The present world as we watch it is undergoing shakings. Governments who are previously unmovable were trembling. Kings and Rulers who are untouchable in the past are being removed from their glorious palaces. Aside from unrest from different parts of the world, earthquakes and Tsunamis are getting stronger. It is time to read the signs of the time and check the historical map. Where are we, according to God’s master plan?
Sermon: An Atmosphere of Faith
Have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation and all of a sudden it gets real quiet, and you get the sense that these two people have been arguing. And you say to yourself or someone else later, “Boy the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife”
What you were sensing there was an atmosphere; a negative atmosphere. But I wonder what would happen if we could create a positive atmosphere?
In fact, what could happen if we could create “An Atmosphere of Faith”?
You see, I believe that we can…
And that is what I want to talk to you about this morning…“An Atmosphere of Faith”
Mark 2:1 KJV ‘And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. 2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.’
Brethren, what I want you to see is that THIS was an Atmosphere of Faith. Let me tell you why an Atmosphere of Faith is so vital for every Christian…
1. God responds to our Faith
• In fact, the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God
• The bible says “if we ask for anything “in faith…”
2 – Without Faith, Everything We do In Church is Empty
• For example, we can sing songs, but unless we sing IN FAITH, believing that our worship touches the heart of God and that He responds to us, we might as well be singing in the shower or with the radio.
• We can pray, but unless we pray in FAITH, we are just mouthing empty words
• We can give in the offering to satisfy our own desire to support a local church, but what God wants us to do is give IN FAITH, believing Him and taking him at his word that, when we give He will open up the windows of Heaven and pour out so much blessing we won’t have room for it all!
Did you know that WE are responsible for creating an ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH?
That is what these men did when they took their friend to Jesus!
Some people think it is up to God – but, while I know they are sincere, I respectfully submit that, Biblically, they are wrong.
Here are three ways we can create an atmosphere of faith in the church…
1- Creating An Atmosphere of Faith Starts BEFORE We Get To Church.
• Like one man said, “do you wake up and say “Good Morning Lord, or do you say “Good Lord, it’s morning”?
• Staying up too late on Saturday night
• Rushing in late on Sunday morning. You can’t find a seat, you can’t find a parking spot…it gets you in a bad mood.
• Get into an argument with your husband or your wife (mother or father) Then you’re forced to either put on a face or stew during service (what’s that cooking?)
• But if you get a good night’s sleep, refuse to let the devil get you mad or upset (because you had a bad hair day, or the last pair of hose you had have a runner in them, or (God forbid) someone sat in “your” seat in the sanctuary.)
• The you can wake up with expectancy
• You can wake up and begin to create an atmosphere of faith
• You can create the same atmosphere these four friends had. Then when we get to church we believe God can do anything!
• The Psalmist said in Psalm 100:4 “Enter His gates WITH thanksgiving and His courts WITH praise…”
• If you enter with something you aren’t “waiting” for it to show up, you already had it when you arrived!
• If you enter “WITH” thanksgiving and praise, it won’t matter…
• What the pastor preaches
• what songs the worship leader sings
# 2 Creating An Atmosphere of Faith Means Getting Involved When We Get To Church
• Psalms 47:1 says “clap your hands”
• Psalms 33:3 says “shout for joy”
• Psalms 47:1 says “shout to God with cries of joy”
• Psalms 66:1 says, “shout with joy to God”
• Psalms 95:1 says, “shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation”
• Psalms 96:7 says “sing to the Lord, praise His name”
• Psalms 13:6 says “I WILL sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me”
• You see, where we sometimes miss it is right here. We aren’t clapping just to clap our hands, we aren’t just shouting to make a loud noise, or singing for people to hear the melodious ambiance of our angelic voices.
• What happens when we do all of these things is we begin to stir our own spirit, and in so doing we are creating an ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH
• Then this entire ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH begins to arise in the entire congregation
Not only does an atmosphere of Faith happen before we get to church and while we are AT church, but…
# 3 – Creating An ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH means taking Something with us when we leave.
• One of the greatest tragedies of the church today is our silence
• God can move in a mighty way, people can be saved, healed, delivered, set-free from drugs, oppression, you name it…then we leave from the house of God and remain silent until next Sunday
• But sharing what happened with others will create an ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH and a certain expectancy.
• Then we can start inviting people, not to our church, but to experience our God
• In Luke Ch. 8 Jesus cast demons out of a man
• In verse 38 we read the man wanted to stay with Jesus
• but Jesus told him in verse 39, NO, return home and tell how much God has done for you
• so the Bible says he “told all over town how much Jesus had done for him”
I don’t know about you, but I want everyone to have this “ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH”
Grace You Need:
Actual grace is a temporary supernatural aid from God (2 Corinthians 12:9). It enlightens the human mind and strengthens the will (2 Timothy 2:1; Hebrews 13:9) enabling us to carry out a specific good work according to the Divine Will (Ephesians 2:10).
6 Types of Grace.
The average person speaks about 16,000 words per day. That's 112,000 words in a week, and nearly 6 million words a year. That's a lot of talking!
If you were to scan the entire human vocabulary for the most beautiful word in the universe, what word would you choose? Some might choose love, and I won't disagree.
But if you know me, you know the word I'm going to choose - GRACE.
GRACE
You need it. You can’t live without it, but you can’t purchase it and you can’t earn it. It only ever comes by means of a gift, and when you receive it, you immediately realize how much you needed it all along, and you wonder how you could’ve lived so long without it.
In a fallen world, populated by selfish, lost, fearful, and rebellious people, it’s the one thing that everyone needs. And you can only give it to someone else when you have first been given it yourself, because you can't give away that which you don't have.
You see, God’s grace is the most powerful force in the universe, so I would have to argue that it's the most beautiful word in the universe. It reaches you where you are and takes you where God wants you to be. It has the power to do something that nothing else can do: transform you at the causal core of who you are as a human being - your heart.
OVERUSED & UNDER-DEFINED
Grace, however, is also one of the most overused words in the church. I'm afraid that we use all these theologically beautiful words without knowing what we're saying.
So you may be thinking “Okay, I get your definition that grace is the freely-given love, forgiveness, acceptance and help of God. I get that there's nothing I could ever do to earn it, but I’m not sure I understand what grace looks like.”
Today I want to write about 6 different types of grace. I don't believe that these are the only variations of grace, but for the sake of this sermon, I'm only going to focus on these six.
1. FORGIVENESS
There’s the grace of forgiveness. We all do wrong - the Bible calls that sin - and that leaves us guilty. Guilty people need to be condemned and punished unless they're forgiven and declared guilt-free.
Jesus Christ went to the Cross to carry our sin and to bear our punishment so we could experience complete forgiveness. In Jesus Christ, we're forgiven for everything we’ve ever done in the past, everything we now do in the present, and everything we'll ever do in the future.
2. ACCEPTANCE
God not only forgives us through grace, but He welcomes us into relationship with Him. He invites us into His family. He adopts us as His children, and because of that, we now have this Father-child relationship with Him where we can come to Him.
We can sit on His lap and bring our needs, concerns, and failures to Him, and He responds as a loving and kind Father. Sin once separated us from God; by grace, we now have acceptance.
3. PRESENCE
Like acceptance, the grace of God's presence means that our Father is not distant. In fact, God is present with us wherever we are, whomever we're with, and whatever we're doing.
The Bible tells us that God, in His grace, has made us the place where He dwells. It wasn’t enough for God to forgive us - He literally unzipped us and got inside us by His Holy Spirit, and so He is with us all the time.
4. ENABLEMENT
I wrote in the beginning of the sermon that grace reaches us where we are and takes us where God wants us to be. You see, God's not simply content to give us salvation and then leave us alone until eternity. Rather, He wants us to become more like His Son and work for the furtherance of His Kingdom right here, right now.
But remaining sin leaves us lame and weak and unable. God's grace intervenes to give us power and strength. It gives us the ability to do what we're called to do but what we could never do on our own.
5. FREEDOM
God’s grace also delivers. Sin turns us into addicts - we're slaves of sin, but God’s grace breaks that bondage. Grace gives us the power to say “No!” and turn in a much better direction.
6. COMPLETION
Finally, God’s grace is the grace of completion. There will be a day when you and I will be fully restored to who we were meant to be. There will be no more sin; there will be no more struggle. Everything will be restored, and we will worship in the presence of this amazing God of grace.
WHERE DO I FIND GRACE?
It's helpful to know what grace looks like and what it does, but if you don't know how to access it, you'll be left feeling discouraged. So very quickly, to finish this sermon, I want to give you two things to consider:
1. Your greatest problem in life exists inside you, not outside you. If you convince yourself that your problem is in your relationships, your location, or your situation, you'll quit seeking grace and you'll try to find an easy way out. But if you humbly admit that you need help, you'll become excited about the different variations of grace that God provides.
2. Stand under the common fountains of grace. By this, I mean pursue resources of grace - attend your worship service, join a Bible study or small group, make time for personal prayer and devotions, and seek counsel from older and more mature Christians. If you want to get wet with the grace of God, stand under a fountain and trust that the Lord will send the water!
A New Way to A New You!
(2 Corinthians 5:14-21)
Intro:
I am amazed at one of God’s display of grace in nature. There is one activity that I believe is God’s mini motion picture of a sinner becoming a saint. Of a pagan truing into a preacher.
That one thing is the transformation of a caterpillar into a gorgeous butterfly.
A Caterpillar a prickly. Lazy self-centered bug. Working hard to go no where.
Little boys love to quash with their new height-tech tennis shoes
Little girls run away with a irritating shriek to their voice.
But in a grace moment , In some pre-ordained time. Something happens
A thick film covers the caterpillar and entombs itself in its own flesh.
A chemical reaction changes their very atomic make-up of the creature.
This is known as the Chrysalis period..
And soon the emerging butterfly can be seen within and it spreads it s wings and
Begins to kick off its’ old life and begin it’s new one.
This life cycles is known as a metamorphism.
In our text today the Apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthians and telling them that they went through a spiritual metamorphism.
The key verse in this passage is 2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore is anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, and the old has gone the new has come.”
Paul is saying that in the life cycle of a sinner saved by grace. God’s works the miracle of a spiritual metamorphism. Once we were useless caterpillars, and in a instant the Holy spirit comes into the cocoon of our hearts and begins a spiritual metamorphism and the end result is a gorgeous work of God that can fly to new heights and have limitless potential in changing its surroundings.
I would like to give you 3 encouragements from 2 Corinthians about what God can do with our lives…
As we talk together I want you to be asking yourself at what stage in the life cycles are you in?
Caterpillar living for yourself, or are u slowly letting God come into the dirty parts of your life and begin to do a new work within you.
Or are you a full-blown beautiful bitterly designed to fly to new heights……...
This spiritual metamorphism changes us in at least three ways
Lets read the first one
The first change that we receive a
1.) NEW Destiny (a new life ).
Look at verse 14-15 with me
Paul is saying that the new creation the new Christian does not live any longer for themselves. They live for Jesus who dies for them.
In my research on the metamorphism of a butterfly. I learned that the caterpillar is no help to those around. It does not eat other pests it only drinks sap from trees and plants. It lives a self-centered life.
As Christian will no longer live to polish our portfolios. We no longer live to make us look good.. Our new lives are to make Him look good.
In fact Paul says that in Galatians we don’t’ even live any longer.
Galatians 2:20. Paul later says,” nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
We have put out a for sale sign to Jesus Christ as our only buyer. And the deal is closed.
The sale is final. We cannot ask for the home back. We have a new home-owner.
You know people may look at us and think there’s not much hope--no money, no name, very poor prospects.
But Jesus comes along and sees a diamond in the rough. He sees possibilities for all who will submit to Him. Christ saw the potential of the flawed life of Levi the tax collector, and Peter, the fisherman.
Jesus believed people could change.
He looked at Levi and saw an apostle. He looked at the tax collector and saw the author of the first Gospel. And thanks be to God that He sees in us what no one else sees.
He can take our flawed lives and make something meaningful and useful of them.
Jesus gives us a brand new life.
Not a redecorated life. Not a partially pre-owned Car.,
He gives a new life hot off the pres, straight out of the factory. Right off the rack.
The caterpillar once would look at a large boulder as block in the road. And would either have to turn around or walk around it.
In his new life, as a Butterfly he looks at the boulder or the rock as a nice landing pad to get a better view of where he wants to go next in life. He can now fly over and beyond his old obstacles.
God wants you to fly. Fly from yesterday’s failure and tomorrows fears. Fly!
The second thing this spiritual metamorphism gives you is
2.) A New Identity (new beginning)
Look at verses16----17,
and now look at 21 with me.
Christ became sin for us that we may become perfect in front of God.
We take on a new identity.
Paul writes in Eph 2:10 “ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good work which God prepared in advance for us to do!
The birds that once ate the caterpillar don’t even recognize the bitterly that shares the friendly skies with them.
The caterpillar has a new identify. A new beginning. A fresh start.
If you are a sinner saved by grace. You also have a new identify.
You can claim the promises of God’s word as your own.
Many of you may not feel like you look much like Christ.. Because the film of your old life is still laying across your life style. And daily habits.
But take heart.
Right before or prior to when the butterfly will emerge, the chrysalis cocoon becomes transparent so that the butterfly cane seen within….AND it does not matter that you see your wings,, but rather God sass the potential lying beneath the surface
Because I was left behind by my parents as an orphan at the age of 3 years, it caused a damage to my identity.
