Amazed Part 2: Amazed by Him
Preached by Jimmy Seibert
August 31, 2014
I love this time of year [when Baylor students return to Waco], because it reminds me of my own college days, coming to college and all the excitement, and all the life change that happens. But I wanted to take you back just a little bit on stages of my own life change that led up to a significant college experience. I want to take you back to 7th grade. Now, most of us should have skipped 7th and 8th grade, we’d be better off, more whole in our hearts, less wounds in life. But it happens. We go through 7th grade, and when I was in 7th grade in the late 1970s, a movie came out called “Staying Alive”. And for you guys who don’t know, you know – Ah ah ah ah staying alive, staying alive – and this move and that deal. And a lot of you guys have retro parties and say, “Isn’t that funny? Isn’t that cool?” No – that was real time for me. That was happening front and center. Now again, I’m not recommending the movie for sure. I don’t know what was on my parents’ mind when they let us go to the movie. I ask, “What were they thinking?” and the answer was – they weren’t. We kind of took the whole 70s scene in and I had the platform shoes and the bell bottom pants, the feathered hair, and the whole deal. I want to show you a picture from the Valentine’s dance in the 8th grade. There we go. Ya, the long hair. If you actually looked a little closer, her hair and my hair were similar. I did have the feathered hair, the whole deal. Kind of like Andy Gibb of the Bee Gees was my thought. So we went through the “Staying Alive” disco stage, and then we got to about 9th grade and the summer of 9th grade another great movie came out. Well, again it was great to us then, again, I wouldn’t recommend it now. It was called “Urban Cowboy.” Now just by definition, urban and cowboy – we’ve got some real cowboys here in Texas. You are the real deal, and when you wear your hat and your jeans, that’s who you are. But for me, I was an urban guy trying to look like a cowboy because that’s what cool was. And we went kicker dancing and we did all the stuff that goes with it and the theme song of this particular movie, prophetically so, was called, “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.” That would have been a perfect description of my life as a non-believer at the time. I wanted to give you a picture of the ol’ 10th grade fall dance urban cowboy look. Alright. Alright, so we had the “Staying Alive” stage, we had the “Urban Cowboy” stage, and then as we got to the end of high school we went through soul music and punk rock and that whole deal. And then we got to college and kind of preppy became “in.” Now when you say the word preppy now, you kind of laugh, and everything else, but no, that was really cool at the time. And just by the way, I was see a semblance of it coming back, and so when I got to Baylor, I figured out what you were supposed to look like, and I ended up looking like this. There we go, got my Ray Bans, alright. I’m looking pretty good, you can leave that one up there a little bit. Ok – you can take that down.
What was happening to me in each stage of life is that I was becoming that which I beheld. I looked around me and decided what is significant, what is valuable, what draws love and attention? What puts me in, instead of out; and that’s what I became. When I came to Baylor, I looked around, and now I was a believer – I came to know Jesus toward the end of high school – and I thought, “Ok – who’s a Christian here who also is popular, who also is cool, who also does these things in the world? How do I have both of those?” And I kind of beheld that, and tried to be like that. Until, as I‘ve talked about often, and I spoke about last week. I came between my sophomore and junior year, and I realized, “I’ve never really beheld Jesus. Now I have Jesus and the world, and before it was just the world. What would it mean if I just beheld Jesus, instead of trying to be something I’m not?”
What if I let Him define me? What if I let Him be the centerpiece of my life instead of the world around me? And so, I began to meet daily with Jesus. I didn’t know how else to get to know Him except to meet with Him. So every morning I would open up my Bible and I would read a chapter. I would look at the life of Jesus and try to obey, or follow the life of Jesus, and it was transforming. I think the first thing that was so key was His presence, His nearness. I found when I would meet with Him with the right heart, I wanted to know Him. Now remember I didn’t grow up in church, so it wasn’t what I “should” do or “ought” to, I wanted to know Jesus. And when I wanted to know His nearness, He became Immanuel. I found that as I would simply look at the Word of God and follow His ways, I found that change would fall on my life. Past addictions, places of brokenness, would just begin to fall off my life. I found that the significance I was looking for was no longer out there, but it was right here; that in my heart I knew that I was valuable, I knew I had worth, and a purpose and a plan. Not because I was grasping for something outside of myself, but Jesus was the one defining me, speaking to me, leading me and directing me. I was transformed by Jesus, meeting with Him. And I was being changed.
