INTRO.- ILL.- A grandmother overheard her 5-year-old granddaughter playing "wedding." The wedding vows went like this: "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be held against you, you have the right to have an attorney present. Now you may kiss the bride."
ILL.- While enjoying an early morning breakfast in a northern Arizona cafe, four elderly ranchers were discussing everything from cattle, horses, and weather, to how things used to be in the "good old days."
Eventually the conversation moved on to their spouses. One gentleman turned to the fellow on his right and asked, "Roy, aren’t you and your bride celebrating your fiftieth wedding anniversary soon?" "Yup, we sure are," Roy replied.
"Well, are you gonna do anything special to celebrate?" another man asked.
The old gentleman pondered this for a moment, then replied, "For our twenty-fifth anniversary, I took Bea to Tucson. Maybe for our fiftieth, I’ll go down there and get her."
Some marriages don’t last for one reason or another. Many seemingly good marriages don’t last.
ILL.- In Clark County, Nev., — and therefore Las Vegas — a marriage license costs $55. There’s no waiting period or blood test, and the marriage bureau is open 24 hours on holidays and weekends (till midnight other days). Perhaps that’s what motivated Britney Spears to marry childhood pal Jason Alexander for all of 55 hours. It’s just too convenient!
The Little White Wedding Chapel has seen more than its share of short-duration celebrity weddings.
Past at-least-temporarily-happy couples at the LWWC include:
- Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow in 1966, divorced 1968
- Bruce Willis and Demi Moore in 1987, divorced 2000.
- “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and “Diva” Debra McMichael in 2000, divorced 2003.
Lovebirds Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie exchanged vows in 2000 at the Little Church of the West on the Strip. That marriage ended in 2003. Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford said “I do” in 1991 at the same church they split up in 1995.
Many seemingly good things don’t last. Marriages, families, relationships, jobs, lives, etc.
Our world is drowning. It’s drowning in sorrow and despair! The reason is because people are searching for something lasting and they haven’t found it!
ILL.- Early in 1989, when Donald Trump’s bank account was still bulging, a writer asked Trump the inevitable question about what horizons were left to conquer. “Right now, I’m genuinely enjoying myself,” Trump replied. “I work and I don’t worry.”
“What about death?” the writer asked. “Don’t you worry about dying?” Trump dealt his stock answer, one that appears in a lot of his interviews. “No,” he said. “I’m fatalistic and I protect myself as well as anybody can. I prepare for things.”
This time, however, as Trump started walking up the stairs to have dinner with his family, he hesitated for a moment. “No,” he said finally, “I don’t believe in reincarnation, heaven or hell—but we go someplace. ” Again a pause, “Do you know,” he added, “I cannot, for the life of me, figure out where.”
Trump’s words expose and express the sadness of the people of this world. All the people in Hollywood, all the people in politics, all the people with their big bank accounts don’t have the answer or a clue as to what really gives meaning to life.
BUT WE DO! We know that there is more to life than this life. We believe in a better life than the one that any person can experience here and now.
Matthew 6:19-20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
Luke 12:15 "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
Most people have put ALL their stock in this world, but this world is not lasting. Everyone gets old. Everyone dies. Everything fades. Everyone loses everything eventually. Surely there is something more! There is!
I John 2:17 “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
There is life after death! There is a better life after death. There is something greater to live for. There is hope rather than despair.
PROP.- How do we respond to a world of despair? What do we do? What can we do?
1- Live your faith
2- Stand firm in your faith
3- Spread your faith
I. LIVE YOUR FAITH
II Cor. 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Paul said there is something unseen out there, something beyond what the human eye can see. People want to know there is something beyond this life.
ILL.- Teens want to know: Can the dead speak? By William C. Viser (this material was taken from Rick Warren’s newsletter) In a small Iowa town, a high school student’s interest in the occult became stimulated by a discussion of ghosts and spirits in one of his classes. It was reported that the ghost of a little girl had been seen at the town cemetery.
One student said, "Several of the students had already been into spiritism, but it was new to me. I started to read about it out of curiosity. I went to the public library and pulled out everything I could find on spiritism and ghosts. I was really interested, but never thought I would actually become involved in the occult."
The student was persuaded by a group of fellow students to visit this graveyard late at night for the purpose of raising the spirit of the young girl. One boy, whose family had a history of involvement with the occult, agreed to be the medium (one who uses his body to establish contact with the spirit world).
The student continued, "Our medium lay down on the grave. We sat around him in absolute silence, and he seemed to go into a trance. At first there was some giggling and laughing, but no spirit appeared."
Time passed, and then things happened quickly. According to the student, "We recited several incantations (a special word or words asking for a sign). And it came. The medium’s body began to rise from the ground," the student recounted.
