MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(REVISED: 2016)
TEXT: Psalm 91:1-16; Romans 8:28
Realistically I realize that this message today could be the last message I will ever preach. For that matter, for someone here this morning, this could even be the last message you will ever hear.
So this message, in fact, every message should be carefully considered, prayerfully prepared, & lovingly presented. The preacher should be God’s servant, grounded in the truth of God’s Word, & desirous of living & speaking so that others will clearly see the love of Christ through him.
So, if this were to be the last sermon I ever preach or the last sermon you ever hear, what passage or passages of scripture should we consider?
A. As some of you have heard me say, the scripture that burns its way most deeply into my mind - & it’s not my favorite – is James 3:1 which says, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.”
What that means to me is that not only will I be judged by God for my relationship with Jesus as my Savior & Lord – but I’m also going to be judged for what I teach, for the influence I have upon you by my words & my example. So I need to be very careful how I live & what I say & what others see in me.
But if that is true for me, it’s also true for you. For whether it’s from the pulpit or on the job or wherever we are, our lives are constantly testifying what is in our hearts.
And we need to remember the old saying, “What you do speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you’re saying.” God, please help us to be what you want us to be!
B. Another powerful scripture is Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus is speaking to the apostles & He is saying,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
"and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We call this passage “the Great Commission” & in obedience to His command we exist as a congregation, & are involved in a variety of missions both here & throughout the world.
By the way, notice again the last part of that scripture where Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always…” Remember that promise, for I want to touch upon it again before this sermon is over.
C. Or how about Romans 8:28 where the apostle Paul declares, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”?
The old King James Version of the Bible stated the first part of that verse this way, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God…”
Unfortunately, some people misunderstood that verse. Some thought it meant that everything that happens, both good & evil – even the most horrible of events, that God deliberately causes them to happen.
So if something terrible occurs in your life or in your family – it means that God wanted it to happen – that it is all God’s fault. But that verse doesn’t teach that at all.
Others thought that God was promising that if you love Him He will never allow anything bad to happen in your life. And then when something bad does happen, they think that it means you don’t love God enough or that you don’t have enough faith, & that God is punishing you for that.
But I’m convinced what God is promising in that verse is something wonderful – that no matter what comes our way in life – whether it is our own fault or something someone else does to us – if we love God & let Him work out His purpose in us, that even from the worst of situations some good can result.
It may be a lesson that we learn. It may be new strength & understanding that we gain to help us face life more victoriously, or to be of help to others. God will strengthen & help us. Isn’t that what He promised when He said, “And surely I am with you always…”?
D. Now along with the scriptures I have mentioned, there is one more passage I want to use in my sermon this morning - & it is the 91st Psalm. Also, there are three stories that I want to tell you. These are all true stories.
Some of you have heard these stories before, but most of you haven't, so please allow me to tell them to you again. I believe that you will find them very helpful as we look more carefully at God working in our world today.
Some might call a couple of these stories “unbelievable.” But they are true. They really happened. And I want to use them to emphasize that I believe God is at work today just as surely as He was in the days of the O.T. & of the New.
I. WAS IT ONLY A LUCKY COINCIDENCE?
A. So let’s look at Psalm 91. Notice the first 4 verses, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’
“Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (Psalm 91:1-4).
B. How does Psalm 91 begin? “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High…” I like the sound of that. To “dwell” means “to stay, to permanently abide.” And “in the shelter of the Most High” means “to be in close, personal contact with God, & to be seeking to do His will in your life.”
It is sort of like the calm assurance you enjoy when you can truly echo the words of Psalm 23:1-3, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.”
And I think it is also what Paul was talking about in Romans 8:28 when he says, “…in all things God works for the good of those who love Him…”
ILL. Kim Huffman tells this story: World War 2 was over, & my father, along with thousands of others had been discharged from the service. On every highway you could see soldiers in uniform hitchhiking home to their families.
But for my father the thrill of reunion was overshadowed by his mother’s illness. There was a problem with her kidneys. The doctors told him that she needed a blood transfusion immediately or she would not live through the night.
