Welcome, good morning, good morning, good morning.
We are here to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are here to reach new heights in Jesus.
This morning, and I think everyone, but especially this morning,
we need to be grateful that we have the opportunity to gather,
grateful that we have the opportunity to look to the Lord here in these words.
We're going to pray together, and then we'll worship a little bit more.
It's real quick to tell you that tomorrow night, the softball team will be playing,
and they'll be missing some key opponents, several, a couple of youths that are going to camp
with me tomorrow and myself.
And so, hey, make sure you come out and cheer them on.
The game starts at 9. They'll be showing up at 8.30 to warm up,
and it will be the first softball game for new heights under the lights in five and a half years.
Ooh, and under the lights at Railway.
That's pretty impressive. It's a big deal.
A lot of the half years ago during COVID, pre-COVID, 2019 was the last time we played.
So, praise God we've got the opportunity to do that,
and to come and support the team.
And you guys, play your hearts out, okay?
Give them the best you got and have fun.
That's what it's really all about.
We stayed and watched the games last weekend.
There's so many players on their team that have a really good attitude,
and they're having fun, and some of them have never played softball before,
and they're striking out missing the ball, and it's really, really just for fun.
I'm not sure if we'll ever get that again.
Next year we may come back, we might get all excited and go,
why don't you come ahead and really, you know, be frustrated if they're not doing well or whatever,
but so far it's just been, everybody's been a really good sport for us,
so great job for that.
And that's our hope, right? This was all done with the Lord, by God.
And so that's my, I'm going to pray for the campers who are going.
We have a number of them in this room, and boys and girls going to Camp Light Change.
Starting tomorrow morning, we'll be back Friday afternoon.
So I'm going to pray for us and then let's pray for you.
Father in heaven, you know, Lord, even as we are fortunate to be able to get out of here this morning,
that there are those who are in the hospital, on a ventilator,
some of them are dearly beloved to us.
We know that there are those who are struggling with their health, physical, mental, and even spiritual.
Lord, we know that there are those who were forced to work today,
or feel like they were forced to work today, or who have wandered.
We know that there are those who didn't even know the value of worshiping you today, didn't understand.
There are also those who are joining us online right now
because they didn't feel they could be here in person for whatever reason.
And I think one of the ladies that's in California who wants to be a non-resident member of the United States,
I just pray for her that she's with us now online,
that she knows that we love her even though we don't know her, and that we want to bless her.
Father, I thank you for our Fourth of July celebrations and all that's gone on over the last few days.
And we celebrate what you have done in our country, that you have made our country able.
I look back at the Declaration of Independence and I'm reminded that everybody that signed that document
was a deacon or a pastor except for one.
And that's pretty incredible.
And so the church has always been instrumental in providing the freedom for our country,
men who believe in you, who believe in doing the right thing,
women who believe in you, who believe in doing the right thing,
standing up for freedom, standing up for inalienable rights in your place and in humans.
And we ask the Lord that you would bless our country today, that you're facing some real challenges.
And while we may be mid-flight, there is definitely turbulence.
So we just pray, Lord, that you'll be in charge of it all.
That you decide who will be every leader and that you will remind us to support and pray for every leader.
And recognize that from every police officer who is newest on the job to the President of the United States,
from every soldier, every Marine, every naval officer or ensign or corporal private,
anywhere in any part of our military, Lord, we pray that you will bless them today,
because they're standing up for even, let's be realistic, they're standing up for our ability to do this.
Now we know that you could preserve it for us.
You have preserved it for us through the darkest times in the church's history
when we were under great persecution and even the government was against the church and the church survived.
And your word has always survived.
And so we know, Lord, that you are above the fight that we talked about last week.
You are the only true aid and we turn to you for aid in this hour,
even though we're really blessed or really are, there are challenges.
We pray that you'll weigh in, that you'll do what only you can do.
And right now in this moment that means we pray that you will help us worship you.
You help us give you first place.
You help us focus on you.
And we have young people in the room and they have you patient with us
and we just pray the word that they would realize that this is all about you.
And that they would maybe watch the word, just sing along.
I know that Tyler and Zayden, for example, they're young and energetic
and you just need to know that their parents and their grandparents
and their brothers and sisters, Christ, are gathering in this room to put you first.
Wherever we might be distracted, we ask you to focus us.
Propel us forward by your good grace.
Wherever we might be hurting, we ask you to heal us and take this time for yourself.
We pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen.
We sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord.
we sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord.
The battle belongs to the Lord.
We sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord.
It comes that moment in time in our services where if you have been following the Lord for the last seven days, I hope you have,
then you've probably been hearing from God, you've probably been seeing something, maybe you go, hey, pay attention to that.
Maybe you've been somewhere, experienced something, maybe read something in the Bible and you've come ready to share it.
What do you got?
I also want to give you a chance to think for a second.
Last night we had the great opportunity to go out to Woodville, Ohio and go to the fireworks.
And due to the quarries getting a good spot down front, we were literally sitting on the front line
and the fireworks were going up overhead. It was bright. At one point it was so bright, the whole sky was lit up.
It was like daylight basically.
As we got home last night, I was thinking about it, praying about some of the experiences that we had had during that time.
I was thinking about these things, the Lord showed me.
So one was, we were having fireworks this way. So a lot of times you know when you're having fireworks this way, there's always the grand finale.
The grand finale is a big boom. It's when all the stuff goes off at one time and there's a whole bunch of things happening,
maybe multiple directions, whatever.
And I think everybody's kind of anticipating it for two reasons.
One, you're anticipating it because it's the big part, right? You're excited to see what that's going to look like.
And also you're kind of anticipating it because it's the end.
And then after that it's time to go home or go on to doing whatever else you're doing.
And during the fireworks last time, there were two times, at least maybe three times,
that I thought they were beginning the grand finale and they were actually still going on.
So then last night as I was at home and this morning, I was thinking about it,
I was thinking about how we're all waiting for a particular event to take place, anything of God.
And you could call it the grand finale. It is the next coming of Jesus, right?
It's when Jesus Christ comes back again.
So we're all kind of waiting on that because that's going to be the moment in which we no longer have to suffer,
we no longer have to yearn for things, our desires are dealt with, no more tears, no more sorrow,
no more mourning, no more pain.
It's all going to be good from the moment Jesus takes us from that point on,
all of what we might call the bad side of life all gone.
So we're excited about that, which is the end, right?
It's kind of exciting what the end is.
And it's going to be really cool to see it.
But at the same time when Jesus comes again, that's the end of people getting saved.
That's the end of the show.
And everybody's going home.
And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, that means we're going home to what He has prepared for us.
And if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, that means you're going home to somewhere you wish you weren't, or an eternity.
And so there is a bit of sorrow that goes along with the end of the show because nobody gets saved after that.
That's it, it's settled.
God's heart is that too.
The difference between God's heart and our heart is that we're looking for that grand finale with just a hint of sorrow,
but kind of quite a bit of joy, you know, because it's going to be really good for us,
but a little bit of sorrow because people are not going to get saved.
Whereas I think God is kind of the other way.
God is a little sorrow that we're suffering now.
It is sad that we're suffering now, but He's delaying because He wants to see every possible person come to Jesus.
