I gave my first sermon in front of the congregation today.
Thank God, it went a lot better than I expected. I know a lot of people were praying for me and everyone offered me a lot of good advice and encouragement, and I can't say thank you enough. It was a real blessing.
Anywho, I thought I'd post the actual write-up here in case anyone was interested. What I actually said didn't follow it too closely, but it does at least show what I was trying to say. It's not perfect by any means, in fact I wrote it the night before after struggling for months to find the perfect thing to say, and discarding any number of options.
In the end, I think what I came up with was given to me by God, and I hope it serves someone out there.
First, I wanted to thank you all for coming here today and ask you to please bear with me a little bit. I’ve never done anything like this before, and nothing scares me more than the idea of speaking in front of groups of people.
You know, when I was first asked if I’d like to do this I said sure. It sounded exciting, and I jumped at the chance to share a little bit of the insight that I’ve gained with all of you who have shared so much with me.
Of course, then I went home and it sank in that I had better figure out something to say. I think that was in March. Since then I’ve thought about it and prayed about it a lot, hoping that it would come to me. I’ll let you know when I get it figured out.
While we wait, I’d like to share a little bit of my own testimony with you, because it relates a lot to my subject. It’s nearly the anniversary of the day I was baptized, and I thought perhaps that the path that lead me from who I was before to who I was that day in the Blanco river, to who I am now and who I hope to be in the future, might be of some use to those of you who see people out and about in the world who are craving God’s love, but don’t know it.
I’m going to start with the place that I think all journeys of faith must start, a sincere prayer. How many of you can remember your first, sincere prayer?
I do.
For those who don’t know, I work in security. I’ve run security companies for the more than ten years, and while I work nights exclusively now, that hasn’t always been the case. There was a time when I only worked late nights in case of emergency, and in the summer of 1999 I had one of those emergencies. An apartment complex in Austin had caught fire and was unsafe. They needed a security guard to keep people away from it for a few days, and to protect whatever valuables that might have survived.
The people who worked for me were all booked up, so I went there myself, and I’ll tell you, it was a sad place. No one had been hurt, but people had lost everything they owned, and as I walked the halls of that place the sadness rubbed off on me. I can’t remember ever feeling so alone as I did on those nights. One night, after about a week of this I couldn’t take any more. I was standing outside, and it felt like I was all-alone in the world.
Anyone who works late nights will tell you that the time right around 4AM is just about the quietest time of the night. Those who stayed up late have finally stumbled into bed, and those who get up early still haven’t made it out of the house. The city is about as empty and quiet as it ever gets.
That night nothing was moving. I was standing there staring out at the capital building from atop the hill behind the complex, and I felt as though there was no one in my life who really knew who I was, what I was thinking, or what I wanted out of life.
Now, I had a family; a mother, a father, a sister and brother, even a large group of very close friends, but right then and there it didn’t matter. Right then I was alone in the world.
And then I wasn’t.
At that moment, there, alone on that hill, I closed my eyes, I cried, and I prayed. It was the first time in my life that I knew that I meant it.
Now, that doesn’t mean that I was ready to accept God, or what in meant to be a Christian, but it does mean that I was ready to really accept that God not only existed, but that he played an active roll in my life. That he knew who I was, what I needed, and when to touch my heart.
There were a lot of other steps along the way, but I’ll keep them brief. The point is really that faith is a journey, and like all journeys it starts with a single step. For me that night was my first real step.
After that night the steps came more quickly. I believe I have talked with some of you about the car crash that nearly killed me, probably should have killed me, but I believe that Christ saved my life that day so that I could live long enough for Him to save my soul.
2 Peter 3:9 tells us that, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” After that day, I’ll never forget that. I’ll never forget that God’s patience saved me in so many ways.
From that point on most of you probably know my story. I met my wife, another little miracle that God put into my path, and she and my son brought me here, to you.
For me, this was the place; you were the people, that God used to save me. People of God, with patient hearts and welcoming arms.
I still have a long ways to go. I know that my journey will never really be over, but I know that I have Christ and his people to guide me, and I know that I’ll never be alone through the trials that Satan puts in my path.
I guess therein lies the danger of new faith. The failing to account for an enemy whose not just there to tempt you, but to actively oppose you. When I was studying for my baptism a member of this church warned me that I should be careful, that the devil would be more determined than ever to stand in my path, and I think perhaps she was right.
Still, I think I had the advantage. I may not have known the Word well enough to guard myself, but I had Christ and His people there to defend me.
Of course, wily and cunning as the devil may be, I think he has a weakness. During my preparations for baptism both my father and my grandmother died on the same day. I was devastated, and my bible studies and meetings with the pastor were put on hold while I traveled to help my mother and sister deal with their grief and make plans for the funerals.
What I found in my journey, however, was a little miracle in and of itself. You see, the devil may have tried to strike at me, but what I saw instead was God’s mercy. My father had lived for years in terrible pain, struggling with one ailment after another. He was a good man, and his time had come.
More directly, my grandmother, who had lived well into her nineties never attending church, had always believed in God, but had never given herself over to Him. Through her life she had never been baptized, and there, in the end, she was miserable and in a constant state of dementia. Still, just two days before she died, the dementia cleared. She was given time to say her goodbyes to her family, and more importantly, she found the Lord and asked to be baptized.
