Commitment in a non-committal world: What does this look like for God’s people living on the threshold of eternity?

ASI 2017: Called. Chosen. Committed.

<p>Commitment in a non-committal world: What does this look like for God’s people living on the threshold of eternity?</p>

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Plenary

Steve Dickman

The Curse of Meroz

Oh Father in heaven, we are here tonight.

We're asking that you would pour out your spirit upon each person here.

And not just hear your voice Lord, but that we would respond to your call.

I know some of you may have brought your Bibles this evening.

At least I hope you did, and if you didn't, maybe you have your Bible on your phone.

We're going to be looking for a few moments here at Mark chapter 13.

The context here is that Jesus is talking to his disciples about what the future holds.

It says this in verse 1 of chapter 13 that he went out from the temple and 1 of his disciples said unto him, master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here.

And then Jesus privately began, when he got to the Mount of Olives, he privately began to explain to his disciples the end of the story.

And whether or not you know it, this evening we are living in the time of the end of the story and so we read this with great interest we read this what Jesus was saying here with great interest because Jesus was talking not just to his disciples he's talking to us today because we are living actually the end of the story.

He says something interesting here in verse 24 of chapter 13 of Mark.

He says, but in those days after that tribulation the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light." Let me ask you a question tonight, has this happened?

Okay, so we're now entering the stream of time, we find ourselves living in a time when prophecy is not something in the future, but it's something that has already been fulfilled.

So the sun has been darkened, the moon would not give her light, and Verse 25, the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in the heaven shall be shaken.

Okay, so again, we're talking now about a part of the scripture that we recognize it didn't happen in my day, it happened actually before I was born.

So that means if we're marking time, it happened now, and then I come on the scene, I'm living after these prophecies have all been fulfilled.

Verse 26, the next verse, and then shall they see the Son of Man in the clouds, coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

And verse 27, then he shall send his angels and shall gather together his elect from the 4 winds from the uttermost parts of the earth and from the uttermost parts of heaven.

Verse 28, and now learn a parable of the fig tree.

And so Jesus now begins to emphasize what he just said by telling a couple of parables.

So he tells the parable of the fig tree, and he says here, when you see the fig tree and its branches yet tender and it put a forest leaves, you know that summer is where?

So, verse 29, in like manner, When ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even at the doors.

Verse 30, Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." And then he goes to give this little warning.

No, not the angels that are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Verse 33, see he says, I'm telling you, when you see these things happen, you should know that it is near, even at the door.

And then he tells this little parable, and then he says, "'But take heed, "'watch and pray, "'for you know not when the time is.'" So Jesus here is saying something very interesting.

He says you can know when the time is near, but you're not going to know when the time is.

Well, For me, I'm looking at the clock, I'm thinking, it's getting close to, let's just say it's getting close to noon, 12 o'clock.

I watch the clock and I see the hands moving around.

I can see that we're getting close to 12 o'clock and I know how long it is until 12 o'clock because the hand keeps moving.

But Jesus gives us a little warning here.

He says, you're gonna know that it's near, but you're not going to know the exact time.

He says your job is to watch and to pray.

I keep my eyes open, I stay on my knees, I'm good to go, right?

Verse 34 at this point, verse 34, for the Son of Man, now Jesus tells another little short 1 sentence parable here, He has clued His disciples that there's some danger ahead.

You're going to know when it's near, but you're not going to know the exact time.

For the Son of Man is as a man taking a what A far journey who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch.

Now let's review here what we've learned so far.

Jesus said in verse 33, take heed, watch and do what?

And in verse 34 he says, I want you to not only watch and pray, I want you to know that I'm going to a far country, it's going to be some time before I return, and I want you to watch and pray while I'm gone, but I don't want you to stop by watching and praying, I want you to work.

Because he says he has given to every man his work.

Does every mean every or does every mean only some?

If you are within the hearing of my voice tonight, and you can understand what I am saying, then you are included in this idea that God has given to every man his work.

I am included in that idea that God has given to every man his work.

