The importance of investing in others.

Will you reach the lost?

Are you all in?

Followers will encouter several sources of roadblocks.

Series: NOT A FAN

Whatever. What About That?

What has or is God calling you to do

and are you on that road?

10/20/2013 FCC Pastor Jeff Williams

I would like you to open bibles up to Luke Chapter 9. While you’re finding that. There used to be a singer named Meat Loaf. I kid you not. That was his name. He had a song that was very popular. That had one very confusing lyric in it. We’re gonna play for you right now. What’s up with that? I’ll do anything, just not that. Then Meatloaf just loved to hang. He never told us what that was he won’t do. So we speculate maybe Meat would take that to his grave. I don’t know. Well it’s a little bit frustrating to say that, I’ll do anything but not that. WHAT? What won’t you do? I prayed a prayer much like that at 17. I just became a Christian. I was volunteering in my local church, working with children, working with junior high. People began to say to me, Hi maybe you should go to a ministry. Maybe you should be a pastor, or a preacher. And so one day I’m having my devotion, 17 years old. Just out of high school, I went to get a frozen yogurt. And I was reading the bible and was praying. Before I read the bible, I said, Lord, I’ll do anything you want me to do. I’ll go anywhere you want me to go. I’ll be anything you want me to be. But I don’t want to be a pastor. That was my. That was what I said. I’ll do anything for you, but I won’t do that. And the reason I didn’t want to do that it’s because I grew up in poverty. My father immigrated here from Sweden, had a very low paying job. When he passed away, when I was 5 years old, there was no money. And my mom, she picked up babysitting and washing clothes. It was pretty meager. You know. Growing up, we didn’t have cars, hand-me-down clothes, lived in a poor-family apartment, not the greatest neighborhood. And in my mind the preacher was poor. And I want to get out of poverty. I want to have a nice house and a nice car. So being in a ministry means the continuation of poverty in my mind. So I didn’t want to do that. I want to be a psychiatrist. You see. Then you’ll have people come and lay down on the couch. And they talk to you. And you grow beard and you scratch it. And you say, tell me what you think about that. You know. Then you say, it’ll be about 100 dollars. You need to keep doing that all day. And that, then you can buy a nice house and a nice car. So I’m 17 years old. I say, I’ll do anything, I don’t want to do that. It was then that the Holy Spirit led me to Luke Chapter 9 verse 61 and 62. I read them in my car. And “Still another said, ‘I’ll follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.’ Jesus said, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’” I read that and said oh, OK. I remember making the decision at the parking lot on that day. I said, Lord, if that’s what you want me to do, if you’re calling me into the ministry, if you gift me and wire me to be a pastor, then so be it. I’ll do that. I just remember him changing my heart, changing my direction, making me want to study the bible, making me want to follow him, his calling to the ministry. That was a very defining moment for me that day. This gentleman. I want you to notice the theme here. In the previous verse, verse 59, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” And then in verse 61, “first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.” That word first repeated as a clue. And what Luke is telling us is that the kingdom was now preempted in a lust. They had put other matters first. And they weren’t gonna cut it. If you’re gonna follow Jesus, it wasn’t easy. Remember he said, the birds have nests, the fox has holes, the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. If you want to follow me, you know, you’ve got to put me first. Otherwise you’re not gonna cut it, you’re not gonna make the grade. I’m not gonna fool with you. I’m not gonna play games with you. To follow me is a decision. To follow me, you have to put me first. So it wasn’t just the matter that he was going back and just said hey, good-bye. What he’s saying is that I got some loose ends to take care of. You know. I’m gonna put you on hold for a little while here. I eventually will follow but I’ve got to some things at home first. And then sometime soon I’ll follow you. Jesus says that doesn’t work. What is the plow? He says, put your hand to the plow. Where is the plow? And what do we plow? I think the plow represents the task, or the job that God’s called you and I to. Your job looks different than my job. But God has called us to a task. He’s called us to a field that we need to prepare. We are part of what he’s doing in the world. There’s a job to do. There’s a field to plow to get ready, to plant seeds and harvest what it is to come. And it is an honor and a privilege to partner with God in the work he’s doing in the world. You and I have a part to play. It requires all of our attention and all of our commitment. We’ve got to keep our eye on the field, our hand on the plow. Plow straight and plow forward. Overcome obstacles, rocks and other hindrances. But if we turn back, we’re not gonna get the job done. We’ve got to stay focused whatever is that God has called us to do in his kingdom. That’s the plow. And as we’re plowing, there are things that distract us, good and bad. Things that are temptations that are wrong, clearly. And other things that are not necessarily wrong, but they are distractions that are causing us to look back and are luring us away from the mission that God has given us to do. The Bible is strewn with stories of people who put their hand on the plow and then turn back. There is one particular that I’m thinking of this morning. His name is Demus. You probably have never heard of him. If you’ve heard of him, you’ve heard of him in a negative manner. Demus was a follower of Paul. He was one of Paul’s coworkers and helpers. He is mentioned in letters of Paul. Demus was with me, Demus sent greetings while he was in jail, Demus is here. He was a faithful servant of Paul until one day. We read this in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verses 9-10. Paul is near death. He knows this. He knows his time has come. He says these words, “Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demus, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.” Thessalonica is a booming Greek city full of commerce and full of opportunity. He’s not saying that Demus has gone to do something immoral or unethical. In fact, it could have to do, Demus has economic opportunity. He can make a lot of money, do something adventurous and fun, bold and daring. And he’s not in prison, but he’s with prison, with Paul in prison. But Paul’s ministry continues on, even though he’s in prison. He’s sending out letters, he’s sending out messages, he’s encouraging the church, he’s leading from prison. And he doesn’t have Facebook where he can post things. He’s not writing a blog. He’s not texting. He’s not twitting. He’s got his messengers and his coworkers. And Demus starts to feel trapped. There’s something in him that is pulling him into the world. He’s thinking that even though I’m not in prison. I feel like I am. I’m here every day in prison. I might as well be a prisoner. And here is wonderful news in Thessalonica. And he says I’m a young man. And I’m wasting away my days here. He goes to Paul. Whatever the reason is, whatever the excuse is, Paul’s not buying it. It’s not more important than the field they’re plowing. He says we’re bringing gospel to people who never heard it. And now you want to go the city Thessalonica. Paul sums it up in this way, he deserted me because he loved the world. He loved the world more than he loved serving God. Jesus says, when we make that choice, we look back, we are not fit to serve the kingdom. He’s simply stating the fact that our priorities are not aligned in the correct manner to serve the kingdom. When our church was really new, I mean really, we met in a hotel on highway 26, in a small little symposium room. It held 40 people. And we had plenty of seats left over. Trust me. We didn’t have much to offer in the way of ministries. But we wanted you when you come to Faith Community Church. Number 1, hope you hear a good sermon. Number 2, we have some good music. We had a piano player there who is fantastic. Wasn’t it, Mike? Oh, that guy can just play the piano. Any style of music you want to hear, he can play. And he would show up. And we knew he had good music. And one Sunday I go to church. And there’s a note and some flowers on the table. And he says, I’m out of here. I’m done living a Christian life. I’m done playing the game. And he says right now I’m in Chicago, partying with my friends. And I’m not coming back any more. That’s it. No notice. No warning to shore up that Sunday. He’s gone. Nothing but a note. Dark day in the history of Faith Community Church. That Sunday your pastor led the music. It was bad. Mike was trying to block that out of his memory. I’m sorry to bring that back up. If there was any visitors that day, they never came back. Promise you. I tried to reach out to him and to connect, but to no avail. Months go by. I get a call. He says, I’m back. The world is not what I thought it was. A bad place, scary place. And I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go this Sunday. I’m coming back. I’m thinking he’s sick. I’m shocked a bit to get him back. But I said no. And he’s surprised. You know. I’m great, I’m fantastic. What do you mean no? I’m like you’re not ready to serve here. We’re not playing games here. You know. We got a field to plow. We’re are plowing. You took your hand off the plow. You left. You went to Thessalonica. We stay here and work. You can come back. Don’t get me wrong. You can come back. You’re not gonna play music. You’re just gonna sit. You’re just gonna listen. We’re gonna make sure you’re right spiritually. Then we’ll put you to work. But it’s not gonna be meeting music again for a long time. You can put up some bulletin. You can do some behind-the-scene stuff. Set up and tear down. You do that faithfully for a period of time. And we’ll start to just talk about it. That’s not the answer you wanted to hear. We never saw or heard from him again. Life went on. Hand to the plow. The lure of the world. I’m out of here. I’m gone. What do we do when the world calls us? Again it tempts us with things we know are wrong, bad. And others things that’re not necessarily bad or wrong, but they are causing us to turn away from the work God’s calling us to do. What steps do we need to take? Sometimes the steps we need to take are drastic. There’s a similar situation in the book of Kings. You turn it with me. 1 Kings 19th chapter and the 19th verse. And in this story, Elijah, the prophet, is reaching out to a successor and anointing a successor, whose name is very similar, Elisha. When he finds him, he’s working in his field. Verse 19: “So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair.” Let me tell you something. You got 24 oxen plowing a field. You got one big field. OK. Nothing like we are on 5 acres. You plow with one ox. All right? You don’t need two. He needed 24. That tells us he is affluent. That tells us he is successful. That tells us that he has quite a big farming business and probably makes a lot of money. So for Elijah to come and say leave all that, leave your business that may have been in your family for generations, come and follow me as a prophet in training, would not all be that tempting and plus God was in the call. So Elijah comes and he throws his cloak around him. That was symbolic of the fact that he wanted to be his covering, his mentor, that he wanted him to follow and join him as a prophet. Elijah left his oxen and ran. Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-bye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” That sounds similar, doesn’t it, to Luke 9? But Elijah’s gonna say, it’s OK. Elijah’s gonna say, you know, it’s God’s call, not mine. If you need to do that, do what you need to do. So he goes home. He kisses his Mom and Dad and he comes back. What’s the difference between the two men? Elisha and the man in Luke. The man in Luke had put his family first. He was saying, I’m gonna say good-bye and I’m gonna take care of some loose ends. It’s gonna be a little while. I’ll let you know when I’m ready. Elisha was simply going back and said, I’m out of here. Following Elijah, I’m gonna be a prophet in training. And he left. Short and sweet. Then he does something unexpected. He does something that the prophet never asked him to do. So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. And he burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people and they ate. Probably the people that work for him, his crew. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. See what he did there? He said, I’m not coming back. He killed the equivalent of thousands and thousands dollars’ worth of equipment and he destroyed it. He killed the oxen. He burned the plows and all the equipment. He says, I’m moving out. Because he didn’t want to get to a situation where he’s out there, it gets tough and gets difficult, and he says, you know, I can always go back to my oxen, I can always go back to my plow. I can always go back to my lucrative job. Back home, go back where it was safe and life was easy. He says, I’m out of here. No matter how difficult it becomes, I’m here to stay. I’m not going back. Although there are things in your life not necessarily bad, they are causing to take your eyes off the mission God’s giving you to do. Maybe you need to take steps to change that behavior, change that or eradicate it from your life. That’s the Holy Spirit to give you direction with that. Something that takes too much of your time. Something that’s too much of temptation. What needs to change? What’s keeping you from the work that God has called you to do? I want to give you some scriptures to help you evaluate that in your life. I want to give you some questions that you can ask yourself. That will help, if you grab a little piece of paper. It’s a good time to write down some stuff. OK? This is a grid or filter through which we can filter through, maybe either something you were contemplating doing in the future or something that already engaged you and you want to evaluate. What needs to stay? What needs to go? What needs to lessen? OK? It’s a series of questions. I rather do it this way than us coming up with a bunch of list of rules. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Your Christianity becomes defined as a bunch of rules. I rather you be able to think for yourselves and have, you know, be able to run through the filter of God’s words. You make your decisions on all of that. OK? Number 1, I ask myself, does it bring me under its control? Does it being me under its control? Was it addicted? To addict is bring me under its power. Paul says, I’m not matched by anything, except Jesus Christ. Paul was due and a bound servant of Christ. God doesn’t want you to be under the control of anyone or anything except Jesus Christ. It might be somebody who’s struggling with drugs, prescription drugs or illegal drugs. It could be the alcohol. It could be pornography. It could be greed. I have a friend whose life was consumed by gambling. I had a friend whose life. He almost didn’t graduate from college. He became consumed by video game. Did he want with video games? No. They were con. Instead of studying for his finals, he was playing Donkey Kong. Dating myself. OK? Consumed. It brought him under its control. My friend who was a gambler started out as little pools in grade school. He grew up. He would gamble away his whole check. The race track. He had nothing to live on and mounted himself with gambling debts. It’s tough. Those traps we fall into. Does it bring me under its control? If it brings you under its control, what are you doing to get free from its control? Something that will take you from the plow, take your hand away from where God has called you to be. Second question, I ask myself, is this something that God can bless? Colossians 3:17. Maybe God has already spoken to it. It says, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through him.” Has God spoken to it directly? Has God already directed that, addressed that action, or that life style? You know. Case closed. Will I be comfortable doing and saying and washing it in the Lord’s presence. Thirdly, does it cause others to stumble? Does it cause others to stumble? As Christians, we shouldn’t take the attitudes. I don’t care what anybody thinks. I’ll do whatever I want to do. I’ll look at my life on my terms. You should be concerned about your actions and how these affect the people around you. Paul writes in Corinthians and he says, be careful, however, that exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. Maybe you have freedom in Christ that somebody else doesn’t share. So in the presence of that person, you want to engage in that. In mass all the time, the pastor may want to drink. As a Christian, drink beer less than wine. I don’t see anything in the Bible that alcohol itself is evil. If you abuse alcohol and become intoxicated, it’s a different story. But to have a glass of wine or beer, I can’t point you to a verse that says you can’t do that. I would tell you I don’t. Now I’ll tell you. Remember to go to a restaurant. On a rare occasion I would go to a restaurant. Every once, every other year. You’re not gonna find me in there drinking a brunski, because there are too many people in our church who struggle with alcohol. Their family members struggle with alcohol. And it’s a stumbling block for them. If they see me, they’re going, haaay, how did it go. How does it affect lots of people around you? Another criteria is, is it beneficial for me? Is it beneficial for me? Paul again says in Corinthians chapter 10. He says, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive. Is it beneficial for you mentally, physically, relationally? Or is it detrimental? Is it wasting my time? I can go on facebook. It’s a good thing. Nothing wrong with it. Some people are consumed with facebook. They spend hours and hours. You might know some teenagers, not in our church, but other churches, who are consumed with texting. It’s all the time connected. All the time. They are connected all the while and connected with their friends all the time. They waste time. It just becomes a consuming thing. OK? A sport or a hobby can get out of balance in a person’s life. Even something like fitness, it’s a good thing. But, I go to the club. I exercise regularly. But there are some people, it doesn’t matter they go in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, they are there. Do they ever leave? You know. They are training like 5 or 6 hours a day. Come on. You know. There are numerous things that you can think of are good things. If we take them to the extreme, they are no longer beneficial. See what I’m getting with this? So we need to evaluate it. Is it beneficial? Is it? I want to go straightforward. I want to make progress in my life. And Jesus comes on the scene. He brings light. He brings revelation. He brings truth. He says, I don’t want to you to be in darkness. I don’t want you to squander your life. I don’t want to you to live for selfish purposes. I don’t want you to meander. I’m calling you to purpose. I’m calling you to fulfill destiny. I’m calling you to make a difference with the kingdom of God in your world. I made you to be teachers. I made you to people with mercy, compassion. I made some of you to build or tear down, and to create. Some of you may consul. Some of you to lead. Some of you a ministry. Some of you to reach children. Some of you to reach outwardly. Some of you to reach the lost. Some of you to disciple. You got the part of the field to play. It needs to be you preeminent priority in your life. What do you do with the things that are distracting you causing you to look back and take your hand off the plow? You want to shed the light on yourself to live a productive life, not under deceit, deception or darkness. Sometimes you know you just need to get away. Right? Get away for a little while. And last Sunday was a day that Brandon and I got away for a day. We said, you know, just got my day off. That’s Monday. So after church we took off. I found a city in Minnesota, called Stillwater. Anybody‘s been to Stillwater in Minnesota? We were looking for a quaint town with some little shops, something to do. I want to have some planned activities and then some that are just spontaneous. So I found Stillwater. It was five hours away. And it sounds like it’s what we’re looking for. It’s on a Sandcort river. We see some colors. Maybe go to an apples orchard. Do some hiking. And we’ll have some fun. So we took off. And I surprised her with a gondola ride on the Sandcort river. We have the gondola guy, whatever, singing to us. He was a terrible singer. But he’s up there doing his things. Just very romantic. And people were flocking to the shore, lined to take our pictures. You know. Everybody came over to take our pictures. He goes, you guys must be famous. So then nice dinner and then spontaneous stop to Leo’s Molt Shop. Then I found this vantage hotel. It was really nice. I don’t know where Brandon ended up for the night. But it’s a great hotel. Stayed there. Next day, we went to some little shops. Then we ended up at this Italian restaurant, La Lunar Rosa. We had a nice meal. I said, we have a cave here. She said, you have a cave here? Yea, you can have a tour of the cave if you want to. Nothing else to do. Let’s check out the cave. So we go to this cave. It’s a natural cave, but it’s also manmade cave, kind of combination. It’s like there but they made it deeper and wider and so forth over the many centuries. And it says this really at its hay day was a brewery for a Mr. Wolf. And if you’re a lumberjack in Stillwater, when this town is being formed and growing, you would drink a Wolf beer. And it’s 52 degrees year round this cave, perfect conditions for a brewery. And everything was gone great until prohibition came. Prohibition came. Mr. Wolf said, I’m not gonna brew anymore. And he started to make root beer. Lumberjacks didn’t like the root beer. So he went out of business. So another guy comes in. He sees it as a tourist trap of opportunity. Already people come to see Stillwater. They like it. So he decided to expand the mine or expand the tunnels and dig it out like a mine. Added this system of canals. Then he put in boats. He lit it very dimly. And he flooded it with water. And he made up an elaborate story about these tunnels that would go all the way to St. Paul, Minnesota. It was actually ten thousand square feet. You can walk in it in less than a minute. But they stayed in there forever, going back and forth, around and back, same cave and same area, in a different way. They didn’t know because they were in the dark. They didn’t know because he told them there is a mysterious lake. It’s dark. It’s deep. It’s dangerous. Make sure you don’t go into that way. You’ll see it. But don’t go on it. It was just a master of capturing intrigue of richness. And they go home and tell their friends. Oh, this cave, its elaborate tunnel that goes all the way to St. Paul. Really? So then another family would come. Pretty soon the word began to spread until it became known, it was just a hoax. There’s no tunnel in St. Paul. It just goes around and around in the same spot. Just reiterate what Kyle said, God doesn’t your life to do that. He doesn’t want to meander. He doesn’t want you to go in circles. He doesn’t want you to go to the end of it and say, I missed my call. I missed my meaning. I wasted my time. I lived under deception and lived in darkness. Let’s pray that, through the Holy Spirit, he will illuminate what our job is, what field we ought to plow, and we’ll put our hands to it and won’t look back. We’ll plow with diligence, we’ll plow straight, we’ll plow focused. To the end of our day, we’ll say like Paul, we fought a good fight. We finished the course. We kept the faith. No Demus is here. Paul’s here. Elijah’s here. We make the kingdom our priority. God, whatever you wired me to be and do, I’ll do anything even better. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for these stories, these examples that we read in Elisha. The steps he took, unprovoked, unasked, to burn up his business literally. It was gone. It’s not something he’ll come back to. Because he didn’t want the lure of home, the lure of money, to detract him from the spiritual field you called him to plow. We looked at the one in Luke 9 whose name we don’t know, because he passed up on his opportunity to follow you. We don’t want to be like him. We don’t want to be the person that says, I’ll do anything, but I won’t do that. As the rich young ruler who set out to do anything, but I won’t sell what I have to follow you. Lord, help us to have the heart of Elisha, the heart of Paul. Lord, if we have the heart of Demus, there’s a dust in our eye in everybody’s life. Something that looks good, something that draws us away, causes us to look back from the plow. Help us to plow straight. Help us to plow diligently and faithfully till we’re done. Call us home. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Series: NOT A FAN

