Posts Tagged ‘David Jeremiah’

Garbage In Garbage Out, Part 1

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Personal Growth
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Garbage In

Dr. Walter Cavert reported a survey on worry that indicated that only 8 percent of the things people worry about were legitimate matters of concern. The other 92 % were either imaginary, never happened, or involved matters over which the people had no control.What are you worrying about now? What did worry about recently that did not materialize?

If worry is your problem, Paul gives us a three-fold remedy if you are plagued with worry:

1. Pray instead of worry (Philippians 4:6-7)

Paul simply instructs us to stop worrying about the problems of life and start praying about them. Practically, you can fulfill this verse by making a Worry List and write down the problems you are worrying about at this time. Then take your pen and mark through the word Worry and write above it Prayer. I challenge you now to convert your Worry List into a Prayer List.

Worry is not the same as concern. We should be concerned for others as Paul described Timothy in Philippians 2:19-20. Paul said concern for others should characterize the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:25: “the members should have the same care or concern one for another.” Worry is selfish which hinders us from ministering to others.

Worry in self-concern. This is what Paul is condemning. This is what Jesus forbade in Matthew 6:25-33: “Stop worrying about your life, what you eat, what you wear. But seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.” Worry is selfish which hinders us from laboring for the kingdom of God.

You might say, “Well I’m just a worry wart. My mother was a worry wart.” Does that give us the right to disobey God’s Word? What if your mother had been an alcoholic?

2. Feed the Mind Properly (Philippians 4:8)

The average American is bombarded everyday with at least 1500 advertisements from all the media outlets: Internet, TV, newspapers, magazines, and billboards. Each advertisement is trying to control our thinking. If they can control our thinking, they can control our actions and ultimately our pocketbooks.

MacDonalds has convinced millions of 3 and 4 year olds it is more fun to eat a Happy Meal than a Kid’s Meal at Burger King. MacDonalds beats Burger King four to one. Four kids persuade parents to drive past Burger King and pull in MacDonalds and buy a Happy Meal.

Not only has the media succeeded in controlling our minds about their products but also about morality and religion. Homosexuality is no longer sodomy but an acceptable alternative lifestyle. As a result the younger generation has a totally different view of homosexuality. Perhaps our legalistic churches who have ridiculed them as “qreers” from the pulpits have also aided and abetted the secular media.

For example, you can view the YouTube of pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church who preached for the concentration of homosexuals behind electric fences and the ultimate death of “queers and homosexual.” It is no surprise our young people are turned off by churches. God hates the sin of homosexuality but His Son died for them just as He died for every sinner. Why not corral all adulterers, drunkards, or thieves behind electric fences and not just homosexuals?

A much more Biblical approach on is Matt Chandler’s message on YouTube “Jesus wants the rose.”

What are We to Think About? 

Someone called this list “The briefest biography of Christ.” Paul fires off a quick catalogue of worthy objects. The Word of God is the best source of what to think about. Paul’s list of what could be a list of Christ’s attributes is like David’s description of the Word in Psalm 19:7-9. Look up these two references and see the similarities between the attributes in Paul’s list and David’s list.

In computer science the principle is GIGO or “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” A computer processes the information it is given. The expression “Garbage in, garbage out” became famous when used by the defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran in the O. J. Simpson murder trial. Cochram argued that sloppy technicians and racist police tainted the mountain of blood evidence and the evidence was contaminated.

Same is true with human computers or our minds. Paul’s next point tells us how not to feed our minds garbage (Part 2)

Resources:

Stephen Davey’s sermonWorry: When Your Hope’s in the Bank

The Gospel Coalition sermons

John Piper’s Don’t be Anxious about Your Life

David Jeremiah: Slaying the Giants in Your Life: Worry

John MacArthur’s A Worried Christian

What Do We Do When Our Circumstances Are Devastating? (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

Posted: April 22, 2013 in Sermons on Habakkuk
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Titanic-SinkingWhen the Titanic was sinking, women and children were being loaded on the lifeboats. A lady asked permission to run back to her room one last time for something she did not want to leave. She was given just a few minutes or someone else would take her place in the lifeboat. When she got back to her room, much of her possessions were piled against the wall from the steep incline of the sinking ship. Above her bed was a jewelry box of expensive diamond rings and necklaces. She brushed them aside and quickly grabbed two oranges and one apple. What is truly valuable changes as you face the possibility of death.

The Devastating Circumstances are described in 3:17-19

After God shows Habakkuk what He has done mightily in the past at Mount Sinai, the Rea Sea, the Jordon River, the conquest of Canaan by causing the Sun to stand still and the defeat of over 30 Canaanite nations, God now shows Habakkuk the future. The future includes the devastation and plunder that Babylon will bring to Israel when it conquers them.

1) What Habakkuk envisioned, Jeremiah, his contemporary, witnessed and recorded in Lamentations. From 588 to 586 B. C. the army of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and completely cut off supplies to Jerusalem. The historical record of this siege is in 2 Kings 25:1-10. Jeremiah’s lament over the results of this siege that he witnessed is recorded in Lamentations 2:20-21. Israel’s food supply would be completely destroyed. It would be like our pantry, refrigerator and freezer being empty and when we rush to the grocery store, the shelves there are also barren.

2) Like Job, the nation would lose everything. What was Job’s response to his devastating circumstances? “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” When it feels like God is slaying us can we trust Him?

The solution is to rejoice in what is truly valuable and lasting (3:18-19)

Habakkuk finds his reason for living not in perishable things that he described in verse 17.

1. We can rejoice in the Lord in devastating circumstances (3:18a). We will never lose Him and even more importantly, He will never lose us. He promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We are like the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son. He finds us and keeps us.

2. We can rejoice in our salvation in devastating circumstances. Again God promised, “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.”

