this for me, then I'll follow you. NO, these young men said, “but if not.”
I’m going to tell you a story out of World War II. It’s a true story and it was set on the beach in France. This is in 1940. Early in the war. And was not going well for the Allied cause, in fact, the United States and not even entered World War II yet. And Hitler and the blitzkrieg were rolling across France. The British had come to France’s aid and there were over three hundred thousand Brits in France trying stop the onslaught of Hitler. But they weren’t faring well. And they had retreated as far as they could go. They had gotten right up against what he called the English Channel. There were in a little port called Dunkirk. There was no escape. Hitler's Panzer divisions were surrounding them. The enemy. And behind them was the ocean. England was terrified that they would lose 300,000 of their finest. Their governing authorities declared a day of fasting, and prayer that God would intervene. One of the stories that comes out of that battle was of one of the commanders there in Dunkirk. It said that he simply sent a telegram back to England. The question was what are you going to do in the face of this overwhelming enemy when it seems as though there's no escape. He answered with a three-word telegram. His words were, “but if not.” We want to be rescued. We want to be saved from this dilemma. But if not, were still going to face the enemy. But if not, were still going to hold the line. But is not, we’re going to give our lives in service for right. But if not. I don’t know if you know the story, its called The Miracle of Dunkirk. God blessed and it was a remarkable story of how they rescued out 338,000 soldiers. Many of them were rescued to what they called The Little Boats of Dunkirk. There weren’t enough army boats to get them all, so mom and pop got in their little trawlers and in their little dingys and went across the British Channel and rescued those men. It’s a great, great story. But I love the commander. But if not! We’re not going to bow before you. Were not going to even bend.
How does it conclude then? What happened to these three young men? Well, if you won't bow and you wont bend, then you wont burn. Furnace faith will not burn. You know the story don't you? The Bible says that the king was furious now, doubly so. He ordered that the furnace be heated up seven times its original level. And they bound those men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They threw them into the fiery furnace still bound. So hot was the fire that the burly men who carried to the mouth of that oven and threw them in were overtaken by the flame and in the heat. They were killed. Down went Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. Bound into the flames. Apparently there at the floor of the furnace there was an opening through which, perhaps, they injected the fuel for the flame and the king was positioned just so he could see those three young men. Perhaps he imagined that he would in glee, watch their bodies burst into flames and be consumed. But instead as he looked into the furnace, he was amazed. He asked some of the other attendants, he said, “How many men did we throw into the fire?” they said, “O King, we cast in three.” He said, “How is it that when I look in there, I don’t see three men, I see four? And the fourth is like a son of the gods.” There was something about that one that glowed. Probably redundant, but he shown with the Shekinah glory. Who was that fourth man? Do you know who it was? It was a Christophany. It was an appearance of the Lord Jesus pre-incarnate. Jesus had come to the fire to rescue them.
What do we learn from this? Number one. Fire happens. Listen, if you live here on this Earth, you are going to have some fires come your way. There are going to be some difficulties. You’re going to get sick. Your child is going to get sick. Your relationships are going to be frazzled or broken. You’re going to have disappointments in your life. Fire happens to all of us. Doesn’t the Bible say? The sun shines on the just and the unjust. Rain falls on the just and unjust. You are going to go through the fire. Those young men did end up in the fire because they were disobeying God, those young men ended up in trouble because they were obeying God. God didn’t rescue them from the fire; God rescued them through the fire. He’s going to do the same for you. Fire happens. You better get ready. You better know Jesus, so that when you're in the fire he's there with you. Can we do a little math? Here’s a little math problem, all you bright university students. Let me give you a math problem. How many men were cast into the fire? Three. How many appeared there? Four. Four men in the fire. How many came out? How many are left in the fire? One. You know where Jesus is? So often, you’re going to find Jesus the fire. Trouble comes your way. You’re going to find him, as you never did before. He’s going to grow you. In fact, listen to this. Listen! Fire helps. That’s the last thing up here [pointing to sermon outline]. Fire happens and fire helps. They were thrown in bound. So how is it that they were walking about in the fire? You know how it is that they were walking about in the fire? The only thing that got burned was the ropes that bound them. When they came, because the King said, “come out, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.” And they came out and they went over to them, and they said, “Man! Your clothes aren’t even singed. Your hairs not singed. Even the sent of smoke is not on you.” The only thing they lost was the thing that bound them. Listen you go through hard times in your life, the only thing you lose are things you need to lose. There’s freedom in the fire. When we get into difficulties your going find Jesus closer is ever been.
All right now. To conclude. The story is told about a wagon train. It was traveling across the West, and as they traveled westward, they heard, behind them, the crackling of fire. They knew the sound. All of us have been watching fires out west. Those that were in the wagon train, they looked behind them and as far as they could see along the horizon, there were bright walls of flames. Smoke was billowing toward the heavens and the wind was blowing very fiercely. They knew that they could not outrun that line of fire. It would soon overtake them. There they are in the middle of the plains, no place to escape. What would they do? Many of them began to despair. Thought this would be there end. Then one enterprising person among them knelt down and he lit a match and he sat the grass in front of them ablaze. Now the same wind that's pushing the flames toward them catches this new blaze. And it begins to burn the grass in front of them and the brush in front of them. So now two fires are raging. Both going westward, one behind them, one front of them. Then you know what those enterprising settlers did? They simply rolled forward into the part of the plains that now is already been burned. You know what folks? Fire can't burn the same place twice. Once all that’s combustible been burned away, the safest place you can these were the fires already burned. What am I saying to you? Jesus was in the fire. That’s not the only time Jesus has been in the fire. When on the cross, God’s righteous judgment and wrath against sin was being poured out. You can imagine it a flame, as it were. The holiness of God, bringing judgment to bear. The Bible says, the soul that sins it shall surely die. The wages of sin is death God's holiness demanded that sin be punished. Did he just wink at sin? There would be no justice in him; there would be no holiness in him. No, sin must be judged. And Jesus, there on the cross, took our place. And it's as though the fire of Heaven burned across the ground at the cross. If you will, buy faith, step into that place where Jesus suffered your wrath, the fire can no longer touch you. You’ll be safe. You’ll be safe.
These young men hey listen; they didn’t have a foxhole faith. Now man the bullets were whizzing. Their lives were in jeopardy, but they were bargaining. They weren’t saying God if you’ll get me out of this, I am going to love you. God if you’ll get ne out of this, I’m going to serve you. No, they said God, if you don’t; we’re still going to love you. We’re still going to serve you. Now I want to challenge my own heart, as I do yours, to have more than a foxhole faith. If that's all you can muster, I guess I'll be glad for that, but it is not enough friends. God wants us to honor him by faith says, even if not. Even if not, I’m going to follow you. Now I’m going to pray for us. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to pray for us, then we’re going to see, two very courageous young men take their stand. And then we’re going to sing and praise to God. And when all that’s done and we’re dismissed. I’m going to remain here with some of the staff members to receive any of you that want to talk about faith in the Lord Jesus. How to know him as your Savior. All right, so lets pray to together God we give you praise for the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These young men, who wouldn’t bow, who wouldn’t bend. Thank you God, they didn't burn. You rescued them. Lord we know that you will meet us in our fires and you will help us. You’re able. You’re strong. You’re sufficient. You merit our love and our allegiance. May we give it to you. God give us grace to do that, we pray in Jesus name, Amen. |
Sun, 13 September 2015
Stand, Week 1 Jeff Ginn The eyes of our nation, this week, have been focused on small County in Kentucky. It’s called Rowan County. It's because there, a test case of sorts, has arisen. It swirls around a simple County Clerk. Her name is Kim Davis. Kim it turns out had lived a wild life and she had been married four times. Yet, at her mother-in-law's passing in 2011, the Lord got a hold of her and she came to know Christ as her Savior and it radically transformed her life. She says today that she's devout Christian. Well, when the Supreme Court ruled, earlier this year, that same-sex marriage was to be the law of the land, she was placed in a quandary. She was elected as clerk. In fact, her mother before her had been the County Clerk. Something of a family tradition, which is common they say in Kentucky. She had been elected under the premise that marriage was, as the Scripture teaches, between a man and a woman and now she found herself as the clerk with the responsibility of issuing marriage licenses for relationships that she did not believe comported with what the Scripture teaches. What would she do? What ought she do? It was a difficult question. She made a decision in her heart, in fact she resolved in her heart that she would not go against her conscience and what she believed was right. So she made an appeal to the governing authorities and it went to the Supreme Court and that she be heard, that her arguments be heard and that was denied. It fell back to a judge; I believe it was a federal judge there in Kentucky to rule in her case. He ruled that she must issue the licenses. If you're paid by the state of Kentucky and the law of Kentucky is that people can marry across all sorts of lines, then she, as an employee of the state, would have to issue those licenses or face the consequences. She decided that she would do the latter. She would face the consequences and so the judge decreed that this woman be cast into prison and as we worship, here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this morning, that woman sits in a prison jail cell in Rowan County, Kentucky. I suppose I imagine that perhaps we would live to see a day like today, but the I’m not sure I really believed it would come. When someone would be imprisoned for a tenet of their religious faith. Many of you'll remember that our nation was actually founded on the exact opposite premise. That people came here to say, everyone ought to be able to worship according to their dictates and live out their faith without coercion. Those days, it seems are passing. So she's made the decision to stand. Now some of you maybe thinking, well now wait preacher, if she's paid by the state of Kentucky and the law is as it is, then she ought to just resign and a forfeit her position. You know what, I think a case could be made for that. In fact, that actually did happen here in the state of Louisiana not so many weeks ago. It happens that there was a justice of the peace, a lady, in fact of all things; she's married to a Baptist preacher. She’s a young woman and she was elected to be the justice of the peace in, I think, Grant Parish up in Central Louisiana. Maybe some of you know where that is. She made the decision, with her husband, that when the Supreme Court ruled as it did, that she rather than get into all kinds of the legalities and a potential suit, she would just resign. She did: she just resigned her position, I for one, am glad that Kim Davis is taking a stand. II don't necessarily, I can’t judge whether or not she's been perfect in every moment of this journey. That’s for God to judge, but I’m glad she's taken a stand. Let me tell you why, because this forces us as a nation to consider some very significant questions. Now she has said she'll take whatever repercussions come her way and she's proven that she would. In fact, when the judge ordered her to jail, her response was “yes, your honor, thank you.” She responded with grace and she's taken her lumps and there she sits in jail today. But we, as a nation, have to make some decisions about how were going to live going forward. Do we want to live in a nation? Do we want our nation to be the kind of place where a devout Christian can no longer be a court clerk? Where, in our nation, it can never be again a devout Christian, who would stand for traditional marriage that could be a justice of the peace? Where no believer of this nature, could serve as a chaplain in our Armed Forces? Could not be a chaplain with the state police force? You say, preacher that’s crazy. What are you talking about? Did you know that just this year, again this is in the state of Kentucky, there was a young man who was a volunteer from his church, he would go every week, as I understand it, to a correctional Institute where they housed young offenders. He would go there to share the hope of the gospel, and to disciple these young men. Well the state Department of Corrections came up with a sheet and he had to sign it and sheet said, “you cannot say that homosexual behavior is sinful.” Well if you are a devout believer that places you in a quandary. How can you not say what the Bible says is the case? In fact, while I’m on this, don’t think I mean this to be a diatribe against one particular sin. Any sexual activity outside the simple bounds of a man and woman wed in matrimony is outside of the parameters of what God established. Be it premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexual behavior, all of it alike is outside what God ordained and so they said before you can go back into that prison you’ve got to sign this is. That you will not say that these behaviors are sinful. The young man said, “I can't do it.” Are we prepared to live in a nation, where volunteers from churches can't go into the prisons and share the hope of the gospel as we’ve discovered in Christ and declare Christ saves from all sin? Is that the kind of nation we want to live in? Just these past few weeks, here in the state of Louisiana, an edict was released from the judicial commission of the State of Louisiana. It went to every judge in the State of Louisiana and it said “you must comport yourself in accordance with the Supreme Court's edict or we will remove your judgeship.” no Christian judges? No Christian bakers? No Christian photographers? These are serious days in which we’re living. Now friends listen, Kim Davis Is right at least in this one sense, we have to be willing to take whatever consequences come, but we must stand! We must stand for what is right! God will sort the consequences. Now where do we find help in making decisions during these difficult days with these weighty issues? I've got good news for you. There is help for us so we can know how we ought to live in these trying times and it's found in the book of Daniel. Would you please open your Bibles to Daniel? Daniel, Chapter One is where we are going to be this morning, and to me it's wonderful to think that this series has been planned for months. Months ago, we laid out our preaching schedule for this year and Daniel was the book that we chose and wouldn’t you know, in God's wisdom, he gave us this, just at the moment we most needed it. And that's the way he is. So if would now as our title implies, Stand, would you stand in honor of God's word and we are going to read the first chapter. Now normally, I don't read such an extended passage at one time. It takes about three minutes to read this first chapter, and I’m going to read every word. And this will be the best three minutes you spend all day, all right? Listening to what God says. I want to listen to this and then consider how ought I to live where I am? Just as Daniel learned to live in the circumstances where he found himself. Let’s read together beginning in Daniel chapter one verse one. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. (I like it that the editors used a little g, that’s appropriate, all right now verse 3) Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: (now you may not the names Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, but I think you know these) Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, (there it is) Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. (You know those names don’t you? Shadrach, Meshach and “away we go”, all right, you know these names. These are the great three friends of Daniel; now look in verse 8, what happens?) But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. Let’s pray. God, we thank you for this book in the Bible, the book of Daniel. We thank you for the courage and commitment of these young men. The way that they stood when it seemed that all was coming against them. I pray God, you would teach us, how will stand in these days and to go against the flow when it seems that all of culture would sweep us away from you. Give us wisdom. Give us learning. Give us courage. Help us to dare to be a Daniel. I pray in Jesus name, Amen. Please be seated. This morning we’re going to begin a study in the book of Daniel and were going to look at the life of Daniel, this courageous young man and his four compatriots. This morning we’re going to focus in the first chapter. I’m going to divide this story into three scenes. I want you to follow along carefully as the Lord teaches us. Now the very first scene I going to call, A Great Tragedy. This story begins with a great tragedy. Look at how the passage opens, there in versus one and two and see it projected on the screen. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand. Now this tragedy that I'm going to describe has two components to it. First of all, there's the component of Israel's defeat. It is a tragedy that Israel was defeated. Now remember Israel. Israel was that small band of, a tribe really, that came out of the descendants of Abraham. They were enslaved in Egypt and with a mighty hand, God brought them out of Egypt and Israel, in effect, defeated the mightiest force in its day, Egypt. Then arose the Kings, Saul and then David. David, you remember took down Goliath and the Philistines. He united the kingdom and David's reign was a rain of great might and power and renown and wealth. Then came his son Solomon. Israel was a top the world it seemed, but fissures began to appear in the veneer. It was because of the idolatry and immorality and fracturedness of their nation that that the people of Israel began to go into a decline, a steep decline, until, by the time we come to the life of Daniel, the nation is now totally defeated. Humiliated by what was then the world power, Babylon and its king Nebuchadnezzar. But the most sobering part of this defeat and of these verses that you see is that phrase “the Lord gave Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. In other words it was not the might of the Babylonians, their armies, or their strategy of that enabled them to defeat Israel. What enabled them to defeat Israel was that God gave Israel over into its enemy’s hands. That is judgment came upon Israel. The Bible says righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people. And when sin begins to weave its way into a nation and there's immorality and idolatry and fractured people, then judgment is soon sure to follow. And if God judged Israel for her sins and he did, God can judge the United States of America for our sins. It was a tragedy that they were defeated. And the tragedy of it was that God allowed it to happen. Now why would I do that? Why would God allow his own people to go into captivity and defeat? Do you know why? It was because of their disobedience God had warned them for decades on end, that they ought to repent. That they ought to get right, but Israel was stiff necked and it was bent on going its own way. Away from God, and so judgment was to come. In fact it’s interesting. It’s one of the proofs of the inerrancy of Scripture and its trustworthiness. Did you know that more than 100 years prior to the defeat of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, God prophesied it would happen? He did so through the prophet Isaiah. Listen! Listen carefully to the precision of this prophesy. This is from Isaiah Chapter 39 beginning at verse five. “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your sons, who shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall be taken away. And they shall become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon. Are you kidding me? A hundred years before it happened, God said there's going to come a day when judgment will fall. You’re going to be carried away the Babylonian in captivity, including some of your own defendants. What do recent discover here in Daniel chapter 1? That from the nobility, from the royal house, these young men were buried in the Babylon. GOD’S WORD CANNOT BE MOCKED! What a man sows, he will reap. What a nation sows, a nation will reap. And this story begins with a tragedy, but the tragedy did not have to happen. Had the children of Israel repented and turned back to God, judgment would not have fallen but they did not, they disobeyed, and thus, they were defeated. It’s a lesson for us in America. Could judgment fall on America? It could! I've said before and I'll say it again here now, with a heavy heart I tell you, I wouldn't be surprised if God allowed our worst enemies overrun us, to discipline us for our sin. We, the purported Christian nation, supposed Christian nation! Why is it that those who sell baby parts are free and the one who would stand for traditional marriage is in jail? You explain it to me! Don’t think it could happen to us. It could happen. I don’t say that with any glee, I say with a broken heart. I say God have mercy on America. Lord don’t have justice with us. We don't need justice. If justice were to fall we would be judged. No, we need mercy. God have mercy on us. Help us and especially those of us who know the truth that we would stand for righteousness. Not holier than thou, but just walk in obedience to the precepts of God's Word. Simple things. Like Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery, Ashley Madison. Thou Shall Not Steal; Thou Shall Not Kill, including innocent babies and their mother’s womb! GOD HELP US! Lest this tragedy befall us. Now lets go to the second scene. I’ve talked to you about the great tragedy that befell the children of Israel. Now I want to say something about a great temptation. It came Daniel's way. Here they are, carried off to Babylon. And here's the strange twist of fate, if you will, Daniel has in front of him, in a way of thinking, a golden possibility. All right? He’s been held in captivity. His city has been besieged. They been starving in Jerusalem. Now this young man, country bumpkin, has been carried off to Babylon. Babylon was the greatest city of its day. It was the Washington DC or the New York City of its time. There is Daniel, living in that great walled city. He enrolled there, not in LSU; he enrolled in BSU Babylon State University. And he's got TOPS (scholarship program), he’s got full ride tuition, he got room and board, doesn’t the Bible say that? He’s given to eat and the king’s table. He’s standing in the king's palace. I mean he’s got the tiger by the tail. All he’s got to do is go along to get along. Just don’t ruffle feathers. Just keep your head down Daniel or you’ll get it lopped off. He’s got a golden opportunity. Here he is. He’s not eating at the Five; he’s eating at Galatoire’s, or Juban’s or Ruffino’s. I mean he eating the royal regimen, it’s being fed to him. What an opportunity he has. All he has to do is go along to get along. Daniel, just be cool man. Just fit in. just be like everybody else around you. That’s all you’ve got to do. I love Daniel, because in the face of this golden possibility, he stands for a Godly purpose. Look at would you in verse eight. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Daniel resolved, that is, Daniel purposed in his heart. Daniel was like this; everybody may be going this way. Everybody may be disobeying the Lord's commands, but I am going to go this way. I’m not going to be holier than thou about it, I’m not going to try to lift myself up as if I'm all that. But just in my own modest way, I'm going to stand for what's right. What a great word. You young people listen to me. You know how old Daniel was at this time? We believe he was probably about 14 years of age. Do I have any 14 year olds in here this morning? Stand up if you are 14. I want to see all our 14 year olds. Stand right up. How would you 14 year olds like if you were carried away into a foreign country? You 15 year olds stand up 15 year old. He may have been 15. There you are. There you are. 15 years old, carried away, all you have to do is go along. Just do whatever everyone else is doing. You don’t have to make a scene for crying out loud. You can be seated. Daniel wouldn't go along to get along. And he would keep his head down. He stood up. And he said I’m going to follow the Lords precepts. And you might even argue, it’s not that big a thing. I mean all you have to do is eat the king’s food. Just drink the wine that there serving. What? It’s not a big deal. It was to Daniel. Because God in his word had laid out some principles of how to live in obedience to him. And there were certain kosher foods among the Jewish people. And Daniel on what some might consider just the technicality said I'm not going the yield on this. I'm going to be faithful to the Lord. By his grace am going to stand true. And I want to challenge our young people and our parents who set the example and our grandparents who are here this morning. May God help us in this day of so much moral confusion, just to be true? True to God's word. To his truth. To his principles. And not yield. Daniel had a Godly purpose. You know what this leads to? It leads to peril. It leads to danger. There was a grave peril before Daniel. I mean you couldn’t buck King Nebuchadnezzar. I mean this is the ruler of the known world. It would be like being carried in before the Ayatollah Khomeini. You do what you want in his face. It’s a dangerous thing. You say how do you know that preacher? Well look at what the Bible says. They’re now in verse 10. ..and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king. What’s he saying? He’s saying man, if you don't do what the king said, we could all get our heads lopped off. This is serious business. But Daniel, no matter the risk, runs this apparel. And is willing to stand in the face of it. He is between a rock and a hard place. Look at this. If he pleases the king, he displeases the King of Kings. But he pleases the King of Kings, he displeases the king. And he has to make a choice. And all of us are going to have to make a choice. Who is the King that we will please? For whose pleasure do we live? And Daniel makes his choice. Now I love Daniel because he offers up, in this quandary, he offers up a very gracious proposal. He doesn’t stand up on the cafeteria table in the middle of the Five or something and start banging on the table. I want a new menu! I want a new menu! I want a new menu! He doesn't do that. He doesn’t hold up a placards and march, like Westboro does. No, what does Daniel do? He makes a very gracious proposal. He says look, I tell you what, would you be so kind as to just test us for 10 days? Just let us eat fruit and vegetables. Just test us. The word vegetable here is a word that means from the seed. So it would have included things like wheat and vegetables and fruit. Things that grow from seed. Just let us have a basic menu and then at the end of the 10 days just test us and see how we measure up against the others. It was a gracious kind proposal. And I want to advocate this for all of us. I’m not wanting you to leave today and go get placards and march and shout profanities and curse the darkness. I’m not asking you to do that. Nor do I believe the Word of God have us do that. Instead I'm asking you to live with what I’m going to call a convictional kindness. Now you just may want to jot these words down. The head or our Religious Liberty and Ethics Commission is a man named Dr. Russell Moore. And he coined this phrase as I know and I love it. Listen to it. Convictional Kindness. What does that mean? Well just think of each word individually. Conviction. God’s people, if you know Jesus as your savior, and you comport to be His disciple, you need to have some conviction about you. Things that you believe are right and wrong. And those things need to be rooted in the clear teachings of God’s word. Not some list you just came up with by tradition. But what does God’s word say? And knowing what he expects, you say, these are my convictions. I’m not looking to fight. I’m not looking down my nose at anybody else. These are jus the things I believe are expected of me by God and I have convictions about these. That’s conviction. That is, have a backbone. But then the word kindness. What does the word kindness mean? That means that you’re gentle. That you’re not up in people's faces looking for a fight. You’re going to plead your case. You’re going to make proposal and you’re going to do it with graciousness. And if it is not conceded to you, you are going to face the consequences. Convictional Kindness. Or you could turn it around and it is the same thing. Kind conviction. And those are the kind of people we need to be in the day in which were living. Kim Davis, whether or not we agree with every nuance of what she’s done, she’s made a proposal. She’s said I want to take this to the Supreme Court. I want there to be an adjudication. I believe that we need to have an adjudication in our nation. Let me remind us again. We are the government. If you are old enough to vote, you, in a sense, govern this nation. And you need to take seriously that right and that responsibility that falls to you. You better know the issues. Don’t vote for somebody because they handsome, or because they are good looking. Don’t vote for them because they are brash. Vote for someone who, to the best of your discernment, is going to stand according to biblical principle’s and again, whether or not we carry any election, we still have to stand for what is right. Stand! Stand! Stand! And Daniel did. And he did it, with convictional kindness. We are not looking for confrontation, but we are not going to capitulate either. May God help us to be people of convictional kindness? Isn’t that what the bible says? Listen to what the bible says. This now is 1st Peter, Chapter 3. Versus 14-15. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.. Now folks, I tell you, I will be honest with you, you probably know this anyway, its hard for me not to get angry at times. Just to get upset and frustrated and bitter because things don’t go the way I think they ought to go. And the world often sees Christians an embittered, harsh, offensive people. Peter says, be ready to give an answer for the hope that’s within you when people ask you. Are you known as the person of hope? Am I known as the person of hope or do I think the roofs caving in. You know Chicken Little. The sky is falling. Friends we have a hope and our nation may go down the tubes and we may be imprisoned for your faith but I still have hope. We ought to be ready to give an answer. And he says do it with gentleness and respect. May God help us to live with convictional kindness? All right now here is the end. It ends and I’m so thankful to say this, on an up note. It ends in triumph, really. Look at how this the third scene in our story. It is what I call, a great triumph. It happens because of faithfulness to God. Daniel is faithful. He stays true to what he believes. He didn’t bow, he didn’t bend, he didn’t break. He stood. Stand. Stand. Stand. He did. He was faithful. And because he was faithful, he was favored by God. God favored him. Look at how this passage concludes. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams and the king spoke with them and among all of them, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. He found them ten times better than all. That’s amazing. Why were Daniel and his friends found ten times better? Was it because of innate intelligence in them? Did they have a natural higher IQ? I’m not sure that they did. I really believe that it was rooted in God’s favor. He blessed these boys. He helped them in their studies. He favored them and when we are faithful to God, he will favor us. He will bless us. He did with Daniel. Daniel rose to be; some might say the prime minister of Babylon. Now is it that all was easy for Daniel? Am I preaching a health and wealth gospel? No I am not! In fact, did you know that for the next seventy years of Daniels live, he was a captive, enslaved in Babylon? But he was still favored. This story set hundreds of years ago, could read as todays newspaper. It’s that applicable to where we are living. I pray God we wont go through any greater tragedy than what we have already experienced. I pray that we as a nation and as people will turn back to God. Listen friends, the problem isn’t in the courthouse, and the white house solely. It’s in the church house. Its preachers afraid to say what is true. It is church members who wont stand for what is true. It ought to begin the revival needs to begin here among us! In this day of difficulty, you young people, I know well, great temptations are going to come your way. You are going to be pressured to just go along to get along. I want to challenge you to purpose in your heart that you are going to stand for the Lord. And I want you do it with convictional kindness. And I want to do that myself. You pray for me that Ill be that kind of disciple. If we’ll do it, friends, I want to tell you something, God will bless it. He will favor us. He will be gracious to us. He’ll make his countenance shine upon us. He’ll give us peace. He will! Would you stand please with your head bowed? I want ask our musicians to come, our band. Were going to go out today singing. Were not defeated. Listen friend, no matter what happens we’re not defeated. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The ultimate victory is the Lord’s. We just need to make sure that we are on his side. That we know him that we been redeemed. That we been forgiven. That we’re standing. We need his grace to do it. We can’t stand in our own power, in our own strength. We need his grace. And so I want us to pray now for it. And then we will sing. God we thank you for your word and the light it is to our feet. The light it is to our path. God, I pray that today it's been illumined how we ought to live. With convictional kindness. Standing for what’s right in a hostile world. I pray for our young people that they’ll stand true. In elementary school, and middle school, and high school, for our collegiate at the University. That they will be gracious, faithful. I pray for adults out in the workplace, where there is dishonesty and immorality and deceit and all manner of temptation. Lord help us as adults to be faithful to you. Help us God to stand! We pray in Jesus name, AMEN. |
Sun, 13 September 2015
Transcript follows!
Stand “The Kingdom that Shall Stand Forever” Daniel 2:1-49
Key verse: “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).
1. Desperation before God a. The reasons for desperation b. The responses to desperation 2. Deliverance by God a. He is powerful b. He is present c. He is praiseworthy 3. Dominion of God a. His reign is perpetual
b. His reign is personal
Would everyone please draw a deep breath, just do like this. All right I see that all of you have breath. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord. I'd tell wasn’t that wonderful, what the choir and orchestra did. It was tremendous. The song said, "Let all the works of his hand be applauded" and we applaud the Lord. He gives gifts to people and I'm so glad they share their gifts with us. It’s a dream come true for me to serve in the church were people are so gifted musically and they let those gifts be used for the glory of God! Thank you choir and orchestra and all were involved in the service thus far, it’s been tremendous.
Would you take your Bible, please, and open to the book of Daniel. We are in a study through the book of Daniel. Really what were doing is, were really studying chapters one through six. This series, is in a lot of ways, was designed to help our students as they go back into the school system, especially the college and university system. We want to help them dare to be a Daniel and so that was a lot of the idea that went behind us scheduling this series at this time. Today we come to chapter two. Daniel chapter two. You said before, nothing lasts forever. There’s a lot of truth in that statement. For example, I want you to think with me of sports dynasties. Nothing lasts forever. Dynasties rise and they fall. Back in the 60's, the dominant team in the NBA was the Boston Celtics. Some of you are old enough to remember the Celtics in those days. They won eleven NBA championships in 13 years. That team have on it, great players like Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, John Havelechek. In fact they won eight straight NBA championships during the 60's. And so someone may have thought, "well, the Celtics, they'll just forever, be the dominant team in the NBA but, that’s not so is it. Along came the 80's, well the late 70's and 80's and it was ShowTime. These were the Los Angeles Lakers. This was kind of when I was coming up as a teenager and young man in college, that era. That team was made up of Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and great players like that. Kurt Rambis with the glasses, if you remember him and they were coached by Pat Riley. They were dominant in their day, in fact they went eight finals during that span of time and they won five NBA championships. Perhaps people thought the Lakers! The Lakers will always be on top but it isn’t so because dynasties rise and they fall. It was the Celtics in the 60's, the Lakers in the 80's, then came the 90's and who was the dominant team during the 1990's? The Chicago Bulls! They had on it, the greatest of all time, pound for pound, inch for inch, Michael Jordan and his sidekick Scottie Pippen. And that crazy man, Dennis Rodman. If you remember Dennis Rodman. crazy! the Bulls won six NBA championships. I can still picture in my mind, Michael Jordan, gesturing six championships! had he not had this crazy idea to try to go play professional baseball, they probably would have one more championships and so the Bulls were the dominant team. Somebody may have said, well the Bulls, theyll always be the dynasty. but, it isn't so is it. sports dynasties rise and fal,l but it's not just true in sports. it's true in business. businesses rise and businesses fall. monopolies and dynasties in the economic realm, rise and fall. in fact there was a study done of all the Fortune 500 companies, in the year 1955. how many of them still existed in 2014?
You know that 89%, thats nearly 90% of those Fortune 500 companies are no longer in the list because businesses rise and fall. In fact, let me just mention a litany of companies. Blockbuster. Blockbuster was all the rage and there was a blockbuster on every corner and every strip shopping mall. but today, blockbusters s ,I believe, is bankrupt. they've gone through bankruptcy, because though they made the transition from VHS, the VCR's, to DVD, they didn't keep up and Netflix came in and Netflix would just send you a movie right over the Internet to your home or you could go down to the local store in for a dollar you could read out of the red box, I think it's called. and Blockbuster is no more. sears. how many used to go shopping at Sears? I remember as a little boy going into a multi-storied Sears building in Memphis, Tennessee. it was a big trip for us. we would travel from our little home town of Forrest City. we would drive over to Memphis, get some burgers at Krystal and go up into the tower at Sears in Memphis. we thought was big stuff. But who goes to Sears nowadays? Walmart. Amazon.com. in fact, what store do you go to at all? you just order it over Amazon and it is dropped right on your front doorstep. Sears has not been able to keep up. In fact, poor Sears they have paired up with Kmart. many forecasters say they'll not survive next year. what happens? businesss come and go just as sports dynasties do. Kodak, Kodak was the dominant photography company for 100 years. and somebody said well Kodak will always dominate the photography business. but you know what? they were so tied to film, that when digiital photography came out, they were left in the dustbin. They couldn’t compete. And their fortunes rose and fell.
Well, what's true in sports and what's true in business is also true in the political sphere. empires rise and empires fall. Theres a long litany of kings and would-be dictators that have arisen and fallen. Ramses, Alexander, Caesar Augustus, Charlemagne, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Mussolini, Mau Se Tong, Stalin, ISIS. All of them rising, one day, to fall. But I come here to tell you something. There is a kingdom that will never fall. There is a dynasty rising that will never be diminished. And it is the kingdom of our Lord and Christ, Jesus himself. And of that kingdom, Daniel speaks. Would you stand your feet and honor of God's word and we'll see what God's word says about this kingdom? Now, I’m going to have mercy on you. I’m not going to read all 49 versus all right. Going to read the first twelve and this will be our Launchpad for the rest of the story. Give your best attention to what happens in verses 1 to 12, because this will set the stage. Daniel chapter 2 beginning in verse one God's word says,
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic,“O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm—if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
Lets pray. Lord we have breath this morning and because we do, we praise you Lord. We see around us the ruins of dynasties and kingdoms and businesses that are risen only to fall. God we believe your word that says there is a kingdom rising there is a dynasty rising that will never fall. it is the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, the Lord Jesus. We thank you for your kingdom. We thank you for the King. I pray this morning he will be lifted high and all of us would make sure that we are among his subjects and have pledged allegiance to the Lamb. We ask it in his name. Amen. Please be seated.
Our story this morning begins with desperation. There is absolute desperation before God. You know why don't you? Let me give you the reasons for desperation that the magicians, the enchanters and Daniel himself must've felt. The reason port was because the king is being unreasonable. They’re in a predicament to be sure. The king said I had a dream. It must have been a terrible dream. It must be a frightening dream and the King wants to know the meaning of it. And so, he orders that they tell him his dream. They say well that’s fine King, will tell you the dream as long as you tell us. We will tell you the meaning of your dream as long as you tell us what you dreamed. And the king says Oh No. In effect he says I've been suspicious about you boys all along. If I tell you the dream you could just concoct some explanation of it and I have no means of knowing whether your purported interpretation is true or false. I’m going to put out before you a fleece, in effect, and I ordered this, you tell me, without me disclosing it to you, what I dream. And if you can tell me what I drink first then I'll believe the interpretation that you purport to give. Well the people realize, these magicians, these wise men, they realized that their goose is cooked because they are powerless for this predicament. They have no means with in themselves to come up with it. And they protest. They say only the gods know what transpires in the night and in the dark. Only they can tell the dream that you have. So there are reasons for them being desperate. But the more important thing is, what is their response to this desperation? And maybe you've come here today and there's some desperation in your life. Maybe you're facing some crisis of some sort. Perhaps it's a relational crisis sorts, or it’s a financial crisis, or it's an emotional crisis. The important thing is not the reasons for your desperation. The important thing is your response in your desperation. How will you respond? And I love the way Daniel responded in this desperate moment. He responded, first of all, by being very prudent. The Bible says in verse 14 when the executioner came to Daniel, this is verse 14, Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch. Daniel gave a soft answer. The Bible says in Proverbs 15:1 a soft answer turns away wrath.
I heard a story about a Red Sox baseball player. His name was Wade Boggs. A lot of you will remember Wade Boggs. I believe he was the third baseman for the Red Sox. And of course you know the archrivals to the Red Sox are the Yankees. Every time the Red Sox would go to play in Yankee Stadium, there would be this heckler over on the third-base line and he would incessantly criticize and belittle Wade Boggs. He was always on his case. And he would say "man you stink." "Man your no good." and he just be giving him a hard time. Later Boggs had finally had enough. And so when the man started criticizing Boggs just walked over to him and he said, "Are you the man that's always running me down, you the man that it is always criticizing me?" and the Yankee fan said that's right, its me." what you can do about? Wade Boggs pulled out a brand-new baseball and he autographed it and tossed it up to the man.
And it is said that from that time on, that man became the biggest Yankee fan of Boston Red Sox player Wade Boggs. Why, because he given a soft answer to wrath.
Daniel is faced with his potential execution. The executioner has come. He said you’ve got to tell me what this dream means or you going to be killed. And Daniel answers, the Bible says with prudence. And I want to recommend this to all of us, whenever somebody gets up in your grill, someone is on your case; you ought to be like Daniel and respond with prudence and discretion. What else could you do? It wasn't just that he was prudent, he was prayerful. I love this. It’s not going to appear on the screen. But listen to what says in verses 17 and 18 or you can look at it in your Bible verses 17 and 18. “Then Daniel went into his house and made the matter known to his three friends, his companions, and he told them to seek mercy from the God of Heaven concerning this mystery. What did Daniel do? How did he respond to his desperate situation? Daniel prayed. It was prudent and he was prayerful. And if we will be those two things, you'll be surprised how God delivers us from the crises of our lives. He prayed.
I heard a story about these three preachers that were sitting together and they were talking about prayer. What was the best posture for preying? And it happened that there was a telephone line repairman who was working and he was within earshot. So the first preacher said, I find, that the best way to pray is to stretch my hands toward heaven and the and look up the sky, that's the best posture for prayer. Well the second preacher said, Oh no, the best posture for prayer is to get on your knees. There the Lord will hear your prayer. The third preacher said, well I don't think lifting your hand your hands to heaven and are getting down on your knees. He said the best posture for prayer is just to get flat on your face, be prone before the Lord. The old telephone line repairman had had enough, he piped up and said he fellas, the best posture I ever had in prayer was when I was hanging upside down from the telephone pole. I tell you when you're hanging upside down and your situation is desperate, you are going to pray.
Too many of us, we wait until our situation is desperate before we pray. Prayer is not the last resort, prayer is the first resort and Daniel knows this. They come and say Daniel you got to tell us this dream or you're going to be executed. He is prudent and he is prayerful. Are you taking to the Lord, the burdens and crises of your life for his hand to move? Well Daniel was wise enough to do so. So now we move from desperation before God to deliverance by God. When we respond rightly, we’re going to find the Lord ready to act on our behalf and the Lord ready to deliver. Look at verse 19 and you’ll see if they’re on the screen. The Bible says. “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of Heaven.” What happened, God delivered him. The situation was desperate but our God is greater and he delivered. He delivered Daniel. Now here I see three things. First of all, our God is powerful. I actually agree with all the enchanters of Babylon in one sense. In verse 11 they had said, “no one can give the dream except the gods.” you know what, they were right. It had to be someone who was powerful enough, someone to whom the darkness is light. Someone to whom what is shrouded, is revealed, and our God, is just that kind of God, he is powerful. He is able. Listen to what Psalm 139 says, “ oh Lord, your searched me, and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my paths and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, you, oh Lord, know it all together.” and I could continue the reading, many of you know it well. You can't go where God is not. You can't know something that God doesn't already know. Daniel turns in his desperation to this powerful God and God reveals to Daniel would only the gods can do. Only the one true God. He is powerful. You know what else I see here? He is present. Again verse 11, the Chaldeans say, “no one can reveal this except the gods and their dwelling is not among men.” they were right on the one hand but wrong on the other. Only God could reveal the dream, but they were wrong when they said, “his dwelling is not among men, his dwelling is among men. He is Emanuel, God come to dwell among us. And God was with Daniel. God was with Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego. When they went into that fiery furnace, God was there. And when Daniel needed him, God was there, and when you need God, he will be there. He is powerful. He is present, therefore he is praiseworthy. And I love what Daniel does here. Daniel receives this vision .God reveals to him the dream. What does Daniel do? Look at the latter half of this verse. What does it say? Then, this the latter half of the verse, then Daniel blessed the God of Heaven. Daniel, not only asked for God to intervene, but when God did, Daniel remembered to say thank you. He praised him. Gordon read that passage earlier, so I won't repeat it now, but I do want to reiterate for us all, the importance, not only of bringing our petitions to God, but once he is gracious to us. Giving him our praise in response. I too often prone to forget when good things happen to me. I may ask for them, but then I don't remember to say thank you. In fact, just this week, one of our church members was so gracious, and called the office, and he said that some jambalaya. I've got 15 lunches and, I’m going to bring them by the office and so it was on Thursday of this week that dear brother brought those lunches by to feed all the staff. We all gobble them up and enjoyed them very much Well a day or two went by and it was Saturday and I was preparing for this message and I was reminded that I ought to give thanks and so I texted the brother and said brother thank you for that lunch. That was delicious. And how many of us, we’re feasting on the good gifts God gives us but we don't remember to say thank you.