And that's why the Bible says, He is not slow when some man comes slow, but for the occasion with us that all men might come to repentance.
And so I was thinking about that in regards to the grand finale.
Also, I was thinking about how, another thought came to mind about how since pretty much Jesus came, right,
people have been thinking, in fact this has come up a couple of times recently in my studies, how people thought, we must be getting close.
I have a new friend of mine that I met about a month ago and I met him again a night before last in the grocery store.
We stood in the grocery store witnessing to one another for like about 25 minutes and then we prayed together.
And I'm sure it was quite the sight for everybody walking through the grocery store.
And people were hearing bits of our conversation, everything, which I'm sure was pretty cool because you're kind of like preaching back and forth a little bit.
And anyway, and so he's into end time stuff.
Like he's watching the prophecies and he says a lot of these prophecies have unfolded and they're getting kind of pretty close to Jesus coming again.
There really isn't much, if anything, left that has to happen before Jesus comes again.
And he's pretty excited about that because he thinks it's pretty much over.
And I try to explain to him, I say, you know, realize in every generation people have felt that way, like this could be it, this could be it, this could be it.
And talk about like we had a pandemic and we had, you know, we have wars and earthquakes and tornadoes and all these terrible things that have happened.
Bad things that have happened in the last 10 years.
And people are like, the earth has never seen anything like that before in such a short period of time.
And that's just not true. That's just not true.
We were talking about great grandma, we're going to see great grandma and Ariana was realizing how long great grandma had been alive.
She was alive when World War II was happening.
And people that were alive when World War II was happening, they saw the war, what they would call the war to end all wars, which of course it was not really.
We wish it had been, but they saw it firsthand and the terrible effects of it.
And during World War II, it got to the point where like the American war machine was so geared up that they could produce a battle cruiser, a sailing cruiser, cannons, guns, a cruise, everything for the Navy in roughly three days.
Build it from the ground up in roughly three days.
That's crazy to think about that.
It was huge, bigger than three times, four times your house.
Right.
And so it was a completely different era and people were living in that era and had some of them had experienced the flu epidemic that killed 20% of the US population at the time or whatever that number was, huge number.
And all those things that happened, everybody for sure Jesus is coming back right now.
Soon, gotta be soon, right?
And yet here we are 100 years later, or as you talk about World War II, 80 years later, and he didn't come back.
So I think every generation starts saying this is it, this is the grand finale, here it comes, we're there now, just be faithful, just be faithful.
And I submit to you that our job is to be faithful, regardless of how close we think we are to Jesus coming back again.
So if he's coming back while you're still alive, you darn well better be faithful.
And if he's not coming back while you're still alive, you darn well better be faithful.
Because we all die and we all have to answer for after we die.
And then the last thing along this kind of plot line that all came out of this last night was we were watching as the fireworks were unfolding.
And as they got to the grand finale there was a certain firework that was just about a minute or two before the grand finale, it was the first time that it went off.
It was one of those bright white ones that just went boom, and that's all it does, right? It's like an explosion.
What's that?
What?
It's like a flashbang, kind of like that. And so they didn't do that throughout the whole thing, it didn't happen.
Until just about a couple of minutes before the grand finale you saw one, and maybe then like one more, and then in the grand finale there was a fungible.
And if you knew what you were looking for, if you knew that, that's how it was set up, then when that first one went off you were like, okay, here it comes, we're getting close now.
That next one went off, we're getting close now. And when they started going off, bang, bang, bang, bang, you'd know that was it, right?
And so the Bible says that we all know that when Jesus comes again it will be as of evening and night.
So many people will be caught off guard, just as they were in Noah's day, they'll be doing all kinds of things.
Eating, making, marrying, singing against God in a million ways, all those kinds of things, and they'll be taken off guard.
But the Bible also says that we will not be taken off guard.
The faithful will not be taken off guard, we will not be surprised when it comes.
You're like, wait a minute, I thought everyone would be surprised.
No, this is Jesus, before he comes you will know he's coming.
We'll not be like, oh no, he's coming, if you're a Christian.
We know what to look for, we know the way things will go right in those last moments, and the Spirit is in us.
And you're going to be like, it might be two o'clock in the afternoon, it's about time to eat lunch, clean up, do the dishes, and all of a sudden the Spirit says,
He's coming now. It's right now, it's right here, it's right now, and this super energy can't explain why, it's super excited, it's coming right now, and then Jesus comes again.
Right, the Bible says you will know, even though he comes to keep us alive for so many, you will know.
And I thought about it, if we had only been able to know the way they set that up, with those flashbangs going on, we're a little before the grand finale, we would have known.
So these are the kind of things, I think about it, it could just be my work of mind, but God is always speaking to us in creative ways.
I also think, like, so when we were out there, there were three church families that happened to wind up out there all at the same time,
and we were all kind of like in different places, and then two were together, and then all three were together in one place, and we all kind of watched together,
and we had a neat experience, but had we not been aware of each other, and we both advised to the Macorians, so they've been going for, what, three years or whatever,
I've been going since I was 10, eight, ten years old, so four years I've been going there, which means they were, before we ever met them, they were there,
and there's tons of people there. Your family could be there and you wouldn't even know it, right?
And so the church pulling together is a great imagery as well. And so, okay, there's some. Arden?
I was going to read some of your song lyrics.
Okay.
It's a song, it's called Action from Gaffi.
Okay.
It says, it's been a while since we've talked, and that means since we've really talked.
I've been living life saved, it's been causing this distance from you, but now I know it's my fault.
You said you draw near to me if I draw near to you, and the kingdom, and seek the kingdom first to find a clearer view.
I need less of me and more of you.
It was, I was looking for the light, you never left my side, you were my oxygen, I can't live without you, and I apologize for all the times I've done you.
Wow. So, something that I thought about when I was reading that is how we start living for God, and we kind of just set sail and go for it,
but then after a while we just stay stagnant, and I think, at least this is my opinion, when we get stagnant is when it's the most dangerous,
because we know what we're doing, and we know, like even if you're doing things that are Godly things, if you remain stagnant it gets dangerous,
because then after a while it becomes just routine, and I know a lot of people have that problem in ministries, they do it for so long it just starts becoming routine,
and that's not how we're meant to be, we're meant to always be seeking God, always be seeking the direction,
and we have to sometimes, it gets a little dangerous when we do that, because when we do that God might call us away from what we're currently doing to do something else,
and a lot of people don't want to do that, they want to continue doing what they've been doing for so long, instead of seeking the kingdom and moving forward,
so we have to remember that we can't remain stagnant when we are, we have to constantly be seeking God, and understand that He is always with us,
He has never left us, He's never going to leave us, if you call on Him, He is literally by your side every day.
I remember when I first was called to preach, and I thought, you know, preach now, then, whatever, and then I remember thinking, okay, now,
I thought, who am I going to call on these pastors, and I remember thinking, just tell me I can preach a sermon every week,
and how does he, how does he, Pastor Black, my pastor, how do you do that?
