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ON PURPOSE

What’s Your Purpose

Ed Young

October 18, 1998

You know, it’s amazing when you consider the diversity of groups in an audience this size. One group would be considered our guests. We have between 500 and 800 visitors every single weekend. And if you are in that category, let me say one more time, we’re glad that you have chosen to worship here at the Fellowship Church. Sit back and relax and enjoy the remainder of the service we have planned just for you.

You know, I just had a wild craving. I know it’s early but I just have the desire for a Quarter-Pounder with cheese. Sit tight for a second, I will be right back.

[Video of Ed running out of the church into the parking lot, unlocking his truck, driving to McDonalds, and ordering a Quarter-Pounder. Video cuts to Ed eating the burger in a playground, taking off his shoes and using the slide, driving back, and entering the front of the church. Ed reappears as he comes down the aisle from the back of the church.]

Whoa! Hey! Ahhh, what a meal, what a meal. There is nothing like a Quarter-Pounder with cheese early in the morning. That is why I am running; running to get the calories off. So, we do have a group of guests here, but also we have a group called the drive-thru people. You look at this place like McChurch. You drive up, pull your car through the line, and we sort of say, “Welcome to the Fellowship Church. May I take your order, please?” You say, “I would like a good service, meaningful music, a relevant message, and incredible child care.” “Uh, would you like cheese with that?” A lot of you who are in this group have been driving thru this place for a year or so. No commitment, no connection, no life change. The best of both worlds, you say.

We have got guests and we have got drive-thru people. We also have a third group represented here, and this group can best be described by the following question: How many of you have had your flu shot this season? Lift your hands. Hey, great. Well, just relax for a second. If you are squeamish, close your eyes. I am going to get my flu shot because I have not had one yet. I want to welcome Terry Dawes, a nurse and a part of the Fellowship Church. She is going to give me an honest-to-goodness flu shot. Terry, I have heard that, now and then, especially men will kind of faint when they get shots. So if I fall out, you go ahead and continue the message.

Terry, you were telling me that when you give me this vaccine that you are giving me a part of the virus so that, hopefully, I will not catch the full infection. OK, go to it. Woo! Okay, Terry, thank you very much.

“Do you want a little Band-Aid on that, Ed?”

“Do you have little Tellytubbies?”

“Afraid not, just a little grown-up dot.”

“OK, thank you.”

“And because you were so brave, here you go, your very own lollipop.”

You know Terry was present when Lisa and I had our twins four years ago, in Irving hospital. By the way, she gives a great shot.

There are a group of you who are flu shot people. Flu shot people are those who just have a part of Christianity so that it keeps them from catching the full virus. Church is important to you but not that important. Tickets to an athletic contest or some meistic activity almost always bump church out of the picture. You show up here a couple of times a month, shake a couple of hands, throw a couple of bucks in the offering plate, and you are gone. You used to be involved, but for some reason you have a mild case of Christianity that keeps you from getting the full blow deal.

There is a fourth group here. Some of you in this house are the committed. You are the core. You are engaged and involved in ministry. You make the Fellowship Church go. You recognize that the church is not some stale, old and cold place, void of any life. You know the church is purpose-centered, a place that has a zeal and a focus to reach and to teach others for the Lord Jesus Christ. You understand that we are in the business of seeking those missing persons and finding them and introducing them to Jesus Christ and then growing them up to become fully devoted followers of the Lord. If that is you, then you are something else.

This weekend I am launching into a brand new series called “On Purpose.” To live an on purpose life, our purposes have to coalesce with the purposes of the church. What is the take home? How does this apply to our lives? Well, if you are a guest, you will know during this series what our church stands for. You will know why we strategically carry out different functions of God’s directive plan for the life of this church. If you are a drive-thru person, if you see us as McChurch, I am going to challenge you over the next couple of weeks to park, get out of your automobile, and bag fries and flip burgers for the glory of God right here in this church. If you are a flu shot person, I hope that this series exposes you to the virus and you catch the full blown deal. I hope you understand what it means to truly be a Christ follower. If you are a part of the core, the committed, if you are carrying the ball-scoring touchdown after touchdown in ministry, I would give you a high five. But the high five is kind of out these days. Now when people score touchdowns they are given a salute. So I salute you. We have some 1,483 people who make the Fellowship Church work every single month.

You might be saying, “Ed, on purpose? I though you were talking about my life. And you are talking about the church?” One more time I say, you cannot live a truly on purpose life until your purposes coalesce with the purposes of the church. What I am after in this series is whole-hearted commitment. So many things encroach upon the emerging church. So many things vie for our attention. To really be engaged, you might have to do without some trips, without some television, without some movies, without some activities that seem really alluring because there is a bigger priority, a bigger on-purpose venue and vehicle called the local church. And you realize that you cannot live an on purpose life until your purposes connect with the purposes of the church.

Let’s say you want this energy and excitement and vitality and adventure to really play out in your life. If you do, I have got some great news for you. I am going to show you over the next couple of weeks how to develop and how to live an on purpose life and how to grow and mature in your faith and in your focus.

Now, to understand this we have to recognize, up front, that there are a lot of misconceptions floating around about spiritual development, about on purpose living. The first misconception is that it is a natural occurrence. Let’s say, for example, that you bow the knee to Christ, you invite Him to infiltrate your life. You say to yourself that it is just natural that you grow, that your purposes coalesce with those of the church. No, it is not.

Take physical fitness, for example. If you say that you want to get in great shape and you just stand there, you are not going to get in great shape. It is not just a natural thing. You don’t just drive by a health club and all of a sudden your triceps, biceps, traps, quads all pump up. It doesn’t happen that way. And spiritual development is not a natural thing. Here is what the Bible says in Philippians 2:12, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” It doesn’t say to work on your salvation, it says work it out. In other words, we have to work out what Christ has worked in. And we have to make a decision to do so. Are you living an on purpose life or are you buying the lie that it is just a natural thing?

Another misconception is that spiritual maturity is extremely limited. Some say that spiritual growth and on purpose living is out there, it is out of reach. “It is reserved for the Abrahams and the Isaacs, the Joshuas and the Davids, the Pauls, the Timothys, the Billy Grahams, the Martin Luthers, the John Calvins but not for me. Not for little, plain, old Metroplex me. Surely I can’t grow and mature and have my purposes coalesce with the purposes of the church.”

Again, think about the world of physical fitness. A lot of us think that physical fitness is limited to just a few people, the buff and the beautiful. That is not true. Anyone can get in reasonable physical condition. We can get in good shape. Spiritual maturity and spiritual development is for everyone. 1 Timothy 4:7, “Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness.” Spiritual development is practical. It is understandable. It is simple. I didn’t say shallow or superficial. I said simple.

Another misconception is that spiritual development is experientially driven. We say that we are just one video, one conference, one blessing, one connection, one key away from spiritual nirvana. Again, we go to the area of fitness. Men and women spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to find that quick fix to instant physical fitness. “Hey, I will buy that exercise equipment on the infomercial. If I work out four minutes a day, I can look like that. If I take Metrex, whoa, that will do it. Troy drinks it and look at him. If I join that club just for a couple of months….” It doesn’t happen that way.

Ephesians 4:13 says, “We arrive at real maturity.” See the word “arrive”? That implies a trip. And maturity means that it is a destination. It is not just a one-time blessing, or a one-time experience, or a one-time conference, or a one-time thing, it is a process. The Christian life is a decision followed by a process, not followed by a recess.

There is another misconception out there. Some think that spiritual maturity is information-based. Whoa! This is especially true in the land of the Bible Study, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. “If I know the Bible and can debate doctrine and really own theology and recognize Biblical characters and memorize scripture, that means that I am spiritually mature. I am on the information highway.”

Yes, that is part of the package, but just a part of the package. Spiritual maturity is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. It is not just an information thing. If Christianity was a philosophy, Jesus would have said, “I have come so that you might have life and that you may have it as you really study.” He didn’t say that. Christianity is not a philosophy. Christianity is a personal relationship. Jesus said that He has come so that we might have life in all of its fullness. Yet we think that information will do it.

Here is what the Bible says about spiritual maturity. James 1:22, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” In other words, spiritual maturity is not just a left brain, cognitive, focused deal, it takes a lot of experiences. Most Christians don’t need another Bible Study. You know what they need? They need a place to get involved, a place to use their spiritual gifts, a place to build relationships and grow. The word “study” is only used a couple of times in the New Testament. You know what the key words were in the New Testament concerning spiritual maturity? Love, serve, give, believe. Study is not in there very much. And most of us, if we just applied what we already know, would be way ahead of the game. Don’t think for a second that I am saying that knowledge is not important. I am not saying that. We have to have knowledge, yet information is not the only deal.

I grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian college. I went to a seminary where I studied the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. I have done doctrinal work. All those things helped me and I learned a lot of information. But if you asked me where I have grown the most, where have I allowed my purposes to coalesce, I would answer this way: It is when I love, when I serve, when I give, and when I believe. No doubt about it.

These are misconceptions about spiritual maturity and on-purpose living. People ask me often about the Fellowship Church. Maybe they have read about it or heard about it and seen what God is doing in this place. And this place is definitely a God thing. They ask me about the purposes of this church. I always say that we have the most positive, affirming, and energetic fellowship I have ever seen in my life. The comments, the letters, the words of encouragement and affirmation that we receive are staggering. But we run into some people that have some comments and valid concerns about the Fellowship Church.

I want to ask you another question. How many of you have watched Jerry Springer? Go ahead, don’t lie to me now. Jerry Springer. Geraldo, during his heyday? Oprah? Sally Jesse? Well, you know how they place people behind a screen and alter their voices and have them share intimate things? Do you know what I am talking about? Well, we have that going on today in this service. We have some people, their identities will remain anonymous, who will appear on the side screens. They will express some comments and concerns that we may need to address here at the Fellowship Church. Here is the first comment.

THIS CHURCH IS SO BIG. THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE.

Have you ever heard that before about this church? I have. This church is so big and there are so many people. This is a big church. Look around. I want to ask the ladies a question. Ladies have you ever said, “I will never shop in the Galleria again because it is just too big.” Men, have you ever said, “No, I will pass on those tickets to the Stars game because—dag gummit—Reunion Arena is just too big. I will not go to Texas Motor Speedway because it is just too big.” Big. Huge. Massive. Gargantuan. Behemoth-like. Big. If a church is around a big population base, it should be big. This church should be big and all the churches in Grapevine should be big. All the churches in Coppell, in Plano, in Colleyville, in Southlake, in Duncanville, in Mesquite should be big. Why? Because we live in one of the biggest population bases in North America. Jesus said, “I will build My church.” He also said, “Go out into the country so My church will be made full.”

