Look Into My Eyes III, Fresh Food For the Hungry Hearts

Second Kings might take you a moment to find it, kind of buried there in the Old Testament. I want to mention a New Testament scripture that sets the foundation for today, and it's very important. People often say to me, you know, Pastor Jay, if I'm newer to these things of the faith, and especially if I grew up in a tradition that didn't encourage me to read the Bible, I started reading the Old Testament, and it seems like it's almost a different God. He seems angrier in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, He seems more loving. And I go out of my way to try to explain that the Bible is one revelation, and it's the same God. But He's showing us that His character is multifaceted. But here's specifically what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians 10. You don't need to write this, or look it up, you might want to write it down. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. Here's what he says about the Old Testament, he says this, These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. That's us. We are the ones enjoying the fulfillment of the ages. These things, the Old Testament things, were written down so we could be alerted to what we need to watch out for so that we don't stumble in our walk of faith. You got that? Does that help underscore the importance of the Old Testament? I read the Old Testament daily in my devotional time. Because it lays the foundation, it helps me to avoid the potholes of faith in my New Testament walk. So it's very important. Now, today, I want to look at this Old Testament story, which is incredibly graphic. 2 Kings, chapter 6. I was provoked in this passage. When I went on my study break, I heard a message on this, and it really made me think about it and how it affects us as we seek to be faithful followers of Christ. Look at 2 Kings 6, verse 24. Some time later, Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. For those of you who don't know a lot of ancient history, the way they took cities was they would come up to a city and they'd cut a circle around it and cut off all the water, all the food, all the supplies, and just wait it out until the people starved to death. And that's what was happening. They were about to lay hold of this sizable city by just cutting it off. The famine went on. Look at verse 30, or 25, 2 Kings 6, 25. There was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long, this was probably now a year or more, that a donkey's head sold for 80 shekels of silver. In other words, imagine someone saying, all we have left to eat is a donkey's head. Ever see like a pig's snout? Well, you know, just use your imagination. Here's this donkey's head, 80 shekels of silver. And then my Bible reads, and a quarter cab of seed pods for five shekels. And in the notes, I'll just read it. I know it's graphic. You might want to close your ears if you don't like graphic. The alternate translation of seed pods is dove's dung. So they're selling dove's dung and donkey heads for dinner. Is that gross or what? Does that paint a desperate picture or what? And friends, it gets worse, because the next verses I won't read talk about cannibalism. Literally, one mother killing her child, so others could survive. And the king is ripping his robes, because his entire city is crumbling in front of his eyes. Horrible picture, right? Now, four men enter this story in 2 Kings 7, verse 3. Now, there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. And they said to each other in the middle of this famine, why stay here until we die? I mean, if we say we'll go into the city, the famine is there, and we'll die. If we stay here at the city gates, we'll die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live. If they kill us, as King James says, we will but die. So three out of four is die, one is live. Not great odds for these poor guys, but hey, it's all they have. Now, this is a very interesting development. So they leave the city gate, and they head over to the camp of the Arameans. And if you read along in there, you'll see that God caused the Arameans to believe that a great invasion was going to come upon them. And they fled their camp and left everything just as it was. And we set up this table to kind of demonstrate this sort of huge abundance of food and delicious things and beverages. And they went in there and just, the Bible says, pigged out. That's my translation. They were just putting the food down and loving it. And an incredible deliverance had happened in their lives. Then it says in verse 9, something happened to them. Look at verse 9. They said to each other, we're not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we're keeping it to ourselves. And so they went back over to the city and told the people who were perishing, hey, you won't believe this. And if you read it, they didn't believe it. And finally they went out and here was, the whole camp was deserted. They went out, took all the food, all the wealth, and the famine was ended and the city was spared. Incredible story, really vivid story. If you read it, the language is even funny. It's just kind of the way, what we're doing. It says exactly, we're not doing right. We're sitting here dowsing ourselves and stockpiling all this, and it's not right. We've got to go back. Well, I started thinking about this in terms