Participants: Bill Knott
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000997
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05:11 Good evening, have you been blessed?
05:12 Amen. Have you? Amen. It's better. 05:16 It has been a blessed Sabbath day hasn't it 05:19 and the blessings are not over yet. 05:21 We have a wonderful program left still 05:24 ahead of this, this evening and I have 05:27 to tell you I'm one of those who grew up 05:29 in an Adventist home like many of you. 05:33 And I remember when I was growing up 05:35 there was something different about our 05:37 home then the homes of the neighbor kids, 05:40 the friends of mine around the neighborhood. 05:43 When we walked into their house, 05:46 they had a certain variety of 05:48 magazines on their table. 05:49 And when they walked into our home 05:52 we had completely different magazines. 05:55 Some you may recognize like science 05:57 of the time, the Review and Herald. 06:01 And I remember the Review and Herald 06:03 always being a center peace in our home. 06:06 Always was read thoroughly cover 06:08 to cover as I was growing up. 06:11 Still today we have these old Review 06:14 and Herald magazines you know I go back 06:16 often and look at the ones that are 06:17 150 years old, and I'm amazed and 06:22 what the Lord taught through those 06:26 magazines that many years ago. 06:27 And I'm always impressed that the men 06:30 that he put in-charge James White, 06:32 Uriah Smith you know the names. 06:34 Were the men for the time, 06:36 the men for the time. And I believe our 06:41 editor of the review is the man for this time. 06:45 And I think you understand that we 06:47 are living in a very special time in 06:49 history amen? Amen. And I believe that 06:53 the Lord has chosen the man to be 06:55 in this position that he wants their. 06:59 And I also believe that everyone of us 07:01 needs to keep that man in our prayers 07:03 as he leads out in his pastoral ministry 07:06 to our whole church body. 07:09 Elder Bill Knott I've just had the 07:11 pleasure of meeting him here at this 07:14 convention and I have to tell you 07:16 what really makes his eyes laid up 07:19 is when he talks about his family. 07:21 Amen, his wife Debra serves at the 07:23 general conference as a specialist in the 07:25 office of Human Resources and they 07:27 have two boys Avid and Brady and that's 07:30 when he really got a smile on his face. 07:32 Both at Andrews University, he is a 07:35 proud father, a proud husband and 07:38 he is proud of his church. And I think 07:40 you will be blessed this evening as 07:42 Elder Knott brings our message, amen. 07:45 Right after we hear the music from our 07:47 choir this evening my Lord bless, amen. 08:39 Mine eyes have seen the glory 08:41 of the coming of the Lord: 08:46 He is trampling out the vintage 08:50 where the grapes of wrath are stored; 08:55 He hath loosed the fateful lightning 09:00 of His terrible swift sword: 09:04 His truth is marching on. 09:14 Glory, glory, hallelujah! 09:23 Glory, glory, hallelujah! 09:33 Glory, glory, hallelujah! 09:38 His truth is marching on. 09:54 I have seen Him in the watch-fires 09:57 of a hundred circling camps, 10:01 They have builded Him an altar 10:06 in the evening dews and damps; 10:10 I can read His righteous sentence 10:14 by the dim and flaring lamps: 10:18 His day is marching on. 10:28 Glory, glory, hallelujah! 10:40 His day is marching on. 11:15 In the beauty of the lilies 11:20 Christ was born across the sea, 11:27 With a glory in His bosom that 11:34 transfigures you and me: 11:41 As He died to make men holy, 11:48 let us die to make men free, 11:53 While God is marching on. 12:02 Glory, glory, hallelujah! 12:16 While God is marching on. 12:22 Glory, glory, hallelujah! 12:36 While God is marching on. 13:12 As one of my friends said after a similar 13:14 performance if you can't preach after 13:17 music like that, you can't preach. 13:18 I want to thank the choir and they 13:23 did not know how appropriate the song 13:26 they sang tonight is for the message 13:29 I want to share with you this evening, amen. 13:32 Turn with me to the Book of Judges, 13:34 not a place we often go for preaching 13:39 or teaching these days, but the 13:41 Book of Judges chapter 4 and beginning 13:45 at verse 1. The Israelites again 13:51 did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, 13:54 after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them 13:56 into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, 13:58 who reigned in Hazor; the 14:01 commander of his army was Sisera, 14:03 who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 14:04 Then the Israelites cried out to the 14:07 Lord for help; for he had nine 14:08 hundred chariots of iron, and had 14:11 pressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years. 