Ten Truths For the New Millennium III, A Power to Live On II

Lord, I want to pray, especially today. I believe that there are things you want to do. And some of us who maybe have already made up our minds that we're just going to get through church today rather than experience your presence. I want to pray, Lord, that you move us, that you speak to us, that you tell us how much you love us. And I thank you that by your spirit, all things are possible today in Jesus name, amen. All right, let's be seated, I'd like you to take your outline out of your notes, please. Get your outline out of your notes and if you don't have a Bible, I always, of course, encourage you to bring your Bible, but if not, most of the scriptures for today are on the outline. And again, for our guests, what we try to do is rather than just have me talk at you for half an hour or so, to give you an opportunity to write down some things. And today, we're going to have a very unique approach to hearing from the Lord in this message. If I were to ask you to summarize the Christian life in two words, what is the essence of the Christian life in two words? Think about it. What are they? Whisper to somebody next to you, if you think you, in two words, I would say the Christian life is about two words. Some of you are real quiet now, I don't know, is this a trick question? No. Some might be thinking doing good, moral behavior, religious devotion, ethical purity. The essence of the Christian life, friends, in my view, is captured in the phrase love affair. God wants us to have a love affair with him. He loves each one of us with an incredible love. Have you thought any time this week about the fact that you are the object, you personally, not you just corporeally, but you personally are the object, the focal point, if you will, of the love of God. When I woke up this morning, the sunrise was against a backdrop of some clouds that were forming. It was one of those beautiful salmon colored, you know, just, well, you folks don't relate because you were sound asleep at sunrise, but first service they understood. It was beautiful. And I remembered thinking the God that painted this sky, me, and the purpose of life is for me to learn to love him. And I want to be real clear as often as I say this, I don't think I can say it enough, that if you don't know that God loves you and you don't know how to love him, you've missed the purpose of your life. Look at the first scripture on your outline. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind. For this is the what? First and greatest commandment. First and greatest commandment. Friends, if you miss this, you miss what life's about. And when you take it seriously, you will find the purpose of your life. You'll begin to understand why God has put you here. Now, there's a term for learning to express your love back to God. We know he loves us, but how do we love him back? I mean, a love affair is a two way thing, is it not? How do we love him back? Well, that word expressing my love to God, the first blank in your outline is worship. The word for expressing love to God is worship. Worship has all kinds of baggies attached to it, even though human beings, to my knowledge, are the only species that worship. I mean, the cats didn't gather in our neighborhood today for a worship service. They may have gathered to harass my dog or whatever, but, you know, animals, the wildlife, they don't worship. Human beings uniquely have the capacity to worship their creator. But some of us come to worship, and I can already tell, and one day I'm going to do a video, it's the congregations and it's seen through the eyes of Pastor Jay, how some of you are checking out mentally because you think this is sort of an irrelevant topic. It's not about life, but you see, worship is about the essence of life because it's about learning to love God and then experience his love in the daily interactions of life that all of us face. When I say the word worship, some of you click on to some of your past experiences. And we wanted to do just a little video look here at some of the experiences that some of you may have had as you've grown up trying to understand what worship was about. So we're going to put the lights down. And this first one that's going to come up is a little bit obscure, but there are some of you who've dabbled. Let's go ahead and run it, please. You've dabbled some of the new age things in the Eastern religions, the mystical sort of weird stuff that comes from the Far East. The worship team from the Far East. Millions of people, by the way, do worship this way today from the government of Tibet to your Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, we ask you to rule your people as the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet. All right, let's just get that one right there if we can. The Dalai Lama. Isn't it interesting when the Dalai Lama comes to Pittsburgh, people go flocking to see him. Prominent Hollywood actors think he's big stuff and put a lot of money into his ministry coffers, if you will, because that's their way of religion, their way of worship. Now, that may not be something a lot of you relate to, but I'm sure that a few of you do. Maybe that's the background that you came from. And you'll see Brad Pitt in there. He was paid to do that. All right. Now, on the other extreme, some of you grew up with a background here in America that was rather extreme as well. Here's a clip from the movie, it should be, anyhow, The Apostle. Let's see. I've retired all my white suits, but some of you, some of you would, you know, if you look back and you're honest, there were times maybe that that was your experience. This is extremely, I mean, way just out there and not particularly going anyplace. Others of you, it wasn't a matter of like being extremely expressive. Yours was more this kind of experience. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of you were honest, it was all you could do to stay awake through church. That's how boring it was. And then some of you started to look around and maybe even in your traditional churches, you found life and some kind of and maybe you found something moderate like this one. Now, I mean, this has a little bit of a lot of life. I mean, you know, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean. All right, well just some perspectives and worship has fallen on until the last about 30 years some really hard times. How many of you are grateful that God's been renewing worship in the church throughout the world? Um, I want you to see the next verse because it's critical. A time is coming, and now has come, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshiper the Father seeks. Would you circle the term, the Father seeks? God is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and truth. And even if you find it difficult to do so, I want to look at some ways to express your love to God today. Listen, love that's never expressed is love that is lost. Let me say it again. You might love God, or you might love someone with all your heart, but if you don't express it, they'll never know it. And so, I want to share with you today some ways that you can express your love to God. I saw on the internet, just getting ready for the message, a book called 10,000 Ways to Say I Love You, and I'm going to go over every one of them this morning. And well, how about reducing it down to five? Five ways that you can tell God that you love Him. And my goal is that at the end of this service, you're going to feel so loved by the Lord that you can't help but want to express your love back to Him. And that maybe if you've had a difficult time, maybe if you're from one of those rather, I don't know, restrictive traditions, or you have some negative experience, maybe today will help you just a bit to be a little bit released in expressing your love to Him. All right, so the first way, number one, the first way that we can express our love to this God who loves us is by speaking to Him, fill that in, by speaking to Him. Now, why is it hard for some of us to say to God how we really feel? To say words of praise and love to Him. Why? Well, because a lot of us grew up in homes where we were sort of taught, hey, don't show your emotions, don't express things like that, kind of keep it to yourself. We're not that kind of family, those kind of things. Others of you maybe tried expressing love and found yourself rejected and it hurt you. Others of you maybe just don't know how. Maybe you just never really learned how to do this. You never learned what was involved in doing that. I learned something about marriage pretty early on. Marriage is about communication. How many of you learned that? I mean, there's a word that has to happen in marriage, it's communication. When Carol and I are having meaningful, deep, soul-level communications, our relationship is growing. And when we don't, it gets cold in our house. In fact, there's sometimes even frost on the carpet and our relationship decays. And listen, every marriage is either growing or decaying based on the communication. And can I say this? Every relationship with God is either growing or decaying based on your level of communication with the God who loves you. I find the more that I speak to my wife affirmingly and lovingly, interestingly, the more I'm blessed back from her. Interesting, isn't it? Likewise, the Bible instructs us to speak to God. Now, look at your outline. Here's a little bit of a protocol. The Bible tells us even how to do it. It says, enter his gates. What gates is that? Those are the gates of the temple. So that's sort of the outer part. Enter his gates with what? Thanksgiving. And then a little farther you go into the courts. Enter his courts with praise. There's a difference between Thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving is when you just tell God those specific experiences or things or people that you appreciate. Lord, I wake up in the morning. Lord, I thank you today. I feel pretty good. I thank you for my family that you've blessed me with. I thank you for this place you've given me to live. I thank you, Lord, that I have a purpose to live for today. Whatever it is, but specifically, thank you, God. That's how you enter into his presence. Then you go a little farther and you start to praise. What is praise? Praise is speaking specifically about the traits of the character of God. Lord, I praise you today that you're almighty. I praise you that you're the creator of everything that is. I praise you that you're holy. I praise you, Lord, that you rule in sovereign justice over all the earth. I praise you that you're forgiving. And on down you go. You see, you enter with