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Faded Glory: Part 1- Mirrored

“Faded Glory : Mirrored”

November 3, 2019, 11:15AM

Ed Young

 

Good morning, everyone. Turn around and give somebody a high five and say, “I’m glad you’re here.”  Then I would say, man, I’m glad I got an extra hour of sleep. Is that beautiful or what? Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for being at Fellowship.

I hold in my hand a mirror, and I have a question about a mirror. Does God ever look in a mirror? That’s the question. Does God ever look in a mirror? We look in mirrors, don’t we? We look in mirrors all the time. I read a study recently, it was out about four years ago, and it was researching the vanity of men and women. And it talked about how often men and women look at themselves in mirrors. It said that the average woman looks at herself in a mirror 16 times a day, 16 times a day, ladies. The study said the average man looks at himself 23 times a day. When I read that, I said to myself there’s no way that’s true. So, I researched the research and sure enough, that’s what research revealed.  It went on to say when women look at themselves, they focus on their body parts they’re self-conscious of. They say when men look at themselves, it said they admired themselves, especially their arms. Ladies we are so self-unaware, you have no idea.

Mirrors, they’re everywhere. Even office buildings are made out of mirrors. We have mirrors in our homes, mirrors at the office, mirrors at school, mirrors, mirrors, mirrors. I am going to talk to you about a mirror, because that’s why we’re here, a mirror. That’s right, the essence of why you’re here and I’m on planet Earth is this thing right here. I mean, it’s a metaphor, an illustration. We are here to mirror the glory of God. Let me say that again. We are here to (is it cold in here? I’m cold as a wedge, maybe we can change the… anyway). We’re here to mirror the majesty of our maker. We are here to glorify God.

People are always trying to find the meaning of life. We’ve kicked that question around for a long, long time. why am I here? What’s my reason for existing? Am I on a planet, a blue planet spinning into nowhere? Am I here just to fornicate, recreate, do deals, and die? Or is there a bigger meaning? Well, I’m here to give you the meaning of life. The meaning of life is to glorify God, is to reflect the nature and character of God.

So, to Glorify God, and I’m calling this series Faded Glory, means to reflect God’s greatness in everything I do, say, touch, and feel because God glorifies God and everything he says, does, touches, and feels. We glorify God. So, if your purpose does not start with God, if my purpose does not start with the Lord, I’ll never understand myself, I’ll never understand life. You’ll never understand yourself and you’ll never understand life. No wonder so many people are so clueless. The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 43, verse 7, “Everyone who is called by my name, who I have created for my (let’s say it together) glory.” The word glory is pronounced in the Hebrew, you were probably wondering, I wonder what the Hebrew word is for glory? You probably were thinking about that over your morning coffee.  Well, it’s pronounced kabob. It means heaviness, it means weightiness. You might hear someone say, “Wow, that’s heavy, man. That’s weighty. That’s what it means when we hear the term glory. Glory, God is glory.

It’s interesting how God unfolded the story of his glory. Throughout the pages of Scripture, we see that God is a God of glory. It is something he is. God’s glory is intrinsic, it’s self-generating. He doesn’t have to get flory from you or me. He doesn’t have to get glory from something outside himself, or someone outside himself, he is glory. we might have nicknames for people. We have nicknames for celebrities, nicknames for our friends, maybe nicknames for our parents.  If God had a nickname, glory. Glory. Glory is who God is. So, what cold is to ice, what sweet is to sugar, glory is to God. I mean, ice doesn’t look for cold. You find some cold? Sugar doesn’t look for sweet. Oh, that’s sweet! Yeah, we get some sweet. It’s just a part of it.

God doesn’t search for glory, it’s who he is. He doesn’t need your glory or mine. He doesn’t need Fellowship’s glory. He doesn’t need worship songs. He doesn’t need your tithe (some are going, “Great!”), he doesn’t need me to serve or to preach. God is glory. I’m talking about the is-ness of God. You’re not gonna understand this, there’s no way, because no human being understands what I’m talking about. No one, no one. I am talking about the is-ness of God. I’m talking about the God-ness of God. I’m talking about the fact that God is glory. Now we can study it. We need to know a little bit about it, as much as we can, but we’re not gonna ever, ever get it. The Bible says we’re made – check this out now – to glorify God, right? To reflect him in everything we do, say, touch, and feel, because God glorifies God in everything he does, says, touches, and feels.

So, we glorify God. We have a moment in our lives, because we have a freedom of choice, to say, OK God. I’m going to give my life to you. God remakes and remolds our mirrors, because our mirrors are cracked because of sin. The Bible says, and I’m gonna give you a lot of Scripture here. Just write it down. Romans 3:23, “For all have (what? What’s that say), all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So, the sin guts the glory of God. You’re a sinner, I’m a sinner, everybody’s a sin-sin-sinner. Are you following me? So, we come to a point where we give our lives to Christ. Our mirrors are refinished, they’re refurbished, then we reflect the glory of God. Say reflect with me. So, we either have a choice, either we reflect the glory of God or deflect the glory of God. Those of us who follow Christ say, OK, I’m going to reflect the glory of God. So, we live our lives, then, the Bible says, we die. And the Bible also says that everybody (I’m giving you the unfolding story of God’s glory), the Bible says everybody will glorify God. You mean everybody? That’s right. You mean atheists? That’s right. You mean hellions? That’s right. Everybody is going to glorify God. Now, those of us who made the decision to glorify God, we leave this earth (because we’ve glorified him) and we have (get ready to clap) new glorified bodies! All right. And we move into glory and Heaven is a place that will take us forever to comprehend the glory of God. But our human bodies, they would fry. We are too frail. Our bodies can’t take the glory of God, that’s why we have glorified bodies, and Heaven is called Glory. Are you with me? Are you tracking with me? All right, I got ya now.

Those who take their mirror and never turn it to God, those who look at themselves, which we were all in that condition one day, right? Oh yeah, it’s about me. It starts with me. Those people had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to glorify God. They said no. Yet, when they die, those people who don’t know the Lord, they’ll glorify God. It will be the last view they have of God, but they will glorify God. Then, because they made the choice, they’ll go to hell for the rest of eternity. Hell is a real place.

Now, why do you have Fellowship Church? Is there a Hell? Why are you spending $31 million in Frisco? Is there a Hell? Why do we have 10 campuses, and campuses in prisons and why are we on television and why are we on… seriously.  Is there a Hell? So, if there’s not a Hell, if there’s not a judgment, let’s just sell everything and just retire and chill. What do you say? But there’s a Hell. And we have an opportunity to glorify God. You see, lost people cannot see God, but they can see God’s glory reflected in your life and mine. God’s glory – I want you to notice this, I will say it again – it’s intrinsic.  It’s who he is. It doesn’t give out. God doesn’t have a beginning or ending.  He doesn’t need it from somewhere else.

His glory is also independent.  I mean, the glory we might see in a person here is just something that is derived. Are you following with me? Just nod your head again. Give me the white man overbite, the white people here. That’s about all we got. OK. So, what’d I just say? I was saying something important? Intrinsic, oh yeah. It’s intrinsic. It’s independent, and the independent nature is that everything, every bit of glory we have comes from outside of ourselves. In other words, it’s something that we obtain. The glory of God, he just contains glory. I mean, no one poured it into his life, he just is glory.

Now, I gotta brag. I gotta brag. One time I was sitting in the parking lot out here, cell phone, boom. I’m like, what number is that? What is that? Answer it. This lady goes,

“Hi, are you Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church?” I go,

“Yeah.” She goes,

“I represent Bono from U2, and he would like to have coffee with you Thursday at 4:00.” Somebody help me out. Bono! I’m not making this up. That’s all you got? Bono! He’s my favorite rock-and-roll singer! I was freaking out! I’m going there’s no way Bono wants to have coffee with me! She goes,

“Just you and just a couple of people.” I said,

“How many people?” and she was like,

“Three.” I go,

“Let me check my calendar. YES! I’ll be there!”

So, I showed up (#humbled #blessed #blessedlife #favorofgod). I’ll come back to that in a second. I’m telling you, man. I gave Bono glory, because Bono is like, in my opinion, the best. It’s Bono. Billionaire Bono. <singing> “In the name of love…” Pretty good? Bono is a short little guy. And I was right there next to him with two people, sipping strong coffee, for an hour and a half. And I will never forget this. I’m a very detailed person. He had all this dirt under his fingernails. He’s got a nasal hair. I’m like, man, brother. Come on. But anyway, it’s Bono! Who cares about that, you know? <singing> “What more in the name of love?”

So, I was thinking to myself, man, you are the man! Bono! All of this talent, though, one day will go back in the box.  I mean, he just has, I’ll glorify him, we’ll glorify someone like Bono for a couple of little areas. He’s not totally full of glory but he can sing and he can lead and all that, right? That’s about it. But one day his voice is gonna fail. One day he will get wrinkled. One day his hair transplants will fall out and he will go to the box and his glory will go in the box with him. Beauty fades. Talent fades. Man, that guy was so fast! You wouldn’t believe how fast! He’s slow as dirt now, man. Faded glory. Let’s just be honest here. You know I’m talking to you. You know this is right. It’s from the Bible, man. God is a God of glory.

And I’ve got to ask you, are you glorifying God? I mean, when you wake up are you reflecting the net effect of his nature? Are you reflecting his actions and activities and attributes? By the way you look at that girl, by the way you conduct yourself in business, by your language, by the way you treat your spouse, by the way you parent your kid, everything we do should be glory. We have a glorifier in us and we have an opportunity to reflect the glory of God.

The book of Genesis, the Bible says we’re made in the image of God. We’re not animals. We’re not spawning salmon, we’re not dogs in heat. They might tell you that in Biology class, but that’s not true. We’re the crown of God’s Creation. We’re unique, we’re one of a kind, we’re made in the likeness of God. We are made for the glory of God. Genesis 1:26 says this, “Then God said, ‘Let us (us – God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three-in-one, one-in-three, the Trinity – and we are trinities, body, soul, and spirit. That’s a whole ‘nother message)… Let us make man in our (our what?) image (there’s the image again) according to our likeness.’”  So, we reflect, bounce off, bounce back to God, the majesty of his being. Adam and Eve did that perfectly. We have a freedom of choice. They dropped the ball. The mirror was marred, and again, as I said earlier, they gutted the glory of God. They had a chance but they blew it.

God, though, here’s how glorious God is. So, God’s glory is intrinsic. It’s not like Bono, maybe like, OK, I can glorify him in one or two areas. It’s not obtained from something outside of him, it’s contained, it’s who he is. So, it’s intrinsic.  He doesn’t need your glory or mine. It’s also independent. It’s the is-ness of God, the Godness of God, and it’s invitational. God loves you and me so much, he wants us to reflect the brilliant blaze of his being and his attributes.

But let me say something that’s gonna mess you up right now. The chief quality of God is not love. Hello! You might have been taught that. If you’ve been taught that, that’s not Bible. Oh, there’s a lot of churches around here. “Oh, God is a God of love.” He is, but that’s not the first thing about him. Love does not define God. God defines love. God is glory and he has many, many, many, many attributes.  One, of course, being grace and being love, but that’s not his chief attribute.  We are going to find out his chief attribute is holiness. And we don’t hear a lot of preaching or teaching about holiness.  Oh, I want to talk about grace and mercy and favor and the blessed life!

Well, Adam and Eve messed up. What did God do? Because God loves the world so much he started revealing his glory. Exodus 3:13 and 15. They’ll put it behind me on View-A-Verse, while I tell you the whole deal. Basically Mo was having a conversation with God and Mo, I’m talking about Moses, Mo is his nickname. Mo goes, OK, and he stuttered. And it shows you even though you can be inadequate, we’re all inadequate, God can use you and wants to use you no matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what your deficiencies, God will use you. And wants to use you.  So, Moses was like, all right. I go to all these people, I talk to pharaoh, what do I say, God?  I say, like who is sending me? <singing> What’s your name, what’s your name? Say my name, say my name. It’s not what’s your name. I got that right in every other service. Say my name, say my name. Right? I can’t believe I blew that song, that’s pathetic! But see, I’ve spoken so much I can get words mixed up in the service.

So, Exodus 3 says this whole deal about God. But I want you to notice something real quick. What I want you to understand is God is substituting his nature for his name. This is interesting. Moses goes, “What’s your name?” and you would think he would say, “the Lord, Yahweh”, which he says later. You know what he says? “I am that I am.” I mean, I am.  “Tell them ‘I am’ sent you.” So, he’s talking about the nature and his character because he wanted Moses to know, hey Moses, I exist. I want you to be energized. I want you to be blown away because I exist. The is-ness of God. The Godness of God. So, he’s revealing himself. So, you see his nature and his name and you’re going to see, too, how it’s tied into glory. Because from there the glory cloud, as it guided the Israelites, God’s people, you see and you know that the reason you have the whole exodus is for the glory (the Bible says) of the name of God. That’s the reason. You have God coming down into the tabernacle, God coming down into the temple, and then ultimately the full manifestation of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ has so much glory in him on the Mount of Transfiguration, John chapter 17, you’ve got Moses there, Mo is back, and Mo represents the law.  You’ve got Elijah, Elijah represents the prophets. And you’ve got Jesus and <whoom… whoom… whoom> the glory. So, the more I walk with Jesus the more I’m gonna have glory. I have a glorifier in my life, and I’m made to mirror the majesty of my maker, to reveal, to reflect, not deflect, to reflect the nature and the character of God. Does that make sense? I mean, all you’ve got to do is go outside and you’re gonna see the glory of God.  People are like, man, I wish I could see the glory of God.  Well, just open your eyes. But, as I said earlier, if you’re a believer. Non-believers have an opportunity to see the glory of God in your life, in your mirror, as you reflect who God is. What kind of God are they seeing? I mean, are they really seeing the real deal? That’s a very, very, very convicting question.

The psalmist says in Psalm 29:1-2, “Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings. Honor the Lord for his glory and strength. Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.” There we go. The name of God. Glory, it means weighty, it means heavy, the glory of God. It’s just this name, the essence of who he is. It says, “Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” So, the glory of God, the glory of God, the glory of God, the glory of God. So, the unfolding story of the glory of God is, in the book of Genesis everything was working well. They were glorifying God. They dropped the ball. They gutted the glory of God. Then, you have God revealing himself to Mo and the children of Israel, and you have situations like Moses asking to see the glory of God. And God’s like, “Hey you can’t see the glory of God, but I will show you the backside of my glory.” He saw that. And the people wanted to know, are you really hearing from God? God came down, the glory of God, in a big cloud. So, the glory of God, the glory of God, the glory of God, and then you have the full manifestation of the glory of God in the person of Jesus. It goes back, though, to this right here.

Let me talk to believers. If you’re a Christ follower, what kind of reflection are you giving people right now? Could your mirror be cracked because of anger? Because of temper? Because of freaky feelings? Are they seeing a cracked mirror? Is your mirror foggy because of lust and sexual immorality? So, you’re saying you’re following the Lord and living the life but you’re sleeping with someone outside the marriage bed? Well, that math doesn’t work. How about, maybe your mirror is all bedazzled and it’s all decorated, you know? Because you think it’s about fame and fortune and success.

I don’t know about you, but I like a BLT. Do you like a BLT sandwich? Anybody? I might have one for lunch. I love those things. They aren’t the healthiest thing. Anybody here on Keto? God bless you. Anyone else? Any other diets we’re on? What else is there? Paleo? Paleo, Paleo, who’s here on Paleo? Intermittent fasting?  Eat anything you want? That’s me. Amen! Yes!

Now, here’s what the Bible says.  Let me, you know what the Bible says? Check this out. 1 Corinthians 10:31, see I had a reason for going crazy on you for a second. “Whatever you do (and this whole verse says whatever you drink and eat) do it all for the <audience: Lord.”> Let’s clap on that one. That was good.

So, I like BLTs and a lot of us only worship God – I’ve done this before – we only want to give God glory if he’s Blessing us. Oh, the blessed life. Really? The blessed life? That’s it? You’ve got to be kidding me. The blessed life, I mean, blessings.

The other day I was running in my neighborhood, and the speed limit is 30 on this road, and I’m running down the road.  I usually run like 5-minute miles, and as I’m running this expensive SUV is flying, I mean, like right toward me. And I’m thinking, what’s this car doing? And I look and I said to myself, oh no.  It was a woman in an SUV.  Now, I love women, but this was the quintessential Texas woman, bleach-blonde hair, and she was flying in this who-knows-how-expensive this SUV was.  And as I looked in a nanosecond, she was like <sound effect>. She has not seen me yet.  So, I’m thinking to myself, man, I’ve got a choice to make. So, I jumped into the ditch and I glanced and on her license plate it said “Blessed.” You know, she is, I guess. She has a really nice car.

And sometimes I’ve glorified God and I’m like, OK, God. I’m blessed and you’ve taken care of me or given me this, or I’ve made this amount of money on something. Blah, blah, blah, the blessed life, the blessed life, the blessed life. That’s good. Worship God. Glorify God because you’re blessed. B.

L – How about God you Love me. You’re all about love and grace and mercy and kindness. You love me, you love me. It’s all about love. I can live like Hell, but you love me. Love, love, love. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love, love, love. God, you love me. Love, love, love. Don’t talk about, I don’t want to hear about your judgment. I don’t want to hear about your condemnation. I don’t want to hear about your holiness. I don’t want to hear about your glory, but I just love you. And there’s a lot of churches that it’s all about love. Oh, I like that church, it’s all about love.  Sorry, no cigar. And I like cigars. I do. I make burnt offerings regularly. Not all the time, kids, not all the time. On special occasions.

BLT. T-You’ve got to Take care of me. So, God if you take care of me, I mean, my mom was sick and I prayed Lord, and she came out of the hospital.  Whoo!  I’m gonna glorify you now! But I prayed for my mom to be healed for three years as she suffered, and she died. That’s me. What do you do about that? That’s not the blessed life. That’s not your best life now. That’s not faith. What do you do when your mom dies a hellacious death? What do you do? Oh, God loves me! Sorry, it’s not enough. God blesses me. Really? That’s the blessing? You’re not that shallow, are you? I am not. End of the hunt.  God, take care of me. At the end of the hunt there’s a bigger med out there called the glory of God. I don’t understand it all. I don’t get it all. You don’t either. God, though, is going to get glory. It doesn’t mean I don’t pray for healing. It doesn’t mean I don’t play for blessings. Somebody help me. It doesn’t mean I don’t pray for love. It doesn’t mean I don’t pray that God will take care of my loved ones. But the overarching, giant, massive net is the glory of God. We’re made for the glory of God!

So, every moment of every day there’s a reason to give glory to God, to worship God, because he is. You understand that? I don’t, really. It’d take us forever to really get that. But I’ve got to leave you with one more question. Does God look in a mirror? Yeah, he does. and that mirror is you. Let’s pray together.

 

[Ed leads in closing prayer.]

Sam I Am: Part 5- Gone Gabriel

Sam I Am : Gone Gabriel

September 15, 2019  |  Ed Young

 

Good morning, everyone!  We just rolled in from ‘Frisco.  Let me put my jacket on.  How are y’all doing?  This is Josh Stewart.  Josh Stewart, one of our pastors.  Josh, come here.  This guy here is a legend.  He’s such an amazing guy, and we always call him Josh New-pants Stewart, because he’s always buying these new pants.  And one day we caught him walking in the parking lot, kind of looking down at his pants, so that’s the nickname.  Is that funny?  Let’s give it up for New-pants Stewart, Josh Stewart.  I appreciate that, very much.  We’re receiving our offering right now, too.  That’s great.

 

I can’t believe you guys are here.  The Cowboys kick off at noon.  You guys are phenomenal, man.  That’s unbelievable, unbelievable.  I want to welcome all of our different locations while we’re receiving the offering.  Our online location, Dallas/Fort Worth, Keller/Southlake, ‘Frisco, Allaso Ranch, Northport, that’s near Sarasota, Florida, and also beautiful Miami, Florida.  And also, I want to say hi to our television audience.  You know, I do want to give you guys a quick announcement.  We have until Friday to sign up for our Israel trip.  Lisa and I are going to Israel and we took a great group last time.  We have a great group already signed up, so why not?  Why not go to Israel?  Well, I’m kind of scared over there.  I mean, what if something happens?  I feel more danger in Dallas/Fort Worth walking the streets than I  do in Jerusalem.  And if something does happen, is there a better place to die?  I mean, what a great place.  Oh, they’ve got.  How great is our team?  They’re showing video while I’m saying these things.  I didn’t even know that.  That’s unbelievable.  That’s it, that’s it.

You know, when you wear a double-breasted you don’t know whether to button it.  Let me just button this thing.  OK.  Well, you know, someone gave me this suit, and I really love this suit.  I do.  I’ve always liked fashion, my whole life I’ve loved fashion.  Ever since I’ve been – wow.  When I was 2 years old back in the day, people would wear like stripes down their pants.  I would go to football games.  And my mother, rest her soul, she sewed stripes down my pants as a 2-year-old be I just demanded stripes.  She did that.  You couldn’t buy them back in the day.  Now you can buy pants with stripes and numbers and all sorts of stuff.

 

Today we are continuing, well, really, we’re concluding our series called Sam-I-am. And I’m gonna talk about a subject that is very convicting to me.  I mean, this subject gets up in my grill, and I want to begin talking about this by sharing a story that I shared in 2011.  Our son, who is now 27.  He’s married, has his own apartment and everything.  When he was living with us growing up, about once a year we would always take a trip, kind of an adventure somewhere.  And we would go to places that most people wouldn’t go.  Most tourists wouldn’t tread where we would go.  Well, one year we went to a tiny island off the coast of Honduras.  Kind of a dangerous place, pirates, drug runners in the area.  And this island was trashed.  A hurricane had blown through several years earlier.  All the mangrove trees were fried because of the saltwater.  Rats were everywhere.  Crabs were everywhere.  No air conditioning.  It was truly camping out.  We stayed in these shacks that were built over the surf line.  When the surf would break, the whole shack would shake.  The guy that ran this island was named Charlie.  The guy that worked for him was named Gabriel.  There were just a few people on this island.  There were dogs, wild dogs, and crazy stuff, iguanas, horrible.  Horrible.  In fact, we even left early, it was so bad.  But while we were there, Gabriel, the guy that worked for Charlie, who managed the island, Charlie and Gabriel got into some sort of fight.  It almost came to blows.  Gabriel, who worked for Charlie, stole his bottle of rum, drank the entire bottle one morning.  He was intoxicated, inebriated.  Then he was so upset, he took one of Charlie’s kayaks, an old kayak, jumped in it, fell out, crawled back up several times, paddled his way from this little island in the middle of the Caribbean, and also part of the Pacific if you know your geography.  He paddled 30 miles back to land.  Now, we never knew what happened to Gabriel.  The last words that Charlie yelled at him, between numerous F-bombs, were, “I’m gonna kill you!”  And in that part of the world hopefully Charlie didn’t kill Gabriel but, you never know.  That’s one of the reasons we left.

So, I’ve often thought about Gabriel over the years, paddling, totally wasted in the high seas.  Sharks, pirates, drug runners, I hope he made it.  It was crazy.  I mean, it was a dangerous situation.  We laughed at it while we were there on the island, especially when we returned home.  Whenever something wacky would happen, something crazy would happen, we would go, “Have you gone Gabriel?”  I thought about that because I’ve gone Gabriel before, and so have you.  I’ve done the push-back, jumped in the kayak, and paddled away from where I’m supposed to be.  Gabriel should have stayed in the protected place, no matter what happened, the right place.  He should have submitted to Charlie’s authority, but for some reason he got upset.  For some reason he got angry.  He did the pushback, jumped in the kayak and paddled away, putting himself in harm’s way and in danger.

All of us deal with authority issues, all of us do.  We don’t like to talk about it.  Authority issues are everywhere.   They’re on an island in Honduras, they’re in your marriage and mine, they’re in your family, your family of origin, they’re at your job, they’re on the team.  Authority issues.  God is a God of authority.  He always works with authority.  There is a chain of command.  God, being God, whether you believe it or not, is sovereign.  He’s omnipotent.  He places people in our lives, authority figures in our lives, to mold us and to shape us into the kind of people that he desires, even on an island.  Yet, what do I do?  What do you do?  Oh, I’m gonna do the pushback, I’m gonna jump in the kayak, and I’m gonna paddle the way I want to paddle.  And so often in our lives we paddle away from the purpose that God has for our lives, which is for us to submit to authority.  Authority issues.

The coach is not giving your kid enough playing time.  What do you do?  Do you do the pushback, jump in the kayak, and go Gabriel?  Do you rebel?  Do you talk the coach down, thereby teaching your child that?  Or, do you say, I’m going to submit to this authority structure.  For some reason, God has this in our lives to mold us and to shape us into the kind of people that he desires.

Maybe this manager, you just don’t like this person.  They’re unfair, they’re mean-spirited.  God has this manager in your life for a reason.  Do you do the pushback, jump in the kayak, and go Gabriel?  Oh, I’ve got my rights!  What does that mean?  I mean, I understand but how about God?  How about pleasing God?  We have a culture of people with authority issues, do we not?  Authority issues, they’re everywhere.

Drive on the freeway, authority issues.  I got pulled over and man, that cop was rude!  And?  God has that cop in our lives for a reason.  We either submit or not.  When we don’t, we’re signing up for some scary, scary stuff.  When we go Gabriel, suddenly now we’re in the high seas, pirates, sharks, and mayhem.  It’s very convicting, isn’t it?  It convicted me.

Lisa and I go to a restaurant.  Maybe the hostess seats us and I’m like, “No, I don’t like this table.  I want to sit at that table by the windows, with my  wife.  This is romantic.” “Sir, I’m sorry, thank you but that’s been reserved.”  Whoa-ho-ho, now!  Wait a minute!  Authority issues.  I’ve gone Gabriel.

“Yeah, Dad, now why did you tell me that?  If you give me an explanation, then I would do what you…”  You’ve got authority issues.

Authority issues in marriage.  As a spouse, you’re not to compete, you’re to complete one another.  Authority issues.  There are authority issues in marriage.  Men and women, they’re not the same, although our culture, for decades, has tried to tell us, oh!  Men and women are alike!  Are you kidding me?  We have different roles.  We’re equal before God, totally equal!  Equal in form, unique in function. There are many times in our marriage I submit to Lisa’s thoughts, I submit to her desires and directives.  Many times, she submits to mine.  But, as the husband, I’ve been given the leadership role in the marriage.  It doesn’t mean I’m superior, because I’m definitely not, but that’s the role.  Well, I don’t like it!  You don’t have to.

How about the Trinity?  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit?  There is submission and authority in the Trinity.  Coequal, coexistent, but the Son, when he was on planet Earth, was submitted to the Father, the will of the Father, and the Holy Spirit was submitted to the Son.  Equal in form, unique in function.  God always works through authority.  So, if you find, and when you find, God’s chain of command, get under his chain of command.

Well, I’m not gonna submit to this person until I respect this person! Well, you’ll never and I’ll never, ever, ever understand authority issues.  I don’t have to respect the person to submit to their authority.  Whether it be a president, a mayor, a person that manages an island, a teacher, a pastor, a coach.  I mean, if I had to wait until I liked someone, I’d only submit to maybe 2-3 people.  Ever… ever.  Authority issues.

 

I’ve been in a series called Sam-I-am.  We’ve been talking about Samuel.  Samuel was a guy that understood authority.  He was under the authority of God.  He wasn’t perfect, and that’s what I love about the Bible.  The Bible talks about the assets and the liabilities of people, and that’s something that we can all connect with.  But Samuel understood authority, and many times he carried out things that weren’t always easy to carry out.  Today we’re gonna see that he had a situation with Saul.  Now, when you hear me tell these two quick stories about the exchange between Samuel and Saul, you might think, OK.  Wow, this is a classic battle between Samuel and Saul.  On a visceral level, it is.  But that’s not really what’s going on.  As you read about Samuel and Saul, it’s Samuel versus Samuel, and Saul versus Saul.  It’s you versus you.  It’s me versus me.  I think the text will explain it.

Saul was the king of Israel.  God wanted to be the king.  It was his desire, his perfect will, for him to be in charge, yet God’s people, the Israelites, were like, “We want a king!  We want a king like the neighboring nations!”  So, God, in his permissive will, allowed it.  Saul was the earthly king.  In no uncertain terms Saul knew he couldn’t go into battle, this is very, very important, until he waited 7 days because the man of God, Samuel, had to make sacrifices, and then Saul could fight.  So, Saul was under the authority of Samuel, and Samuel was under the authority of God.  Well, they were at a place called Michmash.  Have you ever felt like the Michmash has hit the fan?  Have you ever felt like you’re drowning in Michmash?  That’s where Saul was.  He was in Michmash and the Philistines, the archenemies of God’s people, they were so close to God’s people that Saul could small their cologne.  I just threw that in.  The Bible doesn’t say that, but they were that close.  And God’s people were like, “Oh, wow!  The Philistines are close!” and they were bolting.  They were out.  So, Saul looked at his Rolex sundial watch and was like, you mean, I’ve got to wait 7 days?  Seven days until Samuel, old man Samuel, walks up and does the sacrificial system thing?  So, he waited and waited and waited and waited.  He’s at Michmash.  He waited and waited, and on the 7th day, time is melting off the clock, Saul goes, “I’ll just go ahead and do it myself.”  He did the pushback, jump in the kayak, and he goes, I’m just gonna do what I’m gonna do.  I’m king, and at least I’ve done some sacrifices.  I mean, Samuel’s not here.  But Saul, you’ve still got time!  Seven days haven’t melted off the clock yet!  After Saul and his authority issues, after Saul had made the fire, when the fires were still smoldering after the sacrifice guess who showed up?  You guessed it.  Samuel.

And I love 1 Samuel 13 11-12 (NIV-84), because I’m gonna get you to repeat some stuff with me.

“What have you done?” That’s what Samuel said to Saul.  He’s like, what?  Have you ever said that before?  What?  As a parent – what?  As a spouse – yeah, what?  As a boss – what?  Yeah.  What have you done?

“Saul replied, ‘Oh, when I saw (say that with me – I saw)…’”  Wow, I’ve made that excuse before.  Walk by faith, not by sight.  “ ‘When I saw that the men were scattering and that you didn’t come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash (oh wow, excuses), I thought…”  Say that with me – I thought.  You know, I’m just an analytical guy.  I just want to use my own intelligence.  I thought.  So, I saw, I thought.

“‘… now the Philistines will come down again against me at Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.  So, I felt…’”  Say that with me.  Saul was like, man, I’m having all the feels.  Now, if those, did you hear what I said?  Saul was having all the feels.  You know what I’m saying, you young people.  That was just for the millennials and younger.  People like me.  The old people, people in their 40’s and 50’s, they missed what I just said.  They don’t even know what I said.  How many old people have heard that before?  No, no one.  #Imhavingallthefeels.  That’s what Saul said.  So, I saw, I thought, I felt.  He did the pushback, jump in the kayak, and check out his strokes with the paddle.  I saw, I thought, I felt.  Say it with me.  I saw, I thought, I felt.  Once again.  I saw, I thought, I felt.  Visually, mentally, emotionally, and what do we do, most of us?

Everything is about feelings.  We used to make decisions based on feelings.  I don’t feel like I love him anymore.  Really?  I just don’t feel in love.  That happens all the time in marriage. You’re not gonna feel it.  I don’t feel like training today.  I don’t feel like going to work today.  I don’t feel like studying today.  I really don’t feel like preaching right now.  I really don’t.  Feelings.  Feelings, feelings.  I saw, I thought, I felt.  And because of this Saul began to fall.  I mean, he had the Michmash whiplash.  This is just a little thing we’ve seen in his life that moved into a big thing.

