The Faithful God

When Vic candidated here, my recollection is he preached on Romans 12, 1 and 2, and uh he was in a tie and coat and he always wore a tie-in coat.

So I come back 50 50.

Many years later, and I'm in a tie-in coat, I have no hair.

Vic has hair, and he's not in a tie and coat.

How the world has changed.

Hair needs to be a little bit longer, though, Vic.

Can we bow for a word of prayer?

Lord, what a great day to celebrate 50 years of ministry, to contemplate the faithfulness of God here at faith.

And for all of us here to be part of that, of what you have done and how you have worked.

And that we celebrate that together.

We ask your spirit to work among us today.

Then our words are going to be words of encouragement, but also with your word.

That your word can have the impact on us.

For some we come today, and it is a time of celebration, and therefore it's a great word of encouragement.

But some are coming today and um they're going through difficult times.

And they need to have a word from you that gives them comfort.

And others may be here where they need a word of exhortation to bring them back in line with their walk with you.

So wherever we may be, Lord, our desire is for your spirit to do that work.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Lamentations 3, when you come to verse 23, you have that great phrase, Great is thy faithfulness.

Thomas Chisholm actually wrote a hymn on that.

We've sung it many times.

The refrain goes like this Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by no morning, new mercies I see.

All I have needed thy hand hath provided.

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

It's written by a man who uh was born in a log cabin in Kentucky.

Came to Christ when he was twenty-seven, and then when he was thirty-six, he went into the ministry.

But after only one year of ministry, he had to quit because of his health.

He was bedridden most of his life, had jobs that kept him busy, wrote 1,200 poems, but this is the one that became a hymn when he was 59 years of age, is when he wrote the song.

Makes us sort of ask the question that what is God's faithfulness?

What is it really talking about?

It's interesting how the word is used in the Old Testament.

It's actually used of a hand, but not just a hand, but but a steady hand.

It's the idea when an artist has the ability to do that fine work that they do that you want a steady hand, not a shaky hand.

Or if you're going in for some blood work, who wants to have that phlebotomist come to you with their hands shaking like this?

It's uh uh I'll get the vein.

It's like, no, no, no, uh, I'll wait.

Or who wants to go to the tattoo artist, shaking hands like this?

No, no, no, no, no, no, I'll wait.

The word means the idea it's steady.

It's always steady.

The second way the framing of the work is word is used is it's the idea of a foster parent.

It's the idea when you intentionally take on the parenting of another child which wasn't yours.

And you get this intentionality of this word that somehow they reach out and grab you and hold on to you.

The third way the word is used, it's used in the temple when you look at the doors being there, and Hezekiah has a doors, and all of a sudden you find the doors are supported by the door posts.

And you have to understand the door is only as strong as the doorpost.

I mean, if you have a weak doorpost, you can easily push through the door, but a strong doorpost gives you support for God's faithfulness.

So what we find is that God's faithfulness putting these together reminds us that He's one who comes along and gives us that steady, intentional support for his people.

But when we think of faithfulness, we have a tendency to think of all the good things that have happened.

But it's interesting how Jeremiah puts faithfulness into perspective.

Oh, they're all the wonderful things God has done here at faith.

But it's also pausing to think through some of the tough times we've all gone through as well.

Here's the verses.

Look at verse 19.

He says, Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the bitterness.

Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.

This I recall to my mind.

Therefore, I have hope.

The Lord is loving kindness, indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning.

Great is thy faithfulness.

The name of the book is Lamentations.

Jeremiah talks about God's faithfulness when he writes a book called Lamentations, where he's lamenting, grieving, saddened over the loss of the destruction of Jerusalem.

He's saddened at taken into captivity were all these young people who left the city.

He's saddened to see the temple was destroyed.

And somehow, through living through that, he's writing this book of lament that speaks of God's faithfulness.

And then the words here get very personal.

He says, Remember my affliction, my wandering.

When he says here, this I recall to my mind, great is thy faithfulness.

It seems to me that when we talk about God's faithfulness, that God's faithfulness is found when our life is falling apart.

This may seem like an odd message of celebration.

But think about it, folks.

Through the 50 years of ministry here, part of it is looking back and remembering the tough times, the difficult times, the anxious times, that God was faithful.

That somehow we all sit here or stand here or fellowship here because not that he was faithful in the good stuff, but the times when we were wiping our brows, shedding a tear, crying in our hearts, saddened with grief.

God was faithful.

And he brought us through.

And somehow God was faithful.

We think of those times when all of a sudden we realize that disease has infested us even as a body.

And we think of those issues of cancer, of heart disease, of diabetes, and the sadness that comes with those, and yet we saw the faithfulness of God bringing us through.

We have those sad times where even divorce occurs and all of a sudden homes are broken, lives are shattered.

But somehow we look back and see the faithfulness of God bringing us through.

Whether from the recession and foreclosure, whether losing our job, or whether the flood of 1997.

For those of us who are here, we remember that.

Driving through the city, seeing for 80 blocks north and south, 80 blocks east and west, four or five, six feet of debris stacked in the front of every home in the city, hoping that things could be rebuilt.

