Antioch Covenant Church

Reaching Out

Acts 8:26-40

“Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture

and told him the good news about Jesus.” vs. 35

Be Thankful For The Christian Missionaries

The story is told of an agnostic college professor who visited the islands of Fiji. One day, he critically remarked to an elderly chief, “You’re a great leader, but it’s a pity you’ve been taken in by those foreign missionaries. They only want to get rich through you. No one believes the Bible anymore. People are tired of the threadbare story of Christ dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. They know better now. I’m sorry you’ve been so foolish as to accept their story.” The old chief’s eyes flashed as he answered, “Do you see that great rock over there? On it we used to smash the heads of our victims. And there,” he said, pointing, “notice the furnace next to the rock? It was in that oven that we formerly roasted the bodies of our enemies before we ate them. If it had not been for those good missionaries and the love of Jesus that changed us from cannibals into Christians, you’d never leave this place alive! You’d better thank the Lord for the gospel; otherwise, we’d already be feasting on you. If it weren’t for the Bible, we’d be having you for supper!”

Let’s pick up where we left off last week in Acts 8:

Read Passage – Acts 8:26-40

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” ²⁷ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” ³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” ³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁶ As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” ^[37]  38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Philip: The Evangelist

In our story today there are a few people we need to take note of. First there is Philip.  He has built a ministry on spreading the Good News of Jesus and in Acts 21 Luke calls him “an evangelist.” Philip is only mentioned a few times in the Bible and the bulk of what we know about him comes from Acts chapter 8. So Philip  has this powerful ministry of casting out demons and healing the sick and in the first part of chapter 8 we saw him deal with Simon the Sorcerer. When that situation had been resolved, an angel comes to Philip and tells him pack up and go from Jerusalem to Gaza to meet some guy; which he does. (Note to self, when an angel tells you to do something it’s a good idea to obey) Here’s a map to show you where he needed to go.  It was about 40 miles.

Enter our second person: an Ethiopian Eunuch. This is the only way we know him, his name is never mentioned. This is dangerous assignment for Phillip because the Jews and the Ethiopians weren’t on the friendliest of terms. He is the very important man; vs.27:

“…He met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians.”) vs. 27

A eunuch was a man who had been physically altered so that he could not consummate a relationship with a woman.  It stopped you physically from doing anything but, of course, it doesn’t stop your mind from thinking those thoughts. It does however give some amount of confidence to those in power that the eunuch will not be sidetracked with women but will focus on their job. This guy is not only important, he is very trustworthy because he is in charge of all the treasury and he carries a great deal of authority to protect that money. So he has chariots, people that work for him, and the authority to protect that money. So Phillip is on this trip and there near the road is the Ethiopian Eunuch sitting and reading the Book of Isaiah the Prophet. The story tells us he went to Jerusalem to worship.

Now he has one problem.  He doesn’t understand what he is reading.  He needs someone to explain it to him. The angel told Phillip to go up to the chariot and just stand near it and that’s what he does.

Personal Evangelism

Phillip is called to be a personal evangelist to this man. He is called to share his faith and explain the Scriptures. Sharing our faith can be a scary thing. It takes an even greater boldness to go to people like these cannibals in our opening story and share the Good News of Jesus knowing it could cost us our life. Most of us don’t face that kind of pressure and tense filled situations but it sure might feel like it many times.  Is there a good way to share our faith?

When it comes to sharing our faith many people aren’t quite sure what that should look like and how to go about having those conversations. In fact, many may claim ”Hey, I’m not an evangelist.” Truth be told, I think I’ve used that line a few times.  I’m a preacher, but an evangelist, not quite. We go on to say “You know when it comes to gifts, evangelism is not one of my gifts.” But sharing our faith doesn’t require us to be an evangelist.

Ex. For a moment, think of a famous evangelist. Who do you think of? Billy Graham, Luis Palau, mark Thompson, etc. What about (name some of the people in the congregation). Many of us may have some difficulty identifying with evangelists like that because we can’t imagine standing in front of thousands of people sharing the gospel.

Actively Sharing Your Faith

We are looking at some lesser know people in the Bible and today we are looking at Phillip and an Ethiopian Eunuch.  The interaction of these two men teaches us what it looks like to actively share our faith because some of the principles that we see come out in Phillip are the same one that you and I can build into our life to help us share our faith. In other words, it helps us understand the idea of Personal Evangelism or Outreach; something we can identify with.

1. Listen to the Spirit

The first lesson we learn is that one of the things we should do is listen to the Spirit. Verse 26:

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”” vs. 26

This angel tells Phillip what to do.  You might be thinking, “I’ve never heard from an angel.” (so I must be off the hook) Most of us today haven’t heard from an angel. That’s because when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we get the Holy Spirit. But here is the real issue; we share our faith to lead people to develop a relationship with God because we are in relationship with God. The idea of relationship is that there is communication and that means give and takem, that means talking and listening. Listening is so important and I have found that many times people are not taking the time to listen to God. We are quick to talk to him but many people feel uncomfortable listening. Encourage the congregation to get to a place of listening.

Ex. Set time aside, take a walk, get to a quiet place, etc.

 It says in Gal. 4:6:

“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts…” Gal. 4:6

You and I have the Holy Spirit living in us. It’s the idea of accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord. Lord means we talk to him but listen to him as well. It also means that God is in us and He is our guide, our direction, that inner voice that prods us to certain things, like when to share our faith. Many of us have gotten really good at discounting God’s voice.  We don’t want to be thought of as crazy or delusional or “weird.” We justify why we shouldn’t follow what we are thinking on the inside and this prevents us from sharing. Phillip probably could have come up with a good list of reasons why he shouldn’t talk with this Eunuch; i.e. abuse, death, etc.

2. Be Interested and Sensitive

A second lesson we learn from Phillip is the importance of being interested and sensitive to others. Notice his response to hearing the Eunuch reading Isaiah, verse 30:

“Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?””  vs. 30

He asks him a simple, honest, straight forward question. He could have discounted that this man should not be reading this. Our first response to people is crucial in letting them know we care about them and want to spend a few minutes with them.  They won’t be receptive to us if we put them down, discount their actions, etc. So we learn to askin open honest questions that allow us to build our relationship with them. 1 Thess. 5:11 says:

“Encourage one another and build each other up.” 1 Thess. 5:11

We are called to be encouraging and up lifting. We don[t have to worry about answering every question or even fearful that we won’t say the right thing.  God will do that for us. He will give us the right words. His Spirit helps us. When we get caught up in worrying about whether we have the right answer or if we will say the wrong thing, we have taken the focus off them and put it on us. Focus on them. This also goes along with the point of listening. We listen to God but we should also listen to them because when we listen to them, to their story, and listen with care and concern, they will listen to our story.

3. Share Your Story

Next, we are called to share our story. Verse 35:

“Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.” vs. 35

The Good News is what Jesus has done for you. In our world today, people want to know how it worked in your life. What God has done for you.  How it is real. We don’t have to convince them or work really hard at having just the right words or angle because God works in their heart.  We are not responsible with the outcome, we trust God with the outcome.

Warning: If you take over, it should be a warning to us that we are not trusting God with the outcome but trying to make it happen yourself.

Sharing our story is really simple; it’s just sharing our life.

4. Be Willing To Stay As Long As Necessary

Philip does one more thing to take note of, verse 38:

“Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.” vs. 38

Philip wasn’t just interested in getting the guy to say prayer and call it a done deal.  He hears the need of this man to make his new faith public and sticks around to baptize him. This also ties into listening to God, listening to the Spirit.  When the Spirit calls us to stick around we need to do that.

Wait! He’s Gone!

This story has a crazy ending, Phillip just disappears. It says the Spirit of the Lord took him away. Now we are not sure what that really looked like.  Did he like vaporize and reappear in a new place? Did the Spirit just tell him to go and he leaves without people noticing?  We don’t really know but we do know he just disappears and then appears at Azotus.

Ex. The movie “You’ve bee left behind” and how people just disappear at Christ’s return.

Another note though is that the Ethiopian Eunuch doesn’t seem upset or there is no note of him being disturbed by this. It’s okay with him. What an ending to the story.

God Is Not ForSale

Acts 8:5-25

When Simon saw that (he) said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone

on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” vss. 18-19

Up For Auction

One of my favorite websites is Ebay.  I have a lot of fun buying and selling sports cards and memorabilia and since getting on Ebay I have been able to sell a lot of the things I don’t want and obtain a lot of things I do want. You can really find a lot of useful things at a lower price if you look hard and are patient. Get this Ebay story.

In February 2001, Adam Burtle, a 20 year old student at the University of Washington put his soul up for auction on eBay. The ad read:

“Hardly used. I make no warranties as to the condition of my soul. As of now it is near mint condition, with only minor scratches. Due to difficulties involved with removing my soul (he wasn’t dead yet), the winning bidder will either have to settle for night of yummy Thai food and cool indie flicks, or wait until my natural death.

The bidding started at a nickel; his ex-girlfriend bid it up to $6.66, the mark of the “Beast.”
In the final hour of bidding, the price rose from $56 to $400, placed by a woman in Des Moines, Iowa…But then eBay officials learned of the auction and removed the listing before bidding closed – not because auctioning a soul over the Internet is improper, but because eBay requires that EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove explained “you have a piece of merchandise that a seller can deliver to a buyer,”. (eBay also forbids the selling of drugs, alcohol, guns and body parts).

Just as certain things, like your soul, cannot be for sale, at least on Ebay, today we are looking at a story where someone thought they might be able to buy a piece of God 

Read Passage – Acts 8:5-25

⁵ Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. ⁶ When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. ⁷ With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in that city. ⁹ Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, ¹⁰ and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” ¹¹ They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. ¹² But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³ Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.  ¹⁴ When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵ When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, ¹⁶ because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money ¹⁹ and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. ²² Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. ²³ For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” ²⁴ Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” ²⁵ When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

2^nd Generation Leaders

As we approach chapter 8 of Acts there is something interesting taking place. Verse 5:

“Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.” vs. 5

Up through Acts 6:6 we are told the acts of the disciples that followed Christ. Those that saw him and walked and talked with him.

