Progenitor Me Judges 11

I'll go all out, and try to stop you, and there's

no way I love that song. Do you remember singing

that song, Adam, do you remember singing that

song on a bus in the UP? Do you remember singing

that? We sang that song on a bus in the UP. I

think it was one person on the bus who didn't

really like the singing all that much, but then

they got off. And then everybody was excited

about the singing. And then we got off. We apologized

to the bus driver. And he was like, oh, no, this

is the best thing that's happened to me all day.

So I was all right with a bunch of teenagers

in the UP on a bus on a mission trip. That song,

every time I hear it, it flashbacks to that moment

in time. Praise the Lord. So two things, kind

of homework real quick, housework, if you will,

real quick that I want to cover. So the first

thing is, you see this here Bible? This is...

what I have affectionately termed my preaching

Bible. And I love this Bible, and it's got lots

of sermon notes written right on the pages and

stuff like that, and I have preached many a sermon

out of this Bible. Not because it's better than

any other Bible, but because when this was in

my hand, the Lord said I could use it to preach,

and so praise God for it. So this morning, for

the last probably nine months, I have been using...

This Bible and that Bible and everything else.

I did not know where this Bible was. And then

yesterday, Warren and I were texting back and

forth, and he let me know about some folks he

picked up this morning. So I'm going to drive

the church van in the morning. So then this morning

when I went in the church van, I thought, well,

I better make sure it's not too messy because

it always has some issues. The church van does.

And I looked in the back seat, and lo and behold,

guess what was in the back seat of the church

van? There it is. Nine months I've been without

this Bible. So the sermon will be twice as long

today as normal. No, it's not actually going

to happen. I'm just warning you. The things that

happen in the life of the pastor will strangely

affect the sermon on Sunday morning in ways that

we don't understand. The second thing I want

to share with you is we left the book of Judges

some time ago. We were working through. We started

in verse 1, chapter 1. We worked through, and

we got as far as chapter 11, and we stopped at

a certain point. And we're not going to pick

up at exactly the point that we stopped. But

I just want to give you this kind of like a boiled

down reminder. The book of Judges is about God's

people. It's about a people who are called to

be God's people. And over time, they would drift

into doing things that they never should have

been doing in the first place. Mainly, they were

taking on the ideas of the people that lived

around them. They were culturally affected. They

were affected by other idol worship and that

kind of thing. Things that just weren't right.

And they kept adding it in, adding it in. So

it's not that they didn't believe in God. Understand

that. This is not that they didn't believe in

God, but that they had a syncretistic way of

living. You know what I mean? They were trying

to syncretize God with false religion. And we

have some false religions in America that would

love to do that for you. For example, money.

The pursuit of money. Not money itself, but the

pursuit of money is the root of all evil. And

so in America, if you're after the almighty dollar...

That very much becomes a religion. And it becomes

about that, even to the point that you will betray

what you believe in in other ways. So this is

what they were doing. They were syncretizing

the worship of God with all these other forms.

And what that always resulted in was more and

more sinful behavior. Then they would cry out

to God. God would let judgment fall upon them.

Then they would cry out to God, please save us.

And then God would send a judge. And we talked

about how the judges are almost more like deliverers

or savior pictures. They weren't even always

judges. They didn't necessarily judge legal cases.

In some cases, our military leaders didn't necessarily

judge legal cases, things like that. But they

judged in the fact that they led the nation.

And so they were kind of like deliverers or saviors.

If we really wanted to Christianize the book,

we could call it the Book of Saviors, but they

didn't want to do that. They called them judges,

so that's what they were. I say all that to say,

we're back in the book of Judges today, finally,

after taking the break. We didn't take a break

from preaching, obviously. We spent all that

time on the death, burial, and resurrection of

Christ, and Easter, and all that. And now we're

going back to the book of Judges. So grab your

Bibles, if you would. Give me a little who to

holler amen as we go to Judges chapter 11. Thank

Judges 11 · chapter mention

you very much. For those of you who don't know

it, we usually do that. That marks the moment

in time where what we read will be not my ideas,

nothing that I've written. but simply what God

says in his word. Now, these events, of course,

are orchestrated by God, and they are sad events.

What we're about to read about is a pretty rough

time in the history of God's people. So we're

in chapter 11, verse 29. It starts out pretty

good. It says, Now the Spirit of the Lord came

upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead

and Manasseh. Then he passed through Mizpah of

Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on

to the sons of Ammon. And Jephthah made a vow

to the Lord. So right up until this point, it's

going pretty good, right? He's got the Holy Spirit

on him. He's doing God's work. They're having

victories, having successes, rallying troops,

that kind of thing. Then it says in verse 30,

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said,

If thou wilt indeed give the sons of Ammon into

my hands, then it shall be that whatever comes

out of the doors of my house to meet me when

I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it

shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it as a

burnt offering. So the idea of a burnt offering

is to take something that's valuable to you and

dedicate it to God. In theory, God is essentially

receiving that thing. You no longer have it,

so you're receiving it. This is not a God command.

