Victorious Values For the 90s

Chapter 1. I want to remind you we have overflow parking for this service. You can park up within the Fenston area at HOP Lumber. It's open all day long now. You don't mind walking around it. There's plenty of parking there. I look, no one's parking in there now. So if it's a problem and you're frustrated, feel free to park. No one's gonna lock your car in there, nothing like that. So we can avail ourselves of that and also all these other spots out there are available to us in the morning. So I want to encourage you to use them. And also there's a Discovering the Way class that's starting right now. And if you have not yet been to Discovering the Way, I encourage you. I wouldn't be offended at all if you got up now and walked over to the family room and said, well I want to hear what the next eight weeks is going to be like. I encourage you to do that. Well as most of us know, what started out as an innocent passing comment by Vice President Dan Quayle about the implied morality of fictional TV character Murphy Brown soon blossomed into a full-scale debate, didn't it, about the morality and value system of America. The focus of the 92 presidential campaign is now no longer just economics and foreign policy, it's also values. I mean, which presidential candidate is going to take us into the balance of this decade with the value system that Americans embrace? I was not just a little gratified this week when I went in my mailbox and picked up News Week magazine. How many of you saw this? The cover article this week, like they called me and asked, what am I preaching about? Whose values? Whose values? Many of the articles are about values in America today. And I thought I'd just read a quote. This is what the culture is dealing with. These values questions about how we've chosen to live our lives and how that's affected our children, about the nagging sense that unlimited personal freedom and rampaging materialism yield only greater hungers and lonelier nights have been quiet American obsessions for some time now, the source of a deep, vexing national anxiety. I couldn't have said it better myself. What America has built its stock in, in terms of values, is coming up short. And so we've always had values in America. I mean, it's always been there. But like News Week asks, the question is, whose values will we embrace? Will it be the values of a fringe group of people trying to impose a jerk sort of morality upon us? How many of you saw this week the Gay and Lesbian Coalition? And I don't want to stand up here and sound as though I'm condemning. But I have a lot of compassion for the Gay and Lesbian Coalition who bought advertising on our buses. Did you notice that? Maybe you didn't see that. But when asked in an interview, why did you do this? They said, well, we want all of you to know we're families just like you. And we want you to share our values. Who's going to determine the values of America, not just for us, but for our kids and for the future? Dear ones, it's a question worthy of a church. It's a question worthy of a believer. And I stand for one, and I believe I stand among many who would say there's really only one source of lasting values to build your life upon. And it's right here in this book. How many of you would agree? This is where we need to establish the core foundation for our values. And so I want to look at this for the next several weeks. And I'm going to talk about a number of values, a number of things that I believe will affect us in the future. You know, when America began to move away from its core values, from the nuclear family, from the sanctity of human life, from having God in the public square and in the schools and so on, when we started to drift from that, what happened? Well, all kinds of social upheaval have occurred in the last generation. And I would say it doesn't take a whole lot of sense to realize it's directly linked to the movement away from biblical values. The Tocqueville, the French philosopher, 150 years ago said, what makes America great is that she is good. But when she ceases to be good, then she will cease to be great. This is an issue of values, and every one of us must have the maturity to face what we believe our value system should be. Now I want to define the first word of our value study. The first word is courage. I believe that a value that needs to be restored to America, and it must start in the church, is the value of courage. Let's put that definition up, please. Let's read it out loud just to keep us on the same path. Read it with me. The quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., with firmness and without fear, to act in accordance with one's beliefs, especially in spite of criticism. How many believe you'd like a little dose of courage? Powerful. That's right out of Webster. Most of us are drawn to men and women of courage, aren't we? I mean, those kind of, when we hear a story of courage, we say, wow. How many of you saw Rocky? One. That was the best. Two. Let's keep them going. I mean, three. Oh, we got someone. Diehard. Four. Was there a five? Oh, the fans are out. How many saw all of them? You did. Why? What pray tell was possessing you at that time? I mean, in terms of cinema, I mean, it wasn't the greatest, but in terms of courage, I mean, what really? And some of the true-to-life stories of courage are all the more powerful, aren't they? I mean, don't you get inspired? I mean, did you see on the TV news just yesterday, a little 11-year-old boy, all you little leaguers out there, 11-year-old boy, when he was four years old, somehow got his arms burned off up to the elbows in an electrical box. I mean, there was a fire and his arms were burned off, lost his hands and everything. And he loved baseball. And they were able to save below his elbows so he could hold the glove on one elbow, but he