3. We can rejoice in God’s strength in devastating circumstances (3:19). In verse 16, Habakkuk did not have the strength to stand up. Now he has the strength of a deer to leap over fences and roads. The statement “He will make me to walk upon mine high places” is used in only two other places.

a) The first is in Psalm 18. David wrote this song when he was fleeing from his enemy, King Saul. For 10-15 years David was a fugitive on the run not for any sin he had commented but for doing the will of God. Yet David was not bitter. He worshiped God in song like Habakkuk is doing in Habakkuk 3. In Psalm 18:33, David wrote, “He makes my feet like the deer’s feet, and sets me upon my high places.” When we are devastated for someone’s fault or sin, we don’t have to become bitter and resentful. God can use the problem to prepare us for future ministry as he did with David. Because of what Spurgeon experienced at the Crystal Palace when he witnessed church members trampled to death in the panic, he was able in his book for pastors entitled “Lecture’s To My Students” to write the chapter “The Minister’s Fainting Fits.” Because of Spurgeon’s devastating circumstances he could later minister to other pastor who would also experience devastating times.

b) The next time this phrase is used is in 2 Samuel 22 in another song by David. This time David is much older. In 2 Samuel 21, David at about the age of 65 attempts to fight Goliath’s younger brother and had not David’s mighty men intervened, David would have been killed. This time David was at fault and God graciously strengthened him and David praised him in 2 Samuel 22:34: “He makes my feet like deer’s feet: and sets me upon my high places.” Yes, there are times when we suffer because of the sins, faults and mistakes of others. But we have all made our share of mistakes. We have blown it also. We have caused others to hurt. Yet God graciously strengthens us when we like David depend on Him.

Habakkuk has provided an example for us. He has showed us how to rest on God’s promises when we are personally devastated and also to rejoice in the Lord and His provision when our circumstances are devastating.

Another resource: Faith Birthing Song by Mark Driscoll; From Worry to Worship by Wiersbe: Notes on Habakkuk by Thomas Constable; Courage when Failure Defeats You by David Jeremiah

Prayer That Works (James 5:13-16)

Posted: April 16, 2013 in Sermons on James
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When I was probably 11 or 12 I used to love to throw a rubber ball against the side of the house and play catch with myself. I once was visiting my cousins in Tennessee. My aunt was inside the kitchen cooking with the pressure cooker and I was outside throwing the rubber against the side of her house. On that side of the house was a storm door that led into the kitchen. I accidentally threw the rubber ball and hit the bottom of the storm door, which was made of metal. The rubber hit the storm door with a WHAM!!! Well my aunt thought the pressure cooker exploded and could hear her scream from outside. The next thing I knew she burst out-door blessing me out for nearly scaring her to death.

Life is like a pressure cooker. You remember the pressure cooker had the regulator on top and it jingled with the release of steam and pressure. That is what prayer is for the child of God. And when we do not pray and release we explode.

James knew the value of prayer to help with the pressures of life. James didn’t just talk about prayer. He prayed. Eusebius, the church’s first historian said this about James: He used to enter alone into the temple and be found kneeling and praying for forgiveness, for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel’s because of his constant worship of God, kneeling and asking forgiveness for the people. So often did he pray that he was referred to as “Old Camel Knees” (Ecclesiastical History, II 23:3-9).

James was very qualified to speak about prayer. James began his letter exhorting us to pray (1:5) and he ends his letter instructing us how to pray (5:13-16).

Listen to this man of prayer teach us about prayer:

1. We should pray when we are in trouble (James 5:13a)

Notice these verses on prayer follow James’ teaching on the need of patience in our trials. In verses 7-11, James said seven times we need patience. Then in verse 12, he said, “Don’t swear.” In verses 13-18, James tells us seven times to pray. So in trouble don’t swear, but turn to prayer.

James used the word “afflicted” in 5:13 that he also employed in 5:10 to describe the persecution the prophets endured. This is suffering or trouble inflicted by others. Paul used this word to describe his imprisonment in 2 Timothy 2:9 and to warn Timothy of the hardships of the ministry in 2 Timothy 4:5.

When we are afflicted with pain from others, we are to pray, not to complain, not feel sorry for ourselves, but pray to God. Put on you big boy pants; act like a man, and pray.

Someone has said that heaven has a room that will surprise all of us when we see it—-a room that has within it large boxes neatly package with lovely ribbons on top, bearing our names on them, and tagged with these words: Never delivered to earth because never requested from earth (Chuck Swindoll. Insights).

How many answers to our prayers are still in heaven unanswered because we simply did pray? Do you have unanswered prayers for your loved ones in heaven? Or unanswered prayers for your own spiritual growth still in heaven?  Or forgiveness of sin still in heaven?

2. We should praise when we pray (James 5:13b)

The cheerful are not necessarily the physically well or free of trouble, but those with a good attitude in their trouble. They have prayed in their affliction and allowed God to give them a positive attitude in negative circumstances. So are we to praise God.

This word for cheer is used only one other time in the New Testament and that is in Acts 27 when Paul and the others were on board a ship in one of the worst storms ever. Paul exhorted everyone on board in the midst of crashing waves when their lives could be taken any moment, “Be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you. For there stood by me this night the angel of God saying, ‘Fear not Paul, you must be brought before Caesar.’” Like Paul, we praise the Lord in the worst storms of life.

Remember the old hymn: Count your many blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. When I was younger we used to change the word “one” to “ton” and sing: Count your many blessings name them ton by ton and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Yesterday, I visited Eamon Rudd in the Piedmont Crossing Nursing Home. It was like Christmas to him. I know some of you have visited him and he is so grateful. Grateful for what? A believer coming to some spends time with him. I asked him how he was doing? “I can stand on my feet and walk to get something to eat.” He was grateful for those two blessings. Over and over again he said, “I sure miss going to my church?” I know he said five times, “I sure miss going to church.” We can be grateful for these simply blessings from God and give Him praise for them.