It's not a God thing. It's not anything that

should be done by a godly person. But it was

common in the culture in the day. Now remember,

Jephthah's a judge. The Holy Spirit is on him.

He's doing Holy Spirit work. He's gathering forces.

He's defeating God's enemies. He's doing God

work. And then he goes all of a sudden and...

makes this commitment to dedicate whatever comes

out of his house. Now, first of all, it comes

out of his house, meaning not like carried out

by someone, comes out, actively comes out. So

this is going to be most likely an animal, right?

He's thinking a sheep, a goat, whatever. You

open the door and they're always running for

the door. They're always first ones out the door

kind of thing. And so my guess is that's what

he's thinking. But this is not the kind of command

that God would have given him. So this is of

his own idea, right? Now, a lot of times people

call this a rash decision. It's a quick, oh,

I'm going to do this. It'll be cool. I'm going

to honor God this way. It'll be fast. It won't

really cost me all that much, and God will really

be honored like all those false gods are honored

to you. It'll be just like that. But I'm here

to tell you this is not a rash decision at all.

This did not happen in that instant. This did

not happen just like that. He didn't say, oh,

I'm just going to do what everybody else does

and make a vow, and I'm going to make it about

the first thing that comes out of my house. Watch

as the story unfolds and realize this is not

actually a rash or emotional or quick. Rash means

not thinking about the ramifications of your

actions, right? This is not rash at all. It's

done out of the kind of person that Jephthah

was. All right, so just from 31 then. Then it

shall be that whatever comes out of the doors

of my house to meet me when I return in peace

from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord's,

which wouldn't have been bad to stop right there.

And he says, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.

And that's where it all goes wrong, 32. So Jephthah

crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against

them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. Now,

don't think that God gave them into his hand

because of the promise that he made, right? The

Holy Spirit was on him to do this job. God gave

them into his hand because God... was going to

do that. So the promise was completely extra

and unnecessary. Verse 33. He struck them with

a very great slaughter from Erewar to the entrance

of Minith, 20 cities, and as far as Abel, Korah,

Mim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before

the sons of Israel. Verse 34. Then Jephthah came

to his house at Mizpah. Behold, his daughter

was coming out to meet him with tambourines and

with dancing. Now she was his one and only child.

He starts, Besides her, he had neither son nor

daughter. And when it came about, when he saw

her, that he tore his clothes and said, Alas,

my daughter, you have brought me very low. I

love how he kind of blames it on her for coming

out first. He should have let the goat out first.

You have brought me very low, and you are among

those who trouble me. For I have given my word

to the Lord, and I cannot take it back. That's

true. He's got that part right anyway. So she

said to him, My father, you have given your word

to the Lord. Do to me as you have said, since

the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the

sons of Ammon. Now there's a lot of death in

their world. And so she's not freaking out necessarily

right away because that's not an uncommon feeling

for them to realize that all the soldiers that

died, even though this was a great victory, many

soldiers died. And they're hearing about so -and

-so died and so -and -so died and somebody's

brother died, somebody's kid. There's a lot of

death. But this is really faithfulness. This

is strong faithfulness for her to say, okay,

dad, you made a promise to God. Well, I guess

I'm stuck. See how God has been so faithful?

That also tells you there, it's not totally unexpected.

She realizes that things like this have probably

happened before. She's adjusted mentally to the

idea that she could be sacrificed for a victory.

Now you know that there is a false god called

Molech, and they sacrifice the firstborn child

in the fire, usually as a baby, not as a grown

child. And so she's heard of Molech worship.

She's heard of that being done. She's consenting

to it because their family accepts that. Their

family accepts that that's a possibility. It's

crazy, but we can see that they have this concept

already ground into them. 37. And she said to

her father, let this thing be done for me. Let

me alone two months. I may go to the mountains

and weep because of my virginity, I and my companions.

She's going to go off and have a good time for

a couple months because she's never going to

be with a man. She's never going to have a child.

Then he said, go. So he sent her away for two

months. Now, listen, this is a true test of faithfulness.

Because if she comes back, she's going to be

killed. She's going to be burnt, right, for God.

So he sends her away for two months. And she

left with her companions and wept on the mountains

because of her virginity. It's not like they

were up there having all kinds of partying and

she was losing her virginity, for example. And

it came about at the end of two months that she

returned to her father, who did to her according

to the vow which he had made. And she had no

relations with a man. There it is very clearly

stated. Thus it became a custom in Israel so

that the daughters of Israel went yearly to commemorate

the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadites, four

days in the year. So notice her faithfulness

affects her people for generations. Now his foolish

decision to make that commitment doesn't go on

like people go, oh, I want to do that too, right?

I want to commit my firstborn daughter to be

burned alive so I can have it. People don't follow

his example. But they do celebrate her faithfulness

for generations to come. I want you to understand

then, there's a subtle shift that happens in

the human heart. So subtle that you can miss

it if you're not careful. While you're still

talking about God, this thing can happen. And

it's a dangerous thing. The sermon title today

is Progenitor Me. A progenitor is a person who

starts something, right? That's what a progenitor

is. So God is the ultimate progenitor. He started

literally everything, right? Time, space, matter.