Whenever. What About Now?

What is your excuse for not following Jesus today?

10/13/2013 FCC Pastor Jeff Williams

Well, as Rocky said this morning, we’re talking the excuses. Why we sometimes don’t do what God has called us to do. Why put it off. I thought about maybe talking about procrastination this week. But we’ll put that off for another time. God would know that we would do that. I want to talk about excuses. And Luke 14 verse 15 is what we’re gonna read. Before we turn to that, I want to say to you a statement that the Bible is a book of denial. The Bible is a book of denial. You know, there’s a lot of folks who wouldn’t understand that and wouldn’t agree with that. They would say, how can the oldest book that’s around be a book of denial? If there was ever a book that was a book of denial, it’s the Bible. You know, it doesn’t matter how old something is, as long as it’s alive. There’s a tree that was called a senator. This tree lived to be as old. This tree was 3500 years old when it was struck by lightning on the side of the street. It was as old as the Scripture. While it was alive, it was a tree of denial. Right? It didn’t matter if it was 3500 years old. It was alive. God’s word’s alive. It’s living and active. It still brings people to repentance. It is still correcting us. It is still guiding us. It is still comforting us and encouraging us. It is still a vehicle through which God gives us the invitation and a call. It’s still a means by which we receive revelation from God. The Bible is alive. Because it is alive, it’s a book of denial. And there is verse in Hebrew chapter 3 verse 15. It says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” God is still speaking today. He’s still speaking through his words to us. When he speaks, when he invites, answer the call, the author says. Respond to what he’s saying. Sometimes we don’t. We’re gonna talk about why we don’t, the reasons why we don’t today.