3. We should pray when we are suffering because of our sin (James 5:14-16)

James gives a guarantee with this kind of praying in 5:15: “The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up; and if (“since”) he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

Now we know that this cannot be typical physical illness because God doesn’t always heal the physically sick. The Lord did not raise up even Paul who had a thorn in the flesh up after he prayed three times for healing.

This is a physical problem because of sin. That is why James wrote 5:16, “confess your sins one to another and pray for another that you may be healed.” We know all sickness is not the result of sin according to Jesus in John 9:2-3. There Jesus said the man who had been blind from birth was not blind because of his sin nor the sin of his parents.

But the sick in James 5:15 is sick because of sin.

An Old Testament example of this kind of praying is David in Psalm 32. When David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered, David reaped personally for his sin. When he confessed his sin, he was healed. David describes that experience in Psalm 32.

When he refused to confess his sins for 9 months, the 9 months Bathsheba carried his baby, David suffered:

a) Physically. “My bones waxed old. My roaring all the day long.”

b) Emotionally: “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.” God depressed David with guilt.

c) Spiritually: “My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” David dried up spiritually. He was no longer like the blessed man in Psalm one who mediated day and night on God’s Word and was like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

But David in Psalm 32: 5, confessed his sin. He did not blame others nor God. He did not focus on others and their faults. He confessed his sins to God and God immediately forgave him: “and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

What is the result of this kind of praying? James gives a great prayer promise in 5:16b: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” The continual praying of a righteous believer works powerfully.

1. What kind of praying works powerfully? Continual praying. We don’t give up praying. It always too soon to quit.

2. The continual praying of a righteous man. This believer has confessed his sins.

3. This kind of persistent, righteous praying works powerfully. Chuck Swindoll wrote about the power of prayer: “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence.”

During their agonizing imprisonment at the Nazi death camp of Ravensbruck, Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie suffered from ill treatment and lack of medical care. They were treated worse than common criminals, though their only “crime” had been sheltering Jews who were seeking to escape the murderous tyranny of Nazism:

Corrie ten Boom wrote:

The prison they were confined in was overcrowded, and the living conditions in the barracks were atrocious. Disease and malnutrition were rampant, and they feared that they, like so many of the prisoners around them, would soon be languishing in death.

In their misery, they often were forced to depend wholly on God. And God heard and answered their prayers, sometimes demonstrating his miraculous protection in the times of their deepest need.

When Betsie was desperately ill on one occasion, Corrie realized that the tiny bottle of DaVita Mon was down to the very last drops. “My instinct,” she wrote, “was always to hoard—Betsie was growing so very weak! But others were ill as well. It was hard to say no to eyes that burned with fever, hands that shook with chill. I tried to save it for the very weakest—but even these soon numbered fifteen, twenty, twenty-five…” Corrie’s heart went out to them, but she desperately feared that sharing those precious drops with all the others would rob Betsie of the only chance she had for survival.

Betsie recognized her need for the medication, but she reminded Corrie of the account of the widow of Zarephath who shared with Elijah and whose handful of meal and small amount of oil lasted as long as there was a need. Betsie was convinced that God could perform a similar miracle for them. Corrie initially belittled the idea of such a miracle in modern times, but she soon was a believer. “Every time I tilted the little bottle, a drop appeared at the top of the glass stopper. It just couldn’t be! I held it up to the light, trying to see how much was left, but the dark brown glass was too thick to see through.”

Each day she continued to dispense what she thought was the very last drop, until one day when a female guard who had shown kindness to the prisoners before, smuggled a small quantity of vitamins into the barracks for the prisoners. Corrie was thrilled, but she determined to first finish the drops in the bottle. “But that night, no matter how long I held it upside down, or how hard I shook it, not another drop appeared” (David Jeremiah, James: Turning Toward Integrity, page 194).

The effective fervent prayer of a forgiven man has great power with God. Jim Elliott, the martyred missionary, said, “God is on His throne and we are on His footstool, and there is only a knees distance between.”

Crock Pot Christians (James 5:7-9) Part Two

Posted: April 8, 2013 in Sermons on James
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The great New England preacher Phillips Brooks was known for his calmness and poise. His intimate friends, however, knew that he too suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor like a caged lion. “What is the trouble, Dr. Brooks?” asked the friend. “The trouble is,” replied Brooks, “that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t” (Jeremiah, page 166).

Warren W. Wiersbe, “Impatience with God often leads to impatience with people.”

James addresses this weakness in all of us. James is answering three questions about patience

1. What is Patience? (See Part One)

2. How Long Must We Be Patient? (See Part One)

3. How Can We Be Patient? 

A. By Strengthening Our Hearts (5:7-8) (See Part One)

B. By Working and Waiting With Others (5:9)

We must wait and work with others according to 5:9. The farmer had to work with his helpers. We can’t grumble at others because the waiting and work is difficult. If we don’t stablish our hearts there will be strife in our hearts (James 3:14-16) which produces strife between believers.

James forbad holding internal grudges here. Holding a grudge or unforgiving spirit is not patience. The same word is “groan” in Romans 8:23 where it refers to our internal desire for our glorified body.  In James 4:11, he forbad what internal grudges leads to “speaking evil one of another. He that speaks evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law.” These believers are not only critical of other believers but they are even critical of God’s law, which forbids criticizing.

If you have an issue with a believer the solution is not complaining about that believer to other believers. Jesus instructed us how to settle the issue in Matthew 18:15-17: You go that person alone and settle the problem. There is great heartache when Jesus’ instruction is ignored.

Preacher Blackburn told the story of a woman who gossiped about her preacher. She so ruined his reputation that he had to resign from the church. She finally was convicted of her sin and all the damage she had caused her church and her pastor. She went to apologize to him at his house. He took her up to a second floor room and took a down pillow. He opened the window, unzipped one end of the pillow and shuck out all of the hundreds of feathers, which the wind caught and blew in as many directions. Then the pastor asked her to go retrieve all the feathers. She replied, “That is impossible.” The pastor responded, “It is good that you have asked for my forgiveness, but it is also impossible for you to retrieve all the gossip you have spread about me and undo all the damage you have caused to my testimony.”

