Bramsen, Nate: York Regional Conference Make a Difference ~ There! 03

Thank you very much. Wonderful, wonderful lunch, and appreciate all the preparation that's gone into today and making everything possible. As we begin this afternoon session, I want to make one brief comment from this morning that I didn't quite get to, that I feel is vital in putting a little balance into the whole situation. And I was talking with one sister during the break between, and, and I appreciated our conversation, but specifically it's this, that when we talked, when we referred back to seeing the world through eternal eyes, and specifically I was giving the example of my prayer to see Saddam before the throne and, and seeing his salvation, let me just say this very clearly. We're not condoning evil. We are not saying that it should be forgotten, and we're not saying that there are not consequences for sin. At the same time, we should not have the same perspective as the world, and we should see the soul along with the consequences that come and justice that must be served. So let us not just group them together and simply put them in one category of elimination, but rather, let us realize that, yes, sin must be paid for, but let's pray for God's mercy before it is. So I just wanted to mention that as my heart was thinking about that for a few minutes. And don't look overseas for that either. We have it in our country. We specifically have it with the position that Christians take within this country. And so often we look at groups of people, for instance, and I'll mention them straightforward, we we look at homosexuals and we look at abortionists, and for some reason we look at them through a different light, and we feel that our goal as the church is to get them on track, and so all we have is straight people going to hell and mothers that carry their babies for nine months. But remember, the gospel is what transforms lives. We must continue to share that. That is the power of God's salvation, and once we share that with a lost and dying world, those external factors will change because Christ transforms from the inside. So just wanted to start this afternoon like that, but going on down to the fourth point on your handout, we have our priorities for making a difference in this world, our priorities for making a difference both here and there. And once again, if you have your Bibles, First Corinthians chapter two is the place to be. First Corinthians chapter two. And let's just start out by reading five verses at the beginning of this chapter. Paul speaking says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. First point that perhaps we could take a glance at is this, that in our priorities, when we're seeking to make a difference in this world, both here and specifically there. I believe that we all have to go across a bridge, and that bridge is the bridge from the knowledge of God to personally knowing God. Now, I realize at salvation that happens to a degree, but throughout our entire life as a believer in Christ, we should never be satisfied with where we are in our relationship with him, but rather every day should be one step closer to becoming like him. We know in First John three two that when we see him, we will be like him because we shall see him as he is. But nonetheless, we should make it our goal, we should make it our aim. We should strive to become more and more like our Lord and Savior every day. We need to go from a knowledge of him to truly knowing him. In Galatians four nine, it says this, and you can turn if you want, but otherwise just listen. It says, but now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage? And so often we get to, we know who he is, we know what he's done for us, and we believe it, and we love him, but yet somehow we do not embrace who he truly is. And I believe that when we come to the realization, by no means am I standing here telling you I have come to realization. No way. But as we continually learn more and more who he is and how precious he is to us, our whole life, the goal and aspirations will change because they cannot stay the same. That's why Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That word to know is to draw attention to. I determine not to draw attention to anything among you except this one thing, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Is that what your life draws attention to? When people see you, when they hear your words, does it take them to the cross of Christ? Does the cross of Christ demand an answer to the call of Christ? Have we answered that call? Paul certainly realized that that is the central element. There was nothing else of equal importance except the cross and the call of Jesus Christ. But moving on, the second point that we have in our outline, embracing the power of God. And we certainly covered this a bit earlier as far as speaking of the power of God and realizing the centrality of it to who we are. But again, I just wanted to mention the fact that we must make sure everything comes back to that power of God, realizing that the power is not in and of ourselves, and there's nothing of ourselves. There's a great hymn that's sung quite often in assemblies, and the verse says, empty that thou shouldst fill me, a clean vessel in thy hand, with no power, but as thou givest graciously with each command, channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us every day and every hour. Channels only, blessed Master. That's what we all are in this room, and that puts us all on a level playing field. As our brother mentioned, we've all been given gifts as believers in Christ. We all have our role to play. Can a foot say to the hand that you're not as important? No. Without one, the other one struggles. We need each other, but let us remember who we are, and let us remember the power of God, that we are but channels, channels and vessels in the hand of a mighty God who seeks to use us, wants to use us, and will use us if we choose to follow. We must take the attention away from ourselves and to our source of power, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then there's another thing here. We need to be willing to release all hindrances. And there's no need to stay on this point very long. We could elaborate, but you know specifically where I'm going with this. If you looked at the references which are in the outline, we have Hebrews twelve one. You all know that one by heart. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run the race that is set before us with endurance. It says not just to lay aside the sin, but the weights. Anything that is getting in our way from our walk with Christ and following his call. O- over to Luke chapter fourteen, and there's no way that we could make these words any more powerful. Let me just read these words without comment. This is what I believe our Lord would say concerning this point, releasing all hindrances. And when I read these verses, they're not very soft, but it's the word of God. And we don't like to come to this passage because if it is true, then it demands something of us. But let's read the words of Christ. Verse twenty five of Luke fourteen, he said, now great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a hou- a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it began to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king going to war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks condition of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. Releasing all hindrances. We're going on to the next. Acknowledging the urgency of the call. Acknowledge- acknowledging the immediate response which is needed in today's world pertaining to the call of Christ. In John chapter four, here our Lord had just finished with the Samaritan woman, and he was speaking to his disciples. And he says this in verse thirty four, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Verse thirty five, do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white unto harvest. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I have sent you to reap for that which you have not labored. Others have labored, and you have l- you have entered into their labors. Actively acknowledging the urgency of the call. Realize, brothers and sisters, that the time is so short. I, I can't say that it's been any more real to me than in the past few months. And although growing up, I've lost a lot of dear friends, and I think that part of it's growing up in a third world country, death is, death is real. Death is so real. I lost two of my closest friends growing up, one to a brain tumor, one in a car accident, and I've had many, many acquaintances pass away from malaria, a disease that most of my family's had many times. But in the last couple months, as I've been, I think we need feedback, as I've been considering moving to the Middle East and all these preparations being made, I realize again the urgency of this call. In November, actually, let's go back to August or, um, end of July, my grandfather was pa- passed away in a plane accident, but nonetheless, he was a believer, and, um, you can certainly rejoice in that. But back in November, I lost eleven-year-old friend, a little girl who'd been suffering with a disease and passed into the presence of the Lord, but she knew where she was going, and she had peace about it. But then just three weeks after that, I got, I was over in Burma, Southeast Asia. I turned on the television to CNN, and on the screen flashes a picture of one of my friends from the Middle East who had just been targeted in a car bombing, and I saw his car, nothing left of it except few remains of metal, his soul into eternity, a man that I don't believe knew the Lord. And then three weeks after that, I got an email from Senegal saying that one of my close friends, a twenty-two-year-old guy, got malaria and on his way to the hospital, he too entered eternity. A man that had professed Christ but had no evidence of it, had gone back to Islam. I pray he's in heaven today, but I don't know. And the fact is, I'm not saying all that, oh, he's going through a lot of stuff. No, I'm saying that to tell you eternity is right around the corner. We're not promised tomorrow. All we have is today. Says today is the day of salvation, and we as believers must take this as an urgent call. We must not put it off till tomorrow, and that's not saying putting off going to the field, it's saying telling those right around you, those you love, make sure that they know the power of God to salvation, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that brings us to this other point, actively seeking the lost. Actively is the key right here. Remember, as we talked about earlier, the fish are not going to come to you, you must go to them. And as we seek the souls of men, my question is, how are we seeking to reach out to those around us? In Colossians is a passage in our notes, Colossians chapter four. It's, it's an interesting, uh, phrasing here, but look at Paul's, uh, prayer in Colossians four. He says, meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in chains. Here is brother Paul in prison, and yet what is his prayer? His prayer is for God to open a door that he may yet again share of the hope that is in him. Are we actively seeking for doors to go through? I was talking to my dear brother, Mr. Baldwin, who I've known for years, and as we were talking about just different opportunities in the world, there is no lack of mission fields. There are no lack of open doors. If any of you, like, I have no clue where to go, please come speak to me there. I wish I had twenty five lives. I wish I did. Because every place I go, and I mean this from my heart, my heart is broken. In Thailand and in Myanmar, Burma, um, earlier in December I was up in these villages, these people that have hardly heard ever about Jesus, but they all call themselves Christians because hundreds of years ago there was a missionary there. They have no clue what it means, but these people are living in the mountains and have no clue about the power of God. Somebody needs to go to them who will tell them. They're suffering all over the world. In the Middle East alone, there have been numerous options laid before me, and I wish I could go do each one. But I know that God has his purpose for each situation. I have to rest in that. But the fact is, we must actively be seeking the lost. Don't expect them to come to you. It's wonderful when someone comes to you and seeks to know of the hope that you have, but you can't expect that to happen. My cross-country coach is actually on the Pro Bass Tour, and I know that kind of sounds like a strange thing for a cross-country coach to do that, and it actually really distracted him from doing his job very well, because a lot of times he was gone on tournaments. But nonetheless, I learned something from him about fishing. One thing he would do is he studies and he memorizes maps, because he knows that if he just goes out and fishes in these tournaments, he might catch one or two, but that's not going to win him anything. The fact is, he has to know where those fish are, what they bite, and how to g- how to get there fast so you can get the most fish in the smallest amount of time. Why