We start thinking, we start shifting our thinking

sometimes from God, what are you doing? A famous

Christian author said, look at what God is doing

and go and join him in it. God's doing something.

Wherever that's happening, just go jump in there

and let God use you to do whatever you want to

do. But our shift moves from, God, what are you

doing? To, God, let me tell you what I'm going

to do for you. That's what happened in the life

of Jephthah. See, instead of him going, I'm going

to gather people and I'm going to go defeat armies

like God said, Holy Spirit's on me. He started

thinking, okay, now that I'm in this position

to do something great for God, now what am I

going to do? And he said, Let me tell you what

I'm going to do for you, God. I'm going to sacrifice

my daughter if you give me this victory. That

shift is what I'm calling progenitor me. You

start to originate something. God is still in

the conversation, but he's no longer the source.

He has now become just one voice amongst many.

See, he still believed in God. He still went

out and risked his life. He still took on the

great battle, rallied people to the battle cry,

felt the Holy Spirit, I'm sure. The Holy Spirit

settled on him, so I'm sure he felt that. He

still did all that. But at the same time, he

started saying, see, now watch what I'm going

to do. See how I'm going to do it differently.

This is very dangerous because in the church,

for example, we talk about, well, I like to worship

a certain way. I don't like that kind of music,

or I do like that kind of music. If that kind

of music glorifies God and that kind of music

glorifies God, you don't get to say, I don't

like that kind and I like that kind. The kind

of music we like is the kind that glorifies God.

And so we start to put our own ideas in there.

I don't like it when people talk a certain way

or do a certain thing. Or I prefer it when people

dress a certain way or people show up at a certain

place at a certain time. We start letting our

preferences drive. When your preferences are

driving, you're becoming a progenitor. It's when

you become the originator of the plan. God's

still in the conversation, but he's not the source

anymore. He's just one voice. And I submit to

you, there was only one time ever when God was

just one voice. And that was in the very beginning

when he said, let there be light. Judges 11 shows

us just how dangerous this can be. See the first

thing. When I become the origin, God becomes

just one influence. When I'm making the plans

and I'm not consulting God about what the plans

are, then what am I going to use to make the

plans? Everything I see? Everything I've heard,

everything I've watched, everything I've done,

everything I've experienced, the good, the bad,

and the ugly. And all of those things become

factors in my making my plans. It's how I walk

my life out on a daily basis, right? I know that

if I get in my car and I take the necessary turns,

I'll arrive at my house. And so sometimes I get

in the car on autopilot and I take the necessary

turns and I arrive at my house. Sometimes when

I'm not even going to my house because I'm not

thinking and I'm like, just take the necessary

turns and I'll arrive there. But what if I wasn't

going there? I'm going somewhere else, and I'm

pulling into my driveway. Oh, crud, I was going

to the store. Oh, crud, I was going to go pick

that up. I was going to go drop that off. Whatever.

But because we get on autopilot, programmed,

we just kind of do what we do, and God is no

longer influencing. At other times, I've been

driving in my car, and God will say, turn right

here. But God, that's not the way home. And God,

when he's really nice, he'll say, I know, we're

not going home. But sometimes he'll say, I said

turn right here. What is your problem today?

And I go, okay, Lord, we're turning right. And

I can only imagine that my life has been saved

and things have been done, for sure, accomplished

because of those moments in which God originates

a plan that seems contrary to what was already

going on and I'm jumping on the plan with God.

But when I become the origin, I'm in the car

and I'm going like, oh, I'm going to drive home.

And God says, turn right here. I'm like, no,

that's not the best way home, God. Your God PS

must be off. You don't know how to get me where

I need to be. I'm going to go where I'm going

to go. And then I'm at home and I'm going, something

feels off. Something doesn't feel right. I don't

think I'm supposed to be here right now. Because

God was trying to take me somewhere and I originated

an alternative plan. The Spirit of the Lord comes

upon Jephthah. God has already moved. God has

already initiated. And then Jephthah makes a

vow. He doesn't stop himself. He doesn't hold

back. He doesn't inquire to God about this. Would

this be a good idea? He doesn't seek additional

wisdom. He doesn't talk to a priest. He doesn't

read his Bible. He doesn't do anything to determine

whether or not this course of action would be.

Now, in that sense, it's rash, right? In that

sense, it's rash. But he's doing it out of his

programming. He's in robot mode. We've got to

glorify God. Man, what more can we do to glorify

God? It's got to be bigger. We've got to add

more bang pow what? Or otherwise we're not truly

honoring the Lord. So here's what I'm going to

do. I'm going to give up whatever comes out of

my house. He adds, I read a story about a man

who once inherited a fully restored classic car

from his dad. The engine was perfect, all original

parts rebuilt by a master mechanic. But the son

thought, I can make this even better. And he

started to just tweak it a little bit. He adjusted

the timing, swapping out some parts with newer

things. He's like, it doesn't have to all be

original parts. I just want the best car I can

possibly have. He improved it. Pretty soon, the

car wouldn't start. Not because the foundation

of the car was bad, but because he couldn't leave

it alone. He couldn't just let it be. See, God

is not... all about your happiness, or all about

your desires being fulfilled, or all about your

plans coming to fruition? Do you understand that

if from the moment you sat here today and heard

this sermon, that if what was necessary for God

to bring you into heaven when you die, is that

literally nothing else goes right in your life.

