Last month we did a series entitled “The Finer Points Of Love.” That series lead into the focus for this month. This month we are going to focus on the concept of faithfulness. As a part of this focus we are going to do a renewal of marriage vows on March 15th. Throughout this month we will be looking at what it means to be faithful. (show Jonathan’s video at this point) I would like to start this series by looking at what it means to be faithful to God. Sometimes faithfulness can be a challenging task. In trying to be faithful we sometimes put undo pressure on ourselves. All of us live under a lot of stress. When someone exhorts us to be faithful it can put extra stress on us.
Illustration: There was a man who prided himself on being exceedingly punctual. He followed a precise routine every morning. His alarm went off at 6:30 AM. He rose briskly, shaved, showered, ate his breakfast, brushed his teeth, picked up his briefcase, got into his car, drove to the ferry, parked his car, rode the ferry across to the downtown business area, got off the ferry, walked smartly to his building, marched to the elevator, rode to the seventeenth floor, hung up his coat, opened his briefcase, spread his papers on his desk, and sat down in his chair at precisely 8:00 AM. Not 8:01 AM, not even 7:59. Always at 8:00 AM. He followed this routine without variation for eight years, until one morning his alarm did not go off, and he overslept fifteen minutes. When he did awake, he was panic-stricken. He rushed through the shower, nicked himself when he shaved, gulped down his breakfast, only half-way brushed his teeth, grabbed up his briefcase, jumped into his car, sped to the ferry landing, jumped out of his car, and looked for the ferry. There it was, out in the water a few feet from the dock. He said to himself, "I think that I can make it," and he ran down the dock towards the ferry at full speed. Reaching the edge of the pier he made an enormous leap and miraculously landed with a loud thud on the deck of the ferry. The captain rushed down to make sure he was alright. The captain said, "Man, that was a tremendous leap, but if you would have just waited another minute, we would have reached the dock, and you could have walked on."
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Jim Kane)
What does it take for us to remain faithful to God? For scriptural guidance we are going to look at a passage in Acts 9. In this passage a man named Saul comes to faith in Jesus Christ. However, after coming to faith in Christ Saul faced some major challenges. In verse 23 we read “after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him.” They plotted to kill him! If that wasn’t enough, even the believers turned their backs on him. In verse 26 we read “when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.” The unbelieving world tried to kill him and the believers turned their backs on him. What a challenge! Did Saul give up? Did he stop serving? Did Saul turn away? No, not at all! In fact, Saul went on to become one of the greatest missionaries of the early church. Also, he wrote many of the books in our New Testament.
You and I may not accomplish such spiritual ventures. We can be faithful! That is all that God requires of us. In fact, I am convinced that all people want to be faithful to God. All people want to find a faith that makes a difference. I am convinced that all of us want to find what Saul found. We want to be faithful. The question arises, what happened in Saul’s life that established such a strong foundation? What motivated him to be faithful? I want to point out some ingredients that went into making Saul the unique and faithful man of God. You and I cannot duplicate Saul’s life but we can duplicate the ingredients.
What does it take to “Stay On Track.”
1. The first ingredient in staying on track is an encounter with Jesus Christ. Paul’s encounter with Christ is found in verses 3-5. “As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Notice what happened in this encounter with Jesus Christ.
A. An encounter with Jesus begins with a contact. In verse 3 we read that a bright light from heaven appeared to Paul. Notice that God made the contact. God is like E.F. Hutton. When He speaks people listen. God wants to make Himself real to you. He wants you to experience a personal encounter. You do not have to invent this encounter. You do not have to imagine it. God will contact you. He makes His contact through different means. In our text it is a bright light. Sometimes it is people. Sometimes it is circumstances. Sometimes it is events.
B. The next part of this encounter involves conviction. Notice verse 5 & 6. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?…..It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” A goad was a sharp stick used for herding animals. A cotton patch translation of this verse is, “Saul, you are being foolish.” When I was a young man working on a farm we used a thing called a hot shot when working with cattle. A hot shot was a long rod that gave off electric shocks. If you stuck an animal and pressed a button it would make him follow your directions. Whenever God calls your name it immediately gets your attention and brings you to a point of spiritual conviction. What do I mean by spiritual conviction? Conviction is similar to touching an animal with a hot shot. It gets your attention and makes you take notice. Throughout the Bible you discover that when people had an encounter with God they were awe struck. That is not a bad thing. It means that you are convicted by the presence of the one before whom you stand.
