To God Be The Glory (But who gets the credit?) with Doug Batchelor

amen you may be seated good morning and happy Sabbath it's good to be able to join together physically in a building for the first time in over three months and it's good to be able to see a lot of faces that have been familiar over the last three years that Denise and I our family and I have been here but it's good to be able to reconnect again in a real way and so I'm just so blessed and kept myself blessed it's good to be able to have those over here as well as those who are watching streaming from their homes as well you know I want to share a little story an experience that Denise and I had some time back and this goes back I guess 15 years plus and we were pastoring in the far north of Canada at the time and the conference I was a part-time evangelist and so the conference would pay to send our family or at least in this case Denise and I down to West Point of evangelism and that's back when it was really happy and amazing facts was there and he does written and and so on and so there's just a lot of positive things taking place towards public evangelism so it was one of the highlights of our our experience throughout the year and and so being in the far north and being able to come down in the middle of the winter being able to come down to Southern California was extra special and so when we went down there we actually booked the ticket a day early and we arrived there a day early we paid for the first night in the hotel we thought well pay for the first night in the hotel and we're gonna go to this all-american amusement park called Disneyland and and so we said we need to take in Disneyland and so let's go to Disneyland for a day early and and so we got there we got our hotel we had a car I think there was a pastor that one of our church members there at the time knew in the LA area they kind of lent us one of their old jalopies that they had extra in the in the driveway and so we had wheels and so we planned all ahead and of course on a passenger salary sometimes you have to think pretty wisely and how you spend your money and we heard that the food of Disneyland is very expensive and so we had gone to to subway the night before and we thought we're gonna be really smart we're gonna go and buy two vegetarian you know veggie Delite Subway's and and we're gonna pack those up and we're gonna have those in our backpack for lunch the next day at Disneyland and so we ordered of them as we always do put extra tomatoes lots of cucumber you know as many veggies you can possibly stuff in there and we were just so smart we just wrapped that up tightly in the bag and then we put it in our backpack and squish it with the rest of our stuff and and went on the different rides and whatever it was that we were enjoying until we got to lunch and then we got to lunch we are starving we open up the bag and you probably know where this is going if you've never experienced something like that but we've opened up into our great dismay we found that all those tomatoes have a lot of juice and the cucumbers have a lot of water content and those water content had kind of Mountain found itself seeping into the bread and so our Subway sandwiches were now soaking and the bread was soaked and I don't know about you but you know unless I'm starving it just came out of the desert after two weeks or not eating I cannot eat wet bread you know what bread to me is one of the biggest turn offs period when it comes to eating food and and so our two are distinct we had to kind of just discreetly throw that into the nearest trashcan and paint an arm on the leg or whatever it was that we had to pay to be able to eat and and continue to enjoy our day so the question that you're probably asking is why's pastor Shawn's sharing this story about his so canned bread and Subway sandwiches well I want to bring you to a verse as we consider our tithes and offerings here today it's found in Ecclesiastes chapter 11 and it's the first verse is the key verse and we're gonna read verses 1 and 2 but one is the key it says cast your bread upon the waters for you will find it after many days and so when I read that and as I was talking to my wife about that Denise last night I said you know your bread upon many waters off this is one of those no-brainers obviously God is not talking about literally casting your bread on many waters and after many days it's gonna come back to you they're gonna find it soaking wet and want to throw it in the trash anyway so obviously this is one of those things where God is speaking in symbolic terms he's using some metaphors to be able to describe and teach us some wisdom in this book of wisdom that really has nothing to do with literal bread but it's talking about bread symbolizing our our material wealth our our possessions our bank accounts our income as we have these things and since spread your waters on the many waters now we know in Bible prophecy water represents multitudes peoples tribes tongues and so on so we're talking about symbolizing peoples so spread your bread your your wealth your prosperity and whatever measure God brings it to you in whatever stage in your life and it says it'll come back to you you're gonna find it after many days and so there's a reciprocal law of life the more generous you are with helping others in different capacities whether that's physical needs emotional needs and of course in the church's case it's predominantly spiritual needs isn't it which is the most primary essential need that we really have and then verse 2 goes on giving a serving to seven and also to eight for you do not know what evil will be on the earth in other words you don't know what's ahead of you you never know what tomorrow is gonna bring this world can change overnight have you noticed that oK we've noticed it firsthand and we don't know where we're still holding our breath wondering where tomorrow's gonna bring because it's just coming at us so fast and and so some of us have find ourselves not with the income that we've been accustomed to and so we don't know what evil will come down upon the earth but as God in the measure that God has prospered us God has called us to be able to spread our bread upon many waters for there is a reciprocal law of life a theological spiritual law of life that tells us that the more generous we are in our giving the more those givings and that generosity comes back and blesses our life as we continue on through life so I'm glad that many of us have discovered that we continue to give this church continues to demonstrate its faithfulness I know the bulletin tells us that we are at 17,000 and change I think for this month so far I've just been notified that it's actually exceeded 20,000 already for the month of June and we're what about two-thirds of the way through so we're well on our way a meeting budget budgetary goal last month I think we exceeded it by some as well and and so this just demonstrates that regardless of the difficult times we're going through regardless of some of the uncertainties that we're facing that we are still demonstrating that our priority is to expand the kingdom of God and so glad to be able to be a part of that again as pastor jean has pointed out we have a we're gonna have deacons that will be available on the way out that will be collecting our offering we can't offer the offering plate right now but we can pray over the offering even now Father in Heaven we are thankful for the opportunity