We've all been hurt. We all carry scars. We can all overcome these things and be
healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Let's build that relationship
together right here. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Hey everybody
welcome back to the sanctuary and this week we're going to do something a
little bit different. What I actually have for you this week, this is a
sermon that I wrote many many years ago when I was still preaching to youth.
You'll find it's quite a bit rougher than my normal sermons or even the
Bible studies that we do here on the podcast. It's a little bit of a treat.
You know for me if not for you, you can see a bit kind of how things have
changed over the years. But anyhow, without much you know any other
ado here, let's dive into it. So I need to lay lay down some background here for
you. So there's a couple of kids that were up to no good. Well let's
let's be honest. I'm gonna take that out. It was me and it was a buddy of mine. I'm
not gonna mention his name to protect him, his identity. But you know needless
to say we were a couple of very young and very stupid kids. I was
staying the night over at his house. It's the middle of the night. We're out in the
country. For those of you who don't know, I grew up in a very small town and out
in the country. So it's you know needless to say we're out in the sticks. The only
thing that's out there to light the sky are the moon and the stars. So it's very
dark. Now this friend of mine and I, we got it into our heads that for whatever
reason, since we had the house to ourselves, his dad was out working, his
mom had passed away years prior. So it's just us idiots with the lay of
the land to ourselves. And we got it in our heads would be a great idea to
throw a football back and forth to each other. Basically playing a game of catch,
throwing the ball over the house. That's right, over the house. Alright a couple
of rocket scientists here right. So to make matters worse, we're way outside the
city limits in the sticks. His dad owned quite a huge spread. Their
neighbor owned quite a huge spread. And for whatever reason, they both decided to
build their houses real close to each other, real close to the property line. So
it's the middle of the night, like I said, we're throwing this ball back and
forth. I throw this thing for all I'm worth and I hear a crash in
the background. I'm thinking to myself, okay I did it. I'm not thinking of the
neighbor's house. I'm thinking I just chucked this ball and hit their
greenhouse. So I go strolling around the house and here's my buddy and he's
laying on the ground and he's motioning for me to get down. I'm like, come on dude,
get up. What damage did I do to the greenhouse? And I'm looking at it and I
realize I did not hit the greenhouse. And I see the light turn on in the
neighbor's kitchen. I got down very quickly. After hearing a few choice
expletives being yelled out as the neighbor walked in and found this ball
laying in his kitchen at a shattered window, my buddy and I, again a couple of
absolute geniuses, decide we're gonna run into his house. Now in the excitement of
things, I'm not paying attention. I'm sure my mom remembers at least part of this
story because I ran smack dab into this clear sliding storm door and busted my
nose. Did a great number. So smart and I'd had so many broken noses in the past. I
thought it'd be a great job to reset it myself. Hence the brilliant bridge I
have going over the top of it now. So a little bit of trouble. Needless to say,
this friend and I, we got into quite a bit of trouble. And you see, it's because we
didn't worry about the consequences. We weren't concerned about honoring our
parents and we weren't concerned about honoring God. Our commitment was in the
wrong place. And again, we got in a lot of trouble because of it. Alright, so I
have a few points here. My first one, commitment. You're either all in or
you're all out. Plain and simple. You know, Bible even tells us it's be better
to be, to either be hot or cold than to be lukewarm. Alright, so that what that
said, turn with me to first Psalms 37 verse 5. And Psalm 37 verse 5 says,
commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him and He will help you. And then
if you flip over to Proverbs 16 verse 3. So Proverbs 16 verse 3 says, commit your
actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed. You see, you cannot lack in your
commitment to God. You know, this is one of the biggest problems that we have in
the world today is that people don't follow through. You see, they're committed
up until a point. They're committed until things start to get hard and then they
give up. You know, for example, you know, oh it's taking too long so God
must not care. You know, or they're struggling with something. It doesn't
matter if it's at school or life or you know somewhere else, you know, they're
struggling with something. So they take that something that they're struggling
with and they push it to the side and they ignore it. And later on when it's
time to address it, they start trying to come up with excuses as to why the work
didn't get done and why it got pushed to the side. Don't give up. Don't do it. Be
patient. Pray and keep working towards the goal. And if you do that, God will
bless you. That might not come in the time that you want it to or the time
that you expect it to but that blessing will come. It doesn't matter if you're
working towards something like knowledge or understanding or if you need
emotional help, you know, maybe because of a relationship or the lack of one or
maybe something going on with an old friend or a family member, you know, or
you know, maybe it's financial help, you know, because your family is struggling
with something there. You know, whatever it is, whatever you're going through,
don't give up. Don't quit. We all suffer. We all suffer. But without commitment, you
will suffer without hope. Let me say it again. Without commitment, you will suffer
without hope. You need hope. You can say, I intended to do the right things. Jesus
knows my heart. But let me tell you something. That's not good enough. Maybe
you've heard it put this way. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. You
have to follow through. Everyone needs to adopt an attitude that says, you know what
God, I'm never gonna give up. Not gonna do it. I'm here. I'm doing this. Let's do
this. I need you. Let's work on this together. There is an old journalist and
radio commentator, you know, some of you probably heard of him before. His
name is Paul Harvey. Now for those of you who don't know who Paul Harvey was, you
know, he, I said he's a great journalist and radio commentator and he had this
show where he would share these great stories about people's lives. And in the
end, you would find out it was someone of great influence or celebrity, you know.