14:15 "At that time Deborah, a prophetess, 14:17 wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. " 14:20 She used to sit under the palm 14:22 of Deborah between Ramah and 14:23 Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; 14:25 and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 14:29 She sent and summoned Barak son of 14:31 Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, 14:33 and said to him, The Lord, 14:35 the God of Israel, commands you, 14:37 Go, take position at Mount Tabor, 14:39 bringing ten thousand from the tribe 14:42 of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 14:44 "I will draw out Sisera, the general 14:46 of Jabin's army, to meet you by the 14:49 brook Kishon with his chariots and 14:51 his troops; and I will give him into 14:54 your hands. Barak said to her, 14:57 if you will go with me, I will go; 14:59 but if you will not go with me, 15:01 I will not go. And she said rather, 15:04 I will surely go with you; nevertheless 15:07 the road on which you are going will 15:09 not lead to your glory, for the Lord 15:11 will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. 15:14 Then Deborah got up and she went 15:18 with Barak to Kedesh. Barak summoned 15:21 Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; 15:23 and ten thousand warriors went up 15:25 at his heels; and Deborah 15:28 went up with him. " 15:31 Let's pray together tonight, not to us 15:35 oh Lord, not to us but to your name 15:40 give glory, amen. May our time in our 15:45 word this evening, remind us of the call 15:50 to personal involvement in the victory 15:54 you intend for your people 15:56 I pray in Jesus name amen, amen. 16:07 There is something in the soul of 16:10 every child that hates the class bully. 16:17 Unless of course he is the class bully. 16:21 But, since there can be usually only be one 16:23 bully at a time most of you know that 16:26 hate of which I speak. We dreamed 16:31 about the day when that bigger kid or 16:34 that older kid who raft us would get drag 16:38 down to the principles of his while 16:40 the rest of us broke out into a starring 16:42 rendition then I feel good. 16:47 When I was 10 and my older brother 16:49 was 12, we came to know a thing or 16:53 two about bullies. Each afternoon Dave 16:57 and I would walk the one mile home 16:59 between the school and our house 17:03 and it was usually a very pleasant 17:05 walk especially in the winter when 17:06 new falling snow would make all kinds 17:09 of fantastic shapes on the bushes 17:11 and the hermits beside the black top. 17:13 But, as all journeys do this one had 17:16 what John Bunyan would have called 17:17 a hill of difficulty. It was a slight knoll 17:22 that rose past the homes of our two 17:25 worst tormenters. They were seventh graders, 17:31 classmates of my brother at school 17:33 and they tormented him mercilessly 17:36 at school and on the way home from school. 17:38 And since I was sharing the walk 17:40 I came in for my share of the abuse too. 17:44 I remember hating those late warm 17:48 winter afternoons. When the sun 17:52 would melt the snow just enough 17:54 to make ice balls because I knew 17:57 only two well that Bobby and Steve 17:59 would be waiting for us at the top of a knoll. 18:04 They would stand there grinning 18:07 as we walked closer. Armed with 18:10 their arsenal of snowballs and cactus 18:14 getting by their men running a gantlet 18:16 of ice and abuse that struck terror 18:19 into my 10-year-old heart. 18:23 And everyday the closer we got 18:26 to that awful spot on the way 18:28 home from school. I would wish that 18:30 there was some other way to get home. 18:34 Some alternate route that would let us 18:36 miss that days' battle. And when Dave and 18:41 I finally did discover another 18:42 way home across the fields. 18:44 Believe me, we did not wait long to take it. 18:49 I remember laughing to myself that 18:50 we had out with it the enemy, 18:53 we had outsmarted those awful bullies 18:55 by taking well it really was the long 18:59 way home. In reality I supposed they 19:03 had never succeeded in controlling us 19:06 so well as when our fear of the 19:08 coming battle meant that we would 19:10 do anything to avoid them. 19:16 They were the masters of laying 19:17 in road and for all of our shrewdness 19:22 it was Dave and me trudging along 19:24 indeed deep unplowed snow on those 19:27 storming afternoons when no one would 19:29 be there to pick us up and give us a ride. 19:33 The fear of the battle meant that we 19:35 had to take the long way home. 19:37 My friends I suspect that some 19:44 of you here know that fear as well. Someone, 19:52 something in your life is looming large 19:57 and intimidating and fear some and 20:02 remembering it thinking about it saps 20:05 all your strength and makes all of 20:07 your courage evaporate. You would 20:09 gladly go out of your way to avoid that 20:12 battle on the horizon. I take some comfort 20:18 when I read God's word to discover that 20:20 my brother and I where the only ones 20:22 who have ever been afraid of bullies. 