Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you? Maybe you are facing things that seem devastating and oppressive. Perhaps you feel taken advantage of by people who are only concerned about their own gain. It may be that wave after wave after wave of discouraging things have crashed against your hopes and dreams eroding the foundation of what you believe about the provision and protection of God. In desperation and frustration you cry out the words of Gideon from Judges 6:13, “If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord deliver us from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us . . .”
Feeling abandoned by God is not a new thing. Each generation faces the question of whether God is real and cares. Gideon mentions the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, but before God sent Moses and brought the 10 plagues to deliver Israel, what do you suppose that generation’s thoughts were about the provision and protection of God? Does He not see what we are going through? Sure, God had foretold these 400 years of oppression to our father, Abraham, but doesn’t God see how desperate we are? Can’t He feel our pain and recognize that enough is enough? It is hard to worship a God who seems so removed from the struggles we face in this life!
Perhaps, this is part of the reason behind the orders by God to build the Tabernacle while they are camped at Mt. Sinai, awaiting the march to the Promised Land. They had been witnessing His power and presence through the pillar of fire & cloud and the gift of manna each morning, but what about a God who actually dwells within their camp? Who had ever heard of such a thing? What might that do to provide comfort in the midst of the trials and challenges that come with living in this world? And, suppose this Tabernacle provides the foreshadow of an even deeper longing that God desires in His relationship with mankind? Instead of a God who dwells within the camp, suppose, through the Tabernacle, He pointed to a way that would allow Him access to take up residence within our hearts?
Over the next eleven weeks (or so), we will consider the various elements that were part of the Tabernacle and how they pointed to the plan of God to bring mankind into a relationship with Himself through the work of His own Son, Jesus. We will see that abandoning us is the farthest thing from His mind! So, you want a relationship with the God of the universe? Guess what? He wants one with you as well—up close and personal! And, He wants to give us plenty of reason to trust in His provision and protection through the things Jesus came to do on our behalf! He is not a distant God—He wants to live right in our midst!!!
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
So, This is What a Stroke Feels Like!
What a Monday! Talk about a dark and depressing day! This past Monday sure fell into that category! It seemed like no matter what I said . . . it was the wrong thing! It felt like everyone I talked to had a major crisis or serious problem they were dealing with. There was depressing news about people’s health, financial burdens, addictive behavior, etc. Some of my words meant to provide comfort and a spiritual blessing were twisted out of context and unappreciated. Add to this the stress I was feeling concerning the various lesson plans and sermon notes I needed to work on, plus two wedding ceremonies rapidly approaching, and it was a setting for trouble.
The morning was blown up when I got to the office and found out there would be no secretary to help cover the phones until later in the morning (unless you consider Philip a secretary—haha—By the way, Pam was sick and Sheri was out of town, so this is not an indictment against them, it is just the way this particular Monday happened to work out). After several interruptions due to phone calls, I could see this was not going to be a productive day. I still had a bulletin article to write and the ideas were not flowing (as you can probably tell). I tried to get involved in reading some material in preparation for my class on Acts, but my mind kept jumping to thoughts of people dealing with loved ones hurting or dying and other struggles going on in personal lives. My prayers felt cold and ineffective. It was just a bad morning!
Deeann called me to have lunch with her and I thought I better try to get something done, so I decided to isolate myself in my office and skip lunch. (Maybe I could get something done this way?) Unfortunately, that only resulted in my developing hunger pangs and a headache. My mood was going downhill fast! Not only that, but it also felt like the creator of time was playing this huge cosmic joke on me. Every time I would look at my watch, what seemed like 10 minutes had passed would be over an hour! Where was this day going?
One more interruption on the phone from a salesman and I was set up for it to happen. I had no warning that a stroke was on the way, but I sure recognized it when it happened! To be honest, it was two strokes within minutes of each other that pretty much changed my day. The first one was a message that said, “I love you!!! Remember, you are special!!” and the second one was a note of thanks and appreciation for some things I had said earlier. TWO STROKES of love and encouragement within minutes of one another! Oh, how that changed my day!!!
Perhaps, that is why the author of Hebrews writes the message he does in 10:24. It says, “ . . .and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds . . .” Who has God placed on your heart to pray for and send a message of encouragement? There are no doubt others who have had much worse days than the one I just described and could sure use a stroke to carry them through! Will you be a resource for God this week to lift up someone else and help them feel appreciated? Go ahead—take time to make someone’s day. When they get over the shock, they may even pass on what they have received!
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
The morning was blown up when I got to the office and found out there would be no secretary to help cover the phones until later in the morning (unless you consider Philip a secretary—haha—By the way, Pam was sick and Sheri was out of town, so this is not an indictment against them, it is just the way this particular Monday happened to work out). After several interruptions due to phone calls, I could see this was not going to be a productive day. I still had a bulletin article to write and the ideas were not flowing (as you can probably tell). I tried to get involved in reading some material in preparation for my class on Acts, but my mind kept jumping to thoughts of people dealing with loved ones hurting or dying and other struggles going on in personal lives. My prayers felt cold and ineffective. It was just a bad morning!
Deeann called me to have lunch with her and I thought I better try to get something done, so I decided to isolate myself in my office and skip lunch. (Maybe I could get something done this way?) Unfortunately, that only resulted in my developing hunger pangs and a headache. My mood was going downhill fast! Not only that, but it also felt like the creator of time was playing this huge cosmic joke on me. Every time I would look at my watch, what seemed like 10 minutes had passed would be over an hour! Where was this day going?
One more interruption on the phone from a salesman and I was set up for it to happen. I had no warning that a stroke was on the way, but I sure recognized it when it happened! To be honest, it was two strokes within minutes of each other that pretty much changed my day. The first one was a message that said, “I love you!!! Remember, you are special!!” and the second one was a note of thanks and appreciation for some things I had said earlier. TWO STROKES of love and encouragement within minutes of one another! Oh, how that changed my day!!!
Perhaps, that is why the author of Hebrews writes the message he does in 10:24. It says, “ . . .and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds . . .” Who has God placed on your heart to pray for and send a message of encouragement? There are no doubt others who have had much worse days than the one I just described and could sure use a stroke to carry them through! Will you be a resource for God this week to lift up someone else and help them feel appreciated? Go ahead—take time to make someone’s day. When they get over the shock, they may even pass on what they have received!
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Power to Accomplish What God Desires: There is Strength in Numbers!—Part VI
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 states:
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
What a great teaching on the necessity of community! There is strength in numbers! This is why God instituted what we call the Church (a collection of believers separated from the ways of the world and able to spur one another on to greater love and good deeds because of the core things we hold in common). Yet, how many of us are attempting to live out our faith as though we are the Lone Ranger? How many of us keep our fears and failures bottled up inside of us because we have to put on the front that we are strong in our faith? How many of us would love to see the power of prayer bring about miraculous changes but are afraid to ask our brothers and sisters for help because we do not want to appear weak or needy?
Our calling is not to be solitary Christians, but to be members of a royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9). When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began His model prayer with, “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). What part of our life in Christ is supposed to be an individual endeavor? Granted, we will stand before God to give a personal accounting on the Day of Judgment, but even that accounting will be about how we treated others and fulfilled the roles we were called to play in family, church and community!
Elijah went through a rough time in his ministry. Following the contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in which the prophets of Baal were destroyed, he was threatened by Jezebel. His response was to run! He ran all the way out of the Promised Land and eventually isolated himself in a cave on the mountain where God had visited Moses and given him the 10 Commandments (I Kings 19:1-8). In his dialogue with God following the strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire that God was not in, God told him there were 7000 in Israel (the land he had just run away from) that had not bowed their knee to Baal (V. 18). SEVEN THOUSAND!!! Elijah had just said to God, “I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (V. 14). How did he not know about the SEVEN THOUSAND who were faithful to God? What kind of strength could this have given him as he dealt with a threat against his life and discouragement and fear?
Is it possible for us to become so preoccupied with our own struggles and frustrations that we fail to see the resources God has placed all around us through other believers in Him? We run to our caves of isolation feeling weak, tired and alone and convince ourselves that no one else understands or cares. We seek powerful displays from God to demonstrate our significance and value to Him, and to be affirmed in His care for us, but when He is in the gentle blowing wind instead of the fire and earthquake, we might not hear Him or experience Him because we are looking in the wrong place. And yet, we may have been surrounded by SEVEN THOUSAND who would walk right alongside us, if we only gave it a chance.
It was God who said, “It is not good for the man to be alone . . . .” It seems as though He understands the power we could have in numbers! Do we?
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
What a great teaching on the necessity of community! There is strength in numbers! This is why God instituted what we call the Church (a collection of believers separated from the ways of the world and able to spur one another on to greater love and good deeds because of the core things we hold in common). Yet, how many of us are attempting to live out our faith as though we are the Lone Ranger? How many of us keep our fears and failures bottled up inside of us because we have to put on the front that we are strong in our faith? How many of us would love to see the power of prayer bring about miraculous changes but are afraid to ask our brothers and sisters for help because we do not want to appear weak or needy?
Our calling is not to be solitary Christians, but to be members of a royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9). When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began His model prayer with, “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). What part of our life in Christ is supposed to be an individual endeavor? Granted, we will stand before God to give a personal accounting on the Day of Judgment, but even that accounting will be about how we treated others and fulfilled the roles we were called to play in family, church and community!
Elijah went through a rough time in his ministry. Following the contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in which the prophets of Baal were destroyed, he was threatened by Jezebel. His response was to run! He ran all the way out of the Promised Land and eventually isolated himself in a cave on the mountain where God had visited Moses and given him the 10 Commandments (I Kings 19:1-8). In his dialogue with God following the strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire that God was not in, God told him there were 7000 in Israel (the land he had just run away from) that had not bowed their knee to Baal (V. 18). SEVEN THOUSAND!!! Elijah had just said to God, “I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (V. 14). How did he not know about the SEVEN THOUSAND who were faithful to God? What kind of strength could this have given him as he dealt with a threat against his life and discouragement and fear?
Is it possible for us to become so preoccupied with our own struggles and frustrations that we fail to see the resources God has placed all around us through other believers in Him? We run to our caves of isolation feeling weak, tired and alone and convince ourselves that no one else understands or cares. We seek powerful displays from God to demonstrate our significance and value to Him, and to be affirmed in His care for us, but when He is in the gentle blowing wind instead of the fire and earthquake, we might not hear Him or experience Him because we are looking in the wrong place. And yet, we may have been surrounded by SEVEN THOUSAND who would walk right alongside us, if we only gave it a chance.
It was God who said, “It is not good for the man to be alone . . . .” It seems as though He understands the power we could have in numbers! Do we?
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Power to Accomplish What God Desires: Are You Sure You Want It?—Part V
Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If his statement is accurate, how many of us fall within the parameters of this definition when it comes to our spiritual walk? We say we want to develop deeper intimacy with Jesus and for His power to work in us and through us, but is that true? Could it be that to have His power unleashed in our lives is too scary a proposition, requiring too much from us? Our spiritual lives get into a rut, but we keep hoping for better outcomes, as long as we don’t have to change anything!
I remember a time working with the campus ministry at ENMU when I became discouraged and frustrated because some of the students couldn’t seem to get their lives out of the world. They professed belief in Jesus, but they wanted to enjoy various things the world also has to offer, and couldn’t see how this was adversely affecting their witness for Jesus. (You can imagine on the campus of a State University what types of distractions were readily available for our students to struggle with.) Our ministry was not very powerful or effective that semester and I was tired from trying to provide intercession where it was not wanted or appreciated. As I began to get depressed, Deeann sent me an article based on Mark 5 that gave me some new perspective.