I can preach a sermon every week, and not like get cored, and just like realistically that's the thing, and not get like worn down, not, you know,
and that, for me now, I can honestly say, that is the only part of ministry that like I'm still bewildered by, like I just like it fresh, day one,
every time I sit down to write a sermon, like somebody, I've seen this before, I don't know where this is going, I'm like, oh yuck, I'm not looking for this again,
I'm not really going to go through this again, and I have to turn that over to God, and listen to the Lord, like He said, and realize He is there,
and you know what He's doing, but when it comes to like studying the Word, or sermon writing, I'm like, every time, it's new, it's fresh, it's exciting,
I'm like, wow, I know, and I'll read stuff that I've read that chapter a hundred times before, and I'll go, what, that's in there, that's crazy,
because God, it's just like that, He's constantly refreshing us, and renewing us, a strong word of encouragement there, too,
stay in the course, do what God would have you to do, and you'll never run out of energy, fuel, excitement, passion to serve the Lord.
The tough days, and then God shows up and helps, there only, a whoosh, he's kicking the pants like an afterburner, you know,
like yes, God was there for me, and then after that, we're faithful again, good word, anybody else for quick?
All right, yes Ms. Karen.
I'm just grateful, and I know it's this year, I believe in me, and I thank God for that, thank you always, I've been doing my bit, I work daily, I'm just grateful.
Amen, we're so grateful you're here, praise God, you can work.
Today is my daughter's sixties-something birthday, she's the one who grew me up, Christian, and helped me a lot in my faith, so I just pray for her, have a birthday.
Seventies-something birthday, we're going to pray together this time, I ask, Brother Tony Tate, would you lead us in this prayer, we'll pray along with you.
Sure, we're just going to stay with you this time, we're going to pray for this moment, my brother said day one, I love that, it's like day one every day, God it's not day one, you're every day, you're always been God, you've always been glorious,
and I just thank you for that, God, we've just had that conversation today, you're eternal, you're ever-present, but you're eternal, you've already seen the future, you already know the future,
you proclaim the future, you've proclaimed all the prophecies of your son, your son knew that you would fulfill all the prophecies, but here you are, ever-present here in 2024.
Because of that, I just pray that you are with us, with everybody here today, not even after church, but out there, the Lord in the battle of the Lords, you're with us before we even go where we're supposed to go.
We thank you that you have conquered all sin, conquered all evil, and in Christ we have victorious love and mercy through your Holy Spirit.
That's a good preaching, but it's good because it's true.
And so God, I just pray for the words that we spoke with you, you're a pastor, the message to be declared through our music, as well as in the kids' church,
and in the tidings of our friends, God, it is a blessing to give, but it is also a blessing because we know that it's all yours, and you give it to us exponentially.
We thank you, Jesus.
Thank you.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a world like me.
My heart was lost, but now I found, Was mine, but now I see.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my spirit healing.
How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first gleaned.
My chains I wore, I've been set free, My God, my Savior, has ransomed me.
And like a flood, as my sea rains, I'm ending love, amazing grace.
The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secure.
He will my shield and portion be, As long as I endure.
My chains I wore, I've been set free, My God, my Savior, has ransomed me.
As the sea rains, I'm ending love, amazing grace. My chains I wore, I've been set free.
My God, my Savior, has ransomed me. And like a flood, as my sea rains, I'm ending love, amazing grace.
And as the sun shines, the sun for me to shine.
My God, who called me here below, Will be forever mine.
Will be forever mine.
You are forever mine.
Praise the Lord. We have been working through Second Chronicles, The Life of Asa, chapters 14, 15, and 16.
And last week we spent some time talking about preflight checks. In fact, we talked about how easy it would be, how common it might be for a person to get stuck in the preflight checks and to never take off and truly live with God.
What would that look like? Well, it would look very much like a life lived for God because you would be seeking the Lord.
The Bible says if you seek the Lord, He rewards those who seek Him. And we saw that in the life of Asa.
Asa began to seek the Lord and we saw that the Lord rewarded him with peace and rest for the kingdom.
But we also saw that the chronicler talked about a different equation, a different way, in fact, that it actually works, which is when someone seeks the Lord, the Lord reveals Himself to them.
And so the end of chapter 14 sounded something like this. They also struck down those who owned livestock and they carried away large numbers of sheep and camels.
Then they returned to Jerusalem. So a great victory had taken place. A great battle was greatly victorious as the Lord helped them and they conquered the enemies of the Lord's people and restored peace to the Lord's people and to the Lord's lands.
However, we had noticed that there was nothing of the Lord revealing Himself to Asa by that point in time.
I'll ruin this part of the story for you. In what we're going to read today, the Lord is indeed going to reveal Himself to Asa.
And so the flight is about to begin. The preflight checks, if you will, are about to end.
The steps taken to follow the Lord, cutting out the high places, cutting out the pillars and the messy stuff that was all of false worship, cutting all of that out.
If you could say repenting and turning, at least repenting of those things, turning away from those things and maybe turning to seeking the Lord, that is where we have been to this point and now something new.
So grab your Bibles if you would, maybe give me a little hoot, a holler or a moan as we go to 2 Chronicles chapter 15.
Thank you for being with me today as we explore this text. Here we go. 2 Chronicles chapter 15 beginning verse 1 says,
Now the Spirit of God, and my Bible beautifully capitalizes Spirit and God there telling us that this is the Holy Spirit.
Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded and he went out to meet Asa and said to him,
Listen to me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you when you are with Him.
And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him. But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
So in other words, God had been with them to this point because they had been seeking Him.
But the Holy Spirit through the prophet is saying there is something more. There is an action of God that must take place.
And we call that grace. And the Bible says you are saved by grace through faith.
So you begin to believe in the Lord and pursue the Lord and God's grace saves you.
And God delivers the free gift of flight for our terminology that we are using today as you begin to walk in Him and with Him and He in you and with you.
The prophet was reminding them of that equation. The chronicler does so in a couple of other places.
But here is enough as we know the Holy Spirit of God has spoken through this man to say, He will let you find Him.
And for many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. So this is still the prophet speaking.
But in their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel and they sought Him and He let them find Him.
In other words, you have already seen it work this way. This is how it works.
It is not just as easy as you seek the Lord and you cut some things out that you are not supposed to be doing and now God is with you.
And although that does happen, God rewards those who are just. God rewards those who are kind.
God rewards those who are good even in this lifetime.
The psalmist writes, had I not believed I would see the glory of the Lord in this lifetime, I would have lost hope.
I am paraphrasing of course. But the bottom line is you can readily expect that if you do the right things, right things will occur out of the mouth of the Lord for you.
But that being said, something more is yet needed.
So for many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.
Most theologians believe he is referring essentially to the book of Judges.
And if you know that story at all, you know that they spiral down into sin and then they repented and a judge came and led them and they began to spiral up into holiness as long as the judge was alive.
Then the judge died off and they spiral down into sin again.
But if you also know the story, then you know each time they spiral down into sin, it got worse and worse.
They got further and further from the ideal of the Lord and how they were supposed to be living.
So they became a people without a teaching priest and without law.
But in their distress then they would turn to the Lord God of Israel and they sought him and he let them find him.
And in those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.
And the nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.
But you be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work.
That's what Asa was told by the prophet, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Verse 8 says, Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke,
he took courage and he removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin
and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim.