While I'm at it, let me just say this, this church is so good to Nell and Me. You are so good to us and I know a lot of you have done things for me and I never even said thank you to you. I’ve not written you a thank you note and maybe I haven’t responded and right now can I just blanket say, thank you God for Istrouma, thank you dear friends for your gifts and your support and your kindness. I really do appreciate it, I really do. I really do. We ought to remember to be a people who are grateful; Daniel was that kind of man. He praised the Lord for God's good gift. And not only did he give thanks, he gave tribute. Because when Daniel stood before the king, the king said, “can you give me the interpretation, can you tell me my dream, and can you tell me what it meant.” Daniel said, “no sir,’ he said, “I cannot do it, but there is a God in heaven, and he has shown me what you think. Daniel didn't take credit. Credit was not due to Daniel. He was wise enough not to co-opt God's glory. He gave God thanks and he gave God tribute. He gave God the glory for the good thing that it been done. Well now I come to the end. I want to say something about the dominion of God. You see our desperation, if we respond to it rightly will lead to God's deliverance and in his deliverance we see his sovereign dominion overall. Now here I will refer to verse 44. Daniel is giving the interpretation of the dream and he says, looks to the screen you'll see the verse, “and in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever.” there's the title of today's sermon. “The kingdom that shall stand forever.” sports dynasties rise and fall. Businesses rise and fall. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but there is a kingdom that will never fall. In fact, this King, his reign is first of all, perpetual. In perpetuity. For all time. Eternally, Jesus will reign. Daniel knew this from the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had had and the interpretation God him. Now listen to the dream. It’s given to us in verses 31 through 35. You saw o king and behold a great image. This image, mighty and have exceeding brightness, stood before you and its appearance was frightening. I want you as I read this to try to envision in your minds eye this statue, that was erected there. Verse 32 “the head of this image was of fine gold. Its chest and arms were of silver. It’s middle and thighs of bronze. Its legs of iron. Its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone,” now note this careful, “a stone was cut out by no human hand and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold altogether were broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found but the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. What a vision Daniel had. Daniel had a vision of kingdoms. A succession of kingdoms. Why? Because kingdoms rise and fall. The first of those kings was the head of gold and God told him, is Nebuchadnezzar. That is the Persian Empire. It was known for it’s its stores of gold. But with time, Babylon fell. In its place rose up a kingdom of silver. That was pictured in the arms and the chest of this image. That was the Medo-Persian Empire. it lasted some 200 years and just as Babylon was famous for its gold, Medo Persia was famous for its hoards of silver. But with time Medo-Persia fell. There was a man in Macedonia, Philip who rose up and his son after him Alexander and Alexander conquered the whole earth. His army dressed in bronze from helmet to toe and their shields and swords even of bronze and the mighty Grecian army swept the known earth. But that Kingdom to though it rose to the pinnacle of human achievement it fell. And behind it came that army of iron. The great Roman legions and they took the place of that Grecian Empire. But just like those before it, it to would fall. How would it fall? Listen to me. There was a stone cut out by no human hand. Who is this stone that came and struck the image and all the kingdoms of the world fall before this stone. I tell you he is the stone that was rejected of men, but is the cornerstone of the Church. He is the Lord Jesus. Cut by no human and the virgin birth is there prophesied, Jesus is the King of Kings and he will rein in perpetuity forever he the perpetual king. Now friends, as true is that is, and as important as it is, there's something even more important for you, that is, his reign must be personal. He’s going to reign. Doesn’t the Bible say every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord? One day, everybody is going to bow the knee to Jesus. Every Buddhist, every Muslim, every Hindu, every Christian, we are all going to bow the knee. What makes the difference is, did you do it now, willingly, of your own volition, in repentance and faith? Or will you that day, by force? This great king, Nebuchadnezzar, when given the dream and its interpretation, he did what we all ought to do. Look at it. Now I'm in verse 47. The last verse pictured here. “The king answered and said to Daniel truly your God is God. He is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery. . Nebuchadnezzar that greatest of all despots, bowed his knee before the King of kings and Lord of Lords. So must every one of us. There’s a mountain in New Hampshire. I believe there the Green Mountains is the name of them and in one of those great mountains, there was a protrusion. There was a piece of rock that jutted out from the face of the cliff. You see a picture of it here on the screen. This is an iconic image from New Hampshire. You know what they call this? The old man in the mountain. Boys and girls can you look up there and can you see his nose and his brow and his chin there. The old man in the mountain. And from time immoral, the old man in the mountain was there. I don’t know what you call people that live in New Hampshire, New Hampshireites, I guess. They love the old man in the mountain. In fact I believe he's on their state stamp and seal and a million other souvenirs from New Hampshire. But one cold night in 2003, the old man in the mountain, gave way. There were fissures that had formed by the ice thawing and the freezing of it over so many centuries and in the night, that great visage broke off and slid down the mountain to the valley below. And the old man in the mountain is no more. It broke their hearts. A man in the mountain. A man in the mountain who came down. This was a tragedy. I'm speaking to you today of a triumph. There is another man in the mountain. He is a stone cut by no human hand. He is the cornerstone. He is the Lord Jesus and he came down. No one can do these things except the gods and they do not make their dwelling among men. Oh yes they do. He made his dwelling among us and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the father. Full of grace and truth. Jesus is the stone upon which all hope is built. In fact I’m reminded, of this great old hymn. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus's name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all of the ground all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Kingdoms rise and fall. Sports dynasties rise and fall. Businesses rise and fall. But there is a dynasty rising. There is a kingdom rising and will fill the whole earth. You need to make sure that you are a subject to that King. Lets pray. God, we praise you for your word. What a great God you are. You see in the darkness. You know our thoughts before we think them. You know a word before it’s on our lips and you reveal what is mystery. You tell us what is to come. It is certain. It is sure. We thank you that your kingdom is rising. And that we can be a part of it. By your grace, your mercy, we can be a part of it. We praise you, in Jesus mighty name, Amen.
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Sun, 13 September 2015
Would everyone please draw a deep breath, just do like this. All right I see that all of you have breath. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord. I'd tell wasn’t that wonderful, what the choir and orchestra did. It was tremendous. The song said, "Let all the works of his hand be applauded" and we applaud the Lord. He gives gifts to people and I'm so glad they share their gifts with us. It’s a dream come true for me to serve in the church were people are so gifted musically and they let those gifts be used for the glory of God! Thank you choir and orchestra and all were involved in the service thus far, it’s been tremendous.
Would you take your Bible, please, and open to the book of Daniel. We are in a study through the book of Daniel. Really what were doing is, were really studying chapters one through six. This series, is in a lot of ways, was designed to help our students as they go back into the school system, especially the college and university system. We want to help them dare to be a Daniel and so that was a lot of the idea that went behind us scheduling this series at this time. Today we come to chapter two. Daniel chapter two. You said before, nothing lasts forever. There’s a lot of truth in that statement. For example, I want you to think with me of sports dynasties. Nothing lasts forever. Dynasties rise and they fall. Back in the 60's, the dominant team in the NBA was the Boston Celtics. Some of you are old enough to remember the Celtics in those days. They won eleven NBA championships in 13 years. That team have on it, great players like Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, John Havelechek. In fact they won eight straight NBA championships during the 60's. And so someone may have thought, "well, the Celtics, they'll just forever, be the dominant team in the NBA but, that’s not so is it. Along came the 80's, well the late 70's and 80's and it was ShowTime. These were the Los Angeles Lakers. This was kind of when I was coming up as a teenager and young man in college, that era. That team was made up of Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and great players like that. Kurt Rambis with the glasses, if you remember him and they were coached by Pat Riley. They were dominant in their day, in fact they went eight finals during that span of time and they won five NBA championships. Perhaps people thought the Lakers! The Lakers will always be on top but it isn’t so because dynasties rise and they fall. It was the Celtics in the 60's, the Lakers in the 80's, then came the 90's and who was the dominant team during the 1990's? The Chicago Bulls! They had on it, the greatest of all time, pound for pound, inch for inch, Michael Jordan and his sidekick Scottie Pippen. And that crazy man, Dennis Rodman. If you remember Dennis Rodman. crazy! the Bulls won six NBA championships. I can still picture in my mind, Michael Jordan, gesturing six championships! had he not had this crazy idea to try to go play professional baseball, they probably would have one more championships and so the Bulls were the dominant team. Somebody may have said, well the Bulls, theyll always be the dynasty. but, it isn't so is it. sports dynasties rise and fal,l but it's not just true in sports. it's true in business. businesses rise and businesses fall. monopolies and dynasties in the economic realm, rise and fall. in fact there was a study done of all the Fortune 500 companies, in the year 1955. how many of them still existed in 2014?
You know that 89%, thats nearly 90% of those Fortune 500 companies are no longer in the list because businesses rise and fall. In fact, let me just mention a litany of companies. Blockbuster. Blockbuster was all the rage and there was a blockbuster on every corner and every strip shopping mall. but today, blockbusters s ,I believe, is bankrupt. they've gone through bankruptcy, because though they made the transition from VHS, the VCR's, to DVD, they didn't keep up and Netflix came in and Netflix would just send you a movie right over the Internet to your home or you could go down to the local store in for a dollar you could read out of the red box, I think it's called. and Blockbuster is no more. sears. how many used to go shopping at Sears? I remember as a little boy going into a multi-storied Sears building in Memphis, Tennessee. it was a big trip for us. we would travel from our little home town of Forrest City. we would drive over to Memphis, get some burgers at Krystal and go up into the tower at Sears in Memphis. we thought was big stuff. But who goes to Sears nowadays? Walmart. Amazon.com. in fact, what store do you go to at all? you just order it over Amazon and it is dropped right on your front doorstep. Sears has not been able to keep up. In fact, poor Sears they have paired up with Kmart. many forecasters say they'll not survive next year. what happens? businesss come and go just as sports dynasties do. Kodak, Kodak was the dominant photography company for 100 years. and somebody said well Kodak will always dominate the photography business. but you know what? they were so tied to film, that when digiital photography came out, they were left in the dustbin. They couldn’t compete. And their fortunes rose and fell.
Well, what's true in sports and what's true in business is also true in the political sphere. empires rise and empires fall. Theres a long litany of kings and would-be dictators that have arisen and fallen. Ramses, Alexander, Caesar Augustus, Charlemagne, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Mussolini, Mau Se Tong, Stalin, ISIS. All of them rising, one day, to fall. But I come here to tell you something. There is a kingdom that will never fall. There is a dynasty rising that will never be diminished. And it is the kingdom of our Lord and Christ, Jesus himself. And of that kingdom, Daniel speaks. Would you stand your feet and honor of God's word and we'll see what God's word says about this kingdom? Now, I’m going to have mercy on you. I’m not going to read all 49 versus all right. Going to read the first twelve and this will be our Launchpad for the rest of the story. Give your best attention to what happens in verses 1 to 12, because this will set the stage. Daniel chapter 2 beginning in verse one God's word says,
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic,“O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm—if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
Lets pray. Lord we have breath this morning and because we do, we praise you Lord. We see around us the ruins of dynasties and kingdoms and businesses that are risen only to fall. God we believe your word that says there is a kingdom rising there is a dynasty rising that will never fall. it is the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, the Lord Jesus. We thank you for your kingdom. We thank you for the King. I pray this morning he will be lifted high and all of us would make sure that we are among his subjects and have pledged allegiance to the Lamb. We ask it in his name. Amen. Please be seated.
Our story this morning begins with desperation. There is absolute desperation before God. You know why don't you? Let me give you the reasons for desperation that the magicians, the enchanters and Daniel himself must've felt. The reason port was because the king is being unreasonable. They’re in a predicament to be sure. The king said I had a dream. It must have been a terrible dream. It must be a frightening dream and the King wants to know the meaning of it. And so, he orders that they tell him his dream. They say well that’s fine King, will tell you the dream as long as you tell us. We will tell you the meaning of your dream as long as you tell us what you dreamed. And the king says Oh No. In effect he says I've been suspicious about you boys all along. If I tell you the dream you could just concoct some explanation of it and I have no means of knowing whether your purported interpretation is true or false. I’m going to put out before you a fleece, in effect, and I ordered this, you tell me, without me disclosing it to you, what I dream. And if you can tell me what I drink first then I'll believe the interpretation that you purport to give. Well the people realize, these magicians, these wise men, they realized that their goose is cooked because they are powerless for this predicament. They have no means with in themselves to come up with it. And they protest. They say only the gods know what transpires in the night and in the dark. Only they can tell the dream that you have. So there are reasons for them being desperate. But the more important thing is, what is their response to this desperation? And maybe you've come here today and there's some desperation in your life. Maybe you're facing some crisis of some sort. Perhaps it's a relational crisis sorts, or it’s a financial crisis, or it's an emotional crisis. The important thing is not the reasons for your desperation. The important thing is your response in your desperation. How will you respond? And I love the way Daniel responded in this desperate moment. He responded, first of all, by being very prudent. The Bible says in verse 14 when the executioner came to Daniel, this is verse 14, Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch. Daniel gave a soft answer. The Bible says in Proverbs 15:1 a soft answer turns away wrath.
I heard a story about a Red Sox baseball player. His name was Wade Boggs. A lot of you will remember Wade Boggs. I believe he was the third baseman for the Red Sox. And of course you know the archrivals to the Red Sox are the Yankees. Every time the Red Sox would go to play in Yankee Stadium, there would be this heckler over on the third-base line and he would incessantly criticize and belittle Wade Boggs. He was always on his case. And he would say "man you stink." "Man your no good." and he just be giving him a hard time. Later Boggs had finally had enough. And so when the man started criticizing Boggs just walked over to him and he said, "Are you the man that's always running me down, you the man that it is always criticizing me?" and the Yankee fan said that's right, its me." what you can do about? Wade Boggs pulled out a brand-new baseball and he autographed it and tossed it up to the man.
And it is said that from that time on, that man became the biggest Yankee fan of Boston Red Sox player Wade Boggs. Why, because he given a soft answer to wrath.
Daniel is faced with his potential execution. The executioner has come. He said you’ve got to tell me what this dream means or you going to be killed. And Daniel answers, the Bible says with prudence. And I want to recommend this to all of us, whenever somebody gets up in your grill, someone is on your case; you ought to be like Daniel and respond with prudence and discretion. What else could you do? It wasn't just that he was prudent, he was prayerful. I love this. It’s not going to appear on the screen. But listen to what says in verses 17 and 18 or you can look at it in your Bible verses 17 and 18. “Then Daniel went into his house and made the matter known to his three friends, his companions, and he told them to seek mercy from the God of Heaven concerning this mystery. What did Daniel do? How did he respond to his desperate situation? Daniel prayed. It was prudent and he was prayerful. And if we will be those two things, you'll be surprised how God delivers us from the crises of our lives. He prayed.
I heard a story about these three preachers that were sitting together and they were talking about prayer. What was the best posture for preying? And it happened that there was a telephone line repairman who was working and he was within earshot. So the first preacher said, I find, that the best way to pray is to stretch my hands toward heaven and the and look up the sky, that's the best posture for prayer. Well the second preacher said, Oh no, the best posture for prayer is to get on your knees. There the Lord will hear your prayer. The third preacher said, well I don't think lifting your hand your hands to heaven and are getting down on your knees. He said the best posture for prayer is just to get flat on your face, be prone before the Lord. The old telephone line repairman had had enough, he piped up and said he fellas, the best posture I ever had in prayer was when I was hanging upside down from the telephone pole. I tell you when you're hanging upside down and your situation is desperate, you are going to pray.
Too many of us, we wait until our situation is desperate before we pray. Prayer is not the last resort, prayer is the first resort and Daniel knows this. They come and say Daniel you got to tell us this dream or you're going to be executed. He is prudent and he is prayerful. Are you taking to the Lord, the burdens and crises of your life for his hand to move? Well Daniel was wise enough to do so. So now we move from desperation before God to deliverance by God. When we respond rightly, we’re going to find the Lord ready to act on our behalf and the Lord ready to deliver. Look at verse 19 and you’ll see if they’re on the screen. The Bible says. “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of Heaven.” What happened, God delivered him. The situation was desperate but our God is greater and he delivered. He delivered Daniel. Now here I see three things. First of all, our God is powerful. I actually agree with all the enchanters of Babylon in one sense. In verse 11 they had said, “no one can give the dream except the gods.” you know what, they were right. It had to be someone who was powerful enough, someone to whom the darkness is light. Someone to whom what is shrouded, is revealed, and our God, is just that kind of God, he is powerful. He is able. Listen to what Psalm 139 says, “ oh Lord, your searched me, and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my paths and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, you, oh Lord, know it all together.” and I could continue the reading, many of you know it well. You can't go where God is not. You can't know something that God doesn't already know. Daniel turns in his desperation to this powerful God and God reveals to Daniel would only the gods can do. Only the one true God. He is powerful. You know what else I see here? He is present. Again verse 11, the Chaldeans say, “no one can reveal this except the gods and their dwelling is not among men.” they were right on the one hand but wrong on the other. Only God could reveal the dream, but they were wrong when they said, “his dwelling is not among men, his dwelling is among men. He is Emanuel, God come to dwell among us. And God was with Daniel. God was with Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego. When they went into that fiery furnace, God was there. And when Daniel needed him, God was there, and when you need God, he will be there. He is powerful. He is present, therefore he is praiseworthy. And I love what Daniel does here. Daniel receives this vision .God reveals to him the dream. What does Daniel do? Look at the latter half of this verse. What does it say? Then, this the latter half of the verse, then Daniel blessed the God of Heaven. Daniel, not only asked for God to intervene, but when God did, Daniel remembered to say thank you. He praised him. Gordon read that passage earlier, so I won't repeat it now, but I do want to reiterate for us all, the importance, not only of bringing our petitions to God, but once he is gracious to us. Giving him our praise in response. I too often prone to forget when good things happen to me. I may ask for them, but then I don't remember to say thank you. In fact, just this week, one of our church members was so gracious, and called the office, and he said that some jambalaya. I've got 15 lunches and, I’m going to bring them by the office and so it was on Thursday of this week that dear brother brought those lunches by to feed all the staff. We all gobble them up and enjoyed them very much Well a day or two went by and it was Saturday and I was preparing for this message and I was reminded that I ought to give thanks and so I texted the brother and said brother thank you for that lunch. That was delicious. And how many of us, we’re feasting on the good gifts God gives us but we don't remember to say thank you.
