1. Bad News
The doctor shook his head. "John, you’re in terrible shape. You’ve got to do something, and I mean starting today. First, I want you to tell your wife to cook more nutritious meals. I want you to stop working like a dog. And tell your wife you’re going to make a budget, and she has to stick to it. And have her keep the kids off your back so you can relax. Unless there are some changes in your life, you’ll be dead in a month."
"Doc", John said, "this would sound more official coming from you. Could you please call my wife and give her those instructions?’ “OK.”
When John got home, his wife rushed to him and began to weep on his shoulder. “Oh, Honey, I talked to the doctor. You poor man – he says you have only 30 days to live!"
2. Priorities: Good Better; Best//Important vs. Urgent (Tyranny of the Urgent)
3. Last Week’s Sermon (“Awaken, America!”) hit a nerve
a. I appreciate your support and will appreciate it more when they start enforcing hate speech
b. But, I have a question: “What practical difference did the sermon make for you?” – Some registered to vote; some are asking – “What do we do now?”
1) Sometimes preaching feels very useless – lots of study; little change
2) Maybe I need to pray more; study more; find better stories; maybe worship and sermons need improvement
3) Maybe WE need to be more serious about our walk with God; the spark is being fanned
4) Too often we want to make God a “take it or leave it” proposition and there are no consequences
5) What would keep you from making God your TOP Priority? Ball games? Entertainment? Who said we are supposed to be entertained? Following God DEMANDS effort!
4. 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12.13-14
a. This is a reminder of the battle all of us face – easier to rock along than take the time and exert the effort to DO
b. The answer comes in our relationship with God
5. The “Conclusion” of the matter – summary of instruction; snatching away; the termination
I. The #1 – Priority is GOD (not Me) – See also Matthew 22.37-40
A. God Is Not Interested in:
1. Our convenience
2. Our Luxuries
3. Our “Economy”
4. Our Entertainment
B. God IS Interested in Our Faithful Obedience
[BTW, I have been thinking that maybe we are “too familiar” with our Savior – twice in the gospels he was addressed by his name, “Yeshua” (Jesus); maybe I need to be more respectful
1. Motivation of FEAR – Reverence – 2 Corinthians 7.1
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
2. Keep the Commandments
a. Key indicator of our love for God
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14.15
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14.21
b. Disobedience is the indicator of self-love
c. Keeping Commandments is Motivated by the Love of/for Christ -- For the love of Christ controls us, 2 Corinthians 5.14a
Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf was born into one of Europe’s leading families in the year 1700, and he grew up in an atmosphere of prayer, Bible-reading, and hymn-singing. He excelled in school, and seemed to possess all the qualities for national leadership. After finishing his university studies at Wittenberg, Germany, Zinzendorf embarked on a grand tour of Europe, attending lectures and visiting museums, palaces, and universities.
It was while visiting the art museum at Dusseldorf that the young count had a deeply moving experience that stayed with him the rest of his life.
Seeing Domenico Feti’s Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”), a portrait of the thorn-crowned Jesus, and reading the inscription below it—“I Did This For Thee! What Hast Thou Done For Me?”
Zinzendorf said to himself, “I have loved Him for a long time, but I have never actually done anything for Him.
From now on, I will do whatever He leads me to do.”
II. The #1 – Priority is Displayed In:
A. How We Deal with Others – Leviticus 19.10;
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4.20
An old Paul Harvey story is about a man by the name of Ray Blankenship. One morning as Ray was preparing his breakfast he heard the terrified cries of a little girl. As he looked out his window he saw her being swept away in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream the ditch disappeared into a tunnel underneath a road and then emptied into the main storm drain.
Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the sinking child. Then he jumped into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. Only a few feet away from the culvert Ray’s free hand felt something--possibly submerged tree limb— He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to rip and tear him away from the child. “If only he could just hang on until help comes," he thought. But he did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself…, thinking solely on the need of others. Because Ray Blankenship could not swim. And now you know the rest of the story.
B. Being Known by God – But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 1 Corinthians 8.3
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7.21-23
Conclusion
1. We are tested along our way – some are big tests, some are smaller
Four brothers in the UP of Michigan went deer hunting and paired off in two’s for the day. They were deer hunting die-hards -- always had been. That night one of the brothers returned alone, staggering under the weight of a 200 pound deer. The other two brothers asked, "Where’s Sven?" He said, "Oh, got sick. He’s a couple of miles back up the trail."
"You left Sven lying there, and carried the deer back?" "Yeah, it was a tough call, but I figured no one’s going to steal Sven."
Tests:
Abraham in Genesis 22
Israel in Wilderness:
And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8.2
Peter’s Denial (Matthew 26.34)
Paul’s Admonition: Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Corinthians 13.5
2. So, what do we do with what we know?
a. Do Classes matter?
b. Do Home Groups Matter?
c. Do Sermons Matter?
d. Do our Ministries Matter?
e. Do our Prayers Matter?
f. They do IF we eagerly seek God!
g. This is not just “showing up” it is aggressive discipleship that counts
3. C. S. Lewis said it like this, "The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important."
4. Frances Ridley Havergal, the British musician and devotional writer, left us such classic hymns as Like a River Glorious, Who is on the Lord’s Side?, I Am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, and Take My Life and Let It Be.
One day in January, 1858, while visiting the art museum in Dusseldorf, Germany, she sat down wearily opposite Domenico Feti’s picture of Christ under which was this caption: “I Did This For Thee! What Hast Thou Done For Me?”
Deeply moved, Frances scribbled some lines that flashed into her mind, writing in pencil on a scrap of paper.
Reading them over, they did not satisfy her so she tossed them into the fire, but they fell out untouched.
Some months later she showed them to her father who encouraged her to preserve them. Being a musician himself, he even wrote a melody to accompany them. The resulting hymn, “I Gave My Life for Thee” was first published in 1860, and launched Frances Ridley Havergal as a serious composer of hymns:
I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might’st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead.
I gave, I gave my life for thee;
What hast thou given for Me?