thanksgiving and then you go on to the next level of praise. And then worship is just the next outcome. And worship, listen, is telling the Lord how you feel. And, Lord, because you've provided so for me, because you are who you are, I love you. I exalt you. I surrender to you. I adore you. And you give God the verbal message of your love. And, friends, when you do that, you connect with God. Well, by the way, when you start to do that, listen. Because the Lord will begin to communicate back. How does he do that? Sometimes he communicates after you have come through thanksgiving and praise and worship. And you read the Bible. God will speak back to you. And you'll read something and say, Wow, I understand something I never saw before. Or maybe through another person. Or maybe through a circumstance. Or maybe through some thoughts or experiences that you have. God will begin to speak. And, friends, the Christian life becomes an adventure when you're communicating with God. And that's what so many people miss. Because it's to be a two-way communication. So, I want you to rate yourself. How often do you speak your love to God? Regularly, occasionally, or rarely? Go ahead and circle which one. Or if it's in between or you're working on it, go ahead and do that. And I thought, just so that we could all see how really pretty easy this is, that we were going to do this. So, could you all stand, please, for just a moment? I told you this was going to be a little bit different message. We're going to do it a little interactively. I'd like us just for a few moments to speak to the Lord. Let's speak our thanksgiving. Just close your eyes so you're not distracted. Just thank the Lord for whatever comes to your mind. Just verbally say it. Lord, I thank you today. I thank you for my friends here today, Lord. Thank you for my family that's here. I thank you, Lord, that I feel the presence of your life. Thank you for my health today, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for the gifts that you've given to me. Lord, thank you that you have done things far beyond what I could imagine in my life. Thank you, Lord. And now enter into his courts with praise. Just begin to speak to God about who he is to you. Something about his character. Lord, I praise you for your majesty. I praise you for your sovereign works, Lord. Lord, I praise you that you are always good, even when I don't understand it. I praise you, Lord, that your steadfast love endures forever. I praise you, Lord, that you are righteous and holy and perfect. I praise you. Now be speaking. Be speaking, Lord. And it can be softly, but be speaking. Now speak your worship to the Lord. Just tell the Lord how you feel today, Lord. Lord, I love you today. I love you today, Lord. I exalt you, Lord, with all my heart because you're worthy. Lord, I give you just a portion of what you do today. Oh, Lord, be lifted high because you're worthy, Lord. We exalt your name. We love you. We love you. And, Lord, may our lips declare in the congregation your praise. Lord, help us to speak. Help us to speak of our love to you. In Jesus' name, amen. That wasn't so bad, was it? That was, for some of you, really painful. Let it begin to happen. Let it happen personally. When you're alone, you'll find it. Start there. Then in your small group, move there. And then when you come together in the big congregation, it's easy. Friends, this should be a place where we're comfortable to talk to God. So let's learn to do that. All right, thank you. You can be seated. Thank you. Second way we express our love to God is by singing to him. By singing to him. You know, music's one of the great gifts of God to all of his creatures, isn't it? Music comes out of the soul, out of the heart. It fills us with emotion. How many of you have had the experience of going through just a normal workday and you hear a song on the radio and it elicits a memory of an experience and you just get emotional about it? The song that you first remember hearing when you met the person that you fell in love with. The song that was playing when you got fired and had to get a new job. I think I shared this a while back, but it impacted me. I listen to a lot of praise and worship music in my car because it's sort of a sanctuary for me. I remember one time Susie gave me a new CD and I was playing and it was just so moving and I went down to McDonald's in Wexford to order lunch. And by the time I got in there, I mean, I was just getting overwhelmed by this and I'm ordering and it's like Big Mac and it's so good. And I'm sure the lady's thinking, well, you know, the food's bad here, but it's not that bad. But, you know, it touches us. It stirs us up. I mean, it gets us in touch with what's inside of our hearts. And, you know, lots of you, some of you here in this service, scores over the years have written to me saying that the first Sunday you came to North Way, you couldn't stop crying. Why was that? Because the music touched your heart. And even though there are lots of secular songs out there, do you know that more songs have been written about Jesus Christ than any other topic by far? Why? Because through the centuries, people have loved him and they've wanted to express back their love to him. Look at Psalm 147. Sing out your thanks to him. Sing praises to our God. Let the godly sing with joy to the Lord, for it is fitting