The Israelites were kept as slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. Their oppressors mistreated them and there is no doubt they suffered mentally and spiritually, as well as physically. Those generations of Israelites must have felt a hurt that would have be unimaginable to us today.
The Bible says that God heard their cries. If He heard their cries, why did He wait so long before He helped them? He waited until they, as a nation, turned back towards Him. When they did that, He sent Moses to the Pharaoh to free them.
God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He never changes, nor does His word ever change. In 2 CHRONICLES 7:14, God has given every nation, including America, the same opportunity as He gave the Israelites.
He said when His people (those who believe in Jesus) humble themselves, pray to Him, and repent, He will not only forgive their sin, but He will also heal their land. After more than 400 years, the Israelites finally realized what they needed to do, and when they did it, God heard them and then God helped them.
During World War II, Hitler’s Germany became the Jewish oppressors of that time. They tried their best to annihilate the Jewish race. They did manage to kill millions of them – fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. But what happened? Again, the Jewish people called out to God in unison and God answered their prayers by letting Hitler be defeated and the oppression stopped.
Today, American Christians are being persecuted much more than ever before in our history, too. We aren’t being burned alive or gassed like the Nazis did to the Jews, but our government is passing laws that hinder the freedom of worship for Christians, while mandating the teaching of Islam in California schools.
Children in some schools are given Islamic names and must study the idealisms of Islam - all in the name of cultural diversity. But these same schools forbid a child to pray out loud on school property. These same schools call for the arrest of the child if that child participates in a prayer around the flag of America. Do not be fooled for a moment: Christians are being persecuted in America. But it isn’t just the government that is persecuting Christians.
Today, again more than ever before, Christians are persecuting other Christians. There is even more turmoil in our churches than ever before. Early in 2000, I heard where two elders got into a fistfight over whether the church was going to order pews or chairs. I have seen terrible disagreements over the choice of colors for carpeting. And all of us here have recently seen the ugliness of ungodly feelings and words spouted from one Christian to another from the floor of the church sanctuary.
What are we supposed to do when there is so much of this going on? How are we supposed to trust in the church again after having our hearts ripped from our chests? How can we keep focused on the love of Jesus when there is so much hatred being bandied about – and justified by saying those things were said "in the love of God?"
Today, we are going to talk about leaving under the best and worst of circumstances, arriving at a mid-point destination, and we will wrap up by talking about not stopping for anything – or anybody.
1. LETTING GO OF THE OLD
We are creatures of comfort and we love our comfort zones, don’t we? It doesn’t really matter whether our surroundings are good or bad, we prefer them to anything unknown, because no matter what they are like, we are comfortable with them.
For instance, let’s say you have a life that is always full of trouble. Everyone would agree that you do not have a good life, right? But let’s say I ask you to just up and leave everything behind, without turning back, and accept a new life I will give to you. But the catch is, I will not tell you what it is until you are well on your way there. Could you do that? Could you step out and start walking when you don’t even know where you are going? Most people cannot.
I had a pastor friend in Arizona that told me an illustration of how God works. He said that if God wants you to leave where you are, He will put the desire in your heart to go. If you don’t pay attention to Him, and if He wants you to go badly enough, He will get behind you and push you out.
Before we proceed with our future here at CrossRoads Bible Church, I think we need to put our past to rest. We suffered greatly leaving our previous church. I have talked to each one of you extensively, and I know that all of us have shed many tears and heartaches over the way all of us were treated on our last Sunday there.
Certainly, nobody would ever have expected for elders, or their wives and grown children, to come out of the pews screaming at the top of their voices and saying the hateful things that were said to other church members.
The result is that many of us were hurt very deeply. We can all see now why some people have turned against the church. My former Associate Pastor is now a Senior Pastor in Iowa. I speak with him regularly, and I miss him greatly. In our last conversation, he said his church is close to going through the same thing our previous church went through. Brothers and sisters, Satan is alive and well in the American church today! But what are we supposed to do?
The first thing we might "want" to do is to judge those people who hurt us. We might want a little slice of vengeance now and a lot of forgiveness later. But, we are told not to desire these things.
LUKE 6:37 -
‘Do not judge and you will not be judged …’
The first thing we must remember is to not judge them. For, as much as we can see what they have done wrong, we are not without sin either, and the last sentence in verse 38 says,
‘For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.’
