RE-FIRED BY GOD

SERMON STARTER

This past week was my 67th birthday. It went by without a lot of fanfare. Older birthdays are like that. My 65th birthday was a milestone. Now I was eligible for Medicare and its benefits. My fellow Sheepfold pastor and elders asked my about how much longer I planned to keep the Sheepfold open. I said I really didn’t know, because serving Christ is my life. How do I stop loving and serving Him? The Sheepfold is an extension of that dream of being in His service until either He comes or He takes me home to be with Him.

I like Alan Langstaff’s remarks about aging. “The best time is NOW!” I believe that’s why Bro. Alan calls his ministry, “Kairos Ministries.” In Acts chapter one Jesus says, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons concerning Christ’s return.” The word, “times” is translated from the Greek word, “Chron-os.” Chronos is man’s time. The word translated “seasons” is translated from the Greek word, Kairos. Kairos is God’s time. God’s time is NOW.

Moses is my favorite Biblical personage when it comes to aging. He is an excellent role model. For a text I picked the last moments of his physical life on this earth. I can sing with Moses Fanny Crosby’s wonderful lyrics.

“He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock

That shadows a dry thirsty land

He hideth my soul in the depths of His love

And covers me there with His Hand,

And covers me there with His Hand.”

 

Pastor Phil   <><<

 

July 13, 2008 - Sheepfold Ministries

Pastor Phil Roland

RE-FIRED BY GOD

Deuteronomy 34:1-12  -  Exodus 33:17-23

“You are never too old for service for Jesus and His Kingdom. Don’t let the mirror discourage you from carrying out God’s Will in your life. The best time in your life is NOW!”                                                                                                                            Pastor Phil

 

1. HISTORY: THREE PHASES OF MOSES’ LIFE

a.  40 Years as the “Darling of Egypt”

b.  40 Years as the “Outcast of Midian”

c.  40 Years as the “Messiah of the Desert”

 

2. MOSES’ ONE REQUEST OF GOD:

“And he (Moses) said, “Please, show me Your glory.”” Exodus 33:18

1200 Years later Moses revealed God’s Glory in his own Person!

”Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.”               Matthew 17:1,2

 

3. GOD’S NATURAL PLAN FOR AGING:

”Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.” Deut. 34:7

 

FOUR PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS TO BE RE-FIRED BY GOD:

I.  MAKE CHRIST YOUR LIFE

            A. Make Christ and serving Him your life

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed

              away; behold, all things have become new.”  2 Corinthians 5:17

                       1. If Christ is your co-pilot, MOVE OVER!

                            2. Turn yourself over to Him

              B. Allow your life to revolve around His Will

                            1. Deliberately flow your life into His

                            2. Just like the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:22-24

                            “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is

                            head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the

                            Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so

                            let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”

                                          a. Koine Greek here is “I-DIOS” = BELONG

                                          b. By a deliberate act of your will merge your life into Christ’s

II.  FIND YOUR DREAM

              A. Moses’ dream was to see God’s Glory

              B. What’s your dream?

                            1. Dismissed as a childhood Fantasy?

C. If you had the resources to do ANYTHING your heart desires?

              “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You,

                Because he trusts in You.”  Isaiah 26:3

                            1. If your heart is stayed/fixed on God you will desire His will

                            2. God will grant you the desire of your heart

 

III.  PICK A GOAL

            A. Moses’ goal was releasing God’s people from Egyptian bondage

              B. You cannot “Aim for the Stars” w/o choosing one

              C. Gather information about achieving your goal

 

IV.  TAKE ON A PROJECT

            A. Moses took on the position of Wilderness Deliverer at 80

              B. Never too old to take on a project for Christ

C. Never too late to take on a project for Christ

 

 

RE-FIRED BY GOD, TEXTS:

DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12

1Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan,

2all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,

3the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

4Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”

5So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.

6And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.

7Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.

8And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.

9Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

10But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

11in all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land,

12and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

 

EXODUS 33:17-23

17So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”

18And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

19Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

20But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”

21And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.

22So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.

23Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFIRED BY GOD ILLUSTRATIONS:

A birthday card I heard about on the cover suggested,

"How to live to be a hundred."

When you open the card to the inside it says:

"Get to be ninety-nine and be very, very careful!"

 

BOB HOPE said:

"Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle."

 

A retired man was complaining to the elder who sat on the park bench across the side­walk.

"It's a miserable life growing old alone."

"Did your wife die recently?" the other man asked sympathetically.

"Oh, she's still living!

It's just that she hasn't celebrated a birthday in 13 years!"

 

General Douglas MacArthur on his 75 birthday made this thought-packed observation about age:

"YOUTH is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind.  It is not wholly a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips or supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions...nobody grows old only by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber.  So long as it received a message of hope, beauty, cheer and courage—so long as you are young. WHEN THE wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snow of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old!"

 

In August of 1981 and family and I stood at Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of So. Dakota and observed with awe the work of famed sculpture by GUTZON BORGLUM. The four famous faces were carved out of hard granite. The glint in Lincoln's eye is almost as tall as a man stands!!! GUTZON BORGLUM began that colossal work when he was 58 YEARS OLD!!!

 

DR. ALBERT SCHWEITZER great missionary and humanitarian worked energetically and enthusiastically until well past his 90th birthday!  When he died, he was working on the manuscript of a book!

WHAT ABOUT the 105 year old evangelist, JAMES FELL AKER who was booked up in revival campaigns for the three years?

 

Or, what about 93 year-old BENJAMIN DENTON, who rides his bike to spread the gospel?

 

HANDEL WROTE THE MAJESTIC, "Messiah" when he was 56!!!

 

MICHELANGELO'S finest works were done between his 59th and 89th years!

 

R.G. LeTourneau famed Christian industrialist was asked to pinpoint the best 10 years of his life. He quickly replied, "The NEXT 10 years!"

 

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION

ROSE OF JERICHO, The Resurrection Plant

THE ROSE of JERICHO is a dried up, knotted, knurled, twisted plant found in the most arid, dry Palestinian deserts. It is a cousin to our South Western tumbleweed. The Jericho Rose can live for centuries as a woody, bulky seed about the size of a human fist. Sprinkle a few drops of water on this curious seed and within a matter of hours it begins to root and spring forth with green foliage.

ACCORDING TO JEWISH TRADITION, Moses was at the top of Pisgah hill on Mt. Nebo, and he asks God again his classic request,

"Show me your glory!"

AND then according to the ancient Jewish tradition, Moses, being apprehensive about his own death, asks Job's famous question:

"If a man dies, shall he live again?"

Moses hears no sound, but a gust of wind catches his breath, and molds his garments against his aged form.

Suddenly, a grizzled Rose of Jericho, dislodged by the wind, falls at his feet.

Moses has his answer! He would, like the seed, drop to the earth, and await the life-giving resurrection water of God's command. . .

And he would live on and on and on. . .

Until all eternity. . .

Time without end. . .

Moses didn’t die!

Twelve hundred years later he shows up with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration

REFIRED BY GOD!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_plant