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By Dr. Douglas Bennett Going Fishing with God I sat in my barber's chair listening to one of the customers tell a fishing story. He told of having discovered a fly that attracted the fish. He said it had an irresistible attraction to them and they could not resist the bait. Then he cited as proof: in two hours he caught 153 bluegill. Well, as I listened to the story, and other stories like this, I somehow became skeptical and I said, "That story sounds awfully fishy." You know, traditionally, fishing stories have been exaggerated out of proportion. And they have to be shrunk down to some sort of believable size to where you can get your hand around it. Well, that is not the way it is with the fishing story I want to share with you this morning. Although it is unusual, although it is filled with the miraculous, I want you to know that the half has not yet been told. The half has not yet been told in this interesting story. Now I know that when a man catches a fish, that no longer makes news. It's done reasonably often by fisherman, but if you can reverse the procedure and have the fish catching the man; now you've got news! Headline news! The kind that would be featured in all of the network news programs, and perhaps, even be worthy of a news break in the midst of the day. It's that kind of story I have to relate to you this morning, told in four action-packed chapters, a total of forty-eight verses, and within these few compact verses you have adventure that is unparalleled. You have the emphasis of cowardice versus courage. You have selfishness and unselfishness highlighted. Love and anger; judgment and blessing; disobedience and obedience: all of this has been combined, homogenized together into one unforgettable story like we have never heard before, and it is all for our edification. And this story was written by the "Dove". That's really his name. As the mother cradled that little infant in her arms and looked into those sparkling brown eyes, she said, "Oh, you're my little dove. And that's the name that stuck with him the rest of his days. Yawnah, which means to us, Jonah. In this familiar story of Jonah there is housed and unfamiliar message that needs to be explored for your benefit and my benefit, because the story of Jonah helps us to better understand ourselves, and it also helps us to better understand God. In this story we have displayed both the nature of man and we also have the nature of God. Man at his natural worst, and God at His usual best are highlighted in the story. And thus by reviewing these four simple chapters in the book of Jonah you and I should better understand ourselves and we should better understand our God much better. If you have your Bible open you will remember that the story begins with a very significant expression and significant words. In fact it is out of this verse that the entire story emerges. "The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai: 'Go to that great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me.'" Would you notice that this is the Word of the Lord? Would you notice that this is not a dream? It is not a nightmare. It is not a fairy tale. It isn't a fancy or fantasy. It is the Word of the Lord. And I want to tell you when the Word of the Lord is ignored we do so always at the peril of our own lives. For through the Word of God the Lord is seeking to give guidance and give direction. He wants to tell you the right way to go. When you choose to ignore the Word of God you and I are going the wrong way. The way of obedience is still the cheap way. The way of disobedience is always the costly way and the Bible tells us that the way of the transgressor is always hard, it's always difficult. Now, God wished to use Jonah, and He wanted to send him to Nineveh, one of the great cities of Assyria. Now, the Assyrians, it may surprise you to know that they were Semitic people. They were polytheistic like all of the nations around them and their chief god was Asshur. They were an enterprising, commercial people. Daring, adventurous, brave, they were good organizers, but they lacked the knowledge in literary achievements, in scientific achievements, but they more than made up for their deficiency in these things by their strength and by their cruelty. For three hundred years the Assyrians had been the strongest nation of the great near-east. They were the "People's Republic of China." They were the "Former Soviet Union." And they were notorious and noted for their cruelties, for their inhumane treatment and atrocities. They peeled off the skins of alive captives. They cut off their hands in piles. I've traveled in the middle east, and I've gone to the museums and seen the reliefs and they highlighted, not their literary skills and art, but their atrocities. And the tongues were cut off. You'll see piles of tongues. They were a cruel nation that bulldozed over the other inferior nations and were notorious for this. And it was to this nation that God was wanting to send Jonah. Why? I'll tell you why. Because John 3:16 is a truth of the Old Testament just as much as it is a truth of the New Testament. God loves people. And despite the fact that wickedness was reaching judgmental proportions, God did not want the judgments to be poured out without giving them a chance. And so Jonah was being tapped on the shoulder for this assignment, you see. Now the second verse (Jonah 1:2) tells us he was to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. But verse 3 says that Jonah rose up, not to obey God, but rather to disobey God, the word of the Lord. He had not learned that economy is obeying. Cost is in disobeying. And so he rose to disobey. I can imagine that he pulled out his little date-book and he might have said, "Now, Lord, you know I have pencilled in here a vacation for that time. You know I've been overworked and I.. I really need a vacation. Could you let someone else take this assignment?" And without waiting for an answer, he scurries in to his little shelter home there up in Gath-hapher in northern Galilee and he packs his overnight case. He scurries out as fast as he can heading down the mountainside up in Galilee, going on down toward the western shoreline of Joppa, fifty-five miles away. Now, Nineveh lay six hundred miles to the east of him had he gone that direction. But now he goes to the opposite direction, fifty-five miles. And after those much of the way, he was weary and tired, but to his surprise and pleasure, he found there a boat, a boat that was ready to leave for Tarshish, and he discovered that Tarshish lay way at the end of the Mediterranean sea, down in southern Spain, at Gibraltar, twenty-four hundred miles away. He thought, man, that seems like a safe place. And if he enquired further, he found that they had room for just one more passenger. Boy was he hitting it lucky! He must have thought at this time that God was honoring his request: asking for a temporary leave of absence. But you know, I want to remind us all: because you and I may prosper in some scheme of ours, does not mean that God is in it, because the devil may prosper you in order that he might later plague you. The devil may even bless you for a while, and later he will blight you. Moreover, God may allow you and me to have what you and I want in order that He may give us what we need. Have you ever thought of that? He may let you have what you want so that He can give you what you need. So he found the ship was ready to leave. Verse three tells us that after paying the fare he went aboard. Isn't that an interesting expression? Have you stopped to realize that he's honest? Honest with the owner of the ship, but he's dishonest with the owner of the universe, and paying the price, steeling the fare with the ship-owner does not settle the affair with God. Not in one particular, does it? You notice, too, an interesting thing. He didn't ask for a special price, a tourist price, senior citizen price. He didn't ask for special favors. Perhaps he felt that no price was too high to pay so long as it would get him out of ear-shot of God. And so he willingly paid the price. Little did he realize the fare he was paying was only a small installment of the price, the ultimate price of disobedience, for he yet had to learn that obedience is an economy and disobedience is always extremely costly. So after having traveled fifty-five miles he was rather weary. He goes down into his cabin and there he falls fast asleep. He must have thought that he's heard the last of God for a while. But you know something, God was not finished with Jonah. And the record tells us, verse 4: "Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea." A great wind began to blow and these sailors were used to storms at sea. But the mariners were unable to control this storm because.. You know, some storms are born in the clouds of heaven like our tornado three weeks ago. And some storms are born in the arsenal of heaven, right at the throne of God. This was one of those God-sent storms blowing. And the ship's captain and the mariners were unable to control it. Finally, unable to stabilize the ship, they began to say, "We must get rid of the cargo or we'll lose the ship." And so they cast the cargo over-side. At long last they recognize that all hope of saving the ship was now gone. Now it was our lives! Now we must alert the passengers to prepare to abandon ship. So the captain goes down, raps on the door, and opens the door because there was no answer. To his surprise he finds the passenger Jonah, the dove, fast asleep. And he calls out, "What do you mean! How can you sleep at a time like this? Why don't you get on your knees and pray to your God and perhaps He will prevent us from perishing?" It is ironic, isn't it, that it was a pagan coming to what we would call a Christian servant of God and having to wake up the servant of God and alert him to the peril of his life. It should have been in reverse! It should have been the prophet alerting the pagan. And I wonder how many people today may be sleeping, sleeping on the verge of an eternal world. We become so exposed to signs that it almost in time we become calloused and we rock to sleep in the cradle of worldliness, and we no longer sense the seriousness of the times in which we are living. I want to tell you that sin's lethargy is the devil's anesthesia. And the deeper we sleep, the ruder will be the awakening. You can be sure of that. Jonah was sleeping on the verge of slumbering volcano that was ready to explode. Imminent danger, and yet he did not know it. Perhaps this is the reason why Paul tells us, "It is high time that we should awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed." (Romans 13:11) God is coming and He's coming soon. May God help us not to be asleep. Sin has a way of tracking a man or a woman. Wherever he goes, you can't get away. If I go into the heavens, you're there. If I go down into the depths of the earth, our scripture says, there you are. If I to the east or the west, you're there. You can't get away from God. Be sure, be certain your sin will find you out. That's the great truth that is being underscored here. Well, what do we learn from this chapter? We learn that man is running from God. He started with Adam and Eve when they sinned. And God came in the cool of the day and asked Adam, "Where are you?" And they were running. And man has been running