20 January 2008
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Ord Military Chapel
Seaside, CA
BIG IDEA: God calls, protects and hides us in the shadow of His hand.
REFERENCES: Isaiah 49:1-7 (NLV) 2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; Romans 2:11 (KJV) For there is no respect of persons with God; Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG) I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for; Psalms 22:10 (GW) I was placed in your care from birth. From my mother’s womb you have been my God; Isaiah 44:24 (MSG) GOD, your Redeemer, who shaped your life in your mother’s womb, says: "I am GOD. I made all that is. With no help from you I spread out the skies and laid out the earth."; Isaiah 49:1 (GW) Listen to me, you islands. Pay attention, you people far away. Before I was born, the LORD chose me. While I was in my mother’s womb, he recorded my name; Job 10:8a (KJV): Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; Proverb 16:4 (MSG): GOD made everything with a place and purpose;
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Isaiah 49:1-7 (NLV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Isaiah 49:1-7 (NLV)
III. READ THE TEXT: Isaiah 49:1b-2 (NLV) The Lord called Me before I was born. From the body of My mother he said My name. He has made My mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden Me in the shadow of His hand. He has made Me a shining arrow, keeping me in His secret place.
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate hearers - in the midst of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Celebration - to affirm to others that God calls, protects, and hide us in the Shadow of His hand.
INTRODUCTION: It has been said that , “James Earl Ray bullet took the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” but NOT HIS WORK.
In fact, since 1983, on the third Monday in January, we have celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tomorrow, Monday – 21 January 2008 – all across America, folk of every ethnic group will hold hands, remember and celebrate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Many will remember the signed Civil Right Acts of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the presidential speech of the President L. B. Johnson, … which was aired on National television as he rallied the faces of congress (in support of Dr. King) to the chant “we shall overcome”. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places while the Voting Rights of 1965 allowed African Americans the status of no longer being considered “second class citizens”.
Yes, tomorrow … as we did as a congregation earlier, folk of every group will hold hands as symbolic gesture of togetherness … and a promise … to never forget … the past while embracing the civil rights challenges of the future.
Now, my brothers and sisters, in reference to “Hands” … there are a multiplicity of stories, poems, and songs that have been written about the “Hand”.
In fact, Bill Withers’ song – Grandma’s Hands is one of my all times favorite.
Listen to lyrics in Grandma’s Hands:
Grandma’s hands
Clapped in church on Sunday morning
Grandma’s hands
Played a tambourine so well
Grandma’s hands
Used to issue out a warning
She’d say, “Billy don’t you run so fast
Might fall on a piece of glass
”Might be snakes there in that grass”
Grandma’s hands
Grandma’s hands
Soothed a local unwed mother
Grandma’s hands
Used to ache sometimes and swell
Grandma’s hands
Used to lift her face and tell her,
”Baby, Grandma understands
That you really love that man
Put yourself in Jesus hands”
Grandma’s hands”…
Grandma’s hands
Used to hand me piece of candy
Grandma’s hands
Picked me up each time I fell
Grandma’s hands
boy, they really came in handy
She’d say, “Matty don’t you whip that boy”
What you want to spank him for?
He didn’t drop no apple core”
But I don’t have Grandma anymore
“If I get to Heaven I’ll look for Grandma’s Hands …”
*****************Take 5 Beats ***************
MOVE 1: Likewise, I contend this morning that there are hands that are even more loving than Grandma’s Hands.
a. And they are the hands of God.
b. For God calls, protects and hides us in the shadow of His hand.
c. In fact, the Bible (and life in general) is filled with wonderful events and chronicles of God showing His hand of protection and righteousness in the life of believers.
d. Yet, have you ever wonder why terrible things happened to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others that God called and promised to protect?
e. Why is it that some of the most trusting and dedicated believers …
f. … Sometimes experience the most devastating circumstances that life (on this side of heaven) has to offer?
************Take 5 Beats ***************
MOVE 2: Seriously, have you ever wondered why God allowed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his family to go through what they went through (in the midst of non-violently fighting for the Civil Rights and Equal Rights for All Ethnic Groups) ?
a. And why did God allow the Prophet Daniel in the Old Testament (who prayed three times a day) to be thrown into the vicious lion dens (in Daniel 6:16-22)?
b. Or perhaps, you can explain to me why God allow three teens (who may have been fatherless) from the ghetto of Jerusalem – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - to get thrown into the fiery furnace?
c. Was it really necessary for teenagers to have such traumatic life experiences while others - who were much older and who were also professed believers - did not?
d. Is it fair for terrible things to happen to some believers and not to all believers?
e. Yet, the scriptures tells us that God isn’t bias, because God has no respect of persons – Romans 2:11 - .
f. In other words, whatever freedom God allows to happen to one ethnic group; He will also allow to happen to other ethnic groups … as they engage in His will and purpose for their life … regardless of the challenges.