Thoughts flooded my heart like. Not why was I an orphan but why was I given up because no one wanted me?
Why didn’t anybody love me enough to keep me? Why doesn’t anybody want me?
Who am I? Where did I come from? Why was I born?
But when Jesus came into my heart he began a spiritual transformation?
And he became orphaned from God that I may become God’s son
Jesus told me to open this book and find my new identify in him
Now I know who I am.
I have a new Identity.. I am a new person. I have a new name written in God’ book of life.
The third thing we get in this marvelous metamorphism is
3.) A New ETERNITY (new purpose)
Look at verses18-20 with me
Paul is saying that GOD has a new purpose for our life and this new meaning hinges on every purpose of eternity.
Turn back with me to verse 5
Paul has just been talking about in the previous verse how are bodies are groaning to go to heaven. How we where created to live in heaven.
And he say this look at verse 5
This is our new purpose. Our new purpose is to set eternity in the hearts of other people.
We all have the ministry of reconciling this rebellious world to a loving God that never left us in the first place.
It was we who left. It was us that forsake our heavenly father. We went our own ways.
We fulfilled the desires of our flesh…. We broke the heart of God……
But now, we have the ministry of telling others about eternity.. And the message that God won’t hold their sins against them...
God is calling his children home…. He wants you home…….
Because of Jesus, instead of hanging around pool halls getting drunk, I now hang around with Christians getting filled with the Word of God.
Instead of hanging around nightclubs, I now hang around hospitals, holding the hands and praying with those who are sick & dying.
Jesus freed me from a life of sin and provided me with a life of purpose and meaning.
Because of Jesus, I was able to marry a beautiful woman and five gorgeous kids. I didn’t deserve a family like that, but God blessed me with them anyway.
If you are living your life without joy, meaning and purpose, then Jesus can change that. He came to give you life, and have it abundantly.
Conclusion: I don’t know if you have noticed nay now but your three points make acronym. D. I.E. That is the irony of becoming a new creation. In order to live. I mean really live you first must die.
You must die to your old habit.. die to your old ways. Die to your old life
So God can scrape up the ashes of your own destruction and breathe his spirit once again into the nostrils of your soul so can be born again…..
A Place of Escape
The Cave of Adullam (Justice of the People)
Text: I Samuel 22:1-2
(Verse 2) Every one that was
1) In Distress
2) In Debt
3) Discontented
400 men
Adullam means ‘refuge.’ This was a city conquered by Joshua in Joshua chapter 12. It was fortified by rehoboam in II Chronicles 11. It is referred to as the symbols of Israel’s glory in Micah.
It was a city in Canaan that David escaped to in order to hide from King Saul as well as the Philistines. This cave served as the secret headquarters for David and his 400+ men.
The only access to this cave is through a circular opening some seven feet high. Inside there is a narrow, low passage leading to a small cave, from which a winding passage leads to a large room about five-thousand feet in dimensions. Narrow passages branch out and lead to other large rooms, some of which are on lower levels. There is enough room, some say, for accommodating nearly 1000 men at one time.
Have you ever found yourself in distress? How about in debt? Or, have you ever felt discontented? You, too have a place of refuge to run into for safety!
Proverbs 18:10 declares, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”
David cried out, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert [secret/undercover] of thy wings”. (Psalm 61:2-4)
Look with me at Psalm 27:1-6
David also wrote: “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away. And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing. The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.” (Psalm 64:1-10)
What About Distress?
Romans 8:35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
What About Debt?
Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
What About Discontent?
Discontented means ‘bitter/vexed’
Luke 6:17-19 says, “And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.”
If you are in distress, remember the Love of Christ!
If you are in debt, remember the Supply of Christ!
If you are feeling discontent, remember the Healing Touch of Christ!
David’s place of refuge, his place of escape was Adullam it was also in the name of the Lord. Our place of escape is also in the name of the Lord.
Paul wrote: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (Corinthians 10:13)
Giving up Your Anxious Days
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
The Greek understanding of anxiety was to have a divided mind or to have anxious interest. The concept of a divided mind is to lose focus or to attempt to focus on too many things
Webster defines anxiety as a painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind usually over an anticipated or impending situation or a strong fearful concern
The average person’s anxiety is about…
40% on things that will never happen
30% on things that have happened in the past and cannot be changed
12% on criticism of others that are usually untrue
8% on real problems that will have to be faced
The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety - George Mueller
Worry pulls tomorrow’s clouds over today’s sunshine – Charles R. S
Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles
Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.
Anxiety does nothing of benefit for our lives and in fact it is detrimental to our lives. Anxiety steals our joy. Anxiety steals our contentment. Anxiety steals our confidence. Anxiety steals our ability to trust God
Do you really trust God when life gets anxious?
Peter says to cast all of our anxiety on God. Literally this means that we are to throw every care and every concern that we have to God. You can throw it all to God because He is always ready to receive.
Why should we throw our anxiety to God?
God cared enough about you to send Jesus to earth, sacrifice Jesus on the cross for your sins and then raise Him to new life from the tomb to defeat death. If He cares this much, how can we think that our daily lives are without His care as well? God is worthy of our trust; from the big areas of our lives down to the smallest aspects of our daily routine. God is able to take care of every single aspect of life and we still trust ourselves more than we trust Him.
Do you really trust God when life gets anxious?
LIFE CHALLENGES
TEXT: “And the Lord was with Joseph” [Genesis 39:2]
GENESIS 39:1-23
In my Christian life I have noticed that God doesn’t waste anything? Everything happens in our lives for a reason, and a great part of that reason is to help us grow in our faith, especially when we are baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. It has been said that life has to be lived in a forward motion; but that can only be understood by looking back.
This demands that we trust in the loving purposes of a sovereign God. We must trust that He is in control - especially when life seems to be out of control for He says: "I know the plans I have for you; plans for your welfare and not for evil" (Jeremiah 29:11)
Such was the life of the Old Testament character Joseph. His life was filled with dark, difficult experiences - yet the final outcome was amazing! He was determined to overcome the challenges of life, by the auction of God. Joseph’s life teaches us much about how to deal with our entangled lives. His example can help prepare us as we face the issues of life
God knew every detail about Joseph’s life, and He knows every detail about my and your life. He knows the good things, and He knows the ugly things. He knows your genuineness as a Christian or otherwise
Look at Joseph. God put a dream in his heart as a youth; yet it was fulfilled in his late thirties. In these days of prosperity preaching, many young people are expecting too much to happen too soon. This has led many of them to what Paul calls: “they erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10b)
But seeing your purpose and destination from afar does not mean you will immediately possess it. There are seasons of preliminary preparation. Seasons are processing times and not finishing times for “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22]
Preparation is that period when you are still watering your dreams and visions with the tears of prayers: "Those that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126:5). “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (Habakkuk 2:3)”
In agriculture, there is a season for planting, another for waiting and a time for harvesting. You cannot expect a seed to produce its harvest outside its time and season. When a foundation is laid, the height of the building is already determined, so it is important for us to lay proper and solid foundation that can carry the weight of the blessings to come. Very often we are not ready for the blessings God has for us so that when they come, we do not see them and they pass over
The fact that God has shown you what a great future you have is good, but do not frustrate your own future by launching out when you should be going through your waiting and preparatory season. When you are flying in an aeroplane, you notice that before the take-off the engine must reach its full velocity or else it will crash
You have to understand your seasons of change, because good planning takes place during those times. In general, we are not patient. We want to grab what we perceive in our spirit quickly.
Our waiting must satisfy three basic requirements:
· You must physically wait for “they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). Such waiting shall cause you to
* Walk without fainting
* Run and not be weary
* Soar (fly) like the eagle
· You must wait in expectation – that the vision is yet for an appointed time – you know that GOD’S TIME IS THE BEST
· You must wait like a “waiter” in a restaurant, providing service to God and mankind
God obviously has a plan for your life and if you listen to Him and allow His Spirit, you will arrive at His purpose for your life for He says: "I know the plans I have for you; plans for your welfare and not for evil; to give you a future and a hope"(Jeremiah 29:11)
Following God’s plan and season does not necessarily take away the pain. However, it guarantees the continuous presence of the Lord. When Jesus told His disciples it was time to cross over the Galilee Sea, He did not tell them of the storm ahead, neither did it influence His understanding of where He was going. Moreover, in Habakkuk 3:17-19 we are encouraged that in spite of the frustrations, disappointments and disillusionments in life, we should “rejoice in the Lord” because He will cause you “to walk upon high places”
It does not matter how hard the experience is, or how long we have been in our present location, situation and circumstances, we can still move on. Most of the time we stay too long in our “comfort zones” and do not “cross over” due to the perceived dangers on our way thereby losing the potential benefits at the other side
Let us examine the travail of Joseph. He was despised, hated and resented by his own kin and kith – blood relations, his own brothers. He was de-robed (of his coat of many colours - which was symbolic of his vision in life). The coat was a symbol of resentment. There are people who will attempt to de-robe you; that is take away your source of joy; attack your confidence, and belittle your testimony. Remember that as long as the dream remains and you continue to run with it, the purpose for your life will be accomplished
The nuclear or extended family can be a breeding ground for hatred, and the effects can be destructive indeed. Because of their hatred of him, Joseph’s own brothers threw him into the pit to remove him from their sight. The height, breadth, width and depth of your vision will determine the intensity of your pit experience. The pit of your life is an epitome of darkness, disgust, deepness and destruction
When your enemies could not keep you in the pit, they will sell you to others most especially strangers. The gossips, undermining and character assassinations will be employed vehemently with a view to destroy your life. Joseph was also sold into slavery. See what your own kith and kin can do to you! Joseph had to be prepared for the responsibility of leadership, and that preparation would come as he learned the role of a servant
He faced temptation from the wife of his master, Potiphar. Without dispute, Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. The temptation:
· Came from a source he never expected
· Repeated itself
· Came at a time of great opportunity when there was no one in the house
· Seemed to be to his advantage
He was falsely accused for his refusal to compromise. He was character-assassinated. People with lowest self-image tend to assassinate the character of those above them. Your enemies see in you a great future and will do everything to discourage and frustrate you. But remember that in all these, with Christ in your vessel, you “will smile at the storm” of life
Joseph refused the advances of the woman because of a powerful set of convictions which were not learned from his father, Jacob, nor from his hate-filled brothers, nor in the king’s palace in Egypt. These convictions were learned in the presence of God
In the Christian life, most of us would want always to enjoy the mountain experience. “Lord, it is good for us to be here; . . . let us make here three tabernacles . . . (Matthew 17:4). You do not move from one mountain to the other without going through the valleys. His dream of "ruling the world" was seemingly shattered. There are many in prisons and confinements who have given up hope of reaching the top because they see themselves stigmatized by society as a result of the imprisonment
Our God would take the evil of men in your life and use it for your good and for His glory. The outworking of God’s purpose for all of our lives is seen in "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28)
Joseph went through all these seven humiliating experiences because of the dreams he had: "A tea bag will not release its flavour until it goes through hot water"
How can you change your location from friends, families, foes and folks who have written you off. When they say you can never reach your goal, God has a message for them: He makes all things beautiful for you in His own time. How did Joseph end up in the palace?
Joseph discovered his destiny – his current location was not a destination – it was part of the journey of life. There is a chosen destiny for every man who walks on this planet. We can find it, follow it, and fulfill it by God’s power. A vision or a dream at the back of your mind will remain dormant until it is practicalised: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that love it shall eat If you say you are broke, you become broke. If you say you are sick, you become sick. When you begin to practicalise your God-given vision, faith will be energized in you and others will begin to agree with you and confess it with you.
Joseph was diligent: "And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man - and his master saw that the Lord was with him" (Genesis 39:1-4). Joseph became a slave; that was not his dream job, but for the moment his work. "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep" (Proverbs 6:10)
It is important that you become diligent in that which your hands have found to do. Joseph prospered in slavery. The house of Potiphar also prospered because of his presence: "and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man"
But these blessings came because of Joseph’s obedience to God, and he was filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. From slavery, Joseph had promotion: "And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand" (Genesis 39:5,6)
Move from where you are to where God wants to take you. God looked at the children of Israel; because they had miracles on Mount Horeb where God spoke to them through fire; they decided not to continue on the journey. They built a monument around yesterday’s miracle. They did not want to move on to a new dimension of experience. God told them: "Israel, you have dwelt too long on this mountain, move on"(Deuteronomy 1:6)
Some of us have dwelt too long on our small miracles. Yet you have the capacity to reach the highest heights, to be the brightest and best. But you may not reach out to your maximum potential because "good" is the enemy of "best". You may find yourself even thanking God, because no one in your family had reached where you are. Is your family your measuring rod or the word of God?
Paul admonishes the people of Corinth as: “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves; but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12). In effect, Paul is saying that the moment we want to compare yourself with another, we are not wise. WISE UP by not making comparisons in life. I prefer to challenge myself all the time, that is, compare my yesterdays with my todays and see whether there has been progress in my personal life, be it physical, material, emotional or spiritual
God told the children of Israel to go forward. Jesus also told His disciples: "…let us pass over unto the other side" (Mark 4:35). The disciples were enjoying the miracles that Jesus had done. Just when they were caught up by the miracles, Jesus announced, "let us cross over"
There was a sea between where they were and where God wanted them to be. There will be waves, there will be seas; there will be wind. Don’t let the storms of life cause you say: "Well, I’m not crossing over". We all need a new anointing to cross over the barriers in our lives
There may be some seas. It may be the sea of an impossible boss. The sea may be a tottering marital life, a physical ailment, a business loss, a recalcitrant child, or examination failings. It may also be the sea of a person who lacks understanding of where you are going. Don’t let that sea stop you. The word of God admonishes us: "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again" (Proverbs 24:16). Again Micah 7:8 confirms this: "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me".