1^st Generation believers – those that were handpicked by Christ, trained by Him for 3 ½ years, and who experienced first hand his miracles and teachings.

2^nd Generation believers – Those who believed the disciples teaching and turned and followed Christ from their ministry.  Phillip is one of those guys.

This is really encouraging because it means that Christianity was beginning to take hold, change people’s lives, and get them into a personal relationship with God. It is also encouraging because when Christ was here he told the disciples they would do greater things than he did and that was happening; they were raising the dead, casting out demons and healing those who needed healing.

The Samaritan Pentecost

There is also something else encouraraging going on, it’s a term I got out of a commentary I was reading, it was the Samaritan Pentecost. Verse 17:

“Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” vs. 17

One of the things that would happen is that as the 2^nd generation spread the gospel and as enthusiasm grew, some of the 1^st generation disciples would come and check out what was happening so that they could make sure there wasn’t any false teaching and ministry and that the glory was going to God.  That’s what we see in verse 17, Peter and John come to approve what is going on.  Also, and this is really important, they see the Holy Spirit come upon those that are receiving the gospel.  This is really important because it confirms what Jesus was teaching that the gospel was for all people, not just the Israelites. Also, it’s important to note that this confirms that the Holy Spirit does come to everyone.

This year we are looking at lesser known people in the Bible and today we are looking at Simon the Sorcerer. Simon is a guy who was well known in his community and awed people with his tricks and illusions. His story gives us some insight into our own lives and how we talk with people about Christ and their reactions to the gospel.  So let’s look a little closer at Simon.

Simon’s Misplaced Spirituality

Simon was an entertainer.  He made his living by tricking people and was a master deceiver.  His MO was to awe people with his illusions. Throughout history man has been enamored with people who can perform acts of illusion, i.e. Houdini, Penn and Teller, and most recently people like Chris Angel. There is something that allures us to them and intrigues us about what they do and a curiosity as to how they do the things they do. 

1. Change Starts In The Heart

Simon the Sorcerer is going around performing and he really wows the people. He’s not to humble about it either because he goes around bragging about himself and how great he is (vs. 10). But the people believe that about him too, so much so that they call him “The Great Power.”

“They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.” vs. 11

So he has a big following and a lot of popularity. Then Phillip comes into town and Simon hears the gospel. This appeals to him and the Scripture says he believes what he hears; he believed it so much that he takes a big step, he gets baptized. But what does this mean? Did he really put his trust in God? Did he really convert to Christianity? The story continues and we pick it up in verse 21 where Peter has stepped in and says:

“You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.” vs. 21

It seems that he didn’t seek God with the idea of developing a relationship with God but to promote himself and gain more of a following. He sought God’s power and his belief was superficial. It never got into his heart. He was willing outwardly to believe but not enough o put his full trust in God.

In fact, as the story continues he attempts to buy some of the power of the Holy Spirit the evangelists have. We actually have a name for this in the English language, it is called

‘simony” – the buying or selling of a church office or ecclesiastical preferment.

He was a master deceiver and he believed only enough to further his deception. He didn’t realize this was the real deal and that he was dealing with a much stronger power than what he had. He was dealing with God. He may have even had power from Satan but we are not told that. His belief was superficial, just like his tricks. Peter saw through that and called him on it. His chnge was not of the heart.

2. Spiritual Healing Brings Joy

The second thing that struck me as odd was that spiritual healing brings joy and yet there is no mention of any joy that comes from Simon but there was a lot of joy happening around him.  Verses 7 and 8:

“With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.” vs. 7-8

This must have been some sight to see. These evil spirits coming out of people with shrieks and noises, wow! It was probably a bit scary and nerve wracking but the thing that we take not of is that this brought great joy.  Ever been with someone when they receive Jesus in their hearts? There are tears of joy and relief and release yet we don’t see any of that with Simon. His conversion was more about what he could get in popularity and fame.  So the real question is do you think he really became a Christian? It doesn’t appear that way. His conversion was only to find a angle to promote himself, to trick others, deceive them to help himself and preserve  his livelihood or even gain more money.

Salvation and having God in our heart should bring us joy, great joy.  Hear the words of David from Psalm 19:8:

“The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.” Psalm 19:8

3. He Didn’t Let Go Of His “Stuff”

Finally, we realize his conversion wasn’t sincere because he didn’t trust God enough o let go of all the “stuff” in his life; verse 23:

“For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” vs. 23

He had bitterness and was captive to sin and he wasn’t willing to get rid of those things to trust God with his life.  We know he was somewhat arrogant, boastful, and self-promoting. He didn’t let that go, in fact, he probably was continuing in those things and still relying on himself and not God. In Isaiah the prophet is addressing the Israelites and tell says to them:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” Isaiah 43:18

The prophet had to remind them to let go of the things in their past.

So let me ask you, what “stuff” are you holding on to? We all bring our baggage of our past to relationship with God. Have you considered what things you haven’t been willing to let go of?

Ex.      –Talking bad about people or against others

            -Lying

            -Blaming

            -Tithing (holding things back from God)

            -Stealing (money, time, things, etc.)

            -Unforgiving

            -Etc.

The Importance of Follow-Up (How the story ends)

Listen to Simon’s response when he is called on the carpet about his motives, verse 24:

“Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” vs. 24

Talk about leading people to Christ but it must go further than that and we need to follow up and disciple them. Teach them and work with them on what a relationship with God looks like.

Ex.      – Being involved in the church

            -Helping others (bringing food, helping out in time of need, being the body of Chirst)

            -Called to community 

It pays to heed a warning

Let me finish with an illustration.

An Argentinean race driver named Juan Manuel Fangio discovered that after the opening lap of the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. As he approached a dangerous bend for the second time, Fangio noticed that something was wrong. The faces of the spectators, which he usually saw as a whitish blur as he drove by, were all turned away from him.

“If they are not looking at me,” Fangio thought, “they must be looking at something more interesting around the corner.” So he braked hard and carefully rounded the bend, where he saw that his split second assessment had been accurate. The road was blocked by a massive pileup. His keen awareness and his heeding the warning of what lie ahead allowed him to continue on and eventually win that race.

Whether Simon paid heed to Peter’s warning or not, we do not know. But it’s a smart person who pays heed to God’s warning, whether given in scripture or in person

Can You Fool God?

Acts 5:1-11

“Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” vs. 11

“2 Chicken Dinners, Please!”

Several years ago, in Long Beach, California, a fellow went into a fried chicken place and bought a couple of chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon. The young woman at the counter inadvertently gave him the proceeds from the day—a whole bag of money (much of it cash) instead of fried chicken. After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down to open the meal and enjoy some chicken together. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken—over $800! But he was unusual. He quickly put the money back in the bag. They got back into the car and drove all the way back. Mr. Clean got out, walked in, and became an instant hero. By then the manager was frantic. The guy with the bag of money looked the manager in the eye and said, “I want you to know I came by to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money. Here.” Well, the manager was thrilled to death. He said, “Oh, great, let me call the newspaper. I’m gonna have your picture put in the local newspaper. You’re the most honest man I’ve heard of.” To which they guy quickly responded, “Oh no, no, don’t do that!” Then he leaned closer and whispered, “You see, the woman I’m with is not my wife…she’s uh, somebody else’s wife.”

Charles Swindoll, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, pp. 159-60

Have you ever thought what you might do if that happened to you? Not the affair par the money in the bag part. Would you have enough integrity to return the money or would you walk away with it knowing that no one would really know? It’s a big decision. It’s tempting to some. Today we are looking at a story you might know or maybe you’ve heard the names but not sure in what context.  It’s a husband and wife duo named Ananias and Sapphira.

Read Passage – Acts 5:1-11

1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”  5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”  9Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”  10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Looking The Part

In our story, Ananias and Sapphira are part of the early church movement. It’s a new idea of the way things are done in the church and it’s not all that pretentiousness and exclusiveness that dominated the church through the Pharisee’s and Saducee’s. This was a church going couple who wanted to fit in and had embraced some of the new ideas the church had been built on since the death of Christ. One of the issues that had come to the forefront was what we today call Social Justice.  The idea of helping those less fortunate than yourself and reaching out to those in need. Some amazing work was being done because in Acts 2 it tells us that it was common for people to sell their possessions and give to others. Verse 43 it says they were all together and had everything in common. This was exciting and energizing. It is this excitement that Ananias and Sapphira get caught up in and that they want to be a part of.  Turns out they have this extra piece of property and decide to sell it and give the money to the church to help those in need. Sounds great. Anything wrong with that? No way.

We All Have Our Struggles

But what happens to them is what happens to all of us. They had a struggle. Really, we all have struggles.  Some of us are better at hiding our struggles than others but the bottom liineis that we all have struggles. Their struggle surfaces when they sell the house and give the money to the leaders They put it out there that they were selling the house and giving the whole proceeds to the church. This is a very kind gesture but in their generosity their struggles surface. There was nothing wrong with selling the house and giving the money to the church.

Current Adages With Biblical Concepts

You may have heard this story before.  Many who have heard it think that Ananias and Sapphira were killed because they didn’t give all their money to the church.  Wrong! Their problems were much deeper.  The attitudes of their hearts are the real reason behind their demise. I think some current adages and/or phrases that convey wisdom and observations about life help us understand what God is trying to convey to us through this story. And these adages have their basis in Biblical verses.