And finding the faithfulness of God's people.

And seeing the faithfulness of God of the ministry still here after all that flooding.

And then there's those times of disappointment.

We're just disappointed with life and circumstances.

And somehow we get through those.

And it's the faithfulness of God.

I mean, there was an 18-year-old young man, a student here at the University of North Dakota, who somehow, with the anxiety of where he was spiritually, unsure of where he was going, unsure of what life was taking for him, registered for classes, ended up paying all his money, was actually broke, not a dime to his name.

An acquaintance from his hometown in Maryland says to him, You know, our church has a college supper, 50 cents all you can eat.

You want to come?

Sure, I'll come.

Get done eating the meal, and he says, There's a church service after you eat.

Never been to church on a Sunday night, hadn't attended churches for years.

Comes on Sunday night, sits there over at Forth in Cottonwood, and in his disappointed life hears the gospel for the first time and trusts in Jesus Christ as a Savior.

That was me, January 17th, 1971, in a disappointed heart where God was faithful to me.

You know, folks, God has been faithful to all of us here.

There's the wonderful things He's done through faith, and I celebrate those with you.

As Vic went through that whole list of things.

But the heartbeat of God's faithfulness for all of us here.

As we look back over those 50 years and we remember, boy, there were some hard times.

God was faithful.

God was steady, God was intentional, God was supporting.

What a wonderful truth to celebrate in 50 years God's faithfulness to us.

Oh, to think that God is faithful when our life is falling apart.

Now I thought it'd be interesting to give you something to help you remember this.

So I thought I'd teach you a Hebrew word today.

And whenever you say this Hebrew word, you will know you are identifying God is faithful.

Now I know you're wondering if you'll ever use this word again, but I will assure you you will use this word probably at least every day.

Maybe two or three times a day.

And it's not a hard word to pronounce, but it's made up of this word faithfulness.

So if you guys want to stretch your mouths out a little bit, get a little used to Hebrew.

Hebrew's a little tough language, it reads the opposite way and everything.

Lick your lips.

You have to repeat it after me, okay?

You ready?

Here's the word.

Amen.

Well, you already know Hebrew, don't you?

Surprise.

It's one of those words we transliterate.

Even in the Greek, it's Amen.

Even the Greeks didn't translate Amen.

In Hebrew, you get a root, three constonants, and you get all these words from it.

And that's what we're talking about.

And somehow, when they get done at the end of a psalm, they want to give an exclamation.

God, you need to work it's Amen.

So we need to practice on the count of three.

We'll all say Amen together.

Ready?

One, two, three.

That's so weak.

One more time.

Okay.

Like you really mean this, like you really think God's been faithful.

Ready?

One, two, three.

So here's the point, folks.

We're finding out that God has been steady.

God has been loyal.

God's been the one who's been intentional to bring us in.

And God's also been the one who's been there supporting each and every one of us.

And we celebrate that faithfulness.

Because God's faithfulness is found when our world is falling apart.

And all God's people said, now we get to hear from our pastor here, Pastor Dave, who's going to come and chair too.

As I've been sitting here this morning and listening, just being reminded of God's faithfulness, and I was thinking to myself, what was I doing fifty years ago today?

And I realized absolutely nothing.

I was negative five.

Hearing the stories of over the last five years here, it's been five years, coming up in about a month or two, just amazed at God's faithfulness.

I feel when I came here, and I have just been so blessed to be here, I feel as if I've been standing on the shoulders of the giants of the faith and just seeing what God has done over the years, seeing God's faithfulness, seeing his hand at work, hearing stories of people who've come to Christ, hearing stories of broken lives that have been put back together, hearing stories of people rallying to one another's aid in times of crisis and need.

And I just I just stand amazed at God's goodness through his people here over the last 50 years.

And I'm humbled and grateful and every day just feel uh God's blessing at the privilege of being able to be here and serve.

As I was thinking about how to close this service and just contemplating so many different passages of scripture, uh one kept coming back to mind, and I thought this is the oddest passage for a 50th anniversary.

Um and yet my mind just kept going back to it over the last several weeks.

And I've been reading in my uh reading, my Bible reading plan in the life of David, and again this verse just kept uh coming to mind.

Um David was an interesting man.

You you read his life story, and the Bible is very real about uh the lives of his people.

Uh they don't sugarcoat it, they don't uh take away the sin and the missteps and the mistakes, and that's life.

That's the life of any individual, that's the life of a church.

David was a man after God's own heart.

The Bible tells us that.

David was a mess.

The Bible tells us that.

David was humble and contrite.

And yet we read through the passage of Scripture, and David was a flawed saint.

And yet God used him for his glory.

And that's an encouragement to each one of us because guess what?

That describes each one of us.

We want to be a man or woman after God's own heart, and yet we look at our own lives and we realize we're a mess.

And yet God calls us to be humble and contrite and to realize it's not about us, it's about him, and it's not what we can do, it's what God can do through us.

And David was a flawed saint, and we are too, and yet God can use us for his glory.