are we not more strategic in actively seeking the lost in this world? Like our brothers and sisters over in China, they're learning the system on how to get the word out because they have to be careful. The fact is that if we as believers handle this word of God and realize our sole mission in life really is to be witnesses for our God, there are many ways to do it, but we must take this as our primary commitment to life and actively seek those who are lost in dying and going into a Christless eternity. But another verse here for the fifth, or I guess sixth point. It says, go carpe diem. I actually put that down because I was writing these notes like at two a.m., three a.m., four a.m., and I think that I just want to sum it up and go to bed. So, carpe diem, seize the day. But there's a lot to that. Let's read these verses in Philippians chapter three. Philippians three. And what I mean by that is take action. I'm saying that the time is ripe, the time for for action is actually past, but remember that parable about the Lord sending out folks to to go to his vineyard or, um, to his field to bring in the harvest. Remember he sent out, he sent out his servants at the beginning of the day and brought in laborers, and they came and they worked the whole day, but there weren't enough, were there? So he went out again the third hour and brought in more, and again the sixth hour, and the ninth hour, and then the eleventh hour, and yet brought in more. And what was their reward? They all received the same, didn't they? They all received that Daenerys, was it? Ultimately, that is a beautiful picture of what we've been called to also. There are missionaries out there, sure, they've been doing their job for eighty years, and we might say, oh, well, I can't do that. Well, it's true, but God doesn't ask us to correct the past. He wants us to deal with the present, and in the present, he's called us, and he wants us to take action now. Philippians chapter three. Paul here is near the end of his life, but yet he wasn't done with action. He says, brethren, I don't count myself to have apprehended. This is verse thirteen. But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. Remember, we talked about that this morning. Don't focus on past victories. Forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward, or I give everything I have for the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I press toward the goal. Brothers and sisters, let's seize the day, because the day is coming. So therefore, all we have is today, and we must use it wisely. At graduation, I remember nothing about it. This is from high school. Nothing about it. I don't remember who spoke. I don't, I remember walking down the aisle to that music and wearing the robe, but other than that, there's only one thing I remember from graduation, and it's this, something that the speaker, whoever he was, said, a candle doesn't lose any light by lighting another. A candle doesn't lose any light by lighting another, and that's true of us as believers in Christ. When we go out and we share that gospel, when we go out and we share that hope, when we are a light to the world, when we are that salt to the world like we've been called to be, we don't lose a thing. All we do is we pass on what God has given us. And so therefore, it's his work to reap the harvest. It says that, uh, some plant, some water, but God gives the increase. So then he who plants is nothing, or he who waters, but God who gives the increase. We all have a part to play in this plan, and none of us are going to take first, because all we're going to do is at his feet throw our crowns and bow and say, you are worthy, Lord. It's all about teamwork. If I go to the Middle East, if I go to anywhere in the world, and I'm a guinea pig for the gospel, that's no big deal because someone else can come behind and perhaps finish what my initial vision was. For my parents in Senegal for twenty five years, maybe they'll leave the country and someone else will come in and thousands will come to Christ. Pr- I know all they would say is praise the Lord. It's because we're all workers together. Like our brother used the illustration of that woman that cooked meals in the Bahamas. All of us play a part in ministering Christ and being that fragrance of God, distributing that knowledge of Christ to a world. Yes, we're open books individually, but corporately we all have one purpose, and that's to promote the name of Jesus Christ. In just a minute, we're gonna have a little more candid talking, and I'm gonna, uh, just quit this session as far as recording, but let me just sum up some thoughts here, as we've considered, first off, our purpose in life, our position in the world, our perspective of the world, and now our priorities for making a difference. And we realize that God has chosen to use us, that he doesn't require us to do it, although he certainly wants us to. And as we think about investing into eternity, we have to think about what's going to last for eternity. And you've probably heard the phrase that there are only two things that last for eternity, people and the word of God. And if that is indeed the two things, then I think that it would be a wise investment, a wise portfolio, so to speak, to start investing our time, our efforts, perhaps our resources into those two aspects, because truly the time is coming when our opportunity will be gone. We have all eternity to spend together. We have all eternity to praise the Lord and to worship him, but we only have one opportunity for service because heaven won't have service. That's when the worship starts. Obviously, it starts now. Sorry about that one, but this is our opportunity to worship him in showing our service. There's a great song again. You can tell I love hymns. Hymns have encouraged me numerous times in my life, but let me just close this part with this song, with this song. You can keep it on for a second. Must I go and empty-handed, thus my dear Redeemer meet? Not one day of service give him, lay no trophy at his feet. Oh, the years in sinning wasted, could I but recall them now? I would give them to my Savior, to his will I'll gladly bow. Must I go and empty-handed? Must I meet my Savior so? Not one soul with which to greet him? Must I empty-handed go? Makes me want to have something to show him. Not for our own glory, but all for his. If he is worthy, then I think that we should consider this. I believe we should consider changing our priorities, changing our perspective, and make sure that his purpose is our purpose, and that we focus on reaching and making a difference both here and there.