The sermon title for today is, What If It's Not
For You? What If It's Not For You? I want to
share with you a brief story. You may or may
not know the name Mark Twain, but Mark Twain
is one of my favorite authors of all time. Not
because of the kind of man that he was necessarily,
but because I really enjoy some of the characters
and the satire that he wrote. It really awakens
people to understand kind of like how people
are, especially what's true in the culture that
he wrote about in the time that he lived. Mark
Twain was once asked to distribute diplomas at
Hannibal High School. He said he could do it
with great confidence because he had never done
it before. And so they offered for him to come
and distribute the diplomas, and he stood up
there and he told the entire audience, I can
do this with great confidence because I've never
done it before. He said, I'm going to distribute
these as they come, and then you may toss for
them afterward. meaning he wasn't going to worry
about making sure that the right diploma got
to the right person. He was just going to give
the diplomas as they were stacked. I don't know
if they were stacked alphabetical or whatever.
He was just like, I'm going to just give them
out however, because I don't know any better.
The Hannibal Morning Journal, the reporter from
that town, reported covering the speech that
he gave. He said, Mr. Clemens then distributed
the diplomas to all the students, remarking,
as they started to diminish, he used to say,
We want to make sure there's enough of these
to go around. And that's a nice one. Take that
one. And so on. Much to the student's delight
and amusement. It was funny because it wasn't
quite right. He wasn't doing it exactly the way
it was supposed to be done. He wasn't being careful
to make sure that they got their own diploma,
for example. Or that he didn't ask somebody how
exactly he was supposed to do it. Sometimes not
doing things quite right sort of tickles our
fancy. Like, oh, I can get away with this. I
can do this a little differently. It's not sin,
per se. I can do it a little differently. But
also realize that the order and the correct way
can be a really big deal. Mark Twain's point
then, and the point of maybe even of that article
the next day, was that the more we know exactly
how a thing must be done, the more pressure there
is to do it right. We say of our children, for
example, you know better. You shouldn't have
done that. We already taught you. You already
heard it. The teacher already said. They even
say it to each other. She said, do it this way.
Right? Once we know how a thing ought to be done,
we start to think that there is a lot of pressure
to do it right. We're going to see a thing that
is done today in the scripture. We're going to
look at this set of verses from a slightly different
angle today. And I think it's a fairly simple
understanding, but it speaks to us. about what
we kind of go through and where our lives are,
what we kind of go through on a regular basis.
So maybe give me a hoot or holler or amen as
we go to Luke chapter 2. And I never push the
button, so I'll be louder now. Okay. All right.
So Luke chapter 2, in the story, I can actually
hear myself today. So in the story of Jesus's
birth, Are we good now? Okay, that's better.
All right, I'll be louder if I need to be. I
think it'll be fine. All right, so Luke chapter
2, we're going to begin reading in verse 8. Tim's
going to do it. He moved. It's probably because
of other microphones that are still on. It should
be fine now. It's a little low, actually. Testing
now. Okay, yeah, we can handle that. We can move
it up and down as need be. Just don't want that
hum for sure. Okay, so Luke chapter 2, beginning
of verse 8. You're going to recognize some of
it, okay? It's okay. And in the same region,
there were some shepherds staying out in the
fields and keeping watch over their flock by
night. So now we're on the evening, the eve,
if you will, of Jesus' birth. Shepherds take
care of the sheep. They're stinky people. They're
low -class people. They don't relate well to
the highfalutin high -class people. They don't
spend time with Sadducees or Pharisees. They
might hear the preaching of a Pharisee, but if
they did, they sat in the back. You know what
I'm saying? And an angel of the Lord suddenly
stood before them, stood before the shepherds
in the field who were keeping watch over their
sheep by night. And the glory of the Lord shone
around them. So we kind of imagine that as a
bright light. But I submit to you, it may have
been as much a feeling. Just knowing. It's like
when the hair sort of stands up on the back of
your neck and you know something is happening.