C. The third part of this encounter involves a conversion. Notice verse 6. Saul said “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Up to this point Saul was accustomed to giving orders. He was accustomed to being in charge. However, when Jesus called his name he was willing to change his plans. Conversion involves a change of heart. Up until this moment Saul had been guided by anger, bitterness, and false beliefs. However, when Jesus got his attention he was willing to change his direction.
Illustration: Several years ago I saw a good example of conversion. I was jogging in Northport. I was jogging on a route I had not previously used. As I was passing one house I noticed two large German shepherd dogs running toward me. One was black. One was white. I could tell from their bark they were not a welcoming committee. My heart leaped into my throat. The dogs ran about thirty feet toward me and immediately stopped. I studied the situation and discovered that each of the dogs had on an electric collar. Their owner had buried an electric cable under the ground. The cable triggered a stimulus in the collar that gave the dogs a small electric shock if they went too far. The owner had erected an invisible fence. The dogs knew that when they got to that point they must stop. That story illustrates our encounter with God. There is contact. There is conviction or a reason to stop. There is a conversion to a new approach. Those dogs followed the natural inclinations of their animal nature. I was an intruder to them. However, that owner trained them to a new way of thinking. There was contact, there was conviction, and there was a conversion.
2. A second ingredient in staying on track is a re-alignment to God’s way. After his encounter with God, Saul was willing to realign his life. He was willing to consider God’s will. When God secured Saul’s attention, Saul added a new word to his vocabulary. The word was “Lord.” You will find this in verse 6. A believer will have a realignment of his life.
For Saul this realignment was radical. Notice verse 21. “All who heard were amazed, and said, ‘Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” His personality was completely changed.
Ivan the Great was the tsar of Russia during the Fifteenth Century. He brought together the warring tribes into one vast empire--the Soviet Union. As a fighting man he was courageous. As a general he was brilliant. He drove out their enemies and established peace across the nation. However, Ivan was so busy waging his campaigns that he did not have a family. His friends and advisers were quite concerned. They reminded him that there was no heir to the throne, and should anything happen to him the union would shatter into chaos. "You must take a wife who can bear you a son." The busy soldier statesman said to them that he did not have the time to search for a bride, but if they would find a suitable one, he would marry her. The counselors and advisers searched the capitals of Europe to find an appropriate wife. They reported to Ivan of the beautiful dark eyed daughter of the King of Greece. She was young, brilliant, and charming. He agreed to marry her sight unseen. The King of Greece was delighted. It would align Greece in a favorable way with the emerging giant to the north. But there had to be one condition, "He cannot marry my daughter unless he becomes a member of the Greek Orthodox Church." Ivan’s response, "I will do it!" So, a priest was dispatched to Moscow to instruct Ivan in Orthodox doctrine. Ivan was a quick student and learned the catechism in record time. Arrangements were concluded, and the tsar made his way to Athens accompanied by 500 of his crack troops--his personal palace guard. He was to be baptized into the Orthodox Church, as was the custom of the Eastern Church. His soldiers, ever loyal, asked to be baptized also. The Patriarch of the Church assigned 500 priests to give the soldiers a one-on-one catechism crash course. The soldiers, all 500 of them, were to be immersed in one mass baptism. Crowds gathered from all over Greece. What a sight that must have been, 500 priests and 500 soldiers, a thousand people, walking into the blue Mediterranean. The priests were dressed in black robes and tall black hats, the official dress of the Orthodox Church. The soldiers wore their battle uniforms with of all their regalia--ribbons of valor, medals of courage. and their weapons of battle. Suddenly, there was a problem. The Church prohibited professional soldiers from being members; they would have to give up their commitment to bloodshed. They could not be killers and church members too. After a hasty round of diplomacy, the problem was solved quite simply. As the words were spoken and the priests began to baptize them, each soldier reached to his side and withdrew his sword. Lifting it high overhead, every soldier was totally immersed-everything baptized except his fighting arm and sword. That is a true historical story. What a powerful picture of some people’s faith. There is religious practice without spiritual realignment.
(Dr. Wayne Dehoney, Walnut Street Baptist Church, The Pulpit. Contributed by: SermonCentral)
3. A third ingredient in staying on track is a sense calling. Notice verse 15. God had chosen Saul to be a preacher and missionary. The call to service radically affected Saul’s life. I believe God has a call for every Christian. That does not mean God calls everyone to be a missionary. That does not mean God calls everyone to be a pastor. However, God wants each of us to serve Him. That call to service will change your life forever.
Illustrations: Several years back, in a church I served, we needed a children’s ministry director. We had prayed for God’s selection of a person to fill this position. One Sunday a lady came to me and shared a wonderful testimony. She said God had woke her in the middle of the night and told her he wanted her to fill the position. When she filled it she filled it. She went to work like wild fire.
