Voice of the Nazarene 1-26-25

Voice of the Nazarene 1-26-25

Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene. A week by week, venture into the Word of God, sponsored by the Bucha Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray La Salle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:17

It's the psalmist and the 142nd verse one, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, many of us have and with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him, and I showed before him my my trouble. Instead of just consuming yourself with your trouble and your problems, take him to the Lord in prayer. Take him to God, share him now. Here's the background of the story, the stories built around David. David, when he was 17, was anointed to be the king. There was another preacher, our King, that had been on the throne for a while, his popularity is fading and His power is getting away from him. He hadn't stayed close to God and stayed humble, and God raised up David, and although he was anointed to be king at 17, he did not become King till he was 30. And there's 13 years between the time that he understood that God wanted him to be the king and the time that it ever happened. And sometimes it's in that space that we get disillusioned, and we go through awful things and and David did, and Saul the old king had become jealous, especially after David killed Goliath, the giant, the ladies would sing that song. Saul has killed his 1000s, but David his 10 1000s, and jealousy is an awful, awful thing. It can eat away on you till it rots you from the inside out. And Saul was so very jealous that he set out to destroy and to kill the young man, David, who had been nothing but gracious and good to him. If you want to read the stories found in First Samuel, chapter 24 I'm not going to get into it this morning, but David had had to run from Saul. Saul had gathered 3000 of his warriors, his soldiers, and they went out after David. And David was just a young chap. He's only got a handful of men, and they're literally running for their life. And they come to a cave, and they go into this cave, and they're hiding there, and they hear the army coming, and they go clear back in the shadows, in the darkness. And Saul makes his way into that cave, and you can read the story, and I'd encourage you to do it now, David's discouraged, he's disoriented, he's dismayed, and he's hiding for his very life in this cave. But David did not win victory over Saul that day. He had a better victory. He won victory over himself. Remember, he had gotten the victory over the lion early on. Fact, no matter, he gained victory over a bear, he gained victory over a giant. But it was in that cave, in the darkness of that time between him becoming king, that he gained victory over himself. And here's what I want you to know, I truly believe that if God's going to use a person greatly, you'll have a cave experience somewhat like David did. Tozier said, I doubt that God can use the man or the woman greatly until he first hurts them deeply. Think about it for a little while. Charles Stanley said it different. He said, God can't bless you until he bleeds you. And then Jerry Falwell, he said the life that pleases God is often painful and and difficult. Somebody said, Well, I want to be a leader. Well, be careful what you're asking for, because if you're leading, you're bleeding, because that goes with it. It's sometimes the lonely cave experiences I want to take in your thinking back to Genesis, 32 Jacob. You remember the story of Jacob? Jacob? He was a conniver manipulator. He he tried to outmaneuver everybody, and he'd take you and and he'd steal from you if he could, but he had an encounter with God, and he's wrestling with the angel of the Lord in this particular instance, and God would change his life forever, change him from that old. Old conniver that he was and make a prince out of him. And as you read through this story, he's wrestling with the angel of the Lord. And as it got toward mourning, the angel said, let me go. I've got to go. And Jacob said, I'll not let you go until you bless me, till you bless me. And suddenly that angel literally threw the hip joint out of its socket and disappeared into the morning mist. And from that point on, Jacob never walked the same. He always had a limb. And anytime you saw him coming, you'd see him coming. But remember what he had said, I'll not let you go till, till you bless me, and getting that blessing from then on, the rest of his life, he always limped, and here he comes, and you say, Jacob, what happened to you? Jacob would whisper, I got blessed. I was blessed. And that's a wonderful, wonderful thing. So let me tell you something. Do you you want to know how you can tell someone that's been blessed? Would you like to know how you can tell that God has done a great work in somebody's life where they're no longer strutting, they're limping. Arrogance is gone. I want to tell you something God cannot use any of us, as long as there's any arrogance and it's all about us and we're trying to get the credit instead of giving it to God. God has a way to develop our character, sometimes in the night before, the picture that God has in mind for our life to become, and he had a cave experience. And God sometimes has to do a deep work in our life. Now, in Genesis, 32 verse 28 God said, I'm going to change your name. It's no longer going to be Jacob the surplanter, the underminer, but I'm going to change it to Israel, which means prince with God. But wait a minute, he had never been that before that hip was thrown out of socket, and it took that to bring on this fact of God being able to use him and making a prince out of him, meaning sometimes