couldn't throw the ball because he didn't have anything to hold it with. And another little 10-year-old designed a sling to put over this elbow so he could roll the ball into the sling and whip it like that. Anyone else see that? Am I making this up? Okay. A lot of you saw it. Wasn't it? I mean, you're looking at what courage for an 11-year-old. And his vision is to play professional baseball. Say, oh, it'll never happen. There's a professional baseball player right now with one hand. Pitcher. Don't say never. Courage. We love the stories of courage. We love the inspiration that comes when somebody's able to overcome an obstacle. We look at that and we say, oh, I want more of that, Lord. I don't want fear to overcome me. I want more boldness in my life. I don't want to be paralyzed by timidity. I want more strength. I don't want to be immobilized by anxieties and things that would hold me back. Lord, there's already enough cowards out there. I want to be a courageous person. And not just when it comes to running into a burning building and rescuing someone or, you know, somebody who would, in a war zone, lay down their life over a hand grenade. I'm not, I have discovered something. How about you? The older I get, the more I realize that it takes a lot of courage just to live life. I mean, it takes courage just to live. Especially when we're talking about living for the Lord. All along the world and the flesh and the devil are out to ultimately wrench from us the purposes of God to seduce us and paralyze and destroy each one of us. And without courage, dear ones, how many of you know someone that's fallen along the path? They started out well, but they lost their courage. They became discouraged. And now today, if you went to visit with them, they're no longer following Christ. They're no longer on fire for God. They're no longer making a difference. I want to talk about a few kinds of courage this morning. And I want to say, in the context of what was spoken over us this week, and I wish that in some ways we could play the tape right now and let you all hear it, because the fact matters. Probably at least half of you didn't get here this week for whatever reason. Out of town for business or just didn't know about it, although we sent mailings and everything. The Lord spoke some things about this church that are going to require some courage. He said that this was going to become a healing center. Now, anyone here that's been here long enough to know that that's not the first time that's been spoken? He also spoke, and this brother, Emanuel Canestresi, 45 years in ministry. That's a seasoned man of God. He said three times in 45 years he's had a word like this for a church. Three times. So this is gonna be like the church at Antioch. A receiving church that then sends out. A church that trains people for ministry. And I've shared all that with you. Evangelizing. Discipling. Caring for the people in need. Going into the jails. Going into the nursing homes. Going into the barrios and places where people are afraid to go. But dear ones, all this that God wants to do. Going into the neighborhoods of the wealthy where people are afraid and intimidated. All this will only happen as we have the courage to obey what the Lord has said to us. Now let's look at Joshua and see a parallel here, if you would please. Joshua chapter 1. The Lord has spoken words all throughout the journey of the people of God. Are you in your Bible? All right. Verse 1 of Joshua 1. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' aid, Moses my servant is dead. Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I'm about to give to them, to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country to the great sea in the West. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. How many believe if you heard that promise, it would just give you a whew. I mean if you heard God say to you, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. The Lord promises Joshua at a time of national crossroads. You're either going to go this way Joshua or you're going to go this way. You're either going to shrink back or you're going to take the land. And God said Moses or Joshua, Moses is dead, take the land, go this way, I'll be with you. Now very interestingly, instead of just Joshua rising up and going on, the Lord has to say one more thing. And I want you, how many have a New International Version? Would you be so kind as to read it out loud with me? Verse 6 and verse 7, here we go. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. You see that? It's not enough just to know the Lord is with you. Joshua, you've got to be strong and very courageous. Why did God say that? You see, the Lord knew Joshua like he knows you and me, my brother and sister. He knows that inside of us is the inclination at every crossroads to shrink back, to abandon our convictions and take convenience, to abandon the way we know is right and go the way that's easy, to take what was given to us as a promise and kind of tuck it away as something for the by and by and not hold on to God and believe Him for now. See, Joshua was inclined just like you and I would be to begin to doubt. Was that really God? You see, when the enemies start to rise up, and how many of you know they will? When you start to obey the Lord, you're gonna have an enemy. When you start to obey the Lord, you're gonna have an obstacle come up. When you start to obey the Lord, someone's gonna say, you're nuts. Why are you doing that? That's crazy. Critics and cynics come out of the woodwork. Doubts and fears start to get louder and louder and pretty soon you get demoralized and paralyzed. Anyone here, let's be honest for just a moment, you've heard the Lord say you're supposed to do this and you started out and you thought you were gonna do it and something came up and now it's not been done. Anyone at