While I'm at it, let me just say this, this church is so good to Nell and Me. You are so good to us and I know a lot of you have done things for me and I never even said thank you to you. I’ve not written you a thank you note and maybe I haven’t responded and right now can I just blanket say, thank you God for Istrouma, thank you dear friends for your gifts and your support and your kindness. I really do appreciate it, I really do. I really do. We ought to remember to be a people who are grateful; Daniel was that kind of man. He praised the Lord for God's good gift. And not only did he give thanks, he gave tribute. Because when Daniel stood before the king, the king said, “can you give me the interpretation, can you tell me my dream, and can you tell me what it meant.” Daniel said, “no sir,’ he said, “I cannot do it, but there is a God in heaven, and he has shown me what you think. Daniel didn't take credit. Credit was not due to Daniel. He was wise enough not to co-opt God's glory. He gave God thanks and he gave God tribute. He gave God the glory for the good thing that it been done. Well now I come to the end. I want to say something about the dominion of God. You see our desperation, if we respond to it rightly will lead to God's deliverance and in his deliverance we see his sovereign dominion overall. Now here I will refer to verse 44. Daniel is giving the interpretation of the dream and he says, looks to the screen you'll see the verse, “and in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever.” there's the title of today's sermon. “The kingdom that shall stand forever.” sports dynasties rise and fall. Businesses rise and fall. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but there is a kingdom that will never fall. In fact, this King, his reign is first of all, perpetual. In perpetuity. For all time. Eternally, Jesus will reign. Daniel knew this from the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had had and the interpretation God him. Now listen to the dream. It’s given to us in verses 31 through 35. You saw o king and behold a great image. This image, mighty and have exceeding brightness, stood before you and its appearance was frightening. I want you as I read this to try to envision in your minds eye this statue, that was erected there. Verse 32 “the head of this image was of fine gold. Its chest and arms were of silver. It’s middle and thighs of bronze. Its legs of iron. Its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone,” now note this careful, “a stone was cut out by no human hand and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold altogether were broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found but the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. What a vision Daniel had. Daniel had a vision of kingdoms. A succession of kingdoms. Why? Because kingdoms rise and fall. The first of those kings was the head of gold and God told him, is Nebuchadnezzar. That is the Persian Empire. It was known for it’s its stores of gold. But with time, Babylon fell. In its place rose up a kingdom of silver. That was pictured in the arms and the chest of this image. That was the Medo-Persian Empire. it lasted some 200 years and just as Babylon was famous for its gold, Medo Persia was famous for its hoards of silver. But with time Medo-Persia fell. There was a man in Macedonia, Philip who rose up and his son after him Alexander and Alexander conquered the whole earth. His army dressed in bronze from helmet to toe and their shields and swords even of bronze and the mighty Grecian army swept the known earth. But that Kingdom to though it rose to the pinnacle of human achievement it fell. And behind it came that army of iron. The great Roman legions and they took the place of that Grecian Empire. But just like those before it, it to would fall. How would it fall? Listen to me. There was a stone cut out by no human hand. Who is this stone that came and struck the image and all the kingdoms of the world fall before this stone. I tell you he is the stone that was rejected of men, but is the cornerstone of the Church. He is the Lord Jesus. Cut by no human and the virgin birth is there prophesied, Jesus is the King of Kings and he will rein in perpetuity forever he the perpetual king. Now friends, as true is that is, and as important as it is, there's something even more important for you, that is, his reign must be personal. He’s going to reign. Doesn’t the Bible say every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord? One day, everybody is going to bow the knee to Jesus. Every Buddhist, every Muslim, every Hindu, every Christian, we are all going to bow the knee. What makes the difference is, did you do it now, willingly, of your own volition, in repentance and faith? Or will you that day, by force? This great king, Nebuchadnezzar, when given the dream and its interpretation, he did what we all ought to do. Look at it. Now I'm in verse 47. The last verse pictured here. “The king answered and said to Daniel truly your God is God. He is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery. . Nebuchadnezzar that greatest of all despots, bowed his knee before the King of kings and Lord of Lords. So must every one of us. There’s a mountain in New Hampshire. I believe there the Green Mountains is the name of them and in one of those great mountains, there was a protrusion. There was a piece of rock that jutted out from the face of the cliff. You see a picture of it here on the screen. This is an iconic image from New Hampshire. You know what they call this? The old man in the mountain. Boys and girls can you look up there and can you see his nose and his brow and his chin there. The old man in the mountain. And from time immoral, the old man in the mountain was there. I don’t know what you call people that live in New Hampshire, New Hampshireites, I guess. They love the old man in the mountain. In fact I believe he's on their state stamp and seal and a million other souvenirs from New Hampshire. But one cold night in 2003, the old man in the mountain, gave way. There were fissures that had formed by the ice thawing and the freezing of it over so many centuries and in the night, that great visage broke off and slid down the mountain to the valley below. And the old man in the mountain is no more. It broke their hearts. A man in the mountain. A man in the mountain who came down. This was a tragedy. I'm speaking to you today of a triumph. There is another man in the mountain. He is a stone cut by no human hand. He is the cornerstone. He is the Lord Jesus and he came down. No one can do these things except the gods and they do not make their dwelling among men. Oh yes they do. He made his dwelling among us and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the father. Full of grace and truth. Jesus is the stone upon which all hope is built. In fact I’m reminded, of this great old hymn. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus's name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all of the ground all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Kingdoms rise and fall. Sports dynasties rise and fall. Businesses rise and fall. But there is a dynasty rising. There is a kingdom rising and will fill the whole earth. You need to make sure that you are a subject to that King. Lets pray. God, we praise you for your word. What a great God you are. You see in the darkness. You know our thoughts before we think them. You know a word before it’s on our lips and you reveal what is mystery. You tell us what is to come. It is certain. It is sure. We thank you that your kingdom is rising. And that we can be a part of it. By your grace, your mercy, we can be a part of it. We praise you, in Jesus mighty name, Amen.
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Sun, 6 September 2015
Sermon text follows... Stand Daniel 1:1-21
Key Verse: But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank (Daniel 1:8a).
1. A great tragedy a. The tragedy of defeat b. The tragedy of disobedience 2. A great temptation a. A golden possibility b. A godly purpose c. A grave peril d. A gracious proposal 3. A great triumph a. Faithful to God
b. Favored by God
The eyes of our nation, this week, have been focused on small County in Kentucky. It’s called Rowan County. It's because there, a test case of sorts, has arisen. It swirls around a simple County Clerk. Her name is Kim Davis. Kim it turns out had lived a wild life and she had been married four times. Yet, at her mother-in-law's passing in 2011, the Lord got a hold of her and she came to know Christ as her Savior and it radically transformed her life. She says today that she's devout Christian. Well, when the Supreme Court ruled, earlier this year, that same-sex marriage was to be the law of the land, she was placed in a quandary. She was elected as clerk. In fact, her mother before her had been the County Clerk. Something of a family tradition, which is common they say in Kentucky. She had been elected under the premise that marriage was, as the Scripture teaches, between a man and a woman and now she found herself as the clerk with the responsibility of issuing marriage licenses for relationships that she did not believe comported with what the Scripture teaches. What would she do? What ought she do? It was a difficult question. She made a decision in her heart, in fact she resolved in her heart that she would not go against her conscience and what she believed was right. So she made an appeal to the governing authorities and it went to the Supreme Court and that she be heard, that her arguments be heard and that was denied. It fell back to a judge; I believe it was a federal judge there in Kentucky to rule in her case. He ruled that she must issue the licenses. If you're paid by the state of Kentucky and the law of Kentucky is that people can marry across all sorts of lines, then she, as an employee of the state, would have to issue those licenses or face the consequences. She decided that she would do the latter. She would face the consequences and so the judge decreed that this woman be cast into prison and as we worship, here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this morning, that woman sits in a prison jail cell in Rowan County, Kentucky.
I suppose I imagine that perhaps we would live to see a day like today, but the I’m not sure I really believed it would come. When someone would be imprisoned for a tenet of their religious faith. Many of you'll remember that our nation was actually founded on the exact opposite premise. That people came here to say, everyone ought to be able to worship according to their dictates and live out their faith without coercion. Those days, it seems are passing. So she's made the decision to stand.
Now some of you maybe thinking, well now wait preacher, if she's paid by the state of Kentucky and the law is as it is, then she ought to just resign and a forfeit her position. You know what, I think a case could be made for that. In fact, that actually did happen here in the state of Louisiana not so many weeks ago. It happens that there was a justice of the peace, a lady, in fact of all things; she's married to a Baptist preacher. She’s a young woman and she was elected to be the justice of the peace in, I think, Grant Parish up in Central Louisiana. Maybe some of you know where that is. She made the decision, with her husband, that when the Supreme Court ruled as it did, that she rather than get into all kinds of the legalities and a potential suit, she would just resign. She did: she just resigned her position,
I for one, am glad that Kim Davis is taking a stand. II don't necessarily, I can’t judge whether or not she's been perfect in every moment of this journey. That’s for God to judge, but I’m glad she's taken a stand. Let me tell you why, because this forces us as a nation to consider some very significant questions. Now she has said she'll take whatever repercussions come her way and she's proven that she would. In fact, when the judge ordered her to jail, her response was “yes, your honor, thank you.” She responded with grace and she's taken her lumps and there she sits in jail today. But we, as a nation, have to make some decisions about how were going to live going forward. Do we want to live in a nation? Do we want our nation to be the kind of place where a devout Christian can no longer be a court clerk? Where, in our nation, it can never be again a devout Christian, who would stand for traditional marriage that could be a justice of the peace? Where no believer of this nature, could serve as a chaplain in our Armed Forces? Could not be a chaplain with the state police force? You say, preacher that’s crazy. What are you talking about? Did you know that just this year, again this is in the state of Kentucky, there was a young man who was a volunteer from his church, he would go every week, as I understand it, to a correctional Institute where they housed young offenders. He would go there to share the hope of the gospel, and to disciple these young men. Well the state Department of Corrections came up with a sheet and he had to sign it and sheet said, “you cannot say that homosexual behavior is sinful.” Well if you are a devout believer that places you in a quandary. How can you not say what the Bible says is the case? In fact, while I’m on this, don’t think I mean this to be a diatribe against one particular sin. Any sexual activity outside the simple bounds of a man and woman wed in matrimony is outside of the parameters of what God established. Be it premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexual behavior, all of it alike is outside what God ordained and so they said before you can go back into that prison you’ve got to sign this is. That you will not say that these behaviors are sinful. The young man said, “I can't do it.” Are we prepared to live in a nation, where volunteers from churches can't go into the prisons and share the hope of the gospel as we’ve discovered in Christ and declare Christ saves from all sin? Is that the kind of nation we want to live in?
Just these past few weeks, here in the state of Louisiana, an edict was released from the judicial commission of the State of Louisiana. It went to every judge in the State of Louisiana and it said “you must comport yourself in accordance with the Supreme Court's edict or we will remove your judgeship.” no Christian judges? No Christian bakers? No Christian photographers?
These are serious days in which we’re living. Now friends listen, Kim Davis Is right at least in this one sense, we have to be willing to take whatever consequences come, but we must stand! We must stand for what is right! God will sort the consequences. Now where do we find help in making decisions during these difficult days with these weighty issues?
I've got good news for you. There is help for us so we can know how we ought to live in these trying times and it's found in the book of Daniel. Would you please open your Bibles to Daniel? Daniel, Chapter One is where we are going to be this morning, and to me it's wonderful to think that this series has been planned for months. Months ago, we laid out our preaching schedule for this year and Daniel was the book that we chose and wouldn’t you know, in God's wisdom, he gave us this, just at the moment we most needed it. And that's the way he is. So if would now as our title implies, Stand, would you stand in honor of God's word and we are going to read the first chapter. Now normally, I don't read such an extended passage at one time. It takes about three minutes to read this first chapter, and I’m going to read every word. And this will be the best three minutes you spend all day, all right? Listening to what God says. I want to listen to this and then consider how ought I to live where I am? Just as Daniel learned to live in the circumstances where he found himself. Let’s read together beginning in Daniel chapter one verse one. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. (I like it that the editors used a little g, that’s appropriate, all right now verse 3) Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: (now you may not the names Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, but I think you know these) Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, (there it is) Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. (You know those names don’t you? Shadrach, Meshach and “away we go”, all right, you know these names. These are the great three friends of Daniel; now look in verse 8, what happens?) But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.
Let’s pray. God, we thank you for this book in the Bible, the book of Daniel. We thank you for the courage and commitment of these young men. The way that they stood when it seemed that all was coming against them. I pray God, you would teach us, how will stand in these days and to go against the flow when it seems that all of culture would sweep us away from you. Give us wisdom. Give us learning. Give us courage. Help us to dare to be a Daniel. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Please be seated. This morning we’re going to begin a study in the book of Daniel and were going to look at the life of Daniel, this courageous young man and his four compatriots. This morning we’re going to focus in the first chapter. I’m going to divide this story into three scenes. I want you to follow along carefully as the Lord teaches us. Now the very first scene I going to call, A Great Tragedy. This story begins with a great tragedy. Look at how the passage opens, there in versus one and two and see it projected on the screen. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand. Now this tragedy that I'm going to describe has two components to it. First of all, there's the component of Israel's defeat. It is a tragedy that Israel was defeated. Now remember Israel. Israel was that small band of, a tribe really, that came out of the descendants of Abraham. They were enslaved in Egypt and with a mighty hand, God brought them out of Egypt and Israel, in effect, defeated the mightiest force in its day, Egypt. Then arose the Kings, Saul and then David. David, you remember took down Goliath and the Philistines. He united the kingdom and David's reign was a rain of great might and power and renown and wealth. Then came his son Solomon. Israel was a top the world it seemed, but fissures began to appear in the veneer. It was because of the idolatry and immorality and fracturedness of their nation that that the people of Israel began to go into a decline, a steep decline, until, by the time we come to the life of Daniel, the nation is now totally defeated. Humiliated by what was then the world power, Babylon and its king Nebuchadnezzar. But the most sobering part of this defeat and of these verses that you see is that phrase “the Lord gave Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. In other words it was not the might of the Babylonians, their armies, or their strategy of that enabled them to defeat Israel. What enabled them to defeat Israel was that God gave Israel over into its enemy’s hands. That is judgment came upon Israel. The Bible says righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people. And when sin begins to weave its way into a nation and there's immorality and idolatry and fractured people, then judgment is soon sure to follow. And if God judged Israel for her sins and he did, God can judge the United States of America for our sins. It was a tragedy that they were defeated. And the tragedy of it was that God allowed it to happen. Now why would I do that? Why would God allow his own people to go into captivity and defeat? Do you know why? It was because of their disobedience God had warned them for decades on end, that they ought to repent. That they ought to get right, but Israel was stiff necked and it was bent on going its own way. Away from God, and so judgment was to come. In fact it’s interesting. It’s one of the proofs of the inerrancy of Scripture and its trustworthiness. Did you know that more than 100 years prior to the defeat of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, God prophesied it would happen? He did so through the prophet Isaiah. Listen! Listen carefully to the precision of this prophesy. This is from Isaiah Chapter 39 beginning at verse five. “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your sons, who shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall be taken away. And they shall become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon. Are you kidding me? A hundred years before it happened, God said there's going to come a day when judgment will fall. You’re going to be carried away the Babylonian in captivity, including some of your own defendants. What do recent discover here in Daniel chapter 1? That from the nobility, from the royal house, these young men were buried in the Babylon. GOD’S WORD CANNOT BE MOCKED! What a man sows, he will reap. What a nation sows, a nation will reap. And this story begins with a tragedy, but the tragedy did not have to happen. Had the children of Israel repented and turned back to God, judgment would not have fallen but they did not, they disobeyed, and thus, they were defeated.
It’s a lesson for us in America. Could judgment fall on America? It could! I've said before and I'll say it again here now, with a heavy heart I tell you, I wouldn't be surprised if God allowed our worst enemies overrun us, to discipline us for our sin. We, the purported Christian nation, supposed Christian nation! Why is it that those who sell baby parts are free and the one who would stand for traditional marriage is in jail? You explain it to me! Don’t think it could happen to us. It could happen. I don’t say that with any glee, I say with a broken heart. I say God have mercy on America. Lord don’t have justice with us. We don't need justice. If justice were to fall we would be judged. No, we need mercy. God have mercy on us. Help us and especially those of us who know the truth that we would stand for righteousness. Not holier than thou, but just walk in obedience to the precepts of God's Word. Simple things. Like Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery, Ashley Madison. Thou Shall Not Steal; Thou Shall Not Kill, including innocent babies and their mother’s womb! GOD HELP US! Lest this tragedy befall us.
Now lets go to the second scene. I’ve talked to you about the great tragedy that befell the children of Israel. Now I want to say something about a great temptation. It came Daniel's way. Here they are, carried off to Babylon. And here's the strange twist of fate, if you will, Daniel has in front of him, in a way of thinking, a golden possibility. All right? He’s been held in captivity. His city has been besieged. They been starving in Jerusalem. Now this young man, country bumpkin, has been carried off to Babylon. Babylon was the greatest city of its day. It was the Washington DC or the New York City of its time. There is Daniel, living in that great walled city. He enrolled there, not in LSU; he enrolled in BSU Babylon State University. And he's got TOPS (scholarship program), he’s got full ride tuition, he got room and board, doesn’t the Bible say that? He’s given to eat and the king’s table. He’s standing in the king's palace. I mean he’s got the tiger by the tail. All he’s got to do is go along to get along. Just don’t ruffle feathers. Just keep your head down Daniel or you’ll get it lopped off. He’s got a golden opportunity. Here he is. He’s not eating at the Five; he’s eating at Galatoire’s, or Juban’s or Ruffino’s. I mean he eating the royal regimen, it’s being fed to him. What an opportunity he has. All he has to do is go along to get along. Daniel, just be cool man. Just fit in. just be like everybody else around you. That’s all you’ve got to do. I love Daniel, because in the face of this golden possibility, he stands for a Godly purpose. Look at would you in verse eight. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Daniel resolved, that is, Daniel purposed in his heart. Daniel was like this; everybody may be going this way. Everybody may be disobeying the Lord's commands, but I am going to go this way. I’m not going to be holier than thou about it, I’m not going to try to lift myself up as if I'm all that. But just in my own modest way, I'm going to stand for what's right. What a great word. You young people listen to me. You know how old Daniel was at this time? We believe he was probably about 14 years of age. Do I have any 14 year olds in here this morning? Stand up if you are 14. I want to see all our 14 year olds. Stand right up. How would you 14 year olds like if you were carried away into a foreign country? You 15 year olds stand up 15 year old. He may have been 15. There you are. There you are. 15 years old, carried away, all you have to do is go along. Just do whatever everyone else is doing. You don’t have to make a scene for crying out loud. You can be seated. Daniel wouldn't go along to get along. And he would keep his head down. He stood up. And he said I’m going to follow the Lords precepts. And you might even argue, it’s not that big a thing. I mean all you have to do is eat the king’s food. Just drink the wine that there serving.
This is serious business. But Daniel, no matter the risk, runs this apparel. And is willing to stand in the face of it. He is between a rock and a hard place. Look at this. If he pleases the king, he displeases the King of Kings. But he pleases the King of Kings, he displeases the king. And he has to make a choice. And all of us are going to have to make a choice. Who is the King that we will please? For whose pleasure do we live? And Daniel makes his choice. Now I love Daniel because he offers up, in this quandary, he offers up a very gracious proposal. He doesn’t stand up on the cafeteria table in the middle of the Five or something and start banging on the table. I want a new menu! I want a new menu! I want a new menu! He doesn't do that. He doesn’t hold up a placards and march, like Westboro does. No, what does Daniel do? He makes a very gracious proposal. He says look, I tell you what, would you be so kind as to just test us for 10 days? Just let us eat fruit and vegetables. Just test us. The word vegetable here is a word that means from the seed. So it would have included things like wheat and vegetables and fruit. Things that grow from seed. Just let us have a basic menu and then at the end of the 10 days just test us and see how we measure up against the others. It was a gracious kind proposal. And I want to advocate this for all of us. I’m not wanting you to leave today and go get placards and march and shout profanities and curse the darkness. I’m not asking you to do that. Nor do I believe the Word of God have us do that. Instead I'm asking you to live with what I’m going to call a convictional kindness.