There’s need for change. Change is necessary because we are often tempted to celebrate the victory of the past. We could sit down with the past victory and miss the victory of the hour. God is not busy worrying about how you will pay your rent. He has supplied the means. All you need is to know how to get it - by faith. 1 John 5:4 confirms this: “For whatever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”
When you are settled or satisfied with where you are, you will not realise that there is something beyond. You need to change because time and tide wait for no man. It is only God who does not change. A lot of us are caught in the time zone of change but we refuse to change. That is the reason why we find ourselves behind, especially those of us who are on this part of the world
Why should we change? Because only a person who hungers for a higher level can reach it. We now live at an information age. New technologies are coming forth. If you don’t move with the change, you will be obsolete.
It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before. I want you to make up your mind and say: "I’m making a change; my attitude will change, the way I pray will change, my study of God’s word will change"
During your period of waiting, nobody will see you. Nobody knows your tears, and nobody sees the pain. Look at Jabez (I Chronicles 4:9,10). He asked God to bless him, enlarge his coast and territory and God answered him
Many times, it takes years of failures and setbacks to become an "overnight success". Abraham Lincoln had two failed businesses, one nervous breakdown, endured the death of his sweetheart, and was defeated for public office no less than 10 times over the space of almost 30 years. Then, incredibly, he was elected President of the United States.
Don’t allow repeated reversals, apparent failures, and personal tragedies defeat your vision for the future. These should rather strengthen your character and commitment. The light of day will finally enter your prison. The time for which God has prepared you will soon arrive
There is a great spiritual hunger today and into this vacuum of spiritual truth come cultists, false teachers, and false spiritual leaders who find that people’s hunger makes them easy prey for ear-tickling deception
The answers to our problems must be sought from God’s revealed truth. The empty answers of false teachers are void of the necessary power to address true spiritual needs or answer the burning spiritual questions of the human heart. Until we are willing to accept the authority of God’s truth in our lives, we will not have the answers we need for the things that trouble our hearts and minds
Put away the strange gods in your life. When you are so weak spiritually you do not have a clear-cut witness for God. Our testimony will also be weak before the world if we are not in fellowship with God. Get closer to your God and you will always find Him even in times of turmoil
It is not over until you win. Let us look at what Job has to tell us in Job 14:7: “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease”. Very comforting words for those who have lost hope in life. Wait until you hear this: “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion” (Ecclesiastes 9:4)
Change your garments of self-righteousness if you want to succeed in your vision for life. "When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7)
What is beyond human reason is not beyond the all-knowing God. Your dream will be confirmed and will be fulfilled because God is God. He is in control and will do what He says
Yes, the One who is the beginning and the end of all things, God Himself, announces that He is making everything new. Change is coming your way. You must be ready for it! For “Behold the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them” (Isaiah 42:9)
When you seek God’s kingdom, you enjoy the Lord, and you can enjoy whatever work and wealth He gives you as fringe benefits
REMEMBER THAT THE LORD WHO WAS WITH JOSEPH IS ALSO WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES, IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES AND SITUATIONS. THAT IS THE MORE REASON WHY YOU NEED TO STAY CLOSE TO HIM AT ALL TIMES. HE WILL NEVER FAIL YOU
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" [Isaiah 43:2]
I prophesy these promises of God on your life, even as you read these lines:
"Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee" [Genesis 27:28-29]
AMEN & AMEN - LET IT BE
HEARING GOD’S VOICE
Scriptures: JOHN 10:1-27
Believers often ask, "What is God’s will for me?"
What do we actually mean when we say we want to know the will of God?
It means we want to know His plan for our lives. We want His guidance in specific decisions so we can make wise choices. We desire His direction in the circumstances of life.
The question we should be asking is, "How can I know the voice of God?" Knowing the voice of God results in finding the will of God. God wants you to know His will:
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4) (This is what we’re to live by!)
The word "proceedeth" speaks of a continuing function. It means something that happened in the past, is happening in the present, and will continue in the future. God speaks to communicate His will to mankind. This is why it is important to know the voice of God.
An article by an unknown author helps us get something out of any sermon. The writer said, "At least one time in every sermon God breaks through the words of the preacher and speaks directly to the people. It may be in a single sentence or in just one phrase. We can well afford to listen to the entire discourse with care, lest we miss that one illuminated and searching sentence in which God speaks to us--a sentence that brings conviction, penitence, hope, strength, or renewed faith! So many of us miss that one special word from God because we are comparing the preacher’s manner with that of some other preacher we have heard recently. From now on, just listen intently for that one portion God intends to be applied specifically to your heart!"
There are two Greek words translated as "word" in the Bible. The Greek words are "logos" and "rhema".
"Logos" refers to "an expression (articulation)of thought" It’s more than the mear name of an object but it is the embodiment of a concept, idea or thought.
Jesus who is called the Word of God, - the greatest expression of God which is Jesus – see John 1:1, 14; Hebrews 1:1-3).
"Rhema" refers to the personal, living or life-giving Word of God.
The Bible says in Jonah 1:1, "Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying," In essence, it is saying the word of the Lord happen unto Jonah- it is an event.
John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Acts 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the words.
The Jews heard his audible voice but not the voice of God. Many want to hear a sound, the audible voice of God, but God wants you to hear his voice. The rhema - a personal word to you!
MANY VOICES
The Bible reveals that there are many voices in the world clamoring for attention:
There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. (I Corinthians l4:l0)
What are these voices in the world?
THE VOICE OF MAN:
The voice of man is easy to recognize. It is the audible voice of another human being:
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)
Sometimes the voice of man may give wise advice, but anytime the voice of man conflicts with the voice of God, you must obey God.
THE VOICE OF SATAN:
The voice of Satan was first heard by man when he spoke to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:l,4,5). Satan’s voice lies, deceives, and always attempts to lead man into sin away from God. You can easily recognize this when you read of the temptation of Jesus by Satan in Matthew 4: l-l3. You can read of the type of conversations Satan has with God in Job l:7-l2 and 2:l-6.
Evil spirits (demons of Satan) also have voices:
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them... (Acts 8:7)
And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. (Luke 4:33-34)
THE VOICE OF SELF:
The voice of self is man talking to himself. You can read examples of this in Luke l6:3 and l8:4 and in Jonah 4:8 where the prophet wished in himself to die. The Bible warns concerning this voice of self:
O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. (Jeremiah l0:23)
THE VOICE OF GOD:
Jesus said believers could know the voice of God and distinguish it from "strange" voices that give wrong guidance: (See John 10:3-5)
Believers are compared to sheep. It is the characteristic of sheep not to know where they are going. They must be led. Jesus said He was the shepherd or leader of the sheep. He said His sheep would know His voice and follow Him instead of the "strange" voices of man, self, or Satan.
I will hear what God the Lord will speak... (Psalms 85:8)
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
A man was having difficulty communicating with his wife and concluded that she was becoming hard of hearing. So he decided to conduct a test without her knowing about it.
One evening he sat in a chair on the far side of the room. Her back was to him and she could not see him. Very quietly he whispered, "Can you hear me?" There was no response.
Moving a little closer, he asked again, "Can you hear me now?" Still no reply. Quietly he edged closer and whispered the same words, but still no answer.
Finally, he moved right in behind her chair and said, Can you hear me now?" To his surprise and chagrin, she responded with irritation in her voice, "For the fourth time, yes!" The hearing problem may not be with God not speaking but with us not listening!
Let’s consider three important aspects of hearing God’s voice:
I. THE PREREQUISITES TO HEARING HIS VOICE
There were some things different between those who heard the voice of God and those who didn’t (didn’t understand, perceive or comprehend it) in this passage. (10:6, 24-27)
What’s required for the best conditions to really hear the voice of God? What makes His voice relevant (his voice - a strangers voice doesn’t mean anything to me because it is not relevant) to me?
A. Salvation 10:3-4; 26 "ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep"
John 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear [them] not, because ye are not of God.
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered; Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
B. Receptivity 10:1 "Verily, verily, I say unto you" 10:4 "the sheep follow him"
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
John 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word.
Spiros Zodhiates says, They were listening to what he had to say, but they were not capable of understanding because they did to want to understand. Those who will not give room in their hearts to His truth will not understand His speech, utterance, the
outward form of His language which His Word assumes.
Matthew 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith), Today if ye will hear His voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness...
While it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation... (Hebrews 3:7, l5)
C. Faith 10:3 "the sheep hear his voice" 10:27 "My sheep hear my voice"
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].
Romans 10:17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema) of God.
D. Attentiveness (SEE I Samuel 3:1-11)
Exodus 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I.
E. Discernment
John 12:28-29 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, [saying], I have both glorified [it], and will glorify [it] again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard [it], said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
1 Kings 19:11-13 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; [but] the LORD [was] not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; [but] the LORD [was] not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; [but] the LORD [was] not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was [so], when Elijah heard [it], that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, [there came] a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
II. THE PURPOSE IN HEARING HIS VOICE
A. Communion 10:3 "he calleth his own sheep by name"
Exodus 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
B. Comprehension 10:3, 27 "hear his voice"
"Hear" to perceive, to understand, perceive the sense of what is said.
1. His Presence 10:4 "He goeth before them"
2. His Holiness 10:10-11 "I am the good shepherd"
3. His Love 10:11 "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep"
John 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare [it]: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
4. His Will 10:3, 7 "leadeth them out", "I am the door of the sheep"
5. His Sovereignty 10:17-18 "I have power to take it again"
6. His Faithfulness 10:29 "no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand"
C. Compliance 10:4, 27 "the sheep follow him"
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear John 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. Romans 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
III. THE PROVISIONS FOR HEARING HIS VOICE 10:16 "they shall hear my voice"
GOD SPOKE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
A. In the Old Testament God spoke at many times and in a variety of ways.
1. Angels -- Gen. 16
2. Visions -- Gen. 15
3. Dreams -- Gen 28
4. The use of the Urim and Thummim -- Exd. 28
5. In symbolic actions -- Jerm. 18
6. A gentle whisper – 1 King 19
7. Miraculous signs -- Exd. 8
8. A burning bush -- Exd. 3
9. A donkey -- Num. 22
10. A cloud and a pillar of fire -- Num. 9
B. Today
1. Jesus (The Holy Spirit)
Hebrews 1:1-3, II Timothy 3:16
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
2. The Bible
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
In essence, the Bible is God breathed into existence
2 Peter 1:19-21 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.
Over Our Head, Under Jesus' Foot
John 6:16-6:21
1. storms come in deep waters!
A Boy Scout Troop I know (Incidentally this is Scout Sunday)… every time they goes camping… it rains. Not only rains, but pours. One time, it was raining so hard they simply stayed in their tents as much as possible. They were camping near the banks of a normally dry stream. The Camp Director finally came and asked them to pack up and move to the main building. Thirty minutes after moving a wall of water swept through what had been their campsite. What happens when storms arise?
- They bring fear,
- panic may set in
- dark clouds cause depression
- with the storm may come doubt
What does the Scripture tell us the disciples experienced? Look at the words the scripture uses to describe their experience
- darkness
- strong winds
- the waters grew rough!
Storms do come up in our daily lives: Serious illnesses; accidents; catastrophes; home foreclosures; drops in business; divorces; diseases; death; Unemployment; lost savings; loneliness (to name only a few).
2. The Disciples kept rowing!
So what do we do when the current gets swift? What do we do when the boat is swamping? When the wind is blowing; when the deck is shaking? How do we weather the storms of Life? What did the disciples do? They kept “rowing”. In fact they rowed 3-3 ½ miles. It signifies a long distance in a storm. They didn't just say, "Look theirs a beach" and they rowed over to it and got out! No! When the storm of life came, they kept rowing! And rowing! And rowing! Rowing even against the odds!
So what do we do? We keep rowing! Keep moving forward! Keep trying! Stay the course!
3. The Disciples also "stayed" in the boat!
The didn't jump to false conclusions! Didn't let the fear overcome them to the point of wanting to abandon ship.
Sometimes in the storms of life we want to give up; throw in the towel; cash in the chips; abandon the ship! This is not the example the disciples set for us, but rather, they stayed the course and remained in the boat surrounded by their friends. So too we must maintain our faith, stay in the church, refuse to give up!
4. Jesus calms our fears: What is over our heads is under Jesus feet.
Something else happens in this story! Jesus appears! He calms their fears and when he steps into the boat they immediately were on the shore. Think about some great Bible stories:
- You can have five loaves, and two fish… then add Jesus, it feeds 5,000
- A woman is threatened to be stoned for adultery… add Jesus, she goes away forgiven
- Cleopas and his friend were grieving on the road to Emmaus… add Jesus, their eyes were open in the breaking of the bread
- Zacharias, was a sinner, a tax collector, not well liked… Add Jesus as a dinner guest, he began to repay everything he ever wrongfully took
- Jesus asleep in the boat, a storm arises, winds and wave are beating the boat about… wake Jesus up, He rebukes the storm and calms the seas.
