Participants:
Series Code: HC
Program Code: HC180004A
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00:49 Hello, and we do welcome you to Fall Camp Meeting 2018.
00:55 We're so excited to be here and I'm so excited 00:58 about the topic of this Camp Meeting: 01:01 The Covenant Identity. 01:03 And this is something we all need to understand better. 01:07 For this hour our special guest speaker - 01:10 and I can call him a guest now because he has 01:13 retired from 3ABN - is C.A. Murray. 01:16 And C.A. is a pastor... he's a beautiful person. 01:20 C.A. is one of my favorite friends. 01:22 And he and his wife Irma have retired and moved to Panama. 01:27 But any time you're part of the 3ABN family 01:30 just as you are all and those who are watching at home are 01:33 you will never be apart from the 3ABN family. 01:38 So we're excited to have him here. 01:40 He is going to speak on 01:44 A Quotient... A Quiver... Let's see if I can say this... 01:48 A Quiver of Quotient Questions. 01:51 How's that for alliteration? 01:53 But before he does Celestine Barry-Dickens 01:57 is going to sing for us. We so appreciate her. 02:00 She has a beautiful voice 02:02 and she will sing God Will Make A Way. 02:22 It must have felt strange to end up stranded 02:27 between and army and the sea 02:30 They must have felt forsaken 02:33 wond'ring why God wasn't all He said He'd be. 02:39 When your back's against a wall 02:43 that's the hardest place of all 02:49 But somewhere between provision 02:53 and impossibility. 03:01 God will make a way 03:07 when there seems to be no way. 03:13 Forever He is faithful. 03:18 He will make a road 03:23 when you bear a heavy load. 03:29 I know 03:32 God will make a way. 03:38 When the world of circumstances 03:41 leaves you crying in the night 03:45 and you struggle till your strength 03:49 is almost gone 03:54 God will gently hold you 03:57 in the shelter of His arms 04:02 and carve a road for you 04:05 to carry on... 04:08 to carry on... 04:14 travel on. 04:18 God will make a way 04:23 when there seems to be no way. 04:29 Forever He is faithful. 04:34 He will make a road 04:39 when you bear a heavy load. 04:44 I know 04:47 God will make a way. 04:54 When there seems to be no way... 05:01 Forever He is faithful! 05:05 He will make a road 05:10 when you bear a heavy load. 05:15 I know 05:22 God will make a way... 05:34 God will make 05:37 a way. 05:50 He will make a way... 05:53 God will make 05:57 a way. 06:07 God will make a way 06:12 when there seems to be no way. 06:18 Forever He is faithful. 06:22 He will make a road 06:28 when you bear a heavy load. 06:33 I know 06:35 God will make a way 06:43 when there seems to be no way. 06:49 Forever He is faithful. 06:53 He will make a road 06:58 when you bear a heavy load. 07:03 I know 07:06 God will make a way. 07:18 Amen and amen! 07:21 You'll forgive me. When the brethren back there 07:23 give you a push in the back and say: "Go out" 07:25 you just go out. 07:28 One does so unquestioningly. 07:31 So we came out a little early but that's all right. 07:33 I had the privilege of marrying Celestine earlier this year. 07:37 Performing her wedding. 07:42 So I will allow her that 07:45 and forgive the brethren in the back. 07:47 We've got so much to talk about and hopefully we can get 07:49 all of this in in time. 07:51 You will forgive me... When the church was being formed 07:54 and we were getting our name 07:56 the brethren were pushing the term Church of God. 07:59 And James White actually was one of those 08:01 pushing the Church of God. 08:02 Ellen White said: "No, that's not a good name. 08:04 That name actually conceals more than it reveals. 08:07 It hides too much stuff and it's too indistinct. " 08:10 So they rejected that. 08:11 And of course later we came up with Seventh-day Adventist 08:14 which was the perfect title for who we are and what we do. 08:17 So this sermon title - A Quiver of Quotient Questions - 08:22 really hides too much. What we're going to deal with 08:26 is fishes and loaves religion 08:27 and the anatomy of a blessing. 08:30 So that's the sub-text, subtitle for what we're talking about. 08:33 And that will sort of move us in the direction we want to go. 08:36 Turn with me if you will to John chapter 6. 08:40 The book of John, the chapter is 6. We will read verses 1-2 08:44 and try to move with a little dispatch. 08:49 Shall we pray. Father God, be with us now. 08:51 Speak to us; speak through us. 08:53 May You be seen; may You be heard; 08:55 may You be felt; may You be experienced. 08:58 May we take one more step along that road that leads 09:00 to glory. And we thank you in Jesus' name, Amen. 09:06 Let's read John 6 verses 1 and 2. 09:11 You will note that this is a long, long chapter. 09:14 So we'll start at the beginning and then jump to the end 09:18 and then sprinkle some things through the middle. 09:20 I'm in John chapter 6 verse 1. 09:22 "After these things... " the Bible says... "Jesus went over 09:26 the Sea of Galilee. " The Sea of Galilee 09:28 is sort of like an upside-down teardrop. 09:30 About 24 miles long, 8 or 10 miles wide. 09:34 So He went over the Sea of Galilee 09:36 which is the Sea of Tiberius. 