Second Corinthians 3:18 describes this. “But we all with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror.” What are we looking at, what are we beholding? Known as a mirror, the glory of the Lord, that’s Jesus. Our being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. When Jesus becomes central, we become changed into not just a religious person, but we become changed into the very thing we were created to be. And we are changed into what He called us to do. An d everything begins to make sense when Jesus becomes central.
After the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, He appeared to His followers, and 120 gathered around Him in the book of Acts, and He said, “Now wait and the promise of the Spirit is going to come and you’ll know what to do from here.” So Jesus ascends to Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit falls on them in Acts 2, and one of the followers of Jesus, Peter, begins to say, “This is that which was prophesied by Joel, that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh.” And then He describes Jesus again, and then he has this quoting again of Psalms 16 verse 8-11, and in the middle of all this he says something like this, “Jesus is wonderful. Jesus is all you’ve ever wanted.” The person who lived that out best was a guy named David. Here’s what David said about Jesus in Psalm 16:8-11, David says concerning Him, Jesus, “I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand that I won’t be shaken. For my heart was glad, my tongue rejoiced, my flesh will also dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or allow your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life, you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” So here it is in Acts 2, talking about David, a seeker of Jesus, a seeker of God, and here’s what he said about his experience with God. David was called a man after God’s own heart, and that is what we are all called to be, men and women after God’s own heart. So we want to unpack this Psalms 16, this quote that was so central to the New Testament church.
At the beginning of the moving out of the people of God, he said, “Now don’t forget that Jesus is central. Don’t forget to live and love Jesus just like David did.” So let’s break this down a little bit. It starts off in Psalm 16:8 where David says, “I’ve set the Lord continually before me.” I’ve set the Lord continually before me. If you’ve read much of the Bible or read much about David, David is first seen in the Bible as a young shepherd boy. He was the youngest of all of his brothers. Therefore that meant that he had no inheritance. He had the job that was the least, the toughest, the most difficult, most lonely. He was sent out to care for his dad’s sheep. Many times, weeks on end, out there by himself, caring for sheep. He was not a favored son in his household, his brother was, and on down the pecking order. David was just like a household servant. He had no real future because his lot in life was already cast: “The sheep need tending, I’m going to be a shepherd. This is who I am.” Davis in his loneliness and rejection, out there caring for sheep, met with Jesus. He set the Lord continually before him, and he met with God in his loneliness, and in his rejection, and in some ways his hopelessness about the future. “This is my lot in life – but God. God is present, and if I’ll call on Him, He will be enough.” He met God in his loneliness. He met Jesus as a young soldier.
You guys know the story of David and Goliath. The Israel army - they were scared – to take on Goliath. David comes up on the scene, he’s serving his brothers, caring for them and he says, “What in the world is this? How can he taunt the living God that I’ve met in my loneliness and rejection?” He has power, and he takes on Goliath. He says, “ You come with a sword and a spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord our God. You’re done!” Boom! He takes down a giant as a young soldier because he knew who he was with. David met God in his loneliness and rejection. He met God as a young soldier. He met God as a leader. He eventually would become the king of all Israel, this most unsuspecting one, raised up by God. And he needed wisdom from God, and he needed counsel, and he needed leadership from God, and he would seek the Lord, and the Lord would show him how to direct the people. And he was a great king. But, one of the other things David is most famous for, not just slaying Goliath, but he’s famous for his failure. You see one day he got up, and it was his tradition to set the Lord continually before him. But one day he got up, and it says, “In the spring when the Kings go out to war, David stayed home. He wasn’t active in seeking God, he wasn’t active in the things toward God, and his eye drifted, and he commits adultery, and then he commits murder. When he is found out, it says David ran to the Lord, weeping in tears. Even in his failure, he knew where to go back to because of a relationship with Jesus. It’s Jesus. It’s our relationship with him that carries us in the pain of life, that carries us in the victories of life, and also carries us in the failure of life. David, a man after God’s own heart no matter what was going on in life, he found He was enough. And what was the secret once again? He set the Lord continually before him.
