Do You Know Your Goal?

Romans 8:5-39

When Corrie and I were engaged, we used to go golfing a lot in Saskatchewan. We enjoyed it, but I wasn’t that great. I obviously hit enough nice balls to make me want to keep playing the game, but overall when you look at my records, they weren’t that impressive!

But we did enjoy it. The lush, green fairways, the trees swaying in the breeze, and of course, me throwing my golf club farther than I actually managed to hit the ball itself.

I just had a few minor problems with my game. One was my ball. It just refused to go the right way! Sometimes it would tease me and sail beautifully straight through the air, heading directly for the flag at the end. But then, suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, it would careen off to the side and disappear into the woods. Why this happened, I just never knew. Sometimes it wasn’t even nice enough to get up into the air at all. It would just bounce along the ground for a few meters and then die. All that effort, all those strange bodily contortions, all for naught. And then that crazy little white ball would sit there, taunting, laughing. Or may that was my fellow golfers, but nonetheless it was frustrating.

My ball had a major problem. It just didn’t have a sense of direction at all. It had no idea where it was supposed to be going! It just went wherever the wind took it, or, worse, however my club happened to strike it at the time. And, more often than not, that was not accurate.

Of course, you could try and tell me that it wasn’t my ball’s fault. That it had no choice in the matter. But I know better. That deviant little white ball simply had no idea what the goal was, and as such it was susceptible to any slight leaning or directional change.

This example of the golf ball is actually pretty accurate for our lives. So many things in our life cause us to veer off track. Maybe the home you grew up in was tough. Your parents were hard on you, or maybe you grew up in a split home, or with a single parent, or maybe an absentee parent. Whatever the case, your family and your upbringing, aka the golf club, sent you, the ball, veering off your intended course. Right from the start, right off the tee, you seemingly didn’t stand a chance.

Then, added to that misaligned beginning come the crosswinds of adversity. Maybe there were struggles in school growing up, hard times financially, a loss of a friend or family member. Life’s winds blew fast and harsh, causing what was already a rough start, or maybe even a start that seemed OK at first, veer wildly off course. And so you take a bad hook into the woods, not even close to the green and the flag at the end of the fairway.

And you become disillusioned.

As you sit in the woods, buried in the grass and brush, you become disillusioned with life. Questions begin forming in your head. Why are you here? What could possibly be the purpose of life? And, like everyone else, you try to get yourself out of those woods. You attend church. Maybe you go to Bible School, or lead Bible studies in your homes. But the fact still remains that you are lost and on your own. Every now and then the sun peaks through the trees to give you a ray of hope, but as soon as it comes, it is gone again.

And you are stuck. Caught in the forest of your sins, your failures and your shortcomings. And, for many of us, we soon realize that we will never get out of this forest on our own.

Let’s read through the passage today that I want to speak about.

Romans 8

Life through the Spirit

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long; 
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I’ve been reading a book about business lately (I know, sounds quite boring but I’m actually enjoying it to be honest). While I’m not going to go into details of the book itself, one part of it really stuck out to me. Of course, I think it’s the main point of the book so it should stick out to me. Anyways, one basic statement they made was that any action that leads a company closer to its goal is a productive action, whereas any action that leads a company away from its goal is counter-productive. Pretty basic, really. However, if a person doesn’t understand the goal then how does he or she know if what they’re doing is productive or counter-productive? The only way anyone can know this is by knowing the goal.

As a Christian, as a son or daughter of God, do you know the goal that God has for you? Do you know whether your day-to-day activities are actually productive or counter-productive? If you don’t know the goal, you can’t know the answer to that question.

The goal for all of us is largely the same. It is written throughout the scriptures, it is repeated by multiple authors. In verse 29 and chapter 8 of Romans we read that God predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Throughout the New Testament we see similar mentions of this goal. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we read that “we all …are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.” Paul also refers to the Galatians in Galatians 4:9 by stating “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…” And also in Ephesians 4:11-15 we read “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

You see, without a knowledge of this goal, without a true understanding of this purpose, we all end up lost and alone in the woods. Try as you might, you will never find your way out of the woods and onto the green.

Worse than not knowing the goal, is knowing the goal but not knowing how it get there. You may know that you want to get to the green, to find that flag, but how do you get there? We see throughout scripture that God’s intention for our lives as his children is to become like Christ. But how?

Romans 8 doesn’t just reveal God’s intention for us, but also the directions. And those directions are through the Holy Spirit. By living according to the Spirit. The Spirit is in our lives, God has built in a GPS directing us how to be more and more like Christ every day.

God knew we would fail. So he sent his Son to die on this earth as a man so that we would be forgiven. But that wasn’t all. God also knew that after our failures, we would need help to find our way back, to become more Christ-like. And so he then gave us his Holy Spirit.

So how do we tap into this resource? How do we use the Holy Spirit within us to develop ourselves to become more Christ-like? How do we turn on this GPS to give us our sorely needed directions?

Let’s read again the first part of the passage we read earlier (read vs 5-17 again).

So, living by the Spirit means we put to death the misdeeds of the body. What are these misdeeds, then? And how do we learn about them, so we can put them to death?

By learning more about Christ.

If we are to live by the Spirit, and if we are to become Christ-like, if that is our goal then it would make sense that we need to focus on learning about Christ himself.

Coming to Church is a great step. Attending Bible studies also helps us to learn. Daily devotions, constant prayer, spending time with God. As I said earlier, any action that leads you towards your goal is productive. Any action that takes you further away is counter-productive.

Does this mean that doing things like soccer, work, home renovations or whatever is counter-productive? Only if those things take you further from your goal. If you play soccer or hockey or golf, and yet find yourself falling further from your goal of becoming more Christ-like, then playing in that sport is counter-productive and needs to be ‘put to death’. If renovating your house is putting a division between you and your family, if it is taking away time that you should be spending with God, then it is counter-productive.

The Spirit convicts us. As you go about your daily activities, if the Spirit is convicting you of an action that is taking your further from your goal of becoming Christ-like, then stop. We should be ever working towards becoming more Christ-like, and no one has time in their lives to be doing anything but what brings us closer to that goal. Examine your life. What misdeeds are you doing that are taking you further from this goal?

God wants to use the Holy Spirit as the club that guides us out of the forest and back onto the fairway.

Are you confused as to what direction your life needs to take? Turn on the GPS within you that is the Holy Spirit. Let him convict you of your actions that are taking you further from his goal for our lives.

Mothers Shape the World

What do Steven Harper, Billy Graham and Ted Bundy all have in common? They all have or had a mother. That just might be a bit of an obvious statement, to be sure. But the fact is, each one of us here has, or had, a mother who helped us develop into who we are today.

Some of us were shaped positively, some negatively. We grew up either under loving care, or under uncertain neglect. Some of us can look back at happy memories of our moms, while others look back and maybe mourn a loss. I was blessed enough to have a very loving and caring upbringing with both a Mother as well as a Father that cared, loved and helped shape me into a child of God. Not only that, but I was surrounded by friends, family, and many other positive “motherly” influences. Even now, I look at my wife and our friends and I see so many positive mothers influencing the next generation. But I’m not so naive to think that everyone has had the same experiences. And as such, I do understand that celebrating Mother’s day can be a bittersweet day for many. But the fact remains that regardless of whether a mother wants to or not, she is shaping the next generation one child at a time.

Mothers have the power to shape the world. And a Christian mother has the ability to shape the world in a way beyond our imagination by her devotion to God.

This morning I want to talk about a mother that is an example for us all, not just an example for mothers. The bible is full of great examples of mothers. From Eve to Mary and many others, we see many examples of strong, loving, and caring mothers. So why Hannah, you many ask? Here’s an example of a mother that really spent very little time actually being a mom, right? And yet she is an example for us to follow?

Let’s dig a little deeper into who this woman of the Old Testament was, and what examples she lived out for us.

