Sunday, February 6, 2022
Transcript
I we sent an email last night cause to rejoice sister Katie who's here today one year ago was in the ICU and obviously we've had a lot of great progress and have to thank our Heavenly Father for his goodness to us to our family and we're thankful for all of your support andI thank you again so I love reading Jesus parables probably do too this this talk is about seeing God's
following the signs that he gives us like we're driving down the road we see signs follow the signs there are instructions so this is that's what this exhort is about like that sign that'll be our that'll be our first one but
signs like that that's what I'm talking about so these the parables remind me of story time as a kid my mom I fondly remember when I was a kid in the summertime when school was out they had reading at the library and we we could walk to library so we would walk up and see mr. pap I was probably this tall and mr. pap was a big man he looked like Santa Claus he had a booming voice and he was a bit of a theatric so he would change his tone of voice when when he would be reading kids stories to us and so he would change his tone of voice when something exciting was happening much like brother rich Denine he gets very when he gets excited he changes his tone of voice right when
there was a new character he would change his tone of voice and he had a get he had his get up he had a corn cob pipe and he had his suspenders it's very vivid in in my mind and so I think story time is awesome because we we almost live it ourselves right we get when we get in the picture it makes a real connection and we can remember things and I think this is what happens with Jesus parables that's why he uses the parables it's because we get right into the story it's something familiar and easy to remember it's with something in everyday life you know we don't shepherd anymore but this lost sheep parable or losing something being estranged from a family member that happens and so these parables trigger us to remember God's lessons so as you as you were listening to those parables maybe you could see that woman sweeping or you see the sheep off in the distance going beyond vision where you can't see it anymore or maybe that guy who's on the donkey you know he's barely able to stay upright you
know the Samaritan is holding him up so that he doesn't fall off and he's bleeding and gasping for air so those so I want to use a parable today this driving parable to try to get you to think of those things as you go about your daily life we
all drive everywhere right when you had to drive to get here maybe some of us don't drive anymore but we still get in the car and we're passengers and we see these signs so I want to try to take examples from biblical figures and
make analogies to driving to the kingdom and seeing those signs like that one-way sign what does that mean to try to evoke in your mind God's direction and those faithful followers so this this lesson or this this idea of a drive to the kingdom is kind of that's a it's not really a biblical one in that we're no obviously no automobiles but walking and running to the kingdom a journey to the kingdom is is a biblical theme we are on a journey to the kingdom a race so so you may have you may have used the term you're walking the truth right we are walking in the truth towards the kingdom I read the NIV I know uncle John Belelo doesn't think it's inspired but as as an uninitiated reader when I was first reading the Bible when I was reading King James I was clueless but anyway the point my NIV used he had has these headings for certain section for every section almost of the Bible and the one for Deuteronomy 2 is wilderness wanderings so they're they're journeying through the wilderness from Isaiah when he takes God's promise to the faithful in chapter 30 he says and though the Lord give you bread of adversity and water of affliction yet your teacher will not hide himself anymore but your eyes shall see your teacher and your ears shall hear a word behind you saying this is the way walk in it when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left so again I'm emphasizing this this is a spiritual journey and we have this spiritual guidance which way to go to the right to the left straight down the path Paul talks about it as a race we are familiar with this one don't you know first Corinthians 9 that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize so run that you may obtain it every athlete exercises self-control in all things they do it to a perishable wreath but we an imperishable so our kingdom journey this is a race this is the parable I'm trying to make okay
so one-way sign u-turn sign stop signs wrong way no u-turn yield sign these are the signals that I'm talking about today that the signs from faithful believers following God's way following the road signs so we're gonna go on quote kind of like our own spiritual journey from the beginning when we first came to know that there was only one way from John chapter 14 verse 6 this is what John says here's this is the sign to us Jesus said to him I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me we have one way to the kingdom first
Timothy for there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all we can approach our father through only our Savior Christ Jesus we can't make up our own path you one way when you go against traffic bad deal right this is a bad deal if you're not following that sign the kingdom of God is like a road sign that says one way and it's our first step in our in our race kingdom race I
