You're the king, oh my god God the Son, the Son
of God, who came to earth, took on flesh as a
man, became 100 % human and 100 % God at the
same time, walked a sinless life, died a sinner's
death, buried in a sinner's tomb, but could not
be held back and rather rose again on the third
day. We're talking about that king, that one
who holds the key of David, who opens and no
one will shut and who shuts. He says, I know
your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an
open door which no one can shut. Because you
have a little power, and have followed my word,
and have not denied my name. Before I go any
further, let me say that that could be a description
for us, couldn't it? We have a little power.
The truth is, God has bestowed in us the ability
to do some things, to make a difference, to speak
into existence certain things and what's necessary
to destroy. To do certain things. Our righteous
acts, which were as filthy rags, have now become
Something that glorifies the God of heaven. And
you can choose to do the right thing where previously
you might have chosen to do the wrong thing.
Or nothing. Sometimes it's even worse. But our
allegiances are to the God of heaven. And because
of that, we are a people who might be described
as having a little power. We are a people who
might be described as having followed God's word.
You'll notice that the preaching that comes out
of this pulpit every Sunday is always based on
the Bible. It is always just what the Word of
God says. Now, someone might stand before churches,
perhaps the world over, and they might make sermons
like, here's point one, two, three, and it might
teach you how to be a better person. It might
teach you how to make better decisions, how to
be better scheduling, how to do politics better,
or medical better, or nutrition better, or whatever.
And throughout that 30 to 40 minute time, you
might never hear a script like that. but it might
make you a better person it might make you more
able to function in the world, but not draw you
closer to the Lord. We are a people of the word.
We are a people who preach God's words. When
you go to the Sunday school classes and the kids
are there, you'll notice that their lessons are
always based 100 % wholly upon God's word. And
so, we have to be described as a people who have
followed his word. Also, we follow his word in
that we know how we are going to be saved. We
know how we're going to lead this life and one
day arrive at heaven. It's not going to be accomplished
by the good... the things that you do. Can you
store up treasures for yourself in heaven? Sure
you can, that's what Jesus says is possible,
but it's not going to get you there. If there
was some way that you could store up treasures
for yourself in heaven without knowing the Lord
Jesus Christ, you'd be storing up treasures for
somebody else, because you can't get there except
through Jesus. And it is by Jesus, who is the
living word of God, who spoke the truth, his
gospel, the truth of Jesus. There it is the power
for all men to be saved, first the Jews and the
Gentiles. Thank you for that latter part, right?
We are Gentiles. We have followed the Word of
God, and have not denied His name. I hope you
can sit here today and say, I am a person who
has not denied the name of Jesus. Now, caution
here, because we can deny the name of Jesus a
little bit by our silence. We can deny the name
of Jesus when we're talking about things that
Jesus would not have us talking about, even though
we don't mention Jesus at all. We say we want
to do that, we want to do this, I think this
is about you, so and so said that about me, the
gossip, the slander, etc. Be careful, our speech,
our actions, deny the Lord, and that makes Him
ashamed of us. And Jesus said, if you deny Him
before men, I'll be denied, I'll be not denying
you before my Father who is in heaven. That's
what Jesus said. So we ought not, and I think
we are not, a people who have denied Jesus. If
you're here today and you have denied Jesus,
let me encourage you right now to accept Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior in earnest. And
do not go out amongst your friends. Do not go
out amongst your co -workers. Do not go out in
the streets. Don't go home. Don't go anywhere
without wearing Jesus like the supreme armor
that He is. Without Jesus in your without Jesus
in your actions, without Jesus in your choices.
Because we are a people who have not denied the
Word. And so this could have been written to
us, as it was written to the Church of Philadelphia,
as a people with a door before them, open, which
no one could shut, a people with a little power,
a people who followed His Word, and a people
who would not deny His name. Down in verse 12
then, he says, God, and the name of the city
of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down
out of heaven from my God, and my new name, the
one who has an ear, letting hear what the Spirit
says to the churches." Jesus understands, having
come and lived as a man, he understands that
day in and day out there are difficulties, day
in and day out there are temptations, day in
and day out there are pains. We have illnesses,
we have lack, we have struggles, people say things
to us that hurt, we make mistakes, people make
mistakes all around us, and sometimes mistake
is a very gentle word to say that we are butt
-headed and the people around us are butt -headed.
Jesus is very familiar with the experience of
living this life in the form of a man Because
of that he says we must overcome We've been given
the task to continue despite all those difficulties
and the truth is you could mean you could fill
books volumes of books people face before, during,
and after these lifetimes. And our task then
becomes to overcome. To stay the course, to be
a people of the word who have a little power,
notice that we have set before us a door that
is open that no one will shut. If you have a
door that is open that no one will shut, what
is left to be done? If the door is already open
and no one can shut it, what is left to be done?
And will there be people and things that can't
shut the door? If somebody wants you to not go
through this door... They can't shut it and lock
it to keep it from going through. All they can
do is bodily stand in the way. Block the door.
Gang up, attack you, try to sap your strength,
whatever to keep you from going through the door.
The door is open and it cannot be shut. And the
things of this world are going to try to keep
us from going through the door. The door, of
course, is Jesus, the way to heaven. And we're
going to go through the door and nothing is going
to stop us. And in that pursuit, Jesus gave us
this remembrance that we would take of the Lord's
Supper and never forget that the great payment
has been paid. That the door would be open and
that no one would die. Don't only take the Lord's
Supper to remember that the door is open and
no one can shut it, right? Because Jesus, he
suffered to open the door. He suffered to become
the way. He suffered to pay the price for sin.
And in paying the price for sins, there was great
suffering. And the truth is, if you will look
at it this way, you will understand it this way,
the church that lives today suffers also the
same as Jesus did. So that others may come. So
that others may know that the door is open. So
that others may experience salvation. And you
can't save anybody, and I can't save anybody.
We know who can, and the price is already paid.
So if you're here today and you've not accepted
Jesus Christ as Lord, that means he tells you
what to do when you do it, and a Savior that
means he paid the price for your sin, then do
that right now while I'm talking. There's no
special prayer. You can, if you think of one.