20:26 In the opening verse that we read 20:27 from the fourth chapter of Judges, 20:29 I find that for 20 years the entire 20:32 people of Israel struggled with their 20:35 fear of two of the biggest bullies of 20:37 the Canaanite world. And you know Jabin 20:39 and Sisera were armed with something 20:41 a little more impressive then 20:43 ice balls. In a land were metal 20:47 weapons were exceedingly rare they 20:49 controlled nine hundred chariots of iron. 20:55 Chariots that made the Plain of 20:57 Esdraelon tremble as they rolled 21:01 along in procession. And the frighten 21:05 Hebrews up there in the hills peered 21:07 down from the crags and thought that 21:10 Jabin must be a mighty king that 21:12 the Jabin and Sisera had to be obeyed 21:14 because of those nine hundred chariots 21:18 of iron. But up in the wild gorges were 21:24 God's people had gone to hide for safety 21:27 there was something new in the wind. 21:34 There was talk of revival in the wind. 21:40 There was talk of reformation in the wind, 21:42 hearts were beginning to change, 21:44 minds were beginning to be reshaped 21:47 by the spirit of the living God. 21:48 There was talk of sincere repentance 21:50 before a God whom they had offended 21:52 with their idolatry. And in late night 21:55 tales beside smoky camp fires old man 21:59 told stories of a time when Israel was free. 22:04 A time when Israel was righteous. 22:06 A time when Israel was true to the 22:08 God of heaven. Have you ever noticed 22:12 my friends that whenever God's 22:13 people seek him he sense a leader 22:17 to fan the flames of revival, amen. 22:23 Under the shadow of Mount Ephraim 22:25 God raised up a leader to keep the 22:27 revival going. We don't know a lot 22:29 about her background and we don't 22:30 know much about the special gifts 22:32 with which the spirit of God had 22:34 equipped her for the role she was to play. 22:37 But, beneath the palm tree that came 22:39 to be known was Deborah's palm 22:42 the textiles that she sat and 22:44 judge the people. And everyday, 22:49 everyday as she listen to their 22:51 stories of pagan, their tales of grief 22:54 and the record of their oppression 22:56 by the enemy. The conviction grew 22:59 in her mind that she had to help her 23:00 people over come their fear of fear, amen. 23:05 The people had to be led overcome their 23:07 incapacitating fear of those nine hundred 23:11 chariots of iron. And so Deborah 23:15 went about breaking that dark spell 23:17 of discouragement and despair that 23:19 over her people. She talked to them 23:21 how to believe and again in a God 23:23 who could do mighty miracles. 23:24 She talked to him how to pray again. 23:26 And you know life began change. 23:29 Men and women began to change, men 23:32 and women and teenagers and little 23:33 kids began to search their hearts 23:35 in the side of a holy God and make 23:38 a commitment in the battle against 23:40 evil that they knew was coming 23:42 on the near horizon. Interestingly, 23:49 my friends we don't read in the word of God, 23:51 any discontent with Deborah's leadership? 23:59 We don't hear any murdering in the 24:00 corners that women were supposed 24:02 to be at home that women were supposed 24:05 to be meek and submissive creatures 24:07 not one voice was raised to question 24:09 Deborah's role as a judge in Israel. 24:12 You see those ancient Hebrews had 24:14 the good sense to realize that when 24:16 God gave gifts of skill and nerve 24:18 to human beings gendered in matter 24:21 of one day. They accepted the 24:23 leadership of a women because they 24:25 saw the fire of God and arise. And we, 24:29 who call ourselves modern sometimes 24:37 my friends we excuse ourselves from 24:40 allowing gifted people to the roles 24:44 for which God had equip them. 24:47 And we say that the times aren't 24:48 ready for it yet, you are right 24:50 it's only been 3400 years. 24:54 God chooses whom he wills to fill positions 24:57 of leadership among his people and 24:59 I want to tell you I would much rather 25:01 follow one Deborah into battle then 25:04 any number of weak and fearful men, amen. 25:13 Deborah found herself at the heart 25:15 of a genuine religious revolution. 25:19 She understood that the time had 25:20 come for action. And so she send 25:24 a message to the strongest man 25:26 she could find, the tribal chief 25:28 with the interesting name of Barak. 