todojoven.org

by Pastor Donald j Gettys

Quality Love

  Have you heard of C and E Christians? For years preachers have joked about what is called, C and E Christians: Folk who show up at Christmas and Easter. It's the only time you see them in church. Shame on them. We ought to be a Christian every day of the year, not just have our religion a couple times a year. They don't have time, I guess, for a daily relationship with God. Well, maybe we could talk about C and S Christianity: People who will be in church if there is a Crisis or Shooting. They will be there. Or maybe we could talk about LDE Christians: people that come to prayer meeting if there is a series on Last Day Events. Otherwise they won't be here. We're strange, aren't we. I believe we need a relationship with Jesus every day of the week. It isn't new there are C and S Christians. The children of Israel would complain. They rarely looked in God's direction except when the locusts came and started eating their crops of when the Philistines invade their land. Then they would come. Or maybe when they ran out of water, then they would start to complain. They had a crisis connection with God. What we need is an every moment connection with Jesus, that daily relationship. Come over here to the book of John. Jesus tells us exactly what we need. In fact, He compares us to something special. John 15:5-7 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. What is our job description as Christians? To abide or remain in Him. That's the challenge. The quality of our love is measured by our ability to hold up in times of stress and crisis. This comes from a daily quality relationship with God. I think of some of the great patriarchs in the Old Testament days that had that quality of love. They had a daily relationship with God. Take Moses for instance. I think is one of the greatest men that ever lived other than Jesus Christ. He had to be one of the greatest men of faith because he faced some of the greatest challenges. Only Moses' deep love for God carried him through. Some people believe that there were more likely two million people that came out of Egypt. One of the biggest arithmetical miracles in the world was when Moses and the people were in the desert. What was he going to do with two or more million people? How would you like to have that job description? According to the Quartermaster General in the US army Moses would have to have 1,500 tons of food every day just to feed the people. That's a lot of manna! And there were thousands of animals besides, that would need about five hundred acres of grazing space and grain. That would be a freight train load, a mile long, just to deliver the daily food each day! To cook all that food in (5 persons for each campfire) four hundred thousand camp fires every day would require two million tons of wood. More freight trains! and they didn't have any railroad tracks. And what about water? Some to drink, to bathe, to wash clothes, dishes, water for thirsty animals out there in the hot desert... How about 11 million gallons of water a day! More Freight trains! Imagine 2 million people with all their animals crossing the Red Sea! If they went through 20 abreast, the line would be 80 miles long. It would take them 3« days and nights just to get through. Of course they could double up and take only one and a half days. If Moses had stopped to think about all this, he might have quit before he got started. But Christians go by Faith! Moses didn't do it alone, he had a Partner, and that Partner was God. If you're facing some problem in life; your car just broke down, you've got to get it repaired, you don't have the money, or maybe there's some bad health problem, whatever your problem is, don't you face that problem alone. You face it with your Partner. You Partner is God, He's your Partner. He's the other half of the team. Let me tell you, your problems are not as big as your Partner. God is an awesome God. Without God, you can't face the problems. With God on your side, you have the answer right there. Moses believed in God and God took care of all these things for Moses. It is similar with us. We could sit down and figure out our budget and never have enough money left over to pay our Tithe and give an offering. But let us take courage because we have the same God that Moses had. Our problems are not as big as God. Remember what God did for Moses. Team up with God and your problems will then become God's problems. Then let God run your life as the senior partner in your team. Quality love is trusting love. That's what Moses did. Every day our love for God is tested. That is why we need a daily relationship. Yesterday there was perhaps a peaceful world. Today the havoc and loss from floods, fires, hurricanes, mud slides, or plane crashes. Yesterday financial security. Today unemployment, inflation, bankruptcy. No money. Too many bills! Yesterday radiant health. Today, pain and a hospital bed and a doctor's grim diagnosis. Tragedy is not limited to the Godless. We see devout lifelong saints of the church who are faithful, loving and obedient, that are having unfortunate trouble and distress. WHY? Why does trouble come to Good People? A) Because we live in a sin cursed world. Don't forget that we are living in a war zone. In a fox hole. This is not heaven. B) Because we make bad choices. We reap what we sow. We eat a large banana split with a couple of brownies and the next day we pray that God will help us not to catch a cold. Please, Lord, help 2 + 2 not to make 4. C) Because it is not Evolution but Deterioration and Decay that we are experiencing. If you think you are getting better just look in the mirror over the years! Our Earth is DEgenerating. As we enter the 2000's did you know that our present earth is 85 - 90% depleted of trace minerals. In 1940 you would have gotten 140 mg of iron in each serving of spinach. Today you get 2 mg. D) Because we, like Job, are perhaps