Introduction
Back in the 1970’s there were commercials for a little booklet called power for Living.
To be honest, I borrowed the title of this series from that little booklet.
I remember the commercials were usually played with an announcer making the pitch and a celebrity like Tom Landry giving some kind of endorsement.
As it turned out, the booklet was a copy of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was intended to give people real power for living.
As followers of Christ we have power for living but we have a real mortal enemy to that power which is our own attitude of doubt in the ability of God to keep us and bless us according to His will.
Describing the Biblical Text
Romans 8 is really a very important chapter in the Bible but here in the context of the book of Romans it is the climax of the doctrinal section of the book.
This chapter gives the essence of justification by Faith and this section puts it in the hands of a loving sovereign God.
So, where is there room to doubt that God loves us or cares for us?
Where is there room to doubt that God can and will take care of those for whom Jesus died and are now following Christ in the kingdom of God.
Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text. We can see that we have a passage of great comfort.
It is a passage of great wealth for the follower of Christ as it declarers an important truth for us.
All things work together for Good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Yet, this comfort is lost on so many followers of Jesus because we fail to view life with the eternal perspective that God is in control and our salvation has been His work from its beginning to its fulfillment.
We have been bought by the shed blood of Christ and the sight of God, that is not only adequate for salvation but it is that which has made our salvation complete in the eyes of God.
Life Application (thesis)
So, if our salvation would be seen as complete if viewed through the eyes of God, what can change that?
Is Jesus going to make an offering for us and then rescind it?
The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus died once for all.
The implication behind that statement is that Jesus did the work and completed the process.
The priests of the Old Testament had to repeatedly offer their sacrifices but the sacrifice of Jesus was once for all time.
Even on the cross He made the statement, “It is Finished.” To indicated that the atonement for sins was a done deal.
Since Jesus has therefore purchased us by His blood, what can take place to change or remove our standing with Him?
Since Jesus has purchased us, nothing can separate us from God.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we look at that idea this morning we are going to develop it in terms of factors in which we can take comfort knowing that God is keeping us.
The first factor is that we can take comfort in the providence of God.
One of the nicest feelings is to know that you don’t have anything to worry about. Several years ago, we had some family members give a gift of a vacation that was all inclusive. That means that everything was provided including meals and room cleanup and every thing. We had absolutely nothing to worry about. We could about our business each day and have fun and just show up at the restaurant at supper time and a meal would be ready for us. It was cool just to know that someone else was handling everything and that there was simply nothing to worry about.
As we look at verses 8:28-30, we are looking at 3 of my very favorite verses in the New Testament.
Why?
It is because these verses point out to us something very important.
In regards to our salvation, God handled it all.
Our salvation is simply a part of the providential plan of God that included some very important details in so far as we can see in this passage.
All things are working together because God’s providential purpose is fulfilled in our salvation.
Things are working for good to those who love God.
Those who love God are further defined as the one being called according to God’s purpose.
So everyone who is called according to God’s purpose loves Him.
Now, let’s look a little deeper into this passage
Verse 29 begins with the words, “For whom He did foreknow.”
This is the same group as the called that we find in verse 28.
If someone loves God and has been called according to His purpose, that same person was foreknown by God before the foundation of the world.
This is not a general type of knowledge either this is the knowledge that begins a relationship with God.
According to this passage, everyone that God has foreknown will become a follower of Jesus Christ.
We can see that in the following statement: For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.
This is important because it shows us that when God predestined us to salvation it was for the purpose of seeing us conformed to the image of Christ.
So, all those that God foreknows are predestined to be conformed to the image of His son.
This means that our salvation began in the mind of God and was determined by Him for the purpose of bringing us to Christlikeness.
Somehow, many followers of Jesus have gotten the idea that predestination is something that the church should avoid or something that is killing churches.
But, how can we avoid that which the Bible clearly teaches.
As a matter of fact, it should be encouraging to us that because we were predestined by God, we are secure in Him and what Christ accomplished for us on the cross.
There has also been the argument that believing in predestination would kill missions and evangelism.
I hope no one here believes that because that would be that William Carey the father of Modern missions couldn’t have been a missionary.
It would mean that James Petigru Boyce couldn’t have been the founder of Southern Seminary, the training ground of pastors and missionaries alike.
It would mean that Charles Spurgeon couldn’t have been the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, the greatest Baptist church in English History.
It would mean that Jonathan Edwards could not have been the greatest preacher in the Great Awakening.
All of these men had a very high view of the Sovereignty of God as it related to salvation.
We would call them Calvinists and much of their theology would have been informed by this very passage of scripture.
The next statement is telling: these whom He predestined, He also called
Remember how verse 28 is worded God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him who are the called according to his purpose.
The predestined are the called and they are called to conformity in Christ.
These whom He called, He also justified;
In other words, those foreknown, predestined, and called have done what?
They have exercised faith because justification or being made righteous with God is by faith or trusting Christ.
Then finally: and these whom He justified, He also glorified
Paul is writing as though our glory is already accomplished.
Think about it.
If we have been justified or declared righteous by Christ what can impede God’s glory?
There is nothing.
So if God has foreknown us, then he has glorified us in Christ as well.
So, in the Providence of God, there is great comfort in knowing that if we have called of God we are secure in Him until the day we are glorified in Christ
A second factor that we see here is
We can be comforted in the protection of God.
Look at the next several verses.
31-37
My brother in law had gone out to buy some gas and was run off the road by another car. The other car kept driving and he went home too. Later that night, the police showed up at his door and arrested him for causing an accident and leaving the scene. At the trial every thing that the other driver said and the policeman tried to prove was disproved and my brother in law was cleared and the charges were expunged from his record.
Who can bring the charge when the sin is expunged or removed from our record by God?
No one can bring a charge against us because God has been for us from before the foundation of the world when he foreknew us and will be for us in eternity when we are resting in His glory.
We rest in his protection now because if God purposed to save us and to have the blood of Christ shed on our behalf, then the point that Paul is making here is that nothing can come against that which God has secured for his own glory and conformity to the image of His son.