 

So, now let’s jump to another story.  Last story we’re gonna talk about.  This is a story about the Amalekites.  I call it the bite of the Amalekite.  Saul is gonna have a battle again.  I mean, God gave him so many opportunities.  He was so patient with him.  Saul started out right but as you read about him, unlike Samuel, Samuel was all about pleasing God.  Not perfectly, but obeying God.  Saul was like, well, I want to please people more than God, you know?  As long as I’m trending, you know?  As long as people are singing about me and applauding, I’m cool, but God, yeah, I want to do the God thing, too.

It was like, say it with me.  Bless me.  This is a bless-me sticker.  I have learning disabilities, OK?  I get things backwards.  I mispronounce words, names, this is part of it.  And those of you who are ADD are like, I’m tracking with you.  I like that, Ed.  Upside-down, that’s OK.  So, I’m gonna be like Saul.  Just bless me.  Yeah, I’ll do the pushback and jump in the kayak, and I saw, I thought, I felt.  I’ll just, you know, God I’m gonna do what I want to do, my way.  I’ll think how I want to think.  I’ll see what I want to see.  And I’ll feel what I want to feel.  And God, bless me, too.  No obedience, now I don’t like that.  I don’t like really listening to you, doing what you say in your word, but I’m just gonna go by my thoughts and my sight and my feelings.  And you better bless me.  Well, it doesn’t work that way, does it?  A lot of people think it does, but it doesn’t.  God wants our obedience.  And when we’re obedient, yeah.  The blessings come.

Oh Saul, man.  What are you doing?  Another battle, another chance to get it right.  God said, well, do you mind if I play a drum solo real quick?  OK, if you recognize this drum solo, it means you’re over 50.  Because here’s what God said to Saul… <drum solo> OK, what drum solo was that?  <Audience: Wipeout!>  The millennials have no clue.  One of the greatest drum solos ever.  OK, here’s some trivia.  Another ADD moment.  What band, what band, I’ll give you 5 seconds, played the song Wipeout.  No Googling.  No one knows.  The Safari’s, The Safari’s.  I was 6 years old when I first heard this.  I had a little 45, and The Safari’s Wipeout.  What was on the other side of that record?  Surfer Joe.  I love Surfer Joe.  Do you mind if I sing it?  It goes, OK, OK.  It’s like a surfing song.  <singing> “Surfer Joe-ho-ho.  Now look at him go-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho.  Surfer, surfer, surfer Joe-ho-ho.  Come and go-ho-ho.  Woe-ho-ho-ho, Surfer Joe.  OK, let’s go.”  I’m telling you.  It’s a great song, Surfer Joe.  And for some reason, I hear music and I can remember music really well.

So, I don’t know why I said that, but… Saul did not wipe out the Amalekites.  Oh, that sounds harsh, Ed!  Well, the Old Testament is R-rated.  It’s like most of the Netflix shows.  Why would God want to wipe out a people group?  #1 – They were terrorists.  #2 – They harassed God’s people constantly. #3 – They tempted and got God’s people into idol worship.  They were sadistic, evil freaks.  So, God said, “Wipe them out.”  Now, what do you think Saul did?  No, he didn’t wipe them all out.  He kept some for himself.  Because I’ve discovered 95% obedience is 5% short.  Oh, that seems pretty strict.  Well, what if Lisa told me, “Honey, I’m 95% faithful to you.”  So, hey, Saul, just wipe out the Amalekites.  Just wipe them out. He didn’t.  He kept King Agag and he kept some livestock.

“Early in the morning,” 1 Samuel 15:12-15, “Samuel got up and went to meet Saul.”  I’m getting ready to sneeze.  I usually sneeze like 3 times.  Bless you.  Well, it’s messed up now.  “Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul but he was told, ‘Saul has gone to Carmel (this is hilarious!), he set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.’”  That’s hilarious.  It’s sad, but it’s hilarious.  I’m going to Carmel to set up my own monument.  How about your Facebook?  Is that a monument to yourself?  How about my Instagram feed?  How about, there’s all sorts.  How about the humble brag?  How about… it’s … wow.  You show me someone, though, who has authority issues and I’ll show you someone who has a pride issue.  Sin is prideful and pride is sinful.  Pride.

Saul has gone to Carmel, and we’re going to be on Mount Carmel when we take the Israel trip.  Please sign up.  Don’t say, OK, next year.  Two years from now.  Go now!  It’s awesome.  All right.  Saul has gone to Carmel, there to set up a monument to himself.  You know, whatever, whatever.  Now, verse 13, Saul’s losing it.  “When Samuel reached him Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you.’”  Bless me. See?  Isn’t this funny?  “ ‘I have carried out the Lord’s instructions…”  now, now, now, Saul, you’re lying there, brother.  “But Samuel said, ‘What, then, is the bleating of sheep in my ears?’”  That’s one of the classic texts in the Old Testament.  Is that brilliant?  “What is the lowing of cattle that I hear?  Saul answered ‘The soldiers…’”  Oh, I’ve made that excuse before.  Oh, I didn’t do it.  I don’t have rebellion in my heart, God.  I’m not going Gabriel.  It’s their fault.  Or it’s Lisa’s fault.  Or it’s the church’s fault, or my friend’s fault.  Not me!  Not me.  “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites.  They spared the best (oh Saul, get this weak stuff out of there) of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice…”  He’s playing the God card now.  “… to the Lord your God.  But we totally (he’s lying again) destroyed the rest.” He was saving king Agag, saving some of the cattle and the bling.

Here’s what happens.  When I don’t – and I’ve done this before – when I don’t really play, when I don’t really wipe out sin, when I keep king Agag and other things, those other things have a way of rebooting, reproducing, and eating my lunch.  Sin, dealt with radically, is sin dealt with effectively.  You’ve got to love Samuel.  Samuel understood authority issues.  You’ve got to love Samuel.  He would say the hard stuff.  He would take the hard yards.  On the other hand, Saul, he mailed it in.  If you read the rest of his life, he went psycho, sadly.  And his family was messed up because of it.  He never achieved the purpose that God wanted for his life because he went Gabriel.  I pray that we understand the beauty and the power of authority.  I pray that we see the benefit of how God wants to shape and mold and use all of us through, oftentimes, and arduous process.

Hey, thanks for attending this series.  We’ve got another cool one coming up, but I’ve learned so much.  Haven’t you, in this series?  Unbelievable!  The Bible, the Word of God, is so, so powerful.  And make sure that you log onto our APP because we have Devotionals written around the messages we do each and every day.  I use it all the time, and I pray that you do as well.

Right now, I want to have a word of prayer, and I want to pray for those of us, because I’m a struggler as well, in this whole thing of rebellion and going Gabriel.  Then, after that, I want to give you an opportunity to, if you would like it’s between you and God, to give your life to the Lord.  Would you pray with me?

 

[Ed leads in closing prayer.]

Sam I Am: Part 4- From Rejection To Perfection

“Sam I Am : From Rejection to Perfection”

September 8, 2019 | By Ed Young

 

Well, good morning this morning!  How is everyone doing?  How is everyone doing?  That’s what I thought.  That’s what I thought.  You know, this is definitely a two-way conversation, so you’ve got to help me out as I talk about today’s subject.  Wow.  Football season is in the air.  OK, OK.  All right.

Today I’m gonna do something that is gonna seem a little bit countercultural, sort of weird, sort of strange.  Because you know, at Fellowship Church if you come here very much, we always teach the Bible, we believe the Bible.  We even believe the maps.  We’re under the authority of God’s word and we teach it in an uncompromising fashion.

I’m going to tell you how to thrive in something that will seem countercultural.  In other words, normally when I talk about a subject I’ll say, OK.  Here’s how to have victory over insecurity.  Or here is how to walk in Godfidence.

Well, today I thought, I’m gonna do something different.  I want to talk about how to live in insecurity.  I thought about how do you live?  How do you really increase your fear of rejection?  Because there’s someone we’re gonna talk about who lived in that fear, so I thought, let’s learn from it.  I don’t know about you, but I deal with insecurity.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like rejection, but I’ve been rejected.  Think about all those times you’ve been rejected in your life.  Maybe it’s a sports thing, the quintessential “I was cut from the football team,” or “didn’t make the cheerleading squad.”  Or maybe you got cut from your job.  You got rejected.  Or you tried to get into this group or that group and they just said, sorry.  Sort of shunned you.  Maybe you felt like it was a financial thing, a racial thing, a behavioral thing, I don’t know.  But we have all been rejected.  So often, I don’t want to face the future because of my past.  I don’t want to feel the feelings in the future like I’ve felt in the past regarding rejection.  I don’t want to feel tomorrow like I felt yesterday.  Rejection.  How do we live in the fear of rejection?

I’m gonna speak in Millennialese today.  Any Millennials here?  You’re a Millennial.  Don’t be shy!  Yeah, yeah.  Millennials have come up with some really cool phrases, so I thought why not speak Millennialism, you know?  Or Millennialese, or however you want to say it.  I like Millennialese or that’s a Millennialism.  Both sound good.  Very creative phrase, I think memorable phrases that we’re not gonna forget, because this will help us increase – as I said – our fear of rejection.

I’ve been in a series of Samuel.  Samuel is an Old Testament guy, a difference-maker, a leader, a standup guy.  I’m calling this series Sam-I-am.  Why Sam I Am?  Well, yeah, Dr. Seuss.  You might have read “Green Eggs and Ham.”  I’m calling it Sam I Am because Samuel had a great connection, a great relationship with the Great I Am, one of the names of God.  And that’s the goal of this series, to learn from him, to see how he dealt with different scenarios, different people, different situations.  Today he’s gonna meet Saul.  That’s right, Saul.  Ladies, Saul was handsome.  This guy would have been a cover model for a romance novel: 6’6”, research him, long, black hair, a booming voice.  He just had that “it” factor.  Came from a lot of wealth and he was like, legit.  You know what I’m saying to you?  Yeah.  Saul.  Saul met Samuel in sort of a weird way.  You might say, “Oh, it was serendipitous.  Oh, it was just luck.”  No, no, no, no.  How often do we have divine appointments through the sovereignty of God, and we don’t even realize it?  I love this.

Saul had lost some of his father’s donkeys.  Now, you might think, well, what does that matter?  Well, back in the Middle East, donkeys were like F250 pickups.  Seriously.  And if you lost three or four F250 pickups, you would go looking for them, wouldn’t you?  So, Saul is out there looking for the donkeys.  This is what’s so funny about him.  The guy was like, in a daze.  I don’t know, I’m not sure if he had all the line on his reel.  I’m not sure if, you know, I don’t know what happened.  That was kind of a fishing joke, like all the line on his reel, a little slow.  He had never heard of Samuel.  Here is Samuel, from the same area, Samuel was trending.  I mean he was like; everyone knew Samuel.  And Saul is like, “Samuel?  Who is that?”  They meet because Saul is looking for donkeys and they have this intense conversation.  Samuel says,

“You know, Saul, you’re gonna be the next president of Israel.”  Whoa.  Now we’re gonna understand about insecurity.  We’re gonna understand about the fear of rejection. As you read about God’s people, you’ve got the perfect will of God, and the permissive will of God.  God didn’t want his people to have an earthly king.  I mean, God wanted, he wanted them to understand that he was the king.  Yet they were like, oh man!  The neighboring nations, they have a king!  We want a king!  Mom, dad, they get to stay out until 1am!  Mom and dad, they’ve got a brand-new Ferrari when they were 15!  You know?  Adults, we’re the same.  Why do they get to travel there?  Why do they live there?  We’re the same.  We’re the same.  So, God’s people, “God, we want a king.”

So, here’s what God does.  It’s not his perfect will. I mean, for example, God’s perfect will is for all of us to repent and to know Jesus Christ personally. That’s his perfect will.  Yet, his permissive will, within that, we have a freedom of choice and we can choose to do things our own way.  Oftentimes the discipline of God is giving us what we want.  You know, I want money, God!  I hear you, but I want more and more money!  Sometimes God’s discipline is just piling money all over you.  Some are like, I’d like that discipline!  Others are like, you know, I just want to have sex with anybody, anytime, I mean no strings attached.  God will say, you know what?  Go for it.  Many times, when we get what we want, we don’t want what we got.  So, God can and does discipline us by going, OK, OK.  He did the same thing with his people.  You want a king?  You really want an earthly king?  OK, I’ll have Samuel to tap on the shoulder while Saul is looking for donkeys.  Basically, Samuel said it’s on like Donkey Kong.  I just made that phrase up.  Have you ever heard that before?  I just made it up, man.

Well, here’s the first way to live in insecurity.  Are you ready?  Just nod your head.  If you’re ready, knock on plastic in front of you.  Those are plastic seats in front of you.  Knock on them.  Are you ready?  Are you ready?  All right.

 

#1 – Make sure you are spitting mist.  You’re saying, Ed, what are you talking about?  Spitting mist means you talk negatively about yourself.  That’s a Millennialism, or I’m speaking Millennialese.  You’re spitting mist.  So, kind of do this. Don’t spit but just kind of <spitting sound effect>.  Do you ever talk bad about yourself?  Have you ever just stopped yourself and you’re like, what am I saying about myself?  I can’t believe I’m saying that!  I sometimes talk bad about myself.  Saul was talking bad about himself.  We know he was.  Here, Samuel is going, “Saul, you’re the man!” and check out.  It sounds like humility at first.  This is really kind of a humble brag but just stay with me.  [1 Samuel 9:21 (NLT)] “Saul replied (and Saul is talking to Samuel).”  Now, I’m not gonna spell today because the last time I spelled, Lisa told me, “Honey, you misspelled every single word.”  That’s OK.  I can draw a little bit, so I’m gonna draw.  I’m gonna stick to drawing because I can draw OK.  I can’t spell, all right.  If you’re with me, knock on plastic.  OK, here we go.

“Saul replied, ‘But I’m only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel.’”  I kind of felt sorry for him when I read this at first.  “ ‘and my family is the least important of all the families of that tribe.’” And this is the phrase that pays here.  “‘Why are you talking to me like this?’”  Come on.  Here’s what, again, I can’t believe.  I cannot believe that Saul didn’t recognize and know Samuel.  I know I said it earlier but that would be like not recognizing LeBron.  Or not recognizing President Obama.  I mean, what?  They’re like popular?  Everyone knows them and I don’t know, it might kind of give us some insight into Saul’s persona.  Because so often, as we read and many times in the Bible, just these little things, we think, oh, they’re just insignificant.  I mean, Saul had just a little lying problem.  Saul just kind of humble bragged now and then.  No big deal.  Well, as we keep reading and as we continue in this series, those little things start out small…

 

Ladies, you’re dating someone: Yeah, he’s so great.  Now and then he exaggerates and tells little white lies…  He just has a little drinking problem…  Those little things, deal with them!  Parents: Yeah, she just kind of has a mouth on her, you know how she is.  She yells back all the time.  Because we’re gonna see this in the life of Saul.  Little things that grew into big things.

 

So, obviously Saul is talking bad about himself and he’s just negative and as you keep reading about him, he kind of leaves things out now and then of the account.  If you fast-forward it, one time he was – this is gonna play out in a couple of weeks – but he was fighting a battle at Mikmash.  Have you ever been up to your eyeballs in Mikmash before?  And he just left some things out that were pretty major, you know.  It really cost him, and it ended up costing him the throne.  But what are you saying to yourself?  What if we could hear the conversations we’re having with ourselves. I mean, what if we could those conversations?

 

(AUDIO RECORDING: Ed’s Thoughts)

I sure hope this message is connecting today.  It’s very tough to communicate something from the Old Testament.  You have to study so much.  I don’t know, I just, I’m worrying about that.  What would people do if they knew that I struggled with the fear of rejection a lot?  Wow, football season started today.  I’m glad someone showed up.  I was kind of worried.  Is that guy on the 5th row asleep?  Oh man, he’s probably bored.  I like this jacket I have on today, but the pocket square is sort of wild.  I don’t really like it, but Lisa does.  I wonder what people would really think if they knew that I had hair transplants and that I wear makeup on stage, because of the lights.  I’m just nervous today because I don’t want to be rejected.

 

What do you say about yourself?  We need to say and know the word.  We need to know what God says about us.  We’re forgivable.  We’re capable.  We’re lovable.  And God wants us to present ourselves as useable.  God wanted to use Saul’s strengths and weaknesses and time after time we have just enough weaknesses to lean into him so we can look back and go, oh!  It’s definitely you, God!  It’s definitely you!  Because when we give everything to him, that is when he uses us.  It’s about surrender.

 

OK, here’s another way, because we’ve gotta fly now.  Another way – I almost went positive there – another way to walk in the fear of rejection is engage in ear hustling.  It’s another Millennial urban phrase.  Do like this.  Ear hustling.  That means you listen and read conversations that you shouldn’t even listen to or read about, and you want to pick up stuff about yourself.  What the haters are saying.  Oh, and you follow it down and you chase it down, and you roll it around and you barbeque it and you baste it and you broil it.  Oh yeah!  Oh yeah!  Because we’re all gonna have haters.

I run through our neighborhood.  I enjoy that.  I mean, after it’s over, you know.  I run about this fast now.  And I’ve noticed this, because I’ve run for decades.  When you run around any neighborhood, what do you hear?  <barking sound effect>  Dogs.  It’s almost like they’re in every yard behind fences, barking.

I was in El Paso last Sunday at a great, great church, speaking at a conference, and the pastor, who will be our guest at our C3 Global International Conference right here.  He said,

“Ed, do you know why dogs bark when you’re running?” and I said,

“Well, no.”  He said,

“They bark because they’re confined to the yard, but you’re going somewhere.”  I said,

“Say that again.”  He said,

“Those dogs are confined to their yard, but you’re going somewhere.”

Students, those haters <barking sound effect>… dogs.  That person at the gym <barking>, around the neighborhood <barking>, they’re dogs.  Don’t overreact.

I was thinking about all the times I’ve run in neighborhoods.  And here’s where I messed up.  I’ve stopped before because I like dogs, looked, and one time I walked over to this bulldog.  And I’m thinking, bulldogs don’t bite!  There’s no way this dog is gonna bite.  And I did something very Saul-istic.  I stuck my hand through the fence <barking!> AAAAHHH!  Don’t mess around with the dogs.  Don’t chase the dogs.

Read about Saul.  At certain times he had the right THEY in his life, but he listened too much to the wrong THEY.  Who are you listening to?  If you listen or I listen to the wrong people, I’ll walk in fear, the fear of rejection.  And so, will you.  I’ll walk in insecurity.  My security has to be found in Jesus.  <rewind sound effect> in Jesus. <rewind sound effect> in Jesus.  <rewind sound effect> in Jesus.  Then, I surround myself with the right people and THEY give me, not the primary props.  The primary props come from Jesus.  The secondary props, that’s why we love community here.  That’s why we’re called Fellowship here.  That’s why I encourage you to join a small group here.  That’s why when I felt rejected, as I have in many ways over the last 29 years, I’ve leaned into these relationships right here at Fellowship.  Engage in ear hustling.  See, I got ahead of technology, didn’t I?  Let’s see what else we have.

[1 Samuel 10:21-22 (NLT)]

 “Saul, son of Kish, was chosen from among them.”  You know what this is, don’t you?  Check this out.  “But when they looked for him, he disappeared.”  Oh, I know what this is.  I almost left it out.  There was a massive press (I’m not gonna try and spell conference, I’ll just put C), there was a massive press C where Samuel stood before the people and he goes,

“Now, introducing from the tribe of Benjamin, he stands 6’6” tall, he weighs 225 pounds.  He’s a romance novel cover and a Hallmark channel actor waiting to happen.  Let’s put our hands together for Kiiiiinnnngggg Saullllllll!”

Crickets.

I mean, there are no crickets.  Saul was nowhere to be found. What?  Where’s Saul?  He disappeared.  So, they flew some drones out.  No, that’s just the omnipresence of God.  So, they asked the Lord, where is he?  And the Lord said, “He’s hiding (come on, now!) in the baggage.”  You’ve got baggage.  I’ve got baggage. Saul had baggage.  And in the original language, it’s stuff and you also could say baskets.  He’s the first basket case ever recorded in the Bible.  Because he was insecure.  He’s nowhere to be found.  Well, Ed, you’re making a lot out of this, my brother.  I mean, come on.  I mean, he’s scared, squillions of people out there, the cameras rolling.  He, I mean, I understand the guy was humble.

Oh really?

I’m telling you, he had it together.

Really?

Think about when David years later makes his way to the front lines and everyone in the Israelite camp knew that Saul was the guy who was supposed to fight Goliath.  What was Saul doing?  Hiding.  Hiding from his responsibilities.  Hiding.  It started out small but look at the fall.  Well, it keeps going.

Now, after the press conference, [1 Samuel 10:26-27 (NLT)] “When Saul returned, a group of men whose hearts got in touch went with him.  But there were some – what?  We don’t use that phrase anymore.  You scoundrel.   Millennials, why don’t you adopt that?  Hey man, he’s just going scoundrel.  I like that.  We made that up right here.  “Some scoundrels complained, ‘How can this man save us?’ and they scorned him.”  Refused him, to bring him and show him the love, but Saul ignored him.  Now really.  No.  Read about him in other battles.  Always listening.  He had these rabbit ears.  Oh man, what did you say?  What did you mean by that?  I struggle with insecurity and the fear of rejection. That’s why the best thing on Instagram is this feature called Mute.  Have you seen this?  Do you use it?  I use it all the time.  You don’t Unfollow someone, because that can cause drama.  You mute them.  I’ve muted, I don’t know how many people.  I don’t throw the number out.  It’s changed my life.  Mute them.  I only follow just a few now, because everyone else has been muted out of my life.  Students, adults, it will change your life.  Mute people.

When I went to school back in the day, you would go to junior high, high school, whatever.  Peer pressure, I love peer pressure.  You know, people peering.  And you know, oh, I want to get in that group!  Or, maybe not this group or that group.  But then once you made it to your home… aaaaahhh!! No more drama anymore!  No more peer pressure.  It’s all good, man!  I’m at home!  I’m talking about back in the day.  I can just relax and be myself.  Oh, now we can’t.  Are you kidding me?  It’s like we’re at school, we’re at home, mealtime, jogging around the neighborhood, getting ready to go to bed.  It’ll mess you up!  It’s messed me up, that’s why I mute.

Students listen to me.  You should mute people regularly.  Just mute them, man!  Mute them!  Adults, I mean, we deal now with as much peer pressure as the kids! Oh man, they get to travel there!  Must be nice.  I’m a loser.  They drive, they got a new car.  Are you… how in the world did that happen? What?  Oh man, I’m nothing.  I love social media.  I’m not hating on it.  It has its place.  However, it can mess us up because we’ll begin to compare, and contrast and we will begin to look at the other person and take our eyes off of Jesus.  And what I’ll do, is I’ll start trying to run in someone else’s lane and saying, wow!  They’re more blessed than I am. I want their blessings!  No, no, I don’t.  No, no, you don’t.  That’s a lie from the enemy.

Saul dealt with this and it really was one of the things that ruined him later on, we’ll see.  But again, if you want to walk in fear, fear of rejection, just engage in ear hustling.  Always chase down the negativity and the stuff.  Hey, the people that are negative about you, they don’t know you.  Those people didn’t know Saul.  They don’t know you.  Sometimes people will text me something negative or comment on something negative.  I don’t even read the stuff.  They’ll go,

“Oh man, someone’s saying something bad about you.”  Well, they don’t know me.  I mean, you can take a picture of me now, but this is not me.  To understand me, you’ve got to go all the way back to Irwin, North Carolina, a little mill town.  From there to Canton, North Carolina.  Then from there, Taylor, South Carolina.  Big cities.  Then from there, Columbia, South Carolina.  Then from there, Houston, Texas.  Then from there, Florida State University in Tallahassee.  Then from there, Houston, Texas.  Then from there, going to seminary full time and working full time.  Then from there, we drive up to Fellowship Church, one car, one kid, rent house.  Our offerings were maybe $1,000 a week.  So, you want to know me?  You really do?  That’s my life.  So, what you see now, I mean, God has blessed me.  No question about it.  God has blessed you.  But what am I doing listening to someone who doesn’t even know me?  And they’re the same in your life.  They don’t know you.  Don’t overreact.  I have before, it’s not worth it.

“Yeah, but if I sat down and talked to them, they would understand!”  No, they wouldn’t.  <barking>  Let me see if there’s one more.  I could do about 20 of them.  Oh yeah, this is another.  I love this phrase.

 

The third way to walk in the fear of rejection – this is awesome here, I love this – speak in third person theatrics.  I’d never heard that phrase before, maybe some Millennials have.  Third person theatrics would be speaking in the third person and just really bragging, really putting yourself out there.  Self-promotion.  What I am afraid is that we so promote ourselves, we don’t even know we’re promoting ourselves.  It’s like what my brother says.  Whenever you see someone take a picture of someone famous with them, that means they don’t know that person.  You didn’t laugh because it was so convicting.  I understand.  I’m the same way.  It convicted me, too.  You know, I mean, when Ric Flair and The Undertaker were here, I had my picture taken with them.  I don’t know them!  But I’m like, Ed, why are you doing this?  I know someone who is important.  I know someone who’s popular.  I spent 10 minutes with The Undertaker.

And then, think about it, we post this stuff like a picture of our physique, guys.  <laughter>  Seriously?  Don’t even try to tell me you’re trying to advertise some gym or some new workout.  What are you smoking?  Here’s my favorite.  The ladies will all get all beauty’d up, you know.  Take the picture.  And all the comments:  Oh, you look gorgeous!  You’re so awesome!  What do you think they’re gonna say?  That dress makes you look fat.  We’re that insecure?  We are, aren’t we?  We have to put our image out there because we have to have those compliments.  It’s funny.  We’re so funny.  We’re so insecure.  And I know all of us have a level of insecurity because of our depravity.  I’m just talking about how to accentuate your insecurity.  Speak in third person.

Well, what happened to Saul?  Saul’s son, let’s look.  1 Samuel 13, let me just fly through this here.  Let me see, speak in third person.  OK, here we go. 1 Samuel 13:3-4, “Jonathan (the J-man, that’s Saul’s son) attacked (the Philistine machine) the outpost, at Giba (or Geba), and the Philistines heard about it.”  Uh oh.  “Then Saul had the trumpet blown (you talking about tooting your own horn) and said throughout the land, ‘Let the Hebrews hear.’ So, all Israel heard the news.”  Saul, Saul you weren’t even there!  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.”  I’m the man.  I’ve got to have credit.  I’ve got to be the person.  You’ve got to show me the love and the gifts and the applause.  It’s me.  It’s me, yeah, me.  I’ll post this and it’s me and my and I.  And pride is so seductive we don’t even know we’re prideful when we’re being prideful.

I could go on and on.  That’s next week.  Next week we’re gonna have fun with some stickers.  That’s all I’ll say.  It’s gonna be fun.  I think you’ll enjoy it.  But we continue.  Hey, hasn’t this series been fun?  I mean, I’ve learned so much.  I’ve learned so much.  But I’ve got to tell you this one story about pride.  I love this story.  It’s kind of a goofy one but I like it, so would you give me about one minute to tell you the story?  If you want to give me one minute, knock on plastic.  OK, thank you.

There was this frog who lived in a little pond and this frog made friends with these ducks.  And the frog was like, “All you ducks are always quacking about flying south and all these cool places.”  And the frog was like, “Would you mind helping me fly south?”  And the ducks were like, OK, OK.  So, the frog goes – this frog had a real high IQ – he goes, “Here’s a reed.  When it gets cold, I want one of you ducks to grab one end of the reed, the other end and I’ll just latch onto the middle, and you can fly me south.  These ducks are like,

“Yeah!  We’ll do that!”  So, it started getting cold and that’s what happened.  They took off… <quacking and flying sound effect>  and here’s the frog.  And he’s looking around.  He’s thinking, this is so beautiful up here!  He’s thinking about man, I’m so smart!  I’m so intelligent!  Then they flew over a field and a farmer was in the field, and the farmer goes,

“Look at that!  Ducks flying and a frog hanging onto the reed in the middle!  I wonder who thought of that!”  The frog couldn’t stand it, so he opened his mouth…

“I di-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-d…” splat.

Don’t be a frog.  That’s what Saul was.  So, how do I become insecure?  I’ve got to make sure I’m spitting mist.  I’ve got to engage in ear hustling.  I’ve got to speak in third person theatrics.  But what we’re gonna find out is the way to live for the Lord, talk to God regularly about who you are.  Ask him.  Get to know his infallible word and what it says about you and what it says about me.

#2 – Listen to the right people.  I don’t care if you’re 52, 22, or 12.  That’s the beauty of the church.  It’s not a solo sport.

#3 – Encourage one another.  Encourage.  When you think it, say it!  Don’t go, “Well, I know he knows that.”  “I know my wife understands…”  No, no, no.  Say it.

Jesus was rejected on a level that we can’t even comprehend.  He was rejected by his nation, by his family, by his friends.  While he was dying on the cross for your sins and mine, the Bible says God the Father had to reject him because he couldn’t even look at sin.  Jesus rose again and through this rejection, we can have perfection.  We can place our faith, our trust, on the person of Jesus.  And that is when we will know the great I Am, and that’s when we will walk in Godfidence.   Would you pray with me?

 

[Ed leads closing prayer.]

Sam I Am: Part 3- God In A Box

Sam I Am : God In A Box

August 25, 2019, 11:15am  |  Ed Young

 

 

I want to welcome everyone to Fellowship today. I’m continuing this series called Sam I Am. Many of you probably read the book Green Eggs and Ham maybe as a child. It’s a Dr. Seuss book. The chief protagonist in that is a character named Sam-I-Am. He was trying to get Joey to eat green eggs and ham.

I just thought, hey, wouldn’t it be cool to do a series from scripture on the character Samuel and maybe call him Sam I Am? One of the names of God, God called himself the great I Am, so Sam I am. You get it? Yeah.

Always remember … Thank you. Always remember this is a two way conversation, so help a brother out. You can clap now and then. I’m not saying that I’m saying something profound, but just you can clap, and smile, and have a good time. Church should be an exciting place, a fun place. That’s why our church is named Fellowship church. It’s not just something it is. It’s something that we do.

Let’s give a big round of applause for all of our different locations. I just drove in from our Frisco campus. You know, we had over 100 students at our Frisco campus this past Wednesday night. Isn’t that amazing? I thank you for your generosity in making that happen.

Okay, let’s talk about Sam I Am. What do you say? I’ve got 27 minutes to do it, and I think we can all concentrate for 27 minutes. You know, I’m ADD. They didn’t diagnose me back in the day because they didn’t even know what ADD was back then, but I am ADD. So when I start boring myself, I’ll change the subject. Sometimes I’ll just end it, so that’s hopefully helpful to those. I’m glad I have ADD. I am. ADD is a good thing.

See this box. We love boxes. Boxes are everywhere. Have you ever put God in a box? I have. I hate to confess it, but I have. I’ve put God in a box. There you go. You’re in this box, a neat little box and, and I’ll just carry God around, and I’ll sort of use God for myself. When it’s convenient, I’ll take him out and use him when I need a blessing. When I need something good in my life, when I need something supernatural, sort of an add on, I’ll use God.

Today we’re talking about that very subject. Do you use God? Do you use God? It’s tempting for us to use God. We’re going to find out though that God doesn’t want you and me to use him. He does however want us to remain and to be usable. In other words, God wants to use you. God wants to use me. Isn’t that a great thing? I don’t use God? God uses me. Are you usable to God?