Now, that's never true. We often think nothing

is going right, right? In the middle, I had a

pretty rough week this week, and I had things

breaking down. Like, oh, that's broken too. Oh,

crud, that's going to be ours to fix. I've got

to pay this person to fix that because there's

no way I have time. This kind of stuff was happening

for the last week. And in the middle, I thought,

you know what? This wouldn't be happening if

I didn't have so much stuff. This wouldn't be

happening if I didn't have a house and cars.

I wouldn't be dealing with relationship struggles

if I didn't have so many relationships. And I

know people that are, often it's old, but lonely.

I don't have anybody. If you're thinking about

somebody in your life that frustrates you and

you just can't figure out how to get them to

calm down or do what you want or not come after

you all the time, not get under your skin all

the time, whatever, I want you to think about

how lucky, how blessed, how incredibly blessed

you are that you have somebody in your life.

I don't know what the percentages are, but it's

over double digits. Americans that do not have

somebody to call or visit today. That's millions

of people in this country alone that do not have

anybody. You have somebody that frustrates you,

whoo, aren't you blessed, isn't it? Turn that

around right away. It turns it around, doesn't

it? Boy, I'm glad I have friends. Boy, I'm glad

I have family members, even the ones that drive

me absolutely nuts, right? God. had already spoken

through his spirit. Victory was already in motion.

But progenitor me says, what God started isn't

enough. I need to contribute. And in that moment,

God's voice gets crowded out by fear of losing,

desire to control, pressure to perform, personal

sense of justice. And God is no longer the origin.

He's become just one influence. And I submit

to you that if you take your eyes off God, and

start worrying about all those other things and

making plans to deal with them all, that eventually

they will become so prominent, so important,

so eye -filling, that in the crowd you won't

even be able to see God or hear God. He'll be

lost as just one influence among many. Second

thing to see in there then is that what I originate

reflects everything shaping me, not just God.

When I start something, whatever it is, even

if God says, go and do this, and I say, okay,

God, how exactly? And God's like, just do it.

I'm just telling you, do it. So when I'm witnessing

and somebody makes it obvious that they're willing

to hear the gospel and I'm just sort of spewing

words as fast as I can trying to get it out.

I'm so excited that this person might be saved.

And God just said, that's what you've got to

do. You've got to be a witness. Just tell people

about Jesus. Just do it. And it's sloppy and

it's messy. And they go, well, this person's

just a human. But those words, they almost seem

a little unhuman, a little something more than

human. There's some wisdom in there. And they

start to turn. What I originate reflects everything

that's shaping me, not just God. And that's the

way that God wants it. Because God has brought

all of those other things into my life to shape

me. But he must remain reigning supreme. He has

to be in charge. So yes, you can have a car if

you can have a car. And God will decide that,

really. You can say, well, tomorrow I'm going

to buy a car. You can plan all day, set the appointment,

go visit with the guys, save up the money, be

able to pay cash. And between now and then, God

can ruin that plan. What was it? You text me,

right? You want to make God laugh? Share your

plans with God, right? So God can frustrate all

of our best ideas if he wants to. And so it doesn't

matter what you think you want to do. God has

to remain supreme. Not just as a voice, but the

supreme voice. Jephthah's vow is revealing. It

sounds spiritual. Hyper -spiritual even. He's

doing what most people would not do. He doesn't

have to. He's already going to win. He doesn't

have to give anything, but he's going to give

his daughter. Or whatever comes out of his house

first. But it's deeply distorted. Whatever comes

out of my house, I will offer it. Where does

that come from? It doesn't come from God's law.

It's not from God's character. It comes from

a world shaped by pagan thinking. Where people

bargaining with God was a normal thing. So if

you do the right thing, you get from God what

you want. And if that's what you think is true

about the God of the universe, you don't understand

the God of the universe. If you think that you

will always get good coming to you because you

chose to do the right thing, I'm going to submit

to you that half the time you think that's true,

you did what you thought was the right thing

that wasn't even the right thing. You see, the

sin of the people in the book of Judges has always

not been they sinned in this way, they were wicked

in this way. It's not even that they were syncretistic.

The problem is they did right what they thought

was right in their own eyes. So you're walking

around judging what you think is right and God's

saying turn right and you're turning left because

you think that's right when in reality you're

ignoring God. The decision that he made comes

from a world shaped by pagan thinking where people

bargained with gods all the time. Think about

a young athlete that steps up to the free throw

line in a championship game. He bounces the ball

a couple of times. He licks the bottom of his

shoes. You've seen it, right? He stands on the

foul line. He bounces the ball a couple of times.

