Series Recap
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
We have come to the end of our summer series. This is the last Sunday of Impossible Moments. We hope that you've enjoyed this series, that each week we've gone about studying a different impossible moment in the Old Testament. And we're hoping and praying that this could be a resource for all of us as we go through life and face difficult situations and your own impossible moments. We're hoping that you'll be able to have God's word on your heart. And that no matter what you face, you could even use this series. You could rewatch or re-listen to it and it can be just a source of comfort and joy to you. So today's gonna be a little bit different. We're not gonna introduce a new impossible moment. We are going to together, Pastor Chris and I, gonna look back on these last 12 weeks and kind of draw from all those various texts some important themes that we feel like have surfaced to the top and are reoccurring. Now there are many, there are many things from all these different texts, but we're just gonna focus on a few of them.
Yeah, absolutely. When we look at this and Pastor Andre and myself, we took time this week and kind of started compiling all the different amazing stories that we went through this past summer together and we were just floored. I mean, it's time after time after time again, these incredible, amazing moments when God shows up in the life of people, shows up where when all seemed to be lost, when people were at the end of the rope where there was no hope, there was nothing, their back was against the wall, were stuck between a rock and a hard place and yet God showed up. And yet. That was kind of the theme that we had in this and and there are so many ways that God intervened in the life of so many of these people and we just covered a snippet it feels like of the Old Testament there's so many more stories We could have gone into But God intervenes in so many incredible ways to benefit his glory to benefit who God is and There's there there's times where overcoming these impossible odds brought joy and life and his Righteousness into the world and whatever each scenario was there was only one explanation and that was God The only answer to how could this have happened? How could these people be saved? How could these people be redeemed? How could these people be rescued? It was simply God.
And when we look at that we see this character of God and he is a God who redeems And if you're jotting some notes down you can write that down that God is a God who redeems and we started even week one Where we kicked it off pastor Andre talking about baby Moses and This time in the Israelite history was a scary one They were stuck in slavery in Egypt to Pharaoh but basically be free labor to build whatever Pharaoh does hide to build and The Israelite population kept growing and growing and growing and so Pharaoh actually got fearful that he was actually going to be just outnumbered By all of these Israelite people in his own nation And so to put an end to this he said every baby boy and I believe it was like two and younger or something that Had been born killed He's like I'm gonna cut off the population. I'm gonna slow this down I'm not gonna allow this to happen anymore, and I can't even even begin to imagine Being a father or a mother in that time in Egypt Life is already horrible. All you have is your family to hold on to and then all of a sudden babies and children being ripped out of homes. Why? Because of the fear that Noah had, or no, no, the fear that Pharaoh had and his scared mindset and really being a coward in the way that he was trying to lead by fear. So Moses' mom has no other option but to take a chance. Puts baby Moses into a basket, takes him down to the river and lets him go. I can't even imagine being mom right there in that moment to set your baby into the river and just hope and pray that God would do something. And what I love about that story is the most, the last person you would think, Moses is rescued by Pharaoh's own daughter. And through a series of events, Moses' mom actually gets to raise the child as a surrogate mother and a nanny. And then God in this moment is redeeming Moses for an incredible plan that he has for his life. Later on, we read and we know that the story is that Moses is the one who eventually leads the Israeli people free out of Egypt. And it all started that day on the banks of the Nile River. God in his redemption makes a way even when there seems to be absolutely no way. Another story we talked about was Noah, which is one of the greatest stories of redemption in the Old Testament. And the fact that Noah in his faithfulness is leading and being an example to what is going to happen. God's had it with the human race. They're wicked, they're horrible. There's only one honorable man, one righteous man, and that's Noah. And God says, "I gotta hit the reset button." And so he sets Noah to build this boat, which has never been built before, there were boats then, to rescue people from rain, which had also never happened before. And Noah in his faithfulness sets out as a witness and is God's redemptive plan for humanity. I think in that moment, if anybody had come to Noah in humility and just said, "What's going on?" And heard the story of Noah and repented, I think Noah would have led him on the ark. I really think, but what we know about that day and age, only Noah was righteous. God had a plan for redemption. And even though there was so much more room for people on the ark, it was only eight people, Noah and his family that were saved in that time. Redemption was offered to all who were willing to repent and believe, how only few accepted. When we look at these different characters in these historical accounts through these stories, we see a really main common theme in them and that is godly character. There's a level of godly character that is with each and every one of these people that is awe-inspiring.
