Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP180818A
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00:09 >> I wonder who else I can talk to today. Oh, there's my boy Andrew. 00:12 >> Hey, man. How you doing? >> How are you, man? Good to see you. 00:15 Can I give you a ride? >> Sure, sure. >> Let's chat for a bit. 00:18 >> Hey, how you doing? >> I'm good. 00:21 The summer is almost over. Can you believe it? 00:24 >> Man, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. 00:26 >> I can't either. It's... 00:27 >> It's too short. >> It's too short. 00:29 We really need to think about a way of making summers a bit 00:32 longer. >> [ Chuckling ] I agree. 00:34 I agree. >> So, listen, I've been having 00:35 some conversations today with some people, and I'm curious 00:38 about your take. >> Yeah. 00:40 >> If you were to sit down and have a conversation with God, what would you hope to hear from 00:45 Him? >> Hmm-hmm-hmm. Well, I think first of all, if I 00:48 was to sit down and have a conversation with God, I'd be in awe, you know? 00:51 "Shoes off, shoes on?" >> [ Laughing ] Yeah, yeah, that's right, right. 00:54 >> What's the protocol? >> Yeah. >> But what I'd hope to hear 00:57 from Him is really how can I and the rest of my colleagues on this campus use God's heart, to 01:06 use His heart, to be able to feel the way He does, to be able to see the way He does, and just 01:11 really go below the surface in our interactions with our students this school year. 01:16 >> Wow, and what do you -- so, what would that look like? What would God's heart, through 01:21 us, look like? >> I think what God's heart would look like -- I think about 01:26 1 Peter 4:10, where God says, you know, "If you've got gifts, if you've got talents, 01:32 use them." >> Yeah. >> You know, whatever your 01:35 talent is, whatever your gift, go ahead and use it. So if it's to teach, teach. 01:38 If it's to serve, serve. If it's to mentor, mentor. If it's to coach, coach. 01:43 But not just do that. Go beyond the silos of our individual departments, but 01:48 actually go out and do those things. Go out and do those things 01:52 beyond your already -- >> Prescribed space. >> Prescribed space or boundary. 01:57 >> Man, so God's heart doesn't necessarily always fit within my job description. 02:02 >> Go extra, go the distance, go the extra mile. >> And what you said earlier, 02:06 too, is kind of striking to me, that God's heart is calling us to actually go deeper. 02:10 Do you think it's possible... being in the midwest, right, being here at this campus, is it 02:17 possible for us to go below the surface and really have a heart-to-heart kind of 02:22 connection, you know? Does that exist? >> I think it's possible. 02:26 We're gonna have to work for it. >> Yeah. >> I remember talking to a 02:28 student when I did my master's here. >> Okay. 02:30 >> One of the things she loved about coming to Andrews is she said, "It reminded me of home. 02:34 It reminded me of New York." >> New York? Okay. This -- This reminded her of 02:38 New York? >> She'd walk on campus and nobody would say anything to 02:42 her. Just like New York. But I think going below the 02:47 surface is as simple as if I'm on the sidewalk, saying, "Hello, how are you today," and waiting 02:53 for an answer, waiting for a genuine answer. And when I get that answer, 02:57 being willing to journey with that student. >> So, sincerely asking, "How 03:01 are you doing today?" >> Yes, yes. >> And then waiting for a 03:04 genuine -- because that would presume that we are a safe space for people to actually have 03:10 genuine conversation. Andrew, what you're telling me is profound because I think of 03:15 that passage in Revelation 3 where it says Jesus knocks at our door, wanting to come in. 03:21 That is below-the-surface contact. That is below-the-surface 03:24 connection. That is going deep, and that he's calling us the same kind of 03:28 thing -- that we would knock on each other's hearts just as while we are walking to and fro 03:33 on this campus to go deeper. Brother, thank you. >> Hey, thank you for the ride. 03:37 >> Yeah. I'll see you around. >> Good luck. I'll see ya. 03:40 >> Man, I was really inspired by the conversations I had that 03:43 day, and I don't want you to miss out on one with 03:45 Jeannie Leiterman, who's the principal at an Andrews Academy, 03:48 and Duane Covrig, who's one of our faculty here in the 03:50 Leadership Department. Just the process alone of asking 03:53 ourselves, "What does God's heart want to accomplish in this 03:56 year? How will we see it move," is a 03:58 profound experience that I know that if you take it up will also 04:01 move you. So take a moment, go to 04:03 pmchurch.org. Listen to what they have to say 04:06 and then carve out some time in the next week to see, "Hey, God, 04:09 what do you want to do through me? 04:11 How will you touch my heart so I can touch the hearts of others?" 04:15 >> Well, good morning and welcome to Pioneer Memorial Church to all 04:18 those in our local audience as well to all those watching online right now. 04:22 We're so glad you could be a part of the Pioneer Memorial Church family. 04:26 I'm Rodlie Ortiz. I'm on the pastoral team here, 04:28 and today we want to start things off a little bit 04:31 differently. 