James reminds us again that the Lord is soon coming back. But in this context, James wants us to remember that Christ is returning as a judge. If you are judging and criticizing believers beware the Lord is returning as your Judge. The Judge is standing ready to push open the doors to the courtroom. If you are being judged, be strengthened, for the coming Judge will right all wrongs and injustices that have been committed against you.

Christ is the most perfect example of someone unjustly suffering according to 1 Peter 2:21-25. When He was falsely accused, He did not retaliate, but committed His life to Him that judges righteously.

Chuck Swindoll spent a couple of hours a week reading to a blind young man named John. Swindoll related this incident. One day I asked him how he lost his sight. He told me of an accident that happened when he was a teenager and how at that point, he had simply given up on life.

“When the accident happened and I knew I would never see again, I felt that life had ended, as far as I was concerned. I was bitter and angry with God for letting it happen, and I took my anger out on everyone around me. I felt that since I had no future, I wouldn’t lift a finger on my own behalf. Let others wait on me. I shut my bedroom door and refused to come out except for meals.”

Swindoll said this young man was an eager learner and an earnest student, so I had to ask what had changed his attitude. He told me this story. “One day, in exasperation, my father came into my room and started giving me a lecture. He said he was tired of my feeling sorry for myself. He said that winter was coming, and it was still my job to put up the storm windows. He yelled, ‘You get those windows up by suppertime tonight and he slammed the door on his way out.’”

“Well,” said John, “that made me so angry that I resolved to do it! Muttering and complaining to myself, I groped my way out to the garage, found the windows, a stepladder, all the necessary tools, and I went to work. ‘They’ll be sorry when I fall off this ladder and break my neck . . .’ but little by little, groping my way around the house, I got the job done.”

Then he stopped and his sightless eyes misted up as he told me, “I later found out that at no time during the day had my father ever been more than four or five feet away from my side” (Charles R. Swindoll, Job: A Man of Heroic Endurance. W. Publishing, 2004, p. 224).

The dad did the tough thing to get his son to stop being bitter at God and others for his plight. Yet the father in love was there to help his son each step of the way back to usefulness.

Crock Pot Christians (James 5:7-9) Part One

Posted: April 8, 2013 in Sermons on James
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God doesn’t microwave Christians to maturity, He crock pots them. It takes time to grow to maturity. For that reason, James commands us in 5:7 “Be patient therefore brethren.”

The only time I won a trophy was when I was preaching at a church that was going to have a men’s chili bean cook off. I put all of my stuff in the crock pot on Saturday night: Hamburger and Jimmy Dean sausage, chili powder, onions, tomatoes, etc. Later I threw in several different kinds of beans. It was rough that night waking up to the smell of chili beans cooking. But I won the cook off. I could have gotten up Sunday morning and thrown all of that stuff in a large frying pan and wiped out something quickly but I would not have a tasty dish.

We don’t like being patient. We despise waiting. In Florida a man billed his ophthalmologist $90 for keeping him waiting an hour.

A man’s car stalled on the freeway and no matter what he did, he could not get it started. Traffic was backing up and most everyone was taking it pretty good naturedly, except one guy in a pickup truck who was just laying on his horn. The driver of the stalled vehicle walked back to the driver of the pickup and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t get my car started. If you’ll go up there and give it a try, I’ll stay here in your truck and blow your horn for you” (David Jeremiah, Integrity, page 166).

Patience is not the same as a type B personality or a laid back disposition. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). Patience is a characteristic of love (1 Cor 13). Here is the hard part; patience is the result of hardship (Rom 5:3).

The believers James is writing to was enduring great hardship for the Gospel (1:1). They had been scattered from their homeland and now they were oppressed by hostile landowners (6:1-6). James condemns the hostility of the rich toward believers.

James connects his condemnation of the persecutors to what he now says to these persecuted believers with a “therefore.” In light of all their hardship, James says, “therefore” be patient. James answers the following three questions about patience.

1. What is Patience? (5:7)

James states three times we need to be patient in 5:7-8. Patience means to be long tempered with people instead of being volatile. You can’t have a short fuse and be patient. We don’t retaliate. We do not seek revenge. James said in 5:6, that these believers had not resisted or wrongly responded to the hostilities of the rich. We don’t lash out at our enemies. In not resisting their enemies, these believers had obeyed Jesus’ instruction in Mt 5:38-44. There are many references to Jesus’ sermon on the mount in James letter. James apparently was greatly impacted by the teaching of older half brother and Savior. This is where James probably got this truth.

2. How Long Must We Be Patient? (5:7)

James says we need to be patient “until” the coming of the Lord. For then people will no longer mistreat you and the Lord will right all wrongs. James uses the example of the persevering farmer. No crop springs up over night. The farmer has to pull up weeds, plow the hard soil and sow his seed. He must also wait on God to send the rain and the sunshine. The farmer both works and waits. He works 12-14 hours a day while he waits for the harvest. And when harvest season is over, he has to start the process all over again. No farmer sows one season and reaps for the rest of his life.

James makes application to you and me in 5:8: “Be you also patient (like the farmer).”

W. A. Criswell said years ago our government had sent a great tonnage of wheat to starving India and the picture on the front of the newspaper showed the wheat that was to be planted for a harvest. But the hungry hordes tore apart the bins, seized the golden seed, and consumed it in their starvation. Criswell thought how tragic that instead of patiently waiting for the harvest when the seed was planted, they were seizing in and destroying it (W. A. Criswell, Expository Sermons on the Epistle of James, 91).

Not waiting has serious consequences. Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. We finally reap for our patient response to mistreatment at the coming of the Lord not next week.