to be able to have this worship service we're thankful for the Bayside a church that has graciously offered their facilities that we might be able to find ourselves coming together even on a limited limited capacity Father to be able to worship you and to be able to smile at each other and courage each other connect with each other as we have in the past and we look forward to doing in the future please bless the offering that is being that it will be given thank you so much for the way that you work upon the hearts of all of us continue to work upon us and help us to live by these councils of giving and generosity that you have called us into and we thank you pray your blessing upon it in Jesus name we pray amen now normally we have the children come up at this time we're gonna ask that all the children that are with us here this morning that they just stay put where they are again because of some of the different guidelines and so on and we have with Cova 19 and such we're going to have pastor John I think it is oh yeah pastor John is gonna share a children's a story from the front god bless you Thank You pastor Shawn and good evening good morning I should say boys and girls evening somewhere in the world I'm sure but it's morning here and I'd like to share a children's story with all of our children today now if you don't know it I'll just tell you right now I love animals I like all kinds of animals but there is one kind of animal that I don't like matter of fact if I see this particular animal I'll probably run away from it like a scared little girl all right I don't like can you guess what animal this is I don't like snakes spiders no problem scorpions no problem snakes oh I don't like snakes give me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it now there's a reason why in the Bible the devil is likened unto a snake and so that's the reason why I don't like snakes I don't like snakes told but I'm gonna tell you a story about a snake or a couple snakes to illustrate a point the other day just this past week I received a email that had a little video you know you've got these phone videos that people take and this video showed a family in South Africa that were driving along and suddenly they stopped and they opened up the hood of their car and the dad went around and there was a massive snake alive curled up inside the engine compartment and he grabbed the snake behind the head and he dragged it out and this thing must have been over big fat snake must have been over eight maybe even 10 feet in length and he put it out there in the grass and I thought boy am I sure glad that didn't happen to me I don't know what I do but a few years ago I got a phone call from one of my church members I was pastoring in Missouri at the time he said pastor Russ I know you don't like snakes he says you can be so glad that you are not driving to work with me this morning I said why what happened he said while I live out in the country and it gets warm so I parked my car under a tree and sometimes I opened the windows so that the air could blow through and he said I got up early in the morning and climbed in my car and hid it out on the freeway and he said while he was driving along he noticed something move and he looked down and there was a big green snake that are coming through his window and began slithering around inside his car while he was driving and he said the worst part about it is the snake began to make its way over the center divider and started heading for his feet I don't know what I would do in that situation probably roll the car but he was able to get it over he wasn't as scared of snakes as I am and somehow he is able to coax the snake to get out of the car and I said yeah yeah sure enough you leave the windows open the snake is gonna come in and I got thinking about that if the devil is like a snake he is looking for ways to come in and our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we don't want the devil to come in to us so to speak but how does the devil try and get in how did the devil try to influence us it's rarely through our senses through what we see what we hear or what we do what we say what we feel and you know the devil is always trying to get in so just like that man who left his windows open and wasn't aware that the snake came in I thought of myself you know we as Christians need to make sure that we're aware and we're on our God that we keep the windows closed so to speak so that the devil can't get in are you with me of course the devil is gonna try and get in any way that he can but by God's grace we want to be aware and we want to keep the devil out and if we do that God will give us the strength and the grace and that's an important lesson I think for us as kids especially you're gonna be facing all kinds of things throughout your day and we want to say Lord is this a good thing for me to be looking at is this a good thing for me to be doing or is this opening an opportunity for the devil to try to come in and by God's grace we want to be faithful to him let's have a little water prayer your father will be grateful that you've promised to give us victory over the enemy over the devil and that we need not fear because he is with us is greater than Hugh is in the world father we are so grateful for your promises for your words and we're also grateful for the many wonderful animals you have made teaches us important lessons be with each of our young people our children that are you today and bless us through the rest of our service in Jesus name Amen how special music this morning is going to be brought to us by two of our Granite Bay young people so I'd like to invite Nathan to come forward and he's been gonna be accompanied on the piano [Music] [Music] please stand for scripture reading today's scripture can be found in Jeremiah 9 verses 23 and 24 thus says the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him who glories glory in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord love exercising loving-kindness and judgment and righteousness in the earth for Indies I delight says the Lord please remain standing I am I'm gonna kneel on the platform here as we pray I did notice and observed that we don't have carpet in front of you so if you want to pray and you're able I want to invite you to be able to join me in doing that and if not then just please be seated as we as as we go ahead and pray or you can remain standing as a way of praying before the Lord as well Father in heaven as we take this opportunity to be able to worship you in prayer we want to thank you for the Sabbath that you have given to us we thank you so much Lord for being able to honor you and and to be able to bless you even as we pray for your blessings upon us Father in Heaven we recognize you as the sovereign god of the universe the one who made heaven and earth the one who brings all things to existence and gives all things life in Bratten Lord we want to thank you so much for bringing us through this last week that we have experienced in different ways and different measures Lord we know that you know every detail you knew it before it ever came to pass and even those many of the things that are happening around us our surprises have been surprises to us Lord we know that none of it took you by surprise Father in Heaven we are thankful that you are the one that lifts up Kings and brings down Kings father in heaven we are thankful that you are the one that is sovereign over all things and the