DARING TO GROW
Back in 1855, Edward Kimball was an ordinary Christian who taught Sunday school in his church and made a living down at the shoe store. One day Edward determined that he was going to look for an opportunity to explain the gospel to a salesman named Dwight, who had just joined the staff. Edward was nervous. He hemmed and hawed and paced back and forth. Dwight was in the back room putting shoes away. Finally, Edward mustered up his courage and launched into the story of Jesus birth, death, and resurrection. That day Dwight gave his life to Christ.
Dwight is probably better known to you as D.L. Moody, who went on to become a great evangelist. The story doesn’t stop there. One day Moody was preaching, and a man named FB Meyer was listening. He was deeply stirred and went on to establish a nationwide preaching ministry. Later, while Meyer was preaching, a young man in the audience named Wilbur Chapman accepted Christ.
Chapman later felt the call to evangelism. As he was proclaiming the gospel in various places, he decided he needed some help. He knew a young former baseball player named Billy Sunday, who was looking for a job, and Chapman hired him. Under Chapman, Billy learned to preach and was given the opportunity to do so every now and then. Billy Sunday ultimately emerged as one of the greatest preachers of the early 1900’s.
One day Billy Sunday was preaching in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a great move of God was taking place. Many people believed. These new believers then invited a relatively unknown preacher, Mordecai Ham, to set up his tent in Charlotte and keep preaching. It was at this time that a tall, lanky farm boy walked down the aisle and gave his life to Jesus. His name was Billy Graham. And he has personally delivered the gospel message to more people that any other man in history.
But the story does not end there. In 1953 (almost a 100 years from Moody coming to faith) there was a 14 year old student who went to see Billy Graham preach in Madison Square Gardens in New York. That boys name was like George Verwer who would then go on to form Operation Mobilization, a mission organization with over 3000 missionaries from 150 countries around the world. It was because of his vision that there was a ship named Doulos that took Naomi and I to Kuwait. That decision led me to eventually become pastor of this church.
Today we are continuing in our series Daring Faith.
Matthew 22:35-38 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
God has shown his love for us, our job is to respond to that love. The Christian life is simply responding to God’s love by loving God in return. Spiritual growth is a process in which God and I each have a part. God has done his part; our job is to respond. When we respond to God, we grow in our relationship with Him. We grow in our faith.
1. God Invites – I Enter
Ephesians 1:3-8 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will -- 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Notice here what God has already done for us. Before the creation of the world, He chose us. He loved us. He wanted us. He created this world for us and then created us. He adopted us into His family. He has redeemed us and has forgiven us. Even though we ran from Him, we have received grace. This is what God has already done for us. So how should we respond? We respond by accepting it. God invites us. He knocks on the doors of our hearts but is our job to enter, to open the door for Him.
God has given us the choice. He created us with the ability to choose, because love always must be a choice. We have the choice to accept or reject God’s love.
There was a guy in Dayton, Ohio who found a unique way to propose to his girlfriend. He hired an airplane to fly over the city towing a banner that read, "Judy, I love you. Will you marry me?" Judy accepted his proposal by asking, "How can you say no to love like that?"
The answer is … easy. People do it all the time. YouTube is filled with elaborate marriage proposals that end with the girl saying yes, but there are also videos of elaborate proposals where the girl says no. The guy goes out and hires a band, he proposes on screen during a sporting event, he goes to great efforts to ask the question but the girl says no. God has declared his love for us a thousand ways everyday. We see his love in the stars and in creation. He stands with pieced hands holding out the gift of salvation for us, yet people still say no. At the end of the day, it is still a choice.
Psalms 27:8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.
Entering into God’s invitation is more than an emotional thing. It is a decision. It is an act of the will. It requires action. God has invited us into his presence. Will you accept it?
I once heard the story of a pastor who went to visit a farmer who attended his church. The fields were well tended. The house and building were all painted and in perfect condition. The lawns and gardens were filled with flowers and shrubs. After seeing the well-kept farm, the pastor said to the farmer “Well, this is certainly a beautiful farm that God has blessed you with.” The farmer replied, “Thanks pastor, I sure am grateful for it. But you should have seen this place when He had it all to himself.”
God invites, I enter.
2. God Invests – I Engage
When Jesus was on the earth, he spent three years in a very close intimate relationship with his twelve disciples. They went everywhere together. They traveled together. They ate together. They were on boats together and in the desert together. They were present at his miracles and when he taught them alone as a small group. With the crowds when thousands of people were watching and listening and alone. Jesus invested in their lives. He instructed them. He gave them His wisdom and guidance.
Before His crucifixion He started telling them that He would not be with them much longer. They began to panic thinking what are we going to do? We’re used to you telling us what to do. We’re used to you teaching us. What are we going to do without you? And then He died.
John 16:12-14 I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
Jesus told them that even if he went away and He was not physically with them anymore, they were still not alone. Jesus said He would be sending the Holy Spirit. That Spirit would be with us and actually live us. We know from reading the book of Acts that is exactly what happened.