don't know how to make us there we go u-turn so the the verse that comes to my mind whenever I I think of turning around is repenting to be baptized again the in the beginning of our journey after we decide that Christ Jesus is the way we need to turn around from how we were behaving and we need to head toward again towards the kingdom towards righteousness Peter says repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit you know I wish it was just I just wish it was just October 16th 1994 that I had to repent we
know that's not true right it's not just our baptism day sometimes we think we can go and go the other way we have to keep turning around Matthew 18 you know we need to help turn our when he says so listen to him right he's trying to help you make that u -turn back towards the kingdom and we can't forget not just turning that brother it's for forgiveness right we need to offer him forgiveness not just once 70 times 7 times when we think of other biblical figures turning around Saul comes to mind right he was the kingdom was that way he was going like this he was he had his hand on the believers dragging them away to put them to death and I think as we examine Paul and Manasseh and Judah those guys teach us those brothers teach us that it's not really for us to say that guy he can turn around or he's done something that can't be turned around nothing is unforgivable Paul's murder of the believers wasn't forget was forgivable Manasseh was horrendous he was I don't know if he was the worst but he he was up there for the worst of the worst and just for illustration I want to read and I know we've read these before but this is the horrendous behavior of Manasseh that he actually turned around 2nd Chronicles 33 verse 4 the King's writer I'm not going to say that he couldn't bring himself to write about Manasseh's repentance because it was so bad but I think it's remarkable that it's only in the Chronicles account Manasseh's turn verse 4 from 2nd Chronicles 33 he also built altars in the house of the Lord for the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord he caused his sons so he did it in the holy place and the most holy place
he violated the most sacred place to be he caused his sons to pass through the fire he practiced sues saying used witchcraft and sorcery Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel
Chronicles tells us it was the hook in his nose from Babylon the Babylonians that dragged him off that
turned him around to cause a great humbling and how great was his turn when he was in affliction he implored the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and he did these great things he built a wall to a great height he put captains in fortified cities he took away the foreign gods he repaired the altar of the Lord and commanded Judah to serve the God of Israel and then last we have to mention Judah he was on he was on the wrong road right he was off with Hiram the Adulamite higher the Adulamite all he cared about was sheep and money and he had nothing to do with the kingdom of but Tamar turned him right around she is more righteous than I
Paul doesn't spend much time on this one yeah we know this is pretty straightforward you don't go the wrong way don't enter you guys did you hear about the 93 accident in the storm there's a car who got on the highway going the wrong way no mass he's goner right and that's the same with us wrong way again Paul says it's obvious adultery fornication uncleanness lewdness idolatry sorcery hatred contentions jealousies those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God when you see this sign you can't go down there don't open that window don't go with those guys it's the wrong place to be so just stay out so on the way here there was a black sports car behind me does everybody recognize this one you recognize this one does anybody know what a rolling stop is rolling stop yes officer so this I deliberately stopped at the sign that stopped and I thought I wonder if this car behind me is going to stop this is like pretend this is a stop sign so when you see the stop sign you come to a
our natural inclination is for spending less and less time to help somebody else to do a rolling stop you know Nancy Rice doesn't do the rolling stop she she'll send a card she actually does that she she takes the time out of her day she stops what she's doing for herself and does for somebody else and Kathy and you know who they are I mean we hopefully we're doing that but the encouragement is to stop and do something for somebody else Jesus ministry was full of these stops from Cana and the wedding with the wine all
the way to Malchus and his ear Jesus didn't have to turn water to wine he didn't have to heal anybody I mean he could have done his one or two miracles I am the Messiah see the evidence I'm the Messiah but he was a compassionate man and he stopped as he drew near to Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging and hearing a crowd going by he inquired what this meant they told him Jesus of Nazareth is passing by and he cried out Jesus son of David have mercy on me and those who were in front rebuked him telling him to be silent but he cried out all the more son of David have mercy on me and Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him and he went when he came near he asked him what do you want me to do for you he said Lord let me recover my sight and Jesus said to him recover your sight your faith has made you well so stuff so we need to stop what we're doing and help somebody else so this is the best I could do for a blinking yellow light but sometimes brothers and sisters we can't go full forward because