• Honesty Is The Best Policy

The first ot their issues that jumped out to me reminds me of the adage “Honesty is the best policy.”  Remember, this story isn’t just about money. There is dishonesty in their heart. Verse 2:

“With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.” vs. 2

The dishonesty is not that they only gave part, it’s that they were dishonest in that they gave off the appearance of giving it all; (100%) of the profits from the sale. I think from this we understand what their issue really was:

Their Issue: To Get Approval From Others

Their motivation was to look good, to look like they brought it all, bur really they just wanted to give some of it and keep some for themselves. Their motivation led them to lie.  Genesis 19: 11:

“Do not lie.” Leviticus 19:11

Really what God is saying to us: Be honest. Honesty is the best policy.  It’s hard sometimes, it can be tough, but it’s what’s best for us.

Ill. A few years ago they SF Giants put out this campaign about helping kids and it’s called Jr. Giants and they encouraged people to give toward this worthwhile program. It’s a great program that helps less fortunate boys and girls have baseball equipment and better parks to play baseball. During the baseball season I was always hearing commercials that promote this organization; I really admire the was(s) they are trying to help boys and girls. What they did was advertise that this one pitcher, Barry Zito, was donating $50k.  He makes $18 million a year.  That’s right $18M.  This was suppose to be an encouragement to us to give as well.  If Barry can give such a huge amount, couldn’t we spare some too? Well, I sat down with a calculator.  $50k of $18M is .0027%.  That’s 3 tenths of a percent.

So I did a little more calculating.  If a the average earner makes $60K annually, and percentage wise you wanted to match Barry Zito, that would equal $162.  No so impressive anymore is it. I am not criticizing Barry in any way.  I am glad he gave as much as he did to this organization. I am sure he gives monies to other worthy causes as well and is a very generous person.  But I felt pretty deceived by the commercial and a little manipulated too.

Like Ananias and Sapphira, it’s natural to want to look good in front of others. But we should follow God’s word and not lie especially so we can look good in front of others.

• All’s well that ends well

Another phrase that came to mind is “All’s well that ends well. It’s the idea that if everything comes out okay in the end then what you did to get there is okay. No. Back to verse 3:

“Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit.” vs. 3

When we let Satan take a foothold, he convinces us that we can take things in our own hands and make it work and that leads us down a very bad road. This reveals their second issue:

Their Issue: They Focused On Themselves Not God

We have to decide who we are going to follow. They lost focus of God’s ways and focus on Satan and their own way. That happens to us, we get that way.  We feel we can handle it, that we can figure it all our and that we can work our way out of situations. Solomon told us:

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12

What he is saying is don’t loose your focus, if you think you can make it without God and without his ways, it can lead to death.  In Ananias and Sapphira’s case this is literal. When Ananias lies to Peter, he drops dead. The glory was suppose to go to God but when we focus on ourselves we are more concerned about getting the glory ourselves.

Let me give you one quick warning. Focusing on God does not assure we won’t make mistakes. I’d like to say that it does but we still make mistakes.  I have done some things with all the right focus and not had them turn out right. But when God is the focus even our mistakes can be used for his glory.

• Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right

A third adage that surfaces is “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Isn’t interesting that there were two wrongs here; both Ananias and Sapphira. Verse 7:

“About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.” vs. 7

I find this so bizarre. Her husband dies, and is buried, and no one tells her. She walks in clueless. You would think someone would have said something. There seems to be a clue as wit why her husband dies and no one tells her and it’s in the last verse we read; great fear had seized the church.  This scared the daylights out of people. It would me. Seeing this guy drop dead because of his lie. But she walks in and tells the same lie. So their third  issue is:

Their Issue: They Established Unhealthy Patterns

When you start down the wrong path, it takes a lot of work to keep it up; and even more work to correct yourself and get on the right path. If you tell a lie, then you have to tell another to back that up, then another, and so on.  Keeping your morals pure is work. 1 John 3:6 says:

“No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.” 1 John 3:6

John tells that it is essential for us to stop the pattern of sin and to establish healthy patterns in our life. This is probably not the first time they had lied and tried to look good in front of others. They had established unhealthy patterns and those can be hard to break.

So for you and I the lesson to be learned here is to establish healthy patterns.

Establishing Healthy Patterns

-Choose: God, Fruits of the Spirit, established healthy habits, i.e. going to church, praying, reading, good music, etc.

• What goes around comes around

Finally, there is a fourth adage that is so familiar to us today, “What goes around comes around.”  In our story, what happens to her husband is about to happen to her. Verse 9:

Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” vs. 9

It’s true, Sapphira had a chance to break the pattern and her outcome would have been different. They were both deceptive people. In fqct, it even tells us in this verse that they are testing the Spirit of God.  Wow! What guts! They planned their deception and they stuck to it.

Their Issue: Deception

I think their deception took on different aspects. They deceived (or were trying to):

-Themselves

-The Leaders of the Church

-God

It reminds me of a passage from Galatians:

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7

We may feel we can deceive others, we may even get to the point of deceiving ourselves, but we cannot deceive God. We will reap what we sow.  Many times we even might feel like we are getting away with the deception but it is not really that way, so many times others see right through it.

Ex. When I get angry and don’t think anyone can see it.

50 Seconds

Let me end with a staggering statistic I found on the internet.

Running red lights is the No. 1 cause of car crashes in American cities. Annual cost to society: $7 billion in damages, medical bills, and lost work time. The average amount of time saved by running a red light is 50 seconds.

U. S. Department of Transportation, quoted in MSC Health Action News, January, 1996

Don’t get caught making short term decision that have long term consequences. We need to be honest with ourselves, slow down, be patient, look where we are going and what we want to accomplish and to put healthy practices and patterns in our life.

Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things

Acts 3:1-10

“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” vs. 6

Leading The Blind

An eye surgeon once went to China as a missionary. He soon began practicing in one of China’s hospitals, and one of the first surgeries he performed was on a man who had been nearly blinded by cataracts. The operation was successful, and the man recovered his eyesight. A few weeks later, the missionary was greatly surprised when 48 blind men showed up on his hospital’s doorstep. These blind men had walked more than 250 miles from a remote area of China to get to the hospital so that they might have their sight restored. They had traveled the entire distance by holding on to a rope that kept them all together. And guess who held the front end of the rope and led them all the way? The man who had his eyesight restored by the missionary surgeon!

Sometimes all we need is someone to help us. Someone to give us a hand. Today we are going to look at a man who had some good friends who were willing to help and their help led to his eventually getting healed.

Read Passage – Acts 3:1-10

¹ One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. ² Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. ³ When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. ⁴ Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” ⁵ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. ⁶ Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” ⁷ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. ⁹ When all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Daily Routine

In the story we are looking at today there is a man who has lame since birth. His physical limitation did not allow him to have a life of “normalcy” so to speak.  What happens is he and his friends have come up with a daily routine. Verse 2:

“Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.” vs. 2

We don’t know how long this has been going on but we have to assume it’s been a long time. Each day his friends would swing by and pick him up, both literally and figuratively, and take him to the temple. He would have to sit outside the temple because those with deformities or “issues” were  not allow in. He would sit there all day and beg. This was how he made it through.

Ex. We see people all the time like this.  We see them at Raley’s, the .99 cent store, the on-ramp to highway 4, Starbucks, etc.

This is not too long after the death of Christ and the people are still following the Jewish customs, and in this case the custom of praying three times a day.  At three different times devout Jewish men would head to the temple to pray; 9 A.M., 12 noon, and 3 P.M. Our story tells us this is the 3 P.M. time. Probably those going to the temple had gotten used to seeing him there everyday and it was so common place they really didn’t notice him anymore.

Why Things Were Different

Though things changed overnight with the death of Christ, they were still Jews and had habits that were part of their lives. But keep in mind that things were different now. The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Chapter 2 but that didn’t change the way they felt about making their way to the Temple and that didn’t change the way they felt about spending time with God in prayer.  Remember Ch.2 :4:

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…” Acts 2:4

They had something new that they didn’t have when Christ was with them, the Holy Spirit. Continuing with the story. Peter and John are on their way to the temple.

Take Note: This is the same Peter who denied Christ three times that last day of his life. This is the same Peter who had to have regretted his actions during the trials of Christ and might have felt he couldn’t have been used or needed time to recover from his setbacks but here he is sticking to the faith and stepping out in faith and making his faith real. Now look at him. A man putting his faith into action.

As I said, things are different now.  Christ told the disciples he had to go away so the Spirit could come (John 17). Now the Spirit had come and the disciples are discovering that having the power of the Holy Spirit is giving them confidence and a voice to spread the gospel and tell others about Jesus. This story is a huge turning point in the spreading of the gospel. This lame man who relies on friends and others to provide for him and help experiences what Jesus meant when he said he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law.

Person of Impact and Change

This year we are looking at the lesser known people in the Bible and how God used them.  Let’s take a close look at this lame man and how he inspires us to be people of change.

• Everyone is welcome

First, this story shows us that everyone, and I do mean everyone, is welcomed in God’s eyes. You see this come out in verse 4:

“Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” vs. 4

I think this man had become such a fixture at the Temple gate that he never even looked up when he sat there begging.  He would keep his head down, maybe because of ridicule, maybe because he felt looked down on, maybe because he felt ignored, but he would just sit there and beg with his head down.  He w wasn’t used to people paying attention to him.  Peter and John stop to talk with him and Peter has to tell him to look up. I love this.  They truly want to connect with this man and they make sure he is acknowledged and they want him to know he is valued. Jesus said in Matthew 10:

“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Matt. 10:40

Welcoming people is exemplifying Godly character.

Ex. You know one thing I love about our congregation, that we welcome people.  We laugh at how difficult it is to corral people after our time of worship in fellowship but that is a great sign of how welcoming we are.

Challenge: To connect out there like we do in here.  We are called to welcome people in the name of Christ and we need to do that outside the church as well as we do inside the church.

