Southend AM 11 07 2010
Two British gas employees were out reading meters one day when they started talking about how good a physical condition they were in.
One of them bragged that he when he was at school he was the fastest runner and always won competitions and races the other one claimed the same thing.
So they decided that after they had finished reading the meters on the street they were on they would both run a race back to their van at the other end of the street.
They finished reading the last meter and both took off at full speed up the street to where their van was parked.
They ran as fast as they could, first one edging ahead and then the other, they both reached the van at the same time and stopped to catch their breath, as they turned round, they noticed three other people who were out of breath, too. It seems they had run behind the two gas men.
One of the gas men asked them why they ran with them, and one of the people said that when you see gas men running away from a house, the only safe thing to do is run with them.
The Apostle Paul said we are to “Run with endurance the race that God has set before you” (Heb 12:1)
God has a race for you to run!
What an exciting thought—God has given us a race to run.
God has designed a purpose for your life—a purpose that you can discover and fulfill.
What is this race?
This race begins, not when you are born, but when you receive Christ and his gift of complete forgiveness.
The race involves the unique role God has given you to influence others for Christ.
Your race will be different than mine—but it will always revolve around showing and sharing Christ’s love both to people who don’t know him and people who do.
This race requires endurance for two reasons:
It is a marathon—not a sprint.
It begins the moment you receive Christ, and it lasts until you die or Christ returns.
The key is not how fast you start the race, but how consistently you run.
It is a steeple-chase marathon—it is filled with obstacles,
including opposition from people who aren’t in the race and don’t want you to be in the race,
from a cultural value-system that says to live for self instead of for Christ,
and from demonic forces that hate Jesus and want you out of the race.
This morning my question for you is
Are you running?
And if so, are you running to something,
or are you running away from it?
Sometimes, we end up running away from something even when there is no reason to,
don’t we?
Tonight I want to talk to you about something that is happening more and more in Christian relationships with the Lord.
I have seen the same thing happening over and over again in many lives,
and it doesn’t matter which church a person belongs to, it still happens.
I see individuals who come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,
or a Christian who grows closer and stronger in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
At first, they become very excited about what God is doing in their lives,
but they soon become accustomed to having a life full of blessings, and they see that as routine.
This is the same attitude that a rich child might develop when they get are spoiled;
they get too many gifts too often and then they start expecting them on a regular basis without feeling any need to earn them.
This puts them in a safe little box of comfort,
and this newly found comfort does nothing to help them live their lives as people or Christians.
This attitude hinders the work of God, and, at best, allows the person to only grow to a small level of faith in the Lord.
They settle in their comfort zone, being happy that things don’t change - and then God will ask them to do something new, or in a way that they are not used to doing.
He might ask them to take a step of faith and do something that just doesn’t make much sense to them, and out of fear of the unknown,
they end up refusing to press onward.
By being so inflexible, Christians actually render themselves useless to God.
Most people will start thinking that they must understand everything God tells them to do BEFORE they become obedient enough to do it.
They believe that if it doesn’t make sense to them, it must be wrong.
They have forgotten that God works through other people, too.
The bottom line is, when this happens, their level of faith actually starts to deteriorate to the point that they cannot feel comfortable trusting God anymore.
Tom Hanks stared in a film called the Terminal based on a man called Mehran Karimi Nasseri who actually lived in a Paris airport for 11 years.
He was a man without a country. He had been expelled from his native country of Iran, and on his way to France, his passport was stolen.
Landing in Paris, he was not allowed out of the airport, and was soon shuttled to England.
Because he had no passport, England refused him and sent him back to France where he was again denied permission to leave the airport.
For 11 years, he lived in the airport.
He survived on handouts from employees and used the public toilet to keep clean.
He spent his time writing in diaries.
Then, in September 1999, the French authorities presented him with a travel card and a French residency permit. Suddenly he was free to go anywhere he wanted.
But when airport officials handed him his walking papers, he just filed them in his folder, and resumed writing in his diary.
You see, over the years he became so comfortable where he was, he was afraid to leave the safety of that comfort, even for something much better.
Too many of us have grown accustomed to where we are in our relationship with the Lord and have grown so used to how we do things for Him,
that we have become fearful and have lost our trust that He will carry us.
Let me say that if you do not think about God’s plans for you daily;
if you do not try and actively seek His will in your daily life;
then there is a very good chance that you are the person that I am speaking about right now.
My first point is this: WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU, DO YOU LISTEN?
There will be a time when God tries to speak to you, and He will either want you to do something different than you have ever done,
or He will want you to do something for an entirely different reason than you are used to.
And you begin to feel uncomfortable.
You start to question “why”,
and you might even start feeling fearful or angry.
Sometimes, we start to run away from God because getting out of our comfort zones is just too uncomfortable.
It is during these times that you must remember something very important:
Those feelings are all negative, and God is not the author of negative feelings.