25:32 He lived about 100 miles to the north 25:34 of her. And even though she made it 25:35 abundantly clear that the message didn't 25:38 come from her, it came from the Lord. 25:40 Even though she specified in advance 25:43 the place of the battle and the certainty 25:45 of success that God had promised Barak 25:48 said no, I won't go unless you go with me. 25:54 So, terrible had the fear of Jabin and 25:57 Sisera's chariots become among the 25:59 Hebrews that even the strongest of all 26:01 of their tribal chiefs, the man whose 26:03 very name meant lightening refuse to go 26:08 unless Deborah was at his side. 26:12 Even though, he could count on the support of 26:16 10000 of the best soldiers of Naphtali 26:19 and Zebulun. Barak wouldn't budge 26:22 an inch until he had God's prophet by 26:24 his side; not a bad thought that. 26:28 He had the normal courage of the average 26:30 captain but he knew that the battle ahead 26:33 required more then normal courage. 26:36 He needed God's prophet by his side. 26:41 And Deborah quickly agreed to go, 26:44 there wasn't any hesitation on her part, 26:47 she didn't try to hide behind ruffles and lace. 26:50 She didn't try to shyly insist that you 26:53 know war is only for the men. 26:56 She knew that she was intimately bound up 26:58 with a movement of destiny and that 27:00 she couldn't shirk her duty then, 27:05 Scripture says Deborah arose with 27:08 Barak to Kedesh. And Barak summoned 27:12 Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; 27:14 and ten thousand men went up at 27:16 his heels and Deborah went up with him. Amen. 27:21 And down on the plain of Esdraelon 27:25 crafty Sisera must have smiled to himself. 27:30 Let them come he thought, let them 27:33 come with their bows and arrows. 27:37 Let them come with their rusty 27:39 swords in size. Let them come and 27:43 throw their rocks and run. 27:45 You see when a man has nine hundred 27:47 chariots of iron he longs for something 27:51 to do with them. And Sisera was 27:54 already mentally counting the corpuses 27:56 of all of the Hebrew peasants; 27:58 his trained soldiers would cut down. 28:04 But, Sisera, Sisera had made all of his 28:07 calculations as if there were no God in heaven. 28:12 Sisera had made all of his calculations 28:14 as no God wasn't watching out for his 28:17 chosen people. Sisera foolishly fought 28:19 along with all of God's enemies that 28:21 he was only dealing with a weak and 28:23 pathetically helpless group of people. 28:25 You know some tired senior citizens, 28:27 some flaming young teenagers he 28:30 thought he could crush his uprising the 28:33 way you crush a fly on the wall, amen. 28:37 But, the record says and the Lord routed 28:41 Sisera and all his chariots and all his 28:45 army before Barak at the edge of the 28:47 sword and Sisera alighted from his 28:49 chariot and fled away on foot. 28:51 And Barak pursued the chariots and 28:53 the army to 28:55 Harosheth-ha-goiim, amen. 28:56 And all the army of Sisera fell by the 28:59 sword not a man was left, Hallelujah amen. 29:05 And before the day was over man who 29:09 had thought to crush God's people 29:12 had his own temple crushed by a 29:16 temper driven by the hand of a woman. 29:20 I hope my friends I hope, I hope that 29:24 every violent person whoever even 29:26 thinks about raising his hands against 29:30 the people of God will remember how 29:32 Sisera died. Evil will so occupy the 29:37 mind of the one that possess that he can't 29:39 even lie down to sleep in peace 29:41 because he always fears a hand 29:43 bloodier than his own, amen. 29:48 The scripture tells us that in the 29:49 aftermath of this great victory over there 29:51 oppresses. Israel gathered for a great 29:54 celebration of praise and thanksgiving. 29:57 And the woman would had inspired it all; 29:59 she proved that she was a superlative 30:02 poet as well. Deborah were told to 30:07 raise her voice in a song that she wrote, 30:10 a song that really has left a high water 30:13 mark on the record of the worlds literature. 30:17 Wherever you go in the textbooks you 30:20 will discover that the song of Deborah 30:23 is treated by both believers and skeptics 30:26 alike as one of the great pieces of poetry 30:29 of the ancient world. It's full of all 30:32 the fire and the energy of the holy 30:34 cause that inspired it. That reveals a 30:38 depth of thought and emotion that many 30:41 people didn't believe could have existed 30:43 that long ago. The song of Deborah rises 30:48 to a height of exaltation in 30:51 proclaiming the alliance between God and 30:53 his people. According to Deborah even 30:56 the stars in their courses fought 30:59 again Sisera. The torrent Kishon, the 31:03 unrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon 31:05 march on my soul with my Jesus. 31:10 March on my soul with my. But, in the 31:16 midst of all of this exaltation, in the 31:20 middle of all the thanksgiving and the 31:21 celebration there is a note of great 31:24 anger and great bitterness. In the 31:29 23rd verse of Judges 5, we find these 31:34 lines that seems so strangely out of place. 31:40 Curse Meroz says the Angel of the Lord. 31:45 Curse bitterly its inhabitance because 31:49 they came not to the help of the Lord, 31:53 to the help of the Lord against the mighty. 