09:38 "Then a great multitude... " the Bible says... "followed Him 09:42 because... " get this... "because they saw His sign 09:47 which He performed on those who were diseased. " 09:51 Get the picture: they followed Him because 09:53 of something they saw. 09:55 We'll return to that in just a little bit. 09:57 "And Jesus went up on the mountain 09:59 and there He sat with His disciples. " 10:05 Now John chapter 6 may well be one of the most 10:07 power-packed and miracle-packed chapters 10:10 in the book of John 10:13 and perhaps even in the entire New Testament. 10:16 And these singular expressions of the power and grace of God 10:23 were responded to in the worst possible way. 10:28 You see, the worst thing you can do when God blesses you 10:31 or curses you for that matter 10:33 is turn from Him. 10:35 You can't allow your blessings, your good fortune 10:38 to push you away from God. 10:39 You can't allow your bad fortune, your misfortune, 10:42 to push you away from God. 10:43 So regardless of what happens in your life 10:46 the worst response you can have 10:48 to good or bad is to turn from God. 10:51 Do you agree? Amen! All right. 10:54 That's not what you want to do. 10:56 So let us... let's jump through the chapter 11:00 and go to the punch line. I'm in John 6:66. 11:04 So you're all the way down to John 6:66. 11:09 The Bible says, John 6:66, 11:11 "From that time many of His... " What? 11:15 "disciples went back and walked with Him no more. " 11:22 So we go from a bunch of people following the Lord 11:25 because of the miracles 11:27 to a lot of these people turning their backs on Jesus 11:31 and walking with Him no more. 11:33 So what we need to do is find out what happened 11:35 in the interim. We want to ask ourselves 11:37 some very important questions that every Christian must ask 11:40 themselves. At some point in your Christian walk 11:43 you've got to wrestle with these issues. 11:47 So John 6:66 tells me now that Christ is rejected 11:52 by a large number of the people who once followed Him. 11:55 They didn't like what they heard 11:58 so they checked out. 12:01 Now let me ask you a question: 12:03 How many have ever gone to church 12:05 and heard something that you did not know before? 12:10 Praise the Lord! Hopefully every Sabbath 12:12 you learn a little something more. 12:14 Now, how many have gone to church 12:16 and heard something that you did not know before 12:19 and did not particularly like? 12:24 OK... so how many have gone to church 12:26 and heard something you didn't know and didn't like? 12:31 Yeah. So sometimes you come to church 12:33 and you hear some stuff that doesn't quite sit well with you. 12:37 Um-hmm. 12:39 How many have gone to church and heard something you didn't know, 12:43 you did not like, but you knew it was the truth? 12:50 Yeah. I had a lady tell me once, she said: 12:52 "I knew that what you were saying and what I was hearing 12:57 was the truth, but the truth is I just didn't want to hear it. " 13:01 Talking about Sabbath at the time. 13:03 So sometimes you come to church and you hear some things 13:06 that don't quite sit well with you. 13:10 The question is at that point: 13:14 What do you do about it? 13:17 These disciples fell into that category 13:21 and quit on Christ. 13:24 Anybody here planning on leaving the SDA church? 13:28 No! 13:30 My question is: If you did plan, where would you go? 13:34 Once you know THE TRUTH - 13:37 that's right - you going to go to half-truth? 13:41 So nobody's planning on quitting. 13:43 I mean, that would be dumb. 13:48 Amen! 13:50 So you're not considering, you're not contemplating 13:52 on turning your back on Jesus. 13:56 But these disciples did. 14:01 What would it take 14:04 to get you to quit on Jesus? 14:08 Give me a dollar figure. 14:13 Million? Two million? 14:18 So you're saying - I heard it scattered throughout the crowd - 14:21 that there is no amount of money in the world 14:24 that would get me to quit on Jesus. Amen! 14:28 You don't have enough cash in the Bank of New York 14:31 or the United States to get anybody here to leave Jesus. 14:34 Which is interesting because a lot of people quit on Jesus 14:37 for a lot less. 14:40 Um-hmm. 14:42 Come to church. Pastor says something you don't like 14:44 you're ready to quit on Jesus. 14:48 Or somebody treats you wrong or says something 14:50 or they didn't acknowledge you after all the work you did 14:53 so you're done! 14:57 So some of us give up on Christ for surprisingly little. 15:05 This is something that my pastor who is sitting out there 15:08 alluded to in a sermon he preached some time ago 15:11 and we both kind of played with this. 15:14 How many... how many want to go to heaven? 15:18 Put your hands down. 15:19 How many really want to go to heaven? 15:22 Hands down. 15:24 How bad do you want to go to heaven? 15:30 REAL bad! 15:37 No other place to go. 15:39 For how many here... - that's a good point - 15:43 Next time I'm preaching this I'll put that in there. 15:46 For how many here is going to heaven the most important thing 15:49 in your life? Amen. 15:52 See, that's a trick question. 15:56 Yeah, that's a trick question. 