3. How Can We Be Patient? (5:8)

A. By Strengthening Our Hearts

“Stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draws near.” Notice we are told to stablish or make strong our hearts. Not God. In 1 Thess 3:13, however, it is God who stablishes or strengthens our hearts. But He doesn’t strengthen us without our cooperation. This is like the farmer pulling up the weeds, plowing the soil, and sowing the seed. This is hard work.

I grew up part of the time with my grandfather who was a tenant farmer. I watched him kill hogs, ring the necks of chickens, and shear sheep. I slopped the hogs. I also spent the night at Cleo Steed’s when he was a dairy farmer. They got me up around 4 in the morning. Farming is hard work. Strengthening our hearts is also hard work.

We must pull up the weeds of sin: Heb 12:15 “Let any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.”

We must sow God’s Word in our hearts. David wrote, “Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

We must fellowship with His Son. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7).

We also must work and wait “for” the coming of the Lord draws near. Before James wrote about waiting “until” but now he writes about waiting “for” or “because of” the coming of the Lord. The possibility of the any moment return of Christ should impact our lives now: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Every man that has this hope in him purifies himself” (1 John 3:2, 3).

According to 1 Corinthians 15:58 the coming of Christ is the working hope. When we give out the gospel our labor is not in vain.

The Gideons give out little white New Testaments to all the nurses in America. One nurse had one of these little white New Testaments in the pocket of her uniform one day and the outline of it was seen by one of her patients who was a lost man. He thought it was a package of cigarettes. So, seeing it there in her pocket, he asked her what brand she used. She told him it was no brand, took it out, and held it up for him to see and explained that it was a little New Testament, the Word of God. She asked if she could read to him out of it. He gave her permission, and as time passed she read to him again and again. And under the influence of the Holy Spirit the man was wonderfully saved. He confessed his sins, asked God to forgive him, and received the Lord Jesus into his heart. As the days passed, this Christian nurse had a strange impulse to go see the man. So she went to his room, and as she stood looking at him, he sat up in bed. He seemed to be looking at someone standing at the foot of the bed. Then he raised his arms and cried, “My Lord and my God,” fell back, and his spirit was translated to heaven (W. A. Criswell. Expository Sermons on the Epistle of James, page 94). The coming of the Lord should strengthen our hearts to keep giving out the Gospel which will not return void.

We will continue answering questions about patience in Part Two

Sermon: Worship God with Thanksgiving (Psalm 100) Part One

Posted: November 20, 2012 in Sermons
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Sarah Hale, was an American writer and an editor of two women’s magazines. She also, almost singlehandedly, made Thanksgiving a national holiday. She started her mission in 1846 and succeeded 17 years later. She petitioned five presidents and finally convinced Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to approve of the first national Thanksgiving Day. The first Thanksgiving was inaugurated when our nation had the least to be thankful for; we were in the middle of the Civil War. When Lincoln instituted the first national Thanksgiving he called our nation to repentance.

Since 1863, Presidents have observed Thanksgiving as a national celebration. Each President residing in the Whitehouse was to declare the fourth Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. This has been the case except for 1865. That year, President Andrew Johnson forgot to observe Thanksgiving in November so that year Thanksgiving was remembered in December.

It is easy to forget to be thankful. To be thankful goes against the tide of widespread ingratitude. According to Paul, ingratitude is part of our sinfulness: “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful” (Romans 1:21). Paul predicted that ingratitude would increase as we approach the last days. Among the 19 characteristics of the end time, Paul includes “unthankful” (2 Timothy 3:1-2). To be thankful is not natural it is supernatural.

David Jeremiah said:

Thanksgiving is also the opposite of discontent. It’s easy for us to become disgruntled with various factors in our lives; but let’s be like one man who was thankful….

- For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

- For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that I have freedom of speech.

- For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.

- For the teenager who is not doing dishes but is watching TV because that means he is at home and not on the streets.

- For the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.

- For the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

- For weariness at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.

- For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation. When I read this one

I thought of Jamie Pierce who grew up in our church who is now in the Walter Reed Military hospital in Washington DC who nearly lost his life and leg in a blue on green suicide bombing in Afghanistan. The doctors told him he will never run again.

Psalm 100, which is called a Thanksgiving Psalm, will help us not to forget Thanksgiving. Under the chapter number is the inscription, “ A Psalm of Praise.” The word praise is the same word translated “thanksgiving” in 100:4.

Psalm 100 was probably sung as believers marched to the temple in Jerusalem to worship the Lord. David commanded, “come before His presence with singing.” It was also sung as they entered the gates and courts of the temple (100:4).

David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the writer of psalms, the inventor of musical instruments, the organizer of God’s people into a singing and worshipping people, gives six commands about worshiping God with thanksgiving.

1. Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord (100:1)

Praise God in public. Shout out to the Lord as a blast of a trumpet (98:6). Don’t go silently through life never acknowledging God. The one healed leper did this in Luke 17:15.

Uncle Bud Robinson, a Nazarene evangelist who died in 1942, endeared himself with his people with his homespun humor. He used to pray: “Oh Lord, give me a backbone as big as a saw log, ribs like the sleepers under the church floor, put iron shoes on me and galvanized breeches, give me a rhinoceros hide for skin, and hang a wagonload of determination up in the gable-end of my soul, and help me to sign a contact to fight the devil as long as I’ve got a fist and bite him as long as I have a tooth, then gum him till I die. All this I ask of Christ’s sake. Amen.”

Uncle Bud was praying out loud once, and someone told him, “You don’t have to pray so loud God is not deaf.” “I know God is not deaf, and neither am I dumb.”

David also instructed “all” people are to praise God. God is King over all people (Ps 98:4-6). All of creation exists for God’s glory (Psalm 19:1). The unsaved should give God thanks because “God rains on the just and the unjust.”