When we first meet Hannah in I Samuel we meet a woman that is actually in pain. We find Hannah in tears, because she was barren. In those times, not being able to have children was a major deal, even considered a failure of a wife’s duties. To add to the situation Hannah was in, her husband had a second wife who was able to conceive and taunted Hannah about it.

1 Samuel 1:1-8

¹ There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite^[a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³ Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. ⁴ Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵ But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. ⁶ Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. ⁷ This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Hannah’s troubles, however, produced in her a level of desperation that caused her to seek God’s help. As Christians, it is often during our struggles, during our hardest times that we are the most devoted to God. We find ourselves praying more frequently, reading the Word more faithfully and following God more fervently. Hannah was no different. As her troubles drove her to tears, they also drove her to God.

1 Samuel 1:9-18

⁹ Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house. ¹⁰ In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. ¹¹ And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

¹² As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk ¹⁴ and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵ “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. ¹⁶ Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

¹⁷ Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

¹⁸ She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

Let’s look at Hannah’s prayer. She’s praying as she is weeping, and she pleads with God to “...look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son...” At this point, we are seeing a desperate and maybe even angry Hannah as she put her request before God.

She had good reason to be discouraged and upset. She could not have children, she had to share her husband with another woman, a woman who laughed in her face and mocked her, her husband was unable to help her and even the high priest did not understand her motives. Yet instead of being bitter and resentful, she brought her problem before God hopeful that He would help her. Her prayer opened up the way for God to work.

This prayer also shows us an example of a God who cares about us. Our purpose on this earth is to worship and glorify God. Not to have nice cars or a big house. Not to work. Not even to have children. And yet, God still sees us and cares about our desires and wishes. Hannah’s prayer doesn’t show any worship, praise or even adoration. At this point, she is simply beyond herself, and instead cries out for God’s mercy. In fact, she even bargains with God. She promises God that if He gives her a son, she would give that son right back to Him. But God still cares, and God listens.

One key thing we can pick up here from Hannah’s prayer is that God wants to hear the desires of our hearts. He wants to hear our pain. Hannah expressed her true feelings with honesty, laying it all out before God. We should do the same. Yes, it is critical that we glorify and praise God. But, as imperfect humans living in a broken world, God knows that we will go through times that cause us to fall on our knees, pouring our hearts out to Him.

But, let’s notice here not just Hannah’s desperate prayer. Notice also what she does afterwards. Hannah went away, ate something, and was in better spirits (her face was no longer downcast). She left her problems with God! She poured out her heart before her Saviour, and then left her problems with Him. She believed that God would take care of her, and she left upbeat and positive. So often, we find ourselves pouring our hearts out to God, laying our problems down before Him, only to gather them all up again and bring those same problems back out with us rather than leaving them in God’s capable hands.

I Samuel 1:19-23

¹⁹ Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. ²⁰ So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,^[b] saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

²¹ When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, ²² Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”^[c]

²³ “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his^[d] word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

God gave Hannah the desire of her heart! Hannah gave birth to a boy! One thing I would like to point out here is the dedication of this family to God. First of all, they made a yearly trip to Shiloh to worship God and offer sacrifices. Secondly, we find Hannah in desperation praying and pouring her heart out to God. And now, the next morning before they leave, they once again get up early and the first thing they do is they go and worship the Lord again before returning home. God does honour Hannah’s plea, but let’s not overlook the fact that Hannah and her family were dedicated in their worship and praise of the Lord as well. Hannah displayed full trust and devotion to her God throughout these hard times. Hannah understood that while she was in misery, in the end worship of the Lord was still of utmost importance.

And God rewards her devotion by giving her a son.

Let’s continue reading.

I Samuel 1:24-28

²⁴ After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,^[e] an ephah^[f] of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. ²⁵ When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, ²⁶ and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. ²⁸ So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

This is the section of this story that is truly amazing. Many of us can relate to Hannah in her sorrow and desperation. Some of us can even relate to maybe even attempting to bargain with God. But very few of us can stand there beside Hannah and proudly say that we held up our end of the “bargain” that we made with God. Hannah does.

Hannah raises Samuel until he was weaned. How old Samuel was, it doesn’t say here exactly in these chapters. The New Living Translation says that Hannah tells Eli the priest that she had stood before him several years before praying for a son. Regardless, whether he was 2 years old or 6 years old, the fact remains that he was a very small, young boy. And Hannah gave him to God.

Can you imagine? How many of you here today are mothers? Even fathers? Can you imagine giving up your only child to the church? Can you imagine walking away from your son? I can’t. I have a hard enough time parting with my tithe sometimes... Do you remember the story of the rich man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to get to heaven? Jesus responded that he must give up everything he owned, which made the rich man sad because he knew he couldn’t do it. Yet Hanna gave up her son! Don’t you think if given the option, she would’ve gladly chosen her belongings over her son? Instead, Hannah entrusts her son to the Lord, not begrudgingly, but with joy.

The key here is that she gave him to the Lord. She didn’t entrust him with Eli, the priest. In fact, if you are familiar with the story surrounding Eli and his sons at this time, you can be sure that Eli was not very good at raising children. Chapter 2 says that Eli’s two sons were “scoundrels” with “no regard for the Lord.” They manipulated the people, they stole food that the people of Israel would offer as sacrifices to the Lord. They treated God with contempt and disrespect, and yet they held a position of power over the people. If they did this in front of everyone, I can only imagine what life might have been like in the temple behind closed doors. This was no place for a child to be raised and taught about the Lord!

Yet, this is not what Hannah saw. Hannah saw her God, and trusted in her God, not the priests. She rested in who she knew she served, not in the humans that were displaying such a poor example of what following God really was. These priests could’ve learned a lot just from Hannah!

Hannah not only gives up her son, the child that she so desperately wanted, but she does so willingly and joyfully. They sacrificed to God, and worshipped him. Not once does it mention anything about Hannah feeling regret or remorse. This feeling of confidence can only come from one place, and that’s from God.

How often have you entered into a situation that was out of your control? How often did life seem uncertain and by all logic, you had nothing to rely on? Take a lesson out of the life of Hannah. Don’t put your trust in what is untrustworthy. Put your trust in God. And you can face the uncertainties with joy.

Let’s continue reading into the next chapter, the prayer of Hannah.

I Samuel 2:1-10

¹ Then Hannah prayed and said:

   “My heart rejoices in the LORD;
   in the LORD my horn^[a] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
   for I delight in your deliverance.

² “There is no one holy like the LORD;
   there is no one besides you;
   there is no Rock like our God.

³ “Do not keep talking so proudly
   or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
   and by him deeds are weighed.

⁴ “The bows of the warriors are broken,
   but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
⁵ Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
   but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
   but she who has had many sons pines away.

⁶ “The LORD brings death and makes alive;
   he brings down to the grave and raises up.
⁷ The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
   he humbles and he exalts.
⁸ He raises the poor from the dust
   and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
   and has them inherit a throne of honor.

   “For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
   on them he has set the world.
⁹ He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
   but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

   “It is not by strength that one prevails;
¹⁰ those who oppose the LORD will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
   the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.

   “He will give strength to his king
   and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

For those of you out there who are moms, if you had just given up your only child at such a young age, would these be the words coming out of your mouth? How about the fathers in the room? This should’ve been a heart wrenching ordeal. And yet, Hannah’s confidence and satisfaction in God is simply amazing.

So how does this story relate to Mother’s Day? Here’s a woman that didn’t have any children at first. Then, she has a son for a few years at the most, and yet gives him to the Lord. So how is Hannah a good example of a good mother? Hannah, through her devotion to God, influenced the direction of a nation. Had Hannah turned bitter towards God about being barren, had she resented Him, and not prayed her prayer of desperation, then who knows, but maybe God wouldn’t have used her! And yet, Samuel was born to Hannah, Samuel who became one of Israel’s greatest prophets. A leader who ushered in a great era. Samuel’s devotion to God was unequalled, and we can now see that he had an amazing example to follow in his own mother.