• Gave What They Had (Healing Words)

Second, we learn from Peter and John that they gave what they had, Verse 6:

“Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” vs. 6

There is a valuable lesson to pick up on here.  The man is looking for money, food, anything to sustain him.  They don’t have that to give him. Now remember things are different because they have the Holy Spirit.  So…they rely on that Holy Spirit to help them and they give the man something incredibly different than what he is looking for; they give him healing words. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this man had hear many words over the years.  Probably told to be quiet; to get a job, maybe words of ridicule, oppression, etc. Peter and John use the Holy Spirit to bring words of encouragement and health and words that build up not tear down. Listen to Solomon’s words in Prov. 11:25

“A generous person will prosper;  whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” Prov. 11:25

I love that. If we refresh, we will be refreshed.  If we bring healing to others through our words, we experience healing.

Challenge: I said a few moments ago the challenge was to connect with others. The second part or the second challenge is to be people of healing with our words. We need to be people who bring healing words and words that build others up and we should be known that way too!

• Backed Up Words With Action

Finally, third, Peter and John backed up their words with their actions. Verse 7:

“Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.” Vs. 7

This is so cool.  They reach our their hand and help him up.  The passage doesn’t say but isn’t it cool to think of Peter and John each reaching out a hand and helping this guy up. This is where the church becomes the gospel to others. 1 John 3:18:

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

1 John 3:18

We speak the gospel to others in our actions.

Challenge: Part three of the challenge is lending the helping hand. We help by giving food, money, jobs, helping them with things around their house, etc.

Ex. The youth group helping Evelyn Gish and Lillie Rogers.

Dazzle Them With God

The result is that God is glorified. I called this: Dazzle them with God. Verses 9-10:

“When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” Vss. 9-10

This man is given healing words that lead him to a personal relationship with God and he is walking around praising God and worshipping.  SO cool.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matt. 5:16

When We See Jesus

“I Have Seen The Lord” vs. 18

John 20:1-18

Rough Week

I felt God leading me this year to stretch myself. I felt one thing I needed to do was to love people more; to really empathize with others and to spend more time with people. That sounds great but what I have experienced is that I really struggle more when others are hurting. Here are some things that happened to me and affected my week.

• First, well let’s just say I didn’t win the lottery
• Sierra Lamar, kidnapped girl in San Jose been missing for 3^rd week
• There was a shooting in an Oakland School and 7 people are dead, hundreds of peoples lives changed forever.
• A tornado sweeps through the Dallas, TX area. Many homes, businesses, etc are damaged and destroyed, luckily no lives are lost.
• A Friend’s sister passes away/College Professor of mine passes away
• Thomas Kinkade Passes Away
• Remebrance of the death of Christ

So how was your week? Was it rough? Today we are going to look at someone who had a really rough week

Read Passage – John 20:1-18

¹Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”  ³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)  ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes, ¹¹but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.  ¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.  ¹⁵“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  ¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”  ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Mary of Magdelene’s Week

Mary Magdalene was a disciple of Jesus. She was a woman who had several demons in her. When you are demon possessed, you don’t have a lot of control on your life.  It i9s scary for those around you and even scarier for those who have them.  They have very little control and live in a oppressed state many times.  Most likely, people probably looked down on her and would not associate with her. Mary was one of those people. Jesus came along and he cast those demons out of her. In a moment of time her life is changed. She is whole, she is in control of her own body, she is free. So what does she do? She devotes her life to Jesus and followed him from town to town helping with ministry. And now, this man who freed her and set her free? She watched him be arrested for no reason. She sees (or hears) him being tortured. She sees him led up a hill and crucified on a cross like a heinous criminal. She’s standing at the foot of the cross with his mother and all that she had hoped and dreamed he would be and accomplished seems to have vanished. They not only kill him but they kill the dreams of those who have been following him.  Her week was in many ways unthinkable to her. And now, she just wants to take care of the his body by honoring him with the spices and things that are necessary to care for the dead. Even this seems impossible to do because when she gets there the body is gone. If we thought our week was bad, how must she have felt after this week? Death is a difficult thing for us. When death occurs, certain things happen.

–Things become blurry and confused

I think the first thing I noticed is that things become blurry and confused in those times. Things can go on around us and we can’t really make sense of them, we get confused. Notice what happens in verse 3:

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.”vs. 3

They forget that Christ told them he would rise again. Another thing that happens is that things don’t look the same, they become blurry; Verse 14:

“She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize it was Jesus.”vs. 14

Mary doesn’t’ recognize Jesus. Were not told why. Was it all those tears she shed. Maybe just her perspective was confused.  The difficulty from her heart reached her vision and it was difficult to even recognize the things that are familiar.

–Depression overwhelms

Secondly, our depression overwhelms us. Verse 11:

“But Mary stood outside the tomb crying.” vs. 11

Sometimes the best we can do is just cry. Depression leaves us empty, in a deep dark place, and many times inert.

Ex. Recently I was talking with a friend and he was struggling with some things at home and he was having difficulty understanding what his wife was going through. I said I thought I knew. She was depressed and that was playing itself out in her actions.  She wasn’t functioning in her normal way because of the depression.

Deeper in Thought

It’s here that the story takes an interesting twist.  Mary enters the tomb and sees the linens laying there. The angel asks Mary a question. He says in verse 13:

“Woman, why are you crying?” vs. 13

It must have seemed like a ridiculous question. Why am I crying? She must have thought; Don’t you get what has been happening? When you think about it, she’s probably been crying for at least three days.  It’s a been non-stop time of mourning and grieving.  But Jesus shows up (who she thinks is the gardener) and asks her the very same question, but he adds a twist, he takes it deeper. He says in verse 15:

“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” vs. 15

I think that Jesus is doing something that we can take note of; he tries to get Mary to think deeper in the situation; to look at it differently, to get a different perspective.  He takes it to a new level, a deeper level, and gets Mary to contemplate and change her focus.  Mourning can become a prolonged period and we sometimes can continue mourning and not move on.  We get stuck. Stuck in that same place and stuck in the moment.  We are no longer able to look ahead. He gets her to move on. He gets her eyes off the death (those images can be haunting) and back on to Jesus himself and what is to come.

Meeting Jesus

As you know, this year we are looking at some lesser known people in the Bible. Today we discover through mary of Magdalene, how our lives change when we meet Jesus and see things in a new way. So let’s look at the second part of this story where things change. I propose to you…There is hope when we see Jesus.

• Hearing Your Name Gives Comfort

The first thing is that hearing our name brings us comfort. When do things change for her; vs. 16:

“Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).” vs. 16

When he calls her name and she recognizes him – how important it is to listen, especially when God is talking. There are many times that God is calling us and we just don’t listen.  But when we do, it is really comforting.  It means he hears our cries. This may be the point where Mary stops crying. It means he is aware of our needs and tending to them. It means he cares and loves us and is always pursuing us. It also means we can turn to him in our times of grieving and mourning and he will be our comfort.  He never forgets us or our name. And when we hear his voice, we recognize it and respond to it. John 10:3-4:

“He calls his own sheep by name…and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”John 10:3-4

Ex. Ever been in a situation where you can’t remember someone’s name? You nod and say “Hey you” or something like that. You try to pretend or stall for more time to remember. Not God, he knows, he always knows. And if we open our ears and hearts, we recognize His voice.

• Brings Joy

Second, meeting Jesus can bring joy. And isn’t that what we all really want? Joy! Our grief will turn to joy. John 16:20 and 22:

“I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.  You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” John  16:20

“I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy,.” John 16:22

The ultimate result is pure joy. Here is the promise; the sadness, the depression, the tough times, they are temporary.  They won’t last forever.

Ex. Think back to time in high school when I was broken up with, it seemed like happiness would never be possible again.

But meeting Jesus brings joy and it’s a joy that cannot be explained or known by the world.

• Restored Hope

And finally, meeting Jesus brings restored hope.

“Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” vs. 17

Hope is a key ingredient for us.  Here’s how I approach this. Hope is: to desire with anticipation or to expect with confidence.

“Now these three things remain; faith, hope, and love.” 1 Cor. 13:13

Hope is one of the basic foundations of life. You can’t take it away without taking a major part of us out of our life.  Hope is hat gets us going and moves us forward.  If we are stuck, inert, unable to move, when we discover hope, in any situation, we begin to look ahead again and move forward, into new places.

In A Way You Can Understand

Do you remember the movie “Oh God” starring George Burns and John Denver? While the movie was theologically distorted and disturbing, there is one scene in the movie where Burns, who plays God, appears to this supermarket assistant manager (Denver) wearing tennis shoes, glasses, and a fishing hat. When asked why he looks the way he does, Burns answers, “I picked a look you could understand.”

God loves you and continues to give you hope and to reveal himself to you. But it’s different for each of us; an in different ways for each of us but as George Burns so aptly puts it “In a look you can understand.

How and where are you seeing Jesus in your life?

Name It And Claim It

Joshua 14:6-14

“So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.” vss. 11-12

The Battle of the Ages

It was March 29, 1991 and a boxing match took place that was dubbed “The Battle of the Ages.” Not because the fight was to be a all out brawl and incredible fight but because George Foreman, now 42, was attempting a comeback in boxing against the heavy weight champion of the world, Evander Holyfield, who was 28. Holyfield had an unblemished record to this point in his career, 25-0 with 21 knockouts.  Foreman, a gold medalist in the 1968 Olympics had won the heavyweight title in 1973 defeating Joe Fraiser but lost it to Mohammmad Ali in 1974 and then retired in 1977 after a heartbreaking points loss to a relative unknown, Jimmy Young. After that devastating loss he claimed he had seen God in the locker room and hung up his boxing gloves to become a minister. Ten years later he was broke and struggling in ministry, especially to pay all the bill.  He had also gotten out of shape.  When he began his comeback he weighed a whopping 350 lbs. and was not in shape. He calculated his moves and thought that he could make enough money making a comeback to cover ministry expenses and set up ministries for the future.  He now had a clean shaven head, a far cry from the afro he sported in the early 70’s, was in shape and down to 257 lbs and had learned to fight in such a way that would allow him to complete with quicker, younger, opponents and be competitive. It was called the cross armed defense and that combined with his size made it very difficult to fight against.  He now had 3 consecutive knockouts and had gained enough momentum that he was able to get a shot at the title. He was ridiculed by the media and that played right into his personality and strategy. He claimed to train and be on a diet of cheeseburgers. He even claimed to eat Holyfield’s weight in his breakfast meal. Of course, because of his age and the persona that he carried he was the sentimental favorite. The physical differences between the two were pretty big, Foreman weighing 49 pounds more, he was 2 inches taller but of course he was also 14 years older. Foreman held his own in the fight and even managed to make a good showing of it but in the end the chiseled, younger, incredibly fit and built Holyfield prevailed.  Foreman managed to take the fight the whole 12 rounds which is quite a fete in itself but lost on points and although Holyfeild won the fight, it was really Foreman’s night.