devil only has as much sway and as much decision-making power as you only grant it and father in heaven we are thankful that you use all things together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose father and ewa we are thankful that you have revealed to us that you were the god of all nations including this one and father in heaven that you are working things out according to the salvation of as many people as possible and father and have we want to pray that you will help us to work operation with that that you will help us to be able to fulfill your mission and purpose through us which is first and foremost to shine for you to shine for your gospel and in your gospel as we experience it to shine in the truth that has set us free that Father in Heaven that we might be an influence for those around us for those who have not made it as a saving decision for you for those who are asking some of them even right now the questions of the future and of life and the purpose of life and and where do we find our grounding in regards to our morality and our ethics and Father and have we want to pray that you will bless each and every one of us in our you know our mission to be able to influence others for your kingdom god we want to also of course lift up our needs before you Lord for we are weak but you were strong we want to pray God in heaven that you will fulfill your purpose is through our challenges and that you will bring solutions to them according to your wisdom and according to your timing father we're thankful for some of the different successful surgeries that took place amongst our people over the last week I want to pray God that you will continue to give them recovery and healing I want to pray God for those who are facing surgery or different health needs that you will help them to find those solutions as quickly as possible father we pray God in heaven for each household and marriage that is dealing with different stresses and strains that have happened because of the pandemic and its implications father in heaven that you will watch over that we pray for our nation Lord in regards to the different protests that are taking place and and father for all principles and purposes that need to be played out in our nation in regards to all races and all people we want to pray God in heaven that you will help us to be able to learn and that good will win and that we will make progress as much as possible in this nation father and so father we lift these things up before you we're thankful that even though they are much bigger than we are that they are not bigger than you and so we put it into your hands in Jesus name we pray these things amen good morning when a welcome each of you it's good to see the people of God coming together face to face now this is part of his plan the Bible says do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together and I write I respect and realize that a pandemic is an exception to that but it's still good to get together and wonder well we know what we have some here in the balcony some here on the ground want to thank the Bayside Adventure Church for being so kind to make these facilities available and the restrictions we're dealing with is not their fault these are government issues and and so we just really appreciate all the work and sacrifice they're putting into making it possible for us to also stream to our friends that are watching on Facebook or on YouTube or even a-f-t-v and we are living in unprecedented extraordinary tumultuous times and just tells us that the day of the Lord is coming near you know our message for today is gonna be dealing with a simple gospel principle that the Lord has put on my heart this week to God be the glory but who gets the credit you know if you go to Washington DC there in the middle of the city you've got that beautiful monument called the Washington Monument how many of you have been to the nation's capitol and seen that before have any of you been up in the monument they took me on a school trip now you know there was an earthquake in 2011 and there were a bunch of tourists that were in the monument you know it's 555 feet tall and you can actually see the video footage online but one of the security cameras when it started to shake and how all the people became very frightened and they're running to evacuate the building as quickly as they can well it made some significant cracks in the Washington Monument and so it was basically under repair for years only recently it was reopened again for the public after going through millions of dollars in repairs but something very interesting happen little amazing fact you may not know the Washington Monument took a long time to build it actually they stopped construction for 40 years because they ran out of money you'll notice it's two colors because when they started continuing construction the marble they couldn't get it from the same quarry anymore and so the top half is actually a darker color than the lower half but at the very top of the monument they wanted to put they needed a lightning rod and they wanted to put some metal up there that would have a capstone that would honor the architects and think the people that made it possible and they got a hundred ounces of aluminum now you and I throw that out the window these days I hope you don't but you know what I mean but aluminum was very precious when they dedicated the monument it was very rare worth as much as silver so they put this aluminum it's like a little pyramid up there and around the sides of it three sides if they put the names of the architects and different people they were thinking but they dedicated the east side to two words allow us dale now do you know what that means glory or praise to God well very few people get to fly over in a helicopter close enough to read what's actually on the top of the monument so they made a duplicate of it that is in a little Museum in the bottom of the monument so when you go by and you look at the history of the monument you can see the the aluminum capstone but you know that after they did the renovation there used to be a little plaque that told the history of how it has praise to God on the top of the monument but the Park Service for whatever reason someone there said you know we don't want to mix religion and government they deleted the part about glory to God and they took the side of the little aluminum capstone and they pushed it against the back of the wall so nobody could see in the glass display what was there they're basically trying to hide the truth about the glory of God and you wonder if if something's happening to a country that is ashamed of any Christian roots so that we want to eclipse or high in the glory of God but what happened there in Washington DC isn't that different from human nature you know we often get our glory mixed up with God's glory and we try to put ourselves upfront you know if you go to the book of Mark chapter 9 verse 33 and you'll find this story or something related to it and most of the Gospels after going down the road sometimes Jesus would walk out in front of the disciples and they would follow him and they talk among themselves you can't always fit 12 or 13 people side-by-side on a little trail and Jesus overheard the disciples having a heated debate as they were on their way to Capernaum him and it says and when he was in the house he said to them what was it that you were disputing among yourselves on the road now did he know he knew