Now you just may want to jot these words down. The head or our Religious Liberty and Ethics Commission is a man named Dr. Russell Moore. And he coined this phrase as I know and I love it. Listen to it. Convictional Kindness. What does that mean? Well just think of each word individually. Conviction. God’s people, if you know Jesus as your savior, and you comport to be His disciple, you need to have some conviction about you. Things that you believe are right and wrong. And those things need to be rooted in the clear teachings of God’s word. Not some list you just came up with by tradition. But what does God’s word say? And knowing what he expects, you say, these are my convictions. I’m not looking to fight. I’m not looking down my nose at anybody else. These are jus the things I believe are expected of me by God and I have convictions about these. That’s conviction. That is, have a backbone. But then the word kindness. What does the word kindness mean? That means that you’re gentle. That you’re not up in people's faces looking for a fight. You’re going to plead your case. You’re going to make proposal and you’re going to do it with graciousness. And if it is not conceded to you, you are going to face the consequences. Convictional Kindness. Or you could turn it around and it is the same thing. Kind conviction. And those are the kind of people we need to be in the day in which were living.
Kim Davis, whether or not we agree with every nuance of what she’s done, she’s made a proposal. She’s said I want to take this to the Supreme Court. I want there to be an adjudication. I believe that we need to have an adjudication in our nation. Let me remind us again. We are the government. If you are old enough to vote, you, in a sense, govern this nation. And you need to take seriously that right and that responsibility that falls to you. You better know the issues. Don’t vote for somebody because they handsome, or because they are good looking. Don’t vote for them because they are brash. Vote for someone who, to the best of your discernment, is going to stand according to biblical principle’s and again, whether or not we carry any election, we still have to stand for what is right.
Stand! Stand! Stand! And Daniel did. And he did it, with convictional kindness. We are not looking for confrontation, but we are not going to capitulate either. May God help us to be people of convictional kindness? Isn’t that what the bible says? Listen to what the bible says. This now is 1st Peter, Chapter 3. Versus 14-15. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.. Now folks, I tell you, I will be honest with you, you probably know this anyway, its hard for me not to get angry at times. Just to get upset and frustrated and bitter because things don’t go the way I think they ought to go. And the world often sees Christians an embittered, harsh, offensive people. Peter says, be ready to give an answer for the hope that’s within you when people ask you. Are you known as the person of hope? Am I known as the person of hope or do I think the roofs caving in. You know Chicken Little. The sky is falling. Friends we have a hope and our nation may go down the tubes and we may be imprisoned for your faith but I still have hope. We ought to be ready to give an answer. And he says do it with gentleness and respect.
May God help us to live with convictional kindness? All right now here is the end. It ends and I’m so thankful to say this, on an up note. It ends in triumph, really. Look at how this the third scene in our story. It is what I call, a great triumph. It happens because of faithfulness to God. Daniel is faithful. He stays true to what he believes. He didn’t bow, he didn’t bend, he didn’t break. He stood. Stand. Stand. Stand. He did. He was faithful. And because he was faithful, he was favored by God. God favored him. Look at how this passage concludes. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams and the king spoke with them and among all of them, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. He found them ten times better than all. That’s amazing. Why were Daniel and his friends found ten times better? Was it because of innate intelligence in them? Did they have a natural higher IQ? I’m not sure that they did. I really believe that it was rooted in God’s favor. He blessed these boys. He helped them in their studies. He favored them and when we are faithful to God, he will favor us. He will bless us. He did with Daniel. Daniel rose to be; some might say the prime minister of Babylon. Now is it that all was easy for Daniel? Am I preaching a health and wealth gospel? No I am not! In fact, did you know that for the next seventy years of Daniels live, he was a captive, enslaved in Babylon? But he was still favored. This story set hundreds of years ago, could read as todays newspaper. It’s that applicable to where we are living. I pray God we wont go through any greater tragedy than what we have already experienced. I pray that we as a nation and as people will turn back to God.
Listen friends, the problem isn’t in the courthouse, and the white house solely. It’s in the church house. Its preachers afraid to say what is true. It is church members who wont stand for what is true. It ought to begin the revival needs to begin here among us! In this day of difficulty, you young people, I know well, great temptations are going to come your way. You are going to be pressured to just go along to get along. I want to challenge you to purpose in your heart that you are going to stand for the Lord. And I want you do it with convictional kindness. And I want to do that myself. You pray for me that Ill be that kind of disciple. If we’ll do it, friends, I want to tell you something, God will bless it. He will favor us. He will be gracious to us. He’ll make his countenance shine upon us. He’ll give us peace. He will!
Would you stand please with your head bowed? I want ask our musicians to come, our band. Were going to go out today singing. Were not defeated. Listen friend, no matter what happens we’re not defeated. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The ultimate victory is the Lord’s. We just need to make sure that we are on his side. That we know him that we been redeemed. That we been forgiven. That we’re standing. We need his grace to do it. We can’t stand in our own power, in our own strength. We need his grace. And so I want us to pray now for it. And then we will sing.
God we thank you for your word and the light it is to our feet. The light it is to our path. God, I pray that today it's been illumined how we ought to live. With convictional kindness. Standing for what’s right in a hostile world. I pray for our young people that they’ll stand true. In elementary school, and middle school, and high school, for our collegiate at the University. That they will be gracious, faithful. I pray for adults out in the workplace, where there is dishonesty and immorality and deceit and all manner of temptation. Lord help us as adults to be faithful to you. Help us God to stand! We pray in Jesus name, AMEN. |
Sun, 30 August 2015
One Another Summer “Comfort One Another” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Key Verse: “Therefore [comfort] one another with these words” (1 Thes. 4:18).
1. The resurrection of Jesus comforts us a. There’s a foundational resurrection b. There’s a future resurrection 2. The return of Jesus comforts us a. It is promised b. It is personal 3. The reunion with Jesus comforts us a. It will be a family reunion
b. It will be a forever reunion |
Sun, 23 August 2015
One Another Summer “Submit to One Another” Ephesians 5:17-21
1. It’s God’s will that we be spirit-filled a. He gives us a contrast b. He gives us a comparison 2. It’s God’s will that we sing a. Our audience b. Our assortment c. Our attitude 3. It’s God’s will that we submit a. The meaning of this command
b. The motive for this command |
Sun, 16 August 2015
One Another Summer “Bear with One Another” Ephesians 4:1-6
Key Verse: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).
1. Our calling a. To belong to Jesus b. To become like Jesus 2. Our conduct a. The standard of it b. The specifics of it 3. Our community a. Our affirmations
b. Our aim |
Sun, 9 August 2015
One Another Summer “Bear One Another’s Burdens” Galatians 6:1-5
Key Verse: “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-5).
1. A danger to acknowledge a. There’s a predator b. There’s a prey 2. A duty to accept a. Help up one another b. Hold up one another 3. A deception to avoid a. Test our own labor
b. Take up our own load |
Sun, 2 August 2015
One Another Summer “Pray for One Another” James 5:13-20
Key Verse: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:14).
1. Realities of life a. There will be times of hardship b. There will be times of happiness 2. Responses to life a. Respond vertically b. Respond horizontally 3. Return to life a. We can be rebels
b. We can be redeemed |
Sun, 26 July 2015
Jeff Ginn Lead Pastor
One Another Summer “Instruct One Another” Romans 15:14-21
Key Verse: “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another” (Romans 15:14).
1. Let’s be confident in one another a. The statement of confidence b. The source of confidence 2. Let’s compliment one another a. For the heart b. For the head c. For the help 3. Let’s challenge one another a. With the word of God
b. With the work of God |
Sun, 19 July 2015
Jeff Ginn, Lead Pastor
One Another Summer “Serve One Another” Galatians 5:13
Key Verses: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).
1. Called to liberty a. We are called b. We are cautioned 2. Called to labor a. An apparent contradiction b. An affirmative command 3. Called to love a. Love is our motive b. Lord is our model
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Sun, 12 July 2015
Micah Cating, Student Pastor |
Mon, 6 July 2015
July 5, 2015 One Another Summer
Mike Holmes
Encourage One Another
Freedom from discouragement
Hebrews 10:19-25
Life is not easy
To live life is to face the reality of discouragement
In discouraging times:
1. Draw near-don't go back
2. Be bold- know whose you are
3. Hold fast- don't let go
4. Know His character
5. Consider how you can encourage others-make a plan
6. Don't isolate yourself from others
7. Encourage with truth and love
Follow Through
Is Jesus the confession of your hope?
Today, if you are discouraged and are tempted to go back, what are you going to do?
What is your plan for the encouragement of others?
Direct download: Sermon_2015-07-05_One_Another_Summer_Week_5.mp3
Category:One Another Summer -- posted at: 10:02pm EDT |
Sun, 28 June 2015
One Another Summer “Greet One Another” Romans 16:1-16
Key Verse: “Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you” (Romans 16:16).
1. An encouragement to greet one another
a. It’s repeated
b. It’s relational
2. An example of greeting one another
a. There’s affirmation
c. There’s aim
3. An expression of greeting one another
a. Let it be clean
b. Let it be cultural
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Sun, 21 June 2015
June 21, 2105
One Another Summer
Senior Pastor Jeff Ginn
"Honor One Another
Romans 12:10b
".....Outdo one another in showing honor"
1. Instruction to honor
a. The requirement of it
b. The reason for it
2. Individuals to honor
a. God
b. Parents
c. Spouse
d. Elderly
e. Authorities
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Sun, 14 June 2015
“Love One Another” Romans 12:9-10a
1. With a love that’s true “Let love be genuine” (Rom. 12:9a). a. True love is an agape love b. True love is an authentic love 2. With a love that’s tough “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Rom. 12:9b). a. Hate what is evil b. Hold to what is good 3. With a love that’s tender “Love one another with brotherly affection” (Romans 12:10a). a. Love with affection
b. Love thru adversity |
Sun, 7 June 2015
One Another Summer “Members of One Another” Romans 12:3-8
1. A “one another” mindset
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3).
a. Don’t think too highly of yourself
b. Don’t think too lowly of yourself
c. Do think rightly of yourself
2. A “one another” membership
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:4-5).
a. There is uniqueness in the body
b. There is unity in the body
3. A “one another” ministry
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6).
a. Appreciate your giftedness
b. Apply your giftedness |
Sun, 31 May 2015
Many have been the inventions that were meant for good but utilized for evil:
· Alfred Nobel created dynamite for constructive purposes, but it was used for explosives and ammunition in war and millions perished. · Google Earth can help us gain perspective, map journeys, and a thousand other good purposes. At the same time, terrorists can and have used it to plot and carry out sinister strategies. · The 3-D printer is a new invention that can print out an inexpensive new hand for an amputee or a new part for a broken engine. Criminals have wasted no time in discovering that functioning guns can be printed and exist on no registry.
Amazing that the same thing can be used for better or worse. Even a church gathering. Even the Lord’s Supper. Paul said it this way, “But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse” (I Cor. 11:17). The Corinthians were using God’s good gift in a way that highlighted divisions in the church and selfishness in the members. The end result was that their observance did not make their fellowship better, but worse! What a word for us!
This Sunday we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Leading up to it we will prepare our hearts by hearing afresh the instructions God gave us in 1 Corinthians 11 regarding the Lord’s Supper. It is meant for our good. God forbid that we conduct it in a way that makes things worse!
Pray that God will move in a great way among us. I believe that He will.
|
Sun, 24 May 2015
Work as Worship “All Aboard!” Ephesians 2:8-10
1. Salvation is by grace “For by grace you have been saved . . .” (Eph. 2:8a). a. The ground of salvation b. The glory for salvation 2. Salvation is through faith “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8b).
a. Faith is key b. Faith is free 3. Salvation is for good works “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
a. God’s art
b. God’s aim |
Sun, 17 May 2015
Work as Worship “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?” Colossians 3:22-4:1
1. The mandate to obey “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters. . .” (Col. 3:22a). a. An expectation of obedience b. An exception to obedience 2. The manner to obey “. . . not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” (Col. 3:22b-23).
a. Eye service b. Excellent service 3. The motive to obey “. . . knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality” (Col. 3:24-25).
a. The future can bring rewards
b. The future can bring regrets |
Sun, 10 May 2015
Sermon Outline, May 10, 2015 - Istrouma Baptist Church
Perry Hancock, PhD, President & CEO
Mom’s Work as Worship | Redeeming the 24/7 Key Scripture: Proverbs 31
I. Mom’s service as worship
II. Mom’s support as worship
III. Mom’s sacrifices as worship
IV. The reason and results |
Mon, 27 April 2015
Work is Worship “A Big Message from a Little Messenger” Proverbs 6:6-11
1. Illustration of work “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6). a. Consider the ant b. Copy the ant 2. Initiative to work “Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest” (Proverbs 6:7-8).
a. No leader b. No laziness 3. Incentive for work “How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” (Proverbs 6:9-11).
a. Avoid poverty
b. Assure plenty |
Sun, 12 April 2015
New Orleans Saints Tight End, Benjamin S. Watson, joins Senior Pastor Jeff Ginn to give his testimony and share how he shares the Gospel in his daily walk. |
Sun, 12 April 2015
Work as Worship “Image Is Everything” Genesis 2:1-3 and 15
Key Verses: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. . . . The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (Gen. 2:1-3 and 15).
1. God created work a. He models work b. He mandates work 2. God completes work a. We have his example b. We have his encouragement 3. God celebrates work a. He reviews work
b. He rewards work |
Fri, 3 April 2015
Conversations #JesusSpeaks to Shattered Dreams Matthew 28:1-10
1. Come and see Come and see the place where he lay (Matthew 28:6b). a. Evidence #1: Empty tomb b. Evidence #2: Eyewitness accounts c. Evidence #3: Transformed lives 2. Fall and worship Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him (Matthew 28:9).
a. We give our worship b. He gets our worship 3. Go and tell Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell . . .” (Matthew 28:10a) a. Worship leads to witness
b. Witness leads to worship |
Sun, 22 March 2015
Conversations
#JESUSSPEAKS
#JesusSpeaks to the Outcast
Luke 19:1-10
Key Verse. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10)
1. He was restless
a. Despite his position
b. Despite his possessions
2. He was responsive
a. Jesus knew his name
b. Jesus knew his need
3. He was rejoicing
a. You can grumble at grace
b. You can be glad for grace
|
Sun, 15 March 2015
Conversations #JESUSSPEAKS
Jeasus speaks to unbridled ambition
|
Sun, 8 March 2015
Conversations #JesusSpeaks to Impossibilities Luke 18:18-30
Key Verse: But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
1. Jesus speaks with a ruler And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone (Luke 18:18-19).
a. He had some positives b. He had some problems 2. Jesus speaks of a requirement When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).
a. Learn about your lack b. Trade your treasure 3. Jesus speaks to a regret But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich (Luke 18:23). a. The regret of leaving
b. The regret of losing |
Sun, 1 March 2015
Conversations #JesusSpeaks to the Hopeless John 5:1-18
Key Verses: When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” . . . 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” (John 5:6-8, and 14).
