August 2017 – Tri-Valley Baptist Church

“Jesus is the Question-that leads you on His Quest!”

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Aug 202017

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE:　 “Jesus is the Question-that leads you on His Quest!”

By: Ron Woodrum

　　　　 Back in the 70’s there used to be a Christian saying-or slogan-that went something like this-“JESUS IS THE ANSWER!”　 It was usually on a bumper sticker.　 Or when I was in college we had little orange circle stickers we put on our Greek New Testaments, and other books and notebooks. It had an index finger pointing heaven-ward saying ONE WAY on top, and JESUS IS THE ANSWER on the bottom.　 They were everywhere.　 Some students, not so enamored with the message of Jesus, retorted-“If Jesus is the Answer-What is the Question?”　 We all know what is meant by Jesus is the Answer.　 He is the answer to life’s deepest longings.　 He is the answer man’s greatest needs, especially that of salvation.　 Yes-He is the Answer for Everyone!　 But consider the fact that Jesus not only is the ANSWER but Jesus is also THE QUESTION.　 Recently, after preaching a series on the person of Jesus, last year, I noticed that Jesus asked alot of questions in the Gospels.　 He usually asked questions when he was asked a question.　 Jesus did not ask questions to find an answer to something he did not know.　 Jesus used vital questions to teach vital spiritual truths.　 He used questions the way a surgeon uses a scapel, to delicately cut into a new level of understanding.　 Jesus asked over 135 questions in the Gospels.　 If we preached on one question per week it would take nearly three years to cover them all.　 Obviously that would be a task beyond the capabilities of anyone keeping your attention of such a subject for such a long time.　 But my hope and prayer is that I can pick a few questions that will wet your appetite to pursue a study of all of them for yourself.　 Maybe if we take a long look at a few　 of His probing questions, and discover His answers, we just might come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Question and the Answer.　 He is indeed all in all!

　　　　 The great athiest Voltaire said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers!”　 Claude Levi Strauss said, “The scientist is not the one who gives the right answers, but asks the right questions!”　 Richard Feyman said, “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned”.　 The great Christian philospher and scientist Francis Bacon said, “Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much!　 A prudent question is one-half of wisdom”.　 G.K. Chesterton said, “It’s not that they can’t see the solution, (the answer)…it is that they cannot see the problem, (i.e. the question).”　 Bono, from u2 said, “We thought we had all the answers, it was the answers we had wrong.”　 Richard Wurman said, “In school we were rewarded for having the right answer, not for asking a good question!”.　I remember a teacher telling our class, “there are no foolish questions, except those　that are not asked”.　 George Benard Shaw had an interesting thought.　　He said, “No question is so difficult to answer as the one which the answer seems so obvious”.　 Jesus brought up to those that heard him, questions they thought they knew the answers to.　 But　He asked them in such a way that a whole new perspective soon opened up to a whole new answer.

　　　　 The word question is derived from the Latin word-“quarrier”-which means　“to seek”.　 It has the same root as the word “quest”.　 So Jesus drew us in　with　His questions for the purpose of taking us on a quest that would lead us to the most fulfilling answers.　 The great Christian psychiatrist and couselor Henri Nouwen said, “We have to keep looking for　spiritual questions if we　want spiritual answers”.　 Thomas Merton said, “God, my God, with You it is always the same thing!　 While I am aksing questions that You do not answer!　 While I am asking questions that　You do not answer, You ask me a question that is so simple that I cannot answer it.　 I do not even understand the question!”　 That seems to describe Jesus’ methodology in asking questions.　 But Rainer　Maria Rilke encourages us to be patient as we ponder　His questions, and search for His answers.　 He writes, “Be patient with regard to all that is in your heart is still unresolved and try to love the questions themselves like closed parts and books written in an extremely foreign language.　　Do not　 seek for the moment of the answer because you would not be able to live through it.　 Live the questions now.　 Perhaps you will live thereafter and gradually without realizing　 it, one day, live your way into the answer!”　 That is exactly what Jesus did.　　He asked questions that everyone thought they had the answer to.　 It became apparent that they did not.　 Then it appeared that perhaps there was no answer.　 As they continued on listening to Him they gradually, without even realizing it, were “living their way into the answer!”　 But most of all we cannot avoid this Divine Interrogator!　 I love the poem that T.S. Eliot has written…called The Stranger.　 In it he says,

　　　　 “Oh my soul, be prepared

　　　　　 for the coming of the Stranger.

　　　　　 BE PREPARED FOR HIM

　　　　　 WHO KNOWS HOW TO ASK QUESTIONS.

　　　　 There is one who remembers

　　　　　The way to your door

　　　　 Life you may evade, but

　　　　 Death you shall not-

　　　　 You shall not deny

　　　　 The Stranger

　　　　 They constantly try

　　　　　To escape

　　　　 From the darkness

　　　　 Outside and within

　　　　 By dreaming of systems so perfect

　　　　 That no one will need to be good.

