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“Summer Road Trip,
Attention to Direction” By Arman Jorge August 26th,
2018
Thank you for that beautiful words. I hope I
can keep up to that words. As you know, this is a youth service, and it
doesn't
stop there. Actually, the children's church, they're going to perform
some
songs and testimonies today, so I'd like to call them to the front, if
they may
come right now, please. We've got a couple of ladies, here, who are
going to
share a testimony, or share a Scripture. Ashley: Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I
know the thoughts that I think toward you,
saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an
expected
end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and
I will
hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me,
when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
God says that if I put him first in my life, He
will take care of me. God bless. Kazia: Before I read this, I want
to say how grateful I am to be in this
church, and be able to have the opportunity to come here every Sunday
and learn
more about God, and have the opportunity to go to youth picnics that
the church
hosts for us, to enjoy ourselves and learn more about God. Deuteronomy
6:4-9 “After he had slain Sihon
the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of
Bashan,
which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei: On this side Jordan, in the land of
Moab,
began Moses to declare this law, saying, The LORD our God spake unto us
in
Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: Turn you, and
take your
journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the
places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the
vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the
Canaanites, and
unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have
set the
land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto
your
fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed
after
them. And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear
you
myself alone:”
Amen. They're going to sing a song for you.
Last week, they were going through a study in the class about Noah and
how God
remembered Noah after the flood. And, we're going to sing a song, “Do
Lord.” Do
Lord, o do Lord, o do remember me.
There's nothing like bringing the children in
front, over here, and just light up the place, you know? I'm thankful
for that
opportunity, you know? It's—I'm going to say that this message is kind
of tough
for me to put together. Not only because I have to gear—I want to make
sure
it's geared up for adults, but since we have a youth service this
morning, I
want to make sure it's for them, too. So, my title this morning, well,
actually, you know, God's title this morning, “Summer Road Trip,
Attention to
Direction.” And, you know, because, I can, you know, everyone’s pretty
much can
relate to this, you know, everyone has taking a road trip at one time
or
another. And, there's nothing more American than a good old-fashioned
road
trip. You know? Time to roll down the window, let your hair down, feel
the
wind. Honestly, I used to have a lot of hair, but time goes real fast,
and it goes
real fast, too, so...
You know, I heard a song a long time ago, back
in the '80s, it's a blues song, it goes like, “Keep your eyes on the
road, your
hands upon the wheel, let it roll, let it roll.” Roadhouse blues. So, I
mean, I
didn't listen to that, but just heard that song, and it kind of stuck
to my
mind. I don't know about your families, my family, when they hear about
road
trip, they light up. They just, “When we going?” You know? Normally my
wife
would pack for my children; she would do all the packing and stuff. My
daughter, Ashley, she was just singing here, she's nine now, and we
told her
that we're going to do a road trip, and she said, “Don't touch my
stuff. I've
got to start packing now.” You know? And, two weeks before we leave,
she was
already packed. And, I came to her, and I was like, “Ashley, we’ve
still got two
weeks.” “Oh, I know; I just want to be ready.” “Are you sure you're not
going
to wear any clothes that you packed in there?” “Oh, yeah, I've got some
stuff
on the side. I'm all good.” So, I mean, you know, they're excited about
that,
you know? They're excited about that road trip. And, you know, I didn't
take
them far away. You know, a road trip doesn't have to be that far away.
It could
be within the state that you're in. Just a little new environment.
You know, I remember my first road trip. I was
thirteen years old, back in the 1980s. I took a road trip on my own. I
was in
the Philippines. I was kind of scared then, because, you know, it was
like my
first time. I don't know where I'm going. I actually know a little bit,
but we
don't have no car, so I have to commute, take buses. I have to take one
bus to
another bus just to get me to where I'm going. Anyway, I took that on
the
summer time, and then I went to my mom's side's family, and they had a
little
farm that I helped out with their farm, in there, and, you know, they
make a
wine out of coconut tree, you know? And, so, whenever they do that, and
they
sell it to the dealer, and get money. So, when I get back to the city,
I’ve got
a little money in my pocket, you know? Because, you know, I worked a
little bit
in there. And, then, the year next to that, I went to my dad's side,
now, I had
to visit my grandmother who has a property, close to the, really, it's
an urban
area, like there's not a lot of people around there. But, this area
that she
had there was like this really huge mountain that you could hike up to.
And, it
was nice, though, I went there, and I spent a little time with my
grandmother,
and I met a lot of my cousins that I'd never met before. But, there was
this
one guy, hanging around our family, you know, he happens to be trying
to date
my cousin, so that's why he was hanging around there. But, this guy,
they had a
farm also, and he was goes up and down in the mountain, hiking up and
down, so
he knows the place. So, one time I asked him, I said, “Hey, you know,
since
you've been up there, can you take me up hiking?” “Yeah, sure.” He'll
never say
no to me, because, if he does, I'll talk to my cousin and take care of
him. So,
and so, he did that, and I was just following this guy’s lead, you
know? So, we
went up to the mountain, hike up—took us like all day, all night to go
up the
mountain. And, the problem with that, with me, is because I was from
the city,
I went up there without anything, you know? I’m like, it was just
close, we
started hiking. And, I didn't say anything, because he thinks he knows
what
he's doing, so I've got to follow his lead. And, so, when it comes to
the part
where we got thirsty, he was like, he saw like a little puddle on the
ground,
you know? And, so he went down there, he started moving away those
dust, and he
took the big leaf, and he took and shaped it like a cup, and then he
scooped it
and started drinking it. And, then he goes, (motioning to me) and I was
like (shaking
my head), “I got to drink to that?” “Yeah.” And, you know what, I'm
thirsty,
you know, anything you can drink, yes, you're going to drink it. So I
did. And,
thank goodness, I'm still here. You know? Still here. You know, when I
came to
America, I had my stepfather's mom who loves, she loves reunions. And,
she
likes to get together with family and she'll live up in Iowa by
herself,
because her husband passed away, so she lives by herself. And, she
likes to get
people to get together. And, so, what she does she gets all the family
and she
rents a cabin, she’s close by Minnesota, and there's a lot of nice
lakes in
Minnesota, so she rents a couple of cabins there for a couple of weeks,
and
then we all go there, and we meet. And, that's what she likes. She
likes the
reunions. She just likes to get together with everybody, people with
different
things about, you know, road trips. So,
this month’s theme Scripture is found in
Matthew, chapter eighteen, verse three. And, it says: Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I
say unto you,
Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into
the kingdom of heaven.
Now, the previous verse to this, the reason
the statement came about is because the disciples asked who is the
greatest in
the kingdom? And, Jesus just kind of took a child, and put it in front
of them,
and the child just kind of demonstrated, didn't say a word, just kind
of
demonstrated. And that's when Jesus said you shall not enter into the
kingdom.
So, what does this have to do with road trips? You know? Well, the
child is
special to Jesus, okay? In our family, road trip is special. I mean,
this is
the time when we get together. I mean, obviously, you could do a winter
road
trip, or a spring road trip or, or however you want, but, you know
what? Summer
road trip is just special, because, you know, the options are endless.
You can
do all kinds of things in the summertime. So, that’s special to us.
And, road
trip, there's a lot of road trip essentials. There's a lot of
different—you
know, and, I mentioned already, you're going to have packing, that's
one of the
road trip essentials. You're going to do an outfit to wear, so you've
got some
outfit to wear, get comfortable, so you got to go see and do, food to
eat,
games, music, navigation, safety kit, transportation, accommodations,
and
destination. I'm just going to talk about a couple of these essentials.
And, part
one of my message is dress modestly. Part
1: Dress
Modestly.
You ever seen those vehicles that's pulled
over the interstate, trying to navigate their, you know, backpack, and
just, hunch
over with an open door trying to change clothes, I've seen some of
those.
Someone going in a stop, because they're trying to do different things,
you
know, at the same time, they probably want to be dressed modest. Okay?
When I
go in on the road trips, I like to wear loose clothing and stuff. I
have to say
this, though, when we had—a couple of years ago, when we drove cross
country,
you know, we came from here to go to Las Vegas and Arizona. My son
Aaron was
driving, I'm the navigator. And, at one time, I remember, we were going
up to
Mount Rushmore, but, before that, it was like 12:00, 1:00 at night, in
the
morning, now, and I gave him the wrong address. I wasn't paying
attention. I
was supposed to give him the address to the hotel where we're going to
stay, so
we can go get some rest, instead, I gave him the address to Mount
Rushmore. So,
I can see the frustration in his eyes. Everyone was tired we want to
get, you
know, and so we we're going, and when we were starting going, just
started
weaving, and turning around, and there's nothing to see anymore and
start
getting dark. And, he says, “Dad, I think we're lost.” I said, “I think
you're
right. Let me go check my navigation.” I looked it up, and I said, “I'm
sorry,
I gave you the wrong address, let's take it and go.” And, so, I have to
pay
attention, you know? And, that's one of the things I didn't. So, but,
anyway,
back to dress modestly. You know, I like to wear loose clothing and
just kind
of, you know, get comfortable. You know, you get your shoes loose, so
you can
just do whatever, so you're not tired of driving. My first verse this
morning,
is in First Timothy, chapter two, verse nine and ten. And, it says like
this: 1 Timothy 2:9-10
In like manner
also, that women adorn themselves in
modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided
hair, or
gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing
godliness) with good works.
I want to say this is not just for women. this
goes both ways, boys and men. Okay? It goes both ways. Last month, I
was
reading an article about this college student; she was from Cornell
University
in Ithaca, New York. She was a senior student there. and, she was
running a
test, she was running a test on her thesis presentation. She was going
to run a
test run on her thesis presentation, and part of her thesis
presentation, she
was supposed to wear short shorts, really short, a little bit
revealing. And,
so, the professor came to her, approached her, and he said, “You know,
the
choice of your clothing is a little bit inappropriate. And, your shorts
are
really short.” And the professor went on to say, “You know, you're
inviting the
male gaze away from the content of your presentation and onto your
body.” And,
of course, her response wasn't really pretty, she took that and got
together a
group of other college students to protest him. Okay? And, course, she
didn't
get the whole school to do that, she got some other kids, some other
students,
that went to her and actually told her, “You have a moral obligation to
dress
more conservatively to your audience.” So, on her final—she didn't like
that—so,
on her final address to this, her thesis presentation, she came there
with
clothes on. Okay? She got in the middle, she came with clothes on, but
she took
it off. She had the top one, and then her underwear. So, and, along
with that,
she invited other people to do it with her. And, so, I just want to
say, I want
to talk to the young people today, okay? This is, this is what the
environment
that we have in this world, today. And, it's been accepted. A lot of
people
accepted this. But, you know, I want to tell you this morning, young
people,
that everything valuable that God has made in this world are well
covered and
protected. Everything that will matter. For example, diamonds, where do
you
find diamonds? Down in the ground, well covered and protected. Where do
you
find pearls? Down in the ocean, well covered and protected, with
beautiful
shells. Where do you find gold? Gold is way down in a mine, well
protected well
covered and protected, layers of rocks. If you want to get to them,
you're
going to have to dig deep in order to find them. Okay? So, young
people, your body
is very sacred to God, valuable and unique. Okay? You are far more
precious
than diamonds, gold, or pearls. You're, you were—I took a little
Spanish class,
you are the obra maestra of God's creation. The masterpiece. You're a
masterpiece. Okay? So, your body should be covered too, amen? So, now,
if you
keep this, if you keep your treasures, minerals, just like diamonds,
pearls, and
gold, deeply covered up, you know what can happen? A reputable mining
company will
come down and conduct extensive exploration. First, what they're going
to do is
they're going to contact your government in this case, someone would
have to
come to you, your family, that's a family. They're going to contact
your
family. And, then they will sign a professional contract which is,
like, they
want to go under this, they're going to go talk about wedding, and
then, they
will mine you professionally which is legal marriage. Okay? So, what
I'm going
to say is, if you leave your precious, precious minerals uncovered, on
the
surface of this Earth, you will always attract illegal miners, and mine
you
illegally. Okay? So, what I want to say is let's keep your precious
minerals,
your body, deeply covered up, so that it invites professional miners to
chase
you. Amen? Amen? Part
2: Quench The Thirst, Stricken with Regrets.
On any road trip, everything and everyone gets
thirsty. Okay? That includes your transportation. It’s going to take
some gas,
you've got to fill it up with gas. Your horse, you're going to get
thirsty,
your drivers and passengers, your animals, your pets, if you have pets
along
with you, they're going to get thirsty, too. Well, an Israelite took a
summer
road trip on their own, and everyone got thirsty, and everyone got
thirsty,
including their animals. In Exodus, chapter seventeen, verse one
through six,
and it says like this: Exodus 17:1-5
And all the
congregation of
the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after
their
journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in
Rephidim:
and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people
did chide
with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said
unto
them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the
people
thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and
said,
Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us
and our
children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord,
saying,
What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And
the
Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of
the elders
of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine
hand,
and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;
and thou
shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the
people may
drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
So, they got thirsty, so they God did the
miracle, Moses followed instructions very well, strike the rock, the
water came
out, everyone got you know quench their thirst, including the animals.
Now,
fast forward, forty years later, the same situation, the same situation
that
Israelite is coming to Moses. Numbers, twenty, one through twelve: Numbers 20:1-12
Then came the
children of Israel, even the whole
congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people
abode
in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. And there was
no water
for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against
Moses and
against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying,
Would God
that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! And why have
ye
brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we
and our
cattle should die there? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out
of Egypt,
to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of
figs, or of
vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. And
Moses and
Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the
tabernacle of
the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the
Lord
appeared unto them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the
rod, and
gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and
speak ye
unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and
thou
shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the
congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before
the
Lord, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the
congregation
together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels;
must we
fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and
with his
rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the
congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the Lord spake unto
Moses and
Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the
children
of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land
which I
have given them.
So, this incident happened, and, Moses was
barred from entering the promised land. “Why? Why God? I mean, the
first time You
told me, it was, You told me to hit it. Sure, I was angry, God. I did
the same
thing, what You did me the second time, I hit it. I had it twice. I
know I
didn't listen, I'm supposed to speak to it, but, yet, I hit it anyway.
I was
angry. Don't You understand that, God? Why?” Well, here's the problem.
The
problem is, number one, Moses disobeyed a direct order from God. A
direct
command from God. That's number one. Okay? He was supposed to—God told
him to
speak to the rock, and he instead, he hit the rock twice, and can you
believe
it? God gave him the miracle anyway. That's how good God is. You know?
Even
though his intention was a little different, God made that miracle
happen,
anyway. And, the second one that he did, Moses took the credit for
bringing
forth the water. Well, because, he said, when he asked the people to
gather
together at the rock, and he said, “Must we fetch you water out of this
rock?”
Taking the credit for himself. That's a steep right there. And, this is
another
big one. Moses did this publicly, in front of everybody. In front of
everybody.
Humiliated God in front of everybody, okay? Number four: the rock that
was
struck the first time that was meant for Christ on His crucifixion.
When the
rock was struck the first time, that was the crucifixion of Christ.
That was
the picture of the crucifixion of Christ, right there. And, the second
time,
when God told him to speak to the rock, that meant, as a prayer to the
rock, to
God, to Jesus. That meant, as a prayer. But, instead, Moses struck the
rock
twice, totally disobeyed God, and humiliated. And, so, God's biblical
plan, on
this part, kind of got destroyed a little bit. You know, Jesus was
struck the
first time, and then, when Moses struck it again, basically, he's
sending Jesus
back again to be crucified. But, God, you know, didn't allow that. He
did not
allow that. So, obviously, that didn't happen. But, you see, young
people,
Moses was like the Jesus Christ of the Old Testament. He was their
savior. He
was making miracles, miracles after miracles with God's help. He is
their
savior. He's the Jesus Christ of the Old Testament. He has that kind of
relationship with God. Face to face, talking to God right as if he was
next to Him.
But, you know what? God didn't have favoritism in His class. God didn't
have
favoritism in His class. God didn't have a teacher's pet in His class.
So,
that's what it is. That's what it says. Attention to direction. Part
3: Destination Arrived
You know what happens when people are going on
a road trip. Mostly what happens is, when they come together, they, you
know,
they—it's a big reunion. You say, “Hey, how you doing? You know, I
haven't seen
you in a long time.” You know, they hug, they shake their hand, and
then they
just, you know, all happy. And, some people just kind of take on the
activities, you know, you know, try to find out what they can hike up,
or do
other things, that’s what they do. And, some people just kind of want
to relax.
You know? Just relax, watch other people, enjoying their time, their
vacation,
whatever, you know. That's what they do. In Revelation, chapter
twenty-one,
verse one through five, and it says like this: Revelation 21:1-5
And I saw a new
heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I
John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice
out of
heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will
dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them,
and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon
the
throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write:
for
these words are true and faithful.
This is, probably, the biggest reunion of all.
Biggest reunion. And, you know, you know, if you're Christian or not,
whether
you know God or not, #35:05# this is probably what everyone is looking
for. Not
probably, I know this is what they
are looking for. And, the problem with this is, the people that don't
know it,
they constantly take these things that the world has to offer and put
in for
themselves and fill their void with their life with it. Yeah, sure,
they'll be
happy, temporarily. But, this is permanent, church. This is permanent,
church.
But, I want to go back, I want to go back to the main, to the theme
Scripture
in Matthew, chapter eighteen, verse three, and it says: Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be
converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
Except. You know, Jesus did not leave any ifs
or buts on this statement, right there. You don't have no room for
that. And,
what's so amazing about this is because, He just took a little child,
and
didn't say anything and He brought him to them. Right in the midst of
them. So,
what is it? What is it about a little child—and the thing is, He said a
little
child, He didn't say child, or children; He said little child, and, to
me,
little child, probably the toddlers, probably one years old, two years
old, that's,
to me, that's what it is. So, what is it about a little child that
Jesus is so
hung up on, and just so special about it? Well, first, because they are
so
honest within themselves, you know? They do a lot of things that they
don't
know what they're doing. You might think that they're doing wrong, but
they
don't know that. That's what the child is. They're so innocent, and
their heart
is so honest to God, in front of His eyes. Okay? So, what else? What
else a
little child? A little child can't get a job; they can't get a job.
They can't
go do anything at all. They can't take care of the home. They can't go
wash the
dishes. They can't go clean the house, vacuum the floor. They can't do
all of
that. They can't grow a garden. Okay? To provide food for themselves.
They
can't do that. You know? they can't drive a car to get to another place
where
they want to go. So, they can't cook. So, you know what? If you take
the
outside support that we all see in the world today, you take that
outside
support, that little child will die; it will not live. So, what am I
saying?
What am I saying, here? I'm saying that when you come to God, you have
to be
hopeless, you have to be helpless, you have to be powerless. You have
to be
powerless when you come to God. You ever remember, you ever remember
when a
Solomon had a dream when he was a little child? He had a dream as a
little child
and God talked to him in his dream and God asked him, he says, “What do
you
want? What do you want? I'll give it to you.” You know what his
response was?
Solomon's response? He said, “God, I am but a little child. I don't
know how to
go in and go out, God, let alone do other things. But, if you're asking
me
anything, I just want you to give me wisdom.” And, you know what? God
gave him
wisdom and much, much more. Why? because he came to God as a little
child.
Powerless, helpless, and hopeless. That's what he did. That's what he
did.
Powerless, hopeless—you know, Jesus, Jesus, Himself, He said, “I can't
do
anything. I can't do anything, but whatever God taught me. I can't do
nothing.
Whatever God taught me, that's all I can do.” Powerless, helpless, and
hopeless.
So, today, if you want to have that much of a good relationship with
God, young
people, I hate to step on some people's toes today, but I know some
people
today were just forced to be here. People were here today just because
you have
to preach. People are here today just because you have to teach. People
are
here today just because you have to sing this song. Well, I got to tell
you, I
got to tell you, though, that's not good enough to God. That's not good
enough
to God. Okay? You have to come—young people, you want to have a good
relationship with God? You want to have that good connection to God?
You have
to be as a little child. Powerless, helpless, and hopeless. The Bible
says
today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). If you hear my
voice, take
heed, that's what Jesus said (Matthew 18:10). Take heed. if you want to
have
that much relationship with God, today is the day. God bless you.
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