She lay dying, but God was patient, and I believe he granted her time to enact the wish that had been in her heart.
I felt the presence of God a lot on that trip. There was pain, but there was revelation as well. God sent his people to show us that we weren’t alone. Not only did this church support me, not only did my employees step up and cover for me, not only did my family help my financially, but when I got to California, I found that all of the arrangements had been taken care of for me, so that I could spend my time supporting my mother and sister.
You see, the local church there in California took care of all the arrangements. They brought our grieving family food and comfort, and they helped us to make the funeral arrangements so that we could take the time to deal with our grief.
That church was an Adventist church.
Now, I should mention that, before meeting my wife I had never heard of the Adventist church. No one in my family is an Adventist. No one we know is an Adventist. These people just helped us because they were good people, and they knew we needed help.
If I ever needed reassurance that my journey was along the right path, that this was God’s church, and that this was where He meant for me to be, that was it.
If that loss was the devil’s way of striking at me, then he underestimated the faith and love of God’s people.
After all of this it is my belief that we should always be aware that God isn’t just with us, just watching us, or standing beside us, but actively fighting for us.
He gives us all a path to follow and a journey to complete. He steers our steps toward the goal, and send us people and angles to light our way, and all He asks is that we be willing to step onto the cobblestones that he has laid. That we be willing to follow the trail that He has blazed.
So, what stops us from completing our journey? What stumbling blocks bar our way?
For some people it’s simple guilt. The thought that “I’m beyond saving” or “I’ve sinned too much.” Maybe even, “I’m not strong enough to stop sinning. Even if I want to, I’ll always fall short.”
What we forget, or those of us who don’t read the bible may never know, is that the blood of Christ cleansed our sins. Sure, we know that the bible tells us that he died for our sins, but we forget to make it personal. We forget that cleansing the world of sins means that we are included as well.
People are worried that they are beyond forgiveness, but they don’t give God enough credit. Could you really believe that you are better at sinning than God is at forgiving? He is able to carry the weight of all the sin in the world, how much harder could it be to include everyone in this room? How about everyone who should be here, but is kept at home by fear and guilt?
It may be true that you can’t do it alone. Of course it’s true, but that’s the great thing: You don’t have to. All you have to do is offer it up to him and he will carry your burden. He will give you strength when you are weak, and he will forgive you should you stumble again along the way.
Before I joined this church, that was me. I never knew that there could be help, that there could be forgiveness, for me. In fact, it wasn’t until I read this book that I really understood what forgiveness meant.
Who here knows what this book is?
Who here has read it?
I don’t know if it has touched your heart the way it did mine, but as a man who knew nothing of God’s word, it excited me and relieved my fears all at the same time.
If you haven’t read it, let me know, and I’ll get you a copy. If you have read it, but know someone who might benefit from it, let me know, I’ll get you a copy. I literally have a hundred copies taking up space in Mrs. Nichol’s library for just that reason.
The point I guess is that this excites me, because this excites me, and I never knew that, because I never knew God’s word. Because my faith is new.
I still find new things every time I read a bible story to my kids. I think the depth of my ignorance amazes my wife some times, but for me, some of these stories are still new, and I still get to learn from them as I teach them to my children.
Still, it doesn’t take new faith to make the word of God exciting. It doesn’t take an unbaptized sinner to walk a journey of faith. We all have that journey to walk. If you’ve been a Christian your whole life, lived right, and done God’s will, there are still steps for you left along your path.
If you’ve been faithful, but perhaps questioned it, or stumbled a bit, there’s still room for you to get back up and start again.
Remember that.
Remember that sometimes our steps are painful, and sometimes we make a wrong turn, but we should never be afraid to stop and ask for directions, and we should never be afraid to try again.
Be excited for whatever the next step along your path has in store. Treat all faith like new faith, like you’ve still got something left to learn, and you will find something that you never knew.
One of Jesus’ first disciples was a man named Simon, but Christ renamed him Peter, meaning rock, which is used in the bible to describe what?
A stable foundation.
In fact, turn to Matthew 16:18. “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
That gives us a pretty firm picture of a man who is pretty far along on his journey, and yet it’s only a few chapters later that Christ tells Peter that he will deny Him. Peter of course says that he would never do such a thing, who could imagine denying the Lord, and yet, what happens?
That very night he denies Christ. Not once or twice, but three times.
Another step along his path.
Personally I’d like to think that Christ is a pretty good judge of character, so was he wrong to choose Peter?
No, of course not. Like any lesson we learn from, or any question that we ask, the doing may be wrong, the lesson may be painful, but it can bring us closer to God.
Peter was devastated by his betrayal, and in the end he saw it for what it was, and was stronger for it. He stumbled along his path, but it didn’t stop him from continuing his journey.
May we all be so blessed to learn such an important lesson.
My meeting last sabbath went great, but I was unable to take the results to the rest of the church board meeting on Monday.
Anywho, I guess the ideas we gathered can wait a month if they have to, but I'm going to at least get moving on the game night, perhaps meet with the social comity and see if they'd be willing to put it together, and I'll write up my notes from the meeting and make sure the other board members get a copy.
That pretty much leaves me with no good options for collecting from him, but luckily I have really great insurance myself that should take care of everything.