I could give you one, but it isn't a prayer.
It's just a rapid mission. Jesus has right people.
And having done so, then, we've practiced the
Lord's Supper to remember that our task is given
to overcome. Not to open the door. You can't.
It's done. It's open and staying open. That's
done. But to overcome anything, everything, all
things. Sometimes it feels like all things at
once, right? And we take the Lord's Supper to
never forget that the door is open and the real
sacrifice has already been done. You and I were
not holy. We were not right. We had sin. All
that sin falls short of the word of God. But
Jesus' righteousness is enough to get the job
done. And it will never fail. You will just embrace
it and overcome. To that end, today, we will
take the Lord sufferer to remember to sacrifice
it and be overcome. That is everything. I ask
that you get on board. Sherry and Holly, would
you help Sherry prepare the table? As we think
of your Lord's Supper today, the first thing
that we will take of is the unleavened bread,
which will represent the broken body of Jesus.
Sometimes our bodies are broken. Sometimes we're
still walking around when they're broken, right?
So I would ask you today to remember those that
you know of, some of whom are in this room. These
bodies are not what they would like them to be.
And then healing. And he's eight. I'm going to
ask you to remember them. Keep him there, and
when you ask him, bless him hungry. Lord, thank
you for this day. Thank you for, you know, the
gathering here and your worship together through
your spirit of moving and unto you. for us when
we meet this place today. Craig, you blessed
us with some bread we're about to take. Help
us to remember its purpose. Remember the sacrifice
that your son made for us. A body that grew up
around you. You'll distribute the bread. Yet,
we've received a piece of unleavened bread. We'll
all have one in a second. This bread will represent
for us until Jesus comes again. This broken body
was given for us. It is unleavened, not because
leaven represents sin, but because it is likely
that the bread that they used that first night.
On that night, Jesus was arrested and said, this
is my body, which is broken for you to take and
remember it so you can eat it. Even Tony, would
you ask the blessing upon the Jews? Father, the
Lord, thank you for this. Lord, it's kind of
where we can remember him now, because we really
took on him to see how unworthy we are to do
this. But Lord, you made it worthy. You made
us worthy. Sacrifice all you gave. This juice
represents the blood of Jesus that was spilled
for us consider have you ever been cut paper
cut in your knees right Jesus had not one cut
but hundreds or maybe thousands night before
you the rest of Jesus praying prayed so hard
he knew what he was going to face great so hard
But as he sweated, he started to sweat blood,
which is an actual thing that happens when they're
under great duress. The truth is, when I hear
that story, I realize I've never been under great
duress. Never like that. And so not only did
he bleed the night before when he was praying,
but then on the day of, they whipped him. And
he had not a hundred, but thousands, probably,
of cuts. And then they crucified him. They nailed
him to the cross. And so you can imagine, have
you ever got a sliver? He just didn't get a sliver.
He got a great big spike. His pain was so terrible
that in the English language, they created a
word for it. The word is cruciating. your toe
or when you're going through difficulty you think
well that's excruciating it really isn't the
word excruciating means pain of the cross so
the next time you're hurting remember that somebody
hurt for you in a way that we cannot hurt and
that payment was paid and we will see you you
will take care of on that night Jesus took up
the juice and this is my blood poured out for
you until I come again do this and remember this
occasion the juice is sweet so is the blood of
Jesus because we need his help day in and day
out we need his help to overcome the door is
open and we can go through we will go through
in time and we can send people through it with
the help of Jesus. We'll pray briefly and then
we're going to worship the God who arranged this
for us. Father in heaven, in your power, by your
word, knowing that the door is open, we choose
to overcome. It is not that we choose things
to overcome. We're not going to select from the
bad things of this world, pick them off one by
one and overcome them. We're not going to select
certain difficulties for ourselves and pick them
against ourselves who have victories and say,
hey, look at me, I overcame. No, we choose to
overcome. We choose to overcome. in your strength,
in your power, by your might, by your governance,
because you are you, and we are yours. We choose
to overcome. We choose to overcome not because
we would want to, not because our desires are
that we can be found strong, having had victories,
that we can get praise, that we get trophies,
or check marks, or A pluses. We choose to overcome
because you have said that that is the task we
are given. We submit our lives to you, and we
choose to overcome by your power, by your word,
by your governance. You be Lord and lead us through,
and we trust you with it. And all God's people
said, Amen. Thank you very much. Let us worship
the Lord. With songs of deliverance Whenever
I am afraid I will trust in you I will trust
in you Let the weak say I'm sorry Let's go! We
have been working, hold on, we have been working
through the book of Judges have seen God do amazing
things. Now this this book was written a long
time ago and the amazing things that God did
happened a long time ago and we also see a cycle
of sin that's already occurring. That is to say
God does amazing things and then God's people,
once God does the amazing things, God's people
sort of drift into idolatry. Now Gideon plays
a key role in that he has really won a of the
last really good, honorable judges. After this,
we see good people, don't get me wrong, but there's
always sort of a mix. They're always sort of
like, ah, I'm kinda for God, ah, I'm kinda not.
But Gideon, in the early part, yes he questioned
God, but once he was sure that it was God that
was calling him to do amazing things, everything
they did, even up to the point at which we read
a few weeks back, a couple weeks back, he said,
no, the Lord will rule over us. But then we saw...
His family head into decline in worshiping the
Ephod last week, and we talked briefly about
how we ourselves sometimes construct traps like
that. How he had, even though he had just said,
I'm gonna serve God only, God alone is gonna
be Lord, he had gone on to construct a sort of
a trap for him and his family. Because there
is this spiral or this sort of down into sin
that keeps happening after God does amazing things,
we are led to wonder. is part of the human state
of existence, part of who we are, a tendency
to spiral down into sin whenever God is not doing
something amazing. And I'm gonna show you today,
and it'll go by fairly quickly, and I sometimes
say that and it doesn't go by fairly quickly,
but I actually did practice a little bit so I'm
pretty sure it's gonna go by fairly quickly,
the number one thing, the number one problem
why people, after God does amazing things, why
people spiral down into sin. And you can already
sort of see it maybe in the title. But give me
a little hoot, a holler, amen, as we go to Judges
chapter 8 for the last time. Amen! Alright, praise
the Lord. Thank you for those of you who are
in that with me. We will today read the remainder
of Judges chapter 8. So beginning next week,
we will be into chapter 9. So this is Judges
chapter 8 beginning in verse 28. Now we read
28 last week as an understanding as to why they
might have persisted with the trap of the ephod.