Many thought this was the end for Foreman but it wasn’t. He kept fighting and 3 years later he knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10^th round to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history at age 48.   Foreman has made enough money to support his ministries and did a brief stint as an announcer and is an entrepreneur best known for his cooking grill.

Read Passage – Joshua 14:6-14

⁶ Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. ⁷ I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, ⁸ but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. ⁹ So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’ ¹⁰ “Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! ¹¹ I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. ¹² Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” ¹³ Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. ¹⁴ So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.

Stepping Back A Week

Last week we talked about naming the promises of God, things like peace, joy, hope and strength. The challenge was to name the promises of God in your life.  Ask how it went. Any stories about how you experienced them? (Allow congregation to answer then do follow-up)

Story from my week (if needed): Peace about the funeral I performed on Wed.

Last week we looked at Caleb in his younger years and how he and 11 other guys went into The Promised Land to survey the land that God had given the Israelites and only Joshua and Caleb came back with a report and trusted God that they could take the land. Joshua’s words were:

“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” Num. 13:30

This year we are looking at some lesser known people in the Bible and how God spoke to us through them. We learned last week what a strong man of integrity Caleb was. I think we can safely say that Caleb impressed us with his commitment to God. He knew God’s promises, he claimed God’s promises, and he really tried to uphold the promises of God.

Lack of Conviction

I think you could call Caleb a man of conviction. When I went back and looked at this passage I realized that it tells us just that, Caleb was a man of convictions.  Verse 7:

“And I brought him back a report according to my convictions “ vs. 7

This got me thinking: what stops us from living out our convictions?  It seems that a lack of conviction is key in people not following through on claiming the promises of God.

Ex. I was reminded of this as I was working out this week.  I was on the treadmill at the gym and Let’s Make A Deal was on one of the TV’s. It struck how people would be so convinced about what they were offered and how easily they could be swayed by money. (Give the example of the guy and the box)

Living Out God’s Promises

Believe it or not it made me think about our story of Caleb here. Caleb stuck it out when the odds were against him, he stood up and held his ground when it seemed overwhelmingly bad, he lived out the promises of God when others couldn’t. So what is the key?  What does it look like to claim God’s promises. Let’s see what Caleb did.

• Look Up: Know Your Foundation

First, he looked up and knew the foundation for his convictions.  By looking up I mean he looked up to God in everything he did. In verse 9 he could claim:

“I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.” vs. 9

What Caleb shows us in his story is that God is the base, the foundation of everything he did. Have you ever thought about what your foundation is? Your foundation is that thing you go back to, the thing you revert back to for everything.  Some it can be money, some it can be power, prestige, image, etc. David was the same way; Psalm 73:26

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26

There is a common thread with these two. See it? It’s the word heart. Circle them or underline the in these verse. Both of these mean, their hearts are sold out to God.

Ill. Song – Heart of Worship

When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that’s of worth
That will bless your heart

I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You’re looking into my heart

Going to the heart is building everything on God and his ways, your morals, values, ethics, etc.

• Look In: Patient Perseverance

The second aspect to claiming God’s promises in your life is to look in. Looking in is knowing who God has created you to be and using that as your strength. Verse 45:

“Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years.” vs. 10

Patient perseverance is the idea that you rely and trust on God’s timing. It would make sense if we said he had to wait 45 seconds,45 minutes, maybe even 45 days but he had to wait 45 years; yes, years. That is a long time. But when we persevere, you will receive God’s promises. That comes right out of Scripture; Hebrews 10:36:

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:36

Trusting God’s promises and claiming his promises is choosing to believe what God has told you even though it doesn’t happen when you want it to and even when it looks like it might never happen. It’s trusting that His way is the right way and the best for your life. It’s doing everything you are suppose to do and that god has gifted you to do and then trusting his timing, his plan, his way.

Key: Not quitting

The Key is not quitting. Caleb never quit. He was ready to go whenever God’s timing was right. Verse 11:

“I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.” vs. 11

Isn’t that great! At 85 he says I’m ready God. I’ll go right now because I am good to go and I’ve got God on my side. I can’t lose.

• Look Out: Action

The final aspect is to look out; that is to take action. Verse 12:

“…but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” vs. 12

I think James 2:17 puts it in perspective for us:

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17

The action is taking the head knowledge you have and trust you place in God and then putting it into action. We saw Caleb put his faith in action in last weeks story and he continues it on here.

The Determination of a Saint

I’d like to recommend a book to you as we end.  It’s called Soul Survivor by Phillip Yancey.  It’s a book about 13 people  (not all Christians) that had a big influence on his life.  In it there is a chapter on a Dr. who worked with people with leprosy.

Dr. Paul Brand, a well-known doctor & author, was raised in India. His parents were missionaries there. In his book, “In His Image,” he writes about his mother. It is one of the most touching stories I’ve ever read.

He writes that when his mother was 75 years old, she was still walking miles every day, visiting the villages in the southern part of India, teaching the people about Jesus.

One day, at age 75, she was traveling alone & fell & broke her hip. After two days of just lying there in pain, some workers found her & put her on a makeshift cot & loaded her into their jeep & drove 150 miles over deep rutted roads to find a doctor who could set the broken bones. But the very bumpy ride damaged her bones so badly that her hip never completely healed.

He said, “I visited my mother in her mud-covered hut several weeks after all of this happened. I watched as she took two bamboo crutches that she had made herself, & moved from one place to another with her feet just dragging behind because she had lost all feeling in them.”

He said, “At age 75, with a broken hip, unable to stand on her own two legs, I thought that I made a pretty intelligent suggestion. I suggested that she retire.” He said, “She turned around & looked at me & said, `What value is that? If we try to preserve this body just a few more years & it is not being used for God, of what value is that?’”

So she kept on working. She kept on riding her donkey to villages until she was 93 years old. At age 93 she couldn’t stay on her donkey anymore. She kept falling off. But she didn’t stop preaching. Indian men would carry her in hammocks from one village to another. And she continued to tell people about Jesus Christ until she died at age 95.

Paul Brand writes, “My most vivid memory of my mother is of her propped up against a stone wall as people are coming to her from their homes, schools, & places of work. I can still see the wrinkles in her face, & her skin so tanned by the weather & the heat.

“I saw her speaking to those people. I looked at them & saw the sparkle in their eyes, & the smiles on their faces. And I saw them deeply moved by the message of God’s love, spoken by this old woman. I knew what they saw was not an old woman who had passed her prime, but a beautiful person bringing tidings of love straight from heaven.”

You now what of the incredible aspects of this story: her ministry continued for another 22 years after everyone else thought she was done and should retire. How many lives she touched in those years. How much ministry she did.

Giant Vision Problems

Numbers 13:17-33

“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

What Are The Odds?

This morning I want to show you a description or quote about a famous person and I want you to guess who I am talking about. So put on your thinking caps and here we go.

1^st Service

1. After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM testing director said: “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in hisBeverly Hills home.

2. An expert said of famous football coach Vince Lombardi: “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation.”

3. Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was advised by her family to find work as a servant or seamstress.

4. Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.

5. The teacher of famous opera singer Enrico Caruso said Caruso had no voice at all and could not sing.

6. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he builtDisneyland.

7. Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach’s 10,000 word story about a soaring seagull before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975, Jonathan Livingston Seagull had sold more than seven million copies in theU.S. alone.”

Taken from Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit,

2^nd Service

1. JK Rowling  – Harry Potter author She was rejected by many publishers, when her 1^st book was published they would only issue 1,000 copies, she was told to hide her identity as a woman
2. Seal – (Sealhenry Samuel) a native of Nigeria  he contracted the disease lupus. In its rare form, discoid lupus erythematosus, the disease affects the skin, leaving large scars.
3. Danny Glover – suffered from epilepsy, a disorder of the brain characterized by sudden seizures. He also has dyslexia, a reading difficulty in which people often confuse letters or words and may read or write words or sentences in the wrong order.
4. Hikllary Swank – raised, for the most part, in a small trailer by a lake. Outcast from her peers and poor. When she was 13, her parents divorced. She and her mother packed their bags and headed for Hollywood when Swank was 16, living out of a car while Swank auditioned for roles. She dropped out of high school.
5. 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) – Born to a cocaine-dealing, 15-year-old mother, r. His mother, continued to sling cocaine until she was murdered when Jackson was 8. Jackson then moved in with his grandmother and his eight aunts and uncles. At 11, he started selling crack on the streets. By the age of 12, he was carrying drugs and a gun with him to school. In 10th grade, he was caught and decided to come clean with his grandmother, telling her straight up he was a dope dealer. He began getting arrested in the mid 1990s for drugs and served six months in prison where he earned his GED

In 1962, Victor and Mildred Goertzel published a revealing study of 413 “famous and exceptionally gifted people” called Cradles of Eminence. They spent years attempting to understand what produced such greatness, what common thread might run through all of these outstanding people’s lives.

Surprisingly, the most outstanding fact was that virtually all of them, 392, had to overcome very difficult obstacles in order to become who they were.

Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, 1987, Word Books Publisher, p. 13

Read Passage – Numbers 13:17-33

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? ²⁰ How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)  ²¹ So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. ²² They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,^[a] they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. ²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. ²⁶ They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”  ³⁰ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”  ³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” ³² And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. ³³ We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Wandering For a Long Time

Let’s review where we are as we approach Numbers chapter 13. The Israelites have been wandering for 40 years.  40 years earlier they had leftEgyptafter seeing the miracles of God and His hand in freeing them from the oppression and tyrannical rule of the Egyptians and Pharaohs. They saw all the plagues and then when they were finally set free, they saw God take care of the Egyptians by drowning hem in theRed Sea.  They also have seen God through a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud that have led them through the dessert. They have seen him produce manna, water, food, etc. yet they still choose not to believe him many times.  After many disobedicences God became frustrated and as they were on the brink of entering the Promised Land they are turned around and wander in the dessert for 40 years because God has said that none of the males 20 years old or more would not enter the Promised Land. When we come to Numbers 13, all the males 20 years and older had died.  This was time for a new generation, a new generation of Israelites to listen to God and to move into the land He had promised them.

The Giants We Face

Life is a journey and sometimes it feels more like a wandering and that wandering can feel like it’s taking a long time. As we go through life we face all kinds of obstacles. Many are big and daunting; they’re giants. The Israelites are now about to enter the Promised Land but there are a few obstacles in the way.  The land is filled with people called Anakalites, and these are bib, big, people. They are strong. Their cities are big. But…just like the giants that the Israelites faced as they headed into the promised land, we face giants and obstacles that can appear to be overwhelming and can prevent us from moving forward and achieving what we want to do. Here are a few of those Giants:

• Ø Fear

First, we face the giants of fear. Giants paralyze us, frighten us, scare us and can stop us before we even get going.  It did the Israelites, vs. 28:

“But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.” vs. 28

Fear is very prohibitive in allowing us to move forward.

• Ø Comfort and complacency

We also face the giant of comfort and complacency.

“The land we explored devours those living in it.” vs. 32

It’s hard to believe but the Israelites had gotten used to the desert and used to the lifestyle. Many times the Israelites even wanted to go back toEgypt. They believed the lies they told themselves about it being good.  Remember this is the place they were slaves, they were crying out for God to save them the Bible tells us, they were forced to work and build things for the Pharaohs, their sons were being killed as soon as they were born, and they wanted to go back! Remembering it as good! They were scared of what was ahead and wanted the comfort of the desert. How crazy is that.

Ex. Some of the tribes had gotten so comfortable and complacent (the 2 ½ tribes Rueben, Gad, and ½ tribe of Mannasseh) that they even stayed on the other side of theJordan, never went in really went into the Promised land.. Verse 32:

• Ø Being In The Minority

Third, there is the giant of being in the minority.  It’s that giant that says you don’t want to go against the grain, that somehow the majority must be in the right.Verse 30:

“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” vs. 30

Being in the minority can be lonely and scary. Twelve spies went into the Promised Land to spy out what they were moving toward. Ten of theme said it was a great land but they should not go in. the people were to big and strong and the cities too fortified for them to take over. Caleb and Joshua were the only one who wanted to go in and claim God’s land. Being outnumbered by friends and people and it is not a good feeling and can stop us from really accomplishing and being all we are suppose to be.

• Ø Unbelief

Then there is the giant of unbelief.  Verse 31:

“But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” vs. 31

I know this sounds a lot like #1 and it has a lot of fear too, but unbelief takes it a step further and not only have we now limited ourselves, we have placed limits on God too. We get to the point of not being able to see God’s power over all things and what he can do.  Sometimes, we have to realize our fear and unbelief can be an asset to us. I’ll explain this is a bit.

Overcoming The Giants In Our Lives
So how can we overcome the giants in our lives? Today we are going to look at Caleb and his faith and what we learn from him. We hear a lot about Joshua, but in our passage today, notice it is Caleb that stands up, Caleb that declares his faith, and Caleb that is trusting God.  Here’s what he does.
1. Choose To Believe God’s Promises
First, he makes a decision. His decision is to choose to believe in God’s promises. Verse 27:

“They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!” vs. 27

The people had heard the promises of God. Now they had seen what He said was true. The land was flowing with milk and honey. But at this point 10 of them choose to believe what they saw with their eyes and not what was promised to them by God.  They were really looking at their own limitations and how it appeared to them.

We all live in choice. We sometimes have the fortune of evening seeing what God has promised. The question we ask ourselves is will we choose to believe God.  Even saying that sounds odd but many times we see the things we know God has promised and then don’t believe it. David said in Psalm 145:

“The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.” Psalm 145:13

The Israelites had been promised this land. We have promises from God too. Are you choosing to believe in those promises?

Ex. Peace – John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”

Joy – John 15:11 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Strength – Psalm 29:11 “The LORD gives strength to his people…”

Hope – 1 Peter 1:3 “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope…”

And the list goes on.

2. Are You Willing To Move Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Second, if you believe God’s promises, are you willing to move out of your comfort zone to see them happen in your life? Listen to what Caleb did in verse 30:

“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said…” vs. 30

Caleb steps up and when all the others are saying “don’t go” he says “let’s go!” Think about how it is when you feel in the minority. It’s easier to be quiet, to question yourself and your views, it’s easier to just sit back and let the majority rule. But there are times that we are called to step up and take a stand, to be the voice for God and to say what needs to be said, even though it can be uncomfortable and awkward.

Ex. Put a piece of paper on the ground and use it as a comfort zone. Show what you can do but then what you can’t. Then step out of the comfort zone and express some freedom.

God says in Prov. 16:9

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” Prov. 16:9

When God establishes your steps you have freedom. Think about it, if it really is from God and it’s his will, what can stop you? Nothing! Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone?

3. Focus On The Right Things

Finally, third, we have to focus on the right thing. Remember what the 10 said? Verse 32:

“And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.” vs. 32

These 10 spies were looking at the people, the cities, the land, the fruit, etc.  But they failed to keep their focus on the right thing.  They were looking at what they thought they could do and Caleb looked at what God could do and how it could bring him glory.   I love this verse in Psalm 25:15 and the way it reads in The Message:

“If I keep my eyes on God, I won’t trip over my own feet.” Psalm 25:15 (The Message)

When we keep our eyes on ourselves we only see what we can do. When we keep our eyes on God, we put him in control and in the right view so that He receives glory and honor.

Ex. Cutting the piece of wood and keeping my eyes on the line not the blade.

It’s Not What You See But How You See It

Getting Along With Difficult People

Number 23:13-26

“Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?” vs. 26

Honest With The Policeman

A policeman pulls a man over for speeding and asks him to get out of the car.
After looking the man over, he says,

“Sir, I couldn’t help but notice your eyes are bloodshot. Have you been drinking?”
The man gets indignant and says,

“Officer, I couldn’t help but notice your eyes are glazed. Have you been eating doughnuts”

Honesty is the best policy, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think before we speak. Today we are going to go back and look at a two men we studied last week whose names are similar sounding; Balak and Balaam and their story is found in Numbers 23.

Read Passage – Numbers 23:13-26

¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.” ¹⁴ So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on eac altar. ¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.” ¹⁶ The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.” ¹⁷ So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?” ¹⁸ Then he uttered his oracle: “Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor. ¹⁹ God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.  Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? ²⁰ I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it. ²¹ “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them. ²² God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. ²³ There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’ ²⁴ The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till he devours his prey and drinks the blood of his victims.” ²⁵ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”    ²⁶ Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?”

Sweetening The Pot/The Oracles Of Balaam

Let’s review for a moment the story of Balak and Balaam.  Balaam is a pagan priest and Balak is the king ofMoab, a country that sits in between whereSyria,Iran,Turkeyand – all meet in today’s world. Balak and the Moabites are in war with the Israelites as they are moving into the Promised Land. Balak calls on Balaam to come and put a curse on the Israelites hoping to give him the edge and victory against these people.  At first God tells Balaam not to go, then late on approves it but God sees how Balaaam is acting and sends an angel to kill Balaam. When the donkey he is riding sees the angel and won’t move, Balaam mistreats the donkey and when his eyes are open and he can see the angel, he repents and acknowledges God and even asks God if he wants him to go back home but God tells him to keep going now that he has Balaam attention and obedience. Balaam arrives and when he is called upon to curseIsraelhe blesses them. He told Balak he could only say what God told him to say. Notice that Balak sweetens the pot. He offers Balaam more money and tries to get him again to curse Israel.

It seems that when people don’t get what they want, a natural things they do is try to “sweeten” the pot or up the ante to manipulate others.

Breaking Promises

What Balak didn’t understand is that he was dealing with God. Balaam had seen God at work when the donkey started talking and when he saw the angel of God.  Balak thinks he is dealing with a man, a priest, and that it really is nothing for him to break his promise. But Balak did know that and that is why we read these words in verse 19:

“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” vs. 19

God reminded Balaam, again, who he was dealing with and what happened before.  He had seen the angel, the talking donkey and here God reminds him that he could snuff his life out any time he wanted to.

BTW: DO think Balaam treated that donkey better after that, maybe gave her extra straw, put her out in the pasture a little more, ect. I mean she did save his life.

Anyway, Balaam probably even know that whole history of the Israelites and the covenant God made with Abram back in Gen. 12:1-3:

1 Now the LORD had said to Abram, “Go out from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s household, to the land that I will show you; 2 and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, in order that you might be a blessing; 3 and I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you” Gen. 12:1-3

Men break promises, God doesn’t. So God was going ot keep his covenant with Abram and no one, not Balaam, not Balak, not some false god, nothing was going ot get God to break what he had covenanted to do.

Dealing With People God’s Way

This interaction is in the Bible for a reason and I want to look this morning at the different aspects of this interaction between these two men and what God wants to teach us from it.