Something incredible. And they were terribly
frightened. I mean, they knew who they were.
whether they were worthy to have an experience
directly with the God of the universe, whether
they could approach him, or if he approached
them, what that might be like. They were terribly
frightened. And the angel said to them, Do not
be afraid. That's a great greeting from an angel
when you're terribly frightened. Kind of, okay,
well, I'll try. For behold, look here. I bring
you good news. This is the reason why they need
not be afraid. I bring you good news of a great
joy which shall be for all the people. So in
other words, even though you might feel left
out, you might not feel connected, you will probably
never serve at a high position in the temple
or be elected to public office. Right? I bring
you... Good news of a great joy, which will be
for all the people. Read, all the marginalized,
disenfranchised, ignored, the hopeless, the helpless,
the struggling, the trapped, the trapped in sin,
those who are destroying their lives or having
their lives destroyed. I bring you good news
of a great joy, which shall be for all the people.
For today in the city of David, there has been
born for you Now, everyone knows that the city
of David is Bethlehem. It always has been. And
since David was born there, way back in the day,
they have always known that that was where David...
I mean, he's one of Israel's greatest kings.
Everybody knows David. And they know the promise
of David, that he would have an heir to sit on
the throne, not for a generation or generations,
but for, and this is a big word, eternity. So
they're looking for... Now, The shepherds probably
don't, they may or may not know the prophecy
that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
They may or may not know that. Even the scribes
kind of had to dig for it a little bit in the
other part of the story. So they may or may not
have known that. But it is the city of David,
and it is a place where incredible things might
happen. And the angel, who's already incredible,
is now saying, because this is true, this is
why the joy... The good news that I bring you
about the great joy which shall be for all people,
he says, because today in the city of David there
has been born for you a Savior, in that you is
you and me as well. But the fact that he was
born for shepherds was significant. And let's
not kid ourselves, they knew also they were sinners.
Who is Christ? That's the... Greek word for Messiah
or anointed one. He is the one who would be expected.
The one who will carry out the job that the Lord
has pointed to, which is saving all mankind.
And they knew, being Jewish men, they knew that
the Savior would not only be for Jews, but also
for Gentiles. You see it all throughout the New
Testament. And these are men, even though they
weren't Pharisees and Sadducees, these are men
who memorized huge, huge batches of scripture.
Okay? This person is Christ, the Lord. Big, big
impact in the Lord. The Lord is a person who
tells you what to do, and he does it, and you
do it. And then you're going to see a little
something different as well, before we're done,
that the Lord does. In verse 12, it says, and
this will be a sign for you. So, okay, cool.
What's the sign? We're going to need a sign.
We're going to go, we want to know this is true,
right? Zechariah needed a sign. He kind of got
one. He was mute, right? He couldn't talk. After
he had to promise. Mary didn't really ask for
a sign. She said, let it be to your bond servant
however you say. But she got one. It was your
cousin Elizabeth is six months pregnant with
a baby well after child rearing age. And her
husband's well, well after child rearing age,
right? So there's a sign for you. And so they
don't ask for a sign. The angel says, this will
be a sign for you. And then in my Bible, I see
a colon. And so that's not in the original language,
but it means. Here it is. This is the sign that
you'll see. And we're expecting what? Glorious,
amazing things. Mountains knocked down and made
flat trails, brought wide. No, it says, you will
find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a
manger. Now, that's not normal. In fact, don't
do that to your baby, right? Get them some real
clothes or use a blanket, right? But this is
a baby wrapped in... and lying in a manger. The
manger is a feeding trough. And, you know, it
kind of shaped a little bit like a crib or a,
you know, baby could kind of go in there maybe.
But people don't do that. That's not normal.
So this is the sign. It's not his skin glows
and he's radiant. He was born a man. Like he
came out of the womb and suddenly he was 18.
You know, it's not an incredible miracle. It's
wrapped in clothes. And laying in a little feeding
trough. Well, if we find a baby wrapped in clothes
and laying in a feeding trough, he's probably
the one that the angel was talking about. Verse
13 says, And suddenly there appeared with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God. Okay, so now we've got not one angel, but
a bunch. And they're all there. And they're praising
God. And they're saying, listen to this, Glory
to God in the highest. By the way, you know how
that's in the Latin, right? In excelsis Deo.
That's the song, right? And so, glory to God
in the highest. And on earth, peace among men.
Oh, wait. That was kind of a big jump there.