And, there is a third factor that we must see here.
And that is we are comforted in the promise of God.
Look at verses 38-39.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Think about that.
He foreknew us by His grace because He loves us.
He predestined us by His grace because He loves us.
He called us by his grace because He loves us.
He justified us by His grace because he loves us.
He glorified us by His grace because He loves us.
God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Everything that God has done to secure our salvation from eternity past to eternity future was done because He loves us.
And because of what he has done, nothing can separate us from that love.
Do you know the love of Christ today?
Are you feeling that call this morning to become a follower of Jesus Christ?
He shed his blood on the cross to give you an eternity with God.
He has taken away the sin that so desperately left you condemned and has replaced it with a perfect righteousness conforming you to the image of His son.
Won’t you receive Christ and follow Him today?
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Life is Great -- Pierced to the Heart -- Acts 2:37-41
Introduction
Most of you know that I like to shoot. I like to hunt and I like to see bullet holes in targets. It takes a several things to be a decent shot. First of all, you have got to be steady. I prefer to prop on something that is stable just so I can keep the gun steady but when I can’t, I use a certain breathing rhythm that enables me to be steady on my hand. Next, you got to be smooth. In other words, when you are ready to shoot, you can’t be herky jerky or yank back the trigger. Just a squeeze and the shot fires. The third thing you need to have is aim. You have to line up your eye with two sights on the barrel of the gun. You have got to keep your eye on the target and when you do that, it is sweet to see that bullet hit the mark.
Following Jesus is very much like that steady smooth and keeping your eye on one thing and that is Him.
Describing the Biblical Text
We are looking at the end of a sermon.
There is no invitation playing and yet there are people responding.
No one has made an altar call and we see people responding.
As a matter of fact, they are more than just responding they are down right under serious conviction.
The text tells us they were pierced to the heart.
This carries the connotation of a violent stabbing.
There is a difference between getting a shot and then being punctured by a nail.
As Peter preached this sermon, people’s hearts were shaken and they were ready to repent.
Peter’s response was simple.
Repent and be baptized.
We see an inner response and an out sign of that response.
Repentance is what we do after the Holy Spirit has regenerated our hearts and turned us toward Christ.
Repentance is the natural response to the salvation which has come and these people were pierced to the heart.
They were ripe for the turning that would take place in their lives.
Narrate the Contextual application
In this passage wed see something very basic to Christianity and it is something so basic that we can never lose sight of it.
People respond to the preaching of the gospel.
There were a bookoo of people in Jerusalem because of the Pentecost Feast
There were plenty of people to hear Peter’s sermon.
Peter made a cultural appeal and he made a spiritual appeal and people responded.
There were 3000 added on that day.
Can you imagine 3000 people coming to Christ at one time?
Can you imagine the baptismal service that it would take to accommodate all those baptisms?
Yowley!!
All that happened because the people came under conviction.
When was the last time any of us came under conviction for something?
When was the last time God moved us to the altar in a time of genuine repentance?
When have we seen people coming to Jesus in droves like in this passage?
Something very special happened to that crowd of people and you know what, we can seek that very same thing here.
I think if we are diligent to pray, we will see it happen here.
Revival could break out and people could get saved and people could simply love each other and we could be the growing vibrant fellowship of High Point.
Life Application (thesis)
Based on this text and what we see happening here, I want to challenge us to do something between now and October 19
We need to pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit on our Revival services.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This means we will have two goals as we approach the meetings in two weeks.
The first goal is that we must make sure that our Revival is ALL ABOUT Jesus.
When I was a kid, I used to drink the coffee that my mom would fix for me and she only fixed it on the weekends when she cooked breakfast. She would always give me coffee that was about the color of a pair of khakis and that was so sweet you could put it on pancakes. When I got to High School, I started reading Louis L’amour books which are cowboy novels. In all those books, the hero would always drink coffee from a pot on a campfire and always drank his coffee black. He would throw the grounds on the ground, say something profound and either go to bed or ride away.
You know what I had to do. I had to start drinking black coffee. At first, yuck, now I don’t want it any other way unless it has been on the burner for several hours and is thick enough to paint chalkboards. Nothing but coffee in the cup is what I want.
Nothing but Jesus in the church is what we need.
If we look at the sermon that Peter Preaches here, we see Hi.
We see him talking about Jesus all through the sermon that he gives.
But, what else is there.
When we start diluting Jesus with other things, we begin to see the Gospel lose its effectiveness in the church and in the world we are trying to reach.
When we back our eyes up into the sermon of peter, we see him preaching Christ and Christ alone.
Even in the New Testament though, we see people trying to mix the message of Jesus with other stuff
The entire book of Colossians was written to keep the gospel pure as was Galatians.
Though they faced different pollutions, the idea is essentially the same.
The Gospel of John was written to keep the Gospel of Jesus from being diluted by the cult of knowledge or the Gnostics as we would see them called.
It is so easy to take our preferences or our traditions and to try to dilute the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
That is why almost every cult and every false religion has at its base a works based merit system for getting to heaven.
What about churches today?
I think we could probably find churches today that do not preach Christ alone in order to enter the kingdom.
What is funny is that they would deny it the whole time.
There are many churches that share the gospel in order to produce conformity.
So, if you believe in Jesus but then fail to conform to our standards, then your salvation is probably not legitimate.
Steve Taylor, a Christian Recording artist from the early 1980’s recorded a song called, “I Want to Be a Clone.”
I'd gone through so much other stuff that walking down the aisle was tough
But now I know it's not enough
I want to be a clone
I asked the Lord into my heart
They said that was the way to start but now you've got to play the part
I want to be a clone
Be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight
Cloneliness is next to Godliness, right?
I'm grateful that they show the way' cause I could never know the way to serve him on my own
I want to be a clone
They told me that I'd fall away unless I followed what they say
Who needs the Bible anyway?
I want to be a clone
Their language it was new to me but Christianese got through to me
Now I can speak it fluently
I want to be a clone
This is the same thing that Dude from Charlotte says on his radio network every day.