Because they saw that things were still pretty
good, right? They still had peace. And so while
they were, quote unquote, worshipping the Ifad,
bowing down to it, threatening each other with
it, things like that, while they were doing all
of that... they still had peace. And so this
is what happens. When people make this trap for
themselves, they get stuck away from doing what
God would want them to do, stuck away from having
right relationship with God, even though they
maybe were saved, even it happens. And then they
go to heaven when they die and realize, oh, I
wasted all this time stuck in the trap. And the
reason was because things seem to be going okay.
So I submit to you, don't forget, as we read
this first verse, that just because things may
seem to be going okay, does not mean that you're
not A, trapped or B, suffering from the same
thing that we're about to look at. So B, discerning.
Pay attention. Examine your life. Listen to God
and what he has to say. Whether I get it right
or wrong or not, listen to the Lord, okay? Judges
chapter 8 beginning in verse 28 says, So Midian
was subdued before the sons of Israel and they
did not lift up their heads anymore and the land
was undisturbed for 40 years in the days of Gideon.
So here we have it. Things are going pretty much
okay. Now we already know they're worshiping
and messing around with the ephod and his whole
family is in a trap. This is what it says, verse
29. Then Jerubbal, Jerubbal. The son of Joe Ash
went and lived in his own house. So he left Joe
Ash's house. He moved out of his dad's compound.
So it was very, very common for families to have
essentially a compound, right? So grown sons
did not grow up and just go build a house somewhere.
First of all, building a house was a huge project,
extremely expensive, great deal of labor, and
even if you got all your brothers and all your
uncles and everybody to do that, right, it could
take a really long time and expose you to a lot
of hardship. And so a lot of times they might
build a, if they're gonna build a house, they
build it right next to dad's house or on the
complex, right? Or they just put on a wing, you
know, that kind of thing. It's just kind of like,
or put up more tents if they were living in tents,
that kind of thing. So Jerbal, the son of Joash,
went and lived in his own house. So now he's
sort of the head of his part of the family. He's
stepped out from underneath his dad. Now, before
I go any further, I want you to remember that
he was part of his dad's family when his whole
story began. And God gave him a job to do, which
was to attack, to stand up against idols in the
community, in their community. And he did that.
And then when the people came and challenged
him and said, bring him out, we're gonna kill
him, because he burnt the idols, right? He destroyed
our objects of worship. It was Joe Ash that said,
now hold up a second, if he did that, can Vaal
not defend himself? Can your false idol not stand
up for himself? Won't your false idol take care
of him then? He said no, but if he did this for
God, then you need to fear the Lord, right? And
they left Jeroboam Gideon alone. And that started
his journey. So Joash provided key protection
for him at a key moment in time in his life when
he was stepping out for God. And I submit to
you, if you're a parent in the room, or an older
sibling, or a mentor, or you care about a younger
person, you realize that is a big part of your
role. To provide key protection for them as they
step out. They cannot serve God the way serve
God. No two people can ever do it exactly alike,
right? They must be who God is making them to
be and serve God kind of in their way, the way
that God would have them, right? Now there's
certain things like should you worship, should
you give, should you serve, should you practice
spiritual gifts and spiritual disciplines? Those
things are commanded by Scripture. I'm not talking
about that. I'm talking about personality. Every
personality, every story written into the life
of every person is a little different and we
as adults have a responsibility to protect the
upcoming generation. But here, Jerobal has stepped
out. Now, I wonder sometimes whether he stepped
out because of the Ephod, right? Because he and
his offspring are getting into worship in the
Ephod. Maybe Joash wasn't really into that. We
don't really know. But the bottom line is he's
now running his own household. Verse 30 says,
Gideon had, listen to this, 70 sons. 70 sons
who were his direct descendants for he had many
wives. Another example of an amazing blessing
of God. coming out of some kind of bad decisions,
really, God did not even then ordain that man
would have more than one wife. That's never been
true in Scripture. And so all the times that
you've seen men do that, and they usually do
it coming out of great prominence. Having more
than one wife is expensive. Having enough wives
to have 70 sons and to raise 70 sons is hugely
expensive. But remember, he got really wealthy
after they gave him all that stuff, right? And
so he's a very wealthy man and now has 70 direct
descendants. And so those 70 direct descendants,
in a sense, are for him to lead them toward God
and he's not they're leading them toward the
ephod so things are not good in that way 31 says
and his concubine who was in Shechem also born
bore him a son and he named him Abimelech. Now
this character Abimelech will become hugely important
starting next week as we look at the next text
in chapter 9. He's going to be like the main
guy for a second, okay? So we're not going to
drill down heavily on him because we'll do that
next week. So Abimelech is born, verse 32, and
it says, and Gideon the son of Joash died at
a good old age and was buried in the tomb of
his father Joash in Ofra of the Abiezrites, okay?
So we know that he wasn't ostracized, he wasn't
kicked out of the house, so he wouldn't have
been allowed to be buried. in his father's tomb.
So he still had a good relationship with his
dad and he died at a good old age. That sounds
pretty good, right? He lived a long time and
they had 40 years of peace under his judgeship,
if you will. Now verse 33. Then it came about
as soon as Gideon was dead. Like that. Gideon's
out. Here it comes. It's like the light switch
is on. God's man no longer leading. Here we go.
That the sons of Israel again committed infidelity
with the Baals. That is to say They devoted themselves
to false gods that they had previously had. The
term Baal literally means Lord. And so what they
had was false lords, other gods. And they began
to worship them. They began to give to them.