31:58 In the flesh of triumph, well the victory 32:02 party was in full swing. 32:06 We might have expected Deborah to be 32:08 charitable to those who some how didn't 32:10 manage to show up when the battle was on. 32:13 We find ourselves inventing all sorts of 32:17 excuses for why the people of Meroz might 32:20 have failed to come to the help of the 32:22 Lord against the mighty. Well maybe the 32:27 grain harvest needed every available 32:30 laborer or just that. You know maybe the 32:34 local economy would have been hurt 32:35 if all the merchants picked up their 32:37 fathers swords and spears and went 32:41 of to war. Maybe they were pressing 32:45 political issues and Meroz just then 32:48 that required every citizen to stay 32:50 home and get involved. But Deborah 32:55 doesn't know of any such excuses. 32:57 And with righteous fire in her eyes, 33:01 she denounces those who chose 33:04 the safety of wharf and home while 33:06 legions of Naphtali and Zebulun were 33:08 risking their necks out their on the plains. 33:14 It's an accident of history that we 33:17 know nothing more about the city 33:20 of Meroz today then the memory of 33:23 her curse. An entire city has passed 33:30 into abyss of history and it's left 33:33 only its name. Meroz as a symbol for shame, 33:39 dishonor. Meroz has come to stand 33:45 for uselessness. Meroz has come to 33:49 stand for neutrality when no good 33:52 person could be neutral. Meroz has come 33:54 to stand for passivity when no honest 33:57 person can stand idle by. Meroz has 34:00 become the label of the shirker in the way 34:05 that the word quisling in World War II 34:08 became a synonym for someone who 34:11 would sell his native country in that case 34:14 Norway to the enemy. But Meroz didn't 34:19 do anything so actively evil as playing trader 34:24 or a spy, no. Meroz simply did nothing. 34:33 In the face of a monumental crisis 34:35 confronting the people of God, Meroz 34:38 continued acting as though nothing 34:40 unusual was happening. And so she 34:43 became mark to the pages of history 34:45 as a cursed city. In a time of desperate 34:52 conflict, an inactive friend is counted 34:57 as an enemy did you hear what I said? Yes. 35:01 In a time of desperate conflict an inactive 35:05 friend is counted as an enemy, amen. 35:10 Could God concur those iron chariots 35:13 of Jabin and Sisera without the help 35:15 of Meroz? Certainly he could, he didn't need 35:17 a human army at all. But, could Meroz 35:20 survive without committing herself 35:22 wholeheartedly to the battle of God. 35:25 Not at all, not at all. And so we know 35:29 nothing today of Meroz other then the 35:32 memory of her curse. But, I'm here 35:37 this evening to tell you my friends that 35:41 the curse of Meroz has not entirely 35:44 left the people of God. As much as we 35:51 may flinch, as much as we may stop 35:55 our ears, as much as we may want 35:59 to pretend we have not heard. Those words, 36:05 those divine words of criticism are directed 36:09 today against the members of God's 36:13 church who refuse to answer the call 36:17 to the battle that's on the near horizon. 36:23 The sin of Meroz, oh it's simply the sin 36:25 of trying to save our own neck at the 36:28 expensive somebody else's neck. 36:30 It's the attempt to save our own souls 36:34 without a thought for the souls of others. 36:38 The people of Meroz in the church today 36:40 are those who want to come out of their 36:43 safe hiding places all cool and unwounded 36:47 after the victory has been won. 36:51 And I hope, I hope with all my heart that 36:55 you are not one of them. Most of us here 37:00 this evening are Americans and I suspect 37:03 it's harder for us then for almost any 37:05 other people in the world to understand 37:08 the necessity of personal involvement 37:11 when there is a battle on, amen. 37:13 It has been a 145 years since there was 37:18 any pitched combat in the lower 48 states. 37:24 We abuse to the idea that, you know, 37:25 somebody else. Somebody else's son, 37:28 somebody else's daughter is gonna cross 37:30 sought water and do our fighting for us. 37:35 But, I'm here this evening to point 37:36 out that there is a battle going on, 37:39 on American soils tonight and on 37:41 Canadian soils and Bermudian soil. 37:44 It's on Alabama soil and it's on Florida 37:47 soil and it's on Georgia soil and it's 37:49 on Tennessee soil and it's not some civil 37:52 war reenactment, amen. You would 37:57 actually be more accurate to say this 37:59 evening that there are 1500 or 38:02 3000 or 5000 separate battles going 38:07 on in front of each of us this evening 38:09 there is some issue, there is some contest, 38:13 there is some topic that the Lord Jesus 38:16 has been placing in front of us. 38:17 You know what that is, I don't in our life, 38:20 but you have