all have that happen? Why does it happen to us? Because dear ones, we lack courage. We lack courage to believe God despite what it is we see around us happening. We're unable to move for a while and then that voice starts to, starts just to get a little louder. I hear that voice, that doubting, fearful voice three ways. I hear it say first of all, did God really say that? Has God said? Then I'll hear that voice say to me another thing, another obstacle, say, well look and make sure you're doing the right thing here. Study all the details, get the facts and then the voice will say, well just wait, just wait, just wait, just wait. How many people here have waited so long now you don't even know what you're waiting for? You've lost it. Dear ones, it takes courage to obey the Lord. There's some people here today who've never received Christ personally and you're one like the man last night who shared in our service. He said, I think Christians are weak people. They need a crutch. You know anyone like that? Following Christ, well, you know, you just can't handle life on your own. You need a crutch. So if you're weak enough and you go ahead, you can have God if that's what you need. You know anyone like that? I always, I marvel at that, you know. Why would someone say that it you're weak? I mean in the sense of having courage of conviction. I don't know about you, dear ones, but receiving Christ was one of the biggest steps of courage I ever took. I've jumped into something, I had no idea what was going to happen and then you know what? Not just receiving him, but following him is one of the most courage requiring steps of life I've ever taken. How about you? I mean to follow Christ today, how many believe it takes a strong person to do that? I always want to say to these people, well, if it's so easy, you know, and I'm so weak, why don't you try it for a while? See how you do with it. You know, I've done a lot of things in my life. By God's grace, you know, I've been able to get through a lot of education and get a lot of, you know, a lot of knowledge and get a commission in the Marine Corps and started working some businesses and things like that. Nothing I've ever accomplished has been more demanding than following Christ. It takes a person of courage. How about you today? Do you have the courage to obey him, to follow him? Do you have the courage to act on the convictions and the words the Lord has given you? It takes courage. Some of you right now, God is changing your career path and you're afraid, oh Lord, what am I going to do? Have courage. Some of you know God's calling you into ministry. I don't know about you. I look at Ken and Lisa Starkey, people like that. I say, Lord, I want to have the courage that if you said, leave your chemistry degree and go to China, I'd say, yes Lord. And how many of you know the greater the challenge, the greater the call, the greater the word of the Lord to you, the more you get challenged on it, the more the doubts and fears rise up. I have to tell you, how many times do you think I've heard the voice say to me about the new property? Did God really say to move up there? I mean, did God really give you that property right in Route 19, that if you start this building and get it halfway done and don't finish it, everyone's going to laugh? How many times do you think I've heard that? In the last months, as we've labored through all the processes of, you know, getting plans and trying to get everything. Dear ones, the greater the challenge, the more you're going to hear it. And I'm going to tell you right now, I've just been able to say to the devil, get away. Get out of here because God has said that we're going to do this and we're going to be strong and very courageous and we're going to possess the land that the Lord has promised to us. Spiritual courage. How many of us have it? The Bible's full of stories. I could, you know, you could spend the whole day reading about Abraham and Moses and Daniel and David and Esther and Mary and Deborah and Nathan. Spiritual courage. Spiritual courage is what's required here in this church right now. Charlie Beck said it powerfully. Forgive me, Charlie, for just quoting you here because I didn't ask your permission. But Charlie looked over to the elders about two weeks ago. We finished a long elders meeting. He said, brothers, it's time for a spiritual gut check. Remember that, Charlie? What do you mean a spiritual gut check? Because we're at a crossroads. We are. I mean, either this ministry is going to take off into what God's promised or we're going to shrink back and just kind of play tiddlywinks until Jesus comes back. And I say with Charlie, church, listen, it's time for a spiritual gut check. You have the courage to go on to obey the Lord. If you do, say amen right now. Amen. All right. The second area of courage, if you're taking notes, is the area of moral courage. I just quickly talk about this for a moment. Moral courage. Moral courage is the ability to act in accordance with one's beliefs, ethically, personal conduct, virtues in the marketplace. Do you know how it hurts me as a pastor when I hear people say things like, I don't even want to deal with Christians anymore because you can't depend on them. They don't pay their bills. They don't show up. I'm the conviction that a Christian should be the best worker in the marketplace, the most dependable person. I mean, the person that you look, you try to find because you know they're going to give you the most for your money. How many of you in the marketplace are tempted from time to time just to say what's ever convenient to get the deal closed? Oh, your order is going to be there Monday morning. You know it's not going to be, but you say it because you don't want your client to be mad at you. Yeah, but it's just business. No, church, listen. Be a person of moral and ethical