They began to participate with them. They had
all kinds of rituals and things that they would
do. And the Baals had all different kinds of
names. And so we have Israel breaking down in
all these little regions and maybe even the same
town going seven different ways, worshiping these
false gods. And when did it start? immediately
on the deck. Gideon. It says that the sons of
Israel again committed infidelity with the Baals
and made Baal -Bareth their God. So Baal -Bareth
became the kind of primary one. Now I'm not saying
that they might have even thought the Baal -Bareth
was Yahweh. They might have confused that. Or
they had them alongside. Maybe they still worshiped
Yahweh. But the bottom line is they were worshiping
Baal -Bareth, which was wrong. Now 34. So the
sons of Israel, and this is key, did not remember
the Lord their God, who had saved them from the
hands of all their enemies on every side. So
we'll break that down more in a second. The bottom
line is as they're getting into worshiping this
false god, you could say this, what has this
false god ever done for them? And the answer
would be, nothing. He's never done anything.
Somebody might say he's done, they might have
stories that are going on, people are telling
tales, right? But he's never done anything because
he's not real, or at best, he's a demon, right?
That's the best possibility. So they're not worshiping
a non -living creature, they at least could be
worshiping a demon, right? But the bottom line
is, Baal Barath never did a good thing for them
ever, but God, the God of the universe, not only
created everything, set everything up, brought
them to the promised land, part of the Red Sea,
part of the Jordan, rain rocks down on their
enemies in the days of Joshua so they could win
battles and get them over with, it was taking
days to defeat tens of thousands, hundreds of
thousands of enemies and kick them out of the
promised land so they could claim it. God did
all of that, stood up in all of the earlier judges
and now in Gideon and they are essentially failing
to remember it all. And I'll break down with
that phrase right there, failing to remember
means in a second. Verse 35 then, last verse
of the chapter says, that he had done for Israel.
So, they basically begin, they're moving toward
dismissing the significance of Gideon's household,
even though he was blessed of God, led of God,
served God, saved them by God's power, told them
that only God would reign over them, all of that,
he did all that for them. Now, all of a sudden,
they're essentially dismissing him. Now, it's
hard to dismiss a man who has 70 sons. So, his
70 sons were surely applying some of their influence.
We'll see that in the next chapter, okay? So,
that's our text for today. So let's first talk
about unforgotten type things. Have you ever
gone to leave the house and you don't know exactly
where your keys are? Where did I put my keys?
Right? So we deal with those kinds of things
by always putting our keys in a certain coat
pocket, always putting them on the hook or on
a tray or somewhere we know where they're at.
And those who do not or cannot discipline themselves
to always put it somewhere where they know they're
at may go a substantial length of time and not
not know where their keys are. And then suddenly,
they don't know where their keys are, and they
wind up searching them at a time that's inconvenient,
and so on. Have you ever left the house and didn't
take your lunch? Or your homework? Those are
forgotten things. They're things that you were
planning on doing, you had them in mind, and
then, you know, there was just too many variables
to manage right then at that second, you know?
Or you close up, I used to do this at pizza night,
count the deposit, put it in the bag, and then
forget to put the deposit slip in, and now I've
closed up the bag, right? And I'm thinking to
myself, can I disturb the bag in the least smallest
amount to possibly get that deposit? slip in
there and how many times I do a deposit several
times a week for years and yet occasionally even
though I had the process down I knew it like
the back of my hand occasionally I would forget
to put the deposit slip in those are forgotten
things the things that get kind of lost in the
wash right it's going on and you suddenly go,
oh wait, I was gonna do that. I've had that happen
where I had a very important thing that I was
planning on doing today and it was the most important
thing. It was scheduled at two o 'clock and I
was gonna do it and I brought everything with
me that I needed for it. I had all the plans
set at two o 'clock and then all of a sudden
it's two o 'clock and I'm not where I'm supposed
to be. I'm 10 minutes away. I'm going like, oh
crud, it's two o 'clock. I'm supposed to be there
right now. I was excited about this. This was
the best thing that was gonna happen to me today.
I was all prepared for it. Those are forgotten
things. We know what forgotten things are. Let
me tell you that when it says that they did not
remember God and what God had done, that is not
what it's talking about. So when you get real
busy and you forget God in your calculations,
that's not what it's talking about. There is
no excuse for that because what it's actually
talking about is not bringing it to mind, is
intentionally letting it go. Forgetting is not...
misplacing a thought in this context, it's displacing
a priority. If you went to the doctor next week
and you were prescribed a medicine and they told
you that if you ever miss the medicine for three
days in a row, you will die. You're now committed
to that medicine for the rest of your life. If
you ever miss it for three days in a row, you
will die. You might miss it for two, but come
the third day, it's going to become a pretty
high priority. And remembering God is like that,
and that's what it was for them. It was God who
had done all of the incredible things that God
had done, no one else. Gideon did not defeat
the army of tens of thousands of Midianites with
300 men by some great tactic or in his own might.
God was sure to whittle down the size of the
army to a size that there was no possible way
that anybody could question that it was anybody
but God. And so now this is a people that had
begun to willfully bring to mind not the blessings,
not the things that God has done. They are displacing
a priority, not misplacing a thought. The results
of forgetting are if you forget something, you
can't do whatever it was. If you're supposed
to be somewhere two o 'clock and you forget to
be there, well, you can't do whatever that was.
You're just not there. It doesn't happen. If
you leave your car keys on the back of a shelf
somewhere and you search the house and you can't
find them, you're going to either have to hotwire
your car or find another way. Because you have
lost your keys. They're not just forgotten. They're
lost. You forgot that you put them there. They
didn't get there by themselves. They didn't grow
legs and sneak to the back of the shelf on their
own. You put them there. You forgot that you
put them there. That is misplacing a thought.
But no one here goes, oh, I'm going to go home
and intentionally lose my car keys. That is displacing
a priority. If I lose my car keys tonight, I
won't have to go to work tomorrow. That isn't
even true, by the way. But sometimes we lie to
ourselves and say things like that. We might
even tell somebody, well, I'm sorry I'm late,
I lost my car keys when that isn't even true.
Because we displaced the priority of being there,
doing what we're supposed to be doing, and on
time. This is not about misplacing a thought.
The Israelites didn't do that. What they did
was they displaced a priority. When you forget,
you misplace a thought. When you intentionally
do not recall something to mind, you displace
a priority. When you forget God, you're making
an active choice not to go back for God because
you don't recognize that you need God. I submit
to you that those who do not recognize that they
need God are standing under the wrath of God.