Consider the impact Samuel had on Israel. The state of Israel at the time was fading. The priests were leading Israel along a dangerous path, and once Samuel took over, he began putting the country back on the right track and he led Israel in the way they should be, as nation of God. Samuel was also responsible for leading in the era of the Kings. First with King Saul, but then more importantly with King David.

All of this wasn’t possible if it weren’t for Hannah’s dedication to God. Hannah’s willingness to serve God, no matter what, resulted in one of Israel’s most successful eras.

And Hannah’s influence didn’t end once she walked away from her son. She made Samuel a new cloak every year that she and her husband came to Shiloh. She wasn’t heavily involved in his upbringing, but she still had input in his life. And you can rest assured that Hannah’s prayers turned from pleading with God for a child, to placing that child in God’s hands daily. As a mother, she would think of Samuel I’m sure on a daily basis, praying for him and placing him in God’s hands.

To contrast this, I mentioned Ted Bundy earlier. I don’t want to even begin to discuss his life here this morning. But what I will mention is his upbringing. He was born to a single mother, and his father is an unknown. He was raised by his grandparents, of whom his grandfather was known to be abusive, and his grandmother was timid and depressed. Is it any surprise that Ted took such a negative and dark path in his life?

Of course, your upbringing is no excuse for your actions today. Good people can come from bad upbringings, and bad people can come from good upbringings. But the vast majority of us end up positively or negatively largely based on the positive or negative influences of our lives. Our mothers are a huge part of those influences.

Let’s consider more examples of a mother’s influence. First of all, Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary became pregnant with Jesus before she was married. Likely, the majority of those around her didn’t buy the whole “virgin birth” story. As such, Mary and Joseph most likely raised Jesus under a tainted reputation. People probably saw Mary as a “scandalous” woman. They most likely looked down upon her, probably even mocking her or avoiding her when they would see Mary on the streets.

Later on, as Jesus begins his ministry, we also see that at some point Joseph is out of the picture, leaving Mary as a widow.

And, during Jesus’ ministry, who were the two types of women that he showed most compassion to? Prostitutes and Widows. He knew what it was like to live life as a “scandal”, and he knew what it was like to live life as a child of a widow. Yet, Mary’s dedication and devotion to God is evident also in her ability to let Jesus go. She trusted in God, regardless of the circumstances of her own life.

How about a more recent example of a mother’s influence? We all know President Obama. What maybe we all don’t know is his upbringing. His father left when he was 2 years old. His mother was a strong woman, and raised him on her own. Here are some quotes about Obama’s mother:

· “...people who knew [his mother] well say they see her influence unmistakably in Mr. Obama.”

· “He would not be where he is today, he has said, had it not been for her.”

· “I think sometimes that had I known she would not survive her illness, I might have written a different book — less a meditation on the absent parent, more a celebration of the one who was the single constant in my life.” (Obama, in reference to his book he wrote about his Father)

Whether positively or negatively, mothers influence and shape the world. People like Ted Bundy have shaped the world in a negative way, creating fear, sadness and hopelessness. People like Obama, regardless of your political views of him, have the power to shape the world in a way that will impact all for years to come. And people like Samuel did shape the nation of Israel, bringing them closer to God and demonstrating what it meant to be a follower of the Lord, dedicated and devoted.

A mother’s influence is not something to take lightly. For those of us that can look back on our lives and recognize the positive influence our mother’s had, and how they shaped our lives, lets thank them. For those of us who are helping our wives be mothers to our children, let’s give them the support, love and encouragement that they need to be the positive influence in our children’s life. For those of us maybe on the sidelines, friends and family of a mother, let’s dedicate ourselves to helping these mothers continue to be a positive influence. Hannah had the support of a loving and caring husband to help her through. Let’s all work together to encourage those mothers around us.

Trusting in an Awesome God

This morning I want to talk about trust in God. But instead of discussing with you how we should trust in God, or even why we should do so as children of God. What I would rather focus on this morning is who God is, and after which we will hopefully discover more about how we are fools not to trust in Him.

The other day Corrie and I took the kids down to the river bank. I was carrying Avery, who is our 1 year old youngest. I started walking along a log, over and into the water a bit. Avery was completely relaxed the entire time, showing no signs of worry or trepidation whatsoever. I thought about our older kids, and how they would most likely be gripping my neck tightly, maybe even whining as they consider the possibility of falling into the water. Avery, on the other hand, had no thought about what could happen. Instead, she was entirely trusting in my ability to keep her from harm. And it made me think about us, as children of God, as well.

One of my favourite passages is Psalms 18. I think this is an excellent passage depicting a side of God that we rarely see, hear or even discuss.

Vs 1-3: Glorifying God for his glorious works and blessings.

¹I love you, LORD, my strength.

² The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
   my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
   my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

³ I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
   and I have been saved from my enemies.

This is what I want to talk about this morning. This is the direction I hope we can all start to head. I want this for my life, and I hope most or all of you do as well. That we can say, without hesitation or wavering, that God is our rock and fortress. That God is my protection. I find one of the most frustrating things in my life is converting head knowledge into heart knowledge. I mean, I know these things. I grew up as a missionary kid, so these sort of “clichés” were engrained in my head from a very young age. But turning this more into heart knowledge has become increasingly difficult. This morning, by diving deeper into who God is and exploring his awesome power I hope that we can all begin to focus more on transferring this sort of reliance on God from something we say with our lips, to something we live with our hearts. He is a ROCK that cannot be moved by any who would harm us. He is a FORTRESS or place of safety where the enemy cannot follow and a SHEILD that comes between us and harm. He is the POWER that saves and a PLACE OF SAFETY high above our enemies. So how can we begin truly believing these statements, how can we begin to live a life that reflects these truths?

Vs 4-6: God saves us from our worst entanglements and His protection is limitless for His people.

⁴ The cords of death entangled me;
   the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
⁵ The cords of the grave coiled around me;
   the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called to the LORD;
   I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
   my cry came before him, into his ears.

We have all faced hard times. We have all had to live through struggles, through rough circumstances. David here speaks words of utter despair. Death entangles him. Floods of destruction surround him. Grave wraps its ropes around him. David is expressing a feeling of utmost helplessness. I read these words, and in a small way I feel that I can relate. I may not have experienced extreme pain and loss, but I feel like I have gone through (and still am going through) situations in my life and walk that have caused me to feel like throwing in the towel. And at times, I think I actually have thrown in the towel. Depression, anger and frustration have caused me to lose my focus, to stray from the path I know I should follow. I really like the New Living Translation’s version of these verses, because the 6th verse starts with ‘BUT’… David hit’s the brakes on his downward spiral with a sudden ‘BUT!’ In his distress, in his state of hopelessness, David called out to God for help. He prayed, and God heard. He cried, and God listened.

Do we truly understand this? How many times have we wrongly accused God, whether out loud or in our thoughts, of ignoring us? How many times have we assumed that God simply has something better or bigger to do, and therefore has left us hanging? These verses give us no indication of time. They say nothing about how many times David prayed, just that David cried out to God. David reached out and God heard. God hears. God listens. And God responds. And in this case, does he ever respond.

Vs 7-15: A description of God’s power and strength.

⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,
   and the foundations of the mountains shook;
   they trembled because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;
   consuming fire came from his mouth,
   burning coals blazed out of it.
⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;
   dark clouds were under his feet.
¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;
   he soared on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
   the dark rain clouds of the sky.
¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
   with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
¹³ The LORD thundered from heaven;
   the voice of the Most High resounded.^[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
   with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed
   and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, LORD,
   at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

God responds to David’s cry. The picture David paints here of God is one that we so rarely seem to focus on in our church circles today. God’s awesome on display! It seems easy for us to focus on God’s patience. It seems quick for us to spend time discussing his meekness, and his humbleness. And while these are all good and true, this passage focuses on a God that is so much more than that. Our God is an awesome God, with wisdom, power and strength! The mountains shook! The earth quaked! Smoke poured from his nostrils, flames leaped from his mouth... God comes to David’s rescue in a thunderous way. There was no mistaking this, God was on a mission. Someone had picked on the wrong child that day.