04:32 Now, you don't hear this too often in church, but right here right now, I want to invite 04:37 everyone to please pull out your cellphones and prepare to send a text message, because, you see, 04:42 we want your help in helping to inform how we should be praying as a church. 04:47 So here's what we're gonna do. You don't have to have a smartphone. 04:51 Any kind of phone, cellphone will work. 04:54 Open it up, and in the "To" section, here's a phone number 04:58 that you are going to write. And in the message part, you 05:01 just put those four letters -- A-U-C-M. 05:05 A-U-C-M. And here's the question that we 05:08 want you to start responding to even now. 05:10 Here's the question. So, in one word, what would you 05:13 want God to do for Andrews University this year? 05:16 And by the way, you can respond more than just one time. 05:18 Keep sending them in. And we're gonna begin to worship 05:21 in just a moment, but just send in those prayer requests that 05:24 you have, and they're already starting to appear on the 05:27 screen. So, for joy, authenticity, 05:29 spirit, revival, peace. Keep sending those in. 05:32 We're gonna check in with them a little bit later, but for now, 05:35 church, are you ready to worship? 05:37 Let's do that as we continue to send those in right now. 05:41 >> Good morning, everyone. >> Good morning. 05:44 >> I want to welcome you, as well, to this special church 05:47 service of dedication for the coming school year and all of 05:50 you that are here. We'd like to spend just a few 05:53 minutes in worshipping together in voice and song. 05:56 And I'd like to invite all that are willing and able to stand 06:00 for this segment of our worship service today. 06:04 If you might. 06:07 As a symbol of our commonality, our solidarity, in voice and in posture. 06:13 [ Instrumental music plays ] 06:17 ♪♪ 06:27 >> Here we go, "Blessed Assurance." 06:36 O what a foretaste. 06:44 Come on, sing it. 07:02 ♪ Sing, "This is" ♪ 07:10 Come on, praise him. 07:54 ♪ Sing, "Angels" ♪ 08:11 ♪ Sing, "This is" ♪ 08:47 [ Instrumental break ] 08:51 ♪♪ 09:32 Come on, "This is my story." 10:07 ♪ Sing, "This is" ♪ 10:44 [ Instrumental break ] 10:48 ♪♪ 10:56 >> I want to remind you to text in that hope, that dream, that wish for what can happen here at 11:03 Andrews University under the concerted prayers of each one of us this coming year. 11:10 All us as faculty, as staff, as students, what do we want to happen? 11:15 Please text that in, and we can make that a matter of constant prayer in our lives today. 11:21 This final song that we want to sing is a mixture of a well-known and much-loved hymn 11:28 tune, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," along with a new set of words. 11:35 The text was written by a woman by the name of Jane Parker Huber. 11:40 She was the child of missionary parents, a wife and mother of six, the writer of 46 different 11:49 hymn texts, and overall, a very active woman in Christian ministry throughout her life. 11:57 It is said of Huber that she wrote texts for the purpose of nurturing all Christians to 12:05 rethink their place in ministry and promote the concept of gender equality and the broader 12:14 concept of inclusivity in Christian ministry and God's calling to all people. 12:22 The text we will sing together today is self-evident and deeply inspiring -- "Called as Partners 12:30 in Christ's Service." 13:22 [ Instrumental break ] 15:08 >> Well, church, now it's time to pray, and let's put that word cloud back up. 15:13 We want to see kind of what God has been doing in our midst. So let's put it on the screen, 15:18 and it seems like -- By the way, I got word from Dr. Luxton just a few minutes ago that we 15:22 actually received the maximum number of entries. I didn't know we could do that, 15:26 but praise God for that. So, that's a lot. But what we're gonna do as we 15:30 begin to pray, and by the way, I'm just gonna invite you to just slip to your knees wherever 15:34 you are and we're just gonna pray together, but we're gonna leave this on the screen, and in 15:38 a certain part of the prayer experience, I'm gonna invite you to look up and to grab onto one 15:43 of those words that kind of seem the most popular. And can we as a people, can we 15:49 lift those words up together? Can we do that, church? All right, let's pray together. 15:55 So, I just invite you right here right now, just slip to your knees as we pray together. 16:02 [ Organ plays ] 16:06 ♪♪ 16:16 Father, You know that we've come to the turning of a season. Summer's essentially behind us. 16:25 In our local community, many of our children are getting ready to start school again. 16:32 We're all reorienting ourselves to new schedules, but in the midst of all of this, please 16:38 don't let us forget the significance of this time of the year -- harvest. 16:46 Many have been planting by faith into their children their entire lives and are now releasing them 16:52 to Andrews University. Father, please grant a harvest. Many have been planting and 17:00 investing in some relationship. Please guide, grant a harvest. Many have been planting 17:08 faithfully, returning tithes and offerings, and You know that they've come to the end. 17:15 There's no more seed left, and they need You to come through. They need a harvest. 