but they kept silent and he were ashamed for on the road they disputed among themselves who would be the greatest now if the disciples struggle with whose gonna be the greatest the Christians ever worry about that do we ever wonder who's gonna get the credit and who's gonna get the glory I'd like to think that it would never happen in a church but it does they kept silent on the road jesus said if anyone desires to be first he shall be last of all and servant of all Paul says in Philippians 2:3 let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind and let each one esteem others better than himself let each one of you look out not for his own interests but for the interests of others you know a lot of strife and a lot of problems have come into companies and workplaces and churches because we're worried about who's gonna get the credit and it's not so much concerned about will God get the glory but do we get appreciated now it's okay - what appreciation I think it was Harry Truman said there's no limit to what people can accomplish if people are not concerned about who gets the credit but that's not always true it's a wonderful thing you're working towards a common goal and everybody's working you just want the goal to succeed our church is working together on a project of evangelism and you just want God to get the glory and people to get baptized and nobody's worried about who gets the credit but that doesn't mean that we should not be appreciative of each other or recognize one another it's good to give people encouragement it's good to get people accomplished to give them a compliment and someone said but compliments are like perfumes sniff do not swallow it's ok don't have a little bit and aren't we all thankful when someone appreciates us I mean that's good don't you want to do better if you're recognized but ultimately the glory should always be going to God you know when Christ began his ministry he took this problem on head-on and if you go to the Gospel of Mark chapter 6 you'll see what I'm talking about and start with verse 1 Jesus was dealing with that kind of a holy hypocrisy problem he said take heed that you do not your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them get the glory of man or the credit of men otherwise you have no reward from your father in heaven you can't have it both ways if you're doing a good thing don't do it so that you'll be praised by men you may get the praise of men but then you must delete the praise of God by the way he didn't say if you ever give he said when you give then you go down to verse 5 Matthew 6 verse 5 and when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites didn't say if you pray when you pray for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they might be seen of men and that reminds us of something in the picture on the screen about that Pharisee who went to the front and he prayed out loud so everyone can hear lord I thank you I'm not like other men and and his praying was a spectacle he wanted to get the praise of men are you probably seeing people before that when they're praying publicly they're not praying so much you don't since their heart is going out after the heart of God there are little to conscious of the people listening to their prayer as I've seen parents in family worship they're praying for the benefit of the kids listening and dear lord thank you for helping Johnny clean his room and make his bed and you wonder are they talking to the Lord are they praying for the benefit of the person listening jesus said when you pray don't be like the hypocrites they like to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they might be seen of men assuredly I say to you they have the reward although get is the praise of men moreover he said when you fast do not be like the hypocrites for the sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that and this is 4:16 they disfigure their faces so they might appear to men to be fasting again he doesn't say if you fast but when you fast so that fasting to something Christians should do I say they they have the reward they're more concerned with getting earthly credit than doing it for the benefit of God's glory and you just wonder what Jesus have spent time talking about that if it wasn't a problem in human nature which means it's something we probably all wrestle with we might want to do the right things for the wrong reason it's like the old greedy Scotsman who was in church one day and the Deacons going by and they're collecting the offering and the plate you know and the plate goes right The Scotsman reaches in his pocket and he drops in what he thought was a penny but and he looked he realized he accidentally put a quarter in the plate and he said all I didn't mean that Deacon said once you put it there it's now God's property you can't take it back well what scotsman said oh well well I'll get credit for it in heaven and the Deacon said now you're gonna get credit for a penny because that's what you wanted to give so we've got this the holy hypocrisy we all wrestle with craving credit can bring in division you know the story Samuel I'm sorry King Saul and David they got along fine at first matter of fact it says Saul loved David and made him his armor-bearer and called for him frequently to play and sing and settle down his troubled soul but one day when Saul and David were coming back from a victorious battle against the Philistines the women as they often do they came out with songs and tambourines to celebrate the victory and encourage the soldiers and it happened as they were coming home David was returning this is First Samuel 18 6 when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistines that the women had come out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King saw with tambourines and with joy and musical instruments so the women sang and they danced you notice it doesn't say the women dance with a man the women used to dance with the women when they'd celebrate they sing in the dance and said Saul has slain his thousands not Anna who wrote this song but it wasn't very smart the second verse and David is 10 thousands and now King Saul when he heard that he was very angry and the singing displeased him and he said they have a scribe to David 10,000th and to me they've only ascribed thousands he's getting credit from word than me now what can he have more than the kingdom so he began to eye David from that day forward you know why Cain killed his brother Abel Cain was resentful but God gave Abel credit for his sacrifice and Cain's sacrifice did not get credit because it was not the right sacrifice so he got angry with his brother proverbs 16 28 a perverse man so strife and a whisper separates the best of friends it can be very careful what you say to others you don't want to be spreading anything singing the wrong verse that's gonna cause division Paul talks about this in the New Testament church 1st Corinthians 3 verse 3 through 7 Paul said for you are all still carnal for where they there is envy and strife and divisions among you are you not carnal and behaving like mere men see Christians are not mere men and women we have a spirit from God that we have a different attitude he said are you not behaving like just mere men for when one says I am of Paul and another one says I am of apollos are you not carnal now what was going on here is two of the greatest preachers in the early church were Paul and Apollo's Apollo's was converted matter of fact the