ever since. Mankind, running from God, but there's no place to hide. But there's not place to hide. Let's come to the second chapter of Jonah. I want you to notice the progression that has taken place. From Gath-hepher he went down to Joppa. From Joppa he went down into the boat. Then that boat goes, he finally gets cast down into the water into a fish's belly and down into the bottom of the sea. Then he is about as low down as he can get. For the second chapter, verse six tells us, "To the roots of the mountains I sank down, and the earth beneath barred me in forever." Verse five: "The engulfing waters threatened me. The deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head." He's down at the bottom of the ocean. That is the direction where the one who runs from God always ends. DOWN! It's not up, it's DOWN! That's what the record is trying to tell us. And he is as low down as he could get. Some of you may be in that kind of downward spiral this morning. I don't know. maybe your home is coming unglued. Maybe your children have staked out a claim on fool's hill. And is shooting arrows at your heart. Maybe they're using the chemicals. Maybe your job has caved in on you, or some terrible illness and affliction. You may be down in the pits this morning. But I want to tell you there's hope for those down in the pits. This record of this story reminds us that there is decided hope. God doesn't always prevent us from having our way. He sometimes allows us to get entangled with the cords of our own devising in order that He can give us what we need. Sometime we have to hit bottom before we even sense that we have a need. But even when we hit bottom, I want to tell you there's hope for you and me. And the whole story changes like a teeter-totter on the second chapter, verse one because the fish has already captured him; came up to burp, and what happened? He opened his big mouth, another burden goes in, two-legged burden, and takes him down for the first submarine ride in the history of the world. Jonah 2:1, "From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God." What a strange prayer room. It shows us there is no time, there is no place where prayer is inappropriate, doesn't it. Any time you need Him, and if anybody ever needed Him , the man Jonah certainly did need Him, didn't he? One of the greatest blessing that comes to you and me through prayer is the change it produces in you and me. Prayer changes people, yes, prayer changes circumstances. Praying down in the dark brought light to Jonah. You may be in a dark pit today, but that's your greatest ally is prayer. Pray, and He can lift you to the light. Yes, if you are praying down in the depths it can lift you up to the heights for God is there. Aren't you glad that God doesn't desert us when we need Him? Aren't you glad God doesn't have office hours? You call the doctor, and you find out that they're all closed down. They won't be open until tomorrow. Aren't you glad God doesn't have a beeper that he can shut off? His beeper is always on. It's turned toward you and toward me. He loves to hear you, as you call upon Him. For just when I need Him the Lord is near. And so Jonah began to pray. The Psalms was his prayer book. Ten Psalms he refers to here. Then he closes this in saying, (verse 9) With a song of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord." You see, heretofore, Jonah had been able to use his own cunning, his own skills, and maneuvered himself out of every situation, but God boxed him in. And the human power was completely boxed in and he could use nothing. The only way he could look was up. When you hit bottom, look up! Pray to God. And He will hear. Run to God. See, he ran from God, now he's running to God, but not until he recognized his need. Which brings us to our third chapter. And the third chapter pictures the fish, the cargo, delivering the cargo. Jonah is the cargo, and he swims over to as near to his original destination as he could and opens his big mouth and Jonah comes out. Wouldn't you like to have had a video of that? What a sight he must have been. Three days lounging in the stomach of a fish. His beard, I wonder what it looked like. Tangled, hair all unkempt, tousled. His clothes wrinkled, wet, smelly, hydrochloric acid. Probably burns on his skin and on his face. And the record tells us Jonah 3:1, "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time: Go to the city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I gave you." Please notice: the same identical message. God did not change the requirement to accommodate the prophet. But God did change the prophet sot that he could fulfill the commission. That's what God does in your life and in my life. There are no bargain days in religion. It's always so "likewise, whosoever does not forsake all that he hath he cannot be My disciple." It's always that way. It always will. But He can change you and me so that we can carry out what God wishes for you and me. And so the word of the Lord came the second time, it says. Aren't you glad for the second chances that God gives? I'm glad He didn't cast me off the first time, the second, time the third time, fourth time. I'm so glad He kept pursuing me, running after me when I was running from Him. City of New York streets, a gang leader, pilfering, fighting, stealing, hurting people, Ron Halvorsen, illiterate. He couldn't read anything but the comic books. God gave him another chance. And now he's running with God. A dug Bachelor lived like an animal in a cave. You would have said, "Don't waste your time on a person like that. God reached down and gave him another chance. No telling how many chances, and now he's running with God. You see, when God gives you another chance and me another chance, He wants us now to go on God's errands. Jonah did not say, "Lord, let me go spend the night in the Holiday Inn. I need to freshen up a bit to perform my task. I need a good bath. I need a good night's sleep." He now understood God's work demanded haste, and he ran to do God's work and to go out and minister to the people. And he went to that great city of Nineveh. Do you know that it is sixteen hundred forty acres? Collegedale has about a thousand acres over there. This was a large city to the Jewish people. The largest cities they had in Palestine were none over twenty acres. 16040 acres? A great city. And it took him forty days to go down the little alleys and all the little houses and streets for him to preach the message that he had to give. And did he preach it with fervor, with a new- born spiritual fervor due to the experience through he had passed. He must have had a convincing message for the people of that city trembled in response to the judgment hour message. The nobles, the kings, the peasants all humbled themselves before God and turned away from their evil to God. And do you know friends, that's what repentance is all about. When you and I turn from our sinfulness by the grace of God. That's the only way we can turn. To Him for help. He honors that as the best you have to offer. And He will respond. What have we learned from this chapter? We've learned that God is not willing that any should perish. We've learned that God sees something in sinners that you and I don't see in sinners worth saving. We've learned that God want to use His church, you and me, weak and defective as we may be in the mission of winning the lost and bringing them to God. You can run from God, but you can't hide. When you hit bottom, look up, and run to Him. Then when God gives you a second chance, run with God as Jonah did. Now we come to our last chapter. This fourth chapter, and as we turn here we open with an angry, angry preacher and evangelist. His anger spills out in a prayer to God. He can't contain himself. You see, God isn't angry, but Jonah is. And Jonah is angry because God isn't angry. And here the preacher is who had a hundred percent return from his preaching. 100%! I've never known an evangelist to have that. He should have been elated, walking on a cloud. Instead, he's down in the pits, grumbling. You see his nature: he does not love people enough. You can see that. And so he complains to God and he says, if you will notice, this is why in verse 2, "....I was quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." I want to tell you my friends, that's the greatest character recommendation I can find of God. And he's angry because God is like that. And I am thrilled because God is like that. Because if He wasn't like that way, I wouldn't be standing before you today. It's because He's gracious, compassionate, not anxious to punish. "Turn, turn, for why will you die, oh house of Israel?" God wants to save not to destroy any individual. And so Jonah creeps out on the side of a hill, safe space, safe spot, looks down. He wanted to see what would happen at the end of that preaching, now. Would fire and brimstone fall? And if it did, I'm at a safe distance. But at the same time I want to be close enough to witness. And there he sat. And the wind... if you've ever been to the Middle East you know how those winds in the summer are vehement, and they beat upon his head, even though he had erected himself a little shack there. And then it was that God said, "Do you have a right to be angry?" "Oh, yes I do have a right to be angry." You see, God had allowed a vine, a castor vine to grow, to shade him. And it cooled him down and he was so grateful. Then God allowed a worm to come and to destroy it. Then God sent a scorching wind that beat vehemently upon him. "Do you have a right to be angry?" "Oh, yes I do! Up to the point of.... let me die." The Lord said, "I need to give you a this little experiential lesson. You rejoiced over that vine that you had not planted, had not tilled, and it had offered you relief and comfort. You wanted me to treat the Ninevites like the worm treated that vine. Should I not have been merciful to the hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know right from wrong?" You see, at this stage of this chapter we have Jonah running ahead of God. He is trying to tell God how to run His work. God loves people, and so should we. We have suggested by reviewing these four chapters of Jonah we would better understand ourselves and God. Man is self-centered: God is self-denying. Man is deceptive: God is devoted. Man runs from God: but God runs to man, to help him. Man lacks love and compassion: God is abounding, full of compassion and love. In this book we have found: man can run from God, but he can't hide. We have discovered that when you hit bottom there's only one way to look: that's up. Look up in prayer. Turn to God, run to God, and when God gives you a second chance, run with God. But the caution is: Let's always avoid running ahead of God, trying to tell God how to run His work. God loves people, and so should we. May I remind you today that when you go fishing with God, when you go fishing with God, the soul you save may be your own. Scripture: Psalm 139:1, 7-10, 17 Closing Hymn: #287 - Softly and Tenderly McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J. Gettys The Absent Mother On Sabbath afternoons I enjoy going out for a walk. It's a good thing to get out into God's second book, His first book being the Bible. One Sabbath afternoon I walked through a cemetery and I saw inscribed on an old tombstone these words: "She lived with her husband 50 years and died in the hope of