The Outside Perspective

So you’re in that front line and you’re waiting and it goes through and then two more get on and you’re waiting and it goes through and finally you’re done or What happens at the fair is you get in line and you think okay? I think I can make it I think I can make it and you’re getting letting everybody in you’re going in you’re going yes And they put the rope down right in front of you. I Frustrated when I’m almost there, but they cut me off with the rope right in front of me And I want to say something like do you know who I am? But I know the answer so I don’t even ask Because they have no clue and they wouldn’t carry anyway, but you get cut off Sometimes you’re cut off from fun But sometimes in our lives the door gets shut right in our face But it may not just be from fun. It may be from a Relationship where we get cut off it may be from a job Opportunity we thought was right there before us it may become be from a Report on our health that came back differently than we had hoped it may come from a request for help When there’s no one there to help Sometimes the door gets shut Jesus talks about a time the door gets shut where You don’t want to be the first one out because then it doesn’t even matter how close you are It’s not like it worlds of fun where they’re just gonna have another ride Even if it’s the end of the day they try to get everybody on But let’s listen to as we continue talking about our Calling and our purpose let’s look at the words of Jesus and how that connects to our calling and our purpose and who we are as one Hope Church and What we can do and what we are called to do as one Hope Church We stand as you are able These are Jesus words in the middle of a longer sermon But we’re just going to focus in on these three verses Matthew 24 36 through 39 But concerning that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven nor the Son But the Father only for as were the days of Noah So will be the coming of the Son of Man For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage Until the day when Noah entered the ark and they were unaware of until the flood came and swept them all away So will be the coming of the Son of Man The Word of God For the people of God.

Thanks be to God. Amen. You may be seated But concerning the day and the hour no one knows Now it doesn’t take a lot of spiritual discernment sometimes to understand if someone is speaking on their own accord or if they are speaking By the words of God working through them.

One of the ways that you can quickly get to the point is that I You know when I was first getting into ministry I had a lot of time and I would watch try to watch as much Christian stuff on the TV as I could and I’d watch the televangelists and At the end of the year, they were going this is the year this is the year that he comes and you need to be written and the next year they’d say I Had a prophecy. This is the year Well, I soon found out that they had no idea Because Jesus said so Jesus said no one knows the time or the place and if they say they do They know more than me Jesus said no one knows the time in the place But he said this Be ready Here’s our connection in the days of Noah people were eating and drinking Nothing wrong with that having fun Enjoying one another’s company getting married giving away their children in marriage enjoying life The great joys of life they were experiencing those and then it started raining and The flood came and that was that Jesus They were in the midst of all of that stuff Until the day when Noah entered the ark and when Noah entered the ark and the door was shut. That was it now you may be thinking well, well, this is different because God sent a rainbow and Promised there would be no flood again.

He didn’t promise Jesus wouldn’t come again. He didn’t promise Jesus Wouldn’t unleash the seals and the world would be destroyed and there would be a new heaven and earth And he didn’t promise no matter who tells you this No matter how big they are know how many books they’ve written no matter how famous they are He didn’t say everyone outside Will come on in When that door shuts That is a big day So all that is going on and when we look at Genesis to see Noah went through He built the boat, you know it it it probably took 40 years or something like that. It wasn’t a it was a big boat It was a it was a generation it took at least to build the boat and when they had it built Verse 15 says they entered in the ark would know a two and two of all the flesh which was there was the light breath of life and Those who entered male and female of all flesh went in and God commanded him as God had commanded him And the Lord shut him in now what’s Interesting with this is this is all directed by God Do you think Noah had the capability to go out and get all those animals on his own and they’d say? Okay, I’ll follow you.

You seem like a trustworthy guy. You’ve got some good treats So I’ll follow you No, God sent the animals Do you think Noah just knew in his head how to build a boat? So that he just said oh, okay build a boat. Yeah, I have some blueprints on that no, God showed him how to build a boat and when they got all got in the boat and They were all ready to go and the monkeys were saying are we there yet? It says the Lord shut the door Think about that for a minute You might have heard this in another sermon somewhere or in a study somewhere, but the Lord shut the door In fact the exact words in Genesis are the Lord shut them in Okay They were sealed in by God himself God is the one who shut them in and God at the right time shut them in and Jesus said just like in the days of Noah, I Will return and I will shut you in but in our lives That the thing that distinguishes our call from the call of Noah is pretty straightforward Noah got on the boat with how many people got on the boat who can do the math Total of eight Noah Noah’s wife.