Bible says he was very eloquent and mighty in the scriptures and probably Apollo's if you looked at him and listened to him it may have been more of a powerful preacher than Paul in some ways and Paul II said you know I'm kind of small and my voice is weak when I'm with you but Paul was spirit-filled and I mean he worked many wonderful miracles and so some were baptized by Apollo's and some were baptized by Paul and they both worked in Corinth and what's happening here is those that were fighting under the banner of Apollo's began to say well I've got the Apollo's brand I'm better than you you just got the Paul brand and Paul's nearsightedness and I said oh no I'm under paul paul was an original he saw g and they begin to divide the church under these teams that's a very kind of a rudimentary way to explain it but it was bringing in tewevision and paul's policy look this is not coming from apollo sarai but he said what difference does it make who is paul and who is Apollo's but we are ministers through whom you believed and the Lord gave to each one I planted Apollo's watered but God gave the increase so he seen who gets the glory God should get the glory so the neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters but it's God who gives the increase Peter says first Peter 1:24 all flesh is as grass and the glory of man is like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls away do we as Christians have anything really to brag about what are we without Christ without him I can do nothing now used to live in Texas on a couple of different occasions in Texas is very proud of their state and it is you know it's a great state I like Texas but it's funny when you go to Texas you'll see Maps everywhere and it's got the United States but they redraw the map so they got this big map of Texas and there's a little bitty side of the East Coast and a little bitty side or the west coast and I will ask is a little bitty map up there and Texas just fills the middle of the US and it is a big state when you drive across Texas I remember seeing these signs and you'd see the sign and it would say the Sun is or is you think what does that mean then you go mile you see another sign it says the Sun is set and then you go another mile you see a sign that says and I am still another mile goes by in Texas yet the Sun is R is the Sun is set and I am still in Texas yet because it is true you can drive 24 hours and not get through Texas it's huge I heard about this Texas rancher that was visiting a friend who was a farmer in Australia and as he went around showing him the farm the Texan couldn't help himself he says your tractors can't believe how small your tractors are you said our tractors in Texas are ten times as big as your tractors here he shows him his car he says you call that a pickup truck that's a little Japanese rice burner why in Texas and he kept talking about how everything was bigger in Texas and then all of a sudden a kangaroo hop by and the Texas stood there speechless for a minute and he said to his Australian farmer he says well I got to admit you're mice here are much bigger than ours yeah pride you know in the books Christ's object lessons page 154 the evil that led to Peters fall and shut up the Pharisee from communion with God is proving the ruin of thousands today there's nothing so offensive to God and so dangerous to the human soul is pride and self sufficiency of all sins it is the most hopeless the most incurable and you know it makes you unhappy if we are always worried and craving attention and credit you will never be satisfied what caused the rebellion in heaven the devil wanted the glory that belongs to God now I'll tell you you might be wondering what pastor doesn't what in the world made you with all that's going on in the world today why would you talk about this first of all because it's a gospel sermon and it's a practical problem everybody deals with but something specific happened I have a friend and he is building a cabin site up in the woods it's on a hunting ranch way out in the mountains it's about four hours from here if you drive straight through and he needed some help no I bulldozer I've done that for years and he said Doug you know I don't know he says there's a bunch of tree stumps and boulders we're at a beautiful place up on an old beautiful view and he said so I don't know if you know how to get that done and we got someone coming in to put in footings about the building sites not ready and I realized I had nothing serious on the schedule Monday and so I said look I'm gonna head up and I'm gonna try and help my friend put in this building site so I went up to him all by myself I mean he wasn't there I'm all by myself I've got a run a bulldozer that's 40 years old that has not had service in like eight years I don't know if it's gonna start and I don't know if it's gonna dig up these big old stumps that they left in the ground and get the rocks out of the ground and be able to smooth it all off and I'm all by myself I could get hurt no one would know for a week where to find me Karin knew where she knows where I'm an can't we find me and so anyway put him up there and I thought you know that night I was gonna wake up the next day and do the work I thought that night I thought it'll be a miracle if everything works and I can get this done and a little bit of time I've got left but I thought I've been reading a book with the family about prayer and says God answers prayer says all right lord I need a miracle someone's coming up next week to put in the footings we got to get the building site done said you're just gonna have to bless and everything's gonna have to work perfectly for this to happen so I got up that morning and I service the machine and I jumped on it was a beautiful day it rained that night which was a blessing because now there's no dust it also was a blessing because now the ground was soft and the stumps came up and I got on the it started up without a problem it's a miracle and I went up there and everything just came together now how many of you have had a day where everything went wrong just like no matter and matter of fact you felt I may as well go back to bed something happened wrong this day I got up on the wrong side of the bed or something how many of you have had a day where everything went right there not that often but this was one of those days it was beautiful morning had a beautiful breakfast the machine ran got all the work done not only to get all the work done I was able to push in a line for him to put in the water line pushing a road up to the building site and I I thought to myself he's not gonna believe how much I got done so asked me later I'll show you pictures on my phone and then I heard a voice a little voice said Doug you're a really good cat operator you're you managed to do in one day what it would take other people a week to do and then the spirit spoke to me and said what you're sure proud you asked me to bless and I blessed I've moved the mountains for you quite literally I did all this work I made everything work well if I hadn't blessed nothing would have happened I thought oh Lord what's wrong I always forget to give you the glory and then I thought okay when I talk to my friend I'm gonna make sure Lord and tell him the reason I got so much done is because you I promised God to remember to give him the glory because my friend is not so much a Christian so sure enough later that week he goes up there I get a text and it simply says