a better life." That was on that tombstone. On Sabbath afternoon we have a lot of time, so I just stood there and thought about those long years she had endured with that hard husband. Sometimes our homes are the survival of the fittest. Some men are so rough on their wives. Children give mothers a run for their money. Mothers have it tough! Tomorrow is Mothers day. You know, motherhood is not easy. If it was going to be easy to raise kids, it never would have started with something called "labor." The labor never ends. One mother said that at her house mothers day was every day! It was mothers day to do the dishes, mothers day to fold the wash, mothers day to do the sweeping and on and on.... I want to talk to you today about a mother who was absent. Now you may be thinking, well, a lot of mothers are absent today. They're off at work. Children are at day-care. This mother is mentioned in the Bible. She was absent during most of the life of her child, and yet her child became being good. I want to ask a very serious question: Is it important to bring your baby to church? A baby doesn't get anything out of church, does it! You'd better think again. Let's look at a Bible character: her son was one of the greatest leaders in the Bible. This great mother had a name that spells the same forward or backward. (No, not EVE). Yes! Hannah! I want you to look at Hannah. Her son was that great spiritual Patriarch -- Samuel. Hannah only had her baby for 3 years when he was just weaned. Now if you're only going to have your child for three years, there's very little you can do because babies don't understand anything today, except if their diaper is wet or if they're hungry. Do you think that's true? Not so! Let's turn to 1 Samuel 1:1 cf. "There was a certain man....whose name was Elkanah....And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah." Now Hannah had her baby, Samuel, for three years, until he was weaned. In the middle-east culture they weaned their children at about three years old. At that tender age he was taken away; his mother took him and she gave him to the high priest, Eli. What would you think of me if took my only son at the age of 3 and I drove to Silver Springs, Maryland and gave him to the president of the General Conference. Then the only time I'd see my son after that was once a year to give my son a new coat. I would probably be accused of child neglect. Let's also suppose that the General Conference President was poor like Eli was, and also let's suppose that he two older boys: older than my little baby. And that these boys were evil and corrupt. They made fun of the church. Every time they needed money they'd go into the church treasury. They knew the combination to the treasury safe and took money from it to support their evil habits. Now what kind of father would I be? Let's suppose the situation was so bad that people even stopped coming to church all over the land. Everyone knew that the General Conference president was to blame because he never disciplined his own evil teenage boys. What kind of a father would this man be to my little son? Imagine the evil influence of those wicked boys. I would be out of my mind to do such a thing. But let's suppose that my son grew up to be a wonderful holy Christian Saint. Eventually he became the President of the General Conference, and the he became best leader our church ever had. Then what would you think of me as a parent? People would say: Wow, look at what that boy became despite his neglectful parents. So.... just WHY did Samuel turn out so well? Did his mother neglect him? There are some rich morsels of spiritual truth for mothers in 1 Samuel: 2 First of all I want you to notice that Samuel's father was a Polygamist. Now, that's not recommended. He had with two wives. Besides that, he favored one wife over the other. And that always happens. I Samuel 1:5-- "But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her..." Jealousy raged in the household. He gave Hannah two portions of food as if she had a child even though she could not get pregnant. When you want to have a baby and you can't.......It is tough. Why didn't she have a baby? Because God closed her womb. If you can't get pregnant, maybe there's a reason. People have a way of aggravating a poor lady who may never be a mother. "When are you going to have children? You're getting pretty old. You'd better ...." You know how the words go. They shouldn't way things like that. She had no fruit of the womb to celebrate. Her tears were bitter. Notice verse 6 - "And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat." Now, I want to mention ten keys to good motherhood. I want you to listen. Here are ten facts that are brought out in these verses. If you want to be a good mother, If your daughter is going to get married someday and you want her to be a good mother take notes if she's not here. Here are ten keys to being a good mother, brought out here in the Bible about Hannah and her relationship with her son. - Good Mothers PLACE THEIR CHILDREN'S NEEDS FIRST! - Let me show you how this works out here. Even beyond your own happiness, you need to place your children's needs first. Now, Hannah did not DIVORCE her husband. Did she have grounds for divorce? Technically she did, didn't she? Her husband was living with another woman. He had another wife. Was the home happy? No, in fact there were tears all the time. It was like a living hell. But they stayed together! Because of the children, probably. Because of the hope for children. If only for the benefit of the children you need to stay together. I think parents tend to badly underestimate the damage divorce will inflict upon their children. They think, we can't get along. We're just going to separate. The kids will be just fine. That's not true. Judith Wallerstein's long term landmark study shows: Children of divorce suffer greater inattention, Greater Unhappiness more Suicide Far greater drug abuse Greater Violence in their own marriages Most got pregnant before marriage Greater rate of Abortions Juvenile Delinquency They have higher divorce rates when they marry. Divorce sets a whole train of bad losses in motion. Your home may be miserable now, but divorce brings far more misery and for far longer into the lives of your children. - Good Mothers are GENTLE AND KIND! - Hannah was weeping, she was crying, she was suffering. It says her rival kept jabbing her with verbal remarks. What does it say that Hannah did about it? She didn't do anything. She was gentle and kind. Hannah never lashed out or fought back. She took all the unjust criticism in tears and silence. She remained sweet. And I think good mothers are gentle. God had a great still-to-be-seen purpose for His faithful mistreated servant. She remained sweet. - GOOD MOTHERS ARE PRAYING MOTHERS! - Look at verse ten. "In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord." Cry and pray: Pray and cry. She became a woman of deep prayer. Today's modern children desperately need mothers that are praying mothers. That's one of the greatest needs. You can read her beautiful prayer in chapter 2 of first Samuel. She even knew how to pray. In fact I read: "There is a mighty power in prayer. ... An appeal to heaven by the humblest saint is more to be dreaded by Satan than the decrees of cabinets or the mandates of kings." Seventh-day Adventist Commentary, Vol. 2 p. 1008. Listen to this poem written by a wayward son: I was but a youth and thoughtless as all are apt to be, Tho I had a Christian mother who taught so carefully, There came a time when the world came to allure, I no more sought her love so good and pure. She made my room an altar, a place of secret prayer, And there she took her burden & left it in Gods care, I went my way unheeding, careless of the life I led, Until one day I noticed prints of elbows on my bed. While I wrestled with my conscience Mother wrestled still in prayer, Till that little room seemed hallowed Because of oft she met Him there, My stubborn heart was broken By those imprints on my bed, Her constant love and prayers Were like coals upon my head. Mother-love and God-love are a combination rare, And one that can't be beaten when sealed by earnest prayer. And so at last the fight was won, and I to Christ was led, And mother's prayers were answered by her elbows on my bed." Author unknown If you have a wayward child out there, you keep praying for that child. Hannah was a woman of prayer. Children need praying parents. - Good Mothers LAY HOLD ON GOD! - Look at I Samuel 1:11. "And she made a vow saying, 'O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." She made a vow. She laid hold on God. She made promises and commitments to God. She was a totally SURRENDERED mother. The greatest need of modern children is to have a truly Christian mother who has a daily saving relationship with God. When her boy was finally born she named him Samuel which means "Heard of God". Obviously she had prayed long and hard laying hold on God and God heard her. Does He hear you? Yes, He does if you pray. Are you praying? Obviously she prayed long and hard, laying hold on God. - Good Mothers NEVER GIVE UP! - Verse 12 - Hannah "multiplied praying" (literal). Don't give up on your children. "It is part of God's plan to grant, in answer to the prayer of faith, that which He would not otherwise bestow." Great Controversy p. 525 (EG White). The prayer of faith means a lot. You mothers need to pray in faith about your children. You can't raise Godly children without being a Godly person! You can't expect your children to be good if you don't make an effort to be like Jesus. Develop a love for Jesus in your own heart. - Good Mothers have HIGH EXPECTATIONS for their children. - Expect the most from your children. She said here in verse 11, "He will serve God forever and no Razor will ever shave his head. She believed that she would have a son and she believed that he would serve God forever. She had high expectations for him. Let's say your child brings home the report card and it has a lot of one- legged A's. And let's suppose that you say to your child, "You know, this proves what I have always thought about you. I've always known that you are Stupid! You will never amount to anything! You are Hopeless!" What is going into the child's mind? Motivation for getting real A's? No. Do you know what is going into the child's mind? "I am stupid. This is the best I will ever do. My mother has even given up on me." Don't "bad-mouth" your children. Expect the best; have high hopes for your children. Your child will live up to your expectations, or down to your expectations about him. If you want high goals for your children you need to think highly of them. On the other hand if you have high expectations your children are likely to reach a high goal. At an elementary school researchers randomly selected 6 students in each class and told the teacher that these were special. They are SPURTERS! These can really go! They are going to really shine! They have potential! Actually they weren't special, they were just random students. Lo and behold, at the end of the school year the "Spurters" tested much higher than the rest of the class. In fact, the IQ for the first grade "Spurters" increased 27.4%. The only difference was that the teachers believed in them! Now, what does that tell parents? You need to believe in your child. You need to tell you child some good things about them. Don't "bad-mouth" them all the time. Uphold them for Jesus. Have high expectations. Children reflect their mothers attitude toward them. - Good Mothers have faith in their children. - Hannah was a Woman of Faith-- I Samuel 1:18 "'May your servant find favor in your eyes.' Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast." After she got the promise from Eli that she would get what she asked for she believed it. She was a person of faith. She went out; she started to eat something; she was no longer down-cast. 9 months before Samuel was born this mother demonstrated faith. You need to have faith in your children. They're going to make it. Especially if you believe in them. A Mother looks in her teenagers room. The music is loud. The place looks like a Collegedale Tornado just came through. Her child has a wild haircut and is eating junk food. The homework is not even started and it's late. If she believes that her child will amount to something and be a fine upstanding Christian she is a Mother of Faith. If she believe that child will be a fine upstanding Christian some day she will never give up on that child. Have faith in God and keep believing in your kids. - Good Mothers have a saving relationship with God. - Hannah had daily morning worship every day - verse 19. If you want to be a good mother, if you want to raise your child to be a special person, you need to have daily worship in your home. The Bible of a good mother never needs dusting. Your mother's old Bible is probably true, because she's read it through and through. - Good Mothers are desperate. - All she had was 3 years. Three years, that's all she had. She looked on her baby as an offering to God. Each moment with him was priceless. That early training pays off. A child learns more during the first years than he will ever learn again. She concentrated on teaching him how to distinguish between good and evil. A little baby, one year old, will learn the tunes in its mind that are sung in the Sabbath School class. These children need to be in Sabbath School. They need to be in church. So often we teach our children reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic, she concentrated on teaching Samuel how to distinguish between right and wrong. Really, that's all we need to know, isn't it, in our spiritual walk with life?. Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he shall not depart from it." Voltaire the famous Atheist, memorized an infidel poem at the age of 5. It's evil never left his mind! He became one of the greatest, notorious atheists in the world. Be careful what children put in their minds. - Good mothers give their best to their children. - Hannah gave all she had to Samuel. That coat she made him every year, the best coat she could possibly make. Her love was the finest. Her prayers were the greatest and the deepest. might have been absent most of his life, but he knew her love was as deep as a bottomless pit! A four old boy was playing with a ball and it rolled past a parked car and out into the street. He ran after it. But He was hit by car. An ambulance came. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He had internal injuries: he was bleeding internally. He needed blood badly. In his small town there was no blood bank. His mother was the only one who had his same rare blood type. She said that of course she was willing to give blood. The doctors said that she could give so much and that's all. The doctors took all from her they dared to take. The boy rallied. He started to come around. But he still needed more blood. He couldn't get it from his mother. A call went out but no one in town had his type. The boy began to weaken. It was a desperate moment. Just then a strange man came in. No one in town had ever seen him before. His blood was tested and it matched! They took some blood and gave it to the boy. He received strength. He would be OK. His life had been saved by the stranger. But the man that had given blood went into a coma. The doctors now had another emergency. As they worked to keep the man from dying they noticed something strange. It was soon discovered that this man was a woman. She was the boy's own mother. The same person. She had given too much blood. In and out of a coma she asked about her boy. The boy was brought in and she was told he would be fine. Her last words just before she died were: "Praise God, my little boy will be all right!" That's what Jesus did. He gave His life for you, and me. Can yo imagine how that boy lived after that? A good mother will give her best for her son, for her daughter, for her baby, for her child. Just like Jesus gave His life for us. Samuel---the heaven instructed child, became an incorruptible judge. He was the founder of Israel's sacred schools. All because of his mother. "When Samuel shall receive the crown of glory, he will wave it in honor and [he will] gladly acknowledge that the faithful lessons of his mother, through the merits of Christ, have crowned him with immortal glory." AH 536. Blessed is the mother Who holds onto her children while letting them go. Who puts her kids ahead of an immaculate house Who believes in the power of hugs over yelling. Who believes that prayer will change things. Whose heart always has Jesus right in the middle! Blessed is the mother that is like Hannah. You can be like that if you draw near to Jesus. You will be that kind of a mother. I think every mother here today want to make a re-commitment of your life, and you want to say, "I want to be the mother of my children that I should be." Maybe your child sis just a little baby. Maybe your child is unborn yet. Maybe your child is already grown up. You still have an influence on that child's life. Be the best you can be, and you become the best by inviting the Best into your heart. Invite Jesus into your heart just now, and draw near to Him. Happy Mothers Day! Opening Hymn 191 Love Divine Responsive Reading 793 Closing Hymn 310 I would Draw Nearer to Jesus --------------------------------------------------------------------McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Jim Erwin The Three Wise Women You've heard many sermons around Christmas time. You've heard about the three wise men. And many, many times. But how many of you can give me the name of one of the wise men? Baltezar? Is that in the Bible? No, it's not in the Bible, but that is a name someone gave to one of the wise men. If you've read other stories outside of the Bible, you can probably come up with the names, but there are no names in the Bible for the three wise men. I was talking to some people the other day. They asked me what I was going to preach about. I told them, "The Three Wise Women. By the way, do you happen to know any of their names?" One lady said, "Yes, me and my two daughters." I said, "You're probably wise but you are also very witty." Then I said, "What about the three wise women in the Bible?" We've been so focused in Matthew on the three wise MEN and they remain nameless in the Bible, that we have overlooked the fact that Luke spends a great deal of time talking about three wise women, and he even names them. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter one. Would any of you like to name one of the three wise women? Anna! Yes! Who else? Mary and Elizabeth. Yes! Let's focus our attention today on these three wise women. First, we'll take a look at Elizabeth. Now Elizabeth's name means, a choice of three possibilities, one is "God has sworn." Another possibility is, "God gives abundance." A third possibility is, "God gives fullness." Elizabeth wanted fullness, but she didn't have complete fullness. In fact, she was quite empty. Look in chapter 1 of Luke, beginning at verse 5. "In the time of Herod, king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron." Now to get the picture, you have two preacher's kids who are still working as a pastoral family. But this isn't just first generation, second generation, third generation kind of preacher's kids. This goes back for hundreds of years. Still in the family. Now, they weren't only just preacher's kids, or children of a priestly families, Elizabeth's name is the Greek name of Aaron's wife's name. So here are some people who right off the surface you would say these are good people. Look at verse 6. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly." Now they were righteous before God; the Pharisees were righteous before themselves, before men, before other people. But here we have two people who are described as being "righteous before God." And not only that, they observed all that God had asked them to do and before God they were blameless. Now as Adventist Christians most of us are looking for the day when maybe that might be said about us. You know, that's our prayer, that's the desires of our heart. Love the Lord Jesus with all our heart, mind and soul. But they were described that way. And so you'd think they were well respected in the community. Not so! The next verse, "But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren." Today we would say, "Well, what's the big deal? Barren: don't have any children? Lot's of people don't have any children." In those days, though, it was looked at a little differently. They were not blameless and righteous before the people. Because, you see, if you were barren you were under a divine punishment for some great sin. You were reproached, you bore a stigma, you carried great shame. Can you imagine when they saw Zechariah and Elizabeth walking down the street, what they might be saying? "Why, do you think it was him?" "No. I believe it was her." Or "Maybe it was both of them!" "I wonder what great sin they have done?" Perhaps you have tried to live for the Lord. And yet people have brought false accusation against you. Spread rumors behind your back. May have unfounded suspicions about what your character was really like. If you have, you begin to get an idea how Elizabeth and her husband felt. And that's not all. Being barren was legal grounds for divorce. Or if the husband loved the wife, and didn't want to divorce her because he was still in love with her, he could marry another woman so he could have kids. It was a very serious predicament that Elizabeth and Zechariah were in. I'm pretty sure many times they prayed together for a son. The last part of that verse, verse 7, says, "and they were both well along in years." In the King James version it says, "well stricken in years." What is "well stricken?" Abraham was ninety-nine and Sarah was eighty-nine when they were described as "well stricken." Joshua was ninety-two and David was seventy-one and they were considered as "well stricken in years." So "well stricken in years" seems to be somewhere between seventy-one and ninety-nine. Zechariah in the temple doing the dream of his life, the dream, the hope every priest. They would be chosen by lot to go in and say the prayers before the altar of incense, and he's there, but he's given up hope about praying for a son, but he does pray for THE Son, because every time the priest went before the altar of incense they prayed for the Messiah, the Son of God. And so he prays, and an angel comes and tells him that he is going to ... He and his wife are going to have a son and he didn't believe it. And so Gabriel struck him dumb. Now! Those of you who are well stricken in years, and those of you who know somebody, how many people between seventy-one and ninety-nine really