"Paul: Embracing The Dead Guy" - Ty Tamasaka

all right well i'm glad to be with you guys you know there's a story that was told about a sunday school teacher who's teaching the little children and she's sitting with the little children she asks the kids she says can anybody tell me why it's important to be quiet in church well one little girl raised her hand and said i know the answer i know the answer so the sunday school teacher turned to the little girl and said okay why is it important to be quiet in church and the little girl said it's important to be quiet in church because that's where people are sleeping now that's not new hope oahu that's not this church mind you i just want to let you know but how many of you have nodded off in church and and we're going to talk this morning about nodding off in church and um you know it's something that happens in every area of life if you ever go to a conference or a seminar or a training or any level of school people end up nodding off here and there how many of you would admit with me that maybe i've nodded off in church once or twice yeah anybody i'll admit it i i did too see i see some of you guys raising your hands i'm going to watch you guys today i'm going to watch you guys we're going to talk about nodding off in church and and um back several hundred years ago the puritan preachers when people came to church like this the preachers came up front and they would preach not a half an hour sermon they would preach a three-hour sermon all right a three hour sermon and in those churches there was a ministry of folks who stood in the back of the church and they would have something like a fishing pole a long fishing pole with a line hanging down and kind of like a tennis ball at the end and what they would do is if somebody nodded off in church they'd come and they'd swing it so the ball would hit the person in the head and wake him up so they'd stay awake in church now some of you are here thinking hey pastor ty i haven't served in a ministry at new hope oahu yet but that's a ministry i'd like to be involved in that's my spiritual gift of slapping people in the head and waking them up well i tell you what we don't have that ministry at this time but when pastor john allows us to preach three-hour sermons maybe we'll get those started but if you don't know me my name is pastor tai i'm very blessed and honored to be part of the teaching team here and also one of the teaching faculty at pacific rim christian university right across the street and we're going to be talking again about nodding off here in church as we continue our series on friends guardians and guard rails now i know we don't do this all the time but i want to invite you this morning to actually stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of god because sometimes we stand in honor of the national anthem we stand in honor of the bride when she enters the room we stand in honor of things that are important and the reading of the word of god is an important time so here we go we're in acts in chapter 20 verses 7 through 12. acts chapter 20 verses 7 through 12 it says on the first day of the week we came together to break bread and paul spoke to the people and because he intended to leave the next day he kept on talking until midnight and there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting and seated in a window was a young man named uticus who was sinking into a deep sleep as paul talked on and on the scripture says folks paul went down there i'm sorry um when he was sound asleep he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead now paul went down there threw himself on the young man put his arms around him said do not be alarmed he said he is alive then he went upstairs again broke bread ate and after talking until daylight he left and the people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted let's pray lord jesus thank you for your faithfulness your goodness your mercies lord thank you that we get to gather in your house and lift you up and worship you and father i pray for each of us here today that lord you would speak to us lead us guide us and help us that when we leave this place we would look a little bit more like you in jesus name and we all say amen you may be seated maybe seated eutychus is his name that's who we're talking about today and i want you to understand in bible times when people would name their children there was a meaning to the names nowadays we might name our peers in the scripture but his name means fortunate well why is he fortunate in the early church before we get too much on youtube's case for sleeping in church let's set some context eutychus was probably a day laborer meaning he was probably a carpenter or farmer or some some sort of a laborer during the day and then at night he comes to the church and the church is not like there's a big sanctuary with air conditioning it's probably somebody's house on the third floor and everybody's sitting together sitting kind of indian style on the floor as paul is preaching right next to each other no social distancing no masks they're just sitting next to each other and people are probably smelly and stinky there and but eutychus is fortunate because he gets the window seat he gets to sit by the window and he gets to enjoy the cool breeze on his face he gets to see the faint candle lights in front of him and he hears paul preaching on and on this is what luke says and you take his titus starts to do the kind of the head bobbing thing he just starts to kind of