Ephesians 2 says, we were by nature objects of
wrath, and we are meant to be no longer. But
if you can be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you can be a supposed Christian and forget
that you need God, you have a problem. And that
problem is going to snowball out of control until
either A, you find out you're not actually Christian
and roll tumbling into hell for eternity, or
until you repent and turn back to the Lord and
put your priority where it belongs. Let me say
this plainly. Do not forget what God has done.
When it all comes flooding back in, people who
have left God out will realize that they have
nothing that matters for eternity. The worst
of it is that people are sometimes swept up.
Whole families and communities are sometimes
swept up. And they manage to live that way and
can spend their whole lives and not realize who
they have been leaving out until it is too late.
And they will cry out, Lord, Lord, but we healed
in your name. We prophesied. And he will say,
get away from me, I never knew you. I didn't
make that up. Those are the words of Jesus in
Matthew 7. And we come already then to our conclusion.
It's a good one. It's a doozy. It is two -fold.
First of all, it is how. How do you not forget?
How do you not displace the priority of remembering
the blessings of God, the things that God has
done? It begins like this. Practice active remembrance.
Practice active remembrance. That is to say,
do things that will intentionally call to mind
the blessings that God has already made obvious.
This is part of that. We're reading about the
blessings here. There's a big old book about
it. Read your Bible and take it, study it, memorize
it, meditate on it. You can get those kinds of
blessings. But the truth is, if you're here today
as a saved Christian, if you've experienced God
personally, if you've had the Holy Spirit come
and take up residence when He did that, You experienced
a blessing. A blessing that you are not worthy
of. It's not. a just blessing, not until you
realize that Jesus paid for it with his very
own life. He took the penalty. The penalty's
been taken. It's just in that sense. But as far
as what I did, it wasn't just that I should receive
salvation. It was grace. Did I desperately need
it? Absolutely. But it was grace. It was giving
to me that which I did not deserve. And so if
you experienced salvation, then you must practice
active remembrance of your salvation. If you
have experienced a financial blessing, money
showed up. You practice active remembrance of
the money that showed up. If you experienced
a blessing, blessing of healing or sometimes
the blessings that we like to overlook, which
is like perseverance, overcoming, being attacked,
healing from a great psychological or emotional
hurt, still going after the going could have
been drained completely out of you. Those kinds
of blessings. Practice active remembrance for
every kind of blessing. So the Bible says that
we're to use an Ebenezer. You know what an Ebenezer
is? An Ebenezer is a tangible reminder of what
God has done. The term comes from 1 Samuel 7
-12 and there, in 1 Samuel 7 -12, How do you
set up an Ebenezer for the thing that God has
done in your life? Well, the command is so important
that you not forget what God has done, that the
more important it is for you to remember, the
more you must pitch yourself to do it. Correct?
So in other words, What will you stop at to make
sure that the thing that God did is not forgotten?
What will you stop at to make sure that it is
called to mind whenever you might be tempted
to do something you shouldn't do, whenever you
might fall away, whenever you might relax in
your diligence at serving and pursuing the Lord,
whenever you might stop practicing spiritual
gifts, whenever you might stop practicing spiritual
disciplines, whenever you might stop being faithful
to what God has called you to, there needs to
be something there. So when I need to get up
at a certain time these days, it's been a couple
years now, I just tell myself when I'm laying
down to go to bed, I gotta get up at seven, gotta
get up at seven, gotta get up at seven. And I
usually wake up at about five to five, not an
alarm. But when I have an 8 a .m. appointment
and I can't miss it, I set an alarm. Even though
I don't really need an alarm to get up. Because
I don't know, I might get sick in the middle
of the night or I might be extra tired or I might
get sore in the middle of the night or something.
So I might not make aid if I don't set an alarm.
So I set an alarm. It's a very simple thing to
do really. So I'm saying to you that you could
set an alarm. You could set an alarm on your
phone for a certain time every day where you
have a spare time and at that moment in time
be reminded to meditate, to think deeply, ask
yourself questions about one certain blessing
of God or a sect or a list. You could get a journal,
set a clock. 8 p .m. every night. I'm usually
home by that. Every night it goes off and I whip
open my journal and I read the blessings of God
that I have written there. And every time a new
one occurs, I write it there. It's not even that
hard. It's not that difficult. When you're gonna
have a test, you study. So, okay, I wanna do
a good job on the test. It's a topic I really
know. I'm pretty good. I'm getting a great grade
in the class, but I really need a good grade
on this test. So what do I do? I study. So you
could study. You could make a point of studying
the blessings. But you shouldn't just study the
blessings. These are the blessings that we have
received. But you shouldn't just study these
blessings, the blessings in your life, your salvation,
your experience, your parents if they were a
blessing, your money if it was a blessing, your
health if it was a blessing, your difficulty
when it was a blessing, etc. etc. etc. So you
go through the blessings and study them. If you
don't want to forget them, you study them. Or...
Tell a friend and ask your friend to always remind
you every time it looks like, by the way, this
is one of the principles of AA that people use,
right? You have a sponsor. You tell your sponsor,
whenever I look like I'm drifting, tell me these
things. Talk to me about this. This is what will
help me. And you use it when they need it and
they use it when you need it. And you work together
to be brought to remembrance, right? You get
a chip 30 days sober. The chip is an Ebenezer.
Now, people don't use it that way a lot of times,
right? It's just like a trinket. Maybe it's proof
that you're doing well and people listen to you
more because, oh, he's sober for 30 days, things
like that. But it's an Ebenezer meant to not
forget. In faith force, they put stickers for
verses on the wall. It's an Ebenezer, right?
To remember that they memorized the verses. It's
a great thing to be allowed to come to church.
A great thing to be allowed to study the Bible.
It's a great thing to memorize verses. And it's
a great thing to not forget that you have done
so. The list goes on. The bottom line is you
can set up an Ebenezer. You can set up a step.
There was, I read a story about a man. He was
in his early 20s and was struggling for money.