want to get pregnant and have a baby? But Elizabeth was kind of excited. Look in verse 25. "The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people." She was excited. Now if you can imagine the Fifty-five Club meeting over at Collegedale for one of their programs or lunches, and in walks Elizabeth, somewhere between seventy-one and ninety-nine, and her face is glowing, and her feet are just gliding across the carpet. She looks all bright and beautiful, and somebody goes over to her and says, "Elizabeth, what happened to you?" And she says, "Oh, honey, you're not going to believe this. I'm pregnant." And the person looks around and says, "Is the counselor in his office today? Elizabeth needs some help. She's saying she's pregnant." The verse before that says, "After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion." Maybe she was so excited that she was afraid she'd blurt it out to somebody or they'd ask and she couldn't keep from telling them and then she would be reproached and made fun of all over again, and so she goes to hide. Another reason she goes to hide is that this baby was described as a special baby. If you look in verse 15, there is a description of what he would be like and what he would not drink. Then it says, "and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth." Now, this was not usual. In Old Testament days the Holy Spirit came and went. It did not particularly stay with somebody like it has since Jesus ascended to Heaven. That was His gift to Christians, that the Holy Spirit would be with us all the time. And so she's thinking, "How am I, well stricken in years, going to raise this special child, that will have the Holy Spirit even while I have him in my womb?" Maybe she was thinking, "I'll be over a hundred when this boy gets into academy. How is a hundred and something year old woman going to help a teen- age boy get through those teen-age years? That's hard enough for the thirty something or forty something mothers." And so she's meditating. "Lord, this is a great gift you've given to me. How will I take care of it?" One thing that Elizabeth always kept through all those years of barrenness, she kept the faith. She was righteous before God even though people thought she was unrighteous. She maintained her faith in Jesus Christ. Regardless of the ridicule she went to church, she said her prayers. And then Mary came. Now, Elizabeth had been barren all these many years and here comes a (most people say) fifteen year-old girl who is pregnant and not only that, Elizabeth is having a special son, but Mary is having THE special Son. Elizabeth's place in the spotlight is going to be short-lived, overshadowed by Mary's Son. You know, Elizabeth embraced Mary with joy. There was no jealousy. Many of you know full well that sometimes when you work for the church or you belong to a church jealousy takes over because somebody wants to seem better than somebody else. Somebody wants to play the bells, they didn't have room in the bell choir. Or somebody wants to preach instead of the pastors. But there was no hint of jealousy in Elizabeth's life. She rejoiced in whatever the Lord wanted to do with her life, and she rejoiced at what the Lord wanted to do with other people's lives. And so some of the wisdom that we can borrow from Elizabeth is to keep the faith regardless of what other people say about us. And when the Lord blesses somebody else rejoice with them instead of being jealous of them. So Mary went to see Elizabeth after Gabriel talked to her. Mary's name goes all the way back to Miriam, and who is Miriam? She was Aaron's sister, and Moses' sister. So we have ties all the way back to the very beginning of the nation of Israel as they came out of Egypt. Her name has many possibilities. "bitterness", "star of the sea", "plump one", "the wish for a child", or "the one who loves the Lord", or "the one who is loved by the Lord", or just plain "beloved". I like the last one because (verse 28) "The angel went to Her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! (or you who are highly graced) The Lord is with you." And Mary was troubled. Well, you might be troubled, too. How many times have you been walking down the hallway dimly lit, lost in your own thoughts, and somebody jumps out in front of you in the hall and goes "Boo?" You react with, "Ah! You scared me." Or it's a possibility that Mary was perplexed about what the angel said, "You're going to have great honor. You are highly honored." She didn't know why. Poor teen-age girl and poverty stricken circumstances. Or it could be most of the trouble and perplexity came from the fact that here she was talking to an angel. If you look through your concordance about angels you will find that the angel often says, "Fear not. Don't be afraid." And then Gabriel went on to tell Mary what was going to happen. And Mary believed. Remember Gabriel closed up Zechariah's vocal abilities because he didn't believe. But he does not rebuke Mary. He explains something, and then Mary says, (verse 34) something to the effect: I do believe, but I don't understand. How is this all going to take place? It seems like there's something missing here. I'm not married. I'm a virgin. I've never had sex with any man. How can I have a son? And so the angel explains the Holy Spirit was going to create a special creation just like God created Adam: a special new creature. And Jesus was actually going to be the unique Son of God. God and Human. And so Mary says, (verse 38) "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." She was willing to embrace the work of God when it was revealed to us. For most of us, when God reveals His work to us, we have a crisis of belief because many times that isn't what we were thinking that God wanted us to do. We wanted to do something else. But Mary embraced it. Philip Yancy says that often the work of God comes with two edges, like a two edged sword. There is great joy and great pain. Mary embraced both: in fact she was the very first person to accept Jesus on His own terms regardless of the cost. She had embraced what God had asked her to do. Even though she might not understand everything God wanted or why. Now think about this. A fifteen year-old girl living in a very small wide area in the wilderness so to speak. No big city, the most prominent feature of the town she lived in was a Roman army garrison. Now suppose this church were next to an army base and some folks who belonged to our church lived near the base and they were in very poor circumstances and this fifteen year old girl walks in and its obvious that she is pregnant. And so some people talk to her and they find out that some of the social services people have already been encouraging her to get an abortion because she can't take care of the kid, she's only fifteen, they don't have any money, but she didn't want to do that. So she come to church hoping to find some help. Well, some folks suggest that she go to a home for unwed mothers and bare the child and then adopt it out. Well, no, she doesn't want to adopt it out. Well, why not, you don't have the money to take care of it, you're just a child, you're just a kid yourself. And she says, This angel came and talked to me, this angel, Gabriel, said that I was going to have a child by the Holy Spirit. What would you say if that girl walked through the back door and told you that today? Some of you are smiling. We might recommend Moccasin Bend. If Mary lived today, some people believe the chances are that Jesus would never have been born. Mary had a great deal of pain, so she goes to Elizabeth. She knows she can't tell Joseph, she has to let Gabriel take care of Joseph. She goes to Elizabeth. Luke 2:4-7. Joseph has had his talk with Gabriel and he's on the way to Bethlehem because he has to go register. Normally only the men had to go, but Mary went along with him and they got to Bethlehem, they were both strangers there, new to the area. They were unrecognized, unheard of, homeless, unhonored, and they can't find a house to stay in. All the houses are full. The inn was not like going down to the Holiday Inn today. The inns sometimes were just stone towers where maybe shepherds watched over their sheep. The inn might have rooms, and it might not. If it did have rooms, there was no furniture in it. But many of the caravansaries had some shelters where you could lay down in, but a lot of the men just slept out in the open under the stars. Remember it wasn't Collegedale, it didn't have the rain like we do. And so Mary and Joseph were on there way and they get there and there was no room for them in the inn. Where would a woman go to find privacy to have a baby in that situation? No hospitals. And so the innkeeper suggests that they try the barn. Joseph was poor. There were no physicians, probably, in that area. Midwives would probably want to get paid, and Joseph couldn't be with Mary because men were forbidden to be with women when they gave birth; a Jewish custom. Well, look at what it says in verse 6. "/While they were there, the time for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. And she (not a midwife) wrapped him in cloths and placed Him in a manger." Many people, and I am one of them, believe that Mary was all by herself when she gave birth. She didn't have a bed, either. No hospital bed, no special delivery room bed: she did in the ancient fashion, she just squatted down and gave birth to her baby all by herself. I've sometimes wondered how Mary felt, if she maybe she didn't feel a bit of a crunch of unbelief. She was supposed to have this very special baby, and she was all alone. And I am sure that many of you have felt at times all alone. Nobody there to help you. Wondering where God is. But if you ever feel all alone again, remember Mary was all by herself. God came to her and performed the greatest miracle of all times. The greatest thing that God ever did for us. She bore Jesus the Son of God, our Savior. In those moments of loneliness when we feel all alone, like Mary, let's believe in what God has told us. Like Elizabeth, keep the faith, believe in our hearts and embrace Jesus. And bring to our hearts not only the joy but be willing to accept the pain that sometimes come to us as Christians. Luke said the most about Elizabeth and Mary. He doesn't say a whole lot about Anna. Anna goes back to Hannah, who prayed for Samuel. Their names mean "Grace." Anna, in chapter 2:36, was a prophetess, the daughter of a man whose name meant "Face of God" . She was of great age. Very old. Some people say that she lived to be 84 years old. But there is another way of looking at that. That is that she was widowed at 84 years. If she was 84 years old at this time she was not really of great age because this was the age of "well stricken". Now, given the customary time of marriage arrangements, Anna was about 15 when the marriage was arranged, she was married for 7 years and her husband died. That would be 22, Then if she had been a widow for 84 years, how old would she be? 106. Now I think that's of great age. It would be great to live that long and be in the physical condition she was in. So, for 84 years, a woman without any social security, a woman that lived in the time when there was no shared retirement plans, a woman who lived in a time when her husband... there wasn't a stock market to invest in. Besides, her husband would never have a chance to save up enough money to keep her