15:57 Going to heaven was never intended to be the most 16:00 important thing in your life. 16:01 Going to heaven was never intended by God to be 16:04 a bulwark against sin. 16:06 Going to heaven was never intended to be something 16:08 that tends you to righteousness. 16:11 The one thing that will keep you in the hour of temptation 16:15 is your love for Jesus. Amen. 16:19 Heaven is just cherry on the sundae. 16:22 Amen. Yeah. 16:25 When Potiphar's wife sexually assaulted Joseph 16:31 he didn't say to her 16:34 "If I do this thing, I can't go to heaven. " 16:38 Did he? No. No! 16:42 Because heaven is not supposed to be an inducement 16:44 for righteousness... loving Jesus is. 16:47 Amen! So he said: "How can I do this 16:50 and sin against my God? " 16:56 II Corinthians 5:14 16:58 "The love of Christ constraineth us. " 17:01 And I like that word because we sometimes confuse it with 17:05 restrain... and it's not restrain. 17:08 Restrain means to hold back. 17:09 Love of Christ doesn't hold you back. 17:11 Constrain means to move in the appropriate direction. 17:18 I could give you a whole Greek thing on this 17:20 but I don't have time. 17:22 Constrain means sometimes God says "Get up and go" 17:25 and sometimes God says "Whoa! " 17:29 Amen? Amen. Yeah. 17:30 Sometimes He pushes you forward; 17:32 sometimes He holds you back. 17:34 So to constrain means to move in the appropriate direction 17:38 as directed by God. 17:40 Sometimes it's move; sometimes it's stop and stand still 17:42 and see the salvation of the Lord. 17:44 God does not RESTRAIN you but He will CONSTRAIN you! 17:48 He will push you in the best spiritual direction 17:51 for your life. Amen. 17:55 Sometimes "Whoa!" Sometimes "Go! " 17:58 But it's the appropriate move for you. 18:02 So the love of Christ moves you and pushes you 18:05 in the right direction. Now let's go back to John chapter 6. 18:08 Try to get through this as fast as we can. 18:10 The chapter begins with the feeding of the 5,000... 18:14 one of the most notable miracles in the entire Word of God. 18:20 The Bible tells us that that 5,000 18:23 does not include women and children 18:28 so we can easily swell that 5,000 18:31 without doing violence to the text to 15,000. 18:35 Would you accept that number? 18:37 Got a lot of women; you've got a lot of children. 18:38 You've got 15,000 people 18:42 and there's nothing to feed them with except 18:46 five barley loaves, two fishes. 18:49 Interestingly enough, barley in Mesopotamia - 18:53 ancient Egypt - was used for making beer. 18:56 And so we're not talking about a high-end lunch. 18:59 This is... barley's pretty coarse. 19:02 It's filling and it's nutritious 19:04 but it's not fine dining. 19:07 If you're hungry, barley looks pretty good. 19:10 Amen. 19:12 So John is clear and I want to make this clear: 19:16 in verse 2 one of the reasons they were following Jesus 19:21 was because He was healing diseased people. 19:25 Amen. 19:26 He was gathering this crowd 19:29 because they knew if you follow this guy 19:32 you can get stuff from Him. 19:35 Follow my logic? Right. 19:38 We stick with Him He's going to bless us. 19:40 Ellen White says He would go to entire towns and when He left 19:42 nobody was sick. 19:48 So He crossed the Sea of Galilee 19:50 also named for the Roman Emperor Tiberius called 19:52 the Sea of Tiberius. I've been on that sea 19:54 several times. 19:56 And by the way, all four gospels record the 19:59 feeding of the 5,000 20:00 because it is a monumental miracle. 20:02 This is a great miracle. 20:04 You've got 15,000 people; 20:06 you've got 5 little pieces of bread and two small fishes 20:10 and all 15,000 get fed. 20:16 Lazarus being raised from the dead immediately put Jesus 20:19 on the Pharisees' assassination hit list. 20:23 And the feeding of the 15,000 would spread His fame 20:27 far and wide was a PR boost 20:31 for Christ and the emerging... I was going to say 20:34 emerging church. That may get confused. 20:37 I'll say and the new church, the nascent church. 20:39 Don't want to get emergent in there. 20:41 They said to themselves: "If you walk with this guy, 20:45 if you follow Him, you can get stuff from Him. " 20:50 Now let me give you a little sidebar. 20:53 Jesus the Bible says said to Philip: 20:57 "Where are we going to get enough food 20:59 to feed these people? " 21:02 Now ain't that interesting? 21:05 Philip didn't ask Jesus... 21:07 Jesus asked Philip. 21:10 The Lord asked the disciple: "Where we gonna get food? " 21:17 Do you think Christ ever asked a question 21:19 that He did not know the answer to? No! 21:22 Can you find any place in the Bible where Christ 21:24 asked a question for information? 21:26 Christ doesn't ask us for information. 21:28 He asks us strategically because He's trying to work out 21:32 something in us. 21:35 Now how do I know that? 21:37 Because I can read and so can you. 21:40 The Bible says: "This He did to test him. " 21:45 Amen. Brothers and sisters, do you not know that 21:49 God tests His children? 21:52 Anybody here ever been tested by God? 21:55 I mean after you came to the Lord. 21:58 Yeah. Truth is once you come to the Lord 22:00 that when the testing starts. 