Wow then he calls me a little while later he said I can't believe you are able to get those stumps how did you move those boulders and you got the roads in he said this is incredible you did this in one day and I took a deep breath I thought yeah I'm uh nothing for me you know I don't know I just I said yeah yeah it was great everything and then I hung up with him and all of a sudden the Lord said see there you go again and I was so smitten with guilt at my pride how easily I kind of took the glory for something that was an answer to prayer that God clearly did now this that you won't understand but I knew it it was a miracle that everything came together I texted him back I said look there's more to the story I got to tell you said I got on my knees that morning and prayed that everything would go well and everything went well and it what you see up there right now was a miracle and he said you know what I understand because he realized there's no way to get all that done in one day unless the God really blessed I began to think a lot just about how many times I steal the glory from God big things little you know we're all craving love everyone wants credit we all want to be appreciated we yearn for it and sometimes in our effort to feel like we're being affirmed we leave out the one who really deserves the glory for anything good now back to the Bible sometimes I think that even the world's desire to teach evolution is trying to take credit for God's creation it's almost like man created himself rather than believe in a God who's always existed we're gonna say we came from nothing it's God who has come from nothing so really we're doing that Psalm 100 verse 3 know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that has made us and not we ourselves you've really got two choices either God is your God or your your God thank Spurgeon is one who said idolatry is really another form of self worship someone else said that when the head swells the brain shrinks Luther used to like telling a story about a proud wood picker who one cloudy day was tapping away at a tall dead tree and suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the tree and it exploded and the wood picker flew away and he shouted to all the other birds look what I did look what I did there's a power of God and he was taking the credit for it now it is human nature that sometimes you want to blow our own trumpet and we sound a little bit you know God blesses you get something done you achieve something and God bless his hard work he blesses diligence but you can't do anything without God Nebuchadnezzar he said is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power for the honor of my majesty and what happened when the king took credit for all his success it says in that hour he lost his mind yeah when your head swells your brain shrinks that's what happened to Nebuchadnezzar proverbs 27 to let another praise you and not your own mouth a stranger and not your own lips it never is appealing to hear somebody extol their virtues I remember driving down the road one day I should back up like most pastors I hear other preachers and sometimes I hear a good sermon illustration I think I'm going to use that and I remember I was preaching one day when CD Brookes the famous evangelist was in the congregation and I talked to him in the back afterward I think I was doing Sabbath school and then he was preaching that day and so we met in the back and he said you know that story you told said yeah he said well that was yours he said it's now ours and I was flattered that he would think that he's going to use one of my illustrations what I didn't tell him is I borrowed it from another pastor but every now and then I think one up and I've got a few Linda's illustrations I actually sat down and thought a long time about something and I remember this is one illustration I won't tell you about it but this is a sermon illustration that I've used several times and evangelistic programs and and I'm driving down the road and I'm listening to a famous evangelical pastor who's on the radio he's all over the country he's got TV programs and I hear him use my sermon illustration and I started looking around there was nobody in my car to tell I wanted someone to tell I wanted to pull people over and say listen to this but I thought what is it about us what is it about our natures that when we feel like we've done anything noteworthy we want others to know we want to get the glory we want to blow our trumpet we feel like we need the credit you know you'll never get enough to really bring you happiness I heard a story about this turtle he lived up on a pond in Canada and he heard the geese say they're getting ready to fly south cuz it was gonna get cold and this a very loud proud turtle he didn't want to stay with all the other boring Turtles and just hunker down in the mud all winter long and he went to the geese and he said look guys he said I'm not like these other turtles I can't stand the cold winter mud says take me with you they said that's impossible you have no wings he's but I have an idea you could help me since I'm not a big turtle so I have a big mouth but I'm not a big turtle and he said if each of you will take a willow stick in your mouth one stick each of you hold it in your mouth I will bite on with my mouth and then when you take off we'll all skip along you won't notice my weight at all and we can fly and you can carry me where it's warmer so the geese looked at each other and they said fair enough so they take off from the pond and sure enough they're airborne and they're going along and as they're gaining altitude they flew over a group of campers they looked up and one of them said loudly to his friend will you look at that another one said I've never seen anything like that another one said well that was a brilliant idea and then one of them said I wonder which of the three thought of that the turtle could not resist he opened his mouth and said me and he turned into turtle guacamole sometimes we can't help but tell other people because we want the credit you may have heard the story about someone that came to David after Saul died you know Saul killed himself but there was an Amalekite who came on the battlefield and he saw the king Saul was dead and he knew that he had been chasing David and so he took kings crown and his bracelet and he brought it to David and he wanted to get credit for killing saw he said yes Saul was already wounded and he knew he's gonna die so I killed him he thought David was gonna reward him David said you lifted up your hand against the Lord's anointed and David had one of his soldiers slay the Amalekite tried to take credit for something he didn't actually do backfired you know I heard you've read about Ananias and Sapphira so you know why they died they wanted credit for giving more than they really gave isn't that right they said we're gonna only give so much but we want credit for giving more it's like the one who blows the trumpet when they make a gift to try to look better than they really are I heard about a a sting operation in San Jose they were having a terrible problem a few years ago with gangs spraying graffiti it was costing the city a million dollars a year to clean up all of the graffiti from the spray-paint you know and some of these gang graffiti artists think of themselves as artists so the police came up with an idea they started a sting operation and what they did as they said they pretended they had