courage. Speak the truth. And if it doesn't work, it's better that it doesn't work in the truth. And it does work and something you've created. I could talk a lot this morning about moral courage as it relates to our sexuality. How many of you believe today that it takes more courage than ever to follow God's way sexually? I watch these things on television, don't you? Interviewers will sit down with a group of teenagers in a high school where they're debating about passing out condoms in the high school and teenagers will say something like, well, kids are going to have sex anyhow. It doesn't matter what they say, so they might as well have the condoms. And that kind of mentality, like, hey, can't help ourselves. This is just going to happen, so you might as well condone it. I want to say you're just a moral coward. You don't have any courage at all to stand on what you know is right, even if your life is in the balance, which it is in a lot of these cases. Moral courage is the ability to stand, as that definition said, on the basis of your convictions in spite of the criticism, young people, that you'll get for being a person of purity. And it's not easy, and it's not easy. Lust will rise up. The world's values will be banging on you. The devil will tempt you. But it takes a person of courage to stand in the face of it or, listen, or sometimes to flee. How many of you know there's a time to stand and a time to flee? You say, what are you talking about? Pastor, I thought you were talking about being courageous. Remember the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife? Remember that? And Joseph was the number two man in all of Egypt. I mean, he had everything going for him, and this beautiful woman really fell for Joseph and wanted him in the worst way. And this story just gets me going. Potiphar's wife sets Joseph up, and here's what it says in Genesis 39, 11. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, this is Joseph, and none of the household servants were inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, come to bed with me. Timid. But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. Listen, don't be a fool. Sometimes you stand and speak boldly into temptation, and sometimes you're smart enough just to turn and leave. How many know that's true? Listen to what I'm saying. Some of you men, there's a time to stand and time to be bold enough to flee, to have the courage just to walk out of a situation. And Joseph stood on that conviction. He spent two years in jail, but he honored the Lord. Number three, the third kind of courage, is relational courage. I could easily, you know, have two messages on just this, because dear ones, relational courage is nothing more than learning to speak the truth in love, in every situation that you're in. People say, well, what do you do honestly with your spouse to show your joys and frustrations? Courage to be able to say when it's not going all that well, to look at your spouse and say, honey, it isn't going very well, we need some help. A coward is one who just says, well, it'll get better, and who cares? It takes courage to acknowledge that. Parents, it takes courage to raise kids these days, doesn't it? I mean, I see a fair number of parental wimps. Hello? I mean, even right here, I see them in our church. Parents who back off of proper discipline, and, you know, just they're afraid of disapproval in their kids. Mom and dads who let their kids intimidate them. I can't believe this sometimes I see, you know, a little three or four-year-old. I saw this the other day, a little three or four-year-old kid, and he was really throwing a tantrum, and mom said, now, if you don't stop that, I'm gonna do this, this, this. He said, if you do that, mommy, I'll hate you. I won't like you anymore. Mom kind of backed off, and I said, big deal, right? Little tyrant, just tell him to sit down and be quiet, right? Hey, look, mom, parents, listen. Discipline your kids. Discipline them. Do they rule you? Then there's something really wrong. You need to tell them, look, I know what's right here, and I don't care what you think. You're gonna sit down there until I tell you to move. Period. Listen, parents. Have some courage. You know, you might have a little disapproval for a while. In the end, the Bible says your kids will thank you for it. You're gonna spare them a lot of grief. If you need some help, I can send you some really great people here in our church. How about with other believers and friends? How often do we get real? I mean, when is the last time you did what Emmanuel Kenneth Stracey said, and that is, look someone in the eye and say, here's where I'm really at. Here's what's really going on in my life right now. What do you think? We need that kind of honesty, that kind of courage. Someone will look you right in the eye and say, here's what I see. I mean, you do what you need to do, but here's what I see. I could talk a lot longer about it, but let me just end this way. How do you grow in courage? I mean, isn't that the big question here? I could stand up here and say, have more courage, but how do you do it? Let me end with just three or four quick things. Number one, face your fears. This is so important. I've discovered over the years that the fears that I face, I generally overcome. The ones that I run from generally overcome me. Have you ever found that? Face your fears. Face your relational fears, your moral fears, your spiritual fears. You know, when I was a little guy, I had a world-class bully in my fourth or fifth grade. How about my fifth grade class? This guy was enormous. I held him back three years, you know. He was like this giant, and he used to just perpetrate destruction on everyone on the bus. And my dad used to see me come home a week after, kind of whining about this guy. Oh, dad, this guy's terrible. Finally, my dad said, well, stand