already been living with 38:22 it for quite sometime, you don't have 38:24 to go scanning the horizon to figure 38:25 out what it is? You don't have to go 38:27 staring into a crystal ball or examining 38:30 your horoscope. The spirit of God 38:32 has been talking to you over many months 38:33 about what that issue is in your community, 38:36 in your life, in your church, in this 38:39 movement, that's right. And my 38:42 friends this is into battle that you can 38:46 get someone else to fight for you, amen. 38:51 You can't wait for someone 38:52 else to get drafted. You can't hire 38:55 someone else to go in your place this 38:57 is in every sense a private war. 39:01 It's a personal war, it's a struggle 39:03 against wrong, that the spirit of God 39:07 is laid on your heart and there 39:08 is only person who can do something 39:11 about it, amen. Don't think my friends, 39:15 don't think that this is a battle 39:17 you can skip, hallelujah. Don't suppose 39:20 that you're gonna be able to climb 39:22 out from under Iraq after the battle 39:24 is over and still claim a share in the victory. 39:29 If you're gonna dance at the victory party 39:31 you better have been their when the battle 39:33 was on, amen. Those who hide in fear 39:37 during the battle scripture says 39:41 they are counted the enemies of God's 39:43 people, amen. Scripture abounds 39:46 actually with numerous examples 39:48 of the sin of Meroz. From the lips of 39:51 Jesus himself we hear denunciation 39:54 of that unfaithful servant who took 39:57 his talent and did nothing. 40:02 We hear Jesus cursing that show 40:05 a fig tree that produced many leaves, 40:08 but in the way of fruit it produced nothing. 40:13 We hear Jesus rebuking that Lukewarm 40:15 Church of Laodicea, which thought it 40:17 was rich and increased in goods, 40:19 but actually of the things that count 40:22 it possessed nothing. And his awful word 40:26 to them is because you are Lukewarm 40:29 neither hot nor cold, I will spew you 40:31 out of my mouth. Friends there really is 40:35 such a thing as the sin of omission. 40:41 It's a sin that Jesus talks about, 40:45 and if God forbid any of us should be 40:49 lost in the end. I don't think it 40:53 will primarily be because of all of the 40:55 bad things we did, but because 40:58 of the good things we failed to do. 41:04 The sin of Meroz it's not a sin of 41:08 impetuousness. It's not just a 41:12 mistaken opinion like choosing vanilla 41:16 when every same person those you 41:18 should chose chocolate. 41:21 Now the sin of Meroz is the sin of 41:23 a person or a family, or a church, 41:29 or a campus, or a conference that is 41:33 gotten used to only low risk 41:35 investments, amen. A person or a family, 41:39 or a church, or a campus, or a conference 41:44 those decided it wants a low risk portfolio 41:47 as it goes into the future, it's the sin 41:50 of fear for those who have lost the fire 41:52 of their first love out there thinking 41:56 about the coming battle, Jesus. 41:59 You may be thinking that these are 42:01 pretty strong words. This is pretty 42:04 tough language. But, when the Lord 42:08 himself is leading his people into battle. 42:15 The person who hides in fear, 42:19 if I hide in fear I'm calling God a liar 42:23 because he has said I will give Sisera 42:25 into your hand, Jesus. Before it's 42:29 too long my friends, Seventh-Day Adventists 42:32 have allowed our fear of conflict to 42:35 incapacitate us and cripple us, amen. 42:38 We forget the words of the Lord 42:40 when he said I have not come to bring 42:41 peace but a sword, hallelujah. 42:45 We ignore the plain language 42:46 of the Lord when he said he that is 42:49 not with me, he is against me. 42:53 The struggle in which God's church 42:57 is always engaged is a struggle between 43:01 the truth and a world that is determined 43:04 to stamp it up. Well you say that's right 43:07 I agree with you Bill. That's the kind 43:10 of thing that others really need to 43:11 hear that, that 40% who never come 43:14 to church but are still on our books. 43:18 That 50% who never return a faithful 43:20 tie or support the church with 43:22 their offerings, they need to realize 43:24 Bill I agree with you they need to 43:25 realize that unless they join in the 43:28 struggle they are not gonna end up 43:29 on the winning side, amen. But, 43:31 my friends I'm speaking tonight to the 60% 43:35 who come to church. I'm talking tonight 43:41 to the 50% who return a faithful tie. 43:46 I'm talking to men and women who 43:48 are ministry leaders, who are local church 43:52 leaders, who are leaders of movements 43:56 and ministries across the face of his 43:58 denomination. Men and women who 44:00 make plans and look for support and try 44:04 to think strategically. An 31 years 44:07 of ministry have thought me that 44:08 these words from the song of Deborah 44:10 apply to God's people today with the same 44:14 force as they were once directed. 