We’re gonna look at one of the parables Jesus taught, called the parable of the great banquet. Jesus is at the home of a Pharisee. The Pharisee, whose home he’s at, is not a fan or a follower. He would probably consider himself as somebody who’s curious as to who Jesus was and what he was about. So he invites Jesus to come. And Jesus comes. And Jesus gives a lesson about when you invite a banquet, when you have a banquet, don’t just invite those who can pay you back, but invite the poor, invite those who can’t pay you back. And while he says, in verse 15 he says , “When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.’” This is spontaneous outburst. He’s excited. He’s motivated by what Jesus says. And he just blurts it out. This statement, Jesus takes that and he runs with it. And he began to tell the story. He says, “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.” So we know who this person is, a VIP. Number one they’re giving a banquet. A banquet has the connotation of being something colossal, grand. It’s a lot of people. It’s a lot of food. It’s a lot of good food. It’s a banquet. Right? But this is not just a banquet. It’s a great banquet. So this is even larger than the normal banquet would be. And he’s invited many guests. It’s just assumed that at the banquet you have a lot of guests. This banquet is so big that we call it a great banquet. And there’s so many guests that we even have to give it an adjective. It has just all kinds of people that are there. And then he says, “At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’” So we understand that the invitations were already given out. This is not going be a surprise to anybody who’s on the invitation list. In the days of the Bible, when you hold a banquet or party, you give the place and the date, but you wouldn’t give the time. That’s because it was kind of time when it was ready. And so when it was ready, you send the word out, hey, it’s ready, come and eat. So these people had the date. They knew the place. They knew it was VIP giving it. And they’re declining it at the last moment. And that’s rude. They’re declining it with weak excuses. And that’s rude. Imagine if you had invited somebody to dinner. They knew they would come. And you gave the invitation. They did not decline the invitation. They’re supposed to come to your house at 7 o’clock. At 7:05 you call and you say, “Where are you?” And they just give you some weak excuses. How do you feel about that? You’ve already prepared the food, their setting. And at the last minute you think they’re coming. At the last minute they’re not coming. And the reason they give you is just really weak. How do you feel about that? You know. We got extending invitation to come to church every Sunday. To everybody in our community, you come to Faith Community Church. You’re invited. I ran into people that I haven’t seen for a long time. They have all kinds of excuses. They’ll see me. They kind of look down and say, they haven’t been to the church, they’re cleaning their garage. Like for 5 years? How big is your garage? Can’t you come up with something better than that? Right? So that’s gonna be the pattern. They are all invited. They all know the time. They know the place and the day. They are all expected to be there. And one by one they’re gonna drop out. Verse 18, “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’” My wife was at the 8 o’clock service. So at the 8 o’clock the service, she said, “That’s a good one, well.” This is the 8 o’clock. Now the rest of the service, I’m saying that’s not a good excuse. When she was here,… That one, I can buy. You know, you’re married. You got to be with your wife. That’s a good one, honey. But now she’s not here, that’s not a good excuse, either. “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’” Not even a bite, not even a taste. Let’s talk about the meaning of this parable. Number one, who is inviting? Who is this one giving a banquet? Is it a VIP? Who is it? Well, in the parable, the one giving a banquet is God. He’s giving a banquet. He’s inviting us to come. He is the VIP. It’s an honor when the VIP invites you to dinner. That’s an honor. Right? My son’s favorite athlete is Mohammad Ali. He doesn’t make many public appearances because of his health. But in October, in Louisville, his home town, he gave a banquet to award humanitarian efforts of young people around our world. And we almost went. It was open to the public. Everybody can buy a ticket. Invitation was an open ticket. My son had a conflict. He couldn’t go. But, you know, we could have maybe an opportunity to meet and chat. That’s an honor, a privilege to meet this famous person, Mohammad Ali. Well, someone infinitely great as Mohammad Ali is issued you an invitation. It says to whom I issued the invitation. Who are these 3 groups of people? There were the people who are invited. Then there were the poor, the crippled, the outcasts. Then he went into the highways and byways. Most scholars believe that he talks about going first to the rulers, the Pharisees, the scribes and teachers of the law and they rejected his invitation. They talked the Messiah was coming. And when the Messiah finally came, they said, no, thank you. You don’t look and act like we thought the Messiah would look and act. And they declined the invitation. Jesus reached out to the poor, the crippled, the outcasts, the tax collectors, the sinners, and they came. They responded to the invitation and they came. There is still more room. Right? In the story. Then he goes far away to the faraway places, the countryside. And he invites them to come in. That’s the Gentiles. We’ve been invited, too. We’ve been invited to what? We’ve been invited to this feast, to participate in the kingdom. To participate in the kingdom. A feast is a time of celebration. In this case, a feast is a homecoming. He said about one day we gather in God’s kingdom, in God’s presence. All eras of time, all ethnic groups, all of peoples, all believers celebrate our homecoming, celebrate our union with Christ in this banquet. So he says a banquet, but more than that, it is the kingdom that God called us to do, to live with him, to serve him, to be a part of what he is doing. To be a part of the kingdom, that’s the invitation. With all kinds of awkward excuses, that’s why we can’t participate. Do all those excuses sound boring to you for the most part? You don’t go, you know, I doubt. I mean, you’ve gone out and bought a pair of those oxen this week. When you really look at the root of it, it’s the same. OK? The first excuse. In verse 18, he said, I just bought a field. I must go and see it. If he’s already seen it, he wouldn’t but it. Right? And the field is not really gonna change that much, is it? It’s a field. What’s that gonna do? It looks the same as it did yesterday. It’s gonna look the same tomorrow as it does today. The chances are this is an investment, or part of his business, his vocation. Maybe he’s a farmer. He’s gonna, he’s in agriculture. And so this is a weak excuse. Someone invites you to dinner. And you say, no, I can’t come, I have to look at my portfolio. I’m gonna take a look at my stocks and see how much. You can do that later on. OK? They won’t go anywhere. Sometimes you and I. This is profession, he’s an investor, or he’s a farmer. A profession. Sometimes you and I put our profession first. I can’t do what God’s called me to do, because things are busy at work. I can’t do what God’s called me to do. So, you know, I’m new to this new job. Or until I leave this job. I’m looking for a job. I’m so busy looking for another job. I don’t have time to respond to the will of God. Or responding to the will of God causes me to leave the job I already like. We’re sitting where we really like. See, the point is that it’s not the profession that’s bad. Everybody should have a profession, a job. But it should not take precedence over matters of the kingdom. Second gentleman buys five oxen. He wants to see them. The possessions. Right? Hey, it’s 7 o’clock. You’re invited to dinner. Where are you? I just bought a new car. I wanna give it a test drive. The car isn’t going anywhere. It’s gonna be there after the dinner. It’s gonna be there tomorrow. That invitation, that banquet that he was giving, was only gonna be there for a time. Then it’s gone. You need to respond in this light to that invitation. It’s OK to have possessions. Possessions should not serve what God is doing in your life. Possession. Sometimes we hold on to our possessions to the point where we will not let go of them to pursue the things of God. The possessions take precedence. To follow the will of God will mean now we have to give up this possession. I couldn’t buy this possession. So I choose the possession over responding to the invitation. So the profession is possession of its people. Let’s look at the last one. The third person just got married. I can’t go. I need to be with my wife. Sometimes we don’t respond to the will of God because we put people first. I can’t come to the church now because my husband isn’t a believer. I can’t do the work of the Lord because my wife isn’t a believer. I can’t do the work of God because my kids are so busy and I am busy with my kids. And we make excuses. Is it wrong to have a family? Absolutely not. Not at all. But Jesus is saying that the kingdom trumps even family for a fault. I’ll give you an example from my life. Some of you have said good things and praise me for coming to Janesville, taking a step of faith. But you don’t know the whole story. You don’t know before the fact that I was a follower. I was rebellious non-follower. Almost 2 years I fought God tooth and nail. I came to Janesville kicking and screaming. I remember I was in my mid to late 20s. There was a church in Janesville that wanted a pastor. The senior pastor, the founding pastor was leaving and he handpicked me to be his successor. He told the search committee, “I want Jeff Williams to succeed me as pastor in this church.” When he retired, he left. The search committee interviewed me. I was thinking this is a slam dunk. You know, I went to the church, looked at the building and I was getting excited because I thought in my spirit it was time for me to move on. I just knew that it was. I just wasn’t sure where. Maybe this is where God has called me. They said, well, we think we like you, but we just think you are too young. They wouldn’t say that any more that I am too young. But they did then. We’re just looking for somebody with more experience. So my boss says to me, you know, we have got a lot of people driving from Janesville to Rockford. He says, why don’t we go to Janesville and start a church. All you do is just move away. It might as Rockford, Edgerton. We have others, too. Let’s go to Janesville to start a church. I began to think about what that would mean. I just bought a house like 2 years prior to that. A nice house in a nice suburb. I’ve grown up poor. My wife hadn’t. But I had. I lived in a four-family apartment flat, kind of a rough area in Rockford. Then from there I moved to a dormitory. No big deal. From there we moved to a farm house when we first got married. Now I had a house, a real house. It was a brick ranch. I loved it. And now if I move to Janesville, that means I’ve got to sell my house. I don’t want to sell my house. I said, well, maybe I am too young. Maybe they’re right. Maybe I needed to stay here and grow a little bit more. So I said no to my boss. And he brought it up again. He thought about Janesville. I’d like to get a church going there. I thought about Janesville. We bought 2 new cars, relatively new cars. That was like a junky car. Now the church was growing. The salary was better. My wife got a job at a hospital. She really liked it. So we bought a couple of nice cars. You know, if I go to work for a church that doesn’t exist, I think the paycheck stops. I might have to sell my cars. I don’t want to sell my cars. And I would find another excuse. I would say, no, it’s too hard to start anything from scratch. I don’t mind going where there’s people and where there’s a building. But I just don’t want to go and work for a church that doesn’t exist. No, I am not interested. I felt inside of me a tug is pulled away. I needed to make a change. But I was so comfortable. I liked my job. That was my hometown. Everybody in the church knew me. I grew up in that church. My boss, he was my pastor since I was 9 years old. I was comfortable with him. Our church was really growing and making an impact in our city. So I got to be on the staff at the church where church is making a difference. I liked being there. I was comfortable there. My job became a stumbling block. It was familiar, the people were familiar. So I would make an excuse to stay. For almost 2 years this went on and on. I thought about Janesville. Why don’t you just drive to Janesville? Just pray about it. Just seek the Lord. I thought about my family. My parents lived in Rockford. My wife’s parents lived in Rockford. My sisters lived in Rockford. Her sister lived in Rockford. My best buds lived in Rockford. We had friends in the church that lived in Rockford. And I didn’t know any of you. I knew her. But I didn’t know any of you. I didn’t want to go. There’s all three. My job I liked. I didn’t want to leave. My family was there. My mom didn’t help. You’re gonna move away? You’re gonna leave us? We had a babysitter there, two of them. Right? People. It’s a good thing. That became a stumbling block for me. And possessions. I didn’t want to sell my car. I didn’t want to leave the house. It had been a goal of mine since I was a boy. Finally I had it. Do you know what happened? When we responded to the invitation and said yes, God began to change my heart. Fear began to turn to faith. Anxiety began to turn to excitement. And when we said yes, everything began to change to begin to feel like we are part of an adventure. We’re going off to the unknown. It’s a step of faith. But it’s God provided, we got more and more excited. We thought yea, yea, we’re working and moving. And we began, yes, we’ll sell the house and put it on the market. It’s OK. It’s OK. Someday we’ll get another one. You’ll find, you love your job at the hospital. You’ll find another job in Wisconsin that you’ll like as much. We love the good school. We’ll find another good school in Wisconsin. We love our church family here. I bet you someday we’ll love our church family there. So we took a step of faith. But it was not easy. Sometimes we receive the invitation. It’s not easy because you got to give up something. How many of you do not like change? Let me see your hands. Yea, me, I didn’t want change. Right? I remember not long, 2 years after we moved to Wisconsin, I said to Branda, I go, would you move back? She said no. We like Janesville better. We enjoy our church. We enjoy our friends. Thumps up. Yea. You know, you say no to God. What you’re turning down is something greater that what you have. You know, they turned down this invitation. They missed out. Notice what’s happening. The fifth question is what happens when you decline the invitation. You miss out. Notice the one who is giving the banquet doesn’t say. The servant came back, says, this one can’t come. This one can’t come. This one can’t come. Oh, forget it then. Call it off. What do we do with all the food? Throw it away. Not having a party. No. All the people got to go and experience the kingdom. The invitation. Had I not come here, God doesn’t say, well, you know, I want to do something in Janesville through Jeff. But I guess whatever I want, it’s not gonna happen. God’ll raise somebody else. I would have missed out. Maybe God called you to a mission’s trip here in church. He said that very clearly, you know, whether it’s Haiti or Mexico or whatever. You should go. You didn’t go. You have an excuse. Too busy at work. Too busy with kids. Whatever the reason is, you didn’t go. You know what. We didn’t say, well, I guess we’re not going to Mexico, no mission’s trip. Joe’s not going. Mary’s not going. Cancel the trip. We still went. All the God’s blessings God has in store for you, You didn’t get them. The people that he was gonna have you meet, the friendships, the relationships that you’re gonna build, that didn’t happen. The mission went forward to work with the poor. When you do not respond to the invitation, you lose. God doesn’t lose. His purposes go forward. Someone else gets your blessing. I don’t know about you. But I want every blessing that God has for me. I don’t want anything better that God has for me. God has something that I want. When you say no to God’s invitation, you lose. God doesn’t. God doesn’t cancel the banquet. He doesn’t cancel the plans because you have an excuse. The word goes on. The purposes are courage. What is it in your life today? What is it the call? What is the invitation? What is the change he’s requiring you to make, he’s inviting you to make, but it’s gonna cost you something? As a matter of fact, the relationship you might have at your job. You might have to give up a possession, or not get a possession. What is it that he is calling you to do? I’m willing to do that. When I was, when we were trying to build the Faith core, there was a lady who, a friend of mine and his wife, childhood friend. They said, how close are you to build a building? I said, well the banks says we have $40,000 short. If we have 40,000, they’ll give us the money. 40,000 at the time would have seemed like 40 million to us. We’re not a big church. And I told them that. Just a few weeks later, she called me. She said, you never guess what just happened. She said, I have an uncle that I barely know. He passed away. He left me $40,000 exactly. The same amount you said you needed. She said, we’ve decided. We’re gonna give the gift to the church. I said, well. I start doing the math. I’m no math major. But I’m thinking $40,000’s tithe is $4000. That really is a nice gift. She said, you don’t understand. You needed $40,000. $40,000 came in from the source we didn’t expect. This is your money. We’re giving you church $40,000. Get your building going. I was like no way. They’re not rich. You know, I bet they could’ve used that $40,000. Right? I bet there’s some trip they could’ve taken. Or something they could’ve done in the house to remodel. Or maybe some nice clothes she could’ve bought. She was obedient. She said, this is your money. It costs something to follow what God tells you to do. She gave that money to us. I immediately got on the phone, called the bank, called the builder. I said, we’re ready. Phase one went up. It costs you something. Are you willing to do what it takes to respond to the invitation that God gives you. Let’s pray.