I had a thought about this story. Occasionally I do have an original thought (or at least I think I do). Let’s look at what this story represents. It is a normal day. They were heading out across the lake. The disciples “we’re in the boat” so to speak. And then a storm arises. Darkness. Winds come up. Waves toss the boat about.
It is a story that represents life! Going about our daily business and life happens! Storm comes up. But what is our greatest fear? Being capsized and thrown into the turbulent waters. Watch one episode of “Deadliest Catch” in Alaska’s Bearing Sea and you’ll know the dangers of turbulent waters. A leg trapped in a crab pot line will pull you under. The freezing cold water can cause a heart attack instantly.
Even if that doesn’t happen hypothermia starts setting in and survivability is like 3 ½ minutes.
But even being dumped from a boat in turbulent warm water, where our feet can’t touch the bottom and the water is over our head is fearful! That is the point of this story, the storm and the water is over our head.
But, what is over our head, is under Jesus’ foot! Jesus walks on the water! He is in control of it! We need not fear the storms, add Jesus, give Him control!
- Marriage in trouble, over your head, add Jesus and let Him take it under foot!
- Facing surgery or in the midst of illness, swirling waters over your head, let Jesus walk on the water and calm your storm.
- Life out of control, winds beating you about the boat, invite Jesus to take it all under foot
I'm going to invite you this morning to join me in prayer. Realize the storm that you are in right now, and as we pray, remember that what is over your head, is under Jesus' foot!
You Are God's Workmanship.
When I was a young believer, I was greatly impressed by a certain old man in our church. In my early 20’s, I didn’t have a whole lot of interaction with elderly people until I came to Christ and started going to church. This old man was a delightful man whose wife was terminally ill when he first started coming to church and died shortly thereafter. As a brand new believer, I was impressed with how his faith carried him through. He mourned the loss of his wife, but never without simultaneously expressing his confidence in the Lord’s promise to take her into paradise. It was a new and refreshing perspective for me.
He used to wear a shirt that said "PBPWMGINFWMY". Now a shirt with that jumbled mess of letters begs the question…"What does it mean?" this was delighted to tell us proud, young, go-getters in his deep, softening muffled voice, "It means, please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet." I knew then that if God wasn’t finished with this old man, he had a lot of work yet to do with me.
I’ve always read Ephesians 2:10 in the shadow of that early encounter with that old man. God is continuously working on us, bringing us up in maturity, shaping our hearts, and growing our faith. We see that pointed out in Samuel, who "continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men." (1 Samuel 2:26) And we hear it in the exhortation of Peter, who concluded, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18) The writer to the Hebrews, likewise, commands, "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…" (Hebrews 6:1)
These are the examples and commands that demand that we grow and develop in our faith. As Simpson wrote, "Men and women who do not press on in their Christian experience to gain the fullness of their inheritance in Him will often become cold and formal."
That being said, I don’t believe as I once did that this ongoing work of God is what is meant by Paul when he declares, "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10) God’s workmanship is not the ongoing process of what God is doing in you, it is the completed work of what God has done in you. Even though you are, in one sense, called to grow in the grace and knowledge of God, you are in another sense complete. To live on another level, you need to understand that you are God’s finished work.
The word "workmanship" is a term for an end-product. It is finished. Done. Imagine that you went down to a car lot to buy a car and all you saw was the raw metal frame. It had no seats, no dash, no mirrors, no paint, no tires, and no engine. That, my friends, is an unfinished product. That is not what God made of you when he made you new in Christ Jesus. He has blessed you in the heavenly realms. When Jesus rose from the dead, you were raised up to life with him. When Jesus was established on his throne, the promises of God to you were seated, or established with him. If you believe in him, you are completed in him. A masterpiece of life. God’s workmanship. Hallelujah!
To really appreciate this, we have to know what God has made us from. That’s what Paul is getting at in Ephesians 2:1-9.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. (Ephesians 2:1-5)
We once were dead in our transgressions and sins. As Paul puts it, we were objects of wrath, headed for the incinerator. Then God took hold of us through his son Jesus, and made of us something useful. And we’re not just here to take for granted either; we’ve been created in Christ Jesus to do good works, that God prepared in advance for us to do.
We would be best to never forget what we once were. First of all, if we understand this, we gain a greater appreciation and love for God. Second, we learn to conduct ourselves as people who live on another level when we have the humility that truth expresses. How can I be angry at the unreached people of this earth when I too once lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of my sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts? How can a former object of wrath have anything other than compassion for the present objects of wrath?
Yet so much of the time, we are angry.
"Well, I never…"
I’ve got news for you. Yes you did. "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." (Ephesians 2:3) I hope we will keep this in mind as we build bridges of grace and friendship to the unchurched and underchurched people in our world.
If you pay close enough attention, you’ll find that nature still trying to rise up in you on a daily basis.
And here’s the amazing thing: The passion with which you have pursued the cravings of your sinful nature is the force with which God’s justice demands his wrath, or anger, in response. Paul writes, "Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." (Ephesians 2:3).
That word "wrath" is a desire—a violent passion. It implies punishment, just as we presume, but it comes from a passion of God for justice and for his glory. Our sin robs him of his glory, so the same force of passion in our nature that stirs us to sin is at work in God stirring up his wrath toward us when we sin. That is his nature. It’s different than ours.
In Mark 3, Jesus asks a crowd gathered at the synagogue, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" They didn’t answer him. I picture them just sitting there, staring, like someone in a debate whose point has just been blown out of the water. Mark’s description of what happens next is telling of the divine nature of Jesus. "He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored." (Mark 3:4-5)
What we have here is a confrontation of the two natures. Our nature is to sin. The people of the synagogue, who represent us, could only stare off in bewilderment in response to the light of truth Jesus had cast over their religiosity. And he did it with a simple question. To answer would have only proven foolish, and they were much too proud for that. To not answer acknowledged they had gone too far in applying the Scripture. The divine nature, in contrast, is righteous and holy and good. So Jesus, out of his divine nature, looks upon the sin-strong crowd with wrath.
It seems odd, doesn’t it, that Jesus can look upon men with anger and we, meanwhile, are told to put away all bitterness, rage, and anger (the same word as wrath)? But we don’t operate out of a divine nature. We can’t. Only God does and only God can. And he must. He is compelled by his passion for justice.
This idea of wrath is difficult to understand. I met a man who rejected Christianity and attends The Spiritual Enrichment services because he says he cannot believe in a loving God who is a God of wrath. It’s difficult to understand because we cannot understand the concept of wrath apart from our sinful nature. The only wrath we’ve ever experienced has always been tainted with selfish ambition, selfish motives, get-evenism and overkill justice. We don’t know how to balance truth and love.
There might be moments when we might experience a taste of God’s righteous anger. We get a taste of it when someone commits an egregious crime.
Several years ago, the son of a woman I worked with was killed by a gang while minding his own business walking down the street. He was only 14. He was not in any way affiliated with any gang. He was simply the innocent victim of a thrill killing. The mother didn’t know it, but there were people in our office working on that case. The local police department brought in the blade used to kill him, and it was no knife. It was about 14" long and 3" wide with a pointed end and sharp edges on each side. It was some sort of small tribal sword. It still had the boys blood on it to the depth it had been thrust into the boys side—clear to the handle. When that weapon was brought in, every effort was made to keep this grieving mother from setting her eyes on it. The sight of the sword alone would only stir up the passionate anger she was holding inside.
That’s how God’s nature responds to sin. But only God can exercise that wrath perfectly, because only God operates out of a position of absolute righteousness. So God rightly makes sinful man the object of his wrath, while we are rightly commanded to put away all wrath.
Fortunately, "the LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made." (Ps 145:8-9)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Here we were…dead; objects of wrath headed for the incinerator. And God decides to play Junkyard Wars. And we are not simply a work in progress. His first work is complete. He has made us alive--with an emphasis on the past tense—he has made us alive, having raised us up and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms.
What does it mean that he has "seated" us with Christ? Well, simply find where Jesus is sitting and you’ll find the answer to the question. Jesus is seated on his throne. We are sugkathizo, a compound word combining sun, meaning together or a union, with kathizo, which means to seat down. We are seated down together with Christ.
Psalm 1 is also helpful in understanding what it means to be seated with Christ.
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Ps 1:1-2)
What you see here is a progression of moving farther and farther away from the blessing. A man might begin walking in the council of the wicked. Worse yet is the one who makes a stand with their ways. Worse yet is the one who establishes himself in the seat of mockers.
Such a man has seated himself in the enemy camp and as such is removed from the blessing.
We are, instead, seated in the blessing. We are established with Christ in the heavenly realms. Out of the place where Jesus reigns in heaven and on earth, it is established that we are already his forever. The adoption papers have been signed and recorded and cannot be rescinded.
It is established that God has made us alive by making us his forever. It is established by the throne from which he has authority to say it is so. That is a done deal! We are his workmanship, created or formed anew in Christ. That is a gift from God, not by the things we do, but by the undeserved favor of the Father who loves us.
God’s workmanship is finished. It is a past tense, completed work. Compare that to Paul’s message to the Galatians when he writes that we are to be filled with the Spirit. Now that is not a past tense word. Being filled means to be continuously filled, over and over again. In the way the Holy Spirit continuously comes to us to fill us and give us a Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know him better and be changed, God is not finished with us yet. But in the way that he has made us his and made us vessels that can be filled—and be useful—we are a finished product. We are God’s workmanship.
What difference does that make?
It makes me free to do the work God prepared in advance for me to do. It is good work. I don’t work to earn anything because I can’t—it would only make me boast. But I do good work because he has made me to do good work. So I press on to be satisfied with Jesus only as my reward. I carry with me the Great Commandment to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. I take up his Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded me. I carry with me the personal mission to know Jesus and make him known by allowing his life to be formed in me, by raising up workers for the harvest, and by planting relevant life-giving churches. And I can succeed in these things, because the one with whom I have been seated is the head over everything for the church.
I can bear his stripes and share in his sufferings because I am a finished product. I am not simply a work in progress. To borrow a line from J. Roberts, I am just a man standing before a church asking them to be patient with me as I learn how to let God make full use of the life he has given me.
I am seated with the King of Kings. I am enthroned with the Prince of Peace. I am forever adopted into the family of God. People can dis me all they want. They can disrespect me, discredit me, disown me, disregard me, discount me, disenfranchise me, disturb me, disrupt me, disavow me, disagree with me, disgust me, disdain me, and displease me, but as long as I don’t let them discourage me or distract me from understanding who I am in Christ—that I am God’s workmanship—I’m living on another level.
It is by grace I have been saved through faith—and this not of myself, it is the gift of God—not by works, so I cannot boast.
I am God’s workmanship, his finished product, and he has created me anew through the cross of Jesus, his Son to do good things that he has prepared for me to do.
Care to join me?
Hope for the Hopeless.
The Devil was having a yard sale, and all of his tools were marked with different prices. They were a fiendish lot. There was hatred, jealously, deceit, lying, and pride--all at expensive prices. But over to the side of the yard on display was a tool more obviously worn than any of the other tools. It was also the most costly. The tool was labeled DISCOURAGEMENT.
When questioned, the Devil said, "It’s more useful to me than any other tool. When I can’t bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize that it belongs to me." Satan’s is never happier than when he sees people giving in and giving up to despair and becoming lost in hopelessness. Have you ever felt like your whole world is caving in around you and there is absolutely no hope. Your troubles seem to mount up insurmountably. Cheer up I have good news. There is hope for the hopeless!
I. There are situations , which appear to be totally and absolutely hopeless.
A. Ezekiel 37:1-2 "The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry."
B. The picture portrayed here was that of the nation of Israel in their Eastern captivity and Diaspora. The nation was virtually dead. It was lifeless, scattered, and bleached just as this conquered army’s corpses, which were strewn across a battleground. There was no way humanly possible that they would ever arise from this defeat. It would be impossible!
D. Job 7:6-7 "My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good."
E. There is no greater state of hopelessness than of man without Christ. Jean wrote: "Man can count on no one but himself; he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." Those apart from God have a feeling of meaningless and abandonment that they cannot explain. (H. Lindsell)
F. Ephesians 2:12 "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:"
II. God alone holds the answer to hopeless situations.
A. Ezekiel 37:3 "And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest."
B. From man’s perspective only one answer could come from the prophet’s lips, "Life is impossible?" It is absurd to suppose that these dead bones could ever live again. But it was God who asked the question, and it is God alone who knows the answer.
C. Matthew 19:25-26 "When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."
D. God delights in doing the impossible!
E. Charles L. Allen- When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God.
F. There are no hopeless situations. There are only people who have grown hopeless about them.
G. Psalms 42:11 "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."
Have you ever been in despair? The answer is simple. Quit looking at your circumstances and look at God. A pessimist finds a problem in every opportunity, but an optimist finds opportunity in every problem. Don’t despair, for God is the answer.
III. God’s Word gives new direction.
God and God alone reveal the truth of all we call unknown. All the best and worst of man won’t change the Master’s plan, it’s God’s and God’s alone. God and God alone is fit to take the universe’s throne. Let everything that lives Reserve its truest praise, For God and God alone."
What Do You Do When the Bottom Drops Out?
DID YOU EVER HAVE ONE OF THOSE DAYS when everything seemed to fall apart? For example, you got up and discovered the alarm didn’t go off and your head was pounding as a result of a bad cold. Then you cut yourself shaving, stumbled over your child’s toy on the way to the kitchen and broke one of your toes!