44:16 Remember that the city of Meroz 44:18 undoubtedly had its leaders as well. 44:22 There was probably some tribal 44:24 chief in there. There was probably 44:27 some local elder, there was probably 44:30 some Merozion Conference President 44:33 who would stand up in font of his people 44:35 and say, no folks, folks this 44:37 really isn't in our fight. We have got 44:41 no quarrel with Sisera and Jabin. 44:43 I mean they have always treated 44:45 us fairly well haven't they and besides 44:48 there is a whole lot of work that won't 44:51 get done around here if we all go running 44:52 off to war. That crunching sound you 44:59 are hearing now is all the toes 45:01 I'm stepping out, amen. My wife will 45:05 tell you that I have never been particularly 45:08 layed on my feet. And the great pity is 45:13 my friends, the great pity is that we 45:15 have so long thought of conflict of 45:18 any kind as something to be avoided 45:20 that we are hardily able to recognize 45:22 a moral battle when we see one now. 45:28 The great rally and cry of my generation 45:30 was nothing more profound then chill. 45:37 Ten years ago, I followed bumper stickers 45:39 all around Washington DC that 45:42 simply said whatever. My sons are part 45:48 of a generation that puts premium 45:51 I'm looking cool, and slack, and 45:53 clean, and funny. But, those who don't 45:58 want to get involved, those who wanna 46:01 a chorus chill, those who are willing 46:06 to follow whatever to wherever, 46:10 those who wanna stay cool and funny, 46:11 and clean in a world of pain and sin 46:14 and dirt ought to hear the truth, and 46:16 the truth is Meroz will disappear. 46:20 Meroz will vanish without a trace. 46:23 Meroz will be destroyed by its own apathy 46:26 as surly as if an enemy had attacked, amen. 46:33 As fearful modern Christians we 46:35 sometimes justify those fears by saying 46:41 to each other well the will of God will be 46:44 worked out in the end and God really 46:48 doesn't need our tiny help does he? 46:54 After all why stress yourselves about 46:57 things that are wrong in the world, 46:59 I mean if we just wait long enough 47:01 the Lord will come and like fearful children. 47:08 Like Dave and me in grade school, 47:12 we take the long way home. 47:15 We avoid the very conflict with sin, 47:20 that would give us last encourage and 47:21 confidence, we are afraid of, 47:23 of offending the forces of evil as though 47:26 righteousness was just a matter of good 47:29 breading. My friends go ahead, 47:36 offend the devil, plant a flag on 47:40 your lawn, put a poster on your door 47:42 that says as for me in my house, 47:44 as for me in my family, as for me in 47:47 my church, as for me in my conference, 47:49 we will serve the Lord, amen. 47:54 We are not gonna get through this 47:55 thing without a fight my friends. 47:57 The evil in this world is very strong 48:00 and we will surly be wrestling against 48:03 it until that very moment when 48:05 Jesus breaks through the eastern sky. 48:11 Story is told of a man out walking one day, 48:15 he came across two boys fighting. 48:19 As he watched he saw one of them 48:23 pounding the other, whom he had already 48:26 tackled on the ground. And so he stop 48:30 the apparent attacker and said you 48:32 know you really shouldn't hit a man 48:34 who is already down. But, wiping the 48:39 sweat and the blood from his forehead, 48:43 the boy stood up and said ha, ha, 48:46 but you don't know what trouble 48:48 I had to get him down. My friends 48:52 don't let some misguided notion of 48:56 sympathy or tolerance keep you 48:59 from acting in the name of goodness 49:01 when God gives you the chance, amen. 49:04 Good news is a fragile thing in this world, 49:07 it's all too easily crushed out by that 49:10 iron chariot of evil. The real measure 49:13 of your commitment to anything is your 49:14 willingness to defend it against the 49:17 attacks made on it. That's true of 49:19 your home, that's true of your family, 49:21 that's true of your local church, 49:22 that's true of this world wide 49:24 movement of God. By defending something 49:27 we come to know how much we value it. 49:33 Sometimes I worry, I worry that as 49:37 Seventh-Day Adventist Christians 49:39 we have insufficiently involved ourselves 49:44 in the struggle for goodness in this world. 49:45 Perhaps because we have had one 49:50 eye fixed on the soon coming 49:51 of the Lord we haven't noticed, 49:56 we haven't notice the ground that evil 49:58 is gaining all around us. But, friends 50:02 I believe in the soon coming of Jesus, 50:04 my belief in the soon coming of Jesus 50:07 will never be a justification for 50:10 ignoring the battle against evil that 50:13 goes on in your living room, in your community, 50:16 in your church, throughout the world 50:19 wide range of this movement, hallelujah. 