Opening Song—Meet With Me
Welcome and Announcements
Baptism/Baptism Class
Newcomers Reception next Sunday at 12:45.
HE’S STILL GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS--Part 1
What a difference a year makes. This time last year the Dow Jones Average was above 13000. Today is hovering around 7000. Last February unemployment rate was 4.8 and today it’s almost twice that. Last year at this time many of us were like the psalmist in psalm 66.
I’M PRAISING GOD FOR HIS GREAT POWER
Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
[2] Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious!
[3] Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
[4] All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name."
Song Set—My Glorious
Shout To The Lord
Resonate
I’M THANKING GOD FOR HIS GREAT TRACK RECORD
[5] Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man’s behalf!
[6] He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot--
come, let us rejoice in him.
[7] He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations--
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
[8] Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
[9] he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
The writer is looking back to the famous story about God’s rescue of the Jewish people by parting the Red Sea. God saved the nation of Israel from certain destruction.
Song—Because of Your Great Love
SUDDENLY I’M BLINDSIDED BY ADVERSITY
[10] For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
[11] You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
[12] You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.
Many of us feel like this psalmist today. We feel like we’ve been blindsided. Adversity, testing, burdens, fire and water. Some of you were on the cusp of retirement and today half your savings has been obliterated. Some of you were saving up for a down payment on a house and that’s gone or you can’t get a bank to sell you a mortgage. Some of you have worked at the same place for decades and now they’re laying off or shutting down all together.
When I was 29 years old I started a church up in Barbour County. It started really great. The first service 135 people showed up. For about six months everything was great.
Then the wheels came off.
People who had enthusiastically supported me when we first started became fierce critics. The mission of the church that everyone seemed to embrace in the beginning was firmly resisted.
Two years later the church had grown to average about 170 people. We did get some new people. But for every new person who came, someone else left, usually upset and mad about something. Even many that didn’t leave spent a great deal of time criticizing. Some even actively worked to get me removed as pastor.
This was my first role as Senior Pastor of a church and I was feeling like a failure. I was sure that the elders of our mother church were going to fire me any day. Looking back, I realize I was depressed about the whole thing, even though I was too insecure to admit it.
A major factor was that I’d never experienced significant failure before. In my previous ministry experiences I was treated graciously and somewhat like a golden boy. I was precocious yes, goofy yes, but also successful. Like many who experience success early on, I thought I was the one who created it. I figured that the reason things went well was that, compared to the next guy I was more committed, smarter, or I just worked harder.
Now here I was two years into my first church as Senior Pastor without much hint of success. Apparently I wasn’t as talented, godly or committed as I thought.
Then one day I had a huge epiphany. Most of you probably figured this out when you were 12 but apparently I was slower than most. It dawned on me so suddenly and clearly that I felt stupid for not seeing it before.
I realized that the same thinking that caused me to be so depressed about our church’s lack of growth and ministry success was exactly the same thinking that would have made me puffed up and arrogant if things went well.
I was taking too much blame for this as I had taken too much credit for previous victories. Suddenly I saw that results don’t always matter on God’s scoreboard. They can’t be trusted as an accurate measure of God’s approval or disapproval.
Talk about Sampson and Job.
But does that also mean that results can’t tell me anything about how well I’m doing my job? And if results don’t matter, what does God hold me responsible for? Is it enough to just go through the motions and then step back to see what happens? Or am I in some way responsible to work hard to set the table for victory and success?
These verses have affected the way I view my personal responsibilities and the way I evaluate my success and failures.
These verses have become a sort of True North that I use to keep on track as I pursue my daily assignment. They’ve helped me stay focused and not run away every time things go cock eyed or to get puffed up with arrogance whenever success drops in.
Proverbs 21:30-31 (NIV)
There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the Lord.
[31] The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but victory rests with the Lord.
Final outcomes are in the hands of God. It is his will the ultimately prevails. There’s no wisdom, no plan, no insight that can thwart it. Not from me and not from my enemy.
But this passage clearly points out that there is something for which I am held responsible. There is one thing I can control. How well is my horse prepared for battle?
During those dark days at my first church I was asking the wrong question. I was asking, “Am I winning or losing?” I should have asked, “Am I doing the right thing? Am I preparing my horse for battle?” In the end, that’s all I have control over.
Let’s look at two ancient battles in the book of Joshua that helps explain how this works out—this is how my role and God’s role intersect.