Family, money was really tight. They were just
getting by. The hot water tank went out, blew
all over the floor. Some of us have been there,
right? Water and silt everywhere. They cleaned
it all up. They didn't pay to clean it up. They
cleaned it all up. They have no hot water. The
water tank's junk. They're not gonna have any
hot water. You really can't fix it at that point.
The lining is bad. The bottom's rusted. It's
junk. Right? And he and his wife were sitting
late at the table. The kids are in bed begging
God. They're begging God, saying, Lord, we don't
know what to do. What are we going to do? You
know, we can't live anywhere else. We've got
no hot water. $450 shows up miraculously. And
that's awesome that you can pray and ask God
for help and have something like that happen.
And so they got a new hot water tank. And then
as soon as the hot water tank was really was
before, as soon as the money was there, he went
and searched through the house and found a permanent
marker, a permanent marker. And he wrote on the
door jam of the kitchen, the date he wrote. And
he wrote, God sent $450 for a hot water heater
when we had no idea where it was going to come
from. And he wrote it there with a permanent
marker. Fast forward 15 years. The kids are in
their teenage years, finding their own way, hopefully
to God, through God, by God, and professing Christians.
All of a sudden, he's in a situation at work
where he's probably going to lose his job. And
he comes home and he's really stressed. It's
really been bad. It looks like the company is
going to close. He's probably not going to have
a job. And he's worked there for 20 years. What's
he going to do? And he walks in and his wife
snaps at him about he forgot. take the garbage
out and everything that is needed for an earthquake
and a tornado in that house right there it is
all right there sitting at the kitchen table
he looks up and there it is written on the wall
it says when the hot water tank goes out God
is faithful to appear and he realizes that if
they close the company and the job goes away
they don't matter all that much because there's
another job there's another way. And God will
demonstrate what that way is. And the one thing
that he could do, the one thing that he could
do to possibly blow that up, to make it unlikely
that God will intervene and do the right thing
is to not bring to mind what God has done before.
He looks up and there it is written in permanent.
It's pretty faded, 15 years, but it's there written
in permanent marker on the wall. And he says,
no, we're going to trust God. And he gets up
and he goes in the kitchen and gives his wife
a hug and a kiss. And he apologizes, forget and
take the garbage out because he did forget to
take the garbage out. takes it out with joy in
his heart. What did that? Just like we talked
about at the Lord's Supper, the door is open.
You've already seen and received blessings. Take
steps. Go the extra mile. Do everything you have
to to be sure that you never fail. I'm not talking
about forget. I'm talking about failing. You
never fail to bring to mind the blessings that
God has delivered. The context the Israelites
had just repented and seen God miraculously defeat
the Philistines. Samuel knew that human memory
is short and hearts are prone to want... He didn't
just say thank you. He hauled a massive rock
to the middle of the field so that I imagine
he had a whole bunch of guys and it took him
days, right? So that every time someone walked
by that rock They were forced to remember God's
intervention. This is where I have been shamed
over the years, because I thought to myself,
I really should be a better journaler, right?
I really should keep records. God has done amazing
things in life. Our church, our family, my family,
my kids, many of your families, amazing miracles.
And I can't go, you remember when God did that?
You remember when God did that? Oh, I can do
that, right? That's very recent. But I can, yeah,
remember when God did that? Well, we're working
on it, right? But I can't get them all. I can't
do them all because I didn't journal them all.
But here's what I can do. Here's what's cool.
You don't have to know the date. You don't have
to know the time. You just have to know that
God did the miracle. You just know that God did
send the blessing. Sometimes it doesn't even
seem miraculous, but God sent the blessing. And
to be sure, I would say to you, don't get wrapped
up in anything else that you're doing until you've
created an action plan by which whenever you
realize there is a blessing, you will set up
an Ebenezer and never forget to call to mind
what God has done. Do you want God to do incredible?
things in your life? Well, sure you do. Do you
want great blessings? Well, sure you do. Sometimes
the blessing is the purpose, the power, the provision
to go forward. God is good and he'll send it,
but he meant he means for you to not forget it,
but more than that, he means for you to take
steps to always call it to mind. Also, we're
given the mandate to teach the next generation.
The Israelites forgot. because the faith wasn't
passed down effectively. Are you hearing me?
Is everyone listening? Tommy, are you with me?
I know you are. Ricky, are you with me? The Israelites
wound up in trouble. His seventy sons were worshipping
the Ephod and the false god because their dad
did not make sure that they received the first
-hand knowledge of what God has done. If you
have had God work in your heart to the point
of your salvation, how could you ever not make
every single day? about making sure that your
kids know that God did that miracle. If you have
been given or received the blessing of your house,
your wife, your family, your job, your finances,
your spiritual gifts, your spiritual discipline
of reading the Bible, knowing what it is, this
church, being here, the worship when you sing
and you feel the Holy Spirit moving you and then
the others in the room, if you have received
that, how could you not make your relationship
with your sons, with your daughters always about
being sure that they know? Now, you can't save
them. You can't make them make a decision. You
can't make them behave, let alone make them make
a decision. You can teach them how. You can encourage
them. You can discipline them. Sometimes you
can even trick them. But you darn well better
make sure that you're displaying the truth of
the blessings of God so that they can see it.
Your life, your house, your job, everywhere you
go should be like a museum where people cannot...
come in without seeing the trappings of the Lord
God. And that's not just for them. It's also
for you. Because as you are constantly teaching
them the blessings that God has done, you will
be constantly, wait for it, calling to mind the
blessing that God has done. And it will become
normal for you to think about what God has done,
rather than to think about... the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, which are still part of who we are until
we go to be with Him. I know you want more. Literally,
everyone does. And we want more in response,
hopefully, to what the Lord has sent. We want
more under God. God's way. We're not trying to
steal it. We're not trying to lie to get it.
We're not trying to be tricky or manipulative
or hiding things. And if you are, repent now
because you're crossing God and it ain't going
to be pretty in the long run. So we do it God's
way. But the truth is, we want more. The question
is, are you going to be more a person who wants
more, or more a person who recognizes the blessings
that they have received from God? And if you
are constantly, consistently concerned about
teaching the next generation what God has done
for yourself, you're more likely to stand firm.
