Category: Weekly Sermon

Nobleton Community Church
February 25, 2024
Matthew 18:1-4
Pastor Paul V Lehmann

Listen to the audio here

In the gospel of Matthew there are a few recurring themes: True spirituality; living by faith; and achieving greatness. All of these themes overlap to some extent. Matthew 18 begins with the disciples re-opening these issues again by asking Jesus a question:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

In other words, “What does it mean to be a five-star Christian?” Or another way you might say it is: “What does it mean to be truly spiritual in God’s eyes…to be truly holy?”

In the next three chapters of Matthew, Jesus teaches about the nature of holiness. What does it mean to be holy in God’s eyes? How does one become “the greatest in the kingdom?” This is the topic we’ll be addressing, and I’m going to give away the ending right now — I’ll let you know how this will end. Becoming a five-star Christian — becoming the greatest in God’s kingdom — has almost everything to do with how you treat others.

The Bible says that when Jesus was asked this question, he called a young child forward to stand with them and he said…

I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

These verses, three words jump out at us: “Unless you change.” Jesus spoke these words to his disciples — men who had been following him for almost three years; men who had already performed miracles in his name; men who would ultimately turn the world upside down with the message of the gospel.

These were great men, and Jesus said to them, “Unless you change…” These words teach us a primary principle in becoming holy; this may seem rather obvious, but it’s a principle that must be noted.

IN ORDER TO BECOME HOLY, YOU MUST CHANGE.

The Bible teaches that we are born in sin, that we are born sinners, that we are, in our natural state, separated from God. He is good, we are not. We may make the occasional stab at goodness, but without experiencing a life-transformation, we will never become truly holy.

Just like the disciples, when we make the decision to follow Jesus, that’s where the process of change begins, it’s not where it ends. When you make the decision to follow Jesus, he comes into your life, he wipes away the past, he cleanses you of your sins, and he gives you a new life. At that point, you begin a journey into holiness.

I want to make something clear: for each and every one of us, it is a long journey. In fact, it is a lifelong journey. As long as we live, we must be 3 engaged in the process of change. As long as we have breath, there will be things that we need to eliminate from our life and things we need to add to our life in order to become more like him. The question, then, that we must ask ourselves is not “do I need to change anything about myself?” but rather, “what do I need to change about myself in order to live a life more pleasing to God?” And I can guarantee that he has an answer for each one of us. In today’s text, he spells out the first change we must make…

“Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Become like little children. That’s it. Do you want to be holy? Do you want to be a top-tier Christian — the greatest in God’s kingdom? Then you have to change; you have to become like a little child. What does that mean — to become like a child?

Today we’ll look at three characteristics of child-like faith. I want to quickly point out that he said that we’re to be child-like, not child-ish. It’s not that we don’t grow in the knowledge of his Word, it’s not the we become pouty and petulant and kick and scream when we don’t get our way. He’s not telling us to imitate the worst behavior of some children, he’s telling us to develop the attitude of a child .The first attitude is….

HUMILITY
Verse 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 4 Have you ever noticed how our attempts at humility are often laden with pretentiousness? Oftentimes our efforts are focused on doing things that make us appear humble, rather than striving for true humility.

There’s a joke about a pastor who one day was overcome with a sense of humility and entered into the sanctuary and fell on the altar saying, “Oh, Lord, I’m nothing. I’m nothing.”

The associate pastor heard the commotion and followed suit, kneeling beside the pastor, saying, “Oh Lord, I’m nothing, I’m nothing.”

Then the youth director showed up, heard the other pastors praying and he joined in, “Oh Lord, I’m nothing, I’m nothing.”

The associate then tapped the pastor on the shoulder, pointed at the youth leader, rolled his eyes and said, “Get a load of who thinks he’s nothing.” Too often our efforts at humility are merely surface level efforts; we want to look humble more than we want to be humble. We think that humility is defined by the car we drive or the clothes we wear or our physical posture. For example, the Rule of St. Benedict, written hundreds of years ago, says…

“A monk should be not easily moved or quick to laughter…when a monk speaks he should do so gently and without laughter, humbly, gravely and with few and reasonable words…a monk should always show his humility to all who see him…in the monastery, in the garden, when traveling, in the field, or wherever he may be, whether sitting, walking or standing, he should always keep his head bent down, his gaze fixed to the ground.” [Rule of St. Benedict]

The Rule of St. Benedict teaches many other things about humility that are quite valuable, but this is often the only part we pick up on — that humility is about staring at your shoestrings. And, of course, it’s much more than that.

Jesus said, “Whoever humbles himself like this child…” How does a child humble himself?

For starters, a child is not pretentious. Children are not likely to put on airs; they’re most often straightforward and honest about who they are, and they accept others the same way.

I mean, have you ever met a class-conscious child? Of course not. Put a kid with rich parents on a playground, and he’ll make friends with the poor kids. A child will also make friends with children of other races; they accept everyone as they are — until they’re taught differently. Children aren’t pretentious. They don’t see themselves as being more than they really are; they don’t see others as being less than they really are.

Charles Swindoll gave a good example of this. He told about some kids who built a playhouse and posted these rules on the door:

1. No one acts big.
2. No one acts small.
3. Everyone acts medium. Do you want to develop the humility of a child? Act medium towards everyone. Treat everyone as your equal. It’s been said that humility doesn’t mean that you think less of yourself, it means that you think of yourself less. Don’t be the most important person 6 in your world; develop the humility of a child — treat others as your equal. Act medium.

Jesus said that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must become like a child. One way we become like a child is through humility. Another way is through…

TEACHABILITY

it’s not until they become teen-agers that people begin to think they know everything. Children remain quite teachable. And have you ever noticed how much little children love to learn? When you ask a child, “Do you want to practice your ABC’s?” they’ll never say, “No, thanks, not today. I’ve got too much on my mind and I just can’t deal with it right now.” Instead, they say, “YEAH!” and they sing that song over and over and over again.

And when you offer to read a book to a little child, they never say, “Do I have to hear that story again? We’ve been through that book a thousand times. Go get the encyclopedia and read that to me.” Instead, little children absorb those books like every time is their first time. They love the process of learning: “That’s a cat, that’s a dog; that’s yellow, that’s blue…” and on and on.

And have you ever tried to complete a household project with a child around? They’re between you and what your work, asking, “What are you doing? Why did you do that? What is this for? Can you show me how to do it?”

Kids aren’t just teachable, they’re enthusiastically teachable. Have you ever met a first grader who didn’t love school?

This is the same attitude we must bring to the Christian life. We must be enthusiastically teachable.

The prerequisite of this is that we must first acknowledge that we don’t know everything. For some, this is very difficult.

In some churches, there are some people who believe that they are more spiritual than anyone else in the church, including the pastor. For them the teaching is never deep enough, the worship is never intense enough, and they just don’t get much out of church. These people are rarely involved in serving others and tend to church hop.

In every church I’ve been in there is another group of people who have a dynamic walk with Christ, who leave each Sunday service exhilarated, and who are accomplishing things for God between Sundays

There is never any overlap between group A and group B, because they represent two completely different mindsets — one group is teachable, one isn’t.

Now folks, I may not be the greatest preacher in the world —— but I do preach the Word of God to the best of my ability, and the fact is: if you’re teachable, then God will speak to you through the sermon. I mean, if God can speak through a donkey in the Old Testament, the parallel is obvious: he can speak through me.

If you don’t get anything out of a sermon, the problem most likely is not the sermon; the problem most likely is your attitude. Are you teachable?

Listen to what Solomon said:

Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers. (Proverbs 16:20)

Do you want to become a top-tier Christian? Become like a little child: recognize that you don’t know everything there is to know, and become enthusiastically teachable. There’s a third principle here to look at. Humility, Teachability, and…

DEPENDENCE

“Unless you change and become like little children…”

You know what I’ve noticed about children? They’re utterly dependent and they know it. You’ll never hear a five year old say, “I’m a self-made child…I picked myself up from my bootstraps and made myself what I am.” They don’t say that; they’re utterly dependent. They say, “I’m hungry. I need help. Will you do this for me? Will you get this for me?” etc.

Just as children are completely dependent on their parents, we need to be completely dependent on God.

Listen to what Paul said in the book of 2 Corinthians. He talks about the hardships he has faced, and then he says…

Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead…On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…(2 Corinthians 1:9-10) 9

The Apostle Paul, had to learn dependence in order to become a great Christian. We have to learn dependence, too. God isn’t looking for a bunch of self-made disciples who can get through life without his help. He’s looking for followers who will depend on him for everything.

Alex Haley, author of Roots, had a picture in his office of a turtle sitting on a fence post. He said the picture was there to remind him of an important lesson: if you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he had some help getting there. Haley said, “Every time I’m tempted to think, ‘Aren’t I marvelous? Look at all I’ve accomplished!’ I look at that picture and remember how this turtle me — got up on that post.”

That’s how much we need to depend on God. Becoming great in God’s kingdom — becoming a holy person — is about as possible as a turtle climbing a fence. We can’t do it on our own; we have to depend on him.

Are you struggling with sin right now? Are you fighting it in your own power? Are you trying to accomplish goodness on your own? It’ll never work.

You have to get to the place where you depend on God. Are you struggling with your emotions right now — feeling things you don’t want to feel, wanting things you shouldn’t want? You’ll never win this battle on your own. You need God’s help.

Just like a child can’t go out and earn the money to pay the mortgage, you cannot manufacture holiness on your own. And just like a child depends on his parents for food and shelter, we must learn to depend on God for strength for daily living.

We must pray, “God, I cannot change the way I feel, and sometimes it seems I cannot control my actions, my temper, or my sinful desires. All I can do is depend on you to change me through your mercy and power.”

Do you want to be a good Christian…a top-tier Christian…the greatest in God’s kingdom? In order to become holy you must change, but you can’t do it on your own.

Stop working at it as if you were working for a job promotion, and do it the way Jesus said: become like a child.

Be humble. Put everyone else on the same level as you; act medium.

Be teachable. Acknowledge that you don’t know all there is to know, and enthusiastically embrace instruction.

And be dependent. It may go against the grain of American rugged individualism, but it’s the only way to grow.

Stop depending on yourself and start depending on God, just as a child depends on his parents for all that he needs. When you become like a child, you will become mighty in the eyes of God.

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)

Nobleton Community Church
February 4, 2024
text. I John 2:1-11; I Peter 2:2-21
Pastor Paul V Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

John told us in chapter one that what they had heard, seen, and touched was what they as apostles of Jesus were proclaiming as the Gospel message. They were doing it so that we could have fellowship with each other as fellow believers. Then he says that their fellowship was with God and that if we claim to have fellowship with him we must not walk in darkness, otherwise we are lying when we say that we have fellowship with God. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Because when we sin he will forgive it, if we confess it. (I John 1:9) 

Then to make sure that this gospel truth of knowing that through Jesus Christ and because of his shed blood we have forgiveness of sin, was not stressed as a license for sinning, he takes the other seemingly paradoxical position of saying he is writing to us so that we don’t sin. 

Far from tolerating sin, he says “I would have you aim at being sinless. Let it be deliberately set before you as your fixed and settled purpose that you are not to sin. Not merely that you are to sin as little as you can, but that you are not to sin at all. Absolute holiness is to be your standard for it is God’s standard, and as a Christian, you are in him. 

Now we may acknowledge a sinless ideal and our obligation to it, but often times this acknowledgment is accompanied by some sort of reserve or qualification. You do not really mean to be altogether without sin; but only so far as your own ability to keep from sinning goes, (but oh yes, we say, aided by the Holy Spirit.) 

The problem is, in regards to a specific temptation you do not really mean not to sin, in it, but only not to sin in it more than you can help. In other words, I’ll try to do what the Lord wants, but I know I’ll fail. And I know how I’ll fail. But is that, however, a really honest determination on your part not to sin? I don’t think so!

But John is showing us throughout this book that we are to be actively resisting sin and following after holiness, after the light, obeying him. No, whoever claims to live in him, must walk as Jesus walked. 

The other verse that that was read I Peter 2:21;  Peter says to this you were allied, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS.  

There was a book written in 1897 by Charles Sheldon entitled “In His Steps,” based on this passage. In more recent years it has been reprinted and even a movie was made about it.  The main theme was about what would Jesus do if he saw a down-and-out person –out of work and dressed shabbily.    (This book is available on Amazon) There were bumper stickers, some years ago, and teenagers wore bracelets with the initials W.W.J.D. These are still available if one would like to have them.  The story presents a church and pastor who makes the commitment to always ask this question. We read about the blessings that came on each one as they obeyed Christ. 

For us let’s consider what it means to LIVE IN HIM. 

To understand this verse we need to study the use of the word translated “to live in him”. To walk as Christ walked is essential to our abiding in God. Not merely being in God as we have it in verse 5, but being in him permanently; continuing or abiding in him –living in him. Jesus tells us; “if you obey my commands, you will remain (abide) in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 

So if we would abide in God as he did, we must walk as he walked, keeping the Father’s commandments as he kept them. Thus this verse fits into those that go before, and complete, so far, the apostle’s description at the divine fellowship, viewed as a fellowship of holy light, and transforming, obedient knowledge.

To live in Him means to abide, to stay, to remain, all part of the verb to live, but implies more than position. When used of remaining or staying in a home in also implies fellowship, communion, dependence harmony, and friendship. It is used in a number of Gospel passages   
Matt. 10:11 Jesus told his disciples to stay at the house of the person who receives them until they leave the village 
Matt.  26:36 When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane he asked the three disciples who were with him, “Stay here and keep watch with me.” 
Luke 1:56   Mary went to see Elizabeth and stayed with her 
Luke 19:5 Jesus told Zacchaeus—-” come down immediately, I must stay at your house today. 
Luke 8:27   The demonized man called Legion, lived or stayed among the tombes. 
John 1:39,40  Two of Jesus’ disciples asked him where are you staying?   Jesus told them; “come and see” 

These instances could be multiplied. To abide in the Lord Jesus means to STAY with him. Jesus therefore implies not only position but also relationship.—-  staying, living, (abiding)   But it literally means to “walk around  It came to mean the manner of life of the person–so now let’s consider; THE MANNER THAT JESUS WALKED AND LIVED

Walk here means to conduct one’s self, to order one’s behavior, after that of Christ. 

All things to him were of God (II Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.  All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  After we are new creatures we are given the ministry of reconciliation. That is; telling people how they can be reconciled to God through Christ— this is witnessing. 

Phil 2:5-11 OUR ATTITUDE SHOULD BE THE SAME AS CHRIST.   To walk in this respect as Christ walked, abiding in god as he did is to be “emptied of self.” Of we walk with 

Him we ought to walk in love as he walked, a walk of active benevolence A man approved of god, who went about doing good because he walked in love.  But he also walked in the power of the Holy Spirit and so should we. He did the will of his Father and was obedient to him and so should we. He glorified God, and so should we.  

Are we really in Jesus Christ and is he in us?
Do we walk as he walked?
Do we live as he lived? In Adam, all died, even so, in Christ shall we all be made alive,

We are to follow in his steps. We are to do what He would do, in every situation.

[Bread and water don’t sound appetizing,
but it will after listening to your new Health Coach]

Nobleton Community Church
February 4, 2024
text: Isaiah 55:1-9; John 6:35; John 4: 13-15
Reverend Paul V Lehmann

Listen to the audio here

Many health insurance providers are now supplying patients with opportunities for some personal “health coaching.” Isaiah offers the same kind of spiritual health advice to the people of God.
 
It’s no secret that we are becoming a nation full of unhealthy people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than a third (35.7%) of Americans are obese. Carrying an unhealthy weight leads to all kinds of related conditions like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer — in other words, most of the leading causes of death. In 2008, the medical costs related to obesity in the United States were estimated at $147 billion, or $1,492 more per obese person than a person of normal weight. And yet, despite the constant warnings in the media and the pleading of doctors, obesity rates continue to rise. In 2000, no state had an obesity prevalence over 30 percent, while in 2010, 12 states exceeded that threshold. It’s fairly clear that people aren’t generally good at doing what’s best for their own health.
 
Some health insurance companies have decided to take another approach, however. Rather than merely continuing to pay the mounting costs, these companies in partnership with doctors and nurses are attempting to help people manage their health, not only through massive doses of information but also through the personal attention of a “health coach.”
The truth is, of course, that it’s hard for us to make changes in our lives strictly by our own willpower. The spirit may be willing, after all, but the flesh is weak. Twinkies taste better than tofu, and sometimes we need a partner to remind us to not eat more than one or two cookies, or take an extra piece of pie.
 
Health coaches aren’t exactly like football or basketball coaches with all the yelling, whistles, and drills for endurance, but their technique can be no less effective. Years ago, II coached two basketball teams because I had two of my grandkids on them. Joseph and Zachariah.  When I coach, I don’t like to give the boys drills just for the sake of a drill, but ones that can translate for them into game situations. That way everything they are learning is applicable when they are playing another team. It is the same way with our spiritual conditioning and practice.
 
All we need is someone to remind us that we don’t have to live this way and that better and healthier lives are ahead if we’re willing to put in the hard work of taking charge of our own health
 
John Wooden, legendary coach of UCLA’s men’s basketball team from 1945 to 1975, is well-remembered for his pithy sayings that inspired his players to excel off the court as well as on. More than many coaches, Wooden saw his responsibility as developing more than just muscles, coordination, and game-day strategy. He saw himself as molding the whole person. Here are a few John Wooden gems:
“Failure is not fatal but failure to change might be.”
“Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.”
“Don’t beat yourself. That’s the worst kind of defeat you’ll ever suffer.”
“Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.”
 
We can then see how this helps us in our daily walk when we are faced with real-life problems. It just takes someone like a coach to help us.
As we’re going to see, that someone is God.
 
Having a partner on the way is always better, since, as the writer of Ecclesiastes puts it, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help” (4:9-10). Then at the end of verse 12, we read; “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken” referring to the extra help of God. Just as we must include God in marriages, we shouldn’t hesitate to ask Him to help us (like a health coach) to eat right.
 
The presence of a health coach, even if he or she is only on the other end of a phone line, can make a huge difference in the life of someone who’s struggling physically.
One recent study by The New England Journal of Medicine revealed that patients with health coaches were able to lose five times more weight than those who tried to lose it on their own. You want to make changes in your health? Get a coach!
 
How does the “health coach” idea work? Here’s an example at least at one health insurance Company: Each year, the patient fills out an online health assessment based on an annual physical, including blood work. The company provides an incentive for people to get the exam and fill out the assessment by lowering deductibles for those who do so. The patient fills out the online form using the data from the exam. Any red flag numbers that come up are brought to the patient’s attention and he or she is then offered the services of a “health coach,” usually a registered nurse, who will be in contact with the patient by phone to help the patient manage the problem and make changes.
 
The health coach talks with the patient to understand his or her condition and then helps the patient set goals for living a healthier lifestyle and/or managing a chronic disease like asthma or diabetes or a host of other conditions. The health coach checks in with the patient on a regular basis, offering tips and encouragement for maintaining better health through things like nutrition counseling, weight-loss strategies, how to take medication effectively and advising about appropriate exercises. The patient isn’t required to have a health coach or listen to his or her advice, but for those who want to find a way out of their current health situation, the coaches are a valuable resource.
 
What’s true for our bodies also seems to hold true for our spiritual lives, which makes sense because, as the Bible teaches us, the two are linked. Health coaching for the soul is as helpful and necessary as the coaching one might get from an insurance company, except in the case of spiritual coaching we’re not trying to cut down, but rather trying to fill up on God’s spirit and provision for our lives.
 
Water is important in this week’s text:
God speaks to the exiled people of Judah through the prophet Isaiah in a way that sounds a lot like a health coach calling a suffering patient. God is advising them on strategies that will restore their spiritual health and relationships with God as he prepares to lead them back from exile in Babylon. The people have long been dehydrated and starving as a consequence of their sin and banishment to a foreign land. Now God gives them some nutrition counseling about how to be nourished again.
 
“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters,” the Coach begins. In chapter 8, God tells Isaiah that one of the reasons that the people’s health is so bad is that they refused to drink “the waters of Shiloah” (8:5) — a reference to a canal along the eastern slope of Jerusalem that some scholars have connected to the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7). These waters seem to represent the sustaining strength of God for his people, but they rejected it and chose to run thirsty. As a result, all they would receive is the “mighty flood” of foreign invasion instead (8:7). And yet, as God promised to Noah during another catastrophic flood, God would still sustain and be with them (54:9-10). God now invites his thirsty people to “come to the waters” and drink deeply, once again, of God’s love for them.
 
Spiritual dryness can become a chronic condition for the people of God if they do not come to the “living water” and drink deeply on a regular basis (John 4:10).  Jesus told the Samaritan woman that he would give her this living water. She was all for this, because she thought he was talking about water for her physical body, and this sounded like a good deal. She wouldn’t get thirsty again, and wouldn’t have to keep coming to the well to draw water anymore. She totally missed his comment about whoever drinks of this water—that is the water from a well like this one will be thirsty again, but the water that He would give her would become in her a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. Somehow she missed the fact that He was talking about spiritual water.
 
As any health coach will tell you, drinking at least eight, 8-ounce glasses of water a day will benefit you a great deal. Actually, it is recommended that men drink 125 ounces a day, and women 91 ounces.
Regular and sustained disciplines of prayer and engagement with God’s word will also sustain the thirsty soul. God invites us, as he invited the people of Judah, to come and drink deeply and be refreshed by his love and his promises.
Then, not only is water important, but also our Diet:
The Health Coach then goes on to talk about diet. Obesity is most prevalent among the poor because unhealthy, processed foods are cheaper and easier to prepare. Maybe you are like me, and think when you hear reports on the News about all these people who are obese,— that’s not me. I’m not obese. I don’t weigh 300 or 400 pounds. When you look at the weight charts, it is annoying how they calculate what you should weigh. For someone like me who is 6’ tall, they used to say I should weigh 168 lbs. Twice in my life since high school, I have weighed that, and I look like I just came out of a concentration camp. Maybe because I have a “large frame” –I look thin at 190 lbs. It is interesting that they have now changed the chart so that the accepted weight for a man 6’ tall is now 199 pounds. (I guess because Americans are getting bigger, and it is more accepted to be big).  Now granted I have 38 lbs to lose to get to that. Anyway, my problem Jeannene keeps reminding me, is my diet. Also of course I must exercise and walk. I must change my diet and get serious about eating healthy or nothing will change.
 
Now spiritually speaking, God urges people to get off the fast, cheap and easy spiritual diet and instead come to the free and abundant banquet he offers through his grace. This isn’t food you have to work to be able to afford, but rather the gift of a gracious host (55:1). Indeed, the Health Coach identifies the problem with the people’s health: They are spending their money on cheap, undernourished alternatives. Also, they are working hard to sustain a spiritual diet that won’t satisfy them (55: verse 2).
 
Historically speaking, the Assyrian invasion (a precursor to the Babylonians,) led the people to hard times when there was plenty of milk and honey, but little else (7:22-24). Spiritually speaking, in chapter 55, they were nearly starving on the diet of slavery in Babylon when the Health Coach says to them, “Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food” (55:2). That “food” is the richness of God’s own word and promise based on God’s covenant with David (55:3). As rain comes to the earth and brings forth seeds that lead to bread, so God’s word goes out and sustains his people if only they will come and eat. It’s a word that is never “empty” but always accomplishes God’s purpose
 (55:10-11).
 
Bread, if it is the right kind, can be healthy too:
God urges us to change our diets, too. So much of our diet, both physically and spiritually, comes packaged as sugary-sweet and enticing fat grams and calories, whether it’s on the shelf at the grocery store, or the virtual store. We grow fatter, dumber and sadder the more we consume the junk of our culture. God, the ultimate Health Coach, urges us instead to fill up on bread that sustains — The Bread of Life, as Jesus called himself in John 6, the manna from God that is there to nourish us daily. That bread enables us not only to be healthy but to help others as well as assist spiritual health coaches. Jesus once said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” (John 4:34). We should embrace the same diet!
 
If we’re going to make that change, however, we know that we will do better if we don’t try to make it on our own. We need our fellow Christians to help us in community, and we need to embrace God’s offer to coach us through prayer as we make the change:
 
“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near …” (55:6).
 
God is, after all, the expert whose “thoughts are not [our] thoughts, nor are [our] ways [his] ways” (55:8). If we’re going to be healthy Christians, we need a Coach who knows the best way to make us whole!
 ••••
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more

Nobleton Community Church
January 28, 2024
Text: Galatians 6:1-10
Reverend Paul V Lehmann

Listen to the audio here

We have a great promise in verse 9. I would like to focus our attention on this verse from the passage that Roxie read this morning.
The reason that some people don’t see results or “reap a harvest” in their lives, is because they “give up.” Things just get too hard. The trials are too much to bear. The reason they get this bad, is because they are trying to succeed in their own strength. We all at some time of other have been guilty of this. When we recognize that we have blown it, or we have failed to do what God wants us to do, we must “persevere” and keep going, but with His Power.

It’s said that Walt Disney’s request for a loan was rejected by 301 banks before he finally got a yes. Yet he built the world’s most famous theme park. So, this year let’s remember some things.

1. Perseverance turns adversity into advancement.

At a sales convention the manager said to 2,000 of his firm’s sales force, “Did the Wright brothers quit?” “No” they responded. “Did Charles Lindbergh quit?” “No” they shouted. “Did Lance Armstrong quit?” “No” they responded. “Did Thorndike Mckester quit?
There was a long, confused silence. Then a salesperson shouted, “Who in the world is Thorndike Mckester? Nobody’s ever heard of him.” The sales manager snapped back, “Of course you haven’t—that’s because he quit!” As you have heard perhaps before –said by some coaches—Quitters never win and winners never quit.

Paul writes, “Everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.” (Philippians 1:12 NLT). Paul didn’t give up—he rose up! How did he do it? He found the benefit to him personally that comes from every trial. One Christian author writes: “Today we’re obsessed with speed, but God is more interested in strength and stability. One Christian author writes; “Today we’re obsessed with speed, but God is more interested in strength and stability. We want the quick fix, the shortcut, the on-the-spot solution. We want a sermon, a seminar or an experience that will instantly resolve all problems, remove all temptation and release us from all spiritual growing pains. But real maturity is quite is never the result of a single experience, no matter how powerful or moving.” Growth is gradual. We read in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that; our lives gradually become” brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”

“WE WILL REAP A HARVEST IF WE DON’T GIVE UP”

Every time I say we will—–you repeat together…Reap a harvest if we don’t give up.

Observe more things about perseverance.

2. Perseverance means stopping not because you’re tired, but because the task is done.

Diplomat Robert Strauss quipped, “Success is like wrestling a 1000 pound gorilla. You don’t quit when you are tired—you quit when the gorilla is tired.” When you’re fresh, excited and energetic you work at a task with vigor. Only when you become weary do you need perseverance. The Apostle Paul recognized this when he said: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time—

“WE WILL REAP A HARVEST IF WE DON’T GIVE UP”

Fatigue and discouragement are not reasons to quit, they’re reasons to draw close to God, rely on our character and keep going. We underestimate what it takes to succeed. When we haven’t counted the cost we approach challenges with mere interest; what’s required is total commitment!

3. Perseverance doesn’t demand more than we have, but all that we have.

Author Frank Tyger observed, “In every triumph, there is a lot of try.”
We read that most millionaires who haven’t inherited their money, failed at least once, maybe even went bankrupt before they were successful.
But perseverance means more than just trying or working hard. Perseverance is an investment. It’s a willingness to bind yourself, emotionally, intellectually, physically and spiritually to an idea, purpose or task until it has been completed. Perseverance demands a lot, but here’s the good news: everything you give is an investment in yourself. Each time you do the right thing—seek God, work hard, treat others with respect, learn and grow—you invest in yourself. To do these things every day takes perseverance, but if you do them your success is guaranteed.

“WE WILL REAP A HARVEST IF WE DON’T GIVE UP”

Perseverance is a trait that can be cultivated, and the initial step to cultivating it is to eliminate two of its greatest enemies. These are:

1. A lifestyle of giving up. 

A little boy was promised an ice cream cone if he was good while accompanying his grandfather on some errands. The longer they were gone the more difficult the boy was finding it to be good. “How much longer will it be? he asked. “Not too long,” replied the grandfather, “we’ve just got one more stop to make.” “I don’t know if I can make it, Grandpa,” the little boy said, “I can be good, I just can’t be good enough long enough.” As children we can get away with that, but not as mature people, and certainly not if we expect to succeed in what God’s called us to do. Then the other thing that we need to eliminate is:

2. A wrong belief that life should be easy.

Paul told Timothy he must “endure hardness, as a good soldier.”
(2 Timothy 2:3) Having the right expectations is half the battle. Clinical psychologist John C. Norcross found the great characteristic that distinguishes those who reach their goals from those who don’t ––it is expectation! Both types of people experience the same amount of failure during the first month they strive for their goals. But members of the successful group don’t expect to succeed right away; they view their failures as a reason to re-commit and re-focus on their goals with more determination. Norcross say, “those who were unsuccessful say a relapse is evidence they can’t do it. They are the ones who have a wrong belief that life should be easy.” Bottom line: “We give great honor to those who endure under suffering.” (we read in James 5: 11)

“WE WILL REAP A HARVEST IF WE DON’T GIVE UP”

Then the next enemy of perseverance you’ll have to defeat each day of this year is:
3.Lack of resiliency

Harvard professor George Vaillant identifies resiliency as a significant characteristic of people who navigate the different seasons of life from birth to old age. In his book Aging Well he writes, “Resilient people are like a twig with a fresh, green, living core. When twisted out of shape the twig bends but it doesn’t break; instead it springs back and continues growing.” That’s an excellent description of perseverance. We must not become dry, brittle and inflexible. We must draw on God’s grace and endeavor to bounce back no matter how we feel.
The fourth enemy of perseverance that must be defeated is:

4.) Lack of vision.

Everything that’s created is actually created twice. First it’s created mentally, then it’s created physically. And where does our creativity come from? God, our Creator, who made us in His likeness
(Gen. 1:27). A God-given vision will keep you moving forward when nothing else will. The lack of one will stop you dead in your tracks. Or at the very least, will encourage the status quo and eventually there is a plateau, and no progress is made. This is true of our own personal life, and also for the church.

5.) Lack of purpose.

Rich Demoss remarked, “Persistence is stubbornness with a purpose.” It’s very difficult to develop persistence when you lack a sense of purpose. Conversely, when you have a passionate sense of purpose, energy rises, obstacles become incidental and perseverance wins out.

When we know what God wants us to do, we must not give up when we know that what we are doing is good. Let’s not get tired of doing it. Verse 9 could be read this way: “Don’t let evil get the best of you….Don’t let the bad circumstances wear you down and wear you out….Don’t give in to the evil that intends to defeat you….”

A world champion boxer years ago put it this way: “Champions aren’t made in the gyms, they are made from something they have deep inside them—a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina. They have to be a little faster and they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

Do exactly what the Holy Spirit impresses you to do. Once you obey His leading, you must then use your God-given authority and command Satan to take his hands off your finances (if that is the problem), or your family, (if you see them struggling, perhaps physically) Boldly declare by faith for this year, that: God’s blessings are yours. You have every right to expect God’s blessings to come pouring into your life!

“WE WILL REAP A HARVEST IF WE DON’T GIVE UP”

[Unless we tend our relationship with God, our spiritual houses
can become places of desolation.]

Nobleton Community Church
January 21, 2024
text:  Luke 13:31-35
Pastor Paul V. Lehmann

Listen to the audio here

 Thanks to our home-foreclosure crisis, we are getting all too acquainted with literal desolate houses. Foreclosure signs are a familiar sight in many communities across America. Some of these properties fall into disrepair.  Neighborhoods in cities and towns across America are decimated because of houses abandoned after their owners are either forced out by mortgage holders, or give up and walk away from them ahead of inevitable foreclosures. And we know how things often go from there: With no one tending them, the buildings start to crumble, eaves begin to sag, windows get smashed, mold becomes a problem, yards become overgrown and vandals or squatters or even drug dealers add to the deterioration. The houses begin to die and so do the neighborhoods in which they sit.

 In this passage, Jesus refers to a house that has been left “desolate.” The RSV has it “forsaken.”  It’s an opportunity for to examine how our “houses” become desolate, and how they might be restored once again.

 If there’s one biblical metaphor that translates easily to our culture today, it’s likely the one Jesus uses in Luke 13:35, where he laments over Jerusalem and says, “Look, your house is left to you desolate …” (NIV).

 What sort of houses did Jesus consider desolate? In both New Testament Greek and modern English, the word “house” can stand not only for a building but also for a family. The text begins with the Pharisees passing along a threat from Herod, whom Jesus would refer to as a fox. This passage shows us Jesus talking to Herod Antipas king of Galilee, who was out to stop him

. To the Jew the fox was a symbol of three things.

 First it was regarded as the slyest of animals.

 Second, it was regarded as the most destructive of animals.

 Third, it was the symbol of a worthless and insignificant man.

 So, it was a courageous remark by Jesus, and probably reflected a little bit of his humanity, to call the reigning king a fox.

One of the well-known preachers in England named Latimer, was once preaching in Westminster Abbey when Henry the king was in the congregation. In the pulpit he remarked: “Latimer! Latimer! Latimer! Be careful what you say. The king of England is here!” Then he went on to say; “Latimer! Latimer! Latimer! Be careful what you say. The King of Kings is here.”   Yes it is far more important what we say about Jesus The King of Kings than any earthly king.  And Jesus took his orders from God, and he would not shorten his work by one day to please or to escape any earthly king. 

Luke 13:31-35 strongly connects our journey to Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51–19:28).

The passage is a continuation of 13:22-30, which records Jesus’ traveling “through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem” (v. 22).

Here, Jesus specifically discusses the likelihood that expectations will be defied with respect to those who will be welcomed in and those who will be left out come judgment day. Heavenly standards will confound the earthly status quo. In the midst of this lesson is where the Pharisees enter the scene to warn Jesus that Herod is seeking to kill him.

This warning is the source of speculation regarding the intent of the Pharisees. Because their own authority is thrown into question by much of what Jesus teaches, 13:22-30 included, the Pharisees are typically portrayed as being in tension with him. Thus, it is surprising that Luke depicts them — “some” (v.31), at least — as cautioning Jesus about Herod. Perhaps the Pharisees are merely taunting Jesus. But they may very well be concerned for his safety, suggesting that not all Pharisees are unbendingly at odds with Jesus (witness Nicodemus in the gospel of John and examples of hospitality extended to Jesus by Pharisees in Luke 7:6, 11:37 and 14:1).

Less open to speculation is Herod’s dire threat. Herod, of course, stands to be one of the biggest losers when the earthly status quo is disrupted. He has already met the prophetic challenge of John the Baptist with lethal force (9:7-9). Because of his own prophetic presence, Jesus has also made his way onto Herod’s enemies list. Having withstood temptation posed by the devil in the wilderness (4:1-13), Jesus now faces the temptation of avoiding the wrath of a despot.

Jesus responds by not succumbing to fear. He is defiant, dismissively referring to Herod as “that fox” (v. 32), one who is sly and not to be trusted. Jesus is doing holy work, “casting out demons and performing cures” (v. 32), and he instructs the Pharisees to tell Herod that this work will go on until it is accomplished. Moreover,

Jesus makes it clear that this work is integral to the overall task of making his way to Jerusalem, a task he “must” pursue (v. 33a). The word here connotes a necessity corresponding to carrying out orders, in this case a divine mission (see Luke 2:49; 9:22; 22:7).

The house of Herod was tangled. The family line did not resemble so much a tree as a tangled ball of yarn. This Herod, named Antipas, had other relatives called Herod as well, and their marriages, divorces and remarriages were not only often ill-considered, but were sometimes incestuous.

The Herods were greatly admired in the Roman Empire. Herod the Great, for instance, had saved the Olympics around the year 12 B.C. by funding them perfectly. He left behind many great architectural works, including substantial improvements to the Jewish temple — so impressive that it caused one of Jesus’ disciples to marvel: “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Jesus, however, knew about the coming desolation and replied,

“Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” (Mark 13:1-2).

Jesus was right, and eventually, that desolation would become all too tangible. In A.D. 66, the Jewish population rebelled against Rome. The empire could not allow that revolt to succeed, and so in A.D. 70, Roman legions under future emperor Titus retook the city and destroyed much of it, including the temple, which has not been rebuilt to this day.

Despite his major improvements to the temple and his popularity in the empire, Herod was hated by his own people because of his murderous ways, which were emulated by his descendants.

The failed relationships in the family of Herod may represent the sort of house Jesus lamented over. But he likely was thinking about the brokenness among the common people as well, and about the failure by many to love God with their whole hearts and love their neighbors as themselves.

It’s not much of a stretch to apply “the house desolate” to our lives. An unattended life — one littered with missed opportunities, broken relationships, repeated procrastinations, a lack of empathy, un-kept promises, false starts, yielded-to temptations, selfish priorities and the like — can quickly become a forsaken or desolate “house.”

It’s pretty easy to find desolate-house-type lives in the news. Think of any one of the celebrities or politicians or yes, even big-name religious figures, who destroyed their families, lost their positions, ruined their reputations and betrayed those who trusted them because of some act of infidelity or gross selfishness. But don’t limit your thinking to just them, because it’s often much smaller acts of inattention that we are guilty of in our families, but nevertheless, just as destructive.

For example, a song by Roger Miller, high on both the country and pop charts several years ago, told of a marriage breaking down, and began, “Two broken hearts — lonely, lookin’ like houses where nobody lives.”

The old popular TV cop show “The Closer”, which ended after seven seasons, contains another example. The main character, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (played by Kyra Sedgwick), was an effective police officer with an innate ability to discern who the bad guys were and wrangle admissions of guilt out of them. But she had one habit that drove her family and co-workers nuts: When she was hot on a case, she became so focused that she usually deflected their requests for her attention, even if they only wanted a brief moment, putting them off until “later.” As the series went along, it became obvious that she was always behind in tending the most important relationships in her life, and in an episode near the end of the series, it caught up with her.

In that episode, Brenda’s parents, whom she loved deeply but too often shortchanged with her time, are visiting in her home. Just after Brenda gets a fresh lead on her current case, her mother asks for a moment to tell her something important. Reluctant to look away from her case, Brenda promises to give her some time over breakfast the next morning. Her mother agrees, but looks disappointed. The next morning, intending to keep her date with her mother, Brenda goes to the guest bedroom to awaken her, only to find that Mama has died unexpectedly during the night. That episode ends with Brenda screaming for her husband who comes and rushes her from the room.

The next episode, set a week or so later and after the funeral, has Brenda, still grieving and badly shaken, back at work, where in a reflective moment, she tells a co-worker that she’s sorry for not listening to him better. Then she adds, “Funny, I feel like I pay more attention to what murderers have to say while ignoring the people I really care about.” In the concluding scene of that episode, her husband finds her sitting on the bed where her mother died. She says to him, “The last time I saw Mama, she asked me if I had a minute, and I didn’t have the time just then. Now, I’m the one who could really use a minute, and Mama has no time at all.” The episode ends with her weeping — inconsolably — in her husband’s arms.

Improper or deferred maintenance is always bad for relationships, and that includes our spiritual ones as well.

 An unattended spiritual house can yield a life where God is supposedly welcome, but where he refuses to abide because the place is a spiritual dump where he is ignored by the occupant — so ignored, that the occupant doesn’t even notice when the Lord is no longer there.

We can become so accustomed to starving our relationships, breaking our promises, failing to carry through, ignoring our spiritual health and so on that we don’t realize how bad things are until the whole thing comes crashing down.

(There was a certain irony in Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem in that there was no widespread awareness among its residents of how far many in the city had drifted from God.)

Jesus said to Jerusalem, “Look, your house is left to you desolate ….”  He wept over Jerusalem because of their rejection of the love he tried to show them.

He probably came to Jerusalem a lot more times than what is recorded in scripture. It is always heart wrenching when someone rejects our love. We could substitute the name Nobleton or Bushnell, or Brooksville, in the place of Jerusalem, because: Wherever we have people who have not responded to our witness of Christ, or our testimony of what Jesus has done for us, we too, will feel the rejection He felt. What might it mean for our lives to be left to ourselves? For one thing, it means that life is only what we can make of it on a temporal time scale, devoid of any hope that extends beyond our lifetime, devoid of any confidence that God will multiply our efforts in this life. For another, it means that we have no ultimate authority to which we answer. Yes, we still have societal standards, but no rock on which to stand when society is bending with ill winds. For yet another, we have no access to the sheltering wings that give comfort, no eternal healing balm for our wounds, no assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

An atheist might hear that and say, “So be it. I’m on my own in this world and that’s just fine.” In fact, the unbeliever might even declare that such a state is not one of desolation but of contentment. It’s hard to say whether any of that is bravado or whether it’s a sincere conviction, but most people don’t want to be left on their own in this life, and if they were, they’d recognize that condition as one of desolation. We want to know that when terrible things happen to us and losses pile up, ultimately it’s going to be all right.

We keep our spiritual houses from becoming desolate by tending our relationship with the Lord. We can’t keep telling the Lord “later” or “someday” and expect that to keep the relationship strong.

In The Closer episode following the death of Brenda’s mother, her husband stops by the police station and asks Brenda if she has a minute. She’s begun work on a new case and almost reflexively, she responds, stalling him, and she begins to walk away. But then, with the memory of what she missed by doing that to her mother apparently hitting her afresh, she turns back and says, “Sorry. Yes, I do.” After they are alone in her office, she tells him, “Don’t ask me. If you need to talk to me, just say, ‘Listen,’ okay?”

 It’s good for us to be in that kind of relationship with God as well, where he can just say, “Listen,” and we give him our attention.

Rick Long, the pastor of Jones Memorial UMC, Lake City, Georgia says:

“God rarely shouts “LISTEN” to me, More often I just get a gentle nudge. Someone will come to mind, and I’ll wonder why. I’ve learned to pay attention to these moments; to make a contact, a call, a visit. One might miss the nudge, thinking it’s just a coincidence; a little nothing passing through our day, but it could be so much more. When we focus our attention upon the person who comes to mind, we are actually praying for them. When we make contact with them, the conduit for grace to move between us is made. A fresh wind of the Spirit moves among us.”

When it comes to our actual houses, it’s not always our fault when maintenance is deferred. Sometimes we just don’t have the budget for every repair the house could use, and we have to prioritize but: Our spiritual house has this odd stipulation that not all maintenance is up to the occupant alone. God is ready to help us keep the place up.

It’s only our fault if we don’t seek his help and then keep the lines of communication open.

The lyrics of the song “Separate Me From What Separates Us” by Steve Ivey are a great prayer for those who wish to keep their spiritual house in good repair:

Separate me from what separates us.

Fill me with your love.

Separate me from what separates us.

My affections are set on above.

My heart cries out to you, O Lord.

You are my rock and fortress.

Protector, director, deliver me now

To the unseen things above.

Elisabeth Elliot the widow of martyred missionary Jim Elliot, one of the 5 MAF pilots who lost their lives when the Anca Indians killed them says;

“If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things. It is we, of course, to whom things look ‘little’ or ‘big.’ “

Nobleton Community Church
January 14, 2024
TEXT:   II Corinthians 12:1-10
Pastor Paul V. Lehmann RDS

Listen to the audio here

In the last part of chapter 11 of II Corinthians the Apostle Paul is boasting about “his credentials” so to speak. In verses 22-27 he tells us about the fact that he is a Hebrew, and a descendent of Abraham and a servant of Jesus Christ, just like some other people. He even admits that he is boasting like people of the world, like a fool.  But he goes on to say that he has worked much harder than some others. He tells us that he has been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. He goes on in verse 24 and following.

In verse 28 we read; “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. He tells us he is weak but he doesn’t feel

That leads me to chapter 12 where he tells us about his visions and revelations from the Lord (in the 3^rd person), where he heard inexpressible things that no one is permitted to tell. Something else that he could boast about, but he refrains from doing it so no one will thin more of him than is warranted. Now because of these surpassingly great revelations, in order to keep him from becoming conceited, Paul was given a “thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. Three times he pleaded with the Lord to take it away from him. But the Lord said to him;

“MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS. 

So in verse 10 Paul says …for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties For when I am week, then I am strong.

Some commentators have said that Paul’s thorn in the flesh refers to a physical illness. But this isn’t affirmed by anywhere else in scripture.  It is true that we don’t know exactly, but based on the context we have an idea and even though a physical problem is possible, I don’t believe it was. Some have imagined it might have been Malaria, or epilepsy, or an eye disease, or club feet or a hunched back. But there is nothing to back any of this up, except maybe the fact that he says in Galatians 4:15 that he knew they would give up their eyes for him if they could. And then in 6:11 he remarks about the LARGE letters he is making in writing to them. Nevertheless it doesn’t seem feasible that it is a physical ailment, even considering this passage and especially what he has written in II Corinthians.

Paul’s influence was growing He was preaching all over to kings and governors and world leaders. He was planting churches, writing New Testament scriptures and everywhere he went he was pushing back the gates of hell. He endured much persecution by religious leaders. When he went into  a city, the first thing he did was go into a synagogue, but when he preached the Gospel, he was reported to the authorities and they arrested him, and frequently beat him an put him in prison. Remember what we read from chapter 11. If the opposition wasn’t from the Jewish leaders it was from pagan (Gentiles). In Acts 16:16-24 a slave girl fortune-teller made a lot of money for her masters by predicting the future. Paul delivered her from the spirit of divination. Her owners seized Paul and had him arrested, beaten and put in prison, because he had taken away their means of income.

The biggest “thorn” in Paul’s life was the fact that he had to deal with these different groups of people who covertly planned the problems and hassles he faced in his ministry.

.The messenger from Satan, perhaps even a demonic angel, had been sent to incite these people against Paul.

If you survey the  types of ordeals Paul endured you will see that many of them were orchestrated by these people who wanted to get rid of him. They were all teaming with hatred toward him. They wanted to see his head on a stake

One of the greatest kinds of attacks Paul experienced was not just words, but physical beatings which explains his use of the word translated buffet or like the NIV “torment me.”

. All of these kind of things presented opposition to the spreading of the gospel. They were brought about by PEOPLE.

Bishop K.C. Pillai from India has written a little book entitled: “Light Through an Eastern window.”  When used as a figure of speech, a thorn in the flesh always refers to irritating or bothersome people. In fact it so used in the Old Testament.  Numbers 33:55-56 refers to people. “ …if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in you sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.  And then in Joshua 23:13…”they…will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes….” And then again in Judges 2:3  “thorns in your sides” is used.

When we consider all of what Paul went through in his ministry, it seems incongruent to think he was asking the Lord “to take away a physical ailment. But to ask the Lord to “give him a break” so to speak from all the people who were led by Satanic forces to prevent the spreading of the Gospel,  seems quite plausible.

So in light of what I have shared, I don’t believe Paul’s thorn in the flesh was sickness or any physical ailment. It is possible that he did ask for some of his physical problems to be taken away, but I don’t think we should ever use this passage as a proof text when we don’t get healed. Some do this. They say; “See Paul asked the Lord to heal him, and he didn’t do it. He said, “my grace is sufficient for you.”  I also don’t believe in our vernacular that the Lord was saying to him:  “suck it up and go on.”  Paul had already done that. He practically ignored any physical problems he had. What he was asking for was to relieve some of the pressure he was feeling every time he shared the gospel. The response of the Lord to him, is the same response he is telling us.

 He is saying, no matter how much opposition you have from people, no matter how hard it seems to witness for me, MY GRACE IS SUFFICEINT.

 Why?—because: You have all the POWER AND AUTHORITY THROUGH ME—YOU HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU THAN ALL THE FORCES OF DARKNESS THAT THE ENEMY THROWS IN YOUR WAY.

You see, the devil used people again and again, trying to keep Paul so distracted solving “people problems” that he wouldn’t be able to make any more significant personal or Gospel advancements.

What about us? What do you intend to do about the “thorns” that Satan is using to steal your joy and sidetrack you from what God has called you to do.? How do you intend to react to this ongoing disturbance? Paul never allowed people to keep him from fulfilling his divine call, and you shouldn’t either I urge you to follow his example. Don’t allow people to stop you, or to annoy you, or hold you back from doing what God has called you to do.

Satan is afraid of you and your gifts when you use them to serve the Lord. He is afraid of your potential, or else he wouldn’t bother to Insite people to stir up trouble for you.

REMEMBER –THE LORD’S GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU.

Nobleton Community Church
January 7, 2024
text:  I Corinthians 16: 1-9
Reverend Paul V Lehmann

Listen to the audio here

letcher Tarkington spoke for most of us when she said: “I wish that there was some wonderful place called “The Land of Beginning Again,” where all our mistakes and all of our heartaches and all of our poor, selfish greed could be dropped like a shabby coat at the door, and never put it on again.”

Our desire as children of God should be to do better in the future than we have in the past. Jesus The new year presents us with the opportunity of finding a “Land of Beginning Again.” We will be using a new calendar, and we will be facing new challenges and new responsibilities, but we are deceiving ourselves if we believe that the new year will be completely different from the old year, unless God intervenes. For we will be confronted with many of the struggles, problems, and heartaches we knew during the past year. We soon fail to keep our New Year’s resolutions.

When we talk about “doors of opportunity,” we must realize that the opening of doors is all God’s responsibility. We just need to be ready to walk through them when he does it. In Acts 19:1 we read that Apollos who had been working with Paul, had gone to Corinth. A little further from where Carol read this morning, –in verse 12 we see that Paul was urging Apollos, to go to Corinth, but he was unwillingly —but Paul tells them he will go when he has the opportunity. Some have felt that Apollos was strong willed and that he wasn’t going to go to Corinth, just because Paul told him to go. I believe though, that there might be another reason. Apollos was willing to obey God whenever, and wherever he would tell him to go. For some reason it wasn’t in God’s timing for him to go then, but when the door was open —he went.

The important thing to realize is; God’s timing is not ours—and when he finally opens the door we must be ready to walk through it by being prepared, and then obey.

Jeannene and I have seen this to be true many times in our lives, but there were two significant times when God’s timing and ours didn’t seem to coincide. Yet in the long run, his timing was perfect of course. Our first ministry in Boma, Dem. Rep of the Congo, I was principle of a high school, and taught Phys. Ed., built an outdoor basketball court and started a basketball team. We had a Bible Study in our home for these players. At the end of our first four year term, 34 young people had given their lives to Christ. But we were feeling led to go to the Capitol City for our next term and help with the newly started church planting efforts. However God had other plans, and when we came back after a year of speaking in churches in the States, we were assigned once again to Boma. I couldn’t understand how the Lord and I “got our wires crossed” so much. Nevertheless it was all in the Lord’s timing. I led Theological Education by Extension Classes, and   was involved with a tent meeting outreach, which resulted with having discipleship classes for 76 converts that lived in our section of the city, and through this a church was planted. Everything that I was involved with, was what I would be doing in Kinshasa. After one year we were able to transfer to the capitol.

While we may have a deep inward desire to “begin again” realistically we should recognize that our present position is really our door of opportunity for significant achievement and worthwhile service. Paul recognized in verse 9 of our text that; “a great door for effective service” was open to him in Ephesus. Instead of running away from difficulty, he said, “but I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost”…then he adds, “and there are many adversaries.”

In spite of difficulties, disappointments, and outright opposition, the apostle Paul determined that he would seize this opportunity for significant service and do whatever was necessary to be done at the moment. The Greek word for open here, means—wide open—not just a little, or a crack, but the door was wide open.

This pagan city of Ephesus resisted his preaching in the past—but now, they were receptive to the gospel, and the three years that Paul stayed and preached there were very fruitful, and the church he planted became one of the greatest churches in church history. In the book of Revelation chapter 2 where Ephesus is the first church that Jesus is talking to John about, we read that they have worked hard, and persevered, and they don’t tolerate wicked people. They endured hardships for the name of Jesus, and they didn’t grow weary. But then he says in verses 4 and 5: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your ‘lampstand’ from its place” That is—their position of prominence. This isn’t a position that is recognized by other people and other churches but rather a position that God gave them. That’s what makes this so necessary that they repent and restore their first love for the Lord. Probably also for each other, because when our love for the Lord fails, we begin to say things against each other. In the KJV, the old English word is “backbite.” That’s what dogs do when they fight. What a terrible state to be in.

Now the danger for us today is to be commended like the church at Ephesus, and then begin to fall and lose the love that we once had for the Lord. This leads to not responding to the opportunities that he gives us. Sometimes that means that we sort of, “rest on our laurels” from the past, or we may think about what opportunities “might” open up in the future. But we need to recognize that the past has gone for good, and the future dreams will not become a reality unless we take advantage of the opportunities that God gives us TODAY.

Today is our day of opportunity for effective service. In John 9:4 Jesus explains; “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.” Then in II Corinthians 6;2 we read; “…In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, in this present time. Not sometime in the future. It is absolutely necessary to recognize the importance of the present, in contrast to the past or the future.”

It is foolish to rely on what we might have done in the past, or to weep over lost opportunities. It is also just as foolish to just wait for the future to happen. The only thing we can be certain of is the present. Does this mean that we don’t think about or plan for the future? No—not at all—we should plan and set goals and consider what we should do TODAY, in order to accomplish what God has laid on our heart to do.

In Proverbs 10:9 we are told; “in their hearts, humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps.” Back in verse 3 we read; that we should submit or commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Some translations say, “He will bless them.”

The last part of verse 9 of our text shows us though that Paul was confronted with many adversaries. There are many, who oppose him,

He was opposed by the Jewish leaders who violently disagree with his ideas about the kingdom of God. Paul believed that the Kingdom of God was wide enough and large enough to include the Gentiles. He believed that the love of God was all-inclusive and that God was just as concerned about redeeming the Gentiles as he was the sons of Abraham. In preaching salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, he was confronted with violent opposition that led to his imprisonment and eventually to his death. In spite of his external opposition from religious leaders, Paul continued his faithful service.

Paul experienced hostile opposition from the pagans whose financial security was threatened by the conversion of those who contributed to their business in Ephesus. Those who profited because of the temple of Diana were agitated to the extent that they rioted (Acts 19:23-29).

Jesus was confronted with many adversaries. On one occasion even Christ’s family sought to dissuade him from the direction in which his life was pointing. At the beginning of his ministry, he was violently opposed by the Devil, who sought to tempt him to deny his redemptive purpose. There were times during Jesus’ ministry when even the disciples opposed him. When Jesus predicted his death n Matthew 16:21-22, we see that; “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” He just didn’t understand the redemptive purpose, that Jesus was born to die for mankind. Of course it was all in God’s timing.

Once when he returned to his hometown of Nazareth, he attended the synagogue and he was asked to read the Scriptures. He read from Isaiah 61:1-2 and verses 18-21. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Then he ended by saying: “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The people were so enraged by his message that they tried to throw him over a cliff (Luke 4:28-29). We read though that; “He walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” Almost from the beginning of his ministry he experienced hostility and opposition on the part of the religious establishment who saw him as a threat to the laws and traditions as they interpreted them. They also added things to the law and they demanded that the people follow these, but they themselves didn’t. (Sounds like our politicians, doesn’t it?)  Anyway this conflict eventually led to his death.

We may worry about external opposition, but perhaps our greatest danger will be the internal hindrances that keep us from doing God’s will for our lives. This is true of our individual spiritual lives, but also collectively for our church, this body of Christ. These inward adversaries can be conquered only as we enter the doorways of opportunity for WORSHIP, STUDY, AND PRAYER in which we let God work within us so that his will might be accomplished through us.

Each of us has a built-in tendency because of sin, to avoid obligations, burdens, or difficulties. It is natural unfortunately, to be selfish and self-centered. Unless we are alert and determined to do otherwise and give ourselves over to the filling and the control of the Holy Spirit, we will continue to live carnal lives, and we will find ourselves drifting through this coming year, adding days to our lives instead of filling those days with significance and meaning.  

We must seize our opportunities for service. In the Old Testament in the account of creation, Eve didn’t seize the opportunity to obey and serve the Creator God, and Adam didn’t support her against the enemy Satan, who continues to deceive us, like he did them. Cain their son then, killed his brother Abel, because he didn’t seize the opportunity to obey and worship the Lord with all of his heart. When we hate our brothers and sisters in Christ, or when we hate anyone, it is the same as if we have killed them, or at the very least, wanted to kill them. In Matt. 5: 21-22 we read that; “we are told -do not murder because that person is subject to judgement, but Jesus said that the person who is angry with a brother or sister is also subject to judgement. In I John 2:9 we read; “You claim to live in the light, but you are living in darkness. “Walk by faith and not live in darkness.”  I John 3:15 tells us; “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. “

The door of faith is open.  Paul rejoiced that God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27). He was delighted that Gentiles could trust God and walk by faith and enjoy his favor.

To each of us is given the privilege of walking by faith (Prove. 3:5-6) to walk by faith is to enjoy the presence of God as Enoch did and Abraham and all the others listed in that great faith chapter 11 of Hebrews.

When we trust in Christ alone the door to divine sonship is open to all who will receive Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin. (John 1:12) “To as many as received Him, and believed in His name, He gave the (power) or the  right to be called the sons of God. Most of you here this morning have already seized the opportunity to enter this door (the door of salvation). We can rejoice that the door is still open for others to enter. Some have declined to enter this doo and consequently remain in the darkness of spiritual destitution outside of the family of God. Don’t be that person. If you have not received Jesus Christ by inviting Him into your life, you can do so this morning.

The door to Christian witnessing is open.  Paul speaks of a door being open to preach the gospel in the city of Troas. The door will be open for us to announce the good news of God’s love in our community during the coming year. We, like the apostle Paul, should be praying that God would open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. (Col. 4:3) and he adds “for which I am in chains.” In verses 4-5 he says; “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”

Jesus said, “I am the door; if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). Jesus is the door to forgiveness, He is the door into new life, eternal like, the very life of God. He is the door to new spiritual power and energy. He is the door to hope for the future as we seek to live lives of significant achievement and service. He is the door to the eternal home of God at the end of our life.

On this first Sunday of the New Year, let each of us determine that we will be alert to seize every opportunity for worship and service to our God and to those about us. By so doing we will discover that we have already found the “land of beginning again.”

The enemy will try his best to keep you from stepping through the gigantic doors of opportunity God desires to open for you. Satan is afraid of what will happen when “his” territory is invaded by someone fully equipped with a full arsenal of spiritual weapons! So know this; God will open doors for you—but He needs you to make a determined decision that you will walk through them, no matter the opposition, with the help of His Holy Spirit. By opening the door, God has already done His part, which would have been impossible without his assistance. Now He beckons you to come dressed in the whole armor of God and in the power of His Word—and then proceed through that effectual door into new territory this year. It may look like enemies are everywhere, but it is simply a fact that the devil and his forces flee and collapse when they are subjected to a show of strong faith!.

God doesn’t open a door for you to walk through so you can fail

He is with you every step of the way.

Your situation may look frightful, but think about this: If God has supernaturally opened a new door for you—-a door that’s never before been opened—-He is not beckoning you to walk through it so you can fail. He is with you every step of the way, and He will empower you to defeat every foe and bring Him glory in that new territory that is yours to possess in Jesus’ name!

At the last Passover Supper, Jesus knew very well how the disciples were going to feel after he was betrayed. He knew they would feel like all was lost, and that they were alone. The power that they were going to receive because of what he would accomplish on the cross, would be greater than anything they had ever experienced before.  That’s why He told them in I Cor. 11:23-25 that every time they eat the bread and drink from the cup— to do it remembrance of Him.

Nobleton Community Church
December 31, 2023
Reverend Paul V Lehmann

Listen to the audio here

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE VIRGIN BIRTH TO YOU?
Nobleton Community Church
December 24, 2023
Reverend Paul V Lehmann

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

Quite a few years ago I remember they were talking about a “virgin birth” of sorts as they called it. It was expected from a Komodo dragon named Flora, one of two dragons at Chester Zoo, in northern England. Flora laid 11 eggs in May that year, three of which collapsed. These three eggs were opened and were found to contain embryos, showing they had been fertilized. But who was the daddy? Flora had never mated with a male dragon or even mixed with one. DNA tests have now proven that flora was both the mother and father of the fertile eggs. Although other lizard species are known to be able to self-fertilize, this is the first time this has ever been reported in Komodo dragons.

Now I don’t know what the attitude of these scientists are towards the Virgin Birth of Jesus, but they reported with tongue in cheek, “We will be on the lookout for shepherds, wise men and an unusually bright star in the sky over Chester Zoo. Actually this kind of talk is blasphemy and is steeped in unbelief of the real Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This kind of comment is made in the same vein as saying; “ they will be on the lookout for a man in a red suit flying through the air in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.”

In one of his columns for The New York times, Nicholas Kristof once pointed to, belief in the Virgin Birth as evidence that conservative Christians are “less intellectual.” Are we saddled with an untenable doctrine? Is belief in the Virgin Birth really necessary? Kristof is absolutely aghast that so many Americans believe in the Virgin Birth. “The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time,” he explains, and the percentage of Americans who believe in the Virgin Birth “actually rose five points in the latest poll.” Yikes!! He says; “ Is this evidence of secular backsliding? He continues by saying: “ The Virgin Mary is an interesting prism through which to examine America’s emphasis on faith,” Kristof argues, “because most “Biblical scholars” regard the evidence for the Virgin Birth…as so shaky that it pretty much has to be a leap of faith.”
Now here’s a little hint: anytime you hear a claim about what “most Biblical scholars” believe, check on just who these illustrious scholars really are. In Kristof’s case, he is only concerned about liberal scholars like Hans Kung, whose credentials as a Catholic theologian were revoked by the Vatican. The list of what Hans Jung does not believe would fill a book. Kung is the anti-Catholic’s favorite Catholic, and that is the real reason he is so loved by the liberal media.

Throughout the history of the Christian Church, the majority of theologians, even most of those who question many of the miracles recorded in the Bible, accept the doctrine of the Virgin Birth. For those who don’t, they are really not Christian; for to be Christian, this is a fundamental doctrine.

Let’s look at this doctrine. It was among the first to be questioned and then rejected after the rise of historical criticism and the undermining of Biblical authority that inevitably followed. Critics claimed that since the doctrine is taught in “only” two of the four Gospels, it must be elective. That is, an option—you can believe it, or choose not to believe it. This premise to me intellectually doesn’t make sense. We cannot pick and choose things to believe about the Bible, or what is in the Bible, and still claim to be a Bible believing Christian. A lot of the disbelief is based on the fact that they say that the Apostle Paul, did not mention the Virgin Birth in his sermons, so he must not have believed it. They fail to mention that Paul talks about the “incarnation” in Philippians 2:5-11. It is very clear that Paul believed that Jesus was in His very nature God, and this equality with God didn’t keep him from coming to earth and taking on the nature of a servant. It is impossible for this to be the case unless God was involved, by His Spirit, with the conception before His birth.

Besides, the liberal critics argue, the doctrine is just too supernatural.
Modern heretics like retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong argues that the doctrine was just evidence of the early church’s over-claiming of Christ’s deity. It is, Spong tells us, the “entrance myth” to go with the “resurrection, the exit myth.” The thought that comes to my mind is; if only Spong were a myth.

Now, even some revisionist so-called evangelicals claim that belief in the Virgin Birth is unnecessary. The meaning of the miracle is enduring, they argue, but the historical truth of the doctrine is not really important. REALLY?

So what do you have to believe about Christ to be a Christian? Not much according to most liberal theologians. However, I like what Albert Mohler says: He first poses the question; “Must one believe in the Virgin Birth to be a Christian? He responds to his own question by saying: “This is not a hard question to answer. It is conceivable that someone might come to Christ and trust Christ as Savior without yet learning that the Bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. A new believer is not yet aware of the full structure of Christian truth. The real question is this: Can a Christian, once aware of the Bible’s teaching, reject the Virgin Birth? The answer must be NO!!

Matthew tells us that before Mary and Joseph “came together,” Mary “was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 1:18). Matthew explains that this fulfilled what Isaiah promised (Isaiah 7:14); “…The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Which translated means of course, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

The Isaiah 7:14 passage predicts the virgin birth of the Messiah. It is a sign given to Ahaz, who didn’t want it, but God is going to give him one, whether he likes it or not. Now the sign being “a young woman” would be no sign at all to Ahaz, or to the house of David, or to anybody else, but if a virgin conceives and bears a son, that is a sign. The Hebrew word that is used is what has caused a problem. It is almah, which translates virgin, but also commonly was “young woman” However a Hebrew scholar who is a committed Christian was asked about the use of this word almah. He said; Suppose you went to visit a friend of yours who had three daughters and two of them were married and one was still single. He would say; “These are my married daughters, and this young lady (almah) is my 3rd daughter. If you would imply that she was anything but a virgin he would be angry. The 72 men who translated the Hebrew scripture in the Old Testament into Greek to become the Septuagint, translated the word virgin, not young woman.



Luke provides even greater detail, revealing that Mary was visited by an angel who explained that she, though a virgin, would bear the divine child (Luke 1:35): …”The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Even if the Virgin Birth was taught by only one biblical passage, that would be sufficient to obligate all Christians to the belief. We have no right to weigh the relative truthfulness of biblical teachings by their repetition in Scripture. We cannot claim to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and then turn around and cast suspicion on its teaching.

Millard Erickson, a Baptist Conservative theologian, states this well: “If we do not hold to the virgin birth despite the fact that the Bible asserts it, then we have compromised the authority of the Bible and there is in principle no reason why we should hold to its other teachings.” Thus, rejecting the virgin birth has implications reaching far beyond the doctrine itself. Implications, indeed. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, who was His biological father? There is no answer that will leave the Gospel intact.

Like William Barclay who includes so much background of New Testament times in his commentaries, and much of what he says about scripture is very informative and helpful, nevertheless, he always downplays the miraculous and explains it away, sometimes with the most outrageous statements. He says in his commentary of Luke 1:26-38; “The church does not insist that we believe in the doctrine of the Virgin Birth…we can make our own decision as to whether we believe in it or not.” I’d like to know what church he is talking about. There is no true church that doesn’t accept it. No matter if it is the Roman Catholic Church, The Greek or Eastern Orthodox Church, and or Protestants of all denominations accept it. The Apostles Creed declares it, as well as the Nicene Creed. — NO,NO; We are not at liberty to just make a decision based on what we think is right. Jesus was either God with us and our Savior, both God and man or he is totally human. He must be divine and his conception was by the Holy Spirit and not Joseph or any other human, or else he can’t be our Savior. The Savior must be without sins in order to save us from our sins.

Rejecting the supernatural at the birth of Christ, of course leads to for some, rejecting or explaining away His miracles including the Resurrection. Barclay does the former, but somehow manages to cling to the reality of the resurrection and the ascension.

The Virgin Birth explains how Christ could be both God and man, how He was without sin, and that the entire work of salvation is God’s gracious act. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, He had a human father. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, the Bible teaches a lie.

Carl F. H. Henry, the dean of evangelical theologians, (if you will), argues that the Virgin Birth is the “essential, historical indication of the Incarnation, bearing not only an analogy to the divine and human natures of the Incarnate, but also bringing out the nature, purpose, and bearing of this work of God to salvation.” Well said, and well believed.