being tested. I never did like examinations. I hated them. The teachers should know that's a time of stress! They do it anyway. God put Job through a test. Did Job pass? Yes, he did. Over 4000 years ago at a gathering of the sons of God, God asked Satan a Question: Job 1:8-11 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." Question: Had God been blessing Job? Obviously God had been richly blessing Job. God does that to those who love Him. It is your love and therefore your obedience that enables or unleashes the heavenly blessing train in your direction. Obedience is the result of your love for God. If you love Him, you're going to obey Him, and that opens the channel so that he can bless you. Agriculturalist Job had thousands of sheep and numerous thundering herds over vast acreage's of land. Because of God's blessings, Job was prosperous. God temporarily trimmed the hedge that shielded His obedient servant. Satan immediately brought the Time of Trouble on faithful Job. God was saying: This is as perfect a saint as any I have ever had. I trust him. I am going to let these frightening things happen to show you that he does trust Me and I know that the quality of his love will carry him through. I'm going to use this experience to show millions of people who are going about Job in the future years what can happen to a true Christian. QUESTION: WHAT DID JOB LOSE? You might say that he lost everything. Job 1:14,15(NLT) a messenger arrived at Job's home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. You see, there were five hundred yoke of oxen, one thousand oxen altogether. One day Job had all his teams of oxen plowing in the field. These were Job's tractors! A John Deere can cost $100,000 or maybe more. Raiders from Sheba killed Job's employees and drove off with all the equipment. A farmer without implements is out of business. This was a disaster! Then while he was still speaking, Job 1:16 While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you." Notice that this out of breath courier blames God. Where did the fire come really from? I want to blame everything bad on the devil. I don't blame God. It was an act of God, he says. Was it from God? No. But even six thousand years ago people were blaming God for losses. So Insurance companies do not hold the patient on designating disasters as "Acts of God." Job 1:17-22 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship! and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job! You should be cursing God. Everybody else does. If they hit their thumb with a hammer they curse God. All this has happened to you and you're worshipping God. What's the matter with you, Job? We'd better study the life of Job a little bit. There's something we might learn here. Job was a great man! What did he do? In verse 21 he says, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrong doing. Did you know that it's a sin to blame God? He didn't sin by charging God for any wrong doing. If you blame god for your troubles, you're sinning. So back to my original Question: WHAT DID JOB LOSE? He didn't lose anything, did he? Well, he lost one thing. That's all. Job did not lose ownership of anything. All he lost was his management but not ownership. Who owned those camels, those oxen, those sheep? Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills? Who owns your children? God does. Do you own your children? No, they are the lambs of God, in fact we're all His children, aren't we? We belong to Him. The children are His lambs that are entrusted into your care, into your proper management. Job clearly saw his true position. He was the manager and not The Owner. God was testing Job in his stewardship. He still does that. Job was a great saint. He was tried in his material possessions, abilities, talents, and in his physical body. All this boils down to the stewardship of life. Did Job pass the test! Yes, with flying colors! Psalm 50:10-12 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. God owns everything. Some poor Christian was driving a car and had a wreck. He was in Michigan and it was winter time and it wasn't his fault. The ice was so bad and the car started slipping and sliding and went down and totaled itself in the ditch. A friend said: "I am glad you walked away unhurt but I am so sorry that you lost your car." The man said, "Oh well, actually the car doesn't belong to me anyway. It belongs to God. And if God wants His car in His ditch, that is His business! I'm His child. God owns everything." A little bit like Job. It belongs to God. Everything belongs to God, including us. GOD OWNS US! I Corinthians 6:19,20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN; you were bought at a high) price. Therefore honor God with your body. You ought to take care of God's body. It belongs to Him. It is when we see ourselves as managers of the infinite resources that belong to an eternal God, that we quit arguing about who owns the things we temporally possess. Then we can begin to function as PARTNERS with God. That's the way it was meant to be. Then we can study to correctly manage the resources He trusts us with. WHAT ENABLED JOB TO ENDURE HIS TEST SO WELL? It was his partnership with God. That's what it was. He was a co-worker with God. God gives to us and when we give to others we do what God wants. And Job did that. He gave everything into the hand of God. I think he had the assurance that God really did love Him. That Quality love enabled Job to say in verse 21 "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Jesus had that same relationship with His Father. We should seek a similar bond with our Heavenly Father. Do you think of yourself as a CO- WORKER with God? Why does God bless us with material goods? To give us the privilege of being His hands and helping others and advancing His work on this earth. God gives to us. When we give to others in need we participate in one of the Divine privileges ... giving! "In bestowing, we bless others and thus accumulate true riches!" Counsels On Stewardship, p 14 (EG White). Let me live in my house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by. They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong, Wise, foolish... and so am I. Then why should I sit in the scorners seat Or hurl the cynic's ban? Let me live in my house by the side of the road And be a friend of man. - Sam Walter Foss. I want to be what God wants me to do. I want to be a saint like Job. And I want to commit everything that God has entrusted into our partnership, and that includes my time, my body, my children, my car, my money, everything I have. If God wants His money in a certain project I am the first to say that it belongs there. That's the mark of a true Christian. If God puts me through a test I pray that I will pass because He is my partner. From what we get we can make a living, but what we give makes a life. I want to be a giving saint stationed by the road of life, giving to needy causes. Had Job turned away from God and cursed His name, Job would have suffered great loss. Wisely, instead of cursing Him, Job worshiped God. Christians today are wise to continue trusting in God. You will go through life a lot happier. Jesus said: MATTHEW 11: 30 "The work that I ask you to accept is easy. The load I give you to carry is not heavy." (International Children's Bible) Do you know why it is not heavy? Because loads that are carried in love are light. Father Flanagan's Boys Town near Omaha, Nebraska, has a sculpture of one little boy carrying another boy almost as large as he is that says "He ain't heavy, he's my brother." When your church has heavy needs, do they seem heavy to you? When your neighbor is down and out, do you consider it a burden or an opportunity to help? Christians are here to help. I John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. Brothers and Sisters, consider it a privilege to go where God leads, to give as He gives, to love as He loves, to suffer where He sees best. Quality Love will find a way to carry the load. Quality love will not complain about the weight of the load. My burden is light, said Jesus, because it is carried in love. Opening Hymn: #103 God our Help Scripture: Job 1:1-3 and 8.Closing Hymn: #196 Tell Me the Old, Old Story McDonald Road Sermons Index

by Pastor Donald J Gettys

We are Clay

  I would like to speak to you about the potter and the clay: how many of us are the potter and how many of us are the clay. Well, we're all the clay, and He is the Potter. Basically, that's the synopsis of the sermon. But I'd like to get into a little more detail than that, so let me tell you an experience. I used to live in Hickory, North Carolina, and there was a gentleman who lived in Newton, named, Boyd Hilton, and he was a potter. He used to go down to the Catawba River and dig his clay out of the river bank. He'd take it home. He'd wash it. He would get all the lumps and rocks and things out of it and make sure it was just right. Then he'd begin to work with it. He's put it on his home-made potter's wheel. He ran the potter's wheel with a little steam engine which I was very excited about. That little steam engine would just puff along and steadily turned that wheel at a pace slow enough to do his work and yet not fast enough, because of the centrifugal force, to throw it apart. So it was just right. I paid attention to his hands. He could never have been a minister because his hands were dirty. They were immersed in the clay. His hands were very gentle and very steady. Now, while I am speaking of this, Who are you thinking of? You should be thinking about our Potter who is none other than Jesus Christ. Because that's what Jesus does to us. We are the clay, and His hands are steady. His hands are gentle. And His hands get messy trying to fix our lives. We have some problems in our lives. Some bad problems. But the Potter is there to make sure that out of our mess, that out of the problems that have broken us, that we are going to be healed and be brought back again. So, I want you to read in Jeremiah 18 about the potter. Because I was a Christian, I thought about Jeremiah 18 and I recalled this story in the Bible. Notice verse 1: This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot that he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. We are in the hands of God. I like to stand and see somebody work. It's just a lot of fun. You don't have to do it yourself, and especially if they are skilled. I've been to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Ketner's Mill and Prater's Mill and watched potters. Have you ever done that? They spin their wheel and what wonderful things come off. And, what beautiful lessons there are. You know, as you stand there watching a potter, you're not just limited to lessons from the Scriptures. We can get lessons from whatever you're doing. WE have to keep our minds open and receptive, because God is going to give us a lesson from whatever we're looking at if we're tuned in. So, who is the potter? I believe it is none other than our Maker, our Creator, which includes the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, doesn't it. They were all involved in our creation. Isaiah 45:9 says, Woe unto him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, "What are you making?" Does your work say, "He has no hands?" We don't complain at the Maker. He makes different things out of the clay. He is shaping us today. God is not only our Creator, He is the One who is currently continuing to shape us and mold us through the events of life. The clay represents us. Job 33:6 says: "I am just like you before God; I too have been taken from clay." Adam was formed from clay, from the dust of the ground. Genesis 2:7: the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Now the clay, which we are, is weak. What can you make from clay unless you bake it? Psalm 22:15: My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. We are weak. We were not pulled out of a diamond mine, in case you think, "Well, I'm pretty important." We all came from a hole, from a river bank. That's our origin. You can read that in Psalm 40:2: He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. That's where we came from. Out of the pit of destruction and sin. We were in a hopeless condition and God came to us and He exhumed us out of that terrible place. I imagine we looked pretty ugly, pretty wicked, and pretty worthless. What is the wheel that we're place upon? Well, come back here to Ecclesiastes in your Bible. I think as the wheel turns the clay grow more and more into Jesus' will for the clay, or else it becomes ,more and more blemished. I believe the wheel represents the happenings of our life. Ecclesiastes 9:11: .... but time and chance happen to them all. That's what takes place. Now, we must be washed as clay. I sincerely believe that as the potter washes the impurities out of the clay that baptism is represented by that. Also we are washed by the Word. That's how you can remain pure: by running the words through your mind you will become purified by it. Here's something interesting about the clay in Isaiah 41. I don't like this. If you want to look it up in your bible may think, this isn't really in here, but the clay needs to be stepped on. Does the Lord ever step on you? He steps on me, and I don't like it. Maybe you feel like you've been stepped on lately. Isaiah 41:25: I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes-- one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay. There was a visitor to a famous potter and as he stood there he watched something he really didn't understand. This famous potter was beating a lump of clay with his wooden mallet. Just pounding the daylights out of it. The visitor thought, "What is going on here? You don't beat clay! You mold it and make it." And here he was beating the clay so he asked the potter, "Why are you doing this?" And the potter said, "Wait and see. It won't be long and you'll find out." And so, the man stood there. Eventually the pounding stopped, the lump of clay was placed there on the table. He stood there and looked at it, and finally he saw the top of it start to just quiver a little bit and he looked and lo and behold, he could see little lumps forming on the top of the clay. "What are those?" And the potter said, "Those are air bubbles coming out. I have to get all the air out of that clay, otherwise those air bubble will cause that pot to crack, and you don't want to be a crack-pot. It will mar the pot. It will destroy the pot." And a potter has to work out the air, the lumps and the bumps out of us, the sin. He wants pure clay, otherwise He can't make a pure vessel. And so, if you've been pumped around and pounded on a lot, there's probably a reason for that trouble you go through. There's a reason. I notice that when a I was watching a potter up at Ketner's Mill. We were up there and saw some of you there. This lady had a wheel that would spin around and around. As I noticed her, she was making a vessel. She put the clay on the wheel, and her hands were wet and she formed it on the wheel. When she was finished, she would use a wire to cut it off, rework it and put it back on again. This happened three or four times and I asked, "Why are you taking it off? Why don't you just go ahead and do it?" And she said, "I'm a new potter and I didn't get it centered well. Unless it's perfectly centered, I can't make a perfect vessel." Well, there's a lesson in that for a preacher. A preacher standing there watching will get a lesson out of that. And so I'm thinking, "I need to centered in Jesus Christ." Right? We need to be centered. The potter plops that soggy lump of clay on that turn-table and centers it up exactly and as it is spinning then it can form a symmetrical vessel. We need to be centered. And how do we do that? I believe we become centered in Jesus Christ by making sure that we're in the middle of His Word, that we're in the middle of the Truth, that by learning, by being quiet, by being empty, by meditating the Lord's will for us, by renewing our prayer life. We become centered on Jesus Christ. Just like every sermons should be centered on Jesus Christ. We need to meditate on Him. Jesus must be the pivot, the hub of our life. You can go over here to UTC, Chattanooga State, Southern Adventist University and they will give you a lot of spokes, but unless those spokes are centered on the hub, you aren't going to go anywhere your new wheels. You need a hub. Education will provide you with a lot of spokes, a lot of hubbub you might think in some of your classes, but you need a hub. That hub needs to be Jesus Christ. The clay is turned on the wheel, isn't it. You might fell like you're turning around and around, going in circles, just going crazy, nothing is happening, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not arrive at some destination. It hasn't happened yet. Her I am, still single. There's some problem here. I'm not getting anywhere in my life. I'm not making enough money, not being successful, whatever it is. To stay on the wheel is to be successful. You can't be successful off the wheel. So stay on there. Don't quit. Stay with the wheel. If the clay flies off the wheel it lands in the dirt and gets contaminated and is unusable again. It's too bad. All of God's Bible heroes were on the wheel. They stayed on the wheel. They were all lumps of clay, all lumps of clay. Now, if we become marred, as Jeremiah says, in the Potter's hands, does He throw us away? No, He doesn't. He re-works us. Jeremiah 18:4 says, ....so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. The first one didn't work out. Some of you in college may have started out to be an accountant or something, and eventually you ended up somewhere else. One route doesn't work in your life, and so you