I’d like to share a storey with you of my childhood. I don’t remember a lot of the details, but when I was young (I think maybe in 3^rd or 4^th grade) I remember playing baseball in elementary school with the big kids that were a few grades older than me. It was our team’s turn to play field, so I ran out to play base. One of the older kids decided he wanted to play base, so he simply ran over and shoved me off of the base. While I don’t remember all of the details, I do remember that my older brother saw this, ran across the field and fought this other kid. He came to my aid, he risked his safety for my own. How many of you have been in a similar situation? Parents here today could easily relate to this feeling. If your child was being harmed, you probably wouldn’t hesitate to rush in and protect them, to come to their rescue. Not only that, but you would come in with authority.

God comes to us with authority. He sees us in pain, he hears our cry, and he comes to our rescue with authority, scattering our enemies. And God’s authority is awesome. His voice thunders the skies. His breath clears the seas and lays the foundations of the earth bare.

Do you know this God? Do you recognize this God? Do you believe in this God?

How many times have you prayed, but doubted in your hearts? How many times have you cried out to God, but then when you finished that prayer you decided that you’d just try and take care of the problem yourself because God probably wouldn’t do anything? Do you know this God?

God is all powerful, we struggle to get out of bed some days.

God can cause the mountains to shake and the earth to tremble!

God can rain hail and fire!

I ask you again, do you truly know this God?

I think most of us would have to honestly answer that we don’t. We know the God of love. We maybe even know the God of correction. But the awesome protector that would blast the earth aside with his breath just to save us when we cry out him? Not so much. I believe that we stop short of this God. And yet this is the same God! This is the God that we live for, that we praise with our lips during singing. So why do we not truly come to realize his awesome power? Why do we fail to recognize that our pain is his pain, and that if we would just ask and believe, he would come with fire breathing from his mouth to scatter our enemies? Do we think we don’t deserve it? Let’s continue reading this passage, as David quickly changes the feeling of the passage. Suddenly, in verse 16, the storm is subdued, and the clouds part and the earth is still.

Vs 16-29: God Rescues

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
   he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
   from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
   but the LORD was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
   he rescued me because he delighted in me.

²⁰ The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
   I am not guilty of turning from my God.
²² All his laws are before me;
   I have not turned away from his decrees.
²³ I have been blameless before him
   and have kept myself from sin.
²⁴ The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
   according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵ To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
   to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
²⁶ to the pure you show yourself pure,
   but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
²⁷ You save the humble
   but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
²⁸ You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
   my God turns my darkness into light.
²⁹ With your help I can advance against a troop^[e];
   with my God I can scale a wall.

God reaches down and rescues David. God supports him, and leads him into protection. God longs to protect us. God longs to save us from our troubles. But at the same time, God wants us to call to him. God wants us to first reach out to him. God wants us to come to that place in our hearts where we realize that it’s not me, it’s you, God!

Of course, God does not always deliver us from our problems swiftly. Some problems we are meant to go through with God as our support. These are things that build us up, make us better and more equipped for His work. We probably all know about the “thorn in Paul’s side” that he so often talked about in the New Testament. We don’t know what that thorn was, but we do know that Paul prayed often for God to remove it, but God chose not to do so. Paul recognized that in his weakness, God was made strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). However, that still doesn’t mean that God doesn’t come with thunderous authority to support us. God does come, God does respond to our cries, and God does listen.

Some people also think that God is a crutch that “weak” people use because they are not strong enough to make it on their own. This line of thinking, in reality, is the actual crutch. This thinking is man’s feable attempt at trying to remove God from the picture. We often see reliance on others as a weakness. Take the typical male for example. People joke that men won’t see out help, won’t ask for directions, won’t read instructions, and the like. And it is so often true. Why? A big reason is that men often see reliance on others as being a sign of weakness. We all know the truth, we all realize that we could never make it through life purely on our own, we need others. We need friends, family, spouses. We need each other. And yet, so many people see that those who need God as being a ‘crutch’. I say this is so far from the truth, we don’t need God as a crutch, we need God as a complete hospital bed! We are entirely and completely at a loss without God. We are not merely leaning on God to give us support for a sprained ankle. We’re completely sunk in his arms asking him to carry us through. And it doesn’t mean that we need to be dealing with some extreme sorrow or pain for us to rely on God this way, either. Whatever your ‘thorn’ is that is in your side, God wants it to cause us to completely trust and rely on him. David states in verse 27 that God will rescue the humble, but humiliate the proud. The humble person is the one willing to crawl onto that hospital bed. The proud person is the one that says he doesn’t even need a crutch!

Vs 30-36: God prepares us for life

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect:
   The LORD’s word is flawless;
   he shields all who take refuge in him.
³¹ For who is God besides the LORD?
   And who is the Rock except our God?
³² It is God who arms me with strength
   and keeps my way secure.
³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
   he causes me to stand on the heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;
   my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You make your saving help my shield,
   and your right hand sustains me;
   your help has made me great.
³⁶ You provide a broad path for my feet,
   so that my ankles do not give way.

God does not promise to eliminate all challenges, but instead He gives us strength to make it through them all. He never leaves us alone to face any challenges, but instead is always beside us teaching, learning and strengthening us. God arms us with strength.

Let’s return to that story of the hospital bed again. It was 2 years ago today that Corrie broke her ankle in a game of soccer. Had she simply said “Doctor’s are just a crutch for weaker people, I’m fine!” and tried walking away, she would’ve collapsed in a heap. Instead, she was taken to the hospital where she laid in a bed for days while they took care of her. They fixed her ankle, put it in a cast, and gave her medicine and food to help get her strength up. When she left, she still couldn’t walk, but with help from those who understood what was necessary, she was on the road to recovery. After a month or so later, she was able to once again walk and now is playing soccer again and enjoying her freedom. What if she had refused treatment? What if she had turned the ambulance away? She would be a hobbling mess still. The ankle would never have healed properly, and it would be causing her pain and suffering still to this day. We read this passage here and we see a God that wants to fix what is broken in our lives. By turning to God, by completely resting in his arms, God makes us strong. He trains us for battle, his right hand supports us, and he gives us a shield for victory.

God doesn’t just rescue us, he trains us. God doesn’t just pull us from the pit, he strengthens us and teaches us so that we can better avoid that pit again next time. Crying out to God isn’t just so that he can come and pull us out so that we can go on living our same life! When we are rescued, we are to be changed! We are to be transformed! The God that poured smoke from his nostrils as he came thundering out of heaven wants to teach us, he wants to strengthen us!

I honestly believe that many areas in my life that I feel God has left me alone or ignored me is simply because he knows that the only reason I’m calling on him is for a quick rescue mission. God, pull me out of this pit and then leave me alone! Have you ever been guilty of treating God like a genie in a bottle? Please, Lord, just grant me these three wishes and then I’ll leave you alone, if you leave me alone. That couldn’t be any further from what God truly wants from us! God desires us to grow. God desires us to become stronger. God wants us to repair us, and then get us right back out into the battle stronger than ever. But He can’t do that if all we want is the quick repair.

Vs 37-45: The counter attack

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
   I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
³⁸ I crushed them so that they could not rise;
   they fell beneath my feet.
³⁹ You armed me with strength for battle;
   you humbled my adversaries before me.
⁴⁰ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
   and I destroyed my foes.
⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
   to the LORD, but he did not answer.
⁴² I beat them as fine as windblown dust;
   I trampled them^[f] like mud in the streets.
⁴³ You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
   you have made me the head of nations.
People I did not know now serve me,
⁴⁴ foreigners cower before me;
   as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
⁴⁵ They all lose heart;
   they come trembling from their strongholds.