22:02 Amen. 22:04 So God tests your fidelity, 22:07 your faith, your loyalty. 22:09 It's all being tested by God. 22:11 And so God is testing Philip and I like the next line. 22:15 The Bible says: "because He already knew 22:18 what he would do. " 22:20 Amen. 22:21 See, just because you're clue- less doesn't mean that Jesus is. 22:25 Yeah... He knows what he's going to do. 22:28 You just need to ask and find out 22:31 so you can follow. 22:32 So Christ is testing Philip because He already knew 22:35 what he was going to do. 22:37 He knew what he had in mind. 22:39 So even in the church of God God tests people. 22:44 Amen. 22:48 And all of those tests really are working on your 22:51 divine resume. 22:54 Christ not only read the back of the book 23:01 He wrote the back of the book. 23:05 In fact, He IS the back of the book. 23:09 He knows what He's going to do. 23:11 Amen? And He knew what He was going to do 23:13 in this particular instance. 23:15 Now, so along with these miracles 23:17 He is testing the faith of the disciples 23:19 as He tests our faith every day of our walk with Him 23:23 in some way. 23:27 "So I understand, well, there's this kid here. 23:30 Got a sack lunch: five barley loaves, two fishes, 23:34 but it's hardly worth men- tioning with so many people. " 23:38 So his faith fatigues also. 23:43 The outshot of the miracle is what began with one basket 23:48 of food fed 15,000 people 23:53 and there were 12 baskets left. 23:57 That, ladies and gentlemen, is a miracle. Amen! 24:02 Everybody ate... everybody was full. 24:05 Now, let's look at the response in verse 14. 24:10 You are in John chapter 6 24:13 go to verse 14. 24:21 "Then those men when they had seen the sign 24:25 that Jesus did said: 'This is truly the Prophet 24:30 who is come into the world. ' " 24:32 So this statement 24:35 came from the mouths of 24:38 and the full bellies of people who had benefitted 24:43 from this miracle. Amen. 24:46 When they saw this 24:48 then they're ready to say: "This has gotta be God 24:51 'cause we're full. " 24:57 One follows on the other. 25:01 Very important. 25:03 That statement was made because stomachs were full 25:07 and they had received a blessing from God. 25:10 So here's my question: 25:12 is serving the Lord because He blesses you 25:16 is that true service? No. 25:20 You spoke too quickly. 25:24 Let me ask it again. 25:26 If you are serving the Lord because He blesses you, 25:31 is that true service? 25:34 You said it again. 25:37 Remember: worship of the Lord includes 25:41 who you worship, when you worship, 25:43 how you worship, and why you worship. 25:46 And as we were talking about last night 25:48 these questions will be agitated again as we come down to the 25:52 close of this earth's history. 25:54 It was so in Christ's time 25:58 and according to the three angels' messages 26:01 it is present truth for our time. 26:04 Why do we serve Him? 26:07 Peter said in Matthew chapter 19 verse 27 26:10 "See, Lord... we have left all for You. " 26:14 We've given up everything; what's in it for us? 26:19 Now though that may not necessarily be a godly question 26:23 I don't think it offends God 26:25 because it's asked too many times. 26:27 And if it's not asked with our mouths we ask it with our 26:30 body language and with the way we respond to the Lord. 26:33 So I don't think the Lord is offended 26:36 even though it is not necessarily a godly question 26:38 and He is willing to answer it. 26:42 Matthew records it; Mark records it; Luke records it. 26:45 "What's in it for me? " 26:48 "What do I get out of this? " 26:51 Now that's the same spirit that moved John... or rather 26:54 that moved the mother of James and John 26:57 in Matthew 20 to ask 27:00 "When you get to heaven, Lord, put one of my sons 27:02 on the left; put the other on the right. " 27:05 And what was Christ's response? 27:06 "Lady, you don't know what you're asking. " 27:14 Serving the Lord to get stuff is selfish 27:22 and ungodly and it's not of the right spirit. 27:28 So these people were looking at Jesus 27:32 and they noticed that the boat was gone. 27:35 So this entourage got into a boat, 27:37 sailed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, 27:40 rode over to Capernaum. And when they got there 27:44 look at Christ's response to this group of people 27:48 who are following Him all the way to the other side 27:52 of the Sea of Galilee. I'm in John chapter 6 verse 26. 27:55 These are Christ's words, John 6:26: 28:02 "Jesus answered them and said: 28:05 'Most assuredly I say to you you seek Me 28:09 not because you saw the signs 28:12 but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ' " 28:18 "That's why you're following after Me. " 28:20 "That's why you crossed all the way across this lake: 28:22 'cause I fed you. " 28:25 "You are following Me for fishes and loaves. " 28:31 Amen. "So you're following Me 28:35 for what you can get from Me. " 28:39 Is that a legitimate reason to follow Jesus? 28:44 Christ said it Himself: "You're full now so you're happy. " 28:54 By the way, have you ever asked yourself "What is a blessing? " 29:00 Can you define a blessing? 