try another route and that one does work. God can re-use you. He can redirect your life. The Potter keeps trying until He makes a perfect vessel. Martin Luther didn't have much patience and he had a hard time fathoming God's patience, I guess, because he wrote, "If I were God, and the world treated me as it has treated God, I would kick the wretched thing to pieces." That was Martin Luther. Well, maybe God had plans for you. But you slipped, you fell, you ended up in the ditch, your life became marred and even though His mercy surrounded you, and despite the fact that you were in His hands you became marred. You faltered, you floundered. There is still hope for you because God will bring you back. Maybe you've ruined your life, you've blown your brains with drugs, you've messed your life up with illicit love making, you've ruined your life with alcohol. Just keep in mind that God is not through with you yet. You are still on the Potter's wheel. Stay on the wheel and God will make something beautiful. We serve a God of second chances. He'll give you a second chance. What a Savior we have. A Savior of new beginnings. So don't give up. What if you're cracked? What if God made you, then He fired you, and there He set you on the shelf and you developed a crack? You may say, "I'm older. I know better. My parents were Adventists and I've been all worked up here and now I'm cracked. What do I do now? Can't go back on the potter's wheel. I've got something wrong with me. Something I don't like and I can't change." Let me tell you, God can still use a cracked pot. There's an eastern children's story about a slave that was serving a rich master. The slave's duty was every day to go down to the stream and get the water. The king had to have water. So he had a board across his shoulder with a water pot hanging from each end. He would walk quite a ways down to that stream to get the water. The problem was one pot was perfect and the other was cracked. So, by the time he would go down there and get the water, and come back, one pot was half empty while the other was still full. One day, the cracked pot, which perceived that it was a bitter failure, spoke to this slave by the stream. He said, "I'm ashamed of myself. I'm a cracked pot. I have not been able for these past two years that you have been carrying me to deliver a full load for you, because of this crack in my side you weren't getting the full value from your efforts and I'm so sorry." And the water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot and in his compassion, he said, "Well, as we return to the master's house I just want you to notice, just don't think about yourself, notice the flowers along the way." And so the pot did this. Back home, the bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there are beautiful flowers only on your side of the path? Only on your side of the trail? That water that you leak out. I knew about your defect. I knew about this problem in your life. And I planted seeds along that path and for two years you have been watering those seeds. Those flowers have grown and I have used those flowers to decorate my master's table and to make his life more beautiful." So God can use a cracked pot. He can use you. He can use you in His work, in His will. Well, I want you to notice something else. What is the future of clay that yields itself to God? I'll tell you what it is. A pot is a container. It is not a fountain. Vessels are not fountains. They're not springs. They are containers, reservoirs, receptacles, repositories. And to be an effective canister it has to be first emptied. You can't be filled with God's likeness while you are filled with the likeness of something else. A jar does not produce its own filling. We are destined to hold valuable merchandise. We are the Fort Knox of Jesus. Because, do you know what that valuable merchandise is? 2 Corinthians 4:7, But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show you that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. That treasure is Jesus Christ. You are destined to hold Jesus Christ in your life, in your heart. Imagine God's treasure in a jar of clay. And that's exactly what Jesus in you is. You are the clay. Our spiritual DNA includes this close partnership with Jesus Christ. What is the job description of clay? Do you remember the Walt Disney film the The Lion King? It shows young Simba singing, "I just can't wait to be king." He thinks when he gets to be king he'll be in charge of everything. "I can't wait to get out of my parents house and be on my own. Then I can be in charge. I can be free!" Is that true? "All these old rules and regulations around here. I hate 'em. I'm going to be free some day." Don't you believe it. "I've got a mortgage payment to make every month." "I have to drive the speed limit." "You will always be under rules and regulations." Well, you don't HAVE to pay the mortgage. If you don't, you'll be out on the street. How long will the city police allow you to live on the street? Not very long! They'll take you to jail, and there you'll be free. Right? No way! The only way to be free is to yield to the Master. That's the only way to do it. The job description of the clay is to surrender to the will of God. I feel like if you don't resist the hands of the Potter, you're going to be saved. That's my opinion. You're going to make it. I want you to read from Ellen white. This is beautiful. She makes the statement about the Potter and the clay. Now get this: "The Potter takes the clay in His hands and molds it and fashions it according to His own will. He kneads it and works it. He tears it apart, and then presses it together. He wets it, and then dries it. He lets it lie for a while without touching it. When it is perfectly pliable, he continues the work of making it a vessel. He forms it into shape, and on the wheel trims and polishes it. He dries it in the sun, and bakes it in the oven. Thus it becomes