Challenges from the Holy Spirit: Luke 8:22-25; Matthew 7:1 2 and Chronicles 7:14

 

We are living in some of the most challenging, difficult, frustrating and confusing times.  People’s emotions, relationships, fears, and sense of security are all over the place.

During these times I have been asking God two questions:

1.    God, what are You trying to teach me?

2.    How should I respond?

My prayer is that when we leave this place, the Holy Spirit will so speak that we will have a greater resolved to live daily with Jesus.

Prayer:  Lord, let Your blessings be upon the message today.  Have mercy on the speaker.  He is a sinner in need of Your grace.  Have mercy upon the listeners, we might hear what You might have in store.  Will You speak to all of this morning through your Holy Spirit, so when we leave this place, You will see that our desire to live daily with Jesus has increase.  We thank You for this time to be a gathered church.  We offer this prayer relying upon Jesus in whose name gather and we pray. Amen.

Challenges from the Holy Spirit.  There have been three specific events that occurred over the past 6 months where I sensed the Holy Spirit challenged me Biblically in personal faith walk.  Thus, the reason for this title.  This morning I am going to share How I sensed God used those events to speak to me.

The first event was Facing the COVID-19 virus.  Turn in your bibles to Luke chapter 8.

We have never seen or experienced anything like this virus. As of today, this highly contagious virus has impacted people in 217 countries around the world and from all reports there is a steady rise in the number of people who are coming down with it.

Four weeks into the nationwide shutdown last Spring, on Easter Monday, I was reflecting on story from the life of Jesus found in:

Luke 8:22-25 (NIV) —  One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out.  ²³ As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.  ²⁴ The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.  ²⁵"Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

You get the scene, don’t you?  While the disciples were on the lake, a big storm came upon them and the boat they were in was in danger of sinking.  They were scared to death and feared for their life– much like many people today who are fearful of what may happen if they get infected with COVID19 virus.

What first captured my attention was the question Jesus asked his disciples in verse 25.  Where is your faith? 

·       Why do you think he asked them this question? 

·       Doesn’t it seem a bit strange?

·       Couldn’t he see that they were terrified because of this life-threatening storm? 

·       Why did he question their faith?

As I sat before this passage, I ask myself, Would Jesus question my faith on how I am confronting this world-wide pandemic?  Would He question yours?

I re-read the passage and another word caught my attention.

Look at verse 22. When they got into the board, Jesus said to his disciples.  Let’s   “let us go over to the other side of the lake. ” 

It’s like Jesus was saying, Didn’t I ask you to get into the boat?  Didn’t I say we are going to the other side of the lake.  Remember, you are with me and I will get you to the other side.  You are with me.

When storms come, do you focus more on the storm or more on Jesus who is with you?

Right before the Hebrew people crossed the Jordan River to enter the promised land, God gave this promise, a promised repeated in 4 different ways in the first chapter of Joshua.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.   Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

The Hebrew people would face many storms, trials and obstacles in the years to come.  Taking the promise land would not be easy.  Over the course of times they would have good rulers and bad rulers. In spite of what was would come, God was saying, as you confront these challenges, as you face these storms, remember I will be with you, wherever you go.

This promise repeated in various ways throughout the whole of scripture.  The one we are most familiar with is Jesus’ promise when he ascended into heaven, And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

When we first arrived in Buies Creek, I went to visit Clara Upchurch. She recently had one of her legs amputated and living alone in a little house off Gregory Circle.   I learned when she was a young mother with growing boys, she discovered she had a serious form of cancer.  She prayed and asked God to allow her to live to see her boy grow up to be men. 

Over the next 25 years, she faced many scary storms.  She underwent 21 surgeries, some of them life-threatening.  Yet, she possessed one of the most joyful, grateful spirits I have ever seen in another person.  I asked her, What has helped you the most during these years?  She said, I kept my eyes more on Jesus than the things I was confronting.   She constantly talked about the privilege and joy of walking with Jesus.

A few years later she traveled to Walter Reed Army Hospital where she had her other leg amputated. When she returned home, she continued to be grateful for God seeing her through yet another surgery.

A year later, her youngest son, Mike and his wife, Tilda, sat in our living room, with tears rolling down their cheeks as they poured out their hearts to us.  They could no longer find anyone to stay with his mom.  She could no longer manager life by herself.  They realized the only option was for her to be relocated to an assistant living facility.  They didn’t want to do this.  They dreaded discussing this with her.  It was deeply painful for them. 

After we prayed, they went to tell her what they thought needed to be done.  And what was her response?  With a big smile on her face, she said, “I am so thankful I can be in a place so close to home.  That way I can still see my friends.”  

About 8 months later I received a telephone call from Iva Newton telling me that Clara Upchurch was at Womack Army Hospital at Fort Bragg.  She just returned from visiting her and said she looks really, really terrible and could not last much longer.  Joyce and I had grown to really love Clara, so we went together to see her.

Yes, physically, she really did look terrible. 

A frail,

wrinkled,

  emaciated

paled body,

no hair,

cloudy eyes,

and shortness of breath. 