Did you every have one of those kind of days when nothing seemed to go right?
In our Scripture passage, the disciples were having one of those kind of days. It had been a long, tiring day of ministry and miracles. Tired, they had set out for the other side of the lake. Suddenly, a storm came up and their lives began falling apart.
What do we do when life deals us tough situations and it seems as if we are coming unraveled? I see five assurances to help us when the bottom drops out.
1. THE LORD BROUGHT THEM THERE
Look at verse 22: “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.”
Jesus knew that the storm was about to strike and He deliberately directed His disciples into it! However, they were safer in the storm within the will of God than on dry ground with the crowd out of His will. But why would Jesus lead them into a storm? The Bible indicates that there are three primary kinds of storms that come to us from our God:
(1) Storms of correction—to awaken, to discipline, to get our attention.
(2) Storms of perfection—to build character in us, to deepen our faith and make us more sensitive to the suffering of others.
(3) Storms of reproduction—to cause others to imitate our response to suffering or to choose our Christ.
There is no oil without squeezing,
No wine without pressing the grapes,
No fragrance without crushing the flowers
And no real joy without sorrow.
So if you’re going through a storm and if the bottom seems to be dropping out, consider that the storm may be in God’s will for you.
2. JESUS PRAYED FOR HIS FOLLOWERS
Verse 23: “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Sometimes when things are going bad we are tempted to think that God has deserted us. Where is God when we’re rowing against the wind? Why, He’s praying for us. He has never lost touch with our situation. What a comfort that is. What a comfort indeed!
Jesus knows what it is to suffer. The human side of Him experienced more pain than we’ll ever understand. The writer to Hebrews captured the essence of this truth: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet without sin.”
On the basis of Luke 22:31,32 we can safely assume that His prayer consists of at least the following: (1) that our faith won’t fail, (2) that we won’t give up, (3) that we won’t turn back. This is love on its Knees. The thought that Jesus cares enough to give Himself to prayer on our behalf is humbling, say nothing of inspiring. We dare not stop; we cannot quit!
3. THE LORD CAME TO HIS OWN
Verses 24-27 tell us much about the presence of God: “But the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the winds were against it. During the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’”
You have to admire these disciples. They could have turned around and headed back to shore. They had been out there for nine hours. They were tired, wet, and cold—just trying to hang on.
Its midnight and still no Jesus. Suddenly they see Him—walking, instead of riding. At first they don’t recognize Him. Why not? Perhaps they are too busy complaining or fighting the storm in their own strength. Could it be that they are just not looking for Him? This gives rise to a most important truth: THE LORD ALWAYS COMES TO US IN OUR DARKEST HOUR. For example, someone knocks on our door with a meal; an encouraging note or card comes in the mail at just the right time; a friend telephones us saying that he’s praying for us; while in a worship service, something in the message or in a song touches us One sat alone beside the highway begging,
His eyes were blind, the light he could not see;
He clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows,
Then Jesus came and bade his darkness flee
When Jesus comes the tempter’s power is broken;
When Jesus comes the tears are wiped away,
He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory,
For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay.
4. JESUS HELPS US GROW THROUGH TRIALS
In verses 29 and 30 we read, “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” This is a picture of divine love and power meeting human need. Anyone can sit in a boat and watch, but it takes a person of real faith to leave the boat and walk on water.
Here are four principles for water-walkers:
(1) Don’t listen to the people in the boat (nay-sayers)
(2) Don’t look at the waves (circumstances)
(3) Don’t look down at your feet (self)
(4) Keep your eyes on Jesus!
5. JESUS WILL EVENTUALLY BRING PEACE
Verses 31-33: “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said. Why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.”
Notice the progression of events here:
Jesus caught the sinking Peter·
They walked to the boat together·
Jesus climbed into their boat and with Him came the calm they were looking for·
Little wonder that they worshipped Him·
AN ARMY OFFICER WAS SENT on a dangerous mission. He carried two things along with him that gave him courage: (1) the knowledge that he had not undertaken the journey on his own but had been sent by a power for a sound reason, (2) if he got into a tight place, his government would use all its resources to see him through safely. These are the same assurances that God gives to all of us. He has placed us here for a good reason and promises to use all of His resources to help us out of any “tight spots” that may arise.
CONCLUSION
The next time you have one of those days, or weeks, or months, or years when the bottom seems to be dropping out, just remember to turn to this passage in Matthew 14 and it will hold you steady as you see there again these five amazing truths:
The Lord brought me here·
He is praying for me·
He will come to me·
He will help me to grow through this·
He will see me through·
How To Get Past Your Jordan
Joshua 3:1-6; 14-17
Intro: Because of their unbelief, Israel was sentenced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Those years have now expired and the children of Israel are poised to enter into Canaan Land. They are ready to claim their inheritance in the land of promise. However, before they can enter Canaan, they must first get past one final, major obstacle: the Jordan River. Normally, this would not have presented much of a problem, since the Jordan was only 100 feet wide at Gilgal where they crossed. However, it seems that God always does things in such a way that no man can boast of having done them on their own. This crossing would be no exception. You see, God brought them to the Jordan River at the time of harvest, 4:15. Those who have been there during the harvest time tell us that the Jordan swells to an impassable width of over 1 mile! It was over 50 times wider than it normally would have been when Israel arrived. There was no way they could cross this river on their own! They needed supernatural help.
My friends, we each have Jordans that we face from time to time! When we look at the obstacles that stand between us and spiritual victory in our own Canaan, we may feel that we will never be able to enter our Canaan of victory and enjoy the abundant life that Jesus promised His followers. Well, it is true that I do not know what kind of obstacles that you face in your life, I do a God Who specializes in overcoming the overwhelming and in leading His children to victory.
This morning, I would like for us to look into this account of Israel as they got past their Jordan. As we do, I would like to offer you some hope as well. You see, the things that worked for them over 3000 years ago will still work for you and me today. Allow me to show you from chapters 3 and 4 of Joshua How To Get Past Your Jordan. There are 3 steps that we must take to guarantee that we will be able to get past that obstacle that blocks our way and enter our Canaan. Let me share these steps with you this morning.
I. Joshua 3:1-13 WE NEED TO EXAMINE A MESSAGE
A. V. 3-4 It Involved A Challenge - When it came time for the people to move forward to cross Jordan, God has a message that they needed to hear. In the words they heard, they were challenged to do three very important things. These things were designed to help them follow the Lord better. These are the same things that we need to hear this morning that will help up to follow the Lord better as well.
1. Watch God - Notice that the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned some 7 times in chapter 3. The Ark, you may remember, was that special piece of Tabernacle furniture that symbolized the presence and power of God. When the Ark was in the Holy of Holies, the glory of God rested upon it and it was the dwelling place of God. To Israel, it represented God's presence in the midst of His people. In other words, when God moved, they were to move. When God stopped they were to do the same.
(Ill. There is a valuable spiritual lesson in this passage for you and me. We would do well, when we face times of crisis, or when we need direction in life to learn to be sensitive to the movement of the Lord in and around us. It is a fact that God loves you and that He will show you what He is doing, John 5:19-20. ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.)
2. Follow God - When they saw the Ark of the Covenant move, they were to "leave your place, and go after it" Not only were they to watch God, they were to move when He did. They were to pursue God!
(Ill. Again, the lesson for the believer is that it isn't enough to know what God is doing, there comes a time when you must "leave you place and go after Him." This may require us to leave our comfort zone! Israel was about to follow the Ark through a river that was over 1 mile wide! That couldn't have been easy, but it was still necessary and right! Folk, following God may not be the easiest thing you will ever do, but it will be the best thing you ever do. If you ever expect to get past your obstacles and enter your Canaan, you must learn to follow God.)
3. Honor God - Notice that the Israelites are told to stay at least 3000 feet behind the Ark. This was so that they could easily see what was happening ahead of them. Another reason is that the Lord wanted no one but the Levites near the Ark. To get too close would have meant death.
(Ill. Again, there is a lesson here for us as well. We must never be guilty of treating God like is one of our buddies. There must always be a holy reverence and a fear of the Lord in our hearts. God help us that we never allow a spirit of familiarity cheapen or walk with the Lord. Regardless of what we go through with holy, righteous God and we are still nothing but sinners saved by His marvelous grace.)
(Ill. Simply put, these three things are most easily accomplished by learning to walk in the Spirit. That is, learning to give control of your life to the Spirit of God and to follow God as He leads through His Word and through prayer. It may not always be easy, but I can promise you that if you will follow, He will certainly lead!)
B. V. 5 It Involved A Command - Next, the people were told to "sanctify yourselves." This referred to being sure they were as clean and holy as possible. They were to put away anything that was displeasing to the Lord. They were to examine themselves and get ready for the Lord to do something great for them.
(If you and I ever expect to get past the Jordan's that arise in our lives, we are going to have to learn that one of the first things we must do is examine our lives to make sure they are as clean as possible. May the Lord help us to realize that many of the things that happen in our lives that prevent us from walking in Christian victory are the results of our sin and the Lord's chastisement, Gal. 6:9; Heb. 12:6-11. Christian, is everything in your life just as the Lord would have it to be? Remember, there is forgiveness in confessing our sins to the Lord - I John 1:9)
C. V. 9-13 It Involved A Commitment - This message to the Israelites reminded them that getting across the Jordan did not rest on their shoulders, but on the Lord's. It was His plan to get them over and it was His problem. In these verses, He makes them a promise and tells them that He will bring them through in a powerful fashion. God, here, commits Himself to bringing his people across their Jordan! All that was required of Israel was that they trust God!
(Ill. May I remind you that things have not changed one bit? If God could be trusted in those days to keep His promises, then He can still be trusted today! Often, we are unable to get past the obstacles in our lives because we live a life that exhibits a deep lack of faith in the promises of God! How do I know? Because of the worry and doubt that marks the lives of the people of God.
1. We worry over tomorrow, yet the Lord has said - Matt. 6:34.
2. We worry over material things, yet the Lord has promised - Matt. 6:25-33; Phil. 4:19.
3. We worry about facing various things in life, yet the Lord has promised - Heb. 13:5
4. We worry over so many things, yet the Lord tells us that all of our worry is sin and that our duty is to trust Him - Phil. 4:6-7.
5. The bottom line is this: Jesus is all-powerful, He is all-knowing and He is all-present. He knows what you are going through. He knows everything there is to know about it. He even knows more about it than you do! Here is what He says to you: "The just shall life by faith", Rom. 1:17; "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin", Rom 14:23; "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith", Matt. 8:26.
(Ill. What He says to us is that He is the Lord and that He is greater than any problem we have ever or will ever face in life. His desire is that we simply learn to take Him at His Word and trust Him. We need to remember that what the Lord has promised to do, He will do, Rom, 4:21)
That is the message, let us take it to heart!
I. We Need To Examine A Message
II. 3:14-17 WE NEED TO EXPECT A MIRACLE
A. V. 15b There Was A Problem - As I mentioned in the introduction, the children of Israel were facing a big problem. The river was over 1 mile wide and there were 2 million people who had to cross, and yet the Lord wanted them to go over. They couldn't build a bridge, there wasn't enough time or materials. They couldn't transport everyone over in boats, there were no boats and they would have been sitting ducks for their enemies. There was only one way around their problem and that was through it!
(Ill. Have you ever sized up your problem and thought about how big it was? Maybe you looked at it and concluded, "There is no way around, through, over or past this problem." I suppose we have all been like the 10 spies that returned from spying out the land of Canaan with Caleb and Joshua. We have sized up our problem and think that it is more than we can ever face, Num, 13:31-33. Our problem was the same one we always have when we face a difficult situation: we forget about God! Where we see only problems, God sees only solutions. Where we look at things and say, "There's no way!" God looks at the problem and says, "Follow me, I have a plan!"
B. V. 15 There Was A Plan - The plan was this, God said, "When the feet of the priests enter Jordan, I am going to part the waters and lead you through on the dry ground!" There was a catch in this plan and it was that the waters would not part until the priests who were carrying the Ark stepped into the water. In other words, it took a step of faith, whereby the people obediently followed the Lord for them to see the miracle come to pass.
(Ill. What a lesson for you and me. Too often, we want the Lord just to fix everything in our lives for us. We don't want to have to make any decisions nor do we want to have to exercise our faith in Him. We just want Him to do it and that will be the end of it. However, most of the time, God will require us to take steps of faith in order that we might see our Jordan parted. God had a plan, but for this plan to work, it required faith on the part of His people! The same is true for you and me! As long as we are trying to solve our own problems we are not walking in faith. It is when we turn loose of the reigns of the problem, step away from it and let the Lord have it that we will see it taken care of for His glory. It never is about what we can do, it is always about what the Lord is able to do, Eph. 3:20!)
C. V. 16-17 There Was A Performance - When the priests stepped into that raging river, it parted and God opened a path of dry ground through the waters for His people. By the way, verse 16 says that the waters backed up to the City of Adam. This is some 20 miles north of where the children of Israel were crossing. God made them a path through the water that was more than adequate for His people to get through.