of what does it mean to us evangelistically? Is there an evangelistic application to this? And I want to talk about that for just a few minutes today. What are some of the possible implications of an obscure story like this, written way back a thousand years before Christ, what could it have to do with us today? A couple just suggestions for you to consider. Attitudes, number one, I see what I'm going to call a go for broke spirit. If you've taken notes there, a go for broke spirit with the lepers. And we've got to try something here, because we're dying. And so, we may die if we go, but we've got to do something. We just can't sit around and let things drift into destruction. You know, in every one of our lives, or at least most of our lives, there comes a time when we have an awakening of sorts. I don't know when that's been for you, or I know when it was for me. An awakening that goes something like this. I start thinking about how much I've been given in God. I think about the grace of God. I think about the blessings of God. I think about the community of faith. I think about eternity. I think about the fact that I have the promises of God to live by, and the promise of heaven to look forward to. And I look in the mirror and realize that I don't have that much longer to go. I mean, life is finite. I have 70 or 80 or, you know, in the extreme, probably 90 years, and it's coming along. How many of you look in the mirror and realize, you know, you're getting older? Everyone but the teenagers, they think, you know, I look in the mirror and it just says, wow, are you something. Trust me, you'll get to the point where you'll say, wow, what's happening with you? And that's what happens to us all. Life is finite. We start moving in that direction. Then you ask yourself this question, what will I have to show for my 70 or 80 years? I mean, when I lay it all out, what am I going to put on the table? You know, a house, a couple of cars maybe, some nice stuff and things to wear, maybe a nice portfolio to hand on to my kids and the grandkids and all that kind of stuff. The same stuff that non-believers have. Is that all I'll have to show for my 70 or 80 years? Even churches need to take a collective look in the mirror now and then. You know, when we came to realize that we're going to be here at North Way for a while, it seemed, by God's grace, unless Jesus comes back, we're going to be here. And we're going to have services and prayer meetings and projects and special events. We're going to teach people how to know the Bible and to serve and to give. But what will we have to show, really, in the end when the Lord comes back? Just, you know, more buildings and more computer systems and bigger budgets? And is that the way we measure it? What's the answer to that question? Well, the answer to both of them, really, is one simple word. God measures our success in life by our impact on people. People are what God is interested in. For God so loved, we say the world, as the scripture says, the world, but it's people that he sent his only son. God measures our fruitfulness by our impact on people, not by what we accumulate. In fact, God's ultimate purpose for the universe was to raise up a bride of people, a corporate group of people, to spend eternity with his son. Jesus came as a person. Do you think that put much value? Why didn't Jesus come as a, you name it, a cheetah? Or he could have come as an eagle. He came as a person to show us that we had special value in the eyes of God. And the Bible says when Jesus was asked, why did you come? He said, I came to seek and to save those who were lost. Even the people that weren't looking for him. Jesus said, I'm looking for you. That's how much God loved him. Remember his final words, the words we call the Great Commission there on your outline that appear in Matthew chapter 28. He says, therefore you go and make disciples of all nations. You get out there. You break up your holy huddles when you're just gathering together to celebrate all the blessings you have and get out there and tell the world what I've come to do. Make disciples of them. Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and teach them everything that I've taught you. That's what I'm calling you to do, Jesus said. Now, friends, when that redemptive light bulb goes on in an individual or entire church, dramatic things begin to happen. And a person or church begins to sort of weigh out this evangelistic commission by measuring the upside possibilities and the downside risk, right? I mean, these lepers, what was the upside potential in their decision? They could live. Three out of the four, they're going to die, but they could live. So, hey, that's a pretty significant possibility. If an individual looks at their life and says, if I share the gospel honestly, authentically, empowered by the Holy Spirit, what might happen? I mean, my family members might respond to Christ. My loved ones, my friends, my colleagues, somebody in my little sphere of influence might decide that Jesus Christ is what they've been looking for. I might rock my little world if I really went for broke. And think what would happen if this whole church took this really seriously. I look back in my notes. July the 4th, I challenged you with this phrase. I said, how many of you would agree with me that each one would reach one by the end of the year? And hundreds of