Intro: CONTINENTAL DIVIDE = advance slide
(slide show available upon request: eldonandkay@hotmail.com)
PowerPoint Intro
Metal Building – Purpose for roof … shed water…
WATER SHED…
Left… West…. Right … East
The USA has a watershed … also
(all continents have….)
All water (Spring, rivers, streams, brooks, rain, snow melt, EVEN COCA COLA) if any liquid falls on the west side… of the continental watershed… PACIFIC SEABOARD
…. EAST SIDE…. ATLANTIC SEABOARD
This WATERSHED is called a CONTINENTAL DIVIDE.
For this message, I would like to use the term… WATERSHED.
Not only do buildings and continents have watersheds,
TIME also HAS WATERSHEDS…we could call it… WATERSHED MOMENTS or…
DEFINING MOMENTS…. a "LIFE BEFORE" and "LIFE AFTER" event
This morning, I would like to look at WATERSHED (DEFINING) MOMENTS in
1. HISTORY (American)
2. HIS STORY (our LORD JESUS CHRIST)
3. OUR STORY – (each person is writing their own personal story)
I. Defining Moments in History (AMERICAN)
Just as human beings usually are born nine months after conception, there was a period of time in American history where the AMERICAN IDEA was conceived.
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Then OPPRESSION is the mother of freedom.
America was an idea that began in the early 1500’s. The period of pregnancy lasted almost 300 years.
The defining moment of our beloved nation’s was its birth which took place 238 years and two days ago.
On that day, 56 men pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” to lead the newborn nation into the unchartered waters of freedom and democracy.
They all signed our nation’s birth certificate = the
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!
This was definitely a watershed moment. However, if we were to isolate that specific day in 1776, on the surface, our national birthday would have seemed rather insignificant. With a lack of modern communication, nothing much changed that day in the day-to-day lives of the signers nor of the citizens of this brand new nation. In retrospect and looking at the larger picture,…July 4th 1776 looms larger than life.
That day was the equivalent of having bringing about a 9.0 quake in the world’s geopolitical reality. The uniqueness of the American dream shook all geopolitical foundations and upset the status quo fruit basket of despots around the world.
Until that day, a select few aristo…crats (no relation … Kratz ;-) ruled over the earth’s population through intimidation, slavery, bribery, murder, threats, barbaric wars, coups and other such power plays that had kept the masses oppressed, beaten down and hopeless and this, since the beginning of human history.
The truth is that throughout human history until July 4th, 1776, it could be said that the geopolitical stage of the entire world was survival of the fittest. With the obvious exception of the nation of Israel, a nation that was more “fit” enslaved the weaker nations.
The American idea was conceived shortly after the Italiano Columbus goofed up on his GPS coordinates.
I think that he must have given too much credit to the spokesman for State Farm Insurance.
Turn right
Turn left
Turn right… I MEAN LEFT
After almost causing a rear end collision with the Nina (knee-nha) and the Pinta (pen-ta), instead of landing in the East Indies he landed at the SANDALS RESORT in the East Islands of the Bahamas!
His discovery began an entourage of ships laden with common citizens headed for a place that promised them more civil liberties and freedom from oppression.
The American idea became a specific war strategy in 1776 when 56 signers signed the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE.
Remember the phrase repeated often last week: FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE!
The Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783)
American deaths 25,000 people
British military deaths total about 10,000.
To summarize this Defining Moment,
• JULY 4, 1776 is one of the PRINCIPAL WATERSHED MOMENTS in AMERICAN HISTORY as it is regarded as our national birthday.
Another DEFINING MOMENT came less than 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The second DEFINING MOMENT established what this nation would look like for the next 150 years…in other words, from 1861 until NOW!
This defining moment lasted for 4 years ... which in light of the Revolutionary War, wasn’t that long. This moment only took about ½ the time that the war for our independence from Great Britain took.
Half the period of time but many, many times the number of war casualties.
The official number of casualties in the Revolutionary War was 25,000.
The official number of casualties in the Civil War is well over 750,000!
FREEDOM is NEVER FREE
And what on earth justified such carnage in the infant nation?