the situation requires us to be wise or patient we need to wait for somebody else there are potholes on the road there's on there's other traffic and the example that I have from
the scriptures comes from Nehemiah when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan we all returned to the wall each to work so if you were building the wall how would you do it two-handed you you wouldn't try to walk around with something in your hand and build the wall you're gonna spill your drink you're gonna go slow it's not very efficient but they did because they had to be careful from that day on half my servants worked on construction and half held the spear shields bows coats of mail and the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah they were built who were building on the wall those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other and each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he sometimes we have to take pause and not run over somebody because they need us to to slow down for them this is probably the hardest challenge to keep going one foot in front of the other when you're in the car it's not so hard because you just step on the gas and you keep going but in the race analogy running race I don't know if anybody has done two miles five miles six miles ten miles when I got I did six miles once when I got to the three mile mark I was ready to quit and we've got you know this is twenty six point two right this is twenty six point two on foot in front of the other keep going we cannot give up blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful we can't sit down we can't stand there talking you know we got to keep going green light brothers and sisters keep going the lights green you know what you're behind somebody who doesn't step on the gas or on the horn let's go let's go this is so this is my encouragement to you I'm honking on the horn and the nicest tone of horn I can honk this a little love love get go keep going let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all especially those who are of the household of faith and it was a it was a concern for Paul about his son Timothy that Timothy was going to give up why why did Paul tell Timothy so many times hang on endure keep going as strong of a character as Timothy was I mean we think of Timothy as a giant he was a young man who was leading the charge but look around we are susceptible and we need to keep encouraging each other this this isn't going to be this isn't going to be a short haul this is long haul and he and and Paul was leading by example Paul endured all kinds of stuff right you
know he says I shouldn't boast like this all the things that he went through right the shipwrecks and being stoned and beaten and kicked out of the synagogues and hated by his brothers but he kept going keep
going 2nd Timothy 3 14 you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them keep going
this is Genesis 9 I mean Genesis 19 we don't want to be a pillar of salt don't turn around the angel says escape for your life this is our life we do a u-turn this is our life Paul says to the Philippians one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining toward what's ahead this
way both sisters anybody
recognize this this is one that I had never seen before if
you ever see this this is go like mad this in it's on the Autobahn this is the no restrictions speed limit sign when you see this sign those of us with horsepower vehicles we like these it's on 70% of the road on the Autobahn so that be so this is the sign we need brothers and sisters we need the Autobahn sign go like mad go without a limit you know brother Walter Esty when he so he doesn't drive any more but he would tell me when he would drive I don't know if I should say this he would say I did the limit the limit of the machine so on the floor with the pedal brothers and sisters Justine do you know this one when you put the pedal to the metal don't do that around here only if you see this sign these five stripes you got to go Phil Baines said he had seen this in the UK somewhere but
you know what verse is coming up here therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us aside let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily and snares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God let us run with endurance that race that is set before us
NASCAR has these plates on the carburetor it's called a restrictor take the plate off as much as we can get in there turbo Pike's Peak race no limits when there's a race to go up Pike's Peak and you can have anything you want for a car that's what we want to have for our drive to the kingdom no limits this is the hard one this is another hard one these are all hard signs I guess when you see them on the road Mark Hampton talked about this one February 21st I went back and I went back and looked us thanks I'm grateful that we have these archives he was talking about Lizzie learning to drive and his instructor mr. witty mark this sign has a meaning first Corinthians eight we need to yield to our brothers and sisters who are weak this is the upside down sign isn't it see the pyramids and they're wide at the bottom and narrow at the top we got to turn that one upside down the
Psalms say that those who grow strong by the destruction of others they're
gonna perish that's the way the world goes this upside down sign we have to live the Christian paradox we