there are caves in our life, sometimes it'll mean you're limping and you're not strutting, and your world may seem like it's about to collapse, and it's in moments like that you have to depend totally on Almighty God, and that's where God wants my life and He wants your life to be. So I want to talk to you for a few minutes about how to behave in a cave, because you're going into experience some of those things in life. That's why I said. I don't want you to come out of those things bitter. I don't want you to be like the porcupine and you just send out these sharp spines into everybody else just because you're going through something bad. Allow God to show you how to behave in the tough times. It's easier to act like a Christian than it is to react as a Christian. Now, David's in a cave. He's going through a very difficult time. You say, Well, Pastor, I'm in a cave. Well, you're either in a cave, or you're heading into a cave, or you just came out of a cave. I want to promise you that. And here's how you behave in a cave and how you do makes all the difference in the world. So how should I behave? Six things I want to point out. They're not mine. They're right out of the Scripture. It's so simple, I apologize in advance for the message. Okay? But how should I when we're in a cave, what do we need to do? Number one, simply pray. Just right out of the Bible. Look at what David said. Verse one, I cried unto the Lord. And here's what I've learned. There are times you'll have things happen into your life that you cannot talk to anybody else about ever, only God, not you glad that God's waiting to hear us. Sometimes there's things that happen that you're never comfortable in sharing, even with family, but God wants to hear about it. And you can do more than pray after you pray, but you can't do any more than pray until you have prayed. So if you're in a cave, what do you recommend? Pastor? I recommend just unburdening your heart to God and calling out to the Lord. Here's the second thing, trust. Look at what David said here in verse three, when my spirit was overwhelmed. That means muffled within me. Then you alone. Know the way I should turn wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me. And so he'd found that sometimes you can't hardly trust anybody, and there's times in life that you can't trust yourself. What do you do? You learn to lean in and trust God. And I found when I'm really out of it and I'm. Trying to find my way that I've said, God, would you just help me to find an example out of the Scripture, a biblical example? Give me a verse. Give me something from your word that is so basic and so real, it'll guide my life. You say, Well, this is the way I feel. Nobody cares how you feel. Feelings are so fickle. Feelings just come and they go. And when people start giving their religious experience about how they feel, it's scary. And I said at the early service, you know, it's like somebody said, Well, I'm in love. Well, that black singer Tina Turner said, What's Love Got to do with it? And sometimes we just got to obey God. Forget the feeling, whatever God you want me to do. So I don't always trust myself. That's why I lean on the Word of God. Want to give you something Spurgeon said, and I just talked to somebody the other day, and they told me about a book I'd never heard of. It written by his wife. Her name was Susie, one of the godly ladies of that time, and a pastor's wife of a church that ran around 3000 fact of the matter that his building would fill up with people. He was a young guy when he pastored, and he had as many people standing on the outside that couldn't get in on the inside, and around 3000 on the inside. Must have been a powerful preacher, English preacher, well his wife, she was as good as him. She donated more than 20,000 books to impoverished pastors. And had you ever heard what actually is Behind every successful man? It's a surprise woman Susie, but here's what Spurgeon said. He said, God is too loving to be unkind, and he's too wise to be mistaken, and when I can't trace his hand, I can trust his heart. Now get in the Bible, here's Jacob, and Jacob found there's a famine throughout all of the land. And people are starving to death. The trees are dying without water. Animals are laying out carcasses, laying out on the soil. Famine swept its way. And he's he's down, and he's discouraged, and and he, he said, you know, and he makes this statement in Genesis, 42 verse, 36 he said, all these things are against me. He said, Joseph, my my son is dead, and now Simeon is dead, all these things are against me. And maybe you felt that way. But here's what he didn't know, Joseph wasn't dead. Joseph was Prime Minister down in Egypt, and he's got the keys to all of the silos and all the food storage. And Simeon wasn't dead. Simeon was right down there with his brother Joseph. And we reach those points in life when we say all these things are against me. That's what mama used to say. Nobody's ever had it as tough as I have. Okay, mom, bless me again, if you think you can. But that's what Joseph all these things, and he didn't know that God said in Romans, 828, that we know that all things work together for good, to them that love the Lord, and to them which are the called according to His purpose. So while Jacob is saying all these things are against me, God is saying no, all these things are working together to help you to find your purpose. Aren't you glad God's at work and he's working things out? So when you're in a cave, learn how to pray. Be sure you trust and I'm just throw in a third thing that I read out of the Scripture. Here's what I see. Stand alone if you must. Now, if you please, God, it doesn't matter who you don't