(Ill. We need to remember that faith honors God and God honors faith! When He does it, it won't just be patched up and ready to fall apart again, it will be done right and it will be done forever. Folks, I want to encourage you this morning by reminding you that this God Who did this great thing for Israel is still the same God we are serving this morning! What He did them, He can do now. He was ABLE all the way through the Bible, and He is still ABLE today! Regardless of the circumstances, He is still God and He still can! Ill. The question that plagued the Jews, Psa. 78:19. God can! Just ask, Noah, Moses, Daniel, the 3 Hebrews, a widow down in Zarephath, the Disciples on a little ship, and Saul of Tarsus. Just look back over your own life. How many times has the Lord opened your Jordan already? He is all we need! He is still the same miracle working God that He always had been. Learn to expect miracles when you are dealing with God!)
I. We Need To Examine A Message
II. We Need To Expect A Miracle
III. 4:1-24 WE NEED TO ERECT A MEMORIAL
(Ill. When all the people had passed over Jordan, Joshua commanded one man from each of the 12 tribes to get a rock from the midst of Jordan and build a memorial on the Canaan side. That memorial is worth taking a look at this morning!)
A. V, 6-7; 21-24 The Purpose Of The Memorial - These verses tell us that the purpose of the memorial was to remind successive generations of the power and faithfulness of God on behalf of His people. That memorial would be an important landmark to those who would come after.
(Ill. By the same token, we need some memorials in our lives as well. However, we must use caution, we do no want to embalm the past and by doing so cripple the future. Many churches have done that and are suffering as a result. What we do want to do, however, is remember the things the Lord has done for us so that we can tell others about them and so that when we come that way again, we will remember that the Lord was faithful in that day and that He will be faithful in this day as well. Never forget what the Lord has done for you in your yesterdays. It is those yesterday experiences that will tide you over when the trials of today and tomorrow arise in your life!)
B. V. 9, 20 The Picture In The Memorial - Ill. It is interesting to notice that Joshua constructed 2 monuments. One on the bank and one in the river. These 2 memorials served 2 different purposes. Notice what they were.
1. V. 20 A Picture Of The Faithfulness Of God - The one on the bank of Jordan stood as a testimony to the faithfulness of God as I have just mentioned. It was there to remind others of what the Lord had done and of what He could do. Again, we need to remember the faithfulness of God in the past. It will help us cross the Jordan we face today.
2. V. 9 A Picture Of The Faith Of The People - Now, what about the rock pile in the river? No one could see it but God! It stood as a monument to the faith of the people! You see, when you face a time of trial, others are often guilty of misjudging your motives and actions, however, only God knows the truth about your heart. Even though Israel couldn't see it, they knew the monument was there! They remembered that they had believed God then and it had worked. This was a monument in their hearts.
(Ill. We need that same kind of monument as well. As I said, too often we are misjudged by others in our times of trial, but God alone knows you heart. When you have trusted Him and He has brought you through, never forget it! Build that monument in your heart, where only God can see it, and where you wil never forget it and when the tough time comes again, and it will, look at that monument of His faithfulness and of your faith and know that what worked before will work again. God will bring you through your Jordan!)
Conclusion: Some of you are facing troubled waters this morning. I want you to know you can cross over. I invite you to come before the Lord this morning. Tell Him about the Jordan you are facing and allow Him to get you past it today. There is a place of victory where you can shout in spite of your troubles. The first step in getting there is dealing with what is keeping you out: your Jordan. It may sin, it may be some person, it may be some trial, but whatever it is, God is greater than it is. Come and let Him take care of it for you.
What Happens When God Leads the Way?
We are like Moses. When led by God, we do not see God's face, but his back. Why is that? We cannot see his face, because we cannot see him coming. We see God's back, because we see where he has been, and what he has done in the past. We do not anticipate, or second-guess God. It is only after long reflection that we are finally struck with what God has been doing all along.
We are always looking for a sign, aren't we? Recently, I was walking down the road, pondering an important decision I needed to make. I vividly recall shouting out to God, "Why don't you write me a message across the sky, so I'll know what to do."
Wouldn't that be awesome? Every time we are faced with a decision, we would have a heavenly teleprompter sending us messages across the sky. It's interesting that we humans don't ask for God's input on every decision, we only seem to want God's handwriting in the sky on certain decisions - the "biggies." Where should I go to school? Whom should I marry? Which job should I take? Or should I change jobs? In each instance, we want God to show us a sign. Any old sign will do.
I. Desperate for a sign (vv. 12-13)
Moses, the great Old Testament leader of the Hebrews, was no different. He wanted God to show him a sign, too. On one occasion, Moses got alone with God, away from the rest of the Hebrews, to seek direction. He wanted another divine guidepost, an omen, a heavenly gesture. It's not that Moses had not had indicators along the journey. In fact, he witnessed some rather remarkable visual demonstrations. A burning bush. A staff that became a snake. Tree branches that cleaned up polluted water. Pillars of fire leading the crowd by night. Clouds leading them by day. Manna, the heavenly bread falling each morning. But now Moses wants further clarification. He prays, not unlike us, "Look, You have told me, 'Lead this people up,' but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. You said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.' Now, if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, please teach me Your ways, and I will know You and find favor in Your sight. Now, consider that this nation is Your people" (Ex. 33:12-13). "show me now thy way" (KJV).
Don't we want to be guided? To be taught God's ways? To know the path we are to take? To be shown the right way? We are a people hungry for guidance. We long for direction. We are like wanderers in the desert crying out to God, "Show me the way! Give me a sign! Just write in the sky, so I can see it."
Interestingly, God never wrote Moses a message in the sky. He never laid a blueprint down. In today's terms, he did not send a fax, an email or a letter. He did something better.
II. Something better than a sign (v. 14)
This was the better thing that God offered Moses. God promised Moses his presence. God replied to Moses' prayer - his request for a sign by saying, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (Ex. 33:14). God personally and providentially led Moses and the nation of Israel. God offered something better than guidance; he promised to be their Guide. He promised to accompany them, to be with them. He was not some God that only lived in a heavenly domain, but rather a God that chose to come down and live among his people. God wouldn't provide handwriting in the sky; but he would offer his hand to Moses and his people and walk with them, side by side, friend with friend.
Though the Bible never uses the word guidance, it does speak of a Guide. We may seek guidance, but God provides something better - himself. Deep in our hearts, it is a guide, even more than guidance, which we want.
Which would you prefer, on your first day, at a new, large campus: The campus map or a kindly student who says, "Look, I'm on my way there now. I'll go with you and show you the way"? Which would you prefer your first day in a new community: a street guide or a neighbor who says, "I've got some free time. I'll ride along with you. I'll be your personal tour guide"?
Guidance for a Christian comes from our ongoing relationship with God. He wants us to know him. Being guided by him is a part of that relationship. Signs are temporary; a relationship is permanent. Signs can be misinterpreted, misread, or not seen at all. God wants to lead us each step of our journey, not just in the biggies. And he does that best by walking with us, being in relationship with us.
It was this presence, this relationship that Moses experienced. One of the most telling indicators of Moses' life is found in Exodus 33:11. "The Lord spoke with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend" (Ex. 33:11). This verse speaks to the reality and depth of communion between Moses and God. Moses was God's friend, not because he was perfect, gifted, or powerful. They were friends because friends trust each other, talk to each other, and share common interests. No one can drive a wedge between them. Moses never knew where he was going with God, God didn't always provide a signpost to direct him, but it didn't matter. He knew with whom he was going, and that was all that mattered.
Moses was a real person who had real encounters with a real God. This relationship provided him with the direction and guidance he desired.
If we want to know God's will, we must get to know God. The guidance hinges on the relationship. If we seek the Guide more than guidance, we just might see the sign we are looking for. And, even more, we receive some wonderful benefits.
A. We have a companion (v. 14)
"My Presence will go with you" (Ex. 33:14). As the old hymn "In the Garden" says, "And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me that I am his own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known." Regardless of our condition or circumstance, God is with us. Our situations don't change God. He is still with us.
The God of the universe walks with us. He is our companion, our friend. The whole world may walk out on us. But God never will. We have his word on that.
B. We will experience rest (v. 14)
". . . and I will give you rest" (Ex. 33:14). The rest that is spoken of here is a rest that comes while we are on our journey. It is a rest that reaches to the core of their being. It is not like a weekly day off, paid vacation, or guaranteed holidays. It is not merely a cessation of activity, struggle, or of journey. It is a calmness and a security that comes through walking with God.
Rest is a testimony of trust.
There's the story of the two birds perched high above a busy city watching all the people busily scurrying from one activity to another. The Robin said to the Sparrow, "Why do those humans scurry to and fro?" "Perhaps," said the Sparrow, "they do not realize they have a heavenly Father like ours that cares for them so."
Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch lady known for her family's hiding of Jews during World War II, in which she was imprisoned, used to say, "Don't wrestle, just nestle." That's what trusting is all about.
A benefit of living in God's presence is that we can snuggle up close to our Heavenly Father, knowing that we can rest confident, secure, and victorious.
C. We will be distinguishable (vv. 15-16)
"If Your Presence does not go . . . Your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth" (Ex. 33:15-16). I suppose that we all desire to be distinguishable, set apart from the rest of society. God's presence does just that in our lives. Because of God's presence, we are holy people. As has been stated before, holy means set apart, distinct.
When we come into God's presence, we are on holy ground. And, we set aside one day a week - the Sabbath - as a holy day. The thrust of this text is that because of the accompanying presence of God, we are holy people. We aren't holy because we are weird, queer, or odd. We are different because God's presence accompanies us. We are not different because of what we do, but rather because of what God does in and through us. A holy person takes God's accompanying presence seriously.
Think about it. We are consciously aware of God's presence; it will impact our talk, our behavior, and our thoughts. It's worse than having the pastor play golf with you. It's more powerful than having your mother go on a date with you. It is stronger than taking your children on a business trip. God's accompanying presence causes us to think different, act differently, talk differently, love differently, and serve differently. " And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: " (I Peter 1:17) KJV.
The accompanying presence of God calls us to stand out in the crowd, to be distinct, separate, and unusual. He calls us to be different.
D. We will be known (v. 17)
"The Lord answered Moses, 'I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name" (Ex. 33:17). Can you imagine being known by God? The encounter with God is an intimate experience. We come to know him and he comes to know us. Can you imagine the significance that gives to us? The Creator of the universe calling us by name.
It's hard to explain, but to have someone great know who you are, brings a sense of significance to life. God, the greatest One in the Universe, knows us by name. In fact, he knows everything about us.
4. Seeing the signs in the rearview mirror
Actually, God does provide signs for us. Granted, they aren't like road signs, directional signs, billboards, or a writing in the sky. But they are signs nevertheless. They are there, but sometimes we don't see them. When we are walking with God, when his presence accompanies us, his signs are all around us.
A. The sign of his glory (v. 18)
"Then Moses said, 'Please, let me see Your glory'" (Ex. 33:18). The glory of God is the weighty importance and shining majesty that accompanies God's presence. One day I prayed, "Lord, make me see your glory in every place." The Heavens declares it. Creation witnesses it. The church embodies it. Christians reflect it. The glory of God is all around us. Moses came to understand, sense, and see God's glory. But Moses did not see the entirety of God's glory and neither will we.
B. The sign of his goodness (v. 19)
And the Lord said, "'I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you . . ." (Ex. 33:19). The word goodness refers to the manifestation or essence of God's glorious attributes, most often thought of as the works of his hands. The goodness of God is the concrete experience of what God has done and is doing in the lives of his people. Moses experienced the goodness of God time and time again, but he did not witness all the goodness of God.
C. The sign of his grace (v. 19)
And the Lord said, ". . . 'I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion'" (Ex. 33:19). The grace of God is his unmerited favor, an expression of his heart. God's heart is one of love and compassion. Many times on our journey, we may deserve justice, but God instead grants us favor, the embodiment of his grace. We, his people, are the recipients of his grace, but not all of his grace.
Now, here's the interesting thing about the signs of God - His glory, his goodness, and his grace. Most often as God is leading us, we see these signs afterwards. Sort of like looking in the rearview mirrors of our lives, we see how God has shown up, performing his work. We look back, seeing how God caused a bad situation to work out for our good. We see an event play out and remark, "Only God could have done that." We reflect on an unfolding series of happenings and know that those pieces could have only come together by the hand of God. We look back at things that happen to us so undeserved and unmerited. It was God's working. We look at the tragedy of others and then the blessings in our own life and remark, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." While the path of our life's journey is not always a straight line, when we look back, we can detect the leading of God, be it more like the switch back of a mountain road God still gets us to the destination he desires.
Moses wanted to see God's glory - he wanted a sign. God said you see signs all the time - my goodness, my grace - are all around you. But if you want a visible appearance - a theophany - do the following: "Here is a place near Me. You are to stand on the rock, and when My glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you will see My back, but My face will not be seen" (Ex. 33:21-23). Moses did as he was instructed. He stood in the crevice of the rock and God passed by. A visible appearance, this time in human form. And Moses saw him, not his face, but his back.
Conclusion
We, too, when led by God, do not see God's face, but his back. Why is that? We cannot see his face, because we cannot see him coming. We see God's back, because we see where he has been, and what he has done in the past. We do not anticipate, or second-guess God. It is only after long reflection that we are finally struck with what God has been doing all along.
It has been my experience that God does not always point the way, but he leads the way. When I look back, I see those leadings. I hope you will, too.
"A Friend in Need and a Friend Indeed”
Two boys collected a bucket of nuts underneath a great tree inside a cemetery on the outskirts of town. When the bucket was full, they sat down out of sight to divide the spoils.