So often through the Bible, I love how the Bible is so relevant, it’s so real. Throughout the scriptural record, we see people trying, even God’s people, to use God. When we use God, we’ll end up in defeat. Let me say that again. Whenever I’ve tried to use God for my own purposes, it’s not worked out very well. Yet, when I’ve said, “God use me. No matter what, God use me,” he uses me. If we’re usable to God, he’ll just wear us out. Isn’t that great?

We put God in a box. God’s people put God in a box. Do you remember the Ark of the Covenant? You might’ve seen Raiders of the Lost Ark. God in a box; the Ark of the Covenant, that box; the Ark of the Covenant with cherubim on either side; the Ark of the Covenant, gold; the Ark of the Covenant, the 10 commandments, the staff of Aaron, a jar of manna. During part of the history of God’s people, they worshiped, listen to these words, the God of the box. But something changed. There was a sea change, and God’s people began to worship the box of God.

Which side are you on? Do you worship the God of the box or the box of God? Do you carry God around and you want to be a part of the bless me club? God’s kind of your Rabbit’s foot, a Four-Leaf Clover. We’ve all been there. We’ll do what we want to do. We’ll make our own plans, and then we’ll say, “God, bless me. God, God now, now God, I’m just going to use you. I’m going to manipulate you to get the benefits from you, and then I’ll put you back in the box.”

 

Years ago, a young man that I got to know here at Fellowship Church walked up to me and with tears streaming down his face, he said, “Ed, would you please pray with me?” I knew his story. I knew the marital mayhem. I knew he was a serial adulterer. I knew he had been disjointed and separate from his kids. I knew that he was a workaholic. I knew that he always didn’t tell the truth.

He looked at me and he said, “You know, I own this company, and I have an opportunity to make a lot of money because I’m selling the company. It’s going public.” He said, “But through a unique turn of events, my board, they’re trying to fire me before this windfall, and I want to do it God’s way.” He said, “I’m tired of living this life of disobedience.”

So we talked briefly about it, and I looked at him and I said, “You know, I’ll pray for you,” but I said, “Let’s pray that you’ll be usable to God. I have no idea if you’re going to get the money. I have no idea if it’s going to go through. I have no idea what’s going to happen,” but I went through some basic things. I said, “God loves you too much and I love you too much not to tell you the truth.” So I went through these things, and we knelt, and we prayed, and I thought, “Yay God!” Because so often we don’t turn to God until we experienced personal pain.

About a week later, I heard that the deal did go through, the board didn’t fire him, that he did receive the windfall, and from that moment on I watched him face defeat after defeat. Now and then, I creep on social media and just see how he’s doing. He’s not doing well.

You see, we think the blessings of God are like limited to what we think is so important. You might go, “I’ve got 1.3 million followers on social media. Man, God has blessed me.” Not necessarily. You hear A-listers and other people say, “Wow, I’m so popular, I’ve made so much money, millions and millions of dollars a month. I’m so blessed.” Not necessarily. “I have this family. I’m so blessed.” Not necessarily.

Blessings, that phrase is so misunderstood, and misjudged, and misused. So often when I say, “God, I want to be usable before you,” okay, God uses me. He uses you. The blessings come after obedience, but the blessings in my life and yours aren’t necessarily the blessings that we think they should be. They’re God’s blessings. Does that make sense? Sometimes it can be through fame, if God wants it. Sometimes it could be through millions and millions of dollars. It could be, if God desires it. We have to trust him.

 

God’s people, they went through a phase where they were trusting God. Then though, everything began to go sideways. Samuel was a young guy, a young leader who was doing some cool stuff. He grew up in a very ungodly environment, yet he lived for the Lord.

Judges 17:6 tells us a little bit about the situation that Samuel, an old Testament figure, was dealing with. “Every man did what was,” what? “Right in his own eyes.” Does that sound like our culture or what? I’ve got God in a box. This is my philosophy. This is my situation. This is my ideology. This is my truth, and I’ll do what quite frankly I want to do.

God will allow us to do what we want to do. He will allow us to face the consequences. That’s what he did with his people. God’s people, they had God in a box, the Ark of the Covenant. It’s a picture of Jesus. Whenever you read the Bible, if you don’t see Jesus, reread it. The Ark of the Covenant is an illustration of Jesus. You had, as I said earlier, the artifacts in the Ark. The Ark represented the presence and the power of God. On the Ark was the mercy seat. The Ark resided in the Holy of Holies. The holiest man would walk into the Holy of Holies on the Holiest day of the year, Atone, and make an animal sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God, sprinkled the blood on the Mercy Seat. Fast forward to Jesus, our ultimate sacrifice, who died in the Cross for all of our sins, shed his blood on the ultimate Mercy Seat, rose again, thereby giving us an opportunity to know him personally. God in a box or the God of the box. Samuel grew up in this crazy environment. He was a difference maker, and the first three chapters of First Samuel, he’s like front and center. Yet in chapters four, five, six, and seven, he fades into the background like a good pair of Levi 501 jeans. Do you remember those? I sometimes do shout outs for those of us who were over 50. 501s are still popular, but not really.

So Samuel kind of fades, and the reason he faded is because God’s people were fading. God was judging his people because they were disobedient. When you use God, you’re going to live in disobedience. God always judges disobedience. God rewards obedience. He does. Now, those rewards, let me say it again, don’t always look like the rewards that you would pick, or I would pick. God, though, he knows what’s best for us. So, here’s the cliff notes, very quickly, Wikipedia version. God’s people, they had an impressive one loss record. I mean they had dominated so many people. There were in the promised land, their Archenemies where the Philistines, the Philistine machine, they were people who were tough. The Philistines had a corner on the iron market. They were wackadoodle-do. They worship all of these gods, lowercase G. A lot of their worship was very sensual, temple prostitution, child sacrifice. It was mayhem. They were always the thorn in God’s people’s side.

 

You have these epic battles with God’s people, the Israelites and the Philistines. Well, the Israelites have an impressive record, and the Philistines knew it. The Philistines attacked God’s people, and they opened up a can; 4,000 thousand of the Israelites were killed, 4,000. So they’re licking their wounds, and Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso and others were talking about the loss and everybody was just blowing up social media. How could God’s people lose? What happened? Do they need a new quarterback? Was the defensive line all messed up?

So all the elders of Israel gathered together, watched some game film, and they were trying to break down the game film. If someone said, “Oh, let’s bring a suggestion box and let’s just kind of drop some suggestions in regarding why we lost.” These people, God’s people, hadn’t even thought about God. God wasn’t the first thought, he was the last resort. So then they were like, “I know why we lost.” Why? Why? Why? We didn’t have the box of God with us. We didn’t have the Rabbit’s Foot. We didn’t have the Lucky Charm. We didn’t have God in a box. Because I remember, back in the day, our homeboys, they had God in a box and God in a box, the Ark, was like central and God used them and they won and they entered the promised land. Whoo! Let’s go get the box. Let’s go get the box. Because we’ve done everything we can, if we have God in a box, because we got him in the box, the Ark of the Covenant, we’ll win.

You can’t use God. The Bible tells us specifically, 1 Samuel 4:3: “When the soldiers returned to the camp,” after getting whipped, “the elders of Israel asked, ‘Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines?'”

Why? Why God? It’s your fault, God. You ever said that? “God, it’s your fault that’s why I didn’t make the cheerleading squad. God, it’s your fault that I got fired? God, it’s your fault I didn’t marry him. God, it’s your fault. It’s your fault that I’m not where I thought I was going to be.” We turn God into the villain and then we become the victim.

 

Have you ever thought about the different generations: Blaming Boomers, Generation Excusers, and the “My-llineals”? Have you ever thought about that? We’re so narcissistic and self-absorbed, we’ve had to make up problems about ourselves. The other generations didn’t. All these different psycho babbl-ish disorders that we have, and I’m not saying that they’re all wrong, I’m just saying, you got to go, “What?” Say, “What?”

So they were turning God into the villain. There were the victims. Let’s go get the box of God. They ask … to show you how just self-unaware they were … they asked Hophni and Phinehas, the worst preacher’s kids in the history of theology to walk into the holy of holies. The holiest man had to do that, once a year, and grab the box of God. We’re talking Hophni and Phinehas.

That’s why God was judging Israel, one of the many reasons, Hophni and Phinehas, and their dad Eli. Hophni and Phinehas bring the Ark on a cart to the Israelites and they’re like, “Oh man, we got it now,” and I don’t have time to read it, but the Bible says the Israelites cheered. I’m talking a standing ovation. The Israelite band, when they saw the Ark coming, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. The Ark is back. That ain’t no Jack. The Ark is back. Bam, bam, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They were going crazy. Well, the Philistines heard that and the Philistines freaked. They knew the history of God’s box. It was legendary. They were like, “Oh no, oh no, we’re going to face the Israelites and we don’t want to play on their home field.”

Look at the last part of verse three (1 Samuel 4:3) “Let us bring the Ark as a sign of God’s covenant, of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, the Holy City. So that it, it, it … let me … it, again, they were worshiping the box of God, not the God of the box, may go with us and save us from the hands of our enemies.”

So they gathered together. They put the box of God out front. They faced the Philistines. Who do you think won? Philistines. The Philistines killed 30,000 of God’s people. Wow. God was not worshiped. You can’t use God. See, God is going to be glorified, no matter what. We think God is only glorified in victory. Wrong. Many times God is glorified in defeat. When we use God, we’ll suffer defeat. Wow, that swims against our philosophy, which so often is the Philistine philosophy. The Philistines had all these gods and they, wow … the Bible says they not only killed 30,000, they captured the box of God. They captured the Ark of the Covenant, and they were so excited. We’ve got God’s mascot. We’ve got him in a box. We’ve got God. You can’t use God, but God wants to use you.

The second thing I want you to notice, You Can’t Capture God, But God Wants To Capture You. Let’s keep reading. 1 Samuel 4:10-11, you can’t capture God, “So the Philistines fought and the Israelites were defeated.” They just… I mean, it was embarrassing. “And every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost 30,000 foot soldiers. The Ark of God was …” Say it with me. “Captured”.

“Captured and Eli’s two sons,” there we go, the worst preacher’s kids ever, “Hophni and Phinehas, died.” Okay, the Philistines were like, “We’ve got the Ark. We’ve got God in a box. They got what they wanted, they did not want what they got, the Philistines. Oh my God, God. Whoo! Yeah! But very quickly they were like, “Oh no, what have we done?” iPhones are lighting up. Everybody in Israel is absolutely losing it. They see all these selfies with the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant. Eli sees all this on social media, and the Bible says, (1 Samuel 4:18) “When Eli heard that they had captured the box of God and his sons were killed, he fell over dead.” But check this out. (1 Samuel 4:19) Phinehas’s (says Hophni’s) wife, one of the crazy preacher’s kids, she had a semblance of God. She was nine months pregnant when she heard through social media what was going on. She had a baby right there on the spot. They named her child Ichabod, which means, listen to this, “the glory of God has left Israel.” Then she died. Powerful stuff. You can’t use God.

 

Number two, you can’t capture God. We try though, don’t we? Well, the Philistines had the box of God, and bad things started happening. (1 Samuel 5) They put the box of God in front of their main God, Dagon, this fish God, and they began to have tours already. Buses were pulling up and there they were touring because the box of God was legendary. Dagon fell prostrate in front of the Ark of the Covenant. His limbs were off. Then all of a sudden, they were plagued with rats. Then they had these tumors growing in very private areas. It was not a good thing.

So to show you how wheels off the Philistine philosophy was and even is today, they thought, (1 Samuel 6:8) “We’ve got to get the Ark. We’ve got to get the box of God back. If not, we’re going to be in a box six feet under,” so they made some gold tumors. I’m not making this up. Some gold rats, and sent the Ark on a cart, sound effects mine, back to Israel. They had a bunch of cows taking it to Israel. These cows had just had calves, and the Philistines were like, “Well, if God’s in this, then these mama cows are going to leave their calves.” Sure enough, they did. They went to God’s people.

 

You know something else about God’s people? God’s people received the Ark. Some of God’s people were like, “Man, the Ark is back,” and they began to get right with God. The Philistines, though, were fearful of God. They were so fearful, they were like, “Get him out of my sight.”

Why don’t people come to church? Why is that person that you know you’ve been inviting so often, why do they keep a wide berth? Why do they stay away from church? The Philistine philosophy. They don’t want to hear about the judgment of God. But if they’ll come to church and listen to God’s word, they can experience forgiveness and grace. God will use them, and God will capture them with His grace and truth and mercy.

Now, some of God’s people looked at the Ark casually. The Philistines feared it. Some received it, “Thank you Lord,” but some just kind of casually, they were like, “Oh, would you open that up? I’d like to see what’s inside the- …” They were taken out. God said throughout his word, “Don’t touch holy things.”

Isn’t it true that we have casualized God too much? We’ve lost the reverence of God, the holiness of God. A lot of us still have that Philistine philosophy. All these idols, the idol of sports, the idol of popularity, the idol of a physique, the idol of possessions, and maybe a car or a house. Oh, yeah. We have our idols; we have our Baal’s. We have our Astaroth’s. It’s easy to spot here in church and any other churches where I travel, because you see people during the time of worship, just standing like statues. They’re not worshiping, just kind of enduring it.

 

Philistine philosophy. You’ve wasted your worship on chasing after money, chasing after a fun fix, chasing after the next trip, the next game. Oh, yeah. The Philistine philosophy is alive and well. God is an add on. Oh, I’ve got God. Oh, yeah. God and I are all right. We’re cool. I’ll keep him here, and at the right time, I’ll open him up because I want him to bless me. If I do one or two things, he’s going to bless me. He’s going to get me out of this difficult situation. He’s going to take care of me. God, you’re the mop God. I can screw up and mess up. Hey God, come on. Come on out of the box, would you? Would you clean up my mess, please? God doesn’t work that way. I’ll say it again. You can’t use God, God wants to use you. I’ll say it again. You can’t capture God, god wants to capture you.

 

Return to God like Samuel encouraged God’s people to do. The Bible says that Samuel stood before the people and basically said, in 1 Samuel 7:3-4 “If you’re returning to the Lord with all of your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods.” What are you ridding yourself from when you turn to God? He’ll deliver you. Read it there. From the Philistine philosophy. The Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtaroths and served the Lord only. I pray that we personalize this text and say, “You know, the Fellowship-ites, beginning with me, put away your Baals and Astaroths, and we served the Lord only.” You can’t use God. You can’t capture God. God wants to use you. God wants to capture you, and we’ll discover that, as we know, the great I am.

 

Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you for this message. Thank you for this talk. Lord, forgive me when I have used you and tried to capture you for just my own benefit. Father, I pray that we as a church would stand before you and say, “God use me. God capture me with your grace and love and mercy.” If you want to make a faith decision and ask Christ to come into your life, you can simply say, “Jesus, come into my life. I admit to you that I’m a sinner, and I need you, Jesus,” because God saw our greatest need. It was a savior. He knew our greatest issue, a sin problem, so he sent Jesus to live and to die on the cross and rise again, to spill his blood on that mercy seat, so just receive it. Others of us here need to return to God. We’ve been using God, we’ve been trying to capture God, but it’s time to realize that God transcends all areas. Thank you for this time, Jesus, and we ask all these things in your precious and Holy Name.

Sam I Am: Part 2- Listen Up

Sam I Am : Listen Up

August 18, 2019  |  Ed Young

 

I thought we’d begin with a little story time.  What do you say?  First, a little heads up.  Eli never stepped up, an old man now who’s washed up.  Three times God would show up causing Sam-I-am to wake up.  Again, God spoke up, causing Sam-I-am to sit up.  Sam-I-am said,

“Speak up.  Lord, I’m ready now to listen up.”

“I need you, Sam, to rise up.  It’s time for you to step up.”  Sam gave a big thumbs up.  It looked like Eli’s time’s up.  So, here is what God drew up, a plan for a massive clean-up.  Insertion of there was time for Sam to grow up.  So, Sam-I-am signed up.  Sam-I-am stepped up.  And I’m so glad you showed up.

 

I’m sure you’ve heard of the book “Green Eggs and Ham.”  Sam-I-am, the chief protagonist in that brilliant book.  Samuel, God’s man, was the chief protagonist at a critical time in the nation of Israel.

The backstory is this.  God’s people had conquered the Promised Land, well, they almost conquered it.  They didn’t drive all of the ungodly inhabitants out.  And because of that, there was a lot of craziness going on.  If you think about our world today with mass shootings and mayhem and malcontents, and just the anarchy that’s taking place, a lot of time we throw our hands up and go, what’s the deal?  I mean, have people totally gone off the reservation?  Well, the answer is yes.  And some people think, well, in today’s culture it’s as crazy as it’s ever been.  I beg to differ.  Read the Bible.  Because back in this context, in this culture, everyone was off the reservation.  In fact, Scripture says to summarize what was going on during this time period, Scripture says, (Judges 17:6) “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”  In other words, what’s true for me is true for me.  Who are you to tell me there are any transcendent and absolute truths?  When you base your lives on relativism, the result is chaos.  When you toss out absolute truth, you’ve got craziness, and that is our culture, that is our world today.

So, the question is, in the midst of this mayhem – in the midst of even the bad stuff, the negative stuff going on at your school, at your office, around your neighborhood, in your context, in your social media feed – in the midst of all that can you hear the voice of God?  I mean, people say sometimes, oh yeah, God talked to me.   What do you mean by that?  God showed me.  God is communicating with me.  What are you talking about when you say that?  Those are fair questions.  You mean the God of the universe wants to communicate and call and talk with me?  Yes.  The answer is yes.  So, it’s something that we shouldn’t run away from, it’s something that we should lean into.  I’m going to unpack that a little bit today, how can we – I’m talking about you, I’m talking about me – how can we hear the voice of God?  I mean, is God really calling?

 

We make six billion cellular calls a day.  That’s a lot.  And if you’re like me, it’s all about reception.  One bar, two bars, OK, three bars, OK, I’ve got good reception.  Can you hear me now?  Can you hear me now?  Does this sound good?  Yes, honey, I missed what you said.  I’m driving through a bad area.  I don’t really hear… OK, I got you now.  Those are ubiquitous words and phrases.

Samuel grew up in a one-bar town, Shiloh.  Not much was happening in Shiloh.  The reception wasn’t that good.  And the Bible pretty much says (1 Samuel 3:1) “words from God were rare in those days.”  This word “rare” is like a rare piece of jewelry, that’s what the Hebrew is after.  So, I get it.  When it comes to communicating and connecting and hearing God, we control the receptivity.  We control the one bar, two bars, or three bars.  Because just like with a cell phone, we know there are certain places and spaces where we’ve got good receptivity.  We also know other places where it’s like, man!  The reception out here is horrible!  Maybe, just maybe, we have a reception issue.  Maybe, just maybe you’re a one-bar person.  Maybe two, maybe three, I mean how is the reception in your life?  Because, I’ll say it again, God is calling everyone, every single person.  God, here, is going to call Samuel and this is a classic, classic text.  Because Sam-I-am knew the great I Am, and the great I Am called Sam-I-am.

 

Samuel was growing up in the house of the Lord in a one-bar town, Shiloh.  Shiloh was the religious city established when God’s people almost took over the Promised Land.  Eli was the chief priest; he was the first card-carrying permissive parent.  He had two horrendous pastor’s kids, Hophni and Phineas.  They were abusing the sacrificial system; they were having sexual relations with the ladies who worked in the house of the Lord.  God had warned him.  God had said, “Hey Eli, you had better discipline your kids.  You had better wake up and smell the espresso, the cappuccino, the latte, but Eli didn’t.  He just went on with it.  No big deal.  Because, let’s face it parents, as we talked about last time, discipline is not easy.  The results are amazing and so often we don’t understand that discipline and love are inseparably linked.  The Bible says from cover to cover, God disciplines those of us he loves.  Who does God love?  Everyone.  So, we’ve got Eli, this permissive parent.  And God says, (1 Samuel 2:27-36) “Eli, if you don’t wake up, man, I’m gonna judge you and your family.”

Here’s a principle in Scripture that’s not easy to talk about, it’s not fun to talk about, but it’s from Scripture.  If we don’t listen and obey the voice of God, God will always have a replacement player to take your blessings and mine, your purpose and mine.  Always.

It’s like the NFL.  A running back goes down and they’ve got four more on the sidelines who run a 4.3 40 and who can bench press 225 over 50 times.  The same is true in God’s economy.  God’s not being coldblooded.  He’s not being mean-spirited. There’s a point, though, of no return with God.  There’s a time, and only God knows the time, when if we don’t respond to his call, his salvation call, if we don’t respond then God will turn us over (Romans 1:24) to our own deviant behavior, to our own lusts, and that’s what was happening, that’s what was going down in this whole situation.  Eli didn’t act, he wasn’t decisive, he had poor discernment, he was a permissive parent.  Not only that, he was making a mockery of the priesthood back in the day.  What did God do?  Had Samuel on the sideline.  Little Samuel, growing up on one hand in a great environment, the house of God, on the other a hellacious environment, because who were his roommates?  Hophni and Phineas.  All of their immorality, all of their chicanery, all of their rebellion, it was happening right there.  Yet, Samuel heard the voice of God.

Oh, if I only went to a Christian school!  If I only surrounded myself with Christian people, and when my toilet was clogged, I could call even a Christian plumber.  If everything was Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, then I could hear the voice of God, Ed. We live in a fallen and fallible place.  Many times, through Scripture God speaks in ways and to people with spaces and places that seem to be, oh, that’s just a one-bar place, man.

Samuel heard the voice of God.  1 Samuel 3:1, “The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli.  In those days the word of the Lord was rare and there weren’t many visions.”  Look at 1 Samuel 3:8-9, “Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy.” The game is rough.  Life is tough.  Here I am, Captain Obvious.  Life isn’t easy.  And as you think about it, you’re going, is anyone really hearing from God these days?  I mean, where are the people standing up and saying, hey, in love, this behavior is abhorrent in the eyes of God.  Where are young people are saying, you know what?  We’re gonna live a pure and holy lifestyle.  We’re going to wait until marriage to have sex.  Life is not just about popularity and being famous, it’s about pleasing an audience of one.  When and where and how are people going to make those decisions?  It seems like those decisions aren’t being made very much anymore.

Lisa and I used to live in Flower Mound.  And we lived on Lake Grapevine, kind of.  You could see Lake Grapevine from our house.  The planes from DFW airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, would constantly take off and land.  <plane sound effect>  Constant.  We moved in, we built this house.  It’s like, this airport noise is unbelievable.  It lasted for about 3 weeks, then the noise was gone.  I didn’t hear any more noise.  You’re going, did the planes change their flight patterns?  Did DFW shut down?  No!  We got used to the noise.  Our friends would come over, “How do you live here?”  I mean, even our dogs would like…. The noise, you get used to it.  And I’m afraid that large blocks of us have become dull in our hearing.  We’re not sensitive to the voice of God. And the book of Hebrews in the New Testament talks about that.  The writer of the book of Hebrews, who I think was the apostle Paul, challenges his readers to move on to maturity, but he says, “I can’t tell you some things that will take you to a holy ‘notha level because you’re dull in your hearing.”  I gotta ask you, man, how’s your reception?  Are you hearing from God?  Samuel did.  I just read just a little bit of this story.  Then Eli realized that the boy was calling the boy.

Well, what happened?  Everyone was asleep in the house of God.  Have you ever stayed at a hotel, I mean a really nice hotel, and you said to yourself, the amenities here are amazing.  Maybe you’ve been on a cruise, or maybe you’ve stayed at this hotel, and you’re like, wow.  The amenities.  This room is just fantastic.  Maybe it’s a view, maybe it’s the balcony, maybe it’s extra food.  I don’t know.  Whatever it is. Where Samuel lived, he had the ultimate amenity.  The Ark of God, the Ark of the covenant, was in his room.  I mean, the Four Seasons couldn’t compare with that, could they?

“Hey, and by the way, there’s the Ark of the Covenant.  The presence of God.”  Well, Samuel grew up right there.  He, and he was the only one in the whole house, heard the voice of God.  He was asleep.  Everyone was asleep.  And he heard this voice.  He thinks its Eli, old man Eli.  He runs in, (1 Samuel 3:2-9) “Eli, did you call me?” “No.”  This went on three times. And finally Eli, Eli was a little slow, as we discovered last time, a little sluggish.

But see, Samuel was woke.  Millennials, did you like that?  If you’re a millennial, cheer for me right there.  Those who are older than 24, you don’t even know what I’m talking about.

Samuel being woke means he was alert, he was ready, he was on point.  So, he talked to Eli.  And Eli did give some good advice.  He goes,

“Hey, Sam, I think God’s talking to you, my man.  I think God, the God of the universe, is communicating to you.”  And Eli gave Samuel awesome advice.  He goes, “The next time God speaks to you, say this: (1 Samuel 3:8-9) ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.”  Let’s say that together, 1-2-3, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

I want to challenge you, give you some handles.  Every time you walk into Fellowship Church, if you’re here or at one of our many other locations, if you’re watching online, when you see this, many will see this on television.  Whenever you walk into Fellowship Church or another church that you’re attending, say, “God, speak.  Your servant is listening.”  Your servant. Not like, yeah, I’m the man.  I’m listening.  God, I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do and slap a God sticker on me, and you bless me. No, no, no.  That’s not what Sam-I-am said.  “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Whenever you read the Bible.  Man, I wish God would text me.  This is his text.  It’s a long one, from Genesis to Revelation.  God personally texts us and it’s right here.  From Genesis to Revelation.  It is God’s word to you and me.

You might want to note this.  Rarely, even in the Bible, did God speak to someone specifically.  (1 Samuel 3:10) Here He stood before Sam-I-am and Sam said, “All right, I’m listening.”  He called Samuel’s name twice, as you read the text.  Samuel.  Samuel.  This is significant.  Because Abraham right before he was going to sacrifice Isaac, what did God do?  Abraham.  Abraham.  Twice.  Moses was on the back side of the desert.  He’s thinking, I mean, do I matter to God?  Does God have a call on my life?  God spoke to him through a bush that was on fire.  God said twice, “Moses.  Moses.”  So, this twice thing is tremendous.  Samuel.  Samuel.  Don’t you love it?  God called Samuel repeatedly.  My friend, he calls you and me repeatedly as well.  God called him by name.  Samuel.  Samuel.  God calls you by name.  He calls me by name.

The Bible says that you and me so well he knows the number of hairs on our head, even if that number is increasing or decreasing.  God calls us repeatedly.  He calls us by name.  And many of us can go back and think, wow.  I remember when God called me.  God called you.  And God is calling everyone to salvation.  Salvation means when you became a follower of Jesus.  Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he rose again.  We have an opportunity to ask Christ to come into our lives.  We respond to his call.  That call is not always gonna be there.  Many of us can go back and go, I remember that.

I remember when I responded to the call of God’s salvation.  Our church at the time was meeting, and dad is a pastor, was meeting in a little (we called it) a fellowship hall.  It was a little dining hall with metal chairs.  There were about 150 people in there.  And there were some big windows behind where he was speaking.  The sunlight was coming in just super bright.  I could just see a silhouette of him and he simply said, I was maybe 8, “If you want to give your life to Jesus (he didn’t know he was talking to me), if you want to commit your life to Christ, respond to his call.”  And I remember just running down the aisle and falling into my father’s arms.  That was my call to salvation.  Many of you are like, Ed!  I have the same kind of story! Ed, I can tell you the same situation.  Maybe you were 8, maybe you were 18, maybe you were 58, I don’t know.  Others here, you’ve never responded to that.  You feel this strange nudge, this strange pull, this kind of vibe that’s speaking to your spirit even right now.  You don’t know how to describe it or really explain it, but it’s the call of God.  Have you responded to the call of God?

How about how God calls us into an occupation?  I believe some here, and I’m so excited about this at Fellowship Church, we have had many young people to respond to God’s call to full-time ministry.  Is that phenomenal?  So many kids, so many students have responded to God’s all.  I’ll never forget when I thought I was being called into the ministry, I said, “Hey dad, I think I’m being called into the ministry.”  He goes, “Well, you would know it.  It’s not something you can think about because if you can do anything else other than become a pastor, do that.”  I go,

“What do you mean?”  He said,

“Well, you have to know that you know that God is calling you into the ministry, son.  So if you can do anything else… I know you like art, you like athletics, you like this and that.  Go do that.  Don’t go into the ministry.”  He’s told me that, my father. “OK.”  Wow. I never felt a definite call until I was in Tallahassee, Florida at basketball practice right before my junior season.  And I was dribbling a basketball, warming up before practice, and I walked by the free throw line and turned and looked up at that glass goal with my teammates.  I knew.  That was the moment God was calling me into the ministry.  I knew it.  I did not hear a voice.  I didn’t have a Samuel experience.  I knew, though, that I was supposed to go into the ministry.  As I’ve said before, when I knew I was going into the ministry, I knew then I was supposed to pastor, and I told all of my friends there’s one place I’ll never go: Dallas/Fort Worth.  I said there are too many churches here.  There are too many big steeple/few people places here.  There are too many phony Christians here, too many obese, overweight Christians here.  There are too many Bible study naval gazers here.  I want to go to northern California.  I want to go to south Florida.  I want to go, maybe to Fiji.  I don’t know.  I don’t want to come to Dallas/Fort Worth.  Seminaries are here, and churches on every corner.  Don’t ever say never in God’s economy.  I love Dallas.  God has called me here, there’s no doubt about it.  I’m just saying that’s what I said before I heard God’s call specifically to come to Dallas/Fort Worth.  I love Dallas, and it’s great.  We have churches and all that.  Awesome.  I’m just telling you I was called into the ministry in a very impure and ungodly place, playing for the Florida State Criminoles… I mean Seminoles.  Back in the day.  So, maybe God is calling you into full-time Christian ministry.

God has called some to be in the real estate business.  God is maybe calling you to be – I don’t know – maybe an actor, an actress.  Maybe God is calling you to work in the technology industry.  Whatever you do, you’re working for God.  Have you received, have you made his call?  So, Samuel went back.  He obeyed Eli’s word.  He goes, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  And God put some serious, serious word on Samuel.  He told him some tough stuff.  And sometimes we’re gonna have to take some tough stuff and live it out.  Many times God tests us with the tough stuff to see if we’ll be obedient, then we’re ready for the good stuff.  Did you hear that?  Oh, it’s easy to say, “Oh, I receive your blessings, God!  Awesome! You’re such a good God!  Rain!  I want some favor, God!”  I can do that.  But how about discipline?  How about rebuke?  How about hearing those tough words?  Whoo!  Now… now we go to school.  Now we go to character school.  As a pastor, so many things I say I don’t like to say.  Samuel had to tell Eli, “Hey Eli, I mean the fire is going to fall.”  and the Bible says Samuel was afraid to tell Eli.

But Eli was like, “Spill the tea.” It’s another cool millennial phrase.  Those of us who are over 50, would you google that?  It’s a great, great text?  What’s the tea, sis?  Spill the tea.  That means, let me hear it.  You know?  I respect – man I’m on fire today with these phrases.  I really am.  I’m feeling so young, even though I’m 58 I feel like I’m like 18.  I’m just … bars.  Look it up.  All these young people are going, how does he know that?  I know a lot more than you think I know, I’ll tell you that.

So, Eli was like, “Tell me, Samuel.”  And Samuel really didn’t want to tell.  Samuel was like, “No, I don’t really feel like it.”  And many times I don’t always feel like saying what I have to say here. I don’t.  The gospel is the good news.  Obviously, the good news overshadows the bad news.  So often, though, I have to deliver some tough news.  If you think about the gospel, we have to realize that we’re sinners, that we’re depraved, that we’re away from God, that we’re criminals before him before we can get ready to receive the good news.  And we’re the ones who caused our condition.