Here David describes what I see as a counter attack. He opened with hopelessness and a cry to God. We witnessed God’s awesome power and his unsurpassed protection. We then saw God training and strengthening the fallen David. And now we see David’s counter attack.

David describes a great victory. He crushes his enemies. He pushes them back. David becomes a feared man, a man to avoid, a man to leave alone and not one to mess with any longer. You see, in my story earlier where my brother came to my rescue, what did I learn from that? I learned that my brother would stick up for me when I was in danger. That was a great thing! But if I were to spend my life waiting for my brother to bail me out during every difficulty, I think we can all imagine what an annoying person I would be! God on the other hand trained David, strengthened him and then supported him. With God at his side, David conquered his enemy. With God, David achieved victory!

And so can we. God wants us to rely on him. God wants us to believe in him. Believe in his awesome power. Believe that he can and will rescue us from our pits of despair. But understand that he will not stop there. God will transform our hearts. God wants to change our spirits. He wants to strengthen us, so we can turn around and defeat the very enemy that had us running with our tails between our legs. God wants us to achieve victory.

Vs 46-50: Praise be to God!

⁴⁶ The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
   Exalted be God my Savior!
⁴⁷ He is the God who avenges me,
   who subdues nations under me,
⁴⁸ who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
   from a violent man you rescued me.
⁴⁹ Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations;
   I will sing the praises of your name.

⁵⁰ He gives his king great victories;
   he shows unfailing love to his anointed,
   to David and to his descendants forever.

Finally, David concludes with praise to God. He lifts God’s name, He recognizes that his victory was because of God’s intervention. He does not take any credit for his victory, but instead directs all glory to God.

This is such an easily overlooked step! When Jesus was on this earth, he healed 10 men of leprosy, but only one turned back to thank him. Why? Because when the chips are down, and when all hope is lost, we find it easy to turn to God. But when God rescues us and helps us defeat our enemy, it is so easy to suddenly forget and to run off ahead.

David doesn’t forget. David knows full well what happened, and he gives the glory to God.

Have you forgotten God? Have you enjoyed his rescue, his healing, and his training only to forget him after the victory? All praise and honour to God!

What Would You Take in 15 Minutes?

The following is a sermon I was given the opportunity to deliver to the Pritchard Evangelical Free Church on Sunday, March the 20th, 2011.

My brother and his wife and new baby live in Fort McMurray Alberta. They just moved there last summer as my brother, Rob, took a counselling job there. They found a little condo to rent while they looked for a place to live. If you know anything about that town, you know that the cost of living there, with house prices and even rent, is quite unreasonable. A week ago Friday, they received a knock on the door telling them to get out of the building within a few hours. Not knowing any details, they quickly packed, found a hotel and moved out for the night. They soon learned that the building
they were in was built shoddy and a new engineering report showed some recent failure of structural components, meaning the building could shift at any moment, rupturing gas lines and causing potential fires and explosions. They also learned that they may never be let back into their home! After a few days, they were told they would at least get a 15 minute window to get in, get as much as they could and then get out. To make matters worse, tenants could only go in one household at a time, and out of the 300 or so people in the building, Rob and Amanda drew last place! If that wasn’t bad enough, though, they were also informed that if a tenant took more than 15 minutes, that would take away from the next tenant’s 15 minutes and so on down the line. In other words, the chances that there would be any time available at all once Rob and Amanda’s time slot came were very slim.

Suddenly, because of one company’s drive to make an easy buck by cutting corners, Rob and Amanda, along with a few hundred others had suddenly not only lost their homes, but everything they owned! They had nothing but the clothes on their backs, and a few belongings they had packed quickly that fateful night. Things looked very bleak. Photo albums, family heirlooms, irreplaceable items were all at the brink of being destroyed along with the poorly constructed building.

I would imagine that we can all relate to this experience at least on some level. While they are all only “things”, most are “things” that have grown near and dear to our hearts. Some are items we received as gifts, souvenirs from travels, etc. Sure, insurance will replace the TV’s, most of the
furniture. But we all know it wouldn’t be the same. Who among us hasn’t experienced some sort of life changing situation? It may have been a personal tragedy, a loss of someone, or something, a pet even. Many of us can relate, if even a little, to a feeling of hopelessness, to have our life be turned “upside down”. During that time, what did you do? Where did you turn?

This morning I want to talk about our focus. Where is your focus? Who is your focus, or better yet, what is your focus? There are two areas I want to discuss this morning where our focus comes into question. The first is during victory. The second is during tragedy and hardships.

Focus During Victory

How many of you have watched an award ceremony? Think back to the last time you watched the Oscars, or the Juno Awards. Or maybe the end of a championship game, even the Stanley cup. What do the victor’s all seem to have in common? The ‘thank you’ speeches. It’s the same thing every time, no matter what the occasion. I want to thank my producer... fans... family... even God. I can’t think of a single time a victor has said something to the effect of “I deserve this award, I worked the hardest and I was the most skilled and it only made sense that I got the award anyways.” No, while that attitude may be present, everyone understands that at a time like this, due diligence must
be done to ensure those who helped are thanked and appreciated. The victor’s focus is often directed towards others. Often, I think their focus is inward, as the thank-you speeches are often seemingly forced, well rehearsed, and just downright boring. I also wonder after the ceremony, what happens then? Does the victor’s focus suddenly shift from the “high” they experienced while receiving the award, to a sudden selfish and inward focus? Do they wake up the next morning feeling fulfilled, or feeling the same as the day before? In life’s victories, or more importantly, after life’s
victories, where is your focus? Is it on yourself? Is it on those who helped you achieved the victory? Is it on God?

In I Kings, we have a perfect example of a man of God with amazing “God-focus” seeing a great victory, but then shortly afterwards immediately losing that focus. Let’s read 1 Kings, chapter 18, verses 20 to 40. God showed himself in a miraculous way, Elijah had a great victory! He must’ve been pumped! Let’s keep reading. (I Kings 19:1-5) What happened here? Where did the Elijah go that we read about in chapter 18? Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let anyone get away! He was on fire. And now in the next chapter, he suddenly wants to die. What changed? God didn’t change. Ahab and Jezebel didn’t change, other than the fact that they were obviously more upset with Elijah than usual. But something changed with Elijah himself. His focus changed. His life was threatened, and he
was on the run, he was on his own and his focus shifted from being on God to now being on himself. All he could see was his immediate situation. He was tired, hungry. God lets him rest, even provides sustenance for him, and after a few days He asks Elijah what was wrong. In chapter 19, verse 10, Elijah answers “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Where is his focus? I have been zealous... I am left... they are trying to kill me. Elijah’s focus is inward. On himself. And God recognizes that he needs a ‘focus-lift’. God doesn’t berate him, instead, he reveals himself to him. Let’s read further in chapter 19 (I Kings 19:11-18). God reveals himself to Elijah and helps him to refocus. He gives Elijah mission for success and also informs him that there are 7000 more believers out there and that Elijah isn’t alone. God helps Elijah refocus.

How many times have your greatest victories been followed with a similar focus failure? After victory, it is so easy for us to lose our focus and start to look inward. And yet it is after our victories that we need to retain our God-focus more than ever. After the high, inevitably comes the crash. After a spiritual victory, God expects us to continue our journey rather than sit back and rest on what we may see as our own accomplishments. He had Elijah follow up his Mt. Carmel victory by anointing others to further his work. However, often as humans we tend to try and follow up victories with rest
and relaxation. We try to “rest on our laurels” as the saying goes. If you look that saying up online, one of the definitions is to “to be so satisfied with your own achievements that you make no effort to improve.”