This is part of what Jesus is saying to his disciples.

He says, yes, I want you to watch and I want you to pray, but I also want you to work.

There is something that God has given us not just corporately, for surely he did that in the Great Commission he told his disciples, he says I'm on my way and I'm going to give you this great commission, Matthew chapter 28, go ye therefore and do what?

Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and That commission is for God's family, for His church, and for us individually.

God has not left us wondering what we should do.

He has given to us a specific and certain work to do.

I'm thinking that this is not the only place in scripture where we find this.

Jesus was talking to his disciples And he told them another parable.

Actually, in Matthew chapter 20, you find this parable that Jesus is sharing with his disciples.

And he tells them the story about the vineyard owner who went to get some workers for his vineyard.

And he went down to the place where the workers were hanging out and he said, hey, it's 06:00 in the morning, I need a few workers.

And later he comes back and he finds some more workers, and he keeps coming back and finding more workers.

And finally he comes back at the eleventh hour, which is, according to the way they reckon time at that point, it is 1 hour before the end of the day.

It's the last little bit of time that work day is going to be complete, and then you're off.

And he comes back at the 11th hour and he'd find these guys standing around and he says what are you doing here and their response was no 1 hired us and his response was go to my vineyard and and go to work I would suggest to you tonight that we are living in the 11th hour of this story and God is still calling for workers to enter the vineyard.

Maybe we're living past the 11th hour, maybe we're living closer to the 12th hour, maybe we're living in the last few moments as it were of earth's history and Jesus is still calling for workers to enter his vineyard.

Until you take your last breath, until Jesus comes, there is a work for every man to do.

There is a work allocated that cannot be shifted to another.

What God has called you to do, no other man can do.

What God has called you to do, no other woman can do.

Because God is very specific in His calling.

Did you know that God knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb?

We find recorded in scripture certain individuals found out the fact that he had called them before they were born to do a certain work.

And I believe that that is Not a story that is without significance to my own life because I believe that God has called every single 1 of us before we were even born.

He knew what He fashioned in the womb and He knew that He had a certain job for us to do and he has called us to do that work.

Our theme for these 2 years has been what?

Andi Hunsaker

One Hour to Live. The Gospel

To my knowledge, I have not faced imminent death.

However, about a year and a half ago, I did walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death with my friend and colleague during her battle with an aggressive form of leukemia, a battle which she lost 3 months following the day of diagnosis.

Because of the severity of the diagnosis, she was hospitalized from the moment of diagnosis until 3 days before she died when she was released home to die.

Being hospitalized in the same hospital in which we both worked allowed me to visit her every day.

And our visits became sort of like Tuesdays with Maury, I said it was every day with Beatrice.

She was an English woman, crisp, very stoic, raised Catholic but not particularly religious.

And initially our conversations were very general, things like work, her children, things like that.

But about a month before she died, it became increasingly obvious that she was not going to make it.

And our conversations turned to more serious topics, topics like heaven and God, what is he like, and death.

How was she going to face this death that was unexpected?

These visits always ended with my praying with her.

As I turned to go, she would always say, Andy, please come back.

About 2 weeks before she died, she looked me straight in the eyes and she said, Andy, Have you considered what you would do if you were facing imminent death?

And taking in the look on my face, she said, you should.

And about the same time that I was going through this experience with Beatrice, I was studying the book of 2 Timothy, the last book Paul ever wrote, his swan song.

He was facing imminent and certain death at the hands of Nero, and on this backdrop, the book of 2 Timothy was written.

And it is a window into how he faced death, and I was reminded of a quote made famous by Sir Isaac Newton.

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

And today I would like us to stand on the shoulders of giants, giants like the apostle Paul and see not further than they saw, but what they saw as they faced death.

In 2 Timothy, Paul is writing with a chilling urgency to Timothy.

He says, Timothy, be diligent to come to me quickly.

And when you come, bring my cloak and my books, especially the parchments." Why the parchments?

Well, the Bible commentaries tell us that the parchments were his copy of the Septuagint and early copies of the words of Christ.