17:22 You know where every person is. You know the harvest that they're seeking, and so please, 17:27 God, by faith, grant them the harvest that they're needing in their life. 17:33 And though You are a good father that grants harvests in time of need to his children, we do not 17:39 forget that the greatest harvest of all is that You call us to present ourselves to You. 17:47 The words of Jesus, Luke 10:2. He said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are 17:56 few. So ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers 18:02 into his harvest field." And so Father, awaken us to that greater reality. 18:11 That You're calling every person alive to become a worker in Your spiritual harvest field through 18:19 the power of Your spirit. And we now pause for a moment of silent prayer, and we invite 18:26 every person in the congregation to just lift their eyes right now and grab ahold of one of 18:32 those words that together as a people we're lifting up. Just grab ahold of one of those 18:37 words and we'll just have a few moments of silent prayer and just lift it up right now. 18:46 Father, thank You for receiving those words and for ministering. These are the words that us as a 18:52 people are struggling with, are yearning for. We need help in this area, 18:57 Father, so please grant us that we pray. And of course, thank You for 19:03 being with our senior pastor, Pastor Dwight, as today, once again, he teaches us from Your 19:08 word. Bless him, we ask, in a special way, in Jesus' name. 19:12 Amen. [ Organ plays ] 19:24 >> Let's get into the word together. Dear Father, be our vision. 19:28 Well, that's our prayer -- be our vision this new year. You feel what our hearts are 19:34 longing for. You saw all those words spread out over that screen in that 19:38 prayer cloud. You're the only one that can answer those big needs, 19:44 big-ticket items. We humbly call upon You to do just that. 19:47 You start in Your own priority. We're here to let You know we're going with You, and please, 19:53 would You go with us in Jesus' name? Amen. 19:57 Anybody here speak Latin? Probably not. 20:01 Latin. If you're a baby boomer like I 20:03 am, then you know that you grew up as a kid speaking pig Latin. 20:07 No resemblance, of course, between the two. 20:09 [ Speaks pig Latin ] Esyay, esyay, esyay, okay. 20:15 I found out yesterday that the Spanish also have pig Latin. 20:21 But this is real Latin. I'm gonna throw a Latin word on 20:23 the screen for you. Renovare. 20:27 It sounds like a word from Italy. Renovare. 20:31 Well, it is. Renovare -- what does it mean? "To make new" -- re -- "again," 20:36 from whence comes the English word reno-- renovate. Do we say it "vah-tay" or just 20:43 "renovate"? It's just renovate, okay. So, the English word "to make 20:47 new again." That's what it means. Perfect word for the story we're 20:51 about to share. Provocative narrative, whoa. And is it the right word. 20:54 Open your Bible with me, please, to the book of Judges 6:1. Judges 6:1. 20:59 I hope you brought your Bible. That's what we do around here. If you didn't bring a Bible, 21:03 there's a pew in front of you. Grab that pew Bible 'cause it's better to see the word right 21:08 under your nose than to watch it on a screen. So, this is Judges 6:1, NIV. 21:14 "The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the 21:22 hands" -- Uh-oh -- "of the Midianites." Uh-oh is right, 'cause we surely 21:30 have heard this before. Oh, yep, we have. In fact, I want to show you in a 21:35 moment a graph of the book of Judges. I read Judges through this 21:37 summer, so next Sabbath, we're gonna be back in the book of Judges for our new students. 21:41 But here's a graph of the book of Judges, because this is the way it goes. 21:44 It starts out with this real mountaintop experience with God, and boy, backsliding, takes you 21:49 all the way down. Slip-sliding away all the way down to the bottom. 21:54 And then renovate, make new again, and then the community of faith climbs back up, has 22:00 another mountaintop experience. Those little dots up and down aren't just a day. 22:04 They could be 10 years, they could be 50 years, but that is the graph for the book of 22:09 Judges. And, in fact, Judges actually begins not in Judges, but in the 22:16 last chapter of Joshua. So keep your finger right here 'cause we'll be right back, but 22:21 the last chapter of Joshua sets the book of Judges up. Take a look at this. 22:25 Old man Joshua, he's almost 110. He'll die at 110. The intrepid leader of the 22:31 armies of Israel, he calls leaders from all across this conquered now, our own promised 22:37 land, and he's pouring out his heart. This is his last will and 22:41 testament to the leaders who'd take over. And near the end -- very famous 22:46 ending to his speech -- you know this. Near the end, Joshua 24:15 -- 22:51 Joshua speaking. "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose 22:57 for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the 23:04 Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. 23:08 But as for me" -- come on, we can do this one out loud -- "as for me and my house, we will 23:14 serve the Lord." The whole Christian world knows of that appeal to make a 23:19 decision, go on record. "As for me and my house," or the NIV says, "as for me and my 23:23 household, we will serve the Lord." And you know what the children 23:27 of Israel did? They cried out with this mighty, "Amen!" 23:31 Joshua said, "Yeah, amen right. I know about you guys," and they come back in verse 21. 