He then restored the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord.
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who resided with them,
for many had defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
Verse 10, So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign
and they sacrificed to the Lord that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought.
And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul.
Now listen to me, this is hugely important.
This covenant is a masterful step. It's even called on by God.
Jesus says, If you will profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ before men,
then Jesus will profess your name before God.
And so God expects you to speak up about who you are, what you're doing, who you're after, who you're following, who you stand for.
You cannot live as a shadow in the light.
You must rather live as the light in the light.
And so the idea was that they made this covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul.
They made a verbal covenant, a promise, a continuing plan, an oath.
Verse 13, And then they said, And whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel shall be put to death,
whether small or great, man or woman.
Now that sounds really harsh, especially in a day when not everybody is following the Lord.
And so there could be quite a few folks who fall on that particular law.
But actually, if you go back further into the Old Testament, the Old Testament law that they were given,
that was always supposed to be the way of it.
That was always supposed to be the way of it.
If they're in their midst and trying to lead someone to worship false idols, they were supposed to be put to death.
Now, we don't do that.
And there are reasons why we don't do that. We don't believe that.
But we can understand that if you sin against God and you don't repent and turn back to God,
then by all rights there is a break in your relationship with God.
You need to repent and turn back to God.
And their break, they did not want to spread throughout the kingdom.
There was no Holy Spirit living in men in this day.
So when the Holy Spirit lives in a person, seals, regenerates and seals their heart,
even if they sin, they do not become the sin.
But when a person is not regenerated and sealed, they become the sin, essentially.
They're not just a transgressor, but they are the transgression.
And they will lead others to follow their example.
And so that was the danger.
And so they were reverting, if you will, back to the law that the Lord had laid out for them,
which was that if there were those who would not seek the Lord God of Israel,
then they should be put to death, whether they be man or woman.
Notice it does not say child. It does say small or great.
That is believed to be speaking of their social status, of their learning, of their wealth.
It doesn't matter where you come from.
Once you are old enough to understand, you are responsible for yourself.
Your parents cannot protect you.
Once you are old enough, you are responsible for yourself.
And in this case, they would be put to death.
Now verse 14, moreover, they made an oath to the Lord with a loud voice,
with shouting, with trumpets, with horns.
This became quite the thing.
This is really a big thing. Not only 700, 7000, not only a covenant,
not only a promise to kill those who would not follow the covenant,
but on top of that we've got shouting and trumpets and horns.
This is a really big deal.
It says, and all Judah rejoiced concerning the oath,
for they had sworn with their whole heart, and it sought him earnestly.
Wait for it. Here comes the flashbang.
It's right now.
And he let them find him.
So they sought him and they went through this.
It's a pretty ornate process, right?
Quite a bit going on here, trumpets and all that.
And they rejoiced.
They had sought him earnestly.
And it says, and he let them find him.
So the Lord gave them rest on every side.
So now the flight has begun.
I submit to you, we looked at the free flight checks.
We got to the end of the free flight check.
You're at the end of the list.
And he said, okay, I believe the plane is ready to fly.
I believe we can take off now.
These are the steps we're going to do.
We're going to do all this and we're going to hit the throttle
and we're going to go.
We're going to go with God and we're never going to look back.
And anybody who does look back, they deserve the death that they will get.
Here we go.
We're going to fly.
And they fly.
And God makes it happen.
And now they are living literally with the Lord, verse 16.
And he also removed Makkah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother
because she had made a horrid image as an asherah.
And Asa cut down her horrid image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Hidran.
That's verse 16.
So notice the very next thing after the plane takes off,
the queen mother worshiping a false idol in the king's house, right?
In fact, historians tell us that at one point in time,
no king would be named in the line unless he was known to be a child
or a grandchild or a great grandchild of this woman.
This woman, she was all that.
And literally everybody's looking to her.
And yet, bless you, she worshiped this false god.
And Asa went and cut down her idol, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Hidran.
17.
But the high places were not removed from Israel.
Nevertheless, Asa's heart was blameless all his days.
So there were those out there who didn't quite get it.
There were still places you could go and have unauthorized worship of God
and maybe even false gods.
But Asa's heart was blameless all his days.
Verse 18, we're almost done with the text.
And he brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father
and his own dedicated things, silver and gold and utensils.
And there was no more war until the 35th year of Asa's reign.
So what we have developing here is a people,
and in particular we're following the story of Asa.
Now we could look a lot at the people of Israel.
We might actually resonate with them more, and I'll point that out at a certain point.
But the bottom line is we have a people who have been through the pre-flight checks.
They've looked at everything, and now they're taking off with the Lord.
It's interesting.
I'm reminded of a show, I don't know if you've ever seen it or not.
It's a detective show called Monk.
And the main character is this goofy dude who has all these psychological problems
after his wife died who he loved, and he was a police detective,
and then he had all these psychological problems, and now he's just a consultant.
But he's really good at solving mysteries.
And there's a particular episode in which Monk has to fly with his assistant some distance.
And there's a scene where he's standing at the airport, and the mystery is over,
and it's pretty much the end of the scene.
He's standing at the airport, and he watches this commercial airliner take off
and fly into the distance.
And he says, it just doesn't make any sense.
The funny thing is that scene when I first saw it, I thought, you know,
that is kind of weird, those big giant commercial airliners made, I mean, they weigh bunches, right?
Big, huge planes.
And I get it that there are jets, but like, it doesn't matter how fast you fly a rock, for example.
It does eventually fall out of the sky, and that plane is a lot like a rock,
and I started thinking it was a little weird, and then it just kind of dismissed it,
and it didn't affect me anymore.
And then I was writing this sermon, and the scene popped in my head,
and so I Googled a little bit about airplane flight.
Did you know that in 2024, Tommy probably knows this because he did aeronautical training,
did you know that in 2024, no one can explain why a plane flies?
As we live right now today, and we think, well, I've flown in a commercial airliner,
I've been overseas, whatever, you got in it, and it flew you there, and it did,
and you know it did because you arrived there, and then you flew back, and you're here, right?
Or you see them in the sky all the time, you know they fly,
but you do know that all the best scientists who have ever lived,
no one can explain why an airplane flies, why it works.
Now, I can tell you the best theories that there are,
and I'm going to do that just briefly at a certain point in here,
so you'll hold on for that in a moment,
but the bottom line is no one can explain why an airplane flies.
Couple of factors, the first we see in this story as Asa is taking off,
we see thrust or propulsion, something has to happen.
Asa was already cutting out the idol worship in the kingdom,
he was seeking the Lord, that was providing the thrust,
and then the prophet comes and says, that alone is not enough,
you literally will not be saved unless the Lord God from heaven says it so.
Do you understand? Are you with me, Natalie? Are you with me, Charlie?
Are you with me, Carrie? If God does not say you're saved, you're not saved.
That's what the prophet said. If God doesn't do it, it ain't done.
I don't care if you pray to prayer, I love that you pray to prayer, that's wonderful,
but God doesn't do it, it ain't done.
You repent and turn from your sins, right?
You stop doing all the things wrong that you think could be wrong.
That's propulsion, that's thrust, things have changed,
but if God doesn't do it, it's not done.