We encounter a story of Jesus in the region of the Gerasenes where He will heal a man possessed by a legion of demons. The description of the man is that he was able to tear apart shackles and chains and “no one was strong enough to subdue him” (V. 3-4). Well, almost no one!!! The overwhelming power of Jesus is quite clear when this demon-possessed man says to Him, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God, do not torment me!” (V. 7). Jesus allows the demons to enter a herd of 2000 swine, which promptly run off a steep bank into the sea and are drowned (V. 13). This incredible display of POWER is realized by the townspeople when they hear the report from the herdsmen and come to Jesus and see the formerly demon-possessed man sitting down, clothed, and in his right mind (V. 14-15). Jesus has just restored a life!!! His power is strong enough to clean up any mess!
How do the townspeople respond to this power? The end of V. 15 tells us they were “frightened” and V. 17 informs us that they begged Jesus to leave their region! Even though what Jesus did was good, they are not sure this new power, the disruption to their lives, or the economic loss are worth having around. Thus, they ask Him to take His power and go! Perhaps, they preferred the status quo? Maybe they were afraid of what might happen if Jesus began tinkering around in their own lives? The point is we must be open to incredible measures being taken within our lives when Jesus unleashes His power and cleans them out. Perhaps, that is what we are afraid of most of all!
Are you struggling with what God is able to do through you? His power is awesome! What would you like for Him to do? Leave you in “peace”, or stay to clean up your life? The choice is yours, but the power is His, and He won’t give it to you on “your terms”. Are you sure you want it? Not everybody does!
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
I remember a time working with the campus ministry at ENMU when I became discouraged and frustrated because some of the students couldn’t seem to get their lives out of the world. They professed belief in Jesus, but they wanted to enjoy various things the world also has to offer, and couldn’t see how this was adversely affecting their witness for Jesus. (You can imagine on the campus of a State University what types of distractions were readily available for our students to struggle with.) Our ministry was not very powerful or effective that semester and I was tired from trying to provide intercession where it was not wanted or appreciated. As I began to get depressed, Deeann sent me an article based on Mark 5 that gave me some new perspective.
We encounter a story of Jesus in the region of the Gerasenes where He will heal a man possessed by a legion of demons. The description of the man is that he was able to tear apart shackles and chains and “no one was strong enough to subdue him” (V. 3-4). Well, almost no one!!! The overwhelming power of Jesus is quite clear when this demon-possessed man says to Him, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God, do not torment me!” (V. 7). Jesus allows the demons to enter a herd of 2000 swine, which promptly run off a steep bank into the sea and are drowned (V. 13). This incredible display of POWER is realized by the townspeople when they hear the report from the herdsmen and come to Jesus and see the formerly demon-possessed man sitting down, clothed, and in his right mind (V. 14-15). Jesus has just restored a life!!! His power is strong enough to clean up any mess!
How do the townspeople respond to this power? The end of V. 15 tells us they were “frightened” and V. 17 informs us that they begged Jesus to leave their region! Even though what Jesus did was good, they are not sure this new power, the disruption to their lives, or the economic loss are worth having around. Thus, they ask Him to take His power and go! Perhaps, they preferred the status quo? Maybe they were afraid of what might happen if Jesus began tinkering around in their own lives? The point is we must be open to incredible measures being taken within our lives when Jesus unleashes His power and cleans them out. Perhaps, that is what we are afraid of most of all!
Are you struggling with what God is able to do through you? His power is awesome! What would you like for Him to do? Leave you in “peace”, or stay to clean up your life? The choice is yours, but the power is His, and He won’t give it to you on “your terms”. Are you sure you want it? Not everybody does!
Click to listen to sermon.
-Scott
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