"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy, as the other watched intently. Their bucket was so full that some of the nuts had spilled out and rolled toward the fence.
It was dusk, and another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."
The boy with the bike knew just what was happening, and his face went ghostly white. "Oh my," he shuddered. "It's Satan and the Lord dividing souls at the cemetery!"
He jumped back on his bike and rode off, desperately looking for a friend. Just around the bend he met an old, scowling man who hobbled along with a cane.
"Come with me, quick!" said the boy. "You won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls!"
The man said, "Beat it, kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk?" When the boy insisted, though, the man hobbled to the cemetery. When they arrived at the fence, they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."
Ready to have a little fun, the old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' the truth. Let's go inside, and see if we can see the Devil himself!"
The child was horrified, but the old man was already taking his first step toward the gate. Then they heard, "Okay, that's the last of them. That's all. Now let's go get those two nuts by the fence, and we'll be done." They say the old guy made it back to town five minutes ahead of the boy! More than likely, he was looking for a friend.
Most people are constantly looking for friends. Some people are desperately looking for friendship. At times we all stand frozen with fear by the cemetery fence, so to speak, when life shakes us to the core. At times the legs don't support, and a healthy heart nearly breaks. At times we can barely muster a prayer, and when it comes out, it's a plea for a friend.
More than likely, you already know the story of Saul's conversion very well. Whenever we come to a well-known passage of scripture like we have in Acts 9, we might even know the story too well.
Today, try to picture's Paul's experience from the vantage point of loneliness. In a matter of three days, Saul became lonelier than he'd ever been. He was probably begging God for a friend.
Saul must have been physically spent when he neared Damascus. He'd traveled some 120 dusty miles to stop the church from growing there. Then, just as the city came into view, just when he was nearing a hot shower and a good meal, Saul had lost his eyesight with one blinding light. All was dark, and all remained dark. With one deafening statement from heaven, he discovered that everything he believed to be true was false. Jesus wasn't the enemy. Jesus was Lord!
In the darkness, Saul must have expected the very judgment of God. Would he even be allowed to live? In the three dark days that passed, loneliness, grief, and despair became Saul's roommates.
In the depth of Paul's loneliness, God was about to reveal the power of a faithful friend. Saul was about to meet, in fact, two of the best friends he'd ever have.
First, the Lord commanded Ananias to go to Saul. Though frightened, Ananias obeyed and became the first friend Saul found in his new family of faith.
Second, Barnabas became Saul's advocate and friend in Jerusalem. If not for Barnabas, Saul might not have even met the frightened apostles.
Saul never got over the friends he found in Ananias and Barnabas. By becoming those faithful friends, they were about to change the world. It's impossible to understate the power of a faithful friend, and it's critically important that we be that friend to people in our lives.
By looking at these irreplaceable friends, we learn five characteristics of a faithful friend.
I. Be there
Have you already been thinking about the best friends you've had? If the faces of your favorite people have already come to mind, you're remembering people who found a way to be with you. Many of them were with you in the routine of life. Maybe you attended class together. Perhaps you grew up in the same home. Maybe it's a favorite ministry partner, or the fishing buddy. If you live long enough, the best friends of your life were also those who found a way to be with you during tough times. How many stories would we have today if we told of friends who drove hundreds of miles to be with you, who jumped on an airplane to stand by your side, or those who canceled appointments to join you? The details differ, but one thing is certain about faithful friends; they don't stop with a phone call, letter, or an e-mail. They find a way to be there.
Imagine if you were in real need and you called on your best friend. He or she says, "I can't help you. They're showing a rerun of my favorite television show tonight."
You'd know the truth. That person is not a friend. A friend will be with you, even if he or she must go to great trouble or expense to do so. A faithful friend simply ignores his or her own needs in order to help a friend.
But what if God asked you to befriend an enemy? Well, he has. In half a dozen places in Scripture, Jesus said, " Love your enemies." In Luke, Jesus said, "Do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great " (Luke 6:35).
Ananias almost certainly had a family and a set of faithful friends. He lived in Damascus, kept up with the news, and knew a terrorist named Saul was on the loose.
"Ananias," said the Lord, "I have a new friend for you."
Before he fully understood, Ananias simply said, "Yes, Lord." Before he had the details of the job, before he even knew the question, Ananias gave the correct answer. There's an entire sermon in that, but for now this simple truth will do: Ananias was willing to become a friend to an enemy, despite his fear.
There is power in a personal visit. Salespeople know that; they sell far more products in person than they do over the phone, through the Internet, or by advertising. Therefore, salespeople get there.
So do faithful friends!
II. Know the power of a gentle touch
Most every culture uses touch in greeting - a handshake, a bear hug, a kiss on the cheek, a kiss on both cheeks! A touch can show sympathy, friendship, trust - sometimes powerful trust.
What a great gift Ananias gave when he came to see Saul for the first time. Luke records it in Acts 9:17: "Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul . . ."
Saul had come to Damascus to literally bind the hands of Ananias. Instead, Ananias used those very hands to gently touch Saul. They had both originally anticipated a struggle, a fist-fight, even a battle to the death. Instead, a kind touch is extended from the hunted to the hunter.
Imagine how Saul might have felt before Ananias arrived. He'd had no food or drink for three days, and he likely hadn't had much human touch. The men he came with would have been frightened at what happened on the road, and they could get no explanation from Saul. After three days, they'd become frustrated. Why, if Saul wanted to sit in the darkness and die of starvation, they couldn't stop him! He was blind, frightened, and depressed. How simple a solution for Paul's problem. He needed a friend!
Think of this. Before Saul heard a word from Ananias, a stranger, before he knew the answers to his questions, Saul felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He turned toward the voice, his blind eyes trying to take in the face of a man who would touch him so kindly.
A faithful friend knows how to hold someone when he or she is hurting, how to communicate love with touch, even restore confidence with a special grip. A faithful friend understands the power of a hug, and isn't embarrassed to hold on to the hug a little longer than necessary. Don't underestimate the power of a gentle touch.
And if I look like I need it one day, how about a kiss on both cheeks?
III. Speak the right words at the right time
Here's a trivia question. What was the second name Saul had in Scripture?
"Paul?" Wrong. Paul is the third name Saul had in Scripture.
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord - Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here - has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 9:17)
You probably spotted it. The second name Saul had was Brother Saul.
It may not seem like a big deal to us, but you can bet Saul never forgot the day a man called him Brother for the first time. Imagine sitting in darkness for three days without food, drink, or encouragement and suddenly receiving a kind word. What a gift!
A faithful friend says not simply kind words, but the right words at the right time. Ananias shared the truth with Saul in a very gentle way and baptized him. The first person whom Saul saw after he heard the truth of the Holy Spirit was a God-sent friend.
Ananias showered Saul with some of the most precious gifts you can give another human being. He was there for Saul, he touched him like a friend who cared, and he spoke kindly to him, with the right words at the right time.
Over the next several days, he taught Saul, he encouraged him, and he introduced him to more people who had that same touch, that same kindness, that same love born of the Holy Spirit. What wonderful power Saul discovered in Damascus! The first form of that power he discovered was the power of faithful friends.
IV. Don't waver in your support
During the first week of Saul's spiritual training camp, he met Barnabas. He had no idea then that God had placed next to him the one man the church had already nicknamed "The Encourager" (Acts 4:36). What a Ranger-type buddy to have!
When Saul left Damascus, he walked back to Jerusalem, apparently learning all he could from the Christians who walked with him. The conversations must have been intense as Saul learned all he could about Jesus. He would have come to Capernaum as he returned to Jerusalem, and Saul would have seen, for the first time, the house where Jesus had lived. In Capernaum, he would have met men and women who had been healed by Jesus. He would have seen the light in their eyes as they told the stories of what had happened on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
All along the way, for more than 120 miles, Saul would have met people who had been changed by Jesus.
Imagine his excitement as he returned to Jerusalem. Finally, he would meet Peter, and John, and James. He'd sit down with Bartholomew, Andrew, and Simon the Zealot, and have dinner with Thomas. He would meet them all, these men who had walked with Jesus. He would tire them out with his questions, he would wait on their every need, he would pour over the Torah with them, looking for the marks of Jesus in the Scripture.
But when he arrived, he couldn't find a single disciple. Every time he got close to tracking someone down, he found an empty house. Every time he was ready to hold out his hand in friendship, he grasped nothing but air. After a few days, the truth seemed obvious. The disciples were hiding from Saul. They had heard that he'd become a believer, but they didn't believe it. They were terrified of him (Acts 9:26).
At that point, Saul needed a friend to stand with him, and he didn't have far to look.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. (Acts 9:27-28)
What a beautiful example Barnabas was. As it was then, it is today. A faithful friend stands with you, stands up for you, and doesn't waver in his support. If you've found such a friend, you've found a great source of power. If you are that friend, God's power is working through you!
A faithful friend will stay with you.
Barnabas' friendship wasn't just short term. When he became a friend to Saul, Barnabas made a commitment for the long haul.
After meeting the disciples, Saul took some time off. He retreated for three years of study, prayer, and reflection, spending some of that time in Tarsus, the town of his birth, some in Arabia, and some back in Damascus (Acts 9:30; Gal. 1:17-18). In time, the church wondered what had happened to the passionate convert named Saul. At that point, a friend went to find Saul.
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. (Acts 11:25-26)
Barnabas stayed with Saul for a whole year. And beyond that year, Barnabas stayed with Saul for a lifetime. They started churches together, they grew missionaries together, and they even stayed together in the midst of disagreement. In short, Barnabas was the kind of friend Saul needed, for Saul needed a man to stay with him.
Conclusion
Think about the way Ananias and Barnabas helped change the world. Saul - who became known as Paul - eventually would become the most important missionary in Christian history, a leader the equal of Peter and John in the early church, and the most prolific writer in the New Testament.
How many millions, becoming Christians, have been freed by the concept of salvation by grace, and not by works? How many marriages have been saved by the words of 1 Corinthians 13, "The Love Chapter?" How many anxious hearts have been calmed by the peace that passes all understanding, or the knowledge that God can work good in every situation? God has used those scriptural concepts for centuries, for millions upon millions of believers. I've been changed by those words, and you have, too.
Paul wrote them. What a dynamic, confident, irrepressible, crucial leader.
Flashback now to the day when this same man lay crumpled in the dirt on the outskirts of Damascus. A bright light and an overwhelming Savior had just taken his eyesight, his spiritual foundation, and his emotional health.
As Saul stumbled into the city, he didn't want food, and he didn't want water. But he needed a friend. So God reached down to two men and asked them to help change the world. God spoke to Ananias, and to Barnabas, and asked them to be a friend to a man who desperately needed them.
And the world was changed.
God works in simple ways. Somewhere, perhaps today, a person near you needs a faithful friend. If you answer God's call to be that friend, it might be you who changes the world.
"Am I Really Supposed to Love My Enemies?"
Today we’re going to examine the question “Am I Really Supposed to Love My Enemies?” The answer to the question is YES. We really are supposed to love our enemies.
Now I don’t know about you but that seems impossible. How in the world can you love someone who doesn’t love you? How in the world can you love someone who wants to do you harm and tear you down? It’s much easier for me to love people who already love me.
I have no trouble at all loving my wife, Prossy. We got married because we love each other. We enjoy being with one another. Prossy is genuinely interested in who I am as a person and, believe it or not, for all these years in marriage I still want to impress her because what she thinks of me is important.
I don’t have any trouble loving my biological children and the ones that I take care of at God’s Village. They’re a part of who I am. I take care of them and have a genuine interest in seeing them grow up to be good, productive citizens.
Now there are times when we all get on each others nerves. There are times when we have arguments and fight with one another. But at the end of the day we still love each other. But Jesus comes along and tosses in this monkey wrench of saying that not only are we to love those who love us but we’re even to love those who don’t love us! Many of us read that and think, “Are you kidding me?”
When someone wrongs us our first instinct is to get them back! Our first instinct is to make them hurt as much as they hurt us. That is the world’s answer to being wronged. But Jesus gives His followers a different response they’re to have. He tells us we’re to love our enemies.
Today in our passage of Scripture we’re going to see Jesus sharing with His followers how they’re to respond to those who are their enemies. Now some of you might think, “I don’t have to worry at this because I don’t have any enemies.” Just to be truthful, if you don’t have any now you’re going to have some pretty soon. It’s one of the unfortunate things in life that there are some people who are never, ever going to like you no matter what you do.
So the question becomes “How are you going to respond to people like that?” Jesus answers that question for us today.
LUKE 6: 27-31 ‘But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you 28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. 30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.’
Now I’m going to be honest w/you. That’s a bizarre and hard teaching. So the question we’re going to answer is “How am I to respond to my enemies?” Jesus shares w/us 3 responses we’re to have towards our enemies. And the 1st response you’re to have toward your enemies is:
DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU (v. 27)
I don’t think it’s too hard to imagine this was a teaching that was totally foreign to the society of this day. It’s even foreign to our society as well. But even the religious leaders were confused by this teaching of Jesus.
A. The rabbis were teaching at this time, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Makes sense to me. My guess is most of us would be pretty good at following this law. But you know what? It doesn’t take any supernatural power to do that. Jesus said in v. 32 “ For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.”
1. When Jesus calls us to love those who hate us, He’s calling for us to do something that’s totally contrary to our human nature. Human nature tells us to get revenge! Human nature tells us when someone messes with us we’re going to lay the hammer down on them.