you said, count me in. I wonder now, just two months later, how many of us even remember that we said that. But think what would happen if in this church each one of us said, Lord, use me to reach one by the end of the year. Do you think that would have a significant impact in this area? If 2,000 new believers all of a sudden popped up here at North Way in the next six months, I want to tell you, the whole city would take notice. I believe that. I mean, there would be reporters saying, what's going on? The Bible says in Luke 15, 10, that all of heaven rejoices. The angels have a party when one sinner turns to Christ. If 2,000 came to Christ in the next six months, we might even hear some noise up there. I mean, that's how great it would be. So the upside potential is incredible in a church like this. What's the downside risk? The downside risk. Well, for the lepers, what might happen? They walk over there, boom, they're done. They might but die. You know, it is so comfortable for me and for some of you to not talk about your faith with people. Isn't it the easiest thing to do just to be mum, just to not say anything, just to kind of pretend that you're not really any different because you don't really want to rock the boat of your relational world? So if you're like me, there are times that I can go on and really look back over a period of a few weeks and realize I didn't say one thing to a person outside the church about my faith. I'll go to the health club, I'll go shopping, I'll be with some neighbors, I'll do whatever I do in my daily life and not share with anybody about this incredible reality that I've come to know in Jesus Christ. Why? What's the downside risk? What keeps us from opening our mouth? In one word, what is it? Rejection. It's the fear of being misunderstood and being rejected. It's the fear that someone would say, You know, Jay, I know that's important to you. Thank you very much. Could we talk about something else? I'm glad for you. That's not for me. It's the fear, maybe even a little more personally speaking, that, hey, well, you know, you're kind of weird. Which they think anyhow. But they'll just say it then, okay? Here's my question for you, church. What is so God awfully bad about somebody just saying, thanks but no thanks? I mean, if that's the worst thing that you're going to experience, and in America today, really, that's about as bad as it gets, what is so terrible about that? Is that what's keeping many of us from opening our mouth when given the opportunity to talk about the most important thing that's ever happened to us? Is that what makes us, as the little graphic shows up here, put our light under a bushel so only just a few little people on our inner circle really know what's going on in the inside of us? I ask myself sometimes, why am I so paralyzed by a little social or emotional rejection that I fall into a pattern of not even trying anymore, let alone going for broke? And then I think how terrible that is when I consider that Jesus shed His blood, that I might be a member of His family, that He not only just came and talked a good game, He lived it right up until the time that He sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins. You know, I believe Jesus knew that we would face these kind of things, and I believe He did something in the Word to prepare us for it. How many of you are familiar with the parable of the sower? The parable of the sower. Now, I've always read that and thought, well, that's to help us to know that there are people out there with hard hearts and rocky hearts and blah, blah, blah. And I always read it that way. In preparing for this message, I saw it in a little different way. You see, the story goes like this, for those of you who don't know. There was a sower, and the man knew his job. His job was to sow seed. And I don't have any seed. I didn't prepare to bring seed, but I've got some M&Ms. Okay? Let these be the seed. And the sower walked along, and he scattered some seed, and it landed on hard-packed soil, didn't penetrate at all, nothing ever happened. But he just faithfully went along and scattered some more seed, and that seed went and fell into some rocky soil, had enough ground that it could get its roots down, and it popped up, but because the roots didn't go deep, it dried out, again, went bust. But that sower didn't stop. He sowed some more seeds, and those seeds fell in thorny soil. What that means is it popped up and started to grow, and then the Bible says that the cares of this life and earthly things choked out, and again, no harvest. But that sower didn't stop. He kept right on sowing. He kept right on scattering, and lo and behold, some of it fell in fertile soil, and the Bible says it produced a crop 30, 60, 100-fold. Now, I believe that Jesus knew when we read that, that many of us would be easily discouraged, because when we're sowing our seed, and nothing happens, we want to give up. We want to say, I just, you know what, why even bother, because I'm going to sow another seed, and someone's just going to say, not for me. Jesus said, that's going to be the norm. In fact, 75% of the time, at least, that's what's going to happen. But how about that one time when it falls on fertile soil, and boom, up comes a plant, and boom, up comes a crop of harvest of righteousness, and a life gets changed, and it just absolutely, it just carries you along in the joy of being part of something so spectacular, seeing somebody go from darkness into light. That's a moment to live for. That's a moment that stirs the heart. What the Lord is saying to us is this, He's saying, don't stop sowing. You're the only sowers that I have. If you stop scattering that seed, it's all over. People won't hear the gospel. They won't know that they can come into this kingdom of eternal life. So don't quit. I need to hear that. How about you? I need to know that that's what God is saying to me. Not to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, Romans 1.16, for it's the very power of God unto salvation. I take heart, by the way, when I get discouraged, and over time, all of us do, two things kind of motivate me. Number one, I'm motivated by the fact that the Lord doesn't keep score and say, well, you know, Jay's like one for ten here. He better improve his average. Rather, every time I share out of obedience, God says, good job. Good job. You might not have gotten the fruit you wanted, but you shared. You were faithful. And then number two, I take some heart from a lot of studies that I've read over the years that say this. This is a factual study kind of thing. It takes, on average, seven opportunities to hear the gospel before someone is ready to respond. So, if I sow some seed and nothing happens, I may be the first one. And I say, well, praise God, I open the door. I may sow some seed and I might be the fourth one. I think, well, I didn't see a response, but maybe I just pushed them around the bend and they can see the end coming and they're going to make a decision. Or, if I'm the sixth person, I think, wow, the next time someone shares the gospel, they're going to receive Christ and be committed and I'm going to get a spiritual RBI. You know? I'm going to get an assist for helping bring them through the game. And that keeps me going. And I've shared from time to time how the Lord's allowed me to be part of someone's life when they've received. But I've got to tell you, there's a lot of times I share and it just goes nowhere. And I don't know about you, it's hard. It's hard. And I even know some people that I'll see who won't go my way when they see me in the mall or the club or whatever, the health club, because they don't want to hear it from me again. But every once in a while, God will send someone in my life that really encourages me. When he knows I'm down. I was, in the spring, I was having a dry spell in sharing my faith. It just was not going anywhere. And when Carol and I went down to my 250th anniversary celebration of my university, did I say that right? Okay. I went down for this anniversary celebration for the school and we had assigned seats for this last big presentation. And the guy that sat down next to me introduced me to his date for the night. He was maybe 15 or 20 years younger than I. And he said, this is my date. And then he talked a little bit and he said, well, what do you do? And when I hear that question, you have to understand, when you say to the average unchurched person, you're a pastor, the whole tenor of the conversation goes from, you know, kind of wherever it's been to really fakey. But in his case, he didn't. He just said, well, that's interesting. And then I said, you know, I really came to know the Lord here at this school. I was discipled here and I shared my journey of faith in those early days. And he was very interested and he said to me, he said, let me ask you a question. He said, why does God allow so much pain in the world today? Because he was seated right next to me and his date was next to him and she wasn't hearing this conversation. He said, this woman I'm with is not my wife. My wife divorced me a couple of years ago. I've lost my family and he started pouring out his heart to me. And, you know, I'm a stranger here, folks. I mean, I've never met this guy before. And I thought, okay, where, you know, where's Pastor Dave when I need a theological answer? You know, I don't know what to do here. But I shared with him. I said, you know, God didn't cause that pain in your life. He's there to help you through it. And I shared with him a little bit about how he could know Christ in a personal way. And after the event, the event came and went and about an hour later he said, would you give me your card? I said, sure. He said, you're the first person that I've ever talked to. That's what he said. That made sense to me about spiritual things. I said, wow, Lord, that is so cool. And I've since then been in communication with him and sent him some books. And he lives in Richmond, Virginia. And I'm hoping to visit with him sometime in the future. And I thought, Lord, he didn't, you know, he didn't commit. He didn't fall down in front of me and repent. But he said, I'm starting to see it. A light's going on. Why? Just because I was willing to open up a little bit and talk just about my experience. Just like you can talk about your experience. It's something we can all do. And I just want to stop right here and ask the question. How many of you have stopped sowing seed? How many of you have gotten so discouraged that you really can't remember the last time you shared the gospel with somebody? That you gave a testimony of your own journey? Has it been six months? Has it been a couple years since you sat at the point of spiritual birth where you led someone to the Lord? Has it been a while since you've just been scattering? Ask God to give you the spirit of those lepers. I go for broke. Hey, I'll risk some rejection, but I'm going to sow the seed because the seed has in it the power to change a life. Second thing I learned out of this story was the sense of cultivating the overflowing abundance that these lepers demonstrated. You know, in verse eight, they go from, you know, basically destruction and starvation to this incredible, you know, feast of abundance where they've got all kinds of food they can just share. And, you know, I picture them walking into these tents and they're just whooping it up and dancing and having a great old time going back and forth. And, I mean, it's an emotional thing. Church, listen. I have noticed over the years that the most effective ambassadors for Christ are the ones who've learned to personally drink in the good things of God. You show me somebody who's regularly in the Word, regularly in worship, I mean, opening to the grace of God through communion and fellowship together, in touch with their calling and purpose in life, praying with some consistency, not perfectly, but basically availing themselves of all that Jesus... And I'll show you someone who's just overflowing. Somebody who has a smile on their face and is willing to say, hey, I don't have it all together, but boy, I've got this going and let me tell you about it. On the other hand, show me somebody who's bound up in ritualism or legalism, burdened down by performance-oriented Christianity, someone who's keeping track of everything they do wrong and, you know, figuring out they've got to do this to make up for it and why would God bless me with this? Someone who knows little of the celebration of God's people and worship, nothing of fellowship or forgiveness to joy. That person's not going to invite their friend to know this same kind of crushing weight of religion. Why should they? Who wants to be invited into something like that? And if that's your experience, then you need to get free. I was down at that Christian music festival early August down at the amphitheater down there and on one of the breaks, someone came over I'd never met before and they started to talk to me and I said, well, how are things going in your life right now? I should have asked that question because they went on about just how down they were and how rough it had been for them and they were, you know, in and out of different conflicts and so on and they said, you want to know what my greatest burden is right now? I said, what's that? It's trying to fit God and my church into my schedule. That's your greatest burden? Your greatest burden is God and his people? And when they turned to walk away, I thought to myself, well, I bet they're raving evangelists everywhere they go. I bet they're winning thousands to Christ. Huh? No, I mean, if you're burdened down, I mean, God is the one that lifts our burdens. He's the one that gives us a purpose for living. He's my greatest joy. I mean, circumstances come and go. Like Jeff, maybe you've had a bad week or a bad day, but Jesus never changes. He's the same today and yesterday and tomorrow. And he's my reason for sharing. Those lepers enjoyed the goodness of abundance that they have and they came under a strong conviction that they had to share this wealth with those who are back in the city and that motivated them to do something about it. I want you to hear a story this morning from someone, actually two individuals, that have come to just realize a little bit of the joy of sharing their faith in Christ. And even though it cost them, you know, pushed them out of their comfort zone, they're changed because they've been doing this. So let's welcome Veronica Riley as she comes to share today and Elizabeth if she's there. Okay. Thank you so much for staying. I appreciate that. Elizabeth, thank you. Let me make some room for you right up here. Share with us. Hi, my name is Veronica Riley. This is my young friend Elizabeth Deasy. My husband Dennis and I were raised in a traditional church background. We knew all about God. We just didn't know you could have a personal relationship with him. And so 17 years ago we came to North Way and began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He radically changed our lives. Never did we before understand how great his love was. We were suddenly filled with joy and peace and purpose. And we were the first believers in our whole network of friends and family and relatives. One of the first things God did in my life was to put such a burden in my heart for the people around me, my neighbors, my friends, my relatives. I wanted them to know him like I knew him. I wanted them to experience this also. But then I thought, but God, I don't know how to share the gospel. And what if they reject me and I really don't want to look like a fanatic. And they could ask me a question that I don't know the answer to. So I did nothing. And my heart kept breaking. Well, then I began to negotiate. I thought, I know what I'll do. I will live a good Christian life. They'll see this good Christian life and they'll come to know Christ. Well, that didn't work. They just thought I was another nice person. And so I thought, okay, God. I will share. If they come and ask me about Jesus, I'll tell them about Jesus. Well, that never happened. God heard all my protests and began to change my heart. Shortly after that, I heard a man on Christian radio share the gospel message. And I went, hey, I could do that. So I wrote down everything he said and I began to practice. After that, I began to initiate conversations with people about faith. Within three months, I think about three friends and neighbors committed their lives to Christ. This was getting exciting. Finally, I was doing something that was given to me. And it became a way of life for me. Unfortunately, I found that some of my friends began to drift away from the Lord. Often they were in churches where they weren't getting good spiritual teaching and they went back to their old ways. And that broke my heart because I knew what was possible with God. And God began to reveal to me that I needed to be discipling people. Otherwise, it was like bringing them into the world like a new baby and leaving them fend for themselves. Well, my first reaction was, God, I can't do that. I don't know how to disciple anyone. I'm not a Bible teacher. And besides, I am a very busy person. In fact, I'm very busy in the church doing good things for the kingdom of God. Well, He wouldn't let me off the hook. After that, I discovered a Billy Graham Bible study program called 30 Discipleship Exercises. And it even came with a video. And for the first seven weeks, I could sit there and watch a video with somebody. And I thought, okay, I could do that. So I began to meet with a friend who had committed her life to Christ. And I'm so glad God pushed me out of my comfort zone. Otherwise, I would have missed such a blessing. She began to grow in her faith, and I was growing in the knowledge of God as I saw His power to transform a life for eternity in front of my very eyes. Probably one of my most amazing experiences was with my sister-in-law, or unique experiences was with my sister-in-law, Kathy. She lived in Harrisburg at the time. We prayed for them for 14 years to come to know Christ. And one day on the phone, she accepted Christ. My first thought, because I was beginning to get this now, was, I've got to get her discipled. And I prayed that someone would come and do it. And no one came. And I thought, Lord, I can't do this. She's in Harrisburg. I'm in Pittsburgh. Well, Kathy and I began to meet every week on the phone, long distance, for an hour and a half for 30 weeks as we worked our way through the Billy Graham Discipleship Program. And Denny and I would look at the bill and say, You know, this discipleship thing is very costly. It's costing a lot of money for this. And it's taking a lot of my time. And I was busy. Do you know, it was so well worth the cost. My sister-in-law, Kathy, was once spiritually dead, and now she is alive. And then her husband began to grow in the Lord. And then their children. And they are people that are wholeheartedly committed to Christ with their heart, soul, mind, and strength now. Last April, or this past April, my son Devin brought his friend Elizabeth to church. And she committed her life to Christ. We took her home, explained the Gospel message so she would understand what it meant to commit your life to Christ. And my first thought was, we've got to get her discipled. She's going off to the CMU in the fall. And she needs to be grounded in her faith. And I looked to somebody so I could pass the buck. And nobody would take the burden. And I knew God wanted me to do it. So we began to meet weekly. And I am so glad God changed my heart. I would have missed out on such a great blessing. Elizabeth was growing by leaps and bounds. And so was I. My faith was growing. As I again had the privilege of watching God change a life. I walked into North Way six months ago not knowing what to expect. Now I reflect on the last six months after having committed my life to Christ. And I realize that they were the best six months of my life. Every day for me was joyful. And I was blessed with so many opportunities and so many new friends. And I wonder to myself now, what if Devin had never invited me to church? What if Mrs. Riley had not explained the gospel to me? What if she hadn't taken the time to study the Bible with me weekly on an individual basis? I conclude that my perspective as a college freshman might very well be different than if I had not received this spiritual guidance from Mrs. Riley. After praying with Pastor Jay and inviting Jesus into my life, Mrs. Riley shared the gospel with me over lunch. With her help, I came to an understanding from a biblical standpoint what I already knew in my heart. I left her home with the satisfaction of knowing that I was going to heaven no matter what. And this gift of eternal life fascinated me, and I wanted to know all that I could about the life of Christ and my next steps as a Christian. Mrs. Riley very graciously offered to do weekly discipleship exercises with me in order to lay a solid foundation in my faith. As I learned about prayer and the scriptures, I began to share my experiences with others, Christians and non-Christians alike. I consider myself to be so blessed, because believe me, staying sane in college is harder than I thought it would be. There are many philosophies and ways of living that can be very convincing and seem like a hoot and holler time, but they claim to be the truth, and they aren't. And I feel very fortunate to know that my faith is the real truth. The truth o