It also reveals the impact and power of the unseen realm upon our endeavors, an influence and power most of us fail to factor in adequately when judging our successes and failures.
You can find these stories in Joshua chapters six through eight.
Joshua had been given the command of Israel’s army and was charged with the responsibility to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land. His first assignment was to engage the formidable city of Jericho in pitched battle. Jericho was a large and well-fortified city.
Joshua prayed and asked God for a plan to defeat the city. God gave him a plan that could only be credited to his power and protection, because it certainly flew in the face of all military science and convention.
Joshua—prompted by God—commanded his army to march around the city for seven days; on the last day, when the Jewish priests blew their trumpets and the people shouted, God would supernaturally knock down the amazing walls of Jericho.
God also laid down one special caveat. All the iron, gold, silver and bronze from Jericho was to be put aside into his treasury. It all belonged to God. After Jericho, all the spoils of any future campaigns would belong to the soldiers. But the first fruits of their success belonged to God.
Everything went exactly according to plan. The people marched, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the spoils were gathered and set aside for the temple treasury.
The next town on the list to be conquered was a small and insignificant outpost called Ai. Joshua sent a small force to do the honors. To everyone’s shock and dismay; God’s army was routed. Thirty-six soldiers were killed in action.
Nothing was wrong with their battle plan. The tactics were sound. There was nothing wrong with the army that marched off to battle. Nothing was wrong with the thirty-six brave soldiers who died.
But something was dreadfully wrong. It was wrong in the unseen realm. It was something they had no way of knowing about, no way of overcoming.
The battle was lost, thirty six men died because one idiot named Achan decided that God’s rule about the spoils of the Battle of Jericho didn’t apply to him. When no one was looking, he stashed away two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold hiding them under his tent.
Because of Achan’s sin, thirty six families lost a son, a father or a husband. Those killed in action and their grieving families weren’t responsible for Achan’s actions, they were simply caught in the backwash of his sinful choices. It was a battle lost in the unseen realm.
I’ve heard people criticize Joshua for his presumption in sending such a small task force. But a bigger army would have meant a bigger defeat. In this situation there was no wisdom, insight or plan that could have succeeded; the Lord had taken away his hand of blessing and protection from the nation. The nation was punished for the sins of one man. It was God’s prerogative to do so. He did so.
The lesson of this defeat is terribly important for us today. It’s especially relevant
to those of us brought up with an American emphasis on the rights and
responsibilities of the individual. We’re already too quick to gloss over the
implications of our interconnectedness. Add to that a material view of the world
that downplays the unseen realm, and you have a recipe for disillusionment and
confusion when battles that should be won are lost.
Taking the insights of Proverbs and the lessons of the defeat at Ai, I’m learning to
pay less attention to outcomes.
I’m finding that there’s a certain steadiness and emotional health that comes with
understanding the difference between my responsibility and God’s. Failures
aren’t as devastating and successes aren’t as seductive.
There’s some tranquility in accepting the fact that there are things in the unseen
realm that I’ll never know or understand. It keeps my brain from overheating
every time things don’t go exactly as planned.
Not that I don’t ask myself what happened, why it happened and what can we do
differently next time. I’ll always ask those questions. They’re important. Because
I’ve got to prepare my horse for the next battle.
But I’m accepting that there are times when we’re not much different from the
soldiers in task force Ai. If there’s an Achan in the camp, we could die—through
no fault of our own.
We take too much credit for Jericho and too much blame for Ai.
I think God wants us to focus our energy and effort on the one and only thing we
can control. The one and only thing for which we are directly responsible--How
well have I prepared my horse for battle?
IT’S CRUNCH TIME—MY RESPONSE SETS THE TRAJECTORY OF MY LIFE
Roll Video “E-Trade Singing Baby”
Will I Keep My Promises?
[13] I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfill my vows to you--
[14] vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
[15] I will sacrifice fat animals to you
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
Will I Place My Trust In God?
[16] Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
Song—Come and Listen
Video Techs—Mike and the Band will play and sing the first verse, chorus, and then second verse of this song. At the end of verse 2 you will begin the video interviews. There will be no cue!! Just start the video when they finish verse 2. The band will continue playing softly for the entire duration of the video.
Video Interviews Here (Terry Bartlett, Roger Diaz and/or Erica Dale)
[17] I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
[18] If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
[19] but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer.
[20] Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!
Worship Response Set
The Valley Song
Blessed Be Your Name
You Never Let Go
He Loves Us