nod off a bit by the way we see you in church sometimes when you do the head bobbing thing you guys ever do that head bobbing and here's what we think as preachers when you see doing the head bobbing thing we think man that guy is really paying attention he's giving us amen amen amen yeah that's what we think and then and then sometimes we see you doing something else is you just maybe cross your arms and put put a pair of sunglasses on and just kind of just phase on out and we look at you from the pulp and we think man that guy is listening so intently he's just not flinching at all but you're just out cold this is this is what happened to you tychus he just kind of phased on out and he was out cold then he slips and he falls out of the window he falls to his death now it's important to note who wrote the book of acts the book of acts was written by a guy named luke and luke was a physician so it's important that we note that luke if luke the physician is saying eutychus is dead guess what eutychus is dead local people we call it mache die dead he's dead so eutychus is dead and paul then does something unusual paul here's what it says paul does in verse 10 paul went down threw himself on the young man put his arms around him and said don't be alarmed he's alive paul went down and embraced him now you and i we know the end of the story we know you tychus is raised to life and he gets resurrected and he comes back but i want you to step into this story at this point paul doesn't know that paul is a preacher and he's preaching a six hour sermon maybe he's on hour three eutychus falls out of the window and dies paul goes downstairs and he throws himself on the young man who the doctor says is dead and he embraces them the doctor says there is no life in that man paul says i'm going to embrace him and i believe that god can resurrect anything god can resurrect this guy i'm going to embrace the guy in whom there's no life and we're going to see what happens imagine how risky this is because what happens if eutychus doesn't get up paul just embarrasses himself and he looks really silly but there's good news all right there's good news because if if the story ended with eutychus falling out of the window and dying and then you know if the scripture then just said well you take his fell out of the window died then we went to ephesus and preached somewhere else then then the point of this message today the main point i'd be sharing with you is if you fall asleep in church you die you die but thankfully fortunately that's not the end of the message paul embraces the dead guy he embraces the guy in whom there is no life trusting that god's power can resurrect anyone and here's what i want you to catch this morning i'm going to give you one point here's a one point message all right one point you can write this on your notes the people god uses to change us the most are those who have loved us at our worst not our best the people god uses to change us the most are those who have loved us at our worst and not at our best see paul was willing to embrace the dead guy at his worst his most vulnerable his most embarrassing moment paul was willing to embrace the guy in whom there was no life are you are you willing to embrace the guy in whom there's no life around you in order to see god bring someone back to life because i'll tell you this morning that the people who make the most difference are not the ones that have the best credentials but the ones that have the best care not the ones with the best credentials but the most concerned and if you're like listening to me and you're saying well pastor i'm not too sure about that i'm going to give you a quiz all right here's your quiz in church um now you're not going to get graded so don't worry too much you might get some demerits but no i'm just kidding here's your quiz all right here's your quiz now you just keep track of the answers in your head and when we're done you can give me a thumbs up if you get the answers right give me a thumbs down if you don't but i'm going to give you a quiz about some people with great credentials i want you to name the five wealthiest men in the world right name the five wealthiest men in the world next name the last five heisman trophy winners these are great credentials name the last five winners of the miss america pageant all right and the last one maybe if you can think of one person in the last three years who won a nobel peace prize or a pulitzer prize right these are great credentials this is your quiz now how did you do give me a thumbs up if you gotta answer for all these give me a thumbs down if you don't okay not many of you did very good on this quiz the rest of you kind of sitting there amen amen amen all right all right let's see if you do well on the next quiz because this this is a quiz the first one was of people with great credentials now let's see about people who have great care think of five people five people you enjoy spending time with all right now think of five people who taught you something worthwhile think of five friends who helped you in a hard time now how the last one think of one teacher who believed in you and no one else did all right that's your second quiz let's see how you did give me a thumbs up if you did better on this quiz yeah you guys all did so much better on this one the rest of you guys again giving me amen right why did you do better on the second quiz is because the people who make the most difference are not the ones with the best credentials but the ones with the