29:02 Little tougher than you think. What is a blessing? 29:06 Because they're following Him for blessings. 29:10 Two questions... that's why I said this is a quiver 29:13 of quotient questions. 29:17 Question number one: should we follow the Lord 29:21 for blessings? 29:31 Should we follow the Lord... SHOULD WE 29:35 follow the Lord for blessings? 29:40 How many say yes? 29:42 How many say no? 29:46 How many don't know? 29:50 No, you should not follow the Lord for blessings. 29:56 Question number two: can we follow the Lord 30:02 and not have blessings? 30:12 Can we follow the Lord and not have blessings? 30:19 No. 30:21 You follow the Lord you will be blessed. 30:23 Amen... Amen! 30:27 I said "Amen. " Amen! 30:30 Did I say "Amen? " AMEN! 30:34 In other words, if you follow the Lord 30:38 can - should - blessings be expected 30:42 in the life of a Christian? 30:44 Should you be looking for blessings? 30:50 Um-hm-hm-hm-hm. 30:54 I think you should. 30:58 God is still in the blessing business. 31:01 Blessings do not stop or cease with the closing of the writings 31:04 of the book of Revelation. We get blessings 31:07 here and now today. Hallelujah! Amen! 31:10 Amen! But you should expect blessings. 31:14 I'd expect the Lord to bless me. 31:17 Amen. 31:22 Can you have a blessing 31:28 that makes you feel bad? 31:34 So then, do all blessings make you feel good? 31:41 Laughter. 31:45 Can a negative experience be a blessing? 31:49 Yes. So what determines 31:53 whether a particular experience is a blessing or not? 31:58 'Cause it makes you feel good? 32:00 Already said no. 32:03 Is a blessing a blessing 32:06 if you don't acknowledge it as a blessing? 32:11 Can a blessing be a blessing even though you don't 32:14 accept it as such? Yes. 32:17 You're doing pretty good. 32:20 In other words, if a blessing happens to you 32:24 and you don't accept it as such, 32:26 it is still a blessing. 32:29 So then what constitutes a blessing? 32:36 Laughter. 32:39 I asked a couple people at random. 32:41 I didn't ask Pastor John 32:42 'cause he would have given me the correct answer 32:44 so I didn't bother with him. 32:47 I asked a number of people "What is a blessing? " 32:52 And they said: "A blessing is like 32:58 when you're blessed. " 33:06 And we have trouble really defining 33:10 what a blessing is. 33:12 How can we be so nebulous about a word we use so much? 33:17 I often tease Jill Morikone because she is the queen 33:21 of "It is a blessing. " 33:23 If you talk to Jill more than five minutes, 33:24 somewhere you will hear her say: "It was such a blessing! " 33:30 So what is a blessing? 33:33 And if you don't know what it is, how can you be sure 33:36 when you are blessed? 33:40 Well, the New Testament as you know, and the clock 33:42 is becoming my enemy here, 33:44 The New Testament as you know was written in Koine Greek 33:48 which means common Greek or what I call "street Greek. " 33:53 So when you have a language that has so much jargon in it 33:57 and is so highly inflected, 34:01 you develop a lot of ways of looking at things 34:03 and explaining things. Because, you know, it has 34:07 a lot of what we could call "slang" in it. 34:12 So the New Testament word - one of them - for blessing 34:19 is makarios. 34:23 What is interesting is that the Old Testament word 34:27 for blessing is - and it's Aramaic cockney - 34:32 is baruach... 34:37 baruach... 34:38 Old Testament word for blessing. 34:40 But what I want to focus on is the Greek word makarios. 34:46 People will tell you that the word blessing, 34:48 particularly when you look at it in the Beatitudes, 34:50 can be translated happy. 34:53 And that is correct. It is insufficient but it is correct. 34:57 Happy is not deep enough. 35:00 It only scratches the surface of what a blessing is. 35:05 Now, let me toss something in that you may not know. 35:07 The Beatitudes can be broken down pretty much like 35:12 the Ten Commandments. 35:14 Beatitudes 1 through 4 deal with God; 35:17 Beatitudes 5 through 10 deal with man. 35:19 And if we add verse 12, the "Rejoice and be exceeding glad" 35:22 you get the ten. 35:26 There is no way you can live in this world 35:30 and be happy all the time. 35:34 Amen. 35:36 Do Christians have bad days? 35:38 Yes. Yes they do. 35:40 Does it mean that they are not blessed? 35:43 No it doesn't. 35:45 You can be blessed even when you're not happy. 35:53 Yeah. No one can always be happy 35:57 but you can always be blessed. 36:00 Psalm 128:1: "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, 36:04 who walks in His ways. " 36:08 Romans 4:7: "Blessed are they whose sins - 36:11 anomia, lawless deeds - are forgiven. " 36:16 That's a blessing. 36:21 The objective state of blessedness 36:25 has nothing to do with your outward circumstances. 36:31 Amen. 36:33 Yeah, blessing doesn't mean you've got everything you want. 36:38 Does it? No. Luke chapter 12 verse 15 says: 36:42 "A man's life does not consist of the abundance 36:45 of his possessions. " 36:48 So you can have a lot of stuff and not be blessed. 36:52 Um-hmm. 36:54 Or you can be poor and be blessed. 