1. Jesus speaks to hopelessness a. His choice of this invalid b. His conversation with this invalid 2. Jesus speaks to heal a. He tells us to stand up b. He tells us to stop c. He tells us to step out 3. Jesus speaks to holiness a. His grace to us
b. His goal for us |
Sun, 22 February 2015
Conversations #JesusSpeaks to a Broken Past John 4:1-30
Key verses: Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
1. Jesus speaks to the past a. The history of this people b. The history of this person 2. Jesus speaks in the present a. Breaks barriers b. Gives gifts 3. Jesus speaks to the potential a. A potential worshipper b. A potential witness
BOULDER, UtahBy Day 2 in the blazing Utah desert, Dave Buschow was in bad shape. Pale, wracked by cramps, his speech slurred, the 29-year-old New Jersey man was desperate for water and hallucinating so badly he mistook a tree for a person. After going roughly 10 hours without a drink in the 100-degree heat, he finally dropped dead of thirst, face down in the dirt, less than 100 yards from the goal: a cave with a pool of water. But Buschow was no solitary soul, lost and alone in the desert. He and 11 other hikers from various walks of life were being led by expert guides on a wilderness-survival adventure designed to test their physical and mental toughness. And the guides, it turned out, were carrying emergency water on that torrid summer day. Buschow wasn't told that, and he wasn't offered any. The guides did not want him to fail the $3,175 course. They wanted him to dig deep, push himself beyond his known limits, and make it to the cave on his own. Nearly a year later, documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act reveal those and other previously undisclosed details of what turned out to be a death march for Buschow. They also raise questions about the judgments and priorities of the guides at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School. What matters more: the customer's welfare or his quest? “It was so needless. What a shame. It didn't have to happen,” said Ray Gardner, the Garfield County sheriff's deputy who hiked six miles to recover Buschow's body. “They had emergency water right there. I would have given him a drink.” Family members are angry. “Down in those canyons it's like a furnace,” said Rob Buschow of Glen Spey, N.Y. “I don't have my brother anymore because no one would give him water.” While regretting the tragedy, the school, known as BOSS, has denied any negligence and instead blamed Buschow, saying the security officer and former Air Force airman did not read course materials, may have withheld health information and may have eaten too heavily before leaving River Vale, N.J., for the grueling course. Noting Buschow signed liability waivers, the school said: “Mr. Buschow expressly assumed the risk of serious injury or death prior to participating.” Garfield County authorities declined to file charges, saying there was insufficient evidence the school acted with criminal negligence. The prosecutor said participants knew they were taking a risk. The U.S. Forest Service, however, has stopped BOSS from using Dixie National Forest for a portion of the 28-day course this summer until it gets outside advice on providing food and water. The agency said it was the first death of a participant in a BOSS survival exercise. The Colorado-based school dates to the late 1960s. In 1994, BOSS alumnus Josh Bernstein, a New Yorker with an Ivy League education, took over marketing and administration and later became owner. He also is host of the History Channel's “Digging for the Truth,” a show that takes viewers on archaeological adventures around the world. BOSS emphasizes personal growth through adversity, and using your wits to survive. The mantra: “Know more, carry less.” BOSS has wilderness courses lasting just a few days to a month. During the 28-day survival course, held 250 miles from Salt Lake City, campers are required to hike for miles and drink what they can find from natural sources. Tent, matches, compass, sleeping bag, portable stove, watch - all have no role. Campers are equipped with a knife, water cup, blanket and poncho and are told they could lose 20 pounds or more. Among the things they learn is how to catch fish with their hands and how to kill a sheep with a knife. The course is intended to push people “past those false limits your mind has set for your body.” “Somewhere along the many miles of sagebrush flats, red rock canyons, and mesa tops of Southern Utah - somewhere between the thirst, the hunger and the sweat - you'll discover the real destination: yourself,” BOSS says on its Web site. Buschow had marched the arctic tundra in Greenland. And after leaving the Air Force, he worked security at U.S. bases outside the country. He recalled his days as a Boy Scout in his May 2006 application to BOSS. “Although in the yrs since, I have continued to appreciate Mother Nature,” he wrote by hand, “I still haven't ever truly immersed myself in her embrace. I fear that I'm becoming a 'comfort camper,' having never come close to looking her in the eyes.” Buschow described himself as 5-foot-7 and about 180 pounds, with a resting pulse of 66. A New York doctor checked a box declaring him fit for a survival program. Buschow signed the application, acknowledging that BOSS was not offering a “risk-free wilderness experience.” The documents obtained by the AP disclose the brief but bitter wilderness adventure of Buschow: On July 16, he gathered here with the 11 others, including some from England and a college student who had bicycled from Maine. Most were in their 20s and 30s. They ran 1 1 2 miles so the staff could assess their conditioning. Buschow “was not the most in-shape but not the most out of shape,” recalled camper Charlie DeTar, 25, the cross-country bicyclist. On the second day, after a cool night, the group set out around sunrise and stopped about 8:30 a.m. to dip their cups into Deer Creek in what turned out to be the only water until evening. Buschow pulled a bottle from his pack - but was warned by the staff not to fill it. During the early phase of the expedition, participants can drink water at the source only and cannot carry it with them. The group, led by three guides, formed a loose chain, with stronger hikers ahead of people struggling at the 6,000-foot elevation, or more than a mile above sea level. “We didn't cover all that much distance, maybe five to six miles. We were moving slowly, a lot of up and down,” DeTar said in an interview from Vermont. “You don't have food, you don't have water, so you have to move at the slowest pace of the group.” They rested periodically under pinons and junipers, all the while looking for signs of water, such as green vegetation in canyon bottoms. At least two attempts to dig for water failed. Not everyone had close contact with Buschow, but a consensus emerges from the campers' written accounts obtained by the AP: While cheerful, encouraging and coherent at times, he was a man in deep trouble hours before he collapsed. “We were all desperate for water,” a camper wrote. “Every time (Buschow) would fall or lie down, it took a huge amount of effort to pick him back up. His speech was thick and his mouth swollen.” “Every time he continued, he'd rush ahead, often in the wrong direction and so exhausting himself even more,” the camper wrote. The sun was described as blazing, inescapable. “There were no clouds,” a camper wrote. Some people vomited that day, including a man who got sick three times - a typical misery on the rigorous course, according to BOSS. Buschow was suffering from leg cramps about 2:30 p.m. and said he was feeling “bad.” During a break, he mistook a tree for a person and said, “There she is.” “This was the first point at which I became concerned knowing that delirium happens when dehydration becomes severe,” a camper wrote. Buschow “also asked if there was much air traffic that went through here, and asked if anyone had a signal mirror.” (The Forest Service, citing privacy concerns, deleted certain names from documents.) By 7 p.m., as the sun descended and temperatures cooled a bit, the group approached a cave in Cottonwood Canyon, known to BOSS guides as a reliable source of water. Buschow's companions were carrying his possessions for him. Within earshot of people exhilarated about the pool of water, he collapsed for the last time. “He said he could not go on,” staff member Shawn O'Neal wrote two days later in a statement ordered by the Garfield County Sheriff's Office. “I felt that he could make it this short distance and told him he could do it as I have seen many students sore, dehydrated and saying 'can't' do something only to find that they have strength beyond their conceived limits.” O'Neal didn't inform Buschow about his emergency water. “I wanted him to accomplish getting to the water and the cave for rest,” he wrote. “He asked me to go get the water for him. I said I was not going to leave him. ... Shortly thereafter I had a bad feeling and turned to Dave and found no sign of breathing.” A staff apprentice climbed to the top of a dead juniper to get reception for a cellular call to the Boulder office. Five people took turns trying to revive Buschow while red biting ants crawled over his face. A rescue helicopter from Page, Ariz., arrived about 90 minutes after he passed out, but a defibrillator failed to jump-start his heart. Campers gathered in a circle for the news: “Dave is dead.” They had a moment of silence and ate almonds, sesame sticks and energy bars distributed by staff, the first food since sandwiches more than 24 hours earlier. Buschow's death was caused by dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, according to Dr. Edward Leis, Utah's deputy chief medical examiner, who found no evidence of drugs or other factors. DeTar, a camper who performed CPR, said no one was told that BOSS guides carried emergency water, but “I heard it slosh” in a pack. Should it have been offered to Buschow? And if it's for an emergency, what triggers it? “Hard to say,” said DeTar, who has a master's degree from Dartmouth College and is trained in wilderness first aid. “One thing that BOSS offers you is an opportunity to push yourself physically into the red zone. ... He was 200 feet from the water. Is that the point where you give it to him? Or 500 feet?” Bernstein, the school's owner, agreed to answer questions only by e-mail. He said BOSS instructors can give water based on their assessment of a camper's needs. “The group appeared to be within the normal parameters we've seen on the trail over the years,” Bernstein said. “Many were, understandably, tired, but morale was high and the participants were determined to continue. ... He seemed capable of completing the hike to camp that evening.” In a Feb. 27 letter to the Forest Service, Bernstein said Buschow may not have trained properly, pointing to comments he made to another camper about drinking a gallon of water a day and eating cheesesteaks to bulk up before the expedition. His brother, Rob Buschow, said: “It's sickening when they blame the victim.” After Buschow's death, five people left the course. The six campers who completed the exercise returned to the site to leave a bouquet of foliage and a marker of stones. “I didn't want to have the fear of the desert instilled in me because of this incident,” DeTar said. |
Sun, 15 February 2015
Conversations #JesusSpeaks to the Walking Dead John 3:1-16
Key verse: Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
1. Jesus speaks with a seeker a. He is religious b. He is respected c. He is restless 2. Jesus speaks about a solution a. We need a second birth b. We need a spiritual birth 3. Jesus speaks of a sacrifice a. The sacrifice of his coming
b. The sacrifice of his cross |
Sun, 8 February 2015
Conversations #JesusSpeaks to Your Life’s Mission Mark 1:16-18
1. The context for this conversation “Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them . . .” (Mark 1:16-17a)
a. Jesus saw them b. Jesus spoke to them 2. The content of this conversation “And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men’” (Mark 1:17).
a. Jesus commanded them b. Jesus committed to them 3. The choice after this conversation “And immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:18). a. Timely decision
b. Total decision |
Sun, 1 February 2015
IN SOME WAY, WE MUST BE GOING Revelation 5:9 1. We give Him the worship He deserves because of _______He is. a. He is ________ b. He is ________ 2. We give Him the worship he deserves because of ________He has done. a. He ______the ultimate price b. He ______our redemption 3. We give Him the worship He deserves by ________to the nations. a. The ______ of His plan is universal. b. The ______of His plan is inalterable. |
Sun, 25 January 2015
Serving in a NEW way Romans 7:1-6
I. Familiar with the LAW (v1)
II. Free from the LAW (v2-3) 2nd Corinthians 3:17
III. Relocating the LAW (v4-5) Galations 5:13 and Galatians 5:22-23
IV. Fulfilling the LAW (v6) 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 Galatians 5:14 Ezekiel 36: 26-27 Galatians 5:16-18 Luke 22:20 1st Peter 4:10 Romans 13:10 Philippians 2:19-22
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? |
Sun, 18 January 2015
T. Lusk
New Growth 1 Peter 2:2
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Description: New and Needy
Like Newborn infants 1 Peter 2:2 New in Christ New creation Epesians 2:1-5
Direction: Craving and Satisfaction Long for the pure Spiritual milk 1 Peter 2:2
Completely reliant on Him Jesus=spring of living water Destination: Maturity -That by it, you may grow up in salvaiotion -Gospel transforms our lives
Discipline: Word and Prayer
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Sun, 11 January 2015
Mike Holmes
A New Creation, Reconciled 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
A New Creation
IN CHRIST, you are a NEW creation (vss. 16-17)
Reconcilliation Reconciliation is by the will of God (v18). Reconciliation is by the act of forgiveness (v19). Reconciliation is by the response of faith (v20). Reconciliation is by the work of substitutition (v21).
The Ministry of Reconciliation God has entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation (vv. 18-20).
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Sun, 4 January 2015
All Things New Lamentations 3:20-24
Key Verses: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
1. New mindset a. Remember our sins b. Remember his steadfastness 2. New mercies a. Pardoned for our failings b. Provision for our future 3. New mornings a. Point to a fresh start
b. Point to a faithful savior |
Sun, 28 December 2014
我希望这些消息的工作。你是下载美国之外最说教的国家。我不知道如何最好地传达给你其他比这tipe消息。我们开始能够把讲道文本形式。我可以使用谷歌翻译将其转化为中国，如果你认为会工作，并帮助传播基督的话。您可以在回信中英文或在中国，我可以反向翻译。
在他的名字！
罗纳德
您可以回复podcast@istrouma.org或ronm184@me.com |
Sun, 28 December 2014
我希望这些消息的工作。你是下载美国之外最说教的国家。我不知道如何最好地传达给你其他比这tipe消息。
在他的名字！
Category:general
-- posted at: 3:16pm EDT
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Sun, 28 December 2014
我们怎样才能更好地为您服务？我们正试图变得更好，在其书面训诫成绩单。你愿意让他们翻译这样的消息？我不得不相信，谷歌翻译工作正常！让我知道podcast@istrouma.org
Category:general
-- posted at: 3:12pm EDT
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Sun, 28 December 2014
Peace Christmas at Easter! John 20:19-23
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
1. Jesus gives us peace a. Peace is a gift of grace b. Peace is a gift of gladness 2. Jesus gives us purpose a. His purpose is good b. His purpose is global 3. Jesus gives us power a. The origin of our power
b. The objective of our power |
Sun, 21 December 2014
Peace “History’s Greatest Gift” Ephesians 2:13-14
Key Verses: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:13-14).
1. The distance he covered 2. The debt he canceled
3. The divisions he cured |
Sun, 14 December 2014
Peace “Peace in Troubled Times”
Key Verse: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John16:33).
1. Truth about troubled times a. They are promised b. They are passing 2. Tenacity in troubled times a. Be cheerful b. Be courageous 3. Triumph over troubled times a. Jesus’ victory is sure
b. Jesus’ victory is shared |
Sun, 7 December 2014
Peace “History’s Greatest Birth Announcement” Luke 2:8-14
Key Verses: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased’” (Luke 2:13-14)!
1. Gives us a story to tell a. It is good news b. It is global news 2. Gives us a savior to trust a. Trust him for his sacrifice b. Trust him for his sovereignty 3. Gives us a song to sing a. Sing a song of praise b. Sing a song of peace
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Mon, 1 December 2014
Worship that Works Hebrews 13:1-6
Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
1. Be compassionate (v. 1-3) a. Summary command b. Specific cases 2. Be clean (v. 4) a. Elevate what’s right b. Eliminate what’s wrong 3. Be content (v. 5-6) a. With what you have
b. With who you have |
Sun, 23 November 2014
Hebrews 12:18-29
For you have not come to zwhat may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and athe sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words bmade the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, c“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, dso terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to eMount Zion and to the city of the living God, fthe heavenly Jerusalem, and to ginnumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to hthe assembly1 of the firstborn who are ienrolled in heaven, and to jGod, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, kthe mediator of a new covenant, and to lthe sprinkled blood mthat speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For nif they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time ohis voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, p“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates qthe removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving ra kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus slet us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our tGod is a consuming fire.
Jesus is Better “See the King”
1. Reject the King a. We are given a warning b. We are given a welcome 2. Receive the King a. Unbelievable gift b. Unbounded gratitude 3. Revere the King a. He is a compassionate father b. He is a consuming fire |
Sun, 16 November 2014
Jesus is Better “Run the Race”
Hebrews 12:1-2 Key Verses: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:1-2).
1. Before the race: preparation a. See the witnesses b. Shed the weight 2. During the race: dedication a. We need a pace b. We need a pattern 3. After the race: celebrate a. There is rejoicing b. There is rest |
Mon, 10 November 2014
Walk on the Water
1. Everybody has a boat 2. Everybody was meant to walk on water (Maththew 14:22-23) 3. have to have Jesus to walk on water 4. Your boat is your comfort zone a. Greater life change occurs out of the boat than will ever happen in the boat b. More excitement and adventure come from being out of the boat than in the boat c. Deeper fulfillment is found out of the boat than is available inside d. Closer connection to Jesus occurs out of the boat e. Walking on water causes others to worship God 5. God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things
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Sun, 9 November 2014
1. Order of Faith 2. Origin of Faith 3. Absurdity of Faith 4. Object of Faith 5. Absolute necessity of Faith 6. Outcome of Faith |
Mon, 27 October 2014
Jesus is Better “A Better Covenant”
Hebrews 8:6-13 Key Verses: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. . . . For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Heb. 8:10-12).
1. Because of its predecessor a. Its focus was our works b. Its fault was our weakness 2. Because of its participants a. God b. Guilty c. Guarantor 3. Because of its promises a. Internal change b. Intimate connection
c. Incredible compassion |
Sun, 19 October 2014
Jesus is Better “Jesus is a Better Savior”
Hebrews 7:25 Key Verse: Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
1. Because of his ability a. His ability is limitless b. His ability is loving 2. Because of his availability a. His availability is for eternity b. His availability is for everyone 3. Because of his advocacy a. His advocacy is conditional
b. His advocacy is costly |
Tue, 14 October 2014
Jesus Is Better “Pilgrims [Should Make] Progress” Hebrews 6:1-12
Key Verse: Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity (Hebrews 6:1a).
1. To make progress, we must be moving a. Begin with elementary truths b. Build on elementary truths 2. To make progress, we must be maturing a. We must have roots b. We must have fruits 3. To make progress, we must be motivated a. We may be blessed
b. We may be cursed |
Thu, 9 October 2014
Jesus is Better “Our Better High Priest”
Hebrews 4:15-16 Key Verses: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1. He is better because of his triumph a. He ascended to heaven b. He atoned for sin 2. He is better because of his temptations a. We have an enemy b. We have an example 3. He is better because of his tenderness a. He is sympathetic to us b. He is sovereign over us |
Sun, 28 September 2014
Jesus is Better “Help for Hard Hearts”
Hebrews 3:7-15 Key Verse: Therefore, as the Holy Sprit says, “Today, if yo hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion"(Hebrews 3:7-8a).
1. The causes of a heard heart a. Deafness can cause a hard heart
b. Doubt can cause a hard heart
c. Deceit can cause a hard heart
2. The consequences of a hard heart
a. What you don’t get
b. What you do get
3. The cures for a hard heart
a. Fellowship with one another
b. Faith in One
When I was a senior in high school, I made a New Year's resolution. And the New Year's resolution was, that I was going to learn to play the guitar. And so with great gusto, I began playing the guitar. It didn't take too many days of, hours per day on that guitar until the tips of my fingers were you form the cords on those steel strings were actually cut and bleeding a little bit. But, I didn’t give up and you know what happened with the passage of time those cuts became calluses. I don’t play the guitar that much anymore but I still when I feel the ends of my fingers, my fingertips on the left-hand, I feel that callouses still today. You know it's okay if some parts of your body get calluses on them. If you ever shaken working man's hand, you know you get that big old hand and you shake it and you feel those calluses, it serves them well because, his hand has become hardened to carry out the tasks that are his.
But there are other parts of your body that you never need to grow hard. That would be, chief of all, your heart. Your heart needs to always be supple and soft and flexible. In fact did you know, there’s a phrase, a lot of you are too young to recognize this phrase but its called, the hardening of the arteries. It’s really a term used for heart disease, when you get plaque buildup in your arteries and it restricts the flow of blood, as the passage narrows. Soon enough if you don't get enough blood to your heart, you can have a heart attack or you can have a stroke, you can die. And so you need your heart to always remain soft and pliable and supple. And so today I want to preach a message that takes that physical principle and puts it into the spiritual realm.
Just as your physical heart you cant afford it for it to get hard, spiritually; you can't afford to get a hard heart. You need a soft heart. I need a soft heart toward God. And so here's the title of today's message, help for Hard Hearts. I wonder, don’t show your hand, but I wonder how many of us would say, you know Pastor Jeff, I'm afraid, if I were to be honest, you know my heart maybe getting a little cold. A little hard. This morning I know God wants to soften our hearts so that they will be pliable in his hands and useful to Him.
So today were to get some help for hard hearts and we’re going to do so out of the book of Hebrews. That’s toward the end of your Bible, so if you would please turn there. Hebrews chapter 3 and stand to your feet in honor of God's Word. We’re about to hear the King of Heaven speak and I want you given your best attention. Hebrews chapter 3, we’re going to start in verse seven. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts.” you see their there's the phrase. “Do not harden your heart as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart they have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter my rest. Take care brothers. Take care sisters. Lest there be in any of you, an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another, every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For, as we have come to share in Christ. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, as it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Lets pray. God, thank you that you speak to us. I thank you that we can hear your voice today if we if we got a heart to here. I pray that we will have soft pliable soulful hearts that are responsive to you. Awaken us to what you say today Lord and change for, Jesus sake, Amen.
Please be seated. Help for hard hearts. Let me advise you if you're visiting us today, if you’ll turn on the back of your worship guide, just flip that guide over, there’s a skeleton outline of the today's message, and really for all of our sake, it's helpful to follow along, and just jot down anything that you think God is saying to you. That you need to apply from what would we be hear today. All right. I will begin the message by talking about what causes a hard heart. What are the causes of a hard heart? First of all, a heard heart is caused by deafness. Now in the physical realm don't tend to think of hearing being related to heart. But in the Bible there's a huge connection between hearing and heart. And if were hard of hearing we will be hard of heart. God wants us always have an open ear to hear what he said. I take this from verse seven. He says, “Therefore as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.” what's the implication? That if you don't hear his voice, over time, your heart gets to be hard. Soon enough, you won't be able to hear it. So today, if you hear his voice, then respond to it, so that your heart will not become hard. Now heart disease, in the physical realm, can be caused by not listening to good counsel. For example, we all know that if you have a healthy heart, you need to exercise. Right? Every day do some exercise? Some cardiovascular workout. You need to watch what you eat. You need to get plenty of rest. You need to let the stress in your life go down. All of these things, that’s the counsel that you get, and if you hear it, and respond to it, it will help you have a soft healthy heart. But, if you ignore that counsel, you may get the hardening of the arteries and you have a stroke or heart attack. You may get into trouble.
Now the same thing is true spiritually. God gives us council from his word on how to live. And if you listen to his counsel, then our hearts will be soft and will be spiritually healthy. We need to listen to God. It’s dangerous not to listen to good counsel isn’t it? Let me tell you a story about a church youth group. Now all you teenagers listen to me. There was a youth group very much like ours that went on a trip to Yosemite national Park. Way out West. They were from California. So it wasn’t that fare of a drive. They went up to Yosemite and they said we're going to hike the most famous of the hikes in that great park. In it's the hike up what's called Vernal Falls. We’re going to put a picture on the screen, of this beautiful waterfall. It’s the Merced River, it falls about 317 feet at that precipice and thousands of people every year make this hike. It’s gorgeous. Well all along that hike, there are warning signs, because while it looks placid and beautiful and majestic, the truth is it's very dangerous. In fact the signs are actually in four languages, so that nobody misunderstands or fails to hear the warning. They caution about the force of the river and that the rocks are slippery. And of course, you can imagine with the falls and the mist that the bellows out from that, the rocks get slippery. And so the youth group start making its way up to the top of Vernal Falls and when they got up there, there were three of them that decided they wanted to get a picture for instagram. You young people know what I'm talking about? Something to post on Facebook I guess. And so one of the girls, well in fact three of them, the girl is the particular one that was leading the pack, they climbed over a guardrail that bordered the Merced River there the top. Now I think in part the reason they did it, is that when you're up on top, the water is actually kind of placid. In fact, they call it the Emerald Pool and other of the pictures of you can see online, I’m not going to put it on screen but either other pictures of it, and you can almost see that that placid pool of green water there at the top. It’s beautiful. It’s crystal clear and the girls said, come on ya’ll. Lets Climb over this guardrail and we’ll just go out there and stand on a rock, and ya’ll can take my picture. Harmless enough. I really can hardly blame the young people, because I could almost see me doing something foolish like that. They climbed over, got out in the river, they didn’t know it but that year, there had been a real heavy snowfall and the snowmelt have been great and the Merced River had swollen with that extra water, and the force of the river was greater than even normally was. Beneath the placid surface, the were currents that they couldn't even see. The girl got out on the rock and she slipped. She splashed into the water and her friend, alarmed of course, because they were only about 25 feet from the edge of the falls, he went out into the water to try to grab her, he lost his footing. So now the third guy was to take the picture, he goes in after those two. And before anything could be done. To the wailing screams of the whole group, those three young people were swept over the precipice to their deaths. That is a terrible story, but it's a true story. Fact, they couldn't even find their bodies for several days, because the force of the water was so great. They were pinned there on the rocks somewhere beneath the surface at the foot of the falls. What had happened? They had ignored the warnings that had been given.