Asa was moving forward toward a flight with the Lord,
but it was painfully obvious that he was not actually on a journey with God,
he was just on a journey seeking God.
He was stuck up through chapter 14 in the preflight checks,
and we talked about that last week, and I challenge you, don't do it.
Don't allow yourself to be stuck in the preflight checks.
So what happened? What was different? What did they do?
There was a moment, a line in the sand drawn, a step that they took,
and they said, yes, we are propelled forward, we are moving forward toward a moment in time
in which we will be relying completely on God for our sustenance,
in which God alone will be in charge of it, God will be my Lord, God will be the one.
And we will do it as a people, and they had this huge covenantal ceremony,
for us that might be the invitation.
Or it might be you praying out loud in a grocery store, and everybody around you can hear you.
Or you might be with your family, and somebody explains the Gospel,
and you're accepting Christ, but your brother, sister, father, or mother are sitting right there,
and they're not. Somebody else is not, but you are.
It might be right now during this service you realize, I have been seeking the Lord,
I have been pursuing Him, but I'm not really walking with Him, the flight has not yet begun,
I've got the thrust, the propulsion, I've felt the power of the Lord to give me peace and rest,
but I've not truly turned my life over to the Lord.
Now they had to have trumpets, they had to have sacrifices,
they had to have an amazing, powerful thing that really marked that moment in time for us.
Guess what? We're living on the other side of God's version of that.
Jesus Christ died on the cross. I understand you weren't personally there to see it,
but you better believe that was a big day.
There was darkness when there shouldn't have been, there was walking dead when they shouldn't have been,
there was essentially prophecy or a declaration that He was the Son of God by a Gentile soldier who was standing by.
He died like nobody else died. He rose again on the third day.
And so that is that moment. It already exists, it's already happened,
and everybody living on this side of that moment, as Paul tells us in Acts 17,
God requires you to repent, change everything, and let now God be your source of propulsion.
Where previously your source of propulsion was seeking the Lord.
I want peace, everybody wants peace. I want rest, everybody wants rest.
I want my finances to go well, everybody wants that. I want a good spouse, everybody wants that.
I want a good job, I want food on my table, we all want that.
And I see that here's the way I can get it. I can seek God, and in seeking God, those things are added unto me.
And the fact is, that's true. Not only for Christians, but non-Christians as well.
I know people who would tell you flat out that they're not a Christian.
They said, no, I'm not a Christian. So you're not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?
And they said, well, not in the way that you mean. But they tied.
They tied to a local church because it's just the right thing to do in their own mind's eye.
And their finances are in pretty good shape.
I remember I was witnessing to a woman over here, I'll never forget it, over here on Greenwood.
And she told me, no, I'm not a Christian. I said, do you go to church? No, I don't go to church.
Are you the church? No, I'm not the church. Are you a follower of Jesus? No, I'm not a follower of Jesus.
But she said, but our family is always tied. My great grandparents tied, my grandparents tied, my mom tied, and I tied.
And looking at her house on that street, I bet you, if you drove over there right now, she hadn't passed away during COVID.
She was an older woman, I don't know. If you drive down that street, it is the nicest house on the street.
It looks like a little castle right there amongst all of those other houses.
Her lawn was immaculate. She paid somebody. It's made of stone. She's got stuff in her yard. It's a beautiful place.
And she attributes it all to tithing. She's just got the propulsion, but the propulsion is not the Lord.
You've got to trade all your good works, all that you've ever done to this point in time for the salvation that God has for you.
Then there will be works that arise out of that salvation. But you've got to stop working first.
You've got to turn it all over to God first. And they had this huge ceremony. We have the crucifixion.
In the thrust and the propulsion, if it's real, it's got to be strong.
If you're stuck in the preflight checks and you've not actually taken off and the engines are firing, this is what probably happens.
I'm reading my Bible, but now I'm kind of not reading my Bible for a while. I'm going to church, but now I'm kind of not going to church.
I'm worshiping, I'm serving, I'm giving, but now I'm kind of not. There's a good excuse, but now I'm kind of not.
Any time there's a good excuse. I've known people who have a culture in their life, a good excuse is enough to not do what God would have them to do.
That is not somebody who is flying in the Lord. That is somebody who has a powerful propulsion seeking the Lord, and it kind of runs out.
The fuel isn't enough. Or they hit a bump in the road and they're off course and they will not now. It's not working anyway.
The woman who said, I just hate God because he murdered my husband. So you know there is a God. Yes, you claim Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Yes, but my husband died in his 50s, and that's just not right. I'm angry with God.
That woman was moving forward by the propulsion that she had, probably seeking the Lord, but there is a serious question as to whether or not she was saved.
The gospel was explained to her. When the gospel is explained to me and I'm in sin, my sin comes to the surface.
When I'm not right and I hear Jesus, I go, wait, I'm not right. That's my first thing. I'm off course. I'm not right.
And I want to repent. That's my Jesus. Look what he did for me. How can I ever possibly, willingly not be right again?
Now that I know I'm not right, I immediately want to get back on course, get back in the air, get back to flying with Jesus.
This thrust and this propulsion, it must be strong. And I submit to you, it was strong in Asa because he was cutting stuff out all over the kingdom.
He was changing things all over the kingdom. He was dedicating himself and his armies and the pursuit of the country.
He even prayed, if you'll recall, in chapter 14, we know that only you are outside the battle and you can help.
And we kind of digested it a little bit to realize he said, you can help the strong or the weak, either one.
We are the weak and we need your strength. And God gave them the victory. He was propelled. He was thrust forward.
He was strong in his desire, but he was not turning it over to God.
And then he got to that moment at which he made this covenant and he said, OK, beyond this line there is only me and God, or otherwise I may as well not be.
That's what he said because you realize that edict that he passed, that applied to Asa.
If Asa was found to not be following God months later, it would be perfectly right for the lords of the land to kill him.
All those, it said, big or small, kings or paupers. So it applied to him.
So he said, I must follow the Lord and if I'm not found to be following the Lord, I may as well not be going forward.
I must surrender my life, not my kingship, but my life. It's me with Jesus for us or me with God for him or me not at all.
That's what he said. That's what they all said. Man, that thrust, that propulsion is strong.
But also you realize then out of that, that when you truly turn yourself over to the Lord, it will change everything.
I've given the illustration a couple of times. I'll give it again now.
When I was getting saved, I finally got courageous enough to tell my wife that I thought I wanted to become a Christian.
I told her, I'm driving at the first curve down the road going to BG on the Portage River.
Haley, are you with me? I told my wife, I said, I want to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
She said, what does that even mean? I said, I don't know, but I know this.
It's going to change everything. Hear me now. Suck that bad boy up.
It hasn't changed everything. It hasn't happened.
Jesus' propulsion is very much like your propulsion to find him.
It's very much like your propulsion to live a better life.
It's very much like your propulsion to do a better job because you're fearful of what might happen if you don't.
But it is not the same. The propulsion that is knowing Christ will take you into flight.
It is the grace of God. It is absolutely necessary for salvation.
And if you don't have it, then you don't have it.
That's why it's so important for us to go out and reach out to anyone who might be out there.
Because there could be so many seekers who do not know the Lord.