2. Serve the Lord with Gladness (100:2a)

Our service to Christ reflects our gratitude to the Lord. Our gratefulness will produce service with gladness.  David did not just command service as duty but service with gladness. “Serve” means to work like a slave. The word is used in Exodus 21:2, 5-6. If a slave after six years said, “I love my master” then he could stay on as his master’s slave. Most slaves in the OT had a higher standard of living than freemen. Paul described himself as a bond slave of Christ in Romans 1:1. Paul loved his master and willingly served Him like a slave.

I read this week: A young man doesn’t consider it work to wash his car to date a girl he is trying to impress. The same is true if we love the Lord.

In Part Two, we will look more reasons to worship God with Thanksgiving.

David Jeremiah on Thanksgiving

Posted: November 17, 2012 in Sermon Illustrations
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Thanksgiving is also the opposite of discontent. It’s easy for us to become disgruntled with various factors in our lives; but let’s be like one man who was thankful….

- For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

- For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that I have freedom of speech.

- For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.

- For the teenager who is not doing dishes but is watching TV because that means he is at home and not on the streets.

- For the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.

- For the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

- For weariness at the end of the day because it means I have bee capable of working hard.

- For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.

Sermon: Reading the Fine Print in Romans 8:28

Posted: October 8, 2012 in Sermons
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Joseph Plum was a US jet fighter pilot who was shot down over North Viet Nam during the Viet Nam War. He was a POW for six years. For six years in lived in an eight foot by eight foot cell. He could pace three steps in one direction, turn and pace three steps in the other direction. In solitary confinement, he tapped on the walls to communicate to the POW in the cell next to him. While he survived, many POWs did not because of what he called “Prison Thinking.” The first reaction of “Prison Thinking” is the woe is me syndrome. Woe is me because I’ve been shot down, I’m in prison, separated from my family, and tortured. The second reaction of “Prison Thinking” is blaming others such as the President and the mechanics. The ones who felt sorry for themselves atrophied and died. Joseph Plum, however, said it was the best six years of his life. Even though he was tortured, laid on his stomach with his arms pulled out of joint, back behind him and tied to his legs, and beaten in the back.

He learned how to cope with affliction and benefit from suffering. After the war, Joseph Plum travelled all over the USA and spoke twice a week on “How to Survive.” He spoke to young people who have contemplated suicide and other similar groups.

There is a promise of God in a well know verse of Scripture that if understood and applied can help us to survive spiritually by not succumbing to the woe is me thinking or the blame game. The verse is Romans 8:28. But we must read carefully the fine print.

1. This Promise is for Members Only

“And” connects Romans 8:28 to what Paul has been writing in the entire chapter. Paul is writing to believers to assure them of their eternal salvation. Paul is writing to those “who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) in whom the Holy Spirit dwells (8:9) and who have assurance of their salvation and can cry “Abba Father” (8:15).

In other words, the promise in Romans 8:28 is not for everyone.

A. The promise in Romans 8:28 is for members only i.e., members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul identifies these members with two titles.

1. Believers Love God. This is the only place in Romans where our love for God is mentioned. In all other places, it is God’s love for us that is stressed. For example, just look at the three uses of “love” in 8:35, 37, and 39. But in Romans 8:28, Paul identifies believers as those who love God. This identification goes all the way back to Exodus 20:5, 6.

2. Believers Have been Called by God. Loving God is the human side of this identification and “the called according to His purpose” is the divine side. There is cause and effect in these titles. We love God because He called us to salvation. God initiated salvation. We will learn in 8:29-30, that God initiated our salvation in eternity past. Then He initiated our salvation in our life when someone gave us the gospel. Through the gospel, God called us to salvation (“He called you by our gospel” (2 Thessalonians 2:14).

B. This promise is not for Unbelievers. God is not working all things together for good to those who do not have God as their Father. With membership in the Body of Christ comes privileges. Just read 8:14-17. But the unbeliever is under the control of Satan. This is clear from 1 John 5:19: “We know that we are of God and the whole world lies in the wicked one.”

1) Because this promise is for believers, “we know” God works all things together. Not only do we have assurance of salvation, but we have assurance that God is in control of our lives. Paul did not say, “We feel that all things work together for good.” We don’t always feel good about life. We don’t always feel saved. Assurance is based of God’s Word not our emotions. Paul said in regard to salvation, “I know whom I have believed that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him” (2 Timothy 1:12).

2) We know this not because we feel it, but because we know God’s Word teaches this. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).

David Jeremiah’s comments:

We have to “know” the promises of God before we can feel encouraged, assured, or hopeful. Too many churches try to build up people’s emotions, appealing directly to the heart. But the way to the heart is through the head. We have to know before we can feel.

The phrase “we know” is used five times in Romans, and the verb “know” appears 13 times. So Paul puts great emphasis on what we can know for certain in spite of what we can’t know.

On the other hand, “We do not know what we should pray for as we ought.” So Paul is using an interesting contrast in this section of Romans 8. In verse 26, we don’t know how to pray; but in verse 28, we know all things work together for good. We know the ultimate truths even when we don’t know the immediate ones. Even when we don’t know how to pray, we know that God is in control.

We need to be students of God’s Word because what we don’t know can never help us, but what we do know can.

2. This Promise Includes All Things Working Together

The words “work together” come from one word in the Greek from which we get our English word, synergism. Synergism means that the action of two or more can accomplish more than separate individuals can.

Ecclesiastes 4: 9 says, “Two are better than one….for if one fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up.”

Paul uses the noun in Romans 16:3 and 9 to describe his co-workers in the gospel. When we work together, we can accomplish more in service to Christ. Paul used in 1 Corinthians 3:9 to say when we work together not only with each other but with God we can even accomplish more: “we are laborers together with God.”

When work together with God not only in ministry but in our circumstances we honor Him. We must believe that God is working all things together, which includes the difficult and the even the bad.

A. God uses the bad things that happen to us.

Whereas God limits for whom all things work together for good, only believers, God puts no limits on the circumstances He uses in believers’ lives.