When I had heart surgery two years ago, tiny little valve that wasn’t working right.  I mean, it was working but it was just like not what it should be.  I was able to get in through a strange set of events.  I was able to get in to a top surgeon who specializes in these little valves.  He told me,

“If you don’t have surgery in six months, you’re gonna die.”

“Yes, sir, Dr. Lawrie.  When can we schedule the surgery?”  And they cut me from stem to stern, cracked open my chest, as I’ve told you before, stopped my heart, stopped my breathing, and five hours later I’m now as good as new, and better than I was beforehand.  And I’m thankful to God for people like surgeons, doctors, and especially a guy like him, who is so brilliant.  Now, what if he had said this to me?

“Ed, my man, you’re in pretty good shape.  I mean, you’ve run marathons and you played for the Criminoles, and you’ve eaten pretty clean, and taken care of yourself.  Wow.  You look pretty good.  Your hairline’s strong.”  The reason people laugh at that, I had hair transplants and we’re going to do something about that in a little while. We’re calling the series Hair.  That’s gonna be great.  Hair is mentioned so often in the Bible you won’t believe it.  “You have a strong hairline, Ed.  You’re looking great, you’re smelling good.  Man!  Keep on doing what you’re doing!  I’ll see you later!”  Had he told me that I wouldn’t be here. I’d be dead.

He had to tell me the truth. I have to tell you the truth.  I have to tell you for some here, this right be your last opportunity to respond to God’s call.  Could be.  In fact, I know it is, because we have thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people here and at our other locations.  For some of you, it’s your last chance.  I don’t say that to be morbid, I’m just telling you the facts, you know?  Keep it real for the moms.  Have you responded to God’s call?

Samuel responded.  “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”  And this is where he really understood about this personal relationship with the Lord.  He told Eli and Eli took this stuff like a man, and it was over for Eli.  It was over for his kids.  He passed the point of repentance and God rose up Samuel.  Are you sensitive to the voice of God?  I said, are you sensitive to the voice of God?

This past week, Lisa and I kept our granddaughter, Sterling, for 5-6 days because Sterling’s parents went on a little trip.  It was very interesting to keep a nearly two-year-old again.  It was a lot of fun.  And we tried to stay away from using ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’, because those words would cause hysterics.  She would realize they’re gone, so we just stayed away from those words.  And for the most part it went well, except her mom, Landra, called and we had her on speaker phone inadvertently for just about 5 seconds.  Sterling turned in our kitchen when she heard Landra’s voice and she goes, “Mommy!  Aaaaahhh!!!”  I mean, tantrum, hysterics, crying, drama.

Then I thought, that’s powerful.  That voice, that voice.  What did Jesus say?  My followers hear my voice and they respond to it.  So, it’s one thing to go, yeah, I hear ya, man.  Oh, God, I hear ya.  But how about doing and obeying what he says?

The rest of Samuel’s story is just one for the textbooks in this text and we’ll get into it over the next couple of weeks.  But, I want to finish up today just by telling you how God speaks to you right now.  Because I said earlier, we’re gonna learn earlier how God speaks to us, how God calls us.  How does God call us?  First, this text.  Scripture.  This is God’s word.  The word of God.  This is the only book that when you read it, the author is present.  Are you reading the word? “I wish God would call me!  I wish I knew his word!”  Here it is.  “I wish God would give me more of a word!”  Well, have you obeyed what you already know, what he’s already told you?  He speaks through Scripture.  That is why Fellowship Church is under the authority of Scripture.  The Bible is the word, it is the truth.  Scripture is totally and completely and supernaturally sufficient.

Number two, The Holy Spirit.  When we become followers of Christ, what happens?  The first thing Jesus does is he places the Holy Spirit in our lives.  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  Three in one, one in three.  No one can explain the Trinity.  You’re not gonna do it.  Yet, the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, has a personality.  The Trinity gives us wisdom.  The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom.  The Holy Spirit counsels us.  The Holy Spirit convicts us.  The Holy Spirit trains us.  The Holy Spirit illuminates Scripture.  That’s why we’re reading and things just jump off the page.  Or maybe I’m speaking and all of a sudden, whoa!  Has Ed been following me around?  No, no.  That’s the Holy Spirit of God.  So, Scripture, the Spirit of God, sermons, the Bible says, the good news.  Those who preach, who are gifted to teach.  We hear the voice of God through sermons.  Something, I don’t know how to explain this, supernatural takes place when a bunch of people get together who are followers of Christ, and also those who are seeking, to hear God’s word proclaimed.  Yes, we’re to read the text individually.  We’re also commanded and demanded by God to come together and to hear the message of a sermon.  What’s God saying to you through today’s message?  I spend at least 20 hours in study before I speak.  So, God has to speak to me first before I can even speak to you.

Another way God speaks to us is through situations, just things in life.  So hopefully every day we’re saying, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”  Are you open to that?  I think one of the reasons we love technology, and one of the reasons we love travel so much, is because it keeps us so busy and so tied up that we kind of take a wide berth around God.  I mean, we know God is calling but man, I don’t want any of that.  Because it’s risky, #1, and #2, I’ll be responsible.  When you respond to God’s call, it’s the best.

A friend of mine that I’ve known for 30 years just passed away several days ago.  I met him in a weird way, and one day I can tell you this story.  A very influential man, a very powerful man, died.  And, many times he sat in these seats.  Last time he was here he was right there where you’re sitting.  I didn’t know when we got together the last time that it would be the last time. <snap> That quick.  I went up to see him, because his wife wanted me to pray before they removed him off of life support.  I’ve been in situations like this before.  I went in and we joined hands around his bed and prayed for him.  They removed him off life support, he passed away peacefully.  When I was there in ICU, I don’t know why I did this, but I walked outside of the glass room.  In ICU there was a glass corridor and you could see all the patients, you know, in the rooms.  I just looked at him lying there and I thanked God that I had the opportunity to talk with him and share with him Jesus.  And I thought about all of his accomplishments, and I thought, “Lord, I can’t even believe I met this guy.”  A multi-billionaire, knew everybody there is to know.  Quintessential dealmaker, truly a legend.  And I looked at him, and he was alone.  I mean, the family was there but he was just out of it, just moments away from dying.  Then I looked to his right and I saw another person in another bed who obviously was not a billionaire, and then another one, who was just normal person, another one, another one.  And God spoke to me, not audibly, we bring nothing in.  We take nothing away.  Ed, you’re 58 years old.  What are you doing with your life?

I’ve got to ask you the same thing.  What are you doing with your life?  I’m glad that gentleman, my friend, accepted Jesus.  I’m thrilled.  But I’m just saying, what are you doing with your life?  All that time, all that energy, all that emotion, doing deals around the world.  There he is, gasping for breath in a hospital bed.

The final way I want to talk about God speaking to us is through the Savior Jesus.  And I’ve got to ask you, have you accepted the call from Jesus?  I mean, just straight up.  Have you accepted the call?  You’re called.  Have you accepted it?  Have you? Well, Ed, how do I do that?  By just simply saying, Jesus, come into my life.  I give my all to you.  And if you have just mustard-seed faith, Christ will come into your life.  That’s it.  The Bible says that.  A mustard seed is a tiny seed.  You can have this much doubt, mustard-seed faith, Jesus will come and save you.  Have you responded to his call?

Others of you, maybe, have.  Maybe God is calling you into the ministry. We have the University of Next Level here at Fellowship Church.  It’s a program, a school, we can help you and teach you and train you.  I believe some here need to be called into the ministry.  Have you accepted the call?  Others are like, what?  OK, I’ve accepted the call to receive Christ.  You’re called to be a student.  You’re called to be involved in real estate.  You’re called as you work with technology.

Sam-I-am was great because he knew the great I Am.  do you know him?  Let’s bow our heads.

 

[Ed leads closing prayer.]

 

The Three Commitments

“Mayday : Part 2 : The 3 Commitments”

May 26, 2019

By Ed Young

I want to say hi to everyone at all of our different environments. Thank you so much for showing up during this Memorial Day weekend. Wow. You know, at Fellowship Church we’re one church in many, many locations and when you walked in you were handed a brochure, and this brochure says Fellowship Church. And I’m going to go through this.  It’s very, very important that you keep up with this and fill in the blanks, because whenever you see a blank it kind of, screams, “Fill me in. Fill me in.” So, we’re going to fill in this as we run through this material. Also, too, there is a card, set this card aside I’ll refer to this later. It says Fellowship Church Membership Card. Set that aside and I’ll refer to that in just a couple of moments.

Mayday, mayday, mayday. Today is a day in May and who knows, this could be your mayday. It really could. Mayday, mayday, mayday is a distress signal.

It’s something that was adopted in 1923 that you say over the radio if you’re in trouble. Mayday, mayday, mayday. You say it three times so no one will get confused you’re saying something else, and again, it’s all about help, it’s about an emergency situation.

Maybe, just maybe you’re experiencing a mayday right now. Maybe, just maybe you’re one of our … You’re at one of our different environments and you’re experiencing a marital mayday, a moral mayday. Maybe a mayday at the marketplace, maybe a spiritual mayday. Today though, can be your day to say mayday, mayday, mayday. Today can be your day to get rescued. To get help no matter who you are. So, as you listen to what I’m saying don’t think about the person on your right or left, think about yourself, because God has you where you are for a reason.

He’s brought you here by his sovereign hand to hear what we’re going to talk about, because I’m going to basically discuss three commitments, three things that we need to say and do that will give us the rescue that we desire.

So, take out your brochures and let’s just run through this, because I want to unpack with you really, the most important thing I could talk about. I’m going to talk about three things that are arguably the most important things out there. Are you ready? I can tell.

So, brochures in hand. I’ve got this super cool technology (Telestrator). Whoa. I’ve got this finger right here and there’s no telling where it will lead us. Mayday at Fellowship Church. Watch this. Watch this.

A commitment … A commitment to what? Believe. Believe. What does it mean to believe? Belief is the most important thing that we’ll ever do. Everything starts with belief and it’s stunning to see how often we believe in things, it’s stunning to see how often we have faith in things just as we live life, we have faith.

Now and then I’ll talk to someone and they’ll go, “I just don’t have enough faith.” I go, “Yes you do. You get behind the wheel of a car, you have faith. Oh yeah, you drive a boat, you have faith. You sit in a chair, you have faith.”

We walk and live by faith. A commitment to believe, that’s what faith is, “I believe something.” Here’s what Jesus said. Jesus said, “This is the most important thing in the universe.” They asked Jesus, “Okay Jesus, what’s the net effect of everything you’re saying.” He said … Read it with me, (Matthew 22:37-38) “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the what? First and greatest commandment.”

So, the greatest thing anyone will ever do, anybody, I don’t care if you’re on welfare or a billionaire, is love God with all of your heart. Well, how do you do that? Commitment. Commitment. What does commitment mean? Commitment means pledging yourself to a position no matter what the cost.

Lisa and I have been married for 37 years. 37 years. And yesterday I had the privilege of marrying my son. He and Jessica were married and they’re now, I think somewhere in Cabo on their honeymoon and that was fun to be a part of that celebration, of that commitment.

I talked about, when I did the wedding, love is not a feeling. Oh yeah, they’re feelings. Love is about pledging yourself to a position no matter what the cost. It’s committing, and obviously you have to have feelings, I’m not saying that. Feelings though, come and go like the tides. Low tide, high tide, slack tide. You know? Low feelings, no feelings, hot feelings.

So, if you’re waiting for feelings, “Oh, I’ve got to feel it and if I don’t feel it, it’s not real.” You’ll never stay married. You’ll never be committed to anything or everything. And I’ve written a lot about this as I’ve written about marriage and relationships.

Marriage is not always the easiest thing. So often it’s the hardest thing, but it can become the greatest thing if you’re willing to work. Following the Lord, it’s a easy decision, it’s a faith step, a belief step and obviously feelings flow, high tide, low tide, slack tide, as we pledge ourselves to that position then the feelings will follow.

Yet, commitment, that 10 letter word, is a game changer, it’s a C change. So, Jesus said, “You got to love God.” Well, how do you love God? Let’s talk about it real quick. (Matthew 22:37-38) “The second is like it, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” So, if, I’m right with God I’ll be right with my neighbor.

Okay. Here’s several things I want you to understand. God loves us with all of His heart. Isn’t that great? It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter where you are God loves you right where you are. Doesn’t matter what you did last night, last week. Doesn’t matter what family you’re from, doesn’t matter what you have or what you don’t have, I’ll tell you right now, bottom line you’ve never locked eyes with someone that does not matter to God.

Everyone matters to God. God loves us with all of his heart, but there’s an issue. Okay? “God so loved the world that he gave His only son,” this is John 3:16, “whoever believes …” There’s the word again, Has faith in him, “…shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Okay. Something else, Man broke God’s heart, because of heart failure. Heart failure. Heart problems, I believe the last I checked, one of the top causes of death in the world, heart problems. I had open heart surgery two years ago. I had a tiny valve that wasn’t working, part of the valve. Most of the valve was doing fine, but there was one little part that wasn’t.

They cut me open from stem to stern, stopped my heart, opened my heart just to fix, not replace, a mitral valve. Sowed me back up and look at me now. Better than ever.

Man broke God’s heart, because of heart failure. What’s our failure? We’re not perfect, we sin, God is righteous, he’s holy, he’s perfect, he can’t look at sin, he can’t wink at sin. We are in a dilemma. An eternal dilemma, because we have chosen to turn our backs on God and to do our own thing, our own way. We have a sinetic condition given to us by the first man and woman who failed, who chose to rebel against God.

(Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned…” Now, what does the word all mean? Every single person. So, on one end you’ve never locked eyes with someone who doesn’t matter to God, but then on the other you’ve never locked eyes with someone who is not a self centered sinner. “I just know how to sin. I’ve never been tutored in the subject, I just know how to do it.” All right.

 

Number three. God’s solution to our heart failure is, say it with me. Jesus. Jesus.

Jesus. We don’t deserve this. This is complete grace, something that I’ll never, ever, ever earn. Something I’ll never work for. It’s God’s solution. There’s only one solution, it’s Jesus. People say, “Well, oh, there are many ways to God.” No. I mean, if that were true God would not have sent his only son to live a perfect life, to die a torturous death, to be buried and to rise again.

In fact, Jesus said, John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s what Jesus said. It’s the exclusivity of Jesus.

So, God’s solution to this problem is Jesus. {2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)} “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,” Check this out. Jesus became sin. The sinless one took all of our iniquities, all of our misfortune, all of our mistakes, all of our mess-ups, he took it upon himself. He voluntarily was nailed to a cross, suffered, died, rose again, and if we believe, check this out. What happens? We become righteous.

In other words, {2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)} “For He made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” If you have believed on Jesus, when God looks at you he doesn’t see, “Wow, there’s a self centered sinner.” No, no. He sees the righteousness of Jesus. Isn’t that awesome? I want to clap my hands for that, because I don’t deserve that.

Here we go. See, it’s our choice. We choose to have a heart transplant or not. It’s your choice. I can’t make it for you. I wish I could, I can’t. I went to the heart surgeon he looked at my heart, did all these tests and he said, several years ago, “Ed, your mitral valve, part of the valve is not working. I’m going to have to make an incision from here to there, saw your chest open, stop your heart, open it and work on your heart for five hours and because you’re in great shape you’re going to be as good as new.” That’s what he said. One of the top heart surgeons on the planet. Just through a unique chain of events through my father and some other people I was able to get into him, and he performed the surgery. I chose to submit myself to him, because he told me if I waited for six months I’d die. So, I thought, “Let me think. Death, or huh, heart surgery. I’ll choose heart surgery. It’s my choice.”

I mean, I didn’t have to, right? I didn’t have to do it. And I had faith in him. Are you going to have some doubt with faith? Yes, because if it was certainty there would be no faith, there would be no belief. Certainty? No. People are like, “Well, I’ve got to be certain.” Well, you’ll never be certain.

I would argue, when I performed the wedding yesterday in Dallas with EJ and Jess, were they 100% sure? Really? I mean, 100% … Guys, don’t answer this. Just look at me right now, okay? I think you feel me.

We choose to have a heart transplant or not. Check this out, (Ezekiel 36:26) “I’ll give you a new heart. Is that good?, “and put a new spirit in you;” I mean, our world is going insane. Am I the only one? No. Look at the government, look at the world, look at Christians being martyred and murdered, look at just, the depravity of man. Human trafficking and abortion, and immorality. Education, that’s it. I mean, I’m for education, that’s not the answer. Legislation. That’s not going to work. Only a heart transformation will give you a new heart, a new spirit, “and will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” What a powerful, powerful thing.

Let’s read this together, (Romans 10:9) “If you …” That’s you and me, “If you …” Once again, let’s read it again, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your …” There it is again, “heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.”

Let’s do this right now. Maybe you’ve never made this decision. You don’t have to bow your heads or close your eyes. You can just say these words with me. I said this, God gave me a new heart years ago. Last weekend we had many people, many, many, many people pray this prayer of belief. God gave them a new heart.

I mean, why put it off? I mean, what do you have to lose? Let’s do it now. You know what the bible says? The bible says, (2 Corinthians 6:2) “Today is the day of your salvation.” You’re here for today. Today is the only day you have. And as I mentioned last time, there was a family at one of our locations who were in a tragic automobile accident the night before Easter. The husband and wife were killed, and the three children walked away.

Thankfully the husband and wife, when they had an opportunity to believe, prayed that prayer right here at Fellowship Church and they were baptized. And they belonged and joined the church.

So, today is your day. I’m not telling you that to scare you. I’m just saying that’s the reality. So, let’s say this prayer, if you want to. I want everyone to say it. I know a lot of people have said it, but maybe you’ve never said it and those of us who’ve said it are saying it to give others the Godfidence, confidence to say it. All right? Just look at me. Just say this.

Dear God.

Dear God.

I know you love me with all of your heart.

I know you love me with all of your heart.

I confess I’ve broken your heart.

I confess I’ve broken your heart.

Because of my sin.

Because of my sin.

I turn from my sin.

I turn from my sin.

I change my direction.

I change my direction.

I receive you Jesus.

I receive you Jesus.

Into my heart.

Into my heart.

Give me a new heart.

Give me a new heart.

A new life.

A new life.

A new spirit.

A new spirit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For bringing me into your family.

For bringing me into your family.

I’m born again.

I’m born again.

I’m adopted.

I’m adopted.

In Jesus name.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.

 

You know what the bible says? The bible says when someone makes that decision there is literally a party going on in heaven. And for those in Texas a heavenly hoedown going on. Belief, commitment to belief. What is Fellowship Church about? We’re about belief. It begins there. The most important thing you can do is have this commitment to Christ, this commitment to believe, but there’s more. Okay.

 

There’s more. Okay. In Acts 2:37, let me set the context, the first church was established. Remember this, Jesus, after he had died and rose again after about 50 days of appearing to all these people, one time he appeared in the resurrection body to over 500 people. He ascended and then the Holy Spirit came down and the church kicked off. Jesus went up, the Holy Spirit came down, because Jesus had to go up for the Holy Spirit to come down. The church went out and the community came in. That is the pattern of the church. This is the first church. “When the people heard this,” when they heard the first sermon at this church, “they were cut to the… There’s the word again. What? Cut to the what? “…Heart” They said to Peter and the other apostles, I love this, “Brothers, what in the world shall we do?” What do we do now?” They were cut to the heart, they were convicted. They realized, “Wow, I’ve broken God’s heart. What do I do now? What do I do now? What do I do now?”

Commitment To Baptism. Thousands believed, and then there were baptized. You have belief and baptism. Say it with me- Belief and baptism- Belief and baptism. You repent, then you’re baptized. It’s really repentize. Once you repent, and repentance is not something that’s popular. It’s not something that sexy to talk about, but repentance is, “God, I am a criminal. I deserve eternal punishment. I deserve hell. I though, believe that you, God, sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and to rise again. I turn from the way I’ve been living. I make this about face. I confess to you, I’m a sinner. I turn from that. I turn to you. I turn from the rejection of Jesus, and the reception of sin to the rejection of sin and the reception of Jesus.” That’s what it means when someone repents. We repent, and then the first act, the first step of obedience after repentance, is Baptism. You believe, then you’re baptized. Have you been baptized? One time a little kid said, “Hey, Ed. Pastor Ed, I want to get advertised,” and I laughed I’m like, “Ha ha,” then I thought, “That’s brilliant. That’s what it is. We’re advertising that Jesus has come into our lives.”

Let’s talk about baptism. (Acts 2:37-38) “When the people heard this, they were cut to the…” what? “heart. and they said to Simon Peter and the others, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, “There we go. “Repent.” That’s belief, B-E-L-I-E-F. That’s belief and what?

Baptism. Baptism. That quick, there were to liquidate, get it. Go, Simon Peter said, after repentance, H20. Go H20. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of… the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, “Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins.” When someone’s baptized they’re saying, “I’m advertising my faith. I am showing people that I’m a follower of Christ.” It’s a sermon, but a sermon with symbol. Here’s the Prerequisite For Baptism. Repentance. If you’ve been baptized, then you should have first of all become a believer.

How many people in here know what Louis Vuitton is? Louis Vuitton. Is there anyone who doesn’t know what Louis Vuitton is? I doubt it. Louis Vuitton is intergalactic. Louis Vuitton though, is the number one designer of knockoffs, of fake stuff. Have you ever seen some fake Louis Vuitton? Have you ever had some fake Louis Vuitton? My hand’s still in the air. It’s really hard to detect the real deal unless you know what you’re looking for then, “Well, is that? No, it looks real. Kind of really looks real. Can I look at that? Wow. That’s Louis, right? Oh, it’s fake. It’s fake.” You might think that. “It’s phony, I would never have fake Louis Vuitton even though it’s extraordinarily expensive. I’m going to save and I’m going to buy the real thing one day. It’s fake.” Louis Vuitton is knocked off everywhere, and people can really, really imitate Louis Vuitton. Are you a knock off spiritually, or are the real thing?

I mean, I’m just asking you, because when you repent, you represent, say that with me. You repent. You represent, how do I represent through baptism. If I’ve truly repented, if I’ve truly believed, what am I going to do? I’m going to represent. If you’re a knock off… Let’s say you have repented, but you’ve not represented, you’ve not been baptized, you are a knock off, you’re fake, you’re a phony, because you’ve turned your back on the first opportunity to go public. You’ve turned your back on the first command that Jesus has put before you. The first commitment. You’re phony, you’re fake. It’s really difficult to tell because you look real, but as you begin to ask some probing questions and kind of examine it, “Oh really? You’ve not been baptized?”

Now, technically, can you be a Christian without being baptized? Yes. I mean, a lawyer could argue that. Yeah. Hebrews 11, those people weren’t all baptized. The thief on the cross, he wasn’t baptized. But, every single person who had the opportunity, in the New Testament, to get baptized, they were baptized. Last week we baptized hundreds of people across our campuses. You probably saw on my social media, if not go to my social media, Ed_young, we baptized a woman who’s paralyzed from the shoulders down. Unbelievable.

If you’ve repented and you’ve not represented, you’re a knockoff. If you’ve not repented and represented, again, you’re a phony. It’s a knock on the work of Jesus on his death, burial, and resurrection. But, if you’ve repented and represented, you are GQ man. You are sporting and representing Louis man, the real deal. You’re a fashionista of faith. Because, the Bible says we’re clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. You think Louis Vuitton’s something? That’s cheap stuff compared to what we are clothed in.

The prerequisite, The Pattern Of Baptism. What’s the pattern? The pattern. Repentance, remember this? And baptism. Belief, baptism, you line up all the scripture about baptism in the scripture, it’s belief then baptism. “Yeah, I was sprinkled as a kid.” Awesome, my wife was sprinkled as a kid. But that was really for her appearance. I mean, she didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t understand that Jesus had died on the cross for our sins and rose again. She didn’t understand that she was a sinner in need of a savior.

There’s an age of accountability. Only God knows that age. If an infant passes away before that age of accountability they’re right into the arms of Jesus, there’s no worries there. There’s no worries in that situation. If you’ve been baptized as an infant, good for you. We’re not saying your baptism didn’t take. I would tell you though, if you said that with me, if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” I would tell you to get baptized today, and today, at all of our environments, we’re baptizing. We have uniforms for you to put on. We’ll give them to you. Cool black shorts, black shirts, there’s some cool stuff on it. The pastors will be baptizing. We’ve never lost anyone in the baptismal pool. There are no sharks or snakes in the baptismal pool.

Every person that I baptize, and I’ve baptized thousands who’ve been sprinkled, I’ve never had one come up out of the water and go, “I wish I hadn’t had done that Ed. I don’t know why I…” They’ve all said, “Thank you, for putting it on the table.” Because so often it unleashes blessings and purpose in your life like you’ve never seen. Because if we balk at that first test of faith, the first obedience test, I mean, some other things are going to go off the reservation. That’s the pattern of baptism. I’m just simply telling you what fellowship church is about. We’re a bible teaching, bible believing church. We never ask anyone to do anything that’s not in the Bible, never. Isn’t that comforting? It is for me.

What’s The Picture Of Baptism? The picture is, you go under the water for five minutes, that’s… I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Point five seconds. That is identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The water symbolizes the judgment of God throughout scripture. Think about the Noachian flood, think about the ceremonial washings of the Jews. It was culminated John the Baptist, baptizing. Jesus had to walk 27 miles out of the way to be baptized by immersion. The best picture of baptism is submerging someone because that’s what baptism means in the Greek Baptizo, to dip, to immerse. There’s not one example of being sprinkled in the Bible. There’s not one example of a baby being baptized in the entire Bible.

The problem of baptism. Well, the problem is, we have different methods of baptism that aren’t in scriptures. Some have been sprinkled, spritzed, poured, whatever. The way to be baptized is by, and through, immersion. If you’ve not been baptized by immersion, get baptized today, you’ve repented, you believed, now get baptized. I’ve made the word up repentize, because of the Bible. You repent, you’re baptized. Are you tracking with me?

Yeah.

I’m talking about commitment to belief number one, that’s what fellowship church is about. If I never see you again, make sure that you’ve prayed that prayer to declare that Jesus is Lord. That’s the most important thing. Secondly, get baptized, get advertised. Very, very important. Number three, let’s talk about this, the Commitment To Belonging. Commitment to belief, commitment to baptism, commitment to belonging. Do you realize these commitments that I’m talking about, although simple to explain and underscore and highlight, are not shallow or superficial. They’re not. These commitments are the cure. They are the reason why we’re here. Everything plays off these. This next thing I’m going to talk about is belonging, where, to the church.

There’s one thing that separates attenders from members, that is the C-word, 10 letters, commitment. Commitment to belonging. Do you belong to a church? Obviously, I’m partial to Fellowship Church. I think we’re the greatest church anywhere. That’s just me. I always wanted to pastor a church that I would attend and I would attend this church. It’s funny, sometimes people come up to me and go, “Man, I just love your church. I know you’re so proud of your church.” I go, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Don’t you belong to Fellowship Church?” “Yes.” I say, “It’s not my church. It’s God’s church, so it’s our church.” The other night over dinner, I said, “I want you to say this with me because someone said that. Our church, our church, my church, my church. Fellowship church is our church.” Let’s say it. One, two, three. This is our church. One, two, three. This is our church- This is our church. Now personalize it. One, two, three. This is my church. One, two, three. This is…My church-My church.

A commitment to belonging. There’s A Biblical Reason. What did Jesus say? I can’t list all of the scripture verses Jesus said, (Matthew 16:18) “I will build My church.” The church is called The Body of Christ. That’s pretty big. The only thing Jesus ever built was? The church. Was? The church.

That’s right. Not a school. Not a hospital. No, the church.

A Practical Reason, it defines who can be counted on. Our culture is committed to being non-committed. We’re not committed to anything. Relationships, marriage, companies, sports teams. Well, we are… We’re more committed to sports teams than the church. “Oh the Dolphins, that’s my team. Fellowship. Church, oh, that’s your church. Cowboys are my team. Oh, Fellowship Church, yeah, that’s your church.” What? “Louis Vuitton, that’s my designer.” Okay. I think you feel me? A practical reason, it defines who can be counted on. I mean, you can’t be a member of the NFL and not be a part of a team. Yet so many people I meet, “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian.” “Where do you go to church?” “Oh, [mumbles].” “No, seriously, where are you a member?” “Well, I’m not really a member. I just…”

The Bible says we become believers, we’re adopted into the family of God. Can you imagine going, “I don’t feel, with my family. I’m going to go from this family to that family, that family to this family, this family to that.” Can you imagine asking your mom, “Mom, how is your family?” Isn’t it funny? Because, would it be planted, and when you’re planted, your roots go deep. Yet in our culture we’ve planted ourselves in one church, “Oh, I don’t really like that song and that subject.” We uproot, go to another one. We uproot go to another one. Uproot, go to another one. No wonder we’re so shallow. No wonder. No wonder we have so many problems.

A Practical Reason, a personal reason. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews 6:1, “…go on to maturity.” It shows us, and the church helps us personally with our growth as iron sharpens iron. The Bible says, “Love one another. Serve one another. Pray for one another.” That’s in the church.

A Purposeful Reason. God’s purpose for you and me is to be a part of the body of Christ. Here’s the church. There’s the steeple. Open the doors and see, whoa, all of the people! It’s God’s purpose.

 

Our Membership Commitment. What does it mean to be committed to Fellowship Church in membership? A lot of you need to join the church today. There’s no reason not to. But again, I can’t make you. But I’m saying, if you’re not an active member of the church, there’re dozens of things that you can’t do, that the Bible talks about. Let me say that again. If you’re not a member, an active member of a local church, you’re disobeying several dozen commands in the New Testament just like that.

Our membership commitment, so here’s what we say. Have you received Christ as my Lord and Savior, and being in agreement with these statements, strategy, and structure from the Bible? I’m going to be a part of Fellowship Church family. Doing so, I commit myself to God and to the other members to do the following. Again, straight from the Bible. It’s not my opinion. It’s not some group to just… oh, this will be cool. No. Straight from the Bible.

 

Number one, I Will Protect The Unity Of My Church. I will protect the unity of my church. What does that mean? By acting in love toward others. We love everybody at Fellowship Church. But we love everybody but we don’t agree with everyone’s behavior. At Fellowship, we never confuse acceptance with approval. We accept everybody. I don’t care where you are, what you’re involved in, and who you’re involved with, well, except you. Doesn’t mean we approve of your behavior though. I don’t approve of all my behavior. It’s okay to laugh. We’re just talking. By defending the vision of the church. You know the vision of Fellowship Church. It’s very simple. Matthew 22, love God with all of your heart. That’s reaching up. That’s worshiping God.

Then Matthew 28 says we’re to go out and tell others about Jesus. That’s evangelism. That’s reaching out, so we reach out, worship. We reach out, that’s evangelism. Then we reach in. Matthew 28, we’re to learn and to develop and become disciples. That’s reaching in, discovering who we are and whose we are, so I defend the vision. If you recommend Fellowship, you’ll have to defend Fellowship. We’re the church, man. We love everybody. But here’s who we are, what the Bible says.

Also by following the leadership structure of the church. We have a leadership structure. The Bible is a book about leadership. God has called leaders here. He’s called me as the senior pastor. 29 years ago, Lisa and I helped start this church with about 30 families. We had no idea it would end up being what it is. The Bible says in Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification.” I love this thing, and I’m just getting so good at it, I’m starting to scare myself. (Telestrator)

Okay. Number two. I’ll Share The Responsibility Of My Church by praying for its growth. Pray for the growth of Fellowship Church. I mean, right now we’re in the growth phase of expansion with other campuses and so many other ministries. By inviting the community to attend, that’s how people show up. Who have you invited to fellowship? Who have you extended a hand to and said, “Hey, just come on to Fellowship.” If you’re not doing that regularly, you’re missing out. By warmly welcoming those who visit.

