Life In the Rearview Mirror I, Speeding Tickets

I had so much fun making that spot. I just want you to know that was I was hoping that we're gonna show it on all the major stations, but Just you get to see it well, I want to invite you to pray with me as we come to God's Word together and Let's see what the Lord would say to us tonight and this beautiful time together. Let's pray father as we come to your word We ask you now prepare our hearts to receive it. I thank you for the worship time when we've declared Our allegiance and affection to you. We've also Been reassured of your deep love for us and pray now that as we open your word That you would speak to our hearts That you would meet our needs That you challenge us where we've gotten comfortable That most of all Lord, we'd know you better And follow you more passionately from today on in Jesus name Amen Well, it's exactly three months ago that You'll bless me on the milestone birthday Of my 60th and i'll tell you it was such a great moment for me I had Cards and notes and letters and expressions of love All of which i've kept by the way. Um Carol said throw those things away get secure and I said no I need to Like all of you need to be reminded once in a while that my life's making a difference and um I appreciate that so much at the end of that time. Um in the service when A couple of you prayed and it was just it was a great time. I I Wanted to say thank you, but I also wanted to share Something that had to do with that milestone and time was gone and I just I just mentioned These things I called the five r's The five r's i've learned in this journey of my life and um So many of you responded in conversation and in emails and uh different ways to say, you know, I I'd love to hear that Again, could you tell me what those were again? Or could you go over this and I prayed about it and the lord really Released me to share with you What these things are about and let me say to you going up front But I recognize that some of you could say well, that's great for you But why does it matter to me? And the only thing I can say is I believe that all of us can learn from others who've gone before us. Don't you? It we can all learn and I have a hunch that Um, if you're like me if you Lean into just one of these things Um, I know if I had taken these things more seriously when I was a much younger man My life might have been substantially different in some ways And so I submit these to you in a way that I I believe Can really affect your life if you're? Open to that idea I I guess there could be 50 hours But I just landed on five that I think are maybe most important as i've looked at them and i've entitled today's message speeding tickets Not for the reason that many of you might think uh, there is this totally Uh disproportionate perception that somehow, um You know, i'm a maniac driver. I I don't or that my you know, my trunk is full of speaking He's right and i'm a convicted felon and lost my license. I've heard all these different Ridiculous expressions because you know, I have a little sports car. Well None of those are true. That's not why i'm calling this message speeding tickets It's because I believe that most of what we miss in life that really matters listen friends This is where it starts is because We are going through life too fast And i've come to that conviction And whether or not you want to admit that that's up to you to discern But I want to ask you to really dig at it and look at it as a potential The fulfilled dreams and ideas that you have the deep friendships and community you long for Most of them have been sacrificed at the altar of speed I want us to look at that tonight The thought said this whole idea of examining life and learning from it. Um It's relevant whether you're 15 or 95 because you still have more of life to live and the root of this I think this whole idea of examination goes way back in scripture and to me when I started saying hey lord Where does this connect? a very profound Scriptural figure came to my mind and I as I thought about it Who could be a better picture of this than king david? Look at king david What how many do you say he accomplished a fair amount in his life? he was A warrior king. He was the greatest king of israel He was a man who led wisely. He was a man. He was a poet a musician. I mean the things he accomplished yet Like all of us he was frail and sinned Previously before god And he gave up much as a result But in the end the bible says in the book of acts that david was a man after god's own heart Oh that would be said of me and of you And so I looked at that and I said well, where did david reflect and of all places the lord led me to psalm 23 Psalm 23 Where david answers for us the question, how do I live a life that's pleasing to god and a life that's fulfilling to me or in our Era now the christian era. How do I live an abundant christian life? So take out your notes There's not a lot of room to write on them, but you're going to want to follow along especially as we look at the text here Because i'm going to look at i've never preached in 26 years psalm 23 So let me lead you through this with the hopes that Out of it you'll glean if you just take one of these and make it your own maybe make it your mission over the next weeks of the summer to Invest it in your life and and Own it more personally, I will be Enriched and blessed as a result of