Voice of the Nazarene 3-2-25

Voice of the Nazarene 3-2-25

Transcript

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 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 Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene. My question to you this morning is, who's the greatest influencer of all time, and I'd like to give you the answer, because I know it, and that's Jesus Christ. He impacted and influenced more people, from generation to generation, nation to nation and around the globe, than any other man that ever lived. And I tell you that not from a faith perspective, but from a historical perspective, leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. And Jesus influenced more than anyone else that's ever lived. Socrates taught for 40 years, and Plato taught for 50 years. Aristotle taught for 40 years. 130 years of great philosophy Jesus taught for three years, and the words of Jesus have been taught and been passed on more than all of the great philosophers. Did you know that Jesus, he never painted any pictures? But Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci Raphael, when they painted pictures, they got their greatest inspiration from the life of Christ. Fact of the matter, Jesus never even wrote any poetry, Dante and Milton and the list goes on and on of the great poets. When they researched and were coming up with something to write about and to rhyme. They were inspired more by the life of Christ than any other man. He never wrote a book, and yet all of the libraries of the world cannot contain all the volumes that have been written about him, greatest influencer of all time. Never wrote any music, yet Beethoven and Bach and Handel and Mendelssohn received their inspiration literally from the life of this man named Jesus Christ, Son of God, who stepped from cloud to cloud and from hill to h ill until His feet touched that hill called Calvary, who became the Son of Man. Now I share that with you because I want to talk to you about Jesus, the greatest influencer of all mankind. He's our example. Paul said, Follow me as I follow Christ. And I think that's great, and I can handle that, but I'm saying to you, don't follow me. I'm not Paul, just follow Jesus when I'm long gone. This ministry will not stumble a lick if everybody here is following Jesus Christ, I want you to join me in the book of Romans, chapter 12, we get a picture of what influence is all about, and I'm going to read from the message today, if you don't mind, here in verse one. So here's what I want you to do. God helping you. Take you every day, ordinary life. You're sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life and place it before God as an offering. He's simply saying, place your hands right out before God and say, God, you can have my ordinary life just like it is. Don't complicate it. Just give him your life, all the human instrumentality. Just give him your life. And he goes on. He said, embracing what God does for us is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God, you'll be changed from the inside out. Perhaps our problem is that we like being bigger on the outside than we are on the inside. And if you're bigger on the outside than you are on the inside, it's only a matter of time till you're going to cave in you. But if you're bigger on the inside with with integrity and with character and with life change, you're going to influence everybody around you. Remember what Paul said, If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, old things are passed away. And behold, all things are become new. And so I want to challenge you to look at the life of Christ for a few minutes and see we can rise to a whole new level and literally impact the world around us that we live in, down there at the drug store, the gas station, when we're buying groceries. Can I just talk to you about a few things about Jesus, the great influencer? Did you know that he saw things that other people didn't see? He was amazing and intentional in his scope of what he saw. Influencers see things that other people don't see. Influencers see before other people are capable to see. Jesus said to His disciples, as they were looking around, he asked this question, are you saying that four months cometh harvest? No, no, no, he said, I'm saying unto you, lift up your head, look on the fields, they're white already unto harvest. It's harvest time. The fields are calling and the grain is falling. Oh, do not wait. It's growing late. Behold, the fields are white. It's harvest time. That's what Jesus said. He saw people differently than what other people saw. When he looked up into that tree and he saw Zacchaeus, a wee little man, wicked in the side of the people, Jesus looked up at him. He said, I want you to come down from out of that tree and I'm going home to your house to eat. And there, in Luke 19, the people were indignant to think that Jesus would cozy up to this man that everybody said was a crook, but he said, I'm going to your house, if you read it, even Zacchaeus was stunned. He he he couldn't believe he thought he must be he must have a search warrant. He's going to search for all my corruption and and surely he wouldn't be my guest today, but he was when Jesus looked at people. He doesn't see people like like we do. You see He sees people by how they can become, that we can be better than what we are. And he sees that that we can be transformed, and we can be be changed. And he looked at Zacchaeus in a way that nobody had ever looked at him that way. And there's the woman at the well, same story, Jesus sitting there in broad daylight talking to this old gal. And the disciples when they returned from their errands, they were amazed. They could not imagine Christ talking to a woman, a Jew talking to a Samaritan. Well, what about the woman caught in the very act of adultery? The story just goes on the list. Never stops. Remember what he said, I am come to seek and to save that which is lost. He was seeking people out. He was seeing people that needed a divine touch, and God wants you to begin to see people that others cannot see. He saw this blind beggar making a lot of rock of Jesus, thou, son of David. Somebody said, hush, we're in church. Be quiet. You're disturbing things. Jesus wasn't disturbed. Jesus walked over to him and realized that he needed a touch. There's an amen that needed to walk. People just walked on by Him. But Jesus didn't he give him a lifting hand. Lepers, the crowds would avoid them. Jesus, in compassion, walked over and wiped away the white scale of leprosy. There in Matthew, chapter nine, the Bible said that when he saw the multitude, he had compassion. Others didn't have that, but he saw what other people couldn't see. Did I ever tell you about the man that fell into a pit and couldn't get out, anybody home? I asked. You a question, Did I ever tell you about the man that fell into a pit and couldn't get out? And a subjective person came along and said, I feel for you down there. And an objective person came along and said, Well, it's logical that somebody would fall into a pit. And a Christian scion came along and said, you only think you're in a pit. It's all in your head. It's like a toothache, it's all in your head. And a Pharisee came along and said, Only bad people fall into a pit. Newspaper reporter came along and said can I have an exclusive story about how you fell into that pit? Fundamentalist came along and said, You deserve your pit. And a Calvinist said, if you'd have been saved, you wouldn't have fallen into that pit. And the Nazarene said you were saved and still fell into that pit. And a charismatic came along and said, you just need to confess your way out of that pit. A realist came along and said, Wow, that's the pits. IRS agent, He said, Have you paid taxes on your pit? And a county inspector said, Did you have a permit to dig that pit? The basic person came along and avoided the subject of the pit, and a self pitying person said you haven't seen anything until you see my pit. And an optimist said things could be worse, and a pessimist said they're going to get worse. But Jesus came along and he saw a man in a pit, and he reached out and lifted him out of that pit. I'm trying to tell you that Jesus sees people like you and I are not capable of seeing people, but this great influencer, Jesus, Christ, not only