They are literally seeking, getting out of bed every morning.
Well, I wish I could be a Christian. I want to be a Christian.
I like the man who walked in the front door of the life station the one day.
And he stepped in the door and we were actually closed like five minutes after.
And I said, I can help you with groceries if you need it.
I said, but can I help you? And he said, I'm not here for groceries.
And I said, okay, how can I help you? And he said, what must I do to be saved?
Just like that. There are so many people out there.
Listen to me. You know somebody in your circle, on your job, at your school, your kids' school, whatever.
You know somebody that if somebody would just tell them about Jesus and what it means to be saved,
just tell them that seeking God is not enough.
Wanting to be good is not enough, but God must do an act of grace in your life.
And I can tell you how to get there. Just draw a line in the sand and be so desperate for His presence
that beyond that line you would actually say, beyond this line, it's me and Jesus or not me at all.
You can't say that about Jesus. When you're lost, that's exactly what you're saying about Jesus.
Don't care about Jesus. Don't care if you even exist. Don't worry about that.
Don't seek Jesus, whatever, when you're lost.
But when you're seeking Jesus, you don't want to say that. You want it to be true.
You want to be a follower. Maybe you just don't know how exactly.
And somebody comes in and they tell you the basic truth and you say, beyond this line,
it's me and Jesus or me not at all.
And in that moment, for them anyway, Jesus, God, did exactly what they were designed,
what they were wanting to do.
They received grace and flight. They found lift.
If finding God was a work of man, if you could search around for Him and find Him,
then some people would do it out of all the wrong reasons.
Some people would think, well, this works, so I'm just going to do it.
And the Bible says that God orchestrates your life so that you may turn and search for Him.
And having found Him, realize He was never far away in the first place.
This morning I was searching for my car keys, or my church keys.
I searched several places several times and never found them.
I drove to church in the church van and didn't find them.
I got here and I'm like, where's the recorder? I need to start the recorder for the podcast
so we can put the podcast out later. I'm like, where is that at?
Looked at my church bag. There's a recorder. Right where the recorder was.
Church keys. I had them with me the whole time, but I couldn't see them.
God loves you. That propulsion to seek God, once you realize God is real and anything about Him,
you're going to desire Him. And then you're going to begin to seek Him.
And some people are mistaken that seeking for Christianity, I understand that.
We are not seeking God. If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He has revealed Himself to you and your position with Him is now safe and eternal.
You have begun the flight. Now Asa had begun the flight.
Let's talk just briefly about how the flight got started.
It got started. There was already propulsion and power.
There was thrust. He was moving forward seeking God.
But God in His grace provided the lift. I told you we were going to talk about lift briefly.
So here are the best theories about why a plane works.
And none of them are exactly correct. They even all know this and admit it.
There was a man named Bernoulli. Bernoulli has a theory.
He says that when air moves over a curved surface on the top of the wing and along the flat surface on the bottom of the wing,
the air moving on the top moves faster because it has to fill in a partial vacuum and it has to come down off the wing.
Because it moves faster, air pressure is less on the top of the wing.
So the plane is sucked up into the air pressure that is left and that's why it flies.
But since then, by the way, Bernoulli wrote that theory before planes were ever invented.
Interesting. He looked at birds and things like that. Right? And whatever. Say it again.
Yeah, so long time before flight. Okay?
But it doesn't actually work. The theory doesn't work because they can't explain why, first of all, that actually happens.
They also know that in some cases that doesn't happen. And they also know that planes can fly upside down.
So if you're flying a plane upside down and the low pressure is on the top of the wing,
because it's the surface of the wing that creates that, it has nothing to do with that, then by all rights the plane should naturally go down.
But it doesn't. Doesn't make any sense. So Bernoulli couldn't explain it.
So then they use Newton's law. So when Newton's law makes sense, this makes more sense,
the wing pushes down on the air as it's flying, the propulsion of the plane force pushes down on the air.
Because it pushes down on the air, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It pushes up on the wing and the plane goes up because the plane is pushing down.
Except that doesn't actually make any sense, does it? Because why would it ever start going up in the first place?
And then it starts going up. And then they realize that that doesn't explain why there is low pressure.
That theory doesn't explain why there is low pressure on top of the wing either.
Newton also lived and died long before planes were invented.
So since then there have been some very other people, interesting people, who have tried to take this on.
And the bottom line is nobody can come up with a conclusive theory why the plane flies.
You'll love this because it's poetic. It's beautiful and it's poetic.
This is the best theory we currently have.
When the plane flies, the vacuum is created. We don't really know why.
We assume it has something to do with the fact that forces are pushing up on the wing from below.
But if you didn't have both theories working, they know the plane would not fly.
So the propulsion happens, those two things happen, and the plane flies, but it doesn't make any sense.
It is directly related to thrust.
Now apply that to the topic of the day.
Asa could have drove his plane around on the ground forever.
He could have followed the Lord, seeking after the Lord forever.
And he would have received peace and rest and benefits to his household. And you can do that too.
If that's what you want to do, you can do it. And it would be a pretty good life for you.
If you seek the Lord, peace and rest and benefits to your household will pretty much abound.
If you spend your whole life seeking him.
But if you earnestly seek him, if you truly desire him, if there's a line in the sand for you to say,
beyond this line, if not God, then no me.
If you would do that, then God will deliver by his grace, flight unexplained. Flight impossible.
But as we saw in the text, even though that is so, there will come moments in time at which that flight will be challenged.
Because this flight is ultimately a work of God, as God reveals himself to those genuinely seeking him,
wrong motivations are not possible.
So if you're truly flying with God as Asa was, you can't be doing it now because you just wanted to be blessed.
Because you were just seeking peace.
So you see those bulletin boards that says you need peace, Jesus has peace for you.
If you go to Jesus just to get peace, you're not going to be saved.
If you go to Jesus just to be helped, you're not going to be saved.
If you go to Jesus just for the Holy Spirit or just for spiritual gifts, it's not going to work.
You may seek God, but if you don't come to a moment in time at which you draw a line in the sand and say it's me and God or not me at all.
If you don't do that, then grace doesn't enter in. If grace doesn't enter in, there's no flight.
And then comes turbulence. Let's assume for a moment that you actually do get airborne.
Don't really know why I'm doing it. It's working.
Pull the stick back, put the thrust up, let the brakes off, set the flaps accordingly.
I'm in the air. I'm flying. It's working. I don't know why it works.
No pilot on the face of the planet knows why it works.
No aeronautical engineer knows why it works.
Though many have tried, mostly they just say all this comes together and it just works.
Right? But then comes turbulence. You must.
If you're able, in the moment that you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior in earnest,
to decide beyond this it's me and Jesus or me and God or me not at all,
then you should be able to handle turbulence.
And look at what Asa's turbulence was in the story.
He was forced to choose God over convenience or relationships.
The Queen Mother, who essentially put him on the throne, that's a reality,
was worshipping a false God.
And they said, anybody, notice by the way it doesn't actually say in the text that they put her to death.
That shows how much power she actually had.
But he had to stop it. He had to say, no, not in my house.
Men, women who don't have men, young people, teenagers, you've got to say, no, not in my house.