If the church is in a small population base, it should be small. But in a big population base, it should be big. And if it is not big, if it is not growing, a church is in rebellion to what God wants it to do. You see—and don’t miss what I am going to say right now— quality produces quantity. When you have quality going on…I am talking about life change, people coming to know Christ, marriages being brought back together, fragmented families being connected, people getting direction and real significance. When you have quality going on, quality produces quantity. And that is the reason the Fellowship Church has grown, has gotten so big, so gargantuan, so huge, so massive. It is because what God has done in a quality way and that quality produces quantity.

But also the reverse is true. Quantity also produces quality. For example, singles, would you rather be a part of a singles ministry with ten people or a thousand? Parents, when we have our Fall Festival, would you rather go to one that has two booths and a couple of aged ponies? Or would you rather come to one that has Ferris wheels, 70 ponies and 90 booths? Would you rather hear me sing by myself, or would your rather hear Rob sing, Tony sing, Vanessa sing, or Dana sing? The bigger the church, the more quality God brings to the table. Think about the relational opportunities in a church this size. We have everything represented here. We have bankers, brokers, professional athletes, construction workers, pastors, teachers, attorneys. The list goes on and on, it is limitless. Think about the relational opportunities in a big church.

How about the service opportunities, the opportunities for spiritual development for on purpose living. We have our home team ministry, our small groups that meet in houses and apartments and condominiums throughout the DFW Metroplex. We have our Connection Classes, our Life Development classes. We have women’s ministry going on and men’s ministry going on. We have athletic leagues and craft functions and mission work. We engage young people and children in the life of this church. Think of all the activities and the potential that God has given us here. So quality produces quantity and also quantity produces quality. If quality was inherent with smallness, the greatest church would have only one member.

Look at the side screen again.

THE PARKING LOT IS ALWAYS PACKED.

You know what I say about that? Yea, God! I hope our parking lot is always packed. I pray that we will always have crowd control problems, challenges and difficulties. Again I say, quality produces quantity, and when God is working you are going to have to lock the doors.

Something amazing happened to me in early August. I was driving down 114 East and crossed underneath the overpass by Cowboys Stadium. The Cowboys were having a pre-season game. I watched tens of thousands of people walking into Texas Stadium. They had smiles on their faces, a spring in their steps and, I imagine, a twinkle in their eyes with perspiration dripping off their noses. They were going to see the Dallas Cowboys play. Hot, humid. They knew in their minds that they were going to have to sit in a cramped, hard seat for three hours and eat a bunch of overpriced junk food with soft drinks, although many would choose the adult beverages. They knew they would be watching a bunch of second- and third-string, muscular men try to push a leather ball across a white and green carpet. Yet these same people will whine and moan and groan if they have to walk the length of a football field just to worship God. [They say,] “I can’t believe this, can you? Man, I wish I could go to a half-empty parking lot, drop my children off at a half-empty nursery, hear a half-empty message and leave happy. That’s what I want.”

See we bring a lot of hilarious presuppositions to the table here in America when we think about the church. A lot of us think of the church as an institution where a tone deaf organist hammers out hymns, followed by a monotone message to the already convinced. And now and then when we bump into relevancy, we say, “Wait a minute, the church is not supposed to be relevant. The church is not supposed to change my life between services. I shouldn’t get convicted. It shouldn’t be understandable. That is not the church.” But that is the church. That is the body of Christ.

When you boil down the teachings of our Lord, He said things that all of us can connect with. Jesus had a choice. He could have spoken in classical Greek or street language, Aramaic. Take a stab at which language Christ chose—Aramaic. He was always talking so that people could understand Him and connect with Him. He preached from boat bows, beaches, and standing on top of rocks. He drew in the sand, pointed to a sower, picked up a coin, and talked about current events. He connected with people. So when you have that going on, when you have a church that is on purpose and teaching others about on purpose living, you are going to have a big church and you are going to have a church with some parking problems.

Let’s go to the screen again.

THE WEEKEND SERVICES SEEM SO ENTERTAINING.

Have you ever heard that before? I have. Someone said that to me a couple of years ago so I looked up the word “entertainment.” Do you know what the word entertainment means? To capture and hold someone’s attention for an extended period of time. Entertainment.

The Bible says Jesus held people held people spellbound for hours. The Apostle Paul, according to the book of Acts, continued preaching past midnight. The worship services in the early church would go on and on and on and on. Let’s see. Entertainment: To capture and hold someone’s attention for an extended period of time. That’s why the theme of our church is “innertainment for the heart.” INNER-tainment for the heart. If we are not innertaining, we are not doing what God wants us to do.  We have not adopted the model of communication that Christ used. Christ spoke truth. He was the master story-teller. When he talked, people were riveted. They hung on His every word. They couldn’t wait for Him to connect and to communicate. He was always using visuals because Christ knew way back then what we are just discovering now, that about 84% of us are visual learners.

Matthew 13:34, “Jesus always used”—not sometimes, not now and then, always, always—“used stories and illustrations when speaking to the crowds.” You see the Bible is a very complex and deep book. Oftentimes the issues are mysterious. It would be easy for me to keep the complex complex. Easy. But it gets tough to make the complex simple. It is a tough and laborious process to make the complex simple. That is what Christ did. That is what the disciples did. That is what the patriarchs and matriarchs did. They made it understandable so that people could put their arms around it and grasp it. So now and then when people tell me that I am a simple preacher, I say, “You have just given me the greatest compliment.”

My desire is to be simple, not shallow or superficial, but simple. If I have not given you something that you can take home and use in your life, then I have blown it, I have messed up. That goes for me and the other pastors we use to preach. That goes for Stan Durham as he writes drama. That goes for the music people. That goes for everyone in the life of this church. If you teach knee-high children or tree-high children. We want to adopt the 70-30 model. Christ’s words were 70% application and 30% information. Information is huge, but he gave us 30% information and 70% application. Application means, “So what?” Application means that I have to apply what I learn and make it real. I have to incorporate it into my life.

This summer some of the pastors and I had the opportunity to do some white water rafting. I have never done it before. I want to show you a quick picture of this white water rafting trip. That is a good hunk of the pastors of this church. Let me point them out for you quickly. That is me, Ed Young, mouth open, drinking water, screaming, whatever. To my right is Paris Wallace, our student pastor. He looks like a student pastor, doesn’t he, with the long hair, hat turned backwards. Behind him is Troy Page, our singles pastor. Behind him is Preston Mitchell with his head down. Behind Preston is Mike Johnson, our children’s pastor. To Mike’s right is the guide, and coming forward is Stan Durham, 6’5”, 235 lbs. of lean, mean steel. In front of him is pastor Owen Goff.

Now it is important that you understand the way we were set up because of what happened minutes after this picture was taken. Something dangerous occurred. We hit a bad stretch of white water. In fact, our guide told us that several persons had been killed in the area and he wanted us to pay close attention to him. Mike Johnson began to talk trash to my side of the boat. Mike said, “Ed, you are not pulling your weight. Come on, paddle harder.” Ten seconds later I heard Preston Mitchell in his one-of-a-kind Texan accent say these words. “Mike’s out. Mike’s out. Mike’s out.” It was like Deliverance or something. We looked back and we didn’t see Burt Reynolds, we saw Mike Johnson being sucked under the rapids. He was fighting and swimming for his life. There was a danger of hypothermia, of Mike drowning.

The guide turned the boat around. A few of us started laughing. Yet, Owen Goff extended his paddle to Mike. And let me tell you what happened. We did not say when Mike was fighting for his life out there, “Hey, Mike, the Greek term for paddle is….  Hey, the historicity of white water rafting dates back to….” No, we didn’t say that. That information was true but it was totally and completely irrelevant. Mike needed rescuing. Mike needed someone to take him by the life jacket and pull him into the raft. And that is what we did.

For so long people have walked into God’s house and they have been drowning, sucked under by the currents of the culture, drowning in their marriage, in their lives, in relationships, financially, drowning without meaning and purpose. Yet the church has said, “Okay, the Greek term for drowning is….The historicity of the life raft is….” Hey, that information is true but a lot of it is irrelevant. We, at the Fellowship Church, want to extend paddles. We want to rescue people. We want to introduce you to Jesus Christ, bring you on board, and then show you and give you opportunities to progress and become a fully devoted follower of Christ. That is what we are about. We were about that when we began the church 8½ years ago. We are about that now. And we are not going to get off that purpose. That is who we are. That is what God says. We are going to go for it and continue to do what He wants us to do.

This last concern is huge. This last concern is the key, the key to the whole deal.

THERE REALLY ISN’T A PLACE FOR ME.

This looms so large for the guest, for the drive-thru person, for the flu shot person, for the committed person, that we are going to spend the entire session next week on this comment and concern. It is the key to on purpose living.

THEE END – FACING THE FINAL FRONTIER

TRIAL AND TERROR

NOVEMBER 22, 1998

ED YOUNG

Judgment.  The word sounds so biting, capricious and cruel in our stripped-down, value-forgotten society.  Yet our culture says, who am I to judge?  Don’t judge me, I am not going to judge you.  I am not going to even go there, we say.  All lot of us have decaffeinated the term.  And this mentality has so monopolized us and mezerized us that large blocks of us have removed this character trait from the nature of God.  We boldly say, my God is a God of love, not a God of judgement.  But, the judgement of God is painted some 600 times over the canvas of scripture.  It looms large.  It is everywhere we turn.  We can’t get away from the judgment of God.  And the judgement of God is going to be for believers and nonbelievers alike.

One day the Lord, Himself, will do an audit.  He will look at our life ledger and He will assess penalties and give rewards.  Now we love to talk about the fact that God is a God of forgiveness, a God of grace and a God of compassion.  And we love to articulate that and sing about that and meditate on that.  However, God is also a God of conviction, a God of wrath and a God of judgment.  I love to talk about the fact that God is a God of judgment.  I love to talk and to teach and to preach about the reality that God is a God of judgment.  Why?  Am I a closet hell fire and brimstone preacher who likes to dangle you over the sulfur and the smoke?  No.  I am not.  I like to talk about this subject matter because of what it produces.  When you talk about the judgment of God, it produces some incredible and supernatural benefits in your life and mine.  And the judgment of God is intrinsically woven into God’s thoughts and His concepts and His words concerning the end.