That we see and hear that their obedience did not necessarily equal their success. And that can be true for us today as well. That even though that we may be stepping in this way and follow God and be obedient in what he wants, that may not equal our success. We may have some success, but it doesn't automatically guarantee our success. We can go back to Noah. We know that some might look at his life and say, "Really, dude? All those years building the boat, you could only save your family?" But I love the way that God looks at it. God looks at it and he sees a faithful father who led his children, who led his spouse, who cared for those that were closest to him, that knew him. I love that part there. That if we're gonna lead anybody in our life to Christ, it's gonna be the people that know us the most that will see our true selves. I guarantee Noah didn't have perfect days. I bet Noah came home, maybe frequently, threw down his tools, Mrs. Noah's there. What's going on? Oh, it was another day, but he didn't give up. He stayed faithful, and his family and his children saw that in Noah and saw this godly character. Genesis 6:9 says, "Noah was a righteous man." And then in Hebrews 11:7, "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen in holy fear, built an ark to save his family." That is the first time in the history of the scriptures that that word righteous and person was ever put together. There were none before that, to that time, that had ever even deserved that recognition of their character. I think when we see the story of Noah and his godly character, the fact that Noah's family were his only converts, I think is success.
And God sees that as a success as well. Another incredible story was Gideon. Pastor Lauren shared on this one, and Gideon sets out as an army of 30,000 facing 135,000 Midianites. The odds are against him. And then God in this series says, "Hey, Gideon, tell your army if anybody is afraid to just leave." And I can't, again, imagine Gideon going, "Wait, excuse me? We're already down and you want me just to let those who are scared leave?" And God says, "Yeah." So Gideon goes before the army and says, "Anybody who's scared left." His number goes from 30,000 to 10,000. And Gideon goes back to God and said, "Okay, God, what's the plan for a battle?" And God goes, "I got one more thing for you, buddy." He's like, "What?" He goes, "Take your whole army down to the lake, and I want them to tell them to drink water from the lake." So they go down, they drink water, and he tells them, he goes, "Anybody who just put their face down in the water and sucked it up and drank," he says, "send them home." He goes, "Only those who took a knee and squatted down and sipped water like this looking around." He goes, "That's your army. Those are the ones who are keeping an eye out. Those are the ones who understand what is going on around. Those are the ones who are keeping aware of their surroundings." And in the end, 300 men were left. And Gideon goes into battle, trusting God with a four to one ratio against him. And yet God brings victory. God brought victory to them. And it reminds us that we can trust who God says he is and who he says we are. So that when we face our impossible moments, we can know that he will equip us in whatever we need to do that he's called us to. 'cause sometimes this godly character is a moment for us in an impossible moment to grow, to change, to deepen our faith and relationship with God, knowing that he is going to do what he's going to do and we are called to this obedience, even if it doesn't necessarily equal our success. I bet Gideon thought he was gonna die on that battlefield that day. And yet he charged in a battle, knowing that Yahweh, that God was behind him. See, God's more focused on and concerned with our character, with our Godly character than any talent, human ability, human strength when we face these impossible moments together.
Yeah, part of that Godly character that develops in us is a spirit of humility. Humility is this virtue of submitting to God and really having an accurate view of where God is and where we are in light of where He is. It's about recognizing God as the one who reigns sovereign over all, and recognizing that we are made in His image. We are below Him, we serve Him, and we worship Him. These impossible moments in Scripture teach us that He is the one who works the miracles and performs the wonders. It's not the human heroes in the story that get the glory, but it's God. So humility in our series was a theme of our characters giving God the glory and not seeking any personal gain or fame, though that may have happened. Think of Daniel rising to power after he obeyed God, or think of David becoming king, or Solomon and the fame that he gained, all because of their godly character, but also because they were first humble before God.