You have to have a church that conforms to his standards or you are not a Christian church.
His message is Jesus plus the right kind of music.
Just ask David Jeremiah.
So, we cannot let anything dilute or pollute the gospel message.
If we come here in two weeks looking for something other than Jesus, there isn’t any way that we can expect revival to come.
Another thing we need to consider is that we need to make sure that Jesus has made a difference in our lives to make a difference in the lives of others.
What do we mean when we say that Jesus has made a difference in our lives?
Does it mean that we have assumed a religious posture in front of friends and family?
Does it mean that we tithe?
Does it mean that we don’t swear at the driver in the little red car that just missed you when tried to change lanes and apply mascara?
It could mean that but in reality, it mans that you are living your life for one thing and one thing only and that is to glorify Jesus.
We have probably heard it1000 times.
It’s all about Jesus.
When we hear it, does it resonate with us?
I want us to consider this.
Just a simple, “Why am I here this morning?”
Our answer to that question will speak volumes.
Because I am supposed to be is a terrible answer.
It is the right thing to do is a terrible answer.
Because I always come is a horrible answer.
This has been my church for years is terrible.
There is only one answer.
Because I love Jesus so much that nothing could keep me away.
It is time for us to be on our knees bowed before our father in heaven begging for forgiveness for allowing something other than Jesus to reign in our lives.
We should probably do the same thing for our church.
Life is great if your life is in Christ, it is fantastic.
Jesus is all you need.
He is all you need for fulfillment, joy and peace.
Won’t you reach to Him this morning and say, Jesus you are all I want, you are all I need.
Today and forever, you are my life.
Most of you know that I like to shoot. I like to hunt and I like to see bullet holes in targets. It takes a several things to be a decent shot. First of all, you have got to be steady. I prefer to prop on something that is stable just so I can keep the gun steady but when I can’t, I use a certain breathing rhythm that enables me to be steady on my hand. Next, you got to be smooth. In other words, when you are ready to shoot, you can’t be herky jerky or yank back the trigger. Just a squeeze and the shot fires. The third thing you need to have is aim. You have to line up your eye with two sights on the barrel of the gun. You have got to keep your eye on the target and when you do that, it is sweet to see that bullet hit the mark.
Following Jesus is very much like that steady smooth and keeping your eye on one thing and that is Him.
Describing the Biblical Text
We are looking at the end of a sermon.
There is no invitation playing and yet there are people responding.
No one has made an altar call and we see people responding.
As a matter of fact, they are more than just responding they are down right under serious conviction.
The text tells us they were pierced to the heart.
This carries the connotation of a violent stabbing.
There is a difference between getting a shot and then being punctured by a nail.
As Peter preached this sermon, people’s hearts were shaken and they were ready to repent.
Peter’s response was simple.
Repent and be baptized.
We see an inner response and an out sign of that response.
Repentance is what we do after the Holy Spirit has regenerated our hearts and turned us toward Christ.
Repentance is the natural response to the salvation which has come and these people were pierced to the heart.
They were ripe for the turning that would take place in their lives.
Narrate the Contextual application
In this passage wed see something very basic to Christianity and it is something so basic that we can never lose sight of it.
People respond to the preaching of the gospel.
There were a bookoo of people in Jerusalem because of the Pentecost Feast
There were plenty of people to hear Peter’s sermon.
Peter made a cultural appeal and he made a spiritual appeal and people responded.
There were 3000 added on that day.
Can you imagine 3000 people coming to Christ at one time?
Can you imagine the baptismal service that it would take to accommodate all those baptisms?
Yowley!!
All that happened because the people came under conviction.
When was the last time any of us came under conviction for something?
When was the last time God moved us to the altar in a time of genuine repentance?
When have we seen people coming to Jesus in droves like in this passage?
Something very special happened to that crowd of people and you know what, we can seek that very same thing here.
I think if we are diligent to pray, we will see it happen here.
Revival could break out and people could get saved and people could simply love each other and we could be the growing vibrant fellowship of High Point.
Life Application (thesis)
Based on this text and what we see happening here, I want to challenge us to do something between now and October 19
We need to pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit on our Revival services.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This means we will have two goals as we approach the meetings in two weeks.
The first goal is that we must make sure that our Revival is ALL ABOUT Jesus.
When I was a kid, I used to drink the coffee that my mom would fix for me and she only fixed it on the weekends when she cooked breakfast. She would always give me coffee that was about the color of a pair of khakis and that was so sweet you could put it on pancakes. When I got to High School, I started reading Louis L’amour books which are cowboy novels. In all those books, the hero would always drink coffee from a pot on a campfire and always drank his coffee black. He would throw the grounds on the ground, say something profound and either go to bed or ride away.
You know what I had to do. I had to start drinking black coffee. At first, yuck, now I don’t want it any other way unless it has been on the burner for several hours and is thick enough to paint chalkboards. Nothing but coffee in the cup is what I want.
Nothing but Jesus in the church is what we need.
If we look at the sermon that Peter Preaches here, we see Hi.
We see him talking about Jesus all through the sermon that he gives.
But, what else is there.
When we start diluting Jesus with other things, we begin to see the Gospel lose its effectiveness in the church and in the world we are trying to reach.
When we back our eyes up into the sermon of peter, we see him preaching Christ and Christ alone.
Even in the New Testament though, we see people trying to mix the message of Jesus with other stuff
The entire book of Colossians was written to keep the gospel pure as was Galatians.
Though they faced different pollutions, the idea is essentially the same.
The Gospel of John was written to keep the Gospel of Jesus from being diluted by the cult of knowledge or the Gnostics as we would see them called.
It is so easy to take our preferences or our traditions and to try to dilute the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
That is why almost every cult and every false religion has at its base a works based merit system for getting to heaven.
What about churches today?
I think we could probably find churches today that do not preach Christ alone in order to enter the kingdom.
What is funny is that they would deny it the whole time.
There are many churches that share the gospel in order to produce conformity.