best care god's the people god uses to change us most are those who love us at our worst and not at our best i want to share with you a number of years ago when my wife and i first entered vocational ministry um we were living on the big island pastoring a very small church and we came to a conference here in honolulu we weren't very well connected with ministers here but at the pastors conference we went to we met some friends their name was um scotty and lynette schaefer these guys were some folks who are amazing people pastoring a church an episcopalian church on molokai and it was a church of about 125 people on molokai so if you know molokai that's a mega church and scotty and annette were some amazing folks that you know those people that you just sit with and you're like just better for having been with them just amazing folks who love the lord love people great encouragement and um and my wife got the courage up to ask lynette pastor lynette who was a pastor of the church and my wife asked her lynette would you would you pray about mentoring me and lynette was quick to answer and she says to my wife she says no i will not pray about mentoring you and my wife's heart i think just kind of started to sink like wow i didn't even ask that you have to do i just said would you pray about it now before we moved on too much further lynette said something and taught me a valuable lesson that carried me on through the next 15 years in my life as well lynette says this she said no laura i will not pray about mentoring you because the word of god already has told me that it is pleasing unto him to invest in people to advance the kingdom of god i do not need to pray about it i would be honored to mentor you and i want to tell you this because sometimes we get caught up in you know someone asks us to be involved in a ministry and we say oh i'll pray about it god has already revealed the importance of caring for people embracing the dead guy sometimes you don't need to pray sometimes all you need to do is step up and step into the role that god has you because the people god uses to change us most are those who have loved us at our worst and not at our best people who god uses to change us most are those who have loved us at our worst and not at our best and i'm going to share with you this this is something you won't hear all right on advertisements or anything like that thank you i want to show you because we're talking about risking to embrace the dead guy but here's here's what we learn in our culture to risk for right i'm going to use some of my artwork by the way my daughter said dad you should draw this illustration up there because then people are going to laugh at how bad your artwork is that's not my intention but i just want you to get a picture of some of the things that our culture tells us to risk for all right there's a house hopefully that looks like a house see here's what we do in our culture you know we risk we we take out a 30-year or 15-year loan to get the best house that we can we will risk as much as we can in order to get the biggest and best house that we can or maybe a car let's see if i can draw a car here all right maybe we'll make a car just so you know this is a tesla the tesla and you know what when we get we want to get a tesla we risk we run the risk of spending how much money in order to embrace a tesla and have one of these cars in our lives or maybe maybe we we can risk for something like this let's see if we can figure out what it is okay hmm how does it go maybe like that what is that what's that it's a iphone again okay maybe maybe we risk because we want to get the latest iphone but here's here's the people who are selling you houses and teslas and iphones here's what they won't tell you they won't tell you that these things are temporary you want to get the best housing nothing wrong with getting a good house but it is understand it is temporary all right if you're living for your house embracing a house you're living for that which is temporary you're embracing your tesla risking in order to get a nice car you are living for that which is temporary if if you're living your life to get the latest iphone you're going to be behind next year already but you're living for what is temporary now i'm going to take this even a little further is here's what we do i mean i love our church i love the technology here i love the instruments but i tell you what even here even even for our instruments if you're living for the things up here you're still living for that which is temporary or even some of our technology here i'm not going to put on the screen but you you're living for stuff that's up here you're living for what is temporary now if you're looking at me like man pastor tai i kind of wanted some encouragement today and all i'm kind of feeling junk now well what then is eternal what then should we live for i'm going to give you an example here this is my son josiah he's a handsome guy because because he looks like me and he's saying no no no but i tell you what this is eternal people are eternal look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor you are eternal all right now look at your second choice neighbor and tell them you are eternal also you are eternal the people around you are eternal thank you josiah can we thank josiah [Applause] so i want you to know if you're living for this stuff here you're living for stuff here you're living for that which is temporary but god wants you to live for and risk for that which is eternal now why is that