This weekend I am concluding a series called Thee End, which I am preaching because God is in control of the end.  With Y2K looming large out there, with the political and economic developments of our day, people are thinking about the final things.  They are thinking about that moment in history when the curtain will finally close on life as we know it.  And God has a lot to say about the end.  When you talk about the end, you have got to talk about the judgment of God.

I believe today’s session will build beautiful benefits into your life and into mine.  If you missed either of the first two messages, please pick one up because each builds on the one that proceeds it.  And at the end I am going to give you a readying list for you to read and study.  There are so many details that I can’t get into.  I could easily spend three years on this material, instead of three weeks.

After the Rapture, after that sudden and instantaneous act of God in which He moves Christ followers from this planet into eternity, something happens.  I am talking to just Christians, now.  We face the judgment seat of Christ.  That’s right.  Christians face the judgment seat of Christ.  I am not talking about being judged for our sinfulness.  That was taken care of on the cross 2,000 years ago.  I am talking about our awards, our trophies, the things that God wants to give you and me for what we have done with what He has given us.  It has nothing to do with whether or not we will spend eternity with Christ.  If we know Him personally, we are going to spend forever in a place called heaven, forever in a place that is so awesome words cannot do it justice.

But we do have to fact the judgment seat, the blazing eyes of Christ Himself as we come clean, as we give an account, as He measures our lives as Christians regarding what we have done with what He has given us.  The Bible describes this in I Corinthians 4:5.  “The Lord will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.”  At the Greek games, the judge had the best seat in the house.  He had an unencumbered view of every event from start to finish.  The Lord, Himself, on the judgment seat will have this unencumbered view of every one of our lives.  He will check us out.  He will look at our life ledger and He will look and see how we developed those talents, abilities and aptitudes that He gave us.

Now a lot of Christians do not like to think about the judgment seat of Christ.  The judgment seat of Christ for some believers will be a time of triumph, a time of high fives and smiles.  But for others, it will be a time of trauma, a time of tears.  The Bible says that heaven will be a place where we shed no tears.  But the judgment seat will be a place where some of us do indeed shed tears because we will realize the opportunities we had, the circumstances that were presented to us, the times when we had to serve Christ and to develop our aptitudes, abilities and gifts.  And a lot of us will have dropped heads, teary eyes and sick stomachs.

Let’s say a wealthy believer goes before the judgment seat who is known for his or her “generosity” to the local church.  But at the judgment seat this person will be seen as just throwing pocket change to the cause of Christ because the gifts of this person were just a mere slice of his or her financial pot.  Other believers who kind of cruise control with their abilities will be seen as wasteful and neglectful because they didn’t do anything with what Christ gave them.  Yes, they bowed the knee to Jesus but that was about it.  It stopped there.  Some believers here have a lack of purity in their lives.  Let me say something about the lack of purity.  It breaks the heart of God to have believers living together before marriage.  It breaks the heart of God to have businessmen and women exaggerating and fudging numbers.  It breaks the heart of God for us to get into situations that cause us to compromise.  And many are in situations like that right now and it is going to keep you from receiving the incredible benefits and trophies and awards and rewards that God wants to give you.

You see, God is cheering you on.  He is cheering me on.  He knows that we are going to mess up.  He knows that we are going to foul up.  He knows that we are going to fall short.  But He has a phenomenal pile of trophies that He wants to give you and give me.  And for many, He will give us high fives and smiles and eternal awards.  I am not talking about the Heisman, the Grammy or the Emmy.  I am talking about something that does not tarnish, that will not rot or rust.  I am talking about ultimate awards.  And many will receive them.  But for others He will say, “I put you in that situation, around that church, around that group of people and I have all this stuff for you but I can’t give it out because you were wasteful, neglectful, greedy and selfish.”

Now following the judgment seat, yes, we live in heaven forever.  But I have got to tell you again, believers, one day we will do this life ledger thing before the blazing eyes of the Lord.  And Jesus will make the IRS appear like generalists.  He is going to get specific.  So that should motivate you and me to think about every word, every thought, every place we go because if we know Christ, we are an advertisement for Him.

Children love trophies, don’t they?  It never ceases to amaze me how little kids love those trophies.  I will never forget the first trophy I ever received.  It was in the third grade.  I played football for the Brookwood Forest Bulldogs.  And when they called my name, and when I paraded across that stage, I was so focused on the trophy that I grabbed the trophy out of my coach’s hand.  And everybody kind of laughed.  “Oh, Ed, he is so aggressive.  He just loves that trophy.”  And, parents, we love to watch our children get awards and rewards and certificates and ribbons, don’t we?  We get a little misty-eyed.  We love it.  Most adults dismiss this as a childhood thing.  It is not a childhood thing.  I think adults like awards and rewards and certificates and trophies just as much as children.  Have you ever watched a foursome win a little golf scramble and for their trophy they get a set of golf balls from the local country club.  Grown men and women cheer.  Yea, we won.  It is incredible.

I ran a marathon a few years ago and a lady pushing her two-year-old son in a jogging stroller finished five minutes ahead of me.  And when she flew over the finish line, she was hugging her friends who were giving her a race T-shirt.  We love awards and trophies.  And most of us have an ego wall, don’t we?  Adults, we are more sophisticated than our children.  We don’t just show the trophies on the dresser and the windowsill.  “This is a picture of me with……  This is a trophy which I didn’t really mean to have it out.  And this is a football which….and a baseball which.”  And that is fine.  There is no problem with that.  Why, though, do we have this desire?  Why are we reward and trophy driven?  I believe this desire is a microcosm of the ultimate desire put there by God to run the Christian race, to live the life, to develop the skills and abilities and aptitudes.  And one day, when we face the judgment seat of Christ our longings for the trophies and the rewards, if we have developed them, will be satisfied.  That is why I truly believe that we have that desire.

So, yes.  The judgment seat of Christ will be a time of trauma and a time of tears for some but for others it will be a time of triumph, a time of smiles and high fives, a time when Jesus will say, well done, my good and faithful servant.

You might be asking what kind of stuff will be given out.  Let me describe to you some of these trophies.  They are talked about in the Bible as crowns.  The first crown that believers will receive is called the crown of glory.  The Bible says in I Peter 5:4, “And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”  The crown of glory, the trophy of glory will be bestowed upon those who have taught the scripture.  Maybe you have taught the Bible before an entire church.  Maybe you teach the Bible in a small group, or in men’s ministry or women’s ministry.  Maybe you teach the Bible in Children’s Church or in our student ministry.  I don’t know.  But Jesus said, “I am going to give you this trophy, the crown of glory, this I Peter 5:4 award.”  Isn’t that cool?

There is another trophy.  It is found in II Timothy 4:8.  It is called the crown of righteousness.  “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord will award to me on that day and also to all who long for His appearing.”  For those believers who have waited anxiously for the appearing of Christ, for the second coming of the Lord, we will receive this trophy of righteousness.

But the trophies keep coming.  There is also a trophy or crown of rejoicing.  That is found in I Thessalonians 2:19-20.  “For what is our hope, our joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes.  Indeed, you are our glory and our joy.”  For Christ followers who have articulated their faith, who have shared their faith, verbalized their faith, they will have this trophy of rejoicing.  Christianity is not just a private thing.  Yes, we make a private, personal decision to receive Christ but once we go private we are to go public.  Now I am not saying, nor is the Bible inferring, that we take the Bible and wop people upside the head with it.  The Bible does not say that we take scripture and force it down someone’s throat.  It does not say that we take a Biblical Uzi and shoot people down with the gospel gun.  No.  It says that we are to build relationships of integrity and when the time appears, God will give us the words to say and we stand up publicly for what has occurred privately.  Some of us will have these trophies of rejoicing.

There is another trophy, the trophy or crown of incorruption.

I Corinthians 9:25-26.  “Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly.  I do not fight like a man beating the air.  The crown of incorruption is reserved for those believers who have lived a disciplined life.”  People are always wondering how they grow in their faith, develop spiritually, increase their commitment quotient.  It is through the D word, discipline.  It is through daily prayer which is communication with God.  It is through daily Bible study.  It is feeding on His principles and precepts.  It is involving ourselves within the context of the church.  Many will receive this crown of incorruption.

There is a final crown, the crown of life.    The crown of life is described in James 1:12.  The half brother of Jesus wrote these words.  “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life.”  This crown of life is for those who have endured trials and troubles and tribulations.

You see, we live in a flawed world, a sin-stained planet.  And bad things happen to good people.  Difficult things happen to good people.  Horrible things happen to good people.  And the Lord will work through difficult things and great things, average things and super fantastic things.  He will work through all of those things and make them good for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  Not that all things are good.  Not that all things are peachy keen.  But He will use those different things for good if we follow Him.  So a lot of people who are going through tragedy right now, I believe will receive the crown of life.

I just want to thank God for being a God of strategy, a God who is so intentional about things.  Think about it.  God has given us the Holy Spirit to work from the inside out to develop these gifts.  Think about it.  He provides the church for us to learn and understand how to use these abilities.  He has given us opportunity after opportunity in life itself to do His work.  And He is cheering us on.  He cannot wait to give us these awards and rewards.

But I have got to stop and ask you this sobering question, the question that I have been asking myself recently.  What if the judgment seat occurred tonight in your life and in mine?  Would you be ready for it?  Would you be fired up for it?  Would you receive high fives and smiles and trophies and awards and certificates of eternity?  Or, would it be a time of trauma and tears and missed opportunities because you spend so much time churning and burning after careers and corner offices and clothes and cars and all the trophies that this world has to offer?  What would it be for you?  The great news is, it is never, ever too late to start.

Once the Rapture takes place, that sudden instantaneous act of God that moves us from this planet to eternity, we face the judgment seat.  Now I have got to ask you this question because it is a question that I ask myself.  Why, why, why does Jesus wait until the Rapture to judge all of the believers?  That’s a pretty good question, isn’t it?  Why does He allow all this stuff to pile up, this gridlock to take place?  Why doesn’t He do the judgment seat thing the moment we die?  I will tell you why.  The moment we die we are going to eternity.  But when the Rapture occurs we will face the judgment seat.  He lets everything pile up because your legacy, my legacy does not end in the casket.  It continues to develop even when we are long gone, if we die before the Rapture.