PRINCIPLE! PURPOSE!
PERIOD!
It was the practical application of this truism:
“Unless one has a purpose worth dying for, they do not possess a purpose worth living for!” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
With that said, what purpose
• could have justified the death of more than 750,000 AMERICANS
• in the country which had existed for less than a century?
What PURPOSE? I’m glad that you asked.
The purpose took on a face. It was when a tall, lanky Republican President from Illinois decided to go against political correctness and declare the end of slavery. He eventually gave his life to free American slaves from their inhuman bondage.
Keep in mind, in the entire world at that time…. AN UNHEARD OF CONCEPT!
Today, many are forgetting how unique the American DREAM was at the time!
This issue divided the UNITED STATES, an issue that almost dealt a fatal blow to the DREAM.
The issue
• Tore families apart which included stories of
o Fathers shooting at their own sons
o Sons shooting at their own fathers
o Widows burying their only children - war casualties that left long-lasting emotional devastation.
• Separated life-long friends
• Not to mention the material devastation and loss of homes, churches, businesses, schools, etc.
When the nation emerged from the smoke of the Civil War in May of 1865, it was deeply scarred, hurting, stunned and discovered that more than 3.5% of its citizens had lost their lives.
Oh, and it was ALSO president-less!
Lincoln’s insistence on holding to principle over political correctness had cost him his life on April 15, 1865 when he was only 56 years old.
Does that number ring a bell?
Does that number sound familiar tied to the high price paid for American freedom?
How many signers signed the Declaration of Independence? 56
Lincoln’s death caused by a coward's assassin’s bullet brought this infant nation back to its founding dream.
The American DREAM? In the timeless words of Dr. King… who expressed so eloquently the AMERICAN DREAM in his speech…
“I HAVE A DREAM”
To offer freedom for ALL American citizens independently of the race, color or creed to exercise their God-given inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
A long way from achieving that LOFTY GOAL, the war finally ended less than one month after President Lincoln’s assassination!
FREEDOM is NEVER FREE! Someone has to die to attain it!
Interestingly enough, the civil war had just about accomplished what no external power or alliance could have ever accomplished!
President Lincoln stated this truth this way when he was a debater in 1838:
"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
(EXPLAIN that the following part of his quote is extremely unsettling in light of present day reality in America)
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?
I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us.
It cannot come from abroad.
If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.
As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Time will not allow me to analyze other DEFINING MOMENTS in American HISTORY
II. Defining Moments in HIS STORY
Obviously, one of the main DEFINING MOMENTS in HIS STORY also was the moment of our LORD’S BIRTH.
We celebrate that defining moment every year on December 25th.
When the VIRGIN MARY gave birth to her firstborn and laid Him in a manger, the moment was such a defining moment that it even changed our checkbooks and almost created a Y2K disaster!
2014 means what in light of that defining moment?
2014 years after the birth of CHRIST!
Now we could spend the rest of our time this morning pointing out the discrepancies of our calendar
• in light of church history,
• in light of the creation of mankind and
• in light of the historical events within the Roman Empire at the time of HIS BLESSED BIRTH.
Suffice it to say in this message, not even agnostics or atheists can deny that the birth of CHRIST was a defining moment in HIS STORY and in HUMAN HISTORY!
They can't even write an email to be archived in the NSA without indirectly declaring that the birth of Jesus Christ is a historical fact!
Every time they use a date, they declare it again!
When we looked at two of the DEFINING MOMENTS of AMERICAN HISTORY, we saw that at the time of conception, that is to say, the time from when the American Dream first started until the actual birth of the USA ended up taking almost 300 years.
There was a period of approximately nine months… however, the long journey on a donkey may have moved up the delivery of the Christ Child. However, it could be argued that THE FIRST Defining Moment was actually the moment of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, when the Holy Spirit placed in the Virgin’s womb the DIVINE SEED of GOD!
I beg to differ.
I would argue that the moment of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION was not the first DEFINING MOMENT in HIS STORY.
1 Peter 1 (NLT)
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.