37:00 Yeah. Riches does not define 37:03 God's love for you or your relationship with Him 37:06 or the state of blessedness that you find yourself in. 37:09 Has very little to do with money. 37:13 So if you think that being blessed is because of stuff 37:17 that's fishes-and-loaves thinking. 37:21 Your outside circumstances can be an absolute train wreck 37:26 but you can still be blessed. 37:28 When I had prostate cancer 37:31 they found it in a late stage 37:33 and the doctor told me: "You know, you're blessed 37:36 because it's still encapsulated, 37:38 hasn't spread all over your body. " 37:41 Now when you hear prostate cancer... 37:44 and the doctor said: "You're blessed. " 37:46 When I had my six-bypass surgery - 37:49 so I tease Danny... Danny had four - 37:51 Said: "Wimp! I had six! " 37:57 my Jewish heart surgeon said 38:01 "You are blessed! " 38:05 Three months before that surgery I did a full meeting 38:08 in the Philippines. Came back and did a full meeting 38:11 in Panama. Came back and flew to Christmas Valley, OR, 38:15 a town about the size of this room, 38:17 and had a pre heart attack. 38:21 Flew back here and they took me to Heartland. 38:26 They did the contrast dye and all that yada-yada 38:29 blah blah blah and then they said: 38:30 "You're in trouble. " 38:32 So they put me in an ambulance; sent me to St. Louis, 38:34 and the best heart surgeon in this part of the country 38:40 decided to take one more case... and it was mine. 38:44 He checked me out and sent me home and said: 38:46 "You are the healthiest sick person in this hospital. " 38:52 He said: "I've got some people that are ready to die. 38:54 I'm going to take care of them first. 38:56 You come back in 10 days and we'll fix your little problem. " 38:59 Six bypasses. 39:01 He said: "Man... you're blessed. " 39:05 Um-hmm. 39:07 Open heart surgery... BLESSED! 39:10 Amen. 39:15 So blessing has nothing to do with the outward circumstances. 39:20 What, then, is a blessing? 39:23 Ooh, you know, I've got to tell you one more thing. 39:26 There is this interesting word in the New Testament 39:30 and let's see if I've got it written down here 39:32 because it's kind of a cool word. 39:38 In any event in Acts chapter 19... 39:44 you remember the story about the seven sons of Sceva 39:47 who went out to... they were vagabonds, exorcists? 39:50 They saw Paul casting out devils 39:52 and they said: "Let's go cast out some devils 39:54 and see if we can get some fame. " 39:55 And the devil said to them: "Paul I know... 40:00 who? " Yeah... "Jesus I know; Paul I know... 40:05 who are you? " 40:07 Talk about total disrespect. 40:08 And then the Bible says the man in whom the devil was 40:12 leaped on them. 40:14 That word for leaped is the same word 40:18 that is used for blessed. 40:22 Ain't that interesting? 40:25 You see, sometimes blessings slip in on you 40:29 and you may not even know it. 40:31 And sometimes the Lord just knocks you down 40:35 and blesses you in such a strong way 40:39 that everybody knows it. 40:41 Amen? Amen! Yeah. 40:44 Sometimes the Holy Spirit leaps on you 40:48 and a blessing follows. 40:52 So what then is a blessing? 40:56 We need to get through this. 40:59 I was looking for an object lesson some time ago, 41:02 and the best way to describe what a blessing is 41:06 is through the use of a yo-yo. 41:11 You know you can't find a yo-yo anymore? 41:15 My wife and I drove all over southern Illinois. 41:17 We went to Target; we went to Wal-Mart; 41:19 we went to Sam's Club; we went to Toys-R-Us. 41:24 They don't make yo-yos any more. 41:26 They said... Toys-R-Us told us 41:28 "We have an electronic yo-yo. " 41:32 I don't want an electronic yo-yo; I just want an up-down 41:34 yo-yo. Couldn't find one. 41:37 All the way to Carbondale. 41:39 Somebody went to St. Louis for me. 41:41 They said: "I'm going to St. Louis; I'll find you a yo-yo. " 41:43 Couldn't find a yo-yo. 41:49 That's a little far to get a yo-yo. 41:51 You see, a blessing is something 41:57 that comes from God 42:01 and gives glory back to God. 42:04 It's like a yo-yo. 42:06 Starts with God; comes down to you; 42:07 and goes back to God. 42:09 If you don't give God the glory, 42:12 your blessing is truncated. 42:15 It's incomplete. 42:17 It is atrophied. 42:18 It is favor that comes from God 42:21 and gives glory back to God. 42:24 If you just take the blessing and never give glory 42:28 to the person who sent the blessing to you, 42:30 your blessing is cut short. 42:33 It's not complete. 42:34 So it's like a yo-yo: starts with God; goes down to you; 42:37 comes back to God. Tell you a quick story. 42:39 When I was pastor of the Ephesus church I had a lady 42:41 by the name of Carolyn Antonio. 42:44 She was deaconess; she was part of the hostess committee. 42:47 Really really wonderful person 42:48 who also was going to have open-heart surgery. 42:50 She said: "Pastor, I want your face to be the last thing I see 42:54 before they put me under. " 42:59 So I had to get up early in the morning 43:02 and drive into Manhattan, Pastor John. 43:05 Mt. Sinai Hospital up on 5th Avenue by Central Park. 43:08 Trying to find a parking space up there is... 43:12 I got there an hour... two hours before... and it took me 43:15 an hour to find some place to park. 43:18 That's Manhattan. 