saw what others couldn't see, he said words that others did never seem to say, and his words were like a magnet. They were attractive to people and to others, repelling to people. His words attracted people who were seekers of the truth, but they repelled people that were out to build their own kingdom. He said things with words like noone else. He said, I'm a doctor, and I came to heal the sick. He said, I'm the bread of life. Anybody hungry? He said, If you'll drink this water, you'll never thirst again. He talked about the fact that you can have a better life. Fact of the matter, the King James translation says, I am come that you might have life, comma and life abundant. My question to you is, which side of the comma are you on? I got life or I got life abundant. Sorry, I asked. And so today, the great influencer, he sees things that others can't see, and also he said things that others never said. He said, If I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. He said, I'm the Way, the Truth and the Life. He attracted people by what he said, and his message was so appealing that attracted seekers of the truth. We not only see what others don't see, we say things that we're going to be an influencer that others do not say. I don't know about you, I pray to God nearly all of my day. God help me to say the right thing. You can say the wrong thing, and you just can't take it back. I don't care how many times you say you're sorry if you stab somebody, there's always that wound. Be so careful little tongue what you say. I'll get a call out at night and somebody's dying. They're about to step into the great beyond, and they're lying up here at the local hospital, and they're saying they're needing a chaplain. Would you come? And many times, Jan will answer the phone and I'll say, Well, was it a man or woman? She said, I don't know. Did they give a name? No, I don't have a name. And I drive my way through this little German, American town called Bucyrus, bucket of rust, and my headlights will glare off of windows as I'm passing and the streets are alone and I'm saying, Oh God, I don't know who I'm going to talk to in a moment. I don't know if I'll make it there in time, but if I get there in time, Please, God, would you give me the wisdom to say the right thing? Family may be there, and it's going to be awkward even trying to talk to them, and I don't know if they can hear and they may be gasping for breath. They may be unconscious. God give me wisdom. Somebody said about Jesus Christ that often he would ask questions. And in asking a question, it would draw out where the other one was coming from. Somebody told me that if they were around people of no faith, they would like to ask the question at a table. If, if you were asked a question, what question would you like to have asked of you? And it said, by the time it would get to me, my answer was I would like to be asked how I came to know God. And it gets quiet then. And invariably, later that evening, in the privacy outside, somebody will come up out of the dark and say that question that you wanted to have asked, How did you come to know God, can I ask you? Would you share an answer? One speaker said there are four ways to add value to people's lives. If you want to add value to a life, you gotta value their life. If you don't value people, you can't add to people. And a second way if you're going to add value to people, you've got to have more value and better yourself. If you don't have anything to offer, how are you going to add value? And a third way to add value is to know and relate to what they value you, gotta connect with people. And the speaker said, Okay, I've given you three out of the four. Now let's move on, and somebody to raise their hand, but you didn't tell us the fourth? No, it's three for you and four for me. And they won't give it up. What was the fourth one, you don't want to know. Tell me the fourth one, well, if I had to tell you, don't, don't, don't listen, but if I had to tell you, you can add value to other people's life, when you realize what God values, what God values. And listen, I'm concerned that the people of God will say the things that attract people into the kingdom and not say things that will offend people out of the kingdom. Effective influencers not only see what others see, but they say what others don't say. Jesus believed what others do not believe. He was full of faith. I'm going to read to you John eight, verse 23 Jesus said, and I'm going out of the message on this one, you tied down to the mundane. You're tied down to the mundane. I'm in touch with that which is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. He couldn't believe things others couldn't believe because he could believe. That's why he looked at fishermen and saw the value others would have said they'll never amount to anything. But he saw that they knew people that nobody else knew, and they'd become a great influence on them. He looked at Zacchaeus, while everybody else saw a dishonest man. He saw a man whose life could be changed, and a man who would say to others, I've stolen from you, and I'm willing to make restitution to give you a back four fold. I want my life straightened up. Nobody else saw that, but Jesus did. Jesus looked at Lazarus and said, I believe he can be raised from the dead. He looked at the Samaritan woman, and he saw value. He looked at sick people and said they can be healed. He looked at a thief and said they can be forgiven. He believed what others could not believe. And by the way, it was Jesus, not Norman Vincent Peale, that said, nothing is impossible with God. And it was Jesus, not Robert Schuler that said, you can have a better day. Today is the day of salvation. And it was Jesus, not that Tony Robbins that said, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains. Robert and Norman and Tony, none of them said those verses Jesus did. And let me tell you this, when you believe you can make a difference, you get a church full of people that begin to believe for the miracles of God and the impossibility and believe that God can transform lives, and you can't stop the march of that church. But Jesus felt things that others did not feel. He was passionate. He expressed his feelings vigorously. He was angry when Satan persisted in temptation. He was apprehensive that his miracles would become popularized. He was surprised at the centurions faith. It was exasperated when the apostles couldn't seem to catch on to his teaching. He was disappointed with Peter's faithlessness. He was sympathetic with crowds that did without meals in order to follow after him. He shed tears over Jerusalem, and he had unspeakable joy when Peter identified him as the Messiah. Jesus was a passionate, loving Lord. May I say this? We're never going to change our world by just having more seminars and intense training. It's gotta be something that happens inside of us. It's one thing to take paper and write down a lot of notes. It's another thing to say, God, I'm trying to write some notes but would you write on my heart till the Gospels written there, and it comes from out of a warm heart. We'll never touch a broken world until we see him from a broken heart. Here's the last thing, and I'll just quit. And I believe there's many more. Jesus did things others did not do. He was fruitful. He was fruitful because he had a life saving message. I believe he was fruitful because he trained and developed other influencers. There's a passage of scripture that really grabs me quite good, and it's found here in John 14 verse 12, the person that trust me will do not only what I'm doing, but shall do greater things, greater things. Well, that's frightened us, and whatever you requested my name, I will do. You know what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that the church lives beneath its means. I've been reading lately the book of Acts, and I believe the book of Acts the church was living beyond and above her means. As I look at the Lord, he's our model. He's the perfect model of the greatest influencer. So all we've got to do is look to Jesus, and it's time the body of Christ becomes bold. We're the salt and the light. You say, Well, Pastor, what does that mean? It means that we are to make things better and we're to make things brighter. Are you making anything better or brighter?