Turning our focus inward can only lead to a spiritual ‘crash’. Ultimately, we are all aiming for a much greater prize, a much larger victory. We need to continue keeping our focus on the bigger prize, on God. Enjoy the victories that God brings, but never relax in them. Never sit back on them. Keep pushing forward. As long as we have breath in these lungs, our work here is not done!

Focus During Tragedy

Another common area in our lives where we tend to lose focus is during tragedy or hardships. Something comes into our life that causes us to stop looking upwards, and, once again, start focusing inwards.

Jesus’ disciples experienced this after Jesus was crucified. Three days after Jesus was crucified and buried, the disciples were huddled together, behind locked doors, in fear for their life and saddened about the week’s events. Where was their focus? Inward. On themselves. They were focused on how they were feeling, and about the tragedy that had turned their lives upside down.

Another example of this inward focus after hardship can be found in the writings of David. He was banished. His king had a death warrant out for him, his wife couldn’t be trusted and his best friend couldn’t help him. David had nowhere to turn, and was found hiding in a cave, focusing on himself and his troubles. Just a short while before, he’d been happily tending his sheep. Now his life was threatened at every turn and he was a castaway in the desert. In fact, David’s focus turns inward enough to where he resorts to lies and deceit in order to get bread and a sword from the priest Ahimelech at Nob. He also fled to his enemy city where he has to pretend to be crazy just to get out alive. David was desperate and at the end of his rope. The key there being that it was his rope, not
God’s.

How did God restore focus to his disciples? How did he turn David’s focus upwards? In both cases, God returns his people to a higher calling. With the disciples, Jesus returns to them, and gives them a mission, a directive, to preach the gospel. He also gives them the Holy Spirit. With David, God brings along family and friends to console him and strengthen him. Eventually, others from all over start coming to David for help. People who were discontent, or in distress, began flocking to David because they trusted in his valour and wisdom. Now David had a mission again. He had a purpose, a
higher calling greater than himself. God lifted David’s focus off of himself and turned it upwards. David began commanding these men and in fact formed a small outlaw band and began fighting for those who were persecuted, protected those in need of protection. David started to become the man God wanted him to be, the man who would one day become Israel’s greatest King.

God wants our focus to be upward, not inward. He wants our eyes to be on Him, on the greatest prize, instead of ourselves and our situations. God knows that as soon as we look down at ourselves, or at our own situation, we start to crumble. Like the apostle Peter so vividly experienced as he stepped out of his boat, focused on Jesus, and began walking across the water! But as soon as he looked down, and shifted his focus to his own two feet and the water beneath them and suddenly he began to sink. We are no different, except for the fact that many of us never even step out of the boat in the first place!

I want to return to the story of my brother and his wife in Fort McMurray. Here are some of the Facebook posts from them during this time.

Amanda, a week ago Saturday: ...is
feeling very misplaced and confused.

Amanda, Tuesday: ...completely
leaning on God right now ‘cause I have no strength left. How did my life turn
so upside down? I am so thankful for Rob and Sam.

Rob, Tuesday: ...Well we get
access to our condo on Friday, 8:00pm, for 15 minutes. Anything left will be
part of the insurance claim that at this point looks like it will be denied,
find out more about that in the am. So, we're thankful for 15 minutes.

Amanda, Friday: ...believes a
miracle will happen at 8pm tonight. I can feel the love and prayer! It feels
overwhelmingly awesome! We are going to have steady, grippy, fast hands;
amazingly strong arms & backs; very fast, secure feet; sharp eyes; and
calm, logical heads.

I wanted to bring their situation up here to show their focus. When things were bleak and looking bleaker, their focus was continuously upwards. Amanda, “completely leaning on God” and “I am so thankful for Rob and Sam”. Rob says “we’re thankful for 15 minutes”. Instead of “why is this happening to us?” or “I can’t believe we only get 15 minutes”, there was a sense of gratefulness. Amanda found their son Sam’s baby book that had somehow managed to find its way into their stuff when they left that Friday night. She was understandably so thankful to have brought it, even if it was by accident. Rob mentioned at one point that he thought it would be a good idea to hang around the condo while others were packing their stuff to see if they could help. Their focus was always upward, and never inward.

A while ago, I had Corrie paint the words “Holy is the Lord” on my bike’s handlebars, which I ride every day to work. The goal was to keep my focus upward. God is Holy, no matter what my situation. God is holy, no matter what happens to those around me. God is holy. How many of you have tried
to contemplate eternity? It is an unfathomable thought for our human minds to comprehend. And yet, from what we read in the Word, we will be spending eternity praising God and his holiness. God is holy! No matter what is going on, He never changes. His holiness is no less today in sorrow than it was yesterday in victory.

Do you have financial problems that seem insurmountable?

Holy is the Lord.

Is your relationship with your spouse is on the rocks, and
seem irreparable?

Holy is the Lord.

Are you sick and are asking for healing?

Holy is the Lord.

Are you hurting?

Holy is the Lord. 

I’m not saying that these issues shouldn’t be brought to our Saviour’s feet. Quite the contrary. We should immediately bring these to His feet. We probably need to lay these issues at His feet daily!  But then, we must acknowledge who God is. Holy is the Lord! Regardless of what I’m going through right now, holy is the Lord! When we are done with our time here on this earth, when all withers away and “dissolves as snow”, one thing will remain. God! Holy is the Lord!

Rob and Amanda demonstrated to all those around them that their focus was upward during their time of uncertainty. They kept reminding themselves that it was only “stuff” and that many don’t get the 15 minute window opportunity. Friday night came, and many family, friends and even co-workers came to help.

Rob said “(Amanda’s Mom) was pretty amazing in the kitchen, she can move like a little tornado. She got the whole kitchen packed in boxes and even plastic bags, which now we have to go organize but at least we have access to it. (Amanda’s Dad) got my whole library in...two bins by himself, one of our helpers who wasn't supposed to be inside (he was the 5th of the allowed 4) got out a bunch of big stuff, the young guy that my coworker brought was indispensible, and our little army outside got it all in the trailer, the trucks and all over the tarps :) It was a pretty fun, bonding experience actually. (Another couple) organized all the random stuff, and (yet another couple) packed and sorted and grabbed stuff coming out the windows. It was pretty awesome.”

In the end, and I’m assuming that this was because they were last, but those in charge of the situation ended up giving Rob and Amanda an entire 50 minutes, instead of the originally allotted 15! The group was able to clear out the entire apartment minus their couch, bed and a bookshelf. But
other than that, they got EVERYTHING out!

Here is the post from Amanda after the fact: “I got my miracle!!!! All that's left is the couch, loveseat,  a bookshelf and bed. Plus we may be able to get the rest in a couple weeks. :) Our 15 minutes turned into about 1 hour!”

Holy is the Lord! When life gets turned “upside down”, and you are given 15 minutes to get what you can and get out, where will your focus be? What will your attitude be? Will you be inward focused, selfishly wondering “why me?” Or will you be upward focused, thankful and praising God that He is the same yesterday, today and forever?

Giving Back–To tithe or not to tithe is really not a question

I’m going to address an issue that has caused me much torment especially as of late. Giving. Tithing. Whatever you want to call it. Are we required to give? How much do we have to give? Why do we give? Who do we give to and how often? Before we go any further, let me first state that if you are looking for answers to questions like those simply so you can “pay your tax”, this is not where you are going to find them. Instead, I want to dig deeper into the subject of giving. I want to dig more into the attitude of giving, the heart condition, and the expectations of both us and God. This is a subject that I’ve started to focus on recently, and I really don’t have any answers. So, instead, this “mini sermon” will be more like a “what if” sermon. What if I gave more than I can afford? What if my heart attitude was changed? What if my focus was more on being grateful than on how much I’m putting into that plate each Sunday? How might my life be transformed if I truly learn the right attitude about giving? That is what I’m trying to learn here this time.

