Sunday, February 6, 2022
Transcript
uh i we sent an email last night uhcause to rejoice sister katie who's here today one year ago was in the icu
and uh
obviously we've had a lot of great progress and have to thank our heavenly father for his goodness to us to our family um and we're thankful for all of your support
um and uh
yeah thank you again
[Music]
um
so i i love reading jesus parables
you probably do too
this this talk is about
seeing god's signs
following the signs that he gives us like we're driving down the road we see signs we can follow the signs there are instructions so this is that's what this
exhort is about
like that sign
that'll be our um that'll be our first one
but sometimes like that that's what i'm talking about
so uh these the parables remind me of story time as a kid my mom i 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 the library so we would walk up and see mr papp i was probably this tall and uh mr papp was a big man he looked like santa claus he had a booming voice uh and he was a bit of a theatric so he would change his tone of voice when when he would 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 deneen he gets when he gets excited he changes his tone of voice right
when there was a new character he would change his tone of voice um
and he had to get he had his get up uh
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 uh you know we don't shepherd anymore but this lost sheep parable or losing something being estranged from a family member that that happens and so these parables uh trigger us to to remember god's
lessons um so as you as you were listening to those parables maybe you could see the 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 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 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 we had to drive to get here uh 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 um this lesson or this um 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 obviously no automobiles but walking and running to the kingdom a journey to the kingdom uh is is a biblical theme we are on a journey to the kingdom a race
so uh 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
uh i i read the niv i know uh uncle john bolello doesn't think it's inspired but as a 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 has has these headings for certain sections 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 uh paul talks about it as a race we we're 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 receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable so our kingdom journey this is a race uh this is the parable i'm trying to make
okay
so uh
one way sign u-turn sign stop signs wrong way no u-turn yield sign these are the signals that i'm going to talk about today the the signs from faithful believers uh following god's way following the road signs
so we're going to go on 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 it there we go u-turn
so
the the verse that comes to my mind uh whenever i i think of turning around is repenting to be baptized again 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 uh
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 go the other way we have to keep turning around
matthew 18.
you know we need to help turn our brother around so 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 seven times
uh when we think of other biblical figures turning around saul comes to mind right he was
the kingdom was that way
and 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 examined paul and 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 forgive 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 i want to read i know you've i know we've read these before
but this is the horrendous behavior of manasseh that he actually turned around second chronicles 33 verse 4.
um the king's writer i'm not going to say that he could he couldn't bring himself to write about manassas repentance because it was so bad but i think it's remarkable that it's only in the chronicles account manassas turn
verse 4 from second 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 sioux 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 eduala might hire the dolomite all he cared about was sheep and money
and he had nothing to do with the kingdom of israel
but tamar
turned him right around
she
is more righteous than i
paul doesn't spend much time uh on this one uh
yeah we know this is pretty straightforward you don't go down uh the wrong way
don't enter do you guys did you hear about uh the 93 accident in the storm
was a car who got on the highway going the wrong way
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 i i deliberately stopped at the sign that said stop and i thought i wonder if this car behind me is going to stop just like pretend this is a stop sign
just very slowly
so when you see the stop sign you come to a complete stop
so we get in our routines our ruts
and we don't stop
and
our natural inclination is for spending less and less time to help somebody else to do a rolling stop [Music]
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 hopefully we're doing that
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 malcus
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 no 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 them 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 stop stop 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 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 his work so if you were building a wall how would you do it
two-handed
you you wouldn't try to walk around with something 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 spears 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 built sometimes we have to
take pause
and not run over somebody
because they need us to to slow down for them
this is uh 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 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 26.2
right
this is 26.2
one 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 light screen you know what you're behind somebody who hasn't stepped 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 in the nicest tone of horn i can honk this is 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 did and
and paul was leading by example
paul endured all kinds of stuff
right uh
you know he 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 second 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
brothers and sisters
anybody recognize this this is one that i had never seen before
if you ever see this rich deneen would love this sign if you knew what it was
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 percent of the road on the autobahn
so the b 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 este when uh he so he doesn't drive anymore but he would tell me when he would drive
i don't know if i should say this out loud in public but 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
there's five stripes you gotta go uh
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 assad let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily and ensnares 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 endure 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 plate take the plate off as much as we can get in there
turbo pike's peak race no limits when you there's a race to go up pikes 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 uh i went back and looked as thanks i'm grateful that we have these archives he was talking about lizzie learning to drive and uh his his instructor mr witte
mark this sign has a meaning
first corinthians 8
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 gotta turn that one upside down
the psalms say
that those who grow strong by the destruction of others
they're going to 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 me it doesn't make sense to most of us that 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 as he ought to know but if god if anyone loves god he this one is known by him and then he goes on to talk about this meat that sacrificed the 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 okay no [Music]
that'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 a 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 delmonico 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 we have 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 we'll go on ahead and uh 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 are 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 uh
we're 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 an offering you did not desire my ears you have opened burnt 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 going to sit in the backseat am i going to accept
bending my knee am i going to accept gentleness
am i going to be patient and kind am i going to 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 the 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 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 remember i have actually rolled down my window and started yelling at people who you know
i used to commute to cambridge
and 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 you 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 paw don't do it rolled 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 we have all these
awesome signals from our heavenly father
every day we get signals we get these signs
about how to get to the kingdom 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 kidron valley
the east gate picture yourself walking
out the east gate with jesus
you go down into the valley and then you climb up the mount of olives
walk there 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 elaine
and his father wanted 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