1. Honor God

First, we learn that in our relationships, we should always honor God. Verse 15:

“Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him (God) over there.” vs. 15

I think it is significant that Balak realizes that he must honor what God wants him to do. I think that angel scared him straight and when you realize that it is God you are dealing with, not man, you act and react much differently. He realized that he could not go against God again or he would die. He learned to have some respect for God and in this situation, to consult God before he acted.  He got on board with God.  Just think for a minute how different we would handle our relationships if we remembered that God was right there in the middle of them.

Ex.  Praying with the ladies in the hotel lobby this week.

Rev. 4:11 says:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things…” Rev. 4:11

We tend to remember we are God’s creation but so are other people and we give God honor when we bring him into our relationships.

2. Be True To Yourself

Second, we need to be true to ourselves, in other words, hold to our convictions, especially when they are Godly ones. Remember back to last weeks passage when Balaam said in Numbers 22:38:

“Balaam replied. “But can I say just anything? I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.” Numbers 22:38

He had experienced trying to do it himself and to make it about himself. Now it was about God and he was convicted of that and he wasn’t going to make that mistake twice. He was convicted and he then held to that conviction.

One of the biggest reasons we lose our clout with people is that we are convicted by God about things and are easily swayed away from them by people.  It’s called peer pressure. We say we follow God’s ways but then get easily swayed and don’t hold to our integrity and Godly conviction. People see our duplicity and how easily we can be pressured.

Ex. We says we love God and want to follow his ways and then fall into the trap of talking about others and spreading gossip, rumors, etc. This week when I was working and I started sown that path and had to catch myself and stop.

Jeremiah 17:7 says:

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” Jer. 17:7

We can’t compromise our beliefs and convictions, especially if we are putting our confidence in ourselves. Our confidence should be in God.

3. Stick To What Is True

And third, we need to stick to what is true. Verse 26:

“Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?” vs. 26

I mentioned that this is the second time Balak tries to sway Balaam.  He actually tries 2 more times after this.  And remember, before he went with Balak he told him he could only say what God tells him. That hasn’t changed. The truth doesn’t change. Honesty in our dealing with others is huge when it comes to holding our credibility with them. Here’s something to remember; there is freedom in the truth.  Jesus said that. John 8:31-32

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

One reason God doesn’t change is that He holds to the truth. I will caution you, be careful not to use the truth to beat up others or to lift yourself above them, but hold to it.  There is freedom in truth. Freedom in never lying, never having to cover up a lie, never having to

The Test

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of peoplemaking their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew but whose face he did not—the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun 13months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf, he had found himself intrigued, not with

the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name: Miss HollisMaynell. With time and effort, he located her address. She lived inNew York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and invited her to correspond. The next day, he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year, the two corresponded by mail and grew to know each other. A romance soon budded. Blanchard requested a photograph,

but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting. It was to be at 7:00 P.M. in Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognizeme,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.” At 7:00 P.M., John Blanchard was in the station looking for a girl he had never seen but whose heart he loved. Just then, a beautiful young woman wearing a green suit approached him. He moved toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As he walked up, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. “Going my way, sailor?” she murmured. Then John saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. She was well past 40, had graying hair tucked under a worn hat, and, as John described, “was more than plump.” The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. John felt split between the two: He wanted judging others to follow the pretty young girl, but he longed to meet the woman whose letters had made such a profound impact on him. He chose to stay. John gripped the worn, blue leather copy of the book that was to identify him to Hollis. He squared his shoulders, saluted and held out the book to her. As he spoke, he could not help feeling choked by the bitterness of his disappointment. “I’mLieutenant John Blanchard,” he said, “and youmust beMissMaynell. I amso glad you couldmeetme.May I take you to dinner?” The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit who just went by begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said that if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”

Uncoomon Stories and Illustrations Jim Burns Gospel Light 2008

People are watching to see if we live what we believe and if we treat people the way God teaches us to.

Talking Donkeys?”

Numbers 22:21-34

“Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials.”

Bad Reception

A few years ago you couldn’t watch TV for too long before without seeing this guy: the Verizon wireless commercial guy. This guy goes all over the world asking, “Can you hear me now?”  Isn’t it crazy how communication has become a big part of our lives today, how advanced it has gotten, and how it allows us to stay in touch with loved ones. It pretty crazy for those of us who a little older but to the younger people of today it’s just the norm.

Reception in communication is so important. Reminds me of this funny story:
Illustration: An old couple was sitting by the fireplace. He looked over at her, had a romantic thought, and said, “After fifty years, I’ve found you tried and true.”
The wife’s hearing wasn’t very good, so she said, “What?”
He repeated, “After fifty years, I’ve found you tried and true.”
To which she said “After fifty years, I’m tired of you too” (from sermoncentral.com)

Today, let’s read a story that talks about our needing to have good communication with God.

Read Passage – Numbers 22:21-34

 ²¹ Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. ²² But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road. ²⁴ Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again. ²⁶ Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. ²⁸ Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” ²⁹ Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” ³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. ³¹ Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. ³² The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. ³³ The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”  ³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

Balaam

Today we are looking at a guy named Balaam. Balaam is a man of Pethor, a city in Mesopotamia. (Show map.) (Corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.) He is a well know diviner and it appears that he has some respect for Yahweh even though he is not an Israelite.  We’re not sure how whole heartedly he followed Yahweh but we know he had some amount of faith. Most scholars consider him a pagan priest. Interestingly enough if you look back at verse 18 Balaam calls Yahweh “my God.”  But there are numerous passages in the Bible that talk about Balaam as a guy who is only out for himself and really not a good character who leads people astray. We know that his reputation went before him, that he was a pretty well respected diviner.   In our story, Balak, the king of Moab calls Balaam to come to him. This is about 370 miles away and it would take about three weeks to journey to see king Balak in Moab  Balak is in a fight with the Israelites and his hope is that Balaam will come and put a curse on the Israelites.  Balak notes of Balaam in Num. 22:6:

“For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.” Num. 22:

So Balaam has a reputation that precedes him that what the says really happens
When Is God Angry?

In verse 1-21 we see that Balak is summoning Balaam to curse Israel because he knows when Balaam speaks, it happens.  Balaam’s not sure abou this and wants to sleep on it. In the middle of the night God came to Balaam and told him not to go with them. Balak doesn’t like that Balaam won’t go with him and tries to sweeten the pot by sending some more important guys back to him, and offers a lot of money and riches to come and curse Israel. This time, God comes to him again and allows him to go with Balak but only to say whatever God tells him to say.

This is the point of the story where it seems to get a bit confusing because in verse 22 it says:

“But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him.” Vs. 22

You might be saying, wait a minute I thought God told him to go with them.  He did. But God know what is going on behind the scenes and in the hearts of men and sees what we can’t.

I think we can still learn a lot from Balaam. The way God interacts with him and the way Balaam responds can have a lot of similarity to the way we deal with God and how we respond to him in our life.

Lessons From Balaam

So let’s look at what lessons we can learn from a “pagan priest” and how we can know God’s will for us and how to respond to Him in the situations of our life.

• God Speaks

First, it may sound obvious but it is a good reminder, God speaks and is still speaking today. In fact, God speaks to believers as well as non-believers. Yes, non-believers.  I’ve heard people say that God only talks to Christians and the God only hears the prayers of believers. If that were true, no one could become a believer because God couldn’t hear their prayer of repentance. In fact, we see God speak to non-believers.  Let’s look again at verse 12:

“ But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” Vs. 12

God speaks to Balaam.  God will speak to you too. God speaks to all of us in different ways but He isn’t silent. Some hear his voice, some see visions, some see Him in nature, some hear him speak through other people in their life, He speaks through His Word. I would even venture to say that it isn’t that God isn’t speaking, it’s that most of the time we are not listening. David said in Psalm 95:7-8:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” Psalm 95:7-8

We often don’t hear God speaking because our hearts are hardened to his voice. We justify it away, he discount it, we don’t listen because we are so busy talking. Most of the time we get in the way.

Ex. Here is an example of how we get in the way, when our emotions, our, desires lead us. Tell the story of _______________________

So one thing we can learn from Balaam is to listen for God as He speaks to us.

• God Is Limitless

The second thing that we learn is that God is limitless. We put limitations of God but those limitations are our limitations not His. I mean really? Donkeys talking? Donkeys responding to God and His angels? Verse 23:

“When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field.” Vs. 23

This donkey sees what is happening and is able to respond. It kind of takes me back to when I was a kid.  I have always loved animals and loved to watch those shows where animals could talk or understand people.

Ex. I loved shows like Flipper, a dolphin that could understand people. Remember Dr. Doolittle? The animals could respond to him.  Just the idea that an animal can reason and think and respond. I was watching a show the other day where this guy could talk to an pond full of alligators and one alligator, George, would come when he called. In reality some animals have the capacity to respond to us but could you imagine them talking and reasoning with you? That’s what happens here. Balaam not only hears the donkey speak but responds to him when the donkey asks him a quesiton.

-You know what, I talk to animals. Ask my wife. I talk to the cows on my hikes. I talked with dogs, rats, etc. I am somewhat crazy I guess.

We have to remember that God is imitless and can use anything in all creation to do whatever He asks or needs. Remember in the book of Job when Jobs friends are questioning him.  He throws this statement back at one of them in 11:17:

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?”

Job  11:7

Our finite minds can’t even come close to knowing and understanding the limitlessness of God.

• Beware of: Obstacles in the Road

There is one thing to beware of from this story; we can’t see, sometimes, the obstacles that God pouts in our road. Most of time we see them in hindsight.  Verse 33:

“The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times.” Vs. 33

This donkey is reasoning and thinking like a person and has the insight to see the obstacle that Balaam couldn’t.

Ex. Story of the time someone else saw an obstacle in my path that I couldn’t.