He puts it up. He's about ready to go. He bounces

the ball again. He puts it up. And he says to

God, he says, God, if you let me make this shot.

I'll go to church every Sunday for the rest of

my life because this is the foul point that's

going to win the game. And he's bargaining with

God. That's not faith. That's negotiation, like

you might do with another human being who has

their own desires and motives that are ungodly.

You can negotiate with people because they have

desires and motives, because everything that

they originate is affected by their views, and

you can resonate with their views, which is why

we have them, by the way. So then when I'm sitting

in the... the restaurant and sharing with the

waitress, God willing, many times more, if I

can find one point, one common denominator between

her and I, between her story and my story, and

I can hone in on that, and I can say, This is

how God used that in my life. And if that resonates

with her, then that brings her one step closer

to knowing who God is. That's why those things

are there. The gospel travels through lines of

relationship and the things that God has given

us in our life. And we can negotiate with people

who have those similar lines. Won't you hear

the gospel from me? Won't you hear about Jesus?

That's what the negotiation can be. Because they

have desires. They have those things too. But

we don't do that with God. It didn't come from

scripture. It came from pressure, fear, and cultural

ideas about earning favor. When I become the

originator, my plans are never pure. They're

a mixture. They're a mixture of what I've seen

growing up, what I'm afraid of losing, what I

think will work, what culture has normalized.

God's voice may be in there. I hope it is. But

it's blended. And a plan that is part God and

part everything else will never lead you where

you want to go. Never lead you where you think

it will lead you. There's a third thing to see

in the text then. It is what begins with me.

ends in consequences that I cannot control. How

many times, you ever do this? How many times

you start the ball rolling and later you go,

oh, that happened because I did this. And there

was that happened, that happened, that happened,

but it started rolling. Now all of a sudden,

I got a problem here. I didn't say something

when they did that. And now that's all the way

up here and a really bad thing is happening.

Or I failed to, what begins with me ends in consequences

I cannot control. God gives the victory. The

battle is won. And then Jephthah's daughter walks

out. Tambourine in hand, celebration in her heart.

And in a moment, victory turns into devastation.

He should have been hugging her, dancing, celebrating.

Yes, yes, God gave the victory. Instead, he's

breaking the news that he went on ahead and made

a vow that she would be killed. I know a father.

In fact, if I was going to name, I could probably

name five right now. But I know men who've taken

jobs, career paths, whatever. that promised more

money, more stability, more opportunity. On paper,

they look like a blessing. God provided this,

it's going to be great. But then it demanded

all their time. It demanded nights, weekends,

constant travel. Years later, he's got the house,

he's got the income, his kids all grew up healthy,

had the medicine that they needed, had the food

that they needed, everything like that. But the

relationship between that man and his children,

that man and the kingdom, that man and kingdom

values, and that man and God has suffered. The

truth is, most jobs, while you do them, you can't

spend the time with God that you should be spending

with God. Even though you can, while you're working,

spend time with God, but most of the time you

can't. Not the way you would. Get alone, under

a tree, just you and your Bible, pray, talk to

God, and see what happens. It's totally different

than while you're talking to Him while you're

driving your car, or while you're fixing something

on the job, or while you're making sure you're

on time, or while you're making sure you didn't

miss something on the grocery list. Yeah, it's

totally different. So time and again, people

choose a pathway that makes a lot of logical

sense. But if I do this, I will get this result.

And it's clear that God would want me to get

that result. The truth is, he got what he pursued,

but he lost what he didn't account for. Progenitor

me always assumes I can see far enough, I can

manage the outcome, I can contain the cost. But

what we originate outside of God does not stay

contained. Once it starts burning, it burns everything

in the vicinity. Once it starts accumulating,

it accumulates like Sylvia Cynthia Snout who

wouldn't take the garbage out and eventually

it filled the whole state and there was no taking

the garbage out because there was nowhere to

take it out to. It's like that. It just keeps

expanding. If you originated, it keeps expanding

and the impact is long -standing. It spills.

It spreads. It touches people we never intended

it to touch. Jephthah won the battle and lost

something far greater. That brings us then to

our conclusion. It is the gospel answer to progenitor

me. The me that starts things instead of doing

the things that God would have me do. Or maybe

in addition. Maybe you're saying, I'm doing all

the things that God would have me to do, but

I've got these other things that I started that

weren't of God. If we're honest, this isn't just

Jephthah's story. It's ours. We've all made decisions

without seeking God. We've all tried to help

God out. to get us where God was trying to take

us. We've all created plans that felt right but

ended wrong. And here's the hard truth. We've

all lived as the originator at times. But the

gospel tells us something powerful. When we stepped

in as the flawed origin, so when we stepped in

as the starter, as the creator, kind of shouldered

God out of the way, Jesus Christ stepped in as

the perfect substitute. Consider this comparison.