23:36 "The people said, 'No, no, no, no, no. We will serve the Lord.' 23:40 Then Joshua said, 'Well, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve 23:44 the Lord.' 'Oh, yes, we are witnesses,' they replied. 23:47 'Now then,' says Joshua, 'I heard your yes. But throw away the foreign gods 23:53 that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.'" 23:58 "'Cause I know you. I've been inside your tents. I know you have those gods 24:02 hidden away. Guys, you can't keep those gods. We're going with the main God 24:07 here. Throw them away." And the people come back in 24:10 verse 24 -- "Oh, no, Joshua. We will serve the Lord, our God, and we will obey Him." 24:16 Turns out Joshua knew them better than they knew themselves, because boom, the 24:20 book of Judges comes, and let's see that graph again. Here's what you're up to all the 24:25 way through the book of Judges. But this time, they're down again. 24:30 As we just read in chapter 6, they're down, and God says, "I'm gonna make a move," and guess 24:34 what. This time, God Himself shows up. Go figure. 24:39 Yep. Back to chapter 6 where you were. 24:42 Back to chapter 6. Drop down to verse 11. God, the almighty one, shows up 24:48 in verse 11, and, "The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak." 24:54 Now, the angel of the Lord is code language in the Old Testament. 24:57 Most often, it is code language for the second person of the godhead, the pre-incarnate 25:04 Christ. Jesus before he's Jesus. That's who this is. 25:09 In fact, I don't have to take you to the burning bush where it says the angel of the Lord cried 25:14 out of the flames, "Take your shoes off, you're in divine presence." 25:18 I don't have to take you back there because if you just drop down to verse 14, they drop the 25:22 angel part and they just say the Lord is chatting with Gideon. But it starts out the angel of 25:28 the Lord who will be implanted as a little seed inside a teenage womb of a little girl 25:33 named Mary, and she will give birth to Jesus. This is the pre-incarnate Jesus. 25:42 So, verse 13 -- verse 11, rather. Then "the angel of the Lord came 25:46 and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son 25:51 Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress" -- pause button again. 25:55 Give me a break. You don't thresh wheat in a winepress. 25:58 What's up with that? Well, because seven years iron grip Midian, Gideon has learned 26:03 that if you do anything above ground, the spies, the terrorists will spot it, and as 26:11 soon as it's threshed, they'll rob it, rob him blind, and he'll have no harvest for the family. 26:19 So he's down in a hole, sifting, threshing his wheat. And verse 12, "When the angel of 26:27 the Lord appeared to Gideon" -- I love this -- "he," the one who's going to become Jesus, "he 26:34 said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty man, mighty warrior.'" And Gideon, once he's over the 26:43 shock of somebody being in his private space -- you know, he's looking up to the top of the 26:47 hole, where the angel's looking down at him. "Mighty warrior." 26:51 Gideon, so human. I love the first -- the very words out of -- the next words 26:56 out of Gideon's mouth, verse 13. "Pardon me, excuse me. What do you mean, 'mighty 27:06 warrior'?" I love God, because God looks at you. 27:11 Not a whole lot of promise in you and me. He will look at us and He'll 27:15 call us names that in His mind are already reality. He will look at us and he'll 27:22 say, "Hmm, great leader." [ Scoffs ] I am no great leader. 27:26 "Yes, you are." And Romans 4:17 says God calls into existence that which does 27:31 not exist yet. So he says, "I see a great leader in her." 27:37 He says, "I see a great warrior in him." He says, "I see my beloved son 27:40 in him, my beloved daughter," and the moment He calls you that, guess what. 27:44 That's what you are. You are what God calls you, because He is omnipotent. 27:51 We're harder on ourselves than God ever dreamed to be. "You're a mighty warrior." 27:57 "Pardon me." Oh, boy, listen to Gideon now. Gideon replies, "But if the 28:02 Lord" -- this is verse 13 -- "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?" 28:10 Come on, God. If you're the Lord of the church, why is the church in the 28:14 mess it's in right now? Come on, God, if this is your school and we are your people, 28:23 why are we in the troubles we're in? Come on, let's be honest. 28:27 To be human is to immediately -- if there's anything shaky, shaky going on, "Ooh, God must've left 28:33 us." "How could the Lord be with us," Gideon says. 28:38 He says, "I know the golden years," and he starts talking about the golden years there. 28:42 "Oh, the years when they walked across the Red Sea and they had all these mighty miracles. 28:46 There are no golden years left. We've run out of them. We're down to the last remnant. 28:52 And why aren't you with us?" Huh. God listens. 28:58 "Go ahead, talk to me, talk to me." And God responds. 29:05 Verse 14. "The Lord" -- now, see, there's no angel now. 29:08 It's, "The Lord turned to him and he said" -- Oh, and I love this. 29:12 For everybody that's a part of Andrews University, I love this line. 29:15 "Go in the strength you have" -- I was sitting on that front row just a moment ago and my Bible 29:19 opened to that line, and Lord said, "Dwight, I'm talking to you right there." 