Paul in his final hour, in this urgent message, uses a very interesting phrase in 2 Timothy 1 verse 9.

He says, Timothy, Grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

Some translations say before the world began.

For several years, that phrase, scriptures that contain that phrase, before time began, before the beginning of the world or from the foundation of the world, have arrested my attention and captivated my imagination.

And for the Apostle Paul to use this phrase in this Urgent letter means that this is not just some poetry, some vague theory, but 1 with profound gospel implications.

And it was not until I read a paper by Andrews University Seminarian, Dr.

Richard Davidson on Proverbs 8, 22 to 31, that this took on significance for me.

Proverbs 8, verse 30 is very well known to us because it describes the relationship of God and Jesus that they had in heaven before Jesus came to this earth.

I was beside Him, Rejoicing always before Him.

And we acknowledge that it's Jesus that is saying these words.

But it's interesting because verse 30 has a context, and the context is verses 22 to 31.

There's a story being told in verses 22 to 31, which incorporate us as human beings.

And someone identified as wisdom is speaking in the first person and telling a story.

But it's not just any old story, it's his own story.

And it's obvious from the surrounding text that there's not just a personification of wisdom but an intelligent person telling a story.

And that person is the son of God himself telling his own story.

He says, the Lord possessed me at the beginning of his ways, before his works of old.

I've been established from everlasting from the beginning.

Before there was an earth, I was brought forth.

Strange words, strange language, language which can be misconstrued as someone being created.

However, the Hebrew is helpful here because in the Hebrew, those words actually mean anointed to, appointed to a new office, set up or installed into a new role, a new job.

It has nothing to do with someone being created.

And they are about to do something risky.

Thinking self-willed man with the ability to choose.

The ability to choose to accept and love them or the ability to rebel.

This being the case, they make a decision.

1 of us needs to step down into a new role, that of a savior.

And so in this passage, the divine second person in the Godhead, the Son of God Himself, is describing for us in this short autobiography, his formal installation into a new office, a new role, that of a son, a faithful and obedient son who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took the form of a servant, came in the likeness of men and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.

Before time began, The Lord cared about us.

The cross was manifested not just at Calvary, but before time began.

John the Revelator says it this way, that he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

But I don't want you to miss Proverbs 8, verse 31.

It says, And my delight was with the sons of men.

They did this because they delighted in us.

Even though they knew that we could rebel, they delighted in us.

And the fullness of the times he shows up in Isaiah 9 verse 6, it says, for unto us a child is born.

At Christmas time, many of us like to participate in or attend performances of Hannah's Messiah.

And there's 1 of the best choruses, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government should be upon his shoulders.

The choir continues, soaring in emphasis, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

But have you considered the first few words, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." What did that cost?

Zechariah describes their relationship this way.

He says he was his best friend, his best beloved, the 1 who stood close to him.

Most of you know that I have an identical twin sister, Lindy, who I love very much and to whom I'm very close.

And before Bob and I got married, we underwent premarital counseling.

He knew Bob and me, but he also knew the relationship I had with my twin sister.

So he added a question, true or false, your family comes before your spouse.

God the Father and God the Son were even closer than my twin sister and me.

Nevertheless, God, the Father, agreed to separate from His best beloved and give him to us.

And 1 day, like a poof, he was gone from heaven.

And there was a long period of silence when there was no communication between them because he was in the womb of Mary.

Someone who was your best friend, your best beloved in the bosom of the Father.

A loss was sustained in heaven that day, the incarnation cost daily.

The Godhead was radically changed, but not just for 9 months, but forever.

He was given to us, willingly, even though we rebelled.

He thinks back to heaven, When before time began, a plan was laid, and now he's in Gethsemane, and he trembles.

He remembers 3 days before when the Greeks came to him, and he said, Father, what should I do?

He says, no, I can't do that because for this reason I came into the world.

And he says to disciples, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.

James Rafferty

Have You Prayed for the President

Just 1 question this morning that I'd like to ask you, and that question is, have you prayed for the president?