Somebody just absolutely amazing because he wouldn't tell you exactly who it was
until the very end. And then when you found out, you're like, whoa! It was
absolutely incredible, alright. So anyhow, I digress. So there was an
interview that was done with Paul Harvey and he was asked what the secret of
success was. Well, Paul's answer was, I get up when I fall down. He was committed.
He was absolutely committed. See, you can't treat your commitment like a New
Year's resolution. There's no room for maybes. There's no room for, oh, I'll think
about it, or maybe tomorrow. It's either yes or it's no, alright. Which brings me
to my second point, which goes into discipline. Don't be a weakened warrior,
alright. Our commitment has to have discipline. 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 13
says, so prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your
hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is
revealed to the world. Be disciplined. Be in control of yourself. Don't let
yourself be distracted or tempted off the path. Just stay the course, okay. I'm
going to give you some definitions. So this is the definition of
discipline per Merriam-Webster. A. To control, I'm sorry, control gained by
enforcing obedience or order. B. Orderly or prescribed conduct of pattern of
behavior. And C. Here's the big one for those of you taking notes, write this
down. Self-control. Let me say that again. Self-control. Write that down,
underline it, highlight it, circle it, whatever you need to do, write it in a
different color, make that stand out. That's something that people forget
about today. Self-control. You know that other way people like to say
self-discipline, but let's just say it discipline, aka self-control. The root of
discipline comes from discopolis. Sorry, I'm kind of butchering that word.
Discipolis. There we go. Little tongue tied there. Discipolis, which is the
Latin word for pupil, which is also the provided source of the word disciple or
a follower of Jesus Christ in his lifetime. Alright, so the root of
discipline comes from disciples. Again, that's the Latin word for pupil, which is
also the source where we get the word, the term disciple from, meaning a
follower of Christ in his lifetime. Alright, so continue on. You know that a
little bit of English lesson there for you. Alright, so if you would turn with me
to Matthew 19 verse 21. So Matthew 19 verse 21. Jesus told him, if you want to
be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the
poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. See, what
was going on here, Jesus was explaining to this person who was a very prominent
person. They were very rich. Alright, that was very much their idol at that time.
That's what was holding them back. So Jesus was trying to explain that the
material things in this world truly mean nothing. You can pray, but that's not
enough. What you do and how you live matters and that is where people falter.
It's where they had that little misstep in life. See, you can't go part way.
There's no half in. You have to go all in. I'll give you some examples,
some very common examples of going part way. How you come to
church and how you act at church. Are you honoring your parents or God?
By your actions? Let me put this out here. With honoring your
parents, okay, one is very biblical. Honor their mother or their father.
We know this. Secondly, it doesn't matter where you are in life. It does
not matter how old you are. It doesn't matter if your parents are still here or
if they've passed on. Because you still bear the name and you still
represent the family. So are you honoring your parents or God? Either one.
Because if you're not honoring your parents, you're not honoring God. And
just because you're honoring your parents doesn't mean you honor God either.
So just because... let me keep going here. Just because you're
physically in church doesn't mean you're here either. Playing on phones, listening
to music, watching videos, you know, giving into those idols. You know, you're more
engaged with those than you are with actually hearing the Word when you go
places. So be in control of yourself. Don't let others tempt you away and pull
you away. Don't tolerate distractions from what matters. Even if it's just for a
minute. That minute, it matters. A lot can happen in a minute. And if you're okay
letting something happen like that in God's house, letting something to distract
you and to pull you away and get your attention, then guess what? You're
going to be okay with letting that happen out in the world. And your commitment
will fail. It will fail. Going to our third point. And we're rounding base.
We're heading for home here folks. The greatest example and miracle. Throughout
the Bible, Jesus predicted his own death several times. But it was never
understood for what it was and what he was saying until after he was crucified,
died, and then returned in the resurrection. Every day he was closer to
death. Every day he knew he was closer to death. However, he was committed and
showed discipline by his example. And it was an example for us. Turn with me to
John 13 verse 31. As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, the time has come
for the Son of Man to enter into his glory and God will be glorified because
of him. Jesus already knew that Judas was setting things in motion and his death
was coming very quickly. But he stayed true. He stayed the course. And
think about it. At that time, the cross, you know, I think that many of us wear,
you know, that many of us hang on the wall and have pictures of it, draw pictures
of it, have tattoos of it, etc., etc. The cross, at that time, it was a symbol of
shame. It was a symbol of disgrace. It was reserved for the absolute worst of
society, the dredge of society. Jesus was mocked. He was ridiculed, spit on,
tortured, and humiliated. Jesus turned that cross into glory by performing a
miracle as he was put up to die. Between two thieves, he brought us salvation. He
defeated death and connected us directly to God. He set the example with
discipline and commitment. The example for us to follow. So don't be a couple
of kids throwing a football over the house. Be a disciple and walk for God. Not
for yourself and not for man, but for God. So recommit to God every day. Be
disciplined in your walk and be the example that God needs you to be. Alright
folks, that's all we got this week. We'll catch you next time. God bless you. I want
to thank you for joining us today. If you have any questions, prayer requests, or
would like to know more about our ministry, you can find us on our website
at BeTheLightSanctuary.org or on Facebook at BeTheLightSanctuary. We'll
catch you next time. God bless.