50:24 Tell me my friends, tell me, when the 50:29 big developers best laid plans will 50:35 displace 20 Hispanic families who literally 50:39 have no other place to live is there 50:42 a moral issue involved, Jesus, Jesus. 50:47 When ravaging problems with alcohol 50:50 and drugs are destroying the lives of 50:53 teenagers and adults in your community, 50:55 on your streets is there a moral 50:59 issue involved? Jesus. When hundreds 51:04 of Adventist young adults are being 51:07 let down the garden path of theistic 51:10 evolution some to lose their faith in 51:14 Jesus is their a moral issue involved? 51:23 When growing percentages of the material 51:25 resources that God has blessed his 51:28 people within North America are spent 51:30 on getting deeper carpets for out 51:32 sanctuaries instead of deeper compassion 51:35 for the lost is there a moral issue 51:37 involved? Hallelujah. When the 51:41 apparatus of so many of our structures 51:43 is better turning out recedes and 51:47 giving reimbursements then to focusing 51:50 on revival and reformation is there 51:52 a moral issue involved? I'm gonna do 51:57 something today that most Adventist ministers 52:00 won't do. I'm gonna take exception 52:04 to this scripture here in my hand. 52:08 I'm gonna take exception to 52:09 what the word of God says. 52:10 I'm gonna tell you that Jabin and Sisera 52:13 are not dead. They are not dead, Jesus. 52:19 I'm gonna remind you that Sisera erases 52:23 his head with every new television 52:27 comedy that gets us to laugh at things 52:30 that the holy word of God calls honorable. 52:33 Things like marriage, and religion, and 52:35 honor and loyalty. Sisera loves that 52:39 by the way. Sisera comes to life with 52:43 every anthem that flowns godlessness 52:46 in a morality and pokes fun at people 52:49 who hold to the values of the word of God. 52:52 Sisera comes to life again every time, 52:54 anywhere, a government restricts the 52:57 right of its citizens to worship the God 52:59 of their conscience. Whether those 53:01 are Iraqi Baptists or Pakistani Adventists 53:06 or Bible believing Sabbath keepers 53:09 who risk their jobs on Friday afternoon 53:11 when they go home to keep the 53:12 commandment of the Lord, Hallelujah. 53:17 Sisera thrives on the front pages of 53:19 tabloids that scream sex and scandal 53:23 in three inch type. Sisera comes back 53:27 from the dead, wherever God's 53:31 little once go hungry because we just 53:35 can't see it. We just can't see it. 53:41 Read the 25 chapter of Matthew my 53:43 friends see what it is that Jesus says 53:46 he really cares about. In the end 53:47 of it all, Jesus wants the answer to some 53:50 fairly simple questions. Did you feed 53:53 my hungry people? Did you give 53:54 a cup of cold water in my name? 53:56 Did you lift up your hand to defend 53:58 the truth? Did you lift up your hands 54:00 to defend the weak or those who are 54:02 weak in faith? Did you stand up whenever 54:05 you were called for, can you recognize 54:07 a moral battle when you see one? Jesus. 54:13 Call to you tonight is very simple, 54:17 be brave, be strong in your corner of 54:22 the battlefield. Be distinctly on God side 54:27 in this running warfare against the 54:29 host of Sisera. Make a choice today 54:34 that the God of Deborah is gonna 54:36 be your God. Make a choice today 54:38 that the God of the courageous men 54:40 and women who raised up this movement 54:42 will be the Lord of your life. 54:44 Commit yourself today to being 54:46 a man and or a woman in whom the 54:48 spirit of God still burns with that 54:51 Holy Fire. Ellen White said it with great 54:56 clarity, she said it with courage, 55:01 she said it with conviction 55:04 "there is indeed a great controversy 55:07 between Christ and Satan that rages 55:10 in this world. " But, my friends 55:13 it must yet become a great controversy 55:16 between you and Satan. 55:20 A great anger against evil in your 55:21 heart, a great desire to see God's 55:24 goodness triumph in the end. 55:28 Are you sometimes gonna be afraid? 55:29 Absolutely. Are you sometimes gonna 55:33 wonder if it's all worth it? Undoubtedly. 55:37 But, when next, when next you 55:41 shiver in the fear of the battle. 55:47 When next the ground around you 55:49 trembles as those nine hundred chariots 55:52 of iron come rolling by remember the 55:55 words of Psalm 46 Come, 55:57 behold the works of the Lord how 56:00 he has wrought desolations in 56:02 the earth. He makes wars to seize to 56:04 the end of the earth. He brakes the bow, 56:06 he shatters the spear, now get this line. 56:08 He burns the chariots with fire. 56:14 Be still and know that I'm God, 56:17 I will be exalted among the haven, 56:19 I will be exalted in the earth. 56:21 The Lord of hosts oh he is still 56:24 with us, Hallelujah. The God 56:26 of Jacob is still our refuge. |
Revised 2014-12-17