"Do You See What I See?" By Chris Ulrich December 11th,
2016
Thank
you. I’d like to ask Jose Galvez, please
come up and
led us in prayer. Remain standing. Jose: Let
us pray. Heavenly Father, God, we are
here, Lord
Jesus, to hear from You, Lord. God you
brought us, You gave us a wonderful week, Lord God.
Father, You have been good to us, Lord.
And we have nothing to say but that we love
You, Lord, and we desire to know more of You, Lord Jesus.
God, Your understanding, Your wisdom from You,
God,. Your knowledge, Lord God, it’s so
wonderful, Lord God. I pray, my Lord,
that You will bless everyone in this room, Lord God.
And those that couldn’t make it, Lord
God. If You would, Lord, just continue,
God, to deal with us, Lord God, the way that You do, Lord God. It’s for our Good, Lord God.
Lord, I ask that You will bless this
messenger, Lord God, Your servant, Lord.
Bless him, work through him, God, and open our ears in
understanding. I love You.
And we pray this in Your name, Jesus.
Amen. (Sometime
during the prayer, Chris
has slipped on a hat, scarf, and gloves.)
Amen, you may be seated. We
just
got the word, we’re going to have service outside.
Just kidding.
(taking off the winter gear) Just
kidding. Yes, I figure everybody would
be ready by now. Good to see everybody
else that braved the elements this morning.
I looked back through the last couple of years, we
actually have a--Pete
takes care of the sermon notes over the course of time.
You can actually go on our website and you
can see the different sermons that we’ve had over the course of the
last
several years. I think going back to
about 2009. Anyway, I wanted to go back,
the last couple of years, and kind of look just so that we’re not
getting the
same exact thing, as far as the same exact title, but I did notice
that—I
looked at one a couple of years ago, and the first thing I said was,
“I’m glad
to see everybody braved the elements this morning.”
So, it’s December. I guess
that’s what we have to expect. I know the
crowd’s a little bit smaller this
morning. I’d
like to welcome Ed Kretzer
back. Is Pat here, too?
Well, I just want to mention—and, you know
what? I’m going to have him come
up. Ed, come on up. Come
on up here. I’m very excited, this is
wonderful, miraculous—he
shared before he left, but—welcome back, Ed.
I’d like to ask you to just share about the trip, a little
bit. Just share what you did. Ed:
For those of you
who don’t know, me and my mom, we had kind of a rocky relationship. Through some praying and talking with the
leadership, and talking with my wife and stuff, I went on a website
called
“PeopleFinders.com” and I found my mom.
So, we talked for a while, and worked things out. So, me and my wife went to El Paso the
following week-end, and I was talking to her.
And, I was praying, “Okay, God, how can I just share with
her the
changes that You’ve made in my life?”
And, so, I went outside, and I talked to Parrish for a few
minutes, and
we had a prayer, and I came back in, and I said, “Hey, mom, when we
were
baptized a long time ago, you know we did it the wrong way, right?” She was like, “Huh?” She
kind of looked at me like, “What are you
talking about?” So, I opened up the
Scriptures, and I shared them with her, and I said, “This is how the
Bible says
to do it, and that’s not how it was done for us.” So,
she looked at me, and she was like,
“Okay. Then, what do we need to
do?” And I said, “Well, this is how the
Bible says to do it, and this is what we need to do.”
And, so, I said, “If you do it because of me,
then, you know, then that’s not right.
You need to do it because that’s what the Scripture says.” She said, “Nope. If
it needs to be redone, let’s redo it. So,
my mom can’t walk that great, so this is
how God worked the whole thing out. The
hotel we were staying at had, like, a lift chair. So,
we were able to put her in the
chair. It had a bar on each side of it,
and then a little seat belt. And, we put
her in that chair, and we lowered her half-way into the water, lifted
up the
bars. Pat used the remote controls. We put her half-way into the water. I lifted up the little bars, baptized her,
brought her back up, and then, Pat—another Pat, who is also her
caretaker—lifted it back up while me and my wife held onto her. And we were able to baptize her in Jesus’
name. It was such a blessing. God just worked every detail out before we
even got there. So, thanks, Chris, and
God bless. How
old is your mom? 86. He
sent me pictures during the week of the scenery. I
love the Southwest, it’s just nice and
warm, but the best part is seeing your mom get baptized.