Lord, this parable tells us something very important. That is we’ve all received the invitation. An invitation to participate in the kingdom. An invitation to participate in the celebration of homecoming. Lord, the truth of the matter is we get more attached to the things on earth. Our possessions or things we can see take precedence over the things that are spiritual and eternal. Lord, we use excuses. Excuses are people, our possessions, our profession, our jobs. We’re no different than people in this parable. We choose what is temporary over what is eternal. We decline an invitation. And others come and take our blessing. Lord, I pray that you help us to seize the moment, to help us not to follow kicking and screaming, but humbling, accept the invitation, and know you have something better in store for us than what we give up, to know that we cannot outgive you. Lord, whatever purposes and callings are here today, we’ve offered our excuses to why we can’t go, why we can’t go now. Lord, expose those excuses as what they are. Disobedience. Lord, give us the courage to respond to your invitation to participate in the kingdom, to give thanks for the privilege that we have in playing a role in part in your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Are you following Jesus or do you want Him to follow you?

Series: NOT A FAN

Wherever. What About There?

Are you following Jesus or do you want Him to follow you?

10/06/2013 FCC Pastor Tim Bales

Good morning to all of you. My name is Pastor Tim, and if you don’t know who I am, under the discipleship pastor here at Faith Community Church. It’s a joy and privilege for me to be able to share with you from the Word of God. We’ve been going through a series by Kyle Idleman called Not A Fan. And for those who have been following along, I trust that you’ve been enjoying it and have been challenged by it. And if you’re here visiting or for the first time, this curriculum, the series has been challenging us to consider whether we are fans just going through the motions coming to church or we are fully committed followers of Christ. Last week Pastor Jeff talked about the acid test of knowing whether we are a fan or a follower. And he talked about dying to ourselves that we might live a new life for Christ. And today, I hope that you have been taking time to sit down and think about and pray over these discussions we’ve been having with the journal, working through the exercises, watching the videos and the discussions, and really praying and listening to what God would be speaking to you through this series. Today we’re gonna get a little in depth at our personal commitment to follow Christ, specifically as it relates to our life map, the way that we laid out our life and the way that we are living it out. Before we jump in though, I’d like to just ask you to bow your heads with me one more time as we pray.

Dear God, we thank you for the freedom to come together to worship and to learn now from your Word. I pray, Lord, that your spirit will be working in a powerful and mighty way in our hearts, that we will be willing to allow you to do that work that you desire to do. Lord, show us what it looks like to be a fan and what it looks like to be a follower. Help us to gauge where we are at that we might choose to fully surrender our lives to you. Speak to us now. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I took a life-changing trip that with a few other guys to Fairmont Skull Ranch in New Mexico. If you’re not familiar with the Fairmont Skull Ranch, do you have a picture up there? It’s 214 square miles of some of the most beautiful and the most rugged terrain you would ever see. And we set out on a 12-day track to cover over 60 miles on foot with nothing but a pocket knife, a compass here, and a map. And that I have a map here, not quite like the ones that we’re using, but it’s a Wisconsin map. If you’re under 30, this is what they have before GPS. It’s just like Google earth on paper, OK? And keep in mind. This is before we have satellite help. We have a compass and a map. And this process of gauging where you’re at on the map is called orienteering. And I can remember. Back up a little bit. We had a 40-pound bag pack on our backs. There were wild bears and animals and storms and dangerous hiking conditions. It really was a thrilling experience, a great adventure. And we set out on our track. And we were given a one-day tour guide to lead us into the wilderness. After that, you’re kind of on your own, right? So we have our tour guide. We head out on the trail. We hike for about an hour. And we come to a fork in the road. The tour guide says we need to go to the left. So we go to the left. We walk along this path for a while. The sun is shining. The weather is beautiful. And life is great. And then something leads our tour guide to pull out his map. So we pull out our map, so we pull out our compasses. We look at our map. And lo and behold, we were heading down the wrong path. We’re going the wrong way. And I can’t help think that we, if we had taken time at that fork in the road to get out our map and our compass, that we wouldn’t have got lost, we wouldn’t have gone the wrong way. And what I learned at that moment was that in order for us to go the right direction, we needed to align our map with our compass each step of the way. Because if we don’t align our compass with our map, if you’re going on the blanks on the outline, these are our first two blanks here . If you don’t take the time to align your compass with your map, then you’re just wandering in the wilderness. If you don’t align your compass with your map, then you’re just playing lost. It’s a lot like the way we live our lives. There is the path we ought to take. Then there is the path we are actually on. And billions of people are lost in the wilderness because they’ve chosen to take their own paths. You know God’s given us a map. Our map is right here. And like on any map that we might look at, there are many paths that lead to many places. In this map, there is the path of the fool, there is the path of the adulterer, there is the path of the sinner, there is the path that leads to death and destruction, and there is the path of the righteous that leads to life.

Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 say, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Psalm 119 verse 105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” God has given us his Word as a map to lead us down the path that he wants us to follow. He’s also given us a compass. Did you ever look at the compass or use a compass before? It always points in the same direction. It actually points magnetically north, to be technical. But you can always depend on your compass to point in the right direction. And God has offered us a compass in his will, his will for mankind, his will for creation. It doesn’t change. It will always be his will. We can choose to go to a different direction. But his will does not change. His will is that his creation would worship him. That we will bring in honor and glory to him. If we align God’s will for our lives with his map for our lives, then we will clearly see the best route he has in mind. Now, that’s not quite enough, because we need to know where we are at on the map if we want to know where we’re going. If you’ve ever been or gone to the zoo or to amusement park, or you want to go to see the lions exhibit, or you want to go to your favorite roller coaster, and you walk along the path, and you see a kyat. It’s got a map on it. You look on the map and you see that’s where I want to go. That doesn’t help you unless you can find the little red dot. What does the little red dot say? YOU ARE HERE. That’s right. Because the reality is, if you don’t know where you’re at right now, you don’t know how to follow the path to get to where you’re going. When we were in Fairmont, we got lost on the first day of our track. It was not hard for us to turn around and go back where we came and get back on the right path. But if we’ve been wandering around in the wilderness for days and we lost our location on the map, it would be kind of difficult to figure out where we were. We had to look at the ridges and the mountains and the valleys and we had to study our map and try to figure out where we were on the map in order to get back on the path. Because the reality is, I may know that this is north. But that doesn’t help me if I don’t find Toledo or Tokyo. I am still just plain lost. I’m gonna ask for a raise of hands, a spontaneous call for repentance. For each week of the series we have been asking the question. Are you a fan or a follower? Where are you at on God’s map? You know I heard some people saying that by definition some of those scriptures that we’ve been looking at and some of the things that Kyle Idolman has said. Some of us feel like we are a little bit more fans than we realize. To be a follower doesn’t mean liking what Jesus liked. It doesn’t just mean agreeing with what Jesus taught, or studying what Jesus said. To be a follower of Jesus means going where Jesus goes, going where Jesus went. And fans don’t follow God’s map. They choose their own path. They believe their way shorter. They take the path of the least resistance or they think there are less bumps, less thorns and thistles on their path that doesn’t seem steeper or tiring of a climb. Or there’s less cliffs and pitfalls and wild animals. We think we had a better plan, more comfortable, more convenient. It’s safer and more enjoyable. It’s not that bad. We’re very much a feel-good culture. If it feels good, it must be right for me. And many Christians choose to follow the easy road. They want the benefits of the kingdom without the commitment of following after Christ. I’ve been reading Mark Baddersen’s new book. It’s hot off the press. All In. And it goes along very well with the book Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman, if you look for something else to read. It has a lot of very pointed illustrations. One illustration I think is appropriate for our message today. He asked a question. He asked the question, “Have you invited Jesus to follow you?” or “Have you chosen to follow Jesus?” On the surface, It doesn’t seem like a big difference. But the ramifications are immense. Have we asked Jesus to endorse our plans for our life, our life map, or if we give up our plans to follow after his. As a fan, a fan does not like to follow God’s map, God’s path. In fact, they would look at the map and say there are many paths. They probably all go to the same place, don’t they? But Jesus, by contrast, says, in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.” Only a follower will take the path less travelled, because our map and our compass show us the way. Jesus never says it will be the easier path. But it is the only path that leads to the Father. Once you know exactly where you stand before God, if you will humble your heart, surrender to him and you are a committed follower, only then will he reveal to you the path that he wants you to take. So we rely on our compass with our map. And we determine our location on the map. And we find the path that God wants us to follow. At that point, it’s up to us to accept the invitation. During Jesus’ ministry here on earth, he went around healing and teaching and doing miracles of all kinds for the purpose of bringing glory to his Father. And people would get excited about the things that he was doing. At times on occasion, Jesus would turn to them and say “Follow me.” He offers them an invitation. I’d like to look at 3 people who were given a personal invitation to follow after Jesus. If you have your bibles with you, you can turn to Luke chapter 9. It’s page 1027 in the church bible. And we actually looked at chapter 9 before in this series. Luke 9:23 which says we ought to take our cross daily and follow after him. But today, we are looking at verses 57-62 at the end of the chapter in regards the cost of following Jesus. Starting in verse 57, it says, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him[that is Jesus], ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’” On the surface level, these words seem pretty harsh and pretty cold, not like the warm and forgiving Jesus that we would expect to see. But if we look at the context and the purpose of these words, Jesus was being very intentional. He was being intentional and he was gauging where they were at on the map. He was trying to pinpoint their hearts and their commitments. And keep in mind. These are three fans that Jesus is offering an invitation to follow. I don’t want to spend too much time on these passages. Simply because if you’re in a small group, and many of us are, then if you watch the video from this past week, this is gonna be a familiar passage to you, because this is what Kyle Idleman used as description as he’s gone through already. But I think it’s important to go through for those of us who are not in small groups at this time, because a lot of people have been asking questions about this passage. We see the first individual in verse 57-58. And he says to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus turns to him and says “What about there?” What does it mean by homeless? Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests. But the son of Man has no place to lay his head. I don’t think that being a follower of Jesus necessarily means that we all need to be homeless. But for this man it’s the one thing that held him back. This conversation is cut very short. We must assume that it’s insinuating that he turns away sad like the rich young ruler we talked about a couple of weeks ago. He turns away sad because he’s unwilling to give up the comfort of his home. The next person, he says, “Let me go and bury my father,” which seems to be a legitimate, a legitimate thing. We want to grieve in a healthy way. This guy’s Dad is dying. Let him bury his Dad. But the reality is, if this man’s father just died, he wouldn’t be following Jesus around and listening to his teaching. He would be back home preparing a funeral. This man’s father hasn’t died yet. He may be getting up there in years, he may even be a little bit sick. But this man is concerned about his inheritance. He says to Jesus, you know, I like to follow you, but now is not a good time. You see my Dad is getting up there in years and I don’t wanna abandon him now, because I might lose my inheritance. Here is what I will do. Jesus, let me go and bury my Dad when he dies and get my inheritance. That would afford me the opportunity to follow after you. He’s putting Jesus off. And the next person does the same thing. He says, first let me go and say good-by to my family, which sounds like a pretty simple request. Right? You just go home and grab a few things and come back. Then you are on your way. But in this day and in this culture, when you say good-bye to your family. It could be for weeks, months, years, maybe for your entire life. When you say good-bye, it’s a send-off. You have a party. It could be a week long party. It could be two weeks or longer. You’re saying good-bye. You can’t hop on a jet plane and come home any time you want. And Jesus recognizes the heart of a man. And a lot can happen in a heart in a couple of weeks. You go home. You enjoy the party. You forget about your commitment. You don’t come back. And the reality is, for Jesus, he’s going from town to town, from village to village, on his way to the cross. He is not looking for half-committed people who would later on follow him. He is looking for people who were willing to drop everything to follow him at this point so that he can teach them, that he can lead them and show them the way and one day he will send them, telling them to go to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. The reality is, we are all on a path, on a journey, walking along the road of our life. And our life map is either focusing on God’s plan or on our plan for our lives. The path is formed by our families, by our friends, by our coworkers, by circumstances in our spheres of influences, by the world around us that tells us what we should look like, what we should be like. And then our path changes and evolves as we go through different stages or seasons of our life. You may be driven by success. Some of us are driven by beauty or money or our plans for retirement. Some of us are driven by our addictions that we can’t let go of, our bad habits. But the life map of a follower is laid out by the life of Christ. I want to ask you to consider your life path now for just a short moment, from beginning to end, your past, with successes and failures, and then take a snapshot of your present right now today. Where are you currently at? What does the end of your life, if you live it out as it is right now? What will the end of life look like? What kind of legacy will you leave behind? Are you happy with that? Is what you’re doing right now with your life glorifying God to the best of your ability? Because the reality is, in Romans chapter 14 verse 12, that one day each of us is gonna stand before God and give an account of the way that we lived our lives. Have we lived our life for ourselves or to give glory and honor to him? Now I want you to picture Jesus walking along the road of your life each step of the way and you enjoy and appreciate what he’s done for you. You turn to Jesus and you say to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. And like in the video, Jesus says, really, that’s great, that’s wonderful. Eh, wherever? What about there? And we heard 3 examples of people who apparently did not choose to follow him for different reasons. What would hold you back from fully committing to living your entire life for Jesus? We so often come up with excuses. We choose not to follow. We say to Jesus, I will go, but there’re some conditions that apply. Jesus, I will follow you, but I’m not ready to give up my over time, because I have plans for retirement. Jesus, I love to follow you, but I don’t really think that will be fair for the rest of my family. Jesus, I love to follow you, but this whole sexual purity abstinence before marriage, when I look at on line, in magazines, what’s the big deal? Jesus, I’ll follow you, but I think, you know, my addictions probably coming along with it, I haven’t been able to let go of them. Jesus, I’ll follow you, but this whole homeless thing, or going over to some third-world countries where there’s malaria and sickness and AIDs, and there are terrorists who want to kill Christians. Jesus, I’ll follow you, but, please don’t ask me to go there. Or we put Jesus off. Jesus, I’ll follow you just wait until I get married and find the love of my life. Or Jesus, let’s just wait until the kids are off to school and then I’ll focus less on them and more on you. Or Jesus, maybe we should just wait until I am out of college. Or Jesus, maybe we should wait until I am retired and then I’ll have the time to follow you wherever you tell me to go. And the reality is, we have bills, we have families, we have a mortgage, we have responsibilities. And Jesus is with us right along side of us each step of the way on the road of our lives. And we turn to him and we say, I’m sorry, Jesus, I can’t. It just doesn’t seem wise. Somehow we justify our minds, our wisdom. I mean God just gives us wisdom to make good choices, right, Jesus? But we trust our wisdom over God’s wisdom. We trust our own power over God’s power to carry us through, to carry us safely into his arms. If we want to be followers of Jesus, and he says to us, follow me, and we ought to say, yes, Jesus, I will. Now where did you want me to go? I have no idea how this is gonna work out. But I trust you. Lead the way. The truth is that most of us like the easy road as fans. We stay quiet about our faith and we call it tolerance. We allow just a little bit of sin in our lives and we call it living under grace. We store up and hoard our wealth and spend it on ourselves and we call it good stewardship. And we’re stingy with our time and we call it guarding our family. We have a fear of the “what ifs.” What if Jesus called me there, would I really be willing to go? We fear the cost. What if he called me, would I have to give up some of the things I really do and enjoy? Do you accept his invitation to follow without condition? If you have fear, 2 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” He doesn’t want to live in fear, but he does want you to live and trust that he will take care of you. Do you accept his invitation? Now we have aligned our compass with the map. We follow our location on the map. We see the path before us. And we accept the invitation. Yes, Jesus, I will go. And then all that’s left for us to do is to follow the path. I think that it’s important to know at this point the parable of the 2 sons in Matthew chapter 21. We’re not gonna turn there right now. But I mention it. It’s very appropriate for the message this morning. Verses 28 through 32, Jesus says. He talks about a parable of a man who has a vineyard. And he goes to his two sons. He goes to his first son. He says, you know, there is work that has to be done in the vineyard. I need you to go out there today and do some work. The first son turns to him and says, you know, I got plans. I got things to do. I don’t want to go. I’m not gonna do it. But later he changes his mind and then he goes out to the field and does the work. And then the man goes to his second son and he says, you know, my other son is not able to go out to the field. He has some other obligations. I need you to go out to the field and there’s some work to do. And the man says, yes, sir, I will right away. Not a problem. But then later, he decides not to go. And the question Jesus asks is “Which of these two sons did the will of his father?” And obviously the answer is the son who went and did the work. And we say to Jesus, I will go. Then we don’t go. To be a follower doesn’t mean liking what Jesus liked. That means going where Jesus went. Now as we consider following the path God has laid out for us, you may feel insecure or unsure at times. Maybe you said to yourself, God I really want to do your will, I just don’t know where you want to me go or what you want me do or what direction I ought to head. Have you ever felt that way? I know I have. Or maybe you feel like you’re gonna mess things up. First of all, God’s in control. He knows. He knows our limitations. But he offers also to us a promise. In Isiah 30:21, if you’re seeking his face, and you’re fully surrendered, and you’re humbled in your heart, the reality is, it doesn’t matter whether you go to the right, go to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.” Jesus wants you to follow him. If you’re gonna follow Jesus, where did he go? Well, we know he went to the sinners, the tax collectors, the social outcasts, the down-trodden, the poor, the sick, the broken-hearted, the oppressed. He brought healing and good news about the kingdom of God. Where are the sick and the poor today? Where are the oppressed and the down-trodden? No. If we’re looking for them, they’re all over the place. It doesn’t take long. Because the reality it, there are in the office that you work, they are in the home that you live, they are in the line of the supermarket, they come to visit your church, and they’re on your facebook page. Jesus is leading people to the Father. And he says to his disciples, follow me. He has now shown us the way to live, and he’s given us an example to follow. And just below this passage we looked at, in Luke chapter 10 verse 3, he says, “Go! I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.” In Matthew chapter 28, he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Jesus desires to bring glory to his Father and he asks us to do the same. We have been called. Who will go? As we start to draw all together, this message is Christ’s invitation for fans to become followers. Where are you at on the map? Do you know the path that God wants you to follow? Here is a question. Did you ever think that he might be calling you to do something radically different than the current life path on the map that you’re currently following? What would God have you do that would only be possible with his help? Would God ever call you to be a missionary? I don’t know that he is. But why not? Maybe there are some pastors in our congregation. God must have raised them up. Maybe there are some Christian business owners or managers who are willing to live out their faith in the workplace. Maybe God is calling you to go back to school to better equip you to do his will. Now not everyone is called to full-time vocational ministry. We need people on the field. But as followers, we ought to be full-time ministers in our call to give God our very best. Could you ever consider giving up your earthly goals for his heavenly rewards? Could it be that you might use what time you have left on this earth to more intentionally grow the kingdom of God? Would it be possible to better use your resources to bring people into his presence? What would that look like? I think it’s fair to state it plainly, no sugar coating, that saying yes to Jesus may mean saying no to comfort. Saying yes to Jesus does require sacrifice. That sacrifice is what keeps our hearts focus on what is truly important. In order to follow God’s path, he will demand it of you. Like in the video we watched, you have to give it to him. But you have been invited. And that invitation may require some sacrifices. You may need to downsize your house or your life so that you’re not dependent on that income. You may need to scale back to your retirement so that you’re working until the day you die. You may need to cut back on your overtime so that you can commit to serving in his church. You may need to sacrifice farnville or angry birds or your time on facebook. I know that’s radical. But what is it that you’re least likely to give up for Jesus that you can join him in the work that he is already doing in the world around you for the kingdom of God? Are you willing to follow him unconditionally? Jesus says, what about there? Would you be willing to follow me across the street to talk to your neighbor? Would you be willing to go to the other side of the cubicle raw? Would you be willing to go into your dysfunctional family with love and grace and forgiveness of God? Would you be willing to go overseas across the world? These things would be pretty radical? Giving up comfort, being uncomfortable. And that forces us to ask the question. Is Jesus worthy it? Do we realize how far Christ has gone to save us from our death and our sin? He is more than worthy. Do we realize how much he has in store for those who are faithful? He is more than worth it. If that’s true, then why don’t we see more of his children willing to go? I can remember being in college, growing in my faith and reading my bible, thinking. You know, I look at the bible and the Christians and sacrifices that they made. And I look at the Christians around me, and something’s missing. Something’s not quite right. And even standing up here as a pastor today, I recognize that I have a lot to learn in my faith. But I have learned that you can’t focus on what the Christians around you are doing. It may be normal to be lukewarm. But it is not God’s map. The comfort zone is no place for the children of God. A lot of people have been coming up to me during the series and asking me questions. Well, does that mean that fans aren’t saved? And, you know, I’m not God. And I’m not judge. That’s his role. But just the mere asking of that question raises red flags all over the place. We want to settle for being a fan when God offers us so much more as a follower. You know, I can’t answer that question fully. But I do want you all back to the passage that we looked at in Matthew chapter 7 verses 21-23. He says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly. ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Jesus knows the hearts of men. I want to share with you one last illustration. It relates to orienteering and this idea of using a compass. If you want to go north and you’re just one degree off, you follow that path long enough, then you’re gonna be farther and farther away from your goal that you ever desire. If you’re living a pretty good Christian life right now, try to stay out of trouble. But you know that in your heart God’s not the center of your universe. Your life map is not centered on the will of God. And the longer you follow that path, the farther you will become from the path that God has chosen for you. I spoke with somebody in one of the other services who felt like they have wasted a fair amount of their time here on earth and we’re getting up there in years and we’re concerned about being useless. In my opinion, the longer you faithfully live a life for Christ, the more value you have, the more you have to offer. I don’t know where you are at. But you got the rest of your life, no matter how long it is, to commit to him. Please pray with me.

Heavenly Father, we come before you with humble spirits, recognizing that you’ve given everything for us. Although you don’t demand it, you’ve asked we will give our lives back to you, not to invite you to come along on our path, but to give up our path and follow yours. Lord, we know in our hearts that you know best. And your path will lead to the most fulfilling end. God, I pray that our hearts will be broken, that you will show us our shortcomings. Show us how we ought to change our lives that we might bring glory to you to the best of our ability. We ask in Jesus Christ’s precious and holy name. Amen.

SERIES: NOT A FAN

The Acid Test

How devoted are you?