At about that time one of the girls, terrified, screamed and pointed to the tombstone where, approximately 15 yards behind it and by a tree, stood a small, pale girl, dressed in white.
The students ran in terror from the graveyard. As the youth who was relating the story and another boy looked back, they noticed their friend still lying in a trance on the grave.
The student said, "He was never the same again, even after psychological care.” Even now his friends say he sometimes goes into a trance and appears to lose touch with reality.
That student wisely concluded that experimenting with the occult is dangerous, and one should not become involved in it. And yet many teenagers today are fascinated with spiritism.
Brothers and sisters, is there something beyond the grave? Do people really live on in an eternity? Yes, but spiritualism is not the answer.
The reason that young people are seeking for answers in spiritualism and other avenues is because the church and Christians are not providing the answers!
The Bible is the Word of the living God! It does contain the answers to life’s riddles, questions, etc. But we must somehow present it, preach it and teach it! WE NEED TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT TO ALL PEOPLE AND IN A CONVINCING WAY!
And we must respond to this world of despair by living out our faith every day! We must live by faith in God and Christ if we expect to do any good in this world.
Living by faith is not normal, however. For most people, if they can’t see it, touch it, feel it, or taste it then it isn’t real to them. People are very skeptical about the things they cannot see, etc. BUT WE MUST NOT BE! We must live by faith!
ILL.- Lee Strobel is the award-winning author of such best sellers as The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, etc. Lee is a former atheist and journalist. (I wonder if the two go hand-in-hand?) He wrote: “I Cor. 13:12 says that on this side of heaven, we only see things dimly, because we can’t understand everything from our finite perspective.
“Let me give you an analogy. Leslie (his wife) and I were driving up to Door County, Wisconsin, which is that thumb-shaped peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan. We were driving up Highway 42 in the dark, when it started raining heavily and we hit dense fog. I could barely see the white stripe on the edge of the road. I didn’t stop because I was afraid someone might come along and rear-end us, so I just crept along.
“But then a truck appeared in front of us and we could clearly see his tail-lights through the fog. He apparently had fog lamps in front, because he was traveling at a confident and deliberate pace, and I knew if we could just follow those taillights, we’d be headed in the right direction.
“And the same is true in understanding why there is evil and suffering in our world. We may not be able to make out all the details of why — they may be obscured from our view — but there are some key Biblical truths that can illuminate some points of light for us. And if we follow those lights, they will lead us in the right direction, toward some conclusions that I believe can satisfy our souls.”
There’s the key! BIBLICAL TRUTH. We trust the message of the Bible in regard to life and eternity! The Word of God is our light in this foggy, dark world of uncertainty and despair.
Ps. 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
The only way to live by faith is by trusting the message of God in the Bible! THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE BY FAITH!
Rom. 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
How do we live our faith every day? We trust that God exists and that Christ is the Savior. We believe in heaven. We trust God’s Word. We live our faith at work and in the world. We live by God’s Word in all situations and under every circumstance: the good, the bad and the ugly.
We trust in God’s provision. We believe in His leading. We seek His will for our lives. We trust in the promise of eternal life. We don’t put all our stock in this life!
In this world of despair, we must not despair! God exists! He is with is! He is for us! And He will always be with us!
II. STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH
I Cor. 16:13 “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”
I Cor. 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord IS NOT IN VAIN.”
ILL.- In the National League Baseball playoffs, (week of Oct. 17th) St. Louis Cardinal second baseman Tony Womack had an injured back. They said he had to load up on pain killers to play the game.
After the last and deciding game against the Houston Astros Womack said, "You know, you’ve got to put away what’s ailing you. Everybody in this clubhouse is ailing with something. You got to put that away and just go play.”
St. Louis Cardinal Tony Womack played the game even though he was hurt. HE STOOD FIRM. HE PLAYED THE GAME.
We must do the same thing in regard to our faith in Christ. We must play the game and stand our ground firmly when we don’t feel like doing it and even when we are hurt.
Stand firm in the faith. This is one thing on which we must not budge or give in!
ILL.- It’s like the guy who said in regard to the church. We must “wake up, sing up, preach up, pray up, stay up, pay up, but never give up or let up or back up or shut up until the cause of Christ in this church and in the world is built up.” THAT’S STANDING FIRM IN THE FAITH!
When you believe in something strongly enough you never give up or let up.
ILL.- Billy Sunday, the baseball evangelist, never spared himself in his attacks against sin. He thundered against evil from the Gay Nineties through the Great Depression. He preached Christ as the only answer to man’s needs until his death in 1935. “I’m against sin,” he said. “I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. When I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition.”
That’s standing firm and we need to get it!
ILL.- A great example of standing firm is when Chuck Colson appeared on TV with Madalyn Murray O’Hair in 1978 with British interviewer David Frost. Colson said, “From the opening round Mrs. O’Hair was true to form, angrily spitting insults at Christians in general and me in particular. When I was speaking and she was off-camera, she contorted her face and made obnoxious gestures in a coarse effort to distract me. Aggressively interrupting, glibly misquoting Scripture, she scored her blows early, to the crowd’s delight.
“I kept my Bible hidden at my side, but when she shouted, ‘The Bible teaches you to kill,’ I leaned across a startled David Frost and thrust it at her. ‘Wait a minute!’ I demanded. ‘You know this book, Mrs. O’Hair. Find where it says that. Read it to me.’
“She blanched, for a moment groped for words, then drew back in her chair shaking her head furiously. I thrust the leather-covered book toward her once more.
“She recoiled again. Even in the heat of the moment I was struck by her absolute refusal to touch the Bible. With that, the tide of the confrontation was turned, and she seemed subdued and on the defensive thereafter.” THAT’S STANDING FIRM! And we need more people like Colson who will take that stand!
Brothers and sisters, let us believe the truth of God as contained in the Word of God AND TAKE OUR STAND!
III. SPREAD YOUR FAITH
Matthew 28:18-19 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
I Pet. 3:15 “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
We need to spread the gospel message. Preach it. Teach it. Witness for it. Speak out for it. But do it kindly, etc.
ILL.- I voted in the national election early, in fact, on Oct. 20th. As I was standing in line at the courthouse I heard some lady preaching. She wasn’t exactly preaching, but she was preaching. She was preaching her convictions about the election, this amendment, that amendment, etc. SHE WANTED TO BE HEARD AND WAS GOING TO BE HEARD.
If a person can be that passionate about politics then what about our faith?
ILL.- Howard Hendricks said, “In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering.” But we don’t stutter when it comes to most things that we believe in: sports, politics, grandchildren, etc.
How do we witness for Christ? How do we spread the faith?
ILL.- We could put signs in our yards like all the political signs we see. Surely that would convince people to come to church? It may not be a bad way to advertise the church, but it’s not a clincher. We could go back on TV with ads. And radio. We could send out flyers to everybody in Jonesboro. We could do lots of things and perhaps get some response from them all.
But basically we spread the faith in two ways. You walk and you talk.
ILL.- According to the book Life of Francis d’Assisi, Francis once invited a young monk to join him on a trip to town to preach. Honored to be given the invitation, the monk readily accepted. All day long he and Francis walked through the streets, byways, and alleys, and even into the suburbs. They rubbed shoulders with hundreds of people. At day’s end, the two headed back home. Not even once had Francis addressed a crowd, nor had he talked to anyone about the gospel. Greatly disappointed, his young companion said, "I thought we were going into town to preach."
Francis responded, "My son, we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We were seen by many and our behavior was closely watched. It is of no use to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere as we walk!”
Brothers and sisters, people are watching us. They may not know that we are Christians but if we are walking the talk, they will see or perceive that we are different from other people.
They will take notice that we have been with Jesus, that is, that Jesus has affected our speech, our attitude, our actions, etc.
Sometimes our speech or our actions betray us. They’re not a portrayal of Christ; they’re a betrayal of Christ. The second way to spread the faith is by our talking, our speaking, our verbal witness, etc.
ILL.- Chuck Colson said, “There are men and women in the body of Christ who may not be called to full-time evangelism, but who are gifted in winning others to Christ. The later Art DeMoss, insurance company founder, was sure one
“When Art and his family traveled by air, they often did not sit together. Scattered through the plane, the children would witness to their seatmates. Art himself would engage anyone and everyone in conversation, and before long he would have shared his own testimony, often leading the person to Christ. Of all the people I’ve known in my life, he was the best in such one-on-one encounters.”
“At Art’s memorial service in 1979 the pastor asked those who had come to Christ through Art’s minister to stand. Throughout that packed congregation, men and women rose to their feet. What a legacy!”
Somehow or other, we all need to get convicted when it comes to witnessing for Christ. The world spreads its garbage everywhere, in every way and every day. BUT WE NEED TO BE SPREADING THE GOOD STUFF OF THE GOSPEL!
CONCLUSION--------------------------------------
ILL.- Just after WWI Sir Douglas Haig said to a group of clergyman in Scotland, “It’s your business to put my business out of business.”
In this messed up, mixed up, world of despair, it is our business to put despair out of business. And there is only one way: Live the faith, stand firm in the faith and spread the faith.