David would describe it this way, in over twenty different Psalms, he described meeting with the Lord as the first thing he did in the morning. I just want to mention a few of those Psalms. Psalm 5 verse 3, “In the morning, Oh Lord, you will hear my voice. In the morning, I will order my prayer to you.” Psalm 59:16, “But as for me, I will sing of your strength. Yes, I will joyfully sing of your lovingkindness in the morning. For you have been my stronghold and my refuge in the day of my distress.” Psalm 92:1&2, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, Oh most High, to declare your lovingkindness in the morning, and your faithfulness by night. My favorite Psalm , “Oh satisfy us in the morning with your lovingkindness that we may sing of your joy and be glad all of our days.” David’s secret, the key, to connecting with the one who created him was by meeting with him first thing in the morning. Is there anything magical about the morning? No. All it was, was, “I’ve got a day before me and I need to connect with the living God, and if I connect with the living God first thing in the morning, His lovingkindness will carry me throughout the day, and then I can connect with him through whatever crisis, whatever challenge, and I’ll end my day speaking of His lovingkindness. This secret to any man or woman who has had deep relationship with Jesus, has been consecrating the morning alone with God.
Well, I started off really good, and I had a summer with not a lot of responsibilities. I got up every morning and spent time with Jesus, and then I got back to busy and to life and to college, and I had to retool it. I was kind of lofty in my ideals and so I said, “I’m going to spend an hour alone with Jesus,” right? And so, I’d block off and hour, I’d set my alarm, I’d go there, I’d get on my knees, I’d get real comfortable, put my face in the couch, and then I’d wake up – an hour later – with drool all in the couch. Kind of nasty to sit on that couch. And so I realized, “Oh my goodness, ok,” so at least I’m there in the presence of God. Surely something’s happening. And so I though, “ I’d actually like to be alert and read my Bible and pray.” So what could I do? And instead of thinking about going to be early, I thought, “Ok, what I’ll do is, I’ll have somebody call me and I’ll go out walking. So I’d have my shoes, and I’d wake up and just say, “Go, go, go, go.” I’d put on my shoes, and I’d get outside and walk around because you know if you’re walking around you’re probably not going to fall asleep because if you fall asleep then you’ll fall down and hurt yourself, and so that kept me awake. And I’d read scriptures out loud and I’d carry my Bible and pray and walk, and I’d do whatever it took. And I figured out, “Ok, if I actually want to meet with Jesus, then I’ve got to go to bed earlier. I can’t sit in my most comfortable chair. I’ve got to figure out this, that and the other.” Whatever it took, what I did over that years’ time was figure out how to connect morning by morning with Jesus, because I knew that when I missed a morning with Jesus, I was drifting all day long. Maybe you’re better than me. Maybe you can do it at another time, or whatever, and again, it’s not about being Godly or not, it’s just for me, if I don’t fill up with Jesus on the front end, if I don’t present Him, if I don’t have Him before me, I can’t make it through the day. I need Jesus. And if you don’t think you do, you do too. Alright.
David met with Jesus. He was a man after God’s own heart. Whatever he lacked in family or friends, or in power at the task at hand, David found that in Jesus. So, that was his secret. I have set the Lord continuously before me, and then he talks about the benefits of meeting with Jesus. “Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Throughout the Bible, the right hand, whether they are speaking of God, or whether it’s speaking of a person, the right hand is significant. It speaks of salvation, of refuge, or strength, of favor and a blessing. When a person is asked to sit at the right hand of someone, that’s the place of favor. That’s the place of blessing. David’s describing, “I have the Lord right here with me,” but what he’s also describing is it is, “His right hand that has rescued me, therefore I have set Him at my right hand, therefore together we are bonded for life.” The right hand of God.