please. But if you don't Please, God, it doesn't matter who else you do please. You can try to be at peace with everybody and be a people pleaser and stand firm on both sides of every issue, but when it's all over, if you don't please God, you're going to be miserable. So learn how to stand. And here's what David said in verse four. I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. He felt like the Lone Ranger. Have you ever felt like him? I have. There's times when you feel all alone. The Lone Ranger in one of his programs, he looked around and they're totally surrounded by Indians, and he said to to. Said, what are we going to do? And Tonto said, Who's we? White man. So that's what David is saying. He looked and said, on my right hand, there was no one. Nobody knew me. Refuge. Felt me. Nobody cared. Pastor, that will never happen to me. You just don't know my family. You don't know all of my friends, it'll never happen. Don't you. Rule it out. The Apostle Paul said in second, Timothy, 416 at my first hearing, no man stood with me, but all men for shook me, but not withstanding, he said, The Lord stood with me and strengthened me. You. Others may walk out, he or she may walk out, he said, But God stood with me. You can lose your job, but you don't have to lose God, and God doesn't want to lose you. Stand alone if you must. But here's the fourth thing, delight in God. Pastor, I'm in the cave. What should I do? Hey, in those kind of moments, think about God and delight yourself in him. He said, I cried unto the Lord, verse five. I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. What does it mean? Refuge? Well, it means a safe place in the middle of a storm, safe place. Safety is not the absence of storms. Safety is the presence of the Savior. Wouldn't you rather be in a storm with him than to be in a calm without him? Sometimes God calms the raging storms. Other times God just lets the storms rage, but then he calms me. He's my refuge. But look, he goes on, and he said he's my my portion there in Deuteronomy, 10, nine, all the children of Israel about got that inheritance, and when they got into that promised land. They gave them this portion, and others got that portion, and others got this. And Caleb said, I want that mountain to be mine and and you got all of but when it came to the Levites, they didn't get a portion, because God said, I am your portion. You know what? God wants us to know that he can be our portion. He's our joy. He's my source, he's my resource. He's my everything. And he said in Psalm 37 verse four, Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. My only warning would be, don't allow your desires to exceed your delight. And then I looked at this sixth verse, And I I felt this thing of sympathy that were to sympathize attend unto my cry for I'm brought very low. Do you know, until you've been brought low, you can't help anybody else that's low, you don't understand. I believe that most of the things that happen to us, God allows them to happen to us so that we can help other people. Now think about that here in Second Corinthians, one four Who comforteth us in all of our tribulations, talking about God that we may be able to comfort them, which are in any trouble by the comfort where we ourselves are comforted of God so we go through things to help others. God doesn't comfort us to make us comfortable. He comforts us to make us a Comforter to others. So we go through things in life, and God wants us to step aside and help others. How else are you going to know how they feel if you've never been through it yourself? Acquaintance, preacher. Acquaintance had a man come to him, and he said, Preacher, my wife and I did not get together, right? She was another man's wife. I stole her from him. She cheated on him to get with me, and I thought I had life altogether. And then she started cheating on me. I didn't realize what I'd done to him until I went through it myself. And he said, I got on the phone, and I called him, and I said, I want you to know I did you wrong, and I'm sorry I did not know how it felt, but I want you to know that now I know how it feels, and there's something about knowing how it feels and when you go through something, don't bury that and don't hide it from others. If you've lost a child and you see somebody else losing a child, don't not say anything. When my boy was going through cancer, and the doctor said, there's not a chance under heaven. He didn't use the word heaven, that your boy will live. Nobody's ever lived very long with this cancer, one of the darkest hours that my wife and I ever went through in our lives. They burned him up with radiation, they poisoned him with chemo, until finally, he began to bleed through the membranes of the stomach. And a man that his kids went to school with my kids a well known figure in the community. I come to find out that he had been he'd survived cancer three times. And I wondered, why didn't he just go to my boy and tell him I made it, and I believe you could make it the encouragement it would have been, but he never, later on, he didn't make it. But when you go through something, don't hide it. Find somebody else experiencing the same thing, and be grown up enough to help them and encourage them and share with them. There's something about knowing how others feel. Here's the sixth thing, and it's praise I just found in verse seven. David said, bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name. And this is what I believe. I believe that when you're walking through difficult times, I believe your praise will come differently out of those kind of moments. That's what the Bible says in Isaiah, 61, three, for the spirit of heaviness, put on the garment