Case in point would be my father-in-law.  Mendel Lee was a great man, a wonderful believer.  His legacy is still living on through the influence he had on my wife, on my children, on every single person he touched.  So in a real way those things of influence, that legacy is still continuing so Jesus will not have a full read on Mendel’s life ledger until the Rapture takes place.  That happens to be my personal opinion of why Christ lets everything pile up.  So when all of this is taking place, at the judgment seat, let me tell you what is taking place on the earth.  The earth is going through a 7-year period of pandemonium, hell on earth, called the Tribulation.

Let’s review the diagram on the side screen.  We will move from left to right.  We have Christ’ death, burial and resurrection.  Two thousand years ago, Jesus did something that we don’t deserve.  He died on the cross for all of our sins, past, present and future and rose again.  So the work has been done.  We do not work our way into heaven.  We are saved by grace through faith.  Now once we have received this work, the Holy Spirit works within us good works.  From there we have this present age or the church age or the age of grace.

Then one day the Rapture will occur, that sudden, instantaneous act of God that will move believers from this planet into the next.  One day in a nanosecond, millions of conversations will end in mid-sentence.  A pilot will be taxiing his plane down the runway, look to his right expecting to carry on a conversation with the co-pilot and all he will see will be a leather seat.  A quarterback will go back to pass, look over to his high school coach, look to his primary receiver and the primary receiver will be gone.  The Rapture.  It is going to freak everybody out.

After the Rapture we face the judgment seat of Christ that I just talked about, tears of trauma for some, high fives and smiles for others.   Then to begin this 7-year period of pandemonium, the Antichrist appears, this charismatic world leader who will conquer this planet without violence, without force.  Then as the Tribulation gets worse and worse and worse, you get the 144,000 Jewish Billy Graham type evangelists preaching and teaching the word.  This period is culminated with the battle of Armageddon, the mother of all wars.  Our finite and feeble minds cannot even grasp what will happen during the battle of Armageddon, described to us in the book of Revelation and other texts.

Following that we have the glorious Second Coming of Jesus.  Christ will return.  We will return with Him.  And when those of us who have been raptured return with Christ, He will gather together all the other believers who have endured this 7 year period of pandemonium, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and those who have followed Christ during that time.  And then, you have got to love this, we will begin the millennium.  One thousand years we will rule and reign with Christ on this planet.  Let me press the pause button and talk about the millennium.  I want to talk to you about the quality of life.  Talk about incredible living.  There will be peace in the millennium.  I am not talking about a phony, drug-induced John Lennon peace.  I am talking about real peace, tranquility of soul, peace like we have never, ever seen it.  We will have peace.  And it will be such a Nirvana, such a great deal that even the media will report only good news.  Can you believe it?  No fights on Jerry Springer.  Sam Donaldson with a perpetual smile.  Dan Rather with charisma.  It will be unbelievable.

How about wild animals, snakes and scorpions and crocodiles?  They will all be our friends.  There will be no zoos or animal parks.  We will all be like Steve Irwin, the crocodile man.  Have you ever seen him?  He’s got the short shorts.  “Oh, look at that crocodile, beautiful crocodile.  Let me give her a kiss.  Now I’ll kiss my wife, Terry.”  We will all be like that.  It will be a time of great prosperity.  It will be a time when relational harmony is happening.  It is going to be phenonomal.  Words can’t describe it.  During this time, and it is hard to accept because we know how great it is going to be, people still will turn their backs on God.  The reason the millenium is going to be so awesome is because Satan will be incarcerated during this time period.

After the 1,000 years is up, Satan is let loose one last time and then he is finally done away with.  He is thrown away, totally wasted, in a reservoir or lake of fire and sulfur.  It is history for the evil one.  Then, though, we have the white throne judgment.  The white throne judgment is different from the judgment seat.  The judgment seat is for those of us who know Christ personally.  The white throne judgment is reserved for the irreligious, for the rejecters, for the people who had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to follow Christ but they turned their backs on Him and went their own way.  This white throne judgment for nonbelievers is going to be a courtroom scene like you have never experienced in your life.  Johnny Cochran, F. Lee Bailey and Jerry Spitz will not be there to argue a person’s case.  Jesus will act as judge.

The Bible says that God is patient.  He doesn’t want anyone to perish.  He doesn’t want anyone to live eternally in hell.  That is why He is delaying His coming.  That is why He is delaying the Rapture, because He wants everyone to take this step.  He wants everyone to bow the knee.  But one day the curtain will close.  One day the Rapture will occur.  One day the judgment seat will occur.  One day the white throne judgment will take place.  And it is going to be a time of true reckoning.   Jesus will look at the Book of Life.  The Book of Life has every single name of every single person who has ever been born on this planet.  Talk about a database!  And if someone has not bowed the knee to Christ during his or her lifetime, they will be erased off the screen.  And they will spend forever in a place called hell.  I do not enjoy talking about hell.  But Jesus talked about it time and time again.  You can’t get away from it.  Hell is described as a place of utter isolation, a place reserved for those people who went their own way on this planet.  Basically I believe that Christ will say, “You went your own way on earth, now have your own way in eternity.”  Hell will be a place of constant pain.  The picture the Bible uses is one of stinging scorpions.  Some people tell me that they are going to party in hell with all of their friends.  But the Bible says that even if your friends are there, you won’t know it.  Hell is defined as a place where you can do anything and everything you have always wanted to do but alone.  And you will have this forever knowledge of knowing that you had an opportunity to turn to Christ.  You had an opportunity to bow the knee.  You had an opportunity to respond to God’s awesome love, but you didn’t do it.  And this judgment, one more time, is only reserved for those who are outside the family of God.

After that takes place, you have a new heaven and a new earth and we live forever and ever and ever with the Lord in heaven.  Heaven is not a place where we lie around and eat grapes and listen to harp music.  It is a place of action and vitality and activity.  We continue to develop God’s great and wonderful plan that He has for us in a supernatural way, a way that we can’t even get with our finite and feeble minds.  But is it going to be a place where we are reunited with our loved ones who are Christ followers, a place of constant worship, a place of excitement, a place of adventure.  That is heaven.

During this series I have said one thing repeatedly.  I have said studying the end times, studying prophecy, studying the final frontier is wonderful information.  But if we stop at just the information thing, it’s useless.  God did not write one word in His word just for information.  God wants us to take information and let it live out and play out in our lives and cause transformation.  He wants us to take information and let it live out and play out in our lives and cause transformation.  He wants it to cause life change.  He wants Ed Young’s life to never be the same because he studied this.  He wants your life to never be the same because you have studied it.  He wants your life to never be the same because you have heard the series.

During my opening statement I said that this stuff would produce beautiful and supernatural benefits in our lives.  I want to talk to you about a couple of benefits.  First, a benefit of this study makes me keenly aware of my accountability and responsibility.  Everything, I am talking to believers now, I do and say from the moment I bow the knee to Christ until I face the Lord either withdraws or accrues in my eternal account.  It is on my life ledger.  Again, I am referring to using and developing my gifts and abilities.  That is a heavy thought.  Everything I do, everything I say, every place I go, I am mirroring my Maker.  It is my responsibility to live my life as an example because I respond to the unfathomable and awesome life of Jesus.  That is why I want to live this way.  That is why I want to receive these eternal rewards.

So it has been my prayer that we become keenly aware of our accountability and our responsibility.  We have each influence on unique people groups that no one else has.  And we have unique gifts that no one else has.  I sincerely believe that there is a giant warehouse in heaven with all these trophies and awards and ribbons and certificates that Christ wanted to give out but will be unable to because many of us have squandered what we were given.  I don’t want that to happen in my life or your life.

This study should also do something else.  I think this study will help us understand the eternal implications of all of humanity.  The writer of the book of Ecclestices said it best.  “God has set eternity in the hearts of men.”  Why are we so infatuated with the supernatural, the paranormal, death, the end and life beyond the grave?  I will tell you why.  It is a God thing.  God has put it there.  He has set eternity in the hearts of men and in the hearts of women.  Is you eternity secure?  Because God wants it to be.  Remember, God is patient not wanting anyone to perish.  Hey, Christ followers, how long did you test the patience of God?  A month?  A year?  Ten years?  Just say a quick prayer of thanks to God that He was patient with you.

How about seekers and skeptics, because we have many here who are just checking out the Christianity thing.  How long have you been testing the patience of God?  A month?  A year?  Five years?  Twenty-five years?  Maybe you are a seeker or a skeptic.  Maybe you feel that life has knocked you down on one knee.  Maybe you feel staggered a little bit due to difficulty in a marriage, due to a financial setback, due to some career questioning, due to a habit you can’t get a handle on.  I want to challenge you to put down the other knee today and unclench you fist and say to Jesus, “Have Your way with me.  I want to bow the knee to You.  I want to go with You.  I want to give the whole deal to You.  I want to receive what you did for me 2,000 years ago.  Come into my life, Christ.”

I pray, oh how I pray, that you make that commitment.  When you do you will never, ever, ever have to entertain the thought of facing trial and terror.  Trial and terror.

The Caleb Generation

Part 5

Steve Kelly

Are you over 40, nearing 40 or on your way to 40, then you are part of the Caleb Generation. Caleb, on the brink of the promise land, at 85 years old said, “I was 45 years old when God sent me to survey the land…and here I am 85 years old and I’m still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now, give me my mountain.”

In the Caleb Generation series, you will be inspired to keep going on for God with a youthful,

Caleb-like spirit. This teaching candidly and insightfully explores what it means to be part of the

Caleb Generation in the 21st Century. Most importantly, it expresses, that those in the Caleb Generation must realize their day is not over. They must keep on playing and keep on fighting because they give faith and courage to the next generation through their wisdom and encouragement.

Transcript

All right. So we are talking about the Caleb Generation. By the way, it is so good to have Frank and Cory back from Africa. From Punjabi. No, not Punjabi, from Kenya. Where did I get Punjabi from? Is that India? Hey, you try living on two hours of sleep the night before last and preaching six sermons and see how you feel. So from Kenya but whereabouts in Kenya? Well there you go. Where is that? Kijabi? How close is Kijabi to Punjabi? Here a jabi, there a jabi, old McDonald had a jabi jabi. It is like Jabba the hut. And so, but all jokes aside, can we welcome them back? They have been doing missions there for nine months. They were there in Kenya when all that unrest broke out. And Frank, being a surgeon was helping people. And it is just fantastic having them back. And of course they will be going back now to Richmond. We have a Wave Church there in Richmond and they will be there for four years finishing out their practice and everything else. So it is so cool to see you guys and we know that you are looking about twenty months pregnant there, Cory. So thank you Lord for looking after her and we just pray for deliverance now.