At Fellowship, I’m to talk to my friends, my quorum, to be in the small group and serve and all that, but also… and to reach out when I see people that I’ve never met, “Hi, I’m Ed. Welcome to Fellowship Church,” because the Bible commands hospitality. Romans 15:7 (TLB) says, “So warmly welcome each other into the church,” There it is. Oh yeah.

I’ll serve the mission of my church by discovering my gifts and talents. You have gifts and talents I don’t have. I have gifts and talents you don’t have. By serving regularly. If you’re not serving, you’re swerving.

As a part of Fellowship Church, part of membership is being active. The Bible says there are many members in the body, many members in the body of Christ. If a member is not working in our bodies, you’ve got atrophy and sometimes you have amputation.

If you’re not serving in the body, the body is missing something. You can do stuff that I can’t do, and we have a place for you to serve at Fellowship, at all of our different environments. Here’s what the Bible says. Serve one another with the particular gifts God has given each of you.

There’s another one, a last one, I Will Support The what? Life. The what? Life.

Life Of My Church, by doing what? By attending regularly. You don’t say to yourself, “Well, I’m going to have the church fit into my agenda.” “I’m going to have the church kind of squeeze into my… The only thing you build Jesus is the church, and I am submitting my schedule weekly to the church. So if you’re going to be a member of the church, you’re going to have to show up. I’m showing up at least three out of four weekends a month. Somebody. Somebody slap somebody, appropriately, appropriately, appropriately. Okay. By living in obedience to Christ. I mean, when people see you and me out in the community, they should go, “Wow, look at that guy. Wow, look at that girl. They are living the life.” We are the church. We’re the best advertisement out there. By giving regularly. That’s how we roll and that’s how we survive.

 

Summer is upon us. So many people will be out of town, yet when you’re out of town, when you’re traveling, I’m going to be traveling some, that’s when the ministries here are ramped up. Our different camps and children’s activities, and Fellowship Church, man, we’re going. We have an amazing June in store. My brother’s going to do… he’s a best-selling author, a two-week series on The Father, Heart of God. Then we’re doing at the movies like we’ve never done before during the month of July. We’ve got some amazing stuff, so we don’t need to have a shortfall. So often when people travel, they forget one of the first things, to give regularly. Make sure you download our app and sign up for reoccurring giving. That’s how we have what we have.

We have bitten off a major expansion, $30 million. You think we have that money? Wrong. When the money comes in at Fellowship, we spend it on ministry, so all of us need to make a difference. When it comes to tithing, which is bringing the first 10% of what we make to the house, and that’s what God says. I’ve always heard two testimonies about tithing, just two, and I’ve been a Christian for a long time, grown up in the church.

The first one is, “Wow, I’ve been so blessed. I can’t tell you how I’ve been blessed because I tithe.” I’ve heard that over and over and over.

The second testimony is this, “I just can’t afford to tithe.” I’ve heard it from rich people, middle-class people, and poor people. We just can’t afford it. When I say, “I can’t afford to do it,” I’m saying, “You know, God, I don’t want to be blessed, because you’ll never, ever, ever listen to me, ever receive the blessings of God, ever, until you begin to tithe, ever.

I work out at a small gym. It costs $75 a month to work out at this place, and there’s some real big guys there like me. When I walk into the gym, I have a little fob and I put the fob on the screen, “Enjoy your workout.” I get my keys up and I work out. And I’ve heard that, “Enjoy your workout,” that’s what happens. The other day, I took another fob and I put it in front of the screen. “See the manager.” “What? What do you mean?” “See the manager.” The manager comes over, “Sir, is there a problem?” “Well, this fob must be messed up. It’s rejected me.” “What’s your name?” “Edwin Barry Young.” “Oh, you’ve not paid your dues for this month. That’s $75. “Okay. No problem.” I put the credit card down and then I worked out out. What if I said, “I’m never going to work out again at that gym because all they want’s my money. I can’t believe that guy, $75.” I thought, what if we installed that system here at Fellowship Church. Wouldn’t that be interesting? I think you feel me.

You begin to do it, I’m telling you, great stuff will happen and you’re pushing the ball downfield because it’s going to take you and me, whether you make $30,000 a year, 3 million, or 30 million, you know what? It doesn’t matter. That first is God’s. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus.

Here is what I want to do very quickly. You have in your hand a Fellowship Church Membership Card. Just fill this out. My name, Ed Young. My address, 3535 Heavenly Boulevard. City, Eternity. Email, all right. Phone. Everyone’s not writing. I mean, we need to have a lot of people to sign this, because membership have its privilege. We’re not going to force you. We’re not going to send you a fob. It’s between you and God. But I’m telling you, if you’re not a member, you’ll never, ever, ever discover the rescue and the help, and the life that God has for you. You never will. It goes back to those three things every single time. Those three things and the implications of those. I’m giving you the essence, the conclusion, the Wikipedia, the net effect, the Cliff Notes on the church.

I’ve only spent about 30 years researching it. This is it, so you either sign up or not. But if you say no, I’ve got to go, “Man, are you an idiot? Seriously, are you an idiot? You’re not going to sign up? This is the best deal out there.” Don’t be an idiot. Seriously. Don’t be stupid. The devil wants you to be stupid. Don’t. You sign this, you begin to do this, God does not bless your life, I don’t know, I’ll do a somersault off this roof into a Walmart swimming pool or something like that.

Date of birth, you lie about that. I was born in ’92, March 16th, 1992. I’m married. Then just sign this. It’s the same thing I said. You have those cards done?

(Sings various songs) Those are different musical genres for all the different people here. I did a little bit of Hip-Hop, a little bit of Country, Rock and Roll. Thank you. Okay.

Right now, we’re going to do something. We’re going to receive the offering. When we receive the offering, those who need to become members of Fellowship Church, official members, place this in the offering basket along with your tithes and offerings, okay? We’re going to do this, and then after we do the offering in all of our campuses, we are going to have an opportunity for people to come forward to get baptized. So, two things. Number one, number one, number one, . You join the church. You put this in the offering bag. Am I going too fast?

Along with your gifts, tithes, offerings, boom. Then after that, at all of our campuses, we’re going to baptize people. After the offering is passed, I’ll come back up here and say, “Okay, those who want to be baptized, come forward.” I’m preaching from a Miami campus. But I’ll turn it over to our other campus pastors, whether you’re in North Port, Florida, whether you’re in Norman, Oklahoma, whether you’re in Frisco, Texas, whether you’re in beautiful Grapevine, Texas, whether you’re in Dallas, Texas, let’s start clapping now, whether you’re in Southlake, Texas, whether you’re in Fort Worth, Texas, whether you’re at one of our Prison Campuses here in Florida and also in Texas.

Remain seated during this song. Do not stand at all of our campuses as we put this in the offerings, in the offering bag, then I’ll come back up following this prayer to lead people to come forward for baptism. Do not move or stir. We’ve gone a little bit over time. This is at the end of the game. This is Super Bowl, okay? Let’s pray together.

 

Father, thank you for this day. I pray that many people here would join Fellowship Church. I thank you for the scores and scores of people who prayed the prayer of belief. I thank you for the hundreds who were baptized last week. I pray for the hundreds more I believe that need to get baptized today in a few moments, because we’re going to baptize. And God, on top of that, I thank you for those who have joined the church today. We ask these things in Christ’s name, Amen.

 

Where History Was Made

Where History Was Made

May 5, 2019

By Ed Young

 

We’re at the Sea of Galilee where Jesus did so many different things, different miracles, different sermons. He challenged people, he had some great days, and he also had some difficult days here. Every time you look at the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 5 through Matthew 7 is pretty much a synopsis of the Christian life. I mean, that’s what he talked about. Of course, we have the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon ever preached in the history of the world, where Jesus is, went through so many different things. I wanted to run through some of the things that He talked about, and then, hit on some specifics. You’ll notice the Beatitudes that’s in Matthew 5, where he talks about the attitude that we should have. If we know Christ personally, we should have this attitude.

Jesus said, (Matthew 5:3-10) “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth, blessed are those who hunger, and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled, blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God, and blessed are those who are persecuted, because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” When Jesus talked, the acoustics in this place are absolutely amazing. You can just talk like I’m talking to you, and hundreds, and hundreds of people can hear a pin drop. The way God used technology, so to speak, is pretty stunning.

I think also, it’s interesting that Jesus sat when he talked, which is kind of a typical way that teachers, and leaders would communicate back in the day. He starts out in Mathew 5 talking about this attitude, and I’ve already said that “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will take you to another altitude.”

Jesus begins though to unpack some things. He was the master at using word pictures. He talks about that we should be salt. How many people in here like salt? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You should be salt, I should be salt as I live for Jesus wherever I am. I should season my marriage, season my family responsibilities, I should season those I’m rubbing shoulders with in the marketplace. Also, He said we should be light where He said, “I’m the light of the world.” And, because we know Christ, we should have our lights on constantly.

When people look at you, and they look at me they should literally see a light in the darkness. Then though, I think it’s interesting in Matthew 5:17, how Jesus said, “I’ve come to fulfill the law.” It’s very important, because when God gave us the law over in the Old Testament no one could fulfill it. No one could do it, and only in our depravity would we add stuff to it.

As you know 613 Laws were added to the 10 Commandments. It was kind of funny. God’s people couldn’t keep the 10 Commandments, so “Hey, let’s add 613 more.” Surely a bunch of lawyers got together, and did that, but anyway, the foreshadowing, and the prophecy was that someone would come, and perfectly, perfectly fulfill the law.

That’s what Jesus did. Jesus said, when he was sitting down preaching the greatest sermon ever preached, “I’ve come to fulfill the law.” He fulfilled the law perfectly. That’s why a lot of the time you’ll hear us say, “Jesus lived righteously.” We say, “Man that’s righteous.” Well, he performed perfectly, and only a sinless sacrifice was sufficient to pay for your sins, and mine. Then he went to a Holy Nutha Level, because if you keep reading in Matthew 5:21, and following, I’m just running through this. He talks about the 10 commandments, but then, he takes the 10 commandments, and takes them to a Holy Nutha Level. He talked about murder, he goes, “You know, one of the 10 commandments says, you know, don’t kill.” It’s pretty obvious. Well, Jesus says, “If you look at someone on the freeway who cut you off with an uncontrolled anger, or a murderous spirit, you my friend have committed murder.” That means, what? All of us are murderers?

And then, he goes into something very, very tough. He talks about adultery, and I’m sure that people were thinking, “Oh, man, I’ve not committed adultery. I’m a one woman man.” Or, the women are like, “Oh, I’m married to this guy.” Jesus says, taking it to a Holy Nutha Level, “If you’ve looked at a man, or a woman with lustful thoughts you have committed adultery.” That means we all have committed adultery. No one raised their hands with me on that one. Murderer you were okay. What should I say? Yes.

Will you raise your hand? Okay, okay. I just wanted to get that on film. Why should I say. No, we have. Everyone has. Let’s be honest about it. Sometimes people ask me this question. This is a funny, they’ll go, “Hey Ed, you know, the Old Testament talks about tithing, bringing a 10% the minimum worship requirement to the house of God. Where is it mentioned in the New Testament?” People say that to me all the time. Well, Jesus talked about it for one, but I point them to this, because, again, everything was to a Holy Nutha Level. Most committed Christians, get ready for this, most committed, and faithful Christ followers in the New Testament who were part of a church, they gave 30, 40% of what God blessed them with.

Let’s change the subject. Okay, okay. Moving right along, and Jesus says just radical stuff like loving your enemies. Okay, think about that person who’s a jerk. Think about that person who has betrayed you, think about that person who stabbed you in the back. It could have been an ex-spouse, business partner, someone way in the past, maybe someone took advantage of you in a way you’ve never shared before. What would happen? And, what will happen when we pray for people like that? It doesn’t mean we have to like them. It doesn’t mean that we’re idiots, and that we don’t build barriers, and boundaries. I mean, we have to be as wise as Serpents, and harmless as Doves, but loving your enemies?

We should love everyone, because we’ve never locked eyes with someone that Jesus has not died for. This is radical stuff, isn’t it? And then, He talks about prayer, the model of prayer. Here’s how to pray, and he goes through this outline, and I have in my notes here P-R-A-Y. That’s kind of the outline of prayer. You got the Praise, you have the Repentance, you have the Asking, and you have the Yielding, but as you go through the Lord’s Prayer, I did a series on the Lord’s Prayer several years ago, you see the outline, and what I want you to think about in the Lord’s Prayer is when Jesus said that we’re to pray, “Hey, it’s not my will God, it’s your will.”

Now, I can’t use God. I can’t use God. God can if he wants to, and he will use me, and use you, but I can’t use him. There’s a lot of popular teaching out there these days that kind of tells us we can use God. If we have enough faith, faith is like currency, then we’ll get our miracle, we’ll get our Rolls Royce, or we’ll get our promotion just by the essence of having faith. Who am I to impose my will on God’s will? You see what I’m saying to you? Every time I pray I’ve got to say, God, it’s not my will, it’s your will, and that’s what Jesus is driving at, and then, of course, he talks about treasures. He talked about material possessions so much. He said, (Matthew 6:19-21 NASB) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth, and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in, and steal, for where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” That’s the treasure test. That’s it. And, I heard it said to me, well, a couple of decades ago, you know, “Ed you can’t take it with you, but you can send it on a head.” That’s why as we invest in the things of God, and the only thing that Jesus ever built was the church. We’re sending our resources ahead. All I have to do is look at your financial statement, all you have to do is look at my finances, and you can tell who is number one in my life. That quick, that quick, and that’s one of the reasons I love the FC APP as far as the resource challenge, because the app assures us electronically that the first fruits are going to his house, and then,

Jesus talks about, don’t worry. I mean, live in a land of being stressed out, and anxious. The word anxious in the Bible means to choke. You ever feel like you’re choking? I do, I do, I do, and that’s why Jesus says, “Man, why are you, why are you worrying? You know, (Matthew 6:25) “Therefore, I tell you don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Is not your life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” Look at the birds.” He says, and he goes on, and on about worry, and then, in Matthew 7, he keeps going, and going, and going, and I want to spend just a couple of minutes on the last part of this text that Jesus uses when he summarizes the Christian life. Now, this text I’m going to read, and this scenario is not one that’s preached about very much. It’s not talked about very much. It’s not popular. In fact, it’s highly unpopular in our pluralistic culture. Highly unpopular, because it’s like up in our grill, up in our face, but we have to remember this is Jesus who’s given us the whole flow of the Christian life, and now he ends it with something that is highly sobering, highly sobering.

I want you to think about your life. Don’t think about the person on your right, on your left. You think about your life. Remember, we’re at the spot right now, the Sea of Galilee. We’re here in this space, in this place where Jesus unpacked this radical, radical talk, and let me read these verses to you out of Matthew 7:13, and following, and these are not verses that you’re going to see plastered on plaques, or T-shirts, or coffee mugs, or muscle shirts. You know what I’m saying? You’re not going to see these verses, but Jesus spent a long time talking about it, “Enter… “ He says in Matthew 7:13-23, “Through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it, but small is the gate, and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it, a few. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they’re ferocious wolves. By their fruit you’ll recognize them.

Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire, thus by their fruit you’ll recognize them.” Then he continues, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many… “ There’s the word again, “Will say to me on that last day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name, drive out demons, and perform miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.”

I could go on, and on, but basically Jesus is talking about two gates, or two roads, you could say, the broad road. Many are on that, and the narrow road, few are on that.

He talks about a couple of fruit trees, the good fruit, and bad fruit, and then, he talks about

I didn’t read it, but just trust me it’s in there, two foundations. The guy that builds his foundation on the rock, and the other one who builds his foundation on the sand.

Jesus just unpacked for us FOUR FREAKISHLY, FRIGHTENING BIBLICAL FACTS, four of them, and they’re not talking about a lot. It’s not popular anymore. Again, in our politically correct culture, but we’ve got to teach, and preach the Bible. I was telling someone at dinner a few nights ago, “Sometimes… ” I told them, “We’re not preaching God’s word.” I don’t want to preach certain messages, I just don’t, but they’re in the Bible I have to. Do you see what I’m saying to you? It’s not like, oh, boy, I want to preach the conclusion of Matthew 7. No, I don’t enjoy talking about this. I mean, I have to. I’m compelled to.

That’s like in our church. I mean, every single song that we do is not necessarily my favorite song. It might be a shocker to some people. Really? No, it’s not, but we do things, and I’ve learned I have to do things as a believer, and as a leader, so do you to get out of my comfort zone to reach others.

Four freakishly, frightening facts. Number one, and this is against the backdrop of Matthew 7. Everyone is not going to be saved. Everyone is not going to be saved. God does not greater the cosmic curve, God doesn’t say, “Well boys will be boys, girls will be girls. Come on in.” Now, there are two ways to get to heaven. I thought there was one way, John 14:6. Well, there’s two ways. God tells us if we’re perfect we can get into heaven. I mean, if I bet 1000 at the moral batting plate every single time when I die, when I walk out of here, God’s going to say, “Ed, dude, you were perfect. Dude, perfect. You were perfect. Chest-bump, high five. You performed your way in my man.” But hey, I’m a self centered sinner, I’m fallen, and fallible. I’m messed up. My moral scorecard doesn’t look good. There’re no degrees to sin, and I had this tendency, I don’t know about you to go, “Oh man, I’m better than John. I mean, I’m just, I’m serious. I’m just a better Christian.” Isn’t that interesting? We have the humanistic vibe to do that, but I’m just here to tell you everyone is not going to be saved. That’s universalism. People say, “Well, if I’m sincere I’ll get into heaven.” You can be sincerely wrong. I mean, I love espresso, but if I poured arsenic in that double espresso I had about 20 minutes ago I would sincerely die. You see what I’m saying to you? It sounds sexy and cool, but that’s just not the deal.

That’s the first one, second one. More people will be lost, more people will be lost than saved. These aren’t my words. Don’t get upset at me. Jesus said, “Many.” Did you hear that? Many, many, many, and many are going down the broad road, and it’s like, everything is fine, everything is good, everything is chill, and all that. Many, many, many, many. Most people are not saved.

Number three, another freakishly, frightening biblical fact. Again, we’re talking about, he’s summarizing. Jesus is summarizing the greatest sermon he ever preached. This is the essence of the Christian life. It’s pretty tough, isn’t it? It is to me. Most people who think they’re saved aren’t.

Now, when I first began to think about that, and meditate on that, I thought, “Oh, no way. I mean, most people? Is that, can that be right?” But, the older I have gotten, the more people I see, there’s more faux faith. They’re more people who say, “Oh, yeah, I’m a believer.” But, they live like hell. Do you know what I’m saying? Now, we’re not saved by works, we’re saved by grace through faith. We’re saved by grace through faith, we’re saved by grace through faith. However, Jesus said, I will know my followers by the fruit they produce. I believe in once saved, always saved. I believe in the eternal security of the believer. No doubt about it, it’s in this book. I also believe though, that Jesus will know us by the fruit, Galatians 5, that we produce.

Someone goes, “Yeah, I’ve prayed a little prayer, done a little deal with God.” And then, they’re living like hell. Jesus said, “We’re not to judge people.” But, I’ve got to wonder in my mind, I mean, I’m not God. I don’t know. These are I mean, sobering, sobering thoughts. Most who think they’re saved aren’t. That means we have a lot of people who attend our churches who in reality had never ever, ever really, truly, sincerely made that faith decision. Again, I’m not trying to get you to question whether, or not you’re a Christian. I mean, doubt, and faith run on parallel tracks. I understand that, but I am getting you to take inventory, to take stock. Does that make sense?

Now, the fourth frightening fact, and the final one. The first one is everyone’s not going to be saved. Number two more people will be lost than saved. Number three, most who think they’re saved aren’t.

Number four, you’ll not get another chance. The Bible says, “We die, boom, we’re in the presence of God.” We’re not going to get another chance. I’ve had people say, “Oh, yeah, man, when I get to heaven to I’m going to wheel a deal, cut a deal with God.”

No, no, done, over. What we do on this side of the dirt, the decisions we make on this side of the dirt determine where we will spend forever on the other side of the dirt, because we’re all facing forever. Every single person, and forever is a long, long time, and we’re going to go to a place that we’re going to see places outside the city of J town, Jerusalem, that were used as word pictures Gehenna and others that depicted hell. Hell is a place of isolation, a place of weeping, and gnashing of teeth. It’s the forever feeling that you had an opportunity to trust the Lord, but kept putting him off. You kept him at bay. Basically, when we die, God is not going to slam dunk us to hell.

God is going to say, “You know what? You kept me at bay on that side of the dirt. Well, on this side of the dirt have at it my man. You’re going to spend eternity away from me forever, and ever, and ever.”

That’s why we as believers should have an urgency in our lives, that’s why our church for 28 years we’ve had an urgency when it comes to sharing the good news, an urgency, because if you look at the life of Christ, when he began his ministry at 30 years of age, he talked about reaching people, he talked about rescuing people. Read about it, and right before he ascended, Matthew 28, he talked about reaching people. There’s only one thing we can’t do in heaven that we can do here, reach people. We don’t shy away, isn’t that great? From talking about this, and teaching this.

The greatest sermon ever preached right here in this space, in this place, and it ends with something really, really sobering, but something that is amazing, because we’re all saved, and rescued by grace through faith. We have the light, we’re producing the fruit, we’re on the narrow road, we’re going home forever and ever in heaven. We’ve got that, but that should also inspire us, and motivate us, and stimulate us to share that good news with others. Maybe just maybe, I don’t know with a crowd this size you’ve never sincerely prayed that prayer before. Maybe just maybe you’re like, “Wow, I’m not sure I’ve nailed that decision down with God before.” With a couple of moments I’m going to give you an opportunity to do that right here. I mean, there’s not a better place. God is in his sovereignty, which means he has supernaturally synchronized our lives to come together just for this time.

I want to challenge you if you’ve never prayed that prayer, just to pray it with me right where you are. If you’ve prayed the prayer before you pray for some here who need to pray that prayer, or others back home that you know who need to pray that prayer, and thank God for a rescue society like Fellowship Church is all about challenging people to pray that prayer, because so many people that we see each, and every day are just one prayer away from eternity, and have an opportunity, so do you to be that salt, that light, that witness to people that God has placed in our lives. The greatest sermon ever preached.

 

Let’s bow our heads. Every head is bowed just for a second, every eyes closed. I’m going to pray a prayer right now, and if you want to nail this decision down right now. If you want to say, “Okay, this is my time.” I mean, I’m at the Sea of Galilee where the greatest sermon ever preached was preached by our sovereign, sinless, singular savior, Jesus. I want to nail this decision down right here God. Would you say this? Just say this prayer after me. In fact, I’m going to need everyone here to say it, because when we’re saying it out loud we’re going to give some people the Godfidence to say it around us, okay? Let’s just say this together, and I’m going to say too, and just repeat these words after me.

Dear God.

Dear God.

I admit to you.

I admit to you.

That I’m a sinner.

That I’m a sinner.

I confess that to you.

I confess that to you.

And, turn from that.

And, turn from that.

And, right now.

And, right now.

I ask you, Jesus Christ,

I ask you, Jesus Christ.

To come into my life.

To come into my life.

I believe you died in the cross for my sins.

I believe you died on the cross for my sins.

And, rose again.

And, rose again.

Take control of me Lord.

Take control of me Lord.

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

Cleanse me.

Cleanse me.

Save me.

Save me.

Give me your spirit.

Give me your spirit.

To produce the kind of fruit.

To produce the kind of fruit.

That you have in store for me.

That you have in store for me.

Thank you for this time.

Thank you for this time.

For this church.

For this church.

For our guides.

For our guides.

For your land.

For your land.

We ask all these things.

We ask all these things.

In Jesus name.

In Jesus name.

 

As our heads are bowed, and eyes are closed I want us to pray right now for people in our lives who need to know these facts at the right time, because I know people that you don’t know, and you know people that I don’t know. Let’s just pray right now for, let’s just say three people that God’s placing on your life right now. Let’s just mention these names when I count to three aloud, and just pretend like there is a tube going from your life all the way to heaven, all the way to the throne of heaven, and I’m going to mention these names aloud. I want you to mention three names, and let’s just pray for these. Are you ready? One, let’s do it, two, three. [crosstalk]

In Jesus name. In Jesus name. In Jesus name, and all God’s people say?

Amen.

The greatest sermon.

The Final Four

“March Madness : The Final Four”

March 17, 2019

By Ed Young

 

There’s nothing like basketball.  I’ll just, you know, shoot around.  Most people overrate their basketball ability.  I know I do.  But I think of all sports we overrate our basketball ability more than any other activity.  It’s kind of funny.  I don’t know why it is, but we just do.  Is this court amazing?  I have never in my life – in my life – seen a basketball court like this in church.  I don’t think it’s ever been done in the history of Christianity.  We had some 30 maybe volunteers and others to actually build this thing.  So, here’s what I want you to do.  Take out your smart phone, everyone.  Take out your smart phone and take a picture of this court.  Don’t take one of me, just take one of the court.  And I want you to text this to at least 5 (because there are 5 people on the basketball court), 5 of your closest friends.  And they better be here next week because we’re having a $25,000 shooting contest, $25,000.  We’re having a basketball giveaway for all the kids.  A free basketball.  If we have over 1,000 guests everyone gets Chick-Fil-A, a Christian meal.  You like that?  I did, too.  We are doing all sorts of fun and games and… are we doing anything else?  Did I forget something?  We’re doing all sorts of things.

Oh! You won’t believe all the celebrities that are coming in, but I won’t tell you.  Because if I did, I don’t think we would have room for them.  I want to try this spin one more time.  This is a hard shot to do.  Help me.   Help me.  See this?  I’m gonna try.  I can’t.  Man, it’s hard.  I used to could do it back when I was younger, but I’m choking really bad.  Oh!  I can’t do it!  I can’t do it.  Well, I don’t want to waste your time.

Anyway, I’m beginning a series today called the Championship Life and it’s about March Madness.  Do you know what March Madness is?  Some of you do, some of you don’t.  March Madness is this time of year when the big NCAA tournament kicks off.  You have all of these teams, all of these games, all of these players, all of these fans.  And people say it’s just madness, and sure enough, it’s madness right here at Fellowship.  Our world is going mad, I’ll tell you that.  These mass shootings?  What’s up with that?  These celebrities paying hundreds of thousands of dollars under the table to get their kids in elite schools?  My favorite, the government investigating the government.  Is that the corrupt calling the corrupt, corrupt?  It’s hilarious to me.  “Another investigation, they’re investigating, the investigation, the investigation, the investigation.”  It’s funny, funny, funny.  It shouldn’t surprise us that our world is mad, because the bottom line is, we’re not perfect, are we?  Nope.  We’re not perfect.  We miss shots.  We make shots.  We commit turnovers and fouls.  We live in a fallen place.  So, government is not gonna do it.  Education is not going to do it.  Only heart transformation is going to do it.  That’s why I have the Basket-Bible here.  Have you seen this?  The Basket-Bible.

And the Bible gives us the answers to living a championship life.  So, over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be in the book of James, the book of James.  It’s a New Testament book.  And hopefully you have your outline, the handout.  See the brackets on one side?  You’ll see a lot of these brackets, ladies.  These brackets, it’s kind of a tree diagram and you’ll see all the different teams, and it’s a tree diagram that illustrates a knockout tournament.  So, you’ll see the elite eight that I’ve listed, because the book of James talks about games, contests, trials.  All of us are either preparing for a contest, in the middle of a contest, or emerging from a contest.  So, I’ve listed a few and maybe you’re in one of these, like a family trial. Surely not, in a crowd this size.  Surely our families are just hitting on all cylinders.  Surely our families are just, coast-to-coast, perfectly.  Right?  Families?  You’re thinking, wow.  I’m a single parent.  I’ve got a family situation, a family trial, Ed, you wouldn’t believe.  I have a situation with my niece, my nephew, my granddaughter.  A family trial.  They’re serious.  You’ve got health trials.

A couple of years ago I had a health trial.  I’ve been in good shape my whole life.  My doctor said, “Hey, you have a valve problem in your heart.  If you don’t get heart surgery, you’re going to die in six months.”  That’s a health trial.  I had open heart surgery.  I’m doing great.  The surgery was successful, and you can see I’ve still got the jumper.  Oh crud!  You can see I’ve still got the jumper.  Oh, I used to make that before heart surgery.  I’ve still got the jumper… there you go! One for three, one for three!  I’ve still got the jumper.  No.  OK, it’s OK.  It’s OK.  So, we all go through trials.  You’ve got marriage trials.  Hello.  Marriage is not the easiest thing, is it?  I mean you’re single, you’re dating, you have an issue, you can just bolt.  In marriage, you’ve gotta work it out.  You have to trial.  It’s a trial.  Then I think about a career trial.  And then I think about a financial trial.  A lot of people have financial trials.

A couple of weeks ago I was dealing with a family and they have a huge pile of money.  And they were having financial trials.  Then, several days later I dealt with another issue with a family that, they don’t have very much, and they’re dealing with financial trials.  It’s one of the major causes of divorce, financial trials.  Career, character issues, emotional issues, and you’ll see the answer.  I’m gonna give you the answer right now to these trials.

OK, let’s say you’re facing a trial, which I know you are.  And if you’re not, you will very soon.  And you’re facing this schedule, this contest, these games.  Here’s the answer.  See it in pink?  Say it with me: #1 – Count.  #2 – Know.  #3 – Let.  #4 – Ask.  That’s the answer!  That’s the answer to trials.  So, here we have James, the half-brother of Jesus.  And James didn’t even believe Jesus was the Messiah until after the resurrection.  If you read the book of James, James 1:1, James describes himself and he says, “I’m writing this to the 12 tribes dispersed throughout the region.”  I think it’s interesting that a basketball roster has 12 spots.  It’s kind of funny, isn’t it?  We love nicknames in basketball.  You remember Dr. J?  Big hands, you know, take over the free throw line, boom!  The Doctor.  Dr. J.  Now, LeBron James, King James.  We have this new guy, unbelievable, Zion.  I mean, what’s his nickname?  Just Zion, I think.  He’s so awesome.  If you go by just one name, you’ve arrived. Zion.  I mean, you know, that’s it.  You know?  So, it’s interesting, these nicknames.  Well, James had a nickname.  James’ nickname was camel’s knees.  He had jacked up knees with calluses on him.  You know why?  Because he prayed so much, tradition tells us.  He was on his knees so much.  The half-brother of Jesus, writes this book, and this book is about how to play the game.  How to become a full-court follower of Christ.  That’s the name of the game.

So, James was dealing with some issues that we’re dealing with, people talking smack and not doing jack.  Have you ever met somebody that talks a good game?  You go, “Oh man, he talks a good game.  She talks a good game.”  What does that mean?  Well, they talk <chattering sound effect> but it’s like, what? You’re not walking it.  So, there’s a difference, so often, between what we say (James is talking about it) and what we do.  And we’re going to find out in a couple weeks, do you know what James said?  James was the guy who came up with “Just Do It” long before Phil Nike did.  And lawyers, there might be a lawsuit here.  James said, “Do it.”  He said, “Just do it.”  Are you doing it?  Are you living the life?  Are you discovering the championship life?  I don’t know.  Are you just talking a good game?