Now when you think about the right hand, a lot of times, you, if someone was sitting and needed help up, you’d just grab their right hand and you’d throw them up, right? There we go. You’d pull them up, right? Same deal, someone’s down – Steve’s never down – but if he was, I’d pick him up, right? And they’d feel encouraged. To Steve: "Do you feel encouraged?" Steve: "I'm encouraged."
You feel the strength of somebody kneeling down, and helping you up. When we talk about the right hand of God, He has reached down to you and I in the person of Jesus, and pulled us up. He pulls us up continually with His strength. He is a refuge if we just call on His name.
In the early 1500s, Michelangelo was commissioned by the pope to draw murals of creation and of stories of the Bible on what is called the Sistine Chapel. And one of the most famous pictures is where God, Himself, is reaching down to Adam with His hand, and Adam's hand is not yet full of life, and it's waiting from that touch from the right hand of God to be empowered. I think we have that picture. This is a famous picture. The right hand of God reaching out to Adam. And when I think about God, I realize He has been reaching out to me over and over and over, from the time I was born till today. From the time I came to know Him, He has reached out over and over and over again. That right hand of God - and in this picture what it's describing is that when that right hand of God hits Adam, he becomes a life giving being. He becomes alive. And my understanding of God is this: That we're never really alive until His right hand is upholding us. And that happens in the person of Jesus.
David set the Lord continually before him, therefore he experienced the right hand of God, the strength of God. The next thing he says in Psalm 16:9, "My heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced, my flesh also will dwell in hope." They did a survey of a broad sampling of Americans recently, trying to answer the question, "Is America really happy?" And what they found is that 20% of America is defined as happy, according to their criteria. Only 20% of people are happy in America - are glad, feel joy, related to circumstances. Isn't that amazing? We're the wealthiest nation that’s ever lived. We have more entertainment at our fingertips than any group of people ever has had. We have more food, we have more abundance, we have more pleasures at every turn, more toys for kids. There is nothing pleasurable in this life that is not out there and accessible, and you say, "Well, I don't have as much as so and so." Ya, but you have so much more than anybody in past history has had. There is accessibility to every pleasure under the sun and we're less happy than we've ever been. How can that be? Because we've allowed those pleasures to rule our lives instead of Jesus. We keep hoping that that next toy, that next car, that next house, that next set of clothes, that next look or diet, or whatever. We keep hoping that that will make us happy. But we will not be glad in God, we will not have what God has intended for us until He becomes central. When He becomes central, then joy become possible. But until He becomes central, joy will always be elusive, because joy is in a person, and His name is Jesus. If you need an uplift of heart today, if you need to find joy, it's in a person and His name is Jesus. And why do we present ourselves before Jesus on a daily basis? It's not because we have to, we should or we ought. It's because He's the source of life that we are longing for.
David says, "My tongue rejoices, I shout and I sing because He has made me glad,and He has given me hope in this life." Biblical definition that we've talked about many times - Hope is the confident expectation of good. David said, "When I have the Lord before me, I not only have joy, I also have hope." And hope has great power attached to it. When our life is based simply on circumstances, at times it can be discouraging or hopeless, at the worst. So we can be in a situation - if I just had this, if I just had that, if I just had this. If this situation would change, God what doesn’t this change? And you know, sometimes things do change, sometimes they don't, but this Biblical definition of hope - this confident expectation of good - not in an outcome or a circumstance, this hope is based on a person named Jesus. And the Bible says, "Those who hope in the Lord, will not be disappointed." I will not be disappointed if Jesus is my hope. So today, when things don't go well in my marriage, when things don't go well with my kids, financially things are struggling, I don't know what to do educationally. All those revolving things we're struggling with, if I behold Him, if I keep Jesus before me, then He will fill my heart with hope. There will be hope that He will be good, there will be hope that He'll speak to me, that He'll lead me, that He'll direct me. "God, my hope is in You." Whatever happened circumstantially, God I can't control it, but I can put my heart before you and trust in You. The hope of God is in a person.