All right. Come on get into your message. So we talked about the Caleb Generation this morning and we looked at two of the seven nations and we are going to finish these out tonight. The first nation was the Amorites which means sayer which means we have got to deal with that spirit that looks down on people. Amen? God wants us to have this promise land but the first enemy to getting into the promise land that we have to defeat is that elitist idea that we are better than anybody else and we talk down to people. Amen? I should not watch Christian T.V. because it so ticks me off but I was watching Christian T.V. this morning. He was going on talking down, condescending, not lifting people up. I tell you church I want to encourage us to be people    the Bible says that God is the lifter of our heads. It is our job to be encouraging people, to put courage into people and not to take it out of them. Can you say amen? Second that we looked at was the Hivites, which means tent dwellers, the transient, here today gone today kind of people that you cannot really build anything long or sustaining with. People who are tent dwellers, it’s like they are MASH Christians. They are so like    you know they can pull up their tent and go somewhere else and be here today gone tomorrow and you know. And while MASH is good in an army setting in that sense. We cannot afford to be people who are transient, Nomadic Christians, wherever the wind blows, wherever the spirit leads me. I have no church I go to; I belong to the church. That is a load of bull. Someone say amen. It is just a person who just fears accountability. It is a person who fears intimacy. It is a person who is shallow and has no roots but I believe the church is built upon planting yourself in the house of God.

Now here is the third one because we are going to keep moving. The third one, everybody say, you ready for it, number three, the Hittites. Everybody say Hittites. And so the Hittites are different than the Hivites because the Hittites means terror. And what it means literally is they were war like, there was a war like element of this confederation of tribes. And it literally means fear or terror. And they were greatly feared, these people, because they were war like and they instilled terror or fear in the people. And let me tell you something, fear will always hinder the purposes of God. Who can say amen to that? The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7, look what the Bible says and I think we are quoting from the King James. “But God has not given us a spirit of fear.” Look at that, fear can be a spirit. I mean do not get me wrong, there is natural fear that makes a lot of sense. I mean, you know, I would fear running into a burning building; that is called self-preservation. There are natural fears about, you know, if you see a snake you want to avoid it. Is that right? Especially in Australia, the top ten deadliest snakes in the world are all in Australia. That is why Steve Irwin, I am surprised I could not believe it was a sting ray that got the poor guy. And he handles these snakes and he has no fear. You know, we all come to admire the guy. He is amazing, isn’t he? But self preservation fear is not wrong, is it? But a spirit of fear is. The Bible says “God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, love and a sound mind.” So the answer to a spirit of fear is love. The Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear. When you know that God loves you, when you know you have nothing to fear. When you know God is with you, God is in you, God is before you, God is beside you, and God is around you, you have nothing to fear. Can you say amen? Paul put it this way, for I am persuaded that neither height nor death, nor angel nor demon, nor principality nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nothing can separate me from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus. The answer to a spirit of fear is to have a revelation on the fact that God loves you. And if God loves you he can protect you, he can sustain you, he can look after you, he can guide you and perfect love casts out fear. Amen? The Bible says, love and power. Well thank God he has given us power. He has given us power over our fears. Do you know fear is? Write this down. Fear, f e a r, is false evidence appearing real. F e a r, false evidence appearing real. And as a young man I grew up with fear in my life. I grew up with a lot of insecurity and uncertainty. And in terms of my life I was bound up with fear and the fear of, you know, I really loved to play baseball. That was my sport. I was born in Queens, New York and I played for Slim’s Texaco Baseball. That was my shirt, Slim’s Texaco Baseball. And I was the short stop. And I caught one of the most amazing balls, it is probably, it should be on ESPN. It was so awesome. There was a drive right out and I jumped and just got it in my glove. And to this day I still remember it was one of the highlights of my life and that was the day that I thought I love baseball. I love everything about it. I love the smell of a leather glove. I love the idea of competing on a team. My brother was pitcher; my other brother was a catcher so I got the job of being the batter. It is a pretty good combination when you think about it. We were all getting better at our skills. But I remember trying out to play for, if you like, the equivalent the State of Virginia, the state team. And I remember the fear that would get a hold of me, what if I miss? And fear will hinder you. Fear will limit your performance. Fear will cause you to second guess and I want to tell you, God has not given you fear in the name of Jesus. The Bible says we are to fear God but in the sense of holy reverence for him. But we are not to fear people. We are not to fear circumstances. We are not to fear our enemy. Why so many Christians are afraid of the devil bothers me. And so many people go, oh what is the devil doing? I think the devil is nervous about people who have a revelation of who God is because he knows he cannot hurt those. Amen? I am not scared of the enemy. I am not sitting in fear of him. I understand perfect love. Cast it out. Oh pastor pray for me, the devil is attacking me. Hey, the devil only has as much power of you as what you give him. Amen? The Bible says Jesus defeated the enemy. He took our sin; he took our sickness. I am afraid I will get cancer. As long as you are afraid you will, you probably will. Fear has the ability to produce just as faith does. It is faith in reverse. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Fear is the substance of things dreaded, the evidence of things not seen. Come on, someone say amen. So I want to encourage you here, if we are going to go into our promise land, all that God has for us, we have got to deal with this idea of fear. Listen to Proverbs 29:25. It says, “The fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts the Lord will be kept safe.” The fear of man brings a snare to your life. Do you know sometimes we could have done things but we are afraid of what other people will think? Maybe launching that new business and    you know people say it is a funny thing. Right now I guess there is a lot of talking about the economy, a lot of talk about you know recession, a lot of talk about the rising price of gas. And you know I am talking to pastors who say I would never start to build a new auditorium in this environment because I would fear that we could not afford to pay for it. But I have nothing to fear because God is with us and God is sustaining us and I am not rationing down what we are doing. I am stepping up and pressing on. It is in these times that true faith is revealed. Amen? The fear of man, it just gets    you know, it is the fear of man is why we forget people’s names. Do you know when you meet somebody and they just told you their name. Do you know why you forget them? I am the fear of man. You say, how can that be? Because you are so concerned with how they are seeing you that you forget their name because you are afraid of how you are coming across. You are more conscious of how you are coming across in their eyes than you are actually remembering that person’s name. That to you is like, phew, that is the least of my concerns. And it is the fear of man that actually causes you to forget people’s names because it is a lot of your self-esteem that is actually up on display right now. And a lot of your self-worth that is up on display. And God deliver us from a fear of man. Who can say amen? You know the fear of man will stop you from taking risks? The fear of man is really when you think about it is pride. Isn’t it? And you miss out on the great opportunities in life. I remember when my friends were saying you should try out for the state team, the New South Wales team. You know I kept thinking what if I miss? And we were trying out, we had to run bases, we had to run from home plate to first and they timed us on how quick we ran. And had to catch a flying ball out there on the outfield and had to do a lot of batting practice. And there were about forty or fifty people competing on the state team and they did the cruelest thing when I think about it. They had everybody lined up on line and then the coach on the other side says now when I call your name, you will have made the state team. And I remember thinking oh man and they called out name after name. My good friend who went on to play for the National Australian team, his name is Garry Whales. He and I used to practice together and hang out together. And I remember they called all these names and they said Garry Whales and he was standing next to me and he kind of looked at me almost like oh, I am sorry. And there were only just a few more names to be read and he kind of gave me that look of real pity and real compassion but he kind of walked over having made the state team. And I am standing there going oh I hope I made it. I did everything I possibly could. And then it was down to the last two names and they said Steve Kelly. I looked back with the same feeling of some of my other friends but walked over there. And I want to tell you something, there is nothing more awesome than realizing that you have been handpicked and you have been chosen. And as good as that made me feel and as a great as a moment that was in my life, God said Steve that is nothing, I called your name. I love you. You are on my team. What have we got to be afraid of? Come on let us do something great for God! And not only that but the fear of success can really restrict people as well. You start getting successful and then this feeling of well can I keep this up? And here is what happens, if you start thinking can I keep it up let me answer it for you. No, you cannot but he in you can. He who begun a good work in you will finish it. He is alpha and he is omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the author and he is the finisher of your faith. If you think that you started this and you created it, you have already missed it my friend. Let me deliver you from the fear of success. You cannot keep it up but God in you can. If you keep a God dependency, be set free of the fear of success. Can you say amen?