Second Corinthians, 5: 23:26

11, my life verse. These years that I've preached and traveled and written in people's Bibles, I've never seen anybody else use this for their life verse, but it's the verse that grips my thinking and drives me more than any other verse. Therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord or the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. When I came out of Bible college, and all of us were graduating, it seemed like to be the student body. Their main burden was standards. We're going to go out and straighten the church up. Church is compromised. We're going to beat the living daylights out of it. Our burden is standards. I'm not against standards, but my burden has been souls. And I think because of that, I don't fit anywhere. I don't think there's a denomination in the world that I really fit in. I'm not sure I fit in anything. My burden has never been systems and denominations, and I'm not against any of them, but I'm going to tell you this much, everyone at some point will become a disappointment. Every last one of them will die somewhere along the trail, or they're in the midst of dying, or they're already dead, it'll happen. They'll lose their ministry, they'll lose their message, and they'll become instead of a movement, they'll become a monument. You. My burden is souls. My burden is people. I want to influence people into the kingdom. We're not gathered here by accident. We're gathered here on purpose. And I believe that God wants to take our ministry here to another level, till we can set a tone among the people that we bump into from day to day, our own children, our neighbors, people that we associate with, people that we work beside. And I want to get serious about the gospel. It's my burden. And somehow I pray that God will take the burden of this old pastor's heart and somehow begin to massage that burden into your thinking and into your heart, till when we look around, we'll see people not as others see them. We'll see them as a living soul that someday soon, will breathe their last and step out into the great beyond, either ready or they're not ready, only a little bit of time on Earth, maybe 70 years, stretch it out, maybe they'll get 80 short time, the only span of time they have to get right with God, and God has put you and I as salt and light in their path. Can we help to make them better and brighter? Can we get enough light turned on that conviction will grip their heart and pull them into the kingdom, pull them from the very fires of hell and help them to find their way to heaven. Father, take this simplistic message anoint it to our thinking. Would you take us to a new level as we look at your life and the impact that your life had greater than all of the philosophy and all the books of time, it changed the lives of men and women every time they came into contact with you. Would you let a little bit of that rub off on us? Give us enough burden that we don't want to go to hell, that we want to go to heaven, turn the light on bright enough that we want to keep our family out of hell and our neighbors and to help people to get into the kingdom. Let that be our thought this afternoon, we're out there on a Monday when we're on the job or in the classroom. Help us to see what you saw. Help us to say what you have to say. Help us to believe like you're able to believe. Help us to feel like you're able to feel. Help us to be doers of the word, not just thinkers about it, but help us to be doers. Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle for more information regarding BNC, visit bucyrusnazarene.org.