Amen.
Amen. So,
there’s—there are going to be
a few points this morning. The
main points are going to be: •
The
Truth is Out There •
Have
You Found What You’re Looking For? •
Do
You See What I See? 1st Point –
The Truth Is Out
There But
it’s funny how a perspective
of what truth really is, a lot of times, it can get altered to fit
criteria, or
somebody’s audience, or a certain agenda.
It could be a matter of a crime scene, it could be a
disputed account of
what happened at a car accident, or the viewpoints of different people,
as far
as, like, the type of upbringing they had.
There’s a relatively popular show, years ago, that had a
tag line: “The Truth Is Out There.” Does anybody remember that?
Can anybody name the show? The
X-Files.
Correct, correct. Personally,
I
never really got into it, I mean, I probably saw an episode, here and
there. But I know the gist of it, and, I
know that, a lot of times, we hear that term truth, and it kind of gets
thrown
around a little bit loosely, at times, but, I can assure you that, what
I’m
going to be talking about, it doesn’t have anything to do with
abductions by
aliens, or anything like that this morning.
I can assure you of that. I
can
tell you this without a shadow of a doubt, and make this declaration
that the
truth is out there. John 17:13-17
And now come I to thee; and
these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy
fulfilled in
themselves. I have given them thy word;
and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am
not of the world. I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from
the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them
through thy truth: thy word is truth. So,
this was several years ago, I
can’t remember exactly what year, but our General Pastor of our
ministry, his
name is Pastor Peter Paine, he made a statement, a very simple
statement, but a
poignant—I’m sorry, he asked it in a question form, and all he asked
was, “How
many wants to hear truth?” Does anybody
else remember that? Well, I–it really
struck me, because it was such a simple thing, and, again getting back
to, as
far as, like, what kind of audience do you have, or what kind of agenda
are you
trying to fit, what’s the end result, or what’s the goal of this truth
that we
talk about. The truth is out there. But it stood out to me a lot about telling
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
We’ve
heard that, a lot, before, whether you’ve ever been on trial, or
attended a
trial, or been a member of a jury, or seen it on television. That’s just the common oath that people would
take, that they would make that promise, to tell the truth, the whole
truth, so
help me God, and I appreciate that. But,
as much as we can say that the truth is out there, we have to
understand that
the truth is in here if we allow it. And
I’m not talking about just in this room, and I’m not talking about just
in your
house. I’m not just talking about a
relationship that’s built on observation, but the Kingdom of God is
within
us. Because, a lot of times, I think we
are observers, and that’s not a criticism of us, as humans, it’s just a
natural
understanding that there’s so much to behold, and there is always
soemthing to
see, but we have to understand that, on the opposite side of the scale,
we’re
talking about something that’s within. Luke 17:20-21
And when he was demanded of
the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them
and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 2nd Point –
Have You Found
What You’re Looking For? I
know that in a big picture
doctrinal view of that, the truth vs. the lie or lies that are
perpetuated in
society, then everyone that’s baptized in Jesus’ name and still
believes it, you’ve
already found what you’re looking for, so we can just stop there. But it’s not quite like that.
We have to look at it like our relationship
with God—there’s a couple of us, myself and Vince Stepchuk, were
talking a little
bit Wednesday night about that relationship with God—it could be a bad
relationship, it could be a good, it could be somewhere in between, but
it is a
relationship, nevertheless. And seeking
for whatever it is that we’re looking for doesn’t have to be an
insurmountable
obstacle. It doesn’t mean that we have
to think it’s like climbing Mount Everest, or any other—K2, I guess, is
probably the most challenging, as far as, like, the peaks that they say
that
are scalable. I have no desire to ever
climb Mount Everest, I’m just going to be honest with you.
