LBC Sermons & Messages

II Samuel 23:20-23

If God put your life story into three verses and put them in His Holy Scripture, what would they say? Would they tell a story of uncompromising godliness or would they show a life of remorse and regret because you took flight instead of fight. The Old Testament is full of life stories summed up in three to four verses. Many are stories of men who did extraordinary things and men who missed extraordinary opportunities. What would your story be for the year 2008? What do you want it to be for 2009?

In II Samuel 23 we see an extraordinary life account of a man named Benaiah. Verse 20 tells us that Benaiah chased a lion into a pit and killed it. Also, as if that is not quiet the task, it was snowy. Benaiah is what we call a “lion chaser.” When normal people have an image of a man eating beast travel through their optical nerve and register in their visual cortex, their response, “run as fast as you can.”

However, lion chasers are different. They do not see 500-pound problems but rather 500-pound opportunities. Dodge’s slogan is “grab life by the horns.” Let me tell you this morning to grab life by the mane. Let me admit that if you are in a pit with a lion on a snowy day, you have a serious problem. Probably the last problem you will ever have. However, you would have to admit that killing a lion in a pit on a snowy day looks good on the resume when you are applying for the position of a bodyguard.

Not only did Benaiah land a job as a bodyguard, but he worked his way up the ladder. He eventually became the chief commander of the armies of Israel. The second in command of the entire kingdom. Benaiah’s success can be traced back to an appointment he had with a lion in a pit on a snowy day and a decision to fight.

This year I cannot help but think that many of us will be faced with a lion. What will your reaction be, run away or give chase? Are you going to allow God to fight through you giving you the victory and God the glory? Remember, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world!

Let us start with a prediction: your biggest regrets will be the lions you did not chase. According to psychologists, over the short term we regret those things that we did wrong but over the long term we tend to bemoan inaction or missed opportunities. In combination with fear of change, it appears that we are domed to a life of regrets as many of those who have gone on before us. However, I a convinced that we can change if we decide to, but the longer you wait the harder it will be.

The church has become fixed mainly on the sins of commission. Sinning by doing things we are not supposed to. This is part of living a victorious Christian life but only a small part of it. You can do nothing wrong your whole life and still do nothing right. Holiness is not merely a by-product of subtracting the negative, but has more to do with maximizing our God-given potential to live like Christ. Holiness involves avoiding obvious sin and God is concerned with our purity, but He has called us to a much higher calling of being lion chasers. Go after that which God has called you!

Christ is the perfect example of gutsiness. He did that which the Father called Him to do and did not worry about offending the religious leaders. He did not worry about the worldly consequences or His social standing. He chased every lion that “caught His eye.” There is nothing even remotely passive about the Christ of the Bible. Do not try to be politically correct and make Him out to be a pansy. Christ is the very definition of gutsiness.

Christ knew what His life would cost Him and yet He counted it a joy. The people that crucified Christ did not crucify Him because he was politically correct and a bore, they crucified Him because Christ was too dynamic to be safe. His gutsy living forced people to come face to face with reality and see themselves for who they really are, sinners that need a Savior. In an attempt to make all equal, civil rights groups have declawed the Lion of Judah and turned him into a domestic short hair cat.

The choice to be a lion chaser is not a one time deal. We must continually sharpen each other and push each toward godliness. Each time a lion catches our optic nerve, we must decide to fight or take flight. Are you creatively forging the life God has for you or are you reveling in memories of the past?

Romans 1:19-23

Why is God’s wrath deserved? First of all, people do not like to think of God as being a wrathful and just God. However, if God is love, He must be just and then he must have perfect wrath in answer of ungodliness. By not looking at God’s justice, we are making God to fit our mold and trying to make Him into a God that is acceptable to the world. This is a clear violation of the second commandment. Besides, the world hates God because their conscience tells them and convicts them of their sinful state. However God is holy and just Lev. 11;45 & I Peter 1:15, 16. Secondly, God has revealed himself through man’s conscience and His creation. We are without excuse Rom. 1:19, 20. Lastly, man is wicked and unrighteous Rom. 1:21-23. The progression of man’s unrighteousness is given in Romans 1: knowledge of God but refusing to give Him honor Duet. 6:5, unthankfulness II Titus 3:1-7, foolish speculation Psalms 14:1, I Cor. 1:27-29, senseless minds I Cor. 3:18 – 20, pride Prov. 16:18, Becoming fools Prov. 10:8, then idolatry Ex. 20.

