LBC Sermons & Messages

Exodus 3:1-12 (Guest speaker: John Little of BCP)

Invitations are usually good things — a wedding, a baby shower, a party. Invitations, however, are interruptions. We were going to do something else that day. To accept, we have to change our plans.

Moses had something else to do. He was tending his father-in-law’s flocks. He had a wife and a son and all the chores of a family man. He wasn’t looking for something else to do. He wasn’t looking for a calling. When he saw the burning bush up on Mount Horeb, it was God’s invitation. God did not force Moses to come near. He could just as easily have said, “Hmm. Burning bush. Well, I’ve got sheep to herd,” and walked on his way. When Moses stopped. God spoke.

It’s the same way with those other two important invitations people get from God today. The first is to salvation. God does not force anyone to be saved. He sets out the invitations – His Word, the testimony of his children, etc. He does not force anyone to come near. The second is His call to service. The still small voice speaks to believers, but God does not force anyone into service.

God does wait until a person is ready. In verse 10, God tells Moses that He will send him. Moses tried to fight for the Hebrews his own way 40 years earlier and murdered a man. The Hebrews did not follow him. It wasn’t until Moses was ready to do things God’s way that God extended his invitation.

The same thing works for believers today. Service is not all about us, but how God will use us to do His work. Our weakness is His strength. Moses was not a good public speaker, yet that is exactly what God sent him in to do.

God invites us out of our comfort zones. When He invites us unto salvation, He’s calling us away from what we planned to be. When He calls us to service, it’s often to do things outside of our comfort zone. Like with Moses, He tells us that He will be with us. He isn’t expecting us to accomplish anything under our own power. Our job is to be ready, be faithful, and accept the invitation. He’ll do the rest.

In lieu of the usual afternoon service, John Little spoke about church planting and the challenges facing churches today.

Church Not a Social Norm – 50 years ago, going to church on Sunday was an expected part of our culture. It was seen as just the right thing to do, even if you weren’t a believer. Those days are gone. We cannot expect non-believers to come through our doors.

The Power of Invitations – Offering worldly incentives can fill pews, but not with people who are seeking God. What does work, is the personal invitation. Ask a neighbor. Ask a friend to come to church with you.

Small is normal – The vast majority of churches around the northeast are not mega-churches. Most have under a hundred members. Smaller churches shouldn’t be discouraged by size. God uses them to do His will.

No Ivory Towers – A pastor of a smaller work cannot afford to stay in his office. He needs to be out in the community, being seen, talking to people. It’s not the pastor’s job to fill the pews, but he does need to be seen and available. He represents the church.

Normal Folks – A bowling night, or a hunter’s banquet, etc. can be social events which appeal to common interests. People who would otherwise not set foot in a church are more likely to attend. This also lets non-believers see that we’re all normal people just like them.

Small but Active – Many small churches fall into a comfort trap. They don’t grow because they don’t want to. “We like things the way they are.” John Little said that BCP is enthusiastic about helping LBC because he sees that the members are eager to grow and reach out to the community. God uses willing workers.

John 6:1-21

Chapter 6 is a turning point for the nation. It is now two years into the ministry of Jesus, he has gained great popularity and there is a growing Messianic expectation among the people. Yet when we come to end of this chapter many of these same followers turn away from following him.

Both of these miracles have a number of parallels with the events found in Exodus, with Moses and the nation of Israel being delivered from Egypt and the provisions provided for them in the wilderness to sustain their life.

In the feeding of the 5000, we are brought face to face with the inability of the disciples to solve the dilemma of how to feed all these people. Jesus then uses what was available to him from any insignificant person with insignificant resources and uses them to feed all the people. Two lessons come out of this: 1) give him what you got and let him do the rest and 2) we need to view everything we have with thanksgiving as having coming from God himself. The people made the connection with Moses (Deut 18:15-19) and attempted to make Jesus king. Jesus then withdraws himself from the people knowing that their motives were wrong (v26) and sends his disciples away.

In the second miracle, the disciples are attempting to cross the sea and encounter a severe storm. Jesus walks out to them and delivers them from the storm. Again there is a parallel to the nation being delivered across the Red Sea under Moses leadership (Psa 77:16-20) and Jesus uses the same term to describe himself as he had with Moses, it is I (I AM).

We have seen so far with these 5 miracles that Jesus is: 1) the creator of life, 2) the restorer of life, 3) the hope of life and now he is shown to be 4) our sustainer of life and 5) our protector of life.

He is God guiding his people thru the calamities of life and stands ready to protect us by forgiving us our sins, when we turn to him for salvation. How will you respond to his grace?