I’ve heard people say, “I’m going to run a
marathon.” I like to bike ride; I’m not
a runner. Has anybody here ever run a
marathon? Kirk? No?
Todd Bostwick, you’ve run a marathon?
You have run a marathon? Okay,
ten K, all right, that’s not bad, that’s not bad. Not
quite 26 miles, but it’s something. That
is something. I’ll give you some credit
for that. But, on the other end of the
scale, it’s not
as though seeking God, or looking for answers is going to be just a
piece of
cake, like it’s going to just plop down in front of us, and we’re going
to be
able to just coast for the rest of our life.
It’s going to take some effort and it’s going to take some
sacrifices. It’s something that--I’ve
shared
this before, and it’s a pretty famous quote, and it was actually
something
that, prior to the U.S. involvement in World War II, England was under
quite
heavy bombardment from the Germans. If
you look up the history, then you see that England is an island, but,
the way
that the German Air Force was able to go over there and just bomb them
basically to smithereens. But, there was
a man that was their Prime Minister at the time, his name was Winston
Churchill. A lot of us have probably
heard the name before. But, he went
before the Parliament and he basically said, “I have nothing to promise
you but
blood, sweat, toil, and tears as far as what’s coming.”
And that wasn’t as though he was just looking
at it as though they were completely defeated, but he was looking at it
like,
in order for us to get this victory, we’re going to have to go through
this. And there’s times when we go
through things that we think, “There’s no way that I could ever survive
this,
spiritually speaking. There’s no way
that I even want to go through it.”
Because, if God were to tell us at the beginning, this is
what we’re
going to have to go through—if you look in the Book of Acts, I’m not
going to
turn to it, but I remember reading, early on, I mean, not very long
after I got
baptized in Jesus’ name, and it was the words of Christ that basically
said of
Paul, “I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s
sake.” I
didn’t want to read that. I kind of,
like, I didn’t see it, you know what I mean?
And, yet, I’m not going to sit here and compare myself to
Paul, and say,
“Oh, yeah, I’ve had to put up with this…” but, I think that any of us
that have
endured, we’ve all had to endure. We’ve
all had to go through things, whether it’s persecution, or whether it’s
praying, or whether it’s fasting, or whether it’s sacrificing, or
whether it’s
giving until you just feel like you can’t give any more, or tragedies
or
misfortunes. I mean, we look at our
brother Jesse Gulley, that he’s gone through a lot of heart-ache in the
last
year; he’s basically had two legs amputated.
And, myself and Alex were up there yesterday morning, and
he appreciates
everybody, Ken Avellino, he mentioned your name, you brought him a
movie, Jeff
Lynch called, and different people that have visited him.
But it was like, looking at his situation,
it’s heartbreaking. But, he knows he’s
got to deal with it, and he knows he‘s got to cling to God; he knows
he’s got
to hold to God’s unchanging hand. It’s
not an easy thing, and I’m not envious, and I’m not looking at it like
we all
have a cross to bear, but it’s a serious thing.
I mean, it’s—I don’t know what else to say.
I know that early on, when we first had the
potential of this happening, we thought, “They’re just going to have to
do
surgery, and then everything’s going to be okay.” And
then it’s, “No, they’re going to have to
do a toe.” “No, they’re going to have to
do a foot.” After a while, it’s like our
heart breaks for the guy. The Bible talks
about, “Weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice.” It’s not an easy thing, but, it’s what he’s
had to go through, and it’s just a matter of rallying around him, and
being
able to be supportive. These are some of
the things that I’m just talking about, just kind of candidly about
what we’re
going to have to go through. But it
comes down to, “What are you looking for?”