to praise him. Now, some of you are thinking, well, you know, Pastor Jay, I understand that and I should do that, but I can't sing worth a darn. In fact, I can't carry a note in a bucket. And there's a verse for you. It says, make a joyful noise to the Lord. So you can do that. And there's enough people in this church that when you make your noise and it fits in with someone else's song, it sounds good to the Lord. And just a little practical, and I mean, I'm sincere. This may sound funny, but I'm sincere. If you're one of those folks that really can't sing very well, don't sit in the back. Because back there, you stand out more. Sit in the middle, right in here, and you get this sort of praise sandwich thing going. From the people in the back and the great vocalists we have up here in the front of the band. And you just can't help but improve your singing. I mean, it just helps you to just be a little more secure. So, I know for a fact that some of you come intentionally late. So you won't have to sing. I can miss the preliminaries and get by the sort of the warm-up stuff and get here for the message. You know what? I want to say lovingly, but firmly, that's a mistake. I mean, you need the truth of the teaching for your head and for the principles to live by. But you need the music to stir up your soul. There are many days in which the most important thing that's going to happen to you is the singing of your worship to God. Because He's going to encounter you right there. And listen, the presence of the Lord will do far more than any sermon from a preacher or pastor or teacher. And so don't cut that out. Come a little bit early and enjoy the entire experience. I've also discovered when you least feel like it is when you need it the most. Why? Because when you least feel like it, it's an indication that your heart is already getting a little bit hard. And that's when you need it the most, to give your expression of praise to God. When you really begin to minister to Him in song, here's what happens. Your worship goes up to God in song, and the blessing of God comes down. And over and over again in the Bible, I didn't want to take the time to get into this in detail, over and over again, when God's people came in earnest worship and praise, His blessing falls down. Just jot down 2 Chronicles 5, 13 and 14. That's a couple of verses where the Bible says that the priests were worshiping the Lord and it was so real that they couldn't stand up any longer because His presence came down. And with His presence comes blessing, comes healing, comes release, comes wholeness. And so I felt today it would be appropriate for us just to pause right now. Mark, how are you doing on this? Do you sing regularly? Do you sing occasionally? Do you sing rarely? The praise team is going to come right away, and we're going to sing together our praise to God. And we're going to ask the Lord to lift up a song in us. In this service, sometimes you tend to be just a little bit more reserved. Well, today, as a demonstration of our willingness to grow in this expression of praise, Pastor Dave and the team comes. Let's ask the Lord to just fill our voices and just sing out. Lord, hear our praise. So let's stand together. Pastor Dave. What is sacrifice? I don't know the cost of the oil that you need to pour out. But the Lord does, and He calls you not to just comfortably give, but to pour yourself to Him. It's how you show your love. You take up your cross every day and you follow Him. It's a sacrifice. But it's how we show our love to Him. The next way that we demonstrate our love is by living, by living for Him. This is what really I feel love is all about in the Christian faith. It's about being committed to Him day by day, living your life in unison with Him. You know, nothing happens in this life without commitment. This church didn't happen without commitment. You're not going to go anywhere without commitment. And more than that, this is important, young people especially, you will become what you are committed to. You will become what you are committed to. Whatever you are committed to, that's what you're going to become. So you better choose carefully what you're going to be committed to. Here at North Way, we talk about being committed first to Christ, second to His church family, because it's here that we grow and discover, number three, what it's like to be Christ-like in character, and number four, we're committed to sharing His love with others, what we've been given through our gifts and our service. You see, this is really the big picture about how worship happens. Look at the next verse. Take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around life and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. I want you to hear today a testimony of a person who's going to share with you how they tried to live their life basically on their terms, only to see that they weren't finding life. And they discovered Christ and then the process began of transforming Him. And I want you to give a warm welcome today to Keith and Linda Marshall as they come to share their testimony. Let's welcome them. Hey, Keith. Thanks so much. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Keith Marshall, and this is my wife, Linda. I arrived in Pittsburgh almost four years ago without assets at the age of 44. I was recently asked by a very nice lady how I could be 44 and not have a penny to my name. Was I an addict or a drunkard? Why would my parents take me back in? Why didn't I have a job? The answer wasn't addiction or laziness. It was stupidity. The lady laughed and said, well, even if you're not too bright, at least you're honest. At the age of 32, I was the youngest non-family member to become a vice president within the textile industry in the South. You know how the South is. If you're not family, you aren't in it or you're not part of the group. Fortunately for me, I guess I must have looked like a family member. I had a bright future making a lot of money and a good family. I was not satisfied, so I manipulated my way into ownership of three different manufacturing plants, ending up as president of a furniture brokerage and design house in Atlanta. This wasn't enough, so I did whatever it took to squeeze out the other owners so that I could have more money and power. It should not come as a surprise to anyone here that the Lord in His time got around to paying attention to my antics and made a decision to humble me. I was involved with other women, staying out all night and partying, hanging out with the wrong people, and spending money on my every whim. I was a very nasty individual whose conscience was buried in pride, ego, and self-image. I was a liar, a cheat, and by all standards, a thief, or in worldly terms, a good businessman. Amazingly, even my own children did not enter into my equation for life. I remember viewing the birth of my last child as a hindrance to me personally instead of a gift of God. We're talking about a really sick puppy here. To add to the equation, I looked at the other people, all people, as being beneath me, objects to walk on and to use, discardable immediately upon when their usefulness to me was over. The banking crisis of 89 hit and manufacturing facilities all over the United States were having loans called in. Banks were being forced to reclassify loans to any company involved in manufacturing as high risk and forcing them to repay those loans within 10 days. My world came crashing down 90 days later, and I was allowed to squirm for an additional year. I lost my home, my cars, my businesses, my wife, and my children. If this was a country-western song, I'd tell you that even my dog walked out on me, but she stayed. Obviously, she didn't know any better. The downward spiral continued until February of 1991 when the final eviction notice came and with it a job opportunity in Phoenix, Arizona. Can you imagine that none of my former business partners and associates offered me a position? I moved to Phoenix and was able to manipulate my then ex-wife to move out with me in an attempt to reconcile. The truth was, I just didn't want to pay the $2,500 a month in child support and alimony. I didn't know the Lord, and I had no intention of changing my ways. The Lord made the stakes higher, the burden more difficult, and the fire hotter. Mules are tough, and they don't learn quickly. Psalm 32, verse 8 says, I will instruct you and teach you in the ways you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by the bit and bridle, or they will not come to you. Simply stated, you don't have to learn the hard way if you will listen to the Lord. But if you're going to be a mule and hard-headed, expect to learn the hard way. I guess I was a mule. My response to the increased burden was to start all over again, wheeling and dealing, using people, and building a new construction company by hook or crook. I did everything within my power to regain my former stature, to include finding a beautiful woman to enhance my image at parties and business dinners. The only trouble was that I didn't know the God whom I was corrupting through sin. Eventually, she was able to get me to go to church and meet a pastor who saw right through me. You see, I was looking at the church angle as maybe just another way to fool not just the people around me, but the Lord himself. You know, little did I know his power. I accepted the Lord as my Savior on May 21, 1995, a day I've never forgotten. I went into the baptism pool knowing everything in my life was going to change for the better without having to change my ways too much. I'm probably not the first person to think this erroneous thought. Little did I know that by inviting the Lord into my life, even though my views weren't quite the same as his, that he would enter it in its entirety. If I thought previously humbling experience were a nightmare, well, he was just rolling up his sleeves and was really going to work. If you haven't guessed it already, I lost my brand new truck, I lost my money, I lost my house, I lost my girlfriend, I lost my possessions, and I lost my children again. The final straw was I lost my girlfriend's daughter to suicide, a girl I had learned to love deeply as my own. And I was thinking, wow, was I glad I invited the Lord into my heart. I woke up hungover in a padded cell being told that I had tried to take my life by shoving a rifle barrel down my throat and pulling the trigger. Can't figure out how that happened after drinking almost a quart of tequila. I guess I must have had a major feel sorry session for Keith. If you've never had a tequila hangover, I don't suggest it. Especially if you're going to have to walk over three miles without water and it's 112 