***************Take 5 Beats ***************
MOVE 3: Like Dr. King in years past, and many Christians today, all of the before mentioned believers demonstrated an unusual faith and trust in the Hands of God.
a. Therefore, I submit to you this morning that just as God allowed you and me to go through various levels of trials and tribulations in 2007 - in order for others to be encouraged in their faith;
b. He also allowed the patriarchs of old (and Dr. King) to experience terrible things in order for the believers in 2008 to be inspired NOT TO GIVE-UP;
c. … but to Hang In There and remain in God’s Hands because “We Shall Overcome”.
d. It’s a fact. God allow believers to go through trials and tribulations in order for other believers (and non believers alike) to believe and be strengthened in their faith … and in their walk for God.
e. For don’t you remember, the Bible says (in 2 Timothy 3:16) “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”.
f. Recently, my wife (Dedra) asked me “if I ever thought about the magnitude of the trials and tribulations that we experienced in 2007 - as a family - and how we got through those experiences?” In other words, it’s a blur now; but how did God protect us?
**************Take 5 Beats****************
MOVE 4: I pointed out to Dedra that God allowed certain magnitude of fiery trials to come upon us;
a. but when the devil thought and tried to destroy us with a sudden onslaught of troubles – God (through His Hands and His Word) protected us from the devils best shots without us really being aware of God’s presence!
b. In fact, I believe that just as God allowed His Son to have been hidden in the presence of Shadrach, MeShach, and Abednigo heated trial –
c. He also hides Christ (in our day and time) with believers.
d. For the Bible says in (Colossians 3:1-3) … If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
e. When we … (believers) … attend Bible Studies and become rooted and grounded in God’s word –
f. …. God protects and hides us from the strongest spiritual onslaughts of the devil … so much so
g. … that afterwards … we don’t really remember how bad and terrible things were when we were going through the trials.
**************Take 5 Beats *****************
MOVE 5: It’s akin to what the Bible says about a woman in labor/travail in John 16:21:
a. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, …
b. … for joy that a man is born into the world.
c. Likewise, as soon as God delivers us from our trials, ….
d. … we often forget how devastating and disheartening the trial was because of the blessing that lies before us.
***************Take 5 Beats **************
MOVE 6: In our text this morning, we find ourselves eavesdropping on a Man of God’s prayer.
a. The crazy thing is, in this prayer to God, Isaiah seems almost aware of our eavesdropping presence.
b. So, Isaiah takes this opportunity to minister to us as well. In fact, he invites us to listen.
c. At first, it appears as if he and God are going back and forth in their dialogue.
d. Then suddenly, the message of the prophet is clear: Bablyon – the big bad wolf and Iraqi proto-type of the Old Testament - had fallen and believers were suddenly free to leave Babylon;
e. Like many of us, when we don’t quite understand how and why God has delivered us, Isaiah and the trusting and dedicated believers had questions of God.
f. But, then as Isaiah looked back over his life, he concluded that God’s hand had been there (in the midst of his life) from the START.
*************Take 5 Beats **************
MOVE 7: Likewise, my brothers and sisters, if we were to look back over our lives – we too would conclude that God has been there all along.
a. God has been with us through the good; the bad and the ugly.
b. In fact, Isaiah says it was God who created him in his mother’s womb with his present set of circumstances in mind.
c. And he concluded that His life wasn’t an accident.
d. For long … before he was born, God had already intended for him to have an epiphany …
e. “and to personally see Him” in the year that his dear cousin Uzziah died (Isaiah 6:1).
f. No. Isaiah circumstance wasn’t a coincident or happenstance.
************Take 5 Beats ***************
MOVE 8: And neither were the people of God circumstances, trials and tribulations a coincident.
a. Every prophet, every civil rights leader, every president, every person, and every circumstance, …
b. … every trial and every act of deliverance had been pre-ordained by God himself, ….
c. … in order for God to be glorified .
d. Israel saw and experienced Babylonian captivity for 70 years;
e. … but … what they didn’t see …
f. … were the many times … the devil attempted an onslaught of spiritual troubles… in addition to the troubles that they were already going through;
g. But God – through His Grace - hid them like He hides us (in the shadow of his hand) … and protected them …
h. from experiencing … certain spiritual life … ending devastations.
*************Take 5 Beats *************
CELEBRATION: The psalmist says in best, in Psalms 91:1-3; 7-11, when he says:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand;
but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