And, again, we don’t just find the truth of God by
accident; it’s
something we have to seek for. So
what are you looking for? And I’m not
looking for anybody to raise
their hand and say, “Oh, I’m looking for this or I’m looking for that.” But I’m going to ask if you could just kind
of chew on it for a little bit. Are you
looking for a better job, or a better school?
Or to buy a better house, or car, or take more time off
from work? Or to make that one last big
score in the
stock market before it crashes? If it
ever does—it might. Who knows? But, at the other end of the spectrum, are
you looking to be able to make more visits?
Are you seeking to have a greater ability to witness for
God? Would you like to be a better steward
in
tithes and offerings? Would you like to
see the church grow? I
know those questions pretty much
run the gamut and it’s not as though they’re designed to sound overly
carnal or
overly spiritual, although they might, but that’s not my intention. It’s not meant to say, “Oh, you’d seek for a
nicer house? Oh, you’re just absolutely carnal.” That’s
not the case, because, you know what? I’d
like to get a nicer house. I feel like,
as far as the job, I’m thankful for it, I actually like it, as much as
you can
like work. But, I also look at it like,
I think we always have to keep our ear to the ground, and keep our
skill set
active, and try to stay as relevant in society as we can,
professionally
speaking. I don’t think there’s anything
wrong with that, I mean, I look at that as something that’s important
in my
life. And I don’t think that’s greedy or
being unspiritual at all. I think that’s
just being a good steward in life. But I
also want to make myself available. I
also want to have a testimony that is pleasing to God.
I also want to manage my finances well enough
to be able to give, and I absolutely want to see growth in the church. I know I’m not naming every single desire,
and I just named a couple to get us an understanding of these are
things that
are real, that actually go through our mind, day-to-day.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we
also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run
with
patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author
and
finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured
the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of
God. I
want to just share something
that—it’s odd how we do see parallels in things sometimes, and, I know
Parrish
can do a great impression of Vito Corleone from the Godfather, and I’m
not
going to ask him to come up, but it is an excerpt from that movie, and,
there’s
a part of it where, so the older guy, the godfather, is talking to his
son. And he’s talking about, “You know,
this is what’s going to happen, and you know, this is how you’re going
to be
betrayed, and this is how it’s going to go down,” and he’s like, “Okay,
okay, I
got it, I got it. But, something’s
bothering you, dad. Something’s
bothering you, pop.” And, so, the older
man starts lamenting a little bit. He
says, “You know, I never wanted this for you.
I never wanted this life for you.
I was always hoping to see you be a Senator or a Governor,
or—there just
wasn’t enough time.” And I think about
that sometimes, and I think people think sometimes, “There wasn’t
enough
time. I wasn’t able to get what I
wanted. I wasn’t able to fulfil that
promise, I wasn’t able to find true love, I wasn’t able to find this
relationship, I wasn’t able to find this in my life time.
Time seems to have passed me by.” And
I think we can all relate to that. I think
we can all feel that at one time or
another. And I’m going to share one more
thing. It’s another sort of—it’s a TV
show that had happened years ago, The Twilight Zone.
But, what was kind of interesting about it,
the title of it was, ‘Time Enough at Last.’
And, there was this guy, he was a librarian, he was just
an avid reader,
but he had really, really thick glasses, and, at that time, there was a
lot of worry
and concern about nuclear annihilation and things like that. The cold war had really escalated at that
time. Well, he’s down underground, in
like a library vault or whatever, and, next thing you know, he comes
up, and
everything’s just been destroyed. Now,
not to get into the part about nuclear fall-out, but he’s alive. So, then he realizes that, “I’ve got time
enough at last to read all the books I want.”
And, then, as he goes to start reading them, his glasses
fall off, he
actually steps on them, and he’s like, “No, no, I thought I had enough
time! This isn’t fair!”
And, I think, sometimes, things like that
happen to us where we don’t think it’s fair.