19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
To me, HIS STORIES’ FIRST DEFINING MOMENT took place billions of years BEFORE the Divine Conception took place.
Scientists tell us that the earth is 4,540,000 years old. Isn’t that amazing. Personally,I don’t think that it looks a day over 4,300,000 years old!
It must have had an awful lot of liposuction and plastic surgery!
Let’s say for the sake of argument that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. Using this arbitrary date as the birth of our, then this verse could read as follows:
1 Peter 1:20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began (5 BILLION YEARS AGO – a long time before), but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
Obviously, this MAJOR DEFINING MOMENT in HIS STORY doesn’t have a beginning moment in time that we humans are privy to. ONLY GOD KNOWS FOR SURE WHEN THAT DEFINING MOMENT took place!
But ONE THING IS FOR SURE, the decision for GOD to become FLESH and to DIE on a CROSS and to then be RAISED from the dead to be our ETERNAL SHEPHERD KING was decided before this earth was formed.
• Let the implication of that DEFINING MOMENT sink in.
• Let the implication of that TRUTH toast your theological thermostat.
• Let the implication of that TRUTH shake your SPIRITUAL DNA to it’s very core.
• Let the implication of that TRUTH penetrate the very FIBER of your being.
Listen to how Paul states it in
Ephesians 1 (NLT)
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.
10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
I would call that PLAN set into motion LONG BEFORE the FOUNDATION of the earth to have been the DEFINING MOMENT OF MOMENTS
Of HIS STORY!
Without that DEFINING MOMENT all other defining moments that we will touch on this morning would have been an exercise in futility!
Defining Moments in HIS STORY then begins with THE PLAN set into motion before the earth was formed - according to Scripture.
The second DEFINING MOMENT was His CONCEPTION.
The third DEFINING MOMENT was HIS BLESSED BIRTH on that blessed BETHLEHEM MORN.
The fourth DEFINING MOMENT arguably was the temptation,
(but since KEVIN did such an awesome job at analyzing that MOMENT last WEDNESDAY at our midweek Bible Study)
This morning, suffice it to say that if JESUS had not come through His 40 day trial VICTORIOUSLY, it would have RADICALLY TRANSFORMED ALL DEFINING MOMENTS thereafter including DEFINING MOMENTS of AMERICAN HISTORY and Defining Moments in OUR STORY!
Without HIS triumphant victory over TEMPTATION, there probably would never have been a UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
Of course, the next DEFINING MOMENT was the crucifixion followed by the
DEFINING MOMENT of HIS RESURRECTION followed by the
DEFINING MOMENT of HIS ASCENSION followed by the
DEFINING MOMENT of HIS SENDING HIS HOLY SPIRIT to give birth to HIS CHURCH on the Day of PENTECOST.
DEFINING MOMENTS in HIS STORY…Each one that could in and of itself form the basis of a SERIES OF MESSAGES!
Now let’s look at the final point of this message entitled: DEFINING MOMENTS
1. Defining Moments in AMERICAN HISTORY
2. Defining Moments in HIS STORY
III. Defining Moments in OUR STORY
Each one of us is writing our own story.
Each of our stories actually began with conception.
Psalm 139 (NLT)
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
TALK ABOUT your DEFINING MOMENTS!
• You are SO VERY LOVED!
• LOVED FROM YOUR CONCEPTION!
• LOVED SO MUCH BY YOUR CREATOR!
• LOVED THIS MUCH! (Extend arms like a cross)
Can you believe it?
God knows your innermost thoughts, plans, desires and insecurities and LOVES YOU ANY WAY!
HE CHOSE TO LOVE YOU before you could have possibly done ANYTHING to merit or deserve HIS LOVE!
HE LOVED YOU UNCONDITIONALLY FROM the time that you were only two cells! That was your DEFINING MOMENT.
Besides the moment of conception when each of us received an ETERNAL SOUL, each of us had another MAJOR DEFINING MOMENT
The day that we were born into this world.
When I count to three, state in a loud voice the month and day that your personal second DEFINING MOMENT occurred!
RESPONSE and REACTION
Now, notice that I didn’t have you yell out the year of your birth! That was by design.