　　　　 But the man that is

　　　　　Shall shadow the man that pretends to be”.

“SOUL BE PREPARED FOR HIM WHO KNOWS HOW TO ASK QUESTIONS…Let　Him lead you from the shadows and pretension of pat answers to the reality of His life-changing answers”　 Remember Jesus is Your Question and He is　Your Answer!　 Lets begin the Questions that lead to the Quest!

“We would See Jesus”

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Aug 132017

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “We would See Jesus”.

By: Ron Woodrum

One of the greatest preachers of all time was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was called “The Prince of Preachers”. At the age of 19 he found himself filling the pulpit of the Park Street Baptist Church in London. The critics and press of London called him “vulgar”-(common). But the common people heard him gladly. When he first came to the church in 1854 it had 232 members. But before his ministry was over he was preaching to 6,000 plus every Sunday. Many times his regular congregation would leave in order to give their seats to those waiting outside the door to enter. As soon as they left, the entire sanctuary would fill with new people. Some of the well known people who came to hear him preach on a regular basis were Prime Minister Willam E. Gladstone; members of the Royal Family; Members of Parliament; Author John Ruskin; Florence Nightingale; General James Garfield, who later became president of the United States. Before he was 20 he had preached over 600 times. When he was ten visiting missionary Richard Knill prophesied that young Spurgeon would preach to thousands in the largest Church in London, and it came to pass. His dad was a preacher too, and he grew up in a family of 17, though several died at a young age. Spurgeon was known for his humor and his power from on high. One lady chided him for telling humorous stories in the pulpit and he responded “madam if you knew how much I restrain myself you would commend me!” He knew his power came from the anointing of the Holy Spirit, showered over him because of the prayers of his people. His favorite thing to do was to give visitors a tour of the Church and ask them if they wanted to see the Church’s power plant. Opening the door to a room that was filled people on their knees crying out to God he would tell them the secret of his success-“My people pray for me!” On one occasion a young minister asked him how to reach people like Spurgeon did. Spurgeon responded, “pour kerosene over your head, light a match, and people will come and watch you burn!” For years people came to see and hear Spurgeon burn with the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit of God. Let me share two of my favorite stories about Spurgeon. One is his conversion. One morning he was caught in a blizzard on his way to his father’s Church as a lad. He had to stop into a Primitive Methodist Church. Listen to his own words, “I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came upon a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not much care how they made my head ache. The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed-up I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up to the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that preachers should be instructed; but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say, the text was ‘LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH’. He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began, ‘My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says look. Now lookin’ ain’t no great deal of pains. I ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger-it is just look. Well a man needn’t go to college to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look. The text says Look unto Me. Ay! Many of ye are lookin’ to yourself..no use lookin’ there! Jesus Christ says Look unto me. He went on Look unto me I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto me I am hanging on a cross! Look unto me I am dead and buried. Look unto me I rise again. Look unto me I ascend to heaven; look unto me I am at the right hand of the Father. O poor sinner look unto me!’ Spurgeon continued, “When he had spun on for about ten minutes he had come to the end of his tether. He saw me under the gallery, and with only so few people there, he knew me to be a stranger. He fixed his eyes on me as if he knew all my heart and said, ‘young man you look very miserable’, well I was but was not used to having remarks about my appearance being made from the pulpit. But it was a good blow striking right home He continued, ‘you will always look miserable. Miserable in life, miserable in death, if you don’t obey my text and look to the Lord. But if you do it now you will be saved! Then he raised his hands to heaven, and shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do. Saying, ‘ Young man look and live. Look to Jesus Christ and live. Look. Look. Look. I saw at once the way of salvation. I nearly looked my eyes away. The cloud was gone. The darkness was lifted, I saw the sun; I could have risen and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks to him only. Oh if somebody had only told me this before”.

My second story is that Sprugeon’s wife was an invalid. She was not able to come to Church much. On one occasion as he went to visit his saints, he kissed her and asked is there anything I can bring you home dear. In a jesting way she said “of course” a piping bull-finch and an opal ring. While he was visiting the first family the woman of the house remarked, “It is Mrs. Spurgeon’s birthday. Please give her a gift from me”-and handed him an opal ring! At the next home, the man of the house was dying of cancer. The woman of the house said, “Mr. Spurgeon, we have a piping bull finch that is annoying my ailing husband so. Would you and Mrs. Spurgeon like to have him for your pet? We would so appreciate it!” He went home with both gifts. He said, “Even when we ask of Him in jest, He sometimes shows His goodness to us in ways unexpected!”

My favorite quote from Spurgeon concerns lost souls. He always said, “If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. Let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them…If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go unwarned or unprayed for”. That kind of burden for the lost shows to those who need the Lord. His pulpit had a sign that read-“Sirs we must see Jesus in you”. Obviously all who heard Spurgeon saw the Lord in all he said and did!