In our series, we had a few different examples, and two that I'll point out are Solomon, recognizing that he could not reign over Israel better than God. He needed God. First Kings 3, 9 says, give your service, this is Solomon speaking, give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people God, that I made a sermon between good and evil for who is able to govern this, your great people. Solomon had a humility in knowing his limits. God, he knew that God had put him in that place, but he knew that God was the perfect King, the perfect ruler. And so he's humbling himself saying, God, I need you. Help me. There's also David who was characterized for a spirit of humility. Confidence in God, but he himself being humble. David knew who the miracle worker was. Where any victory truly came from, he knew that God was behind it. First Samuel 17, David says this, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion "the paw of the bear will deliver me "from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, this is in the David Goliath battle, "Go and the Lord be with you." And so there, as David is trying to say to King Saul, "Hey, I can do this." He's really not saying, "Look at me and what I did." He's saying, "Look what God did through me." He's having humility in that moment, giving God the credit, giving God the glory, saying, "I'm his servant. "He's used me before, he's worked through me. "I think he'll do it again." but he's pointing to God.
The second way in which we saw humility in our series was people who were for the first time exposed to God in his power and then turning to him, humbling themselves before God. And often it was people who were faced with God's power or miracle who then humbled themselves. So think of Nebuchadnezzar, when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fire, fiery furnace, and then they were saved. In that moment Nebuchadnezzar recognizes God as the true God, seeing that no one else could have done this. And in that moment, this is a king of Babylon who is at the peak of his power and he is humbling himself before Yahweh. Daniel 4, 3 says, this is Nebuchadnezzar speaking, "How great are God's signs, how mighty are his wonders. God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion endures from generation to generation. So this is a foreign king humbling himself, recognizing the true power of Yahweh. And then later in that book, in the book of Daniel, King Darius, a different king, is interacting with Daniel. And Daniel is unjustly thrown into the lion's den. But he's saved by God without a scratch. He emerges the next day alive. And King Darius says this in response to seeing Daniel alive and seeing God work. He says, "I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed. His dominion shall be to the very end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”
And so the takeaway for us in this series, And this theme of humility is that we too should be desiring that God gets the glory, not us. So I just wanna ask, are we striving for that today and in our lives this week, are you striving that God's name be praised? Were we too self-focused right now that we're looking for something more about us, a little bit more fame, a little bit more glory, some more recognition. Instead, we should be striving that God receive glory and worship and are we eager to give him what he deserves? Now these Old Testament, these moments were in a good example of humility, but they also point to the one who was perfectly humble throughout his entire life and that is Jesus Christ, the ultimate example of humility. Philippians 2, five through eight says this, "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing. By taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. In our lives today, when facing impossible moments, impossible situations, think of Christ and his example. humble yourselves before God, remain humble through all your circumstances. And when you endure and God provides a way for you to be on the other end of that impossible situation, continue to praise Him in your spirit of humility.
We have humility, our focus is different, right? We have a different perspective maybe on things when we have this humble heart and our perspective moves our focus to God, that it's more about God than it is about us, that it's more about God's faithfulness than it is about anything else. You talked about Daniel and the fiery furnace, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego took this stand against Nebuchadnezzar that said, "No, we're not gonna worship this statue idol thing that you built. We know the one true God, we know Yahweh, and we're only going to worship Him. And even though that in that it was gonna jeopardize their lives, they knew what the punishment was before they had to make that choice. King Neb made it absolutely clear that you going in the furnace was a result of not bowing down in worship. And yet they still obeyed because they had this eternal perspective that God's faithfulness might happen on this side of eternity, but God's faithfulness also might happen on the other side of eternity, but God's faithfulness will happen. They didn't step into that furnace knowing God is gonna save our physical bodies without harm right now in this moment. No, they were probably walking in going, "Okay, God, see you in a couple minutes. I'm headed your way." But God saved them in that. And their eternal perspective changed. God showed up and made a miracle happen before the eyes of not only them, but everyone else, including King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel in the lion's den is another great example of this. Again, decree given out by some hoodlums trying to control King Darius to say, "Hey, King Darius, we're gonna trip up Daniel and we're gonna say that for the next however many times, you can only pray to King Darius." And Daniel goes, "I'm too old for this." By this point in the book of Daniel, if you study that he had been through time and time and time again, of people trying to control Yahweh and he knew who was boss. And so without fear, he opened his windows and for not just once hiding, but publicly for everybody to know, prayed, and continue to pray his three times a day for everybody to see. And Daniel knew what the consequences were. He knew that he was gonna be thrown into the pit with these ferocious lions that were gonna tear him from limb to limb, but it didn't matter 'cause he had his focus on heaven. He had his focus on God and eternity, knowing that here and now is just so short compared to eternity.
See, when we have this eternal perspective, no matter what we're facing, no matter what we find ourselves going through, there is this peace and there is God's presence, even in the midst of chaos. And when we went through this series time and time again, we saw just these small glimpses of these amazing God moments that when faced against overwhelming odds, stacked against them, God brought his peace and his presence even in the midst of all of that. Moses in the Red Sea, seeing what he thought was gonna be drowned or being killed by the Egyptians. Joshua and his battle against the Amorites, that they were losing the battle, knowing that the sun was gonna go down and they were gonna be killed off in the dark. He prayed a bold prayer for God, stop the sun in the sky and God did. God went against physics and science. You know what that tells me? It tells me he's even in control of that. He is greater, he is even beyond that, which we know and celebrate and think about being regular time and time again. God can stop that, he can do what he wants. He is God. Having an eternal perspective changes our focus on what's important. Joshua knew it, Moses knew it, David, Daniel, Elijah, Gideon, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they all knew this. And when we have, and we see the faithfulness of God, our life is different. I love what it says in Philippians 4, seven, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your higher hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ. That's our perspective we have to have. And that's perspective we saw time and time again from these people.
Last of our themes this morning, again, there's so many more and we're just focusing on these four, is how in these impossible moments, obedience to God by his people, equated to a witness occurring and people knowing who God is. So when David obeyed God and fought the Philistine, the enemy heard about who Yahweh was and saw the power of God. As Noah obeyed the instructions to build this ark, as crazy as it sounded during that time, he was a witness to his own family about who God is and what he does. When Israel obeyed God's direction through Moses to walk through the water and then saw that water close in on the Egyptians, it was a witness to Israel, to Egypt, and to the rest of the world about how God takes care of his people, that this was the God of the universe. When Jericho was destroyed and Rahab obeyed the order to tie a red rope so that when the city fell, she and her family would be saved, that was a witness. So what God is capable of and the fact that he redeems, even people outside the nation of Israel. It was a witness to the rest of the world of who God was. And when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego obeyed God, which meant not bowing down to the king to worship him, they were a witness to all of Babylon, about God being the true God above any other gods. And the same with Daniel, when he was obedient to continue worship, to continue praying in his spiritual practice, instead of stopping regular communication with God, he was a witness to how God is deserving of our everything, even if that equates to our physical death. He's a witness to God being the creator over his creation, and to a witness to God who rules with true justice. So today, church, Spring Valley, as we are talking about our obedience, know that your obedience to God, And whatever situation you find yourself in is a witness to those around you. Your obedience to Christ is a witness to your family, to your kids, to the grandkids that you watch. Your obedience to Christ is a witness to your coworkers, to those above you, your managers, or to those below you working. Your obedience to Christ is a witness to your spouse, to your immediate family, to your girlfriend, boyfriend, to your close friends, those who need to see most how you are obedient to God and how you, as you do that, you are pointing them to Christ. Your obedience to Christ not only anchors you in this world that is trying to pull you away from God, constantly vying for your attention, seeking your loyalty and allegiance, but it also encourages and points people to the truth. Your obedience is like a beam of light in the darkness of this world. It can be a road marker for someone else in their own spiritual journey. And as you are obedient, they're looking to you and being encouraged to say, wow, okay, I need to do that. I need to be like them. Thank you for reminding me of what it looks like to follow God. Your obedience can be the loudest way to spread the gospel without even saying a word. And so here at Spring Valley, our prayer is that we are all together striving to be obedient followers of Jesus, conscious and intentional about how our obedience can be used by God for His glory as a witness for His kingdom.
So where does this leave us? Where do we go from here? Well, I got some people who are gonna pass out something this morning for you. I want you to take this home as a reminder of the series with us this past summer. And it's bubble gum. Yes, I'm, yes, we are handing out bubble gum today. Pastor Andre and I, we were working through this series and we came up with an acronym for us to remember this
And the first of which is "see." We see the character. We see these godly character matters. There's this core piece to each of these accounts of these people when they faced impossible moments that when they this unwavering character that is grounded in God as they walk through these impossible moments depending on God it changed who they are it grew their character it it made them put roots down deeper into their faith of Jesus and I think for us maybe the question to ask when we step into these impossible moments, maybe big, maybe small, maybe somewhere in between, is to ask ourselves the question in this, what might God be trying to teach me in this moment? What does God want me and my character to grow here and now? Again, this focus isn't for us to build up our success, But it's to give God the praise, the glory, and the honor that He is so deserving each and every time. God could be trying to mold something in each and every one of us as we walk through these impossible moments.
The next letter is H for humility. Time and time again, as Pastor Andre shared this morning of this idea at the center of the godly character, was humility and the remembering it's about God's glory. It's not about ours. For some of us, we want to step in and just grab life by the horns and say, I'm gonna take care of this. And sometimes we need to step in with the boldness and the faith that God's got our back like Gideon and make that happen. But at the center of Gideon was a humility to trust in God, that even if it didn't turn out the way they hoped, that God was still God. So when we walk into these moments of impossible situation, ask ourselves the question, how can God get the glory in this moment? How can we point people to Jesus in this time to give him the glory?
The next letter is E for eternity. to have an internal perspective. Trusting and knowing that this in our lives is in God's hands. Eternity, salvation is gonna happen for all who believe and accepted in Jesus Christ and believe on his name. So we may be rescued in our impossible situation on this side of eternity, but it may not be until we reach the other side that we have our focus and our rescue of God. I met a, ran into a friend yesterday I hadn't seen since pre-COVID. And we were talking and COVID came up and we were talking about how one of the greatest things that I think each of us realize is how fragile life is. That we run around thinking we have control of this life and That all that'll never happen I don't know how many times I said that and it kept happening and happening and happening and happening life's fragile Life's just a snippet here eternity is forever Let's focus on the forever Even while in the here and now now it doesn't mean that poof all of our problems are gonna disappear We're still gonna have our stress and our worries and their anxiety and our angst and everything we have to wrestle with every single day while here on earth. But when our perspective is a heavenly perspective, it changes the focus of how we deal with the here and now. And we all can do this to put our trust in the name of Jesus. That is our eternal perspective.
And then the last letter is W, is our witness. Our witness in focusing on Jesus. See some of you, you figured out the acronym before that, I'm proud of you. But you have an opportunity that as we walk through life, as Pastor Andre, I love what he said, he said there, he said, "Our obedience is like a beam of light "into the darkness of this world. "It can be a road marker for someone "who is on a faith journey. "It can be the loudest way to spread the gospel, "even without saying a word." That's what it's about. not forgetting what God has done for us before, time and time again. Pastor Lauren last week talked about the story of Rahab and how Jericho was scared when they heard the Israelites were coming for them. Why? Because they had heard the stories of God's victory. And we are here, how many years later, talking about these stories again and again. Why? Not just for the fun of it, not just to have a fun summer series, but to remember who God was so that we know we can depend on who He is and His nature and His character for now until forevermore.
So what does this mean for us here in 2023? Well, I think for us is when we face impossible moments, I want us to take a second and chew on it. To think about how our character might grow, how our humility might be more grounded in Jesus, how our perspective would be changed from here now to then and forever more in heaven, and then how our witness for those around us to then help direct and pull more people and push them to the cross of Jesus Christ. That's what we want you to do.