Jephthah made a vow that could be called rash.

certainly was ungodly. Jesus fulfilled a perfect

will. Jephthah sacrificed someone else. Jesus

gave himself. Jephthah acted out of fear. Jesus

acted in full obedience to God. The funny thing

about rebellion is that it pretends to be a certain

sort of faithfulness. Wait a minute, rebellion,

faithfulness, they seem to be opposites. But

the thing that rebellion does that makes it so

easily embraced... is it pretends to be a certain

sort of faithfulness. People say things like,

well, I'm just being true to myself. This is

just who God made me. This is the way I'm wired.

That's the way I walk. That's the way our family

is. That's the way our culture is. That's the

way things work, implying that you know well

how things work and differently from God or from

other people. Sometimes we say to ourselves,

well, I'm giving more than anyone else would

give. Other times we present it as wisdom saying,

this just makes sense. I submit to you that the

greatest things that God has ever done would

make no sense in the mind of a man or a woman.

Trusting God and coming to God on the terms that

God laid out for us. was, and is all that is

required. And in the middle of concocting our

own plan or providing our own solutions, we lose

the one measure of relationship that matters,

faithfulness. Listen to me. When you stand before

God, if you want to hear a well -done, good,

and faithful servant, there is only one measure

in this lifetime that matters, and that is faithfulness.

Faithfulness is obedience over time. It is obedience

in moments of temptation. It is obedience when

an idea comes that masquerades as opportunity,

but is actually disobedience. Do you remember

a guy, some of you may, some of you may not,

a guy named Haman? So Haman was the villain in

the story of Esther, in the whole book. He was

the villain. And basically, Haman hated Esther's

family, and in particular, Mordecai. Mordecai

didn't bow to anybody, just God. He was a devout

Jewish man, believed in the Lord and the Lord

only. So Haman gets a plot going, and first of

all, he's going to hang Mordecai on gallows at

his house. And then he gets the king, Ahasuerus,

his name is hard to pronounce, but anyway, gets

the king to pass a law that says that the people

can attack the Jews on a certain day, and that

whoever they kill, they get to keep all their

stuff. So he killed a guy who lives down the

street, he could keep his house, his cattle.

slaves, everything he's got. If he's got anything,

any Jew you kill, you get to keep everything

he had. It's a murderous society for a day. In

the third chapter of the book of Esther, Haman

is described as Haman the Agagite. Does anybody

know what that means? Nod your head if you know

what that means. Any Bible scholars in the room?

It's a tough one. Okay, so Agag was the king

of the Amalekites. The Amalekites, God ordered

Saul to wipe them out. The Amalekites were the

people, and they are descendants of Esau. Remember

Esau, Jacob, the rivalry, right? And so the Amalekites

were descendants of Esau. And when the Israelites

came out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked the

people that were on the edges and the weak and

the older, the infirm, people that couldn't protect

themselves or that were scragglers. They attacked

and killed them and took their stuff, right?

So they killed, who knows, tens of thousands

of elderly women, children, pregnant women, whatever

they could get a hold of that were on the outer

edges as this mass is coming out of Egypt. Terrible,

terrible thing. And God declared that he would

wipe them out for that. evil that they had done.

And then he told Saul to do it. He told King

Saul, go in there, kill them all. Don't take

any other stuff. Raise everything, destroy everything.

Everything that's in there is under the ban.

Nobody gets anything. Kill them all. So Saul

and the people kept some of the best plunder

to supposedly sacrifice to God. And he kept Agag,

the king, alive. And he lived almost as a guest

in his house. Not like as a slave under the table.

We don't have that record. In fact, when Agag

is brought in by Samuel later. Agag says, see,

wasn't the horrible time, isn't it past now?

And he's just like, he's in a really good mood.

The text says he's in a good mood. He's jovial.

So in other words, he's been having a good time

in the house of Saul. And he realizes he's not

going to be punished because Saul has spared

him, right? But Samuel says to Saul, God, because

you have failed to follow the commands of God,

the kingdom will be ripped from you. You will

no longer be king of Israel. Agag and cuts him

to bits, into pieces. Now, that's what God originally

ordered for Agag, and it's pretty gruesome. He

could have just died in combat, but he didn't,

and now he's prospered. Now, I don't know whether

Agag's descendant that remains, son or daughter,

whichever it was, was fostered while he was living

in Saul's house or not. But what I do know is

that Saul was ordered to kill all of the Amalekites,

Agag, and all of his descendants, and did not

do so. Then Agag's descendants, one Targum says

16 generations later, produces Haman, the Agagite,

who then is going to hang Mordecai, the Jew,

and offers a time at which the entire Jewish

nation that's in captivity will be wiped out.

When you are the progenitor, you will start things

in motion that will have lasting ramifications,

not only for you, but potentially for generations

to come. When you watch TV instead of reading

your Bible at night and your kids or your spouse

or whoever see you watching TV instead of cracking

open the Word of God, someday, at best, they

will watch TV instead of reading their Bibles.