How can we stand someday before a righteous Judge and explain how we cast judgment on others after He told us not to?
But there is something else we must do besides hold our judgment to ourselves. We must forgive them for the very things they did and said against us. Going back to verse 37 –
‘Forgive and you will be forgiven.’
I can tell you right now that each one of us wants, and even expects, God to forgive us. But how much more have we offended God than these other people have offended us? And if we have offended God more, and expect Him to forgive us, can we not at least forgive others when they stumble and sin - even if their sin is against us?
I know I have sinned in my life, and I am very dependant upon the Lord’s forgiveness, so to get it, I need to be just as forgiving towards others when they do something to hurt me like I have done to hurt God.
Okay, we are supposed to withhold our judgment of others. And we are supposed to forgive others their sin against us. You are probably asking if there is anything more! Yes there is! We are supposed to forget!
Now, before you say you can’t, let me remind you that if God is going to forget your sins against Him, how can you not forget sins against you?
PSALM 103:12 tells us that he has removed our sins as far as east is from west. In other words, they don’t exist anymore. And if they don’t exist, how can God remember them? That is the standard He set for us in how we are to react when others hurt us. Have we done that yet? If not, when will we?
Do you want God to truly forgive you? Do you want God to continue to bless you? In LUKE 6:38, God gives us a promise.
‘Give and it will be given to you; a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over – will be poured into your lap.
And let me read the last sentence in verse 38 one more time.
‘For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.’
We consider ourselves on the edge of a new frontier today as we sit for the first time in this church plant. So many Christians – mature in the Word, faithful in actions. If you have ever wondered if you have been overly blessed by our God, please look around you right now at this nice building and these wonderful people who have all gathered here this morning to worship our Lord.
And as we feel the excitement of forging new territories for Jesus, let us remember that if what happened had not of happened, we wouldn’t be here today. I for one think that God had called us into action and for different reasons we either never heard Him or didn’t heed Him, so He got behind us and pushed.
So rejoice that God has created a miracle for us and let us repay that miracle by not judging, by forgiving, and then by forgetting, because our focus on the future will be held back by not doing these things.
As we leave our past behind, we must also reach out and grasp the love that God affords us. But as many just talk about how much God loves us and how much we are to love others, let us focus on the truth of the Word. It is a very precious gift that God has given us in His love. And we are supposed to spread that around to others, but what I consider the most important thing to focus on is not how much God loves us, but on how much do we love God? If Jesus died a cruel and painful death for you, don’t you think the least you can do is love Him for doing so?
You have heard me talk about the Great Commission of MATTHEW 28:19-20.
‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’
I want you to realize this morning that you are finally fulfilling the Great Commission in your life. Those who left your previous church have been there for many years. It was a very difficult thing to walk out of a church you felt had lost its way. But rather than focus on what you left, focus on what you are getting ready to do. You are literally walking the Great Commission in your lives right now!
You have the most exciting of futures waiting for you just over the horizon. But you also have real work to do. I cannot grow this church while you sit in the pews and listen to what I might preach and teach. No, if this church is to grow, it will be done through your efforts. If God sees you working to spread the news of Jesus, and using this church as a tool to do it, He will reward you according to your efforts. Remember LUKE 6:38 –
‘For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.’
You put forth effort on your job to receive a paycheck. You must also put forth effort in the Kingdom of God to receive His abundant blessings. I believe you are ready to do that, and I believe you can’t wait to do that!
And all of this is ready for us simply because we chose to say good-bye to the old and step out in faith. But please remember that as we leave one place, God has let us arrive at another place.
2. EMBRACING THE NEW
For, if we have true faith in God, and if we have true dependence upon Him, we shall reap rewards that will enhance our walk with Him. So, with that in mind, we must remember that today is a very special day – not just for us but for this community we have come to.
If I have done my homework correctly, the nearest church is over 2 miles away, and the one after that is over 4 miles away. I would think that God has placed us here to reach people for His Son, and He did it in a most impacting way. Whether you have migrated from another church, or whether you came here this morning to see “the new church”, you have been placed here by God to do a job for Him. You must now decide if you are up to accepting that job.
God will not force us to follow Him. He will give us every opportunity to ‘decide’ to follow Him, but He will not force us.
God will see where our hearts are, and if our hearts are truly in line with Him, and that means to be reliant upon Him, He will give us the strength we need to do whatever job He gives us.