So, what must we do? We must get closer to God. Some would say that we need to get alone, quiet, and then try to imagine God with help of music, etc. You must let your mind think of His goodness, grace, peace, etc. When we see God, we will draw closer to Him. This, however, is a form of idolatry Ex. 20:1-6. Our minds cannot comprehend God and we diminish who He is when we try to imagine God. He has given us His Word and if you want to see God more clearly, get alone and quiet and then look into the Holy Scriptures and He will reveal Himself.

We also must realize that we are in a battle Eph. 6:10-20. It is a battle that is in the spiritual world but has physical implications. We must put on the whole armor of God.

Lastly, we must guard our minds II Cor. 10:1-6. This is the major battlefield. God has given us the ability to control what goes into our minds. We need to use our eyes and ears to put in what is good and holy. Therefore, will you allow God to regenerate you or will you continue down the path to unrighteousness?

We have spent the last eight lessons equipping ourselves with a witnessing tool. Being equipped is not enough though. We train soldiers to perform certain tasks. If they never perform these tasks, many things will happen. One, the soldier will get frustrated because he is not allowed to use what he knows and is equipped to use. He will also grow lackadaisical is his efforts. Lastly, he will begin to become dull and even loose his training. We are soldiers in God’s army and we are the same way.

Christ spent over three years training His disciples. In the end of the gospels and in Acts, Christ tells His disciples why he trained them and gives them the great commission. He told His disciples that all their training was to be used to bring people to the Father. Our training is for the same thing. Our lives should be lives of grabbing people out of Satan’s grip and allowing God to change them. We have the message, the Word of God, and the Spirit to help us and work through us. All we have to do is surrender and allow God to work. Will You? If we do not, we face the same fate as a soldier who is never allowed to perform the task for which he is trained. Let’s go and change the world with the gospel of Christ!

Romans 1:16 - 21

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? Because it is the power of God unto Salvation to all that believe. Are you ashamed? You might immediately say no verbally, however, what do your actions say? If you are doing little to nothing to reach out to this lost world with the gospel of Christ, you are ashamed. God wants us to take up our cross daily and live surrendered lives according to His will. God’s will for our lives might look different but it consists of spreading the message of Christ. Are you ashamed?

Now let us look at two sets of footprints that we can leave. There are only two and all of us leave some kind of footprints for others to follow. First, let us look at the unrighteous footprints in verses 18 – 21. Verse 18 tells us that the wrath of God is revealed against unrighteousness and ungodliness of man. This means that His wrath will be poured out upon all those who are ungodly. Who are these ungodly? The ungodly are simply defined as those who hold back or hinder the truth.

Since we all have a conscience that tells us the truths of God from birth, anyone who lives contrary to the Word of God is ungodly. When we live ungodly, we hold back this truth through our actions, words, and lives and leave footprints. These footprints are in verse 21. The ungodly glorify not God, are unthankful, vain, and foolishness. Are these your footprints? If so, God will judge you and give justice. Repent and ask God this week to reveal His truth to you and through you.

Now let us go back to verse 17 and look at the footprints of the Just. The last phrase of the verse says that the just shall live by faith. What is biblical faith? Upon reading Hebrews 11, you will see that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Further reading will reveal that biblical faith is belief in action, or in other words obedience to God. The footprints of the just are impressions left by being obedient to the Father.

The footprints of the just are not faith alone, but rather faith passed down to future generations. The beginning of the verse tells us that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. This is the power of the gospel mentioned in verse 16 working in lives and being lived out and taught to younger generations. What are you doing to teach the younger? Read Duet. 6:4-9 and Titus 2:1-8. If we fail to reach and teach this generation, we will loose the next several. We must not.

God has blessed in so many ways this quarter. We have had two people repent and ask Christ to be their Savior. We are also discipling three people and working on a couple more. We have also had several regular attendees and visitors in our services.

The Christmas season is fast approaching and we have several events coming up. The ladies are going to a craft night, we will be attending the Journey to Bethlehem at the Windham Chapel, we will be caroling at Haven Health on the 16th, and we will have our Holiday Dinner on the 20th at 5:30PM. The dinner is free and all are welcome to attend. Please call and let us know if you wish to attend so we know how many to plan for. Our yearly business meeting will be in January and we will discuss the year in review and the year upcoming. In addition, in the spring we will be remodeling and updating our restrooms. Thanks you to all who pray for and support the ministry at Londonderry Baptist Church. Keep serving our King.