Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Introduction:

Discoveries about my heritage

History is really “His Story”. God is sovereign in the affairs of mankind. Holidays are designed to celebrate. But they are also designed to teach and cause us to reflect. July 4^th, Independence Day is remind us of the sacrifices others have made in the pursuit and cause of freedom.

Pilgrims

September 6^th, 1620, 102 pilgrims

The Mayflower voyage of 1620 took 66 days after leaving Plymouth, England on September 6, and anchoring in present day Provincetown harbor in Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. Miraculously only one passenger died on the voyage.

That first winter at Plymouth Plantation decimated the settlers due to cold and disease. Of the 102 that came ashore only 52 were left in the spring. Plymouth Plantation lasted 72 years.

Lexington and Concord
The first armed encounter of the American Revolution took place in Massachusetts, where the British force in Boston numbered some 3500 men. General Gage was aware that the militia members of the outlying towns were being trained and reorganized into active elements known as minutemen, ready for immediate service. Ammunition and military stores were being gathered under direction of a Committee of Safety acting for the provincial assembly. On the night of April 18–19, 1775, Gage, under orders from Lord North, sent out about 800 men to seize munitions being gathered at Concord, some 29 km (about 18 mi) from Boston. The move did not escape the vigilance of the Committee of Safety, whose mounted messengers, including a local silversmith named Paul Revere, spurred into the countryside to give the alarm. Early on the morning of April 19, the advance guard of the British force exchanged fire with a party of militia at Lexington; eight Americans were killed, and the British continued marching on to Concord Lt. Col. Francis Smith (1720?–91), the British commander, found militia companies assembling near Concord. Most of the military stores had already been removed, and a British attempt to seize one of the two bridges near the town was forestalled by an American counterattack. More militia companies were appearing. Smith, having sent back for reinforcements, took his time reassembling his men for the return march to Boston. That 800 British regulars should be seriously threatened by colonial militiamen, no matter how numerous, was impossible for a British officer to conceive. Smith’s men, however, were tired and low on ammunition. Combined with persistent, if inaccurate, American sniping from the cover of hedges, trees, and buildings, the British retreat became a disorganized flight by the time the troops met a supporting force of 1400 men under Brig. Gen. Hugh Percy (1742–1817). British reinforcements checked the Americans briefly and enabled the retreat to continue in somewhat better order. When the regulars reached Boston, British casualties numbered 273, American casualties less than 100. Militia companies from at least 23 towns took part in this operation, which was nothing less than an uprising in arms of a whole countryside against the British. The American offensive did not end with chasing the invaders back to Boston; militia forces kept coming, closing in on the city, which remained under siege from April 20, 1775, until the British evacuation on March 17, 1776. Bunker Hill: 1056 British; 500

200,000 fought during the 8 years of the war.

4,435 combat deaths

6,188 wounded

How did Jesus turn ordinary fishermen into spiritual leaders?

Three Phases Of Becoming Spiritual Leaders

1. From Seeking to Believing

John 1:36-46 “When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” “When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

“Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ““Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). “And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” “Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. “Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ““Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.” NIV

Some sought Him out. He sought others out. But the invite was the same: Come and see – literally and figuratively!

John uses also uses the “seeing” as a metaphor for seeing and understanding spiritual truth!

John 1:48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you…Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”” NIV

John 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”” NIV

John 2:11 “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” NIV

John 20:30-31 “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” NIV

Jesus said

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”” NIV John 14:6

ILLustration

E. Stanely Jones tells of the missionary in the jungle. He got lost with

nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He finally

found a small village and asked one of the natives if he could

lead him out of the jungle. The native said he could. “All right,” the missionary said, “Show me the way.” They walked for hours through dense brush hacking their way through unmarked jungle. The missionary began to worry and said, “Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?” The native said. “Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path.”

Jesus Christ is totally unique…

“At the heart of every major religion is a leading exponent. As the exposition is studied something very significant emerges. There comes a distinction, between the person and the teaching. Mohammed to the Koran. Buddha to the Noble Path. Krishna to the object lessons. Zoroaster to his ethics.

Whatever we may make of their claims, one reality is inescapable. They are teachers who point to their teaching or show some particular way. in all of these, there emerges an instruction, a way of living. It is not Zoroaster to whom you turn. It Zoroaster to whom you listen. It is not Buddha who delivers you, it is his “Noble Truths” that instruct you. It is not Mohammed who transforms you, it is the beauty of the Koran that woos you.

By contrast, Jesus did not only teach or point or expound on His message. He was identical with His message. “In Him,” say the Scriptures, “dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” He did not just proclaim the truth. He said, “I am the Truth.” He did not just how a way. He said, “I am the Way.” He did not just open up vistas. He said, “I am the door.” “I am the Good Shepherd.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the I am.”

In Him is not just an offer of life’s bread. He is the bread. That is why, for a Christian it is not just a way of feeding and living. Following Christ begins with a way of relating and being.

Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods

C.S. Lewis, in his book Surprised by Joy said in his own intense search “God closed in on me.” “So the great Angler played his fish and I never dreamed that the hook was in my tongue….Soon I could no longer cherish even the illusion that the initiative lay with me. My Adversary began to make His final moves. The first move…the second move…the third move…the fourth move… Remember, I had always wanted, above all things, not to be “interfered with”, I had wanted to call my sole my own. I had always aimed at limited liabilities.

The odd thing was that before God closed in on me I was in fact offered what now appears a moment of wholly free choice. I became aware that I was holding something at bay, or shutting something out. The choice appeared to be momentous but it was also strangely unemotional….I chose to open, to unbuckle, to loosen the rein…Total surrender, the absolute leap in the dark was demanded…no treaty can be made…the demand was not even “all or nothing” it was simply, “all”.

So many are spiritually unattached…not really seekers, but have a drifters sort of life; “hoppers and shoppers”; maul gazers…uncommitted, restless. Those who are open to everything but committed to nothing.

Are you looking for something. Do you have a sense of need. Are you satisfied with life as it is. Are you like C.S. Lewis and don’t want to be “interfered with”? Do you have a sense of hold something or someone at bay or shutting something out? Or in your heart are you are looking for “home”, you desire your own “far off country”, you have the scent of a flower you have not found, and the echo of a tune you have not heard. You are looking for your heart’s true home and your one true desire.

Your search is not a search for search’s sake. It is not an open minded or empty headed tolerance for anything and everything. It is a search for the truth and the True One.

To become a spiritual leader a person must first become a disciple (believer). The first phase of becoming a spiritual leader is to move from seeker to believer. We are called into a relationship with God Himself, not to do something or to go somewhere but simply into a relationship with God. Called by God, to God for God.

Phase 1: a time to come to faith in Christ and spend time with Him growing in their faith and knowledge “seeing” him.

1. Do not lamely go along with the crowd

John 3:1-2 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. “He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”” NIV

2. Do not let life’s hurts keep you from seeking answers to your questions. John 4

3. Do you really want to know the truth?

Then don’t be afraid to ask Love’s friend….

John 4:10 “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”” NIV

John 7:17 “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” NIV

Mark 1:15 ““The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”” NIV

II. From Believing to Following