Sorry her name wasn’t mentioned Noah’s sons Shep ham and Japheth and Their wives and that’s eight There were eight on the boat I took calculus in college there were eight on the boat and when the door shut they were shut in and They were sealed and they were saved Hallelujah, and when we receive Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit is the seal of our faith the Holy Spirit Seals us and shuts us in so that we are saved Hallelujah But if we are shut in Then what happens to those that are on the outside of the door who are walking along having fun And all of a sudden the door shuts in front of them. They are shut out Now the difference we have is we have this time and when we’re talking about building a boat Which is our calling and our purpose when we build a boat that time of building a boat Has to do with us Not only growing in our faith and growing more and more in the Holy Spirit, but it has to do with us Inviting other people in The biggest difference is there were eight Today we can have 25 or 30, but we need other people our calling our purpose Says as we build a boat in Jesus Christ, we invite as many people as possible Now That is sometimes tough to do it can affect our job It can affect our lives. It can affect our race Relationships and when the door opens to God Often another door in our lives gets shut It’s not easy It’s something we always want to face today in the United States Tell me if I’m wrong, but we’re complacent and we even doubt Jesus return In fact, we even have new theologies that have nothing to do with the Bible that says the door is Always open Now The difference is the Holy Spirit and we’re going to talk about that in just a minute Carolyn Aarons Is a Christian Canadian Christian singer and musician she’s an author and a speaker and She’s the director of education for Rene Vera a non-profit organization She said that people come to the Christian faith for many different highways, but the eventual crossroad is always an encounter with Jesus I wonder if my attempts to keep my witnesses witness non-threatening and accessible Sometimes end up shielding the unchurched people around me from their own crossroad Jesus is certainly Jesus can certainly meet anyone with or without my resistance But I would rather be a help than a hindrance She goes on to say I was a hindrance in Mexico.

My husband Mark who is a public school counselor a Few years ago a group of his 11th graders asked him to coordinate a humanitarian trip so he contacted one of our favorite Christian organizations and they disagree they agreed to facilitate the trip an Excursion to Mexico to build a playground. How cool does that sound in an impoverished area? Mark was careful to explain to them that the students who were participating were mostly unchurched and Should there even be a whiff of Proselytizing about Jesus parents and even the school board would feel betrayed There were 24 students for teachers and my kids and I tagged along upon arrival. We discovered that the arranged accommodations at the local Rotary Club House had fallen through instead.

We would be sleeping on the cement floor of a church basement in downtown yard Juarez one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico Mark could already imagine the parent phone calls. He’d receive when word trickled home weary from a long day of Travel we set up sleeping bags and tried to ignore the exposed wiring whole ridden walls and the scurry of cockroaches In the morning, we drove to the site of the project Jaws dropped as they saw the level of poverty they could never even imagined But we also Experienced the sweet rush of doing something worthwhile for that community at the end of the day. We returned to our cement floor Feeling good all was well until the nausea hit Sometime around 3 a.m. The first wave of students became ill by morning There were clusters of miserable people draped on every available garbage can Mark held his head in his hand And imagined the new wave of parent phone calls, but mostly he just threw up Around 9 a.m The two local women who were preparing food for our arrival Showed up on the scene and surveyed the carnage Despite the language barrier their distress and concern were unmistakable They had followed the instructions on how to cook for foreigners with weak stomachs I added the weak stomach thing in because it’s happened to me How to cook for foreigners were weak stomachs yet We were all still sick Eventually one of the women approached the old the only teacher who could speak Spanish and asked for permission to pray for us Too ill to object the teacher just nodded and said yes as soon as the woman began to pray I knew we were in trouble.

I Thought maybe everyone is so ill They won’t mind the praying but my hopes for a low-impact prayer faded quickly as the woman became increasingly Emotional she prayed for five minutes ten minutes Fifteen minutes, maybe more Gracias Padre Gracias Jesus Gracias Espiritu Santo she wept over and over I Began a prayer of my own. Please make her stop. I don’t want mark to get fired I don’t want these kids to be put off by religion When she was finally done, I took a deep breath and forced myself to raise my flushed face Dreading the reactions.

I knew were inevitable Things were not as I expected There was no dry eye in the room Students were hushed visibly moved beautiful whispered one of the teachers Several people nodded to them the prayer had not been unwelcome proselytizing, but a heart cry passionate desperate and Utterly authentic I Was ashamed of course and humbled The Holy Spirit had been moving and I one of the few mature believers in the room had missed it. I Wish I had prayed different prayers in Mexico’s in Mexico these days in increasing measure I do when faced with the potential encounters with the Living God even among the Unintimidated Uninitiated I am learning to pray. Yes, and thank you rather than stop After all, how else are any of us supposed to get to know him two ways in? Which we can be in that position Who closed the door? Sometimes we close the door Sometimes we think we can close the door and we cut people off from God Sometimes by being nice We close the door sometimes by thinking we’re considerate we close the door and sometimes because via by becoming too Interior too focused on the people we know and we love and we care so much about We close the door Jesus calls us to more when we build this boat We are called to reach people for Jesus We are called to have this urgency I Was talking about the Holy Spirit before the sermon and there are a couple things about the Holy Spirit that you need to know The Holy Spirit never whispers in your ear Now is not the time to share about Jesus The Holy Spirit never whispers in your ear Just care about the people, you know, and love don’t reach out to people who are different from you Don’t don’t get yourself in any uncomfortable situation Where it feels like cockroaches are all around you giving you the creeps The Holy Spirit says go Make disciples we sang all Authority Jesus said when he said go and make disciples before that.