Some of course might respond and say, well, yes, I have.

Others might say, well, I probably should.

Because this president is not my president.

This last political election was extremely disappointing to me personally and individually And I think to many of us, but the reason it was disappointing to me is because I realized through the process of this political election that my heart and my spirit was prone to be drawn away from my God-given commission and embroiled in the political influences of this world to become critical and negative.

That was the disappointment personally, individually.

It was disappointing for me in other ways because I saw that same spirit that was cropping up in me, especially in the Republican runoffs, I saw that same spirit in my brothers and sisters all around me.

I don't know if you experienced that, but I certainly did.

It was disappointing to see how I was affected by this political election.

I think this political election was a test of our hearts and characters.

I think it was a test as to whether or not we really believe and practice this gospel.

If we really are Christians in more than just name, if we are really Christ-like.

The whole process has really helped me actually to consider prayerfully the question facing us this morning.

That question, of course, is, if we just had 1 hour to live, what would we say about the gospel?

If we just had 1 hour to live, what would we say about the gospel?

And I thought and pondered this, And I thought to myself, wouldn't it be a blessing if we could actually answer that question from the Bible?

What I mean by that is, if we could actually go to people, individuals in the Word of God, in the Bible, and find people who were living in their last hour and see demonstrated in their actions or in their words what they had to say about the gospel.

Stephen, we all know, had this incredible last-hour moment.

His experience is recorded in Acts chapter 7 and verse 60, it says that as Stephen who had been rehearsing the history of Israel to the religious leaders of his day, the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees, as he had come to the close of this discourse, the anger and animosity and the hatred of these religious leaders were stirred against and they began to gnash their teeth and they grabbed him and they took him out to a place where they were where they could stone him to death and as they began to stone him, throwing stones at him, and of course Saul was there consenting to his death, as they began to stone Stephen, it says that he kneeled down and he cried with a loud voice and he said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

See, the thing I love about the Bible is no matter what the media tells us, no matter what politics tells us, no matter what the world tells us, The Bible has a power to draw us away from the influences of the world.

And as I looked at this man, Stephen, in his last hour of life, and I thought about what he had to say about the gospel it occurred to me that well Stephen was giving a powerful testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ There was another man that I thought about and that was Paul.

Now you remember Paul was actually Saul who consented to Stephen's death.

He was standing there next to Stephen when Stephen was being sown and yet Paul eventually was converted, called out of time as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the Lord himself and Paul became a powerful preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that when Paul came to the end of his life, He was imprisoned, probably because of the Jews and the accusations they made against him.

He was imprisoned under the Romans and Nero, being the emperor at that time, wasn't about to let him go, though He was released the first time he was in prison.

And Paul in 2 Timothy talks about his experience as he went before Nero, as he was tried before Nero.

And he says there in 2 Timothy, he says, at my first answer no man stood with me.

Paul was deserted like Christ on the cross.

He was forsaken of friends and companions.

And then he says this, he says, I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

Here's a man standing alone when he should have all of the encouragement and the prayers and the support of his brothers and sisters, He's standing alone and yet he's praying, don't lay to their charge the way they've treated me.

Then I think about Jesus, of course, our Savior, the 1 who is the gospel incarnate, and his experience as he came to the last hour of his life, like Paul and Stephen, who followed him.

He was hanging on a cross And there, as the Romans, the political leaders of his time, and the Jews, the religious leaders of his time, and all the people railed against him, accusing and condemning him, there Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

I think about these experiences, Christ praying for the combined religious and civil authorities who are torturing him to death.

Stephen praying for the religious leaders and authorities who are stoning him to death.

Paul praying for those people who are responsible for abandoning him and forsaking him, praying to God that that sin would not be laid to their charge.

I thought about all of that and then I thought about this political election and my attitude and my spirit and the spirit and attitude of those around me.

I thought about it long and hard, and I began to realize that this was a test.

Series

Plenary

No Applications, Only Commitments

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