it's because the people god uses to change us most are those who loved us at our worst not at our best a few months ago i was doing my daily devotions and by the way please stay faithful in your devotions be in the word of god hear what the lord has to say to you directly i was in my devotions reading through the book of ezra all right and the book of ezra and i was in chapter 2 and i'm not going to bring up the verse on the screen for you because we have some mercy on you for that one but here's what's going on in the book of ezra god's people are taken into babylonian captivity and 70 years 7-0 70 years later they're allowed to return to the to the jerusalem to judah to start to rebuild the city and there are people who take the risk of leaving the comforts of babylon to advance the kingdom of god that's in ezra chapter one and in ezra chapter two the first five verses i read it's all names names names that i have a hard time pronouncing and then 10 verses more names 20 verses more names 30 40 verses later i am reading names of people from thousands of years ago who went from one place to another and i'm starting to get frustrated and i think lord doesn't your word say and i think ii timothy chapter 3 maybe verse 16 all scripture is inspired and profitable for reproof and training in righteousness lord shouldn't that say all scripture except ezra chapter 2 is profitable for training in righteousness lord is that isn't that how it is well the scripture doesn't say that scripture says all timothy says all scripture is profitable for reproof so i continue reading on in ezra chapter two 40 verses of names 50 verses of names 60 verses of names and i'm having a crisis 70 verses of names you ever read the bible and you get through one of those chapters and you're just like oh no what is this i was having one of those moments and then 70 verses of names and i had an honest moment with god i said lord here's the problem this was people who moved 3 000 years ago and i just don't care lord i just don't care and here's what the lord spoke to me about the lord spoke to me and said that's your problem tai you don't care but i do see when my people take a risk to advance my kingdom i remember 3 000 years later i write it down i keep it close to my heart and even though some dopes like you tai and lord doesn't really say it that way but even though some dopes like you tai don't care and you don't pay attention to what god's people have done and sacrificed god says i know and i care and if you ever wonder if you ever feel like you know i'm greeting here at new hope oahu and i wonder if people notice or if you're embracing people around you and i wonder if anybody cares can i tell you the lord sees and the lord cares he knows what you're doing he sees what you're doing in the dark even if no one else notices even if some dopey guys like pastor ty said i don't care god cares he knows every sacrifice you make from and he keeps track of that for thousands of years isn't that a comfort guys you know that eutychus our dead guy who fell out the window was embraced by paul do you know that he will live the rest of his days telling the story of how he fell down died somebody embraced him when there was no life in him and brought him back to life he's going to spend the rest of his days sharing that testimony which brings me to to a few application points that i want you to take today here's one of them who is your paul who is your paul who is the one that embraced you when there was no life to be found in you when you were saying i don't want anything to do with church i don't want anything to do with the lord i don't want anything now i i don't need anybody but somebody came and embraced you they put their arm around your shoulder and said brother it's okay i'll pray for you sister it's okay it's okay i'll be here with you who was your paul who was the one that embraced you when there was no life to be found in you and i'm going to give you an assignment this week if you can think of who that paul was in your life this week i want you to pick up your phone and call him call him and say thank you thank you brother thank you sister for for embracing me when there is no life to be found in me call don't just send them a message on facebook or on twitter or instagram call them and thank them and if you're having a hard time thinking well i haven't talked to him a long time just tell him you know what my pastor this weekend in church said i have to call you you can blame me that's okay call him tell him thank you for embracing you and believing in you and no one else did who's your paul now maybe you'd say well pastor ty i don't really have a paul there's no one who embraced me when there's no life in me i don't really have life in me now can i tell you take the risk then to step into one of our small groups at nho take a risk to step into one of the small groups where someone will put their arm around you and they will embrace you it's a lifeblood of the church take that risk if you've never had someone embrace you when there's no life in you and here's the next application is versus who is your paul next is who is your you typist who is your you typist who is the person that god has put in your life in whom there is no life who is the one that god has put around you that you need to put your arms around trusting that god can resurrect anyone that's what paul did embrace the dead guy trusting that god can resurrect that's what i'm challenging you to do who is that you titus in your life that you need to put