in good living conditions for 84 years. It was one of the worst situations. Widows had very little clout, very little influence and usually had almost no money. You remember the woman with the 2 mites. Jesus pointed her out. Almost nothing, but she gave it all to the Lord. And so she had gone through years and years of struggle but now she was at the temple. Some people think that officials at the temple had given her one of the rooms along the side and that they had requested in return for that she teach the young women. Now if you're a hundred and six, who do you consider to be a young woman? I can imagine her walking out into the women's court in the temple area, putting her arm around a 70 something year old and says, "Well, young lady, it's so nice to see you today. What's on your heart, what can we talk about?" But after years and years of struggle, we find no hint of bitterness in Anna's life. What do we find about her? She never left the temple, but worshiped day and night, fasting and praying, (38) "Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." Here was a lady, who prayed for other people, she praised God, gave thanks, and encouraged other people. So she cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Now maybe we can learn something and borrow from these wise women some of their wisdom. I believe part of that wisdom is: Elizabeth kept the faith regardless of what other people said. She rejoiced when the Lord blessed others. Never jealous. Mary believed with all her heart what God told her. She embraced Jesus regardless of the personal cost. To follow it up with Anna, cultivating an attitude of gratitude, of thanks giving no matter what happened. My wish for you and myself is that this Christmas season, we might be able to tap into that kind of wisdom and make our lives fuller and more full of grace. --------------------------------------------------------------------McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Don Gettys I Need A Miracle JOHN 2:1-11 Jesus had successfully survived 5 weeks in the desert with the master tempter. The experience I'm going to relate to you happened right after Jesus was tempted. It's recorded in the second chapter of John. Jesus must have been starved to death after the wilderness temptation. After a time he and his mother went to a wedding. This wedding was in Cana. Because the guests were extra thirsty or perhaps because not enough juice was ordered, somehow, the punch ran out. Now, you don't run out of wine at a wedding. So Jesus' mother came to Him and said, "They need some more wine." Jesus made up some more out of water, and it was better than the first. Jesus took some plain worthless water and changed it into something of great value. Now, you're in for rich amounts of blessing today as we study this experience. He wants to do that for each of us. He want to take something that is not too valuable and make it into something that is extremely valuable. You are in for rich amounts of blessing today as we dig into this fascinating story. JOHN 2:1 "On the third day..." Let's stop right there. On the third day, this wedding took place. Jesus was raised on the third day. The third day is the day of new life. At creation it was on the third day that this world emerged from its watery grave and was clothed with living vegetation. On the third day Jesus came out of His grave clothed with eternal life. The third day is the day of new life. Here on this third day is the day that Jesus emerges from his years of seclusion and His public ministry comes to life. ..."A wedding took place..." Jesus performed the very first wedding of Adam and Eve and now, 4000 years later, He continues to sanctify marriage. It is good to be married. It is not good to be just living together. We should be married. God holds the patent, He is the inventor of marriage. He stands behind the product with a lifetime warranty. But... both husband and wife have to send in their warranty cards. Tell me, when you buy a can opener, do you send in the warranty card? Be honest, now. Are there a bunch of warranty cards in your drawer somewhere that you think is worthless, it's practically cheap plastic junk made in Taiwan or someplace. We don't even send in the warranty cards, do we? And too often when two people get married, we don't send in the warranty cards. You need to send them in. You need to check in with Jesus. If both of you pray together both of you will experience a greater joy in Jesus. 2:2--- "Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding." Jesus and five of His disciples were at the wedding. Notice that Jesus comes by invitation only. If you don't invite Jesus to your wedding, how can you expect to have the complete happiness that you could have had? That potential is missing. Had Jesus not come, there would have been no miracle. No Jesus--no miracle. If there is no place for Jesus in your marriage, you will never have the miracle of the greatest love. If your love has run out, the only solution is to invite Jesus into your home. If your home needs a miracle today, then continue listening.... 2:3---- "When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him, they have no more wine..." Mary came to Jesus with her deepest need and He provided an answer. You can do the same thing today. Jesus has not gone out of the miracle business. Your need may be for Forgiveness or Physical healing because some disease is growing in your body. Or you may be on the verge of losing your marriage. Your children may be in heart wrenching trouble. Whatever your need, come to Jesus. Jesus will help you. Mary came to Jesus. No mention is made of Mary's husband Joseph because he had just died, about 2 months before this time (DA145). Did you notice here that it appears that Mary was trying to exercise her Motherly authority over her son. 2:4---- "Dear WOMAN, why do you involve me?" Let me ask you: How many of you when you talk to your own mother call her WOMAN? On Mothers day do you jot down a note in the card: "Dear WOMAN?" Yet this is the name Jesus called His mother. From that moment, He called her WOMAN! To me this shows Jesus Omniscience. (God is omnipresent, God is omniscient, God is ... He had all knowledge. Jesus purposely avoided calling Mary "Mother" to clarify her standing. I believe Jesus could foresee the modern MARIOLOGY movement today. Thousands of people pray to Mary. They worship Mary. They call her the queen of Heaven. Jesus refused to use a name which would lend support to her deification. When Jesus called her woman, He was teaching that she was a human woman, ONLY a woman. Luke 1:28 says of Mary: 'Blessed art thou AMONG women'. It does not say Blessed art thou ABOVE all women. God blesses all Christian mothers. John 2:5--- "His mother said to the servants, 'do whatever he tells you'." In meekness and humility Mary accepted Jesus words of correction and surrendered her will to whatever His will might be. Let's be wide awake here......If you need a miracle in your life, you must totally surrender your will to Jesus. Tell Him the problem, but do not tell Him what to do about the problem. His answer may be larger and better than anything you could imagine or hope for. In Jesus life, this miracle is a WATERSHED. The changing of the water into wine is the beginning point of His public ministry. Before this time Jesus was just about problem free. He had lived a more or less normal life in and around the carpenter shop of Nazareth. But, If Jesus performed a miracle that day, that one public act would thrust Him into a new role. He had come to do His Fathers will. This act would be a life changing event. He would be placed on the Pharisees' most wanted list. He would be followed by noisy, jostling crowds. The only alone time from then on, would be when others slept. This single act would create jealousy among the religious leaders who would spy on Him and eventually get enough false evidence to try Him and convict Him and hang Him on the cross. If He did that miracle that day that would start Him on the path He would go down. As He stood there looking at the empty drink glasses of the wedding party, He could see laid out before Him all this and more. The hour had come for Him to begin the 1260 day ministry, ending in His own agonizing death. Jesus chose to begin the process of securing our salvation and establishing Christianity. For His first miracle he chose to make grape juice from water. If you were choosing something for your very first miracle might it be perhaps to raise someone from the dead? Something spectacular! Or today, paying off the national debt or raising the Titanic or instantly curing AIDS? Jesus chose a simple thing. John 2:6---- "Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons." These containers were spotlessly clean because they were ceremonial vessels. Can a miracle be performed in a dirty vessel? If you need a miracle today, first ask Jesus to forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Then you can expect a miracle. It is amazing to me that Jesus would not work a miracle in the wilderness to supply His deep personal need, but here Jesus performs a miracle to supply a LUXURY! Obviously, Jesus wants the best for us. John 2:7-8---"Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water; so they filled them to the BRIM." "Then he told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." Jesus performed the miracle and yet look at how it seems that these servants did all the work. They FILLED the jars, they DREW out some wine, they DELIVERED it to the wedding coordinator. The work was human, but the result was divine. The miracle required human cooperation! To get a miracle in your life if you are a conscientious objector. You must be a conscientious co-operator. You must be willing to do whatever Jesus asks you to do. WATER: A symbol of Jesus Himself and His word. The miracle started with water placed down in the darkness of a earthen pot. So similar to the creation of this world when darkness was over the face of the deep. Jesus created the vine which takes water from the ground and makes it into grapes from which we obtain grape juice. That is a miracle! I don't know how that ugly vine can do that! Here Jesus speeds up the process. Here Jesus Himself does the work of the vine. Jesus is the Vine! CLAY POT: Like Adam, it was made from the earth itself. Lifeless and cold. We are made from the clay of the earth. Jesus wants to fill us with the breath of life, He wants to fill us with the water of life, He wants to fill us with Himself. Jesus Christ wants to live in your heart. He wants to live in my heart. Even though we humans are poor and weak earthen vessels, Jesus can use us to accomplish His mission. We are valuable in His hands. The WINE was actually pure tasty grape juice, perhaps tasting much like the grape juice we will drink from when we get to heaven. It was out of this world. It was not fermented. Desire of Ages p. 149---it was the pure juice of the grape. The wine represented our sinless Saviour. Jesus' blood was pure. The Grape Juice was pure. Fermentation represents impurity. Fermented wine is alcohol and should not be tasted. (See Prov. 20:1; 23:29-32; I Cor. 3:16, 17, 6:19) The wine was a symbol of Jesus Shed BLOOD. This is the fountain of every blessing. Notice that the precious blood of God's Son must be poured out before it can save. This first day of Jesus ministry pointed to the last day when He