Paul personally experienced this difficult truth and wrote about it in 2 Corinthians 12:7: “Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”  Thomas Watson wrote, “A sickbed often teaches more than a sermon.”

B. God uses the bad things we do.

The writer of Hebrews 12:6,10, and 11 taught that when we do bad and God chastens us, if we respond properly, that chastening can produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

My Dad used to say right before he spanked me for my disobedience, “Son, this is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you.” I remember thinking, “I’ve a solution that will save both of us a lot of pain.” But Dad was right as I learned when I became a father.

God works “all things” together. Individual trials may not be good. In the physical world, some chemicals by themselves are poisonous such as sodium and chlorine, but combined produce tasty table salt.

I read recently, of a pastor who returned to his pulpit a few weeks after his son committed suicide. With great emotion he read his text – which happened to be Romans 8:28.

Then he looked at his congregation and said, “I cannot make my son’s death fit into this passage. It is impossible for me to see how anything good can come out of it. Yet I realize I only see in part. I only know in part. It’s like the miracle of the shipyard. Almost every part of our great ships is made of steel. If you were to take any single part of that vessel – be it a steel plate from the hull or steel from its rudder – and throw it into the ocean, it will sink. Steel doesn’t float! But, when the shipbuilder is finished, when the last plate has been riveted in place, that massive steel ship floats!” He then concluded by saying, “Taken by itself, my son’s suicide is senseless. Throw it into the sea of Romans 8:28 and it will sink. But when the Divine Shipbuilder has finally finished, even this tragedy will build together God’s unsinkable purpose” (Stephen Davey’s sermon in Wisdom for the Heart).

The fine print of Romans 8:28 includes the following: This promise is for believers only, the promise includes all things or circumstances working together not just the good. Lastly, this promise means that all things work together for our good, not all things are good.

3. The Promise Means that All Things Work Together for our Good

Notice the fine print did not say, “All things that work together are good.”

You might say, “You mean even evil and sin and false accusations and injustice and failure and broken relationships and cruelty and betrayal and pain and suffering and hatred and jealousy and abandonment – you mean even that?” Everything I just listed was a part of the last few hours in the life of Jesus Christ. And it all worked into God’s plan for your good and His glory (Stephen Davey).

The good that can be accomplished is spelled out in 8:29, becoming more like Christ. There is no greater good than conformity to Christ.

This promise is for believers only, who have assurance that God works all things not just the good together. It is for believers who know this because God has said this in His Word. This promise is for believers who view their circumstances as God does.

In Genesis 42:36, when Jacob learned that not only had he lost his son Joseph but now he lose also Benjamin, Jacob complained, “All these things are against me.” For Jacob the world had turned sour and his words expressed his bitterness.

Bob Jones Senior used to tell of a man who fell asleep on a park bench and a bunch of mischievous boys put Limburger cheese on his mustache. When he awoke, he said, “This park stinks.” “The flowers stink.” “That bakery stinks.” “The whole world stinks.” The problem was right under his nose not everyone and everything else.

Contrast Joseph who was in the same trial as his father, Jacob. Joseph who had been mistreated by his selfish brothers was not bitter. When Joseph was 17 years old his jealous brothers hated him so much they plotted to kill and threw him in a pit. When they discovered they could sell him to some Midianite travelers and make a profit, they sold their brother into slavery. When in Egypt, the Midianites sold Joseph to an Egyptian officer whose immoral wife falsely accused him. Joseph was put in prison for two years when he was not just innocent but righteous in turning down Potipher’s wife’s proposition. Did Joseph have what Joseph Plum called “Prison Thinking?” Did Joseph have a pity me party? Did Joseph get on Facebook and start blaming and criticizing people? When finally delivered by God and promoted and reunited with his brothers 13 years later, he said to them, “Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here: for God did send me before you to preserve you” (Genesis 45:5).

Fanny Crosby, the blind songwriter, wrote in her autobiography about her doctor who accidentally put the wrong medicine on eyes when she was just an infant which resulted in her blindness for the rest of her life. Fanny Crosby wrote that she had heard that this physician never stopped expressing his regrets, and that it was one of the sorrows of his life. But Fanny Crosby said, if I could meet him now, I would say, ‘Thank you, thank you, over and over again for making me blind. Although it may have been a blunder on your part, it was no mistake on God’s. I believe it was His intention that I should live my days in physical darkness, so as to be better prepared to sing His praises and incite others to do so.”

Sermon Illustration on Angel’s or God’s Protection

Posted: July 30, 2012 in Sermon Illustrations
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David Jeremiah opens his book on angels entitled, What The Bible says about Angels, “In a doctor’s office one fall day last year, I was told I had cancer. I’m sure you’ll understand when I say I was fearful. It was one of those times when I would have cherished having an angel with me in the room, assuring me everything would be okay. In the months that followed I felt the same fear when I prepared to have surgery on two occasions. An angel’s hand holding mine as I was wheeled into the operating room would have been treasured comfort. But as far as I knew, I’d never seen an angel. Never. Did that mean something was wrong with me? Why did other people have that privilege? Wasn’t I spiritual enough?” (page14).

But near the end of David Jeremiah’s book he (page 188) summarizes my thoughts: “But if this is disappointing news to you, and you’re dismayed to think there may not be a specific angel responsible for your protection, you need not jump up in fear to check the locks on your doors and windows. There’s plenty of evidence that God himself is looking out for you.”

Who Will Replace You in the Ministry? (Matthew 10:1-4)

Posted: March 14, 2012 in Christ, LIfe of Christ
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David Jeremiah told the following incident.

A pastor was teaching a class of Sunday School children, and he asked them, “Who broke down the wall of Jericho?”

A boy answered, “I didn’t do it!”

The pastor turned to the Sunday School teacher and asked, “Is this typical?”

She replied, “Pastor this boy is an honest child – I really don’t think he did it.”

Such a response really upset the pastor and he went straight to the Sunday School superintendent and told him what happened. The superintendent said “Well now, I’ve known the boy and his teacher for a number of years and just can’t picture either one of them doing such a terrible thing.”