undercover agents pretending they were from Hollywood and they said we're making a documentary about some of the brilliant graffiti artists and they circulated kind of on the underground that they were going to be in this storefront and they're gonna be taking auditions and all of these gang members that were out there spray tagging everything with their paint they came and they applied and they said yeah well we're gonna give you a free trip to Hollywood and there's gonna be an award and we would like to just see some of your work can you show us some of your work and we have some sample boards here and over a period of several weeks they collected the main offenders that were bragging about it because they wanted credit they could not resist the lure of Fame even though they knew what they were doing was illegal with big fines attached to it and then even as some of them were being fingerprinted and handcuffed and they finally arrested 46 of them they're saying does this mean we're not going to Hollywood they wanted so much the recognition when asked if they were gonna do it again they said we're not saying but when you have the Holy Spirit it is possible to have the right attitude about credit where you want to give the glory to God now I'm amazed at the story of Joseph here he's been in prison for years he's brought to the Pharaoh's Palace the Pharaoh said and this is Genesis 41 I've heard a dream that there's no one like you who can interpret it I've heard it said of you that you can understand a dream now Joseph he's got a chance he's been in jail he wants to get out of jail he should say yes I've got this special power but Joseph takes the risk of humbling himself giving God the glory and maybe not getting out of jail and he says it is not in me Wow what humility it's not in me God will give Pharaoh an answer a piece he gave the glory to God and you know what he not only got out of jail he became Prime Minister humility He Who humbles himself what's the rest of that will be exalted Daniel chapter 2 now you remember King Nebuchadnezzar's mad because the wise man can't tell him what he dreamed and they can't tell him the meaning of the dream so he sent his guard out to round up and execute all the wise men and and Daniel goes to Arioch the captain of the guard he says this is too hasty bring me to the king I will interpret the King's dream and so Arioch comes in before the king and you know what is it what does the guard say he says I have found a man I found a man of the captive of Judah that will make known to the king his interpretation he wanted to take the credit actually Daniel found him and the King answered and said to Daniel whose name was Bell to Shazzer are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation do you have the power can you do this and Daniel answered and said in the presence of the king the secret that the King demands the wise men astrologers magicians soothsayers cannot declare to the king but I can that's not what he said but there is a God in heaven to God be the glory amen first Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 who makes you differ from another and what do you have that you did not receive now if you did indeed receive it then why do you boast as though you had not received it what good thing could any of us do without God giving us life in wisdom what talent or gift can you really take credit for even the desire to improve on your talents every good and perfect gift comes from God and yet we still take the credit now Christian is a follower of whom it's amazing to me how often jesus healed somebody Matthew 9:29 she touches these two blind men he says according to your faith be it to you and their eyes were opened and then Jesus sternly warned them see that no one knows it don't tell anybody about this but they departed and they spread the news everywhere now if I healed two blind men I would call the newspaper and I'd hire a publicist and I'd have a press conference and I mean what do you want to keep that secret Matthew 8 verse 2 and a leper came and worshiped him saying lord if you're willing you can make me clean Jesus put out his hand and touched him said I am willing be clean and he said see that you tell nobody so often Jesus did these miracles and he said don't tell anybody and he really meant it he wanted all glory to go to God you know I'm gonna take a moment longer here because there is one more thing I thought I'd bring here attention one of the most astounding examples in the Bible of humility the Bible says Moses was the meekest man and all the earth but he wasn't immune from the same challenge as you and I face something interesting happens in exodus 33 you may want to look this up Exodus 33 12 then Moses said to the Lord see you say to me bring this people up but you've not let me know whom you will send with me yet you said I know you by name and you've also found grace in my sight now therefore I pray if I found grace in your sight notice this show me now your way that I might know you that I might find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people God said my presence will go with you and I will give you rest then he said if your present doesn't go with us then don't bring me up from here how will it be known that your people have found grace in your sight except you go with us so we'll be separate your people and I from all the people who are on the earth so the Lord said to Moses I will do this thing that you spoken for you have found grace in my sight and I know your name alright now God has just said look you found grace in my sight Moses I've heard your intercession I'm not going to leave these people after their sin I love you and now Moses prays a prayer that if you people of dear Dupre please show me your glory now when Joshua prayed the Sun Stood Still that wasn't as important as when Moses said show me your glory think about what an outrageous audacity this is that a man would say show me the glory of God and a reason we're separated from God knows we can't endure his gold glory it would destroy us when Hezekiah prayed the Sun go backwards that was not as big a prayer as when Moses said show me your glory the most important thing a man can do is to reflect the glory of God and God said to Moses no man can see my face and live but I'll have all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord and you know that beautiful passage where it says the Lord passed before me go to chapter 34 and his word it happens the Lord cast before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abounding and goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and yet by no means clearing the guilty because he is also not only a loving father and a merciful God he's a judge and a king and Moses got a glimpse of the glory of God now you know what it says no man can see my face but you will see my hind parts a king it talks about the Lord having a train it's like a king has got a train behind him and when it says Isaiah saw him on his throne it says in the Train of his robe filled the temple and it's like the glory of the robe of God he saw him from the back and it was more than he can endure but the glory of God which is emanating and reverberating his character is what he finally declares Moses saw something that no man has ever seen he had a picture of God that no man has ever had only a few people have really experienced the glory of God Moses Elijah Enoch there in the presence of God someday we'll see him face to face now do you