Grandmother’s blood type was AB negative, a very rare type. In those days there were no blood banks like today. No one in the family had that type of blood either, & the hospital had not been able to find anyone with that rare type.
Realizing that grandmother had only a few hours to live, father decided to rush home, take a shower, change clothes & then return for the final good-byes.
While driving home he passed a soldier hitchhiking. At first, my father was not going to stop. But something compelled him to pull over. The soldier got in & the trip continued on in silence. Deep in grief, my father didn’t say a word.
But the soldier realized something was wrong when he saw a tear roll down my father’s cheek, & he asked what was the matter. My father told him that grandmother was about to die because the hospital couldn’t find anyone with AB negative blood.
My father explained that he was heading home to change clothes & then was going back to the hospital to be with her for her final hours.
The hitchhiker pulled something out of his pocket & that’s when father saw that he was holding dog tags that read “AB negative.” The soldier told my father to turn the car around & head back to the hospital.
His blood saved my grandmother’s life, & she lived 47 more years. But somehow, in all the excitement, the soldier slipped out of the hospital without any further word. To this day my family doesn’t know who he was.
My father often wondered if that stranger really was a soldier or if he was an angel in disguise. All I know is that God was surely there, & in one way or another, He was the one who provided the blood that saved my grandmother that day.
C. But according to Psalm 91 these blessings from God are not promised to everyone, just to those who “dwell in the shelter of the Most High.”
SUM. Listen, no matter how far away you are from God, head to the shelter because it’s worth it.
He says, “If you dwell,” if you permanently abide in “the shelter of the Most High” you’ll “rest in the shadow of the Almighty,” & you can say of the Lord, “He is my refuge & my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
II. WOW!
Psalm 91:5 goes on to say, “You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day.” And vs. 11 says, “He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”
ILL. Tribal wars are nothing new in Central Africa. In fact, a few years ago a war between the Tutsi & Hutu tribes spilled over the boundaries of 8 African countries, with atrocities on both sides.
In one case, in a Christian village in the Congo, Tutsi soldiers broke down the door of a young Hutu preacher’s house & stood poised to slaughter the entire family. Now this is a true story, & I want you to remember it.
“Wait,” the preacher begged. “Please allow us a moment to pray before we die.” The request was angrily granted & the family knelt to pray.
But the expected shots never came. After praying, the family slowly stood up & discovered that the soldiers were gone, not only out of their house, but out of their village, too.
Several months later, as the young preacher was telling this story to a church meeting in a nearby town, he heard a voice from the back saying, “I can tell you what happened.” It was one of the Tutsi soldiers.
“I was one of those who broke into your house,” he said. “I had your children in my sights as you knelt & prayed. Suddenly a tremendous wall of fire surrounded you. We couldn’t even see beyond the flames & we knew the house would burn down with you in it, so we got out.”
“Then, when we were outside & saw your house engulfed in flames & yet not being destroyed, we fled out of your village as well. We realized that this was not a kind of fire we are familiar with, but a fire sent by God.
"And if this is how your God responds, I want to know Him too. I am tired of the fighting & killing. That is why I came here tonight.”
Wow! I have no logical, physical explanation for what happened in that village that day. But I do know that God does have the power to save. Think about Daniel in the lion’s den, about Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego in the fiery furnace, & about Paul & Silas in the Philippian jail.
There have been times in my life when things have occurred. Some of you have heard about our family being taken prisoner by Tibetan bandits. The rope was around my father’s neck, the guns were aimed, & we were all only moments from execution. But suddenly something happened that changed everything, & we were spared.
Now I know God has not promised always to intervene, to deliver us from everything bad that might happen to us. But I do know that He has promised to be with us, & “…in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”
The 23rd Psalm ends with these words, “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)
III. WHAT A MIGHTY GOD!
The last two verses of Psalm 91 proclaim: “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:15-16)
I want to close this message by telling you one last story. It is rather long, so please bear with me. It is a true story, & I think you’ll find it worth hearing.
ILL. In an article entitled, “A Movement to Jesus Within Islam” this story is told: There was a Muslim holy man, a Sufi master, named Isaac. He lived in a remote region of a Muslim country, where he had a large following.