So, if you believe in Jesus but then fail to conform to our standards, then your salvation is probably not legitimate.
Steve Taylor, a Christian Recording artist from the early 1980’s recorded a song called, “I Want to Be a Clone.”
I'd gone through so much other stuff that walking down the aisle was tough
But now I know it's not enough
I want to be a clone
I asked the Lord into my heart
They said that was the way to start but now you've got to play the part
I want to be a clone
Be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight
Cloneliness is next to Godliness, right?
I'm grateful that they show the way' cause I could never know the way to serve him on my own
I want to be a clone
They told me that I'd fall away unless I followed what they say
Who needs the Bible anyway?
I want to be a clone
Their language it was new to me but Christianese got through to me
Now I can speak it fluently
I want to be a clone
This is the same thing that Dude from Charlotte says on his radio network every day.
You have to have a church that conforms to his standards or you are not a Christian church.
His message is Jesus plus the right kind of music.
Just ask David Jeremiah.
So, we cannot let anything dilute or pollute the gospel message.
If we come here in two weeks looking for something other than Jesus, there isn’t any way that we can expect revival to come.
Another thing we need to consider is that we need to make sure that Jesus has made a difference in our lives to make a difference in the lives of others.
What do we mean when we say that Jesus has made a difference in our lives?
Does it mean that we have assumed a religious posture in front of friends and family?
Does it mean that we tithe?
Does it mean that we don’t swear at the driver in the little red car that just missed you when tried to change lanes and apply mascara?
It could mean that but in reality, it mans that you are living your life for one thing and one thing only and that is to glorify Jesus.
We have probably heard it1000 times.
It’s all about Jesus.
When we hear it, does it resonate with us?
I want us to consider this.
Just a simple, “Why am I here this morning?”
Our answer to that question will speak volumes.
Because I am supposed to be is a terrible answer.
It is the right thing to do is a terrible answer.
Because I always come is a horrible answer.
This has been my church for years is terrible.
There is only one answer.
Because I love Jesus so much that nothing could keep me away.
It is time for us to be on our knees bowed before our father in heaven begging for forgiveness for allowing something other than Jesus to reign in our lives.
We should probably do the same thing for our church.
Life is great if your life is in Christ, it is fantastic.
Jesus is all you need.
He is all you need for fulfillment, joy and peace.
Won’t you reach to Him this morning and say, Jesus you are all I want, you are all I need.
Today and forever, you are my life.
Monday, October 01, 2007
CROSSroads -- The CROSSroad of Concern -- Nehemiah 1
Introduction
I don’t know haw many of you know much about the Waller name. To be honest, I don’t know that much. But let me tell you a little of what I do know. There are basically two strains of Wallers in America. The first and most numerous is the British strain. The second and not so numerous is the Dutch strain. My family came offer from Holland so we are of the Dutch variety. But even with all the political turmoil in the Netherlands, I really don’t pay that close attention to what goes on over there even though they are “My people.”
That is not what we see in Nehemiah.
Describing the Biblical Text
We see our main character entertaining guests, namely his brother and others from Jerusalem.
It is amazing how such an innocent inquiry could have led him to such a heartfelt response.
“How are the folks back home?” was the question.
The answer: They are in bitter distress.
They are the shame or reproach of the land.
The walls of the city are ruined and gates are burned.
We see responses on several levels here.
They are emotionally whipped.
Their Character is defeated.
They cannot defend themselves.
There was no good news out of Jerusalem and it broke Nehemiah’s heart.
Narrate the Contextual application
In this text, Nehemiah had come to understand the idea of calling.
He had come to a place where he saw that ultimately his burden would become his mission.
Over the last several weeks, we have seen the idea of being called by God and what hat could and should mean in our lives.
I want to summarize the idea of biblical calling into one statement that I read in a leadership manual.
A call from God always is designed to move people from where they are to where God intends them to be.
God’s call to Abe created a covenant people.
God’s call to Isaiah readied a people for destruction and captivity.
God’s call to Jonah turned a pagan city to God.
God’s call to Simon, Andrew, John and James was the embryonic formation of the church.
Now we see the call to Nehemiah.
Yet, this call is different from all the rest in the sense that we don’t see a thus saith the Lord moment.
We don’t see God speaking to Nehemiah and telling him to go anywhere or to do anything.
But, we do see something else.
We see the burden of a man so intense that it drives him to his knees and it brings to the place of repentance but not for his sins, but for the sins of Judah.
He repents on behalf of his people.
His heart is so moved by the report of Jerusalem’s situation that he finds his knees.
Suddenly, Nehemiah went from being a casual inquirer to being a concerned leader.
Life Application (thesis)
As followers of Christ, we have been called.
Romans 8 makes that abundantly clear.
We would look at Matthew 28 and see a commission to make disciples through three things – going, baptizing, and teaching.
Everything we do as a church actually revolves around those three things.
So as you sit here this morning, you will be looking to answer several questions
1) Am I a goer, a witness, or a teacher?
2) How have I affected the moving of people from where they were to where God wanted them to be?
3) Do I have the burden to do what I need to do to fulfill God’s calling in my lie?
Hopefully your heart will know the answers to those questions as you leave this place this morning.
What do we then see about Nehemiah’s calling?
A calling from God requires that we concerned about the object of the calling.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
How does that happen?
We see that it happened in Nehemiah’s case and he fell to his knees.
Nehemiah suddenly saw people in a different way.
This would be the first thing that we need to see this morning.
I have to see people the way Jesus sees them.
Grinch has a heart change
No longer hated whos
Think about this.
Nehemiah is praying for people that he never met.
These are people a thousand miles away and yet his heart is burdened.
He is weeping and is emotionally distraught over people he does not even know.
He is weeping tears for the souls of those people.
Nehemiah was a well to do man.
He was in the court of the Persian Kind and he had some authority and some power.
He had reached a station in life where he could be comfortable to live out his days and never have any worries.
Yet Nehemiah had not become jaded by cynicism and he had not become self-absorbed.
He had a legitimate concern for others and he wanted to see his fellow Jews as well off as he was.
The home folk were not doing well.
Hanani shared some pretty dismal news with Nehemiah.
First of all he described them as being in great distress.
What was being said was that their lives were nothing but misery.
Some of us can probably relate to that in some measure.
You lose your job or your family falls apart or your life for some unknown reason takes a turn to the south.
Misery happens to people
For Jerusalem, it was citywide.
Then Hanani dropped another bomb on Nehemiah.
They are in reproach.
They have no standing in the land.
Judah had become the laughing stock of the Middle East.
The city is in ruin and the plunderers can come and go at will.
There was really no good news to report which for Nehemiah was probably surprising since Persia had released the Jews from their captivity.
A number of the captives including priests had already returned and yet there was still anguish among the people.
I wonder how many of us when we look at the world around us see great distress.
I think all too often followers of Jesus are blind to the spiritual blindness that is all around us.
We look at people who are successful and beautiful and somewhere within ourselves, we begin to envy them.
Or we look at the gangs and the druggies and we go to great lengths to avoid those kind of people.
Or, we look at the people around us every day.
They are nice people. We work with them. We see their kids at basketball or football practice and they seem okay.
But, they are in great distress and they are in reproach.
If we see these people through the eyes of Jesus, our hearts would be moved.
All of a sudden you realize these people are not where God wants them to be and your heart cries out to God.
Then it happens. You come to the conclusion that you have not done all you can do to move the pretty people or the thugs any closer to Jesus.
But wait it has to start someplace doesn’t it.
It starts exactly where Nehemiah started.
Look at verse 4
Nehemiah went to God in Prayer.
This is our second point this morning.
I have to spend time in prayer for the people that Jesus loves.
That is no secret formula.
It is basic to the lives we ought to be living as followers of Jesus Christ.
But we don’t pray like we should.
Our prayers become wish lists and sick lists and we fail to ask God to make us useful to Him.
Our Prayer should be to be used by God because we are all goers.
Life takes us places every day but are we concerned with Jesus’ concern for the people we meet?
Nehemiah, when he prayed for the people of Jerusalem, he did so with some very poignant recognitions.
The first was that they had forsaken their covenant standing with God.
Nehemiah repented on their behalf.
“How does that work?” you might be asking.
Romans 9:1 gives us that answer.
The crossroad of concern is reached and the road achieved when we cease to be concerned for ourselves and start being concerned for others.
Our prayer lives become focused on how we can connect others to Christ rather than how we can be connected health, wealth, and happiness.
God does not want us to be happy, he wants us to be content in Him.
He wants us to be burdened for the things that burden Him and that only happens when we are contrite in prayer before Him.
Jesus said we are to love our neighbors as ourselves which is the second great commandment.
CS Lewis made the observation that every mortal human being is actually immortal.
They will either be an eternal glory for God or they will be in everlasting torment.
I would ask you to come to the altar this morning and pray for the calling to keep people from eternal torment.
There is distress all around.
Eternal Reproach faces most of the people we know.
Do we care enough to do something about it?
I don’t know haw many of you know much about the Waller name. To be honest, I don’t know that much. But let me tell you a little of what I do know. There are basically two strains of Wallers in America. The first and most numerous is the British strain. The second and not so numerous is the Dutch strain. My family came offer from Holland so we are of the Dutch variety. But even with all the political turmoil in the Netherlands, I really don’t pay that close attention to what goes on over there even though they are “My people.”
That is not what we see in Nehemiah.
Describing the Biblical Text
We see our main character entertaining guests, namely his brother and others from Jerusalem.
It is amazing how such an innocent inquiry could have led him to such a heartfelt response.
“How are the folks back home?” was the question.
The answer: They are in bitter distress.
They are the shame or reproach of the land.
The walls of the city are ruined and gates are burned.
We see responses on several levels here.
They are emotionally whipped.
Their Character is defeated.
They cannot defend themselves.
There was no good news out of Jerusalem and it broke Nehemiah’s heart.
Narrate the Contextual application
In this text, Nehemiah had come to understand the idea of calling.
He had come to a place where he saw that ultimately his burden would become his mission.
Over the last several weeks, we have seen the idea of being called by God and what hat could and should mean in our lives.
I want to summarize the idea of biblical calling into one statement that I read in a leadership manual.
A call from God always is designed to move people from where they are to where God intends them to be.
God’s call to Abe created a covenant people.
God’s call to Isaiah readied a people for destruction and captivity.
God’s call to Jonah turned a pagan city to God.
God’s call to Simon, Andrew, John and James was the embryonic formation of the church.
Now we see the call to Nehemiah.
Yet, this call is different from all the rest in the sense that we don’t see a thus saith the Lord moment.
We don’t see God speaking to Nehemiah and telling him to go anywhere or to do anything.
But, we do see something else.
We see the burden of a man so intense that it drives him to his knees and it brings to the place of repentance but not for his sins, but for the sins of Judah.
He repents on behalf of his people.
His heart is so moved by the report of Jerusalem’s situation that he finds his knees.
Suddenly, Nehemiah went from being a casual inquirer to being a concerned leader.
Life Application (thesis)
As followers of Christ, we have been called.
Romans 8 makes that abundantly clear.
We would look at Matthew 28 and see a commission to make disciples through three things – going, baptizing, and teaching.
Everything we do as a church actually revolves around those three things.
So as you sit here this morning, you will be looking to answer several questions
1) Am I a goer, a witness, or a teacher?
2) How have I affected the moving of people from where they were to where God wanted them to be?
3) Do I have the burden to do what I need to do to fulfill God’s calling in my lie?
Hopefully your heart will know the answers to those questions as you leave this place this morning.
What do we then see about Nehemiah’s calling?
A calling from God requires that we concerned about the object of the calling.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
How does that happen?
We see that it happened in Nehemiah’s case and he fell to his knees.
Nehemiah suddenly saw people in a different way.
This would be the first thing that we need to see this morning.
I have to see people the way Jesus sees them.
Grinch has a heart change
No longer hated whos
Think about this.
Nehemiah is praying for people that he never met.
These are people a thousand miles away and yet his heart is burdened.
He is weeping and is emotionally distraught over people he does not even know.
He is weeping tears for the souls of those people.
Nehemiah was a well to do man.
He was in the court of the Persian Kind and he had some authority and some power.
He had reached a station in life where he could be comfortable to live out his days and never have any worries.
Yet Nehemiah had not become jaded by cynicism and he had not become self-absorbed.
He had a legitimate concern for others and he wanted to see his fellow Jews as well off as he was.
The home folk were not doing well.
Hanani shared some pretty dismal news with Nehemiah.
First of all he described them as being in great distress.
What was being said was that their lives were nothing but misery.
Some of us can probably relate to that in some measure.
You lose your job or your family falls apart or your life for some unknown reason takes a turn to the south.
Misery happens to people
For Jerusalem, it was citywide.
Then Hanani dropped another bomb on Nehemiah.
They are in reproach.
They have no standing in the land.
Judah had become the laughing stock of the Middle East.
The city is in ruin and the plunderers can come and go at will.
There was really no good news to report which for Nehemiah was probably surprising since Persia had released the Jews from their captivity.
A number of the captives including priests had already returned and yet there was still anguish among the people.
I wonder how many of us when we look at the world around us see great distress.
I think all too often followers of Jesus are blind to the spiritual blindness that is all around us.
We look at people who are successful and beautiful and somewhere within ourselves, we begin to envy them.
Or we look at the gangs and the druggies and we go to great lengths to avoid those kind of people.
Or, we look at the people around us every day.
They are nice people. We work with them. We see their kids at basketball or football practice and they seem okay.
But, they are in great distress and they are in reproach.
If we see these people through the eyes of Jesus, our hearts would be moved.
All of a sudden you realize these people are not where God wants them to be and your heart cries out to God.
Then it happens. You come to the conclusion that you have not done all you can do to move the pretty people or the thugs any closer to Jesus.
But wait it has to start someplace doesn’t it.
It starts exactly where Nehemiah started.
Look at verse 4
Nehemiah went to God in Prayer.
This is our second point this morning.
I have to spend time in prayer for the people that Jesus loves.
That is no secret formula.
It is basic to the lives we ought to be living as followers of Jesus Christ.
But we don’t pray like we should.
Our prayers become wish lists and sick lists and we fail to ask God to make us useful to Him.
Our Prayer should be to be used by God because we are all goers.
Life takes us places every day but are we concerned with Jesus’ concern for the people we meet?
Nehemiah, when he prayed for the people of Jerusalem, he did so with some very poignant recognitions.
The first was that they had forsaken their covenant standing with God.
Nehemiah repented on their behalf.
“How does that work?” you might be asking.
Romans 9:1 gives us that answer.
The crossroad of concern is reached and the road achieved when we cease to be concerned for ourselves and start being concerned for others.
Our prayer lives become focused on how we can connect others to Christ rather than how we can be connected health, wealth, and happiness.
God does not want us to be happy, he wants us to be content in Him.
He wants us to be burdened for the things that burden Him and that only happens when we are contrite in prayer before Him.
Jesus said we are to love our neighbors as ourselves which is the second great commandment.
CS Lewis made the observation that every mortal human being is actually immortal.
They will either be an eternal glory for God or they will be in everlasting torment.
I would ask you to come to the altar this morning and pray for the calling to keep people from eternal torment.
There is distress all around.
Eternal Reproach faces most of the people we know.
Do we care enough to do something about it?
CROSSroads -- The CROSSroad of Readiness -- Matthew 4:18-22
Introduction
Back in the late 1990’s, I used to watch a little CMT and got hooked on the Dixie Chicks. Later on they did the music for the movie “Runaway Bride” and one of the songs was “Ready to Run” The song’s implication was that the girl walking down the aisle was not ready to marry but ready to run from the marriage and have some more fun before tying that knot.
I think that we all want to be ready to have a little fun. It doesn’t take much to pull me away from something and to get me going down the path of jocularity.
Describing the Biblical Text
As we look at this text this morning we see 4 fishermen and a number of people hard at work trying to make a living.
Yet as they were trying to make their living, they were confronted by a calling to follow Jesus and to serve Him.
Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee which makes some sense considering that his ministry headquarters was in Capernaum.
So, as He passed through a fishing village the boats were in the water and some were fishing and some were preparing to fish but Jesus was not interested in Fish; He was interested in people.
So he called the fishermen from the life of catching fish and mending nets to a life of reaching people and building the kingdom of God.
Narrate the Contextual application
For the last 3 weeks, we have been looking at people who were called to follow God and to serve Him in ministry.
Some followed willingly and some did not.
Some were indued with vision and some were not but in every case, God clearly expressed to the called what they were to do.
This calling is really no different but in this case, there was three years of schooling involved to see how to serve and what to do.
Another thing that we might point out at this point was that we see the calling of Jesus’ inner circle.
Peter, James, and John were His confidants and those who received the special instruction and training.
Andrew was the one who brought people to Jesus to become followers.
But as we look at the text, we see that they quickly responded to the call of Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
The question we need to ask this morning is this.
If we are called to serve Jesus how quickly would we respond and how willingly would we go?
Several months ago, we had a message in this service that called on us to respond if we were willing to do whatever it takes to see this church grow to reach the next generation for Christ.
I wrote the respondents to that message down and prayed for them.
That list is in my office at home and they are waiting to be called to a task and I am praying for the right task or that Jesus would just call them into service.
But, since they came forward that Sunday, I believe they are ready for that calling and they are looking for that whatever it takes moment.
A calling from God requires us to be ready at all times.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Being ready at all times, that would be hard wouldn’t it?
When we think of people who are ready at all times, we think of people with expectations.
Several weeks ago when we looked at availability, I told you about my wife’s obstetrician who made himself available to us by giving us his home phone number. When we think of readiness we would expect that he would be ready to be called at a moments notice when a mom goes into labor.