We sing in the Christmas Carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” :
In the first verse: “God and sinners reconciled.” Then in the second verse we sing: Off-spring of the Virgin’s womb: Veiled in flesh the God-head see; Hail the incarnate Deity. Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Nicholas Kristof and his secularist friends may find belief in the Virgin Birth to be evidence of intellectual backwardness among American Christians. But this is the faith of the Church, established in God’s perfect Word, and cherished by the true Church throughout the ages. Kristof declared that his grandfather a so-called devout elder in the church, believed that the Virgin Birth is a “pious legend.” The fact that he could hold such beliefs and serve as an elder in his church is evidence of that church’s doctrinal and spiritual laxity, or worse. Those who deny the Virgin Birth but affirm other doctrines by choice, have already surrendered the authority of Scripture. They have undermined Christ’s nature and nullified the incarnation.

This much we know: All those who find salvation will be saved by the atoning work of Jesus the Christ, the Virgin-born Savior. Anything less than this is just not Christianity, whatever it may call itself. A true Christian will not deny the Virgin Birth.

The main reason the Virgin Birth should be important to us is because our salvation depends on it. Without a sinless Christ, that is God incarnate, a God-man that becomes flesh, it is impossible for Him to save us. While we cannot say dogmatically that God could enter the world only through a virgin birth, surely the incarnation is a supernatural event. If that is eliminated we compromise the deity of Christ. The humanity of Christ is also important, because otherwise He is not wholly identifying Himself with humanity. Both are important, but the Virgin Birth separates His birth from all other births of good men. He is not half man and half god like so many other Greek and pagan gods, He is both God and Man. If Jesus were born of two human parents, he would not of been able to take our sin upon Himself and die on a cross for us to break the curse of sin that was brought about by the first Adam. It was because of Adam all of us must die, but it is because of Christ (the 2nd Adam), the scripture teaches, that all of us are made alive in Him.

Is the Virgin Birth important to you? It should be very important, because without this fact, we have no Savior!

Nobleton Community Church December 17, 2023
Third Sunday of Advent
Text: Psalm 126; Philippians 4:4-7
Pastor Paul V. Lehmann

My friend and former colleague David Ens, who was a missionary in Paris, France when we were there, tells about a Cambodian refugee girl named Chanta, who was a single parent and lived in an apartment complex called Camembert where she lived with her three sons. The structure is so called because it resembles two wheels of camembert cheese on their sides.

The complex is located in the section of Paris called Noisy le Grand, close to a major shopping mall. It was from here one winter that Chanta was returning home with her hands full of groceries, on this day it was a typical winter day in Paris, which usually means wind and rain that sometimes turns to sleet. She had her umbrella but it was hard to hold against the wind. From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a dark-complexioned youth in the shadow of an archway. She passed by, thinking he was simply seeking shelter from the drizzle. Then, the sound of footsteps and Chanta felt her purse being wrenched from her grasp. Au secours! (“Help”) she screamed as the boy ran off. Two would-be Samaritans took chase. But they soon returned with nothing to offer but their condolences. Tearfully Chanta made her way back to her apartment. Gone were the documents which were so important that gave her the legal right to be in France. Gone were her credit cards, her money, her checkbook, her expensive new prescription glasses and her house keys.

Fortunately she had left the boys at home and would be able to gain entry. This was little comfort, however, knowing that she had no way to have another key made and a replacement lock would cost nearly
$300. As Chanta rode the elevator to the sixth floor she called out to the only One she knew could really help her—Jesus. Only He could

set things right. After putting the groceries away and the children to bed, she retired for the night.
The next day, Chanta made her way to the police station to report the theft. While she gave her report, the desk sergeant was interrupted to book two young men arrested for possession of stolen goods. Among the incriminating evidence in their possession were two of Chanta’s credit cards. Thank you, God, “she prayed quietly as the officer handed her the cards.
Back at home, Chanta was informed that the train station had called. They were holding her purse and her keys. Again, she thanked God. One more call came that day from the caretaker of a nearby apartment complex. He explained that, while cleaning the grounds, he had found her identification papers and two checkbooks. Chanta raced to reclaim these precious items, her heart full of joy. Truly her Savior had come through for her again.
That evening she took inventory of what had been lost and what had been found. The cash was gone and so were her precious glasses. She would need to reorder them and perhaps even be required to have her eyes tested again. The following day, at the optometrist’s office, Chanta was pleased to find that her test results were still in the computer and she had only to order new glasses. She cringed as she paid for them though, but it had to be done. Now she only needed to wait the week or so before she could pick them up.
During that week Chanta had the opportunity to tell her story at her Cambodian Evangelical Church in Marne la Valee. The congregation joined their prayers with hers.
One week had gone by since the robbery. Chanta was at home when the phone rang. A Frenchman identified himself and asked if she was Madame Noun Chanta. When she confirmed this, he went on to say that a pair of glasses had been turned into the lost and found at the mall and that from the receipt inside the case, they had traced them through the optometrist back to her.
Chanta ran to the office to make her claim. Another brief prayer of praise. With her glasses back in her possession she realized there

was now no need to order—and pay for—the new pair. When the clerk agreed to refund her money, Chanta breathed yet another “thank you” to the Lord.
The following Sunday she gave her testimony in church for what Jesus Christ had done for her. Everyone was reminded of John 16:24 which says; Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
How often do we fret and worry when something like this happens, instead of praying and trusting, moving forward with what we need to do, but not allowing our circumstances to affect our inner joy. When we trust God our joy increases even more when he answers our prayer. Certainly receiving your I.D. papers and credit cards are a big deal in France, especially for someone who is not a citizen. The miraculous way that Chanta got these back is a cause for JOY.
Our problem is, even though we know better in our hearts, as Christians, we still depend on good happenings to make us “happy.” We still believe that it takes happy things to make us happy, and we still confuse that with inner joy, that only Jesus Christ can give.
The fact is, that often our joy comes, when we suffer the most. We experience the effect of the suffering, with joy after the trial is over, but the truth is, for the Christian we have the joy in our hearts, in our inner being already—through the suffering.
The Greek word for “joy” is derived from the word for grace. This is important to note, for it tells us categorically that joy is produced by God’s grace. This means “joy” isn’t a human based happiness that comes and goes. Rather, true joy is divine in origin, a fruit of the Spirit that is manifested particularly in hard times. Someone may feel happiness, exuberance, excitement or be in “high spirits,” but all of these are fleeting emotions. On the other hand, “joy” is a Spirit-given expression that flourishes best, when times are strenuous and stressful, daunting and tough!
In the example that we have in First Thessalonians 1:6, the Thessalonians were under great stress due to persecution; yet in the midst of it all, they continued to experience great JOY. In fact, the Greek strongly implies that their supernatural joy was due to the Holy

Spirit working inside them. Paul even called it the “JOY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
I like the interpretive translation of this passage that Rick Renner gives us:
“You throw your arms open wide and gladly welcomed the Word into your lives with great enthusiasm. And you did it even in the midst of mind-bobbling sufferings—a level of stress and intensity that would be suffocating and crushing for most people. But while you were going through all these hardships and hassles, you were simultaneously experiencing the supreme ecstasy and joy of the Holy Spirit.”
In our text that we read from Psalm 126, we see that when the Lord restored his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream to them because they were filled with laughter, and they sang for joy.
Now the Holy Spirit was not yet given to be in them, but the joy was still supernaturally supplied to them in their singing. In verse 3, they recognized that the Lord had done amazing things for them!—What Joy!
God is able to restore our joy, when we are not experiencing it like we would want to. Our tears can be seeds that will grow into a harvest of joy because God is able to bring good out of tragedy. When burdened by sorrow, know that your times of grief will end and that you will again find joy. We must be patient as we wait. God’s great harvest of joy is coming! Remember; “those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.”
Jesus reassured his disciples in John 16:1-33, that he was going to be taken from them for a short time, and then they would see him again. He was referring to his death, and then his resurrection. He said to them that they would weep and mourn over what is going to happen to Him, but the world will rejoice. (Now the world still rejoices, every chance they get to eliminate Jesus, even the name of Jesus), but here he tells the disciples that their anguish will turn to wonderful joy when they will see Him again. He is not talking about His second coming, but when they saw Him after He rose from the dead. He said that; “ You have sorrow now, but I will see you again then you will

rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. The truth is, you can go directly to the Father and ask him, and he will grant your request because you use my name.” He points out to them that they haven’t done this before. Then he says: “ Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have ABUNDANT JOY.
You see, when we ask our heavenly father in prayer for what is on our hearts, –in the name of Jesus—this should give us much joy. But I’m afraid that too often, we don’t experience any joy when we pray. We just go through the motions, or repeat prayers because we think it is our duty to pray.
C.S. Lewis described joy in his book “Surprised by Joy” as:” an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction… I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it, would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world.”
We can manipulate circumstances to our own advantage to obtain what we think will bring happiness, or expend great efforts in pleasure-seeking, but joy is entirely free. You cannot earn it, buy it or deserve it. It is a divine gift to receive rather than a selfish goal to pursue. The opposite of joy is not sadness or sorrow but anxiety.
Jesus encouraged his followers by saying; “do not worry about your life.” Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” He tells them to consider the joy of the birds who sing for joy, or the flowers in their glory, and if the Lord of the universe clothes creation with such extravagance, then we can rejoice in his love regardless of our circumstances. Jesus says that we rest in God’s love so that our joy may be in us, and that our joy may be complete. (John 15:11)
We see that the joy that was announced by the angels—“I bring you good news of great joy” is intertwined with peace and love. We will talk more about God’s LOVE next week for our fourth Sunday of Advent.
In closing today, remember that the best that the lost world has to offer is a temporary happiness. But when the seed of God has been placed inside your human spirit, that divine seed produces a ‘joy” that isn’t based on outward events or circumstance. In fact, when
times get very challenging, the supernatural life of God rises up inside you to defy that awful pressure! This supernatural “JOY” will sustain you in even the hardest of times!