The thought is if we get back at them they’ll know not to mess with us anymore. Plus we think that revenge is sweet; that it’s going to make us feel better. But guess what. Hatred is a horrible tool that literally destroys us!
It destroys us physically. Scientific studies have been done to show the damage hatred does. Anger causes your blood pressure and breathing rate to increase which causes a strain on your heart making you more susceptible to heart attacks and stroke. It also can trigger headaches and lead to abusive behavior. It can break down your immune system and cause you to be susceptible to various diseases.
2. Hatred also can destroy you emotionally. It wears you out and makes your judgment less effective leading to bad decision making. Often times the result of hatred is outbursts that can cause us to be embarrassed. This can lead to feelings of guilt and depression. Another side effect of always being angry and having intense hatred is not many people will enjoy being around you.
Of course, hatred destroys you spiritually. We’re told throughout the Bible that the essence of God is love. And if we are harboring hatred in our hearts then we’re living contrary to God’s command to love each other. The result of that is a disconnect from God.
Psalms 66: 18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
Brethrens, there are probably a lot of us who feel disconnected from God, who feel distant from God because we’re harboring things in our lives that aren’t supposed to be there.
Have you ever noticed when you’re angry at someone it becomes the focus of your life? It doesn’t matter what’s going on around you, your thoughts and focus are totally upon the person who’s wronged you and you become trapped in that hatred to where it’s hard to function properly as a person and as a follower of God.
So how can we gain freedom from being imprisoned by anger? Jesus said it’s by doing good to those who hate you. One thing we all have control over is how we’re going to respond. And if you make the choice to respond to those who hate you, to those who are angry at you by doing good to them, you’re going to diffuse a tense situation.
For one it will totally confuse the one who hates you because they’re expecting you to respond in anger. It will also diffuse some of the anger they have toward you. It’s really hard for someone to continue to hate you when you do them good. Kindness and love change people.
2. And if you do these things you’ll be surprised by the freedom you feel from not being tied down to the anger you have towards those who’ve been mean to you. You may even be surprised by the impact you have on the life of your enemy.
Abraham Lincoln said he destroyed his enemies by loving them. How many enemies have you destroyed like that?
BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU (v. 28)
We’ve all heard the phrase “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” I’m here to tell you today that is an absolute lie. There aren’t too many things that carry more power in life than the way we communicate with one another.
The Bible tells us over and over again the great power that’s in our speech. Unfortunately, it’s so much easier for us to use our speech in a negative way than a positive way. It’s so much easier to lash out at people than it is to use our speech to build them up.
But when we choose to use our speech to lash out at people who’ve harmed us or hurt our feelings, all we’re doing is throwing gas on a fire. All we’re doing is rubbing salt in a wound. And we all know what happens when you put salt in a cut! It stings! It hurts! It typically causes a bad reaction! That’s one reason Jesus tells us that one of the best ways to respond to our enemies is by blessing them!
Kind speech has a way of working as a salve to heal wounds in people’s lives. Proverbs 12:18 “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” Can you think of an example in your life when someone said something to you that brought encouragement to you; that brought hope to you?
Some of you may have experienced the wonderful joy of making a mistake that you knew would cause your spouse to be angry with you. But instead of responding in anger they came up to you and said, “I love you.” Isn’t it great when something like that happens? It totally changes your mood. It causes you to put down your defense mechanism and just relax!
As a matter of fact a kind word; a word of encouragement can actually remove the anger a person has towards you. Proverbs 15: 1“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” I really believe most of us probably would have fewer enemies if we learned how to speak in a way that built people up instead of tearing them down. Harsh words put people in a fighting mood. Kind words soften their spirit.
ILLUS: Let me give you an example. A Christian lady owned two prized chickens that got out of their run and busied themselves in the garden of the lady’s rather grouchy neighbor.
The man was incensed when he saw the 2 hens. So he ran out, caught the hens, wrung their necks, and threw them back over the fence. As you can imagine, the woman was upset, but she avoided her urge to get angry and rush over and scream at the man.
Instead, she took the birds, dressed them out, and prepared two chicken pies. Then she delivered one of the freshly baked pies to the man who had killed her hens. When she handed him the chicken pot pie, she apologized to him for not being more careful about keeping her chickens in her own yard.
-Her children, expecting an angry scene, hid behind a bush to see the man’s face and hear what he’d say. But the man was absolutely speechless! The chicken pie and apology filled him with a burning sense of shame and he apologized to her for reacting so harshly.
Next time you see a person who just automatically ticks you off, think of a kind word or deed to share with him. And do it because you want to be more like Jesus. And I think you’ll be surprised at how good you feel for doing it and surprised by how the person reacts.
PRAY FOR THOSE WHO MISTREAT YOU (v. 28)
Have you discovered that those people who mistreat you have a way of dominating your thoughts? Not only do they physically abuse you but they can also mentally abuse you because it’s hard to get our minds off of what they’ve done to us!
Have you ever been there before? I can think of times when people have wronged me and instead of just moving on I dwelt on what they did to me and it just consumed my thoughts. It made me miserable and I got tired of being dominated by them in my mind.
Well, Jesus has a solution to that problem for us. You know what it is? It’s to pray for those who mistreat you! Now before you get excited, Jesus isn’t talking at us praying for our enemy to get run over by a truck. He’s not talking at us praying for revenge upon our enemies.
He’s referring to us praying for their hearts to be changed. You see, too often we waste our time dealing with symptoms instead of dealing with the cause. For example, if I stay up late and don’t get much sleep I typically have a headache and can be a little irritable. So I’ll try to take care of the problem by staying away from loud noises and taking aspirin. But all I’m doing is treating the symptoms.
What I really need to do is just go to bed earlier and that’ll eliminate my problems plus the medication. And typically we do the same thing with our enemies. We see them being rude to us. We see them doing things they know will make us upset. And we deal with the problem by yelling at them or by ignoring them. But to respond in that manner is to only deal with the symptoms of the problem. The best thing we can do is to pray for them. To pray that God will deal with their heart and bring change. To pray that God will deal with our heart not to be so irritated by them.
Your prayers for your enemies can actually serve as a tool to keep you from being destroyed by bitterness and anger. And your prayers can also serve as a net to salvage you from being controlled by your feelings.
ILLUS: There was a bridge that was being but construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths.
-Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell, but the net saved their lives. The net allowed them to move on in their work with no fear and worry.
Prayer is just like that net! It keeps us from going over the edge in anger. Communication with God can take the sting out of our hatred and anger towards people. That’s good to know because it’s in this section of Scripture we see one of the hardest commands Jesus gives us…to love our enemies. It’s so hard to do but we’ve been called to do it because that’s what Jesus has done for us.
Do you realize it’s in our nature to be at odds with God; to be His enemy? But in spite of this fact, Jesus has sought to love us anyway. Romans 5: 8“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
You want your life to be better? You want to get people’s attention? Then simply love people; love ALL people whether they be your friends or enemies. Ephesians 4: 32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
Conclusion: The question for me and you today is: How are we going to respond to our enemies?” If we’re followers of Jesus we’ve been given 3 responses to have towards our enemies: 1st, do good to those who hate you. 2nd, bless those who curse you. And finally, pray for those who mistreat you.
Now let me ask you a question. Can you think of someone who’s mistreated you? Someone who’s done you wrong? If you can, put into practice what we’ve talked at today. I know that sounds impossible and I want you to know it is, in your own power. But with God’s involvement, all things are possible. If someone at work is always smarting off to you, respond to them tomorrow by giving them a word of encouragement.
If one of your family members says hateful things to you, start praying that God will heal their heart. And pray for the Lord to allow love to well up in your heart for that family member. Ask God to show you ways you can demonstrate love to your enemies.
Remember, a kind word turns away wrath. But most importantly, loving your enemies demonstrates in a powerful way that you belong to Jesus Christ.
Twelve Ways to Be Transformed by the Renewing of Our Mind
The Scriptures were not given for our information, but for our transformation.
Romans 12:1-3 KJV ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
1. RESURRENDER - Renewal begins by offering up our whole body, soul, mind and spirit to the Lord. Luke 10:27 tells us, “And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind…” It takes a conscious effort to present oneself to the Lord by disciplining ourselves for godliness. Paul urges us to be present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Every day we are required to re-surrender, re-submit and realign our mind, will and emotions with the purposes of God. Set aside at least fifteen minutes every morning to worship, pray and read the Bible and to allow the Lord speak to you about how He is worthy of your re-surrendering yourself to Him every day.
2. REJOICE in the Lord always. Phil. 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Nehemiah 8:10, “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." When we find our strength through the joy of the Lord He renews our desire to please Him in all respects. By delighting in the Lord He gives us the desires of our hearts. Regardless of our circumstances His joy is transcendent over all disappointments, difficulties and discouragements.
3. REMEMBER the good things you have and are becoming in Christ. People who have forgotten the benefits of being in Christ tend to slip back in to mediocrity and self-destructive tendencies.
When we face difficulties, we sometimes forget God’s past faithfulness. We see only the detours and the dangerous path. But look back and you will also see the joy of victory, the challenge of the climb, and the presence of your traveling Companion who has promised never to leave you nor forsake you.
4. RECKON yourself as dead to old desires and be filled with the Spirit’s power, perspective and guidance. Too many people allow the old desires to be fed instead of feeding from the Spirit’s supernatural forces. Calculate all the benefits you have in Christ’s forgiveness, hope, faith and love. Compare these benefits with the empty promises offered by fleshly desires.
"He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
-Jim Elliot-
5. RECONSIDER all of the negative conditioning that has led you in the past and realize you need to reprogram your thinking to what is excellent, good, honorable, right, true, and worthy of praise. Without an effort to reconsider how our faulty assumptions affect our decision making we will tend to operate under the same old destructive thought patterns.
6. REPLACE what is fleshly with what is God’s word. Paul wrote, "Put away anger, jealousy, wrath, slander and clamor and put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other just as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:22-32). Learn how to replace whatever is prompted by fleshly tendencies with Spirit controlled scriptural principles. Let God’s word dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with songs and hymns and spiritual songs. “Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do, do it all in the name and the authority of Jesus" (Col. 3:16-17).
We need to teach, preach and exhort people with God’s word as it brings life back to those who are seemingly dead. Even if people are not attractive they still need the revival that God’s word brings to their souls.
- Paul Fritz-
7. REALIZE God’s will for your life is what is best in all situations. Many people think that they can discover the best pathways to follow on their own. By praying about everything we are apt to follow Paul’s advice and "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace of God that passes all comprehension will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7). People are not aware that God’s will is better than all human ways, our human perspectives and our human patterns of response. A full realization of God’s will is only made possible through prayerful petitions that allow the Spirit of God to work in and through us by His power. Prayerful people are better able to perceive what God wants to bring to life through and in their relationships, activities and ministries.
8. RECONCILE with those who are in conflict with you by addressing them as brothers or sisters. Paul writes, "I beseech you therefore, brethren." Even though Paul was a great apostle, he humbly addresses mean, unkind and uncaring people as brethren. He expresses affection, concern and kindness to those who are least deserving of it. Bless those who persecute you and pray for those who try to do you harm. Be liberal in your love with expressions of thankfulness, warmth and support for their needs as far as it is possible.
9. RESIST the conformity to the world. Know that the greatest enemy to renewal is conformity to the patterns of the world with its lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and boastful pride of life. If people provoke us we are not to lose our cool. We are not to be boastful, argumentative or rude when we are criticized. We are to not be divisive when we do not get our way. We are to not prematurely write people off because they do not measure up to our standards. The rule of the gospel is positive, not the politically correct mentality of going along to get along.
10. RECONSIDER the effects that renewal brings in leading us to the will of God. We will be given greater clarity, hope and fulfillment through the will of God which is good, acceptable and perfect. People who are in the will of God are healthier, more blessed and able to make the best out of the most adverse situations. They are maximizing their contributions for eternity. They will be promoted to positions of great responsibility not only in this life but also in the one to come. "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much “Luke. We will gain a greater sense of God’s favor and of those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. We will find ourselves living with greater love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. We will not fall into patterns of depression, anger or fear that our needs will not be met. We are over comers with good rather than victims of what is evil.
11. RECHARGE your batteries with His grace. Paul writes, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each of measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). God infuses new energy, vitality and ideas in to our mind when we are renewed by His word, His Spirit and the fellowship of other believers. Do not think you can go very long on self-charging of your spiritual batteries. We need the recharging of God’s grace given through the edification, encouragement and enrichment of other members of Christ’s body and their spiritual gifts.
12. RETHINK the best ways that you match your spiritual gifts with others who can best complement your own. Sometimes we need to experiment before we can find the best fit with our spiritual gifts in fellowships, relationships and ministries where God can maximize our usefulness. Some jobs, people or ministries may fit you at one period in your life but there may be a need for a change. Ask the Lord to reassign you to places, people and ministries where you can have the best fit with your gifts and the spiritual gifts, perspectives and talents of others.
The adventure of new life in Christ begins when the comfortable patterns of the old life are left behind.
The Power of your Tongue.
It seems that lately you can’t hardly turn on the television without hearing about some new development in the moral decay of the Pentecostal Church. More and more accusations are being hurled at pastors regarding sexual misconduct. In no way shape or form am I defending what these pastors allegedly did, but every time I hear of these things, my heart breaks in two. The reason being is because the eyes of the world are watching, and perhaps thinking,