29:22 "Go in the strength you have." You can't go in the strength you don't have. 29:27 We have mega universities in this land with billion-dollar endowments. 29:32 No luck here. I don't need those endowments. God says, "Go with what you 29:37 have. Go with the strength you have, Andrews University, because I'm 29:42 sending you. Go into all the world for me. Go in the strength you have." 29:48 Oh, I love that. Verse 15. Oh, "Pardon me." 29:51 Boy, this guy is a little bit -- he's not very polite. Keeps interrupting. 29:56 This is "pardon me" number -- "Excuse me." Verse 13, "Gideon replied, 'but 30:01 how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in 30:05 my family.'" And the Lord answered and said, "Yo, Gideon, I will be with you. 30:11 What else do you want? I will be with you." "Okay, okay. 30:20 You know, I'm not sure what's going on here, but listen. Instructions -- stay right 30:24 there. Don't you go anywhere. I'm gonna go get you some food 30:27 and I'll be right back." And that's what happens. Some hours have to obviously 30:31 take place. But I love what God says to Gideon when he says, "Obey me. 30:37 Stay right there." Look at the end of verse 18. I'm not putting it on the 30:40 screen. "And the Lord said, 'I will wait for you to return.'" 30:46 The remarkable, unflappable leisure of almighty God when we're at the bottom of the 30:56 graph. And He says, "Don't worry about it. 31:02 I'll wait for you. I'll wait for you." For some of you here today, He's 31:08 been waiting a long, long time. He keeps hoping you'll come back. 31:15 It's been years. "I will wait for you." Don't think He'll wait forever. 31:21 He can't. Don't play the waiting game with God. 31:24 Big mistake. How's that little song go? ♪ The savior is waiting to enter 31:31 your heart ♪ ♪ Why don't you let him come in? ♪ 31:38 You don't want to play that waiting game forever. It's dangerous. 31:42 If he's been waiting for you, today would be a great day to return. 31:48 So you wait right there, and boy, Gideon disappears, takes a couple hours to get that kid 31:52 goat. Dr. Holly, that kid goat has to be prepared for edible food, and 31:58 then some unleavened bread. Gideon has it all together. He comes back, and sure enough, 32:04 the leisurely God is still there, and he spreads it out on the rock in front of him, 32:09 and then very wisely steps back. And God, keeping his eyes on Gideon the whole time, because 32:15 God wants to see Gideon's face when this one happens. God, keeping his eyes on Gideon, 32:19 just takes the little tip of his staff that he's holding in his hand and he just reaches out and 32:24 he touchest he offering that has just been placed on that rock, and when he touches -- Boom! 32:31 There's an explosion of fire within the rock. Everything is gone, and...so is 32:37 the angel. Gideon knows in whose presence he has been jabbering, and he 32:44 hits the ground and he is crying, "But I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead! 32:48 I've seen the living God face to face and I'm gonna die." And God, who remember, he said, 32:53 "I'm with you," he's still there -- Oh, you got to see this. 32:56 Where is that? "But the Lord said to him" -- this is verse 23. 32:58 "But the Lord" -- So, Gideon just panicking away, and the Lord said to him, "Gideon, get a 33:03 grip. Peace! Do not be afraid. 33:07 You're not gonna die." It's the very words the Jesus who became Jesus would say when 33:13 he steps on resurrection Sunday night into the panicky upper room. 33:17 He says, "Yo, yo, shalom. Peace. Don't be afraid. 33:22 I'm here." Wow. 33:30 And now comes the part of the story that everybody forgets. 33:35 Come on, I tell you the truth. Everybody either doesn't know it 33:38 or has forgotten it, because everybody knows that Gideon is 33:40 that Bible guy that had 300 men. Started out with 10,000 and God 33:44 says, "Too many, too many, too many, too many, too many." 33:47 "God, you got problems? What's the problem?" 33:50 He said, "I don't want your fingerprints on any of this. 33:53 This has to look like I did it, Gideon." 33:55 Down to 300. "God, what am I gonna do with 33:57 300?" "Well, you need to find 33:58 300 trumpets, 300 clay jars, 300 lit torches, and then I'll 34:03 tell you -- pssssst! -- what to do," and he did. 34:07 Everybody knows this story, because the element in this divine strategy is the element 34:11 of surprise. Have you noticed that? It's the element of surprise. 34:15 So we have this friend who turned 40. Such an old person. 34:18 She turned 40, and her husband, a little bit conniving behind the scenes with her friends, 34:25 arranged, for the night of her birthday, for the friends to show up after she has fallen to 34:30 sleep. [ Congregation "Ohs" ] Yep. With friends like that, who 34:33 needs enemies, right? Yeah. [ Laughter ] 34:35 So we all show up. We got trumpets, we got cymbals, we got noise makers galore, and 34:40 we're now all in the bedroom. And we're going, "Okay, shh! Three, two, one." 34:48 And there is this explosion, this cacophony of weird sounds, and I'm telling you what. 34:58 [ Laughter ] Levitation... [ Laughter ] 35:02 No, no, I'm serious. Levitation with the limbs flailing. 35:07 Oh, my. So what's the big deal? You see, the element of surprise 35:11 can make you do things no rational person would logically do. 35:15 If, in your sleep, you are suddenly awakened to loud noise, your heart [imitates heart 35:19 beating] and that's exactly what happened to the Midian soldiers. I'm telling you, that was the 35:23 strategy. 