A number of you were charter members of Faith. You have testified that when you helped start this church you felt it was God’s will for you to be here and you have been here ever since. You have stayed through several staff changes. You have stayed through financial hardship. You have stayed without a traditional sanctuary (worship in a gym). You have stayed through me. (Ha! Ha!) (Have charter members stand, who feel God called them to be here.) My point, when God calls you to serve he calls you to be faithful.
In the nineteenth century, lighthouses on the U.S. coasts were tended by lighthouse keepers and their families. If a man who tended the light became ill or disabled, the work was generally picked up by his wife or children. Such was the case of Hosea Lewis. In 1853 Hosea Lewis became the keeper of the light on Lime Rock Island at Newport, Rhode Island. Lewis suffered a stroke four years later, at which time his teenage daughter Ida assumed responsibility for the light. Each day included cleaning the reflectors, trimming the wick, and filling the oil reservoir at sunset and midnight, along with providing for her father’s care. With long and demanding tasks, Ida was unable to continue her schooling, but daily delivered her siblings to class, whatever the weather, by rowing the 500 yards to the mainland. In the mid-1800s, it was unusual to see a woman maneuvering a boat, but Ida became well-skilled and well-known for handling the heavy craft. The teenager gained a measure of fame at age sixteen when she rescued four young men after their boat capsized. She rowed to their aid, hearing their screams as they clung to their overturned craft. On March 29, 1869, Ida saved two drowning servicemen from nearby Fort Adams. Public knowledge of Ida’s courage spread as far as Washington, inspiring President Ulysses S. Grant to visit Ida at Newport later that year. Ida rescued two other soldiers in 1881, for which she was awarded the U.S. Lifesaving Service’s highest medal. In early February of that year the two soldiers were crossing from Newport to Lime Rock Island on foot when the ice gave way. Ida, the lighthouse keeper, came running with a rope. Ignoring peril to herself from weak and rotten ice, she pulled one, then the other to safety. All told, Ida Lewis saved about 25 people in fifty-plus years of keeping the light. Her last reported rescue came at age 63 when she saved a friend who had fallen into the water on her way to visit. Asked where she found strength and courage for such a feat, Ida answered: ’I don’t know, I am not particularly strong. The Lord Almighty gives it to me when I need it.’ Ida Lewis was a faithful steward. The reason she was so faithful in her task is that she realized there were people that would need her help. (SOURCE: http://www.vais.net/~ cypress/ida.htm .Contributed to Sermon Central by Michael Elmore)
4. A fourth ingredient in staying on track is spiritual development. Notice verse 22, “Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus.” From the context of this passage you will notice several factors that contributed to Saul’s spiritual growth.
(have a little fun at this point)
A. Saul grew spiritually because of the ministry of other believers. In verse 17 Ananias laid his hands on Saul. The laying of hands was an act of confirmation, affirmation, and spiritual nurture. In verse 19 we read that Saul “spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.” Saul spent time with Godly men.
• If you want to know about football you place yourself under people that know the game.
• If you want to know about baseball you place yourself under people that know the game.
• If you want to know about accounting you place yourself under people that know the discipline.
If you want to know about God you need to place yourself with people who are seeking to know God. Suggestions:
• Get into a small group.
• Read great books on spiritual growth.
• Take advantage of opportunities that are provided. (Wednesday night prayer group; Beth Moore studies; Experiencing God, etc.)
B. A second factor that contributed to Saul’s spiritual growth was the filling of the Holy Spirit. You and I cannot be successful in the spiritual life apart from the infilling of God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us, empowers us, encourages us, teaches us, and strengthens us.
Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ tells this story of a famous oil field called Yates Pool. During the depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy. He was no doubt greatly troubled as to how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract. At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. A number of subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living in poverty. A multimillionaire living in poverty. What was the problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it. Many Christians live in spiritual poverty. They are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, but they are not aware of their birthright.
(SOURCE: Untapped Spiritual Resources, by Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois. Citation: Bill Bright, "How to Be Filled with the Spirit" (Campus Crusade publication)]
(Contributed by SermonCentral )
You cannot be faithful to God apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit. You cannot be fruitful in the spiritual life apart from the filling of God’s Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we are destined to an empty life marked by frustration, futility, and failure. Saul was successful because of the Holy Spirit. It was not any merit on his part. It was a work of God. You can be faithful as well: have you had an encounter with Jesus Christ, has there been a realignment, are you faithful to your calling, and are you growing spiritually.