We went from, we're going to give God glory,
which we've got to do that. I mean, God is doing
something. God is great joy. Yeah, I mean, he's
got the baby wrapped in a manger or wrapped in
clothes. And it's just a little weird sign. The
sign's a little weird, but we trust God there's
a reason for that sign. And we're just going
to go, this is great what God is doing. We're
going to be excited about that. We're going to
give God glory. Oh, also, we're going to now
have peace between us. That's different. Don't
you respect your fellow man? Don't you care about
other people? Tend not only to your own concerns,
but also the concerns of people who live near
you that you run into on a daily basis. Peace
among men. with whom he, and the he there is
God, is pleased. Brace yourself. God just said
that he has positive feelings about liars, mass
murderers, rapists, deceivers, thieves. I submit
to you that God loves People like that, and he
would desire to have an eternal relationship
with them if they will repent, if they will walk
away from their sin and choose him over the world
system, their own methods, the doctrine of demons,
whatever. That's what God wants. God wants to
bring into fellowship with him the kind of people,
and let's be realistic, right? In the last 2
,000 years, have we not seen it time and time
again? One stands before you today. I was not
worthy of God's love. And I think there's a bunch
of us sitting in the chairs who realize we're
not worthy of God's love. And yet, he has favor
to the point that when there was no mediator,
nobody who could solve this problem, God solved
it himself. And there should be peace amongst
us. He is pleased with us. Now, he's not pleased
with the things that men do. God hates sin. And
when a person is unredeemable, that is to say
when they've gone so far and they will never
turn to Christ, God knows exactly what to do
with them. But that's above our pay grade. God
is pleased, it says, and therefore we ought to
have peace among men and give glory to God in
the highest. Verse 15 continuing, and it says,
and it came about when the angels had gone away
from them into heaven. You ever been like to
a rock concert? and it gets really, really loud
in the rock concert, or maybe working at a factory
or whatever, and you walk out, and it's quiet,
that's the feeling in that verse. There was a
heavenly host of angels singing, Glory to God
in the highest. Now that's a choir for you. And
it rocked the countryside. And then it was gone.
And in the stillness that followed that great
proclamation, They had to decide, who am I? What
am I going to do now? What's next? What just
happened? The ringing still in their ears. It
came about when the angels had gone away from
them into heaven that the shepherds began saying
to one another. They looked at each other, ringing
still in their ears, their hearts probably like
about to explode in their chest, so in wonderment.
And they said, Let us go straight to Bethlehem
then and see this thing that has happened, which
the Lord has made known to us. Not let us see
if this thing has happened that the Lord has
made known to us. But let us go straight to Bethlehem
then and see this thing that has happened, which
the Lord has made known to us. And they came
in haste and they found their way to Mary and
Joseph and the baby. as he lay in the manger.
And when they had seen this, now what is the
this? They made known the statement which had
been told to them about this child. So they told
Mary and Joseph and anyone else who would listen
about what the angels had told them. Verse 18
it says, And all who heard it, wondered at the
things which were told them by the shepherds.
Notice, the shepherds could wonder at the thing
that was told them by God. But everybody that
was there wondered at the thing that was told
them by the shepherds. The shepherds' role just
radically changed, didn't it? Mary treasured
up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising
God for all that they had heard and seen just
as had been told them. May God add blessings
to the reading of his word. For all that they
had seen and heard, they were praising God and
glorifying him. There are three things I want
you to see in this text that jump out. But I
want you to remember from my illustration of
Mark Twain that sometimes the order, the proper
way of doing things, creates pressure to do it
right. The first thing is the shepherds received
a reassignment. They were in the field. They're
taking care of the sheep. If there would be a
wolf, if there would be a bear. Probably hadn't
seen one in a long time. But if there would be
anything like that, they were prepared to protect
the sheep. They were also making sure that somebody
wouldn't come by and just take a sheep to eat,
you know, or whatever. That the sheep wouldn't
wander off. Sheep are kind of dumb. Slipped and
fall in a hole. I saw a video on Facebook where
a sheep is stuck down in this crevice in the
ground. And they worked really hard and they
got him out. And the sheep goes, don't, don't,
don't, don't, bounding off the field, turn right
around and go back in the crevice. That's sheep.
So they have a job. Their job is to protect the
sheep, and that's their family's livelihood.
They might be second, third, fourth, or 50th
generation shepherds. And God gave them a reassignment.