First of all, I am learning that when I can’t afford to tithe, I really can’t afford not to tithe. When money is tight and we’re staring down the barrel of a loaded disconnection notice or two, tithing must be our first priority. Why? Because God has proven to us that He blesses us when our hearts and minds are more focused on Him rather than on our situation. We have seen month after month when we’ve made ends meet financially, even though it didn’t seem possible at first. One of my fall-back verses in the Bible on this area has always been Malachi 3:10 where God speaks to the Israelites and tells them to “…”Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “And see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”…” (NIV). God challenges the Israelites to test Him! Now, I do understand that many people seem to get edgy whenever we try to apply an Old Testament statement or verse to our walk, saying that the old covenant was replaced by the new covenant when Jesus came to die. That we no longer need to follow the same laws and traditions that the Israelites did before Christ. And that is true. However, what I see from this verse is not so much a tradition or “rule” that I am being asked to follow. Instead, I see a portion of the character of God being revealed to us and that never has changed nor will ever change. God yearned for the Israelites to test him in their tithes so He could prove to them that He truly did have control over their provisions and blessings. God longed to prove to them that He could indeed take care of them.

And He still longs for us to understand this about Him today.

I witnessed a great example of such “testing” earlier this year. At church, we had a young missionary couple come and speak about their work. They spoke mostly of the local missionaries that were being raised up and trained in the area where they served. They spoke about how hard it was for these locals to raise any funding at all to support their work. When asked what we as a church could do for this couple, they said that they didn’t want anything. Instead, they would rather that if anything were to be given, that it be given to the local missionaries they were training. Our pastor stepped out in a great display of faith and declared that that morning’s offering would be given entirely to these local missionaries through this couple. This meant that our church just gave up a quarter of their monthly income! Now, I’m sure there are many out there that would be scolding our pastor right now, saying he should never make such a decision without discussing it with the board and so on. I’m sure your right. But this step of faith was huge. I suddenly looked at my own life. Could I do that? Would I ever be able to suddenly give 1/4 of my monthly income away? 25%!!! I don’t think I could. And yet, God says, “test me”. Would this not be considered a test of God’s faithfulness if I was able to do something like this?

As I said earlier, so often we view tithe as a “tax”. In fact, if you search online or follow many sermons out there today on tithing, you will find many very inflexible views. Views that state how much you have to tithe. Views that proclaim how often you have to tithe. I am going to step out on a rather risky limb here and say that I find very little in the New Testament where God has laid out such rules and boundaries when it comes to tithing. In fact, the one verse I often think about whenever the discussion about tithing comes up is found in 2 Corinthians 9:7 where Paul states that “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful give” (NIV) Paul does not state here that we must give 10% of our gross income. Instead, he says that we should give what we have decided in our hearts to give. And that we are not to give out of reluctance or compulsion, but cheerfully! I think many of us have been beaten by leaders today and growing up that giving was something we were commanded to do. And for most, it is an act out of compulsion, not an act of their hearts.

Note verse 8 of chapter 9 of 2nd Corinthians. Paul just finished saying that “…God loves a cheerful giver…”, and then goes on to say that “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (NIV) God is able to bless you abundantly! Again, I see an echo of what God stated to the Israelites some 500 years earlier. If we give cheerfully, God is able to bless us abundantly.

I will have to say, though, that herein lies a conflict of interests for us as I’m sure most of you would agree. We are not supposed to give grudgingly, nor under compulsion. Instead, we are to give cheerfully. However, if we give because we are looking for these blessings, is that not a poor heart attitude? And yet, if we go off of these two passages that I’ve just brought up here, is that not a driving, motivating factor in our giving? Yes, it can be. So how do we follow these scriptures, yet avoid such a motivation in our giving?

I’m sure many of us have gone through the following situation. It’s Christmas, and you have bought a gift for a good friend, at least someone you think is a good friend. You have anticipated that they, too, will be giving you a pretty nice gift so you make sure that your purchase is top notch. However, during the exchange, things get awkward as the parity of gifts between you is not there. What you get in return is cheap, un-thoughtful and not at all what you expected. What went wrong? Well, first of all, the expectations you set were wrong. The whole point of giving a gift is the giving part, not what you may or may not receive in return. By setting up the expectations that “if I give him/her this gift, I’m sure they’ll give me one similar in return” is a setup for failure and shows a wrong heart attitude. If there had been more focus on the giving itself, for the simple reason to see joy on their faces, it wouldn’t matter if nothing was received in return. The point of the gift was for them.

And a similar attitude is required when giving to God. In the case with giving to God, we are not giving a “gift”, but instead we are acknowledging His provision and His faithfulness in our lives. Because of scripture like we read earlier, however, we do have some expectations in getting blessings in return. However, that is where our expectations should cease. As soon as we start assuming we know what those blessings might be, our heart attitude becomes derailed once again. Often we think that if we give monetarily, then our blessings will be in the same form in return. Sort of like an investment, right? Wrong! In my limited experience, I have seen God bless us by providing for us in areas we never would’ve imagined. God has yet to drop an envelope of cash on our door steps, in spite of my expectations for Him to do so! However, we often have looked back at the end of a month and realized that we made it through, paid our bills, and kept food on the table, when by all rights we were dead in the water. Other times, God has blessed us with material possessions. Still more, God has blessed us with groceries, even Christmas gifts for the children one year!

How God may choose to bless you for giving with a right heart attitude is unknown. For us to focus on these blessings and try to determine what they may or may not be during our giving is wrong. But, we can rest assured that God will bless our giving.

This brings me to my final point. We’ve talked about the heart attitude. Now I want to talk about what we give. Giving is not just of our income. It is also giving of our time, our possessions, our food. Whatever God has blessed us with, I feel that we are to give in return. And yet, this is not something to take lightly. What we give is just as important as how we give it. I’m referring here to the quality of your tithe. Let’s go back to Malachi and look at the first couple of passages, before God challenged the Israelites to test him.

The Israelites offered defiled sacrifices: “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ By offering defiled food on my altar.” Malachi 1:6,7 (NIV). They even offered lame sacrifices: “’When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?’ says the LORD Almighty.” Malachi 1:8 (NIV) And, not only that, but the Israelites treated their sacrificing acts with contempt: “’And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously, says the LORD Almighty.’” Malachi 1:13 (NIV)

God has had enough of the sacrifices that the Israelites are bringing to Him. He’s had enough with their poor attitude towards sacrificing. Let’s take a minute now to see the response God has towards the Israelites. God would rather no sacrifices at all, and He states that he will accept nothing from them. “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.” Malachi 1:10 (NIV). In fact, God admonishes the priests saying that “I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices.” Malachi 2:3 (NIV).

Later on, just before Malachi 3:10 as we read at the beginning of this message, God states that they have robbed him (Malachi 3:6-9). He states that the whole nation is under a curse because they have robbed Him in their tithes and offerings, their sacrifices. God doesn’t take our offerings lightly. What are you offering to Him?

Are you giving God the first 10 minutes of your morning, when you’re half asleep and can hardly keep your eyes open? Do you tithe based on what you have left over once the bills are paid? Are you robbing God? Have you scheduled your devotion time in such a way that if you’re running late, your devotions get shorted? There are so many ways that we can essentially “rob God” by our giving (or lack thereof). I’m not familiar with all the details of the story, but growing up as a missionary kid I remember hearing a story in our circles of a missionary family that received used tea bags from their supporters! Another more humbling story was a report recently that the pastor of our local church described during a sermon about the giving within our church. I don’t remember all the details, but what I do remember is that the majority of the church, I believe it was about 80%, generally tithed an average of $1000 a year. If we figure out based on the average 10% of giving that most people try to give, that would mean that 80% of the church only makes $10,000 a year? Obviously, that is not the case. Yes, there may very well be a couple of people in that range of $10,000 – $20,000 for a yearly salary. But NOT 80% of the attendees. This is a very discouraging report on the state of giving within our Christian circles. Tithing is becoming more and more of a passing thought than something at the forefront of our walk with God.

How are you robbing God? Left over possessions? Left over time? Left over money? God asked for the “first fruits” from the Israelites. Not their leftovers. It takes more faith to give to God what we long to keep for ourselves then to give just Him our “leftovers”. Giving God our “first fruits” is a bold demonstration that we understand that our possessions, our time, our money all come from God in the first place. We acknowledge that God is our provider, and that He will continue to provide.

Jonah–Not just a Sunday School Story

Recently, the pastor of our church here in Kamloops did a four part sermon on the story of Jonah. As such, I began reading more into the story of Jonah and started having a much greater appreciation for what Jonah went through. A question that my pastor asked during the first part of his series was “Why did Jonah have to stay in the belly of the fish for 3 days?” While there are many ideas as to why, it wasn’t so much the question that got me to thinking, but the reality of the situation. 3 days inside a fish! How on earth was this even possible?

I did a brief internet search on the possibilities of being swallowed by a whale. There is actually a story about a man being swallowed by a whale and surviving back in the late 1800’s name James Bartley. While the story can’t necessarily be proven, it can’t be dis-proven either. Check out this part of the story where Bartley accounts what it was like:

Bartley recalled being swallowed by a great darkness, then slipping along a smooth passage until he came to a larger space. He felt slimy stuff around him and realized he’d been swallowed by a whale. He could breath, but the heat sucked the energy out of him and eventually he pass out. The only lasting effect of the incident was that the skin of his face, neck and hands was bleached to the color of parchment by the whale’

Consider this for a while. I’m not going to say this story is true, but this is a whole lot worse of a situation than the tale we watched in Pinocchio when Geppetto gets swallowed by a whale. The reality of something like this is mind boggling. How did he breathe? How did the heat not suffocate him? Think about how the acids from the whale’s system must've eaten away at his body, causing unbearable pain. Think about the darkness, the stench, the suffocating…

Suddenly three days seems like an eternity. Now, I don’t want to spend too much time trying to know the “how’s” of God’s miracles, instead I would rather dig into the “why’s”. Why did God choose this rather elaborate method of getting Jonah’s attention? And why did He leave Jonah in the whale for 3 whole days and nights? Imagine a moment if you were Jonah, how long inside that whale do you think it would've taken you until you repented? I am going to assume here that after 2 minutes of being inside the whale, Jonah was most likely begging God to let him back out. In fact, I would assume that most of us would be promising God instantly that we would change, that we would obey, that we would never run away again. Maybe Jonah did, maybe he didn't, I don't know and the Bible doesn't say. What it does say, is that it took 3 days until Jonah finally offered up his sincere prayer of repentance and God rescued him from the whale. 3 days!!!

This got me to thinking about the Christian walk, and my own life specifically. As I look at my own experiences, as soon as I realize I'm in a bad situation, I call to God to help pretty much immediately. Sometimes it's sincere, sometimes it's half hearted. However, many times God does not instantly rescue me from the situation in which I find myself. Many times, instead, God works with me through it. Right now, we're going through a situation with a property that my wife and I own that we are unable to sell. It is costing us each and every month, forcing us to live pay cheque by pay cheque (what else is new?). We have no savings, no back up plans, and many months bills go unpaid due to lack of funds. My wife has taken on an evening job just to help make ends meet. We pray about this situation a lot. And yet, God chooses not to sell the property yet. It has been 2-1/2 years now of this type of living. Why won't He sell this property?

At first, we went through a stage of "where did we go wrong?" We analyzed our steps, scrutinized our decisions. We decided where we went wrong, and we prayed for forgiveness. And yet still the property remained unsold. So we did it again, and again. Each time, trying to be more and more sincere in our repentance. Maybe I haven't repented enough. Maybe I wasn't truly repentant. Maybe I wasn't repentant of the right sin. We gave our best, most sincere efforts and yet still the property remained unsold.

Of course, everyone always seems to go through the "why" stage in situations like this. Why will the property not sell? Why has this gone on so long? Why does God seem so quiet about the whole thing? Why did we do what we did? For us, it wasn't so much a "why don't you help, God" but more of a "why are we in this mess?" and "why haven't we been able to get rid or this property sooner?". So many questions started coming through our minds. We started re-evaluating every decision we had made for the past 2-1/2 years. Decisions we had thought were solid were now in "court" defending their case.

Lately, we have started to move towards a personal faith stretching revelation. Maybe God was trying to grow us in an area of faith. Maybe He wanted us to learn new aspects of our faith. So we focused on that, what did God want us to learn from this? So we tried to focus on our relationship with Him, where can we grow? Where can we learn?

Notice I said "we have started to move..." Yes, we are still in this predicament as I am writing this. I don't know the answer, and I may never know. God might choose to sell this acreage tomorrow. He may choose to never sell it. This is where Jonah comes back into the picture.

Do you not think that he probably went through some very similar stages while in the whale's belly? He most likely did cry out immediately for deliverance. Chances are probably pretty good that he then went into an analytical stage, and maybe even repentance for where he went wrong (don't get me wrong, this is a very important stage and we all must go through it thoroughly). When that didn't seem to work, I wonder if he did start the "why?" stage. Did he start asking God why he was in the belly for so long? After 3 days, I'm sure he was in a lot of pain, and very miserable. Listen to the way Jonah describes his experience. "Deep in the realm of the dead..." (Jonah 2:1, NIV), "...I have been banished from your sight..." (Jonah 2:4, NIV), "...seaweed was wrapped around my head..." (Jonah 2:5, NIV), "...To the roots of the mountains I sank down, the earth barred me in forever." (Jonah 2:6, NIV). These aren't light choice of words used by Jonah. He was in despair. He was beyond hope. I'm sure he hoped and prayed for a miracle, but logistically do you think he really saw a way out of his situation? It would probably not be too far off to assume that Jonah had begun to accept that this was the end of his earthly existence even.

However, something in Jonah's prayer seemed to trigger God's action of redemption. Through Jonah's prayer, he seems to shift from desperation to praise. I can't say what it was about Jonah's prayer or where his attitude was transformed exactly, but I did notice a couple of things that made me think about my own attitude.

First, he has a transformation of focus. Jonah begins focusing God and his holiness. "...yet I will look again toward your holy temple." (Jonah 2:4, NIV). And a little bit later on he says "...I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple." (Jonah 2:7, NIV).

Secondly, he is grateful for his experience and in the following two verses he says "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you." (Jonah 2:8,9, NIV).

"And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." (Jonah 2:10, NIV).

What was it about Jonah's prayer that signaled God's action to rescue him from the whale? While I don't want to venture to know God's intentions, I do notice here Jonah's focus on God's holiness and his grateful heart while still in the belly of that whale seemed to trigger his redemption.

Where is my focus? Is my focus on God's holiness? Do I have a grateful heart? It's not that I have forgotten my plight, or that it isn't important to me anymore. It's that I am more focused on who God is than where I am. Jonah had his issues. In fact, even after he was rescued and he delivered the message he still struggled with his own agenda versus God's. And yet in those 3 days he learned how to focus on God and not his situation. He learned to be grateful, to praise God in spite of what was going on, and to me that seems to be what God truly wants us all to learn while we battle our own "whales".

Look at your life. Look at all that you have to be grateful for and all that God has blessed you with day in and day out and praise God for it all. Can you focus on being grateful? Can you focus on God's holiness? I'm not saying that once you do that God will rescue you from your "whale", but I am saying that your "whale" will suddenly be a lot less worrisome. And don't forget, I'm learning and discovering this as I write this post, so I can't begin to pretend I have all the answers. Only that this is something I can pull out of what used to be a simple Sunday School story to me. God hasn't forgotten us while in our current situation. He isn't ignoring us either. Instead, I believe He simply wants us to lift our heads up. To take our focus off of where we are and to shift it up to who He is. And be grateful.

I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.