up to him. I said, dad, you don't understand. He's so big. Well, this went on and on for a while. Finally, one day, that's it. You better get out and stand in front of him. I said, dad, you got to come with me. No, no. Got off the bus one day, and I said, you can't do that to me anymore. And he was taking my lunch box and all that kind of stuff. He said, yeah? I said, yeah. And he went home. He bought me one. Just what I said. Dad, see? You know, I'm laying in the seat. But I got up, and I said, you can't do that. And you know, it's just like one of those funny childhood memories that you keep. He said, oh, what the heck? And went like this and walked away. He didn't start smashing me with a brick. And do you know, from that moment on, just because I don't have any other explanation except that I stood up to him, from that moment on, he never bothered me. I think he flunked out of fourth grade, and that was the end of school. You know what I'm saying, don't you? How many of you ever been, let me say this way, how many of you have had a fear of flying in an airplane? What's the best way to overcome that fear? That's it. No, stay on the ground and just get a bus and drive all over the country like John Madden or whoever it is. No. Get on the plane. And if it goes down, you go to heaven. What's the big deal, right? Face your fears. Face your fears. Right? Face them. And you'll find something, even if you just face it a little bit. Maybe you can't take the whole big nut at one time, but face a little bit, and you'll find that you'll grow over time. Each step of confronting a fear will grow more and more and more until one of these days you're going to be able to stand right in the face of that biggest thing in your life. Up here last night with our missionaries, there's a whole group, about 25 or 30 going on a short-term trip. Many of them believe they want to be career missionaries, full-time missionaries, but they're kind of afraid to take the big leap. They're doing the right thing. They're going to take a short-term trip. They're going to face that fear on a short-term basis, and they're going to come back. And the next time they go, it may be a little bit longer. And eventually, if God's in it, they'll have the courage to go on. Let me go on. Number two, surround yourself with men of courage. 1 Corinthians 15.33 says, Bad company corrupts good morals. Dear ones, if you surround yourself with fearful cowards, you're going to become just like them. Isn't that true? If you're around people who are speaking doubt and discouragement, you're going to get filled with doubt and discouragement. One of the neatest experiences of a year and a half ago when the strike force was here, remember strike force, the great big giant weightlifter guys? It was great to go into the high clubs with those guys. I'm going to go testify to the Lord now. You got a problem with that? A little boldness going here. Seriously, in the spirit, isn't it really true? You surround yourself. I mean, you've got a 300-pound person of faith around you. It's a little easier to get bold. Do you know anyone like that? Get with them. This is, by the way, this is just a little insert. This is the purpose of developing groups in our church. Far too many of you are still walking as a lone ranger. You need to have the security of being surrounded by people of like faith, people of like faith, men of courage. Number three, speak it boldly. All that means is once you know what the Lord wants, don't be afraid to just say it. You'll find when you speak it out, the things that are fears begin to just, they take a smaller and a lower profile in your life. Every successful business person I know, every successful person in life speaks boldly and positively about what they're into. It's just a mark of a person who succeeds. They speak boldly with confidence. And number four, choose daily. Choose daily to be a person of courage. I mean, it isn't going to happen just because you decide today. It'll happen because time after time you choose to follow the Lord. Who are the most courageous people I know? Well, there's a whole lot of them here today. Perhaps it's the single parents that I know who juggle more plates and balls, and yet every day they choose to honor God and their family and stick it out with Him. It may be the single parents. It may be people like Chuck Coon, you know, who every day in his wheelchair, barely able to speak because of his weakened muscles. Every day he chooses to follow Christ. He wrote me a letter just a couple of months ago right after Francis Infuso was here. He said, in the last week when Mr. Infuso was speaking about breakthroughs, it dawned on me that I was no longer looking at myself as lacking something, but I am complete in Him. Learning new things about myself is helping me with self-acceptance, something which I've been deficient. And finally, I'd like to thank the Lord for bringing me to a point in my life to accept change, and I want to thank you for being encouragement to me. See, that's a man of courage, and I want to be a person like that. That's a value that I hold and one that I believe we as a church need to hold. Is it something you want in your life? Let's stand and ask the Lord for it then, shall we? Let's stand. It's your decision today to be strong and very courageous. Let's sing it together. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. The world behind me. The world behind me. The cross before me. The world behind me. The cross before me. The world behind me. The world behind me. The cross before me. No turning back. No turning back. I couldn't end this service today without saying to a number of you who perhaps in the past have wanted so badly to know if God is real. You have lacked the courage to try to trust the Lord just to say, God, if you're real, I want you in my life. It's a courageous step.