All right. Now look at the Jebusites. Everybody say Jebusites. Now the Jebusites are very interesting. These people lived in or around Jerusalem. Now where was Jerusalem? Jerusalem was the holy city of God. It became that, did it not? And they lived in or near or around the site of Jerusalem. The name of the original inhabitants was Jebus which was mentioned frequently among the seven nations doomed to destruction. They were defeated by Joshua and their king was slain but they were not entirely driven out. And Jebus still was in the time of David who made it the capital of his kingdom instead of Hebron. You with me here? That became Jerusalem. You with me here? The site that was the temple afterward belonged to Araunah the Jebusite and from whom it was purchased by David who refused to accept it as a gift. He wanted to pay for it. So these Jebusites are an interesting people because they lived in or around Jerusalem. In other words, they were close around what God was doing but they were not there. Oh there are some Christians in the church, they come to church and they are close but they are not there. You with me here? They like to have the excitement of the life and if you like, the stimulation, but they do not fully get in. They have got one foot in the world and they have got one foot in the church. They are close, they are in and around it, they are near the edge of breakthrough but they are not living in breakthrough. It reminds me a little bit of when Jesus was crucified, the Bible says there was Jesus’ mother and there was Jesus’ you know family around the foot of the cross and even John whom Jesus loved was there but it says about the other disciples, they stood a far off. And if you are going to go in your promise land, if you are going to take all that God has for you, do not be partially in; you have got to be totally in. You do not just live around the breakthrough, you do not just live near the presence of God but you have got to be somebody who says God, 110 percent I am sold out, I am going for it, no holds bar, no compromise, no hesitation, I am giving you my best. It talks about people in the Old Testament where Saul had this great army and he went out and fought against the Philistines. And the Bible says that Jonathan started the whole mess and it says that they had three thousand men but two thousand four hundred of them started hiding. In other words they were close to the battle, they were dressed up looking like soldiers but they were not really soldiers. They were hiding in trees; they were hiding in caves. Some even joined the enemy. And then the Bible says that the other group followed Saul trembling. They were all dressed up but no fight in them. They were close but they were not engaged. God deliver us from Christians who live that kind of spirit that actually says yeah I want to be around the promise land. I want all the trappings and all the blessings but I am not fully in. This is dangerous to taking promise lands. Because you think that because you are near it, you are in it. Here is what you have got to do. You cannot afford to be satisfied for less. Who can say amen? You cannot afford to do any trades. You cannot afford to be satisfied for less. Here is a man lying by a pool for thirtyeight years and Jesus said, do you actually want to get better? He said well I have got all these reasons why I cannot. Someone always gets in before me. And he is learning to live and adapt to his environment of his disability. And when Jesus, the healer, comes before him what he could have said and what he should have said is Lord I know you are able to heal me. But he has all these excuses why he is not well. That is too many Christians. They are near the edge of breakthrough. That pool when it stirred first in gets healed. They are near it, oh I love being near it. Oh it is nice. I love being near it but God says come on, jump in. God says come on sell yourself out. One person said Lord I will follow you. He is near breakthrough. He says but first let me go burry my father. Now his father wasn’t dead, his father was going to die and Jesus said let the dead bury the dead. What was he saying? Do not be near breakthrough, get in. Come on somebody say amen. You know, these are people who were far enough living on the edge of breakthrough but never get there. It is a bit like David’s brothers. I mean there they are in Saul’s army yet again. And David goes out to feed them lunch and he finds out there is somebody mocking the army of Israel. And again they are dressed up as soldiers but no one is fighting. Nobody is fighting. No one is getting near it. This is what the church is full of. Let me tell you. It is full of people who love to get stimulated but will not give life. Oh come on preacher preach to me. Move me. Excite me. Thrill me. Get me inspired. Give me principles to success. I want to know how to be successful. Come on, let the worship be good. Let the music be good. Let there be a good vibe but do not ask me to get in. God is a part of our life but he is not everything. I want to show you a scripture here of what the Bible says. In Genesis 38:9, if we have it let us put it up on the screen. “Then Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went into his brother’s wife”    now what we are talking about here is they are having sex in case you were wondering    “he went into his brother’s wife and then he spilled it on the ground.” That is his sperm, he withdrew. He wanted stimulation but he was not prepared to give life. Now this is a story about how his brother died and it was his responsibility to marry her and look after her. This is not some adulterous story here. You with me here? And it was his responsibility to take care of his brother’s wife. And she had no child and he had the ability to bring life into that woman and all he wanted was the stimulation. But he withdrew and spilled his seed on the ground. Oh church is full of those people. Thrill me, move me, touch me, lay hands on me, bless me, anoint me, satisfy me but we have got to get in. We cannot be on the edge living near Jerusalem. We have got to get into what God is doing. Turn to the person next to you and say we are in!

All right. Number, whatever it is. The Canaanites, everybody say the Canaanites. Look at what the Bible says about the Canaanites. It means to be zealous or hot or red. It can also mean, interesting enough, to be subdued. Now the Canaanites simply means    it had been supposed that the name Canaanites is a symbol of a merchant in these certain passages of the Old Testament, a merchant. But what it literally means is to be zealous or hot or red. What an amazing contrast from zealous, hot or red, it can also mean subdued. And involved in the Canaanites, this land, this enemy that they had to conquer, what was involved in their worship was literally human sacrifice. More especially the sacrifice of the first born son of which we find traces in Babylonia where the prophets of Baal and continued to practice it with an undiminished frequency to be learned from the excavations, the Israelite conquest brought about its suppression and dealt with it. Isn’t that amazing? And let me tell you, the Canaanites which means to be zealous, red hot or subdued, oh this is a picture of Christians who are living like this. They are on a roller coaster of emotions. They are zealous, red hot, we are going for God doing it all and then the next thing you know, subdued. Subdued. One or the other and what these people are, if you like, are hot tempered, if you like, they are out of control of their emotions. Zealous, red hot, to the point of anger. You ever see anybody get red hot in anger? They lose control of their emotions. Anyone who does any training in martial arts, the first thing you have got to learn to do is to control your emotions so you do not lose control of your strength. Anybody who knows anything about anger management and emotional sustenance and well being will teach you the first thing you have to do is get your emotions under control. I mean Sharon and I, we do not fight that often because she is always wrong and I am always right. Isn’t that right, darling? Nothing can be further from the truth; that is what she just said. But you know, there are times she and I will have    well let us not call it a fight, let us call it intense fellowship. And I am not advocating marital disharmony here but there are times in life where you have to learn how to resolve things in your marriage. Do not look at me so holy right now. The Bible says do not let the sun go down why you are still angry. Do you know why? You will wake up with a hard heart. You will wake up, if you are zealous and you are red hot, you will wake up with a heart. You will be desensitized to your partner. You have got to learn how to resolve conflict. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Now, if you want to hang on to a grudge, go to Norway where the sun does not go down for four months but that is about the extent that you can hang on to it for anywhere on the glob right now. You with me here? Sharon and I, you know there are times when we are laying in bed and it is tense and all of a sudden, you know, my leg will somehow touch her leg and she will go do not touch me. I say I did not touch you; you touched me. No you touched me first. No you touched me first. And we have got to learn how to resolve conflict and the Bible says do not go to bed angry. And I tell you there are times when we are so exhausted that we have to just look at each other and say you know what, we love each other and we agree we are going to work this out but staying up until three in the morning is only going to make this worse. So we just agree before we go to bed tonight that we do love each other and we are committed to work this out at a sane and a reasonable hour. Somebody who joined our church and who I know really well, somebody in our church a great great man of God. And his wife finally came to church and she just carried a whole lot of issues from church life and she was hurt, and wrongly hurt I might add. And she finally came to church and of course when she finally came to church all that negativity of church life comes to the surface. It just reminds her of all the hurt and pain. Are you with me here? Which is a moment to work through in your emotions. So I remember late one night, it is about eleven or twelve o’clock in the night. We actually had some friends over. We were having some time with them. And I get a phone call and it is her saying you have got to come over to our house right now because we are having an argument and you have to come, pastor. And I said no I will see you at nine o’clock in the morning in my office. But they said you have to come now; you are the pastor. I said you have been having this problem for years; it can wait until nine o’clock tomorrow. Go to bed and get a good night sleep. I am not leaving my house at midnight. Now if you are about to kill him and he is about to kill you that is a different story but you have been carrying these arguments and these problems for years. Go to bed. See me in the morning. There is nothing better than a good night’s sleep. And by the way, what was also happening there was a moment of seeking to control me. You are not that good. My mother was a control freak and you are not that good. I recognize control a mile away. You are not that good. Anybody know what I am talking about? No, do not put your hand up. And my mother, bless her heart I love her, and she has gone to be with the Lord but in her earlier days of working out these emotional issues. Oh my goodness, being an alcoholic you learn how to control circumstances and situations. Anyway let’s not go there. All right. Here is the thing we have got to do: When a response is not consistent with the challenge given, it is a sure fire indicator that there is a lot more going on then what you said or did to that person being challenged. I just want to read it again. When a response is not consistent with the challenge given, it is a sure fire indicator that there is a lot more going on than what you said or did to that person being challenged. It is a sign that somebody has to deal with the enemy of the Canaanites. And God will keep bringing Canaanites into your life until you learn the lesson of dealing with the red hot temper. Come on, somebody say amen. See in this person there is no emotional stability. And the other thing that happens is they get red hot and the other thing they swing from is that into subdued where they come luke warm, passive, indifferent and neutral. Amen? You know there is a guy called Frank Houston. And I love this man. He is gone now to be with the Lord. But at the age of fifty-five he was the National Superintendant of the Assemblies of God, a major spirit filled church in New Zealand. The largest movement in New Zealand. The National Superintendant, at the age of fifty-five, had an absolutely kick butt church in lower half New Zealand. And God spoke to him at the age of fifty-five and said go to Australia where you know nobody. Sydney is a preacher’s graveyard. And I want to start a church in Sydney. And thank God Frank Houston was not subdued or seduced by the success of what he had in New Zealand. Thank God he was not indifferent to the call of God and obeying. At the age of fifty-five when most people are thinking about what is toward retirement and just trying to get the gold out of the golden years, this man left everything, his position, his prominence, his large church and started a church in Sydney, Australia called Sydney Christian Life Center. It means nothing to a lot of you but he was the man that started what is now known as Hillsong Church and it was actually Brian Houston’s dad. And let me tell you, I think about how different Australia is today because one man was not prepared to be subdued and stay in his comfort zone but got out of his comfort zone and was prepared all over again. And let me say this, Hillsong Church would not be here today if it were not for Frank Houston. Let me say this, Wave Church as we know it would not be here today if it was not for Frank Houston. Thank God for people who are going to deal with the Canaanites and get the subdued mentality, oh whatever. Come on, let’s answer the call of God. Let’s do something great for God. Let’s break out of subdued, passive, indifference; there is a world to gain. Oh I get myself excited just thinking about it.