a vessel fit for use. So the great Master-worker desires to mould and fashion us. And as the clay is in the hands of the potter, so are we to be in His hands. We are not to try to do the work of the potter. Our part is to yield ourselves to the molding of the Master-worker." - Vol. 8 Testimonies for the Church, p. 186.187. EG White. What is does the clay do? It doesn't say, does it. Jesus does all the work. He works it and molds it and dries it in the sun and then bakes it in the oven. Our part is to yield ourselves to the molding of the Master-worker. He does everything else. If you can wrap your mind around that, you understand Righteousness by Faith. Our part is to yield. Are you yielding to the master Potter? If you are, you are doing your job. If you don't resist, if you remain pliable, you're going to be saved. You're going to be a pot, you are going to be a vessel in His house, in the house of God. Oh, what a wonderful experience that is! You can do that. Imagine a lump of clay becoming a vessel in the kingdom of God, in His house, sitting on His shelf up in heaven glorifying Him. Made by Jesus. That's how we are going to be there. Opening Hymn: #154, When I Survey the Wondrous CrossScripture: Isaiah 64:6-8Closing Hymn: #316, Live Out Thy Life Within Me McDonald Road Sermons Index

by Pastor Kent Crutcher  

Not a Servant

  Last Saturday night, when I was walking out of the convention center in Cincinnati Ohio where I was attending a conference with over 6000 other youth pastors. I had to go through two wets of double doors. I was leaving a little early. After I had walked through the first set, I looked through the second set and then I hesitated, because, there standing on the other side of those double doors were two homeless men. How did I know? Maybe I am being too general in my thinking but most homeless people end up looking about alike. Homeless people are grey. It doesn't matter what color they're wearing, it all eventually turns grey. They seem to have a grey look about them. It may be from the dirt of the streets. Their pants are grey, their shirts are grey, their hats are grey, their shoes are grey, their skin is grey, their beards are grey, grey skin, it almost seems. They blend in with themselves. I've worked with homeless people before and I've recognized them for who they were, and I hesitated as I watched these two men. I was by myself, and it was night. I saw what they were doing, they were digging into the large ashtrays that were placed outside, looking for cigarette butts large enough to still smoke. They were acting quite frustrated. They were not finding much of anything. It was obviously a favorite spot outside this convention center. Most people would come outside and smoke there. They could not believe that they were finding nothing. What they did not know was that the building was filled with over six thousand youth pastors at a convention! They were not finding the cigarettes they were used to finding. As I went through the second set of doors, one of the men asked me, "Do you have a cigarette?" I thought, If I could tell him of the dangers of smoking, I could invite him to a "Five-Day-Plan." But I knew that he wasn't real interested either one of those at the moment, so I just gave him a negative response. He simply walked away with his friends in search of others more obliging. I walked down to the bus stop and caught the bus that took me across the river into Kentucky and to my hotel. Along the way I noticed in the dumpsters behind almost every fast-food place there were people looking for something to eat. I slept in my comfortable bed and I ate my wonderful continental breakfast the next morning. I relished it for some reason that morning. I got back on my bus and went back to the convention center and got there early for my first meeting, so I decided to go for a walk. A special thing about Cincinnati is that you can walk a fourteen-block section of town without ever going outside. They call it the "Skyway" because it is on the second floor and connects buildings using enclosed walkways over the streets. It's all enclosed and very nice. I was on the walkway that connects a fancy hotel, a "high-rise." I wasn't staying in that one. I walked through the lobby with all its beautiful chandeliers, and on to the next sky-way to a store called Saks Fifth Avenue. Have you ever heard of that? I walked in there one time and I can't even afford a pair of socks there. And the sky-way that connected that hotel with that fancy department store was littered with homeless people sleeping on bits of cardboard on Sunday morning. Some had five-dollar bills laying around them which had been dropped by passers-by. They were so sound asleep they hadn't picked them up yet. As I looked at each of these men, I couldn't help but wonder who they were. "Who are you? What are you doing here? You must have had a home at one time. Did you have a family? Who were your parents? Did you open presents on your birthday? Did you ever sit around a Thanksgiving-day table so full of food that it took days to finish it? Did you ride a bus to school? Did you ever sit in a Sunday school class, or a Sabbath school class? Who are you? How did you end up here?" These silent questions remained unanswered as these men slept as if to wake up was to open eyes to the reality that they had no home. Turn with me to Luke 15. One of the most beautiful stories in the Bible is about a homeless person. Jesus tells this story in about 30 sentences. Luke 15:11. Jesus Continued:... When I see something like that I think, "What was Jesus continuing?" Look back at verse 1 to see whom He is talking to and why. In verses 1 and 2 it says, Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear Him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." And Jesus started telling parables. This is one of the parables that He was telling to the Pharisees. He was continuing, He was trying to instruct