09/29/2013 FCC Pastor Jeff Williams

How many of you are gonna be watching some football today? Not as many with packers having a buy. Right? Not as many of you. But. When you watch football, you see somebody hold up a sign in the end zone from time to time. What does it say? John 3:16. We know John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” It’s a happy verse. It’s a glad verse. It talks about eternal life. And I was reading the book, not a fan, not a journal, but in the book kind of mentions that you’re not gonna see anybody hold up a sign for Luke 9:23 or for Matthew 16:24. Even though they are much part of the gospel, they’re just as important as John 3:16, because it’s not a very happy verse. It goes like this in Matthew 16:24. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”” If you’re trying to get a marketing strategy, this is not a good one to use. You try to draw the crowd and make people happy to follow you and want to follow you. There’s something better. There’s a better slogan you can come up with. I’ve noticed a couple of slogans in Rockford where I am originally from. This one church, it says, in their slogan, is an exciting place. I’m not saying anything wrong with that. But that’s what they say, an exciting place. You come here and it’s exciting. You’re gonna have fun. We have fun. It’s an exciting place to be. Another church where I’m from says, it’s a different way to do church. So you want to find out what’s this different way. It must be better or good because you’re telling us about it. So we want to come and explore this different way to do church. I’m interested. I’m in what’s at right. We had one until we realized pretty much every nonprofit organization in America had the same one. For a while it was believe, belong and become at the Faith Community Church back in the day. And who doesn’t want to belong and become? That sounds great. I’m in. But Jesus, his slogans come and die. Maybe we should put that on a sign. See if it makes a difference. On the interstate, we put it there, “Come to Faith Community Church and die.” But Jesus, he’s not trying to draw crowd. He’s not trying to draw fans. He’s not trying to amass this huge following. He’s trying to make sacrifice. To become a disciple, one would have to die. We’re calling this this morning the acid test. The acid test verse. Back in the California gold rush, there was a lot of miners coming in, trying to strike rich. Whenever they would find in gold, or they tried to determine if it’s flues gold or real gold, they had a mixture of acid they would put the gold in. There was certain mixture of acid that real gold would dissolve in. And if it dissolved in that acid, then you knew you had the real thing. It was called the acid test. It separates the truth from the false, the real from the fake. And this is one of those verses that separate the true follower from a fan. So let’s take a look at Matthew together. What we’re gonna do is try to break this verse apart in our time together this morning and talk about each of these components of this verse.

Matthew 16:24. And Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me.” I just want to reiterate it. I’m not going to develop it. Anyone means anyone. It doesn’t matter who you are, rich, poor, young, old, educated, uneducated. Whether you live the life of a saint, the life of a sinner, anyone can follow Jesus. “If anyone would come after me” that phrase “come after me”, there is a pursuit. Does anybody come after you? I mean that in a good way. I don’t mean in the sense of bully or stalker. Does anybody come after you in a good way? When I was 18, it was the summer before my sophomore year in college. And I remembered going to church. It’s a normal Sunday. When I went to Sunday school, there was a new student, a girl sitting across the way with another friend of mine. I just remember how pretty her eyes looked. I just remember how nice her smile was. I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. The whole class has turned to my friend. And I said, “Who is the girl with Cindy?” He said, “That’s Branda.” Branda, you’ve got to get me one of those. I said, “Where’s she from?” “She’s from Rockford. She’s from here.” That’s good. Right? She’s from here. So I just begin to plot a scheme and find ways to get around her, to try to interact. That was my first step. So my first approach was at the drinking fountain. That was the first time I had a chance to say something. I remember being really nervous. So I’m nervous. My heart’s pounding. She’s just simply getting a drink. She’s not aware of all the drama that’s taking place around her. And I remember trying to say something intelligent, you know, funny, cute, whatever. And it was just dumb. I don’t remember exactly what it was. But it was just dumb. It was something like, the water’s wet, isn’t it? I don’t know. Something. I remember she looked at me and nodded and went and didn’t say anything. But I just remember thinking that’s a success, because there is eye contact. She’s now seeing me. She’s aware of my existence. I begin to try to figure out how I can be around her. I found out she was going to the youth group. So I decided I’ll go to the youth group. That gives a chance to meet her, to talk to her. She begins to catch on when our youth pastor Greg looked out the window, smiled and said, “Here’s Jeff coming to the youth group again tonight.” And she’s like, “Doesn’t he normally come to the youth group?” He said, “Not until you started coming. Now he’s coming all the time.” She starts to go, OK, I get it. He’s pursuing, he’s coming after me. Right?

Jesus says, we’ll come after him. We’ll look for ways to be near him, to see him, to hear him, to experience him, to get to know him. The disciple wants to be with Jesus, wants to know Jesus more, wants to love Jesus more, wants to be around Jesus. If anyone would to come after me, he says, one must deny himself. Deny himself. That’s not a popular thing to say. That’s not a popular action to take. We don’t like to deny ourselves, do we? We like to reward ourselves. Not deny. We like to reward. I had a great workout week this week. I was at the club for a little bit almost every day last week. So I reward myself with a concrete turtle malt. The best one’s on Milton Avenue. On Court Street they’re too thin. I know this because people told me. Not that I’ve gone all these places getting the concrete malt. That’s where you want to go. There was a song there at the club. It’s Frez Franci. I’m not gonna sing it for you. Because I don’t want to do a disservice to the boss. It says, “Got a wife and kid in Baltimore jack. When I fool around, I never went back. Like a river, I don’t know which way to flow. I took a wrong turn and I just kept going.” And it says, “Everybody’s got a hungry heart. That’s how I justified what I did. I know I got a wife and I’ve got a kid. But I got a hungry heart, too. I’ve got to please me. I’ve got to go with the river flows. That wife, that kid, they are weighing me down.” It’s a catchy song. But the message of the song is I don’t want to commit. It take up too much of my time, too much of my resources. I’m gonna go river. I’ve got to flow. So I took wrong turn and just kept going. Forget the wife. Forget the kid. I’m gonna do what pleases me. And then if you try to take away what is mine, not only do I want to reward myself, if he’s gonna take away what is mine, I’m gonna get angry. We were out apple picking yesterday. Myself, and Lindsey and Jena and little Trace. We went to the Elegant Farmer, or the Fancy Farmer. We’re gonna. We started off with an ice cream. In East Troy, there is old-fashioned ice cream parlor. And it’s like something out of the 50s. You know. You get on the train. Then you ride the train over to Elegant Farmer. Or you can do it at reverse. But I always got to this ice cream parlor. While getting there, there was a boy, a large boy, but a boy who was like trying to throw stuff, grab a jar of candy, and trying to throw them on the floor. Then he went on the floor. Then he started to kick and trash and scream, and kick and punch. He’s kicking the screen window. The owner is concerned. The guardians are trying to get him off the floor. He’s kicking and punching and screaming. And they finally lifted him up and carried him outside. The drama continues. It was quite a sight. I said to the owner of the ice cream parlor. I said, “What’s going on there? What’s going on with that kid?” He said, “He was a normal kid, he was talking and had a conversation. He was talking to me and everything was fine until his parents or guardians told him he couldn’t have candy. He went nuts. Then you’ve seen the rest of everything that happened.” Now something’s more wrong with the kid. That’s not a normal reaction. Kids might fuss and cry, but not to that extreme. Something’s wrong there with the child. But the point is, when someone tries to take something that belongs to us, we get upset. Don’t deny me. That’s mine. And we hold on to it. We’ll kick and scream if you take it away, because it’s ours. We don’t want to deny ourselves, because we’re our own center of the universe. Right? When you’re born, you’re crying. Somebody gives you a bottle or gives food, or changes your diaper, or holds you, whatever it is. When you fuss, the world comes around you and you learn something. Right away, you’re the center of attention. So our circuit has to be rewired. We’re gonna deny ourselves. That’s not natural to us. We learn to program just the opposite from that. So denying ourselves does not come easy. Because, think about it. Every experience you’ve ever had, you’re there. Every experience you’ve ever had, you’re the center of attention, of everything. You’ve lived it and you feel it. Other people’s thoughts are communicated to you. There’s some other way. Your thoughts are right there. They are real right there and right now. So as the world comes on you, comes at you, will you be the center of attention. Every memory, every experience you’ve ever had, you’ve been there. You remember that as how that affected you and how you felt. And so Jesus comes on the scene, and he says we need to reprogram. We need to start seeing it in a different way. You have to come and deny yourself. We don’t want to deny ourselves no matter the circumstances. I’ve been amazed through the years as I have been in the ministry to deal with health concerns. And I heard. Or doctors would say to patients who go to our church, or whom doctors try to minister and they’ll say, “You cannot smoke again. If you smoke again, you’ll die.” And they leave the hospital and they smoke. “You cannot drink again.” The doctor would say. “If you keep drinking, you’re gonna destroy your liver and you’re gonna die.” They leave the hospital and they’ll drink. Spouses would give ultimatums to their husbands or wives, saying, “If you don’t stop seeing that guy, if you don’t stop seeing that gal, then we’re over. It’s done.” They don’t want to be denied. So they’ll continue to see that person. We hold on to what we want, even if we know what we want is a wrong thing to have. Jesus comes on the scene and he says, you’d choose the kingdom over your agenda. You’d choose God over what you want. A friend of mine was out of college. And he was trying to pay back his bill. He’s got a job. It was an excellent job. He was in sales and he was very good at sales. He was making money. One day the boss says, “We’re gonna have you tell some more, you know, the essence is lies to do some baiting switch. We’re gonna advertise one product. You sell them another one. If they want something, you’d tell them it’s the last one in the shop. We don’t have it any more.” And so he says, “You want me to lie.” He says, “You can call it if you want to. I call it sales tactics.” He says, “I’m not gonna lie. I want my job. I like my job. But I’m not gonna lie.” He says, “Why don’t you just go to the seminary and be a choir boy.” He fired him. He said, “I will. I will go to the seminary.” He did. He became a pastor. He’s still a pastor in Rockford. Because you can deny yourself, it may hurt for a time. If you deny yourself for the sake of God, you will win in the long run. That’s what the lesson Jesus is trying to convey. He says, number 1, you have to deny yourself. Number 2, take up your cross. What does that mean “take up your cross”? What does it mean “take up your cross”? Think about that. I bet you to follow a poll. You would say, what’s mean to take up your cross. A lot of you would say, well, it has to do with love. It has to do with sacrifice. Jesus loved us. He sacrificed his life on the cross. But I promised you the disciples weren’t thinking of that. Number 1, Jesus has not been on the cross yet. So it’s impossible to think that way. They didn’t understand the gospel at that point. Number 2, the cross was always and only an instrument of torture and shame, an instrument of death. That’s all they knew. And so when Jesus says, be willing to take up your cross, in the dark minds of the apostles, that means one thing, be willing to die. You must be willing to die for me. You must be willing to surrender it all for me.