get a crown it's bizarre they have no idea what we're talking it doesn't make any sense you get greatness by being a servant that doesn't make any sense to it doesn't make sense to most of us at most a lot of the time right why should I yield I'm the important one I want to be at the top
now concerning things
offered to idols we know that we all have knowledge knowledge puffs up but love edifies and if anyone thinks that he knows anything he knows nothing yet but if God if anyone loves God this one is known by him and then he goes on to talk about this meat that sacrifice to idols and you don't eat it why don't you eat it because your brother isn't there yet he's not ready to eat it he can't take it so what am I gonna do am I gonna go ahead and
hurt my brother because I'm no it's not how we behave it's not how Jesus behaved you know Paul doesn't address the weak guys like hey toughen up buddy you know this is the road of the kingdom you got to be strong that's not what Paul says he says to the strong one take care of the weak one
and because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died this has got to be this this next bit has got to be us but when therefore if my food makes my brother stumble I will never eat meat again lest I make my brother stumble this one was just in our reading as Romans it must have been a big problem in the Ecclesia because Paul Paul repeats this message a couple of times and I think in the concluding verse on the section I think it's Romans 15 verse 7 he he says why it's so that we bring praise to God right I could have eaten that meat delicious still Monica was awesome but
it has blood in it so my brother's he's gonna he's gonna take something that really he shouldn't because it's not in faith remember Esau when they met and Jacob scared he thought he was gonna you know the last time he saw Esau he thought he was gonna get killed so he had all those animals go ahead of them they meet and it's a great reunion and Esau says okay let's go we're gonna have a party we'll
go on ahead and I've got this great stuff all set up for you and what does Jacob say he says my Lord knows that the children are weak and the flocks and herds are our nursing the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me and if the men should drive them hard one day all the flock will die please let my Lord go on ahead before his servant I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me and the children are able to endure Jacob gave way to the ones who weren't quite ready yet
esteem others better than yourself says Paul
so this is it brothers and sisters we're here for the bread and wine and this is the brass they say brass tacks this is the brass tacks the nuts and bolts is right here can we say David's prayer from Psalm 40 verse 6 sacrifice and offering you did not desire my ears you have opened burn offering and sin offerings you did not require then I said behold I come in the scroll of the book it is written of me I delight to do your will oh
my god I delight to do your will oh my god can we say that can we pray that prayer I delight to do God's will even if my will gets put on the side am I gonna sit in the back seat am I gonna accept bending my knee am I gonna accept gentleness am I gonna be patient and kind am I gonna control myself he stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother to
do the will of our father in heaven so as I get older it's not so hard as it used to be to follow all these signs on the road it's easier for me to stop I have to admit I do rolling stops as I caught myself last night I'm like how can I give an exhort and do a rolling stop myself but
I could see way off in the distance and there was nobody coming yes officer I saw the stop sign so but
yielding is difficult giving way I have actually rolled down my window and yelling at people who you know I used to commute to Cambridge and that I'm gonna justify myself again it was a long ride it was almost two hours and some person wanted to take the spot that was mine and so what do you do you ease into them your honk your horn you say hello and I would I and it wasn't that long ago so I was driving to Cambridge 10 years ago whatever but this was like just last year Sophia was in the car she was completely embarrassed his paw don't do it roll down the window started yelling at the guy what is it it's a parking space it's a it's a it's a one space in the line
we need to give way brothers and sisters we have all these awesome signals from our Heavenly Father every day we get signals we get these signs about how to safely how to how to make way so that we're with our brothers and sisters and helping them stopping when we have to so that we can be a blessing so we want to join now as we come to the table Jesus Jesus kingdom journey went across the Adrian Valley the East Gate picture yourself walking out the East Gate with Jesus you go down into the valley and you climb up the Mount of Olives walk
with him and be with him in his midnight prayer they
came let's join Jesus in his midnight prayer they came to a place which was named Gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here while I pray and he took Peter James and John with him and he began to be troubled and deeply distressed then he said to them my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death stay here and watch he went a little further and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him I do I don't want to do this father I've
got a lane and his father won the spot in front it's our father's spot in front and we yield to him if it were possible the hour might pass and he said Abba father all things are possible for you take this cup away from me nevertheless not what I will but what you will