Deafness can be deadly. You must listen to God's voice, because deafness can cause a hard heart, and a hard heart can be deadly. Now what else can cause a hard heart? Not only deafness, but doubt can cause a hard heart. I think most of you know the story that is in view here, in Hebrew 3. It’s actually looking back to the children of Israel, who had been enslaved in Egypt. You remember this. For about 400 years, they were enslaved there. But God never forgot about his children. He heard their cry. And he sent Moses to them to deliver them. And you'll remember that God, with miraculous power, sent plague after plague after plague and in patience, he was saying to Pharaoh, and the Egyptians, let my people go! But pharaoh was deaf to God's voice and he had a hard heart. And the Bible says he stiffened his neck against God. God continued to send those plagues until finally the night of Passover came, the death Angel came and all of the firstborn, both of the livestock and even of the male firstborn sons of every family, died in the Egypt. God spared the Israelites. Finally Pharaoh and the Egyptians said please go! And out went the Israelites in great freedom. Well, they made their way down to the Red Sea. Once they became alarmed. There like, we're going to die here because Pharaoh had regained his courage, and you want to go back and capture them. He was in hot pursuit. On one side, had the Red Sea, and on the other side was Pharaoh bearing down on them. And mountain walls hemmed them in. it looked as though they were goners. Again, God heard their cry. And Moses extended his rod and the Red Sea opened. A strong wind blew and they walked across on dry ground. Then they went to up the wilderness there. Safe now from the Army of the Egypt that was destroyed. They were hungry and a cried out and God heard them. God sent manna. He dropped groceries from heaven. And then they ate their fill. They got thirsty and they complained against God. God caused water flow from the rock. Again, again and again God provided for them. But it was if if they'd never could get over their bellyaching. There murmuring. They’re complaining. Finally they came to the Jordan River, God had proven himself true to every promise, and he said “this land that you see that flows with milk and honey, where there are vineyards that you did not plant, where their houses to live in that you did not build, with their walled cities that you can inhabit, all of this I'm giving to you. The children of Israel, what did they do, the they doubted. They said that land is too mighty. There are chariots there. There are walled cities. We are as but grasshoppers in our own eyes. We can't do it. And they doubted and it gave them our atherosclerosis. I mean it hardened their arteries. It gave them heart disease.
Listen to what the Bible says in verse 12 of our chapter, Hebrews 3. Take care brothers, lest there be in any of you and an evil, unbelieving heart. Leading you to fall away from the living God. What had happened? They had they had heart disease. Their heart had become evil, and it is rooted in, what the Bible says, unbelief. You know what God wants for us above everything? He wants us to believe him when he makes promises. He wants us to believe that they will come true. When he says what the Bible says, God so loved the world; he wants us to believe it. That he gave his only begotten son; he wants us to believe that. That whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life; he wants us to trust that promise. That’s what he seeks above all. That we would trust and believe in him. But they doubted. It caused a hard heart.
Let me give you one other cause of a hard hart. I've mentioned deafness and doubt but deceit can cause you to have a hard heart. Look in verse 13, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You see sin is at work in us. The devil was at work to deceive us. To think that God is not good. That he is not faithful to his promises. And to pull us away from the living God. The deceitfulness of sin.
I heard a story years ago, about what was called the perfect crime. It’s a story set in New York, back in the days when they were building the skyscrapers. And there were two men that have become enemies of one another on the building site. But they worked, side-by-side, on the girders as they were building this mighty skyscraper. One of the men had the job of affixing the rivets to the girders so that they would be in place. The other man would pitch the rivets to the first man. He would pitch them. The man would catch it and he would attach the rivet and on they would go throughout the day, attaching those great steel girders. The one man thought of away to murder his coworker. And here was his plan. As he threw the rivet to him, with each successive throw, he withdraw just a little bit further out from the building. And so the man that was catching the rivet and attaching them, you know he caught the rivet, with the next throw he had to reach out just a little bit further, the next throw, a little further, and it was so subtle, it was so incremental, it was so sinister, he didn’t recognize he was reaching out further and further. Until finally that last throw came and he lost his balance as he reached out to get it. He plunged to his death. Now they called it the perfect crime because there was no trace of any misdeed. He subtlety, very incrementally murdered his coworker.
Now, why do I tell that story? That’s the way sin operates in our lives. The devil, he’s not going up and get you to like jump over to some massive evil like Hitler, but he's going to incrementally, very subtly, throw you a temptation that just close enough that you might bite. Once you've indulged in that, he may throw at temptation that's a little further out from God's will, in a little further out, until finally you take a great fall because sin is deceitful. I wonder today if I'm talking to some people whose hearts are becoming hard because you've been deceived by sin. You find yourself doing things that you never would've dreamed of doing, because incrementally, you gone there. Today if you hear his voice, awaken to the danger that is in front you. These are the causes of a heard heart. Now quickly, what does it matter? Are there any consequences for having a hard heart? Well you know physically, if you have hardening of the arteries, and your heart gets where there is not enough blood flowing to it. It’s deadly. In fact, did you know every 33 seconds, someone in America dies of heart disease? In a year more than a million people die. It is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Physically, it's dangerous. There are consequences. What about spiritually? If your heart gets cold and hard toward God, does it matter? Well I am going to tell you today it does matter. I’m going to give you two reasons it matters. First of all, it matters because what you don't get when your heart is hard. Now, remember I told you that God was taking the children of Israel to the Promised Land. They were going to go to that land of milk and honey. Those walled cities. They were going to inhabit them. Every good thing was going to be provided them. But because they did not believe, because their hearts were cold and hard, they did not get what God would have otherwise given them. Do you see how this is applicable to you and me? God of the Bible says Jesus came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. The Promised Land is but a picture of the life abundant that we are to have in Jesus. But you don't get it if you have a hard heart toward God and if you ignore his voice.
I’m going to put on the screen a picture of fellow, you may recognize. Him his name John Candy. Here’s a famous actor, some years ago. He starred in the movie, Cool Running about the Jamaican bobsled team; Splash He was with the Blues Brothers and so a little bit dated. So you may know John Candy. He was actually well known for being a comedic character. He was a big man, physically very big. In his family that was a history of heart disease. His father, now get this, his father died when he was only 35 years old. Can you imagine? Almost 20 years my younger, dying of a heart attack. So John grew up in a family that should've known well the dangers of heart disease. But John, I guess it goes with that comedic, jovial feel. He loved to eat. He gave it a good Louisiana. He loved to eat and he would put on a big spread for everybody. He would smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. He just lived the life. Those in violation of every rule of good health and we was 43 years old, he too died. He didn't get the love out all of these years. He lost it. He didn't get what he could've otherwise had. He was making $4 million per picture. That was back in the mid-90. All that wealth. All the future that was before him, but he squandered it, because of his hard hardening heart. In the physical realm.
The same thing can be true for us spiritually. God wants us to enter into a life of joy and freedom and purpose. We can’t have it, if we can have a hard heart. So the consequences are, what you don't get what the consequence is also are, what you do get. When you have a hard heart, what they get? Look again at your Bible and Ill show you. In verse 17 it says, “and with whom was he provoked for 40 years, was it not with those who sinned? Whose bodies fell in the wilderness. What did they get? They got 40 years; listen to me, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Until every one of their bodies fell dead in the desert. All those that were of age that could've gone to the Promised Land, save Joshua and Caleb. Those faithful men who said “let's go.” all the rest died. What they didn't get was the Promised Land. What they did get was death. Spiritually, don't miss what God would give you and don't get what the world would give you. Right? I said before, I said again, God wants for us what we would want for ourselves, if we had sense enough to want it. He wants a life of goodness for you in abundance and joy and purpose. But if you have a hard heart, you never going to get it. Well let me conclude. Is there a cure? You know physically, if you have a heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, which I have several those things, to some small degree, is there anything I can do? There is something that I can do. I can exercise. And I need to do more than I do, but I could exercise. I could eat better. And I'm trying to do a little better on my eating. You let the stress out of your life. You can rest better. We need these disciplines in our lives physically. But what about spiritually? Is there something that you can do? Is there a cure for the hard heart? There is. Let me give you two cures. Number one, fellowship with one another. Notice what he says in verse 13, “but exhort one another, every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, do you see that? When we exhort one another, when we encourage one another, it helps our hearts to be soft. That’s why it is so good for you to come to church. Ill tells you something curious. You know they have done a study and that regular church attendance actually prolongs physical life. It’s good for you to come to church. Even if that were the spiritual element, which is supreme, but even physically good for you to come. And spiritually, how good it is to be in the company of other believers. When I see you here, what does it do, it warms my heart. It softens my heart. It encourages my heart. And I know that you have that sensation as you gather with one another. And I hope you're part of one of our small groups. We call them ABF’s, Adult Bible Fellowship. Or if you’re a teenager you’re in our student ministry with the table groups. We have to Thrive classes where you can come on Wednesday nights and exhort one another as the Bible says. Be one of our D groups. But get into the company of others. That will keep your heart soft. Don’t get out there by yourself and be hardhearted. There’s one special night I’m going to mention, its November 2. I want all of you to please put this on your calendar, all right. On November 2, that morning were going to have Go Global Sunday. Dr. Dave Early is going to be here to speak to us and that night we going to gather back, we we don't normally come on Sunday nights, this is getting be an exception. We are going to come together and our purpose is to cry out to God, to exhort one another, God bring revival to my heart. I tell you something; my heart needs to be softer. I bet some of you if you were to be honest would say, me to preacher. I need my heart to be softened. Our church needs revival. Our nation needs revival. Our world is desperate for the peace and life that Jesus brings. We are going to get on our knees, November 2 and I want to be here. We are calling the night, The Power of One. The since of us being together. Exhorting one another. One Church, one heart, and one voice, an all campus prayer gathering on November 2 at 6 PM. alright now, the other thing that you can do to have a soft heart, and it's the chief thing, while it is important fellowship with one another, you to have faith in one. I mean you need to have your faith in the Lord Jesus, who gave his life on the cross. Who shed his blood? That we might live. Verse 14 of this chapter says. “ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” he's talking about faith. He’s talking about belief. And he says we're to hold our confidence firm until the end. Does that mean that, by having firm confidence to the end, we save ourselves? No. We don’t save ourselves. We are saved by him. But our confidence to the end reveals the genuineness of our faith. And so were to hold that confidence firm. That faith that fate firm to the end. When I was a boy my preacher, used to say, “faith that fizzles before the finish, was faulty from the first.” you heard that? Faith that fizzles before the finish was faulty from the first. And so man look, don’t let your faith fizzle. Don’t get a cold heart man. Stay in fellowship with one another and put your faith in the Lord Jesus.
Now conclude. In 2011, Steven Spielberg produced a wonderful movie. Some of you went and saw it. I'm sure it's called Warhorse. If you haven't seen it, I'd recommended even for family viewing. It one of those few Hollywood movies that you wouldn’t mind your children seeing. It’s a story of a young boy and his horse. The horses’ name is Joey. Joey is a thoroughbred. And by a set of circumstances, Joey's poor family comes into possession of this prize horse. The boy's name is Albert, is it not? Albert. Thank you. He loves Joey the horse. And so he just raises up that thoroughbred. They’re the best of friends. Well, World War I comes along and Great Britain is in need of horses to pull the heavy artillery and for the chores of battle and are buying up all the horses. One day Albert was out and the Army men came and Albert's father needed money for their farm. He sold the horse while the boy was away the boy came back he was “Where is my horse” and they were taking them away to the Army. Well, with the passage of time the boy himself went into the Army. And he and the horse were scattered across was thousands of miles, far apart from one another. He didn’t know where his horse was. But he never forgot him. As the battles of drug on and the war drug on, one day the boy was in a trench, and some poison gas was shelled his trench and it blinded the boy, temporarily. So he went to an infirmary to be nursed back to health. And he didn’t know it but the horse had been captured by the Germans and had been put into very harsh labor. The horse, his health to become broken, his spirit had become broken, and in one scene that is very memorable, the horse tries the bolt across no man's land. And the horse becomes entangled in the barbed wire. You remember that horrific scene? The freed the horse but the horse is so wounded that they can't nurse him back to health it seems. And so there are going to just shoot the horse, to put him out of his misery, remember this? And the boys in the hospital, and it happens that now the horses is very close at hand. The boy hears some people talking about this, this ghost horse, this is miracle horse that had survived no man's land, which no one survived, if you heard them talk about the horse, he thought, perhaps that's Joey. Perhaps that's my horse. And so he staggers up out of his sickbed. In he makes his way into the alley and they're about to shoot the horse. And the boy Joey, he had this whistle the always use with the horse, from the horse in the earliest days. [Whistles]. The old horse perked his head up. Looked about, showed some life and vigor that he never shown before. And the blind boy begins to inch his way through the crowd of soldiers. They are all just silent, because they are about to hear the gunshot, right. The horse neighs and the boy whistles again. The old horse begins to snort and gather strength up again and the soldier’s part like the Red Sea, and the boy in the horse are united. The horse was saved because he knew his master's voice. He heard it. He responded to it. His salvation.
What am I saying to you? Listen to the bookends of this passage, how does the passage start? How does it end? Verbatim, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did the rebellion in the wilderness, instead be saved. Would you bow your heads please? I wonder who here today would say, preacher my hearts been hard. I've been getting further and further away from the warmth of God. I've gone astray and preacher, I need, I name my heart softened. The Bible says that God wants to take out of us a heart of stone and put in us, heart of flesh. Like the heart of a new baby. He wants us to be born again and saved. Forgiven. Maid new. Warm. Responsive. Would you just cry out to Him? Lord! Lord please; take out my hard stone heart. And God give me your heart, a new heart. New life. And for those of you who know Christ as Savior, and if you been away from him, would you just say Lord I repent. I come back to you. Lord from the deceitfulness of sin. I want to get away from those temptations and Lord I come to you, tower of strength and I run into you Lord. Revive me. Cleanse me. Help me to walk closely with you. All of these things Lord, we pray, in Jesus name, Amen. |
Wed, 24 September 2014
Jesus is Better “See Our Savior”
Hebrews 2:5-9 Key Verse: But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesue, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9).
1. See Jesus in the cradle a. He is humble below angels
b. He is high above angels
2. See Jesus on the cross
a. His grace is great
b. His goal is global
3. See Jesus with the crown
a. Submit to him
b. Share with him
It is great to have all of you here. Take your bibles please and lets open together to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2 is where we are going to be. Were going through a series titled Jesus is better. That’s the theme of the book of Hebrews. In fact, I think the word better appears in the book thirteen times. Which is one for every chapter. There are thirteen chapters and it just says over and over again, Jesus is better. He is better.
And so today we are going to continue that series and I want to ask you a question before I start and it’s this. What did Jesus look like? Have you ever wondered that? Well there have been those who have tired to portray what he looked like and I going to put on the screen here some pictures, some portraits of Jesus, the first two are drawn by a fellow named Walter Salmon and his portraits are among the most famous a in our culture that have ever been drawn. The first one is a picture of Jesus knocking at a door and I wonder if I made you remember seeing this picture at some point maybe in a Sunday school classroom or in your grandmother's Bible or something of the sort. That’s a beautiful picture of Jesus and you may have noted before that when you look at that picture carefully the door does not have a knob on it and kind of the message of the portrait is that if Jesus is to come into your life and be your Savior and Lord you have to be the one who opens it up because the knobs not on the outside. He doesn’t barge his way in, you invite them in, you receive him and so that's the idea of that picture its very well known. There’s another one even better known. Again painted by this fellow Walter Salmon and it's called the “Head of Christ,” and you see the pictures here. I remember this from when I was a boy and you look very closely and it's very interesting he got blue eyes almost like blonde hair. It’s curious, Walter Salmon was himself from Norwegian descent it's almost as though he drew a picture of Jesus as he would be as if he were Scandinavian and I think that's the that's something that you observe across cultures and people portray Jesus, they often do in their image.
In fact, someone has said, they have quipped that in the beginning God created man and ever since then we've been returning the favor. We’re trying to create someone in our image and so I really doubt Jesus had blue eyes. As we know he was Jewish. He probably had deep Brown eyes. His skin was probably bronzed by the sun. If you how middle Easterners have that appearance and so for what ever its worth he depicted a picture of Jesus the best he thought.
There’s another one I’m going to put on the screen. This is really not painting but it is a portrait of sorts. Is actually on cloth and some of you may recognize this. Its from a burial shroud and it was discovered many years ago and it's somewhat mysterious because you see on the shroud, the visage of a man and some believe that what we're looking at there, is actually the visage of Jesus. It is a bit mysterious how this shroud ends up and this is way before the days of any kind of electronic reproduction. In fact this is of a believe some believe it was carbon dated to the medieval period. Others would say goes right back to Christ. But in any case, somehow this picture of a man gets imprinted, in a manner of speaking, on this shroud. So could this be what Jesus looked like?
What does Jesus look like? Well I want to surprise you this morning. I'm going to show you a portrait of Jesus. I going to dare to say it is 100% accurate and it's found right here in Hebrews chapter 2. Now before I read the passage, I was reminded of a story I heard about a kindergarten teacher. I know I some teachers here today of little kids. She had assigned the class to draw a picture of someone they love. And so, she was going up and down the aisles looking at the pictures the children were drawing. She went by this one little boy and she said, “Who is that you are drawing?” is my daddy. She says, that’s beautiful. Encouraging him and she walked on a little while by a little girl and said, “Honey, who is that you are drawing?” “Well this is a picture of my mama.” Oh my, that’s, beautiful. She came up to this one mischievous little boy and she couldn't quite make out what he was doing and so she said, “Johnny, whose portrait is that mature your drawing?” He said, “Well this Jesus.” the teacher said, “Johnny, nobody knows what Jesus looks like.” he didn't look up, he didn’t hesitate, “they'll know it looks like when I'm finished.” Well when I finish this message I hope that your going to say “I know what Jesus looks like.”
Alright, in honor of God's word let's stand up and read Hebrews chapter 2, verses five through nine, and verse nine the last going to be where we’re going to camp out. All right so let's get the running start there beginning with verse five. God's word says. Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking it has been testified somewhere, what is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him. You made him, for a little while, lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him, who for a little while, was made lower than the angels. Namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.
Now before we’re seated, look again there at verse nine, the very last words. He says, but we see him! We see him! You know you saw that movie avatar? I'm not backing its theology, but in the movie it says I see you. All right. We see him. He is portrayed for us here and I want us to ask the Lord to open our eyes and our hearts to see him. Lets pray. God, help us to see Jesus, in all of his glory and all of his beauty. In his humility, in his suffering, in his victory. Help us to see him. Help us once upon seeing him, to fall in love with him and to surrender our all to him. Do it Lord I pray, for Jesus sake, Amen. Please be seated. The title of today's message is, see our Savior. See him. I want you to see him. And here we find a portrait of him. Now, the follow along, I want to encourage you to turn to the back of your worship guide, you’ve got an outline of the morning's message and you can fill it in. I think it will help you to pay attention and also at the head of that you'll see verse nine given to you there. That’s where were really going to focus, in verse nine. Now the portrait that I'm going to present to you, I'm going to show it to you from three angles, all right? Three features I'm going to highlight and here is the first.
If we’re going to see Jesus, our Savior, we got to see him first of all in the cradle. Now you wonder where I get the idea of Jesus in the manger Jesus in the cradle, from this verse. Notice how it begins verse nine. It says. “But we see him, but for a little while, was made lower than the Angels.” what is this referring to when it says Jesus was made lower than the angels? Well it’s speaking, of course, about his incarnation. His coming in flesh.