He said, stop shepherding for now, and go and
witness and proclaim. Now, God doesn't say in
anything that we read, that the angel said to
the shepherds that they were supposed to go to
Bethlehem. Did you hear? He didn't say, go to
Bethlehem and see this thing. However, he did
say, this shall be a sign for you. You will find
a babe wrapped in clothes lying in a manger.
If they don't go to Bethlehem, where are you
going to find that? They're going to find it
when you go home. They're going to find it in
the next town over. This is not going to be found.
That's not a common thing, right? So in order
to see that, in order to find that, they had
to go to Bethlehem. But he didn't say, go to
Bethlehem, did he? He said, this will be the
sign for you. You will find a babe wrapped in
clothes lying in a manger. In order for that
to happen, they had to go to Bethlehem. But he
didn't command them to go to Bethlehem. He simply
said that they would find. He told them what
they would find. He made them a promise of what
would happen when they went to Bethlehem without
telling them that they had to go to Bethlehem.
You catch what I'm saying here? He put the results
that they would get when they decided to do what
they needed to do, what they should do, what
God wanted them to do. He put the results that
they would get in the promise for them before
they decided to go to Bethlehem, before he told
them to go to Bethlehem. That's different. I
want to say to God, God, you tell me what to
do and I'll do it. And then I'll reap the benefits
because you're a wise and powerful God and you'll
reinforce it. You'll give me a pat on the back.
You'll provide. You'll bless me. I want to say,
God, you tell me what to do and I'll do it. What
if that's not how it actually works? What if
God gives us the promises of what he will give
us and then we choose in our free will to do
what it is that God would have us to do, arriving
at the place that he already knew that we would
arrive at to receive the promises that he already
promised. You see, do we have the order out of
place? Stop shepherding for now and go witnessing
and proclaiming was the task of the shepherds.
It was a reassignment, but it was not expressly
spoken in what they were given. It was that they
would find the babe, find the sign. In order
to do that, they had to reassign. They had to
leave their task and go and take on the task
that the God of heaven had assigned them. They
were reassigned. Notice then that there are reactions.
They react. They respond. But notice here that
the reactions, the response are in the middle.
And the results. They began to say, let's go
see this. That was their response. Their reaction
to the angels singing glory to God in the highest.
Their response, peace on earth, goodwill to man.
I want to see that. Don't you want to see that?
And so they said, well, we want to do that. But
the promises had not yet come. Was there peace
on earth? Did suddenly that night all wars end?
You know, many times on Christmas since this
day, there's been a cease of conflict. They'll
do that a lot. In fact, there are many stories
in World War II, for example, where they were
across from each other in the trenches. And they'd
be singing Christmas carols in English on one
side, German on the other, and nobody would fight
that night. So you know, one day, the day that
we celebrate the birth of Jesus, or maybe the
eve of it and the day of it, perhaps, To have
peace on earth. Oh, but some people have turned
Christmas into something altogether different.
Now, the truth is Christmas, as an original holiday,
was sort of a pagan holiday. It wasn't even a
Christian thing. I recently read an article about
a witch, and she says, yeah, you know, I understand
it's pagan, and I've walked away from everything
to do with pagan religion, everything to do with
being a witch, and I am fully Christian, born
again, serving the Lord. And she said, when I
was a witch, I loved... Halloween and hated Christmas.
So now I'm a Christian, and you better believe
I celebrate Christmas, even though it was supposedly
a pagan holiday. It's the one time of the year
that you can talk about the single thing that
matters the most, and no one's going to hassle
you about it. Or if they do hassle you about
it, they really have no ground to stand on because
it's called Christmas. And she said, of course
I celebrate Christmas as a former witch. People
try to say to me I shouldn't, but of course I
do. Here they react in the middle between the
reassignment and the results. There is no peace
on earth. Maybe in the manger. Maybe in the stables.
Maybe in Bethlehem. I submit to you there was
probably a bar fight in Bethlehem that night.
The place was overcrowded. Jesus is being born
and six buildings down is the inn and they're
duking it out over some guy insulted somebody's
mother or wife or something. That's not peace
on earth. So they were reacting, responding to
the reassignment before the results, and that
order is important. And then we see the results.