For them... they're more likely to be saved.
You need to understand, we need to understand
that it's not our kids or the teenagers that
are sitting in the pew here, or I guess we have
chairs, in the chairs here today, right, that
are at stake. It's our grandchildren and our
great grandchildren and our great great grandchildren
who we may never see. You understand? If you
don't pass the gospel clearly, if you don't pass
the miracles and blessings of God clearly down
to the next generation, who will pass it to your
great great grandchildren? And there's one thing
that I've learned about grandchildren is it's
super easy to love them even when they're stupid.
hurtful, whatever, it's super easy to go, man,
they're awesome. And you can really realistically
feel the same way about your great -great grandchildren
and you know they need to hear about God. You
may or may not feel that way about your neighbor
all the time or the people you work with or bump
into on the street, but you should be able to
feel that way about your great -great grandchildren
and they are at stake. It's required that we
are active in passing down effectively. We must
speak of God's work even when life is easy, going
okay. We have to say, well, we don't really seem
to need a miracle from God today. But let me
tell you about all the ones we've already received.
Let me tell you about all the blessings that
happened when I was a kid, when I was a teenager,
when I was a young adult, when I was in my 40s
and your brother or sister were teenagers, when
I worked at my old job. Let me tell you about
what God has done. And when you teach it, you
will embrace it. and you will fail to displace,
which is what you don't want to do. The Bible
says this, and these words that I command you
today shall be on your heart. You shall teach
them diligently to your children, shall talk
of them when you sit in your house, and when
you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and
when you rise. The key here is that faith is
not a Sunday -only subject. Some people struggle
to be in worship on Sunday. That's a fact. I
submit to you that those who struggle to be in
worship on Sunday either A, have major barriers
that God has not provided a way yet for them
to overcome, or B, have their priorities. out
of whack. Because the truth is, there are ways.
You get everywhere else you gotta be. You get
to your doctor's appointments. You get to the
grocery store. There are ways, right? And so
the question is, is your faith a 24 -7 experience?
Or is it super good while we're all singing and
listening to our awesome praise band play and
maybe kind of lame on Thursday nights at 7? This
faith is meant to be a lifestyle integrated into
the mundane rhythms of living. You should always
pray before you eat! Because the next meal may
not be coming unless you did that. In fact, you
should probably be praying over every bite. There's
an Ebenezer for you. Decide right now, I won't
take another bite of food ever in my life without
remembering something good that God has done
for me. And every time you take a bite. Thank
God is so good. God saved my soul. God told me
about Jesus. God parted the Red Sea. God parted
the Jordan. You don't need food as much as you
need God. You don't. Because someday all the
heavenly food will be available without limit.
Taste them better than anything you ever tasted.
Best southern barbecue is one one thousandth
as good as what you'll get in heaven. Maybe you
should remember God in the mundane rhythms. Eating
and walking and sleep. That's what we are called
to. We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation the glorious
deeds of the Lord and His might. sit down at
home or wherever you are, if you're on the job
and you can get somebody to listen to you or
at school, get somebody to listen to you, sit
down wherever you are and recount the glorious
deeds of the Lord to anyone who will listen,
moms and dads especially, but anyone who will
listen. Psalm 78 says, and the wonders that He
has done so that the next generation might know
them, the children yet unborn, and arise and
tell them to their children. You see? We are
creating a people, we are a people creating a
people who will deliver the message. And the
problem is, as a people who are creating a people
who will deliver the message, I'm afraid we're
kind of failing to deliver the message. Because
we have displaced the priority. Not because we've
forgotten, because I don't think you forgot.
I think you just got other priorities. And that's
what they did. And it's how they forgot the blessings
of the Lord. And it's how they wound up worshipping
a false god. The highlights, the four generation
vision. That's the whole point. We're not just
teaching our kids. How many times do you have
to tell a kid a story that's, say, two paragraphs
long in order for them to be able to tell it
back and not get it wrong? We went to the store.
We bought these five items. We got there around
noon. We got done by 12, 20. We took your mother's
car, or we took your friend's car, whatever.
It's gray. We went to Myers. Seven to 10 facts.
Wait until the next day, ask them to tell the
story back to you. I went to the store in mom's
car and bought a few things. No, I want you to
know more than that. once you give me the details.
How many times do you have to tell a story in
order for them to get the details right? Tell
the stories. Tell them over and over again. One
of the things we noticed when we started planting
this church, the kids come to Sunday School,
you know what they knew? They didn't know Moses.
They didn't know Noah. They don't know the people
of the Bible. Many of them didn't know the name
of Adam and Eve. And so they do a lot of that
and say, well, you'll tell the story of Adam
and Eve. Like every year in Sunday School, yeah.
If we could tell it every week, we would. But
there are other stories. You need to tell the
stories so people can relay the stories. marathon
race. One runner runs 26 miles and a four by
four race, one runner runs 400 yards, passes
the baton to the next runner 400 yards, passes
the baton to the next runner, that's 400 yards
around the track, right? So this is what I think's
happening, we're racing around the track, we're
coming to the baton handoff, we're gonna tell
everybody we possibly can about the things of
God, and then the handoff's not going well. The
baton's on the ground, I pick it up, but I had
it to start with, so I pick it up, now I've got
the baton, now I'm now in front of the person
I'm supposed to be handing the baton off, so
I'm like, come on, come on, come on, come on,
you gotta go, and they're running up and they
can't quite, Forget it! I'll run the next 400
myself. So now I'm running 800 of the 400 and
then I get to the end of the race and the judge
says that is not how the races run. Your team
is disqualified. This is the place in which we
live. It is our responsibility having received
the blessings of God to not only never forget
to call them to mind, hence the Ebenezer, but
also to tell the story so that others can take
the baton and tell it. You should tell your kids
so they can tell the kids they know. You should
tell your co -workers so they can tell other
people at home and so on. And Paul and Silas
were in the jail, singing in the middle of the
night, and the jailer come rushing in after the
earthquake and it was dark and he was gonna kill
himself. They said, don't kill yourself, we're
all still here. And he said, what must I do to
be saved? And they said back to him, repent and
be baptized and, who knows the next part, repent
and be baptized and you will be saved. And? You
and your whole household. I hate to say it but
it sounds very much like to me the scripture
is saying if you are a follower Lord Jesus Christ
and you will not deliver the truth of the blessings
of God to the next generation to the next generation
of Christians to anyone that you can get to listen
and maybe you're not really following Jesus because
he said to a guy who hadn't yet been saved repent
and be baptized and you will be saved you and
your whole household now you cannot make them
get saved but you can sure deliver the truth
and ask the question I said it was a two -part
conclusion this is the other one it shorts this
there is a reason why there is an underlying
reason why because if you don't recount the blessings
if you don't think about what you could not do
that God did if you don't set up the Ebeneezers
so that they're constantly reminding you about
what God did that you could not do if you don't
tell the next generation so that people start
to tell it back to you people start to model
it If you don't do that, then it's just possible
that you could actually be the God of your life.