them. He was telling this parable to the Pharisees in front of the tax collectors and sinners. Verses 11-12: Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them." Evidently the younger son felt constrained by his father. He felt the need for freedom from his father, from his father's rules, from his father's laws, from his father's house, from his father's sight. He felt no obligation to his father. He felt no gratitude. Yet he still made claims on his father's wealth. What I find amazing here is that his father said okay. His father allowed his son to make this grand mistake. How hard it is to allow our children the freedom to make mistakes when we know what the outcome will be. But this father realizes that his son is going to make this mistake one way or another and allows it. Might as well be with his knowledge and his blessing. Jesus did that. With Peter. Remember Peter walking on the water? He didn't say, "Now Peter, don't look away." Peter needed to make that mistake, didn't he. But the Father was still there. Jesus was still there. I'll give some parental advice, and this is from one who knows little. Allow them to fail in your home so that they can survive in this world. Give them the opportunities to fail where you can be there to pick them up, so they can learn. That's what this father did with his son. "Okay, I'm going to allow you to make a mistake." Also notice that the father did not burn bridges. He does not say, "If you leave, don't plan on crawling back to me when you run out of money!" He didn't burn bridges. Have you burned bridges between yourself and your children? Maybe you have. Ask forgiveness and ask for the power to rebuild those bridges! It's not too late. Don't burn bridges between your loved ones and your self. As you will see, the bridge was there when this young man came home. Verse 13: "Not long after that, the younger son got together all that he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living." He squandered his father's wealth, what he had been given. That is what it means to be Prodigal, to squander, to throw away, to waste. This man not only squandered his wealth, he squandered years of his life, he squandered his spirituality, all to gratify himself and his search for freedom. Verses 14-15: "After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs." Remember to whom Jesus is telling this story. The Jews! The Jews would have nothing to do with swine or pigs and not touch them. And here, I'm sure the Pharisees are saying, "Yes, he kind of got what he deserved. That's as low as a son of Abraham can go. To be around pigs! Ironically this man left in search of his freedom and he only found slavery. Look at Proverbs 5:22,23 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for his lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. What is it that enslaves us? Our own sinfulness. And yet this young man thought that he was going to gain his freedom by being his own sinful self. And there he did find slavery. He ends up feeding the swine. He found that he had more freedom in his father's house! Luke 15:16: "He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything." Now, where were his friends, the people he had been squandering his wealth with? It's no fun to do it by yourself. Misery loves company. Where are they? Nobody there to offer him a bite to eat. I remember my first day at school at Standifer Gap Elementary. First grade. My mother was driving me to school, and as she pulled up in the parking lot I was so excited! I actually remember what my mother said before I got out of the car. She said, "Be careful about who you choose to be your friends." I remembered that, ad I disobeyed. I met Billy and Billy became my friend. Billy liked to do things in class, like talk out of turn. That was a bad thing back then. Billy loved to talk when the teacher was talking. Guess who he talked to? He talked to me. Guess who also got into trouble with Billy? I did. I had not chosen my friends wisely. That's such a minor thing, but it grows. As you become teen- agers it becomes more critical who your friends are because they will guide you to things that are not normally done by yourself. And then when you get into trouble, where are your friends? They disappear just like this young man's friends did. Our friends are a constant influence on our actions. Choose them wisely! They had helped him into this situation but they were not here to help him out of it. This man had chosen friends who left when the going got tough. Verse 17: "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!' Remember, his father had not burned the bridges. His thoughts returned to his father. See how important it is not to burn bridges? He remembered his father's love, not his love for his son. He dare not think that high. He remembered his father's love for his servants. He loves his servants so much that they have food to spare! And here I am, and I have nothing. "Wow, if my father would simply hire me as a servant, I would have more food than I could eat." His father's love was drawing him home. Yet he did not realize the extent of it. Verse 18-19: "I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men. He did not yet fathom his father's love. He composes a speech to give to his father with hopes of becoming a servant. Verse 20 first part: "So he got up and went to his father. Notice, this says nothing about him taking a bath. It says nothing of finding better clothes. It says nothing about changing himself. He got up as he was and went to his father, as he was, right out of the pig sty. D.L. Moody told a story about an artist who was attempting to paint the Prodigal Son. He searched the streets of the city for a long time to find a man who looked destitute enough to fit the description. He could find no one until one day he finally found a beggar that looked the part. He went up to the beggar and he said, "Here is my address. You come to