They saw what they were told they would see,
and they praised God for it. So guess what I
alliterated, didn't I? It's a reassignment, reactions,
and results. I don't do that very often, by the
way, for those of you who haven't heard me preach
much, but I don't do that very often. But the
note -takers in the room are going, yeah. It's
awesome. Three R's. Hey, awesome. It's great,
especially for outlining. Okay, results. They
saw what they were told they would see, and they
praised God for it. They arrived at the scene
of a baby born to be the Messiah, the Savior
of the wealthy and the shepherds, the clean and
the dirty. Of those who knew they needed a Savior
and those who refused that they needed a Savior.
And as long as they don't refuse too long and
miss out on the opportunity, he would be the
Savior of all. They saw what they were told they
would see and they praised God for. That brings
us then already to our conclusion. Notice that
Mary treasured in her heart. And they went back
praising God for what they had seen and heard.
And I ask you, I mean, what was it? Really? They
weren't specifically praising God for angels
singing in the sky. I mean, that would be a reason.
Don't get me wrong. That would be really cool.
Invited to a concert of angels singing in the
sky. That would be cool. But the angels were
pointing to something else. They were talking
about, the angel told them about the Savior who
would be born. And they didn't go, we don't want
to leave because that was such a cool phenomenon.
If we stay here long enough, it might happen
again. Like he might come again with the angels
in the sky singing again. It would be a great
concert to go see a movie. Like that movie is
so good, I'd go again. Nobody does that anymore
because movies are too expensive pretty much.
But they used to do that, right? Like I saw Star
Wars like three times. But anyway, the point
is. We don't do that anymore. But you're like,
I could see this again. Let's stay right. This
is holy. Take your shoes off. This is holy ground.
No, that's not what they did. They said, let's
go see. Let's go right now. So it wasn't that.
It was what they seen and heard that they were
praising God for. And I submit to you, it was
that God, in the midst of conflict the whole
world over, was going to bring peace. And that
you can have, I can have peace while somebody
is trying to kill me or taking a contract out
of my life or cutting me off in traffic or flipping
me off because I wasn't paying close enough attention
to their personal needs at that moment in time.
Whatever. And you can have a peace. That's, it's
there. There it is. Proof. God said it. We have
proof. They're praising God for the sign. He
didn't have to do that. Listen, I want to tell
you right now, I know this for a certainty, that
Mary was not overly pleased to giving birth to
her child in a stables surrounded by animals
and their various excretions to lay her baby
wrapped in leftover clothes pulled out of Joseph's
satchel in a wooden box meant for feeding animals,
right? So I'm just guessing about modern -day
women, but I'm thinking that they're pretty fond
of things like epidurals, nursing care, soft
beds, although they probably don't feel soft
during the actual delivery, I wouldn't guess,
but it's better than laying on the ground. It's
better than laying on a bit of hay or a blanket
thrown over a four -inch pile thick of hay or
whatever. And you don't want to have a bunch
of hay on you when you're having a baby because
there's moving parts involved, right? So there's
a limit to what you can do. And by the way, the
go boil some water? Joseph couldn't go boil water.
That was not existed back then. Exactly. It was
nothing. It wasn't extra blankets. If they'd
had an extra blanket, they'd have wrapped the
baby in a blanket, right? There's no extra blankets.
There's no sanitizing. Okay, she's about to have
the baby. Let me run over here right next to
the chicken coop and squirt some stuff on my
head. No, there was nothing. I don't think that
Mary was overly pleased with having to deliver
a baby under these circumstances. Now, what was
she doing? And trusting God. And this would be
a sign for them. a Savior was being born for
the world. He would be Christ, the Anointed One,
the Messiah, the Son of God, God the Son, and
He would be Lord. That is to say, God, through
Jesus, will be in charge of everything. God deserves
glory. So I say to you, let the light shine on
God. But now I'm going to show you How it's a
little harder than most Christians make it out
to be. A little more necessary. And definitely
doable. God wants peace among men with whom he
is pleased. So be at peace. Oh boy, that's a
big challenge sometimes. He is pleased with men.
So be pleased. You're like, uh, but. She that,
and he that, and they this. And they're putting
stuff on TV, and they're doing stuff out back
of the barn, and they're massacring people. But
they were created in the image of God, and something
of the image of God remains in them still. It
is not your job to have negative feelings about
other people. It's just not. God doesn't do it.
