Series: “First Steps In the Journey”
Message #1 -- GETTING STARTED.
INTRO> Michael Buffer is known to his momma as her firstborn son, and she’s rightfully proud. But he’s known to others as the man whom the look forward to seeing standing in the middle of a boxing ring. His line will be “tailored” to whatever venue he’s in, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same...If he were to say his line from a venue close by us this morning, it would sound like this: “Ladies and gentlemen, from the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, for the thousands in attendance and the millions watching around the world, LLLLLET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
-->He is, in short, declaring a beginning...It’s TIME TO GET STARTED.
<>Everything has a beginning...whether it’s a boxing match, a novel, a career, a meal...or a new year.
<>On this first Sunday in the new year we’ll examine what’s involved in GETTING STARTED and getting started well.
*I invite you to open a Bible and turn to Matthew, chapter nine.
<>We’ll talk about it many times in the weeks to come, but our theme for 2008 is simple, easy to remember: “OTHERS!”
--It will involve our going, growing, leading and learning, but make no mistake about it...our aim, our intentional focus is on those who are NOT with us on Sundays, those who DON’T know Jesus, who haven’t experienced the salvation, purpose and joy only a relationship with Jesus can bring.
<>It is time for a new beginning.
<>But as we begin, there are TWO TRUTHS WE MUST BE AWARE OF in order for a new beginning to take place:
1) TO ACCOMPLISH A SUCCESSFUL NEW BEGINNING, WE HAVE TO LET GO OF THE PAST.
---Philippians 3:13-14 -- “...forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal...”
-->There needs to be closure, there needs to be an ENDING before we can successfully move forward to a beginning.
---ILL>Over two thousand years ago a Greek artist named Timanthes studied under a respected tutor. After several years the teacher’s efforts seemed to have paid off when Timanthes painted an exquisite work of art. Unfortunately, he became so enraptured with the painting that he spent days gazing at it. One morning when he arrived to admire his work, he was shocked to find it blotted out with paint. Angry, he ran to his teacher, who admitted he had destroyed the painting. “I did it for your own good,” he explained. “That painting was retarding your progress. Start again and see if you can do better.” Timanthes took his teacher’s advice and produced “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia,” which is regarded as one of the finest paintings of all antiquity.
--<>Specifically, we need to be willing to start fresh, take a fresh, new look at everything, re-tool everything if needed, and be willing to take a new direction if that’s what God shows us we need to do.
---ILL>When you attend a college graduation ceremony, that ceremony is called a Commencement...meaning it is both and ENDING of one chapter in the graduates’ lives, but it is primarily a BEGINNING, a commencing of the new chapter. And, you can’t have the new chapter before you close the previous one.
--<>Likewise, today, while remembering the lessons from the past year, ladies and gentlemen, LLLLET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!
2) TO ACCOMPLISH A SUCCESSFUL NEW BEGINNING, WE HAVE TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP.
--Hebrews 6:1,3 -- “...let us press on to maturity...and this we will do, if God permits.”
-->It’s not just “new,” it involves a BEGINNING.
---ILL>Kim Linehan holds the world record in the Women’s 1500 meter swimming freestyle. Kim does endless exercises and swims from seven to twelve miles every day. Kim’s coach relates that often Kim is asked, “What is the hardest part of your regimen?” And, the coach says, she always responds by saying, “The hardest part is GETTING IN THE WATER to begin.”
---QUOTE: Richard Evans has noted well, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”
--<>It’s time to start. It’s time to take the first steps in the journey.
TODAY, AS WE BEGIN THE NEW YEAR WITH A NEW COMMITMENT, and A NEW DIRECTION, THERE ARE THREE QUESTIONS TO ANSWER.
And in order to GRASP and UNDERSTAND THE ANSWERS
THERE ARE THREE ACCOMPANYING ACTIONS WE MUST TAKE:
QUESTION #1: WHAT DOES GOD WANT US TO DO?
<>Answering the question requires an action on our part: HEARING HIS COMMAND.
---Matthew 28:18-20 -- “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you...”
-->Notice, it’s not the “great suggestion,” but the great commission.
----It’s not really optional if we intend to be the persons God wants us to be...it’s a COMMAND.
<>DID YOU HEAR IT?
-->Did you hear what it is He wants us to do?
<>He wants us to GO!
-->He wants us to outside our fellowship, to go into the world, to go into and impact our community.
-->Our focus is to be on OTHERS...how we can reach them, how we can minister to them, how we can communicate with them.
<>In 2008, it doesn’t mean we’ll diminish in any way our fellowship with one another, but it will be found in our united vision, our united efforts of reaching our community for Christ.
---ILL>I’ve told you before of the events that transpired just before I arrived to serve in a church in the New Orleans area. The church was just four hundred yards from the main runway of the New Orleans International Airport in Kenner. One afternoon, amid a terrible storm, a fully-loaded passenger jet was struck by a wind shear on its take-off and crashed into the houses/community nearby, even tore off a section of the church’s new building. The day before the community had been torn apart by racial strife and unrest, but when the plane went down neighbors rushed to the scene and began forming assembly lines helping to carry out children and injured victims, handing them from one to another along the line in an urgent attempt to save lives. After an excruciating hour or so, after things had calmed down a little, the neighbors began to look at each other and came to the realization that they actually had much more in common with one another than they had thought about before. In other words, their fellowship was established because the worked together on something bigger than they were, a common venture, an urgent cause.
-->That’s how I believe God will bring us closer and closer to one another this year...as we serve together in an urgent cause...OTHERS!
---Going, growing, leading, serving....We’ll grow closer to one another also as we focus NOT on ourselves but on others.
QUESTION #2 -- WHY DOES HE WANT US TO DO IT?
---Why does He want us to go outside our fellowship, go into the world, into the community?
--<>To answer the question requires a second action on our part: SEEING THE NEED.
--Look at Matthew 9:35-38 -- “...Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages (urban and rural outreach), teaching in their synagogues (reaching the “religious folks”), proclaiming (in the streets, among the non-religious crowd) the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease (long-term problems) and every kind of sickness (short-term problems), and SEEING THE MULTITUDES, He had compassion on them because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful (there’s a huge need out there), but the workers are few (because a lot of those who should be working are only involved in gathering together on Sundays with others just like themselves). Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
--<>DID YOU GET THE PICTURE HE WANTS US TO SEE?
--<>He wants us to see the desperate condition those who haven’t received Jesus are in:
---a) They’re distressed (literally, “harassed”).
---->The word translated “distressed” is a word associated with and a picture of sheep being moved through the channels, tunnels, paths inside a slaughterhouse, coercing them, “harassing” or “forcing” them to head straight to their death.
---->Our neighbors who don’t know Jesus are on their way to their death...and it just might happen in 2008.
---b) They’re downcast.
---->The term here is a picture of a sheep who is full of wool being “cast,” having fallen down, and he literally can’t get up.
---->A sheep in that condition is helpless to save himself...it’s why the shepherd has a crook on the end of his rod, to rescue a sheep who is “cast down” and needs to be turned upright.
---->It’s an urgent need, because if the sheep remains downcast he will perish in a matter of hours, the blood will rush away from his head, and he’ll slip into an unconscious state, eventually ending in death.
---->Our neighbors are on their way to dying...and we need to rescue the perishing, care for the dying.
---c) They’re lost, confused, and aimless.
---->The description Jesus gives is a sheep without a shepherd.
---->The sheep has no one to show them the right way to go, no one to guide them, walk with them, help them, to “make straight” their path.
---->What’s worse is that the sheep doesn’t know where to turn in order to have his condition resolved, and is likely to follow a “leader” who doesn’t have the sheep’s best interest at heart.
---->Paul described the lost and confused condition of those who don’t know Jesus and our need to reach them when he wrote in Romans 10:14 -- “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
---->By the way, folks, YOU are the preacher Paul was talking about...we’re ALL to proclaim the message, not just the pastor on Sunday mornings.
--<>So, we’re to go because He has instructed us, empowered us, directed us, and commissioned us to go.
--<>And we’re to go because those who don’t know Jesus are in desperate condition and need to hear the good news.
--<>We’re to go because the need is urgent, and the message needs to be proclaimed from the mountains and the rooftops.
---LYR>The lyrics of an old hymn (actually, they’re pretty much all old, aren’t they), says it very well: “Dear Savior, let this new-born year...spread an alarm abroad; and cry in every careless ear, ‘Prepare to meet thy God!”
--<>That’s it! -- 2008 could very well be the last year of your neighbor’s life on earth...we MUST go and tell him the good news.
QUESTION #3: HOW DO WE GET STARTED?
--<>To answer this final question requires a final action on our part: ACCEPTING THE CALL.
--<>There are FOUR POSSIBLE RESPONSES to God’s command to go, and each is seen in a Bible character.
1) WE CAN RESPOND LIKE JONAH.
--<>His response: “NOT ME!” ... “I’m not going to go.”
---Jonah 1:1-2 -- “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
-->God’s response to Jonah’s answer: He prepared a great fish for him...and swallowed him up.
2) WE CAN RESPOND LIKE MOSES.
--<>His response: “WHO? ME?!” ... “I’m not qualified to go, I’m not capable of speaking.”
--a) First he said, “I’m not qualified.”
---Ex.3:11 -- “Moses said to God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?’”