How about a police officer who is on duty, He might be sitting in a parking lot writing the night’s reports when the radio blares out his unit number and he has to be ready to roll into whatever situation he might find at the address given by the dispatcher. My dad was a policeman and he said that he did mind any call except on and that was the domestic disturbance. But he still had to be ready.
So we need to be ready for Jesus to call us into his service and we can take a couple of steps to make sure that we have come to that place of readiness.
I cannot allow my life to distract me from hearing the voice of God.
I think of all the distractions that we can have, life is the most significant.
Life is something that often times we don’t notice happening around us yet it is always happening and sometimes it keeps us from seeing things that are truly important.
There was a song called 2 Sets of Joneses by Big Tent Revival that came out in the mid 90’s.
Here is a quote of a verse from that song.
Evelyn's daddy was proud of young Rothschild,
He worked the late hours to be number one
Just newly weds and their marriage got rocky,
He's flying to Dallas; she's having a son.
In looking at our text, we see two families involved in the family business of fishing.
Simon Peter and Andrew bar Jonah were actually casting the nets seeking a catch of fish in the Sea of Galilee.
They were hard at work on their jobs.
Think about our own jobs when we are hard at work. On Thursdays, I am spending most of the day in the office working to get Sunday’s sermon finished so my Friday and Saturday can be spent with my family. Sheila screens my calls on Thursdays a little more carefully for that reason.
But here we see two men in the boat actually pitching the nets for the fish and Jesus says follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
So they rowed to the shore, actually, it doesn’t say they were in a boat. They may have been pulling a seine.
They rolled up the nets; they moored the boat, kissed their wives goodbye and left.
Bonnnnnk
Nope, not the way it happened
Look at verse 20, “immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”
There were no meeting no, decisions about where to leave the net, no goodbye kisses.
They just left and followed Jesus.
We move to the next situation.
These boys are not fishing but they are in the boat.
They are mending or repairing their net.
What else do we see about their situation that is significant?
There is some money involved here since the Zebedee family had a boat and they had something else we don’t see with Peter and Andrew: Servants
In this case we see them not only leaving jobs to follow Jesus, they are leaving the family fortune.
Again, where is the discussion?
Where is the debate?
It’s just not there.
Once the will of God became clear, the debate was over.
That is the way it should always be; our determination is made the very second that the voice of the Lord is discerned.
But what gets in the way.
Life
Things like money and family and careers and homes and property and tradition and a myriad of other things.
But, I think there is an even bigger problem than simply ignoring the Lord.
I think a lot of us really don’t know what we are trying to hear or what we are listening for.
To be honest, there are too many people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ that would forsake Him instantly if it came down to their inconvenience or their simply not getting their way.
I think the reason for that is that too many people who claim to followers of Jesus Christ are merely church members and not followers of Jesus Christ at all.
This would bring us to our next step.
I must seek to be familiar with the voice of God so I can hear it when he calls me.
If we are going to hear the voice of God, we have to know Him first.
I would like you to roll the pages of your Bible to John 1:35.
This is a very intriguing passage because of who we see here.
We see John the Baptist with two of His disciples, Andrew and one other. Now who could that have been?
Hang on and we will postulate a logical guess.
John the Baptist is baptizing in the Jordan River and here comes Jesus and John proclaims him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Two of John’s followers are there and they hence desire to follow Jesus. We see Andrew introducing Jesus to Simon Peter and then to Philip.
So, we see here that Andrew and Peter knew Jesus from about the time of His baptism.
Now what about John and James?
You see, there is a second unnamed disciple of John the Baptist and I would postulate that this was John the disciple.
John the disciple who wrote the gospel of vv35, 37, 40
John makes sure that we know that there were two disciples of John the Baptist.
Later in the Gospel of John, the writer avoids naming himself by using clichés like “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
I honestly believe that John was with Andrew.
We also have one of the Zebedee brothers knowing Jesus as well.
How can we better recognize the voice of God than to know him?
How can we better understand God’s calling in our lives than to have a relationship with Him?
Jesus met our fishermen before he ever went to Galilee to call them into service.
Has Jesus ever met you?
Jesus said that his sheep hear His voice.
Would we hear his voice or would it become clouded behind fifty years of tradition?
Would the voice of Jesus be dulled by the fear of a budget shortfall?
I remember reading a joke in a Christian joke book that said this, “It says in our constitution and by laws that the will of God can only be overturned by a 2/3 vote.”
When we are listening for Christ in order to hear His voice, then nothing he says is too much for us or will be denied for any reason.
Do you know Christ through a personal relationship?
Or is it possible that you just know about Him because you have been in church all your life because that was just the right thing to do?
If we know Him, then we will hear His voice.
If we just know about Him then nothing he says will ever influence any decision that we make because we will never hear His voice.
And no matter what happens, we will never be ready to follow Him.
Back in the late 1990’s, I used to watch a little CMT and got hooked on the Dixie Chicks. Later on they did the music for the movie “Runaway Bride” and one of the songs was “Ready to Run” The song’s implication was that the girl walking down the aisle was not ready to marry but ready to run from the marriage and have some more fun before tying that knot.
I think that we all want to be ready to have a little fun. It doesn’t take much to pull me away from something and to get me going down the path of jocularity.
Describing the Biblical Text
As we look at this text this morning we see 4 fishermen and a number of people hard at work trying to make a living.
Yet as they were trying to make their living, they were confronted by a calling to follow Jesus and to serve Him.
Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee which makes some sense considering that his ministry headquarters was in Capernaum.
So, as He passed through a fishing village the boats were in the water and some were fishing and some were preparing to fish but Jesus was not interested in Fish; He was interested in people.
So he called the fishermen from the life of catching fish and mending nets to a life of reaching people and building the kingdom of God.
Narrate the Contextual application
For the last 3 weeks, we have been looking at people who were called to follow God and to serve Him in ministry.
Some followed willingly and some did not.
Some were indued with vision and some were not but in every case, God clearly expressed to the called what they were to do.