sharing with you Uh most scholars believe that david wrote this psalm near the end of his life And having been a shepherd boy In his early years he used the metaphor that he knew. Well, so we're going to move from cars and rearview mirrors to sheep and pastures But in the end we're still talking about the same thing we're talking about How can I live this life that I can get? The most out of it that god intended for me And be pleasing to him The first star Is to relate I want to relate more in the years ahead Relate Psalm 23 begins the lord is my shepherd. I shall not want Let's begin by looking at the outcome of relating to god. Well I shall not want I want to first of all dispense with the idea of what that Doesn't mean it doesn't mean that you won't have any desires in life at all That won't get fulfilled. It doesn't mean The prosperity gospel it doesn't mean that you're going to have more money that you know what to do with It doesn't mean that everything you want you get And i've heard that taught on Christian television pulpits and on the radio and so on It's never been taught in this pulpit, but some people believe if I do what God wants I'm gonna get everything I want in terms of material stuff Bible didn't teach it. It doesn't mean I shall have perfect health and Unfortunately Pain and suffering and illness as part of the human condition a result of sin and some of the godliest people I know are suffering even today From sickness and health-related issues. It doesn't mean I shall not want the times For healing because even though I believe God wants to heal even though I believe God answers perfectly sometimes very devoted Christians suffer my own mom had very difficult cancer that should have taken her life and God spared her my sister-in-law has her second now her second Round of of cancer that's come into her life and we're praying for her and and Many in our congregation look at to take that those notes home by the way And if you need something to pray about pray for the people that have their names there because they desperately need your prayers there's no promise of perfect health and It's important that we keep that in mind and it also doesn't mean happiness. It doesn't mean that life's always a couldn't you know? It's just the joy isn't all the time to be a Christian. Everything's always going great in my life Anyone here could say it's always going great in my life I mean I can always say that God's present in my life But you know what even great men of God like Elijah Elijah the prophet at one point was so despairing of life. He wanted to kill himself Or think of Moses when he said God, you know Get me out of here. I want nothing to do with leading your people in war even Paul suffered So it's not about happiness In fact Hebrews 12 said that hardship is a way that God from time to time confirms his love for us Now, I know that seems a little bit of contradictory But how many parents know that sometimes you have to do things that are hard for your kids because you love them Likewise God does the same with us. No, I shall not one means this it means that God will supply your basic needs and You can count on God to always be faithful To supply the food and the shelter and the clothing and the essentials of life Friends, I've never seen God fail. I've been in all around the world. I've been in India and desperate countries poverty I've seen God supply his people it also means that he Will provide the purpose and satisfaction that we desperately need to cause life to make sense Meaningful pursuits in life but not always the things that you want in terms of the exact pursuit of the exact gift of the exact sort of Skill that you wish you had. You know what? I've often wished that I would Have the gift of being a good mechanic Not just with cars, but at home. I Ended a gentleman that are here today today you know you something in your house isn't working right and you look at it and You know exactly what needs to happen and what tools to get and how to fix it How many of you belong I could be the president of this is a 10-minute job that took four hours Club anyone else That's me right there Several weeks ago my son David who's moving back to Pittsburgh. I'm so happy about that he'll be living over and in Shadyside and being part of the Oakland church, but he came back and and David likes we have a little hot tub in our backyard and if of course he don't use it when he's not here, so he needed some repair and We turned the the spigot on to drain it off and you know immediately The thing just fell off so metal falling off of PCV not a good thing, but all the water doing that's fine. Okay, so I'm saying alright I can fix this so I go to ace hardware and I buy you know the right kind of File to get because there was shaving inside the PCV the threads were still good But I had to get those shavings out of there. So I so I do this whole thing and I'm you know, I've said alright This is this is probably take me an hour at best So I get all the shavings out and I like delicately screw that then David's, you know, he's in there cheering me on sort of father and son moment here Pull the thing together So we get cleaned out the tub and we start filling up with water and we've got it up just you know Maybe third of the way so well, let's make sure we're doing it, right Test the pumps push a button and all of a sudden we hear this underneath it and we lift off