He said all authority on heaven and earth is given to me. I Have the authority so he gives us the authority Wherein Zechariah was praying and he said behold a prophet will come Who will pave the way for the Lord who will make the path straight? He was talking about John the Baptist But after that he’s talking about you and me that prayer is about us as followers Jesus Christ of those who are called to make the path straight for Jesus We build a boat where we say it’s easy. We make the path easy We don’t fill it with obstacles and and things that say it You know you could come to Jesus But I don’t really want to talk to you You could come to Jesus, but I know your past we say come We say just check Jesus out Now there’s actually a song on the radio that I love called truth But she says something in there that is a little bit concerning.

She says You look at me and you say I don’t want to change a thing And I don’t think that’s biblical either That we’re all invited we can all come we all need to be in the presence of God But he says come but don’t stay the same come But let me help you become more like Jesus come but become more holy Wesley says it like this, and we’ve had this in the newsletter It’s on the website but I think it’s important that what we do is bring the grace of God to everyone and Everyone is in different stages of their lives, but He called it the porch the door in the house the porch says that is the place of repentance Where we’re called we come to you know right outside And we repent and and we ask God to forgive us for all that we have and we’re on the porch And the porch is kind of fun to hang out on especially if there’s a cool breeze maybe have a cool lemonade or something not gonna say what else might have on the porch, but then you Receive Jesus as your Savior And that’s the doorway and when we do that we come to the doorway And then we step into the house when we are sanctified when we grow in our faith And we become more like Jesus wherever anybody is on that path our job is to offer him the grace Whether they receive justifying grace and come to the porch whether they receive Preventive grace and come to the porch whether they receive justifying grace and come to the door sanctifying grace and come to the house And sit at the table of God the porch the door in the house we Want everyone inside of that house? Whether they come to church here they come to church somewhere else We want them to know Jesus and love Jesus and to be in the house of God can I get an amen on that one? We want the world to know that there is something more than ourselves in our lives And that we what the Holy Spirit one gosh that was one a long time ago Says it’s not about if we’re thinking okay my decision here is for my own gain My decision here is for me to improve my own life Probably not the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit would say Your decision here is to follow where I lead and it’s going to lead you to someone who needs God’s grace today Does that make sense all me versus all Jesus pretty simple number two is the Holy Spirit Puts a fire in our hearts Not only for other people not only to love our neighbor But a fire that says Jesus is coming again the time is short. Why do you sit around and wait and Do nothing while people are out there not knowing that Jesus could come at any time And you when you read the Bible and you see in the early church when they had this passion for Jesus It was this sense from the Holy Spirit that he could come at any time So we the time is now to tell people about Jesus the time is now to invite them on the boat our calling That we’ve been talking about Let’s let’s read this again Our calling is to build a boat where people of every generation can experience God’s grace Like Noah’s family and trust in Jesus who is our one hope from the overwhelming floods of life Now our calling differs from Noah’s calling because we put that back up there for a sec It says people of every generation, so does that mean we don’t want young whippersnappers getting in the way All right. I was so excited about our band this morning.

That is that is Representative of our average age group. Did you know that I? Can skew statistics however, I need do we want people of any age? People who can barely get around Every generation Do you believe me that we’re called to every generation We want every generation in the boat We want every generation to be sealed in by the blood of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit every generation sealed in I Say we want but I also say we’re called to Okay Now as we move forward in this series, we’re going to be talking more about our purpose Let’s read this together Our purpose is to build passionate worshippers to build connections through love and scriptural holiness and to build bold Witnesses about life with Jesus who is our one hope let’s leave that up there for a second build passionate worshippers. I Think we’ve worshipped today We’ll keep worshipping Thank you Jesus and In that worship We also build connections with one another connections with one another to help us all walk in love together connections in our faith and to build bold witnesses about life with Jesus bold bold We’re called to be bold Know this when Jesus said ask he didn’t say ask and it will be taken away He said ask and it will be given.

He didn’t say seek and you will get lost He said seek and you will find He didn’t say knock and I’ll shut the door in your face He said knock and the door will be We need to open the door To everyone for Jesus, let’s pray Almighty God help us to be bold witnesses Help us to build a boat where we have bold witnesses who make bold witnesses who reach out for more bold witnesses Thank you for the grace. You give us in Jesus Christ Help us to meet people wherever they’re at in their lives and just share Jesus Help us to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to work through us and beyond us So others can know about Jesus put in us a fire that says Jesus could come today But we don’t know when but we know it could happen any time So we want to share your grace with the world Because you gave so much because you are so amazing and you are so awesome And we want to share this With the world we want to share your love. We want to talk about Jesus We want Jesus to be on our hearts in everything We pray this in your holy name.