43:19 So when I get there she already had the epidural, 43:22 the first shot when they're putting you under. 43:26 And I was standing there with the surgeon 43:29 and the surgeon was looking at her chart 43:32 and he said: "Man... this is one lucky lady. 43:35 She should be dead. " 43:37 Now this is the honest-to-goodness truth. 43:39 Hand up. She sat up on that gurney 43:44 and said: "I'm not lucky, I'm blessed. " 43:47 Amen! 43:49 And went back to sleep. 43:51 I'm telling you the truth. 43:53 And the doctor looked at me and said: 43:59 And I said: "Don't ask me... you're the doctor. " 44:01 You know, that doctor called down to the anesthesiologist. 44:04 He said: "Get up here! " 44:07 And the anesthesiologist came and said to her... 44:11 said to the doctor: 44:12 "What's the problem? " The doctor said: 44:14 "That woman just spoke to me. " 44:17 And the anesthesiologist said: "No way! " 44:20 He said: "I'm telling you she just spoke to me. " 44:25 And the anesthesiologist said: "Well, what'd she say? " 44:31 She said: "I'm blessed. " 44:35 True story. And the anesthesiologist said: 44:40 "Well I guess she is! " 44:45 You know that doctor held up that procedure 44:48 a full hour to make sure 44:51 that she was under because as he said 44:55 "She ain't supposed to be talking to me! " 45:00 Waited a whole hour just to make sure that she was out. 45:05 Now that story is twenty-seven years old. 45:09 You think that doctor ever forgot that lesson? 45:12 No! I doubt it. 45:14 She said: "I'm blessed" and indeed she was. 45:24 So let's head home 'cause my time is slipping away. 45:30 Blessings - and I want to reinforce this - 45:34 are items of favor 45:37 that come from the hand of God 45:40 that lead us to give glory to God. 45:48 Jesus explained to His disciples 45:51 what real bread was all about 45:56 just as He explained to the woman at the well 45:59 what real water was all about. 46:03 He said: "If you drink this water, 46:05 you'll never thirst again. " 46:07 It's a blessing. 46:08 "Moses gave you manna 46:11 but you had to eat it every day. 46:14 The bread of heaven gives you life and eternal life. " 46:22 So the disciples said in verse 34: 46:25 "Lord, give us this bread. " 46:30 Just as the woman at the well said "Lord give me this water. " 46:37 How many here accept the fact that Jesus is the Bread of Life? 46:41 You believe that? 46:42 You buy into that? 46:45 Does anybody have a problem with that illusion? 46:50 With Christ using that demonstration 46:52 that "I am the Bread of Life? " 46:57 Well, good for you 46:59 because these disciples had a problem with that. 47:05 Go with me to verse 41. 47:08 Verse 41... you're in John chapter 6. 47:11 We're looking at verse 41. 47:15 Look at this: "The Jews then complained 47:20 about Him because He said 47:24 "I am the bread which came down from heaven. " 47:30 They didn't like that. 47:31 Didn't like the idea that He was the Bread of Life 47:37 so they complained. 47:40 They didn't want to hear that 47:42 because it was a little too sacrificial for them. 47:46 You remember in verse 15 of this same chapter... 47:49 There's a lot happening in John chapter 6. 47:52 In verse 15 the Bible says this same crowd was going to 47:57 force Jesus to be king. 48:00 That was their agenda. 48:02 "We are going to make You king 48:06 and now You're giving us this Bread of Life, sacrifice, 48:10 dying on the cross stuff. We don't want to hear that. " 48:14 "We didn't sign on for that. " 48:18 So then Jesus loses part of His congregation 48:25 because they were in it for fishes and loaves 48:28 and not sacrifice. And they didn't want to hear about 48:31 sacrifice and they didn't want to hear about bread. 48:35 They wanted to hear about kingship. 48:39 So let's begin in verse 52 48:42 and I'll try to read real quick. I'm in verse 52 48:45 of John chapter 6. May I encourage you? 48:47 Go home and read this whole chapter. 48:48 There's a lot of things going on that we don't have 48:51 time to touch. "The Jews therefore quarreled 48:57 among themselves saying: 'How can this man 48:59 give us His flesh to eat? ' " 49:03 That's what really kind of turned them off. 49:07 "Then Jesus said to them: 'Most assuredly I say to you 49:10 unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man... ' 49:13 They didn't want to hear that... 'and drink His blood... ' 49:15 Didn't want to hear that... 'you have no life in you. ' " 49:18 "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood 49:21 has eternal life. " Now He's speaking metaphorically, 49:25 but they didn't want to hear this 49:27 literally or metaphorically. 49:30 "And I will raise him up in the last day. 49:32 For My flesh is food indeed; My blood is drink indeed. 49:36 He who eats My flesh and drinks my blood 49:38 abides in Me and I in him. 49:40 As the Living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father 49:46 so he who feeds on Me 49:49 will live because of Me. 49:52 This is the bread which came down from heaven 49:54 not as your fathers ate manna and are dead. 49:58 He who eats this bread will live forever. " 50:01 Does that insult anybody here? 50:04 Does that turn you off? 50:07 Well it did these disciples 50:09 because their motives were wrong. 