If you can intentionally displace the priority
of telling people the stories, setting up the
Ebeneezers, and never forgetting the things that
God did that only God can do, if you can intentionally
displace that priority, then you can yourself
instead say, I did it. I am. The people around
me won't listen to me about Jesus anyway, so
I'm saved because I follow God, I professed,
and I prayed. But when it's not I saved, I professed,
and I prayed, it's God's... saved me by grace
when I did not deserve it, then you will get
out of bed in the morning and say, I'm gonna
set up the Ebenezers. I'm gonna tell everybody
who will listen, I'm gonna remember that God
did for me what I could not do for myself, not
just a $450 hot water heater, but salvation.
I submit to you that the Roman centurion who
watched Jesus suffer the way he suffered on the
cross looked up and said, this man was the son
of God. Now he wasn't saying he was saved, he
was professing Christ, he didn't even know what
he was looking at or what he was experiencing,
but that experience that he went through of knowing,
seeing Jesus die on the cross, a different way
than anyone he had ever seen die on the cross
had told him that Jesus was the son of God. And
if you have encountered my Jesus, if you encountered
the Jesus, if you encountered the God of heaven
in Jesus as Jesus, then you're never gonna get
confused about who's in control of your life.
And the next time you start to do something that
you shouldn't do, you just remember, if you call
to mind, I'm about to do this, I'm pretty sure
God wouldn't want me to do this. It may be sin,
it may not be sin, but I think I'm gonna do it
regardless. Not really worried about what God
wants here right this moment, I'm gonna do it.
And there comes that Ebenezer, something on the
wall, something you read, something you locked
in place. You won't forget. And you say, ah,
but if I do this, and I forget, and I intentionally
choose not to do what God is calling me to do
here in this moment, won't I be at least spitting
on all the things that God already did? Won't
I be at least telling God that the next time
my hot water tank goes out, I don't actually
need the free form? Won't I at least be telling
God the next time my car breaks, I don't actually
need a miraculous intervention? Won't I at least
be telling God that the next time somebody's
bad - me, talking about me, slandering me, hurting
me, whatever, that I don't actually need his
power to be sustained. And then if you just think
for a moment in that second, here's me without
God, here's me with God, you'll always choose,
here's me with God. So I want you to go and set
up your Ebenezers. Things that will remind you
of the blessings of the Lord. I want you to go
and share the truth of what God has done that
you are aware of. We proclaim what we have seen
and heard. Tell everyone that you possibly can
about the blessings of the Lord. And if they
say, well I don't really believe in God and you
say I don't care I mean I want you to but I'm
not upset I don't I don't hate you I'm not against
you believe don't believe whatever in fact here's
the amazing thing Jesus died on the cross so
that you can choose to believe or not In fact,
if he hadn't died at the cross, you wouldn't
have the choice of believing. So he gave you
the choice. He died so you can have the choice.
Now you have the choice. You choose not to. It's
okay. He died so you can have the choice. I'm
cool with that. But I'm going to tell you, nonetheless,
the things that God has done. That's as much
for me as it is for you. So if you really don't
want to hear it, right? So this is the thing.
We should never really have to cut anybody out
of our lives that's a kind of acidic experience.
Bad for us. Because if they don't want to hear
about the things of God... They'll just walk
away from you. They might take a swing at you,
right? They might take a swing at you to get
you to shut up. But the next time somebody comes
after you, tell them about the things of God.
You're being bad. You're being stupid. You're
doing the wrong thing. F this. F that. Take the
Lord's name in vain. I'm going to get them to
stop no matter what it takes. No. Just tell them
about the good things of God. Tell them about
what God has done. In the meantime, set some
Ebeneezers up for yourself so you're always calling
it to mind and tell everyone you possibly can.
And realize that sometimes the things that we
have to endure, we endure only because... He's
there and He makes it possible. And if you've
ever made it past a point in your life, I say
this is the thing, when I was at the altar to
accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, this
was the thing I knew for sure. I could not go
on, not for one minute more without God. I couldn't
do it. And if you have reached the point where
you cannot go on for one minute more without
God, then you don't fail to bring Him to mind.
Or otherwise... You will, family will, everybody
in your circle, everybody in your course that
you could possibly affect will fail to bring
God to mind. Or they'll get saved another way
and they'll start bringing Him to mind to you.
You might have somebody like that in your life
that brings Him to mind and you should. Ariana
does it and I love it. Some of my kids do it
and I love it. Some of you do it and I love it.
But we all ought to do it. It's this time I ask
the praise team to come forward and lead us in
our final hymn. If you're here today and you
realize that you have failed to bring to mind
the great blessings of the Lord. Whether you
did it because you wanted to escape God's position
in your life. Or you did it for some other reason.
Laziness. Whatever. No guilt. You don't get to
play that game. You decide today that God is
the one who gave the glory for the great thing
that happened. This I know. When she comes again,
there will be those who give God the glory for
the great thing that happened. And they will
have seen those who so let their light shine.
That's the reason. I say let so let our light
shine by saying nothing ever needs our telling
stories. Never fail in bringing the truth. Stand
with me and sing this song and we'll give God
the glory. If it's touching your heart today
and you have some kind of a decision you need
to make, you go ahead and make that decision.
Come on, we're laying it all down again. I need
love No one else will do