PHILIPPIANS 4:13 tells us,
‘I can do all things through Christ Jesus who gives me strength.’
2 CHRONICLES 16:9
’For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him ..’
As we look to our immediate future and see the things we are to do, let us remember the story of the rich man. He decided he was going to give away everything he had so that he could follow Jesus without hindrance.
He gave away his estates, his cars, and he even gave away his business. He donated all of his money to the church and then he rented a most meager of houses in one of the worst sections of town.
The first night there, he was hungry and prayed for God to send him something to eat. The next morning, he went out on the front porch and looked around but saw no food, so he prayed again that God would send food.
After several hours in prayer, he again went to the front porch and looked around, but saw no food. Later that evening, he fell asleep praying that God would send food so he wouldn’t die of starvation.
The next morning, famished and weak, he went outside and again saw no food. He cried out to God and said, “Aren’t You listening to me?” And He heard a very soft voice say, “Yes, but you haven’t been listening to Me. Now, look up and across the street.”
As the man looked up, he saw workers finishing a new billboard with a sign that said “WORKERS WANTED – LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED.”
That man had the same problem that you and I have today. That problem is the inability to be quiet and listen. To hear God, we must be quiet and still. We must be calm and focused. The problem with us is that we tend to be always thinking of less important things than God, don’t we?
You have heard Diana and I say that we have pure faith that God brought us from Arizona to Oklahoma. There is no doubt in my mind that God has also brought every one of us here to plant CrossRoads Bible Church in Claremore, Oklahoma, too. That includes each of you this morning! That news should excite everyone here to know that we are in the midst of God’s perfect and wondrous will.
Let us work together as a family to make sure this move is smooth and easy. Call each other regularly to make sure we all stay uplifted. And when you feel down, remember that the best way for you to feel up is to help someone else feel up. Don’t worry about how it works out that way – it’s a God thing and He did it to help us, so just take advantage of it.
The father put his young son to bed one evening and told him that the next day they would go on a very exciting trip. The little boy trusted his father and knew that no matter where they went, it would be exciting and full of fun. He looked up as his father left the room and said, “Daddy, thanks for my tomorrow.”
We have had our exodus. We have now stepped out in faith, into the wilderness, as it were, and we must now trust our Father as much as the little boy trusted his father. We need to tell God, “Thank you for our tomorrow, God.”
3. THE JOB BEFORE US
As I said in my newsletter a couple of weeks ago, keeping this church alive for the first year is not something I can do. That will be up to each of you. It will take a true commitment from each one of you to grow this church.
To properly grow this church, you will have to be committed to several things.
You will need to be committed to regular attendance.
HEBREWS 10:25 – “not staying away from our meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
You will need to be committed to tithing.
MALACHI 3:10 – “Bring the full 10% into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.”
You will need to be committed to evangelizing.
MATTHEW 28:19-20 – “Go into all nations, making disciples ….”
In the 5th Chapter of LUKE, we read about the first disciples. Jesus was teaching the crowd and he saw two boats on the lake. He got in one and had it put out a little into the lake. There, Jesus began teaching.
After he had finished teaching, he told the owner of the boat, Simon, to put out into deeper water and let down his net to catch some fish. Peter told Jesus that he had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. But he did as Jesus said anyway.
When they did this, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break under the stress. They had filled both boats so full of fish that they began to sink.
Then Jesus told them that from now on, they would be fishers of men.
Ladies and gentlemen, from this day forward, if you have the commitment for Jesus Christ, from this day forward you will be fishers of men and women, and you will be bringing them into the house of the Lord.
On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were all in the upper room when a wind came from Heaven that roared and had tongues like fire. These tongues lit on each person and gave them the power of Jesus Christ. This wind was the Holy Spirit, who was sent to be with us after Jesus left.
It is with that same wind, the Holy Spirit, that we now receive the divine power to do that which God has anointed us, individually and as a church body, to go forth, giving His Word and making disciples … and growing the church for Jesus Christ.
And as we go forth, let us remember that our Christian walk is much like a train going uphill. It might be slow, and it might be burdened, but it always keeps moving. Too many times, Christians and even churches stop their momentum to focus only on one person. What happens is that when the train stops, it sometimes doesn’t get started again for a long time, so we must be very careful to keep our momentum going forward and “pressing on” with our eyes on the end of the race as Paul said, helping everyone we can, but coming to a stop for nobody.
INVITATION