I've shared at different times about a physical challenge I had that eventually turned into an emotional kind of depression, and different things that went on, and I kept trying to feel better. My goal in life was to feel better. If I could just feel better. I turned over every rock known to mankind, I quoted more Scriptures than you've ever read. I mean, I covered every base possible, but I couldn’t feel better. And then one day I realized - the goal can't be to feel better. The goal needs to be to trust more. My goal is to trust Jesus with the present, with my heart, with my life. I can trust Him more and if I feel better - great. Or if I don't, I still have Jesus at the center of everything going down in life. And it was the breakthrough. It was the breakthrough. By the way, I feel better, and have for a few years now, but it's not because circumstances changed, it's because my heart changed. Those who hope in the Lord, will not be disappointed. David found this over and again in success and failure. He found hope in a person - Jesus.
Next passage, Psalm 16:10, "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay." Isn't' this beautiful? You don't have to fear death. If you're here within the sound of my voice, you do not have to fear death because Jesus Christ came, lived, died on a cross, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father, and said in Him you have freedom from bondage in this world. In Him, you have entrance into eternity forever. By trusting in Him, you don't have to fear death. His perfect love casts out all fear. And you know why? Because that right hand you saw in that picture, the right hand of God - it has a name attached to it, and the name is Jesus, and the right hand of God reaches out to every heart and offers it out to anyone who would simply look up and say, "I need you, Jesus. I’m yours, Jesus." And He snatches us out of the hand of the enemy, and He snatches us out of the fear of death, and no matter what happens to you whenever you die, you will be with Him based on His right hand and now yours. It's based on His covenant commitment to you - His strength, His love, not your own. You don't have to fear death when Jesus is in your life.
A few years ago, we were out in the neighborhood just talking to people about Jesus. And one lady, as I began to talk about Jesus, she looked a little overwhelmed, her face went pale, and I thought, "Wow, what's going on?" And I said, "Are you okay? What's happening?" And she said, "I can't believe you're here, I can't believe you're here. A few days ago, I had taken too many drugs and I was in the emergency room all night long," and she said, "in the middle of that, I was in and out, I had this picture in my mind, it was so real." She cried and you could tell the emotion of it. And she said, "I was falling into a black hole, and I couldn't stop the falling, and blackness was enveloping me and I heard the screams around me." She said, "Then I looked up and I saw a light, and I saw a hand. I saw a light and a hand." She said, "I just started calling out for that hand - 'Grab me! Help me! Help me!' I started calling out, and then the picture ended." She said, "I got out the next day, and I've been walking around thinking, 'What is that hand? What is that light? What is that hand? What is that light?'" And I said, "It's Jesus, It's Jesus." She had a picture in the darkness of a very real reality and that is that it's Jesus who offers eternal life, it's Jesus who gives us hope in the midst of the darkness. It's Jesus that snatches us out of the chains of this world and brings us a place in eternity forever. It's Jesus.
You don't have to fear death today. You have a space and a place reserved for you by Jesus, Himself. Actually, there's a God-shaped place inside of each of us that can only be filled by Him. He wants to take you out of darkness and bring you into His light, not just for a moment but forever.
Last passage, Psalm 16:11, "You will make known to me the paths of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore." You have made known to me the path of life.