one of the side panels and One of the the major pumps that the seals around the major punches blue Just blew out. I mean so the whole thing was a complete at that point I'm two hours into the job and said that's my life as a mechanic right there I mean, you know I fix this one little thing and sell them and I'm not even thinking about tearing apart the pump and fixing that you know I just I wrapped it up. I said David. I'm Calling the dump truck tomorrow. This thing's out of here. That's what I know to do. I know how to call that number God doesn't promise you you'll get to do the things you think you want to do. But you know what? There are a few things that I am okay at and For that I'm thankful and I enjoy and God will give you some of that. And by the way God also promises in this security If the Lord is your separate he promises Secured that as JR said in one of his messages recently if God is with you friends No matter what life brings you, you know, you can get through it If God is at your side, that's been my experience So that's what it means when David said the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want now the key is Is the Lord your shepherd and in relating to Jesus We are relating to the Good Shepherd. It was Jesus who called himself and John 10 verse 11 the Good Shepherd And one of the things I wish I had done as a younger man That I'm learning to do more and more now. Listen, this is one of the basic things is to lean more on Who Jesus is in the daily moments and in the mid-course corrections and in the big crossroads of life Lean more into the shepherd and less into my own Reservoir of knowledge and experience. Oh, yeah, my stuff's okay. It's good to be able to say well I know this about that and I've experienced this but I'm so convinced that God wants to speak. He so wants to speak to us If we'll lean in and say Lord What is it that you want to say? The Lord's called our shepherd 200 times in the Bible 200 times I Believe he's painting a picture for us. He wants us to know and that word for shepherd It's not something that's familiar in our culture. Is it? I mean, I don't know any shepherds I don't know what he you know, there's no shepherds in the North Hills that I know about or anywhere else In the city, there's just no shepherds around so we don't know what that is But here's what a shepherd does a Shepherd leads us here in verse 3 of this passage. Look at this. He guides me in paths of righteousness For his name's sake so a shepherd will lead you And He'll reveal his perfect will and plan to you a shepherd will feed you It was the job of the shepherd to take the sheep where they could find a place where they could eat. Well And most of all a shepherd really cared for I loved the sheep We're gonna look more at that next week but that basically essentially means that God wants you to know that he loves you as an individual and It's not just a religion that you perform but it's a relationship that you experience That God wants you to know him as your shepherd as your companion You know When I look back at the times that I got off track Or maybe I made an impulsive decision or I got out of touch with the will of God or I missed it Somehow, you know what? When I look back at those times it was because I was not spending time I Mean really serious time Relating to my shepherd. I was too busy doing things for God than just being with God. I Remember in the early years of North Way. I see Arlene Representing a longtime friend. I remember that in those early years. I used to go to a little cabin Up in a farm out in the outer Reaches of Mars PA sitting up in a hillside. No, no power. Nothing nobody there But a friend was even member of the church But a friend said if you'd like to use this cabin I just sort of build it as a place to get away. I used to go there for a day at a time one day a week It's been the whole day And just complete quiet Because I knew I needed To hear the voice of God As time got on, you know, what more of you showed up and I got busier with you which I love and I found less time like that to be with God and As a result, I believe The times I miss things No, I know you can't take a day off of work and just I know that But there are ways that all of us can make time for God that I just want to urge you tonight today Just think about that. How can that happen? God How can I be with you in a way that's going to cut through the din of life and all that it throws at us Maybe by the way this whole thing of God being our shepherd is a little bit difficult for us because we don't want to be Thought of as sheep. It's not a compliment as much as I love to compliment you all because I love you all Being called as sheeps not necessarily a great thing Sheep are known to be the one of the dumbest of all animals, right? Sheep need to be herded. I mean otherwise They just kind of do their own thing Isaiah 53 6 says all we like sheep have gone astray each of us Has followed our own wicked way Sheep just sort of wanders off and Stubbornly does its own thing It's interesting to me. I mean, I thought about this of all the animals God could have related us to Sheep, I mean Do cows or horses or or even pigs have herders? No Just sheep. So God's making a statement of just how needy we are in my eyes my estimation and Sheep are profoundly stubborn by the way You know, one of the things that's amazed me over the years of my ministry is