my studio tomorrow at ten o'clock. I will paint your portrait and pay you well." The beggar thought, "Oh, I'm getting my portrait painted." He went and found a comb. He found some soap. He found some clothes that looked a little better than what he had. He shaved and cleaned up. At ten o'clock, the man showed up at the artist's studio but the artist asked, "Who are you?" "I was to have my portrait painted at ten." "No, I never saw you before. I don't know you. Oh, but.. I was looking for a beggar." "Well, I am that beggar. I decided to clean up a bit since I was going to paint my portrait." And the artist said, "Go away. You are of no use to me now. I needed you as you were. Now you are of no use to me!" We must come to the Father as we are! He know what we are really like. If we wait until we are good enough, we will wait until eternity has past! Verse 20 last part: But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." The prodigal son did not realize the hurt and void that he had left in his father's house. His father was waiting and watching for him. His father recognized him through all of his filth and ran to meet him. And he got up to him and stopped and he said, "Wait! Go take a bath and then I will hug and kiss you." NO! He took him as he was, into his arms. He didn't even wrinkle his nose and say, "You smell like a pig." He hugged him and kissed him in his present disgrace! But the son doesn't yet realize what is happening and begins the speech that he has been rehearsing all the way home. He's brought it down to two sentences because he wants it to be refined. He wants to get it out fast. He doesn't want his father to send him away before he's done with his speech, and so he starts it. Look at verse 21: "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'" True words indeed. He had sinned against Heaven and his father. He was not worthy to be a son. But his father does not let him finish the speech! His father refuses to hear the part about being a servant for this is not a servant, this is his child. Verse 22: "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet." The loving father did not say a thing about "let's get you cleaned up and then we will think about what to do." He orders his servants, "Quick! Bring my robe and cover what is unclean." To make this son look like he belonged and had never left. He is now covered by his fathers righteousness. He had a ring placed upon his finger to replace the one that had been lost. A ring symbolized family membership in those days. On such a ring would have been the family inscription or crest. It could be used in the market place like a credit card. This son's past credit history had just been erased! The Father had paid his debt in full. He now has a new platinum Master Card on his finger. He is HOME!!!! Verses 23-24: "'Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate." This man had perceived his father to be stern and severe just as Satan wishes us to think of our Heavenly Father. But now he has a different perception His father is a Father of Love! I wish that the story ended here. But this is not a story of one lost son but of two lost sons. The older son was homeless as well. Let's see why. Verses 25-27: "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come," he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'" Unlike his father, the older brother had not been looking for the prodigal's return. He had probably heard rumor of his brother and had thought that he gotten what he deserved. Verse 28: "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him." Notice who went out to whom. The father goes out to his son as well to plead with him. "But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you" Slaving? Remember what I said about the older brother being homeless. He considered himself a slave of his father. He was homeless in his own home. He did not even claim his own brother: "this son of yours." He was a slave in his own father's house. He was homeless in his own father's home! That's the way he felt. "I've been working my way..." Have you ever heard that? "I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him.'" Verses 28-30: "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'" Wow! "My son," the father said. He calls him, "son." "My son, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. The fattened calf was yours. Everything! You didn't realize that you had it all in my home. You were a slave in my home. You didn't realize how good you had it. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found." This loving father not only affirms that the eldest son is his son, but reminds him gently that the youngest son is still his little brother. "This brother of yours has returned." What did the brother decided to do? Jesus does not say but allow His hearers to decide for they are the elder brother of the story. Who are you? Are you a prodigal son who needs to return home? Go to the father just as you are. Are you a prodigal son who has returned home? Praise God! Are you an older brother who feels like a slave in his own house and does not care for his brother? Learn of the Father's love and learn to feel at home with your fellow sinful brothers. Are you an older brother who enjoys being a Son to his Father and shows it by bringing his brothers back to his father? Praise God! No matter who you are, we have the same Heavenly Father, not a keeper of slaves, but a lover of His children! Thanksgiving reminds us of what we are thankful for. I am thankful for many wonderful things! But I am most thankful that I will never have to be homeless because my Heavenly Father has paid the price to keep me as His son. Opening Hymn #560, Let All Things Now LivingScripture: Luke 15:18-20Closing Hymn: #296, Lord, I'm Coming Home McDonald Road Sermons Index

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq96G7hB6dg]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiwKmYfHonw]