“The Works of God” By Pastor Andy Giebler June 17th,
2018
Amen. Praise
God. Remain standing for a second for the reading of God's Word. John
nine, one
through three: John
9:1-3
And
as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And
his
disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his
parents,
that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither
hath
this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be
made
manifest in him. Let us pray.
God, Almighty, we thank You. We thank You for Your presence, here. We
thank You
just for saving us, for loving us. God, we thank You just for a time
just to
worship You, a time to feel You, a time to just be in worship. God, we
just
thank You for honoring our praise, for just allowing us to be in Your
presence,
for showing us Your truth. Thank You. God, bless me as I minister, as I
share,
as I teach. God, let me know the way. Let Your Word flow through me.
Thank You.
In Jesus name, amen. You may be
seated. That's not fair, Malcolm, you got us all worked up and worn
out, and
now I’ve got to work hard to get anything done. Let me read his again: John
9:1-3
And
as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And
his
disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his
parents,
that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither
hath
this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be
made
manifest in him. We've been
talking
about the things that the disciples asked Jesus. They asked the
question, about
this man, “Who sinned?” And Jesus said, “Neither one.” It's not about
the man’s
sin. It's not about him at all. Well, in the end, it is, but it's about
that
the work of God should be made manifest. The work of God is that men
would come
to the knowledge, that people would believe on Jesus. Because that's
the work
that was being done. That he saw that He was God. The God was manifest
in Him,
but he believed it on Him, the man that was blind. The people that saw,
not all
of them, but men and women saw that this man was blind, was made to see
again.
And they believed on Jesus. But, I take a few things out of this
Scripture: one
is, that as we read through it, we find out that the Pharisees, and the
Jews
that didn't want to believe this thing, didn't want God to get Glory
from this
man, Jesus. They didn't want Jesus to be given the credit for this.
And, in
John, nine, as we go down further into the passage, in eighteen, verse
eighteen,
it says: John
9:18
But
the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and
received
his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his
sight. They went and
got his parents. They said, “Ah, we’ve got to go check this thing out.”
They wanted
to find any way out of this. And, the parents said, “We don't want no
trouble
here. He's of age, go ask him.” And, if we go down to verse
twenty-four, it
says: John
9:24
Then
again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God
the
praise: we know that this man is a sinner. And, here, right
now, this is just an example of things that we see every day, because
if we go
on our job, on our workplace, in our schools, no matter where we're at,
when we
go to do whatever we do, and we give God glory, if I say, “Man, God
bless me,
God use me, God do this for me.” You can bet there's probably a half a
dozen people
ready to say, “What are you talking about? There's no God.” Because
they don't
want to glorify God in their own lives. They don't want the change.
They don't
want what God's got for them; they want their own comfortable life. The
Pharisees were so into the law, that they couldn't they couldn't accept
Jesus.
They couldn't accept Him for what He was. They wanted, “Oh, we're
disciples of
Moses.” We infer into that. In twenty-five: John
9:25
He
answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing
I know,
that, whereas I was blind, now I see. And, that's
the testimony that we can have, even if we it's just as simple as, “I
was a
sinner, I was far from God, and God healed me. God brought me back
again.” It could
be that just that simple. John
9:26
Then
said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? And, people
are going to ask you, “What did this God do for you?” and all we have
to share
with them is, “God opened my eyes.” Maybe that's all we have,
sometimes, that
God healed me. God forgive me of my sins. God did so much more, but
that's the crux
right there. People want to live in their own world. Even today. I'm
thankful
to have the truth. I'm thankful to be in this congregation. I'm able
thankful
to be able to be with people, brothers and sisters, men and women, who
take
seriously God's work, who take seriously being the Church of God.
Reading on,
in twenty-seven: John
9:27
He
answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore
would ye
hear it again? [then he asked
them] will ye
also be his disciples? I’m sure they
really didn't like that. John
9:28-30 Then
they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses'
disciples.
We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from
whence
he is. The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous
thing,
that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. So, here he is
firing back at the rulers, the Pharisees, the ones who were saying,
“Hey, we’re
the knowledgeable ones, here. “How is something so awesome done, and
you don't
know about it? How is something so awesome, so wonderful done, and you
don't
know who this man is?” And, that's how I feel sometimes, and we should
feel,
when we're out and about, and we talk with people, we share with
people, and
they're like, “We don't understand this power.” How can you not know?
How can
you not know this Jesus? How can you not feel His presence? How can you
not
touch Him? How can you not reach out to Him? How can you not know the
power of
God? Because, it's a wonderful thing, and I know that for me, I know
there was
a time—I grew up religious, I grew up in a family of preachers, I even
married
into a preacher's family. My dad preached, my grandfather, my uncle; I
have a
cousin who pastors a church in Indiana, but that didn't make me who I
am. That wasn't
what made me whole. That isn't what saved me. I was kind of your
typical
preacher's kid, so, I was into trouble. I, maybe, sometimes right on
the edge
of doing what I knew I was supposed to do, because this is what Dad
said I'm
supposed to do, this is what grandpa expects me to do, but, yet, I knew
there
was something that I needed, and I knew the day that God open my eyes.
Because
I knew there was a day when I acknowledged I was blind. I heard, I'm
not sure
who it was, a couple of weeks ago, sharing a similar testimony: in high
school,
there was a time when I had gone out, I was with my friends, we didn't
do
anything really crazy wrong, but we went out and had fun with the
things that
we knew to do. And, the week before, I was with my friends talking
about it;
they had gone out and did what they did for that Friday night, and I
wasn't with
him. And, on that Saturday, we were talking about it; just
participating in the
conversation sounded like so much fun, everything they did. But, the
following
week we did, to the T, everything that we talked about the week before,
and it
was more fun to have talked about it, that it was to actually go out
and do the
things that we had talked about. Why? Because there was no presence of
God.
There was no—and it was just emptiness. It was just—and that was the
night I
realized, “God, I need You. I need something different. I need
something
different in my life.” And that's what God started showing me a
different
direction. And, to make it worse, somewhere along in that time, I went
to bed,
and I said, “God,” because, I was kind of told about who God was, and
is He real,
and I knew there was something there that I was missing, and I said,
“God, if I
were to die tonight, and not go to Heaven, then don’t let me sleep.”
And, you
know, I didn't sleep that night. I did not sleep until, it was probably
two in
the morning, when I said, “Okay, God, I get it. I need something.” When
I
acknowledged God, I need You, He let me sleep for a couple of hours.
But, until
that point, I’m laying up in bed, kind of feeling the fire of hell, and
fear—you
know, I'm scared. I can't sleep. But, I know God opened my eyes. And,
we know
that here we had Jesus, in this example. Jesus was the one who came in
and made
clay, and put it on his eyes, and said, “Go and wash.”
He said, “Go do these things.” But, from the
beginning of time, God's been with us. In John, one, chapter one, it
says, John
1:1-5
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him;
and
without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and
the life
was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness
comprehended it not. God's light
has been manifested many ways throughout history, thousands of years
ago. Jesus
is the light, and the head in this passage. God we have God's spirit in
us now.
We have the Comforter; we have the Holy Ghost. We have that light
that's in our
lives that shines and shows us things. And, whether it's Jesus walking
on
Earth, the Word made flesh, who bent down and took, and spit, and made
clay out
of the dirt, one of the dirtiest things you could think to do, and
said, “Here,
I'm going to anoint your eyes with it, and you're going to see.” And,
today, we
have baptism. Something as silly as going and being dunked in a tank.
But, it's
bigger than that; it's believing in Jesus, and being buried in the
likeness of His
death, raised up in the likeness of His resurrection. God's been there
throughout all eternity. He's here right now. And, I realized that no
matter
what I do, that people aren't going to like it. There's always going to
be
darkness in the world. There's going to be those that don't want to see
this
light. The darkness comprehended it not. But, we have something, as
well. We
have God's Spirit. Matthew, five, thirteen through sixteen, He said: Matthew
5:13-16
Ye
are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost
his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for
nothing,
but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the
light of
the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men
light a
candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth
light
unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men,
that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So, we see
here in this example that, you know, we may not get a good reception
from
people when we say, “God did this for me,” and this man probably
thought to
himself, or, could have thought to himself, maybe, “Why do I have to go
through
this?” It doesn’t really say how old he was, I don’t think, but, “Why
did I
have to be born blind to see that?” God's ways are not always what we
would
choose. when God says do something, and shows us something, it may not
be the
comfortable thing to do, it may not be something that I like, but it's
God's
ways. Isaiah fifty-five, verses eight and nine: Isaiah
55:8-9 For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the
Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. We’ll look at
Paul for a minute. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. There's a lot of
debate, but
I don't believe we know exactly what that fault was, but we have an
idea. In Second
Corinthians, twelve, six through ten: 2
Corinthians
12:6-10 For
though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I
will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me
above
that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I
should be
exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there
was given
to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should
be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it
might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee: for
my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I
rather
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I
take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. Paul could
have looked at this lot of ways. But, he did the one thing, the one
example
that I draw from this is he went and sought God. He didn't go cry, “Woe
is me,”
he didn't say, “I'm not going to do what God called me to do,” he said,
“I'm going
to glory in this.” Because he sought God three times. And, he said God
told him,
“My grace is sufficient for thee.” And, sometimes we have things in our
lives
that are just there, and God's left them there for a reason. Though,
when I
read the Scripture, I'm reminded, sometimes I hear people say, “I have
this thorn
in the flesh.” Well, my first question is, “How do you know? How do you
know
that God put that there for you? Have you prayed about it, have you
asked God
about it?” some of us walk through life with a hindrance, with a thorn,
with a
thought, with an idea, with something keeping us from God, but we
haven't
really put it before the throne of God. We have to say, “God, is this a
thorn?”
We could have said, “God, take it away.” We might have, just in the
moment of
the problem, said, “God take this away,” but, have you really sought
God? Have you
really communicated with God? Have we taken the time to have fellowship
with
God over this thing? Have we done a fleece test? Have we said, “God,
just take
this away?” and prayed about it until God gave us an answer, or took it
away?
How many of you know how to do your job without talking to your boss or
your
supervisor? You can't do it. You have to know your job. I mean, you may
know
how to do it, now. But, you had to learn it from somebody else. Someone
had to
tell you what your job was to do. And, you don't get that without
listening,
and having a conversation with your boss. Sometimes, your boss may say
do
something, your supervisor says do this, but sometimes you have to have
a
conversation to gain the full understanding. Sometimes we have to ask
questions. Sometimes we have to ask the question again, because I just
don't
get it. Boss explained it right, but I missed a piece. Do we do that
with God? Do
we do that with God when He tells us to do something? Sometimes I don't
understand. I've left this here for you. I don't understand, God. We
don't know
unless we pray, and I've heard it said, and I love this, “Prayer is not
just a
one-way thing; prayer’s two ways.” Prayer means having a conversation.
Not just
hitting my knees and crying out, “Oh, God this is wrong,” I'm done.
I've got to
stop and listen. Now, if I go to my boss, and I'm asking a question,
and I've
got my headphones in, and I've got music playing, am I going to have a
chance
of understanding what the boss says? No, I've got a distraction.
Sometimes, in
life, we have to spiritually take the headphones off. Spiritually, take
the
time to say, “God, I need something from you.” Put the distractions out
of the
way, sometimes that takes a few minutes. Sometimes that can take hours.
It's
not a matter of, “Up, I did my five minutes, I asked my questions, I
waited a couple
of minutes, didn’t get it.” Sometimes you can take an hour before you
even ask
Him. I know that seems like a lot of time, in the midst of our needs,
or our
busy schedules, God honors that. When you take the time to let the
world go by,
maybe sing a song, just to sing a praise to God when you're on your
knees, when
you're walking around whatever place you're in, your prayer closet—how
many of
you got a place to go where you can go and pray? Sometimes—I mean,
there's
prayers we do on the fly, and sometimes—sometimes we really need to
take the
time to pray. Some of the best places to pray were in a steel room with
big
heavy steel doors when I’ve locked myself in a fan room on the ship, or
even
better yet, go up topside. In the Navy, on the ship, I was blessed to
have a
workspace that was on top of everything on the ship, and I could go as
high as—higher
than anyone else on the ship, unless I was climbing up the mast, just
to be
away from everyone. And, I could just be there in the middle of the
night, look
at the stars, and, I remember, one night, when I'm looking up, all I
can see
from horizon to horizon is stars, and I realized just how insignificant
that I
am. But, yet, God loves me. But, God wants to teach you something. God
wants to
show us things. And John, fifteen, fifteen, it says: John
15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth
not what
his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I
have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you. That's Jesus
in the flesh. And, we have that same path to the Father now. He wants
to make
things known to us. We're not just a servant, we're not just a blind
robot just
doing what we're told to do. We're servants, but, yet, we're a family.
We have
an heir to the throne. We have the power to become sons of God. We have
the
power to talk to Him, to listen to Him, to hear Him. Just, “…all things that I've heard of My Father I have
made known
unto you.” God can make those things known unto you. It doesn't
matter
your circumstance. Doesn't matter where you're at. God can make those
things
known to you. And, to go
along with this, understanding the works of God. Going back to the
first verse,
John, nine, three, Jesus said: John
9:3
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man
sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made
manifest in
him. The works of
God were going to be made manifest in him. He didn't even know what was
going
on, except for someone put some mud on his eyes and told him to go
wash. And, he
knew, when he washed that off his eyes, there was no doubt that he had
been
healed. John, chapter six, verse twenty-eight: John
6:28-29 Then
said they unto him, What shall we
do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, This
is the work of God, that ye believe
on him whom he hath sent. It's
just as simple as believing on God. All these things—we ask so many
times, “Why does this happen? Why did this have to happen? Why did I
have to go
through this?” That the works of God might be made manifest in me, that
other
people would see. Because, it was—like I said, he knew nothing except
for he
was blind and all of the sudden he could see. But, those around him,
Jesus was
made manifest. The power of God was made manifest in this man. It had
nothing
to do with him. And, each of each one of us in this room, the power of
God can
be made manifest through you. Even things that you do that you don't
even know
that you do. Why? Because you listen to God, when God tells you to do
something. Sometimes you may not even be aware of it, but you're in the
Spirit.
And, we're in this world, we're not of it. We're here to be spiritual.
You read
the Scripture, on the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace,
long-suffering... We
want to say, “How do we get those?” Walk in the spirit. If I walk in
the Spirit,
then those things are going to come. And, if we walk in the Spirit,
God's going
to do things through you. And, you may not even know how you were
affecting
people's lives. I've heard people share, and had people come to me and
ask me
things, and, “I don’t remember doing that.” I've heard other people
share that
someone came to them and I said, “I saw you do this.” “I didn't even
think
about it.” But, we're walking in the Spirit. We're listening to Him.
We're
doing the things of God. Why? That the works of God will be done, and
people
would believe on Him. And, sometimes, it's someone gave us a hard time;
it’s
how we handle it. Sometimes doing something where, “I don't have to do
that.” Let
somebody else do that.” God pricks your heart, “Go do it.” I have to
say, I was looking at a few examples of the disciples and Peter, and
far be it
for me to be critical of Peter, but there's things that we see in the
Scriptures
that are there for our examples. Things to show us people shielding us,
how we
are, how we could be, so that we can learn from what other people did.
There
was a couple of places where Peter did some things that Jesus had to
say, “No. This
is not right. You don't know what you're doing or what you're of.” Even
the
disciples, at one point, you look at Mark, chapter nine, verse
thirty-one: Mark
9:31-36 For
he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The
Son of
man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and
after that
he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood
not that
saying, and were afraid to ask him. And he came to Capernaum: and being
in the
house he asked them, What was it that ye
disputed among
yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the
way they
had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat
down, and
called the twelve, and saith unto them, If
any man
desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And
he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had
taken him in
his arms, he said unto them, So, this is
just after He had taught them, and said, “This is what's going on.” And
they're
busy disputing who's going to be the greatest. They didn't quite grasp
what
Jesus was saying. To have Jesus say, I'm going to die. I'm going to be
delivered up into the hands of men.” And they're worried about who's
going to
be the greatest. And, even, after, we talked a few weeks ago about
another
question, “Who will be the greatest?” And we talked about, “Who do men
say that
I am? And who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13-16) And, this is
after
Jesus had asked Peter, and He said, “Blessed art thou, for flesh and
blood hath
not revealed it to you,” (Matthew 16:17) and, shortly thereafter, Jesus
says “I'm
going to be killed. I'm going to be lifted up among all men, and I'm
going to
be crucified.” (Matthew 16:21) And Jesus, as Jesus shared this, Peter
took Him
aside—and I'm kind of taking my liberty, how I imagined this happening,
but,
Peter looking at Jesus, said, “No, no, this is not going to happen.
This is not
the way it's going to go down. This is not how things are going to end.
You're
our leader. You’ve opened blinded eyes, You’ve healed people, and we're
going
to let You be killed? No, I'm not letting you do that.” (Matthew 16:22)
Peter
was not going to let Jesus go and die in this way. But Jesus rebuked
him. He
said, “You know not what you're of.” (Matthew 16:23) You see, Peter
didn't
understand what Jesus was about to do. And, later on, and Luke,
twenty-two, it
says Luke
22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and
when thou
art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Convert: turn
back. That could be any of us. Sometimes we lose our way. We have to be
converted and turn back; run this race. And, He's telling Peter, be
converted
and strengthen your brother. Because he had a calling on his life.
Peter had
something to do; God gave him something to do. And, each one of us has
something to do. And, sometimes we get into the lull of what we're
going to do
here, coming into the building, having a church service, this is what's
going
to happen, we're going to sing a song, we're going to do this, and
we're going
to have a Wednesday night bible study, and we're going to go, Wednesday
night,
to a coffee shop, and we’re in the rut. I've been there. Can't afford
to be
there. When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren. Be converted.
Get to
the point where you don't have to turn back. Be walking in that spirit,
being
in that Spirit, living in that spirit daily. So, when your brother or
sister
has a need, that you're there. But, you should strengthen your brothers
and
sisters. Go out and teach the gospel, preach it, share it with
boldness, in a
way that people receive it. Not in a way that that they look at us
like, “Yeah,
I went to church, another church last week. You're no different than
them.” I
don't want to be that. I don’t want to stand up in this pulpit and
people say, “Yeah,
that was nice. I'll go back to this church down the street.” I don't
want that.
I'm not trying to be anything of myself. But, I want God to move
through me. And, even
Peter in the garden, they come to take Him away, and Peter grabs his
sword, and
lops off the ear of the high servant. And, Jesus, what does He do? He
puts it
back on. He said, “I must bear this cup. I have to go do this. This is
my cup
to bear. This is what I'm supposed to do.” (Luke 22:49-51, John
18:10-11) And,
we see, later on, Peter did do great things, wonderful things. We don't
need to
defend Jesus. We need to defend the Gospel. We need to share the
Gospel. We need
to preach it; we need to be bold about it. But Jesus doesn't need us to
defend Him.
But, we have the work of God to do. We have something to share. We have
to make
sure that our works are made manifest, that our works are to manifest
Christ to
people who don't believe on Him. It's just that simple. Let your light
so shine
(Matthew 5:16). We need to learn of God. Sometimes, even, no matter
where we're
at, we have to realize, we have to be listening to Him. When couples
date, eyes
are wide open, ears are perked up, paying attention to everything. Even
after
we got married, this is one thing that I did, that, I learned how my
wife drank
her coffee. I tasted it, and I made sure I could make it that way. And
here, eighteen
years later, I was thinking about this, and I don't think I could make
it right,
right now, because I haven't done it in a while, I haven't thought
about it.
It's just a simple thing. I had to go back and relearn how to make the
coffee
the way she liked it, because I had forgotten. So, we have to go back
sometimes, and relearn. Sometimes we have to realize where we're at.
Sometimes
it's just an honesty. Just an honest truth, honest understanding of
God, honest
admission sometimes. To me, I have to do this; we have to do this.
Where are we
at in God. But, the things that I used to do, when I would go and pray,
and God
would bless me, and I get to the point where I don't feel it, anymore.
God
didn’t walk away. God didn't move. God's right there all the time.
Then, I have
to go back and say, “What is it that I have put between me and God?”
And, as a
reference, I have one more Scripture to read, but I really want to stay
on this
point for another minute, what have I put in my life? As a church, what
do we
put in our lives? As individuals, what do we put in between us and God,
not
even realizing it? Is it my television? My books that I read? The music
that I
listen to? The people that I hang out with? The language I allow myself
to use?
Drugs, alcohol? Little things that we may call little things. I can use
a
little bit of this, and, no, the Bible doesn't say you can't drink. It
said not
to be drunk, but that doesn't change the fact that each and every one
of us
have the Holy Ghost in our lives. Each and every one of us gets pricked
by God.
And, if God tells you don't do something, it doesn't matter if—you may
say, “the
Scripture doesn't say I can't do that,” so, I may never know that. you
may have
something that God told you never to do it again. I may never know
about it. I
don't need to. Let me say that again: There may be things that God has
told you
to do not to do or to stop doing, to start doing, I may never know it.
Why?
Because I'm accountable for me in judgment. And, as leadership, we can
watch
and learn and see what's going on, in the end, the things that God
showed you
in private, unless God shows it to me, I don't know. You know what it
is.
Matthew, five, thirteen: Matthew
5:13-16
Ye
are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost
his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for
nothing,
but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the
light of
the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men
light a
candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth
light
unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men,
that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Amen. Let
your light shine. Thank you.
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