I Kings 21:1-29

It is now about five years since the crisis of Mount Carmel and the nation has settled back to its old way of life in which God is all but forgotten. John 3:19, comes to mind “the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil” and Rom 1:28 “and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

In out text, King Ahab desired a piece of property, but Naboth on legal grounds (Lev 25:23-28; Num 36:7) refused to sell it. Ahab becomes sullen over this and Jezebel proposes a plan, involving worthless individuals in whom they would lie about Naboth, and where upon Naboth would be executed for the crime of blasphemy.

God sees all that transpired and has Elijah go to King Ahab and expose his sin and pronounce judgment on the entire house of Ahab. Prov 15:3 states “the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good”. Also Num 32:23 states “… be sure your sin will find you out”. The principle being that all of us, one day will have to stand before the Lord and give account for everything that we have done (Rom 14:12). Upon hearing God’s judgment, King Ahab repents and God lightens the sentence imposes upon him, revealing just how gracious our Lord is to all of us.

Notice the progression of sin in this chapter: desire leads to covetousness, covetousness leads to discontentment, discontentment leads to evil counsel, evil counsel leads to lies and lies leads to murder. James 1:14-15 is a good verse for all of us to contemplate for ourselves.

Some lessons to be learned are: 1) do not uses piety and legality to cloak acts of injustice, 2) those who support the plots of a Jezebel, whether by silent acquiescence or overt complicity share in her crime and will experience the judgment hand of God upon them and 3) there is awesome power in the conscience and protest of the believer as we stand up against evil practices going on around us, Taking a stand against abortion is our duty as children of God.

John 5:31-47

This chapter is basically an unofficial trial of Jesus and the reader is put into the position of a juror, who is going to have to decide the question of “who is Jesus”?

It started when Jesus healed a paralyzed man on the Sabbath day, a day which the Jews had established a lot of restrictive rules all designed to show the Jew’s obedience to God. The authorities found this man carrying his bedding and accused him of breaking Sabbath day rules (v18), upon further questioning this individual eventually turned in Jesus to them as the man who had healed him. The Jews then accuse Jesus of two charges 1) breaking the Sabbath and 2) making he himself equal with God. Jesus does not try to minimize the charges but emphatically agrees by stating 1) he does the same work as the Father (v19), 2) that he is the source of life (v21) and 3) that he is sovereign (v27).

In our verses Jesus gives four evidences to back up the claim that he is God. He tells them to examine the testimony of John the Baptist, who stated, “Behold the Lamb of God” concerning Jesus. He then has them examine all the works that he had been doing in their midst, all which pointed out that he is their Messiah, even Nicodemus, a respected Pharisee made that connection. He then asks them to listen to the testimony of the Father himself. At the baptism of Jesus, the Father audibly spoke to the people and later on spoke again on the Mount of Transfiguration. Lastly he points out that while they were studying the scripture, they had missed the main point.

In verses 40-47, Jesus charges his accusers (v44) that they had no interest in the saving love of God. They were attached to their religion and personal pride and therefore unwilling to bow to the humiliating terms of the gospel. He then points out that Moses himself would be their judge, by what he wrote concerning Jesus (Deut 18:19).

You the reader are now the jury and must decide the question “is Jesus right in what he claims”. Eternal ramification looms ahead.

I Kings 19:15-21

Disobedience may affect our service for the Lord. Paul was concerned about being disqualified (I Cor 9:27), and we need to be just as concerned for ourselves. Elijah never does achieve the same national potential that he had at Mount Carmel. In verse 18, God points out that while Elijah did not see the results he had expected, his ministry was still being used by the Lord in that 7000 people had remained true to God. The same hold true with us, even if we do not readily see any results from our service to the Lord.

In verses 15-18, Elijah is told to appoint three others, who would be used to carry out God’s purposes. This reveals the sovereignty of God and that nothing will stop the purposes of God. Jehu and Hazael were not godly men but God would use them to accomplish his will. This should cause us to know that who ever God places in power they are there only by the grace of God. Secondly it shows the Lord’s grace to his people. Elijah is refitted for new service. God is in the business of restoring us. We all get discouraged at times, but thru the Word (Rom 15:4) and other believers (II Cor 1:4; I Thess 5:11) he restores us back into service.

Verses 19-21, we see the call of Elisha. There is a dual purpose going on here. Elijah needed a companion to assist him in the ministry and Elisha, who is going to be Elijah’s replacement, needs to be trained for the ministry. Elisha is found busy working the fields when Elijah threw his cloak on him which was symbolic of God call to the ministry. Today, when a person is saved they are placed into service and given gifts to assist them. I Peter 4:10 “as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”. Each one of us here in this local church is involved in the ministry of “building up one another”. Elisha responding to Gods call by honoring his parents and then making a definite commitment to follow Elijah by sacrificing his oxen, which in effect cut all ties.

May we do the same as we follow after our Lord.