One time when I used to play basketball a lot, I met this guy.  I need to blow my nose if you have a tissue.  Anybody have some sinus issues here?  Anybody?  Man, my nose has been running like a fire hydrant.  Wow.  OK.

I met this guy one time who was from the west coast.  He was talking all this stuff about playing basketball.  He was like, “Yeah, I played college ball, Ed, like you and your friend.”  OK.  He looked, he was a tall guy, pretty muscular, and I thought, all right. Maybe, maybe he can play.  We went outside on the asphalt and when I just tossed him the ball, the way he caught it I said to myself, “This guy can’t play!”  and sure enough, he couldn’t play.  He could talk it, he looked good.  He couldn’t play.  That’s what James is saying.  James was writing out of frustration.  He was saying, man, I want to go deeper with you guys, but the problem is, you’re talking all this stuff but you’re not walking it.  You’re not really maturing in your faith.

Did you see that video of me at Florida State?  Was that pitiful? With the Spanx on, you know?  Gray hair.  And in my mind, I thought, man, I looked pretty good out there shooting the ball.  You know, I’m going, yeah, I look really great, and all that. But when I saw the film, I’m like, oh my goodness.  Can anybody say problem areas?  Can anybody say sports bra?  It was awful!  Awful!  Now, obviously I’m 58 years old.  My birthday was yesterday.  Happy birthday…

You know in a lot of these Pentecostal churches I preach in, they have birthday parties for their pastors.  We don’t do that.  It’s kind of funny.  Oh, it’s your birthday?  Wow.  We overemphasize, overdo birthdays, don’t we?  Oh, it’s my birthday week!  Don’t put me in a bad mood.  It’s my birthday!  Oh my gosh.  Let’s even be more narcissistic than we are.  But I am 58 and when I watched that video, I’m like, I’m totally out of place.  The uniform doesn’t fit right.  Do what now?  Thank you, you’re very kind.  “You’re looking great, Pastor Ed.”  I like the way you said that, too.  You didn’t say, “You’re looking great for 58.”  Don’t tell me that.  Don’t tell me, “Oh, you look good for 58, man!”  No, just say “you look good.”  When I look at my hot wife, I go, “Lisa, you look good.”  I don’t say, “Man, you look good even though you’re older than me.” No, I don’t.  I wouldn’t say that.  I would not, I would not say that.  You don’t want to do that, do you?

Where was I?  I was in some kind of a cool story.  What was I saying before I got off into it?  What was I saying?  What?  Oh, I looked totally out of place! You saw me going up and down.  I was thinking in my mind, “Man, Ed, you look good.”  I wore the uniform, whatever, white hair.  That’s a game for 18-year olds.  You saw me standing around those young guys. I looked pathetic!  But I thought, oh man, I look pretty good.  No, I don’t.  I looked awful!  Basketball, college basketball, especially at Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference, is not a game for 58-year-old guys.  I mean, white hair, it’s just not.  I’ve grown well past that, and that’s what James was sort of driving at.  He was like, what are you doing, man?  You’ve got white hair, you’re wearing a jersey that looks like Spanx.  You’re trying to play a game for young people?  Man, you should be way more developed than that!  Well then James, he kinds of throws us a curve.  He tells us how to mature, how to grow in the Christian life.

 

Think about outer space. Outer space, there’s weightlessness, floating around. That’s a problem in outer space.  Well, on planet Earth we have gravity that keeps us on the ground, grounded.  God allows, he uses, trials and difficult situations and circumstances to keep you and me grounded.  God wants to build a championship life in us.  And in the first way is to count, you’ve already said it.  Let’s look at James 1:2, and say count with me.  “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”  Count.  So, count the score.  When I was a little kid playing peewee basketball, I used to count my points during the games.  I’d be like, all right.  OK, I scored.  No, I missed one.  I could have had a score.  OK.  All right, I scored.  Two points, two points.  I got fouled.  All right, free throw, free throw, free throw.  One and one.  One and one.  If I make this, I’ll have three points.  I used to think that.  Let me see if I can make it.  No, I missed it.  Oh crud.  Well, I’ve got two points, two points, two points.  OK, two points.  Maybe I can get four points.  Oh, I got four points!  Four, four, four.  I was counting.  And a lot of people, when it comes to basketball, count, count, count.  They count assists, they count rebounds.  They count, they count, they count.  This is what James is saying.  When you face a trial don’t waste a trial.  God doesn’t want to waste a trial; don’t you waste one.  Count.  Count.

The word count is evaluate. It’s a financial term.  In other words, the way I treat a trial either builds my spiritual portfolio or it detracts from my spiritual portfolio.  How are you dealing with the trial that you’re facing right now?  God wants to use it to mature you.  And God tests us, I like to say it this way, to make us strong.  The enemy tempts us to make us do wrong.  God allows testings and trials in his sovereignty.  God does not, we’re going to find out, tempt us.  Yet, a trial, if we mishandle it, can turn into a temptation.  But part of that is next week.  So, think about that trial.  God wants you to put points on the board.  He wants you to score.  He wants you to face that marriage trial, that family trial.  He wants you to face that character trial, and back that thing down and score.  That’s what God wants.  So, count the score.

One of my hobbies is tie-dying.  Anybody like to tie-dye?  Any tie-dyers here?  Thank you.  God bless you.  Hands are going up everywhere.  I’m one of the few that understand tie-dying.  What is tie-dying?  It’s a process.  You take a garment and you twist it or fold it, you use rubber bands, then you put some dye in hot water, pot, throw the garment in it.  It stays there for a while.  It emerges, cools down.  You cut the rubber bands off, untwist it.  Whoa!  That’s cool. Throw it in the wash, dryer, boom!  You’ve got a custom-made tie-dyed shirt, or whatever.  You know?  It’s cool.  Tie-dying. Trials are that way.  When God wants to build stuff in our lives what does God do?  So often he will twist us, put a rubber band or two around us.  Aaaah!  Whoa!  Turn the heat up, throw us in there.  Want some character dye, some endurance, some perseverance, some honesty, some integrity.  And then we emerge, we cool off, he cuts those rubber bands off, untwists the garment.  Throws us in the wash, dryer, boom.  Wow!  We’re awesome!  So, you’re being tie-dyed.  I’m being tie-dyed in trials.  And I don’t (nor will you) understand all the trials.  Trials happen.  We live in a mad, mad, mad world.  So, count the score.

Also, here’s another basketball term.  James talked about sports all the time in his writings.  Know the fundamentals.  Let’s read the Scripture together again.  Know the fundamentals,  James 1:3 “Because you know…” doesn’t that sound like your typical athletic interview?  You know?  Well, if you know, play our game, you know, we’ll win, you know.  Every athletic interview is the same, no matter what sport.  If we, you know, play the game, you know, and listen to the coach, you know, and play our game, you know, we’re gonna win, you know.  You know?  You know?” Now, the millennials like the ‘like’ word.  Like, yeah, like, like, yeah, like, we’re playing, like, and this game, like, is happening, like, and I’ve gotta, like, listen to the coach, you know, and like, and like, if I do it, like, like, like, like, li-li-li-like… <beatboxing sound effect>  Hey millennials, do a like exam.  You won’t believe how many times you say like.

And speaking of exams, God gives us exams and if we keep failing them, he will keep on giving us the same exam.   You’re wondering, why is this happening to me again?  Why am I facing this same situation?  God is using it because that first time you didn’t really pass the test.  There wasn’t enough character.  There wasn’t enough dye.  There wasn’t enough uniqueness.  You were trying to control the situation.  So, evaluation, count the score. Information, know the fundamentals.  Know the fundamentals, “… because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”  So, God has given you and me the court.  God has given us the position.  God has given you and me the ball.  He’s given us opponents.  What are you doing with your trials?  Don’t waste a trial.  Don’t waste a contest.  God’s not.  Don’t do it.  That’s how we grow. That’s how we mature.  Know the fundamentals.

 

Zion Williamson.  Have you seen this guy play for Duke?  Is he unbelievable?  One of the best athletes I’ve ever seen in my life.  However, however, however, let me be very critical here for a second.  I hope he watches this.  His shot, form-wise, is not good.  It’s off.  He will never become a great shooter unless he changes his form.  Now, when you shoot basketball (I didn’t come up with this, I was taught by some really good shooters, some coaches), when you shoot basketball, if you’re right-handed, for example, that’s your dominant hand. The way to know if you’re shooting right is you hold the ball like this, turn your hand around and it should be straight.  Your forearm should be straight.  And basketball is a game played on your fingertips.  Your off hand (the hand you’re not shooting with) just barely touches the ball, barely holds the ball.  So, when you shoot, you’re shooting with your dominant hand.  Zion doesn’t do that.  Zion uses too much of his right hand.  Watch him during March Madness.  He can make it a good amount of the time, but he will never be a great shooter outside because his form is jacked up.  His fundamentals, Zion Williamson, his fundamentals aren’t right.  So, when he shoots it, Zion uses the right hand so much, that’s why he’s so inconsistent from the outside.  That’s why NBA scouts say, “Oh, he’s a great player but he can’t shoot.”  LeBron’s the same way.  LeBron does not have good form either.  Stiffens up, falls back, a very herky-jerky on his jump shot.  LeBron is not a great shooter.  He’s a good shooter, not a great shooter.  Steph Curry is a great shooter.  What’s this new kid for the Mavericks?  Luka.  Oh, he’s a great shooter.  Form, form, fundamentals.  Fundamentals.

How about your fundamentals?  How about the fundamentals of the faith?  Because when we’re in these contests and trials, we have to know the fundamentals. Do you know the fundamentals of the game?  Dribbling, shooting – boom.  Uh-oh.  I’ll make that.  Shooting… cheer for me.  OK, thank you.  Passing, defense.  “Oh, I’m a Christian, Ed!”

“Really?”

“I love Jesus!  Oh, that’s great, man. Where are you involved in church?”

“Oh, I hop around.  I show up, you know.  I show up now and then.”  Really?  Once every six weeks.

Oh, so you’re a Christian, that’s a basic fundamental, going to God’s house.  Because if you’re not into God’s house, you’re not into God.  I can tell you that.  How about your finances?  Are you bringing the minimum worship requirement?

“No, no, no.  Ha-ha!”  Are you praying?  Are you reading your Bible?  Are you involved in the church?

“I love Jesus, though!”  That would be like me saying, “Oh, I love basketball, but I would like a basketball.  I don’t like a court.  I don’t like shooting basketball.  I don’t like basketball players or basketball teams.  I don’t like March Madness.  But I love basketball!”  You’d go, man, you’re an idiot.  You realize I look at a lot of people out there who call themselves Christians and I go, man.  You’re an idiot.  You’re an absolute idiot.  An idiot, because in Dallas/Fort Worth most people who think they’re saved aren’t.  So, I have to spend a lot of time getting those people saved, unsaved, before they can really get saved.

James is like, man, you’re talking all this smack!  You’re not doing jack!  I have this.  I want you to be a full-court follower.  I want you to absorb these trials and not try to get out of the schedule, to face this team.  Even though they’re tough, to face this team.  Even though you’ve had an off-shooting spree for the last – I don’t know – several games.  Face them.  Count the score.  Evaluate it.  Know the fundamentals.  Let the game come to you.

Real quick, don’t force it.  Let the game come to you.  Don’t try to force your way into a trial or out of a trial.  Here’s what the Bible says, “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.”  I’m mature by working with the process.  Let the game come to you.

When I was in high school (let me blow my nose again, I’ll tell you the story), I was a good player.  I could score pretty much when I wanted to, not every time, but I could.  Lisa could verify, she was at all the games.  I could play, you know?  Go down there and, you know, score.  There I am in high school.  I was a sophomore, Spring Valley.  I scored on that play, too.  So, in college it was a different game.  High school I could score.  College, whoo-whoo!  Man!  All of a sudden everybody is 6’8”, everybody has a 40” vertical jump.  And I take a shot like this in high school and I can score over people, but in college they could be this far away from me and they would still block the shot.  Whole ‘notha level.  So, I discovered something playing college.  I had to let the game come to me.  If I had an open shot, I would shoot it.  If I didn’t, I would get rid of the ball.  In high school I could force it and make it happen.  What are you doing trying to force it in the trials?  Now, I’m not saying that we’re passive.  We’re not.  God doesn’t want passivity in any of our lives.  However, we have to let the game come to us.  We have to say, “God, I mean, you’re twisting me.  God, the rubber bands are there.  God, the heat is on.  God, the dye is in my life.  God, I want to get out of here.”  Maybe God’s not ready.  Maybe he’s not ready to take you out, to cut the rubber bands off, to dry you out, to put you in the wash and to dry you.  Maybe in this situation you’re just not ready and God still wants to deal with stuff in your life.  Let the game come to you.

The last one, and then we’ll cruise.  Ask for the coach’s help.  The coach, obviously, being the Lord Jesus.  The Bible says, you can see it behind me, James 1:5-8, “If any of you lacks wisdom…” How many educated idiots do you know?  Wow.  That’s one of the great things about social media, you can see how many people are educated who just are not that smart.  You know, they’re smart in one way but James says it’s about wisdom.  Wisdom is the application of knowledge.  God knows.  He is ultimately wise.  He’s omniscient.  When we ask him, he will coach us and give us wisdom.  How ludicrous do I look, when I’m facing a trial, and God is on the sidelines and he wants me to ask him for help.  But I have a freedom of choice.  I either turn and go, “Hey coach, what’s up?” or I go, “No, no, God.  I got this, man.  I got it.  I can play by myself.  Lord, I can do it by myself. I’m telling you.”  Ask.  Ask for God’s wisdom.  He has wisdom about your marriage, wisdom about the childrearing challenges, wisdom in character issues, wisdom when you’re tempted to cheat on that test, wisdom when you’re about to post something you know you shouldn’t post, wisdom when you’re about to log onto a website you shouldn’t log on.  God has wisdom.  Trust him!  Trust him!  He’s given us the ball, uniforms, the court.  He wants us to go coast-to-coast and the way he works is through trials!  Game after game after game.

But here’s what we do.  “Oh, Lord.  I want a miracle.  I just want to go from miracle to miracle to miracle to miracle.”  And there are a lot of churches, a lot of people that talk about that, yeah.  Does God perform miracles?  Yes.  But the Christian life is not lived miracle after miracle after miracle.  It’s not.  It’s lived on the court.  It’s lived grinding it out.  It’s lived, so often, in the monotony, so often in the quiet place.  Are we gonna have miracles?  Yes.  Are we gonna play in the Final Four?  Yes.  Are we gonna have championships?  Yes.  But, it’s about those trials.  Put the brackets back.  Put those brackets back up there.  Is that cool?  Family, health, friendship, marriage, career, finances, character, emotion.  Let’s say it again.  Count… let’s say it again.  Count, Know, Let, Ask.

Well, it’s about time to go but I wanted to share something with you that is, for me, you know, pretty authentic.  I mean, it’s real.  I’ve never really shared this before. But I was thinking after our trip to Florida State.  I was thinking to myself, why I hadn’t been back in all those years.  I was thinking to myself why I have sort of been estranged from Florida States for almost 40 years.  I mean, I shouldn’t be.  I mean, I’m a letterman there.  I had a full scholarship, played a little bit, but once I left, I’m like, I’m out, man.  People sometimes would ask me, “Oh man, I’m sure you follow Florida State.”  No.  “How are the Seminoles doing?”  You know, really, I could care less.  That’s what I would say.  And I was just thinking about why, Ed?  Why, why, why, why?  And then it hit me.  I know why I didn’t want to talk about Florida State.  I know why I didn’t go to Tallahassee.  Because athletically it was the sense of my failure.  I was a much better player than I played at Florida State.  I just got into my mind and never really did what I should have done.  Yeah, I had moments that was OK, maybe a month, but that’s about it.  So, because of failure, because my lifetime average was 0.7 per game, I’m like, I’m not gonna think about that or talk about that.  I’m not gonna turn that over in my mind again.  It’s a failure, man.  I blew it!  I had a full scholarship.  I can tell you games, like against Minnesota and Georgia and games against Missouri, that I had an opportunity and I blew it.  But, I thought, man, I’m gonna go back.  I want to take a step back.  And when I took a step back to FSU through a unique set of circumstances, the head coach found out I was coming back, because I was a former player.  He was like,

“Man, we roll out the carpet for former players.  I want you,” he told me when I met him, “to speak to our team.”  What?  Here’s all this gear that only the Florida State players have.  I have it.  I’ll wear it during the series.  You’ll be jealous of it, man.  You can’t get it.  I might put it in eBay.  I don’t know.  Then he told me, he goes,

“Hey, whenever you and your family want to go to any game, you tell me.  You’re sitting on the front row behind me.”  This is the head coach at Florida State.  He wasn’t my coach.  And I really felt honored even though I was a bench-warmer.  That’s the gospel.   I mean, I’m estranged from the God of the Universe because my moral average is about 0.7.  I don’t want to think about that because, man, I’ve screwed up so much and I’ve made so many turnovers.  I mean, no, no, no, no.  Yet, God tells me if I take a step toward him, you talking about honor?  He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.  You talk about honor?  If we take a step of faith toward him, he will receive us.  He will give us new gear, a new life.  He will put us on that front row.  That is what it means, friends, to have a championship life.  Have you made that decision?  Have you made that choice?  You might be saying, Ed, I don’t know.  I’m indecisive.  That’s a choice.  Say yes to Jesus, because when you say yes to him, he’ll show you what life, what games, what trials, what contests, what maturity, what being a coast-to-coast follower is all about.  Would you pray with me?

 

[Ed leads in closing prayer.]

The Big I.D.E.A. Part 2

The Idea

“The Big I.D.E.A. – Part 2”

March 10, 2019

By Ed Young

 

What’s the big idea?  That’s a good idea.  Wow, I’ve never heard of that idea.  An I.D.E.A.  An Inspirational Dilemma that Evolves into Action.  Behavioral experts say we have between 15,000 and 100,000 thoughts per day.  An idea is basically a collection of thoughts that is bundled together and, after it’s bundled together in our mind, it evolves into action.  An idea.  If we knew the ideas that were represented here and at all of our different environments, I’m talking about the amazing ideas that you have, I’m telling you, we wouldn’t believe it.  Ideas.  Ideas.  Some ideas are good, some are neutral, some are bad.  It’s interesting that sometimes we can be doing things that are good and then, boom!  We can have a bad idea.  Maybe we’re even in church.  Maybe we’re praying, maybe we’re reading the Bible and all of a sudden, we have an idea that’s like, where did that come from?  That’s dark!  That’s illicit.  That’s bad.  The thoughts in and of themselves aren’t evil.  They’re not bad.  We’re going to have them because of our fallenness, because of our fleshly desires.  The word flesh in Scripture simply means anything that goes against God’s grain. Yet, when we have those thoughts, when we have those ideas that don’t glorify God, we have to make them captive, take those thoughts and make them captive to what Jesus says to do.  And the Bible says, in 2 Corinthians 10:5, that we can take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  So, no matter what idea is, no matter what thought it is, right when that idea is conceived, then we submit it to the Lord.  And that’s a military term.

It’s easy to talk about but it’s difficult to do.  Jesus, you’re my general.  I submit every thought to you.  Some thoughts we have, some ideas, are not godly.  They don’t glorify God.  And to glorify God means to make his name famous. On the other hand, some ideas we have are definitely godly ideas.  They’re ideas that make his name famous, they glorify him, they push the ball downfield.  The greatest ideas that we’ll ever have are God’s ideas.  It’s the ideal idea that God wants us to have, and he wants us to calculate and turn over and over on the rotisserie grill of our minds.  So, it’s inspirational.  It’s inspired either by the enemy or by God.  Then, it’s a dilemma.  What do we do with them?  Do we take them and make them captive?  And then it evolves into action.  We either discard the idea or we allow it to be born, and it becomes something that is absolutely beautiful.  Ideas.  Ideas.

It’s interesting to think about all of the ideas that we have.  The idea of Fellowship Church and for Fellowship Church really occurred when I was back in college.  God gave me this idea and the idea became sort of a dilemma in my life as I worked in more of a traditional church and had more traditional sort of duties.  Then, it called for some action.  So, as it evolved the action steps that I took, because it’s God’s idea, this is his church, the God idea was for me and Lisa and our one daughter at the time to move up to Dallas and to help start Fellowship Church.  That’s the idea.  The inspiration of it happened when I was involved in sports because I was around so many people who didn’t know Jesus.  And I thought to myself, you know what?  If I ever have an opportunity to pastor a church, I want the church to be a place where people would understand what’s going on.  That they would get the big idea.  As I look back and think about the inspiration, I think about the dilemma.  And there’s always been a dilemma.  As I think about the evolution of Fellowship Church over the last 28 years, as I think about the action that so many have taken to make Fellowship what it is, I just thank God.  Because just the ability to have an idea comes from God.  Our God is a God of the idea.

As I talked about last time, #1 – this world is here because of God’s idea.  God created the world because of an idea.  He didn’t just have an idea, he did something. He created you and me.  But not only is this world here, because of an idea, also the world was condemned because of an idea.  Man sinned.  We have an opportunity to either think thoughts, dream dreams and have ideas that glorify God, or to think thoughts and dream dreams, and glorify ourselves.  Because we have a freedom of choice, we chose to glorify ourselves, thus, sin entered the human equation.  It was not God’s ideal but that’s what happened.  Every time God has an ideal idea, the devil always has an ideal of the repeal.  Whatever God says, the enemy says the opposite.

Have you ever thought about that?  Have you ever thought about the idea?  Here the Bible says in the book of Isaiah, that the devil was in Heaven, and he was the worship leader.  He was called Lucifer at the time, yet, he had the idea to turn away from God and to glorify himself as opposed to glorifying God.  Because of that, he tried this kingdom coup.  He was cast out of Heaven with about a third of the angels, the fallen angels, which are now the demons.  And from that moment on we’ve been dealing with some major stuff.  Because after that you have the enemy attacking Adam and Eve, attacking God’s ideal with the repeal.  And you know, man sinned, and we have this sin nature in our lives.

Well, the third thing, not only did God create the world with an idea.  Not only did sin condemn the world with an idea.  The third thing is God has recreated the world with an idea.  It’s called salvation.  What is salvation?  God rescuing us, God saving us.  God didn’t just say, “Wow, I have this inspiration to do it.”  There was a dilemma, because man had messed up.  Man was a sinful being.  God can’t look at sin, so God sent Jesus, this evolved throughout the Old Testament, segued into the New Testament.  It evolved into Jesus living this perfect life, dying a sacrificial death, rising again, thereby giving us opportunity to receive him.  So, the action that we take on God’s ideal idea is to receive Christ into our lives.  So, I want you to think about that.  I want you to process that.  Have you made that decision?  Have you made that choice to receive Christ?  Have you taken that action?  An idea.  God’s idea for you is ideal.  It’s ideal in your marriage.  It’s ideal with your child-rearing challenges.  It’s ideal with your friendships. It’s ideal at the company.  It’s ideal on the team.  It’s ideal as you walk the halls of the school.  It’s ideal in the boardroom.  It’s ideal in the operating room. God’s idea is ideal.  But for every ideal the enemy always has a repeal.  He wants to take the opposite.  He wants us to do what he wants to do.  And yes, there’s some fun and there’s some joy in it, but in reality, it leads to hurt, heartbreak, and if we really take it, to Hell itself.

Let’s talk about how to formulate and how to deal with God’s ideas.  Like I talked about last time, from this moment forward I want to talk to you about how to turn your thoughts, your ideas, into a reality, into something that glorifies God.  Because any other idea that does not glorify God is not worth it.  Just throw it out.  That’s why we have to submit every thought, every action, every concept, every idea to God.

Well, a quick review.  The first commandment.  Everybody have your posters?  I love these things.  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway… Thou shalt remain immature.  We talked last time about the importance of remaining childish.  I put a little chart up and it’s kind of a depressing chart.  I’ve heard so much about it this week.  But check it out.  At age 5, 98% of 5-year-olds score on the genius level in regard to innovation and creativity.  But look what happens, when you get to be 31, only 2%.  What happens?  Well, a lot of people say it’s the difference between divergent and convergent thinking.  Divergent thinking is creative thinking.  It’s outside-the-box thinking.  Convergent thinking would be concepts.  It would be processes.  It would be memorizing stuff to take a test.  It’s important to have both, but you can’t do both at the same time. So, what happens to us somewhere along life’s journey we get this creative cramp, we lose the ability to really, really ideate and really, really come up with these amazing, unique things.  I’m here to tell you every single person I’m talking to is a creative genius.  Every single person I’m talking to has an ideal idea that God’s deposited in your life.  Make sure you remain immature.  That’s why it’s important to play.  That’s why it’s important to doodle, to make lists, to talk to people, to find out things that really help you in this creative process.

#2 – Thou shalt grind it out.  You show me someone who has God ideas, you show me someone who’s inspired, you show me someone who tackles a dilemma, you show me someone who evolves this idea into action, I’ll show you somebody who works hard.  And I’m so thankful that we have such a hardworking staff at Fellowship.  I can’t tell you the work ethic that we have right here at Fellowship Church, and you can see it and feel it.

#3 – Thou shalt drill down into the details.  The Bible says in Galatians 6:5, “Each of you should take responsibility for doing their creative best you can do with your own life.”   We have to take responsibility that we’re one of a kind.  We have to take responsibility that we’re Picassos and details matter.  Small tweaks take you to giant peaks.  So, when you’re thinking about this idea, when you’re thinking about the inspiration and the dilemma and the evolution and the action, think about the details.  If you think about romance, romance is about the details.  If you think about starting a new company, so often it’s in the details.  If you think about improving your jump shot, it’s in the details.  Sweat the details.

#4 – Thou shalt constantly change.  The Bible says in Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 43:19, “Forget about what’s happened.  Don’t keep going over old history but be alert, be present.  I’m about to do something (What?  Say it with me) brand new!”  Change.  We have to embrace change.  And here in this culture, we change just to change.  Ideas are about change.  And one of the reasons we probably stop is because we get stuck in sameness and we miss running on the ragged edge of creativity and change.  But I’m gonna warn you.  When you change, you’re gonna have conflict and chaos, but if you stay with the change, you’re gonna have growth.

Now that brings us (you probably thought we wouldn’t get there) to commandment

#5 – Thou shalt absorb critique.  When you are about ideas, when you are about introducing ideas, you have to absorb people speaking truth into your life.  The Bible says in Hebrews 13:17, “Trust in your leaders.  Put yourself under their authority.  Do this because they keep watch over you.  They know they’re accountable to God for everything they do.  Do this so that their work will be a joy.  If you make their work a heavy load it won’t do any good.”  God has placed people over you.  Whether it’s your parents, whether it’s a coach, a teacher, a manager, a CEO, God has placed people over you to critique you.  Those people who walk with the greatest ideas are always open to critique.  I’m not talking about being critical.  Being critical is hurting, being a person who critiques, you’re always helping.  But watch out.  When you receive critique don’t get all depressed and all freaky about your feelings.  Don’t be the guy or girl who says, “I’m gonna take my ball and go home.  It’s not the way it used to be.”  Well, I hope it’s not the way it used to be.  Critique will take you to another level with your ideas.

#6 – Thou shalt share your ideas with a team.  Romans 12:6, “We all have different gifts that God has given us by his loving favor, and we are to use them.”  And we have a team.  We’re not gonna tell you, we tweak the team constantly and we even tweak the idea and the ideas that happen at Fellowship Church.  For example, we’re gonna try a lot of things, and we’ve tried a lot of things over the years.  Some worked well.  In fact, most have worked well.  Others haven’t.  We started campuses before that didn’t really work.  We started initiatives before that didn’t really work.  But about 90% of the time, things have worked beautifully.  So, you can’t get messed up in the dilemma.  You can’t allow the dilemma to dog you out.  When you have the inspiration, you see the dilemma, you’ve got to roll the dice, you’ve got to let it evolve into action.  Because whenever we walk with God, everything, everything has some element of risk involved.

#7 – Thou shalt have discernment.  When it comes to ideas you’ve got to be willing to know what works and what doesn’t.  1 Corinthians 12:7, “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.  Everyone gets in on it.  Everyone benefits.”  Discernment.  At Fellowship Church in our environment, we’re moving staff members around all the time.  That gives life, it gives vitality.  It brings creativity and it brings new ideas.  So as a leader, for example, I have to put the right people in the right seats.  And that’s not always easy to do.  And it’s not always easy to do for you, as well.  So, when you have these ideas – let’s say for example in a company – it’s crucial that you have the discernment to see where someone is strong and where someone is weak and put them in the right seats.  Sounds easy, but it’s a tall, tall order.  Because what happens to us is, we want to bring people around us who are just like us, and who just agree with everything we do and say.  Yeah, you’ve got to have yes-people around you, because once you meet and discuss things and give your opinions and you say, I’m not sure about this.  Let’s change this, or whatever.  The leader, the mom, the dad, the coach, the CEO, the leader has the responsibility of saying thumbs up or thumbs down, and once you leave the privacy of that meeting, of that team, of that gathering, everybody says, “We’re in it.  We’re behind the idea.”  They don’t run off and go, “Well, I wouldn’t do it this way, but you know who said…”   If that happens, if you see someone on your team or company, maybe your kids do that, you need to have a hard conversation with them.  And in the corporate world, or the church world even, if they keep doing it then, so long.  You need to go somewhere else.

#8 – Thou shalt learn from the best.  One of the things I love about social media is that we can rub shoulders digitally with people who are the best at things.  OK, you’re thinking about a certain thing, a certain idea.  Who’s the best at this?  Who are some of the best thinkers?  The best people?  Read their stuff.  Follow them on social media.  When you can, ask them questions and great things will happen.

#9 – Thou shalt promote.  As Jesus said in Matthew 5:15, “People do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead, they put it on a stand. Then it gives light to everyone in the house.”  This church is about God’s idea.  An inspirational dilemma that involves into action.  Are you promoting Fellowship?  That should be one of the biggest values in your life and in mine.  Promoting the church.  Promoting this idea.  That’s active.

Coming up we have this incredible series, March Madness.  I’m telling you, God has put people in your life who you need to invite to Fellowship.  They’re there.  They’re low-hanging fruit, literally.  Engage them, invite them.  Give them an invitation.  I’m telling you, great things will happen.  It’s God’s idea and he put the idea into action.  It’s God’s idea for you and me to reach people.  I mean, that’s Christ’s plan.  And I’ve heard it said, this is not biblical, but someone theorized that maybe when Jesus went up to Heaven that the angels said,

“Hey Jesus!  What’s your plan to reach this world?  And Jesus replied,

“Well, I left some guys in charge.  They’re my disciples.”

“No, no.  Seriously.  What’s your plan?  There’s gotta be a Plan B.”  Jesus said

(this writer theorized), he said,

“There’s no Plan B.”

So, you’re it.  I’m it.  It’s God’s idea and it’s his inspiration for you and me to reach people.  And the dilemma is, wow.  I’m not sure I can take that risk and invite them.  Well, you begin to listen to the Holy Spirit.  He will speak to your spirit.  It will involve you with a person.  You will evolve into a relationship, and that will turn into an action where you can invite someone right here to Fellowship.  I can’t tell you of all of the people I meet who invite others to Fellowship Church. And they say, “You know what?  My friend invited me.”  “You know what?  I was at work and this guy goes, ‘Hey, why don’t you come to Fellowship Church?’”  Or, “I was at school and someone said, ‘Hey, I want you to show up for this series.’”  Story after story after story after story after story, that’s God’s ideal for you.  Make sure you’re involved in this inspirational dilemma that evolves into A-C-T <clap-clap-clap> I-O-N!