God doesn't have that ever. Even when God hates
sin and destroys people who come against him.
And let's not kid ourselves, he does that. He
does it loving them. And if that's a problem
for you, then you're beginning to understand
the friction of this text. That you could kill
a man and love a man in the same breath. That's
part of what it means to be a Christian. This
would be a sign for them. God is willing to provide.
He orchestrates the events in others' lives to
serve as blessings for us and confirmation. Please,
please grasp the fact today that sometimes the
difficulty that you're going through isn't even
for you. We talk a lot about how when I'm in
trouble, I ask God, what am I supposed to learn
out of this? And I think that's realistic because
we probably should learn from every moment of
life. And so when you're in trouble, there may
be something more poignant, a difficult lesson,
whatever. I'm not disagreeing with that as a
fact. It's probably true. You should. But what
if the greater impact, what if the real outcome
that God is trying to bring about isn't even
in you? Mary was already trusting God. Did for
her whole life, essentially. She said before
the baby was ever conceived in her, so let it
be for your bondservant, as you have said, so
let it be. From the beginning. So did she need
to lay her baby in leftover clothes in a manger?
Was that going to help her in some way? She's
trusting God. She trusted God all through it.
She treasured all the things that were happening,
all the things they were saying in her heart
throughout all of it. Did she need to do that?
What if laying her baby in a manger wrapped in
clothes wasn't for her? Oh, wait. And this shall
be a sign unto you. You will find a baby wrapped
in clothes lying in a manger. It wasn't for her.
That sign was not for her. It was for the shepherds.
We see it all throughout Scripture then when
we're looking for it. In Acts 17, in verse 26
and 27, we'll go there and read it right now,
but you can put it in your notes and read it
later. Paul says that God sets up the boundaries
of all creation. He lays out where nations will
be and where people will be. He sets everything
up so that man might seek him out. And having
found God, realize God was never very far away
in the first place. Understand? But what if the
boundaries of your life, The trials and tribulations
of your life are not only so that you can seek
for God and cry out to Him, but also that those
around you. Do you not understand that when you
seek God and cry out to Him, someone's watching.
There is an audience for you. And if there is
no person to see you devoutly turn to the Lord
God to repent of your sin and follow Jesus in
totality, in earnest, then at the very least,
there is a cadre of angels and demons who are
being witnessed to, for they see. In Romans 8
.28, it says that all things work together for
the good, and I looked this up to be 100 % sure
I had my prepositions in the right place, to
those who love the Lord and are called according
to his purpose. And so this is what we say, and
I'm not saying it's wrong, that whatever we're
going through, ultimately God can make it turn
out for our good because that's who he is. He
can do that. Whatever we're going through, no
matter how bad it seems at the time, he can do
that. But would you consider with me now that
it's entirely possible that the bad that you're
going through is actually there not to produce
a good for you, but to produce a good for others.
Otherwise, martyrdom raises some serious questions,
doesn't it? How on earth was Stephen going to
say, as they were stoning him on the steps of
the temple, as his blood began to pour, as his
bones began to break, and his skull was cracked,
and ultimately laid a heavy stone on his chest
to suffocate him to death, to be 100 % sure he
was dead. That's the process of stoning, by the
way. They throw stuff at you until it knocks
you down. And then when you're down on the ground,
they lay a 40 -pound boulder on your chest so
you can't breathe until you die for sure, in
case you weren't already dead. That's the process.
And while all that's going on, Stephen's going,
God can work it together for my good while all
this is happening. I love the Lord. I'm called
according to his purpose. So one way or another,
this is going to work out for my good. That's
what was going on. Or maybe the apostle. To be
Saul, who was standing by holding the cloaks
of the men who were stoning and being affected
by the stoning of Stephen. And he was praying,
forgive them for they know not what they do and
dying and transitioning straight into heaven.