When I was, say, a young minister, in 1982, in 1983, I started the ministry. One of my first jobs, we had a missionary couple, name Doug and Jane Willborn. How many of you know the Willborns? El Salvador was where they were at. El Salvador was going through a civil war. It was a wicked awful civil war. 71,000 people died, most of them civilians. They had what we call death squads. They would go through Salvador, looking for innocence. It wasn’t just rebels against the government. There were these death squads that were killing teachers, health workers, students and missionaries, preying on the innocent. They domination said, “It’s not safe for you to be there. We’re all ring you to come home from Salvador. You have 2 children. There’s a civil war. We don’t want you anymore.” Doug and Jane said, “We respect you. We respect your authority. However, the call that we had is from God, not from you. God has not lifted that call. We’re staying in El Salvador. Our job is not done.” So the denomination took off the gloves and said, “We will withdraw your support. We will cut off all your support. We’ll stop sending you checks.” And the idea is to force them to leave the mission field and come back to America, force them to take their children out of harm’s way. Doug and Jane said, “We believe the safest place for us is the center of God’s will. God has not lifted his call from our lives. We and our children are staying in El Salvador. We will trust God. We are willing to die, if necessary, for the sake of the Gospel.” To me, that was living out this verse. Every day they made a choice to stay in that civil war with 2 small kids, so they can fulfill their call. Every day they denied themselves. Every day they took up their cross and followed Christ. And my job was to line up their itinerary when they would come, line up churches to support them, and keep them on the mission field, and line up their agenda, and work with those churches to grow their support. And by the way they stayed. They made it through the civil war. Eventually they came back to America for a little while. And then now they’ve started a ministry in Alberpuita, Mexico. And some of you were there. For the tent, you’ve seen their work. You’d meet them. What a wonderful couple. What an example of what it means to deny yourself and take up your cross. So the disciples would not have seen it as love and sacrifice. They would have seen that as death. Now Peter. Let’s take a look at the context. Matthew chapter 16 verse 21. The context of this passage is significant. This chapter is a very defining moment in the history of the church for Jesus and his disciples. This is the point where Jesus begins to reveal to them who he is and why he has come. Up to this point, Jesus has done things consistent with what the Messiah would do, has taught and acted as the Son of God would. But has never come outright and said who he was. As a matter of fact, when he does a miracle, when he delivers you, when he does a miracle, he says, don’t tell anybody what has happened to you. Demons would say, you’re the Christ, the Son of God, he silence them. People raise questions at the disciples and these enemies. The disciples see a miracle and say, what a man he is even the wind and the waves obey him. Jesus never addresses their questions directly. His enemies are frustrated and they say, if you’re the Christ, tell us finally who are you. How do you do all these things. Tell us who you are. Jesus doesn’t do it. In Matthew 16, everything changes. In Matthew 16, Jesus began to ask the disciples, who they say he is. And finally, he asks, “Who do you think that I am?” Peter speaks up and he says, “You are the Christ, Son of the living God.” Jesus says, “Blessed are you, son, flesh and blood has not made this known to you, but by my Father who is in heaven.” In other words, Peter, you got it right. That is correct. Verse 21 says, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned to him and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”” Remember that, things of men. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”” Peter, at first glance, seems very righteous. Peter said, I love you so much. I can’t stand to think of you suffering and dying. And that’s not gonna happen. When you really look behind and see what the motives are, they’re not good. In fact, Jesus says to Peter, your interest in yourself, your interest in men. What does it mean? Put yourself in Peter’s place for just a moment. OK? Now if you’re a young budding Hebrew scholar, you don’t want to be linked to a good rabbi. You could submit your application to be accepted by a leading rabbi. That was good for you. That would bode well for your future. Maybe one day you could grow in the hierarchy and become a rabbi yourself if you’re hooked on to the right wagon. And imagine finding out. Starting to follow Jesus and finding out the rabbi you attach yourself to is the Messiah. You talk about a spiritual homerun. You talk about the score. WOW! You have hit a wagon to the one who is the Son of God. You’re on the winning team, man. You’re the winning team. I remember hearing the story about Michael Jordon who came to Chicago. Somebody, a guy befriended him at the airport. They became friends and he became his agent. They got a deal. All right. He did OK. The Jordan’s last year bold him 36 million dollars for one year he played the basketball. That’s not endorsements. The guy did OK. He hooked himself to the right wagon. So Peter realizes, I won the spiritual lottery. I’m following the Messiah. What does that mean to Peter? Well, first of all, he’s on God’s team, God wins. He’s heard the story that the Messiah’s gonna rule from Jerusalem. And guess who’s gonna rule with him? A little peddler from Gaililee. A little fisherman. And now I’m a hot shot. I’m one of the key disciples of the rabbi who’s the Son of God. Man, do I strike it big! I mean someday I’m gonna rule with Jesus. Maybe I’ll have me a throne. All I know is life is good. Life has really changed since I was on the boat. You know, I have no idea, when I started to follow Jesus, of who he was. And man, did I hit the jackpot! My future is bright. I mean I’m gonna serve and rule and reign with the Son of God. Yay, me. Just as soon as Jesus confronts him and says, yes, your hunch is correct, your feelings are true. I am who you think I am, I’m the Son of God, he begins to say, I’m going to suffer and die and go away. Peter’s like, What? No, no, no, no, no. That is not how my plan works. I mean your plan works. No, no, no, no. You, I rule with you. We’re gonna have power and the authority. And you’re now telling me now about suffering on the cross and dying. That’s not in my bible. No, no, no. This isn’t gonna happen to you. And all of sudden, Peter’s motives don’t look superior anymore, do they? I mean he has gone from elation and joy and “like WOW, you know, we’ve got it made” to “Oh, no.” You know, I’m gonna lose everything. You’re gonna die and you’re gonna go away. I don’t understand. This is awful. This is horrible. So he is on this emotional roller coaster, this emotional ride. The guy was. I was at a baseball game at the Wrigley field, the last game of the year, years back. And they were giving out a car. It was grand prize. And a guy in the row in front of us won the car. He’s like looking at his program where he wrote down the ticket. He wrote down the ticket information on his program. He says, “Honey, that’s our number. We won the car.” He’s looked at the score board and he’s looked at his program. He’s just making sure his eyes aren’t deceiving them. He says, “Yes. That’s our number. We won.” And they’re hugging and high-fiving all around. Yes, way to go. Congratulations. I won the car, which proved you can win something at Wrigley field. And so, little shot of myself there. And so, you know. And the next thing, he goes, “Where’s my ticket? Where’s my ticket? Do you have the ticket?” He’s looking his program. He’s looking under the seat. He’s checking his pockets. One time, two times, three times. In his purpose he’s got a look of panic. And I mean, we had to see his agony for a while. He won a car. But he couldn’t find the ticket. He couldn’t find the proof. You just can’t go to the box office and go, “Trust me. I really did have the ticket. It’s really my car.” There’s no ticket, there is no car. You know, I remember, when we left the game, he was still standing there and dismayed, going, “Where’s my ticket? Where did it go?” So Peter, he’s just like, I got the ticket. I’ve got the winning ticket. And Jesus just kind of takes it and rips it up. He says you’re just gonna suffer and die. Peter doesn’t want to die. Peter wants no part of denying himself. He wants no part to die in any way, shape and form. Peter wants to live. And so time passes and Jesus’ words come to pass. There’s an opportunity for Peter to acknowledge Jesus, and he won’t do it. He follows him in a distance close enough to see, but not close enough to be identified as a follower of Christ. Three times he denies knowing Jesus. Christ’s words are fulfilled. The rooster crows. Their eyes meet. Peter runs away in shame. You see Peter is afraid if he acknowledges Christ, the same thing that happened to Jesus is gonna happen to him. He sees the swollenness of his face. He sees the blood. He sees the bruises, suffering. He knows Jesus’ fate. Maybe if they know I’m his disciple, they’re gonna take my life as well. So he runs and he hides. The chapter ends like that. Jesus died and Peter lived in shame. That’s not how the book ends. That’s how the chapter ends. In the book of John, there’s a new chapter. The 21st verse of John, “Because I found that the God is the gracious God, when we denied him, he gave us a chance to accept him.” John 21:18. Jesus says to Peter, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him. “Follow me!” Same words he used to begin his ministry he uses now at the end. The offer still stands for Peter to follow to become a fisher of men. He says when you were young, you did whatever you wanted to do in independent spirit. When you become old, Peter, when you become an older man, you will stretch out your hand and someone will take you where you don’t want to go. You don’t wanna die. But you’re gonna do it. Thirty-four years later, Emperor Nero was looking for a scapegoat for his incompetency, for his falling empire, and he cast blame upon Christians. Among martyrs, among victims, the one who’s gonna die, it’s Peter. Peter was held in a prison outside Rome and put on his execution clothes and they say, stretch out your hands, Peter. They chained him in the way he goes. All the early churches that follow tell the same thing. He could deny Christ. All he’s got to do is acknowledge Rome Pantheon or incense to the Emperor and say “Caesar is Lord” and deny Christ. And he’s free man. Peter won’t do it. Peter will not deny his Christ. Peter takes up his cross. He refuses to be crucified as Christ was. And he is turned upside down and crucified upside down and becomes the literal fulfillment of Christ’s words. Any man who will follow me will deny himself and take up his cross. This time Peter accepts that fate. It’s not the sad fate. It glorified God. He chose Christ over himself. He chose the kingdom of heaven over the kingdom of this world. I like to say that verse, that heavy verse is just for the disciples, the spiritual heavy weights. The truth is that anyone who come after me, he should deny himself and take up his cross, be willing to die for this cross.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you today for Peter’s example and the story that because of your grace ended differently than it would have otherwise. That we see Peter’s journey from selfishness to the cross. And Lord, we, too, are on a journey. We, too, struggle with denying ourselves and taking up our cross. We want to pursue pleasure and excitement and fun. You called us to die. Lord, I pray in this series as we continue to read in the journal and fellowship and study. And you would continue to challenge us and bring us to making decisions and help us to conform to the command and expectations that you’ve given us as followers of Christ. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

SERIES: NOT A FAN

Self Empowered or Spirit Filled?

Who Are You Following?

09/22/2013 FCC Pastor Jeff Williams

I like you to look at this morning Romans 8:14, very declarative verse of the Scripture. Apostle Paul says this to the church, those who follow Christ, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” So to be led by the Spirit of God is to be synonymous as son or daughter of God. How would you explain what it is to be led by the Spirit? Someone would ask you, what does that mean? How was that lived out? What would you say? How in you mind just kind of play that through? How would you explain it to somebody? Because if we’re gonna be followers, that means the Lord is our leader. The Scripture says he leads us through his Spirit. How does that work in everyday life? In some lives it works effectively. In other lives, not so effectively, the same Spirit. A lot of it has to do with our perception of the Holy Spirit. How we perceive the Holy Spirit? I want to talk to you about some common perceptions or misconceptions of how we are to interact with the Spirit.

When Jesus in John 16 was leaving, he was letting the disciples know that life as they know it was about to change. Here if they want talk to him, they can to talk to him, they can touch him, they can hear him with their ears, see him with their own eyes. But all that’s about to change. Because after his death and resurrection and ascension, he is going to come to them. But he’s coming to them in the form of the Spirit. He’s trying to explain to them in John 14, 15, 16, this new dimension, this new dynamic of spiritual living that they had not yet known before. The Holy Spirit is going to be Christ in them. Living in them, how could this be? What does this look like for me? And he says in verse 13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” The Spirit will speak not what this is but what he hears. And he’ll tell you what is yet to come. So as I was reading, I conclude that the Holy Spirit is kind of like GPS. It’s kind of like internal GPS. The GPS has been programmed to tell us only what has been programmed to say. Just like the Holy Spirit, he only says what he’s kind of programmed to say. Just like the Holy Spirit, the GPS, you plug in the cord and it’ll take you where you’re supposed to go. That’s the job of the Holy Spirit who takes us where we need to go. It’s kind of like those blind men who try to figure out an elephant. One grabs the tail and says the elephant is like a rope. One grabs the side and says the elephant is like a wall. One grabs a leg and says the elephant is like a pillow. Each of them has a little bit grasp of the truth, but not a complete understanding of the totality of what they’re trying to know. So sometimes we would read verses like this, listen to conversations, and come to conclusions that are erroneous about the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit, he is a God. But we don’t talk to our GPS’, do we? Not all of us, but some of you do, right? Yah. Some of you do. They might tell you bad directions or something. All right? But it doesn’t carry on a conversation with you. That’s what I’m trying to say. You may talk to him. But he’s not talking back to you. I thank God for GPS. I can remember days before GPS. I don’t know how we got through. I can remember the early days coming to Janesville. We encountered the section of the city where there is a road called Harmony Circle. I think you know what I’m talking about if you’re from Janesville. You come to Harmony Circle. You’re lucky to get out. There are still cars from the 70s that are still driving around. They’re still now. We just kept driving around and ended up in a back farm. How in the world do we get out of this place? You know, we didn’t have a roadmap or GPS. We just kept driving and driving. We emerged like in the south side of the town, it seemed like. I’m like how did we get here. Branda’s like, I don’t know. I’m like never tell anybody what happened. We learned that Harmony Circle is kind of like Janesville’s Bermuda Triangle. We just don’t talk. Time was opened up. We start talking about Harmony Circle. Right? Share our stories. Maybe form a support group to talk about what we went through. I’m all for GPS. But the Holy Spirit is much more than a GPS. There are those who have a perception of the Holy Spirit as if he is a commodity. That he is like a product that we use to our advantage, for our purposes. We’ve gotten this from the prosperity Gospel. That you might find a good book, a good message on TV from prosperity preaching that teaches you the Holy Spirit is there, bless you and prosper you and make you healthy and wise, and wealthy and beyond belief. That the Holy Spirit is here to serve you. Like a genie in a lamp kind of thing. It’s just a commodity that’s there to enhance your life and your experience. That’s not the purpose of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us, to empower us, to live a life that glorifies God and accomplishes God’s purposes, not for our selfish gain or advancement of our own agendas. There was a man in the Book of Acts who saw the Holy Spirit as a commodity.