just how stubborn the sheep of God's flock can be Over the last 20 plus years. I've taught five things over and over and over again. This isn't on your outline I'm just gonna throw this in for free Because here are five things that I've taught and people have stumbled over and again and again and again because they just don't want to Hear it. One of them is always do life in community. I Can't tell you how many times I said to people Don't think you're gonna be the one person that can just sort of put small group or meaningful relationship aside I'll just sort of be the Lone Ranger Christian to God. No, it doesn't work. You can't do it more people have veered off and to doubt and in just sort of you know, the lukewarmness of sort of casual Christianity Because they've tried to do it alone people do it. I've taught over and over and over again be a worshiper John 424 the father is seeking those only time the Bible says that seeking those who will worship him in Spirit and in truth and for all these years I've tried to teach Learn to worship God in spirit that is with expression like we did tonight So beautifully and in truth that is with God's Word is your God and yet many people say well, you know That's just not my style or they get all know about it I'm gonna do it my own way or I don't you know, I don't need the Bible. I'll I've got my own sources and you know, it's just sad people just don't want to hear that Number three, I've taught over and over again keep short accounts be quick to forgive And I can't tell you how many people Allow an offense to occur and will not settle that offense and as a result They think that they're somehow Holding the other person back and in reality, they're the ones that have created their own prison I've learned I've had to learn how to forgive friends. I mean if you saw The stuff that comes across my desk or the on my computer in a week from people who don't like things if I couldn't forgive I wouldn't have lasted but I've learned the joy of forgiveness and So many people just I mean it just eats them up number four I've learned and I've taught please invest in your marriage Invest in your marriage. It takes time. There's no replacement for time together Time to talk time just to hang out time to be intimate Time to share what you're learning time without your kids You know in marvels some of you and I share that I go on a date every week with my wife and I have for 26 years. I'm sorry. Well, she's here. She'd be mad me We are literally we're gonna celebrate our 37th anniversary this week and we still every week Have a night when we just go out together It was cool when my kids were teenagers and they were dating And I hear them explain to their friends that their mom and dad were going on a date They couldn't they were having it they had a hard time here How can I that sounds so weird? But in fact we were we we had a time and a place to go to and that's what you need to do And yet I can't tell you how many times I've had marriage counseling where couples they've been married seven eight ten years They haven't been out together without the kids in seven or eight ten years Invest in your marriage and number five. I've taught over and over and over again set boundaries for your kids People ask me how did you raise three kids three pretty pretty? Awesome kids not perfect kids by me but pretty great kids in the fishbowl of this big church right here in the middle of the sculpture and I'll tell you three things. I've said it over and over again individual time with each kid number two the music they listen to Because it absolutely shapes their values and number three the friends they hang out with Those are the three things that as a parent you've got to be involved in and if you're not You'll end up one day in my office or one of the pastors or The counseling center wondering why your kid wants nothing to do with you or God or anything else And yet despite all it, I mean I've taught that I Television programs with Kevin Lehman about that I've shared it personally and over coffee and lunch and people just We're so stubborn because we think we have a better way and maybe you do but friends I can tell you those five things they work if you'll put them in place in your life And just finally under this whole relate point real quickly. How are you relating to others in the body of Christ? And I don't want to get too far on this But it's real important that you do that that you relate to others and you know, the awesome thing about our community Here in Oakland and all over the awesome thing is that Wherever you are in your age stage in life, and we've got some 80 year olds here. We've got some 18 year olds here and we've got Places where you can connect no matter where you are in life No matter what your age stage or your interest level or what? You know if you're new to this or you're seasoned better it's that's the beauty of a larger Community and gives you an opportunity to connect That's something I've loved to do and all I'm looking forward to is doing more of it as I go forward now Let me talk Second tonight about a very important part of walking with God and that is learning to reflect learning to reflect to look back to look currently To look ahead Notice the scripture said he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters I prefer the translation still waters He restores my soul. Let's talk for just a minute again. Like we did before we talked about what does it mean? I shall know what what does it mean to restore your soul the word nefesh in the Hebrew appears? 755 times it means the soul the heart the core of the being the life of man When God uses the word soul he's talking about the internal and eternal part of you that nobody sees And yet it's the part of you that with without which you have no sense of Really being fulfilled in life and there are so many things in our life in their friends that just destroy our soul They're soul depleters I've already mentioned one of them are our fast pace our heavy schedule. You know, what another one is as Much as I love people People can deplete the heck out of you. Can't they? I mean people can just wear you down And some of you know some of you know when you see some people come you said oh my gosh if that person come They're just gonna take an hour and you know what I'm talking about Problems life is complex Problems of stress problems of debt problems of confusion problems at work you know problems at home whatever they might be but but just having problems it depletes the soul because you you can't come to peace and resolution and then finally Here's one you might not expect Coveting depletes the soul. I wish I had more. I wish I had that job. I wish I had that wife or husband I wish I had this level of Accomplishment, I wish I wish I wish and that depletes your soul Because you're Yearning after something that God has not intended for you And it takes life away, but rather than focus on those. Let me give you five soul restorers And I've learned these over the years and you can take them or leave them But here's what I have found that you've got to have number one and this is gonna sound weird You've got to learn to sleep well I'm not please in church. Okay find some other time but you know in most studies show that about 60% of people get enough sleep and 40% don't get enough sleep. I might ask you to put your hand up But you know tonight today rather if if you're one of those people that gets enough sleep or not About a third of our culture has some struggle with insomnia waking up at night Not being able to go to sleep at first there are some people who wake up in the morning and and Don't feel rested and sleep is very important And I pray that you understand how important that is because without it It's very difficult to find the energy to move forward. The second one is to rest and by that I'm not talking about sleep rest is the whole process of Learning to be still learning to enjoy not doing anything one of the things I love to say to people when people often ask me when I go away on a study break and particularly when I go out to Arizona and you know, it's hot and kind of Isolated And People people so what do you do out there and I'd love to say this I think from I say well, you know We don't don't really do anything. I love to say that. We don't really do anything So what do you mean? You don't do anything? well if I feel like reading I read if I feel like taking a nap or taking up if I if I feel like taking a You know a jog. I'll jog work out or work out, you know go to a movie I just do whatever I feel like doing and lots of times I just sort of sit and gaze at the beauty of God's creation and just listen I love that people so that doesn't I mean I get bored. No Not if it's restoring your soul The third thing is examination second Corinthians 13 5 Paul exhorts us examine yourself see if you're Rested and if you're rested and and refreshed from sleep, you'll be able to examine yourself in a positive way Here's four ways to examine. First of all, look at the here and now look at your week your month. Look at your priorities Look at your achievements Look at the things that are right in front of you second look up Look at your prayer life. Look at your your worship life. Look at the Word of God in your life Third look around you look at the people that God's put in your path. Look at their needs How are you in terms of giving to others or is it all about you every time you meet and fourth? Look ahead Examine what's coming. What do you need to do to be prepared for what's planned By God for your life that's coming What has to be different and once you do that once you've examined Have an awesome time doing number four is some diversion do some things that are different for you You know what the number one? Diversion for people is and generally speaking this according to Paul. I read it's reading reading is still ahead of television believe it or not More people read as a means of just sort of getting out of the burden of the day That's an awesome thing. Second one is television the third one That I read in the poll was a family time the fourth one generally speaking was hobbies gardening fishing You know things like that Working on your car, whatever it might be and then I had to add to this one. How about shopping? I mean for the ladies Definitely a diversion right could be Also an expensive one, but it's fun. All right, and then the fifth thing is a soul restorer if you are Rested and you've really examined your life and you've got some balance in your life ministry giving away to others as I mentioned earlier tonight the reality of the events that happen all around us Gives you an opportunity to give give away just give given ministry Give to give to others help them to experience some of the joy that you're experiencing now If you don't create that environment Okay where your soul can be restored you want to know what's gonna happen here you go You're not gonna like this, but let me get right to it. What's gonna happen is this Notice what the Bible says He makes me lie down in green pastures What you just to think from just a second think about a green pasture think about a lush Garden maybe if you can't think about just this big open space just just in fact just for the sake of this Exercise just close your eyes for a minute. So you're not distracted And picture this this lush beautiful garden. All right, and it's quiet And you're alone. I mean in a good sense. There's nobody distracting you and you don't have your watch on Time's just kind of not an issue and there's no phones or PDAs or Beepers or any other kind of distraction. All you're doing is just being still No one's calling you Except the Lord just keep your eyes closed and think about it About a hundred years ago Person wrote this I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses And the voice I hear falling on my ear the Son of God discloses and He walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own and the joy we share as We tarry there None other Has ever known could open your eyes, you know, I I Couldn't pray anything more relevant or more important for any of you than that That you would know the joy of fellowship With your Lord, and if you don't choose to do it, here's what happens He makes you lie down through crises and I'm not saying that this is always the cause of it But you know what? Sometimes we have a health crisis where sometimes we we lose our job and we're out of work Sometimes we're in debt You know over our head sometimes we're terribly lonely and I wonder at those times if God isn't doing what You know, and if you know anything about shepherding, you know This has to happen every once in a while this shepherd if he has a sheep that little lamb usually that just keeps running off You know what? He does he takes that little lamb after all of his patience is tested He takes a little lamb and lays it over his knee and he snaps the bottom of his leg And I know it's not a real pretty picture and I'll probably get a phone call from PETA But the reality is he's got to teach that little lamb Wandering off is gonna lead to its death And the leg heals but for a season the lamb has to lie down and friends. I'm not again I'm not equating if you're going through some of that that God's done that to you, but sometimes he's allowed it Maybe you say it this way not all crises are from God, but God can use all crises To help us to hear his voice He leads me besides still waters, I love that, you know, how many ever Shopping Brookstone down in the mall. You know what I'm talking about How many know this never heard of the store Brookstone? Okay How many ever looked in there realized that's pretty expensive and you they got some cool stuff in there and they do and It's just fun to it's fun place. I'll just look and see the sort of technology that's coming out they've got these these sound machines and I guess and the purpose of it is to help create some noise to Black out the sounds if you're trying to sleep in a noisy area and we picked up a few of them And so I mean, I'm not sure I quite get some of these. I mean, do we get here's one. This is one of them This is like when turn this one off Amp it up Steve Okay, honey time to go to sleep Okay A little much. Okay. Next one. What's the next one? It's a oh, yeah, it's It's a the brook And you see if I heard that I would think I left something running. I couldn't go to sleep. How about you? Okay, and and how about this? Here's this is the this is the the outdoors one See, I hate camping. I mean, I just I Couldn't sleep because I mean I'm thinking, you know bugs and crickets and stuff. Then there's a there's one. It's kind of like I think it's ocean waves, okay No, it's kind of nice I kind of get into that when I Don't get a lot of beach time, but that's kind of nice But you want to hear the sound of still waters? See still waters are deep and If you want to go on with God And you want to go deep with God you've got to get still And quiet And that's the way you can learn to reflect on your life and hear from God and I pray that you Know when it's time for you to get still Here's just four or five things that I know when I when these things happen in my life I know I need to restore here. They are real quick. Number one little things push me over the edge When that starts happening consistently, I need to get still number two Well, I'm not sleeping. Well, and I don't want to get up because I know that what's coming the next day Just I know I need to get still number three when my plate is too full and my heart is too empty I know I need restored number four when I can't find my Bible and I'm not praying for one thing specifically to happen consistently every day. I Know I need to get my soul restored. And finally, I need my soul restored When I know something's wrong, I hear the whisper of the Spirit don't do it, but I do it anyhow Because I don't have the reserves of soul to say no That's when I need my soul restored And so loved ones. Those are just two things learn to relate To God as your shepherd and to his people as your fellow sheep the flock of his hand and number two Learn to find time to reflect to reflect at a deep level and I w