We don’t feel like what we go through is fair. Matthew 6:25-33
Therefore I say unto
you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink;
nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than
meat,
and the body than raiment? Behold the
fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather
into
barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better
than
they? Which of you by taking thought can
add one cubit unto his stature? And why
take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin: And
yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one
of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe
the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the
oven,
shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall
we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles
seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things. But seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you. 3rd Point –
Do You See What
I See? ***Title for the sermon*** Our
last passage this morning: 1 Corinthians 1:18-29 For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto
us
which are saved it is the power of God. For
it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to
nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where
is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?
hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom
knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks
seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God, and
the wisdom of God. Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is
stronger than
men. For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble,
are called: But God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen
the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to
nought things that are: That no flesh
should glory in his presence. And
I want to share something that
a lot of you that came from the military base, we appreciate you coming
out, and
I also want to share something that is going to tie in:
We had a Thanksgiving event that we hosted
and probably about twenty recruits that were still in boot camp, just
kind of
toward the end of their time, but a lot of them were like, late teens,
early
twenties, you know, a few of them were more like late twenties, but, as
I got
to meet different ones and talking with them, we had coffee, you know,
that was
before the dinner, which, by the way, went phenomenally well, I think. But, just kind of getting to know them, and
they were just happy to be out of boot camp, being off the base. I think a lot of us can relate to that. But, one thing I noticed is that they just,
seemed to me, had a real, like, respect for God, and respect for their
elders,
respect for just the order of things, respect for the military, respect
for
their country, and I’ll tell you one thing:
I know that, like, generationally speaking, you go back
to, like, the
people that were, like, that fought in World War II, they call it the
greatest
generation, then you had the baby-boomers, then you had generation X,
generation Y, millennials. So, a lot of
the folks that were there were what we would call millennials. And, from what it sounds like, a lot of the
time, if you read these different articles from these different news
outlets,
or you hear something on television, it’s, like, as though the exact
opposite
of what I saw was the case. And I
appreciated that, because I thought, “You know what?
If I sit there and get all brain-washed,
because I’m thinking, all millennials, they don’t want to go to church,
they
don’t want to seek God, they don’t care about this country. They’re thinking one thing, and, then, what I
saw, right in front of me, talking to these people, was the exact
opposite. And, you know, that’s a lot like
going back to seeking for the truth.
Because if I were to sit there and just let what everybody
else told me
was right for my life, I’d never find it.
None of us would ever find it. If
we sit here and just listen to what the council of the world, ungodly
council: “Nah,
nah, you shouldn’t do this. Just go
on. You know, as long as you don’t do
this or do that, you’re okay.” That’s
not the case when you look in the Bible, you look at what the Bible
teaches as
to how we need to live. And it’s not as
though it’s a stifling life. It’s not as
though we’re supposed to sit there and be, like the expression, “Goody
two-shoes.” I mean, yeah, there’s a
holiness,
there’s an order there, there’s things that we avoid, but there’s a lot
of
things that I think people think, “Well, how can you do that? You’re a religious person.”
You don’t have to sit there and fit into
their stereotype of what they think Christianity might be. I just want to let you guys know that: I appreciate seeing that
It helped me, and it’s not like I had assumptions,
or I was just thinking in my mind… I mean, I’ve got nieces and nephews
that are
younger, so I , you know, kind of, you get to know people before you
make that
stereotype, before you make that assumption, and that was a good thing
to see. I’m
closing in a moment, here, but
I just wanted to share these last few thoughts.
You know, we’ve all been given signs and wonders and
magnificent
experiences. And, life is about experience
and so much of what we see, what we hear, and what we know, it’s based
on our
experiences. Do you see what I see? Have you seen enough to keep you encouraged
one more day? Do you hear what I
hear? Have you heard enough that your
belief will sustain you for one more year?
Do you know what I know? Do
you
know enough to be convinced that the Gospel is real, and that God will
keep us
our entire life if we want to be kept? Thank
you very much for your time,
and God bless.
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