As I was searching different web sites I came across a sermon preached last week by Pastor Robert AuBuchon at Trinity Baptist Church in Willow Springs, Missouri. I have enjoyed many of Bob’s messages in the past and they have sparked within me a message of my own. I want to give credit where credit is due. Many of us pastors are touched and moved by a message from a fellow pastor. This is the case with this message. I am going in a little bit of a different direction as the Holy Spirit leads me. May this version bless you as much as Bob’s original message blessed me.
The prayer of Agur (aw-goor) has challenged me to ask myself what two requests must I make of God before I die.
As we get older, many Christians ask themselves “what have I done to make this a better World in which to live and serve God?” We can make all the excuses we want to make, but we will be held accountable for what we do or fail to do when we stand before Jesus.
I have searched my mind for the two requests I must make to God, but I have not identified them yet. I am confident with the help of the Holy Spirit that I will have them in time to continue this series. I do not know if it will be next week or next year, but I will continue to look within myself.
The process that God has given me to use to find the answer is this; I will thumb through the Bible, in no special order, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of others to see if I find them in myself. I fully hold to the belief that God has put these examples in His Word for us to examine ourselves, not to point a finger at our brothers and sisters or to say that we are as good as the great ones, but for us to see if we can improve our walk with the Lord and others. I also believe that someone else’s strength could be my weakness and vice versa. I will then write them down until my list is as complete as I can make it. I will begin to weed out the lesser of my faults (not forgetting them though) until I have the two greatest. I will then start asking others who I respect for their candor and forthrightness as to what they believe may be holding me back from being all God created me to be, true men and women of God, and let me not forget my wife Eileen, she is my best critic.
You know that there is always that other type of critic out there that wants to tell you how to be better. They have their own agenda not necessarily God’s. These are the ones that Teddy Roosevelt said this about, “ It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points our how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, al least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Finally, I will ask God himself to validate my two greatest shortcomings. When He has, then and then only will I pray the Prayer of Agur.
I start this morning by looking at the twelve scouts that were sent by Moses on a reconnaissance mission of the Promised Land. You know the story, if not, it is found in Numbers 13-14 and Deuteronomy 1. We will examine why 10 failed and two were victorious. How everyone 20 years of age and older (except two) never crossed over into the land flowing with milk and honey. Get your pens and pencils out, you will have to start today with putting these traits on your list for future consideration. See, I believe that we must all pray the Prayer of Agur before we die, and for many of us the time is short.