300 fireflies in the dark -- 100, 100, 100 -- the clay jars 35:28 break, make a sound, and an awful sound. The shofars go up to the lips. 35:33 It sounds like a herd of elephants coming from three directions, and the Midianites 35:38 destroy themselves. 300 men and 10,000 angels. And God did it. 35:50 God won big time, which makes you wonder why it is we have such a hard time trusting Him to 35:56 win today. How come He can't win today? Why can't the same God win 36:01 today? Can't He do anything He wants? Of course. 36:08 Yeah, but there's a part of the story essential to this massive divine victory that most people 36:12 forget or do not know at all, so I want you to see it. So, you're in chapter 6, 36:17 verse 25. The day the angel of the Lord showed up. 36:21 This is now the night of that same day. Verse 25. 36:24 "That same night, the Lord said to Gideon, 'Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one 36:29 seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal" -- the pagan god -- "and 36:34 cut down Asherah pole." That is an occult phallic symbol of evil. 36:39 "Cut that baby down beside it." Then next instructions -- "Build up an altar to me. 36:47 I'm asking you to do that." The instructions are simple. "I want you to get rid of all 36:55 your household Gods. Do you understand that, Gideon? Before we deal with the 37:02 Midianites, we need to deal with the Israelites. You want a big victory? 37:10 This is the deal." Because leadership is not only about saying yes to God. 37:19 It is also about saying no to the gods. To the gods. 37:25 How does that read? "And the spirit of the Lord came on Gideon after he removed" -- 37:30 Oh, you said, "Dwight, that spirit doesn't come after." Oh, I beg to differ with you. 37:35 Drop down to verse 34. Gideon, in between verses, he has eliminated all the gods. 37:39 They're gone, destroyed, and then we read verse 35. "And the Spirit of the Lord came 37:44 on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and he summoned the Abiezrites. 37:50 He summoned them to follow him." Isn't that something? The Spirit of the Lord came upon 37:57 Gideon after he removed the other gods, because that's what it means to be a moral leader. 38:01 Now, come on, that's what it means. Moral leaders know stuff has to 38:06 go out before the spirit can come in. "Yeah, Dwight, then what's this 38:12 kind of stuff that has to go out?" [ Scoffs ] 38:15 A moral leader already knows. She knows. He knows. 38:22 Nobody has to tell him. Once Gideon removed the gods in his house in obedience to God, 38:27 it opens the door to his heart, and the spirit of the living God comes in when the other gods go 38:32 out. This is nothing new. Our beloved Lord Jesus himself, 38:38 the angel the Lord made flesh, in his beautiful Sermon on the Mount, in the middle of the 38:42 Sermon on the Mount, he makes this statement. "No one can serve two 38:46 masters" -- Nope you can't -- "for you will love the One and hate the other, or you will love 38:50 the other and hate the One." You can't serve Christ and Satan. 38:55 Can't be done. Impossible. You're either one or the other. 39:00 And Paul comes along and says, "You nailed it, Lord Jesus. You nailed it. 39:05 2 Corinthians. 39:06 Oh, I love this in the Eugene Peterson's "The Message" 39:08 rendition. You're gonna love it, too. 39:09 Put it on the screen for you. This is 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, 39:15 all right? This is from "The Message," 39:17 Eugene Peterson. "Don't become partners with 39:21 those who reject God." He's giving a little counsel to 39:24 the church. "How can you make a partnership 39:27 out of right and wrong?" Now, there's gonna be a series 39:30 of rhetorical questions. There's the first one. 39:32 "That's not a partnership; that's war. 39:34 Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with 39:39 the Devil?" Can you see Jesus and Satan 39:41 whistling together, walking down the same path? 39:44 I mean, please. Next line -- "Do trust and 39:48 mistrust hold hands?" Here's another question. 39:51 "Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy 39:53 Temple? But that's exactly what we are, 39:55 each of us is a temple in whom God lives. 39:58 And God himself put it this way," and Paul grabs five lines 40:01 out of the Old Testament, and now here they come. 40:04 God speaking -- "I will live in them, move into them; I will be 40:09 their God and they will be my people" at Andrews University. 40:14 "They will be my people. I'm moving in." 40:19 "'So leave the corruption and the compromise; leave it for 40:24 good,' says God. 'Don't link up with those who 40:27 will pollute you. I want you all for myself. 40:30 I'll be a Father to you; you'll be sons and daughters to me.' 40:33 The Word of the Master, God." 40:37 Ladies and gentlemen of Andrews University, and worshippers, that is what it 40:43 means to be a moral leader, because moral leaders know stuff has to go out before the spirit 40:52 can come in. It's exactly what had to happen to Israel. 40:58 You want to see where the big turnaround on the graph comes? It's a few pages after Gideon. 41:03 I'm gonna show you. Chapter 10, our last verse together. 41:07 Chapter 10. Judges. Here's how God turns it around. 