your arms around and embrace believing that god can bring resurrection let me close with this is uh how many of you are walmart people any walmart people here a few of you yeah okay good target any target people here target a few of you guys yeah i'll pray for you guys my family and i were walmart people and as walmart people we go to walmart all the time and we'll pick up stuff that we need you know with toothpaste shampoo canned goods bread whatever and on the way out of every walmart you may have noticed this you may have not is as you're leaving walmart there's a wall that you walk past a wall i call it the wall of the lost i don't know what they call it there's a wall with pictures of kids that are lost have you seen me and here's what i try to do i try to stop and i try to pray i look at those kids and i try to pray for those kids and i pray for those families that kids would be brought home that families would be reconciled now sometimes i forget i do and sometimes i go to walmart i pick up my stuff and i just leave and i forget to pray for those kids but i try i try to pray for them and here's something and i hope you don't think less of me but i'm just going to be honest with you one of the things that i've struggled with is lord why doesn't my heart break more for those kids i mean why is it that i have to kind of make it a point to stop and pray for them why don't i just automatically have a heart for those kids and to see them come home and to pray for them why is it what's wrong with me lord and what's wrong with by the way everybody else is walking past happy with their shampoo but not stopping to pray for those lost kids what's wrong and as i pondered that i think the lord put it on my heart it's like the lord said ty the problem is they're not your kids they're not your kids and i thought about it and it's true it's true if they were my kids if my kids were lost i tell you what i would be all in and i would be all out 24 7 i would do anything i go anywhere i'd talk to anyone to bring my kids home whether it's a tv station a radio station putting up flyers just knocking on doors i would be all out to find my kids and bring them home because they're my kids and here's what the lord also stirred on my heart he said tai you would be all out if your kids were lost and god said to me i'm all out because there are a lot of my kids that are lost god said i am all in i came from heaven to earth to be born on bethlehem live a perfect life go to the cross die on the cross and be resurrected again i've done everything i could to bring my lost kids home and then it's like the lord stirred on me and said ty would you embrace my lost kids to help them come home you hope oahu would you embrace god's lost kids that they might come home that we might not be a church known for complaining about not having our rights met in the government by the government or by our leaders or whatever else but instead we would be a people that's known for embracing the folks around us in whom there's no life what if we were a church like that what if you were a believer like that and i want to challenge you this morning if you've maybe you're here and you've never given your life to jesus and you are one of god's lost kids and you're like i think jesus is stirring my heart to come on home would you allow me to pray for you and um maybe this morning let's bow our heads and close our eyes in the time of prayer maybe you're one of god's lost kids and you sense jesus calling you to come home if that's you would you would you pray this prayer with me and i'm going to invite all of us to pray this prayer together i'll give you the words but you add the heart nothing special about the words but you add the heart to it all right and we'll pray it out loud we pray together heavenly father thank you for jesus lord jesus thank you that you came that i might have life everlasting and now i pray this so you can hear me so those around me can hear so i can hear myself and so the devil can hear jesus christ is my lord he is my savior i belong to him and with head still bowed and i still closed if you said that prayer this morning maybe for the first time maybe for the hundredth time but you're giving your heart to jesus you're coming on home would you raise a hand and say yeah that's me that's me yeah good good god bless you brother i see you over there too best decision you can make good anybody else good good god sees your hearts good awesome thank you thank you god bless you guys you can put your hands down and lord jesus thank you for my brothers and sisters here today who are giving their hearts and their lives to you surrendering and coming on home thank you father that here in this house the lost are found and given a brand new start and with heads still bowed and eyes still closed i want you to think about the eutychus in your life the person in your life in whom there is no life someone that god wants you to take the risk to embrace as you think about them i just want to pray father over each one who's hearing my voice right now grant us the courage grant us the words grant us the resurrection power of the holy spirit that we might embrace the dead guys around us that knew life would come so thank you father for your faithfulness your mercies help us to be like paul's that reach out to the dead guy trusting in your resurrection power in jesus name amen

Channel: NewHopeOahu

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Length: 30min 51sec (1851 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021