would die and His blood would be spilled for every sinner. Jesus ministry begins as it ended. It started with the drinking of the cup at a meal and ended with the Lord's supper where again the cup was served. Finally He drank the cup on the cross. FILLED TO THE BRIM. God always gives to the overflowing. His blessings flow forth in generous amounts. When Jesus Christ, the water of life come in to this clay vessel He wants to fill it up, completely full, completely to the overflowing, nothing of the world remaining, completely to the top. His blessing flow in generous amounts. JOHN 2:9--- "The master of the banquet tasted the water. . . that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew...." The SERVANTS knew. Those who are NEAREST to Jesus possess the true knowledge of Jesus. To know Jesus we must come near to Him. Those Christians who perform the humblest service are the ones closest to Him. The humble shepherds knew Jesus had been born. The servants are in the Know. Amos 3:7 "Surely God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto (Unto Who???) His SERVANTS the prophets." The ruler did not know what had happened, but the servants did. A miracle had taken place. Jesus was beginning His ministry. All heaven rejoiced as Jesus embarked on the course that would attain salvation for the lost race. Jesus surely changed the value of the water that day. The most valuable water that could be. Value is determined by what someone is willing to pay to obtain the item in question. Let's say that I go down to my friendly used car dealer and see a nice car in fairly good shape with a price of $3500.00. Suppose I make an offer of $3000.00 for it. That means that I feel the value of the vehicle is $3000.00. If he accepts my offer, that is an indicator that he agrees that this is closer to the true value of the automobile. Value is the worth of an object to the person who desires it. We get some idea of our worth when we look at God. God has all the money in the universe, He owns everything. To Him money is no object. To redeem us He could offer a sack of chicken feed or a scoop of coal. But our God did not choose these. He wanted us so much that He gave His own Son, to pay for what we were worth, in His estimation. This high price tag is a true indicator of our worth. I start out as worthless as water. But Jesus comes and takes up residence in my heart. I belong to Him. Instantly I become something of great value. You know, auctions never cease to amaze me. If a famous person dies, his toothbrush could bring $500 just because it was in his mouth. Our great value is because we belong to a great person-----Jesus, and He paid for us with His precious blood. JOHN 2:10...."Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the BEST till now." God saves the best till last. Mature people try to do the same. Satan is just the opposite. The devil gives the best first. Hebrews 11:25--We "enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time". Then come the WAGES of sin, Romans 6:23. God saves the best until later. The children of Israel had to go through the sizzling desert heat before they entered the wonderful promised land. The Cross comes before the crown. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day", Proverbs 4:18. The best is yet to be! Dear friends, sooner or later the wine of this old world will run out. Your health will break, or your money will be gone. Your gay friends will die, your life will come crashing down sooner or later. The prodigal son soon found himself without money or friends. The world will let us down sooner or later. Only Jesus can give us true lasting joy. Jesus stands today ready to "Give unto us beauty for ashes, and the oil of JOY for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," Isaiah 61:3 Notice what Jesus charged for 150 gallons of heavenly drink: Nothing. It was totally free of charge. This symbol of His blood was there for the taking. Whosoever came would receive. Our salvation is completely free. All you have to do is come to Jesus and ask Him to save you. At that moment His precious blood will blot out your sins. You know, I am like an empty cold stone vessel. Lifeless without Jesus. My sinful life can only be regenerated by an infilling of the presence of Jesus. But only as I am empty of self can Jesus fill my heart. Are you willing to put self on the alter? If you are thirsty for real life, come to Jesus. I need a miracle! Do you? Come to Jesus. Surrender all to Him. Jesus will create a reward for you that you can't imagine how good it will be. Come and drink ye all of the salvation that Jesus freely offers to each of us! Taste and see that He is good. You will never thirst again. --------------------------------------------------------------------McDonald Road Sermons

by Kay Kuzma Filling Your Love Cup The greatest need in this world is love. And we can sing because God does love us. Not only does He see the sparrow but He see us in all of our needs. He's willing to meet those needs. You know, He never treats us as we deserve to be treated. That's an incredible thought. For example: There he was by the well. He saw her coming with water jar. She was going to get some water. But it was in the middle of the day. He didn't actually expect her, I doubt. Nobody came to the well in the middle of the day. His disciples had gone to the village to get some food and things. They were going to be back in a moment. He recognizes her. She's this woman who's been married to five men and working on the sixth. I mean, what a reputation she has. And there He is alone at the well with this woman coming toward Him. What would you have done if you were that young man at the well? I know what you'd have done. Why, with your friends coming back momentarily, the last thing you'd want to do is get caught alone with her at the well and, the rumors would spread and I know you'd hide behind the closest palm tree and let her get her water and hope that she gets out of there real quickly. But Jesus never treats us the way that we deserve to be treated. He stayed. In fact, He knew what she needed. She needed to feel valuable, and so He asked for a drink of water from her. To make her feel good, that she could do something for someone else. And you know the story, the conversation that took place. (John 4:4-26) The realization came upon her that no man has ever treated her with such love. And she began to fill up her self with His presence. And she ran back to the city and she said, "I have found the Messiah!" Have you found the Messiah? Have you found the person Who loves you so much that He would give His own life for you? Love is our basic need. We're all very much like "love cups". When we're full to overflowing, we have enough love to give away. But when we're empty we are miserable. And we so often try to fill ourselves up. Because we equate love and attention, we try to get attention. Children have learned this very quickly. The easiest way to get attention is not by being good... I mean, Mom and Dad are busy at that time and they're just thankful you're good, but, boy just hits brother in the tummy and pulls sister's hair and everybody comes running and you get more attention than you really wanted. But it's negative attention you're soon empty again and... But we are all in desperate need of attention that we will take negative attention rather than no attention at all. We equate love and attention. So often when we feel empty, we do crazy things like show off, or gossip, of put other people down so we look better. We have a way of trying to get some kind of attention. And yet what often happens is instead of getting filled up, we get emptied. We just empty without thinking by treating people the way they deserve to be treated. We boss them around: "Do this! Do that! Watch out! Shut up! That reminds me: Children are very much like strings. Now if I put this string out on the table in front of me and push one end of the string in the direction I want it to go.... Does it go nice and straight in that direction? No! It gets all buckled up under the pressured of being pushed. Children are very much the same way. The more you push them in the direction you want them to go the more they tend to resist. Husbands are kind of like that, too, I've found. So instead of pushing, what should we do? Well, lead. Instead of taking this end and pushing in the direction we want it to go we should take the other end and lead it and the string will follow. What does Psalms 23 say about the good Shepherd? He pushed us to drink from still waters: that was good for us. To lie down in green pastures: that was good for us. No, He leads us, and we need to learn how to lead. We empty. We criticize. We threaten: If you ever do that again I'll beat you within an inch of your life. Now we don't mean that, but, we're trying to motivate this kid to do what we want him to do. Or we scream. It reminds me of a little boy who came downstairs one time and said, "Mommy, why is it you always quit screaming at me when Daddy comes home?" You see, we don't even want our husbands to know that we lose our "cool" and scream at our children. We know it's not good. If you can imagine getting screamed at by the boss, what would that do? It would empty you immediately. One mother told me, she was usually very calm, but she saw her children come home in the back yard. She saw them having a mud-ball fight, good school shoes, covered with this red Tennessee mud and she flipped. She ran to the door, she yanked it open, and she started to scream at her children. Suddenly she noticed the neighbor lady planting flowers beside the fence. She didn't want that lady to know that she would scream at her children, so she changed her scream into a song: "Kids would you come into the house today, would you come into the house today." Hopefully if you start to scream, you will start to sing in the right key? So that you can break into a song and not empty another's love cup. Tracy came to the dinner table one time and she said, "I've changed my name. My name is no longer "Tracy". And the older brothers and sister said, "Tracy's such a beautiful name. Why did you change it?" She said, "Well, if you'd change you name too if all you heard was, 'Tracy do this!' and 'tracy do that!' and 'Tracy, watch out!' and 'Tracy, I can't believe you'd do such a dumb thing!' And so," she said, "I just changed my name. And I'm not going to tell anybody what my new name is." Don't you wish that would just solve all of our love cup problems? We'd never have an empty love cup, we'd just change our names every few weeks. We can't do that. Instead what we need to do is learn how to fill each other up. There's plenty of love. An unending supply. If we would not treat each other as they deserve to be treated, but treat each other as we need to be treated. As Jesus treats us. If we were going to a place in the scripture to find out how to do this, I can't think of a better place than First Corinthians 13. Did you know when that scripture was read to you.... Did you count the number of things, the characteristics that were given of love? There are fifteen. But if I were to ask you to stand up and tell me what those fifteen were.... Maybe you've memorized it and you could run through the list real quickly, but most of us would say, "Ah! I can't believe fifteen things. I don't remember fifteen things." Love is patient kind not envious not boastful not