41:12 "But the Israelites said to the Lord" -- they're down at the bottom -- "'We have sinned.'" 41:16 "We've blown it. We recognize it now. We have sinned. 41:21 We should've called on you a long time ago. We've sinned." 41:27 "'Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.'" 41:35 We can't save ourselves. We've tried every trick in the book. 41:40 We can't save ourselves. George Knight has occupied this campus for a few days making the 41:46 same point. We can't save ourselves. You'll have to step in and 41:54 rescue us. Wow. And then in an act of collective 42:02 moral leadership -- this is stunning. This is really stunning because 42:05 this is the whole community now. "Then," verse 16, "they got rid of the foreign gods among them 42:12 and they served the Lord." No one has to tell them, "Hey, listen, these are the gods and 42:17 this is their big God." Nope, they already know. Nobody has to come to us and 42:21 tell us, "Now, these are the gods and this is the big God." We already know. 42:25 We know in our heart of hearts. Nobody has to tell us. Collective moral leadership 42:34 takes out the gods so that the spirit of almighty God, singular, can come in and rescue 42:43 us. That's what moral leadership is all about. 42:50 And by the way, if you're wondering, "How can I have power to be a moral leader on this 42:54 campus," there is a mysterious clue embedded in the last line of verse 16. 43:00 Look at that last line. "And he," God, "could bear Israel's misery no longer." 43:07 Oh, I love that. "I see what you're going through. 43:11 I know it hurts. Enough is enough. You've told me, you've shown me 43:17 you're serious. We'll get out of this place together, you and me." 43:21 But there's a word embedded there that you don't see in the English, and I'm gonna put it up 43:25 beside another line in scripture. We'll put it on the screen for 43:29 you. So, at the top of the screen, you see, "And the Lord could 43:32 bear Israel's misery no longer." That word for "misery" is the Hebrew word "amah." 43:36 Interestingly enough, that word appears in the great Calvary chapter, Isaiah 53 of the 43:41 Old Testament. This is the Messiah. This is the second person of the 43:44 godhead who would become savior of the world. In that chapter, these words are 43:49 now in verse 11. Look at that. "After the suffering" -- there's 43:53 the word. Suffering, misery, it's the same word, "amah." 43:56 "After the Messiah's suffering of his soul, he," the savior, "will bear our iniquities." 44:05 "I'll take your misery. It's moving me to tears. 44:09 I'll come down there, I'll take your misery, and I'll put your 44:13 misery on me," and that is what Calvary has done in advance of 44:16 our existence. The God of the universe has gone 44:20 to Calvary, climbed up onto that crimson throne, and died a 44:24 sacrifice. The supreme moral leader of the 44:32 universe dies to not only save his people, but to call them, 44:39 you and me, to moral leadership. 44:43 When you go to the cross, all the power you need to be the moral leader that God is calling 44:49 you to be on your campus, all the power you need is in Calvary, where God has born our 44:56 misery, our sins, to set us free. It's the Gospel. 45:03 At the bottom of the graph, it's the Gospel that turns that graph into renovate, renovate. 45:13 To make new again. And so today...it's appropriate that you and I respond to the 45:21 biblical call for moral leadership. Choose you this day whom you 45:25 will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 45:30 Today, we're doing something we've never done before, and I'm so glad you're here for it. 45:34 We've been doing this with the freshmen now for five years. This will be the sixth year. 45:39 Next Friday night, a week from last night, we're gonna do this with the freshmen. 45:43 You see these plaques on the walls? They represent not all of them, 45:47 because we've gone past the four-year cycle. But hanging high overhead is the 45:53 next plaque to go up. It'll take the place of the cross because that's the 45:58 sequential cycle. And this banner declares to make new again. 46:08 That's what God is offering us today, and moral leadership says, "I'll put myself on the 46:15 line. I will be that leader on this campus," whether you're a 46:18 faculty member, a staff member, it doesn't matter. You're a student, it doesn't 46:22 matter. Moral leadership is a call for all. 46:25 Community member, it doesn't matter. It's all our calling. 46:30 But we invited the faculty, staff, and private school teachers and public school 46:34 teachers -- that's Ruth Murdoch and Andrews Academy, plus public school teachers, home school 46:38 teachers. We invited them along with everybody that's employed by 46:41 Andrews University in first service to come forward, and their names are already on that 46:46 plaque. It's now your turn, and I'm gonna make an invitation. 46:51 If God is calling you -- and by the way, you will write with a red pen that will be withdrawn. 46:56 The freshmen will not be able to use red next Friday night. The only people that are using 47:01 red are the leaders of this university -- administration, staff and faculty, teachers all 47:09 over Berrien County, civic leaders. You'll be handed a red pen. 47:18 Let's bring it down. You'll be handed a red pen and you'll have the opportunity now 47:22 to join these who have signed their names. Isn't that some big thing so 47:27 that you can just be so proud of having your name up there? Of course it's wonderful that 47:32 your name is there. This is about saying to Jesus, "Red, by the grace of your 47:39 Calvary sacrifice, I will be the moral leader you have called me to be. 47:44 By your grace, so help me God." That's what it is. We'll do it together. 