At best. But it can be far worse than that because

through lack of knowledge of what a godly man

or woman looks like, they can live as an ungodly

man or woman. They may spend their lives in jail

or running a crack house, or it might be your

grandkids or your great -grandkids or five or

ten generations later, but somebody down the

road. Do you understand that the guy who runs

a crack house on your street probably has a great

-great -great -grandfather who was a devout Christian

man? At one point in time, the Great Awakening

hit America, and it became so prevalent that

in small towns all over America, there was no

alcohol sales anywhere, and the United States

of America, by populist vote, amended the Constitution,

not made a law, amended the Constitution of the

United States of America against sales of alcohol.

So when they were voting against, they went to

the polls and voted against alcohol, they then

went home and did whatever at home, not saying

they drank, did whatever at home, and then generations

later, their children, five, ten generations

later, opened crack houses, ran brothels, ran

bars, right? When you are the progenitor, And

you run on ahead of God or run outside of God,

don't do what God wants you to do. Your plans

have lasting ramifications. So I'm not asking

you today, asking you to choose one progenitor

that is God, let God alone be in charge of your

life. I'm not asking you to make a better decision

for you today. I'm not asking you to reclaim

the rest of your life, although that will exactly

be what happens. We're literally talking about

the benefit, the prosperity, the success, the

blessing, the heaven -bound nature of generations

to come. Better you suffer, better you go without,

better you deny yourself all the wants and desires

you could possibly have and let God instead be

the progenitor so that your kids can go to heaven,

so that your grandkids and great -grandkids can

go to heaven, so that your neighbor's kids can

go to heaven. You say, well, I don't have any

kids. Your co -workers are in the same boat.

When you go to work and spit foul language like

a sailor right alongside them and don't talk

about Jesus, they and their kids are missing

an opportunity to go to heaven. Because you're

not telling them about Jesus. They don't want

to hear it anyway. You don't know that. So I

tried to tell them before and they didn't want

to know. I had a dear friend of mine I went to

high school with for two and a half years. I

didn't talk to him about Jesus because he told

me in no uncertain terms. I did not want to hear

it. I don't want to talk about it. I want nothing

to do with it. I'm not a Christian, nor will

I be. I prayed for him pretty much every day

for two and a half years. And then I wrote him

a letter. And the first line of the letter was,

I'm writing you this letter because you told

me I'm not allowed to talk to you anymore about

Jesus. In which I clearly explained the gospel.

And he said, well, I've changed my position now.

I am open to hearing what you have to say. I

don't know. I know Elvis Presley's brother tells

a story where he dated a girl in high school

and she wouldn't go out with him. She was a devout

Christian. And she wouldn't go to restaurants.

She wouldn't go to movies. Nothing. This is back

in the day when we understood what dating is

actually for, right? And so she wouldn't go out

with him. But she would go to church. And he

would go to church with her if he was willing.

Then he could go to church with her and she would

take him. But he didn't want to go to church.

He didn't want nothing to do with God. So then

she let him go because she had to have a man.

She was devout to God. She had to have a man

who was devout to God. Otherwise, that's a marriage

that you don't want to have, right? And so she

said, well, 25 years later, he walked into that

little church. She wasn't there. She was long

gone, moved to another state or whatever. But

there was a gray -haired old lady crew. And they

recognized him when he walked in. He had never

been in the church ever before. And for 25 years,

that church had prayed for him to come to Christ.

And when he walked in, they recognized him. And

they gathered around him. And they said, you've

come here to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord

and Savior, right? And he didn't know that's

why he was going. He just knew he had nothing

left. He was spent. His insides were all empty.

And he's like, I gotta. I got to go. So I'm going

to go back in my old hometown. He'd been all

over the world, back in my own hometown, and

I'm going to go. And he went in there, and they

gathered around him, and he accepted Christ.

And then he preached that story all over the

U .S., including I sat in one of his sermons

and listened to it. What I'm saying to you is

I'm not asking you to have Jesus as your progenitor

just for your salvation, although it's that important.

We see Jesus at the cross. He says, not my will,

but yours be done. Jesus, who was God in the

flesh, God the Son, who could command the storms

and still the waves and heal the paralytic and

brought people back to life. Jesus said, no,

God the Father is the progenitor. Not my will,

but His will be done. And because of that, our

faith... Failures can be forgiven. Our missteps

can be redeemed. 2 ,000 years later, almost our

future can be reoriented. And I submit to you,

it's not just our future, but the future of all

the people in our lives and generations to come.

From originator to follower. So the question

isn't just, where have I messed up? And we ask

that a lot. Things aren't going right. Where

have I messed up? The question is, who's originating

your life right now? Who's got the reins? Who's

in the driver's seat? Who's originating your

life? And you've got to know. It's got to be

him. And if you've never done it, if you've never

said, okay, God, I'm going to let you alone be

in charge of my life, which, by the way, would

not even be possible if it were not for the sacrifice

of Jesus, then do it. And say, okay, from now

on, God alone will be the originator of my life.

For those who don't know Christ, it's about a

surrender. Trust in what he has already done.