know why Moses couldn't enter the promised land why didn't Moses get to lead the people into the prom because God said to him look I want you to speak to the rock and Moses got so upset he went before the people he gathered them together he said shall we bring you water you rebels out of the rock and he said shall we him and Aaron and he struck the rock and he lost his temper God said to Moses later he said because you did not glorify me because you did not honor me you did not give me the credit you can't enter the Promised Land Oh Moses played with him like like Paul played about the thorn and aside finally God said to Moses don't ask me about this anymore I'm not changing my mind I'll let you look at the Promised Land from mount nebo but because I gave you a picture of my glory like nobody else has ever had and then yet when you had such an easy opportunity to glorify me during that miracle you took the credit for yourself if Moses can mess up in this category then how many of us are immune it's something I think we need to pray about every day am i living for the glory of God whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do whatever you say wherever you go whatever you watch whatever you read if you're a Christian we should be doing what reflecting the glory of your honor this is the the way that Jesus lived his life it was all for the honor and the glory of God you know Adam and Eve when they sinned it was amazing they lived for the glory of God but after they sinned now they wanted to give the credit to everyone else for their sin we want the good credit but we don't want the bad credit and God said what have you done who told you you were naked Adam said that woman you gave me she made me do it and the woman says it's the snake that you made and suddenly the snake can't speak and he doesn't have a leg to stand on they wanted to share the credit at that point and they didn't want the credit for their sins who took the credit for Arsen Isaiah 53 verse 5 he was wounded for our transgressions and he was bruised for our iniquity and the chastisement of our peace was upon him see this is the gospel Jesus gets credit for everything bad we did and we get credit for everything good he did he's giving us His goodness and His righteousness and he's taking our badness and the book desire of Ages it says in verse 25 Christ was treated as we deserve that we might be treated as he deserves he was condemned for our sins in which he had no share that we might be justified by his righteousness in which we had no share he suffered the death that was ours that we might receive the life that was his with His stripes we are healed and a Philippians tells us Jesus who humbled himself the most will be the most glorified and are closed with this verse Philippians 2 verse 5 through verse 11 let this mind be in you it doesn't come naturally we need to seek it out and let it be in us that was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant who was greatest among you but the one that serves and coming in the likeness of men and being found in the appearance of a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to those who are in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is God to the glory Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father and this is why it tells us that in Revelation all the creatures in heaven are saying worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea I heard them saying blessing and honor and glory be to him who was on the throne into the lamb forever and ever well if someday the earth is going to be inhabited by those who give all glory to God that probably needs to be the attitude of Christians today now we understand that real happiness comes from living for his glory that's good to appreciate people we should not be slighted if we don't feel like we're appreciated because usually that's our pride that's wounded and really live in a way where any good thing that we have we recognize it comes from God and give him the glory that's my desire I'm doing better but I bet I have to work on it again this week seems like it's it's a constant battle how about you to remember to give God the glory you want to live for his glory let's ask him to help us then we're gonna sing about it father in heaven we thank you for this message that just talks about the basics of what it means to be a Christian to live for your glory and Lord help us remember that this is a a crucial characteristic of the redeemed that even if somebody is close to you as Moses could forget to give you the glory and how prone we might be Lord we do not want to be excluded from the promised land we want to go in help us to have that new heart give us your spirit in your mind give us the attitude of Joseph and Daniel that are always naturally quick to give you the credit that it becomes such second nature for us to witness for you and glorify you bless us for that purpose not just here in church but through the week too to give you credit and to glorify you and turn our friends and others to you I thank you Lord for your presence here we pray for your holy spirit be with each person we ask this in Christ's name Amen I want to say goodbye to those who are watching online for those here we're gonna sing our closing song to God be the glory and then pastor also have our benediction let's stand as we sing to God be the glory great things he has done so loved the world that he gave us who yielded his life and atonement for sin and open the life gate Omega we praise the Lord praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord let the people reach oh come to the Father through Jesus give him the glory rating see a star Oh perfect redemption the purchase of to every believer the promise of [Music] this defender who truly believes movement from Jesus apart and receives praise the Lord praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord [Music] o come to the Father Jesus [Music] great things he have told us to rejoice Jesus but pure and higher and greater will be [Music] transport when Jesus [Music] Oh to the Father [Music] let's bow our heads for prayer dear father in heaven we are indeed so grateful for your goodness to each of us the way you have worked in our hearts in our lives and with our family providing our needs father so often we forget that you are the great one who has provided all things it's so easy for us to try and take attention to ourselves when all the glory goes to you thank you for the reminder this morning that indeed you are worthy thank you for your love for your many blessings and thank you Lord for this opportunity that we've had to be able to gather together and worship you place each of those who are here we ask a blessing and those who have joined us online continue to guide us keep us all safe and healthy and we ask this in Jesus name Amen please be seated again we'd like to thank you for joining us here first time together together as a congregation just a couple of quick announcements just a reminder that offering will be collected the Deacons are standing by as you exit the facility we're gonna ask that you use the same doors that you use when you come in you can just kind of file out that same way we also ask that you limit your visiting as much as possible here in the facility you welcome of course to visit out

Channel: Doug Batchelor

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Length: 74min 5sec (4445 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 20 2020