If you let those feelings run rampant,
they will eventually cause you to walk away from a real relationship with the Lord.
We all have a tendency to become like Mr. Nasseri.
We become so accustomed to where we are,
what we are doing,
and why we are doing it, that way
that we are afraid to change - even for God.
We don’t stand in faith
and we revert back to where we only trust those things that we know,
that we understand,
or that we feel comfortable in.
We, too, choose to stay where we are because we fear where we could go.
The steps of our faith have gone from:
···· being lost and having NO FAITH in God, to
···· being saved and having EXCITED FAITH in God, and then
···· being blessed abundantly and having COMFORTABLE FAITH, back to
···· being fearful and LOSING trust in God
HEBREWS 11 is called the ’faith chapter’, because it tells us about the absolute faith that so many of the biblical heroes had.
I pray every day that we would be able to have the same amount of loyal faith as they did.
Listen as I read to you what these men did because of their faith. HEBREWS 11:7 ‘By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.’
Some scholars say that in Noah’s time, they had never experienced rain.
Can you imagine what went through Noah’s mind when God asked him to build a really big boat to carry animals in?
He probably thought that either he or God had gone crazy.
But, because Noah had faith, he built the ark, even though he may not have had any real understanding of what was about to happen.
Had Noah been like many of us, he would have told God that he was used to the way things were and he wasn’t going to do something that upsetting to his comfort zone.
Of course, had he not built the ark, he would have died.
What do you think is going to happen when we choose to do things our way instead of God’s way?
Do you think we are helping or hurting God’s work?
If God asked many of today’s Christians to build an Ark, and have it ready in by a certain date,
I’m sure we would have a whole load of excuses.
‘I tried to get it done, God, but there were too many problems. First of all, I started building it and then the Planning Officer from Southend Council came and said I had not followed the correct planning procedure and they would not approve the construction, so they fined me and made me tear it apart.
‘Then, when I tried to get planning permission, they told me that where I wanted to build was for residential property only and the size of what I wanted to build was classed as industrial storage. Then I had to save my money and buy a large brownfield plot out in Southend.
And then I had to apply to Southend for planning permission.
They approved it, but it took six months.
Once I had the place and the permission ready,
I was hit with an injunction from a group that said I would make too much noise and that construction traffic would disrupt access to the local nightclub and casino.
It took two years to get through the court system, but I finally won.
It took me another 5 years to save up enough money to buy the wood and nails I needed.
‘Again, I tried to start on building your Ark,
but a local union staged picket lines in front of my property because I hadn’t hired any workers to help me.
I explained I had no money to pay them, as this was a work of charity. They continued to picket.
‘I finally started building it and the work went slower than anticipated.
I got within a couple of weeks of finishing it when the Southend Revenue and Benefits office got involved and said I had violated tax laws, because I had failed to pay tax and national insurance.
I explained I had not hired anyone,
that my immediate family were helping for free.
So, God, I did not finish what You asked me to do, but it isn’t my fault: I had a lot of distractions!’
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In that scenario, Noah did the same thing Peter would do centuries later.
Instead of keeping his focus on the Lord and what the Lord wanted him to do,
he focused on the problems around him and that destroyed any initiative he had to serve the Lord in the first place.
HEBREWS 11:8, it tells us how Abraham left everything he knew behind, just so he could be obedient to God.
‘By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.’
In verse 10, it explains why Abraham was so obedient. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.’
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In verse 27, it says tells us a about Moses.
’By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him, the One who is invisible.’
Moses had killed an Egyptian for hurting an Israelite. He knew he could have been killed, but had no fear because He knew God. In fact, He so much faith in God that He put his entire trust in Him and walked out into the middle of the desert.
I asked you WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU, DO YOU LISTEN?
The 2nd point is:
WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU, DO YOU DO?
Anybody ever been in a rowing boat?
What would happen if you only used one oar on one side of the boat?
(you would keep rowing in a circle)
You would be rowing but you would not be going anywhere?
That is how I would describe some Christians today.
They believe, but just not enough to accomplish.
They have faith, but not enough to really put it to use.
They have not thrown in the towel,
but they still aren’t going anywhere for the Lord.
In MARK 6:45, we read:
‘Immediately, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd.’
Jesus told them to get in a boat and go, and they did. Would we go,
or would we sit around and discuss it among ourselves for a while first,
or maybe go back to Jesus several times with questions as to ‘why’ He wanted us to go?
In Mark 6:48, it says that Jesus saw them straining at the oars because the wind was against them. During the night, He walked out by the boat and was about to pass them and keep walking, and in verses 49 & 50, the Bible says they saw Him and thought He was a ghost and all became absolutely terrified!
Maybe we would like to think that we have great faith and would react differently than they did,
or maybe you would be the most frightened in the boat.