There was another great preacher in London at the same time as Spurgeon. His name was Joseph Parker. He was a more eloquent preacher than Spurgeon. A visitor came to town with the intent on hearing both Spurgeon and Parker preach. In the morning he heard Parker-and left the service saying, “What a Sermon”. In the evening he left the Metropolitan Chapel that Spurgeon preached at and was continually saying-“What a Savior!” That is what made Spurgeon great. You make much of Jesus and He will make much of us. Still true today.

“We have more than a good and reasonable hope of final victory!”

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Aug 062017

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “We have more than a good and reasonable hope of final victory!”

By: Ron Woodrum

There is a new movie out called Dunkirk. As I understand it-it seems to be a movie about the challenges faced in WWII and the near defeat for the free world. But of course in the end, with great resolve, the evil forces were overcome, and the Allies celebrated a great victory. But all was not so during the heat of the battle. At a critical time during the war France fell. The Battle of Britain was about to begin. England had to ask and answer the question is that little island had the courage and resolve to fight on. Churchill was fairly new in his position as Prime Minister. But what a role he would play. His words put steel into the blood of the citizens and soldiers of England to fight, with all they had, to victory. Listen to what he said in a speech dated June 18th, 1940.

“I have thought it right upon occasion to give the House and the country some indication of the solid, practical grounds upon which we base our inflexible resolve to continue the war, …and I could assure them that we should do so, and there are good and reasonable hopes of final victory. In casting yo tgus dread balance sheet contemplating our dangers with a disillusioned eye, I see great reason for instense vigilence…and none for panic or despair. During the first four years of the last war the Allies experienced nothing but disaster and despair…During that war we repeatedly asked ‘How are we going to win this war?’. No one was able to answer it with any precision, until the end came quite suddenly, quite unexpectedly, our terrible foe collaspesed before us…The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization…our life…continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy will be turned against us. If we can stand up to him, (Hitler), all Europe may be freed and the life of the world move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. If we lose then the whole world, including the United States, …will sink into the abyss of a new dark age…Let us brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This Was Their Finest Hour!’ “

Those words changed the course of history. That turned the tide from one of certain defeat to one of real victory. Churchill was a gifted orator that had the power to transform countries and armies to rally to victory. The Apostle John did the same for Christians. Their Lord was long gone. He had returned to heaven. The ensuing years had not been kind to Christians. The promises of the world hating them, and persecuting them, and martyring them had not been exaggerated by our Lord one iota. But John rallies the troops and assures them we are not fighting for victory, but we are fighting from victory. It doesn’t always seem that way. When we see the many victories that the enemy has in the lives of Christians today. It is easy to think that the victory of Christ is anything but decided. That made A.W.Tozer write these words, “Fallen man has created a perpetual crisis. Until Christ reigns over a new, redeemed, restored world, the earth remains a disaster area”. But Calvary was the promised ‘death blow’ to Satan. It had been promised that when Christ would come, Satan would “wound his heel but Christ would crush his head” (Gen. 3:15). When Jesus cried out, “it is finished” He meant redemption in full! But He might as well have said, “he is finished”… for with His resurrection and ascension back to heaven, with the sending of the Spirit to indwell His believers our victory is more than ” a good and reasonable hope of final victory”-it is a guarantee! That is why John says in Chapter 5 that “faith if the victory that overcomes the world”. He said that Heaven Testifies to our Triumph. That Triumph is in the Son…through the power of the Spirit…actualized by our faith. The story is told of a Civil War veteran from the winning side used to wander from place to place, begging a bed and a bite to eat, talking of having won the war, and talking about his friend Abraham Lincoln. Because of his injuries he was not able to hold a job. But as long as he could keep going he would celebrate the victory and talk of his Beloved President. One skeptical bystander retorted one day, “I’m not so sure you are telling the truth, prove it!” The old man replied, “Why sure, I can prove it. In fact I have a paper here that Mr. Lincoln has signed himself and gave it to me!” From his pocket he produced a well-worn folded paper. He said, “I’m not much for reading…but I know that is Mr. Lincoln’s signature!” The skeptic soon recanted his skepticism, and asked, “do you know what you have here?” The old veteran shook his head no. The man replied, “You have a genuine generous federal pension signed and authorized by President Lincoln himself. You don’t have to walk around a beggar! Mr. Lincoln and the Northern victory has made you rich!” John tells struggling Christians both then and now the same thing! You have the worn record of Scripture that testifies you have the victory if you will only claim it by faith. You are not fighting for victory-you are fighting from victory. Claim it each day of your Christian walk! Our victory was won for us at Calvary. But I like what Henry S. Haskins wrote years ago. He said, “The only way to make the most out of a victory is to follow it up with another one that makes the first one look small!” We could never make Calvary look small…but living in the victory of the Power of the Spirit by faith…makes Calvary the Big Victory that it really was. Our defeat diminishes the price our Lord paid to win our victory. Claim it all. You and I have that right. That is what today’s message is all about.