You've got to say, no, not in my house.
You've got to draw a line in the sand and say, beyond this it's me and Jesus or me not at all.
And from that moment on you say, here we do it this way.
I have a number of young grandchildren. They come and visit my house.
Their parents have certain policies that I don't necessarily agree with.
And they know as much what they are.
And when they come to my house, they're not allowed to do those things.
They're not sins. They're not sinful things.
At least I can't think of one that is.
But we just don't do it that way in our house.
And so when they come to my house, we don't do it that way in my house.
Multiply that times a thousand and you'll get close to what God is talking about.
You say, bristers don't do it that way.
Max don't do it that way.
Stevenson's don't do it that way.
McCrory's, we don't do it that way.
And the list goes on.
We all ought to be able to say, we do things the way God would have us do things
because we are on the other side of a line at which we say,
either it's me and Jesus flying or I'm out.
That's it.
And you're going to run into time where it's convenient.
For example, at our house we pray before meals.
If we don't pray, we don't eat.
Kids come over. They start eating while we're praying.
They wait until after one warning.
They wait until everyone else is done eating.
Then I'll pray with them again.
Then they can eat.
That's not right. You're making a small child wait an extra 15 minutes to eat their dinner.
I didn't make them wait an extra 15 minutes.
They chose to wait an extra 15 minutes because they already knew what was going to happen.
So they chose to do it.
We pray before we eat.
Do you have to do that if you don't pray before you eat?
Is this a sin? No.
It's not a sin.
But in our house, that's one way we choose to recognize and honor God.
And you ought to have things like that.
You might say, well, it's legalistic. You're being legalistic.
No, I didn't say they're going to hell.
I didn't say they can never eat again.
I didn't take them out in the yard and stone them, by the way,
which was the Old Testament punishment for a child that was disobedient to his parents.
They would take them out and stone them.
Because they knew from the time they could walk that they were supposed to honor and obey their parents.
Now we don't do that.
Because we've received grace, we realize we are sinners that deserve stoning a long time ago ourselves.
And so we ought not be stoning anybody.
But at the same time, you choose God over convenience.
You choose God over relationships.
You choose God over money.
The list goes on.
So when he encountered turbulence, what did he do?
He chose God.
He burnt very publicly.
I think it's interesting because he does this very, very publicly.
It's not like he just goes, you know, Grandma, you can't do that.
We just made this huge covenant all across the country.
You're really causing me a PR scandal.
You can't do that, Grandma.
So I'm just going to take this out and take it out of the backyard.
We'll get rid of it.
We'll bury it. We'll burn it, whatever, in the backyard.
No one has to know that you did this or whatever.
No. He took it out.
He crushed it.
He burned it very publicly out there where everybody could see it in the place where false idols were almost always destroyed.
So everybody knew exactly what it was.
Realize that sometimes these moments of turbulence, they feel like a test of faith.
Something happens and you feel like, I want to believe and continue to follow the Lord after this event that I've gone through that is really rough.
Divorce, lost a job, health, relationships, somebody hurt me, or I was romantically involved with somebody, now they're gone.
My mother, who loved the Lord, died.
My friend, who testified to me about Christ, walked away from the Lord.
I lost my job because of cuts or I was accused of criminal activity when I didn't do it.
Or some guy went down the street cussing me out when I really didn't do anything wrong.
All of these things feel like a test of faith.
But let me say this very plainly.
Let me say this very simply.
It's not a test of faith because faith is the one thing that cannot be arrested.
It can never be taken away from you.
It can never be stopped.
Your life can be ended.
Your heart can be broken and you might have a hard time getting out of bed the next day.
Your life can be ended.
But your faith, if it's real, if you're flying with Jesus, can never be ended.
Perhaps it's more a test of the way things look.
It looks like you're flying with Jesus.
Are you really flying with Jesus?
Or is this opportunity that's come along just good enough to entice you?
Are you dividing your loyalties between God and something that you enjoy or something that you think you need?
It's a test of appearances.
It's still hard sometimes.
But there really are no options whether or not to stay the course, whether or not to continue to fly with Jesus.
Really only options of how it will be accomplished.
Here we see it must be accomplished decisively, forcefully, publicly.
Mind you, he was a king.
So if he made that covenant amongst everybody and everybody knew and trumpets blew and sacrifices took place and everything,
and then she did what she did and nothing was done, he would have been leading the whole country in the wrong direction.
And so you might, someone might arguably say he only did it decisively, forcefully, publicly, because those are the methods of a king.
Why do you think they call Jesus king of kings and lord of lords?
Because in your own life under Christ, you are the king, you are the queen.
You are the one who must make a decision now empowered by God, gifted by God, sealed and regenerated for eternity, being a wielder of the keys to the kingdom.
You are the one.
So the decision to stay the course, to walk out your faith should indeed be decisive, forceful, and when necessary, public.
Remember that the scripture says, Jesus tells a parable in the book of Luke about a faithful servant,
and he basically says that to whom much is given from him, much will be expected.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, what have you been given?
If you are a seeker of God, you've probably been given peace, rest, maybe some financial boons, relationship boons, health boons, you're still able to do things, right?
But if you are a follower of God, if you're literally flying with the Lord, what have you been given?
He said that all things have been given to us.
All things.
The keys of the kingdom, whatever you bind on the earth shall have already been bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on the earth shall already been loosed in heaven, is the best translation of those verses.
God has given you much, and if he's given you that much, then whenever turbulence occurs and something seeks to divert you off course,
whether it be temptation, distraction, lust of the eyes, lust of flesh, pride of life, all present with us to this day,
you should decisively and forcefully and publicly deal with that turbulence.
That brings us to our conclusion.
There is great success available through the preflight checks.
We saw that last week.
But the greater success is in finding God, who literally does all of the work in finding him.
You seek him and pursue him, and then he shows up and exposes himself as he moves into your heart.
There is a great challenge still, because even having known the Lord, a man might well have divided allegiances.
There's family, there's money and income and earning and relationships of all kinds.
A person might have divided allegiances.
I submit to you, if you are considering truly coming to Lord Jesus, if you're considering beginning a flight with Jesus,
I submit to you that you decide right now what you will do if your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your boss, your friends,
the people you play with, the people you run with, the people you hang with, if they decide not to fly, what will you do?
Will you fly anyway?
Because if you cannot say that, then I submit to you, you're not at a point in a line in the sand.
And if you think you're getting saved while thinking, but if my wife doesn't go or my friend doesn't go or my boyfriend or girlfriend doesn't go
or my money doesn't go or I can't do or I can't have or I want but can't fulfill my wants or whatever,
if people are going to make me feel bad or persecute me, if those are lines that you would draw,
then you're not at a line that says beyond this line it's me and Jesus or me not at all.
You're at a line that says it's me and Jesus or Jesus not at all.
And that's no salvation. That's no flight. That's no takeoff.
Let's assume for a moment that you have taken off, then when you encounter the turbulence, you can trust.
I've been on a number of commercial aircraft flights and also flew, I personally flew a single engine plane in a storm where visibility was zero
and we had to use MLS to be able to find the airport.
And the plane was bouncing all over the place.
I submit to you, I was not a saved Christian. I had no idea why planes fly.