proud not rude not selfish it's not easily angered keeps not record or wrongs doesn't delight in evil rejoices with the truth always protects Always trusts always hopes always perseveres and never fails Since fifteen things are too many to remember, I brought it down to just five. And if you can write down or remember the acronym, CRAFT, you'll always remember how to love. Because each letter stand for a characteristic of love. I want you to listen to the different ways that you can learn to love. C R A F T "C" is for CARE. It's the most basic way. It's love in action. It's meeting another's needs. And when I think of "care" I think of the "Good Samaritan". What if that man had seen the bloody person beside the road and said, "Oh, sir. You're in terrible condition. I can't believe somebody would do this to you. Why, Look! You're bleeding and you're hurt and you can't even stand up. I feel so sorry for you. I just care for you so much. I want you to know that all day long I'm going to be praying for you." And walks away. What would you think of this person? You certainly wouldn't call him, "The good Samaritan" would you? Why was he the GOOD Samaritan? Because he took time to care for the needs of another. I have wondered why there isn't very much caring going on in this world. And I thought.... Care takes two important ingredients. It always takes our time. And we're so jealous of our time. Why, we want to watch that television program, we want to read this book, or we want to do something else for US. We hardly have any time for the Lord or our family, let alone caring for somebody else. Care always take time. Many times it also takes money. And we choose not to meet another's needs. There are the physical needs, that's true. But there are also the psychological needs. Just being willing to listen. Care is an important aspect of love. Then there is the "R": RESPECT. When I think of respect.... To really, truly respect someone, (it says in the dictionary) we show them honor and esteem. Well, you say, "Wait a minute! I know lots of people that don't deserve any honor and esteem. In fact, I live with a couple, myself. I mean, you know them so well that it's had to show them honor and esteem." There was Jesus in the middle of Jericho. A crowd was around Him. Everybody wanted to see Him. People were pushing through the crowd to get a little closer. Maybe, hopeful to even touch Him. There was this little man, Zacchaeus by name. Everybody hated this guy. If there was one person in Jericho that didn't deserve any honor and esteem, it was Zacchaeus. He had stolen from everybody. I know he was a tax collector, but he had taken more than he deserved form everybody and stuck it in his own pocket. No body respected Zacchaeus. And yet, Zacchaeus had an empty love cup and it needed to be filled. So he climbed a tree to try to see Jesus. You can imagine.... Let's say somebody important was coming to town. Everybody is crowding around and you see you see this man in a business suit up in a tree to get a better view, wouldn't you kind of snicker? It would look a little funny, wouldn't it? Well, imagine a man in his business robe up in a tree. And I am sure the people around were snickering as they saw Zacchaeus up in that tree. But nobody would let him through the crowd, nobody! No sir! They didn't respect him enough to do that! But Jesus knew what that man needed. In that culture to really show respect, to really show honor and esteem, you went to the person's house to eat. That was it. And Jesus announced, loud so that everybody could hear, "Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house to eat today. Come on down!" Do you think anybody in Jericho would ever step inside Zacchaeus' house? Only if they were starving hungry, maybe, but they wouldn't have announced to all the city. Jesus knew exactly what that man needed. And He gave it to him. And Zacchaeus was so filled up to overflowing that he immediately said, "I'm giving back everything that I have taken, plus." He didn't need a lecture. He just needed a little love. The "A" stands for ACCEPTANCE. Acceptance means, to love, no matter what. To accept a person, no matter what! Unconditional love. Yuri Bronson Brenner says that every child, to grow up psychologically healthy, needs someone who loves them irrationally. Not for what they do, not for what they say, not for their talents, but just because they exist. A study was done in a large Christian university. They found that a number of students were hostile toward the school administration, hostile toward the church administration, hostile to authority, and they wondered, "Why were some students hostile, and others not?" They went back into the research data and they found one significant difference. Those students who were hostile toward authority felt that their parents loved them conditionally, only when they were good were they loved. They would try to be good when they were little kids, and try to walk the straight and narrow and as soon as they would step off and maybe not make their bed or brush their teeth, boy, Mom and Dad would come down hard on them and, oooh, they'd feel they weren't loved and that made them feel hurt but they never did anything about it. And those hurt feelings became more hostile and more ugly as they grew older. If you don't do anything about negative feelings, you're going to have to act them out sometime in the future. Either kids choose to rebel, which many do (I've had it. I don't care what you think, I'm going to do my own thing), or they put those hostile feelings over on a safer authority figure rather than their parents. And they become hostile to the government, hostile to the church, hostile to the school, and of course who is our ultimate authority figure? God. Can you see how, if their parents don't love them, they can feel that God doesn't love them. There are so many adults that have that feeling. They see God as if they see their father. And they don't feel that their father or their mother loves them and they get all confused. But the beautiful thing is that God loves us no matter what. He loved us first. He accepts us, no matter what we've done. He doesn't say, "Shape up and then I'll love you." No, otherwise how could He have accepted all those twelve disciples that followed Him and did all those things? Peter, after cutting off the man's ear and then denying Him, certainly the Lord should have told him, "Peter, you show me you love me and I'll come through for you." No, no, that's not the way Jesus does things. Jesus loved, no matter what the behavior. And He accepted, no matter what. The "F" stands for FORGIVENESS. I made a terrible mistake one time. My husband had just gotten a brand new car. Actually we had gone to Europe and picked it up and drove it around Europe a little bit. Then had the car delivered to our home in California. The first day that car was sitting in our driveway, I said to my husband, Jim, "Honey, can I drive it to work?" I was so excited about that car, his car, and he said, "Sure." So I drove it to work. You'll never believe what happened. This cement wall just jumped out at me. I couldn't believe it. There was this crunch, and I jumped out of the car only to find this horrible dent in the back fender. I even tried to wipe it off. I prayed over it hoping it would just pop back out. I knew I was in terrible difficulties. When it didn't pop back out I ran to the phone book and started leafing through the pages tying to find the repair shops. I called the body shop in San Bernardino and asked, "How fast can you fix this dent in this yellow Mercedes?" And they said, "A week of ten days." I said, "No! You don't understand. I've got to have it fixed by five o'clock tonight." And when I realized it wasn't going to be fixed by five o'clock that night I knew I was in terrible hot water. "Now children, I want you to let me tell Daddy what I have done." They were small at that time and at about 4:30 or 5:00 my obedient children went out to the mail box to wait for their Daddy to come home. As he drove in , they stopped him and said, "Daddy, you won't believe what Mother has done!" "What has your Mother done?" "Well, Daddy, it's so terrible, it's so awful, it's so horrible she told us we can't tell you..." "That she dented the Mercedes." So by the time he came in and gave me my usual hug and kiss, he already knew about the dent in his car. I felt terrible about it. I wanted to get it fixed right away. But you know, he was so understanding. He gave me another hug and he said, "Honey, I don't see why we have to get it fixed right away. You might get another dent in it and we can get them both fixed at the same time." Of course we laughed at that. The incident was forgiven and forgotten. You know, that's the way it is with Jesus. He buries our sins as deep as the deepest sea. He doesn't keep bringing them up and flashing them before us. When we ask for forgiveness, they're gone. We can trust Him. Which brings me to the final point. "T" is for TRUST. Trust is like a two sided coin. Both, we must be trustworthy ourselves, but we need to trust others. Everything that Jesus has said, all the prophecies are absolutely true. If you go the last day events meetings, I can assure you, you will again be astounded at how the prophecies have all come true. We just are down to next one which is Jesus' coming. It's incredible how they've all come true. Jesus is trustworthy. But the flip side of God's character is that He trusts us to make the most important decision of a lifetime: whether we will accept His gift of love or not. It's already given. He holds it out to us. Jesus has already died on the cross. All we need to do is accept that gift of love. And God trusts us to make that choice. He doesn't do it for us. He doesn't force us. In love He lets us make that choice. I want to leave you with a beautiful promise. It's my favorite verse. It's found in Ephesians 3:17. And in the Living Bible it says, "May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love so you will know how high and how deep and how wide and how long His love really is and so at last you will be filled up with God because God is love." We're each like a love cup, and when we get empty and there is no one else to fill, WE can always say, "Jesus, fill my cup," and He will do that. He will care, respect, accept, forgive and trust us. Like the woman at the well, I was seeking For things that could not satisfy. And then I heard my Savior speaking, "Draw from my well that never shall run dry. Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up Lord. Come and quench this thirsting in my soul. Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup. Fill it up and make me whole. There are millions in this world who are craving The pleasure earthly things afford, But none can match the wondrous treasure That I find in Jesus Christ my Lord. So dear people if the things this world gave you Leave hungers that won't pass away, My blessed Lord will come and save you If you kneel to Him and humbly pray: Fill my cup Lord. I lift it up Lord. Come and quench this thirsting in my soul. Bread of Heaven , feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup. Fill it up and make me whole. (Kay Kuzma is the coordinator of Family Ministries and is a member of the Bowman Hills SDA Church of Cleveland, Tennessee.) -------------------------------------------------------------------- McDonald Road Sermons