50:12 Because they were following Jesus for fishes and loaves 50:15 and Christ says: "I have no fishes and loaves 50:18 for you... all I have is sacrifice. " 50:25 So let's go now down to verse 64. 50:29 Verse 64. 50:34 Christ speaking again: 50:38 "But there are some of you who do not believe. " 50:41 Now... He's talking to His disciples. 50:43 And if truth be known, these are not really disciples. 50:46 These were groupies. 50:49 Um-hmm. This is not the inner 12. 50:52 This is that group of people who attached themselves 50:55 to Jesus because He was giving them stuff. 51:00 Amen. 51:02 So Christ is saying: "There are some of you in this vast crowd 51:05 who do not believe. " 51:09 "Your words are coming from a full stomach 51:14 not a full heart. " 51:20 "For Jesus knew from the beginning 51:24 who they were who did not believe. " 51:27 They knew why they were following Him. 51:30 The question that we need to ask ourselves 51:32 is why are we following Him? 51:34 Amen. He knows. Do we? 51:41 "But there are some of you who do not believe 51:43 for Jesus knew from the beginning 51:44 who they were who did not believe 51:46 and who would betray Him. " 51:49 Ladies and gentlemen: He knows. 51:58 Let's go to 66. 52:01 "So from that time... " the Bible says... 52:04 "many of His disciples went back 52:09 and walked with Him no more. " 52:19 Is Jesus only Jesus when things are good? 52:25 Would God still be God had the three Hebrew boys 52:29 perished in the fiery furnace? 52:36 So each of us must ask himself/herself 52:40 "Why am I in this? " 52:44 Amen? "Why am I following Him? " 52:50 Am I following Him because of the blessings? 52:54 Am I following Him for fear of not following Him? 52:59 You see, my mom - who I baptized - read 53:03 Great Controversy and a book called, by Ferdinand Chai. 53:08 Ah... can't remember the name of the book. 53:10 But it scared her into the Adventist church. 53:15 She was so afraid... bless her heart. 53:18 Now once she got in it was the best thing that ever happened 53:20 to her. I mean, she loved being a SDA. 53:26 But the thing that lit the fire was fear 53:33 and then fear turned into love 53:36 and love turned into a salvation experience 53:38 and she died in the Lord. Amen. 53:46 How many of us are following the Lord 53:49 for fishes and loaves? 53:54 How many of us are following the Lord for what He gives 53:58 to His people? 54:01 That is a question that each Christian at some time 54:05 in his walk with Christ answer for himself: 54:08 "Why am I in this? " 54:15 Was talking with someone the other day 54:17 and we were discussing bacon. 54:22 You know they put bacon on everything! 54:26 There is a store in Marion, Illinois, 54:31 that sells chocolate-covered bacon. 54:43 And I was talking with someone on the... that there are some 54:47 scientists who say that bacon is not even food. 54:51 And we're talking about the thing that as Christians 54:55 we deny ourselves. 54:58 Can't eat bacon. Can't drink beer. 55:03 Can't drink wine. 55:06 Not supposed to drink coffee. 55:13 Can't eat pork chops. 55:16 Can't eat shrimp. 55:18 Can't eat lobster. 55:20 Can't eat crab. 55:26 Give 10 percent of your check... plus. 55:30 No pepperoni on your pizza. 55:35 All this can't stuff. 55:36 You know, when you become a Seventh-day Adventist 55:40 that can't list gets long. 55:45 Amen. Yeah, it does. 55:50 But once you fall in love with the Lord 55:52 it's not can't... it's don't wanta. 55:55 Amen! 55:58 Yeah... the Lord said: "The prince of this world 56:01 is coming and he has nothing in Me 56:04 and nothing in Me responds to the devil. " 56:06 Not that I can't... I don't wanta. 56:08 I'm not ordering pepperoni pizza 56:10 and chocolate-covered bacon makes my stomach turn. 56:14 Amen! Just the thought of it. I've never tried it... 56:16 just talking about chocolate-covered bacon? 56:20 Trot down to Larry's House of Cakes. 56:23 They have a whole thing of chocolate-covered bacon. 56:25 It's not that I can't... just don't wanta 56:28 'cause I want to serve the Lord. 56:30 Let me close with this: got one minute. 56:31 This is really really good. 56:33 From the book Desire of Ages. 56:37 "By the public rebuke of their unbelief 56:41 these disciples were still further alienated from Jesus. " 56:45 Because He called them out 56:46 'cause you've got full stomachs. 56:48 I'll give you the reference in just a minute. 56:51 "They were greatly displeased and wishing to wound the Savior" 56:56 so they want to hurt Jesus... 56:57 You ever think when you turn away from Jesus 56:59 are you hurting Jesus? 57:00 You're hurting yourself. 57:01 "and gratify the mouths of the Pharisees. 57:04 They turned their backs on Him and left Him with disdain. 57:08 They had made their choice; 57:10 had taken the form without the spirit; 57:14 the husk without the kernel. 57:16 Their decision was never afterward reversed. 57:20 They walked no more with Jesus, " which means 57:22 they were lost 57:24 because He didn't meet their expectations. 57:29 We must meet His expectations. Amen? |
Revised 2018-12-10