As that was going on, Saul's life was being changed
by the good that God was going to bring out of
the stoning of Stephen. What if there's a thousand
more or virtually an infinite number of more
times that the bad stuff that's in your life
turns out for the good? Often, I'm sure, of you,
and ultimately we have salvation, so we're in
heaven, and so that ultimately is good. But the
bad stuff is really there to bring about good
in other people's lives, or good overall. I'll
give you an illustration. A disgruntled schoolmaster
handed in her resignation with the following
comment. In our schools today, the teachers are
afraid of the principals, the principals are
afraid of the superintendents, the superintendents
are afraid of the board members, the board members
are afraid of the parents, the parents are afraid
of the children, and the children are afraid
of nobody. Therefore, I resign. See, when you
get things out of order, suddenly, chaos is the
result. But it's not really chaos. It's meant
to look like chaos so everyone will think, well,
it's all over the place and it's all... I can't
do anything about it. And they'll throw their
hands up and there's nothing I can do. Well,
guess what? There is something you can do. There
is something that I can do. And it is the same
process by which the angels handled this situation.
First of all, you can recognize that as a follower,
assuming you are a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and if you're not, you need to become
one because therein lies salvation, therein lies
peace for eternity, therein lies eternity with
God, therein lies forgiveness for your sins.
Assuming you have received Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior, then you accept your reassignment.
You begin to react and respond to that reassignment
even before you see the results. You might have
to go through a very difficult time yet here
on earth. And when that time comes, you will
go through it. God has already promised you will
arrive on the other side of it. You will glorify
him in heaven for an eternity. And the bad that
you face here may not even be for you. It may
be for others around you who have yet to receive
salvation. Do you not understand, Christian,
that you've already been given the keys to the
kingdom, already given the promise that you shall
not be overcome by the gates of hell? You cannot
be held back. You cannot be brought down. Receive
the promises of God and begin to proclaim them.
That is your reassignment. And in so doing, realize
that when you face difficulty, yes, ask yourself,
what should I learn from this? God, what are
you trying to do through this? And it says it
will give you patience. It says it will give
you strength. You'll persevere, etc., etc., etc.
But you already have the keys to the kingdom
and eternity settled and the Holy Spirit presence
of God in you. What's your problem? Really, what
is it? Oh, I lost a loved one. You have the Holy
Spirit presence of God and you've been given
the keys to the kingdom and will not be overcome
by the gates of hell and will spend eternity
with God. What's your problem? I lost a job.
I love that job. It makes me feel like I died.
You have the Holy Spirit presence and you've
been given the keys to the kingdom and you'll
spend eternity in heaven with God. What's your
problem? I don't have enough money. You have
the Holy Spirit presence and you've been given
the keys to the kingdom and you'll spend eternity
with God. What's your problem? Let's assume for
a moment that you have a real, genuine problem
that you can't do anything about. You know what
those are? Ultimately, they kill you. They take
your physical life, or your mental health, or
both. And you end the journey on this life, at
which point in time you will have the physical
presence, in a spiritual sense, but the physical
presence of God, so you'll be with him for an
eternity, praising him for an eternity, and the
keys of the kingdom that will be left down here
with the rest of us that are left behind to serve
in your absence. Same as they were with Jesus.
It takes no more than one link in a chain to
break in order for the chain to fail. It takes
nothing more than getting a thing out of its
proper place for all the things that depend on
it to be out of place, lost, or collapsing into
a worthless mess. Get your facts straight. When
God commands, we respond. We accept the commission.
Plus, we realize that God loves people, loves
us, and desires what is best. He can work it
out. Trust Him. Turn to Him. Don't do it your
way or any way driven by your desire for the
results. Unless that result is simply making
sure that God gets the glory. Souls are at stake.
It's time we stop worrying about what we're going
through and start living our lives about where
we're headed. Because right now, while we're
going through this as bad as it can get at times,
Souls are at stake. Somebody shared the gospel
with you. Somebody went beyond, you know, if
I listed all the difficulties I've faced or others,
there are people in this room who have been collectively,
we've been through so much. Novels, whole books.
dictionaries of suffering, encyclopedias of what
terrible things can happen in life. In this room
are those who were molested as a child, psychologically
abandoned, who faced life -threatening disease,
who died on the operating table. I'm quoting
actual stories of people that I know in this
room who lost a loved one that was the love of
their life. All in this room. We're not doing
that just to get by, just to earn a better day.
to hope for a better tomorrow. We're doing that
because souls are at stake. The next time you
feel like you've got nothing left, remember,
you've got God, you've got the keys to the kingdom
and eternity ahead with him. Get your butt up
and respond to the reassignment and wait for
the results. Because that's what...