Several thousand people looked to him for spiritual guidance, for blessing their crops, for prayers for health, & most of all for intercession for their eternal salvation.
Master Isaac, however, was worried about his own salvation, & it troubled him that his followers believed that he could save them. So he began to pray in earnest that God would show him the true path to salvation.
One night in 2002, while Isaac was praying, he says that Jesus appeared to him in radiant white clothing & told him to travel to such-&-such a town & also showed him the way to a certain house in that town.
There he was to consult a holy man whose father was named so-&-so & whose grandfather was so-&-so. When he heard the names Isaac realized that this man’s grandfather had been his very own Sufi master, & this excited him.
Although it was very early in the morning, Isaac walked to the bus station, boarded an early bus, & traveled some 40 miles to the town named in his vision.
It was about 6 in the morning when Isaac reached the place that Jesus had shown him in the vision. When he knocked on the door, he was surprised to see a man wearing ordinary clothes rather than the robes of a Sufi master. It was Jacob, who was the leader of a group of Messianic Muslims.
When Isaac asked Jacob about his father & his grandfather, he realized that Jacob was the very man that Jesus had told him to consult. So he told Jacob about the vision & asked him to reveal the way of salvation.
For the next few hours, citing passages from both the Qur’an & the Bible, Jacob told Isaac the story of God creating the world, about Adam & Eve, about the descent of the world into evil, the flood & the rescue of Noah & his family.
He told him about God calling Abraham & the promises God made to him, about David, & about the true son of David, the heir of Abraham’s promises, Jesus, who was the Messiah.
He said that it was the will of God that Jesus the Messiah should suffer death on the cross to save mankind, & that God raised Him back to life. God exalted Jesus to sit at His own right hand as Lord & Savior of the world.
Jacob also told him that in 1969 the Lord Jesus had appeared to him as well & had showed him the way of salvation. He read in the Gospel where Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me..” Jesus, he said, was Himself the true path to salvation.
After hearing all this, Master Isaac said he believed in Jesus & was ready to serve Him & wanted to be baptized right then & there. Jacob, however, counseled him to wait.
He said, “God has made you a great leader, & He wants all of your followers to know that Jesus is the Messiah. Go home & tell your wives & children about Jesus, then tell your closest disciples.” Isaac agreed, & they set a date for Jacob to come & share the good news in Isaac's village also.
About two weeks later, at the appointed time, Jacob arrived to find a gathering of more than 200 of Isaac’s leading disciples. Master Isaac began by telling them the story of his prayer & the vision he was given by God.
He described traveling to get to Jacob’s house to ask him the secret of salvation. He then asked Jacob to tell them the rest.
So Jacob told the story again, starting with the Qur’an & then moving to the Bible. He told the story of creation, the fall, & the descendants of Adam down to Jesus the Messiah.
He then called on them to put their faith in Jesus as their Lord & Savior. All of the leaders agreed, but they said they must first share this news with their wives & children.
A few weeks later Master Isaac sent word to Jacob to come back. Jacob arrived to find that Master Isaac & 250 of his leading disciples were ready to be baptized. So Jacob baptized Isaac & his wives & sons.
He then instructed Isaac to baptize the 250 senior leaders of his movement, & to send them home to baptize their own wives & children, & to share the word with others & to baptize those who believed.
On that day several thousand people were baptized into the Kingdom of God. Thus began a “…movement to Christ” within a Muslim community.
A few years later Master Isaac died, but in spite of slander, threats & persecution, the movement continues on under his sons. They are confident that since it was Jesus Himself who directed them to Jacob, that He will also guide & protect them, & through them bless the Muslim community to which they belong.
(Adapted from the article: “A Movement to Jesus Within Islam” by Rick Brown
in the July-August 2008 “Mission Frontiers” magazine.)
INVITATION:
Folks, I believe with all my heart that God is still very much at work today, & sometimes in ways beyond what we can even imagine. He loves us. He loves you. And if you have a decision that you need to make, realize that He may have brought you to this place at this very time so that you can make that decision for Him today.