#10 – Thou shalt understand it’s all about Him.  Him, that’s God.  When I’m talking about ideas, I’m not talking about something that is not godly.  I’m talking about everything we do should be an attitude of worship and it should bring glory to God.  Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart with all of your soul and with all of your strength.”  The ability to have an idea comes from God.  Are you following his ideal?  Or are you looking at the repeal?  The Bible says in Philippians 4:8, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, seek (have ideas) about such things.”  An inspirational dilemma that evolves into an action.

Think right quick back to the series we did on wrestling.  This was an idea that God gave me – I don’t know, several years ago as I studied Scripture.  It was inspirational, because I grew up watching wrestling.  The dilemma was how do we talk about wrestling in a way that everyone can understand it, because it’s one of the most used illustrations in the Bible to refer to the Christian life.  How do we do it?  So then, we started talking to a team and others, then it began to evolve into an action.  We built a wrestling ring here.  We leveraged some relationships to bring in some of the most popular wrestlers on Planet Earth right here to Fellowship Church.  So, God gave me that idea, yet people around me who have even better ideas about the idea, took that idea and brought their ideas to the table, and look at what has happened?

This series March Madness we’re doing next week.  We’re building a basketball court right here.  A full-on basketball court.  And we’re going to go to Tallahassee, Florida, where I played at Florida State.  I’ve not been back since I was – wow – 19 years old, 20 years old.  We’re going back to the place where God gave me the idea for Fellowship Church and the style that we have.  I can’t wait to share with you some of the things that we are going to do there.  Also, too, I think about getting NBA players in who will be our guest during this series.  I think about some of the ideas that we’re already having concerning this series.  We’re talking about ideas.  We’re talking about ideas, God-ideas.  God thoughts.  God concepts.  Your ideas.  Your ideas are ideal.  Don’t believe the repeal, go with God’s ideal.  Fellowship Church is a church that opened for several decades about the ideas of God.  Because we truly believe the church should be the most innovative entity in the Universe, and that happens, and that has happened, because of God’s idea.  Would you pray with me?

 

[Ed leads in closing.}

Much to the Touch

TLC

“Much to the Touch”

February 03, 2019

by Ed Young

 

The idea for this series, TLC, came about in our kitchen. I was talking to our son and his fiancé and quickly the conversation moved into marriage and relationships and things of that nature. I don’t know, I just started talking about some of the things that I think are paramount when it comes to communication in relationships. I shared with EJ and Jess, TLC. This thing called TLC. You might be thinking tender loving care. No. You might be thinking the ’90s band. No. You might be thinking The Learning Channel. Good guess. TLC, a touch, a look, and a comment. Say it with me. A touch.

A touch. A look. And a comment.

 

I want you to think for a second, if you will, about your most significant relationships. If you’re married, obviously your spouse, family, your closest friends. And in your mind, just think about several columns, maybe a column underneath the T letter, the touch, the touches. Think about the touches for a second. You got that column in your mind? Or you could write this out if you would like. Then you have the L column, looks. Eye contact. Just think about that. Think about that for a second, the looks. Now, think about the conversation. Or you could say the comment section. Three significant areas.

I would argue from God’s point of view that these three areas are three of the most significant areas in communication, in this process. As I began to talk to my son and his fiancé about this process, I just told them some things that God had shown me over the years, and I began to unpack some areas that I knew nothing about until I walked down the wedding runner, until I looked back in the rear-view mirror and think about all these relationships and friendships. So think about those people that you’re close to. Maybe your classmates. Maybe it could be someone that you work with. Think about maybe it’s your fraternity brother. Or think about that person you know really well that you play golf with. Think about your spouse. Think about your kids. Think about touch.

How many touches, meaningful … Guys, non-sexual touches. Yes, there is something that is out there in touch that’s non-sexual. If you want to read about sexual touch, I’ve written a book called The Sexperiment. I’m not talking about sexual touching. I’m talking about appropriate touching, biblically-driven touching. It’s gotta be right and it’s got to be practiced in the exact context where God wants it, which should be with our closest relationships, in our marriage, in our friendships, with our family.

Speaking of touch, let me just talk about that T column for example. Speaking of touch, do you know that the human animal, the human being, research tells us needs 8 to 10 meaningful touches a day just for survival? Have you ever thought about that? Are you getting your touches in? Again, think about that column. Are you touching those people that you’re closest to? The touch. The touch. I’ve been spinning lately. Does anyone like to go to spin classes? I love spin classes. They’re brutal. They’re demonic. But I love them. I have a couple of instructors. I go to these classes and I usually take these instructors … One is a guy, and the other is a girl. These people are absolute animals. They’re in ridiculous shape.

So it’s interesting because they do such a great job of training and teaching, instructing you about how to do the various movements in the spin class. They’re very patient with everyone, especially with me. I’ve learned a ton about riding bikes, about spinning. But the other day, I was thinking, “You know what? I’m getting all this great instruction and I’m going nowhere.” Nowhere. It’s good. It’s good cardio because I had open-heart surgery a couple of years ago. They repaired a little valve. They split me from stem to stern and cracked open the chest and stopped the heart and all that. So I’ve always been in good cardiovascular shape, and maybe that’s why I was able to come through the surgery so healthy, so good. I feel better on this side of surgery than I did especially the years leading up to the surgery. So I’m happy about that.

So I’m thinking about cardio a lot, and I’m thinking about instruction. And then I started thinking about, “We get instruction in all these different areas, don’t we?” We get financial instructions. We get instruction legally. We get instruction about this company or instruction about how to put on makeup, ladies, or whatever it is. And that’s good. I love instructional videos, people who instruct us. That’s great, but rarely … And I told EJ and his fiancé is rarely do we ever really lean into the instructions given to us by God about how to communicate. I mean seriously. When was the last time you go, “I’m going to be instructed by the God of the universe regarding how to communicate?”

I think he knows a lot about communication because after all, he’s God. He made us. And to give you a theology of let’s say the T column, touch, just a brief word about bodyology. Theology of the body. If you think about Genesis for example, the Book of Genesis. As many of you know, this maybe some of you don’t know. God spoke everything into existence. He spoke it. Boom, it happened. Spoke it. Boom, there it was. Spoke it. Spoke it. Spoke it. But when it came to human beings, when it came to man, God literally rolled up his sleeves. I say literally, he got involved personally. And the Bible says that he used some of the earth and then he breathed the breath of life into man.

So we have a little bit of heaven and a little bit of earth. A little bit of earth and a little bit of heaven. God touched man when he made man. He got really involved in that process. So I’m made to touch. I’ve been touched by God. That’s something we need to understand. Moreover, what did Jesus do? Jesus, the Bible says, wore flesh. He became man. He wore a body. He had the senses that you have and that I have. Read the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Go through there and circle the words touch, hands, fingers. Most of those, and there’s over 200 of those references, most of those have to do with the person of Jesus. Isn’t that interesting?

We’re made to touch. God’s the God who’s touched us literally and figuratively and spiritually and physically. When we have this skin on, and in fact skin is the largest organ in our body. Did you know that? A little fun fact. The average adult has 21 square feet of skin on their bodies. 21 square feet of skin. But some of us love plastic surgery so much, we’ve hacked the 21 to about 19. Most of us have about 19 here. 11 miles of blood vessels. Blood vessels and our skin holds that in.

Have you ever thought about … Speaking of touch, we’re made in God’s image. God has touched us literally, figuratively, spiritually, physically, all those things. We’re touching right now. Yeah, I understand. You might be sitting next to someone, you’re rubbing elbows with them, or maybe you’re dating someone, playing footsie with them. Okay. Holding hands. Sometimes people are locked up like boa constrictors here when I speak. But I’m just talking about we feel the touch just being in the presence of other people, in the presence of God physically.

So our skin is made by God to feel the world around us. I sometimes think in the church, we’re like, “Oh, I don’t want to talk about the body too much.” Because of touching, very quickly it can take us to dark places. And yes, you’re exactly right. We’ve allowed the enemy to come in because of our fallenness, and we have all sorts of issues in our world today with inappropriate touch. I’m not talking about that because as you read the Biblical record, all of the people mentioned in some of the passages I’m going to share where it has to do with touch had a very high view of the body. They knew the body was a body by God and was holy.

Scripture says these touching words. I just want to give you theology on touch before we get very, very practical. We know that God has made us. He’s touched us. We know that skin matters because we have skin. We’re made in the image of God. Well, the Bible says in Psalm 145:16, “You open your hand,” it being God, “and satisfied the desire of every living thing that has to do with touch.” Now, let’s look at some of the writings in the Gospels. I’m going to run through these very, very quickly and think about touch. “Jesus put his hand and touched him.” “So he touched her hand.” “He went in and took her by the hand.” “Then he touched their eyes.” “Immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand.” “Jesus came and touched them.” “Then little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray.”

How many touches, I’m talking about meaningful touches, are you giving out a day? Research shows that just a pat on the back from a teacher will increase participation in class. Research also reveals the older we get, the more we need touch. And some other studies I read reveal that when doctors just put their hand on someone’s arm and look them in the eyes and say something positive and encouraging, it prolongs people’s lives. So science is just discovering now what God has been saying for a long, long time. The power of touch. Do you touch much? Because there’s much in the touch. Do you touch much?

Now, I’m not talking about becoming Mr. or Mrs. McFeely, like whoa. I’m not saying that. I’ll never forget in the early days of fellowship, I went to this apartment complex to meet this couple. They were kind of young and everything. So we were just talking. I didn’t know them. We talked for a little while. After about 30 minutes, I said, “Well, I really enjoyed talking with you guys.” So I extended my hand to shake their hands, and they had this weird look. They go, “We don’t shake hands. We’re huggers.” And for a split second, I thought to myself, “I’m not.” Isn’t that awkward when people do that?

Sometimes when I’m speaking or even at different places speaking, people will come up to me and they’ll go, “Give me a hug.” What do you do? What do you do? So I’m not talking about hugging strangers. No, no, no, no. I mean appropriate touch with people who have the proper context. I will say though we have to understand how to hug people. You want a hug. There are different types of hugs. There’s different types of body contact as we know. We have the fist bump and the high five. We got the chest bump. We got the bro hug. We got the side hug made popular by some Christians. The side hug is a little bit awkward. You go to hug someone, you have to pivot, and then you put your hip like that. I understand. I understand that. I’ll side hug.

You also can hug someone appropriately without pressing your body against theirs. That’s where it goes cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. So when you hug people, make sure you do it appropriately, lovingly, and biblically. So if you’re a side hugger, great. If you’re not a hugger, don’t feel like you have to hug. You can sometimes block the hug if you stand your left … would force your left legs, boom, just pop them. Boom, sometimes. And I’ve knocked several people over. But that’s okay. That’s okay.

Usually, you don’t want to hug unless someone … I’m just telling you some things about hugology. Unless they come up to you and you do that. And if you don’t know the person well or whatever, I just feel a little bit, not a little bit. I feel weird. Okay. But hug. You think I’m funny. Do you hug your spouse? You need to hug your spouse, a prolonged hug. Again, all of the things I’ve read as I prepared for touch, all of these stress hormones relax. We feel confident. We feel peace. I could even make a biblical case for hugging is even a physical act of reconciliation.

I’ve studied a lot of couples in my life. Those who were dating, those who were married. It’s interesting, you can tell a lot just by the way they touch or not. You can tell a lot about that. Are you touching your spouse? Are you touching your kids? It’s so important. Fathers, for example, to touch appropriately your kids. You hug, for example, your daughters. Then as they get older, they’re not going to jump into the arms of the first guy that winks at them. And we know too that if infants aren’t hugged or cuddled, then it can lead to violence and all sorts of mayhem. God has reached out and touched us through the person of Jesus. We should, as believers, reach out and touch others. Are you touching those people that God has brought into your life in appropriate ways? 8 to 10 touches. Think about that.

Now, let’s go to the L column. How about a look? You might be going, “Well, is that really that important?” Yes. The Bible says the eyes in the Book of Proverbs are the windows of our souls. This is just me, but over the years in interviewing so many couples for so many books and interviewing so many people on the stage and talking to so many people, like the little huggers I talked about earlier, I’ll tell you something about marriage, about a dating relationship that you can see just by seeing. I can look at a dating relationship or a marriage, and when the woman talks, I watch how the man looks at her when she’s talking. When the man is talking, sometimes I’ll just glance and look at the lady and see how she’s looking at him. Our eyes speak volumes.

I’ve seen some relationships where the guy’s talking and she’s going … That happens to Owen and Beverly all the time. In other words, when you look … Even though you heard this story 17 times, the same story about the touchdown pass he caught in JV football. Look at him lovingly, longingly, like, “You’re my man. You’re my knight in shining armor. You’re my Hallmark stud.” Ladies, we need that. We’re very insecure. On the other hands, guys … And women talk more than we do. When she is … Yes. Awesome. Even though you’re thinking about bass fishing. Even though you’re thinking about Tom Brady throwing a touchdown pass. Engaging … No, I’m kidding. Engage her, look at her, but look at her with looks of love and affirmation.

We many times miss this. It sounds so simple. But it’s so simple, we miss it. So we have to have eye contact. How often do you look into the eyes of those you’re closest to? A look. And what kind of looks are you giving them? You can look at your daughters and go, “Whoa.” And your daughters feel the love. So a touch, a look, and then a comment.

What do you say about those you love? What do you say? I’m going to talk about that. What do you say about them? Do you encourage them? Well, the Bible says encourage when you can, when you think about it. So when I think about an encouraging word, I should say it. People say this to me all the time I promise you. “Oh, Ed, I know you hear this all the time.” I go, “No, I don’t.” I’m serious. “Ed, I’ve been in fellowship church for five years. Now, I know you hear this all the time.” I go, “No, I don’t.” I don’t hear it enough. I can live off a great compliment for several months. And I want to tell you something, of all the speaking I’ve done, of all the leading I’ve done, not that I’ve done that much, but the one person other than God that puts more wind in my sail when they touch, look, and compliment me is my wife.

So husbands, wives, those who are dating, talk to one another, affirm one another. It’s so easy to be critical. Think about that column. 8 to 10 touches. Think about those touches. How about those looks? Are you really looking into her eyes or his eyes? Think about those looks. And then think about those comments. Well now, think about Jesus. Did Jesus touch us? Has he touched us? Yes, he’s touched my life. He’s touched my heart. And because he’s touched my heart, I have the desire to touch the hearts of others.

L, does he look at me? Are you kidding me? He’s omniscient, omnipresent. So how we’re just mirroring the majesty of our maker in communication. Do you see that? How about his comments? What is this book right here? This book, this book is a bunch of love letters. It’s what it is. Telling you and me how much we matter. Are you doing that to those in your life? “Oh, they know. They hear that all the time.” No, they don’t.

I mentioned earlier I had heart surgery. Split me open. Open the chest up, the heart. And through a strange set of circumstances, the gentleman that performed the surgery was one of the best valve surgeons in the world, in the world. Several months after I had the operation, I talked to him, and I said, “Dr. Lawrie, tell me a little bit about the surgery.” He began to tell me, and I’m like, “Whoa, that’s more than I want to know.” But he said something that revolutionized my life. He said, “Right before we closed you up, Ed, I grasped your heart. I massaged it for five minutes to get the air out. Because if you don’t, you would have stroked out and died. Then we closed you up.” And here I am. This great physician, Dr. Gerald Lawrie, literally touched my heart.

But there’s another great physician, the great physician, who’s touched my heart. And because he’s touched my heart, I want to live a life of TLC, a touch, a look, and a comment. It comes from God. He’s reached out to you and me. I want you to reach out to others as well.

 

[Ed leads in closing prayer.]

Run Through the Bible: Part 2 – New Testament: Transcript & Outline

Run Through the Bible

Week 2

“The New Testament”

November 11, 2018

By Ed Young

In the second part of this two-part series, Pastor Ed Young gives us an overview of the 27 books of the New Testament. And as he moves us from the Old Testament into the New Testament, we discover how the overall storyline of Scripture continues to point to Jesus and reveals the power and ability he has to help us get the most out of life.

 

Transcript

 

Good morning!  Are you ready to run through the Bible?  I am, too.  I’ve enjoyed this series.  I need this series as much as anyone.  If you’re brand new here to Fellowship I’ve been in a series, which means – you know – we do kind of a meal in bite-sized chunks.  I decided to go through the entire Bible in two Sundays.  So often we sort of pick and choose when it comes to the Bible.  It’s like you go through some sort of a cafeteria.  OK, I’ll take this.  No, I don’t want that.  I’ll have this, I’ll have that.  And then you never really take a step back and look at the entire menu!  Look at the entire restaurant.  Look where the restaurant is, and let me see the context of where I am.

ILLUS: This past Tuesday I found myself on a 15-story observation deck with a couple of school administrators looking at a beautiful, massive university.  They were pointing out different landmarks.  This is the medical school building.  OK, that’s a dorm, that’s a dorm, that’s a dorm.  And there’s the arena.  This university had flown in our creative worship team and also had flown in me and some others to do some speaking before their student body.  So, we spoke on Wednesday morning to 11,000 students, then Wednesday night to about 4,000.  And it was amazing because Fellowship Church, of course, we have the opportunity now and then to do a lot of traveling, and to spread our DNA to tell others what God is doing.  So, it was a great, great trip.

What was interesting about the trip, though, was when I walked around the campus on the ground level I got lost several times.  It was like a maze, you know?  But when I was able to look at everything from the perspective of this observation deck, even though I’m directionally challenged I got it.  I was like, wow!  I see it now!  I’ve got it now.  There’s the football stadium, there’s this building, there’s that building.  So, context is everything.  Perspective is everything.

And today we’re zooming out, we’re doing the Google Earth thing, you might say.  We’re droning the Bible as we discuss what the Old Testament and specifically the New Testament is all about.  Hopefully you’ve brought in your message map.  Did you see these footprints?  Yeah, we’re running through the Bible.  We’re not skipping, we’re not jumping.  These are very, very important because as I go through this stuff really, really fast you’ll see on these gorgeous LED screens behind me where you can fill in the blanks.  And we fill in the blanks for you as I go through, so just pay attention as we do this because hopefully you’re going to go, “Wow!  I was able to climb 15 stories at Fellowship Church and see the Bible in a different perspective.  As opposed to going to the cafeteria and going, yeah, I’ll have some beans.  No, I don’t want any tortillas, but I’ll have some chicken, please.”  Yeah, you can do that but let’s look at the whole context of it, the context, the content, and the concepts.

The Bible says about the Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, this.  Would you read it with me?  That means at all campuses.  A 1 and a 2 and a 3! “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

This text says the Bible is <breath!> God-breathed.  That word is theopneustos.  God breathed it.  It’s inspired, from Genesis to Revelation.  Not revelations, Revelation.  The writers from a kaleidoscopic range of backgrounds, of socioeconomic levels, of races inspired by the Holy Spirit of God wrote the Bible.  The Bible is a story.  Basically, it’s a Him book, a book about Him, Jesus.  There’s one hero, Jesus, one villain, the devil, and one message, our Savior rescues.  That’s the Bible.  That’s the story.  That’s the flow.  The Old Testament, 39 books, 28 authors, over 2,000 years.  Let’s put the light on the Old Testament over there, the light.  Why do you have 10 icons?  10 toes, 10 toes down, why do you have 10 icons for the New Testament?  10 toes down.  Are you feeling me?  OK, I thought you were.  The New Testament, 27 books, 9 authors, over 100 years.  That’s it.  So, it took a couple of thousand years in the Old Testament and only really one generation for the New Testament.  If you missed last time, make sure to watch it online.  There’s this thing called, as my father says, the in-ter-net.  The internet.  It’s kind of funny.  He’s 82 years old.  Gotta show him some love.  And you can go online and watch the whole thing and you’ll understand the context, but I do want to bring you up to speed.

These 10 icons represent the Old Testament.  The Old Testament means the old covenant. What is covenant?  It’s like a commitment on steroids.  That’s covenant.  The Old Testament.  The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.  Say that with me.  The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.  You got it!  I put some pressure on you and you got it!  All right.  The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.  Say that with me.  The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.  Revealed!  Huh.

I take pictures all the time, you know.  I have a cellular phone.  I love to take pictures.  Now, the Old Testament would be pictures that are unedited.  The New Testament are pictures that are edited, and I kind of scare my kids because now I know how to edit.  I can take those shadows out.  I can bring out the vivid colors. I can arrange it.  I’m dangerous.  So that’s the New Testament.  The New Testament would be the edited photos.  The Old Testament, unedited.

These icons tell the story.  A story about Him.  The Bible talks about, in the Old Testament, our spin cycle, or our sin cycle.  <thumping sound effect> You have forgetting, we forget God, we all do.  Then we fail, then we fall, then we’re forgiven.  And throughout the Old Testament we have that in play.  This would be the Garden of Eden.  God created man in his image, yet we have a choice in the matter.  We chose to rebel against God.  What did God do?  Well, God began to unfold his plan of atonement.  Atonement would be, in this case with Adam and Eve, the shedding of blood of an innocent third party to cover the sins of man.  Very important.  That’s what happened, that’s what went down in the Garden of Eden.  God, right before their eyes, took the life of an innocent animal, clothed Adam’s and Eve’s nakedness with the skins of the naked animal, foreshadowing (it’s not edited yet.  There are still shadows, see?), foreshadowing what Jesus is gonna do for us thousands of years later as he died on the cross for our sins, the new covenant.  Then God brings forth the franchise players.  Abraham.  You like that?  Cool shades, huh?  Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s son, Joseph.  Through a strange turn of events they’re enslaved in Egyptian bondage.  They’re there for 400 years.  God taps Mo (I’m talking about Moses), gives him great momentum.  Moses leads them out of Egyptian slavery to the Promised Land, the greatest real estate deal ever closed.  God promised Abraham that way back in the day.  Now it’s coming into fruition.  Moses messes up, he drops the ball.  The J-man, Joshua, takes over.  They close the deal.  Israel is supposed to drive out everybody from the Holy Land, but they keep a couple of people around, disobeying God.  Remember, sin dealt with radically is sin dealt with effectively, in your life and in my life.  Even in the children of Israel’s lives.  Then God brings in the judges.   Is it just me or whenever I watch football it seems like I’m watching referees more and more these days.  Throwing flags all the time and reviewing plays.  I mean, I’m all into that, I love sports, but I’m like – let’s just play the game!  Anyway, I kind of got off subject. But the judges, Samson. Gideon, people like that, Deborah, etc.

“We want a king!  We want a king!” the Old Testament people said.  “Mommy, daddy, I want a car like they have!  And I don’t want to have a curfew, they don’t have a curfew!”  Whatever, whatever.  We’re like that as adults, right?  Well, the kings didn’t work.  I’m talking about Saul and David and Solomon, because the kings were wheels off in the spin cycle of sin.  The nation of Israel split into the north and the dirty south.  Those who like hip-hop understand that.  The dirty dirty…  OK, then God brings forth an eviction.  Because remember, what do we have?  Forgetting.  We have failing.  We have falling.  And falling is we can choose our choices, but we can’t choose our consequences.  So, what’s the falling?  They were evicted from their land.  The Assyrians came in and opened up a can.  And then the Babylonians came and opened up a can.  We never hear from the northern tribes of Israel again.  We hear, though, from those in the dirty dirty.  Then they return back to God’s land, a U-turn, and then we have 400 years of silence.  Touch somebody and say silence.  Yeah.

So, you have the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  You have the Greeks and the Romans.  And you think, wow!  God’s redemptive plan kicked off in the Garden seems like it’s done.  I mean, there’s just a remnant, there’s just a few.  Surely, it’s not going to continue.  Because you know, God and the prophets and the men and women are pointing to this ultimate sacrifice.  It doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards any more but God’s still working and still moving behind the scenes.  Then we move to the New Testament.  10 toes down.  I said 10 toes down.  You have the Fantastic Four.  Who would that be?  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Do you like to watch Netflix?  I do. I love documentaries.  I’m a documentary guy.  Lisa doesn’t like documentaries as much as I do.  I love documentaries.  I don’t know why, I just do.  When you see Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, think about documentaries.  Think about producing documentaries.  Has anyone here ever produced a documentary before?  Anybody?  OK, well, I don’t know why I asked.  I just thought I would.  The Fantastic Four.  And who do they write about?  It’s a Him-book.  They write about Jesus.  Matthew writes to the Jews.  Mark writes to the Romans.  Luke writes to the Greeks.  And John writes to everybody.  Now if I’m going too fast, I am.  That’s just the way it is.  They write about Jesus.

OK, let’s talk about real quick the Person of Jesus, the power of Jesus, and the preaching of Jesus.  Very important.  All right.  Here we go.  The person of Jesus.  Who is Jesus?  He’s born in a manger.  I did a series years ago called Cribs.  Crucial relationship initiated by the Savior.  Let’s talk about the person of Jesus, fully God, fully man.  Something we’ll never understand.  God did something.  God said, you know what?  I’m gonna have to do something radical.  I’m gonna have to do something just ridiculous.  I’m going to commission my son, the second person of the Godhead, to enter planet Earth and to live a righteous life, to die a sacrificial death, and to rise bodily.  Jesus was a man.  He drafted the dirty dozen, or you could say the dream team.  I’m talking about the disciples.  And these guys were a rag-tag bunch of people, the last people on earth you would expect the son of God to draft.  I mean, they didn’t have their degree from Harvard or Yale, they didn’t come from the right side of the tracks.  They didn’t use good language.  I mean, what?  What?  Those guys?  Well, that’s why I can identify with the Bible and so can you!

Also, notice who else he chose.  He became a friend of sinners.  So, he chose friendships like Zacchaeus, Nick at Night – Nicodemus, the rich young ruler.  I mean, he even knew prostitutes and pimps and what?  What-what?  And the religious people, the Sadducees and Pharisees said, “What are you doing, Jesus?  You’re a friend of sinners, hanging out with them, going to that party.  I can’t believe it!”  You see, Jesus and God is not about religion, it’s about a relationship.

Notice, too, he rose above the haters.  You see that?  You’re doing great, people hate.  You’re gonna have haters, that’s OK.   You can’t worry too much about the haters.  It’s difficult, though, in our land of social media.  It’s very tough on everybody.  Everybody has haters.  Well, I want to live life without a hater.  Well the best way to do that is to die.  Then you’ll have no haters.  Or just do nothing.  Just sit there in your basement for the rest of your life, eating your nachos and surfing the in-ter-net.  See I used dad’s line I used earlier.

OK, let’s now talk about the Power of Jesus.  The power of Jesus.  The power.  Is he just a person that walked across the stage of life with another messianic complex?  Well, the power, he performed the miracles.  The Bible says the miracles showed he was God.  His first miracle at a wedding, he turned H2O into merlot.  I think about the time he fed 5,000, the Hebrew Happy Meal.  Or he fed 4,000 with Chick-fil-a.  it was unbelievable the miracles. The blind could see.  The lame could walk.  He could calm storms.  This is not an ordinary man.  A miracle-workers.  Wow!  His power, I mean, that’s some serious power!

So, you have the person of Jesus, and the power of Jesus, now the Preaching of Jesus.  The preaching.  And the blanks are information, demonstration, and application.  Jesus told stories.  Two-thirds of everything he said was a story.  Also, over 69% of his words were words of application, meaning words of execution, words of ‘here’s how to live it out.’  If we’re not careful (John 6:35) Jesus said, “I’m the bread of life.”  He said, “I am the light of the world.”  He said, “I’m the good shepherd.”  He said, “I’m water.”  Many times, he used these word pictures, these illustrations people could connect with.  He told stories, stories and stories.  Well that’s what we do at Fellowship.  We simply take a page out of his teaching book.  He taught with application.  So, over 69% of his words were words of, all right, here’s how I live this out.  Isn’t that interesting?  Life application preaching.

I spend – people ask me this a lot – I spend, I don’t know, 17-25 hours every week studying for the message.  That’s what I have to do.  Speaking is not easy for me.  It’s challenging, and I spend that kind of time by myself just studying.  Well, I like to, I think about memorable things to say things as a speaker.  Like this.  Didn’t our graphics team do just… they crushed it with these logos and stuff.  Are you kidding me?  Just think about all the stuff we plan with the shoeprint and just all of the blanks.  So, I’m thinking about that and I’m thinking, OK, how do people remember things that I say, for example.  So, I like to use rhyme.  I love rhyme.  Maybe mom read me too many nursery rhymes growing up, I don’t know, but I just like to rhyme on the dime, every time, yours and mine, peace of mind!  I like rhyming.  I like alliteration.  That’s purposeful.  That’s powerful.  That’s potent.  I mean, I can go on and on.  I mean, I like that.  I think we remember that.  And if you look at hip-hop it’s all about the rhyme and alliteration.  That’s another story.

Anyway, invariably here’s what people remember when I meet them about messages.  Almost every time they tell me this.  Like, I was out in the lobby between services, this guy goes, “Yeah, I remember this message…” and I thought he was gonna say, “Here’s the outline.”  You know?  God is good, he lives in our hood, people could.  It wasn’t that.  “That story you told when you guys started Fellowship Church.  Oh yeah, that story, I remember that story about that person that you met who heard a worship song from Fellowship Creative.”  It’s stories!  Now all that’s great.  It’s stories.  The Old Testament, story.  When Jesus preached, story.  When we look at Fellowship Church and all of our menu of teaching, just check it out.  For 28 years I believe we have a biblical balance of information, demonstration, and application.  That’s why we teach the way we do.  We’re just simply doing what Jesus did.

All right, so we’ve got the person, we’ve got the power, we’ve got the preaching, now we’ve got the Cross.  Everything moved to the cross.  Remember in the garden?  I set that up.  We have this atonement awareness thing in our lives, do we not?  Someone shoots up a bar, somebody’s got to pay.  Somebody does something crazy in a school, somebody’s got to pay!  Someone dings your door or mine, somebody’s got to pay!  Someone takes advantage of this person, somebody’s got to pay.  Social injustice, whatever it is, somebody’s got to pay!  Why do we have that?  My dogs and cats don’t have that.  Animals don’t have that.  It’s this atonement awareness thing.  We’re made in the image of God.  What did God do?  In the fullness of time, at the right time, he sent Jesus the person, the power, the preaching.  Jesus said, one day he was standing in front of the temple, he goes, “You know what?  You can destroy this temple and in three days I’ll build it back.”  Everyone thought, oh you’re talking about the temple?  You’re talking about blowing up the temple?  No!  He was talking about himself.

So, he predicted his death and resurrection.  He died on the cross for your sins and mine.  For your iniquities and mine, once and for all, and the reason he could take it all is because he was totally and completely righteous, the Bible says.  The cross, our sin-debt, paid in full.  I mean, I have a debt.  I was born with it, that I cannot pay by myself.  I can’t file Chapter 11 or Chapter 13, nor can you.  I can’t work my way in, because at the end of the day I’m a self-centered sinner in need of a sovereign, singular Savior.  A sinless one who died on the cross for our sins.  He voluntarily, voluntarily took everything upon himself.  He died.  And people thought, it’s over.  DING! DING!  DING!  Tapped out.  Lights out.  But … 1… count it with me.  1… 2… 3… bing-bing-bing-bing-bing!  Jesus rose again.  The greatest act in human history.  He appears in bodily form, the bodily resurrection to women, to many others, to people just walking down the street.  One time he appeared to over 500 people!  At one time.  Any lawyers in the house?  You talk about a case that demands a verdict?  How would you like to have that case?  Oh yeah, I’ll bring 475, no I’ll just bring in the 500 witnesses, just line them up, man.  Would that be amazing?  That’s slam-dunk, man.  You got that!  That’s what Jesus did.  So, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, that’s the atonement.