of praise. In other words, when life gets difficult, instead of becoming difficult with it, learn how to just praise God. Did you know that God inhabits praises? Sometimes when the only way to get through the difficulties of life, it's to praise. I've been there when you couldn't sing your way to victory. You couldn't pray your way out of the loneliness of it. You couldn't obey your way through but when you begin to praise God, you're resisting the devil, he flees, and you're drawing nigh to God, and God comes, and God inhabits praises. Fact of the matter for every time that prayer is listed once in the Bible, Praise is listed 50 times. And if you're planning on going to heaven, I want you to know something. You better learn how to praise God. You won't be praying in heaven. All prayers have been answered. And over yonder they're praising God. And it seems to be the last thing some of us are accustomed to. And we need to limber up and begin to praise God for the spirit of Heaven is put on the garment of praise. And here's what I've realized, when you can't always praise the Lord for your family, because he may be walking out on you or she may desert you, and when you can't always praise God for your health, because maybe you're dying of cancer. And when you can't always praise God for your job, your job may have already gotten away from you. And when you can't always praise God for your children, although you raised them right, they have not turned out to do what is right. But we can praise God for who he is, we can praise God that he's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Now I've learned that on the way to the throne, there's going to be some trials, and what I've learned on the way to the palace, there'll be some persecution, and on the way to honor it, there's going to be some hurt, and on the way to promotion, there will be pain, and on the way to coronation, there will be some caves. David's in a cave, and he's wondering, Will I ever survive? He became king, but he didn't know if he'd live out the day. DL Moody, he's the evangelist that literally pulled the Western world and the eastern continent of Europe, and all of that pulled them together in revival. Never did get ordained to preach, but became one of the great evangelists. He'd built a church in Chicago, and crowds were coming and things were going well, and then the Great Chicago Fire hit. His Church burned to the ground. He had no place for his people to meet. Houses by the hundreds were burning down across the city. He hurried back to his own home, and it was already incinerated, and it was up in flames. When it was all over, all he had left was a cast iron stove. He lost everything, and he said to his wife, honey, we need to talk to God. We can rebuild the church. I can build back a house, but who's going to build me back? You? So discouraged, and walking down the streets of New York in the middle of his discouragement, he just looked up and he said, God, I'm going to praise you anyway, though you slay me, yet will I serve you? The devil tells me that you don't love me, but I want you to know I love you and I'm believing you in spite of the doubts that you love me. And as he began to praise God on those streets, the presence of the Lord, so settled on him. He got to a friend's home and asked, Do you have a spare room? I need to get alone with God. And in that room, began to praise God. And he said, God. So settled on me. I had to finally say, God, would you stay your hand? I don't think I could survive this. And after that, he said, I preached the same sermons I'd always preached, operated like I'd always operated, but it was different, conviction and anointing and God's blessings came. Here's what d l moody did. He behaved in the cave. It makes all the difference in the world when you're going through a dark time, how you handle that, because if you can't survive that, you're not going to make it in the big days, he lost everything and decided, I'm going to praise the Lord, and no matter what happens in our life, let's make a commitment. God, don't rule me out. I'm going to serve you now. I don't know everything fact, no matter i I'm kind of like the guy here. A while back, he learned that he had a whole lot to learn. But I can say this, I I've been through a few caves in my life when it seemed like everything was gone, and people even were looking at me like something must be wrong, the way everything's falling apart for Him. And there were people that laughed about it, and all I could do was just hang on and say, God, I believe in you anyway. And when I walk out of the pulpit, I'm not going to whine about it, not going to talk about it. I'm not going to mention and if some of you remember back in those years, I never said a thing about it. I only talk about it and allude to it once in a great while now, but I never mentioned it, then, never said much to my friends. Then I just kept hanging on. Now I'm here to tell you you can make it through the dark, and you can make it through the night, and you can make it through your disappointments, and you can make it through even when you feel almost disoriented and you're not just sure what is happening. Just trust his heart. Just trust his heart. You may not trace his hand. You may not figure out what what his hands are involved with, but you can, you could trust him. He'll never fail you. And God is working all these things out. I'm not saying he put it on us, but he's going to make all things work together for our good. Trust Him and behave when you're in a cave, Father,

Unknown: 28:07

thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor, Ray LaSalle, for more information regarding B and C, visit bucyrusnazarene.org, you.