And the truth is, I didn't know that they didn't know. I just assumed somebody knew that why planes fly.
And it was flying. And there was like 2,000 feet between me and the ground.
So even if it started to dip, I had a long way before I would hit anything.
I felt perfectly comfortable and safe. I felt that even though the plane was doing this, I was going to be fine.
I was coming back from a trip to Dallas-Fort Worth area and there was a young woman on the plane.
I did not ask her so I won't share the name. She was a stewardess. She'd been on a lot of flights.
And she also probably did not know that they don't know why for sure planes fly.
And we were sitting in the back and in the very back, I was in the very back, you know, sometimes you get those flights.
I didn't want to pay for my seat assignments. I was in like 34D, right? I'm in the back, back of this plane.
And in between my, there was the row and then there was another seat, was a fold down seat.
And the turbulence hit and the plane's bouncing all over the place. And this vibrate like, and we're like, this thing could literally fall apart.
I didn't think it was going to fall out of the sky, but if it started to fall apart, I figured that was bad.
And I'm just saying, I said, Lord, you know, you got this, whatever, you know, whatever it's going to be, it's all in your hands.
Well, the stewardess came and she sat down next to me. So she's like literally three inches away.
Pretty girl, probably early twenties and looked like she had a lot to live for, healthy, bright eyed.
But when she sat down, she was terrified. Her eyes were vacant. She was like, this is it. I'm going to die.
And I thought, man, she's really scared. And I said, I thought she might be having a panic attack.
She might have blood sugar issues. She might have a heart attack. I said, are you OK?
And she said, I'm terrified. And the guy on the other side of her, who I had been witnessing to earlier in the flight, he said, I'm terrified too.
And that was supposed to help. Right. And she was terrified. And I said, do you want to pray?
And she said, anything, anything, anything. And I said, well, first, let's make sure we know who we're praying to.
And I shared the gospel, simple gospel, what it meant to be saved.
And I said, you know, the plane could crash. But odds are the plane's not going to crash.
So it's not about whether you're going to survive right now or not.
It's about whether you're going to live for Jesus for the rest of your life.
Are you walking with the Lord beyond this point? From now on, it's you and Jesus.
Before I ever wrote this sermon, before I ever understood what I'm teaching you today, I said, I'm asking you, from now on, is it you and Jesus?
And she said, yes. And so first, we prayed to be saved.
And she prayed to I led and she prayed after me to be saved. And the guy next to me, the guy next to her, I did not pray to be saved.
And he wasn't too happy that she was praying to be saved. And but she did.
And then and then immediately we prayed that the turbulence would calm down, the plane would land safely and everything would be OK.
And ironically, the guy next to her who was mad that she was praying to get saved, joined us in that prayer and actually verbalized some of those words.
He wanted to get home safe. He just didn't want to be a follower of Jesus. You understand what I'm saying?
OK, I still have her as a friend on Facebook to this day.
And last time I checked, which was probably a few weeks ago, she's still living for the Lord.
The turbulence, sometimes if you're just seeking God, it's to make you think I'm just seeking God.
I'm not truly flying with the Lord. And sometimes if you're truly flying with the Lord,
it is to determine whether or not you actually are flying.
Maybe some of us are still not flying. Maybe some of us are still in the preflight checks and you need to repent of that today and say,
OK, Jesus, beyond here, it's me and you or not me at all.
Maybe some of us are flying, but we realize we have divided loyalties or things that you're wrapped up in,
things that excite you or bother you. Maybe your temper is your divided loyalty.
The wrath or anger of man will never bring about the righteousness of God.
Maybe your finances or your relationships.
If you realize you have divided loyalties, then you can reasonably realize you're seeking the Lord
and you need to draw a line in the sand and say, beyond this, it's me and Jesus or not me at all.
And the word says that whosoever calls upon the Lord, and you better believe that's what it means when it says calls upon the Lord,
it doesn't just mean, hey, Jesus, please save me because I might crash an airplane and I don't want to go to hell.
Hey, Jesus, please save me because I'm not having a very good time right now. I'd rather feel better about life.
That's not calling on the name of the Lord. Calling on the name of the Lord is exactly what we're describing.
Lying in the sand beyond this, it's me and Jesus or not me at all.
Maybe the turbulence that you've been experiencing recently, the difficulty that you've been going through,
has indicated to you your actual motivations. You just wanted it to go well.
That's what your salvation was all about, just wanting it to go well.
And now you realize that's not really salvation at all.
If you're not right, absolutely keep seeking Him if that's all you really want to do.
But if you are interested in really being right, then make a list right now in your head of all the things you value.
It's a short list. It doesn't have to be super long. You can generic it.
Like, I like sports. I like money. I like people. I like fun. I like recreation.
I don't have to name all of the individual things. Right?
All the things that you hate. Oh, I hate it when I lose my temper. I hate it when I lose my car keys.
I hate it when people cuss me out. I hate it.
It doesn't have to be too specific. It can be general. I hate it when people hurt me.
And then take all of those things and realize you have to release them to Jesus
so that He can show you now how you're going to have to deal with each one of those things.
And some of them are going to have to go away completely.
And others of them have to be repurposed. A man's temper, which can be out of control at times,
needs to be repurposed to wrath. Violent opposition against injustice.
Wrath. Not anger, but wrath. We stand up for what's right. We do what's right. We be right.
And you need that strength. And you can't get rid of it completely.
But you can put away from yourself anger and wrath that's not godly.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.
And one of the things is His presence.
Do you want God more than anything else? I think you probably do.
And that's probably partly why you're here.
Are you flying with God? Or is there propulsion, real motivation to do it?
Completion of pre-flight checks, but no actual flight.
Despite how long it looks like you've been trying, or how much other people think it's true,
will you fly with Him from here through turbulence, through challenges of all kinds,
knowing that He is the one who provided your salvation and He is the one who will take you through?
You can trust Him. Why does God save us? No scientist can explain that either.
The Bible explains it very clearly. He saves us because He loves us.
He saves us because He created us for a relationship with Him.
He saves us because He's right.
Do we deserve it? No, otherwise it wouldn't be great. So we don't deserve it.
But He does it. Let Him do it for you.
I'll ask the praise team to come forward at this time and lead us in our final hymn.
If you're here today, you realize that you need to repent of your divided,
loyal people all around you. Let this be your day.
Your day to say, okay, it's me and Jesus going forward.
I know it's hard to let it all go. If you've been seeking Him and doing pretty well,
that makes it even harder. But you can.
And then once the flight has begun, expect turbulence, expect difficulty, but also expect success.
Expect the flight to continue because your faith cannot be undone.
It can't be touched. The world cannot touch it.
People say, I lost the faith. No, you didn't. If you lost the faith, you never had the faith.
This faith is not elusible. It's anchored by the salvation that Jesus provides.
And it's not going anywhere. Praise God.
All right, we'll just end and sing the song with me.
And then as we sing, if you're making some decision for Christ today or if God has spoken to your heart in some way,
then you just come. We'll talk together briefly.
We'll pray together briefly and share your decision with everybody else. Go online now.
If you're online, post something and you're going to continue to pray with Jesus.
We believe and we are never the same.
Amen.