An innocent third party, because remember in the Old Testament they had the sacrificial system.  They were spilling the blood of all of these animals.  Blood was pouring everywhere, and it was foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice, this new covenant of Jesus, dying on the cross, suffering for your sins and mine, paying for our sin debt, and rising again.  Jesus is called the first fruits of the Resurrection, meaning, let’s go all the way down here to the book of Revelation, not revelations.  Let’s don’t do… people say, “In the book of Revelations…”  no, let’s say it together.  1-2-3, Revelation.  OK, when we clock out of here, because we’re all facing a forever, when we go to the other side of the dirt, we’re going to live forever.  We’re going to resurrect just like Jesus did.  Does that make sense?  I just wanted to say that, so you’ll understand it.  So, you have the death, burial, and resurrection.  Everything rises and falls on the death, burial, and resurrection.

Maybe you’re here, you have doubts about the Bible.  You have questions.  Great!  God’s bigger than your doubts and questions.  Go for it.  Ask him any question, express any doubt.  I promise you the Bible is big enough and bad enough, and lean enough and mean enough, to take all of your scrutiny.  Because I don’t care how many degrees you have, I don’t care how many questions you ask God, people smarter, brighter, and cooler have asked those questions squillions of times.  But if you want to repeat those questions, good!  And it’s good to do that.  Doubt’s not bad. Doubt and faith go on similar tracks, it’s which one do you feed?

Yet, Jesus demands this personal faith decision.  So, Jesus rose again, appeared, even ate meals and stuff, the resurrected body.  Then he goes, you know what?  I gotta go.  I gotta go.  So, he is getting ready to <whoomp!> to ascend.  He says, “I’m gonna send a helper.”  A what?  A comforter.  What? A guide.  The fire!  <singing> Fi-yah!  Remember that song?  I sometimes will do humor.  For those of us who are 45 years of age and older, Ohio Players.  <singing> “The way she walk, and talk, really…” anyway.  I was just, they were a great band.  Song starts off with a siren.  So creative.  <siren sound effect> and the drums… jigga-ju, jigga-ju.  “Hey now, uh-huh!  Ba-bum-bum-bababum-bum!  Oh, wow.  Hey now. Uh-huh!”  That’s pretty good, isn’t it?  Don’t say yes, but those who are 45 and older, that’s pretty good.  Right, OK.  Thank you!  He said, “Preach it, white boy!”  That’s the best compliment I’ve received all day long.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Well, Jesus is saying, I’m going somewhere.  And let me quote Acts, because the book of Acts is a bridge book from the gospels to the rest of the New Testament.  It’s a bridge.  The book of Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”  So, Jesus said, you guys hang out and wait in J-town, Jerusalem.  I’m gonna go up and you’re gonna receive power when the Holy Spirit will come upon you.  Why?  Well, you’ll be my witnesses.  Somebody.  Touch your neighbor and say, “witness!”  “You’ll be my witnesses telling people everywhere about me, in J-town, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Huh.

So, Jesus is saying that, he’s saying, you know what?  When you become my followers I’m not gonna zap you to Heaven.  You’re here not to sin, but to share.  And again, at Fellowship Church we never ask you to do anything the Bible doesn’t ask you to do.  Never.  So, we ask you to do three things as a member of the body of Christ.  To share, share your faith, share your story.  To sow, the Bible talks about this, sow your resources, and to serve.  Get outside of yourself and serve.  Here’s the book of Acts in a nutshell.  Holy Spirit comes down.  Simon Peter takes the Church, preaches messages, 3,000 people – boom!  In the church.  Incredible things, connectivity.  And the Bible says, the Bible uses the word fellowship.  Great name for a church.  And things are just happening, yet the church is being persecuted.

One guy who is like this heavy hitter is really after the church, Paul.  Well back in the day his name was Saul.  He was killing Christians and he has this amazing conversion experience.  He becomes a follower of Christ, and it’s just going crazy, man.  I mean, everything is happening, and Paul goes on these missionary journeys <foghorn sound effect>, these cruises <foghorn sound effect>.  He starts a church here, a church there, a church everywhere and he’s starting all these churches.  He’s this new guy, this brand-new believer.  It’s starting to spread and expand.  Well here’s the church.  You ready for this?  This is huge.  Here’s what happened.  Jesus went up, that’s his ascension.  The Holy Spirit came down, that’s the presence of Jesus.  And he could only come down because Jesus went up, right?  The disciples went out, and the lost came in.  That’s it.  That’s what happened in the book of Acts.  And then, of course, Paul wrote, for example, the book of Romans, the Magna Carta of the Christian faith.  You realize that 50% of the book of Romans is a book of application?  Interesting, is it not?  So, the church begins to grow and expand.  It’s the only thing that Jesus ever built.  That’s why we’re people of the church.  It’s just very simple.  We’re people of the church.

So, what does Paul do?  Paul comes back from his cruises.  And they weren’t easy cruises, these are difficult.  And I just did that <foghorn sound effect> just so you’ll remember it.  He sends an e-mail blast.  Yeah, to all of the churches he helped start.  I mean, from Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, on and on and on.  All of that, the Letters written to the church.  They’re called the epistles.  Then he writes letters to individuals, Timothy, he’s writing to all sorts of people, like Philemon, on and on and on.  Here is Paul’s letters, his e-mail blast, summed up:  Scripture alone.  Well, that’s Fellowship Church.  We’re under the authority of the Bible.  Guys, we’re based, we’re a Bible-teaching church.  What kind of church is Fellowship?  A Bible-teaching, Bible-believing church.  We teach the Bible.  We’re not some political church, we’re not some this church or that church, we’re a church that teaches the Bible.

Now when you teach the Bible you’re gonna have issues that come up that might be political or might be hot topics.  Every time we speak, what does the Bible say?  Scripture alone.  How about…? No, Scripture alone.  Yeah but… Scripture alone.

#2 – Christ alone.  It’s about Jesus, a Him-book.  It’s about Jesus.  Everything is about Jesus.  The person of Jesus.  Without Jesus we’re in trouble.  Without the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus we can’t live this way.  It’s about his power, it’s about the dynamite power. Acts 1:8, “You’ll receive power…” the word power is dunamis, dynamite.  You dynamite!  J.J. Walker, Good Times!  I saw some of these millennials, there was zero love. You guys don’t know!  Jimmy Walker, I’d put him up against Will Smith any day.  The guy was hilarious, he still is!  Remember that?  How many remembers Jimmy Walker, used to do like this?  Oh yeah.  I had a Jimmy Walker hat, a Jimmy Walker shirt.  Somebody, send him this message.  I love Jimmy Walker.  Maybe we’ll bring him into Fellowship Church one day.  I don’t know.

Scripture alone.  Christ alone.  Faith alone.  It’s a faith decision.  We’re not saved by works, because no one can work their way in.   It’s just not in the cards.  By grace alone.  What’s grace?  God’s riches at Christ’s expense.  God’s riches at Christ’s expense.  Something we don’t deserve.  To the glory of God alone.  Everything I do should be for the glory of God.  I’m watching a Netflix documentary to the glory of God.  I go into this particular restaurant to the glory of God.  I’m frequenting that website to the glory of God.  I’m having that conversation to the glory of God.  So, it’s not some legalistic trip, it’s a relationship.

Then you have the other different books of the New Testament.  From Hebrews, I think it was probably written by Paul but we’re not sure.  James, written by the half-brother of Jesus.  On and on and on it goes.  Segue into the book of – not revelations but Revelation.  Correct someone please, if you hear them say that.  Just say, “Excuse me, I’ve got to do this.  I mean that just drives me crazy.  It’s Revelation.”

So, Revelation is the Re-creation.  It is a new Heaven and new Earth.  So what God started in the book of Genesis, you think that creation was great pre-fall?  It’s even better when you have a recreation.  Heaven is not gonna be us just floating around on cumulus clouds, and you know, strumming the harp and singing, “Hosanna…”  I mean, it’s gonna be a place where there is true expression of our love to God.  We will be able to use our gifts and abilities like never before.  We will have relational connectivity like never before, creativity like never before, colors like never before, sounds like never before.  It’ll be like never before.  And that’s the way we’re going.  Again, though, it’s your choice and mine.

As I said when I spoke to this university on Monday and also Wednesday, I said, you know, God doesn’t slam-dunk anybody into eternity.  We make that choice.  So, what you decide on this side of the dirt will show you where you’re gonna spend time on the other side of the dirt, and forever is a long, long time.  So, what have you done with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus?

So, the Bible is a Him-book.  It’s about Him.

In Genesis he is the woman’s seed.

In Exodus he’s the Passover lamb.

In Leviticus he’s our High Priest.

In Numbers he’s our Cloud by day and Fire by night, I’m talking about Jesus.

In Deuteronomy he’s our promise-keeping, promise-making God.

In Joshua he’s the Captain of our salvation.

In Judges he’s our Law-giver.

In Ruth, our kinsman Redeemer.

In 1 and 2 Samuel, our Prophet.

In Kings and Chronicles he’s our reigning King.

In Ezra he’s our Worship.

In Nehemiah he’s our Wall-builder.

In Esther he’s our Mordecai.

In Job he’s our Encourager and Healer.

In Psalms he’s our Shepherd, he’s my Shepherd.

In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, he’s our Wisdom.

In Song of Solomon he’s the Initiator of marital love.

In Isaiah he’s our Prince of Peace.

In Jeremiah he’s the Potter and I’m the clay, and you’re the clay as well.

In Lamentations he’s the Weeping Prophet.

In Ezekiel he’s the Wheel within the wheel.

In Daniel he’s the fourth Man in the fiery furnace.

In Hosea he’s the faithful husband.

In Joel he’s the one who pours out his spirit on all people.

In Amos he is our Burden-bearer.

In Obadiah he’s Mighty to save.

In Jonah he’s our foreign Missionary.

In Micah he’s the Hope of restoration.

In Nahum he’s the Avenger of God’s elect.

In Habakkuk he’s God’s Evangelist.

In Zephaniah he’s our Savior.

In Haggai, he’s our Restorer.

In Zachariah, our Fountain of Life.

In Malachi he’s our Tithe.

How about Matthew?  In Matthew he’s the Jewish Messiah.

In Mark he’s the Son of Man.

In Luke he’s the Savior of the World.

In John he’s our Beloved Disciple.

In Acts he’s Paul on the Damascus Road.

In Romans he’s the great Justifier.

In 1 and 2 Corinthians he’s the Gift into the Church.

In Galatians he’s the God of Grace.

In Ephesians he’s the Armor of God.

In Philippians he’s Contentment.

In Galatians he’s the Head of the church.

In 1 and 2 Thessalonians he’s coming again.

In 1 and 2 Timothy he’s the Living Word of God.

In Titus he’s the pastor’s Friend.

In Philemon he’s the Mediator.

In Hebrews, our High Priest.

In James, he matures our faith.

In 1 Peter he’s our Hope in Suffering.

In 2 Peter he guards us from false teaching.

In 1, 2, and 3 John he’s called Love.

In Jude he keeps us from failing.

In Revelation he’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  I’m talking about our Savior!  I’m talking about our Lord!  I’m talking about our Redeemer!  I’m talking about our Master!  I’m talking about Jesus!

That’s right!  Yours is the Name Above all Names!  The name of Jesus!  Thank you, Lord.  Thank you, Jesus.

As our heads are bowed, let’s continue this time of worship.  Let’s keep the instruments going for just a second.  You know, if you’ve never, ever called out and asked Jesus to take control of your life, you can do it by simply saying, “Jesus, I choose you.  I’ve got doubts, questions, whatever, but I choose you right now.  I make a faith decision.  I believe.”  Just say that.  “That you, Jesus, died on the cross for my sins and rose again, and at this moment I receive you, the name of Jesus, into my life.  Become my Savior, my Forgiver, my King, my Lord, my Everything.”  If you prayed that prayer, that’s the greatest prayer, the greatest decision that you’ll ever make.  So, I pray that your first act of worship is singing again the name of Jesus.  Let’s sing it again and worship.

Run Through the Bible: Part 1 – Old Testament: Transcript & Outline

Run Through the Bible

Week 1

“The Old Testament”

November 4, 2018

By Ed Young

The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books that all tell one seamless story. Yet, so often, we get caught in the details and miss the overarching meaning behind its message. In this installment, Pastor Ed Young gives us an overview of the Old Testament and shows us how it not only meant something thousands of years ago, it also means something to us today!

 

Transcript

 

Well, I’m very excited about this series, Run Through the Bible.  Not walk through the Bible, Run Through the Bible.  If this is your first time at Fellowship, welcome.  I think today you’re gonna see and understand the brilliance of God’s word, the Bible.  Today we begin with the Old Testament, next week, the New Testament.  If you’re like me, and I hate to confess this, I grew up as a pastor’s kid, as most of you know.  I had the opportunity to be involved in great churches, had some cool Bible study teachers, Sunday School teachers.  Then I went off to a Bible college.  I majored in Christianity and Communication.  I attended the largest evangelical seminary in the world for four years.  I received my Master of Divinity.  I took several doctrinal classes and I left during the middle of that to help start Fellowship.  So, I’ve had some really great theological teaching.  Brilliant men and women have taught me God’s word, and I’m thankful for that.  However, no one in my ADD mind ever really helped me (I hate to confess this, but we are in church), helped me see the flow and the story and the context of Scripture.  In other words, I never really felt like very many people zoomed out and told me, “OK, Ed.  Here is the backdrop of what you’re talking about.”  Because I took a story over here… wow.   That’s a cool story about Adam and Eve.  Took a story over there, Jonah, getting swallowed by a fish!  Are you kidding me?  Or maybe a Scripture verse in the book of Judges, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes,” the Bible says, and they all messed up.  So, I would take bits and pieces and stories, maybe like you, and I found myself missing the flow, the context of stuff.  And I think as you look at our culture today I think you would say in all fields of thought that we’re sort of like that.  Whether it be in economics, whether it be in government, whether it be in history, so often we just look at one little aspect and miss the flow.

I talked to a friend of mine this past week who has his law degree from one of the top law schools in America and I said, “What law professor told all of you about the flow of law and how law began and how it’s utilized?”  Kind of a big picture.  He said, “No one.”

And then I talked to someone who attended medical school.  OK, surely someone sat you down in one of the classes and went through kind of the zoomed-out approach.  No one.  So, it’s interesting when it comes to church that we’ve fallen into the same trap.  And I understand.  I get it.  The Bible is a complex book in many different ways, but also the Bible is a story about His story.  And it’s my prayer that His story will become your story and my story.  As I go through this today I think you’ll see yourself as I talk about some of these things.

Now you might be going, OK, running through the Bible.  I don’t see any Scripture verses.  I didn’t put Scripture verses on these icons for a reason.  Because the Bible, the Old Testament, specifically is not written chronologically.  I mean it is, there are some chronological aspects to it but it’s more story.  And I thought these icons, because we remember with pictures, could help us get the full context of what we’re talking about.  So, make sure that you have one of these.  It’s a footprint.  Did you get that?  A big footprint.  So, this is gonna be your message map because whenever you run, you have to use your toes, and someone told me the other day when they were talking about getting ready to run, 10 toes down.  You’ve gotta have 10 toes down.  So, I’ve put 10 icons from the Old Testament, the old covenant, that you need to understand.  You’ll see some blanks in there, and I’ve purposely left some of the blanks blank, so you can fill them in.  Because every time we see a blank – I don’t know if you’re like me – but I want to fill it in.  So, I’ve given you kind of the rules of what we’re gonna do.  It’s gonna be a fun seminar.  I think this is something that you can utilize and keep with you for the rest of your life and I’m very, very, very excited about running through the Bible.

Well, let’s talk about the Old Testament.  Thirty-nine books, written by 28 authors, over 2,000 years.  Two thousand years, this story.  Then you have the New Testament, which was written over a generation.  So, in the New Testament it took them about a generation to write that.  The Old Testament, 2,000 years.  The Old Testament, one of my professors told me, is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.  It’s very important to understand the Old Testament.  You might be going, why?  Well, when Jesus referred to the Scriptures he was talking about the Old Testament.  When the apostle Paul was talking about the Scriptures he was talking about the Old Testament.  All of the doctrines in the New Testament have their foundation in the Old Testament.  What’s so funny is I read a recent survey that in most evangelical churches nine out of 10 messages are from the New Testament.  And I get it, that’s great.  But, we’re leaving out these 39 books.  That’s why so often if you look back at the menu of all of the messages that we’ve done at Fellowship for 28 years there is a pretty balanced menu regarding the text of the New Testament and the text of the Old Testament.

Do you guys like to take pictures?  I do.  Man, with these phones it’s unbelievable the videos and the pictures that we can take these days.  Now I take pictures a lot.  I’m kind of a visual person and I have really learned recently how to edit pictures.  Usually when I edit I start with the shadows, then I’ll the color, make it more vivid, and I often pat myself on the back.  I mean, I know how to edit, and pretty much it’s done for me, I’ve just learned how to utilize and how to navigate my phone to edit.  When it comes to the Old Testament it’s sort of like unedited photos.  You scroll through your pictures, that’s the Old Testament.  Unedited.  Sort of raw, kind of shadows, color’s not as vivid.  There it is!  But not really.  The New Testament, oh wow.  It is edited.  The shadows are taken out.  Whoa!  The vivid color, we see everything really, really good.  We, though, have to understand the Old Testament to get the New Testament.  So, let’s start, let’s start our run in the beginning.  What do you think?  In the beginning.

See this apple?  And I’m gonna fly through this, we’re running now.  See this apple?  That’s the first icon.  CREATION. God made man.  I don’t know how he did it, no one knows.  The Bible says it happened in days.  Were those days squillions of years or 24 hours?  I have no idea.  The Bible just says God made something from nothing.  We’re made in God’s image.  The first man and the first woman.  We have this choice.  The Bible says we have a free will.  God did not make us like robots, he gave us a choice.  Adam and Eve chose, did they not, to do their own thing their own way?  They turned, sinned before God.  They tried to become rulers of their own lives.  I still fight that, and so do you.  Yet I want you to notice something right here.  Here’s a point of application.  God always initiates.  He initiated this.  He made man.  Man had a choice, we fumbled the ball, we failed, we were evicted out of the Garden because of our sin.  God is holy. He’s perfect, we’re not.

So, we messed up.  What did God do?  Well, God could have left us in a lurch.  What did God do?  He could have said, “Well, too bad.  I’m holy, you’re not.”  What did God do?  Well, God did something.  He began to reveal a shadow, think about that picture, of redemption, of atonement.  Not to get too detailed, because it’s tempting to get detailed in all of these icons, we have Adam and Eve sinning, and Adam and Eve realizing that they are naked.  Not nekkid, that’s how southerners pronounce it, naked.  Naked before God.  So, God killed an innocent animal, spilled its blood, took the skin off the carcass and clothed Adam and Eve.  And men, it’s the first example we have of a woman going shopping.  Because Eve said, “I got my carcass from Neiman Marcus.”  A covering, a foreshadowing, of something that God is orchestrating.  So, man had some problems.  You got the flood.  You got all sorts of craziness.  You have things we’ll talk about later, the Tower of Babel, but let’s move onto THE FRANCHISE PLAYERS.

God picked a man, Abraham, from Ur of the Chaldees.  He picked his son, Isaac, and his son, Jacob, these franchise players.  They’re not perfect.  They’re fallen and fallible, yet these guys are men of faith.  And he told Abraham, “Hey Abraham, you’re gonna father an amazing group of people.  I mean, the group of people you’re gonna father, they’ll be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, as the stars in the sky.”  Even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Jacob, we learned several weeks ago was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Even though they were whack in many ways, even though they were screwed up in many ways, literally God used them.  Another point of application.  I’m glad that God hits straight licks with crooked sticks.  I heard that a long time ago.  I’m a crooked stick, so are you.  Isn’t that great?  That’s God’s grace and mercy.  So, to fill in the blank again, the fall of man.  That’s the apple.  Secondly, the franchise players, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Jacob had a son named Joseph.  Joseph was the guy with the Gucci coat, the favored son.  He was sold into Egyptian slavery by his own family.  You think you come from a dysfunctional family?  What?  They sold him into Egyptian slavery, told his dad he’d been killed!  This is Joseph!  We’re talking Joseph!  He goes down to Egypt and he becomes the leader, I mean like the man, of this country.  And because they had holy foods, and Jacob’s family and their loved ones were in a famine, the family cruised down to big Egypt and they decided hey, we like Egypt.  Joseph’s the man, everything’s cool.  And they hung out in Egypt and they stayed in Egypt longer and longer.  And then Joseph clocked out and then you have them multiplying because the children of Israel went to God’s fertility clinic of faith and reproduction and you have this massive nation in Egypt.

Is this helping you?  It helps me a lot.  So, they’re in Egyptian bondage for 400 years.  They’re most of the gross national product of the Egyptians, the Israelites.  Well, bring in Moses and the EXODUS.  Starting at power forward, Moses!  He had some serious momentum.  Oh Lord, I can’t lead.  I can’t lead the people out because I… ya-ya-ya-ya… stutter.   Because I’m not very eloquent.  I just can’t do it.  Yet, God picks unlikely people to do amazing things.  So, Moses takes them out of Egyptian slavery.  Don’t you see the foreshadowing again?  Don’t you see Jesus here?  You see, we’re in bondage to sin, we’re freed up, so we have Moses being a shadow, a type of Christ.

So, the Israelites are emancipated!  They’re free!  And God sends them to the place where the old covenant went down.  I’m talking about Mount Sinai.  I’m talking about the 10 Commandments.  God gives Moses the 10 Commandments.  He gives Moses, also, the schematic of the tabernacle, very important, which is going to be a portable dwelling place of the presence of God until they close the real estate deal in the Promised Land.  Are you with me?  Just nod your head.  I know it’s a lot but we’re having fun.

So, in Exodus (the blanks) Moses leads Israel to freedom.  So now Moses receives the 10 Commandments.  He receives how the tabernacle should be built, and you have Israel on this vacation, which is supposed to take – I don’t know – maybe a month or two.  It took them 40 years.  Why?  Because they were not obedient.  Here’s another point of application.  When we’re obedient, rewards and blessings happen.  I know it’s simple but let’s just look at the story.  When we’re disobedient we end up in slavery, we end up wandering in the wilderness.  Instead of getting from point A to point B in a direct fashion, oh we go around and down and there and yonder.  Because the people were disobedient God allowed them to die in the wilderness.

CONQUEST. But a new person takes over when Moses’ ticket is punched, Joshua.  And Joshua takes this new Hebrew generation into the Promised Land.  Closes this amazing real estate deal. Your blanks will say the ultimate real estate deal.  Here’s what God said to him, this is huge.  God said, “Hey Joshua, take out, push out, destroy every ungodly object and person from the land I have given you.”  Remember, he promised the A-train, Abraham, all of that stuff.  Abraham!  You’re the man!  You’re gonna father a great nation!  I’ll give you this great place, this great tract of land, but you’ve got to obey me.”  God says, “J-man, tell your people, the 12 tribes, move everybody out.”  They almost did.  I mean, they almost did.  And here’s what I’ve learned about my life, maybe you’ve not learned this, but partial obedience is disobedience.  Yeah, I’m partially faithful to my spouse.  I’m partially honest in business.  I’m partially a stand-up guy on my football team.  I mean… what?  So, if we don’t deal with the sin and chicanery in our lives it will come back and bite us.  And that’s what happened to God’s people. You’re like, come on, God’s people!  What are you smoking?  What are you thinking?  I mean, God’s told you what to do!  He’s given you this amazing piece of real estate and you’re not gonna do what he said to do?  So, they mess up.

So, when they mess up God sends JUDGES.  Samson was a judge.  Samuel was a judge.  Gideon was a judge.  Cats like that.  So, judges, we have the spin cycle of rebellion.  So, as you take a glance, as you look at this, you’re gonna be like, OK.  You’ll see the spin-sin cycle in the Old Testament.  Forgetting God, falling, failure, forgiveness.  Forgetting God, falling, failure, forgiveness.  <sound effects> Sometimes people ask me, “Do you rehearse your sound effects?”  No, it sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?  <sound effects> The spin cycle of sin and rebellion.  Don’t you know these judges were frustrated?  Trying to bring them back, trying to open up a can, trying to get up in their grill.  Well here’s what the people did.

KINGS. OK, how many parents do we have?  Parents, OK, parents, parents.  Kids love to say this, don’t they?  They love to look at someone else and go, “I want what they have!  They have this…”  and it starts when they’re tiny and it continues when they’re teenagers.  It’s unbelievable.  I’m that way.  “Well, he has this.  I need that.”  As adults, “I want that, too.”

So, God’s people saw the neighboring nations, these ungodly nations that had kings.  “God, we want a king, too!  We want a king, too!”  #Wewantakingtoo was floating around everywhere.  It was really popular.  Well, you know what God did?  And this is interesting God did this.  And God moves in mysterious ways.  There’s no doubt.  God said, “Well, you want a king?  You really want a king?  OK.”  And God is that way.

Have you ever thought about this?  Again, it’s part of the freedom of choice we have.  When we get to the end of our life God is not gonna slam-dunk anybody to Hell.  We make that choice.  God is simply gonna give us a greater measure of what we desired on planet Earth.   And it was almost like his people were saying, “We want a king!  We want a king so bad!  We want a king!”

Well, who did God give them?  Saul.  Wow.  Oh, he’s handsome.  He had like 4.3 million followers on Insta.  I mean this guy was GQ.  Shredded, he didn’t have a six-pack, he had an eight-pack!  He had the right tats on.  He was just like the man!  But he was so eaten up with envy, jealousy.  He spent most of his life trying to kill David.  And finally, he said, “Buh-duh-buh-duh-that’s all folks!”  If you’re over 40 you got it!  But if you’re a millennial, you’re like what’s he talking about?  I don’t get all of my humor from millennials.  Sorry.  Some of it is gonna be – like earlier the reference about the iPhone pictures, millennials are like, “Oh yeah, I’m with you.”  And some of the older folks are like, what are you talking about?  That humor was for those of us 40 and over.  “Buh-duh-buh-duh-that’s all folks!”    That’s Saul.  You get it?  Help me up here, remember?  Help me!

Then you’ve got David.  Well David was awesome, but he messed up because he went to bed, bath, and beyond. Now that was a joke for everyone.  So, David messed up.  Then, Mr. Trustafarian, you know what that means?  If you don’t know what it means lift your hand.  Trustafarian.  OK, a trustafarian will be a trust funder.  If you grow up, grew up in a very wealthy family, your family would have these trust funds for you.  There are a lot of trust fund people in our world today. They don’t really do that much, they just kind of live off of what their family made.  So, you know, Rastafarian, Bob Marley, trustafarian.  That’s good!  I’ve gotta explain my humor now!  See, I’m funnier than you think.  So, the next time you see somebody who’s you know, 20 years old, driving a $400,000 Rolls Royce through Dallas or Miami or Norman, go, “hey!  That’s a trustafarian!  You guys are more energetic because of the time change.  I promise you, you are.

So, Saul messed up and you can just see the kings didn’t get God’s people where they wanted to go.  And because Saul messed up, David, because of the stall of Saul, all of that, the kings and there were other kings, didn’t work out.

So, you have the DIVISION, the division of the 12 tribes, very important, Israel in the north, Judah in the south.  Where are the prophets, Ed?  People like, you know, these mouthpieces of God, prophets.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, and people like that, and Micah and Malachi.  Well, the prophets are going to be in this zone.  They’re gonna be here in the split.  They’re gonna be here during the eviction, and they’re also gonna be here during the return.  The prophets.  Does that help everybody?   So, it’s not like, oh Malachi!  I guess he was over here when the children of Israel… No.  Malachi is way over in this zone, OK?  So that helps me as a preacher, as a communicator.  So, you have this division.

Well, whenever we look to man for answers… Oh, I’m gonna search for my king away from God!  We always end up living a divided life.  Isn’t that true?  So, you have EXILE (this is scary, here). Assyria, because God will allow us to choose our choices.  Another point of application!  But not our consequences.  Let me say that again.  God will allow us to (students) choose our choices.  It’s a free country!  Yeah.  But we can’t choose our consequences.

But when we look to man, “Oh we want a king, too!” away from God, division.  So, Assyria comes in and they take 10 of the northern tribes from Israel out.  We never hear from them again.  Who knows what happened.  Gone.  The two tribes, Judah, were taken captive from the Babylonians and then to fast forward because of time. Persia comes in and conquers everybody and they allow some of the Jews to RETURN to J-town (Jerusalem), rebuild the walls (Nehemiah), worship (Ezra), and then you have it all moving toward Malachi, who says, “You’re still not living for the Lord.  You have moments in the spin cycle of sin… <sound effect> but you’re still (read the book of Malachi, last book in the Old Testament) under a curse.”

So, wait a minute.  Genesis they’re under a curse.  So, they started there, with a curse, and now all the way here, a curse?  The Old Testament is more of a sideways movement of history.  Isn’t that interesting?  Sideways.  Yeah, I mean obviously God was revealing himself more and more.  Obviously, we see God’s redemptive plan in the garden.  We see it mirrored with bondage and being freed up.  We see, of course, God judging and warning and then we see repentance, coming back to J-town.  But wow.  Malachi ends with a curse, then you have 400 years of their phones being on silent.  Four hundred years of SILENCE.  And you just thought it was a page that separated the Old Testament and a New Testament in your Bible.  Oh, there’s a blank page!  No, 400 years.  You have the Pharisees and Sadducees and Greeks and Romans and all this crazy chaos that we’ll learn more about when we leave for Israel next week.

I sure wish you were going.  But guess what?  We’re doing another trip next Thanksgiving.  If you miss this one we’re doing another trip next Thanksgiving.  I’m serious.  This is gonna be awesome.

T.S. So whew!  That’s the Old Testament!  That is the context and some of the concepts of the Old Testament, but I want you to get the content.  I talked about the context and the concepts but what’s the content?  The content is Jesus.  The Old Testament is a Him-book.  It’s all about Him.  It’s all about Jesus, because wherever you look you see Jesus.  I mean, wherever you look, and if you don’t you’re not reading right.  It’s about Him.

In Genesis he’s our Creator.

In Exodus he’s our Passover Lamb.

In Leviticus he’s our High Priest.

In Numbers he’s our Cloud by day and a Fire by night.

In Deuteronomy he’s our promise-keeping and promise-making God.

In Joshua he’s the Captain of our salvation.

In Judges he’s our Law-giver.

In Ruth he’s our kinsman Redeemer.

In 1 and 2 Samuel he’s our Prophet.

In Kings and Chronicles he’s our reigning King.

In Ezra he’s our Worship.

In Nehemiah he’s our Wall-builder.

In Esther he’s our Mordecai.

In Job he’s our Healer.

In Psalms he’s our Good Shepherd.

In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, he’s our Wisdom.

In Song of Solomon he’s the Initiator of Marital Love.

In Isaiah he’s our Prince of Peace.

In Jeremiah he’s our Potter and we are the clay.

In Lamentations he’s our weeping Prophet.

In Ezekiel he’s the Wheel within the wheel.

In Daniel he’s the fourth Man in the fiery furnace.

In Hosea he’s our faithful Husband.

In Joel he’s the One who pours out his spirit on all people.

In Amos he’s our burden Bearer.

In Obadiah he’s Mighty to save.

In Jonah he’s our foreign Missionary.

In Micah he’s our Hope of restoration.

In Nahum he’s our Avenger of God’s elect.

In Habakkuk he’s God’s Evangelist.

In Zephaniah he’s our Savior.

In Haggai he’s our Restorer.

In Zachariah he’s our Fountain.

In Malachi he’s our Tithe.

I’m talking about the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Author of our Salvation, Jesus!  Jesus!  Jesus!