But as he is going Balaam starts to act on his own again. Verse 32:

“I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.“ vs. 32

Remember earlier I asked why God was so mad? Here is the answer. God gets angry with Balaam because in heart Balaam is beginning to act recklessly and not follow God’s plan, not honor God in front of others, only think about himself and his gain, and so God sends the angel of the  Lord to oppose him. God is onto Balaam and it begins to tick him off. The Lord God is not just another spirit or “god” that Balaam has dealt with in the past, God is very real, and had very real authority and very real power – and Balaam is about to experience it.

• Respond To God

As I said earlier, Balaam is not exactly the guy we want to pattern our life after, he’s not a solid believer in God. But here he gets it right. When he hears God, he responds. Verse 34:

“Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.” Vs. 34

Balaam, when confronted by God, responds with repentance.  He basically says “I was wrong, and I’ll go back if you want God.” Balaam was so mad at this donkey. This donkey that saved his life. But he even says he would have killed the donkey if he had just had a knife at the time. He beats this donkey and abuses it but boy is he humbled by God. His pride took a big hit.  This donkey, the one he beat, was his saving grace. He gets it here and admits his error and submits to God.

The Key: Stop, breathe, (get a grip), ask God,

Back in Deut. 4:39 Moses tells the Israelites:

“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.” Deut. 4:39

Let me tie this into our life this morning. God has built times into our lives to stop, breathe, acknowledge Him, and get back on track. One of those times is communion. So let’s move into a time of communion.

Communion

Destructive Behavior

Numbers 12

“Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife…” vs. 1

Sharing Our Issues

Four pastors are meeting weekly to pray and just share what is going on in their churches and to support each other.   One day they begin their meeting and one pastor says, “We just started some new groups and the coolest thing happened, they shared some of the things in their lives that they were afraid to tell people about and the group came around them, encouraged them, prayed for them and it was really very therapeutic. I was thinking maybe we could try that and it might help us get to know each other better.  In fact, I’ll begin.  I’ve never told anyone but I have a bit of a drinking problem. Every once in a while when the pressures of the job get to me I go to the local bar, sit way in the back where no one can see me and really get drunk.” The others are taken back by this and there is a silence.  Finally, a second pastor speaks up and says, “Well, if you can share that I’ll share too.  I have a bit of a gambling problem. I get a real rush out of laying some money down and trying to hit that big jackpot.” Wow, says the third pastor.  I would have never imagined you having those issues. I guess I’ll go. I have a problem with lust. It’s pretty bad. In fact there is one lady in our congregation and every time I get up to speak all I can see is her and it’s really becoming more than I can handle but it feels so good to talk about it and get it out.” There is a long silence and finally the thirds pastor asks the fourth pastor if he wants to share.  So finally he says, “Sure I guess so.  My struggle is gossip and I can’t wait to get out of here and tell people what I just heard.”

Gossip is one thing that just destroys relationships. It’s been around a long time.  Today we are going to look at a passage where gossip

Read Passage – Numbers 12

¹ Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. ² “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this. ³ (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) ⁴ At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them came out. ⁵ Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, ⁶ he said, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. ⁷ But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. ⁸ With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” ⁹ The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. ¹⁰ When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; ¹¹ and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. ¹² Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” ¹³ So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!” ¹⁴ The LORD replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back. ¹⁶ After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

Family

Family plays important roles in our lives. Moses family played a huge role in just about everything he did.  His family was from thelandofURand then settled inEgypt. We know

-Miriam

First there is Miriam. We first hear of Miriam in Exodus 2. She is Moses’ older sister and the one that watched over him when his mom put him in a basket and then in the Nile River to escape being killed by Pharaoh when he decreed that all the new born boys be slaughtered. She watched over Moses from her early years and she watched him grow and become this prince ofEgypt. But she was called by God too and was a big leader among the Israelites and a prophetess.

-Aaron

Aaron was Moses older brother and as Moses moved into the position of leading the people out ofEgypt, Moses wants his brother right by his side.  He is Moses right hand man and when Moses feels inadequate to speak, it’s Aaron that speaks for him. Every time Moses goes to Pharaoh Aaron is right there with him.

Many of us are reminded of the importance of our family by our parents and they instill in us the idea that family is special.

Ex. My mom used to remind me often that friends would come and go but your family will be there your whole life. It seemed like every so often she had to remind me of that just to make sure I didn’t forget it.

We have certain expectations of people. When we think of family I think that we generally expect our family to treat us well. It might not always happen but it is kind of an unwritten rule that we are suppose to treat family well. When that doesn’t happen, I think the hurt is deeper because of the expectation.

A Critical Spirit

What happens to Aaron and Miriam is something that happens to many of us, after a while they develop a critical spirit. Things are going along and we sometimes get complacent, bored, to comfortable, and sometimes we just let the little things get to us. It’s important to note that they start becoming critical of Moses and that criticalness doesn’t just happen, it festers and developes in our spirit, out heart, and then it starts to come out in our words; and we need to remember that we will give account for our careless, critical words. In Matt 12:36 Jesus said:

“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” Matt. 12:36

When we let those things build in us, they begin to come out and they can be hurtful, painful, and tear apart our relationships.

For a moment, think about how hurt Moses must have felt, how deeply this hurt, how totally frustrating this was for him. I often say “You can pick on me but don’t you dare pick on my wife, kids, family!” It’s bad enough that others would do this let alone your own borther and sister who you serve with and count on. They are not only grumbling about him but are trying to oust him as leader too! Wow!

The Not So Silent Killers

They are trying to oust him and get to him through what I call “Not so silent killers.” There are two things that Miriam and Aaron do that have lived on through the ages and continue to plague our society, our churches, our families and our lives.

• Name Calling

The first not so silent killer is name-calling. Listen to verse I again:

^“Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.” vs. 1

“Oh that Cushite!” This is their sister-in-law. She is family. Her kids are their nephews and nieces. They celebrate birthdays and holidays with them. They travel with them, minister with them and probably lived near each other and they resort to name-calling. Name calling or labeling is a way that  people seek to be superior to or control others.  If you can label them, you can control them. We use name calling to put others down so we can build ourselves us.  Think about it, what Miraim and Aaron are saying is that they are better than Moses and his wife Zipporah therefore they have the right to control what is happening with the Israelites.

In the New Testament Paul warns us about this in Eph. 4:31:

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Ephesians 4:31 (bold and underline added)

Malice: desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another.

Words can be so hurtful. We think words are…well…just words.  But Paul categorizes them with bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander.  That is a pretty big list of offenses.

• Focused On Their Plan Not God’s

The second thing Miraim and Aaron do is they shift their focus onto their plans and they forget God’s plan. Verse 2:

“Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” vs. 2

For some reason they are not feeling validated or respected.  They see Moses getting the attention, the honor, respect, and they start thinking “I want some of that.”  We are not really told why at this point they begin to challenge Moses authority but they have forgotten God’s plan and their idea is to insert their own plan. They’ve lost focus. When Israel loses focus later in history, during the time of the prophet Isaiah, he warns them in Isaiah 30:1:

“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine…” Isaiah 30:1

It is so easy to become inward focused, to think about what we want, what we “deserve” and what we feel is the right course of action.

How To Start The BEST Rumors

I began the year by telling you that one of my intentions for the year is to love people more. To truly appreciate people for who God created them to be, to affirm them, and to show more love. So today I want to put out a challenge to you today. My challenge is that I want  you to start more rumors? Yes, you heard me correctly. I want you to start today make it a goal to start more rumors, in fact the BEST rumors, and I’m going to let you know what that looks like and how to do it.

Flip over your outline and follow along with me. Here is how to start the BEST rumors.

First, Build each other up.

B__________________________

Paul says in 1 Thess. 5:11:

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…” 1 Thess. 5:11

And here is how to build each other up, to choose to say positive things instead of negative.

How:

For you and I to build each other up we need to look for the good in each person and then affirm that. Granted, in some people this may be hard, but I think the more we put this in our lives, the easier it will become to see the good in everyone and affirm that. Complaining, being negative, grumbling, are the easy way out. You might have to look hard to find the good but it is there.

Ex. The guy at the gym in the wheelchair always interrupting and running over peoples work area. I told him (after not seeing him for a few weeks) that the place wasn’t the same without him. What a great smile I got. And her start talking to me in a positive manner.

Second, encourage one another.

E__________________________

In Hebrews 3:13 it says:

“But encourage one another daily…” Hebrews 3:13

Are you encouraging or discouraging? You might even be thinking, I am encouraging our even I don’t know how to be encouraging with all the stuff I’m dealing with. Here’s how to be encouraging: Look outside yourself.

How:

Looking outside yourself is giving someone attention and making them feel important, wanted, loved, heard. Sometimes we spend more time and energy trying to get away from people when giving them just a moment is a better solution. Also, don’t you know when someone is blowing you off or not paying attention or just can[‘t wait to tell you their story and not really listiening to yours? Of course you do, I do.

Ex. Praying for the kid that was hit my electricity

Third, and this is so important, speak the truth, always.

S___________________________

Paul tells us in Eph. 4:15:

“Speak the truth in love…” Ephesians 4:15

So this is how you speak the truth; you only say what is true and when you do, speak it in love.

How:

On of the quickest ways for us to lose our witness with others is to say false things, to “stretch the truth” and that makes us untrustworthy. The way you say things and the tenderness you say them with has a lot to do with how they are received.

Ex. Valentine’s Day hearts we made with the Youth Group

Finally, fourth, Take Pleasure In Connecting; especially connecting with family and church family.

T___________________________

Taking pleasure is connecting is finding the enjoyment of others.  This is how you do that; by going deeper with people, letting them in your life and getting deeper into theirs.

How:

Going deeper is the idea of dropping your waterline, letting people see more of who you are, and seeing more of who they are.

Ex. Pick people out of the congregation and compliment them. Go beyond the superficial, do deeper.