His name was Simon. You turn there. Let me tell you about this man. This man grew up with a desire to be famous and a desire to be rich. He was able to as a young boy do magic tricks. The problem is Simon somewhere along the line crossed the line. And he began to say that his magic, his sorcery was from God, that he was supernatural when he wasn’t. And he began to be known as the power of God. It said, people from Samaria, from great to small, all knew who Simon was. They all regarded him as having significant power. He’s like the precursor to the wizard of oz. He is all smoking mirrors. He’s a big fraud. And the only one who knows it is him. But nobody pulls back the curtain and looks behind it. They just think Simon is great and powerful. Simon got these great connections with God. But it’s just a big hoax. Then Philip comes to town. You remember Philip. There’s a great persecution in the church led by Saul. Christians are dying and they are being imprisoned. And Christians scattered. Philip goes to Samaria. You remember Samaria. This is the same city where Jesus came through and they wouldn’t let him in. Right? Then they said, should we call out the fire from heaven and consume them? Jesus said, you don’t know what spirit you are on. Son of man did not come to destroy man’s life, but to save man’s life. And so in Samaria, the gospel is preached and revival takes its place. Miracles. Healings. Deliverances. Wonderful things are happening in Samaria. The apostle Peter, he hears this and he goes Woa. I mean there was not a hotter or colder city than Samaria towards them. Now the receptor to the message of Jesus I’ve got to check it out. I’ve got to know what’s going on. Peter starts to make his way to Samaria. While he is on his way there, Simon encounters Philip. And he watches the wonders that are taking place. And he scratches his head, and he goes how does he do this? It looks surreal. It seems like powers of authority are truly supernatural. I’m a big fraud and a big phony. But this guy, he seems like the real deal. I can’t figure out how he’s doing this stuff. So he watches him closer, wants to look more. So he figures out the way to do that is become like Philip. I’ll become a believer. So one day, he raises his hand. He says, oh yea, I believe in Jesus. I believe and I’m a follower. I used to be a fan. But now I am a follower. Yea, dunk me, too. I’m in. So he’s baptized. He claims to be a follower of Christ. The closer he gets, the more he examines. The more he examines, the more he’s convinced whatever Philip has it’s real. He decides he wants to cut in the action, meaning I can have the power that Philip has. I get to have the authority that he has. I’m gonna really be famous. I’m gonna really have power. So he comes up with a plan. And he makes a move. OK? His magic, his illusions have made him rich. Money is not an object. One day he approaches the apostles. And he says, how much for what you got? Give me some of that power. Give me some of that authority. Book of Acts, the 8th chapter, the 18th verse. Let’s read it together. “When Simon saw that the Sprit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”” Give me some of that Holy Spirit stuff. I can use that. “Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.”” He saw right through it. Peter pulls back the curtain and exposes him as a fraud. He says, you’re not a believer. You’re not a follower. You sin it for your own advancement, your own glory. You have no part of what we are doing here. It’s all pray. Pray that the things you say happening to you. Pray that God will do the things you say you would. He starts to sober up really fast. He starts to realize that this is real. He treated the Holy Spirit as something to be used for his advantage. Probably all of us in one time or another have treated God’s gifts and blessings like that. Something for us, something for our benefit, something for our glory, something for our advancement. If that’s our perception of the Holy Spirit, you’re not gonna be led by God. All of us see the Holy Spirit in a different way.

Turn to the book of 2 Peter chapter 1 with me, please. In 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter explains the process of those prophecies of Scripture came to be. And he says in the 20th verse, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation or initiation.” The Greek says this word means initiation. In other words, when I’m gonna write the message. It’s Tuesday. And I’ve got to start preparing the message for the weekend. I like to say I prepare the messages two or three weeks in advance. But you know. I don’t think any pastor would do that. Sunday comes after Sunday. So if you did get ahead, pretty soon you’re gonna be behind. So Tuesday I start thinking about the subject. And I get on my computer and a piece of paper. I’m like, OK, God, I’ve got to write the sermon. So you’ve got to speak to me. You’ve got to move on me. You’ve got to give me some words. Give me some thoughts and ideas. Give me insight. Please, Lord. But that’s not how the prophecy happened. It wasn’t that Jonah or Joel or Isiah lays a scroll and says, “I like to write some prophecy now.” “God, could you me some good for Judas?” That’ll be great. I like a prophecy for Judas. Just kind of lay it on me here. I’m just gonna start writing and then, you know, you take over. And then, all of a sudden, that’s not how it works. Just the opposite. God spoke to man first. Go to next verse, verse 21. “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit would impress upon man a message for people. Something that was to come, judgment, restoration, whatever it was. Then they would start to write. Or they would start to speak. It was just burnt within their souls until they spoke it or wrote it. Here the Lord. Here’s what God says. And they would see a vision. They would hear words. They would write things down. As only the Spirit moved him along, this word moved was a word similar to carry like the wind, might carry something. Carry an object from one place to another. We know that the word Spirit means wind. We know when the Holy Spirit came upon a Pentecost, and next, too, he came as mighty wind. So we began to listen to that and read that. And we say that the Holy Spirit is a force. The Holy Spirit is a power. And he comes on and moves on us and enables us to do things we can’t normally do.

I was playing golf this week. It was third or last week now, it was Thursday. Remember Thursday, right around 6 o’clock to 6:30, the storm came down out of nowhere. Right? So I’m like, Oh, look at this. Let’s make sure Lindsy is safe, you know, I’m texting. Make sure where she belongs. We’d better hustle up and get out of here. They’re gonna blow the horn and we’ve got come to the club house. Once the thunder starts lighting out here, it’s not safe to be out here. There’s two holes left. I mean it was kind of sunny, breezy evening night, sunset going on. Then all of a sudden, just like the backdrop for that last song, the storm clouds started to come rolling in. So everything got black and dark. And the wind started to pick up out of nowhere. Leaves started blowing around and the birds are freaking out, flying really fast and taking shelter. I mean they’re flying everywhere. We’ve got to find a place. We didn’t expect this. We’ve got to find a place to be. I started thinking about, boy, the sudden change in temperature. What if there’s a tornado or something that comes up? I’m watching the horizon. I’m looking. I’m thinking, where are we gonna run if something comes? There is a lean down there. We just have to run down there. I’m thinking all these things through my head. My wife is driving the golf cart. She says, “This is fun.” You know. She says, “I have a great time.” I’m thinking about tornados and shelter and things like that. So we get to 17. I get 2 holes left. I’m thinking, “I’ve got to play this fast, because the storm is coming in. I want to get done.” And so I’m ready to tee off. And this, and this. The wind just don’t quit. I’m waiting for the wind to die down to hit this ball. But these gusts are really strong. I spend most of my time chasing my hat. It was just blowing off all the time. I could not keep it on. And finally, I say I’m gonna have to hit the ball. And I hit the ball. And it starts going to the left. The hole is to the right. This is not uncommon for me. OK? It starts going to the left. And it’s just like in the commercial. You know, you see the commercial where they use computer-generated technology graphics to make a ball do something, you know. The basketball, whatever it is, that it didn’t really do. This golf ball starts to look like it’s something out of the commercial. OK? It goes up in the air this way kind of at the slow speed. And I catch it in one of those drafts. And it just SHOOOOO takes off. It starts going high in the air at the faster speed. Another indication, it’s not something I did. And it twirls the hole. Another strong indication, this is out of the ordinary. It just goes up like this. And then HUUU it takes off so fast that you can hardly even see it. I turn around and say, “Did you see that?” I say, “That was amazing.” I want to do it again. I want to stand there like a driving range just hit the ball in the wind. Just to experience what’s it like to be able to hit a golf ball like Dr. Droff there. Just for one day, just for one moment. I’ve got to feel the experience. You know, all those guys come behind us. So we’ve got finish this. Let’s go find this. Finally, we find it 25 yards in the hole, and a 400-yard hole. I can’t hit no ball in 375 yards. It was just a little chip and putted and bored in the hole. I was so excited to put that on my score card. It’s legitimate. I got help. But. What did I call that shot? The act of God shot.

So, anyway, that’s how we see the Holy Spirit sometimes. The Holy Spirit comes on you and it just kind of sweeps you away. It takes you far and it takes you higher. And you’re able to do the things you couldn’t normally do. And it kind of sets you down. WOO! It was the Spirit that just took over. I don’t know what’s going on. It was irresistible force. The true Holy Spirit has power. We should not think of the Spirit as a force, because you don’t talk to a force. You don’t talk to the wind. You don’t talk to the waves. You don’t talk to an earthquake. You don’t talk to any force of nature. You talk to the Spirit. You can’t breathe a force, but you can breathe the Holy Spirit. You can’t lie to a force, but you can lie to the Spirit. The word says, because the Holy Spirit is a person. You want to be led by the Spirit of God. You want to know what secret it is? Sure, go down here, talk to God and he talks back. I have to be careful when I say that, because when you go out in the world and you tell people, “I talk to God and God talks back,” they’re gonna think you’re crazy. That’s exactly what the word of God says. Jesus invites us when we’re seeking truth, we’re seeking purpose, and we’re seeking guidance to talk to him.

Listen to the words in Luke chapter 11. Luke 11 verse 9. In this passage Jesus is talking about the seeker. He’s talking about the one who wants to know truth. He says, “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Notice he says “will.” He doesn’t say “might”, doesn’t say “could,” doesn’t say “maybe.” Jesus says in confidence “will be opened to you.” “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door be opened.” Everyone. Everyone means everyone. You’re here today. You’re not a believer. You’re a seeker. You can say, “God, show yourself to me. I’m seeking. You’re really there. Reveal yourself to me.” God would do that. God would answer that prayer. He says, you seekers out there, you knockers out there, he says, knock, the door will be opened to you. What does that mean God would answer you back? He may not answer back in the way you’re accustomed to or in their timing. He doesn’t work by your timetable. But he will answer. When I’m led by the spirit, I inquire God. And I ask specific questions. Lord, what is church? We’re making a decision right now. We’re through guidance. Pastor Jesse and I have been interviewing candidates for our tech position. God, you know, we’re asking you to bring the right person here for us. We’re seeking your help as we go through this process. We ask you to help us. So God guides through circumstances. God guides through the leading Spirit. But he would speak to us. How does he speak to us? I just know he does. Can I articulate how the TV works? I know it does. I can’t articulate, some of you can, how a car works. I just know it does. I turn my key, it’s on, and I drive, I go. When it breaks down, I’m in trouble. But I’m receiving the benefits of it, even though I don’t fully understand it. How does God speak to you? Sometimes it’s an impression. Sometimes it’s like you’re hearing the words that are not, but you heard it. Your heart heard it in your Spirit. Here’s what you’re supposed to do. Here is my answer. See, part of speaking and asking is listening for the answer. When there comes the moment, when there comes in a day, a month, a year. There’re times when I pray for direction. Whatever I pray for direction from God, the Holy Spirit gives me an answer. Being led by the Spirit, talking, seeking, asking for the Spirit’s help, listening for his answer, because the Holy Spirit is a third person of the Trinity. You don’t talk to your GPS. Certainly it can’t talk back. You don’t talk to a force. You talk to a person. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as a gift that he’s given to you. Peter said, you thought you could purchase the gift of God with money. I don’t know about you. But I love presents. And when I get a gift, it’s got my name on it, it’s wrapped in paper and a ribbon. It says, to Jeff or to Dad, to Pastor Jeff, I open it, especially when it smells good. I open up a present. There’s no birthday present, no Christmas present around my house. I’ll wait if it says, wait until Christmas to open. I’ll do that. Once Christmas comes, I’m opening that thing. OK? Because I like to get gifts. You’re probably the same way. Probably not a lot of wrapped presents around your house from 19 whatever, 20 whatever, because you opened your presents. The gift of the Holy Spirit for many of us is untagged, unopened. Because we continue to do it on our own, make decisions on our own. God unpacked is what we see best without yielding to the Holy Spirit. One of the things we’re gonna learn next week, we talk. Our time is done for the day. We’re gonna learn next week. He says, “Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.” What does that mean? What does that mean to deny myself, to take up my cross and follow him? These are precursors to follow Christ. We’ll talk about those together next week. Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for teaching us about the Spirit. Lord, sometimes we read certain verses or we hear certain word pictures about the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit becomes it to us, impersonal, force, commodity to be used, not a person to pray to, to love, to converse with, to listen to. The fault is on our end. It’s not on your end. You communicate it clearly. Lord, help us to live, help us to put spirit-led life into practice. Thank you for teaching us as we go in our small groups. Thank you for our leaders and our homes. Each one is taking the time to go. Strengthen them now, the friendship that has been started. Help us have understanding as we read through the journal and pray. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen

God is concerned about the inside.