They were frightened because they did not understand.
Too many times, we do not understand either.
We don’t understand that all the things we are used to,
and all the things we rely on do not mean anything when Jesus gets involved.
Our natural tendency in this sinful world
is to rely upon the knowledge we have learned from the world and not rely on the faith we could have received from God.
Certainly, men do not walk on water today, do they?
And, many good Christians go to church twice on a Sunday and get really involved,
but would never think of taking what they learn outside the church.
And the churches must never change or try harder to reach the lost.
I want you to know something;
and DO NOT FORGET THIS.
The disciples were out on the water, and Jesus was about 8 miles away on a mountain.
In verse 48, it says that Jesus saw them straining.
Even though they were far apart, Jesus had His eye on them all the time.
He knew what they were going through and He loved them enough to keep them safe.
I asked you what you do WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU, DO YOU DO?
Unfortunately, too many of us find it too uncomfortable to listen to Him,
so we blame somebody else and end up running away from the Lord.
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I read a story about a church who had 2,000 members.
One Sunday morning, just before church,
two men dressed all in black, with balaclvas that only showed the eyes and the mouth walked in
and each one was carrying a machine gun.
One of them shouted, ‘Whoever is willing to take a bullet for Jesus, remain seated; everyone else run as fast as you can.’ Most people ran.
There were only 20 people left sitting in the church. The men pulled off their masks, one was the pastor and the other the associate pastor. said, ‘Okay, said the Pastor. We’ve cleared the hypocrites, now I can give the message to those who are willing to serve Jesus.’
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Did you know that is how the unchurched and unsaved see us?
They see us as hypocrites.
Many non-believers have said the number one reason they do not convert to Christianity is due to Christians.
Why would they ever think that?
Let me tell you why.
Sadly in the 21st century - many Christians live more for themselves than for Jesus.
the Christian divorce rate is as high as the unsaved.
Our use of foul language and accepting the sin of the world is as high as the unsaved.
In fact, many Christians do such a good job of hiding their Christianity, people see no difference whatsoever in how they live compared to how the unsaved live.
Yet we look down long religious noses at the unsaved,
criticizing them for living the way they do!
they see us saying one thing, but they cannot see any difference in how we live and how they live.
It is almost like we do everything we can to keep Jesus from being reflected in our lives,
all so people will not scoff at us.
Christian the question to you this evening is:
Just how serious are you about your relationship with Jesus?
Are you serious enough to start living unashamedly for Him?
The third point is this WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU, DO YOU TRUST or TRY?
There is a big difference between trusting and trying.
For instance, if you tell someone to turn with their backs toward you, then close their eyes and fall backwards for you to catch them, what is their reaction?
Even those who do it, cringe at the thought of your not really catching them, don’t they?
It is only rarely that we find someone who has enough trust to be relaxed and fall backwards knowing they will be caught.
That illustrates how we have faith in the Lord.
Once in a while, we will relax and just be peaceful, as we ‘know’ the Lord will carry us through any situation.
Most of the time, we try our best to trust,
but keep running back to the only place we have ever known, and continue to do things the way we have always done,
for the same reasons we have always used.
Is that the kind of faith that is honored by God?
I mentioned the disciples in the boat.
Have you ever stopped to think that Peter was the only disciple who actually stepped out and walked by faith?
I know some of your stories, and I know that some of you have also stepped out of your boats to do great and mighty things that God has called you for.
But I also know that none of us have been as courageous and faithful as we needed to be.
This church is going through new things right now.
We are, and will continue to be, called upon to do new things, or to look at things in a new perspective.
For this church to grow and be powerful for the Lord, it cannot be timid.
It must be a church of absolute faith.
And that means that we must have that kind of faith in our daily Christian walk, too.
There might be times when we are asked to accept something new.
Is that really too hard to do?
Shouldn’t we try to do anything that glorifies the Lord, even if it is uncomfortable to do at the start?
Sure, we must look, analyze it, but only from the perspective of, “Will it somehow help this church succeed for God’ glory?”
We have all known churches who have not done a good job for the Lord.
When we look at these churches, we must ask ourselves one question: Has their faith honored God, or have they served themselves?
We have been talking about faith this morning.
In GALATIANS 3:11, it says that the righteous will live by faith.
I pray that we do not live by what the world tells us, but that we live by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The world will not give you everlasting blessings, but God will. But He can only do that if you are truly faithful to Him.
As we close, let me ask you one question.
Are you serious about living for Jesus, or are you just going through the motions thinking you are serious?
Look at the way you have lived in the last three months, and tell God how serious you are.
“Run with endurance the race that God has set before you”
Are you weary and thinking about quitting?
Stay in! Are you thinking about taking a detour? Keep going straight ahead! Have you dropped out of the race? Get back in—it’s not too late! For your own sake, and for the sake of those who will come after you, run the race!