The verse that came to mind is found in Acts chapter 13, verse 36.

Acts 13:36

You don't need to turn there, I'll read it.

It's a very simple, very straightforward verse.

And I just want to make a very few simple, straightforward points about David and about us.

It says this in verse 36 of Acts 13.

It says, For David after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep.

It's an odd verse.

For 50th anniversary.

But there are three truths here I want to point out to us.

First of all, God had a purpose for David.

It says, after David had served the purpose of God, God had a purpose for David's life.

God had a mission for him to accomplish.

God had plans that he wanted to do through the life of this flawed saint.

David wasn't living for himself.

He was living for God's glory.

He was living to fulfill what God had for him and what God was going to do through him.

And very simply, I think that's the reality for each one of us, and that's the reality for this church.

As individuals, God has a purpose for you, for your life.

God has created you for his glory, and there are things that he wants to do, he has done, and he will continue to do through you every day of your life.

God has a purpose for you.

God knows you, he created you individually with your gifts and your abilities and your talents, and he wants you to bring him maximum glory in your life because he has a purpose for you, and he has a purpose for us as a church.

Sometimes I think we make it very complicated.

I think it's very simple, can be summed up in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Jesus was asked, What's the greatest commandment?

He said, The greatest commandment is this: love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And the second is like unto it.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

What is it that God wants us to do as a church?

He wants us to love Him and He wants us to love people.

He wants us to love people right where they are, in their mess, and their brokenness, and their hurt, in their pain, in their confusion, in their sin.

He wants us to love them because we love God.

And the Great Commission, which really is the outworking of the great commandment of loving people.

Jesus at the end of his earthly ministry said, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you.

And behold, I am with you until the end of the age.

God has a purpose for us.

The second point very briefly, God wants us to reach this generation.

Notice what it says here.

It says that after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation.

At one level, this is obvious.

What other generation could David serve but his own?

And yet I think of Esther and the word that Mordecai said to her during the midst of that trying time.

He said, For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.

And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

We look at the world we live in and the sin and the debauchery and the immorality.

It's easy for us to get discouraged and lose heart, and yet God has called us and raised us up for such a time as this, to reach this generation with the gospel.

The testimonies that we've heard this morning, the testimonies that we will hear this afternoon will remind us of God's call in the lives of people, the call to plant this church, the faithfulness for people to persevere in times of trial, in times when everything around them said to give up and yet they trusted God and they continue to persevere.

And God has used this church to preach the gospel to neighbors and relatives and friends and associates, and God has blessed, and God has called.

Christians from this church to be doctors and lawyers and factory workers and farmers and pastors and missionaries and college professors.

And there's another generation that God has called us to reach, this generation.

There are 14,000 students at the University of North Dakota, over 50,000 people in East Grand Forks, another 10 in or in Grand Forks, another 10 in East Grand Forks, over a hundred thousand people within driving distance of this church.

God has called us to reach this generation.

God has a purpose for us now.

And then there's one final truth here.

It says after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, he fell asleep.

Only when God was done with David was his life over.

And what that tells me is that as long as we're here, God isn't done with us yet.

God is not done with us yet.

As long as we have breath in our lungs, as long as our heart is beating, as long as we are on this earth, God has something for us to do.

Maybe it's to pray, to share the gospel, to give, to minister, to reach.

God has something for us to do.

If he has not called us home yet, there is a purpose of God for your life, and there's a purpose of God for this church.

As long as we're alive, God has something for us to do.

I believe God has sustained this church for 50 years.

He called people, he put it on their hearts to plant this church, and God has sustained it for 50 years because He isn't finished with us yet.

There's something that God has for us to do.

God has called us here.

He has uniquely and strategically placed faith, evangelical, free church in this community, and he continues to sustain us because he's not finished with us yet.

There's something he has for us for his glory.

There's something he has for us to do.

I think sometimes we can get discouraged and despondent when we seem like the tide is turning against us.

I remember when I was talking to a missionary friend who was serving in Russia, and what a different mindset they had.

And I uh I wish and trust that God would create that in our hearts.

I was talking to him and he was sharing, he said, you know, in Russia it's so different than the United States.

He said, in Russia, if the church has 40 or 50 people in it, it's so different than here.

He said, in the United States, if we have 40 or 50 people here, they begin to talk about selling the church and liquidating the property and hanging up the shingle and going home.

He said, in Russia, if we have 40 or 50 people here, they think they can take the city.

And what a different mindset.

And as I look at us, I think we need to capture that.

And we need to look around and say, we can take this city.

And God's power, in his strength, for his glory, to proclaim the gospel, we can take this city.

Would you pray with me and then we're going to sing a closing doxology?

Father God, great is your faithfulness.

Every moment that we have been alive, every moment that God's people have gathered as Faith Evangelical Free Church, it has been about you, your glory, your goodness, your faithfulness.

And Lord, you are a faithful God to finish what you have started.

And by the fact that we are here this morning, it tells us you are not done with us yet.

Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness.

Continue to be faithful to your people, we pray in Christ's name.

Amen.