Stop trying to author your own salvation and

receive his. But for those of us who already

know him, where have you taken the pen back from

God? Where in your life? Did you make a decision

or are you making decisions and not praying over

those decisions? Not consulting the word. Faithful

brothers and sisters in Christ, have you chosen

a direction without scripture? A plan that you're

forcing instead of following faithfulness is

not a good plan at all. And remember, faithfulness

is not flashy. It is obedience over time. Obedience

in the face of temptation. Obedience at the moment

at which you think, well, here is an alternative

and it makes more sense than doing what God wants

me to do. It looks like waiting when you want

to act, listening when you want to speak, obeying

when you don't understand. The safest place in

your life is not where you are in control. It's

where God is the originator of what is right

now happening. You're completely aware of it

and submissive to his outcomes. Lay it. down

lay down the plan lay down the pressure lay down

the need to make it happen god is not asking

you to originate he's asking you to obey because

saul did not obey you think god did not know

about Haman, the Agagite, while Saul was alive

16 generations before, God sure knew. Because

Saul did not obey and killed the Agagites, who

were of the Amalekites, who were the people that

killed the weak coming out of Egypt. Because

Saul did not obey, he created a risk for all

of God's people. And you say, well, Saul was

a king. He was a big deal. You know, Saul wasn't

a big deal before he was a king. In fact, in

that same chapter 15, Samuel reminds him, you

had nothing, and God made you king of all of

Israel. So that'd be you. I'm not a king. You're

not a king. Understand that the decision to let

God originate what's going on in your life affects

your family, affects all the people that you

know, and all the people that know the people

that you know, and the people that know the people

that you know that you know. See? It spreads.

Now, in 30 years of being a Christian, it's weird,

but I've led three people named Kendra to Christ.

Three separate people, three different times,

that prayed to accept Christ. One of them, an

Islamic man, was there, and when she was praying

to accept Christ, he prayed along with us. And

that's definitely not a Christian religion. Right?

Three times. And I don't know them. They don't

come to church here. I don't know where they

go to church. I don't know what they're doing.

Two of them were waitresses. I met them because

I was out eating out dinner. Three women named

Kendra. But they know people. And if they're

following God, they'll be found obedient and

they'll be sharing the gospel. And I wonder if

they'll win anybody to Christ named Kendra. I

may not know until I get to heaven. I'm asking

you, if you're here today and you're not, you're

originating your life, stop it. Commit it to

God and let him do it. Let him take care of it.

He's got more resources, more wisdom, more strength,

more experience, everything. He's got more of

everything. Let him do it. Turn your life over

to God through Jesus Christ, the Son. If you're

here today as a Christian, I came in here as

a Christian, but now I see areas where I've kind

of taken control. Stop that. Don't do it anymore.

Submit those areas of your life over to God through

Jesus Christ and say, what would God have me

do? What does obedience look like here? You can

never go wrong with reading your Bible, praying,

serving, giving, loving others, sharing the gospel.

These are commands of scripture. You can never

go wrong doing those things. Do what God commanded

you to do and stop coming up with alternatives.

I ask the praise team to come forward then and

lead us in our closing hymn. And as we sing,

if the Lord has spoken to you in some way. You

respond. If you're accepting Jesus Christ as

your Lord and Savior for the first time today,

I want you to come right up here and tell me

that. Okay, I'm turning my life over to you.

Doesn't matter if somebody thought you did it

already before, whatever. This is the first time

you're truly turning your life over to the Lord,

letting God be your present for it. He'll start

everything. He'll set the plans. He'll set the

direction. If that's what you're doing, then...

You come today and let me know that, and we'll

pray together. If you're here today as a Christian

already, I am a Christian, but I've got a few

things in my own hand. I've been writing my own

story. I've been making things for you. And you

realize you've got to stop doing that because

the ramifications go far beyond what we can see.

Then you make that commitment. Then you move

forward. We'll pray together. And you say, I'm

going to turn my life back over to the Lord.

I'm done with my own plans. I'll consult my plans

with the Lord's plans. Realize that sometimes

it will seem rash. I had to make a quick decision,

so I just made a quick decision. Because the

truth is, you wouldn't have had to make that

quick decision if you had prepared in advance

and spent a little time with the Lord, spent

a little time preparing yourself. You might never

have gotten that situation, but if you did, you

might have already had the answer, and the decision

might not have had the same rash. Our prayer

time with God is an ongoing conversation. She

talks to Him all the time, and every time you

pick up, talk to Him again. I would say, sorry,

God, I was off the phone for a minute here, but

I'm back now because the Word calls us to be

praying without sleep. and keep the conversation

going. Now, you've got that conversation going,

you know the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2,

and when that weird thing happens, you'll know

it. You'll already know what God wants, and it

won't be a racket. So just stand with me as we

sing this song, as the Lord is speaking to your

heart in some way, and we respond. We believe

that we have life in the name of Jesus. We believe

though we have never seen. We believe and choose

to follow our King. Go King Jesus! We believe

that he's coming again. We believe. Oh, we believe.

Sing one more verse. We believe that he's coming

again. The Lord is speaking into your heart right

now.