degrees out. Only to find the person whose house you're going to won't let you in and has just called the police. Folks, that's the start of a really bad day. Well, it gets better. With nowhere to sleep, no clothes, penniless and hungry, I had to hitchhike over to my former wife's house and beg a shower and a meal. You know this had to be a Kodak moment for her. I was really groveling. The call to my father from the corner gas station was one of desperation, and I'll never forget what he said. I'll be out on the next flight to get you, son. Don't worry. That's love. We drove from Phoenix to Pittsburgh in a U-Haul truck with a haunting memory of my children looking at me in pity as I climbed into the U-Haul. I've never been so far down in the gutter in my life. I felt as though there was nothing left to live for. I felt as though the Lord had abandoned me, but he was there waiting to catch me, waiting for me to come home. I found North Way Christian Community in the Yellow Pages. Jack Zumwalt found me on the first Sunday in the gym. I guess Jay must have told everyone to look for someone pathetic. There I was, and Jack found me and took me to breakfast. From Jack, I was referred to Rebuilders, Kathy Brinkle, and a group of people that mean more to me than I can ever say. Matter of fact, my wife showed up one time at the meeting, and I never forgot her. Right there, the Lord put in my heart that Linda was going to be part of my life someday. And when the time was right, but the time wasn't right yet, improvement was in hand, because I listened. The people at Rebuilders helped me rebuild my crushed and broken heart. The people at Rebuilders also put me in touch with Priority 2 and Charlie Ebeck, a man, I'm going to tell you right now, I love him dearly. I have more respect for him than anyone else. Under Charlie's tutelage and support of Home Group, I started to put my business and personal life back together, this time under the watchful eye of many people associated with this church. My nights in my parents' attics were lonely, and I would cry many an evening in despair. But one night the Lord said to me, I love you. And it changed my life. Instead of fighting, I decided to open myself up to his love, and with it, amazing things started to happen. After eight months of watching and looking for every opportunity to say hello to Linda, I was about to give up on her because I felt there wasn't a chance in the world. The operative word here is I. The Lord had other ideas. I was in the gym after church one Sunday, and the Lord nudged me to go over and ask Linda out. It wasn't one of those thoughts, it was a quiet command. I did it even though I was terrified, and much to my amazement, she accepted. As you can see, I was learning to listen at a much faster pace. When we met in the parking lot and I held open the door to my 15-year-old bright red rusted-out man, she had to have had second thoughts. The interior was filthy and smelled of gas and grief. I was really impressing her. But she got in, and away we went. I guess the Lord put blinders on her eyes or she saw something worthwhile in me. I'm not sure what it was, but I sure did appreciate the chance to spend the afternoon with her. My first two attempts to rebuild my life in Pittsburgh ended not in failure, but opportunity. You see, over time, the Lord and those who hold me accountable to this day taught me that life is an attitude, and that with the Lord in your heart, there is no such thing as failure or bad attitude, for all his work has purpose. Have you ever met anyone who just finished singing a great praise song that has a bad attitude? I don't think so. That's the key, keeping the Lord in your heart and listening. The result of the first two attempts in business as a Christian ended in providing me not with failure, but with the necessary experience and stepping stones needed for another business, a business where I can help others. Can you imagine a man who always used to use others to get ahead in business, now helping them in their careers? The Lord does truly work in great and wonderful ways, and he does have a great sense of humor. I'm the happiest man you will ever run into, for the Lord has given me a chance and an opportunity to be with him forever in peace and love. He has given me a wife who supports me, advises me, and loves me. Linda is my other half, my completion, and a key reason for my success, not just in business, but as a father and a husband. Linda is my consciousness and daily reminder that precious gifts from the Lord are not in the shape of belongings or money, but the stewardship of love and those he puts in your care. For me, this goes not just for my wife and children, but for all those whom the Lord put in front of me, from home group members to those I meet on the street. For if the Lord can do wondrous works with someone like me, what can he do for you? Thanks for the courage that it takes to just reveal your life. And there's lots of us sitting here today. If you're not in that exact circumstance, you're in something close, or you know someone who is, you see our God and his love redeems. And when you live for him, you affect others just by living. There's hope that imparts to them. And that leads to the last thing that I'm going to have time to talk about today on your outline, and that is we share with the Lord that we lov