One of my friends told me that she'd been to the mall. She said she couldn't believe it, she went into Dillard’s and they already have the Christmas decorations out. All right well this morning, were going to start hanging the Christmas decorations too, because we see him made a little lower than the Angels. That is, we see Jesus come to this Earth. Taking upon himself the form of a servant. Emptying himself of his glory. A Jesus that babe in Bethlehem. If you want to see Jesus, look in the cradle. And when you do you’re going to see two things. First of all, you see him humble, below the Angels. Philippians, Chapter 2 verse seven says that “Jesus emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” this is what's talking about. He was made a little more than the Angels. He took on human flesh and lived among us, and for while, a little while, he was made lower than the angels. But then, just as quickly as you see that, I want to see him now high above Angels. Because this one, who for a little while was made lower than the angels is in reality, infinitely higher than the Angels, right. He is the one who created all angelic beings. And in fact, all of us and the world. He flung the stars into space; He hung the sun and the moon there to rule by day and by night, respectively. All that is made, he is the agent of it. And he sustains it by the word of his power. This is what we learned in Hebrews chapter 1. And so, he is for a little while, humbled. Made lower than the angels.
But don't miss that babe in Bethlehem, is actually, the creator God, sovereign of all. Now where can you find a model of someone who would be high, yet humble themselves. It’s actually hard to find. But let me give you this illustration. A lot of you will remember Princess Di. She was from Great Britain and became engaged to be heir to the throne. She was beautiful. She was the quintessential Disney princess. Really her wedding was storybook, a lot of you remember Princess Di. But I want to show you a picture Princess Di, as perhaps you’ve never seen her before. In the year, 1997, Princess Di was on a tour of Africa and she happened to be in the country of Angola. And there in Angola, there was a tremendous scourge, they had had internecine warfare, civil war of sorts, and it was brutal. One of the things that they had done, they had sown down the land, with land mines. A landmine, if you can picture this, is almost like a plate and a saucer, and it's filled with explosives and shrapnel, and they buried these landmines all across the countryside. And though the war had largely subsided, innocent boys and girls and men and women, would simply be walking across a field, they would accidentally step on one of those landmines and it would explode. It would blow them up. Perhaps a limb would be lost or their lives would be lost by the thousands. Princess Di, to her credit, was burdened about perhaps she decided that she would identify with the plight of the people, and to inspire the world community to do something to eradicate the world of mines. She actually got on those protective clothes and mask and she went out into the Angolan countryside, Of course, cameras clicking everywhere, to say to the world, let's put a stop to these mines. Lets save lives. In way it pictures what Jesus did for us. Jesus that… if you think Diana was royalty, Jesus is the Prince of Heaven, and he came to earth with no protective gear. And on purpose, took the wrath of sin. The wrath of God against sin and he suffered and he took them blow so that we could be forgiven and be saved. And that's the story of Christmas. That’s what happened with the babe of Bethlehem. So see him first of all, there in the cradle.
That segues perfectly into the next aspect you need to see of this portrait. Not only seen in the cradle, see him on the cross. And you'll never know Jesus; you’ll never know what he looked like, who he was if you don’t see him on the cross. Now, if you look back to verse nine, which is our key verse, Ill show you where I take this. Verse nine. But we see him for a little while, was made lower than the angels that is Jesus, crown now with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. So that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. Do you see him?
Do you see Jesus there on the cross? What do we see when we look at the cross? We see first of all, that his grace is great. His grace is great! The Bible says, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. Jesus died on the cross, not because he had done anything wrong, in fact, complete contrary, he done nothing wrong. We are the ones who it done wrong. We’re the ones who sin, but he died on the cross to pay for the sins, the price of them, so that we need not, Folks, that what grace is. Grace is us not getting what we deserve, but instead getting what we don't deserve. We deserve punishment. We deserve wrath. But we don't have to take it, because Jesus has already taken it for us. And now we get all of the goodness of God showered on us because of what Christ has done. By grace, he tasted death for every man.
Someone said it is an acrostic of grace, if you've never heard this you ought to jot it down on your notes. What is grace? G R A C E. You know it? Grace, God’s Riches At Christ's Expense! God's riches, what are they? His riches are forgiveness, reconciliation, forgiveness, peace, eternal life. All those riches come to us at Christ's expense. He paid for them. Again I say, it is grace, amazing Grace that pardons us. So look at the cross and see his great grace. But also, look there and see that his goal is global. What does it say? He tasted death for whom? For every man, every woman, every boy, every girl. His goal is global. You see Christ no only died for LSU Tigers; he died from Mississippi State Bulldogs. Right? He not only died for Americans, he died for Europeans and Africans and middle Easterners. He longs for everyone to be changed by his grace. And if you look at the cross, you see these things, these things so clearly. Revelation 5:9 tells us, it actually gives us a glimpse into heaven. “And they sang a new song, saying worthy are you, to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood, you ransomed people for God, from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. He is a global God. He is a global savior. And would embrace all of the peoples of the world.
Some of you know Kevin Bacon? You know of him. He is a famous actor. He tells a story about his son. His son had gotten to an age; I think he was six years old at the time, where he could watch some of his daddy’s movies. And he was watching the movie, Footloose. And in one scene, his father, the character his father was playing, grabbed a hold of the rafters and swung and kind of with an acrobatic move and landed right on his feet. And his son was so impressed. He said, “Dad, how did you do that?” and Kevin said, “Aww son, I didn’t do that,” He said “that was my stunt double that did that.” And the little boy said, “what's a stunt double?” “Well that’s that looks like me, is dressed up like me, but does things that I could never do.” the little boy, he accepted that. He kept watching the movie and in another scene his daddy something else, or the character his daddy is playing does something else really spectacular and acrobatic and he said, “wow… You do that?” He said well son I didn’t do that that was my stunt double again… “ And he went on three or four more times through the movie, every time something really spectacular would happen, sure enough it would be the stunt double. So finally the boy said, “well daddy, what’d you do?” He said “I got all the credit, without doing anything.” Now what's the point? We got stunt double. And I say that with all reverence. We got somebody that looked like us. That’s the cradle, see him there. The God of Heaven come here to redeem. And he looked like us. And he dressed like us. He learned our language, but he did for us, what we could never do for ourselves. The innocent one, the sinless one, died for our sins. More than that on the third day, he conquered death when he arose from the grave. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. And we get the credit. We get the forgiveness. We get the redemption, based on what he did.
I’m telling you, here is what Jesus looks like. Look at the cradle. Look at the cross. And then finally look at the crown. Your going to see it here, in verse nine again, he says, “but we see him” do you see him? We see him who for a little while, was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of god might taste death for every man. Do you see him there, crowned with glory and honor? He is crowned! He’s the king!
A lot of you know the show on television, the family feud; it's hosted now a guy named Steve Harvey. Is it still playing? I’m not even sure but all of you know family feud. What they do is they have these series of questions that they've asked the public, and they’ll get a hundred respondents to each question. What they do is, they have a couple of guys, you know from each team and they hit the button to try to respond. Right? And get the answers. So a couple of years ago the question was this, “when someone mentions the king, to whom might he or she be referring?” and people answered. Who’s the king? Well, the answers included, two people said “The Burger King.” Y’all know McDonald's and Wendy's, you know, the Burger King. That’s who you’re talk when you say the king. Three people said Martin Luther King, Jr. and maybe you thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. and you heard the king. But you know what the number one answer was? 81 people the King, Elvis Presley. There was one other answer given and it was the right answer, seven people said Jesus is the King. I’m going to tell you something, Elvis is not king. The burger king is not the king. Jerry Lawler is not the king, for some your wrestling boys. Jesus is the king that is the right answer. He is crowned with glory and honor.
How then ought we to relate to him? We ought to to submit to him. You see, Philippians, I referred to it earlier. He emptied himself and he took upon himself the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, therefore God has highly exalted him, and given them a name that is above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess, Jesus Christ is Lord. If you have never before, definitively seen him, confessed him as Lord and bowed the knee of your will to him, I’m going to invite you to do that this day.
Submit to him and when you do, you're going to share with him in his glory. I love this and I want to see this, because I didn’t read it earlier but here's how this concludes. He says, but we see him, who for a while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor, because he tasted death by the grace of god for every man. Then verse 10 says, for it was fitting that he would bring many sons to glory. No listen, we see Jesus crowned with glory. He is the glorious one, but did you know he is bringing with him many sons to glory. That is, those of us were redeemed. We actually get into that train of glory, and we become a part of his family. Were joint heirs with Christ as we saw last week? Well, do you know what Jesus looks like? You might think he has long blonde hair and blue eyes or you may think he’s like the shroud of Turin visage. We really don't know. But, we know his heart. We know what he has done for us. Here’s a portrait that's 100% accurate. Look at him. See him. They’re in the manger. They’re on the cross. Now crowned. Follow Him.
Would you bow your heads please? I didn’t preach this, this morning, just for entertainment. Just to occupy the time. This message is preached so that you might make a response to god. If you’ve never before bowed your will, your knees, in effect, to Jesus and confessed him as Lord, would you do so now? Jesus, I do see you. I see you. I believe you came from heaven, to earth; you lived sinlessly. You died in my place. You arose from the dead, and Lord Jesus, the best I know how, I open up the door and I say come in. I want to give you my life. I want to follow you. I want to be a new creation, Lord by your grace, save me. Save me Lord. And for those of you that know Christ as savior, you may just need to say to him Lord, I see you afresh this morning and I’m more in love with you now. That I’ve seen you more clearly; Help me to follow you, to serve you. I ask it in Jesus’s name, Amen. |
Sun, 14 September 2014
Jesus is Better “The Danger of Drifting”
Hebrews 2:1-4 1. The c_______of drifting a. We forget the i__________
b. We fixage on the i________
2. The c__________of drifting
a. We face p_____________
b. We forfeit p___________
3. The c______for drifting
a. Examine the f____________
b. Embrace the f______________
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Thu, 11 September 2014
T. Lusk, Campus Pastor www.istrouma.org From Help Sermon Series |
Thu, 11 September 2014
T. Lusk, Campus Pastor www.istrouma.org From Help Sermon Series |
Thu, 11 September 2014
T. Lusk, Campus Pastor www.istrouma.org Sermon from Help Series |
Thu, 11 September 2014
T. Lusk, Campus Pastor May 4, 2014 from Help Sermon Series |
Sun, 7 September 2014
Jesus is Better “History’s Greatest Speech”
Hebrews 1:1-3 1. The greatest origin a. God has spoken constantly
b. Cod has spoken creatively
2. The greatest orator
a. He is great in his person
b. He is great his position
c. He is great in his power
3. The greatest objective
a. He cleanses our sin
b. He completes our salvation
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Sun, 31 August 2014
Dwayne Pitre delivers the final installment of Coach! |
Wed, 27 August 2014
Coach “Living in the Last Days"
2 Timothy 3:1-17 Key verses: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tm, 3: 16-17).
1. Difficult period a. Last days are here
b. Last days are hard
2. Disobedient people
a. Their description
b. Their destiny
3. Dependable principles
a. Wisdom for salvation
b. Wisdom for service
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Sun, 17 August 2014
Coach “The Great Race of Mercy"
2 Timothy 2:1-7 Key verses: You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Tm, 2: 1-2).
1. Be dedicated like a soldier a. Show endurance
b. Shun entanglements
2. Be disciplined like an athlete
a. Compete like an athlete
b. Comply like an athlete
3. Be diligent like a farmer
a. Sweat for the harvest
b. Share in the harvest
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Sun, 10 August 2014
Coach “Passing the Baton"
2 Timothy 1:1-16 Key verses: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you trough the laying on of my hand, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tm, 1:5-7).
1. Start strongly a. Growing faith
b. Growing flame
2. Share sufferings
a. An encouragement regarding suffering
b. An example of suffering
3. Show stamina
a. Some fall away
b. Some finish well
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Sun, 10 August 2014
Coach “God’s Gameplan"
1 Timothy 6:11-12 a. From desires for riches
b. From desires that ruin
2. FOLLOW
a. New orientation
b. New objectives
3. FIGHT
a. For the life that the Lord gives
b. For the Lord that gives life
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Sun, 27 July 2014
Coach We Are Family! 1 Timothy 5 Key Verses: Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. Honor widows who are truly widows. . . . Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching (1 Timothy 5:1-3, and 17). 1. Fathers 2. Brothers 3. Mothers 4. Sisters 5. Others |
Sun, 20 July 2014
Coach Crossfit! 1 Timothy 4:1-16 Key Verses: Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe (1 Timothy 4:7-10). 1. The steps to being crossfit a. Reject error b. Receive truth 2. The stakes for being crossfit a. Everyday life b. Eternal life 3. The spread of being crossfit a. Exemplify your message b. Exercise your giftedness |
Sun, 13 July 2014
Coach “Lessons on Leadership"
1 Timothy 3:1-16 1. Leadership roles 2. Leadership requirements
a. Aspiration
b. Qualifications
i. Personal traits
ii. Parental traits
iii. Practical traits
3. Leadership rewards
4. Leadership responsibility
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Sun, 6 July 2014
Coach “Play Your Position"
1 Timothy 2:8-15
1. Primary duty a. Guys--Lead
b. Girls—Learn
2. Proper demeanor
a. Guys—Be clean
b. Girls— Be considerate
3. Promised deliverance
a. We are delivered from our sin
b. We are delivered by our Savior
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Sun, 29 June 2014
Coach “The First Play"
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Key Verse: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people (1 Timothy 2:1). 1. All people always need Jesue (vv. 1-2)
2. God always desires all people to be saved. (vv. 3-6)
3. The gospel should always be proclaimed. (v. 7)
www.pray4govt.org
www.call2fall.com
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Sun, 22 June 2014
Coach “The Coach’s Charge"
1 Timothy1:1-20
Key Verse: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost (1 Timothy 1:15). 1. Be faithful in your duty
a. Hindrances to doing your duty
b. Help in doing your duty
2. Be faithful in your doctrine
a. Reject heretical doctrine
b. Receive healthy doctrine
3. Be faithful in your doxology
a. An exclamation of praise
b. An explanation for praise
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Sun, 15 June 2014
Help "Help for Dad"
Joshua 24:1-15
Key Verse: And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, jchoose this day whom you will serve, whether hthe gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). 1. Make your choice
a. Individual choice b. Influential choice
2. Mark your calendar
a. Immediate choice
b. Informed choice
3. Measure your commitment
a. We are helpless
b. He is holy
c. There is hope
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Sun, 8 June 2014
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Sun, 1 June 2014
Help "Help for Financial Health, Part 3"
Proverbs 6:6-8
Key Verse: Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. 1. The Saving of Money
a. Recommendation of it Go to the art, 0 sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares, her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
(Prov. 6: 6-8). b. Route to it
How long will you lie there, 0 Sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man (Prov. 6: 9-11)
c. Reasons for it
A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead are prepares for them (Prov. 22: 3). d. Ratio of it
...give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest l be full and deny you and say, "Who is the Lord,” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God (Prov 30: 8b-9) 2. The Spending of Money a. Formulate a financial plan the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty (Prov. 21:5)
b. Follow a financial plan Resources
Right Now Media istrouma.org/rightnow |
Sun, 25 May 2014
Help "Help for Financial Health"
1 Chron. 29:10-17
Key Verse: “But who am i, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you… I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. (In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and not I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you” (1 Chron. 29:14 & 17) 1. The precedent for sharing
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19)
2. The priority of sharing
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce” (Prov. 3:9).
3. The prudence of sharing
“Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine” (Prov. 3:10).
4. The proportion of sharing
“Now concerning the collection for the saints: as i directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the forest day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper...” (1 Cor. 16:1-2)
5. The pleasure of sharing
“Each on emus give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly of under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7)
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Sun, 18 May 2014
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Sun, 11 May 2014
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Sun, 4 May 2014
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Sun, 27 April 2014
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Sun, 20 April 2014
Son of God “Keep Calm and Carry On”
Mark 16:1-7
Key Verse: And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that is gong before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you”. (Mark 16:6-7) 1. Because of Jesus’ cross
And he said to them”Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified (Mark 16:6a)
2. Because of Jesus’ conquest
He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him (Mark 16:6b)
3. Because of Jesus’ commission
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he too you (Mark 16:7).
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Sun, 6 April 2014
Son of God “This is my House”
Mark 11:15-17
Key Verse: And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:17) 1. His authority over God’s house
a. Is personal
b. Is passionate
2. His action in God’s house
a. Is controlled
b. Is corrective
3. His aim for God’s house
a. Is godly
b. Is global
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Sun, 30 March 2014
Son of God “The Heart of the Matter is the Heart”
Mark 7:1-8
1. Let’s examine our lips
a. Are we active in worship?
b. Are we authentic in worship?
2. Let’s examine our love
a. Are our hearts distant?
b. Are our hearts distracted?
3. Let’s examine our life
a. Have we abandoned the commandments of God?
b. Have we adhered to the traditions of men?
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Sun, 23 March 2014
Son of God “He Still Stills the Storms”
Mark 6:45-52
Key Verse: But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50b).
1. Jesus sends us into the storm
a. His insistence
b. His intent
2. Jesus sees us in the storm
a. He is aware of our struggles
b. He is attentive to our struggles
3. Jesus saves us through the storm
a. He stilled the storm in them
b. He stilled the storm around them
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Journey: Joseph's Dream Tour
Moses
10 Commandments
Unbroken
Proc.cess
Son of God
Help
Coach
Jesus is Better
The Grove
Peace
All Things New
Conversations
Work as Worship
One Another Summer
Stand
Leverage
Wonderful-Life
Wonder Full Life
Arise
Levántate
#GO225
Dark Horse
El Elegido
Emotions
Emociones
Living Hope
Esperanza Viva
Prepare Him Room
Core
Valores
Un lugar para El
Signs
Fight
GO225
What Would You Ask?
What Woud You Ask?
Señales
Proverbs
¿Que le preguntarías a Dios?
God Is
Go Global
Generous
Celebración Misionera
Dios es
Proverbios
Generoso
The Big Story
La Gran Historia
Nochebuena
La última palabra
The Final Word
Bless Every Home
Bendice cada hogar
Songs of Summer
Canciones que confortan
Suit Up!
EQUÍPATE
Colossians
The Thrill of Hope
Carousel
Who's Your One
Easter
Culture Flip
James
One Another Sunday
Santiago
Cultura Contraria
Llamados a las misiones
Operation Christmas
Light of the World
Luz del Mundo
Solas
The Seven Churches of Revelation
Las siete iglesias de la revelación
Ester
Esther
Travel Light!
Viaje Ligero
Ezra
Esdras
Juan
John
Christmas at Istrouma
Navidaid en Istrouma
Iglesia en el Hogar
Church at Home
Exodus
Exodo
Mejor Juntos
Better Together
El Mesías y la Pascua Judía
Psalm 23
Salmos
The Revelation
Amen
Amén
Understand Overcome
Elegidos por Dios
The Characters of Christmas
Lets Give Thanks
Lasting Hope
Lord's Supper
Christmas at Home
Blessings
Jonah
Jonás
Healthy Church
Una Iglesia Saludable
Una Iglesia Salabra
Un corazón limpio
Revelation
Apocalipsis
Heaven's Hope
Nuestro Hogar Eterno
Are You In?
¿ESTAS DENTRO?
Are You In? Ascension
Drop Your Nets
Drop Your Nets: Ascension
Dejar Las Redes
Easter: Ascension
Pascua de Resurrección
Kingdom Culture
Kingdom Culture Ascension
Cultura del Reino
Mother's Day
The Lord is My Shepherd
Istrouma Ascension
Parables
Parables Ascension
Las Parábolas de Jesús
Istrouma Missions
Parables of Jesus
Parables of Jesus: Ascension
Habitos
Habits
Habits Ascension
ROMANS
Romans: Ascension
SED AGRADECIDOS
Navidad
Romans Ascension
Istrouma en Español
Acts
Acts: Ascension
Hechos
Archives
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