This calling is really no different but in this case, there was three years of schooling involved to see how to serve and what to do.
Another thing that we might point out at this point was that we see the calling of Jesus’ inner circle.
Peter, James, and John were His confidants and those who received the special instruction and training.
Andrew was the one who brought people to Jesus to become followers.
But as we look at the text, we see that they quickly responded to the call of Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
The question we need to ask this morning is this.
If we are called to serve Jesus how quickly would we respond and how willingly would we go?
Several months ago, we had a message in this service that called on us to respond if we were willing to do whatever it takes to see this church grow to reach the next generation for Christ.
I wrote the respondents to that message down and prayed for them.
That list is in my office at home and they are waiting to be called to a task and I am praying for the right task or that Jesus would just call them into service.
But, since they came forward that Sunday, I believe they are ready for that calling and they are looking for that whatever it takes moment.
A calling from God requires us to be ready at all times.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Being ready at all times, that would be hard wouldn’t it?
When we think of people who are ready at all times, we think of people with expectations.
Several weeks ago when we looked at availability, I told you about my wife’s obstetrician who made himself available to us by giving us his home phone number. When we think of readiness we would expect that he would be ready to be called at a moments notice when a mom goes into labor.
How about a police officer who is on duty, He might be sitting in a parking lot writing the night’s reports when the radio blares out his unit number and he has to be ready to roll into whatever situation he might find at the address given by the dispatcher. My dad was a policeman and he said that he did mind any call except on and that was the domestic disturbance. But he still had to be ready.
So we need to be ready for Jesus to call us into his service and we can take a couple of steps to make sure that we have come to that place of readiness.
I cannot allow my life to distract me from hearing the voice of God.
I think of all the distractions that we can have, life is the most significant.
Life is something that often times we don’t notice happening around us yet it is always happening and sometimes it keeps us from seeing things that are truly important.
There was a song called 2 Sets of Joneses by Big Tent Revival that came out in the mid 90’s.
Here is a quote of a verse from that song.
Evelyn's daddy was proud of young Rothschild,
He worked the late hours to be number one
Just newly weds and their marriage got rocky,
He's flying to Dallas; she's having a son.
In looking at our text, we see two families involved in the family business of fishing.
Simon Peter and Andrew bar Jonah were actually casting the nets seeking a catch of fish in the Sea of Galilee.
They were hard at work on their jobs.
Think about our own jobs when we are hard at work. On Thursdays, I am spending most of the day in the office working to get Sunday’s sermon finished so my Friday and Saturday can be spent with my family. Sheila screens my calls on Thursdays a little more carefully for that reason.
But here we see two men in the boat actually pitching the nets for the fish and Jesus says follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
So they rowed to the shore, actually, it doesn’t say they were in a boat. They may have been pulling a seine.
They rolled up the nets; they moored the boat, kissed their wives goodbye and left.
Bonnnnnk
Nope, not the way it happened
Look at verse 20, “immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”
There were no meeting no, decisions about where to leave the net, no goodbye kisses.
They just left and followed Jesus.
We move to the next situation.
These boys are not fishing but they are in the boat.
They are mending or repairing their net.
What else do we see about their situation that is significant?
There is some money involved here since the Zebedee family had a boat and they had something else we don’t see with Peter and Andrew: Servants
In this case we see them not only leaving jobs to follow Jesus, they are leaving the family fortune.
Again, where is the discussion?
Where is the debate?
It’s just not there.
Once the will of God became clear, the debate was over.
That is the way it should always be; our determination is made the very second that the voice of the Lord is discerned.
But what gets in the way.
Life
Things like money and family and careers and homes and property and tradition and a myriad of other things.
But, I think there is an even bigger problem than simply ignoring the Lord.
I think a lot of us really don’t know what we are trying to hear or what we are listening for.
To be honest, there are too many people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ that would forsake Him instantly if it came down to their inconvenience or their simply not getting their way.
I think the reason for that is that too many people who claim to followers of Jesus Christ are merely church members and not followers of Jesus Christ at all.
This would bring us to our next step.
I must seek to be familiar with the voice of God so I can hear it when he calls me.
If we are going to hear the voice of God, we have to know Him first.
I would like you to roll the pages of your Bible to John 1:35.
This is a very intriguing passage because of who we see here.
We see John the Baptist with two of His disciples, Andrew and one other. Now who could that have been?
Hang on and we will postulate a logical guess.
John the Baptist is baptizing in the Jordan River and here comes Jesus and John proclaims him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Two of John’s followers are there and they hence desire to follow Jesus. We see Andrew introducing Jesus to Simon Peter and then to Philip.
So, we see here that Andrew and Peter knew Jesus from about the time of His baptism.
Now what about John and James?
You see, there is a second unnamed disciple of John the Baptist and I would postulate that this was John the disciple.
John the disciple who wrote the gospel of vv35, 37, 40
John makes sure that we know that there were two disciples of John the Baptist.
Later in the Gospel of John, the writer avoids naming himself by using clichés like “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
I honestly believe that John was with Andrew.
We also have one of the Zebedee brothers knowing Jesus as well.
How can we better recognize the voice of God than to know him?
How can we better understand God’s calling in our lives than to have a relationship with Him?
Jesus met our fishermen before he ever went to Galilee to call them into service.
Has Jesus ever met you?
Jesus said that his sheep hear His voice.
Would we hear his voice or would it become clouded behind fifty years of tradition?
Would the voice of Jesus be dulled by the fear of a budget shortfall?
I remember reading a joke in a Christian joke book that said this, “It says in our constitution and by laws that the will of God can only be overturned by a 2/3 vote.”
When we are listening for Christ in order to hear His voice, then nothing he says is too much for us or will be denied for any reason.
Do you know Christ through a personal relationship?
Or is it possible that you just know about Him because you have been in church all your life because that was just the right thing to do?
If we know Him, then we will hear His voice.
If we just know about Him then nothing he says will ever influence any decision that we make because we will never hear His voice.
And no matter what happens, we will never be ready to follow Him.
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