gtcotr/ss030313
It’s
been a little over 35 years now since I first imagined the Lord could use me.
In 1977 Brenda and I moved from England to West Germany where I began a new job
as a member of the USAFE Elite Guard. Brenda was pregnant with our first child
and we had each recently made a personal commitment concerning our faith in
Jesus Christ.
Following
our move we visited and subsequently joined Faith Baptist Church in Einsiedlerhof, Germany. The pastor and
congregation welcomed us like we were family. Although my new job was demanding
on my time and Brenda was about to give birth, we believed Church important and
decided to get involved, take it personal and make it our Church home.
We
searched for a place to serve among the several areas of ministry that always
need volunteers. Brenda and I offered to teach Sunday School for the 5 year old
class and I volunteered to help with the youth on Wednesday evenings. Those
were wonderful days of learning and sharing what we learned each week with
those we taught. We were only one step ahead of those following but God blessed
as we were faithful to each opportunity.
Week
after week Brenda and I divided the responsibilities between ourselves. She was
usually in charge of some type of craft and refreshment and I did the teaching
and managed the discipline. Needless to say, each week brought new challenges.
We served in those positions for almost 2 years until we moved from there to
Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we joined another Church, volunteered, and made
it our Church home.
While
at the Church in Germany the Pastor, now Pastor Emeritus of FBC, Bob Ferguson,
began to encourage me towards considering the potential call of God on my life.
He had connections with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and was a
very well studied man. His sermons were always challenging and filled with bits
of history, scripture and interesting stories. Once he jokingly said that the
perfect sermon outline contained “3
points and a poem.”
For
some reason I thought of him and the impact of that Church on my life when I
began studying for my message this week. Before starting the outline I decided
to entitle today’s sermon – “Three
Points and a Poem”. I already knew the three points the Lord had given me, and
I decided to trust God a little further to supply the poem. If you are ready,
let’s turn in our Bibles to the book of Numbers and make the first point.
Point #1: What
a person believes will affect what they are willing to attempt.
Somewhere
near 1500 years before Christ, God preserved, prepared and positioned a man
named Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of the slavery they had known in
Egypt for 4 centuries and into the land of Canaan. After the 10 plagues which
God sent upon the Egyptians, Pharaoh decided to let the Israelites go.
These
Hebrew children experienced miracle after miracle, from the parting of the Red
Sea and the subsequent drowning of their enemies, to the manna which fell from
heaven each morning for their daily bread. God proved Himself strong on their
behalf covering them with the shade from a cloud during the daytime and warming
them with a pillar of fire each night. There was no doubt God was with them.
Yet they did not trust God.
Despite
miracle after miracle, the Children of Israel had a difficult time believing
that God was able to deliver on His promises. They complained every step of the
way and at each hardship the congregation accused either God or Moses and
threatened to choose another leader and go back to Egypt.
Finally,
after hearing the voice of God and receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses led
Israel to a place called Kadesh Barnea. It was from there that God wanted them
to enter and conquer the land of Canaan. God had promised to send His angels
before them and complete a mighty victory and establish these sons of Jacob in
the promised land.
At
Kadesh Barnea Moses chose 12 spies and sent them from there to search out the
land. When they returned all 12 shared the same story … that is, up to a point.
Let’s read what the spies had to say:
Numbers 13
26 ¶ Now they departed and
came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel
in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to
all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
27 Then they told him, and
said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and
honey, and this is its fruit.
28 "Nevertheless the
people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified
and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.
29 "The Amalekites dwell
in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell
in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of
the Jordan."
30 Then Caleb quieted the
people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession,
for we are well able to overcome it."
31 But the men who had gone
up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are
stronger than we."
32 And they gave the children
of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The
land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its
inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great
stature.
33 "There we saw the giants
(the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers
in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
Numbers 14
1 ¶ So all the congregation
lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of
Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to
them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in
this wilderness!
3 "Why has the LORD
brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children
should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
4 So they said to one
another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt."
Point #1:
What you believe will affect what you are willing to attempt.
Point #2:
What a person believes will affect what they are able to endure.
When
the Children of Israel refused to trust God at Kadesh Barnea, He drove them out
into the wilderness to wander in circles for 40 years. I have traveled in those
desert lands and I can assure you that this wilderness is a harsh and trying
environment. Even in those difficult years God continued to provide for and
protect the Israelites.
After
4 decades all of the people who had refused to trust God died. The only ones
left of that group from Kadesh Barnea were Joshua and Caleb. The bible plainly
describes them as those who had a “different spirit”.
What
made them different? They believed God!
Point
#1: What you believe will affect what you are willing to attempt!
Point
#2: What you believe will affect what you are able to endure.
Point #3: What a person believes will affect what they are empowered
to overcome.
Only
2 of the 12 spies trusted God and only those 2 endured to cross over the Jordan
River and into the Promised Land. However, these two did not just cross over …
they led the crossover.
Joshua
succeeded Moses and ultimately carried the weight of leadership for the whole
congregation of Israel for the next 25 years while Israel conquered city after
city to possess the land. Caleb was 85 years old when he fought and won the
battle at Hebron against the sons of the giants who fortified and occupied that
city. Let’s look at what Caleb declared.
Joshua 14
10 "And now, behold, the
LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever
since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the
wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old.
11 "As yet I am as
strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was
then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming
in.
12 "Now therefore, give me
this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day
how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were
great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and
I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said."
13 And Joshua blessed
him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance.
14 Hebron
therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the
Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.
We
have heard the three points for today … What
you believe will affect what you are willing attempt, what you are able to
endure and what you are empowered to overcome.
Now for the poem: You will immediately recognize that
I wrote this myself. Take into account that it was about 8 last night and I did
it just for you. Listen closely, it took me the better part of 15 minutes to
write this.
Although
it is deeply woven with multi-layered meanings, is not so much ‘Rhymsical’ as
it is loosely ‘Sonnetary’ … Allow me:
Trust
A
‘Sonnetary’ composure by Ron Hammonds, March 2, 2013
When I at end do again stand I shall attest my time and action,
Then trust shall be that thing I hold and keep in clutch.
It is the star to which I pledge my travel here and away,
Surrounding me as the net to catch and secure each day’s falling,
Giving close to my eyes in peaceful repose.
Trust cannot be well spoken without it stands to face the loss,
Against danger’s supply and its fair advantage.
Halt at bay the torture of souls when light shines and truth
reveals.
Fear, will you call still, when ears are deaf to empty claims of
ascendant glory,
Shut the door on those who lift themselves against this single path
of mercy.
Trust does not abandon the heart by its own accord nor goes easily
when helped, but haunts the mind to have claim by right.
Well struck trust is without question the ally best chosen to
company lonely days, burdensome nights,
Holding captive wild imaginations to drive the distance.
Trust I say, trust in the truth and lay not alone at the gates.
I have and as I say will yet acclaim the endless bounties this root
…
They reach beyond the mortal means of man to grasps the grace of Almighty
God.
While
thinking on or attempting to forget this ‘Sonnetary’ composure, whichever the
case, “Thou shalt not forget the three points” for today:
What
you believe will affect what you are willing to attempt; what you are able to
endure; and what you are empowered to overcome.
Additional
Information:
Research
by the Barna Group (Barna.org) in the beginning of the 21st Century,
(2003), revealed:
Of
all adults in the United States
99% believe that they will not go to
hell when they die
84% say they are Christian
80% claim they have prayed to God
50% accept the bible as being true
40% report they attend church
38% have confessed their sins and
accepted Jesus as savior
4% say they allow the bible to influence
their daily decisions