Today, we do not have the joy of physically walking with Jesus like the first disciples did, but that does not mean that we are alone. We still have guidance. We have God’s Word and we have the Holy Spirit living inside us when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. God has given us everything we need. He has provided the instruction; it is our job to learn and to mature and grow in our faith. God has given us what we need, He has invested in us. It is our job to engage with him in the process of growth.
Hebrews 5:11-14 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
The writer of Hebrews says that so often we do not do our part. Muscles only grow when they are used. Likewise, we only grow as believers when we not only listen and understand but practice what Jesus tells us. Babies can only drink milk because that is all their digestive system can handle. As they grow, they are exposed to more and more and soon they can handle different food.
What are mature Christians? Those who have “by constant use … trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” They have learned the healthy habits of bible study, prayer, tithing and service. Through these habits they have grown and have trained themselves to be able to distinguish truth. God has provided us with His Spirit and His word. It is our job to study and learn and put it into practice.
Maybe you have been a believer for a very short time, or maybe you have been a believer for years. Are you a student of the bible? Are you applying spiritual truth in every area of your life? People who play the piano well do not just get that way overnight. You start by practicing scales. You do it over and over and over again until it becomes second nature. You just know where the keys are.
Rick Warren notes the mark of spiritual maturity occurs when a believer "takes off the bib and puts on an apron." Immature children wear bibs and expect others to meet their needs. Those who don aprons have learned the joy of serving others. Which attire are you wearing? God invites and invests;
3. God Intercedes – I Endure
God has called us to enter in and to receive His love and mercy. He has called us to engage and to grow through His Spirit and word. However, we also recognize that in this word there will be trouble. There will be good days and bad days. In the tough times we need to endure.
Years ago, we went as a family to Disney World. We were visiting EPCOT and Petra caught a small lizard sitting on a tree, a gecko. She was holding it and went to the UK area to wait in line to meet Mary Poppins. As the girls were going up to see her, I was standing there holding the lizard. I opened my hand slightly to see if it was still there and it jumped, right on to the head of the person in front. Not knowing what to do I just walked away, and then the screaming started… I remember thinking to myself, “That poor lady, she did not know what hit her.” We will all have days like that.
If we had time many of you could give a witness. You could give a testimony. You could tell us your story of how you have endured the unendurable. That God strengthened you with power according to His glorious might so that you could have great endurance. Some of you here today would be able to say I have endured the unendurable. We need God’s power to sustain us.
Jeremiah 17:5-8 This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
Probably a better word for CURSED is the word DOOMED. If you try to live life in your own strength and wisdom you are doomed. It does not work. We need God’s strength. If you are relying on your own strength, be careful. You may feel strong but our strength is nothing compared to God’s.
Back in the 1970s there was an air traffic controller with the Los Angeles Center. This was back in the days before GPS and sometimes aircraft would call in to check their ground speed – to see how fast they were going. Seeing the cars on the highway below crawling alone, a Cessna called in; “LA Center this Cessna Alpha November Tango, do you have an airspeed readout for me?” The response came back “Cessna Alpha November Tango we have you at 90 knots – 9 0 knots on the ground.” That is about 166 KPH, quite fast.
Right after that a twin-engine Beach aircraft called in; “LA Center this is Twin Beach, do you have an airspeed readout for us.” The response came back “Twin Beach we show you at 120 knots – 1 2 0 knots on the ground.”
Right after that a Navy F18 jet spoke up. Not wanting to be outdone he called in “LA Center this is Dusty 52 - speed check.” Now these million-dollar jets already have ground speed indicators in their heads-up display. He already knew exactly how fast he was going. He was only calling in because he wanted everyone else to know how fast he was going. As the F18 Hornet was screaming across Death Valley the response came back “Dusty 52 we show you at 620 knots – that’s 6 2 0 knots on the ground.” You could almost hear the Navy pilot smile at the number. A sense of pride welling up within him. He knew he was the strongest, fastest thing in the air that day. Or so he thought.
Just then another voice that had been monitoring the radio was heard. “LA Center this is Aspen 30 heavy. Do you have a ground speed reading for us?” More than 80 thousand feet above an SR-71 Blackbird was passing through radar distance. The Blackbird was one of the fastest aircraft ever made. The response came back “Aspen 30 Heavy we show you at 1942 knots – 1 9 4 2 knots across the ground.” After a short pause the Blackbird replied “LA Center this is Aspen 30 heavy, we show our speed closer to 2000 …” By the way – that is the equivalent of 3704 KPH or 3 times the speed of sound.
Maybe you are like the Cessna today, looking down at the cars on the highway thinking how much faster you are then them. Or maybe you are the Beach, or even the F18. Compared with God’s power we all fall infinitely short.
God has done His part. He has invited us to come. He has invested in us and provided us everything we need to grow. He is interceding for us and instilling us with power to endure. Don’t try living life in your own strength. God has done his part. Receive what you have been given and use it.