--->God’s response to Moses: “I’ll be with you, and I’ll bring you successfully back to this mountain.”
--b) Then he came up with his second excuse: “I don’t know what to say.”
---Ex3:13 -- “...Moses said to God, ‘Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel...What shall I say to them?’”
--->God’s response to Moses: “You tell them you’re coming in My name, that the great ‘I Am’ has sent you, and I’ll take care of the rest of it.”
--c) Excuse #3: “They might not like me.”
---Ex.4:1 -- “Then Moses answered and said, ‘What if they will not believe me, or listen to what I say?”
--d) Excuse #4: “I’m not good at public speaking.”
---Ex.4:10 -- “...Moses said, ‘...Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent...for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
--->God’s response to Moses’ final two excuses: “I’ll do the convincing Myself, and, by the way, Moses, I MADE YOUR MOUTH! I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”
--->It’s the same promise Jesus gave to His own disciples, telling them to not worry about what they would say when they were brought up before councils, that the Spirit would reveal to them what it is they should say.
--->And, of course, that promise is for us today too.
--->Interestingly, God did send Aaron along to be a spokesperson with Moses, but Aaron never was actually a spokesperson. In fact, the only recorded words of Aaron speaking were, “I just threw their jewels into the fire, and out came this calf!” -- Way to go, Aaron! What a great spokesperson!
3) WE CAN RESPOND LIKE ELIJAH.
--<>His response: “O POOR ME!” ... “I’m always the one doing it all!”
---1 Kings 19:13b-14 -- “And behold, a voice came to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ Then he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant....and I alone am left:’”
--->In other words, Elijah is saying, “I’m tired, Lord. You need to find someone else. I’m done. I’ve done it all for so long, I need a rest.”
--->God’s response to Elijah: “There’s another job I have awaiting for you...and, by the way, there are seven thousand who are still on My side. You’re not the only one.”
BUT THE CORRECT RESPONSE TO GOD’S CALL...
4) WE CAN RESPOND LIKE ISAIAH.
--<>His response: “Here am I, send me.” ... “I’m not sinless, I’m not ‘special,’ and I’m even in the middle of still grieving the loss of my friend, King Uzziah, but I’m available, Lord.”
--Isaiah 6:5-6 -- “...I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go with Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I, send me!’”
--<>Notice:
---a) Isaiah described himself as a man of unclean lips...a sinner.
---->But if God didn’t work through sinners, He wouldn’t have anyone to work through, because we’ve all sinned.
---POEM> My favorite author, Anonymous, has expressed it so well: “He came to my desk, with a quivering lip, the lesson was now done. “Have you a new leaf for me, teacher? I’m afraid I have spoiled this one.” I took his leaf, all soiled and blotted, and gave him a new one, all unspotted. Then to his tender heart I smiled, “Go and do better now, my child.” I went to the throne with a trembling heart, the year was now done. “Have you a new year for me, Father? I’m afraid I have spoiled this one.” He took my year, all soiled and blotted, and gave me a new one, all unspotted. And into my tired heart He smiled, “God and do better now, My child.”
---b) Isaiah knew the success of the mission would not be based on his own merits or anyone else’s.
---->He described everyone around him as also being men of unclean lips.
--APPS> You see, it’s not our mission, but God’s. It’s our church, yes, but it is God’s church first. It’s not our ministry, but God’s, and it will never be accomplished through our power, but will be achieved through His power.
---c) But once Isaiah knew his sin was forgiven, He heard God’s open invitation to join God in God’s mission, and he humbly and gladly volunteered.
--->And that is the KEY to God’s mission being accomplished.
--APP> God is the God of second chances, of redemption, and He delights in restoring us to His original intention, inviting us to join Him in His redemptive work, and empowers us to fulfill His will.
BRINGING IT HOME...
<>If you don’t know Jesus, I invite you to meet Him today.
-->He loves you, He has a wonderful plan for your life, and He has gifts and joy in store for you.
<>If you do know Him, and especially if you’re a member of Desert Springs, let me ask you three important and closing questions:
--1) Are you ready to rumble?
--->Ready to obey the Lord’s command and go into the community?
--2) Are you willing to let God break your heart this year?
--->You see, if you go, you’ll see some real hurts of those who are distressed, downcast, and like sheep without a shepherd.
--->Your heart will break again and again over the hurt and the pain He’ll show you in the “OTHERS” He’s sending us to.
--3) Are you ready to lay aside all the excuses you’ve offered in the past, and accept God’s call?
<>Today, I invite you to join me as we pray, as we commit our hearts, and our feet, voices, and wills to GOING, GROWING, LEADING and LEARNING in 2008....Starting now.
<>Ladies and gentlemen...LLLLET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!