Now look at the person to your right or left and tell them what YEAR that you think that they were born in! It sounded to me like some of you exaggerated!
ILL. Reminds me of the child that was complaining to his grandfather,
Papa, I find history so hard because there are soooo many dates, places and names to memorize!!!!
The elderly grandfather attempted to encourage his grandchild who was HISTORY CHALLENGED.
“Well, sweetheart, I didn’t like history very much at first but then I began to love it.”
“But grandpa, when you studied history, there wasn't much history to study!”
Now, we finally arrive at today’s DEFINING MOMENT!
What is so important about today…you may ask. July 4th was two days ago.
Well, TODAY just may be the most important DEFINING MOMENT in YOUR LIFE STORY!
I don’t know if some of you personally have had a DEFINING MOMENT in your life when you were actually BORN AGAIN!
If you have been BORN AGAIN, when I count to three, please yell out the city where JESUS first came into your LIFE.
If you have not been BORN AGAIN, then TODAY can become the GREATEST DEFINING MOMENT in your STORY since your natural birth!
2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV) "...I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation."
Hebrews 3:15 (NIV) “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
Maybe you are not quite sure if you have been born again or not.
…
Do you remember the name of the hospital where you were born?
I don’t remember, because I was very young at the time!
Maybe you can't remember or your mother never told you what hospital you were born in.
However, I can remember the place where I was born again!
I could take you to the church in South Salem OR (or at least the location if the building is no longer there)
• and if the altar is still there,
• take you to the side of the sanctuary where I knelt at the altar.
• My dad, the pastor, came and prayed with me.
• I could call SOUTH SALEM C. of N. my spiritual MATERNITY WARD!
Can you take me to the MATERNITY WARD where you were BORN AGAIN? Maybe a sanctuary, a stadium, a campground, a bedside, a living room.
If you can’t pinpoint a place, can you at least pinpoint a time when it took place.
If not, then can you really state with assurance that it was a DEFINING MOMENT in YOUR STORY?
You may ask, why is it so important to remember where or when your new birth in Christ took place.
I’m so glad that you asked!
It is important to DEFINE THAT MOMENT because the enemy of your soul will attempt to discount it as simply fruit of a fertile imagination! Satan loves to put doubts where they don't belong.
If you remember or not where you were born again, one thing is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE in YOUR STORY.
TODAY, can you testify HONESTLY that you ARE BORN AGAIN?
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE> Not I was or I used to be….
ARE YOU AT THIS VERY MOMENT sure that you ARE BORN AGAIN?
There are so many in the church of Jesus Christ in America who are CONVINCED, but NOT converted.
If you can’t honestly say a resounding YES! Then I can say THIS IS YOUR DAY.
This can be the DEFINING MOMENT of your life and eternal destiny. This can be the before July 6, 2014 and after July 6, 2014 or your life!
God did HIS PART in HIS STORY,
• loving you before the foundation of the earth
• to the point of sending His Only Son to die in your place
• so that you could receive His life through the forgiveness of your sins and adoption into HIS FAMILY.
If you have not been BORN AGAIN, then why not?
If not TODAY… WHEN?
If not HERE … WHERE?
We live in a country that is RICH in HISTORY that is intrinsically woven with HIS STORY.
You are in a sanctuary where HIS STORY is openly and unabashedly proclaimed each and every week of the year.
You are being invited this morning to publicly declare Jesus as your LORD and SAVIOR without fear of political reprisal or persecution.
And yet, it all comes down today to YOUR STORY.
Only you can make the cognitive decision to declare Jesus as your LORD and SAVIOR.
Just as being born in a garage does not make one a car, being born and raised in church does not mean a person has been BORN AGAIN.
Can you say with total conviction, I have been forgiven of my sins, I have declared and continue declaring today that JESUS CHRIST is my LORD and SAVIOR and I am walking in all of the light that HE has given me.
If that isn't your STORY this morning, then I invite you to make it YOUR STORY.
This INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND can be YOUR DAY of SPIRITUAL FREEDOM IN CHRIST!
PRAYER and INVITATION