So let me go back to college. Remember when I decided to quit beholding the world, and start beholding Jesus? And I just began to read the Bible and say, "Alright, Jesus, you're in charge of life. You lead me. You direct me." And that one decision, that little three month period of time, when I found Him to be who He promised changed the trajectory of my life forever. The absolute trajectory of my life changed because I decided that I was tired of leading my life and I decided I was going to let Him lead my life. It began to affect so many areas. One of the areas it began to affect was relationships. Alright, I wanted to be married, but who do I want to marry? Who do I want to partner with for life? Who will love Jesus? If they don't love Jesus, if Jesus isn't going to be central, then I can't marry somebody who doesn’t love Jesus with all their heart. And so I remember when I asked somebody about Laura, I was supposed to go to some event, and I needed a date, and I asked my buddy, I said, "Hey what about Laura, I thought about asking her out. Does she love Jesus?" And I was going on a mission trip that next summer to Papua New Guinea out in the crazy outback, and I said, "Would she go to Papua New Guinea?" And I said, "If she will, I'll take her out. If she won't, I’m not going to ask her." And so he said, "She loves Jesus. She'd probably go." And I said, "That's good enough." As we built our relationship around Jesus, instead of around the world, it came to this point to where before we decided to marry, we said, "Look, if we can't decided to obey and follow Jesus everyday of our life, then we're not the person for each other. We've got to be about Jesus." Of course she said yes. I said yes. That changed the trajectory of my life. Two people loving Jesus. Now, then it changed the trajectory of my kids' life. After three years in, we'd prayed, "God give us children." Honestly, we didn't know if Laura would be able to have children because of past problems and wow - miracle - we had a child, and we said, "Lord, what do we do with this?" You know - "What do we do with this child?" And we looked at Jesus. He promised to never leave us or forsake us, to be with us, and so we searched the Scriptures and we would ask Him day in and day out, pray over our kids everyday, "Lord, may they love you, may they find you." When we said, "What's the number one thing we want to teach our kids?" It's to be with Jesus, because if they get with Jesus, they won't turn out like us. And so, our lives to Jesus being central to raising our kids, and now as young adults my kids love Jesus. It's Jesus. And when it came to vocation I had different ideas of what I was wanting to do. I wanted to be rich, I wanted to be powerful, I wanted to be on a great adventure. "God what do I do?" And God led me to simply follow Him. I worked in business, that led me back here to do some ministry stuff that eventually turned into what we're doing today. But here's what I found - God's plan for me was to to on a way bigger adventure than what I had planned. Way bigger. I've had a chance to live on the streets with the poor, a chance to be in kings' palaces, I've had a chance to meet powerful people, and people the world will never know about. I've had the chance to live in so many different places and spaces. We've experienced and adventure above and beyond, because He is leading the path, not us. And listen, we've failed like everybody else, but we've always gotten right back on the path, because we know that His path is right. Look, if you're within the sound of my voice and you're 18 years old or 80 years old, it's never too late to get on Jesus path. When Jesus becomes central and you behold Him, He'll rightly align you. You say, "What if I missed plan A, then God has another plan A. What if I've missed it? What if I've failed in this destruction happened?" Then God will resurrect it and even use that destruction as a place to help somebody else. Put Jesus as the center - let Him lead your life on an adventure of a lifetime.
Well, lastly, and definitely not the least, he said, "In your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand, God, that strong right hand, there are pleasures forevermore." In Your presence. If there's anything that defines Jesus, it was the word spoken over Him that He would be Immanuel, God with us. If there is anything that I would want for you. If there is anything that I would long for more than anything else, that's to be with Him. Because when you taste and find that the Lord is good, you won't want to go anywhere else. And anything you try to sub out, pleasure-wise, it's just fleeting, man. It says, "Sin is like pleasure for a moment." It's a cheap thrill. The substantive pleasure of God is in a relationship with a person named Jesus. And when Jesus is at the center of everything, I can enjoy the things of this life. Just like the Bible says, we are to enjoy everything when it's steeped in the word and prayer. When Jesus is center, we can enjoy all kinds of fun stuff, but when all the "fun" stuff is central, we're never satisfied, because it wasn't made to satisfy us - only Jesus, His presence, and the pleasures of knowing Him.
Well, let me wrap this up with one more Psalm. A very famous Psalm, most of you have probably heard it, or know it. Psalm 23. It was written when David was a shepherd boy, when he was out and alone. It was his defining moment, it was his place where he learned to behold God, to set the Lord before Him. It would carry him into his adult years, it would carry him into his last days. This defining moment of meeting with God, he found Jesus to be enough. The invitation this morning is that we all say the same thing: Lord, let this be the defining moment in me. Let Jesus be central from this day forward. I'm going to read this Psalm again, just drink it in and let God minister to you as He did David.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want
He, (Jesus,) makes me lie down in green pastures
He, (Jesus,) leads me beside quiet waters
He restores my soul
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, for You are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
You've anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows
Surely goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Let's stand together.