In a weak, laboring voice, she looked up at us with a smile on her face, and said, “Jesus is here.  Very soon, I will let go of life here to go see love ones I haven’t seen in a long, long time” 

The image I left her room with was not her physical appearance, but of her beautiful inner spirit. Amid this final storm in her life, she was

a lady full of joy,

           at peace with where she was,

  confident that Jesus was with her and she with Him

and soon, she would be fully present with Him.

This past Easter Monday, in midst of the nationwide lockdown, facing all the unknowns and fear associated with the virus, I said to myself, I want to live with a faith like Clara Upchurch’s, with the confident realization that Jesus is with me and more importantly I am with Him.  That’s living as a person who believes in the resurrection. That’s living as a person who has an Easter Faith.

I don’t need to live in fear what may come.  Jesus will get me through to the other whatever I may be facing, whether in life or in death.   When I am with Jesus, He will get me through to the other side.

The second event that occurred led me to face racism.

On May 25 we saw on TV the tragic death of George Floyd.  This incident re-ignited a smoldering fire, releasing a lot of pent-up feelings of an ugly scar on our nation’s soul that we have been trying to live through for years — that of racism.  Feelings and beliefs are all over the place.  I know all of us here believe God created all people in His image and each person is to be treated with dignity and respect.  But everyone does feel they are treated that way.

How do you want other people to judge you?  We certainly don’t want them to judge us from their point of view, without understanding who we are and why we do what we do? 

During this time I  these words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount caused me to pause. 

Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Judging others.  Isn’t this what racism is ultimately about. — judging others on the color of their skin.  It’s really hard for us white people to really understand why they feel this way in our day and time.

Often, find ourselves rushing to make judgments.  We have seen a lot of this happening recently  We judge without knowing all the facts or the full story.

Back in the late fall of 1997, Paul Trolliinger, Boyd Byerly, Barney Trogden and accompanied me into our sanctuary to pray for an upcoming citywide crusade.  We had been selected as coordinators of this crusade.   

I don’t think I will ever forget what happened.  As Bishop Trogden entered the sanctuary, he stopped and looked around, and with a look of wonder and amazement he said,  “Lord, I never thought I would see the day I would ever stand and pray in the Sanctuary of the FBC of Asheboro.” 

That startled and stunned me.  That’s a thought never came to me, but it did to Bishop Trogden.  He grew up in Asheboro during the day of segregation. 

Over the next year, as our friendship grew, as I listened and asked questions about his experiences, I began to understand why he felt that way.  He helped me to see and understands things that I had never experienced.  And he learned from my experiences.  Until we get a fuller view of each other’s story, we will be never be able to really understand each other.

The third event occurred on the last Saturday in September.  It was the National Day of Prayer and Repentance. More than a 100,000 people gathered on the mall to prayer walk and pray in DC and or to be part of the Return. I watched on my iPhone via live streaming.

The Holy Spirit used that event to help me go deeper into what it means to face God.

One verse was quote frequently during that day, I Chronicles7:14.  This verse is cited over and over again by people who have a desire to see a spiritual revival in our land. 

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) - ¹if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

What lept off the page were those three highlighted little words – seek my face.

Those three little highlighted words had the force of a person hitting me upside the head.  They got my attention.  It was like the Holy Spirit was asking me: John, are you truly seeking my face when you pray?  I sat there stunned at the questioned.  Am I really seeking the face of God when I pray?  What about you?  Or am I really focusing what I am requesting God to do?

The Holy Spirit really challenged me here and became the question lingered with me for days.

Last week, as I was once again reflecting on the question, I had sensed the Holy Spirit ask me, John, are you truly seeking my face when you pray the I thought of the time Isaiah went to the Temple to pray. You recall that scene, don’t you?  It’s found in Isaiah 6.  Isaiah went into the temple the year King Uzziah died and he saw the glory of the lord.  Do you recall the first thing Isaiah said after beholding the glory of God?

Woe to me! I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.

Wow.  Think of this.  As Isaiah was caught up in that moment of spiritual glory, seeing the face of God, his first words where words of confession of sin.  This thought emerged, If I am truly seeking God’s face, wouldn’t I, at least occasionally, have times like Isaiah – and recognize and confess my own sinfulness and repent?

I then asked another question, Lord, how important is the confession of sin to our spiritual walk?

Immediately,  the great promise about what God does when we confess our sin came to mind.

1 John 1:9 (NIV)  -   If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Wow!  With such a great promise, why wouldn’t we rush to confess any sin?  We know already God’s wish is to forgive and restore us.  He is more ready to forgive and restore than we are to confess.

We seldom remember this one great verse  promise is sandwiched between two other very important verses.

1 John 1:8 (NIV) -  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:10 (NIV) -  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Are we blindly living in such a way we never think that we sin?  That we fall short of God’s desire for us?   When was the last time you sought god’s forgiveness through confessing a sin you’ve committed?  

Since then, I have been praying what the psalmist prayed in Psalm 139: 23-24:

Search me, God, and know my heart;
  test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Would your walk with God benefit if you asked  God to do this in your life?

Sermon by Dr. John Rogers.  Posted by Jeni Martin Johnson.