In total disbelief, the pastor called an emergency deacons’ meeting and reported the entire story. After a moment of awkward silence, the chairman spoke up and said, “Listen, Pastor, just find out how much it cost and we’ll pay the damages.”

Perhaps, Jesus felt this way at this point in His ministry in Matthew 10.

Jesus has been ministering alone for awhile in His public ministry, especially after John the Baptist was imprisoned.

But now Jesus started training others not only to help Him but to replace Him. He chose 12 men who would be the first leaders of the early church. Eventually Jesus’ replacements died. But thankfully they trained replacements as well. What Jesus did the early church practiced. In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul passed this practiced on to his replacement, Timothy.

This ministry is just as necessary today. Are we training our replacements? To whom are we passing the baton? Who will be the next generation of leaders in our church? Who will replace our current Sunday school teachers? Or Deacons? Or AWANA workers? OR choir members?

How did Jesus train His replacements?

1. He Prayed for Them (Matthew 10:1)

Matthew 10:1 begins with “and.” The calling of the 12 replacements follows Jesus command to His disciples to pray for more workers. But His call also follows His praying all night (Luke 6:12).

The early church followed this example in Acts 13. Before they sent out the first full-time missionaries they prayed and fasted. Are we as a church praying for replacements or just the sick?

A. Jesus first calls us to salvation (2 Thess 2:14 “He called you by our gospel”).

B. Then, He calls us to service (Acts 13:2; 16:10).

C. Finally, He calls us to training. Jesus calls us to training or to be disciples on learners.

In order to make disciples as Jesus commanded in the Great Commission we win people to Christ, baptize them and “teach them to observe all things.”

Leaders are readers. Readers of God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15) and other books (2 Timothy 4:13). Before these disciples could be apostles or sent ones they had to be trained. For 3 ½ years Jesus trained these future leaders.

This is true of all believers (Matthew 11:29). What books are you reading that will help train you to grow in your ability to serve the Lord?

2. He Trained Them (Matthew 10:2)     

Peter, James and John were fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector. Simon was former political activist. We don’t know the occupations of the nine. But there were no Ph.Ds, CEOs or military generals. Jesus doesn’t choose us for what we are now but for who we can become.

Jesus saw great potential in these men who would be the future leaders in the church.

Stephen Davey shared a fictitious memo from “The Jordan Management Consultants”.  This story that gives the response of a imagined consulting firm if. Jesus had sent the resumes of the 12 apostles who were applying for management positions in Jesus’ corporation today.

Thank you for submitting the resumés of the twelve men you have selected for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests and the results have been run through our computer. It is our staff’s opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of work you are now undertaking. They do not demonstrate a team concept. We would recommend that you search for persons of experience, managerial ability, and proven capability. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to an offensive temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership and he will remain anonymous. Brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Frankly, they are mama’s boys. Thomas demonstrates a questioning, doubting attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by our greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus have definite leanings toward the radical scale. One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, has a keen business mind, is good with finances, and is highly motivated and ambitious. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right hand man.

That should give all of us hope as Paul reminded the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 1:26.

3. He Molded Into A Powerful Team (Matthew 10:2-4)

One preacher called this group “A Ragtag Band of Misfits” that Jesus molded into a very successful ministry team. The list of the apostles is found 4 times (Mt 10; Mk 3; Luke 6; Acts 1). Matthew is unique in that he puts the Twelve into 6 pairs.

A.  Peter is always first in all four lists

He was first among his equals because Jesus was the leader. But Peter is the leader under Jesus.

1. Peter is paired with his brother Andrew who brought him to Jesus. These two brothers were very different and yet God used both of them.

2. James is paired with his brother John. Both were sons of Zebedee. At one point they had been sons of thunder. James died as the church’s first martyr. John lived a long life and later wrote 5 New Testament books.

3. Philip and Bartholomew or Nathanael. Philip introduced Nathanael to the Lord.

4. Thomas and Matthew. Only Matthew reminds us that he was a dishonorable supporter of the Roman government at the expense of his own people. The Jews considered Jewish tax collectors traitors. Thomas of course was the skeptic.

5. James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus. About these two we know little.

6. Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

The Zealots were a radical party who hated Rome. The Zealots carried on guerrilla warfare from a retreat called Masada. When Rome discovered Masada, they attacked and ended the Zealots in A.D. 70. Judas Iscariot is always listed last and as the one who betrayed Jesus.

B. The 12 are always divided into three smaller groups of four disciples.

Peter is always the first, Philip is always 5th and James is always 9th. Jesus was able to spend more time with the first group. The first group wrote the most Scripture. Under Peter were other leaders. Leaders need leaders.

C. The 12 had very different personalities and temperament

1) Peter was impulsive sometimes even rebuking Jesus. John was the opposite. He was contemplative leaning on Jesus heart.

2) Nathanael was believing (John 1:49) and Thomas was skeptical (John 20:25).

3) Matthew was a tax collector for the Roman government. Simon the Zealot was a radical revolutionary for overthrowing the Roman government.

4) Peter is always first and Judas is always last.

Peter was the closest to Jesus. Judas was unconverted and the farthest away.

5) How did Jesus unite such a diverse and strong willed group?

Jesus called these men to “Follow Me and I will make you to become fishers of men.” As long as the disciples focus was not on each other, but on Christ they were good. In the Gospels, they struggled with this. In Acts after the filling of the Holy Spirit they succeeded. Perhaps Matthew gives us another clue. Matthew humbly admitted what he was before Jesus saved him and transformed him into this new person. Instead of focusing on the weaknesses in others he focused on his own weaknesses and sins from which that God had saved him.

Like Jesus, let’s start praying and working toward training our replacements in the ministry. Remember you will not start out with mature, skilled workers but more likely with immature but potential leaders. Just we were years ago.

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