47:52 The freshmen will say, "Wait a minute, have you already used this?" 47:55 Yes, we have. Those are your leaders on this campus who went ahead of you, as 48:00 leaders do. I'm gonna invite you now to start coming out. 48:04 Come on. At the very end, the president of this university, 48:07 Andrea Luxton, she will lead us in a prayer of dedication, but if you're employed by this 48:12 university, trust me, this is gonna take time, and I'd start coming from the back of the 48:16 balcony right now if you want to go on record as a moral leader for this university. 48:21 Come on up. Pastors are gonna be handing out these pens. 48:25 Get a pen. Walk right up to that banner. Affix your name anywhere on it 48:29 you wish, but when you affix it, you're saying, "By the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will be 48:35 a moral leader on this campus this new year," and the God of heaven who registers it will 48:42 equip you to be the moral leader you need to be. We're gonna be singing. 48:47 Adriana, the Chairman of our Music Department and her team are gonna lead us now in some 48:53 singing. When the last person is signed, Dr. Luxton will come and she 48:57 will lead us in a prayer dedication, but keep singing now. 49:00 The words will go on the screen. Lift up your heart in dedication to our Lord Jesus Christ. 49:07 [ Piano plays ] 49:09 ♪♪ 50:08 [ Instrumental break ] 50:10 ♪♪ ♪♪ 50:29 ♪♪ ♪♪ 50:47 ♪♪ ♪♪ 51:06 ♪♪ 53:02 [ Instrumental break ] 53:04 ♪♪ ♪♪ 53:20 ♪♪ 53:28 >> Amen. An amen. Isn't that a beautiful sight? 53:31 It's a beautiful sight. I don't know where the freshmen are supposed to sign, but it's a 53:36 beautiful sight. [ Laughter ] We'll find a way. 53:40 But you know what? We didn't all come forward. We didn't fit into this tight 53:45 little category of Andrews University or Ruth Murdoch or Andrews Academy 53:49 as a teacher. But there's not a human being here right now that is not being 53:55 called by the Lord Jesus Christ to become a bold, moral leader in the workplace, in the 54:01 marketplace, in the gymnasium. Be a leader for me in your neighborhood. 54:10 And I need to join you in going on record, all of us. We know who the big "G" God is. 54:21 We know what the little "g" gods are. Nobody has to tell us. 54:26 I want to go on record before God saying, "All right. You are my God, and those are 54:32 not. I let them go." And so... 54:42 I'd like to invite you to stand to your feet, and by standing to your feet -- you've already 54:46 signed this, you haven't signed, it doesn't matter, but just standing to our feet, all of us 54:50 collectively, saying, "Have at it, Jesus. Just have at it in my life these 54:58 next 12 months." And President Luxton, come and please, lead us in a prayer of 55:04 collective dedication. 55:09 >> Let us pray. Our Lord and our God, many of us 55:17 have just signed our names, and we have not done it lightly. 55:23 We've done it because we truly do want You to be part of our year ahead. 55:30 Lord, this morning, we pray for Your forgiveness. We pray for forgiveness for 55:36 those times when we have not fully grasped the depth and breadth of Your care for us and 55:42 our community and your desire to lead us. We pray for forgiveness for the 55:50 times where our priorities have gone wrong-sided, and we put other things ahead of You and 55:58 Your leadership. And Lord, we pray for forgiveness when we have done 56:04 what we thought was right, but we have not listened to You carefully enough. 56:11 And now as we move into this year, we do so asking that we may learn more about Your love, 56:20 Your grace, Your peace, that that may be what is seen on this campus. 56:29 May everyone who comes through this place truly know that for this university and for this 56:37 church, we will choose to serve the Lord. Bless us now, Lord. 56:46 Lead us. Help us listen to You. We pray in Jesus' name. 56:52 Amen. [ Instrumental music plays ] 57:07 >> Thank you for taking the time to join us in worship today. 57:09 I'd like to spend another moment with you here at the end of our 57:12 program to share a word of hope. In fact, that's what this little 57:15 book is all about. In these uncertain times, and 57:17 let's face it, they're uncertain all over this planet, this book 57:20 entitled "The Great Hope" will help you understand not just 57:23 what God has planned for your future, but for the future of 57:26 the entire human race. Light keeps shining on this dark 57:29 old world, and new truths long forgotten are being constantly 57:32 rediscovered. If you need a fresh dose of hope 57:35 for your life these days, or you know somebody else who could 57:38 sure use that gift of hope, then I'd like to invite you to grab 57:41 your phone, dial our toll-free number, 877 -- the two words -- 57:44 HIS-WILL. 877-HIS-WILL, and at no charge 57:48 to you, we'll get a copy in the mail to you right away. 57:52 Till the next time we meet, may the peace and hope of the 57:55 Lord Jesus be with you 24/7. 58:00 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:18 ♪♪ |
Revised 2018-09-05