Everybody say Perizzites. Not parasites, Perizzites. The Perizzites, literally mean, listen to this, dwellers in the open country. They were grazers and farmers and they were the peasants of the time. Of the seven nations, these were the peasants; these were the ones that were poor. They were dwellers in the open country. The Perizzites. It signifies a villager and so corresponds with the Egyptians. The Bible talks about that these Perizzites in Deuteronomy were unwalled towns and country villages. And the literal translation means a villager; it means somebody who is a people without walls. Villages or dwellers in the open country, they were Canaanites, they were a nation inhabiting fertile regions but they were grazers. They were farmers. They were peasants of the time. They had to be driven out by the time that Abraham got there. Now here is the thing, dwellers in the open country, no wonder they were poor. Because they were dwellers in the open country. You drive into Virginia Beach and what do you see on the interstate? Welcome to Virginia Beach. There are no walls. There is no enemy trying to attack Virginia Beach but in this day in which we read, if you did not have walls around your city, you are dead meat. And these people were vulnerable to every attack of every people of every nation because they had no walls. And let me put it to you this way, Proverbs 25:28, look what the Bible says, “He that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.” So it talks about a person who does not learn how to control their spirit, which is going back to the red hot or subdued, having control over your own life but it says but if you do not have that, you are just like a city that is broken down and without walls. You are vulnerable to every attack and every onslaught of the enemy. To have no rule over your spirit is to be as foolish as a city without walls. These people here, the Bible talks about these Perizzites that they weregrazers. They were dwellers in the open. These people left themselves vulnerable. No wisdom, no discretion. Open, wide open and left themselves vulnerable to every wolf in sheep’s clothing trusting everybody. People come in the church and go oh isn’t church wonderful? And we all get this picture where we become Christians oh I love you with the love of the Lord and you love me with the love of the Lord and everybody just loves everybody. You hang around long enough and you stay that open then you will get disillusioned with the truth very quickly because a church is filled with people who are people with works in progress. And the sooner you realize that, the better off you will be. And we get disillusioned when people do not behave the way we think they should because we are just so open and trusting. And I am not saying we should not trust people but I am saying we better get some wisdom about us. Can somebody say amen? Put it this way, a wise man knows when to withhold wisdom. Does he not? Here is what I say, do not give your opinion if it is not asked for. The Bible says if you rebuke a fool you invite insults. Come on, someone say amen. You rebuke a fool and you invite insults. I just want to encourage us, let us be open to God but let us not be so open minded our brains will fall out. And let us be open to meeting the needs of our city but let us not be so open that we lose wisdom and discretion. I mean I have had people come to me, oh man, oh pastor, if you get involved with this business plan that we are involved in, you will never need for another dollar in your church ever again. I promise you that if you get your church behind this business plan you will never    I said well listen, I was just talking to Jehovah Jirah yesterday and he sounds nothing like you. You with me? Oh and people who make over statements, do not trust them. I promise if you do this you will never want again. The moment someone says something like that run a mile. If the moment is too good to be true, it is too good to be true. If someone swears you to secrecy, I am telling you this and we are going to get involved in this business plan but only you and me no one else can know about it, run a mile. When someone draws you into a secluded conversation where no one else is included, it means they do not want anyone to know about it because anyone with brains will see through it and poke holes it. When somebody makes over statements and gross generalizations and promises beyond their ability to deliver, do not touch it. Christians, they are too vulnerable. They get this idea trusting God means you trust everybody but get some wisdom. Can you say amen?

Last one, I have got to finish, the Girgashites. Everybody say Girgashites. Now I do not want to gross you out but the Girgashites means to have a scab. How many are excited about that word picture there? Literally the meaning of the word Girgashites is to have a scab. It relates to a scratch or a scrape. Is that not interesting? To have a scab. And so here is the thought, if you scratch a scab, forgive me, but this is an enemy we have got to deal with, you reopen a wound and you delay healing and you can even damage your healing by keep scratching the scab. You reopen a wound that is finally beginning to heal. I want to close with this scripture Luke 17. This is Jesus speaking. Oh, church if you could get this one verse it would help you. If you can land, if nothing else you have heard me say tonight, listen to this, Jesus speaking and look what he says. Then he said to his disciples, it is impossible but their defenses will come. It is impossible but their defenses will come but woe to him for whom they come. Do you know what Jesus is saying here? Watch. Offenses are inevitable. Just write it down. Offenses are inevitable. They will come. Jesus says offenses will come. But woe to him who keeps scratching the scab. When you get offended you get cut and then that sore, if you keep picking it, can fester and when it finally begins to heal.

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS SERMON SERIES

HOME ALONE

ED YOUNG

DECEMBER 14, 1997

Most of us will be at home for Christmas.  Now at first glance it looks like we are anything but alone in the midst of family and friends during this festive time.  But if the reality is truly revealed, a lot of us are home alone.  In other words, we are dealing with large levels of loneliness.  Now a few of you, after hearing my opening statements, are saying, “Me, lonely?  In the midst of friends and family during this festive time of year, don’t even go there.  You have got the wrong person, Jack.”  But, if the truth were known, more of us are dealing with large levels of loneliness than we care to admit.  Loneliness.  It is real, it is deep and it hurts.

This loneliness is not some conjured up, Hollywood-manufactured, McCauley Caulkin active state.  It is the real thing.  I have been in a series of talks called “Christmas Classics”.  We have been dealing with some of the issues that most of us will face during the holidays.  Last week the topic was forgiveness.  Today it is loneliness.

This week I was thinking about my life and my experiences with loneliness.  I guess my first look at true loneliness occurred when I was in the fifth grade.  My family and I lived in Taylor, SC, tiny Taylor.  I attended Taylor Elementary School.  That school was a pristine, clean, higher institution of learning that one would desire for one’s children to attend.  It would be a school that Keith Partridge or Jan Brady would have attended.  During the midst of my fifth grade year my family moved from tiny Taylor, SC to Columbia, SC.  I transferred from Taylor Elementary School to Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary School.  Jumping from Taylor to Lonnie B. was the equivalent of moving from a playpen to the state pen.  The students at Lonnie B. Nelson were out of control.  It was a rough school with characters you would not believe.  Over the next two of three decades as I pastor this church I am sure that I will describe many of those characters for you.  This morning, however, I want to talk to you about loneliness.

I will never forget that time when my parents escorted me, during the middle of the school year, during the middle of the school day to Mrs. Blackwell’s class.  Mrs. Blackwell looked like Olive Oil.  She pretty much survived on caffeine and nicotine.  She said, “Welcome to the class, Edwin.”  I said, “That’s Ed.”  I saw behind her that people were going nuts.  She introduced me to the class as a new member by the name of Edwin, from Taylor, SC.  She pointed out my desk and I tentatively walked over and put my books down.  When Mrs. Blackwell turned her back to write something on the blackboard a kid walked up to me, took my books and threw them against the wall.  He said, “What are you doing in my desk?”  When Mrs. Blackwell heard that, being the true disciplinarian, she said, “John, don’t treat Edwin like that on his first day.”

I was praying and counting the moments for the recess bell to ring.  Finally it did and I hit the playground expecting to meet new friends and establish new 5^th grade relationships.  I walked up to a group of guys playing marbles.  I had never really seen people play marbles before.  I watched them for awhile until a big kid stood up and cussed me out.  He threatened to mess me up if I didn’t stop hanging around.  At the end of the year I beat the guy’s head in, but that is another story.  I had to learn how to fight.  Some are saying to themselves that that sounds so violent.  But attending a school like Lonnie B. Nelson, if you didn’t fight, it was over!  Anyway, I am kind of like Michael Jackson.  I am a lover, not a fighter.  So, I left the marble interaction and began to walk around the perimeter of the playground, around and around by myself crying and wondering why my parents had ever moved to such an awful place.  I can remember it like it was yesterday.  I was alone and I missed my home.  Loneliness.  It is real, it is deep and it hurts.

The poet Milton called loneliness the first thing that God named as not good.  Billy Graham described it as man’s greatest problem.  Mother Theresa said that it is easier to fill a hungry stomach than to heal a lonely and empty heart.  Just ask a service man or woman in Bosnia about loneliness.  Ask the divorced lady and mother of three as she spends her first Christmas alone.  Ask the husband who recently buried his wife.  Ask the parents whose arms still ache because of their missing child.

Most all of us are dealing with large levels of loneliness.  You wouldn’t suspect that when we are surrounded by family and friends during this festive time of year, but we are.  How do we deal with it?  Is there any help out there?  Has anyone cracked the code on loneliness?  Well, I have got some great news for you and for me.  I want to show you how we can live with loneliness.

First, we have to realize that Christ left His home in heaven so we wouldn’t have to be alone.  Christ left His home in heaven to be born in a home on earth.  He lived a sinless life.  He died a sacrificial death.  He rose again because He did not want us to experience loneliness.  He did it because of His love, because we matter to Him.  Isaiah 59:2  “Our iniquities have separated us from God and our sins have hidden our face from Him.”

Did you catch that?  Our iniquities, our sins, our moral failures, our foul-ups have separated us from God.  You see, God is holy.  He is pure.  He is infallible.  We are fallible.  We are sin-ridden.  We are depraved.  Our sinfulness has caused this cosmic chasm between ourselves and God.  It is our loneliness that leads us to a personal relationship with the Lord.  God could have said, “Well, I see this dilemma.  I see this cosmic chasm.  I am not going to mess with human beings.”  And He could have gone on to do other things.  But God didn’t.  Because He didn’t want us to experience large levels of loneliness, He sent Jesus Christ to pay the price on a tree for your sins and mine.  Christ bridged the gap.  If we walk over His shoulders, we will get to God.  You see, there is a hole in our heart that is shaped like a cross and it can only be filled by Jesus Himself.  So when we talk about loneliness, we have a sympathetic Savior.  We have a God who has been there.

The Bible says in Matthew 27 when Christ was paying for your sins and mine on the cross, that God, the Father, couldn’t even wink at sin, couldn’t look at it, so He had to turn His back on His precious Son.  Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?  Why have You turned your back on me?  Why this loneliness?”  He experienced loneliness like we will never, ever experience it.  My words cannot describe to you the loneliness He felt.  Yet He did it so that we would not have to experience true loneliness.  He did it for you and for me.  But a lot of us here have this hole in our heart that is shaped like a cross.

My most memorable Christmas occurred when I was in Junior High School.  My brothers and I were tearing open presents in our living room and my parents said in unison, “Ed, look outside.”  They drew back the living room curtains and there on the front lawn was the ultimate Christmas gift – a 14 foot, Kmart, aluminum john boat.  If you hang around here very much you know that I love to fish.  I grew up about a 9 iron from a 25 acre lake.  This gift meant that I could paddle around and fish where I wanted to fish.  No more fishing from the bank.  It was big time for me and I loved it.  And every day, well almost every day since my parents didn’t want me to fish too much on Sunday, I would come home, throw down my books, pick up my rod and reel and run down to the bank, shove in the boat, paddle around and fish, fish, fish.  One day, though, I jumped in my boat and to my horror the drain plug was gone.  It just wasn’t there.  I said, “Oh, no, I know the fish are biting.  How will I get this boat out there?”  I decided to talk to my Mom about it.  I ran home and told her that the drain plug was missing and begged her to find another in the next day or two.  My poor Mom searched for two weeks, every tackle shop, every bait store, every sporting goods outlet.  She could not find the proper drain plug for this 14-foot, KMart special, aluminum john boat.  In the meantime, do you think that that stopped me from fishing, from using that boat?  No way.  I took styrofoam and tried to jam it in the hole.  I took Hubba Bubba gum and tried it.  I stole Playdough from my younger three-year-old brother to use.  I tried sticks and socks.  Let me tell you what happened.  I would start to paddle out.  Then the boat would take on water and I would begin to sink.  I would have to turn the boat around and paddle back, dump it out and start again.  One glorious and grand day my Mom made this announcement.  “Ed, I just bought a drain plug for the boat.”  I ran to her, kissed her and grabbed the drain plug.  When I put it in, it fit perfectly.

We have a hole in our craft in the shape of a cross yet we try to plug it up with money, with a new home, with a new car, with clothes, with a corner office.  We paddle out for awhile and we take on water and begin to sink.  We decide that something is wrong so we paddle right back and dump the water out and put something else in.  A lot of you are paddling and sinking.  No one around you knows that, not even someone really close to you.  But you are sinking.  There is only one thing that will fill the hole in your heart.  That is Jesus Christ.  He is the only one who will fill your deepest level of loneliness.  I have got to ask you.  Have you made a commitment to Him?  Have you bowed the knee to Him?  Have you told Jesus to have His way in your life?  Have you admitted that you are a sinner, a lonely sinner, in need of a Savior and invited Him to come into your life?  Have you done that?  Have you made your heart Christ’s home?  This is where it all starts.  Realize that Jesus left His home in heaven so you would not have to be alone.

Secondly, we have got to constantly pursue the presence of Christ.  Now some of us who are going through loneliness are saying, “I want somebody with flesh on their bones.  Pursuing the presence of Christ is fine and dandy, but I want someone that I can see, touch and go out to eat with.  We will talk about that in just a second.  But we have got to practice and pursue the presence of Christ.

Hebrews 13:5 says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  In Isaiah 7:14, Christ is called Emmanuel which means God with us.  The companionship of Christ is what separates Christianity from all the other world religions.  You don’t hear Buddhists talk about the companionship of Buddha or those of the Islam persuasion talk about the companionship of Mohammed.  But the Bible says that the companionship of Christ is available to anyone.  We can have dialogue with Him.  We can talk to Him, cry to Him, express our deepest longings to Him.  Are you doing that?  It is kind of paradoxical because our cure for loneliness is to be alone.  I have got to be alone to cure my loneliness.  I have got to be alone to really communicate and connect with God.

Now turn to your neighbor and say this, “Neighbor, I am putting too much pressure on relationships in my life.”  OK.  Here is what we do.  Some of us know intellectually that we are to constantly pursue the presence of Christ but in reality we don’t do it.  We think that relationships will do it.  Singles especially fall into this category.  They think if they get hooked up with that special someone, it will solve the loneliness issue.  Then they go on a spouse hunt believing that once married they will never have to deal with a deep level of loneliness.  After the marriage, just fast forward the tape about two years.  He or she wakes up, looks at the spouse, and, while acknowledging a good marriage, realizes there is still loneliness.  Constantly pursue the presence of Christ.  There are enormous benefits when people are dealing with loneliness.

Now get alone and talk to God in prayer.  Prayer is conversation with God.  The Bible also says that we are to read and feed on scripture.  The Bible is compared to food.  We are to consume it, we are to eat it.

We just got a dog a couple of months ago.  He is a bull mastiff.  He is 8 months old and weighs 107 pounds.  Who knows how big he will get.  Anyway, Apollo is an interesting canine.  He loves newspapers.  The newspapers are delivered to the end of our driveway.  He will walk down and pick it up.  Some of you may already be saying he is a brilliant dog.  You can imagine me standing in my bathrobe and slippers with a cup of hot cocoa saying, “Come on boy, bring the paper.  Thank you very much.”  Not so.  Apollo will take the paper, go into his little house and eat it.  I don’t mean just chew it.  I mean eat it.  So, I got smart.  I got up earlier and earlier and reached the newspaper before he could get to it.  Well that didn’t slow him down.  This bull mastiff trots down our street and picks up paper after paper.  He will have four or five in his mouth.  He will drop them and eat them.  Well he got kind of sick and finally, after the neighbors complained, we were able to teach him not to do that.

Now, we are called to digest the word.  Apollo consumes more words than anybody I know.  We are called to consume the word.  I am not talking about eating it literally.  I am talking about letting it infiltrate our lives.  I am talking about letting it soak into the pores of our relationship with God, into our reality in the marketplace and our relationships.  It will help in the loneliness quotient that we all face and deal with.  Are you constantly pursuing the presence of Christ?

Thirdly, we have got to seek and cultivate authentic community with others.  Now before I describe community with others, let me ask you to write down in your bulletin, A, B and C.  If you don’t have a pen or pencil, that’s cool.  A is a level of loneliness that can only be met by God himself.  We talked about that already.  B is a level of loneliness that can be met by human beings and we will talk about that in this next point.  C is a level of loneliness that we cannot meet.  You could go to seminary and study Greek and Hebrew, hang out with the most spiritual and Christ-centered men and women in the world and you still wouldn’t fill level C loneliness.  Level C loneliness can only be quenched when we get to heaven.  I want to say that up front before we go on.

Let’s talk about seeking and cultivating authentic community.  Let’s look at the book of Genesis.  Let’s talk about God creating.  God is a creative creator.  God created the plants and the animals.  He created the trees, grass, the flowers.  After every creative act here is what God said.  “It is good.”  He stepped back from His creative work and declared it good.  Then God took the initiative to make someone in His image.  He made and fashioned man.  You know what God said then?  “It is very good.”  And Adam and God had the level A working.  Adam’s A level of loneliness was satisfied through a relationship with God.  But God saw something that troubled Him.  God saw a B level of loneliness.  It inspired Him to do something.  In fact let me tell you what the Bible says about it.  This is the first time that we have God saying that something is not good.  Genesis 2:18.  “It is not good, Adam, for you to be alone.”  Now God does not go into denial about it.  He doesn’t try to explain it away.  What did God do?  God creates woman, someone that man could seek and cultivate authentic community with.  After that came children and families.  Our loneliness mattered so much to God that it caused Him to take this initiative.  Every time I seek out a relationship, every time you cultivate authentic community, we are simply reflecting the fact that we are made in the image of a relational God.

We all have this relational radar in our brains, don’t we?  It starts when we are very young.  Our three-year-old twins, Laurie and Landra, had a friend stay with them Thursday night.  Their friend’s name is Emily.  It put them on cloud nine just to be there with Emily.  They were already getting authentic three-year-old community.  They were fired up.

Yesterday morning I walked into Target.  To my left I saw a little snack shop.  I saw five men in their 70s nestling cups of coffee, laughing and having the time of their lives.  A radar for relationships and community from 3 to 73, we have it.  It is God-given.  Do you have it?  We are designed to live in relationship with God, level A, and also to have a deep and dynamic relationship with a few others which will meet our level B needs.  Do you have that?

The Bible says that we are to take the initiative, we are to seek it out.  Why?  We are to connect with people because of compatibility.  A lot of us, if we don’t connect with people, we begin to fall into the pit of self-pity.  You know what I am talking about, don’t you?  Self-pity has a running buddy named bitterness.  When we get bitter, we begin to get angry.  We might say, “All men are jerks.”  “All women are neurotic.”  We might get angry at God, angry at the church, angry because we don’t really have community with others.  Community is knowing and being known.  It is loving and being loved.  Do you have a desire for people to really know you.  I do.  I want to be known by some others.  Yet most of the time we don’t want that because of fear.  Down deep we desire it, but we really don’t want it on the surface because of fear.  We think that if they saw our portfolio of failures, if they had the key to our lockbox, they might think we are kind of weird or strange.  We will go out to eat with people, play golf with people, travel with people, yet we know in our heart of hearts that we are not really known.  We have so many things in this church that are just for relationships.  One of the most exciting ministries we have is called Home Teams.  Home Teams are clusters of singles and married adults which meet together regularly outside the walls of the church for cultivating authentic community.  It is Bible study in a casual way, a getting to know others.  That is where life-changing ministry takes place.  We are commanded to worship together in a big place.  Just read the book of Acts.  Yet, after we worship in a big place, we are to meet together house to house to house.  That is the New Testament model of a Biblically functioning community and that is our model here.

One of the biggest frustrations for our pastoral management team and the hundreds of lay leaders in our Home Team ministry is that we can only do so much.  We can only make the Home Teams available.  I cannot as a Pastor jump down and drag you to a Home Team.  We have all got to take the initiative.  We have to seek and cultivate community.  In a couple of moments, after we end this service, you can fill out the Welcome to FLC portion of the bulletin and if you check that you want information on Home Teams, we will get back to you this very week.  If we could see what God has in store for us relationally speaking we would be overwhelmed.

I will never forget a conversation that I had with a lady a couple of years ago.  She told me she had been coming to the Fellowship of Las Colinas for two years and still had no friends.  I told her I was so sorry to hear that.  I asked her about her involvement, if she was in a Home Team.  She replied that she wasn’t in one.  I asked if she had gotten involved in the Women’s Ministry.  She said no.  Bible Alive.  No.  I asked if she had volunteered for Children’s Church, greeting or hospitality or gone on a mission trip with Pastor Goff to Mexico.  She replied no.  I felt sorry for her.  She didn’t understand that she had to take the risk, that she had to make the call, take the initiative and sign up to have community.  I beg you, plead with you to do this.  It will serve you well and change your life.  God has some people for you right here with whom you can have true community.  He really, really does.

So connect to get companionship.  Also connect before the crisis.  We will go through difficult times.  The Christian life is not some simple thing.  We are all going to deal with loneliness now and then.  We will all have tragedies occur, people getting sick, loved ones passing away.  What do we do when our world caves in?  What do we do when the crisis kicks us?  What do we do?

I talked to a lady in her 60s three weeks ago.  She was broken.  She was going through a horrible season of tragedy.  She asked me what she should do and my heart ached for her because she had no support group.  She had no one to step in with meals, no one to take care of her home, no one to see about her grandchildren, no one.  Connect before the crisis.

So where are you today?  In the midst of family and friends during this festive time of year, are you home alone?  Are you dealing with large levels of loneliness?  I challenge you one more time to realize that Christ left His home so that you wouldn’t be alone.  I challenge you to pursue the presence of Christ.  And I challenge you to cultivate authentic community with others.  When you do so, you will never be truly home alone again.